![remote sensing
Editorial
Editorial for Special Issue “Remote Sensing in Applications
of Geoinformation”
Silas Michaelides 1,2
Citation: Michaelides, S. Editorial for
Special Issue “Remote Sensing in
Applications of Geoinformation”.
Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 33. https://
dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13010033
Received: 15 December 2020
Accepted: 20 December 2020
Published: 23 December 2020
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neu-
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license (https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/).
1 ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence, 3117 Limassol, Cyprus; silas.michaelides@cut.ac.cy;
Tel.: +357-99493072
2 Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Cyprus University of Technology, 3036 Limassol, Cyprus
1. Introduction
The diffusion of knowledge and information is currently more forceful than ever.
Indeed, we are witnessing the enormous transformative power of the knowledge revolution
that our societies, industries and economies are subject to. One of the drivers in the
current knowledge-based society is remote sensing which is commonly defined as the
acquisition of information about an object without making physical contact with it. In a
more restricted sense, remote sensing refers to the science and technology of acquiring
information about the Earth’s surface. Remote sensing delivers a wealth of information
which would otherwise be inconceivable. Geoinformatics is defined as the scientific
discipline for the acquisition, storage, analysis and presentation of geospatial information.
Geoinformation is a field that greatly benefits from the technological advances in
remote sensing. The numerous advantages of using remote sensing in geoinformation are
demonstrated by the large number of application-oriented endeavors already undertaken.
Depending on the need (i.e., scientific, societal, mapping, planning, hazard mitigation, etc.),
emphasis may be placed on different facets of geoinformation.
This Special Issue of Remote Sensing comprises a contribution to the multi-faceted
range of applications of remote sensing in geoinformation. It hosts eight papers focusing on
a broad range of scientific contributions underscoring this synergetic approach to remote
sensing and geoinformation. These papers were selected from the presentations at the
“7th International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of the Environment
(RSCy2019)” held in Paphos, Cyprus, from 18 to 21 March 2019.
The next section summarizes the individual articles hosted in this Special Issue enti-
tled “Remote Sensing in Applications of Geoinformation”. The articles are presented in
alphabetical order based on the first author’s name.
2. Overview of Contributions
The study by Alonso and Renard [1] proposes modeling air temperatures, measured
during four mobile campaigns carried out during the summer months, between 2016 and
2019, in Lyon (France), in clear-sky weather. The study proposes the usage of regression
models based on 33 explanatory variables from traditionally used data, namely, from
remote sensing by LiDAR (light detection and ranging) or Landsat 8 satellite acquisition.
Three types of statistical regressions were explored: partial least square regression, multiple
linear regression and random forest regression. The authors have shown that variables such
as surface temperature, normalized difference vegetation index and modified normalized
difference water index have a strong impact on the estimation model. This study contributes
to the emergence of urban cooling systems.
The aim of the study by Barbierato et al. [2] is to create a general-purpose set of
ecological metrics by combining remote sensing and proximate sensing (Street View)
approaches with data retrieved from Google Street View, to quantify urban forest ecosystem
services and provide a widely transferable methodology. In this respect, remote sensing
Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 33. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13010033 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing
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metrics were calculated by combining high-resolution multispectral images and LiDAR
data to produce indices at different altitudes with respect to the ground. The ecological
metrics from proximate sensing were then calculated by semantic segmentation using
pretrained deep segmentation neural networks. To estimate the validity of this approach,
a set of ecological metrics was used to classify contiguous homogeneous areas of a city
through a spatial clustering algorithm.
Dimopoulos and Bakas [3] investigate how complex machine learning models work,
regarding real estate price predictions, and present the various models and the correspond-
ing results. They explain the analyzed dataset as well as its variables. The machine learning
methods utilized for the target task are presented, as well as the generic algorithm to obtain
the closed-form formula for the higher order regression model, via an automated, stepwise
method. They also present the sensitivity analysis results of the predictors, regarding real
estate prices; the influence of the dataset volume is also investigated, by a parametric study,
for a variety of partitions of the given dataset. Important constraints have been identified,
such as the transparency of models and the repeatability of the results.
Kokinou and Panagiotakis [4] present novel pattern recognition techniques applied
to bathymetric data from two large areas in the Eastern Mediterranean. Their objectives
are: (a) to demonstrate the efficiency of this methodology, (b) to highlight the quick and
accurate detection of both hydrocarbon related tectonic lineaments and salt structures
affecting seafloor morphology and (c) to reveal new structural data in areas poised for
hydrocarbon exploration. In this work, they first apply a multiple filtering and sequential
skeletonization scheme inspired by the hysteresis thresholding technique. Subsequently,
they categorize each linear and curvilinear segment on the seafloor skeleton (medial axis)
based on the strength of detection as well as the length, direction and spatial distribution.
Finally, they compare the seafloor skeleton with ground truth data.
The study by Kordelas et al. [5] examines the applicability of a novel automatic
local thresholding unsupervised methodology for separating inundated areas from non-
inundated ones and proposes alternatives to the original approach to enhance accuracy and
applicability for both Camargue (France) and Doñana (Spain) wetlands. Each examined
alternative approach relies on a specific band or band combination, acknowledged as effec-
tive by the underlying physics, and a specific approach for estimating splitting thresholds.
The different Sentinel-2 based inputs examined for estimating thresholds include: (a) Band
11 (SWIR-1); (b) product of Band 12 (SWIR-2) and Band 8A (NIR); and (c) product of SWIR-1
and NIR (near infra red). The different methods for estimating splitting thresholds include:
(a) minimum entropy thresholding and (b) Otsu’s algorithm. The results of the alternative
approaches are compared against reference maps, provided for Doñana and Camargue by
local research institutes, based on locally developed water detection models.
The mapping of soil nutrients is a key issue for numerous applications and research
fields ranging from global change to environmental degradation and from sustainable
soil management to the precision agriculture concept. The characterization, modeling
and mapping of soil properties at diverse spatial and temporal scales are key factors
required for different environments. The paper by Mohamed et al. [6] focuses on the use
and comparison of soil chemical analyses, visible near infrared and shortwave infrared
spectroscopy, partial least-squares regression, ordinary Kriging, and Landsat-8 operational
land imager images, to inexpensively analyze and predict the content of different soil
nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)), pH and soil organic matter in
arid conditions. To achieve this aim, 100 surface samples of soil were gathered to a depth
of 25 cm in the Wadi El-Garawla area (northwest coast of Egypt) and chemical analyses
and reflectance spectroscopy in the wavelength range from 350 to 2500 nm was utilized.
Solar maps are becoming a popular resource and are available via the web to help
plan investments for the benefits of renewable energy. These maps are especially useful
when the results have high accuracy. LiDAR technology currently offers high-resolution
data sources that are very suitable for obtaining an urban 3D geometry with high precision.
Three dimensional visualization also offers a more accurate and intuitive perspective
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of reality than 2D maps. The paper by Prieto et al. [7] presents a new method for the
calculation and visualization of the solar potential of building roofs in an urban 3D model,
based on LiDAR data. The paper describes the proposed methodology to (a) calculate the
solar potential, (b) generate an urban 3D model, (c) semanticize the urban 3D model with
different existing and calculated data and (d) visualize the urban 3D model in a 3D web
environment. The paper presents the workflow and results of application to the city of
Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain.
Themistocleous et al. [8] conducted a study to determine if plastic targets on the sea
surface can be detected using remote sensing techniques with Sentinel-2 data. A target
made up of plastic water bottles with a surface measuring 3 m × 10 m was created and was
subsequently placed in the sea near the Old Port in Limassol, Cyprus. An unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV) was used to acquire multispectral aerial images of the area of interest during
the same time as the Sentinel-2 satellite overpass. Spectral signatures of the water and the
plastic litter after it was placed in the water were taken with a Spectra Vista Corporation
HR1024 spectroradiometer. The study found that the plastic litter target was easiest to
detect in the NIR wavelengths. Seven established indices for satellite image processing
were examined to determine whether they can identify plastic litter in the water. Further,
the authors examined two new indices, the plastics index and the reversed normalized
difference vegetation index to be used in the processing of the satellite image. The proposed
plastic index was able to identify plastic objects floating on the water surface and was the
most effective index in identifying the plastic litter target in the sea.
3. Conclusions
The scientific contributions in this Special Issue aim at informing and updating the
scientific communities involved in geoinformation and remote sensing on findings in
important areas of remote sensing in applications of geoinformation. Remote sensing and
geoinformation technologies have a pivotal role in innovation; they also offer solutions
to major environmental issues and contribute to the modernization of many scientific
developments, with a significant impact on the quality of life and the economy.
Remote sensing has long been proven to be a valuable tool in a wide range of disci-
plines for the study of the environment, such as, weather, monitoring of air pollution, the
environmental control and management, mapping of geomorphological structures and
the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, etc. Remote sensing has also found
fertile ground in the field of geoinformation, as is very aptly indicated by the examples in
this volume.
On the one hand, the technological advances in remote sensing are proliferating
at a fast pace. On the other hand, the evolving field of geoinformation is increasingly
becoming a societal commodity. Fusion of remote sensing and geoinformatics opens new
challenging routes for further investigations, research and experimentation. By presenting
state-of-the-art data sources, technologies and methodologies, this Special Issue aspires
to stimulate further research in the increasingly expanding field of applications of remote
sensing in geoinformation.
Funding: Silas Michaelides was supported by the EXCELSIOR project (www.excelsior2020.eu) that
has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme,
under grant agreement no. 857510, as well as matching co-funding by the Government of the
Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate General for the European Programmes, Coordination
and Development.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Acknowledgments: As the Guest Editor of this Special Issue entitled “Remote Sensing in Appli-
cations of Geoinformation”, I would like first to thank the authors who have submitted papers to
this volume and for sharing their scientific findings. All the authors collaborated closely with the
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Guest Editor and with the Editorial Office in the effort to achieve the highest possible quality of the
present volume. The role of the eminent reviewers is greatly appreciated; their timely and thorough
reviews added value to the scientific quality of the volume. Last but not least, I wish to express
my gratitude to the editorial staff of Remote Sensing for their collaboration and prompt efforts in
completing this task.
Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.
References
1. Alonso, L.; Renard, F. A New Approach for Understanding Urban Microclimate by Integrating Complementary Predictors at
Different Scales in Regression and Machine Learning Models. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 2434. [CrossRef]
2. Barbierato, E.; Bernetti, I.; Capecchi, I.; Saragosa, C. Integrating Remote Sensing and Street View Images to Quantify Urban Forest
Ecosystem Services. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 329. [CrossRef]
3. Dimopoulos, T.; Bakas, N. Sensitivity Analysis of Machine Learning Models for the Mass Appraisal of Real Estate. Case Study of
Residential Units in Nicosia, Cyprus. Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 3047. [CrossRef]
4. Kokinou, E.; Panagiotakis, C. Automatic Pattern Recognition of Tectonic Lineaments in Seafloor Morphology to Contribute in the
Structural Analysis of Potentially Hydrocarbon-Rich Areas. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 1538. [CrossRef]
5. Kordelas, G.A.; Manakos, I.; Lefebvre, G.; Poulin, B. Automatic Inundation Mapping Using Sentinel-2 Data Applicable to Both
Camargue and Do’ana Biosphere Reserves. Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 2251. [CrossRef]
6. Mohamed, E.S.; El Baroudy, A.A.; El-beshbeshy, T.; Emam, M.; Belal, A.A.; Elfadaly, A.; Aldosari, A.A.; Ali, A.M.; Lasaponara, R.
