Spiritual Care for the Transgender Community: A Seminar for Chaplains and Clinical Pastoral Education Students

Assisting chaplains and CPE students in helping them provide spiritual care to people who are transgendered. &nbsp

Spatial and temporal dynamics of suspended sediment concentrations in coastal waters of the South China Sea, off Sarawak, Borneo: ocean colour remote sensing observations and analysis

High-quality ocean colour observations are increasingly accessible to support various monitoring and research activities for water quality measurements. In this paper, we present a newly developed regional total suspended solids (TSSs) empirical model using MODIS Aqua's Rrs(530) and Rrs(666) reflectance bands to investigate the spatial and temporal variation in TSS dynamics along the southwest coast of Sarawak, Borneo, with the application of the Open Data Cube (ODC) platform. The performance of this TSS retrieval model was evaluated using error metrics (bias = 1.0, MAE = 1.47, and RMSE = 0.22, in milligrams per litre) with a log10 transformation prior to calculation as well as using a k-fold cross-validation technique. The temporally averaged map of the TSS distribution, using daily MODIS Aqua satellite datasets from 2003 until 2019, revealed that large TSS plumes were detected – particularly in the Lupar and Rajang coastal areas – on a yearly basis. The average TSS concentration in these coastal waters was in the range of 15–20 mg L−1. Moreover, the spatial map of the TSS coefficient of variation (CV) indicated strong TSS variability (approximately 90 %) in the Samunsam–Sematan coastal areas, which could potentially impact nearby coral reef habitats in this region. Study of the temporal TSS variation provides further evidence that monsoonal patterns drive the TSS release in these tropical water systems, with distinct and widespread TSS plume variations observed between the northeast and southwest monsoon periods. A map of relative TSS distribution anomalies revealed strong spatial TSS variations in the Samunsam–Sematan coastal areas, while 2010 recorded a major increase (approximately 100 %) and widespread TSS distribution with respect to the long-term mean. Furthermore, study of the contribution of river discharge to the TSS distribution showed a weak correlation across time at both the Lupar and Rajang river mouth points. The variability in the TSS distribution across coastal river points was studied by investigating the variation in the TSS pixels at three transect points, stretching from the river mouth into territorial and open-water zones, for eight main rivers. The results showed a progressively decreasing pattern of nearly 50 % in relation to the distance from shore, with exceptions in the northeast regions of the study area. Essentially, our findings demonstrate that the TSS levels on the southwest coast of Sarawak are within local water quality standards, promoting various marine and socio-economic activities. This study presents the first observation of TSS distributions in Sarawak coastal systems with the application of remote sensing technologies and aims at enhancing coastal sediment management strategies for the sustainable use of coastal waters and their resources.</p

TERN AusCover satellite remote sensing data products. • Green land cover (NDVI-EVI) • Fractional cover (green vegetation, non-photosynthetic vegetation, bare ground) • Fraction of absorbed PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) • Burnt area •

The AusCover data products are published under the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Initiative, an NCRIS/EIF funded activity, with collaboration between state and federal government departments and agencies (including Geoscience Australia and Bureau of Meteorology) and national research and educational institutions (including CSIRO and a number of universities). The data products are of continental scale and finer scale for detailed validation activities. The products are not only useful to the remote sensing community but also to other applications where validated remote sensing data can provide important information on vegetation condition and change across a range of temporal and spatial scales

Building a SAR-Enabled Data Cube Capability in Australia Using SAR Analysis Ready Data

A research alliance between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and Geoscience Australia was established in relation to Digital Earth Australia, to develop a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-enabled Data Cube capability for Australia. This project has been developing SAR analysis ready data (ARD) products, including normalized radar backscatter (gamma nought, &gamma;0), eigenvector-based dual-polarization decomposition and interferometric coherence, all generated from the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 interferometric wide swath mode data available on the Copernicus Australasia Regional Data Hub. These are produced using the open source ESA SNAP toolbox. The processing workflows are described, along with a comparison of the &gamma;0 backscatter and interferometric coherence ARD produced using SNAP and the proprietary software GAMMA. This comparison also evaluates the effects on &gamma;0 backscatter due to variations related to: Near- and far-range look angles; SNAP&rsquo;s default Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM and a refined Australia-wide DEM; as well as terrain. The agreement between SNAP and GAMMA is generally good, but also presents some systematic geometric and radiometric differences. The difference between SNAP&rsquo;s default SRTM DEM and the refined DEM showed a small geometric shift along the radar view direction. The systematic geometric and radiometric issues detected can however be expected to have negligible effects on analysis, provided products from the two processors and two DEMs are used separately and not mixed within the same analysis. The results lead to the conclusion that the SNAP toolbox is suitable for producing the Sentinel-1 ARD products

