Assessing factors affecting drought,earthquake, and flood risk perception: empirical evidence from Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - Understanding household disaster risk perception is crucial to formulate and apply disaster risk reduction strategies. Using survey data from 300 households from three highly...     

Remarkable geochemical changes and degassing at Voui crater lake,Ambae volcano,Vanuatu

Ambae (also known as Aoba), is a 38 × 16 km² lozenge-shaped island volcano with a coastal population of around 10 000. At the summit of the volcano is lake Voui — one of the largest active crater lakes worldwide, with 40 × 10⁶ m³ of acidic water perched 1400 m a.s.l. After more than 300 years of dormancy, Ambae volcano reawakened with phreatic eruptions through Voui in 1995, and culminating in a series of surtseyan eruptions in 2005, followed by a rapid and spectacular colour change of the lake from light blue to red in 2006. Integrating lake water chemistry with new measurements of SO₂ emissions from the volcano during the 2005–2006 eruptive period helps to explain the unusual and spectacular volcanic activity of Ambae — initially, a degassed magma approached the lake bed and triggered the surtseyan eruption. Depressurization of the conduit facilitated ascent of volatile-rich magma from the deeper plumbing system. The construction of a cone during eruption and the high degassing destabilised the equilibrium of lake stratification leading to a limnic event and subsequently the spectacular colour change.     

The western part of the Shuqra volcanic field,South Yemen

The western part of the Shuqra volcanic field consists of a wide area of geologically recent alkali basalt flows and numerous cinder cones, overlying a faulted monoclinal sequence of Jurassic limetones dipping towards the Gulf of Aden and themselves overlying Precambrian basement. The volcanic activity is substantially younger than the series of central vent volcanoes forming the Aden line somewhat to the west along the coast, and the volcanic products are more uniformly basaltic and more silica-undersaturated than those of the Aden volcanoes. Preliminary chemical data reveal an unusual whole-rock compositional trend within the Shuqra lavas which is not explicable in terms of the fractionation of the sparse phenocrysts they contain. A widespread suite of megacrysts not in equilibrium with their host liquids includes hornblende, pleonaste spinel, olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene. These may have a close genetic connection with the lavas and possibly represent fragments of refractory source material.     

Multi-temporal annual soil loss risk mapping employing Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model in Nun Nadi Watershed, Uttrakhand (India)

The present comparative study is multi-temporal in nature. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), remote sensing, and GIS were used to model the soil loss estimation for soil conservation and vegetation rehabilitation in Nun Nadi watershed for the years 2000 and 2009. The estimated mean soil loss for the year 2000 and 2009 is 3,283.11 and 1,419.39 Mg?ha^?1 year^?1, respectively. The study finds that about 80 % area has low or least risk of erosion and about 7 % is exposed to high or very high risk which indicates the improvement in terms of soil loss if we compare the data of both the time periods. The findings show that the rainfall, LULC change, and elevation are the main responsible factors for the soil loss in Nun Nadi watershed. Conservation measures have been adopted; however, the problem still remains serious and demands urgent attention.     

Modeling aggregated expertise of user contributions to assess the credibility of OpenStreetMap features

The emergence of volunteered geographic information (VGI) during the past decade has fueled a wide range of research and applications. The assessment of VGI quality and fitness‐of‐use is still a challenge because of the non‐standardized and crowdsourced data collection process, as well as the unknown skill and motivation of the contributors. However, the frequent approach of assessing VGI quality against external data sources using ISO quality standard measures is problematic because of a frequent lack of available external (reference) data, and because for certain types of features, VGI might be more up‐to‐date than the reference data. Therefore, a VGI‐intrinsic measure of quality is highly desirable. This study proposes such an intrinsic measure of quality by developing the concept of aggregated expertise based on the characteristics of a feature's contributors. The article further operationalizes this concept and examines its feasibility through a case study using OpenStreetMap (OSM). The comparison of model OSM feature quality with information from a field survey demonstrates the successful implementation of this novel approach.     

Geospatial modelling for sub-watershed prioritization in Western Himalayan Basin using morphometric parameters

Natural Hazards - Geographical information system and remote sensing are proven to be an efficient tool for locating water harvesting and recharge structures, groundwater potential, runoff,...     

Urban space and (the limits of) middle class hegemony in Pakistan

This paper aims to explore the emergence of reconstituted political subjectivities in urban Pakistan. Specifically, the paper will focus on an emerging hegemonic project which centers the socio-political articulations and aspirations of middle class fractions that have emerged in the country in the wake of post-1980s economic liberalisation. Detailed light will be shed upon the (proto-)hegemonic aspirations of a distinct fraction of the middle class and its spatial articulations most eminently expressed through measures towards and longings for the “world class city”. As such, claims over space, urbanity and nation/citizenship which serve to mediate this proto-hegemonic project will be investigated. The paper will conclude with a brief consideration of the limits of such an hegemonic project, especially with regards to subordinate classes in Pakistan.