Prediction of kiwifruit orchard characteristics from satellite images

Precision Agriculture - The dry matter content of New Zealand kiwifruit is currently measured using destructive testing of a 90-fruit sample. Dry matter content varies from 14 to 20% with a...     

Millennial-scale dynamics of southern Amazonian rain forests

Amazonian rain forest-savanna boundaries are highly sensitive to climatic change and may also play an important role in rain forest speciation. However, their dynamics over millennial time scales are poorly understood. Here, we present late Quaternary pollen records from the southern margin of Amazonia, which show that the humid evergreen rain forests of eastern Bolivia have been expanding southward over the past 3000 years and that their present-day limit represents the southernmost extent of Amazonian rain forest over at least the past 50,000 years. This rain forest expansion is attributed to increased seasonal latitudinal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which can in turn be explained by Milankovitch astronomic forcing.     

Antarctica: measuring glacier velocity from satellite images

Many Landsat images of Antarctica show distinctive flow and crevasse features in the floating part of ice streams and outlet glaciers immediately below their grounding zones. Some of the features, which move with the glacier or ice stream, remain visible over many years and thus allow time-lapse measurements of ice velocities. Measurements taken from Landsat images of features on Byrd Glacier agree well with detailed ground and aerial observations. The satellite-image technique thus offers a rapid and cost-effective method of obtaining average velocities, to a first order of accuracy, of many ice streams and outlet glaciers near their termini.     

Method for estimation of ocean current velocity from satellite images

Barotropic instability waves on a shear interface propagate at the average speed of the water on the two sides. Assuming the instability to be excited by tidal oscillations, the phase speed is the wavelength divided by the tidal period. If the water is at rest on one side of the shear layer the current speed on the other side can be calculated. This method, applied to the Gulf Stream beyond Cape Hatteras as seen in satellite images, gives estimates of current speed in general agreement with in situ observations.     

Long waves in the eastern equatorial pacific ocean: a view from a geostationary satellite

During 1975, westward-moving long waves with a period of about 25 days and a wavelength of 1000 kilometers were observed at a sea surface temperature front in the equatorial Pacific on infrared images obtained by a geostationary environmental satellite system. The absence of these waves during 1976, and the above-average equatorial sea surface temperatures during 1976, may be related to a decrease in the southeasterly trade winds during that year.     

Predatory dinosaur remains from madagascar: implications for the cretaceous biogeography of gondwana

Recent discoveries of fossil vertebrates from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar include several specimens of a large theropod dinosaur. One specimen includes a nearly complete and exquisitely preserved skull with thickened pneumatic nasals, a median frontal horn, and a dorsal projection on the parietals. The new materials are assigned to the enigmatic theropod group Abelisauridae on the basis of a number of unique features. Fossil remains attributable to abelisaurids are restricted to three Gondwanan landmasses: South America, Madagascar, and the Indian subcontinent. This distribution is consistent with a revised paleogeographic reconstruction that posits prolonged links between these landmasses (via Antarctica), perhaps until late in the Late Cretaceous.     

国产高分系列遥感卫星影像的批量自动配准研究

【目的 】遥感影像的精确几何配准对于国产高分系列卫星影像处理以及后续的农情监测等应用至关重要。【方法 】文章基于自动配准和正射校正程序包AROP,选择16 m分辨率的高分1号、高分6号宽幅影像和3 m分辨率高分2号、高分7号多光谱影像作为实验数据,以经过几何精校正的10 m分辨率的Sentinel-2影像和3 m分辨率的谷歌影像为基准影像,在农业用地场景和城市用地场景下,进行批量的几何配准实验,对配准的结果进行目视检验和定量评价。同时,为了更好地匹配高分影像与Sentinel-2影像,将高分1号、高分6号宽幅数据重采样到15 m的分辨率进行几何配准。【结果 】在农业用地和城市用地场景下,配准精度大多达到了0.5个像元以内,满足了影像配准的精度标准。其中15 m分辨率的高分1号和高分6号的配准精度分别为0.31～0.54和0.33～0.53,均小于0.6个像元;3 m分辨率的高分2号的配准精度在0.47～0.6之间,小于0.6个像元;高分7号的配准精度在0.44～0.49之间,小于0.5个像元,而且所有高分系列遥感卫星在配准后均目视效果出色,接边良好。【结论 】利用AROP对15 m分辨...     

