ALBERT

Description: The current capacity of northern high-latitude forests to sequester carbon has been suggested to be undermined by the potential increase in fire and insect outbreaks. Here, we investigate the response of the terrestrial ecosystems in the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada to the recent large mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak that started in 1999 as well as changing climate and continually increasing atmospheric CO 2 concentration up to 2050, in a combined framework, using a process-based model. Model simulations suggest that the recent MPB outbreak results in BC's forests accumulating 328 teragrams less carbon over the 1999-2020 period. Over this same period changing climate and increasing atmospheric CO 2 concentration, however, yield enhanced carbon uptake equal to a cumulative sink of around 900-1060 Tg C, depending on the future climate change scenario, indicating that the reduced carbon uptake by land due to the MPB disturbance may already be surpassed by 2020.

Description: This paper presents a modelling study on the spatial and temporal variability of climate-induced hydrologic changes in the Fraser River basin, British Columbia, Canada. This large basin presents a unique modelling case due to its physiographic heterogeneity and the potentially large implications of changes to its hydrologic regime. The macro-scale Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model was employed to simulate 30-year baseline (1970s) and future (2050s) hydrologic regimes based on climate forcings derived from eight global climate models (GCMs) runs under three emissions scenarios (B1, A1B and A2). Bias Corrected Spatial Disaggregation was used to statistically downscale GCM outputs to the resolution of the VIC model (1/16°). The modelled future scenarios for the 11 sub-basins and three regions (eastern mountains, central plateau and coastal mountains) of the FRB exhibit spatially varied responses, such as, shifts from snow-dominant to hybrid regime in the eastern and coastal mountains and hybrid to rain-dominant regime in the central plateau region. The analysis of temporal changes illustrated considerable uncertainties in the projections obtained from an ensemble of GCMs and emission scenarios. However, direction of changes obtained from the GCM ensembles and emissions scenarios are consistent amongst one another. The most significant temporal changes could include earlier onsets of snowmelt-driven peak discharge, increased winter and spring runoff and decreased summer runoff. The projected winter runoff increases and summer decreases are more pronounced in the central plateau region. The results also revealed increases in the total annual discharge and decreases in the 30-year mean of the peak annual discharge. Such climate-induced changes could have implications for water resources management in the region. The spatially and temporally varied hydro-climatic projections and their range of projections can be used for local-scale adaptation in this important water resource system for British Columbia. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Description: Streamflow projections, including extremes, for the 2050s for the Columbia River headwaters above Donald are obtained by downscaling four regional climate models of the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) suite and subsequent driving of a hydrologic model. We employ the entire model chain from global and regional climate models, station-based statistical downscaling, and a fully distributed, physically based hydrologic model and verify the results against observed streamflow. The performance is model dependent but is generally encouraging enough to justify the application of the climate scenarios. A general warming of about 2°C is projected and, on average, slightly drier conditions, especially in late summer. We find evidence that the projected changes are elevation dependent and relatively small scale, with decreasing signals with higher elevations. All models project a shift of the hydrograph toward a more rain-fed regime, with peak flows occurring in June instead of July. Annual peak flow is projected to not increase, and August low flow decreases in all four models. With nonshrinking (static) glaciers, relatively high melting rates are simulated for August and September that partly compensate for the shifted hydrograph; this enhanced glacier melt is also detected in simulated historic Columbia headwater flow. The static approximation is supported by a heuristic seasonal sensitivity analysis that suggests a moderate average areal glacier recession of about 10% for the midcentury. We discuss the need for a dynamic glacier component for a refined assessment of future drought risk.

