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.     

Influence of Thermal Effects on the Wind Field Within the Urban Environment

Micrometeorological conditions in the vicinity of urban buildings strongly influence the requirements that are imposed on building heating and cooling. The goal of the present study, carried out within the Advance Tools for Rational Energy Use towards Sustainability (ATREUS) European research network, is the evaluation of the wind field around buildings with walls heated by solar radiation. Two computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes were validated against extensive wind-tunnel observations to assess the influence of thermal effects on model performance. The code selected from this validation was used to simulate the wind and temperature fields for a summer day in a specific region of the city of Lisbon. For this study, the meteorological data produced by a non-hydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric model (MM5) were used as boundary conditions for a CFD code, which was further applied to analyze the effects of local roughness elements and thermodynamic conditions on the air flow around buildings. The CFD modelling can also provide the inflow parameters for a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, used to evaluate the building energy budgets and to predict performance of the air-conditioning system. The main finding of the present three-dimensional analyses is that thermal forcing associated with the heating of buildings can significantly modify local properties of the air flow.     

GLDAS和CMIP5产品的中国土壤湿度-降水耦合分析及变化趋势

利用GLDAS同化产品和12个CMIP5模式的输出结果,从土壤湿度对降水影响的两个中间环节出发,通过分析陆面耦合指数ILH、潜热通量—抬升凝结高度耦合指数ILCL以及抬升凝结高度ZLCL间接研究中国区域土壤湿度与降水间耦合特征,并对1958~2013年及RCP4.5辐射强迫情景下50年(2006~2055年)的4个代表性区域夏季耦合强度的年代际变化特征进行分析。研究发现:1958~2013年期间,内蒙古阴山山脉附近、新疆和青海的部分地区为夏季中国土壤湿度与降水耦合的最强区域;陆面耦合指数ILH变化幅度从高到低依次出现在华北、华南、内蒙古中部和西北地区,并在20世纪70年代中到80年代中发生转折。2006~2055年的平均而言,预估内蒙古阴山山脉附近仍为耦合最强区;与历史时期(1958~2005年)比较,新疆中部和内蒙古阴山山脉附近的耦合指数ILH增大,而广西和广东地区的则减小;对于耦合指数ILH的年代际变化(2006~2055年),2026~2035年间华北最大而华南最小,西北地区变化不大,而内蒙古中部地区的耦合强度逐渐增大。     

中国区域多源土壤湿度数据的比较研究

利用中国区域1992~2010年的土壤湿度观测资料,对欧洲航天局(European Space Agency)的卫星遥感反演(以下简称ESA)和欧洲中期天气预报中心(European Centre of Medium-Range Weather Forecasts,ECMWF)的ERA-Interim(ECMWF Reanalysis-Interim,以下简称ERA)两套再分析土壤湿度数据在典型区域的可靠性进行了评估。结果表明:两种土壤湿度均能较好的描述观测区域的总体土壤干湿变化,但均值和趋势一致性存在时间和空间差异。ESA、ERA资料都能较好的描述中国区域春、夏、秋3个季节土壤湿度的干、湿分布格局。在干湿程度上,ESA在北方地区较观测偏干,在江淮和西南较观测偏湿;ERA在北方和西南地区较观测偏湿,在江淮较观测偏干;在江淮、华北部分区域,ERA与观测数据的相关性要高于ESA。ESA、ERA与观测在秋季时相关性最好(大部分站点大于0.7);在全国大部分区域,ESA偏差要小于ERA且在大部分地区都表现出与观测一致的变化趋势。在空间上,ERA在东北、华北、西南变干的范围明显大于观测;然而,ERA能更好的体现观测土壤湿度的年际变化。相对于西部地区,东部地区ERA与观测的一致性最好,而ESA在受降水、植被、地形等因素影响较小的时段或区域与观测的一致性更好,对秋季土壤湿度的描述比春、夏季更准确。     

藏北地区近地层大气和土壤特征量分析

利用"全球协调加强观测期亚澳季风青藏高原试验研究(CAMP/Tibet)"4个台站2003年大气和土壤的观测资料,详细分析了藏北高原不同下垫面上的气温、相对湿度、土壤温度、土壤湿度等的季节变化及年变化特征。近地层大气各气象要素变化剧烈;4个站气温高低的差异显示了纬度和高度的明显影响;各站冻土冻融过程存在地域差别,尤其是春季冻结消融阶段的持续时间相差可达1个月;土壤质地的差别对土壤湿度影响也较大,黏土土壤含水量要高些,粉土和砂土要低些。     

