06 Fakultät Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik und Geodäsie
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/handle/11682/7
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Item Open Access Analysis of water volume change of the lakes and reservoirs in the Mississippi River basin using Landsat imagery and satellite altimetry(2021) Wang, LingkeIn recent years, the demand for freshwater has been steadily increasing owing to population growth and economic expansion. Surface waters such as lakes and reservoirs function as a dominant factor in mankind's freshwater provision. Analysis of changes in their water storage is consequently vital for understanding of the global water cycle and water resources. However, the water volume changes in lakes or reservoirs cannot be measured directly from space, but can be inferred from lake areas and lake water levels. Lake area can be measured globally from space but lake water level is not easy to be obtained globally. Because the number of in situ stations is few, and in situ data are only accessible for some lakes with few measurement epochs, despite in situ stations can measure lake water level and provide high accuracy observations. Although the altimetry technique can generate the time series of the water level for the majority of lakes, they are not global coverage due to the distance between satellite tracks and the gap between different missions. Therefore, in situ data and satellite altimetry measurements of water levels of lakes and reservoirs are not always available. For example, there are only 22 lakes or reservoirs in this study covered by satellite altimetry or in situ stations out of 90 research cases in Mississippi River Basin. Then, in case of unavailable in situ data or altimetry measurements, this research proposes an alternative method to estimate the water level through Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Because satellite imagery offers global coverage and DEM is the global digital representation of the land surface elevation with respect to any reference datum, this study allows for the evaluation of global water volume changes by acquiring lake area data from space and lake height data from DEM. Therefore, the objective of this study is that changes in water volume in lakes or reservoirs can be successfully monitored even when in situ data and satellite altimetry measurements are not available for lakes or reservoirs. Hereby, we investigate 90 lakes and reservoirs in the Mississippi River Basin and develop an alternative remote sensing technique to monitor the water volume changes by combining the improved water mask with DEM. Meanwhile, we propose practical methods to detect the shoreline pixels of the water body from improved water mask. Given the assumption that all pixels in the shoreline should have the same height, four water level estimation models are developed, including water level estimation model based on statistical analysis, frequency maps, change pixels and pixel pair analysis. To this end, the study estimates the time series of lake height from water level estimation model and obtains the time series of lake surface area from HydroSat. Subsequently, this study builds the unique function between the lake water level and the lake surface area and then develops the function between the lake water volume change and the lake surface area. Finally, this study analyses the water volume changes of lakes and reservoirs in the Mississippi River Basin using this alternative remote sensing method. Four water level estimation models are proposed and evaluated. They are respectively based on statistical analysis, frequency maps, change pixels and pixel pair analysis. As a result of their actions, the first model based on statistical analysis, with an average correlation of 0.62 and an average RMSE of 0.91 meters, functions in the majority of situations and demonstrates excessive outlier removal in some cases. The second model based on frequency maps is more general than the first, with an average correlation of 0.66 and an average RMSE of 1.11 meters. The average correlation for the third model based on change pixels is 0.71, and the average RMSE is 0.99 meters. The resulting model based on pixel pair analysis obtains a mean correlation of 0.67 and a mean RMSE of 1.00 meters. Finally, these models behave differently in different seasons, so they exhibit distinct monthly behaviour. To conclude, the above validation results show that this alternative method can be used in different lakes and reservoirs in case of absence of water level observation data, and achieve to monitor the water volume changes during a long period.Item Open Access A method for evaluating population and infrastructure exposed to natural hazards : tests and results for two recent Tonga tsunamis(2023) Thomas, Bruce Enki Oscar; Roger, Jean; Gunnell, Yanni; Ashraf, SalmanBackground: Coastal communities are highly exposed to ocean- and -related hazards but often lack an accurate population and infrastructure database. On January 15, 2022 and for many days thereafter, the Kingdom of Tonga was cut off from the rest of the world by a destructive tsunami associated with the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption. This situation was made worse by COVID-19-related lockdowns and no precise idea of the magnitude and pattern of destruction incurred, confirming Tonga’s position as second out of 172 countries ranked by the World Risk Index 2018. The occurrence of such events in remote island communities highlights the need for (1) precisely knowing the distribution of buildings, and (2) evaluating what proportion of those would be vulnerable to a tsunami.
