Geomorphometry -diversity in quantitative surface analysis

By R. J. Pike. 2000

367 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A widening variety of applications is diversifying geomorphometry (digital terrain modelling), the quantitative study of topography. An amalgam of earth science, mathematics, engineering and computer science, the discipline has been revolutionized by the computer manipulation of gridded terrain heights, or digital elevation models (DEMs). Its rapid expansion continues. This article reviews the remarkable diversity of recent morphometric work in 15 selected topics and discusses their significance and prospects. The quantitative analysis of industrial microsurface topography is introduced to the earth science community. The 14 other topics are Internet access to geomorphometry; global DEMs; DEM modelling of channel networks; self-organized criticality; fractal and wavelet analysis; soil resources; landslide hazards; barchan dunes; harvesting wind energy; sea-ice surfaces; sea-floor abyssal hills; Japanese work in morphometry; and the emerging fields of landscape ecology and image understanding. Closing remarks note reasons for the diversity within geomorphometry, speculate on future trends and recommend creating a unified field of surface representation.

Subfields: Environmental Engineering, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Soil Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a3c00d344236bdba1e34ebbe8601eb9c09af7875

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Citations in the corpus

Causes and consequences of error in digital elevation models (2006, methodology): “…digital elevation model or DEM, and their derivatives are frequently employed throughout physical geography for applications ranging from geomorphometry (Pike, 2000) to hydrological modelling (Kenward et al., 2000) and the physiographic correction of digital satellite imagery (Goyal et al., 1998).”
An illustrated introduction to general geomorphometry (2017, methodology): “Currently, geomorphometric methods are widely used to solve various multiscale problems of geomorphology, hydrology, remote sensing, soil science, geology, geophysics, geobotany, glaciology, oceanology, climatology, planetology and other disciplines; see reviews (Clarke and Romero, 2017; Deng, 2007;”
Automated classification of landform elements using object-based image analysis (2006, background): “Given the increasing pressure on natural resources and rising landscape monitoring obligations on the one side, and diversity of recent advances in quantitative surface characterization (Pike, 2000) on the other, we argue that an automated landform classification methodology will become central toma”
Surface metrics: an alternative to patch metrics for the quantification of landscape structure (2009, methodology): “To this end, many methods have been developed to quantify surface complexity (e.g., Pike 2000; Wilson and Gallant 2000; Jenness 2004).”
Multifractal Analysis of Soil Surface Roughness (2008, methodology): “Multifractal analysis (MFA) has been used intensively in geomorphometry or digital terrain heights (digital elevation models) (Pike, 2000), but only recently to study agricultural soils.”