Effects of DEM resolution and source on soil erosion modelling: a case study using the WEPP model

Digital elevation models (DEMs) vary in resolution and accuracy by the production method. DEMs with different resolutions and accuracies can generate varied topographic and hydrological features, which can in turn affect predictions by soil erosion models, such as the WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project) model. This study investigates the effects of DEMs on deriving topographic and hydrological attributes, and on predicting watershed erosion using WEPP v2006.5. Six DEMs at three resolutions from three sources were prepared for two small forested watersheds located in northern Idaho, USA. These DEMs were used to calculate topographic and hydrological parameters that served as inputs to WEPP. The model results of sediment yields and runoffs were compared with field observations. For both watersheds, DEMs with different resolutions and sources generated varied watershed shapes and structures, which in turn led to different extracted hill slope and channel lengths and gradients, and produced substantially different erosion predictions by WEPP.     

DEM空间插值方法对土壤侵蚀模拟的影响研究——以USPED分析干热河谷典型冲沟为例

为探索不同空间插值方法得到的DEM如何影响土壤侵蚀模拟效果,本文选择金沙江干热河谷区典型冲沟为研究对象,利用野外测量高程数据,采用反距离加权(IDW)、析取克里格(DK)、局部多项式(LPI)和张力样条函数(ST)4种方法构建高精度DEM。基于USPED模型模拟冲沟的土壤侵蚀,对比不同空间插值方法的精度、土壤侵蚀的空间分布,采用相对差系数对比不同插值在土壤侵蚀研究中的相似性。结果表明：DEM空间插值的精度排序为ST相似文献   

Evaluating the Potential of an Airborne Laser-scanning System for Measuring Volume Changes of Glaciers

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) is well suited for the production of digital elevation models (DEM), and can, in contrast to photographic methods, be used to acquire a DEM independently of surface texture and external light sources. ALS thus serves as a tool to generate DEMs of firn areas where photogram- metric methods often fail.
The potential of an integrated ALS system – comprising a laser scanner, precise differential global positioning system, and a gyro platform – for DEM generation of firn areas is currently being assessed. The Unteraargletscher, Bernese Alps, Switzerland, has been chosen as a test site. As part of a pilot project aimed at determining the mass balance distribution of that glacier without the use of in situ information, ALS measurements were conducted in autumn 1997. The DEM derived from laser measurements is extremely sensitive to the position and attitude of the aircraft. Currently the main work focuses on assessing and improving the system's accuracy by error modelling and by the development of error-correction algorithms.
Preliminary results from Unteraargletscher are presented, and the potential of this method for the generation of DEMs of firn areas is discussed.     

荒漠-绿洲区土壤性质过渡特征

荒漠-绿洲区是干旱区地表景观格局变化最频繁的地区,深入研究荒漠-绿洲区不同景观格局土壤环境的差异对揭示干旱区生态系统过程至关重要。本研究通过采集石羊河流域荒漠、过渡带和绿洲土壤样品,综合运用多种分析方法,研究荒漠-绿洲区不同景观格局土壤理化属性的差异及其相互作用关系。结果表明：从荒漠、过渡带到绿洲景观,土壤质地和持水性能在不断好转,酸碱度和盐分状况变化不大,养分状况则表现为荒漠和过渡带具有近乎相同的有机碳和全氮含量,绿洲具有显著增加的有机碳、全氮和全磷含量。在不同深度上,荒漠景观土壤理化属性几乎没有变化;过渡带土壤质地由表层至深层不断改善,含水量逐层增大,全磷含量缓慢增加,C∶N和C∶P的值波动减小;绿洲景观土壤含水量由表层至深层显著增加,养分含量显著降低,C∶N和C∶P的值显著减小。总体而言,荒漠景观土壤理化属性的分异程度最小,绿洲景观分异程度最大,过渡带景观在土壤质地和含水量方面的分异程度较大,在土壤养分方面的分异程度较小。此外,过渡带景观土壤理化属性的自相关程度最高,且土壤质地是引起其他土壤理化属性分异的主要原因。     

