Long‐term and seasonal hydrologic performance of an extensive green roof

Sustainable strategies such as green roofs have been implemented as stormwater management tools to mitigate disturbance of the hydrologic cycle resulting from urbanization. Green roofs, also referred to as vegetated roofs, can improve the urban landscape by reducing heat island effects, providing ecosystem services, and facilitating the retention and treatment of stormwater. Green roofs have received particular attention because they do not require acquisition and development of land and represent an application of biomimicry in design and construction. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of precipitation, evapotranspiration (ET), antecedent dry period (ADP), and seasonal variation on the run‐off quantity and distribution of an extensive, sedum covered, green roof on a commercial building in Syracuse, NY, USA. The green roof greatly facilitated retention of precipitation events without significant changes over the 4‐year study. The green roof retained on average 95.9 ± 3.6% (6.5 ± 5.6 mm) per rainfall event, with a range from 75% to 99.6% (33.2 to 3.3 mm). However, as precipitation quantity increased, the retention of water decreased. This high water retention capacity was the result of the combined effects of ET, stormwater storage (plants, growth media, and stormwater retention layer), and limited surface run‐off from the roof deck due to variation in the sloping of the green roof and the tapered insulation to the deck drains. The water retention capacity of the green roof did not change significantly between growing and nongrowing seasons. Slightly greater precipitation during the growing season coincided with increased ET. Average potential ET during the growing season was approximately 3 times greater than during the nongrowing season. The hydrologic performance of the green roof was not significantly impacted by an ADP greater than 2 days.     

Understanding coastal wetland hydrology with a new regional‐scale,process‐based hydrological model

Coastal wetlands represent an ecotone between ocean and terrestrial ecosystems, providing important services, including flood mitigation, fresh water supply, erosion control, carbon sequestration, and wildlife habitat. The environmental setting of a wetland and the hydrological connectivity between a wetland and adjacent terrestrial and aquatic systems together determine wetland hydrology. Yet little is known about regional‐scale hydrological interactions among uplands, coastal wetlands, and coastal processes, such as tides, sea level rise, and saltwater intrusion, which together control the dynamics of wetland hydrology. This study presents a new regional‐scale, physically based, distributed wetland hydrological model, PIHM‐Wetland, which integrates the surface and subsurface hydrology with coastal processes and accounts for the influence of wetland inundation on energy budgets and evapotranspiration (ET). The model was validated using in situ hydro‐meteorological measurements and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) ET data for a forested and herbaceous wetland in North Carolina, USA, which confirmed that the model accurately represents the major wetland hydrological behaviours. Modelling results indicate that topographic gradient is a primary control of groundwater flow direction in adjacent uplands. However, seasonal climate patterns become the dominant control of groundwater flow at lower coastal plain and land–ocean interface. We found that coastal processes largely influence groundwater table (GWT) dynamics in the coastal zone, 300 to 800 m from the coastline in our study area. Among all the coastal processes, tides are the dominant control on GWT variation. Because of inundation, forested and herbaceous wetlands absorb an additional 6% and 10%, respectively, of shortwave radiation annually, resulting in a significant increase in ET. Inundation alters ET partitioning through canopy evaporation, transpiration, and soil evaporation, the effect of which is stronger in cool seasons than in warm seasons. The PIHM‐Wetland model provides a new tool that improves the understanding of wetland hydrological processes on a regional scale. Insights from this modelling study provide benchmarks for future research on the effects of sea level rise and climate change on coastal wetland functions and services.     

