Hyperspectral Radiometry to Quantify the Grades of Iron Ores of Noamundi and Joda Mines,Eastern India

This paper present the results of a preliminary study to assess the potential of the visible, NIR and SWIR energy of the EMR in differentiating iron ores of different grades in a rapid manner using hyperspectral radiometry. Using different iron ore samples from Noamundi and Joda mines, Jharkhand and Orissa, states of India, certain spectro-radiometric measurements and geochemical analysis were carried out and the results have been presented. It was observed that the primary spectral characteristics of these iron ores lie in the 850 to 900 nm and 650–750 nm regions. The spectral parameters for each curve used for studying the iron ores are: (i) the slopes of the spectral curve in 685–725 nm region; (ii) position of the peak with respect to wavelength in 730–750 nm region and (iii) radius of curvature of the absorption trough in the 850–900 nm region. Comparison of these spectral parameters and the geochemistry of the samples indicates that the position of the peak of the curve in 730–750 nm region shifts towards longer wavelength with increasing iron oxide content, while the slope of the curvature in the 685–725 nm region has a strong negative correlation with the iron oxide content of the samples. Similarly, a strong negative correlation is observed between the radius of curvature of the 850–900 nm absorption trough and the iron oxide content. Such strong correlations indicate that hyperspectral radiometry in the visible and NIR regions can give a better estimate and quantification of the grades of iron ores. This study has demonstrated that generation of empirical models using hyperspectral radiometric techniques is helpful to quantify the grade of iron ores with limited geochemical analysis.     

Analysis of Seasonal Variability of Vegetation and Methane Concentration over India using SPOT-VEGETATION and ENVISAT-SCIAMACHY Data

This paper highlights the spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric columnar methane (CH₄) concentration over India and its correlation with the terrestrial vegetation dynamics. SCanning IMaging Absorption spectrometer for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) on board ENVIronmental SATellite (ENVISAT) data product (0.5° × 0.5°) was used to analyze the atmospheric CH₄ concentration. Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT)-VEGETATION sensor’s Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) product, aggregated at 0.5° × 0.5° grid level for the same period (2004 and 2005), was used to correlate the with CH₄ concentration. Analysis showed mean monthly CH₄ concentration during the Kharif season varied from 1,704 parts per billion volume (ppbv) to 1,780 ppbv with the lowest value in May and the highest value in September. Correspondingly, mean NDVI varied from 0.28 (May) to 0.53 (September). Analysis of correlation between CH₄ concentration and NDVI values over India showed positive correlation (r = 0.76; n = 6) in Kharif season. Further analysis using land cover information showed characteristic low correlation in natural vegetation region and high correlation in agricultural area. Grids, particularly falling in the Indo-Gangetic Plains showed positive correlation. This could be attributed to the rice crop which is grown as a predominant crop during this period. The CH₄ concentration pattern matched well with growth pattern of rice with the highest concentration coinciding with the peak growth period of crop in the September. Characteristically low correlation was observed (r = 0.1; n = 6) in deserts of Rajasthan and forested Himalayan ecosystem. Thus, the paper emphasizes the synergistic use of different satellite based data in understanding the variability of atmospheric CH₄ concentration in relation to vegetation.     

Comparison of Two Data Smoothing Techniques for Vegetation Spectra Derived From EO-1 Hyperion

