Electrical energy is a key source of energy for modern civilization, and changes in electricity generation and consumption are closely related to industry and life in general. In this study, we identified the correlation between electricity generation and nighttime light values in South Korea and used it to predict monthly electricity generation trends in North Korea. The results of the study showed a low Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.34 between nighttime light and electricity generation in Seoul, but a high Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.79 between weighting for Seoul case nighttime light values and electricity generation using monthly average temperature. Using nighttime light values weighting for Seoul case by the average monthly temperature in Pyongyang to predict the monthly power generation trend in North Korea, we found that the month-on-month power generation increase in December 2022 was about 60% higher than the month-on-month power generation increase in December 2020 and 2021. The results of this study are expected to help predict monthly electricity generation trends in regions where monthly electricity generation data does not exist, making it difficult to identify timely industry trends.

This research assessed the applicability of the You Only Look Once (YOLO)v8 and DeepLabv3+ models for the effective detection of compost heaps, identified as a significant source of non-point source pollution. Utilizing high-resolution imagery acquired through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), the study conducted a comprehensive comparison and analysis of the quantitative and qualitative performances. In the quantitative evaluation, the YOLOv8 model demonstrated superior performance across various metrics, particularly in its ability to accurately distinguish the presence or absence of covers on compost heaps. These outcomes imply that the YOLOv8 model is highly effective in the precise detection and classification of compost heaps, thereby providing a novel approach for assessing the management grades of compost heaps and contributing to non-point source pollution management. This study suggests that utilizing UAVs and deep learning technologies for detecting and managing compost heaps can address the constraints linked to traditional field survey methods, thereby facilitating the establishment of accurate and effective non-point source pollution management strategies, and contributing to the safeguarding of aquatic environments.

Small streams, despite their rich ecosystems, face challenges in vegetation assessment due to the limitations of traditional, time-consuming methods. This study presents a groundbreaking approach, combining unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and the vegetation differential vegetation index (VDVI), to revolutionize both assessment and management of stream vegetation. Focusing on Idong Stream in South Korea (2.7 km long, 2.34 km² basin area) with eight diverse revetment methods, we leveraged high-resolution RGB images captured by UAVs across five dates (July– December). These images trained a ResNeXt101 CNN model, achieving an impressive 89% accuracy in classifying vegetation cover (soil, water, and vegetation). This enabled detailed spatial and temporal analysis of vegetation distribution. Further, VDVI calculations on classified vegetation areas allowed assessment of vegetation vitality. Our key findings showcase the power of this approach: (a) The CNN model generated highly accurate cover maps, facilitating precise monitoring of vegetation changes over time and space. (b) August displayed the highest average VDVI (0.24), indicating peak vegetation growth crucial for stabilizing streambanks and resisting flow. (c) Different revetment methods impacted vegetation vitality. Fieldstone sections exhibited initial high vitality followed by decline due to leaf browning. Block-type sections and the control group showed a gradual decline after peak growth. Interestingly, the “H environment block” exhibited minimal change, suggesting potential benefits for specific ecological functions. (d) Despite initial differences, all sections converged in vegetation distribution trends after 15 years due to the influence of surrounding vegetation. This study demonstrates the immense potential of UAV-based remote sensing and CNNs for revolutionizing small-stream vegetation assessment and management. By providing high- resolution, temporally detailed data, this approach offers distinct advantages over traditional methods, ultimately benefiting both the environment and surrounding communities through informed decision- making for improved stream health and ecological conservation.

