Enter records

ID: 61080
Title: Breeding record of Indian vulture (Gyps indicus) in Moyar Valley, Tamil Nadu, India.
Author: R.Venkitachalam, S.Senthilnathan.
Editor: R. Srinivasan.
Year: 2015
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: Current Science Vol. 109 (2) 258-259 (2015)
Subject: Current Science.
Keywords: Breeding record of Indian vulture, Gys indicus, Moyar Valley, Tamil Nadu, India.
Abstract: Gyps vulture population in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian has declined due to accidental poisoning when they feed on dead livestock that has been already treated with diclofenac. A recent study has shown that aceclofenac is toxic for the Gyps vultures in India. The drug Ketoprofen is toxic for the African white-backed vulture (Gyps Africanus) and Cape griffon vultures (Gyps corprotheres), and toxic levels of residual ketoprofen have been noted in cattle caracasses in India. Conservation efforts in the country have taken up through research and captive breeding programme to save three critically endangered Gyps species of vultures, namely Oriental white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris).
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Oaks, J.I., Gilbert, M., Virani, M.Z., Watson, R.T.and Meteyer, C.U., Nature, 2004, 427, 630-633. Prakash, V., et al., Biol.Conserv, 2003, 109, 381-390.
Literature cited 2: Swan, G. et al., Biol.Lett, 2006, 4, 1-4. Subramanya, S.and Naveen, O.S., Indian Birds, 2006, 2, 32-34.

ID: 61079
Title: Biosynthesis of copper nanoparticles using aqueous extract of Eucalyptus sp. plant leaves.
Author: Vasudeo Kulkarni, Sampat Suryawanshi, Pramod Kulkarni.
Editor: R. Srinivasan.
Year: 2015
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: Current Science Vol. 109 (2) 255-257 (2015)
Subject: Current Science.
Keywords: Biosynthesis of copper, nanaoparticles, Eucalyptus sp., Plant leaves.
Abstract: Nanobiotechnology is an enabling is an enabling technology that deals with nanometer-sized materials in diverse fields of science such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, physics, chemistry and materials science. In addition to many physical and chemical methods which have been developed for preparing metallic nanoparticles, nanobiotechnology also serves as a significant technique in the progress of clean, non-toxic and environment friendly procedures for synthesis and assembly of metallic nanoparticles. The biosynthesis of nanoparticles has attracted attention of many researchers owing to their physical and chemical processes being expensive and drastic reaction conditions.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Salata, O.V., J.Nanobiotechnol. 2004, 2, 3. Mohanpuria, P., Rana, K.N. and Yadav, S.K., J.Nanoparticle Res., 2008, 10, 507-517.
Literature cited 2: Subhankari, I. and Nayak, P., World J.Nanosci.Technol, 2013, 2, 14-17. Saranyaadevi, K., Subha, V., Ravindran, R.E. and Renganathan, S., Int.J.Chem.Tech.Res, 2014, 6, 4533-4541.

ID: 61078
Title: Thermal neutron flux measurements using lithium carbonate and liquid scintillation counting system.
Author: R.V.Kolekar, S.P.D.Bhade, Rajiv Kumar, Priyanka Reddy, Rajvir Singh, K.S.Pradeepkumar.
Editor: R. Srinivasan.
Year: 2015
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: Current Science Vol. 109 (2) 253-255 (2015)
Subject: Current Science.
Keywords: Thermal neutron, flux measurements, lithium carbonate, Liquid scintillation, counting system.
Abstract: Lithium carbonate in pellet form is frequently used for estimation of tritium production rate in irradiated samples in fusion blanket neutronics experiment and the activity is measured by liquid scintillation counting technique. In the present work, lithium carbonate powder was used for measurements of low and high thermal neutron fluxes by counting the samples in liquid scintillation counting system.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Dierckx, R., Nucl.Instrum, Methods, 1973, 107, 397-398. Sato, S., Ochiai, K., Hori, J., Vertzilov, Y., Klix, A., Wada, M., Terada, Y., Yamauchi, M., Morimoto, Y., and Nishitani, T., Nuke. Fusion, 2003, 43, 7-15.
Literature cited 2: Batistoni, P.et al., Fusion Eng.Des. 2005, 75, 911-915. Verzilov, Y., Maekawa, F.and Oyana, Y., J., Nucl.Sci.Technol, 1996, 33, 390-395.

