Positive and negative terrains on northern Shaanxi Loess Plateau

The Loess positive and negative terrains （P-N terrains）, which are widely distributed on the Loess Plateau, are discussed for the first time by introducing its characteristic, demarcation as well as extraction method from high-resolution Digital Elevation Models. Using 5 m-resolution DEMs as original test data, P-N terrains of 48 geomorphological units in different parts of Shaanxi Loess Plateau are extracted accurately. Then six indicators for depicting the geomorphologic landscape and spatial configuration characteristic of P-N terrains are proposed. The spatial distribution rules of these indicators and the relationship between the P-N terrains and Loess relief are discussed for further understanding of Loess landforms. Finally, with the integration of P-N terrains and traditional terrain indices, a series of un-supervised classification methods are applied to make a proper landform classification in northern Shaanxi. Results show that P-N terrains are an effect clue to reveal energy and substance distribution rules on the Loess Plateau. A continuous change of P-N terrains from south to north in Shaanxi Loess Plateau shows an obvious spatial difference of Loess land-forms and the positive terrain area only accounted for 60.5% in this region. The P-N terrains participant landform classification method increases validity of the result, especially in the Loess tableland, Loess tableland-ridge and the Loess low-hill area. This research is significant on the study of Loess landforms with the Digital Terrains Analysis methods.

Quantifying spatial scale of positive and negative terrains pattern at watershed-scale:Case in soil and water conservation region on Loess Plateau

The positive and negative terrains(P-N terrains) widely distributed across China's Loess Plateau constitute the dual structure characteristic of loess landforms. Analysis of loess P-N terrains at the watershed scale can serve to elucidate the structural characteristics and spatial patterns of P-N terrains, which benefits a better understanding of watershed evolution and suitable scales for loess landform research. The Two-Term Local Quadrat Variance Analysis(TTLQV) is calculated as the average of the square of the difference between the block totals of all possible adjacent pairs of block size, which can be used to detect both the scale and the intensity of landscape patches(e.g., plant/animal communities and gully networks). In this study, we determined the latitudinal and longitudinal spatial scale of P-N terrain patterns within 104 uniformly distributed watersheds in our target soil and water conservation region. The results showed that TTLQV is very effective for examining the scale of P-N terrain patterns. There were apparently three types of P-N terrain pattern in latitudinal direction(i.e., Loess Tableland type, Loess Hill type, and Transitional Form between Sand and Loess type), whereas there were both lower and higher values for P-N terrain pattern scales in all loess landforms in the longitudinal direction. The P-N terrain pattern alsoclearly presented anisotropy, suggesting that gully networks in the main direction were well-developed while others were relatively undeveloped. In addition, the relationships between the first scales and controlling factors(i.e., gully density, nibble degree, watershed area, mean watershed slope, NDVI, precipitation, loess thickness, and loess landforms) revealed that the first scales are primarily controlled by watershed area and loess landforms. This may indicate that the current spatial pattern of P-N terrains is characterized by internal force. In selecting suitable study areas in China' Loess Plateau, it is crucial to understand four control variables: the spatial scale of the P-N terrain pattern, the watershed area, the main direction of the watershed, and the loess landforms.

Spatial distribution modeling of temperature increase for the uplifted mountain terrains and its characteristics in Southwest China

Local temperature changes in mountain areas are significantly affected by the uplifted mountain terrains. Understanding how temperature increase with mountain terrains is an important component in accurately modeling the spatial distribution of temperature. The study, after minimizing the effect of elevation and latitude, quantitatively simulated the temperature increase in the uplifted mountain terrains, described the characteristics in the spatial distribution of warming areas with different magnitudes, and identified the correlated indices of mountain bodies for warming. Selecting Yunnan Province in southwest China as the study area, we simulated the warming field on a baseline surface at the average elevation of 2000 m and average latitude of 24.96°. The results indicated that the warming magnitudes in different local areas varied with the change in the spatial locations, and the warming process concentrated in the mountainous regions. Throughout the entire study area, the warming field presented a general pattern of three terraces from the regions of high mountains to middle mountains and then low mountains. The areasof high warming magnitude mainly surrounded large mountain bodies and were distributed on the upper part. The areas of low warming magnitude clustered in the valleys and basins of the middle mountain region, mostly on the lower part of the large mountain bodies and its branches. The areas with zero warming magnitude occurred in the low mountains and broad valleys, which were distributed largely on the lower parts of the middle mountains and in most of the valleys. Quantified sampling analysis demonstrated good positive correlation between the warming magnitudes in uplifted mountain terrains and the volume index of the mountain body, as well as elevation difference, with the coefficients corresponding to 0.82 and 0.91, respectively.

