Spatial error propagation when computing linear combinations of spectral bands: The case of vegetation indices

The collection of accurate and timely information on land use, crops, forest and vegetation are increasingly based on remote sensing spectral measurements produced by satellites. The most recent spacecrafts like the Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) produce a rich source of information being endowed with hyperspectral sensors that can provide up to 200 or more channels. In many instances such a multivariate signal has to be reduced to just one single value per pixel representing a particular characteristic of land. Linear combinations of bands are the general form of many indices. Since each individual image used to construct indices contains errors, when combined they produce a propagation of errors, a process that can distort a final output map. In this paper we measure the extent of error propagation when building linear vegetation indices. We consider three types of indices: the difference vegetation index (DVI), selected Kauth-Thomas indices (SBI, GVI and WET), and principal components, using benchmarking examples taken from the remote sensing literature. The main implication emerging from these examples is that the SBI and the first principal component are the indices more prone to error propagation. The formalization presented here allows a user to derive measures of error propagation in cases where technical characteristics of a sensor and physical characteristics of a landscape are known. These results can help a user to choose between alternative vegetation indices, and to associate a measure of reliability with such indices.     

天山北坡中段天然草场牧草产量遥感动态监测模式

本文用1989-1991年在天山北坡不同草场类型上观测的牧草产量与光谱资料以及同步接收的 NOAA/AVHRR资料,计算了牧草产量与各种植被指数的相关系数。结果表明,天然草场牧草产量与各种植被指数存在显著相关,并建立天然草场牧草产量动态监测光谱模型;牧草干重和鲜重与气象卫星比值植被指数的相关系数达0.7597和0.8066;建立牧草产量卫星遥感监测模型,可用于天然草场牧草产量的动态监测。     

植被对风沙土风蚀作用的影响

以植物模型、风沙土为实验材料，以风洞模拟实验为研究手段得出初步结论：地表粗糙度为植被特征参数的函数，随植被盖度的增加呈幂函数增加；随植被作用区面积蛎呈线性增加；与行状植物的排列方向和主风向夹角的平方根成正比。在盖度相同的条件下，均匀分布较丛状分布可产生较大的粗糙度。风蚀率随植被盖度的减少呈指数增加。植被盖度对风沙土风蚀作用的影响可划分为３种程度类型：大于６０％为轻度风蚀和无风蚀。６０％￣２０％为中     

我国植被恢复中的几个误区及应用生态学原理的植被恢复方法探究

介绍了我国植被恢复中存在的问题,由此引出天然植被的重要价值:保持水土和营养;防止水灾、旱灾、火灾、暴风雨、虫害;防止污染;防止水土流失和沙漠化;调节地区与全球气候;保护生物多样性以及可再生能源等.在此基础上分析了我国植被恢复的误区:大量使用外来物种;忽略了健康生态系统要求的异质性;忽略了物种之间的相互作用;忽略了农业区的植被恢复;覆盖率常被用作唯一的评估标准;对当地濒危物种的需要缺乏考虑;城市绿化忽略了植被的生态功能.针对这些误区提出了笔者认为符合生态学原理的植被恢复措施.     

NCIVI及其在城市绿化航空遥感调查中的应用——以宁波市为例

植被信息提取是城市绿化遥感调查的关键内容之一,在分析城市彩红外航空摄影特点的基础上,研究了彩红外航空遥感图像植被信息的表现特征,提出了针对城市绿化航空遥感调查新的植被指数———非线性彩红外植被指数(NCIVI),并应用于宁波市城市绿化调查。研究结果表明,NCIVI对城市绿化提取效果明显优于NDVI,正确提取率可以提高3.5%。     

青海三江源区植被退化对土壤养分和微生物区系的影响

采用化学分析法、微生物平皿分离计数和形态鉴定技术研究了青海三江源地区天然与退化植被下的土壤养分和微生物生态特征。结果表明,随着三江源地区天然草地植被退化,土壤有机质含量急剧下降,退化高山草甸土的有机质平均含量为14.85gkg-1,较天然高山草甸土的平均含量降低54.3%,较高山草原土和沼泽化草甸土分别降低74.5%和90.7%,其他养分含量也有不同程度的降低,土壤养分状况明显恶化.不同类型植被下土壤微生物区系特征变化显著,退化高山草甸土的细菌、真菌、放线菌(GA)平均数量分别为8.8×106、9.5×103、8.1×105cfug-1,较天然高山草甸土降低65.8%、46.6%、57.3%,较高山草原土降低37.1%、23.3%、62.6%,较沼泽化草甸土降低90.3%、48.1%、69.6%;退化草地土壤微生物组成较天然草地更为简单,退化高山草甸土的真菌种类数明显降低,土壤放线菌组成趋于简单化,其小单孢菌和其他菌属所占比例明显低于天然草地.三江源高寒湿地生态系统中土壤养分与微生物数量之间存在密切关系,土壤全磷对微生物数量影响最大.     

