Collection and extraction of water level information from a digital river camera image dataset

We present a new water level dataset extracted from images taken by four Farson Digital Ltd river cameras for a Tewkesbury, UK flood event (21st November – 5th December 2012). This data article presents the new water level data together with a description of metadata, data acquisition, and extraction methods. The water level information was extracted from the images using measured points in the field-of-view of each camera using Leica GNSS and Total Station instruments with high spatial accuracy of order of 1 cm. We use river gauge data to verify the new dataset. The new dataset has a short duration but includes the rising limb, peak discharge and falling limb of the flood event. It has potential for verifying future automatic water level extraction methods and for development of automatic flood alert methods and can provide valuable information in data assimilation systems used for improving inundation forecasts.