Land use induced blurring of forest-grassland transition in north-west Himalaya-A case study using Moving Split Window boundary detection technique

Transition zone or ecotone is a unique community sandwiched between two communities/ecosystems/biomes.These ecotones in Himalaya remained unexplored for many ecological aspects like biodiversity,phyto-sociology,boundary detection and even impact of change in land use pattern(anthropogenic activity).The most accepted and widespread technique called as Moving Split Window(MSW) technique is used for detection of vegetation and environmental boundaries at four different sites in the lesser stratum of north-west Himalaya.All the four sites were at different distances from the nearest human inhabited area.Anthropogenic activities like grazing,herb collection,wood collection etc.were common at proximal sites.Such activities have led to the change in land use pattern.In this study,we have tried to work out the impact of the change in land use pattern(human interference) on the vegetation and basic environmental parameters like soil pH,electrical conductivity and moisture on forestgrassland ecotone in north-west Himalaya.Data on mountain steepness was also collected and analyzed.The dissimilarity profile using the statistical tool Squared Euclidian Distance(SED) indicated that species turnover locations increase with the increase in distance of ecotones from human settlements.The ecotones at distant locations from human villages are characterized with blunt as well as sharp peaks for vegetation data,however,conditions are reverse in case of the proximal sites.The study also reveals that as the distance between the ecotone and human settlements increases,the complex conditions like multiple vegetation boundaries prevails on the transitions.In this regard,land use induced blurring of forest-grassland transition in north-west Himalaya is summed up in the study.

Derivation of Cloud-Free-Region Atmospheric Motion Vectors from FY-2E Thermal Infrared Imagery

The operational cloud-motion tracking technique fails to retrieve atmospheric motion vectors （AMVs） in areas lacking cloud; and while water vapor shown in water vapor imagery can be used, the heights assigned to the retrieved AMVs are mostly in the upper troposphere. As the noise-equivalent temperature difference （NEdT） performance of FY-2E split win- dow （10.3-11.5 μm, 11.6-12.8 μm） channels has been improved, the weak signals representing the spatial texture of water vapor and aerosols in cloud-free areas can be strengthened with algorithms based on the difference principle, and applied in calculating AMVs in the lower troposphere. This paper is a preliminary summary for this purpose, in which the principles and algorithm schemes for the temporal difference, split window difference and second-order difference （SD） methods are introduced. Results from simulation and cases experiments are reported in order to verify and evaluate the methods, based on comparison among retrievals and the ＂truth＂. The results show that all three algorithms, though not perfect in some cases, generally work well. Moreover, the SD method appears to be the best in suppressing the surface temperature influence and clarifying the spatial texture of water vapor and aerosols. The accuracy with respect to NCEP 800 hPa reanalysis data was found to be acceptable, as compared with the accuracy of the cloud motion vectors.

Evaluation of Total Precipitable Water over East Asia from FY-3A/VIRR Infrared Radiances

Satellite retrieval of atmospheric water vapor is intended to further understand the role played by the energy and water cycle to determine the Earth's weather and climate.The algorithm for operational retrieval of total precipitable water (TPW) from the visible and infrared radiometer (VIRR) onboard Fengyun 3A (FY-3A) employs a split window technique for clear sky radiances over land and oceans during both day and night.The retrieved TPW is compared with that from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite and data from radiosonde observations (RAOB).During the study period,comparisons show that the FY-3A TPW is in general agreement with the gradients and distributions from the Terra TPW.Their zonal mean difference over East Asia is smaller in the daytime than at night,and the main difference occurs in the complex terrain at mid latitude near 30°N.Compared with RAOB,the zonal FY-3A and the Terra TPW have a moist bias at low latitudes and a dry bias at mid and high latitudes;in addition,the FY-3A TPW performs slightly better in zonal mean biases and the diurnal cycle.The temporal variation of the FY-3A and the Terra TPW generally fits the RAOB TPW with the FY-3A more accurate at night while Terra TPW more accurate during the daytime.Comparisons of correlations,root mean square differences and standard deviations indicate that the FY-3A TPW series is more consistent with the RAOB TPW at selected stations.As a result,the FY-3A TPW has some advantages over East Asia in both spatial and temporal dimensions.

