Plain Terrain Research Articles

Mapping Orchards on Plain Terrains Using Multi-Temporal Medium-Resolution Satellite Imagery

<abstract> <b><sc>Abstract. </sc></b>The ability to map the spatiotemporal distribution of orchards is essential in order to optimally utilize and manage their available resources. By analyzing multi-temporal characteristic and spectral features of medium-resolution images, the optimum features required to extract orchard data are determined and a classification rule set based on the object-based information analysis method (OBIA) is built. For those years in which images at key time points were missing, the extracted orchard data were used in the extraction process for these years as a thematic layer. The method was tested in Dangshan County, located in central China. Time series maps derived from the eight years of data over a nearly 20-year period from the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) and China-HJ-1 satellite Charge Coupled Device agree well with field samples and historical records. Among the derived maps, the accuracy of orchard data derived from the 2010 HJ-1 images was estimated at about 92.9%. Compared with the common index, NDVI, the inclusion of IOPT (index for orchard in plain terrain) in the extraction process can lead to a significant improvement. When using a single-date image, the accuracies were all less than 70.0%, and when using multi-temporal images, an accuracy of 85.7% was achieved.

Volcanic complexes on Venus: Distribution, age, mechanisms of origin, and evolution

The paper addresses the morphology and age relations of plain terrains on Venus. The stratigraphically oldest and strongly tectonized complexes of this planet are remnants of plains made up of tessera-forming tectonic structures. This suggests that tessera terrains were formed mostly by eruptions of low-viscosity (likely basaltic) lavas. The stratigraphically oldest units, in which volcanic activity played a leading role, are shield plains, whose morphology testifies that they were produced by numerous but relatively weak eruptions of basaltic material from likely shallow-sitting chambers. The only Venusian landforms whose shapes suggest eruptions of high-viscosity lavas are festoons and steep-sided domes. The great majority of the domes is spatially and stratigraphically related to the shield plains, and this testifies that the type of volcanism during the origin of the plains was unusual and favorable for the local derivation of highly viscous lavas. The mechanisms that could possibly form the steep-sided domes suggest that the domes were most likely produced by eruptions of silica-enriched (and hence, more viscous) melts that had been generated by crystallization differentiation in chambers. The surface topography of the younger regional plains suggests that these plains were produced by large-volume but brief eruptions of basaltic (or perhaps, also komatiitic) lavas (lava flooding). The surface areas and possible volumes of the regional plains are more consistent with their generation via melting portions of mantle material that had replaced delaminated blocks of lithospheric roots. The morphology, character of spatial distribution, and typical associations of the lobate plains suggest that they were formed during melting of the head portions of mantle diapirs. The morphologic parameters of the dominant volcanic complexes on Venus (shield, regional, and lobate plains) and their unvarying stratigraphic relations highlight a clearly pronounced character of the evolution of volcanic activity in the geological history of Venus.

Study on Highway Alignment Conformance Verification in Plain Terrain

This paper mainly studies the index system and application method of highway alignment design conformance verification. Based on the actual conditions of vehicle running on the plane curve, straight section and curved slope combination section, the speed verification model formula is proposed. The results can be referred by the engineering and technical personnel in the design of highway engineering proposal in plain terrain.

국내 DGPS 내륙 기준국 전파 측정 및 서비스 분석

Abstract: Based on the radio wave propagation measurement of DGPS land-based reference stations, the DGPS service coverage and signal quality in the receiving points are analyzed in this paper. The DGPS signal strength and SNR in the receiving point are measured in the winter and summer season, respectively. In case of DGPS reference station that can not provide the designed service coverage, the solution to improve the service coverage is presented in this paper. Almost all DGPS reference station except reference station with low ground conductivity or mountainous terrain provide the DGPS service coverages of 80% or more of the designed service area. The service coverages of DGPS reference stations can be improved to pre-designed service area in case of installation management of DGPS site on the plain terrain and good ground conductivity. It is necessary to get the high efficiency of transmitting antenna to improve the service area. Keywords: DGPS, DGPS reference station, Land-based reference station, DGPS service coverage

Distribution of Mean Annual Percipitable Water in Nigeria

Mean monthly precipitable water values from twenty seven state capitals and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja are determined using a ten year monthly meteorological parameter- average surface temperature. The results are then presented on annual average precipitable water map. The map shows that location with high topography has lowest value of precipitable water while location with plain terrain has highest value of precipitable water

