Administrative hierarchy and urban land expansion in transitional China

In a growing body of literature on urbanization in China, scholars have emphasized the proactive role of the Chinese local state in urban land expansion. Drawing upon official land use change data from 1998 to 2008, this study investigates the relationship between the hierarchical structure of the Chinese urban administrative system and urban land expansion. We find that urban land expansion coincides with administrative hierarchy, and cities with higher administrative levels (ranked by central government) tend to expand more rapidly while controlling for other economic and demographic drivers of urban expansion. Spatial regime models reveal that economic and demographic drivers of urban growth are also sensitive to a city's administrative rank. By quantifying the link between a city's rank and urban land expansion, we conclude that considering the hierarchical structure of the Chinese cities will result in a fuller understanding of the rapid urban growth in China.     

Monitoring land changes in an urban area using satellite imagery,GIS and landscape metrics

Monitoring land changes is an important activity in landscape planning and resource management. In this study, we analyze urban land changes in Atlanta metropolitan area through the combined use of satellite imagery, geographic information systems (GIS), and landscape metrics. The study site is a fast-growing large metropolis in the United States, which contains a mosaic of complex landscape types. Our method consisted of two major components: remote sensing-based land classification and GIS-based land change analysis. Specifically, we adopted a stratified image classification strategy combined with a GIS-based spatial reclassification procedure to map land classes from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) scenes acquired in two different years. Then, we analyzed the spatial variation and expansion of urban land changes across the entire metropolitan area through post classification change detection and a variety of GIS-based operations. We further examined the size, pattern, and nature of land changes using landscape metrics to examine the size, pattern, and nature of land changes. This study has demonstrated the usefulness of integrating remote sensing with GIS and landscape metrics in land change analysis that allows the characterization of spatial patterns and helps reveal the underlying processes of urban land changes. Our results indicate a transition of urbanization patterns in the study site with a limited outward expansion despite the dominant suburbanization process.     

Detection of foreclosure-related landscape management changes using Landsat

The volume of properties affected by foreclosure over the past decade suggests the potential for dramatic change in vegetation cover due to changes in management. Yet, the specific pathology of each foreclosure, the temporal asynchrony among foreclosures, and differences in the area available for vegetation growth across properties presents challenges to observing and measuring change. This paper develops and tests a difference in deviations approach that compares the parcel NDVI to a neighborhood norm before and after foreclosure. The difference in deviations approach addresses the challenges of separating parcel-level change corresponding to foreclosure and identifies changes on both small and large parcels. The method relies on a time series of Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, individual home foreclosure records and property tax assessment data for Maricopa County, Arizona from 2002 to 2012. To establish the level of difference associated with observable landscape change, we use a probit regression model, coding Google Earth images for properties across the range of observed deviations of difference. The basic assumption underlying the approach is that if foreclosure coincides with a change in management, it will lead to changes in vegetation structure and thus, NDVI values. We estimate that 13% of home foreclosures in Maricopa County over the period from 2002 to 2012 resulted in declines in vegetation whereas 6.5% resulted in vegetation increases. Future uses of this method for understanding landscape management in residential landscapes are discussed.     

Crossing-over between land cover and land use: Exploring spatially varying relationships in two large US metropolitan areas

Difficulties in identifying actual uses of land space from remote sensing-based land cover products often result in lost opportunities to enhance the capacity of applied research on human settlements. In an attempt to address these difficulties, this study investigates how land cover and land use are interrelated with each other and what determines the relationship patterns by analyzing detailed land use and land cover data for two large US metropolitan areas – the five-county Los Angeles and six-county Chicago regions – where a broad spectrum of human settlements, ranging from urban cores to less-urbanized edges, coexist. The analysis shows that the land cover-land use relationship substantially varies not only across regions but across neighborhoods within each region. Through multivariate regression, it is also found that the intraregional variation is highly associated with the neighborhood's stage of urbanization, median housing age, and other development characteristics, suggesting that the relationship pattern can largely be shaped by the history and evolution of urban design/development.     

Using simulated data to investigate the spatial patterns of obesity prevalence at the census tract level in metropolitan Detroit

Obesity is a serious public health problem in the United States. It is important to estimate obesity prevalence at the local level to target programmatic and policy interventions. It is challenging, however, to obtain local estimates of obesity prevalence because national health surveys such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) are not designed to produce direct estimates at the local levels (e.g. census tracts) due to small population samples and the need to preserve individual confidentiality. In this study we address the problem of estimating local obesity prevalence rates by implementing a spatial microsimulation modeling technique to proportionally replicate the demographic characteristics of BRFSS respondents to census tract populations in metropolitan Detroit. Obesity prevalence rates are examined for high and low spatial clusters and studied in relation to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) measures of low-income neighborhoods and local food deserts and CDC's measure of healthy and less healthy food environments currently used to target obesity reduction initiatives. This study found that obesity prevalence was largely clustered in the City of Detroit extending north into contiguous suburbs. The spatial patterns of highest obesity prevalence tracts were most similarly aligned with USDA-defined low-income tracts and CDC's less healthy food tracts. The locations of USDA's food desert tracts rarely overlapped with the highest obesity prevalence tracts. This study demonstrated a new methodology by which to assess local areas in need of future obesity interventions.     

