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ID: 61070
Title: Chronology and backtracking of oil slick trajectory to source in offshore environments using ultraspectral to multispectral remotely sensed data.
Author: Talita Lammoglia, Carlos Roberto de Souza Filho.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 113-119 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Petroleum, Seepage, Offshore, Infrared spectroscopy, ASTER, Remote sensing.
Abstract: Offshore natural seepage confirms the occurrence of an active petroleum system with thermal maturation and migration, regardless its economic viability for petroleum production. Ocean dynamics, however, impose a challenge for correlation between oil seeps detected on the water surface and its source at the ocean floor. This hinders the potential use of seeps in petroleum exploration. The present study aims to estimate oil exposure time on the water surface via remote sensing in order to help locating ocean floor seepage sources. Spectral reflectance properties of a variety of fresh crude oils, oil films on water and oil-water emulsions were determined. Their spectral identity was used to estimate the duration of exposure of oil-water emulsions were determined. Their spectral identity was used to estimate the duration of exposure of oil-water emulsions based on their temporal spectral responses. Laboratory models efficiently predicted oil status using ultraspectral (>2000 bands), hyperspectral (>300 bands), and multispectral (<10 bands) sensors covering near infrared and shortwave infrared wavelengths. An oil seepage recorded by the ASTER sensor on the Brazilian coast was used to test the designed predictive model. Results indicate that the model can successfully forecast the timeframe of crude oil exposure in the ocean (i.e., the relative ?age? of the seepage). The limited spectral resolution of the ASTER sensor, though, implies less accurate estimates compared to higher resolution sensors. The spectral libraries and the method proposed here can be reproduced for other oceanic areas in order to approximate the duration of exposure of noticeable natural oil seepages. This type of information is optimal for seepage tracing and, therefore, for oceanic petroleum exploration and environmental monitoring.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Abrams, M., Hook, S., Ramachandran, B., 2002. ASTER User Handbook, Version 2.Jet Propulsion Laboratory (July 2014) 135p. http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/documents.asp Aske, N., Kallevik, H., Sjoblom, J., 2001. Determination of saturate, aromatic, resin, and asphaltenic (SARA) components in crude oils by means of infrared and near-infrared spectroscopy.Energy Fuels 15 (5), 1304-1312.
Literature cited 2: Aster, R.C., Borchers, B., Thurber, C.H., 2005.Linear regression.In: Parameter Estimation and Inverse Problems.Elsevier Academic Press, USA, p.15-40. Beebe, K.R., Kowalski, B.R., 1987. An introduction to multivariate calibration and analysis.Anal.Chem.59 (17), 1007A-1017A.

ID: 61069
Title: Earth2014: 1 arc-min shape, topography, bedrock and ice-sheet models-Available as gridded data and degree-10, 800 spherical harmonics.
Author: Christian Hirt, Moritz Rexer.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 103-112 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Earth2014, Topography, Bathymetry, Bedrock, Ice sheets, Planetary shape, Spherical harmonics, Composite model.
Abstract: Since the release of the ETOP01 global Earth topography model through the US NOAA in 2009, new or significantly improved topographic data sets have become available over Antarctica, Greenland and parts of the oceans. Here, we present a suite of new 1 ' (arc-min) models of Earth ' s topography, bedrock and ice-sheets constructed as a composite from up-to-date topography models: Earth 2014.Our model suite relies on SRTM30-PLUS v9 bathymetry for the base layer, merged with SRTM v4.1 topography over the continents, Bedmap2 over Antarctica and the new Greenland bedrock topography (GBT v3).As such, Earth 2014 provides substantially improved information of bedrock and topography over Earth ' s major ice sheets, and more recent bathymetric depth data over the oceans, all merged into readily usable global grids. To satisfy multiple applications of global elevation data, Earth 2014 provides different representations of Earth ' s relief. These are grids of (1) the physical surface, (2) bedrock (Earth ' s relief without water and ice masses), (3) bedrock and ice (Earth without water masses), (4) ice sheet thickness, (5) rock-equivalent topography (ice and water masses condensed to layers of rock) as mass representation. These models have been transformed into ultra-high degree spherical harmonics, yielding degree 10, 800 series expansions of the Earth2014 grids as input for spectral modeling techniques. As further variants, planetary shape models were constructed, providing distances between relief points and the geocenter. The paper describes the input data sets, the development procedures applied, the resulting gridded and spectral representations of Earth2014, external validation results and possible applications. The Earth2014 model suite is freely available via http:ddfe.curtin.edu.au/models/Earth2014/.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Adams, R., Bischof, L., 1994. Seeded region growing.IEEE Trans.Pattern Anal.Mach.Intell.Arch.16, 641-647. Amante, C., Eakins, B.W., 2009. ETOP01 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model: Procedures Data Sources and Analysis. NOAA Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC-24, 19 pp.
