Spatialities of ageing: The co-construction and co-evolution of old age and space

This editorial introduction to the themed issue is divided into four parts. We begin with outlining five reasons for more sustained attention to ageing and old age in human geography and go onto discuss two major challenges for geographical inquiry into ageing and later life. One of these is examining embodiment in ways that keep both its social/cultural aspects and its biological/physiological dimensions in sharp focus; the other concerns the challenge of considering time, or rather spatiotemporality, in all its facets. With regard to the latter we argue that the life-course concept can be helpful in this regard, especially if attention is paid to transitions as well as to slow, difficult-to-identify forms of change and if life-courses are understood in terms of folds. Thinking in these terms opens up a perspective according to which ageing and space can be analysed as entwined becomings. We conclude by positioning the contributions in this issue vis-à-vis the perspective developed in this piece.     

Characterization of environmental impact on resources, using strategic assessment of environmental impact and management of natural spaces of “Las Batuecas-Sierra de Francia” and “Quilamas” (Salamanca, Spain)

A new procedure is proposed for joint strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment using simultaneous characterizations in the protected natural area studied to analyse the importance and extent of the impact of human activities within this area on the various natural resources. GIS techniques were used to define territorial models, including environmental information criteria in thematic layers to facilitate environmental diagnosis in the early planning stages in the areas of concern or of higher quality for conservation at different working levels (municipal, district, provincial or national). Traditional conventional environmental impact assessment methods were improved, using spatial analysis to compare scenarios based on the spatial and temporal variability of the impacts identified and their evaluation. This method was applied to the natural space of Las Batuecas-S. de Francia and Quilamas, where in an initial stage the different anthropogenic activities (landfills, etc.) with the potential to cause direct (sewage waters, etc.) or indirect (leachate, etc.) impacts were identified, using checklists and double-entry matrices to analyse actions likely to cause impacts, developing the cartography and identifying environmental impacts potentially damaging to the natural environment. Next, thematic and interpretive mappings were drawn up (surface water quality, aquifer vulnerability to pollution and vulnerability to municipal solid waste) to assess the effects upon resources (water, soil, air, etc.). Finally, by overlapping the impact identification and vulnerability mappings (municipal solid waste, pollution of aquifers and surface water quality) the impact characterization mapping was obtained, showing the absorption capacity of the different sectors to help the responsible bodies set out preventive and/or corrective measures. The essence of this paper is, in methodological terms, its use of two methods simultaneously (strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment) in a protected natural area, allowing it to be extrapolated to any area where territorial management and planning studies need to be carried out.     

Analysis of trends and sudden changes in long-term environmental data from King George Island (Antarctica): relationships between global climatic oscillations and local system response

The Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on earth. It is therefore important to analyze long-term trends and inter-annual patterns of change in major environmental parameters to understand the process underlying climate change in Western Antarctica. Since many polar long-term data series are fragmented and cannot be analysed with common time series analysis tools, we present statistical approaches that can deal with missing values. We applied U-statistics after Pettit and Buishand to detect abrupt changes, dynamic factor analysis to detect functional relationships, and additive modelling to detect patterns in time related to climatic cycles such as the Southern Annular Mode and El Niño Southern Oscillation in a long-term environmental data set from King George Island (WAP), covering 20 years. Our results not only reveal sudden changes for sea surface temperature and salinity, but also clear patterns in all investigated variables (sea surface temperature, salinity, suspended particulate matter and Chlorophyll a) that can directly be related to climatic cycles. Our results complement previous findings on climate related changes in the King George Island Region and provide insight into the environmental conditions and climatic drivers of system change in the study area. Hence, our statistical analyses may prove valuable for other polar environmental data sets and contribute to a better understanding of the regional variability of climate change and its impact on coastal systems.     

Global and regional factors responsible for the drowning of the Central Apennine Chattian carbonate platforms

This work discusses and interprets the factors responsible for the Oligocene–Miocene drowning of the Central Apennine platform deposits, based on facies and stable‐isotope analyses of two representative stratigraphic sections. The Mediterranean carbonate platforms were affected during the Oligocene–Miocene boundary by a carbonate production crisis that was induced by global factors and amplified by regional events, such as volcanic activity. The positive δ¹³C shift observed in the studied sections corresponds to vertical facies changes reflecting the evolution from middle carbonate ramp to outer ramp‐hemipelagic depositional environments. This drowning event is recorded not only in the Apennine platforms, but also in other Mediterranean platforms such as in southern Apulia, Sicily and Malta, and outside the Mediterranean Basin. The ~24–23.5 Ma Mi‐1 glacial maximum may have had a significant influence on this drowning event because it was associated with high rates of accumulation of continent‐derived sediments. The increased continental weathering and runoff sustained high trophic conditions. These probably were a consequence of the Aquitanian–Burdigalian volcanic activity in the Central‐Western Mediterranean, that may have led to an increase in nutrient content in seawater and an increase in atmospheric and marine CO₂ concentrations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An open web-based module developed to advance data-driven hydrologic process learning

