Abstract: The theory of quaternions is introduced into the field of photogrammetry.A new method which uses quaternions to describe the position and attitude of line scanner CCD image is presented.Firstly the quaternions are used to describe the rotation matrix in the algorithm.Then,the strict collinear equation is linearized,and at the same time the iteration by correcting characteristic value can effectively overcome the strong interrelationship among exterior elements.The numerical experiments were done.Results show the correctness and reliability of the method