ALBERT

Description: Seeps are the expression of the migration of hydrocarbons from subsurface accumulations to the surface in sedimentary basins. They may represent an important indication of the presence of petroleum (gas and oil) reservoirs and faults, and are a natural source of greenhouse gas (methane) and atmospheric pollutants (ethane, propane) to the atmosphere. Romania is one of the countries with the largest number of seeps in the world, due to the high petroleum potential and active tectonics. Based on a review of the available literature, and on the field surveys performed by the authors during the last 17 years, we report the first comprehensive GIS-based inventory of 470 seeps in Romania (HYSED-RO), including gas seeps (10.4% of the total), oil seeps (11.7%), mud volcanoes (50.4%), gas-rich springs (12.6%), asphalt (solid) seeps (4.3%), unclassified manifestations (4.0%), and uncertain seeps (6.6%). Seeps are typically located in correspondence with major faults and vertical and fractured stratigraphic contacts associated to petroleum reservoirs (anticlines) in low heat flow areas, and their gas-geochemistry reflects that of the subsurface reservoirs. The largest and most active seeps occur in the Carpathian Foredeep, where they release thermogenic gas, and subordinately in the Transylvanian Basin, where gas is mainly microbial. HYSED-RO may represent a key reference for baseline characterization prior to subsurface petroleum extraction, for environmental studies, and atmospheric greenhouse gas emission estimates in Romania.

Description: Published

Description: 39

Description: 6A. Geochimica per l'ambiente

Description: JCR Journal

Description: We analyzed chlorophyll-a and Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) dynamics from field measurements and assessed the potential of multispectral satellite data for retrieving water-quality parameters in three small surface reservoirs in the Brazilian semiarid region. More specifically, this work is comprised of: (i) analysis of Chl-a and trophic dynamics; (ii) characterization of CDOM; (iii) estimation of Chl-a and CDOM from OLI/Landsat-8 and RapidEye imagery. The monitoring lasted 20 months within a multi-year drought, which contributed to water-quality deterioration. Chl-a and trophic state analysis showed a highly eutrophic status for the perennial reservoir during the entire study period, while the non-perennial reservoirs ranged from oligotrophic to eutrophic, with changes associated with the first events of the rainy season. CDOM characterization suggests that the perennial reservoir is mostly influenced by autochthonous sources, while allochthonous sources dominate the non-perennial ones. Spectral-group classification assigned the perennial reservoir as a CDOM-moderate and highly eutrophic reservoir, whereas the non-perennial ones were assigned as CDOM-rich and oligotrophic-dystrophic reservoirs. The remote sensing initiative was partially successful: the Chl-a was best modelled using RapidEye for the perennial one; whereas CDOM performed best with Landsat-8 for non-perennial reservoirs. This investigation showed potential for retrieving water quality parameters in dry areas with small reservoirs

Description: Light microscopy analysis of diatom frustules is widely used in basic and applied research, notably taxonomy, morphometrics, water quality monitoring and paleo-environmental studies. Although there is a need for automation in these applications, various developments in image processing and analysis methodology supporting these tasks have not become widespread in diatom-based analyses. We have addressed this issue by combining our automated diatom image analysis software SHERPA with a commercial slide-scanning microscope. The resulting workflow enables mass-analyses of a broad range of morphometric features from individual frustules mounted on permanent slides. Extensive automation and internal quality control of the results helps to minimize user intervention, but care was taken to allow the user to stay in control of the most critical steps (exact segmentation of valve outlines and selection of objects of interest) using interactive functions for reviewing and revising results. In this contribution, we describe our workflow and give an overview of factors critical for success, ranging from preparation and mounting through slide scanning and autofocus finding to final morphometric data extraction. To demonstrate the usability of our methods we finally provide an example application by analysing Fragilariopsis kerguelensis valves originating from a sediment core, which substantially extends the size range reported in the literature.

Description: We present an annotated list of new finds of red algae from Hainan Island, Southern China, including those found in 1990 and 1992 during the German-Chinese expeditions to Hainan Island and in 2008–2016 by Titlyanova, Titlyanov, and Li. Between 1990 and 1992, a total of 64 taxa of red algae were newly recorded for Hainan Island. Of these 15 species were new records for China. During the period 2008–2016, a further 54 taxa were newly recorded for Hainan Island, of which 20 were new records for China. The full list of new taxa includes taxonomic forms, dates, and locales, together with known biogeographical distributions. During both periods, the apparent enrichment of red algal marine flora has occurred in a similar way—mainly at the expense of epiphytes with filamentous, thin-filamentous, and finely branched forms. We believe that the changes in the flora of Hainan Island have been influenced by both anthropogenic and natural factors including in particular exploitation of herbivores, nutrient pollution, and coral bleaching.

Description: Alexandrium ostenfeldii is a toxic dinoflagellate that has recently bloomed in Ouwerkerkse Kreek, The Netherlands, and which is able to cause a serious threat to shellfish consumers and aquacultures. We used a large set of 68 strains to the aim of fully characterizing the toxin profiles of the Dutch A. ostenfeldii in consideration of recent reports of novel toxins. Alexandrium ostenfeldii is known as a causative species of paralytic shellfish poisoning, and consistently in the Dutch population we determined the presence of several paralytic shellfish toxins (PST) including saxitoxin (STX), GTX2/3 (gonyautoxins), B1 and C1/C2. We also examined the production of spiroimine toxins by the Dutch A. ostenfeldii strains. An extensive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis revealed a high intraspecific variability of spirolides (SPX) and gymnodimines (GYM). Spirolides included 13-desMethyl-spirolide C generally as the major compound and several other mostly unknown SPX-like compounds that were detected and characterized. Besides spirolides, the presence of gymnodimine A and 12-Methyl-gymnodimine A was confirmed, together with two new gymnodimines. One of these was tentatively identified as an analogue of gymnodimine D and was the most abundant gymnodimine (calculated cell quota up to 274 pg cell−1, expressed as GYM A equivalents). Our multi-clonal approach adds new analogues to the increasing number of compounds in these toxin classes and revealed a high strain variability in cell quota and in toxin profile of toxic compounds within a single population.

