52 research outputs found

    Atlas of Saudi Arabian Red Sea Marine Habitats

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    The Red Sea is a narrow, but relatively deep, oceanic trough that extends for over 1900 km, between 13º and 28º N latitude. It has a total surface area of roughly 438,000 km², with a width of approximately 180 km in the north, and 354 km at its widest point in the south. The Red Sea narrows to about 29 km in the Strait of Bab el Mandab, where it joins the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. The maximum depth is over 2200 m, with an average depth of 490 m. The Red Sea is shallowest at the southern end, with depths of only 130 m in the Strait of Bab el Mandab. It is the world’s northernmost tropical sea, with extensive shallow shelves that support complex coral reefs and associated ecosystems. The Red Sea is part of the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean, which encompasses the largest marine ecosystem on earth and also the most diverse. Much of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coastline is characterized by coastal fringing reefs that are narrow, extending tens of meters from shore before plummeting to deep water. However, several regions in Saudi Arabia contain extensive seagrass beds, offshore reef habitats, mangroves, and algal flats. These areas support a wide range of reef morphologies, such as barrier reefs, patch reefs, ridge reefs, atolls, tower reefs, pinnacles, pillars, and spur and groove structures, as well as diverse coral communities growing on algalderived limestone structures (Sheppard et al. 1992). Over a four year period, the Living Oceans Foundation has been involved in a massive scale marine habitat research project in the Red Sea. The results are now published in this first ever atlas of the Red Sea marine habitats of offshore coral reefs. It is available for download in both English and Arabic.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facbooks/1042/thumbnail.jp

    Connected Attribute Filtering Based on Contour Smoothness

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    Recent Advances in Signal Processing

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    The signal processing task is a very critical issue in the majority of new technological inventions and challenges in a variety of applications in both science and engineering fields. Classical signal processing techniques have largely worked with mathematical models that are linear, local, stationary, and Gaussian. They have always favored closed-form tractability over real-world accuracy. These constraints were imposed by the lack of powerful computing tools. During the last few decades, signal processing theories, developments, and applications have matured rapidly and now include tools from many areas of mathematics, computer science, physics, and engineering. This book is targeted primarily toward both students and researchers who want to be exposed to a wide variety of signal processing techniques and algorithms. It includes 27 chapters that can be categorized into five different areas depending on the application at hand. These five categories are ordered to address image processing, speech processing, communication systems, time-series analysis, and educational packages respectively. The book has the advantage of providing a collection of applications that are completely independent and self-contained; thus, the interested reader can choose any chapter and skip to another without losing continuity

    The utilisation of satellite images for the detection of elephant induced vegetation change patterns

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    South Africa’s growing elephant populations are concentrated in relatively small enclosed protected areas resulting in the over utilisation of the available food sources. Elephants and other herbivores as well as other natural disturbances such as fires and droughts play an important role in maintaining savannah environments. When these disturbances become too concentrated in a particular area the vegetation composition may be negatively affected. Excessive damage to the vegetation would result from exceeding the capacity of a protected area to provide food resources. The effect of the 120 elephants on the vegetation of Welgevonden Private Game Reserve, is not known. The rugged terrain of this reserve makes it a difficult, time consuming and labour intensive exercise to conduct ground studies. Satellite images can be used as a monitoring tool for vegetation change and improve the quantity and quality of environmental data to be collected significantly, allowing more informed management decision-making. This study evaluated the use of satellite imagery for monitoring elephant induced vegetation change on Welgevonden Private Game Reserve. The LANDSAT Thematic Mapper multispectral images, acquired at two yearly intervals from 1993 until 2007 were used. However, no suitable images were available for the years 1997, 2001 and 2003. A series of vegetation change maps was produced and the distribution of water sources and fire occurrences mapped. The areas of change were then correlated with the spatial distribution of water points and fire occurances, with uncorrelated areas of change. This was analysed using large animal population trends, weather data and management practices. On the visual comparison of the vegetation maps, it was seen that over this time period there was some decrease and thinning of woodland, but the most notable change was the increase of open woodland and decrease in grasslands. Using only the digital change detection for the period 1993 to 2007, a general increase in vegetation cover is seen. But this generalisation is misleading, since comparing the digital change detection to the vegetation maps indicates that while vegetation cover may have increased, significant changes occurred in the vegetation types. Most of the areas of significant change that were identified showed a strong positive correlation with burnt areas. The distribution of the water sources could not be directly linked to the vegetation change although rainfall fluctuations seemed to have accelerated vegetation changes. Years with high game counts, such as 1999, also coincide with very low rainfall making it difficult to differentiate between the effects of heavy utilisation of vegetation and low rainfall. Furthermore, many of the initial vegetation changes could be the result of land use changes due to the introduction of browsers, selective grazers and elephants that allow for more natural utilisation of the vegetation. Remote sensing makes it possible to successfully track changes in vegetation and identify areas of potential elephant induced vegetation change. Vegetation changes caused by disturbances, such as fire and anthropogenic activities, can be accounted for but it is not possible to conclude with a high level of certainty that the further changes seen are solely a result of elephant damage. Further work is required to reliably isolate elephant induced vegetation changes, as well as to establish the effects these changes have on the ecosystem as a whole.Environmental Sciences(M. Sc. (Environmetal Sciences)

    Research and Technology Objectives and Plans Summary (RTOPS)

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    This publication represents the NASA research and technology program for FY89. It is a compilation of the Summary portions of each of the RTOPs (Research and Technology Objectives and Plans) used for management review and control of research currently in progress throughout NASA. The RTOP Summary is designed to facilitate communication and coordination among concerned technical personnel in government, in industry, and in universities. The first section containing citations and abstracts of the RTOPs is followed by four indexes: Subject, Technical Monitor, Responsible NASA Organization, and RTOP Number

    Faculty Publications and Creative Works 2004

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    Faculty Publications & Creative Works is an annual compendium of scholarly and creative activities of University of New Mexico faculty during the noted calendar year. Published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, it serves to illustrate the robust and active intellectual pursuits conducted by the faculty in support of teaching and research at UNM

    Geomorphology from space: A global overview of regional landforms

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    This book, Geomorphology from Space: A Global Overview of Regional Landforms, was published by NASA STIF as a successor to the two earlier works on the same subject: Mission to Earth: LANDSAT views the Earth, and ERTS-1: A New Window on Our Planet. The purpose of the book is threefold: first, to serve as a stimulant in rekindling interest in descriptive geomorphology and landforms analysis at the regional scale; second, to introduce the community of geologists, geographers, and others who analyze the Earth's surficial forms to the practical value of space-acquired remotely sensed data in carrying out their research and applications; and third, to foster more scientific collaboration between geomorphologists who are studying the Earth's landforms and astrogeologists who analyze landforms on other planets and moons in the solar system, thereby strengthening the growing field of comparative planetology
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