#laser mapping

Scientists have uncovered nearly 500 Mesoamerican monuments in southern Mexico using an airborne laser mapping technology called lidar. Dating as far back as 3000 years ago, the structures—still buried beneath vegetation—include huge artificial plateaus that may have been used for ceremonial gatherings and other religious events.

“The sheer number of sites they found is staggering,” says Thomas Garrison, an archeologist at the University of Texas, Austin, who was not involved in the work. “The study is going to be the inspiration for hopefully decades of research at these different settlements.”

Towerstars Ravensburg. Ice hockey and laser show – a powerful team

Video clip below.

Ice sports and ice hockey have been available in Ravensburg in the “Original” since 1881, the founding year of the Ravensburg Ice Sports Club.

This makes Ravensburg the second oldest ice sports club in Germany and has a very long tradition in the “towers city”.

Between 1958 and 2003, the Ice Sports Club used the open-air stadium St. Christina Hang, which has long been…

via nasa.gov

A laser-based instrument for mapping the 3-D structure of Earth’s forests has passed a major milestone toward deployment on the International Space Station (ISS). The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), led by the University of Maryland, College Park, and built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, successfully transitioned to “Phase B,” moving from requirements development and mission definition to preliminary design. GEDI will provide the first comprehensive, high-resolution measurements of the vertical canopy structure of Earth’s temperate and tropical forests.

Temperate and tropical forests, such as this one in Gabon, Africa, will be studied by the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, which will make the first comprehensive, high-resolution measurements of their vertical canopy structure.Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

These data will enable scientists to better address key questions about Earth’s carbon cycle and biodiversity. NASA selected the GEDI proposal in July 2014 to join a growing suite of technologies deployed on the ISS providing key observations about Earth’s environment.

“The largest uncertainties in the global carbon cycle concern the net impact of forest disturbance and subsequent regrowth on the amount of carbon stored in forest biomass and its impact on atmospheric CO2,” said Ralph Dubayah, GEDI’s principal investigator and a professor and assistant chair of the University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences. “With these data from GEDI, we will advance our ability to model the role of forests in the carbon cycle and to evaluate the impact of potential policy actions to mitigate CO2 emissions, such as planting trees or reducing deforestation.”

Forest degradation and loss is also negatively impacting habitat quality and putting increasing pressure on already fragile biological resources. By making detailed maps of forest vertical structure, the GEDI science team members, working together with forest managers and those who make environmental policy, will help protect ecosystems and the vital services they provide.

GEDI will use a system of laser beams to map the forest 3-D structure—including canopy height of Earth’s forests. The instrument is scheduled for launch to the ISS in 2018.

“The time is right for this mission,” said Jim Garvin, chief scientist of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. “The technology and the algorithms are doable, the team is ready, and the science is of the highest importance. The International Space Station will give us an opportunity to make this approach work very well.”

On Aug. 26, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Program Management Council granted approval for GEDI to continue to Phase B and praised the mission for its technical maturity, and the competency of its engineering and management teams. Michael Freilich, NASA’s Earth Science Division director, lauded the mission’s “peerless science.”

“Our success in passing this milestone is the result of the dedicated effort of the entire GEDI team,” said Dubayah. “I could not be happier with the collaboration between the University of Maryland and Goddard, which is building the GEDI instrument. The compelling science of GEDI depends upon an instrument whose lasers are capable of providing billions of highly accurate measurements of the Earth's forests and topography from space. This is a remarkably challenging engineering endeavor, but one that is uniquely suited to NASA, given its strong heritage in the deployment of space-based lidar technology."

Please direct inquiries for the University of Maryland to Laura Ours, [email protected], 301-405-5722.

New Post has been published on http://techreadsnow.com/laser-mapping-reveals-a-hidden-cavern-the-size-of-4-great-pyramids/

Laser Mapping Reveals a Hidden Cavern the Size of 4 Great Pyramids

In an age where every square mile of Earth’s surface is so easily photographed and surveilled, to be a true explorer—to see what no human has ever seen before—one has to descend into the bowels of the Earth. Armed with high-tech lasers scanners, cavers are slowly mapping that underground world. And now they’ve found the world’s largest cave chamber, equivalent in size to four Great Pyramids carved out underground.