A Dutch multi-date land use database: Identification of real and methodological changes

Land cover and land use are important information sources for environmental issues. One of the most important changes at the Earth's surface concerns land cover and land use. Knowledge about the location and type of these changes is essential for environmental modeling and management. Remote sensing data in combination with additional spatial data are recognized as an important source of information to detect these land cover and land use changes.     

Morphological similarities between DBM and a microeconomic model of sprawl

We present a model that simulates the growth of a metropolitan area on a 2D lattice. The model is dynamic and based on microeconomics. Households show preferences for nearby open spaces and neighbourhood density. They compete on the land market. They travel along a road network to access the CBD. A planner ensures the connectedness and maintenance of the road network. The spatial pattern of houses, green spaces and road network self-organises, emerging from agents individualistic decisions. We perform several simulations and vary residential preferences. Our results show morphologies and transition phases that are similar to Dieletric Breakdown Models (DBM). Such similarities were observed earlier by other authors, but we show here that it can be deducted from the functioning of the land market and thus explicitly connected to urban economic theory.     

Climatic consequences of gradual desertification in the semi-arid area of Northeast Brazil

The climatic impacts of gradual desertification in the semi-arid area of Northeast Brazil (SANEB) were evaluated using the MM5 regional model. Simulations for the rainy season of SANEB (March, April, and May) were performed. Desertification simulations were grouped into three numerical runs: total (all SANEB covered by desert), partial (desert areas placement based on future environmental degradation scenarios for SANEB), and random desertification (desert areas placed randomly within SANEB). Total desertification led to a pronounced and significant precipitation reduction in large parts of SANEB. Climatic impacts of partial desertification were guided by the southward expansion of desert areas. For intermediate desertification extensions, a dipole pattern with precipitation reduction (increase) in the northern (southern) areas of SANEB was found. Random desertification led to climatic impacts spread over the whole SANEB. In both partial and random desertification, a quasi-linear precipitation reduction was found as desertification extension increases.     

Rotational atmospheric circulation during North Atlantic-European winter: the influence of ENSO

The dominant variability modes of the North Atlantic-European rotational flow are examined by applying a principal component analysis (PCA/EOF) to the 200?hPa streamfunction mid-winter anomalies (Jan?CFeb monthly means). The results reveal that, when this norm is used, the leading mode (EOF1) does not correspond to the traditional North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO, which appears in our analysis as the second leading mode, EOF2) but is the local manifestation of the leading hemispheric streamfunction EOF. The regression of this regional mode onto the global SST field exhibits a clear El Ni?o signature, with no signal over the Atlantic, while the associated upper height anomalies resemble the Tropical/Northern Hemisphere (TNH) pattern. East of North America, this TNH-like wavetrain produces a meridional dipole-like pattern at lower levels. Although in some ways this pattern resembles the NAO (EOF2), the dynamics of these two modes are very different in that only EOF2 is associated with a latitudinal shift of the North Atlantic stormtrack. Thus, the choice of the streamfunction norm in the EOF analysis allows the separation of two different phenomena that can produce similar dipolar surface pressure anomalies over the North Atlantic but that have different impact on European climate. These two modes also differ on their contribution to variability at lower levels: while NAO-EOF2 is mostly confined to the North Atlantic, TNH-EOF1 has a more annular, global character. At upper levels NAO-EOF2 also produces a global pattern but with no annular structure, reminiscent of the ??circumglobal?? teleconnection.     

Temporal vulnerability in hazardscapes: Flood memory-networks and referentiality along the North Carolina Neuse River (USA)

Social models of population vulnerability to disasters increasingly include the notion that vulnerability has a strong temporal component. While this temporality is typically conceptualized as objective (making vulnerability “dynamic,” “multiscalar,” and/or “historical”), it consistently fails to acknowledge that among stakeholders managing hazardscapes temporality is also a social process in which subjective experience of time may play a role in creating situations of population vulnerability. This paper proposes that the temporal situatedness of a population relative to past hazard events and the quality with which stakeholders engage hazard memory-chains combine to significantly influences its vulnerability to natural hazards. It is proposed that this temporal vulnerability is characterized by shared, population level potential for surprise and can be evaluated by exploration of time-series depth and temporal reference points in historical ecological narratives and documents. Based on ethnohistoric research conducted from 2002 to 2006 in flood-prone eastern North Carolina (USA), it is illustrated how temporal vulnerability was relatively higher in the Neuse River watershed located at the City of Kinston than surrounding watersheds. Due to the combination of factors including the damming of the Neuse River in the 1980s, outdated official floodplain maps, relatively unmonitored floodplain development, the stochastic timing of flood events (placing the last major flood more than a generation away), technological optimism, and turnover of floodplain officials and residents, local stakeholders were seriously misinformed about the space-time risks involved both before and after the disaster of Hurricane Floyd (1999) happened. To deal with this inconsistency, the temporal rarity of Hurricane Floyd as a “500-year event” has been motivated and embraced by many in an effort to continue life-as-is. The paper proposes that the concept of temporal vulnerability is further explored and used as key dimension in the vulnerability sciences.     

