Summer temperature variability across four urban neighborhoods in Knoxville,Tennessee, USA

The urban heat island (UHI) is a well-documented effect of urbanization on local climate, identified by higher temperatures compared to surrounding areas, especially at night and during the warm season. The details of a UHI are city-specific, and microclimates may even exist within a given city. Thus, investigating the spatiotemporal variability of a city’s UHI is an ongoing and critical research need. We deploy ten weather stations across Knoxville, Tennessee, to analyze the city’s UHI and its differential impacts across urban neighborhoods: two each in four neighborhoods, one in more dense tree cover and one in less dense tree cover, and one each in downtown Knoxville and Ijams Nature Center that serve as control locations. Three months of temperature data (beginning 2 July 2014) are analyzed using paired-sample t tests and a three-way analysis of variance. Major findings include the following: (1) Within a given neighborhood, tree cover helps negate daytime heat (resulting in up to 1.19 ^°C lower maximum temperature), but does not have as large of an influence on minimum temperature; (2) largest temperature differences between neighborhoods occur during the day (0.38–1.16 ^°C difference), but larger differences between neighborhoods and the downtown control occur at night (1.04–1.88 ^°C difference); (3) presiding weather (i.e., air mass type) has a significant, consistent impact on the temperature in a given city, and lacks the differential impacts found at a larger-scale in previous studies; (4) distance from city center does not impact temperature as much as land use factors. This is a preliminary step towards informing local planning with a scientific understanding of how mitigation strategies may help minimize the UHI and reduce the effects of extreme weather on public health and well-being.     

The Locations of Wal-Mart and Kmart Supercenters: Contrasting Corporate Strategies

Wal-Mart and Kmart, the two largest American discount retailers, have begun to utilize a supercenter retailing format that combines a full-service grocery store with a discount department store. Supercenters are expected to be the major format for future expansion of each of these firms. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the spatial expansion strategies of each firm for the locations of its supercenters. Wal-Mart is quickly expanding its number of supercenters in modest-sized communities clustered around its grocery distribution centers, especially in Southern states. Conversely, most Super Kmart Centers are located inthe suburbs of widely scattered major metropolitan markets, and Kmart has yet to develop a grocery distribution network. Kmart currently has major financial problems that severely restrict the expansion of the Super Kmart Center format.     

Enhanced geochemical gradients in a marine shallow-water hydrothermal system: Unusual arsenic speciation in horizontal and vertical pore water profiles

The shallow marine hydrothermal vents near Ambitle Island in eastern Papua New Guinea discharge hot, slightly acidic, As-rich, chemically reduced fluid into cool, slightly alkaline, oxygenated seawater. Gradients in temperature, pH, and total As (As^T), among others, are established as the two aqueous phases mix. The hydrothermal fluid contained 900 μg/L As^T, almost exclusively present as the reduced As^III, while local seawater measured between 1.2 and 2.4 μg/L As, with approximately equal levels of As^III and As^V. Of particular interest in this study was As speciation and abundance in pore waters as a function of sediment depth and as a function of distance from the area of focused venting. With increasing distance, As^T concentration in the pore water decreased rapidly, but remained elevated up to 300 m from the area of focused venting when compared to a non-hydrothermal control site. As a function of depth (to 100 cm) As^T concentration in the pore water profiles was elevated and generally increased with depth. Surprisingly, aqueous As^V far exceeded aqueous As^III at almost all distances and depths investigated, while at the control site the As^III concentration exceeded that of As^V. In the Tutum Bay hydrothermal system, chemical disequilibria among As species provide potential metabolic energy for arsenite oxidizing microorganisms where hydrothermal fluid mixes with seawater near the vent orifice, and for arsenate reducing microorganisms with increasing distance and depth from the hydrothermal point source.     

Updated Expressions for Determining Temperatures and Emission Measures from Goes Soft X-Ray Measurements

{We investigate the conversion of the 0.5–4 and 1–8 Å soft X-ray flux measurements made by detectors on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) into temperature and emission measures of coronal plasma using modern spectral models and modern understanding of coronal abundances. In particular, the original analysis by Thomas, Starr and Crannell (1985) is updated to take into account the realization that coronal abundances may be quite different from photospheric abundances. An important result of this analysis is that the derived temperatures and emission measures depend strongly on the assumed abundances even at high temperatures where continuum rather than spectral lines dominates the Sun’s X-ray spectrum. This occurs because the higher coronal abundances mean that most of the continuum is due to free–bound emission processes, not free–free emission, and thus is abundance-dependent. We find significant differences between modern calculations of the temperature response of the flux measurements and the versions currently in use: for a typical flare, emission measures may be up to a factor of 4 smaller than the current software suggests. Derived temperatures are similar for both photospheric and coronal abundances for cool flares (e.g., 15 MK), but for hot flares (e.g., 35 MK) coronal abundances can lead to significantly (~25%) lower temperatures being derived.     

Assessment of the management of organizations supplying ecosystem services from tropical forests

Global environmental change leads to degradation of tropical forests in many countries. In response to this pressure, programs for payments for ecosystem services (PES) are developing and organizations are emerging which manage forests in order to supply ecosystem services, rather than only harvest timber. Typically such services are carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, pollination, and watershed protection. Public or private actors interested to invest in or donate money for the provisioning of such services are faced with the problem of choosing the appropriate organization supplying ecosystem services. The goal of this paper was to develop an assessment framework based on the balanced scorecard concept including drivers, impact, performance and context variables. Results of a survey of international market actors were used to determine assessment criteria and their weights. Putting the focus of this paper on drivers and impacts, we assessed Latin American organizations that “sell” ecosystem services from tropical forests in terms of their general management, marketing, forest management, client and stakeholder satisfaction, and forest ecosystem status. We found that supplying organizations vary widely with respect to their achievements in these areas. However, the variance of assessment results is influenced even more by the variance in weights the international market actors allocate to the assessment criteria. The insights of this study can contribute to the continuous improvement of management processes in supplying organizations and can support investors and donors in their decision-making with respect to organization supplying ecosystem services.     