Vis-nir Spectroscopy and Satellite Landsat-8 Oli Data to Map Soil Nutrients in Arid Conditions: A Case Study of the Northwest
Coast of Egypt. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716. [CrossRef]
7. Prieto, I.; Izkara, J.L.; Usobiaga, E. The Application of LiDAR Data for the Solar Potential Analysis Based on Urban 3D Model.
Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 2348. [CrossRef]
8. Themistocleous, K.; Papoutsa, C.; Michaelides, S.; Hadjimitsis, D. Investigating Detection of Floating Plastic Litter from Space
Using Sentinel-2 Imagery. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 2648. [CrossRef]
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![Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716
for implementing good agricultural management practices [1–4] to maintain ecological balances and
prevent land degradation in arid and semiarid environments. As an example, the accumulation of salts
and soil nutrients in arid conditions is affected by many factors, such as topography, geology, climate,
soil moisture, land use, agricultural activity, and local environmental conditions [5–8]. The traditional
methods for estimating different soil properties typically involves extensive field work and laboratory
analysis and, therefore, are not only expensive and time consuming but also may be affected by
significant uncertainty. Therefore, over the last four decades, to model and map soil properties in
a cost-effective manner at various scales, remotely sensed imagery has been proposed and used
in combination with field measurements [9–12]. Important soil properties such as salinity, texture,
minerals, and organic matter have been successfully characterized and investigated using multispectral
scanner (MS), Landsat-8 operational land imager (OLI), Landsat-5 thematic mapper (TM), Landsat-7
enhanced thematic mapper plus (ETM+) [13].
Over the past two decades, scientists throughout the world have focused their interest on new
technologies such as the visible–near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy to identify and characterize
soil in terms of (but not only) clay mineralogy, soil organic matter (SOM), soil composition, and soil
texture [14–17]. It is well recognized that the absorption spectrum in the NIR zone (780–2500 nm)
can be used for estimating H2O, CO2, OH, SO4, and CO3 groups [18]; furthermore, soil nutrients can be
identified using NIR spectroscopy, particularly for estimating N, K, and P soil content (with expected
satisfactory coefficients of correlation around 0.72 and 0.68 for N and K, respectively), and with higher
value in the case of phosphorus (around 0.84) [19]. Moreover, additional independent studies have
shown that calcium, potassium, magnesium, and sodium can be predicted using statistical models
such as partial least-squares regression (PLSR) [20,21]. As a whole, today, Vis-NIR techniques are
recognized to be effective for the quantitative retrieval of soil characteristics and usually provide
good indications of soil quality [22]. Nevertheless, some critical issues have still to be faced, such as,
for example, the estimation of carbonate and the gypsum contents that is still today a controversial
issue. In fact, some studies highlighted that spectroscopic techniques cannot suitably predict the
carbonate content (correlation lower than 0.52), whereas other studies pointed out that the joint use of
spectroscopic techniques and PLSR improved the estimation with correlation values ranging from 0.86
to 0.91 [23–25].
From the methodological point of view, analytical methods based on changes in specific reflectance
(in the visible range from 400 to 700 nm, and in the near-infrared range from 700 to 2500 nm [26,27]),
enable the discrimination of different soil properties, such as pH, organic carbon, electrical conductivity,
texture, nitrate–nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, cation exchange capacity,
exchangeable calcium, and exchangeable aluminum. Moreover, several prediction models have been
used to assess soil properties based on reflectance spectroscopy, such as artificial neural networks
(ANN), partial least square regression (PLSR), stepwise multiple linear regression (SIMR), multivariate
adaptive regression splines (MARS), locally weighted regression (LWR), and principal components
regression (PCR) [18,28].
As a whole, today, one of the major challenges to be faced is the need to develop low-cost methods
for mapping soil properties over large areas and, on the other hand, it is important to consider that
agricultural management needs a rapid analysis to identify the deficiency of elements in the soil
and crops. To cope with this issue, Vis-NIR reflectance spectroscopy coupled with satellite data can
suitably complement in situ analyses [29,30]. The timely availability of quantitative information
on soil properties and their spatial distribution is extremely relevant for sustainable agricultural to
achieve development, reducing the negative effects on soil and environment [31–33]. This is extremely
important in arid and semi-arid areas which have several limiting factors for soil fertility, such as low
nitrogen, phosphorus, scarcity of irrigation water, and low soil organic matter. Moreover, the mapping
soil properties and fertility provides good indicators of land degradation [34–36] and/or evidence of
land capacity.
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An effort in this context is made in this paper, which is focused on the evaluation of soil nutrients
(N, P, K), SOM, and pH in the arid area of Wadi El-Garawla (the northwest coast of Egypt) jointly using
chemical analyses, Vis-NIR spectroscopy and satellite Landsat-8 data that are freely available from the
NASA web site. In detail, the PLSR was used firstly to model the relationship between the averaged
values from the analytical spectral devices (ASD) spectroradiometer and the soil’s available nitrogen
(N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) content, along with the pH and the soil organic matter (SOM);
and (ii) secondly to retrieve N, P, K, pH, and SOM values from the OLI images. Thirty soil samples
were selected to verify the validity of the results. The randomly selected samples included the spatial
diversity and characteristics of the study area.
The approach herein proposed enabled us to (I) model the relationship between the Spectral
reflectance by ASD spectroradiometer and the laboratory analysis of soil of soil properties (N, P, K),
pH, and SOM; (II) map the predicted soil properties using OK; (III) map the predicted soil properties
from Landsat OLI images; and (IV) map the soil fertility status.
Today the availability of open satellite data from national and international space agencies strongly
facilitates the investigation of soil properties, and their timely availability enables a prompt update
and spatial distribution over a large area as necessary to support soil management strategies and to
update information on the input parameters of crop models.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Experimental Site
The investigated area is located on the northwestern side of the coastal zone in the western desert
area of Egypt. Wadi El-Garawla is located about 18 km east of city of Marsa Matruh as shown in
Figure 1. The river pours into the Mediterranean Sea and extends approximately 22 km from south to
north with varying slope rates [37]. The study area covers approximately 65.02 km2 and lies between
longitudes 27◦1430” and 27◦2430” E and latitudes 31◦330” and 31◦160” N. Wadi El-Garawla has
many varieties of environmental conditions typical for that region [38,39].
Figure 1. Location of the study area of Wadi El-Garawla and the soil samples as mapped in Landsat 8
satellite imagery (RGB 7, 5, 4).
The rainfall in the studied area ranges between 105.0 to 200 mm/y and the average temperature
ranges between 8.1 and 18 ◦C in the winter and 20 and 29.2 ◦C in the summer.
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The study area is characterized by the scarcity of vegetation cover during the summer and autumn
seasons. The vegetation begins to increase at the end of winter and spring, when seasonal herbs
and plantings grow depending on the winter precipitation [1,30]. The soil temperature regime of
the area is thermic and the soil moisture regime is torrid. In addition, the soils were classified in
two orders—Entisols and Aridisols—and divided into five subgroups: Typic Calcigypsids, Typic
Haplogypsids, Typic Haplocalcids, Typic TorriPsamments, and Lithic Torriorthents [39].
2.2. Soil Sampling and Chemical Analysis
The soil sample sites were determined based on the characteristics and the heterogeneity of the
area because surface properties differ from south to north and were acquired on 15th December 2019.
The amount of transported sediments is much deeper in the south. One hundred surface soil samples
(0–25 cm) were gathered using a random sampling method. All geomorphic units were represented
by several soil samples. The collected samples were dried in the laboratory at a normal temperature
and then sifted by a 2 mm sieve. The collected soil samples were chemically analyzed in a laboratory
where SOM was analyzed based on Walkley and Black and soil acidity (pH) in soil saturated paste by
PH meter according to previous methods [40]. The soil’s available N content was measured for each
soil sample using conventional chemical analysis via the Kjeldahl method. The available phosphorus
content and available potassium content were determined using flame photometry [41].
Table 1 shows the basic statistics of chemical analysis and shows that the soil of the study area is
slightly to moderately alkaline with pH values from 6.56 to 8.97. Total soluble salts differed widely
from one site to another and had a wide range, as the electrical conductivity of the soil-saturated
water (ECe) ranged between 0.11 and 10.53 dS/m. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) also differed
from one site to another due to the ratio of the fine fraction and soil organic matter percentage, which
ranged between 0.86 and 5.66 cmol/kg. The calcium carbonate percentage of the soils had a wide range,
between 2% and 37%. The soil organic matter percentage (SOM%) ranged from almost none (0.04%)
to low (1.57%).
Table 1. Basic statistics of chemical analysis of the study area.
Sand% Silt% Clay% CaCO3% pH ECe (dS/m) CEC (cmol/kg) SOM%
min 92.14 0.02 2.27 2 6.56 0.11 0.86 0.04
max 96.85 2.91 6.26 37 8.97 10.53 5.66 1.57
mean 94.37 1.31 4.32 19.5 8.01 5.32 2.23 0.38
2.3. Digital Image Processing
Operational land imager (OLI) Landsat 8 images are characterized by 15 m panchromatic and
30 m multi-spectral spatial resolutions with nine spectral bands. Firstly, two OLI images acquired on
15 December 2019 were downloaded from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In particular, the blue
to short-wave infrared portion of the spectrum were used in this study. The thermal bands were
excluded, and the images were geo-rectified according to UTM coordinates. All further digital image
processing and analyses of the OLI satellite images were executed using the standard approaches
provided by the ENVI software. Afterwards, all OLI images were atmospherically corrected using
the FLAASH module, and the spatial resolution of the visible/NIR bands was resampled to 15 m
depending on the panchromatic band. The data were represented by calibration to spectral radiance
and then transformed to surface reflectance [41]. The images were mosaicked by combining multiple
images into a single composite image within a dereferenced output mosaic. Finally, all satellite images
were corrected and matched with the ground measurements of the study.
2.4. Spectral Measurements of the Soil Samples
Analytical spectral devices (ASDs; ASD-4 field spectroradiometer, Boulder, CO, USA) can record
a complete range of 350–2500 nm spectrum of 0.1 s. Therefore, an ASD was used to collect spectra
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over the visible and near-infrared regions for each soil sample at 1.4–2 nm intervals with a spectral
resolution of 3–10 nm. The readings were calibrated using the white reference panel. To avoid any
change in radiation conditions, the white reference was checked. An ASD spectroradiometer measures
the reflectance, transmission, radiance, and irradiance of an object. The recorded data are usually
affected by surrounding factors, such as sources of illumination, scanning time, atmospheric conditions,
and the field-of-view of the device. Therefore, a contact probe was used to control for those factors in
the laboratory. Spectral data were recorded concerning an external white reference panel. Afterwards,
five spectra for each sample were recorded, and the average values for the five spectral readings were
calculated. Thus, one value was obtained to express the spectral characteristics of each sample [9,42,43].
2.5. Model Calibration and Validation
The spectral modeling of the soil data was achieved using PLSR, which is considered one of the
most common approaches in Vis-NIR chemometrics analysis. This method depends on making the
relation between the data matrix X and Y through a linear multivariate model [44]. PLSR algorithm
integrates the compression and regression steps and selects successive orthogonal factors that maximize
the covariance between predictor and response variables [44]. The advantage of PLS regression is
that all available wavebands can be incorporated in the model, while earlier studies indicate that PLS
models include redundant wavelengths and selecting specific wavebands can refine PLS analyses [45].
