Young Workers in a Deindustrialising Economy: The Case of Christchurch, 1976–1996

Understanding the specificity of local labour markets is a more productive way of identifying employment dynamics in an era of de industrialisation than attending to universalist rhetorics on ‘the knowledge economy’. This article explores the employment destinations of young adults in the Christchurch labour market from the 1970s to recent times with a view to identifying how labour market opportunities facing them have changed, not only through the growth of part‐time work but also through the changing nature of access to full‐time work as sheltered ports of entry are replaced by requirements for tertiary education and training.     

Crystal Size Distribution of Plagioclase and Amphibole from Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat: Evidence for Dynamic Crystallization-Textural Coarsening Cycles

The crystal size distributions (CSDs) of plagioclase and amphibolewere determined from andesites of the Soufrière Hillsvolcano, Montserrat. Plagioclase occurs as separate crystalsand as chadocrysts in large amphibole oikocrysts. The chadocrystsrepresent an earlier stage of textural development, preservedby growth of the oikocryst. Seventeen rock and eight chadocrystplagioclase CSDs are considered together as a series of samplesof textural development. All are curved, concave up, and coincident,differing only in their maximum crystal size. Three amphiboleCSDs have a similar shape and behaviour, but at a differentposition from the plagioclase CSDs. A dynamic model is proposedfor the origin of textures in these rocks. Crystallization ofplagioclase started following emplacement of andesite magmaat a depth of at least 5 km. A steep, straight CSD developedby nucleation and growth. This process was interrupted by theinjection of mafic magma into the chamber, or convective overturnof hotter magma. The magma temperature rose until it was buffered,initially by plagioclase solution and later by crystallization.During this period textural coarsening (Ostwald ripening) ofplagioclase and amphibole occurred: small crystals dissolvedsimultaneously with the growth of large crystals. The CSD becameless steep and extended to larger crystal sizes. Early stagesof this process are preserved in coarsened amphibole oikocrysts.Repetitions of this cycle generated the observed family of CSDs.Textural coarsening followed the ‘Communicating Neighbours’model. Hence, each crystal has its own, unique growth–solutionhistory, without appealing to mixing of magmas that crystallizedin different environments. KEY WORDS: Ostwald ripening; textural coarsening; oikocryst; CSD; texture     

Impacts of Land Process on the Onset and Evolution of Asian Summer Monsoon in the NCEP Climate Forecast System

Impacts of land models and initial land conditions(ICs) on the Asian summer monsoon,especially its onset,were investigated using the NCEP Climate Forecast System(CFS).Two land models,the Oregon State University(OSU) land model and the NCEP,OSU,Air Force,and Hydrologic Research Laboratory(Noah) land model,were used to get parallel experiments.The experiments also used land ICs from the NCEP/Department of Energy(DOE) Global Reanalysis 2(GR2) and the Global Land Data Assimilation System(GLDAS).Previous studies have demonstrated that,a systematic weak bias appears in the modeled monsoon,and this bias may be related to a cold bias over the Asian land mass.Results of the current study show that replacement of the OSU land model by the Noah land model improved the model’s cold bias and produced improved monsoon precipitation and circulation patterns.The CFS predicted monsoon with greater proficiency in El Nin o years,compared to La Nin a years,and the Noah model performed better than the OSU model in monsoon predictions for individual years.These improvements occurred not only in relation to monsoon onset in late spring but also to monsoon intensity in summer.Our analysis of the monsoon features over the India peninsula,the Indo-China peninsula,and the South Chinese Sea indicates different degrees of improvement.Furthermore,a change in the land models led to more remarkable improvement in monsoon prediction than did a change from the GR2 land ICs to the GLDAS land ICs.     

Computing aspects of a large geographic information system for the European Community

Abstract

The CORINE programme (Co-ordinaled' Information on the European Environment) has been underway since 1985. Its purpose is to provide information on the environment of the entire European Community in a form suitable for assisting policy making. Such data must be accurate, integrated and readily available to the personnel for whom the system is designed. The system must be capable of dealing with large amounts of spatially-linked data from many different sources, in text, vector or raster form. The use of a geographic information system (GIS) is therefore essential. This paper describes the use of an interim system as a ‘bed’ for beginning the process of acquiring and integrating data. The data sets available are soils, climate, topography and ‘biotopes) (important areas for nature conservation). A data transfer format has been devised to provide for ease of transfer between various sites in the European Community with different mainframe computers. The interim system ensures that the needs of users can be defined and provides valuable user experience before a permanent system is installed. Other issues examined include the use of national and international networks and problems of integrating data when incorporating existing digital data from disparate sources into a large GIS.     

Oxygen isotope exchange and closure temperatures in cooling rocks

Retrograde exchange of oxygen isotopes between minerals in igneous and metamorphic rocks by means of diffusion is explored using a finite difference computer model, which predicts both the zonation profile of δ¹⁸O within grains, and the bulk δ¹⁸O value of each mineral in the rock. Apparent oxygen isotope equilibrium temperatures that would be observed in these rocks are calculated from the δ¹⁸O values of each mineral pair within the rock. In systems which cool linearly from a sufficiently high temperature or at a low enough cooling rate, such that the final oxygen isotope values are not dependent upon the initial oxygen isotope values ('slow cooling'), the apparent oxygen isotope temperature derived for a rock composed of a single mineral pair can be shown to be simply related to the Dodson closure temperatures ( T _c) for the two phases and the mode of the rock. Adding a third phase into a system which undergoes 'slow' cooling will cause the apparent temperature derived for the two minerals already present to differ from the simple relationship for a two-phase system. In some systems oxygen isotope reversals can be developed. If cooling is not 'slow', then the mineral δ¹⁸O values resulting from cooling will be partly dependent upon the initial temperature of the system concerned. The model successfully simulates the mineral δ¹⁸O values that are often observed in granitic rocks. Application of the model will help in assessing the validity of oxygen isotope thermometry in different geological settings, and allows quantitative prediction of the oxygen isotope fractionations that are developed in cooling closed systems.     

Subseasonal features of the Asian summer monsoon in the NCEP climate forecast system

The operational climate forecast system （CFS） of the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction provides climate predictions over the world, and CFS products are becoming an important source of information for regional climate predictions in many Asian countries where monsoon climate dominates. Recent studies have shown that, on monthly-to-seasonal time-scales, the CFS is highly skillful in simulating and predicting the variability of the Asian monsoon. The higher-frequency variability of the Asian summer monsoon in the CFS is analyzed, using output from a version with a spectral triangular truncation of 126 waves in horizontal and 64 sigma layers in vertical, focusing on synoptic, quasi-biweekly, and intraseasonal time-scales. The onset processes of different regional monsoon components were investigated within Asia. Although the CFS generally overestimates variability of monsoon on these time-scales, it successfully captures many major features of the variance patterns, especially for the synoptic timescale. The CFS also captures the timing of summer monsoon onsets over India and the Indo-China Peninsula. However, it encounters difficulties in simulating the onset of the South China Sea monsoon. The success and failure of the CFS in simulating the onset of monsoon precipitation can also be seen from the associated features of simulated atmospheric circulation processes. Overall, the CFS is capable of simulating the synoptic-to-intraseasonal variability of the Asian summer monsoon with skills. As for seasonal-tointerannual time-scales shown previously, the model is expected to possess a potential for skillful predictions of the high-frequency variability of the Asian monsoon.