The main objective of the study was to delineate Ground Water Potential Zones(GWPZ)in Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts,Zimbabwe,utilizing geospatial technologies and thematic mapping.Various factors,including geolog...The main objective of the study was to delineate Ground Water Potential Zones(GWPZ)in Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts,Zimbabwe,utilizing geospatial technologies and thematic mapping.Various factors,including geology,soil,rainfall,land use/land cover,drainage density,lineament density,slope,Terrain Ruggedness Index(TRI),and Terrain Wetness Index(TWI),were incorporated as thematic layers.The Multi Influencing Factor(MIF)and Analytical Hierarchical Process(AHP)techniques were employed to assign appropriate weights to these layers based on their relative significance,prioritizing GWPZ mapping.The integration of these weighted layers resulted in the generation of five GWPZ classes:Very high,high,moderate,low,and very low.The MIF method identified 3%of the area as having very high GWPZ,19%as having high GWPZ,40%as having moderate GWPZ,24%as having low GWPZ,and 14%as having very low GWPZ.The AHP method yielded 2%for very high GWPZ,14%for high GWPZ,37%for moderate GWPZ,37%for low GWPZ,and 10%for very low GWPZ.A strong correlation(ρof 0.91)was observed between the MIF results and groundwater yield.The study successfully identified regions with abundant groundwater,providing valuable target areas for groundwater exploitation and highvolume water harvesting initiatives.Accurate identification of these crucial regions is essential for effective decision-making,planning,and management of groundwater resources to alleviate water shortages.展开更多
Any seafarer or mariner that uses the sea knows that navigation without correct charts is impossible and hazardous because nautical charts are the most essential and indispensable tools for vessels to sail safely at s...Any seafarer or mariner that uses the sea knows that navigation without correct charts is impossible and hazardous because nautical charts are the most essential and indispensable tools for vessels to sail safely at sea.For vessels to safely sail at sea,the seas and the oceans ought to be charted and this falls within the domain of hydrography.However,the seas cannot be charted effectively in the absence of the deployment of human resources and adequate tools like satellite and aerial imagery,survey boats and other equipment that will facilitate the hydrographic operations.The acquisition of data and information about the sea depths,nature of sea bed,waterways,navigational hazards and navigational objects among others,basically falls within the sphere of hydrography which is primarily known as survey at sea.The paper offers a review of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice for enhanced safety of navigation at sea.The review is important to both the mariners,shipping industry and the government in order to explore the potentials provided by Geographic Information System,Remote Sensing,cloud GIS,big data GIS and Global Positioning System to enhance the practice of hydrography.The data and materials used for the review were obtained from literature in the internet and other published works.The paper looked at hydrography as a profession,roles of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice,benefits of hydrography to national development and finally,the weaknesses of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice were equally examined.展开更多
Machine learning models are increasingly used to correct the vertical biases(mainly due to vegetation and buildings)in global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs),for downstream applications which need‘‘bare earth"el...Machine learning models are increasingly used to correct the vertical biases(mainly due to vegetation and buildings)in global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs),for downstream applications which need‘‘bare earth"elevations.The predictive accuracy of these models has improved significantly as more flexible model architectures are developed and new explanatory datasets produced,leading to the recent release of three model-corrected DEMs(FABDEM,DiluviumDEM and FathomDEM).However,there has been relatively little focus so far on explaining or interrogating these models,especially important in this context given their downstream impact on many other applications(including natural hazard simulations).In this study we train five separate models(by land cover environment)to correct vertical biases in the Copernicus DEM and then explain them using SHapley Additive exPlanation(SHAP)values.Comparing the models,we find significant variation in terms of the specific input variables selected and their relative importance,suggesting that an ensemble of models(specialising by land cover)is likely preferable to a general model applied everywhere.Visualising the patterns learned by the models(using SHAP dependence plots)provides further insights,building confidence in some cases(where patterns are consistent with domain knowledge and past studies)and highlighting potentially problematic variables in others(such as proxy relationships which may not apply in new application sites).Our results have implications for future DEM error prediction studies,particularly in evaluating a very wide range of potential input variables(160 candidates)drawn from topographic,multispectral,Synthetic Aperture Radar,vegetation,climate and urbanisation datasets.展开更多
Scientific research is a journey into an uncharted territory.Researchers need to have the big picture for navigation and at the same time be detail-oriented,as details make a difference.Here I offer a few tips for con...Scientific research is a journey into an uncharted territory.Researchers need to have the big picture for navigation and at the same time be detail-oriented,as details make a difference.Here I offer a few tips for conducting research that I summarized based on my 30+years of research experience.展开更多
Global population growth and rising standards of living are the driving factors for the cropland expansion to meet increasing demands.However,there is no clear assessment of the specific losses on ecosystem services c...Global population growth and rising standards of living are the driving factors for the cropland expansion to meet increasing demands.However,there is no clear assessment of the specific losses on ecosystem services caused by China's expansion of cropland to ensure food security at the cost of losing ecological land such as forests and grasslands.This study employed the ArcGIS platform and integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs(InVEST)model to explore the cropland expansion in China from 2000 to 2020 and its impact on ecosystem services,so as to predict the priority areas of future cropland expansion in different scenarios.The results indicated that in the past 20 years,the total area of cropland expansion in China was 17.04 million hm^(2)with 70.79% conversion from forests and grasslands.Cropland expansion has contributed to an overall improvement in the food supply services with the Northern Arid and Semi-Arid Region exhibiting an increase of 18.76×10^(6) tons,while concurrently leading to a decline in habitat quality services.The priority areas for future cropland expansion without ecological loss were found to be 1.42 million hm^(2),which only account for 9.44% of the total reclaimable land.To minimize the loss of ecosystem services,there is a need to adjust the cropland replenishment policies and provide an operational solution for global food security and ecological protection.展开更多
