Pre-Launch Tasks Proposed in our Contract of December 1991

We propose, during the pre-EOS phase to: (1) develop, with other MODIS Team Members, a means of discriminating different major biome types with NDVI and other AVHRR-based data. (2) develop a simple ecosystem process model for each of these biomes, BIOME-BGC (3) relate the seasonal trend of weekly composite NDVI to vegetation phenology and temperature limits to develop a satellite defined growing season for vegetation; and (4) define physiologically based energy to mass conversion factors for carbon and water for each biome. Our final core at-launch product will be simplified, completely satellite driven biome specific models for net primary production. We will build these biome specific satellite driven algorithms using a family of simple ecosystem process models as calibration models, collectively called BIOME-BGC, and establish coordination with an existing network of ecological study sites in order to test and validate these products. Field datasets will then be available for both BIOME-BGC development and testing, use for algorithm developments of other MODIS Team Members, and ultimately be our first test point for MODIS land vegetation products upon launch. We will use field sites from the National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research network, and develop Glacier National Park as a major site for intensive validation

Archaeological Excavations at 18AP14: The Victualling Warehouse Site, 77 Main Street, Annapolis, Maryland, 1982 - 1984

The Victualling Warehouse Site, located at 77 Main Street in Annapolis, Maryland, was excavated by Archaeology in Annapolis during the summers of 1982 and 1983 and the fall of 1984. Funding was provided by Historic Annapolis, Incorporated (now Historic Annapolis Foundation), the University of Maryland, the Maryland Committee for the Humanities, and the Maryland Commission on the Capital City. This site has been used for commercial and residential purposes since the 1740's. During the Revolution the warehouses were used as a victualling office to supply American troops. A fire in 1970 destroyed these buildings and the present structure, also used as a store, was built about twenty years later. Over the three years of excavation, a total of 36 5 foot by 5 foot units were excavated revealing several features, including the foundations of one of the eighteenth century warehouses

Veden virtauksesta aiheutuneiden merenpohjan muutosten kuvailu sedimentin ominaisuuksien ja pohjaeläinyhteisöjen avulla : tapaustutkimus Joskärin hylyllä

