Crop hail damage assessment based on radar and drone integrated technologies

The main goal of our study is to improve the efficiency of crop hail damage assessment and loss adjustment. We conducted a pilot study utilising radar and drone integrated technologies for crop hail damage assessment. A severe hailstorm occurred on July 12, 2016 in the province of Styria, Austria which caused damage to crops in the village of Hartensdorf in Eastern Styria. After the pass of the storm, 3D single polarisation C-band weather radar and radiosonde freezing level data were analysed to identify the occurrence of hail information. Radar-based hail detection algorithms (Waldvogel and Auer) and hail kinetic energy were used to derive hail signature information. The spatial distribution maps of total hail kinetic energy were developed to capture the swath and intensity of the hail storms to identify potential hail damage areas intended for crop hail risk assessment. In addition, a drone was brought into operation over a pumpkin crop in Hartensdorf to gather damage information. The very high-resolution drone imageries were collected, processed, and analysed. The drone based visual damage assessment shows that the damage footprints were well captured over the pumpkin patch. Crop damage reports from the Austrian Hail Insurance System were allotted for validation. The results show that radar-based hail signature information well corresponds to the areas where hail events and damages were reported