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The Antarctic ice sheet mass budget is a very important factor for global sea level. An understanding of the glacial dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheet are essential for mass budget estimation. Utilizing a surface velocity field derived from Radarsat three-pass SAR interferometry, this study has investigated the strain rate, grounding line, balance velocity, and the mass balance of the entire Lambert Glacier – Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica. The surface velocity increases abruptly from 350 m/year to 800 m/year at the main grounding line. It decreases as the main ice stream is floating, and increases to 1200 to 1500 m/year in the ice shelf front. The strain rate distribution defines the shear margins of ice flows. The major ice streams and their confluence area experience the most severe ice deformation. The width of the shear margin decreases as it flows downstream except for the convergent areas with tributary glaciers. The grounding line for the main ice stream and the boundary of Amery Ice Shelf and surrounding tributary glaciers is delineated. The total basal melting is estimated to be 87.82 ± 3.78 Gt/year for the entire Amery Ice Shelf. Compared with the ice flux (16.35 ± 3.11 Gt/year) at the ice shelf front, basal melting is apparently the dominant discharging process of the system. The melting rate for the Amery Ice Shelf decreases rapidly from the grounding zone (21.64 ± 2.17 m/year) to the ice shelf front (-0.95 ± 0.14 m/year). The Lambert Glacial Basin contributes the total ice mass of 95.64 ± 2.89 Gt/year to the ocean, which is equivalent to increasing the global sea level by 0.24 mm/year. Considering 90.54 ± 1.55 Gt/year of snow accumulation, the entire Lambert Glacier – Amery Ice Shelf system is slightly negatively imbalanced at -5.09 ± 3.46 Gt/year. Although the entire system is estimated to have a slight negative mass balance, three sub-glacial systems have a net positive mass balance due to a relatively high snow accumulation rate or relatively slow ice motion. Considering the large mass loss in West Antarctica, it is believed that the overall mass budget in Antarctica is negative based on this research.

Satellite measurements of volcano deformation have the potential to illuminate a wide range of volcanic processes and have provided us with the first opportunity to investigate volcano deformation as an arc-scale process. This thesis presents the results of an Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) survey of the Central American Volcanic Arc between 2007 and 2010. My measurements confirm a statistically significant absence of magmatic deformation in Central America relative to other well-studied volcanic arcs. I estimate a minimum detection threshold for deformation at 20 of the arc’s 26 active volcanoes using time series analysis of interferometric phase. I find that the majority (∼80%) of literature measurements of volcano deformation made at other arcs would have been possible with the average magnitude of noise in Central American volcanoes. The absence of measurable magmatic deformation in Central America may therefore be due to factors that limit the geodetic expression of magma movement, including the deep pooling of basalts and high parental melt volatile content. The quantification of measurement uncertainty also allows me to use the lack of deformation at specific erupting volcanoes to make order of magnitude estimations of the minimum depth for magma storage that would not result in measurable deformation. I present measurements and interpretation of non-magmatic deformation associated with edifice development at two Central American volcanoes: Arenal, Costa Rica and Santiaguito, Guatemala. At Arenal, I measure apparently steady slip (∼7 cm/yr) on the volcano’s western flanks, which I attribute to gravity-driven slip on the boundary between lavas emplaced over the past 50 years and older tephras and paleosols. At Santiaguito, I demonstrate the measurement of large-scale (∼10-200 m) topographic change from a small set of large baseline interferograms. Measurements of post-2000 lava fields allow me to estimate extrusion rate, map changes to flow morphology and make simultaneous measurements of lava flow thickness and subsidence rate.

This thesis tests a technique based on objectively identified tropical cloud regimes, in which some cloud characteristics are extrapolated from a single site in the tropics to the entire tropics. Information on cloud top pressure, cloud optical thickness and total cloud cover from 1985-2000 has been derived from the ISCCP D1 data set and has been used to create maps of tropical cloud regimes and maps of total cloud cover over the tropics. The distribution and characteristics of the tropical cloud regimes has been discussed after which total cloud cover values were extrapolated to the cloud regimes over the tropics. After a qualitative and quantitative assessment was used to evaluate the success of the extrapolating method, it was found that the method worked especially well for time averaged extrapolated data sets using the median values of total cloud cover values. / I detta magisterexamensarbete testas en metod som baseras på objektivt framtagna molnregimer, där några molnegenskaper extrapoleras från en plats i tropikerna till resten av tropikerna. Informationen om molntoppstrycket, molnens optiska djup och det totala molntäcket från 1985-2000 har hämtats från ISCCP D1 data set och har använts till att skapa kartor för tropiska molnregimer och för det totala molntäcket över tropikerna. Distributionen och egenskaperna av de tropiska molnregimerna har diskuterats och användes sedan för att extrapolera det totala molntäcket över tropikerna. En kvalitativ och kvantitativ undersökning användes för att utvärdera framgångarna med extrapoleringsmetoden. Det framkom att metoden fungerade särskilt bra för extrapolerade data set med median totala molntäcksvärden över längre tidsperioder.

