PE&RS May 2009

A devastating earthquake, measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, struck Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, China at 14:28 on May 12, 2008. After intensive rescue of survivors in the first week, the effort was then focused on prevention of, and preparedness for the secondary disasters, i.e., landslides and mudslides, especially, those in and around the barrier lakes. The figure shows the digital elevation model of the quake lakes in Tangjiashan, one of the areas worst affected by the earthquake. The digital elevation model was generated based on ALS50 II airborne LiDAR data with a sampling interval of 2 m, collected on May 31, by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, and Wuda Geo Information Company (the barrier dam is shown with the inset). A virtual geographic environment was created for the Tangjiashan barrier lakes for visualization and risk analysis concerning the barrier lakes and difficulty in ducts digging. Algorithms were developed for calculating the reservoir capacities in the barrier lakes for dynamic monitoring. With distributed hydrological models incorporated, it was possible to simulate the flows to the barrier lakes under given rain falls, to forecast in-flux volumes and times, to analyze their impact upon the reservoir capacities, and thus to assess the risks posed by the barrier lakes. The full story is described in Li’s Highlight Article.

Highlight Articles
506 Remote Sensing in the Wenchuan Earthquake (Adobe PDF 814Kb)
Deren Li
510 Photogrammetry for First Response in Wenchuan Earthquake (Adobe PDF 1220Kb)
Zuxun Zhang, Yongjun Zhang, Tao Ke, Dahai Guo

Columns & Updates
514 Grids and Datums — Republic of Nicaragua (Adobe PDF600Kb)
516 Mapping Matters
519 Book Review — Creating Spatial Information Infrastructures: Towards the Spatial Semantic Web (Adobe PDF 577Kb)
521 Reflection of the Past (Adobe PDF 525Kb)
523 Headquarters News — (Adobe PDF 596Kb)

523 ASPRS Celebrates 75th Anniversary with Record Conference Attendance
524 BAE Systems Award; Abraham Anson Memorial Scholarship Award; 2009 Colwell Fellowship Winner
525 Charles K. Toth Winner of the Photogrammetric Award; 2009 Boeing Award

526 Industry News

Announcement
528 New Sustaining Member — Wiser Company, LLC
607 2008-2009 PE&RS Reviewers (Adobe PDF 440Kb)

Departments
509 New Members
518 Certification List
522 Region of the Month
522 ASPRS Member Champions (Adobe PDF xxKb)
529 Who’s Who in ASPRS
530 Sustaining Members
532 Classifieds
532 Advertiser Index
533 Instructions for Authors
568 Forthcoming Articles
594 Calendar
618 Professional Directory
620 Membership Application

Peer-Reviewed Articles (Click the linked titles to see the full abstract)

535 Synchronization of Image Sequences — A Photogrammetric Method
Karsten Raguse and Christian Heipke

A photogrammetric method for the accurate analysis of asynchronously acquired image sequences.

547 An Emissivity Modulation Method for Spatial Enhancement of Thermal Satellite Images in Urban Heat Island Analysis
Janet Nichol

A methodology using ancillary land-cover information to enhance the spatial resolution of thermal satellite images for detailed studies of land surface temperature, such as in urban heat island analysis.

557 Modification of Pixel-swapping Algorithm with Initialization from a Sub-pixel/pixel Spatial Attraction Model
Zhangquan Shen, Jiaguo Qi, and Ke Wang

Based on the pixel-swapping algorithm, its initialization process is replaced by a sub-pixel mapping approach with a subpixel/ pixel spatial attraction model; the modifi ed algorithm can improve sub-pixel mapping accuracy and computation efficiency.

569 Closest Spectral Fit for Removing Clouds and Cloud Shadows
Qingmin Meng, Bruce E. Borders, Chris J. Cieszewski, and Marguerite Madden

A new method of closest spectral fit for cloud and cloud shadow removal is developed, and then it is evaluated using QuickBird, Landsat, and MODIS data.

577 Land Cover Classifi cation with Multi-Sensor Fusion of Partly Missing Data
Selim Aksoy, Krzysztof Koperski, Carsten Tusk, and Giovanni Marchisio

Decision tree classifiers can be learned with alternative decision nodes for handling missing data in multi-source information fusion where one or more measurements do not exist for some locations.

595 Spectral Angle Minimization for the Retrieval of Optically Active Seawater Constituents from MODIS Data
F. Maselli, L. Massi, M. Pieri, and C. Santini

An inversion algorithm based on spectral angle minimization to improve the retrieval of optically active constituents from MODIS data in spectrally complex seawaters.

607 Multi-temporal RADARSAT-1 and ERS Backscattering Signatures of Coastal Wetlands in Southeastern Louisiana
Oh-ig Kwoun and Zhong Lu

SAR data acquired from two sensors during several consecutive years to assess the potential of C-band SAR imagery for characterizing and monitoring wetland vegetation in a coastal flood zone.