Wavelet-based detection of bush encroachment in a savanna using multi-temporal aerial photographs and satellite imagery

Although increased woody plant abundance has been reported in tropical savannas worldwide, techniques for detecting the direction and magnitude of change are mostly based on visual interpretation of historical aerial photography or textural analysis of multi-temporal satellite images. These techniques are prone to human error and do not permit integration of remotely sensed data from diverse sources. Here, we integrate aerial photographs with high spatial resolution satellite imagery and use a discrete wavelet transform to objectively detect the dynamics in bush encroachment at two protected Zimbabwean savanna sites. Based on the recently introduced intensity-dominant scale approach, we test the hypotheses that: (1) the encroachment of woody patches into the surrounding grassland matrix causes a shift in the dominant scale. This shift in the dominant scale can be detected using a discrete wavelet transform regardless of whether aerial photography and satellite data are used; and (2) as the woody patch size stabilises, woody cover tends to increase thereby triggering changes in intensity. The results show that at the first site where tree patches were already established (Lake Chivero Game Reserve), between 1972 and 1984 the dominant scale of woody patches initially increased from 8 m before stabilising at 16 m and 32 m between 1984 and 2012 while the intensity fluctuated during the same period. In contrast, at the second site, which was formely grass-dominated site (Kyle Game Reserve), we observed an unclear dominant scale (1972) which later becomes distinct in 1985, 1996 and 2012. Over the same period, the intensity increased. Our results imply that using our approach we can detect and quantify woody/bush patch dynamics in savanna landscapes.     

Modelling the Gross Primary Productivity of West Africa with the Regional Biomass Model RBM+, using optimized 250 m MODIS FPAR and fractional vegetation cover information

Global warming associated with climate change is one of the greatest challenges of today’s world. Increasing emissions of the greenhouse gas CO₂ are considered as a major contributing factor to global warming. One regulating factor of CO₂ exchange between atmosphere and land surface is vegetation. Measurements of land cover changes in combination with modelling the Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) can contribute to determine important sources and sinks of CO₂.The aim of this study is to accurately model the GPP for a region in West Africa with a spatial resolution of 250 m, and the differentiation of GPP based on woody and herbaceous vegetation. For this purpose, the Regional Biomass Model (RBM) was applied, which is based on a Light Use Efficiency (LUE) approach. The focus was on the spatial enhancement of the RBM from the original 1000–250 m spatial resolution (RBM+). The adaptation to the 250 m scale included the modification of two main input parameters: (1) the fraction of absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) based on the 1000 m MODIS MOD15A2 FPAR product which was downscaled to 250 m using MODIS NDVI time series; (2) the fractional cover of woody and herbaceous vegetation, which was improved by using a multi-scale approach. For validation and regional adjustments of GPP and the input parameters, in situ data from a climate station and eddy covariance measurements were integrated.The results of this approach show that the input parameters could be improved significantly: downscaling considerably reduces data gaps of the original FPAR product and the improved dataset differed less than 5.0% from the original data for cloud free regions. The RMSE of the fractional vegetation cover varied between 5.1 and 12.7%. Modelled GPP showed a slight overestimation in comparison to eddy covariance measurements. The in situ data was exceeded by 8.8% for 2005 and by 2.0% for 2006. The model results were converted to NPP and also agreed well with previous NPP measurements reported from different studies. Altogether a high accuracy and suitability of the regionally adjusted and downscaled model RBM+ can be concluded. The differentiation between vegetation growth forms allows a separation of long-term and short-term carbon storage based on woody and herbaceous vegetation, respectively.     

