Comparison between Parametric and Non-Parametric Supervised Land Cover Classifications of Sentinel-2 MSI and Landsat-8 OLI Data

The present research aims at verifying whether there are significant differences between Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) classifications performed using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI) data—abbreviated as L8 and S2. To comprehend the degree of accuracy between these classifications, both L8 and S2 scenes covering the study area located in the Basilicata region (Italy) and acquired within a couple of days in August 2017 were considered. Both images were geometrically and atmospherically corrected and then resampled at 30 m. To identify the ground truth for training and validation, a LULC map and a forest map realized by the Basilicata region were used as references. Then, each point was verified through photo-interpretation using the orthophoto AGEA 2017 (spatial resolution of 20 cm) as a ground truth image and, only in doubtful cases, a direct GPS field survey. MLC and SVM supervised classifications were applied to both types of images and an error matrix was computed using the same reference points (ground truth) to evaluate the classification accuracy of different LULC classes. The contribution of S2′s red-edge bands in improving classifications was also verified. Definitively, ML classifications show better performance than SVM, and Landsat data provide higher accuracy than Sentinel-2

Sviluppo di un DSS integrato per il monitoraggio dell’ambiente costiero

Nel presente lavoro si descrivono i primi risultati funzionali del progetto operativo regionale denominato “Implementazione di un sistema di previsione e prevenzione del rischio idraulico” che è parte integrante del più ampio progetto “MATER” - finalizzato allo sviluppo di una Metodologia di Analisi ambientali e TERritoriali connessa allo sfruttamento di risorse naturali. L’obiettivo principale del progetto “MATER”, durante la fase di start-up, è stato quello di definire un sistema di monitoraggio per la previsione e la prevenzione del rischio idraulico-costiero attraverso la strutturazione e l’implementazione di un Decision Support System (DSS) basato sull’elaborazione di dati radar con particolare riferimento alle nuove missioni satellitari, quali Sentinel-1 e COSMOSkyMed che permettono di produrre informazioni territoriali, quali ad esempio la linea di costa, i movimenti delle coste alte e rocciose, la variazione della vegetazione retrodunale, la localizzazione di sversamenti inquinanti sotto costa, di fondamentale importanza per la tutela dell’ambiente costiero e per la salvaguardia delle attività socio-economiche presenti in tale area. Il DSS, realizzato in ambiente GIS open-source, è espandibile, è basato su cataloghi open-data ed è in grado di gestire e visualizzare sia le informazioni di base, ivi compresi i relativi metadati, sia i risultati di elaborazione e processamento con codici open-source di change-detection, di segmentazione e di modellazione idraulica e morfologica. La definizione del DSS ha previsto nel contempo lo sviluppo di metodologie integrative al monitoraggio sistematico e continuo della costa, lo stesso è stato interfacciato in ambiente WebGIS compatibile con il geoportale della Regione Basilicata (RSDI), attraverso l’integrazione dei dati al suolo e in remoto con tecnologie informatiche Open Source per l’analisi di base e la pubblicazione web di dati geografici, orientando l’applicazione ad una consultazione per l’utente finale semplice ed intuitiva.The earliest and functional results of the regional operative project (OP) named “Implementation of hydraulic risk forecast and prevention system” are showed in the present paper. The OP is one of the fundamental components of the project named MATER. The Mater project is aimed to develop a methodology for environmental and territorial analysis related to the exploitation of natural resources. The main target of MATER, during the start-up step of the project, consists of the definition of a monitoring system finalized to coastal-hydraulic risk forecast and prevention by Decision Support System (DSS) implementation. The DSS is based on new satellite radar data Sentinel-1 and COSMOSkyMed which allow to re-produce territorial information such as coastline, rocky shore displacement, retrodunal vegetation variations, oil spill nearshore detection. The aforementioned information are fundamental to protect coastal environment and to safeguard socio-economic activities existing in the coastal region. The DSS is developed by free and open-source geospatial software, it is extensible, based on open-data catalogues and it is able to manage and to visualize both basic information (and the related metadata) and results come from open-source code change-detection processing and morpho-hydraulic modelling. The DSS is interconnected with a friendly and intuitive WebGIS compatible with the Basilicata Region web geo-portal environment

