Colour Hue and Texture Evaluation for 3D Symbolization of Indoor Environments Using RGB-D Data

In this work an evaluation procedure of the use of colour hue and texture for 3D symbolization of indoor environments using RGB-D data is presented. The main characteristics of the proposed method involve RGB-D cameras to collect colour and depth data and the evaluation of the visual variables colour hue and texture combined with visual aspects such as lighting and camera configuration for the symbolization of 3D indoor environments. High quality coloured point clouds of indoor environments are obtained with the Kinect sensor and then registered and processed in order to create 3D models. These sets of point clouds can be detected, recognized and classified under one of the three following main categories: ceiling, wall or floor. After classification is done, the resulting point clouds are properly treated as 3D triangular meshes in the MeshLab software. These meshes are then filtered to form complete surfaces which are then refined before being considered for visual variable application. We evaluated the proposed method on several indoor environments to show that it efficiently combines the colour and depth data obtained from RGB-D cameras with different parameters defined for the visual variables colour hue and texture for 3D symbolization of indoor environments.     

A field,laboratory, and literature review evaluation of the water retention curve of volcanic ash soils: How well do standard laboratory methods reflect field conditions?

Accurate determination of the water retention curve (WRC) of a soil is essential for the understanding and modelling of the subsurface hydrological, ecological, and biogeochemical processes. Volcanic ash soils with andic properties (Andosols) are recognized as important providers of ecological and hydrological services in mountainous regions worldwide due to their large fraction of small size particles (clay, silt, and organic matter) that gives them an outstanding water holding capacity. Previous comparative analyses of in situ (field) and standard laboratory methods for the determination of the WRC of Andosols showed contrasting results. Based on an extensive analysis of laboratory, experimental, and field measured WRCs of Andosols in combination with data extracted from the published literature we show that standard laboratory methods using small soil sample volumes (≤300 cm³) mimic the WRC of these soils only partially. The results obtained by the latter resemble only a small portion of the wet range of the Andosols' WRC (from saturation up to −5 kPa, or pF 1.7), but overestimate substantially their water content for higher matric potentials. This discrepancy occurs irrespective of site-specific land use and cover, soil properties, and applied method. The disagreement limits our capacity to infer correctly subsurface hydrological behaviour, as illustrated through the analysis of long-term soil moisture and matric potential data from an experimental site in the tropical Andes. These findings imply that results reported in past research should be used with caution and that future research should focus on determining laboratory methods that allow obtaining a correct characterization of the WRC of Andosols. For the latter, a set of recommendations and future directions to solve the identified methodological issues is proposed.     

Remote sensing of breaking wave phase speeds with application to non-linear depth inversions

A number of existing models for surface wave phase speeds (linear and non-linear, breaking and non-breaking waves) are reviewed and tested against phase speed data from a large-scale laboratory experiment. The results of these tests are utilized in the context of assessing the potential improvement gained by incorporating wave non-linearity in phase speed based depth inversions. The analysis is focused on the surf zone, where depth inversion accuracies are known to degrade significantly. The collected data includes very high-resolution remote sensing video and surface elevation records from fixed, in-situ wave gages. Wave phase speeds are extracted from the remote sensing data using a feature tracking technique, and local wave amplitudes are determined from the wave gage records and used for comparisons to non-linear phase speed models and for non-linear depth inversions. A series of five different regular wave conditions with a range of non-linearity and dispersion characteristics are analyzed and results show that a composite dispersion relation, which includes both non-linearity and dispersion effects, best matches the observed phase speeds across the domain and hence, improves surf zone depth estimation via depth inversions. Incorporating non-linearity into the phase speed model reduces errors to O(10%), which is a level previously found for depth inversions with small amplitude waves in intermediate water depths using linear dispersion. Considering the controlled conditions and extensive ground truth, this appears to be a practical limit for phase speed-based depth inversions. Finally, a phase speed sensitivity analysis is performed that indicates that typical nearshore sand bars should be resolvable using phase speed depth inversions. However, increasing wave steepness degrades the sensitivity of this inversion method.     

Abrupt vegetation changes during the last glacial to Holocene transition in mid‐latitude South America

A pollen record from the Huelmo site (ca. 41°30′S) shows that vegetation and climate changed at millennial time‐scales during the last glacial to Holocene transition in the mid‐latitude region of western South America. The record shows that a Nothofagus parkland dominated the landscape between 16 400 and 14 600 ¹⁴C yr BP, along with Magellanic Moorland and cupressaceous conifers. Evergreen North Patagonian rainforest taxa expanded in pulses at 14 200 and 13 000 ¹⁴C yr BP, following a prominent rise in Nothofagus at 14 600 ¹⁴C yr BP. Highly diverse, closed canopy rainforests dominated the lowlands between 13 000 and 12 500 ¹⁴C yr BP, followed by the expansion of cold‐resistant podocarps and Nothofagus at ca. 12 500 and 11 500 ¹⁴C yr BP. Local disturbance by fire favoured the expansion of shade‐intolerant opportunistic taxa between 10 900 and 10 200 ¹⁴C yr BP. Subsequent warming pulses at 10 200 and 9100 ¹⁴C yr BP led to the expansion of thermophilous, summer‐drought resistant Valdivian rainforest trees until 6900 ¹⁴C yr BP. Our results suggest that cold and hyperhumid conditions characterised the final phase of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), between 16 400 and 14 600 ¹⁴C yr BP. The last ice age Termination commenced with a prominent warming event that led to a rapid expansion of North Patagonian trees and the abrupt withdrawal of Andean ice lobes from their LGM positon at ca. 147 000 ¹⁴C yr BP. Hyperhumid conditions prevailed between 16 400 and 13 000 ¹⁴C yr BP, what we term the ‘extreme glacial mode’ of westerly activity. This condition was brought about by a northward shift and/or intensification of the southern westerlies. The warmest/driest conditions of the last glacial–interglacial transition occurred between 9100 and 6900 ¹⁴C yr BP. During this period, the westerlies shifted to an ‘extreme interglacial mode’ of activity, via a poleward migration of stormtracks. Our results indicate that a highly variable climatic interval lasting 5500 ¹⁴C years separate the opposite extremes of vegetation and climate during the last glacial‐interglacial cycle, i.e. the end of the LGM and the onset of the early Holocene warm and dry period. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi-model climate projections of the main cyclogenesis hot-spots and associated winds over the eastern coast of South America

Climate Dynamics - In this study, multi-model ensembles are used to understand regional features of future climate trends of cyclones and associated winds in eastern South America. For this, we...