The Upper Silesian Coal Basin faces ongoing challenges with self-heating in coal waste dumps, a problem that leads to dangerous and unpredictable subsurface fires. This study investigates the thermal dynamics and vegetation response in a coal waste dump, expanding on previous research that links waste temperatures with plant health and distribution. The study area-a small, old coal waste dump located in a highly urbanized area-was subjected to comprehensive environmental monitoring focused on various fire determinants. The findings confirm that coal waste dumps, regardless of size and complexity, experience similar fire determinants, with vegetation colonization progressing in bands starting with pioneer species in less heat-affected areas. As the distance from the fire zone increases, plant density and diversity improve, indicating a recovery in thermally stabilized zones. The study also demonstrates the repeatability of relationships between subsurface temperatures and vegetation status across different coal waste dumps, supporting the use of plants as indicators of underground fires. Elevated subsurface temperatures in thermally active zones lead to clear 'dying' and 'death' zones, where excessive heat damages plant roots, causing die-offs. In contrast, areas with moderate temperatures allow vegetation growth, even in winter, due to favourable root-zone conditions. The study highlights the need for improved monitoring and fire mitigation strategies to address thermal activity in reclaimed sites, especially those with limited historical data. These insights are crucial for preventing similar issues in the future and minimizing the long-term impacts on surrounding communities and ecosystems.

Grapevines are subjected to many physiological and environmental stresses that influence their vegetative and reproductive growth. Water stress, cold damage, and pathogen attacks are highly relevant stresses in many grape-growing regions. Precision viticulture can be used to determine and manage the spatial variation in grapevine health within a single vineyard block. Newer technologies such as remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPASs) with remote sensing capabilities can enhance the application of precision viticulture. The use of remote sensing for vineyard variation detection has been extensively investigated; however, there is still a dearth of literature regarding its potential for detecting key stresses such as winter hardiness, water status, and virus infection. The main objective of this research is to examine the performance of modern remote sensing technologies to determine if their application can enhance vineyard management by providing evidence-based stress detection. To accomplish the objective, remotely sensed data such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and thermal imaging from RPAS flights were measured from six commercial vineyards in Niagara, ON, along with the manual measurement of key viticultural data including vine water stress, cold stress, vine size, and virus titre. This study verified that the NDVI could be a useful metric to detect variation across vineyards for agriculturally important variables including vine size and soil moisture. The red-edge and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic reflectance spectra could also have a potential application in detecting virus infection in vineyards.

This paper addresses the issue of freezing damage to concrete structures in regions with frozen soil and overcomes the limitations of traditional frost resistance enhancement methods by integrating both active and passive frost resistance strategies. A novel low-temperature phase change concrete (PCC) is developed using specially designed phase change aggregates and fly ash to replace gravel and cement, respectively. Macroscopic mechanical tests are employed to investigate the evolution of the mechanical properties of PCC. The temperature control capabilities of PCC are quantitatively assessed through thermal physical parameters, heat storage and release curves, and infrared thermal imaging, alongside the introduction of a temperature damping indicator to elucidate the mechanisms underlying active frost resistance enhancement. Furthermore, XRD NMR, and SEM are utilized to further explore the influence of fly ash and phase change aggregates on the microstructural characteristics of PCC. The results show that the addition of phase change aggregates can reduce the strength, porosity, and ductility of concrete. The PCC prepared by mixing phase change aggregates with fly ash demonstrates effective temperature control performance while maintaining satisfactory mechanical properties. The noticeable temperature plateau around 0 degrees C in the heat storage and release curve, along with the multi-layered annular flare distribution observed in infrared thermal imaging, suggests that the temperature damping effect significantly mitigates the freeze-thaw impact experienced by PCC. Overall, the A-8 sample, with 20 % phase change aggregate and 30 % fly ash added, exhibits the most favorable comprehensive performance, showing reductions of 2.63 %, 39.57 %, and 33.04 % in uniaxial compressive strength, porosity, and maximum temperature difference, respectively, compared to the control group, along with a 75.62 % increase in relative temperature damping.