Surface temperature estimation in Singhbhum Shear Zone of India using Landsat-7 ETM+ thermal infrared data

Land surface temperature (LST) is an important factor in global change studies, heat balance and as control for climate change. A comparative study of LST over parts of the Singhbhum Shear Zone in India was undertaken using various emissivity and temperature retrieval algorithms applied on visible and near infrared (VNIR), and thermal infrared (TIR) bands of high resolution Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery. LST results obtained from satellite data of October 26, 2001 and November 2, 2001 through various algorithms were validated with ground measurements collected during satellite overpass. In addition, LST products of MODIS and ASTER were compared with Landsat-7 ETM+ and ground truth data to explore the possibility of using multi-sensor approach in LST monitoring. An image-based dark object subtraction (DOS3) algorithm, which is yet to be tested for LST retrieval, was applied on VNIR bands to obtain atmospheric corrected surface reflectance images. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was estimated from VNIR reflectance image. Various surface emissivity retrieval algorithms based on NDVI and vegetation proportion were applied to ascertain emissivities of the various land cover categories in the study area in the spectral range of 10.4–12.5 μm. A minimum emissivity value of about 0.95 was observed over the reflective rock body with a maximum of about 0.99 over dense forest. A strong correlation was established between Landsat ETM+ reflectance band 3 and emissivity. Single channel based algorithms were adopted for surface radiance and brightness temperature. Finally, emissivity correction was applied on ‘brightness temperature’ to obtain LST. Estimated LST values obtained from various algorithms were compared with field ground measurements for different land cover categories. LST values obtained after using Valor’s emissivity and single channel equations were best correlated with ground truth temperature. Minimum LST is observed over dense forest as about 26 °C and maximum LST is observed over rock body of about 38 °C. The estimated LST showed that rock bodies, bare soils and built-up areas exhibit higher surface temperatures, while water bodies, agricultural croplands and dense vegetations have lower surface temperatures during the daytime. The accuracy of the estimated LST was within ±2 °C. LST comparison of ASTER and MODIS with Landsat has a maximum difference of 2 °C. Strong correlation was found between LST and spectral radiance of band 6 of Landsat-7 ETM+. Result corroborates the fact that surface temperatures over land use/land cover types are greatly influenced by the amount of vegetation present.     

Modeling urban heat islands in heterogeneous land surface and its correlation with impervious surface area by using night-time ASTER satellite data in highly urbanizing city,Delhi-India

The present study is an assessment and identification of urban heat island (UHI) in the environment of one of the fastest urbanizing city of India, Delhi Metropolis, employing satellite image of ASTER and Landsat 7 ETM+ in the thermal infrared region 3–14 μm. Temporal (2001 and 2005) ASTER datasets were used to analyze the spatial structure of the thermal urban environment subsequently urban heat island (UHI) in relation to the urban surface characteristics and land use/land cover (LULC). The study involves derivation of parameters governing the surface heat fluxes, constructing statistics of ASTER thermal infrared images along with validation through intensive in situ measurements. The average images reveal spatial and temporal variations of land surface temperature (LST) of night-time and distinct microclimatic patterns. Central Business District (CBD) of Delhi, (Connaught Place, a high density built up area), and commercial/industrial areas display heat islands condition with a temperature greater than 4 °C compared to the suburbs. The small increase in surface temperature at city level is mainly attributed to cumulative impact of human activities, changes in LULC pattern and vegetation density. In this study the methodology takes into account spatially-relative surface temperatures and impervious surface fraction value to measure surface UHI intensity between the urban land cover and rural surroundings. Both the spatial and temporal variation in surface temperature associated with impervious surface area (ISA) has been evaluated to assess the effect of urbanization on the local climate.     

An Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System for the detection of thermal and TEC anomalies around the time of the Varzeghan,Iran, (Mw = 6.4) earthquake of 11 August 2012