The soil samples were representative of the variation soil types in the Wadi El-Garawla basin. Using a
leave-one-out cross validation, the dominant absorption features of each soil variable (N, P, K, pH and
OM) were determined using PLSR. One hundred soil samples were randomly divided into a subset of
70 samples used for calibration of a subset of 30 samples for validation. Modeling was performed
using the PLSR adopted because it usually provides promising results for Vis-NIR analysis [46,47].
The PLSR models (one for each soil parameter) were evaluated by the coefficient of determination
(R2), the root means square error (RMSE), and the mean of response (MR). In addition, R2 was used to
describe the model validation, where “x” represents the soil parameter values (N, P, K, pH, and SOM),
which was measured using chemical laboratory analyses and used as the reference values for the
calibration phase, “y” is the predicted value, and “n” is the number of soil samples used for the
calibration [48,49]. MR, RMSE, and root means square standardized error (RMSSE) were calculated
according to Equation (2) [50], and NRMSE was applied according to Equation (3) [51].
RMSE =
1
n
(psi − osi )2
(1)
where n is the total number of samples, and pi is the vector of predicted values of the variable being
predicted, with oi being the observed values.
RMSSE =
⎡
⎢
⎢
⎢
⎢
⎢
⎣
1
n
n
i=1
(psi − osi )2
⎤
⎥
⎥
⎥
⎥
⎥
⎦
1
2
(2)
where n is the number of observations or samples; o is the osi is the standardized observed value at
place i; psi is the standardized predicted/estimated value at place I
NRMSE =
RMSE
(δ(y))
(3)
where NRMSE is defined as the normalized root mean square error, RMSE as the root mean square
error, and σ (y) as the standard deviation of y, which is used in [51], where it is explained that the
standard deviation (sd)-based NRMSE represents the ratio between the variation not explained by the
regression vs. the overall variation in y. Thus, if the regression explains all of the variation in y, nothing
is unexplained, and the RMSE, and consequently the NRMSE, is zero. If the regression explains some
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- 5. Edited by Remote Sensing in Applications of Geoinformation Silas Michaelides Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Remote Sensing www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing
- 6. Remote Sensing in Applications of Geoinformation
- 8. Remote Sensing in Applications of Geoinformation Editor Silas Michaelides MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin
- 9. Editor Silas Michaelides Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence Cyprus University of Technology Limassol Cyprus Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/ special issues/rs geoinf). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Volume Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-0365-2325-5 (Hbk) ISBN 978-3-0365-2326-2 (PDF) © 2021 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.
- 10. Contents About the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Silas Michaelides Editorial for Special Issue “Remote Sensing in Applications of Geoinformation” Reprinted from: Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 33, doi:10.3390/rs13010033 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Elsayed Said Mohamed, A. A El Baroudy, T. El-beshbeshy, M. Emam, A. A. Belal, Abdelaziz Elfadaly, Ali A. Aldosari, Abdelraouf. M. Ali and Rosa Lasaponara Vis-NIR Spectroscopy and Satellite Landsat-8 OLI Data to Map Soil Nutrients in Arid Conditions: A Case Study of the Northwest Coast of Egypt Reprinted from: Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716, doi:10.3390/rs12223716 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Kyriacos Themistocleous, Christiana Papoutsa, Silas Michaelides and Diofantos Hadjimitsis Investigating Detection of Floating Plastic Litter from Space Using Sentinel-2 Imagery Reprinted from: Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 2648, doi:10.3390/rs12162648 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Lucille Alonso and Florent Renard A New Approach for Understanding Urban Microclimate by Integrating Complementary Predictors at Different Scales in Regression and Machine Learning Models Reprinted from: Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 2434, doi:10.3390/rs12152434 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Eleni Kokinou and Costas Panagiotakis Automatic Pattern Recognition of Tectonic Lineaments in Seafloor Morphology to Contribute in the Structural Analysis of Potentially Hydrocarbon-Rich Areas Reprinted from: Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 1538, doi:10.3390/rs12101538 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Elena Barbierato, Iacopo Bernetti, Irene Capecchi and Claudio Saragosa Integrating Remote Sensing and Street View Images to Quantify Urban Forest Ecosystem Services Reprinted from: Remote Sens. .2020, 12, 329, doi:10.3390/rs12020329 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Thomas Dimopoulos, Nikolaos P. Bakas Sensitivity Analysis of Machine Learning Models for the Mass Appraisal of Real Estate. Case Study of Residential Units in Nicosia, Cyprus Reprinted from: Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 3047, doi:10.3390/rs11243047 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Georgios A. Kordelas, Ioannis Manakos, Gaëtan Lefebvre and Brigitte Poulin Automatic Inundation Mapping Using Sentinel-2 Data Applicable to Both Camargue and Doñana Biosphere Reserves Reprinted from: Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 2251, doi:10.3390/rs11192251 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Iñaki Prieto, Jose Luis Izkara and Elena Usobiaga The Application of LiDAR Data for the Solar Potential Analysis Based on Urban 3D Model Reprinted from: Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 2348, doi:10.3390/rs11202348 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 v
- 12. About the Editor Silas Michaelides is currently affiliated with the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence of the Cyprus University of Technology. He has been the Director of the Department of Meteorology of Cyprus, a position he has reached having climbed through the scientific ranks of this governmental organization for more than 40 years. He holds a PhD in Meteorology, an MSc in Agricultural Meteorology, a Master’s degree in Public Sector Management, and a BSc in Mathematics. He has published 125 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, several of which are on the remote sensing of precipitation. He has also published one book on precipitation, and he has been the Guest Editor for more than 30 Special Issues and Conference Proceedings. He is a Member Emeritus of the European Geosciences Union, a Member of the American Meteorological Society, a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and a Member of the Hellenic Meteorological Society. He is currently the Vice Chairman of the Cyprus Remote Sensing Society. vii
- 14. remote sensing Editorial Editorial for Special Issue “Remote Sensing in Applications of Geoinformation” Silas Michaelides 1,2 Citation: Michaelides, S. Editorial for Special Issue “Remote Sensing in Applications of Geoinformation”. Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 33. https:// dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13010033 Received: 15 December 2020 Accepted: 20 December 2020 Published: 23 December 2020 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neu- tral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Copyright: © 2020 by the author. Li- censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). 1 ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence, 3117 Limassol, Cyprus; silas.michaelides@cut.ac.cy; Tel.: +357-99493072 2 Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Cyprus University of Technology, 3036 Limassol, Cyprus 1. Introduction The diffusion of knowledge and information is currently more forceful than ever. Indeed, we are witnessing the enormous transformative power of the knowledge revolution that our societies, industries and economies are subject to. One of the drivers in the current knowledge-based society is remote sensing which is commonly defined as the acquisition of information about an object without making physical contact with it. In a more restricted sense, remote sensing refers to the science and technology of acquiring information about the Earth’s surface. Remote sensing delivers a wealth of information which would otherwise be inconceivable. Geoinformatics is defined as the scientific discipline for the acquisition, storage, analysis and presentation of geospatial information. Geoinformation is a field that greatly benefits from the technological advances in remote sensing. The numerous advantages of using remote sensing in geoinformation are demonstrated by the large number of application-oriented endeavors already undertaken. Depending on the need (i.e., scientific, societal, mapping, planning, hazard mitigation, etc.), emphasis may be placed on different facets of geoinformation. This Special Issue of Remote Sensing comprises a contribution to the multi-faceted range of applications of remote sensing in geoinformation. It hosts eight papers focusing on a broad range of scientific contributions underscoring this synergetic approach to remote sensing and geoinformation. These papers were selected from the presentations at the “7th International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of the Environment (RSCy2019)” held in Paphos, Cyprus, from 18 to 21 March 2019. The next section summarizes the individual articles hosted in this Special Issue enti- tled “Remote Sensing in Applications of Geoinformation”. The articles are presented in alphabetical order based on the first author’s name. 2. Overview of Contributions The study by Alonso and Renard [1] proposes modeling air temperatures, measured during four mobile campaigns carried out during the summer months, between 2016 and 2019, in Lyon (France), in clear-sky weather. The study proposes the usage of regression models based on 33 explanatory variables from traditionally used data, namely, from remote sensing by LiDAR (light detection and ranging) or Landsat 8 satellite acquisition. Three types of statistical regressions were explored: partial least square regression, multiple linear regression and random forest regression. The authors have shown that variables such as surface temperature, normalized difference vegetation index and modified normalized difference water index have a strong impact on the estimation model. This study contributes to the emergence of urban cooling systems. The aim of the study by Barbierato et al. [2] is to create a general-purpose set of ecological metrics by combining remote sensing and proximate sensing (Street View) approaches with data retrieved from Google Street View, to quantify urban forest ecosystem services and provide a widely transferable methodology. In this respect, remote sensing Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 33. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13010033 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing 1
- 15. Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 33 metrics were calculated by combining high-resolution multispectral images and LiDAR data to produce indices at different altitudes with respect to the ground. The ecological metrics from proximate sensing were then calculated by semantic segmentation using pretrained deep segmentation neural networks. To estimate the validity of this approach, a set of ecological metrics was used to classify contiguous homogeneous areas of a city through a spatial clustering algorithm. Dimopoulos and Bakas [3] investigate how complex machine learning models work, regarding real estate price predictions, and present the various models and the correspond- ing results. They explain the analyzed dataset as well as its variables. The machine learning methods utilized for the target task are presented, as well as the generic algorithm to obtain the closed-form formula for the higher order regression model, via an automated, stepwise method. They also present the sensitivity analysis results of the predictors, regarding real estate prices; the influence of the dataset volume is also investigated, by a parametric study, for a variety of partitions of the given dataset. Important constraints have been identified, such as the transparency of models and the repeatability of the results. Kokinou and Panagiotakis [4] present novel pattern recognition techniques applied to bathymetric data from two large areas in the Eastern Mediterranean. Their objectives are: (a) to demonstrate the efficiency of this methodology, (b) to highlight the quick and accurate detection of both hydrocarbon related tectonic lineaments and salt structures affecting seafloor morphology and (c) to reveal new structural data in areas poised for hydrocarbon exploration. In this work, they first apply a multiple filtering and sequential skeletonization scheme inspired by the hysteresis thresholding technique. Subsequently, they categorize each linear and curvilinear segment on the seafloor skeleton (medial axis) based on the strength of detection as well as the length, direction and spatial distribution. Finally, they compare the seafloor skeleton with ground truth data. The study by Kordelas et al. [5] examines the applicability of a novel automatic local thresholding unsupervised methodology for separating inundated areas from non- inundated ones and proposes alternatives to the original approach to enhance accuracy and applicability for both Camargue (France) and Doñana (Spain) wetlands. Each examined alternative approach relies on a specific band or band combination, acknowledged as effec- tive by the underlying physics, and a specific approach for estimating splitting thresholds. The different Sentinel-2 based inputs examined for estimating thresholds include: (a) Band 11 (SWIR-1); (b) product of Band 12 (SWIR-2) and Band 8A (NIR); and (c) product of SWIR-1 and NIR (near infra red). The different methods for estimating splitting thresholds include: (a) minimum entropy thresholding and (b) Otsu’s algorithm. The results of the alternative approaches are compared against reference maps, provided for Doñana and Camargue by local research institutes, based on locally developed water detection models. The mapping of soil nutrients is a key issue for numerous applications and research fields ranging from global change to environmental degradation and from sustainable soil management to the precision agriculture concept. The characterization, modeling and mapping of soil properties at diverse spatial and temporal scales are key factors required for different environments. The paper by Mohamed et al. [6] focuses on the use and comparison of soil chemical analyses, visible near infrared and shortwave infrared spectroscopy, partial least-squares regression, ordinary Kriging, and Landsat-8 operational land imager images, to inexpensively analyze and predict the content of different soil nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)), pH and soil organic matter in arid conditions. To achieve this aim, 100 surface samples of soil were gathered to a depth of 25 cm in the Wadi El-Garawla area (northwest coast of Egypt) and chemical analyses and reflectance spectroscopy in the wavelength range from 350 to 2500 nm was utilized. Solar maps are becoming a popular resource and are available via the web to help plan investments for the benefits of renewable energy. These maps are especially useful when the results have high accuracy. LiDAR technology currently offers high-resolution data sources that are very suitable for obtaining an urban 3D geometry with high precision. Three dimensional visualization also offers a more accurate and intuitive perspective 2
