Book Review

The objective of the work discussed in this paper was to seek possible links between surface hydrology in Southwestern (SW) Poland and El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Although the impact of ENSO on hydrology in Europe has been investigated by many researchers, no clear picture demonstrating spatial variability of such a teleconnection has yet been unequivocally reported. In particular, there is no comprehensive study on ENSO–streamflow links for Polish rivers. Herein, discharge time series from 15 sites located at lowland and mountain rivers in SW Poland and different ENSO indices are examined. They include atmospheric time series (axial component of atmospheric angular momentum, Southern Oscillation Index), oceanic indices (Ni?o 3.4 Index, Global SST Index), geodetic data (length-of-day), and the combined index (Multivariate ENSO Index). The data span the period from November 1971 to October 2006. On the basis of cross-correlation and wavelet analyses it was found that there is a weak but significant link between ENSO and surface hydrology in SW Poland. It is inferred that ENSO episodes may be among a few factors affecting winter and early spring discharges of rivers in SW Poland and may have a (probably limited) impact on snow-melt flood generation.     

Computation of nitrate concentrations in turbid coastal waters using an in situ ultraviolet spectrophotometer

In order to investigate biogeochemical cycling and dynamics of nutrients, measurement capabilities with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution are required. New ultraviolet-based methods and instrumentation for in situ determination of nitrate provide a powerful tool for these purposes. Here, we present a full dataset obtained by an UV-based process spectrophotometer (ProPS) during a cruise in 2008 in the south-eastern North Sea. Due to highly turbid conditions and mixing water masses, an improved calculation algorithm was performed on the UV absorption data. Nitrate concentrations ranged from 0 to 9 μmol/L on very short timescales, mainly due to tidal effects. Comparison of continuous optical nitrate measurements was performed against conventional wet-chemical analyses of discrete water samples which lead to a standard deviation of 1.7 μmol/L NO₃^?. High resolution measurements performed at a tidal inlet demonstrated the capability to map nitrate dynamics in turbid coastal environments.     

Do choropleth maps linked with parallel coordinates facilitate an understanding of multivariate spatial characteristics?

Our study has three objectives. We want to investigate (1) whether choropleth maps linked with parallel coordinates help people understand the locations of vulnerable places and the factors making these places vulnerable, (2) whether sparklines that imitate the polylines from a parallel coordinate plot support the understanding of the information provided in that plot, and (3) whether a multiple-view geovisualization approach might be intuitive and useful also for nonexperts. Although we base our work on the functionalities available in the tool called ‘ViewExposed,’ we intend to outline more general conclusions on whether multiple linked views facilitate the understanding of multivariate spatial characteristics. An empirical study with 53 individuals was conducted to obtain insights on these objectives. Our task-based assessment considered the ways in which participants understood the dynamic linking capabilities. Some of the key findings are as follows: (1) even nonexpert users are able to use parallel coordinates linked with choropleth maps; however, only those with extensive inference-making abilities will do so efficiently; (2) parallel coordinates sparklines work as an independent component facilitating the understanding of multivariate data; and (3) the intuitive nature of a multiple-view geovisualization tool is not enough to encourage people to use it.     

Studies of aerosols advected to coastal areas with the use of remote techniques

This paper presents the results of the studies of aerosol optical properties measured using lidars and sun photometers. We describe two case studies of the combined measurements made in two coastal zones in Crete in 2006 and in Rozewie on the Baltic Sea in 2009. The combination of lidar and sun photometer measurements provides comprehensive information on both the total aerosol optical thickness in the entire atmosphere as well as the vertical structure of aerosol optical properties. Combination of such information with air mass back-trajectories and data collected at stations located on the route of air masses provides complete picture of the aerosol variations in the study area both vertically and horizontally. We show that such combined studies are especially important in the coastal areas where depending on air mass advection directions and altitudes the influence of fine or coarse mode (in this case possibly sea-salt) particles on the vertical structure of aerosol optical properties is an important issue to consider.     

Study of vertical structure of aerosol optical properties with sun photometers and ceilometer during the MACRON campaign in 2007

This paper presents the measurements of a vertical structure of aerosol optical properties performed during the MACRON (Maritime Aerosol, Clouds and Radiation Observation in Norway) campaign, which took place in July and August 2007 at ALOMAR observatory on Andøya island (69.279°N, 16.009°E, elevation 380 m a.s.l.). The mean value of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 500 nm during campaign was 0.12. Significant increase of the AOT above longtime mean value was observed on 7 and 8 August 2007 when the AOT exceeded 0.4 at 500 nm. Analyses of back trajectories show the aerosol transported from over Africa and Central Europe. The aerosol extinction coefficient obtained from the synergy of ceilometer and sun photometer observations reached 0.05–0.08 km^?1 (at 1064 nm) in the dust layer. The single scattering albedo at the ALOMAR observatory decreased during the dust episode to 0.93–0.94, which indicates some absorptive aerosols in the lower PBL.     

