To what extent have laterites contributed to the geochemical,surface reflectance and magnetic properties of adjacent tropical soils? Evidence from Niger and Burkina Faso

The present study is based on a suite of surface samples from exposures of eroded laterite, considered to be Tertiary in age, and nearby soils in the Sahelian region of SW Niger and Burkina Faso. X‐ray fluorescence, X‐ray diffraction, computer‐controlled scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, diffuse UV–visible reflectance spectroscopy and a suite of magnetic measurements have been used to shed light on the origin of the soils and their possible derivation from the adjacent, eroded laterite outcrops. On the basis of the wide range of data obtained, we conclude that the mineralogy and magnetic properties of the soils preclude direct derivation from the laterites without further weathering and modification. Nor does the evidence support the view that the soils have evolved entirely independently, uninfluenced by input from the laterites. The only conclusion that is consistent with all the lines of evidence is that the erosion of the laterites provided at least a significant part of the material upon which soil formation took place. This must have occurred at a time early enough to permit a long period of subsequent soil development during which the iron oxides, specifically haematite and ferrimagnetic minerals, were significantly modified. From this, we infer that eroded material from discontinuous laterite exposures has contributed significantly to the remotely sensed, distinctive reflectance characteristics of the Sahel surfaces. The magnetic properties of the soils provide evidence for the in situ neo‐formation of fine, secondary, pedogenic magnetite/maghemite grains typical of those found in many soils across the Sahel region and elsewhere in both temperate and tropical environments. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

南海北缘东沙隆起中生代以来的埋藏史和热史重建——来自LF35-1-1井(U-Th)/He和Ro的证据

沉积盆地埋藏史和热历史重建是了解盆地成因和油气形成条件的重要依据,而目前利用古温标手段研究珠江口盆地内东沙隆起热史和埋藏史的成果寥寥无几.本研究中,我们基于磷灰石与锆石(U-Th)/He年龄的反演结果给出了更多合理的约束条件,在此基础上对同一套镜质体反射率Ro数据进行了古热流法模拟计算,获得了钻井自中生代以来的地层温度史.反演结果显示LF35-1-1井区在早始新世-早渐新世发生了一期强烈的抬升剥蚀,地层剥蚀量为2000 m左右.拟合获得的埋藏史和热流史显示该井区在早始新世(~55Ma)经历了最高井底古热流(100 mW·m~(-2)),之后热流减小,持续至现今64.3 mW·m~(-2).最高古地温与隆升剥蚀在时间上的耦合体现了抬升事件对地温冷却的影响,但不足以排除基底热流下降因素.本次研究首次将(U-Th)/He技术用于南海北缘深水区盆地的热史研究,获得的热史结果更加符合现有的构造沉积大地构造方面的认识,展示了利用多种古温标手段进行盆地精细热史研究的良好效用.     

基于浮标观测的东海赤潮高发区秋、冬季漫射衰减系数的反演

浮标测量的光学数据时间序列长、分辨率高, 能可靠地测量快速变化的漫射衰减系数(K_d)。东海赤潮高发区水体中的浮游植物生物量及悬浮泥沙含量存在较大的变化, 光学性质复杂。文章利用2013年9月至2014年1月的海洋光学浮标数据, 获得了该海域水体的表观光学特性, 基于K_d(490)与遥感反射比[R_rs(λ)]的相关关系建立了K_d(490)的经验算法, 并与已有7种反演算法进行了比较。结果表明, 该海域的K_d(λ)及R_rs(λ)具有显著的Ⅱ类水体光谱特征, 其中, K_d(490)的范围为0.01~4.31m^-1, 水体的浑浊程度变化大。K_d(490)与R_rs比值的相关性较好, 据此建立了以R_rs(650)/R_rs(510)、R_rs(555)/R_rs(510)作为自变量的K_d(490)双比值经验算法。将新建算法反演获得的K_d(490)与实测K_d(490)相比, 均方根误差、平均相对误差百分比和线性回归的决定系数分别为0.27m^-1、27.08%和0.77, 优于其他7种算法。算法精度的提高源于新建算法选择的R_rs能充分反映水体信息, 并适应水体组分的变化, 可为东海赤潮高发区K_d(490)的反演提供较好的选择, 并为海洋光学浮标在水体环境监测中的应用提供示例。     

