@phdthesis{Wohlfart2018, author = {Wohlfart, Christian}, title = {The Yellow River Basin in Transition - Multi-faceted Land Cover Change Analysis in the Yellow River Basin in the Context of Global Change Using Multi-sensor Remote Sensing Imagery}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-163724}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2018}, abstract = {As a cradle of ancient Chinese civilization, the Yellow River Basin has a very long human-environment interrelationship, where early anthropogenic activities re- sulted in large scale landscape modifications. Today, the impact of this relationship has intensified further as the basin plays a vital role for China's continued economic development. It is one of the most densely-populated, fastest growing, and most dynamic regions of China with abundant natural and environmental resources providing a livelihood for almost 190 million people. Triggered by fundamental economic reforms, the basin has witnessed a spectacular economic boom during the last decades and can be considered as an exemplary blueprint region for contemporary dynamic Global Change processes occurring throughout the country, which is currently transitioning from an agrarian-dominated economy into a modern urbanized society. However, this resourcesdemanding growth has led to profound land use changes with adverse effects on the Yellow River social-ecological systems, where complex challenges arise threatening a long-term sustainable development. Consistent and continuous remote sensing-based monitoring of recent and past land cover and land use change is a fundamental requirement to mitigate the adverse impacts of Global Change processes. Nowadays, technical advancement and the multitude of available satellite sensors, in combination with the opening of data archives, allow the creation of new research perspectives in regional land cover applications over heterogeneous landscapes at large spatial scales. Despite the urgent need to better understand the prevailing dynamics and underlying factors influencing the current processes, detailed regional specific land cover data and change information are surprisingly absent for this region. In view of the noted research gaps and contemporary developments, three major objectives are defined in this thesis. First (i), the current and most pressing social-ecological challenges are elaborated and policy and management instruments towards more sustainability are discussed. Second (ii), this thesis provides new and improved insights on the current land cover state and dynamics of the entire Yellow River Basin. Finally (iii), the most dominant processes related to mining, agriculture, forest, and urban dynamics are determined on finer spatial and temporal scales. The complex and manifold problems and challenges that result from long-term abuse of the water and land resources in the basin have been underpinned by policy choices, cultural attitude, and institutions that have evolved over centuries in China. The tremendous economic growth that has been mainly achieved by extracting water and exploiting land resources in a rigorous, but unsustainable manner, might not only offset the economic benefits, but could also foster social unrest. Since the early emergence of the first Chinese dynasties, flooding was considered historically as a primary issue in river management and major achievements have been made to tame the wild nature of the Yellow River. Whereas flooding is therefore largely now under control, new environmental and social problems have evolved, including soil and water pollution, ecological degradation, biodiversity decline, and food security, all being further aggravated by anthropogenic climate change. To resolve the contemporary and complex challenges, many individual environmental laws and regulations have been enacted by various Chinese ministries. However, these policies often pursue different, often contradictory goals, are too general to tackle specific problems and are usually implemented by a strong top-down approach. Recently, more flexible economic and market-based incentives (pricing, tradable permits, investments) have been successfully adopted, which are specifically tailored to the respective needs, shifting now away from the pure command and regulating instruments. One way towards a more holistic and integrated river basin management could be the establishment of a common platform (e.g. a Geographical Information System) for data handling and sharing, possibly operated by the Yellow River Basin Conservancy Commission (YRCC), where available spatial data, statistical information and in-situ measures are coalesced, on which sustainable decision-making could be based. So far, the collected data is hardly accessible, fragmented, inconsistent, or outdated. The first step to address the absence and lack of consistent and spatially up-to-date information for the entire basin capturing the heterogeneous landscape conditions was taken up in this thesis. Land cover characteristics and dynamics were derived from the last decade for the years 2003 and 2013, based on optical medium-resolution hightemporal MODIS Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series at 250 m. To minimize the inherent influence of atmospheric and geometric interferences found in raw high temporal data, the applied adaptive Savitzky-Golay filter successfully smoothed the time series and substantially reduced noise. Based on the smoothed time series data, a large variety of intra-annual phenology metrics as well as spectral and multispectral annual statistics were derived, which served as input variables for random forest (RF) classifiers. High quality reference data sets were derived from very high resolution imagery for each year independently of which 70 \% trained the RF models. The accuracy assessments for all regionally specific defined thematic classes were based on the remaining 30 \% reference data split and yielded overall accuracies of 87 \% and 84 \% for 2003 and 2013, respectively. The first regional adapted Yellow River Land Cover Products (YRB LC) depict the detail spatial extent and distribution of the current land cover status and dynamics. The novel products overall differentiate overall 18 land cover and use classes, including classes of natural vegetation (terrestrial and aquatic), cultivated classes, mosaic classes, non-vegetated, and artificial classes, which are not presented in previous land cover studies so far. Building on this, an extended multi-faceted land cover analysis on the most prominent land cover change types at finer spatial and temporal scales provides a better and more detailed picture of the Yellow River Basin dynamics. Precise spatio-temporal products about mining, agriculture, forest, and urban areas were examined from long-trem Landsat satellite time series monitored at annual scales to capture the rapid rate of change in four selected focus regions. All archived Landsat images between 2000 and 2015 were used to derive spatially continuous spectral-temporal, multi-spectral, and textural metrics. For each thematic region and year RF models were built, trained and tested based on a stablepixels reference data set. The automated adaptive signature (AASG) algorithm identifies those pixels that did not change between the investigated time periods to generate a mono-temporal reference stable-pixels data set to keep manual sampling requirements to a minimum level. Derived results gained high accuracies ranging from 88 \% to 98 \%. Throughout the basin, afforestation on the Central Loess Plateau and urban sprawl are identified as most prominent drivers of land cover change, whereas agricultural land remained stable, only showing local small-scale dynamics. Mining operations started in 2004 on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which resulted in a substantial loss of pristine alpine meadows and wetlands. In this thesis, a novel and unique regional specific view of current and past land cover characteristics in a complex and heterogeneous landscape was presented by using a multi-source remote sensing approach. The delineated products hold great potential for various model and management applications. They could serve as valuable components for effective and sustainable land and water management to adapt and mitigate the predicted consequences of Global Change processes.}, subject = {Fernerkundung}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Specht2019, author = {Specht, Sebastian}, title = {Stratigraphie und Tektonik im Grossraum Massbach (Lauer) zwischen den Naturparks Bayerische Rh{\"o}n und Hassberge}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-16302}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-163022}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Diese Arbeit stellt die Ergebnisse der stratigraphischen und tektonischen Aufnahme des Blattes 5827 Maßbach vor. Sie erfolgte im Rahmen der geologischen Landesaufnahme von Bayern 1:25.000 sowie im Auftrag des Bayerischen Landesamts f{\"u}r Umwelt und beruht auf einer geologischen Detailkartierung im Maßstab 1:10.000. Die wesentlichen Ergebnisse sind folglich in der Geologischen Karte 1:25.000 und in der Strukturkarte 1:50.000 dargestellt. Zur Aufgabenstellung geh{\"o}rten ebenfalls eine moderne Erfassung und Darstellung der Schichtenfolge unter stratigraphischen und faziellen Gesichtspunkten sowie die Aufnahme und Interpretation geologischer Strukturen und deren Einbindung in den regionalen Rahmen (Anlage 7). Dieser Arbeit kommt somit nicht nur akademisches Interesse zu. Vielmehr ist sie auch f{\"u}r angewandte Fachbereiche wesentlich: u.a. f{\"u}r Hydrogeologie, Geothermie oder f{\"u}r Fragen der Raumplanung. Das Kartenblatt 5827 Maßbach liegt im nord{\"o}stlichen Unterfranken im Norden Bayerns. Die n{\"a}chstgr{\"o}ßere Stadt, s{\"u}dlich des Blattgebietes, ist Schweinfurt. Das Gebiet zeigt einen Ausschnitt des s{\"u}dwestdeutschen Schichtstufenlandes innerhalb der S{\"u}dwestdeutschen Großscholle sensu CARL{\´E} (1955). Geomorphologen rechnen es der Hochfl{\"a}che der „Schweinfurter Rh{\"o}n" zu. Ein naturr{\"a}umlicher {\"U}berblick {\"u}ber Geographie, Geologie, Hydrogeologie, Rohstoffgeologie und Bodenkunde sowie ein erdgeschichtlicher Abriss werden im ersten Teil der Arbeit (S. 2-15) gegeben. Die Kartierung erfolgte als Lesesteinkartierung; denn die Aufschlussverh{\"a}ltnisse waren schlecht. Auch existieren nur wenige auswertbare Bohrungen. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt der zweite Teil der Arbeit die zu Tage ausstreichende mesozoische Schichtenfolge vor (S.16-76). Die Schichtenfolge geh{\"o}rt ausschließlich in die Trias, reicht vom Unteren Muschelkalk bis zum Unteren Gipskeuper und umfasst etwa 270 bis 280 Meter. Hinzu kommen verschiedene quart{\"a}re Sedimente geringer M{\"a}chtigkeit. Der dritte Teil der Arbeit (S. 77-95) befasst sich mit den Lagerungsverh{\"a}ltnissen und der tektonischen Zergliederung des Gebietes. Das tektonische Relief auf Blatt 5827 Maßbach misst etwa 260-270 m. Pr{\"a}gendes Element ist der Kissingen-Haßfurter Sattel, dessen Sattelachse das Blattgebiet von NW nach SE quert. Im SW-Quadranten ist die in S{\"u}dwestdeutschland bedeutsame Kissingen-Haßfurter-St{\"o}rungszone wirksam Im regionalen Rahmen verbinden sich eine Vielzahl von nachgewiesenen tektonischen Elementen zu sich {\"u}berlagernden tektonischen Strukturen. Deren Ausgestaltung verlief mehrphasig und sie erhielten ihre heute bestehende Form wohl durch die Fernwirkung der alpidischen Orogenese. Die Anlage der tektonischen Hauptelemente hingegen reicht wahrscheinlich bis in die ausgehende variszidische Gebirgsbildung zur{\"u}ck. Die zusammen-fassende Analyse und Darstellung der Ergebnisse f{\"u}hrt in dieser Arbeit zur Einarbeitung des Blattes 5827 Maßbach in den regionalen stratigraphischen wie tektonischen Rahmen der umliegenden Bl{\"a}tter der GK 25.