Synergistic use of multitemporal RAMP,ICESat and GPS to construct an accurate DEM of the Larsemann Hills region,Antarctica

An enhanced digital elevation model (DEM) of the Larsemann Hills region, east Antarctica, is constructed synergistically by using highly accurate ground-based GPS measurements, satellite-derived laser altimetry (GLAS/ICESat) and Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMPv2) DEM-based point elevation dataset. Our DEM has a vertical accuracy of about 1.5 times better than RAMPv2 DEM and seven times better than GLAS/ICESAT-based DEM. The accuracy is improved by validating the RAMPv2 DEM elevation by supplementing with GLAS/ICESat and DGPS survey data, when compared to that of DEM constructed by using GLAS/ICESat or RAMPv2 alone. With the use of accurate GPS data as ground control points reference elevations, the DEM extracted is much more accurate with least mean RMSE of 34.5 m than that constructed by using a combination of GLAS/ICESat and RAMPv2 as true reference. The newly constructed DEM 7 achieves highest accuracy with the least average elevation difference of 0.27 m calculated using 46 ground reference points. Available DEMs of Antarctic region generated by using radar altimetry and the Antarctic Digital Database indicate elevation variations in the range of 50–100 m, which necessitates the generation of local DEM and its validation by using ground truth. This is our first attempt of fusing multi-temporal, multi-sensor and multi-source elevation data to generate a DEM of any part of Antarctica, in order to address the ice elevation change to infer the ice mass balance. Our approach focuses on the strengths of each elevation data source to produce an accurate DEM.     

Mapping mean lake surface from satellite altimetry and GPS kinematic surveys

Lake water height is a key variable in water cycle and climate change studies, which is achievable using satellite altimetry constellation. A method based on data processing of altimetry from several satellites has been developed to interpolate mean lake surface (MLS) over a set of 22 big lakes distributed on the Earth. It has been applied on nadir radar altimeters in Low Resolution Mode (LRM: Jason-3, Saral/AltiKa, CryoSat-2) in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mode (Sentinel-3A), and in SAR interferometric (SARin) mode (CryoSat-2), and on laser altimetry (ICESat). Validation of the method has been performed using a set of kinematic GPS height profiles from 18 field campaigns over the lake Issykkul, by comparison of altimetry’s height at crossover points for the other lakes and using the laser altimetry on ICESat-2 mission. The precision reached ranges from 3 to 7 cm RMS (Root Mean Square) depending on the lakes. Currently, lake water level inferred from satellite altimetry is provided with respect to an ellipsoid. Ellipsoidal heights are converted into orthométric heights using geoid models interpolated along the satellite tracks. These global geoid models were inferred from geodetic satellite missions coupled with absolute and regional anomaly gravity data sets spread over the Earth. However, the spatial resolution of the current geoid models does not allow capturing short wavelength undulations that may reach decimeters in mountaineering regions or for rift lakes (Baikal, Issykkul, Malawi, Tanganika). We interpolate in this work the geoid height anomalies with three recent geoid models, the EGM2008, XGM2016 and EIGEN-6C4d, and compare them with the Mean Surface of 22 lakes calculated using satellite altimetry. Assuming that MLS mimics the local undulations of the geoid, our study shows that over a large set of lakes (in East Africa, Andean mountain and Central Asia), short wavelength undulations of the geoid in poorly sampled areas can be derived using satellite altimetry. The models used in this study present very similar geographical patterns when compared to MLS. The precision of the models largely depends on the location of the lakes and is about 18 cm, in average over the Earth. MLS can serve as a validation dataset for any future geoid model. It will also be useful for validation of the future mission SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) which will measure and map water heights over the lakes with a high horizontal resolution of 250 by 250 m.     

