Public engagement on solar radiation management and why it needs to happen now

There have been a number of calls for public engagement in geoengineering in recent years. However, there has been limited discussion of why the public should have a say or what the public can be expected to contribute to geoengineering discussions. We explore how public engagement can contribute to the research, development, and governance of one branch of geoengineering, solar radiation management (SRM), in three key ways: 1. by fulfilling ethical requirements for the inclusion of affected parties in democratic decision making processes; 2. by contributing to improved dialogue and trust between scientists and the public; and 3. by ensuring that decisions about SRM research and possible deployment are informed by a broad set of societal interests, values, and framings. Finally, we argue that, despite the nascent state of many SRM technologies, the time is right for the public to participate in engagement processes.     

The Last Glacial Maximum in the North Sea Basin: micromorphological evidence of extensive glaciation

Despite a long history of investigation, critical issues regarding the last glacial cycle in northwest Europe remain unresolved. One of these refers to the extent, timing and dynamics of Late Devensian/Weichselian glaciation of the North Sea Basin, and whether the British and Scandinavian ice sheets were confluent at any time during this period. This has been the result of the lack of the detailed sedimentological data required to reconstruct processes and environment of sediments recovered through coring. This study presents the results of seismic, sedimentological and micromorphological evidence used to reconstruct the depositional processes of regionally extensive seismic units across the North Sea Basin. Thin section micromorphology is used here to provide an effective means of discriminating between subglacial and glacimarine sediments from cored samples and deriving process‐based interpretations from sediment cores. On the basis of micromorphology, critical formations from the basin have been reinterpreted, with consequent stratigraphic implications. Within the current stratigraphic understanding of the North Sea Basin, a complex reconstruction is suggested, with a minimum of three major glacial episodes inferred. On at least two occasions during the Weichselian/Devensian, the British and Scandinavian ice sheets were confluent in the central North Sea. Whilst micromorphology can provide much greater confidence in the interpretation of Late Quaternary offshore stratigraphic sequences, it is noted that a much better geochronology is required to resolve key stratigraphic issues between the onshore and offshore stratigraphic records. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stability of streams and lakes on Mars

Under present climatic conditions streams and lakes on Mars will freeze. Freezing is slow and would have a negligible effect in impeding flow of the large floods that are believed to have eroded the outflow channels. Valley networks are more difficult to form under current climatic conditions since they appear to have formed by slow erosion by streams of modest discharges. Freezing of small Martian streams was modeled for a variety of climatic conditions on the supposition that the Martian atmosphere may have been considerably thicker in the past when the valley networks formed. The modeling involves examination of the energy balance at the upper and lower surfaces of ice on streams to determine the rate at which the ice thickens with time. The results indicate that freezing rates are not strongly dependent on atmospheric pressure. With no wind, increasing the pressure by a factor of 10 cuts the time taken to freeze solid only by about a factor of about 2. Under windy conditions dependence on atmospheric pressure is even weaker. The distance that water could travel in a stream before flow is arrested by freezing is also calculated. The distances depend on the initial temperature of the stream and when icings develop, but in general, if a stream deeper than 2 m can be initiated and sustained, the water within it can survive long enough to cut most of the valley networks observed. The main problem with forming the valley is initiating the flow. Groundwater seepage alone appears inadequate because of the difficulty of recharging the groundwater system. Melting of ice precipitated onto the surface following injection of water into the atmosphere by large impacts is a possible source of water, but the climatic conditions under which the ice could melt and the water be collected into streams that can survive long enough to cut the valley is uncertain.     

Comparison of two techniques for applying disjunctive kriging: The Gaussian anamorphosis model versus the direct statistical inference of the bivariate distributions

Indicator cokriging is an alternative to disjunctive kriging for estimation of spatial distributions. One way to determine which of these techniques is more accurate for estimation of spatial distributions is to apply each to a particular type of data. A procedure is developed for evaluation of disjunctive kriging and indicator cokriging for such an application. Application of this procedure to earthquake ground motion data found disjunctive kriging to be at least as accurate as indicator cokriging for estimation of spatial distributions of peak horizontal acceleration. Indicator cokriging was superior for all other types of earthquake ground motion data.     

Distinction between Permian and post-Permian igneous rocks in the southern Sydney Basin, New South Wales, on the basis of major-element geochemistry

Permian and post-Permian igneous rocks of the southern Sydney Basin of New South Wales can be distinguished on the basis of major-element geochemistry. A data base of 102 analyses of these igneous rocks has been used to evaluate the effectiveness of various discriminants based on univariate and multivariate analysis. Inspection of histograms of compositional frequency for each major-element oxide is an efficient method of univariate analysis and assigns up to 92.2% of the rocks to the correct age group. Discriminant function analysis using up to 10 variables does not produce a more efficient discriminant than the simple binary plot of SiO ₂ versus TiO ₂,which assigns 95.1% of the rocks to the correct age group. No other binary or ternary diagram commonly used in petrology produces such an efficient discriminator.     

Grain-scale variations in trace element composition of fluid-altered zircon,Acasta Gneiss Complex,northwestern Canada

SEM back-scattered electron images of zircon separates from a 2.9 Ga granitic dyke from the Acasta Gneiss Complex, Slave Province, reveal primary igneous oscillatory zoning which is transgressively overprinted by irregular alteration domains. Electron microprobe analyses show that altered zircon domains are depleted in Zr and Si relative to unaltered zircon while retaining a constant Zr/Si ratio. SIMS trace element analyses indicate that LREE are preferentially enriched in the altered domains. Altered zircon contains elevated concentrations of Ba (up to 580 ppm), Ca (up to 2% weight of the element) and common Pb (>50 ppb). The presence of LREE, Ca, Ba and common Pb in the zircons is interpreted to be the result of secondary alteration by an aqueous fluid, and not by primary incorporation during crystallization. We propose that the alteration-related elements are located in amorphous zircon domains.     

Rhinocerotid tooth enamel 18O/16O variability between 23 and 12 Ma in southwestern France

The relationship between the oxygen isotope ratio of mammal tooth enamel and that of drinking water was used to reconstruct changes in the Miocene oxygen isotope ratio of rainfall (meteoric water ${\delta }^{18}$O_MW). These, in turn, are related to climatic parameters (temperature, precipitation and evaporation rate). ${\delta }^{18}$O values of rhinocerotid teeth from the Aquitaine Basin (southwestern France) suggest a significant climatic change between 17 and 12 Ma, characterized by cooling together with precipitation increase, in agreement with other terrestrial and oceanic records. To cite this article: I. Bentaleb et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

Between structure and agency: Livelihoods and adaptation in Ghana's Central Region

This article examines adaptation decision-making through a diversified livelihoods strategy that distributes risk across market and subsistence production in Ghana's Central Region. Specifically, it asks how this strategy, which is an adaptation to a relatively recent convergence of economic and environmental uncertainty in this context, is accepted and reproduced by society at large, even as this adaptation results in unevenly distributed benefits and costs. An examination of the case in question suggests that the persistence of this adaptation has little to do with its material outcomes. This adaptation persists because, despite its unequal and less-than-optimal material outcomes, it is rooted in the ability of men to link this adaptation to existing gender roles, thereby legitimizing the adaptation and the gendered roles it relies upon. This finding calls into question the very idea of a successful adaptation, and suggests that much more attention must be paid to the persistence of particular adaptations if we are to understand existing adaptations and build upon them to enhance local capacities for managing economic and environmental change.