scholarly journals Monitoring Mining Disturbance and Restoration over RBM Site in South Africa Using LandTrendr Algorithm and Landsat Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 6916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubanzi Z. D. Dlamini ◽  
Sifiso Xulu
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Surface Mines ◽  
Automated Method ◽  
Observation Strategy ◽  
Petroleum Resources ◽  
The Status ◽  
Disturbance And Recovery

Considering the negative impact of mining on ecosystems in mining areas, the South African government legislated the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (No. 28 of 2002), to compel mining companies to restore the land affected by mining. Several studies have used remotely sensed data to observe the status and dynamics of surface mines. Advances in remote sensing along the cloud-based Google Earth Engine (GEE) now promise an enhanced observation strategy for improved monitoring of mine environments. Despite these advances, land rehabilitation at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) is mainly restricted to field-based approaches which are unable to reveal seamless patterns of disturbance and restoration. Here, we illustrate the value of the trajectory-based LandTrendr algorithm in conjunction with GEE for mine rehabilitation studies. Our automated method produced disturbance and recovery patterns (1984–2018) over the RBM site. The study revealed that RBM has progressively been mining different portions of the mineral-rich coastal area after which restoration was undertaken. The duration of mining over each site ranged from 2 to 6 years. The LandTrendr outputs correspond with independent reference datasets that were classified with an overall accuracy of 99%; it captures mine-induced disturbance efficiently and offers a practical tool for mine restoration management.

scholarly journals Geospatial analysis-based approach for assessing urban forests under the influence of different human settlement extents in Ibadan city, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 959-971
Author(s):  
Oluwayemisi S. OLOKEOGUN ◽  
Abiodun O. OLADOYE ◽  
Oluwatoyin O. AKINTOLA
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forests ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
The Status

Urban forests are an essential component of urban areas as they provide many environmental and social services that contribute to the quality of life in cities. Urban forests in most cities of Nigeria are gradually becoming bitty as a result of urbanization activities, thereby posing adverse effects. In this study, we assessed the changes in the urban forests cover under the influence of different human settlement (HS) extents across the urban area of Ibadan city using remotely sensed data. The pattern of change(s) in the urban forests cover over 20 years were examined by analysing and manipulating Landsat and Sentinel-2 datasets using Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS 10.1, and Erdas 2014 software. The extents of human settlement (for the year 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020) were extracted (from Landsat datasets), analysed, and mapped to evaluate the status of the urban forests cover under different human settlement extents. The result reveals a substantial land cover changes within the urban area of Ibadan.  The urban forest cover decreased from 24.14% to 7.99%. Also, there is a significant decrease in the urban forests cover as a result of a substantial increase in human settlement extent (102,806 to 122,572 pixels). The study provides an opportunity to map the status of urban forest cover and extents of HS in a developing city using remotely sensed data and applications of GIS tools.

scholarly journals 30-year changes of natural forests under human activities in the Indochina peninsula - case studies in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Duong Nguyen Dinh ◽  
Cam Lai Vinh
Keyword(s):  
Forest Cover ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Natural Forest ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Automated Method

Natural forests are a basic component of the earth's ecology. It is essential for biodiversity, hydrological cycle regulation, and environmental protection. Natural forests are gradually degraded and reduced due to timber logging, conversion to cropland, production forests, commodity trees, and infrastructure development. Decreasing natural forests results in loss of valuable habitats, land degradation, soil erosion, and imbalance of water cycle on the regional scale. Thus, operational monitoring of natural forest cover change has been in the interest of scientists for a long time. Current forest mapping methods using remotely sensed data provide limited capability to separate natural forests and planted forests. Natural forest statistics are often generated using official forestry national reports that have different bias levels due to different methodologies applied in different countries in forest inventory. Over the last couple of decades, natural forests have been over-exploited for various reasons. This led to forest cover degradation and water regulation capability, which results in extreme floods and drought of a watershed in general. This situation demands an urgent need to develop a fast, reliable, and automated method for mapping natural forests. In this study, by applying a new method for mapping natural forests by Landsat time series, the authors succeeded in mapping changes of natural forests of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam from 1989 to 2018. As a focused study area, three provinces: Ratanakiri of Cambodia, Attapeu of Laos, and Kon Tum of Vietnam were selected. The study reveals that after 30 years, 51.3% of natural forests in Ratanakiri, 27.8% of natural forests in Attapeu, and 50% of natural forests in Kon Tum were lost. Classification results were validated using high spatial resolution imagery of Google Earth. The overall accuracy of 99.3% for the year 2018 was achieved.