Veden virtauksen kohdatessa merenpohjassa olevan objektin, virtauksen dynamiikka muuttuu. Veden liike kiihtyy, minkä seurauksena merenpohjassa olevan objektin ympärille muodsostuu pyörteitä. Virtausten intensiteetti vaihtelee etäisyyden muuttuessa suhteessa pohjassa olevaan objektiin. Vaihteleva virtauksen intensiteetti aiheuttaa sedimentin eroosiota, mikä havaitaan veden virtauksesta aiheutuneina merenpohjan topologisina muutoksina (engl. scour). Virtausten muokkaamaan merenpohjaan keskittyvät tutkimukset kuvailevat virtausten aikaansaamaa vaikutusaluetta usein ainoastaan kaikuluotaimilla. Veden virtauksen aiheuttamien mutosten vaikutus pohjaeläinyhteisöihin ja pienimittakaavaisiin sedimentin ominaisuuksiin ei kuitenkaan tallennu kaikuluotaimien tuottamiin kuviin merenpohjan geomorfologiasta. Tässä maisterintutkielmassa Joskärin historiallisen puurunkoisen purjealuksen hylyn ympärillä olevia virtausten aiheuttamia pohjan muutoksia kuvattiin ensin viistokaikuluotaamalla ja määrittämällä merenpohjan syvyys sukeltamalla. Tämän jälkeen sedimenttinäytteitä kerättiin alueelta, jonka oletettiin olevan suurimman virtausten luoman vaikutuksen alaisuudessa. Näytteitä otettiin kolmen eri etäisyyden päästä hylystä, kahden identtisen hylystä poispäin vedetyn linjan varrelta. Näytteistä analysoitiin orgaanisen aineen pitoisuus, sedimentin raekoko, ja pohjaeläinyhteisöjen lajikoostumus. Pohjaeläinyhteisöistä määritettiin lisäksi yksilömäärät, yksilöpituudet, diversiteetti-indeksi, ja funktionaaliset ryhmät. Kaikki näytteet kerättiin putkinoutimella sukeltajan toimesta. Tässä maisterintutkielmassa hyödynnettyjen menetelmien välityksellä käsitys veden virtausten vaikutuksesta merenpohjan ominaisuuksiin laajeni kaikuluotaimen tuottamasta geomorfologisesta tiedosta kokonaisvaltaisemmalle tasolle, jossa otetaan pohjanmuotojen lisäksi huomioon sedimentin biologiset, geologiset ja kemialliset ominaisuudet. Tämän maisterintutkielman tulokset näyttävät sedimentin ominaisuuksien vaihtelevan Joskärin hylyn ympäristössä suhteellisen pienellä mittakaavalla. Sedimentin orgaanisen aineen pitoisuus oli tehokkain veden virrtausten ja pohjalla olevan objektin aiheuttamien muutosten osoittava ominaisuus Joskärin hylyllä. Sen pitoisuus ilmensi johdonmukaisesti vähenevän kehityssuunnan molemmilla näytteenottolinjoilla etäisyyden hylkyyn kasvaessa. Sedimentin raekoko muuttui hienommaksi kauempana hylystä, mutta sedimenttinäytteiden visuaalisen tarkastelun perusteella sedimentissä olevan kuolleen simpukankuoriaineksen määrä voisi mahdollisesti toimia raekokoa parempana virtausten ja pohjalla olevan objektin aiheuttaman pohjanmuutoksen ilmentäjänä. Pohjaeläinyhteisöjen ominaisuuksien vaihtelu etäisyyden funktiona ei ole toimiva virtausten aiheuttamien muutosten ilmentäjä Joskärin hylyllä, sillä johdonmukaisia vuorovaikutussuhteita pohjaeläinyhteisöjen ominaisuuksien ja hylyn etäisyyden välillä ei paikannettu. Koska tutkimussuunnitelmaan ei sisällytetty kontrollinäytteitä, Joskärin hylkyä ympäröivän vedenvirtauksen vaikutusalueen ominaisuuksia ei voitu verrata tutkimusalueen ulkopuolisen pohjan ominaisuuksiin. Jatkotutkimuksilla voitaisiin selvittää mahdolliset eroavaisuudet virtausten ja pohjalla olevan objektin vaikutusalueen sedimenttien sekä vaikutusalueen ulkopuolella olevien sedimenttien välillä. Tämän tutkielman hypoteesina pohjaeläinyhteisöjen sekä sedimentin ominaisuuksien oletettiin vaihtelevan etäisyyden funktiona Joskärin hylystä. Sedimentin ominaisuuksien ilmentämät johdonmukaiset kehityssuunnat suhteessa etäisyyteen hylystä varmistavat osan hypoteesista todeksi, mikä vahvistaa sedimentin ominaisuuksien käyttöarvoa veden virtauksen aiheuttamien muutosten ilmentämisessä Joskärin hylyllä. Osa hypoteesista kuitenkin hylätään, sillä pohjaeläinyhteisöjen ominaisuuksia tutkittaessa johdonmukaisia kehityssuuntia ei löytynyt.As water flow encounters an object on the sea floor, its hydrodynamics change. Accelerated currents and vortices develop around the object with changing intensity as a function of distance from its proximity. This leads to erosion and aggradation of sediment, known as scour. Studies focusing on formation processes of scour often involve locating visible scour sites by sonar scanning the geomorphology of the seafloor. However, the effects of scour on macroinfauna and small-scale sediment characteristics are not visible in sonar images. In this Master’s thesis, scour at a shipwreck of a timber-built historic sailing ship, the Joskär shipwreck, was first identified by scanning the study area with side-scan sonar, and by measuring water depth contours around the shipwreck by scuba diving. Sediment samples were then taken inside the area assumed to be under the most pressure from scour. Samples from three separate distances on two transects drawn outwards from the hull of the shipwreck were collected and analysed for sediment grain size, organic content, and species assemblages of macroinfauna. In addition, macrofauna were analysed for individual lengths, number of individuals, diversity index, and functional groups. All samples were collected with a core tube sampler operated by a scuba diver. The methods used in this Master’s thesis widen the concept of scour past the sole physical processes observable with sonar to a more holistic level that considers the quality of biological, geological, and chemical characteristics of the benthic environment. The results of the present Master’s thesis show that the quality of the sediment near Joskär shipwreck varies within a relatively small scale. Organic content of the sediment was the most potent descriptor of scour at the study site, exhibiting a consistent decreasing trend as distance to the shipwreck increased on both sampled transects. Sediment grain size became finer as distance to the shipwreck increased. However, compared to grain size, based on visual observations of the sediment samples, shell debris content of the sediment could possibly act as a better measure of presence of scour. The variability of characteristics of macroinfaunal communities as a function of distance from Joskär shipwreck was not a viable tool to describe the presence of scour, as no consistent trends of the variables were observed. As no control site was included in the study design, the characteristics of the benthic environment inside the scour around Joskär shipwreck could not be compared to the seafloor unaffected by scour. Further research could reveal possible variation between these distinct habitats, and that way produce valuable indicators of scour. The hypothesis in the present thesis was that macroinfaunal assemblages and sediment characteristics would exhibit variation between the sampling sites as a function of distance from the shipwreck. The observed trends of sediment characteristics validated a part of the hypothesis, showcasing the utility of sediment characteristics in describing scour at Joskär shipwreck. However, a part of the hypothesis was rejected, as no consistent trends of macroinfaunal features were present