Algal bloom outbreaks are frequently reported around the world, and serious water pollution problems arise every year in Korea. It is necessary to protect the aquatic ecosystem through continuous management and rapid response. Many studies using satellite images are being conducted to estimate the concentration of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), an indicator of algal bloom occurrence. However, machine learning models have recently been used because it is difficult to accurately calculate Chl-a due to the spectral characteristics and atmospheric correction errors that change depending on the water system. It is necessary to consider the factors affecting algal bloom as well as the satellite spectral index. Therefore, this study constructed a dataset by considering water quality, hydrological and meteorological factors, and sentinel-2 images in combination. Representative ensemble models random forest and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) were used to predict the concentration of Chl-a in eight weirs located on the Nakdong river over the past five years. R-squared score (R2), root mean square errors (RMSE), and mean absolute errors (MAE) were used as model evaluation indicators, and it was confirmed that R2 of XGBoost was 0.80, RMSE was 6.612, and MAE was 4.457. Shapley additive expansion analysis showed that water quality factors, suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, and the band ratio using red edge bands were of high importance in both models. Various input data were confirmed to help improve model performance, and it seems that it can be applied to domestic and international algal bloom detection.

In this technically advanced era, we are surrounded by smartphones, computers, and cameras, which help us to store visual information in 2D image planes. However, such images lack 3D spatial information about the scene, which is very useful for scientists, surveyors, engineers, and even robots. To tackle such problems, depth maps are generated for respective image planes. Depth maps or depth images are single image metric which carries the information in three-dimensional axes, i.e., xyz coordinates, where z is the object’s distance from camera axes. For many applications, including augmented reality, object tracking, segmentation, scene reconstruction, distance measurement, autonomous navigation, and autonomous driving, depth estimation is a fundamental task. Much of the work has been done to calculate depth maps. We reviewed the status of depth map estimation using different techniques from several papers, study areas, and models applied over the last 20 years. We surveyed different depth-mapping techniques based on traditional ways and newly developed deep-learning methods. The primary purpose of this study is to present a detailed review of the state-of-the-art traditional depth mapping techniques and recent deep learning methodologies. This study encompasses the critical points of each method from different perspectives, like datasets, procedures performed, types of algorithms, loss functions, and well- known evaluation metrics. Similarly, this paper also discusses the subdomains in each method, like supervised, unsupervised, and semi-supervised methods. We also elaborate on the challenges of different methods. At the conclusion of this study, we discussed new ideas for future research and studies in depth map research.

We investigated the effect of spectral fitting wavelength interval variations and selection of absorption cross-section on the sulfur dioxide slant column density (SCD) retrievals from the scattered sunlight observation using a UV-Vis hyperspectral instrument. The sulfur dioxide slant column densities were retrieved from the combinations of multiple spectral fitting intervals and absorption cross-sections. The observation was carried out at the site 0.53 km away from a combustion site located in Gimhae from December 1, 2023, to January 23, 2024. The radiances were obtained on the line of measurement sight toward the stack of the combustion facility. The best spectral fitting intervals were found to be from 305.7 to 321.1 nm. In terms of the absorption cross-section dependency, the SO₂ (293 K), O₃ (223 K, 243 K) show the best spectral fitting for the observed radiances with both the smallest fitting residual and SCD error. The effects of the fitting interval and cross sections found in this study can be useful information for improving SO₂ retrievals based on UV hyperspectral measurements.

This study aims to analyze the micro-sedimentary structures of the Hwangdo tidal flats using ultra-high resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data. Tidal flats, located in the transitional area between land and sea, constantly change due to tidal activities and provide a unique environment important for understanding sedimentary processes and environmental conditions. Traditional field observation methods are limited in spatial and temporal coverage, and existing satellite imagery does not provide sufficient resolution to study micro-sedimentary structures. To overcome these limitations, high-resolution images of the Hwangdo tidal flats in Chungcheongnam-do were acquired using UAVs. This area has experienced significant changes in its sedimentary environment due to coastal development projects such as sea wall construction. From May 17 to 18, 2022, sediment samples were collected from 91 points during field surveys and 25 in-situ points were intensively analyzed. UAV data with a spatial resolution of approximately 0.9 mm allowed identifying and extracting parameters related to micro-sedimentary structures. For mud cracks, the length of the major axis of the polygons was extracted, and the wavelength and ripple symmetry index were extracted for ripple marks. The results of the study showed that in areas with mud content above 80%, mud cracks formed at an average major axis length of 37.3 cm. In regions with sand content above 60%, ripples with an average wavelength of 8 cm and a ripple symmetry index of 2.0 were formed. This study demonstrated that micro-sedimentary structures of tidal flats can be effectively analyzed using ultra-high resolution UAV data without field surveys. This highlights the potential of UAV technology as an important tool in environmental monitoring and coastal management and shows its usefulness in the study of sedimentary structures. In addition, the results of this study are expected to serve as baseline data for more accurate sedimentary facies classification.