scholarly journals Towards a Tool for Early Detection and Estimation of Forest Cuttings by Remotely Sensed Data

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Puletti ◽  
Marco Bascietto
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Forest Inventories ◽  
Automated Method ◽  
Forested Areas

Knowing the extent and frequency of forest cuttings over large areas is crucial for forest inventories and monitoring. Remote sensing has amply proved its ability to detect land cover changes, particularly in forested areas. Among various strategies, those focusing on mapping using classification approaches of remotely sensed time series are the most frequently used. The main limit of such approaches stems from the difficulty in perfectly and unambiguously classifying each pixel, especially over wide areas. The same procedure is of course simpler if performed over a single pixel. An automated method for identifying forest cuttings over a predefined network of sampling points (IUTI) using multitemporal Sentinel 2 imagery is described. The method employs normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) growth trajectories to identify the presence of disturbances caused by forest cuttings using a large set of points (i.e., 1580 “forest” points). We applied the method using a total of 51 S2 images extracted from the Google Earth Engine over two years (2016 and 2017) in an area of about 70 km2 in Tuscany, central Italy.

Estimating productivity of earthmoving operations using spatial technologies1This paper is one of a selection of papers in this Special Issue on Construction Engineering and Management.

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 1072-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Montaser ◽  
Ibrahim Bakry ◽  
Adel Alshibani ◽  
Osama Moselhi
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Data Fitting ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Automated Classification ◽  
Cycle Times ◽  
Automated Method ◽  
Spreadsheet Application

This paper presents an automated method for estimating productivity of earthmoving operations in near-real-time. The developed method utilizes Global Positioning System (GPS) and Google Earth to extract the data needed to perform the estimation process. A GPS device is mounted on a hauling unit to capture the spatial data along designated hauling roads for the project. The variations in the captured cycle times were used to model the uncertainty associated with the operation involved. This was carried out by automated classification, data fitting, and computer simulation. The automated classification is applied through a spreadsheet application that classifies GPS data and identifies, accordingly, durations of different activities in each cycle using spatial coordinates and directions captured by GPS and recorded on its receiver. The data fitting was carried out using commercially available software to generate the probability distribution functions used in the simulation software “Extend V.6”. The simulation was utilized to balance the production of an excavator with that of the hauling units. A spreadsheet application was developed to perform the calculations. An example of an actual project was analyzed to demonstrate the use of the developed method and illustrates its essential features. The analyzed case study demonstrates how the proposed method can assist project managers in taking corrective actions based on the near-real-time actual data captured and processed to estimate productivity of the operations involved.

scholarly journals Formation and characterization of acid mine drainage in the Madzharovo ore field, Southeastern Bulgaria

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Svetlana Bratkova
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Sulfide Minerals ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Zinc Cadmium ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Cadmium Lead ◽  
The Impact

The formation of acid mine drainage (AMD) is a serious environmental problem in areas with mining and processing industries worldwide. Their generation is associated with chemical and biological processes of oxidation of sulfide minerals, mainly pyrite. Sources of AMD can be deposits of sulfide minerals and coal with a high content of pyrite sulfur, mining waste and some tailings. The impact of AMD on surface and groundwater in mining areas continues for decades after the cessation of extraction. An example of the negative impact of generated acid mine drainage on the state of surface waters is in the region of Madzharovo. Years after the cessation of mining, the waters at the discharge points "Momina Skala", "Harman Kaya" and "Pandak Dere" are characterized by low pH values and high concentrations of iron, copper, zinc, cadmium, lead and manganese.

