'Dad says I'm tied to a shooting star!' Grounding (research on) British expatriate belonging

This paper analyses one British woman's everyday practices of belonging as she negotiates expatriate life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In doing so, it responds to widespread calls to ground research on processes of transnationalism and diaspora by drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research and adopting a three-stranded analytical framework to reflect on the significance of domesticity, intimacy and foreignness in expatriate belonging. The author focuses on a single research subject to draw attention to a particular British expatriate experience otherwise neglected in migration research and the paper resonates with theoretical literatures aiming to challenge the binary divisions of geographies of belonging, including attachment/detachment.     

Climate change impacts on U.S. Coastal and Marine Ecosystems

Increases in concentrations of greenhouse gases projected for the 21st century are expected to lead to increased mean global air and ocean temperatures. The National Assessment of Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change (NAST 2001) was based on a series of regional and sector assessments. This paper is a summary of the coastal and marine resources sector review of potential impacts on shorelines, estuaries, coastal wetlands, coral reefs, and ocean margin ecosystems. The assessment considered the impacts of several key drivers of climate change: sea level change; alterations in precipitation patterns and subsequent delivery of freshwater, nutrients, and sediment; increased ocean temperature; alterations in circulation patterns; changes in frequency and intensity of coastal storms; and increased levels of atmospheric CO₂. Increasing rates of sea-level rise and intensity and frequency of coastal storms and hurricanes over the next decades will increase threats to shorelines, wetlands, and coastal development. Estuarine productivity will change in response to alteration in the timing and amount of freshwater, nutrients, and sediment delivery. Higher water temperatures and changes in freshwater delivery will alter estuarine stratification, residence time, and eutrophication. Increased ocean temperatures are expected to increase coral bleaching and higher CO₂ levels may reduce coral calcification, making it more difficult for corals to recover from other disturbances, and inhibiting poleward shifts. Ocean warming is expected to cause poleward shifts in the ranges of many other organisms, including commercial species, and these shifts may have secondary effects on their predators and prey. Although these potential impacts of climate change and variability will vary from system to system, it is important to recognize that they will be superimposed upon, and in many cases intensify, other ecosystem stresses (pollution, harvesting, habitat destruction, invasive species, land and resource use, extreme natural events), which may lead to more significant consequences.     

Impact of Sea-level Rise and Storm Surges on a Coastal Community

A technique to evaluate the risk of storm tides (the combination of a storm surge and tide) under present and enhanced greenhouse conditions has been applied to Cairns on the north-eastern Australian coast. The technique combines a statistical model for cyclone occurrence with a state-of-the-art storm surge inundation model and involves the random generation of a large number of storm tide simulations. The set of simulations constitutes a synthetic record of extreme sea-level events that can be analysed to produce storm tide return periods. The use of a dynamic storm surge model with overland flooding capability means that the spatial extent of flooding is also implicitly modelled. The technique has the advantage that it can readily be modified to include projected changes to cyclone behaviour due to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Sea-level heights in the current climate for return periods of 50, 100, 500 and 1000 years have been determined to be 2.0 m, 2.3 m, 3.0 m and 3.4 m respectively. In an enhanced greenhouse climate (around 2050), projected increases in cyclone intensity and mean sea-level see these heights increase to 2.4 m, 2.8 m, 3.8 m and 4.2 m respectively. The average area inundated by events with a return period greater than 100 years is found to more than double under enhanced greenhouse conditions.     

Understanding Climatic Impacts, Vulnerabilities, and Adaptation in the United States: Building a Capacity for Assessment

Based on the experience of the U.S. National Assessment, we propose a program of research and analysis to advance capability for assessment of climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation options. We identify specific priorities for scientific research on the responses of ecological and socioeconomic systems to climate and other stresses; for improvement in the climatic inputs to impact assessments; and for further development of assessment methods to improve their practical utility to decision-makers. Finally, we propose a new institutional model for assessment, based principally on regional efforts that integrate observations, research, data, applications, and assessment on climate and linked environmental-change issues. The proposed program will require effective collaboration between scientists, resource managers, and other stakeholders, all of whose expertise is needed to define and prioritize key regional issues, characterize relevant uncertainties, and assess potential responses. While both scientifically and organizationally challenging, such an integrated program holds the best promise of advancing our capacity to manage resources and the economy adaptively under a changing climate.     

Limiting the soil degradational impacts of wildfire in pine and eucalyptus forests in Portugal: A comparison of alternative post-fire management practices

In newly burnt and unburnt pine and eucalyptus forest in Portugal, overland flow and soil losses were monitored to assess the impacts of the following post-fire treatments: application of different quantities of logging litter; rip-ploughing compared with minimum tillage prior to planting eucalyptus seedlings; and clearance of pine needles and vegetation. Eucalyptus logging litter reduced soil losses by up to 95 per cent. The impact of pine logging litter was equivocal, but removal of pine needles increased soil losses elevenfold. Implications for soil longevity, soil quality and land management strategy are discussed.     

