Updating Landsat time series of surface-reflectance composites and forest change products with new observations

The use of time series satellite data allows for the temporally dense, systematic, transparent, and synoptic capture of land dynamics over time. Subsequent to the opening of the Landsat archive, several time series approaches for characterizing landscape change have been developed, often representing a particular analytical time window. The information richness and widespread utility of these time series data have created a need to maintain the currency of time series information via the addition of new data, as it becomes available. When an existing time series is temporally extended, it is critical that previously generated change information remains consistent, thereby not altering reported change statistics or science outcomes based on that change information. In this research, we investigate the impacts and implications of adding additional years to an existing 29-year annual Landsat time series for forest change. To do so, we undertook a spatially explicit comparison of the 29 overlapping years of a time series representing 1984–2012, with a time series representing 1984–2016. Surface reflectance values, and presence, year, and type of change were compared. We found that the addition of years to extend the time series had minimal effect on the annual surface reflectance composites, with slight band-specific differences (r ≥ 0.1) in the final years of the original time series being updated. The area of stand replacing disturbances and determination of change year are virtually unchanged for the overlapping period between the two time-series products. Over the overlapping temporal period (1984–2012), the total area of change differs by 0.53%, equating to an annual difference in change area of 0.019%. Overall, the spatial and temporal agreement of the changes detected by both time series was 96%. Further, our findings suggest that the entire pre-existing historic time series does not need to be re-processed during the update process. Critically, given the time series change detection and update approach followed here, science outcomes or reports representing one temporal epoch can be considered stable and will not be altered when a time series is updated with newly available data.     

Updating Landsat-based forest cover maps with MODIS images using multiscale spectral-spatial-temporal superresolution mapping

With the high deforestation rates of global forest covers during the past decades, there is an ever-increasing need to monitor forest covers at both fine spatial and temporal resolutions. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat series images have been used commonly for satellite-derived forest cover mapping. However, the spatial resolution of MODIS images and the temporal resolution of Landsat images are too coarse to observe forest cover at both fine spatial and temporal resolutions. In this paper, a novel multiscale spectral-spatial-temporal superresolution mapping (MSSTSRM) approach is proposed to update Landsat-based forest maps by integrating current MODIS images with the previous forest maps generated from Landsat image. Both the 240 m MODIS bands and 480 m MODIS bands were used as inputs of the spectral energy function of the MSSTSRM model. The principle of maximal spatial dependence was used as the spatial energy function to make the updated forest map spatially smooth. The temporal energy function was based on a multiscale spatial-temporal dependence model, and considers the land cover changes between the previous and current time. The novel MSSTSRM model was able to update Landsat-based forest maps more accurately, in terms of both visual and quantitative evaluation, than traditional pixel-based classification and the latest sub-pixel based super-resolution mapping methods The results demonstrate the great efficiency and potential of MSSTSRM for updating fine temporal resolution Landsat-based forest maps using MODIS images.     

基于EVI的中国最近10 a植被覆盖变化特征分析

通过对2000—2009年增强型植被指数(EVI)数据的分析发现:在过去的10 a里,中国的植被覆盖度明显增加,植被活动在增强。植被覆盖的年变化和季节变化特征如下:(1)10 a来植被覆盖地区的面积呈增加趋势,植被稀少地区的面积呈减少趋势;(2)无论是植被覆盖区还是全国平均,单位面积EVI年平均值都呈增加趋势;(3)在生长季节(夏季、春季)植被活动增加更明显,EVI增加速率按季节排列如下:夏季春季秋季冬季。植被覆盖的空间变化特征显示,尽管总体上中国植被覆盖呈增加趋势,但存在空间异质性。结合同期的温度、降水和森林资源清查数据,从两个方面初步解释了植被覆盖度增加的原因,即:温度的上升和春季降水量的增加;近年来中国开展的大型林业生态建设工程。     

Examining the Influence of Positionality in Evaluating Collaborative Progress in Natural Resource Management: Reflections of an Academic and a Practitioner

In this paper, we present a reflexive examination of how and why we, an academic and a practitioner, arrive at different evaluations of collaborative progress in natural resource management. We situate this examination in our long-standing involvement in designing, adaptively managing, and participating in the Uncompahgre Plateau collaborative forest restoration project in western Colorado, USA. Drawing on the concept of “positionality” in qualitative social science research, we disclose our respective motivations, assumptions, roles, and power relative to the collaborative process. The differences in evaluating collaborative progress stem from our respective professional positionality. For the academic, the guiding interest was to test theory and promote success for his applied research institute; for the practitioner, the motivation was to build trust to allow her field staff the flexibility to implement management actions and demonstrate effectiveness as an agency line officer. These epistemological differences draw attention to the importance of transdisciplinary approaches to producing knowledge from shared practice, starting with efforts to explicitly disclose and honor differing interests, assumptions, and frames of reference stemming from each party’s personal and professional biographies and institutional norms. This reflexivity is essential to advancing knowledge about collaboration in natural resource management.     