Reliable surface height observations over inland water bodies are useful for understanding the hydrological cycle.Satellite radar altimetry particularly contributed with its long-term archive and minimal cloud interfe...Reliable surface height observations over inland water bodies are useful for understanding the hydrological cycle.Satellite radar altimetry particularly contributed with its long-term archive and minimal cloud interference.Specialized inland water altimetry,developed from oceanography and geodesy,is still being extensively investigated.By synthesizing pioneering studies on“retracking algorithms”,this review demonstrates,from a user perspective,why optimizing conventional retracking is still important and how it can extend reliable historical water level retrieval over more ungauged sites.Numerous unrevealed inland water bodies have small sizes or complex surroundings,posing challenges to maintaining accuracy.Applications have shown that a critical key lies in the retracking correction during range retrieval(uncertainty likely on the order of meters),compared with other corrections(on the order of centimeters or decimeters).From multiple uncertainty factors in range retrieval,signal entanglements from land contamination and off-nadir effects are core issues.We evaluate and compared key strategies from prototype retrackers to improved retrackers,especially the empirical ones optimized for inland waters.Sub-waveform extraction and adjustment for Delay-Doppler modes has advanced range retrieval to a new stage.Four innovative inland-water-compatible retrackers are introduced in detail,with a highlight on their distinct approaches to robustly improve performance.Considering the selection of different data and retrackers in varying scenarios,a synthesis analysis is conducted based on results reported in previous literature.In conclusion,the empirical retracking has been enhanced to offer stable decimeter-level accuracy in intricate landscapes(e.g.,small lakes and rivers with varied surroundings).In comparison,the physical retracking has been upgraded to provide greater precision for homogeneous surface in large lakes.For future inland water altimetry,we articulate how additionally retracked results can benefit hydrological applications,and what difficulties would arise when extending study scales.展开更多
AIM: To determine characteristics and prognosticpredictors of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) in association with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).METHODS: We reviewed the records of all patients w...AIM: To determine characteristics and prognosticpredictors of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) in association with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).METHODS: We reviewed the records of all patients with NAFLD associated HCC between 2000 and 2012. Data collected included demographics; histology; presence or absence of cirrhosis, size and number of HCC, alpha-fetoprotein, body mass index(BMI), and the presence of diabetes, hypertension, or dyslipidaemia.RESULTS: Fifty-four patients with NAFLD associated HCC were identified. Mean age was 64 years with 87% male. Fifteen percent(8/54) were not cirrhotic. 11%, 24% and 50% had a BMI of < 25 kg/m2, 25-29 kg/m2 and ≥ 30 kg/m2 respectively. Fifty-nine percent were diabetic, 44% hypertensive and 26% hyperlipidaemic. Thirty-four percent of the patients had ≤ 1 of these risk factors. Non-cirrhotics had a significantly larger mean tumour diameter at diagnosis than cirrhotics(P = 0.041). Multivariate analysis did not identify any other patient characteristics that predicted the size or number of HCC.CONCLUSION: HCC can develop in NAFLD without cirrhosis. At diagnosis such tumours are larger than those in cirrhotics, conferring a poorer prognosis.展开更多
In recent years, radio occultation （RO） technology making use of global positioning system （GPS） signals has been exploited to obtain profiles of atmospheric parameters in the neutral atmosphere. In this paper, th...In recent years, radio occultation （RO） technology making use of global positioning system （GPS） signals has been exploited to obtain profiles of atmospheric parameters in the neutral atmosphere. In this paper, the RO refractivity profiles obtained from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate （COSMIC） mission are statistically compared with the observations of 38 radiosonde stations provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology during the period from 15 July 2006 through 15 July 2007. Different collocation criteria are compared at first, and COSMIC RO soundings that occur within 3 hours and 300 km of radiosonde measurements are used for the final statistical comparison. The overall results show that the agreements between the COSMIC refractivity profiles and the radiosonde soundings from the 38 stations are very good at 0-30 km altitude, with mean absolute relative refractivity deviations of less than 0.5%. Latitudinal comparisons indicate that there are negative refractivity deviations in the lower troposphere over the low latitude and middle latitude regions and large standard deviations exist in the lower troposphere of low latitude regions, which can reach up to ～6%. The comparisons of COSMIC RO refractivity profiles and radiosonde observations for 3 polar stations in four different seasons indicate that the accuracy of GPS RO profiles is better in the Austral summer and autumn than in the Austral spring and winter during the year from September 2006 to August 2007.展开更多
Based on the structural characteristics of the double-differenced normal equation, a new method was proposed to resolve the ambiguity float solution through a selection of parameter weights to construct an appropriate...Based on the structural characteristics of the double-differenced normal equation, a new method was proposed to resolve the ambiguity float solution through a selection of parameter weights to construct an appropriate regularized matrix, and a singular decomposition method was used to generate regularization parameters. Numerical test results suggest that the regularized ambiguity float solution is more stable and reliable than the least-squares float solution. The mean square error matrix of the new method possesses a lower correlation than the variancecovariance matrix of the least-squares estimation. The size of the ambiguity search space is reduced and the search efficiency is improved. The success rate of the integer ambiguity searching process is improved significantly when the ambiguity resolution by using constraint equation method is used to determine the correct ambiguity integervector. The ambiguity resolution by using constraint equation method requires an initial input of the ambiguity float solution candidates which are obtained from the LAMBDA method in the new method. In addition, the observation time required to fix reliable integer ambiguities can he significantly reduced.展开更多
The research of coupling WRF （Weather Research and Forecasting Model） with a land surface model is enhanced to explore the interaction of the atmosphere and land surface; however, regional applicability of WRF model...The research of coupling WRF （Weather Research and Forecasting Model） with a land surface model is enhanced to explore the interaction of the atmosphere and land surface; however, regional applicability of WRF model is questioned. In order to do the validation of WRF model on simulating forcing data for the Heihe River Basin, daily meteorological observation data from 15 stations of CMA （China Meteorological Administration） and hourly meteorological observation data from seven sites of WATER （Watershed Airborne Telemetry Experimental Research） are used to compare with WRF simulations, with a time range of a whole year for 2008. Results show that the average MBE （Mean Bias Error） of daily 2-m surface temperature, surface pressure, 2-m relative humidity and 10-m wind speed were -0.19 ℃, -4.49 hPa, 4.08% and 0.92 m/s, the average RMSE （Root Mean Square Error） of them were 2.11 ℃, 5.37 hPa, 9.55% and 1.73 m/s, and the average R （correlation coefficient） of them were 0.99, 0.98, 0.80 and 0.55, respectively. The average MBE of hourly 2-m surface temperature, surface pressure, 2-m relative humidity, 10-m wind speed, downward shortwave radiation and downward longwave were-0.16 ℃,-6.62 hPa,-5.14%, 0.26 m/s, 33.0 W/m^2 and-6.44 W/m^2, the average RMSE of them were 2.62 ℃, 17.10 hPa, 20.71%, 2.46 m/s, 152.9 W/m^2 and 53.5 W/m^2, and the average R of them were 0.96, 0.97, 0.70, 0.26, 0.91 and 0.60, respectively. Thus, the following conclusions were obtained： （1） regardless of daily or hourly validation, WRF model simulations of 2-m surface temperature, surface pressure and relative humidity are more reliable, especially for 2-m surface air temperature and surface pressure, the values of MBE were small and R were more than 0.96; （2） the WRF simulating downward shortwave radiation was relatively good, the average R between WRF simulation and hourly observation data was above 0.9, and the average R of downward longwave radiation was 0.6; （3） both wind speed and rainfall simulated from WRF model did not agree well with observation data.展开更多
