Reducing systematic dome errors in digital elevation models through better UAV flight design

It is well established that digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images and processed by structure from motion may contain important systematic vertical errors arising from limitations in camera geometry modelling. Even when significant, such ‘dome’-shaped errors can often remain unnoticed unless specific checks are conducted. Previous methods used to reduce these errors have involved: the addition of convergent images to supplement traditional vertical datasets, the usage of a higher number of ground control points, precise direct georeferencing techniques (RTK/PPK) or more refined camera pre-calibration. This study confirms that specific UAV flight designs can significantly reduce dome errors, particularly those that have a higher number of tie points connecting distant images, and hence contribute to a strengthened photogrammetric network. A total of 22 flight designs were tested, including vertical, convergent, point of interest (POI), multiscale and mixed imagery. Flights were carried out over a 300 × 70 m² flat test field area, where 143 ground points were accurately established. Three different UAVs and two commercial software packages were trialled, totalling 396 different tests. POI flight designs generated the smallest systematic errors. In contrast, vertical flight designs suffered from larger dome errors; unfortunately, a configuration that is ubiquitous and most often used. By using the POI flight design, the accuracy of DEMs will improve without the need to use more ground control or expensive RTK/PPK systems. Over flat terrain, the improvement is especially important in self-calibration projects without (or with just a few) ground control points. Some improvement will also be observed on those projects using camera pre-calibration or with stronger ground control. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

"一带一路"沿线国家或地区人才流动网络结构演化

基于高等学校留学生流动数据,构建加权有向网络模型,对2000~2015年“一带一路”沿线国家或地区人才流动网络结构演化进行研究。主要结论如下：① 沿线人才流动网络规模迅速扩大,人才流动的数量和路径在迅速增加。② 沿线人才流动网络呈“由中向西,自南到北”的空间格局特征,中亚地区的留学生主要向西流向俄罗斯、乌克兰等国,东南亚和南亚地区的留学生主要向北流向中国内地。③ 沿线人才流动网络分化为独联体社团、中国东盟社团、西亚北非社团、中东欧社团、南亚社团等5个社团。④ 中国内地和俄罗斯处于沿线人才流动网络的核心位置,东南亚、西亚和东欧部分国家处于边缘地带。     

基于kubernetes的海洋遥感数据产品服务平台设计与实现

伴随着海洋遥感资料的大量积累,高效的“一站式”服务成为海洋遥感数据业务化应用的基本需求,同时也对系统在动态调度资源、易维护、弹性可扩展、复杂度可控和灵活部署等方面提出了更高的要求.针对上述问题,本文引入kubernetes容器编排管理平台,将单个业务系统拆分成多个独立运行在相互隔离容器中的服务,共享服务器软硬件资源,在保证系统具备高度可扩展性和灵活性的基础上,有效降低了开发的复杂度,设计和实现了海洋遥感数据产品生产和应用服务平台,满足了对海洋多源卫星数据从获取、预处理、产品自动生产、展示发布到应用服务的一体化需求.     

藕节辫状河发育和演变过程的试验研究

利用室内概化模型试验,研究了"藕节"辫状河的发育和演变过程。从初始顺直小河开始,以黄河花园口水文站枯水期和洪水期流量为背景,概化试验入口水沙条件,成功塑造了具有典型藕节的辫状小河。模型小河的试验发现:① 原顺直河道交错边滩的发育对辫状河道"藕节"的形成起到关键作用;② 结合自然河流和试验小河,"藕节"河段形态特征系数I与河道稳定性参数θ呈较好的非线性关联性,说明辫状河道除了沙粒阻力和床面形态阻力,也可以采取断面形态一收一放的"河势形态阻力"方式消耗,制衡部分水流能量;③ 流量过程是控制河段形态特征的决定因素之一,大洪水不仅破坏了原交错边滩的特点,也使"藕节"形态遭到破坏;但在中小流量下,河段保持了较好的"藕节"驻点、"藕身"收放的特点。本研究对黄河下游收放相间的"藕节"河段防洪起到借鉴作用。     

