Aerobic landfill test cells and their implications for sustainable waste disposal

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills world-wide are experiencing the consequences of conventional landfilling techniques, whereby anaerobic conditions are created within the landfill waste. Under anaerobic conditions, slow stabilization of the waste mass occurs, producing methane, (an explosive, 'greenhouse' gas) and toxic leachate over long periods of time. As a potential solution, it was demonstrated that the aerobic degradation of MSW within a landfill can significantly increase the rate of waste decomposition and settlement, decrease the production of methane gas, reduce the level of toxic organics in the leachate and decrease quantities of landfill leachate that need treatment. This paper summarizes the successful results of two separate aerobic landfill projects located in Georgia (USA) and discusses the potential economic and environmental impacts to world-wide solid waste management.     

Modelling landfill location using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA): Case study Bo,Southern Sierra Leone

Among the various approaches devised in managing municipal solid wastes, landfills remain the final destination of waste irrespective of the technology used in treating it. Incorrect siting of landfill sites could lead to environmental, social and economic cost; hence, appropriate techniques are required in the identification of potential landfill sites. In densely populated areas in Sierra Leone, there is often tension over the location of landfill sites, where ‘not in my backyard’ campaigns have sparked riots. This article presents a methodological framework for identifying municipal landfill sites in urban areas in Sierra Leone using Bo in Southern Sierra Leone as a case in point. This framework involves a multi-criteria GIS approach that blends two aggregation techniques: Weighted Linear Combination and Ordered Weighted Averaging. Key results show that 83.3% of the study area is unsuitable for municipal landfill.     

Modelling patterned ground distribution in Finnish Lapland: an integration of topographical, ground and remote sensing information

New data technologies and modelling methods have gained more attention in the field of periglacial geomorphology during the last decade. In this paper we present a new modelling approach that integrates topographical, ground and remote sensing information in predictive geomorphological mapping using generalized additive modelling (GAM) . First, we explored the roles of different environmental variable groups in determining the occurrence of non‐sorted and sorted patterned ground in a fell region of 100 km2 at the resolution of 1 ha in northern Finland. Second, we compared the predictive accuracy of ground‐topography‐ and remote‐sensing‐based models. The results indicate that non‐sorted patterned ground is more common at lower altitudes where the ground moisture and vegetation abundance is relatively high, whereas sorted patterned ground is dominant at higher altitudes with relatively high slope angle and sparse vegetation cover. All modelling results were from good to excellent in model evaluation data using the area under the curve (AUC) values, derived from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots. Generally, models built with remotely sensed data were better than ground‐topography‐based models and combination of all environmental variables improved the predictive ability of the models. This paper confirms the potential utility of remote sensing information for modelling patterned ground distribution in subarctic landscapes.     

Benthic diatom communities as indicators of anthropogenic metal contamination at Casey Station,Antarctica

Prior to environmental legislation in the 1980s, anthropogenic waste in Antarctica was often deposited into landfill sites or into the sea. This resulted in metal contamination in terrestrial and near-shore marine environments. In this study, we assess the feasibility of using both past and present diatom assemblages to reconstruct and monitor past and future metal contamination. Our dataset included the analyses of both surface sediment samples and sediment cores from a contaminated site near Casey Station, Antarctica. Redundancy analyses indicated a strong relationship between metal concentrations and the composition of diatom communities. Within the surface sediment samples, tin and lead individually explained 43% of the variation observed in the diatom data; copper and iron explained 42% of this variation. In the sediment cores, tin and lead individually explained 53% of the variation in diatom community composition. In the same samples copper explained 47% of this variation, with iron explaining 46% of the observed variation. Once one metal had been selected, incorporating further metal data into the analyses added little extra information. Modern analog technique (MAT) analyses showed a strong correlation between actual and predicted values within one dataset (R²: Cu 0.75; Pb 0.86; Sn 0.89; p<0.05 for each). MAT reconstructions of metal concentrations closely followed measured concentrations, with both high and low concentrations recorded. MAT analyses performed favorably when compared to predictive techniques based on multivariate linear regression and multilayer perceptron neural networks. This study demonstrates that the composition of benthic diatom communities is a good indicator of anthropogenic metal contamination, and may be useful in monitoring the success of environmental remediation strategies in Antarctica and elsewhere.     

