Land suitability studies for major crops in Pavagada taluk,Karnataka using remote sensing and GIS techniques

Pavagada taluk of Tumkur district in Karnataka is one of the most backward taluks receiving less than 500 mm annual rainfall. The maximum area of the taluk is under monocropping, reasons for the same were not documented well. The present study was carried out using remote sensing data along with field survey and laboratory analysis for assessing the potentials and limitations of soil. Using the basic information on soil, climate and topography based on the matching exercise between the growth and production requirements of the crop, suitability of soils for groundnut, paddy and finger millet was assessed as per FAO land evaluation. The soil suitability maps were prepared using Arc GIS software. About 48 per cent of the total area was moderate to marginally suitable and 13 per cent of the area was not suitable for both groundnut and finger millet. Lowland areas covering 12 per cent of the area was highly suitable, 15 per cent was moderate to marginally suitable and 20 per cent was not suitable for paddy cultivation.     

A bias-free geodetic boundary value problem approach to height datum unification

A geodetic boundary value problem (GBVP) approach has been formulated which can be used for solving the problem of height datum unification. The developed technique is applied to a test area in Southwest Finland with approximate size of 1.5° × 3° and the bias of the corresponding local height datum (local geoid) with respect to the geoid is computed. For this purpose the bias-free potential difference and gravity difference observations of the test area are used and the offset (bias) of the height datum, i.e., Finnish Height Datum 2000 (N2000) fixed to Normaal Amsterdams Peil (NAP) as origin point, with respect to the geoid is computed. The results of this computation show that potential of the origin point of N2000, i.e., NAP, is (62636857.68 ± 0.5) (m²/s²) and as such is (0.191 ± 0.003) (m) under the geoid defined by W ₀ = 62636855.8 (m²/s²). As the validity test of our methodology, the test area is divided into two parts and the corresponding potential difference and gravity difference observations are introduced into our GBVP separately and the bias of height datums of the two parts are computed with respect to the geoid. Obtaining approximately the same bias values for the height datums of the two parts being part of one height datum with one origin point proves the validity of our approach. Besides, the latter test shows the capability of our methodology for patch-wise application.     

Analysis of the Effects of Pansharpening in Change Detection on VHR Images

In this letter, we investigate the effects of pansharpening (PS) applied to multispectral (MS) multitemporal images in change-detection (CD) applications. Although CD maps computed from pansharpened data show an enhanced spatial resolution, they can suffer from errors due to artifacts induced by the fusion process. The rationale of our analysis consists in understanding to which extent such artifacts can affect spatially enhanced CD maps. To this end, a quantitative analysis is performed which is based on a novel strategy that exploits similarity measures to rank PS methods according to their impact on CD performance. Many multiresolution fusion algorithms are considered, and CD results obtained from original MS and from spatially enhanced data are compared.      

Assessment of the LandStar Real-Time DGPS Service under Several Operational Conditions

LandStar is a differential global positioning service (DGPS) that provides 24-h real-time positioning for various applications on land, water, and air in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Africa. Its focus is on real-time applications requiring a submeter positioning capability such as agriculture, forestry, Geospatial Information Systems (GIS), survey/mapping, and land/vehicular navigation. LandStar uses a Wide Area Network of reference stations to derive DGPS corrections to model the variation of GPS error sources over a large area. These model parameters are used by the Virtual Reference Station processors to calculate standard corrections that are available for all predefined locations in the network. The corrections are transmitted to the user by L-band satellite communication in the standard RTCM SC104 DGPS correction format. This article investigates the performance of the LandStar Mk III system under various operational conditions and assesses its performance in both static and kinematic modes. Four field tests were conducted during 12 months that tested the sysem in clear static and kinematic conditions as well as suboptimal environments associated with low and heavy foliage conditions. Both the accuracy and availability of the system under these conditions is investigated, with an emphasis on whether the above variables are caused by the LandStar system differential corrections, the GPS measurements, or a combination of both. ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Preparation of volume table of SAL (Shorea robusta) - an approach using satellite data

Sal (Shorea robusta) is an important forest tree species in north and north-eastern India. Large-scale plantations of this species have been raised there under taungya and coppice system of management. The conventional volume table prepared for high sal forest is referred to infer the volume of production of this species. Earlier workers have used aerial remote sensing data to develop volume tables of this species. In the present study a volume table for sal is developed based on remotely sensed satellite data using a regression technique. A two-step method was developed to estimate mean tree volume from satellite data. In step 1, mean crown diameter — an intermediate variable - was estimated from satellite data. In step 2, the estimated mean crown diameter was used to estimate the mean tree volume. Addition of age of the crop as an independent variable improved the predictive ability of the regression equation.     