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

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

Effect of the off-road terrains on the ride comfort of construction vehicles

In order to evaluate the impact of off-road terrains on the ride comfort of construction vehicles,a nonlinear dynamic model of the construction vehicles interacting with the terrain deformations is established based on Matlab/Simulink software.The weighted root mean square(RMS)acceleration responses and the power spectral density(PSD)acceleration responses of the driver s seat heave,the pitch and roll angle of the cab in the low-frequency region are chosen as objective functions under different operation conditions of the vehicle.The results show that the impact of off-road terrains on the driver s ride comfort and health is clear under various conditions of deformable terrains and range of vehicle velocities.In particular,the driver s ride comfort is greatly affected by a soil terrain while the comfortable shake of the driver is strongly affected by a sand terrain.In addition,when the vehicle travels on a poor soil terrain in the frequency range below 4 Hz,more resonance peaks of acceleration PSD responses occurred than that on a rigid road of ISO 2631-1 level C.Thus,the driver s health is significantly affected by the deformable terrain in a low-frequency range.

Distributed Modeling of Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation Over the Rugged Terrains of Pakistan

In Pakistan,the solar analogue has been addressed but its surface geographical parameterization has given least attention.Inappropriate density of stations and their spatial coverage particularly in difficult peripheral national territories,little or no solar radiation data,non-satisfactory sunshine hours data,and low quality of ground observed cloud cover data create a situation in which the spatial modeling of Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation(ESR) and its ground parameterization got sufficient scope.The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) input into Geographic Information System (GIS) is a compatible tool to demonstrate the spatial distribution of ESR over the rugged terrains of the study domain.For the first time,distributed modeling of ESR is done over the rugged terrains of Pakistan,based on DEM and ArcGIS..Results clearly depict that the complex landforms profoundly disrupt the zonal distribution of ESR in Pakistan.The screening impact of topography is higher on spatial distribution of ESR in winter and considerably low in summer.The combined effect of topography and latitude is obvious.Hence,the model was further testified by plotting Rb (ratio of ESR quantity over rugged terrain against plane surface) against azimuth at different latitudes with different angled slopes.The results clearly support the strong screening effect of rugged terrain through out the country especially in Himalayas,Karakoram and Hindukush (HKH),western border mountains and Balochistan Plateau.This model can be instrumental as baseline geospatial information for scientific investigations in Pakistan,where substantial fraction of national population is living in mountainous regions.

Magnetic Petrology of Archean High-Grade Terrains: Window into Deep Crustal Structure and Geodynamic Processes

The major results about magnetic petrology of Archearn high grade terrains in the world are reviewed in this article, focusing on the relationship between rock magnetism and deformation, and metamorphism and intensity of magnetization of the lower continental crust. The important problems about the magnetic study of rocks for high grade terrains are advanced.

Resilience Techniques due to Cascading Water Effects in Informally Urbanised Hilly Terrains:A Case of Makongo and Goba-Dar es Salaam,Tanzania

The research was carried out in Dar es Salaam’s Makongo and Goba neighbourhoods using an exploratory method covering 200 questionnaires,100 for Goba and 100 for Makongo respectively.There were two significant issues observed:To begin,data from 2003 to 2017 reveal a large increase in urbanisation in both locations.Furthermore,urbanisation led to an increase in hard surface areas,which,according to the analysis,contributed to an increase in surface runoff,which had detrimental consequences for hilly residential settlements,resulting in downstream floods,building destruction,and loss of life and properties.Few residents were aware of water harvesting methods as a technique to deal with surface runoff,but they were not aware that they might be used to harvest water for future use.Policy to harvest,retain and use rainwater is recommended,whereby each plot owner should contain water from his/her plot by harvesting,collecting and retaining it for home use such as farming,fish ponds and other uses.

