Earth observation metadata ontology model for spatiotemporal-spectral semantic-enhanced satellite observation discovery: a case study of soil moisture monitoring

Monitoring soil moisture with satellite sensors is an effective approach for agricultural drought assessment. Currently, large quantities of sensor-derived observation data with different observation metadata models exist, and they require efficient and accurate methods of discovery. In this study, an earth observation (EO) metadata ontology with a spatiotemporal-spectral-enhanced structure is designed to solve this problem. The ontology is based on the proposed EO metadata model, which is composed of nonfunctional and functional sub-modules and supports the Open Geospatial Consortium EO profile of observations and measurements. Using EO metadata ontology, an application for soil moisture monitoring in Hubei Province in China is tested. The results indicate that metadata retrieval with a spatiotemporal-spectral-enhanced method can efficiently achieve fine-grained discovery of qualified EO metadata and obtain soil moisture monitoring information from sensor images. In summary, the spatiotemporal-spectral semantics in the proposed ontology demonstrate the use of EO metadata in the context of a soil moisture monitoring application, improving the efficiency and accuracy of EO metadata discovery.     

Temporal and spatial relationships between soil erosion and ecological restoration in semi-arid regions: a case study in northern Shaanxi,China

ABSTRACT

To assess the effects of the Grain for Green Program (GGP) on soil erosion is essential to support better land management policies in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Studies on the evaluation of the effects of the GGP on soil erosion have garnered heightened attention. However, few studies examined the efficiency of GGP on soil erosion control through spatial relationship analysis. Thus, this study focuses on analyzing the spatial variation relationship between soil erosion and GGP in northern Shaanxi, Chinese Loess Plateau, from 1988 to 2015. The Universal Soil Loss Equation was used to quantify changes in soil erosion at the regional and watershed scales, and the Geographically Weighted Regression model was used to analyze the spatial relationships between land use and land cover (LULC) and soil erosion. Our results indicated that the major characteristic of LULC change during the GGP was a rapid increase of vegetation area and a rapid decrease of cropland. Bare lands contributed to the most serious soil loss, followed by croplands and sparse grasslands. The GGP had a globally positive influence on the decrease in soil erosion over the study area, but the amount of soil erosion in western and northern regions maintained a severe level. Spatial heterogeneity in the nature of the relationships among different vegetation, croplands, and soil erosion was also observed. The change rate of wood and the change rate of soil erosion in northern sub-watershed represented a negative relationship, while the change rate of sparse grassland was negatively correlated to the change rate of soil erosion in 21 sub-watersheds, account for 72% of the study area. The GGP implemented in northern sub-watersheds were more effective for soil erosion control than southern sub-watersheds. We propose that current areas of vegetation can support soil erosion control in the whole northern Shaanxi, but local-scale ecological restoration can be considered in northern sub-watersheds.     

POI与NPP/VIIRS夜光数据空间耦合关系下的城市空间结构分析——以武汉市主城区为例

城市兴趣点（POI）和夜光遥感影像能够直观反映城市社会经济等实体要素的空间分布特征,在城市空间结构研究中发挥着重要作用。本文首先选取长江中游城市群的典型城市代表——武汉市作为研究区,选用研究区2016年POI和NPP/VIIRS夜光遥感数据作为基础研究数据,采用GIS分析工具对POI数据进行了空间核密度分析;然后分别对POI核密度分析结果和NPP/VIIRS夜光遥感数据进行了空间网格化处理;最后采用双因素制图和栅格叠加分析方法对两类数据的空间耦合关系进行了探讨,并在此基础上进一步分析了城市空间结构特征。研究表明,武汉市POI数据和夜光遥感数据的空间耦合性整体较好,空间耦合相一致区域占比为82.15%;但POI数据和夜光遥感数据的空间耦合性在长江沿岸地区也存在部分差异,如硚口区、汉阳区夜光遥感数据和POI数据多以低—中的空间耦合模式为主,而青山区、武昌区和汉口区则多以中—低的空间耦合模式为主。武汉市作为中原城市群的核心城市之一,其城市内部空间结构与长江经济带发展关联密切,通过对POI和夜光遥感数据的空间耦合关系探讨,能够对武汉市空间实体要素的空间结构特征有更加深入的了解。本文结果可为沿江城市内部空间结构的研究提供一种崭新的视角。