Journal articles on the topic 'Natural resources South Australia Remote sensing'

Seagrasses are a crucial indicator species of coastal marine ecosystems that provide substratum, shelter, and food for epiphytic algae, invertebrates, and fishes. More accurate mapping of seagrasses is essential for their survival as a long-lasting natural resource. Before reflectance spectra could properly be used as remote sensing endmembers, factors that may obscure the detection of reflectance signals must be assessed. The objectives in this study are to determine the influence of (1) epiphytes, (2) water depth, and (3) seagrass genus on the detection of reflectance spectral signals. The results show that epiphytes significantly dampen bottom-type reflectance throughout most of the visible light spectrum, excluding 670–679 nm; the depth does influence reflectance, with the detection of deeper seagrasses being easier, and as the depth increases, only Heterozostera increase in the exact “red edge” wavelength at which there is a rapid change in the near-infrared (NIR) spectrum. These findings helped improve the detection of seagrass endmembers during remote sensing, thereby helping protect the natural resource of seagrasses.

Soil erosion is a major environmental issue in Australia. It reduces land productivity and has off-site effects of decreased water quality. Broad-scale spatially distributed soil erosion estimation is essential for prioritising erosion control programs and as a component of broader assessments of natural resource condition. This paper describes spatial modelling methods and results that predict sheetwash and rill erosion over the Australian continent using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) and spatial data layers for each of the contributing environmental factors. The RUSLE has been used before in this way but here we advance the quality of estimation. We use time series of remote sensing imagery and daily rainfall to incorporate the effects of seasonally varying cover and rainfall intensity, and use new digital maps of soil and terrain properties. The results are compared with a compilation of Australian erosion plot data, revealing an acceptable consistency between predictions and observations. The modelling results show that: (1) the northern part of Australia has greater erosion potential than the south; (2) erosion potential differs significantly between summer and winter; (3) the average erosion rate is 4.1 t/ha.year over the continent and about 2.9 × 109 tonnes of soil is moved annually which represents 3.9% of global soil erosion from 5% of world land area; and (4) the erosion rate has increased from 4 to 33 times on average for agricultural lands compared with most natural vegetated lands.

Recently, locust outbreaks around the world have destroyed agricultural and natural vegetation and caused massive damage endangering food security. Unusual heavy rainfalls in habitats of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) and lack of monitoring due to political conflicts or inaccessibility of those habitats lead to massive desert locust outbreaks and swarms migrating over the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa, India and Pakistan. At the same time, swarms of the Moroccan locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus) in some Central Asian countries and swarms of the Italian locust (Calliptamus italicus) in Russia and China destroyed crops despite developed and ongoing monitoring and control measurements. These recent events underline that the risk and damage caused by locust pests is as present as ever and affects 100 million of human lives despite technical progress in locust monitoring, prediction and control approaches. Remote sensing has become one of the most important data sources in locust management. Since the 1980s, remote sensing data and applications have accompanied many locust management activities and contributed to an improved and more effective control of locust outbreaks and plagues. Recently, open-access remote sensing data archives as well as progress in cloud computing provide unprecedented opportunity for remote sensing-based locust management and research. Additionally, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems bring up new prospects for a more effective and faster locust control. Nevertheless, the full capacity of available remote sensing applications and possibilities have not been exploited yet. This review paper provides a comprehensive and quantitative overview of international research articles focusing on remote sensing application for locust management and research. We reviewed 110 articles published over the last four decades, and categorized them into different aspects and main research topics to summarize achievements and gaps for further research and application development. The results reveal a strong focus on three species—the desert locust, the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), and the Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera)—and corresponding regions of interest. There is still a lack of international studies for other pest species such as the Italian locust, the Moroccan locust, the Central American locust (Schistocerca piceifrons), the South American locust (Schistocerca cancellata), the brown locust (Locustana pardalina) and the red locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata). In terms of applied sensors, most studies utilized Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre VEGETATION (SPOT-VGT), Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) as well as Landsat data focusing mainly on vegetation monitoring or land cover mapping. Application of geomorphological metrics as well as radar-based soil moisture data is comparably rare despite previous acknowledgement of their importance for locust outbreaks. Despite great advance and usage of available remote sensing resources, we identify several gaps and potential for future research to further improve the understanding and capacities of the use of remote sensing in supporting locust outbreak- research and management.

Forests are an important natural resource and are instrumental in sustaining environmental sustainability. Burning biomass in forests results in greenhouse gas emissions, many of which are long-lived. Precise and consistent broad-scale monitoring of fire intensity is a valuable tool for analyzing climate and ecological changes related to fire. Remote sensing and geographic information systems provide an opportunity to improve current practice’s accuracy and performance. Spectral indices techniques such as normalized burn ratio (NBR) have been used to identify burned areas utilizing satellite data, which aid in distinguishing burnt areas using their standard spectral responses. For this research, we created a split-panel web-based Google Earth Engine app for the geo-visualization of the region severely affected by forest fire using Sentinel 2 weekly composites. Then, we classified the burn severity in areas affected by forest fires in Wolgan Valley, New South Wales, Australia, and the surrounding area through Difference Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR). The result revealed that the region’s burnt area increased to 6731 sq. km in December. We also assessed the impact of long-term rainfall and land surface temperature (LST) trends over the study region to justify such incidents. We further estimated the effect of such incidents on air quality by analyzing the changes in the column number density of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. The result showed a significant increase of about 272% for Carbon monoxide and 45% for nitrogen oxides. We conclude that, despite fieldwork constraints, the usage of different NBR and web-based application platforms may be highly useful for forest management to consider the propagation of fire regimes.

Abstract. Limestone aeolianites constitute karstic aquifers covering much of the western and southern Australian coastal fringe. They are a key groundwater resource for a range of industries such as winery and tourism, and provide important ecosystem services such as habitat for stygofauna. Moreover, recharge estimation is important for understanding the water cycle, for contaminant transport, for water management, and for stalagmite-based paleoclimate reconstructions. Caves offer a natural inception point to observe both the long-term groundwater recharge and the preferential movement of water through the unsaturated zone of such limestone. With the availability of automated drip rate logging systems and remote sensing techniques, it is now possible to deploy the combination of these methods for larger-scale studies of infiltration processes within a cave. In this study, we utilize a spatial survey of automated cave drip monitoring in two large chambers of Golgotha Cave, south-western Western Australia (SWWA), with the aim of better understanding infiltration water movement and the relationship between infiltration, stalactite morphology, and unsaturated zone recharge. By applying morphological analysis of ceiling features from Terrestrial LiDAR (T-LiDAR) data, coupled with drip time series and climate data from 2012 to 2014, we demonstrate the nature of the relationships between infiltration through fractures in the limestone and unsaturated zone recharge. Similarities between drip rate time series are interpreted in terms of flow patterns, cave chamber morphology, and lithology. Moreover, we develop a new technique to estimate recharge in large-scale caves, engaging flow classification to determine the cave ceiling area covered by each flow category and drip data for the entire observation period, to calculate the total volume of cave discharge. This new technique can be applied to other cave sites to identify highly focussed areas of recharge and can help to better estimate the total recharge volume.

Abstract. Limestone aeolianites constitute karstic aquifers covering much of the western and southern Australian coastal fringe. They are a key groundwater resource for a range of industries such as winery and tourism, and provide important ecosystem services such as habitat for stygofauna. Moreover, recharge estimation is important for understanding the water cycle, for contaminant transport, for water management and for stalagmite-based paleoclimate reconstructions. Caves offer a natural inception point to observe both the long-term groundwater recharge and the preferential movement of water through the unsaturated zone of such limestone. With the availability of automated drip rate logging systems and remote sensing techniques, it is now possible to deploy the combination of these methods for larger scale studies of infiltration processes within a cave. In this study, we utilize a spatial survey of automated cave drip monitoring in two large chambers of the Golgotha Cave, South-West Western Australia (SWWA), with the aim of better understanding infiltration water movement and the relationship between infiltration, stalactite morphology and unsaturated zone recharge. By applying morphological analysis of ceiling features from Terrestrial LiDAR (T-LiDAR) data, coupled with drip time series and climate data from 2012–2014, we demonstrate the nature of the relationships between infiltration through fractures in the limestone and unsaturated zone recharge. Similarities between drip-rate time series are interpreted in terms of flow patterns, cave chamber morphology and lithology. Moreover, we develop a new technique to estimate recharge in large scale caves, engaging flow classification to determine the cave ceiling area covered by each flow category and drip data for the entire observation period, to calculate the total volume of cave discharge. This new technique can be applied to other cave sites to identify highly focused areas of recharge and can help to better estimate the total recharge volume.

