Mapping growing stock volume and forest live biomass: a case study of the Polissya region of Ukraine

Forest inventory and biomass mapping are important tasks that require inputs from multiple data sources. In this paper we implement two methods for the Ukrainian region of Polissya: random forest (RF) for tree species prediction and k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) for growing stock volume and biomass mapping. We examined the suitability of the five-band RapidEye satellite image to predict the distribution of six tree species. The accuracy of RF is quite high: ~99% for forest/non-forest mask and 89% for tree species prediction. Our results demonstrate that inclusion of elevation as a predictor variable in the RF model improved the performance of tree species classification. We evaluated different distance metrics for the k-NN method, including Euclidean or Mahalanobis distance, most similar neighbor (MSN), gradient nearest neighbor, and independent component analysis. The MSN with the four nearest neighbors (k = 4) is the most precise (according to the root-mean-square deviation) for predicting forest attributes across the study area. The k-NN method allowed us to estimate growing stock volume with an accuracy of 3 m3 ha−1 and for live biomass of about 2 t ha−1 over the study area

Tracking Rates of Forest Disturbance and Associated Carbon Loss in Areas of Illegal Amber Mining in Ukraine Using Landsat Time Series

Mapping forest disturbance is crucial for many applications related to decision-making for sustainable forest management. This study identified the effect of illegal amber mining on forest change and accumulated carbon stock across a study area of 8125.5 ha in northern Ukraine. Our method relies on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) implementation of the Landsat-based Detection of Trends in Disturbance and Recovery (LandTrendr) temporal segmentation algorithm of Landsat time-series (LTS) to derive yearly maps of forest disturbance and recovery in areas affected by amber extraction operations. We used virtual reality (VR) 360 interactive panoramic images taken from the sites to attribute four levels of forest disturbance associated with the delta normalized burn ratio (dNBR) and then calculated the carbon loss. We revealed that illegal amber extraction in Ukraine has been occurring since the middle of the 1990s, yielding 3260 ha of total disturbed area up to 2019. This study indicated that the area of forest disturbance increased dramatically during 2013–2014, and illegal amber operations persist. As a result, regrowth processes were mapped on only 375 ha of total disturbed area. The results were integrated into the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) quality management system in the region to categorize Forest Management Units (FMUs) conforming to different disturbance rates and taking actions related to their certification status. Moreover, carbon loss evaluation allows the responsible forest management systems to be streamlined and to endorse ecosystem service assessment

ПРО НЕОБХІДНІСТЬ ЗАПРОВАДЖЕННЯ МАГІСТРАТУРИ З ГРОМАДСЬКОГО ЗДОРОВ’Я ЗА ОСВІТНЬО-НАУКОВИМИ ПРОГРАМАМИ

The aim of the study – to justify the need for and to represent the approaches to Master’s program in public health implementation.The method of structural-and-logical analysis and bibliosemantic method were applied in the course of study. Systemic analysis and systemic approach composed the methodological basis of research. WHO documents on providing the public health system with personnel, personnel training and also the experience of leading countries of the world in the stated question were used as the materials of research.The main body. Educational-and-scienti c program of the Mater’s program in “Public health” consists of 5 compulsory modules and four modules, one of which is selected by the master. The program includes the practical-and-educational work and research work.The scope of the program is 3600 hours (120 ECTS credits). The series of lectures equal to 462 academic hours. 512 training hours are assigned for workshops, 1318 training hours are assigned for practical classes and 1308 (36.3%) training hours – for independent work.Conclusion. The need for Master’s program in public health according to academic programs implementation is justied.Мета роботи – обгрунтувати необхідність та представити підходи до запровадження магістратури з громадського здоров’я.При виконанні роботи використано методи структурно-логічного аналізу та бібліосемантичний. Методичною основою дослідження став системний аналіз та системний підхід. Матеріалами дослідження стали документи ВООЗ з забезпечення системи громадського здоров’я кадрами і їх підготовки та досвід провідних країн світу з зазначеного питання.Основна частина. Освітньо-наукова програма магістратури за фахом “Громадське здоров’я” складається із 5 обов’язкових модулів та чотирьох модулів один із яких вибирається магістром на вибір. Програма включає виробничо-навчальну практику та науково-дослідну роботу. Обсяг програми становить 3600 год (120 кредитів ЄКТС). Лекційний курс складає 462 навчальні години. На проведення семінарів виділено 512 навчальних годин, практичних занять – 1318 навчальних годин, самостійну роботу – 1308 (36,3 %) навчальних годин.Висновок. Оґрунтована необхідність впровадження магістратури з громадського здоров’я за освітньо-науковими програмами