Designing the optimal distribution of Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)ground stations is crucial for determining the satellite orbit,satellite clock and Earth Rotation Parameters(ERP)at a desired precision usi...Designing the optimal distribution of Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)ground stations is crucial for determining the satellite orbit,satellite clock and Earth Rotation Parameters(ERP)at a desired precision using a limited number of stations.In this work,a new criterion for the optimal GNSS station distribution for orbit and ERP determination is proposed,named the minimum Orbit and ERP Dilution of Precision Factor(OEDOP)criterion.To quickly identify the specific station locations for the optimal station distribution on a map,a method for the rapid determination of the selected station locations is developed,which is based on the map grid zooming and heuristic technique.Using the minimum OEDOP criterion and the proposed method for the rapid determination of optimal station locations,an optimal or near-optimal station distribution scheme for 17 newly built BeiDou Navigation Satellite System(BDS)global tracking stations is suggested.To verify the proposed criterion and method,real GNSS data are processed.The results show that the minimum OEDOP criterion is valid,as the smaller the value of OEDOP,the better the precision of the satellite orbit and ERP determination.Relative to the exhaustive method,the proposed method significantly improves the computational efficiency of the optimal station location determination.In the case of 3 newly built stations,the computational efficiency of the proposed method is 35 times greater than that of the exhaustive method.As the number of stations increases,the improvement in the computational efficiency becomes increasingly obvious.展开更多
The Liupan Mountains is located in the southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China, which forms an important dividing line between landforms and bio-geographic regions. The populated part of the Liupan Mountains r...The Liupan Mountains is located in the southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China, which forms an important dividing line between landforms and bio-geographic regions. The populated part of the Liupan Mountains region has suffered tremendous ecological damages over time due to population pressure, excessive demand and inappropriate use of agricultural land resources. In this paper, datasets of land use between 1990 and 2000 were obtained from Landsat TM imagery, and then spatial models were used to characterize landscape conditions. Also, the relationship between the population density and land use/cover change (LUCC) was analyzed. Results indicate that cropland, forestland, and urban areas have increased by 44,186ha, 9001ha and 1550ha, respectively while the grassland area has appreciably decreased by 54,025ha in the study period. The decrease in grassland was most notable. Of the grassland lost, 49.4% was converted into cropland. The largest annual land conversion rate in the study area was less than 2%. These changes are attributed to industrial and agricultural development and population growth. To improve the eco-economic conditions in the study region, population control, urbanization and development of an ecological friendly agriculture were suggested.展开更多
Hyperspectral sensors provide the potential for direct estimation of pasture feed quality attributes. However, remote sensing retrieval of digestibility and fibre (lignin and cellulose) content of vegetation has prove...Hyperspectral sensors provide the potential for direct estimation of pasture feed quality attributes. However, remote sensing retrieval of digestibility and fibre (lignin and cellulose) content of vegetation has proven to be challenging since tissue optical properties may not be propagated to the canopy level in mixed cover types. In this study, partial least squares regression on spectra from HyMap and Hyperion imagery were used to construct predictive models for estimation of crude protein, digestibility, lignin and cellulose concentration in temperate pastures. HyMap and Hyperion imagery and field spectra were collected over four pasture sites in southern Victoria, Australia. Co-incident field samples were analyzed with wet chemistry methods for crude protein, lignin and cellulose concentration, and digestibility was calculated from fiber determinations. Spectral data were subset based on sites and time of year of collection. Reflectance spectra were extracted from the hyperspectral imagery and collated for analysis. Six different transformations including derivatives and continuum removal were applied to the spectra to enhance absorption features sensitive to the quality attributes. The transformed reflectance spectra were then subjected to partial least squares regression, with full cross-validation “leave-one-out” technique, against the quality attributes to assess effects of the spectral transformations and post-atmospheric smoothing techniques to construct predictive models. Model performance between spectrometers, subsets and attributes were assessed using a coefficient of variation (CV), —the interquantile (IQ) range of the attribute values divided by the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) from the models. The predictive models with the highest CVs were obtained for digestibility for all spectra types, with HyMap the highest. However, models with slightly lower CVs were obtained for crude protein, lignin and cellulose. The spectral regions for diagnostic wavelengths fell within the chlorophyll well, red edge, and 2000-2300 nm ligno-cellulose-protein regions, with some wavelengths selected between the 1600 and 1800 nm region sensitive to nitrogen, protein, lignin and cellulose. The digestibility models with the highest CV’s had confidence intervals corresponding to ±5% digestibility, which constitutes approximately 30% of the measured range. The cellulose and lignin models with the highest CV’s also had similar confidence intervals but the slopes of the prediction lines were substantially less than 1:1 indicating reduced sensitivity. The predictive relationships established here could be applied to categorizing pasture quality into range classes and to determine whether pastures are above or below for example threshold values for livestock productivity benchmarks.展开更多