Remote Sensing Indices to Measure the Seasonal Dynamics of Photosynthesis in a Southern China Subtropical Evergreen Forest

The accurate measurement of the dynamics of photosynthesis in China’s subtropical evergreen forest ecosystems is an important contribution to carbon (C) sink estimates in global terrestrial ecosystems and their responses to climate change. Eddy covariance has historically been the only direct method to assess C flux of whole ecosystems with high temporal resolution, but it suffers from limited spatial resolution. During the last decade, continuous global monitoring of plant primary productivity from spectroradiometer sensors on flux towers and satellites has extended the temporal and spatial coverage of C flux observations. In this study, we evaluated the performance of two physiological remote sensing indices, fluorescence reflectance index (FRI) and photochemical reflectance index (PRI), to measure the seasonal variations of photosynthesis in a subtropical evergreen forest ecosystem using continuous canopy spectral and flux measurements in the Dinghushan Nature Reserve in southern China. The more commonly used NDVI has been shown to be saturated and mainly affected by illumination (R²=0.88, p < 0.001), but FRI and PRI could better track the seasonal dynamics of plant photosynthetic functioning by comparison and are less affected by illumination (R²=0.13 and R²=0.51, respectively) at the seasonal scale. FRI correlated better with daily gross primary production (GPP) in the morning hours than in the afternoon hours, in contrast to PRI which correlated better with light-use efficiency (LUE) in the afternoon hours. Both FRI and PRI could show greater correlations with GPP and LUE respectively in the senescence season than in the recovery-growth season. When incident PAR was taken into account, the relationship between GPP and FRI was improved and the correlation coefficient increased from 0.22 to 0.69 (p < 0.001). The strength of the correlation increased significantly in the senescence season (R ²=0.79, p < 0.001). Our results demonstrate the application of FRI and PRI as physiological indices for the accurate measurement of the seasonal dynamics of plant community photosynthesis in a subtropical evergreen forest, and suggest these indices may be applied to carbon cycle models to improve the estimation of regional carbon budgets.     

基于高光谱遥感的四种典型道路光谱特征分析

利用高光谱遥感的方法,采用美国ASD公司生产的FieldSpec 4(背负式非成像高光谱仪),光谱范围覆盖350—2 500 nm,开展了对水泥混凝土道路、沥青道路、砖路和泥路这4种最为常见的典型道路的高光谱数据野外观测。利用光谱均值、反射率计算、一阶导数、二阶导数、倒数后对数变换等方法,对原始光谱数据进行处理,分析对比4种道路的光谱曲线,研究4种道路各自的光谱特征并找到能很好地区分这4种不同道路类型的最佳波段。旨在探索不同道路类型的光谱特征,为道路识别与提取提供重要依据。     

Reflectance spectroscopy and geochemical analysis of rare earth element-bearing tailings: A case study of two abandoned tin mine sites in Bangka Island,Indonesia

Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are indispensable in the manufacturing of renewable energy and clean technologies. Due to the high demand for REEs, mine waste, called “tailings”, are sought because they could be a possible resource for REEs. In this study, tailing samples were collected from two tin mine tailings in Bangka Island, Indonesia, and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, x-ray powder diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared - attenuated total reflectance. Results showed that the tailing samples were identified as quartz and contained a high amount of erbium between 111.6 and 3768.4 μg/g. Absorption features in infrared reflectance spectra were related to REE concentrations. We found a positive correlation between erbium and two absorption features that have not been reported before: One feature is centered at 500 nm with a correlation of 0.685, and one is centered at 674 nm with a correlation of 0.829.     

Evaluating metrics derived from Landsat 8 OLI imagery to map crop cover

Developing techniques are required to generate agricultural land cover maps to monitor agricultural fields. Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) offers reflectance data over the visible to shortwave-infrared range. OLI offers several advantages, such as adequate spatial and spectral resolution, and 16 day repeat coverage, furthermore, spectral indices derived from Landsat 8 OLI possess great potential for evaluating the status of vegetation. Additionally, classification algorithms are essential for generating accurate maps. Recently, multi-Grained Cascade Forest, which is also called deep forest, was proposed, and it was shown to give highly competitive performance for classification. However, the ability of this algorithm to generate crop maps with satellite data had not yet been evaluated. In this study, the reflectance at 7 bands and 57 spectral indices calculated from Landsat 8 OLI data were evaluated for its potential for crop type identification.     

