Three-dimensional geomorphometric modeling of the Arctic Ocean submarine topography (a testing, low-resolution desktop system)

DOI: 10.35595/2414-9179-2019-1-25-275-289

View or download the article (Rus)

About the Authors

Igor V. Florinsky

Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Pushchino, Moscow Region, 142290, Russia,
E-mail: iflor@mail.ru

Sergey V. Filippov

Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Pushchino, Moscow Region, 142290, Russia,
E-mail: fsv141@mail.ru

Abstract

Submarine topography is one of the main factors determining the course and direction of processes occurring at the boundary between lithosphere and hydrosphere. In this article, we present results of the first phase of a project to develop a system for three-dimensional (3D) geomorphometric modeling of the Arctic Ocean floor. In this phase, we developed a testing, desktop version of the system. We utilized a small, testing low-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) extracted from the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) version 3.0. The DEM was smoothed to suppress high-frequency noise. Then, we derived digital models of several morphometric variables from the smoothed DEM, such as, horizontal, vertical, minimal, and maximal curvatures, catchment and dispersive areas, as well as stream power index. To construct 3D models of the territory, we applied an approach for 3D terrain modelling in the environment of the Blender package, free and open-source software. We present a series of screenshots for the visualized 3D models (perspective views from the Atlantic, Eurasia, the Pacific, and North America). The experiment showed that the approach is efficient and can serve as a basis for creating next, desktop and web versions of the system for visualising high-resolution models.

Keywords

3D visualization, DEM, submarine topography

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For citation: Florinsky I.V., Filippov S.V. Three-dimensional geomorphometric modeling of the Arctic Ocean submarine topography (a testing, low-resolution desktop system). InterCarto. InterGIS. GI support of sustainable development of territories: Proceedings of the International conference. Moscow: Moscow University Press, 2019. V. 25. Part 1. P. 275–289. DOI: 10.35595/2414-9179-2019-1-25-275-289 (in Russian)