Simulating urban dynamics in China using a gradient cellular automata model based on S-shaped curve evolution characteristics

Cellular automata (CA) have been efficiently used to express the complexity and dynamics of cities at different scales. However, those large-scale simulation models typically use only binary values to represent urbanization states without considering mixed types within a cell. They also ignore differences among the cells in terms of their temporal evolution characteristics at different urbanization stages. This study establishes a gradient CA for solving such problems while considering development differences among the cells. The impervious surface area data was used to detect the urbanization states and temporal evolution trends of the grid cells. Transition rules were determined with the incorporation of urban development theory expressed as an S-shaped curve. China was selected as the case study area to validate the performance of the gradient CA for a national simulation. A comparison was also made to a traditional binary logistic-CA. The results demonstrated that the gradient CA achieved higher accuracies in terms of both spatial patterns and quantitative assessment indices. The simulation pattern derived from the gradient CA can better reflect the local disparity and temporal characteristics of urban dynamics. A national urban expansion for 2050 was also simulated, and is expected to provide important data for ecological assessments.     

Automatic change detection in lane-level road networks using GPS trajectories

Lane-level road network updating is crucial for urban traffic applications that use geographic information systems contributing to, for example, intelligent driving, route planning and traffic control. Researchers have developed various algorithms to update road networks using sensor data, such as high-definition images or GPS data; however, approaches that involve change detection for road networks at lane level using GPS data are less common. This paper presents a novel method for automatic change detection of lane-level road networks based on GPS trajectories of vehicles. The proposed method includes two steps: map matching at lane level and lane-level change recognition. To integrate the most up-to-date GPS data with a lane-level road network, this research uses a fuzzy logic road network matching method. The proposed map-matching method starts with a confirmation of candidate lane-level road segments that use error ellipses derived from the GPS data, and then computes the membership degree between GPS data and candidate lane-level segments. The GPS trajectory data is classified into successful or unsuccessful matches using a set of defuzzification rules. Any topological and geometrical changes to road networks are detected by analysing the two kinds of matching results and comparing their relationships with the original road network. Change detection results for road networks in Wuhan, China using collected GPS trajectories show that these methods can be successfully applied to detect lane-level road changes including added lanes, closed lanes and lane-changing and turning rules, while achieving a robust detection precision of above 80%.     

Seamount volcanism associated with the Xigaze ophiolite, Southern Tibet

Basaltic lavas at Renbu, Southern Tibet are associated with the Xigaze ophiolite in the Yarlung-Zangbo suture zone. They are alkaline lavas rich in large ion lithophile elements (LILE, Ba, Rb and Sr) and high field strength elements (HFSE, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf), but poor in Cr, Co and Ni. All of the rocks have chondrite-normalized REE patterns enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE), comparable to modern basalts of the Society Islands, Kerguelen Plateau and Broken Ridge. Abundances of some immobile or moderately immobile elements (Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, Y, Ti and REE) are also comparable to Kerguelen alkaline basalts. The Renbu basalts are geochemically similar to oceanic island basalts (OIB) and have some elemental ratios, such as Nb/Ta ratios = 15.7–18.1, Th/Nb =  0.06–0.10, La/Nb = 0.59–0.83 and Th/Ta = 1.03–1.52, similar to the primitive mantle. Their ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.70453–0.70602) are relatively high, similar to OIB. In the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr vs. εNd(t) diagram, the Renbu basalts plot along a trend from N-MORB to EMII (enriched mantle II), suggesting the involvement of at least two mantle sources in their generation. The Renbu basalts represent seamount volcanism associated with the Xigaze ophiolite. They formed from an OIB-type mantle source within the Neo-Tethyan Ocean that had a composition similar to the modern Indian Ocean mantle.     