Comparison of RO tropopause height based on different tropopause determination methods

The tropopause is an important boundary in the Earth’s atmosphere, and has been the subject of close attention from atmosphere and climate researchers. To monitor the global tropopause using radio occultation (RO) data, there are two primary methods, one is the widely used temperature lapse rate method, and the other is the bending angle covariance transform method which is unique to RO data. We use FengYun3-C (FY3C) and Meteorological Operational Satellite Program (MetOp) RO data and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational analysis data to determine differences in RO tropopause height calculated by these two methods. We compute biases of the RO lapse rate tropopause height (LRTH) and the RO bending angle tropopause height (BATH) relative to the ECMWF LRTH. The dependences of the tropopause height biases on tropopause height (TPH) retrieval method, latitude, season and RO mission are investigated. The results indicate that BATH show a consistent 0.8–1.2 km positive bias over the tropics and high latitude regions compared with LRTH, however, over 25° to 40° latitude in both hemisphere, BATH results are less stable. Furthermore, the mean bias between BATH and LRTH displayed a different symmetrical characteristic from 2017.12 to 2018.2 (DJF) compared to 2018.6–2018.8 (JJA). However, except for some bias over Antarctica, the mean value of both LRTH and BATH show a similar tropopause variation, indicating the consistency of both methods.     

Detection of Envisat RA2/ICE-1 retracked radar altimetry bias over the Amazon basin rivers using GPS

Altimetry is now routinely used to monitor stage variations over rivers, including in the Amazon basin. It is desirable for hydrologic studies to be able to combine altimetry from different satellite missions with other hydrogeodesy datasets such as leveled gauges and watershed topography. One requirement is to accurately determine altimetry bias, which could be different for river studies from the altimetry calibrated for deep ocean or lake applications. In this study, we estimate the bias in the Envisat ranges derived from the ICE-1 waveform retracking, which are nowadays widely used in hydrologic applications. As a reference, we use an extensive dataset of altitudes of gauge zeros measured by GPS collocated at the gauges. The thirty-nine gauges are spread along the major tributaries of the Amazon basin. The methodology consists in jointly modeling the vertical bias and spatial and temporal slope variations between altimetry series located upstream and downstream of each gauge. The resulting bias of the Envisat ICE-1 retracked altimetry over rivers is 1.044 ± 0.212 m, revealing a significant departure from other Envisat calibrations or from the Jason-2 ICE-1 calibration.     

主星带辅星群干涉SAR编队设计的约束条件

针对主星带辅星群干涉SAR的星载双站、斜视、空间基线等特点,从系统工作过程和测高性能分析角度出发,分别对主星带辅星编队干涉SAR编队设计的几个变量(主星与辅星群的距离、基线的长度和指向角)提出设计约束条件。对辅星回波时序、信噪比进行分析,得到主、辅星间距离设计的约束条件;对干涉测高精度进行分析,重点考虑空间基线去相关对干涉相位误差进而对测高精度的影响,给出基线长度和指向角与干涉测高精度的关系,得到基线长度和指向角设计的约束条件。仿真分析表明,由于干涉车轮和干涉钟摆编队是基于正侧视干涉几何提出的,它们的测高性能不是最优的。     

The update of BDS-2 TGD and its impact on positioning

Timing group delay (TGD) is an important parameter that affects the positioning performance of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) broadcasts TGD corrections from B3I frequency to B1I and B2I frequencies, namely TGD₁ and TGD₂. On July 21, 2017, BDS updated TGD values with a maximum change of more than 4 ns. In this contribution, we explain the motivation for the BDS TGD update, which is due to the systematic bias between narrowly correlated and widely correlated pseudo-ranges in BDS monitoring receivers. To investigate the impact of the updated TGD, BDS signal-in-space range error (SISRE) and user positioning performance regarding single point positioning (SPP) and precise point positioning (PPP) are analyzed. Results show that after the update of TGD, the difference between the new TGD and multi-GNSS experiment (MGEX) differential code bias (DCB) decreases from 1.38 ns to 0.29 ns on TGD₁ and from 0.40 ns to 0.25 ns on TGD₂. With the contribution of more accurate TGD, the systematic bias of BDS radial SISRE no longer exists, and the overall BDS SISRE also reduces from 1.33 m to 0.87 m on B1I/B2I frequency, from 1.05 m to 0.89 m on B1I frequency, from 0.92 m to 0.91 m on B2I frequency, respectively, which proves the similar precision of BDS TGD and MGEX DCB. One week of statistical results from 28 globally distributed MGEX stations shows that the SPP performance improves on non-B3I frequencies after the TGD update, with a maximum improvement of more than 22% for the B1I/B2I or B1I/B3I combination. The new TGD mainly reduces SPP positioning bias in the East component. The updated TGD also slightly improves the PPP convergence performance for the B1I/B3I combination, but mostly contributes to a more accurate estimation of the receiver clock and ambiguities.     

