6,039 research outputs found

    Mesoscale mapping of sediment source hotspots for dam sediment management in data-sparse semi-arid catchments

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    Land degradation and water availability in semi-arid regions are interdependent challenges for management that are influenced by climatic and anthropogenic changes. Erosion and high sediment loads in rivers cause reservoir siltation and decrease storage capacity, which pose risk on water security for citizens, agriculture, and industry. In regions where resources for management are limited, identifying spatial-temporal variability of sediment sources is crucial to decrease siltation. Despite widespread availability of rigorous methods, approaches simplifying spatial and temporal variability of erosion are often inappropriately applied to very data sparse semi-arid regions. In this work, we review existing approaches for mapping erosional hotspots, and provide an example of spatial-temporal mapping approach in two case study regions. The barriers limiting data availability and their effects on erosion mapping methods, their validation, and resulting prioritization of leverage management areas are discussed.BMBF, 02WGR1421A-I, GROW - Verbundprojekt SaWaM: Saisonales Wasserressourcen-Management in Trockenregionen: Praxistransfer regionalisierter globaler Informationen, Teilprojekt 1DFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli

    Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

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    This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

    Outreach and citizen engagement in the Winnicut River watershed: A participatory action study

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    Recently, citizen initiated watershed management has seen a rise in popularity. Citizen watershed groups have been created across the country especially in New England. These groups advocate for protections and responsible watershed-wide management. Each watershed contains a certain set of unique ecological, social, regulatory and problem situations and therefore each watershed organization requires a full mapping process of the policy and social process as well as the ecological and problem situation before engaging the citizens. This research explores the Winnicut River watershed in southeastern New Hampshire. Covering three communities and representing a subwatershed of the Great Bay coastal watershed this watershed has important social and ecological importance but up until this study initiated had little or no citizen action. This is a study in participatory action in citizen engaged watershed management and it uses a policy sciences approach to examine current social processes, problem orientation and regulatory framework. Employing a collaborative learning approach the study applies appropriate and relevant citizen outreach and engagement tools to establish the Winnicut River Watershed Coalition. The knowledge and experience gained from the examination and application of methods was used to evaluate and develop future recommendations for the Winnicut River Watershed Coalition

    Seafloor characterization using airborne hyperspectral co-registration procedures independent from attitude and positioning sensors

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    The advance of remote-sensing technology and data-storage capabilities has progressed in the last decade to commercial multi-sensor data collection. There is a constant need to characterize, quantify and monitor the coastal areas for habitat research and coastal management. In this paper, we present work on seafloor characterization that uses hyperspectral imagery (HSI). The HSI data allows the operator to extend seafloor characterization from multibeam backscatter towards land and thus creates a seamless ocean-to-land characterization of the littoral zone

    SIRENE: A Spatial Data Infrastructure to Enhance Communities' Resilience to Disaster-Related Emergency

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    Abstract Planning in advance to prepare for and respond to a natural hazard-induced disaster-related emergency is a key action that allows decision makers to mitigate unexpected impacts and potential damage. To further this aim, a collaborative, modular, and information and communications technology-based Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) called SIRENE—Sistema Informativo per la Preparazione e la Risposta alle Emergenze (Information System for Emergency Preparedness and Response) is designed and implemented to access and share, over the Internet, relevant multisource and distributed geospatial data to support decision makers in reducing disaster risks. SIRENE flexibly searches and retrieves strategic information from local and/or remote repositories to cope with different emergency phases. The system collects, queries, and analyzes geographic information provided voluntarily by observers directly in the field (volunteered geographic information (VGI) reports) to identify potentially critical environmental conditions. SIRENE can visualize and cross-validate institutional and research-based data against VGI reports, as well as provide disaster managers with a decision support system able to suggest the mode and timing of intervention, before and in the aftermath of different types of emergencies, on the basis of the available information and in agreement with the laws in force at the national and regional levels. Testing installations of SIRENE have been deployed in 18 hilly or mountain municipalities (12 located in the Italian Central Alps of northern Italy, and six in the Umbria region of central Italy), which have been affected by natural hazard-induced disasters over the past years (landslides, debris flows, floods, and wildfire) and experienced significant social and economic losses