Studies of evapotranspiration on remote tropical coral islands are important to explore and sustain scarce freshwater resources. However, there is a significant knowledge gap between research to evaluate evapotranspiration based on remote sensing methods and the influences of different land use types on water dynamics on reclaimed coral islands. This study applied the remote-sensing-based Vegetation Interfaces Processes (VIP-RS) model to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ETa) on Zhaoshu Island, Yongxing Island, and Yongshu Island in the South China Sea from 2016 to 2019. The results showed that the average annual ETa of Zhaoshu Island, Yongxing Island, and Yongshu Island was 685 mm, 530 mm, and 210 mm, respectively. Annual transpiration (Ec) and soil evaporation (Es) exhibited similar patterns on the natural islands; however, Es controlled the water consumption on the reclaimed islands. Water dynamics exhibited seasonal fluctuations due to the uneven distribution of precipitation (PRP). However, ETa of the natural islands was higher than PRP in the dry season, indicating vegetation has to absorb water from the groundwater to sustain growth. The results also agreed with the analysis of dominant driving factors based on partial correlation analysis, which demonstrated that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the most important factor that influences ETa, while relative humidity (RH) controlled the bare land or sparsely vegetated areas on the reclaimed islands. The setting of different land use types showed that vegetation and built-up or hardened roads took control of evapotranspiration and rainwater collection, respectively, which play important roles in water dynamics on corals islands. The evaluation of ETa based on a remote-sensing-based model overcame the difficulty in fieldwork observation, which improves the certainty and accuracy at a spatial scale. In addition, it gave us a new reference to protect and manage scarce freshwater resources properly.

Dimension stone quarrying in the area between Rustenburg and Brits in the North West Province of South Africa has been in existence for over 70 decades. The unique characteristics of the granite deposits in South Africa resulted in making the country a global producer of the granite rocks. This led to intensified quarrying activities between Rustenburg and Brits town. However, this surface mining method, has a potential to impact the environment in a negative way causing loss in vegetation, depletion of natural resources, loss of scenic beauty and contamination of surface water resources. To assess the land cover changes caused by granite quarrying activities, remotely sensed data in the form of Landsat images between 1998 and 2015 were used. Supervised classification was used to create maps. Accuracy assessment using Google Earth^TM as a reference data yielded an overall accuracy of 78 %. The post classification change detection method was used to assess land cover changes within the granite quarries. Granite quarries increased by 1174.86 ha while formation of quarry lakes increased to 5.3 ha over the 17-year period. Vegetation cover decreased by 1308 ha in area while 18.3 ha bare land was lost during the same period. This study demonstrated the utility of remote sensing to detect changes in land cover within granite quarries.

Radiometric methods were used to investigate the radioactive properties of rocks in parts of southwestern Nigeria with a view to interpreting the geological structure and abundance of natural radioactive elements in the main type rocks. The airborne radiometric dataset of Ikole Sheet and ground radiometric data recorded from eight traverses in Akoko axis of the study area were processed. Results presented as maps and profiles displayed variations of high and low radioactive concentrations across the area. These maps showed moderate to very high concentrations and very low to low concentrations of the radioelements; uranium (4.5-13.0 ppm); (LLD-low limit of detection -3.0 ppm), Th (25.0-70.0 ppm); (8.5-16.0 ppm) and K (2.0-4.0 %); but the most often observed values are in the range 2.5-7.0 ppm, 22.0-30.0 ppm and 3.0-4.0% for U, Th, and K respectively. High concentrations imply that the rocks are crystalline, undeformed and are rich in feldspar and U-Th bearing minerals. 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Geological map of Nigeria prepared by Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, 31, ShetimaMangono Crescent Utako District, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria.Omosanya K.O., Ariyo S.O., Kaigama U., Mosuro G.O., and Laniyan T.A., 2015. An outcrop evidence for polycyclic orogenies in the basement complex of Southwestern Nigeria. Journal of Geography and Geology, 7(3), 24-34.Oyawoye, M.O., 1972. The Basement Complex of Nigeria.In African Geology. T.F.J. Dessauvagie and A.J. Whiteman (Eds) Ibadan University Press, 67-99.Oyinloye A.O., 2011. Geology and Geotectonic Setting of the Basement Complex Rocks in Southwestern Nigeria: Implications on Provenance and Evolution. Earth and Environmental Sciences, 98-117. ISBN: 978-953-307-468-9.Rahaman M.A., 1981. Recent Advances in the Study of the Basement Complex of Nigeria.First Symposium on the Precambrian Geology of Nigeria, Summary.Rahaman M.A., Emofureta W.O. and Vachette M., 1983. 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The relief and its geological formations are the primary prerequisite for the study of the biological component of the natural environment and rational use of natural resources. The geological and geomorphological conditions of the territory have a very deep and diverse influence on the structure of other components of the landscape. In the south-east of Western Siberia, in the Ob-Irtysh interfluve, there are ribbon forests-narrow, strongly elongated strips of light coniferous forest with a width of 5 to 10 km. The forest-forming breed of hog is scots pine. In the conditions of increasing anthropogenic pressure in the region, the natural environment is deteriorating. The main provisions that are justified in the article are based on the author's long-term research and materials of remote sensing of ribbon bores of the Altai Territory. Real estimates of the state and forecast of changes in the natural environment, including anthropogenic influence, can be obtained only on the basis of strictly scientific data and conclusions about the formation of the landscape of the studied region and the components of the environment. The digital model of the Ecological and Geomorphological map of the belt forests and the annual use of the latest satellite images will allow monitoring the changes in the main contours of the terrain.

Study of past changes in environment and, its effect on human society delivers key information to reconstruct the hystorical past but also to project future changes and their effects. Study focus on South-East Georgia, Caucasus region, which represents natural polygon of long term changes in the environment. Study area represents semi-arid Shiraqi plain in South-East Georgia (see the map below). It is characterized with annual precipitation <600mm and shows open dry steppic landscape today. However, recent data collected using remote sensing and archaeological studies, deliver evidences of early human inhabitation of this area, starting from the Paleolithic and forming a constant chain of active settlement through the time, until sudden abrupt at the end of the Bronze Age. Geomorphologically Shiraqi plane represents 800 sqr. km of almost flat area with average height of 600 m above Sea level, surrounded by chains of mountains creating a natural walls surrounding the plane. There are almost no settlements in the area, devoid of water resources today. Archaeo-Botanic and soil studies assume that the region was covered by forests, Hydro modelling shows possibility of existence of well developed water network with a shallow lake in the center of plane. Remote sensing data and resent archaeological excavations at Didnauri site provides clear evidences of early state formation, with favorable paleo-environmental conditions. The goal of current study is to shed light on historic changes in the environment of the region, its natural and anthropogenic factors and consequently response of human society on these changes.

Among the many characteristics that the Brazilian territory possesses, one precisely excel: the mentioned country hosts the second biggest forest resource of the planet, corresponding for approximately 10% of the total amount of global forest resources. In that scenario, the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTF) perform the second less expressive forest type in Brazil, being situated mostly in non-forested biomes, such as Savannas and Scrublands. Thus, its conservation must rely on its correct identification, which becomes difficult because the SDTF areas are generally classified as other vegetation types. Therefore, the present study aimed to perform the land cover-land use monitoring for the years of 2007 and 2016 of the continuous area North of Minas Gerais - South Piauí, with the purpose of evaluating the current situation of Brazilian SDTFs and assessing the main drivers that affect its deforestation and natural regeneration. As a result, the study verified that the significant increase in crop areas and spatial mobility of parturelands contributed decisively for the changes presented by vegetation formations. HOWEVER, such drivers played differentiated roles in losses/gains. Especially, it was concluded that the changes in which deciduous forests have undergone were explained particularly by pasture. The other types of vegetation were also impacted by this class, but with a more incisive participation of the crops. Key-words: Mapping, Deciduous Forests, Remote Sensing, GIS.

In semi-arid regions, groundwater resources play a crucial role in all economic, environmental, and social processes. However, the occurrence, movement, and recharge of these hidden and valuable resources vary from place to place. Therefore, better management practices and mapping of groundwater recharge potential zones are needed for the sustainable groundwater resources. For an example, groundwater resources in Willochra Basin are vitally important for drinking, irrigation, and stock use. This study shows the significance of the application of three decision-making approaches, including multi-influencing factor, analytical hierarchy process, and frequency ratio techniques in the identification of groundwater potential zones. A total of seven criteria, including lithology, slope, soil texture, land-use, rainfall, drainage density, and lineament density, were extracted from conventional and remote sensing data sources. The parameters and their assigned weights were integrated using Geographic Information System (GIS) software to generate recharge potential maps. The resultant maps were evaluated using the area under the curve method. The results showed that the southern regions of the Willochra Basin are more promising for groundwater recharge potential. The map produced using the frequency ratio model was the most efficient (84%), followed by the multi-influencing factor model (70%) and then the analytical hierarchy process technique (62%). The area under the curve method agreed when evaluated using published weights and rating values.