The theropod ancestry of birds: new evidence from the late cretaceous of madagascar

A partial skeleton of a primitive bird, Rahona ostromi, gen. et sp. nov., has been discovered from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. This specimen, although exhibiting avian features such as a reversed hallux and ulnar papillae, retains characteristics that indicate a theropod ancestry, including a pubic foot and hyposphene-hypantra vertebral articulations. Rahona has a robust, hyperextendible second digit on the hind foot that terminates in a sicklelike claw, a unique characteristic of the theropod groups Troodontidae and Dromaeosauridae. A phylogenetic analysis places Rahona with Archaeopteryx, making Rahona one of the most primitive birds yet discovered.     

Acid rain: ionic correlations in the eastern United States, 1980-1981

Hydrogen ions in precipitation are correlated much more closely with sulfate than with nitrate, whereas ammonium ions are correlated more closely with nitrate than with sulfate. Target loadings of 14 to 16 kilograms of wet sulfate deposition per hectare per year, instead of 20 as suggested hitherto, are probably necessary to produce average pH values of 4.6 to 4.7, the approximate boundary levels for damage to aquatic ecosystems. Cluster analysis reveals that there are three linked groups of ions related to air pollution, agriculture, and sea spray.     

模拟酸雨对我国亚热带森林土壤有机碳矿化的影响研究

酸雨污染已成为威胁土壤和植物健康的全球性环境问题。为探究酸雨对我国亚热带森林土壤有机碳矿化的影响,选取南京紫金山区域酸碱性不同的森林土壤,通过室内培养试验,以仅添加纯水(CK)和纯水+凋落叶(T0)为对照,模拟凋落叶添加后,pH分别为1.65(T1)、3.67(T2)、5.55(T3)的酸雨对土壤有机碳矿化的影响。结果表明,碱性土壤条件下,各处理CO₂累积排放量为1.67～3.35 g·kg^-1,表现为T3>T2>T1>T0>CK;而在酸性土壤中,CO₂累积排放量为0.99～3.90 g·kg^-1,表现为T3>T0>T2>CK>T1。与CK相比,添加凋落叶(T0)后,酸性、碱性土壤CO₂累积排放量分别增加了41.20%和71.72%。轻度酸雨(T3)能促进CO₂排放,加快凋落叶的分解;重度酸雨(T1)会显著抑制酸性土壤有机碳和凋落叶的矿化(P<0.05),但加速了碱性土壤有机碳和凋落叶的矿化;而中度酸雨...     

Automated interpretation of protective forest plantings on high-resolution satellite images

An important problem in forestry interpretation of satellite images is the identification of areas with a different species composition. Visual interpretation is presently supported by means of computer technologies. The article presents the results of determining the reliability of automated interpretation of pure protective forest plantings on high-resolution satellite images in ENVI software.     