}, subject = {Geologie}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Knauer2018, author = {Knauer, Kim}, title = {Vegetation Dynamics in West Africa - Spatio-temporal Data Fusion for the Monitoring of Agricultural Expansion}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-164776}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2018}, abstract = {West Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world with annual population growth rates of more than three percent for several countries. Since the 1950s, West Africa experienced a fivefold increase of inhabitants, from 71 to 353 million people in 2015 and it is expected that the region's population will continue to grow to almost 800 million people by the year 2050. This strong trend has and will have serious consequences for food security since agricultural productivity is still on a comparatively low level in most countries of West Africa. In order to compensate for this low productivity, an expansion of agricultural areas is rapidly progressing. The mapping and monitoring of agricultural areas in West Africa is a difficult task even on the basis of remote sensing. The small scale extensive farming practices with a low level of agricultural inputs and mechanization make the delineation of cultivated land from other land cover and land use (LULC) types highly challenging. In addition, the frequent cloud coverage in the region considerably decreases the availability of earth observation datasets. For the accurate mapping of agricultural area in West Africa, high temporal as well as spatial resolution is necessary to delineate the small-sized fields and to obtain data from periods where different LULC types are distinguishable. However, such consistent time series are currently not available for West Africa. Thus, a spatio-temporal data fusion framework was developed in this thesis for the generation of high spatial and temporal resolution time series. Data fusion algorithms such as the Enhanced Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (ESTARFM) enjoyed increasing popularity during recent years but they have hardly been used for the application on larger scales. In order to make it applicable for this purpose and to increase the input data availability, especially in cloud-prone areas such as West Africa, the ESTARFM framework was developed in this thesis introducing several enhancements. An automatic filling of cloud gaps was included in the framework in order to use even partly cloud-covered Landsat images for the fusion without producing gaps on the output images. In addition, the ESTARFM algorithm was improved to automatically account for regional differences in the heterogeneity of the study region. Further improvements comprise the automation of the time series generation as well as the significant acceleration of the processing speed through parallelization. The performance of the developed ESTARFM framework was tested by fusing an 8-day NDVI time series from Landsat and MODIS data for a focus area of 98,000 km² in the border region between Burkina Faso and Ghana. The results of this test show the capability of the ESTARFM framework to accurately produce high temporal resolution time series while maintaining the spatial detail, even in such a heterogeneous and cloud-prone region. The successfully tested framework was subsequently applied to generate consistent time series as the basis for the mapping of agricultural area in Burkina Faso for the years 2001, 2007, and 2014. In a first step, high temporal (8-day) and high spatial (30 m) resolution NDVI time series for the entire country and the three years were derived with the ESTARFM framework. More than 500 Landsat scenes and 3000 MODIS scenes were automatically processed for this purpose. From the fused ESTARFM NDVI time series, phenological metrics were extracted and together with the single time steps of NDVI served as input for the delineation of rainfed agricultural areas, irrigated agricultural areas and plantations. The classification was conducted with the random forest algorithm at a 30 m spatial resolution for entire Burkina Faso and the three years 2001, 2007, and 2014. For the training and validation of the classifier, a randomly sampled reference dataset was generated from Google Earth images based on expert knowledge of the region. The overall classification accuracies of 92\% (2001), 91\% (2007), and 91\% (2014) indicate the well-functioning of the developed methodology. The resulting maps show an expansion of agricultural area of 91\% from about 61,000 km² in 2001 to 116,900 km² in 2014. While rainfed agricultural areas account for the major part of this increase, irrigated areas and plantations also spread considerably. Especially the expansion of irrigation systems and plantation area can be explained by the promotion through various national and international development projects. The increase of agricultural areas goes in line with the rapid population growth in most of Burkina Faso's provinces which still had available land resources for an expansion of agricultural area. An analysis of the development of agricultural areas in the vicinity of protected areas highlighted the increased human pressure on these reserves. The protection of the remnant habitats for flora and fauna while at the same time improving food security for a rapidly growing population, are the major challenges for the region in the future. The developed ESTARFM framework showed great potential beyond its utilization for the mapping of agricultural area. Other large-scale research that requires a sufficiently high temporal and spatial resolution such as the monitoring of land degradation or the investigation of land surface phenology could greatly benefit from the application of this framework.}, subject = {Fernerkundung}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schmitt2019, author = {Schmitt, Martin}, title = {Strukturanalyse und magnetische Eigenschaften von Ketten aus 3d-{\"U}bergangsmetalloxiden auf Ir(001) und Pt(001)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-19182}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-191823}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die strukturellen und magnetischen Eigenschaften verschiedener 3d-{\"U}bergangsmetalloxidketten (TMO-Ketten) auf Ir(001) und Pt(001) untersucht. Diese weisen eine (3 × 1) Struktur mit periodisch angeordneten Ketten auf, die nur {\"u}ber die Sauerstoffbindung an das Substrat gekoppelt sind. W{\"a}hrend die Struktur durch experimentelle und theoretische Untersuchungen best{\"a}tigt ist, liegen f{\"u}r die magnetischen Eigenschaften ausschließlich Rechnungen vor. Zur {\"U}berpr{\"u}fung dieser theoretischen Vorhersagen wird die Methode der spinpolarisierten Rastertunnelmikroskopie (SP-STM) verwendet, die die Abbildung der magnetischen Ordnung mit atomarer Aufl{\"o}sung erlaubt. Die Untersuchungen beginnen mit der Vorstellung der Ir(001) Oberfl{\"a}che, die eine (5 × 1) Rekonstruktion aufweist. Eine Aufhebung dieser Rekonstruktion erreicht man durch das Heizen des Ir-Substrats in Sauerstoffatmosph{\"a}re unter Bildung einer (2 × 1) Sauerstoffrekonstruktion. Die Qualit{\"a}t der Oberfl{\"a}che h{\"a}ngt dabei von der Wachstumstemperatur T und dem verwendeten Sauerstoffdruck pOx ab. Die bei T = 550°C und pOx = 1 × 10^-8 mbar hergestellte Sauerstoffrektonstruktion dient als Ausgangspunkt f{\"u}r die folgenden Pr{\"a}parationen von CoO2, FeO2 und MnO2-Ketten. Dazu wird jeweils eine drittel Monolage (ML) des {\"U}bergangsmetalls auf die Oberfl{\"a}che des Substrates gedampft und die Probe unter Sauerstoffatmosph{\"a}re ein weiteres Mal geheizt. Auf diese Weise kann die (3 × 1) Struktur der bekannten Ketten best{\"a}tigt und die Gruppe der TMO-Ketten um die CrO2-Ketten erweitert werden. In der einschl{\"a}gigen Fachliteratur wurden Vorhersagen bez{\"u}glich der magnetischen Struktur der TMO-Ketten publiziert, wonach entlang und zwischen CoO2-Ketten eine ferromagnetische (FM) und f{\"u}r FeO2 und MnO2-Ketten eine antiferromagnetische (AFM-) Kopplung vorliegt.W{\"a}hrend die {\"U}berpr{\"u}fung dieser Vorhersagen mit SP-STM f{\"u}r CoO2 und CrO2-Ketten keine Hinweise auf magnetische Strukturen liefert, liegen bei FeO2 und MnO2-Ketten unterschiedliche magnetische Phasen vor. In der Tat kann mit den experimentell gefundenen Einheitszellen die AFM-Kopplung entlang beider Ketten best{\"a}tigt werden. Im Gegensatz widersprechen die Kopplungen zwischen den Ketten den Berechnungen. Bei FeO2-Ketten liegt eine stabile FM Ordnung vor, die zu einer magnetischen (3 × 2) Einheitszelle mit einer leichten Magnetisierung in Richtung der Oberfl{\"a}chennormalen f{\"u}hrt (out-of-plane). Die MnO2-Ketten weichen ebenfalls von der berechneten magnetischen kollinearen Ordnung zwischen benachbarten Ketten ab und zeigen eine chirale Struktur. Durch die Rotation der Mn-Spins um 120° in der Probenebenen (in-plane) entsteht eine magnetische (9 × 2) Einheitszelle, deren Periode durch neue DFT-Rechnungen best{\"a}tigt wird. Nach diesen Berechnungen handelt es sich um eine Spinspirale, die durch die Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM-) Wechselwirkung bei einem Energiegewinn von 0,3 meV pro Mn-Atom gegen{\"u}ber den kollinearen FM Zustand stabilisiert wird. Diese wird {\"a}hnlich wie bei bereits publizierten Clustern und Adatomen auf Pt(111) durch die Rudermann-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY-) Wechselwirkung vermittelt und erkl{\"a}rt den experimentell gefundenen einheitlichen Drehsinn der Spiralen. Die RKKY-Wechselwirkung zeigt eine starke Abh{\"a}ngigkeit von der Fermi-Oberfl{\"a}che des Substrats. Im folgenden Kapitel werden deshalb mit TMO-Ketten auf Pt(001) die strukturellen und magnetischen Eigenschaften auf einem weiteren Substrat analysiert, wobei zum Zeitpunkt der Arbeit nur die Existenz der CoO2-Ketten aus der Literatur bekannt war. Vergleichbar mit Ir(001) besitzt auch Pt(001) eine rekonstruierte Oberfl{\"a}che, die sich aber stabil gegen{\"u}ber Oxidation zeigt. Dadurch muss die drittel ML des {\"U}bergangsmetalls direkt auf die Rekonstruktion aufgedampft werden. Das Wachstum des {\"U}bergangsmetalls ist dabei von der Temperatur des Substrats abh{\"a}ngig und beeinflusst das Ergebnis der nachfolgenden Oxidation. Diese erfolgt analog zum Wachstum der Ketten auf Ir(001) durch das Heizen der Probe in Sauerstoffatmosph{\"a}re und resultiert nur f{\"u}r das Aufdampfen des {\"U}bergangsmetalls auf kalte Pt(001) Oberfl{\"a}chen in Ketten mit der Periode von 3aPt. Auf diese Weise kann nicht nur die (3 × 1) Struktur der CoO2-Ketten best{\"a}tigt werden, sondern auch durch atomare Aufl{\"o}sung die Gruppe der TMO-Ketten um MnO2-Ketten auf Pt(001) erweitert werden. Im Gegensatz dazu sind die nicht magnetischen Messungen im Fall von Fe nicht eindeutig. Zwar liegen auch hier Ketten im Abstand des dreifachen Pt Gittervektors vor, trotzdem ist die (3 × 1) Struktur nicht nachweisbar. Dies liegt an einer Korrugation mit einer Periode von 2aPt entlang der Ketten, was ein Hinweis auf eine Peierls Instabilit{\"a}t sein kann. Entsprechend dem Vorgehen f{\"u}r Ir(001) werden f{\"u}r die TMO-Ketten auf Pt(001) SP-STM Messungen durchgef{\"u}hrt und die Vorhersage einer AFM-Kopplung f{\"u}r CoO2-Ketten {\"u}berpr{\"u}ft. Auch hier k{\"o}nnen, wie im Fall von CoO2-Ketten und im Widerspruch zur Vorhersage, f{\"u}r beide Polarisationsrichtungen der Spitze keine magnetischen Strukturen gefunden werden. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus verhalten sich die MnO2-Ketten auf Pt(001) mit ihrer chiralen magnetischen Struktur {\"a}hnlich zu denen auf Ir(001). Dies best{\"a}tigt die Annahme einer indirekten DM-Wechselwirkung, wobei durch die 72° Rotation der Mn-Spins eine l{\"a}ngere Periode der zykloidalen Spinspirale festgestellt wird. Die Erkl{\"a}rung daf{\"u}r liegt in der Abh{\"a}ngigkeit der RKKY-Wechselwirkung vom Fermi-Wellenvektor des Substrats, w{\"a}hrend sich die DM-Wechselwirkung beim {\"U}bergang von Ir zu Pt nur wenig {\"a}ndert.