Galactic Sun's motion in the cold dark matter,MOdified Newtonian Dynamics and modified gravity scenarios

We numerically integrate the equations of motion of the Sun in Galactocentric Cartesian rectangular coordinates for –4.5 Gyr ≤ t ≤ 0 in Newtonian mechanics with two different models for the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) halo, in MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) and in MOdified Gravity (MOG) without resorting to CDM. The initial conditions used come from the latest kinematical determination of the 3D Sun's motion in the Milky Way (MW) by assuming for the rotation speed of the Local Standard of Rest (LSR) the recent value Θ₀ = 268 km s^–1 and the IAU recommended value Θ₀ = 220 km s^–1; the Sun is assumed located at 8.5 kpc from the Galactic Center (GC). For Θ₀ = 268 km s^–1 the birth of the Sun, 4.5 Gyr ago, would have occurred at large Galactocentric distances (12–27 kpc depending on the model used), while for Θ₀ = 220 km s^–1 it would have occurred at about 8.8–9.3 kpc for almost all the models used. The integrated trajectories are far from being circular, especially for Θ₀ = 268 km s^–1, and differ each other with the CDM models yielding the widest spatial extensions for the Sun's orbital path (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Atomic oxygen distribution in the Venus mesosphere from observations of O2 infrared airglow by VIRTIS-Venus Express

This VIRTIS instrument on board Venus Express has collected spectrally resolved images of the Venus nightside limb that show the presence of the (0,0) band of the infrared atmospheric system of O₂ at 1.27 μm. The emission is produced by three-body recombination of oxygen atoms created by photodissociation of CO₂ on the dayside. It is consistently bright so that emission limb profiles can be extracted from the images. The vertical distribution of O₂() may be derived following Abel inversion of the radiance limb profiles. Assuming photochemical equilibrium, it is combined with the CO₂ vertical distribution to determine the atomic oxygen density. The uncertainties on the O density caused by the Abel inversion reach a few percent at the peak, increasing to about 50% near 120 km. We first analyze a case when the CO₂ density was derived from a stellar occultation observed with the SPICAV spectrometer simultaneously with an image of the O₂ limb airglow. In other cases, an average CO₂ profile deduced from a series of ultraviolet stellar occultations is used to derive the O profile, leading to uncertainties on the O density less than 30%. It is found that the maximum O density is generally located between 94 and 115 km with a mean value of 104 km. It ranges from less than 1×¹⁰¹¹ to about 5×¹⁰¹¹ cm⁻³ with a global mean of 2.2×¹⁰¹¹ cm⁻³. These values are in reasonable agreement with the VIRA midnight oxygen profile. The vertical O distribution is generally in good agreement with the oxygen profile calculated with a one-dimensional chemical-diffusive model. No statistical latitudinal dependence of the altitude of the oxygen peak is observed, but the maximum O density tends to decrease with increasing northern latitudes. The latitudinal distribution at a given time exhibits large variations in the O density profile and its vertical structure. The vertical oxygen distribution frequently shows multiple peaks possibly caused by waves or variations in the structure of turbulent transport. It is concluded that the O₂ infrared night airglow is a powerful tool to map the distribution of atomic oxygen in the mesosphere between 90 and 115 km and improve future Venus reference atmosphere models.     

Dynamical passage to approximate equilibrium shapes for spinning, gravitating rubble asteroids

