Household perceptions of climate change and preferences for mitigation action: the case of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in Australia

The study aims to reveal Australian households?? perceptions of climate change and their preferences for mitigation action. A web-based survey was conducted in November 2008 in which over 600 households from the state of New South Wales were asked for their willingness to bear extra household expenditure to support the ??Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme??, an emissions trading scheme proposed by the Australian government. The results of the study can be summarized in four key findings. First, respondents?? willingness to pay for climate change mitigation is significantly influenced by their beliefs of future temperature rise. Support for the policy increased at a decreasing rate as the perceived temperature change rose. Second, perceptions of policy failure have a significant negative impact on respondents?? support for the proposed mitigation measure. The higher the perceived likelihood that the measure would not deliver any outcome, the lower was the likelihood that respondents would support the policy. Third, respondent preferences for the proposed policy are influenced by the possibility of reaching a global agreement on emissions reduction. Sample respondents stated significantly higher values for the policy when the biggest polluting countries implement a similar scheme. Finally, respondents?? willingness to take action against climate change, both at the national and household level, is found to be influenced by their level of mass-media exposure. Particularly, those respondents who watched ??An Inconvenient Truth?? were significantly more likely to act for climate change mitigation than others.     

Stability and equation of state of post-aragonite BaCO3

At ambient conditions, witherite is the stable form of BaCO₃ and has the aragonite structure with space group Pmcn. Above ~10 GPa, BaCO₃ adopts a post-aragonite structure with space group Pmmn. High-pressure and high-temperature synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments were used to study the stability and equation of state of post-aragonite BaCO₃, which remained stable to the highest experimental P–T conditions of 150 GPa and 2,000 K. We obtained a bulk modulus K ₀ = 88(2) GPa with $K'$  = 4.8(3) and V ₀ = 128.1(5) ų using a third-order Birch-Murnaghan fit to the 300 K experimental data. We also carried out density functional theory (DFT) calculations of enthalpy (H) of two structures of BaCO₃ relative to the enthalpy of the post-aragonite phase. In agreement with previous studies and the current experiments, the calculations show aragonite to post-aragonite phase transitions at ~8 GPa. We also tested a potential high-pressure post–post-aragonite structure (space group C222 ₁ ) featuring four-fold coordination of oxygen around carbon. In agreement with previous DFT studies, ΔH between the C222 ₁ structure and post-aragonite (Pmmn) decreases with pressure, but the Pmmn structure remains energetically favorable to pressures greater than 200 GPa. We conclude that post–post-aragonite phase transformations of carbonates do not follow systematic trends observed for post-aragonite transitions governed solely by the ionic radii of their metal cations.     

Chemically stabilized soil organic carbon fractions in a reclaimed minesoil chronosequence: implications for soil carbon sequestration

With adoption of appropriate reclamation strategies, minesoils can sequester significant amount of soil organic carbon (SOC). The objective of this study was to isolate different SOC fractions and coal-C in a reclaimed minesoil chronosequence and assess effects of increasing time since reclamation on each SOC fraction and selected soil properties. The chronosequence was comprised of four minesoils with time since reclamation ranging between 2 and 22 years. Total SOC (TSOC, summation of all SOC fractions), ranged between 20 and 8 g kg^?1, respectively, at the oldest (Mylan Park) and youngest (WVO1) minesite, indicating increasing SOC sequestration along the chronosequence. The humin fraction accounted for about 43 and 7 % of TSOC, respectively, at Mylan Park and WVO1, indicating increasing humification and biochemical stabilization of SOC with increasing time since reclamation. At WVO1, >60 % of TSOC was apportioned among the acid-hydrolysable (labile) and mineral-bound SOC fractions. Total soil carbon (TSC, TSOC + coal-C) were significantly (p < 0.05) related to the humin fraction in older minesoils, whereas with the acid-hydrolysable (labile) fraction in the younger minesoils indicating that C stabilization mechanisms differed substantially along the chronosequence. Coal-C was unrelated to any SOC fraction at all minesites indicating that SOC sequestration estimations in this chronosequence was unaffected by coal-C. Soil cation exchange capacity and electrical conductivity were significantly (p < 0.05) related to the humin fraction at Mylan Park while to the acid-hydrolysable and mineral-bound SOC fractions at WVO1 indicating that the relative influences of different SOC fractions on soil quality indicators differed substantially along the chronosequence.     

Radio-continuum study of the nearby Sculptor group Galaxies. Part 2: NGC 55 at λ=20, 13, 6 and 3 cm

A series of new radio-continuum (λ=20, 13, 6 and 3 cm) mosaic images focused on the NGC 55 galactic system were produced using archived observational data from the Australia Telescope Compact Array. These new images are both very sensitive (down to rms=33 μJy) and feature high angular resolution (down to <4″). Using these newly created images, 66 previously unidentified discrete sources are identified. Of these sources, 46 were classified as background sources, 11 as H?ii regions and 6 as supernova remnant candidates. This relatively low number of SNR candidates detected coupled with the low number of large H?ii regions is consistent with the estimated low star formation rate of the galaxy at 0.06 M _⊙?year^?1. Our spectral index map shows that the core of galaxy appears to have a shallow spectral index between α=?0.2 and ?0.4. This indicates that the core of the galaxy is a region of high thermal radiation output.     

