Probabilistic Sea Level Rise Flood Projections Using a Localized Ocean Reference Surface

Projecting sea level rise (SLR) impacts requires defining ocean surface variability as a source of uncertainty. We analyze data from a Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) reanalysis for the region surrounding the main Hawaiian Islands to incorporate the ocean surface uncertainty in mapping SLR flood probabilities. By analyzing the ocean surface height component of the ROMS reanalysis, we create an ocean surface reference (ORS) as a proxy for MHHW. We model the NOAA Intermediate, Intermediate-high and High regional SLR scenarios for the years 2050 and 2100 at three field sites around Oʻahu; Waikīkī, Hauʻula, Haleʻiwa. We calculate a probability density function (PDF) by convolving the PDF of water level derived from the ROMS reanalysis data with the PDF of error associated with a digital elevation model of the study sites. The resulting joint-PDF of flood depth allows us to create two types of probability-based flood projections: (1) Maps illustrating varying flood depths for a given probability threshold and, (2) maps illustrating varying probability for a specific flood depth. We compare 80% probability flood projections using our ORS approach to projections using the TCARI grid, the standard NOAA method. We highlight the importance of uncertainty and user-defined probability in identifying pixels that function as tipping points distinguishing flooding styles.

Testing Multi-Frequency Low-Cost GNSS Receivers for Geodetic Monitoring Purposes

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology is widely used for geodetic monitoring purposes. However, in cases where a higher risk of receiver damage is expected, geodetic GNSS receivers may be considered too expensive to be used. As an alternative, low-cost GNSS receivers that are cheap, light, and prove to be of adequate quality over short baselines, are considered. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the positional precision of a multi-frequency low-cost instrument, namely, ZED-F9P with u-blox ANN-MB-00 antenna, and to investigate its potential for displacement detection. We determined the positional precision within static survey, and the displacement detection within dynamic survey. In both cases, two baselines were set, with the same rover point equipped with a low-cost GNSS instrument. The base point of the first baseline was observed with a geodetic GNSS instrument, whereas the second baseline was observed with a low-cost GNSS instrument. The results from static survey for both baselines showed comparable results for horizontal components; the precision was on a level of 2 mm or better. For the height component, the results show a better performance of low-cost instruments. This may be a consequence of unknown antenna calibration parameters for low-cost GNSS antenna, while statistically significant coordinates of rover points were obtained from both baselines. The difference was again more significant in the height component. For the displacement detection, a device was used that imposes controlled movements with sub-millimeter accuracy. Results, obtained on a basis of 30-min sessions, show that low-cost GNSS instruments can detect displacements from 10 mm upwards with a high level of reliability. On the other hand, low-cost instruments performed slightly worse as far as accuracy is concerned.

Multipath Map Method for TDOA Based Indoor Reverse Positioning System with Improved Chan-Taylor Algorithm

We study wireless indoor positioning systems where multiple synchronized infrastructure devices simultaneously receive signals from an object of interest whose arrival times are measured. The positioning performance is degraded by unresolvable channel multipath and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) reflctions which cause a bias in the time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements. In order to reduce the negative effect of multi-path, a Multi-Path Map (MPM) method based on spatial domain modeling principle in the reverse positioning framework with good robustness is proposed. Meanwhile, an improved non-linear iterative algorithm with height component constrained which reduces the complexity is introduced to calculate the coordinates so that the performance of the MPM can be verified. By using the MPM measurements as pre-calibration information to compensate the TDOA observed value, the accuracy of the cooperative location based on a UWB device is 6.45 cm, which achieves 63% improvement than that of none MPM used.

Sea Level Trend and Fronts in the South Atlantic Ocean

The understanding of the physical drivers of sea level trend is crucial on global and regional scales. In particular, little is known about the sea level trend in the South Atlantic Ocean in comparison with other parts of the world. In this work, we computed the South Atlantic mean sea level (SAMSL) trend from 25 years of satellite altimetry data, and we analyzed the contributions of steric height (thermosteric and halosteric components) and ocean mass changes for the period 2005–2016 when all the source data used (Argo, GRACE and satellite altimetry) overlap. The SAMSL trend is 2.65 ± 0.24 mm/yr and is mostly explained by ocean mass trend, which is 2.22 ± 0.21 mm/yr. However, between 50° S–33° S, the steric height component constitutes the main contribution in comparison with the ocean mass component. Within that latitudinal band, three regions with trend values higher than the SAMSL trend are observed when considering 25 years of satellite SLA. In the three regions, a southward displacement of the Subtropical, Subantarctic, and Polar Fronts is observed. The southward shift of the fronts is associated with the strengthening and polar shift of westerly winds and contributes to a clear thermosteric trend that translates to the SLA trend observed in those regions.

Height Evaluation and Linear Accuracy of Digital Level, Total station, GPS and Orthophoto

In this research, Digital level (DL), Total station (TS) and GPS were used to assess accuracy and precision of the height component. Field observations were implemented in two tested areas. A reference network which consisted of 34 points on area1 and 10 control points on area2 which had been observed five times using Digital level, RTK-GPS and Total station (TS) where Digital level was considered as a base for comparison. Several known control points were used as check points to evaluate the accuracy of measurements. According to the obtained results, TS and GPS-RTK measurements were compared with the adjusted reference points measured by precise Digital level (DNA 03). Around ±15 mm standard deviation for TS and ±13.5 mm for GPS were achieved. Linear accuracy of TS, GPS, and orthophotos measurements from Vossing German Company were also investigated in regular features within the same tested areas. The actual lengths were measured with steel tape up to a millimeter accuracy and were considered as being a base for comparing. The maximum deviation 22mm accuracy has been obtained in area2 and 12 mm in area1. The study shows that the extracted features from orthophotos had less accuracy in hilly regions due to relief displacement whereas they were more accurate in gentle slopes.

