NETWORK AND SUBWATERSHED PARAMETERS EXTRACTED FROM DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS: THE BILLS CREEK EXPERIENCE1

ABSTRACT: An automated extraction of channel network and sub-watershed characteristics from digital elevation models (DEM) is performed by model DEDNM. This model can process DEM data of limited vertical resolution representing low relief terrain. Such representations often include ill-defined drainage boundaries and indeterminate flow paths. The application watershed is an 84 km² low relief watershed in southwestern Oklahoma. The standard for validation is the network and subwatershed parameters defined by the blue line method on USGS 7.5–minute topographic maps. Evaluation of the generated and validation networks by visual comparisons shows a high degree of correlation. Comparison of selected network parameters (channel length, slope, drainage density, etc.) and of drainage network composition (bifurcation, length, slope, and area ratios) shows that, on the average, the generated parameters are within 5 percent of those derived from the validation network. The largest discrepancies were found for the channel slope values. The results of this application demonstrate that DEDNM effectively addresses network definition problems often encountered in low relief terrain and that it can generate accurate network and subwatershed parameters under those conditions.     

电梯旁路装置常见故障以及检验流程

在TSG T7001-2009《电梯监督检验和定期检验规则——曳引与强制驱动电梯》2号修改单执行后,电梯旁路装置作为电梯的重要装置,极大地方便了维保人员维护保养电梯,以及排除相关的故障.本文通过旁路装置的相关要求,结合实例,描述了旁路装置的形式、常见故障,以及检验时的注意事项.     

Beach topography mapping—a comparsion of techniques

A comparison of current techniques for measuring elevations in the beach and near-shore zones is presented. Techniques considered include traditional methods such as ground survey along transects and airborne stereophotogrammetry, and also newer methods based on remote sensing such as airborne scanning laser altimetry (LiDAR). The approach taken was to identify a representative group of users of beach elevation data, elicit their requirements regarding these data, then assess how well the different methods met these requirements on both technical and financial grounds. Potential users of beach height measurements include those concerned with coastal defence, coastal environmental management economic exploitation of the intertidal zone, and coastal flood forecasting. Three test areas in the UK were identified covering a range of such users and also different beach types. A total of 17 basic user requirements were elicited. For each requirement each method was scored according to the degree to which it could meet the requirement. Total scores were calculated and each method ranked. This was undertaken for all the requirements together, for a subset relating to survey of narrow beaches, and for a subset relating to survey of wide beaches. Approximate costs were also established for the top six methods. Airborne stereophotogrammetry proved to be the best method technically, but was also the most expensive. Ground survey provides very good technical performance on narrower beaches at moderate cost. Airborne LiDAR can achieve good technical performance on both narrow and wide beaches at lower cost than ground survey. The satellite-based waterline method was also inexpensive and gave good results on wide beaches. An overall conclusion is that, while the traditional methods of ground survey and airborne stereophotogrammetry remain the best for engineering-related surveys requiring high levels of accuracy, airborne LiDAR in particular looks set to have a significant impact on beach survey for applications for which a vertical accuracy of 20 cm is acceptable, provided that its technology evolves satisfactorily.     

Case studies of occupational falls from heights: cognition and behavior in context

PROBLEM: The aim of this study was to examine individual workers' cognitive, behavioral, and motivational processes leading up to occupational falls from heights. METHOD: The study is based on 26 semistructured personal interviews and on-site investigations with male workers who reported to an emergency department for treatment of injuries due to falls from heights. RESULTS: A greater number of workers carrying out nonroutine compared to routine tasks perceived, identified, interpreted, and attempted to control a fall hazard. Two cases are presented illustrating how cognition and behavior in context progresses from a lesser to a greater active role in the incident processes. SUMMARY AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The addition of full-scale investigations of how and why workers thought and behaved the way they did in a particular situation can give important clues as to whether preventive measures will be effective in a similar situation in the future.     

崇明东滩底栖动物群落与潮滩高程的关系

东滩低潮滩以软体动物中的麂眼螺、泥螺等占优势;中潮滩以软体动物的麂眼螺、霍甫水丝蚓、彩虹明樱蛤及双翅目幼虫为优势;高潮滩的优势种为绯拟沼螺、双翅目幼虫以及一些大型蟹类如无齿相手蟹和天津厚蟹等。在生物量方面,中潮滩的底栖动物生物量最高为139．8g／m^2,其次为高潮滩,其生物量为109．7g／m^2,生物量最低的为低潮滩,仅有61．77g/m^2,平均生物量排序为中潮滩〉高潮滩〉低潮滩。在多样性方面,3个潮带也以中潮滩最高,其次是高潮滩和低潮滩。底栖动物的这种分带情况与3个潮带特有生境密切相关,沿高程梯度,底栖动物群落呈现出明显的空间生态系列格局。低潮滩代表了潮滩湿地演替的初级阶段。中潮滩底栖动物种类数和多样性都较高,此带代表了潮滩湿地演替的较高阶段。高潮滩显示了向陆生群落演变的趋势。     