Literature cited 2: Balmino, G., Vales, N., Bonvalot, S., Briais, A., 2012. Spherical harmonic modeling to ultra-high degree of Bouguer and isostatic anomalies.J.Geod.86, 499-520. Bamber, J.L, Gomez-Dans, J.L., Griggs, J.A., 2009. A new 1 km digital elevation model of the Antarctic derived from combined satellite radar and laser data-part1: data and methods.Cryosphere 3, 101-111.

ID: 61068
Title: Evaluating the relationship between biomass, percent groundcover and remote sensing indices across six winter cover crop fields in Maryland, United States.
Author: Kusuma Prabhakara, W. Dean Hively, Gregory W.McCarty.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 88-102 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Winter cover crops, Biomass, Percent groundwater, Remote sensing, Vegetation indices.
Abstract: Winter cover crops are an essential part of managing nutrient and sediment losses from agricultural lands. Cover groups lessen sedimentation by reducing erosion, and the accumulation of nitrogen in aboveground biomass results in reduced nutrient runoff. Winter cover crops are planted in the fall and are usually terminated in early spring, making them susceptible to senescence, frost burn, and leaf yellowing due to wintertime conditions. This study sought to determine to what extent remote sensing indices are capable of accurately estimating the percent groundcover and biomass of winter cover crops, and to analyze under what critical ranges these relationships are strong and under which conditions they break down. Cover crop growth on six fields planted to barley, rye, ryegrass, triticale or wheat was measured over the 2012-2013 winter growing season. Data collection included spectral reflectance measurements, aboveground biomass, and percent groundcover. Ten vegetation indices were evaluated using surface reflectance data from a 16-band CROPSCAN sensor. Restricting analysis to sampling dates before the onset of prolonged freezing temperatures and leaf yellowing resulted in increased estimation accuracy. There was a strong relationship between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and percent groundcover (r2=0.93) suggesting that date restrictions effectively eliminate yellowing vegetation from analysis. The triangular vegetation index (TVI) was most accurate in estimating high ranges of biomass (r2=0.86), while NDVI did not experience a clustering of values in the low and medium biomass ranges but saturated in the higher range (>1500 kg/ha). The results of this study show that accounting for index saturation, senescence, and frost burn on leaves can greatly increase the accuracy of estimates of percent groundcover and biomass for winter cover crops.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Andrews, C.J., 1987. Low-temperature stress in field and forage crop production-an overview.Can.J.Plant Sci.67, 1121-1133. ASAE, 2005.Terminology and Definitions for Soil Tillage and Soil-Tool Relationships.ASAE, St.Joseph, MI http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/internet/FSE-DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2.053410pdf
Literature cited 2: Booth, D.T., Cox, S.E., Berryman, R.D., 2006. Point sampling digital imagery with ' SamplePoint ' .Environ.Monit.Assess.123, 97-108. Broge, N.H., Leblanc, E., 2000. Comparing prediction power and stability of broadband and hyperspectral vegetation indices for estimation of green leaf area index and canopy chlorophyll density. Remote Sens Environ. 76, 156-172.

ID: 61067
Title: Combining UAV-based plant height from crop surface models, visible, and near infrared vegetation indices for biomass monitoring in barley.
Author: Juliane Bending, Kang Yu, Helge Aesen, Andreas Bolten, Simon Bennertz, Janis Broscheit, Martin L. Gnyp, Georg Bareth.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 79-87 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Pont cloud, Structure from motion, Green red vegetation index, GnyLi, SAVI, NDVI.
Abstract: In this study we combined selected vegetation indices (VIs) and plant height information to estimate biomass in a summer barley experiment. The VIs were calculated from ground-based hyperspectral data and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based red green blue (RGB) imaging. In addition, the plant height information was obtained from UAV-based multi-temporal crop surface models (CSMs). The test site is a summer barley experiment comprising 18 cultivars and two nitrogen treatments located in Western Germany. We calculated five VIs from hyperspectral data. The normalized ratio index (NRI)-based index GnyLi (Gnyp et al., 2014) showed the highest correlation (R2=0.83) with dry biomass. In addition, we calculated three visible bands VIs: the green red vegetation index (GRVI), the modified GRVI (MGRVI) and the red green blue VI (RGBVI), where the MGRVI and RGBVI are newly developed VI. We found that the visible band VIs have potential for biomass prediction prior to heading stage. A robust estimate for biomass was obtained from the plant height models (R2=0.80-0.82).In a cross validation test, we compared plant height, selected VIs and their combination with plant height information. Combining VIs and plant height, selected VIs and their combination with plant height information. Combining VIs and plant height information by using multiple linear regression or multiple non-linear regression models performed better than the VIs alone. The visible band GRVI and the newly developed RGBVI are promising but need further investigation. However, the relationship between plant height and biomass produced the most robust results. In summary, the results indicate that plant height is competitive with VIs for biomass estimation in summer barley. Moreover, visible band Vis might be a useful addition to biomass estimation. The main limitation is that the visible band VIs work for early growing stages only.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Adamchuk, V.I., Ferguson, R.B., Hergert, G.W., 2010. Soil heterogeneity and crop growth. In: Oerke, E.-C., Gerhards, R., Menz, G., Sikora, R.A. (Eds), Precision Crop Protection-The Challenge and Use of Heterogeneity. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, pp.3-16. Agisoft LLC, 2014.Agiosoft PhotoScan [WWW.Document].Agisoft Photoscan.URL http://www.agisoft.com (accessed 10.9.14).