Precision orbit determination performance for CryoSat-2

In this paper we discuss our efforts to perform precision orbit determination (POD) of CryoSat-2 which depends on Doppler and satellite laser ranging tracking data. A dynamic orbit model is set-up and the residuals between the model and the tracking data is evaluated. The average r.m.s. of the 10?s averaged Doppler tracking pass residuals is approximately 0.39?mm/s; and the average of the laser tracking pass residuals becomes 1.42?cm. There are a number of other tests to verify the quality of the orbit solution, we compare our computed orbits against three independent external trajectories provided by the CNES. The CNES products are part of the CryoSat-2 products distributed by ESA. The radial differences of our solution relative to the CNES precision orbits shows an average r.m.s. of 1.25?cm between Jun-2010 and Apr-2017. The SIRAL altimeter crossover difference statistics demonstrate that the quality of our orbit solution is comparable to that of the POE solution computed by the CNES. In this paper we will discuss three important changes in our POD activities that have brought the orbit performance to this level. The improvements concern the way we implement temporal gravity accelerations observed by GRACE; the implementation of ITRF2014 coordinates and velocities for the DORIS beacons and the SLR tracking sites. We also discuss an adjustment of the SLR retroreflector position within the satellite reference frame. An unexpected result is that we find a systematic difference between the median of the 10 s Doppler tracking residuals which displays a statistically significant pattern in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SSA) area where the median of the velocity residuals varies in the range of ?0.15 to +0.15?mm/s.     

The contribution of radar interferometry to the assessment of landslide hazards

Interferometric analysis of repeat pass radar images (InSAR) enables the mapping of slope movements with high accuracy, being of great relevance for the assessment of landslide risk. The InSAR method is briefly explained, with emphasis on data processing for landslide motion mapping. Constraints of the method are discussed, mainly resulting from temporal decorrelation of the radar signal in vegetated areas. Application examples for InSAR mapping of very slow slope movements, using SAR data of the European Earth Observation Satellite ERS, are shown for a mass waste above an alpine traffic route and for slope deformation in a mountain village. The comparison with GPS measurements of surface motion shows RMSE = 3.7 mm a⁻¹ between the InSAR and GPS retrieved motion, where part of this difference is attributed to the different observation periods. The investigations demonstrate the good capability of InSAR for detecting and monitoring surface deformation on mountain slopes, thus providing valuable support for landslide inventories and risk assessment.     

Evaluation of rapid phase clock/bias products for PPP ambiguity resolution and its application to the M7.1 2019 Ridgecrest,California earthquake

Precise point positioning with ambiguity resolution (PPP-AR) is a useful tool for high-precision geodetic and geophysical applications, while phase bias products are the prerequisite to implement PPP-AR. Wuhan University has been providing the final (the best operationally post-processing solution based) phase clock/bias products with a latency of two weeks since March of 2019, while a dedicated open-source software package PRIDE PPP-AR is released to leverage these products for high-precision positioning. In order to satisfy some both time and precision critical applications, such as rapid earthquake response, Wuhan University also released rapid (with comparable quality but with much shorter delivery latency) phase clock/bias products with a latency of less than 24 h and updated PRIDE PPP-AR in July 2019. We first introduce the phase clock/bias generation and validation schemes and the maintenance of routine products provision. Then, with 14 days (July 2 to July 15 in 2019) of GPS data collected from 146 globally distributed IGS (International GNSS Service) stations, we evaluated the positioning performance of the rapid products with respect to their final counterparts. It is found that positioning precision of PPP-AR using rapid products is comparable to that using final products, especially in kinematic positioning mode. When rapid products are used, the RMS of PPP-AR in static mode with respect to IGS weekly solutions can reach 1.7 mm, 1.8 mm and 5.5 mm in the east, north and up components, respectively. Furthermore, the RMS of epoch-wise positions with respect to daily solutions for the east, north and up components are 0.51 cm, 0.57 cm and 1.51 cm for PPP-AR with rapid products in kinematic mode. It demonstrates that the rapid phase clock/bias products can sufficiently meet the precision requirement of most geodetic and geophysical applications yet with much shorter time delay. Finally, we study the July 6th M7.1 2019 Ridgecrest, California earthquake using the rapid phase clock/bias products and demonstrate their comparable performance against the final products.     

