Easter Egg detection? No – UAV and satellite imagery derived grainsize estimates!

Easter Egg detection? No – UAV and satellite imagery derived grainsize estimates!

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April 1, 2026

No, this is not our latest UAV based Easter egg detection system even though it would fit the season. This is a snapshot of the Master thesis of EAGLE student Leonie Sonntag who is using high resolution UAV imagery of gravel bars at the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan to survey grain size by applying a deep learning based segmentation model. In a next step, the resulting information will be linked to Sentinel-1 and 2 imagery to train a machine learning regression for predicting grain size information for several hundred kilometers of river and across multiple years. With her thesis study, Leonie delivers a significant contribution to the hydro-geomorphology part of the FluBig project which is dedicated to better understand the interaction of geomorphic processes and vegetation development.
Leonies thesis is not only a great example how UAV and satellite data can be combined for precise and efficient monitoring of earth surface dynamics, it also shows the great potential arising from a strong integration of our EAGLE master with ongoing research projects.

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