OPERATIONAL IMAGE-BASED MAPPING IN THE FRANZ JOSEF LAND ARCHIPELAGO

摘要

High-resolution spaceborne photographs, radar imagery and old aerial photographs were successfully used for topological studies and photogrammetric mapping at different scales ranging from 1:600,000 to 1:15,000 in the Franz Josef Land archipelago, Russian High Arctic. Studies have shown significant changes in the region compared to the situation represented in available maps. Ground control data were collected and spirit leveling between old geodetic spots and the current sea level was carried out on several islands during field campaigns in 1994 and 1995. Results of measurements were reduced to the mean sea level of the Barents Sea, as recorded at the Krenkel station, and have clearly shown the subsidence of those islands in the past 40 years. Several combined image-line maps of the archipelago were compiled by means of digital mono- and stereoplotting on a standard PC equipped with a stereoscopic console. The results were obtained with reasonable accuracy and on a time-efficient basis. Some contradictions in existing theories of the arctic geosciences and some surprising findings were revealed in the course of cartographic investigations.