Automated Extraction of Natural Drainage Density Patterns for the Conterminous United States through High-Performance Computing

Hydrographic networks form an important data foundation for cartographic base mapping and for hydrologic analysis. Drainage density patterns for these networks can be derived to characterize local landscape, bedrock and climate conditions, and further inform hydrological and geomorphological analysis by indicating areas where too few headwater channels are represented. Natural drainage density patterns are not consistently available in existing hydrographical data bases for the United States because compilation and capture criteria historically varied, along with climate, during the period of data collection over the various terrain types throughout the country. This paper demonstrates an automated workflow that is being tested in a high-performance computing environment by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to map natural drainage density patterns at the 1:24,000-scale (24K) for the conterminous United States. Hydrographic network drainage patterns may be extracted from elevation data to guide corrections for existing hydrographic network data. The paper describes three stages in this workflow including data pre-processing, natural channel extraction, and generation of drainage density patterns from extracted channels. The workflow is implemented in parallel fashion by simultaneously executing procedures on multiple subbasin watersheds within the U.S. National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). Pre-processing defines parameters needed for the extraction process. Extraction proceeds in standard fashion: filling sinks, developing flow direction and weighted flow accumulation rasters. Drainage channels with assigned Strahler stream order are extracted within a subbasin and simplified. Drainage density patterns are then estimated with 100-m resolution and subsequently smoothed with a low-pass filter. The extraction process is found to be of better quality in higher slope terrains. Concurrent processing through the high-performance computing environment is shown to facilitate and refine the choice of drainage density extraction parameters and more readily improve extraction procedures than conventional processing.     

A method to generalize stream flowlines in small-scale maps by a variable flow-based pruning threshold

The aim of this paper is to explore and describe a method of automated generalization designed to produce a map which strikes a balance between cartographic and hydrologic representations. Following a discussion of scholarly literature on generalization, we describe a novel method for automated generalization of hydrographic stream data, using the National Hydrography Data Set (NHDPlus) as an example.

Traditional hydrography shows a fairly uniform density of stream flowlines over space. While this is pleasing to the eye, traditional methods tend to under-represent rivers in humid areas and over-represent them in arid areas. We address this problem through a method in automated generalization to produce a high-quality presentation of hydrographic data, suitable for display as a wall map or in an atlas. Streams are pruned based on a variable flow threshold, derived from the local mean annual precipitation by a regression equation.

After running the model using different parameters, we produce a more satisfactory portrayal of stream networks in the United States that communicates the flow of water through rivers and reflects the regional climate. Specific advantages in generalizing with variable flow threshold include (1) the method allows for fine gradations in output scale; (2) the output maps tend to minimize density variations in the raw data; (3) the subjective criteria are easily derived; and (4) the method can be performed rapidly on large data sets, as long as the stream data has been enriched with reliable flow rates.     

A noniterative design procedure for supplemental brace–damper systems in single‐degree‐of‐freedom systems

In this paper, a method for designing supplemental brace–damper systems in single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) structures is presented. We include the effects of the supporting brace stiffness in the dynamic response by using a viscoelastic Maxwell model. On the basis of the study of an SDOF under ground excitation, we propose a noniterative design procedure for simultaneously specifying both the damper and the brace while assuring a desired structural performance. It is shown that to increase the damper size beyond the value delivered by the proposed criteria will not provide any improvement but actually worsen the structural response. The design method presented here shows excellent agreement with the FEMA 273 design approach but offers solutions closer to optimality. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of hydrological seasonality across northern catchments using monthly precipitation–runoff polygon metrics

Abstract

Seasonality is an important hydrological signature for catchment comparison. Here, the relevance of monthly precipitation–runoff polygons (defined as scatter points of 12 monthly average precipitation–runoff value pairs connected in the chronological monthly sequence) for characterizing seasonality patterns was investigated to describe the hydrological behaviour of 10 catchments spanning a climatic gradient across the northern temperate region. Specifically, the research objectives were to: (a) discuss the extent to which monthly precipitation–runoff polygons can be used to infer active hydrological processes in contrasting catchments; (b) test the ability of quantitative metrics describing the shape, orientation and surface area of monthly precipitation–runoff polygons to discriminate between different seasonality patterns; and (c) examine the value of precipitation–runoff polygons as a basis for catchment grouping and comparison. This study showed that some polygon metrics were as effective as monthly average runoff coefficients for illustrating differences between the 10 catchments. The use of precipitation–runoff polygons was especially helpful to look at the dynamics prevailing in specific months and better assess the coupling between precipitation and runoff and their relative degree of seasonality. This polygon methodology, linked with a range of quantitative metrics, could therefore provide a new simple tool for understanding and comparing seasonality among catchments.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor K. Heal

Citation Ali, G., Tetzlaff, D., Kruitbos, L., Soulsby, C., Carey, S., McDonnell, J., Buttle, J., Laudon, H., Seibert, J., McGuire, K., and Shanley, J., 2013. Analysis of hydrological seasonality across northern catchments using monthly precipitation–runoff polygon metrics. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (1), 56–72.