Assessment of the effects of climate and land cover changes on river discharge and sediment yield,and an adaptive spatial planning in the Jakarta region

In Jakarta, climate change has been detected through rising air temperatures, increased intensity of rainfall in the wet season, and sea level rise. The coupling of such changes with local anthropogenic driven modifications in the environmental setting could contribute to an increased probability of flooding, due to increase in both extreme river discharge and sedimentation (as a result of erosion in the watersheds above Jakarta and as indicated by sediment yield in the downstream area). In order to respond to the observed and projected changes in river discharge and sediment yield, and their secondary impacts, adaptation strategies are required. A possible adaptation strategy is through policy making in the field of spatial planning. For example, in Indonesia, presidential regulation number 54 year 2008 (Peraturan Presiden Nomor 54 Tahun 2008—Perpres 54/2008) was issued as a reference for the implementation of water and soil conservation. This paper assesses the impact of climate and land cover change on river discharge and sediment yield, as well as the effects of Perpres 54/2008 on that river discharge and sediment yield. The spatial water balance model Spatial Tools for River Basins and Environmental and Analysis of Management Option was used for the runoff computations, whilst the Spatial Decision Assistance of Watershed Sedimentation model was used to simulate erosion, Sediment Delivery Ratio, and sediment yield. The computation period is from January 1901 to December 2005, at the scale of the following watersheds: Ciujung, Cisadane, Ciliwung, and Citarum. During the twentieth century, computed average discharge in the downstream area (near Jakarta) increased between 2.5 and 35 m³/s/month, and sediment yield increased between 1 × 10³ and 42 × 10³ tons/year. These changes were caused by changes in both land cover and climate, with the former playing a stronger role. Based on a computation under a theoretical full implementation of the spatial plan proposed by Perpres 54/2008, river discharge would decrease by up to 5 % in the Ciliwung watershed and 26 % in the Cisadane watershed. The implementation of Perpres 54/2008 could also decrease the sediment yield, by up to 61 and 22 % in the Ciliwung and Cisadane watersheds, respectively. These findings show that the implementation of the spatial plan of Perpres 54/2008 could significantly improve watershed response to runoff and erosion. This study may serve as a tool for assessing the reduction in climate change impacts and evaluating the role of spatial planning for adaptation strategies.     

Destruction of Galaxies as a Cause of the Appearance of Stellar Streams

Astronomy Reports - The interaction of galaxies in clusters with the intergalactic gaseous medium and other galaxies is considered. The causes for the appearance of gaseous and stellar...     

A framework for sourcing of evaporation between saturated and unsaturated zone in bare soil condition

ABSTRACT

Sourcing subsurface evaporation (E_ss) into groundwater (E_g) and unsaturated zone (E_u) components has received little scientific attention so far, despite its importance in water management and agriculture. We propose a novel sourcing framework, with its implementation in dedicated post-processing software called SOURCE (used along with the HYDRUS1D model), to study evaporation sourcing dynamics, define quantitatively “shallow” and “deep” water table conditions and test the applicability of water table fluctuation (WTF) and “bucket” methods for estimation of E_g and E_u separately.

For the “shallow” and “deep” water table we propose E_g?>?0.95E_ss and E_g = 0 criteria, respectively. Assessment of the WTF method allowed sourcing of very small fluxes otherwise neglected by standard hydrological methods. Sourcing with SOURCE software was more accurate than the standard “bucket” method mainly because of greater flexibility in spatio-temporal discretization. This study emphasized the dry condition relevance of groundwater evaporation which should be analysed by applying coupled flow of heat, vapour and liquid water.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor S. Kanae     

GIS‐assisted modelling for debris flow hazard assessment based on the events of May 1998 in the area of Sarno,Southern Italy: Part I. Maximum run‐out

Based on the debris flow events that occurred in May 1998 in the area of Sarno, Southern Italy, this paper presents an approach to simulate debris flow maximum run‐out. On the basis of the flow source areas and an average thickness of 1·2 m of the scarps, we estimated debris flow volumes of the order of 10⁴ and 10⁵ m³. Flow mobility ratios (ΔH/L) derived from the x, y, z coordinates of the lower‐most limit of the source areas (i.e. apex of the alluvial fan) and the distal limit of the flows ranged between 0·27 and 0·09. We performed regression analyses that showed a good correlation between the estimated flow volumes and mobility ratios. This paper presents a methodology for predicting maximum run‐out of future debris flow events, based on the developed empirical relationship. We implemented the equation that resulted from the calibration as a set of GIS macros written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and running within ArcGIS. We carried out sensitivity analyses and observed that hazard mapping with this methodology should attempt to delineate hazard zones with a minimum horizontal resolution of 0·4 km. The developed procedure enables the rapid delineation of debris flow maximum extent within reasonable levels of uncertainty, it incorporates sensitivities and it facilitates hazard assessments via graphic user interfaces and with modest computing resources. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A deep seismic profile of 800 km length recorded in southern Queensland, Australia

Summary. In 1984, the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources and the Geological Survey of Queensland recorded a regional seismic reflection profile of over 800 km length from the eastern part of the Eromanga Basin to the Beenleigh Block east of the Clarence Moreton Basin. A relatively transparent upper crustal basement with an underlying, more reflective lower crust is characteristic of much of the region. Prominent westerly dipping reflectors occur well below the sediments of the eastern margin of the Clarence Moreton Basin and the adjacent Beenleigh Block, and provide some of the most interesting features of the entire survey. A wide angle reflection/refraction survey of 192 km length and an expanding reflection spread of 25 km length were recorded across the Nebine Ridge. The only clear deep reflectors are interpreted as P-to-SV or SV-to-P converted reflections from a mid-crustal boundary at a depth of about 17 km. The combined Nebine Ridge data provide well-constrained P and S wave velocity models of the upper crust, and suggest a crustal structure quite different from that beneath the adjacent Mesozoic basins.     

