Management of Historical Seismic Data Using GIS: The Island of Ischia (Southern Italy)

This paper presents the results of the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) inmanaging information on the effects of earthquakes in historical times on the island ofIschia. The unpublished sources on the Casamicciola earthquake of 28 July 1883 andthe extensive bibliography documenting the island's seismicity from 1228 showed theneed to proceed towards a type of data storage that would also allow management ofthe same data. Application of GIS techniques allowed us to insert, extract, handle,manage and analyse the data for the zoning of seismic damage on the island of Ischia.The end-product consists of information layers, such as maps of isoseismals, the damage, and hazard involved, as well as numerical tables associated to maps.The study was developed using GIS Arc-View 3.2 software (ESRI) and is structured inthematic vectorial levels and rasters. The overlapping themes constitute a cartographicdata base of the island. The damaged sites are located on a map at a scale of 1:10,000,with all the information on the 1883 earthquake (total number of houses, number ofcollapsed houses, collapsed or damaged rooms, photographs, plans of buildings, etc.)being associated to each site. The GIS is structured in such a way as to be able to beintegrated with further georeferenced data and with other databases. It is thus able toprovide support both for in-depth analyses of the dynamic processes on the island andextend the assessment to other natural risks (volcanic, landslides, flooding, etc.).     

The development of talus slopes around Lord Howe island and implications for the history of island planation

Lord Howe Island is a small eroded remnant of a Late Miocene shield volcano. A fringing coral reef dissipates wave energy along a portion of the shoreline, but the remainder of the coast is rugged with spectacular high basaltic sea cliffs. This paper investigates the evolution of talus slopes that occur beneath the loftiest cliffs, and places this analysis within the context of a longer history of island planation that has resulted in a wide truncated shelf around the island. During the Last Glacial, when the sea level was lower than at present, talus slopes accumulated around the extent of the island's cliffed coast because material eroded from cliffs by subaerial processes could not be removed by marine processes. The survival of these slopes during the Holocene has depended on a balance achieved between rates of subaerial and marine erosion. This balance is fundamentally influenced by cliff height, as cliffs higher than 200 m are plunging or veneered by talus slopes, whereas lower cliffs have erosional shore platforms. On comparison with published erosion rates from inland basalt scarps it appears that marine processes may account for over 90 per cent of the total cliff retreat that has occurred at Lord Howe Island, yet contemporary coastal morphology attests to the significance of subaerial processes in recent times. It is likely that marine cliffing was very rapid soon after volcanism ceased, but rates of erosion decreased through time as wave energy became increasingly attenuated across a widening planation surface, and as increasing cliff heights yielded greater quantities of talus that provided protection from rapid marine erosion.     

Numerical Simulation of Wind and Temperature Fields over Beijing Area in Summer

1. IntroductionThe basic role of urban-rural boundary layer re-search is to study all kinds of physical process changesin the atmosphere boundary layer over urban and itssurrounding areas. Urban heat island (UHI) is a well-known feature of urban-rural climate. Attempts toincrease the understanding of the causes of the UHIand other urban-rural boundary layer phenomena haveused observational, theoretical and modelling methodssince long before. Seaman (1989) used a hydrostaticmodel, with real …     

Changes in the spatial scale of Beijing UHI and urban development

The seasonal and interannual variations of Beijing urban heat island (UHI) are investigated in this paper using the temperature data from 1960 to 2000 at 20 meteorological stations in the Beijing region, and then the relationship between the intensity and spatial scale of UHI and Beijing urbanization indices is analyzed and discussed. Main conclusions are the followings. First, Beijing UHI shows obvious seasonal variations, and it is strongest in winter, next in spring and autumn, and least in summer. The seasonal variation of the UHI mainly occurs in the urban area. The UHI intensity at the center of Beijing is more than 0.8℃ in winter, and only 0.5℃ in summer. Second, the intensity of Beijing HUI exhibits a clear interannual warming trend with its mean growth rate (MGR) being 0.3088℃/10 a. The MGR of HUI is largest in winter, next in spring and autumn, and least in summer, and the urban temperature increase makes a major contribution to the growth of HUI intensity. Third, since the Reform and Opening, the urbanization indices have grown several ten times or even one hundred times, the intensity of HUI has increased dramatically, and its spatial scale also expanded distinctively along with the expansion of urban architectural complexes. Fourth, the interannual variation of urbanization indices is very similar with that of HUI intensity, and their linear correlation coefficients are significant at a more than 0.001 confidence level.     

The diurnal and seasonal characteristics of urban heat island variation in Beijing city and surrounding areas and impact factors based on remote sensing satellite data

Based on the land surface temperature (LST), the land cover classification map,vegetation coverage, and surface evapotranspiration derived from EOS-MODIS satellite data, and by the use of GIS spatial analytic technique and multivariate statistical analysis method, the urban heat island (UHI) spatial distribution of the diurnal and seasonal variabilities and its driving forces are studied in Beijing city and surrounding areas in 2001. The relationships among UHI distribution and landcover categories, topographic factor, vegetation greenness, and surface evapotranspiration are analyzed. The results indicate that: (i) The significant UHI occur in Beijing city areas in the four seasons due to high heat capacity and multi-reflection of compression building, as well as with special topographic features of its three sides surrounded by mountains,especially in the summer. The UHI spatial distribution is corresponding with the urban geometry structure profile. The LST difference is approximately 4-6℃ between Beijing city and suburb areas, comparatively is 8- 10℃ between Beijing city area and outer suburb area in northwestern regions. (ii) The UHI distribution and intensity in daytime are different from nighttime in Beijing city area, the nighttime UHI is obvious. However, in the daytime, the significant UHI mainly appears in the summer, the autumn takes second place, and the UHI in the winter and the spring seem not obvious. The surface evapotranspiration in suburb areas is larger than that in urban areas in the summer, and high latent heat exchange is evident, which leads to LST difference between city area and suburb area. (iii) The reflection of surface landcover categories is sensitive to the UHI, the correlation between vegetation greenness and UHI shows obviously negative.The scatterplot shows that there is the negative correlation between NDVI and LST (R2 = 0.6481).The results demonstrate that the vegetation greenness is an important factor for reducing the UHI,and large-scale construction of greenbelts can considerably reduce the UHI effect.     