Literature cited 2: Bannari, A.Morin, D., Bonn, F., Huete, A.R., 1995.A review of vegetation indices.Remote Sens.Rev.13, 95-120, http:/dx.doi.org/10.1080/02757259509532298. Baret, F., Guyot, G., 1991.Potentials and limits of vegetation indices for LAI and APAR assessment. Remote Sens.Environ. 35, 161-173, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016.0034-4247 (91) 90009-U.

ID: 61066
Title: Coseismic liquefaction phenomenon analysis by COSMO-SkyMed: 2012 Emilia (Italy) earthquake.
Author: Marco Chini, Matteo Albano, Michele Saroli, Luca pulvirenti, Marco Moro, Christian Bignami, Emanuela Falcucci, Stefano Gori, Giuseppe Modoni, Nazzareno Pierdicca, Salvatore Stramondo.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 65-78 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: None
Abstract: The liquefaction phenomenon that occurred in the Coseismic phase of the May 20, 2012 Emilia (Italy) earthquake (ML 5.9) is investigated. It was induced by the water pressure increase in the buried and confined sand layers. The level-ground liquefaction was the result of a chaotic ground oscillation caused by the earthquake shaking and the observed failures were due to the upward water flow caused by the excess of pore pressures. We exploited the capability of the differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) technique to detect soil liquefactions and estimate their surface displacements, as well as the high sensitivity to surface changes of complex coherence, SAR backscattering and intensity correlation. To this aim, a set of four COSMO-SkyMed X-band SAR images, covering the period April 1-June 6, 2012, we used. Geological-geotechnical analysis was also performed in order to ascertain if the detected SAR-based surface effects could be due to the compaction induced by liquefaction of deep sandy layers. In this regards, the results obtained from 13 electrical cone penetrometer tests show the presence of a fine to medium sandy layer at depths, ranging between 9 and 13 m, which probably liquefied during the earthquake, inducing vertical displacements between 3 and 16 cm. The quantitative results from geological-geotechnical analysis and the surface punctual effects measured by DInSAR decorrelation. The adopted approach permitted us to define the extent of the areas that underwent liquefaction and to quantify the local subsidence related to these phenomena. The latter achievement provides useful information that must be considered in engineering practices, in terms of expected vertical deformations.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Amorosi, A., Farina, M., Severi, P., D., Caporale, L, Di Dio, G., and 1996.Genetically related alluvial deposits across active fault zones: an example of alluvial fan-terrace correlation from the upper quaternary of the southern Po Basin Italy. Sediment .Geol. 102, 275-295. Andrus, R.D., Stokoe, K.H., 1997.Liquefaction resistance based on shear wave velocity.Nat.Ctr.for Earthquake Engrg.Res.State University of New York at Buffalo In:Proc., NCEER Workshop on Evaluation of Liquefaction Resistance of Soils, 997, pp.89.
Literature cited 2: Atzori, S., Tolomei, C., Antonioli, A., Boncori, J.P.M., Bannister, S., Trasatti, E., Pasquali, P., Salvi, S., 2012.The 2010-2011 Canterbury, New Zealand, sesmic sequence: multiple source analysis from InSAR data and modeling.J.Geophys.Res.Solid Earth 117, BO8 305. Basili, R., Barba, S., 2007.Migration and shortening rates in the northern Apennies: Italy: implications for seismic hazard. Terra Nova 19, 462-468.

ID: 61065
Title: Dry-season vegetation mass and cover fraction from SWIR1.6 and SWIR2.1 band ratio: Ground-radiometer and MODIS data in the Sahel.
Author: L.Kergoat, P.Hiernaux, C.Dardel, C.Pierre, F.Guichard, A. Kalilou.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 56-64 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: SWIR, Vegetation mass, Cover fraction, MODIS, Ground radiometry, Sahel.
