Averaged electrical parameters of forest vegetation and the height of forest cover

A device and a method for measuring the electrical parameters (resistivity ρ and permittivity ?) of forest vegetation are described. The measuring method and the data processing technique are detailed for a forest area the resistivity and permittivity of which measured in the ranges of long and very long waves are ρ = 37 ± 12 kΩ m and ? = 1.6 · 0.3, respectively. It is found that coordinate measurements in forest vegetation with a single-frequency GPS receiver always involve a one-sided systematic drift, since the permittivity is other than unity. This circumstance makes it possible to develop a way of determining the average height of forest cover. For example, the average height of trees is roughly equal to 21 m in the given forest area.     

Orthogonal acoustical factors of a sound field in a bamboo forest.

To investigate the acoustical quality of a sound field in a bamboo forest, acoustical measurements were conducted to obtain orthogonal acoustical factors of the sound field. These results are compared with previous results for a sound field in an ordinary forest [H. Sakai, S. Sato, and Y. Ando, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 104, 1491-1497 (1998)]. The IACC, which is defined as a maximum value of the normalized interaural cross-correlation function between signals at the ears, was 0.07 (4 kHz) and 0.16 (2 kHz) at positions 20 and 40 m from the source, respectively. These values are much better than those in the previously investigated forest. The measured subsequent reverberation time Tsub was up to 1.5 s in the frequency range above 1 kHz at the position 40 m from the source. For certain music sources with higher frequency components, therefore, sound fields in a bamboo forest have excellent acoustic properties.     

A radar backscatter model for forest stands

A Monte Carlo method for calculating the radar backscatter cross-sections from a forest stand is presented in this study. The model for the forest stand consists of two layers: the top layer contains a mixture of randomly orientated dielectric circular disks or small needles representing the leaves of the deciduous trees or coniferous trees respectively, as well as cylindrical-shaped scatterers, representing the branches of the foliage, while the bottom layer consists of randomly distributed vertical cylinders modelling the tree trunks. The phase matrices of the disks and needles are formulated using the generalized Rayleigh-Gans approximation whereas those of the branches and tree trunks are obtained from the infinite-cylinder approximation. The ground is modelled as a Kirchhoff rough surface based on the stationary-phase approximation. The relative contributions from the tree trunks, branches and trunks, leaves and trunks, and the entire forest stand are studied separately. It is found that leaves seem to dominate at higher frequencies while branches at lower frequencies. Effects of various physical and geometrical parameters such as dielectric constants, volume fractions, sizes and orientation distributions of the scatterers in a forested canopy are also studied. Finally, the results from the model are compared with the measured angular distributions of the radar backscattering cross-sections from some field measurements reported in the literature.     

Classification of Forest Areas by Spectrozonal Images Obtained from Onboard a Helicopter

A technique of surveying forest territories from on board the VSC-2 helicopter using a videospectral complex for forest monitoring is described. The results of processing the obtained spectrozonal images with separation of the areas occupied by different species and withering spruce trees are presented.     

基于移动激光扫描的橡胶林风害相关参数精准反演

林木参数反演是森林资源管理与培育经营的关键环节。迅速发展的激光探测与测量技术突破了传统测量方法,可以快速的获取林木的空间三维信息,在林业普查中具备高效率、高精度的优势。结合计算机图形学与图像学方法,以中国最大的橡胶生产基地海南省儋州市长期受台风侵害下的两个不同品种橡胶林段(林段1 PR107,林段2 CATAS7-20-59)为研究对象,设计了面向离散激光点云的单株林木参数提取方法,自动获取橡胶林木风害后的生物量指标。首先,通过人背负移动激光雷达获取林段点云数据并使用瑞利商求取台风造成的主枝干倾角,以找寻每株橡胶树的树冠中心点。其次,对点云进行垂直投影,并采用分水岭与Meanshift算法实现株株分离。最后,基于以上操作自动获取与实测值相近的林木参数,例如冠幅、冠径、冠积、叶面积密度、叶面积分布以及主枝与分枝之间夹角等。计算表明,林段1与林段2东西冠幅分别为3.95和3.73 m,与实测相差1.74%～6.27%;林段1与林段2南北向冠幅分别为6.47和6.51 m,与实测相差2.54%～4.02%;林段1与林段2平均胸径分别为5.20和4.73 cm,与实测相差0.64%～2.44%;林段1与林段2平均冠积分别为168.01和141.80 m3,与实测相差0.67%～0.85%;林段1与林段2主枝干倾斜角分别为18.80°和13.11°,与实测相差5.53%～7.09%;林段1与林段2二级分支与主枝干的夹角分别为40.21°~69.23°和10.63°~32.14°,它们相差62.63%;林段1在不同天顶角下的叶面积指数均大于林段2。通过对一定样本（150棵/每类林段）的分析结果与真实比对表明,该方法对林木参数反演结果精度较高,有效地评估了不同品种橡胶树在台风下的损伤度（如主枝干歪斜率、叶面积密度及衰减分布）。参数反演结果与实测值仅有8%的偏差,此偏差主要由橡胶林分叶片稠密,导致林分中叶面与枝干扫描数据获取缺失,以及外界环境干扰如风力扰动、点云拼接误差、激光束发散率、激光扫描范围等原因造成。同时,由于林段1(PR107)的橡胶树的主枝与分枝夹角、冠积以及叶面积指数均大于林段2(CATAS7-20-59)的橡胶树,导致林段1的橡胶树比林段的2橡胶树在台风侵害下更脆弱。因此,该研究可用于研究风力侵害对于不同森林地块的影响,以及量化风害造成的生态系统紊乱的影响。同时,该方法解决了人背负激光扫描数据进行单株提取与林木参数反演的问题,为激光测绘在林业中的应用提供了新思路。     

