Rapid mapping of high resolution SAR scenes

This paper describes a semi-automatic procedure for cartographic mapping using high resolution SAR and interferometric SAR data. Various two-dimensional features are extracted and combined in order to achieve a basic yet effective recognition of the elements in the scene. Many relevant elements of the landscape are automatically extracted without requiring any deep interaction with the operator. Being based on geometric models assuming regularity of shapes and patterns, the procedure is well suited for detecting man-made features, such as the road network (outside and inside human settlements) and built-up areas. It can be used, however, to extract natural features, focusing on different geometric models. Moreover, extracted elements of the scene can be grouped into higher level ones, such as crossroads, bridges and overpasses, through data fusion at the feature level, because the procedure is characterized by a multi-scale, object-based approach.     

Crop yield model validation for Cameroon

A crop simulation model must first be capable of representing the actual performance of crops grown in any region before it can be applied to the prediction of climate variability and change impacts. A cropping systems model (CropSyst) simulations of crop productivity in the sub-Saharan Central African (using Cameroon as the case study) region, under the current climate were compared with observed yields of maize, sorghum, groundnut, bambara groundnut and soybean from eight sites. The model produced both over-and-under estimates, but with a mean percentage difference of only –2.8%, ranging from –0.6% to –4.5%. Based on these results, we judged the CropSyst simulations sufficiently reliable to justify use of the model in assessing crop growth vulnerability to climatic changes in Cameroon and else where.     

New photometric models of galactic evolution applied to the HDF

We summarize our modelling of galaxy photometric evolution (the GRASIL code). By including the effects of dust grains and PAH molecules in a two-phase clumpy medium, where clumps are associated with star-forming regions, we reproduce the observed UV to radio SEDs of galaxies with star formation rates from zero to several hundred M _⊙ yr^-1.GRASIL is a powerful tool for investigating star formation, the initial mass function and the supernova rate in nearby starbursts and normal galaxies, as well as for predicting the evolution of luminosity functions of different types of galaxies at wavelengths covering six decades. It may be interfaced with any device to provide the star formation and metallicity histories of a galaxy. As an application, we have investigated the properties of early-type galaxies in the HDF, tracking the contribution of this population to the cosmic star formation history, which has a broad peak between z = 1.5 and 4.To explain the absence of objects at z ≳ 1.3, we suggest a sequence of dust-enshrouded merger-driven starbursts in the first few Gyr of galaxy lifetimes. We are at present working on a complementary sample of late-type objects selected in a similar way. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Climate control on snowfall days in peninsular Italy

The advent of instrumental and digital weather observatories has not eliminated the substantial gaps within surface meteorological time series. In particular, the lack of long-term homogeneous snowfall records may be a major impediment for hydrologic studies. We tested the hypothesis that reliable estimates of snowy days per year (SDY) can be produced for peninsular Italy, based on weather and site measurements from a limited set of stations centrally located in the Central Mediterranean Area. The core weather data are those from three observatories: Naples (40° 51′ N, 14° 15′ E, 150 m a.s.l.), Rome (41° 53′ N, 12° 28′ E, 100 m a.s.l.) and Montevergine (40° 56′ N, 14° 43′ E, 1280 m a.s.l.). A linear multivariate regression model (LMRM) was developed with candidate predictors (elevation, snowfall days and winter temperatures) for SDY reconstructions in the Benevento Valley (calibration site), whose homogenised SDY time series covers the period 1869–2018 (the longest in Southern Italy, extending back to 1832 thanks to documentary proxies but with missing values from 1911 to 1949). Three validation sites across peninsular Italy were considered: Vesuvius (40° 49′ N, 14° 24′ E, 605 m a.s.l.), Perugia (43° 05′ N, 12° 30′ E, 205 m a.s.l.) and Padua (45° 23′ N, 11° 51′ E, 15 m a.s.l.). The percent relative mean absolute error (%RMAE) for Benevento Valley was 20.2%, and though higher model errors were encountered at validation sites, they were in an acceptable range (32.6, 39.3 and 39.5% at Vesuvius, Perugia and Padua, respectively). Our SDY reconstruction in the Benevento Valley parallels, the pattern of water discharge occurred in the region during the same period, whose fluctuations result in changes of the pattern of snowfall days (i.e. decreasing snowfall days in recent times was accompanied by decreasing groundwater levels). This corroborates that the approach used to reconstruct SDY data takes dominant climate controlling factors of hydrological changes. We conclude that the LMRM, a statistically developed model, is physically meaningful and may be reasonably used for estimating SDY in peninsular Italy roughly down from the sub-Alpine range.     

