GEBCO Centennial Special Issue – Charting the Secret World of the Ocean Floor: The GEBCO Project 1903–2003

This special issue of Marine Geophysical Researches presents five papers dealing with GEBCO, the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, which celebrated its Centennial in April 2003, hosted by the International Hydrographic Bureau and the Principality of Monaco. Over the past 103 years GEBCO has been the sole body dedicated to compiling all available data to produce standardized maps of the oceans and seas covering 71% of planet Earth. Over time GEBCO has undergone a complete transformation as sparse 500 m contours on paper charts were replaced by digital grids with ever-increasing resolution. The 2003 Centennial saw the release on two CDROMS with the first global 1′ grid, produced by methods unheard of in 1984, when GEBCO’s last 6th Edition paper chart set was published. In GEBCO’s second century, the thrust is towards global grids that will capture the resolutions available with evolving deep-water swath mapping technologies, as well as vast improvement in the details of the shallow continental shelves that have traditionally been the preserve of the hydrographic community. As little more than 10% of the oceans have been mapped to the desired level of detail, there is much to be done. However refinements in satellite altimetry appear to offer an interim stop-gap as more multi-beam sonars ply the oceans and as the littoral countries of the world map their adjacent marine areas for submission under Article 76 of UNCLOS (United Nations, 1983, 1999). In addition GEBCO is becoming increasingly proactive, with outreach to the public via the internet and a new GEBCO Map of the World, active data-scrounging, and encouraging development of the first drifting buoys for acquiring data in the inaccessible areas of the Antarctic, SW Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.     

Propagation of the Southwest Indian Ridge at the Rodrigues Triple Junction

The analysis of multibeam bathymetric data of the Southwest Indian Ridge(SWIR) domain between the triple junction traces from 68° E to theRodrigues Triple Junction (RTJ; 70° E) reveals the evolution of thisridge since magnetic anomaly 4 (8 Ma). Image processing has been used toshow that the horizontal component of strain due to a network of normal stepfaults increases dramatically between 69°30 E and the RTJ. Thisarea close to the RTJ is characterized by a deep graben at the foot of thetriple junction trace on the African plate and by a narrow fault-boundedridge that joins an offset of the trace on the Antarctic plate. In thatarea, spreading is primarily amagmatic and dominated by tectonic extensionprocesses. To the west of 69°30 E, some lobate bathymetricfeatures atop of a large topographic high suggest volcanic constructions.Between 68°10 E and 69°25 E the southern flank of theSWIR domain is wider than the northern one and is characterized by a series of 7 en echelon bathymetric highs similar in size,shape and orientation to the one centred at 69°30E near the present-day triple junction. Their en echelon organization along the triple junction trace on the Antarctic plate and the typical lack of conjugated parts on the northern flank show that these bathymetric highs have been shifted to the south by successive northward relocalisations of the SWIR rifting zone. This evolution results in the asymmetric spreading of the SWIR in the survey area. The off-axis bathymetric highs connect to the offsets of the triple junction trace on the Antarctic plate when the Southeast Indian Ridges lightly lengthenstoward the northwest and the triple junction is relocated to the north. We propose that the SWIR lengthens toward the northeast with two propagation modes: 1) a continuous and progressive propagation with distributed deformation in preexisting crust of the Central Indian Ridge, 2) a discontinuous propagation with focusing of the deformation in a rift zone when the triple junction migrates rapidly to the north. The modes of propagation of the SWIR are related to different localisation and distribution of strain which are in turn controlled by changes of the triple junction configurations due to propagation, recession or a symmetric spreading on the Central and Southeast Indian Ridges.     

基于RS与GIS技术的变更图斑自动识别方法研究

基于RS与GIS技术的土地利用变更图斑自动识别方法,即"以遥感正射影像图为基础,以地理信息和地物反射光谱为判别依据"的变更信息识别方法,能够尽量避免传统利用遥感影像分类技术进行地物变更识别存在的不足。本文通过对距离算法的改良,有效利用遥感数据的实时性和丰富性,在地理信息系统的支持下,提高了对地物变更地块的识别精度。     

“3S”技术在四川生态环境动态监测中的应用研究

为有效实现四川省生态环境的动态监测,运用RS、GIS和GPS技术,以2004年中巴资源卫星(CBERS-02)遥感影像数据为信息源,2000年TM遥感影像解译的数据为基础,对2004年遥感影像进行解译,修改2000年数据库;手持GPS接收机,在野外对解译成果进行验证,更新数据库;利用GIS技术的空间分析功能,提取出2000～2004年期间土地利用/覆被变化信息,得到2000～2004年期间四川省高精度的土地利用/覆被变化数据库。最后对四川省土地利用/覆被变化信息进行分析,对四川省生态环境的下一步研究指名了方向。     