城市住宅小区容积率时空分异研究——以大连市内四区为例

以大连市内四区为例,将城镇地籍调查数据与互联网房产数据相结合作为基础数据,通过ArcGIS软件生成住宅小区点数据的空间分布图,对大连市住宅小区容积率的时间演变和空间分布进行研究,并利用锡尔指数计算住宅小区容积率的空间差异量化测度指数,最后阐述住宅小区容积率空间差异的机制。结果表明：① 1992~2016年大连市住宅小区的数量在持续发展时期最多,平均容积率展现出波动上涨的趋势。② 区：大尺度包括冷炳荣住宅小区容积率整体上呈现出不均匀性和破碎性,局部又呈现出混乱性和复杂性,东部地区小区容积率分异比西部大。③ 中山区空间差异量化测度指数最高为0.831,甘井子区最低为0.125,西岗区与四区整体格局最为相近。极低等级容积率空间分异指数最高,容积率分异指数由两极向中间递减。大连市住宅小区容积率空间差异主要体现在区域内,其对研究区容积率空间分异影响较大。④ 住宅小区容积率空间差异的主要原因为下垫面性质对住宅小区建设的限制、区位的优良性对住宅类型的指向、城市规划对土地利用的导向、极差地租与容积率的相关性、小区建设成本对容积率的影响。     

中国森林乔木林碳储量及其固碳潜力预测

加强对我国森林碳储量和固碳潜力的研究,是制定中国增汇减排政策的重要依据,对我国国际气候谈判和全面了解森林碳汇潜力具有重要作用。利用我国第七次和第八次森林资源清查中各优势树种的面积和蓄积量数据,采用IPCC材积源生物量法（volume-biomass method),估算了我国森林（乔木林）碳储量和碳密度及其分布,分析我国不同省份天然乔木林和人工乔木林碳储量龄组结构特征;建立分区域、分起源主要优势树种的单位面积蓄积-林龄Logistic生长方程,结合我国森林2020年和2030年面积蓄积增长目标,预测我国乔木林2010—2050年间碳汇潜力。结果表明：第八次清查期间中国乔木林总碳储量为6135.68 Tg,碳密度为37.28 Mg/hm ²;天然乔木林和人工乔木林的碳储量分别为5246.07 Tg和889.61 Tg,分别占总碳储量的85.50%和14.50%。到2050年,中国乔木林和新造林的总碳储量和平均碳密度将分别达到11125.76 Tg和52.52 Mg/hm ²,与2010年相比分别增加81%和41%。分析结果表明中国乔木林有很大的碳汇潜力,将在应对和减缓全球气候变化中发挥重要作用。     

Conservation-induced resettlement as a driver of land cover change in India: An object-based trend analysis

Located in the foothills of the Indian Himalaya, Rajaji National Park was established to protect and enhance the habitat of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and tiger (Panthera tigris). In 2002 the Van Gujjars, indigenous forest pastoralists, were voluntarily resettled from the Chilla Range (an administrative unit of Rajaji National Park) to Gaindikhata, a nearby area where they were granted land for agriculture. In this study we used a variety of remote sensing approaches to identify changes in land cover associated with the resettlement. The methods comprise two main approaches. First, we used object-based image analysis (OBIA) to identify the pre-resettlement land cover classes of use areas (representing agricultural expansion and adjacent areas of grazing, and collection of fuelwood and fodder) and recovery areas (representing areas where settlements were removed, and the adjacent areas of resource use). Secondly, we used trend analysis to assess the gradual and abrupt changes in vegetation that took place in use and recovery areas. To conduct the trend analysis we used BFAST (Breaks For Additive Season and Trend), which separates seasonal variation from long-term trends, and identifies breaks that can be linked back to disturbances or land cover changes. We found that the OBIA classification yielded high average class accuracies, and we were able to make class distinctions that would have been difficult to make using a traditional pixel-based approach. Pre-resettlement, the recovery areas were classified as mixed forest and riparian vegetation. In contrast, the use areas were classified primarily as grass dominated, brush dominated, and plantation forest, and were located relatively far away from riparian areas. Following the resettlement, the trend analysis showed a sudden change in the seasonal variation of NDVI in areas converted to agriculture. Areas neighboring the new agricultural land experienced sudden decreases in NDVI, suggestive of disturbances, at a higher rate than the same land cover types elsewhere. At the same time, these neighboring areas experienced a gradual overall increase in NDVI which could be caused by an expansion of leafy invasive shrubs such as Lantana camara in areas heavily used for biomass collection. The recovery areas also experienced a gradual increase in NDVI as well as sudden breaks to this trend, but we lacked evidence to connect these changes to the resettlement. Our findings support the claim that the resettlement has shifted pressure from more ecologically valuable to less ecologically valuable land cover types, and suggest that to some degree resource use pressure has increased outside the park. The study employs a novel synthesis of OBIA and trend analysis that could be applied to land change studies more broadly.     

观光旅游地客流时间分布特性的比较研究——以九寨沟、黄山及福建永安桃源洞鳞隐石林国家风景名胜区为例

旅游地与主要游客市场的空间结构（距离关系）在相当大程度上影响着游客年内分布、日变化等时间结构。旅游地旅游资源及旅游环境季节性特征也是游客年内分布的决定因子。     

The 'Grasses' of the Big Scrub District of North-eastern New South Wales: A sedimentary record of late Holocene grasslands in a subtropical forest landscape

This paper records sedimentary data which indicate that at least part of the Wilsons River floodplain, on the margins of the subtropical rainforest known as the 'Big Scrub', has a long and certainly pre-European history of relative treelessness. Despite a general presumption that this lowland subtropical region was completely forested prior to European settlement, recent historical research has indicated that certain areas were naturally open. While the historical information is clear, the data reported here-a fossil pollen record and one radiocarbon date- reinforces that information for one type of locality, providing an initial indication of time depth.     

30多年来呼伦贝尔草原沙漠化的演变特点及防治对策研究

采用遥感技术与野外调查相结合的方法,通过3个典型小区对呼伦贝尔草原30多年来的沙漠化演变特点进行了系统研究。结果表明:该区的樟子松林区发生着强烈的沙漠化逆转,许多地段已转变为非沙漠化土地;其它地区除部分地段由于人类的积极治理而发生沙漠化逆转外,仍处于不断发展的过程中。因此,对于樟子松天然分布区,可充分利用樟子松的优良防风固沙特性和较强的扩展能力来防治沙漠化,而对其它地区则应以封育为主,加强人工抚育和草原建设。