Climate change is happening now: temperatures are rising, rainfall patterns are shifting, glaciers are melting and the global average sea level is rising. Everyone seems to know about it, but unfortunately most of this common knowledge is based on misinformation rather than on scientific facts. The truth is that it is actually very difficult to understand what is going on: given the complexity of environmental phenomena, scientists are still working on proper models and collecting additional data, so that there is a great need for suitable monitoring strategies. The project focuses on the ambitious goal of investigating an innovative technology for data collection: paying due attention to some constraints, mainly in terms of quality and cost, this work consists in evaluating the performance of a new monitoring systems: the development of a complete and efficient workflow for use of the drones in glaciers’ melting monitoring field and the performance of some hydrological analysis performed after having estimated the glacier melting through the years also thanks to additional data (e.g., temperature, snowfalls, …) kindly provided by third part institutions. We can confirm that drones are a valid alternative to preexistent techniques adopted in this field; among the many, two main advantages have been pointed out as most important: higher accuracy and stronger versatility.
Principal academic Tutor
Carlo De Michele, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Academic Tutors
Francesco Avanzi, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Alberto Bianchi, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Alberto Cina, Department of Environment, Land and Inf. Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Paolo Maschio, Department of Environment, Land and Inf. Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Livio Pinto, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Marco Piras, Department of Environment, Land and Inf. Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
External institutions
Regione Piemonte
Team members
Alberto Donizetti, Mathematical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Giulia Giani, Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Giuseppe Giarrizzo, Mathematical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Alessandro Negrini, Computer Science Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Alessandro Rampazzo, Automation Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Gianluca Savaia, Automation Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Enrica Soria [Team Controller and Communication Coordinator], Mathematical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Download the poster of the project
Read the results of the DREAM 2 project