Understanding and identifying the spatial-temporal changes in the natural environment is crucial for monitoring and evaluating conservation efforts, as well as understanding the impact of human activities on natural resources, informing responsible land management, and promoting better decision-making. Conservation areas are often under pressure from expanding farming and related industry, invasive alien vegetation, and an ever-increasing human settlement footprint. This study focuses on detecting changes to the Prince Alfred Hamlet commonage, near Ceres in the Cape Floral Kingdom. It was chosen for its high conservation value and significance as a critical water source area. The study area includes a fast-growing human settlement footprint in a highly productive farming landscape. There are conflicting development needs as well as risks to agricultural production, and both of these threaten the integrity of the ecosystems which supply underlying services to both demands on the land. Using a multi-disciplinary approach and high-resolution satellite imagery, land use and land cover changes can be detected and classified, and the results used to support the conservation of biodiversity and wildlife, and protect our natural resources. The aim of this research is to study the efficacy of using remote sensing and GIS techniques to detect changes to critical conservation areas where disturbances can be understood, and therefore better managed and mitigated before these areas are degraded beyond repair.

Understanding and identifying the spatial-temporal changes in the natural environment is crucial for monitoring and evaluating conservation efforts, as well as understanding the impact of human activities on natural resources, informing responsible land management, and promoting better decision-making. Conservation areas are often under pressure from expanding farming and related industry, invasive alien vegetation, and an ever-increasing human settlement footprint. This study focuses on detecting changes to the Prince Alfred Hamlet commonage, near Ceres in the Cape Floral Kingdom. It was chosen for its high conservation value and significance as a critical water source area. The study area includes a fast-growing human settlement footprint in a highly productive farming landscape. There are conflicting development needs as well as risks to agricultural production, and both of these threaten the integrity of the ecosystems which supply underlying services to both demands on the land. Using a multi-disciplinary approach and high-resolution satellite imagery, land use and land cover changes can be detected and classified, and the results used to support the conservation of biodiversity and wildlife, and protect our natural resources. The aim of this research is to study the efficacy of using remote sensing and GIS techniques to detect changes to critical conservation areas where disturbances can be understood, and therefore better managed and mitigated before these areas are degraded beyond repair.

In the latter half of the 1990s there was a long-running but unreported conflict over use of a coastal rock platform on the Central Coast of New South Wales, just to the north of Sydney. This multifaceted dispute was between poor Korean Australians from the inner suburbs of Sydney and locals. The source of this conflict was the manner in which the rock platform was being used, how its resources were exploited and the type of social life that accompanied these activities. Different peoples brought different understandings to the rock platform, and they acted in accordance with those understandings.For many older settler Australians, and for the diminishing number of those ‘on the land’, the essence of what it is to be Australian is found outside of urban environments. Colloquially referred to as ‘the bush’, this can mean virtually any rural, remote, regional, or non-urban setting. For those living in cities, and for more recent immigrants to Australia, national parks are one site that provides ready access to ‘the bush’. As with the coastal rock platform, different peoples bring different understandings to their encounters with national parks and ‘the bush’, and their use of these places changes accordingly.This paper begins with a description of the rock platform incident, before moving on to discuss the response of different immigrant groups to national parks and other open public spaces.

Land cover assessment plays a vital role in both current and future planning and use of natural resources for sustainable development for any country. For the good practice of the vision 2030 in Al Baha region (south-western Saudi Arabia), land cover was assessed, classified, and analyzed using remote sensing databases and time series analysis combined with spatial analysis in geographic information system (GIS) based on high-resolution Landsat 8 OLI, Sentinel-2 satellite imagery between the period of study 2017/2018 and 2021/2022. Based on both an accuracy assessment and kappa test, the results indicate that Esri Sentinel-2 imagery gives the highest performance compared to Landsat 8 OLI with accuracy and kappa test equal to 87% and 84%, respectively. On the other hand, the land cover classification revealed that the large area of water bodies is localized on Alaqiq (1.45 km2), Baljurish (0.94 km2), and Elmelkhwah (1.57 km2). Furthermore, the built area of the Al Baha region between 2017 and 2021 was estimated to increase by 144 km2 (from 516.5 to 661.07 km2), which is especially significant for the Qelwah district (from 16.97 to 44.16 km2) which demonstrated a decrease in bare ground area of approximately 320 km2. The crop lands have been increased by 162.74% in the 2017–2021 period from 10.39 km2 to 16.90 km2, particularly at Qelwah and Elmelkhwah. Finally, the results obtained by this research can help decision-makers and managers for better natural resources management in the Al Baha region.

In the near future, natural disasters and associated risks are expected to increase, mainly because of the impact of climate change. Australia is considered one of the most vulnerable areas for natural disasters, including flooding. Therefore, an evaluation of the morphometric characteristics of the Onkaparinga basin in South Australia was undertaken using the integration of remote sensing and geospatial techniques to identify its impact on flash floods. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and Landsat images with other available geologic, topographic, and secondary data were analysed in geographic information system (GIS) to outline the drainage basins, estimate the morphometric parameters, and rank the parameters to demarcate the flash flood susceptibility zones of the basin. The main goal was to develop a flash flood susceptibility map showing the different hazard zones within the study areas. The results showed that 10.87%, 24.27%, and 64.85% are classified as low, moderate, and highly susceptible for flooding, respectively. These findings were then verified against secondary data relating to the historic flood events of the area. About 30.77% of the historical floods are found located within the high to extremely susceptible zones. Moreover, a significant correlation has been found between the high precipitation concentration index (PCI) and the irregular rainfall and high potential for flooding. Finally, the social and economic vulnerability was applied to determine the impact of the flood hazards. The result indicates a widespread threat to the economy, environment, and community in the study area. This study can be utilized to support and assist decision makers with planning and the devotion of alleviation measures to reducing and avoiding catastrophic flooding events, especially in highly susceptible areas in the world, such as South Australian basins.

This article analyzes modern monitoring methods using ground-based interferometric radars. Currently, there are only a few companies on the world market that offer interferometric scanning solutions. These are IDS (Italy), part of the Hexagon group, Groundprobe (Australia), Reutech (South Africa) and the very rare LISA (JRC-Lisalab) and GPRI (Gamma Remote Sensing). Such radars can be used in the open pit mine development of mineral resources for monitoring the safety of adjacent rock masses, dumps and dams. The article considers the general principle of interferometric radars’ operation and differences between them. It also describes different types of aerials, which are being used nowadays in ground-based interferometric scanning. The analysis results enabled to formulate the recommendations for using different type radars depending on the strategy of geotechnical monitoring.

Despite the global focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, the promise of impact to tropical coastlines and stochasticity of destruction caused by tropical cyclones remains unaltered, forcing human societies to adapt to new unadaptable scenarios. Super Cyclone Amphan’s landfall—the third cyclone of the season within the world’s largest mangrove forest—brought a new uncertainty to this undeveloped region of South Asia. How do vulnerable people deal with multiple disasters that limit necessary humanitarian response while still maintaining the natural environmental integrity of a system harboring critical wildlife populations and protecting people from further disaster? We explored this reality for the Sundarbans region using a remote sensing technique and found that the western part of Sundarbans mangroves was severely damaged by Amphan, suggesting that rapid remote sensing techniques can help direct resources, and recognize the eventuality that response will be a best effort for now. If 2020 is a window, multiple disaster management scenarios may become more common in the future. Yet, society’s obligation for maintaining environmental integrity remains unchanged.

Despite the global focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, the promise of impact to tropical coastlines and stochasticity of destruction caused by tropical cyclones remains unaltered, forcing human societies to adapt to new unadaptable scenarios. Super Cyclone Amphan’s landfall—the third cyclone of the season within the world’s largest mangrove forest—brought a new uncertainty to this undeveloped region of South Asia. How do vulnerable people deal with multiple disasters that limit necessary humanitarian response while still maintaining the natural environmental integrity of a system harboring critical wildlife populations and protecting people from further disaster? We explored this reality for the Sundarbans region using a remote sensing technique and found that the western part of Sundarbans mangroves was severely damaged by Amphan, suggesting that rapid remote sensing techniques can help direct resources, and recognize the eventuality that response will be a best effort for now. If 2020 is a window, multiple disaster management scenarios may become more common in the future. Yet, society’s obligation for maintaining environmental integrity remains unchanged.

Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the Khanh Hoa (Vietnam) coastal area plays an important role in coastal communities and the marine ecosystem. However, SAV distribution varies widely, in terms of depth and substrate types, making it difficult to monitor using in-situ measurement. Remote sensing can help address this issue. High spatial resolution satellites, with more bands and higher radiometric sensitivity, have been launched recently, including the Vietnamese Natural Resources, Environment, and Disaster Monitoring Satellite (VNREDSat-1) (V1) sensor from Vietnam, launched in 2013. The objective of the study described here was to establish SAV distribution maps for South-Central Vietnam, particularly in the Khanh Hoa coastal area, using Sentinel-2 (S2), Landsat-8, and V1 imagery, and then to assess any changes to SAV over the last ten years, using selected historical data. The satellite top-of-atmosphere signals were initially converted to radiance, and then corrected for atmospheric effects. This treated signal was then used to classify Khanh Hoa coastal water substrates, and these classifications were evaluated using 101 in-situ measurements, collected in 2017 and 2018. The results showed that the three satellites could provide high accuracy, with Kappa coefficients above 0.84, with V1 achieving over 0.87. Our results showed that, from 2008 to 2018, SAV acreage in Khanh Hoa was reduced by 74.2%, while gains in new areas compensated for less than half of these losses. This is the first study to show the potential for using V1 and S2 data to assess the distribution status of SAV in Vietnam, and its outcomes will contribute to the conservation of SAV beds, and to the sustainable exploitation of aquatic resources in the Khanh Hoa coastal area.

