A bridge over troubled water: A contextual analysis of social vulnerability to climate change in a riverine landscape in south-east Norway

Local communities in the Gudbrandsdalen region in Norway are increasingly exposed to climate-induced hazards such as floods and landslides. A core question is how community members respond to climate change and what factors contribute to more resilient communities. The authors used a contextual approach to analyze data from semi-structured interviews along five dimensions. In Gaustad Muncipality they found that individuals’ motivation to adapt to climate change depended largely on subjective values such as identity, place attachment, cultural values, and social networks among individuals, which means it is crucial that strategic plans for adaptation to climate change at different policy levels are experienced as relevant by community members. While the studied community has experienced heavy floods in river systems and streams, little evidence of adaptation was observed. Instead, they appeared to adopt coping strategies. Landowners may have limited incentives to adapt to climate change due to contraproductive policy measures such as economic compensation for direct losses without requiring improved practices. Effective adaptation to climate change on the local level is likely to require making compensation mechanisms contingent upon landowners showing willingness to change from coping to adaptive practices, as well as a contextualized approach integrating local and scientific forms of knowledge.     

Market-driven organizational lock-in: A case study of a former first mover

ABSTRACT

The article addresses the question of how an innovative firm develops from being a first mover to an innovation laggard and whether this process can be reversed. Informed by the evolutionary perspective and path-dependence theory, the authors explore how a low-tech Norwegian firm in the oil and gas industry has lost its foothold as an innovator. They also employ the concept of organizational architecture as an analytical tool to investigate the agency for breaking organizational paths. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews, their study revealed that the innovation activity of the case firm is in a state of lock-in following a path-dependence development. Product development in the firm is linked to incremental changes to existing products based on the feedback from the customer, and the process is characterized by knowledge exploitation rather than knowledge exploration. The article adds to the literature on path dependence by identifying how a strong market pull can be a driver for organizational path dependence and lock-in.     

Exploring the spatial distribution patterns of South African Cape hakes using generalised additive models

We developed delta generalised additive models (GAMs) to predict the spatial distribution of different size classes of South African hakes, Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus, using demersal trawl survey data and geographical (latitude and longitude) and environmental features (depth, temperature, bottom dissolved oxygen and sediment type). Our approach consists of fitting, for each hake size class, two independent models, a binomial GAM and a quasi-Poisson GAM, whose predictions are then combined using the delta method. Delta GAMs were validated using an iterative cross-validation procedure, and their predictions were then employed to produce distribution maps for the southern Benguela. Delta GAM predictions confirmed existing knowledge about the spatial distribution patterns of South African hakes, and brought new insights into the factors influencing the presence/absence and abundance of these species. Our GAM approach can be used to produce distribution maps for spatially explicit ecosystem models of the southern Benguela in a rigorous and objective way. Ecosystem models are critical features of the ecosystem approach to fisheries, and distribution maps constructed using our GAM approach will enable a reliable allocation of species biomasses in spatially explicit ecosystem models, which will increase trust in the spatial overlaps and, therefore, the trophic interactions predicted by these models.     

Pico- and Nanophytoplankton Dynamics in Two Coupled but Contrasting Coastal Bays in the NW Mediterranean Sea (France)

Due to its ecological context, the Toulon bay represents a site of scientific interest to study temporal plankton distribution, particularly pico- and nanophytoplankton dynamics. A monthly monitoring was performed during a two-year cycle (October 2013–December 2015) at two coupled sampling sites, referred to as Little and Large bays, which had different morphometric characteristics and human pressures. Flow cytometry analyses highlighted the fact that pico- and nanophytoplankton were more abundant in the eutrophic Little bay. Furthermore, it evidenced two community structures across the Toulon bays: at times, a co-dominance of picoeukaryotes, nanoeukaryotes, Synechococcus 1-like cells and Prochlorococcus-like cells was found, and at other times, a Synechococcus 1-like dominated community existed. The alternation of one structure or the other can be explained by a combined action of temperature regime, nutrient conditions and degree of contamination. This study showed that pico- and nanophytoplankton dynamics were mainly driven by temperature in both sites, as in other temperate Mediterranean regions. Thus, the community was mainly composed of picoeukaryotes and Prochlorococcus-like cells in the winter (<?15 °C), while it was dominated by Synechococcus 1-like cells in the summer (>?20 °C). Additionally, the multiple human stressors in the Little bay seemed to affect the increase in abundance of Synechococcus 1-like cells as they were preferentially observed in the Large bay.     

The Oeschinensee rock avalanche,Bernese Alps,Switzerland: a co-seismic failure 2300 years ago?

Landslide deposits dam Lake Oeschinen (Oeschinensee), located above Kandersteg, Switzerland. However, past confusion differentiating deposits of multiple landslide events has confounded efforts to quantify the volume, age, and failure dynamics of the Oeschinensee rock avalanche. Here we combine field and remote mapping, topographic reconstruction, cosmogenic surface exposure dating, and numerical runout modeling to quantify salient parameters of the event. Differences in boulder lithology and deposit morphology reveal that the landslide body damming Oeschinensee consists of debris from both an older rock avalanche, possibly Kandertal, as well as the Oeschinensee rock avalanche. We distinguish a source volume for the Oeschinensee event of 37 Mm³, resulting in an estimated deposit volume of 46 Mm³, smaller than previous estimates that included portions of the Kandertal mass. Runout modeling revealed peak and average rock avalanche velocities of 65 and 45 m/s, respectively, and support a single-event failure scenario. ³⁶Cl surface exposure dating of deposited boulders indicates a mean age for the rock avalanche of 2.3 ± 0.2 kyr. This age coincides with the timing of a paleo-seismic event identified from lacustrine sediments in Swiss lakes, suggesting an earthquake trigger. Our results help clarify the hazard and geomorphic effects of rare, large rock avalanches in alpine settings.     