Reduction of false alarms in forest fire surveillance using water vapour concentration measurements

In this work a theoretical model to evaluate the capabilities of our lidar system in forest fire detection is reported. In particular, a new idea of minimization of false alarm is shown. In a forest fire, in fact, a lot of ashes and in the first stage a large amount of water vapour are emitted. Measurements of water vapour increase with respect to standard humidity in the atmosphere due to a forest fire event, by means of Raman analysis, permit to minimize the false alarm. A simulation of one case of study permits to estimate the maximum range of detection and minimum sensibility of our lidar system. In this paper the theoretical results are shown.     

Twin-transformed lattice defects in γ-TiAl

We study the transformation of lattice defects in γ-TiAl upon intersection by deformation twins. A faulted dipole is chopped forming a dislocation loop faulted on the cube plane of the twin; faulted dipoles and twin loops may shrink at different rates. Dislocations with 1/2<110] and <011] Burgers vectors gliding on octahedral planes are transformed into configurations with low mobility on {010} plane. Elementary mechanisms involved in the transformation are considered and a pole mechanism for twin growth at forest dislocations is proposed.     

Habitat-dependent ambient noise: consistent spectral profiles in two African forest types

Many animal species use acoustic signals to attract mates, to defend territories, or to convey information that may contribute to their fitness in other ways. However, the natural environment is usually filled with competing sounds. Therefore, if ambient noise conditions are relatively constant, acoustic interference can drive evolutionary changes in animal signals. Furthermore, masking noise may cause acoustic divergence between populations of the same species if noise conditions differ consistently among habitats. In this study, ambient noise was sampled in a replicate set of sites in two habitat types in Cameroon: contiguous rainforest and ecotone forest patches north of the rainforest. The noise characteristics of the two forest types show significant and consistent differences. Multiple samples taken at two rainforest sites in different seasons vary little and remain distinct from those in ecotone forest. The rainforest recordings show many distinctive frequency bands, with a general increase in amplitude from low to high frequencies. Ecotone forest only shows a distinctive high-frequency band at some parts of the day. Habitat-dependent abiotic and biotic sound sources and to some extent habitat-dependent sound transmission are the likely causes of these habitat-dependent noise spectra.     

A three-dimensional radiative transfer model to interpret ranging scatterometer measurements from a pine forest

This paper addresses the propagation of microwaves in forested media. It interprets the vertical distribution of backscatter acquired by a ranging scatterometer in a pine forest at X band (9.5 GHz) and vertical incidence by means of modelling. A plane parallel radiative transfer model for the forest canopy exhibits a large discrepancy between the measured and estimated distribution. This is attributed to failure to represent the horizontal heterogeneity in the forest. Taking into account the height variability of the trees significantly improves the estimated distribution at the top of the canopy but the backscatter from the lower layers and the ground is still underestimated. To deal with this, a fully three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer model is developed. By modelling precisely the propagation of the wave through the medium, the 3D approach allows accurate estimation of the ground backscatter and slightly improves the estimated backscatter from the lower layers. It is demonstrated that 3D modelling is required to estimate accurately the vertical distribution of backscatter, total backscatter and the height of the centre of backscatter in the experimental data. These results have implications for the interpretation of more general measurements scenarios, especially as regards forest height measurement by radar interferometry.     

