Image-aided platform orientation determination with a GNSS/low-cost IMU system using robust-adaptive Kalman filter

The availability of miniaturized sensors with enhanced capabilities, new methods for image processing, and easy access to small and low-weight airborne platforms for data acquisition, including unmanned vehicles, opens new possibilities for geodetic navigation applications and developing new developments in sensor fusion. In this context, the development of efficient methods, based on low-cost sensors, to extract precise georeferenced information from digital cameras is of utmost interest. We present a method to improve the performance of the integration of GNSS/low-cost IMU by exploiting the orientation changes retrieved from digital images. In this work, a robust-adaptive Kalman filter is also introduced to further improve the performance of the method deployed. The adaptive factor and the robust factor accomplished are determined by innovation information and the threshold value of orientation changes between consecutive images. Results from airborne tests used to assess the performance of the method are presented. The results show that using a non-metric camera, the Euler angle estimation accuracy of the GNSS/low-cost IMU integration can be improved to be close to 0.5 degree and an additional improvement, which can reach 59%, can be achieved after using the robust-adaptive Kalman filter.     

3D-Monitoring Big Geo Data on a seaport infrastructure based on FIWARE

Many organizations of all kinds are using new technologies to assist the acquisition and analysis of data. Seaports are a good example of this trend. Seaports generate data regarding the management of marine traffic and other elements, as well as environmental conditions given by meteorological sensors and buoys. However, this enormous amount of data, also known as Big Data, is useless without a proper system to organize, analyze and visualize it. SmartPort is an online platform for the visualization and management of a seaport data that has been built as a GIS application. This work offers a Rich Internet Application that allows the user to visualize and manage the different sources of information produced in a port environment. The Big Data management is based on the FIWARE platform, as well as “The Internet of Things” solutions for the data acquisition. At the same time, Glob3 Mobile (G3M) framework has been used for the development of map requirements. In this way, SmartPort supports 3D visualization of the ports scenery and its data sources.     

‘Filament’ marker beds in the Karababa-A Member (Turonian) of the Arabian platform,SE Turkey: Palaeo-environmental significance,stratigraphy and correlation potential

A ‘filament’ event bed/level corresponds to the occurrence of thin elongate calcitic, shells, or plates of pelagic, bivalve or crinoidal, origin, within pelagic, laminated and organic-matter rich limestones. These organic-rich limestones had been generally deposited under hypoxic/anoxic conditions in an outer-ramp environment. These thin elongate, bivalve shells, or crinoidal plates, are found broken in small pieces, disintegrated, or simply preserved parallel to bedding as almost complete specimens. Such ‘filament’ beds were spotted in SE Turkey in deposits, namely the Karababa-A Member, around the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary (C/TB) and above. On a global scale, these filament event beds illustrate sea-level rise related to eustacy and/or climatic change. The abundance of filaments close to the C/TB is a biological marker of high organic productivity resulting from a climatic change to warmer conditions. The prevailing higher sea-level conditions were then favourable to the accumulation and preservation of organic-rich facies, characteristic of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2). Using both biostratigraphic and carbon isotopic data, those deposits were dated from the latest Cenomanian-Turonian age. ‘Filament’ event beds were recorded in the same order, except for some small differences. A good number of these bio-events are global. Consequently, on a global scale, they are susceptible to constrain the C/TB, especially the base of the Turonian stage, with a significant degree of confidence.     

Use of Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate Strips in Soil Improvement

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Many studies have investigated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene fibers in soil improvement. However, there is a lack of research using...     

Predicting seiche hazard for coastal harbours along the northern and western coasts of France

Natural Hazards - Long-period waves propagating inside harbours can lead to the generation of seiche that can affect and significantly disrupt port operations. This study is based on the analysis...     

Predicting the impact of management and climate scenarios on groundwater nitrate concentration trends in southern Portugal

Hydrogeology Journal - The dynamics related to evolution of nitrate-contaminated groundwater are analyzed with focus on the impact of intrinsic aquifer properties, agricultural activities and...     

Would different methodologies for assessing carbon leakage exposure lead to different risk levels? A case study of the Brazilian industry

Energy-intensive industries play an important role in low-carbon development, being particularly exposed to climate policies. Concern over possible carbon leakage in this sector poses a major challenge for designing effective carbon pricing instruments (CPI). Different methodologies for assessing carbon leakage exposure are currently used by different jurisdictions, each of them based on different approaches and indicators. This paper aims to analyse the extent to which the use of different methodologies leads to different results in terms of exposure to the risk of carbon leakage, using the Brazilian industry sector as a case study. Results indicate that carbon leakage exposure is an expected outcome of eventual CPI implementation in Brazilian industry. However, results vary according to the chosen methodology, so the definition of the criteria is paramount for assessing sectoral exposure to the risk of carbon leakage.

Key policy insights

• Despite increasing discussion about the implementation of carbon pricing on the Brazilian industrial sector, the evaluation of carbon leakage risks is still neglected.