}, subject = {Rastertunnelmikroskopie}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Ullmann2015, author = {Ullmann, Tobias}, title = {Characterization of Arctic Environment by Means of Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) Data and Digital Elevation Models (DEM)}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-115719}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The ecosystem of the high northern latitudes is affected by the recently changing environmental conditions. The Arctic has undergone a significant climatic change over the last decades. The land coverage is changing and a phenological response to the warming is apparent. Remotely sensed data can assist the monitoring and quantification of these changes. The remote sensing of the Arctic was predominantly carried out by the usage of optical sensors but these encounter problems in the Arctic environment, e.g. the frequent cloud cover or the solar geometry. In contrast, the imaging of Synthetic Aperture Radar is not affected by the cloud cover and the acquisition of radar imagery is independent of the solar illumination. The objective of this work was to explore how polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) data of TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, Radarsat-2 and ALOS PALSAR and interferometric-derived digital elevation model data of the TanDEM-X Mission can contribute to collect meaningful information on the actual state of the Arctic Environment. The study was conducted for Canadian sites of the Mackenzie Delta Region and Banks Island and in situ reference data were available for the assessment. The up-to-date analysis of the PolSAR data made the application of the Non-Local Means filtering and of the decomposition of co-polarized data necessary. The Non-Local Means filter showed a high capability to preserve the image values, to keep the edges and to reduce the speckle. This supported not only the suitability for the interpretation but also for the classification. The classification accuracies of Non-Local Means filtered data were in average +10\% higher compared to unfiltered images. The correlation of the co- and quad-polarized decomposition features was high for classes with distinct surface or double bounce scattering and a usage of the co-polarized data is beneficial for regions of natural land coverage and for low vegetation formations with little volume scattering. The evaluation further revealed that the X- and C-Band were most sensitive to the generalized land cover classes. It was found that the X-Band data were sensitive to low vegetation formations with low shrub density, the C-Band data were sensitive to the shrub density and the shrub dominated tundra. In contrast, the L-Band data were less sensitive to the land cover. Among the different dual-polarized data the HH/VV-polarized data were identified to be most meaningful for the characterization and classification, followed by the HH/HV-polarized and the VV/VH-polarized data. The quad-polarized data showed highest sensitivity to the land cover but differences to the co-polarized data were small. The accuracy assessment showed that spectral information was required for accurate land cover classification. The best results were obtained when spectral and radar information was combined. The benefit of including radar data in the classification was up to +15\% accuracy and most significant for the classes wetland and sparse vegetated tundra. The best classifications were realized with quad-polarized C-Band and multispectral data and with co-polarized X-Band and multispectral data. The overall accuracy was up to 80\% for unsupervised and up to 90\% for supervised classifications. The results indicated that the shortwave co-polarized data show promise for the classification of tundra land cover since the polarimetric information is sensitive to low vegetation and the wetlands. Furthermore, co-polarized data provide a higher spatial resolution than the quad-polarized data. The analysis of the intermediate digital elevation model data of the TanDEM-X showed a high potential for the characterization of the surface morphology. The basic and relative topographic features were shown to be of high relevance for the quantification of the surface morphology and an area-wide application is feasible. In addition, these data were of value for the classification and delineation of landforms. Such classifications will assist the delineation of geomorphological units and have potential to identify locations of actual and future morphologic activity.}, subject = {Mackenzie-River-Delta}, language = {en} } @misc{Fekete2004, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {Fekete, Alexander}, title = {Massenbewegungen im Elbursgebirge, Iran - im Spannungsfeld zwischen nat{\"u}rlicher Stabilit{\"a}t und anthropogener Beeinflussung}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-13576}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2004}, abstract = {Massenbewegungen (in englischer Literatur landslides, in franz{\"o}sischer Literatur glissements de terre) sind das Symptom von Hanginstabilit{\"a}ten in einem Naturraum. Die Wahl des {\"U}berbegriffs Massenbewegungen und die Untergliederung der einzelnen Stadien des Prozessablaufs wurden im Rahmen eines pragmatischen Ansatzes dieser Arbeit neu festgelegt. Im Untersuchungsgebiet im Elbursgebirge im Norden des Iran stellen Massenbewegungen ein Ph{\"a}nomen dar, welches die Kulturlandschaft bedroht, aber auch durch sie selbst bedingt ist. In dieser Arbeit wurden Abh{\"a}ngigkeitsbeziehungen zwischen menschlichem Eingriff und nat{\"u}rlichem Stabilit{\"a}tspotential untersucht. In einem heuristischen Ansatz wurden Faktoren analysiert, welche Massenbewegungen bedingen oder ausl{\"o}sen. Faktoren wie geologischer Untergrund, Bodenauflage, Hangneigung, Exposition, Hydrologie, Vegetationsbedeckung oder Straßenbau wirken in unterschiedlicher Weise auf die Verursachung von Massenbewegungen ein. Die Analyse der Tragweite und Relevanz dieser Faktoren erfolgte mittels einer Faktoren{\"u}berlagerung in einem Geographischen Informationssystem (GIS). Das GIS bildete die Schnittstelle f{\"u}r Fernerkundungsdaten, Kartenmaterial, Gel{\"a}ndeaufnahme und das digitale Gel{\"a}ndemodell (DEM, bzw. DTM). Neben Photos, Beschreibungen, GPS-Punkten und Bodenproben aus der Gel{\"a}ndeaufnahme im Iran wurden CORONA- und LANDSAT-ETM+ - Satellitendaten sowie Klimaaufzeichnungen, Topographische und Geologische Karten auf ihre Aussagekraft hin analysiert. Durch Verschneidung der Datenebenen konnten Gef{\"a}hrdungszonen hinsichtlich Massenbewegungen ausgewiesen werden. Die Ergebnisse wurden mit den vorhandenen Befunden {\"u}ber aufgetretene Massenbewegungen {\"u}berpr{\"u}ft. Die {\"U}bereinstimmung der Gef{\"a}hrdungszonen mit der Verteilung vorgefundener Massenbewegungsformen best{\"a}tigte die Richtigkeit des methodischen Vorgehens. Bei der Auswahl und Bearbeitung von Daten und Methodik lagen die Schwerpunkte im Anwendungsbezug und in der Qualit{\"a}tssicherung. Zur Erstellung des digitalen H{\"o}henmodells wurde ein eigener Ansatz zur Extraktion von H{\"o}henlinien aus Topographischen Karten verfolgt. Das Ergebnis der Arbeit ist ein kosteng{\"u}nstiger, pragmatischer und {\"u}bertragbarer Ansatz zur Bewertung des Gef{\"a}hrdungspotentials von Massenbewegungen.}, subject = {Elbursgebirge}, language = {de} } @misc{May2002, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {May, Jan-Hendrik}, title = {The Quebrada de Purmamarca, Juyuj, NW-Argentina : Landscape Evolution and Morphodynamics in the Semi-Arid Andes}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-34416}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2002}, abstract = {This study aims at reconstructing landscape evolution in the Quebrada de Purmamarca, NW-Argentina. Thorough mapping of the existing landforms and present morphodynamic situation was conducted on the base of intensive field work and the interpretation of remote sensing imagery. Aside from geomorphological mapping, field work focused on the description of numerous sedimentological and pedological profiles. The analysis of these profiles was supported by laboratory data from field samples (granulometry, CaCO3 content) but also by a 14C age date. With particular regard to pedological questions, several samples from soil crust were micromorphologically analysed and interpreted. The resulting data allowed the reconstruction of several phases of landscape evolution in the Quebrada de Purmamarca back to the Miocene. During this phase, the Andes were still a landscape of relatively low relief being subject to processes of planation under conditions markedly more humid than today. Highly faulted and deformed fanglomerates are the first evidence of a progressing uplift coupled under an increasingly arid climate. As a consequence of continued uplift and alternating phases of erosion and aggradation, large terrace systems have formed. Particularly the youngest terrace level shows good preservation. Against the background of the intense climatic changes characteristic for the Pleistocene, these terraces have been the major focus of this study. They are built up almost entirely from coarse debris-flow sediments which are thought to be the result of a significant drop of the periglacial belt of more than 1,000 meters. This interpretation is confirmed by a variety of relict periglacial landforms like "glatthang" morphology (smooth topography), sheets of frost debris and asymmetric valleys. As sediment supply from periglacial debris production exceeded the transport capacity of the drainage system leading to the dominance of depositional processes. Aggradation has been interrupted or at least weakened several times as reflected by two lacustrine to fluvial intervals within the terrace deposits. In this context, particularly the younger interval might announce a shift in morphodynamics around 49 ka BP (14C age), when the phase of terrace aggradation grades into a phase of dominant alluvial fan activity. On the terrace surfaces a well-developed reddish soil has developed. It is interpreted to indicate a phase of increased humidity possibly in relation with the "Minchin" wet phase between 40 ka BP and 25 ka BP. At many places, this reddish soil is overlain by a markedly cemented sand crust. Based on the good sorting of medium and fine sand, this sand crust could be interpreted as fluvio-eolian sediment. Its deposition under very arid and cold climatic conditions may be attributed to the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, the sand crust shows signs of erosion at many places and has not been observed anywhere below the level of the terrace surface. Therefore the onset of severe erosion and incision resulting in the evacuation of enormous quantities of sediment from the study area is assumed to postdate the LGM, possibly due to increased discharge rates during a wetter Lateglacial. Regardless of its timing, the intense incision is likely to have cut down to below the present floodplain evidently causing several mass wasting events in the study area. Since the early Holocene a number of short-term changes seem to have been responsible for the landscape evolution of the Quebrada de Purmamarca. More humid phases of pronounced slope smoothing have alternated with semi-arid phases of longer duration. The well-developed, polycyclic calcretes on top of the inactive terraces and alluvial fans give evidence for these changes. At present, the marked desert pavement on top of most terraces and alluvial fan surfaces prevent soil. The concentration of runoff on these pavements amplifies badland formation and alluvial fan activity along the terrace slopes. The presently observed floodplain aggradation may be attributed to these processes but considering the severe gullying reaching far into the upper study area, the aggradation may as well reflect a more general and regional trend.