Tropical forest extent and changes

A UNEP/FAO assessment of the extent and rate of change of the tropical forest resources of 76 countries found that during the period 1976–1980 the amount of closed forest removed annually in the Americas, Asia and Africa was 4.1 million hectares, 1.8 million hectares and 1.3 million hectares respectively. Projections for 1981–1985 suggest that closed forest annual removal will remain at these same levels in Asia and Africa but will rise to 4.3 million hectares in the Americas thus giving a world removal total of 7.5 million hectares per year. No reliable information is available on the open forest areas cleared during 1975–1980 but annual open forest clearance during 1981–1985 is expected to be 2.3 million hectares for Africa, 1.2 million hectares for the Americas, and 0.19 million hectares for Asia. Shifting cultivation is the greatest single cause of deforestation. Removal of wood for energy purposes is a significant cause of deforestation in the drier tropics. If current removal rates are maintained, some 88 percent of the present world cover of tropical broad leaved forests will still remain at the end of the century.     

Fire risk assessment using satellite data

Forest fires are one of the most important sources of land degradation that lead to deforestation and desertification processes. Risk indexes obtained by means of satellite measurements have widely improved the forecasting and monitoring of fire and its impact over the global ecosystem in an operational manner. Using Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a key variable, we have defined a new risk index in which a static map of fire probability is modulated with the NDVI values. Its usefulness to study the dynamic of fire risk over a test area that has been affected by fire in the past years is tested. The potential application of these tools for fire management and its suitability to be provided as an end product to the forest services and cooperators aiding in that sense is also assessed.     

A holistic approach to the monitoring of land cover changes in Sri Lanka using intermediate remote sensing techniques

Heavy social and economic pressure on the available land resources in Sri Lanka are causing major land-cover changes. They need to be assessed to serve as input data for decision-making processes e.g. in agricultural or ecological planning.The Sri Lanka/Swiss Satellite Imagery Interpretation Project has developed a holistic approach to the mapping and monitoring of the land-use and the land-cover changes. The method applies intermediate level technology and is based on a benchmark/masking technique using satellite images, aerial photography and field surveys.The regular monitoring of changes of land-use types as a whole, e.g. forests, is part of the approach as well as the periodic assessment of changes within a specific land category, e.g. the seasonally cultivated riceland.The activities have to be transferred from the level of scientific research to the actual application within a reasonable time frame using the local resources. Discussed are also some of the problems inherent in the implementation of remote sensing activities in a so-called Third World country.     

Examining LiDAR – WorldView-3 data synergy to generate a detailed stand map in a mixed forest in the north-west of Turkey

Although stand delineation approach based on aerial photographs and field survey produces high accuracy maps, it is labour-intensive and time consuming. Furthermore, conventional forest stand maps may have some uncertainties that can hardly be verified due to the experiments and skills of photo-interpreters. Therefore, researchers have been seeking more objective and cost-effective methods for forest mapping. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data have a high potential to automatically delineate forest stands. Unlike optical sensors, LiDAR height data provides information about both the horizontal and vertical structural characteristics of forest stands. However, it deprives of spectral data that may be successfully used in separating tree species. In this study, we investigate the potential of LiDAR – WorldView-3 data synergy for the automatic generation of a detailed forest stand map which can be used for a tactical forest management plan. Firstly, image segmentation was applied to LiDAR data alone and LiDAR/WorldView-3 data set in order to obtain the most suitable image objects representing forest stands. Visual inspection of the segmentation results showed that image objects based on the LiDAR/WorldView-3 data set were more compatible with the reference forest stand boundaries. After the segmentation process, the LiDAR and LiDAR/WorldView-3 data sets were independently classified using object-based classification method. We tested two levels of classification. The first was a detailed classification with 14 classes considering reference stand types. The second was the rough classification with 9 classes where some stand types were combined. The mean, standard deviation and texture features of LiDAR metrics and spectral information were used in the classification. The accuracy assessment results of LiDAR data showed that the Overall Accuracy (OA) was calculated as 0.31 and 0.43, and the Kappa Index (KIA) was calculated as 0.26 and 0.32 for the detailed and rough classifications, respectively. For the LiDAR/WorldView-3 data set, the OA values were calculated as 0.50 and 0.61, and the KIA were calculated as 0.46 and 0.55 for the detailed and rough classifications, respectively. These results showed that the forest stand map derived from the LiDAR/WorldView-3 data synergy is more compatible with the reference forest stand map. In conclusion, it can be said that the forest stand maps produced in this study may provide strategic forest planning needs, but it is not sufficient for tactical forest management plans.     

