Spatial process and data models: Toward integration of agent-based models and GIS

The use of object-orientation for both spatial data and spatial process models facilitates their integration, which can allow exploration and explanation of spatial-temporal phenomena. In order to better understand how tight coupling might proceed and to evaluate the possible functional and efficiency gains from such a tight coupling, we identify four key relationships affecting how geographic data (fields and objects) and agent-based process models can interact: identity, causal, temporal and topological. We discuss approaches to implementing tight integration, focusing on a middleware approach that links existing GIS and ABM development platforms, and illustrate the need and approaches with example agent-based models.     

Precise orbit determination for the GRACE mission using only GPS data

The GRACE (gravity recovery and climate experiment) satellites, launched in March 2002, are each equipped with a BlackJack GPS onboard receiver for precise orbit determination and gravity field recovery. Since launch, there have been significant improvements in the background force models used for satellite orbit determination, most notably the model for the geopotential. This has resulted in significant improvements to orbit accuracy for very low altitude satellites. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how well the orbits of the GRACE satellites (about 470 km in altitude) can currently be determined using only GPS data and based on the current models and methods. The orbit accuracy is assessed using a number of tests, which include analysis of orbit fits, orbit overlaps, orbit connecting points, satellite Laser ranging residuals and K-band ranging (KBR) residuals. We show that 1-cm radial orbit accuracy for the GRACE satellites has probably been achieved. These precise GRACE orbits can be used for such purposes as improving gravity recovery from the GRACE KBR data and for atmospheric profiling, and they demonstrate the quality of the background force models being used.     

Estimating Deep Seafloor Interface and Volume Roughness Parameters Using the Multibeam-Hydrosweep System

Utilizing a hull-mounted, multinarrow beam echosounder onboard RV Polarstern, we measured variation of acoustic backscatter with incidence angles at two different sites in the Southern Oceans (Agulhas Plateau and the Riiser Larsen Sea). We modeled the data, using a composite roughness model, including water-sediment interface roughness and sediment volume roughness parameters. The model effectively uses the near normal incidence angle backscatter to determine the seafloor interface roughness parameters employing Helmholtz-Kirchhoff theory. Beyond 20° incidence angles, an application of Rayleigh-Rice theory is made by using a necessary splicing technique (combining both of the theories at 20° incidence angle). The estimated interface and volume roughness parameters are found to be in accordance with the known area geology.     

Re-evaluating the origins of late Pleistocene fire areas on Santa Rosa Island,California, USA

At the close of the Pleistocene, fire regimes in North America changed significantly in response to climate change, megafaunal extinctions, anthropogenic burning and, possibly, even an extraterrestrial impact. On California's Channel Islands, researchers have long debated the nature of late Pleistocene “fire areas,” discrete red zones in sedimentary deposits, interpreted by some as prehistoric mammoth-roasting pits created by humans. Further research found no evidence that these red zones were cultural in origin, and two hypotheses were advanced to explain their origin: natural fires and groundwater processes. Radiocarbon dating, X-ray diffraction analysis, and identification of charcoal from six red zones on Santa Rosa Island suggest that the studied features date between ~ 27,500 and 11,400 cal yr BP and resulted from burning or heating, not from groundwater processes. Our results show that fire was a component of late Pleistocene Channel Island ecology prior to and after human colonization of the islands, with no clear evidence for increased fire frequency coincident with Paleoindian settlement, extinction of pygmy mammoths, or a proposed Younger Dryas impact event.     

The Myth of Location Privacy in the United States: Surveyed Attitude Versus Current Practices

In the United States, legal steps have been taken to protect personal privacy, which is viewed as an individual's fundamental right. Location privacy (i.e., protection of personal and location information), however, has not received equal attention in the legal system. Given the recent popularity of location-based services (e.g., cell phones), it is possible to obtain an individual's location information easily and precisely. An investigation of public perception of privacy in the United States indicated that survey responders (1) were unaware of legal implications of location privacy violation and (2) believed that there should be location privacy protection similar to that provided by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.     

Aeration,nitrogen and salinity as determinants of Spartina alterniflora Loisel. Growth response

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to examine the effects of salinity, nitrogen, and aeration on the growth of Spartina alterniflora Loisel. The experiment was conducted in a factorial arrangement of treatments with salt marsh substrate at three salinity levels (15, 30, 45‰), at two nitrogen levels (0 and 168 kg/ha) and at two aeration levels (zero and oxygen saturation). The maximum biomass was found in the low salinity, nitrogen enhanced, aerated treatment which had 11 times more biomass than the highest (45‰) salinity, nitrogen poor, unaerated treatment. the average effect of nitrogen over the three salinity levels was a 2.01, 1.47, 1.25, and 1.52 times increase in aerial biomass, density, height, and belowground biomass of the plants, respectively. The main effect of aeration was a 2.49, 2.01, 1.57, and 1.85 times increase in the same variables. The combination effect of aeration and nitrogen additions enhanced biomass by 453%. An increase in salinity from 15‰ to 45‰ decreased biomass, density, height and belowground biomass of S. alterniflora by 66, 53, 38, and 61%, respectively. The effect of salinity was more pronounced between 30 and 45‰ than it was between 15 and 30‰. N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, and S concentrations in the aerial living biomass were also examined. There was no evidence to suggest that elemental concentrations (on a per gram basis) were consistently correlated with increased or decreased growth. In relation to salinity, correlations between growth and elemental concentrations were negative while for nitrogen enhanced and/or aerated systems, the correlations were positive.     

Length‐mass models for some common New Zealand littoral‐benthic macroinvertebrates,with a note on within‐taxon variability in parameter values among published models

Regression models are developed and presented to predict dry mass (mg) from two linear dimensions (mm) for 17 benthic macroinvertebrate taxa common to littoral zones of New Zealand lakes. We also provide regression models to predict body length from head capsule width for the major insect taxa. Dry mass was best explained as a power function of all linear dimensions: M = aL _b .Parameters are presented in the log₁₀‐transformed linear form of this power function. Body length was a simple linear function of head capsule width for all insect taxa, hence parameters for these models are presented as untransformed values. We also provide family level models for the Chironomidae, and compare our chironomid body length‐mass model with other published Chrionomidae length‐mass models. There was a very high degree of variability in parameter values among published length‐mass models for the family Chironomidae (mean coefficient of variation for mass at length = 148%). We discuss the potential causes and implications of this variability.     

A methodology to estimate the maximum offset and reflection imaging radius for a 2D/3D vertical seismic profiling survey

We have developed a straightforward and ray based methodology to estimate both the maximum offset and reflection imaging radius for multi‐layered velocity models, which can be used for a 2D/3D VSP survey design. Through numerical examples, we demonstrate that the presence of a high‐velocity layer above a target zone significantly reduces the maximum offset and reflection imaging radius. Our numerical examples also show that including in a migration VSP data acquired beyond a recommended maximum offset, radically degrades the quality of the final VSP image. In addition, unlike the conventional straight‐line based approximation that often produces an incorrect large reflection imaging radius, our methodology predicts the VSP imaging radius with more accuracy than does the conventional approximation.