Pedometrics

PhD position in Digital Soil Mapping

PhD position in Soil Attribute Mapping with Emphasis on the Use of Digital Terrain Data as Predictive Variables in Low Relief Landscapes.

Applications are invited for a PhD position at the University of Aarhus, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (DJF), department of Agroecology and Environment, Soil Physics and Chemistry Group. The position is available for three years beginning as soon as possible.

Research area and project description

The primary focus of the project will be the prediction of Soil Organic matter (SOC) using Digital Terrain Models and DTM derivatives. Strong correlations between SOC and topographic attributes have several times been reported in the literature, but this has not yet been reported for Denmark.

Denmark is amongst the best mapped countries in the world: There has just recently been produced a national DTM based on airborne LIDAR technology. This DTM has a spatial resolution of 1.6 meter. Furthermore the production of national orthophotos over Denmark is now fully digital and encompassing near-infrared signals besides the traditional signals from the visible spectrum. The spatial resolution is around 10-15 cm.

We suggest a project in which one or two representative areas are analysed with dense soil samples that are positioned with high accuracy. The results are analyzed for correlations with topographic parameters derived from the DEM and these results will then be used to produce a predictive soil map of soil organic matter over Denmark.

Data from The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) will also be tested in this project, linking this work to the “GlobalSoilMap.net” work.

Link:

http://www.agrsci.org/ny_navigation/om_djf/jobs/10_phd_positions_at_the_faculty_of_agricultural_sciences_aarhus_university_denmark_are_open_for_ambitious_candidates

World Congress of Soil Science, Pedometrics Symposia.

The Pedometrics Commission is sponsoring two symposia for the 2010 World Congress of Soil Science in Brisbane. These are as follows.

1.5.1 Quantitative monitoring of soil change (Convened by Murray Lark and Budiman Minasny).

In this session we will consider the statistical problems of collecting spatio-temporal information on the soil. We will focus on the problems of designing appropriate monitoring and sampling schemes, on the use of information from novel sensing technologies, on statistical methods for spatio-temporal prediction and on integrating multiple sources of information on the soil. A keynote talk will be given by Dick Brus from Alterra, Wageningen.

1.5.2 Modelling critical processes in changing soil (Convened by Andy Whitmore and Matthew Pringle).

In this session we will consider some generic problems raised in quantitative modelling of processes in the soil. There are exciting new developments in the field of modelling which are all pertinent to the specific problems of soil modelling. In particular we will focus on data assimilation and Bayesian approaches to the estimation of model parameters and state variables, and for handling the uncertainty in our resulting estimates. We will consider the problems of predicting soil processes at appropriate spatial scales and of error propagation in process models. The outcomes of the error propagation analyses are essential to strike the right balance between model complexity and data availability. A keynote talk will be given by Gerard Heuvelink from Wageningen Agricultural University.

1.3 Digital soil assessment (Convened by Florence Carre and Neil McKenzie).

This symposium focuses on Digital Soil Assessment which is the process beyond Digital Soil Mapping (DSM). Once the soil map and the associated accuracy have been produced, these serve as inputs for modelling soil processes (threats to soil, soil functions, soil-environment relationships). The accuracy produced during the DSM process should also be used in the soil-process modelling in order to obtain two kinds of outputs: 1. the spatial distribution of the outputs of modelled soil process, and 2, the associated accuracy of the prediction. Contributions to this new area of discourse are welcomed.

We encourage pedometricians to submit abstracts to these symposia, and to join us at WCSS 2010 in Brisbane. Abstracts must be submitted by 31st October 2009. For submission, and more details visit http://www.ccm.com.au/soil/index.html

In addition, the Pedometrics and Paleopedology Commission will hold a Divisional Symposium: D1.2. Modelling the direction and rates of soil formation in time and space. Convenor – Edoardo Constantini (Italy) and Budiman Minasny (Australia)

How we can predict soil development in a rapidly changing environment is one of the biggest challenges facing soil science. We expect this emerging area of soil science to develop rapidly in the near future. Symposium D1.2 aims to bring together two communities who are contributing to this development. The first group are the paleopedologists. The second group are pedometricians interested in quantitative modelling of soil development. This symposium should play a key role in ensuring that these workers are fully aware of each others’ fields, and can develop collaborations and synergies.  It shall reveal the current state of knowledge in these fields and their interface, and will identify those areas where further work needs to be done if we are better to predict the future development of soils.
Keynote speakers are Ronald Amundson (USA), Sebastien Salvador-Blanes (France), and Daniela Sauer (Germany).

GeoEnv 2010

8th International Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications
September 13-15, 2010. Ghent University, Belgium

We are pleased to announce that GeoENV 2010, the 8th International Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications will be held in Gent, Belgium, on the 13th - 15th September 2010. GeoENV conferences have been held biennially at venues across Europe. From the first conference in Lisbon in 1996, the event has been staged in Valencia (1998), Avignon (2000), Barcelona (2002), Neuchâtel (2004), Rhodes (2006), Southampton (2008) and has become established as a leading forum for Scientists across a broad range of disciplines to share their experiences on the application of geostatistics to environmental problems. We invite submissions for presentations.
A non-exclusive list of topics to be covered includes:

• Geostatistical methodology, new evolutions
• Spatial statistics
• Multiple point geostatistics
• Spatio-temporal statistics
• Ecology, natural resources
• Hydrology, ground water modelling
• Soil inventory, mapping
• Health, epidemiology, ecotoxicology
• Environmental pollution and risk assessment
• Forestry, agriculture
• Remote & proximal sensing

Keynote speakers for this event will be:

* Prof. Dr. Jef Caers, theme: “Spatial modeling with ensembles in metric space” Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University, USA
* Prof. Dr. Andras Bardossy, theme: “Geostatistical interpolation using copulas” Institute of Hydraulic Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Germany
* Prof. Dr. George Christakos, theme: “Bayesian Maximal Entropy” Department of Geography, San Diego State University, USA

For more information, see: http://www.geoenv.ugent.be