Pinpointing Source of Mekong and Measuring Its Length Through Analys,s of Satellite Imagery and Field Investigations

For centuries, explorers and scientists from different countries had made their own conclusions on the source of the Mekong. However, the geographic source of the Mekong is still arguable because of the complexity of the Mekong source water system, inaccessible environment and the varied technologies used by those explorers and scientists. The satellite remote sensing technology has been used to pinpoint the source of the Mekong, associated with the on-the-spot investigations made by the authors in June 1999 and September 2002. The actual length of the Mekong has also been calculated.     

Pinpointing source of Mekong and measuring its length through analysis of satellite imagery and field investigations

For centuries, explorers and scientists from different countries had made their own conclusions on the source of the Mekong. However, the geographic source of the Mekong is still arguable because of the complexity of the Mekong source water system, inaccessible environment and the varied technologies used by those explorers and scientists. The satellite remote sensing technology has been used to pinpoint the source of the Mekong, associated with the on-the-spot investigations made by the authors in June 1999 and September 2002. The actual length of the Mekong has also been calculated.     

大湄公河次区域中尺度行政区划地理信息系统数据库（GMS_AdmBnd）开发标准研究

大湄公河次区域是自1992年起由亚洲开发银行启动的区域性长期合作计划涉及的区域。在大湄公河次区域经济合作数字化分析过程中,行政区划地理信息系统数据库就成为其中基础性数据库,也是应用面最宽的数据库。本文重点是在现有的行政区划地理信息系统数据库的基础上,建立大湄公河次区域中尺度行政区划地理信息系统数据库（GMS—AdmBnd）的开发标准,包括：主要技术指标,开发流程和成果质量比对指标。本论文内容的发表,将便于用户在使用该数据时根据数据库特点,了解其适用性和局限性,有针对性地加以应用。     

Combination of multi-mission altimetry data along the Mekong River with spatio-temporal kriging

River water-level time series at fixed geographical locations, so-called virtual stations, have been computed from single altimeter crossings for many years. Their temporal resolution is limited by the repeat cycle of the individual altimetry missions. The combination of all altimetry measurements along a river enables computing a water-level time series with improved temporal and spatial resolutions. This study uses the geostatistical method of spatio-temporal ordinary kriging to link multi-mission altimetry data along the Mekong River. The required covariance models reflecting the water flow are estimated based on empirical covariance values between altimetry observations at various locations. In this study, two covariance models are developed and tested in the case of the Mekong River: a stationary and a non-stationary covariance model. The proposed approach predicts water-level time series at different locations along the Mekong River with a temporal resolution of 5 days. Validation is performed against in situ data from four gauging stations, yielding RMS differences between 0.82 and 1.29 m and squared correlation coefficients between 0.89 and 0.94. Both models produce comparable results when used for combining data from Envisat, Jason-1, and SARAL for the time period between 2002 and 2015. The quality of the predicted time series turns out to be robust against a possibly decreasing availability of altimetry mission data. This demonstrates that our method is able to close the data gap between the end of the Envisat and the launch of the SARAL mission with interpolated time series.     

A MODIS-based automated flood monitoring system for southeast asia

Flood disasters in Southeast Asia result in significant loss of life and economic damage. Remote sensing information systems designed to spatially and temporally monitor floods can help governments and international agencies formulate effective disaster response strategies during a flood and ultimately alleviate impacts to population, infrastructure, and agriculture. Recent destructive flood events in the Lower Mekong River Basin occurred in 2000, 2011, 2013, and 2016 (http://ffw.mrcmekong.org/historical_rec.htm, April 24, 2017).The large spatial distribution of flooded areas and lack of proper gauge data in the region makes accurate monitoring and assessment of impacts of floods difficult. Here, we discuss the utility of applying satellite-based Earth observations for improving flood inundation monitoring over the flood-prone Lower Mekong River Basin. We present a methodology for determining near real-time surface water extent associated with current and historic flood events by training surface water classifiers from 8-day, 250-m Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data spanning the length of the MODIS satellite record. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) signature of permanent water bodies (MOD44W; Carroll et al., 2009) is used to train surface water classifiers which are applied to a time period of interest. From this, an operational nowcast flood detection component is produced using twice daily imagery acquired at 3-h latency which performs image compositing routines to minimize cloud cover. Case studies and accuracy assessments against radar-based observations for historic flood events are presented. The customizable system has been transferred to regional organizations and near real-time derived surface water products are made available through a web interface platform. Results highlight the potential of near real-time observation and impact assessment systems to serve as effective decision support tools for governments, international agencies, and disaster responders.     