Surface Coverage Algorithm in Directional Sensor Networks for Three-Dimensional Complex Terrains

Coverage is an important issue in the area of wireless sensor networks, which reflects the monitoring quality of the sensor networks in scenes. Most sensor coverage research focuses on the ideal two-dimensional （2-D） plane and full three-dimensional （3-D） space. However, in many real-world applications, the target field is a 3-D complex surface, which makes conventional methods unsuitable. In this paper, we study the coverage problem in directional sensor networks for complex 3-D terrains, and design a new surface coverage algorithm. Based on a 3-D directional sensing model of nodes, this algorithm employs grid division, simulated annealing, and local optimum ideas to improve the area coverage ratio by optimizing the position coordinates and the deviation angles of the nodes, which results in coverage enhancement for complex 3-D terrains. We also conduct extensive simulations to evaluate the performance of our algorithms.

Locomotion Performance of the Amphibious Robot on Various Terrains and Underwater with Flexible Flipper Legs

Amphibious robots are attracting more and more attentions from researchers worldwide tbr their broad appllcanons m resource exploration, disaster rescue, and reconnaissance. Amphibious robot with transformable flipper-leg composite propul- sion mechanisms can adapt various terrestrial and water environments. In this paper, we explored the locomotion performance of a amphibious robot with flexible flipper legs on various terrains and underwater through dynamical simulation. The influence of the stiffness of the flipper legs on the locomotion performance in various environments was investigated comprehensively. The results indicate that the locomotion with flexible flipper legs is very stable, and the stiffness of the flipper legs has a great impact on the locomotion performance. The verification experiments demonstrate the accuracy of the simulation results. The study facilitates the design of the amphibious robot and indicates that the passively transformable flipper-leg mechanisms also enable amphibious robot to conquer various complex terrestrial environments.

Wind suitability in site analysis of coastal concave terrains using computational fluid dynamics simulation： a case study in East Asia

The effect of wind environment is becoming increasingly important in analyzing and selecting sites for better naturalventilation of residential buildings, external comfort, and pollution dispersion. The mainpurpose of this study was to develop a setof methods for wind environment assessment in coastal concave terrains. This set of methods can be used to provide quantifiableindicators of preferable wind conditions and help site analysis. Firstly, a total of 20 types of coastal bays with concave terrains inEast Asia were characterized to find ideal locations. The selected areas were divided into five categories according to the mainterrain features. Then a sample database for the concave terrains was compiled for modelling comparisons. Secondly, a number ofkey wind variables were identified. Computational fluid dynamics （CFD） models of the typical coastal concave terrains identifiedas a result of the study were created, and the local wind environments were simulated with input from geographic informationsystem （GIS） and statistic package for social science （SPSS） analysis. A measure of wind suitability was proposed that takes windvelocity and wind direction into account using GIS. Finally, SPSS was used to find the relationship between wind suitability andkey terrain factors. The results showed that wind suitability was significantly associated with terrain factors, especially altitude.The results suggest that residential building sites should be selected such that their bay openings face the direction of the prevailingwind and that the opposite direction should be avoided.

Displacement field reconstruction in landslide physical modeling by using a terrain laser scanner e Part 1:Methodology,error analysis and validation

Laser scanning technology has been widely used in landslide aspects.However,the existing deformation analysis based on terrain laser scanners can only provide limited information,which is insufficient for understanding landslide kinematics and failure mechanisms.To overcome this limitation,this paper proposes an automated method for processing point clouds collected in landslide physical modeling.This method allows the acquisition of quantitative three-dimensional(3D)deformation field information.The results show the organized and spatially related point cloud segmentation in terms of spherical targets.The segmented point clouds can be fitted to determine the locations of all preset targets and their corresponding location changes.The proposed method has been validated based on theoretical analysis and numerical and physical tests,which indicates that it can batch-process massive data sets with high computational efficiency and good noise resistance.Compared to existing methods,this method shows a significant potential for understanding landslide kinematics and failure mechanisms and advancing the application of 3D laser scanning in geotechnical modeling.