Emission of methane and nitrous oxides from agricultural soils and related global warming potentials of Murshidabad District,West Bengal

Agricultural activities emit substantial amounts of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxides (N2O), the two important greenhouse gases (GHG) with high global warming potentials (GWP). So far, many studies have already been carried out at national and state level, but lack micro‐level (district or block‐level) inventory in India. The present study sheds light on the flux of CH4 and N2O (from all possible sources) from agricultural soil of various blocks in the Murshidabad district, based on the inventory prepared, using the IPCC methodology, with adjusted emission factors and coefficients appropriate for the local level. The economy of the Murshidabad district almost completely rests on agriculture as more than 80 per cent of the population is directly or indirectly dependent on it for their livelihood. Paddy is the dominating crop, cultivated on more than 60 per cent of the gross cropped area. The present work is based on the review of various literature and reports collected from respective state government offices and websites. Results show that CH4 and N2O emission from the agricultural fields are 126.405 Gg and 0.652 Gg respectively for the year 2011?12 with a large scale spatial variation (block‐level) within the district.     

1957-2014年库布齐沙漠地面风场特征

风对沙漠化过程具有重要影响,起沙风是塑造沙漠地貌格局的主要动力。根据1957-2014年库布齐沙漠周边4个基准气象站的地面风资料,从风速、风向和输沙势等方面分析库布齐沙漠的地面风场特征。结果显示：（1）库布齐沙漠的起沙风频率与平均风速有很高的相关性;（2）年平均风速为2.7 m·s^-1,全年盛行风向为WNW-NW,为中等变率锐双峰风况,合成输沙风向约为310°。4月风速最大,为中等变率环境;8月风速较小,为高变率环境;1月风速最小,为低变率环境。3-6月风速最大,风向集中度一般;11月至翌年2月风速较大,风向集中度高;7-10月风速最小,风向集中度差;（3）20世纪80年代中后期和2007年前后风速、起沙风频率和输沙势发生了较大变化,尤其是2007年前后由减小向增大发展;（4）大气环流和地表粗糙度的改变是库布齐沙漠地面风场变化的重要原因。     

An initial scoping of transitional justice for global climate governance

Geopolitical changes combined with the increasing urgency of ambitious climate action have re-opened debates about justice and international climate policy. Tensions about historical responsibility have been particularly difficult and could intensify with increased climate impacts and as developing countries face mounting pressure to take mitigation action. Climate change is not the only time humans have faced historically rooted, collective action challenges involving justice disputes. Practices and tools from transitional justice have been used in over 30 countries across a range of conflicts at the interface of historical responsibility and imperatives for collective futures. Central to this body of theory and experience is the need to reflect both backwards- and forwards-oriented elements in efforts to build social solidarity. Lessons from transitional justice theory and practice have not been systematically explored in the climate context. This article conceptually examines the potential of transitional justice practices to inform global climate governance by looking at the structural similarities and differences between the global climate regime and traditional transitional justice contexts. It then identifies a suite of common transitional justice practices and assesses their potential applicability in the climate context.

POLICY RELEVANCE

• Justice disputes, including about historical responsibility and future climate actions, are long-standing in the climate context and could intensify with increased climate impacts and broadened mitigation pressures.

• Lessons from efforts to use transitional justice mechanisms could provide insight into strategies for balancing recognition of harms rooted in the past, while creating stronger future-oriented collective action.

• Several areas of transitional justice practice including: the combination of amnesties and litigation, truth commissions, reparations and institutional change could provide useful insights for the climate context.

     

Interdecadal variation in Korean spring drought in the early 1990s

Statistical change-point analysis was applied to a spring time series of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) in Korea, and this showed that the total analysis period can be divided into two periods: a wet period (1975–1990) and a dry period (1991–2014). To investigate the deepening of the spring drought in Korea, a difference in the spring means between the 1991–2014 and 1975–1990 periods was analyzed with respect to large-scale environments. In the recent spring, a typical pressure system pattern in winter, which was an anomalous west-high east-low pressure system pattern, was strengthened throughout the troposphere around Korea. Due to the anomalous pressure system pattern, Korea was affected by relatively cold and dry anomalous northerlies. Furthermore, the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) was not intensified, and thus the supply of warm and moist airs into Korea was further reduced due to the upper-level jet moving further to the south. In order to determine the reason for the development of the anomalous west-high east-low pressure system pattern in East Asia, the difference in spring snow depth between the two periods was analyzed, and the analysis results showed that positive anomalies were predominant throughout most regions in East Eurasia. As a result, in the analysis of the ground heat net flux, negative anomalies were strengthened in most regions in East Eurasia. The cooling effect in the surrounding regions due to the high snow depth in East Eurasia strengthened the anomalous pressure system pattern as a west-high east-low type.     