Fluctuations of floods of the River Morava (Czech Republic) in the 1691–2009 period: interactions of natural and anthropogenic factors

Abstract

Floods from the middle part of the River Morava (eastern Czech Republic) are considered over the course of the past three centuries, the study being based on data derived from documentary evidence (1691–1880), measured peak water stages, H_k (1881–1920) and peak discharges, Q_k (1916–2009), evaluated with respect to their N-year return period (H_N and Q_N ). Changes in land use and water management (water reservoirs, channel modifications) are discussed, as are factors influencing runoff conditions in the Morava catchment. Decadal synthesis of flood series identifies the highest flood activity in the decades of 1911–1920 and 1961–1970 (11 floods each), 1831–1840, 1891–1900, 1901–1910 and 1931–1940 (10 floods each). Uncertainty in this series is related to some incompleteness of documentary data in the pre-1881 period. Very low flood frequency occurred in the 1990s–2000s, although the most disastrous floods were recorded in this particular period (July 1997 at Q ₁₀₀ and March/April 2006 at Q ₂₀–Q ₅₀). Changes in flood frequency correspond partly to long-term changes in temperature and precipitation patterns.

Citation Brázdil, R., ?ezní?ková, L., Valá?ek, H., Havlí?ek, M., Dobrovolný, P., Soukalová, E., ?ehánek, T. & Skokanová, H. (2011) Fluctuations of floods of the River Morava (Czech Republic) in the 1691–2009 period: interactions of natural and anthropogenic factors. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(3), 468–485.     

Large-scale environmental influences on the benthic macroinfauna of the southern Gulf of Mexico

The influence of large-scale natural disturbance from winter storms (‘northers’) and river runoff on the macrobenthic community structure of the southern Gulf of Mexico was investigated in both carbonate and transitional carbonate–terrigenous sedimentary environments. Samples of the infauna were obtained in three seasons from 13 stations from two 250 km transects along 80–170 and 20–50 m water depth. Samples after the northers season had the lowest total number of families and individuals, 114 and 2940, respectively, compared to the dry and rainy seasons with 129 and 132 families and 11580 and 15266 individuals, respectively. Spatial patterns of macroinfauna composition varied across and along the shelf as a response to sedimentary environments and depth. Coarser sediments from the carbonate area harboured the highest mean densities per station with 500–24,000 individuals m⁻² and 108–122 families in total, compared to the transitional sediment with 500–8200 individuals m⁻² and 56–74 families across the three seasons. Univariate and multivariate statistical techniques demonstrated that low densities and number of taxa were associated with winter storms, but storm influence was dependent on depth and sediment type. Multiple linear regression analysis and BIOENV analysis indicated that sediment mean grain size, percentage of clay and organic matter best explained the macroinfauna spatial patterns, although BIOENV indicated that depth has an overriding role. An increase in densities of opportunistic taxa (numerous polychaetes of small sizes) was observed four months after the ‘northers’ and this was more evident in the area of carbonate sediment. Additionally a combined disturbance from northers and river runoff is suspected to be responsible for a naturally impoverished macroinfauna community in the transitional sedimentary environment.     

The ecological characteristics of the riparian vegetation affected by river overflowing disturbance in the lower Tarim River

Based on data obtained from field investigations, this paper aims to analyze the influence of the river overflow on the desert riparian vegetation and discuss the function of the river overflow on the vegetation restoration at the lower Tarim River. The results show that (1) there are only 17 species, 13 genera and 9 families in the study areas before river overflow, while there are 34 species, 26 genera and 12 families after the overflowing in which 18 species emerged newly; (2) judging by the biodiversity indices, the species diversity and species richness in the river overflowed area increase more significantly than those in the un-overflow area; (3) judging by the importance of different species after years of river overflowing, the annual herbs germinate quickly at first, while the perennial herbs with deep roots or root clones become dominant in the plant community; (4) after several times of river overflowing, some arbors and shrubs such as Populus euphratica and Tamarix ramosissima germinate easily and can dominate gradually in the plant community. The results indicate that the river overflowing restores the severely degraded ecosystem in the lower Tarim River and the function is connected with restoration of eco-hydrological processes in the study areas. The results suggest that experimental overflowing has initiated a process of restoring ecosystem function within the riparian forest.     

Negative correlations of variations in near-water wind and surface wind waves

The relationship between the intensity of surface wind waves and near-water wind is analyzed. The data of measuring wind waves and near-water wind under natural conditions in the Black Sea (July 2004) and Norwegian Sea (June 2003, 16th cruise of the R/V Akademik Sergei Vavilov) are used. A phenomenon of negative correlations has been found between the intensity of wind waves and near-water wind in regions of substantial restructuring of wind waves in the field of inhomogeneous flows: wind-wave amplification during wind decay and vice versa. Examples of such observations are presented, a theoretical model is constructed for the observed phenomenon, and a good agreement is obtained between theory and experiment.