Diatoms from surface sediments of Enderby Basin of Indian Sector of Southern Ocean

Diatoms from surface sediment samples collected from Enderby Basin of Indian Sector of Southern Ocean were analyzed to determine the relative abundance and distribution of seven key indicator diatom species viz. Sea ice related species Fragilariopsis rhombica, F. separanda, F. curta, F. ritscheri, Thalassiosira tumida and Actinocyclus actinochilus and Open Ocean species F. kerguelensis on the basis of modern physico-chemical parameters. The relative abundances of different species observed viz. F. rhombica — 6.25%; F. separanda — 12.5%; F. curta — 10.53–13.33%; F. ritscheri — 4.55–12.5%; F. kerguelensis — 6.25–63.64%; T. tumida — 3.13% and A. actinochilus — 9.38–13.33%. The increasing abundance of F. kerguelensis consecutively suggests the effect of Antarctic bottom water in the study area which is further substantiated by the presence and increasing abundance of F. ritscheri. The gradual decrease in abundance or absence of sea ice related species from the sampled stations indicates the summer and winter sea ice extent concentration in the study area. The nutrient concentration correlates with the distribution and abundances of diatom species.     

Surface ozone variation associated with rainfall

Using an electrochemical surface ozone recorder, continuous monitoring of surface ozone is being carried out at Trivandrum (8°29N, 76°57E). A study of those surface ozone data together with rainfall and temperature reveals certain variations in ozone associated with rainfall, apart from other established variations reported so far. While daytime rainfall brings a decrease in surface ozone, nighttime rainfall produces an increase. The change in the surface ozone persists for a longer duration than the rainfall.     

Analysis of magnetic anomalies due to some two-dimensional bodies using the Mellin transform

An interpretation technique using the Mellin transform is suggested for the analysis of magnetic anomalies due to some two-dimensional structures namely (i) a vertical sheet of both finite and infinite depth extent, (ii) a thick dyke and (iii) a horizontal circular cylinder. The Mellin transformed magnetic anomalies resemble gamma functions which are amenable to an easy interpretation. This procedure is illustrated with a small number of synthetic examples in each case. The practicality of the method is exemplified with the well-known vertical magnetic anomalies of Kursk (USSR) in the case of an infinite sheet model and Karimnagar magnetic anomaly (India) in the case of a horizontal circular cylinder. The results are compared with the techniques already available and found to be reliable.     

Retrieval of cloud classification parameters using two-dimensional fast Fourier transform

A method is presented for the retrieval of classification parameters of clouds observed by satellite-borne imaging systems. It is based on a two-dimensional fast Fourier transform of cloud images and an analysis of their power spectra. The parameters retrieved provide quantitative information on mean brightness, size, shape and directional properties of clouds. The efficacy of the subdivision of the original cloud image into smaller regions and the determination of individual parameters is demonstrated by applying this procedure to some NOAA and INSAT cloud images.     

Student Learning of Place: Learning Progressions Can Help Fill the Gaps

This commentary is a response to Larsen and Harrington's article titled “Developing a Learning Progression for Place” (2018). The commentary includes a discussion of the benefits to other content areas that research on student learning of place can provide. The commentary also describes the coherence that learning progressions can bring to research on student learning of complex, interdisciplinary domains of study.     

Modified Dual Winner Takes All Approach for Tri-Stereo Image Matching Using Disparity Space Images

