遥感技术在小城镇发展规划中的应用

对卫星遥感技术在小城镇发展规划中的应用进行了分析，包括小城镇空间布局信息分析、小城镇区位分析和小城镇环境污染分析，介绍了遥感技术在小城镇变化监测中的应用。分析表明，遥感技术能为小城镇发展规划提供众多基础数据，具有广阔的应用前景，但不能完全取代地面调查。     

农业旱灾监测中土壤水分遥感反演研究进展

土壤水分是农业干旱监测最重要的指标之一。文章全面回顾了光学遥感和微波遥感土壤水分遥感反演进展，重点讨论了符种反演方法的优点和不足。光学遥感中，热惯量法和作物缺水指数法可分别较好地应用于裸露地和作物覆盖地的土壤水分监测；距平植被指数、植被条件指数采用了植被指数因子实现农业旱情监测，温度植被指数、植被供水指数和条件植被温度指数同时考虑了作物植被指数和地表温度。微波遥感被认为是当前土壤水分监测中最有效的方法。主动微波遥感空间分辨率较高，但对土壤粗糙度和植被敏感；被动微波遥感空间分辨率低，重访周期短，对大尺度农业旱灾监测具有较大潜力。为提高农业旱灾监测巾土壤水分遥感反演的精度和效率，采用光学遥感和微波遥感的结合可能是较为实际的方法。     

关于煤矿安全法制化进程的几点思考

我国十一五规划对煤炭发展做出了新的要求,要建立和谐社会,煤矿安全是煤炭行业和谐发展的第一要务.煤矿安全立法相对滞后,现行法律缺乏针对性和可操作性,应加强煤矿安全立法.加强煤矿安全司法力度,对有效预防煤矿安全事故意义重大,同时应积极开展煤矿安全法制教育,提高煤矿从业人员的安全法治意识.强化煤矿安全执法力度,执法必严,是保障煤矿安全的关键环节.     

三峡库区地质灾害监测技术及展望

笔者综述了三峡库区地质灾害监测技术的应用现状。在论述当前地质灾害监测技术存在的问题的基础上,提出了新型的基于Internet的地质灾害远程、集中监测系统,并详细讨论了该技术的原理、结构、应用前景以及功能完善和发展方向。新型安全监测系统的使用可有效防止库区地质灾害的发生,控制其潜在危害;提高库区整体预警管理水平,有效增强防灾减灾能力;显著降低库区安全监测系统运行成本。     

基于GPRS技术的地质灾害无线遥测系统

将通用分组无线业务(GPRS)技术应用于地质灾害监测系统,可实现监测数据的无线传输和Internet的无线接入,因而实现地质灾害监测数据互联网共享和预警、救灾指挥联网.详细介绍了在三峡工程万州库区运行的基于GPRS技术的地质灾害无线遥测台网的体系结构、功能实现以及运行效果.该系统的建成与可靠运行使三峡库区地质灾害的监测预警系统走向数字化、自动化、网络化.     

高分辨率遥感影像的土地利用分类

高分辨率遥感影像在我国土地利用动态监测中展现出良好的应用前景,但与此相关的关键技术问题亟待解决.结合Ikonos影像,分析高分辨率遥感影像的特点,并在我国土地利用现状类型划分的基础上,针对高分辨遥感影像土地利用分类这一关键技术问题,概述常规分类方法,提出一套适宜高分辨率遥感影像土地利用分类的技术路线.     

Change in vegetation cover in East Timor, 1989–1999

Forest resources play a key role and provide many basic needs to communities in developing economies. To assess the patterns of vegetation cover change, as a corollary of resource utilization, satellite imagery, ground truth data, and image processing techniques can be useful. This article is concerned with identifying change in major vegetation types in East Timor between 1989 and 1999, using Landsat Thematic Mapper data. The results highlight a significant level of deforestation and decline in foliage cover. All major vegetation cover types declined from 1989 to 1999, and there was a sizeable increase in degraded woodlands. This decline has had considerable impact on the livelihoods of rural and urban communities. Causes for these changes include: economic exploitation of abundant resources; and implications of transmigration policies implemented during Indonesian rule, resulting in increased competition for land and woodland resources. As the new nation of Timor‐Leste establishes itself, it must consider its current stock and distribution of natural capital to ensure that development efforts are geared towards sustainable outcomes. Without the knowledge of historical patterns of resource consumption, development efforts may, unwittingly, lead to continuing decline in forest resources.     