Methods and Results: A GIS-based dasymetric mapping method, previously tested in New Caledonia for assessing and calibrating population distribution at high resolution, is improved and implemented in less than a day to jointly map population clusters and critical elevation contours based on runup scenarios, and is tested against destruction patterns independently recorded in Tonga after the two recent tsunamis of 2009 and 2022. Results show that ~ 62% of the population of Tonga lives in well-defined clusters between sea level and the 15 m elevation contour. The patterns of vulnerability thus obtained for each island of the archipelago allow exposure and potential for cumulative damage to be ranked as a function of tsunami magnitude and source area.
Conclusions: By relying on low-cost tools and incomplete datasets for rapid implementation in the context of natural disasters, this approach works for all types of natural hazards, is easily transferable to other insular settings, can assist in guiding emergency rescue targets, and can help to elaborate future land-use planning priorities for disaster risk reduction purposes.Item Open Access New methods for 3D reconstructions using high resolution satellite data(2021) Gong, Ke; Fritsch, Dieter (Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Prof. h.c.)Item Open Access Variance-covariance matrix estimation with LSQR in a parallel programming environment(2008) Guo, RonggangKnowledge about the gravity field allows an insight into the structure and dynamics of the earth. It provides the geoid as the most important physical reference surface in geodesy and oceanography. Since 2000, the CHAMP (CHAllenging Mini-satellite Payload) mission detects the structure of the global gravity field, followed by the launch of GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) in 2002. In 2008, finally, the GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite is supposed to be set in orbit. These missions demonstrate satellite-based gravity field recovery to be at the center of geo-scientific interest. Interpretation and evaluation of satellite observations are difficult, especially the determination of the unknown gravity field parameters from a huge amount of measurements. Because of the immense demand for memory and computing time, the occurring systems of equations pose a real numerical challenge. Therefore, High-Performance Computing (HPC) is commonly adopted to overcome computational problems. Basically, parallel programming with MPI and OpenMP routines allows to speed up the solution process considerably. In this thesis, firstly global gravity field modelling by means of satellite observations is reviewed. Secondly, the LSQR method (Least-Squares using QR factorization) is introduced in detail in order to solve the resulting least-squares problems. Because the LSQR method is an iterative solver, it basically can not provide the variance-covariance information of the parameter estimate. To investigate the approximate computation of the variance-covariance matrix, two methods are introduced. The first one is based on the generalized inverse of the design matrix. The second approach applies Monte-Carlo integration techniques. Because parallel programming is very helpful to implement such iterative methods, it is necessary to introduce some basic principles and concepts about HPC.Item Open Access Assessing hydrological changes in the Murray-Darling basin(2010) Schmid, StefanieIn this diploma thesis GRACE-derived time-variable gravity, TRMM precipitation, and in-situ hydrological observations (water level, river flow) between May 2003 and April 2009 (6 years) are used to assess hydrological changes in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). The investigations in terms of Multiple Linear Regression Analysis (MLRA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) show distinct differences between the northern and southern climatic regions of the MDB. While the north is dominated by precipitation occurring within the early part of each year, precipitation appears in the south half a year later. Furthermore, a severe drought is detected, which appeared in 2006/07. The analysis of seasonal variations reveals that gravity changes are preceded by precipitation by about one month in the north of the MDB, while the south shows the inverse behaviour. The phase shift of gravity changes between the north and the south suggests a mass transport taking about 5 months to cross the MDB from the north to the south, which is confirmed by the in-situ hydrological observations.Item Open Access Mathematical methods for camera self-calibration in photogrammetry and computer vision(2013) Tang, Rongfu; Fritsch, Dieter (Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil.)Camera calibration is a central subject in photogrammetry and geometric computer