Microwave radiometry of forests

Microwave remote sensing observations provide all weather, day/night monitoring of the earth's surface and make it possible to probe forest vegetation at various depths by operating at different frequencies. Significant progress in microwave radiometry of land surfaces has been made by using advanced airborne and spaceborne instruments and by developing physical and statistical models needed for interpreting the data. At present, a new multi-frequency scanning radiometer, launched in 2002 is providing global observations of the earth's surface at a relatively high resolution, and collected data are currently under study. This paper provides a review of experimental and theoretical investigations carried out in recent years to study the relationships between microwave emission and forest features at regional and global scale. It is shown that, despite the relatively small amount of experimental data currently available, microwave radiometry has proved to be an efficient technique in monitoring forest environments, and in particular in separating forest types, estimating woody biomass and, in some cases, assessing soil surface properties.     

A three-dimensional radiative transfer model to interpret ranging scatterometer measurements from a pine forest

Abstract

This paper addresses the propagation of microwaves in forested media. It interprets the vertical distribution of backscatter acquired by a ranging scatterometer in a pine forest at X band (9.5 GHz) and vertical incidence by means of modelling. A plane parallel radiative transfer model for the forest canopy exhibits a large discrepancy between the measured and estimated distribution. This is attributed to failure to represent the horizontal heterogeneity in the forest. Taking into account the height variability of the trees significantly improves the estimated distribution at the top of the canopy but the backscatter from the lower layers and the ground is still underestimated. To deal with this, a fully three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer model is developed. By modelling precisely the propagation of the wave through the medium, the 3D approach allows accurate estimation of the ground backscatter and slightly improves the estimated backscatter from the lower layers. It is demonstrated that 3D modelling is required to estimate accurately the vertical distribution of backscatter, total backscatter and the height of the centre of backscatter in the experimental data. These results have implications for the interpretation of more general measurements scenarios, especially as regards forest height measurement by radar interferometry.     

“Heat trap”: Light-induced localized heating and thermionic electron emission from carbon nanotube arrays

Light-induced heating of a typical bulk conductor to thermionic electron emission temperatures usually requires high-power lasers. This is because of the efficient dissipation of heat generated at the illuminated spot to the surroundings, since electrical conductors are normally also good thermal conductors. We show that the situation can be drastically different in a carbon nanotube forest and a spot on the surface of the forest can be heated to above 2000 K using a low-power beam of visible light, leading to localized thermionic electron emission. This unique phenomenon may be explained by a rapid drop in thermal conductivity with increase in temperature, leading to a positive feedback that thermally isolates an island on the forest. Applications include thermoelectrics, photocathodes, optical switches, solar cells and even solar displays.     

Microwave radiometry of forests

Abstract

Microwave remote sensing observations provide all weather, day/night monitoring of the earth's surface and make it possible to probe forest vegetation at various depths by operating at different frequencies. Significant progress in microwave radiometry of land surfaces has been made by using advanced airborne and spaceborne instruments and by developing physical and statistical models needed for interpreting the data. At present, a new multi-frequency scanning radiometer, launched in 2002 is providing global observations of the earth's surface at a relatively high resolution, and collected data are currently under study. This paper provides a review of experimental and theoretical investigations carried out in recent years to study the relationships between microwave emission and forest features at regional and global scale. It is shown that, despite the relatively small amount of experimental data currently available, microwave radiometry has proved to be an efficient technique in monitoring forest environments, and in particular in separating forest types, estimating woody biomass and, in some cases, assessing soil surface properties.     