Anomaly detection is extremely important for forecasting the date, location and magnitude of an impending earthquake. In this paper, an Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) has been proposed to detect the thermal and Total Electron Content (TEC) anomalies around the time of the Varzeghan, Iran, (M_w = 6.4) earthquake jolted in 11 August 2012 NW Iran. ANFIS is the famous hybrid neuro-fuzzy network for modeling the non-linear complex systems. In this study, also the detected thermal and TEC anomalies using the proposed method are compared to the results dealing with the observed anomalies by applying the classical and intelligent methods including Interquartile, Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) methods. The duration of the dataset which is comprised from Aqua-MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) night-time snapshot images and also Global Ionospheric Maps (GIM), is 62 days. It can be shown that, if the difference between the predicted value using the ANFIS method and the observed value, exceeds the pre-defined threshold value, then the observed precursor value in the absence of non seismic effective parameters could be regarded as precursory anomaly. For two precursors of LST and TEC, the ANFIS method shows very good agreement with the other implemented classical and intelligent methods and this indicates that ANFIS is capable of detecting earthquake anomalies. The applied methods detected anomalous occurrences 1 and 2 days before the earthquake. This paper indicates that the detection of the thermal and TEC anomalies derive their credibility from the overall efficiencies and potentialities of the five integrated methods.     

Landforms of Europa and selection of landing sites

Three major features make Europa a unique scientific target for a lander-oriented interplanetary mission: (1) the knowledge of the composition of the surface of Europa is limited to interpretations of the spectral data, (2) a lander could provide unique new information about outer parts of the solar system, and (3) Europa may have a subsurface ocean that potentially may harbor life, the traces of which may occur on the surface and could be sampled directly by a lander. These characteristics of Europa bring the requirement of safe landing to the highest priority level because any successful landing on the surface of this moon will yield scientific results of fundamental importance. The safety requirements include four major components. (1) A landing site should preferentially be on the anti-Jovian hemisphere of Europa in order to facilitate the orbital maneuvers of the spacecraft. (2) A landing site should be on the leading hemisphere of Europa in order to extend the lifetime of a lander and sample pristine material of the planet. (3) Images with the highest possible resolution must be available for the selection of landing sites. (4) The terrain for landing must have morphology (relief) that minimizes the risk of landing and represents a target that is important from a scientific point of view. These components severely restrict the selection of regions for landing on the surface of Europa. After the photogeologic analysis of all Galileo images with a resolution of better than about 70 m/pixel taken for the leading hemisphere of Europa, we propose one primary and two secondary (backup) landing sites. The primary site (51.8°S, 177.2°W) is within a pull-apart zone affected by a small chaos. The first backup site (68.1°S, 196.7°W) is also inside of a pull-apart zone and is covered by images of the lower resolution (51.4 m/pixel). The second backup site (2.4°N, 181.1°W) is imaged by relatively low-resolution images (∼70 m/pixel) and corresponds to a cluster of small patches of dark and probably smooth plains that may represent landing targets of the highest scientific priority from the scientific point of view. The lack of the high-resolution images for this region prevents, however, its selection as the primary landing target.     

Status of the GAMMA-400 project

The preliminary design of the new space gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-400 for the energy range 100 MeV–3 TeV is presented. The angular resolution of the instrument, 1–2° at E_γ ∼ 100 MeV and ∼0.01° at E_γ > 100 GeV, its energy resolution ∼1% at E_γ > 100 GeV, and the proton rejection factor ∼10⁶ are optimized to address a broad range of science topics, such as search for signatures of dark matter, studies of Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources, Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, gamma-ray bursts, as well as high-precision measurements of spectra of cosmic-ray electrons, positrons, and nuclei.     

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.     

Equatorial vertical E × B drift velocities inferred from ionosonde measurements over Ouagadougou and the IRI-2007 vertical ion drift model

F-region vertical plasma drift velocities were deduced from the hourly hmF2 values acquired from ionogram data over a near dip equatorial station Ouagadougou (12.4°N, 358.5°E, dip angle 5.9°N) in Africa. Our results are compared against the global empirical model of Scherliess and Fejer (1999) incorporated in the IRI model (IRI-2007) for 1600 to 0800 LT from 1 year of data during sunspot maximum year of 1989 (yearly average solar flux intensity, F10.7 = 192) corresponding to the peak phase of solar cycle 22, under magnetically quiet conditions. The drifts are entirely downward between 2000 and 0500 LT bin for both techniques and the root mean square error (RMSE) between the modeled and the ionosonde vertical plasma drifts during these periods is 3.80, 4.37, and 4.74 m/s for June solstice, December solstice and equinox, respectively. Ouagadougou average vertical drifts show evening prereversal enhancement (PRE) velocity peaks (V_ZP) of about 16, 14, and 17 m/s in June solstice, December solstice, and equinox, respectively, at 1900–2000 LT; whereas global empirical model average drifts indicate V_ZP of approximately 33 m/s (June solstice), 29 m/s (December solstice), and 50 m/s (equinox) at 1800 LT. We find very weak and positive correlation (+0.10376) between modeled V_ZP versus F10.7, while ionosonde V_ZP against F10.7 gives worst and opposite correlation (−0.05799). The results also show that modeled V_ZP–Ap indicates good and positive correlation (+0.64289), but ionosonde V_ZP–Ap exhibits poor and negative correlation (−0.22477).     