ACTUAL PROBLEMS OF OVERCOMING OF PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS ON THE EXAMPLE OF STUDENTS OF MEDICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Vestnik ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 258-261
Author(s):  
Р. Тлебалдин ◽  
М. Абиров ◽  
М.К. Желдербаева ◽  
Е. Ергешов ◽  
Ж.Н. Бисенбаева
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Educational Activity ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Psychological Barriers ◽  
Psychological Barrier ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Individual

В статье рассмотрены условия преодоления психологических барьеров в обучении студентов медиков. Преодоление психологического барьера это сложный и многогранный процесс, который сопровождается изменениями жизненных условий, статуса вчерашнего школьника, определения своего места в новом коллективе, отношениями с преподавателями, изменениями в организации своего рабочего времени, осознании причастности к будущей профессии врача. Психологический барьер представляет собой определенную внутриличностную преграду, преодоление которой ведет к качественному преобразованию, как деятельности личности, так и самой личности. Кроме этого в статье раскрываются основные причины возникновения психологических барьеров в процессе обучения, где проблема преодоления психологических барьеров учебной деятельности изучалась как в педагогических, так и в психологических исследованиях и оказывает негативное влияние на учебную деятельность студентов. The article considers the conditions for overcoming psychological barriers in the training of medical students. Overcoming the psychological barrier is a complex and multifaceted process that is accompanied by changes in living conditions, the status of yesterday's student, determining their place in the new team, relationships with teachers, changes in the organization of their working hours, awareness of involvement in the future profession of a doctor. The psychological barrier is a certain intrapersonal barrier, the overcoming of which leads to a qualitative transformation of both the activity of the individual and the personality itself. In addition, the article reveals the main reasons for the emergence of psychological barriers in the learning process, where the problem of overcoming psychological barriers to educational activity has been studied both in pedagogical and psychological studies and has a negative impact on the educational activities of students.

scholarly journals Remote-Sensing-Based Water Balance for Monitoring of Evapotranspiration and Water Stress of a Mediterranean Oak–Grass Savanna

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1418
Author(s):  
Elisabet Carpintero ◽  
Ana Andreu ◽  
Pedro J. Gómez-Giráldez ◽  
Ángel Blázquez ◽  
María P. González-Dugo
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Close Monitoring ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Oak Savannas ◽  
The Status ◽  
Sentinel 2

Mediterranean oak savannas (known as dehesas in Spain) are exposed to numerous threats from natural and economic causes. A close monitoring of the use of water resources and the status of the vegetation in these ecosystems can be useful tools for maintaining the production of ecological services. This study explores the estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) and water stress over a dehesa by integrating remotely sensed data into a water balance using the FAO-56 approach (VI-ETo model). Special attention is paid to the different phenology and contribution to the system’s hydrology of the two main canopy layers of the system (tree + grass). The results showed that the model accurately reproduced the dynamics of the water consumed by the vegetation, with RMSE of 0.47 mm day−1 and low biases for both, the whole system and the grass layer, when compared with flux tower measurements. The ET/ETo ratio helped to identify periods of water stress, confirmed for the grassland by measured soil water content. The modeling scheme and Sentinel-2 temporal resolution allowed the reproduction of fast and isolated ET pulses, important for understanding the hydrologic behavior of the system, confirming the adequacy of this sensor for monitoring grasslands water dynamics.

China's Industry Research Based on Computable General Equilibrium with Petroleum Price Fluctuations

2014 ◽  
Vol 521 ◽  
pp. 864-867
Author(s):  
Zhi Yuan Gao ◽  
Xi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Social Economy ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Enterprise Development ◽  
Industry Chain ◽  
Industrial Economy ◽  
Petroleum Price ◽  
Industry Research ◽  
Petroleum Resources ◽  
The Status

Petroleum resources is important strategic energy of our country. With the development of social economy, the status of petroleum in our country increasingly growth, as a kind of basic energy, its industry chain involving widely, the change of petroleum price will influence the national industrial economy, enterprise development and residents' living standard and so on. The paper use CGE, researching on the 21 industries impacted by petroleum price, and summarize relevant conclusions and suggestions.

