Nonlinear random wave-induced drag force on a vegetation field

This paper provides a practical method by which the drag force on a vegetation field beneath nonlinear random waves can be estimated. This is achieved by using a simple drag formula together with an empirical drag coefficient given by Mendez et al. (Mendez, F.J., Losada, I.J., Losada, M.A., 1999. Hydrodynamics induced by wind waves in a vegetation field. J. Geophys. Res. 104 (C8), 18383–18396). Effects of nonlinear waves are included by using Stokes second order wave theory where the basic harmonic motion is assumed to be a stationary Gaussian narrow–band random process. An example of calculation is also presented.     

A review on reflective remote sensing and data assimilation techniques for enhanced agroecosystem modeling

During the last 50 years, the management of agroecosystems has been undergoing major changes to meet the growing demand for food, timber, fibre and fuel. As a result of this intensified use, the ecological status of many agroecosystems has been severely deteriorated. Modeling the behavior of agroecosystems is, therefore, of great help since it allows the definition of management strategies that maximize (crop) production while minimizing the environmental impacts. Remote sensing can support such modeling by offering information on the spatial and temporal variation of important canopy state variables which would be very difficult to obtain otherwise.In this paper, we present an overview of different methods that can be used to derive biophysical and biochemical canopy state variables from optical remote sensing data in the VNIR-SWIR regions. The overview is based on an extensive literature review where both statistical–empirical and physically based methods are discussed. Subsequently, the prevailing techniques of assimilating remote sensing data into agroecosystem models are outlined. The increasing complexity of data assimilation methods and of models describing agroecosystem functioning has significantly increased computational demands. For this reason, we include a short section on the potential of parallel processing to deal with the complex and computationally intensive algorithms described in the preceding sections.The studied literature reveals that many valuable techniques have been developed both for the retrieval of canopy state variables from reflective remote sensing data as for assimilating the retrieved variables in agroecosystem models. However, for agroecosystem modeling and remote sensing data assimilation to be commonly employed on a global operational basis, emphasis will have to be put on bridging the mismatch between data availability and accuracy on one hand, and model and user requirements on the other. This could be achieved by integrating imagery with different spatial, temporal, spectral, and angular resolutions, and the fusion of optical data with data of different origin, such as LIDAR and radar/microwave.     

Drought characteristics of Henan province in 1961-2013 based on Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index

Drought is one of the most complex natural hazards affecting agriculture, water resources, natural ecosystems, and society. The negative societal consequences of drought include severe economic losses, famine, epidemics, and land degradation. However, few studies have analyzed the complexity of drought characteristics, both at multiple time scales and with variations in evapotranspiration. In this study, drought occurrences were quantified using a new drought index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), based on observed data of monthly mean temperature and precipitation from 1961 to 2013 in Henan province, central China. Based on the SPEI values of each weather station in the study, the frequency and severity of meteorological droughts were computed, and the monthly, seasonal, and annual drought frequency and intensity over a 53-year period were analyzed. The spatial and temporal evolution, intensity, and the primary causes of drought occurrence in Henan were revealed. The results showed that the SPEI values effectively reflected the spatial and temporal pattern of drought occurrence. As the time scale decreased, the amplitude of the SPEI increased and droughts became more frequent. Since 1961, drought has occurred at the annual, seasonal, and monthly scales, and the occurrence of drought has increased. However, regional distribution has been uneven. The highest drought frequency, 35%, was observed in the Zhoukou region, while the lowest value, ~26%, was measured in central and western Henan. The most severe droughts occurred in the spring and summer, followed by autumn. Annually, wide-ranging droughts occurred in 1966–1968, 1998–2000, and 2011–2013. The drought intensity showed higher values in north and west Henan, and lower values in its east and south. The maximum drought intensity value was recorded in Anyang, and the minimum occurred in Zhumadian, at 22.18% and 16.60%, respectively. The factors with the greatest influence on drought occurrence are increasing temperatures, the Eurasian atmospheric circulation patterns, and the El Niño effect.     

Landscape Controls on Structural Variation in Eucalypt Vegetation Communities: Woronora Plateau,Australia

Quantification of landscape-based vegetation structural variation and pattern is a significant goal for a variety of ecological, monitoring and biodiversity studies. Vegetation structural metrics, derived from airborne laser scanning (ALS or aerial light detection and ranging—LiDAR) and QuickBird satellite imagery, were used to establish the degree of plot-based vegetation variation at a hillslope scale. Topographic position is an indicator of energy and water availability, and was quantified using DEM-based insolation and topographic wetness, respectively, stratifying areas into hot-warm-cold and wet-moist-dry topographic classes. A range of vegetation metrics—maximum and modal canopy height, crown cover, foliage cover, NDVI and semivariance—were compared among randomly selected plots from each topographic class. NDVI increases with increasing landscape wetness, whereas ALS-derived foliage cover decreases with increasing insolation. Foliage cover is well correlated with crown cover (R ² =0.65), and since foliage cover is readily calculable for whole-of-landscape application, it will provide valuable and complementary information to NDVI. Between-plot heterogeneity increases with increasing wetness and decreasing insolation, indicating that more sampling is required in these locations to capture the full range of landscape-based variability. Pattern analysis in landscape ecology is one of the fundamental requirements of landscape ecology, and the methods described here offer statistically significant, quantifiable and repeatable means to realise that goal at a fine spatial grain.     

