On the call for issue advocates,or what it takes to make adaptation research useful

This essay discusses the concept of usefulness of research for climate change adaptation. Based on prior research and stakeholder interactions with policymakers and practitioners in the Nordic countries, we contend that critical issues related to the usefulness of adaptation research seem less associated with content (i.e. research outputs), but rather centre around the efforts made to design and communicate research, that is, to put research at the service of society and make the case for adaptation on the political agenda. This, we argue, to some extent mirrors the situation and political context in the Nordic countries, where adaptation in many locations still is an issue in its infancy, not firmly established on the political agendas, and where working procedures are not yet institutionally settled. In this context, science is considered and sometimes used as a discursive tool to make the case for adaptation. Based on the calls for research that inspires, raises hope and helps to raise the issue of adaptation on the political agendas, we elaborate the role of honest issue advocates for researchers in the field of adaptation science.     

The Weierbach experimental catchment in Luxembourg: A decade of critical zone monitoring in a temperate forest - from hydrological investigations to ecohydrological perspectives

The Weierbach experimental catchment (0.45 km²) is the most instrumented and studied sub-catchment in the Alzette River basin in Luxembourg. Within the last decade, it has matured towards an interdisciplinary critical zone observatory focusing on a better understanding of hydrological and hydro-geochemical processes. The Weierbach catchment is embedded in an elevated sub-horizontal plateau, characterized by slate bedrock and representative of the Ardennes Massif. Its climate is semi-marine, with precipitation being rather evenly distributed throughout the year. Base flow is lowest from July to September, essentially due to higher losses through evapotranspiration in summer. The regolith is composed of Devonian slates, overlaid by Pleistocene slope deposits and entirely covered by forest with 70% deciduous and 30% coniferous trees. Since 2009, the Weierbach has been extensively equipped for continuously monitoring water fluxes and physico-chemical parameters within different compartments of the critical zone. Additionally, these compartments are sampled fortnightly at several locations to analyze δ¹⁸O and δ²H isotopic composition of water including rainfall, throughfall, soil water, groundwater and streamwater. This ongoing monitoring and sampling programme is used for answering pressing questions related to fundamental catchment functions of water infiltration, storage, mixing and release in forest ecosystems. A recently started research line aims at investigating interactions between forest eco-hydrosystems with the atmosphere and understanding how catchments will respond to a non-stationary climate.     

The influence of binder/aggregate ratio on the pore properties and strength of repair mortars

Repair mortars with different B/Ag (binder/aggregate) ratios and natural stone were studied in order to understand the influence of limestone aggregate on the properties of mortar and to check the compatibility of repair mortar with a porous limestone. Three different types of mortars with three different aggregate contents were evaluated by using mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and water saturation method (WSM). Changes in density and uniaxial compressive strength as a function of aggregate content were also recorded. For comparison the properties of the porous limestone were also tested, since it is used in monuments and also as aggregate in the mortar. Tested mortars had average porosities of 27.0 % (±2.0), while oolitic limestone has higher average porosity of 32.2 % (±1.9). The limestone has mainly medium and large pore radii (1–100 μm) while the repair mortars even with high aggregate content has predominantly smaller pores. All but one pure repair mortars have higher uniaxial compressive strength than that of the oolitic limestone. The strength decreases while porosity increases with increasing aggregate content.     

Mollusc-based paleoecological investigations of the Late Copper — Early Bronze Age earth mounds (kurgans) on the Great Hungarian Plain

The malacological material of the mound bodies (kurgans) of the Great Hungarian Plain indicates a mixed vegetation of dry and humid environments, developed on a mosaic of alkaline and chernozem soils in the period of the construction of the kurgan. The malacofauna that evolved in the upper soil horizon of the mound indicates the extremely dry environmental conditions of steppes, charaterized by the dominance of thermoxerophilous species. Dominant species of this kurgan are Chondrula tridens, Helicopsis striata, Granaria frumentum and Cepaea vindobonensis. The species composition shows that there are differences in the malacofauna of the Danube-Tisa Interfluves region compared to that of the lowlands east of River Tisza, indicated by the higher dominance of Granaria frumentum and Helicopsis striata in the former region. Following the construction of the kurgans an island-like, dry habitat developed on their surface, covered by black soil and populated by a steppe fauna, the composition of which is comparable mostly with the mollusc fauna of loess steppes and forest steppe, irrespectively of the floodplain or wind-blown sand character of the original surface.     

