528 research outputs found
An integrated study of earth resources in the state of California using remote sensing techniques
There are no author-identified significant results in this report
The comparative evaluation of ERTS-1 imagery for resource inventory in land use planning
The author has identified the following significant results. Multidiscipline team interpretation and mapping of resources for Crook County is complete on 1:250,000 scale enlargements of ERTS imagery and 1:120,000 hi-flight photography. Maps of geology, soils, vegetation-land use and land resources units were interpreted to show limitations, suitabilities, and geologic hazards for land use planning. Mapping of lineaments and structures from ERTS imagery has shown a number of features not previously mapped in Oregon. A multistage timber inventory of Ochoco National Forest was made, using ERTS images as the first stage. Inventory of forest clear-cutting practices was successfully demonstrated with color composites. Soil tonal differences in fallow fields correspond with major soil boundaries in loess-mantled terrain. A digital classification system used for discriminating natural vegetation and geologic material classes was successful in separating most major classes around Newberry Caldera, Mt. Washington, and Big Summit Prairie
An integrated study of earth resources in the state of California using remote sensing techniques
The author has identified the following significant results. A weighted stratified double sample design using hardcopy LANDSAT-1 and ground data was utilized in developmental studies for snow water content estimation. Study results gave a correlation coefficient of 0.80 between LANDSAT sample units estimates of snow water content and ground subsamples. A basin snow water content estimate allowable error was given as 1.00 percent at the 99 percent confidence level with the same budget level utilized in conventional snow surveys. Several evapotranspiration estimation models were selected for efficient application at each level of data to be sampled. An area estimation procedure for impervious surface types of differing impermeability adjacent to stream channels was developed. This technique employs a double sample of 1:125,000 color infrared hightflight transparency data with ground or large scale photography
An integrated study of earth resources in the state of California using remote sensing techniques
The author has identified the following significant results. The effects on estimates of monthly volume runoff were determined separately for each of the following parameters: precipitation, evapotranspiration, lower zone and upper zone tension water capacity, imperviousness of the watershed, and percent of the watershed occupied by riparian vegetation, streams, and lakes. The most sensitive and critical parameters were found to be precipitation during the entire year and springtime evapotranspiration
Vegetation change detection and soil erosion risk assessment modelling in the Man River basin, Central India
Land use change directly increased soil erosion risk, which is a very sensitive environmental
issue in Central India. To evaluate the response of land use changes on soil erosion risk,
research was implemented using remote sensing techniques, coupled with ground
information, to develop an integrated modelling approach to study the factors driving land
use changes in the Man River basin, Central India. Results were used to assess the impact of
land use change on soil erosion risk.
First, a series of sub methods were applied to monitor and verify land use land cover change
in the study area which included pre-processing, classification and assessment of land use
transaction from 1971 to 2013 using Landsat time series imagery. Additionally, an
independent spatial assessment of deforestation, forest degradation and responsible drivers
for the period 2009-2013 was conducted to enable a deeper analysis of forestry activates
using the GIS based direct interpretation approach. The research also developed a robust
accuracy assessment method to check the quality of the 2009 and 2013 classification maps
using good quality Google Earth TM imagery and a field measured GPS dataset. These
approaches were largely based on the GOFC- GOLD (2010) and IPCC good
recommendations for land use land cover mapping and verification. The information
obtained from an accuracy assessment was also used to estimate deforestation area and
construct confidence intervals that reflect the uncertainty of the area estimates obtained.
Such analysis is rarely applied in current published verification assessments.
In the second phase of the study, a Geo-spatial interface for process-based Water Erosion
Prediction Project (GeoWEPP) was implemented, to estimate the response of land use and
land cover change on soil erosion risk in several scenarios derived from both ground and
satellite based precipitation, DEMs and vegetation change. GeoWEPP was used at the
hillslope scale in three selected watersheds within the Man River basin using Landsat, LISSIII,
Cartosat-1, ASTER, SRTM, TRMM and ground based datasets.
The results highlight that the study developed a realistic approach using remote sensing
techniques to understand the pattern and process of landscape change in the Man River basin
and its response on soil erosion risk. Over the last four decades, forest and agriculture areas
were found to be the most dynamic land use /land cover categories. During the last four
decades, around 54200 ha (33.7 %) forest area has been decreased due to the expansion of
agriculture, forest harvesting and infrastructure development. The direct interpretation
approach estimated similar patterns of deforestation and forest degradation associated with
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drivers for the 2009 to 2013 time period, but this approach also provided more accurate and
location specific information than automatic analysis. The overall correspondence between
the map and reference data are a good measure for 2009 and 2013; 94.03 % and 92.8 %
respectively. User‘s and producer‘s accuracies of individual classes range from 75 % to 99
%. Using the accuracy assessment data and a simple set of equations, an error-adjusted
estimate of the area of deforestation was obtained (± 95% confidence interval) of 23382 ±
550 ha.
