NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
Support for this study was provided by the National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Defense Mapping Agency, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 94-68678
International Standard Book Number 0-309-05183-5
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Cover art by Shelley Myers, Project Assistant, Committee on Geodesy, Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, National Research Council. Myers’s work is exhibited widely in the Washington, D.C. area and has won several area awards. The cover depicts an airborne geophysical survey.
Copyright 1995 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
COMMITTEE ON GEODESY
THOMAS HERRING, Chair,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
ROBIN E. BELL,
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York
B. CLARK BURCHFIEL,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
M. ELIZABETH CANNON,
The University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
CHRISTOPHER JEKELI,
The Ohio State University, Columbus
ROGER L. MERRELL, Consultant,
Austin, Texas
J. BERNARD MINSTER,*
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California (Through December, 1993)
RICHARD SAILOR,
TASC, Inc., Massachusetts
DAVID SANDWELL,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
WILLIAM YOUNG,
Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, California
National Research Council Staff
ANNE M. LINN, Program Officer
LALLY A. ANDERSON, Staff Associate
JENNIFER T. ESTEP, Administrative Assistant
JUDITH L. ESTEP, Administrative Assistant
SHELLEY A. MYERS, Project Assistant
BOARD ON EARTH SCIENCES AND RESOURCES
J. FREEMAN GILBERT,
University of California, San Diego, Chair
GAIL M. ASHLEY,
Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey
THURE CERLING,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City
MARK P. CLOOS,
University of Texas at Austin
WILLIAM R. DICKINSON,
University of Arizona, Tucson
JOEL DARMSTADTER,
Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C.
MARCO T. EINAUDI,
Stanford University, California
NORMAN H. FOSTER, Independent Petroleum Geologist,
Denver, Colorado
CHARLES G. GROAT,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
DONALD C. HANEY,
University of Kentucky, Lexington
SUSAN M. KIDWELL,
University of Chicago, Illinois
PHILIP E. LaMOREAUX,
P.E. LaMoreaux and Associates, Inc., Tuscaloosa, Alabama
SUSAN M. LANDON,
Thomasson Partner Associates, Denver, Colorado
MARCIA K. McNUTT,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (Through December 1994)
J. BERNARD MINSTER,
University of California, San Diego
ALEXANDRA NAVROTSKY,
Princeton University, New Jersey
JILL D. PASTERIS,
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
EDWARD C. ROY, JR.,
Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
National Research Council Staff
JONATHAN G. PRICE, Staff Director (Through February 1995)
THOMAS M. USSELMAN, Associate Staff Director
WILLIAM E. BENSON, Senior Program Officer
KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Senior Program Officer
ANNE M. LINN, Program Officer
CHARLES MEADE, Program Officer
LALLY A. ANDERSON, Staff Associate
JENNIFER T. ESTEP, Administrative Assistant
JUDITH L. ESTEP, Administrative Assistant
SHELLEY A. MYERS, Project Assistant
COMMISSION ON GEOSCIENCES, ENVIRONMENT, AND RESOURCES
M. GORDON WOLMAN, Chair,
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
PATRICK R. ATKINS,
Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
EDITH BROWN WEISS,
Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.
JAMES P. BRUCE,
Canadian Climate Program Board, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
WILLIAM L. FISHER,
The University of Texas at Austin
EDWARD A. FRIEMAN,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
W. BARCLAY KAMB,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
PERRY L. MCCARTY,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
S. GEORGE PHILANDER,
Princeton University, New Jersey
RAYMOND A. PRICE,
Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada
THOMAS A. SCHELLING,
University of Maryland, College Park
ELLEN K. SILBERGELD,
University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore, Maryland
STEVEN M. STANLEY,
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
VICTORIA J. TSCHINKEL,
Landers and Parsons, Tallahassee, Florida
Staff
STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Associate Executive Director
MORGAN GOPNIK, Assistant Executive Director
JEANETTE SPOON, Administrative Officer
SANDI FITZPATRICK, Administrative Associate
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Preface
The Committee on Geodesy (COG) of the National Research Council (NRC) has long been involved in evaluating the opportunities for new insights and applications that accurate geodetic measurements offer the earth, ocean, and space science communities. With the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the possibility of having very precise aircraft navigation, new scientific opportunities exist for high-resolution surveys of the topography and gravity field of the Earth. To assess these new opportunities and the ways in which airborne techniques using GPS might complement other ground-and space-based techniques, COG held a workshop on airborne geophysics in July 1993. The goals of the workshop were as follows:
- to evaluate the current status of airborne geophysics and precise positioning techniques;
- to identify the scientific objectives that are made possible by integrating aerial measurements and precise positioning techniques; and
- to propose strategies for expanding and optimizing the future development of airborne research platforms, aircraft-based measurements, and precise positioning.
A steering committee of six individuals from COG with expertise in both the instrumentation and the scientific aspects of airborne geophysics planned the workshop. Steering committee members were Robin Bell (chair), Thomas Herring, Christopher Jekeli, J. Bernard Minster, Richard Sailor, and David Sandwell. Held on July 12–14, 1993, in Washington,
D.C., the workshop consisted of plenary and poster sessions that allowed interaction between federal managers and the applied and basic research communities.1 Workshop participants (see Appendix D) included approximately 40 scientists and engineers who are active in the areas of airborne geophysics and precise positioning, or who are addressing research questions that could benefit from the application of a new generation of airborne geophysical measurements.
The workshop (see the agenda in Appendix C) was organized around four principal technical elements of airborne geophysical measurements and the scientific objectives that can be addressed by these new techniques. The themes of the workshop were as follows:
• | GPS positioning; |
• | integrating GPS and Inertial Navigation Systems (INS); |
• | recovery of topography from aircraft; and |
• | airborne gravity field measurements. |
The scientific objectives of the next generation of airborne geophysics programs were discussed within the framework of the technical elements. Working groups chaired by members of the steering committee developed conclusions related to these themes. The major conclusions of the working groups are presented in Appendix B.
The following report is based primarily on information presented at the workshop and on the expertise of the workshop participants and the steering committee. The Committee on Geodesy worked with the steering committee in the preparation of this report and takes full responsibility for its conclusions and recommendations.
ROBIN E. BELL, CHAIR
STEERING COMMITTEE ON AIRBORNE GEOPHYSICS AND PRECISE POSITIONING
1 | Abstracts of the papers presented at the workshop are available from the Committee on Geodesy, National Research Council. |