结合纹理因子和地形因子的森林蓄积量多光谱估测模型

森林蓄积量是林分调查中重要因子,是评价森林数量和质量的重要指标。传统森林蓄积量实测方法耗时费力、效率低下,多元线性回归遥感反演方法精度较低,难以达到精准林业要求。机器学习是一种利用训练数据,进行自我改进、自动提升性能的方法,可以任意逼近非线性系统,提高模型预测精度。以鹫峰林场森林为研究对象, 综合考虑影像光谱因子、纹理因子、地形因子,采用机器学习中的BP神经网络、最小二乘支持向量机、随机森林方法构建了森林蓄积量多光谱估测模型BP-FSV,LSSVM-FSV和RF-FSV,并在Matlab2014a中编程实现。旨在从建模因子选择和模型方法建立两个方面,优化建模因子特征提取,提高森林蓄积量模型预测精度。以角规观测样地实测数据、森林小班二类调查数据、林相图数据为基础,使用以上三种模型结合Landsat8 OLI多光谱数据分林型进行了森林蓄积量反演建模预测。以决定系数R2和均方根误差RMSE为指标,分析了三种反演模型的训练能力和预测能力。研究结果表明：利用3种机器学习方法构建的结合光谱因子、地形因子、纹理因子反演模型能够提高森林蓄积量的预测精度。以上模型中,RF-FSV模型在针、阔、混三种林型中都表现出较强的预测能力,高于BP-FSV模型,高于或接近于LSSVM-FSV模型。RF-FSV模型在训练阶段,R2和RMSE针叶林中为0.839和13.953 3,阔叶林中为0.924和7.634 1,混交林中为0.902和12.153 9,预测阶段R2和RMSE在针叶林中为0.816和15.630 1,阔叶林中为0.913和4.890 2,混交林中为0.865和9.344 1。RF-FSV模型建模精度和预测精度较高,为森林蓄积量遥感反演估测提供了一种新的方法。     

Absorption and Transmission Power Coefficients for Millimeter Waves in a Weakly Ionised Vegetation Fire

A vegetation fire plume is a weakly ionised gaseous medium. Electrons in the plume are mainly due to thermal ionisation of incumbent alkali impurities. The medium is highly collisional with free electron - neutral particle been the dominant particle interaction mechanism. Signal strength of an incident millimetre wave (MM-Wave) may be significantly attenuated in the plume depending on the extent of ionisation. A numerical experiment was set to investigate signal power loss of a MM-Wave incident on a simulated weakly ionised fire plume with flame maximum (seat) temperature ranging from 1000–1150 K. The simulated fire plume had alkali impurities (potassium) content of 1.0% per unit volume. MM-Wave frequency range investigated in the experiment is from 30–60 GHz. The simulation has application in the prediction of MM-Wave propagation in a crown forest fire and may also be applied in remote sensing studies of forest fire environments. Simulated attenuation per unit path length for the MM-Wave frequencies ranged from 0.06–24.00 dBm⁻¹. Phase change per unit path length was simulated to range from 2.97–306.17°m⁻¹ while transmission power coefficients ranged from maximum of 0.9996 for a fire plume at 1000 K to a minimum value of 0.8265 for a plume at a temperature of 1150 K over a plume depth of 1.20 m. Absorption power coefficient ranged from a minimum value of 0.0004 to maximum value of 0.1585 at a seat temperature of 1150 K over the plume depth.     

基于机器学习的开孔加载金属腔电磁屏蔽效能评估

利用全波分析方法计算了不同电路板加载、不同孔缝和尺寸的开孔金属腔在0!5GHz范围内的屏蔽效能(SE), 获得共计5250个样本。进而利用机器学习中的随机森林回归算法, 对其中4200个样本数据进行训练, 获得了可以根据开孔腔物理尺寸、加载物材料及电磁特性和位置、频率等共计16个输入参数快速评估开孔加载金属腔屏蔽效能的机器学习模型。利用其余的1050个样本进行模型验证, 结果表明该模型可以快速准确地计算加载腔的电磁屏蔽效能。该模型具有随时根据样本量增加不断训练提高其普适性的特点, 可为实际工程中加载开孔腔的屏蔽设计及SE评估提供高效途径。     

Simulation of the destruction of a woodland massif by the shock wave generated by the impact of a large cosmic body

The interaction of shock waves with woodland massifs with consideration given to vegetation destruction is examined. The results of numerical simulations of the propagation of a perturbation through a vegetation massif based on solving the Euler equations for two-dimensional and axisymmetric cases are presented. This approach was used by the present author in simulating the propagation of wave fronts through woodland massifs without regard for forest stand destruction. The effect of vegetation is reproduced by introducing bulk forces in the volume occupied by forest. An initial perturbation of explosion-in-flight type was specified in the form of an increased-pressure region located at various heights from the ground surface. Simple threshold models are used to examine the effect of the dynamic pressure on vegetation destruction. A refined model was developed to investigate the change in the configuration of woodland massifs with consideration given to vegetation fall and the effect of this process on the rate of perturbation dissipation. The system of equations was solved by the Godunov method implemented using parallel programming. Numerical experiments were conducted with the use of two types of models of forest stand destruction, with various threshold values of the destruction factor, various initial perturbation intensities, and various heights above the vegetation massif. The effects arising during the interaction of a high-intensity perturbation with a woodland massif were identified. An analysis of the results showed that the destruction of vegetation occurs during its interaction with the fronts of the incident and reflected shock wave and with the jet core of the perturbation. In some cases, the model taking into account the accumulation of fallen vegetation predicts situations where destruction will occur only in the upper part of the forest stand, without touching the canopy. This effect can explain the existence of such regions in the area of the Tunguska event. It was also demonstrated that estimates of the sizes of the destruction zones obtained with the use of the models taking into account the influence of vegetation on the perturbation and destructibility differ substantially from those obtained within the framework of the models without regard for vegetation resistance. The highest range of perturbation dissipation was predicted by the models simulating the formation of obstructions.     