}, subject = {Quart{\"a}r}, language = {en} } @misc{Knauer2011, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {Knauer, Kim}, title = {Monitoring ecosystem health of Fynbos remnant vegetation in the City of Cape Town using remote sensing}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-92495}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Increasing urbanisation is one of the biggest pressures to vegetation in the City of Cape Town. The growth of the city dramatically reduced the area under indigenous Fynbos vegetation, which remains in isolated fragments. These are subject to a number of threats including atmospheric deposition, atypical fire cycles and invasion by exotic plant and animal species. Especially the Port Jackson willow (Acacia saligna) extensively suppresses the indigenous Fynbos vegetation with its rapid growth. The main objective of this study was to investigate indicators for a quick and early prediction of the health of the remaining Fynbos fragments in the City of Cape Town with help of remote sensing. First, the productivity of the vegetation in response to rainfall was determined. For this purpose, the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), derived from Terra MODIS data with a spatial resolution of 250m, and precipitation data of 19 rainfall stations for the period from 2000 till 2008 were used. Within the scope of a flexible regression between the EVI data and the precipitation data, different lags of the vegetation response to rainfall were analysed. Furthermore, residual trends (RESTREND) were calculated, which result from the difference between observed EVI and the one predicted by precipitation. Negative trends may suggest a degradation of the habitats. In addition, the so-called Rain-use Efficiency (RUE) was tested in this context. It is defined as the ratio between net primary production (NPP) - represented by the annual sum of EVI - and the annual rainfall sum. These indicators were analysed for their suitability to determine the health of the indigenous Fynbos vegetation. Furthermore, the degree of dispersal of invasive species especially the Acacia saligna was investigated. With the specific characteristics of the tested indicators and the spectral signature of Acacia saligna, i.e. its unique reflectance over the course of the year, the dispersal was estimated. Since the growth of invasive species dramatically reduces the biodiversity of the fragments, their presence is an important factor for the condition of ecosystem health. This work focused on 11 test sites with an average size of 200ha, distributed over the whole area of the City of Cape Town. Five of these fragments are under conservation and the others shall be protected in the near future, too, which makes them of special interest. In January 2010, fieldwork was undertaken in order to investigate the state and composition of the local vegetation. The results show promising indicators for the assessment of ecosystem health. The coefficients of determination of the EVI-rainfall regression for Fynbos are minor, because the reaction of this vegetation type to rainfall is considerably lower than the one of the invasive species. Thus, a good distinction between indigenous and alien vegetation is possible on the basis of this regression. On the other hand, the RESTREND method, for which the regression forms the basis, is only of limited use, since the significance of these trends is not given for Fynbos vegetation. Furthermore, the RUE has considerable potential for the assessment of ecosystem health in the study area. The Port Jackson willow has an explicitly higher EVI than the Fynbos vegetation and thus its RUE is more efficient for a similar amount of rainfall. However, it has to be used with caution, because local and temporal variability cannot be extinguished in the study area over the rather short MODIS time series. These results display that the interpretation of the indicators has to be conducted differently from the literature, because the element of invasive species was not considered in most of the previous papers. An increase in productivity is not necessarily equivalent with an improvement in health of the fragment, but can indicate a dispersal of Acacia saligna. This shows the general problem of the term 'degradation' which in most publications so far is only measured by productivity and other factors like invasive species are disregarded. On the basis of the EVI-rainfall regression and statistical measures of the EVI, the distribution of invasive species could be delineated. Generally, a strong invasion of the Port Jackson willow was discovered on the test sites. The results display that a reasoned and sustainable management of the fragments is essential in order to prevent the suppression of the indigenous Fynbos vegetation by Acacia saligna. For this purpose, remote sensing can give an indication which areas changed so that specific field surveys can be undertaken and subsequent management measures can be determined.}, subject = {remote sensing}, language = {en} } @misc{Cammerer2009, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {Cammerer, Holger}, title = {Minderung von Hochwassersch{\"a}den durch Fr{\"u}hwarnung und Eigenvorsorge - Eine statistische Analyse von Befragungen in Privathaushalten in Deutschland und {\"O}sterreich}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-47314}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2009}, abstract = {Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, anhand von aktuellen Hochwasserschadensdaten aus Telefonbefragungen in Privathaushalten in Deutschland und {\"O}sterreich die Minderung von Hochwassersch{\"a}den durch Fr{\"u}hwarnung und privater Eigenvorsorge zu quantifizieren. Im ersten Schritt wurden die Datens{\"a}tze aus den vier zugrunde liegenden Befragungen zu den Hochwasserereignissen der Jahre 2002, 2005 und 2006 zusammengef{\"u}hrt und die Hochwassersch{\"a}den auf das Referenzjahr 2007 angepasst. Um das Schadensminderungspotenzial von Fr{\"u}hwarnung und diversen Vorsorge-/ Notmaßnahmen beurteilen zu k{\"o}nnen, wurde der konsistente Datensatz nach verschiedenen schadensbestimmenden Faktoren (Wasserstand, Hochwassertyp, Kontaminationsart und Hochwassererfahrung) aufgeteilt. Dabei stellte sich heraus, dass eine Hochwasserwarnung z.B. durch Beh{\"o}rden den Schaden am Geb{\"a}ude und Hausrat nur dann reduzieren kann, wenn der Fr{\"u}hwarnungsinhalt klar verst{\"a}ndlich oder das Wissen der Betroffenen ausreichend ist, wie man sich und seinen Haushalt vor dem Hochwasser sch{\"u}tzen kann (durch das Ergreifen von Notmaßnahmen). Der Nutzen einer langfristigen Vorsorge, insbesondere von baulichen Maßnahmen, wurde in dieser Studie sehr deutlich. Vor allem die geringwertige Nutzung der hochwassergef{\"a}hrdeten Stockwerke und die hochwasserangepasste Inneneinrichtung konnten die Sch{\"a}den am Geb{\"a}ude und Inventar erheblich reduzieren.}, subject = {Hochwasser}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Buedel2020, author = {B{\"u}del, Christian}, title = {Quaternary alluvial fan morphodynamics and basin sedimentation in North Iran}, edition = {1. Auflage}, publisher = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press}, address = {W{\"u}rzburg}, isbn = {978-3-95826-114-3}, issn = {0510-9833}, doi = {10.25972/WUP-978-3-95826-115-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-184508}, school = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press}, pages = {XI, 124}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Several hundred meter thick alluvial fans are dominating the landscape of semiarid plains of north-eastern Iranian mountain-talus. These fans developed since Miocene times and are still prograding today. They are storing and transporting major amount of weathered debris from the mountain ranges and sediments are directed to the depressions of the endorheic basins. In this course, the debris gets increasingly weathered and abraded to sand silt and clay fractions, which finally constitute the fine loamy layers of the typical central playa lakes and playas. The study focused on the detailed investigation of a characteristic section of this prominent sediment cascades. The sediments were planned be comprehensively documented by using a fully analytical geomorphological mapping approach, also suitable for the classification of the sediment's geomorphological system contexts. Therefore, a geodatabase structure was developed, which is capable of managing and analyzing geomorphological data. The corresponding data was acquired using remote sensing imagery, digital elevation models and field mapping campaigns. Additionally, mapped sediments were selected and analyzed to reveal representative stratigraphic and sedimentologic characteristics. The fieldwork was conducted in Damghan Basin on sections in geomorphologically subdivided alluvial apron sediments. The corresponding, more regularly layered and partly laminated sediments from the central playa, were also investigated and comparably described. Attending to the preparation of profile sections and the percussion core probing, samples from both origins were taken. Detailed lithostratigraphical and geochemical analyses were carried out in the laboratory, in order to develop sound comparable sediment and sediment alteration indices. In addition, OSL sampling was done on distinct alluvial fan surfaces, and the samples were measured and dated in the laboratory in order to develop a functional chronostratigraphy. The results of the geomorphological and stratigraphical investigations reveal five classes of surface ages on the alluvial apron. Parallel to that observation, the ramming core samples exhibit four main phases of sediment development in the playa, each with internal differentiation. This brings up opportunities for a valid correlation of continuously deposited playa sediments, with widespread alluvial surfaces. By considering the OSL ages of selected terrestrial and lacustrine layers, the stratigraphy and relative chronological order of the studied sediments, are aligned to Pleistocene and mid to late Holocene periods. This is also confirmed by proxy ages from the chronological framework of the landscape development, within the basin. Geophysical and geochemical data reveals roughly cyclic sedimentation and sediment alteration that can also be observed in genetically differing geoarchives from alluvial fan surfaces to the playa sediments. These parallel developments are confirmed by the sequence-stratigraphic order of the archives which is derived from geomorphological mapping. We postulate a time span covered by the playa sediments from today to late Pleistocene times. Drying and Lake level retreat at the end of Pleistocene is documented in parallel geoarchives of terrestrial and lacustrine origin. Thus, geomorphologic landform-succession and alluvial fan morphogenesis, as well as geochemical and geophysical fingerprinting data of playa sediments characterize this development. Therefore, it is present in the two youngest generations of alluvial fans, which deposited at the toe of the alluvial apron and which incorporate reworked still water deposits of a former lake level terrace. The geochemical parameters, like pH-value and Ca/S-ratio, in both, sediments of a former lake level and those from the recent playa extent exhibit a similar development. In addition, Ti/Al-ratio shows the potential for quantifying lake level retreat, as it seems to be tightly depending on lake level and increasing transportation distances along the sediment cascade. Major Findings - Analytical geomorphological mapping is a key tool for understanding the sedimentation history of the Iranian Quaternary and for describing Quaternary stratigraphic units of North Iran. - The younger playa deposits in Damghan Basin cover a time span from today to late Pleistocene. They are 10 meters thick and reveal very low organic matter contents throughout the core. - Drying and Lake level retreat is documented in parallel geoarchives (1) in geomorphologic landform-succession and alluvial fan morphogenesis and (2) in geochemical and geophysical fingerprinting data of playa sediments - Sequences of torrential sedimentation are detectable signals and can be correlated in both: playa sediments and landform morphology}, subject = {Quart{\"a}rgeomorphologie}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Trappe2022, author = {Trappe, Julian}, title = {The influence of medieval building activity on relief development within the Spessart uplands, Germany. A sedimentological, geophysical and GIS-based approach at different castle and mining sites}, edition = {1. Auflage}, publisher = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press}, address = {W{\"u}rzburg}, isbn = {978-3-95826-184-6}, issn = {0510-9833}, doi = {10.25972/WUP-978-3-95826-185-3}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-261499}, school = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press}, pages = {XXI, 250}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In the Spessart, a low mountain range in central Germany, a feud during the Middle Ages led to the construction of numerous castles in this region. This study analyzes the mutual influence of (paleo-)relief development and medieval building activity using a geomorphological and geoarchaeological multimethod approach to expand the knowledge of human-environmental interactions during this time. For this purpose, GIS-based terrain analysis and geophysical measurements were conducted and combined with sedimentological information to create 1D-3D models of the subsurface and to assess knowledge of the landscape and relief evolution at various medieval castle and mining sites. The interpretation of all these data led to the answering of numerous site-specific questions on various geomorphological, geoarchaeological, geologic, and archaeological topics that have been explored in this work and have greatly increased our knowledge of each study site. In addition to these key contributions to the archaeological and geomorphological interpretation of individual study sites, a quantification of the anthropogenic influence on the relief development was conducted, a generalized model of the influence was derived, and new methodological and interpretative approaches were developed. Overall, this study links geomorphological/geological and (geo-)archaeological investigations at five medieval sites and delivers important information on human-environmental interactions within the Spessart and beyond.