Drainage basin object-based method for regional-scale landform classification: a case study of loess area in China

Landform classification is one of the most important procedures in recognizing and dividing earth surface landforms. However, topographical homogeneity and differences in regional-scale landforms are often ignored by traditional pixel- and object-based landform classification methods based on digital elevation models (DEMs). In this work, a drainage basin object-based method for classifying regional-scale landforms is proposed. Drainage basins with least critical areas are first delineated from DEMs. Then, terrain derivatives of mean elevation, mean slope, drainage density, drainage depth, and terrain texture are employed to characterize the morphology of the drainage basins. Finally, a decision tree based on the topographical characteristics of the drainage basins is constructed and employed to determine the landform classification law. The experiment is validated in the landform classification of regional-scale loess areas in China. Results show that clear boundaries exist in different landforms at the regional scale. Landform type in a specific region shows significant topographical homogeneity under its specific regional geomorphological process. Classification accuracies are 87.3 and 86.3% for the field investigation and model validation, respectively. Spatial patterns of classified landforms and their proximity to sediment sources and other factors can be regarded as indicators of the evolutionary process of loess landform formation.     

Sample surveying to estimate the mean of a heterogeneous surface: reducing the error variance through zoning

One of the major sources of uncertainty associated with geographical data in GIS arises when they are the outcome of a sampling process. It is well known that when sampling from a spatially autocorrelated homogeneous surface, stratification reduces the error variance of the estimator of the population mean. In this study, we evaluate the efficiency of different spatial sampling strategies when the surface is not homogeneous. When the surface is first-order heterogeneous (the mean of the surface varies across the map), we examine the effects of stratifying it into first-order homogeneous zones prior to the usual stratification for a systematic or stratified random sample. We investigate the effect of this form of spatial heterogeneity on the performance of different methods for estimating the population mean and its error variance. We do so by distinguishing between the real surface to be surveyed (?), the sampling frame (?) including the choice of zoning, and the statistical estimators (Ψ). The study shows that zoning improves estimator efficiency when sampling a heterogeneous surface. Systematic comparison provides rules of thumb for choice of sample design, sample statistics and uncertainty estimation, based on considering different spatial heterogeneities on real surfaces.     

A Comparison of Methods to Predict Soil Surface Texture in an Alluvial Basin

Surface soil texture controls many important ecological, hydrological, and geomorphic processes in arid regions and is therefore important from a land‐management perspective. Soil survey efforts have traditionally fulfilled this need, but they are constrained by the size, remoteness, and inaccessibility of many arid regions, which renders simple field measurements prohibitively expensive. This article compares several different predictive soil‐mapping techniques with a sparse data set in order to develop surficial soil texture maps. Our results suggest that data collected at the landscape scale can be used as input to predictive soil‐mapping techniques to create maps of soil texture at higher fidelity and a fraction of the cost than would be required using traditional methods.     

Pre-processing algorithms and landslide modelling on remotely sensed DEMs

Terrain analysis applications using remotely sensed Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), nowadays easily available, permit to quantify several river basin morphologic and hydrologic properties (e.g. slope, aspect, curvature, flow path lengths) and indirect hydrogeomorphic indices (e.g. specific upslope area, topographic wetness index) able to characterize the physical processes governing the landscape evolution (e.g. surface saturation, runoff, erosion, deposition). Such DEMs often contain artifacts and the automated hydrogeomorphic characterization of the watershed is influenced by terrain analysis procedures consisting in artificial depression (pit) and flat area treatment approaches combined with flow direction methods.In shallow landslide deterministic models, when applied using topographic dataset at medium scale (e.g. 30 m of resolution), the choice of the most suitable DEM-processing procedure is not trivial and can influence model results. This also affects the selection of most critical areas for further finer resolution studies or for the implementation of countermeasures aiming to landslide risk mitigation.In this paper such issue is investigated using as topographic input the ASTER DEMs and comparing two different combinations of DEM correction and flow routing schemes. The study areas comprise ten catchments in Italy for which hydrogeomorphic processes are significant. Aims of this paper are: 1) to introduce a parameter estimation procedure for the physically-based DEM correction method PEM4PIT (Physical Erosion Model for PIT removal); 2) to investigate the influence of different terrain analysis procedures on results of the slope stability model SHALSTAB (SHAllow Landsliding STABility) using remotely-sensed ASTER DEMs; 3) trying to assess which of terrain analysis methods is more appropriate for describing terrain instability.     