ID: 61077
Title: South Asian Intellectual Property Knowledge Network-promoting intellectual property rights education in India and other countries.
Author: Tarakanta Jana
Editor: R. Srinivasan.
Year: 2015
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: Current Science Vol. 109 (2) 251-252 (2015)
Subject: Current Science.
Keywords: Intellectual property Knowledge Network, Intellectual property rights, Education.
Abstract: All the SAARC countries (except Maldives and Afghanistan) have intellectual property right (IPR) laws in place and there is also a lack of proper awareness in the sub-continent. Understanding the above need and growing use of massive online open courses (MOOCs), we have developed an e-portal ' South Asian Intellectual Property Knowledge Network (SAIPKN) ' which provides nine basic IPR course modules in English for enrolled users. This commentary outlines how MOOCs have been used for promoting IPR education and awareness in India, neighboring SAARC and other countries.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Kim, Y.K. et al., Res. Policy, 2012, 41, 358-375. Jana, T., et al., Curr. Sci., 2014, 106, 1190-1195.
Literature cited 2: Chaudhary, A. et al., World Patent Inf., 2014, 39, 69-72. Balakrishnan, N., Curr. Sci., 2001, 81, 966-976.

ID: 61076
Title: Chuskor: an indigeneous watermill for sustainable resource utilization by the Monpa tribes of Arunachal Pradesh.
Author: Gendan Tsering, Gibji Nimasow and Oyi Dai Nimasow.
Editor: R. Srinivasan.
Year: 2015
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: Current Science Vol. 109 (2) 247-250 (2015)
Subject: Current Science.
Keywords: Chuskor, Indigenous, sustainable, resource, utilization, Monpa tribes, Arunachal Pradesh, India.
Abstract: The Monpas are one of the major tribes of Arunachal Pradesh inhabiting the Western-most part of the state. They live in close proximity to the forest and other natural resources with rich indigenous knowledge system (IKS) for sustainable development. Chuskor, an indigenous technique for grinding grains into fine flour operated by water power for sustainable water resource utilization is reported here. We also analyse the role of Chuskor as an IKS which, if preserved and continued, may help in the sustainable utilization of renewable resources by local people in difficult mountainous areas.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Eden, S., Prog.Hum.Geogr, 2000, 24, 111-118. Brundtland Commission, Our common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987.
Literature cited 2: Malthus, T.R., An Essay on Principle of Population, St.Paul ' s church Yard, J.Johnson, London, 1798.

ID: 61075
Title: Flora of South Kanara (Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts of Karnataka)
Author: K Gopalakrishna Bhat
Editor: None
Year: 2015
Publisher: None
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: None
Keywords: Flora of South Kanara
Abstract: None
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None

ID: 61074
Title: Detection of Anomalous crop condition and soil variability mapping using a 26 year Landsat record and the Palmer crop moisture index.
Author: E.R.Venteris, J.D.Tagested, J.L.Downs, C.J.Murray.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 160-170 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Monitoring, Geologic injection, NDVI, Corn, Soybean, Soil mapping.
Abstract: Cost-effective and reliable vegetation monitoring methods are needed for applications ranging from traditional agronomic mapping, to verifying the safety to geologic injection activities. A particular challenge is defining baseline crop conditions and subsequent anomalies from long term imagery records (Landsat) in the face of large spatiotemporal variability. We develop a new method for defining baseline crop response (near peak growth) using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from 26 years (1986-2011) of Landsat data for 400km2 surrounding a planned geologic carbon sequestration site near Jacksonville, Illinois. The normal score transform (yNDVI) was applied on a field by field basis to accentuate spatial patterns and level differences due to planting times. We tested crop type and soil moisture (Palmer crop moisture index (CMI) as predictors of expected crop condition. A spatial pattern in (YNDVI) was applied on a field of by field basis to accentuate spatial patterns and level differences due to planting times. We tested crop type and soil moisture (Palmer crop moisture index (CMI) as predictors of expected crop condition, field location (topography and soils), and annual moisture. Wet toposequence positions (depressions) were negatively correlated to CCMI and dry positions (crests) positively correlated. However, only 21% of the landscape showed a statistically significant (p<0.05) linear relationship. To map anomalous crop conditions, we defined a tolerance interval based on YNDVI statistics. Tested on independent image (2013), 63 of 1483 possible fields showed unusual crop condition. While the method is not directly suitable for crop health assessment, the spatial patterns in correlation between YNDVI and CCMI have potential applications for pest damage detection and edaphological soil mapping, especially in the developing world.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Alley, W.M., 1984.ThePalmer drought severity index: limitations and assumptions.J.Clim.Appl.Meterol.23, 1100-1109. Chavez Jr., PS., 1988.An improved dark-object subtraction technique for atmospheric scattering correction of multispectral data. Remote Sens.Environ.24, 459-479.
Literature cited 2: Chen, Kissel, D.E, West, L.T., Adkins, W., 2000. Field-scale mapping of surface soil organic carbon using remotely sensed imagery. Soil Sci.Soc.Am.J.64, 746-753. Denmead, O.T., Shaw, R.H., 1960.The effects of soil moisture stress at different stages of growth on the development and yield of corn.Agron.J.64, 746-753.

