Management of transboundary water resources: lessons from international cooperation for conflict prevention

Tensions over freshwater resources may become more frequent as pressures on water resources grow due to increased demand and variability of rainfall. Conflicts may take place between or within countries or between competing sectoral users. This paper focuses on institutional approaches for enhancing cooperation between countries for sustainable development of transboundary freshwater bodies and contributing basins. It is assumed that instead of being zones of conflict, shared water resources can provide a basis for cooperation and benefit–sharing provided that threats to the international waters are recognized and collaborative structures are created. The paper draws upon experiences gained within the international waters focal area of the Global Environment Facility, the main funding mechanism for countries to support the environmental management of transboundary water resources. Lessons for promoting peaceful cooperation for environmental management, benefit–sharing and sustainable use of transboundary freshwater resources are highlighted through examples from Africa, Central Asia and Latin America. Experience shows the importance of processes that bring together all sectors and actors whose actions affect the transboundary waterbody at regional, national and local levels. The development of a science–based diagnostic analysis is essential to identify the threats to the transboundary ecosystem and to break down the issues into manageable parts with the aim of developing a strategic action programme. Ensuring political commitment that can result in institutional, policy and legal reforms in the countries concerned is the key to sustainable development of the transboundary resource.     

The Hoover Index of Population Concentration: A Correction and Update

Geographers have made extensive use of the Hoover index to measure the evenness with which population is distributed across territorial units. This paper corrects an error in the original county-based series for the United States, presented by Duncan et al. In Statistical Geography (1961) and often reproduced. We extend the series backward and forward in time to show population deconcentration at the county level from at least 1890 until 1910 (as low-density areas grew rapidly), a second round of deconcentration corresponding to the nonmetropolitan turnaround of the 1970s, and a third, much weaker round beginning around 1990 along with a modest resurgence of nonmetropolitan population growth. When states are used as the basis for computing the index, deconcentration has been a consistent pattern, except for 1940 to 1970, and for this exception we offer an explanation. We attempt to put these findings in the context of long- and short-term patterns of metropolitanization.     

Magmatic Differentiation of Io

If Io has been volcanically active through much of its history, it must be highly differentiated. We present an initial attempt to quantify the differentiation of the silicate portion of Io. We suggest that, on average, each part of Io has undergone about 400 episodes of partial melting. We employ a widely used thermodynamic model of silicate melts to examine the effect of such repeated differentiation. Despite many caveats, including a grossly oversimplistic model of the differentiation process, uncertainties in the initial composition of the mantle, and the failure to model more than four episodes of partial melting, we are able to make some robust conclusions. Io should have a roughly 50 km thick, low density (2600–2900 kg m⁻³), alkali-rich, siliceous crust composed primarily of feldspars and nepheline. The crustal magmas should have relatively low melting temperatures (<1100 °C). The bulk of the mantle should be essentially pure forsterite (magnesian olivine). It is possible that the denser iron- and calcium-rich materials are segregated into a lower mantle and thus no longer involved in surface processes. These model predictions are generally consistent with the observations of Io. The enrichment of the crust in alkalis may help to explain the composition of the neutral clouds around Io. The failure to detect silicates at the surface of Io to date might be due in part to the difficulty in detecting Fe-poor minerals such as nepheline, feldspars, and forsterite via near-IR spectroscopy. Many hot spot temperatures are too high for sulfur alone but are in line with silica-rich melts. The mountains on Io could be manifestations of large buoyant plutons. The highest temperature lavas may be the result of melts from the depleted mantle making their way to the surface from great depths.     

A harmonic analysis of lunar topography

A global lunar topographic map has been derived from existing Earth-based and orbital observations supplemented in areas without data by a linear autocovariance predictor. Of 2592 bins, each 5° square, 1380 (64.7% by area) contain at least one measurement. A spherical harmonic analysis to degree 12 yields a mean radius of 1737.53 ± 0.03 km (formal standard error) and an offset of the center of figure of 1.98±0.06 km toward (19±2)°S, (194±1)°E. A Bouguer gravity map, derived from a 12-degree free-air gravity model and the present topography data, is presented for an elevation of 100 km above the mean surface. It is confirmed that the low-degree gravity harmonics are determined primarily by surface height variations and only secondarily by lateral density variations.     

Zur Thermodynamik der Orogenese

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

I. Erdöl Ergebnisse der erdölgeologischen Erforschung Nordwestdeutschlands 1932–1947, ein Überblick

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

On the hemispheric correlations of vertical and meridional wind components

Summary Using the values of vertical velocities computed byJensen (1960) and the values of the meridional component of the wind for the months of January and April 1958, the covariances of both quantities were evaluated at different levels at various latitudes. These covariances are tabulated and the terms associated with transient eddies are compared to the standing eddy terms, the relative magnitudes of both contributions being finally investigated.

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Résumé En employant les valeurs du mouvement vertical calculées parJensen (1960) et les valeurs des composantes méridionales des vents pour les mois de Janvier et Avril 1958, les covariances des deux quantités ont été evaluées aux différents niveaux dans différentes latitudes. Ces covariances sont tabulées et les valeurs associées aux perturbations transientes et stationnaires sont comparées afin de donner un aperçu sur l'importance relative des deux procès.