Mediterranean migration futures: Patterns,drivers and scenarios

This study explores possible futures of Mediterranean migration based on an evaluation of past, current and future drivers of migration in the region. Since 1950, structural shifts in the political economy of the region have fundamentally changed the Mediterranean migration map. Particularly the rise of Gulf economies and south European growth and EU expansion has transformed the northern Mediterranean and the Gulf into new immigration poles. The main drivers of these changes are economic and political. Contrary to conventional beliefs, the role of environmental and also demographic factors seems comparatively limited, probabilistic and indirect. Future climate change and environmental stress may affect internal movement but are unlikely to result in massive international migration. Under most scenarios, Turkey and other North African countries may well evolve into immigration countries coinciding with increasing immigration from sub-Saharan Africa to the entire Mediterranean.     

Pathogenic fungi: an unacknowledged risk at coastal resorts? New insights on microbiological sand quality in Portugal

Whilst the potential impact on beach users from microorganisms in water has received considerable attention, there has been relatively little investigation into microbial contaminants in sand. Thirty three beaches across Portugal were analyzed during a five year period (2006-2010) to determine the presence of yeasts, pathogenic fungi, dermatophytes, total coliforms, Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci in sand.Our results showed that 60.4% of the samples were positive for fungi and that 25.2% were positive for the bacterial parameters. The most frequent fungal species found were Candida sp. and Aspergillus sp., whereas intestinal enterococci were the most frequently isolated bacteria. Positive associations were detected among analyzed parameters and country-regions but none among those parameters and sampling period.Regarding threshold values, we propose 15 cfu/g for yeasts, 17 cfu/g for potential pathogenic fungi, 8 cfu/g for dermatophytes. Eighty four cfu/g for coliforms, 250 cfu/g for E. coli, and 100 cfu/g for intestinal enterococci.     

1999年土耳其Izmit Mw7.6地震的持续成核过程

实验室和理论研究表明,地震之前会出现一个渐进性的滑动不稳定阶段,在此期间,断层缓慢滑动,而后突然加速并最终导致动态破裂.本文中,我们报道了迄今记录最为完整的大地震之一,即1999年土耳其Izmit Mw7.6地震之前出现了持续时间很久的源自震源的地震信号.这种信号包含一连串的地震破裂,破裂随时间和低频地震噪声的增加而加...     

Cotton Fiber/ZrO2, A New Material for Adsorption of Cr(VI) Ions in Water

The natural cotton fiber was used to synthesize an anion exchange, containing ZrO₂ film on its surface, NCFZC (natural cotton fiber/ZrO₂ composite). This anion exchanger was produced by the reaction of the zirconium oxychloride and hydroxyl groups on surface of the natural cotton fiber. The material was used for Cr(VI) ions adsorption studies. Adsorption equilibrium time and optimum pH for Cr(VI) adsorption were found to be 6 h and 4.0, respectively. The Langmuir and Temkin isotherms were used to models adsorption equilibrium data. The adsorption capacity of NCFZC was found to be 1.33 mmol/g. Kinetic studies showed that the rate of adsorption of Cr(VI) on NCFZC obeyed a pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model.     

A call for standardization of aeolian process measurements: moving beyond relative case studies

Progress in some areas of process‐based aeolian sediment transport research is hampered by limited opportunities for data comparison, synthesis, and integration. This is partially due to a lack of reliable comparison methods. Many comparison methods are forms of calibration that are either restrictive (e.g., time‐averages only) or non‐existent (e.g., for field‐based sediment transport thresholds or vertical mass flux profiles). It is believed that the adoption of standard methods for common measurements may improve inter‐study comparison, add value and longevity to data, and advance integrative modeling efforts. Examples of approaches in allied disciplines where standards are used routinely are reviewed and we discuss how the mutual benefits of standardized data could outweigh perceived disadvantages. Overall, the goal of this commentary is to encourage discussion, self‐assessment, and forethought with regard to measurement methods used in process‐based aeolian geomorphology. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.