Pyrophanite pseudomorphs after perovskite in Perkupa serpentinites (Hungary): a microtextural study and geological implications

Pyrophanite in serpentinite at Perkupa (Hungary) is described in detail for the first time as a replacement product of perovskite. It occurs as a 20- to 30-μm-wide rim, mantling a remnant core composed of perovskite or its alteration products. The pyrophanite rim consists of an inner zone, representing a pseudomorph after perovskite, and an outer overgrowth zone. Raman mapping and electron backscatter diffraction data show that the pyrophanite rims typically represent single crystals rather than being composed of multiple domains in different crystallographic orientations. Perovskite occurs exclusively in the core of pyrophanite and was identified as the orthorhombic CaTiO₃ phase, based on Raman spectra. Heterogeneous, polyphase mineral cores, consisting of calcite, anatase and/or brookite, kassite, and Mn-bearing kassite, in some cases in association with relict perovskite, are typical in the larger pyrophanite-rimmed grains. The crystallographically coherent pyrophanite rims could have formed through a process where the precursor perovskite crystal acted as a structural template for the newly forming phase, that is, by interface-coupled dissolution reprecipitation during serpentinization of the precursor rock. This alteration of perovskite to pyrophanite was not complete, resulting in the presence of perovskite fragments enclosed in pyrophanite. During the metamorphic evolution of the rock, some of the remnant perovskite cores further altered to TiO₂ polymorphs (anatase and brookite) and calcite, via transitional alteration products.     

Filter design for GOCE gravity gradients

The GOCE satellite observes gravity gradients with unprecedented accuracy and resolution. The GOCE observations are reliable within a well-defined measurement bandwidth. In this study, different finite and infinite impulse response filters have been designed to obtain the demanded pass. Exhaustive time and frequency domain investigations prove that the proposed infinite impulse response filter can be a real competitor of the existing solution of the filtering problem.     

News Items

The process of reading a topographic map requires users to recognize and learn the cartographic symbols of the key (or legend) while interpreting the territory as depicted on the map at a given level of abstraction (the form and nature of features, their saliency and relationships). We present the results of an empirical user study that aims to identify and assess the main graphical characteristics that are used by map users to recognize the design principles which constitute the topographic mapping style adopted by IGN (Institut National de l'Information Géographique et Forestière), France. Our results suggest that 91% of the participants were able to recognize an IGN-France topographic map amongst other topographic map products. We also determine which graphical characteristics play a role in the recognition of this cartographic style, either by visual memory or by visual perception, and identify the representation of relief, including contour lines and shaded relief, as one of the major graphical characteristics of the topographic mapping style of IGN-France. Moreover, the participants of our study considered the representation of touristic POI (points of interest), toponymy, typography, the main roads network, the individual buildings and the forests, to be essential for stylistic recognition.     

Spatial analysis of long-term land-use development in regard to physiotopes: case studies from the Carpathians

Abstract

The influence of abiotic conditions on land-use development since the nineteenth century is assessed in case studies from the Czech and Slovak Carpathians. Hypotheses claim that significant land-use changes have occurred, but without pronounced differences because of similar abiotic conditions in the case studies. Abiotic conditions are expressed by physiotopes, which contain information on georelief, lithology, and soil. Our results indicate a high rate of land-use change in both case studies, and a detailed analysis of changes in two sequential periods reveals significant differences in five of the six periods compared in these case studies. Areas along state border seem to be more affected by anthropogenic changes as the proportion of plots with stable land use was only 25.7% in the Czech area (Starý Hrozenkov, Vápenice, and Vy?kovec) compared to 47.6% in the Slovak area (Lietavská Svinná-Babkov). Repeated land-use changes occurred mostly in valley floors and adjacent slopes. Land-use changes in the study areas are only partly explained by the abiotic conditions in physiotope and morphometric attributes, as shown by multiple correspondence analysis. The crucial difference in land use is in different settlement structures, which reflect differences in historical development.     

