The extension of the parametrization of the radio source coordinates in geodetic VLBI and its impact on the time series analysis

The radio sources within the most recent celestial reference frame (CRF) catalog ICRF2 are represented by a single, time-invariant coordinate pair. The datum sources were chosen mainly according to certain statistical properties of their position time series. Yet, such statistics are not applicable unconditionally, and also ambiguous. However, ignoring systematics in the source positions of the datum sources inevitably leads to a degradation of the quality of the frame and, therefore, also of the derived quantities such as the Earth orientation parameters. One possible approach to overcome these deficiencies is to extend the parametrization of the source positions, similarly to what is done for the station positions. We decided to use the multivariate adaptive regression splines algorithm to parametrize the source coordinates. It allows a great deal of automation, by combining recursive partitioning and spline fitting in an optimal way. The algorithm finds the ideal knot positions for the splines and, thus, the best number of polynomial pieces to fit the data autonomously. With that we can correct the ICRF2 a priori coordinates for our analysis and eliminate the systematics in the position estimates. This allows us to introduce also special handling sources into the datum definition, leading to on average 30 % more sources in the datum. We find that not only the CPO can be improved by more than 10 % due to the improved geometry, but also the station positions, especially in the early years of VLBI, can benefit greatly.     

Atmospheric modelling in GPS analysis and its effect on the estimated geodetic parameters

Permanently operating Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers are used today, for example, in precise positioning and determination of atmospheric water vapour content. The GPS signals are delayed by various gases when traversing the atmosphere. The delay due to water vapour, the wet delay, is difficult to model using ground surface data and is thus often estimated from the GPS data. In order to obtain the most accurate results from the GPS processing, a modelling of the horizontal distribution of the wet delay may be necessary. Through simulations, three such models are evaluated, one of which is developed in this paper. In the first model the water vapour is assumed to be horizontally stratified, thus the wet delay can be described by only one zenith parameter. The second model gives the wet delay with one zenith and two horizontal gradient parameters. The third model uses the correlation between the wet-delay values in different directions. It is found that for large gradients and strong turbulence the two latter models yield lower errors in the estimated vertical coordinate and wet-delay parameters. For large gradients this improvement is up to 7 mm in the zenith wet-delay parameter, from 9 mm down to 2 and 4 mm for the second and third models, respectively. Received: 7 May 1998 / Accepted: 1 March 1999     

MINQUE for block diagonal bordered systems such as those encountered in VLBI data analysis

A sparse matrix method is developed for computing variance factors for block-diagonal, bordered systems of equations using MINQUE (Minimum Norm Quadratic Unbiased Estimation). This method greatly reduces the computational effort required to apply MINQUE, thus making it practical to compute variance factors for some very large systems of equations. The computer implementation of the method is described and applied to the computation of variance factors for a combination of 1609 VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) observing sessions. The purpose of this test was to compute a variance factor for each of the data sets and, perhaps, to obtain more realistic variance estimates to replace those in common use for the analysis of VLBI data. It was found that the method is satisfactory for use with such large problems, and the test served to verify that the variances in current use in VLBI data adjustments are adequate. Received: 26 November 1996 / Accepted: 12 December 1997     

On the choice of a random variable which eliminates the bias caused by variable spacing in geodetic levelling

Computer values of the mean square error of the Nigerian Geodetic Levelling based on the model x_ij = ρ_ij/R _ij ^1/2 showed a uniformity between the lines of levelling, of a nature which suggest that x_ij = ρ_ij/R _ij ^1/2 is a good fit for the data. Values of the mean square error of the levelling based on w_ij = ρ_ij/R_ij showed such significant variation between the lines that this alternative model does not seem to be supported by the data used in this study.     

Refined discrete and empirical horizontal gradients in VLBI analysis

Missing or incorrect consideration of azimuthal asymmetry of troposphere delays is a considerable error source in space geodetic techniques such as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) or Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). So-called horizontal troposphere gradients are generally utilized for modeling such azimuthal variations and are particularly required for observations at low elevation angles. Apart from estimating the gradients within the data analysis, which has become common practice in space geodetic techniques, there is also the possibility to determine the gradients beforehand from different data sources than the actual observations. Using ray-tracing through Numerical Weather Models (NWMs), we determined discrete gradient values referred to as GRAD for VLBI observations, based on the standard gradient model by Chen and Herring (J Geophys Res 102(B9):20489–20502, 1997.  https://doi.org/10.1029/97JB01739) and also for new, higher-order gradient models. These gradients are produced on the same data basis as the Vienna Mapping Functions 3 (VMF3) (Landskron and Böhm in J Geod, 2017.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-017-1066-2), so they can also be regarded as the VMF3 gradients as they are fully consistent with each other. From VLBI analyses of the Vienna VLBI and Satellite Software (VieVS), it becomes evident that baseline length repeatabilities (BLRs) are improved on average by 5% when using a priori gradients GRAD instead of estimating the gradients. The reason for this improvement is that the gradient estimation yields poor results for VLBI sessions with a small number of observations, while the GRAD a priori gradients are unaffected from this. We also developed a new empirical gradient model applicable for any time and location on Earth, which is included in the Global Pressure and Temperature 3 (GPT3) model. Although being able to describe only the systematic component of azimuthal asymmetry and no short-term variations at all, even these empirical a priori gradients slightly reduce (improve) the BLRs with respect to the estimation of gradients. In general, this paper addresses that a priori horizontal gradients are actually more important for VLBI analysis than previously assumed, as particularly the discrete model GRAD as well as the empirical model GPT3 are indeed able to refine and improve the results.     

