TEC variation over an equatorial and anomaly crest region in India during 2012 and 2013

Using the global positioning system (GPS) measurements, the total electron content (TEC) at station Bangalore (13.02°N, 77.57°E geographic; 04.44°N, 150.84°E geomagnetic), lying at the equatorial region, and station Lucknow (26.91°N, 80.95°E geographic; 17.96°N, 155.24°E geomagnetic), lying at equatorial ionospheric anomaly (EIA) crest region, have been estimated for the year 2012–2013. In order to evaluate the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model regarding simulation/modeling of ionospheric studies specially at equatorial and EIA crest regions, we have compared the TEC derived from the recent version of the IRI-2012 model and the older IRI-2007 with its three topside options, namely IRI-NeQuick (IRI-NeQ), IRI-2001, and IRI01-corr, with that of GPS-TEC over Bangalore and Lucknow. For the EIA station Lucknow, the IRI-2012 model with IRI-NeQ and IRI01-corr topside is found in good agreement with GPS-TEC during summer and equinox season, while the IRI-2012 model for all three topside options significantly overestimates the GPS-TEC during winter season. The IRI-2001 topside overestimates the GPS-TEC over both the stations during all seasons. The anomalous difference between the IRI-2012 model prediction and ground-based GPS-TEC in daytime hours during the winter season observed at Lucknow could be attributed to discrepancies in the slab thickness predicted by the model, which is more during the winter season as compared to summer and equinox. These large discrepancies in the slab thickness predicted by the IRI-2012 as well as the IRI-2007 model during the winter season have been supported by using the foF2 data from Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate radio occultation-based measurements. We also observed that the discrepancies in the recent IRI-2012 model with respect to GPS-TEC are found to be slightly larger than those with the older IRI-2007 model over the EIA region Lucknow. However, over the equatorial region Bangalore, the discrepancy with the older model IRI-2007 was found to be larger than with the recent IRI-2012 model. This suggests that the performance of the IRI-2012 model is poorer than the IRI-2007 model at the EIA region while better at equatorial region, and that further improvements in the IRI-2012 models are required particularly in the low-latitude and EIA regions. The GPS-TEC showed disappearance of the winter anomaly during 2012–2013, while the IRI model failed to predict the disappearance of winter anomaly.     

Weak GPS signal tracking using FFT discriminator in open loop receiver

An open loop tracking architecture, which tracks GPS signals under weak and challenging conditions, is analyzed. The in-phase and quadrature-phase integration pair is regarded as a single tone complex signal. An FFT-based method is used as a frequency discriminator to estimate the Doppler frequency residual of the single tone signal. Another FFT-based method applies complex squaring to eliminate the effect of the navigation data bits polarities. The performance of the FFT-based discriminators is assessed in three criteria. Those criteria are the signal strength and dynamic range that can be tracked and the accuracy of the estimated Doppler frequency. In addition, the performance of the discriminators is analyzed to provide the theoretical and simulated peak detection probability. The results indicate that the FFT discriminator can track signals about 5 dB weaker than the signals that can be tracked by the complex squared FFT discriminator. In a quasi-static environment, the Doppler frequency residual can be assumed to be around zero, which can enable the FFT-based discriminators to track signals with approximately 2 dB less power. Moreover, the performance of the FFT-based discriminators is compared with the performance of two other frequency discriminators, namely the fast–slow and power-based. The comparison results indicate that these two frequency discriminators give higher frequency estimation accuracy, but they have a narrower dynamic range.     

Forest fragmentation in Massachusetts,USA: a town-level assessment using Morphological spatial pattern analysis and affinity propagation

Forest fragmentation has been studied extensively with respect to biodiversity loss, disruption of ecosystem services, and edge effects although the relationship between forest fragmentation and human activities is still not well understood. We classified the pattern of forests in Massachusetts using fragmentation indicators to address these objectives: 1) characterize the spatial pattern of forest fragmentation in Massachusetts towns using Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA); and (2) identify regional trends using archetypal towns in relation to town history, geography and socioeconomic characteristics. Six fragmentation indicators were calculated using MSPA for each town to represent patterns and processes of fragmentation. We then used these indicators and the proportion of forested land to group towns across Massachusetts with similar patterns of fragmentation. Six representative towns typify different types of forest fragmentation, and illustrate the commonalities and differences between different fragmentation types. The objective selection of representative towns suggests that they might be used as the target of future studies, both in retrospective studies that seek to explain current patterns and in analyses that predict future fragmentation trends.     

Effect of sensor modelling methods on computation of 3-D coordinates from Cartosat-1 stereo data

The orbital and the rational polynomial coefficients (RPC) models are the two most commonly used models to compute a three-dimensional coordinates from an image stereo-pair. But it is still confusing that with the identical user provided inputs, which one of these two models provides more accurate digital elevation model (DEM), especially for mountainous terrain. This study aimed to find out the answer by evaluating the impact of used models on the vertical accuracy of DEM extracted from Cartosat-1 stereo data. We used high-accuracy photogrammetric DEM as the reference DEM. Apart from general variations in statistics, surprisingly in a few instances, both the DEMs provided contrasting results, thus proving the significance of this study. The computed root mean square errors and linear error at 90% (LE90) were lower in case of RPC DEM for various classes of slope, aspect and land cover, thus suggesting its better relative accuracy.     