Remote sensing for optimal cropping pattern in piedmont zone

Piedmont zone is made up of unconsolidated material. They act as a recharge area for Tarai. Population density in this zone is comparatively less, Economical and social conditions of people in this region is very poor. Agriculture is only source of livehood and economy, Modern Agricultural activities are only successfull if assured water supply is available. Remote Sensing Techniques provide data source which can be utilised for evaluating water resources. It has been assumed that the ground water regime of the zone wil not be disturbed and only the amount recharged will be utilised. Rainfall recharge to ground water has been evaluated using Remotely Sensed Data. A major part of the recharged volume is not being utilised. Systems approach has been used to evolve an optimal cropping pattern.     

Pinpointing the sources and measuring the lengths of the principal rivers of the world

Abstract

Cultures throughout the world are associating with the rivers. People depend upon the rivers and their tributaries for food, water, transport, and many other aspects of their daily lives. Unfortunately, human beings have not calculated the accurate lengths for the great rivers even today. The lengths of the rivers are very different in popular textbooks, magazines, atlases and encyclopedias, etc. To accurately determine the lengths of the principal rivers of the world, the combination of satellite image analysis and field investigations to the source regions is proposed in this paper. The lengths of the Nile, Amazon, Yangtze, Mississippi, Yellow, Ob, Yenisey, Amur, Congo and Mekong, with lengths over or close to 5000 km, were calculated using the proposed method. The results may represent the most reliable and accurate lengths of the principal rivers of the world that are currently achievable.     

Retrieval of EVI from Oceansat 2 Data and Comparison with MODIS Derived EVI

The vegetation index is derived using many remote sensing sensors. Vegetation Index is extensively used and remote sensing has become the primary data source. Number of vegetation indices (VIs) have been developed during the past decades in order to assess the state of vegetation qualitatively and quantitatively. Analysis of vegetation indices has been carried out by many investigators scaling from regional level to global level using the remote sensing data of varying spatial, temporal and radiometric resolutions. There are as many as 14 VIs in use. Globally operational algorithms for generation of NDVI have utilized digital counts, at sensor radiances, ‘normalized’ reflectance (top of the atmosphere), and more recently, partially atmospheric corrected (ozone absorption and molecular scattering) reflectance. Presently NDVI and EVI are standard MODIS data products which are widely used by the scientific community for environmental studies. The OCM sensor in Oceansat 2 is designed for ocean colour studies. The OCM sensor has been used for studying ocean phytoplankton, suspended sediments and aerosol optical depth by many investigators. In addition to its capability of studying the ocean surface, OCM sensor has also the potential to study the land surface features. In a past EVI has been retrieved using OCM sensor of Oceansat 1. However, there is slight change in the band width of Oceansat 2—OCM sensor compared with OCM of Oceansat 1 sensor. In the present paper an attempt has been made to derive EVI using Oceansat 2 OCM sensor and the results have been compared with MODIS data. The enhanced vegetation index (EVI) is calculated using the reflectance values obtained after removing molecular scattering and ozone absorption component from the total radiance detected by the sensor. The band-2, Band-3, band-6 and band-8 corresponding to Blue, Red and Infrared part of the visible spectrum have been used to determine EVI. The result shows that Oceansat 2 derived EVI and MODIS derived EVI are well correlated.     

The GPSTk: an open source GPS toolkit

Applied Research Laboratories, The University of Texas at Austin (ARL:UT) has established a cross platform open source software project called the GPSTk or the GPS Toolkit. The GPSTk consists of a library and collection of applications that support GPS research, analysis, and development. The code is released under the terms of the Lesser GNU Public License. The GPSTk supports a broad range of functionality. This includes reading and writing observations in standard formats, such as RINEX, BINEX, and SP3, ephemeris evaluation, position determination, receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (RAIM), atmospheric delay modeling, cycle slip detection and correction, and P-code generation. The GPSTk provides the core set of functionality that is used for GPS research and development at ARL:UT. ARL:UT has been involved with satellite navigation since Transit (the precursor to GPS) in the 1960s and is currently conducting research in a wide variety of GPS-related fields, including precise surveys, monitor station networks, and ionospheric studies. The GPSTk is a community-wide resource for all users of GPS and GNSS technology. Participation is welcomed in all areas including: bug reports, new algorithms, suggestions for improvement, and contributions of additional functionality or applications. ARL:UT continually improves the library, shepherds community participation, and is committed to the project’s development and maintenance. The GPS Toolbox is a column dedicated to highlighting algorithms and source code utilized by GPS Engineers and scientists. If you have an interesting program or software package you would like to share with our readers, please pass it along; e-mail it to us at gps-toolbox@ngs.noaa.gov. To comment on any of the source code discussed here, or to download source code, visit our website at . This column is edited by Stephen Hilla, National Geodetic Survey, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, and Mike Craymer, Geodetic Survey Division, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.     