Soil respiration rates and δ13C(CO2) in natural beech forest (Fagus sylvatica L.) in relation to stand structure

Soil respiration rates were studied as a function of soil type, texture and light intensity at five selected natural beech forest stands with contrasting geology: stands on silicate bedrock at Kladje and Bricka in Pohorje, a stand on quartz sandstone at Vrhovo and two stands on a carbonate bedrock in the Karstic-Dinaric area in Kocevski Rog, Snezna jama and Rajhenav, Slovenia, during the growing season in 2005-2006. Soil respiration exhibited pronounced seasonal and spatial variations in the studied forest ecosystem plots. The CO(2) flux rates ranged from minimum averages of 2.3?μmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1) (winter) to maximum averages of about 7?μmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1) (summer) at all the investigated locations. An empirical model describing the relationship between soil respiration and soil temperature predicted seasonal variations in soil respiration reasonably well during 2006. Nevertheless, there were also some indications that soil moisture in relation to soil texture could influence the soil CO(2) efflux rates in both sampling seasons. It was shown that spatial variability of mean soil respiration at the investigated sites was high and strongly related to root biomass. Based on the [image omitted] data, it was shown that new photoassimilates could account for a major part of the total soil respiration under canopy conditions in forest ecosystems where no carbonate rocks are present, indicating that microbial respiration could not always dominate bulk soil CO(2) fluxes. At Snezna jama and Rajhenav, the abiotic CO(2) derived from carbonate dissolution had a pronounced influence on CO(2) efflux accounting, on average, to ～17%. Further spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration was clearly affected by management practice. Higher respiration rates as well as higher variability in respiration rates were observed in the virgin forest (Rajhenav) than in the management forest (Snezna jama) and could be related to a higher amount of detritus and consequently to less pronounced influence of inorganic pool to CO(2) efflux, lower mixing with atmospheric CO(2) and higher sensitivity to environmental changes. Major differences in soil carbon dynamics among these five forest ecosystems can be explained by the influence of bedrock geology (particularly, the presence or absence of carbonate minerals) and soil texture (affecting gas exchange with overlying air and soil moisture).     

Canopy gradients in delta(18)O of organic matter as ecophysiological tool

We determined vertical oxygen isotope gradients of leaf organic matter for a grassland in Switzerland and a mountain beech forest (Fagus sylvatica) in Northern Italy. A distinctly positive (18)O/(16)O gradient with height above ground was found for the grassland (7.9/1000 m(-1), p < 0.001), whereas the gradient was negative for the forest (-0.077/1000 m(-1), p < 0.001). The results are consistent with microclimatic measurements, although large isotope variations between the species have to be taken into account for the grassland. A conceptual scheme is shown which relates the isotope enrichment to the canopy density, considering the effects of transpiration and canopy structure. We conclude that the analysis of the within canopy variation in delta(18)O of organic matter can be used to provide long-term estimates of leaf water isotope composition, thus improving existing isotope methods to determine the gas-exchange between vegetation and atmosphere.     

Influence of scattering, atmospheric refraction, and ground effect on sound propagation through a pine forest

Sound propagation through a forest is affected by the microclimate in the canopy, scattering by trunks and stems, and ground reflection. Each of these effects is such a strong contributor to the attenuation of sound that mutual interactions between the phenomena could become important. A sound propagation model for use in a forest has been developed that incorporates scattering from trunks and branches and atmospheric refraction by modifying the effective wave number in the Green's function parabolic equation model. The ground effect for a hard-backed pine straw layer is approximated as a local reaction impedance condition. Comparisons to experimental data are made for frequencies up to 4,200 Hz. Cumulative influences of the separate phenomena are examined. The method developed in this paper is compared to previously published methods. The overall comparison with spectral transmission data is good, suggesting that the model captures the necessary details.