Relationships between Terrain Features and Forecasting Errors of Surface Wind Speeds in a Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction Model

Numerical weather prediction(NWP)models have always presented large forecasting errors of surface wind speeds over regions with complex terrain.In this study,surface wind forecasts from an operational NWP model,the SMS-WARR(Shanghai Meteorological Service-WRF ADAS Rapid Refresh System),are analyzed to quantitatively reveal the relationships between the forecasted surface wind speed errors and terrain features,with the intent of providing clues to better apply the NWP model to complex terrain regions.The terrain features are described by three parameters:the standard deviation of the model grid-scale orography,terrain height error of the model,and slope angle.The results show that the forecast bias has a unimodal distribution with a change in the standard deviation of orography.The minimum ME(the mean value of bias)is 1.2 m s^(-1) when the standard deviation is between 60 and 70 m.A positive correlation exists between bias and terrain height error,with the ME increasing by 10%−30%for every 200 m increase in terrain height error.The ME decreases by 65.6%when slope angle increases from(0.5°−1.5°)to larger than 3.5°for uphill winds but increases by 35.4%when the absolute value of slope angle increases from(0.5°−1.5°)to(2.5°−3.5°)for downhill winds.Several sensitivity experiments are carried out with a model output statistical(MOS)calibration model for surface wind speeds and ME(RMSE)has been reduced by 90%(30%)by introducing terrain parameters,demonstrating the value of this study.

Spatio-temporal evolution and topographic gradient effect of land use and ecosystem service value in the Lhasa River Basin

The Lhasa River Basin forms an essential human settlement area in the southern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.This study employed ecosystem service value(ESV)evaluation model,terrain gradient grading,and Geodetector to analyze land use and ESV in the Lhasa River Basin from 1985 to 2020.The findings reveal that:(1)From 1985 to 2020,grassland was the dominant land use.There was a trend of grassland reduction and the expansion of other land types.(2)ESV has increased over the research period(with a total increase of 0.84%),with higher values in the southeast and lower values in the northwest.Grassland contributed the most to ESV,and climate regulation and hydrological regulation were the ecosystem services that contribute the most to ESV.(3)Natural factors like NDVI and altitude,as well as economic factors like population density and distance from roads,influenced the spatial differentiation of ESV,the explanatory power of NDVI reached up to 0.47.The interaction between factors had a greater impact than individual factors.These research results can provide theoretical support for national spatial planning and ecological environment protection in the Lhasa River Basin and other similar areas.

HOG-VGG:VGG Network with HOG Feature Fusion for High-Precision PolSAR Terrain Classification

This article proposes a VGG network with histogram of oriented gradient(HOG) feature fusion(HOG-VGG) for polarization synthetic aperture radar(PolSAR) image terrain classification.VGG-Net has a strong ability of deep feature extraction,which can fully extract the global deep features of different terrains in PolSAR images,so it is widely used in PolSAR terrain classification.However,VGG-Net ignores the local edge & shape features,resulting in incomplete feature representation of the PolSAR terrains,as a consequence,the terrain classification accuracy is not promising.In fact,edge and shape features play an important role in PolSAR terrain classification.To solve this problem,a new VGG network with HOG feature fusion was specifically proposed for high-precision PolSAR terrain classification.HOG-VGG extracts both the global deep semantic features and the local edge & shape features of the PolSAR terrains,so the terrain feature representation completeness is greatly elevated.Moreover,HOG-VGG optimally fuses the global deep features and the local edge & shape features to achieve the best classification results.The superiority of HOG-VGG is verified on the Flevoland,San Francisco and Oberpfaffenhofen datasets.Experiments show that the proposed HOG-VGG achieves much better PolSAR terrain classification performance,with overall accuracies of 97.54%,94.63%,and 96.07%,respectively.

Spatio-temporal Evolution and Optimization of Landscape Ecological Risk in Karst Mountainous Areas