• Assessments of the risk of carbon leakage are directly related to the indicators and criteria used by each methodology. Thus, a given subsector may present different levels of exposure to carbon leakage depending on the methodological choice.

• More than a purely technical discussion, the methodological definition of carbon leakage risk is a political discussion – it can be well-conducted, leading to the success of a CPI, or even sabotaged, by implicitly subsidizing energy-intensive industries.

     

The thermal maturity of sedimentary basins as revealed by magnetic mineralogy

The thermal evolution of sedimentary basins is usually constrained by maturity data, which is interpreted from Rock-Eval pyrolysis and vitrinite reflectance analytical results on field or boreholes samples. However, some thermal evolution models may be inaccurate due to the use of elevated maturities measured in samples collected within an undetected metamorphic contact aureole surrounding a magmatic intrusion. In this context, we investigate the maturity and magnetic mineralogy of 16 claystone samples from Disko-Svartenhuk Basin, part of the SE Baffin Bay volcanic margin. Samples were collected within thermal contact metamorphic aureoles near magma intrusions, as well as equivalent reference samples not affected by intrusions. Rock-Eval pyrolysis (T_max), and vitrinite reflectance (Ro) analysis were performed to assess the thermal maturity, which lies in the oil window when 435°C ≤ T_max ≤ 470°C and 0.6%–0.7% ≤ Ro ≤ 1.3%. In addition, we performed low- (<300K) and high-temperature (>300K) investigations of isothermal remanent magnetization to assess the magnetic mineralogy of the selected samples. The maturity results (0.37% ≤ Ro ≤ 2%, 22°C ≤ T_max ≤ 604°C) show a predominance of immature to early mature Type III organic matter, but do not reliably identify the contact aureole when compared to the reference samples. The magnetic assemblage of the immature samples consists of iron sulphide (greigite), goethite and oxidized or non-stoichiometric magnetite. The magnetic assemblage of the early mature to mature samples consists of stoichiometric magnetite and fine-grained pyrrhotite (<1 μm). These results document the disappearance of the iron sulphide (greigite) and increase in content of magnetite during normal burial. On the other hand, magnetite is interpreted to be the dominant magnetic mineral inside the contact aureole surrounding dyke/sill intrusions where palaeotemperatures indicate mature to over-mature state. Interestingly, the iron sulphide (greigite) is still detected in the contact aureole where palaeotemperatures exceeded 130°C. Therefore, the magnetic mineralogy is a sensitive method that can characterize normal burial history, as well as identify hidden metamorphic contact aureoles where the iron sulphide greigite is present at temperatures beyond its stability field.     

Definition of the Spatial Propagator and Implications for Magnetic Field Properties

Solar Physics - We study a quiet-Sun blowout jet which was observed on 2014 May 16 by the instruments on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We find the twin CME as jet-like and bubble-like...     

Geological and geophysical studies of the Agoudal impact structure (Central High Atlas,Morocco): New evidence for crater size and age

Since the discovery of shatter cones (SCs) near the village of Agoudal (Morocco, Central High Atlas Mountains) in 2013, the absence of one or several associated circular structures led to speculation about the age of the impact event, the number, and the size of the impact crater or craters. Additional constraints on the crater size, age, and erosion rates are obtained here from geological, structural, and geophysical mapping and from cosmogenic nuclide data. Our geological maps of the Agoudal impact site at the scales of 1:30,000 (6 km²) and 1:15,000 (2.25 km²) include all known occurrences of SCs in target rocks, breccias, and vertical to overturned strata. Considering that strata surrounding the impact site are subhorizontal, we argue that disturbed strata are related to the impact event. Three types of breccias have been observed. Two of them (br1‐2 and br2) could be produced by erosion–sedimentation–consolidation processes, with no evidence for impact breccias, while breccia (br1) might be impact related. The most probable center of the structure is estimated at 31°59′13.73?N, 5°30′55.14?W using the concentric deviation method applied to the orientation of strata over the disturbed area. Despite the absence of a morphological expression, the ground magnetic and electromagnetic surveys reveal anomalies spatially associated with disturbed strata and SC occurrences. The geophysical data, the structural observations, and the area of occurrence of SCs in target rocks are all consistent with an original size of 1.4–4.2 km in diameter. Cosmogenic nuclide data (³⁶Cl) constrain the local erosion rates between 220 ± 22 m Ma^?1 and 430 ± 43 m Ma^?1. These erosion rates may remove the topographic expression of such a crater and its ejecta in a time period of about 0.3–1.9 Ma. This age is older than the Agoudal iron meteorite age (105 ± 40 kyr). This new age constraint excludes the possibility of a genetic relationship between the Agoudal iron meteorite fall and the formation of the Agoudal impact site. A chronolgy chart including the Atlas orogeny, the alternation of sedimentation and erosion periods, and the meteoritic impacts is presented based on all obtained and combined data.