Registration And Visualisation Of Deformation Maps From Terrestrial Radar Interferometry Using Photogrammetry And Structure From Motion

This paper describes a general workflow for the registration of terrestrial radar interferometric data with 3D point clouds derived from terrestrial photogrammetry and structure from motion. After the determination of intrinsic and extrinsic orientation parameters, data obtained by terrestrial radar interferometry were projected on point clouds and then on the initial photographs. Visualisation of slope deformation measurements on photographs provides an easily understandable and distributable information product, especially of inaccessible target areas such as steep rock walls or in rockfall run-out zones. The suitability and error propagation of the referencing steps and final visualisation of four approaches are compared: (a) the classic approach using a metric camera and stereo-image photogrammetry; (b) images acquired with a metric camera, automatically processed using structure from motion; (c) images acquired with a digital compact camera, processed with structure from motion; and (d) a markerless approach, using images acquired with a digital compact camera using structure from motion without artificial ground control points. The usability of the completely markerless approach for the visualisation of high-resolution radar interferometry assists the production of visualisation products for interpretation.

Hazard index maps for woody material recruitment and transport in alpine catchments

A robust and reliable risk assessment procedure for hydrologic hazards deserves particular attention to the role of transported woody material during flash floods or debris flows. At present, woody material transport phenomena are not systematically considered within the procedures for the elaboration of hazard maps. The consequence is a risk of losing prediction accuracy and of underestimating hazard impacts. Transported woody material frequently interferes with the sediment regulation capacity of open check dams and moreover, when obstruction phenomena at critical crosssections of the stream occur, inundations can be triggered. The paper presents a procedure for the determination of the relative propensity of mountain streams to the entrainment and delivery of recruited woody material on the basis of empirical indicators. The procedure provided the basis for the elaboration of a hazard index map for all torrent catchments of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen. The plausibility of the results has been thoroughly checked by a backward oriented analysis on natural hazard events, documented since 1998 at the Department of Hydraulic Engineering of the aforementioned Alpine Province. The procedure provides hints for the consideration of the effects, induced by woody material transport, during the elaboration of hazard zone maps.

Eastern Equatoria

The present map sheet is composed of four field maps (1:250'000) and is one of five maps in the overview series (1:500'000). The maps and the geodatabase werde prepared by the Centre for Development and Environment of the Univeristy of Berne, with funding from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The map is being released as a technical contribution to support the humanitarian, peace-keeping and reconstruction efforts in Southern Sudan.

Eastern Equatoria State

The present map sheet is composed of field maps (1:250'000) and is one of nine maps of the Southern Sudan State Map Series (1:500'000). The maps and the Geodatabase were prepared by the Centre for Development and Environment of the University of Berne, with funding from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The map is being released as a technical contribution to support the humanitarian, peace-keeping and reconstruction efforts in Southern Sudan.

A novel approach for assessing shifting cultivation dynamics in a regional conservation hotspot - insights from nort-eastern Madagascar

The north-eastern escarpment of Madagascar has been deemed a global hotspot of biodiversity due to its high levels of endemic speciesbeing heavily threatened by accelerated deforestation rates and landscape changes. The main concern for conservation of the remaining humid primary forests is the shifting cultivation practices of local smallholder farmers for rice production. According to the mainstream narrative, human population growth leads to a shortening of crop-fallow cycles and thus to the accelerated conversion of forests to agricultural land. However, little is currently known about the dynamic changes between forest and shifting cultivation systems at the regional level. Existing land cover change analyses in this area have so far only focused on binary forest to non-forest changes and have therefore failed to account for the dynamic nature of the change processes between forest and different agriculture land use systems. This can be partly explained by the significant challenge to delineate shifting cultivation systems on land cover maps using traditional remote sensing classification approaches. To address this gap we therefore applied a novel GIS approach, that was originally developed for the assessment of shifting cultivation dynamics in Laos and has so far never been applied elsewhere, to map shifting cultivation of different crop-fallow lengths as well as permanent agriculture land use at the regional level. Change analyses of land use maps between 1995 and 2011 allowed us to comprehend the general trends of land use trajectories and their spatial variation. This more detailed understanding of land use change dynamics is key to plan for successful interventions to slow forest loss while at the same time improving local livelihoods. We further believe that this approach holds great potential for conservation monitoring in this resource-rich but povertyprone conservation hotspot.

Millennial to orbital-scale variations of drought intensity in the Eastern Mediterranean

Millennial to orbital-scale rainfall changes in the Mediterranean region and corresponding variations in vegetation patterns were the result of large-scale atmospheric reorganizations. In spite of recent efforts to reconstruct this variability using a range of proxy archives, the underlying physical mechanisms have remained elusive. Through the analysis of a new high-resolution sedimentary section from Lake Van (Turkey) along with climate modeling experiments, we identify massive droughts in the Eastern Med- iterranean for the past four glacial cycles, which have a pervasive link with known intervals of enhanced North Atlantic glacial iceberg calving, weaker Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and Dansgaard-Oeschger cold conditions. On orbital timescales, the topographic effect of large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets and periods with minimum insolation seasonality further exacerbated drought intensities by suppressing both summer and winter precipitation.

