Landscape ecological and spatial impacts of climatic change in two areas in the Netherlands

The possible impact of climatic change on the water balance is analysed for the River Dommel and the Veluwe, an area drained by many very small brooks. A water balance is calculated for the winter and the summer period. With the help of four scenarios, based on GCMs, climate data from the dry year 1976 and land use scenarios the impact of climatic change and a possible superposed effect of acid precipitation is analysed. The results show that although the yearly changes in the water balance are small in some cases, in all cases the fluctuations in the water balance between winter and summer period increase. Changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration are multiplied in water storage and runoff. This will have consequences for water use planning and management.     

Beyond Bias? The Promise and Limits of Q Method in Human Geography

Q method is a quantitative technique for eliciting, evaluating, and comparing human subjectivity. We introduce the method here and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, especially with regards to its incorporation into human geographic research. We conclude that Q method is particularly appropriate for human geographies informed by anti‐essentialist notions of the subject and constructivist accounts of social and natural reality. Claims by the founders of Q method that hold that the procedure distances and removes the bias of the researcher are shown to be unfounded and epistemologically naïve. Nevertheless, Q method is a rigorous, hermeneutic, and iterative technique that allows the researcher to surrender the monopoly of control in their relationship with the researched and so contribute to more democratic research design and implementation.     

Observations, Effects and Real Time Assessment of the March 11, 2011 Tohoku-oki Tsunami in New Zealand

The great Tohoku-oki earthquake of March 11, 2011 generated a devastating tsunami in the near field as well as substantial far-field effects throughout the Pacific Ocean. In New Zealand, the tsunami was widely observed and instrumentally recorded on an extensive array of coastal tidal gauges and supplemented by current velocity data from two sites. While the tsunami's first arrival was on the morning of March 12 in New Zealand, the strongest effects occurred throughout that afternoon and into the following day. Tsunami effects consisted primarily of rapid changes in water level and associated strong currents that affected numerous bays, harbors, tidal inlets and marine facilities, particularly on the northern and eastern shores of the North Island. The tsunami caused moderate damage and significant overland flooding at one location. The tsunami signal was clearly evident on tide gauge recordings for well over 2 days, clearly illustrating the extended duration of far field tsunami hazards. Real time analysis and modelling of the tsunami through the night of March 11, as the tsunami crossed the Pacific, was used as a basis for escalating the predicted threat level for the northern region of New Zealand. A comparison to recorded data following the tsunami shows that these real time prediction models were accurate despite the coarse near-shore bathymetry used in the assessment, suggesting the efficacy of such techniques for future events from far-field sources.     

Contaminants in cetaceans from UK waters: status as assessed within the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme from 1990 to 2008

Since 1990, tissue samples from UK-stranded and -bycaught cetaceans have been available for study of contaminant burdens. These have been used to study spatial and temporal trends in concentrations in UK waters, and to investigate potential associations between contaminants and health status. We describe the current status of cetaceans (primarily harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena) in UK waters in relation to pollution. Concentrations of BDEs, HBCD, and the organochlorine pesticides are declining. In contrast, concentrations of CBs have plateaued following earlier reductions due to regulation of use, and further reductions are likely to take decades. Blubber PCB concentrations are still at toxicologically significant levels in many harbour porpoises and regularly occur at even higher levels in bottlenose dolphins and killer whales due to their higher trophic level in marine food chains. Further reductions in PCB inputs into the marine environment are needed to mitigate risk from PCB exposure in these species.     

Using the SDIlight Approach in Teaching a Geoinformatics Master

ITC, the Faculty of Geo–Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente, is an institute that aims at capacity building and institutional development, specifically in developing countries. In our Geoinformatics curriculum, we emphasise two principles. The first addresses the systematics of purposeful spatial data production and uptake into computerised systems; the second addresses the methodical construction of these computerised systems, applying principles of model – driven architecture, formal specification and transformational design of SDI nodes. The term Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) usually denotes large, complex systems, but its principles can also be applied in simple and cost–effective ways. This approach we have called SDI^light and it is of particular interest to our students that come from developing countries. We work with and build a software stack consisting of free and open source components. To achieve interoperability, we emphasise the use of open standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium and others. In this paper, we explain how our students apply the SDI^light approach in the GeoinformaticsMaster degree course. An important part of that course is a Case Study Application Building & Programming, in which students apply their knowledge in a ‘real–world’ project, with a focus on geo–information engineering skills. We conclude with a section that evaluates the effectiveness of using the SDI^light concept in teaching our Geoinformatics Master, and on the more general applicability of the methodology.     

A paleomagnetic reinvestigation of the Upper Devonian Perry Formation: evidence for Late Paleozoic remagnetization

In view of the recent recognition of widespread Late Paleozoic remagnetization of Devonian formations across North America, we undertook a reinvestigation of the Upper Devonian Perry Formation of coastal Maine and adjacent New Brunswick. Thermal demagnetization of samples from the redbeds yielded a characteristic direction (D = 166°, I = 4°) that fails a fold test. Comparison of the corresponding paleopole (312°E, 41°S) with previously published Paleozoic poles for North America suggests that the sediments were remagnetized in the Late Carboniferous. After the removal of a steep, northerly component, the volcanics also reveal a shallow and southerly direction ( D = 171°, I = 25° without tilt correction). No stability test is available to date the magnetization of the volcanics; however, similarity of several of the directions to those seen in the sediments raises the suspicion that the volcanics are also remagnetized. Although the paleopole without tilt correction (303°E, 32°S) could be taken to indicate an early Carboniferous age for the remagnetization, scatter in the data suggests that the directions are contaminated by the incomplete removal of a steeper component due to present-day field. Thus, it is more likely that the volcanics were remagnetized at the same time as the sediments. Isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) acquisition curves, blocking temperatures, coercivities and reflected light microscopy indicate that the magnetization is carried by hematite in the sediments and by both magnetite and hematite in the volcanics. It is therefore likely that the remagnetization of the Perry Formation involved both thermal and chemical processes related to the Variscan/Alleghenian orogeny. Our results indicate that previously published directions for the Perry Formation were based on the incomplete resolution of two magnetic components. These earlier results can no longer be considered as representative of the Devonian geomagnetic field.