Severity of killer whale behavioral responses to ship noise: A dose–response study

Critical habitats of at-risk populations of northeast Pacific “resident” killer whales can be heavily trafficked by large ships, with transits occurring on average once every hour in busy shipping lanes. We modeled behavioral responses of killer whales to ship transits during 35 “natural experiments” as a dose–response function of estimated received noise levels in both broadband and audiogram-weighted terms. Interpreting effects is contingent on a subjective and seemingly arbitrary decision about severity threshold indicating a response. Subtle responses were observed around broadband received levels of 130 dB re 1 μPa (rms); more severe responses are hypothesized to occur at received levels beyond 150 dB re 1 μPa, where our study lacked data. Avoidance responses are expected to carry minor energetic costs in terms of increased energy expenditure, but future research must assess the potential for reduced prey acquisition, and potential population consequences, under these noise levels.     

中国经济地理学发展困境与对策刍议

探讨了当前中国经济地理学发展中出现的哲学、分支体系、理论、方法论、研究方向和高等教育等6方面问题,并从中国经济地理学学科建设角度,分别对中国经济地理学的哲学、学科分支、理论体系、方法论和研究领域进行了梳理,对各自发展作了展望。     

关于中国地理学中的区域综合研究

综合性与区域性是地理学的两大基本特点。随着区域发展成为人们关注的热点,跨学科综合研究成为学科发展趋势,我国的区域综合研究势在必行。我国地理学的发展历程和当今研究现状亟须区域综合研究的根本性突破,才能更好地为全球层面上的全球环境变化、国家层面上的可持续发展以及地区层面上的社会经济发展服务,才能推动地理学理论创新,真正实现黄秉维先生所倡导的"综合指导下分析,分析基础上综合"的方法论应用。最后,依据我国地域特征,拟定8个典型区域作为近期综合研究区,并提出加快研究云贵高原喀斯特地区的倡议。     

Performing a new regional geography

In this introduction to the Special Issue ‘Practising a New Regional Geography in Northland’, we call for a new regional geography. We use the experience of a field course to reflect upon the opportunities and challenges associated with doing ‘regional geography’ in the regions, a subdiscipline that has in recent decades been pushed into the backwaters of the discipline. We reinterpret the maxim ‘geography is what geographers do’ in a new way that emphasises pedagogy and research practice. The case of Northland and helping our students to learn experientially about community and environment under the rubric of sustainability allows us to argue the case for a reinterpretation of regional geography in these terms. We position the contributions in this Special Issue in terms of our call.     

Slow quasigeostrophic unstable modes of a lens vortex in a continuously stratified flow

This work addresses the linear dynamics underlying the formation of density interfaces at the periphery of energetic vortices, well outside the vortex core, both in the radial and axial directions. We compute numerically the unstable modes of an anticyclonic Gaussian vortex lens in a continuously stratified rotating fluid. The most unstable mode is a slow mode, associated with a critical layer instability located at the vortex periphery. Although the most unstable disturbance has a characteristic vertical scale which is comparable to the vortex height, interestingly, the critical levels of the successively fastest growing modes are closely spaced at intervals along the axial direction that are much smaller than the vortex height.     

Passive microwave remote sensing of the historic February 2010 snowstorms in the Middle Atlantic region of the USA

