Geographical and seasonal variability of the global “practical” wind resources

This paper provides global and seasonal estimates of the “practical” wind power obtained with a 3-D numerical model (GATOR-GCMOM) that dynamically calculates the instantaneous wind power of a modern 5 MW wind turbine at 100-m hub height at each time step. “Practical” wind power is defined as that delivered from wind turbines in high-wind locations (year-average 100-m wind speed ≥ 7 m/s) over land and near-shore, excluding both polar regions, mountainous, and conflicting land use areas, and including transmission, distribution, and wind farm array losses. We found that seasonal variations in the global practical wind resources are significant. The highest net land plus near-shore capacity factors globally are found during December–January–February and the lowest during June–July–August. The capacity factors in the transitional seasons (March–April–May and September–October–November) are rather similar to one another in terms of geographical patterns and frequency distributions. The yearly-average distributions of capacity factors, whether in terms of geographic patterns or frequency distributions, differ from those in all four seasons, although they are closest to the transitional seasons. Regional practical wind resources are sensitive to seasons and to thresholds in year-average wind speed and bathymetry, but are more than enough to supply local electricity demand in all regions except Japan.     

Medical Mapping: The Revolution in Teaching—and Using—Maps for the Analysis of Medical Issues

Abstract

As a result of advances in GIS, students from a range of disciplines (epidemiology, public health, medical sociology, and anthropology) are seeking to learn how to apply a mapped, spatial perspective to issues of disease and health. This paper describes a pilot program whose intent has been to develop an interdisciplinary, skills-based course in medical mapping using a case-based approach. The focus of its first module is the famous nineteenth-century case of a cholera epidemic in Soho, London. Here, however, that case–critical to a range of disciplines—is an opportunity to introduce modern GIS tools and their applicability to the issues surrounding the mapping of diseases in general.     

Equitable utilisation and effective protection of sharing transboundary water resources: international rivers of western China

1 Introduction Recently, some important international institutions, like the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank, have pointed out that there will exist water crises, water conflicts, and even water wars in the 21st century. The equitable utilisation and co-ordinated management of the shared freshwater resources in international watercourses (sharing rivers, lakes, and underground water layers) were particularly emphasised and are turning out to be the international hot point an…     

A Review of “Reconstructing Kobe: The Geography of Crisis and Opportunity”

This paper presents reflections on a research project in women's health, providing both substantive findings surrounding tanning and social status and methodological recommendations for future research. The project under review utilized a picture-elicited storytelling method to: a) understand how women link tanned, bronzed skin to health, status, and attractiveness; and b) test the effectiveness of picture-elicited storytelling as a research method. The project found that, when tanning, women use their bodies to inscribe the social norm of the bronzed aesthetic. While women indicate considerable knowledge of the health dangers of tanning, they continue to link tanned skin to beauty, status, and attractiveness. Further, the research project found that the use of picture-elicited storytelling as a method is potentially powerful but requires considerable attention to concerns of power and representation on the part of the research team.     

A Review of “Villages,Women and the Success of Dairy Cooperatives in India: Making Place for Rural Development”

Conceptual advances for understanding the organization of family farms have not yet initiated parallel debates about how they might be aligned with the methods used to understand them. Customization of a novel research approach—farm life history—for an investigation of the socioeconomic organization of forty Australian farms responds to this literature gap. Individual farm life histories were initiated using farm tours (truck journeys) in which changes to the composition of land parcels prompted research conversations. The researcher and participants benefited from using motorized transport and traveling while talking, but the benefits were experienced unevenly across research encounters.     

A Review of: “Loose Space: Possibility and Diversity in Urban Life”

Basso, Keith H. Wisdom Sits in Places: Language and Landscape among the Western Apache

Foote, Kenneth E. Shadowed Ground: America's Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy

Harries, Keith and Cheatwood, Derral The Geography of Execution: The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America

Larkham, Peter J. Conservation and the City

James, Preston E. and Martin, Geoffrey J. All Possible Worlds: A History of Geographical Ideas

Meir, Avinoam As Nomadism Ends: The Israeli Bedouin of the Negev

Ruddick, Susan M. Young and Homeless in Hollywood: Mapping Social Identities

Smith, Neil The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City     

A Review of: “Pittsburgh and the Appalachians: Cultural and Natural Resources in a Postindustrial Age”

Abstract

Geography is one of the subjects offered toward a diploma of the International Baccalaureate Organization. Like the others, its syllabus is regularly reviewed and revised to remain current. The advent of a revised syllabus brings overlap that can be challenging for teachers. The syllabus that is now coming to an end was described in 107(4–5) of the Journal of Geography. The present article compares that syllabus with the new one and, particularly, the demands the new syllabus will place on teachers and students alike.     

A Review of “Geographies of Media and Communication”

Contemporary cartographic research on mapmaking and map use has a broad mandate and, as a consequence, researchers need a broad suite of methods. Consistent with research developments in other geographic subdisciplines, cartographic researchers now use qualitative methods. They offer the advantage of bringing research closer to the problem-solving realms of mapmakers and map users. Our purpose here is to discuss an array of qualitative methods for mapmaking and map use. Questionnaires, interviews, and protocol methods are used to gather verbal data about mapmaking and map use. Ethnographies produce data from direct observation of mapmakers and users. Maps also are sources for document analysis. We use examples of published cartographic research to elaborate on each of these methods.