- 16. Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 33 of reality than 2D maps. The paper by Prieto et al. [7] presents a new method for the calculation and visualization of the solar potential of building roofs in an urban 3D model, based on LiDAR data. The paper describes the proposed methodology to (a) calculate the solar potential, (b) generate an urban 3D model, (c) semanticize the urban 3D model with different existing and calculated data and (d) visualize the urban 3D model in a 3D web environment. The paper presents the workflow and results of application to the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain. Themistocleous et al. [8] conducted a study to determine if plastic targets on the sea surface can be detected using remote sensing techniques with Sentinel-2 data. A target made up of plastic water bottles with a surface measuring 3 m × 10 m was created and was subsequently placed in the sea near the Old Port in Limassol, Cyprus. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was used to acquire multispectral aerial images of the area of interest during the same time as the Sentinel-2 satellite overpass. Spectral signatures of the water and the plastic litter after it was placed in the water were taken with a Spectra Vista Corporation HR1024 spectroradiometer. The study found that the plastic litter target was easiest to detect in the NIR wavelengths. Seven established indices for satellite image processing were examined to determine whether they can identify plastic litter in the water. Further, the authors examined two new indices, the plastics index and the reversed normalized difference vegetation index to be used in the processing of the satellite image. The proposed plastic index was able to identify plastic objects floating on the water surface and was the most effective index in identifying the plastic litter target in the sea. 3. Conclusions The scientific contributions in this Special Issue aim at informing and updating the scientific communities involved in geoinformation and remote sensing on findings in important areas of remote sensing in applications of geoinformation. Remote sensing and geoinformation technologies have a pivotal role in innovation; they also offer solutions to major environmental issues and contribute to the modernization of many scientific developments, with a significant impact on the quality of life and the economy. Remote sensing has long been proven to be a valuable tool in a wide range of disci- plines for the study of the environment, such as, weather, monitoring of air pollution, the environmental control and management, mapping of geomorphological structures and the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, etc. Remote sensing has also found fertile ground in the field of geoinformation, as is very aptly indicated by the examples in this volume. On the one hand, the technological advances in remote sensing are proliferating at a fast pace. On the other hand, the evolving field of geoinformation is increasingly becoming a societal commodity. Fusion of remote sensing and geoinformatics opens new challenging routes for further investigations, research and experimentation. By presenting state-of-the-art data sources, technologies and methodologies, this Special Issue aspires to stimulate further research in the increasingly expanding field of applications of remote sensing in geoinformation. Funding: Silas Michaelides was supported by the EXCELSIOR project (www.excelsior2020.eu) that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement no. 857510, as well as matching co-funding by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate General for the European Programmes, Coordination and Development. Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: Not applicable. Acknowledgments: As the Guest Editor of this Special Issue entitled “Remote Sensing in Appli- cations of Geoinformation”, I would like first to thank the authors who have submitted papers to this volume and for sharing their scientific findings. All the authors collaborated closely with the 3
- 17. Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 33 Guest Editor and with the Editorial Office in the effort to achieve the highest possible quality of the present volume. The role of the eminent reviewers is greatly appreciated; their timely and thorough reviews added value to the scientific quality of the volume. Last but not least, I wish to express my gratitude to the editorial staff of Remote Sensing for their collaboration and prompt efforts in completing this task. Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest. References 1. Alonso, L.; Renard, F. A New Approach for Understanding Urban Microclimate by Integrating Complementary Predictors at Different Scales in Regression and Machine Learning Models. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 2434. [CrossRef] 2. Barbierato, E.; Bernetti, I.; Capecchi, I.; Saragosa, C. Integrating Remote Sensing and Street View Images to Quantify Urban Forest Ecosystem Services. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 329. [CrossRef] 3. Dimopoulos, T.; Bakas, N. Sensitivity Analysis of Machine Learning Models for the Mass Appraisal of Real Estate. Case Study of Residential Units in Nicosia, Cyprus. Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 3047. [CrossRef] 4. Kokinou, E.; Panagiotakis, C. Automatic Pattern Recognition of Tectonic Lineaments in Seafloor Morphology to Contribute in the Structural Analysis of Potentially Hydrocarbon-Rich Areas. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 1538. [CrossRef] 5. Kordelas, G.A.; Manakos, I.; Lefebvre, G.; Poulin, B. Automatic Inundation Mapping Using Sentinel-2 Data Applicable to Both Camargue and Do’ana Biosphere Reserves. Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 2251. [CrossRef] 6. Mohamed, E.S.; El Baroudy, A.A.; El-beshbeshy, T.; Emam, M.; Belal, A.A.; Elfadaly, A.; Aldosari, A.A.; Ali, A.M.; Lasaponara, R. Vis-nir Spectroscopy and Satellite Landsat-8 Oli Data to Map Soil Nutrients in Arid Conditions: A Case Study of the Northwest Coast of Egypt. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716. [CrossRef] 7. Prieto, I.; Izkara, J.L.; Usobiaga, E. The Application of LiDAR Data for the Solar Potential Analysis Based on Urban 3D Model. Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 2348. [CrossRef] 8. Themistocleous, K.; Papoutsa, C.; Michaelides, S.; Hadjimitsis, D. Investigating Detection of Floating Plastic Litter from Space Using Sentinel-2 Imagery. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 2648. [CrossRef] 4
- 18. remote sensing Article Vis-NIR Spectroscopy and Satellite Landsat-8 OLI Data to Map Soil Nutrients in Arid Conditions: A Case Study of the Northwest Coast of Egypt Elsayed Said Mohamed 1, A. A El Baroudy 2, T. El-beshbeshy 2, M. Emam 1, A. A. Belal 1, Abdelaziz Elfadaly 1,3, Ali A. Aldosari 4, Abdelraouf. M. Ali 1,5 and Rosa Lasaponara 3,* 1 National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Cairo 1564, Egypt; elsayed.salama@narss.sci.eg (E.S.M.); emam@narss.sci.eg (M.E.); massud-am@rudn.ru (A.A.B.); abdelaziz.elfadaly@narss.sci.eg (A.E.); abdelraouf.ali@narss.sci.eg (A.M.A.) 2 Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Gharbiya 31527, Egypt; drbaroudy@agr.tanta.edu.eg (A.A.E.B.); elbeshbeshy@agr.tanta.edu.eg (T.E.-b.) 3 Italian National Research Council, C.da Santa Loja, Tito Scalo, 85050 Potenza, Italy 4 Geography Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; adosari@ksu.edu.sa 5 Agrarian-Technological Institute of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 6, 117198 Moscow, Russia * Correspondence: rosa.lasaponara@imaa.cnr.it; Tel.: +39-327-709-0396 Received: 12 September 2020; Accepted: 1 November 2020; Published: 12 November 2020 Abstract: The mapping of soil nutrients is a key issue for numerous applications and research fields ranging from global changes to environmental degradation, from sustainable soil management to the precision agriculture concept. The characterization, modeling and mapping of soil properties at diverse spatial and temporal scales are key factors required for different environments. This paper is focused on the use and comparison of soil chemical analyses, Visible near infrared and shortwave infrared VNIR-SWIR spectroscopy, partial least-squares regression (PLSR), Ordinary Kriging (OK), and Landsat-8 operational land imager (OLI) images, to inexpensively analyze and predict the content of different soil nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)), pH, and soil organic matter (SOM) in arid conditions. To achieve this aim, 100 surface samples of soil were gathered to a depth of 25 cm in the Wadi El-Garawla area (the northwest coast of Egypt) using chemical analyses and reflectance spectroscopy in the wavelength range from 350 to 2500 nm. PLSR was used firstly to model the relationship between the averaged values from the ASD spectroradiometer and the available N, P, and K, pH and SOM contents in soils in order to map the predicted value using Ordinary Kriging (OK) and secondly to retrieve N, P, K, pH, and SOM values from OLI images. Thirty soil samples were selected to verify the validity of the results. The randomly selected samples included the spatial diversity and characteristics of the study area. The prediction of available of N, P, K pH and SOM in soils using VNIR-SWIR spectroscopy showed high performance (where R2 was 0.89, 0.72, 0.91, 0.65, and 0.75, respectively) and quite satisfactory results from Landsat-8 OLI images (correlation R2 values 0.71, 0.68, 0.55, 0.62 and 0.7, respectively). The results showed that about 84% of the soils of Wadi El-Garawla are characterized by low-to-moderate fertility, while about 16% of the area is characterized by high soil fertility. Keywords: soil nutrients; field spectroscopy; Landsat (OLI); partial least-squares and regression; Wadi El-Garawla 1. Introduction Soil is a very complex ecosystem made up of biotic and abiotic factors that strongly differ from one environment to another. The characterization, modelling and mapping of soil properties are key factors Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716; doi:10.3390/rs12223716 www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing 5