Effect of biases in integrity monitoring for RTK positioning

In road transport, continuous high-accuracy positioning is required in real time. To ensure the proper functioning and safety of vehicular applications, integrity monitoring (IM) is needed to protect from the positioning errors under a certain alert limit (AL) with a pre-defined probability of misleading information (MI). In this study, a detailed threat model is developed for real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning application of short baselines. The model distinguishes between ambiguity-float and -fixed scenarios, and considers the influences of phase and code multipath as well as between-receiver atmospheric residuals. With the float ambiguities temporally constrained, the bias contribution that propagates with time-updated ambiguities was studied analytically for the horizontal protection level (HPL) in IM. Based on real data from both static and kinematic experiments, HPL was computed along the direction of the semi-major axis of the horizontal error ellipse. In ambiguity-float and -fixed cases, the HPL was mostly several meters and decimetres, respectively. It was found that time-propagated biases play a dominant role in the ambiguity-float HPL, and among them, phase and code multipath had in general the largest contributions. For ambiguity-fixed case, the phase multipath was found to play a dominant role in the HPL. This shows the importance of considering the biases in the RTK IM for both the ambiguity-float and -fixed scenarios. Given a horizontal alert limit (HAL) of 5 m, the availabilities of ambiguity-float solutions were low, i.e., below 50% for the static roof tests and below 5% for the kinematic road tests. For the ambiguity-fixed scenario, with HAL at 0.5 m, integrity availability was nearly 100% for the static roof tests and above 85% for the kinematic road tests.     

Calibration of Envisat radar altimeter over Lake Issykkul

This study presents the results of calibration/validation (C/V) of Envisat satellite radar altimeter over Lake Issykkul located in Kyrgyzstan, which was chosen as a dedicated radar altimetry C/V site in 2004. The objectives are to estimate the absolute altimeter bias of Envisat and its orbit based on cross-over analysis with TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P), Jason-1 and Jason-2 over the ocean. We have used a new method of GPS data processing in a kinematic mode, developed at the Groupe de Recherche de Geodesie Spatiale (GRGS), which allows us to calculate the position of the GPS antenna without needing a GPS reference station. The C/V is conducted using various equipments: a local GPS network, a moving GPS antenna along the satellites tracks over Lake Issykkul, In Situ level gauges and weather stations. The absolute bias obtained for Envisat from field campaigns conducted in 2009 and 2010 is between 62.1 and 63.4 ± 3.7 cm, using the Ice-1 retracking algorithm, and between 46.9 and 51.2 cm with the ocean retracking algorithm. These results differ by about 10 cm from previous studies, principally due to improvement of the C/V procedure. Apart from the new algorithm for GPS data processing and the orbit error reduction, more attention has been paid to the GPS antenna height calculation, and we have reduced the errors induced by seiche over Lake Issykkul. This has been assured using cruise data along the Envisat satellite track at the exact date of the pass of the satellite for the two campaigns. The calculation of the Envisat radar altimeter bias with respect to the GPS levelling is essential to allow the continuity of multi-mission data on the same orbit, with the expected launch of SARAL/Altika mission in 2012. Implications for hydrology in particular, will be to produce long term homogeneous and reliable time series of lake levels worldwide.     

An Integer Precise Point Positioning technique for sea surface observations using a GPS buoy

GPS data dedicated to sea surface observation are usually processed using differential techniques. Unfortunately, the precision of resulting kinematic positions is baseline-length dependent. So, high precision sea surface observations using differential GPS techniques are limited to coasts, lakes, and rivers. Recent improvements in GPS satellite products (orbits, clocks, and phase biases) make phase ambiguity fixing at the zero difference level achievable and opens up the observation of the sea surface without geographical constraints. This paper recalls the concept of the Integer Precise Point Positioning technique and discusses the precision of GPS buoy positioning. A sequential version of the GINS software has been implemented to achieve single epoch GPS positioning. We used 1 Hz data from a two week GPS campaign conducted in the Kerguelen Islands. A GPS buoy has been moored close to a radar gauge and 90 m away from a permanent GPS station. This infrastructure offers the opportunity to compare both kinematic Integer Precise Point Positioning and classical differential GPS positioning techniques to in situ radar gauge data. We found that Precise Point Positioning results are not significantly biased with respect to radar gauge data and that horizontal time series are consistent with differential processing at the sub-centimetre precision level. Nevertheless, standard deviations of height time series with respect to radar gauge data are typically [4–5] cm. The dominant driver for noise at this level is attributed to errors in tropospheric estimates which propagate into position solutions.     