基于特征点识别的头部姿态计算

为了提升使用随机回归森林进行头部姿态分析的精度,提出了一种基于特征点识别分析头部姿态的计算框架.考虑到高误差投票的干扰,该计算框架以随机森林的特征点识别为基础从而避免异常投票干扰,将头部姿态计算问题转换为空间鼻尖特征点和朝向特征点的识别问题.在随机森林的训练中,决策函数使用了高斯曲率和平均曲率作为图形特征,根据微分熵的信息增益在随机生成的决策函数库中搜索最优化决策函数.在训练完成的随机回归森林的叶子节点中,通过分析保存的样本数据,可以得到目标特征点的高斯分布估计.根据实验测试结果,在适当的阈值设定的情况下,该方法可以实现较高的识别成功率,使用曲率后明显提高了识别精度,能够在一定程度上处理有遮挡的数据,并且该方法已经成功应用于虚拟座舱的实时头部姿态分析计算系统.     

Sensor data for forest policy information

NASA-Ames Research Center has investigated the role and performance capabilities of the Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) for forest policy analysis for the past four years in cooperation with the California Department of Forestry. A thorough series of studies, from a statewide land cover map to smaller, highly detailed studies including collateral data, have been conducted with a view to comprehensive forest policy needs. The strengths and limitations of MSS data have been evaluated. Some observations about the information needed from new satellite sensors such as the Thematic Mapper are discussed against this background.     

Remote-sensing technology applied to forest assessment in California

Remote-sensing technology has been thoroughly evaluated for the analysis of California forest policy. A statewide, 1.6-acre-resolution, digital land-cover data base of Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) classification has been produced. Three major resource regions have been analyzed in detail and one of them geographically integrated with 12 other physical and socioeconomic data layers to model fire and reforestation problems, using a geographic information system (GIS). A study of GIS design criteria has been conducted and the California Department of Forestry, the cooperator in all of these studies, is presently evaluating the alternatives and implementing certain aspects of them.     

多场景高分辨率遥感图像快速拼接技术

光学遥感卫星拍摄过程中大视场与高分辨率间的相互矛盾,引起国内外研究人员的广泛关注。提出一种基于相机参数保持的快速拼接算法。该方法对高分辨率图像进行降采样处理,利用降分辨率图像的配准信息恢复相机参数,能够改进拼接过程,提高拼接效率。实验结果表明,相对于传统拼接方法,该算法能够将配准时间缩短2倍以上,将遥感图像的拼接质量提升5%~35%, 适用于建筑、森林、农田、湖泊四类场景。通过对存在噪声、亮度差异及不同模糊程度的遥感图像进行拼接实验,验证了该方法的鲁棒性和可行性。     

Deep learning-based framework for monitoring of debris-covered glacier from remotely sensed images