A Review of “The Future Control of Food: A Guide to International Negotiations and Rules on Intellectual Property,Biodiversity and Food Security”

Abstract

Surface soil texture controls many important ecological, hydrological, and geomorphic processes in arid regions and is therefore important from a land-management perspective. Soil survey efforts have traditionally fulfilled this need, but they are constrained by the size, remoteness, and inaccessibility of many arid regions, which renders simple field measurements prohibitively expensive. This article compares several different predictive soil-mapping techniques with a sparse data set in order to develop surficial soil texture maps. Our results suggest that data collected at the landscape scale can be used as input to predictive soil-mapping techniques to create maps of soil texture at higher fidelity and a fraction of the cost than would be required using traditional methods.     

Variability in soil redistribution in the northern Chihuahuan Desert based on Cesium measurements

A hypothesis for understanding the stability of northern Chihuahuan Desert landscapes is that the distribution of soil resources changes from spatially homogeneous in arid grasslands to spatially heterogeneous in invading shrublands. Since radioactive fallout ¹³⁷Cesium (¹³⁷Cs) was deposited uniformly across the landscape during the 1950s and 1960s and was quickly adsorbed to soil particles, any redistribution of ¹³⁷Cs across the landscape would be due to soil redistribution or instability at either plant-interspaces or on a landscape scale. The concentration of ¹³⁷Cs in soils collected from different vegetation communities (black grama grass, tarbush, tobosa grass, and mesquite) at the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico was determined. At the black grama grass and tobosa grass sites, ¹³⁷Cs was uniformly distributed at the plant interspace scale. At the mesquite sites, ¹³⁷Cs was concentrated in the dune area under mesquite shrubs with little to no ¹³⁷Cs in the interdune areas. ¹³⁷Cs data support the hypothesis that significant soil redistribution has occurred at dune sites created by invading mesquite. In the arid grassland-shrub sites with black grama grass, tobosa grass, and tarbush the ¹³⁷Cs data support the hypothesis of spatially homogeneous distribution of soil resources. High concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs in the biological soil crusts (0–5 mm) at the tarbush sites indicate that biological soil crusts can contribute to the stability of these sites.     

Landscape Controls on Structural Variation in Eucalypt Vegetation Communities: Woronora Plateau,Australia

Quantification of landscape-based vegetation structural variation and pattern is a significant goal for a variety of ecological, monitoring and biodiversity studies. Vegetation structural metrics, derived from airborne laser scanning (ALS or aerial light detection and ranging—LiDAR) and QuickBird satellite imagery, were used to establish the degree of plot-based vegetation variation at a hillslope scale. Topographic position is an indicator of energy and water availability, and was quantified using DEM-based insolation and topographic wetness, respectively, stratifying areas into hot-warm-cold and wet-moist-dry topographic classes. A range of vegetation metrics—maximum and modal canopy height, crown cover, foliage cover, NDVI and semivariance—were compared among randomly selected plots from each topographic class. NDVI increases with increasing landscape wetness, whereas ALS-derived foliage cover decreases with increasing insolation. Foliage cover is well correlated with crown cover (R ² =0.65), and since foliage cover is readily calculable for whole-of-landscape application, it will provide valuable and complementary information to NDVI. Between-plot heterogeneity increases with increasing wetness and decreasing insolation, indicating that more sampling is required in these locations to capture the full range of landscape-based variability. Pattern analysis in landscape ecology is one of the fundamental requirements of landscape ecology, and the methods described here offer statistically significant, quantifiable and repeatable means to realise that goal at a fine spatial grain.     

