Inter sensor comparison between RESOURCESAT LISS III, LISS IV and AWiFS with reference to coastal landuse/landcover studies

Coastal zone assumes importance due to high productivity of ecosystems, man-made developmental activities, natural hazards and dynamic nature of the coast. As costal ecosystems are unique and fragile, understanding the impact of developmental activities on the sustainability of the coastal zone is very important. Remote sensing, because of repetitive and synoptic nature is an ideal tool for studying this. Time series data analyses for monitoring coastal zone require different type of sensors. Present study deals with atmospheric correction of satellite data, reflectance, selection of coastal features like, mudflat, mangroves, vegetated dune, coastal water, etc. and their inter-comparison using different sensor data of RESOURCESAT sensors. Reflectance values give better separateability for various coastal features in comparison to DN values. LISS IV can be used in place of LISS III or merged (LISS III + PAN) for long-term coastal zone studies.     

Mapping of suspended sediments using site specific seasonal algorithms

This article reports a preliminary work in which two site specific seasonal algorithms have been proposed for estimating the suspended sediments concentration (SSC) from the digital numbers recorded on Indian Remote sensing Satellite, IRS-P4 Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) sensor. For estimation of SSC, the proposed algorithms utilize dark pixel deduction atmospheric correction technique. The computations are performed with respect to north east monsoon phase situations of Palk Strait coastal stretch. The algorithms performance was satisfactory during the north east monsoon period. Although the results obtained cannot be generalized, we suggest that the authority of proposed algorithms can be extended to other seasons with the addition of more temporal experimental validation data sets and with numeric constants adjusted to present existing conditions. (As this area was severely affected by Tsunami, it may have dissimilar conditions at present).     

A data-driven approach to local gravity field modelling using spherical radial basis functions

We propose a methodology for local gravity field modelling from gravity data using spherical radial basis functions. The methodology comprises two steps: in step 1, gravity data (gravity anomalies and/or gravity disturbances) are used to estimate the disturbing potential using least-squares techniques. The latter is represented as a linear combination of spherical radial basis functions (SRBFs). A data-adaptive strategy is used to select the optimal number, location, and depths of the SRBFs using generalized cross validation. Variance component estimation is used to determine the optimal regularization parameter and to properly weight the different data sets. In the second step, the gravimetric height anomalies are combined with observed differences between global positioning system (GPS) ellipsoidal heights and normal heights. The data combination is written as the solution of a Cauchy boundary-value problem for the Laplace equation. This allows removal of the non-uniqueness of the problem of local gravity field modelling from terrestrial gravity data. At the same time, existing systematic distortions in the gravimetric and geometric height anomalies are also absorbed into the combination. The approach is used to compute a height reference surface for the Netherlands. The solution is compared with NLGEO2004, the official Dutch height reference surface, which has been computed using the same data but a Stokes-based approach with kernel modification and a geometric six-parameter “corrector surface” to fit the gravimetric solution to the GPS-levelling points. A direct comparison of both height reference surfaces shows an RMS difference of 0.6 cm; the maximum difference is 2.1 cm. A test at independent GPS-levelling control points, confirms that our solution is in no way inferior to NLGEO2004.     

Efficient GOCE satellite gravity field recovery based on least-squares using QR decomposition

We develop and apply an efficient strategy for Earth gravity field recovery from satellite gravity gradiometry data. Our approach is based upon the Paige-Saunders iterative least-squares method using QR decomposition (LSQR). We modify the original algorithm for space-geodetic applications: firstly, we investigate how convergence can be accelerated by means of both subspace and block-diagonal preconditioning. The efficiency of the latter dominates if the design matrix exhibits block-dominant structure. Secondly, we address Tikhonov-Phillips regularization in general. Thirdly, we demonstrate an effective implementation of the algorithm in a high-performance computing environment. In this context, an important issue is to avoid the twofold computation of the design matrix in each iteration. The computational platform is a 64-processor shared-memory supercomputer. The runtime results prove the successful parallelization of the LSQR solver. The numerical examples are chosen in view of the forthcoming satellite mission GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer). The closed-loop scenario covers 1 month of simulated data with 5 s sampling. We focus exclusively on the analysis of radial components of satellite accelerations and gravity gradients. Our extensions to the basic algorithm enable the method to be competitive with well-established inversion strategies in satellite geodesy, such as conjugate gradient methods or the brute-force approach. In its current development stage, the LSQR method appears ready to deal with real-data applications.     

Ocean tide loading (OTL) displacements from global and local grids: comparisons to GPS estimates over the shelf of Brittany, France

In this paper we examine OTL displacements detected by GPS stations of a dedicated campaign and validate ocean tide models. Our area of study is the continental shelf of Brittany and Cotentin in France. Brittany is one of the few places in the world where tides provoke loading displacements of ∼10–12 cm vertically and a few cm horizontally. Ocean tide models suffer from important discrepancies in this region. Seven global and regional ocean tide models were tested: FES2004 corrected for K2, TPXO.7.0, TPXO.6.2, GOT00.2, CSR4.0, NAO.99b and the most recent regional grids of the North East Atlantic (NEA2004). These gridded amplitudes and phases of ocean tides were convolved in order to get the predicted OTL displacements using two different algorithms. Data over a period of 3.5 months of 8 GPS campaign stations located on the north coast of Brittany are used, in order to evaluate the geographical distribution of the OTL effect. We have modified and implemented new algorithms in our GPS software, GINS 7.1. GPS OTL constituents are estimated based on 1-day batch solutions. We compare the observed GPS OTL constituents of M₂, S₂, N₂ and K₁ waves with the selected ocean tide models on global and regional grids. Large phase-lag and amplitude discrepancies over 20° and 1.5 cm in the vertical direction in the semi-diurnal band of M₂ between predictions and GPS/models are detected in the Bay of Mont St-Michel. From a least squares spectral analysis of the GPS time-series, significant harmonic peaks in the integer multiples of the orbital periods of the GPS satellites are observed, indicating the existence of multipath effects in the GPS OTL constituents. The GPS OTL observations agree best with FES2004, NEA2004, GOT00.2 and CSR4.0 tide models.