In recent years, deep learning (DL) methods have proven their efficiency for various computer vision (CV) tasks such as image classification, natural language processing, and object detection. However, training a DL model is expensive in terms of both complexities of the network structure and the amount of labeled data needed. In addition, the imbalance among available labeled data for different classes of interest may also adversely affect the model accuracy. This paper addresses these issues using a new convolutional neural network (CNN) based architecture. The proposed network incorporates both spatial and spectral information that combines two sub-networks: spatial-CNN and spectral-CNN. The spectral-CNN extracts spectral information, while spatial-CNN captures spatial information. Moreover, to make the features more robust, a multiscale spatial CNN architecture is introduced using different kernels. The final feature vector is formed by concatenating the outputs obtained from both spatial-CNN and spectral-CNN. To address the data imbalance problem, a generative adversarial network (GAN) was used to generate data for the underrepresented class. Finally, relatively a shallower network architecture was used to reduce the number of parameters in the network and improve the processing speed. The proposed model was trained and tested on Senitel-2 images for the classification of the debris-covered glacier. The results showed that the proposed method is well-suited for mapping and monitoring debris-covered glaciers at a large scale with high classification accuracy. In addition, we compared the proposed method with conventional machine learning approaches, support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF) and multilayer perceptron (MLP).     

Some aspects of land transformation in the western mediterranean desert of egypt

The western Mediterranean desert of Egypt has a long history of land-use. With recent development activities, land transformation is progressing at a high rate. Monitoring of changes to allow for predictions of long-term effects of these activities is viewed at three levels: (a) quantities of ecosystem components; (b) detailed distribution of patterns of land-use, vegetation and physiography; and (c) general distribution of the salient features of land. This study provides estimates at the first (a) and second (b) levels of changes in this region due to the main land-use types: grazing rain-fed farming, and irrigated farming.Grazing had little effects on soil characters, but it resulted in lower soil stability and abundance of plants and above-soil invertebrates. Irrigation resulted in water-logging and salinization, formation of calcic horizons, decrease in soil organic matter and soluble nitrogen, and in increase of above-and below-soil biota.A comparison of the distribution of vegetation and land-use in one of the sectors in 1964 and 1981, using maps based on aerial photographs and ground-truth data, indicated remarkable changes in areas of rain-fed farming, and in vegetation composition due to over-grazing.     

An update about recent developments of the PHITS code

PHITS (Particle and Heavy-Ion Transport code System) is a general-purpose three-dimensional Monte Carlo code, developed and maintained by RIST, JAEA and KEK in Japan together with Sihver et al. at Chalmers in Sweden. PHITS can deal with the transports of all varieties of hadrons and heavy ions with energies up to around 100 GeV/nucleon, and in this paper the current status of PHITS is presented. We introduce a relativistically covariant version of JQMD, called R-JQMD, that features an improved ground state initialization algorithm, and we will present the introduction of electron and photon transport in PHITS using EGS5, which have increased the energy region for the photon and energy transport from up to around 3 GeV to up to several hundred GeV depending on the atomic number of the target. We show how the accuracy in dose and fluence calculations can be improved by using tabulated cross sections. Benchmarking of shielding and irradiation effects of high energy protons in different materials relevant for shielding of accelerator facilities is also presented. In particular, we show that PHITS can be used for estimating the dose received by aircrews and personnel in space. In recent years, many countries have issued regulations or recommendations to set annual dose limitations for aircrews. Since estimation of cosmic-ray spectra in the atmosphere is an essential issue for the evaluation of aviation doses, we have calculated these spectra using PHITS. The accuracy of the atmospheric propagation simulation of cosmic-ray performed by PHITS has been well verified by experimental cosmic-ray spectra taken under various conditions. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the simulation results, an analytical model called “PARMA” has been proposed for instantaneously estimating the atmospheric cosmic-ray spectra below the altitude of 20 km. We have also performed preliminary simulations of long-term dose distribution measurements at the ISS performed with the joint ESA-FSA experiment MATROSHKA-R (MTR-R) led by the Russian Federation Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP) and the ESA supported experiment MATROSHKA (MTR), led by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). For the purpose of examining the applicability of PHITS to the shielding design in space, the absorbed doses in a tissue equivalent water phantom inside an imaginary space vessel has been estimated for different shielding materials of different thicknesses. The results confirm previous results which indicate that PHITS is a suitable tool when performing shielding design studies of spacecrafts.     

