Deep learning for automated river-level monitoring through river camera images: an approach based on water segmentation and transfer learning

River level estimation is a critical task required for the understanding of flood events, and is often complicated by the scarcity of available data. Recent studies have proposed to take advantage of large networks of river camera images to estimate the river levels, but currently, the utility of this approach remains limited as it requires a large amount of manual intervention (ground topographic surveys and water image annotation). We develop an approach using an automated water semantic segmentation method to ease the process of river level estimation from river camera images. Our method is based on the application of a transfer learning methodology to deep semantic neural networks designed for water segmentation. Using datasets of image series extracted from four river cameras and manually annotated for the observation of a flood event on the Severn and Avon rivers, UK (21 November - 5 December 2012), we show that this algorithm is able to automate the annotation process with an accuracy greater than 91%. Then, we apply our approach to year-long image series from the same cameras observing the Severn and Avon (from 1 June 2019 to 31 May 2020) and compare the results with nearby river-gauge measurements. Given the high correlation (Pearson's Correlation Coefficient >0.94) between these results and the river-gauge measurements, it is clear that our approach to automation of the water segmentation on river camera images could allow for straightforward, inexpensive observation of flood events, especially at ungauged locations

IUPAC Critical Evaluation of the Rotational-Vibrational Spectra of Water Vapor, Part III: Energy Levels and Transition Wavenumbers for H216O

This is the third of a series of articles reporting critically evaluated rotational-vibrational line positions, transition intensities, and energy levels, with associated critically reviewed labels and uncertainties, for all the main isotopologues of water. This paper presents experimental line positions, experimental-quality energy levels, and validated labels for rotational-vibrational transitions of the most abundant isotopologue of water, H216O. The latest version of the MARVEL (Measured Active Rotational-Vibrational Energy Levels) line-inversion procedure is used to determine the rovibrational energy levels of the electronic ground state of H216O from experimentally measured lines, together with their self-consistent uncertainties, for the spectral region up to the first dissociation limit. The spectroscopic network of H216O contains two components, an ortho (o) and a para (p) one. For o-H216O and p-H216O, experimentally measured, assigned, and labeled transitions were analyzed from more than 100 sources. The measured lines come from one-photon spectra recorded at room temperature in absorption, from hot samples with temperatures up to 3000K recorded in emission, and from multiresonance excitation spectra which sample levels up to dissociation. The total number of transitions considered is 184667 of which 182156 are validated: 68027 between para states and 114129 ortho ones. These transitions give rise to 18486 validated energy levels, of which 10446 and 8040 belong to o-H216O and p-H216O, respectively. The energy levels, including their labeling with approximate normal-mode and rigid-rotor quantum numbers, have been checked against ones determined from accurate variational nuclear motion computations employing exact kinetic energy operators as well as against previous compilations of energy levels. The extensive list of MARVEL lines and levels obtained are deposited in the supplementary data of this paper, as well as in a distributed information system applied to water, W@DIS, where they can easily be retrieved

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) package is an element of the Russian contribution to the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission. ACS consists of three separate infrared spectrometers, sharing common mechanical, electrical, and thermal interfaces. This ensemble of spectrometers has been designed and developed in response to the Trace Gas Orbiter mission objectives that specifically address the requirement of high sensitivity instruments to enable the unambiguous detection of trace gases of potential geophysical or biological interest. For this reason, ACS embarks a set of instruments achieving simultaneously very high accuracy (ppt level), very high resolving power (>10,000) and large spectral coverage (0.7 to 17 μm—the visible to thermal infrared range). The near-infrared (NIR) channel is a versatile spectrometer covering the 0.7–1.6 μm spectral range with a resolving power of ∼20,000. NIR employs the combination of an echelle grating with an AOTF (Acousto-Optical Tunable Filter) as diffraction order selector. This channel will be mainly operated in solar occultation and nadir, and can also perform limb observations. The scientific goals of NIR are the measurements of water vapor, aerosols, and dayside or night side airglows. The mid-infrared (MIR) channel is a cross-dispersion echelle instrument dedicated to solar occultation measurements in the 2.2–4.4 μm range. MIR achieves a resolving power of >50,000. It has been designed to accomplish the most sensitive measurements ever of the trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere. The thermal-infrared channel (TIRVIM) is a 2-inch double pendulum Fourier-transform spectrometer encompassing the spectral range of 1.7–17 μm with apodized resolution varying from 0.2 to 1.3 cm−1. TIRVIM is primarily dedicated to profiling temperature from the surface up to ∼60 km and to monitor aerosol abundance in nadir. TIRVIM also has a limb and solar occultation capability. The technical concept of the instrument, its accommodation on the spacecraft, the optical designs as well as some of the calibrations, and the expected performances for its three channels are described

Planet TOPERS: Planets, Tracing the Transfer, Origin, Preservation, and Evolution of Their Reservoirs

peer reviewedAn overview is given of the Planet TOPERS project addressing habitability in our solar system.PAI PLANET TOPER

Research and development project assessment and social impact

Nowadays, organisations increasingly need to adapt to the fast evolution of markets and societies in our globalised world in order to be competitive. Therefore, it is essential to take the right decisions when it comes to invest in research and development (R & D) projects. However, an issue that has not been given much attention is how to measure the social impact (or return) of R & D projects. In this exploratory study, the findings of an analysis of how R & D projects are assessed and selected, including this social perspective, are presented. The methodology which has been used in this research includes both interviews and analysis of the data obtained through them. The major finding is that in the current situation the social impact is not taken into account, but is growing the awareness of this perspective among different types of organizations dealing with R & D activities.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

No phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus

The detection of phosphine (PH₃) has been recently reported in the atmosphere of Venus employing mm-wave radio observations (Greaves et at. 2020). We here demonstrate that the observed PH₃ feature with JCMT can be fully explained employing plausible mesospheric SO₂ abundances (~100 ppbv as per the SO₂ profile given in their figure 9), while the identification of PH₃ in the ALMA data should be considered invalid due to severe baseline calibration issues. We demonstrate this by independently calibrating and analyzing the ALMA data using different interferometric analysis tools, in which we observe no PH₃ in all cases. Furthermore, for any PH₃ signature to be produced in either ALMA or JCMT spectra, PH₃ needs to present at altitudes above 70 km, in stark disagreement with their photochemical network. We ultimately conclude that this detection of PH₃ in the atmosphere of Venus is not supported by our analysis of the data

iMARS Phase 2

The file attached is the Published/publisher’s pdf version of the articl