Xixth International Congress of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

The XIXth International Congress of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing was held at the Amsterdam RAI International Exhibition and Congress Centre, the Netherlands, from 16th to 23rd July 2000. Reports are given on the Congress as a whole, including the General Assembly, some Technical Commission activities and the Congress Exhibition. Papers from the Congress are published in the International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 33.     

Simulation of desert-scrub growth: A forcing to warmer and more pluvial climate

Desert-fringe vegetation growing over bright, sandy soils reduces the surface albedo from above 0.4 to well be-low 0.3. Called desert-scrub, these shrubs form a predominantly vertical clumps protruding from the soil-level, thereby significantly increasing the coefficient of turbulent heat transfer from the surface. The impact on global and desert-belt climate of changes in these two surface characteristics was simulated by a multi-layer energy balance model. Evaluated only as a forcing to a further climatic change (that is, without accounting for any possible feedbacks) the results are: if vegetation (such as apparently existed under the warmer climate of 6,000 BP) grows over large areas in the arid, currently bare-soil regions, the annual Northern Hemisphere surface temperature increases by 0.7oC (by 0.6oC in July ), the surface temperature over land in the 20-30oN zone increases by 0.9oC in both the annual and the July means, and the land-ocean annual temperature contrast in this zone increases by 0.25oC (0.2oC in July). These results represent the combined influence of the reduction in the surface albedo and of the increase in the coefficient of turbulent heat transfer. In the desert-belt zones, the increase in the transfer coefficient sharply reduces the land temperature and the land-ocean temperature contrast from the values produced by the albedo change alone. This reduction must be attributed to the increased land-to-ocean circulation (which our model does not evaluate ex-plicitly). Considering that a stronger circulation (resulting from land-ocean temperature contrast) generally forces a higher rainfall, the vegetation which emerged in the arid regions during the post-glacial optimum should be consid-ered a. significant positive feedback towards a still warmer, and also a more pluvial, climate. Our study may have im-plications for the 21st century, if the global warming expected from the enhanced greenhouse effects is accompanied by increased precipitation over the continents.     

Rare earth elements,iron formations and sea water

Iron formations probably formed as chemical sediments when an Fe-rich solution entered the sedimentary environment. The REE patterns of such sediments are affected by the amount and type of precipitating and detrital phases, the REE pattern of the iron source solution, the REE pattern of the sea water into which the solution flows, and the mixing which takes place between input solution and sea water. What is known about the different types of iron formation suggests that all of these factors may vary from one type to another. Therefore, variations in REE patterns cannot be attributed solely to changes in sea water REE patterns. Comparison of the REE patterns of Archean and Ordovician iron formations of the Algoma type shows that similar iron formations have similar REE patterns regardless of age. This implies similar genetic histories.     

Distribution of viral and bacterial pathogens in a coastal canal community

Significant concentrations of human enteric viruses and bacteria were found to be present in the water and sediment of a coastal canal community into which secondarily treated sewage was being discharged.     

Great-circle Rayleigh wave attenuation and group velocity,Part I: Observations for periods between 150 and 600 seconds for seven great-circle paths

Rayleigh wave attenuation coefficients and group velocities have been estimated for seven great-circle paths. The attenuation coefficient measurements cover the period range from 100 to 500 s, and group velocities the range from 100 to 600 s. Global average group velocities and attenuation coefficients have also been estimated for these period ranges. The spread of the individual path group velocities for 20-s averaging windows centred at 290, 250, 210, 180 and 150 s is less than 0.034, 0.028, 0.024, 0.048 and 0.071 km/s, respectively. Global average attenuation coefficients, when combined with global average group velocities, show that Q for Rayleigh waves has an approximately constant value of about 145 for periods between 150 and 220 s and slowly increases to a value of about 200 at a period of 400 s.     

Rocking response of rigid blocks to earthquakes

This investigation deals with the rocking response of rigid blocks subjected to earthquake ground motion. A numerical procedure and computer program are developed to solve the non-linear equations of motion governing the rocking motion of rigid blocks on a rigid base subjected to horizontal and vertical ground motion. The response results presented show that the response of the block is very sensitive to small changes in its size and slenderness ratio and to the details of ground motion. Systematic trends are not apparent: The stability of a block subjected to a particular ground motion does not necessarily increase monotonically with increasing size or decreasing slenderness ratio. Overturning of a block by a ground motion of particular intensity does not imply that the block will necessarily overturn under the action of more intense ground motion. In contrast, systematic trends are observed when the problem is studied from a probabilistic point of view with the ground motion modelled as a random process. The probability of a block exceeding any response level, as well as the probability that a block overturns, increases with increase in ground motion intensity, increase in slenderness ratio of the block and decrease in its size. It is concluded that probabilistic estimates of the intensity of ground shaking may be obtained from its observed effects on monuments, minarets, tombstones and other similar objects provided suitable data in sufficient quantity is available, and the estimates are based on probabilistic analyses of the rocking response of rigid blocks, considering their non-linear dynamic behaviour.