The GeoCitizen-approach: community-based spatial planning – an Ecuadorian case study

Over the last years, geospatial web platforms, social media, and volunteered geographic information (VGI) have opened a window of opportunity for traditional Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS) to usher in a new era. Taking advantage of these technological achievements, this paper presents a new approach for a citizen-orientated framework of spatial planning that aims at integrating participatory community work into existing decision-making structures. One major cornerstone of the presented approach is the application of a social geoweb platform (the GeoCitizen platform) that combines geo-web technologies and social media in one single tool allowing citizens to collaboratively report observations, discuss ideas, solve, and monitor problems in their living environment at a local level. This paper gives an account of an ongoing participatory land-zoning process in the Capital District of Quito, Ecuador, where the GeoCitizen platform is applied in a long-term study.     

Magnetic braking of Ap/Bp stars: application to compact black-hole X-ray binaries

We examine the proposal that the subset of neutron-star and black-hole X-ray binaries that form with Ap or Bp star companions will experience systemic angular-momentum losses due to magnetic braking, not otherwise operative with intermediate-mass companion stars. We suggest that for donor stars possessing the anomalously high magnetic fields associated with Ap and Bp stars, a magnetically coupled, irradiation-driven stellar wind can lead to substantial systemic loss of angular momentum. Hence, these systems, which would otherwise not be expected to experience 'magnetic braking', evolve to shorter orbital periods during mass transfer. In this paper, we detail how such a magnetic braking scenario operates. We apply it to a specific astrophysics problem involving the formation of compact black-hole binaries with low-mass donor stars. At present, it is not understood how these systems form, given that low-mass companion stars are not likely to provide sufficient gravitational potential to unbind the envelope of the massive progenitor of the black hole during a prior 'common-envelope' phase. On the other hand, intermediate-mass companions, such as Ap and Bp stars, could more readily eject the common envelope. However, in the absence of magnetic braking, such systems tend to evolve to long orbital periods. We show that, with the proposed magnetic braking properties afforded by Ap and Bp companions, such a scenario can lead to the formation of compact black-hole binaries with orbital periods, donor masses, lifetimes and production rates that are in accord with the observations. In spite of these successes, our models reveal a significant discrepancy between the calculated effective temperatures and the observed spectral types of the donor stars. Finally, we show that this temperature discrepancy would still exist for other scenarios invoking initially intermediate-mass donor stars, and this presents a substantial unresolved mystery.     

Influence of Weathering on Pore Size Distribution of Soft Rocks

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Soft rocks can weather and lose their structure within a short time due to drying out and rewetting. Thus they are very sensitive to weathering. Since...     

The impacts of climate change on the winter hardiness zones of woody plants in Europe

The potential impacts of climate change on potatoes cropping in the Peruvian highlands (Altiplano) is assessed using climate projections for 2071–2100, obtained from the HadRM3P regional atmospheric model of the Hadley Centre. The atmospheric model is run under two different special report on emission scenarios: high CO₂ concentration (A2) and moderate CO₂ concentration (B2) for four locations situated in the surroundings of Lake Titicaca. The two main varieties of potato cultivated in the area are studied: the Andean potato (Solanum tuberosum) and the bitter potato (Solanum juzepczukii). A simple process-oriented model is used to quantify the climatic impacts on crops cycles and yields by combining the effects of temperature on phenology, of radiation and CO₂ on maximum yield and of water balance on yield deficit. In future climates, air temperature systematically increases, precipitation tends to increase at the beginning of the rainy season and slightly decreases during the rest of the season. The direct effects of these climatic changes are earlier planting dates, less planting failures and shorter crop cycles in all the four locations and for both scenarios. Consequently, the harvesting dates occur systematically earlier: roughly in January for the Andean potato instead of March in the current situation and in February for the bitter potato instead of April. Overall, yield deficits will be higher under climate change than in the current climate. There will be a strong negative impact on yields for S. tuberosum (stronger under A2 scenario than under B2); the impact on S. juzepczukii yields, however, appears to be relatively mixed and not so negative.     

