Bioenergy in energy transformation and climate management

This study explores the importance of bioenergy to potential future energy transformation and climate change management. Using a large inter-model comparison of 15 models, we comprehensively characterize and analyze future dependence on, and the value of, bioenergy in achieving potential long-run climate objectives. Model scenarios project, by 2050, bioenergy growth of 1 to 10 % per annum reaching 1 to 35 % of global primary energy, and by 2100, bioenergy becoming 10 to 50 % of global primary energy. Non-OECD regions are projected to be the dominant suppliers of biomass, as well as consumers, with up to 35 % of regional electricity from biopower by 2050, and up to 70 % of regional liquid fuels from biofuels by 2050. Bioenergy is found to be valuable to many models with significant implications for mitigation and macroeconomic costs of climate policies. The availability of bioenergy, in particular biomass with carbon dioxide capture and storage (BECCS), notably affects the cost-effective global emissions trajectory for climate management by accommodating prolonged near-term use of fossil fuels, but with potential implications for climate outcomes. Finally, we find that models cost-effectively trade-off land carbon and nitrous oxide emissions for the long-run climate change management benefits of bioenergy. The results suggest opportunities, but also imply challenges. Overall, further evaluation of the viability of large-scale global bioenergy is merited.     

The value of bioenergy in low stabilization scenarios: an assessment using REMIND-MAgPIE

This study investigates the use of bioenergy for achieving stringent climate stabilization targets and it analyzes the economic drivers behind the choice of bioenergy technologies. We apply the integrated assessment framework REMIND-MAgPIE to show that bioenergy, particularly if combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a crucial mitigation option with high deployment levels and high technology value. If CCS is available, bioenergy is exclusively used with CCS. We find that the ability of bioenergy to provide negative emissions gives rise to a strong nexus between biomass prices and carbon prices. Ambitious climate policy could result in bioenergy prices of 70 $/GJ (or even 430 $/GJ if bioenergy potential is limited to 100 EJ/year), which indicates a strong demand for bioenergy. For low stabilization scenarios with BECCS availability, we find that the carbon value of biomass tends to exceed its pure energy value. Therefore, the driving factor behind investments into bioenergy conversion capacities for electricity and hydrogen production are the revenues generated from negative emissions, rather than from energy production. However, in REMIND modern bioenergy is predominantly used to produce low-carbon fuels, since the transport sector has significantly fewer low-carbon alternatives to biofuels than the power sector. Since negative emissions increase the amount of permissible emissions from fossil fuels, given a climate target, bioenergy acts as a complement to fossils rather than a substitute. This makes the short-term and long-term deployment of fossil fuels dependent on the long-term availability of BECCS.     

Terrestrial satellite records for climate studies: how long is long enough? A test case for the Sahel

Satellite-based observations provide a unique data record to study the Earth system. Recent efforts of the space agencies to reprocess the archives of satellite observations aim to provide Essential Climate Variable (ECV) data records for manifold applications in climate sciences. Varying lengths of a data record or gaps in a data time series are likely to affect the analysis results obtained from long-term satellite data records. The present paper provides a systematic assessment of the impact of variations in the observational record of terrestrial ECVs for selected climate applications like trend detection and the analysis of relationships between different ECVs. As an example, the Sahelian drought and the subsequent recovery in precipitation and vegetation will be analyzed in detail using observations of precipitation, surface albedo, vegetation index, as well as ocean indices. The paper provides a different perspective on the robustness of long-term satellite observations than previous studies. It shows in particular that the long-term significant trends in precipitation and vegetation dynamics are rather sensitive to the investigation period chosen and that small data gaps can already have a considerable influence on the analysis results. It is therefore a plea for continuous climate observations from space.     

Structural controls on the pathways and sedimentary architecture of submarine channels: New constraints from the Niger Delta