Research into urban expansion patterns and their driving forces is of great significance for urban agglomeration development planning and decision-making.In this paper,we reveal the multi-dimensional characteristics o...Research into urban expansion patterns and their driving forces is of great significance for urban agglomeration development planning and decision-making.In this paper,we reveal the multi-dimensional characteristics of urban expansion patterns,based on the intensity index of the urban expansion,the differentiation index of the urban expansion,the fractal dimension index,the land urbanization rate,and the center of gravity model,by taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(Jing-Jin-Ji)urban agglomeration as an example.We then build the center of gravity-geographically and temporally weighted regression(GTWR)model by coupling the center of gravity model with the GTWR model.Through the analysis of the temporal and spatial patterns and by using the center of gravity-GTWR model,we analyze the driving forces of the urban land expansion and summarize the dominant development modes and core driving forces of the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration.The results show that:1)Between 1990 and 2015,the expansion intensity of the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration showed a down-up-down trend,and the peak period was in 2005-2010.Before 2005,high-speed development took place in Beijing,Tianjin,Baoding,and Langfang;after 2005,rapid development was seen in Xingtai and Handan.2)Although the barycenter of cities in the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration has shown a divergent trend,the local interaction between cities has been enhanced,and the driving forces of urban land expansion have shown a characteristic of spatial spillover.3)The spatial development mode of the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration has changed from a dual-core development mode to a multi-core development mode,which is made up of three functional cores:the transportation core in the northern part,the economic development core in the central part,and the investment core in the southern part.The synergistic development between each functional core has led to the multi-core development mode.4)The center of gravity-GTWR model combines the analysis of spatial and temporal nonstationarity with urban spatial interaction,and analyzes the urban land expansion as a space-time dynamic system.The results of this study show that the model is a feasible approach in the analysis of the driving forces of urban land expansion.展开更多
White mold of soybeans is one of the most important fungal diseases that affect soybean production in South Dakota.However,there is a lack of information on the spatial characteristics of the disease and relationship ...White mold of soybeans is one of the most important fungal diseases that affect soybean production in South Dakota.However,there is a lack of information on the spatial characteristics of the disease and relationship with soybean yield.This relationship can be explored with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)derived from Landsat 8 and a fusion of Landsat 8 and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)images.This study investigated the patterns of yield in two soybean fields infected with white mold between 2016 and 2017,and estimated yield loss caused by white mold.Results show evidence of clustering in the spatial distribution of yield(Moran's I=0.38;p<0.05 in 2016 and Moran's I=0.45;p<0.05 in 2017)that can be explained by the spatial distribution of white mold in the observed fields.Yield loss caused by white mold was estimated at 36%in 2016 and 56%in 2017 for the worse disease pixels,with the most accurate period for estimating this loss on 21 August and 8 September for 2016 field and 2017 field,respectively.This study shows the potential of free remotely sensed satellite data in estimating yield loss caused by white mold.展开更多
As in many parts of the world, long-term excessive extraction of groundwater has caused significant land-surface sub- sidence in the residential areas of Datun coal mining district in East China. The recorded maximum ...As in many parts of the world, long-term excessive extraction of groundwater has caused significant land-surface sub- sidence in the residential areas of Datun coal mining district in East China. The recorded maximum level of subsidence in the area since 1976 to 2006 is 863 mm, and the area with an accumulative subsidence more than 200 mm has reached 33.1 km2 by the end of 2006. Over ten cases of building crack due to ground subsidence have already been observed. Spatial variation in ground subsi- dence often leads to a corresponding pattern of ground deformation. Buildings and underground infrastructures have been under a higher risk of damage in locations with greater differential ground deformation. Governmental guideline in China classifies build- ing damages into four different levels, based on the observable measures such as the width of wall crack, the degree of door and window deformation, the degree of wall inclination and the degree of structural destruction. Building damage level (BDL) is esti- mated by means of ground deformation analysis in terms of variations in slope gradient and curvature. Ground deformation analysis in terms of variations in slope gradient has shown that the areas of BDL III and BDL II sites account for about 0.013 km2 and 0.284 km2 respectively in 2006, and the predicted areas of BDL (define this first) III and II sites will be about 0.029 km2 and 0.423 km2 respectively by 2010. The situation is getting worse as subsidence continues. That calls for effective strategies for subsidence miti- gation and damage reduction, in terms of sustainable groundwater extraction, enhanced monitoring and the establishment of early warning systems.展开更多
More effective environmental pollution control and management are needed due to the increasing environ-mental impacts from a range of human activities and the growing public demands for a better living environment. Ur...More effective environmental pollution control and management are needed due to the increasing environ-mental impacts from a range of human activities and the growing public demands for a better living environment. Urban air pollution is a serious environmental issue that poses adverse impacts on the health of people and the environment in most metropolitan areas. In this paper,we propose a geoinformatics augmented framework of environmental modelling and information sharing for supporting effective urban air pollution control and management. This framework is out-lined in terms of its key components and processes including: 1) an integrated,adaptive network of sensors for envi-ronmental monitoring; 2) a set of distributed,interoperable databases for data management; 3) a set of intelligent,robust algorithms and models for environmental modelling; 4) a set of flexible,efficient user interfaces for data access and in-formation sharing; and 5) a reliable,high capacity,high performance computing and communication infrastructure for integrating and supporting other framework components and processes.展开更多
文摘The main objective of the study was to delineate Ground Water Potential Zones(GWPZ)in Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts,Zimbabwe,utilizing geospatial technologies and thematic mapping.Various factors,including geology,soil,rainfall,land use/land cover,drainage density,lineament density,slope,Terrain Ruggedness Index(TRI),and Terrain Wetness Index(TWI),were incorporated as thematic layers.The Multi Influencing Factor(MIF)and Analytical Hierarchical Process(AHP)techniques were employed to assign appropriate weights to these layers based on their relative significance,prioritizing GWPZ mapping.The integration of these weighted layers resulted in the generation of five GWPZ classes:Very high,high,moderate,low,and very low.The MIF method identified 3%of the area as having very high GWPZ,19%as having high GWPZ,40%as having moderate GWPZ,24%as having low GWPZ,and 14%as having very low GWPZ.The AHP method yielded 2%for very high GWPZ,14%for high GWPZ,37%for moderate GWPZ,37%for low GWPZ,and 10%for very low GWPZ.A strong correlation(ρof 0.91)was observed between the MIF results and groundwater yield.The study successfully identified regions with abundant groundwater,providing valuable target areas for groundwater exploitation and highvolume water harvesting initiatives.Accurate identification of these crucial regions is essential for effective decision-making,planning,and management of groundwater resources to alleviate water shortages.
