From smallholders to transnationals: The impact of changing consumer preferences in the EU on Ghana’s pineapple sector

This paper explores the impact that a new type of pineapple, and subsequent changing consumer preferences in the Global North, has had on the livelihoods of pineapple growers in Ghana. The paper starts by tracing how research and development in Costa Rica by the world’s largest producers of pineapple, Del Monte and Dole, have resulted in a new variety MD2. This new pineapple type has been marketed in the EU through campaigns carried out by plantation companies via supermarkets. Consumer preferences have subsequently switched to MD2 away from the varieties which previously dominated the market, including the Ghanaian grown Smooth Cayenne. Ghanaian smallholders have experienced a dramatic drop in the demand for Smooth Cayenne and are unable to switch to growing MD2. The Ghanaian pineapple sector is consequently being restructured with large-scale pineapple farms, principally run by transnational companies, growing large quantities of MD2 for export. Through a detailed empirical study of the changing livelihoods of pineapple growers in two settlements in Ghana, we show how smallholders have been affected in differing ways as transnational companies have increasingly entered the market. Recent attempts to incorporate smallholders as producers of niche pineapple products are discussed. The paper illustrates the mutual benefits of linking global value chain analysis with livelihood analysis.     

Coupled rainfall and water vapour stable isotope time series reveal tropical atmospheric processes on multiple timescales

High-frequency stable isotope data are useful for validating atmospheric moisture circulation models and provide improved understanding of the mechanisms controlling isotopic compositions in tropical rainfall. Here, we present a near-continuous 6-month record of O- and H-isotope compositions in both water vapour and daily rainfall from Northeast Australia measured by laser spectroscopy. The data set spans both wet and dry seasons to help address a significant data and knowledge gap in the southern hemisphere tropics. We interpret the isotopic records for water vapour and rainfall in the context of contemporaneous meteorological observations. Surface air moisture provided near-continuous tracking of the links between isotopic variations and meteorological events on local to regional spatial scales. Power spectrum analysis of the isotopic variation showed a range of significant periodicities, from hourly to monthly scales, and cross-wavelet analysis identified significant regions of common power for hourly averaged water vapour isotopic composition and relative humidity, wind direction, and solar radiation. Relative humidity had the greatest subdiurnal influence on isotopic composition. On longer timescales (weeks to months), isotope variability was strongly correlated with both wind direction and relative humidity. The high-frequency records showed diurnal isotopic variations in O- and H-isotope compositions due to local dew formation and, for deuterium excess, as a result of evapotranspiration. Several significant negative isotope anomalies on a daily scale were associated with the activity of regional mesoscale convective systems and the occurrence of two tropical cyclones. Calculated air parcel back trajectories identified the predominant moisture transport paths from the Southwest Pacific Ocean, whereas moisture transport from northerly directions occurred mainly during the wet season monsoonal airflow. Water vapour isotope compositions reflected the same meteorological events as recorded in rainfall isotopes but provided much more detailed and continuous information on atmospheric moisture cycling than the intermittent isotopic record provided by rainfall. Improved global coverage of stable isotope data for atmospheric water vapour is likely to improve simulations of future changes to climate drivers of the hydrological cycle.     

Investigation of hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater from the Cretaceous-Eocene limestone aquifer in southern Ghana and southern Togo using hierarchical cluster analysis

The most relevant controls on the water quality within the Cretaceous-Eocene limestone aquifer of the Keta Basin, Ghana, and the coastal sedimentary basin of Togo were assessed using Q-mode hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and mass-balance modelling. The pattern recognition technique of HCA was employed for partitioning hydrochemical data from a total of 65 surface and borehole samples from the study area into water groups. A spatial plot of the water groups consisting of samples from the limestone aquifer shows that the vast majority of samples belonging to the same group are located in close proximity to one another, suggesting the same processes and/or flow paths in the limestone aquifer system. Geochemical reaction models of selected water groups were constructed using PHREEQC-2. The hydrochemical compositions of the water groups and the mass-balance calculations indicate that the dominant processes and reactions responsible for the hydrochemical evolution in the system are: (1) carbonate equilibria, (2) silicate weathering reactions, (3) limited mixing with saline water, and (4) ion exchange. The combined use of HCA and mass-balance modelling has shown to be a useful approach in interpreting groundwater hydrochemistry in an area where large uncertainties exist in the understanding of the groundwater flow system.     