}, subject = {Geoarch{\"a}ologie}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{NghengwaAche2019, author = {Nghengwa Ache, Patience}, title = {Waste Management As a Correlate of Environmental Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Example of Imo State, Nigeria}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-19224}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-192240}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Summary Introduction. Rapid and uncontrolled industrialisation and urbanisation in most developing countries are resulting in land, air and water pollution at rates that the natural environment cannot fully renew. These contemporary environmental issues have attracted local, national and international attention. The problem of urban garbage management is associated with rapid population growth in developing countries. These are pertinent environmental crises of sustainability and sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa and other Third World countries. Despite efforts of the various tiers of government (the case of Nigeria with three tiers: Federal, State and Local governments) in managing solid waste in urban centres, it is still overflowing open dumpsites, litters streets and encroaches into water bodies. These affect the quality of urban living conditions and the natural environment. Sub-Saharan and other developing countries are experiencing an upsurge in the accumulation and the diversity of waste including E-waste, waste agricultural biomass and waste plastics. The need for effective, sustainable and efficient management of waste through the application of 3Rs principle (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) is an essential element for promoting sustainable patterns of consumption and production. This study examined waste management in Imo State, Nigeria as an aspect correlated to the sustainability of its environment. Materials and methods. To analyse waste management as a correlate of environmental sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa, Imo State, in eastern Nigeria was chosen as a study area. Issues about waste handling and its impact on the environment in Imo have been reported since its creation in 1976; passing through the State with the cleanest State capital in 1980 to a 'dunghill' in 2013 and a 'garbage capital' on October 1, 2016. Within this State, three study sites were selected - Owerri metropolis (the State capital) Orlu and Okigwe towns. At these sites, households, commercial areas, accommodation and recreational establishments and schools, as well as dumpsites were investigated to ascertain the composition, quantity, distribution, handling patterns of waste in relation to the sustainability of the State's environment. This was done conveniently but randomly through questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and non-participant observation; these were all heralded by a detailed deskwork. Data were entered using Microsoft Office Excel and were explored and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences - SPSS. Data were made essentially of categorical variables and were analysed using descriptive statistics. The association between categorical variables was measured using Cramer's V the Chi-Square that makes the power and the reliability of the test. Cramer's V is a measure of association tests directly integrated with cross-tabulation. The Chi-Square test of equal proportions was used to compare proportions for significant differences at 0.05 levels. The statistical package - the Epi Info 6.04d was also used since a contingency table had to be created from several sub-outputs and determine the extent of association between the row and column categories. The scale variable 'quantity of waste generated' was described using measures of central tendency. It was screened for normality using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests for normality; in all context, the normality assumption was violated (P<0.05). Five null hypotheses were tested using Logistic Regression model. The explanatory power of individual conceptual component was calculated using the Cox \& Snell R2 and that of individual indicators was also appraised using the Likelihood Ratio test. In the context of this work, the significance of the variability explained by the model (baseline model) was appraised using the Omnibus Tests of Model Coefficients, the magnitude of this variability explained by the model using the Cox \& Snell R2 and the effects of individual predictors using the Likelihood Ratio test. Qualitatively, data from open-ended items, observations and interviews were analysed using the process of thematic analysis whereby concepts or ideas were grouped under umbrella terms or keywords. The results were presented using tables, charts, graphs, photos and maps. Findings and discussions. The total findings and analyses indicated that proper waste handling in Imo State, Nigeria has a positive impact on the environment. This was assessed by the community's awareness of waste management via sources like the radio and the TV, their education on waste management and schools' integration of environmental education in their program. Although most community members perceived the State's environment as compared to it about 10 years' back has worsened, where they were conscious of proper waste handling measures, the environment was described to be better. This influence of environmental awareness and education on environmental sustainability appraised using Logistic Regression Model, portrayed a significant variability (Omnibus Tests of Model Coefficients: χ2=42.742; P=0.014), inferring that environmental awareness and education significantly predict environmental sustainability. The findings also revealed that organic waste generation spearheaded amongst other waste types like paper, plastic, E-waste, metal, textile and glass. While waste pickers always sorted paper, plastics, aluminium and metal, some of them also sorted out textile and glass. Statistically (P<0.05), in situations where waste was least generated (i.e., 1-2kg per day), community members maintained that the environmental quality was better in comparison to 10 years' back. Waste items like broken glass and textile as well as the remains of E-waste after the extraction of copper and brass were not sorted for and these contributed more to environmental degradation. Similarly, the influence of wealth on environmental sustainability was appraised using Logistic Regression Model including development index related indicators like education, occupation, income and the ability to pay for waste disposal. Harmonising the outcome, farmers, who were mostly the least educated claimed to notice more environmental improvement. In addition, those who did not agree to pay for waste disposal who were mostly those with low income (less than 200,000 Naira, i.e. about 620 Euros monthly) perceived environmental improvement more than those with income above 200,000 Naira. This irony can be attributed to the fact that those with low educational backing lack the capacity to appreciate environmental sustainability pointers well as compared to those with a broader educational background with critical thinking. The employment and poverty reduction opportunities pertaining to waste management on environmental sustainability was appraised using qualitative thematic analysis. All community members involved in sorting, buying and selling of waste items had no second job. They attested that the money earned from their activities sustained their livelihood and families. Some expressed love for the job, especially as they were their own masters. Waste picking and trading in waste items are offering employment opportunities to many communities around the world. For instance, in the waste recycling, waste composting, waste-to-energy plants and die Stadtreiniger in W{\"u}rzburg city. The workers in these enterprises have jobs as a result of waste. Waste disposal influence on environmental sustainability was appraised using the Binary Logistic Regression Model and the variability explained by the model was significant. The validity was also supported by the Wald statistics (P<0.05), which indicates the effect of the predictors is significant. Environmental sustainability was greatly reliant on indicators like the frequency at which community members emptied their waste containers; how/where waste is disposed of, availability of disposal site or public bin near the house, etc. Imolites who asserted to have public waste bins or disposal sites near their houses maintained that the quality of the State's environment had worsened as such containers/disposal sites were always stinking as well as had animals and smoke around them. Imolites around disposal sites complained of traits like diarrhoea, catarrh, insect bites, malaria, smoke and polluted air. Conclusions. The liaison between poor waste management strategies and the sustainability of the Imo State environment was considered likely as statistically significant ineffectiveness, lack of awareness, poverty, insufficient and unrealistic waste management measures were found in this study area. In these situations, the environment was said to have not improved. Such inadequacies in the handling of generated waste did not only expose the citizenry to health dangers but also gave rise to streets and roads characterized by filth and many unattended disposal sites unleashing horrible odour to the environment and attracting wild animals. This situation is not only prevalent in Imo State, Nigeria but in many Sub-Saharan cities. Future Perspectives. To improve the environment in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is imperative to practice an inclusive and integrated sustainable waste management system. The waste quantity in this region is fast growing, especially food/organic waste. The region should aim at waste management laws and waste reduction strategies, which will help save and produce more food that it really needs. Waste management should be dissociated from epidemic outbreaks like cholera, typhoid, Lassa fever and malaria, whose vectors thrive in filthy environments. Water channels and water bodies should not be waste disposal channels or waste disposal sites.