Under the Belt and Road Initiatives, China’s overseas cooperation in constructing mining projects has developed rapidly. The development and utilization of mining resources are essential requirements for socio-economic development. At the same time, the ecological impacts of the exploitation and utilization of mining resources have increasingly aroused the widespread concern of the international community. This paper uses Landsat images, high-resolution images, and nighttime light (NTL) data to remotely monitor Sino Iron in Australia and Taldybulak Levoberezhny in Kyrgyzstan in different development periods to provide a reference for the rational development of mineral resources and environmental management. The results show that the Chinese enterprises have achieved good results in the ecological protection of the mining area during the construction period. The development of the mine has caused minor damage to the surrounding environment and has not destroyed the local natural ecological pattern. The different NTL indices show an overall rising trend, indicating that the construction of mines has dramatically promoted the socio-economic development of countries along the Belt and Road in both time and space. Therefore, relevant departments should practice green development in overseas projects, establish a scientific mine governance system, and promote a win-win economic growth and environmental governance situation.

Tunisia is enriched by many natural resources (natural water and geothermal water) that are located along the South to the North. This paper aims mainly to evaluate the resources water potential. The available remote sensing images for two typical examples (SE Jeffara basin and Utique basin) are analyzed and many seismic profiles are interpreted to delineate the surface and subsurface structures. The 3-D structures of Mio-Plio-Quaternary and Upper Cretaceous aquifers in South-East of Jeffara basin show an important reservoirs of water resources. The Upper Cretaceous aquifer "Complexe Terminal" is one of the most typical examples of exploitation features in hydrogeological research. It is formed by fractured limestones. The 3D-structure of Utique basin shows an important variation of thickness of Mio-Plio-Quaternary and Triassic series. The Mio-Plio-Quaternary series is formed by sand, clays and gypsum. The Triassic series is considered typical example for research the hydrogeological and hydrothermal water in Tunisia, especially in the North. In the subsurface, the triassic aquifer of Utique regions is formed by carbonates series. The hot spring in Utique basin is directly related to the Triassic dolostones which are extensively fractured [1]. A geophysical survey was undertaken for groundwater in Tunisia. The interpretation of seismic reflection sections and petroleum wells allowed to precise the geometry in subsurface structure.

Abstract. Mid-level altocumulus clouds (Ac) and high cirrus clouds (Ci) can be considered natural laboratories for studying cloud glaciation in the atmosphere. While their altitude makes them difficult to access with in situ instruments, they can be conveniently observed from the ground with active remote-sensing instruments such as lidar and radar. However, active remote sensing of Ac and Ci at visible wavelengths with lidar requires a clear line of sight between the instrument and the target cloud. It is therefore advisable to carefully assess potential locations for deploying ground-based lidar instruments in field experiments or for long-term observations that are focused on mid- or high-level clouds. Here, observations of clouds with two spaceborne lidars are used to assess where ground-based lidar measurements of mid- and high-level clouds are least affected by the light-attenuating effect of low-level clouds. It is found that cirrus can be best observed in the tropics, the Tibetan Plateau, the western part of North America, the Atacama region, the southern tip of South America, Greenland, Antarctica, and parts of western Europe. For the observation of altocumulus, a ground-based lidar is best placed at Greenland, Antarctica, the western flank of the Andes and Rocky Mountains, the Amazon, central Asia, Siberia, western Australia, or the southern half of Africa.

Landscape transformations in rapidly urbanizing Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao (GHKM) regions of South China represent the most complex and dynamic processes altering the local ecology and environment. In this study, Land Change Modeler (LCM) is applied to land use land cover (LULC) maps for the years 2005, 2010, and 2017, derived from Landsat images, with the aim of understanding land use land cover change patterns during 2005–2017 and, further, to predict the future scenario of the years 2024 and 2031. Furthermore, the changes in spatial structural patterns are quantified and analyzed using selected landscape morphological metrics. The results show that the urban area has increased at an annual rate of 4.72% during 2005–2017 and will continue to rise from 10.31% (20,228.95 km2) in 2017 to 16.30% (31,994.55 km2) in 2031. This increase in urban area will encroach further into farmland and fishponds. However, forest cover will continue to increase from 45.02% (88,391.98 km2) in 2017 to 46.88% (92,049.62 km2) in 2031. This implies a decrease in the mean Euclidian nearest neighbor distance (ENN_MN) of forest patches (from 217.57 m to 206.46 m) and urban clusters (from 285.55 m to 245.06 m) during 2017–2031, indicating an accelerated landscape transformation if the current patterns of the change continues over the next decade. Thus, knowledge of the current and predicted LULC changes will help policy and decision makers to reconsider and develop new policies for the sustainable development and protection of natural resources.

Abstract. Extreme fires have substantial adverse effects on society and natural ecosystems. Such events can be associated with the intense coupling of fire behaviour with the atmosphere, resulting in extreme fire characteristics such as pyrocumulonimbus cloud (pyroCb) development. Concern that anthropogenic climate change is increasing the occurrence of pyroCbs globally is driving more focused research into these meteorological phenomena. Using 6 min scans from a nearby weather radar, we describe the development of a pyroCb during the afternoon of 4 January 2013 above the Forcett–Dunalley fire in south-eastern Tasmania. We relate storm development to (1) near-surface weather using the McArthur forest fire danger index (FFDI) and the C-Haines index, the latter of which is a measure of the vertical atmospheric stability and dryness, both derived from gridded weather reanalysis for Tasmania (BARRA-TA); and (2) a chronosequence of fire severity derived from remote sensing. We show that the pyroCb rapidly developed over a 24 min period on the afternoon of 4 January, with the cloud top reaching a height of 15 km. The pyroCb was associated with a highly unstable lower atmosphere (C-Haines value of 10–11) and severe–marginally extreme (FFDI 60–75) near-surface fire weather, and it formed over an area of forest that was severely burned (total crown defoliation). We use spatial patterns of elevated fire weather in Tasmania and fire weather during major runs of large wildfires in Tasmania for the period from 2007 to 2016 to geographically and historically contextualise this pyroCb event. Although the Forcett–Dunalley fire is the only known record of a pyroCb in Tasmania, our results show that eastern and south-eastern Tasmania are prone to the conjunction of high FFDI and C-Haines values that have been associated with pyroCb development. Our findings have implications for fire weather forecasting and wildfire management, and they highlight the vulnerability of south-east Tasmania to extreme fire events.

Assessing how climate change will affect hydrological ecosystem services (HES) provision is necessary for long-term planning and requires local comprehensive climate information. In this study, we used SWAT to evaluate the impacts on four HES, natural hazard protection, erosion control regulation and water supply and flow regulation for the Laguna del Sauce catchment in Uruguay. We used downscaled CMIP-5 global climate models for Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 projections. We calibrated and validated our SWAT model for the periods 2005–2009 and 2010–2013 based on remote sensed ET data. Monthly NSE and R2 values for calibration and validation were 0.74, 0.64 and 0.79, 0.84, respectively. Our results suggest that climate change will likely negatively affect the water resources of the Laguna del Sauce catchment, especially in the RCP 8.5 scenario. In all RCP scenarios, the catchment is likely to experience a wetting trend, higher temperatures, seasonality shifts and an increase in extreme precipitation events, particularly in frequency and magnitude. This will likely affect water quality provision through runoff and sediment yield inputs, reducing the erosion control HES and likely aggravating eutrophication. Although the amount of water will increase, changes to the hydrological cycle might jeopardize the stability of freshwater supplies and HES on which many people in the south-eastern region of Uruguay depend. Despite streamflow monitoring capacities need to be enhanced to reduce the uncertainty of model results, our findings provide valuable insights for water resources planning in the study area. Hence, water management and monitoring capacities need to be enhanced to reduce the potential negative climate change impacts on HES. The methodological approach presented here, based on satellite ET data can be replicated and adapted to any other place in the world since we employed open-access software and remote sensing data for all the phases of hydrological modelling and HES provision assessment.

