On the LAI of mixed soils–forests regions

In homogeneous forest textures, it has been recently confirmed experimentally that, for sufficiently large ground surfaces, the Leaf Area Index (LAI) has weak variations with respect to ground surface variations. This allows computing the LAI of mixed pixels on regions composed of forests and soils, with the use of the Perpendicular Vegetation Index (PVI). In the present paper, we study the accuracy of the method with experimental data.     

Evaluation of the onset of green-up in temperate deciduous broadleaf forests derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data

Vegetation phenology is the chronology of periodic phases of development. It constitutes an efficient bio-indicator of impacts of climate changes and a key parameter for understanding and modelling vegetation-climate interactions and their implications on carbon cycling. Numerous studies were devoted to the remote sensing of vegetation phenology. Most of these were carried out using data acquired by AVHRR instrument onboard NOAA meteorological satellites. Since 1999, multispectral images were acquired over the whole earth surface every one to two days by MODIS instrument onboard Terra and Aqua platforms. In comparison with AVHRR, MODIS constitutes a significant technical improvement in terms of spatial resolution, spectral resolution, geolocation accuracy, atmospheric corrections scheme and cloud screening and sensor calibration. In this study, 250 m daily MODIS data were used to derive precise vegetation phenological dates over deciduous forest stands. Phenological markers derived from MODIS time-series and provided by MODIS Global Land Cover Dynamics product (MOD12Q2) were compared to field measurements carried out over the main deciduous forest stands across France and over five years. We show that the inflexion point of the asymmetric double-sigmoid function fitted to NDVI temporal profile is a good marker of the onset of green-up in deciduous stands. At plot level, the prediction uncertainty is 8.5 days and the bias is 3.5 days. MODIS Global Land Cover Dynamics MOD12Q2 provides estimates of onset of green-up dates which deviate substantially from in situ observations and do not perform better than the null model. RMSE values are 20.5 days (bias -17 days) using the onset of greenness increase and 36.5 days (bias 34.5 days) using the onset of greenness maximum. An improvement of prediction quality is obtained if we consider the average of MOD12Q2 onset of greenness increase and maximum as marker of onset of green-up date. RMSE decreases to 16.5 days and bias to 7.5 days.     

Data traffic load balancing and QoS in IEEE 802.11 network: Experimental study of the signal strength effect

The performances of multimedia applications built on wireless systems depend on bandwidth availability that might heavily affect the quality of service. The IEEE 802.11 standards do not provide performed mechanism for bandwidth management through data load distribution among different APs of the network. Then, an AP can be heavily overloaded causing throughput degradation.     

Calibration and validation of hyperspectral indices for the estimation of broadleaved forest leaf chlorophyll content,leaf mass per area,leaf area index and leaf canopy biomass

This article aims at finding efficient hyperspectral indices for the estimation of forest sun leaf chlorophyll content (CHL, µg cm_leaf^? 2), sun leaf mass per area (LMA, g_{dry matter} m_leaf^? 2), canopy leaf area index (LAI, m²_leaf m_soil^? 2) and leaf canopy biomass (B_leaf, g_{dry matter} m_soil^? 2). These parameters are useful inputs for forest ecosystem simulations at landscape scale. The method is based on the determination of the best vegetation indices (index form and wavelengths) using the radiative transfer model PROSAIL (formed by the newly-calibrated leaf reflectance model PROSPECT coupled with the multi-layer version of the canopy radiative transfer model SAIL). The results are tested on experimental measurements at both leaf and canopy scales. At the leaf scale, it is possible to estimate CHL with high precision using a two wavelength vegetation index after a simulation based calibration. At the leaf scale, the LMA is more difficult to estimate with indices. At the canopy scale, efficient indices were determined on a generic simulated database to estimate CHL, LMA, LAI and Bleaf in a general way. These indices were then applied to two Hyperion images (50 plots) on the Fontainebleau and Fougères forests and portable spectroradiometer measurements. They showed good results with an RMSE of 8.2 µg cm^? 2 for CHL, 9.1 g m^? 2 for LMA, 1.7 m² m^? 2 for LAI and 50.6 g m^? 2 for Bleaf. However, at the canopy scale, even if the wavelengths of the calibrated indices were accurately determined with the simulated database, the regressions between the indices and the biophysical characteristics still had to be calibrated on measurements. At the canopy scale, the best indices were: for leaf chlorophyll content: ND_chl = (ρ₉₂₅ ? ρ₇₁₀)/(ρ₉₂₅ + ρ₇₁₀), for leaf mass per area: ND_LMA = (ρ₂₂₆₀ ? ρ₁₄₉₀)/(ρ₂₂₆₀ + ρ₁₄₉₀), for leaf area index: D_LAI = ρ₁₇₂₅ ? ρ₉₇₀, and for canopy leaf biomass: ND_Bleaf = (ρ₂₁₆₀ ? ρ₁₅₄₀)/(ρ₂₁₆₀ + ρ₁₅₄₀).     

