Trends in Drought Frequency – the Fate of DOC Export From British Peatlands

There is increasing evidence that drought is leading to increased loss of dissolved organic carbon from upland peats. Therefore, this study endeavours to understand the severity and frequency of the scale of drought responsible for driving the observed changes; and, by reconstructing climatic records, to understand whether such droughts are increasing in severity and frequency. The study suggests that there are two levels of drought severity important in the peatlands: a hydrological drought that causes hydrophobic effects in the upper peat profile lasting 3–4 years in duration, and a more severe biogeochemical drought that triggers new mechanisms of DOC production and decade-long effects. The study uses long term climate data from Central England and Northern England to reconstructs depth to water table for an upland peat catchment back to 1766 and shows that hydrological drought has a return period of 25 years and that biogeochemical drought has a return period of 15.5 years. Statistical modelling of the time series of annual droughts shows only weak evidence for an increasing frequency of severe droughts since 1766, but stronger evidence for the recent past. The return period of drought of sufficient severity to cause biogeochemical response is coming close to the length of effect such a drought would have, i.e. trends in drought frequency mean that peatlands may no longer be resilient to the impact of drought, with dire consequences for the storage of carbon in these environments.     

Justifying investment in GIS: a local government perspective

Abstract

Justifying GIS in local government is a complex task for two main reasons: first, a GIS implementation can range from a single, well-defined application in one department to a corporate multi-purpose GIS; and, second, local authorities are complex organizations currently facing major pressures for change, and considerable uncertainty about their future structure and role. The purpose of this paper is to review the potential use of cost-benefit analysis, to explore tangible and intangible benefits, to identify the costs involved, to explore the effect that a robust GIS strategy can have on the relationship between costs and benefits, and to review some of the published material on the cost-justification of GIS in local government.     

The Bulger Case: A Spatial Story

Abstract

This paper contributes to debates in the emerging field of cinematic cartography () by exploring the ways in which strategies of digital cinemapping can function as tools of critical spatial practice and urban wayfinding. More specifically, the paper considers the scope for digital video technologies to reshape, contest and ‘ground’ spaces of urban representation and the ‘spatial stories’ these bring into play. Basing my analysis on the mediation of the events surrounding the abduction and murder of the 2-year-old boy James Bulger in 1993, I examine the case as a constellation of spatial narratives within which I weave my own spatial story in the form of a video mapping of the abduction route (in Bootle near Liverpool) and the responses and issues this further mediation has provoked. Methodological reflections on the map-making process are discussed alongside narratives generated by the video on YouTube. The paper argues that, by adopting practices of wayfinding, and by being critically attentive to the ways in which film and video-making practices are also spatial practices, moving image cartographies can provide insights into lived and embedded spaces of memory, and the hidden or muted spatial stories to which they play host.     

The inner jet of radio galaxy NGC 315 as observed with Chandra and the Very Large Array

We use semi-analytic techniques to study the formation and evolution of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). We show the extreme hierarchical nature of these objects and discuss the limitations of simple ways to capture their evolution. In a model where cooling flows are suppressed at late times by active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, the stars of BCGs are formed very early (50 per cent at z ∼ 5, 80 per cent at z ∼ 3) and in many small galaxies. The high star formation rates in these high- z progenitors are fuelled by rapid cooling, not by merger-triggered starbursts. We find that model BCGs assemble surprisingly late: half their final mass is typically locked up in a single galaxy after   z ∼ 0.5  . Because most of the galaxies accreted on to BCGs have little gas content and red colours, late mergers do not change the apparent age of BCGs. It is this accumulation of a large number of old stellar populations – driven mainly by the merging history of the dark matter halo itself – that yields the observed homogeneity of BCG properties. In the second part of the paper, we discuss the evolution of BCGs to high redshifts, from both observational and theoretical viewpoints. We show that our model BCGs are in qualitative agreement with high- z observations. We discuss the hierarchical link between high- z BCGs and their local counterparts. We show that high- z BCGs belong to the same population as the massive end of local BCG progenitors, although they are not in general the same galaxies. Similarly, high- z BCGs end up as massive galaxies in the local Universe, although only a fraction of them are actually BCGs of massive clusters.     