Description: This paper presents a modelling study on the spatial and temporal variability of climate-induced hydrologic changes in the Fraser River basin, British Columbia, Canada. This large basin presents a unique modelling case due to its physiographic heterogeneity and the potentially large implications of changes to its hydrologic regime. The macro-scale Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model was employed to simulate 30-year baseline (1970s) and future (2050s) hydrologic regimes based on climate forcings derived from eight global climate models (GCMs) runs under three emissions scenarios (B1, A1B and A2). Bias Corrected Spatial Disaggregation (BCSD) was used to statistically downscale GCM outputs to the resolution of the VIC model (1/16°). The modelled future scenarios for the 11 sub-basins and three regions (eastern mountains, central plateau and coastal mountains) of the FRB exhibit spatially varied responses, such as, shifts from snow-dominant to hybrid regime in the eastern and coastal mountains and hybrid to rain-dominant regime in the central plateau region. The analysis of temporal changes illustrated considerable uncertainties in the projections obtained from an ensemble of GCMs and emission scenarios. However, direction of changes obtained from the GCM ensembles and emissions scenarios are consistent amongst one another. The most significant temporal changes could include earlier onsets of snowmelt driven peak discharge, increased winter and spring runoff and decreased summer runoff. The projected winter runoff increases and summer decreases are more pronounced in the central plateau region. The results also revealed increases in the total annual discharge and decreases in the 30-year mean of the peak annual discharge. Such climate-induced changes could have implications for water resources management in the region. The spatially and temporally varied hydro-climatic projections and their range of projections can be used for local-scale adaptation in this important water resource system for British Columbia. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Description: Summary With increased understanding of the effects of human activities on the environment and added awareness of the increasing societal value of natural resources, researchers have begun to focus on the characterization of elemental cycles. Indium has captured significant attention due to the potential for supply shortages and nonexistent recycling at end of life. Such a combination of potentially critical features is magnified for countries that depend on imports of indium, notably many European countries. With the aims of analyzing the dynamics of material flows and of estimating the magnitude of secondary indium sources available for recycling, the anthropogenic indium cycle in Europe has been investigated by material flow analysis. The results showed that the region is a major consumer of finished goods containing indium, and the cumulative addition of indium in urban mines was estimated at about 500 tonnes of indium. We discuss these results from the perspective of closing the metal cycle in the region. Securing access to critical raw materials is a priority for Europe, but the preference for recycling metal urban mines risks to remain only theoretical for indium unless innovations in waste collection and processing unlock the development of technologies that are economically feasible and environmentally sustainable.

Description: With increased understanding of the effects of human activities on the environment and added awareness of the increasing societal value of natural resources, researchers have begun to focus on the characterization of elemental cycles. Indium has captured significant attention due to the potential for supply shortages and nonexistent recycling at end of life. Such a combination of potentially critical features is magnified for countries that depend on imports of indium, notably many European countries. With the aims of analyzing the dynamics of material flows and of estimating the magnitude of secondary indium sources available for recycling, the anthropogenic indium cycle in Europe has been investigated by material flow analysis. The results showed that the region is a major consumer of finished goods containing indium, and the cumulative addition of indium in urban mines was estimated at about 500 tonnes of indium. We discuss these results from the perspective of closing the metal cycle in the region. Securing access to critical raw materials is a priority for Europe, but the preference for recycling metal urban mines risks to remain only theoretical for indium unless innovations in waste collection and processing unlock the development of technologies that are economically feasible and environmentally sustainable.

Description: Taking the mass of a sample is a routine operation in laboratories which is frequently repeated during data collection. In chemical industries, this operation is often done manually. A procedure for fully automatic weighing of liquid substances with a laboratory robot is presented. To demonstrate its functionality and a possible application, the laboratory robot was used to create test samples for calibration of a gas chromatograph. The achieved accuracy is greater than that of careful manual weighing. The presented method facilitates the handling of most liquids commonly used in laboratories. A new procedure for fully automatic weighing of liquid substances with a modular laboratory robot, configured for the treatment of liquid chemicals, is presented. Optimization of the laboratory robot with regard to its accuracy and functionality is described and evaluated. The obtained accuracy is greater than that of careful manual weighing.