A remote sensing system of vehicle emissions based on tunable diode laser technology

As being an effective real-time method of monitoring vehicle emissions on-road, a remote sensing system based on the tunable diode laser （TDL） technology was presented, and the key technologies were discussed. A field test in Guangzhou（Guangdong, China） was performed and was found that the factors, such as slope, instantaneous speed and acceleration, had significant influence on the detectable rate of the system. Based on the results, the proposal choice of testing site was presented.     

A Special Vegetation Index for the Weed Detection in Sensor Based Precision Agriculture

Many technologies in precision agriculture (PA) require image analysis and image- processing with weed and background differentiations. The detection of weeds on mulched cropland is one important image-processing task for sensor based precision herbicide applications. The article introduces a special vegetation index, the Difference Index with Red Threshold (DIRT), for the weed detection on mulched croplands. Experimental investigations in weed detection on mulched areas point out that the DIRT performs better than the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The result of the evaluation with four different decision criteria indicate, that the new DIRT gives the highest reliability in weed/background differentiation on mulched areas. While using the same spectral bands (infrared and red) as the NDVI, the new DIRT is more suitable for weed detection than the other vegetation indices and requires only a small amount of additional calculation power. The new vegetation index DIRT was tested on mulched areas during automatic ratings with a special weed camera system. The test results compare the new DIRT and three other decision criteria: the difference between infrared and red intensity (Diff), the soil-adjusted quotient between infrared and red intensity (Quotient) and the NDVI. The decision criteria were compared with the definition of a worse case decision quality parameter Q, suitable for mulched croplands. Although this new index DIRT needs further testing, the index seems to be a good decision criterion for the weed detection on mulched areas and should also be useful for other image processing applications in precision agriculture. The weed detection hardware and the PC program for the weed image processing were developed with funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).     

Texture Analysis for Mapping Tamarix parviflora Using Aerial Photographs along the Cache Creek, California

Natural color photographs were used to detect the coverage of saltcedar, Tamarix parviflora, along a 40 km portion of Cache Creek near Woodland, California. Historical aerial photographs from 2001 were retrospectively evaluated and compared with actual ground-based information to assess accuracy of the assessment process. The color aerial photos were sequentially digitized, georeferenced, classified using color and texture methods, and mosaiced into maps for field use. Eight types of ground cover (Tamarix, agricultural crops, roads, rocks, water bodies, evergreen trees, non-evergreen trees and shrubs (excluding Tamarix)) were selected from the digitized photos for separability analysis and supervised classification. Due to color similarities among the eight cover types, the average separability, based originally only on color, was very low. The separability was improved significantly through the inclusion of texture analysis. Six types of texture measures with various window sizes were evaluated. The best texture was used as an additional feature along with the color, for identifying Tamarix. A total of 29 color photographs were processed to detect Tamarix infestations using a combination of the original digital images and optimal texture features. It was found that the saltcedar covered a total of 3.96 km² (396 hectares) within the study area. For the accuracy assessment, 95 classified samples from the resulting map were checked in the field with a global position system (GPS) unit to verify Tamarix presence. The producer's accuracy was 77.89%. In addition, 157 independently located ground sites containing saltcedar were compared with the classified maps, producing a user's accuracy of 71.33%.     

Retrieval And Monitoring of Atmospheric Trace Gas Concentrations in Nadir and Limb Geometry Using the Space-Borne Sciamachy Instrument

The Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) onboard the European Envisat spacecraft performs continuous spectral observations of reflected, scattered and transmitted sunlight in various observation geometries. A unique feature of SCIAMACHY is the capability of probing the atmosphere in three different observation geometries:The nadir, limb, and occultation measurement modes. In nadir mode, column densities of trace gases are retrieved with a spatial resolution of typically 30× 60 km using the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) technique (Platt and Perner, 1983). Alternating with the nadir measurement, vertical profiles of absorber concentration in the stratosphere are derived in limb and occultation. In this paper we present an overview over some applications of SCIAMACHY data in space-based monitoring of atmospheric pollution. The DOAS algorithms for the retrieval of total column amounts from nadir spectra are briefly described and case studies of pollution events are presented. We also illustrate the technique used to derive stratospheric concentration profiles from limb observations and show comparisons with other remote sensing systems. Special emphasis will be given to techniques, which take advantage of SCIAMACHY's different viewing geometries. In particular, we will discuss the potential and limits of strategies to infer tropospheric abundances of O₃and NO₂.     