The Cherenkov Telescope Array potential for the study of young supernova remnants

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are among the most important targets for γ-ray observatories. Being prominent non-thermal sources, they are very likely responsible for the acceleration of the bulk of Galactic cosmic rays (CRs). To firmly establish the SNR paradigm for the origin of cosmic rays, it should be confirmed that protons are indeed accelerated in, and released from, SNRs with the appropriate flux and spectrum. This can be done by detailed theoretical models which account for microphysics of acceleration and various radiation processes of hadrons and leptons. The current generation of Cherenkov telescopes has insufficient sensitivity to constrain theoretical models. A new facility, the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), will have superior capabilities and may finally resolve this long standing issue of high-energy astrophysics. We want to assess the capabilities of CTA to reveal the physics of various types of SNRs in the initial 2000 years of their evolution. During this time, the efficiency to accelerate cosmic rays is highest. We perform time-dependent simulations of the hydrodynamics, the magnetic fields, the cosmic-ray acceleration, and the non-thermal emission for type Ia, Ic and IIP SNRs. We calculate the CTA response to the γ-ray emission from these SNRs for various ages and distances, and we perform a realistic analysis of the simulated data. We derive distance limits for the detectability and resolvability of these SNR types at several ages. We test the ability of CTA to reconstruct their morphological and spectral parameters as a function of their distance. Finally, we estimate how well CTA data will constrain the theoretical models.     

射电天文台址电子设备电磁辐射评估

射电望远镜具有极高的系统灵敏度,且系统内、系统间及台址内电子设备众多,电磁环境复杂,科学合理地评估台址内电子设备辐射发射对射电天文观测的影响,对系统电磁兼容性设计、无线电管理、屏蔽改造等有重要的指导意义。浅析了射电望远镜系统灵敏度及射电天文领域仪器设备辐射发射相关评估标准;基于射电望远镜系统灵敏度及观测需求,计算了南山25 m射电望远镜馈源口面干扰电平限值,并给出了天线旁瓣增益的计算方法;提出一种基于干扰电平限值、旁瓣增益、干扰测量、路径衰减的电子设备电磁辐射评估方法,并针对南山25 m射电望远镜天线驱动电磁辐射进行了评估,给出了屏蔽需求。     

青藏高原东北部地区闪电特征初步分析

利用VHF辐射源三维定位系统及快、慢天线资料,对青海大通地区5次雷暴过程中云闪、负地闪、正地闪的起始高度、持续时间、辐射源数目及正、负地闪云内放电过程的持续时间和回击次数进行了统计分析.研究表明,该地区闪电持续时间较短,平均＜0.5 s;正、负地闪首次回击发生前均有较长时问的云内放电过程,正地闪的云内放电过程持续时间略长于负地闪;负地闪的回击次数较少,平均为2.5次,其中40％的负地闪只有1次回击,而正地闪回击次数均为1次;云闪的起始高度最高,负地闪的起始高度低于云闪,正地闪的起始高度最低;云闪产生的辐射源数目最多,负地闪少于云闪,正地闪产生的辐射源数目最少.     

多回击负地闪先导通道的辐射和光学特征

利用闪电VHF窄带干涉仪辐射源定位系统和高速摄像系统,对青海大通地区一次有5次回击的负地闪放电过程进行了同步观测,对比分析了通道传输过程的辐射和光学特征.结果表明,光学通道亮度能补充VHF干涉仪定位先导通道的电流特征,VHF干涉仪定位弥补了光学设备拍摄弱放电和云内流光通道的不足;在通道分枝结构上,干涉仪定位的通道和光学通道呈现出很好对应.干涉仪定位分枝通道的辐射源点较明显,但分枝光学通道的出现明显落后于干涉仪定位辐射源通道.对用两种不同观测手段探测的先导通道进行速度计算,发现两者计算的直窜先导和直窜梯级先导速度量级一致,均为106m·s-1,但干涉仪在时间的获取及精确量化上有优势,干涉仪定位计算先导速度的精确度高于光学通道定位.     