Inversion of satellite gradiometry data using statistically modified integral formulas for local gravity field recovery

The satellite gravity gradiometric data can be used directly to recover the gravity anomaly at sea level using inversion of integral formulas. This approach suffers by the spatial truncation errors of the integrals, but these errors can be reduced by modifying the formulas. It allows us to consider smaller coverage of the satellite data over the region of recovery. In this study, we consider the second-order radial derivative (SORD) of disturbing potential (T_rr) and determine the gravity anomaly with a resolution of 1° × 1° at sea level by inverting the statistically modified version of SORD of extended Stokes’ formula. Also we investigate the effect of the spatial truncation error on the quality of inversion considering noise of T_rr. The numerical investigations show satisfactory results when the area of T_rr coverage is the same with that of the gravity anomaly and the integral formula is modified by the biased least-squares modification. The error of recovery will be about 6 mGal after removing the regularization bias in the presence of 1 mE noise in T_rr measured on the orbit.     

Thermally evolved gas analysis (TEGA) of hyperarid soils doped with microorganisms from the Atacama Desert in southern Peru: Implications for the Phoenix mission

TEGA, one of several instruments on board of the Phoenix Lander, performed differential scanning calorimetry and evolved gas analysis of soil samples and ice, collected from the surface and subsurface at a northern landing site on Mars. TEGA is a combination of a high temperature furnace and a mass spectrometer (MS) that was used to analyze samples delivered to the instrument via a robotic arm. The samples were heated at a programmed ramp rate up to 1000 °C. The power required for heating can be carefully and continuously monitored (scanning calorimetry). The evolved gases generated during the process can be analyzed with the evolved gas analyzer (a magnetic sector mass spectrometer) in order to determine the composition of gases released as a function of temperature. Our laboratory has developed a sample characterization method using a pyrolyzer integrated to a quadrupole mass spectrometer to support the interpretations of TEGA data. Here we examine the evolved gas properties of six types of hyperarid soils from the Pampas de La Joya in southern Peru (a possible analog to Mars), to which we have added with microorganisms (Salmonella typhimurium, Micrococcus luteus, and Candida albicans) in order to investigate the effect of the soil matrix on the TEGA response. Between 20 and 40 mg of soil, with or without ∼5 mg of lyophilized microorganism biomass (dry weight), were placed in the pyrolyzer and heated from room temperature to 1200 °C in 1 h at a heating rate of 20 °C/min. The volatiles released were transferred to a MS using helium as a carrier gas. The quadrupole MS was ran in scan mode from 10 to 200 m/z. In addition, ∼20 mg of each microorganism without a soil matrix were analyzed. As expected, there were significant differences in the gases released from microorganism samples with or without a soil matrix, under similar heating conditions. Furthermore, samples from the most arid environments had significant differences compared with less arid soils. Organic carbon released in the form of CO₂ (ion 44 m/z) from microorganisms evolved at temperatures of ∼326.0 ± 19.5 °C, showing characteristic patterns for each one. Others ions such as 41, 78 and 91 m/z were also found. Interestingly, during the thermal process, the release of CO₂ increased and ions previously found disappeared, demonstrating a high-oxidant activity in the soil matrix when it was subjected to high temperature. Finally, samples of soil show CO₂ evolved up to 650 °C consistent with thermal decomposition of carbonates. These results indicate that organics mixed with these hyperarid soils are oxidized to CO₂. Our results suggest the existence of at least two types of oxidants in these soils, a thermolabile oxidant which is highly oxidative and other thermostable oxidant which has a minor oxidative activity and that survives the heat-treatment. Furthermore, we find that the interaction of biomass added to soil samples gives a different set of breakdown gases than organics resident in the soil. The nature of oxidant(s) present in the soils from Pampas de La Joya is still unknown.     