Visible gold in arsenian pyrite at the Shuiyindong Carlin-type gold deposit, Guizhou, China: Implications for the environment and processes of ore formation

Carlin-type gold deposits are best known for the scarcity of visible gold in their ores. It has long been recognized that the majority of gold is “invisible”, such that it cannot be resolved by conventional microscopy, and resides in arsenian pyrite. Shuiyindong differs in that sub-μm to μm-sized native gold is present in arsenian pyrite veinlets and disseminations. It is also the largest (55 tonnes) and highest grade (7 to 18 ppm), stratabound, Carlin-type gold deposit in Guizhou, China and has produced 5 tonnes of gold from sulfide refractory ores extracted by underground mining methods. In this study, an electron microprobe analyzer (EMPA) was used to map the spatial distribution of “invisible” gold and sub-μm to μm-size visible gold particles in arsenian pyrite in high-grade ore samples from the Shuiyindong. The samples studied are hosted in Permian bioclastic ferroan limestone of the Longtan Formation and exhibit evidence of decarbonation, silicification and sulfidation. Arsenian pyrite with detectable Au (> 400 to 3800 ppm) is disseminated in altered limestone and was deposited in two stages separated by an episode of corrosion in a veinlet.The results show that there are two populations of native gold in arsenian pyrite. One is comprised of sub-μm size gold particles (0.1 to 0.2 μm) that are occasionally present in the gold-bearing arsenian pyrite disseminated in the host rocks. This arsenian pyrite is interpreted to have been formed by sulfidation of ferroan calcite and dolomite. Another is comprised of coarser (1 to 6 μm) native gold grains present in the arsenian pyrite veinlet, either on the first stage where it has been corroded or on the second stage. The lack of fluid inclusion or other evidence of boiling and the low iron content of fluid inclusions in quartz, suggest the veinlet formed by sulfidation of another fluid containing Fe. The Fe-bearing fluid may be a depleted ore fluid that gained Fe by dissolution of ferroan limestone after H₂S had been consumed. The association of the largest visible gold grains with an episode of corrosion suggests that fluids episodically became undersaturated with arsenian pyrite while remaining saturated with gold (e.g., pH decrease or an increase in the oxidation state). This may have resulted from incursion of relatively acidic or oxidized fluids that were able to dissolve arsenian pyrite and remain saturated with gold. In this case, sulfidation of iron from the host rock, was the most important depositional mechanism for Au-bearing arsenian pyrite with, or without, grains of native gold.     

Magnesium isotope fractionation in silicate melts by chemical and thermal diffusion

Two types of laboratory experiments were used to quantify magnesium isotopic fractionations associated with chemical and thermal (Soret) diffusion in silicate liquids. Chemical diffusion couples juxtaposing a molten natural basalt (SUNY MORB) and a molten natural rhyolite (Lake County Obsidian) were run in a piston cylinder apparatus and used to determine the isotopic fractionation of magnesium as it diffused from molten basalt to molten rhyolite. The thermal diffusion experiments were also run in a piston cylinder apparatus but with a sample made entirely of molten SUNY MORB displaced from the hotspot of the assembly furnace so that the sample would have a temperature difference of about 100-200 °C from one end to the other. The chemical diffusion experiments showed fractionations of ²⁶Mg/²⁴Mg by as much as 7‰, which resulted in an estimate for the mass dependence of the self-diffusion coefficients of the magnesium isotopes corresponding to D_26Mg/D_24Mg=(24/26)^β with β = 0.05. The thermal diffusion experiments showed that a temperature difference of about 100 °C resulted in the MgO, CaO, and FeO components of the basalt becoming slightly enriched by about 1 wt% in the colder end while SiO₂ was enriched by several wt% in the hotter end. The temperature gradient also fractionated the magnesium isotopes. A temperature difference of about 150 °C produced an 8‰ enrichment of ²⁶Mg/²⁴Mg at the colder end relative to the hotter end. The magnesium isotopic fractionation as a function of temperature in molten basalt corresponds to 3.6 × 10⁻²‰/°C/amu.     

Land cover classification of the North China Plain using MODIS_EVI time series

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data have played an important role in global environmental and resource research. However, its low spatial resolution has been an impediment to researchers pursuing more accurate classification results. In this research, the high temporal resolution of MODIS was employed to improve the accuracy of land cover classification of the North China Plain using MODIS_EVI time series from 2003. Harmonic Analysis of Time Series (HANTS) was performed on the MODIS_EVI image time series to reduce cloud and other noise effects. The improved MODIS_EVI time series was then classified into 100 clusters by the Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique (ISODATA). To distinguish ambiguous land cover classes, a decision tree was built on five phenological features derived from EVI profiles, Land Surface Temperature (LST) and topographic slope. The overall accuracy of the final land cover map was 75.5%, indicating the promise of using MODIS EVI time series and decision trees for broad area land cover classification.     