Wind Characteristics of Mesquite Streets in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA

Past research has shown that the most important areas for active sand movement in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert are mesquite-dominated desert ecosystems possessing sandy soil texture. The most active sand movement in the mesquite-dominated ecosystems has been shown to take place on elongated bare soil patches referred to as “streets”. Aerodynamic properties of mesquite streets eroded by wind should be included in explaining how mesquite streets are more emissive sand sources than surrounding desert land. To understand the effects of wind properties, we measured them at two flat mesquite sites having highly similar soil textures but very different configurations of mesquite. The differences in wind properties at the two sites were caused by differences of size, orientation, and porosity of the mesquite, along with the presence of mesquite coppice dunes (sand dunes stabilized by mesquites growing in the dune and on its surface) found only at one of the two sites. Wind direction, u_* (friction velocity), z₀ (aerodynamic roughness height) and D (zero plane displacement height) were estimated for 15-m tower and 3-m mast data. These aerodynamic data allowed us to distinguish five categories with differing potentials for sediment transport. Sediment transport for the five categories varied from unrestricted, free transport to virtually no transport caused by vegetation protection from wind forces. In addition, “steering” of winds below the level of the tops of mesquite bushes and coppice dunes allowed longer parallel wind durations and increased wind erosion for streets that aligned roughly SW–NE. U.S. Government right to retain a non-exclusive royalty-free licence in and to any copyright is acknowledged.     

Assessment of soil salinisation in the Ejina Oasis located in the lower reaches of Heihe River,Northwestern China

Recognition of the spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of soil salinity has become an important basis for the formulation of strategies required in the utilisation and sustainable development of soil resources in arid and semi-arid area. In this paper, based on vegetation cover dataset during 1998–2015 in Ejina region combined with the collected soil salinity data, geostatistical methods were used to explore the temporal and spatial dynamic characteristics of soil salinity and its impact on vegetation in the study area. The results showed significant differences in soil salinisation characteristics with a large variability in the soil salinity among the different soil depths, with a variation coefficient ranging from about 0.97–1.47. Soils are represented by a continuous variation, both in space and time. Soil salinity showed an obvious spatial autocorrelation, with a plaque type distribution. The areas of the salinised soil found for the years 2003, 2011 and 2015 were approximately 18,565, 23,206 and 17,721?km², respectively. From the relationships deduced between the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and soil moisture and salt content in different soil depths, the present study ascertains that the soil moisture content is the most important limiting factor of vegetation growth in Ejina Oasis.     

应用TM影像分析南京城市生态绿地格局

应用遥感和GIS技术对南京城市生态绿地格局进行分析研究，研究中试用NDVI波段及其它波段组合对南京城市植被进行解译，效果较好，研究结果表明，南京生态绿地分布很不平衡，并提出南京生态绿地建设的合理化建议。     

Ecological Effectiveness of Agri-Environment Schemes in Different Agricultural Landscapes in The Netherlands

Abstract:  Agri-environment schemes are an instrument used by western European countries to counteract the negative effects of contemporary agriculture on biodiversity, but not much is known about their effectiveness. We investigated the ecological effects of Dutch agri-environment schemes aimed at promoting botanical diversity or meadow birds, and we tested whether the effectiveness of the schemes depends on landscape type or structure. In three different types of landscape, we surveyed plants, birds, bees, and hover flies on 78 paired fields that either had agri-environment schemes or were managed conventionally, and we collected data on a range of different environmental variables. Neither plant species richness nor abundance of meadow birds was higher on fields with agri-environment schemes. Landscape type had a significant effect on both species groups, but the effects of the schemes were independent of landscape type. Neither the diversity of plants nor the abundance of birds was related to any of the environmental variables. Agri-environment schemes designed to promote plant species richness or bird abundance did have positive side-effects because they enhanced the species richness of bees and hover flies, irrespective of the type of landscape. Furthermore, landscape type, groundwater level (hover flies), and area of wooded edges (bees) significantly affected both species groups. The failure of the schemes to promote the target species may be related to the high intensity of land use in The Netherlands. Simple conservation measures taken by farmers may not be sufficient to counteract the impact of factors that are often controlled at the landscape level (e.g., hydrology). Similar studies in other countries are needed to place the results of our study into a European context.