The snowfall in the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area during the winter of 2009/2010 was unprecedented and caused serious snow‐related disruptions. In February 2010, snowfall totals approached 2 m, and because maximum temperatures were consistently below normal, snow remained on the ground the entire month. One of the biggest contributing factors to the unusually severe winter weather in 2009/2010, throughout much of the middle latitudes, was the Arctic Oscillation. Unusually high pressure at high latitudes and low pressure at middle latitudes forced a persistent exchange of mass from north to south. In this investigation, a concerted effort was made to link remotely sensed falling snow observations to remotely sensed snow cover and snowpack observations in the Baltimore/Washington area. Specifically, the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer onboard the Aqua satellite was used to assess snow water equivalent, and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit‐B and Microwave Humidity Sounder were employed to detect falling snow. Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer passive microwave signatures in this study are related to both snow on the ground and surface ice layers. In regard to falling snow, signatures indicative of snowfall can be observed in high frequency brightness temperatures of Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit‐B and Microwave Humidity Sounder. Indeed, retrievals show an increase in snow water equivalent after the detection of falling snow. Yet, this work also shows that falling snow intensity and/or the presence of liquid water clouds impacts the ability to reliably detect snow water equivalent. Moreover, changes in the condition of the snowpack, especially in the surface features, negatively affect retrieval performance. Copyright © 2011. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

A 200-year precipitation index for the central English Lake District / Un indice de précipitation de 200 ans pour la Région des Lacs en Angleterre

Abstract

Abstract The geographical context and hydroclimatology of the English Lake District means that the region is an important monitor of changes to nationally significant environmental assets. Using monthly rainfall series for sites in and around the central Lake District, a continuous ~200-year precipitation index was constructed for a representative station close to Grasmere. The bridged series shows a significant decline in summer rainfall since the 1960s, offset by increases in winter and spring that are strongly linked to North Atlantic forcing. Over longer time periods, the index exhibits several notable dry (1850s, 1880s, 1890s, 1930s, 1970s) and wet (1820s, 1870s, 1920s, 1940s, 1990s) decades. These patterns are strongly reflected by reservoir inflow series and by indicators of the biological status of the region’s freshwater lakes. It is argued that long-term climate indices will become increasingly important as managers seek to evaluate recent and project environmental changes within the context of long-term natural variability.     

Subduction and back-arc activity at the Hikurangi convergent Margin,New Zealand

The Hikurangi Margin is a region of oblique subduction with northwest-dipping intermediate depth seismicity extending southwest from the Kermadec system to about 42°S. The current episode of subduction is at least 16–20 Ma old. The plate convergence rate varies along the margin from about 60 mm/a at the south end of the Kermadec Trench to about 45 mm/a at 42°S. The age of the Pacific lithosphere adjacent to the Hikurangi Trench is not known.The margin divides at about latitude 39°S into two quite dissimilar parts. The northern part has experienced andesitic volcanism for about 18 Ma, and back-arc extension in the last 4 Ma that has produced a back-arc basin onshore with high heaflow, thin crust and low upper-mantle seismic velocities. The extension appears to have arisen from a seawards migration of the Hikurangi Trench north of 39°S. Here the plate interface is thought to be currently uncoupled, as geodetic data indicate extension of the fore-arc basin, and historic earthquakes have not exceededM _s=7.South of 39°S there is no volcanism and a back-arc basin has been produced by downward flexure of the lithosphere due to strong coupling with the subducting plate. Heatflow in the basin is normal. Evidence for strong coupling comes from historic earthquakes of up to aboutM _s=8 and high rates of uplift on the southeast coast of the North Island.The reason for this division of the margin is not known but may be related to an inferred increase, from northeast to southwest, in the buoyancy of the Pacific lithosphere.     

近年来我国城市地理学主要研究领域的新进展

本文对改革开放以来中国城市地理学研究的新进展作了综述，尤其注重新领域的进展和主要观点的概括。本文涉及的主要领域包括：（１）城市化研究；（２）城市发展方针的研究；（３）城市体系研究；（４）城市内部空间结构研究。最后，在研究展望中作者指出，在社会主义市场经济体制下，应开展城市土地和住房以及国际大都市的研究。     

AN~2 APPLICATION IN THE METRODS OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY

1.PoPulation~aphyisthestudy0fthespatialdistributionmdarrangnatsofhumanpoPulation.ItisthesdenceofhowspatialvariarionsinthecomPosihon,growth,whgraion,anddistribLItionofpoPulatonsaiere1ataltospatialvariationsinthenatureofplaces.ThemethodsplayanimPohanroleinr…