Просторово-часовий розподіл пожеж у природних ландшафтах Рівненської області

Integrated fire management during the epoch of climate and land use change need to be organized on landscape level on the basis of strong vertical and horizontal co-operation between forestry and emergency agencies and local communities and requires clear understanding of fire regime and factors that it determined both in temporal and spatial aspects. For this purpose, fire regimes of natural and cultural landscapes of Rivne Oblast, Ukraine, for the period of 2001–2018 were studied based on remote sensing data. For getting better understanding of long-term pathways of wildfire regimes of natural landscapes of Rivne Oblast of Ukraine, we used data about hotspots from MOD14/MYD14 for number of fires, data about contours and areas of fires from MCD64A1and Landsat 8 OLI with classification of all fires on different levels of intensity and landcover type and data from three local meteorological stations on the fire weather danger level. The study showed that in Rivne Oblast for the period 7 fire maximums occurred, in particularly in 2002, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2018. Official statistical data presents essentially underestimated area of fires: 257 ha in 2002 (while this study shows 750 ha based on RS data or 143 ha in 2015 (563 ha based on RS data). On average during the period, 190 wildfires with a total area of 12.6 thousand hectares occurred annually in landscapes of Rivne Oblast. The highest amount of fires occurred in the north part of the region – Rokytnivskii (62 000 ha burned), Dubrovitskii (26 000 ha), Kostopilskii (19 400 ha), Zarichnenskii (14 900 ha), Volodymyretskii (10 300 ha) districts. The main driver of fires is drought periods: 54.3 % of days in fire season determined as highest emergency level fire weather class – V, 15.3 % days – IV class, 18.5 % – III class. High level of fire weather danger in the region and permanent presence of ignition sources of human origin determine seasonal patterns of burning. Seasonal fire peaks occur in March (80 000 ha burned)-April (87 300 ha burned or 29.6 % of the average number of wildfires), August (32.2 %) and September (19.9 %) – totally 127 000 ha burned, when the maximum level of preparedness of fire-fighting brigades should be provided. Long-term dynamic showed increase of the average annual fire area for the period from 7.4 to 17.8 thousand hectares. The increase of annual amount of days with high and emergency fire whether levels from 24 to 62 during last 13 years is detected. Shortcomings of the existing system of statistical data collection on wildfires as an important component of fire management are discussed.Аналіз історичної динаміки пожеж та встановлення їх просторово-часових особливостей є основою для розроблення плану управління пожежами та стратегічного розміщення протипожежних сил і засобів на місцевості, а також здійснення попереджувальних заходів. Використовуючи дані дистанційного зондування Землі, отримано основні показники горючості природних територій Рівненської області за період з 2001 по 2018 рр. та виконано їх аналіз. Щорічно на території області відбувається в середньому 190 випадків пожеж на загальній площі 12,6 тис. га. Усереднені дані свідчать про тенденцію до зростання показників горючості території, зокрема середньорічна площа пожеж за період з 2001 по 2018 рр. зросла від 7,4 до 17,8 тис. га. За результатами дослідження встановлено, що найбільше пожеж стається у березні-квітні (29,6 %), серпні (32,2 %) та вересні (19,9 %), що повинно бути основою для максимальної готовності протипожежних служб у ці періоди. Виконано аналіз погодно-кліматичних показників за багаторічний період та досліджено їх зв'язок з основними показникам горючості. Зроблено висновки щодо проблеми пожеж у природних ландшафтах Рівненської області. Наведено недоліки наявної системи моніторингу пожеж як важливої складової системи охорони природних територій від пожеж