In this research paper, a new framework is proposed to increase the total number of correct matches for stereo correspondence using tri-stereo images. The research work investigates some of the less explored properties of Disparity Space Image (DSI), and considers the local maxima in addition to the global maximum of the cost function and propose a new tri-stereo matching method as Modified Dual Winner Takes All (MDWTA) using edges of disparity space image. Conventionally using a single DSI from a stereo pair optimization techniques are applied to get the disparity, whereas the proposed approach uses Winner Takes All (WTA) approach using two DSIs from a triplet. The dual property of DSI that is the manner in which it stores cost for rows and columns for forward and reverse matching is introduced. This property is applied to check consistency for forward and reverse matching in a single pass, which gives initial correct matches. Next a left-centre-right consistency check is applied to discard inconsistent disparities obtained from these three views. Subsequently to obtain disparity for gaps thus generated a rule is formulated using local maxima, edges and adjacent global maximum to find correct disparity. Evaluation of the results obtained is carried by comparing them with block matching WTA method and other recent methods such as, Dynamic Programming (DP) and Semi-Global Matching (SGM) applied on images from Terrain Mapping Camera of Chandrayaan-1 and PRISM sensor of the ALOS mission. Methodology proposed is also verified using standard Middlebury stereo dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed method gives an increased number of correct matches by 10–15 % as compared to basic WTA and DP. However the results obtained are better to SGM for certain regions and features.     

Generation and Validation of two Day Composite Wind Fields from Oceansat-2 Scatterometer

The Oceansat-2 scatterometer (OSCAT) of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), provides surface wind speed and direction with a spatial resolution of 50 km × 50 km. With a revisit time of 2 days it had provided ocean surface wind vectors over the global oceans. In the present work, an attempt has been made to generate two day composite of OSCAT wind vectors using Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis (DIVA) and compare them with daily composite winds to check how better is the two day composites in comparison to daily composites. The daily and two days composite wind vectors of zonal (U) and meridional (V) components have been validated with wind measurements from in situ buoys and Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) for the year 2012 over the tropical Indian Ocean region. The statistical comparison with the in situ measurements and ASCAT has shown that the two-day OSCAT wind composites are slightly better than the daily composite winds. The improvement in the statistics can be attributed to the use of ascending and descending passes pertaining to two days which results in fewer gaps between passes, thereby reducing the interpolation errors.     

Synergizing community-based forest monitoring with remote sensing: a path to an effective REDD+ MRV system

Background

The reliable monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of carbon emissions and removals from the forest sector is an important part of the efforts on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). Forest-dependent local communities are engaged to contribute to MRV through community-based monitoring systems. The efficiency of such monitoring systems could be improved through the rational integration of the studies at permanent plots with the geospatial technologies. This article presents a case study of integrating community-based measurements at permanent plots at the foothills of central Nepal and biomass maps that were developed using GeoEye-1 and IKONS satellite images.

Results

The use of very-high-resolution satellite-based tree cover parameters, including crown projected area (CPA), crown density and crown size classes improves salience, reliability and legitimacy of the community-based survey of 0.04% intensity at the lower cost than increasing intensity of the community-based survey to 0.14% level (2.5 USD/ha vs. 7.5 USD/ha).

Conclusion

The proposed REDD+ MRV complementary system is the first of its kind and demonstrates the enhancement of information content, accuracy of reporting and reduction in cost. It also allows assessment of the efficacy of community-based forest management and extension to national scale.

     

Mechanical Behaviour of Reservoir Rock Under Brine Saturation

Acoustic emissions (AE) and stress–strain curve analysis are well accepted ways of analysing crack propagation and monitoring the various failure stages (such as crack closure, crack initiation level during rock failure under compression) of rocks and rock-like materials. This paper presents details and results of experimental investigations conducted for characterizing the brittle failure processes induced in a rock due to monocyclic uniaxial compression on loading of two types of sandstone core samples saturated in NaCl brines of varying concentration (0, 2, 5, 10 and 15 % NaCl by weight). The two types of sandstone samples were saturated under vacuum for more than 45 days with the respective pore fluid to allow them to interact with the rocks. It was observed that the uniaxial compressive strength and stress–strain behaviour of the rock specimens changed with increasing NaCl concentration in the saturating fluid. The acoustic emission patterns also varied considerably for increasing ionic strength of the saturating brines. These observations can be attributed to the deposition of NaCl crystals in the rock’s pore spaces as well some minor geo-chemical interactions between the rock minerals and the brine. The AE pattern variations could also be partly related to the higher conductivity of the ionic strength of the high-NaCl concentration brine as it is able to transfer more acoustic energy from the cracks to the AE sensors.