The Development of Seasonal and Inter-Annual Climate Forecasting

A review of the development and status of seasonal to inter-annual climate forecasting up until 2001 is presented covering not only the successes but also identifying some of the major challenges remaining. Included is discussion on the history of the enterprise; the scientific basis of modern seasonal to inter-annual prediction and its background of predictability theory; the current status of predictions and the measurement of their skill; the experiences and consequences of the 1997–1998 El Niño event; approaches to linking forecasts with applications; and a view to the future.     

Shields for the starship Enterprise

Ruth Bamford, Robert Bingham and Mike Hapgood discuss the physics behind shielding spacecraft from solar and cosmic radiation with mini-magnetospheres.     

Year 11 geography teachers' response to the Darfield earthquake

When events such as the Darfield earthquake take place, it is assumed that the response from the geography teaching community provides the opportunity to reinforce the relevance of geography. This article reports the findings of a questionnaire which seeks to explore the question, ‘What were the characteristics of the learning and teaching of Year 11 Geography teachers in the weeks following the Darfield earthquake, September 4, 2010?’ The data offer empirical support for the agency of geography teachers' impressing the relevance of the subject to school students in response to an extreme natural event under New Zealand's collective backyard.     

High speed photon-counting imager using a position sensitive diode

A new use for a 2-dimensional position sensitive diode (PSD) is described. A duolateral PSD was used with a microchannel plate image intensifier as a proof-of-concept photon counting (event driven) imager for astronomical imaging and photometry. This produced an imager capable of counting 25–30 kcps over the astronomical bands B, V & R, with an overall efficiency of ∼19%.     

Ecological impacts of air pollution from road transport on local vegetation

Motor vehicles emit a cocktail of pollutants and are a major contributor to ground-level air pollution, but little is known regarding the ecological impacts of air pollution from roads on the surrounding vegetation. Data are presented on vegetation at three sites adjacent to two major motorways in the UK, comprising two woodland sites and one blanket bog site. Surveys of oak and beech tree health (at the woodland sites) and species composition (at the blanket bog site) were undertaken along transects away from the motorway.     

The influence of basement faults on local extension directions: Insights from potential field geophysics and field observations

Complex arrays of faults in extensional basins are potentially influenced by pre‐existing zones of weakness in the underlying basement, such as faults, shear zones, foliation, and terrane boundaries. Separating the influence of such basement heterogeneities from far‐field tectonics proves to be challenging, especially when the timing and character of deformation cannot be interpreted from seismic reflection data. Here we aim to determine the influence of basement heterogeneities on fault patterns in overlying cover rocks using interpretations of potential field geophysical data and outcrop‐scale observations. We mapped >1 km to meter scale fractures in the western onshore Gippsland Basin of southeast Australia and its underlying basement. Overprinting relationships between fractures and mafic intrusions are used to determine the sequence of faulting and reactivation, beginning with initial Early Cretaceous rifting. Our interpretations are constrained by a new Early Cretaceous U‐Pb zircon isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry age (116.04 ± 0.15 Ma) for an outcropping subvertical, NNW‐SSE striking dolerite dike hosted in Lower Cretaceous Strzelecki Group sandstone. NW‐SE to NNW‐SSE striking dikes may have signaled the onset of Early Cretaceous rifting along the East Gondwana margin at ca. 105–100 Ma. Our results show that rift faults can be oblique to their expected orientation when pre‐existing basement heterogeneities are present, and they are orthogonal to the extension direction where basement structures are less influential or absent. NE‐SW to ENE‐WSW trending Early Cretaceous rift‐related normal faults traced on unmanned aerial vehicle orthophotos and digital aerial images of outcrops are strongly oblique to the inferred Early Cretaceous N‐S to NNE‐SSW regional extension direction. However, previously mapped rift‐related faults in the offshore Gippsland Basin (to the east of the study area) trend E‐W to WNW‐ESE, consistent with the inferred regional extension direction. This discrepancy is attributed to the influence of NNE‐SSW trending basement faults underneath the onshore part of the basin, which caused local re‐orientation of the Early Cretaceous far‐field stress above the basement during rifting. Two possible mechanisms for inheritance are discussed—reactivation of pre‐existing basement faults or local re‐orientation of extension vectors. Multiple stages of extension with rotated extension vectors are not required to achieve non‐parallel fault sets observed at the rift basin scale. Our findings demonstrate the importance of (1) using integrated, multi‐scale datasets to map faults and (2) mapping basement geology when investigating the structural evolution of an overlying sedimentary basin.     

Limnological and sedimentary processes at Sawtooth Lake,Canadian High Arctic,and their influence on varve formation

This paper synthesizes data collected to document the modern limnological and sedimentary processes in South Sawtooth Lake located on northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. Field observations show that the finely laminated sediments deposited in the distal basin are formed by the settling of overflows and interflows, and in rare occasions, by non-erosive hyperconcentrated density flows. Thin-sections of these sediments allowed for the classification of the sedimentary fabrics into six facies, each representing different limnological processes. The sediments in this distal basin are considered to be continuous and annually laminated (varved) based on radioisotope analyses, and both limnological and sedimentological evidence.