SOW: Digitization and longterm preservation of weather maps at ZAMG

The targets of this concept are: delivering a catalog of requirements; the evaluation of tools; possible file formats (e.g. FITS) necessary for digitization and longtime preservation of the historical weather maps at ZAMG (Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, Austria's national weather and geophysical service

Horizon Line Detection in Historical Terrestrial Images in Mountainous Terrain Based on the Region Covariance

Horizon line detection is an important prerequisite for numerous tasks including the automatic estimation of the unknown camera parameters for images taken in mountainous terrain. In contrast to modern images, historical photographs contain no color information and have reduced image quality. In particular, missing color information in combination with high alpine terrain, partly covered with snow or glaciers, poses a challenge for automatic horizon detection. Therefore, a robust and accurate approach for horizon line detection in historical monochrome images in mountainous terrain was developed. For the detection of potential horizon pixels, an edge detector is learned based on the region covariance as texture descriptor. In combination with shortest path search the horizon in monochrome images is accurately detected. We evaluated our approach on 250 selected historical monochrome images in average dating back to 1950. In 85% of the images the horizon was detected with an error less than 10 pixels. In order to further evaluate the performance, an additional dataset consisting of modern color images was used. Our method, using only grayscale information, achieves comparable results with methods based on color information. In comparison with other methods using only grayscale information, accuracy of the detected horizons is significantly improved. Furthermore, the influence of color, choice of neighborhood for the shortest path calculation, and patch size for the calculation of the region covariance were investigated. The results show that both the availability of color information and increasing the patch size for the calculation of the region covariance improve the accuracy of the detected horizons

Beam Steering with a Nonlinear Optical Phased Array Antenna

ISSN:1530-6984ISSN:1530-699

Terrestrial laser scanning of the landscape around Stonhage

N

Determination of glacier extents by monoplotting using historical terrestrial oblique images

The melting of glaciers in recent decades is well documented in the Alps through comprehensive historical aerial images available since the 1940s. Less well documented are the glacier extents in the late 1800s and in the first half of the 20th century. In addition to historical maps, historical terrestrial oblique images play an important role for this period and can be georeferenced and analysed by digital monoplotting (Bozzini, 2012; Wiesmann 2012). These images are often the only useful source for reconstructing changes in these areas and thus offer an effective way of documenting landscape dynamics. Private and public archives (such as the archives of the DAV and ÖAV) have a large number of high-resolution historical oblique images. Using three historical photos, we show the changes in glacier extents from 1890 to about 1935 using the example of the Gepatschferner in the Kaunertal with the monoplotting tool Mono3D, which was developed at the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation at the TU Wien (Flöry et al., 2020). Ground control points (more than 10 per image) were selected via a 3D viewer and both the interior and exterior orientation of the images estimated using OrientAL (Karel et al., 2013). With the estimated camera parameters and a reference DEM (2017, 1m resolution) the object coordinates of image pixels are calculated by monoplotting. In this way, the glacier extents were digitised and extracted as spatially referenced vector data (Fig. 1). Together with the glacier extents at the end of the Little Ice Age around 1850 (Groß and Patzelt, 2015) and the glacier extent mapped by an orthophoto from 1953 (aerial images were provided by the BEV (Austrian Federal Office of Surveying and Metrology, Vienna/Austria)), this period of around 100 years can be partially closed

Survey and sampling at the Castle Dykes Iron Age ‘henge’, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire

Survey and sampling at the classic single-entranced henge monument at Castle Dykes, in North Yorkshire, has revealed traces of circular timber structures, interpreted as later prehistoric roundhouses, in the immediate vicinity and within the henge. Coring of the waterlogged silts of the internal ditch has produced considerable environmental data: plant, insect, pollen and charcoal remains. A small jet bead was also recovered. Radiocarbon dates from short-lived materials unexpectedly indicate that the monument was constructed in the Iron Age, which prompts a review of other potentially Iron Age ‘henges’ further afield

Quantitative Long-Term Monitoring (1890–2020) of Morphodynamic and Land-Cover Changes of a LIA Lateral Moraine Section

Aerial photographs of the European Alps usually only reach back to the middle of the 20th century, which limits the time span of corresponding studies that quantitatively analyse longterm surface changes of proglacial areas using georeferenced orthophotos. To the end of the Little Ice Age, this leads to a gap of about 100 years. Using digital monoplotting and several historical terrestrial photographs, we show the quantification of surface changes of a Little Ice Age lateral moraine section until the late second half of the 19th century, reaching a total study period of 130 years (1890–2020). The (initial) gully system expands (almost) continuously over the entire study period from 1890 to 2020. Until 1953, the vegetation-covered areas also expanded (mainly scree communities, alpine grasslands and dwarf shrub communities), before decreasing again, especially between 1990 and 2003, due to large-scale erosion within the gully system. Furthermore, our results show that the land-cover development was impacted by temperature and precipitation changes. With the 130-year study period, we contribute to a substantial improvement in the understanding of the processes in the proglacial by analysing the early phase and thus the immediate response of the lateral moraine to the ice exposure

Survey and sampling at the Castle Dykes Iron Age ‘henge’, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire

Survey and sampling at the classic single-entranced henge monument at Castle Dykes, in North Yorkshire, has revealed traces of circular timber structures, interpreted as later prehistoric roundhouses, in the immediate vicinity and within the henge. Coring of the waterlogged silts of the internal ditch has produced considerable environmental data: plant, insect, pollen and charcoal remains. A small jet bead was also recovered. Radiocarbon dates from short-lived materials unexpectedly indicate that the monument was constructed in the Iron Age, which prompts a review of other potentially Iron Age ‘henges’ further afield

Zerstörungsfreie archäologische Prospektion des römischen Carnuntum : erste Ergebnisse des Forschungsprojekts „ArchPro Carnuntum“

Over the course of four years (2012–2015) the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archeology (LBI ArchPro), in collaboration with the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and on behalf of the provincial government of Lower Austria, has conducted the comprehensive, non-invasive archaeological prospection project entitled “ArchPro Carnuntum”. The purpose of this project has been to generate a basis for future archaeological research and the sustainable spatial planning and cultural heritage management in the area. By combining new information on buried archaeology using different aerial and ground-based archaeological prospection methods and a thorough archaeological interpretation of the combined data within the framework of a GIS environment, it was possible to document Carnuntum’s archaeological heritage, which is threatened by a dramatic increase in erosion and destruction through ploughing, infrastructure development and looting by treasure hunters. In total, an area covering eight square kilometres was explored at very high sampling resolution using magnetic prospection methods, while 2.5 square kilometres were mapped with ultra-high resolution ground-penetrating radar measurements. The results of the project and the spatio-temporal analysis and interpretation of the prospection data are presented here as a preliminary report