文摘Any seafarer or mariner that uses the sea knows that navigation without correct charts is impossible and hazardous because nautical charts are the most essential and indispensable tools for vessels to sail safely at sea.For vessels to safely sail at sea,the seas and the oceans ought to be charted and this falls within the domain of hydrography.However,the seas cannot be charted effectively in the absence of the deployment of human resources and adequate tools like satellite and aerial imagery,survey boats and other equipment that will facilitate the hydrographic operations.The acquisition of data and information about the sea depths,nature of sea bed,waterways,navigational hazards and navigational objects among others,basically falls within the sphere of hydrography which is primarily known as survey at sea.The paper offers a review of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice for enhanced safety of navigation at sea.The review is important to both the mariners,shipping industry and the government in order to explore the potentials provided by Geographic Information System,Remote Sensing,cloud GIS,big data GIS and Global Positioning System to enhance the practice of hydrography.The data and materials used for the review were obtained from literature in the internet and other published works.The paper looked at hydrography as a profession,roles of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice,benefits of hydrography to national development and finally,the weaknesses of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice were equally examined.
文摘Machine learning models are increasingly used to correct the vertical biases(mainly due to vegetation and buildings)in global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs),for downstream applications which need‘‘bare earth"elevations.The predictive accuracy of these models has improved significantly as more flexible model architectures are developed and new explanatory datasets produced,leading to the recent release of three model-corrected DEMs(FABDEM,DiluviumDEM and FathomDEM).However,there has been relatively little focus so far on explaining or interrogating these models,especially important in this context given their downstream impact on many other applications(including natural hazard simulations).In this study we train five separate models(by land cover environment)to correct vertical biases in the Copernicus DEM and then explain them using SHapley Additive exPlanation(SHAP)values.Comparing the models,we find significant variation in terms of the specific input variables selected and their relative importance,suggesting that an ensemble of models(specialising by land cover)is likely preferable to a general model applied everywhere.Visualising the patterns learned by the models(using SHAP dependence plots)provides further insights,building confidence in some cases(where patterns are consistent with domain knowledge and past studies)and highlighting potentially problematic variables in others(such as proxy relationships which may not apply in new application sites).Our results have implications for future DEM error prediction studies,particularly in evaluating a very wide range of potential input variables(160 candidates)drawn from topographic,multispectral,Synthetic Aperture Radar,vegetation,climate and urbanisation datasets.
文摘Scientific research is a journey into an uncharted territory.Researchers need to have the big picture for navigation and at the same time be detail-oriented,as details make a difference.Here I offer a few tips for conducting research that I summarized based on my 30+years of research experience.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52374170)the Major Special Projects of the Third Comprehensive Scientific Exploration in Xinjiang(Grant No.2022xjkk1005)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant No.B230207001)。
文摘Global population growth and rising standards of living are the driving factors for the cropland expansion to meet increasing demands.However,there is no clear assessment of the specific losses on ecosystem services caused by China's expansion of cropland to ensure food security at the cost of losing ecological land such as forests and grasslands.This study employed the ArcGIS platform and integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs(InVEST)model to explore the cropland expansion in China from 2000 to 2020 and its impact on ecosystem services,so as to predict the priority areas of future cropland expansion in different scenarios.The results indicated that in the past 20 years,the total area of cropland expansion in China was 17.04 million hm^(2)with 70.79% conversion from forests and grasslands.Cropland expansion has contributed to an overall improvement in the food supply services with the Northern Arid and Semi-Arid Region exhibiting an increase of 18.76×10^(6) tons,while concurrently leading to a decline in habitat quality services.The priority areas for future cropland expansion without ecological loss were found to be 1.42 million hm^(2),which only account for 9.44% of the total reclaimable land.To minimize the loss of ecosystem services,there is a need to adjust the cropland replenishment policies and provide an operational solution for global food security and ecological protection.
基金funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFF0711603)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDA28020503)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.42371399,42301431)Basic Research Program of Jiangsu(Grant No.BK20240112)the Science and Technology Planning Project of NIGLAS(Grant No.2022NIGLAS-CJH04).
