Forest cover change in Andaman and Nicobar islands
The damage from last December’s tsunami has been counted in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and it is huge. The islands’ forest cover has taken a big hit, marine life has been badly affected and some famous beaches have vanished. India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests report says the tsunami has badly devastated the islands’ ecosystem. Conducted post-tsunami by ISRO through satellite mapping and released recently, the study found forest depletion of up to 27 per cent in islands like Nancowry and Trinkat. In the Nicobar group of islands, 12,224 hectares of forest cover was lost. Comorta, Nancowry and Katchal saw major coral reef erosion. The report says in some places the entire coral reef area suffered. Satellite images showed that the mangrove trees facing the waves were the worst hit. Extensive areas have turned barren or have been totally eroded in the tsunami’s wake. Some major beaches — big tourist attractions — have almost disappeared. The Noncowry and Trinkat beaches in the Nicobar group of islands have vanished. What remains are just barren rocks. Offi cials say it will take years for new beaches to be carved out from the sea. Marine life, too, has been hit hard. The nesting beaches in the Nicobar group of islands have almost vanished as the islands have gone under the sea by one to three metres.
www.hindustantimes.com
Height of Mount Everest MUNEENDRA KUMAR
An alternative low cost MEMS IMU/GPS integration scheme incorporating artificial intelligence KAI-WEI CHIANG AND NASER EL-SHEIMY
Positional accuracy and integration of geographic data CARSTEN RÖNSDORF
The role of cadastral data modelling in e-Land administration KALANTARI M, RAJABIFARD A, WALLACE J AND WILLIAMSON
Malaysia precise geoid (MyGEOID) AHMAD FAUZI NORDIN, SAMAD HJ ABU, CHANG LENG HUA AND SOEB NORDIN
Under the new Map Policy, it seems that India has decided to retain the old Indian Datum, which has been identified by “Everest”, for DSMs. The following geodetic definition issues and “specifi cations” are worth commenting:
Vintage – 1880s.
Name – On a recent enquiry, four SOI experts provided four different names. However, it cannot be “Everest”.
Spheroid …
GPS infrastructures that have been established in Malaysia are mainly served as a ground control stations for cadastral and mapping purposes. Another element that has not been utilised is the height component due to its low accuracy. Conventional levelling is still the preferred method by the land surveyors to determine the stations orthometric height (H) with a proven accuracy. Therefore, Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (DSMM) has embarked the Airborne Gravity Survey, with one of the objectives is to compute the local precise geoid for Malaysia within centimeter level of accuracy. With the availability of the precise geoid, the “missing” element of GPS system is solved.
Land administration systems evolved from a focus on core functions of regulating land and property development, land use controls, land taxation and disputes (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999) to an integrated land management paradigm designed to support sustainable development (Enemark et al., 2005).
EU and India seal EU and India seal their agreement
After intensive exchanges held since January 2004, negotiations on India’s participation in Europe’s satellite radio navigation programme fi nally reached approval. The agreement, initialled today in New Delhi at the occasion of the EU-India Summit in the presence of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as EU Presidency, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will ensure the availability of highest quality Galileo services in India as well as cooperation to establish regional augmentation systems based on EGNOS and GALILEO. Welcoming the outcome of the negotiations, Vice-President of the European Commission Jacques Barrot said: “This is another important step for the development of GALILEO as an international programme, but also a major milestone in the EU/India partnership”. The agreement was initialled by Mr Francisco Da Camara Gomes, Head of the EC Delegation in India, representing the European Union, and Mr G. Madhavan Nair, Secretary, Department of Space, representing India. Considering that India has well proven capabilities in space, satellite and navigation related activities, the agreement will provide a positive impulse for India and European industrial cooperation in many high tech areas.
India is the fourth country joining the GALILEO programme, after the signature of agreements with China, Israel and Ukraine. Discussions are also under way with Argentina, Brazil, Morocco, Mexico, Norway, Chile, South Korea, Malaysia, Canada and Australia.
http://europa.eu.int/
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath
Hurricane Katrina severely pounded the Gulf Coast of U.S. with great force at daybreak on the 29th of August. Arriving with 145 mile an hour wind speed, the storm left more than a million people in three U.S. states without power and submerged highways. Hurricane Katrina, formed in the Bahamas in mid-August and struck South Florida on 25 August, killing nine people and leaving a million more without electricity. European Space Agency’s multisensor Envisat satellite has gathered a unique view of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico. Envisat simultaneously acquired these images at 1550 UTC (1150 US Eastern Daylight Saving Time) on 28 August, with its Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR). While an optical image shows characteristic spiralling cloud patterns, a simultaneous radar observation pierces through the clouds to show how Katrina’s 250- kilometre-an-hour winds scour the sea surface. www.sciencedaily.com
(5.00 out of 5)