Oblique-incidence ionospheric soundings over Central Europe and their application for testing now casting and long term prediction models

After a first oblique-incidence ionospheric sounding campaign over Central Europe performed during the period 2003–2004 over the radio links between Inskip (UK, 53.5°N, 2.5°W) and Rome (Italy, 41.8°N, 12.5°E) and between Inskip and Chania (Crete, 35.7°N, 24.0°E), new and more extensive analysis of systematic MUF measurements from January 2005 to December 2006 have been performed. MUF measurements collected during moderately disturbed days (17 ? Ap ? 32), disturbed days (32 < Ap ? 50) and very disturbed days (Ap > 50), have been used to test the long term prediction models (ASAPS, ICEPAC and SIRM&LKW), and the now casting models (SIRMUP&LKW and ISWIRM&LKW). The performances of the different prediction methods in terms of r.m.s are shown for selected range of geomagnetic activity and for each season.     

Solar cycle and latitude dependence of high-beta suprathermal plasma conditions in interplanetary space between 1.3 and 5.4 AU

The analysis of energetic particles and magnetic field measurements from the Ulysses spacecraft has shown that in a series of events, the energy density contained in the suprathermal tail particle distribution is comparable to or larger than that of the magnetic field, creating conditions of high-beta plasma. In this work we analyze periods of high-beta suprathermal plasma occurrences (β_ep > 1) in interplanetary space, using the ratio (β_ep) of the energetic particle (20 keV to ∼5 MeV) and magnetic field energy densities from measurements covering the entire Ulysses mission lifetime (1990–2009) in order to reveal new or to reconfirm some recently defined interesting characteristics. The main key-results of the work are summarized as follows: (i) we verify that high-beta events are detected within well identified regions corresponding mainly to the vicinity of shock surfaces and magnetic structures, and associated with energetic particle intensity enhancements due to (a) reacceleration at shock-fronts and (b) unusually large magnetic field depressions. (ii) We define three considerable features for the high-beta events, concentrated on the next points: (a) there is an appreciable solar-activity influence on the high-beta events, during the maximum and middle solar-cycle phase, (b) the annual peak magnitude and the number of occurrences of high events are well correlated with the sunspot number, (c) the high-beta suprathermal plasma events present a spatial distribution in heliographic latitudes (HL) up to ∼±80°, and a specific important concentration on the low (−25° ? HL < −6°, 6° < HL ? 25°) and median (−45° ? HL < −25°, 25° < HL ? 45°) latitudes. We also reconfirm by a statistical analysis the results of Marhavilas and Sarris (2011), that the high-beta suprathermal plasma (β_ep > 1) events are characterized by a very large parameter β_ep (up to 1732.5), a great total duration (406 days) and a large percentage of the Ulysses-mission lifetime (which is equal to 6.34% of the total duration with usable measurements, and 11.3% of the duration in presence of suprathermal particles events).     

Studies of electron and ion temperatures at 500 km altitude during sunrise using Indian SROSS C2 satellite

Solar dependence of electron and ion temperatures (T_e and T_i) in the ionosphere is studied using RPA data onboard SROSS C2 at an altitude of ∼500 km and 77°E longitude during early morning hours (04:00–07:00 LT) for three solar activities: solar minimum, moderate and maximum during winter, summer and equinox months in 10°S–20°N geomagnetic latitude. In winter the morning overshoot phenomenon is observed around 06:00 LT (T_e enhances to ∼4000 K) during low-solar activity and to T_e ∼ 3800 K, during higher solar activity. In summer, it is observed around 05:30 LT, but the rate of T_e enhancement is higher during moderate solar activity (∼2700 K/hr) than the low-solar activity (∼1700 K/hr). During equinox, this phenomenon is delayed and is observed around 06:00 LT (∼4200 K) during all three activities.     

Validation of B2bot in the NeQuick model during high solar activity at Hainan station

NeQuick ionospheric electron density model, which has been developed to version 2, produces the full electron density profile in the ionosphere. Each part of the profile is modeled using Epstein layer formalism. Simple empirical relations are used to compute the thicknesses of each layer. In order to validate the B2_bot parameter in the NeQuick model during high solar activity, we use the data at Hainan, China (109.1°E, 19.5°N; Geomagnetic coordinates: 178.95°E, 8.1°N), measured with DPS-4, and study the diurnal and seasonal variations of B2_bot, ΔB2 (B2_best − B2_NeQuick 2) and the seasonal median values of B2_best/B2_NeQuick 2 at that region. The results show that, (1) The differences between B2_best and B2_NeQuick 2 have diurnal and seasonal variations. (2) The diurnal variations of B2_NeQuick 2 are smaller than those of B2_best. (3) Generally, except for early morning the experimental values are properly reproduced. (4) Generally, during morning the NeQuick model has an underestimation. The magnitude of underestimation varies with LT and season.     