Eine Methode zur Registrierung der räumlichen Verteilung der Globalstrahlung in einem Pflanzenbestand

Zusammenfassung Mit zwei Pyranometern wird gleichzeitig und auf gleichem Papier die Globalstrahlung über und in einem Pflanzenbestand registriert. Im Laufe der Registrierung bewegt sich der Strahlungsempf?nger im Bestand mit konstanter Geschwindigkeit entlang einer horizontalen Bahn. Die Apparatur und die Durchführung der Messung werden beschrieben.

---

Summary Global radiation above and within a stand of plants is recorded simultaneous and on the same strip of paper. While the record is effectuated the receiver of the radiation is moved horizontally through the stand with constant speed. The equipment and the practical measuring are described.

---

Résumé On a enregistré simultanément et sur la même bande d'enregistrement le rayonnement global au moyen de deux pyranomètres placés l'un au-dessus. l'autre à l'intérieur d'une culture. Durant l'enregistrement, l'appareil situé entre les plantes se dépla?ait de long d'une trajectoire horizontale et à une vitesse constante. On décrit ici l'appareillage et l'exécution des mesures.

---

---

Mit 3 Textabbildungen     

Modeling shoreline sand waves on the coasts of Namibia and Angola

The southwestern (SW) coast of Africa (Namibia and Angola) features long sandy beaches and a wave climate dominated by energetic swells from the Southsouthwest (SSW), therefore approaching the coast with a very high obliquity. Satellite images reveal that along that coast there are many shoreline sand waves with wavelengths ranging from 2 to 8 km. A more detailed study, including a Fourier analysis of the shoreline position, yields the wavelengths (among this range) with the highest spectral density concentration. Also, it becomes apparent that at least some of the sand waves are dynamically active rather than being controlled by the geological setting. A morphodynamic model is used to test the hypothesis that these sand waves could emerge as free morphodynamic instabilities of the coastline due to the obliquity in wave incidence. It is found that the period of the incident water waves, T_p, is crucial to establish the tendency to stability or instability, instability increasing for decreasing period, whilst there is some discrepancy in the observed periods. Model results for T_p = 7–8 s clearly show the tendency for the coast to develop free sand waves at about 4 km wavelength within a few years, which migrate to the north at rates of 0.2–0.6 km yr^?1. For larger T_p or steeper profiles, the coast is stable but sand waves originated by other mechanisms can propagate downdrift with little decay.     

A cummingtonite-porphyritic dacite with amphibole-rich xenoliths from the tertiary central volcano at Króksfjördur,NW Iceland

An instrusive dacite and a salic pumice, emplaced late in the evolution of the Miocene (c. 10 m.y.) Króksfjördur volcano, NW Iceland, contain a varied assemblage of xenolithic metaigneous rocks. Mineral and rock chemistry shows that the dacite is very similar to calc-alkaline salic rocks from the SW Pacific. It contains phenocrystic plagioclase, quartz, pyroxene, cummingtonite, hornblende, biotite, two oxides, apatite and zircon in a rhyolitic glass. The rock equilibrated at 700 to 750°C. P ～ 1.6 Kbar and P_H2O ～ 1 Kbar. The xenoliths are layered gabbros, granophyres and various fine-grained hornfelses and show that the dacite magma was residing within a gabbro intrusion capped by granophyre prior to the eruption. The hornfelses are amphibole-plagioclase, amphibole-pyroxene-plagioclase and pyroxene-plagioclase rocks formed during high-temperature metamorphism of basic dykes cutting the gabbro intrusion. The gabbros and hornfelses mostly record higher metamorphic temperatures (850–940°C) than the dacite, and indicate that they were equilibrated during the ascent of a magma body into a hydrous high-level region within the volcano. During a following thermal decline, the hydrated magma cooled to form the first cummingtonite-bearing low-T magma to be recorded from the ocean ridge systems.     