‘About Time the Regions Were Recognised’: interpreting region-building in Western Australia

The region-building process in Western Australia is examined using Paasi's theoretical framework of ‘regional institutionalisation’. The paper examines the formalisation of the regions in Western Australia from the 1940s with the first attempts to regionalise the State, through to the recent political and policy shifts. A particular focus is given to the pivotal legislation passed in 1993 which created nine Regional Development Commissions, and the implications of the post-2008 Royalties for Regions program. The discussion examines the trajectory of the Western Australia regions through the lens of Paasi's model. The paper shows that the Regional Development Commissions have had a critical role in fulfilling the different stages of the model.     

Morphology and magnetic survey of the Rivera-Cocos plate boundary of Colima,Mexico

The propagation of the Pacific-Cocos Segment of the East Pacific Rise (EPR-PCS) has significantly altered the plate configuration at the north end of the Middle America Trench. This ridge propagation, the collision of the EPR-PCS with the Middle America Trench, the separation of the Rivera and Cocos plates and the formation of the Rivera Transform have produced a complex arrangement of morphotectonic elements in the area of Rivera-Cocos plate boundary, atypical of an oceanic transform boundary. Existing marine magnetic and bathymetric data has proved inadequate to unravel this complexity, thus, a dense grid of total field magnetic data were collected during campaigns MARTIC-04 and MARTIC-05 of the B/O EL PUMA in 2004 and 2006. These data have greatly clarified the magnetic lineation pattern adjacent to the Middle America trench, and have revealed an interesting en echelon, NE-SW oriented magnetic high offshore of the Manzanillo Graben. We interpret these new data to indicate that the EPR-PCS ridge segment reached the latitude (~18.3°N) of the present day Rivera Transform at about Chron 2A₃ (~3.5Ma) and propagated further northward, intersecting the Middle America Trench at about 1.7 Ma (Chron 2). At 1.5 Ma spreading ceased along the EPR north of 18.3°N and the EPR-PCS has since retreated southward in association with a southward propagation of the Moctezuma Spreading Segment. North of 18.3°N the seafloor near the trench has been broken into small, uplifted blocks, perhaps due to the subduction of the young lithosphere generated by the EPR-PCS.     

A spatial approach to select pilot counties for programs to correct the biased sex ratio at birth in Shandong province,China

The highly skewed sex ratio at birth (SRB) in China has stimulated numerous studies. However, the geographic distribution of SRB is seldom investigated, particularly at the county level. The need for an understanding at this level has increased since the Chinese government initiated its ‘Care for Girls’ campaign to improve the survival rate of females. This campaign has been initiated in a set of pilot counties. In this article we assess the effectiveness of the set of pilot counties in Shandong province and propose two alternate configurations. To do this, we first assess the spatial distribution of the SRB values by county in Shandong, expressed as a z-score (zSRB) after correcting for the biologically expected SRB value and population size of zero-aged children. A local Moran's I_i analysis of the zSRB values indicates a significant high–high cluster in the southwest of the province. The I_i , zSRB and female deficit (the difference of the observed from biologically expected number of zero-aged females) were then used to define two alternate configurations for the pilot counties. A comparison of the current and alternate configurations against a Monte Carlo randomisation analysis shows that the current configuration is significantly different from a random selection (p < 0.05) for the two criteria of maximising the aggregate female deficit and maximising the zSRB. Although this is a good result, both alternate configurations were more significant (p < 0.001), and therefore represent potentially better configurations for the campaign given the criteria used. The spatial analysis approach developed here could be used to improve the effectiveness of the Care-for-Girls campaign in Shandong province, and elsewhere in China.     