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Abel2023, author = {Abel, Daniel Karl-Joseph}, title = {Weiterentwicklung der Bodenhydrologie des regionalen Klimamodells REMO}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-31146}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-311468}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Die Bodenfeuchte stellt eine essenzielle Variable f{\"u}r den Energie-, Feuchte- und Stoffaustausch zwischen Landoberfl{\"a}che und Atmosph{\"a}re dar. Ihre Auswirkungen auf Temperatur und Niederschlag sind vielf{\"a}ltig und komplex. Die in Klimamodellen verwendeten Schemata zur Simulation der Bodenfeuchte, auch bodenhydrologische Schemata genannt, sind aufgrund des Ursprungs der Klimamodelle aus Wettermodellen jedoch h{\"a}ufig sehr stark vereinfacht dargestellt. Bei Klimamodellen, die Simulationen mit einer groben Aufl{\"o}sung von mehreren Zehner- oder Hunderterkilometern rechnen, k{\"o}nnen viele Prozesse vernachl{\"a}ssigt werden. Da die Aufl{\"o}sung der Klimamodelle jedoch stetig steigt und mittlerweile beim koordinierten Projekt regionaler Klimamodelle CORDEX-CORE standardm{\"a}ßig bei 0.22° Kantenl{\"a}nge liegt, m{\"u}ssen auch h{\"o}her aufgel{\"o}ste Daten und mehr Prozesse simuliert werden. Dies gilt erst recht mit Blick auf konvektionsaufl{\"o}sende Simulationen mit wenigen Kilometern Kantenl{\"a}nge. Mit steigenden Modellaufl{\"o}sungen steigt zugleich die Komplexit{\"a}t und Differenziertheit der Fragestellungen, die mit Hilfe von Klimamodellen beantwortet werden sollen. An diesem Punkt setzt auch das Projekt BigData@Geo an, in dessen Rahmen die vorliegende Arbeit entstand. Ziel dieses Projektes ist es, hochaufgel{\"o}ste Klimainformationen f{\"u}r den bayerischen Regierungsbezirk Unterfranken f{\"u}r Akteure aus der Land- und Forstwirtschaft sowie dem Weinbau zur Verf{\"u}gung zu stellen. Auf diesen angewandten und grundlegenden Anforderungen und Zielsetzungen basierend, bedarf auch das in dieser Arbeit verwendete regionale Klimamodell REMO (Version 2015) der weiteren Entwicklung. So ist das Hauptziel der Arbeit das bestehende einschichtige bodenhydrologische Schema durch ein mehrschichtiges zu ersetzen. Der Vorteil mehrerer simulierter Bodenschichten besteht darin, dass nun die vertikale Bewegung des Wassers in Form von Versickerung und kapillarem Aufstieg simuliert werden kann. Dies geschieht auf der Basis bodenhydrologischer Parameter, deren Wert in Abh{\"a}ngigkeit vom Boden und der Bodenfeuchte {\"u}ber die Wasserr{\"u}ckhaltekurve bestimmt wird. F{\"u}r diese Kurve existieren verschiedene Parametrisierungen, von denen die Ans{\"a}tze von Clapp-Hornberger und van Genuchten verwendet wurden. Außerdem kann die Bodenfeuchte nun bis zu einer Tiefe von circa 10 m beziehungsweise der Tiefe des anstehenden Gesteins simuliert werden. Damit besteht im Gegensatz zum vorherigen Schema, dessen Tiefe auf die Wurzeltiefe beschr{\"a}nkt ist, die M{\"o}glichkeit, dass Wasser auch unterhalb der Wurzeln zur Verf{\"u}gung stehen kann und somit die absolute im Boden verf{\"u}gbare Wassermenge zunimmt. Die Schichtung erlaubt dar{\"u}ber hinaus die Verdunstung aus unbewachsenem Boden lediglich auf Basis des in der obersten Schicht verf{\"u}gbaren Wassers. Ein weiterer Prozess, der dank der Schichtung und der weiter unten erl{\"a}uterten Datens{\"a}tze neu parametrisiert werden kann, ist die Infiltration. F{\"u}r die Verwendung des Schemas sind Informationen {\"u}ber bodenhydrologische Parameter, die Wurzeltiefe und die Tiefe bis zum anstehenden Gestein erforderlich. Entsprechende Datens{\"a}tze m{\"u}ssen hierf{\"u}r aufbereitet und in das Modell eingebaut werden. Bez{\"u}glich der Wurzeltiefe wurden drei sich bez{\"u}glich der Tiefe, der Definition und der verf{\"u}gbaren Aufl{\"o}sung stark voneinander unterscheidende Datens{\"a}tze verglichen. Letztendlich wird die Wurzeltiefe aus dem mit einer anderen REMO-Version gekoppelten Vegetationsmodul iMOVE verwendet, da zuk{\"u}nftig eine Kopplung dieses Moduls mit dem mehrschichtigen Boden geplant ist und die Wurzeltiefen damit konsistent sind. Zudem ist die zugrundeliegende Aufl{\"o}sung der Daten hoch und es werden maximale Wurzeltiefen ber{\"u}cksichtigt, die besonders wichtig f{\"u}r die Simulation von Landoberfl{\"a}che-Atmosph{\"a}re-Interaktionen sind. Diese Vorteile brachten die anderen Datens{\"a}tze nicht mit. In der finalen Modellversion werden f{\"u}r die Tiefe bis zum anstehenden Gestein und die Korngr{\"o}ßenverteilungen die Daten von SoilGrids verwendet. Ein Vergleich mit anderen Bodendatens{\"a}tzen fand in einer parallel laufenden Dissertation statt (Ziegler 2022). Bei SoilGrids ist hervorzuheben, dass die Korngr{\"o}ßenverteilungen in einer hohen r{\"a}umlichen Aufl{\"o}sung (1 km^2 oder h{\"o}her) und mit mehreren vertikalen Schichten vorliegen. Gegen{\"u}ber dem urspr{\"u}nglich in REMO verwendeten Datensatz mit einer Kantenl{\"a}nge von 0.5° und ohne vertikale Differenzierung ist dies eine starke Verbesserung der Eingangsdaten. Dazu kommt, dass die Korngr{\"o}ßenverteilungen die Verwendung kontinuierlicher Pedotransferfunktionen statt f{\"u}nf diskreter Texturklassen, denen f{\"u}r die bodenhydrologischen Parameter fixe Tabellenwerte zugewiesen werden, erm{\"o}glichen. Dies f{\"u}hrt zu einer deutlich besseren Differenzierung des heterogenen Bodens. Im Rahmen der Arbeit wurden insgesamt 19 Simulationen f{\"u}r Europa und ein erweitertes Deutschlandgebiet mit Aufl{\"o}sungen von 0.44° beziehungsweise 0.11° f{\"u}r den Zeitraum 2000 bis 2018 gerechnet. Dabei zeigte sich, dass die Einf{\"u}hrung des mehrschichtigen Bodenschemas gegen{\"u}ber dem einschichtigen Schema zu einer Verringerung der Bodenfeuchte in der Wurzeltiefe f{\"u}hrt. Nichtsdestotrotz nimmt die absolute Wassermenge des Bodens durch die Ber{\"u}cksichtigung des Bodens unterhalb der Wurzelzone zu. Bezogen auf die einzelnen Schichten wird die Bodenfeuchte damit zwar untersch{\"a}tzt, im Laufe der Modellentwicklung kann jedoch eine Verbesserung im Vergleich zu ERA5 erzielt werden. Das neue Schema f{\"u}hrt zu einer Verringerung der Evapotranspiration, die {\"u}ber alle Schritte der Modellentwicklung und besonders w{\"a}hrend der Sommermonate auftritt. Im Vergleich zu Validationsdaten von ERA5 und GLEAM zeigt sich, dass dies eine Verbesserung dieser Gr{\"o}ße bedeutet, die sowohl in der Fl{\"a}che als auch beim Fehler und in der Verteilung auftritt. Gleiches l{\"a}sst sich f{\"u}r den Oberfl{\"a}chenabfluss sagen. Hierf{\"u}r implementierte Schemata (Philip, Green-Ampt), die anders als das standardm{\"a}ßig verwendete Improved-Arno-Schema bodenhydrologische Parameter ber{\"u}cksichtigen, konnten eine weitere Verbesserung im Flachland zeigen. In Gebirgsregionen nahm der Fehler durch die nicht enthaltene Ber{\"u}cksichtigung der Hangneigung jedoch zu, sodass in der finalen Modellversion auf das Improved-Arno-Schema zur{\"u}ckgegriffen wurde. Die Temperatur steigt durch die urspr{\"u}ngliche Version des mehrschichtigen Schemas zun{\"a}chst an, was zu einer {\"U}ber- statt der vorherigen Untersch{\"a}tzung gegen{\"u}ber E-OBS f{\"u}hrt. Die Modellentwicklung resultiert zwar in einer Reduzierung der Temperatur, jedoch f{\"a}llt diese zu stark aus, sodass der Temperaturfehler letztendlich gr{\"o}ßer als in der einschichtigen Modellversion ist. Da die Evapotranspiration jedoch maßgeblich verbessert wurde, kann dieser Fehler eventuell auf ein {\"u}berm{\"a}ßiges Tuning der Temperatur zur{\"u}ckgef{\"u}hrt werden. Die Betrachtung von Hitzeereignissen am Beispiel der Sommer 2003 und 2018 hat gezeigt, dass die Modellentwicklung dazu beitr{\"a}gt, diese Ereignisse besser als das einschichtige Schema zu simulieren. Zwar trifft dies nicht auf das r{\"a}umliche Verhalten der mittleren Temperatur zu, jedoch auf deren zeitlichen Verlauf. Hinzu kommt die bessere Simulation der t{\"a}glichen Extrem- und besonders der Minimaltemperatur, was zu einer Erh{\"o}hung der t{\"a}glichen Temperaturspanne f{\"u}hrt. Diese wird von Klimamodellen in der Regel zu stark untersch{\"a}tzt. Durch die Ber{\"u}cksichtigung der vertikalen Wasserfl{\"u}sse hat sich jedoch auch gezeigt, dass noch enormes Entwicklungspotenzial mit Blick auf (boden)hydrologische Prozesse besteht. Dies gilt in besonderem Maße f{\"u}r zuk{\"u}nftige Simulationen mit konvektionserlaubender Aufl{\"o}sung. So sollten subskalige Informationen des Bodens und der Orographie ber{\"u}cksichtigt werden. Dies dient einerseits der Repr{\"a}sentation vorliegender Heterogenit{\"a}ten und kann andererseits, wie am Beispiel der Infiltrationsschemata dargelegt, zur Verbesserung bestehender Prozesse beitragen. Da die simulierte Drainage durch das mehrschichtige Bodenschema im gleichen Maße zu- wie der Oberfl{\"a}chenabfluss abnimmt und das Wasser dem Modell in der Folge nicht weiter zur Verf{\"u}gung steht, sollte zuk{\"u}nftig auch Grundwasser im Modell ber{\"u}cksichtigt werden. Eine Vielzahl von Studien konnte einen Mehrwert durch die Implementierung dieser Variable und damit verbundener Prozesse feststellen. Mittelfristig ist jedoch insgesamt die Kopplung an ein hydrologisches Modell zu empfehlen, um die bei hochaufl{\"o}senden Simulationen relevanten Prozesse angemessen repr{\"a}sentieren zu k{\"o}nnen. Hierf{\"u}r bieten sich beispielsweise ParFlow oder mHM an. Insgesamt ist festzuhalten, dass das mehrschichtige Bodenschema einen Mehrwert liefert, da schwer zu simulierende und in der Postprozessierung zu korrigierende Variablen wie die Evapotranspiration und der Oberfl{\"a}chenabfluss deutlich besser modelliert werden k{\"o}nnen als mit dem einschichtigen Schema. Dies gilt auch f{\"u}r die Extremtemperaturen. Beides ist klar auf die Schichtung des Bodens und damit einhergehender Prozesse zur{\"u}ckzuf{\"u}hren. Bez{\"u}glich der Daten zeigt sich, dass die Wurzeltiefe, die Ber{\"u}cksichtigung von SoilGrids und die vertikale Bodeninformation f{\"u}r die weitere Optimierung verantwortlich sind. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus ist der h{\"o}here Informationsgehalt, der anhand der geschichteten Bodenfeuchte zur Verf{\"u}gung steht, ebenfalls als Mehrwert einzustufen.}, subject = {Klima}, language = {de} } @misc{Halbleib2019, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {Halbleib, Julia}, title = {Bodenerosion und ihre Modellierung auf Grundlage der Allgemeinen Bodenabtragsgleichung (ABAG) - Erosionsabsch{\"a}tzung mittels AVErosion im Untersuchungsgebiet Biosph{\"a}renreservat Rh{\"o}n}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-178811}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In dieser Arbeit wird ein Verfahren zur Modellierung der Bodenerosion auf Ackerfl{\"a}chen in einem Untersuchungsgebiet im UNESCO-Biosph{\"a}renreservat Rh{\"o}n vorgestellt. Als Grundlage dienen fl{\"a}chendeckend verf{\"u}gbare, hochaufl{\"o}sende Datens{\"a}tzen zu allen relevanten Faktoren. Ziel ist es die Sensitivit{\"a}t des Modells gegen{\"u}ber verschiedenen Faktoren sowie die {\"U}bertragbarkeit des Verfahrens auf gr{\"o}ßere Untersuchungsgebiete zu testen. Die Modellierung findet dabei in ArcView 3.2 {\"u}ber die Extension AVErosion von SCH{\"A}UBLE (2005) statt, w{\"a}hrend die Vorprozessierung in ArcMap von ESRI durchgef{\"u}hrt wird. Zun{\"a}chst werden grundlegende Begriffe zu den Prozessen, Einflussfaktoren und Messmethoden von Bodenerosion erl{\"a}utert. Die von Bodenerosion verursachten Sch{\"a}den und m{\"o}gliche Schutzmaßnahmen werden aufgrund ihrer Relevanz, unter anderem f{\"u}r die betroffenen Landwirte, geschildert. Nach dem {\"U}berblick {\"u}ber die wichtigsten Erosionsmodelle werden die hier verwendete Allgemeine Bodenabtragsgleichung (ABAG) und ihre einzelnen Berechnungsschritte vorgestellt. Das Modellierungstool AVErosion verwendet zus{\"a}tzlich Elemente der Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE87). Zur Bodenerosionsmodellierung stehen hochaufl{\"o}sende Datens{\"a}tze aus dem Untersuchungsgebiet zur Verf{\"u}gung, aus denen in der Vorprozessierung die Raster der Faktoren errechnet werden. Insgesamt werden zehn Szenarien mit verschiedenen C-Faktoren und zwei Szenarien mit variierendem R-Faktor modelliert. Daraufhin wird das Untersuchungsgebiet nach physisch-geographischen Gesichtspunkten beschrieben und die landwirtschaftliche Nutzung in der Region charakterisiert. Die Ergebnisse der Modellierung zeigen, dass neben den Reliefeigenschaften die Bodenbewirtschaftung auf den Ackerfl{\"a}chen den gr{\"o}ßten Einfluss auf den Bodenabtrag hat. Die Variationen der Niederschlagssumme in den R-Faktor-Szenarien hat hingegen vergleichsweise wenig Auswirkungen auf das Modellierungsergebnis. Zwar konnte durch das Fehlen von aktuellen Bewirtschaftungsdaten keine Modellierung der tats{\"a}chlichen Bodenerosion erzielt werden, jedoch zeigen die verschiedenen C-Faktor-Szenarien den potentiellen Bodenabtrag bei unterschiedlicher Bewirtschaftung. Es wird deutlich, dass auf erosionsgef{\"a}hrdeten Fl{\"a}chen durch eine angepasste Form der landwirtschaftlichen Nutzung geringere Abtragswerte in der Modellierung erreicht werden k{\"o}nnen. Die Methode l{\"a}sst sich gut auf das Untersuchungsgebiet im Biosph{\"a}renreservat Rh{\"o}n anwenden und zeigt Potential zur {\"U}bertragung auf gr{\"o}ßere Untersuchungsgebiete}, subject = {Bodenerosion}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Fekete2018, author = {Fekete, Alexander}, title = {Urban Disaster Resilience and Critical Infrastructure}, isbn = {978-3-946573-13-5}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-163251}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, pages = {89}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Urban areas are population, culture and infrastructure concentration points. Electricity blackouts or interruptions of water supply severely affect people when happening unexpected and at large scale. Interruptions of such infrastructure supply services alone have the potential to trigger crises. But when happening in concert with or as a secondary effect of an earthquake, for example, the crisis situation is often aggravated. This is the case for any country, but it has been observed that even highly industrialised countries face severe risks when their degree of acquired dependency on services of what is termed Critical Infrastructure results in even bigger losses when occurring unexpectedly in a setting that usually has high reliability of services.