Interdecadal variation of precipitation days in August in the Korean Peninsula

The present study examines a climate regime shift in the time series of the number of rainy days during August in the Korean Peninsula. The statistical change-point analysis indicates that a significant shift occurred in the time series around 1998, providing a rationale to divide it into two parts: 1975–1997 for the shorter rainy-day period and 1998–2012 for the longer rainy-day period. To examine the cause of recent rapid increases in the number of days with precipitation in August in the Korean Peninsula, differences in the averages of large-scale environments between the 1998–2012 period and the 1975–1997 period were analyzed.The differences in stream flows showed that anomalous cyclones were reinforced in the East Asian continent while anomalous anticyclones were reinforced in the western North Pacific at all layers of the troposphere. The anomalous anticyclones reinforced in the western North Pacific were associated with the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) developed a little more toward the Korean Peninsula recently. Consequently, the Korean Peninsula has been affected by anomalous south westerlies that supplied warm and humid airs from low tropical regions to the Korean Peninsula. The vertical thermal instability (warm anomaly at lower-level and cold anomaly at middle and upper-level) developed near the Korean Peninsula. In addition, upper tropospheric jets were reinforced further recently near the Korean Peninsula to provide good environments for development of upward flows. The frequency of TCs that affect the Korean Peninsula in August also increased rapidly since 1998.     

海岸沙丘沙运动特征若干问题的研究——以闽江口南岸为例

在海岸带,沙粒粒径和水分含量是决定沙粒起动风速的最主要因素。闽江口南岸海滩沙的平均粒径为2.0Φ,水分含量多在0.3%~1.0%之间。运用Johnson的经验公式,可计算出海滩沙的起动风速为6~7m/s。这一结果与实际观测值十分吻合。由于海岸环境因素的影响,使得同等条件下海岸带沙粒的起动风速明显大于内陆沙漠沙,而风沙流的输沙率明显小于内陆沙漠沙。海岸带是风速剧变带,在引用陆地气象台站的风速记录分析海岸风况和研究风沙运动规律时,必须对风速进行订正。     

对未来防洪减灾形势和对策的一些思考

简要介绍了20世纪90年代我国大江大河的防洪形势。重点指出:河道萎缩,江河泄洪能力下降,行洪水位抬高,城市水灾突出,洪涝矛盾加重和水灾损失急剧增加的特点。探讨了防洪减灾的目标和标准,在进行防洪策略历史回顾的基础上,阐述了防洪减灾对策和基本措施方向。     

Cluster regression model and level fluctuation features of Van Lake, Turkey

Lake water levels change under the influences of natural and/or anthropogenic environmental conditions. Among these influences are the climate change, greenhouse effects and ozone layer depletions which are reflected in the hydrological cycle features over the lake drainage basins. Lake levels are among the most significant hydrological variables that are influenced by different atmospheric and environmental conditions. Consequently, lake level time series in many parts of the world include nonstationarity components such as shifts in the mean value, apparent or hidden periodicities. On the other hand, many lake level modeling techniques have a stationarity assumption. The main purpose of this work is to develop a cluster regression model for dealing with nonstationarity especially in the form of shifting means. The basis of this model is the combination of transition probability and classical regression technique. Both parts of the model are applied to monthly level fluctuations of Lake Van in eastern Turkey. It is observed that the cluster regression procedure does preserve the statistical properties and the transitional probabilities that are indistinguishable from the original data.