Conventional bathymetric surveying is a costly and time consuming business. Even today many areas of shallow inshore ocean, some which encompass potential oil and gas fields, are only minimally charted. There is a need for reconnaissance systems which can effectively direct more expensive detailed surveys to best effect. Remote spectral bathymetry is one such system.A review of candidate sensor systems and processing algorithms highlighted problems due to changing bottom cover types and water quality parameters. A method, proposed and theoretically validated by other workers, was chosen for further investigation. This method develops an approximate relationship between the spectral content of the satellite data and water depths and then, by an iterative phase in the spatial domain, seeks to minimise the effect of spatially dependant variations.A study site in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia was chosen for a demonstration of this method. Spectral data are from the Landsat Thematic Mapper instrument and depth data are taken from Admiralty Charts. A variation on the originally proposed algorithm introduces spatial preprocessing phase, in which the image is segmented into zones where spectral relationships are expected to be more uniform. Two different methods of spatial mapping are used.The results demonstrate the capability of spatial modelling to improve remotely sensed depth estimates in the depth range of 5 to 12 m. The need for further research to better understand the shallow water spectral relationships is identified.

Multispectral aerial and satellite remote sensing plays a major role in crop yield prediction due to its ability to detect crop growth conditions on spatial and temporal scales in a cost effective manner. Many empirical relationships have been established in the past between spectral vegetation indices and leaf area index, fractional ground cover, and crop growth rates for different crops through ground sampling. Remote sensing-based vegetation index (VI) yield models using airborne and satellite data have been developed only for grain crops like barley, corn, wheat, and sorghum. So it becomes important to validate and extend the VI-based model for tuber crops like potato, taking into account the most significant parameters that affect the final crop yield of these crops.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-89).

The macro-algae Nereocystis luetkeana or bull kelp is an important canopy-forming species in the rocky nearshore ecosystems of the Salish Sea. It provides structural habitat for many fish and invertebrates including juvenile salmon. In the Pacific Northwest, major declines in Chinook and Coho salmon populations have led to increased scientific efforts to determine the causes behind these losses. High mortality of juvenile salmon during their first months in the marine environment may be linked to loss of habitat such as kelp beds, which can provide shelter, concentration of prey and energetically favorable conditions. This work seeks to understand the role of kelp habitat in the early marine growth period of juvenile salmon. Initially, methods using satellite imagery were developed for mapping the location of kelp beds adjacent to a salmon bearing river in Cowichan Bay, on the West Coast of British Columbia. These methods were then applied to a time series of imagery from 2004 to 2017, to determine how kelp beds are changing over time and the possible drivers of those changes. The results found spatial and temporal variability in kelp beds with a decline from a high in 2015 to the lowest levels in 2017. The observed changes were over a short period considering the natural variability of Nereocystis and continued long term monitoring will help to determine if the declines are permanent. Spatial and temporal variability were found to relate to substrate type, current strengths and potential lag effects of declines due to warmer than average sea surface temperatures. Lastly, the maps created through satellite-based methods served to inform surveys investigating the importance of kelp habitat to the declining populations of Chinook and Coho salmon. To address this, remote underwater video and visual snorkel surveys were used to determine the presence and absence of juvenile salmon in paired kelp and no-kelp sites throughout the season when the fish are known to be present in the region. Higher densities of juvenile salmon were detected in kelp-associated areas; however, this effect was detected both before kelp growth in early spring and during kelp presence. Transects conducted on the inner edge of kelp beds, adjacent to rocky shorelines were determined to have the highest salmon densities indicating that physical factors such as substrate type and wave energy associated with these areas may be preferential to juvenile salmon. / Graduate