Reaction softening by dissolution–precipitation creep in a retrograde greenschist facies ductile shear zone,New Hampshire,USA

We describe strain localization by a mixed process of reaction and microstructural softening in a lower greenschist facies ductile fault zone that transposes and replaces middle to upper amphibolite facies fabrics and mineral assemblages in the host schist of the Littleton Formation near Claremont, New Hampshire. Here, Na‐poor muscovite and chlorite progressively replace first staurolite, then garnet, and finally biotite porphyroblasts as the core of the fault zone is approached. Across the transect, higher grade fabric‐forming Na‐rich muscovite is also progressively replaced by fabric‐forming Na‐poor muscovite. The mineralogy of the new phyllonitic fault‐rock produced is dominated by Na‐poor muscovite and chlorite together with late albite porphyroblasts. The replacement of the amphibolite facies porphyroblasts by muscovite and chlorite is pseudomorphic in some samples and shows that the chemical metastability of the porphyroblasts is sufficient to drive replacement. In contrast, element mapping shows that fabric‐forming Na‐rich muscovite is selectively replaced at high‐strain microstructural sites, indicating that strain energy played an important role in activating the dissolution of the compositionally metastable muscovite. The replacement of strong, high‐grade porphyroblasts by weaker Na‐poor muscovite and chlorite constitutes reaction softening. The crystallization of parallel and contiguous mica in the retrograde foliation at the expense of the earlier and locally crenulated Na‐rich muscovite‐defined foliation destroys not only the metastable high‐grade mineralogy, but also its stronger geometry. This process constitutes both reaction and microstructural softening. The deformation mechanism here was thus one of dissolution–precipitation creep, activated at considerably lower stresses than might be predicted in quartzofeldspathic rocks at the same lower greenschist facies conditions.     

A hybrid approach to modeling territorial control in violent armed conflicts

Territorial control is central to the understanding of violent armed conflicts, yet reliable and valid measures of this concept do not exist. We argue that geospatial analysis provides an important perspective to measure the concept. In particular, measuring territorial control can be seen as an application of calculating service areas around points of control. The modeling challenge is acute for areas with limited road infrastructure, where no complete network is available to perform the analysis, and movements largely occur off road. We present a new geospatial approach that applies network analysis on a hybrid transportation network with both actual road data and hexagon‐fishnet‐based artificial road data representing on‐road and off‐road movements, respectively. Movement speed or restriction can be readily adjusted using various input data. Simulating off‐road movement with hexagon‐fishnet‐based artificial road data has a number of advantages including scalability to small or large study areas and flexibility to allow all‐directional travel. We apply this method to measuring territorial control of armed groups in Sub‐Saharan Africa where inferior transport infrastructure is the norm. Based on the Uppsala Conflict Data Program's (UCDP) Georeferenced Event Data (GED) as well as spatial data on terrain, population locations, and limited transportation networks, we enhance the delineation of the specific areas directly controlled by each warring party during civil wars within a given travel time.     

The effects of trophic interactions and spatial competition on algal community composition on Hawaiian coral reefs

Much of coral reef ecology has focused on how human impacts change coral reefs to macroalgal reefs. However, macroalgae may not always be a good indicator of reef decline, especially on reefs with significant sea urchin populations, as found in Kenya and Hawaii. This study tests the effects of trophic interactions (i.e. herbivory by fishes and sea urchins) and spatial competition (between algae and coral) on algal community structure of reefs surrounding two Hawaiian Islands that vary in their level of human impacts. Reef‐building organisms (corals and crustose coralline algae) were less abundant and turf algae were more abundant on Maui as compared to Lanai, where human impacts are lower. In contrast to previous studies, we found no evidence that macroalgae increased with human impacts. Instead, low turf and macroalgal abundance were best explained by the interactive effects of coral cover and sea urchin abundance. Fishing sea urchin predators appeared to have cascading effects on the benthic community. The absence of sea urchin predators and high sea urchin densities correspond to a disproportionately high abundance of turf and crustose coralline algae. We propose that high turf algal abundance is a better indicator of reef decline in Hawaii than high macroalgal abundance because turf abundance was highest on reefs with low coral cover and few fish. The results of this study emphasize that understanding changes in community composition are context‐dependent and that not all degraded reefs look the same.     

Fram Strait ice flux calculations and associated Arctic ice conditions

The areal outflow of ice through Fram Strait during the period 1953–1984 is estimated on a monthly basis from the geostrophic wind and the ice concentration. Summer ice coverage in various sectors of the Arctic is then compared with the computed outflow through Fram Strait in various antecedent periods. Lag correlations indicate that interannual variations of summer ice severity in the Pacific side of the Arctic Basin are consistent with fluctuations of Fram Strait outflow during the previous 3–9 months. The findlings suggest that above-normal outflow of multiyear ice during the winter/spring months may precondition the large-scale pack ice to respond more directly to offshore flow events during the ensuing months.The areas of highest correlation with Fram Strait outflow undergo a pronounced shift in the early 1970's. Coincident changes in the large-scale circulation pattern imply that the source region of the Transpolar Drift Stream shifted westward from the Alaskan to the Siberian waters during this period.