文摘Reliable surface height observations over inland water bodies are useful for understanding the hydrological cycle.Satellite radar altimetry particularly contributed with its long-term archive and minimal cloud interference.Specialized inland water altimetry,developed from oceanography and geodesy,is still being extensively investigated.By synthesizing pioneering studies on“retracking algorithms”,this review demonstrates,from a user perspective,why optimizing conventional retracking is still important and how it can extend reliable historical water level retrieval over more ungauged sites.Numerous unrevealed inland water bodies have small sizes or complex surroundings,posing challenges to maintaining accuracy.Applications have shown that a critical key lies in the retracking correction during range retrieval(uncertainty likely on the order of meters),compared with other corrections(on the order of centimeters or decimeters).From multiple uncertainty factors in range retrieval,signal entanglements from land contamination and off-nadir effects are core issues.We evaluate and compared key strategies from prototype retrackers to improved retrackers,especially the empirical ones optimized for inland waters.Sub-waveform extraction and adjustment for Delay-Doppler modes has advanced range retrieval to a new stage.Four innovative inland-water-compatible retrackers are introduced in detail,with a highlight on their distinct approaches to robustly improve performance.Considering the selection of different data and retrackers in varying scenarios,a synthesis analysis is conducted based on results reported in previous literature.In conclusion,the empirical retracking has been enhanced to offer stable decimeter-level accuracy in intricate landscapes(e.g.,small lakes and rivers with varied surroundings).In comparison,the physical retracking has been upgraded to provide greater precision for homogeneous surface in large lakes.For future inland water altimetry,we articulate how additionally retracked results can benefit hydrological applications,and what difficulties would arise when extending study scales.
基金中国科学院科研装备研制项目(YZ201129)江苏高校优势学科建设工程项目+3 种基金Australian Space Research Program 2(ASRP2)Australian Antarctic Science Grant Program(Project4159)European Space Agency(ESA)project OPSGRAS(4000101628)Austrian National Science Fund(FWF)project BENCHCLIM(P22293-N21)资助
文摘AIM: To determine characteristics and prognosticpredictors of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) in association with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).METHODS: We reviewed the records of all patients with NAFLD associated HCC between 2000 and 2012. Data collected included demographics; histology; presence or absence of cirrhosis, size and number of HCC, alpha-fetoprotein, body mass index(BMI), and the presence of diabetes, hypertension, or dyslipidaemia.RESULTS: Fifty-four patients with NAFLD associated HCC were identified. Mean age was 64 years with 87% male. Fifteen percent(8/54) were not cirrhotic. 11%, 24% and 50% had a BMI of < 25 kg/m2, 25-29 kg/m2 and ≥ 30 kg/m2 respectively. Fifty-nine percent were diabetic, 44% hypertensive and 26% hyperlipidaemic. Thirty-four percent of the patients had ≤ 1 of these risk factors. Non-cirrhotics had a significantly larger mean tumour diameter at diagnosis than cirrhotics(P = 0.041). Multivariate analysis did not identify any other patient characteristics that predicted the size or number of HCC.CONCLUSION: HCC can develop in NAFLD without cirrhosis. At diagnosis such tumours are larger than those in cirrhotics, conferring a poorer prognosis.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.40904002 and 40804004)the China-Australia Special Fund of International Collaborative Scientific Research Project(Grant No.40911120024)+1 种基金the National Basic Research Program of China(973 Project,Grant No.2006CB701301)the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China(863 Project,Grant No.2007AA12Z339)
文摘In recent years, radio occultation （RO） technology making use of global positioning system （GPS） signals has been exploited to obtain profiles of atmospheric parameters in the neutral atmosphere. In this paper, the RO refractivity profiles obtained from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate （COSMIC） mission are statistically compared with the observations of 38 radiosonde stations provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology during the period from 15 July 2006 through 15 July 2007. Different collocation criteria are compared at first, and COSMIC RO soundings that occur within 3 hours and 300 km of radiosonde measurements are used for the final statistical comparison. The overall results show that the agreements between the COSMIC refractivity profiles and the radiosonde soundings from the 38 stations are very good at 0-30 km altitude, with mean absolute relative refractivity deviations of less than 0.5%. Latitudinal comparisons indicate that there are negative refractivity deviations in the lower troposphere over the low latitude and middle latitude regions and large standard deviations exist in the lower troposphere of low latitude regions, which can reach up to ～6%. The comparisons of COSMIC RO refractivity profiles and radiosonde observations for 3 polar stations in four different seasons indicate that the accuracy of GPS RO profiles is better in the Austral summer and autumn than in the Austral spring and winter during the year from September 2006 to August 2007.
文摘Based on the structural characteristics of the double-differenced normal equation, a new method was proposed to resolve the ambiguity float solution through a selection of parameter weights to construct an appropriate regularized matrix, and a singular decomposition method was used to generate regularization parameters. Numerical test results suggest that the regularized ambiguity float solution is more stable and reliable than the least-squares float solution. The mean square error matrix of the new method possesses a lower correlation than the variancecovariance matrix of the least-squares estimation. The size of the ambiguity search space is reduced and the search efficiency is improved. The success rate of the integer ambiguity searching process is improved significantly when the ambiguity resolution by using constraint equation method is used to determine the correct ambiguity integervector. The ambiguity resolution by using constraint equation method requires an initial input of the ambiguity float solution candidates which are obtained from the LAMBDA method in the new method. In addition, the observation time required to fix reliable integer ambiguities can he significantly reduced.
