Improving model performance in mapping cropland soil organic matter using time-series remote sensing data

Faced with increasing global soil degradation,spatially explicit data on cropland soil organic matter(SOM)provides crucial data for soil carbon pool accounting,cropland quality assessment and the formulation of effective management policies.As a spatial information prediction technique,digital soil mapping(DSM)has been widely used to spatially map soil information at different scales.However,the accuracy of digital SOM maps for cropland is typically lower than for other land cover types due to the inherent difficulty in precisely quantifying human disturbance.To overcome this limitation,this study systematically assessed a framework of“information extractionfeature selection-model averaging”for improving model performance in mapping cropland SOM using 462 cropland soil samples collected in Guangzhou,China in 2021.The results showed that using the framework of dynamic information extraction,feature selection and model averaging could efficiently improve the accuracy of the final predictions(R^(2):0.48 to 0.53)without having obviously negative impacts on uncertainty.Quantifying the dynamic information of the environment was an efficient way to generate covariates that are linearly and nonlinearly related to SOM,which improved the R^(2)of random forest from 0.44 to 0.48 and the R^(2)of extreme gradient boosting from 0.37to 0.43.Forward recursive feature selection(FRFS)is recommended when there are relatively few environmental covariates(<200),whereas Boruta is recommended when there are many environmental covariates(>500).The Granger-Ramanathan model averaging approach could improve the prediction accuracy and average uncertainty.When the structures of initial prediction models are similar,increasing in the number of averaging models did not have significantly positive effects on the final predictions.Given the advantages of these selected strategies over information extraction,feature selection and model averaging have a great potential for high-accuracy soil mapping at any scales,so this approach can provide more reliable references for soil conservation policy-making.

Recent progress and future prospect of digital soil mapping： A review

To deal with the global and regional issues including food security, climate change, land degradation, biodiversity loss, water resource management, and ecosystem health, detailed accurate spatial soil information is urgently needed. This drives the worldwide development of digital soil mapping. In recent years, significant progresses have been made in different aspects of digital soil mapping. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a review for the major progresses of digital soil mapping in the last decade. First, we briefly described the rise of digital soil mapping and outlined important milestones and their influence, and main paradigms in digital soil mapping. Then, we reviewed the progresses in legacy soil data, environmental covariates, soil sampling, predictive models and the applications of digital soil mapping products. Finally, we summarized the main trends and future prospect as revealed by studies up to now. We concluded that although the digital soil mapping is now moving towards mature to meet various demands of soil information, challenges including new theories, methodologies and applications of digital soil mapping, especially for highly heterogeneous and human-affected environments, still exist and need to be addressed in the future.

A case-based method of selecting covariates for digital soil mapping

Selecting a proper set of covariates is one of the most important factors that influence the accuracy of digital soil mapping(DSM).The statistical or machine learning methods for selecting DSM covariates are not available for those situations with limited samples.To solve the problem,this paper proposed a case-based method which could formalize the covariate selection knowledge contained in practical DSM applications.The proposed method trained Random Forest(RF)classifiers with DSM cases extracted from the practical DSM applications and then used the trained classifiers to determine whether each one potential covariate should be used in a new DSM application.In this study,we took topographic covariates as examples of covariates and extracted 191 DSM cases from 56 peer-reviewed journal articles to evaluate the performance of the proposed case-based method by Leave-One-Out cross validation.Compared with a novices’commonly-used way of selecting DSM covariates,the proposed case-based method improved more than 30%accuracy according to three quantitative evaluation indices(i.e.,recall,precision,and F1-score).The proposed method could be also applied to selecting the proper set of covariates for other similar geographical modeling domains,such as landslide susceptibility mapping,and species distribution modeling.