Tectonic conditions of sedimentation and source areas of Upper Proterozoic and Lower Paleozoic terrigenous deposits of the Lesser Khingan Terrane of the Central Asian Fold Belt

This work presents the results of geological, geochemical, and Sm-Nd isotopic and geochemical studies of Late Riphean–Cambrian terrigenous rocks of the Khingan Group of the Lesser Khingan Terrane of the Central Asian Fold Belt, as well as the results of U-Pb geochronological (LA-ICP-MS) studies of detrital zircons from these deposits. These deposits are the most ancient in the structure of the terrain. It was found that the deposits of Iginchi and underlying Murandavi formations are attributed to the Late Riphean–Vendian age interval, and the Kimkan sequence, to the Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician. The periods of formation of the Murandavi and Iginchi formations, on one hand, and the Kimkan sequence, on the other hand, are separated by the stage of granitoid magmatism at the turn of the Vendian–Cambrian. Because of this, they cannot be attributed to a unified sedimentary sequence. It is the most probable that the sedimentation of the Iginchi and Murandavi formations and the Kimkan sequence occurred under subduction conditions against the backdrop of magmatic activity.     

Stratigraphic and lithologic characteristics of Pleistocene fluvial deposits in the Danube and Sava riparian area near Belgrade (Serbia)

The Quaternary sediments in the Danube and Sava riparian area near Belgrade have a considerable thickness. Several categories of deposits (fluvial-lacustrine, fluvial and aeolian) of Pliocene and Quaternary age have been identified. Their thickness, granulometric composition and paleontological features change depending on the distance from the recent Danube and Sava riverbeds. The Pleistocene fluvial deposits are underlain by sediments of the Late Miocene (Sarmatian and Pannonian) or the Plio-Pleistocene age, and are overlain by fluvial-palustrine deposits of the Pleistocene age and recent alluvial deposits. Pleistocene fluvial deposits that form a major part of the Quaternary sediments, have a great significance, since they are proved to be excellent collectors of ground water. Although these deposits are at lower altitudes in the area of Srem, they could be correlated with the high Danube and Morava terraces in Serbia and Drava in Croatia on the basis of their lithologic and paleontological features.     

Environmental conditions of the Laptev Sea region in the late postglacial time

The comparison between the first results of comprehensive micropaleontological analysis (pollen, spores, foraminifera, and ostracods) and those of radiocarbon dating (AMS¹⁴C) for the sediments of the eastern inner shelf of the Laptev Sea (the core collected from depth of 37 m) indicates that considerable changes in natural conditions in the sea and on land coincide in time and refer to the time period of 1500–1700 years B.P. This period is characterized by changes in microfossils: appearance of thermophilic pollen and planktonic foraminifera and increase in total number of benthic foraminifera and ostracods. Intense warming and humidification of the climate reconstructed for this 200-year period promoted the expansion of large-shrub tundra. Summer air temperatures were lower than that in the peak mid-Holocene climatic optimum by 2°–3°C, but 1°C higher than the present-day temperature. An estuary freshwater basin developed: it was strongly affected by river discharge, but North Atlantic waters also intensely penetrated here in short-term intervals. In general, the studied microfossil complex reflects the relatively stable environmental conditions and decrease in seawater salinity in the eastern part of the Laptev Sea shelf during the last 2300 years.     

Paleogene and Neogene reference sections of Eastern Kamchatka

The available lithological and paleontological data are used to characterize key Cenozoic marine sections in two lithological–facies zones (Kamchatskii Mys Peninsula and southern Valaginskii Range) of the poorly investigated Eastern Kamchatka lithotectonic zone with their correlation and reconstruction of depositional environments at the ocean–continent transition during the Paleogene and Neogene.     

Upper Neopleistocene ostracods from the southeastern West Siberian Plain and their stratigraphic significance

In the upper Neopleistocene of the southeastern West Siberian Plain, two ancillary biostratigraphic units by ostracods in the rank of faunal beds, namely, the Cypridopsis vidua–Herpetocypris reptans Beds (Ermakovo Horizon and the lower part of the Karginsky Horizon) and the Ilyocypris pustulata Beds (Karginsky Horizon), are recognized for the first time. The age of the Ilyocypris pustulata Beds is substantiated by a series of radiometric datings. The Eucypris pigra–Cyclocypris laevis–C. triangula ostracod assemblage from the upper part of the Sartan Horizon, whose age is also justified by a radiometric date, is characterized. The new data on ostracods supplement the materials available on this group of fauna and refine the Quaternary regional stratigraphic scheme of the West Siberian Plain.     

Flora from the Induan stage (Lower Triassic) of Middle Siberia

The first data on the taxonomic composition of the Induan flora of Siberia are presented. The investigation of Triassic reference sections in northern Siberia (eastern Taimyr, Lena–Anabar Trough, Verkhoyansk region) and correlation with volcano-sedimentary complexes of the Tungus and Kuznetsk basins made it possible to establish for the first time the taxonomic composition of the flora from the Induan Stage of Siberia. Its composition is heterogeneous, forming two large plant formations, which occupied different ecological niches. On the eastern coastal-marine margins of Siberia (eastern Taimyr, Olenek coast, Verkhoyansk region), the Induan flora was largely characterized by lepidophytic (Tomiostrobus) plants, while in the intracontinental areas (Tungus and Kuznetsk basins, partly Verkhoyansk region), it was characterized by Equisetales–Filicales communities.