Landsat 8地表温度产品验证与分析

Landsat系列卫星热波段具有60~120m的空间分辨率，对各种环境监测起到了重要的作用。随着Landsat系列卫星在全球范围内地表温度（land surface temperature，LST）产品的发布，其验证工作也随之展开，然而对于长时间序列的精度验证工作仍然缺乏。以黑河流域中游为研究区，利用研究区内湿地站（SD）、戈壁站（GB）和大满超级站（CJZ）三个气象站的地面测量数据对2013-2016年清晰无云的31景Landsat 8地表温度产品进行了验证与分析，并将Landsat 8地表温度产品与广泛使用的普适性单通道算法（JMS）反演结果进行了对比。结果表明，Landsat 8地表温度产品与普适性单通道算法反演结果精度均较高，在各个站点处R2均优于0.949。基于所有站点分析，Landsat 8地表温度产品精度稍高于普适性单通道算法反演结果。     

An evaluation of the IRI-2007 storm time model at low latitude stations

This paper discusses the ability of the International Reference Ionosphere IRI-2007 storm time model to predict foF2 ionospheric parameter during geomagnetic storm periods. Experimental data (based on availability) from two low latitude stations: Vanimo (geographic coordinates, 2.7 °S, 141.3 °E, magnetic coordinates, 12.3 °S, 212.50 °E) and Darwin (geographic coordinates, 12.45 °S, 130.95 °E, magnetic coordinates, 22.9 °S, 202.7 °E) during nine storms that occurred in 2000 (Rz₁₂ = 119), 2001(Rz₁₂ = 111) and 2003 (Rz₁₂ = 64) are compared with those obtained by the IRI-2007 storm model. The results obtained show that the percentage deviation between the experimental and IRI predicted foF2 values during these storm periods is as high as 100% during the main and recovery phases. Based on the values of “relative deviation module mean” (RDMM) obtained (i.e. between 0.08 and 0.60), it is observed that there is a reasonable to poor agreement between measured foF2 values and the IRI-storm model prediction values during main and recovery phases of the storms under investigation. As a result, in addition to other studies that have been carried out from different sectors, more studies are required to be carried out. This will enable IRI community to improve on the present performance of the model. In general the IRI-storm model predictions follow normal trend of the foF2 measured values but does not reproduce well the measured values.     

Comparing IRI and a regional model with ionosonde measurements in Pakistan

We have used the technique of expansion in Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) to develop regional models of the critical frequencies of E and F₂ layers (f_oE, f_oF₂), peak height (h_mF₂), and semi-thickness of F₂ layer (Y_mF₂) over Pakistan. In the present study levels of solar activity specified by Smoothed Sunspot Number (R) from 10 to 200 are taken into account. The magnetic dip angle for the model ranges from 30° to 60°. We have compared the regional model and the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) with measurements of three ionosondes in Pakistan. The model parameters f_oE and f_oF₂ are found overall comparable to the observed hourly median values during daytime at Karachi (geographic latitude = 24.95°N, longitude = 67.13°E, magnetic inclination = 37°), Multan (30.18°N, 71.48°E, 45°) and Islamabad (33.75°N, 73.13°E, 51.5°) during the years 1988, 1996 and 2000. For h_mF₂ the computed values by regional and IRI model for the year 1995 are found close to each other. However, for Y_mF₂the results are better during daytime as compared to nighttime.     

