Curve matching approaches to waveform classification: a case study using ICESat data

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) waveforms are being increasingly used in many forest and urban applications, especially for ground feature classification. However, most studies relied on either discretizing waveforms to multiple returns or extracting shape metrics from waveforms. The direct use of the full waveform, which contains the most comprehensive and accurate information has been scarcely explored. We proposed to utilize the complete waveform to test its ability to differentiate between objects having distinct vertical structures using curve matching approaches. Two groups of curve matching approaches were developed by extending methods originally designed for pixel-based hyperspectral image classification and object-based high spatial image classification. The first group is based on measuring the curve similarity between an unknown waveform and a reference waveform, including curve root sum squared differential area (CRSSDA), curve angle mapper (CAM), and Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence. The second group assesses the curve similarity between an unknown and reference cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of their waveforms, including cumulative curve root sum squared differential area (CCRSSDA), cumulative curve angle mapper (CCAM), and Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) distance. When employed to classify open space, trees, and buildings using ICESat waveform data, KL provided the highest average classification accuracy (87%), closely followed by CCRSSDA and CCAM, and they all significantly outperformed KS, CRSSDA, and CAM based on 15 randomized sample sets.     

Use of an inside buffer method to extract the extent of urban areas from DMSP/OLS nighttime light data in North China

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)/Operational Linescan System (OLS) nighttime imagery provides a valuable data source for mapping urban areas. However, the spatial extents of large cities are often overestimated because of the effect of over-glow from nighttime light if a fixed thresholding technique is used. In the work reported here, an inside buffer method was developed to solve this issue. The method is based on the fact that the area overestimated is proportional to the extent of the lit area if a fixed threshold is used to extract urban areas in a region/county. Using this method, the extents of urban areas in North China were extracted and validated by interpretations from Landsat Thematic Mapper images. The results showed that the lit areas had a significant linear relationship with the urban areas for 120 representative cities in North China in 2000, with an R² value of over 0.95. This demonstrates that the inside buffer method can be used to extract urban areas. The validation results showed that the inside buffer model developed in 2000 can be directly used to extract the extent of urban areas using more recent nighttime light imagery. This is of great value for the timely updating of urban area databases in large regions or countries.     

Stabilisation/solidification and bioaugmentation treatment of petroleum drill cuttings

Petroleum drill cuttings are usually treated by techniques suitable for particular contaminant groups. The significance of this study consists in the development of a treatment technology that can simultaneously handle the hydrocarbon and metal constituents of drill cuttings. Bioaugmentation is combined with stabilisation/solidification (S/S), within S/S monoliths and in granulated S/S monoliths. Portland cement was used for S/S treatment at 30% binder dosage. Bioaugmentation treatment involved two bacterial densities of a mixed culture bio-preparation. The effects of inclusion of compost, fertiliser and activated carbon were also evaluated. After 28 days, the combined S/S and bioaugmentation treatments recorded up to 15% higher total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) loss than control S/S treatment without bioaugmentation. Embedding fertiliser, activated carbon and higher bacterial density within S/S monoliths resulted in the highest (99%) TPH reduction but higher concentrations of metals. The addition of compost and lower bacterial density to granulated S/S monoliths led to similar (98%) TPH degradation and lower amounts of metals. The results suggest that with better mixture optimisation, combining S/S and bioaugmentation could engender more sustainable treatment of drill cuttings.     

A note on “Origin of components in Chilean thermal waters” by

Risacher et al. (2011) have presented voluminous data on thermal waters of Chile that is quite appreciable; however, their work still falls short on several counts. The most notable shortcoming of the work is the presentation and treatment of data. The interpretations are based on questionable premises (viz., extent of seawater intrusion) and considerations (viz., using average chemical composition of rock types for geochemical modeling, considering volcanic rocks as the only rock type in contact with the geothermal fluids) and assumptions not always substantiated by facts (with proper references) could have been corroborated. Use of Cl/Br ratio for discrimination purpose is unconvincing, considering the uncertainty in the measurement of low (<1 mg/L) Br concentration.     

