Examining the sensitivity of spatial scale in cellular automata Markov chain simulation of land use change

Understanding the spatial scale sensitivity of cellular automata is crucial for improving the accuracy of land use change simulation. We propose a framework based on a response surface method to comprehensively explore spatial scale sensitivity of the cellular automata Markov chain (CA-Markov) model, and present a hybrid evaluation model for expressing simulation accuracy that merges the strengths of the Kappa coefficient and of Contagion index. Three Landsat-Thematic Mapper remote sensing images of Wuhan in 1987, 1996, and 2005 were used to extract land use information. The results demonstrate that the spatial scale sensitivity of the CA-Markov model resulting from individual components and their combinations are both worthy of attention. The utility of our proposed hybrid evaluation model and response surface method to investigate the sensitivity has proven to be more accurate than the single Kappa coefficient method and more efficient than traditional methods. The findings also show that the CA-Markov model is more sensitive to neighborhood size than to cell size or neighborhood type considering individual component effects. Particularly, the bilateral and trilateral interactions between neighborhood and cell size result in a more remarkable scale effect than that of a single cell size.     

A New Wavelet Method for Identification of Eddies and Assessment of Incidents on Islands of the Eastern Caribbean

Using two dimensional continuous wavelet transforms, a novel method for identification of mesoscale eddies is presented to facilitate extraction of characteristics for area, amplitude, type, and location from maps of sea level anomalies. In comparison with the previously established growing method for eddy identification, it is found that the wavelet method identifies more than twice the number of eddies and is particularly better at resolving small eddies down to the 0.25 degree resolution of the data. Such research into eddy identification and tracking is significant to the assessment of eddies with potential to impact on coastlines of small islands. The method is applied to the identification of eddies on tracks towards islands of the Eastern Caribbean over 23?years. Spatial and temporal variation in rate of occurrence and magnitude is established. For Barbados there is an average of 9 anticyclonic incidents a year with maximum amplitude of typically 0.22?m in the dry seasons and 0.16?m in the wet seasons. Seasonal variation is reversed for the other islands with twice the number of anticyclonic incidents having maximum amplitudes of about 0.20?m annually.     

The age of Wolfe Creek meteorite crater (Kandimalal), Western Australia

Wolfe Creek crater lies in northwestern Australia at the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. Together with Meteor Crater, it is one of the two largest craters on Earth from which meteorite fragments have been recovered. The age of the impact is poorly constrained and unpublished data places the event at about 300,000 years ago. In comparison, Meteor Crater is well constrained by exposure dating. In this paper, we present new ages for Wolfe Creek Crater from exposure dating using the cosmogenic nuclides ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al, together with optically stimulated luminescence ages (OSL) on sand from a site created by the impact. We also present a new topographic survey of the crater using photogrammetry. The exposure ages range from ~86 to 128 ka. The OSL ages indicate that the age of the impact is most likely to be ~120 ka with a maximum age of 137 ka. Considering the geomorphic setting, the most likely age of the crater is 120 ± 9 ka. Last, we review the age of Meteor Crater in Arizona. Changes in production rates and scaling factors since the original dating work revise the impact age to 61.1 ± 4.8 ka, or ~20% older than previously reported.     

Multibeam sonar backscatter data processing

Multibeam sonar systems now routinely record seafloor backscatter data, which are processed into backscatter mosaics and angular responses, both of which can assist in identifying seafloor types and morphology. Those data products are obtained from the multibeam sonar raw data files through a sequence of data processing stages that follows a basic plan, but the implementation of which varies greatly between sonar systems and software. In this article, we provide a comprehensive review of this backscatter data processing chain, with a focus on the variability in the possible implementation of each processing stage. Our objective for undertaking this task is twofold: (1) to provide an overview of backscatter data processing for the consideration of the general user and (2) to provide suggestions to multibeam sonar manufacturers, software providers and the operators of these systems and software for eventually reducing the lack of control, uncertainty and variability associated with current data processing implementations and the resulting backscatter data products. One such suggestion is the adoption of a nomenclature for increasingly refined levels of processing, akin to the nomenclature adopted for satellite remote-sensing data deliverables.     