锡林郭勒草地表层土壤粒度分形特征及其与风蚀的关系

在锡林郭勒草地以400 m为间距均匀布设160个样点,采集各点表层0~1 cm土样,测定土壤机械组成,计算土壤粒度分形维数,分析锡林郭勒草地景观尺度土壤粒度分形特征及其与风蚀的关系。结果表明：（1）分形维数越小,土壤质地越粗,分形维数与小于0.05 mm细颗粒含量显著正相关,与大于0.05 mm粗颗粒含量显著负相关;（2）分形维数随土地利用状况的变化趋势为禁牧>轻牧>中牧>重牧>耕地。在草地条件下,土壤容重值越大,分形维数越小;在耕地条件下,二者无显著相关关系;（3）分形维数越大,风蚀危险性越低,分形维数越小,风蚀危险性越高。     

A comparison of digital elevation models generated from different data sources

It can be challenging to accurately determine the topography of physically complex landscapes in remote areas. Ground-based surveys can be difficult, time consuming and may miss significant elements of the landscape. This study compares digital elevation models (DEMs) generated from three different data sources, of the physically complex Narran Lakes Ecosystem, a major floodplain wetland ecosystem in Australia. Topographic surfaces were generated from an airborne laser altimetry (LiDAR) survey, a ground-based differential GPS (DGPS) survey containing more than 20,000 points, and the 9″ DEM of Australia. The LiDAR- and DGPS-derived data generated a more thorough DEM than the 9″ DEM; however, LiDAR generated a surface topography that yielded significantly more detail than the DGPS survey, with no noticeable loss of elevational accuracy. Both the LiDAR- and the DGPS-derived DEMs compute the overall surface area and volume of the largest floodplain lake within the system to within 1% of each other. LiDAR is shown to be a highly accurate and robust technique for acquiring large quantities of topographic data, even in locations that are unsuitable for ground surveying and where the overall landscape is of exceptionally low relief. The results of this study highlight the potential for LiDAR surveys in the accurate determination of the topography of floodplain wetlands. These data can form an important component of water resource management decisions, particularly where environmental water allocations for these important ecosystems need to be determined.     

Scaling regimes of local slope versus contributing area in digital elevation models

Four scaling regimes are observed in Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) when the average local slope is calculated for pixels grouped according to the values of the contributing area. Threshold criteria, proposed by various researchers to identify the extent of the channel network, are examined relative to the slope-area scaling diagram. The scaling response observed in DEMs is reproduced with a landscape evolution and channel network growth model originally developed by Willgoose et al. (1989). The threshold criterion proposed in this model is a useful tool to separate two different slope-area scaling regimes observed in DEM data.     

基于模糊聚类的新疆典型高寒草原土壤pH值空间制图

准确、高效地掌握草原土壤属性的空间分布能够为草地资源境管理提供基础信息和参考依据。相比于传统土壤调查方法,基于模糊逻辑的土壤—环境推理能够提高野外采样效率和预测制图精度,被广泛应用于数字土壤制图。但由于土壤自身的空间变异性及其与环境条件间的非线性,现有推理模型的稳定性较低,尚未在高寒草原区进行应用。选择新疆巴音布鲁克典型亚高山草原地区约4 km^2区域为研究区,以高程、坡度、坡向、沿剖面曲率、沿等高线曲率、地形湿度指数6个地形因子为土壤环境因子,采用模糊C均值聚类(Fuzzy C-means Clustering,FCM)方法对环境因子聚类,得到9个环境因子组合,并在隶属度值高的环境因子组合中心共设置18个典型点。运用土壤—环境推理方法模拟研究区表层土壤pH值空间分布,其变化范围在7.170~8.186之间。选取35个独立样本进行精度检验(均匀采样点16个,横截面采样点9个,垂直带采样点10个),模拟结果与实测值基本吻合,且基于模糊聚类和土壤—环境推理方法的模拟精度高于普通克里格法和反距离权重法。通过基于模糊逻辑和土壤—环境推理的数字土壤制图方法在小尺度区域的运用验证,结果表明基于典型点的采样方案能够快速、有效地对区域土壤属性进行空间模拟,该方法对于类似小尺度的研究区同样有效。     