Non-linear motions of Australian geodetic stations induced by non-tidal ocean loading and the passage of tropical cyclones

We investigate daily and sub-daily non-tidal oceanic and atmospheric loading (NTOAL) in the Australian region and put an upper bound on potential site motion examining the effects of tropical cyclone Yasi that crossed the Australian coast in January/February 2011. The dynamic nature of the ocean is important, particularly for northern Australia where the long-term scatter due to daily and sub-daily oceanic changes increases by 20–55 % compared to that estimated using the inverted barometer (IB) assumption. Correcting the daily Global Positioning System (GPS) time series for NTOAL employing either a dynamic ocean model or the IB assumption leads to a reduction of up to 52 % in the weighted scatter of daily coordinate estimates. Differences between the approaches are obscured by seasonal variations in the GPS precision along the northern coast. Two compensating signals during the cyclone require modelling at high spatial and temporal resolution: uplift induced by the atmospheric depression, and subsidence induced by storm surge. The latter dominates ( \(>\) 135 %) the combined net effect that reaches a maximum of 14 mm, and 10 mm near the closest GPS site TOW2. Here, 96 % of the displacement is reached within 15 h due to the rapid transit of cyclones and the quasi-linear nature of the coastline. Consequently, estimating sub-daily NTOAL is necessary to properly account for such a signal that can be 3.5 times larger than its daily-averaged value. We were unable to detect the deformation signal in 2-hourly GPS processing and show that seasonal noise in the Austral summer dominates and precludes GPS detection of the cyclone-related subsidence.     

Prospect on Present-Day Crustal Kinematics and Dynamics Research in Sichuan-Yunnan Area with Geodetic Data

Combining the dense GPS and gravity observation data in Sichuan-Yunnan area, where there are the relatively complete active tectonic zones and seismic data, this paper applies the geodesy and geophysical inversion technique and the advanced numerical simulation to the synthesis study of geodesy inversion to find the dynamic process of tectonic movement and deformation in the area and finally to investigate the kinematics characteristic of the geological structure of different layer and different scale. This paper discusses the kinematics, dynamics model about the crustal movement of active blocks in Sichuan-Yunnan area and its adjacent areas.     

A Global Terrestrial Reference Frame from simulated VLBI and SLR data in view of GGOS

In this study, we assess the impact of two combination strategies, namely local ties (LT) and global ties (GT), on the datum realization of Global Terrestrial Reference Frames in view of the Global Geodetic Observing System requiring 1 mm-accuracy. Simulated Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) data over a 7 year time span was used. The LT results show that the geodetic datum can be best transferred if the precision of the LT is at least 1 mm. Investigating different numbers of LT, the lack of co-located sites on the southern hemisphere is evidenced by differences of 9 mm in translation and rotation compared to the solution using all available LT. For the GT, the combination applying all Earth rotation parameters (ERP), such as pole coordinates and UT1-UTC, indicates that the rotation around the Z axis cannot be adequately transferred from VLBI to SLR within the combination. Applying exclusively the pole coordinates as GT, we show that the datum can be transferred with mm-accuracy within the combination. Furthermore, adding artificial stations in Tahiti and Nigeria to the current VLBI network results in an improvement in station positions by 13 and 12%, respectively, and in ERP by 17 and 11%, respectively. Extending to every day VLBI observations leads to 65% better ERP estimates compared to usual twice-weekly VLBI observations.     