Development of German-Ukrainian cooperations for education and research in photogrammetry and laser scanning

Since 2011 an intensive international cooperation has been in place between the Institute for Applied Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics(IAPG)at the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Oldenburg,Germany,and various Ukrainian universities.Following an initial contact by Prof.Gottfried Konecny,the first visit was organized,and was followed by many more.In subsequent years an intensive cooperation was established particularly with the National University for Construction and Architecture(KNUCA)in Kiev.In addition to architects and civil engineers,KNUCA also trains geodesists,geo-information scientists and landscape planners.The cooperation today includes the reciprocal exchange of scientists and students,research projects,courses and cooperation at many other levels.In addition,a commercial company has been established,SPM3D LLC,which now employs more than 14 engineers in the field of 3D acquisition,point cloud processing and modeling.This article summarizes the history of the cooperation and presents the results of associated student projects.In addition,results of joint work on the development of a virtual laser scanner are presented,part of a German-Ukrainian initiative to digitize teaching.     

“一带一路”倡议下老挝沙湾区土地适宜性评价

为了对老挝沙湾区土地适宜性进行评价,本文选择了地形、土壤、水利、区位和生态5类13项指标,建立了老挝沙湾区土地适宜性评价指标体系;将层次分析法(AHP)与GIS技术相结合,对老挝沙湾区农业用地、林业用地和建设用地进行适宜性评价。研究结果表明:宜农用地占土地面积的30.16%,主要分布在海拔较低、坡度较小的沙湾拿吉大平原以及湄公河沿岸;宜林用地占土地总面积的60.07%,主要分布在东部和北部山区;宜建用地占土地总面积的4.62%,主要分布在平原地区,湄公河沿岸,以及交通较发达地区;不适宜用地占总面积的2.32%,主要分布在甘蒙省西北部以及东部。研究方法和研究结果可以为老挝沙湾拿吉省土地利用规划和相关研究提供科学依据与支持,同时为老挝今后的土地资源开发奠定基础。     

UNB3m_pack: a neutral atmosphere delay package for radiometric space techniques

Several hybrid neutral atmosphere delay models have been developed at the University of New Brunswick. In this paper we are presenting UNB3m_pack, a package with subroutines in FORTRAN and corresponding functions in MatLab which provides neutral atmospheric information estimated using the UNB3m model. The main goal of UNB3m is to provide reliable predicted neutral atmosphere delays for users of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and other transatmospheric radiometric techniques. Slant neutral atmosphere delays are the main output of the package, however, it can be used to estimate zenith delays, Niell mapping functions values, delay rates, mapping function rates, station pressure, temperature, relative humidity and the mean temperature of water vapor in the atmospheric column. The subroutines work using day of year, latitude, height and elevation angle as input values. The files of the package have a commented section at the beginning, explaining how the subroutines work and what the input and output parameters are. The subroutines are self-contained, i.e., they do not need any auxiliary files. The user has simply to add to his/her software one or more of the available files and call them in the appropriate way. The GPS Tool Box is a column dedicated to highlighting algorithms and source code utilized by GPS engineers and scientists. If you have an interesting program or software package you would like to share with our readers, please pass it along; e-mail it to us at gps-toolbox@ngs.noaa.gov. To comment on any of the source code discussed here, or to download source code, visit our website at . This column is edited by Stephen Hilla, National Geodetic Survey, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, and Mike Craymer, Geodetic Survey Division, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.     

Relative efficiency of larsys classifiers in soil mapping

Launching of Landsat series and flow of data within and beyond the visual spectrum furnished a potent tool for data acquisition to the earth resources scientists for expanding the teritories of knowledge. Increased capability of computer technology made many advancements possible in the field of Remote Sensing. LARS, Purdue, USA has developed several methodologies for abstracting information from Landsat products in various fields of application. The methods employing algorithms of maximum likelihood and minimum distance have been compared applying the techniques of pooling and deleting of LARS to classify soils of Hapur area, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was found that the maximum likelihood yielded a map with better dispostion of soil-scape but the minimum distance method, by deleting, is seen to be very efficient in class combination and CPU time. The results are discussed in this paper with illustrations.     

