Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment

This paper reviews and synthesizes findings from scholarly work on linkages among rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment. Using the livelihood approach as an organizing framework, we examine evidence on the multiple pathways linking environmental variables and the following demographic variables: fertility, migration, morbidity and mortality, and lifecycles. Although the review draws on studies from the entire developing world, we find the majority of microlevel studies have been conducted in either marginal (mountainous or arid) or frontier environments, especially Amazonia. Though the linkages are mediated by many complex and often context-specific factors, there is strong evidence that dependence on natural resources intensifies when households lose human and social capital through adult morbidity and mortality, and qualified evidence for the influence of environmental factors on household decision-making regarding fertility and migration. Two decades of research on lifecycles and land cover change at the farm level have yielded a number of insights about how households make use of different land-use and natural resource management strategies at different stages. A thread running throughout the review is the importance of managing risk through livelihood diversification, ensuring future income security, and culture-specific norms regarding appropriate and desirable activities and demographic responses. Recommendations for future research are provided.     

Reanalysis of the Historic AFTAC Bolide Infrasound Database

We have recently digitized and partially reanalyzed the historic bolide infrasonic database. These 10 events were originally detected by the U.S. Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) from ∼1960 to 1974. In this paper we present the first preliminary reanalysis results for two of the 10 bolide events, namely the Revelstoke bolide of 3/31/1965 as well as the Prince Edward Islands (P.E.I). S. African bolide of 8/03/1963, which were among the largest bolides detected during this time period. These bolides have been investigated initially since they are most likely to have had a significant effect on the computed global influx rate of ReVelle (Global Infrasonic Monitoring of Large Bolides, pp 483–490, 2001) as indicated in Brown et al. (Nature, 420:314–316, 2002). We are in the process of recomputing all relevant infrasonic propagation quantities such as plane wave back azimuth, signal velocities, power spectra, spectrograms, as well as energy estimates using multiple techniques. In a future paper we will present a complete digital reanalysis of the AFTAC bolide infrasonic data and its final resulting global bolide influx implications.     

Renewed uplift at the Yellowstone Caldera measured by leveling surveys and satellite radar interferometry

 A first-order leveling survey across the northeast part of the Yellowstone caldera in September 1998 showed that the central caldera floor near Le Hardy Rapids rose 24±5 mm relative to the caldera rim at Lake Butte since the previous survey in September 1995. Annual surveys along the same traverse from 1985 to 1995 tracked progressive subsidence near Le Hardy Rapids at an average rate of –19±1 mm/year. Earlier, less frequent surveys measured net uplift in the same area during 1923–1976 (14±1 mm/year) and 1976–1984 (22±1 mm/year). The resumption of uplift following a decade of subsidence was first detected by satellite synthetic aperture radar interferometry, which revealed approximately 15 mm of uplift in the vicinity of Le Hardy Rapids from July 1995 to June 1997. Radar interferograms show that the center of subsidence shifted from the Sour Creek resurgent dome in the northeast part of the caldera during August 1992 to June 1993 to the Mallard Lake resurgent dome in the southwest part during June 1993 to August 1995. Uplift began at the Sour Creek dome during August 1995 to September 1996 and spread to the Mallard Lake dome by June 1997. The rapidity of these changes and the spatial pattern of surface deformation suggest that ground movements are caused at least in part by accumulation and migration of fluids in two sill-like bodies at 5–10 km depth, near the interface between Yellowstone's magmatic and deep hydrothermal systems. Received: 30 November 1998 / Accepted: 16 April 1999     

休伦湖Saginaw湾沉积物反硝化率的测定及其时空特征

用N2生成法测定了北美休伦湖Saginaw湾1995年夏季7、8月份沉积物反硝化率,Saginaw湾内湾的沉积物反硝化率为16．0－39．6μmolN2／（m2·h）,外湾沉积反硝化率为22．7　－26．1μmolN2／（m2·h）,比较了不同湖泊沉积物反硝化率数值大小,指出休伦湖Saginaw湾水体现阶段的营养状况为贫－中营养水平．内外湾沉积物反硝化率数值波动大小与Saginaw河及休伦湖的影响有关;N2：TIN通量比值有不随采样时间的变化而变更等特性．在反硝化率测定过程中,反硝化率与O2消耗率之间有明显的正相关关系;沉积物上覆水中NH+4与NO-3之间通量值在变化趋势上有明显的负相关关系。     

Ultraviolet spectroscopy of Asteroid (4) Vesta

We report a comprehensive review of the UV–visible spectrum and rotational lightcurve of Vesta combining new observations by Hubble Space Telescope and Swift Gamma-ray Burst Observatory with archival International Ultraviolet Explorer observations. The geometric albedos of Vesta from 220 nm to 953 nm are derived by carefully comparing these observations from various instruments at different times and observing geometries. Vesta has a rotationally averaged geometric albedo of 0.09 at 250 nm, 0.14 at 300 nm, 0.26 at 373 nm, 0.38 at 673 nm, and 0.30 at 950 nm. The linear spectral slope as measured between 240 and 320 nm in the ultraviolet displays a sharp minimum near a sub-Earth longitude of 20°, and maximum in the eastern hemisphere. This is consistent with the longitudinal distribution of the spectral slope in the visible wavelength. The photometric uncertainty in the ultraviolet is ∼20%, and in the visible wavelengths it is better than 10%. The amplitude of Vesta’s rotational lightcurves is ∼10% throughout the range of wavelengths we observed, but is smaller at 950 nm (∼6%) near the 1-μm band center. Contrary to earlier reports, we found no evidence for any difference between the phasing of the ultraviolet and visible/near-infrared lightcurves with respect to sub-Earth longitude. Vesta’s average spectrum between 220 and 950 nm can well be described by measured reflectance spectra of fine particle howardite-like materials of basaltic achondrite meteorites. Combining this with the in-phase behavior of the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared lightcurves, and the spectral slopes with respect to the rotational phase, we conclude that there is no global ultraviolet/visible reversal on Vesta. Consequently, this implies a lack of global space weathering on Vesta, as previously inferred from visible–near-infrared data.     

Initial results and progress of the Mississippi delta sediment pore water pressure experiment

Abstract

This report describes the instrumentation, initial results, and progress of an experiment designed to measure and monitor submarine sediment pore water and hydrostatic pressures in a selected area of the Mississippi Delta. The experiment also is intended to monitor significant pressure perturbations during active storm periods. Initial analysis of the data revealed excess pore water pressures in the silty clay sediment at selected depths below the mudline. Continuous monitoring of the pore water and hydrostatic pressures was expected to reveal important information regarding sediment pore water pressure variations as a function of the geological processes active in the Mississippi Delta.     

Book review

Offshore Soil Mechanics edited by Philip George and David Wood. Cambridge University Engineering Department and Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London, 1976. 468 pp. £7.50 + shipping.

Beach Processes and Sedimentation by Paul D. Komar. Prentice‐Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1976. 429 pp., $26.95.