Analysis of elevation changes in relation to surface characteristics for six glaciers in Northern Labrador,Canada using advanced space-borne thermal emission and reflection radiometer imagery

Advanced space-borne thermal emission and reflection radiometer imagery and Digital Elevation Models were used to analyse surface elevation changes of six glaciers in Northern Labrador. Results indicate an average surface thinning of0.94 ± 0.49 m y^?1 (water equivalent) between 2000 and 2009. Three glaciers had an average elevation change of ?1.16 ± 0.55 m y^?1 (water equivalent) whichis three times the thinning rate found in a study from 1981 to 1983 ?0.36 ± 0.10 m y^?1 water equivalent). Analysis of surface characteristics in relation to elevation changes shows expected results of rapid thinning in bare ice areas and near zero change in accumulation areas. Debris covered areas of three glaciers show expected results of moderate thinning, but three other glaciers indicate high rates of thinning. Variability in thinning rates suggests possible influences in the type ofdebris and/or variations in climate such as increased rainfall.     

Extraction of Three-Dimensional Architectural Data from QuickBird Images

Extraction of accurate spatial information from high-resolution satellite imagery is becoming increasingly important for a variety of tasks. In this study, three-dimensional architectural data were extracted from QuickBird images using Barista’s monoplotting function. We evaluated the accuracy of the Rational Polynomial Coefficients bundle adjustment and extracted building heights. We obtained accuracies of one-pixel in geo-positioning and 2.66 m in building height. The height accuracy is 0.16 m greater than the estimated error for a one-pixel image measurement. The presence of roof overhangs is one primary factors affecting height accuracy. The application of three-dimensional architectural data represents well the vertical extension of urban growth in Tiexi District from 2002 to 2008.     

Positional accuracy of the Google Earth terrain model derived from stratigraphic unconformities in the Big Bend region,Texas, USA

The Google Earth terrain model could prove beneficial for extraction of positional data in the future. At present, only an aging independent benchmark study (Potere, D., 2008. Horizontal position accuracy of Google Earth's high-resolution imagery archive. Sensors, 8, 7973–7981) provides constraints on positional accuracy for Google Earth imagery. In this investigation, we compared virtually traced positions against high-precision (<1 m) field measurements along three stratigraphic unconformity sub-sections in the Big Bend region to determine current positional accuracy for the Google Earth terrain model. A horizontal position accuracy of 2.64 m RMSE_r was determined for the Google Earth terrain model with mean offset distance being 6.95 m. A vertical position accuracy of 1.63 m RMSE_z with mean offset distance of 2.66 m was also calculated for the terrain model. Results suggest data extracted from the Google Earth terrain model could plausibly be used in future studies. However, we urge caution in using Google Earth data due to limited information disclosures by developers.     

Monitoring Horizontal and Vertical Cropping Pattern and Dynamics in Bihar over a Decade (2001–2012) Based on Time-Series Satellite Data

Increasing population and natural disasters like drought, flood, cyclone etc., has impacted global agriculture area and hence continuously modifying cropping pattern and associated statistics. The present study analysed agriculture dynamics over one of the densely populated and disaster prone state (Bihar) in India and derived vital statistics (single, double and triple cropping area, and monthly, seasonal, annual and long term status at the state and district level) for the years 2001–2012. The study used time-series MODIS vegetation index (EVI; MOD13A2, 1 km, 16 day, 2001–2012), MODIS annual Land Cover product (MCD12Q1, 500 m, 2001–2012) and Global Land Cover map (Scasia_V4, 1 km, 2000; Globcover_V2.2, 300 m, 2005/2006 and V2.3, 2009, 300 m), and extracted horizontal (i.e., area change) and vertical (i.e., cropping intensification) agriculture change pattern. The results were inter-compared, and validated using government reports as well as with high spatial resolution data (IRS-LISS III 23.5 m). From 2001–2006 to 2007–2012, the net horizontal and vertical change in agriculture area is +145.24 and +907.82 km², respectively, and net change in seasonal crop area (winter, summer and monsoon) is +959.21, +1009.84 and ?1061.64 km², respectively. The districts which are located along the eastern part of Ganges experienced maximum positive changes and the districts along Gandak river in the north-western part of the study area experienced maximum negative changes. Overall, the study has quantified and revealed interesting space–time agriculture change patterns over 12 years including impacts caused by droughts and floods in the study area.     