ID: 61073
Title: New Vegetation type map of India prepared using satellite remote sensing: Comparison with global vegetation maps and utilities.
Author: P.S.Roy, M.D.Behera, M.S.R.Murthy, Arijit Roy, Sarnam Singh, S.P.S. Kushwaha, C.S.Jha, S.Sudhakar, P.K.Joshi, Ch.Sudhakar Reddy, Stutee Gupta, Girish Pujar, C.B.S.Dutt, V.K. Srivastava,M.C.Porwal, PoonamTripathi, J.S.Singh, Vishwas Chitale, A.K.Skidm
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 142-159 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Forest type, Accuracy assessment, Visual interpretation, Climate, GPS
Abstract: A seamless vegetation type of India (scale 1:50,000) prepared using medium-resolution IRS LISS-III images is presented. The map was created using an on-screen visual interpretation technique and has an accuracy of 90 %, as assessed using 15, 565 ground control points. India has hitherto been using potential vegetation/forest type map prepared by Champion and Seth in 1968. We characterized and mapped further the vegetation type distribution in the country in terms of occurrence and distribution, area occupancy, percentage of protected area (PA) covered by each vegetation type, range of elevation, mean annual temperature and precipitation over the past 100 years. A remote sensing-amenable hierarchical classification scheme that accommodates natural and semi-natural systems was conceptualized, and the natural vegetation was classified into forests, scrub/shrub lands and grasslands on the basis of extent of vegetation cover. We discuss the distribution and potential utility of the vegetation type map in a broad range of ecological, climatic and conservation applications from global, national and local perspectives. We used 15, 565 ground control points to assess the accuracy of products available globally (i.e., GlobCover, Holdridge ' s life zone map and potential natural, vegetation (PNV) maps). Hence we recommend that the map prepared herein be used widely. This vegetation type map is the most comprehensive one developed for India so far. It was prepared using 23.5 m seasonal satellite remote sensing data, field samples and information relating to the biogeography, climate and soil. The digital map is now available through a web portal (http:bis.iirs.gov.in)
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: AICHI Target, 2010.Secretariat of the Convention for Biological Diversity Aichi Target: Target 11-Technical Rationale extended (Provided in Document COP/10/INF/12/Rev.1) Secretariat of the convention for Biological Diversity, Montreal, Que. Anonymous, 2008.Biodiversity Characterisation at landscape level using remote sensing and Geographic Information System-Project Manual. NRSC, ISRO, Hyderabad, India, pp.1-198.
Literature cited 2: Behera, M.D., Jeganathan, C., Srivastava, S., Kushwaha, S.P.S., Roy, P.S., 2000. Utility of GPS in classification accuracy assessment.Curr.Sci. 97 (12), 1696-1700. Behera, M.D., Kushwaha, S.P.S., Roy, P.S., 2001.Forest vegetation characterization and mapping using IRS-1C satellite images in eastern Himalayan region. Geocarto Int. 16 (3), 53-62.