Progress and prospects in Chinese Antarctic surveying, mapping and remote sensing studies

Antarctic surveying, mapping and remote sensing is one of the important aspects of the Chinese Antarctic geoscience research program that stretch back over 25 years, since the first Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition （CHINARE） in 1984. During the 1980＇s, the geodetic datum, height system and absolute gravity datum were established at the Great Wall and Zhongshan Stations. Significant contributions have been made by the construction of the Chinese Great Wall, Zhongshan and Kunlun Stations in Antarctica. Geodetic control and gravity networks were established in the King George Islands, Grove Moun- tains and Dome Argus. An area of more than 200 000 km2 has been mapped using satellite image data, aerial photogrammetry and in situ data. Permanent GPS stations and tide gauges have been established at both the Great Wall and Zhongshan Stations. Studies involving plate motion, precise satellite orbit determination, the gravity field, sea level change, and various GPS applications for atmospheric studies have been carried out. Based on remote sensing techniques, studies have been undertaken on ice sheet and glacier movements, the distributions of blue ice and ice crevasses, and ice mass balance. Polar digital and visual mapping tech- niques have been introduced, and a polar survey space database has been built. The Chinese polar scientific expedition manage- ment information system and Chinese PANDA plan display platform were developed, which provides technical support for Chi- nese polar management. Finally, this paper examines prospects for future Chinese Antarctic surveying, mapping and remote sens- ing.

Digital mapping of soil salinization based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data combined with machine learning algorithms

Soil salinization is one of the most important causes of land degradation and desertification,especially in arid and semi-arid areas.The dynamic monitoring of soil salinization is of great significance to land management,agricultural activities,water quality,and sustainable development.The remote sensing images taken by the synthetic aperture radar(SAR)Sentinel-1 and the multispectral satellite Sentinel-2 with high resolution and short revisit period have the potential to monitor the spatial distribution of soil attribute information on a large area;however,there are limited studies on the combination of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 for digital mapping of soil salinization.Therefore,in this study,we used topography indices derived from digital elevation model(DEM),SAR indices generated by Sentinel-1,and vegetation indices generated by Sentinel-2 to map soil salinization in the Ogan-Kuqa River Oasis located in the central and northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang of China,and evaluated the potential of multi-source sensors to predict soil salinity.Using the soil electrical conductivity(EC)values of 70 ground sampling sites as the target variable and the optimal environmental factors as the predictive variable,we constructed three soil salinity inversion models based on classification and regression tree(CART),random forest(RF),and extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost).Then,we evaluated the prediction ability of different models through the five-fold cross validation.The prediction accuracy of XGBoost model is better than those of CART and RF,and soil salinity predicted by the three models has similar spatial distribution characteristics.Compared with the combination of topography indices and vegetation indices,the addition of SAR indices effectively improves the prediction accuracy of the model.In general,the method of soil salinity prediction based on multi-source sensor combination is better than that based on a single sensor.In addition,SAR indices,vegetation indices,and topography indices are all effective variables for soil salinity prediction.Weighted Difference Vegetation Index(WDVI)is designated as the most important variable in these variables,followed by DEM.The results showed that the high-resolution radar Sentinel-1 and multispectral Sentinel-2 have the potential to develop soil salinity prediction model.

The digital mapping produced with satellite image of the Zhongshan Station area in Antarctica

Ice and snow domint the land features in Antarctica. The great brightness and poorcontrast of ice and snow and streaking noise in satellite image make the procedure of image processing difficult. On the other hand however, the contrast between bare rock land/sea water and ice/snow is so high that the details of image will be overcompressed.In the light of characteristics of satellite image in Antarctica, a filtering to remove streaking noise has adn discussed. Based on automatic identify classification to enhance the details of objects and the method and theory of digital rectification of satellite image with ground control points measured from field survey are also presented.

THE GLOBAL BIFURCATION STRUCTURE OF A KIND OF DIGIT MAPPING

The global structure of the mapping is studied. The symmetric unconnected substructures of T2 is coincident with [1] by computer, but for n=3 the symmetry of these substructures vanishes. As n is increasing, the global bifurcation structure of Tn is shown. Finally, similar results for the mapping are also proved.