vision. Self-calibration is a most flexible and highly useful technique, and it plays a significant role in camera automatic interior/exterior orientation and image-based reconstruction. This thesis study is to provide a mathematical, intensive and synthetic study on the camera self-calibration techniques in aerial photogrammetry, close range photogrammetry and computer vision. In aerial photogrammetry, many self-calibration additional parameters (APs) are used increasingly without evident mathematical or physical foundations, and moreover they may be highly correlated with other correction parameters. In close range photogrammetry, high correlations exist between different terms in the ‘standard’ Brown self-calibration model. The negative effects of those high correlations on self-calibration are not fully clear. While distortion compensation is essential in the photogrammetric self-calibration, geometric computer vision concerns auto-calibration (known as self-calibration as well) in calibrating the internal parameters, regardless of distortion and initial values of internal parameters. Although camera auto-calibration from N≥3 views has been studied extensively in the last decades, it remains quite a difficult problem so far. The mathematical principle of self-calibration models in photogrammetry is studied synthetically. It is pointed out that photogrammetric self-calibration (or building photogrammetric self-calibration models) can – to a large extent – be considered as a function approximation problem in mathematics. The unknown function of distortion can be approximated by a linear combination of specific mathematical basis functions. With algebraic polynomials being adopted, a whole family of Legendre self-calibration model is developed on the base of the orthogonal univariate Legendre polynomials. It is guaranteed by the Weierstrass theorem, that the distortion of any frame-format camera can be effectively calibrated by the Legendre model of proper degree. The Legendre model can be considered as a superior generalization of the historical polynomial models proposed by Ebner and Grün, to which the Legendre models of second and fourth orders should be preferred, respectively. However, from a mathemtical viewpoint, the algebraic polynomials are undesirable for self-calibration purpose due to high correlations between polynomial terms. These high correlations are exactly those occurring in the Brown model in close range photogrammetry. They are factually inherent in all self-calibration models using polynomial representation, independent of block geometry. According to the correlation analyses, a refined model of the in-plane distortion is proposed for close range camera calibration. After examining a number of mathematical basis functions, the Fourier series are suggested to be the theoretically optimal basis functions to build the self-calibration model in photogrammetry. Another family of Fourier self-calibration model is developed, whose mathematical foundations are the Laplace’s equation and the Fourier theorem. By considering the advantages and disvantages of the physical and the mathematical self-calibration models, it is recommended that the Legendre or the Fourier model should be combined with the radial distortion parameters in many calibration applications. A number of simulated and empirical tests are performed to evaluate the new self-calibration models. The airborne camera tests demonstrate that, both the Legendre and the Fourier self-calibration models are rigorous, flexible, generic and effective to calibrate the distortion of digital frame airborne cameras of large-, medium- and small-formats, mounted in single- and multi-head systems (including the DMC, DMC II, UltraCamX, UltraCamXp, DigiCAM cameras and so on). The advantages of the Fourier model result from the fact that it usually needs fewer APs and obtains more reliable distortion calibration. The tests in close range photogrammetry show that, although it is highly correlated with the decentering distortion parameters, the principal point can be reliably and precisely located in a self-calibration process under appropriate image configurations. The refined in-plane distortion model is advantageous in reducing correlations with the focal length and improving the calibration of it. The good performance of the combined “Radial + Legendre” and “Radial + Fourier” models is illustrated. In geometric computer vision, a new auto-calibration solution which needs image correspondences and zero (or known) skew parameter only is presented. This method is essentially based on the fundamental matrix and the three (dependent) constraints derived from the rank-2 essential matrix. The main virtues of this method are threefold. First, a recursive strategy is employed subsequently to a coordinate transformation. With an appropriate approximation, the recursion