Macrofossil evidence of alder (Alnus sp.) in Britain early in the Late Glacial Interstadial: implications for the northern cryptic refugia debate

Wood macrofossil remains of alder and willow/poplar have been recovered from a sediment sequence in the valley of the Turker Beck in the Vale of Mowbray, North Yorkshire. These remains have yielded radiocarbon dates early in the Devensian Late Glacial (14.7–14k cal a bp ), equivalent to the early part of the Greenland Interstadial (GI-1e) of the GRIP ice-core record. These are the earliest dates recorded for the presence of alder in the Late Glacial in the British Isles. Associated biological remains have provided a palaeoenvironmental record for this early part of the Greenland Interstadial, generally indicative of open environments dominated by herbaceous taxa on both the wetland and dryland surfaces. However, stands of alder, birch and willow woodland were also present, and indicate the possibility that such tree species survived in cryptic refugia in Britain as elsewhere in northern Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum. The absence of alder pollen at Turker Beck, in a sequence in which its macrofossil remains are relatively abundant, lends support to the view that pollen can be a poor indicator of the presence of tree species in Late Glacial sequences in northern and western Europe.     

Effects of climate change and urban development on the distribution and conservation of vegetation in a Mediterranean type ecosystem

Climate and land-use changes are projected to threaten biodiversity over this century. However, few studies have considered the spatial and temporal overlap of these threats to evaluate how ongoing land-use change could affect species ranges projected to shift outside conservation areas. We evaluated climate change and urban development effects on vegetation distribution in the Southwest ecoregion, California Floristic Province, USA. We also evaluated how well a conservation network protects suitable habitat for rare plant species under these change projections and identified primary sources of uncertainty. We used consensus-based maps from three species distribution models (SDMs) to project current and future suitable habitat for 19 species representing different functional types (defined by fire-response – obligate seeders, resprouting shrubs – and life forms – herbs, subshrubs), and range sizes (large/common, small/rare). We used one spatially explicit urban growth projection; two climate models, emission scenarios, and probability thresholds applied to SDMs; and high-resolution (90 m) environmental data. We projected that suitable habitat could disappear for 4 species and decrease for 15 by 2080. Averaged centroids of suitable habitat (all species) were projected to shift tens (up to hundreds) of kilometers. Herbs showed a small-projected response to climate change, while obligate seeders could suffer the greatest losses. Several rare species could lose suitable habitat inside conservation areas while increasing area outside. We concluded that (i) climate change is more important than urban development for vegetation habitat loss in this ecoregion through 2080 due to diminishing amounts of undeveloped private land in this region; (ii) the existing conservation plan, while extensive, may be inadequate to protect plant diversity under projected patterns of climate change and urban development, (iii) regional assessments of the dynamics of the drivers of biodiversity change based on high-resolution environmental data and consensus predictive mapping, such as this study, are necessary to identify the species expected to be the most vulnerable and to meaningfully inform regional-scale conservation.     

Retrieval of the single scattering albedo of Asian dust mixed with pollutants using lidar observations

The vertical distribution of single scattering albedos （SSAs） of Asian dust mixed with pollutants was derived using the multi-wavelength Raman lidar observation system at Gwangju （35.10°N,126.53°E）.Vertical profiles of both backscatter and extinction coefficients for dust and non-dust aerosols were extracted from a mixed Asian dust plume using the depolarization ratio from lidar observations.Vertical profiles of backscatter and extinction coefficients of non-dust particles were input into an inversion algorithm to retrieve the SSAs of non-dust aerosols.Atmospheric aerosol layers at different heights had different light-absorbing characteristics.The SSAs of non-dust particles at each height varied with aerosol type,which was either urban/industrial pollutants from China transported over long distances at high altitude,or regional/local pollutants from the Korean peninsula.Taking advantage of independent profiles of SSAs of non-dust particles,vertical profiles of SSAs of Asian dust mixed with pollutants were estimated for the first time,with a new approach suggested in this study using an empirical determination of the SSA of pure dust.The SSAs of the Asian dust-pollutants mixture within the planetary boundary layer （PBL） were in the range 0.88-0.91,while the values above the PBL were in the range 0.76-0.87,with a very low mean value of 0.76 ± 0.05.The total mixed dust plume SSAs in each aerosol layer were integrated over height for comparison with results from the Aerosol Robotics Network （AERONET） measurements.Values of SSA retrieved from lidar observations of 0.92 ± 0.01 were in good agreement with the results from AERONET measurements.     