Conditional analysis in a turbulent boundary layer with strong density differences

Summary A study of the fine structure of wall turbulence in the presence of strong density variations through a conditional analysis of experimental data obtained in a wind tunnel is presented in this paper. Density variations within the boundary layer are produced by injection of air or helium into a mixture of these two components. The conditional analysis carried out in this study shows that the injection of helium into the boundary layer generates more violent ejections than in the case of an injection of air. This result is confirmed by the significant contribution of the ejections to the turbulent mass flux. The results obtained show that in the fully turbulent zone the ejections are associated with strong velocity fluctuations for the two injected gases. This is even more so for the fluctuations of density when an injection of helium is considered. At two locations of the flow (x/e = 8.3 and x/e = 33.3, where e = 3 mm is the slot width) we show that the contributions of a large excursion in the two quadrants of the u' – ρ' plane, corresponding to the two events of the fluid movement, the ejection and sweeping, are very intermittent owing to the fact that they are associated only to a very low number of measurement points. The ejections at y⁺ > 50 are more significant and much more energetic in the case of helium.     

硝酸浓度对橄榄石基活性炭特性的影响(英文)

In this work we investigated the effect of nitric acid concentration on the pore structure, surface chemistry and liquid phase adsorption of olive stone based activated carbon prepared by mixing process using phosphoric acid and steam as activating agents. Chemicals and textural characterization show that the increase of HNO3 concentration increases considerably the total acidic groups but decreases specific surface area and pore volume. The study of adsorption in aqueous solutions of two organics, phenol and methylene blue, on raw and oxidized activated carbon indicates that the treatment of mixed activated carbon with different concentrations of nitric acid improves the adsorbent capacity for methylene blue at HNO3 concentrations less or equal to 2 mol·L 1, while it has a negative effect on phenol adsorption.     

Statistical analysis of high-order moments in a turbulent boundary layer with large density gradients

Summary. An experimental study of the effects of large density variations on the turbulent transfers in a boundary layer is carried out in this paper. Density differences were generated by tangential injection of air or helium in a mixture of these two components. In order to study the fine structure of wall turbulence in the presence of significant density variations, a statistical analysis of the experimental data, obtained in a wind tunnel, is carried out. The results show that the relaxation of the skewness factor of u(S_u) is carried out more quickly in the external layer than close to the wall, for the air injection as well as for the helium injection. S_u grows close to the injection slot in an appreciable way, and this increase definitely is stronger for the air injection than for the helium injection. This growth of the skewness factor close to the injection slot can be explained by the increase in the longitudinal convective flux of turbulent energy in this zone. For the distributions of the flatness factor F_u the results show that there is no significant effect of the density gradient on the intermittent structure of the instantaneous longitudinal velocity in the developed zone, x/5, where is the boundary-layer thickness. Differences remain, of course, between the profiles of F_u for density gradients in the relaxation zone, where the longitudinal gradients are significant. It should, however, be noted that has a smaller effect on the flatness factor compared to the skewness factor. The statistical analysis carried out in this study shows that the helium injection in the boundary layer generates more violent ejections than the air injection. This result is confirmed by the significant contribution of the ejections to turbulent mass flux.     

Reduction of hydrogen embrittlement of API 5l X65 steel pipe using a green inhibitor

Several inhibitors are used in industry to reduce the corrosive effects of harsh environments on the mechanical properties of steel structures. More recently, eco-friendly (green) inhibitors are being developed to replace the synthetic ones which are known to possess toxic organic molecules. In the present study, Ruta Chalepensis (Fijil) green corrosion inhibitors are utilized with API 5L X65 pipe steel to study their effectiveness in reducing the corrosive effects of HCl acid. Notched specimens are immersed in HCl and HCl with different concentrations of Fijil (3, 5, 10 and 30 vol%), at room temperature and at 80 °C, for periods of 3, 7 and 10 days. Charpy tests are carried out, after each period, on treated (maked in the HCl media with green inhibitor for different concentration) and untreated standard specimens to evaluate the response of the material under dynamic loading. The load-displacement curves are found to consist of four zones corresponding to different crack advance events. The optimum concentration of green inhibitor is found to be 5 vol%. Immersion of API 5L X65 in HCl with 5% green inhibitor is seen to reduce the acid's effect. The improvement of the material's fracture toughness due to the inhibitor was more than 40%.