多目标珊瑚岛礁地貌遥感信息提取方法——以西沙永乐环礁为例

南海珊瑚岛礁资源极为丰富,实时、快速、高效、准确地获取大范围珊瑚岛礁地貌遥感信息具有现实意义.研究提出了一种双尺度转化下的模型与数据混合驱动的岛礁地貌信息提取框架,并设计了珊瑚岛礁地貌分类体系及相应技术流程:首先采用自上而下模型驱动的GVF Snake模型进行宏观地理分带的粗分割,然后采用自下而上数据驱动的云影极值抑制下多阈值OTSU分类算法进行微观地貌类型的精细分类,最终利用区域生长算法提取离散分布的暗沙、暗滩等浅水地貌单元.针对西沙永乐环礁利用CBERS-02B数据进行实验,精度验证表明:珊瑚岛礁地貌遥感信息提取方法总体精度优于经典数据驱动的监督分类算法,且具有抗噪能力强、顾及空间拓扑关系、自动灵活等特点.     

基于Landsat 8劈窗算法与混合光谱分解的城市热岛空间格局分析——以兰州市中心城区为例

在ENVI和GIS支持下,提出了基于Landsat 8遥感影像的地温反演劈窗算法,提取兰州市中心城区地表温度。利用FNEA和混合光谱分解法确定了兰州市中心城区的城市热岛中心、不透水面和植被盖度,分析了城市热岛空间分布格局以及地表温度与下垫面之间的关系。结果显示:基于Landsat 8数据地温反演的劈窗算法是可行的。兰州中心城区的高温区分布较集中,地表温度与植被呈较强的负相关,与不透水面呈不显著的正相关,与其他非光合物质呈正相关。     

苏门答腊岛(印尼)成矿带的岩浆作用和源区及其对比

本文介绍了苏门答腊岛上两个成矿带(即铜-金矿成矿带和锡矿成矿带)的矿产分布,岩浆岩的岩石类型和地球化学特征。根据本研究课题在巴东地区岩石化学资料,本文总结了铜-金矿成矿带含矿母岩的地球化学特征,探讨其岩浆岩成因和源区。同时,将其锡矿成矿带岩浆岩的岩石类型和地球化学-大地构造环境与其相邻地体进行对比。研究结果表明:西苏门答腊地体的铜-金矿成矿带的含矿母岩为SI-型埃达克质花岗岩,形成于活动大陆边缘(ACM)火山弧构造环境,其岩浆物质主要来源于俯冲洋壳板片局部熔融叠加上弱的地幔楔熔融-混染作用(MASH)。而东苏门答腊地体‘锡岛’和"暹缅马苏"地体的锡矿带含矿母岩为过铝质(S-型)花岗岩类,其形成构造环境为碰撞带的弧后盆地和陆内裂谷,物质源区来自地壳重熔和岩浆分异。地球化学资料表明,该两地体具有共同的深部岩浆源区。     

Attribution of Persistent Precipitation in the Yangtze–Huaihe River Basin during February 2019

In February 2019, a month-long persistent precipitation event occurred in the Yangtze–Huaihe River basin. The geopotential height field that affected the duration of this frontal rainfall was divided into a high-latitude part and a low-latitude part for analysis. In the high-latitude part, a two-wave structure led to quasi-stationary circulation, and the change of both the blocking high pressure and Arctic Oscillation phase caused cold air to invade South China continuously and changed the frontal position. In mid-to-low latitudes, the persistent precipitation showed quasi-biweekly oscillation characteristics. The so-called “subtropical high–precipitation–anticyclone” (SHPA) feedback mechanism blocked the circulation systems in the mid-to-low latitudes and provided a continuous supply of water vapor for precipitation. As for the effect of sea surface temperature, the western North Pacific anomalous anticyclone stimulated by El Ni?o strengthened the intensity of the southerly wind and provided support for the redevelopment of the anticyclone system in the SHPA feedback mechanism. The sea surface temperature anomaly in the South China Sea provided sensible heating for precipitation, and convergent rising airflow was conducive to the occurrence of precipitation. Additionally, the SHPA mechanism provides a reliable basis for the prediction of persistent precipitation in winter in the mid-to-low latitudes.     

在ENSO不同位相下青藏高原春季感热对华南盛夏降水的影响

根据青藏高原(简称高原)春季感热(Sensible Heat,SH)异常和ENSO不同位相,划分出12种类型,研究了高原春季(5月)SH异常和前冬ENSO对华南盛夏(7—8月)降水的影响及相对影响程度。结果表明:高原春季SH和前冬ENSO均对华南盛夏降水有较显著的影响,即当两者分别处于各自正(负)位相时,华南盛夏降水普遍偏少(多);通过对两者的单独作用和协同作用的分析表明,高原春季SH对华南盛夏降水贡献要更大。影响机制分析发现华南盛夏降水受西太平洋副热带高压(简称西太副高)和南亚高压共同影响,ENSO直接影响西太副高,而高原春季SH异常则对南亚高压作用显著,因此在两者共同影响下,两个高压的变化共同导致华南盛夏降水出现异常。