Improving the modeling of the atmospheric delay in the data analysis of the Intensive VLBI sessions and the impact on the UT1 estimates

The very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) Intensive sessions are typically 1-h and single-baseline VLBI sessions, specifically designed to yield low-latency estimates of UT1-UTC. In this work, we investigate what accuracy is obtained from these sessions and how it can be improved. In particular, we study the modeling of the troposphere in the data analysis. The impact of including external information on the zenith wet delays (ZWD) and tropospheric gradients from GPS or numerical weather prediction models is studied. Additionally, we test estimating tropospheric gradients in the data analysis, which is normally not done. To evaluate the results, we compared the UT1-UTC values from the Intensives to those from simultaneous 24-h VLBI session. Furthermore, we calculated length of day (LOD) estimates using the UT1-UTC values from consecutive Intensives and compared these to the LOD estimated by GPS. We find that there is not much benefit in using external ZWD; however, including external information on the gradients improves the agreement with the reference data. If gradients are estimated in the data analysis, and appropriate constraints are applied, the WRMS difference w.r.t. UT1-UTC from 24-h sessions is reduced by 5% and the WRMS difference w.r.t. the LOD from GPS by up to 12%. The best agreement between Intensives and the reference time series is obtained when using both external gradients from GPS and additionally estimating gradients in the data analysis.     

点云数据直接缩减方法及缩减效果研究

分析了国外点云数据处理中数据缩减方法的研究现状,针对实际工程中三维激光扫描数据采集的过密情况,提出利用扫描间隔进行点云数据直接缩减的方法,并编程实现所提出的算法。通过对真实的三维激光扫描点云数据的缩减处理,建立点云数据直接缩减的预测模型。     

The analytical continuation bias in geoid determination using potential coefficients and terrestrial gravity data

One important application of an Earth Gravity Model (EGM) is to determine the geoid. Since an EGM is represented by an external-type series of spherical harmonics, a biased geoid model is obtained when the EGM is applied inside the masses in continental regions. In order to convert the downward-continued height anomaly to the corresponding geoid undulation, a correction has to be applied for the analytical continuation bias of the geoid height. This technique is here called the geoid bias method. A correction for the geoid bias can also be utilised when an EGM is combined with terrestrial gravity data, using the combined approach to topographic corrections. The geoid bias can be computed either by a strict integral formula, or by means of one or more terms in a binomial expansion. The accuracy of the lowest binomial terms is studied numerically. It is concluded that the first term (of power H²) can be used with high accuracy up to degree 360 everywhere on Earth. If very high mountains are disregarded, then the use of the H² term can be extended up to maximum degrees as high as 1800. It is also shown that the geoid bias method is practically equal to the technique applied by Rapp, which utilises the quasigeoid-to-geoid separation. Another objective is to carefully consider how the combined approach to topographic corrections should be interpreted. This includes investigations of how the above-mentioned H² term should be computed, as well as how it can be improved by a correction for the residual geoid bias. It is concluded that the computation of the combined topographic effect is efficient in the case that the residual geoid bias can be neglected, since the computation of the latter is very time consuming. It is nevertheless important to be able to compute the residual bias for individual stations. For reasonable maximum degrees, this can be used to check the quality of the H² approximation in different situations.Acknowledgement The author would like to thank Prof. L.E. Sjöberg for several ideas and for reading two draft versions of the paper. His support and constructive remarks have improved its quality considerably. The valuable suggestions from three unknown reviewers are also appreciated.     

城市绿地信息提取遥感影像尺度效应分析

绿地信息提取精度与影像的空间尺度有关,又与提取目标的特点有关。目前用于绿地信息提取的高分辨率遥感影像主要有QUICKBIRD、IKONOS和SPOT5,不同尺度影像对绿地信息提取精度的影响还缺少相关的研究。本文利用目视解译方法,研究三种尺度遥感影像提取绿地信息的精度。结果表明,三种影像中,由于QUICK-BIRD影像有更详细的空间结构,更适合于城市绿地零星分布特点,在以7层建筑物以下为主的研究区,绿地信息提取精度最高。     

Variance components in errors-in-variables models: estimability,stability and bias analysis

Although total least squares has been substantially investigated theoretically and widely applied in practical applications, almost nothing has been done to simultaneously address the estimation of parameters and the errors-in-variables (EIV) stochastic model. We prove that the variance components of the EIV stochastic model are not estimable, if the elements of the random coefficient matrix can be classified into two or more groups of data of the same accuracy. This result of inestimability is surprising as it indicates that we have no way of gaining any knowledge on such an EIV stochastic model. We demonstrate that the linear equations for the estimation of variance components could be ill-conditioned, if the variance components are theoretically estimable. Finally, if the variance components are estimable, we derive the biases of their estimates, which could be significantly amplified due to a large condition number.     