- 19. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716 for implementing good agricultural management practices [1–4] to maintain ecological balances and prevent land degradation in arid and semiarid environments. As an example, the accumulation of salts and soil nutrients in arid conditions is affected by many factors, such as topography, geology, climate, soil moisture, land use, agricultural activity, and local environmental conditions [5–8]. The traditional methods for estimating different soil properties typically involves extensive field work and laboratory analysis and, therefore, are not only expensive and time consuming but also may be affected by significant uncertainty. Therefore, over the last four decades, to model and map soil properties in a cost-effective manner at various scales, remotely sensed imagery has been proposed and used in combination with field measurements [9–12]. Important soil properties such as salinity, texture, minerals, and organic matter have been successfully characterized and investigated using multispectral scanner (MS), Landsat-8 operational land imager (OLI), Landsat-5 thematic mapper (TM), Landsat-7 enhanced thematic mapper plus (ETM+) [13]. Over the past two decades, scientists throughout the world have focused their interest on new technologies such as the visible–near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy to identify and characterize soil in terms of (but not only) clay mineralogy, soil organic matter (SOM), soil composition, and soil texture [14–17]. It is well recognized that the absorption spectrum in the NIR zone (780–2500 nm) can be used for estimating H2O, CO2, OH, SO4, and CO3 groups [18]; furthermore, soil nutrients can be identified using NIR spectroscopy, particularly for estimating N, K, and P soil content (with expected satisfactory coefficients of correlation around 0.72 and 0.68 for N and K, respectively), and with higher value in the case of phosphorus (around 0.84) [19]. Moreover, additional independent studies have shown that calcium, potassium, magnesium, and sodium can be predicted using statistical models such as partial least-squares regression (PLSR) [20,21]. As a whole, today, Vis-NIR techniques are recognized to be effective for the quantitative retrieval of soil characteristics and usually provide good indications of soil quality [22]. Nevertheless, some critical issues have still to be faced, such as, for example, the estimation of carbonate and the gypsum contents that is still today a controversial issue. In fact, some studies highlighted that spectroscopic techniques cannot suitably predict the carbonate content (correlation lower than 0.52), whereas other studies pointed out that the joint use of spectroscopic techniques and PLSR improved the estimation with correlation values ranging from 0.86 to 0.91 [23–25]. From the methodological point of view, analytical methods based on changes in specific reflectance (in the visible range from 400 to 700 nm, and in the near-infrared range from 700 to 2500 nm [26,27]), enable the discrimination of different soil properties, such as pH, organic carbon, electrical conductivity, texture, nitrate–nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, cation exchange capacity, exchangeable calcium, and exchangeable aluminum. Moreover, several prediction models have been used to assess soil properties based on reflectance spectroscopy, such as artificial neural networks (ANN), partial least square regression (PLSR), stepwise multiple linear regression (SIMR), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), locally weighted regression (LWR), and principal components regression (PCR) [18,28]. As a whole, today, one of the major challenges to be faced is the need to develop low-cost methods for mapping soil properties over large areas and, on the other hand, it is important to consider that agricultural management needs a rapid analysis to identify the deficiency of elements in the soil and crops. To cope with this issue, Vis-NIR reflectance spectroscopy coupled with satellite data can suitably complement in situ analyses [29,30]. The timely availability of quantitative information on soil properties and their spatial distribution is extremely relevant for sustainable agricultural to achieve development, reducing the negative effects on soil and environment [31–33]. This is extremely important in arid and semi-arid areas which have several limiting factors for soil fertility, such as low nitrogen, phosphorus, scarcity of irrigation water, and low soil organic matter. Moreover, the mapping soil properties and fertility provides good indicators of land degradation [34–36] and/or evidence of land capacity. 6
- 20. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716 An effort in this context is made in this paper, which is focused on the evaluation of soil nutrients (N, P, K), SOM, and pH in the arid area of Wadi El-Garawla (the northwest coast of Egypt) jointly using chemical analyses, Vis-NIR spectroscopy and satellite Landsat-8 data that are freely available from the NASA web site. In detail, the PLSR was used firstly to model the relationship between the averaged values from the analytical spectral devices (ASD) spectroradiometer and the soil’s available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) content, along with the pH and the soil organic matter (SOM); and (ii) secondly to retrieve N, P, K, pH, and SOM values from the OLI images. Thirty soil samples were selected to verify the validity of the results. The randomly selected samples included the spatial diversity and characteristics of the study area. The approach herein proposed enabled us to (I) model the relationship between the Spectral reflectance by ASD spectroradiometer and the laboratory analysis of soil of soil properties (N, P, K), pH, and SOM; (II) map the predicted soil properties using OK; (III) map the predicted soil properties from Landsat OLI images; and (IV) map the soil fertility status. Today the availability of open satellite data from national and international space agencies strongly facilitates the investigation of soil properties, and their timely availability enables a prompt update and spatial distribution over a large area as necessary to support soil management strategies and to update information on the input parameters of crop models. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Experimental Site The investigated area is located on the northwestern side of the coastal zone in the western desert area of Egypt. Wadi El-Garawla is located about 18 km east of city of Marsa Matruh as shown in Figure 1. The river pours into the Mediterranean Sea and extends approximately 22 km from south to north with varying slope rates [37]. The study area covers approximately 65.02 km2 and lies between longitudes 27◦1430” and 27◦2430” E and latitudes 31◦330” and 31◦160” N. Wadi El-Garawla has many varieties of environmental conditions typical for that region [38,39]. Figure 1. Location of the study area of Wadi El-Garawla and the soil samples as mapped in Landsat 8 satellite imagery (RGB 7, 5, 4). The rainfall in the studied area ranges between 105.0 to 200 mm/y and the average temperature ranges between 8.1 and 18 ◦C in the winter and 20 and 29.2 ◦C in the summer. 7
- 21. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716 The study area is characterized by the scarcity of vegetation cover during the summer and autumn seasons. The vegetation begins to increase at the end of winter and spring, when seasonal herbs and plantings grow depending on the winter precipitation [1,30]. The soil temperature regime of the area is thermic and the soil moisture regime is torrid. In addition, the soils were classified in two orders—Entisols and Aridisols—and divided into five subgroups: Typic Calcigypsids, Typic Haplogypsids, Typic Haplocalcids, Typic TorriPsamments, and Lithic Torriorthents [39]. 2.2. Soil Sampling and Chemical Analysis The soil sample sites were determined based on the characteristics and the heterogeneity of the area because surface properties differ from south to north and were acquired on 15th December 2019. The amount of transported sediments is much deeper in the south. One hundred surface soil samples (0–25 cm) were gathered using a random sampling method. All geomorphic units were represented by several soil samples. The collected samples were dried in the laboratory at a normal temperature and then sifted by a 2 mm sieve. The collected soil samples were chemically analyzed in a laboratory where SOM was analyzed based on Walkley and Black and soil acidity (pH) in soil saturated paste by PH meter according to previous methods [40]. The soil’s available N content was measured for each soil sample using conventional chemical analysis via the Kjeldahl method. The available phosphorus content and available potassium content were determined using flame photometry [41]. Table 1 shows the basic statistics of chemical analysis and shows that the soil of the study area is slightly to moderately alkaline with pH values from 6.56 to 8.97. Total soluble salts differed widely from one site to another and had a wide range, as the electrical conductivity of the soil-saturated water (ECe) ranged between 0.11 and 10.53 dS/m. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) also differed from one site to another due to the ratio of the fine fraction and soil organic matter percentage, which ranged between 0.86 and 5.66 cmol/kg. The calcium carbonate percentage of the soils had a wide range, between 2% and 37%. The soil organic matter percentage (SOM%) ranged from almost none (0.04%) to low (1.57%). Table 1. Basic statistics of chemical analysis of the study area. Sand% Silt% Clay% CaCO3% pH ECe (dS/m) CEC (cmol/kg) SOM% min 92.14 0.02 2.27 2 6.56 0.11 0.86 0.04 max 96.85 2.91 6.26 37 8.97 10.53 5.66 1.57 mean 94.37 1.31 4.32 19.5 8.01 5.32 2.23 0.38 2.3. Digital Image Processing Operational land imager (OLI) Landsat 8 images are characterized by 15 m panchromatic and 30 m multi-spectral spatial resolutions with nine spectral bands. Firstly, two OLI images acquired on 15 December 2019 were downloaded from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In particular, the blue to short-wave infrared portion of the spectrum were used in this study. The thermal bands were excluded, and the images were geo-rectified according to UTM coordinates. All further digital image processing and analyses of the OLI satellite images were executed using the standard approaches provided by the ENVI software. Afterwards, all OLI images were atmospherically corrected using the FLAASH module, and the spatial resolution of the visible/NIR bands was resampled to 15 m depending on the panchromatic band. The data were represented by calibration to spectral radiance and then transformed to surface reflectance [41]. The images were mosaicked by combining multiple images into a single composite image within a dereferenced output mosaic. Finally, all satellite images were corrected and matched with the ground measurements of the study. 2.4. Spectral Measurements of the Soil Samples Analytical spectral devices (ASDs; ASD-4 field spectroradiometer, Boulder, CO, USA) can record a complete range of 350–2500 nm spectrum of 0.1 s. Therefore, an ASD was used to collect spectra 8
- 22. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3716 over the visible and near-infrared regions for each soil sample at 1.4–2 nm intervals with a spectral resolution of 3–10 nm. The readings were calibrated using the white reference panel. To avoid any change in radiation conditions, the white reference was checked. An ASD spectroradiometer measures the reflectance, transmission, radiance, and irradiance of an object. The recorded data are usually affected by surrounding factors, such as sources of illumination, scanning time, atmospheric conditions, and the field-of-view of the device. Therefore, a contact probe was used to control for those factors in the laboratory. Spectral data were recorded concerning an external white reference panel. Afterwards, five spectra for each sample were recorded, and the average values for the five spectral readings were calculated. Thus, one value was obtained to express the spectral characteristics of each sample [9,42,43]. 2.5. Model Calibration and Validation The spectral modeling of the soil data was achieved using PLSR, which is considered one of the most common approaches in Vis-NIR chemometrics analysis. This method depends on making the relation between the data matrix X and Y through a linear multivariate model [44]. PLSR algorithm integrates the compression and regression steps and selects successive orthogonal factors that maximize the covariance between predictor and response variables [44]. The advantage of PLS regression is that all available wavebands can be incorporated in the model, while earlier studies indicate that PLS models include redundant wavelengths and selecting specific wavebands can refine PLS analyses [45]. The soil samples were representative of the variation soil types in the Wadi El-Garawla basin. Using a leave-one-out cross validation, the dominant absorption features of each soil variable (N, P, K, pH and OM) were determined using PLSR. One hundred soil samples were randomly divided into a subset of 70 samples used for calibration of a subset of 30 samples for validation. Modeling was performed using the PLSR adopted because it usually provides promising results for Vis-NIR analysis [46,47]. The PLSR models (one for each soil parameter) were evaluated by the coefficient of determination (R2), the root means square error (RMSE), and the mean of response (MR). In addition, R2 was used to describe the model validation, where “x” represents the soil parameter values (N, P, K, pH, and SOM), which was measured using chemical laboratory analyses and used as the reference values for the calibration phase, “y” is the predicted value, and “n” is the number of soil samples used for the calibration [48,49]. MR, RMSE, and root means square standardized error (RMSSE) were calculated according to Equation (2) [50], and NRMSE was applied according to Equation (3) [51]. RMSE = 1 n (psi − osi )2 (1) where n is the total number of samples, and pi is the vector of predicted values of the variable being predicted, with oi being the observed values. RMSSE = ⎡ ⎢ ⎢ ⎢ ⎢ ⎢ ⎣ 1 n n i=1 (psi − osi )2 ⎤ ⎥ ⎥ ⎥ ⎥ ⎥ ⎦ 1 2 (2) where n is the number of observations or samples; o is the osi is the standardized observed value at place i; psi is the standardized predicted/estimated value at place I NRMSE = RMSE (δ(y)) (3) where NRMSE is defined as the normalized root mean square error, RMSE as the root mean square error, and σ (y) as the standard deviation of y, which is used in [51], where it is explained that the standard deviation (sd)-based NRMSE represents the ratio between the variation not explained by the regression vs. the overall variation in y. Thus, if the regression explains all of the variation in y, nothing is unexplained, and the RMSE, and consequently the NRMSE, is zero. If the regression explains some 9
- 23. Another Random Document on Scribd Without Any Related Topics