基金supported by grant from the National High Technology Research and Development Program (863) of China (Grant No.2009AA122104)grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.40901202, No.40925004)+1 种基金supported by the CAS Action Plan for West Development Program (Grant No.KZCX2-XB2-09)Chinese State Key Basic Research Project (Grant No.2007CB714400)
文摘The research of coupling WRF （Weather Research and Forecasting Model） with a land surface model is enhanced to explore the interaction of the atmosphere and land surface; however, regional applicability of WRF model is questioned. In order to do the validation of WRF model on simulating forcing data for the Heihe River Basin, daily meteorological observation data from 15 stations of CMA （China Meteorological Administration） and hourly meteorological observation data from seven sites of WATER （Watershed Airborne Telemetry Experimental Research） are used to compare with WRF simulations, with a time range of a whole year for 2008. Results show that the average MBE （Mean Bias Error） of daily 2-m surface temperature, surface pressure, 2-m relative humidity and 10-m wind speed were -0.19 ℃, -4.49 hPa, 4.08% and 0.92 m/s, the average RMSE （Root Mean Square Error） of them were 2.11 ℃, 5.37 hPa, 9.55% and 1.73 m/s, and the average R （correlation coefficient） of them were 0.99, 0.98, 0.80 and 0.55, respectively. The average MBE of hourly 2-m surface temperature, surface pressure, 2-m relative humidity, 10-m wind speed, downward shortwave radiation and downward longwave were-0.16 ℃,-6.62 hPa,-5.14%, 0.26 m/s, 33.0 W/m^2 and-6.44 W/m^2, the average RMSE of them were 2.62 ℃, 17.10 hPa, 20.71%, 2.46 m/s, 152.9 W/m^2 and 53.5 W/m^2, and the average R of them were 0.96, 0.97, 0.70, 0.26, 0.91 and 0.60, respectively. Thus, the following conclusions were obtained： （1） regardless of daily or hourly validation, WRF model simulations of 2-m surface temperature, surface pressure and relative humidity are more reliable, especially for 2-m surface air temperature and surface pressure, the values of MBE were small and R were more than 0.96; （2） the WRF simulating downward shortwave radiation was relatively good, the average R between WRF simulation and hourly observation data was above 0.9, and the average R of downward longwave radiation was 0.6; （3） both wind speed and rainfall simulated from WRF model did not agree well with observation data.
基金This work was supported by“The National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41404033)”“The National Science and Technology Basic Work of China(No.2015FY310200)”+1 种基金“The State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41730109)”“The Jiangsu Dual Creative Teams Program Project Awarded in 2017”and thanks for the data from IGS and iGMAS。
文摘Designing the optimal distribution of Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)ground stations is crucial for determining the satellite orbit,satellite clock and Earth Rotation Parameters(ERP)at a desired precision using a limited number of stations.In this work,a new criterion for the optimal GNSS station distribution for orbit and ERP determination is proposed,named the minimum Orbit and ERP Dilution of Precision Factor(OEDOP)criterion.To quickly identify the specific station locations for the optimal station distribution on a map,a method for the rapid determination of the selected station locations is developed,which is based on the map grid zooming and heuristic technique.Using the minimum OEDOP criterion and the proposed method for the rapid determination of optimal station locations,an optimal or near-optimal station distribution scheme for 17 newly built BeiDou Navigation Satellite System(BDS)global tracking stations is suggested.To verify the proposed criterion and method,real GNSS data are processed.The results show that the minimum OEDOP criterion is valid,as the smaller the value of OEDOP,the better the precision of the satellite orbit and ERP determination.Relative to the exhaustive method,the proposed method significantly improves the computational efficiency of the optimal station location determination.In the case of 3 newly built stations,the computational efficiency of the proposed method is 35 times greater than that of the exhaustive method.As the number of stations increases,the improvement in the computational efficiency becomes increasingly obvious.
基金Under the auspices of the National Key Science and Technology Support Program of China (No. 2006BCA01A07-2)National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40671153)+1 种基金Hunan Land Resource Bureau Program (No. 2007-15)Hunan Educa-tion Bureau Program (No. 08C348)
文摘The Liupan Mountains is located in the southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China, which forms an important dividing line between landforms and bio-geographic regions. The populated part of the Liupan Mountains region has suffered tremendous ecological damages over time due to population pressure, excessive demand and inappropriate use of agricultural land resources. In this paper, datasets of land use between 1990 and 2000 were obtained from Landsat TM imagery, and then spatial models were used to characterize landscape conditions. Also, the relationship between the population density and land use/cover change (LUCC) was analyzed. Results indicate that cropland, forestland, and urban areas have increased by 44,186ha, 9001ha and 1550ha, respectively while the grassland area has appreciably decreased by 54,025ha in the study period. The decrease in grassland was most notable. Of the grassland lost, 49.4% was converted into cropland. The largest annual land conversion rate in the study area was less than 2%. These changes are attributed to industrial and agricultural development and population growth. To improve the eco-economic conditions in the study region, population control, urbanization and development of an ecological friendly agriculture were suggested.