Hyperspectral data are generally noisier compared to broadband multispectral data because their narrow bandwidth can only capture very little energy that may be overcome by the self-generated noise inside the sensors. It is desirable to smoothen the reflectance spectra. This study was carried out to see the effect of smoothing algorithms - Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) and Savitzky–Golay (SG) methods on the statistical properties of the vegetation spectra at varying filter sizes. The data used in the study is the reflectance spectra data obtained from Hyperion sensor over an agriculturally dominated area in Modipuram (Uttar Pradesh). The reflectance spectra were extracted for wheat crop at different growth stages. Filter sizes were varied between 3 and 15 with the increment of 2. Paired t-test was carried out between the original and the smoothed data for all the filter sizes in order to see the extent of distortion with changing filter sizes. The study showed that in FFT, beyond filter size 11, the number of locations within the spectra where the smooth spectra were statistically different from its original counterpart increased to 14 and reaches 21 at the filter size 15. However, in SG method, number of statistically different locations were more than those found in the FFT, but the number of locations did not changing drastically. The number of statistically disturbed locations in SG method varied between 16 and 19. The optimum filter size for smoothing the vegetation spectra was found to be 11 in FFT and 9 in SG method.     

Evaluating the Sensitivity of Image Fusion Quality Metrics to Image Degradation in Satellite Imagery

Referring to the high potential of topographic satellite in collecting high resolution panchromatic imagery and high spectral, multi spectral imagery, the purpose of image fusion is to produce a new image data with high spatial and spectral characteristics. It is necessary to evaluate the quality of fused image by some quality metrics before using this product in various applications. Up to now, several metrics have been proposed for image quality assessment; which are also applicable for quality evaluation of fused images. However, it seems more investigations are needed to inspect the potentials of proposed Image Fusion Quality Metrics (IFQMs) to registration accuracy, especially in high resolution satellite imagery. This paper focuses on such studies and, using different image fusion quality metrics, experiments are conducted to evaluate the sensitivity of such metrics to a set of high resolution satellite imagery covering urban areas. The obtained results clearly reveal that these metrics sometimes do not behave robust in the whole area and also their obtained results are inconsistence in different patch areas in comparison with the whole image. These limitations are in minimum situation for an image quality metric such as SAM and are completely tangible for image quality metrics such as ERGAS in case of multi modal and DIV and CC from mono modal category.     

Application of Spatial Database in Quantitative Analysis of Litho-Paleogeography—A Case Study of a Middle Ordovician Sequence Interval in the Ordos Basin

In the study of sequence stratigraphy and litho-paleogeography,quantitative analysis,precise calculation and detailed comparison of tremendous geological data,such as field profiles,logging records and seismic curves from different areas,are the basic requirements.In order to obtain a more reliable and precise result,this paper presents a novel method that combines spatial database analysis with the single-factor mapping technology to establish sequence stratigraphical succession and to map the Ordo-vician litho-paleogeography of the Ordos Basin,one of the largest oil-gas bearing basins in North China Platform.By using this method,all of the related basic geological data can be quantitatively analyzed and effectively managed.Various attributes of the ba-sic stratigraphic units and their characters,such as sequence thickness,penecontemporaneous dolostone content,shallow water parget content,and terrigenous material content,can be fully utilized statistically in facies analysis and in mapping.Based on this analysis,this paper has be exerted single-factor isopachous mapping quantitatively for each of the Ordovician sequences in the ba-sin,and finally synthesized multiple factors to reconstruct the litho-paleogeography for each of the sequence intervals.The study shows that the proposed method is quite effective and has a much higher resolution in recognizing litho-paleogeographic subunits compared with traditional ways.For example,in one of the Middle Ordovician sequence intervals(SQ19 in the Lower Majiagou Formation) of the Ordos Basin,the authors have successfully developed a mathematical formula to divide the distribution of various facies units substantially,such as old lands,submarine uplifts,supratidal zones,intertidal zones and subtidal zones.     

Precise ionosphere-free single-frequency GNSS positioning

Ionospheric delays can be efficiently eliminated from single-frequency data using a combination of carrier phases and code ranges. Unfortunately, GPS and GLONASS ranges are relatively noisy which can limit the use of the positioning method. Nevertheless, position standard deviations are in the range of 6–8 cm (horizontal) and 7–9 cm (3d) obtained from diurnal data batches from selected IGS reference stations can be further reduced to 2–3 cm (3d) for weekly smoothed averages. GPS data sets collected in Ghana (Africa) reveal a typical level of 10 cm of deviation that must be anticipated under average conditions. Looking at the future of GNSS, the European Galileo system will, in contrast to GPS, provide the broadband signal E5 that is by far less affected by multipath thus providing rather precise range measurements. Simulated processing runs featuring both high ionospheric and tropospheric delay variations show a 3d position precision of 4 cm even for a data batch as short as just 1 h, whereas GPS L1/Galileo E1 performance is close to 13 cm for the same data set.     