Asia: a frontier for a future supercontinent Amasia

Asia is the world’s largest but youngest continent, in which Pacific-type (P-type) and collision-type (C-type) orogenic belts coexist with numerous amalgamated continental blocks. P-type orogens represent major sites of continental growth through tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite type (TTG-type) juvenile granitoid magmatism and accretion of oceanic crust and intra-oceanic arcs. The Asian continent includes several P-type orogenic belts, of which the largest are the Central Asian and Western Pacific. The Central Asian Orogenic Belt is dominated by P-type fossil orogens arranged with a regular northward subduction polarity. The Western Pacific is characterized by ongoing P-type orogeny related to the westward subduction of the Pacific plate. Asia has a multi-cratonic structure and its post-Palaeozoic history has witnessed amalgamation of the Laurasia composite continent and Pangaea supercontinent. Nowadays, Asia is surrounded by double-sided subduction zones, which generate new TTG-type crust and supply oceanic crust and microcontinents to its active margins. The TTG-crust can be tectonically eroded and subducted down to the mantle transition zone to form a ‘second’ continent, which may generate mantle upwelling, plumes, and extensive intra-plate volcanism. Moreover, recent plate movements around Asia are dominated by northward directions, which resulted in the India–Eurasia and Arabia–Eurasia collisions beginning at 50–45 and 23–20 Ma, respectively, and will result in Africa–Eurasia collision in the near future. Therefore, Asia is the best candidate to serve as the nucleus for a future supercontinent ‘Amasia’, likely to form 200–250 Ma in the future. In this paper we unravel a puzzle of continental growth in Asia through P-type orogeny by discussing its tectonic history and geological structure, subduction polarity in P-type orogens, tectonic erosion of TTG-type crust and arc subduction at convergent margins, generation of mantle plumes, and prospects of Asia growth and overgrowth.     

Mode de mise en place des corps salifères dans l'Atlas septentrional de Tunisie. Exemple de l'appareil de Bir Afou

30 km southwest of Tunis, two thin flaky ‘Triassic’ intrusions underline the two flanks of the Atlasic anticline of Bir Afou. These evaporites are interbedded within the Clansayesian shales, and are under and overlain by glauconitic conglomeratic contacts. The ‘Triassic’ flakes, topic of our study, are sourced from the Bir Afou Triassic mass after a rapid pouring out during Late Aptian extensional tectonics. This structure corresponds, for us, to a ‘salt glacier’, similar to that one described at Ben Gasseur by Vila and al. [J.M. Vila, M. Ben Youssef, M. Chikhaoui, M. Ghanmi, Bull. Soc. géol. France 167 (1996) 235–246], which was subsequently folded during Lower Eocene times. Middle and Upper Eocene transgressive formations unconformably deposited on top of the Aptian anticlinal hinge. The major Late Miocene compressive phase is responsible for the present structures and that are superimposed onto the pre-existing ‘salt glacier’. This salifereous system extends the ‘salt glacier’ domain towards the eastern part of the Tunisian Atlas. To cite this article: M. Ben Chelbi et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

Migrant fishers of Pemba: Drivers,impacts and mediating factors

Most of the fishers of coastal East Africa particularly among the Bajuni, Kojani, Macua and Vezo ethnic communities have historically practiced migration. This study explores the strategies used by migrant fishers’ of Pemba in the Western Indian Ocean region. By adopting a modified sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF), the study uses in-depth interviews and questionnaires to explore the life histories of the fishers in migrant communities, their motivations to migrate, and their associated socioeconomic and ecological implications. Results point out to a complexity of factors contributing to migration including natural, to economic and social factors. Interaction of such factors is instrumental in shaping fisher migration as an activity into an important livelihood strategy. The study concludes that SLF provides holistic understanding of migration. However the incorporation of the ‘livelihood spaces’ extends this knowledge by integrating the spectrum of spatial aspects. This understanding is critical in the design of policies and interventions necessary to ensure resource sustainability and secure fishers livelihoods. This multi-method approach is critical in empirical study of fisher migration.