Angular resolution of terrestrial laser scanners

Knowledge of a laser scanner's spatial resolution is necessary in order to prevent aliasing and estimate the level of detail that can be resolved from a scanned point cloud. Spatial resolution can be decoupled into range and angular components. The latter is the focus of this paper and is governed primarily by sampling interval and laser beamwidth. However, emphasis is often placed on one of these—typically sampling interval—as an indicator of resolution. Since both affect the resolution of a scanned point cloud, consideration of only one factor independent of the other can lead to a misunderstanding of a system's capabilities. This will be demonstrated to be inappropriate except under very specific conditions. A new, more appropriate resolution measure for laser scanners, the effective instantaneous field of view (EIFOV), is proposed. It is derived by modelling the shift variance of the equal angular increment sampling process, laser beamwidth-induced positional uncertainty and observed angle quantisation with ensemble average modulation transfer functions (AMTFs). Several commercially available terrestrial laser scanner systems are modelled and analysed in terms of their angular resolution capabilities using the EIFOV.     

Spectral scaling in Mars topography: effect of craters

Extensive computer simulations aimed at testing a hypothesis that impact craters may explain the scaling behaviour of surface spectra are presented. The simulations show that indeed crater effects alone may explain the spectral scaling of Mars’ topography revealed from MOLA data. The range of the scaling exponents obtained for a wide range of simulation parameters does not exceed the limits observed for Mars. The simulations suggest that the shape of large craters is the key factor leading to the two scaling ranges in the surface spectra. Particular values of the scaling exponents may additionally depend on the depth-diameter relationship and the crater size distribution.     

Improved ocean-geoid resolution from retracked ERS-1 satellite altimeter waveforms

The ocean geoid can be inferred from the topography of the mean sea surface. Satellite altimeters transmit radar pulses and determine the return traveltime to measure sea-surface height. The ERS-1 altimeter stacks 51 consecutive radar reflections on board the satellite to a single waveform. Tracking the time shift of the waveform gives an estimate of the distance to the sea surface. We retrack the ERS-1 radar traveltimes using a model that is focused on the leading edge of the waveforms. While earlier methods regarded adjacent waveforms as independent statistical events, we invert a whole sequence of waveforms simultaneously for a spline geoid solution. Smoothness is controlled by spectral constraints on the spline coefficients. Our geoid solutions have an average spectral density equal to the expected power spectrum of the true geoid. The coherence of repeat track solutions indicates a spatial resolution of 31  km, as compared to 41  km resolution for the ERS-1 Ocean Product. While the resolution of the latter deteriorates to 47  km for wave heights above 2  m, our geoid solution maintains its resolution of 31  km for rough sea. Retracking altimeter waveform data and constraining the solution by a spectral model leads to a realistic geoid solution with significantly improved along-track resolution.     

A formula describing both magnetic and isotopic blocking temperatures

The following new theorem is proved: the equation E/RT_B =ln(1.781 k₀τ), where E = activation energy, R = the molar gas constant and T_B = blocking temperature, applies equally well to both the isotopic and the magnetic systems in rocks from a cooling orogen. The isotopic model involves first-order loss of daughter, while the magnetic model applies to an assemblage of single-domain grains with constant E. Dodson supplied the original proof that the equation applied to isotopic systems. The well-known superficial similarity between the concepts of isotopic and magnetic blocking is thus given quantitative expression.     

The Néel transition and magnetic properties of terrestrial,synthetic, and lunar ilmenites

The magnetic susceptibility of a terrestrial, synthetic and lunar ilmenite specimen has been measured from 4 to 300 K. All specimens had a single Néel temperature transition which ranged from 56 to 57.7 K. In one case the powdered specimen was partially aligned in the magnetic field prior to the susceptibility measurements and the Néel transition was observed to shift to 60 K indicating magnetic anisotropy. A study of several magnetic parameters calculated from the experimental data showed gross impurities in the terrestrial specimen, single-domain to multi-domain metallic iron in the synthetic specimen, and a small amount of superparamagnetic metallic iron in the lunar sample. No multidomain iron was observed in the lunar ilmenite. The results of electron spin resonance measurements were also in general agreement with these findings. Because of the absence of Fe³⁺ compared to most terrestrial samples it is suggested that the anisotropic magnetic parameters be determined on lunar ilmenite when a large enough single crystal becomes available.     

A two-dimensional photochemical model of the stratosphere with Rayleigh scattering

Computations of concentrations of minor stratospheric gases using a two-dimensional model of the stratosphere are reported. The model includes Rayleigh scattering. This results in an increase in the photodissociation rate computation time by a factor of 1.5. The effect of ground albedo is assessed by comparing our results with a calculation of photolysis rates for a constant albedo with latitude. Comparison of results with a reference model including only molecular absorption are also made. The largest differences (50%) occur in NO and OH. An approximate expression for including the effects of Rayleigh scattering and surface reflectance in multi-dimensional models is suggested.