青藏高原东缘3种次生林优势种的种群结构与数量动态

【目的】以青藏高原东缘甘肃南部3种主要次生林为研究对象,探讨其优势种种群结构和数量动态。【方法】选择具有代表性的辽东栎、红桦和糙皮桦种群,各设置8块40 m×40 m的样地,对样地内所有树木进行每木检尺,以测定的胸径数据为基础,以径级代替龄级,将胸径＜3 cm作为Ⅰ龄级,其后以4 cm为标准进行龄级划分,统计各龄级个体数量并进行相关整理后,分析各种群的龄级结构,编制包括死亡率（q_x）、消失率（K_x）和平均期望寿命值（e_x）等参数在内的种群静态生命表,绘制存活曲线,计算考虑外部干扰时的种群数量变化动态指数（Ｖ_pi）、不考虑外部干扰时的种群数量变化动态指数（V′_pi）和对外界干扰所承担的风险概率指数极大值（P_max）,最后对未来经过2,4,6,8个龄级后各种群的数量动态进行时间序列预测,以揭示青藏高原东缘甘肃南部3种次生林优势种的种群现状、种群结构及预测种群未来发展趋势。【结果】① 辽东栎、红桦和糙皮桦3种次生林种群Ⅰ龄级幼苗数量不足,均以Ⅱ龄级幼苗数量最多,分别占种群个体总数的43.62%,30.07%和43.30%;其后随着龄级的增大,种群个体平稳下降,虽然群落为稳定型,但是林木径级较小,各龄级个体数分布不合理。② 辽东栎、红桦、糙皮桦种群的q_x和K_x在Ⅰ龄级最大,q_x分别为78.0%,72.0%和76.2%,K_x依次为151.3%,127.3%和143.5%,且随着龄级的增加,q_x和K_x均逐渐减小;各种群e_x随着龄级增加先增大后减小,辽东栎和红桦均在Ⅵ龄级最大,糙皮桦在Ⅴ龄级最大;种群结构均呈增长型,且存活曲线趋近于Deevery-Ⅲ型。③ 3种次生林种群结构的V_pi大于V′_pi且均大于0,P_max也均大于0,说明 3种次生林均属于对外界干扰敏感的增长型种群。④ 时间序列预测结果表明,未来经过2,4,6,8个龄级后,各种群个体发展呈增长趋势,但辽东栎和红桦种群在发展过程中存在波动性,表现出前期略减、后期稳定的特征。【结论】3种次生林种群结构和发展趋势均呈稳定增长型,但是Ⅰ龄级幼苗数量不足,应采取禁牧、禁采等措施,保护幼苗成活,保证种群的更新发展。     

应用遥感数据反演针叶林有效叶面积指数研究

以红壤丘陵典型区千烟洲及其周边为研究区,利用陆地卫星TM图像数据和同期野外实测的37个针叶林样地有效叶面积指数数据,分析了遥感植被指数与湿地松、杉木林、马尾松和针叶林总体之间的相关关系,进而分别建立了遥感植被指数与不同林型针叶林有效叶面积指数间的线性与非线性回归模型.研究表明,遥感植被指数与不同林型针叶林有效叶面积指数存在较好的相关性,但不同林型之间的相关系数存在一定差异;所建立的针叶林有效叶面积指数遥感反演模型以三次曲线回归方程拟合精度最高.     

集水区尺度下东北东部森林土壤呼吸的模拟

IBIS模型是陆地碳循环模拟的有利工具,土壤呼吸是陆地碳循环的关键生态学过程,利用IBIS模型模拟估算土壤呼吸对陆地碳循环和全球变化研究具有重要意义。在地形数据、植被参数、土壤质地参数和气象数据支持下,利用改造后的IBIS模型模拟2004年张家沟集水区5种森林类型的土壤呼吸,以实测数据对模拟结果进行验证,并分析土壤呼吸时空格局及其与土壤温湿度的关系。结果表明:(1)改造后的IBIS模型模拟的土壤呼吸值与实测值相关性显著,可较好地用于集水区尺度的森林土壤呼吸模拟估算。(2)土壤呼吸年均值为571 gC m^-2 a^-1,年土壤呼吸空间格局与生长季土壤呼吸空间格局相似,均表现为高值区主要分布在北部、西南和东南区域,低值区主要分布在沟谷附近,该格局与集水区的地形、植被及其组合等因素有关。(3)生长季内,5种森林类型土壤呼吸的季节性变化均呈单峰曲线形式,土壤呼吸峰值均出现在7月,其中落叶松林峰值最低,为85.5 gC/m²,杂木林峰值最高,为146.3 gC/m²。(4)5种森林类型的土壤呼吸值与5 cm深土壤温度存在极显著的指数关系,与土壤湿度的相关性较低,土壤温度的变化可以解释土壤呼吸约70%的季节变化。     

Timing of hot spot--related volcanism and the breakup of madagascar and India

Widespread basalts and rhyolites were erupted in Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous. These are considered to be related to the Marion hot spot and the breakup of Madagascar and Greater India. Seventeen argon-40/argon-39 age determinations reveal that volcanic rocks and dikes from the 1500-kilometer-long rifted eastern margin of Madagascar were emplaced rapidly (mean age = 87.6 +/- 0.6 million years ago) and that the entire duration of Cretaceous volcanism on the island was no more than 6 million years. The evidence suggests that the thick lava pile at Volcan de l'Androy in the south of the island marks the focal point of the Marion hot spot at approximately 88 million years ago and that this mantle plume was instrumental in causing continental breakup.