Abstract: The potential of the short-wave infrared (SWIR) bands to detect dry-season vegetation mass and cover fraction is investigated with ground radiometry and MODIS data, confronted to vegetation data collected in rangeland and cropland sites in the Sahel (Senegal, Niger, Mali). The ratio of the 1.6 and 2.1 ?m bands (called STI) acquired with a ground radiometer proved well suited for grassland mass estimation up to 2500kg/ha with a linear relation (r2=0.89). A curvilinear regression is accurate for masses ranging up to 3500kg/ha.STI proved also well suited to retrieve vegetation cover fraction in crop fields, fallows and rangelands. Such dry-season monitoring with either ground or satellite data, has important applications for forage, erosion risk and fire risk assessment in semi-arid areas.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Asner, G.P., Lobell, D.B., 2000.A biogeophysical approach for automated SWIR unmixing of soils and vegetation. Remote Sens. Environ. 74, 99-112. Booth, D.T., Cox, S.E., Meikle, T.W., Fitzgerald, C., 2006. The accuracy of ground-cover measurements. Rangeland Ecol.Manage.59, 179-188.
Literature cited 2: Dardel, C., Kergoat, L., Hiernaux, P., Grippa, M., Mougin, E., Ciais, P., N ' guyen, C.C., 2014a.Rain-use-efficiency: what it tells us about the conflicting-Sahel greening and sahelian paradox. Remote Sens.6, 3446-3474. Dardel, C., Kergoat, L., Hiernaux, P., Mougin, E., Grippa, M., Tucker, C.J., and 2014b.Re-greening Sahel: 30 years of remote sensing data and field observations (Mali, Niger).Remote Sens.Environ.140, 350-364.

ID: 61064
Title: Subsidence monitoring coal area using time-series InSAR combining persistent scatterers and distrtibuted scatterers.
Author: Zhengjia Zhang, Chao Wang, Yixian Tang, Qiaoyan Fu, Hong Zhang.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 49-53 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Coal mining, InSAR, Persistent scatterer (PS) Distributed scatterer (DS), Two scale network.
Abstract: In coal mining areas, ground subsidence persistently happens, which produces serious environmental issues and affects the development of cities. To monitor the ground deformation due to coal mining, a modified time-series InSAR technique combining persistent scatterers (PSs) and distributed scatterers (DSs) is presented in this paper. In particular, DSs are efficiently identified using classified information and statistical characteristics. Furthermore, a two-scale network is introduced into traditional PSI to deal with PSs and DSs. The proposed method is performed to investigate the subsidence of Huainan City, Anhui province (China), during 2012-2013 using scenes of Radarsat-2 images. Experimental results show that the proposed method can ease the estimation complexity and significantly increase the spatial density of measurement points, which can provide more detailed deformation information. Result shows that there are obvious subsidence areas detected in the test site with subsidence velocity larger than 5 cm/year. The proposed method brings practical applications for non-urban area deformation monitoring.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Baek, J., Kim, S., -W, Park, H-J., Jung, H.-S., Kim, K.-D., Kim, J.W., 2008.Analysis of ground subsidence in coal mining area using SAR interferometry.Geosci.J.12 (3), 277-284. Berardino, P., Fornaro, G., Lanari, R., Sansosti, E., 2002.A new algorithm for surface deformation monitoring based on small baseline differential SAR interferograms.IEEE Trans.Geosci.Remote Sens.40 (11), 2375-2383.
Literature cited 2: Demoulin, A., Campbell, J., Wulf, A.D., Muls, A., Arnould, R., Gorres, B.et al., 2005.GPS monitoring of vertical ground motion in northern Ardenne-Eifel: five campaigns (1999-2003) of the HARD project.Int.J.Earth Sci. 94 (4), 515-524. Ferretti, A., Prati, C., Rocca, F., 2001.Permanent scatterers in SAR interferometry. IEEE Trans.Geosci.Remote Sens. 39 (1), 8-20.

ID: 61063
Title: RNDSI: A ratio normalized difference soil index for remote sensing of urban/suburban environments.
Author: Yingbin Deng, Changshan Wu, Miao Li, Renrong Chen.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 40-48 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Soil index, Ratio normalized difference soil index (RNDSI), Biophysical composition index (BCI), Enhanced built-up and bareness index (EBBI), Land use land cover change (LUCC).