Colour infrared aerial photography as a tool for vegetation mapping and change detection in environmental studies of Nordic ecosystems: A review

The aim of the paper is to sum up knowledge of colour infrared (CIR) aerial photography as a tool for vegetation data for mapping and monitoring in environmental and biodiversity surveys and change detection surveillance. It compiles thirty years of research of the main ecosystems in Swedish vegetation, where the overall goal was to develop methods for mapping and monitoring vegetation by use of CIR aerial photographs, assess the accuracy compared to field-based mapping and to implement them as a tool in nature conservation and environmental planning. The methods include development of a classification system, identification and analysis of indicators, development of interpretation techniques, and evaluation compared to the data collected in the field. The CIR observable criteria are colour, texture, pattern, size, form, and density, based on spectral reflectance, physiognomy, life forms, ecological conditions, moisture and nutrition, vegetation period and phenology, topography, site conditions, and management methods. The methods have been used to produce vegetation maps of mountains, boreal forests, and mires in northern and central Sweden, in national inventories of wetlands, ancient meadows and pastures, key biotopes in forests and for monitoring agricultural landscapes.     

Magnetotelluric studies in the Market Weighton area of eastern England

Summary Magnetotelluric measurements at periods from 30 to 1000s were made at eight locations in the Market Weighton (MW) area, along an east—west profile across gravity and magnetic anomalies. Dimensional parameters were developed for assessing the structural dimensionality of the electrical conductivity of the Earth from the data. One-dimensional inversion modelling techniques were employed to interpret the data at each site, and four-layer models were obtained to explain the main structure of the crust in the area studied. If it is assumed that all strata are unmagnetized then the results show that there is a highly resistive layer in the crust, the thickness of the highly resistive layer ranges from 12 km in the east to 44 km in the west with a large change in the middle near the MW site. A structural boundary lying north—south near MW was also indicated by the principal directions of rotated apparent resistivities and transfer functions. Both electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability contrast in the ground were considered in an attempt to interpret the observed variations in apparent resistivity at different periods.     

GIScience,environmental justice, & estimating populations at risk: The case of landfills in Wales

There has been a notable increase in the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in studies of environmental (in)justice in the last two decades. Whilst the potential of such techniques is increasingly being recognised, there remain some key research challenges facing researchers interested in wider notions of environmental justice (EJ). One avenue of research concerns the estimation of population denominator and the influence of the estimation model on the conclusions emanating from such studies. Whilst the potential of so-called dasymetric mapping techniques have been explored in other substantive areas such as crime and health geography, their use in EJ applications remains under-explored. This paper represents a preliminary attempt to redress this gap in the literature through a comparison of the deprivation profiles of residents living in the vicinity of landfill sites in Wales using both ‘traditional’ and innovative methods of population estimation that provide a more realistic representation of actual population distribution. The results as we demonstrate suggest that more emphasis needs to be placed on the methods by which population is estimated if the results of GIS-based environmental justice studies are to be more widely applied.     

中国2004年泥石流灾害特点及其对减灾的启示

分析了我国2004年成灾特点,大陆首次出现大规模的大风泥石流,在植被较好的地区仍然有泥石流发生,年内同一地区多次成灾增大了灾害损失,建筑选址不当是造成人员死亡的一个重要原因,低频性泥石流常造成严重灾害.受上述成灾特点的启示,提出在进行潜在泥石流判识时要慎重对待植被较好的区域,注重对低频泥石流的防范,在建筑物选址时应注意潜在泥石流危害,加强重大工程建设区泥石流灾害的预警,建立群测群防体系,进行监测预警,制定临灾预案,发展灾害保险业务以分担灾害风险等减灾对策.     

Riparian thermal conditions across a mixed rural and urban landscape

Riparian corridors have the potential to function as thermal refuges, moderating extremes of local temperature variation. However, although demonstrated at individual sites, and over short periods, the consistency of this effect at wider temporal and spatial scales is poorly understood. The aim of this study is to assess the temperature differences between riparian corridors and adjacent non-riparian habitats and to explore the influence of environmental characteristics on these differences. Air temperature was monitored hourly at 20 paired locations (riparian and non-riparian) for two consecutive years. Urban index and canopy cover were characterised by calculating the percentage of impervious surface area and tree canopy cover within a 100 m radius from the centre of each sampling site. Canopy cover reduced summer thermal stresses in both urban and rural areas whereas high urban index tended to increase the daily thermal indices. Rivers had a significant mitigating effect on the urban riparian thermal condition, particularly in extreme hot weather. Riparian corridors were generally 1 °C cooler than non-riparian locations in summer and could be up to 3 °C cooler at some sites in extreme hot weather. Furthermore, riparian corridors at some sites were warmer than non-riparian locations in winter. These findings suggest that the proximity of rivers can modify riparian thermal environments, potentially reducing the heat stress of riparian corridors across landscapes.     