A modeling language to support the interoperability of global navigation satellite systems

The availability of multiple Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) will offer the opportunity to provide seamless navigation services and improved positioning performance. However, before this opportunity can be exploited, a number of issues need to be solved to ensure the compatibility and interoperability of existing GNSS. In particular, the GNSS interoperability can be technically defined as the capability of receivers to compute their global position using two or more GNSS signals. This capability can be more effectively achieved if Signal-In-Space interface specifications are available in a consistent, unambiguous, and possibly standard format, which can support engineers to design interoperable receivers. We aim to support the design of interoperable receivers with the introduction of the Interface Communication Modeling Language (ICML), a graphical language for the formal specification of Signal-In-Space interfaces. The ICML language enables receiver engineers to specify these interfaces at different levels of abstraction, such as analog signal or binary data. In addition, the ICML language also supports the specification of conversion routines between adjacent levels, for the representation of the dynamic aspects—e.g., convolution and encryption processes—of the interface specification. As such, the ICML language proposes an alternative format to textual-based interface specifications and can possibly integrate with the ongoing trend of the Model-based Systems Engineering approaches. We present the structure of the framework implementing the language and an example ICML-based specification for a simplified and reduced version of the Galileo Freely Accessible Navigation (F/NAV) message. The language metamodel is also attached for technical reference. An important caveat: no endorsement is made for the use of the ICML language for the official Galileo Signal-In-Space interface specification.     

Mechanisms for ground-surface fracturing and incipient slope failure associated with the 2001 eruption of Mt. Etna, Italy: analysis of ephemeral field data

During the July–August 2001 eruption of Mt. Etna development of extensional fractures/faults and grabens accompanied magma intrusion and subsequent volcanic activity. During the first days of the eruption, we performed an analysis of attitude, displacement and propagation of fractures and faults exposed on the ground surface in two sites, Torre del Filosofo and Valle del Leone, located along the same fracture system in the region surrounding the Valle del Bove depression on the eastern flank of Mt. Etna. Fractures and faults formed as the consequence of a shallow intruding dyke system that fed the several volcanic centres developed along the fracture system. The investigated sites differ in slope attitude and in geometrical relationships between fractures and slopes. In particular, the fracture system propagated parallel to the gentle slope (<7° dip) in the Torre del Filosofo area, and perpendicular to the steep slope (25° dip) in the Valle del Leone area. In the Torre del Filosofo area, slight graben subsidence and horizontal extension of the ground surface by about 3 m were recorded. In the Valle del Leone area, extensional faulting forming a larger and deeper graben with horizontal extension of the ground surface by about 10 m was recorded. For the Valle del Leone area, we assessed a downhill dip of 14° for the graben master fault at the structural level beneath the graben where the fault dip shallows. These results suggest that dyke intrusion at Mount Etna, and particularly in the region surrounding the Valle del Bove depression, may be at the origin of slope failure and subsequent slumps where boundary conditions, i.e. geometry of dyke, slope dip and initial shear stress, amongst others, favour incipient failures.     

Source parameters and stress release of seismic sequences occurred in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (Northeastern Italy) and in Western Slovenia