Evaluation of satellite-derived agro-climate variables in the Northern Great Plains of the United States

The climate of the United States Northern Great Plains region is highly variable. Modelling of agriculture in this region and similar locations depends on the availability and quality of satellite and ground data for agro-climate variables. We evaluated tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) multi-satellite preparation analysis (TMPA) precipitation, atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS) surface air temperature, and AIRS relative air humidity (RH). A significant bias was found within the temperature and RH products and no bias but an insufficient rain event detection skill in the precipitation product (probability of detection ～0.3). A linear correction of the temperature product removed the bias as well as lowered the root mean square deviation (RMSD). The bias-corrections for RH led to increased RMSD or worse correlation. For precipitation, the correlation between the satellite product and ground data improved if cumulative precipitation or only precipitation during the growing season was used.     

Remote sensing of paleodrainage systems west of the Nile River,Egypt

Remotely sensed data show details of the geomorphic features and landscape evolution west of the Nile. The detected features include remnants of paleochannels, flutes and rock-mass movements. Fused radar/optical data, altitudinal profiles and 3D perspective view provided evidences of massive landslides that fully blocked the earlier Nile channel near to the Western Desert plateau. This channel was ~30 km west of the present Nile at ~100 m above the present level of the Nile. Subsequently, the fluvial activities shifted about ~10 km eastward, leaving behind several remnants of paleochannels, fluvial deposits, ancient landscape and Nilotic fauna. The automatic extraction of stream networks clearly depicts the developments of paleochannels. Our results revealed that fluvial activity switched from the Gallaba plain to the present Nile course through a series of tectonic and climatic changes. Furthermore, integration of radar and optical images provided an explanation for causes of the undulated forms ‘flutes’.     

Estimation of Above Ground Biomass Using Texture Metrics Derived from IRS Cartosat-1 Panchromatic Data in Evergreen Forests of Western Ghats,India

Assessment of above ground forest biomass (AGB) is essential in carbon modelling studies to provide mitigation strategies as demonstrated by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Several researchers have demonstrated the use of remote sensing data in spatial AGB estimation, in terms of spectral and radar backscatter based approaches at a landscape scale with several known limitations. However, these methods lacked the predictive ability at high biomass ranges due to saturation. The current study addresses the problem of saturation at high biomass ranges using canopy textural metric from high resolution optical data. Fourier transform based textural ordination (FOTO) technique, which involves deriving radial spectrum information via 2D fast Fourier transform and ordination through principal component analysis was used for characterizing the textural properties of forest canopies. In the current study, plot level estimated AGB from 15 (1 ha) plots was used to relate with texture derived information from very high resolution datasets (viz., IKONOS and Cartosat-1). In addition to the estimation of high biomass ranges, one of the prime objective of the current study is to understand the effects of spatial resolution on deriving textural-AGB relationship from 2.5 m IRS Cartosat data (Cartosat-A, viewing angle = ?5°) to that of IKONOS imagery with near nadir view. Further, since texture is impacted by several illumination geometry issues, the effect of viewing geometry on the relationship was evaluated using Cartosat-F (Viewing angle = 26°) imagery. The results show that the FOTO method using stereo Cartosat (A and F) images at 2.5 m resolution are able to perform well in characterizing high AGB values since the texture-biomass relationship is only subjected to 18 % relative error to that of 15 % in case of IKONOS and could aid in reduction of uncertainty in AGB estimation at a large landscape levels.     

Effects of heterogeneous land use/cover types on river channel morphology in the Solo River catchment,Eastern Uganda

In the tropics, unmonitored land use/cover types cause significant effects on the narrowing and widening of river channels which affects the integrity of water resources. River channel planform extent was characterized using Landsat images, while water and bedload samples were collected and analysed for a period of one year. The results revealed that in 1986, the channel planform covered 3.7 sq km in length than in 2013 where it increased to 4.2 sq km. Wetland (537.1mgl^?1) and bushland (186.3mgl^?1) cover types had the highest concentration of suspended sediments. Fine sand (0.25 mm), silty sand (1 mm) and silty clay (0.125 mm) bedload particle types dominated the riverbed along the channel from the sampled land use/cover types. The high concentration of sediments, bedload materials, bank instability, and streamflow were significant contributors to the narrowing and widening of the channel (p < 0.05). Agricultural land use was the major contributor of channel aggradation (0.8 m) and degradation (0.25 m) compared to tree plantations, bushlands, forest and wetland cover types.     

