ALBERT

Description: An extremely heavy rainfall event hit Guangdong province, China, from 27 August to 1 September 2018. There were two different extreme rain regions, respectively, at the Pearl River estuary and eastern Guangdong, and a record-breaking daily precipitation of 1056.7 mm was observed at Gaotan station on 30 August. This paper utilizes a suite of observations from soundings, a gauge network, disdrometers, and polarimetric radars to gain insights to the two rainfall centers. The large-scale meteorological forcing, rainfall patterns, and microphysical processes, as well as radar-based precipitation signatures are investigated. It is concluded that a west-moving monsoon depression played a critical role in sustaining the moisture supply to the two extreme rain regions, and the combined orographic enhancement further contributed to the torrential rainfall over Gaotan station. The raindrop size distributions (DSD) observed at Zhuhai and Huidong stations, as well as the observed polarimetric radar signatures indicate that the rainfall at Doumen region was characterized by larger raindrops but a lower number concentration compared with that at Gaotan region. In addition, the dual-polarization radars are used to quantify precipitation intensity during this extreme event, providing timely information for flood warning and emergency management decision-making.

Description: Earth remote sensing optical satellite systems are often divided into two categories—geosynchronous and sun-synchronous. Geosynchronous systems essentially rotate with the Earth and continuously observe the same region of the Earth. Sun-synchronous systems are generally in a polar orbit and view differing regions of the Earth at the same local time. Although similar in instrument design, there are enough differences in these two types of missions that often the calibration of the instruments can be substantially different. Thus, respective calibration teams develop independent methods and do not interact regularly or often. Yet, there are numerous areas of overlap and much to learn from one another. To address this issue, a panel of experts from both types of systems was convened to discover common areas of concern, areas where improvements can be made, and recommendations for the future. As a result of the panelist’s efforts, a set of eight recommendations were developed. Those that are related to improvements of current technologies include maintaining sun-synchronous orbits (not allowing orbital decay), standardization of spectral bandpasses, and expanded use of well-developed calibration techniques such as deep convective clouds, pseudo invariant calibration sites, and lunar methodologies. New techniques for expanded calibration capability include using geosynchronous instruments as transfer radiometers, continued development of ground-based prelaunch calibration technologies, expansion of RadCalNet, and development of space-based calibration radiometer systems.

Description: As satellite observation technology improves, the number of remote sensing images significantly and rapidly increases. Therefore, a growing number of studies are focusing on remote sensing image retrieval. However, having a large number of remote sensing images considerably slows the retrieval time and takes up a great deal of memory space. The hash method is being increasingly used for rapid image retrieval because of its remarkably fast performance. At the same time, selecting samples that contain more information and greater stability to train the network has gradually become the key to improving retrieval performance. Given the above considerations, we propose a deep hash remote sensing image retrieval method, called the hard probability sampling hash retrieval method (HPSH), which combines hash code learning with hard probability sampling in a deep network. Specifically, we used a probability sampling method to select training samples, and we designed one novel hash loss function to better train the network parameters and reduce the hashing accuracy loss due to quantization. Our experimental results demonstrate that HPSH could yield an excellent representation compared with other state-of-the-art hash approaches. For the university of California, merced (UCMD) dataset, HPSH+S resulted in a mean average precision (mAP) of up to 90.9% on 16 hash bits, 92.2% on 24 hash bits, and 92.8% on 32 hash bits. For the aerial image dataset (AID), HPSH+S achieved a mAP of up to 89.8% on 16 hash bits, 93.6% on 24 hash bits, and 95.5% on 32 hash bits. For the UCMD dataset, with the use of data augmentation, our proposed approach achieved a mAP of up to 99.6% on 32 hash bits and 99.7% on 64 hash bits.

Description: The research presented in the paper intends to overcome an information gap on the evolution of urbanized surfaces in Italy which in the studies carried out so far have never been available. The only historical data on this form of land use date back to the 1950s, and were extracted from a national cartography created by the Military Geographic Institute. The next chronological section available was then that of the noughties, already digital. However, much more frequent data were processed by the ten-year censuses by the National Institute of Statistics, but concerning buildings and not urbanized areas. By processing building census data, this study has put together some novel information on land take dynamics between the end of World War II and the year 2000, highlighting the more intensive processes that occurred at an extraordinary rate in the ‘70′s and ‘80′s, obtaining unprecedented information on the speed of transformation of the territory in these decades of economic boom. Through this method, we were able to obtain numerous geographical indications previously lacking on a national scale, highlight the yet significant vigor of this phenomenon and develop an inferential scenario.

Description: Access and use of seed of improved varieties of groundnut among farmers can improve farmers’ livelihoods and contribute to the potential of crop production in Tanzania. This paper analyzes factors underpinning the adoption of improved groundnut varieties among farmers to pave the way for upscaling quality seed used for increased production and commodity business in farming communities. A four-stage stratified sampling was used to collect data from 300 groundnut farmers in seven agro-ecological zones through individual interviews. Secondary data were collected from the literature and the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute at Naliendele centre (TARI–Naliendele). Descriptive statistics and Probit regression model were used for data analysis. The empirical results showed that Johari 1985, Pendo 1998, Naliendele 2009, Mnanje 2009, Mangaka 2009 and Nachi 2015, are the main six improved groundnut varieties used by farmers, with Pendo 1998 having the highest adoption rate (17.1%). In the grain market, four varieties, namely Pendo 1998, Mnanje 2009, Nachi 2015 and Johari 1985, were observed to be highly preferred by grain off-takers. Furthermore, among the adopted improved varieties, Nachi 2015, is observed to be the most consistent high yielding variety, ranging from 1100 kg/ha to 1500 kg/ha in all agro-ecological zones. A farmer’s decision to adopt new varieties is affected by age and gender, farmer group membership, availability of improved seed and seed cost. Overall, male farmers are more likely to adopt improved varieties of groundnut than female farmers. The implications of these findings are also discussed, in particular in the area of policy support.

