A place-based model for understanding community resilience to natural disasters

There is considerable research interest on the meaning and measurement of resilience from a variety of research perspectives including those from the hazards/disasters and global change communities. The identification of standards and metrics for measuring disaster resilience is one of the challenges faced by local, state, and federal agencies, especially in the United States. This paper provides a new framework, the disaster resilience of place (DROP) model, designed to improve comparative assessments of disaster resilience at the local or community level. A candidate set of variables for implementing the model are also presented as a first step towards its implementation.     

The measurement of mangrove characteristics in southwest Florida using spot multispectral data

An intensive in situ sampling program near Marco Island, Florida during 19–23 October 1988 collected information on mangrove type, maximum canopy height, and percent canopy closure. These data were correlated with selected vegetation index information derived from analysis of SPOT multispectral (XS) data obtained on 21 October 1988. The Normalized Difference (ND) vegetation index information was the most highly correlated index with percent canopy closure (r=0.91). Percent canopy closure information can be used as a surrogate for mangrove density which is of great value when predicting which parts of the mangrove ecosystem are at greatest risk after an oil spill occurs. Such information is very valuable when constructing oil spill Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) Maps for tropical regions of the world.     

Measuring the impact of mitigation activities on flood loss reduction at the parcel level: the case of the clear creek watershed on the upper Texas coast

As property damage from flooding continues to increase, particularly in coastal areas, the adoption of strategies to mitigate these losses has never been more important to protecting the health and safety of coastal communities. Both structural and non-structural flood mitigation activities are being considered to buffer the adverse consequences of building structures in areas exposed to flood risk. However, little research has been conducted on the effectiveness of flood mitigation practices, particularly non-structural approaches at the parcel level. Our study addresses this lack of critical knowledge by examining the effect of mitigation activities adopted under the FEMA community rating system on insured property losses across multiple communities within the Clear Creek watershed located just south of Houston, TX and adjacent to Galveston Bay. Specifically, we statistically identify the degree to which various mitigation strategies adopted by a community reduce flood loss claims among 9,555 parcels from 1999 to 2009. Results indicate that several mitigation policies adopted at the community level result in significant savings in property damage for homeowners in the Clear Creek watershed.     

Sustaining agricultural production and food security in Southern Africa: an improved role for climate prediction?

Livelihoods and household food security in the Southern African region can be extremely vulnerable to the negative effects of climate stress as shown by the 2002–2004 ‘complex emergency.’ Climate prediction may prove a valuable resource in mitigating these effects. If climate prediction is applied successfully, it may be able to help guide responses in populations at risk to reduce vulnerability to climate stress. The study presented here seeks to understand what would constitute an improved role for climate prediction in contributing to sustaining agricultural production and food security in Southern Africa. Investigation undertaken during the 2002/2003 rainy season under regional conditions of elevated disaster risk shows, however, that a number of weaknesses and gaps persistently characterize climate information systems in the Southern African region, and constrain such systems’ ability to benefit key sectors, particularly agriculture. The stakeholder identification of such gaps forms the basis for distilling concrete recommendations to improve process and organizational efficiency. Such recommendations, while developmental, should better enable institutions and stakeholders involved in climate prediction to fulfill their potential in supporting development of successful adaptation strategies in populations and sectors at risk.     

Indications for pedogenic formation of perylene in a terrestrial soil profile: Depth distribution and first results from stable carbon isotope ratios

Concentrations and isotope compositions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in natural soils of Southern Germany. In selected profiles perylene concentrations increased with soil depth when compared to the other PAH compounds present. However, its low solubility made vertical transport by seepage water unlikely. Therefore two mechanisms are discussed that could have caused the unusual distribution of perylene in these soils:

(a) Atmospheric deposition of combustion-derived (i.e. pyrogenic) perylene in the top-soil and

(b) in situ generation in the sub-soil of these specific terrestrial environments. This could have been caused by microbial activities or other catalytic processes yet unknown.

In order to distinguish between pyrogenic and natural generation compound-specific ¹³C/¹²C ratios (δ¹³C) were compared between perylene and other PAHs in samples from the top-soil and sub-soil. Despite successful clean-up of the extracts, low perylene concentrations and peak overlaps with benzo(e)pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene prevented determination of a unique δ¹³C value for perylene in the upper horizon. However, the δ¹³C value of perylene in the sub-soil was 5.7 permille more negative than other equal-mass PAHs (with m/z of 252) in the top-soil, which rather supports in situ generation of perylene in the sub-soil.     

Dependence of time derivative of horizontal geomagnetic field on sunspot number and aa index

This work investigated an interrelationship between the monthly means of time derivatives of horizontal geomagnetic field, dH/dt, sunspot number, R _z , and aa index for the period of substorms (from ?90 to ?1800 nT) during the years 1990–2009. A total of 232 substorms were identified during the period of study. The time derivative of horizontal geomagnetic field, dH/dt, used as a proxy for geomagnetically induced current (GIC) exhibited high positive correlation with sunspot number (0.86) and aa index (0.8998). The obtained geomagnetic activity is in 92.665% explicable by the combined effect of sunspot number and aa index. The distribution of substorms as a function of years gives a strong support for the existence of geomagnetic activity increases, which implies that as the sunspot number increases the base level of geomagnetic activity increases too.