}, subject = {Risikomanagement}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Keupp2024, author = {Keupp, Luzia Esther}, title = {Hochaufgel{\"o}ste Erfassung zuk{\"u}nftiger Klimarisiken f{\"u}r Land- und Forstwirtschaft in Unterfranken}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-34735}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-347350}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Das Klima und seine Ver{\"a}nderungen wirken sich direkt auf die Land- und Forstwirtschaft aus. Daher ist die Untersuchung der zuk{\"u}nftigen Klimarisiken f{\"u}r diese Sektoren von hoher Relevanz. Dies ist auch und vor allem f{\"u}r den schon heute weitr{\"a}umig trockheitsgepr{\"a}gten und vom Klimawandel besonders betroffenen nordwestbayerischen Regierungsbezirk Unterfranken der Fall, dessen Gebiet zu {\"u}ber 80 \% land- oder forstwirtschaftlich genutzt wird. Zur Untersuchung der Zukunft in hoher r{\"a}umlicher Aufl{\"o}sung werden Projektionen von regionalen Klimamodellen genutzt. Da diese jedoch Defizite in der Repr{\"a}sentation des beobachteten Klimas der Vergangenheit aufweisen, sollte vor der weiteren Verwendung eine Anpassung der Daten erfolgen. Dies geschieht in der vorliegenden Arbeit am Beispiel des regionalen Klimamodells REMO im Bezug auf klimatische Kennwerte f{\"u}r Trockenheit, Starkniederschlag, Hitze sowie (Sp{\"a}t-)Frost, die alle eine hohe land- und forstwirtschaftliche Bedeutung besitzen. Die Datenanpassung erfolgt durch zwei verschiedene Ans{\"a}tze. Zum Einen wird eine Biaskorrektur der aus Globalmodell-angetriebenen REMO-Daten berechneten Indizes durch additive und multiplikative Linearskalierung sowie empirische und parametrische Verteilungsanpassung durchgef{\"u}hrt. Zum Anderen wird ein exploratives Verfahren auf Basis von Model Output Statistics angewandt: Lokale und großr{\"a}umige atmosph{\"a}rische Variablen von REMO mit Reanalyseantrieb, die eine zeitliche Korrespondenz zu den Beobachtungen aufweisen, dienen als Pr{\"a}diktoren f{\"u}r die Aufstellung von Transferfunktionen zur Simulation der Indizes. Diese Transferfunktionen werden sowohl mithilfe Multipler Linearer Regression als auch mit verschiedenen Generalisierten Linearen Modellen konstruiert. Sie werden anschließend genutzt, um Analysen auf Basis von biaskorrigierten Globalmodell-angetriebenen REMO-Pr{\"a}diktoren durchzuf{\"u}hren. Sowohl f{\"u}r die Biaskorrektur als auch die Model Output Statistics wird eine Kreuzvalidierung durchgef{\"u}hrt, um die Ergebnisse unabh{\"a}ngig vom jeweiligen Trainingszeitraum zu untersuchen und die jeweils besten Varianten zu finden. Werden beide Verfahren mit ihren Unterkategorien f{\"u}r den gesamten historischen Modellzeitraum verglichen, so weist f{\"u}r alle Monat-Kennwert-Kombinationen eine der beiden Verteilungskorrekturen die besten Ergebnisse auf. Die Zukunftsprojektionen unter Verwendung der jeweils erfolgreichsten Methode zeigen im regionalen Durchschnitt f{\"u}r das 21. Jahrhundert negative Trends der (Sp{\"a}t-)Frost- und Eis- sowie positive Trends der Hitzetageh{\"a}ufigkeit. Winterliche Starkregenereignisse nehmen hinsichtlich ihrer Anzahl zu, im Sommer verst{\"a}rkt sich die Trockenheit. Die Hinzunahme zwei weiterer regionaler Klimamodelle best{\"a}tigt die allgemeinen Zukunftstrends, jedoch ergeben sich beim Sp{\"a}tfrost Widerspr{\"u}che, wenn dieser hinsichtlich der thermisch abgegrenzten Vegetationsperiode definiert wird. Zus{\"a}tzlich werden die Model Output Statistics auf gleiche Weise mit bodennahen Pr{\"a}diktoren zur Simulation von Ertr{\"a}gen aus Acker- und Weinbau wiederholt. Die G{\"u}te kann aufgrund mangelnder Beobachtungsdatenl{\"a}nge nur anhand der Reanalyse-angetriebenen REMO-Daten abgesch{\"a}tzt werden, ist hierbei jedoch deutlich besser als im Bezug auf die Kennwertsimulation. Die Zukunftsprojektionen von REMO sowie drei weiterer Regionalmodelle zeigen im Mittel {\"u}ber alle Landkreise Unterfrankens steigende Winter- sowie sinkende Sommerfeldfruchtertr{\"a}ge. Hinsichtlich der Frankenweinertr{\"a}ge widersprechen sich die Ergebnisse der drei Klassen Weiß-, Rot- und Gesamtwein insofern, als dass REMO und ein weiteres Modell negative Weiß- und Rotweinertragstrends, jedoch positive Gesamtweinertragstrends simulieren. Die zwei anderen verwendeten Modelle f{\"u}hren durch positive Trendvorzeichen f{\"u}r den Weißwein zu insgesamt koh{\"a}renten Ergebnissen. Die Resultate im Bezug auf die land- und forstwirtschaftlich relevanten klimatischen Kennwerte bedeuten, dass Anpassungsmaßnahmen gegen{\"u}ber Hitze sowie im Speziellen gegen{\"u}ber Trockenheit in Zukunft im ohnehin trockenheitsgepr{\"a}gten Unterfranken an Bedeutung gewinnen werden. Auch die unsicheren Projektionen im Bezug auf die Sp{\"a}tfrostgefahr m{\"u}ssen im Blick behalten werden. Die Trends der Feldfruchtertr{\"a}ge deuten in die gleiche Richtung, da Sommergetreide eine h{\"o}here Trockenheitsanf{\"a}lligkeit besitzen. Die unklaren Ergebnisse der Weinertr{\"a}ge hingegen lassen keine eindeutigen Schl{\"u}sse zu. Der starke anthropogene Einfluss auf die Erntemengen sowie die großen Unterschiede der Rebsorten hinsichtlich der klimatischen Eignung k{\"o}nnten ein Grund hierf{\"u}r sein.}, subject = {Klima}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{MeyerHeintze2024, author = {Meyer-Heintze, Simon}, title = {Holocene pedosedimentary sequences as archives for paleoenvironmental reconstructions}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-34909}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-349098}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Human-environment interaction has significantly altered the pedosphere since the Neolithic, if not since the early Holocene. In the course of clearance, agriculture, and (wood) pasture soils have been deeply modified or eroded. These types of land use practices but above all forms of sedentariness spread alongside floodplains and trajectories were oriented towards loess covered areas where fertile soils could develop. Besides this, also peripheral / marginal regions were settled due to population pressure or other factors. Evidence for landscape history and development can be found within archeological sites but also overbank deposits and anthropogenic slope deposits document vast transformation processes. The presented investigations took place within the natural region of the Windsheimer Bucht which is locat-ed in the district of Middle Franconia in northern Bavaria, Germany. In this area, Holocene soils predomi-nantly developed within mudstones of the Middle to Upper Triassic. The soil texture is extremely clay-rich which renders the soils problematic with regard to cultivation management. As a peculiarity, the gypsum underlying the mudstones is prone to karstification processes and resulting proceeding geomorphological processes shape the surface of the landscape. In the course of gypsum mining the karst forms are being exposed and archeological findings are being documented. The latter mainly date back to a span from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, but partly are of Younger Paleolithic origin. Especially subsidence sinkholes are capable of storing pedosediments of several meters in thickness. Despite the high clay content and connect-ed pedoturbation processes, the excavated sequences are stratigraphically and pedologically well-differentiated. The archives occur in the context of settlement structures such as pits and postholes; there-fore, they developed at the interface of natural developments and human impact on their surroundings. The main original research questions that were formulated within the general frame of a project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG-projects Te295/15-1 and -2 and Fa390/9-1 and -2) focused on the attractors of the peripheral region for early settlers, the pedological conditions before land use, but also the impact of humans on soils and karst dynamics through time. In the course of the in hand study, the pedosedimentary archives have been approached with a multimethodological toolset which consisted of field analyses, soil morphological analyses from micro- to macro-scale, spectrophotometric (color), (laser) granulometric, and (iron-) pedochemical analyses. The numerical chronological frame was spanned by radiocarbon dating of different organic remains and bulk material if soil organic carbon was supposed-ly high. The result is a multi-dimensional data set that consists of analyses on different spatial scales but also on different levels of measurement. Thus, qualitative, semi-quantitative, and quantitative data consti-tute the basis for discussion. While the grain-size analyses underline the general sedimentological differen-tiation of the records and further affirm the high clay content within the pedosedimentary layers, iron-pedochemical analyses indicate an interplay between oxidation of iron and its chemical reduction. This is also manifested within the spectrophotometric record. Especially the versatile pedogenic characteristics that have been identified by field analyses are confirmed within the thin sections and, by considering all different analyses, the polygenic character of the pedosediments is emphasized. After stressing the general pedological specificities among the different investigated sites within the re-search area, for the collected data, the research further branches into the subjects of general notions on pedogenesis in clayey material and the classification of the respective pedosediments according to paleo-pedological concepts but also recent schemes. Concerning the latter, it becomes evident that established principles cannot be applied to the studied pedosediments without major adaptions. This underlines the specific characteristics of the material. The basis for further interpretations is the evaluation of the multi-level data set for the single records with regard to profile development and pedogenic processes. Hereby, the main drivers of pedogenesis could be identified, which are karst dynamics, land use, and subtle changes in parent material due to the admixture of slope deposits that contain allochthonous eolian material. The latter underlines the importance of Pleis-tocene preconditioning for understanding Holocene landscape dynamics. At the same time, a differentia-tion between the mentioned factors and Holocene climate development is difficult. The following compila-tion of record and localities within the given time frame unveils synchronous as well as asynchronous de-velopments; however, a clear connection between phases of Holocene climate and pedogenesis within the pedosediments cannot be established. Instead, it becomes evident that site specific factors or those that act on the scale of the micro-catchment of the investigated records are decisive. The aforementioned main topics of the project are also considered in the in hand study from a soil-geographic perspective: it is possible that before land use, there was an insular or thin cover by loess sedi-ments or at least upper layers (according to the concept of periglacial cover beds) which constituted the parent material for Holocene soil formation. The according soils, which were superior for agricultural purposes compared to those developed on the autochthonous mudstones, were eroded which exposed the clayey Upper to Middle Triassic beds. Erosion was aggravated due to the impermeable mudstones which enhanced overland flow and interflow within the overlying silty (loessic) material. This is further support-ed by the notions on erodibility of the clayey material that are derived from the comparison of conven-tional and laser granulometric analyses: probably, the clayey pedosediments are capable of forming micro-aggregates that can easily be eroded during heavy rainfall events despite the general consent that material with heavy texture should be rather resistant. The study presents a comprehensive view on clay-rich pedosediments and the complex effects of human-environment interaction on pedogenic as well as sedimentary processes through time that have not been investigated in such detail before. In this context, the multi-level soil morphological analyses and their necessity for a genetic interpretation with regard to the influence of natural versus anthropogenic factors need to be emphasized. Based on quantitative laboratory analytical data only, a respective differentiation would not be possible. This underlines the importance of the chosen soil-geographic multi-methodological approach for answering questions with regard to human-environment interaction but also geoarcheology in general.