近30年中国中东部地区植物分布变化

在全球气候变暖背景下,某些植物分布范围会发生明显变化。但已有研究尚未对中国中东部地区近30年来的植物分布变化进行系统总结。采用荟萃分析方法（meta-analysis）,通过搜集已发表文献中关于植物引种、植被和物种分布及其变化等数据资料,得到近15年119个植物物种的251条分布变化证据,经与《中国木本植物分布图集》中记载的原分布记录（约20世纪80年代至90年代）对比,统计了不同物种的分布范围变化,并分析了变化原因。结果表明：近30年来,统计物种中80%在水平地带上发生北移,平均移动值约为3.37°;中东部地区植物分布响应气候变化的区域集中在北亚热带常绿阔叶林—暖温带落叶阔叶林过渡带以及中温带针阔叶混交林过渡带。分析发现20世纪50年代以来中国绝大多数地区有显著的增温趋势,升温导致温暖指数（Warmth Index）增加,满足植物生长的热量需求,是植物北移的重要原因。     

Changing climate affects vegetation growth in the arid region of the northwestern China

The northwestern China is a typical dry-land region of Inner Asia, where significant climate change has been observed over the past several decades. How the regional vegetation, particularly the grassland-oasis-desert complex, responds to such climatic change is poorly understood. To address this question, we investigated spatio-temporal changes in vegetation growth and their responses to a changing climate by biome and bioregion, using satellite-sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from 1982 to 2003, along with corresponding climate data. Over the past 22 years, about 30% of the total vegetated area showed an annual increase of 0.7% in growing season NDVI. This trend occurred in all biomes and all bioregions except Sawuer, a subregion of the study area with no significant climate change. Further analyses indicated that NDVI change was highly correlated with the current precipitation and evapotranspiration in growing season but was not associated with temperature. We also found that NDVI was positively correlated with the preceding winter precipitation. These findings suggest that precipitation may be the key cause of vegetation growth in this area, even for mountain forests and grasslands, whose growth are often regarded to be limited by low temperate in winter and early spring.     

分层信息提取法在县域土地 利用/覆被遥感中的应用

高精度地获取县(或县级市)域土地利用/覆被的定性、定量信息对于维护生态环境和保障我国农村经济的可持续发展具有重要意义。针对2003年冬季所获得的江苏省新沂市的TM图像特点,选择分层信息提取法提取土地利用/覆被信息。首先对图像进行基于最大似然法的监督分类,观察分类结果,提取误分、错分比例最小的未利用地类型,然后采用光谱分析法提取出水体范围、监督分类和目视解译相结合法提取出城镇建设用地和农村居民点、归一化植被指数提取出林地,最后提取出耕地。信息提取结果与同期土地利用图相比较,整个新沂市域范围内土地利用/覆被类型分类的面积精度达到96.17%,空间精度达到88.38%,表明这种方法提取遥感图像土地利用/覆被信息是可行的。     

Natural environment suitability for human settlements in China based on GIS

With the degeneration of environment and acceleration of urbanization,human environment has attracted great attention worldwide.This paper sets up the Human Settlements Environment Index(HEI) model and evaluates the natural environment suitability for Human Settlements in China based on GIS technology.The results show that the HEI of China decreases from southeast to northwest in general,HEI is significantly correlated with population density at grid size and the correlation coefficient(r) between them reaches 0.93,which indicates that natural environment suitability for Human Settlements has a significant influence on population distribution.Most people in China mainly concentrate in areas with high natural environment suitability.The total suitable area is 430.47×104 km2,which accounts for nearly 45% of the total land area in China,while the proportion of people living in the area reaches 96.56%.With a population density of 18 people per square kilometer,the critical area is the transitional region for people to live in China.The critical area covers 225.11×104 km2 with a population of 41.12 million.The non-suitable area covers 304.42×104 km2 with a population of only 2.49 million.     

卫星遥感海南岛气候特性的研究

利用NOAA极轨气象卫星的AVHRR资料,研究了海南岛干、湿两季在无云情况下的下垫面短波反射率、植被指数、下垫面温度和射出长波辐射的分布及变化特征。结果表明利用气象卫星资料可以较详细地了解气候形成的主要因素之一——下垫面状况。