The source parameters of the major events of a swarm and of two seismic sequences, occurred in the Friuli area (Northeastern Italy) and in Western Slovenia, were estimated. The Claut swarm (C96) occurred since the end of January to June 1996, with a M_D 4.3 major shock and it appears composed of three sub-sequences. The two sequences are the Kobarid sequence (K98) started on April 12, 1998 with a M_D 5.6 mainshock and the M.te Sernio (S02) sequence caused by the February 14, 2002 earthquake (M_D = 4.9). Acceleration and velocity data recorded by the local seismic network of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimenale (OGS) and corrected for attenuation, were employed to estimate seismic moments and radiated energies. Source dimensions were inferred from the computed corner frequencies and the stress release was estimated from the Brune stress drop, the apparent stress and the RMS stress drop. On the whole, seismic moments range from 1.7 × 10¹² to 1.1 × 10¹⁷ N m, and radiated energies are in the range 10⁶–10¹³ J. Brune stress drops are scattered and do not show any evidence of a self-similarity breakdown for sources down to 130 m radius. The radiated seismic energy scales as a function of seismic moment, with a slope of the scaling relation that decreases for increasing seismic moments.The mechanism of stress release was analyzed by computing the ɛ parameter of Zuniga [Zuniga, R., 1993. Frictional overshoot and partial stress drop. Which one? Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 83, 939–944]. The K98 and S02 sequences are characterized by a wide range of the ɛ parameter with stress drop mechanism varying from partial locking to overshoot cases. The ɛ values of the C96 swarm are more homogeneous and close to the Orowan's condition. The radiated seismic energy and the ratio of stress drop between mainshock and aftershocks appear different among the analyzed cases. We therefore investigated the relationship between the stress parameters of the main shock and the energy radiated by the aftershock sequences. For this purpose, we also estimated the source parameters of two other sequences occurred in the area, with mainshocks of M_D 4.1 and 5.1, respectively. We found a positive correlation between the Brune stress drop of the mainshock and the ratio between the radiated energy of the mainshock and the summation of the energies radiated by the aftershocks.     

Feature fusion to improve road network extraction in high-resolution SAR images

This letter aims at the extraction of roads and road networks from high-resolution synthetic aperture radar data. Classical methods based on line detection do not use all the information available; indeed, in high-resolution data, roads are large enough to be considered as regions and can be characterized also by their statistics. This property can be used in a classification scheme. Therefore, this letter presents a road extraction method which is based on the fusion of classification (statistical information) and line detection (structural information). This fusion is done at the feature level, which helps to improve both the level of likelihood and the number of the extracted roads. The proposed approach is tested with two classification methods and one line extractor. Results on two different datasets are discussed.     

Improving urban road extraction in high-resolution images exploiting directional filtering, perceptual grouping, and simple topological concepts

In this letter, the problem of detecting urban road networks from high-resolution optical/synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is addressed. To this end, this letter exploits a priori knowledge about road direction distribution in urban areas. In particular, this letter presents an adaptive filtering procedure able to capture the predominant directions of these roads and enhance the extraction results. After road element extraction, to both discard redundant segments and avoid gaps, a special perceptual grouping algorithm is devised, exploiting colinearity as well as proximity concepts. Finally, the road network topology is considered, checking for road intersections and regularizing the overall patterns using these focal points. The proposed procedure was tested on a pair of very high resolution images, one from an optical sensor and one from a SAR sensor. The experiments show an increase in both the completeness and the quality indexes for the extracted road network.     

Case study for investigating groundwater and the future of mountain spring discharges in Southern Italy

Groundwater extraction is used to alleviate drought in many habitats. However, widespread drought decreases spring discharge and there is a need to integrate climate change research into resource management and action. Accurate estimates of groundwater discharge may be valuable in improving decision support systems of hydrogeological resource exploitation. The present study performs a forecast for groundwater discharge in Aquifer?s Cervialto Mountains(southern Italy). A time series starting in 1883 was the basis for longterm predictions. An Ensemble Discharge Prediction(EDis P) was applied, and the progress of the discharge ensemble forecast was inferred with the aid of an Exponential Smoothing(ES) model initialized at different annual times. EDisP-ES hindcast model experiments were tested, and discharge plume-patterns forecast was assessed with horizon placed in the year 2044. A 46-year cycle pattern was identified by comparing simulations and observations, which is essential for the forecasting purpose. ED is P-ES performed an ensemble mean path for the coming decades that indicates a discharge regime within ± 1 standard deviation around the mean value of 4.1 m~3 s~(-1). These fluctuations are comparable with those observed in the period 1961-1980 and further back, with changepoints detectable around the years 2025 and 2035. Temporary drought conditions are expected after the year 2030.