Description: This study presents an integrated examination of both the ecosystem services (ES) and ecosystem disservices (EDS) associated with smallholder animal husbandry in rural livelihoods in three villages in southeast South Africa. It recognises the contribution of ES supporting and resulting from smallholder livestock and poultry production, but also details the limiting factors or EDS, such as tick-borne disease, birds of prey or unpalatable rangeland, produced by the same system. Using a mixed-methods approach, including focus group discussions with various Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) activities, key informant interviews, household surveys and land-use change mapping on GIS, we consider the relative value and benefits from ES after the effects of EDS, as well as the management and strategies that households adopt to minimise EDS. The effects of ES and EDS were expressed in economic terms to provide a common framework to assess the magnitude of their contribution or effect. Although animal husbandry made measurable contributions to households, with an average gross value of between R2605–R9753 across villages, EDS undermined the meaningful production of livestock and poultry goods and services. The average EDS-induced economic loss in households was between R8289–R22,426 per annum. Despite active management, often at substantial cost to the household, EDS undermined the health of livestock which resulted in a loss of the animal or potential goods and services produced. We emphasise the need to recognise both the positive and negative contributions of ecosystems to identify the complex feedbacks between ES and EDS which interact to determine local ways of doing things.

Description: Species with wide geographical ranges exhibit specific adaptations to local climates, which may result in diverging responses among populations to changing conditions. Climate change has advanced spring phenology worldwide, but questions of whether and how the phenological responses to warming differ among individuals across the natural range of a species remain. We conducted two experiments in January and April 2019, and performed daily observations of the timings of bud break in 1-year-old seedlings of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) from 25 Canadian provenances at two thermal conditions (14/10 and 18/14 °C day/night temperature) in a controlled environment. Overall, bud break started 6 days from the beginning of the experiments and finished after 125 days. The earlier events were observed in seedlings originating from the colder sites. Bud break was delayed by 4.8 days per additional degree Celsius in the mean annual temperature at the origin site. Warming advanced the timing of bud break by 17–27 days in January and by 3–8 days in April. Similar advancements in bud break were observed among provenances under warming conditions, which rejected our hypothesis that sugar maple populations have different phenological responses to warming. Our findings confirm the differentiation in ecotypes for the process of bud break in sugar maple. In cases of homogenous spring warming across the native range of sugar maple, similar advancements in bud phenology can be expected in different populations.

Description: This case study from Stockholm County, Sweden, explores practitioners’ experiences of barriers and bridges in municipal planning practices to support actions for ecosystem services. This qualitative study is based on information gathered from a focus group, workshops, and semi-structured interviews, which aided in identifying key factors for integrating ecosystem services in municipal planning. We identified 10 key factors divided into three themes: (i) regulatory framework and political support, (ii) local organizational capacity, and (iii) local adaptation of tools and practices. In particular, the practitioners pointed to the need for the development of legal support and regulations for ecosystem services on the national and EU policy levels. Furthermore, the need for local capacity building and understanding of ecosystem services as well as increased regional support to enhance local knowledge exchange and learning was emphasized. Also, in a decentralized local governance system such as in Sweden, to fully implement ecosystem services in urban planning for sustainable development, locally adapted practical tools and monitoring procedures were considered important.

Description: Sugarcane is an important industrial crop because it is the major source of white sugar. It is also one of the crops for the alcohol and biofuel industries. Disease-causing organisms can significantly decrease the productivity of sugarcane plants and sugar quality. Among the disease-causing organisms, Colletotrichum falcatum Went causes the most significant economic loss (5–50%) in the sugarcane production due to red rot disease. This loss results in only 31% sugar recovery. It is reported that C. falcatum can kill sugarcane plants. Currently, there is no sustainable way of preventing red rot disease from spreading in sugarcane plantations. Many popular sugarcane varieties are no longer used in sugarcane cultivation because of their susceptibility to C. falcatum. The objectives of this manuscript were to: (i) summarize existing approaches for the early detection of red rot disease and controlling techniques of red rot disease in the field and laboratory and (ii) assess red rot disease control effectiveness so as to propose better methods for mitigating the spread C. falcatum. If our proposition is adopted or practiced, it could significantly contribute to the mitigation of C. falcatum infection in the sugarcane industry. This could enable achieving sustainable cultivation of sugarcanes to guarantee the sustainability of the sugar industry in the tropics and the subtropics.

Description: The transition from intensive conventional agriculture to sustainable agriculture has become a global priority. This is due to the need for environmentally friendly agriculture to ensure sufficient food for a rapidly growing population. The bioeconomy is essential to progress in the field of sustainable agriculture. It contributes to the conservation of biological resources through circular and comprehensive management. The bioeconomy prioritizes the reduction and reuse of materials and products. The focus of this study is the use of biodegradable/compostable raffia in protected horticultural crops in the Province of Almería (Spain). The analysis and evaluations, based on an extensive literature review and information given by stakeholders, determined that biodegradable raffia use significantly improves the management of residual biomass in Almería. However, biodegradable raffia is only used in a small percentage of crops even though it is a sustainable alternative and profitable for farmers. The economic analysis incorporates the higher cost of recycling non-biodegradable raffia.