全新世以来江汉平原地形及其环境变化探讨

本文以江汉平原的钻孔作为研究对象，收集了10个位于江汉平原WE向的钻孔资料。这10个钻孔资料都是前人发表的数据，综合分析这些钻孔数据，绘制出了江汉平原自西向东地层联孔图。通过对钻孔数据的分析，重建了全新世以来江汉平原地形变化和环境变化。结果显示，全新世以来江汉平原的地形和气候变化可以分为三个阶段：在全新世初期（10~7ka BP），江汉平原大部分地区相对平坦，秦市乡潭彩剅村和沔城一带相对比较低洼，这一时期主要受到河流切割作用；全新世大暖期期间（7~3ka BP），由于长江和汉江等河流洪泛沉积发育，洪水携带的沉积物在秦市乡潭彩剅村和沔城一带相对比较低洼的地方快速堆积；约3ka BP时，江汉平原的地形和全新世初期比已经有了很大变化，很多低洼的地方和一些深的凹槽已经基本上被填平，地形起伏变得缓和，此后江汉平原的地形受人类影响越来越大。Based on the borehole of Jianghan Plain as the research object, the date of 10 boreholes located in the East-West of Jianghan Plain were collected. These data were published by previous studies. Stratigraphic map from west to east of the Jianghan Plain is drawn out through comprehensive analysis of these drilling data. Through the analysis of drilling data, the terrain and climatic change since Holocene have been reconstructed. The research result shows that terrain and climatic changes of Jianghan Plain can be divided into three stages as follows: in 10 - 7 ka BP, most of the regions were relatively flat. Tancaidou village in Qinshi country and Miancheng area were relatively low. This period were mainly formed by river cutting action; during 7 - 3 ka BP because of the Yangtze river and Hanjiang river flood deposit development, the sediment carried by flood accumulate rapidly in relatively low area of Tancaidou village in Qinshi country and Miancheng area; ~3 ka BP many low-lying areas and some deep grooves have basically been filled. Then Jianghan Plain terrain influenced by human is growing.

Poisson Family Regression Techniques for Prediction of Crash Counts Using Bayesian Inference

This paper documents the application of Bayesian modelling technique for road traffic crash analysis on a sample of Indian National Highways. The study aims to identify the most critical safety influencing variables of a section of four-lane National Highway-58 through statistical models that predict frequency of accident count accurately for the provided highway safety influencing variables. The Highway traverses mainly through a plain terrain of mostly agricultural and Industrial areas. Most of the Highway study segment falls in rural areas (approximately 85%). The study has been done for newly constructed Four-Lane road between Km.75.00 to Km.130.00 to identify all safety deficiencies responsible for road accidents. Explanatory variables were Geometric Characteristics like Median Opening (MedOpn), Access Roads to main highway (AcsRds) and Traffic Characteristics like Average Daily Traffic (ADT) and road-side developments like Industrial (Ind), Commercial (Com), Residential (Resi) and School (School) were analyzed against dependent variable as crash count per two hundred meter per year.The results show promise towards the goal of obtaining more accurate estimates by accounting for correlations in the crash counts and over-dispersion. The results of this study show that Poisson Weibull model predicts the crashes with better accuracy. Traffic volume, Access Roads, Median opening and presence of Schools emphasized on increase in the probability of occurrence of crashes. This safety study can be useful to develop traffic safety control policies.

Height Control Measures of Highway Subgrade Fill in Xinjiang Plain Terrain

By analyzing problems of highway subgrade fill height in Xinjiang plain terrain, this paper subdivided plain terrain types and proposed corresponding height control measures of subgrade fill based on features of different subtypes, which provides useful reference to similar engineering in plain terrain.

Extension-driven right-lateral shear in the Centennial shear zone adjacent to the eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho

We evaluate global positioning system (GPS) surface velocities and gravitational potential energy (GPE) variations to assess the causes of right-lateral shear in the Centennial shear zone, a NE-trending accommodation zone between the extensional Centennial tectonic belt (Montana-Idaho) and volcanic terrain of the eastern Snake River Plain (Idaho). We test the hypothesized “bookshelf” faulting model and find that the normal faults in the Centennial tectonic belt do not accommodate distributed dextral shear. Instead, GPS data reveal that rapid extension in the Centennial tectonic belt adjacent to the much more slowly deforming region of the Snake River Plain drives right-lateral shear between them at rates of 0.3–1.5 mm yr–1. GPE variations support gravitational collapse at a higher rate in the Centennial tectonic belt due to higher topography than in eastern Snake River Plain, which has lower GPE variations due to its low-relief, flat topography and a denser crustal composition. Surface velocity gradients observed in GPS data across the 40–45-km-wide Centennial shear zone reveal distributed deformation due to strike-slip faulting, distributed simple shear, regional-scale rotation, or some combination thereof. In the Centennial shear zone, the fastest lateral shearing is closest to the Yellowstone Plateau, where fault plane solutions with components of right-lateral strike slip are documented within a NE-trending zone of seismicity. Here, two Basin and Range normal faults have Holocene and late Pleistocene slip along their segments that suggest they each may have linked under right-lateral shear. We also propose that right-lateral strike-slip motion may be accommodated on existing NE-trending faults.