Strange star Equation of State with a modified Richardson potential

Richardson potential is an phenomenological interquark interaction taking care of two aspects of QCD, namely the asymptotic freedom and the confinement. The original potential has a scale parameter having value 400 MeV and is well tested in hadronic property calculations. This potential was then used in strange star calculation. Strange stars are very compact stars composed of strange quark matter, i.e. a very high density strange quark phase consisting of deconfined u, d and s quarks. Here the value of the scale parameter was taken as 100 MeV. The argument was that for a deconfined quark system like a strange star, the scale parameter may have a value quite different from that used in hadronic sector. To remove this discrepancy we introduced two scale parameters in the potential, one for the asymptotic freedom part and the other for the confining part. With suitable values of the parameters, this modified potential has been successfully used in both baryonic property and strange star calculations. The Equation of States obtained with the modified potential are also used to obtain mass–radius relations for the strange stars.     

Transformation of a delta: Converting estuaries to lakes

In this century large-scale transformations have been carried out in the delta of the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt in The Netherlands. The following principal consequences are considered: the loss of estuarine ecosystems, the change in the process of sedimentation and erosion, and the development of new aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The ecological consequences of the transformation of the Grevelingen estuary into a salt-water lake and some surprising developments are described briefly. The need for a limited restoration of the water exchange between the lake and the North Sea is indicated, as well as the major impacts of the exchange. The necessity for the maintenance or restoration of estuaries, the ecological development and the possibilities of the new lakes, and the management of these lakes by engineering structures are discussed. Careful land-use planning and ecosystem management, backed by research, are needed to make the fullest possible use of the potential offered by new lakes. It is also concluded that salt lakes have interesting perspectives.     

A comparison of total reaction cross section models used in particle and heavy ion transport codes

Understanding the interactions and propagations of high energy protons and heavy ions are essential when trying to estimate the biological effects of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) and Solar Particle Events (SPE) on personnel in space. To be able to calculate the shielding properties of different materials and radiation risks, particle and heavy ion transport codes are needed. In all particle and heavy ion transport codes, the probability function that a projectile particle will collide within a certain distance x in the matter depends on the total reaction cross sections, and the calculated partial fragmentation cross sections scale with the total reaction cross sections. It is therefore crucial that accurate total reaction cross section models are used in the transport calculations. In this paper, different models for calculating nucleon–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus total reaction cross sections are compared with each other and with measurements. The uncertainties in the calculations with the different models are discussed, as well as their overall performances with respect to the available experimental data. Finally, a new compilation of experimental data is briefly presented.     

气相色谱法测定玻璃纤维增强不饱和聚酯树脂塑料中残留苯乙烯单体的含量CSCD

采用气相色谱法火焰离子检测器(FID)测定玻璃纤维增强不饱和聚酯树脂塑料中苯乙烯残留单体含量,用二氯甲烷提取苯乙烯,使用毛细管柱(HP-5),以内标法(正丁苯为内标物)定量,内标法标准曲线线性关系良好,线性相关系数为0.999 7。加样回收率得到满意结果,最低检测限可达5mg/kg。     

The FLUKA code for space applications: recent developments.

The FLUKA Monte Carlo transport code is widely used for fundamental research, radioprotection and dosimetry, hybrid nuclear energy system and cosmic ray calculations. The validity of its physical models has been benchmarked against a variety of experimental data over a wide range of energies, ranging from accelerator data to cosmic ray showers in the earth atmosphere. The code is presently undergoing several developments in order to better fit the needs of space applications. The generation of particle spectra according to up-to-date cosmic ray data as well as the effect of the solar and geomagnetic modulation have been implemented and already successfully applied to a variety of problems. The implementation of suitable models for heavy ion nuclear interactions has reached an operational stage. At medium/high energy FLUKA is using the DPMJET model. The major task of incorporating heavy ion interactions from a few GeV/n down to the threshold for inelastic collisions is also progressing and promising results have been obtained using a modified version of the RQMD-2.4 code. This interim solution is now fully operational, while waiting for the development of new models based on the FLUKA hadron-nucleus interaction code, a newly developed QMD code, and the implementation of the Boltzmann master equation theory for low energy ion interactions.     

