Coastal data accumulation potentials for operational systems using airplanes

Potential users of SEASAT for remote sensing of coastal zone phenomena have established a need for resolutions beyond those attainable with SEASAT-A. One method of obtaining higher resolutions would be to fly the instruments aboard airplanes rather than a satellite. The number of aircraft that would be required is estimated along with the rate at which data would be accumulated. Only the East Coast from Maine to Key West is considered. Three different coverage widths are used. The narrowest area is wide enough to cover all bay and estuary regions along the coast; a wider area includes all ocean out to twelve nautical miles from the coast; the maximum size area considered extends out to 200 nautical miles from the coast

User definition and mission requirements for unmanned airborne platforms, revised

The airborne measurement requirements of the scientific and applications experiment user community were assessed with respect to the suitability of proposed strawman airborne platforms. These platforms provide a spectrum of measurement capabilities supporting associated mission tradeoffs such as payload weight, operating altitude, range, duration, flight profile control, deployment flexibility, quick response, and recoverability. The results of the survey are used to examine whether the development of platforms is warranted and to determine platform system requirements as well as research and technology needs

The significance of the Skylab altimeter experiment results and potential applications

The Skylab Altimeter Experiment has proven the capability of the altimeter for measurement of sea surface topography. The geometric determination of the geoid/mean sea level from satellite altimetry is a new approach having significant applications in many disciplines including geodesy and oceanography. A Generalized Least Squares Collocation Technique was developed for determination of the geoid from altimetry data. The technique solves for the altimetry geoid and determines one bias term for the combined effect of sea state, orbit, tides, geoid, and instrument error using sparse ground truth data. The influence of errors in orbit and a priori geoid values are discussed. Although the Skylab altimeter instrument accuracy is about + or - 1 m, significant results were obtained in identification of large geoidal features such as over the Puerto Rico trench. Comparison of the results of several passes shows that good agreement exists between the general slopes of the altimeter geoid and the ground truth, and that the altimeter appears to be capable of providing more details than are now available with best known geoids. The altimetry geoidal profiles show excellent correlations with bathymetry and gravity. Potential applications of altimetry results to geodesy, oceanography, and geophysics are discussed

Calibration and evaluation of Skylab altimetry for geodetic determination of the geoid

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Detention of Asylum Seekers in Mexico

Mexico ratified the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol in April 2000. While Regulations establishing a mechanism for eligibility determination were issued at the same time, the Mexican government began a transitional process to take over eligibility in March 2002. Prior to that time, the UNHCR had been recognizing refugees under its mandate. As of this writing no national policy regarding the detention of asylum seekers has been established, nor have refugee advocates begun to pressure the government to comply with Article 31 of the Convention. Rather, whether an asylum seeker is detained during the eligibility process depends in part on the place and timing of the request as well as on the knowledge and goodwill of the migration authority.Le Mexique a ratifié la Convention des Nations Unies relative au statut des réfugiés et le Protocole de 1967 au mois d’avril 2000. Alors que des règlements établissant un mécanisme pour déterminer l’admissibilité ont été émis au même moment, le gouvernement mexicain a mis en place un processus transitionnel visant à prendre en charge l’admissibilité en mars 2002. Jusqu’à cette date, c’était la HCR qui, comme partie de son mandat, s’occupait de la reconnaissance du statut de réfugié. À l’heure de la rédaction du présent article, une politique nationale de détention des réfugiés n’avait pas encore été établie, et les défenseurs des réfugiés n’avaient pas non plus commencé à faire pression sur le gouvernement pour qu’il se conforme à l’article 31 de la Convention. Au contraire, qu’un réfugié soit détenu ou non durant le processus d’admissibilité dépend en partie du lieu et de l’heure de la demande, aussi bien que du niveau de connaissance et de la bonne volonté de l’agent de l’immigration

Representative Democracy in an Age of Inequality: why legal reforms are needed to protect New Zealand’s system of government

New Zealand’s system of government is vulnerable to undue influence and distortion by private wealth. Our legal framework contains no limits on domestic political donations (including donations from corporations and lobbyists), weak disclosure standards for political financing, no political expenditure limits outside the election period, insufficient regulations on lobbying and the revolving door between public and private employment, and few meaningful regulations on conflicts of interest. Given the nation’s high level of wealth concentration, these vulnerabilities pose a critical threat. Comprehensive electoral reforms are required to prevent economic inequality from becoming politically entrenched and representative democracy from being undermined

International Poverty Law: A Response to Economic Globalization

This paper is directed at poverty lawyers and, more generally, anyone with an interest in the relationship between poverty and globalization. In this paper, I argue that poverty law needs to expand its scope in order to encompass the international dimensions of poverty, and to thereby become responsive to the current nature of poverty. This need is evident, because wealth and poverty have been globalized, domestic issues have become international issues, and international issues have become domestic issues and produced domestic changes. After establishing these premises, I describe five areas of research and advocacy, each of which is located within the rubric of economic globalization, for international poverty lawyers. These areas are (1) the destruction of community, (2) the evisceration of democratic politics, (3) systemic inequality, (4) forced globalization and its budgetary effects, and (5) the repealing of civil rights. In conclusion, I suggest a number of tools for international poverty lawyers who seek to engage in the areas mentioned above. These include a comparative law perspective, the international regulatory agenda, and the sociological imagination

Automating the Detection of Precipitation and Wind Characteristics in Navy Ocean Acoustic Data

A challenge in Underwater Acoustics is identifying the independent variables associated with an environment’s ambient noise. A strict definition of ambient noise would focus on non-transient signatures and exclude transient impacts from marine mammals, pelagic fish species, man-made sources, or weather events such as precipitation or wind speeds. Recognizing transient signatures in acoustic spectra is an essential element for providing environmental intelligence to the U.S. Navy, specifically the acoustic signatures from meteorological events. While weather event detection in acoustic spectra has been shown in previous studies, leveraging these concepts via U.S. Navy assets is largely an unknown. Environmental intelligence collection can be improved by detecting precipitation events and establishing wind velocities with acoustic signatures. This will further improve meteorological models by enabling validation from both manned and unmanned sub-surface assets