Assessment of groundwater potential zones using GIS technique

A case study was conducted to find out the groundwater potential zones in Kattakulathur block, Tamil Nadu, India with an aerial extent of 360.60 km². The thematic maps such as geology, geomorphology, soil hydrological group, land use / land cover and drainage map were prepared for the study area. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has been generated from the 10 m interval contour lines (which is derived from SOI, Toposheet 1:25000 scale) and obtained the slope (%) of the study area. The groundwater potential zones were obtained by overlaying all the thematic maps in terms of weighted overlay methods using the spatial analysis tool in ArcGIS 9.2. During weighted overlay analysis, the ranking has been given for each individual parameter of each thematic map and weights were assigned according to the influence such as soil −25%, geomorphology − 25%, land use/land cover −25%, slope − 15%, lineament − 5% and drainage / streams − 5% and find out the potential zones in terms of good, moderate and poor zones with the area of 49.70 km², 261.61 km² and 46.04 km² respectively. The potential zone wise study area was overlaid with village boundary map and the village wise groundwater potential zones with three categories such as good, moderate and poor zones were obtained. This GIS based output result was validated by conducting field survey by randomly selecting wells in different villages using GPS instruments. The coordinates of each well location were obtained by GPS and plotted in the GIS platform and it was clearly shown that the well coordinates were exactly seated with the classified zones.     

A hierarchical model for estimating methane emission from wetlands using MODIS data and ARIMA modeling

A three-step hierarchical Semi Automated Empirical Methane Emission Model (SEMEM) has been used to estimate methane emission from wetlands and waterlogged areas in India using Moderate Resolution Imagine Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor data onboard Terra satellite. Wetland Surface Temperature (WST), methane emission fluxes and wetland extent have been incorporated as parameters in order to model the methane emission. Analysis of monthly MODIS data covering the whole of India from November 2004 to April 2006 was carried out and monthly methane emissions have been estimated. Interpolation techniques were adopted to fill the data gaps due to cloudy conditions during the monsoon period. AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model has been fitted to estimate the emitted methane for the months of May 2006 to August 2006 using SPSS software.     

An approach to aid INS using time-differenced GPS carrier phase (TDCP) measurements

This paper presents a simple and effective approach that incorporates single-frequency, L1 time-differenced GPS carrier phase (TDCP) measurements without the need of ambiguity resolution techniques and the complexity to accommodate the delayed-state terms. Static trial results are included to illustrate the stochastic characteristics and effectiveness of the TDCP measurements in controlling position error growth. The formulation of the TDCP observation model is also described in a 17-state tightly-coupled GPS/INS iterative, extended Kalman filter (IEKF) approach. Preliminary land vehicle trial results are also presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the TDCP which provides sub-meter positional accuracies when operating for more than 10 min.     

Urban cadastral mapping using very high resolution remote sensing data

With growing urban expanses, one of the pre-requisites for effective governance is Urban Information Systems (UIS) with content down to individual properties (and individuals). The basic input i.e., a map, in UIS should show individual property boundaries showing the plan outline of all structures existing within, at a scale of 1:1000 and larger with sub-metre to centimeters planimetric and geometric accuracy. With very high resolution remote sensing data of the order of 1m available in hand, it is possible to prepare maps with high resolution spatial content. The present exercise demonstrates a method of preparing a geometrically and planimetrically accurate urban cadastral map on very large scale for a small area of about 5 sq km. IKONOS merged data with 1m resolution is used for the purpose. Mapping was done in conjunction with on-site measurements and sketches. Guides are used to maintain shape symmetry and accuracy of buildings and other features. Working out cost of mapping per unit area is another objective in the present exercise. For want of fully or semi-automatic methods of information extraction from very high resolution remote sensing data, it is imperative that mapping should be carried out in conjunction with some on-site measurements wherever necessary.     

Use of laser range and height texture cues for building identification

Airborne LiDAR has found application in an increasing number of mapping and Geo-data acquisition tasks. Apart from terrain information generation, applications such as automatic detection and modeling of objects like buildings or vegetation for the generation of 3-D city models have been explored. Besides the height itself, height texture defined by local variations of the height is a significant parameter for object recognition. The paper explores the potential of the analysis of height texture as a cue for the automatic detection of objects in LiDAR datasets. A number of texture measures were computed. Based on their definition and computation these measures were used as bands in a classification algorithm, and objects like buildings, single trees, and roads could be recognized.     

A study on the reference frame consistency in recent Earth gravitational models

All gravity field functionals obtained from an Earth gravitational model (EGM) depend on the underlying terrestrial reference frame (TRF), with respect to which the EGM’s spherical harmonic coefficients refer to. In order to maintain a coherent framework for the comparison of current and future EGMs, it is thus important to investigate the consistency of their inherent TRFs, especially when their use is intended for high precision studies. Following the methodology described in an earlier paper by Kleusberg (1980), the similarity transformation parameters between the associated reference frames for several EGMs (including the most recent CHAMP/GRACE models at the time of writing this paper) are estimated in the present study. Specifically, the differences between the spherical harmonic coefficients for various pairs of EGMs are parameterized through a 3D-similarity spatial transformation model that relates their underlying TRFs. From the least-squares adjustment of such a parametric model, the origin, orientation and scale stability between the EGMs’ reference frames can be identified by estimating their corresponding translation, rotation and scale factor parameters. Various aspects of the estimation procedure and its results are highlighted in the paper, including data weighting schemes, the sensitivity of the results with respect to the selected harmonic spectral band, the correlation structure and precision level of the estimated transformation parameters, the effect of the estimated differences of the EGMs’ reference frames on their height anomaly signal, and the overall feasibility of Kleusberg’s formulae for the assessment of TRF inconsistencies among global geopotential models.     

Calibrating the GOCE accelerations with star sensor data and a global gravity field model

A reliable and accurate gradiometer calibration is essential for the scientific return of the gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE) mission. This paper describes a new method for external calibration of the GOCE gradiometer accelerations. A global gravity field model in combination with star sensor quaternions is used to compute reference differential accelerations, which may be used to estimate various combinations of gradiometer scale factors, internal gradiometer misalignments and misalignments between star sensor and gradiometer. In many aspects, the new method is complementary to the GOCE in-flight calibration. In contrast to the in-flight calibration, which requires a satellite-shaking phase, the new method uses data from the nominal measurement phases. The results of a simulation study show that gradiometer scale factors can be estimated on a weekly basis with accuracies better than 2 × 10⁻³ for the ultrasensitive and 10⁻² for the less sensitive axes, which is compatible with the requirements of the gravity gradient error. Based on a 58-day data set, scale factors are found that can reduce the errors of the in-flight-calibrated measurements. The elements of the complete inverse calibration matrix, representing both the internal gradiometer misalignments and scale factors, can be estimated with accuracies in general better than 10⁻³.     

Conventions on thermal expansion modelling of radio telescopes for geodetic and astrometric VLBI

Thermal expansion of radio telescopes has long been recognized as an effect which cannot be neglected in geodetic and astrometric VLBI data analysis if millimeter accuracy is desired. In this article, the author documents the conventions which are being set by the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) for a consistent modelling of this effect in its routine product generation. For the largest telescopes, the annual cycle of thermal expansion may change the height of the VLBI reference point by as much as 20 mm. However, for telescopes which are used in present-day IVS operations, the variations rather range from 4 to 6 mm.