Sistema Informativo Territoriale per i vigneti del Vulture

Una delle azioni del progetto AVIGNE prevedeva la realizzazione di un Sistema Informativo Territoriale (SIT) a servizio del Comprensorio viticolo del Vulture. Questa azione è stata realizzata con l’impegno di ampio gruppo di lavoro che comprendeva esperti della SAFE (Università della Basilicata) e del CGIAM (Centro di Geomorfologia Integrata per l’area del Mediterraneo) di Potenza, tra cui economisti agrari, agronomi, specialisti di Cartografia SIT. Le applicazioni SIT al vigneto sono ormai comuni, e l’offerta di nuove soluzioni è continua . Tra le più interessanti c’è oggi la cosiddetta Viticoltura di Precisione , termine sintetico che indica una complessa strategia di gestione della vigna per tutti gli aspetti del ciclo produttivo, dal monitoraggio della maturazione, alla pianificazione degli interventi agronomici e fitosanitari. La Viticoltura di precisione si basa estesamente su sistemi SIT per la raccolta, analisi e utilizzazione delle informazioni, molte prodotte con tecniche di osservazione spaziale e altre rilevate in campo. Accanto alle applicazioni agronomiche ed enologiche, il progetto AVIGNE ha considerato le importanti possibilità offerte dai SIT in altri campi, ad esempio nella comunicazione e nella promozione, per avvicinare il consumatore finale sia al vino che al vigneto, attraverso canali virtuali, oltre che quelli tradizionali, e promuovere la notorietà del prodotto completandola con l’identità del territorio. Ad Esempio, in California, una particolare applicazione di Street View, permette di visitare virtualmente anche le cantine delle aziende vitivinicole . La forte impostazione multidisciplinare si riflette in tutti gli aspetti del SIT realizzato. Le informazioni collezionate, organizzate e rese accessibili sono state raccolte da fonti scientifiche e tecniche, dalle immagini satellitari di molti progetti internazionali ed europei, tra cui CORINE , da fonti istituzionali degli enti coinvolti nella gestione della politica agricola Europea come AGEA (Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura) e mediante il rilevamento diretto e la digitalizzazione effettuata dal gruppo di lavoro AVIGNE. Il prodotto ottenuto è ora pronto per essere utilizzato al livello aziendale o di comprensorio. Sin dalla progettazione tecnica si è prestata estrema attenzione alla utilizzabilità e trasferibilità, con l’uso di un software Open source, e la realizzazione di alcune semplici procedure per l’adattamento di alcune funzioni al caso specifico. Gli strati informativi, ovvero le cartografie tematiche che sono state incluse nel SIT sono numerosissime, e tutte sono state adattate in modo tale da poter essere lette, confrontate, incrociate, per i più diversi “quesiti” di analisi o di gestione. La struttura aperta e flessibile del SIT consente di prevedere la aggiunta di altre mappe SIT in futuro, rendendolo uno strumento dinamico e aggiornabile

Development of an Integrated SDSS for Coastal Risks Monitoring and Assessment

The first results of the regional Operative Project (OP) “Implementation of hydraulic risk forecast and prevention system”, as part of the extended operative programme MATER aimed to develop a methodology for environmental and territorial analysis related to the exploitation of natural resources, are shown in the present paper. The main target deals with the development and implementation of a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) platform for coastal risk forecasting and prevention through the integration of multisource satellite data (Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and COSMO Sky Med) coupled with post processing open source hydrodynamic models. The processing results include the coastline and back-dune vegetation mapping, rocky coast movements detection as well as new landfills, buildings and spills derived by the implementation of innovative images segmentation techniques, multi-band change-detection and PSInSAR (Persistent Scattered Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) typologies. The SDSS provides significant advantage of cyclical production and/or updating in phase with satellite data acquisition frequency. Further, through self-consistent applicative tools, provided with proper graphical interface developed in IDL and integrated in SDSS, it is possible to display and automatically extract the coastline sequence from Sentinel-1 data, compare two shoreline acquisitions, even if multi-sources, and calculate the coastal erosion and aggradation. Finally, some interoperable tools for morpho-hydrodynamic modelling assimilation have been developed and implemented in order to reproduce flooding risk scenarios for the coastal resilience assessment at different return time. For such a purpose, in the start-up phase, Delft3D (Deltares- NL) was employed for storm surge modelling, coastal morphological evolution and coastal inundation analyses. The SDSS is interconnected with a friendly and intuitive WebGIS compatible to the Regional Spatial Data Infrastructure