Hydrogen sulfide measurements in air by passive/diffusive samplers and high-frequency analyzer: A critical comparison

In this study, hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) measurements in air carried out using (a) passive/diffusive samplers (Radiello^® traps) and (b) a high-frequency (60 s) real-time analyzer (Thermo^® 450i) were compared in order to evaluate advantages and limitations of the two techniques. Four different sites in urban environments (Florence, Italy) and two volcanic areas characterized by intense degassing of H₂S-rich fluids (Campi Flegrei and Vulcano Island, Italy) were selected for such measurements. The concentrations of H₂S generally varied over 5 orders of magnitude (from 10⁻¹–10³ μg/m³), the H₂S values measured with the Radiello^® traps (H₂S_R) being significantly higher than the average values measured by the Thermo^® 450i during the trap exposure (H₂S_Ta), especially when H₂S was <30 μg/m³. To test the reproducibility of the Radiello^® traps, 8 passive/diffusive samplers were contemporaneously deployed within an 0.2 m² area in an H₂S-contaminated site at Mt. Amiata (Tuscany, Italy), revealing that the precision of the H₂S_R values was ±49%. This large uncertainty, whose cause was not recognizable, is to be added to that related to the environmental conditions (wind speed and direction, humidity, temperature), which are known to strongly affect passive measurements. The Thermo^® 450i analyzer measurements highlighted the occurrence of short-term temporal variations of the H₂S concentrations, with peak values (up to 5732 μg/m³) potentially harmful to the human health. The Radiello^® traps were not able to detect such temporal variability due to their large exposure time. The disagreement between the H₂S_R and H₂S_Ta values poses severe concerns for the selection of an appropriate methodological approach aimed to provide an accurate measurement of this highly toxic air pollutant in compliance with the WHO air quality guidelines. Although passive samplers may offer the opportunity to carry out low-cost preliminary surveys, the use of the high-frequency H₂S analyzer is preferred when an accurate assessment of air quality is required. In fact, the latter provides precise real-time measurements for a reliable estimation of the effective exposure to hazardous H₂S concentrations, giving insights into the mechanisms regulating the dispersion of this air pollutant in relation to the meteorological parameters.     

Change Analysis of Three Major Antarctic Ice Shelves Based on Multi-source Remote Sensing Data

In recent years, melting and calving happen in the Antarctic ice shelves. In this paper, seven periods of coastlines were applied to provide an analysis of the ice front changes of Ross, Filchner-Ronne and Amery ice shelves with the inclusion of 1997 and 2000 Radarsat products, 2003/2004 and 2008/2009 MODIS products and 2006, 2012, 2015 coastline which were extracted from MODIS images. Change area, SCE (Shoreline Change Envelope) and NSM (Net Shoreline Movement) were applied to analyze the variation of the ice shelf front. The results shows that, the ice front of Amery ice shelf has advanced since 1997 and the total outward extension distance of the ice front was about 20 to 25 km while the advance area reached 3.03×10³ km². Ross ice shelf and Filchner-Ronne ice shelf continued to advance after ice calving events under the driver action of glacier. However, the advance area was less than the retreat area and the net change area is respectively -9.39×10³ km² and -5.86×10³ km². The retreat distance of the collapse area were up to 53 km and 39 km in the two biggest ice shelves.     

Review on Montane Forest Eco-hydrology in Arid Area

Since the forest eco-hydrology of arid area shows a well sensitivity of the global climate change, the relationship between forest and water and the hydrological function has attracted the attention of academic communites and management departments. This paper expounds the research progress in arid mountain forest eco-hydrology, and analyses the formation and stable mechanism of forest patch pattern, the relationship between forest and water yield and the response of forest eco-hydrology to climate change from three aspects: Forest spatial pattern, hydrological process and its response to climate change. In addition, combined with the current research progress, the research emphases in the future are put forward: Strengthening the research on the coupling of vegetation pattern and hydrological process; solving the scale problem by using remote sensing technique and model; enhancing the understanding towards the hydrological function of forest; determining the suitable forest scale which can balance the relationship of ecology and hydrological effect.     

