On-site Glacier Monitoring – Expedition to Norway

In calendar week 34 of 2025, the time had come: two research assistants from the Chair of Photogrammetry, Steffen Isfort and Dr. Katja Richter, traveled to a study area in Jotunheimen National Park in Norway. The expedition took place as part of the German Research Foundation's research project “Glacier4D: Determining changes in glacier extent based on multi-temporal 3D point clouds.”

The expedition, which was already taking place for the fourth time, had the goal of creating a 3D surface model of the Bøverbreen glacier. The repeated measurement campaigns result in a multi-temporal data set that documents changes over several years. Stereoscopic aerial images were taken during a UAV flight to generate the 3D surface model. Since photogrammetric data acquisition could only be carried out in dry weather with little wind, it was crucial to match the expedition period to the local weather conditions in Norway.

With the necessary measuring equipment in their packs, the researchers reached the study area on the Bøverbreen glacier after an hour's climb. In bright sunshine and temperatures around 5 °C, they were able to lay out control points along the glacier tongue and carry out the UAV flight. Dr. Katja Richter, who was involved in the measurements on the glacier for the first time, sums it up: “This was one of the most impressive measurement campaigns of my professional life.”

Back in Dresden, the task now is to evaluate the collected measurement data photogrammetrically and to document the glacier changes in detail. The basic idea behind the research project is to develop methods for reconstructing the glacier margin based on the elevation changes in the multitemporal 3D surface models. “The measurement campaign continues our long-standing series of measurements on the Bøverbreen glacier and creates a solid basis for further analysis. With the data collected, we can develop new tools for glacier monitoring,” says Steffen Isfort about the significance of the current measurement campaign.