Preliminary analysis of the quality and positioning performance of BDS-3 global interoperable signal B1C&B2a

BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3) satellites are equipped with the new generation GNSS signals B1C and B2a, which support the interoperability with GPS and Galileo systems. In this study, the pseudo-range multipath error and carrier phase observation noise of the BDS-3 B1C and B2a signals were evaluated based on zero baseline measurements from the day of year (DOY) 113 to 116, 2020. Further, the precision and performance of the single point positioning (SPP) and precise point positioning (PPP) are assessed at 9 stations. This assessment manifests that the standard deviations (STDs) of the pseudo-range multipath error are about 0.09 ~ 0.22 m, while STDs of the carrier phase observation noise are about 0.075 mm. For the single-frequency SPP, its positioning precision is about 2.03 ~ 4.85 m and 3.29 ~ 10.73 m at the 99.99% confidence level in horizontal and vertical directions, respectively, while the dual-frequency SPP precision is about 1.92 ~ 8.02 m and 4.81 ~ 12.77 m in horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. For the daily static PPP, the convergence time is about 20 ~ 30 min, while the daily positioning precision can reach 1.38 ~ 4.42 cm and -1.31 ~ 4.34 cm in horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. In general, the quality and the SPP and PPP performance of the BDS-3 B1C&B2a signals are comparable to the GPS and Galileo.     

High-performance altimeter Doppler processing for measuring sea level height under varying sea state conditions

This paper describes an innovative method for processing nadir altimeter data acquired in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mode, enhancing the system performances over open ocean. Similarly to the current SAR data processing scheme, the so-called LR-RMC (Low Resolution with Range Migration Correction) method, originally designed by Phalippou and Demeester (2011), includes Doppler beam forming, Doppler shift correction and range correction. In LR-RMC, however, an alternative and less complex averaging (stacking) operation is used so that all the Doppler beams produced in a radar cycle (4 bursts of 64 beams for the open-burst Sentinel-3-mode altimeter) are incoherently combined to form a multi-beam echo. In that manner, contrarily to the narrow-band SAR technique, the LR-RMC processing enlarges the effective footprint to average out the effects of surface waves and particularly those from small sub-mesoscale structures (<1 km) that are known to impact SAR-mode performances. On the other hand, the number of averaged beams is as high as in current SAR-mode processing, thus providing a noise reduction at least equally good. The LR-RMC method has the added benefit of reducing the incoherent integration time with respect to the SAR-mode processing (50 ms compared to 2.5 s) limiting possible surface movement effects. By processing one year of Sentinel-3A SRAL SAR-mode data using the LR-RMC method, it is shown that the swell impact on the SAR altimeter performances is totally removed and that an improvement of 10–50% is obtained in the measurement noise of the sea surface height and significant wave height with respect to SAR mode. Additionally, observational capabilities over the middle scales are enhanced potentially allowing the ocean mesoscale features to be retrieved and observations assimilated more usefully in ocean models.     

Exploring the potential of Sentinel-3 delay Doppler altimetry for enhanced detection of coastal currents along the Northwest Atlantic shelf

In this study, we evaluate Sentinel-3A satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) altimeter observations along the Northwest Atlantic coast, spanning the Nova Scotian Shelf, Gulf of Maine, and Mid-Atlantic Bight. Comparisons are made of altimeter sea surface height (SSH) measurements from three different altimeter data processing approaches: fully-focused synthetic aperture radar (FFSAR), un-focused SAR (UFSAR), and conventional low-resolution mode (LRM). Results show that fully-focused SAR data always outperform LRM data and are comparable or slightly better than the nominal un-focused SAR product. SSH measurement noise in both SAR-mode datasets is significantly reduced compared to LRM. FFSAR SSH 20-Hz noise levels, derived from 80-Hz FFSAR data, are lower than 20-Hz UFSAR SSH with 25% noise reduction offshore of 5 km, and 55–70% within 5 km of the coast. The offshore noise improvement is most likely due to the higher native along-track data posting rate (80 Hz for FFSAR, and 20 Hz for UFSAR), while the large coastal improvement indicates an apparent FFSAR data processing advantage approaching the coastlines. FFSAR-derived geostrophic ocean current estimates exhibit the lowest bias and noise when compared to in situ buoy-measured currents. Assessment at short spatial scales of 5–20 km reveals that Sentinel-3A SAR data provide sharper and more realistic measurement of small-scale sea surface slopes associated with expected nearshore coastal currents and small-scale gyre features that are much less well resolved in conventional altimetric LRM data.     