Spatio-temporal Pattern and Spatial Heterogeneity of Ecotones Based on Land Use Types of Southeastern Da Hinggan Mountains in China

Ecotones have received great attention due to its critical function in energy flux, species harbor, global carbon sequestration, and land-atmosphere interaction. This study investigated land use pattern and spatial heterogeneity of the ecotones among agricultural land, forest land, and grassland of the southeastern Da Hinggan Mountains in the northeastern China. The change of these delineated ecotones under different slopes and aridity conditions was analyzed by two landscape indices, edge density(ED) and core area percentage of landscape(CPL), to explore the inter-linkage between spatial structure of ecotones and socioeconomic development and land management. Specifically, the ecotones such as agriculture-forest(AF) ecotone, forest-grassland(FG) ecotone, and agriculture-forestgrassland(AFG) ecotone moved from the arid southeast to the humid northwest. The flat area with small slope is more edge-fragmented than the steep area since the ED decreases as the slope increases. The AF ecotone mostly found in the humid region is moving to more humid areas while the agriculture-grassland(AG) ecotone mostly found in the dry region is moving towards the drier region.

Satellite remote sensing of volcanic ash cloud in complicated meteorological conditions

Volcanic ash cloud has serious impacts on aviation.With volcanic ash dispersion,it also has a profound and long-term impact on climate and the environment.A new volcanic ash cloud detecting method (SWIR-TIR Volcanic Ash method,STVA) is presented that uses satellite images of Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) and Visible and Infrared Radiometer (VIRR) on board the second generation Polar-Orbiting meteorological satellite of China (FY-3A).STVA is applied in detecting Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption.Compared with the traditional Split Window Temperature Difference method (SWTD),the results show that STVA is more sensitive to volcanic ash cloud than SWTD and can fairly extract volcanic ash information from the background of meteorological cloud and the ocean.Ash Radiance Index (ARI) and Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) derived from Metop-A satellite images are used to validate the performance of STVA.It is shown that STVA provides similar results with ARI and AAI.FY-3A/MERSI,VIRR and Terra /MODIS data are used to test STVA and SWTD.It is demonstrated that STVA derived from FY-3A satellite data is more effective in complicated meteorological conditions.This study shows great potential of using China's own new generation satellite data in future global volcanic ash cloud monitoring operation.

Unexpected ecotone dynamics of a sand dune vegetation complex following water table decline

Aims Central Hungarian inland dune ranges harbor heterogeneous grassland vegetation with an extensive network of ecotones,arranged perpendicular to topography-driven hydrologic gradients.The area suffers from severe aridification due to climate change and local anthropogenic factors,which have led to a dramatic decline of the water table.As a result,groundwater is no longer reachable for lowlying plant communities;thus,we expect they are bound to undergo profound changes.This study investigates how the plant communities respond to this changing environment over time by monitoring ecotones,since they are frequently the hotspots of ecosystem change.We monitored five ecotones along permanent belt transects for 15 years to characterize their dynamic response,and to identify the internal structural changes of the plant communities the ecotones delimit.Methods Ecotones were delineated with the split moving window technique.The dynamics of two ecotone parameters,location and contrast,were analyzed with linear regression models incorporating two independent variables:study year as a measure of time since the loss of groundwater,and precipitation as a possible driver of interannual variations.The internal changes of the patches separated by the ecotones were analyzed using plant functional groups.Important Findings Precipitation had no detectable effect on the ecotone descriptors,but study year influenced ecotones in an unusual fashion.The position of the ecotones appeared to be very stable in time;their dynamics are stationary,not directional as we predicted.The contrasts had clear tendencies;two ecotones disappeared,one new one was formed and two ecotones showed no trend.The internal changes of the patches over time were dramatic,showing a shift toward more xeric and more open plant assemblages in most stretches of the transects.Thus,the dynamic response of the vegetation was not patch expansion vs.shrinking,but fusion vs.division,which profoundly restructured the vegetation pattern.Analysis of plant functional groups revealed that the trends of the ecotone contrasts could be traced back to internal changes of the patches and not to processes within ecotones.Hence,in situations where stationary ecotone dynamics prevail,ecotone position may be a poor indicator of the effects of strong directional environmental changes.However,in this study we show that ecotone contrast can serve as a sensitive tool for monitoring landscape pattern transformations in these cases.Also,this highlights the long-term nature of ecotone responses,which can have implications in landscape planning and restoration measures.