2019
Sammendrag
Preferential flow may become significant in partially frozen soils because infiltration can occur through large, initially air-filled pores surrounded by a soil matrix with limited infiltration capacity. The objectives of this study were to develop and evaluate a dual-permeability approach for simulating water flow and heat transport in macroporous soils undergoing freezing and thawing. This was achieved by introducing physically based equations for soil freezing and thawing into the dual-permeability model MACRO. Richards’ equation and the heat flow equation were loosely coupled using the generalized Clapeyron equation for the soil micropore domain. Freezing and thawing of macropore water is governed by a first-order equation for energy transfer between the micropore and macropore domains. We assumed that macropore water was unaffected by capillary forces, so that water in macropores freezes at 0°C. The performance of the model was evaluated for four test cases: (i) redistribution of water in the micropore domain during freezing, (ii) a comparison between the first-order energy transfer approach and the heat conduction equation, (iii) infiltration and water flow in frozen soil with an initially air-filled macropore domain, and (iv) thawing from the soil surface during constant-rate rainfall. Results show that the model behaves in accordance with the current understanding of water flow and heat transport in frozen macroporous soil. To improve modeling of water and heat flow in frozen soils, attention should now be focused on providing experimental data suitable for evaluating models that account for macropore flow.
Forfattere
Jihong Liu ClarkeSammendrag
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Sammendrag
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data have gained interest for a variety of remote sensing applications, given the capability of SAR sensors to operate independent of solar radiation and day/night conditions. However, the radiometric quality of SAR images is hindered by speckle noise, which affects further image processing and interpretation. As such, speckle reduction is a crucial pre-processing step in many remote sensing studies based on SAR imagery. This study proposes a new adaptive de-speckling method based on a Gaussian Markov Random Field (GMRF) model. The proposed method integrates both pixel-wised and contextual information using a weighted summation technique. As a by-product of the proposed method, a de-speckled pseudo-span image, which is obtained from the least-squares analysis of the de-speckled multi-polarization channels, is also produced. Experimental results from the medium resolution, fully polarimetric L-band ALOS PALSAR data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm compared to other well-known de-speckling approaches. The de-speckled images produced by the proposed method maintainthe mean value of the original image in homogenous areas, while preserving the edges of features in heterogeneous regions. In particular, the equivalent number of look (ENL) achieved using the proposed method improves by about 15% and 47% compared to the NL-SAR and SARBM3D de-speckling approaches, respectively. Other evaluation indices, such as the mean and variance of the ratio image also reveal the superiority of the proposed method relative to other de-speckling approaches examined in this study.
Forfattere
Stig A. BorgvangSammendrag
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Forfattere
Anne-Grete Roer HjelkremSammendrag
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Sammendrag
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Forfattere
Sigrid Bratlie Kristin Halvorsen Bjørn Kåre Myskja Hilde Mellegård Cathrine Bjorvatn Petter Frost Gunnar Harald Heiene Bjørn Morten Hofmann Arne Holst-Jensen Torolf Holst-Larsen Raino Sverre Malnes Benedicte Paus Bente Sandvig Sonja Irene Sjøli Birgit Skarstein May Britt Thorseth Nils Vagstad Dag Inge Våge Ole Johan BorgeSammendrag
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Forfattere
Hermine Mitter Anja-K. Techen Franz Sinabell Katharina Helming Kasper Kok Jörg A. Priess Erwin Schmid Benjamin L. Bodirsky Ian Holman Heikki Lehtonen Adrian Leip Chantal Le Mouel Erik Mathijs Bano Mehdi Melania Michetti Klaus Mittenzwei Olivier Mora Lillian Øygarden Pytrik Reidsma Rudiger Schaldach Martin SchönhartSammendrag