Public engagement with carbon and climate change: To what extent is the public ‘carbon capable’?

The relevance of climate change for society seems indisputable: scientific evidence points to a significant human contribution in causing climate change, and impacts which will increasingly affect human welfare. In order to meet national and international greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, there is an urgent need to understand and enable societal engagement in mitigation. Yet recent research indicates that this involvement is currently limited: although awareness of climate change is widespread, understanding and behavioral engagement are far lower. Proposals for mitigative ‘personal carbon budgets’ imply a need for public understanding of the causes and consequences of carbon emissions, as well as the ability to reduce emissions. However, little has been done to consider the situated meanings of carbon and energy in everyday life and decisions. This paper builds on the concept of ‘carbon capability’, a term which captures the contextual meanings associated with carbon and individuals’ abilities and motivations to reduce emissions. We present empirical findings from a UK survey of public engagement with climate change and carbon capability, focusing on both individual and institutional dimensions. These findings highlight the diverse public understandings about ‘carbon’, encompassing technical, social, and moral discourses; and provide further evidence for the environmental value-action gap in relation to adoption of low-carbon lifestyles. Implications of these findings for promoting public engagement with climate change and carbon capability are discussed.     

The impact of the risk environment and energy prices to the budget of Korean households

Energy is closely related to environmental risk. A rising fuel price in the 1970s had hurt consumers and caused disturbance to the natural environment. Households could not afford high imported energy prices and thus resorted to fuel wood. Land competed for fuel wood and agricultural crops, and thus high fuel prices strained the environment with respect to the use of land. If human health and safe housing were included in environmental risk, a high energy price would induce broader environmental risk. Households with limited income would not be able to use expensive fossil energy to warm their houses and would depend on only electric mats or blankets to keep warm. Such insufficient warming methods would not only threaten their health but would also worsen the condition of their houses. The abrupt increase in energy prices in 2007 and 2008 had significantly impacted environmental risk. It forced low income households to spend more on energy, leaving less for other expenditure segments, but had left high income households generally intact. This contrasting effect between different income groups had increased the sustainability of the energy risks at the high prices. This study shows how risks associated with the household economy have increased in response to the recent dramatic increases in energy prices. We develop a method for assessing risk by using the variance of ratios of energy expenditure to current income. We then examine how differently the economic change has increased risk across expenditure segments. We find energy expenditure as the biggest contributor to the risk. In addition, we illustrate how energy expenditure has changed the risk profile for each income group, with the first group (i.e., the lowest income group) experiencing the greatest increase. This group hurts the most during days of high energy prices.     

Factors controlling fluoride contents of groundwater in north-central and northwestern Sri Lanka

Chemical characterization has been made of groundwater bodies at 294 locations in four village districts in north-central and northwestern Sri Lanka, with special focus on fluorine contamination. High fluoride contents in groundwater are becoming a major problem in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, and dental fluorosis and renal failures are widespread. Field measurements of temperature, pH, and electrical conductivity were made during sampling. Chemical analyses of the water samples were later made using atomic absorption spectroscopy, spectrophotometry, and titration. Fluoride concentrations in the study area vary from 0.01 to 4.34 mg/l, and depend on pH and the concentrations of Na, Ca, and HCO₃ ⁻. Basement rocks including hornblende biotite gneiss, biotite gneiss, and granitic gneiss seem to have contributed to the anomalous concentrations of fluoride in the groundwater. Longer residence time in aquifers within fractured crystalline bedrocks may enhance fluoride levels in the groundwater in these areas. In addition, elevated fluoride concentrations in shallow groundwater in intensive agricultural areas appear to be related to the leaching of fluoride from soils due to successive irrigation.     

