2026-01-14 パデュー大学
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2026/Q1/rocks-and-rolls-the-computational-infrastructure-of-earthquakes-and-physics-of-planetary-science/
- https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024EA004001
地表地形と地表プロセスの測定のためのQUAKES-Iステレオ画像装置 The QUAKES-I Stereoimaging Instrument for Measuring Surface Topography and Land Surface Processes
Andrea Donnellan, Curtis Padgett, Joseph Green, Robert Zinke, Ryan Applegate, Roger Chao, Katherine Tighe, Hrand Aghazarian, Dima Kogan, Chris Assad, Susan Bell, Selina Chu,…
Earth and Space Science Published: 11 September 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EA004001
Abstract
QUAKES-I is a stereoimaging instrument for recovering surface topography to study land surface properties and processes. The instrument consists of an 8-camera array with four cameras pointing forward and four pointing aft. Overlapped imaging during a flight-line enables reconstruction of topography. The instrument has flown on a NASA Gulfstream V aircraft at 12.5 km (41K feet) above sea level and can cover 5,400 km (3,400 mi) linear distance in a 6-hr flight. For this altitude, the image swath is 12 km wide with a separation of 5 km between the forward and aft swath (22°). The instrument is accommodated on a King Air aircraft for flying at lower elevation providing higher resolution data. We focused our engineering test flights over the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, and a variety of terrain including coasts, faults, forests, lakes, desert, and steep mountains. Data products for the 12 km wide swaths are 15–30 km long with sub-meter ground sample distance. We describe here the instrument and projected accuracy. We used commercial Structure from Motion software packages Pix4D, Metashape, and RealityCapture to process QUAKES-I data. The accuracy of QUAKES-I data products is typically <2 m for trees and steep terrain. This paper focuses on the instrument implementation.
Plain Language Summary
QUAKES-I is a stereoimaging instrument to collect topographic data from an airborne platform. At an altitude of 12.5 km (41,000′) the instrument produces data products with a 12 km wide swath with generally better than 2 m accuracy. We flew test flights over the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead in Arizona and over many types of terrain in California. California flights included most of the length of the San Andreas fault, over Death Valley and the eastern Sierra, Lake Tahoe, Los Angeles, and coastal California.
Key Points
- QUAKES-I is a stereoimaging instrument for collecting topographic data from an airborne platform
- The instrument produces data products with a 12 km wide swath at 12.5 km (41,000′) altitude with accuracy generally better than 2 m
- Test flights included key features and terrain in Arizona and California