Distributed transpressive continental deformation: The Varto Fault Zone, eastern Turkey

The convergence between the Eurasian and Arabian plates has created a complicated structural setting in the Eastern Turkish high plateau (ETHP), particularly around the Karlıova Triple Junction (KTJ) where the Eurasian, Arabian, and Anatolian plates intersect. This region of interest includes the junction of the North Anatolian Shear Zone (NASZ) and the East Anatolian Shear Zone (EASZ), which forms the northern border of the westwardly extruding Anatolian Scholle and the western boundary of the ETHP, respectively. In this study, we focused on a poorly studied component of the KTJ, the Varto Fault Zone (VFZ), and the adjacent secondary structures, which have complex structural settings. Through integrated analyses of remote sensing and field observations, we identified a widely distributed transpressional zone where the Varto segment of the VFZ forms the most northern boundary. The other segments, namely, the Leylekdağ and Çayçatı segments, are oblique-reverse faults that are significantly defined by uplifted topography along their strikes. The measured 515 and 265 m of cumulative uplifts for Mt. Leylek and Mt. Dodan, respectively, yield a minimum uplift rate of 0.35 mm/a for the last 2.2 Ma. The multi-oriented secondary structures were mostly correlated with “the distributed strike-slip” and “the distributed transpressional” in analogue experiments. The misfits in strike of some of secondary faults between our observations and the experimental results were justified by about 20° to 25° clockwise restoration of all relevant structures that were palaeomagnetically measured to have happened since ~ 2.8 Ma ago. Our detected fault patterns and their true nature are well aligned as being part of a transpressional tectonic setting that supports previously suggested stationary triple junction models.

Vegetation and fire history of coastal north-eastern Sardinia (Italy) under changing Holocene climates and land use

Little is known about the vegetation and fire history of Sardinia, and especially the long-term history of the thermo-Mediterranean belt that encompasses its entire coastal lowlands. A new sedimentary record from a coastal lake based on pollen, spores, macrofossils and microscopic charcoal analysis is used to reconstruct the vegetation and fire history in north-eastern Sardinia. During the mid-Holocene (c. 8,100–5,300 cal bp), the vegetation around Stagno di Sa Curcurica was characterised by dense Erica scoparia and E. arborea stands, which were favoured by high fire activity. Fire incidence declined and evergreen broadleaved forests of Quercus ilex expanded at the beginning of the late Holocene. We relate the observed vegetation and fire dynamics to climatic change, specifically moister and cooler summers and drier and milder winters after 5,300 cal bp. Agricultural activities occurred since the Neolithic and intensified after c. 7,000 cal bp. Around 2,750 cal bp, a further decline of fire incidence and Erica communities occurred, while Quercus ilex expanded and open-land communities became more abundant. This vegetation shift coincided with the historically documented beginning of Phoenician period, which was followed by Punic and Roman civilizations in Sardinia. The vegetational change at around 2,750 cal bp was possibly advantaged by a further shift to moister and cooler summers and drier and milder winters. Triggers for climate changes at 5,300 and 2,750 cal bp may have been gradual, orbitally-induced changes in summer and winter insolation, as well as centennial-scale atmospheric reorganizations. Open evergreen broadleaved forests persisted until the twentieth century, when they were partly substituted by widespread artificial pine plantations. Our results imply that highly flammable Erica vegetation, as reconstructed for the mid-Holocene, could re-emerge as a dominant vegetation type due to increasing drought and fire, as anticipated under global change conditions.

WOCAT - World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies - Preliminary results from Eastern and Southern Africa

The World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) is a program of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWC), organized as a consortium of several international institutions. The overall goal of WOCAT is to contribute to sustainable utilization of soil and water. WOCAT collects and analyzes information on soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies and approaches world-wide, and presents the collected information in computer databases and decision support systems, and in the form of handbooks, reports and maps readily accessible to SWC specialists and policy-makers world-wide. WOCAT has prepared a framework for the evaluation of soil and water conservation and has started data collection. The paper presents preliminary results with promising SWC technologies and approaches used in Eastern and Southern Africa. The first finding is that hardly any promising SWC activities could be found on common grazing lands. Analysis of the cropland shows some of the bio-physical and socioeconomic conditions under which certain SWC technologies and approaches are used, including land use types, climatic zones and land tenure, and looks at issues such as participation and costs. Furthermore, classification criteria for SWC technologies and approaches are discussed.

Refractions of Canada in European Literature and Culture

Ever since the first exploratory expeditions in the early modern period, North America has epitomized to Europeans a promise and the hope for the fulfilment of great expectations, be it of more freedom, greater wealth, social liberation or religious tolerance. While numerous features in this dialogic intercontinental relationship will hold true for North America in its entirety, the vast northern territories which we know as Canada today began to emerge early on as a specific iconic location in European mind-maps, and they definitely acquired a distinctive profile after the formation of the USA. As a rich source of cultural exchange and an important partner in political and economic cooperation Canada has come to occupy an important position in the cultural discourses of many European nations. It is these refractions and images of Canada which this volume thoroughly explores in European literature and culture. The contributions include literature, philosophy, language, life-writing and the concept of 'Heimat' (homeland) as well as the cultural impact of the World Wars. While there is an emphasis on literary texts, other fields of cultural representation are also included.

Isotope Study of Moisture Sources, Recharge Areas and Groundwater Flowpaths within the Eastern Batinah Coastal Plain, Sultanate of Oman

Oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses of rainfall samples collected on the eastern Batinah coastal plain of northern Oman between 1995 and 1998 indicate two different principal water vapor sources for precipitation in the area: a northern, Mediterranean source and a southern, Indian Ocean source. As a result, two new local meteoric water lines were defined for the study area. Isotopic analyses of groundwater samples from over 200 springs and wells indicate that the main source of water to the Batinah coastal alluvial aquifer is high-altitude rainfall from the adjacent Jabal Akhdar Mountains, originating from a combination of northern and southern moisture sources. The groundwater recharged at high-altitude forms two plumes of water which is depleted in the heavy isotopes 18O and 2H and stretches from the mountains across the coastal plain to the sea, thereby retaining a chemical homogeneity horizontally and vertically down to a depth exceeding 300 m. In contrast, in areas adjacent to these two plumes the alluvial aquifer is geochemically stratified. Near the coast, saline intrusion results in abrupt changes in chloride concentrations and isotope values.