Keck II spectroscopy of mHz quasi-periodic oscillations in Hercules X-1

We present Keck II spectroscopy of optical mHz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the light curve of the X-ray pulsar binary Hercules X-1. In the power spectrum it appears as 'peaked noise', with a coherency ∼2, a central frequency of 35 mHz and a peak-to-peak amplitude of 5 per cent. However, the dynamic power spectrum shows it to be an intermittent QPO, with a lifetime of ∼100 s, as expected if the lifetime of the orbiting material is equal to the thermal time-scale of the inner disc. We have decomposed the spectral time series into constant and variable components and used blackbody fits to the resulting spectra to characterize the spectrum of the QPO variability and constrain possible production sites. We find that the spectrum of the QPO is best fitted by a small hot region, possibly the inner regions of the accretion disc, where the ballistic accretion stream impacts on to the disc. The lack of any excess power around the QPO frequency in the X-ray power spectrum, created using simultaneous light curves from RXTE , implies that the QPO is not simply reprocessed X-ray variability.     

Impact of artificial subsurface drainage on groundwater travel times and baseflow discharge in an agricultural watershed,Iowa (USA)

Pollutant delivery through artificial subsurface drainage networks to streams is an important transport mechanism, yet the impact of drainage tiles on groundwater hydrology at the watershed scale has not been well documented. In this study, we developed a two‐dimensional, steady‐state groundwater flow model for a representative Iowa agricultural watershed to simulate the impact of tile drainage density and incision depth on groundwater travel times and proportion of baseflow contributed by tile drains. Varying tile drainage density from 0 to 0.0038 m^?1, while maintaining a constant tile incision depth at 1.2 m, resulted in the mean groundwater travel time to decrease exponentially from 40 years to 19 years and increased the tile contribution to baseflow from 0% to an upper bound of 37%. In contrast, varying tile depths from 0.3 to 2.7 m, while maintaining a constant tile drainage density of 0.0038 m^?1, caused mean travel times to decrease linearly from 22 to 18 years and increased the tile contribution to baseflow from 30% to 54% in a near‐linear manner. The decrease in the mean travel time was attributed to decrease in the saturated thickness of the aquifer with increasing drainage density and incision depth. Study results indicate that tile drainage affects fundamental watershed characteristics and should be taken into consideration when evaluating water and nitrate export from agricultural regions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Pleistocene glaciation of the Mt Giluwe volcano,Papua New Guinea

The Mt Giluwe shield volcano was the largest area glaciated in Papua New Guinea during the Pleistocene. Despite minimal cooling of the sea surface during the last glacial maximum, glaciers reached elevations as low as 3200 m. To investigate changes in the extent of ice through time we have re-mapped evidence for glaciation on the southwest flank of Mt Giluwe. We find that an ice cap has formed on the flanks of the mountain on at least three, and probably four, separate occasions. To constrain the ages of these glaciations we present 39 new cosmogenic ³⁶Cl exposure ages complemented by new radiocarbon dates. Direct dating of the moraines identifies that the maximum extent of glaciation on the mountain was not during the last glacial maximum as previously thought. In conjunction with existing potassium/argon and radiocarbon dating, we recognise four distinct glacial periods between 293–306 ka (Gogon Glaciation), 136–158 ka (Mengane Glaciation), centred at 62 ka (Komia Glaciation) and from >20.3–11.5 ka (Tongo Glaciation). The temperature difference relative to the present during the Tongo Glaciation is likely to be of the order of at least 5 °C which is a minimum difference for the previous glaciations. During the Tongo Glaciation, ice was briefly at its maximum for less than 1000 years, but stayed near maximum levels for nearly 4000 years, until about 15.4 ka. Over the next 4000 years there was more rapid retreat with ice free conditions by the early Holocene.     

On the modelling of sand bedforms using the semivariogram

This study shows the usefulness of the semivariogram for modelling sand ripples created by water flows of varied flow intensity. A combination of two mathematical functions is fitted to each sample semivariogram, that is an exponential (or stochastic) component and a periodic component. The parameters of each of these components have direct physical meaning. A non-dimensional ratio combining the two parameters of the exponential model is interpreted as a regularity index (which increases with the degree of regularity of bedform arrangement). This regularity index is inversely related to the Froude number of the flow. The non-dimensional wavelength, estimated from the dominant periodic function, is also inversely and closely related to the Froude number. The wave height, accurately estimated from properties of the two fitted components, is a direct function of flow velocity and is also proportional to the standard deviation of bed elevations. The bedform shape introduces a considerable discrepancy between the generally assumed normal frequency distribution and the empirical distributions of bed height. The series of bed elevations are generally characterized by a mixture of normal distributions having the same variance but different means. The calculation of a covariance assuming a constant and single mean (as in spectral analysis) can therefore be misleading and the problem may be avoided by using the semivariogram.