Use of Remotely-Derived Bathymetry for Modelling Biomass in Marine Environments

The paper presents results on the influence of geometric attributes of satellite-derived raster bathymetric data, namely the General Bathymetric Charts of the Oceans, on spatial statistical modelling of marine biomass. In the initial experiment, both the resolution and projection of the raster dataset are taken into account. It was found that, independently of the equal-area projection chosen for the analysis, the calculated areas are very similar, and the differences between them are insignificant. Likewise, any variation in the raster resolution did not change the computed area. Although the differences were shown to be insignificant, for the subsequent analysis we selected the cylindrical equal area projection, as it implies rectangular spatial extent, along with the automatically derived resolution. Then, in the second experiment, we focused on demersal fish biomass data acquired from trawl samples taken from the western parts of ICES Sub-area VII, near the sea floor. The aforementioned investigation into processing bathymetric data allowed us to build various statistical models that account for a relationship between biomass, sea floor topography and geographic location. We fitted a set of generalised additive models and generalised additive mixed models to combinations of trawl data of the roundnose grenadier (Coryphaenoides rupestris) and bathymetry. Using standard statistical techniques—such as analysis of variance, Akaike information criterion, root mean squared error, mean absolute error and cross-validation—we compared the performance of the models and found that depth and latitude may serve as statistically significant explanatory variables for biomass of roundnose grenadier in the study area. However, the results should be interpreted with caution as sampling locations may have an impact on the biomass–depth relationship.     

Scenarios of water resources development in Poland up to 2030

Due to the fact that water management responds to changing natural and socio-economic conditions its future perspective, depending on multiple and variable factors, is difficult to predict using traditional prognostic methods. The examined hypothesis shows that the scenario development process is a useful method for long-term strategic planning in the water management sector. Research was completed on the basis of expert assessments and panel discussions and structured as a scenario for the development process. The IPCC Emission Scenarios constitute the future development context. The results show that this predictive method is effective. Sensitivity of the results of the applied techniques of development scenarios shows a need for further research.     

Feedback mechanisms in chemo-mechanical multi-scale modeling of soil and sediment compaction

Geomaterials respond to some environmental circumstances through generation of a series of feedback mechanisms of damage, deformation, erosion, and chemical processes or reactions: e.g. osmosis, dissolution and precipitation, mineral transformations. These mechanisms are coupled at different scales. Several natural geomechanical processes, as sediment compaction, rock weathering or landsliding appear to include such sequences of mechanisms. A multi-physics model of sediment compaction is examined from the point of view of feedbacks and feedforwards for the phenomena involved at micro- and meso-scale. Two types of feedback are identified: constitutive feedbacks and boundary condition feedbacks. A numerical sensitivity study points out which feedbacks and feedforwards are strong and which are weak.     

Small angle X-ray scattering mapping and kinetics study of sub-critical CO2 sorption by two Australian coals

Time- and position-resolved synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering data were acquired from samples of two Australian coal seams: Bulli seam (Bulli 4, R_o = 1.42%, Sydney Basin), which naturally contains CO₂ and Baralaba seam (R_o = 0.67%, Bowen Basin), a potential candidate for sequestering CO₂. This experimental approach has provided unique, pore-size-specific insights into the kinetics of CO₂ sorption in the micro- and small mesopores (diameter 5 to 175 Å) and the density of the sorbed CO₂ at reservoir-like conditions of temperature and hydrostatic pressure.For both samples, at pressures above 5 bar, the density of CO₂ confined in pores was found to be uniform, with no densification in near-wall regions. In the Bulli 4 sample, CO₂ first flooded the slit pores between polyaromatic sheets. In the pore-size range analysed, the confined CO₂ density was close to that of the free CO₂. The kinetics data are too noisy for reliable quantitative analysis, but qualitatively indicate faster kinetics in mineral-matter-rich regions.In the Baralaba sample, CO₂ preferentially invaded the smallest micropores and the confined CO₂ density was up to five times that of the free CO₂. Faster CO₂ sorption kinetics was found to be correlated with higher mineral matter content but, the mineral-matter-rich regions had lower-density CO₂ confined in their pores. Remarkably, the kinetics was pore-size dependent, being faster for smaller pores.These results suggest that injection into the permeable section of an interbedded coal-clastic sequence could provide a viable combination of reasonable injectivity and high sorption capacity.