Fishery bycatch is among the most important threats to the European population of Greater Scaup Aythya marila

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-193
Author(s):  
DOMINIK MARCHOWSKI ◽  
ŁUKASZ JANKOWIAK ◽  
ŁUKASZ ŁAWICKI ◽  
DARIUSZ WYSOCKI ◽  
PRZEMYSŁAW CHYLARECKI
Keyword(s):  
Population Change ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
European Population ◽  
North West ◽  
Biological Removal ◽  
Structured Matrix ◽  
The Status ◽  
Aythya Marila ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Age Structured

SummaryFor Greater Scaup Aythya marila, classified as ‘Vulnerable’ on the European Red List of Birds, the south-western Baltic Sea is one of the most important wintering sites in Europe. In this area, a large concentration of gillnet fishery temporally overlaps periods of the most abundant occurrence of foraging diving birds. The aim of the article is to show how bycatch can impact the population of a diving duck. To assess this, we calculate the Potential Biological Removal (PBR) for the studied Greater Scaup population and we model the population change according to age-structured matrix models. Summing all the available recent figures on Greater Scaup bycatch in north-west Europe yields an estimated mean annual total of 3,991 individuals (2% of the flyway population). For a baseline stable population, an age-structured matrix model indicates that at this bycatch level the Greater Scaup population that winters in north-west Europe will decrease by 36% over the next 30 years, qualifying the status of the population as ‘Vulnerable’ according to IUCN criteria. As this population also experiences decline prior to bycatch, this decrease will be 57%, which qualifies the status as ‘Endangered’. PBR as an indicator of population vitality does not work in our case because the PBR-informed allowable bycatch values have a significantly negative impact on the population. Our results indicate unambiguously that fishery bycatch is among the most important threats responsible for the Greater Scaup’s decline. While recent data suggest that some improvement has taken place in the species’ status over the last 10 years, measures to protect Greater Scaup from bycatch are required. The solution should involve the prohibition of gillnet fishing in selected key sites and the use of mitigation techniques in other areas.

scholarly journals Drivers of Forest Loss in a Megadiverse Hotspot on the Pacific Coast of Colombia

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1235
Author(s):  
Jesús A. Anaya ◽  
Víctor H. Gutiérrez-Vélez ◽  
Ana M. Pacheco-Pascagaza ◽  
Sebastián Palomino-Ángel ◽  
Natasha Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Forest Loss ◽  
Forest Change ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Status ◽  
Land Cover Map ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Scientific Attention ◽  
Insight Into

Tropical forests are disappearing at unprecedented rates, but the drivers behind this transformation are not always clear. This limits the decision-making processes and the effectiveness of forest management policies. In this paper, we address the extent and drivers of deforestation of the Choco biodiversity hotspot, which has not received much scientific attention despite its high levels of plant diversity and endemism. The climate is characterized by persistent cloud cover which is a challenge for land cover mapping from optical satellite imagery. By using Google Earth Engine to select pixels with minimal cloud content and applying a random forest classifier to Landsat and Sentinel data, we produced a wall-to-wall land cover map, enabling a diagnosis of the status and drivers of forest loss in the region. Analyses of these new maps together with information from illicit crops and alluvial mining uncovered the pressure over intact forests. According to Global Forest Change (GFC) data, 2324 km2 were deforested in this area from 2001 to 2018, reaching a maximum in 2016 and 2017. We found that 68% of the area is covered by broadleaf forests (67,473 km2) and 15% by shrublands (14,483 km2), the latter with enormous potential to promote restoration projects. This paper provides a new insight into the conservation of this exceptional forest with a discussion of the drivers of forest loss, where illicit crops and alluvial mining were found to be responsible for 60% of forest loss.

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