文摘Hyperspectral sensors provide the potential for direct estimation of pasture feed quality attributes. However, remote sensing retrieval of digestibility and fibre (lignin and cellulose) content of vegetation has proven to be challenging since tissue optical properties may not be propagated to the canopy level in mixed cover types. In this study, partial least squares regression on spectra from HyMap and Hyperion imagery were used to construct predictive models for estimation of crude protein, digestibility, lignin and cellulose concentration in temperate pastures. HyMap and Hyperion imagery and field spectra were collected over four pasture sites in southern Victoria, Australia. Co-incident field samples were analyzed with wet chemistry methods for crude protein, lignin and cellulose concentration, and digestibility was calculated from fiber determinations. Spectral data were subset based on sites and time of year of collection. Reflectance spectra were extracted from the hyperspectral imagery and collated for analysis. Six different transformations including derivatives and continuum removal were applied to the spectra to enhance absorption features sensitive to the quality attributes. The transformed reflectance spectra were then subjected to partial least squares regression, with full cross-validation “leave-one-out” technique, against the quality attributes to assess effects of the spectral transformations and post-atmospheric smoothing techniques to construct predictive models. Model performance between spectrometers, subsets and attributes were assessed using a coefficient of variation (CV), —the interquantile (IQ) range of the attribute values divided by the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) from the models. The predictive models with the highest CVs were obtained for digestibility for all spectra types, with HyMap the highest. However, models with slightly lower CVs were obtained for crude protein, lignin and cellulose. The spectral regions for diagnostic wavelengths fell within the chlorophyll well, red edge, and 2000-2300 nm ligno-cellulose-protein regions, with some wavelengths selected between the 1600 and 1800 nm region sensitive to nitrogen, protein, lignin and cellulose. The digestibility models with the highest CV’s had confidence intervals corresponding to ±5% digestibility, which constitutes approximately 30% of the measured range. The cellulose and lignin models with the highest CV’s also had similar confidence intervals but the slopes of the prediction lines were substantially less than 1:1 indicating reduced sensitivity. The predictive relationships established here could be applied to categorizing pasture quality into range classes and to determine whether pastures are above or below for example threshold values for livestock productivity benchmarks.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.41571384Land Resources Survey and Evaluation Project of Ministry of Land and Resources of China,No.DCPJ161207-01+2 种基金Fund for Fostering Talents in Basic Science of National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.J1103409Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.71433008Programme of Excellent Young Scientists of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS。
文摘Research into urban expansion patterns and their driving forces is of great significance for urban agglomeration development planning and decision-making.In this paper,we reveal the multi-dimensional characteristics of urban expansion patterns,based on the intensity index of the urban expansion,the differentiation index of the urban expansion,the fractal dimension index,the land urbanization rate,and the center of gravity model,by taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(Jing-Jin-Ji)urban agglomeration as an example.We then build the center of gravity-geographically and temporally weighted regression(GTWR)model by coupling the center of gravity model with the GTWR model.Through the analysis of the temporal and spatial patterns and by using the center of gravity-GTWR model,we analyze the driving forces of the urban land expansion and summarize the dominant development modes and core driving forces of the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration.The results show that:1)Between 1990 and 2015,the expansion intensity of the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration showed a down-up-down trend,and the peak period was in 2005-2010.Before 2005,high-speed development took place in Beijing,Tianjin,Baoding,and Langfang;after 2005,rapid development was seen in Xingtai and Handan.2)Although the barycenter of cities in the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration has shown a divergent trend,the local interaction between cities has been enhanced,and the driving forces of urban land expansion have shown a characteristic of spatial spillover.3)The spatial development mode of the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration has changed from a dual-core development mode to a multi-core development mode,which is made up of three functional cores:the transportation core in the northern part,the economic development core in the central part,and the investment core in the southern part.The synergistic development between each functional core has led to the multi-core development mode.4)The center of gravity-GTWR model combines the analysis of spatial and temporal nonstationarity with urban spatial interaction,and analyzes the urban land expansion as a space-time dynamic system.The results of this study show that the model is a feasible approach in the analysis of the driving forces of urban land expansion.
基金This work was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture[SD00H662-18]Financial support for the study came from USDA-NIFA Hatch grant#SD00H662-18 and South Dakota State University Agriculture Experiment Station.We wish to thank Mr.Jianmin Wang for his technical supports on data processing,and the anonymous reviewers whose comments and edits have greatly improved this article.
文摘White mold of soybeans is one of the most important fungal diseases that affect soybean production in South Dakota.However,there is a lack of information on the spatial characteristics of the disease and relationship with soybean yield.This relationship can be explored with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)derived from Landsat 8 and a fusion of Landsat 8 and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)images.This study investigated the patterns of yield in two soybean fields infected with white mold between 2016 and 2017,and estimated yield loss caused by white mold.Results show evidence of clustering in the spatial distribution of yield(Moran's I=0.38;p<0.05 in 2016 and Moran's I=0.45;p<0.05 in 2017)that can be explained by the spatial distribution of white mold in the observed fields.Yield loss caused by white mold was estimated at 36%in 2016 and 56%in 2017 for the worse disease pixels,with the most accurate period for estimating this loss on 21 August and 8 September for 2016 field and 2017 field,respectively.This study shows the potential of free remotely sensed satellite data in estimating yield loss caused by white mold.
文摘As in many parts of the world, long-term excessive extraction of groundwater has caused significant land-surface sub- sidence in the residential areas of Datun coal mining district in East China. The recorded maximum level of subsidence in the area since 1976 to 2006 is 863 mm, and the area with an accumulative subsidence more than 200 mm has reached 33.1 km2 by the end of 2006. Over ten cases of building crack due to ground subsidence have already been observed. Spatial variation in ground subsi- dence often leads to a corresponding pattern of ground deformation. Buildings and underground infrastructures have been under a higher risk of damage in locations with greater differential ground deformation. Governmental guideline in China classifies build- ing damages into four different levels, based on the observable measures such as the width of wall crack, the degree of door and window deformation, the degree of wall inclination and the degree of structural destruction. Building damage level (BDL) is esti- mated by means of ground deformation analysis in terms of variations in slope gradient and curvature. Ground deformation analysis in terms of variations in slope gradient has shown that the areas of BDL III and BDL II sites account for about 0.013 km2 and 0.284 km2 respectively in 2006, and the predicted areas of BDL (define this first) III and II sites will be about 0.029 km2 and 0.423 km2 respectively by 2010. The situation is getting worse as subsidence continues. That calls for effective strategies for subsidence miti- gation and damage reduction, in terms of sustainable groundwater extraction, enhanced monitoring and the establishment of early warning systems.
文摘More effective environmental pollution control and management are needed due to the increasing environ-mental impacts from a range of human activities and the growing public demands for a better living environment. Urban air pollution is a serious environmental issue that poses adverse impacts on the health of people and the environment in most metropolitan areas. In this paper,we propose a geoinformatics augmented framework of environmental modelling and information sharing for supporting effective urban air pollution control and management. This framework is out-lined in terms of its key components and processes including: 1) an integrated,adaptive network of sensors for envi-ronmental monitoring; 2) a set of distributed,interoperable databases for data management; 3) a set of intelligent,robust algorithms and models for environmental modelling; 4) a set of flexible,efficient user interfaces for data access and in-formation sharing; and 5) a reliable,high capacity,high performance computing and communication infrastructure for integrating and supporting other framework components and processes.