Measuring Dynamic Interaction in Movement Data

The emergence of technologies capable of storing detailed records of object locations has presented scientists and researchers with a wealth of data on object movement. Yet analytical methods for investigating more advanced research questions from such detailed movement datasets remain limited in scope and sophistication. Recent advances in the study of movement data has focused on characterizing types of dynamic interactions, such as single‐file motion, while little progress has been made on quantifying the degree of such interactions. In this article, we introduce a new method for measuring dynamic interactions (termed DI) between pairs of moving objects. Simulated movement datasets are used to compare DI with an existing correlation statistic. Two applied examples, team sports and wildlife, are used to further demonstrate the value of the DI approach. The DI method is advantageous in that it measures interaction in both movement direction (termed azimuth) and displacement. Also, the DI approach can be applied at local, interval, episodal, and global levels of analysis. However the DI method is limited to situations where movements of two objects are recorded at simultaneous points in time. In conclusion, DI quantifies the level of dynamic interaction between two moving objects, allowing for more thorough investigation of processes affecting interactive moving objects.     

新一代水文遥感潜力展望

本文从我国水文遥感技术和应用的现状出发,以降雨量估算、土壤含水量探测、湖泊和巨型水库水位监测及大型水体水温监测为重点,阐述了新一代水文遥感的技术动向和发展趋势,点明了90年代我国水文遥感的研究方向。     

MATLAB Tools for viewing GPS velocities and time series

Over the past decade, many Global Positioning System (GPS) networks have been installed to monitor tectonic motions around the world. Some of these networks contain hundreds of sites spread across active tectonic margins where the differences in velocities across the network can be 50–100 mm/year. For networks that have been running for a number of years, the uncertainty in the velocity estimates can be less than 1 mm/year. In some cases the vertical motions can also be significant and of importance. Often, the time series of the motions of the GPS sites show complex non-linear behavior, and in all cases the statistical model of the time series is more complex than simple white noise. In this article, we describe a set of Matlab tools developed for use with the GAMIT/GLOBK GPS data analysis system (King 2002; King and Herring 2002) that allow interactive viewing and manipulation of GPS velocities and time series with a Matlab-based graphical user interface (GUI). The formats of the data files used by the tools are specific to GAMIT/GLOBK, but they are simple ASCII files that can be generated from other file formats. The tools are referred to as GGMatlab.The GPS Toolbox is a column dedicated to highlighting algorithms and source code utilized by GPS Engineers and scientists. If you have an interesting program or software package you would like to share with our readers, please pass it along; e-mail it to us at gps-toolbox@ngs.noaa.gov/. To comment on any of the source code discussed here, or to download source code, visit our website at . This column is edited by Stephen Hilla, National Geodetic Survey, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland, and Mike Craymer, Geodetic Survey Division, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. For the sidebar, see the Volume 6, Number 4, 2003 issue of the GPS Toolbox column.     

大气折射的精确计算

不少著名学者,如牛顿、布拉得雷、拉普拉斯和贝塞耳等都对大气折射进行过研究,然而其精确计算,至今仍是一个尚未解决问题。本文在设立一个新的变量的基础上,导出了高精度的计算公式。     

Finding Science with Science: Evaluating a Domain and Scientific Ontology User Interface for the Discovery of Scientific Resources

Current approaches to the discovery of scientific resources (publications, data sets and web services) are dominated by keyword search. These approaches do not allow scientists to search on the deeper semantics of scientific resources, or to discover resources on the basis of the scientific approaches taken. This article evaluates a user interface that allows users to discover scientific resources through structured knowledge in the form of ontologies describing the domain and the scientific knowledge inherent within the scientific resource, and also through informal user tags. These combined capabilities provide scientists with new and powerful options for resource discovery. A qualitative user evaluation explored how scientists felt about the approach for resource discovery in the context of their scientific work. The study showed that marine scientists were enthusiastic about the capabilities of such an approach and appreciated the ability to browse the visual structure of the knowledge and query on scientific method but, overall, preferred the use of tags over ontologies. The exploratory nature of the user study was used to identify future directions for such improvements.     

环境遥感的未来十年——祝贺中国地理学会环境遥感分会成立10周年

过去十年,随着卫星航空信息日渐丰富,作为国家重点攻关项目的遥感技术不断开拓了应用的新领域,初步形成了一个新的高科技信息服务行业。“八五”期间,遥感又列为重点项目,预期气象卫星信息的开发与应用,将会再次出现高潮。在资源卫星群星灿烂,航空遥感持续发展的形势下,需要充分利用现有设备潜力和所取得的技术进步,集中力量,研制大容量存储,实时传输和快速处理功能的智能化技术系统。这样才能适应防灾,估产为主要目标,并兼顾开放城市及全球研究的需求。