Impact of rain on wave retrieval from Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar images in tropical cyclones

The main objective of our work was to investigate the impact of rain on wave observations from C-band (~5.3 GHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in tropical cyclones. In this study, 10 Sentinel-1 SAR images were available from the Satellite Hurricane Observation Campaign, which were taken under cyclonic conditions during the 2016 hurricane season. The third-generation wave model, known as Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) (version 41.31), was used to simulate the wave fields corresponding to these Sentinel-1 SAR images. In addition, rainfall data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite passing over the spatial coverage of the Sentinel-1 SAR images were collected. The simulated results were validated against significant wave heights (SWHs) from the Jason-2 altimeter and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts data, revealing a root mean square error (RMSE) of ~0.5 m with a 0.25 scatter index. Winds retrieved from the VH-polarized Sentinel-1 SAR images using the Sentinel-1 Extra Wide-swath Mode Wind Speed Retrieval Model after Noise Removal were taken as prior information for wave retrieval. It was discovered that rain did indeed affect the SAR wave retrieval, as evidenced by the 3.21-m RMSE of SWHs between the SAR images and the SWAN model, which was obtained for the ~1000 match-ups with raindrops. The raindrops dampened the wave retrieval when the rain rate was < ~5 mm/hr; however, they enhanced wave retrieval for higher rain rates. It was also found that the portion of the rain-induced ring wave with a wave number > 0.05 rad/m (~125 m wavelength) was clearly observed in the SAR-derived wave spectra.     

From TOPEX/Poseidon to Jason-2/OSTM in the Amazon basin

A major interest of radar altimetry over rivers is to monitor water resources and associated risk in basins where there is little or no conventional in situ data. The objective of the present study is to calibrate altimetry data in a place where conventional data are available, and use the results to estimate the potential error committed in the estimation of water levels in an ungauged or poorly gauged basin. The virtual stations extracted with Jason-2 in this study concern a very broad sample of river channel width and complexity. Minimum channel width has been estimated at 400 m. Unlike TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P), Jason-2 seems to have the capability to distinguish the river bed from its floodplain. The quality of the results obtained with Jason-2 is incomparably better than that obtained with T/P. Despite the fact that no absolute calibration has been assessed for river in this study, the bias calculated converge around 0, 35 m, which could be then the error estimated on the water stage derived from Jason-2 ranges, when no other validation is available. ICE3 algorithm seems to be performing as well as ICE1, and further research is needed to design retracking algorithm specifically for continental water.     

The day-to-day variability in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere in low latitudes: A study using MF radar

This study presents the analysis of planetary waves (PWs) using daily mean wind velocities for four years (August 2013 to July 2017) of continuous measurements using MF radar over the low latitude Indian region Kolhapur (16.8° N; 74.2° E). The MF radar at Kolhapur was upgraded in 2013. These are the first results of PWs after the upgradation of MF radar. The seasonal and intra-seasonal variabilities of East-West (EW) traveling PWs in the MLT region have been studied. In the present work, the data was analyzed to study the waves with various periodicities (e.g. 3–4, 5–8, 15–17, and 30–60 days). The 3.5 day [Ultra-Fast Kelvin (UFK)] wave shows semiannual variability with burst like wave activity observed during the summer months and December solstice. In addition, it is observed to be stronger in the spring equinoctial period. A strong semiannual oscillation (SAO) has been observed in a 6.5-day wave with peaks near the equinoxes. Similar to SAO over the low latitude MLT region, the wave activity is stronger in April/May than in September/October. The 6.5-day waves are observed to be stronger when the background mean wind is westward. From the analysis, it has been seen that the period before and after the equinoctial period is favorable for the 6.5-day wave propagation. The 16-day wave has no significant seasonal dependence; instead, the waves spread to almost all seasons. The Madden-Julian Oscillations (MJOs) have been observed to be propagating with an average wind speed of ～ 5 m/s when the background mean wind is eastward. The occurrence of MJO is observed during the summer and winter months. These results are the first of their kind in two aspects: first, they show the PWs with enhanced altitude coverage covering up to 110 km, and second, they show the PWs not contaminated due to equatorial electro jet influence.     