GIS环境下基于DEM的中国流域自动提取方法

应用地理信息系统平台,建立基于水文站网和水资源信息的空间化水循环数据库是研制开发全国水循环信息管理系统的关键和基础,为了与全国水文站网的观测资料相匹配,水循环数据库的结构将按流域组织,因此快速、有效地自动提取全国流域是所有工作进展的前提。为了从数字高程数据中自动提取全国流域,以提高基于GIS的全国水资源信息获取的效率,从DEM的特性出发,提出了一种从DEM中自动提取全国流域的实用方法。该方法利用1：25万DEM数据,首先将全国流域划分为14大流域片,并在每一流域片内分别提取流域。提取过程如下：首先对DEM数据进行填洼和削峰,然后确定每个栅格单元的水流方向,再根据各栅格单元的水流方向,计算出每个栅格单元的汇流能力,根据汇流能力采用阈值法确定河流网络,最后通过河流网络和流域出水口,快速识别出所有子流域。另外,还给出了利用GIS软件ARC/INFO GRID提取全国流域的AML程序代码,并以海河流域作为实验区将抽样测量结果和自动提取结果进行了实验对比分析,其结果表明利用该方法提取的流域数据与利用手工方法绘制的流域基本一致,证明该方法是有效的。     

Waterfowls habitat modeling: Simulation of nest site selection for the migratory Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) in the Nakdong estuary

This paper aims to find patterns in nest site selection by Little Terns Sterna albifrons, in the Nakdong estuary in South Korea. This estuary is important waterfowl stopover and breeding habitat, located in the middle of the East Asia-Australasian Flyway. The Little Tern is a common species easily observed near the seashore but their number is gradually declining around the world. We investigated their nests and eggs on a barrier islet in the Nakdong estuary during the breeding season (May to June, 2007), and a pattern for the nest site selection was identified using genetic programming (GP). The GP generated a predictive rule-set model for the number of Little Tern nests (training: R² = 0.48 and test: 0.46). The physical features of average elevation, variation of elevation, plant coverage, and average plant height were estimated to determine the influence on nest numbers for Little Tern. A series of sensitivity analyses stressed that mean elevation and vegetation played an important role in nest distribution for Little Tern. The influence of these two variables could be maximized when elevation changed moderately within the sampled quadrats. The study results are regarded as a good example of applying GP to vertebrate distribution patterning and prediction with several important advantages compared to conventional modeling techniques, and can help establish a management or restoration strategy for the species.     

Analysis of 3-D Urban Databases with Respect to Pollution Dispersion for a Number of European and American Cities

Dispersion models require as input various geometrical parameters to calculate the flow field and dispersion characteristics in the urban environment. As a result of recent advances in digital photogrammetry and remote sensing, databases of the actual 3-D geometry of city centre areas are now increasingly available. In this work we outline a procedure to reduce this large amount of data to a structured input for urban pollution dispersion models, i.e. to extract the important flow and dispersion parameters from the urban databases. Based on a review of the scientific literature, we have identified a number of parameters relevant to the modelling of pollution dispersion and atmospheric flows in urban areas. These parameters are: the plan and frontal area densities, the plan and frontal area density as a function of height, the distribution of heights, their standard deviation, the aerodynamic roughness length and the sky view factor.These parameters are obtained by analysing urban Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) which are regularly spaced grids of elevation values. Examples of the parameters calculated from high-resolution databases (with pixel size of about 1 m) for three European (London, Toulouse and Berlin) and two North American (Salt Lake City and Los Angeles) cities are presented and discussed. The calculated aerodynamic roughness length was smaller for the European cities than for the North American ones. A multiplicative correction factor to the aerodynamic roughness length is proposed to include the effect of the variability of the building heights.     

Retention capacities of several bryophytes for Hg(II) with special reference to the elevation and morphology of moss growth

Hg(II) Retention capacities of nine bryophyte species, collected from Jinfo Mountains (JFM) in Chongqing, China, had been investigated with special reference to the effect of morphology and elevation of moss growth. Results indicated that adsorption capacities of bryophytes for Hg(II) became stronger with the increase of multi-branches and leafy-shoots, as well as the elevation of moss growth, which was observed both in adsorption isotherm and adsorption kinetics experiments. Contrarily, the desorption kinetics showed a decrease tendency with the increase of multi-branches and leafy-shoots and the elevation of moss growth. The results demonstrated that bryophytes with higher multi-branches and leafy-shoots and higher growth elevation had a stronger adsorption capacity and a weaker desorption tendency, and therefore had a stronger retention capacity to Hg(II). The results disclosed the different relative sensitivity and retention capacity of mosses to pollution resulting from heavy metals, due to the differences in growth elevation and morphology. These should be considered when bryophytes were chosen as a tool for biomonitoring materials to environmental pollution, especially caused by Hg(II).     

NHDPlusHR: A National Geospatial Framework for Surface‐Water Information

The U.S. Geological Survey is developing a new geospatial hydrographic framework for the United States, called the National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlusHR), that integrates a diversity of the best‐available information, robustly supports ongoing dataset improvements, enables hydrographic generalization to derive alternate representations of the network while maintaining feature identity, and supports modern scientific computing and Internet accessibility needs. This framework is based on the High Resolution National Hydrography Dataset, the Watershed Boundaries Dataset, and elevation from the 3‐D Elevation Program, and will provide an authoritative, high precision, and attribute‐rich geospatial framework for surface‐water information for the United States. Using this common geospatial framework will provide a consistent basis for indexing water information in the United States, eliminate redundancy, and harmonize access to, and exchange of water information.