Apparatus and processes for estimating river velocity

A method of estimating a velocity of water in a river, the method comprising:

• receiving, by an image analysis component executable by at least one processor, at least one image including a river;
• identifying, by the image analysis component, an area of interest in the at least one image, the area of interest including the river;
• receiving, by a river analysis component executable by the at least one processor, terrain information;
• identifying, by the river analysis component, a course of the river and a boundary of the river based on the area of interest in the at least one image;
• estimating, by the river analysis component, a slope of the river based on the terrain information;
• determining, by the river analysis component, a hydraulic radius of the river based on the boundary of the river and the course of the river;
• generating, by the river analysis component, a model of riverbed contours of the river based on normalized locations of a thalweg of the river, a shape of the riverbed contours being defined by curve parameters corresponding to the normalized locations of the thalweg;
• and
• estimating, by a flow rate estimation component executable by the at least one processor, a flow rate of water in the river based on at least the slope of the river and the hydraulic radius of the river.