1961-2010年环渤海地区寒潮时空分布及变化特征

利用1961-2010年环渤海地区58个站的逐日平均气温、日最低气温资料,按照寒潮国家标准统计寒潮次数和寒潮强度,分析环渤海地区单站寒潮和区域寒潮的气候变化特征。结果表明：环渤海地区单站寒潮出现频次的地域差异很大,大体上呈现自北至南递减态势,年平均次数最多的为张北21次,最少的京津地区不足2次。近50 a来环渤海地区共有233次区域性寒潮,出现在当年9月至次年4月,其中11月最多。区域寒潮呈显著减少趋势。20世纪60-70年代区域性寒潮事件频发,80年代开始明显减少并在1983年出现了突变。区域特强寒潮不多,20世纪60年代出现了2次,自70年开始特强寒潮平均每个年代出现1次。在气候变暖背景下,环渤海地区区域寒潮次数明显减少,但特强寒潮亦极端寒潮事件并未减少。     

Distribution of hydrate on Europa: Further evidence for sulfuric acid hydrate

Sulfuric acid hydrate has been proposed as an important species on Europa's surface, the acid being produced by radiolysis of surficial sulfur compounds. We investigated the spectral properties of disordered and crystalline forms of sulfuric acid and suggest that the hydration properties of Europa's hypothesized sulfuric acid lie between two end members: liquid sulfuric acid and its higher crystalline hydrates. The spectra of these end members are similar except for spectral shifts at the band edges. We measured the optical constants of sulfuric acid octahydrate and used these with simple radiative transfer calculations to fit Europa spectra obtained by Galileo's Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS). The global distribution of the hydrate that we associate here with hydrated sulfuric acid shows a strong trailing-side enhancement with a maximum fractional hydrate abundance of 90% by volume, corresponding to a sulfur atom to water molecule ratio of 10%. The hydrate concentration spatially correlates with the ultraviolet and visible absorption of the surface and with the sulfur dioxide concentration. The asymmetric global distribution is consistent with Iogenic plasma ion implantation as the source of the sulfur, possibly modified by electron irradiation and sputtering effects. The variegated distribution also correlates with geologic forms. A high spatial resolution image shows resolved lineae with less hydrate appearing within the lineae than in nearby crustal material. The low concentration of hydrated material in these lineae argues against their conveying sulfurous material to the surface from the putative ocean.     

Elastic collisions in ion irradiation experiments: A mechanism for space weathering of silicates

Ion irradiation experiments have been performed on silicates (bulk samples) rich of olivine, pyroxene, and serpentine to simulate the effects of space weathering induced on asteroids by solar wind ions. We have used different ions (H⁺, He⁺, Ar⁺, Ar²⁺) having different energies (from 60 to 400 keV) to weather the samples, probed by Raman spectroscopy and UV-vis-NIR reflectance spectroscopy. All the irradiated materials have shown reddening and darkening of reflectance spectra in the 0.25-2.7 μm spectral range. We have found that the increase of the spectral slope of the continuum across the 1-μm band is strongly related with the number of displacements caused by colliding ions because of elastic collisions with the target nuclei. The spectral slopes have been compared, at increasing ion fluence, with those from irradiated Epinal meteorite. We show that formation of nuclear displacements by solar wind ion irradiation is a physical mechanism that reddens the asteroidal surfaces on a time-scale lower than 10⁶ years.     

Weibel Turbulence in Laboratory Experiments and GRB/SN Shocks

It has recently been realized that the Weibel instability plays a major role in the formation and dynamics of astrophysical shocks of gamma-ray bursts and supernovae. Thanks to technological advances in the recent years, experimental studies of the Weibel instability are now possible in laser-plasma interaction devices. We, thus, have a unique opportunity to model and study astrophysical conditions in laboratory experiments – a key goal of the Laboratory Astrophysics program. Here we briefly review the theory of strong non-magnetized collisionless GRB and SN shocks, emphasizing the crucial role of the Weibel instability and discuss the properties of radiation emitted by (isotropic) electrons moving through the Weibel-generated magnetic fields, which is referred to as the jitter radiation. We demonstrate that the jitter radiation field is anisotropic with respect to the direction of the Weibel current filaments and that its spectral and polarization characteristics are determined by microphysical plasma parameters. We stress that the spectral analysis can be used for accurate diagnostics of the plasma conditions in laboratory experiments and in astrophysical GRB and SN shocks.