XMM–Newton observations of the hot-gas atmospheres of 3C 66B and 3C 449

We present new XMM–Newton observations of the hot-gas environments of two low-power twin-jet radio galaxies, 3C 66B and 3C 449, showing direct evidence for the interactions between X-ray-emitting gas and radio plasma that are thought to determine the large-scale radio structure of these sources. The temperatures that we measure for the two environments are significantly higher than those predicted by standard luminosity–temperature relations for clusters and groups. We show that luminosity–temperature relations for radio-quiet and radio-loud X-ray groups differ, in the sense that radio-source heating may operate in most groups containing radio galaxies. If the radio lobes are expanding subsonically, we find minimum ages of  3 × 10⁸ yr  for 3C 66B, and  5 × 10⁸ yr  for 3C 449, older than the values obtained from spectral ageing, which would give the radio source sufficient time to heat the groups to the observed temperatures for plausible values of the jet power. The external pressures in the atmospheres of both radio galaxies are an order of magnitude higher than equipartition estimates of their radio-lobe pressures, confirming that the radio lobes either are out of equipartition or require a pressure contribution from non-radiating particles. Constraints from the level of X-ray emission we measure from the radio lobes allow us to conclude that a departure from equipartition must be in the direction of magnetic domination, and that the most plausible candidates for a particle contribution to lobe pressure are relativistic protons, an additional population of low-energy electrons, or entrained and heated thermal material.     

An ~11,200?year paleolimnological perspective for emerging archaeological findings at Quartz Lake, Alaska

Wetlands and lakes in the Tanana Valley, Alaska, have provided important resources for prehistoric humans who inhabited this region. We examine an ~11,200?cal?yr BP record of environmental and paleolimnological changes from Quartz Lake in the middle Tanana Valley. Our data are also presented in the context of recent archaeological findings in the lake??s general vicinity that have 18 associated AMS ¹⁴C dates. We analyzed the stable-carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of total organic matter from the core, coupled with oxygen and carbon isotope analyses of Pisidiidae shells (fingernail clams), in addition to chironomid assemblage changes. Lacustrine sediments began to accumulate at ~11,200?cal?yr BP. Initially, autochthonous production was low and allochthonous organic input was negligible between 11,000 and 10,500?cal?yr BP, and were associated with relatively cool conditions at Quartz Lake at ~10,700?cal?yr BP. After 10,500?cal?yr BP, autochthonous production was higher coincident with a shift to chironomid assemblages dominated by taxa associated with warmer summer climates. A decrease in ??¹³C values of total organic carbon (TOC) and organic content of the sediment between 9,000 and 4,000?cal?yr BP may indicate declining autochthonous primary production. This period ended with an abrupt (~7???) decrease in the ??¹⁸O values from Pisidiidae shells at ~3,000?cal?yr BP, which we hypothesize represented an episodic connection (flood) of the lake with flow from the nearby (~6?km) Tanana River. Our findings coincide with evidence for major flooding at other locations connected to the Tanana River and further afield in Alaska. From ~3,000?cal?yr BP Quartz Lake subsequently appeared to become a relatively closed system, as indicated by the ??¹⁸O_Pisidiidae and ??¹³C_Pisidiidae data that are positively correlated and generally higher, which also correlates with a shift to moderately higher abundances of littoral chironomids. The cause of the transition to closed-basin conditions may have been geomorphic rather than climatic. This evidence of a progressively stronger evaporative influence on the lake??s closed hydrology after ~3,000?cal?yr BP is consistent with our modern ??¹⁸O and ??D water data from Quartz Lake that plot along a regional evaporative line we base on isotopic measurements from other local lakes and rivers.