GIS和RS技术在城市规划设计中的应用探讨

数字技术时代的到来,城市规划行业面临机遇和挑战。本文针对国内目前3S技术在城市规划管理层次应用较广而在规划设计方面应用薄弱这一现状,结合规划设计相关案例介绍GIS和RS技术在规划设计方面的辅助应用。案例选用ArcGIS软件介入规划设计的全过程,进行现状地形分析、三维模拟等辅助分析,并与Sketchup建模充分结合制作大范围三维漫游动画,辅助推敲规划建筑与周边环境相互关系,同时还充分利用GoogleEarth与Sketchup和ArcGIS之间的接口,将规划方案和建筑模型导入全球卫星影像,从而更好地辅助规划决策和公众参与等。     

遥感和GIS支持下的分布式融雪径流过程模拟研究

基于遥感(RS)和地理信息系统(GIS)技术,设计和构建了一个分布式融雪径流模型,整个分布式融雪径流过程的模拟计算基于能量平衡和水量平衡,由分布式栅格融雪过程、分布式栅格产流过程以及分布式栅格汇流过程组成,融雪以及产汇流过程全部基于栅格尺度,全面实现了融雪过程的分布式模拟.分布式栅格融雪过程中对"度日法"加以改进,引入了"单元时段"的概念,从而得到了"度分融雪模型";针对融雪过程中颇为复杂的冻融反复性难题,提出了旨在解释积雪冻融反复性物理机制的"冻融系数"的重要概念,对于准确把握融雪过程的物理机制具有重要意义.同时基于GIS开发了分布式融雪径流模拟系统,为分布式融雪径流模型的运行提供了平台和技术支持,二者均为融雪洪水预警决策支持系统的核心模块部分.基于由MODlS等遥感数据得到的积雪信息、地表温度等下垫面信息,基础地理信息数据如DEM及其空间分析数据和大量野外同步观测数据(积雪信息、气象数据),对典型研究区新疆军塘湖流域2006年春季典型融雪期(2006-03-06,11:00-2006-03-10,11:00)内的洪水过程进行了模拟,模拟结果精度较高,平均精度0.82,达到了融雪洪水预警预报的业务需求标准.     

遥感技术在地质找矿中的应用及发展前景

遥感技术作为矿产勘查的一种手段应用于找矿,并取得了一定成就.遥感技术的直接应用是蚀变遥感信息的提取,遥感技术的间接应用包括地质构造信息、植被的光谱特征及矿床改造信息等方面.遥感找矿具有很大的发展前景的领域主要有:高光谱数据、数据融合技术、3S的紧密结合、计算机技术的发展.     

国土资源行业“3S”技术集成研究及实用技术体系构建

本文面向国土资源信息化建设的实际需求,通过关键技术研究和技术集成,建立基于“3S”的国土资源数据获取、更新、管理、交换与应用的技术体系,通过应用示范研究,形成实用、可推广的技术流程和应用软件。研究结果表明,基于“3S”的技术体系,以其精确的空间定位、快速准确的数据获取、强大的数据管理能力,能够满足国土资源信息化建设的实际需要。     

A rifted inside corner massif on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 5°S

The structure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 5°S was investigated during a recent cruise with the FS Meteor. A major dextral transform fault (hereafter the 5°S FZ) offsets the ridge left-laterally by 80 km. Just south of the transform and to the west of the median valley, the inside corner (IC – the region bounded by the ridge and the active transform) is marked by a major massif, characterized by a corrugated upper surface. Fossil IC massifs can also be identified further to the west. Unusually, a massif almost as high as the IC massif also characterizes the outside corner (OC) south of the inactive fracture zone and to the east of the median valley. This OC massif has axis-parallel dimensions identical to the IC massif and both are bounded on their sides closest to the spreading axis by abrupt, steep slopes. An axial volcanic ridge is well developed in the median valley both south of the IC/OC massifs and in an abandoned rift valley to the east of the OC massif, but is absent along the new ridge-axis segment between the IC and OC massifs. Wide-angle seismic data show that between the massifs, the crust of the median valley thins markedly towards the FZ. These observations are consistent with the formation of the OC massif by the rifting of an IC core complex and the development of a new spreading centre between the IC and OC massifs. The split IC massif presents an opportunity to study the internal structure of the footwall of a detachment fault, from the corrugated fault surface to deeper beneath the fault, without recourse to drilling. Preliminary dredging recovered gabbros from the scarp slope of the rifted IC massif, and serpentinites and gabbros from the intersection of this scarp with the corrugated surface. This is compatible with a concentration of serpentinites along the detachment surface, even where the massif internally is largely plutonic in nature.