}, subject = {Geoarch{\"a}ologie}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Krause2024, author = {Krause, Julian}, title = {Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf charakteristische B{\"o}den in Unterfranken unter Ber{\"u}cksichtigung bodenhydrologischer Monitoringdaten (2018 bis 2022)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-36066}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-360668}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Die mit dem Klimawandel einhergehenden Umweltver{\"a}nderungen, wie steigende Temperaturen, Abnahme der Sommer- und Zunahme der Winterniederschl{\"a}ge, h{\"a}ufigere und l{\"a}ngere Trockenperioden, zunehmende Starkniederschl{\"a}ge, St{\"u}rme und Hitzewellen betreffen besonders den Bodenwasserhaushalt in seiner zentralen Regelungsfunktion f{\"u}r den Landschaftswasserhaushalt. Von der Wasserverf{\"u}gbarkeit im Boden h{\"a}ngen zu einem sehr hohen Grad auch die Ertr{\"a}ge der Land- und Forstwirtschaft ab. Eine besonders große Bedeutung kommt dabei der Wasserspeicherkapazit{\"a}t der B{\"o}den zu, da w{\"a}hrend einer Trockenphase die effektiven Niederschl{\"a}ge den Wasserbedarf der Pflanzen nicht decken k{\"o}nnen und das bereits gespeicherte Bodenwasser das {\"U}berleben der Pflanzen sicherstellen kann. F{\"u}r die land- und forstwirtschaftlichen Akteure sind in diesem Kontext quantitative und qualitative Aussagen zu den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf den Boden essenziell, um die notwendigen Anpassungsmaßnahmen f{\"u}r ihre Betriebe treffen zu k{\"o}nnen. Zielsetzungen der vorliegenden Arbeit bestehen darin, die Dynamik der Bodenfeuchte in unterfr{\"a}nkischen B{\"o}den besser zu verstehen, die Datenlage zum Verlauf der Bodenfeuchte zu verbessern und die Auswirkungen von prognostizierten klimatischen Parametern absch{\"a}tzen zu k{\"o}nnen. Hierzu wurden an sechs f{\"u}r ihre jeweiligen Naturr{\"a}ume und hinsichtlich ihrer anthropogenen Nutzung charakteristischen Standorten meteorologisch-bodenhydrologische Messstationen installiert. Die Messstationen befinden sich in einem Rigosol auf Buntsandstein in einem Weinberg bei B{\"u}rgstadt sowie auf einer Parabraunerde im L{\"o}ssgebiet bei Herchsheim unter Ackernutzung. Am {\"U}bergang von Muschelkalk in Keuper befinden sich die Stationen in Obbach, wo eine Braunerde unter Ackernutzung vorliegt und im Forst des Universit{\"a}tswalds Sailershausen werden die Untersuchungen in einer Braunerde-Terra fusca durchgef{\"u}hrt. Im Forst befinden sich auch die Stationen in Oberrimbach mit Braunerden aus Sandsteinkeuper und in Willmars mit Braunerden aus Buntsandstein. Der Beobachtungszeitraum dieser Arbeit reicht von Juli 2018 bis November 2022. In diesen Zeitraum fiel die dreij{\"a}hrige D{\"u}rre von 2018 bis 2020, das Jahr 2021 mit einem durchschnittlichen Witterungsverlauf und das D{\"u}rrejahr 2022. Das Langzeitmonitoring wurde von umfangreichen Gel{\"a}nde- und Laboranalysen der grundlegenden bodenkundlichen Parameter der Bodenprofile und der Standorte begleitet. Die bodengeographischen-geomorphologischen Standortanalysen bilden zusammen mit den qualitativen Auswertungen der Bodenfeuchtezeitreihen die Grundlage f{\"u}r Einsch{\"a}tzungen zu den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf den Bodenwasserhaushalt. Verl{\"a}ssliche Aussagen zum Bodenwasserhaushalt k{\"o}nnen nur auf Grundlage von zeitlich und r{\"a}umlich hoch aufgel{\"o}sten Daten getroffen werden. Bodenfeuchtezeitreihen zusammen mit den bodenphysikalischen Daten lagen in dieser Datenqualit{\"a}t f{\"u}r Unterfranken bisher nur sehr vereinzelt vor. Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die untersuchten B{\"o}den entsprechend den jeweiligen naturr{\"a}umlichen Gegebenheiten sehr unterschiedliche bodenhydrologische Eigenschaften aufweisen. W{\"a}hrend langer Trockenphasen k{\"o}nnen beispielsweise die Parabraunerden am Standort Herchsheim wegen ihrer h{\"o}heren Wasserspeicherkapazit{\"a}t die Pflanzen l{\"a}nger mit Wasser versorgen als die sandigen Braunerden am Standort Oberrimbach. Die Bodenfeuchteregime im Beobachtungszeitraum waren sehr stark vom Witterungsverlauf einzelner Jahre abh{\"a}ngig. Das Bodenfeuchteregime bei einem durchschnittlichen Witterungsverlauf wie in 2021 zeichnet sich durch eine langsame Abnahme der Bodenfeuchte ab Beginn der Vegetationsperiode im Fr{\"u}hjahr aus. Regelm{\"a}ßige Niederschl{\"a}ge im Fr{\"u}hjahr f{\"u}llen den oberfl{\"a}chennahen Bodenwasserspeicher immer wieder auf und sichern den Bodenwasservorrat in der Tiefe bis in den Hochsommer. Im Hochsommer k{\"o}nnen Pflanzen dann w{\"a}hrend der Trockenphasen ihren Wasserbedarf aus den tieferen Horizonten decken. Im Gegensatz dazu nimmt die Bodenfeuchte in D{\"u}rrejahren wie 2018 bis 2020 oder 2022 bereits im Fr{\"u}hjahr bis in die untersten Horizonte stark ab. Die nutzbare Feldkapazit{\"a}t ist zum Teil schon im Juni weitgehend ausgesch{\"o}pft, womit f{\"u}r sp{\"a}tere Trockenphasen kein Bodenwasser mehr zur Verf{\"u}gung steht. Die Herbst- und Winterniederschl{\"a}ge s{\"a}ttigen den Bodenwasservorrat wieder bis zur Feldkapazit{\"a}t auf. Bei tiefreichender Ersch{\"o}pfung des Bodenwassers wurde die Feldkapazit{\"a}t erst im Januar oder Februar erreicht. Im Zuge der land- und forstwirtschaftlichen Nutzung ist eine gute Datenlage zu den bodenkundlichen und stand{\"o}rtlichen Gegebenheiten f{\"u}r klimaadaptierte Anpassungsstrategien essentiell. Wichtige Zielsetzungen bestehen grunds{\"a}tzlich in der Erhaltung der Bodenfunktionen, in der Verbesserung der Infiltrationskapazit{\"a}t und Wasserspeicherkapazit{\"a}t. Hier kommt dem Boden als interaktive Austauschfl{\"a}che zwischen den Sph{\"a}ren und damit dem Bodenschutz eine zentrale Bedeutung zu. Die in Zukunft erwarteten klimatischen Bedingungen stellen an jeden Boden andere Herausforderungen, welchen mit stand{\"o}rtlich abgestimmten Bodenschutzmaßnahmen begegnet werden kann.}, subject = {Bodengeografie}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{KanmegneTamga2024, author = {Kanmegne Tamga, Dan Emmanuel}, title = {Modelling Carbon Sequestration of Agroforestry Systems in West Africa using Remote Sensing}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-36926}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-369269}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {The production of commodities such as cocoa, rubber, oil palm and cashew, is the main driver of deforestation in West Africa (WA). The practiced production systems correspond to a land managment approach referred to as agroforestry systems (AFS), which consist of managing trees and crops on the same unit of land.Because of the ubiquity of trees, AFS reported as viable solution for climate mitigation; the carbon sequestrated by the trees could be estimated with remote sensing (RS) data and methods and reported as emission reduction efforts. However, the diversity in AFS in relation to their composition, structure and spatial distribution makes it challenging for an accurate monitoring of carbon stocks using RS. Therefore, the aim of this research is to propose a RS-based approach for the estimation of carbon sequestration in AFS across the climatic regions of WA. The main objectives were to (i) provide an accurate classification map of AFS by modelling the spatial distribution of the classification error; (ii) estimate the carbon stock of AFS in the main climatic regions of WA using RS data; (iii) evaluate the dynamic of carbon stocks within AFS across WA. Three regions of interest (ROI) were defined in Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, one in each climatic region of WA namely the Guineo-Congolian, Guinean and Sudanian, and three field campaigns were carried out for data collection. The collected data consisted of reference points for image classification, biometric tree measurements (diameter, height, species) for biomass estimation. A total of 261 samples were collected in 12 AFS across WA. For the RS data, yearly composite images from Sentinel-1 and -2 (S1 and S2), ALOS-PALSAR and GEDI data were used. A supervised classification using random forest (RF) was implemented and the classification error was assessed using the Shannon entropy generated from the class probabilities. For carbon estimation, different RS data, machine learning algorithms and carbon reference sources were compared for the prediction of the aboveground biomass in AFS. The assessment of the carbon dynamic was carried between 2017 and 2021. An average carbon map was genrated and use as reference for the comparison of annual carbon estimations, using the standard deviation as threshold. As far as the results are concerned, the classification accuracy was higher than 0.9 in all the ROIs, and AFS were mainly represented by rubber (38.9\%), cocoa (36.4\%), palm (10.8\%) in the ROI-1, mango (15.2\%) and cashew (13.4\%) in ROI-2, shea tree (55.7\%) and African locust bean (28.1\%) in ROI-3. However, evidence of misclassification was found in cocoa, mango, and shea butter. The assessment of the classification error suggested that the error level was higher in the ROI-3 and ROI-1. The error generated from the entropy was able to reduced the level of misclassification by 63\% with 11\% of loss of information. Moreover, the approach was able to accuretely detect encroachement in protected areas. On carbon estimation, the highest prediction accuracy (R²>0.8) was obtained for a RF model using the combination of S1 and S2 and AGB derived from field measurements. Predictions from GEDI could only be used as reference in the ROI-1 but resulted in a prediction error was higher in cashew, mango, rubber and cocoa plantations, and the carbon stock level was higher in African locust bean (43.9 t/ha), shea butter (15 t/ha), cashew (13.8 t/ha), mango (12.8 t/ha), cocoa (7.51 t/ha) and rubber (7.33 t/ha). The analysis showed that carbon stock is determined mainly by the diameter (R²=0.45) and height (R²=0.13) of trees. It was found that crop plantations had the lowest biodiversity level, and no significant relationship was found between the considered biodiversity indices and carbon stock levels. The assessment of the spatial distribution of carbon sources and sinks showed that cashew plantations are carbon emitters due to firewood collection, while cocoa plantations showed the highest potential for carbon sequestration. The study revealed that Sentinel data could be used to support a RS-based approach for modelling carbon sequestration in AFS. Entropy could be used to map crop plantations and to monitor encroachment in protected areas. Moreover, field measurements with appropriate allometric models could ensure an accurate estimation of carbon stocks in AFS. Even though AFS in the Sudanian region had the highest carbon stocks level, there is a high potential to increase the carbon level in cocoa plantations by integrating and/or maintaining forest trees.}, subject = {Sequestrierung}, language = {en} }