With advancements in satellite technology, interest in target detection and identification is increasing quantitatively and qualitatively. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, which can be acquired regardless of weather conditions, have been applied to various areas combined with machine learning-based detection algorithms. However, conventional studies primarily focused on the detection of stationary targets. In this study, we proposed a method to identify moving targets using an algorithm that integrates sub-aperture SAR images and cosine similarity calculations. Utilizing a transformer-based deep learning target detection model, we extracted the bounding box of each target, designated the area as a region of interest (ROI), estimated the similarity between sub-aperture SAR images, and determined movement based on a predefined similarity threshold. Through the proposed algorithm, the quantitative evaluation of target identification capability enhanced its accuracy compared to when training with the targets with two different classes. It signified the effectiveness of our approach in maintaining accuracy while reliably discerning whether a target is in motion.

The increasing frequency of wildfires due to climate change is causing extreme loss of life and property. They cause loss of vegetation and affect ecosystem changes depending on their intensity and occurrence. Ecosystem changes, in turn, affect wildfire occurrence, causing secondary damage. Thus, accurate estimation of the areas affected by wildfires is fundamental. Satellite remote sensing is used for forest fire detection because it can rapidly acquire topographic and meteorological information about the affected area after forest fires. In addition, deep learning algorithms such as convolutional neural networks (CNN) and transformer models show high performance for more accurate monitoring of fireburnt regions. To date, the application of deep learning models has been limited, and there is a scarcity of reports providing quantitative performance evaluations for practical field utilization. Hence, this study emphasizes a comparative analysis, exploring performance enhancements achieved through both model selection and data design. This study examined deep learning models for detecting wildfire-damaged areas using Landsat 8 satellite images in California. Also, we conducted a comprehensive comparison and analysis of the detection performance of multiple models, such as U-Net and High-Resolution Network-Object Contextual Representation (HRNet-OCR). Wildfire-related spectral indices such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized burn ratio (NBR) were used as input channels for the deep learning models to reflect the degree of vegetation cover and surface moisture content. As a result, the mean intersection over union (mIoU) was 0.831 for U-Net and 0.848 for HRNet- OCR, showing high segmentation performance. The inclusion of spectral indices alongside the base wavelength bands resulted in increased metric values for all combinations, affirming that the augmentation of input data with spectral indices contributes to the refinement of pixels. This study can be applied to other satellite images to build a recovery strategy for fire-burnt areas.

Absolute radiometric calibration is a crucial process in converting the electromagnetic signals obtained from satellite sensors into physical quantities. It is performed to enhance the accuracy of satellite data, facilitate comparison and integration with other satellite datasets, and address changes in sensor characteristics over time or due to environmental conditions. In this study, field campaigns were conducted to perform vicarious calibration for the multispectral channels of the CAS500-1. Two valid field observations were obtained under clear-sky conditions, and the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance was simulated using the MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission 6 (MODTRAN 6) radiative transfer model. While a linear relationship was observed between the simulated TOA radiance of tarps and CAS500-1 digital numbers (DN), challenges such as a wide field of view and saturation in CAS500- 1 imagery suggest the need for future refinement of the calibration coefficients. Nevertheless, this study represents the first attempt at absolute radiometric calibration for CAS500-1. Despite the challenges, it provides valuable insights for future research aiming to determine reliable coefficients for enhanced accuracy in CAS500-1’s absolute radiometric calibration.