Buildings in GI: How to deal with building models in the GIS domain

Digital building information is important during a building's lifecycle, it is needed from first design until demolition. The two domains that mainly contribute are AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) during design, construction, and operation, and GIS as a supporting discipline for analysis and further integration of the building's environment. However, there is a challenge in information exchange between the two domains, resulting in the remodeling of digital building information in GIS. In this article, we identify three major data sources from the AEC domain and show transformation processes to enable the integration of such models into the geographical environment in the form of one transition model. Furthermore, we show that this model can either be used directly or exported in the form of de facto standards that allow for further analysis.     

Seismostratigraphy and structural framework of the SW Baltic Sea

The SW part of the Baltic Sea between Scania, Rügen, Bornholm and Mön constitutes a complex crustal transition between the Baltic Shield and the accreted Phanerozoic provinces of the West European Platform. An integrated interpretation of marine reflection seismic data sets from the BABEL AC line and two commercial surveys offshore NE Germany and S Sweden have resulted in a complete view of the structural framework in the area. The general seismic picture can best be detected by two characteristic sets of reflection phases. The lower set is dominated by slightly dipping and vertically displaced prominent reflectors corresponding to downfaulted Lower Palaeozoic strata on top of the Precambrian basement. The upper set represents Mesozoic and Cenozoic coherent reflection phases including a thick Upper Cretaceous unit. The Caledonian deformation front is identified in the southern part of the investigated area as the border against which basement rocks have been affected by Caledonian metamorphism and deformation. Major structural elements also include the N–S trending Agricola–Svedala Fault and North Rügen-Skurup Fault. Several NW–SE trending faults are also identified including the Nordadler–Kamien Fault, Jutland–Mön Fault, Carlsberg Fault, Romeleåsen Fault Zone and the Fyledalen Fault Zone. The sedimentary record from NE German offshore wells and Scanian boreholes is compared with the seismic data. The Cambro-Silurian strata are composed mainly of quartzitic sandstones, shales and biomicritic limestones. The Silurian is dominated by grey, micaceous shale and micaceous siltstone deposited in a marginal basin. Upper Palaeozoic strata are merely encountered in the southernmost part of the investigated area. These include Zechstein strata. The Mesozoic deposits are dominated by a thick Cretaceous sequence of mainly limestones with interbedded sandstones.     

Studies of the motion of equatorial 630.0 nm airglow depletions

An all-sky-mapping filter photometeer has been used to study equatorial 630.0 nm nightglow intensity depletions. A generally eastward drift of the ～ 0m/sec. At times two airglow depletions moving at different velocities were observed simultaneously; in one case they merged. Simultaneous interferometric determinations of doppler shifts in the 630.0 nm line indicated that the velocity of the neutral atmosphere does not appear to be correlated with the drift of the airglow depletions. The results are compared with other observations.     

KINEMATICS OF QUATERNARY EXTENSION IN THE PAMIR

KINEMATICS OF QUATERNARY EXTENSION IN THE PAMIR1　BurtmanVS ,MolnarP .GeologicalandgeophysicalevidencefordeepsubductionofcontinentalcrustbeneaththePamir[J].SpecPapGeolSocAm ,1993,2 81:76 . 2　StreckerMR ,FrischW ,HamburgerMW ,etal.QuaternarydeformationintheEasternPamirs ,TadzhikistanandKyrgyzs tan[J].Tectonics,1995 ,14(5 ) :10 6 1～ 10 79.…     

Generation and evaluation of multitemporal digital terrain models of the Mt. Everest area from different optical sensors

