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Seen & Heard: FAA updates interference resources, measuring Bangladesh’s highest peak and more

Credit: FAA
Credit: FAA

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Interference clocked by the FAA

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has updated its “GNSS Interference Resource Guide.” The FAA’s Flight Technologies and Procedures Division (AFS-400) developed the guide to provide operators and pilots with current information on GPS/GNSS jamming and spoofing. According to the guide, “As the threat of GNSS jamming and spoofing is constantly changing, the FAA will update this resource guide to provide the best guidance in the rapidly changing environments.”

Download the guide here.

UK scientists unite to uncover coastline mysteries

The research vessel Cefas Endeavour at dock in Lowestoft.(Credit: Cefas)
The research vessel Cefas Endeavour at dock in Lowestoft.(Credit: Cefas)

The UK Centre for Seabed Mapping (UK CSM) conducted a survey to explore and map the seabed along the United Kingdom’s southwest coastline. For four weeks, a team of 26 maritime scientists collected hydrographic, geological and environmental data. According to UK CSM, the survey represents an unprecedented level of collaboration within the maritime sector. The team aimed to collect and share high-quality marine data and make advances in how the seabed is mapped, understood and managed. The findings will support a wide range of applications including offshore energy and infrastructure, marine ecosystem science, safety at sea, marine policy, and defense.

Bangladesh at the top

Credit: MD Maruf Hassan/E+/Getty Images
Credit: MD Maruf Hassan/E+/Getty Images

In April, field teams for the Survey department under the Ministry of Defense
conducted field work in the remote hill areas of Bangladesh to determine the
highest peak. Surveyors used modern geodetic methods and advanced GNSS
technology in the Bandarban district, and followed international standards to
determine the height of the country’s highest peak above mean sea level (MSL)
with centimeter-level accuracy, including latitude, longitude and elevation.

Turbulence shrinks Antartica’s Ross Ice Shelf

Sketch (not to scale) of GNSS sensitivity to atmospheric turbulence in Antarctica. GNSS stations can probe the spatiotemporal distribution of water vapor in the lower atmosphere because water vapor induces a measurable signal propagation delay. Water-vapor distribution is spatially homogeneous for a non-turbulent atmosphere and heterogeneous when the atmosphere is turbulent. (Credit: MIT)
Sketch (not to scale) of GNSS sensitivity to atmospheric turbulence in Antarctica (Credit: MIT)

GNSS observations suggest a major melting event at Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf was
linked to atmospheric turbulence. While the shelf typically melts underneath from warm ocean water, an unusual surface melting episode occurred in January 2016. Researchers from MIT Haystack Observatory used data from existing GNSS stations, with 13 stations installed on the shelf, to examine atmospheric turbulence. Wind, water vapor and temperature variations drawn in by warm and humid air caused the surface to melt, with turbulence four times greater than usual.