华北克拉通的组成及其变质演化

华北克拉通早前寒武纪变质基底主要由五套不同类型的变质岩系组成。克拉通在形成过程中经历了多期构造活动、多期岩浆侵位、多期变质作用以及不同程度的混合岩化和深熔作用,岩石已遭受多次不同地质作用的叠加改造,因此华北克拉通具有复杂的演化历史。从太古宙到古元古代末的克拉通形成,华北克拉通主要经历了五期区域变质作用。鞍山地区的古—中太古代经历了角闪岩相变质作用改造,尚未获得变质年龄数据。但在TTG岩系中已获得3 560 Ma和3 000~3 300 Ma早期的变质年龄。河南鲁山太华杂岩的中太古代斜长角闪岩中获得2 776~2 792 Ma和2 671~2 651 Ma两期变质作用年龄信息,代表了新太古代早期的变质作用。新太古代麻粒岩-TTG岩系和新太古代花岗-绿岩系都经历了新太古代晚期—古元古代初的变质作用改造。在古元古代阶段,在华北克拉通北缘在1 965~1 900 Ma期间发生了中低压/高压麻粒岩相变质,局部发生超高温变质,这期变质作用与陆块间的俯冲碰撞及其后的地幔上涌有关。在古元古代晚期(1 890~1 800 Ma)在华北克拉通的中部及东部的胶—辽—吉带发生了高压麻粒岩相-角闪岩相的区域变质,代表了陆块间的碰撞拼合过程。不同变质岩系类型经历的变质作用反映了不同的构造背景。太古宙晚期大量的TTG岩系及呈面状分布的中/低压麻粒岩主要出露在华北克拉通的中北部,普遍具有逆时针的p-T轨迹,反映了地幔柱底板垫托的构造环境。新太古代的花岗-绿岩系在新太古代晚期—古元古代早期经历的变质作用多为顺时针的p-T演化轨迹,反映其发生可能与弧后+地幔柱联合作用的构造背景。古元古代晚期的两期变质作用多表现为高压麻粒岩相的顺时针p-T演化轨迹,反映了不同陆块(地块)之间碰撞拼合的过程,意味着类似显生宙的板块构造体制已经出现。     

敦密断裂带白垩纪两期重要的变形事件

本文报道了敦密断裂带糜棱岩中黑云母~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar定年结果和大规模走滑-逆冲断裂的几何学、运动学特征及其形成时代,以便揭示断裂带两期变形事件的构造属性。黑龙江省密山市花岗质糜棱岩中黑云母~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar加权平均年龄为132.2±1.2Ma,它是敦密断裂带经历伸展事件的冷却年龄,也是东北亚大陆边缘在早白垩世Hauterivian期-Albian期发生强烈区域伸展作用的产物。密山市至辽宁省清原县系列大型走滑-逆冲断层和断层相关褶皱揭示出在晚白垩世晚期-末期发生右旋走滑-逆冲事件,该事件规模大,影响范围广,导致整个断裂带遭受到强烈改造,形成对冲式断裂系统。将研究区走滑-逆冲断裂与山东省郯庐断裂带中段挤压构造对比,认为郯庐断裂带北段和中段在晚白垩世末期都发生了强烈的走滑-逆冲事件,它们具有相同的构造特征和构造属性。     

湘南荷花坪锡多金属矿床成矿年代研究

荷花坪锡多金属矿床是本世纪初在南岭中段湘南地区新发现的一个大型矿床,区内的锡多金属矿化产在王仙岭岩体东南内、外接触带,已发现有Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ和Ⅳ号4个主要锡多金属矿体。其中,Ⅰ、Ⅱ和Ⅳ号矿体由早期矽卡岩型和晚期蚀变碎裂岩型矿石组成,Ⅲ号矿体则由独立产出的蚀变碎裂岩型矿石组成,且包含有部分碎裂花岗斑岩。以往研究已对Ⅳ号矿体中的矽卡岩型矿石和Ⅲ号矿体中含矿斑岩脉分别采用辉钼矿Re-Os法和锆石SHRIMP U-Pb法进行了测年,获得的年龄分别为224.0±1.9Ma和142±2Ma。本文补充了晚期蚀变碎裂岩型矿石的~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar测年,结果显示,Ⅱ号矿体中蚀变碎裂岩型矿石白云母样品和石英样品的坪年龄分别为151.88±1.58Ma和155.39±7.04Ma;Ⅳ号矿体中蚀变碎裂岩型矿石石英样品的坪年龄为156.94±1.64Ma。结合前人研究资料综合分析,认为荷花坪矿区存在印支晚期(224Ma)、燕山早期(151~156Ma)和燕山晚期(142Ma)三期成矿作用,分别与区内印支期中粗粒含电气石黑云母花岗岩、燕山早期中粗粒黑云母花岗岩和燕山晚期花岗斑岩脉有关,不同期成岩、成矿作用的构造环境均为岩石圈的拉张伸展。湘南地区印支期(205~224Ma)基性岩浆活动及荷花坪矿床印支期成岩、成矿过程中均有幔源物质的参与,它们共同指示南岭地区中生代构造体制的转换或岩石圈伸展减薄可能始于印支主期(230~244Ma)之后的224Ma左右,即晚三叠世。