Pedodiversity and pedogenesis in Zayandeh-rud Valley, Central Iran

A geomorphic hierarchical downscaling method was used to decompose the forms and processes forming the landscapes and their subdivisions in the main region of Zayandeh-rud Valley. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of soil heterogeneity and to check if K-entropy would be a good measure of soil evolution. Soil diversity analyses were performed considering soil families as individuals of soil entities in each geomorphic or taxonomic category level. Pedodiversity indices were used to follow the trend of soil and landscape evolution. The relationships between K-entropy (Shannon diversity index) and pedo-richness versus increasing area were analyzed to find out the effects of soil–landscape evolution on complexity of soil patterns in different geomorphic surfaces. Entropy–age relationship was studied to check the pedogenetic pathways responsible for soil landscape evolution. The soil diversity increases as geomorphic and taxonomic hierarchy levels decrease. The diversity indices were high when the sequence of soil horizons in a homogeneous family was also investigated. An increase in K-entropy of soil and landscape during time confirms the hypothesis of soil divergence evolution, whereby differences in initial conditions or local perturbations, and dynamic instability appear to have produced more variable soils and landscapes in the study area.     

中国东部淤泥质海岸盐沼植被藜科花粉数量研究

选取中国东部江苏盐城和辽宁盘锦两地淤泥质海岸盐沼植被带,经植被调查和表土孢粉分析,讨论藜科(Chenopodiaceae)花粉数量与沿岸潮上带密布的碱蓬属(Suaeda. sp)植物群落的数量关系,论证藜科花粉含量与淤泥质岸线位置的关系。研究认为,当沿海古淤泥质地层中的孢粉组合,藜科花粉超过30%,可以判定为古海岸线潮上带。如果藜科花粉为20%~30%,多见禾本科(Poaceae/Gramineae)、莎草科(Cyperaceae)的花粉,表明为海滨盐沼植被景观,古海岸线潮上带离之不远。第四纪古岸线变化研究,验证了藜科花粉数量可以作为判定淤泥质古岸线的代用指标。     

景观格局分析空间取样方法及其应用

详细介绍了在关帝山森林景观生态研究中提出的景观格局分析空间取样方法,即统一网格样方取样法和统一网格样点取样法,并介绍了相应的样方数值计算方法。在此基础上,介绍了这两个取样方法在景观空间趋势面分析、景观要素空间关联度分析、景观异质性分析、景观要素空间分布模式检验、景观动态过程模型建立等方面研究中的应用。并阐述了取样方法的有效性及其可能的潜在应用价值。     

基于景观格局和水土流失敏感性的大理市生态脆弱性分析

以大理市为研究对象,在2005年大理市土地利用现状数据的基础上,从景观格局与水土流失敏感性相结合角度探讨了大理区域生态环境脆弱性问题。首先,选择景观分离度（DIVISION）、周长面积比分维数（PAF-RAC）的倒数、斑块密度（PD）3个景观格局指数,分析了景观类型脆弱度;并在此基础上,以1：5万的土地利用类型数据和DEM数据为基础,以ARC／INF09．2为工具,依据通用水土流失方程,选择降水侵蚀力、土壤质地、地形起伏度和地表覆盖等自然因子作为水土流失评价指标,得出水土流失敏感性指数。通过对景观格局指数和水土流失敏感性修正指数的数值分析和空间分析,得出了大理市不敏感、轻度敏感、中度敏感、高度敏感和极度敏感等5个生态脆弱性级别分区及其空间分布特征。