Abstract: Understanding land use land cover change (LULCC) is a prerequisite for urban planning and environment management. For LULCC studies in urban/suburban environments, the abundance and spatial distributions of bare soil are essential due to its biophysically different properties when compared to anthropologic materials. Soil, however, is very difficult to be identified using remote sensing technologies majorly due to its complex physical and chemical compositions, as well as the lack of a direct relationship between soil abundance and its spectral signatures. This paper presents an empirical approach to enhance soil information through developing the ratio normalized difference soil index (RNDSI). The first step involves the generation of random samples of three major land cover types, namely soil, impervious surface areas (ISAs), and vegetation. With spectral signatures of these samples, a normalized difference soil index (NDSI) was proposed using the combination of bands 7 and 2 of Landsat Thematic Mapper Image. Finally, a ratio index was developed to further highlight soil covers through dividing the NDSI by the first component of tasseled cap transformation (TCI). Qualitative (e.g., frequency histogram and box charts) and quantitative analyses (e.g., spectral discrimination index and classification accuracy) were adopted to examine the performance of the developed RNDSI. Analyses of results and comparative analyses with two other relevant indices, biophysical composition index (BCI) and enhanced built-up and bareness Index (EBBI), indicate that RNDSI is promising in separating soil from ISAs and vegetation, and can serve as an input to LULCC models.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: A-Syakur, A.R., Adnyana, I., Arthana, I.W., Nuarsa, I.W., 2012.Enhanced built-up and bareness index (ebbi) for mapping built-up and bare land in an urban area. Remote Sens.4, 2957-2970. Becker, F., Choudhury, B.J., 1988.Relative sensitivity of normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) and microwave polarization difference index (MPDI) for vegetation and desertification monitoring. Remote Sens.Environ.24, 297-311.
Literature cited 2: Ben-Dor, E., 2002.Quantitative remote sensing of soil properties.Adv.Agron.75, 173-243. Deng, C., Wu, C., 2012.BCI: a biophysical composition index for remote sensing of urban environments. Remote Sens.Environ.127, 247-259.

ID: 61062
Title: A combined deficit index for regional agricultural drought assessment over semi-arid tract of India using geostationary meteorological satellite data.
Author: Swapnil S.Vyas, Bimal K. Bhattacharya, Rahul Nigam, Pulak Guhathakurta, Kripan Ghosh, N.Chattopadhyay, R.M.Gairola.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 28-39 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Satellite meteorology, Geostationary, Agricultural drought, INSAT products.
Abstract: The untimely and uneven distribution of south-west monsoon rainfall lead to agricultural drought causing reduction in food-grain production with high vulnerability over semi-arid tract (SAT) of India. A combined deficit index (CDI) has been developed from tri-monthly sum of deficit in antecedent rainfall and deficit in monthly vegetation vigor with a lag period of one month between the two. The formulation of CDI used a core biophysical (e.g., NDVI) a hydro-meteorological (e.g., rainfall) variables derived using observation from Indian geostationary satellites. The CDI was tested and evaluated in two drought years (2009 and 2012) within a span of five years (2009-2013) over SAT. The index was found to have good correlation (0.49-0.68) with standardized precipitation index (SPI) computed from rain-gauge measurements but showed lower correlation with anomaly in monthly land surface temperature (LST).Significant correlations were found between CDI and reduction in agricultural carbon productivity (0.67-0.83), evapotranspiration (0.64-0.73), agricultural grain yield (0.70-0.85).Inconsistent correlation between CDI and ET reduction was noticed in 2012 in contrast to consistent correlation between CDI and reduction in carbon productivity both in 2009 and 2012. The comparison of CDI-based drought-affected area with those from existing operational approach showed 75% overlapping regions though class-to class matching was only 40-45 %. The results demonstrated the CDI is a potential indicator for assessment of late-season regional agricultural drought based on lag-response between water supply and crop vigor.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Anon, 2010. Annual Report.2009-10.Department of Agriculture &Co-cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, 1-3, (www.agricoop.nic.in). Anon, 2012. Southwest Monsoon, End-of-season report, India Meteorological Department, 1-14, (www.imd.gov.in).
Literature cited 2: Anon, 2013.State of Indian Agriculture 2012-13.Department of Agriculture & Co-cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, 1-4, (www.agricoop.nic.in). Agarwal, S., Joshi, P.K., Shukla, Y., Roy, P.S., 2003.SPOT VEGETATION multi temporal data for classifying vegetation in South Central Asia.Curr.Sci. 84 (11), 1440-1448.

ID: 61061
Title: Operationalizing measurement of forest degradation: Identification and quantification of charcoal production in tropical dry forests using very high resolution satellite imagery.
Author: K.Dons, C.Smith-Hall, H.Meilby, R.Fensholt.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 18-27 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: REDD+, Feature extraction, Very-high-resolution imagery, Burn mark detection, Supervised classification, Miombo woodlands, Tanzania.