In submarine settings, the growth of structurally influenced topography can play a decisive role in controlling the routing of sediments from shelf-edge to deep water, and can determine depositional architectures and sediment characteristics. Here we use well-constrained examples from the deep water Niger Delta, where gravity-driven deformation has resulted in the development of a large fold and thrust belt, to illustrate how spatial and temporal variations in the rate of deformation have controlled the nature and locus of contrasting depositional styles. Published work in the study area using 3D seismic data has quantified the growth history of the thrust-related folds at multiple locations using line-length-balancing, enabling cumulative strain for individual structures over time and along-strike to be obtained. We integrate this information with seismic interpretation and facies analysis, focusing on the interval of maximum deformation (15 to 3.7 Ma), where maximum strain rates reached 7%/Ma. Within this interval, we observe a vertical change in depositional architecture where: (1) leveed-confined and linear channels pass upward in to (2) ponded lobes with erosionally confined channels and finally (3) channelised sheets. Our analysis demonstrate that this change is tectonically induced and diachronous across the fault array, and we characterise the extent to which structural growth controls both the distribution and the architecture of the turbidite deposits in such settings. In particular, we show that leveed-confined channels exist when they can exploit strain minima between growing faults or at their lateral tips. Conversely, as a result of fault linkage and increased strain rates submarine channels become erosional and may be forced to cross folds at their strain maxima (crests), where their pathways are influenced by across-strike variations in shortening for individual structures. Our results enable us to propose new conceptual models of submarine channel deposition in structurally complex margins, and provide new insights into the magnitude of fault interaction needed to alter depositional style from leveed to erosionally confined channels, or to deflect seabed systems around growing structures.     

A New Face for The Cartographic Journal

Abstract

The logic behind the placement of names on maps is investigated as part of a study, the object of which is the automation of map lettering. After describing the basic principles the author illustrates his solution.     

Formal definition of a user-adaptive and length-optimal routing graph for complex indoor environments

Car routing solutions are omnipresent and solutions for pedestrians also exist. Furthermore, public or commercial buildings are getting bigger and the complexity of their internal structure has increased. Consequently, the need for indoor routing solutions has emerged. Some prototypes are available, but they still lack semantically-enriched modelling (e.g., access constraints, labels, etc.) and are not suitable for providing user-adaptive length-optimal routing in complex buildings. Previous approaches consider simple rooms, concave rooms, and corridors, but important characteristics such as distinct areas in huge rooms and solid obstacles inside rooms are not considered at all, although such details can increase navigation accuracy. By formally defining a weighted indoor routing graph, it is possible to create a detailed and user-adaptive model for route computation. The defined graph also contains semantic information such as room labels, door accessibility constraints, etc. Furthermore, one-way paths inside buildings are considered, as well as three-dimensional building parts, e.g., elevators or stairways. A hierarchical structure is also possible with the presented graph model.     

Landcover Classification in the Taieri River Catchment,New Zealand: A Focus on the Riparian Zone

Abstract

Riparian vegetation has a fundamental influence on the biological, chemical and physical nature of rivers. The quantification of riparian landcover is now recognised as being essential to the holistic study of the ecosystem characteristics of rivers. Medium resolution satellite imagery is now commonly used as an efficient and cost effective method for mapping vegetation cover; however such data often lack the resolution to provide accurate information about vegetation cover within riparian corridors. To assess this, we measure the accuracy of SPOT multispectral satellite imagery for classification of riparian vegetation along the Taieri River in New Zealand. In this paper, we discuss different sampling strategies for the classification of riparian zones. We conclude that SPOT multispectral imagery requires considerable interpretative analysis before being adequate to produce sufficiently detailed maps of riparian vegetation required for use in stream ecological research.     

Field experiment in Soultz-sous-Forêts, 1993: Changes of the pattern of induced seismicity

The data of the known field experiment on water injection in the borehole were analyzed. Parameters of self-similarity of seismicity were estimated in comparison with the changes of water pressure. Changes of seismicity parameters that indicate the redistribution of the failure from lower scales to upper are revealed. The total number of earthquakes per series of the water initiation found to be depended exponentially on the water pressure and seismic activity maximum is delayed gradually relative to beginning of initiation. The growth of induced seismicity zone in time differs from diffusion model for water flow in the porous medium. Analysis carried out from laboratory data indicates that diffusion growth of the failure area may be realized in the dry specimen, without fluid. It could be assumed that both kinetic processes — water and the failure diffusion — can be significant for the development of seismicity induced by the water injection.     

Putting Understanding the Changing Planet in Context: A Response

Understanding the Changing Planet was commissioned by the National Research Council to assess, for an audience of policymakers and funding agencies, key ways in which the “geographical sciences” can help address pressing issues facing society. In keeping with the charge, the report shows how particular empirically focused research initiatives in the geographical sciences can advance understanding of a set of selected major societal issues. Although constrained by a charge focused on the geographical sciences, the committee took an ecumenical approach to science, highlighted many mixed-methods studies, and framed questions that cut across traditional subdisciplinary divisions. It is important to take the report on its own terms and not to view it either as an assessment of the entire discipline of geography or to see it as an effort to encourage geographers to adopt a particular methodological or theoretical stance. Instead, the report should be seen as a study demonstrating, for a broad audience, the types of contributions the geographical sciences can make to addressing major issues of the day.