First results from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)

After engineering flights aboard the NASA U-2 research aircraft in the winter of 1986 to 1987 and spring of 1987, extensive data collection across the United States was begun with the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) in the summer of 1987 in support of a NASA data evaluation and technology assessment program. This paper presents some of the first results obtained from AVIRIS. Examples of spectral imagery acquired over Mountain View and Mono Lake, California, and the Cuprite Mining District in western Nevada are presented. Sensor performance and data quality are described, and in the final section of this paper, plans for the future are discussed

Coherent electromagnetic heavy ion reactions: (1) exact treatment of pair production and ionization; (2) mutual Coulomb dissociation

Some recent theoretical results on coherent electromagnetic processes in ultrarelativistic heavy ion reactions are surveyed.Comment: 4 pages, latex source, no figures, to appear in Proceedings of Quark Matter '9

Palaeoecological and possible evolutionary effects of early Namurian (Serpukhovian, Carboniferous) glacioeustatic cyclicity

Early Namurian (Serpukhovian, Carboniferous), sedimentary cycles in the Throckley and Rowlands Gill boreholes, near Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, consist of fossiliferous limestones overlain by (usually unfossiliferous) black mudstone, followed by sandstones and often by thin coal seams. Sedimentological and regional geological evidence suggests that the largest are high-amplitude cycles, probably of glacioeustatic origin. 13C (bulk organic matter) delineates marine and non-marine conditions because of the large difference between terrestrial and marine 13C, and indicates that full marine salinity was only intermittent and resulted from glacioeustatic marine transgression superimposed on a background of inundation by freshwater from large rivers, which killed off the marine biota. Palynology suggests that plant groups, including ferns and putative pteridosperms, were affected by changing sea level, and that there is a theoretical possibility of connection between cyclicity and the first appearance of walchiacean conifer-like monosaccate pollen such as Potonieisporites. Long-term terrestrial and marine increasing 13C (organic) may reflect the onset of major glaciation in Gondwana, as there is evidence to suggest that the two are coeval, but no specific mechanism can be suggested to link the trends

Proceedings of the Second Airborne Imaging Spectrometer Data Analysis Workshop

Topics addressed include: calibration, the atmosphere, data problems and techniques, geological research, and botanical and geobotanical research

Coastal subsidence in Oregon, USA, during the Giant Cascadia earthquake of AD 1700

Quantitative estimates of land-level change during the giant AD 1700 Cascadia earthquake along the Oregon coast are inferred from relative sea-level changes reconstructed from fossil foraminiferal assemblages preserved within the stratigraphic record. A transfer function, based upon a regional training set of modern sediment samples from Oregon estuaries, is calibrated to fossil assemblages in sequences of samples across buried peat-mud and peat-sand contacts marking the AD 1700 earthquake. Reconstructions of sample elevations with sample-specific errors estimate the amount of coastal subsidence during the earthquake at six sites along 400 km of coast. The elevation estimates are supported by lithological, carbon isotope, and faunal tidal zonation data. Coseismic subsidence at Nehalem River, Nestucca River, Salmon River, Alsea Bay, Siuslaw River and South Slough varies between 0.18 m and 0.85 m with errors between 0.18 m and 0.32 m. These subsidence estimates are more precise, consistent, and generally lower than previous semi-quantitative estimates. Following earlier comparisons of semi-quantitative subsidence estimates with elastic dislocation models of megathrust rupture during great earthquakes, our lower estimates for central and northern Oregon are consistent with modeled rates of strain accumulation and amounts of slip on the subduction megathrust, and thus, with a magnitude of 9 for the AD 1700 earthquake

Determination of in-flight AVIRIS spectral, radiometric, spatial and signal-to-noise characteristics using atmospheric and surface measurements from the vicinity of the rare-earth-bearing carbonatite at Mountain Pass, California

An assessment of the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) performance was made for a flight over Mountain Pass, California, July 30, 1987. The flight data were reduced to reflectance using an empirical algorithm which compensates for solar, atmospheric and instrument factors. AVIRIS data in conjunction with surface and atmospheric measurements acquired concurrently were used to develop an improved spectral calibration. An accurate in-flight radiometric calibration was also performed using the LOWTRAN 7 radiative transfer code together with measured surface reflectance and atmospheric optical depths. A direct comparison with coincident Thematic Mapper imagery of Mountain Pass was used to demonstrate the high spatial resolution and good geometric performance of AVIRIS. The in-flight instrument noise was independently determined with two methods which showed good agreement. A signal-to-noise ratio was calculated using data from a uniform playa. This ratio was scaled to the AVIRIS reference radiance model, which provided a basis for comparison with laboratory and other in-flight signal-to-noise determinations

Where Is the Sociology of Religion Heading? Some Comments to 'Three European Sociologies of Religion'

Comments on Zdenek R. Nespor's article, 'Three European Sociologies of Religion: Beyond the Usual Agenda of the Discipline,' which reviews three new European overviews of the discipline that go beyond its traditional agenda. There is agreement with Nespor that there has been a merging of European & Anglo-American sociologies of religion; however, differences between European & American applications of the sociological study of religion are said to be an artificially created problem. Attention is given to whether or not the sociology of religion needs grand theories, especially the secularization theory which Nespor describes as 'worn out.' The dispute over the importance of the secularization paradigm for the sociology of religion is considered to argue that abandoning it is not completely justified. The inadequate attention Nespor gives to the dispute over the definition of religion is pointed out, along with the inability of the sociology of religion to 'decide which rationality/discourse type it has & is able to defend & which criteria will help assess the relevance of the rationalities adopted.

Outward Bound (May 18, 1945)

Program for Outward Bound (May 18, 1945)