Photo's from Proceedings of the Third MicroQuasar Workshop; Granada Worshop on Galactic Relativistic Jet Sources – Granada,Spain, 11–13 September 2000

The X-Ray Spectroscopic Explorer (XRASE) has a unique combination of features that will make it possible to address many of NASA's scientific goals. These include how galaxy clusters form, the physics and chemistry of the ISM, the heating of stellar coronae, the amount and content of intergalactic baryonic matter, the mass of black holes and the formation of disks and jets in AGN and galactic binaries. XRASE has a thin foil, multilayered telescope with a large collecting area up to 10 keV, especially in the Fe K region (1100 cm²). Its microcalorimeter array combines high energy resolution (7 eV at 6 keV) and efficiency with a field-of-view of 26 arcmin² . A deep orbit allows for long, continuous observations. Monitoring instruments in the optical (WOM-X), UV (TAUVEX) and hard X-RAY (GRAM) bands will offer exceptional opportunities to make simultaneous multi-wavelength observations.     

Unified multi‐depth‐level field decomposition

Wavefield decomposition forms an important ingredient of various geophysical methods. An example of wavefield decomposition is the decomposition into upgoing and downgoing wavefields and simultaneous decomposition into different wave/field types. The multi‐component field decomposition scheme makes use of the recordings of different field quantities (such as particle velocity and pressure). In practice, different recordings can be obscured by different sensor characteristics, requiring calibration with an unknown calibration factor. Not all field quantities required for multi‐component field decomposition might be available, or they can suffer from different noise levels. The multi‐depth‐level decomposition approach makes use of field quantities recorded at multiple depth levels, e.g., two horizontal boreholes closely separated from each other, a combination of a single receiver array combined with free‐surface boundary conditions, or acquisition geometries with a high‐density of vertical boreholes. We theoretically describe the multi‐depth‐level decomposition approach in a unified form, showing that it can be applied to different kinds of fields in dissipative, inhomogeneous, anisotropic media, e.g., acoustic, electromagnetic, elastodynamic, poroelastic, and seismoelectric fields. We express the one‐way fields at one depth level in terms of the observed fields at multiple depth levels, using extrapolation operators that are dependent on the medium parameters between the two depth levels. Lateral invariance at the depth level of decomposition allows us to carry out the multi‐depth‐level decomposition in the horizontal wavenumber–frequency domain. We illustrate the multi‐depth‐level decomposition scheme using two synthetic elastodynamic examples. The first example uses particle velocity recordings at two depth levels, whereas the second example combines recordings at one depth level with the Dirichlet free‐surface boundary condition of zero traction. Comparison with multi‐component decomposed fields shows a perfect match in both amplitude and phase for both cases. The multi‐depth‐level decomposition scheme is fully customizable to the desired acquisition geometry. The decomposition problem is in principle an inverse problem. Notches may occur at certain frequencies, causing the multi‐depth‐level composition matrix to become uninvertible, requiring additional notch filters. We can add multi‐depth‐level free‐surface boundary conditions as extra equations to the multi‐component composition matrix, thereby overdetermining this inverse problem. The combined multi‐component–multi‐depth‐level decomposition on a land data set clearly shows improvements in the decomposition results, compared with the performance of the multi‐component decomposition scheme.     

Evaluating the salinity distribution of a shallow coastal aquifer by vertical multielectrode profiling (Denmark)

A monitoring system, including five groups of piezometers and five vertical multielectrode profiling probes (VMEP), has been installed in an aquifer beneath a coastal dune in Denmark. In order to assess the salinity distribution within the aquifer, geoelectrical data were gathered in March, June and September 2008, by measuring a dipole-dipole and gradient array using multielectrode profiling. Interpretation of the processed resistivity data was performed by regularized inversion using a one-dimensional, horizontally layered model of formation resistivity. The standard deviation on estimated layer log-resistivity was 0.01–0.03. By estimating two parameters of a power function, observed fluid conductivities derived from samples of porewater were related to corresponding estimated formation resistivities. The conductivity profiles correlate with a winter situation in March with high sea level, active recharge and significant wave activity, causing increased hydraulic heads, a thicker freshwater lens and salt water overlying freshwater close to the sea. In June, the thickness of the freshwater lens is reduced due to less recharge and prevailing offshore winds, imposing density-stable conditions and a sharper transition between fresh and brackish water. During the autumn, aquifer recharge is enhanced and hydraulic heads increase, resulting in a thicker freshwater lens.