The digital mapping of satellite images under no ground control and the distribution of landform, blue ice and meteorites in the Grove Mountains, Antarctica

The colorful satellite image maps with the scale of 1∶100000 were made by processing the parameters-on-satellite under the condition of no data of field surveying. The purpose is to ensure the smooth performance of the choice of expedition route, navigation and research task before the Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) first made researches on the Grove Mountains. Moreover, on the basis of the visual interpretation of the satellite image, we preliminarily analyze and discuss the relief and landform, blue ice and meteorite distribution characteristics in the Grove Mountains.

Updated Digital Map of Mafic Dyke Swarms and Large Igneous Provinces in Western Australia

Since 1894,the Geological Survey of Western Australia(GSWA)has released 14 versions of the‘Geological Map of Western Australia’.The latest in this series,published in December 2015,is the first bedrock geology map

Spatial-temporal variations and driving factors of soil organic carbon in forest ecosystems of Northeast China

Forest soil carbon is a major carbon pool of terrestrial ecosystems,and accurate estimation of soil organic carbon(SOC)stocks in forest ecosystems is rather challenging.This study compared the prediction performance of three empirical model approaches namely,regression kriging(RK),multiple stepwise regression(MSR),random forest(RF),and boosted regression trees(BRT)to predict SOC stocks in Northeast China for 1990 and 2015.Furthermore,the spatial variation of SOC stocks and the main controlling environmental factors during the past 25 years were identified.A total of 82(in 1990)and 157(in 2015)topsoil(0–20 cm)samples with 12 environmental factors(soil property,climate,topography and biology)were selected for model construction.Randomly selected80%of the soil sample data were used to train the models and the other 20%data for model verification using mean absolute error,root mean square error,coefficient of determination and Lin's consistency correlation coefficient indices.We found BRT model as the best prediction model and it could explain 67%and 60%spatial variation of SOC stocks,in 1990,and 2015,respectively.Predicted maps of all models in both periods showed similar spatial distribution characteristics,with the lower SOC in northeast and higher SOC in southwest.Mean annual temperature and elevation were the key environmental factors influencing the spatial variation of SOC stock in both periods.SOC stocks were mainly stored under Cambosols,Gleyosols and Isohumosols,accounting for 95.6%(1990)and 95.9%(2015).Overall,SOC stocks increased by 471 Tg C during the past 25 years.Our study found that the BRT model employing common environmental factors was the most robust method for forest topsoil SOC stocks inventories.The spatial resolution of BRT model enabled us to pinpoint in which areas of Northeast China that new forest tree planting would be most effective for enhancing forest C stocks.Overall,our approach is likely to be useful in forestry management and ecological restoration at and beyond the regional scale.

Assessment of soil total phosphorus storage in a complex topography along China's southeast coast based on multiple mapping scales

Soil phosphorus (P) plays a vital role in both ecological and agricultural ecosystems, where total P (TP) in soil serves as a crucial indicator of soil fertility and quality. Most of the studies covered in the literature employ a single or narrow range of soil databases, which largely overlooks the impact of utilizing multiple mapping scales in estimating soil TP, especially in hilly topographies. In this study, Fujian Province, a subtropical hilly region along China’s southeast coast covered by a complex topographic environment, was taken as a case study. The influence of the mapping scale on soil TP storage (TPS)estimation was analyzed using six digital soil databases that were derived from 3 082 unique soil profiles at different mapping scales, i.e., 1:50 000 (S5),1:200 000 (S20), 1:500 000 (S50), 1:1 000 000 (S100), 1:4 000 000 (S400), and 1:10 000 000 (S1000). The regional TPS in the surface soil (0–20 cm) based on the S5, S20, S50, S100, S400, and S1000 soil maps was 20.72, 22.17, 23.06, 23.05, 22.04, and 23.48 Tg, respectively, and the corresponding TPS at0–100 cm soil depth was 80.98, 80.71, 85.00, 84.03, 82.96, and 86.72 Tg, respectively. By comparing soil TPS in the S20 to S1000 maps to that in the S5map, the relative deviations were 6.37%–13.32%for 0–20 cm and 0.33%–7.09%for 0–100 cm. Moreover, since the S20 map had the lowest relative deviation among different mapping scales as compared to S5, it could provide additional soil information and a richer soil environment than other smaller mapping scales. Our results also revealed that many uncertainties in soil TPS estimation originated from the lack of detailed soil information, i.e., representation and spatial variations among different soil types. From the time and labor perspectives, our work provides useful guidelines to identify the appropriate mapping scale for estimating regional soil TPS in areas like Fujian Province in subtropical China or other places with similar complex topographies. Moreover, it is of tremendous importance to accurately estimate soil TPS to ensure ecosystem stability and sustainable agricultural development, especially for regional decision-making and management of phosphate fertilizer application amounts.