基于BP神经网络的高分辨率遥感影像分类

为了能有效地从高分辨率遥感影像中提取地物信息,本文通过影像的光谱和纹理特征,利用BP神经网络算法进行影像分类研究。首先提取分类所需的光谱和纹理特征源,然后根据影像和地物特征,建立BP神经网络,用于样本训练和分类处理,实现地物分类。为验证该方法的可靠性,以2006年11月获取的成都平原某区域的Quickbird影像为实验数据,进行高分辨率遥感影像的地物分类实验。实验结果表明,结合影像光谱和纹理特征的BP神经网络分类算法,不仅可以有效保证BP神经网络分类训练的稳定性和收敛速度,还能达到较高的分类精度。     

Impact of the spatial resolution on the energy balance components on an open-canopy olive orchard

The recent technical improvements in the sensors used to acquire images from land surfaces has made possible to assess the performance of the energy balance models using unprecedented spatial resolutions. Thus, the objective of this work is to evaluate the response of the different energy balance components obtained from METRIC model as a function of the input pixel size. Very high spatial resolution airborne images (≈50 cm) on three dates over olive orchards were used to aggregate different spatial resolutions, ranging from 5 m to 1 km. This study represents the first time that METRIC model has been run with such high spatial resolution imagery in heterogeneous agricultural systems, evaluating the effects caused by its aggregation into coarser pixel sizes. Net radiation and soil heat flux showed a near insensitive behavior to spatial resolution changes, reflecting that the emissivity and albedo respond linearly to pixel aggregation. However, greater discrepancies were obtained for sensible (up to 17%) and latent (up to 23%) heat fluxes at spatial resolutions coarser than 30 × 30 m due to the aggregation of non-linear components, and to the inclusion of non-agricultural areas in such aggregation. Results obtained confirm the good performance of METRIC model when used with high spatial resolution imagery, whereas they warn of some major errors in crop evapotranspiration estimation when medium or large scales are used.     

Uncertainty analysis of soil erosion modelling using different resolution of open-source DEMs

The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is one of the important parameters of soil erosion assessment and notable uncertainties are found in using different resolutions of the DEM. Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model has been applied to analyze the effect of open-source DEMs with different resolution and accuracy on the uncertainties of soil erosion modelling in a part of the Narmada river basin in Madhya Pradesh in central India. Selected open-source DEMs are GTOPO30 (1 km), SRTM (30 and 90 m), CARTOSAT (30 m) and ASTER (30 m), used for estimating erosion rate. Results with better accuracy are achieved with the high-resolution DEMs (30 m) with higher vertical accuracy than the coarse resolution DEMs with lower accuracy. This study has presented potential uncertainties introduced by the open-source DEMs in soil erosion modelling for better understanding of appropriate selection and acceptable errors for researchers.     

Change detection of linear features in temporally spaced remotely sensed images using edge-based grid analysis

Automatic change detection of land cover features using high-resolution satellite images, is a challenging problem in the field of intelligent remote sensing data interpretation, and is becoming more and more effective for its applications viz. urban planning and monitoring, disaster assessment etc. In the present study, a change in detection approach based on the image morphology that analyses change in the local image grids is proposed. In this approach, edges from both the images are extracted and grid wise comparison is made by probabilistic thresholding and power spectral density analysis for identifying change area. One of the advantages of the proposed methodology is that the temporal images used in the change analysis need not be radiometrically corrected as analysis is based on edge extractions. The grid-based analysis further reduces the error, which might have been introduced by image mis-registration. The proposed methodology is validated by finding the temporal changes in the linear land cover features in parts of Kolkata city, India using three different image data-sets from LISS IV, Cartosat-1 and Google earth having varied spatial resolutions of 5.8 m, 2.5 m and about 1 m, respectively. The overall accuracy in identifying changes is found to be 64.82, 73.86 and 80.93% for LISS IV, Cartosat-1 and Google earth data-set, respectively.     