Comparison of the Landsat Surface Reflectance Climate Data Record (CDR) and manually atmospherically corrected data in a semi-arid European study area

This study contributes to the quality assessment of atmospherically corrected Landsat surface reflectance data that are routinely generated by the Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS). This dataset, named Landsat Surface Reflectance Climate Data Record (Landsat CDR), is available at global scale and offers unprecedented opportunities to land monitoring and management services that require atmospherically corrected Earth observation (EO) data. Our assessment is based on the comparison of the Landsat CDR data against a set of Landsat and DEIMOS-1 images processed to a high degree of accuracy using an industry-standard atmospheric correction algorithm (ATCOR-2). The software package has been used for many years and its correction procedures can be considered consolidated and well-established. The dataset of Landsat and DEIMOS-1 images was acquired over a semi-arid agricultural area located in Lower Austria and was independently corrected by using a manual fine-tuning of ATCOR-2 parameters to reach the highest possible accuracy. Results show a very good correspondence of the surface reflectance in each of the six reflective spectral channels as well as for the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index). An additional comparison against a NDVI time series from MODIS revealed also a good correspondence. Coefficients of determination (R²) between the two multi-year and multi-seasonal Landsat/DEIMOS datasets range between 0.91 (blue band) and 0.98 (nIR, SWIR-1 and SWIR-2). The results obtained for our semi-arid test site in Austria confirm previous findings and suggest that automatic atmospheric procedures, such as the one implemented by LEDAPS are accurate enough to be used in land monitoring services that require consistent multi-temporal surface reflectance data.     

An investigation into robust spectral indices for leaf chlorophyll estimation

Quantifying photosynthetic activity at the regional scale can provide important information to resource managers, planners and global ecosystem modelling efforts. With increasing availability of both hyperspectral and narrow band multispectral remote sensing data, new users are faced with a plethora of options when choosing an optical index to relate to their chosen or canopy parameter. The literature base regarding optical indices (particularly chlorophyll indices) is wide ranging and extensive, however it is without much consensus regarding robust indices. The wider spectral community could benefit from studies that apply a variety of published indices to differing sets of species data. The consistency and robustness of 73 published chlorophyll spectral indices have been assessed, using leaf level hyperspectral data collected from three crop species and a variety of savanna tree species. Linear regression between total leaf chlorophyll content and bootstrapping were used to determine the leafpredictive capabilities of the various indices. The indices were then ranked based on the prediction error (the average root mean square error (RMSE)) derived from the bootstrapping process involving 1000 iterative resampling with replacement. The results show two red-edge derivative based indices (red-edge position via linear extrapolation index and the modified red-edge inflection point index) as the most consistent and robust, and that the majority of the top performing indices (in spite of species variability) were simple ratio or normalised difference indices that are based on off-chlorophyll absorption centre wavebands (690–730 nm).     

Remote sensing of soybean stress as an indicator of chemical concentration of biosolid amended surface soils

The accumulation of heavy metals in the biosolid amended soils and the risk of their uptake into different plant parts is a topic of great concern. This study examines the accumulation of several heavy metals and nutrients in soybeans grown on biosolid applied soils and the use of remote sensing to monitor the metal uptake and plant stress. Field and greenhouse studies were conducted with soybeans grown on soils applied with biosolids at varying rates. The plant growth was monitored using Landsat TM imagery and handheld spectroradiometer in field and greenhouse studies, respectively. Soil and plant samples were collected and then analyzed for several elemental concentrations. The chemical concentrations in soils and roots increased significantly with increase in applied biosolid concentrations. Copper (Cu) and Molybdenum (Mo) accumulated significantly in the shoots of the metal-treated plants. Our spectral and Landsat TM image analysis revealed that the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) can be used to distinguish the metal stressed plants. The NDVI showed significant negative correlation with increase in soil Cu concentrations followed by other elements. This study suggests the use of remote sensing to monitor soybean stress patterns and thus indirectly assess soil chemical characteristics.