Evaluation of Cartosat-1 Satellite Triangulation &amp; Dsms in Varied Terrain Conditions

Digital surface models (DSMs) and Digital elevation models (DEMs) has become inevitable input for many applications including various types of modeling problems besides photogrammetric product generation such as orthoimages and visualization. Automatically generated DSMs using image matching techniques are an efficient means to extract bare earth DEMs or DTMs for various applications including modeling. This paper highlights and evaluates the accuracy of satellite triangulation, and DEM generated from Cartosat-1 data by using Rational Polynomial Coefficient’s (RPC’s) provided with the Cartosat-1 data along with ground control points (GCPs) collected through differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) surveys. Three study sites were taken for evaluation of DSMs in different topographic conditions, namely, a) Dehradun, Uttarakhand characterized by relatively high undulating terrain comprising of shivalik hills in the south and higher Himalayas on the north, b) Jaipur, Rajasthan having more of urban and plain agriculture area with Aravalli ranges, and c) Kendrapara, Orissa which is having a plain terrain conditions with agriculture fields, river, and sparsely populated area. DGPS surveys were conducted at the three sites to collect ground control points (GCPs) for satellite triangulation & subsequent analysis. The satellite triangulation resulted in RMSE of better than a pixel for all the three sites. The RMSE for DEM is varying from within a pixel for plain area to about four pixels for highly undulating terrain. The paper describes the positional and vertical accuracies achieved for cartosat-1 stereo data through photogrammetric process of satellite triangulation and Digital surface model generation in the three study sites having different topographic conditions.

Application of the fast marching method for outdoor motion planning in robotics

In this paper, a new path planning method for robots used in outdoor environments is presented. The proposed method applies Fast Marching to a 3D surface represented by a triangular mesh to calculate a smooth trajectory from one point to another. The method uses a triangular mesh instead of a square one since this kind of grid adapts better to 3D surfaces. The novelty of this approach is that, before running the algorithm, the method calculates a weight matrix W based on the information extracted from the 3D surface characteristics. In the presented experiments these features are the height, the spherical variance, and the gradient of the surface. This matrix can be viewed as a difficulty map situated over the 3D surface and is used to limit the propagation speed of the Fast Marching wave in order to find the best path depending on the task requirements, e.g., the least energy consumption path, the fastest path, or the most plain terrain. The algorithm also gives the speed for the robot, which depends on the wave front propagation speed. The results presented in this paper show how, by varying this matrix W, the paths obtained are different. Moreover, as it is shown in the experimental part, this algorithm is also useful for calculating paths for climbing robots in much more complex environments. Finally, at the end of the paper, it is shown that this algorithm can also be used for robot avoidance when two robots approach each other, and they know each other’s position.

Key Technological Research on the Control Survey of Qingzhou-Linshu Super Highway and the Aerial Photogrammetry of Topographic Map

Qingzhou-Linshu super highway, spanning 228.333km, is located in the center of Shandong province, which forms a south-to-north expressway channel. Undoubtedly, it’s an important part of Shandong highway network. Approximately, it runs from south to north and one projection zone is enough to satisfy relevant requests of horizontal coordinate system; From Qingzhou to Mazhan Town, Yishui County, most are hilly and mountainous terrain while from Mazhan Town, Yishui County to Linshu County, most are plain terrain, except for a few rolling terrain. As a result, fourth-order leveling control network is enough to meet the requirements of reconnaissance survey, design and constructive lofting. As the expressway and Ji-Qing south line carry out reconnaissance and design simultaneously and form an interchange at Mazhan Town, Yishui County, plus tight time and intense work, the systemic conformance of horizontal coordinate system and vertical datum are in high demand. The report analyses and discusses the adoption of horizontal and vertical network’s starting points, layout, observation, data processing and adjustment, together with eliminating the coordinate division and elevation value’s step of the same control point. In the meantime, it analyses how to make rapid aerial photogrammetry for the whole line with the scale of 1/2000, so as to improve the precision and reliability of horizontal and vertical datum as well as speed up the process of charting and utmostly satisfy the demand of highway reconnaissance and design.