Shoreline Change Analysis along the Coast of South Gujarat,India, Using Digital Shoreline Analysis System

Shoreline changes along the south Gujarat coast has been analyzed by using USGS Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.3. Multi-temporal satellite images pertaining to 1972, 1990, 2001 and 2011 were used to extract the shoreline. The High water line (HTL) is considered as shoreline and visual interpretation of satellite imageries has been carried out to demarcate the HTL based on various geomorphology and land use & land cover features. The present study used the Linear Regression Method (LRR) to calculate shoreline change rate. Based on the rate of shoreline changes, the coastal stretches of study area has been classified in to high erosion, low erosion, stable, low accretion and high accretion coast. The study found that about 69.31 % of the South Gujarat coast is eroding, about 18.40 % of coast is stable and remaining 12.28 % of the coast is accreting in nature. Field investigation was carried out which confirmed the coastal erosion/accretion derived from the analysis. The high erosion area are mostly found along the Umergaon (near Fansa, Maroli, Nargol, Varili river mouth, Umergaon light house) and Pardi (Kolak, Udwara)Taluka in Valsad district. Stable coastal length of the study area is 21.59 km and mostly found in Nani Dandi and near Onjal. High accretion (3.70 %) was only found near Hajira and low accretion (8.58 %) are distributed the study area. The main causes of coastal erosion of the study area were the strong tidal currents accompanied by wave action and reduced the sediment load of the river.     

A six-camera digital video imaging system sensitive to visible,red edge,near-infrared,and mid-infrared wavelengths

This paper describes a six-camera multispectral digital video imaging system designed for natural resource assessment and shows its potential as a research tool. It has five visible to near-infrared light sensitive cameras, one near-infrared to mid-infrared light sensitive camera, a monitor, a computer with a multichannel digitizing board, a keyboard, a power distributor, an amplifier, and a mouse. Each camera is fitted with a narrowband interference filter, allowing the system to obtain imagery in the blue (447 – 455 nm), green (555 – 565 nm), red (625 – 635 nm), red edge (704 – 716 nm), near-infrared (814–826 nm), and mid-infrared (1631 – 1676 nm) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Analogue video acquired by this system is converted to digital format. Radiometric resolution of the imagery is 8-bit (pixel values range 0 – 255). Images obtained by the system can be evaluated individually and/or in combination with each other to assess natural resources.     

Opencast Coal Mining Induced Defaced Topography of Raniganj Coalfield in India - Remote Sensing and GIS Based Analysis

With the advent of mining activities at Raniganj coalfield in India, the natural topography has been defaced in some elongated tracts by either excavation or dumping. This paper deals with opencast mining induced defaced topography of Raniganj coalfield, which needs to be reclaimed properly right after mining. This paper investigated intensity of defacing topography, magnitude of topographic deformations through a number of ex-situ measurement. Consequences of these topographic deformations are also investigated in this study. Through a number of ex-situ measurement based on Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques, generating contour and profiling them over the spoil dumps and excavated lows using fine resolution digital elevation data (Remote Sensing image), a total 132 (85 are abandoned and 47 are working) patches of defaced topography have been identified, which covers 43.26 sq km. surface area. Some working opencast quarries are more than 95 m deep, with an area of more than 2.4 sq km and dumped ridges are more than 60 m high (peak), with area more than 1.5 sq km. In case of abandoned mine (more than 20 years) some quarries are more than 28 m deep with area 0.99 sq km. and some of dumped ridges are more than 28 m high (peak), with area 0.29 sq km. These kinds of defaced surface remain for a long time, such quarries contain acidic logged water and spoil dump leads to acid mine drainage and erosion of loose soil particle. It deteriorates the entire land, water system of the region. The study suggests restoring land right after mining and the area made to be ecologically conformable.     

A method of downscaling temperature maps based on analytical hillshading for use in species distribution modelling

Climate maps have been widely used for the construction of species distribution models. These maps derive from interpolation of data collected by meteorological stations. The sparse distribution of stations generates maps with coarse spatial resolution that are unable to detect microclimates or areas that can serve as plant or animal refuges. This work proposes a method for downscaling temperature maps using the solar radiation falling upon hillsides as predictor for the influence of relief on local variability. Solar irradiance is estimated from a digital elevation model of the study area using a routine based on analytical hillshading. Some examples of downscaling from 1 km to 25 m spatial resolution are shown. The results are compared with the surface temperature maps from Landsat 8 satellite imagery.     

Remote classification of Cerrado (Savanna) and agricultural land covers in northeastern Brazil

Remote classification of land-use/land-cover (LULC) types in Brazil's Cerrado ecoregion is necessary because knowledge of Cerrado LULC is incomplete, sources of inaccuracy are unknown, and high-resolution data are required for the validation of moderate-resolution LULC maps. The aim of this research is to discriminate between Cerrado and agriculture using high-resolution Landsat 7 ETM⁺ imagery for the western region of Bahia state in northeastern Brazil. The Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) and Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) algorithms were applied to a ～3000 km² subset, yielding comparable classification accuracies. The panchromatic band was reserved for validation. User's and producer's accuracies were highest for non-irrigated agriculture (～94%) but lower for Cerrado Lato Sensu (89%). Classification errors likely resulted from spatial and spectral characteristics of particular classes (e.g. riparian forest and burned) and overestimation of other classes (e.g. Eucalyptus and water). Manual misinterpretation of validation data may have also led to lower reported classification accuracies.     