The generalized Mollweide projection of the biaxial ellipsoid

Summary The standard Mollweide projection of the sphere S _R ² which is of type pseudocylindrical — equiareal is generalized to the biaxial ellipsoid E _A,B ² .Within the class of pseudocylindrical mapping equations (1.8) of E _A,B ² (semimajor axis A, semiminor axis B) it is shown by solving the general eigenvalue problem (Tissot analysis) that only equiareal mappings, no conformal mappings exist. The mapping equations (2.1) which generalize those from S _R ² to E _A,B ² lead under the equiareal postulate to a generalized Kepler equation (2.21) which is solved by Newton iteration, for instance (Table 1). Two variants of the ellipsoidal Mollweide projection in particular (2.16), (2.17) versus (2.19), (2.20) are presented which guarantee that parallel circles (coordinate lines of constant ellipsoidal latitude) are mapped onto straight lines in the plane while meridians (coordinate lines of constant ellipsoidal longitude) are mapped onto ellipses of variable axes. The theorem collects the basic results. Six computer graphical examples illustrate the first pseudocylindrical map projection of E _A,B ² of generalized Mollweide type.     

Precise orbit and baseline determination for maneuvering low earth orbiters

GPS Solutions - Orbital maneuvers are usually performed as needed for low earth orbiters to maintain a predefined trajectory or formation-flying configuration. To avoid unexpected discontinuities...     

Important considerations about space‐time data: Modeling,scrutiny, and ratification

Space‐time data are becoming more abundant as time goes by, with hands‐on interest in them becoming more prevalent. These data have a very sensitive ordering in space and time, one that the simplest of recording errors can scramble. These data are also complex, containing both spatial and temporal autocorrelation coupled with their interaction. One goal of many researchers is to disentangle and account for these autocorrelation components in a parsimonious way. This article presents three competing model specifications to achieve this end. In addition, it outlines seven best practices for vetting space‐time datasets. This article cites a publicly available corrupt (containing at least errors of omission) rabies dataset to illustrate how a large volume of potentially valuable data can be rendered meaningless. In addition, it exemplifies postulated contentions about the United States National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program’s 1969–2018 population‐by‐county dataset, a collection of population counts held in high esteem. One major empirical finding is that this particular dataset exhibits traits that may merit remedial revisions action. A key conceptual finding is a suggested set of best practices for space‐time data proofreading. These two findings contribute to an ultimate goal of a large collection of certified open access space‐time datasets supporting repeatable and replicable scientific analyses.     

Effect of topographic bias on geoid and reference ellipsoid of Venus, Mars, and the Moon

Since the continuation of an external gravity field inside topographic masses by a harmonic function results in topographic bias, geoid computation by means of global gravity models (GGMs) in terms of external-type series of spherical harmonics, at locations where the GGMs are evaluated inside the topographic masses, will be biased. Consequently, if the reference ellipsoid is defined based on the geoid, it will also be biased. In this paper, the effects of topographic bias on the geoid and reference ellipsoid of Venus, Mars, and the Moon are studied. Moreover, a thorough error analysis in the geoid and reference ellipsoid computation is presented, and it is shown that the estimated standard deviation (STD) of the geoid potential value, the geoidal heights, and the semimajor and semiminor axes of the reference ellipsoid are independent of the topographic bias. According to the results, the effects of topographic bias on the geoid potential value and the semimajor and semiminor axes of the reference ellipsoid in comparison with their estimated STDs are insignificant for Venus, Mars, and the Moon. Moreover, the effect of topographic bias on the geoidal heights of Venus as compared with the estimated STD of its geoidal heights is insignificant. However, the effects of topographic bias on the geoidal heights of Mars and the Moon can be significant, especially in high mountains such as the Tharsis volcanic region on Mars.     

A Brief History of Star Formation and Chemical Enrichment in the Bulge of the Milky way

Observations of the stellar content of the bulge of the Milky Way can provide critical guidelines for the interpretation of observations of distant galaxies, in particular for understanding their stellar content and evolution. In this brief overview I will first highlight some recent work directed towards measuring the history of star formation and the chemical composition of the central few parsecs of the Galaxy. These observations point to an episodic history of star formation in the central region with several bursts having occurred over the past few 100 Myr (e.g. Blum et al., 1996b). High resolution spectroscopic observations by Ramírez et al. (1998) of luminous M stars in this region yield a near solar value for [Fe/H] from direct measurements of iron lines. Then I will present some results from an ongoing program by my colleagues and myself the objective of which is the delineation of the star formation and chemical enrichment histories of the central 100 parsecs of the Galaxy, the `inner bulge'. From new photometric data we have concluded that there is a small increase in mean [Fe/H] from Baade's Window to the Galactic Center and deduce a near solar value for stars in the central region. For radial distances greater than 1^° from the Galactic Center we fail to find a measurable population of stars that are significantly younger than those in Baade's Window. Within 1^° we find a number of luminous M giants that most likely are the result of a star formation episode not more than one or two Gyr ago. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.