The era of ‘big data’ promises to provide new hydrologic insights, and open web-based platforms are being developed and adopted by the hydrologic science community to harness these datasets and data services. This shift accompanies advances in hydrology education and the growth of web-based hydrology learning modules, but their capacity to utilize emerging open platforms and data services to enhance student learning through data-driven activities remains largely untapped. Given that generic equations may not easily translate into local or regional solutions, teaching students to explore how well models or equations work in particular settings or to answer specific problems using real data is essential. This article introduces an open web-based module developed to advance data-driven hydrologic process learning, targeting upper level undergraduate and early graduate students in hydrology and engineering. The module was developed and deployed on the HydroLearn open educational platform, which provides a formal pedagogical structure for developing effective problem-based learning activities. We found that data-driven learning activities utilizing collaborative open web platforms like CUAHSI HydroShare and JupyterHub to store and run computational notebooks allowed students to access and work with datasets for systems of personal interest and promoted critical evaluation of results and assumptions. Initial student feedback was generally positive, but also highlighted challenges including trouble-shooting and future-proofing difficulties and some resistance to programming and new software. Opportunities to further enhance hydrology learning include better articulating the benefits of coding and open web platforms upfront, incorporating additional user-support tools, and focusing methods and questions on implementing and adapting notebooks to explore fundamental processes rather than tools and syntax. The profound shift in the field of hydrology toward big data, open data services and reproducible research practices requires hydrology instructors to rethink traditional content delivery and focus instruction on harnessing these datasets and practices in the preparation of future hydrologists and engineers.     

From land cover-graphs to urban structure types

Urban structure types (UST) are an initial interest and basic instrument for monitoring, controlling and modeling tasks of urban planners and decision makers during ongoing urbanization processes. This study focuses on a method to classify UST from land cover (LC) objects, which were derived from high resolution satellite images. The topology of urban LC objects is analyzed by implementing neighborhood LC-graphs. Various graph measures are examined by their potential to distinguish between different UST, using the machine learning classifier random forest. Additionally the influence of different parameter settings of the random forest model, the reduction of training samples, and the graph measure importance is analyzed. An independent test set is classified and validated, achieving an overall accuracy of 87%. It was found that the height of the building with the highest node degree has a strong impact on the classification result.     

Inter-comparison of cosmogenic in-situ He, Ne and Cl at low latitude along an altitude transect on the SE slope of Kilimanjaro volcano (3°S, Tanzania)

Because the intensity and energy spectrum of the cosmic ray flux are affected by atmospheric depth and geomagnetic-field strength, cosmogenic nuclide production rates increase considerably with altitude and to a lesser degree with latitude. The scaling methods used to account for spatial variability in production rates assume that all cosmogenic nuclides have the same altitude dependence. In this study we evaluate whether the production rates of cosmogenic ³⁶Cl, ³He and ²¹Ne change differently with altitude, which is plausible due to the different threshold energies of their production reactions. If so, nuclide-specific scaling factors would be required.Concentrations of the three cosmogenic nuclides were determined in mafic phenocrysts over an altitude transect between 1000 and 4300 m at Kilimanjaro volcano (3°S). Altitude dependence of relative production rates was assessed in two ways: by determination of concentration ratios and by calculation of apparent exposure age ratios for all nuclide pairs. The latter accounts for characteristics of ³⁶Cl that the stable nuclides ³He and ²¹Ne do not possess (radioactive decay, high sensitivity to mineral composition and significant contributions from production reactions other than spallation). All ratios overlap within error over the entire transect, and altitudinal variation in relative production rates is not therefore evident. This suggests that nuclide-specific scaling factors are not required for the studied nuclides at this low-latitude location. However, because previous studies have documented anomalous altitude-dependent variations in ³He production at mid-latitude sites, the effect of latitude on cross-calibrations should be further evaluated.We determined cosmogenic ²¹Ne/³He concentration ratios of 0.1864 ± 0.0085 in pyroxenes and 0.377 ± 0.018 in olivines, agreeing with those reported in previous studies.Despite the absence of independently determined ages for the studied lava surfaces, the consistency in the dataset should enable progress to be made in the determination of the production rates of all three nuclides as soon as the production rate of one of the nuclides has been accurately defined.To our knowledge this is the first time that ³⁶Cl has been measured in pyroxene. The Cl extraction method was validated by measuring ³⁶Cl in co-existing plagioclase phenocrysts in one of the samples.     

Possible precursory accelerated Benioff strain in the region of Sistan Suture Zone of Eastern Iran

We investigated whether accelerated seismic strain release precedes large earthquakes occurring in and around the Sistan Suture Zone, Eastern Iran. Online catalogs of teleseismic events occurring post-1960 within the region 27.0°–37.0°N, 55.0°–65.0°E, report five M _w > 7.0 earthquakes, namely, 1968 Dasht-e-Bayaz, 1978 Tabas, 1979 Khuli-Buniabad, 1981 Sirch and 1997 Zirkuh-e-Q’aenat events. We defined four earthquake test episodes, 1968–1978, 1978–1981, 1979–1981, and 1981–1997, with all catalogued intermediate events having magnitudes within 2.0 units that of the final large event. Using the 1968 event as the starting point, we investigated possible increased moderate earthquake activity patterns prior to the large events of 1978, 1981 and 1997 by examining if the cumulative Benioff strain released from such preceding events followed a power law time-to-failure. Our investigation seem to suggest that the 1978, 1981 and 1997 events (i) followed a period of accelerated moderate earthquake activity and (ii) the radius of their optimal critical region, R, scaled with their magnitude, M, according to the scaling law log R ∝ 0.36 M. Our suggestions conform to those proposed by similar investigations in varied seismotectonic regimes.