The Republic of South Sudan lacks adequate data to support decision-makers in planning. Therefore, a land use land cover (LULC) study was conducted in Jubek State for 17 years (2000–2017). It was divided into three time intervals, using remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS), Landsat TM, Landsat ETM+, and Landsat 8 OLI approaches. A transition matrix for the total change was developed to generate spatiotemporal and quantitative indicators to analyze LULC spatiotemporal dynamics for better developmental decisions. Overall accuracy assessment results were 97.41% (kappa 0.96), 90.45% (kappa 0.85), and 91.5% (kappa 0.89) for years 2000, 2009, and 2017, respectively. Furthermore, quantitative and spatiotemporal results show that built up areas drastically increase, especially from 2009 to 2017. The most dominant class in the study area was grassland, 9929.9 km2 (54.22%), followed by forest, 5555 km2 (30.33%), barren land, 2497.3 km2 (13.64%), built up areas, 166.7 km2 (0.9%), farmland, 128.31 km2 (0.71%), and water bodies, 35.91 km2 (0.96%). The outcomes of the analysis show that since 1955 Jubek State (Juba) has been the preferable place for the local citizens’ settlement in South Sudan. Unfortunately, agricultural production was insufficient due to the limited cultivated area; on the other hand, the study area is rich in natural resources and could meet local people’s demand if a proper strategy such as LULC transformation is well implemented.

A metallogenic belt is a metallogenic geological unit with rich mineral resources and potential. The study of metallogenic belts can provide a basis for mineral monitoring and deployment. Research of the metallogenic belt in Zhejiang Province is too deficient. This paper uses the domestic high-resolution satellite data from 2018 to 2021 to carry out the application of remote sensing in a comprehensive geological survey on different metallogenic belts in Zhejiang Province. The survey results show that the area of each metallogenic belt is decreasing year by year, which shows that under the regulation of the natural resources department, the unqualified mining activities in key control areas such as nature reserves, ecological red lines, and the Yangtze River economic belt are timely stopped and forcibly closed, so that the mining development order gradually tends to be good. The restoration and control points show a trend of less in the south and more in the north, mainly distributed in the economically developed areas of the northern, central, and eastern plains of Zhejiang Province. According to the statistics of the degree of mine environment restoration and treatment (treatment percentage), the Taishun-Zhoushan metallogenic belt is the highest, and treatment percentage from 2018 to 2021 is 83.01%, 80.07%, 76.91%, and 73.78%, respectively. For four consecutive years, the number of restoration and treatment projects has been increasing, and the restoration and treatment area has increased significantly. The countermeasures and suggestions for mine environmental restoration in the metallogenic belt have been put forward. In the mining area, if the geological environment is good, the rainfall is sufficient, and so on, then natural re greening can be considered. According to the brief evaluation criteria, a total of 2983 mines can be restored naturally, including 311 in the Si’an-Changxing metallogenic belt, 325 in the Lin’an-Huzhou metallogenic belt, 387 in the Kaihua-Hangzhou metallogenic Belt, 598 in the Quzhou-Shaoxing metallogenic belt, 765 in the Longquan-Shangyu metallogenic belt, and 597 in the Taishun-Zhoushan metallogenic belt. A total of 1911 mines were involved within 1 km of the “three zones and two lines”. There are 50 places in the Si’an-Changxing metallogenic belt, 151 in the Lin’an-Huzhou metallogenic belt, 236 in the Kaihua-Hangzhou metallogenic belt, 326 in the Quzhou-Shaoxing metallogenic belt, 513 in the Longquan-Shangyu metallogenic belt, and 635 in the Taishun-Zhoushan metallogenic belt. The survey results and suggestions can provide scientific basis and important reference for the local mining administration department to carry out the restoration of the mine ecological environment in metallogenic belts, and they are of great significance to promote the wide and in-depth application and technological progress of remote sensing technology.

Human activities have significantly affected the natural eco-environment, which could lead to land cover changes. The human activity intensity of land surface (HAILS) represent human activity at the regional scale and can be monitored efficiently over a long term based on land cover data collected by remote sensing techniques. In this study, we quantify the HAILS index for 2000, 2010, and 2015 based on land cover, and analyze its temporal and spatial variation to illustrate the potential influence of human activities on the water quality in the water source area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (MR-SNWDP). The results show that from 2000 to 2015, the HAILS decreased in general but increased with the highest increment of 78.4% around water resources. The area showing high values of HAILS increased at a rate of 30.8% from 2000 to 2015. In the riparian zone around the water body, the HAILS rose at an increment of 0.68% in 2010 to 0.05% in 2015. On the basis of the variation of the HAILS, it has been revealed that human activities, increased mainly around water bodies, may increase the risk of water pollution.

Land use change is one of the challenges that aggravate environmental problems. Understanding the scope of land use change, driving forces, and consequences is very crucial for proper management of land resources. We investigated land use/land cover changes using remote sensing data (for the years 1973, 1995, and 2017), and field observation, household survey, key informant interview, and focus group discussion were used to determine the drivers and consequences of land use/land cover changes in Shenkolla watershed, south central Ethiopia. Unsupervised and supervised classification techniques were employed to get thematic information from satellite imagery. ArcGIS 10.3 and QGIS v 3.0 softwares were used to accomplish the analysis. The results disclosed that Shenkolla watershed has changed significantly during the past 4 decades between 1973 and 2017. This observed change indicates a reduction in forest land and an increase in agricultural land. Forest land was reduced from 29.51% in 1973 to 20.52% in 2017, but agricultural land was expanded from 70.49% in 1973 to 79.48% in 2017. Agricultural expansion, policy change and social unrest, population pressure, shortage of farm land, and biophysical factors were major driving forces of the LU/LC changes. Environmental implications such as climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of basic forest products, habitat alteration, decline in quality and availability of water, and crop yield reduction are the consequences of the LU/LC change. The expansion of agricultural land at the expense of forest cover in Shenkolla watershed has negative implications on the natural resources and the livelihood of local people. Hence, appropriate measures need to be employed to reduce the dramatic change in land use and to harmonize environmental conservation with human livelihood.

Wildfires are major natural disasters negatively affecting human safety, natural ecosystems, and wildlife. Timely and accurate estimation of wildfire burn areas is particularly important for post-fire management and decision making. In this regard, Remote Sensing (RS) images are great resources due to their wide coverage, high spatial and temporal resolution, and low cost. In this study, Australian areas affected by wildfire were estimated using Sentinel-2 imagery and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products within the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform. To this end, a framework based on change analysis was implemented in two main phases: (1) producing the binary map of burned areas (i.e., burned vs. unburned); (2) estimating burned areas of different Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) types. The first phase was implemented in five main steps: (i) preprocessing, (ii) spectral and spatial feature extraction for pre-fire and post-fire analyses; (iii) prediction of burned areas based on a change detection by differencing the pre-fire and post-fire datasets; (iv) feature selection; and (v) binary mapping of burned areas based on the selected features by the classifiers. The second phase was defining the types of LULC classes over the burned areas using the global MODIS land cover product (MCD12Q1). Based on the test datasets, the proposed framework showed high potential in detecting burned areas with an overall accuracy (OA) and kappa coefficient (KC) of 91.02% and 0.82, respectively. It was also observed that the greatest burned area among different LULC classes was related to evergreen needle leaf forests with burning rate of over 25 (%). Finally, the results of this study were in good agreement with the Landsat burned products.

Wildfires are major natural disasters negatively affecting human safety, natural ecosystems, and wildlife. Timely and accurate estimation of wildfire burn areas is particularly important for post-fire management and decision making. In this regard, Remote Sensing (RS) images are great resources due to their wide coverage, high spatial and temporal resolution, and low cost. In this study, Australian areas affected by wildfire were estimated using Sentinel-2 imagery and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products within the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform. To this end, a framework based on change analysis was implemented in two main phases: (1) producing the binary map of burned areas (i.e., burned vs. unburned); (2) estimating burned areas of different Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) types. The first phase was implemented in five main steps: (i) preprocessing, (ii) spectral and spatial feature extraction for pre-fire and post-fire analyses; (iii) prediction of burned areas based on a change detection by differencing the pre-fire and post-fire datasets; (iv) feature selection; and (v) binary mapping of burned areas based on the selected features by the classifiers. The second phase was defining the types of LULC classes over the burned areas using the global MODIS land cover product (MCD12Q1). Based on the test datasets, the proposed framework showed high potential in detecting burned areas with an overall accuracy (OA) and kappa coefficient (KC) of 91.02% and 0.82, respectively. It was also observed that the greatest burned area among different LULC classes was related to evergreen needle leaf forests with burning rate of over 25 (%). Finally, the results of this study were in good agreement with the Landsat burned products.