QUALITY ANALYSIS ON 3D BUIDLING MODELS RECONSTRUCTED FROM UAV IMAGERY

Recent developments in UAV technology and structure from motion techniques have effected that UAVs are becoming standard platforms for 3D data collection. Because of their flexibility and ability to reach inaccessible urban parts, drones appear as optimal solution for urban applications. Building reconstruction from the data collected with UAV has the important potential to reduce labour cost for fast update of already reconstructed 3D cities. However, especially for updating of existing scenes derived from different sensors (e.g. airborne laser scanning), a proper quality assessment is necessary. The objective of this paper is thus to evaluate the potential of UAV imagery as an information source for automatic 3D building modeling at LOD2. The investigation process is conducted threefold: (1) comparing generated SfM point cloud to ALS data; (2) computing internal consistency measures of the reconstruction process; (3) analysing the deviation of Check Points identified on building roofs and measured with a tacheometer. In order to gain deep insight in the modeling performance, various quality indicators are computed and analysed. The assessment performed according to the ground truth shows that the building models acquired with UAV-photogrammetry have the accuracy of less than 18 cm for the plannimetric position and about 15 cm for the height component.

QUALITY ANALYSIS ON 3D BUIDLING MODELS RECONSTRUCTED FROM UAV IMAGERY

Recent developments in UAV technology and structure from motion techniques have effected that UAVs are becoming standard platforms for 3D data collection. Because of their flexibility and ability to reach inaccessible urban parts, drones appear as optimal solution for urban applications. Building reconstruction from the data collected with UAV has the important potential to reduce labour cost for fast update of already reconstructed 3D cities. However, especially for updating of existing scenes derived from different sensors (e.g. airborne laser scanning), a proper quality assessment is necessary. The objective of this paper is thus to evaluate the potential of UAV imagery as an information source for automatic 3D building modeling at LOD2. The investigation process is conducted threefold: (1) comparing generated SfM point cloud to ALS data; (2) computing internal consistency measures of the reconstruction process; (3) analysing the deviation of Check Points identified on building roofs and measured with a tacheometer. In order to gain deep insight in the modeling performance, various quality indicators are computed and analysed. The assessment performed according to the ground truth shows that the building models acquired with UAV-photogrammetry have the accuracy of less than 18 cm for the plannimetric position and about 15 cm for the height component.

Investigations on the Influence of Antenna Near-field Effects and Satellite Obstruction on the Uncertainty of GNSS-based Distance Measurements

Antenna near-field effects are one of the accuracy limiting factors on GNSS-based distance measurements. In order to analyse these influences, a measurement campaign at an EDM calibration baseline site with optimum GNSS conditions was performed. To vary the distance between the antenna mount and the absolutely calibrated antennas, spacers with different lengths were used. Due to the comparison of the resulting GNSS-based distance measurements to a reference solution, the influences of the antenna near-field could be analyzed.The standard deviations of the differences to the reference solution, i. e., 0.31 mm for the distance and 0.46 mm for the height component, indicate that equal spacer and antenna combinations at both stations lead to a very high accuracy level. In contrast, different spacer and antenna combinations decrease the accuracy level. Thus, an identical set-up at both antenna stations and the usage of individually calibrated antennas minimize the near-field effects during the double-differencing process. Hence, these aspects can be identified as a prerequisite for highly accurate GNSS-measurements.In addition to near-field effects, the influence of satellite obstructions is investigated. Four realistic shadowing scenarios are numerically simulated on the basis of the observations, which were collected in the optimum surrounding of the EDM calibration baseline site. The comparison to nominal values indicates that a shadowing leads only to a slight decreasing of the accuracy. Consequently, there is a strong suspicion that multipath effects and signal distortions seem to have a greater influence on the accuracy of GNSS-based distance measurements than the satellite constellation.

Potential of GPS Common Clock Single-differences for Deformation Monitoring

Global satellite navigation systems (GNSS) are a standard measurement device for deformation monitoring. In many applications, double-differences are used to reduce distance dependent systematic effects, as well as to eliminate the receiver and satellites clock errors. However, due to the navigation principle of one way ranging used in GPS, the geometry of the subsequent adjustment is weakened. As a result, the height component is generally determined three times less precisely than the horizontal coordinates. In addition, large correlations between the height and elevation dependent effects exist such as tropospheric refraction, mismodelled phase center variations, or multipath which restricts the attainable accuracy. However, for a kinematic analysis, i. e. for estimating high rate coordinate time series, the situation can be significantly improved if a common clock is connected to different GNSS receivers in a network or on a baseline. Consequently, between-station single-differences are sufficient to solve for the baseline coordinates. The positioning geometry is significantly improved which is reflected by a reduction of the standard deviation of kinematic heights by about a factor 3 underlining the benefits of this new approach. Real data from baselines at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt campus at Braunschweig where receivers are connected over 290 m via an optical fiber link to a common clock was analysed.