Assessment of Human-Induced Effects on Sea/Brackish Water Chlorophyll-a Concentration in Ha Long Bay of Vietnam with Google Earth Engine

Chlorophyll-a is one of the most important water quality parameters that can be observed by satellite imagery. It plays a significant function in the aquatic environments of rapidly developing coastal cities such as Ha Long City, Vietnam. Urban population growth, coal mining, and tourist activities have affected the water quality of Ha Long Bay. This work uses Sentinel-2/Multispectral Instrument (MSI) imagery data to a calibrated ocean chlorophyll 2-band (OC-2) model to retrieve chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentration in the bay from 2019 to 2021. The variability of chlorophyll-a during seasons over the study area was inter-compared. The chlorophyll-a concentration was mapped by analyzing the time series of water cover on the Google Earth Engine platform. The results show that the OC-2 model was calibrated well to the conditions of the study areas. The calibrated model accuracy increased nearly double compared with the uncalibrated OC-2 model. The seasonal assessment of chl-a concentration showed that the phytoplankton (algae) developed well in cold weather during fall and winter. Spatially, algae grew densely inside and in the surroundings of aquaculture, urban, and tourist zones. In contrast, coal mining activities did not result in algae development. We recommend using the Sentinel-2 data for seawater quality monitoring and assessment. Future work might focus on model calibration with a longer time simulation and more in situ measured data. Moreover, manual atmospheric correction of optical remote sensing is crucial for coastal environmental studies

Evaluation of Six Satellite-Derived Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetic Active Radiation (FAPAR) Products across the Australian Continent

Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) products from satellite remote sensing are routinely used for diverse applications in Earth System and land surface modelling and monitoring. The availability of numerous products creates a need to understand the level of consistency between products, and reasons for inconsistencies. We evaluate the consistency of six FAPAR products (MODIS, MODIS7TIP, SeaWIFS, MERIS, SPOT-VEG, and AVHRR) across the Australian continent, using multi-year records. We find that seemingly large differences in FAPAR products over much of Australia can be explained by a simple offset present in certain products. Additional inconsistencies arise from different sensitivities in FAPAR to changes in vegetation cover. These inconsistencies can in turn be partially attributed to changes in biome type that are relevant to certain products and other model specific assumptions. The satellite FAPAR products are compared with a dataset of observation-based estimates of fractional vegetation cover at ~600 field sites across Australia. After accounting for offsets in FAPAR, relatively high agreement occurs at sites classified as grasslands, shrublands and managed land (agriculture). Significant disagreement occurs at sites correctly classified as forests. Consequently, some products show significant differences in FAPAR between regions of similar vegetation cover but different biome classification. We find that all products show a much lower sensitivity to fractional vegetation cover (range in coefficient of linear regression: 0.28-0.61) than is predicted theoretically (0.9671.18) using a canopy radiative transfer model directly estimating the absorbtion of photosynthetically active radiation by vegetation. Reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Productivity and biomass of Australia’s rangelands : towards a national database

This paper reviews information about field observations of vegetation productivity in Australia’s rangeland systems and identifies the need to establish a national initiative to collect net primary productivity (NPP) and biomass data for rangeland pastures. Productivity data are needed for vegetation and carbon model parameterisation, calibration and validation. Several methods can be used to estimate pasture productivity at various spatial and temporal scales, ranging from in situ measurements to satellite-based approaches and biogeochemical modelling. However, there is a barrier to implementing national vegetation and carbon modelling schemes because of the lack of digitised and readily available data derived from field observations, not because of the lack of modelling expertise. Our main goal in this paper is to explore the potential for consolida-tion of existing NPP and biomass databases for Australian rangelands. A protocol structure was proposed to establish a productivity database for Australia. The TERN (Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network) national field data network for rangeland pasture productivity monitoring and modelling team could potentially coordinate the database. Government agencies and national and international research institutions could use the outputs from productivity models to inform greenhouse gas emissions and in measuring mitigation activities relevant for reporting against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and other international obligations. Other applications include monitoring fire danger, tracking ecological restoration and protec-tion, and estimating fodder availability. Australian researchers have the tools needed to succeed in creating such a national database and a robust community of practice to curate it, enhance it and benefit from its availability