The functioning of Mediterranean ecosystems to daily or interannual scale presents an ecological and socio-economic interest. The intensive exploitation of natural resources of this ecosystem by the population has now reached a critical threshold. To this is added the effect of climate change leading to a drought that occurs mainly in the southern part. This leads to accelerated degradation of the ecosystem and requires the establishment of sustainable management rules. The objective of this study is to determine the contribution of multi-date satellite images in detecting global changes and monitoring of developments in the watershed of the Aurès Bouzina center. The approach is to use satellite images Landsat at different times (1986, 2001 and 2013) and sampling work for the confrontation with the ground truth, to conduct a thematic analysis of this environment, and view the global changes that have occurred in this area. The overall reading of the results of the tracking map changes, we notice a degradation of forest cover in ascending gradient from north to south and led to the reduction of vegetation cover drills. The area of irrigated crops registered an increase of grain. In favor of bare soils and wetlands, related to the influence of rivers, as well as the emergence of forage and vegetable crops. Bare soils dominated by a sandy texture are located primarily near areas of crops due to agricultural practices based on the intensification of agriculture as well as silting soil justified by an increase in bare soil. This work is a first step to track the degradation or restoration through ecological indicators field, related to remote sensing data.

Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves the physical process and contributes to changes in chemistry, biology, and natural resources. So, systematically, it is the particular ecosystems of whole marine regions with the upwelling. The strong upwelling waters in South Central Regions of Vietnam have uncertain features of the East Vietnam Sea (Bien Dong) and special characteristics of a coastal upwelling area, recorded in international scientific papers in the twentieth century. Their first signals were discovered in the early 1930s through conceptual ideas. The upwelling phenomenon is officially confirmed by scientific results of marine investigations of the NAGA Expedition (1959–1961). The paper aims to review and discuss the physical from Vietnamese investigation and results since 1990s. The following factors are the most contributing to forming and developing the strong upwelling in Southern Central Waters: (1) Influence scale (Mezo- and micro-scale); (2) Forming causes and developing mechanism of upwelling phenomenon, such as monsoon, morphography, shoreline, and western boundary current system of the East Vietnam Sea; (3) Influence of the water-mass from Mekong River on the upwelling area; (4) Ecological environmental consequences; (5) Impacts of the atmospheric-oceanic interaction processes on the western EVS on upwelling. Additionally, the review has targeted findings of upwelling phenomenon mainly in Vietnamese waters based on remote sensing analysis and reanalysis data series to simulate their forming, mechanizing, fluctuating models and the impacts of upwelling in the EVS on resources and ecosystems. The coupled atmosphere-ocean models resulted the upwelling mechanisms and formation. The long-time series of upwelling phenomenon (Macroscale) were evaluated by remote sensing and reanalyzed data series. It is also providing the supplementing and detailing causes and mechanisms of upwelling formation; impacts and interactions of upwelling on marine physics and hydrodynamics (ocean vortexes, seawater temperature), biochemical (nutrients, plankton organisms), and resources (fish, seafood). Within the framework of strong upwelling waters in the Southern Central Regions (Vietnam), the review has not only mentioned partly clarified scientific results but also indicates the limitations and challenges which were faced and encountered in the forecasters of upwelling phenomena in the future.

Underground coal fires in coal fields endanger the mine surface ecological environment, endanger coal resources, threaten mine safety and workers’ health, and cause geological disasters. The study of methods by which to monitor the laws that determine the way underground coal fires spread is helpful in the safe production of coal and the smooth execution of fire extinguishing projects. Based on night-time ASTER thermal infrared images of 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007 in Huangbaici and Wuhushan mining areas in the Wuda coalfield, an adaptive-edge-threshold algorithm was used to extract time-series for underground coal fire areas. A method of time-series dynamic analysis for geometric centers of underground coal fire areas was proposed to study the propagation law and development trend of underground coal fires. The results indicate that, due to the effective prevention of the external influences of solar irradiance, topographic relief and land cover, the identification accuracy of coal fires via the use of a night-time ASTER thermal infrared image was higher by 7.70%, 13.19% and 14.51% than that of the daytime Landsat thermal infrared image in terms of producer accuracy, user accuracy and overall accuracy, respectively. The propagation direction of the geometric center of the time-series coal fire areas can be used to represent the propagation direction of underground coal fires. There exists a linear regression relationship between the migration distance of the geometric center of coal fire areas and the variable-area of coal fires in adjacent years, with the correlation coefficient reaching 0.705, which indicates that the migration distance of the geometric center of a coal fire area can be used to represent the intensity variation of underground coal fires. This method can be applied to the analysis of the trends of underground coal fires under both natural conditions and human intervention. The experimental results show that the Wuda underground coal fires spread to the southeast and that the area of the coal fires increased by 0.71 km2 during the period of 2002–2003. From 2003 to 2005, Wuda’s underground coal fires spread to the northwest under natural conditions, and the area of coal fires decreased by 0.30 km2 due to the closure of some small coal mines. From 2005 to 2007, due to increased mining activities, underground coal fires in Wuda spread to the east, south, west and north, and the area of coal fires increased dramatically by 1.76 km2.

Coastal wetlands in the Mekong Delta (MD), Vietnam, provide various vital ecosystem services for the region. These wetlands have experienced critical changes due to the increase in regional anthropogenic activities, global climate change, and the associated sea level rise (SLR). However, documented information and research on the dynamics and drivers of these important wetland areas remain limited for the region. The present study aims to determine the long-term dynamics of wetlands in the south-west coast of the MD using remote sensing approaches, and analyse the potential factors driving these dynamics. Wetland maps from the years 1995, 2002, 2013, and 2020 at a 15 m spatial resolution were derived from Landsat images with the aid of a hybrid classification approach. The accuracy of the wetland maps was relatively high, with overall accuracies ranging from 86–93%. The findings showed that the critical changes over the period 1995/2020 included the expansion of marine water into coastal lands, showing 129% shoreline erosion; a remarkable increase of 345% in aquaculture ponds; and a reduction of forested wetlands and rice fields/other crops by 32% and 73%, respectively. Although mangrove forests slightly increased for the period 2013/2020, the overall trend was also a reduction of 5%. Our findings show that the substantial increase in aquaculture ponds is at the expense of mangroves, forested wetlands, and rice fields/other crops, while shoreline erosion significantly affected coastal lands, especially mangrove forests. The interaction of a set of environmental and socioeconomic factors were responsible for the dynamics. In particular, SLR was identified as one of the main underlying drivers; however, the rapid changes were directly driven by policies on land-use for economic development in the region. The trends of wetland changes and SLR implicate their significant effects on environment, natural resources, food security, and likelihood of communities in the region sustaining for the long-term. These findings can assist in developing and planning appropriate management strategies and policies for wetland protection and conservation, and for sustainable development in the region.

Oceania is known for its extensive exclusive economic zones (EEZs), favorable location at the crossing of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as potentially large reserves of natural resources. Despite the fact that this region is more remote from an eventual area of military operations than Southeast Asia or the Indian Ocean Countries, it's facing a more and more attention from leading regional and extra-regional actors. The United States is no exception. For many decades, Washington strengthened its military, economic and socio-humanitarian positions in Micronesia, but at the beginning of the 21st century, the People's Republic of China (PRC) began to take an increasingly active part in Oceania's affairs, which later became the U.S.'s competitor for regional and global leadership. Initially, the United States expected that Australia would assume the status of China's main rival in Oceania and try to reduce the pace of his convergence with the Pacific Island Countries (PICs). But it later turned out that Canberra was not up to the task. Because of this, the U.S. has tried to institutionalize its presence in South Pacific, but faced with the consequences of the transformation of the regional architecture.

In this study, the main water body of remote sensing image was extracted with the maximum likelihood algorithm of ENVI software based on Qinzhou's remote sensing images 2008 and 2011. From the remote sensing images, it was found that the area of the water body was greatly reduced, and also the water body has been polluted differently. In this paper, the urgent environmental protections of Qinzhou's main rivers are analyzed in view of the reduced water body, and also some suggestions on water body conservation are proposed. Overview of Qinzhou Qinzhou is located between V20°52 and 22°41 N, and 107°27 and 109°56 S. The total area of Qinzhou is about 10842.73 square kilometers. It is in the corner of the South China Sea, and is the core base of the north gulf economic region. Thus, it takes an absolute advantage in logistics. The national patriotism education bases for elementary and middle schools in Qinzhou are the former homes of two national heroes (Yongfu LIU, and Zicai FENG). In Qinzhou, there is a coastline of more than 520 kilometers, and many excellently natural harbors such as Qinzhou Port, Longmen Port, Shajing Port, and Siluo Port are available here. Also, there are abundant product advantages. The climate is hot. Many rivers and water reservoirs are available. Soil and plants are flourishing greatly. Since the new century, Qinzhou government as well as the governments of all counties greatly invest Qinzhou, carry out urban and rural clean engineering, urban infrastructure project construction, and agricultural preferential policies, and establish multi-form and multi-dimensional economic and technical cooperation with foreign and domestic companies, in which business is easy to process and the procedures are simple to handle. In 2013, the high-speed rail has brought a new era to Qinzhou. Qinzhou's advantages in climate conditions, rain conditions, and water resources Qinzhou is located in the subtropical zone and features a transitional marine monsoon climate. The overall terrain forms are mountains, hills, terraces plains, and coastal mud flats from northwest to southeast. From east to north, the main mountain is LIUWAN Mountain. From west to north, the main mountain is SHIWAN Mountain. The annual average temperature is 22°C; the absolute maximum temperature was 37.5°C (July 28, 1968), and the absolute lowest temperature was-1.8°C (January 12, 1955). The average annual rainfall is about 1600mm; the average sunshine period is about 1800 hours, and the frost-free period is more than 350 days. The solar radiation amount is 104.6~108.8 kilocalorie/cm2; the annual sunshine duration is 1633.6~1801.4 hours; the annual average temperature is 21.4°C~22°C; the annual total accumulated temperature is 7800°C~ 8200°C. The average frost-free period of previous years was 329~354 days. The water resources advantages of Qinzhou include humid temperature, abundant rain, and annual rainfall of 1600mm~1900mm. Major rivers include Qinjiang, Maolingjiang, Nanliujiang, and Dafengjiang, and the annual runoff is 11.728 billion cubic meters. The gross storage capacity of small, middle, and large reservoirs has reached 805 million cubic meters. Qinzhou's remote sensing image and the river remote sensing images of recent years The water yield of the main rivers in Qinzhou is abundant and falls greatly, so the hydropower resource is rich. The rivers in Qinzhou are small and medium-sized, own a large quantity of flow, and flow into the sea, but do not form drainage.