Moving towards a more sustainable future requires concerted actions, particularly in the context of global climate change. Integrated assessments of agricultural systems (IAAS) are considered valuable tools to provide sound information for policy and decision-making. IAAS use storylines to define socio-economic and environmental framework assumptions. While a set of qualitative global storylines, known as the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs), is available to inform integrated assessments at large scales, their spatial resolution and scope is insufficient for regional studies in agriculture. We present a protocol to operationalize the development of Shared Socio-economic Pathways for European agriculture – Eur-Agri-SSPs – to support IAAS. The proposed design of the storyline development process is based on six quality criteria: plausibility, vertical and horizontal consistency, salience, legitimacy, richness and creativity. Trade-offs between these criteria may occur. The process is science-driven and iterative to enhance plausibility and horizontal consistency. A nested approach is suggested to link storylines across scales while maintaining vertical consistency. Plausibility, legitimacy, salience, richness and creativity shall be stimulated in a participatory and interdisciplinary storyline development process. The quality criteria and process design requirements are combined in the protocol to increase conceptual and methodological transparency. The protocol specifies nine working steps. For each step, suitable methods are proposed and the intended level and format of stakeholder engagement are discussed. A key methodological challenge is to link global SSPs with regional perspectives provided by the stakeholders, while maintaining vertical consistency and stakeholder buy-in. We conclude that the protocol facilitates systematic development and evaluation of storylines, which can be transferred to other regions, sectors and scales and supports inter-comparisons of IAAS.
Forfattere
Heli Fitzgerald Anna Palmé Åsmund Asdal Dag Terje Filip Endresen Elina Kiviharju Birgitte Lund Morten Rasmussen Hjörtur Thorbjörnsson Jens WeibullSammendrag
Crop wild relatives (CWR) can provide one solution to future challenges on food security, sustainable agriculture and adaptation to climate change. Diversity found in CWR can be essential for adapting crops to these new demands. Since the need to improve in situ conservation of CWR has been recognized by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (2010) and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (2011–2020), it is important to develop ways to safeguard these important genetic resources. The Nordic flora includes many species related to food, forage and other crop groups, but little has been done to systematically secure these important wild resources. A Nordic regional approach to CWR conservation planning provided opportunities to network, find synergies, share knowledge, plan the conservation and give policy inputs on a regional level. A comprehensive CWR checklist for the Nordic region was generated and then prioritized by socio-economic value and utilization potential. Nordic CWR checklist was formed of 2553 taxa related to crop plants. Out of these, 114 taxa including 83 species were prioritized representing vegetable, cereal, fruit, berry, nut and forage crop groups. The in situ conservation planning of the priority CWR included ecogeographic and complementarity analyses to identify a potential network of genetic reserve sites in the region. Altogether 971,633 occurrence records of the priority species were analysed. A minimum number of sites within and outside existing conservation areas were identified that had the potential to support a maximum number of target species of maximum intraspecific diversity.
Forfattere
Anna Maria Vettraino Alberto Santini Christo Nikolov Jean-Claude Grégoire Rumen Tomov Andrei Orlinski Tiit Maaten Halldor Sverrisson Bjørn Økland René EschenSammendrag
Sentinel plants, plants in exporting countries that are inspected at regular intervals for signs and symptoms of invertebrate pests and microbial pathogens, are a promising tool for detecting and identifying harmful organisms of woody plants prior to their introduction into importing countries. Monitoring of sentinel plants reveals crucial information for pest risk analyses and the development of mitigation measures. The establishment of sentinel plants requires the import and plantation of non-native plants, which may be affected by the laws, regulations and administrative procedures in the individual countries. To evaluate the feasibility of sentinel plants as a global approach, this study aimed to summarise regulations and administrative procedures that affect the establishment of sentinel plants using non-native plants in countries worldwide. Information about national regulations of import and planting of non-native plant species was collected through a questionnaire survey, conducted among national representatives to the International Plant Protection Convention. Over 40 countries responded. The results show that legislations and regulations should not be major obstacles for a global use of the sentinel plants approach. However, the few existing experiences show that it can be complicated in practice. Here we describe the current state of art of the procedures that should be adopted to establish sentinel plants and we propose a strategy to circumvent the shortcomings resulting from the lack of a specific regulation.