Assessing Vegetation Decline Due to Pollution from Solid Waste Management by a Multitemporal Remote Sensing Approach

Nowadays, the huge production of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is one of the most strongly felt environmental issues. Consequently, the European Union (EU) delivers laws and regulations for better waste management, identifying the essential requirements for waste disposal operations and the characteristics that make waste hazardous to human health and the environment. In Italy, environmental regulations define, among other things, the characteristics of sites to be classified as “potentially contaminated”. From this perspective, the Basilicata region is currently one of the Italian regions with the highest number of potentially polluted sites in proportion to the number of inhabitants. This research aimed to identify the possible effects of potentially toxic element (PTE) pollution due to waste disposal activities in three “potentially contaminated” sites in southern Italy. The area was affected by a release of inorganic pollutants with values over the thresholds ruled by national/European legislation. Potential physiological efficiency variations of vegetation were analyzed through the multitemporal processing of satellite images. Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images were used to calculate the trend in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) over the years. The multitemporal trends were analyzed using the median of the non-parametric Theil–Sen estimator. Finally, the Mann–Kendall test was applied to evaluate trend significance featuring areas according to the contamination effects on investigated vegetation. The applied procedure led to the exclusion of significant effects on vegetation due to PTEs. Thus, waste disposal activities during previous years do not seem to have significantly affected vegetation around targeted sites

Coexistence of T-Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia and Peripheral T Cell Lymphoma-NOS with Indolent Behavior

T-cell lymphomas and leukemias are highly heterogeneous groups of rare disorders. We report a case of a 68-year-old man patient who developed two different T-cell neoplasms (Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia [LGLL] in 2018 and Peripheral T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma not otherwise specified [PTCL-NOS] in 2019) with a previous diagnosis of B-cell marginal zone lymphoma in 2010, treated with two lines of chemo-immunotherapy. The coexistence of these different T-cell neoplasms is rarely reported in the literature. Moreover, it is usually described as an LGLL transformation into PTCL-NOS; differently from these examples, herein, the simultaneous conditions appear to be driven by different T-cell clones. Furthermore, the PTCL-NOS had quite unusual behavior, with good disease control without intensive treatment. Because of these features, it could belong to a subgroup of indolent PTCL-NOS, not yet described in the WHO classification of T-cell neoplasms, which could benefit from less aggressive treatment

The SAVEMEDCOASTS-2 webGIS: The Online Platform for Relative Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Scenarios up to 2100 for the Mediterranean Coasts

Here we show the SAVEMEDCOASTS-2 web-based geographic information system (webGIS) that supports land planners and decision makers in considering the ongoing impacts of Relative Sea Level Rise (RSLR) when formulating and prioritizing climate-resilient adaptive pathways for the Mediterranean coasts. The webGIS was developed within the framework of the SAVEMEDCOASTS and SAVEMEDCOASTS-2 projects, funded by the European Union, which respond to the need to protect people and assets from natural disasters along the Mediterranean coasts that are vulnerable to the combined effects of Sea Level Rise (SLR) and Vertical Land Movements (VLM). The geospatial data include available or new high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTM), bathymetric data, rates of VLM, and multi-temporal coastal flooding scenarios for 2030, 2050, and 2100 with respect to 2021, as a consequence of RSLR. The scenarios are derived from the 5th Assessment Report (AR5) provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and encompass different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5) for climate projections. The webGIS reports RSLR scenarios that incorporate the temporary contribution of both the highest astronomical tides (HAT) and storm surges (SS), which intensify risks to the coastal infrastructure, local community, and environment