Emission cores in H and K lines

Calculations are made for the center-limb variations of the K₂ and K₃ components of the solar Ca ii K line using an optically thick model of the chromosphere. The center-limb variations are shown to require an increase of Doppler width with height in the chromosphere and to depend critically upon the location of the point where _D has increased by a factor e. Good agreement with observations is found when, and only when, the increase in _D occurs nearly simultaneously with the increase in chromospheric temperature.     

Near bottom variations of turbidity in the St Lawrence estuary

Observations of the turbidity and velocity fields in the near-bottom waters of the St Lawrence estuary were obtained with a package which includes a self-recording attenuance meter and a currentmeter. The latter also measures salinity and temperature. Time series varying in length between 26 h and 26 days, and with repetition rates between one and 15 min are discussed for 3 typical open-channel and nearshore stations. A high-frequency sampling mode provides a means to observe the passage of a frontal disturbance over the bottom during the semi-diurnal cycle. With lower frequency records having lengths of one week to one month, contributions to the turbidity fluctuations due to the spring-neap oscillations, seasonal changes in run-off, and the sudden rise in solid discharge of local tributaries following storms, can be resolved. From turbidity polar diagrams, local onshore sources of particulate suspended matter can be identified. Among other advantages, it is possible from such records to time precisely the occurrence of turbidity peaks in relation to the ebb and flow velocities, to assess the importance of resuspension, and to specify exactly the time rate of change of the turbidity. On the whole, self-recording equipments provide a wealth of information unavailable from more traditional hydrocast sampling techniques.     

Recolonisation of mine tailing by meiofauna in mesocosm and microcosm experiments

The Batu Hijau copper/gold mine in Sumbawa, Indonesia processes ore at approximately 130,000 tpd and discharges tailing via a submarine pipeline to depths below 3000 m at the base of a submarine canyon. The study investigated recolonisation of tailing by meiofauna and its dependence on subsequent accumulation of natural sediment. Microcosm and mesocosm scale experiments were carried out using two tailing and two control samples, the latter comprising defaunated and unaffected natural sediment. All test materials were similar in physical and chemical respects, except for the higher copper concentration in the tailing. The abundances of meiofauna colonising defaunated controls and both tailing samples increased from zero to levels statistically indistinguishable from natural unaffected controls after 97 and 203 days. Colonisation was well established in tailing from freshly mined ore after 40 days, and in oxidized tailing from stockpiled ore after 65 days, and was not dependent on settled natural material.     

A data-synthesis-driven method for detecting and extracting vague cognitive regions

Cognitive regions and places are notoriously difficult to represent in geographic information science and systems. The exact delineation of cognitive regions is challenging insofar as borders are vague, membership within the regions varies non-monotonically, and raters cannot be assumed to assess membership consistently and homogeneously. In a study published in this journal in 2014, researchers devised a novel grid-based task in which participants rated the membership of individual cells in a given region and contrasted this approach to a standard boundary-drawing task. Specifically, the authors assessed the vague cognitive regions of Northern California and Southern California. The boundary between these cognitive regions was found to have variable width, and region membership peaked not at the most northern or southern cells but at substantially less extreme latitudes. The authors thus concluded that region membership is about attitude, not just latitude. In the present work, we reproduce this study by approaching it from a computational fourth-paradigm perspective, i.e., by the synthesis of high volumes of heterogeneous data from various sources. We compare the regions which we identify to those from the human-participants study of 2014, identifying differences and commonalities. Our results show a significant positive correlation to those in the original study. Beyond the extracted regions themselves, we compare and contrast the empirical and analytical approaches of these two methods, one a conventional human-participants study and the other an application of increasingly popular data-synthesis-driven research methods in GIScience.     

High resolution provenancing of long travelled dust deposited on the Southern Alps, New Zealand

On 7 February 2000 an atypical orange discolouration of snowfields in the central Southern Alps, New Zealand occurred following the passage of a cold front. Analysis of snow samples identified fine orangey-brown dust mixed with much coarser grey dust. Air parcel forward trajectories from dust sources in southern and central Australia, where dust storms were reported on 4 February 2000, were computed to identify the deposits source. Geochemical analyses of the dust deposit using 26 trace elements, unaffected by regional air pollution and gravitational sorting, indicate that 20% of the dust was sourced from western New South Wales, with 45% from the eastern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia and the remaining 35% was local New Zealand dust. This provenancing approach provides a spatial resolution of long travelled dust sourcing not previously achieved.     

Holocene beaver damming, fluvial geomorphology, and climate in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We use beaver-pond deposits and geomorphic characteristics of small streams to assess long-term effects of beavers and climate change on Holocene fluvial activity in northern Yellowstone National Park. Although beaver damming has been considered a viable mechanism for major aggradation of mountain stream valleys, this has not been previously tested with stratigraphic and geochronologic data. Thirty-nine radiocarbon ages on beaver-pond deposits fall primarily within the last 4000 yr, but gaps in dated beaver occupation from ~ 2200–1800 and 950–750 cal yr BP correspond with severe droughts that likely caused low to ephemeral discharges in smaller streams, as in modern severe drought. Maximum channel gradient for reaches with Holocene beaver-pond deposits decreases with increasing basin area, implying that stream power limits beaver damming and pond sediment preservation. In northern Yellowstone, the patchy distribution and cumulative thickness of mostly < 2 m of beaver-pond deposits indicate that net aggradation forced by beaver damming is small, but beaver-enhanced aggradation in some glacial scour depressions is greater. Although 20th-century beaver loss and dam abandonment caused significant local channel incision, most downcutting along alluvial reaches of the study streams is unrelated to beaver dam abandonment or predates historic beaver extirpation.     

Regional fish stock management: A model for North-West Africa

Development of a bio-economic model for applications in managing an important north African fishery is reported in this article. The model is applied through identification of baseline conditions and analysis of two alternative fishery management plans; limiting the number of vessels and instituting a closed season. Several key assumptions relative to biological and fleet variables are necessarily made, since in some areas historical data are limited. However, results strongly suggest that rents to resource owners (African coastal countries) can be substantially increased by either method of limiting access to the fishery and by licensing vessels and fishermen.     

TAXATION AND THE CONSUMPTION THEORY OF LAND RENT*

Assume an ideal two-sector city composed of households and a local government. Following an increase in property, sales, or income taxes, the magnitude and direction of the change in welfare, total population and density, rent, and urban radius depend upon the type of tax levied and the ability of households to migrate out of the city. The graphical consumption theory of land rent is used as the medium to explain the change in the geography of the city following an increase in taxation within open and closed settings.