• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.195-210
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• 2023

Additional deposition and erosion in large rivers in South Korea have continued to occur toward morphological stabilization after massive dredging through the four major river restoration project, subsequently requiring precise bathymetry monitoring. Hyperspectral bathymetry method has increasingly been highlighted as an alternative way to estimate bathymetry with high spatial resolution in shallow depth for replacing classical intrusive direct measurement techniques. This study introduced the conventional Optimal Band Ratio Analysis (OBRA) of hyperspectral bathymetry method, and evaluated the performance in a domestic large river in normal turbid and flow condition. Maximum measurable depth was estimated by applying correlation coefficient and root mean square error (RMSE) produced during OBRA with cascadedly applying cut-off depth, where the consequent hyperspectral bathymetry map excluded the region over the derived maximum measurable depth. Also non-linearity was considered in building relation between optimal band and depth. We applied the method to the Nakdong and Hwang River confluence as a large river case and obtained the following features. First, the hyperspectal method showed acceptable performance in morphological mapping for shallow regions, where the maximum measurable depth was 2.5 m and 1.25 m in the Nakdong and Hwang river, respectively. Second, RMSE was more feasible to derive the maximum measurable depth rather than the conventional correlation coefficient whereby considering various scenario of excluding range of in situ depths for OBRA. Third, highly turbid region in Hwang River did not allow hyperspectral bathymetry mapping compared with the case of adjacent Nakdong River, where maximum measurable depth was down to half in Hwang River.