Locating Drainage Tiles at a Wetland Restoration Site within the Oak Openings Region of Ohio, United States Using UAV and Land Based Geophysical Techniques

Drainage tiles were used to drain wetlands in the midwestern United States convert them into farmlands. With decades of farm operations, utility maps showing tiles’ locations are now mostly inaccurate or simply do not exist. However, knowledge location tile networks is needed effectively restore these farmlands their original wetlands’ conditions. many fields spanning several hectares, efficiently locating drainage at large can be problematic. create variations soil physical properties including moisture content, surface temperature and dielectric permittivity within around pipes which sensed by geophysical methods. Our study assesses application electromagnetic radiation via visible thermal infrared imaging using an unmanned aerial vehicle ground penetrating radar (GPR) locate field scale. The was conducted Sandhill Crane wetland, a 1.1 km2 old agricultural located Swanton, Ohio. A UAV equipped with cameras acquired imagery on regular grid about 100 GPR lines measured 250 MHz system. Both images identified orientations. profiles reveal parallel East-West direction. By UTV pull system, we collected data along covering entire site. delineated network will improve management anthropogenically altered hydrology site as it being restored its wetland