Geomorphological observations and related natural hazards using merged remotely sensed data: a case study in the Corinthos area (NE Peloponnese, S. Greece)

Natural hazards are mostly related to the activation of combined geomorphological and geological processes that control landform development. The study area is located in the NE part of Peloponnese (Corinthos prefecture). It is a typical agricultural area with intense relief, the result of active tectonics and important human intervention. This study demonstrates the benefits from the synergism of SAR data (ERS-2) and optical data (SPOT2-XS) in order to highlight the possible natural-hazardprone areas. These data give different and complementary information since the radar signal depends mostly on topography, surface roughness and soil moisture, whereas the visible/infrared channels provide spectral information mostly on vegetation and land use/cover. The application presented here was focused on the enhancement of the high erosion risk areas, the improvement of the terrain interpretation, the mapping and highlighting of the landform morphology, and a more accurate determination of the main factors that control the flooding risk of Corinthos town.     

The influence of induced polarization on long-offset transient electromagnetic data

The diffusion of electromagnetic fields is dependent not only on conductivity, but also on magnetic permeability, dielectric permittivity and polarizability, i.e. dispersive conductivity. The long‐offset transient electromagnetic (LOTEM) method is mainly used to determine the spatial distribution of conductivity in the subsurface. However, earlier work on loop‐loop TEM suggests that transient EM methods can also be affected by induced polarization (IP). Numerous 1D forward calculations were carried out to study the IP effect on LOTEM data, using the Cole‐Cole relaxation model to simulate the polarizability of the ground. Besides the polarizability of each layer, the IP effect depends on the LOTEM field set‐up and the spatial distribution of conductivity in the ground. In particular, near‐surface layers with high chargeabilities can significantly distort the late time transients of the electric field components in the vicinity of the transmitter. The influence of polarizable layers on the magnetic field components can be neglected under normal circumstances. In 1997 and 1999, LOTEM measurements were carried out at Mt. Vesuvius in Italy to explore the geological structure of the volcano. Sensitivity studies on the effect of polarizable layers suggest that high chargeabilities in connection with conductive layers at greater depths would result in a detectable distortion of the electric field transients. Although the simultaneous IP measurements revealed high chargeabilities in a near‐surface layer, no evidence of IP effects could be found in the measured LOTEM data. We conclude that the observed chargeabilities are local and that 3D effects are probably present in the data. Another aspect is the measurement of the system response, which is usually measured by placing a receiver very close to the transmitter. Therefore, large distortions can be expected if near‐surface polarizable layers exist. This was verified in practice by field measurements in an area with high chargeabilities in Longerich, Cologne.     

Managing Ontong Java: Social institutions for production and governance of atoll resources in Solomon Islands

This paper explores the changing nature of social institutions and organizations for resource management on Ontong Java and their central role in maintaining livelihoods. Using detailed field data for three time periods, 1970–72, 1986 and 2006–07, and drawing on earlier secondary data, a longitudinal analysis of changes in governance and livelihoods is undertaken. Increased exploitation of marine resources has widened the resource base and increased people's access to goods and services. Following the ban in 2005 on the bêche-de-mer trade, however, livelihoods have reverted to being more subsistence oriented. For almost two decades after 1978, a communal organization, the Area Council, succeeded in regulating exploitation of the atoll's marine resources to ensure sustainable use, but in the 1990s it collapsed. In addition there was a paralysis of institutions that had once settled land disputes. This failure of atoll governance is a greater threat to future 'sustainability' than the usual processes that are invoked for atolls and small islands generally. As the Solomon Islands state is also failing, we argue that local institutions and organizations have a vital role to play in managing access to resources and the future of livelihoods on Ontong Java atoll.     

Size-dependent, Spatial, and Temporal Variability of Juvenile Walleye Pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) Feeding at a Structural Front in the Southeast Bering Sea

Abstract. The waters surrounding the Pribilof Islands are an important nursery ground for juvenile walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), an important forage fish in the pelagic food web of the productive Bering Sea shelf region. The diet of juvenile pollock was studied in two consecutive years along a transect line crossing from a well‐mixed coastal domain, through a frontal region to stratified water farther offshore. Variability in stomach fullness was high and evidence for increased feeding intensity in the front was weak. Prey diversity and prey size generally increased with increasing fish size, shifting from predominantly small copepods to larger, more evasive prey items such as euphausiids, crab megalopae and fish. The diet of the fish reflected changes in the relative abundance of copepods and euphausiids in the prey fields between years. Juvenile pollock showed increased feeding rates at dusk, and stomach fullness as well as prey condition were generally lowest just before sunrise; however, the proportion of euphausiids increased in the diet of pollock caught at night, suggesting that some food was also ingested during darkness. Juvenile pollock and their euphausiid prey both vertically migrated above the thermocline at night, although each had a different daytime depth.     

The sedimentary record of the Issyk Kul basin,Kyrgyzstan: climatic and tectonic inferences

A broad array of new provenance and stable isotope data are presented from two magnetostratigraphically dated sections in the south‐eastern Issyk Kul basin of the Central Kyrgyz Tien Shan. The results presented here are discussed and interpreted for two plausible magnetostratigraphic age models. A combination of zircon U‐Pb provenance, paleocurrent and conglomerate clast count analyses is used to determine sediment provenance. This analysis reveals that the first coarse‐grained, syn‐tectonic sediments (Dzhety Oguz formation) were sourced from the nearby Terskey Range, supporting previous thermochronology‐based estimates of a ca. 25–20 Ma onset of deformation in the range. Climate variations are inferred using carbonate stable isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) data from 53 samples collected in the two sections and are compared with the oxygen isotope compositions of modern water from 128 samples. Two key features are identified in the stable isotope data set derived from the sediments: (1) isotope values, in particular δ¹³C, decrease between ca. 26.0 and 23.6 or 25.6 and 21.0 Ma, and (2) the scatter of δ¹⁸O values increased significantly after ca. 22.6 or 16.9 Ma. The first feature is interpreted to reflect progressively wetter conditions. Because this feature slightly post‐dates the onset of deformation in the Terskey Range, we suggest that it has been caused by orographically enhanced precipitation, implying that surface uplift accompanied late Cenozoic deformation and rock uplift in the Terskey Range. The increased scatter could reflect variable moisture source or availability caused by global climate change following the onset of Miocene glaciations at ca. 22.6 Ma, or enhanced evaporation during the Mid‐Miocene climatic optimum at ca. 17–15 Ma.     

Can Jupiters be found by monitoring Galactic bulge microlensing events from northern sites?

In 1998 the EXPORT team monitored microlensing event light curves using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera on the IAC 0.8-m telescope on Tenerife to evaluate the prospect of using northern telescopes to find microlens anomalies that reveal planets orbiting the lens stars. The high airmass and more limited time available for observations of Galactic bulge sources make a northern site less favourable for microlensing planet searches. However, there are potentially a large number of northern 1-m class telescopes that could devote a few hours per night to monitor ongoing microlensing events. Our IAC observations indicate that accuracies sufficient to detect planets can be achieved despite the higher airmass.