Arsenic in sediments, groundwater, and streamwater of a glauconitic Coastal Plain terrain, New Jersey, USA—Chemical “fingerprints” for geogenic and anthropogenic sources

Abstract Glauconite-bearing deposits are found worldwide, but As levels have been determined for relatively few. The As content of glauconites in sediments of the Inner Coastal Plain of New Jersey can exceed 100 mg/kg, and total As concentrations (up to 5.95 μg/L) found historically and recently in streamwaters exceed the State standard. In a major watershed of the Inner Coastal Plain, chemical “fingerprints” were developed for streambed sediments and groundwater to identify contributions of As to the watershed from geologic and anthropogenic sources. The fingerprint for streambed sediments, which included Be, Cr, Fe and V, indicated that As was predominantly of geologic origin. High concentrations of dissolved organic C, nutrients (and Cl−) in shallow groundwater indicated anthropogenic inputs that provided an environment where microbial activity released As from minerals to groundwater discharging to the stream. Particulates in streamwater during high flow constituted most of the As load; the chemical patterns for these particulates resembled the geologic fingerprint of the streambed sediments. The As/Cr ratio of these suspended particles likely indicates they derived not only from runoff, but from groundwater inputs, because As contributed by groundwater is sequestered on streambed sediments. Agricultural inputs of As were not clearly identified, although chemical characteristics of some sediments indicated vehicle-related inputs of metals. Sediment sampling during dry and wet years showed that, under differing hydrologic conditions, local anthropogenic fingerprints could be obscured but the geologic fingerprint, indicating glauconitic sediments as an As source, was robust.

Natural radioactivity in the soils of some eastern counties of Hungary

Soil samples were collected from six East-Hungarian counties at 98 different sites and the radionuclides (238)U, (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K were determined in these samples by gamma spectrometry. The means and ranges of the activity concentrations obtained for the above isotopes were 33.3 (6-68), 29.7 (10-61), 32.1 (9-56) and 418 (218-670) Bq kg(-1) (dry mass), respectively. Significant differences between certain counties were revealed. (226)Ra/(238)U activity ratio <1 was found at near-river sites lying on the plain terrain. The results were compared with those of the only nationwide survey published for Hungary till now. The mean activity concentrations obtained in this work for the East-Hungarian counties were slightly lower than those resulted for the whole country in the nationwide survey. Its main reason is possibly the different average geological character of the two areas. The computed mean terrestrial absorbed dose rate in air in the East-Hungarian region is 41.0 nGy h(-1).

Topographical characteristics used by ­southern giant petrel Macronectes giganteus at stinker point, Elephant Island

The choice of breeding site is important for a seabird with consequences on the successful raising of its chicks. Seabirds may choose a breeding site taking into account many environmental and biological factors. This study aims to test the association of Southern Giant Petrel nests with topographical parametersat Stinker Point, Elephant Island. 33 Southern Giant Petrel nests were identified using a GPS receptor, and generated 33 random points. The points were plotted on a raster DEM and variables were extracted. We verified the nests were associated with terrain slope and altitude, and that Petrels were using the intermediary elevations (below 90 m) in plain terrains at Stinker Point. As there are also other variables that can influence habitat use, further analysis is needed to establish the exact role of topography on nesting habitat selection.

Multiple episodes of aggradation and calcrete formation in Late Quaternary aeolian sands, Central Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India

A 12 m thick section in a dune-sandy plain terrain of the Central Thar in Rajasthan, has provided a near continuous record of environmental change for the past 160 ka. The site presently receives ∼280 mm rainfall, almost entirely from the summer monsoon. The base of this section comprises a gravel bed of an ephemeral stream and the overlying six litho-units, each with discrete boundaries, comprise a succession of aeolian sands. Luminescence dating provided an estimate of the timing of the sand aggradation periods to ∼160, ∼90, ∼60, 27 and 17–14 ka and helped constrain the timing of calcrete formation periods. In each aggradation unit, discrete nodular calcretes formed by the leaching of carbonate from the overlying solum. This is analogous to present-day conditions in sandy plains during periods of increased rainfall and landscape stability. Several of these calcretes are, however, devoid of their donor solum, suggesting solum removal during a subsequent period of decreased rainfall and resultant surface instability. This is supported by the presence of reworked nodules on the surfaces of some calcretes. A prominent phase of calcrete development followed the aeolian sand aggradation at ∼60 ka, suggesting climate amelioration that also caused the formation of groundwater-related calcrete and mottling. The study suggests that stage II calcrete nodules form in a time frame of ∼10–20 ka, and confirms limited data on the duration and stage of calcrete development in the literature. The δ 13C values of calcrete carbonate lie in a narrow range (+0.5 to −1.1‰) suggesting formation under soils with C4 vegetation. This implies that even during phases of climatic amelioration, the high temperatures and increased seasonality of rainfall did not permit significant development of C3 plants in the Central Thar.