- 24. “Mr Anthony? Is he going to be married?” “To Miss Lovell down to Under’m, haven’t you heard it, miss? It’s that has set Faith thinkin’ more o’ that Stephens.” “I woan’t have it,” said the old man, querulously. “I woan’t have she comin’ hoam to we, ating and drinking. Polly has more sense than Faith and her mother putt together.” Winifred never quite knew what she said, but she walked away with her heart suddenly hardened against Faith. Why should Faith escape?—why should she not bear her lot like other people?—why should one be set free more than another? And, O, what had Faith to endure! What grief was hers, whose lover only did not think himself worthy, or who would, perhaps, renounce his happiness for the sake of perishing souls? Grief?—why, it was an exquisite bliss. Faith stood on one side, triumphant and happy, while Winifred walked in the valley of humiliation, with sharpest thorns piercing her feet. Anthony did not love her, for he loved another. Death builds no wall of separation like this, nay, death, will break down walls,—only love itself can bar love with a hopeless fence. She fought against the bitter truth, poor soul, calling herself by hard names, and laughing drearily at her own folly; but the anguish was very acute, and she had a feeling as if, though for a little while she might keep its sharpest suffering at aim’s length, it would overmaster her at last. Was it all true,—real? Was the sun shining on her, or was it rather a cruel furnace that had suddenly scorched the earth, and would burn and scorch day after day, day after day, through long years, through an endless lifetime, grey with shadows and weary with pain, and with no better hope than forgetfulness? Heaven pity those whose sorrow brings them face to face with such a thought and no further! Its very touch gave Winifred a shuddering fear of herself, and a momentary but clear
- 25. perception of something that should shine through grief and overcome it, ah, even make the rugged road beautiful. But it was difficult for her to disconnect her thoughts as yet while they were vibrating and ringing with the blow. She walked mechanically towards home, but she saw Bessie and Mr and Mrs Featherly in the garden, and feeling it impossible at this moment to join them, she stood still irresolutely, and then turned and went along the field, where a little stream was running, and a path led up through a small wood. The day was delicately bright and hot. Across a pale moon that looked herself no more than a stationary cloud, little wilful vapours which had broken away from larger masses were sailing. Red cattle, satisfied with their rich flowery pastures, had gathered under the hedges to chew the cud and sleepily whisk away the flies. The brown water hurried along, washing long grass, and shining up at meadow-sweet and purple clusters of loosestrife. There were cool flashing lights, and tender depths of colour, and a sweet content over everything, and poor Winifred growing sadder and sadder with the sense of contrast, yet walking more slowly and looking wistfully at the long grass, with a vague longing to lie down in it, and let everything go by and away forever. It might have been this which, as she went towards a little wooden bridge crossing the stream into the wood, deafened her ears to a step until Anthony Miles himself was close to her. The instant before she had believed herself safe with the patient cattle and the water and her own sad thoughts, and it cost her a struggle to master the tumult into which her feelings were suddenly stirred. But Anthony was too much absorbed in his own thoughts to notice any disturbance, and as matters had not yet come to such a pass that they could meet in a lonely meadow and go by without greeting, he put out his hand, and said,—
- 26. “Are you going into the wood? You will find it very hot even there. A thunder-storm would be a real comfort.” “O, I like this sort of day!” said Winifred, with a hurrying desire to prove her own perfect contentment. “Everything is looking most beautiful I see Sniff is as fond as ever of the water—” She hesitated suddenly, there being a certain awkwardness quick to make itself felt in any allusion to the past, however slight; but Anthony said carelessly,— “Sniff was due at Oakham, but as my mother seems to want him more than Marion, I shall not send him.” “Is Marion quite well?” “Quite well, thank you.” It was all so commonplace, and the moment had given her so much strength, that Winifred made a desperate resolution. “I have just been told something,” she said, looking straight in his face and smiling. “I hear that you are going to marry Miss Lovell. Please let me congratulate you, unless it is too soon.” There was a flush on her cheek, and her words ended with an odd ring of hardness, but no one would have been likely to read these little signs. Anthony looked at her more kindly than he had yet done, and said “Thank you” gravely. That was all. A few words, the river running through the waving grass, a woodpecker scraping the tree, flies darting here and there, Sniff dashing after a trout, Anthony, who once had been so near them all, standing by her, and answering from the other side of a great gulf. That was all. It did not seem as if Winifred could say any more except the
- 27. good-by of which the air was full, and which all the little leaves in the wood rustled as she passed under them. Anthony stood still for a moment and watched her going away. He had a very tender heart, poor fellow, though it was obstinate and proud in many things, and too angry now to be just. A remembrance of old times was sure to soften him, when once he realised that they were old and past; and he began to think that, after all, Winifred was not, perhaps, an enemy. He watched her, and then called Sniff out of the bright brown water and walked away. As for Winifred—well, it was on her knees that she fought her battle, into which neither you nor I need look. Almost to all people, I suppose, there comes a time in their lives when life, not death, is the phantom they dread. One fear may be as unworthy as the other, but it is there. Only for both there is a merciful Hand stretched out, and if into that Hand we put our own it will lead us gently until we are brought face to face with our fear, and see that the dread phantom has, indeed, as it were, the face of an angel.
- 28. Chapter Twenty. “They who see more of our nature than the surface know that our interests are quite as frequently governed by our character as our character is by our interests.” Sir H. Lytton Bulwer. Anthony walked towards Thorpe. He was going back to the cottage, and then intended to drive into Underham, and dine with the Bennetts. They evidently expected that he should spend part of each day at their house, and the arrangement was one which he did not dislike, and to which he therefore consented tacitly. But it must be confessed that although when he thought of Ada Lovell, and the position in which he stood towards her, the remembrance was winged with a certain satisfaction, she did not occupy any large portion of his reflections. He was not thinking very much of anybody except himself, and the injustice of the world. What had he, of all men, done to be visited as he was? He was so sensitive, so conscious of his own uprightness, that the cold blight of suspicion withered him with its very first breath; and he had put on a bold front, and, as it were, exhausted his courage with an outward show of defiance, while to his inward spirit it seemed that all life and energy had died utterly away. The very foundations were shaken. For if people ceased to believe in him, with the reaction of a sanguine mind there was nothing left in which he could continue to believe. He had made himself the centre of his own theories, working them out from himself, confident in his own powers, and suddenly all had come to an end, such an end as seemed to
- 29. him the end of all things, faith, hope, and charity with the rest. To his ardent nature there was no balm in conscious innocence; it mattered nothing that he knew the falseness of their suspicions, while the monstrous feet of suspicion itself remained. Deep down in his heart, moreover, there was a touch of that insistance upon martyrdom which is more universal than we perhaps think. He thrust away compassion, feeling as if an earthquake had separated him from his former life, and as if no one were left to stand on the same side with him. This was an exaggeration of his position, for, although the world is more ready for condemnation than acquittal, there is a party for every side, and Anthony might have seen hands stretched out if he would. But there was not a word or look to which he did not give a warp in the wrong direction. He had persistently classed Winifred with the rest of the world, and it is possible that the very consciousness that to do so cost him a pang made the martyrdom the dearer; but her reticence had told against her cruelly, for she believed in him too fully to have thought of expressing her belief, little dreaming that a more open sympathy would have better suited his mood than her intense but hidden feeling. He nursed the soreness in the same way that he nursed all things which were painful at this time, until it really seemed as if Mr Bennett’s rather coarse expressions of friendliness, and Ada’s assurance that she had no patience with people who talked as the Thorpe people talked, had a value which he could not find elsewhere. And then she was pretty and good-natured, trying to please him just as ardently as in the days before the cloud,—which, indeed, she thought a matter of very small consequence,—and he felt a certain gratitude towards her. There may have been something of defiance, and a disposition to run counter to opinion, for whatever was his motive in turning suddenly one day upon Ada, who was fluttering and saying foolish amiable things, it
- 30. was certainly not purely that of love; but perhaps we are all sufficiently liable to act from mixed motives, to abstain from judging him too harshly. His engagement, although Winifred heard of it for the first time that day, had really lasted a week: some question of the time struck him as he drove to the door of the Bennetts’ house, and went slowly up the steps. There had been a little confusion of blue at one side of the windows, of which he had caught sight, and guessed who was waiting for him. In the short space between the door and the staircase there rose up before him her welcome, her look, the very words she would say, as if it had all been going on for a year instead of the few days which had surely offered no time for weariness. And yet a certain weariness touched him with a sting of self-reproach, and made him infuse a little more warmth into his greeting than was usual. “You are very late, Anthony,” she said, putting her hand on his arm, and shaking her long curl reprovingly. “Do you know that Aunt Henrietta fancied you were not coming at all?” “But you did not accuse me of anything so impossible?” “No, indeed. I don’t think I should have spoken to you for a week if you had stayed away, and I suppose, though I am sure I don’t know, that you would have minded that. But now that you are here, you are to tell me every single thing you have been doing.” His face darkened slightly. This small affectionate tyranny was new to him, and he was not quite in the mood for it. “Suppose we turn the tables,” he said, with a little restraint. “What have you been about to-day?”
- 31. “I? O, I have not been beyond the garden. I sat there and read and thought—” “Thought?” “Ah, I am not going to tell you what I was thinking of; you men are conceited enough already. O Anthony, I hear Uncle Tom. Do go and look out of that window; do, please, go!” There seemed no particular reason for this separation, but she was so eager that Anthony obeyed. He rather dreaded Mr Bennett’s ponderous jokes himself, and it was possible that Ada had not yet become used to them. “Ah, Miles, here you are, here you are! just in time for the salmon, after all. My wife took it into her head you’d be late, but I said, ‘My dear, put a salmon at one end of the line, and a man at the other, and the two must come together somehow.’ Ha, ha! not bad, was it? And you’d something else to draw you besides, hadn’t you? Ada,— where are you, Ada? Come, come, you’d have me believe you’ve never met before; perhaps you’d like to be introduced. It’s never too late to mend, is it?” “O Uncle Tom!” said Ada, smiling, and trying to blush. She looked very pretty in spite of the failure, and Anthony’s face relaxed from the lines which were becoming habitual. She was pretty and affectionate, adornments on which a man sets a high value, often taking a little silliness as a natural and not much to be minded accompaniment. The room was cheerful, not furnished altogether in the best taste, but laden with a certain air of ripe and drowsy comfort which went far to atone for a few sins of colour. It was not so easy to get over Mr Bennett’s prosy facetiousness, but his business kept him generally out of the way, and both he and his wife possessed a fund of that kind-heartedness
- 32. which never fails to create a friendly atmosphere. If they were apt to err on the side of plenty, there was no doubt that they gave good dinners, dinners which Anthony, who was fastidious, liked, although not to the extent to which Mr Bennett credited him. Thus there were, on the whole, reasons which made the house pleasant to him, and with the morbid fret that had grown into his life—or out of his life, if you will—worrying him incessantly, it gave him a feeling of ease to find himself in the midst of a softly moving existence, where all sharp corners were rounded off, all hardness padded, and where he was made much of and gently flattered. Mrs Bennett had always sleepily thought—if thinking is not too strong an expression for the occasion— that it would be a good match for Ada, who had lived with them ever since she had been left an orphan, two years ago; and as for the absurd stories which had been spread about, it was far more agreeable to her good-natured stolidity to have no opinions on the matter. It was very likely a mistake from beginning to end, or, if not a mistake, no doubt Mr Miles had good reasons for all he had done. Her comfortable kindness, so unequivocally free from hidden doubts, was really soothing to poor Anthony, and paved the way for the step which Ada’s prettiness and enthusiasm and desperate admiration brought about at last. No one could have suspected indolent Mrs Bennett of match-making, but she liked to see people happy, and had not a tinge of malice or uncharitableness in her disposition. “It is so hot,” she said, coming into the room with her soft heavy step, and sinking into an easy-chair. “One of those things they have in India—punkahs, don’t they call them?— would be very nice. Does your mother feel the heat, Mr Miles? I really think it is quite a labour to have to go down to dinner.”