Investigation of environmental indices from the Earth Resources Technology Satellite

The author has identified the following significant results. Land use change, water quality, and air quality indices have been calculated from analysis of ERTS-1 multispectral scanning imagery and computer compatible tapes. Specifications have been developed and discussed for an ERTS-1 environmental monitoring system which help to serve the information needs of environmental managers at the Federal, state, regional, and local level. General conclusions of the investigation are that ERTS-1 data is very useful in land use mapping and updating to 10-15 categories, and can provide an overall measure of air and water turbidity; however, more and better ground truth and possibly additional spacecraft sensors will be required if specific air and water pollutants are to be quantified from satellite data

The earth observing one (EO-1) Hyperion and Advanced land imager sensors for use in tundra classification studies within the Upper Kuparuk river basin, Alaska

The heterogeneity of Arctic vegetation can make land cover classification very difficult when using medium to small resolution imagery (Schneider et al., 2009; Muller et al., 1999). Using high radiometric and spatial resolution imagery, such as the SPOT 5 and IKONOS satellites, have helped arctic land cover classification accuracies rise into the 80 and 90 percentiles (Allard, 2003; Stine et al., 2010; Muller et al., 1999). However, those increases usually come at a high price. High resolution imagery is very expensive and can often add tens of thousands of dollars onto the cost of the research. The EO-1 satellite launched in 2002 carries two sensors that have high spectral and/or high spatial resolutions and can be an acceptable compromise between the resolution versus cost issues. The Hyperion is a hyperspectral sensor with the capability of collecting 242 spectral bands of information. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) is an advanced multispectral sensor whose spatial resolution can be sharpened to 10 meters. This dissertation compares the accuracies of arctic land cover classifications produced by the Hyperion and ALI sensors to the classification accuracies produced by the Systeme Pour l' Observation de le Terre (SPOT), the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and the Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensors. Hyperion and ALI images from August 2004 were collected over the Upper Kuparuk River Basin, Alaska. Image processing included the stepwise discriminant analysis of pixels that were positively classified from coinciding ground control points, geometric and radiometric correction, and principle component analysis. Finally, stratified random sampling was used to perform accuracy assessments on satellite derived land cover classifications. Accuracy was estimated from an error matrix (confusion matrix) that provided the overall, producer's and user's accuracies. This research found that while the Hyperion sensor produced classification accuracies that were equivalent to the TM and ETM+ sensor (approximately 78%), the Hyperion could not obtain the accuracy of the SPOT 5 HRV sensor. However, the land cover classifications derived from the ALI sensor exceeded most classification accuracies derived from the TM and ETM+ sensors and were even comparable to most SPOT 5 HRV classifications (87%). With the deactivation of the Landsat series satellites, the monitoring of remote locations such as in the Arctic on an uninterrupted basis throughout the world is in jeopardy. The utilization of the Hyperion and ALI sensors are a way to keep that endeavor operational. By keeping the ALI sensor active at all times, uninterrupted observation of the entire Earth can be accomplished. Keeping the Hyperion sensor as a "tasked" sensor can provide scientists with additional imagery and options for their studies without overburdening storage issues