Satellite measurements of tropospheric aerosols

The ability to measure tropospheric aerosols over ocean surfaces has been demonstrated using several different satellite sensors. Landsat data originally showed that a linear relationship exists between the upwelling visible radiance and the aerosol optical thickness (about 90% of this thickness is generally in the lowest 3 km of the atmosphere). Similar relationships have also been found for sensors on GOES, NOAA-5 and NOAA-6 satellites. The linear relationship has been shown theoretically to vary with the aerosol properties, such as size distribution and refractive index, although the Landsat data obtained at San Diego showed little variability in the relationship. To investigate the general applicability of the technique to different locations, a global-scale ground-truth experiment was conducted in 1980 with the AVHRR sensor on NOAA-6 to determine the relationship at ten ocean sites around the globe. The data for four sites have been analyzed, and show excellent agreement between the aerosol content measured by the AVHRR and by sunphotometers at San Diego, Sable Island and San Juan, but at Barbados, the AVHRR appears to overestimate the aerosol content. The reason for the different relationship at the Barbados site has not been definitely established, but is most likely related to problems in interpreting the sunphotometer data rather than to a real overestimation by the AVHRR. A preliminary analysis of AVHRR Channel 1 (0.65 μm) and Channel 2 (0.85 μm) radiances suggest that useful information on the aerosol size distribution may also be obtained from satellite observations.     

Evaluation of MODIS GPP over a complex ecosystem in East Asia: A case study at Gwangneung flux tower in Korea

Moderate Resolution Imaging Radiometer (MODIS) gross primary productivity (GPP) has been used widely to study the global carbon cycle associated with terrestrial ecosystems. The retrieval of the current MODIS productivity with a 1 × 1 km² resolution has limitations when presenting subgrid scale processes in terrestrial ecosystems, specifically when forests are located in mountainous areas, and shows heterogeneity in vegetation type due to intensive land use. Here, we evaluate MODIS GPP (MOD17) at Gwangneung deciduous forest KoFlux tower (deciduous forest; GDK) for 2006–2010 in Korea, where the forests comprise heterogeneous vegetation cover over complex terrain. The monthly MODIS GPP data overestimated the GDK measurements in a range of +15% to +34% and was fairly well correlated (R = 0.88) with the monthly variability at GDK during the growing season. In addition, the MODIS data partly represented the sharp GPP reduction during the Asian summer monsoon (June–September) when intensive precipitation considerably reduces solar radiation and disturbs the forest ecosystem. To examine the influence of subgrid scale heterogeneity on GPP estimates over the MODIS scale, the individual vegetation type and its area within a corresponding MODIS pixel were identified using a national forest type map (∼71-m spatial resolution), and the annual GPP in the same area as the MODIS pixel was estimated. This resulted in a slight reduction in the positive MODIS bias by ∼10%, with a high degree of uncertainty in the estimation. The MODIS discrepancy for GDK suggests further investigation is necessary to determine the MODIS errors associated with the site-specific aerodynamic and hydrological characteristics that are closely related to the mountainous topography. The accuracy of meteorological variables and the impact of the very cloudy conditions in East Asia also need to be assessed.     

用GAO-YONG湍流模式对分离流动的数值模拟

采用GAO-YONG湍流模式对二维管道内三角形钝体绕流问题以及槽道内后台阶分离流动进行了数值模拟.求解程序基于开源数值计算平台OpenFOAM (Open Field Operation and Manipulation),数值模拟结果很好地预测了钝体绕流问题中漩涡脱落的尾流的流动趋势以及后台阶流动中分离再附的流动结构,同时分析了速度分布以及摩擦系数等参数并与实验值进行了对比,结果符合很好.这表明GAO-YONG湍流模式对大分离流动有较好的预测能力,对工程实践具有指导性作用.