Assessing market and non-market costs of freshwater flooding due to climate change in the community of Fredericton, Eastern Canada

There is a general consensus that climate change will increase the frequency and severity of freshwater flooding in many parts of the world. Communities prone to such flooding have struggled to understand the manner in which this will affect them (in both economic and social terms) and the appropriate way to adapt. In this study, we conduct a case-study investigation into the costs of freshwater flooding due to climate change along the Saint John River in Fredericton, NB, Canada. We develop a four-step framework that combines extreme event analysis, downscaled general circulation models, hydrologic analysis, and the contingent valuation method. Using this framework, together with primary data on a 2005 flooding event, we estimate market and non-market annual average flood damage under a number of climate and population scenarios. We find that non-market costs can represent up to 50% of total household costs of flooding events, and 23–42% of the total costs of flooding due to climate change, depending on the different climate and population scenarios considered. Incorporating such costs into flood adaptation planning may substantially increase support for active adaptation activities, especially in ‘worst case’ climate scenarios.     

Modeling the environmental susceptibility of landfill sites in California

??The proper management of solid waste (SW) is a global environmental challenge. A major issue is the proper disposal of SW while balancing a wide range of criteria and working with different spatial data. In this study, we used geographic information system as a tool to perform multi-criteria decision analysis with an analytical hierarchy process to develop an environmental impact susceptibility model (EISM) for landfills. The model was applied to the state of California, USA and results are presented herein. In particular, the EISM considers factors such as geology, pedology, geomorphology, water resources, and climate as represented by 13 associated environmental indicators. The results of the EISM indicate that more than 75% of California’s territory is situated in areas with very low, low, and medium environmental impact susceptibility categories. However, in the remaining 25% of the state’s land, 61 landfills are located in the high and very high categories. These results are alarming because during the period from 2000 to 2015, these 61 landfills received approximately 308 million tons of SW, which corresponds to more than 57% of all SW disposed in California. The model results can be used toward mitigating the environmental impacts of these facilities.     

Rapid Measurements of Solar Wind Ions with the Triana PlasMag Faraday Cup

The Triana PlasMag Faraday Cup (FC) will be able to determine speed, flow angles, temperature, and density of the main solar wind ion species with a time resolution of better than one second. Thus, the Triana PlasMag FC will enable resolution of spatial structures as small as a few hundred kilometers as the structures convect past the spacecraft. Under typical solar wind conditions, that size is comparable to a few proton gyroradii. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

PSR J1753−2240: a mildly recycled pulsar in an eccentric binary system

We report the discovery of PSR J1753−2240 in the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey data base. This 95-ms pulsar is in an eccentric binary system with a 13.6-d orbital period. Period derivative measurements imply a characteristic age in excess of 1 Gyr, suggesting that the pulsar has undergone an episode of accretion-induced spin-up. The eccentricity and spin period are indicative of the companion being a second neutron star, so that the system is similar to that of PSR J1811−1736, although other companion types cannot be ruled out at this time. The companion mass is constrained by geometry to lie above 0.48 solar masses, although long-term timing observations will give additional constraints. If the companion is a white dwarf or a main-sequence star, optical observations may yield a direct detection of the companion. If the system is indeed one of the few known double neutron star systems, it would lie significantly far from the recently proposed spin-period/eccentricity relationship.     

The impact of mesoscale eddies on plankton dynamics in the upper ocean

A coupled QuasiGeostrophic mixed-layer ECOsystem model (QGECO) is used to investigate the impact of the underlying mesoscale eddy field on the spatial and temporal scales of biological production and on overall rates of primary productivity. The model exhibits temporal trends in the biological and physical fields similar to those observed in the North Atlantic; i.e. the mixed layer shallows in spring causing a rapid increase in phytoplankton concentrations and a corresponding decline in nutrient levels. Heterogeneity is produced in the mixed layer through Ekman pumping velocities resulting from the interaction of windstress and surface currents. This variability impacts on biological production in two ways. Firstly, spatial variations in the depth of the mixed layer affect the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) availability and hence production rates, and secondly, eddy enhanced exchange between the surface water and those at depth bring additional nutrients into the euphotic zone. These processes result in significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the ecosystem distributions.Investigation of the spatial heterogeneity of the biological system finds variability to be significantly greater than that of the mixed layer. The relationship between the eddy field and the ecosystem is investigated. The structure and correlation of the biogeochernical fields change with time. The biological fields are found to have a shorter horizontal scale, but whiter spectrum than the underlying eddy field.Overwinter conditions are found to have a profound effect on the variability, size and timing of the following spring bloom event. Variations in the nitrate levels are primarily responsible for the variability in the biological system in the first year. In subsequent years the variation in the overwintering population is found to be dominant.     

The radio frequency dielectric properties of the stratified UG1–UG2 geological unit in the Bushveld Complex

A new measurement technique enables the complex dielectric properties of the geological strata comprising the UG1–UG2 (Upper Group 1–Upper Group 2) unit of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa to be determined with unprecedented detail at radio frequencies (RF). Results of non-destructive laboratory measurements of representative diamond drill core samples from the UG1–UG2 unit are presented at 25 MHz. These data establish that the UG1 and UG2 chromitite layers are embedded in rock strata (norite, pyroxenite and anorthosite) which are translucent in the HF spectral band, whereas the chromitite layers themselves exhibit significant velocity contrast, making them good radar reflectors. The data presented here is useful for calibration of the radar system, and for predicting the range and resolution performance of borehole radars operating in both the hanging and footwalls of the economically important platiniferous UG2 reef.     

A New Wavelet Method for Identification of Eddies and Assessment of Incidents on Islands of the Eastern Caribbean

Using two dimensional continuous wavelet transforms, a novel method for identification of mesoscale eddies is presented to facilitate extraction of characteristics for area, amplitude, type, and location from maps of sea level anomalies. In comparison with the previously established growing method for eddy identification, it is found that the wavelet method identifies more than twice the number of eddies and is particularly better at resolving small eddies down to the 0.25 degree resolution of the data. Such research into eddy identification and tracking is significant to the assessment of eddies with potential to impact on coastlines of small islands. The method is applied to the identification of eddies on tracks towards islands of the Eastern Caribbean over 23?years. Spatial and temporal variation in rate of occurrence and magnitude is established. For Barbados there is an average of 9 anticyclonic incidents a year with maximum amplitude of typically 0.22?m in the dry seasons and 0.16?m in the wet seasons. Seasonal variation is reversed for the other islands with twice the number of anticyclonic incidents having maximum amplitudes of about 0.20?m annually.