Remote sensing techniques for tracking changes caused by illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios, PeruAdamek, Katarzyna; Lupa, Michał; Zawadzki, Mateusz
2021 Miscellanea Geographica
doi: 10.2478/mgrsd-2020-0028
AbstractIllegal extraction of gold has grown to be a problem in many countries, causing the degradation of the environment. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate changes in tree cover and surface pollution. The development of a mine site has been observed and analysed with images acquired from Landsat and the Sentinel missions. The results of the study showed changes in the state of the environment, strongly suggesting the possibility of ongoing pyrite weathering processes and the transportation of clay materials down watercourses, which can cause not only the further deterioration of the environment but also slow down the natural regeneration of the forest. In addition, research has found disturbing changes in vegetation, showing a loss of tree cover in the Amazon Rainforest as high as 17%. The validity of using remote sensing methods to observe the development of individual mining sites and their characteristics was confirmed.
Using GMT for 2D and 3D Modeling of the Ryukyu Trench Topography, Pacific OceanLemenkova, Polina
2021 Miscellanea Geographica
doi: 10.2478/mgrsd-2020-0038
AbstractThis research focuses on the 2D and 3D geospatial analysis of the Ryukyu Trench, a deep-sea trench located in the western Pacific Ocean between Japan and Taiwan. The aim of the research is to visualize regional differences in the topography of the southern (S) and northern (N) parts of the trench. Technically, the methodology is based on using the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) scripting toolset, for modelling the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), and Earth Topography and Bathymetry dataset (ETOPO1) raster grids. The results demonstrated topographic differences in the two segments. The most frequent depths lie between −5,000 and −6,000 m. The N part has steeper gradient slopes and deeper bathymetry. Of the depth differences >−6,000 m, S has nine values with depths >−6,800 m while N shows 123 records (max −7,460 m). The submarine terraces of S have gentler slopes compared with the N segment. The technical approach presents GMT-based 2D and 3D cartographic modelling aimed at visualizing regional variations of the seafloor topography.
Remote sensing techniques to assess chlorophyll fluorescence in support of crop monitoring in PolandGurdak, Radosław; Bartold, Maciej
2021 Miscellanea Geographica
doi: 10.2478/mgrsd-2020-0029
AbstractThe increase in demand for food and the need to predict the impact of a warming climate on vegetation makes it critical that the best tools for assessing crop production are found. Chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) has been proposed as a direct indicator of photosynthesis and plant condition. The aim of this paper is to study the feasibility of estimating ChlF from spectral vegetation indices derived from Sentinel-2, in order to monitor crop stress and investigate ChlF changes in response to surface temperatures and meteorological observations. The regressions between thirty three Sentinel-2-derived VIs, and ChlF measured on the ground were evaluated in order to estimate the best predictors of ChlF. The r-Pearson correlation and polynomial linear regression were used. For maize, the highest correlation between ChlF and VIs were found for NDII (r=0.65) and for SIPI (r=−0.68). The weakest relationship between VIs and ChlF were found for sugar beets. Despite this, it should be noted that the highest correlation for sugar beets appeared for EVI (r=0.45) and S2REP (r=0.43). The results of this study indicate the need for a synergy of low and high resolution satellite data that will enable a more detailed analysis for estimating fluorescence and its relation to climatic conditions, environmental aspects, and VIs derived from satellite images.
The Effectiveness of China's Foreign Trade LiberalizationCieślik, Andrzej; Tseyang, Tenzin
2021 Miscellanea Geographica
doi: 10.2478/mgrsd-2020-0064
AbstractThis paper studies the ex-post trade effects of China's multilateral, regional and bilateral trade liberalization using augmented gravity and panel data estimation methods for the period 1995–2016. China's accession to the WTO was revealed to have had a significant impact on the volume of trade as well as on bilateral exports and imports. Regional trade agreements and the majority of bilateral trade agreements were found not to be effective in increasing China's foreign trade. Only the agreements with Chile, Costa Rica and Switzerland were effective in increasing China's trade volume. Moreover, the results for Chile were driven by increases in both exports and imports, while for Costa Rica and Switzerland only by increased imports from these countries.
Analysis of cropping intensity and irrigation intensity in North Twenty Four Parganas district, West Bengal, IndiaMondal, Tarun Kumar; Sarkar, Santana
2021 Miscellanea Geographica
doi: 10.2478/mgrsd-2020-0063
AbstractAn attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the spatio-temporal variations of cropping intensity and irrigation intensity, and their relationship, in North Twenty Four Parganas district in West Bengal, India from 1996/97 to 2015/16. The relationship between cropping intensity and irrigation intensity has been assessed using partial correlation, residual mapping and hierarchical cluster analysis. One-way ANOVA has been conducted for testing the equality of cluster means. Temporal analysis from 1996/97 to 2015/16 has shown a low positive correlation between cropping intensity and irrigation intensity for the entire district. Analysis at Agricultural Block level has revealed that cropping intensity decreased in many cases even after an increase in irrigation intensity. In general, cropping intensity has increased with the increase in irrigation intensity in the Coastal Saline Region and the Ichhamati Basin, whereas cropping intensity has increased even after a decrease in irrigation intensity in the Gangetic Plains Region in the district.
Multivariate mapping for experienced users: comparing extrinsic and intrinsic maps with univariate mapsKorycka-Skorupa, Jolanta; Gołębiowska, Izabela
2021 Miscellanea Geographica
doi: 10.2478/mgrsd-2020-0068
AbstractMultivariate mapping is a technique in which multivariate data are encoded into a single map. A variety of design solutions for multivariate mapping refers to the number of phenomena mapped, the map type, and the visual variables applied. Unlike other authors who have mainly evaluated bivariate maps, in our empirical study we compared three solutions when mapping four variables: two types of multivariate maps (intrinsic and extrinsic) and a simple univariate alternative (serving as a baseline). We analysed usability performance metrics (answer time, answer accuracy, subjective rating of task difficulty) and eye-tracking data. The results suggested that experts used all the tested maps with similar results for answer time and accuracy, even when using four-variable intrinsic maps, which is considered to be a challenging solution. However, eye-tracking data provided more nuances in relation to the difference in cognitive effort evoked by the tested maps across task types.