A stratified optimization method for a multivariate marine environmental monitoring network in the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent sea

An efficient monitoring network is very important in accessing the marine environmental quality and its protection and management. In an estuary, there are fronts that separate distinctly different water masses and affect material transport, nutrient distribution, pollutant aggregation, and diffusion. This stratified heterogeneous surface neither satisfies the stationary requirements of kriging, nor can be handled adequately by removing a spatially continuous trend. This article presents a stratified optimization method for a multivariate monitoring network. In this method, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensionality of the correlated targets, and the mean of surface with nonhomogeneity (MSN) method was adopted to produce the best linear unbiased estimator for a spatially stratified heterogeneous surface that failed to satisfy the requirements for a kriging estimate. The existing monitoring network in the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent sea, which was designed by purposive sampling year ago was optimized as an illustration. The optimization consisted of two steps: reduce the redundant monitoring sites and then optimally add new sites to the remaining sites. After optimization, the inclusion of 51 sites in the monitoring network was found to produce a smaller total estimated error than that of the current network, which has 70 sites; moreover, the use of 55 sites can produce a higher precision of estimation for all three principal components (PCs) than that of the current 70 sites. The results demonstrated that the proposed method is suitable for optimizing environmental monitoring sites that have dominant stratified nonhomogeneity and that involve multiple factors.     

Modelling landslide distribution on loess soils in China: an investigation

Abstract

Catastrophic landslides are a severe environmental problem on the Loess Plateau of China. In order to establish which slopes are most at risk, their spatial incidence can be modelled using geographical information systems techniques together with a database describing the past landslides. Three modelling strategies, sieve mapping, weighting factors and log-linear modelling, are adopted and compared. It is suggested that the log-linear modelling approach is the most general and makes best use of the available information.     

Mapping eastern equine encephalitis virus risk for white-tailed deer in Michigan

Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) is a mosquito-borne viral disease that is often fatal to humans and horses. Some species including white-tailed deer and passerine birds can survive infection with the EEE virus (EEEV) and develop antibodies that can be detected using laboratory techniques. In this way, collected serum samples from free ranging white-tailed deer can be used to monitor the presence of the virus in ecosystems. This study developed and tested a risk index model designed to predict EEEV activity in white-tailed deer in a three-county area of Michigan. The model evaluates EEEV risk on a continuous scale from 0.0 (no measurable risk) to 1.0 (highest possible risk). High risk habitats are identified as those preferred by white-tailed deer that are also located in close proximity to an abundance of wetlands and lowland forests, which support disease vectors and hosts. The model was developed based on relevant literature and was tested with known locations of infected deer that showed neurological symptoms. The risk index model accurately predicted the known locations, with the mean value for those sites equal to the 94th percentile of values in the study area. The risk map produced by the model could be used refine future EEEV monitoring efforts that use serum samples from free-ranging white-tailed deer to monitor viral activity. Alternatively, it could be used focus educational efforts targeted toward deer hunters that may have elevated risks of infection.     

土壤盐渍化遥感应用研究进展

文章从地面数据的调查、盐渍土影象的目视判读特征、光谱特征和土壤盐渍化区域的植被特征以及多光谱、高光谱遥感技术等方面综述国内外应用遥感数据探测土壤盐渍化程度及其制图的研究。利用数字图象并结合野外调查数据进行目视解译和计算机自动解译、图象变换提取盐渍土信息;结合G IS方法在分类中加入非遥感数据来提高分类精度;在研究盐渍土的光谱特征的基础上应用高光谱技术定量或半定量地提取盐渍土信息。这都是制定综合治理措施、决定土地利用方向的关键,也是进行区域土壤盐渍化动态预报的重要依据。     

The role of human interventions in tree dynamics and environmental rehabilitation in the Sahel zone of Niger

A study was conducted in 15 village territories of 3 regions in Niger. Among these sites, 4 were control and 11 had interventions comprising of farmer-managed tree natural regeneration (FMNR), water harvesting techniques (WHT) and windbreaks. The objective of the study was to determine the state of tree vegetation in terms of species diversity and harvestable volume and evaluate the environmental trend in the sites. An inventory of the vegetation was carried out during the rainy season using radial transects from the village centre, outwards, in addition to surveys with local communities.The results showed that tree diversity is enhanced in sites with interventions, and soil rehabilitation techniques and farmer-managed tree natural regeneration favor the rehabilitation and development of trees. The number of resprouts/seedlings varied with site, soil type and intervention. The number of harvestable trees depended on factors like caring, monitoring of cutting, types of intervention and ecological zone.Harvestable volume is a function of high regeneration rate, number of harvestable individual trees and site. Vegetation is improving in all the sites and local communities using tree products for their various needs. This study contributed to setting up a reference database for these sites.     