Upscaling permeability for three-dimensional fractured porous rocks with the multiple boundary method

Upscaling permeability of grid blocks is crucial for groundwater models. A novel upscaling method for three-dimensional fractured porous rocks is presented. The objective of the study was to compare this method with the commonly used Oda upscaling method and the volume averaging method. First, the multiple boundary method and its computational framework were defined for three-dimensional stochastic fracture networks. Then, the different upscaling methods were compared for a set of rotated fractures, for tortuous fractures, and for two discrete fracture networks. The results computed by the multiple boundary method are comparable with those of the other two methods and fit best the analytical solution for a set of rotated fractures. The errors in flow rate of the equivalent fracture model decrease when using the multiple boundary method. Furthermore, the errors of the equivalent fracture models increase from well-connected fracture networks to poorly connected ones. Finally, the diagonal components of the equivalent permeability tensors tend to follow a normal or log-normal distribution for the well-connected fracture network model with infinite fracture size. By contrast, they exhibit a power-law distribution for the poorly connected fracture network with multiple scale fractures. The study demonstrates the accuracy and the flexibility of the multiple boundary upscaling concept. This makes it attractive for being incorporated into any existing flow-based upscaling procedures, which helps in reducing the uncertainty of groundwater models.     

Composition-Induced Variations in SIMS Instrumental Mass Fractionation during Boron Isotope Ratio Measurements of Silicate Glasses

An analytical artefact is reported here related to differences in instrumental mass fractionation between NIST SRM glasses and natural geological glasses during SIMS boron isotope determinations. The data presented demonstrated an average 3.4‰ difference between the NIST glasses and natural basaltic to rhyolitic glasses mainly in terms of their sputtering-induced fractionation of boron isotopes. As no matrix effect was found among basaltic to rhyolitic glasses, instrumental mass fractionation of most natural glass samples can be corrected by using appropriate glass reference materials. In order to confirm the existence of the compositionally induced variations in boron SIMS instrumental mass bias, the observed offset in SIMS instrumental mass bias has been independently reproduced in two laboratories and the phenomenon has been found to be stable over a period of more than one year. This study highlights the need for a close match between the chemical composition of the reference material and the samples being investigated.     

Environmental Radioxenon Levels in Europe: a Comprehensive Overview

Activity concentration data from ambient radioxenon measurements in ground level air, which were carried out in Europe in the framework of the International Noble Gas Experiment (INGE) in support of the development and build-up of a radioxenon monitoring network for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty verification regime are presented and discussed. Six measurement stations provided data from 5 years of measurements performed between 2003 and 2008: Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen, Norway), Stockholm (Sweden), Dubna (Russian Federation), Schauinsland Mountain (Germany), Bruyères-le-Châtel and Marseille (both France). The noble gas systems used within the INGE are designed to continuously measure low concentrations of the four radioxenon isotopes which are most relevant for detection of nuclear explosions: ^131mXe, ^133mXe, ¹³³Xe and ¹³⁵Xe with a time resolution less than or equal to 24 h and a minimum detectable concentration of ¹³³Xe less than 1 mBq/m³. This European cluster of six stations is particularly interesting because it is highly influenced by a high density of nuclear power reactors and some radiopharmaceutical production facilities. The activity concentrations at the European INGE stations are studied to characterise the influence of civilian releases, to be able to distinguish them from possible nuclear explosions. It was found that the mean activity concentration of the most frequently detected isotope, ¹³³Xe, was 5–20 mBq/m³ within Central Europe where most nuclear installations are situated (Bruyères-le-Châtel and Schauinsland), 1.4–2.4 mBq/m³ just outside that region (Stockholm, Dubna and Marseille) and 0.2 mBq/m³ in the remote polar station of Spitsbergen. No seasonal trends could be observed from the data. Two interesting events have been examined and their source regions have been identified using atmospheric backtracking methods that deploy Lagrangian particle dispersion modelling and inversion techniques. The results are consistent with known releases of a radiopharmaceutical facility.     

Circulation on the north central Chukchi Sea shelf

Mooring and shipboard data collected between 1992 and 1995 delineate the circulation over the north central Chukchi shelf. Previous studies indicated that Pacific waters crossed the Chukchi shelf through Herald Valley (in the west) and Barrow Canyon (in the east). We find a third branch (through the Central Channel) onto the outer shelf. The Central Channel transport varies seasonally in phase with Bering Strait transport, and is 0.2 Sv on average, although some of this might include water entrained from the outflow through Herald Valley. A portion of the Central Channel outflow moves eastward and converges with the Alaskan Coastal Current at the head of Barrow Canyon. The remainder appears to continue northeastward over the central outer shelf toward the shelfbreak, joined by outflow from Herald Valley. The mean flow opposes the prevailing winds and is primarily forced by the sea-level slope between the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Current variations are mainly wind forced, but baroclinic forcing, associated with upstream dense-water formation in coastal polynyas might occasionally be important.Winter water-mass modification depends crucially on the fall and winter winds, which control seasonal ice development. An extensive fall ice cover delays cooling, limits new ice formation, and results in little salinization. In such years, Bering shelf waters cross the Chukchi shelf with little modification. In contrast, extensive open water in fall leads to early and rapid cooling, and if accompanied by vigorous ice production within coastal polynyas, results in the production of high-salinity (>33) shelf waters. Such interannual variability likely affects slope processes and the transport of Pacific waters into the Arctic Ocean interior.