Analysis of climatic trends in data from the agrometeorological station of Bologna-Cadriano, Italy (1952–2007)

Agriculture is highly exposed to climate change, as farming activities directly depend on climatic conditions. Knowledge of the extent of such change and of related phenomena will help to answer the questions posed by society about adaptation strategies. The global situation is well described by the Fourth IPCC assessment report (IPCC 2007), but local studies are important to understand the impact and the priorities to adopt in adaptation strategies. In this study a historical set of meteorological data, collected during the period 1952–2007 at the University of Bologna (Italy) agrometeorological station, was analysed. Several indexes, such as Frost Severity Index, number of hot days, number of rainy days, etc., were calculated, and their trends in time were analysed. The results show a scenario of increasing temperatures and evapotranspiration, a decrease in rainy days and a deepening of the watertable. The effect of these changes on agriculture will be a decrease in water availability, an increase in heat stress in plants and an increase in drought risk.     

Millennial/centennial-scale thermocline ventilation changes in the Indian Ocean as reflected by aragonite preservation and geochemical variations in Arabian Sea sediments

The formation and temporal variability of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) of the Arabian Sea is a subject of intense research. We contribute to the discussion by studying modern seawater profiles of the Indian Ocean (salinity, O₂, pH, aragonite saturation, nitrate deficit, nutrients), which show that Subantarctic Mode and Antarctic Intermediate Waters (SAMW-AAIW) have a strong influence on the OMZ characteristics of the Arabian Sea. To obtain a better grasp of the range of possible OMZ variations, we studied a 50-kyr record in the NE Arabian Sea (core MD042876) from a site at 828 m water depth within the thermocline. In this core, aragonite is preserved during North Atlantic Heinrich events (HEs) and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) stadials, while it is absent during DO interstadials and most of the Holocene. Considering the excellent correlation between aragonite content and Sr/Ca ratio, as well as the presence of fine-grained aragonitic needles and the isotopic composition (δ¹³C) of carbonates in the fine fraction, we infer that essentially all aragonite originates as fine Sr-rich debris from shallow water. A comparison with other records from the NE Arabian Sea (Sr/Ca, δ¹⁵N) indicates that aragonite variability in the cores is rather controlled by OMZ intensity variations as forcing mechanism while changes in aragonite supply seem to play a minor role. The strong correlation of aragonite content with changes in millennial-scale ventilation of the Indian Ocean, as well as a comparison with modern oceanographic conditions, supports the theory that OMZ intensity variations are controlled by changes in the formation of SAMW-AAIW, and are not only due to monsoonal changes. Thus, during HEs and DO stadials, the thermocline Arabian Sea experienced a strengthened influx of O₂-rich SAMW-AAIW. On the other hand, OMZ conditions during DO interstadials and the Holocene seem best explained by analogy with the present-day situation: low supply of O₂ combined with elevated O₂ demand controlled by monsoon-related productivity.     

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Evaluating MT3DMS for Heat Transport Simulation of Closed Geothermal Systems

Owing to the mathematical similarities between heat and mass transport, the multi-species transport model MT3DMS should be able to simulate heat transport if the effects of buoyancy and changes in viscosity are small. Although in several studies solute models have been successfully applied to simulate heat transport, these studies failed to provide any rigorous test of this approach. In the current study, we carefully evaluate simulations of a single borehole ground source heat pump (GSHP) system in three scenarios: a pure conduction situation, an intermediate case, and a convection-dominated case. Two evaluation approaches are employed: first, MT3DMS heat transport results are compared with analytical solutions. Second, simulations by MT3DMS, which is finite difference, are compared with those by the finite element code FEFLOW and the finite difference code SEAWAT. Both FEFLOW and SEAWAT are designed to simulate heat flow. For each comparison, the computed results are examined based on residual errors. MT3DMS and the analytical solutions compare satisfactorily. MT3DMS and SEAWAT results show very good agreement for all cases. MT3DMS and FEFLOW two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) results show good to very good agreement, except that in 3D there is somewhat deteriorated agreement close to the heat source where the difference in numerical methods is thought to influence the solution. The results suggest that MT3DMS can be successfully applied to simulate GSHP systems, and likely other systems with similar temperature ranges and gradients in saturated porous media.     

On A☆ search with stopover areas

Today's map navigation software offers more and more functionality. For example, it cannot only route from a start to a destination address, but the user can also specify a number of via destinations that are to be visited along the route. What is not commonly found in the software is the handling of so-called stopover areas. Here the user specifies a sequence of geographic areas and wants the route to lead into or through each of these areas (but he does not actually care where exactly). A modification of the well-known A^☆ algorithm that considers convex stopover areas is presented. Algorithmic variants and implementation issues are discussed. Example results on a real-world data set are presented for the case of axis parallel rectangular stopover areas.