    Paso del Norte Watershed Council Coordinated Water Resources Database Project

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    The Paso del Norte Watershed Council (PDNWC) is a quasi-governmental organization that serves in an advisory capacity to the New Mexico-Texas Water Commission regarding the selection, planning, and implementation of environmental enhancements and mitigations associated with the El Paso-Las Cruces Regional Sustainable Water Project. The Council recommends policies for cooperation, coordination, and the sharing of information concerning planning and management activities of projects affecting the Paso del Norte Watershed, this being defined as the Rio Grande Basin between Elephant Butte Dam/Reservoir in southern New Mexico and Fort Quitman, Texas. In the last several years, the Watershed Council has discussed the development of a regional cooperative database project that would provide streamlined access to a range of water resource data in the Paso del Norte region. In August of 2002, the El Paso Water Utilities provided initial funding to the Paso del Norte Watershed Council to develop a pilot cooperative database project, and efforts toward the development of such a project have been ongoing. This document is the final report for this effort. In this report, we detail the following elements of the project, as specified in the initial Scope of Work: 1. The background, motivation, and intended outcomes of the project, 2. The specific tasks that were undertaken in project development efforts, 3. The specific insights that we have gained in this pilot effort, 4. Specific recommendations for new water quality monitoring sites and equipment, and 5. An outline of tasks that should be undertaken in future phases of the project. All deliverables specified in the project have been completed, and we also note the following recommendations for future project work, as detailed in the latter part of this report: * Complete migration of the Project website and related databases to the ArcIMS software, * Installation of new monitoring stations and equipment as detailed above, and inclusion of these monitoring sites in future ArcIMS map products, * Enhanced levels of funding to be directed to support more active participation of regional volunteer data providers and to bring new providers into the project, * Exploration of scripting and automated FTP routines or a batch mode of data transfer to allow progress on the "user interface plateau" discussed in the report, * Inclusion of groundwater data into future phases of the project, * Linking the EPWU-funded project to USACE-supported database efforts, and * Additional funding to be provided to lend institutional support to the Watershed Council and also to fund future Cooperative Database Project activities

    Multicriteria Suitability modeling for in-river hydrokinetic turbines: Case of the Hudson River

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    Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesThe energy of water flowing through rivers 24/7 is one of the most reliable constant forms of clean energy available nowadays, and the potential of hydrokinetic power exploitation is rapidly growing. In this project we have set a framework that traces the hydrological network of the Hudson River, combine the available data on and around the region, considering the physical aspect of the stream; bathymetry and power density, the environmental aspect; protected and critical areas, and the socioeconomic aspect; accessibility and proximity to populated regions, and eventually pick the installation sites of the Hydrokinetic turbines over the stream. Moreover, we were able to explicate the parallels between the different approaches for this same purpose, bringing their differences into relief, while selecting the methodology that best fits the nature of our study. This project is a conceptual framework for articulating experimental guidelines to this state-of-the-art technology of river Hydrokinetic energy converters, to ultimately help decision makers consider more sustainable projects like In-stream-hydro systems as a practical support for the electrical grid, to aid secluded communities, and those surrounding old dammed structures recover. The ultimate goal is to obtain enough energy from clean power sources while making sure that the impact of these energy resources on the environment, economy and society is reduced methodically. The results revealed that: It is possible to effectively take in consideration different aspects iv (physical, environmental, and socioeconomical) that affect the deployment strategy of the turbines’ locations. Selecting the regions over the Hudson River, with the highest potential can be done with more than one method, (the weighted overlay method gave the best results). The picked-out sites of both methods designate regions where high-velocity streams were located, with over 5 meters depth, proximity to populated areas, access to the road network and electrical grid, while maintaining proper distance from the environmental sensitive and protected areas. The validation of these suitable locations however needs further on-site assessment. Although river flow is considerably slower than tides and ocean currents, when the river is perennial (continuous baseflow throughout the year), or have perennial tributaries (free flowing stream that discharges into the main river channel), it provides constant energy flow that can be harnessed using the power turbines, all year long. This project establishes the significance of incorporating different themes in pinpointing the suitable locations, using solely a GIS-based multi-Criteria analysis approach (MCA), without relying on any other equipment. And it is feasible as long as the necessary data is available

    A Computational Method based on Radio Frequency Technologies for the Analysis of Accessibility of Disabled People in Sustainable Cities

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    The sustainability strategy in urban spaces arises from reflecting on how to achieve a more habitable city and is materialized in a series of sustainable transformations aimed at humanizing different environments so that they can be used and enjoyed by everyone without exception and regardless of their ability. Modern communication technologies allow new opportunities to analyze efficiency in the use of urban spaces from several points of view: adequacy of facilities, usability, and social integration capabilities. The research presented in this paper proposes a method to perform an analysis of movement accessibility in sustainable cities based on radio frequency technologies and the ubiquitous computing possibilities of the new Internet of Things paradigm. The proposal can be deployed in both indoor and outdoor environments to check specific locations of a city. Finally, a case study in a controlled context has been simulated to validate the proposal as a pre-deployment step in urban environments
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