A Tsunami Detection and Warning-focused Sea Level Station Metadata Web Service

Currently information used to describe sea-level stations (such as location, collection and transmission capabilities, operator identification, etc.) is distributed among databases held by multiple agencies, institutions and organizations. Such information could be used to support detection and warning. However, the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26 December, 2004 made it clear that such information is not readily accessible, is difficult to use, and is often incomplete. In addressing this issue, agencies within the Pacific region are collaborating to develop a web service to expose station metadata enabling various types of real-time data mining client applications that support decision-making and strategic planning at Tsunami Warning Centers. Because information about sea levels has a broad range of applications, integration of this information in a way that is comprehensive, and enhances its access and use, would have a tremendous impact on lives and livelihoods.     

Satellite image based vegetation classification of a large area using limited ground reference data: a case study in the Usa Basin, north-east European Russia

Predicted global changes can be studied effectively by combining spatially explicit data sets on vegetation and other landscape properties with process models. However, detailed knowledge of the vegetation distribution of remote Arctic areas is relatively scarce. This paper shows how a mesoscale vegetation and land cover classification of a large, remote Arctic area can be conducted at a fine spatial resolution (30 m cell size) using a limited ground reference data set. The study area is the catchment of the River Usa (93 500 km²) in north-eastern European Russia. Vegetation zones in the Usa Basin range from taiga in the south to forest-tundra and tundra in the north, and to alpine in the Ural mountains in the east. Classification was done using a mosaic of spectrally adjusted Landsat TM5 images from five different dates and a semi-supervised method. Ground reference data were collected during the summers of 1998, 1999 and 2000. Accuracy of the 21-class vegetation type/land cover classification produced was tested against test points interpreted from oblique aerial photographs taken from a helicopter (logistic limitations prohibited the collection of representative ground reference data). The main vegetation types (forests, willow dominated stands and meadows, peatlands, tundra heaths, mainly unvegetated areas, and water bodies) were distinguished with relatively high accuracy: 84% of the test points were classified correctly. Spatially detailed land cover data sets like the one described here allow detailed landscape-level analysis and process modelling on many different subjects.     

Crowdsourcing The National Map

Using crowdsourcing techniques, the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) project known as “The National Map Corps (TNMCorps)” encourages citizen scientists to collect and edit data about man-made structures in an effort to provide accurate and authoritative map data for the USGS National Geospatial Program’s web-based The National Map. VGI is not new to the USGS, but past efforts have been hampered by available technologies. Building on lessons learned, TNMCorps volunteers are successfully editing 10 different structure types in all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.     

Biomarker responses in flounder (Platichthys flesus) and mussel (Mytilus edulis) in the Klaipeda-Būtinge area (Baltic Sea)

During the EU project BEEP a battery of biomarkers was applied in flounder (Platichthys flesus) and the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) collected at three locations off the Lithuanian coast (Baltic Sea) in June and September 2001 and 2002. The elevated biomarker responses in specimens sampled in September 2001 were apparently related to the extensive dredging activities in the Klaipeda port area and subsequent dumping of contaminated sediments. High concentrations of organic pollutants (organochlorines and PBDEs) were also measured in the tissues of both indicator species. In addition, response levels of genotoxicity, cytotoxicity, immunotoxicity as well as concentrations of PAH metabolites in the bile of flounder showed elevations in 2002 after an oil spill in the Būtinge oil terminal in November 2001. In flounder, biomarker measurements 10 months after the spill indicated recovery processes but in mussels a high level of genotoxicity could still be observed 22 months later. The present study illustrates the usefulness of the multi-biomarker approach in the detection of biological effects of pollution in this region of the Baltic Sea.     

Managing organizational change in an international scientific network: A study of ICES reform processes

Organizations involved in the governance of natural resources are challenged to adjust to the call for more holistic management approaches. This often necessitates organizational change. Here change processes in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) during the years 1998–2009 are investigated using semi-structured interviews combined with observations and review of documents. Several organizational reforms were implemented during the time period studied. The major drivers were the need to improve efficiency and a striving for better integration between different components within the organization. The reform processes were driven forward by individuals who navigated between opportunities and constrains embedded in the network structure of ICES. This required good leadership and communication skills. Broad consultations were important to ensure support within the ICES community. By increasing the understanding of the dynamics of change in organizations, which operate at the science–policy interface developments in desired directions can be facilitated.     

Deformed graptolites, finite strain and volume loss during cleavage formation in rocks of the taconic slate belt, New York and Vermont, U.S.A.

An analysis of graptolites in the Taconic slate belt of eastern New York and western Vermont (U.S.A.) shows that they are nearly ideal strain markers. For the three species used in this study, Orthograptus whitfieldii, Orthograptus calcaratus and Climacograptus bicornis, the spacing of thecae is constant except for the first five or so thecae in the proximal part of the fossil rhabdosome. Further, the thecal apertures are perpendicular to the long axis of the stipe. Observations of the thecal spacing in deformed rocks leads to a determination of extension (e=(l_f−l₀)/l₀) and a measure of the angle between thecal aperture and stipe axis yields a direct determination of angular shear strain. In practice, we find it is most straightforward to use length changes to determine the magnitude of principal strains. In Taconic slates, e₁ ranges from 1.0 to 0.24, e₂ ranges from 0.23 to −0.43 and e₃ ranges from −0.56 to −0.74. Thus, we find that the absolute finite strain in these slates is constrictional at three sites, plane strain at another and a true flattening at only one site. An examination of volume changes based on strain results in determinations of between 81% volume loss and 7% volume gain, with volume losses between 28% and 81% in 9 out of 10 calculations. These conclusions are in accord with previous determinations of volume loss based on reduction spot analyses and are consistent with the observation that pressure dissolution was a common grain scale deformation process in cleavage formation but that these slates lack abundant veins, fibrous overgrowths or other identifiable sites of reprecipitation.     

Interpretation of the light curves of some non-atmospheric bodies in the solar system

A model to explain the phase curves of some non-atmospheric bodies in the solar system has been developed. It is found that, for instance, phase curves of the Moon, the Galilean satellites of Jupiter, some asteroids and Saturn's rings are in agreement with the given model.     

Finite element analysis of progressive failure in long slopes

Progressive failure in long natural clay slopes with an underlying weak shear zone is studied. The clay slope is assumed to be elastic–perfectly plastic, whereas the shear zone may have an elastic–plastic strain softening behaviour. The failure will occur due to the development of large shear deformations in the weak zone. The general behaviour, including the possibility of progressive failure, can be studied by the use of a one-dimensional finite element model. Other interesting matters which can be studied are critical load, critical disturbance and critical length of the slope. Numerical examples show the overall behaviour due to different residual shear strengths of the weak layer, end disturbance or change of pore pressure in the weak layer. Although simple, the proposed finite element model provides a practically applicable tool for the prediction of whether progressive failure will occur and in which manner the local failure will propagate.