scholarly journals Monitoring Ecological Restoration with Imagery Tools (MERIT) : Python-based decision support tools integrated into ArcGIS for satellite and UAS image processing, analysis, and classification

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristofer Lasko ◽  
Sean Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Restoration Strategies

Monitoring the impacts of ecosystem restoration strategies requires both short-term and long-term land surface monitoring. The combined use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and satellite imagery enable effective landscape and natural resource management. However, processing, analyzing, and creating derivative imagery products can be time consuming, manually intensive, and cost prohibitive. In order to provide fast, accurate, and standardized UAS and satellite imagery processing, we have developed a suite of easy-to-use tools integrated into the graphical user interface (GUI) of ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro as well as open-source solutions using NodeOpenDroneMap. We built the Monitoring Ecological Restoration with Imagery Tools (MERIT) using Python and leveraging third-party libraries and open-source software capabilities typically unavailable within ArcGIS. MERIT will save US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) districts significant time in data acquisition, processing, and analysis by allowing a user to move from image acquisition and preprocessing to a final output for decision-making with one application. Although we designed MERIT for use in wetlands research, many tools have regional or global relevancy for a variety of environmental monitoring initiatives.

scholarly journals Difficulties Associated with Predicting Depth of Freeze or Thaw

1964 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
W G Brown
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Calculations ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Design Curve ◽  
Theoretical Support ◽  
The Us ◽  
Frost Penetration ◽  
Small Alteration

Calculations using the Neumann solution (as modified by Aldrich) and thermal properties of soils (obtained by Kersten) show that the frost penetration depth for the same freezing index for essentially all soils with any moisture content and for dry sand and rock varies by a factor of about 2 to 1. The extremes calculated in this way bracket the experimentally determined design curve of the US Army Corps of Engineers and give it theoretical support. The theoretical calculations and additional experimental data are used as a basis for a small alteration in the slope of the design curve. This modified design curve is recommended for field use because of (1) inherent imperfections in existing theory and (2) practical limitations to precise specification of field conditions.

Concluding Thoughts

2020 ◽  
pp. 186-190
Author(s):  
Mark Walczynski
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Silica Sand ◽  
Illinois River ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Us Army ◽  
State Management ◽  
The Military

This concluding chapter demonstrates that under state management, Starved Rock State Park grew in popularity. The park provided specialists from the US Army Corps of Engineers with a training area to master the military art of pontoon bridge assembly in preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany in World War II. Equally important, the park was where locals came to work and to relax in the 1950s and 1960s, and it is where today over two million people come to hike, camp, picnic, fish, hunt, and enjoy nature every year. However, the very geologic composition of Starved Rock and its environs has created a new challenge for the twenty-first century. Sand companies now mine silica sand near the park. The challenge is one of balance between protection of the park's fragile natural resources versus the competing interests of local governments and residents desiring new employment opportunities. In addition, the Starved Rock Dam, completed in 1933, raised the level of the Illinois River above the dam about ten feet. Nevertheless, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources employees at Starved Rock State Park are dedicated to preserving and maintaining the park and to serving park visitors.

scholarly journals FRF WAVE TEST BED AND BATHYMETRY INVERSION

2017 ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane McKee Smith ◽  
Spicer Bak ◽  
Tyler Hesser ◽  
Mary A. Bryant ◽  
Chris Massey
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Models ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Wave Model ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Inversion Algorithm ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Spectral Wave Model ◽  
Limited Application

An automated Coastal Model Test Bed has been built for the US Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility to evaluate coastal numerical models. In October of 2015, the test bed was expanded during a multi-investigator experiment, called BathyDuck, to evaluate two bathymetry sources: traditional survey data and bathymetry generated through the cBathy inversion algorithm using Argus video measurements. Comparisons were made between simulations using the spectral wave model STWAVE with half-hourly cBathy bathymetry and the more temporally sparse surveyed bathymetry. The simulation results using cBathy bathymetry were relatively close to those using the surveyed bathymetry. The largest differences were at the shallowest gauges within 250 m of the coast, where wave model normalized root-mean-square was approximately twice are large using the cBathy bathymetry. The nearshore errors using the cBathy input were greatest during events with wave height greater than 2 m. For this limited application, the Argus cBathy algorithm proved to be a suitable bathymetry input for nearshore wave modeling. cBathy bathymetry was easily incorporated into the modeling test bed and had the advantage of being updated on approximately the same temporal scale as the other model input conditions. cBathy has great potential for modeling applications where traditional surveys are sparse (seasonal or yearly).

Quantifying coastal system resilience for the US Army Corps of Engineers

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Dean Rosati ◽  
Katherine Flynn Touzinsky ◽  
W. Jeff Lillycrop
Keyword(s):  
Army Corps ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Coastal System ◽  
Us Army ◽  
The Us ◽  
System Resilience

Assessment of resistance definitions used for blast analysis of unreinforced masonry walls

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric M Gagnet ◽  
John M Hoemann ◽  
James S Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Unreinforced Masonry ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Masonry Walls ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Single Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Single Degree ◽  
The Us

Over recent decades, three distinct methods have evolved that are currently being used to generate resistance functions for single-degree-of-freedom analyses of unreinforced masonry walls subjected to blast loading. The degree of differences in these resistance definitions depends on whether the wall is assumed to be simply supported or whether compression arching forces result from rotation restraint at the supports. The first method originated in the late 1960s as a result of both experimental and analytical research sponsored by the US Department of Defense. That method, referred to as the Wiehle method, is the basis of Unified Facilities Criteria 3-340-02 and other derived analytical software such as the Wall Analysis Code developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center. The second method is based on elastic mechanics and an assumed linear decay function that follows and is the basis of the widely used Single-Degree-of-Freedom Blast Effects Design Spreadsheets software distributed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Protective Design Center. The third method is largely based on concrete and masonry behavioral theories developed by Paulay and Priestly in the early 1990s. This article systematically compares the resistance methodologies for arching and non-arching scenarios, demonstrates the implications by plugging the disparate resistance functions into blast load single-degree-of-freedom models, compares the analytical results to full-scale blast test results, and offers conclusions about the accuracy and efficacies of each method.

Flood Risk Management: US Army Corps of Engineers and Layperson Perceptions

Risk Analysis ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 1349-1368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Wood ◽  
Daniel Kovacs ◽  
Ann Bostrom ◽  
Todd Bridges ◽  
Igor Linkov
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Us Army
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