Mapping and understanding degradation of alpine wetlands in the northern Maloti-Drakensberg, southern Africa

The alpine terrestrials of the Maloti-Drakensberg in southern Africa play crucial roles in ecosystem functions and livelihoods,yet they face escalating degradation from various factors including overgrazing and climate change.This study employs advanced Digital Soil Mapping(DSM)techniques coupled with remote sensing to map and assess wetland coverage and degradation in the northern Maloti-Drakensberg.The model achieved high accuracies of 96%and 92%for training and validation data,respectively,with Kappa statistics of 0.91 and 0.83,marking a pioneering automated attempt at wetland mapping in this region.Terrain attributes such as terrain wetness index(TWI)and valley depth(VD)exhibit significant positive correlations with wetland coverage and erosion gully density,Channel Network Depth and slope were negative correlated.Gully density analysis revealed terrain attributes as dominant factors driving degradation,highlighting the need to consider catchment-specific susceptibility to erosion.This challenge traditional assumptions which mainly attribute wetland degradation to external forces such as livestock overgrazing,ice rate activity and climate change.The sensitivity map produced could serve as a basis for Integrated Catchment Management(ICM)projects,facilitating tailored conservation strategies.Future research should expand on this work to include other highland areas,explore additional covariates,and categorize wetlands based on hydroperiod and sensitivity to degradation.This comprehensive study underscores the potential of DSM and remote sensing in accurately assessing and managing wetland ecosystems,crucial for sustainable resource management in alpine regions.

The Conditions and Problems of Software Industry in Kathmandu

The information technology (IT) has the potentiality to narrow the economic gap between the advanced and the developing countries because of the less equipment than other industries. Although Nepal is one of the poorest countries with insufficient infrastructures, some software companies are trying to go out on the international market. In this paper, we focus on the possibility of business success of Nepali software industry and the problems to be solved for that purpose. Our approach is the way to go to the field, to watch the miscellaneous phenomena, to interview with the parties concerned and to construct the story. As the result we know that the biggest problem for the Nepali software industry is not the technical situation of software science but the lack of the real experiences of the business.

Underwater Terrain Positioning Method Based on Least Squares Estimation for AUV

To achieve accurate positioning of autonomous underwater vehicles, an appropriate underwater terrain database storage format for underwater terrain-matching positioning is established using multi-beam data as underwater terrainmatching data. An underwater terrain interpolation error compensation method based on fractional Brownian motion is proposed for defects of normal terrain interpolation, and an underwater terrain-matching positioning method based on least squares estimation（LSE） is proposed for correlation analysis of topographic features. The Fisher method is introduced as a secondary criterion for pseudo localization appearing in a topographic features flat area, effectively reducing the impact of pseudo positioning points on matching accuracy and improving the positioning accuracy of terrain flat areas. Simulation experiments based on electronic chart and multi-beam sea trial data show that drift errors of an inertial navigation system can be corrected effectively using the proposed method. The positioning accuracy and practicality are high, satisfying the requirement of underwater accurate positioning.

