Environmental Geography Seminar 6/26

Dear all,

Hello!

This is an announcement of the upcoming Environmental Geography Seminar.

Please see all the details carefully below.

【Date】 26th. June. Wed. （Time: 15:00~）

【Place】 D101

【Content】

1. Presenters
i. John

Title: Integrating Geo-spatial Techniques for Urban Land Use Classification in the Developing Sub-Saharan African City of Lusaka, Zambia
Abstract: For most sub-Saharan African (SSA) cities, in order to control the historically unplanned urban growth and stimulate sustainable future urban development, there is a need for accurate identification of the past and present urban land use (ULU). However, studies addressing ULU classification in SSA cities are lacking. In this study, we developed an integrated approach of remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques to classify ULU in the developing SSA city of Lusaka. First, we defined six ULU classes (i.e., unplanned high density residential; unplanned low density residential; planned medium-high density residential; planned low density residential; commercial and industrial; public institutions and service areas). ULU parcels, created using road networks as homogenous units separating ULU classes, were used to classify ULU. We utilised the combined detail of cadastral and land use data plus high-resolution Google Earth imagery to infer ULU and classify the parcels. For residential ULU, we also created density thresholds for accurate separation of the classes. We then used the classified ULU parcels for post-classification sorting of built-up pixels extracted from three Landsat TM/ETM+ imageries (1990, 2000, and 2010) into respective ULU classes. Three ULU maps were produced with overall accuracy values of 84.09% to 85.86%. The maps provide information that is relevant to urban planners and policy makers for sustainable future urban planning of Lusaka City. The study also provides an insight for ULU classification in SSA cities with complex urban landscapes similar to Lusaka.
Full text available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/6/4/102/htm

ii. Cui Song

Title: A regional-scale assessment of Himalayan glacial lake changes using satellite observations from 1990 to 2015
Author: Yong Nie, Yongwei Sheng, Qiao Liu, Linshan Liu, Shiyin Liu, Yili Zhang, Chunqiao Song
Journal: Remote Sensing of Environment 189 (2017) 1-13
Keywords: Landsat, Glacial lake, Glacier Climate change, Himalaya
Abstract: The Himalaya, the world’s highest mountain ranges, are home to a large group of glaciers and glacial lakes. Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in this region have resulted in catastrophic damages and fatalities in the past decades. The recent warming has caused dramatic glacial lake changes and increased potential GLOF risk in the Himalaya. However, our knowledge on the current state and change of glacial lakes in the entire Himalaya is limited. This study maps the current (2015) distribution of glacial lakes across the entire Himalaya and monitors the spatially-explicit evolution of glacial lakes over five time periods from 1990 to 2015 using a total of 348 Landsat images at 30mresolution. The results show that 4950 glacial lakes in 2015 cover a total area of455.3±72.7 km2, mainly located between 4000mand 5700mabove sea level. Himalayan glacial lakes expanded by approximately 14.1% from1990 to 2015. The changing patterns of supraglacial lakes and proglacial lakes are rather complex, involving both lake disappearance and emergence. Many emergent glacial lakes are found at higher elevations, especially the new proglacial lakes, which have formed as a result of glacier retreat. Spatially heterogeneous changes of Himalayan glacial lakes are observed, with the most significant expansion occurring in the southern slopes of the central Himalaya. Increasing glacier meltwater induced by the Himalayan atmospheric warming is a primary cause for the observed lake expansion. This study provides primary data for future GLOF risk assessments. A total of118 rapidly expanded glacial lakes are identified as potential vulnerable lakes for the priority of risk assessment.
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425716304382

iii. Atu

Title: Interactions between protected areas and their surroundings in human-dominated tropical landscapes
Authors: Ruth DeFries, Krithi K. Karanth and Sajid Pareeth
Journal: Biological Conservation 143 (2010) 2870–2880

Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) often depend on landscapes surrounding them to maintain flows of organisms, water, nutrients, and energy. Park managers have little authority over the surrounding landscape although land use change and infrastructure development can have major impacts on the integrity of a PA. The need for scientifically-based regional-scale land use planning around protected areas is acute in human-dominated landscapes to balance conservation goals with livelihood needs for fuelwood, fodder, and other ecosystem services. As a first step, we propose the designation of a ‘‘zone of interaction” (ZOI) around PAs that encompasses hydrologic, ecological, and socioeconomic interactions between a PA and the surrounding landscape. We illustrate the concept by delineating the ZOI in three Indian PAs – Kanha, Ranthambore, and Nagarahole – using remote sensing, population census, and field data. The ZOI in Ranthambore is three times the size of the park and is largely defined by the socioeconomic interactions with surrounding villages. Ranthambore is located in headwaters and wildlife corridors are largely severed. In Nagarahole, the ZOI is more than seven times larger than the park and includes upstream watershed and elephant corridors. Kanha’s ZOI is approximately four times larger than the park and is mostly defined by the contiguous surrounding forest. The three examples highlight the differing extents of ZOIs when applying equivalent criteria, even though all are located in densely-populated landscapes. A quantitative understanding of which activities (e.g. collection of forest products, grazing, road construction, tourism development) and which locations within the ZOI are most crucial to conservation goals will enable improved land use planning around PAs in human-dominated landscapes.

iv. Armstrong

Authors: Christina Corbane , Jean-François Faure, Nicolas Baghdadi, Nicolas Villeneuve and Michel Petit

Journal: Sensors

Impact Factor: 3.031

Publisher: mdpi

https://doi.org/10.3390/s8117125
Abstract

This paper highlights the potential of combining Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical data for operational rapid urban mapping. An algorithm consisting of a completely unsupervised procedure for processing pairs of co-registered SAR/optical images is proposed. In a first stage, a texture analysis is conducted independently on the two images using eight different chain-based Gaussian models. In a second stage, the resulting texture images are partitioned by an unsupervised fuzzy K-means approach. Finally, a fuzzy decision rule is used to aggregate the results provided by the classification of texture images obtained from the pair of SAR and optical images. The method was tested and validated on images of Bucharest (Romania) and Cayenne (French Guiana). These two study areas are of different terrain relief, urban settlement structure and land cover complexity. The data set included Radarsat-1/ENVISAT and SPOT-4/5 images. The developed SAR/optical information fusion scheme improved the capabilities of urban areas extraction when compared with the separate use of SAR and optical sensors. It also proved to be suitable for monitoring urbanization development. The encouraging results thus confirm the potential of combining information from SAR and optical sensors for timely urban area analysis, as required in cases of disaster management and planning in urban sprawl areas.

Keywords: SAR sensors, optical sensors, texture analysis, fuzzy K-means classification, information fusion, rapid urban mapping.

v.

2. Note this:

Please send me the detailed information about your presentation at least 5 days before your turn.

For a paper review: title and author of the paper, journal name, which volume, pages, also the link (if possible) should be provided.

If a paper written in Japanese is going to be presented, please kindly send me the information both in Japanese and English.

【Notice】

※ In case you are absent from the seminar or late for the seminar, please contact Professors or me in advance. Any absence without permission is not allowed;

※ Please be punctual (very important);

※ Please do your full preparation for the seminar;

※ Your active participation is always appreciated;

※ Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions or comments.

Best Regards,

Chang Liang