- 33. “My dear, I can assure you it never answers to neglect the inner man,” said Mr Bennett, laughing weightily at his own jokes, on his way to the dining-room. “Come, Ada, it’s all very well to live upon air, but when you are as old as your aunt and I, you’ll find it’ll not pay. Not it, indeed. No, no; keep up the system, that has always been my maxim. By the way, Miles, I haven’t seen Mannering or his brother for the last ten days. Nothing wrong, I hope?” “I don’t speak from personal knowledge,” said Anthony, with the shade again on his face, “but some one in the village said that Mr Mannering was laid up with an attack of rheumatism.” “Poor fellow, poor fellow, he has wretched health, and no wonder. Any one must suffer in the end who lives upon mutton six days out of the seven. Tell him, when you see him, that he must come and dine with us as soon as he can, and try a little variety. Or you might drive out there one afternoon, my dear, and see what really is the matter. I’ve the greatest regard for Mannering.” “Yes, indeed,” assented Mrs Bennett in the slow round voice that seemed hardly able to utter a contradiction. “And I will go with you, Aunt Henrietta,” said Ada, cheerfully. “I want to see that darling Mr Robert, and to get him to show me his flowers. It will be very nice, and you will meet us there, Anthony, won’t you?” “Mr Robert is a better showman when he is not interfered with,” said Anthony, with a sharp pang of remembrance. “I’ll meet you afterwards, and hear what you have seen.” “Well, I think Adas plan is not a bad one,” persisted Mr Bennett, “and, dear me, you must be as free of that house as if it were your own! Say to-morrow.”
- 34. “To-morrow I am engaged.” “Well then, Wednesday.” “It will not be possible for me to go to the Red House,” said Anthony in an odd, unyielding tone. Mr Bennett gave a long “Whew!” Ada said with a pout, “O, but you must!” and Mrs Bennett came to the rescue with the unconsciousness which constituted a real charm in Anthony’s eyes. “It will be too hot for us to drive there just yet. Ada and I must go some day when I am a little less overdone and the weather is cooler.” Mr Bennett was sufficiently shrewd to be alive both to the jar and to a perception that the subject was one which had better be allowed to drop. “It is hot, as you say, my dear, and perhaps it would be as well to wait until Mannering is about again. Try a little of that Sauterne, Miles; capital stuff for this weather. Well, Ada, what have you been doing with yourself? Warren told me he had seen you at the station.” It was Ada’s turn to look discomposed. “The station? O yes, I remember. I walked across to see whether the Mannerses came by the four-o’clock train. I forgot that I had been out of the garden when you asked me,” she said, with an elaboration of openness which was unnecessary, as Anthony had no suspicions to be allayed. “O, he’s been asking you, has he?” said Mr Bennett jocosely. “It’s lucky you can explain yourself, or poor Warren would
- 35. have put his foot in it.” “Mr Warren!” said Ada with scorn. “Come, come, what has the poor man done? Upon my word, I should have thought young ladies would consider him a good-looking, agreeable young fellow. I am sure you did when you first knew him, Ada, eh?” “I don’t know what I thought once,” said Ada, looking down, and smiling prettily again; “all I know is that I don’t admire him now.” If Anthony wanted mollifying,—which was perhaps not the case, although this family party had not seemed to go quite as smoothly as those which had preceded it,—this little speech effected its purpose. He liked the covert homage, and, congratulating himself upon the good-humour which Mr Bennett’s rather trying allusions could not ruffle, roused himself into the old brightness which only now came in occasional flashes. Ada was enchanted, shook back her long curl, and put out all her attractions; and Anthony, walking home through the quiet lanes sweet with the dewy freshness of a summer night, dreamed his new dream with a better success. Only, alas, even in dreams there are jangled notes, struggles, interruptions. People’s faces come and go, and look sadly at us, changing often, just as the joy of their presence makes itself felt. Every now and then out of Ada’s face other eyes looked at him; eyes that were grave and true and tender, and full of a trust that had never failed, although he had read it wrongly.
- 36. Chapter Twenty One. “While friends we were, the hot debates That rose ’twixt you and me! Now we are mere associates And never disagree.” Fraser’s Magazine. Anthony’s engagement, coming so soon after the other affair, made a little sensation in the neighbourhood. Things die out so quickly that, except in the more immediate Thorpe circle, his supposed act of injustice might have ceased to interest people; but the young man was so antagonistic, so sore, so fierce with all the world, that there was nothing for it but to take the position he insisted upon. The news of his engagement gave something pleasanter to talk about. There were a few injured mothers, but the gentlemen generally pronounced that he had shown his sense by making up his mind to marry Bennett’s niece. The Bennetts were favourites, and held a thoroughly respectable place in the county; and though Anthony might have done better as to family, every one felt that a sort of cloud had just touched him, and was on the whole glad that the Bennetts should be rewarded for their hospitality and liberality and conservatism by seeing their niece well married. As for the Squire, who had been more ruffled and made uneasy by the consequences of his own coolness than he himself knew, he came into the room where Winifred and Bessie were together, chuckling and rubbing his hands. “So there’s to be a wedding to waken us all up,” he said briskly. “You know all about it, girls, of course. I’m always
- 37. the last in the place to hear a bit of news—but there!” “But there!—you always know it before we’ve time to tell you,” Bessie said saucily. “Is that what you mean, papa?” “You’ll find out what I mean one day, when you won’t like it, Miss Pert,” said the Squire, pulling her hair. “I must say Anthony Miles has shown greater sense than I should have expected. He’s just the man to have made a fool of himself. If he’d not been so confounded touchy about that business of Pitt’s, I’d have walked down and wished him joy; but I suppose that won’t do,—not just at first, eh, Winifred?” “No, indeed,” said Winifred, her face flushing. “I suppose not,” said Mr Chester, regretfully. “Those young fellows fly off at such tangents, there’s no knowing where to take them. One would think I’d been the one to set that report going, and I’m sure, for his fathers sake, I’d have given a hundred pounds—well, it’s over and done now, and can’t be helped; people do say there was no real harm in it when old Tregennas left it in his hands, but I wouldn’t have believed it, I wouldn’t have believed it. And then he goes and fights shy of the friends who would have stuck by him if they could.” “Papa, he never did it. How can he help being hurt with you all, when you will not trust him!” Winifred’s face had grown pale after the flush, but her voice did not tremble, and she looked at her father with clear steadfast eyes which always affected him, though, oddly enough, they often gave him a twinge of discomfort, and a little irritated him into obstinacy. “Nonsense, Winifred,” he said sharply, while he winced. “He has never so much as denied it. Women shouldn’t talk of
- 38. what they don’t understand. And it hasn’t anything to do with his getting married, has it? I wish you to tell Mrs Miles that it’s given me a great deal of pleasure to hear of this match, and you and Bess had better drive into Underham and call on the Bennetts.” He was really desirous by this time to mend the breach, and perhaps a little secretly relieved that Mr Pitt’s other idea about Anthony had been proved so erroneous. Before all this had happened, and while Anthony had been a poorer man, a marriage between him and Winifred, although it had never presented itself to his imagination, would have met with no opposition from him, except the fret which arose from a little personal dislike, natural enough between the two characters. But since a breath of dishonour had rested upon the young man, it would have been a bitter blow to the Squire to have been forced to give him his daughter. He could by this time make some excuses for him, for his father’s sake,—indeed, now that he was not constantly meeting him, and getting irritated by his schemes, he really liked him a good deal more heartily than he had ever done before. But that would not have availed in such a trial. Therefore he now felt a certain amount of gratitude to him for removing the vague uneasiness which every now and then cropped up when he looked at Winifred or remembered shrewd Mr Pitt. He even spoke sharply to Bessie, who yawned and declared it was too hot to go to Underham. “You’ll go where your sister bids you. Winifred, don’t let that child give herself airs to you. If she does, speak to me. I’ll get a governess again, or pack her off to school, or something.” “I wonder who would mind that most,” said Bessie, jumping up and hugging him.
- 39. “That’s very fine. I know somebody who’d cry her eyes out over backboards and French exercises, and all the rest of it. Not but what I believe your mother would have had you do it,” said the Squire, with a sudden wistful look at his favourite. “She is not so bad as she seems, papa,” said Winifred, rousing herself. “We read every morning, and she really works hard. Mr Anderson is quite satisfied.” “Well, mind she doesn’t get her headaches again,” her father said, veering round to another anxiety. “I’d rather she only knew her ABC than get headaches, and I’m not sure you’re careful enough, Winifred. Do you hear, Bess? Go out for a scamper on the pony when you’re tired of all this work. You’re not so strong as your sister.” Winifred did not answer. Something crossed her face so quickly that only the tenderest watcher could have seen it, a look which is very sad on those young faces. There is no storm or impatience in it, but a kind of weary protest. You hear it sometimes in a voice. The Squire went on with his injunctions about Underham and Miss Lovell. “I’m ready enough to be on friendly terms,” were his parting words, “only one doesn’t know on which side to meet these touchy young fellows. But this marriage looks as if he were coming to his senses.” “And we are to smooth over everything,” said Bessie, shutting her book and jumping up. “I don’t care to smooth it now that Anthony has been so stupid. That horrid Miss Lovell! Don’t you know how she walks, holding her hand out stiffly—so. You needn’t look shocked, Winnie dear, for she does, and I know she is horrid.”
- 40. “Don’t say anything more about it, please,” Winifred pleaded, with a look of pain. “I am going to order the carriage at four o’clock.” “I hate them all, and I hate going,” said Bessie rebelliously. “Well?” as her sister made no answer to this downright statement. “Well?” “Don’t you mean to scold, or at least talk me into my proper behaviour?” “You must learn to find what you call your proper behaviour for yourself,” said Winifred, trying to smile brightly, as she looked into the girl’s dancing eyes. But her own suddenly filled with tears, and just as quickly Bessie’s arms were round her. “Something is the matter, I know, and you may as well tell me, Winnie, or I shall be obliged to find it out. Something is making you unhappy. Is it about Anthony?” The hot colour flashed into Winifred’s cheeks, but she was too honest to give an evasive answer, and said, holding Bessie’s clasping hands, and pausing for a moment between her sentences,— “I think it is, dear. Anthony has suffered cruelly from this wicked report. And it is so miserable between us all, when— we used to be so happy—” She stopped. She had been speaking in a low, almost humble voice, as if her heart felt a pang of shame in its sorrow.