Multitemporal digital terrain models (DTM) are an important source for many purposes such as the detection of areas, which are susceptible to natural hazards such as landslides and glacial lake outburst floods, or for the examination of changes in glacier thickness. To exploit the potential of stereo satellite and aerial imagery for time series analysis, the employed methodology and software can be critical. A statistical analysis based on quartiles is presented to eliminate the influence of registration and elevation errors in DTMs. For our analysis, we used multi-temporal airborne and spaceborne stereoscopic images. The oldest images were recorded in the 1960s by the US American reconnaissance satellite Corona, while the most recent imagery are 2007 Cartosat-1 stereo scenes, along with one ASTER stereo pair. Complex panoramic distortion and limited spatial resolution resulted in the Corona and ASTER DTMs having the highest RMSEz. Due to differing acquisition techniques, applied software packages and temporal differences DTMs will never be identical. Therefore, we propose a relative vertical accuracy assessment with a master DTM. We chose the Cartosat-1 DTM as it showed the highest absolute accuracy. Inaccuracies between the master and the slave DTMs were adjusted by means of trend surfaces and outliers were successfully eliminated applying the interquartile range.     

Assimilation of Earth rotation parameters into a global ocean model: length of day excitation

Changes in the oceanic current system and in the oceanic mass distribution alter, together with other processes, the state of the Earth’s rotation. This state is characterized by the length of day (LOD) and the tilt of the pole-to-pole axis. The aim of our study was to derive the respective governing physical mechanisms in the ocean. Therefore, Earth rotation observations were assimilated into a global circulation model of the ocean. Although assimilation is a well-established tool in climate science, the assimilation of Earth rotation observations into a global ocean model was done here for the first time. Prior to the assimilation, the Earth rotation observations were projected onto the angular momentum of the ocean. Non-oceanic contributions were removed. The result of the subsequent assimilation procedure is a time varying ocean model state that reproduces the projected Earth rotation observations well. This solution was studied to understand the oceanic generation of Earth rotation deviations and to identify governing physical mechanisms. This paper focuses on LOD anomalies although polar motion was assimilated simultaneously. Our results indicate that changes in the oceanic LOD excitation are mostly attributed to changes in total ocean mass. Changes in the spatial distribution of ocean mass turned out to have a minor contribution to the LOD deviations. The same applies to changes in the current system.     

Experimental Study of the Brittle Behavior of Clay shale in Rapid Unconfined Compression

The mechanical behavior of clay shales is of great interest in many branches of geo-engineering, including nuclear waste disposal, underground excavations, and deep well drilling. Observations from test galleries (Mont Terri, Switzerland and Bure, France) in these materials have shown that the rock mass response near the excavation is associated with brittle failure processes combined with bedding parallel shearing. To investigate the brittle failure characteristics of the Opalinus Clay recovered from the Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory, a series of 19 unconfined uniaxial compression tests were performed utilizing servo-controlled testing procedures. All specimens were tested at their natural water content with loading approximately normal to the bedding. Acoustic emission (AE) measurements were utilized to help quantify stress levels associated with crack initiation and propagation. The unconfined compression strength of the tested specimens averaged 6.9 MPa. The crack initiation threshold occurred at approximately 30% of the rupture stress based on analyzing both the acoustic emission measurements and the stress–strain behavior. The crack damage threshold showed large variability and occurred at approximately 70% of the rupture stress.     

Cooling of neutron stars with strong toroidal magnetic fields

We present models of temperature distribution in the crust of a neutron star in the presence of a strong toroidal component superposed to the poloidal component of the magnetic field. The presence of such a toroidal field hinders heat flow toward the surface in a large part of the crust. As a result, the neutron star surface presents two warm regions surrounded by extended cold regions and has a thermal luminosity much lower than in the case the magnetic field is purely poloidal. We apply these models to calculate the thermal evolution of such neutron stars and show that the lowered photon luminosity naturally extends their life-time as detectable thermal X-ray sources. Work partially supported by UNAM-DGAPA grant #IN119306.     

Evidence for the 22-year-cycle in the longitudinal distribution of sunspots

It was shown in an earlier paper that preferred hemispheres of solar activity alternate with the 22-year magnetic cycle, when analyzed in the 27.0 day Bartels rotation. Using data which cover the time between 1818 and 1983 we trace back this result to 1880 (cycle 12). Before 1880 no significant correlations are found.