白杨河——艾里克湖湿地及周边植物群落与环境因子的关系

应用数量分类和排序方法,对新疆白杨河-艾里克湖湿地植被进行了多元统计分析。结果表明,该研究区域主要植被类型中共有植物18种,隶属10科,17个属。其中,多数植物种类在样方中出现的频次较低,说明该地区植物物种丰富度较低。TWINSPAN结果表明,该地区植物可以分9个种类组,与实际调查结果一致。CCA排序结果同TWINSPAN分类结果基本一致,反映出植物群落分布格局随环境因子梯度变化的趋势。分析了不同环境因子的关系,并从定量的角度,以CCA排序图直观的揭示了决定艾里克湖湿地植物群落分布的环境因子主要是地下水位、土壤有机质,其回归模型分别为:X_1=-0．6037L 0．6824(R~2=0．6024);X_2=0．74530M 0．1142(R~2 =0．6004)。     

藏北高原土壤温度分布的纬向效应和高度效应

利用ＧＡＭＥ－Ｔｉｂｅｔ野外观测期间所得藏北高原不同地点土壤温度资料,对藏北高原土壤温度分布纬向地带性和垂直地带性特征进行分析,结果表明夏季土壤温度分布主要表现为高度效应,而冬季土壤温度分布主要表现为纬度效应,年平均土壤温度分布是纬度效应和高度效应综合作用的结果。     

干旱地区植被影响沙地水分传输机理及其参数化

从植物生长与水分平衡的关系入手,在土壤水分动力学和近地面空气动力学等学科的研究基础上,依据植物生理生态学原理,探讨了干旱地区植被影响沙地水分传输的机理,初步建立了植被参数化模型和土壤-植物-大气连续体(SPAC)水分传输综合模型。主要研究结果如下:①分析了荒漠植物的生长及其动态变化特征,对沙生植物地上部与根系生长,尤其是根系在土壤中的分布进行了量化。②分析了荒漠植物的蒸腾特性及其气孔调节作用机制,指出了土壤水分亏缺是叶片气孔关闭、蒸腾作用降低的主要原因,探讨了植物蒸腾作用与气孔调节之间的复杂关系及其今后的研究重点。③揭示了沙地植被蒸发蒸腾的变化规律;分析了影响沙地植被蒸发蒸腾的生物因素和环境因素的作用。④初步建立了植被参数化和SPAC水分传输综合模型,模拟了植被结构影响冠层能量平衡过程,探讨了植物状态参数、生理参数与蒸发蒸腾的相互关系。     

Landscape connectivity: the geographic basis of geomorphic applications

Geographic concerns for spatial relationships lie at the heart of geomorphic applications in environmental management. The way in which landscape compartments fit together in a catchment influences the operation of biophysical fluxes, and hence the ways in which disturbance responses are mediated over time. These relationships reflect the connectivity of the landscape. A nested hierarchical framework that emphasizes differing forms of (dis)connectivity in catchments is proposed. This field-based geomorphic tool can be used to ground the application of modelling techniques in analysis of catchment-scale biophysical fluxes.     

高度城市化区域水库水源地环境安全管理信息系统开发——以深圳某水库为例

中国高度城市化区域水源地环境安全问题较突出,同时环境安全管理技术手段落后,无法满足管理需求。为了解决这一问题,文章以深圳某水库为例探讨了高度城市化区域水库水源地环境安全管理信息系统的功能需求和开发方案,并基于GIS技术开发了具有多种功能的城区水库水源地环境安全管理信息系统。经实际应用,识别出深圳某水库水源地主要风险源为库尾截污闸、沙湾路水库段、大望桥段、丹沙路桥段;水源地敏感带除在一级水源保护区内有分布外,主要是分布在二级水源保护区内,甚至在距水库较远的二级水源保护区内的一些区域也被识别为敏感地带,该系统可弥补饮用水水源保护区划分方法的不足,用于辅助水源保护区的监管决策;主要风险源发生污染事故时,污染物最快约20 h可到达坝前取水口处;利用实测小时降雨量实现了库尾截污闸处洪峰和开闸泄洪过程,以及泄洪污染物在水库中的迁移扩散过程预报;通过现场视频监控和水质在线监测实现了水源地环境的实时监控。应用结果表明,该系统实用性强,可为高度城市化区域水库水源地环境安全管理提供有效的决策支持。     

A comprehensive characterization of ancient desert agricultural systems in the Negev Highlands of Israel

Ancient agricultural systems based on runoff harvesting techniques are abundant in the Negev Highlands. The current study examined traditional classification and investigated the distribution of ancient agricultural systems around the Roman-Byzantine “Negev Towns” Avdat and Shivta, and across the terrain located between these sites and Makhtesh Ramon in the south. It led to an elaboration of the traditional classification of runoff agricultural systems in the Negev desert of southern Israel. We found that the key factors for building these types of agricultural systems were the geological and geomorphological characteristics of the specific site locations and the geographic distance from nearby towns and roads. Depending on these factors, a multitude of types of agricultural systems were constructed in accordance with the physical characteristics of the local desert environment. This clearly indicates the continuation of the current desert climate throughout historical times. Furthermore, the large diversity of agriculture installations indicates that they were constructed by local farmers and not by an external plan imposed by the central government.