Spatialising the Melanesian Canarium industry: Understanding economic upgrading in an emerging industry among three Pacific small island states

This paper examines economic upgrading in the Canarium indicum (Canarium) nut industry in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Canarium is a tree that is indigenous to Melanesia, and has been the subject of several commercialisation attempts since 1988. The paper assesses the outcomes to various actors in the Canarium supply chain from attempts to upgrade industry products and processes by: (1) increasing the available resource in suitable locations; (2) improving nut products and processing techniques; (3) increasing actors’ knowledge and supply chain coordination; and (4) establishing product standards. A two-phase data generation process was implemented. Document analysis and participant observations of industry workshops initiated a set of four economic upgrading interventions that were adaptively implemented. A second stage of workshops and 76 interviews enabled outcomes to be assessed at the project’s end. Findings suggest that a small number of urban-based entrepreneurs benefit and subsequently are lead actors in industry development, but at the expense of benefits being distributed to a larger, more spatially disparate group of smallholder and small commercial growers. These economic upgrading outcomes are circumscribed by core-periphery relations in Pacific small island states and the scale of industry in each country. Thus, spatial inequalities are reproduced through the emerging Canarium industries. We argue that different routes to industry development are required in each country. Development initiatives that capitalise on the benefits of micro-enterprise clusters, joint action and regional institutional arrangements are proposed to overcome the impediments imposed by the particular geographies of Pacific island states.     

Geological development of Heard Island,Central Kerguelen Plateau

We report ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar laser step-heating age determinations on 15 stratigraphically controlled lava flows and intrusive rocks from Heard Island, Central Kerguelen Plateau (Indian Ocean). The island history began with uplift of pelagic limestone intruded by 22 Ma gabbro sills. Subaerial and wave erosion levelled the early island, producing an unconformity onto which pillow lavas, tuffaceous sediments and shallow-water, fossiliferous marine siltstone (Drygalski Formation) were deposited, beginning in late Miocene time. Two volcanic systems then formed in the late Quaternary. Big Ben dominates the larger southeast part of the island, while Mount Dixon occupies the northwest Laurens Peninsula. Feeder dykes and the early lava flows in both systems are 400–200 ka. Lava flows with evolved compositions (trachytes, trachyandesites) erupted 100–20 ka. Well-preserved parasitic cones exposed at low elevations are 15–10 ka and younger. Mawson Peak, near the summit of Big Ben, has erupted lava flows as recently as 2007. Heard Island, and nearby active McDonald Island, are subaerial features of a larger Neogene volcanic region of Central Kerguelen Plateau that includes several large sea knolls and recently identified submarine fields of small cones. This broadly distributed volcanic activity is linked to incubation of plume material at the base of the nearly stationary overlying Central Kerguelen Plateau.     

一种四叉树和测地线活动轮廓模型相结合的海陆影像分割方法

海陆影像分割对于后续的海岸线提取、潮间带地形反演、海岸演化状况分析等都具有十分重要的意义。本文在分析了四叉树、测地线活动轮廓(GAC)模型和Canny边缘检测算子等在海陆影像分割中优缺点的基础上,提出了一种四叉树、Canny算子和GAC模型相结合的海陆影像分割方法。该方法综合利用上述各方法的优点,将Canny算子边缘检测结果融入到基于四叉树初分割的GAC模型中,重构边界停止函数,演化水平集方程,实现海陆影像分割。试验结果表明,该方法具有海陆影像分割速度快、精度高、可靠性强和自动化程度高等优点,对于弱边缘以及严重凹陷边缘,都能实现自动和准确分割。     

太原市地表热环境时空格局分析

针对鲜有资源型城市的地表热环境研究这一情况,该文基于Landsat8遥感数据,反演了太原市在2013—2015年间共3期的地表温度。提出一个考虑空间格局结构的城市热岛效应指数,在3期数据中,太原市区整体热岛效应指数分别为9.1%、9.8%和8.9%;同时,根据城市功能和路网结构将太原市区划分为6个分区,从分区级层面量化分析了地表热环境的时空分异特征规律,结果表明,太原市区地表温度整体呈现空间分散化特征,不同分区也呈现出不同的时空格局演变过程;最后,选取40个地表温度实测样本点验证反演精度,最大误差绝对值为1.1℃,最小误差绝对值为0.2℃,均方根误差为0.7℃。     

不同遥感影像的城市热岛空间分布特征分析

针对传统的地面观测方式很难全面掌握城市地面热岛的空间分布情况的问题,该文将HJ-1B卫星热红外图像代表的亮温图和采用HJ-1B卫星反演的温度图像正规化,利用量化等级体系对同一地区的亮温分布图和温度分布图进行划分,提出并采用间隙度指数对不同影像的高温区进行空间分布进行评价。实验结果表明:基于热红外影像的城市热岛空间分布比基于热红外影像反演的温度图的热岛空间分布更为集中,为研究不同影像之间的城市热岛空间分布提供了一种评价方法。