Path planning for autonomous mobile robot navigation with ant colony optimization and fuzzy cost function evaluation

In the Motion Planning research field, heuristic methods have demonstrated to outperform classical approaches gaining popularity in the last 35 years. Several ideas have been proposed to overcome the complex nature of this NP-Complete problem. Ant Colony Optimization algorithms are heuristic methods that have been successfully used to deal with this kind of problems. This paper presents a novel proposal to solve the problem of path planning for mobile robots based on Simple Ant Colony Optimization Meta-Heuristic (SACO-MH). The new method was named SACOdm, where d stands for distance and m for memory. In SACOdm, the decision making process is influenced by the existing distance between the source and target nodes; moreover the ants can remember the visited nodes. The new added features give a speed up around 10 in many cases. The selection of the optimal path relies in the criterion of a Fuzzy Inference System, which is adjusted using a Simple Tuning Algorithm. The path planner application has two operating modes, one is for virtual environments, and the second one works with a real mobile robot using wireless communication. Both operating modes are global planners for plain terrain and support static and dynamic obstacle avoidance.

An integrated classification method for thematic mapper imagery of plain and highland terrains

The classification of thematic mapper imagery in areas with strong topographic variations has proven problematic in the past using a single classifier, due to the changing sun illumination geometry. This often results in the phenomena of identical object with dissimilar spectrum and different objects with similar spectrum. In this paper, an integrated classification method that combines a decision tree with slope data, tasseled cap transformation indices and maximum likelihood classifier is introduced, to find an optimal classification method for thematic mapper imagery of plain and highland terrains. A Landsat 7 ETM+ image acquired over Hangzhou Bay, in eastern China was used to test the method. The results indicate that the performance of the integrated classifier is acceptably good in comparison with that of the existing most widely used maximum likelihood classifier. The integrated classifier depends on hypsography (variation in topography) and the characteristics of ground truth objects (plant and soil). It can greatly reduce the influence of the homogeneous spectrum caused by topographic variation. This integrated classifier might potentially be one of the most accurate classifiers and valuable tool for land cover and land use mapping of plain and highland terrains.

Lidar observation of the nocturnal boundary layer formation over Sofia, Bulgaria

A study of the formation of stable stratification after sunset is presented. The dynamics of atmospheric parameters (e.g., the wind velocity and temperature profiles, height of various layers, etc.) associated with the interaction processes of mountain–valley circulation and urban heat island is followed. The observations are carried out using lidars (aerosol and Raman), kytoon (tethered balloon) and pilot balloons over the city of Sofia (42°39′N, 23°23′ E, 591 m above MSL) and cover heights from 70 to 900 m. The presence of neighboring mountains and the urban heat island effect lead to the formation of three temperature inversions (ground, elevated and capping) and specific vertical profiles of the wind velocity. The formation mechanism is considered of two-layer aerosol structure in the atmosphere over the urban area and its dynamics observed by the lidar after sunset. The results obtained are compared with a model developed on the basis of common models: one describing nocturnal boundary layer development within a mountain valley and the other dealing with stable stratification formation in the case of urban area situated on plain terrain.

Best Practices in 3-D Land Seismic Acquisition in the Middle East and North Africa: Cost-Effective Acquisition in a Low Oil Price Environment

ABSTRACT Increasing expenditure in 3-D land seismic acquisition has driven the need to define Best Practices and improvement areas in the acquisition process. Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and Arthur D. Little Management Consultants undertook a study to identify these Best Practices in the Middle East and North African regions by interviewing 34 companies and compiling data from 51 recent vibroseis surveys. Acquisition costs and duration from surveys over similar terrains, but with varying geometries, were compared on an equal basis to determine the most cost-effective method for acquiring high-quality (i.e. data density) 3-D data. High-quality surveys acquired using a Zig Zag geometry had lower costs than those acquired using conventional geometries over gravel plain terrain. However, there was no clear best geometry for other terrains. Acquisition performance was also improved by adopting a number of Best Practices covering the design, planning, contracting strategy, execution, processing and post-acquisition elements of the seismic acquisition process.