Tectono-sedimentary evolution of Jurassic–Cretaceous diapiric structures: Miravete anticline,Maestrat Basin,Spain

Integration of extensive fieldwork, remote sensing mapping and 3D models from high-quality drone photographs relates tectonics and sedimentation to define the Jurassic–early Albian diapiric evolution of the N–S Miravete anticline, the NW-SE Castel de Cabra anticline and the NW-SE Cañada Vellida ridge in the Maestrat Basin (Iberian Ranges, Spain). The pre shortening diapiric structures are defined by well-exposed and unambiguous halokinetic geometries such as hooks and flaps, salt walls and collapse normal faults. These were developed on Triassic salt-bearing deposits, previously misinterpreted because they were hidden and overprinted by the Alpine shortening. The Miravete anticline grew during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous and was rejuvenated during Cenozoic shortening. Its evolution is separated into four halokinetic stages, including the latest Alpine compression. Regionally, the well-exposed Castel de Cabra salt anticline and Cañada Vellida salt wall confirm the widespread Jurassic and Early Cretaceous diapiric evolution of the Maestrat Basin. The NE flank of the Cañada Vellida salt wall is characterized by hook patterns and by a 500-m-long thin Upper Jurassic carbonates defining an upturned flap, inferred as the roof of the salt wall before NE-directed salt extrusion. A regional E-W cross section through the Ababuj, Miravete and Cañada-Benatanduz anticlines shows typical geometries of salt-related rift basins, partly decoupled from basement faults. These structures could form a broader diapiric region still to be investigated. In this section, the Camarillas and Fortanete minibasins displayed well-developed bowl geometries at the onset of shortening. The most active period of diapiric growth in the Maestrat Basin occurred during the Early Cretaceous, which is also recorded in the Eastern Betics, Asturias and Basque-Cantabrian basins. This period coincides with the peak of eastward drift of the Iberian microplate, with speeds of 20 mm/year. The transtensional regime is interpreted to have played a role in diapiric development.     

Bathymetry,substrate and fishing areas of Southeast Atlantic high-seas seamounts

Most of the Southeast Atlantic Ocean is abyssal, and global bathymetries suggest that only ～3.2% of the areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ; also known as the high seas, as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS]) are shallower than 2 500 m. This study mapped bathymetry and characterised substrates in selected seamount summit areas, including several that have been or may become fishing areas. The southernmost location, the Schmitt-Ott Seamount, has exposed volcanic bedrock with surrounding flats covered by thin biogenic sediments and/or coral rubble that appears ancient. At Wüst, Vema, Valdivia and Ewing seamounts the basaltic base appears to be overlain by coral caps and other coral substrates (sheets, rubble). Adjacent summit plains have biogenic sediments of varying thickness. Vema has a flat, roughly circular summit, <100 m deep, with the shallowest point being a 22-m-deep summit knoll; the upper slopes have ancient coral framework, but the summit has a mixture of coralline and volcanic rock and coarse sediments, including extensive areas with coralline algae and kelp forests. Valdivia Bank is a 230-m-deep, flat, rocky area (～11 × 5 km), protruding steeply from the extensive multi-summit Valdivia subarea of the Walvis Ridge. The distribution of past fisheries in the Convention Area of the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO) was considered in relation to the new information on bathymetry and substrate.     

Scour below pipelines and around vertical piles due to second-order random waves plus a current

This paper provides a method by which the scour depth below pipelines and around single vertical piles for combined random waves plus current including effects of second-order wave asymmetry can be derived. Here the empirical formulas proposed by Sumer and Fredsøe [1996. Scour below pipelines in combined waves and current. In: Proceedings of the 15th OMAE Conference, Florence, Italy. Vol. 5, ASME, New York, pp. 595–602] for pipelines, and by Sumer and Fredsøe [2002. The mechanics of scour in the marine environment. World Scientific, Singapore] for vertical piles are used together with Stokes second-order wave theory by assuming the basic harmonic wave motion to be a stationary Gaussian narrow-band random process. Comparisons are made with the Sumer and Fredsøe [1996. Scour below pipelines in combined waves and current. In: Proceedings of the 15th OMAE Conference, Florence, Italy. Vol. 5, ASME, New York, pp. 595–602; 2001. Scour around pile in combined waves and current. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 127(5), 403–411] data for linear random waves plus current. An example of calculation is also presented.     

Bistatic Radar Detection in the Luna-Resurs Mission

An overview of radiophysical investigations of the lunar soil and plasma shell by active radar detection with the use of spacecraft is presented. The possibility is analyzed of conducting bistatic measurements using the Irkutsk Incoherent Scattering Radar and the onboard radar system RLK-L which is being developed for the orbital station of the Luna-Resurs mission.     

Spatial environment of polar-ring galaxies from the SDSS

Based on SDSS data, we have considered the spatial environment of galaxies with extended polar rings. We used two approaches: estimating the projected distance to the nearest companion and counting the number of companions as a function of the distance to the galaxy. Both approaches have shown that the spatial environment of polar-ring galaxies on scales of hundreds of kiloparsecs is, on average, less dense than that of galaxies without polar structures. Apparently, one of the main causes of this effect is that the polar structures in a denser environment are destroyed more often during encounters and mergers with other galaxies.