A 2300-year record of environmental change from SW Anatolia, Lake Burdur, Turkey

This work deals with changes recorded by lacustrine sediments from SW Anatolia in Turkey in the context of increasing stress on the Mediterranean environment in relation to human-climate-environmental interactions. Paleolimnological investigations were carried out on Lake Burdur (Lake District geographical subregion of Turkey), which has been subject to rapid changes in its hydrological system that caused a ~10-m water-level drop in the last 30 years. Study of a 5-m-long sediment core, taken from the recently dried out part of the lake, shows significant variation in granulometry, clay mineralogy, nitrogen and organic carbon content and its isotopic composition (?¹³C_org) throughout the sedimentary sequence, which represents the last 2,300 years. Chronology is based on radiocarbon dates obtained from plant fragments. The results provide a record of environmental changes, including biological productivity and erosion intensity, in relation to changes in water level and humidity of the area. The lowest previous water level, which is the same as observed today, occurred at approximately 300 BC, after which time a water-level increase led to a maximum stage between AD 200 and 1200. From AD 1200 to the present, the climate became drier accompanied by an overall lowering of water level, with periods of water-level fluctuations superimposed. The lake never dried out as is observed today at the coring site. The present drop in the lake water level is attributed to human activity rather than to climate change. This record of climate and environmental change in the Lake Burdur area appears to be stratigraphically complete. This study provides rare data for the late Holocene in Anatolia as well as information about rapid climate changes during specific periods. The influence of both the Northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation and Indian monsoon on the east Mediterranean remains unclear. Nevertheless, the North Sea—Caspian atmospheric teleconnection could be an important factor that explains local differences in climatic evolution of Anatolia during the period considered.     

Chironomid assemblages in cores from multiple water depths reflect oxygen-driven changes in a deep French lake over the last 150 years

We sampled modern chironomids at multiple water depths in Lake Annecy, France, before reconstructing changes in chironomid assemblages at sub-decadal resolution in sediment cores spanning the last 150 years. The lake is a large, deep (z_max = 65 m), subalpine waterbody that has recently returned to an oligotrophic state. Comparison between the water-depth distributions of living chironomid larvae and subfossil head capsules (HC) along three surface-sediment transects indicated spatial differences in the influence of external forcings on HC deposition (e.g. tributary effects). The transect with the lowest littoral influence and the best-preserved, depth-specific chironomid community characteristics was used for paleolimnological reconstructions at various water depths. At the beginning of the twentieth century, oxygen-rich conditions prevailed in the lake, as inferred from M. contracta-type and Procladius sp. at deep-water sites (i.e. cores from 56 to 65 m) and Paracladius sp. and H. grimshawi-type in the core from 30 m depth. Over time, chironomid assemblages in cores from all three water depths converged toward the dominance of S. coracina-type, indicating enhanced hypoxia. The initial change in chironomid assemblages from the deep-water cores occurred in the 1930s, at the same time that an increase in lake trophic state is inferred from an increase in total organic carbon (TOC) concentration in the sediment. In the 1950s, an assemblage change in the core from 30 m water depth reflects the rapid expansion of the hypoxic layer into the shallower region of the lake. Lake Annecy recovered its oligotrophic state in the 1990s. Chironomid assemblages, however, still indicate hypoxic conditions, suggesting that modern chironomid assemblages in Lake Annecy are decoupled from the lake trophic state. Recent increases in both TOC and the hydrogen index indicate that changes in pelagic functioning have had a strong indirect influence on the composition of the chironomid assemblage. Finally, the dramatic decrease in HC accumulation rate over time suggests that hypoxic conditions are maintained through a feedback loop, wherein the accumulation of (un-consumed) organic matter and subsequent bacterial respiration prevent chironomid re-colonization. We recommend study of sediment cores from multiple water depths, as opposed to investigation of only a single core from the deepest part of the lake, to assess the details of past ecological changes in large deep lakes.