estimates the focal length and aspect ratio in advance and then calculates the principal point location. Second, the optimal geometric constraints are selected using error propagation analyses. Third, the final nonlinear optimization is performed on the four internal parameters via the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm. This auto-calibration method is fast and efficient to obtain a unique calibration. Besides auto-calibration, a new idea is proposed to calibrate the focal length from two views without the knowledge of the principal point coordinates. Compared to the conventional two-view calibration techniques which have to know principal point shift a priori, this new analytical method is more flexible and more useful. Although the auto-calibration and the two-view calibration methods have not been fully mature yet, their good performance is demonstrated in both simulated and practical experiments. Discussions are made on future refinements. It is hoped that this thesis not only introduces the relevant mathematical principles into the practice of camera self-calibration, but is also helpful for the inter-communications between photogrammetry and geometric computer vision, which have many tasks and goals in common but simply using different mathematical tools.Item Open Access Understanding the limitations of Sentinel-3 inland altimetry through validation over the Rhine River(2022) Schneider, Nicholas M.Satellite altimetry is developing into one of the most powerful measurement techniques for long-term water body monitoring thanks to its high spatial resolution and its increasing level of precision. Although the principle of satellite altimetry is very straightforward, the retrieval of correct water levels remains rather difficult due to various factors. Waveform retracking is an approach to optimize the initially determined range between the satellite and the water body on Earth by exploiting the information within the power-signal of the returned radar pulse to the altimeter. Several so-called retrackers have been designed to this end, yet remain one of the most open study areas in satellite altimetry due to their crucial role they play in water level retrieval. Moreover, geophysical properties of the stratified atmosphere and the target on Earth have an effect on the travel time of the transmitted radar pulse and can amount to severalmeters in range. In this study we provide an overall analysis of the performances of the retrackers dedicated to the Sentinel-3 mission and the applied geophysical corrections. For this matter, we focus on nine different locations within the Rhine River basin where locally gauged data is available to validate the Sentinel-3 level-2 products. Furthermore, we present a reverse retracking approach in the sense that we use the given in-situ data to determine the offset to each altimetry-derived measurement of every epoch. Under the assumption that these offsets are legitimate, they can be seen as an a-posteriori correction which we project onto the range and thus on a waveform level. Further analyses consist in the investigation of the relationship these a-posteriori corrections have to the waveform properties of the same epoch. Later, the question whether the a-posteriori corrections to the initial retracking gates are appropriate for the retrieval of correct water levels, drives us to assign a probability to each and every bin of the waveform. Following this idea, we design stochastic-based retrackers which determine the retracking gate for water level retrieval from the bin with the highest probability assigned to it. To distribute the probabilities across all bins of the waveform, we consider three empirical approaches that take both the waveform itself and its first derivative into account: Addition, multiplication and maximum of both signals. For all three of the new retrackers, we generate the water level timeseries over the aforementioned sites and validate them against in-situ data and the retrackers dedicated to the Sentinel-3 mission.Item Open Access Noise performance of the modernized GPS and GALILEO systems(2010) Gerst, SebastianWith the modernization of GPS and the development of the new European satellite system Galileo, the noise performance of the newly introduced signals is understood insufficiently. Today, these new signals are not used operationally, but they are implemented in two satellites in the case of GPS and two Galileo test satellites. Both systems are emitting the new and conventional signals, which are recorded by a Septentrio receiver. The main goal of this thesis is to split the portion from the received signal, which is dependent on the temporal trend. On the one hand the satellite-receiver geometry, on the other hand the ionospherical runtime error. The resulting signal can be interpreted as noise, of which the correlation