Numerical analysis of large-scale surface-piercing propellers

Surface-Piercing Propellers (SPPs) are the preferred propulsion system for light to moderately loaded high-speed applications due to the high fuel efficiency. For highly loaded applications, the efficiency of SPPs tends to decrease because of the limited submerged blade area and the presence of large suction side cavities. Moreover, it is a challenge to design large-scale SPPs that can maintain reliable fatigue strength and avoid vibration issues while maximizing the propeller thrust for a given power input. In this work, three SPP designs are presented for different size Surface Effect Ships (SESs) that can attain a maximum advance speed of 25.72 m/s (50 knots). A previously developed and validated three-dimensional (3-D) coupled boundary element method-finite element method (BEM-FEM) is used for the transient hydroelastic analysis of SPPs. The method is validated by comparing the predicted hydrodynamic performance with those obtained using a vortex-lattice method (VLM) and a Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver. The hydrodynamic and structural dynamic performance of the SPPs are presented. Finally, challenges associated with the design related analyzes of large-scale SPPs are discussed.     

Analysis of interval constants in calendars affiliated with the Shoushili

We study interval constants that are related to motions of the Sun and Moon,i.e., the Qi, Intercalation, Revolution and Crossing interval, in calendars affiliated with the Shoushi calendar(Shoushili), such as Datongli and Chiljeongsannaepyeon. It is known that these interval constants were newly introduced in the Shoushili calendar and revised afterward, except for the Qi interval constant, and the revised values were adopted in later calendars affiliated with the Shoushili. We first investigate the accuracy of these interval constants and then the accuracy of calendars affiliated with the Shoushili in terms of these constants by comparing times for the new moon and the maximum solar eclipse calculated by each calendar with modern methods of calculation. During our study, we found that the Qi and Intercalation interval constants used in the early Shoushili were well determined, whereas the Revolution and Crossing interval constants were relatively poorly measured. We also found that the interval constants used by the early Shoushili were better than those of the later one, and hence better than those of Datongli and Chiljeongsannaepyeon. On the other hand, we found that the early Shoushili is, in general, a worse calendar than Datongli for use in China but a better one than Chiljeongsannaepyeon for use in Korea in terms of times for the new moon and when a solar eclipse occurs, at least for the period 1281 – 1644.Finally, we verified that the times for sunrise and sunset in the Shoushili-Li-Cheng and Mingshi are those at Beijing and Nanjing, respectively.     

The PWaves From the Amchitka Island Explosions

Summary. There is evidence that the equivalent seismic sources of the Amchitka Island explosions — Longshot, Milrow and Cannikin — depart significantly from the simple model of a point compressional-source in a layered elastic-medium. Consequently modelling the observed seismograms using standard source-models may not be the most efficient method of determining source properties. Here an alternative to modelling is used to obtain information on the seismic sources due to the explosions. Broad-band (BB) estimates of the P signals are obtained from the short-period (SP) seismograms, corrected for attenuation, and interpreted in terms of P, pP and radiation from secondary sources. the main conclusions are:
(i) BB estimates of the radiated displacement from the explosions can be obtained with only a small reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio seen on SP seismograms;
(ii) observations of differences in pulse amplitudes and spectra are not necessarily due to differences in anelastic attenuation;
(iii) P and pP at a given station may differ in shape so that notches in the signal spectrum may not be related to source depth;
(iv) there is evidence of arrivals that others have identified as due to slap-down but which could be interpreted as an overshoot to pP;
(v) direct interpretation of the estimated ground displacement is a better procedure for determining the seismic source properties of explosions than modelling SP seismograms using idealised models as a starting point.