From pastoralism to tourism: The historical impact of changing land use practices in Namaqualand

We use the concept of ecological revolutions to explain the environmental history of Namaqualand, from the advent of pastoralism 2000 years BP, to colonial settlement in the 18th century and finally to the recent trend of de-agrarianization from the middle of the 20th century. Early traveller's records and census data are used to assess changes in the human population of the region and how this affected wildlife and agricultural practices. Pre-colonial indigenous hunter-gatherer (Bushmen) and pastoralist (Khoekhoen) populations in Namaqualand consisted of probably no more than a few thousand individuals. Over the next three centuries, the general population rose steadily to more than 65,000 people but has fallen in recent years. Wildlife appears not to have been abundant in Namaqualand's pre-colonial landscapes and large springbok ‘treks’ were probably a rare event. The number of domestic livestock in Namaqualand peaked in 1957 largely as a result of an increase in the number of sheep which have fallen steadily since this time. Crop production was absent from Namaqualand's pre-colonial landscapes but increased to cover nearly 30,000 ha in the early 1970s. The area under cultivation has declined by nearly two thirds since this time largely as a result of the large-scale abandonment of wheat farming in marginal environments. We touch on differences between the communal areas and private farms, particularly in terms of their human populations and agricultural impact on the land. Repeat landscape photographs support our main findings which suggest that both rocky, upland habitats and rivers have not been transformed substantially by land use practices in Namaqualand. Instead, sandy pediments have borne the brunt of human impacts in the region. Finally, we highlight the beginning of a new ecological revolution in Namaqualand due to changes in the global and national political economy.     

新一轮二滩电站库区遥感调查

新一轮二滩电站库区遥感调查是在我国前20年滑坡、泥石流遥感调查技术方法基础上的一次革新。本文介绍了革新方法的数据源、工作平台、技术流程、及人机交互与自动分类相结合的遥感解译方法，并对获得的工作区滑坡、泥石流的数量、分布、特性及它们的环境背景作简要分析。     

马边地震带发震构造背景的初步研究

北北西向的马边－盐津隐伏深断裂是马边地震带形成的主要条件，尤其被东西向甘洛－沐川深断裂和盐津－叙永深断裂转限的段落是强震多发段。地壳表层有北北西向马边－盐津断裂组和地面微隆起带，但地表断裂与陷伏深断裂并不连通，且地表断裂走向与结构复杂多变，这是造成马边地震带强震地面破坏效应及地震影响场特点的基本原因。     

Towards 3D map generation from digital aerial images

This paper describes the fusion of information extracted from multispectral digital aerial images for highly automatic 3D map generation. The proposed approach integrates spectral classification and 3D reconstruction techniques. The multispectral digital aerial images consist of a high resolution panchromatic channel as well as lower resolution RGB and near infrared (NIR) channels and form the basis for information extraction.Our land use classification is a 2-step approach that uses RGB and NIR images for an initial classification and the panchromatic images as well as a digital surface model (DSM) for a refined classification. The DSM is generated from the high resolution panchromatic images of a specific photo mission. Based on the aerial triangulation using area and feature-based points of interest the algorithms are able to generate a dense DSM by a dense image matching procedure. Afterwards a true ortho image for classification, panchromatic or color input images can be computed.In a last step specific layers for buildings and vegetation are generated and the classification is updated.     

Doppler radar observation, CG lightning activity and aerial survey of a multiple downburst in southern Germany on 23 March 2001

Two downburst events from one thunderstorm are investigated, which occurred on 23 March 2001, in Germany's climatologic annual minimum of downburst activity. Observations by two Doppler radars are combined with hail reports, ground lightning detection and an aerial survey conducted after the event. The downburst-producing storm had formed at a synoptic convergence line within the warm sector of a cyclone. It had a remarkably high propagation speed of up to 31 m s^− 1 corresponding to the mid-tropospheric flow. Thus, by superposition with the storm motion, even two weak downbursts were sufficient to cause the observed damage of F1 and F2 intensity, respectively. While in its late stages, the storm was dynamically characterized by lower- and mid-tropospheric divergence; at about the time of the first downburst, a mesocyclonic vortex signature was verified. Aside from mid-tropospheric dry air entrainment, a thermodynamic explanation for the triggering of the two downbursts by melting of small hail according to recent findings by Atlas et al. [Atlas, D., Ulbrich, C.W., Williams, C.R., 2004. Physical origin of a wet microburst: observations and theory. J. Atmos. Sci. 61, 1186–1196] appears probable. Despite the lack of warnings to the public, the storm's potential for hail and strong straight-line winds was detected by the German weather service radar software CONRAD more than a half hour before the downbursts occurred.     