Predicting soil depth in a large and complex area using machine learning and environmental correlations

Soil depth is critical for eco-hydrological modeling,carbon storage calculation and land evaluation.However,its spatial variation is poorly understood and rarely mapped.With a limited number of sparse samples,how to predict soil depth in a large area of complex landscapes is still an issue.This study constructed an ensemble machine learning model,i.e.,quantile regression forest,to quantify the relationship between soil depth and environmental conditions.The model was then combined with a rich set of environmental covariates to predict spatial variation of soil depth and straightforwardly estimate the associated predictive uncertainty in the 140000 km^(2)Heihe River basin of northwestern China.A total of 275 soil depth observation points and 26 covariates were used.The results showed a model predictive accuracy with coefficient of determination(R)of 0.587 and root mean square error(RMSE)of 2.98 cm(square root scale),i.e.,almost 60% of soil depth variation explained.The resulting soil depth map clearly exhibited regional patterns as well as local details.Relatively deep soils occurred in low lying landscape positions such as valley bottoms and plains while shallow soils occurred in high and steep landscape positions such as hillslopes,ridges and terraces.The oases had much deeper soils than outside semi-desert areas,the middle of an alluvial plain had deeper soils than its margins,and the middle of a lacustrine plain had shallower soils than its margins.Large predictive uncertainty mainly occurred in areas with a lack of soil survey points.Both pedogenic and geomorphic processes contributed to the shaping of soil depth pattern of this basin but the latter was dominant.This findings may be applicable to other similar basins in cold and arid regions around the world.

Stratigraphy of the MSGBC Basin in the Western Part of Thies by Pixelation and Website Simulation (Senegal, West Africa)

During this research work we developed another approach to digital mapping using the pixelation technic. This unprecedented digital mapping of the basin MSGBC in Senegal required the compilation of numerous geological data consisting of seismic lines and oil and hydraulic log reports. These spatial reference data include geological information from the surface to the top of the Campanian. The mapped terrains are composed of the Post-Paleocene Complex (PPC), the Paleocene, the Maastrichtian, and the Campanian. The nearest neighbor method has been used to establish the spatial distribution of the different geological formations. Histograms of values were used to determine the confidence intervals of the mapping. They were used to locate areas of low relative error and to apply the 3D digital mapping technique. For instance, Diender Guedj has been mapped at 1:25,000. The result of this mapping is extracted and processed using the DBMS (MySQL) software. The latter allowed both to determine Paleocene gab and update data. And then the database is processed. The programming languages PHP and Javascript have been used to simulate a website.

Multiscalar Geomorphometric Generalization for Soil-Landscape Modeling by Random Forest: A Case Study in the Eastern Amazon

Multiscalar topography influence on soil distribution has a complex pattern that is related to overlay of pedological processes which occurred at different times, and these driving forces are correlated with many geomorphologic scales. In this sense, the present study tested the hypothesis whether multiscale geomorphometric generalized covariables can improve pedometric modeling. To achieve this goal, this case study applied the Random Forest algorithm to a multiscale geomorphometric database to predict soil surface attributes. The study area is in phanerozoic sedimentary basins, in the Alter do Chão geological formation, Eastern Amazon, Brazil. The multiscale geomorphometric generalization was applied at general and specific geomorphometric covariables, producing groups for each scale combination. The modeling was run using Random Forest for A-horizon thickness, pH, silt and sand content. For model evaluation, visual analysis of digital maps, metrics of forest structures and effect of variables on prediction were used. For evaluation of soil textural classifications, the confusion matrix with a Kappa index, and the user’s and producer’s accuracies were employed. The geomorphometry generalization tends to smooth curvatures and produces identifiable geomorphic representations at sub-watershed and watershed levels. The forest structures and effect of variables on prediction are in agreement with pedological knowledge. The multiscale geomorphometric generalized covariables improved accuracy metrics of soil surface texture classification, with the Kappa Index going from 43% to 62%. Therefore, it can be argued that topography influences soil distribution at combined coarser spatial scales and is able to predict soil particle size contents in the studied watershed. Future development of the multiscale geomorphometric generalization framework could include generalization methods concerning preservation of features, landform classification adaptable at multiple scales.