一种顾及空间关系约束的线化简算法

线要素化简在制图表达与综合领域一直是研究的热点和难点之一。然而,经典化简算法多针对单独线要素进行处理,缺乏对该线要素与周边线要素之间整体空间关系的考虑,并且,存在计算结果生硬(D-P算法)、局部极值点缺失,特别是在曲度较大之处出现相交异常(L-O算法)等问题。为此,本文提出一种顾及空间关系约束的线化简算法,建立线要素全局化简方法(LGSM)和矢量位移、面积位移等5类评价指标。采用等高线、河流和道路3类线要素实际数据进行了试验,充分检验了本文算法的优越性,其处理结果符合开方根模型规律,降低了曲线复杂度,在保证全局空间关系不变条件下,不仅更好地保持了曲线整体形状特征,而且光滑美观、精度高。     

Multi-GNSS precise point positioning (MGPPP) using raw observations

A joint-processing model for multi-GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, BDS and GALILEO) precise point positioning (PPP) is proposed, in which raw code and phase observations are used. In the proposed model, inter-system biases (ISBs) and GLONASS code inter-frequency biases (IFBs) are carefully considered, among which GLONASS code IFBs are modeled as a linear function of frequency numbers. To get the full rank function model, the unknowns are re-parameterized and the estimable slant ionospheric delays and ISBs/IFBs are derived and estimated simultaneously. One month of data in April, 2015 from 32 stations of the International GNSS Service (IGS) Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) tracking network have been used to validate the proposed model. Preliminary results show that RMS values of the positioning errors (with respect to external double-difference solutions) for static/kinematic solutions (four systems) are 6.2 mm/2.1 cm (north), 6.0 mm/2.2 cm (east) and 9.3 mm/4.9 cm (up). One-day stabilities of the estimated ISBs described by STD values are 0.36 and 0.38 ns, for GLONASS and BDS, respectively. Significant ISB jumps are identified between adjacent days for all stations, which are caused by the different satellite clock datums in different days and for different systems. Unlike ISBs, the estimated GLONASS code IFBs are quite stable for all stations, with an average STD of 0.04 ns over a month. Single-difference experiment of short baseline shows that PPP ionospheric delays are more precise than traditional leveling ionospheric delays.     

Estimation of Heavy-Metal Contamination in Soil Using Remote Sensing Spectroscopy and a Statistical Approach

Heavy-metal-contaminated soil is a critical environmental issue in suburban regions. This paper focuses on utilizing field spectroscopy to predict the heavy metal contents in soil for two suburban areas in the Jiangning District (JN) and the Baguazhou District (BGZ) in China. The relationship between the surface soil heavy metal contents and spectral features was investigated through statistical modeling. Spectral features of several spectral techniques, including reflectance spectra (RF), the logarithm of reciprocal spectra (LG) and continuum-removal spectra (CR), were employed to establish and calibrate models regarding to Cd, Hg and Pb contents. The optimal bands for each spectral feature were first selected based on the spectra of soil samples with artificially added heavy metals using stepwise multiple linear regressions. With the chosen bands, the average predictive accuracies of the cross-validation, using the coefficient of determination R², for estimating the heavy metal contents in the two field regions were 0.816, 0.796 and 0.652 for Cd; 0.787, 0.888 and 0.832 for Pb; and 0.906 and 0.867 for Hg based on partial least squares regression. Results show that better prediction accuracies were obtained for Cd and Hg, while the poorest prediction was obtained for Pb. Moreover, the performances of the LG and CR models were better than that of the RF model for Pb and Hg, indicating that LG and CR can provide alternative features in determining heavy metal contents. Overall, it’s concluded that Cd, Hg and Pb contents can be assessed using remote-sensing spectroscopy with reasonable accuracy, especially when combined with library and field-collected spectra.     

ArcGIS影像管理解决方案浅析

面对规模日益庞大的影像数据集合,提供一个高效的数据管理模式或配置一个高效的数据库管理系统,能够向用户提供影像可视化和快速查询功能,是影像数据管理中需要着重解决的问题。本文通过简介ArcGIS海量影像管理的方法,分析镶嵌数据集影像数据管理模型特点,从而提出高效管理海量影像数据的方法。