Attitude estimation based on fusion of gyroscopes and single antenna GPS for small UAVs under the influence of vibration

An attitude estimation method is presented for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) powered by a piston engine which is the major source of vibration. Vibration of the engine significantly degrades the accuracy of the inertial measurement unit, especially for low-cost sensors that are based on micro electro-mechanical system. Therefore, a vibration model for a small UAV is proposed in order to examine the influence of vibration on attitude estimation with different sensors. The model is derived based on spectrum analysis with short-time Fourier transform. The vibration is compared with the drift of the gyroscope in order to examine the impact on attitude estimation. An attitude estimation method that fuses the gyroscopes and single antenna global positioning system (GPS) is proposed to mitigate the influence of engine vibration and gyroscope drift. The quaternion-based extended Kalman filter is implemented to fuse the sensors. This filter fuses the angular rates measured by the gyroscopes and the pseudo-attitude derived from the GPS velocity to estimate the attitude of the UAV. Simulations and experiment results indicate that the proposed method performs well both in short-term and long-term accuracy even though the gyroscopes are affected by drift and vibration noise, while the pseudo-attitude contains severe noise.     

GPS tomography in the polar cap: comparison with ionosondes and in situ spacecraft data

Tomographic 4D reconstructions of ionospheric anomalies appearing in the high-latitude polar cap region are compared with plasma density measurements by digital ionosonde located near the north magnetic pole at Eureka station and with in situ plasma measurements on-board DMSP spacecraft. The moderate magnetic storm of 14–17 October 2002 is taken as an example of a geomagnetic disturbance which generates large-scale ionospheric plasma anomalies at mid-latitudes and in the polar cap region. Comparison of the GPS tomographic reconstructions over Eureka station with the ionosonde measurements of the F layer peak densities indicates that the GPS tomography correctly predicts the time of arrival and passage of the ionospheric tongue of ionization over the magnetic pole area, although the tomographic technique appears to under-estimate the value of F peak plasma density. Comparison with the in situ plasma measurements by the DMSP SSIES instruments shows that the GPS tomography correctly reproduces the large-scale spatial structure of ionospheric anomalies over a wide range of latitudes from mid-latitudes to the high-latitude polar cap region, though the tomographic reconstructions tend to over-estimate the density of the topside ionosphere at 840 km DMSP orbit. This study is essential for understanding the quality and limitations of the tomographic reconstruction techniques, particularly in high-latitude regions where GPS TEC measurements and other ionospheric data sources are limited.     

Phase transitions and path dependence in urban evolution

There is a long history of recognising and interpreting discontinuous change—phase transitions—in urban systems. In this paper, we use the aggregate retail model as an archetype to explore some new ideas. For example, we argue that the dependence of paths of development on initial conditions has been understudied, and we offer a new graphical analysis that demonstrates explicitly their influence on discrete change. We introduce an order parameter, and we plot this on a ‘results grid’ to facilitate the discovery of possible phase transitions. We illustrate the use of these new developments with an application to London. We show how retail developers can change the ‘initial conditions’ at a point in time and possibly bring about phase transitions by their actions. This also shows that it should be possible to account for the history of urban development as a sequence of initial conditions, illustrating path dependence. Secondly, the model could be deployed in relation to a new shopping zone, and the tools developed here used to calculate the minimum size of a new development in order for it to compete. We explore the ‘minimum size’ idea in relation to a new shopping zone in London.