ID: 61072
Title: An improved atmospheric correction algorithm for applying MERIS data to very turbid inland waters.
Author: : Lalu Muhamad Jaelani, Bunkei Matsushita, Wei Yang, Takehiko Fukushima.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 128-141 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: Inland waters, Remote-sensing, Aerosol model, Turbidity of water body, Atmospheric correction, Bio-optical model.
Abstract: Atmospheric correction (AC) is a necessary process when quantitatively monitoring water quality parameters from satellite data. However, it is still a major challenge to carry out AC for turbid coastal and inland waters. In this study, we propose an improved AC algorithm named N-NWI (new standard Gordon and Wang ' s algorithms with an iterative process and bio-optical model) for applying MERIS data very turbid inland waters (i.e., waters with a water-leaving reflectance at 864.8 nm between 0.001 and 0.01).The N-GWI algorithm incorporates three improvements to avoid certain invalid assumptions that limit the applicability of the existing algorithms in very turbid inland waters. First, the N-GWI uses a fixed aerosol type (coastal aerosol) but permits aerosol concentration to vary at each pixel; this improvement omits a complicated requirement for aerosol model selection based only on satellite data. Second, it shifts the reference band from 670 nm to 754 nm to validate the assumption that the total absorption coefficient at the reference band from 670 nm to 754 nm to validate the assumption that the total absorption coefficient at the reference band can be replaced by that of pure water, and thus can avoid the uncorrected estimation of the total absorption coefficient at the reference band in very turbid waters. Third, the N-GWI generates a semi-analytical relationship instead of an empirical one for estimation of the spectral slope of particle backscattering. Our analysis showed that the N-GWI improved the accuracy of atmospheric correction in two very turbid Asian lakes (Lake Kasumigaura, Japan, and Lake Dianchi, China), with a normalized mean absolute error (NMAE) of less than 22 % for wavelengths longer than 620 nm. However, the N-GWI exhibited poor performance in moderately turbid waters (the NMAE values were larger than 83.6 % in the four American coastal waters). The applicability of the N-GWI, which includes both advantages and limitations, was discussed.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: Ammenberg, P., Flink, P., Lindell, T., Pierson, D., Strombeck, N., 2002. Bio-optical modeling combined with remote sensing to assess water quality.Int.J.Remote Sens.23 (8), 1621-1638. Bailey, S., W., Werdell, P.J., 2006. A multi-sensor approach for the on-orbit validation of ocean color satellite data products.
Literature cited 2: Bailey, S.W., Franz, B.A., Werdell, P.J., 2010. Estimation of near-infrared water-leaving reflectance for satellite ocean color data processing.Opt.Express 18 (7), 7521-7527, http:dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.18.007521. Dekker, A.G., Vos, R.J., Peters, S.W.M., 2002. Analytical algorithms for lake water TSM estimation for retrospective analyses of TM and SPOT sensor data.Int.J.Remote Sens. 23 (1), 15-35.

ID: 61071
Title: An approach of surface coal fire detection from ASTER and Landsat-8 thermal data: Jharia coal field, India.
Author: Priyom Roy, Arindam Guha, K.Vinod Kumar.
Editor: F.D.van der Meer
Year: 2015
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION. Vol. 39 120-127 (2015).
Subject: APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION.
Keywords: ASTER, Landsat-8, Coal fire, Jharia coal field, Radiant temperature.
Abstract: Radiant temperature images from thermal sensing sensors are used to delineate surface coal fires, by deriving a cut-off temperature to separate coal-fire from non-fire pixels. Temperature contrast of coal fire and background elements (rocks and vegetation etc.) controls this cut-off temperature. This contrast varies across the coal field, as it is influenced by variability of associated rock types, proportion of vegetation cover and intensity of coal fires etc. We have delineated coal fires from background, based on separation in data clusters in maximum v/s mean radiant temperature (13th band of ASTER and 10th band of Landsat-8) scatter-plot, derived using randomly distributed homogeneous pixel-blocks (9 x 9 pixels for ASTER and 27 x 27 pixels for Landsat-8), covering the entire coal bearing geological formation. It is seen that, for both the datasets, overall temperature variability of background and fires can be addressed using this regional cut-off. However, the summer time ASTER data could not delineate fire pixels for one specific mine (Bhulanbararee) as opposed to the winter time Landsat-8 data. The contrast of radiant temperature of fire and background terrain elements, specific to this mine, is different from the regional contrast of fire and background, during this summer. This is due to the higher solar heating of background rocky outcrops, thus reducing their temperature contrast with fire. The specific cut-off temperature determined for this mine, to extract this fire, differs from the regional cut-off. This is derived by reducing the pixel-block size of the temperature data. It is seen that, summer-time ASTER image is useful for fire detection but required additional processing to determine a local threshold, along with the regional threshold to capture all the fires. However, the winter Landsat-8 data was better for fire detection with a regional threshold.
Location: T E 15 New Biology Building.
Literature cited 1: ASTER L1B Manual Ver.3.0, 1996. http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/for_scientists/atbd/docs/ASTER/atbd-ast-01.pdf BCCL, 2008.Master Plan for Dealing with Fire, Subsidence and Rehabilitation in the Leasehold of BCCL Bharat Coking Coal Limited, Dhanabad, India.
Literature cited 2: BCCL, 2013.http://www.bccl.gov.in (accessed at 21.01.14). Chatterjee, R.S., Wahiduzzaman, Md, Shah, A., Raju, E.V.R., Lakhera, R.C., Dadhwal, V.K., 2007. Dynamicsof coal fire in Jharia coalfield, Jharkhand, India during the 1990 as observed from space.Curr.Sci.92, 61-68.

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.