Biomass burnings either due to Hazards Reduction Burnings (HRBs) in late autumn and early winter or bushfires during summer periods in various part of the world (e.g., CA, USA or New South Wales, Australia) emit large amount of gaseous pollutants and aerosols. The emissions, under favourable meteorological conditions, can cause elevated atmospheric particulate concentrations in metropolitan areas and beyond. One of the pollutants of concern is black carbon (BC), which is a component of aerosol particles. BC is harmful to health and acts as a radiative forcing agent in increasing the global warming due to its light absorption properties. Remote sensing data from satellites have becoming increasingly available for research, and these provide rich datasets available on global and local scale as well as in situ aethalometer measurements allow researchers to study the emission and dispersion pattern of BC from anthropogenic and natural sources. The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) in New South Wales (NSW) has installed recently from 2014 to 2019 a total of nine aethalometers to measure BC in its state-wide air quality network to determine the source contribution of BC and PM2.5 (particulate Matter less than 2.5 μm in diameter) in ambient air from biomass burning and anthropogenic combustion sources. This study analysed the characteristics of spatial and temporal patterns of black carbon (BC) in New South Wales and in the Greater Metropolitan Region (GMR) of Sydney, Australia, by using these data sources as well as the trajectory HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) modelling tool to determine the source of high BC concentration detected at these sites. The emission characteristics of BC in relation to PM2.5 is dependent on the emission source and is analysed using regression analysis of BC with PM2.5 time series at the receptor site for winter and summer periods. The results show that, during the winter, correlation between BC and PM2.5 is found at nearly all sites while little or no correlation is detected during the summer period. Traffic vehicle emission is the main BC emission source identified in the urban areas but was less so in the regional sites where biomass burnings/wood heating is the dominant source in winter. The BC diurnal patterns at all sites were strongly influenced by meteorology.

Changes in the territorial pattern of the Beibu Gulf, an environmentally sensitive and ecologically fragile area in China, will directly or indirectly affect the regional ecological environment, while profoundly influencing economic development and human well-being. Therefore, it is significant to understand the ecological response in the process of territorial space changes in the Beibu Gulf to promote the coordination between sea and land and sustainable regional development. This paper used remote sensing image interpretation to generate land-use maps in 2000, 2010 and 2020, and then analyzed the spatial and temporal evolution of the territorial pattern of the Beibu Gulf from 2000 to 2020. Finally, this paper proposed a comprehensive carrying capacity evaluation system and explored the spatial functional zones of the coastal areas of the Beibu Gulf. The results showed that the demand for urban development and ecological protection between 2000 and 2020 increased built-up land and forestland by 386.71% and 25.56%, respectively, and reduced farmland by 28.33%. There was significant spatial heterogeneity in various land-use types. Where forestland is mainly distributed in the west, farmland is mainly distributed in the east, wetland is mainly distributed in the south, and orchards are spread throughout the whole area. The evaluation results of land resources, water resources and ecological conditions in the Beibu Gulf area showed that its comprehensive carrying capacity was high in the south and low in the north, and high in the west and low in the east. On this basis, this paper considered the actual situation of natural resources, ecological conditions, socio-economic development, protection and development in coastal areas; divided the study area into four categories: developed areas, priority development areas, ecological reserve areas and coastal reserve areas; and put forward corresponding control suggestions. The results of this paper could provide a scientific basis for regional development and territorial spatial planning in the coastal areas.

Climate change induced sea-level rise (SLR) is on its increase globally. Regionally the lowlands of China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and islands of the Malaysian, Indonesian and Philippine archipelagos are among the world’s most threatened regions. Sea-level rise has major impacts on the ecosystems and society. It threatens coastal populations, economic activities, and fragile ecosystems as mangroves, coastal salt-marches and wetlands. This paper provides a summary of the current state of knowledge of sea level-rise and its effects on both human and natural ecosystems. The focus is on coastal urban areas and low lying deltas in South-East Asia and Vietnam, as one of the most threatened areas in the world. About 3 mm per year reflects the growing consensus on the average SLR worldwide. The trend speeds up during recent decades. The figures are subject to local, temporal and methodological variation. In Vietnam the average values of 3.3 mm per year during the 1993-2014 period are above the worldwide average. Although a basic conceptual understanding exists that the increasing global frequency of the strongest tropical cyclones is related with the increasing temperature and SLR, this relationship is insufficiently understood. Moreover the precise, complex environmental, economic, social, and health impacts are currently unclear. SLR, storms and changing precipitation patterns increase flood risks, in particular in urban areas. Part of the current scientific debate is on how urban agglomeration can be made more resilient to flood risks. Where originally mainly technical interventions dominated this discussion, it becomes increasingly clear that proactive special planning, flood defense, flood risk mitigation, flood preparation, and flood recovery are important, but costly instruments. Next to the main focus on SLR and its effects on resilience, the paper reviews main SLR associated impacts: Floods and inundation, salinization, shoreline change, and effects on mangroves and wetlands. The hazards of SLR related floods increase fastest in urban areas. This is related with both the increasing surface major cities are expected to occupy during the decades to come and the increasing coastal population. In particular Asia and its megacities in the southern part of the continent are increasingly at risk. The discussion points to complexity, inter-disciplinarity, and the related uncertainty, as core characteristics. An integrated combination of mitigation, adaptation and resilience measures is currently considered as the most indicated way to resist SLR today and in the near future.References Aerts J.C.J.H., Hassan A., Savenije H.H.G., Khan M.F., 2000. Using GIS tools and rapid assessment techniques for determining salt intrusion: Stream a river basin management instrument. 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In this study, the varying trends of dust storm frequency in a typical oasis located at the South edge of Taklimakan desert, China were analyzed by using time series analysis and regression models. The LUCC (land use/cover change) data, NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) remote sensing data, meteorological data and dust storm frequency data for the period of 2004-2018 were collected from local station and ERDAS (Earth Resources Data Analysis System) software, the multivariate relationships between human activities, natural factor and dust storm frequencies were analyzed by using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Results indicated that the annual dust storm frequency in the study period increased with fluctuation. The monthly dust storm frequency shows higher values between the months of March and June, which accounts for 72.3% of the annual dust storm frequency. Precipitation and wind speed are two meteorological factors which can impact the dust storm formation and its frequency. The correlation between dust storm frequency and temperature was insignificant. Moreover, human activities indirectly affected the dynamics of dust storms by changing the vegetation cover and direct dust emissions. Furthermore, multivariate analysis highlighted a clear relationship among dust storm frequency, meteorological factors and NDVI. The high loadings of dust storm frequency, precipitation, wind speed and NDVI on a PC indicated that increase in precipitation and NDVI will decline dust storm frequency, whereas higher wind speed will enhance dust storm frequency. The findings of this study could be useful to understand the possible causes of dust storms, which can provide the basis for controlling the dust storm source region and also mitigation of the negative effects dust storm on the environment.

The sustainable management of natural heritage is presently considered a global strategic issue. Owing to the ever-growing availability of free data and software, remote sensing (RS) techniques have been primarily used to map, analyse, and monitor natural resources for conservation purposes. The need to adopt multi-scale and multi-temporal approaches to detect different phenological aspects of different vegetation types and species has also emerged. The time-series composite image approach allows for capturing much of the spectral variability, but presents some criticalities (e.g., time-consuming research, downloading data, and the required storage space). To overcome these issues, the Google Earth engine (GEE) has been proposed, a free cloud-based computational platform that allows users to access and process remotely sensed data at petabyte scales. The application was tested in a natural protected area in Calabria (South Italy), which is particularly representative of the Mediterranean mountain forest environment. In the research, random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and classification and regression tree (CART) algorithms were used to perform supervised pixel-based classification based on the use of Sentinel-2 images. A process to select the best input image (seasonal composition strategies, statistical operators, band composition, and derived vegetation indices (VIs) information) for classification was implemented. A set of accuracy indicators, including overall accuracy (OA) and multi-class F-score (Fm), were computed to assess the results of the different classifications. GEE proved to be a reliable and powerful tool for the classification process. The best results (OA = 0.88 and Fm = 0.88) were achieved using RF with the summer image composite, adding three VIs (NDVI, EVI, and NBR) to the Sentinel-2 bands. SVM and RF produced OAs of 0.83 and 0.80, respectively.

The Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is a particularly valuable natural object in the south of Russia, located on the territory of three constituent entities of our country. There are three regional and one federal protected areas. Trends in the agricultural use of floodplain lands are aimed at increasing acreage and intensifying agriculture. Under these conditions, the risks of various pollution of soil and water resources increase. Land use control, as well as sown areas, is impossible without knowledge of the current state and location of cultivated irrigated lands. The modern policy of the state is aimed at involving unused agricultural land, one of the stages of which is updating information. The paper presents the results of the development of a local geoinformation system for irrigated lands of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain within the Volgograd region. The purpose of the work is to create and maintain the functioning of a local geoinformation system of irrigated fields, natural and anthropogenic objects that form the general attractiveness of sites in terms of resuming economic activity, in the context of rural settlements located within the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain on the territory of the Volgograd areas. The author has developed thematic geoinformation layers in three blocks: natural, economic and analytical. The main materials for compiling the thematic layers were Earth remote sensing data of high and ultra-high spatial resolution. Substantiated are various methods for the formation of geoinformation layers, as well as the problems of identifying irrigated lands by automated methods and the prospects for automating the process of determining the use of irrigated lands. The general structure of a local GIS consists of more than 20 layers and 50 attribute datasets. A local geoinformation system can be presented as a web GIS and used in landscape and environmental studies, as well as to optimize measures to involve agricultural land.

Spectral indices derived from optical remote sensing data have been widely used for fire-severity classification in forests from local to global scales. However, comparative analyses of multiple indices across diverse forest types are few. This represents an information gap for fire management agencies in areas like temperate south-eastern Australia, which is characterised by a diversity of natural forests that vary in structure, and in the fire-regeneration strategies of the dominant trees. We evaluate 10 spectral indices across eight areas burnt by wildfires in 1998, 2006, 2007, and 2009 in south-eastern Australia. These wildfire areas encompass 13 forest types, which represent 86% of the 7.9M ha region’s forest area. Forest types were aggregated into six forest groups based on their fire-regeneration strategies (seeders, resprouters) and structure (tree height and canopy cover). Index performance was evaluated for each forest type and forest group by examining its sensitivity to four fire-severity classes (unburnt, low, moderate, high) using three independent methods (anova, separability, and optimality). For the best-performing indices, we calculated index-specific thresholds (by forest types and groups) to separate between the four severity classes, and evaluated the accuracy of fire-severity classification on independent samples. Our results indicated that the best-performing indices of fire severity varied with forest type and group. Overall accuracy for the best-performing indices ranged from 0.50 to 0.78, and kappa values ranged from 0.33 (fair agreement) to 0.77 (substantial agreement), depending on the forest group and index. Fire severity in resprouter open forests and woodlands was most accurately mapped using the delta Normalised Burnt ratio (dNBR). In contrast, dNDVI (delta Normalised difference vegetation index) performed best for open forests with mixed fire responses (resprouters and seeders), and dNDWI (delta Normalised difference water index) was the most accurate for obligate seeder closed forests. Our analysis highlighted the low sensitivity of all indices to fire impacts in Rainforest. We conclude that the optimal spectral index for quantifying fire severity varies with forest type, but that there is scope to group forests by structure and fire-regeneration strategy to simplify fire-severity classification in heterogeneous forest landscapes.

Background Rural and remote residents are more likely to smoke than those who live in major cities; however, recruitment of research participants from rural and remote areas can be challenging. The cost per participant recruited from rural and remote areas via online (eg, social media) and traditional strategies (eg, print) has implications for researchers on how to allocate resources to maximize the number of participants recruited. Participant characteristics such as demographics, financial stress, mental health, and smoking-related factors may be associated with recruitment method (ie, online vs traditional), and so it is important to understand whether certain subgroups are more likely to be recruited via a particular strategy. Objective This study aimed to determine the cost per participant recruited and examine whether characteristics such as demographics, financial stress, mental health, and smoking-related factors may be associated with the recruitment method (ie, online vs traditional). Methods Participants were recruited into a randomized trial that provided smoking cessation support. Eligible participants were aged 18 years or older; used tobacco daily; had access to video communication software, internet, and telephone; had an email address; and lived in a rural or remote area of New South Wales, Australia. This study describes the natural (observed) experience of recruiting participants via online and traditional methods into a smoking cessation trial. Results Over 17 months, 655 participants were recruited into the smoking cessation trial. A total of 88.7% (581/655) of the participants were recruited via online methods. Moreover, 1.8% (12/655) of the participants were recruited from remote locations and none from very remote areas. The cost per participant recruited by the various online strategies ranged from Aus $7.29 (US $4.96, £4.09, and €4.43) for Gumtree, a local online classified website, to Aus $128.67 (US $87.63, £72.20, and €78.28) for email. The cost per participant recruited using traditional strategies ranged from Aus $0 (US $0, £0, and €0) for word of mouth to Aus $3990.84 (US $2757.67, £2227.85, and €2477.11) for telephone. Women had greater odds of being recruited via online methods than men (odds ratio 2.50, 95% CI 1.42-4.40). No other characteristics were associated with the recruitment method. Conclusions The cost per participant recruited via online and traditional strategies varied, with the range being smaller for online than traditional recruitment strategies. Women have greater odds of being recruited via online strategies into rural smoking cessation trials. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12617000514303; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=372584&isReview=true

The economic and social development evaluation system with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the leading indicator is no longer applicable to the current social progress in China. It is essential to carry out an assessment of the Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) to integrate ecological benefits into the economic and social evaluation system and promote sustainable socio-economic development. This study took Guangxi, an important province in South China, as the study area. We used four periods of land use and land cover data (LULC), meteorological data, soil data and yearbook statistics to construct a GEP assessment framework based on geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technologies. We accounted for the provisioning services, regulating services, and tourism services provided by Guangxi in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 and analyzed the region’s and municipalities’ spatial–temporal pattern characteristics and trends of change in GEP. In addition, this study also discusses the relationship between GEP and GDP. The results showed that many important products and services provided by natural ecosystems in Guangxi had enormous economic benefits. GEP had increased from CNY 15,657.37 billion in 2005 to CNY 36,677.04 billion in 2020, and the distribution of GEP showed obvious spatial heterogeneity. The value of ecosystem regulation services was about 65–89% of GEP, which is the main component of GEP. From 2005 to 2020, natural ecosystem protection and socio-economic development have achieved coordinated development in Guangxi. GEP and GDP showed upward trends in general. Although Guangxi is relatively backward in terms of economic development, the scientific quantification of the unrealized value of the services provided by the ecosystem through GEP accounting makes it possible to transform ecological advantages into economic advantages. It could help the local government and people to re-recognize the value of ecological resources and realize the beautiful vision of lucid waters and lush mountains as invaluable assets.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for remote sensing of natural environments has increased over the last decade. However, applications of this technology for high-throughput individual tree phenotyping in a quantitative genetic framework are rare. We here demonstrate a two-phased analytical pipeline that rapidly phenotypes and filters for genetic signals in traditional and novel tree productivity and architectural traits derived from ultra-dense light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point clouds. The goal of this study was rapidly phenotype individual trees to understand the genetic basis of ecologically and economically significant traits important for guiding the management of natural resources. Individual tree point clouds were acquired using UAV-LiDAR captured over a multi-provenance common-garden restoration field trial located in Tasmania, Australia, established using two eucalypt species (Eucalyptus pauciflora and Eucalyptus tenuiramis). Twenty-five tree productivity and architectural traits were calculated for each individual tree point cloud. The first phase of the analytical pipeline found significant species differences in 13 of the 25 derived traits, revealing key structural differences in productivity and crown architecture between species. The second phase investigated the within species variation in the same 25 structural traits. Significant provenance variation was detected for 20 structural traits in E. pauciflora and 10 in E. tenuiramis, with signals of divergent selection found for 11 and 7 traits, respectively, putatively driven by the home-site environment shaping the observed variation. Our results highlight the genetic-based diversity within and between species for traits important for forest structure, such as crown density and structural complexity. As species and provenances are being increasingly translocated across the landscape to mitigate the effects of rapid climate change, our results that were achieved through rapid phenotyping using UAV-LiDAR, raise the need to understand the functional value of productivity and architectural traits reflecting species and provenance differences in crown structure and the interplay they have on the dependent biotic communities.