<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/nlm-dtd/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="research-article" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en">
<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ISPRS-Annals</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ISPRS-Annals</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">2194-9050</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/isprs-annals-XI-2-2026-615-2026</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Challenges in automated 4D Point Cloud Generation for Glacier Calving Monitoring at high temporal Resolution</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Duran Vergara</surname>
<given-names>Laura Camila</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6069-0766</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Blanch Gorriz</surname>
<given-names>Xabier</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2694-4475</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Nagathihalli Lokesh</surname>
<given-names>Bindusara</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Eltner</surname>
<given-names>Anette</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2065-6245</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Dresden University of Technology, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>03</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>XI-2-2026</volume>
<fpage>615</fpage>
<lpage>622</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Laura Camila Duran Vergara et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/XI-2-2026/615/2026/isprs-annals-XI-2-2026-615-2026.html">This article is available from https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/XI-2-2026/615/2026/isprs-annals-XI-2-2026-615-2026.html</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/XI-2-2026/615/2026/isprs-annals-XI-2-2026-615-2026.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/XI-2-2026/615/2026/isprs-annals-XI-2-2026-615-2026.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>To robustly support glacier calving monitoring at high temporal resolution and enable future AI-based calving forecasts, this study presents an optimized Multi-Epoch Multi-Imagery (MEMI) strategy for automated 4D point cloud model generation. To date, the dataset comprises over 160,000 images acquired since December 2024 by an autonomous multi-camera system operating at 30 min intervals at Glacier Perito Moreno (GPM), Argentina. Despite high scene variability and harsh environmental conditions, the proposed MEMI workflow effectively addresses constraints imposed by continuous glacier motion and image degradation. The enhanced strategy aims to generate precise dense clouds with high alignment accuracy and computational efficiency, forming the basis for subsequent analysis of glacier front evolution. To achieve this, various parameter configurations are evaluated, including AI-based image masking and adaptive, optimized alignment-adjustment settings. Results from a representative eight-day subset show that variations in the tie point computation strategy lead to measurable differences in alignment-adjustment efficiency, with the best configuration being about 11 % faster than the least efficient one. By contrast, adaptive alignment-adjustment consistently improves alignment accuracy. Moreover, masking enhances both image quality checking and reconstruction quality, and, albeit modestly, improves pre-failure deformation analysis. Furthermore, daily seasonal responses to alignment are observed, as accuracy varies with solar illumination relative to the camera positions. Applying the optimal configuration to 260 MEMI projects in under 42 h produced 518 high-precision dense clouds and detected calving retreat magnitudes of up to 17.5m, demonstrating the robustness and scalability of the proposed MEMI strategy for high-temporal-resolution 4D point cloud generation.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="8"/></counts>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body/>
<back>
</back>
</article>