Abstract: Quantification of forest degradation in monitoring and reporting as well as in historic baselines is among the most challenging tasks in national REDD+ strategies. However, a recently introduced option is to base monitoring systems on subnational conditions such as prevalent degradation activities. In Tanzania, charcoal production is considered a major cause of forest degradation, but is challenging to quantify due to sub-canopy biomass loss, remote production sites and illegal trade. We studied two charcoal production sites in dry Miombo woodland representing open woodland conditions near human settlements and remote forest with nearly closed canopies. Supervised classification and adaptive thresholding were applied on a pansharpened QuickBird (QB) image to detect kiln burn marks (KBMs). Supervised classification showed reasonable detection accuracy in the remote forest site only, while adaptive thresholding was found acceptable at both locations. We used supervised classification and manual digitizing for KBM delineation and found acceptable delineation accuracy at both sites with RMSEs of 25-32 % compared to ground measurements. Regression of charcoal production on KBM area delineated from QB resulted in R2s of 0.86-0.88 with cross-validation RMSE ranging from 2.22 to 2.29 Mg charcoal per kiln. This study demonstrates, how locally calibrated remote sensing techniques may be used to identify and delineate charcoal production sites for estimation of charcoal production and associated extraction of woody biomass.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Addink, E.A., Van Coillie, F.M.B., De jong, S.M., 2012.Introdction to the GEOBIA 2010.special issue: from pixels to geographic objects in remote sensing image analysis.Int.J.Appl.Earth Obs.Geoinf.15, 1-6. Ahrends, A., Burgess, N.D., Milledge, S.A.H., Bulling, M.T., Fisher, B., Smart, J.C.R., Clarke, G.P., Mhoro, B.E., Lewis, S.L., 2010.Predictable waves of sequential forest degradation and biodiversity loss spreading from an African city.Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A. 107, 14556-14561.
Literature cited 2: Antal, M.J., Gronli, M., 2003.The art, science, and technology of charcoal production.Ind.Eng.Chem.Res.42, 1619-1640. Asner, G.P., Knapp, D.E., Broadbent, E.N., Oliveira, P.J.C., Keller, M., Silva, J.N., 2005.Selective logging in the Brazilian Amazon. Science 310, 480-482.

ID: 61060
Title: Thermal infrared imaging of the temporal variability in stomatal conductance for fruit trees.
Author: Raymond Struthers, Anna Ivanova, Laurent Tits, Rony Swennen, Pol Coppin.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 9-17 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Canopy temperature, Pear trees, Stomatal conductance, Thermal imaging, Vapor pressure deficit.
Abstract: Repeated measurements using thermal infrared remote sensing were used to characterize the change in canopy temperature over time and factors that influenced this change on ' Conference ' pear trees (Pyrus communis L). Three different types of sensors were used, a leaf porometer to measure leaf stomatal conductance, a thermal infrared camera to measure the canopy temperature and a meterological sensor to measure weather variables. Stomatal conductance of water stressed pear was significantly lower than in the control group 9 days after stress began. This decrease in stomatal conductance reduced transpiration, reducing evaporative cooling that increased canopy temperature. Using thermal infrared imaging with wavelengths between 7.5 and 13 ?m, the first significant difference was measured 18 days after stress began. A second order derivative described the average rate of change of the difference between the stress treatment and control group. The average rate of change for stomatal conductance was 0.06 (mmol m-2 s-1) and for canopy temperature was -0.04 (? C) with respect to days. Thermal infrared remote sensing and data analysis presented in this study demonstrated that the differences in canopy temperatures between the water stress and control treatment due to stomata regulation can be validated.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Abramoff, M.D., Magalhaes, P.J., Ram, S.J., 2004.Image processing with imageJ.Biophotonics Int.11, 36-42. American Society for Testing and Materials designation: E 1862-97, 1998.Standard Test Methods for Measuring and Compensating for Reflected Temperature Using Infrared Imaging Radiometers, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA.
Literature cited 2: Anderson, D.B., 1936.Relative humidity or vapor pressure deficit. Ecology 17, 277-282. Ballester, C., Castel, J., Jimenez-Bello, M.A., Castel, J.R, Intrigliolo, D.S., 2013.Thermographic measurements of canopy temperature is a useful tool for predicting water deficit effects on fruit weight in citrus trees.Agric.Water Manage.122, 1-6.

ID: 61059
Title: Classification of crops across heterogeneous agricultural landscape in Kenya using AisaEAGLE imaging spectroscopy data.
Author: Rami Piiroinen, Janne Heiskanen, Matti Mottus, Petri Pellikka.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 1-8 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Land cover classification, Imaging spectroscopy, Heterogeneous landscape, Support vector machine, Minimum noise fraction.
