Satellite Passive Sensing of the Marine Atmosphere Associated With Cold‐Air Mesoscale Cyclones

Contemporary research into extratropical cloud systems optimizes the increase in resolution of visible (VIS) and thermal infra‐red (IR) sensors, and the ability to retrieve wind and atmospheric moisture variables at mesoscales using microwave radiometry. These passively‐acquired remote sensing data are used to develop synoptic climatological (conceptual and simple statistical) ‘models’ of mesoscale cyclones in cold‐air outbreaks (mesocyclones, ‘polar lows’) occurring over the otherwise data‐void southern oceans. Mesocyclones present a limitation to successful weather forecasting for New Zealand and coastal Chile, southern Australia and South Africa, during the cold season. The synoptic climatological analyses show that: 1) the patterns of mesocyclone cloud vortex origins, movement and dissipation (‘mesocyclone regimes’), exhibit spatial dependence and have associations with upper‐ocean conditions; 2) mesocyclone ‘outbreaks’ are embedded within characteristic larger‐scale anomaly fields of tropospheric pressure, height, and layer thickness (mean temperature); and 3) composite (statistical average) models of cloud system structure based on the microwave retrievals of marine weather reveal mesocyclones to be relatively dry in comparison with synoptic cyclones, yet very windy. These analyses should permit the development of methods to better predict these important cold‐season storms over southern middle latitudes, and a fuller assessment of their significance for the larger hydroclimatic system.     

Rethinking the RECAP: mapping the relational geographies of concentrated poverty and affluence in Lexington,Kentucky

The idea of concentrated poverty has long held a prominent place in understandings of racial and class inequality in American cities. While the spatial concentration of the poor is undoubtedly an important aspect of this story, concentrated poverty research suffers from a number of conceptual and methodological shortcomings. Through a case study of concentrated poverty and affluence in Lexington, Kentucky, this paper draws on relational socio-spatial theory and critical GIS in order to offer a constructive critique of conventional concentrated poverty research. The paper demonstrates that while concentrated poverty and affluence are both on the rise in recent years, concentrated affluence actually represents a more widespread problem within the city. At the same time, the paper visualizes how these processes are fundamentally interconnected and co-produced through property ownership, where the extraction of rents from areas of concentrated poverty works to simultaneously produce areas of concentrated affluence elsewhere in the city.     

The Dynamics of Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) Assemblages in Response to Environmental Change during the past 700 years on Svalbard

The impact of recent natural and human-induced environmental change on chironomid faunas on Svalbard has been investigated. The modern chironomid fauna was studied from surface-sediment samples collected from 23 lakes in western Svalbard. A total of 18 taxa was found, of which three had not been recorded previously from Svalbard. The influence of water chemistry and physical variables on the distribution and abundance of the modern chironomid assemblages was investigated using correspondence analysis and multiple regression. The chironomid assemblages fall into four groups, which are primarily influenced by pH, nutrient concentrations, water temperature, and water depth. Sediment cores were taken from three lakes to investigate changes in chironomid assemblages over the last 700 years. At two of the sites there is evidence for a response to regional climatic change occurring about 200 years ago and may have been associated with the ‘Little Ice Age’. At the third site there is a response to local catchment changes, probably brought about, initially, by the establishment of a human settlement close to the lake 70 years ago, and subsequently, as a result of the abandonment of this settlement in 1988.     

近40年来金沙江南岸干热河谷区的土地利用变化及其土壤侵蚀治理研究 ——以云南宾川县为例

云南金沙江流域生态环境极为脆弱,在人为作用下土地利用/土地覆被变化较为显著,水土流失严重,生态环境日益恶化,目前已被我国政府列为全国生态环境建设的重点区域。本文选择金沙江中游中山高原与干热河谷区较为典型的宾川县作为研究实例,采用航片判读、实地调查与GIS等方法编制1960、1980和2000年土地利用与土壤侵蚀图,据此分析了该县1960 ~ 2000年的土地利用/土地覆被变化及其引发的土壤侵蚀变化特征,重点揭示区域土地利用/土地覆被变化的基本规律及其引发的土壤侵蚀变化过程,并提出土壤侵蚀治理的工程与技术措施。     

Landscape evolution and origin of Lake Fúquene (Colombia): Tectonics, erosion and sedimentation processes during the Pleistocene

The Basin of Ubaté–Chichinquirá (5°28′N, 73°45′ W, c. 2580 m altitude) includes the Fúquene Valley and is located in the central part of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. Rocks and sediments were folded and faulted during the Miocene, uplifted during the (late) Pliocene, and affected by glaciers during the Pleistocene. Successive glacial and interglacial periods left significant marks in the landscape which were used to reconstruct six stages in the development of the landscape along a relative chronology. During early Pleistocene episode 1 glaciers formed U-shape valleys. Evidence of the impact of ice sheets has been found as far downslope as ca. 2900 m elevation. During episode 2 moraines developed which were cut by the present San José River. During episode 3 abundant sediment was produced by glacial erosion. It accentuated the sculpturing of hard rock and deepening of the drainage basin. The ancestral Ubaté–Suarez River constituted a dynamic erosive system that gave rise to deep V-shaped valleys and progressively formed a set of intricate valleys with a high sediment production. Finally, intense glacial and fluvio-glacial erosion led to a geomorphological system with high energy levels and intensive sediment transport leading to wide valleys. During episode 4 the Ubaté–Suarez River eroded and deepened its valley until it captured the old El Hato–San José Valley. It caused intense erosion of the moraine and the fluvio-glacial gravels. Deep V-shaped valleys stabilized in the high areas of the main drainage system and these valleys form the present-day fluvial sub-basins. During episode 5 the deep valley in the northern part of the Basin of Ubaté–Chichinquirá developed. During middle Pleistocene episode 6 colluvial sediments formed the Saboya dam and a lake was formed in the river valley of which the present Lake Fúquene is only a small remnant. Lithological changes indicate fluctuating water levels and Lake Fúquene must have expanded periodically up to an area 5 to 10 times the present-day surface.