Substitution of satellite-based land surface temperature defective data using GSP method

Land surface temperature (LST) as an important environmental variable provides valuable information for earth environmental system modelling. Currently, LST is obtained through satellite thermal sensors at various spatial and temporal resolutions. Although spatially continuous satellite-based LST measurements are intended to overcome the shortcomings of sparse ground-based LST measurements, LST images often contain anomalous values due to the existence of clouds or sensor malfunctioning. The problem becomes more serious where the users deal with high spatial resolution characterized by low temporal resolution. This study examines the capability of a newly developed graph signal processing (GSP) method using two-dimensional single-date thermal data. For this purpose, four Landsat/TIRS datasets are analyzed. The data of five elliptical regions on thermal images are eliminated and then reconstructed through the GSP method and using the LST values of the enclosing rectangles containing the ellipsoids. The results indicate that the temperature variation determined by the GSP method generally conforms to the original image LST values. According to a correlation test conducted on the original image LST and those obtained through the GSP method, the values vary from 58% to 95%, which is an above-the-average rate (RMSE from 0.69 to 2.27). The statistical analysis of the original image LST in both the elliptical regions and the enclosing rectangles containing the ellipsoids indicates that an increase in the variance of LST data causes an increased error in the calculation of temperature by the GSP method, and vice versa. The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan test indicated that an increase in the number of the non-zero spectral bins would result in increased RMSE values for all the dates and the regions. Moreover, the model errors were significant at the 0.05 level across all the image date and five elliptical study regions. Based on the results, the use of this method is recommended for the reconstruction of LST missing values, where dissimilarity of atmospheric conditions limits the use of other methods that depend on the time series data of various dates and a great deal of data calculation.     

Titan’s new pole: Implications for the Huygens entry and descent trajectory and landing coordinates

The European Space Agency’s Huygens probe separated from the NASA Cassini spacecraft on 25 December 2004, after having been attached for a 7-year interplanetary journey and three orbits around Saturn. The probe reached the predefined NASA/ESA interface point on 14 January 2005 at 09:05:52.523 (UTC). It performed a successful entry and descent sequence and softly landed on Titan’s surface on the same day at 11:38:10.77 (UTC) with a speed of about 4.54 m/s. Since the publication of the official project entry and descent trajectory reconstruction effort by the Descent Trajectory Working Group in 2007 (referred to as DTWG#4) various other efforts have been performed and published. This paper presents an overview of the most relevant reconstructions and compares their methodologies and results. Furthermore, the results of a new reconstruction effort (DTWG#5) are presented, which is based on the same methodology as DTWG#4 but takes into account new estimates of Titan’s pole coordinates which were derived from radar images of different Cassini Titan flybys. It can be shown that the primary effect can be observed in the meridional direction which is represented by a stark southward shift of the trajectory by about 0.3 deg. A much smaller effect is seen in the zonal direction (i.e., less than 0.01 deg in the west to east direction). The revised probe landing coordinates are 192.335 deg W and 10.573 deg S. A comparison of these coordinates with results of recent landing site investigations using visual and radar images of the Cassini VIMS instrument shows excellent agreement of the two independently derived landing coordinates, i.e., longitude and latitude residuals of respectively 0.035 deg and 0.007 deg.     

Construction of lunar DEMs based on reflectance modelling

Existing lunar DEMs obtained based on laser altimetry or photogrammetric image analysis are characterised by high large-scale accuracies while their lateral resolution is strongly limited by noise or interpolation artifacts. In contrast, image-based photometric surface reconstruction approaches reveal small-scale surface detail but become inaccurate on large spatial scales. The framework proposed in this study therefore combines photometric image information of high lateral resolution and DEM data of comparably low lateral resolution in order to obtain DEMs of high lateral resolution which are also accurate on large spatial scales. Our first approach combines an extended photoclinometry scheme and a shape from shading based method. A novel variational surface reconstruction method further increases the lateral resolution of the DEM such that it reaches that of the underlying images. We employ the Hapke IMSA and AMSA reflectance models with two different formulations of the single-particle scattering function, such that the single-scattering albedo of the surface particles and optionally the asymmetry parameter of the single-particle scattering function can be estimated pixel-wise. As our DEM construction methods require co-registered images, an illumination-independent image registration scheme is developed. An evaluation of our framework based on synthetic image data yields an average elevation accuracy of the constructed DEMs of better than 20 m as long as the correct reflectance model is assumed. When comparing our DEMs to LOLA single track data, absolute elevation accuracies around 30 m are obtained for test regions that cover an elevation range of several thousands of metres. The proposed illumination-independent image registration method yields subpixel accuracy even in the presence of 3D perspective distortions. The pixel-wise reflectance parameters estimated simultaneously with the DEM reflect compositional contrasts between different surface units. Specifically, the detected variations of the parameter of the single-particle scattering function indicate small-scale variations of the regolith particle size, possibly as a result of differences in soil maturity.