The role of social norms in climate adaptation: Mediating risk perception and flood insurance purchase

Flood insurance plays an important role in climate adaptation by recovering insured losses in the event of catastrophic flooding. Voluntary adoption of flood insurance has been seen as a function of risk perception that is shaped by social norms. This paper attempts to clarify the relationship between these factors. It is based on a household survey conducted in the eastern cities of Australia and involving a total of 501 randomly selected residents. Results of a path analysis show that the likelihood of having flood insurance cover was associated with perceived social norms, but not perceived flood risk. In addition, perceived norms and risk were statistically related to each other. It is concluded that social norms played a mediating role between insuring decision and risk perception. Risk perception might influence the insuring decision indirectly through shaping perception of social norms. This implies that adaptive behaviour is not necessarily a function of risk perception, but an outcome of its impacts upon the ways in which the individuals situate themselves in their social circles or the society. There is a feedback process in which individual perceptions of risk manifest as both a cause and effect, shaping and being shaped by the socio-cultural context.     

济州岛西南泥质区粒度组分变化的古环境应用

利用激光粒度仪对位于东海陆架济州岛西南泥质区的B2孔进行了沉积物粒度分析,根据标准偏差变化检出了B2孔含有4个粒度组分：〉65．6、65．6～10．5、10．5～1．3和〈1．3μm,其中〉65．6μm粗组分含量很低,主要是以底栖有孔虫为主的生源沉积．各组分平均粒径和粒度含量随孔深的变化显示了65．6～10．5μm组分在B2孔含量较高（21％～30％）,变化最明显,是该孔对环境变化最敏感的粒度组分．研究表明该敏感组分的粒度含量和平均粒径变化主要受东亚冬季风的强弱变化制约,其变化恢复的近2ka来东亚冬季风变化和中国东部气候变化序列具有很好的一致性,证明65．6～10．5μm粒度组分可以作为东亚冬季风的替代指标．     

Predicting the impact of management and climate scenarios on groundwater nitrate concentration trends in southern Portugal

Hydrogeology Journal - The dynamics related to evolution of nitrate-contaminated groundwater are analyzed with focus on the impact of intrinsic aquifer properties, agricultural activities and...     

The Quaternary record of eastern Svalbard - an overview

The eastern part Svalbard archipelago and the adjacent areas of the Barents Sea were subject to extensive erosion during the Late Weichselian glaciation. Small remnants of older sediment successions have been preserved on Edgeeya, whereas a more complete succession on Kongsøya contains sediments from two different ice-free periods, both probably older than the Early Weichselian. Ice movement indicators in the region suggest that the Late Weichselian ice radiated from a centre east of Kong Karls Land. On Bjørnøya, on the edge of the Barents Shelf, the lack of raised shorelines or glacial striae from the east indicates that the western parts of the ice sheet were thin during the Late Weichselian. The deglaciation of Edgeøya and Barentsøya occurred ca 10,300 bp as a response to calving of the marine-based portion of the ice sheet. Atlantic water, which does not much influence the coasts of eastern Svalbard today, penetrated the northwestern Barents Sea shortly after the deglaciation. At that time, the coastal environment was characterised by extensive longshore sediment transport and deposition of spits at the mouths of shallow palaeo-fjords.     

Content and distribution of trace metals in surface sediments from the northern Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea and adjacent Arctic areas

Concentrations of trace metals (Zn, Cr, Cu, V, Cd and Pb), total organic carbon (TOC), black carbon (BC) and their granulometry were examined in 25 surface sediment samples from the northern Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea and adjacent areas. Trace metal concentrations in the sediments varied from 21.06-168.21 mg kg(-1) for Zn, 8.91-46.94 mg kg(-1) for Cr, 2.69-49.39 mg kg(-1) for Cu, 32.46-185.54 mg kg(-1) for V, 0.09-0.92 mg kg(-1) for Cd, and 0.95-15.25 mg kg(-1) for Pb. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo) indicated that trace metal contamination (Zn and Cd) existed in some stations of the study area. The distribution of grain size plays an important role in influencing the distribution of trace metals (Zn, Cr, Cu, V, and Pb) in sediments from the Chukchi Sea and adjacent areas.     

基于合成孔径雷达回波信号的海洋溢油监测方法研究

海洋油污染是各类海洋污染中最常见、分布面积最广且危害程度最大的污染之一。近年来,海洋特别是近海人类活动频繁,且随着海上运输和石油加工业的发展,油田井喷、钻井平台爆炸、船舶碰撞等所造成的溢油事故增多,因而,监测海洋溢油具有重要的经济和社会现实意义。研究采用MatLAB工具,通过图像预处理(图像校正和增强)、特征提取和神经网络识别等方法,对合成孔径雷达(SAR)海洋溢油图像进行处理,最终期望实现半自动区分SAR图像上各类目标,并进行多种神经网络方法效果比较。研究首先对SAR海洋溢油图像进行初步人工识别;然后进行图像预处理(几何校正、滤波处理等)和基于灰度共生矩阵的特征值计算;最后,借助神经网络方法对溢油区域和疑似溢油区域进行分类,输出分类处理后的图像。通过输出图像分析发现,神经网络能对SAR海洋溢油图像中溢油、海水、土地3类目标进行明确分类,且RBF神经网络模型精度高于BP神经网络。本文提出的半自动分类方法不仅能提高SAR图像处理效率,将分类目标扩充有溢油和非溢油扩充到溢油、海水、土地3类,提高图像处理的全面性,同时通过比较RBF和BP神经网络在SAR溢油图像分类上的具体优劣,有着较好实际意义。     

Spatiotemporal characteristics of precipitation and extreme events on the Loess Plateau of China between 1957 and 2009

Spatiotemporal trends in precipitation may influence vegetation restoration, and extreme precipitation events profoundly affect soil erosion processes on the Loess Plateau. Daily data collected at 89 meteorological stations in the area between 1957 and 2009 were used to analyze the spatiotemporal trends of precipitation on the Loess Plateau and the return periods of different types of precipitation events classified in the study. Nonparametric methods were employed for temporal analysis, and the Kriging interpolation method was employed for spatial analysis. The results indicate a small decrease in precipitation over the Loess Plateau in last 53 years (although a Mann–Kendall test did not show this decrease to be significant), a southward shift in precipitation isohyets, a slightly delayed rainy season, and prolonged return periods, especially for rainstorm and heavy rainstorm events. Regional responses to global climate change have varied greatly. A slightly increasing trend in precipitation in annual and sub‐annual series, with no obvious shift of isohyets, and an evident decreasing trend in extreme precipitation events were detected in the northwest. In the southeast, correspondingly, a more seriously decreasing trend occurred, with clear shifts of isohyets and a slightly decreasing trend in extreme precipitation events. The result suggests that a negative trend in annual precipitation may have led to decreased soil erosion but an increase in sediment yield during several extreme events. These changes in the precipitation over the Loess Plateau should be noted, and countermeasures should be taken to reduce their adverse impacts on the sustainable development of the region. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.