The estimated average annual soil loss for all three watersheds is 21 T/ha which was found
to be comparable to similar studies carried out in the study region. The highest soil loss rates
occurred in areas of agriculture (301 T. /ha /yr) and fallow land (158 T/ha/yr), while the
lowest rates were recorded in forest land (33.45 T/ha/yr). Agriculture extension (316.5 ha)
due to forest harvesting (234 ha) in the last four decades is one of the significant drivers to
speed up soil erosion (7.37 T/ha/yr.) in all three watersheds. The spatial pattern of erosion
risk indicates that areas with forest cover have minimum rates of soil erosion, while areas
with extensive human intervention such as agriculture and fallow land, have high estimated
rates of soil erosion. The different DEMs generated varied topographic and hydrologic
attributes, which in turn led to significantly different erosion simulations. GeoWEPP using
Cartosat-1 (30 m) and SRTM (90 m) produced the most accurate estimation of soil loss
which was close to similar already published studies in the area. TRMM rainfall data has
good to use as a rainfall parameter for soil erosion risk mapping in study area.
Overall, the integrated approach using remote sensing and GIS allowed a clear
understanding of the factors that drive land use/land cover change to be developed and
enabled the impact of this change on soil erosion risk in the Man River basin, Central India
to be assessed
Habitat use, population size, and nesting ecology of conservation priority bird species using restored fields in agricultural landscapes
Agricultural intensification has negatively affected biodiversity throughout the world. In the U.S., population declines of many early successional bird species have been linked with habitat loss due to agriculture. One conservation effort that attempts to mitigate these losses is through programs that restore habitat on private lands that were formerly used for row-crop agriculture (hereafter private land programs). These programs have been widely regarded as beneficial to wildlife at local, landscape, and regional scales. In particular, studies have shown that farmland restoration efforts are associated with population-level increases of some conservation priority bird species. However, most studies in these habitats have focused exclusively on grassland bird species and so information is lacking on the habitat use of species that occupy later successional habitat. Based on their scale, and the lack of alternative large-scale solutions, these programs likely present the best opportunity for achieving broad scale conservation goals for birds in Midwestern landscapes. Although we know these programs provide large-scale conservation benefits, we do not understand the magnitude of this contribution. Beyond habitat use and population goals, conservation efforts to attract birds are only effective if those birds successfully reproduce. Therefore, an understanding of the relationship between selected habitat features and fitness consequences are important to understanding the conservation benefit of restored habitats, especially in situations where these are more likely to be decoupled such as agriculturally fragmented landscapes. Specifically, my research focused on addressing: (1) What attributes of restored patches are associated with habitat use by conservation priority birds and how this habitat use is mediated by the surrounding landscape, particularly the prevalence of surrounding agriculture?, (2) Are current levels of farmland restoration enough to achieve population goals for declining species and, if not, what level of additional restoration would be needed to achieve them?, (3) Are the habitat selection patterns of birds in these agriculturally fragmented landscapes associated with successful reproduction, and do relationships between selection and fitness vary among spatial scales? Regarding my first question, response to habitat features at all scales varied by species but the amount of habitat restoration in the surrounding landscape generally had little influence on habitat use; in most cases the amount of surrounding agriculture did not moderate the effect of surrounding restored habitat. For question 2, I found that current restoration efforts in Illinois may be achieving population goals for the Bell’s Vireo and Willow Flycatcher, but more than 10 times the current amount of restored habitat would be required to achieve the population goal for the Field Sparrow and Northern Bobwhite. Lastly, analyses related to my third question demonstrated that nesting Bell’s Vireos and Willow Flycatchers selected habitat that increased nest survival, but not number of young fledged from successful nests, in these drastically altered landscapes. Patterns between nest survival and selected habitat features were apparent at the nest-site scale, but not at the patch or landscape scales. Overall, this study demonstrates the importance of private land programs to conservation priority birds, including what features are associated with their use and how to increase habitat selection by these species, that they are providing population level increases that achieve conservation goals for some species, and that, for two species, breeding habitat selection in agriculturally fragmented landscapes was not maladaptive
Literature review of the remote sensing of natural resources
Abstracts of 596 documents related to remote sensors or the remote sensing of natural resources by satellite, aircraft, or ground-based stations are presented. Topics covered include general theory, geology and hydrology, agriculture and forestry, marine sciences, urban land use, and instrumentation. Recent documents not yet cited in any of the seven information sources used for the compilation are summarized. An author/key word index is provided
A preliminary study of the statistical analyses and sampling strategies associated with the integration of remote sensing capabilities into the current agricultural crop forecasting system
Extending the crop survey application of remote sensing from small experimental regions to state and national levels requires that a sample of agricultural fields be chosen for remote sensing of crop acreage, and that a statistical estimate be formulated with measurable characteristics. The critical requirements for the success of the application are reviewed in this report. The problem of sampling in the presence of cloud cover is discussed. Integration of remotely sensed information about crops into current agricultural crop forecasting systems is treated on the basis of the USDA multiple frame survey concepts, with an assumed addition of a new frame derived from remote sensing. Evolution of a crop forecasting system which utilizes LANDSAT and future remote sensing systems is projected for the 1975-1990 time frame
Earth Resources: A continuing bibliography (issue 32)
This bibliography list 580 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis
Earth Resources. A continuing bibliography with indexes, issue 34, July 1982
This bibliography lists 567 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System between April 1, and June 30, 1982. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis
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