[Objective]The ecological vulnerability and landscape ecological risk of karst mountainous areas have increased as a result of enhanced disturbance of natural resources by human activities.This paper aimed to explore the characteristics of ecological risk evolution under different landscape patterns in the region,with a view to providing reference for land classification protection,sustainable use of resources and regional ecological risk optimization in karst mountainous areas.[Method]Taking Huangping County,a typical karst mountainous area,as an example,eight evaluation factors of natural and landscape patterns were selected to construct a landscape ecological risk evaluation model,to quantitatively explore the spatio-temporal evolution of landscape ecological risk and the trend of risk level transfer in the study area from^(2)010-2018,and to reveal the complex relationship between ecological risk and topography in karst mountainous areas.[Result]①From 2010 to 2018,land use types changed to different degrees,with the most amount of woodland transferred out(1627.37 hm^(2))and the most amount of construction land transferred in(1303.93 hm^(2));a total of 3552.31 hm^(2) of land was transferred,with a change ratio of 2.13%,and there was a significant conversion between construction land,arable land,and woodland.②From 2010 to 2018,the landscape ecological risk in the study area changed significantly,and the landscape ecological risk index decreased from 0.3441 to 0.1733,showing an upward and then downward trend;the landscape ecological risk of the whole region was dominated by low-risk and lower-risk zones,and the ecological risk level generally shifted from a high level to a low level,and the ecological environment was improved.③There was a negative correlation between ecological risk and topographic position,and high-risk zones were mainly distributed among low topographic zones;with the change of time,the advantage of risk level for the selection of topography was gradually weakened,and the influence of anthropogenic factors on the ecological risk of the landscape was becoming more and more prominent.[Conclusion]This paper can provide theoretical basis for land use optimization and ecological protection in karst mountainous areas.

Metallogenic geodynamic background of Mesozoic gold deposits in granite-greenstone terrains of North China Craton

The spatial distribution map of 65 mid-large gold-deposits hosted in the granite-greenstone terrains of the North China Craton is first drawn. These gold deposits mainly concentrate in the Mesozoic remobilized Yinshan-Yanshan-Liaoning-Jilin intracontinental collisional orogenic belt, the northern Qinling and the Jiaodong Mesozoic collisional orogenic belts, and the Mesozoic intracontinental fault-magmatic belts developed along the Taihangshan and the Tan-Lu faults; their mineralizing time is predominantly Jurassic-Cretaceous, i.e. the Yanshanian. The metallogenic geodynamic background is exactly the compression-to-extension transition regime during continental collision.

A shadow- eliminated vegetation index (SEVI) for removal of self and cast shadow effects on vegetation in rugged terrains

The effect of terrain shadow, including the self and cast shadows, is one ofthe main obstacles for accurate retrieval of vegetation parameters byremote sensing in rugged terrains. A shadow- eliminated vegetation index(SEVI) was developed, which was computed from only red and nearinfrared top-of-atmosphere reflectance without other heterogeneous dataand topographic correction. After introduction of the conceptual modeland feature analysis of conventional wavebands, the SEVI was constructedby ratio vegetation index (RVI), shadow vegetation index (SVI) andadjustment factor (f (Δ)). Then three methods were used to validate theSEVI accuracy in elimination of terrain shadow effects, including relativeerror analysis, correlation analysis between the cosine of solar incidenceangle (cosi) and vegetation indices, and comparison analysis between SEVIand conventional vegetation indices with topographic correction. Thevalidation results based on 532 samples showed that the SEVI relativeerrors for self and cast shadows were 4.32% and 1.51% respectively. Thecoefficient of determination between cosi and SEVI was only 0.032 and thecoefficient of variation (std/mean) for SEVI was 12.59%. The results indicatethat the proposed SEVI effectively eliminated the effect of terrain shadowsand achieved similar or better results than conventional vegetation indiceswith topographic correction.

Global DEMs vary from one to another:an evaluation of newly released Copernicus,NASA and AW3D30 DEM on selected terrains of China using ICESat-2 altimetry data

A good understanding of the quality of digital elevation model(DEM)is a perquisite for various applications.This study investigates the accuracy of three most recently released 1-arcsec global DEMs(GDEMs,Copernicus,NASA and AW3D30)in five selected terrains of China,using more than 240,000 high-quality ICESat-2(Ice,Cloud and land Elevation Satellite)ALT08 points.The results indicate the three GDEMs have similar overall vertical accuracy,with RMSE of 6.73(Copernicus),6.59(NASA)and 6.63 m(AW3D30).While the accuracy varies considerably over study areas and among GDEMs.The results show a clear correlation between the accuracy and terrain slopes,and some relationship between the accuracy and land covers.Our analysis reveals the land cover exerts a greater impact on the accuracy than that of the terrain slope for the study area.Visual inspections of terrain representation indicate Copernicus DEM exhibits the greatest detail of terrain,followed by AW3D30,and then by NASADEM.This study has demonstrated that ICESat-2 altimetry offers an important tool for DEM assessment.The findings provide a timely and comprehensive understanding of the quality of newly released GDEMs,which are informative for the selection of suitable DEMs,and for the improvement of GDEM in future studies.