МЕТОДОЛОГІЯ ВПРОВАДЖЕННЯ СИСТЕМИ ГРОМАДСЬКОГО ЗДОРОВ’Я НА РІВНІ ОБ’ЄДНАНИХ ТЕРИТОРІАЛЬНИХ ГРОМАД

Purpose: to develop methodological approaches to the implementation of the public health system at the level of united territorial communities. Materials and Methods. The bibliographic method and the method of structural-logical analysis were used during the research. The system approach constituted the methodological basis of the study. The current legislation of Ukraine and data from scientific publications were used in the research. Results. The generalized tasks and functions of public health at the level of united territorial community are promoting preservation and strengthening of the health of the community population. Areas of this activity are: development of a comprehensive public health program, epidemiological surveillance of health risks, establishing the level of individual health of community members, rehabilitation for people with disabilities and people with chronic diseases, the formation of health-preserving profile of community settlements, communication and social mobilization in the interests of health, prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases. An algorithm for the implementation and development of the public health system at the level of united territorial communities has been developed, which consists of 12 stages with the study and analysis of the public health situation, development and implementation of a comprehensive inter-sectoral public health program, monitoring and evaluation its implementation, annual reporting to the community on the implementation of a comprehensive inter-sectoral program for the development of the public health system in the community and its adjustment. A public health professional can work in the community in the following positions: public health professional or environmental and health professional. Conclusions. The use of the proposed algorithm will create an effective public health system at the community level to preserve and strengthen health of the community.Мета: розробити методичні підходи до впровадження системи громадського здоров’я на рівні об’єднаних територіальних громад. Матеріали і методи. У ході виконання дослідження використано бібліографічний метод та метод структурно-логічного аналізу. Методичною основою дослідження став системний підхід. Під час проведення дослідження використано чинні законодавчі акти України та дані наукових публікацій. Результати. Узагальненими завданнями та функціями громадського здоров’я на рівні об’єднаних територіальних громад є сприяння збереженню та зміцненню здоров’я населення громади. Напрямками даної діяльності є розробка комплексної програми громадського здоров’я, епіднагляд за ризиками для здоров’я, встановлення рівня індивідуального здоров’я членів громади, відновне лікування для осіб з інвалідністю та осіб з хронічними хворобами, формування здоров’язбережувального профілю населених пунктів громади, комунікація та соціальна мобілізація в інтересах здоров’я, профілактика інфекційних та неінфекційних хвороб. Розроблено алгоритм впровадження та розвитку системи громадського здоров’я на рівні об’єднаних територіальних громад, який складається з 12 етапів з проведенням вивчення та аналізу ситуації щодо громадського здоров’я, розробки та впровадження комплексної міжсекторальної програми громадського здоров’я, моніторингу та оцінки її виконання, щорічного звітування перед громадою про хід виконання комплексної міжсекторальної програми розвитку системи громадського здоров’я в громаді та її корегування. Спеціаліст громадського здоров’я може працювати в громаді на таких посадах: фахівець з громадського здоров’я або фахівець з довкілля та здоров’я. Висновки. Використання запропонованого алгоритму дозволить створити на рівні громад ефективну систему громадського здоров’я зі збереження та зміцнення здоров’я населення громади

Open fires in Greenland in summer 2017: transport, deposition and radiative effects of BC, OC and BrC emissions

Highly unusual open fires burned in western Greenland between 31 July and 21 August 2017, after a period of warm, dry and sunny weather. The fires burned on peatlands that became vulnerable to fires by permafrost thawing. We used several satellite data sets to estimate that the total area burned was about 2345&thinsp;ha. Based on assumptions of typical burn depths and emission factors for peat fires, we estimate that the fires consumed a fuel amount of about 117&thinsp;kt&thinsp;C and emitted about 23.5&thinsp;t of black carbon (BC) and 731&thinsp;t of organic carbon (OC), including 141&thinsp;t of brown carbon (BrC). We used a Lagrangian particle dispersion model to simulate the atmospheric transport and deposition of these species. We find that the smoke plumes were often pushed towards the Greenland ice sheet by westerly winds, and thus a large fraction of the emissions (30&thinsp;%) was deposited on snow- or ice-covered surfaces. The calculated deposition was small compared to the deposition from global sources, but not entirely negligible. Analysis of aerosol optical depth data from three sites in western Greenland in August 2017 showed strong influence of forest fire plumes from Canada, but little impact of the Greenland fires. Nevertheless, CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) lidar data showed that our model captured the presence and structure of the plume from the Greenland fires. The albedo changes and instantaneous surface radiative forcing in Greenland due to the fire emissions were estimated with the SNICAR model and the uvspec model from the libRadtran radiative transfer software package. We estimate that the maximum albedo change due to the BC and BrC deposition was about 0.007, too small to be measured. The average instantaneous surface radiative forcing over Greenland at noon on 31 August was 0.03–0.04&thinsp;W&thinsp;m−2, with locally occurring maxima of 0.63–0.77&thinsp;W&thinsp;m−2 (depending on the studied scenario). The average value is up to an order of magnitude smaller than the radiative forcing from other sources. Overall, the fires burning in Greenland in the summer of 2017 had little impact on the Greenland ice sheet, causing a small extra radiative forcing. This was due to the – in a global context – still rather small size of the fires. However, the very large fraction of the emissions deposited on the Greenland ice sheet from these fires could contribute to accelerated melting of the Greenland ice sheet if these fires become several orders of magnitude larger under future climate.</p

War drives forest fire risks and highlights the need for more ecologically-sound forest management in post-war Ukraine