关于数字航测相机像移补偿问题

航测相机像移补偿有两种方法 :一是在相机的焦平面上 ,使感光平面沿飞行方向 ,在曝光瞬间作一微小位移 ,以改正因摄影平台相对于被摄目标的运动引起的像点位移 ;二是在曝光瞬间 ,使相机作一微小的俯仰角旋转 ,以改正因摄影平台相对于被摄目标的运动引起的像点位移。前者简称为焦平面平移改正法 ,后者可称为俯仰旋转改正法。本文中研究了这两种像移补偿方法的差异和所能达到的精度水平及其适用范围     

Snow accumulation distribution inferred from time‐lapse photography and simple modelling

The spatial and temporal distribution of snow accumulation is complex and significantly influences the hydrological characteristics of mountain catchments. Many snow redistribution processes, such as avalanching, slushflow or wind drift, are controlled by topography, but their modelling remains challenging. In situ measurements of snow accumulation are laborious and generally have a coarse spatial or temporal resolution. In this respect, time‐lapse photography shows itself as a powerful tool for collecting information at relatively low cost and without the need for direct field access. In this paper, the snow accumulation distribution of an Alpine catchment is inferred by adjusting a simple snow accumulation model combined with a temperature index melt model to match the modelled melt‐out pattern evolution to the pattern monitored during an ablation season through terrestrial oblique photography. The comparison of the resulting end‐of‐winter snow water equivalent distribution with direct measurements shows that the achieved accuracy is comparable with that obtained with an inverse distance interpolation of the point measurements. On average over the ablation season, the observed melt‐out pattern can be reproduced correctly in 93% of the area visible from the fixed camera. The relations between inferred snow accumulation distribution and topographic variables indicate large scatter. However, a significant correlation with local slope is found and terrain curvature is detected as a factor limiting the maximal snow accumulation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

加权最小二乘优化倾斜摄影测量模型矢量化精度方法研究

无人机倾斜摄影测量技术以高精度、高效率、大范围的方式全面感知复杂场景,通过专业的数据采集设备和建模软件恢复三维场景,再进行量测。市场上的三维测图软件大部分是基于立面散点正交原理,不能有效地减弱人工立体测图产生的误差。本文提出一种加权最小二乘直线拟合优化倾斜摄影测量模型矢量化精度的方法,选取南昌市桑海管理委员会部分区域进行地形图数据采集和精度评定,试验表明,采用本文方法所建立的立体测图模型精度提高了2 cm。     

汶川震区北川县城泥石流源地特征的遥感动态分析

汶川地震导致山地斜坡积累了大量碎屑物质,在降雨作用下极易成为泥石流源地。震后的2008年9月24日一场暴雨导致北川县境内72条沟同时暴发泥石流。本文选择了汶川地震高烈度区的北川县城8条泥石流沟流域为研究区,基于遥感手段开展了震后和相继暴雨后的泥石流源地变化特征。强震后泥石流流域的重要变化是在沟谷内诱发了大量滑坡。通过开展遥感解译和野外调查,重点分析了研究区泥石流源地的滑坡活动。将512汶川地震后的2008年5月18日获取的航空图像与924暴雨后获取的2008年10月14日SPOT图像相比较,发现泥石流源地的地震滑坡面积由1537104m2增加到暴雨后的1912104m2,即汶川高烈度区一场暴雨过程新增滑坡面积达244%。根据SPOT图像解译,暴雨后泥石流沟床中的松散堆积物增大到97104m2。上述研究结果表明汶川震区在强降雨条件下发生泥石流的敏感性特别高。     

基于无人机影像的无瓣海桑单木提取与地上生物量估算

无瓣海桑(Sonneratia apetala)是中国红树林恢复种植最早引进的优质红树树种,其生产力在红树林群落中处于较高水平,具有显著的高生物量和能量积累。然而,由于红树林群落冠层密集、结构复杂,精确描绘无瓣海桑的单木树冠存在极大挑战性。传统的卫星遥感侧重于区域或更大尺度监测需求,而新兴的低空无人机遥感在更精细尺度的红树林生态监测中具有显著优势。以广东省珠海市淇澳岛红树林自然保护区为研究区,利用消费级无人机影像生成的冠层高度模型(Canopy Height Model, CHM)和种子区域生长(Seed Region Growing, SRG)算法进行无瓣海桑单木树冠提取,并建立基于地面调查数据获取的树高和胸径两者之间的回归关系,以优化无瓣海桑地上生物量异速生长方程,进而实现研究区单木尺度的无瓣海桑地上生物量估算。结果表明：基于无人机影像可以有效提取无瓣海桑单木树冠,其提取精度达到67%;验证了树高和胸径之间较高的相关性,提出了基于树高的无瓣海桑地上生物量异速生长方程;研究区无瓣海桑平均地上生物量的范围为2.99～247.24 t/hm²,平均值为92.14 t...