From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crisis

Socio-economic data mining has a great potential in terms of gaining a better understanding of problems that our economy and society are facing, such as financial instability, shortages of resources, or conflicts. Without large-scale data mining, progress in these areas seems hard or impossible. Therefore, a suitable, distributed data mining infrastructure and research centers should be built in Europe. It also appears appropriate to build a network of Crisis Observatories. They can be imagined as laboratories devoted to the gathering and processing of enormous volumes of data on both natural systems such as the Earth and its ecosystem, as well as on human techno-socio-economic systems, so as to gain early warnings of impending events. Reality mining provides the chance to adapt more quickly and more accurately to changing situations. Further opportunities arise by individually customized services, which however should be provided in a privacy-respecting way. This requires the development of novel ICT (such as a self- organizing Web), but most likely new legal regulations and suitable institutions as well. As long as such regulations are lacking on a world-wide scale, it is in the public interest that scientists explore what can be done with the huge data available. Big data do have the potential to change or even threaten democratic societies. The same applies to sudden and large-scale failures of ICT systems. Therefore, dealing with data must be done with a large degree of responsibility and care. Self-interests of individuals, companies or institutions have limits, where the public interest is affected, and public interest is not a sufficient justification to violate human rights of individuals. Privacy is a high good, as confidentiality is, and damaging it would have serious side effects for society.Comment: 65 pages, 1 figure, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

Willow Abundance and Condition Mapping in Rocky Mountain National Park

Riparian and wetland willow species have undergone serious declines in Rocky Mountain National Park as a consequence of a variety of environmental changes and, most recently, damage resulting from moose overpopulation. To address concerns about the long-term status of willows in the park, we developed remote sensing-based raster maps of riparian and wetland willow species presence, canopy cover percentage, canopy height, and leaf area index. All outputs were produced at 3-meter resolution, and represent willows as they existed in 2021. The mapping was performed via random forests classification and regression models trained on several hundred vegetation plots from a variety of sampling efforts, and making use of predictive layers derived from aerial and satellite imagery, topographic and climatic data. The maps allowed comparison of willow abundance across spatial subsets of the park, including an assessment of areas within ungulate exclosures. Riparian and wetland willow species were mapped as present on 5.45% of the park’s total area. Across these areas, most of which likely represent vegetation types where willow is not dominant but only a component, the mean mapped willow leaf area index was 0.694. Accuracy assessment relied on cross-validated model error estimates. The habitat and imagery-based presence classification models with which the willow presence map was created had error rates of 12% and 19% respectively. The regression models for prediction of canopy cover, canopy height, and leaf area index explained 50%, 56%, and 52% of the variance in the dependent variables. The maps will be used to support assessments of willow habitat in the park and (through allometric conversion of leaf area index to leaf biomass production estimates) the determination of summer seasonal moose carrying capacity