Analytical methods Of assessing the image quality associated with digital and photographic imaging systems

The introduction of digital cameras for aerial survey photography and use of scanners with processed aerial film present a number of technical questions concerning the way photography is to be acquired in the future. Among the questions to be addressed are the comparative metric properties of images acquired by each system and the associated image quality characteristics. The new digital camera systems will require very careful appraisal, using well-established methods of assessing metric quality already available to survey organisations. The questions concerning image quality are more difficult to answer, as they require very specialised instrumentation if measurements are to be made directly in practice. Over the course of the past several decades a more analytical approach to assessing image quality has emerged, and one that may be used by individuals. The method is particularly effective where information on the micro-image characteristics of products is made available by the manufacturers concerned. An outline is given of some considerations that need to be taken into account when using an analytical approach, with references given for further reading.     

Review of Doppler satellite positioning in Canada

Canada has recently faced two geodetic problems. Existing control on land must be rapidly upraged for resource development and for the coming redefinition of North American networks. Geodetic methods of managing territorial and lease boundaries in the offshore region are required. A series of developments in Doppler Satellite techniques begun in 1968 have contributed to the solution of both these problems. Today these developments have resulted in a Canadian-made receiver, permanent Canadian tracking stations, a primary geodetic network of about 200 Doppler points, major Doppler processing software systems, and the routine use of Doppler points, major Doppler processing software systems, and the routine use of Doppler positioning for land surveying, drill rig positioning and precise navigation. The accuracy of Doppler positioning has been improved from 100 m in 1968 to better than 1 m in 1975. These developments have applications in other nations than Canada.     

Assessing the nature of tectonic contacts using fission-track thermochronology: an example from the Calabrian Arc, southern Italy

Fission-track thermochronology applied to the nappe pile of the Calabrian Arc of southern Italy, particularly within the continental basement rocks, has provided important new constraints on the nature of some of the tectonic contacts. In southern Calabria an important phase of lower Miocene crustal extension is indicated. In northern Calabria no Oligocene or younger extension is seen. Here, the emplacement of continental basement rocks with Alpine metamorphism over ophiolitic rocks with little or no metamorphism is constrained as a thrust of lower to middle Miocene age related to collision of the Calabrian Arc with the Adria plate margin. It is proposed that reduction in the plate convergence velocity during collision of a retreating subduction zone with a continental margin is, at least partly, an explanation for the onset of extension in southern Calabria during the Miocene.     

Residual currents in juan de Fuca strait

Abstract

We examine the residual (non‐tidal) flow in Juan de Fuca Strait on the west coast of Canada using current and bottom pressure data collected on cross‐channel sections in the summers of 1975 and 1984. A positive estuarine circulation was evident in both sections but was better defined at the mid‐strait section than at the outer section near the mouth of the strait. Magnitudes of the volume transports in both the upper and lower layers of the channel ranged from ～ 0.25 X 10 m s at the mid‐strait section to ～ 0.15 X 10 m s～ at the outer section. The method of geostrophic levelling (Garrett and Pétrie, 1981; Pétrie et al, 1988) is used to determine the relationship between the daily averaged long‐strait velocity component and the cross‐strait pressure difference. A statistically significant relationship, consistent with a cross‐strait geostrophic balance, is obtained between the time series of shallow currents and shallow bottom pressures at the mid‐strait section. The deep currents and cross‐strait pressure differences were correlated at both sections but, because of the placement of the pressure gauges and/or ageostrophic effects such as bottom friction, were not related through a simple geostrophic balance. Cross‐spectral analysis and the calculation of the current amplitude ratios (square root of the energy ratio between the deep and shallow currents) are used to examine the baroclinicity of the flow as a function of frequency. Results suggest that flow variability in Juan de Fuca Strait is strongly baroclinic and has marked cross‐channel structure throughout the low‐frequency band.     

Long-term observations of the group structure of surface waves in ice

Ocean Dynamics - Several years of surface wave observations in the Chukchi Sea reveal wave groups are a common feature in open water and ice-covered conditions. The strength of the groupiness, here...     

Holocene sea-level changes along the North Carolina Coastline and their implications for glacial isostatic adjustment models

We have synthesized new and existing relative sea-level (RSL) data to produce a quality-controlled, spatially comprehensive database from the North Carolina coastline. The RSL database consists of 54 sea-level index points that are quantitatively related to an appropriate tide level and assigned an error estimate, and a further 33 limiting dates that confine the maximum and minimum elevations of RSL. The temporal distribution of the index points is very uneven with only five index points older than 4000 cal a BP, but the form of the Holocene sea-level trend is constrained by both terrestrial and marine limiting dates. The data illustrate RSL rapidly rising during the early and mid Holocene from an observed elevation of ?35.7 ± 1.1 m MSL at 11062–10576 cal a BP to ?4.2 m ± 0.4 m MSL at 4240–3592 cal a BP.We restricted comparisons between observations and predictions from the ICE-5G(VM2) with rotational feedback Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) model to the Late Holocene RSL (last 4000 cal a BP) because of the wealth of sea-level data during this time interval. The ICE-5G(VM2) model predicts significant spatial variations in RSL across North Carolina, thus we subdivided the observations into two regions. The model forecasts an increase in the rate of sea-level rise in Region 1 (Albemarle, Currituck, Roanoke, Croatan, and northern Pamlico sounds) compared to Region 2 (southern Pamlico, Core and Bogue sounds, and farther south to Wilmington). The observations show Late Holocene sea-level rising at 1.14 ± 0.03 mm year^?1 and 0.82 ± 0.02 mm year^?1 in Regions 1 and 2, respectively. The ICE-5G(VM2) predictions capture the general temporal trend of the observations, although there is an apparent misfit for index points older than 2000 cal a BP. It is presently unknown whether these misfits are caused by possible tectonic uplift associated with the mid-Carolina Platform High or a flaw in the GIA model. A comparison of local tide gauge data with the Late Holocene RSL trends from Regions 1 and 2 support the spatial variation in RSL across North Carolina, and imply an additional increase of mean sea level of greater than 2 mm year^?1 during the latter half of the 20th century; this is in general agreement with historical tide gauge and satellite altimetry data.