Since 24 February 2022, Ukraine has experienced full-scale military aggression initiated by the Russian Federation. The war has had a major negative impact on vegetation cover of war-affected regions. We explored interactions between pre-war forest management and the impacts of military activities in three of the most forested Ukrainian areas of interest (AOI), affected by the war. These were forests lying between Kharkiv and Luhansk cities (AOI 'East'), forests along the Dnipro River delta (AOI 'Kherson'), and those of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (AOI CEZ). We used Sentinel satellite imagery to create damaged forest cover masks for the year 2022. We mapped forests with elevated fire hazard, which was defined as a degree of exposure to the fire-supporting land use (mostly an agricultural land, a common source of ignitions in Ukraine). We evaluated the forest disturbance rate in 2022, as compared to pre-war rates. We documented significant increases in non-stand replacing disturbances (low severity fires and non-fire disturbances) for all three of the AOIs. Damaged forest cover varied among the AOIs (24,180 ± 4,715 ha, or 9.3% ± 1.8% in the 'East' AOI; 7,293 ± 1,925 ha, or 15.7% ± 4.1% in the 'Kherson' AOI; 7,116 ± 1,274 ha, or 5.0% ± 0.9% in the CEZ AOI). Among the forests damaged in 2022, the 'Kherson' AOI will likely have the highest proportion of an area with elevated fire hazard in the coming decades, as compared to other regions (89% vs. 70% in the 'East' and CEZ AOIs respectively). Future fire risks and extensive war-related disturbance of forest cover call for forest management to develop strategies explicitly addressing these factors

Impact of Disturbances on the Carbon Cycle of Forest Ecosystems in Ukrainian Polissya

Climate change continues to threaten forests and their ecosystem services while substantially altering natural disturbance regimes. Land cover changes and consequent management entail discrepancies in carbon sequestration provided by forest ecosystems and its accounting. Currently there is a lack of sufficient and harmonized data for Ukraine that can be used for the robust and spatially explicit assessment of forest provisioning and regulation of ecosystem services. In the frame of this research, we established an experimental polygon (area 45 km2) in Northern Ukraine aiming at estimating main forest carbon stocks and fluxes and determining the impact caused by natural disturbances and harvest for the study period of 2010–2015. Coupled field inventory and remote sensing data (RapidEye image for 2010 and SPOT 6 image for 2015) were used. Land cover classification and estimation of biomass and carbon pools were carried out using Random Forest and k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) method, respectively. Remote sensing data indicates a ca. 16% increase of carbon stock, while ground-based computations have shown only a ca. 1% increase. Net carbon fluxes for the study period are relatively even: 5.4 Gg C·year−1 and 5.6 Gg C C·year−1 for field and remote sensing data, respectively. Stand-replacing wildfires, as well as insect outbreaks and wind damage followed by salvage logging, and timber harvest have caused 21% of carbon emissions among all C sources within the experimental polygon during the study period. Hence, remote sensing data and non-parametric methods coupled with field data can serve as reliable tools for the precise estimation of forest carbon cycles on a regional spatial scale. However, featured land cover changes lead to unexpected biases in consistent assessment of forest biophysical parameters, while current management practices neglect natural forest dynamics and amplify negative impact of disturbances on ecosystem services

Distance learning: opportunities and challenges in quarantine.

The urgent introduction of distance education into the learning process due to the COVID-19 pandemic has become a spontaneous experiment, requiring urgent decisions, effective mechanisms to implement into the educational process and analysis of ongoing educational process. The possibilities of modern digital technologies made it possible to quickly set up the information component of education and to controle student’s knowledge. A detailed analysis of the communication between the faculty members of the department among themselves and analysis of the features of teaching and self-education of students in the field of medical radiology and oncology based on answers and comments with using Google classroom, Socrative, Messenger Telegram, etc. was made. Issues of communicative interaction between faculty members and students, psychological aspects of distance communication, language of instruction, logistics of distance education and methodological problems are described in details. It has been suggested that distance education may be equally effective for theoretical subjects in full-time study form, but when studying clinical disciplines, the priority should be given to traditional methods of teaching, involving student's bedside training. Taking into account technical possibilities and high risk of development of extreme and emergency situations, it is suggested to introduce permanent readiness for distance education, to create all – Ukrainian distance imitation service of patients’ follow-up. The importance of using the state language in training as the basis for mastering the professional Ukrainian and English language as the basis for mastering international medical experience is indicated

A crowdsourced global data set for validating built-up surface layers

Several global high-resolution built-up surface products have emerged over the last five years, taking full advantage of open sources of satellite data such as Landsat and Sentinel. However, these data sets require validation that is independent of the producers of these products. To fill this gap, we designed a validation sample set of 50 K locations using a stratified sampling approach independent of any existing global built-up surface products. We launched a crowdsourcing campaign using Geo-Wiki (https://www.geo-wiki.org/) to visually interpret this sample set for built-up surfaces using very high-resolution satellite images as a source of reference data for labelling the samples, with a minimum of five validations per sample location. Data were collected for 10 m sub-pixels in an 80 × 80 m grid to allow for geo-registration errors as well as the application of different validation modes including exact pixel matching to majority or percentage agreement. The data set presented in this paper is suitable for the validation and inter-comparison of multiple products of built-up areas