Hand-feel soil texture observations to evaluate the accuracy of digital soil maps for local prediction of soil particle size distribution:A case study in Central France

Digital maps of soil properties are now widely available.End-users now can access several digital soil mapping(DSM)products of soil properties,produced using different models,calibration/training data,and covariates at various spatial scales from global to local.Therefore,there is an urgent need to provide easy-to-understand tools to communicate map uncertainty and help end-users assess the reliability of DSM products for use at local scales.In this study,we used a large amount of hand-feel soil texture(HFST)data to assess the performance of various published DSM products on the prediction of soil particle size distribution in Central France.We tested four DSM products for soil texture prediction developed at various scales(global,continental,national,and regional)by comparing their predictions with approximately 3200 HFST observations realized on a 1:50000 soil survey conducted after release of these DSM products.We used both visual comparisons and quantitative indicators to match the DSM predictions and HFST observations.The comparison between the low-cost HFST observations and DSM predictions clearly showed the applicability of various DSM products,with the prediction accuracy increasing from global to regional predictions.This simple evaluation can determine which products can be used at the local scale and if more accurate DSM products are required.

Global mapping of volumetric water retention at 100,330 and 15000 cm suction using the WoSIS database

Present global maps of soil water retention(SWR)are mostly derived from pedotransfer functions(PTFs)applied to maps of other basic soil properties.As an alternative,'point-based'mapping of soil water content can improve global soil data availability and quality.We developed point-based global maps with estimated uncertainty of the volumetric SWR at 100,330 and 15000 cm suction using measured SWR data extracted from the WoSIS Soil Profile Database together with data estimated by a random forest PTF(PTF-RF).The point data was combined with around 200 environmental covariates describing vegetation,terrain morphology,climate,geology,and hydrology using DSM.In total,we used 7292,33192 and 42016 SWR point observations at 100,330 and 15000 cm,respectively,and complemented the dataset with 436108 estimated values at each suction.Tenfold cross-validation yielded a Root Mean Square Error(RMSE)of6380,7.112 and 6.48510^(-2)cm^(3)cm^(-3),and a Model Efficiency Coefficient(MEC)of0.430,0386,and 0.471,respectively,for 100,330 and 15000 cm.The results were also compared to three published global maps of SWR to evaluate differences between point-based and map-based mapping approaches.Point-based mapping performed better than the three map-based mapping approaches for 330 and 15000 cm,while for 100 cm results were similar,possibly due to the limited number of SWR observa-tions for 100 cm.Major sources or uncertainty identified included the geographical clustering of the data and the limitation of the covariates to represent the naturally high variation of SWR.

Determining minimum sample size for the conditioned Latin hypercube sampling algorithm

In digital soil mapping(DSM),a fundamental assumption is that the spatial variability of the target variable can be explained by the predictors or environmental covariates.Strategies to adequately sample the predictors have been well documented,with the conditioned Latin hypercube sampling(cLHS)algorithm receiving the most attention in the DSM community.Despite advances in sampling design,a critical gap remains in determining the number of samples required for DSM projects.We propose a simple workflow and function coded in R language to determine the minimum sample size for the cLHS algorithm based on histograms of the predictor variables using the Freedman-Diaconis rule for determining optimal bin width.Data preprocessing was included to correct for multimodal and non-normally distributed data,as these can affect sample size determination from the histogram.Based on a user-selected quantile range(QR)for the sample plan,the densities of the histogram bins at the upper and lower bounds of the QR were used as a scaling factor to determine minimum sample size.This technique was applied to a field-scale set of environmental covariates for a well-sampled agricultural study site near Guelph,Ontario,Canada,and tested across a range of QRs.The results showed increasing minimum sample size with an increase in the QR selected.Minimum sample size increased from 44 to 83 when the QR increased from 50% to 95% and then increased exponentially to 194 for the 99%QR.This technique provides an estimate of minimum sample size that can be used as an input to the cLHS algorithm.