behavior and the power spectrum should be discussed.Item Open Access The potential of EO data for enhanced flood monitoring and forecasting : a consortium assessment(2026) Tarpanelli, Angelica; Massari, Christian; Revilla-Romero, Beatriz; Tourian, Mohammad J.; Saemian, Peyman; Elmi, Omid; Scherer, Daniel; Pedinotti, Vanessa; Kittel, Cecile; Benveniste, Jérôme; Bauer-Gottwein, Peter; Ciabatta, Luca; Chewning, Connor; Barbetta, Silvia; Filippucci, Paolo; Cantoni, Èlia; Dettmering, Denise; Andersson, Jafet; Gal, Laetitia; Gustafsson, David; Hundecha, Yeshewatesfa; Larnicol, Gilles; Larnier, Kevin; Nielsen, Karina; Paris, Adrien; Sadki, Malak; Schwatke, Christian; Tamagnone, Paolo; Vrettou, Artemis; Douch, Karim; Volden, Espen; Schumann, GuyThe monitoring and modeling of riverine floods have been covered extensively in the scientific literature with a substantial number of scientific contributions related to calibration/validation of hydraulic and hydrological models and assimilation of Earth Observation (EO) data into them. These models, when used for flood forecasting purposes, rely heavily on ground-based hydrological networks along with numerical weather models which, particularly in data-scarce regions, are often challenged by data sparsity. In these situations, EO data offer a viable solution to enhance the skill of these flood forecasting systems by providing global-scale observations of key hydrological variables such as precipitation, soil moisture, river discharge, water levels, and flood extent. This manuscript reviews and discusses the capability of these EO data in enhancing flood forecasting systems, by analyzing their accuracy, lead time, and reliability, while at the same time highlighting key challenges such as data latency, spatial–temporal resolution trade-offs, and model assimilation constraints. By leveraging recent advancements in remote sensing, data assimilation techniques, and artificial intelligence, EO-based flood forecasting has the potential to bridge existing observational gaps, particularly in vulnerable regions. The paper also outlines future research directions and technological developments needed to maximize the impact of satellite data in operational flood forecasting systems.Item Open Access Use of the autocorrelation function in EOF analysis of GRACE data(2014) Goswami, SujataThe GRACE mission launched with a pair of satellites, orbiting in a near-polar orbit, at a distance of about 220 km from eachother, to map the time-variable earth’s gravity field, since 2002. The study of time-variable gravity field has been proved to be very helpful in climate science studies. The gravity variations in the GRACE observations are mass variations inside the earth, exchanges between glaciers and oceans, changes due to surface and deep currents in the ocean. Monthly maps are used to study these gravity variations. The raw gravity field data obtained, is too much noisy and the main source of this noise is north-south stripes which is due to polar orbit of satellites. Due to these noisy stripes, filtering of GRACE time-variable gravity field is required. In this thesis, Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis is used to filter and analyse the GRACE gravity data. The method is used to extract the dominant variations by reducing the dimensionality of a dataset, among a group of time-series data. This dimensionality reduction and extraction of dominant variance is achieved by linear coordinate transformation to a new set of basis vectors via singular value decomposition. The decomposition gives spatial and temporal components along with variance values. Temporal components are analysed by the dominant variance rule, Kolmogorov-Smirnov rule and autocorrelation function respectively, in order to recover signal from noise. Dataset recovered by dominant variance rule, reduces the striping but it may remove the signals as well, especially the signals from ocean. The level of signal reduction is less in Kolmogorov-Smirnov rule, whereas autocorrelation performs well in comparison to both. Geophysical signal reduction is very less in using the autocorrelation function for filtered data analysis and the results are even much better if both Kolmogorov-Smirnov rule and autocorrelation results are combined together. Thus, autocorrelation can be a better approach to select the signal components from the noisy ones. EOF anlaysis is explained with its theoretical background and then its application on the GRACE data. The focus is on the use of autocorrelation function and its performance in the filtered data analysis. Here, the entire procedure is applied in spatial domain on the processed equivalent water height values. In future, autocorrelation function can be used for data analysis in spectral domain for more better results. Its performance can be evaluated on regional analysis basis.