Abstract: Land use practices are changing at a fast pace in the tropics. In sub-Saharan Africa forests, woodlands and bushlands are being transformed for agricultural use to produce food for the rapidly growing population. The objective of this study was to assess the prospects of mapping the common agricultural crops in highly heterogeneous study area in south-eastern Kenya using high spatial and spectral resolution AisaEAGLE imaging spectroscopy data. Minimum noise fraction transformation was used to pack the coherent information in smaller set of bands and the data was classified with support vector machine (SVM) algorithm. A total of 35 plant species were mapped in the field and seven most dominant ones were used as classification was 90.8 %.To assess the possibility of excluding the remaining 28 plant species from the classification results, 10 different probability thresholds (PT) were tried with SVM. The impact of PT was assessed with validation polygons of all 35 mapped plant species .The results showed that while PT was assessed with validation polygons of all 35 mapped plant species. The results showed that while PT was increased more pixels were excluded from non-target polygons than from the polygons of the seven classification targets. This increased the OA and reduced salt-and-pepper effects in the classification results. Very high spatial resolution imagery and pixel-based classification approach worked well with small targets such as maize while there was mixing of classes on the sides of the tree crowns.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Alonzo, M., Bookhagen, D., Roberts, A., 2014. Urban tree species mapping using hyperspectral and lidar data fusion. Remote Sens.Environ.148, 70-83. Asner, G.P., Martin, R.E., 2009. Airborne spectranomics: mapping canopy chemical and taxonomic diversity in tropical forests. Fron.Ecol.Environ.7, 269-276.
Literature cited 2: Balder, C.A.Asner, G.P., 2013.Estimating vegetation beta diversity from airborne imaging spectroscopy an unsupervised clustering. Remote Sens. 5, 2057-2071. Baldyga, T.J., Miller, S.N., Driese, K.L., Gichaba, C.M., 2007. Assessing landcover changes in Kenya ' s Mau forest region using remotely sensed data. Afr.J.Ecol.46, 46-54.

ID: 61058
Title: Regional assessment of lake ecological states using Landsat: A classification scheme for alkaline-saline, flamingo lakes in the East African Rift Valley.
Author: E.J.Tebbs, J.J.Remedios, S.T.Avey, C.S.Rowland, D.M.Harper.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 40 100-108 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Landsat, Classification, Alkaline-saline series, Lesser Flamingos, Cyanobacteria, Benthic diatoms.
Abstract: In situ reflectance measurements and Landsat satellite imagery were combined to develop an optical classification scheme for alkaline-saline lakes in the Eastern Rift Valley. The classification allows the ecological state and consequent value, in this case to Lesser Flamingos, to be determined using Landsat satellite imagery. Lesser Flamingos depend on network of 15 alkaline-saline lakes in East African Rift Valley, where they feed by filtering cyanobacteria and benthic diatoms from the lakes ' waters. The classification developed here was based on a decision tree which used the reflectance in Landsat ETM+ bands 2-4 to assign one of six classes; low phytoplankton biomass; suspended sediment-dominated; microphytobenthos; high cynobacterial biomass scum and bleached cyanobacterial scum. The classification accuracy was 77% when verified against in situ measurements. Classified imagery and timeseries were produced for selected lakes, which show the different ecological behaviours of these complex systems. The results have highlighted the importance to flamingos of the food resources offered by the extremely remote Lake Logipi. This study has demonstrated the potential of high spatial resolution, low-spectral resolution sensors for providing ecologically valuable information at a regional scale, for alkaline-saline lakes and similar hypereutrophic inland waters.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Brezonik, P., Menken, K.D., Bauer, M., 2005. Landsat-based remote sensing of lake water quality characteristics including chlorophyll and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM).Lake Reserv.Manag. 21 (4), 373-382. Brown, L., 1971.The breeding behaviour of the lesser flamingo Phoeniconaias minor. Ibis 113 (2), 147-172.
Literature cited 2: Castanier, S., Bernet-Rollande, M.-C., Maurin, A.Perthuisot, J.-P., 1993. Effects of microbial activity on the hydrochemistry and sedimentology of Lake Logipi, Kenya. In: Saline Lakes, held in Bolivia.22-29 March 1991.Vol. 87 of Developments in Hydrology. Springer, pp.99-112. Chander, G., Markham, B.L., Helder, D.L., 2009. Summary of current radiometric calibration coefficients for Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+, and EO-1 ALI sensors. Remote Sens.Environ.113, 893-903, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2009.01.007.

ID: 61057
Title: Mapping burn severity in a disease-impacted forest landscape using Landsat and MASTER imagery.
Author: Gang Chen, Margaret R.Metz.David M.Rizzo, Ross K. Meentemeyer.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 40 91-99 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Burn severity, forest fire, Disease invasion, MASTER, Landsat, Sudden oak death, Interacting disturbances.