Many asteroids are thought to be particle aggregates held together principally by self-gravity. Here we study — for static and dynamical situations — the equilibrium shapes of spinning asteroids that are permitted for rubble piles. As in the case of spinning fluid masses, not all shapes are compatible with a granular rheology. We take the asteroid to always be an ellipsoid with an interior modeled as a rigid-plastic, cohesion-less material with a Drucker-Prager yield criterion. Using an approximate volume-averaged procedure, based on the classical method of moments, we investigate the dynamical process by which such objects may achieve equilibrium. We first collapse our dynamical approach to its statical limit to derive regions in spin-shape parameter space that allow equilibrium solutions to exist. At present, only a graphical illustration of these solutions for a prolate ellipsoid following the Drucker-Prager failure law is available [Sharma, I., Jenkins, J.T., Burns, J.A., 2005a. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 37, 643; Sharma, I., Jenkins, J.T., Burns, J.A., 2005b. Equilibrium shapes of ellipsoidal soil asteroids. In: García-Rojo, R., Hermann, H.J., McNamara, S. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Micromechanics of Granular Media, vol. 1. A.A. Balkema, UK; Holsapple, K.A., 2007. Icarus 187, 500-509]. Here, we obtain the equilibrium landscapes for general triaxial ellipsoids, as well as provide the requisite governing formulae. In addition, we demonstrate that it may be possible to better interpret the results of Richardson et al. [Richardson, D.C., Elankumaran, P., Sanderson, R.E., 2005. Icarus 173, 349-361] within the context of a Drucker-Prager material. The graphical result for prolate ellipsoids in the static limit is the same as those of Holsapple [Holsapple, K.A., 2007. Icarus 187, 500-509] because, when worked out, his final equations will match ours. This is because, though the formalisms to reach these expressions differ, in statics, at the lowest level of approximation, volume-averaging and the approach of Holsapple [Holsapple, K.A., 2007. Icarus 187, 500-509] coincide. We note that the approach applied here was obtained independently [Sharma, I., Jenkins, J.T., Burns, J.A., 2003. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 35, 1034; Sharma, I., 2004. Rotational Dynamics of Deformable Ellipsoids with Applications to Asteroids. Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University] and it provides a general, though approximate, framework that is amenable to systematic improvements and is flexible enough to incorporate the dynamical effects of a changing shape, different rheologies and complex rotational histories. To demonstrate our technique, we investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of rigid-plastic, spinning, prolate asteroids to examine the simultaneous histories of shape and spin rate for rubble piles. We have succeeded in recovering most results of Richardson et al. [Richardson, D.C., Elankumaran, P., Sanderson, R.E., 2005. Icarus 173, 349-361], who obtained equilibrium shapes by studying numerically the passage into equilibrium of aggregates containing discrete, interacting, frictionless, spherical particles. Our mainly analytical approach aids in understanding and quantifying previous numerical simulations.     

Wind measurements in Mars' middle atmosphere: IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometric CO observations

The IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer has been used to map the CO(1-0) rotational line in Mars' middle atmosphere. Absolute winds and thermal profiles were retrieved during the 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005 planet's oppositions. The observations sampled various seasons (Ls=143, 196, 262, 317 and 322), and different dust situations (clear, global storm, regional storm). The absolute winds were derived by measuring directly the Doppler lineshifts. The main zonal circulation near 50 km is dominated by strong retrograde winds, with typical velocities of 70-170 m/s, strongly varying seasonally, latitudinally, and longitudinally (in particular between morning and evening). Comparison of the retrieved temperature with a general circulation model indicates that the model often underestimates the temperatures in the middle (20-50 km) atmosphere, and overestimates them above 50 km.     

The influence of obliquity on europan cycloid formation

Tectonic patterns on Europa are influenced by tidal stress. An important well-recognized component is associated with the orbital eccentricity, which produces a diurnally varying stress as Jupiter's apparent position in Europa's sky oscillates in longitude. Cycloidal lineaments seem to have formed as cracks propagated in this diurnally varying stress field. Maps of theoretical cycloid patterns capture many of the characteristics of the observed distribution on Europa. However, a few details of the observed cycloid distribution have not been reproduced by previous models. Recently, it has been shown that Europa has a finite forced obliquity, so Jupiter's apparent position in Europa's sky will also oscillate in latitude. We explore this new type of diurnal effect on cycloid formation. We find that stress from obliquity may be the key to explaining several characteristics of observed cycloids such as the shape of equator-crossing cycloids and the shift in the crack patterns in the Argadnel Regio region. All of these improvements of the fit between observation and theory seem to require Jupiter crossing Europa's equatorial plane 45° to 180° after perijove passage, suggestive of complex orbital dynamics that locks the direction of Europa's pericenter with the direction of the ascending node at the time these cycloids were formed.