- 41. “Anthony doesn’t care for her,” said Bessie, shaking her head with a little experienced air. “He can’t, because she isn’t really nice. I believe he has been stupid enough to do it because he was cross.” Was it true?—this dread, that even Bessie could put into words? And if it was—O poor, poor Anthony! The girls drove into Underham that afternoon, when the extreme heat of the day was supposed to be over. But there still remained a dry parching oppression in the air, the long weedy grasses hung listlessly one above the other, without a breeze to shake the dust from the motionless leaves, the pretty green hedges were all whitened and dead looking. Without any thought of avoiding it, it almost seemed to Winifred, as she drove along, as if the pain of the visit would be unendurable. But there was no such relief as hearing that Mrs Bennett and Miss Lovell were not at home, and the sisters were ushered into the comfortable drawing- room where Ada sat with a somewhat too apparent consciousness of being prepared to receive visitors, and quite disposed to make a little show off of the dignity she considered appropriate to the occasion. “It was very kind of you to come in this heat. My aunt wished me to drive with her, but I really thought it too oppressive. Don’t you find it very trying?” “I do not think we thought about it,” said Winifred, truly. “Ah, then you are so strong. It must be very nice to be so strong, and not to be obliged to think so much of one’s self. Now, I am obliged to be so careful, for if I were to go out in the sun, very likely I should have quite a headache.” It was so difficult to be sympathetic over this possibility, that Winifred found it hard to frame a suitable answer, and
- 42. was grateful to Mrs Bennett for coming in at the moment, and presenting another outlet for conversation. Bessie was sitting upright, rigidly and girlishly contemptuous, and subjects seemed alarmingly few. “My father begged me to leave his card for Mr Bennett,” Winifred said at last. “He would have come himself if some magistrate’s business had not been in the way, but he is such a dreadfully conscientious magistrate, that all our little persuasions are quite hopeless.” “I hope he is not very severe,—the poor people are so much to be pitied,” said kindly Mrs Bennett. “Only think if one was starving! I am sure I should be very likely to take a joint or something.” “No, he is not very severe,” Winifred said hesitating, with her thoughts wandering. “It is rather that he has such strict ideas of uprightness that he finds it hard to make excuses —” She stopped suddenly, and the colour faded out of her face. Looking at Mrs Bennett, she had not heard the door open, nor seen Ada’s rippling smiles, nor known that Anthony had come behind her, until a general movement made her look round, and then her start and change of colour gave an unlucky point to the words. Fortunately, Ada, who had longed that Anthony should come in, was triumphant, and not quick enough to read any discomfiture, claiming him at once with a show of possession. “O Anthony, have you seen Mr Mannering? He has been here and was so nice. He has asked us all to a garden party on Saturday, on purpose to show me his flowers. He asked me what time would be best, and I said four to seven, and we promised to be there punctually. I told him I would tell
- 43. you all about it, but he says he shall write a formal invitation, so you are sure to have it, though of course I answered for you. I dare say you will be there,” Ada went on, with a gracious patronage of Winifred. But Winifred was not likely to notice such small affronts, although at another, time she might not have been so meek. She was looking at Ada and wondering. Was this indeed his ideal? Could he be satisfied? There was a sort of bewilderment in recalling the fastidious Anthony of past days, which hardly allowed her to answer Ada, who, however, was too content with her position to require much. Nothing could be more delightful to her than to queen it before Winifred and Bessie, and to dwell on the party which was to be given in her honour; and, without any real ill- nature, she liked to feel that she was in possession of what she fancied was the ambition of all womankind, an acknowledged lover, and thus exalted above Miss Chester, who had always seemed to her a little unapproachable. In her turn she now felt herself placed on a serene altitude, and being there, it would have been impossible for her unimaginative nature to have conceived that adverse currents should be blowing. She went on cheerfully, when no one answered her,— “The great thing is that it should be fine. I do so hope it will be fine, don’t you, Anthony?” “Yes—if you have set your heart upon it,” he said, with a little shortness, for which he hated himself. But even to be called Anthony grated upon him at this moment, and he carefully avoided using her name. “Of course I have, and so have you, too. Will you come here first?”
- 44. “I am sorry to say I cannot be there. I shall be in London on Thursday night.” He said it not unkindly, for it struck him sharply that it was hard upon Ada, but he made no attempt to soften the words, and turned immediately to speak to Mrs Bennett, who was talking kind little placid talk to Winifred. Ada opened her eyes for a moment’s astonishment, and then laughed. “O, London must wait, of course! Aunt Henrietta, do you hear? Anthony has the most absurd idea that we shall let him go to London before Mr Mannering’s party!” Even silken fetters can cut, and something had nettled Anthony throughout the conversation; but he kept the irritation very fairly out of his reply, only saying earnestly,— “I am particularly sorry to do what you dislike, but there can be no question of my going. The London business has already been neglected too long.” Ada still believed in her own invincibility. “He will come,—I shall make him,” she said, smiling and nodding. There was nothing more to be said, and Winifred, who had almost against her will been garnering impressions, felt that escape was possible. Anthony had rather pointedly abstained from addressing her. She was not quite sure how much of the strain and oppression was due to her own feelings, but her heart ached under some new, sad weight as they drove away.
- 45. Chapter Twenty Two. “The fall thou darest to despise Maybe the slackened angel hand Hath suffered it, that he may rise And take a firmer, surer stand; Or, trusting less to earthly things, May henceforth learn to use his wings.” Adelaide Procter. When Winifred and Bessie had stopped at the post-office and taken their letters, some little remarks passed between the postmaster and his wife, who had gone out to the door and watched the two pretty, girlish figures hurried away by their impatient little pony into the green tangle of trees and hedges which a golden sunlight was brightening. It looked as if it were a sort of enchanted land, into which no storms could follow them; but Mrs Miller, who had a face which might have been intended to protest against sunshine, shook her head solemnly and said, coming back to the counter,— “There’s trouble enough in the world, to be sure, and it’s hard when the Thorpe letters, as have gone together these years, has got to part company. But there’s no saying where the love of money will lead a poor human heart.” “I’m not so sure about that matter as you are, Maria,” said her husband, cheerfully sorting his letters. “Young Mr Miles is too pleasant-spoken a young gentleman to do all the things they charge him with, in my opinion; and it’s always the way with you women, when once a bit of mud’s thrown, each of you wants to try her hand.”
- 46. “It isn’t to be expected you should know better,” said Mrs Miller gravely. “When you’re converted, you’ll understand more of the depravity of the human heart. It’s a bottomless pit,” she concluded, shaking her head. “Um, um, um,” said her husband irreverently. “Then I ain’t one that’s always wanting to be poking into such places, and if I were you I’d come out for a bit into the fresh air. But,” he added, lowering his voice and giving a quick sign towards an inner room, “since he’s been here, you’re more than ever set against the old ways.” “No,” said Mrs Miller calmly, “I am not altogether satisfied that he preaches the pure gospel. It’s rare to find one who does. But I am thankful not to be blind to shortcomings, like some. And I’m sorry for Mr Miles, but what could be expected from one who was so given over to the world?” Her voice had been carefully lowered in tone, but David Stephens heard the first part of the conversation with vivid distinctness. Every word sank into his consciousness, not as something new,—for the subject was rarely absent from his thoughts,—but because they seemed to offer him a new opportunity for arguing the case, and for proving to himself yet again and again that he had done well in keeping silence about the letter. A strange complication existed in his mind. The self-deception which ensnared him was not that self-deception which conceals itself under false colours, for when he formed his resolution it was with the feeling that he was forever bidding farewell to his own peace of mind,—the voluntary acceptance of a crushing burden. It is difficult to conceive such a state, but there is no doubt that it existed in him,—whether the result of a too self-reliant creed, or owing to a stronger impulse of resistance than obedience, or to other of those secret springs which move men’s actions. In his struggle with Anthony Miles, his
- 47. opponent had become a very embodiment of all the powers that league themselves against good, especially the good of other men’s souls. He had first heard him spoken of slightingly, without remembering the answer to the reproach which he might have afforded; but directly it flashed upon him he opened a pocket-book, in which were placed the few and tiny atoms of paper which he had preserved with the intention of examining, and had since forgotten. And then began the contest. Here in his hands he held, as he acknowledged, the means of clearing Anthony so as to re-establish him completely in the eyes of other men. But Anthony, triumphant and successful, represented a great antagonistic force to what David held to be his mission, and to forward which he would have thankfully endured even to the point of martyrdom. Anthony, on the contrary, with the suspicion of a dishonourable deed clinging to him, lost half his power, would cease to influence, and might no longer succeed in impressing his opinions upon Maddox, whose newly stirred fears inclined him to turn to Stephens, while an old feeling of respect yet bound him strongly to the Church, personified by the Vicar’s family. He was conscious of weighing a sin in himself against what seemed the advantage of feeble, starving souls, and he shrank from the burden with a cry of anguish, which—blame him as you will—had in it no creeping taint of hypocrisy. Only at rare times could he accept the excuses offered to his conscience,—that it was no crime of which Anthony was accused, that his interference would prove useless,—the truth generally stood out in keen cold outlines, and he would acknowledge to himself that he had done an accursed thing. Yet he would have held it a worse sin to have cast it from him. It was to save others. He might suffer; he might have lost his own soul,—he acknowledged it,—but it was that others might go in at the gate which he closed against himself. What could Anthony’s burden seem beside his own? The system in which his religious thought had been
- 48. moulded had developed in Davids character both an extraordinary greatness and an extraordinary littleness; for while he longed with an ardent and intense love to save the souls about him, longed so that he would sacrifice his dearest hopes, his peace, his very integrity,—he yet appeared to himself to be fighting single-handed, to be alone in the tremendous struggle, sometimes as if our God himself were regarding it passively without stretching forth his hand to save. And this blank and awful solitude opened out before him, as the path in which he must walk, with bleeding feet, and now with the hateful companionship of a sin bound to him by a voluntary acceptance forever.
- 49. Chapter Twenty Three. Thorpe was a little excited over Mr Mannering’s garden party. To be sure it could boast of much the same amount of hospitality annually offered as the other little country-places in the neighbourhood, but, on the other hand, these hospitalities generally took the form of dinner-parties, and people came in closed carriages or flies, instead of driving in gayly with their pretty bright colours flashing out for the benefit of the women who stood on the door-steps, or the children who were all agape. Besides, owing to the Vicars death, there had been fewer gayeties than usual, and another sort of gloom had gathered about the village after the rumour of Anthony’s deed made a break in the old cordial intercourse. Robert Mannering was sorely perplexed and grieved. Faithfulness to his old love made him quick to resent for Margaret Hare any injustice done to her daughter, and yet the estrangement from Anthony was very painful to him. He had tried to prevent it, but he could not show that there was perfect trust in his mind, and Anthony was keenly offended. Throughout his boyhood and bright youth the young fellow had been full of sanguine ardour, flushed with dreams and visions of great things to be done, where he was always the champion and deliverer, and would go forth, single-handed if need were, to fight against wrong. Suddenly, in a shape of which he had never dreamed, wrong had leaped upon him, and smitten all his weapons out of his hand, so that where nothing had seemed impossible was there now anything possible except weariness and bitterness to the end? Such a mood, if he had belonged to another creed, might have driven him to become a Trappist, not from any deepening of religion, but rather from repulsion of the life he had hitherto lived, which had so instantaneously changed colour. One would speak
- 50. reverently of the workings of a man’s soul in a crisis of his life, knowing that there is at times a strangeness, a madness, a wilfulness, at war with what is highest and noblest, making strife terrible, and asking from us prayer rather than judgment. Anthony chafed so hotly against the injustice of society, that he was conscious of a longing to outrage it, but the strong, tender force of associations, the purity of a father’s memory, are safeguards for which many a one is in after years thankful; only his pride revenged itself by holding aloof from his former friends. He would have gone to extremes with the Mannerings if Mr Robert had permitted it; but he was blind to all avoidance, took no notice of cold treatment, went to see Mrs Miles as usual, and though the announcement of the engagement gave his kind heart a pang for Winifred, he believed it to be for the best,—considering the Squires vehemence,—and was glad to make it a kind of opportunity for reconciliation. Personally, too, he liked Ada, who was a favourite with most of the gentlemen round, and he saw no reason why she should not enjoy her little innocent triumph. Therefore Anthony’s refusal to come to his house vexed him not a little. “If that foolish fellow is going to walk about on stilts all his days, there will be no living in the place with him,” he said, pacing up and down the study with the short, heavy steps which always produced an air of endurance in his brother. “What do you say to it, Charles? O, I see, you don’t like my moving about! Why didn’t you stop me?” “My dear Robert, I might as well stop a watch that is wound up.” “That’s nonsense. Of course, I recollect it if you’ll only speak. It’s merely that sitting down in this heat gives me the fidgets, and you can’t stand another open window. What
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