Mapping fine‐scale urban housing prices by fusing remotely sensed imagery and social media data

The accurate mapping of urban housing prices at a fine scale is essential to policymaking and urban studies, such as adjusting economic factors and determining reasonable levels of residential subsidies. Previous studies focus mainly on housing price analysis at a macro scale, without fine‐scale study due to a lack of available data and effective models. By integrating a convolutional neural network for united mining (UMCNN) and random forest (RF), this study proposes an effective deep‐learning‐based framework for fusing multi‐source geospatial data, including high spatial resolution (HSR) remotely sensed imagery and several types of social media data, and maps urban housing prices at a very fine scale. With the collected housing price data from China's biggest online real estate market, we produced the spatial distribution of housing prices at a spatial resolution of 5 m in Shenzhen, China. By comparing with eight other multi‐source data mining techniques, the UMCNN obtained the highest housing price simulation accuracy (Pearson R = 0.922, OA = 85.82%). The results also demonstrated a complex spatial heterogeneity inside Shenzhen's housing price distribution. In future studies, we will work continuously on housing price policymaking and residential issues by including additional sources of spatial data.     

HJ-1卫星CCD数据的大气校正及其效果分析

利用MODTRAN 4模型对地表-大气-遥感器之间的辐射传输过程进行模拟,模拟出对应大气参数下的表观辐亮度;利用模拟生成的大气校正查找表,逐像元对HJ-1卫星CCD数据进行大气校正;并从光谱曲线、与MODIS地表反射率产品比较、归一化植被指数(NDVI)三个方面,探讨了HJ-1卫星CCD数据大气校正效果.结果表明:(1...     

Estimation of asymmetry and kurtosis coefficients in the process of geodetic network adjustment by the least-squares method

 This paper presents an extension of the geodetic network adjustment model. The proposed extension makes possible the estimation of the 3-rd and 4-th central moments for the vector of measurement errors in the process of network adjustment by the least-squares method with application of orthogonal matrices. It allows to estimate the asymmetry and kurtosis of the measurement errors distribution. Received 13 April 1993; Accepted 8 July 1996     

A comparison of recent Earth gravitational models with emphasis on their contribution in refining the gravity and geoid at continental or regional scale

Since the publication of the Earth gravitational model (EGM)96 considerable improvements in the observation techniques resulted in the development of new improved models. The improvements are due to the availability of data from dedicated gravity mapping missions (CHAMP, GRACE) and to the use of 5′ × 5′ terrestrial and altimetry derived gravity anomalies. It is expected that the use of new EGMs will further contribute to the improvement of the resolution and accuracy of the gravity and geoid modeling in continental and regional scale. To prove this numerically, three representative Earth gravitational models are used for the reduction of several kinds of data related to the gravity field in different places of the Earth. The results of the reduction are discussed regarding the corresponding covariance functions which might be used for modeling using the least squares collocation method. The contribution of the EIGEN-GL04C model in most cases is comparable to that of EGM96. However, the big difference is shown in the case of EGM2008, due not only to its quality but obviously to its high degree of expansion. Almost in all cases the variance and the correlation length of the covariance functions of data reduced to this model up to its maximum degree are only a few percentages of corresponding quantities of the same data reduced up to degree 360. Furthermore, the mean value and the standard deviation of the reduced gravity anomalies in extended areas of the Earth such as Australia, Arctic region, Scandinavia or the Canadian plains, vary between −1 and +1 and between 5 and 10 × 10⁻⁵ ms⁻², respectively, reflecting the homogenization of the gravity field on a regional scale. This is very important in using least squares collocation for regional applications. However, the distance to the first zero-value was in several cases much longer than warranted by the high degree of the expansion. This is attributed to errors of medium wavelengths stemming from the lack of, e.g., high-quality data in some area.     

利用中国地壳运动观测网络的GPS资料对太阳耀斑的监测及分析

利用中国地壳运动观测网络的GPS资料对2000年7月14日的太阳耀斑进行监测和分析,介绍一种值得探讨的耀斑爆发前可能存在的"前兆"现象.     

Change detection in urban areas by object-based analysis and on-the-fly comparison of multi-view ALS data

The use of helicopters as a sensor platform offers flexible fields of application due to adaptable flying speed at low flight levels. Modern helicopters are equipped with radar altimeters, inertial navigation systems (INS), forward-looking cameras and even laser scanners for automatic obstacle avoidance. If the 3D geometry of the terrain is already available, the analysis of airborne laser scanner (ALS) measurements may also be used for terrain-referenced navigation and change detection. In this paper, we present a framework for on-the-fly comparison of current ALS data to given reference data of an urban area. In contrast to classical difference methods, our approach extends the concept of occupancy grids known from robot mapping. However, it does not blur the measured information onto the grid cells. The proposed change detection method applies the Dempster–Shafer theory to identify conflicting evidence along the laser pulse propagation path. Additional attributes are considered to decide whether detected changes are of man-made origin or occurring due to seasonal effects. The concept of online change detection has been successfully validated in offline experiments with recorded ALS data streams. Results are shown for an urban test site at which multi-view ALS data were acquired at an interval of 1 year.