Land-cover changes in an urban lake watershed in a mega-city, Central China

Urbanization can exert a profound influence on land covers and landscape characteristics. In this study, we characterize the impact of urbanization on land cover and lacustrine landscape and their consequences in a large urban lake watershed, Donghu Lake watershed (the largest urban lake in China), Central China, by using Landsat TM satellite images of three periods of 1987, 1993 and 1999 and ground-based information. We grouped the land covers into six categories: water body, vegetable land, forested land, shrub-grass land, open area and urban land, and calculated patch-related landscape indices to analyze the effects of urbanization on landscape features. We overlaid the land cover maps of the three periods to track the land cover change processes. The results indicated that urban land continuously expanded from 9.1% of the total watershed area in 1987, to 19.4% in 1993, and to 29.6% in 1999. The vegetable land increased from 7.0% in 1987, 11.9% in 1993, to 13.9% in 1999 to sustain the demands of vegetable for increased urban population. Concurrently, continuous reduction of other land cover types occurred between 1987 and 1999: water body decreased from 30.4% to 23.8%, and forested land from 33.6% to 24.3%. We found that the expansion of urban land has at least in part caused a decrease in relatively wild habitats, such as urban forest and lake water area. These alterations had resulted in significant negative environmental consequences, including decline of lakes, deterioration of water and air quality, and loss of biodiversity.     

Changes of Land Use and of Ecosystem Service Values in Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

Agricultural activities, especially reclamation, are considered major threats to the wetland ecosystems in Sanjiang Plain, the largest concentrated area of the freshwater wetlands in China. In the past decades, the area of the cultivated land and its grain production have been increased at the cost of wetlands shrinkage. The large-scale land reclamation severely affected the ecosystems in this region. However, such effects at the regional scale are seldom evaluated quantitatively. We used three datasets of LANDSAT MSS and/or TM imagery to estimate the area changes and the transition of land use types from 1980 to 2000. We also valued changes in ecosystem services delivered by each land category using value coefficients published by Costanza et al. [Nature 387, 1997, 253–260]. Sensitivity analysis suggested that these estimates were relatively robust. Finally, the contribution of various ecosystem functions was ranked to the overall value of the ecosystem services in this study. According to our estimates, the total annual ecosystem service values in Sanjiang Plain have declined by about 40% between 1980 and 2000 ($156284–182572.18 million in total over 20 years). This substantial decline is largely attributed to the 53.4% loss of wetlands. For individual ecosystem functions, waste treatment, water supply and disturbance regulation account for more than 60% to the total ecological values. During those two decades, the contribution of disturbance regulation, cultural and recreation decreased, while the contribution of water regulation, nutrient cycling, food production, raw materials and climate regulation increased during the same period. We also put forward a few proposals concerning the future land use policy formulation and sustainable ecosystems. They are adjusting the ‘food first’ agricultural policy, establishing more nature reserves for wetlands, creating systems for the rational use of water, harnessing the degraded cultivated land and encouraging eco-tourism.     

田湾核电温排水遥感监测与数模一致性分析

利用温度反演和数值模拟的方法,对田湾核电站航天遥感测量和数值模拟结果作对比分析。结果显示:遥感监测和数值模拟结果在田湾核电站附近海域的海面温度场羽迹展布方向、不同季节大小潮型、潮态规律上都是相似的,只是在规模和数量上存在着一定差异,两者可以相互验证。     

大连市生态遥感野外核查照片管理系统设计及应用

在生态环境遥感解译野外核查中,获取了大量的照片数据集,为充分发挥这些照片在遥感解译中的作用,开发野外核查照片管理系统对这些照片进行统一管理。该系统实现了照片文件名自动重编码、照片数据库管理、照片地物空间定位等功能,实现了野外核查照片与遥感标准假彩色影像关联,为掌握遥感解译标志和积累先验遥感解译知识提供了训练平台。     

粤北地区尾矿库遥感调查与生态环境评价

运用遥感技术,对粤北地区尾矿库进行调查发现,粤北地区尾矿库主要包括金属矿山、非金属矿山、选冶场所尾矿库,安全隐患较多,环境污染较为突出,地质灾害风险明显,二次矿山资源浪费较为严重。近年来,广东省及各市县等地方政府部门加强了对粤北地区尾矿库的管理,取得了一定的成效,未来应进一步加强监管和治理力度,提高尾矿资源利用水平。     

Decadal and Episodic Changes in Morphology and Migration of the Confluence Bar of Two Alluvial Rivers in Louisiana,USA

Past research on fluvial dynamics at the confluence of two alluvial rivers has mainly focused on downstream flow structure and bed scoring, often using laboratory experiments and numerical modeling. Little is investigated about yearly and episodic dynamics of confluence mouth bars that can affect downstream morphology using field measurements. In this study, we analyzed the migration of a confluence mouth bar of two free meandering alluvial rivers, the Amite and Comite Rivers in coastal Louisiana, USA from 2002 to 2017. Remote sensing images were utilized to investigate the decade‐long morphologic changes. To assess episodic dynamics, we employed terrestrial laser scanning measurements to acquire high‐accuracy digital elevation models at the confluence before and after three floods in 2017. Our study found that the Amite‐Comite confluence mouth bar migrated downstream 55 m in the past 15 years, and its angle reduced by 55° from 100° to 45°. The fast migration was a result of sediment deposition and channel deformation around the confluence mainly during the years when the tributary‐to‐main channel discharge was lower (<0.25). The study further reveals that a single moderate flood could strongly affect the mouth bar, as shown by an increase of the projected surface area by 114% and an increase of volume of the confluence mouth bar by 68%.