Validation of non-linear split window algorithm for land surface temperature estimation using Sentinel-3 satellite imagery: Case study; Tehran Province,Iran

In recent years, land surface temperature (LST) has become critical in environmental studies and earth science. Remote sensing technology enables spatiotemporal monitoring of this parameter on large scales. This parameter can be estimated by satellite images with at least one thermal band. Sentinel-3 SLSTR data provide LST products with a spatial resolution of 1 km. In this research, direct and indirect validation procedures were employed to evaluate the Sentinel-3 SLSTR LST products over the study area in different seasons from 2018 to 2019. The validation method was based on the absolute (direct) evaluation of this product with field data and comparison (indirect) evaluation with the MODIS LST product and the estimated LST using the non-linear split-window (NSW) algorithm. Also, two emissivity estimation methods, (1) NDVI thresholding method (NDVI-THM) and (2) classification-based emissivity method (CBEM), were used to estimate the LST using the NSW method according to the two thermal bands of Sentinel-3 images. Then, the accuracy of these methods in estimating LST was evaluated using field data and temporal changes of vegetation, which the NDVI-THM method generated better results. For indirect evaluation between the Sentinel-3 LST product, MODIS LST product, and LST estimated using NSW, four filters based on spatial and temporal separates between pairs of pixels and pixel quality were used to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the compared pairs of a pixel. In general, the accuracy results of the LST products of MODIS and Sentinel-3, and LST estimated using NSW showed a similar trend for LST changes during the seasons. With respect to the two absolute and comparative validations for the Sentinel-3 LST products, summer with the highest values of bias (?1.24 K), standard deviation (StDv = 2.66 K), and RMSE (2.43 K), and winter with the lowest ones (bias of 0.14 K, StDv of 1.13 K, and RMSE of 1.12 K) provided the worst and best results for the seasons in the period of 2018–2019, respectively. According to both absolute and comparative evaluation results, the Sentinel-3 SLSTR LST products provided reliable results for all seasons on a large temporal and spatial scale over our studied area.     

Assessment of depth to magnetic sources using high resolution aeromagnetic data of some parts of the Lower Benue Trough and adjoining areas,Southeast Nigeria

High resolution airborne magnetic data acquired between 2005 and 2010 were used to determine depth to shallow and deep magnetic sources in some parts of Southeastern Nigeria. Various depth estimation methods such as standard Euler deconvolution (SED), source parameter imaging (SPI), spectral depth analysis (SDA) and two dimensional (2-D) forward modeling were applied. Results obtained from SED, SPI and models of profiles 1 and 2 indicate that the Abakaliki Anticlinorium (AA) and Ikom-Mamfe Rift (IMR) regions are dominated by short wavelength magnetic anomalies caused by extensive tectonic events. The SED map showed depth to shallow and deep magnetic sources ranging from ~ 16.6 to ~ 338.3 m and ~ 394.3 to ~ 5748.1 m respectively. Likewise, depth estimates from the SPI map varies from ~ 147.1 to ~ 554.2 m (shallow magnetic sources) and ~ 644.2 to ~ 6141.6 m (deep magnetic sources). The result obtained from SDA revealed depths to deep magnetic basement in the range of ~ 769 to ~ 6666 m with an average of ~ 3449 m. Also, it showed that depth to shallow magnetic sources vary between ~ 119 and ~ 434 m with mean of ~ 269 m. The 2-D forward modelling showed maximum depth values of ~ 4700, ~4600 and ~ 6500 m in the models of profiles 1, 2 and 3 within the Anambra Basin (AB), Afikpo Syncline (AS) and Calabar Flank (CF) respectively. Generally, from all the various methods applied the results indicate that AB, AS and CF are dominated by long wavelength anomalies. The 2-D models indicated that the basement framework is undulant. Also, depth estimates involving the various methods used in this study correlate strongly with each other in the AB, AS and CF geological regions.