Abstract: Global environmental change has increased forest vulnerability to the occurrence of interacting disturbances, including wildfires and invasive diseases. Mapping post-fire burn severity in a disease-affected forest often faces challenges because burned and infested trees may exhibit a high similarity in spectral reflectance. In this study, we combined (pre-and post-fire) Landsat imagery and (post-fire) high-spectral resolution airborne MASTER data [MODIS (moderate resolution imaging radioradiometer)/ASTER (advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer)] to map burn severity in California coastal forest environment, where a non-native forest diseases sudden oak death (SOD) was causing substantial tree mortality. Results showed that the use of Landsat plus MASTER bundle performed better than using the individual sensors in most of the evaluated forest strata from ground to canopy layers (i.e., substrate, Shrubs, intermediate-sized trees, dominant trees and average), with the best model performance achieved at the dominant tree layer. The mid to thermal infrared spectral bands (3.0-12 ?m) from MASTER were found to augment Landsat ' s visible to shortwave infrared bands in burn severity assessment. We also found that infested and uninfested forests similarly experienced moderate to high degrees of burns where CBI (composite burn index) values were higher than 1.However, differences occurred in the regions with low burn severity (CBI values lower than 1), where uninfested stands revealed a much lower burn effect than that in infested stands, possibly due to their higher resilience to small fire disturbances as a result of higher leaf water content.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: ASTER GDEM Validation Tem, 2009.ASTER Global DEM Validation: Summary Report. June 2009.Available online: https:Ipdaac.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/public/aster/docs/ASTER.GDEM.Validation_Summary_Report.pdf. Asner, G.P., 2013. Geography of forest disturbance.Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A. 110, 3711-3712.
Literature cited 2: Bergot, M., Cloppet, E., Perarnaud, BV. Deque, M., Marcais, B., Desprez-Loustau, M.,-L., 2004.Simulation of potential range expansion of oak disease caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi under climate change. Global Change Biol.10, 1552-1939. Carcaillet, C., Bergeron, Y., Richard, P.J.H., Frechette, B., Gauthier, S., Prairie, Y.T., 2001. Change of fire frequency in the eastern Canadian boreal forests during the Holocene: does vegetation composition or climate trigger the fire regime? J.Ecol.89, 930-946.

ID: 61056
Title: Rating health and stability of engineering structures via classification indexes of InSAR Persistent Scatterers.
Author: Fabio Pratesi, Deodato Tapete, Gloria Trenzi, Chiara Del Ventisette, Sandro Moretti.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 40 81-90 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Structural deformation monitoring, Classification indexes, Synthetic aperture radar, Persistent Scatterer Interferometry.
Abstract: We propose a novel set of indexes to classify the information content of persistent Scatterers (PS) and rate the health of engineering structures at urban to local scale. PS are automatically sampled and grouped via ' control areas ' coinciding with the building and its surrounding environment. Density over the ' control areas ' and velocity of PS are converter respectively into: completeness of Information index (Ici) that reflects the PS coverage grade; and Conservation Critically Indexes (Icc) which rate the health condition of the monument separately for the object and surrounding control areas. The deformation pattern over the structure is classified as isolated (i) or diffused (d) based on Velocity Distribution Index (Ivd).Both Ici and Icc are rated from A to E classes using a colour -coded system that intentionally emulates an energy-efficiency scale, to encourage the exploitation of PS by stakeholders and end-users in the practice of engineering surveying. Workability and reliability of the classification indexes are demonstrated over the urban heritage of Florence, Italy, using well established ERS-1/2 (1992-2000) descending, ENVISAT (2003-2010) ascending and descending PS datasets. The indexes are designed in perspective of handling outputs from InSAR processing of higher-resolution time series.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Bateson, L., Cuevas, M., Crosetto, M., Cigna, Schijf, M., Evans, H., 2012.PANGEO; enable access information in support of GMES: DELIVERABLE 3.5 production manual. Version 1. Available at: </http:/pangeoproject.eu/sites/default/files/pangeo.other/D3.5-PnGeo-production-Manual v1.3pdf>, (accessed 07.03.14) Berti, M., Corsini, A., Franceschini, S., Jannacone, J.P., 2013.Automated classification of Persistent Scatterers Interferometry time series. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst.Sci.13, 1945-1958.
Literature cited 2: Chang, L., Hansen, R.F., 2014.Detection of cavity migration and shinkhole risk radar interferometric time series. Remote Sens. Environ. 147 (5), 56-64. Cigna, F., Bateson, L.B., Jordan, C.J., Dashwood, C., 2014.Simulating SAR geometric distortions and predicting Persistent Scatterer densities for ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT-C band SAR and InSAR applications: nationwide feasibility assessment to monitor the landmass of Great Britain with SAR imagery. Remote Sens.Environ.152, 441-466.