MODELING THE DISTRIBUTION OF DIFFUSE NITROGEN SOURCES AND SINKS IN THE NEUSE RIVER BASIN OF NORTH CAROLINA,USA1

This study quantified nonpoint source nitrogen (NPS‐N) sources and sinks across the 14,582 km² Neuse River Basin (NRB) located in North Carolina, to provide tabular data summaries and graphic overlay products to support the development of management approaches to best achieve established N reduction goals. First, a remote sensor derived, land cover classification was performed to support modeling needs. Modeling efforts included the development of a mass balance model to quantify potential N sources and sinks, followed by a precipitation event driven hydrologic model to effectively transport excess N across the landscape to individual stream reaches to support subsequent labeling of transported N values corresponding to source origin. Results indicated that agricultural land contributed 55 percent of the total annual NPS‐N loadings, followed by forested land at 23 percent (background), and urban areas at 21 percent. Average annual N source contributions were quantified for agricultural (1.4 kg/ha), urban (1.2 kg/ha), and forested cover types (0.5 kg/ha). Nonpoint source‐N contributions were greatest during the winter (40 percent), followed by spring (32 percent), summer (28 percent), and fall (0.3 percent). Seasonal total N loadings shifted from urban dominated and forest dominated sources during the winter, to agricultural sources in the spring and summer. A quantitative assessment of the significant NRB land use activities indicated that high (greater than 70 percent impervious) and medium (greater than 35 percent impervious) density urban development were the greatest contributors of NPS‐N on a unit area basis (1.9 and 1.6 kg/ha/yr, respectively), followed by row crops and pasture/hay cover types (1.4 kg/ha/yr).     

ACCURACY OF LAKE AND STREAM TEMPERATURES ESTIMATED FROM THERMAL INFRARED IMAGES1

Emitted thermal infrared radiation (TIR, λ= 8 to 14 μm) can be used to measure surface water temperatures (top approximately 100 μm). This study evaluates the accuracy of stream (50 to 500 m wide) and lake (300 to 5,000 m wide) radiant temperatures (15 to 22°C) derived from airborne (MASTER, 5 to 15 m) and satellite (ASTER 90 m, Landsat ETM+ 60 m) TIR images. Applied atmospheric compensations changed water temperatures by ?0.2 to +2.0°C. Atmospheric compensation depended primarily on atmospheric water vapor and temperature, sensor viewing geometry, and water temperature. Agreement between multiple TIR bands (MASTER ‐ 10 bands, ASTER ‐ 5 bands) provided an independent check on recovered temperatures. Compensations improved agreement between image and in situ surface temperatures (from 2.0 to 1.1°C average deviation); however, compensations did not improve agreement between river image temperatures and loggers installed at the stream bed (from 0.6 to 1.6°C average deviation). Analysis of field temperatures suggests that vertical thermal stratification may have caused a systematic difference between instream gage temperatures and corrected image temperatures. As a result, agreement between image temperatures and instream temperatures did not imply that accurate TIR temperatures were recovered. Based on these analyses, practical accuracies for corrected TIR lake and stream surface temperatures are around 1°C.     

The role of scientists in statutory interpretation of the U.S. Endangered Species Act

Like many federal statutes, the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) contains vague or ambiguous language. The meaning imparted to the ESA's unclear language can profoundly impact the fates of endangered and threatened species. Hence, conservation scientists should contribute to the interpretation of the ESA when vague or ambiguous language contains scientific words or refers to scientific concepts. Scientists need to know at least these 2 facts about statutory interpretation: statutory interpretation is subjective and the potential influence of normative values results in different expectations for the parties involved. With the possible exception of judges, all conventional participants in statutory interpretation are serving their own interests, advocating for their preferred policies, or biased. Hence, scientists can play a unique role by informing the interpretative process with objective, policy‐neutral information. Conversely, scientists may act as advocates for their preferred interpretation of unclear statutory language. The different roles scientists might play in statutory interpretation raise the issues of advocacy and competency. Advocating for a preferred statutory interpretation is legitimate political behavior by scientists, but statutory interpretation can be strongly influenced by normative values. Therefore, scientists must be careful not to commit stealth policy advocacy. Most conservation scientists lack demonstrable competence in statutory interpretation and therefore should consult or collaborate with lawyers when interpreting statutes. Professional scientific societies are widely perceived by the public as unbiased sources of objective information. Therefore, professional scientific societies should remain policy neutral and present all interpretations of unclear statutory language; explain the semantics and science both supporting and contradicting each interpretation; and describe the potential consequences of implementing each interpretation. A review of scientists’ interpretations of the phrase “significant portion of its range” in the ESA is used to critique the role of scientists and professional societies in statutory interpretation.