Application of drone for landslide mapping,dimension estimation and its 3D reconstruction

Dimension estimation of landslides is a major challenge while preparing the landslide inventory map, for which very high-resolution satellite data/aerial photography is required, which is very expensive. An alternative is the application of drones for such mapping. This study presents the utility of drone/unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for mapping and 3D reconstruction of two landslides near IIT Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. In this study, we used DJI Phantom 3 Advanced drone to collect high-resolution images of landslides. Features in the images were automatically detected, described, and matched among photographs using scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) technique. The 3D position and orientation of the cameras and the XYZ location of each feature in the photographs was estimated using bundle block adjustment. This resulted in sparse 3D point cloud, which was densified using Clustering View for Multi-View Stereo (CMVS) algorithm. Finally, surface reconstruction was done using Poisson Surface Reconstruction method, which was visualised in open source software CloudCompare. The 3D model, generated from drone images, was validated using field measurements of some objects, and 3D surface created from total station. Various quantities i.e. width (length), height and perimeter were measured in the 3D drone model and verified with total station data. The differences among all the measured quantities for both the landslides are less than 5% keeping the measurements of total station as reference. The 3D reconstructed from the sets of photographs is very accurate giving the measurements up to cm level and even small objects could be easily identified. In addition, digital elevation model (DEM) of sub meter resolution could be easily generated and used for various applications. Hence drone-based imagery in combination with 3D scene reconstruction algorithms provide flexible and effective tools to map and monitor landslide apart from accurately assessing the dimensions of the landslides.     

A high resolution multispectral video system

The design, operation, and testing of a high resolution multispectral video system (HRMVS) is described. The system uses state‐of‐the‐art video technology. It incorporates three black‐and‐white (B & W) visible/near‐infrared (NIR) (0.4–1.1 μm) light sensitive solid‐state cameras equipped with band‐pass filters and provides two kinds of simultaneously synchronized video images: (1) color‐infrared (CIR) composite imagery and (2) its three‐band B & W image components. Only CIR composite imagery is presented here with its B & W components (yellow‐green, red, and NIR bands), but any false color combination can be generated by the encoder. Images are recorded on high resolution (400 horizontal lines) Super (S)‐VHS recorders. An independent solid‐state conventional color (0.4–0.7 μm) camcorder (S‐VHS) was optional to this system. It was set up to acquire imagery at approximately the same field‐of‐view as the three‐camera synchronized system. Examples of imagery of various natural resource characteristics are given. Color‐infrared composite imagery had similar color tonal renditions to that of CIR film. The high resolution multispectral Black & White B & W images showed that some terrain features could be discriminated better in certain bands. For example, the yellow‐green (543–0.552 μm) band was best for distinguishing chlorosis in grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor Moench), whereas the NIR band was optimum for separating biomass levels in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). The color and Black & White B & W multispectral image results showed this system to be a valuable and versatile tool for a variety of remote sensing applications.     

北京市平原区2015年—2019年0.8 m地表反射率数据集

地表反射率产品作为最重要的定量遥感产品,是很多参量化遥感产品的基础数据源,可以被广泛应用于林业、农业、水资源、生态环境、城市环境等典型应用领域。对于米级高分辨率的遥感影像,国内外不提供反射率影像产品。目前主流的国产高分数据源大部分都是蓝、绿、红、近红4个波段的多光谱数据,缺少短波红外波段,难以满足陆地区域浓密植被算法或者清洁水体的短波红外信号近似看作零的假设条件,要完成精确大气校正、生产大范围的GF-2影像拼接的地表反射率产品,是一个挑战。为了更好的推广高分地表反射率的应用,本研究针对北京市平原区,运用全色和多光谱融合、几何精校正和相对辐射一致化算法,以Sentinel-2为参考影像,生成了一套几何精校正后的0.8 m地表反射率影像集。该数据集时间范围为2015年—2019年,每年一期,包含年度产品的覆盖情况及分布矢量,共计184景地表反射率影像,数据量总共为1.63 TB。