Description: Lakes are a ubiquitous landscape feature in northern permafrost regions. They have a strong impact on carbon, energy and water fluxes and can be quite responsive to climate change. The monitoring of lake change in northern high latitudes, at a sufficiently accurate spatial and temporal resolution, is crucial for understanding the underlying processes driving lake change. To date, lake change studies in permafrost regions were based on a variety of different sources, image acquisition periods and single snapshots, and localized analysis, which hinders the comparison of different regions. Here, we present a methodology based on machine-learning based classification of robust trends of multi-spectral indices of Landsat data (TM, ETM+, OLI) and object-based lake detection, to analyze and compare the individual, local and regional lake dynamics of four different study sites (Alaska North Slope, Western Alaska, Central Yakutia, Kolyma Lowland) in the northern permafrost zone from 1999 to 2014. Regional patterns of lake area change on the Alaska North Slope (−0.69%), Western Alaska (−2.82%), and Kolyma Lowland (−0.51%) largely include increases due to thermokarst lake expansion, but more dominant lake area losses due to catastrophic lake drainage events. In contrast, Central Yakutia showed a remarkable increase in lake area of 48.48%, likely resulting from warmer and wetter climate conditions over the latter half of the study period. Within all study regions, variability in lake dynamics was associated with differences in permafrost characteristics, landscape position (i.e., upland vs. lowland), and surface geology. With the global availability of Landsat data and a consistent methodology for processing the input data derived from robust trends of multi-spectral indices, we demonstrate a transferability, scalability and consistency of lake change analysis within the northern permafrost region.

Description: Early successional habitat (ESH) is an important component of natural landscapes and is crucial to maintaining biodiversity. ESH also impacts endangered species. The extent of forest disturbances resulting in ESH has been diminishing, and foresters have developed timber management regimes using standard silvicultural techniques that enhance ESH. We developed a financial framework to evaluate these ESH-enhancing forest management regimes, driven by differences in timber harvest costs and timber revenue. The economic model was applied to on-the-ground prescriptions in the Nantahala National Forest (NNF) designed to increase biodiversity and foster improved public awareness of the importance of ESH. Bats, a current conservation concern, commonly exploit ESH and were the focus of our prescriptions. The prescriptions were based on shelterwood cuts of varying patch size, spacing between the cuts, and the trail area required to move from patch to patch. The results showed that prescriptions with large patch areas were effective in increasing ESH, with minimal impact on the financial performance of timber harvesting operations. This information can be used to minimize financial losses while catering to wildlife species that prefer ESH, in addition to increasing overall biodiversity.

Description: Before recommending a feeding strategy for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, it is important to conduct a holistic assessment of all related emissions, including from those arising from feed production, digestion of these feeds, managing the resulting manure, and other on-farm production processes and inputs. Using a whole-systems approach, the Holos model, and experimentally measured data, this study compares the effects of alfalfa silage- versus corn silage-based diets on GHG estimates in a simulated Canadian dairy production system. When all emissions and sources are accounted for, the differences between the two forage systems in terms of overall net GHG emissions were minimal. Utilizing the functional units of milk, meat, and total energy in food products generated by the system, the comparison demonstrates very little difference between the two silage production systems. However, the corn silage system generated 8% fewer emissions per kg of protein in food products as compared to the alfalfa silage system. Exploratory analysis of the impact of the two silage systems on soil carbon showed alfalfa silage has greater potential to store carbon in the soil. This study reinforces the need to utilize a whole-systems approach to investigate the interrelated effects of management choices. Reported GHG reduction factors cannot be simply combined additively because the interwoven effects of management choices cascade through the entire system, sometimes with counter-intuitive outcomes. It is necessary to apply this whole-systems approach before implementing changes in management intended to reduce GHG emissions and improve sustainability.

Description: Eleven years of hospital admissions data for Auckland, New Zealand for respiratory conditions are analyzed using a Poisson regression modelling approach, incorporating a spline function to represent time, based on a detailed record of haze events and surface air pollution levels over an eleven-year period, taking into account the daily average temperature and humidity, the day of the week, holidays and trends over time. NO2 was the only pollutant to show a statistically significant increase (p = 0.009) on the day of the haze event for the general population. Ambient concentrations of CO, NO and NO2 were significantly associated with admissions with an 11-day lag period for the 0–14 year age group and a 5–7 day lag period for the 65+ year age group. A 3-day lag period was found for the 15–64 year age group for CO, NO and PM10. Finally, the incidence of brown haze was linked to significant increases in hospital admissions. A lag period of 5 days was recorded between haze and subsequent increases in admissions for the 0–14 year age group and the 65+ group and an 11-day lag for the 15–64 year age group. The results provide the first statistical link between Auckland brown haze events, surface air pollution and respiratory health. Medical institutions and practitioners could benefit from improved capacity to predict Auckland’s brown haze events in order prepare for the likely increases in respiratory admissions over the days ahead.

Description: The present work highlights the influence of lithology on water quality in Méiganga and its surroundings. The main geological formations in this region include gneiss, granite and amphibolite. The soils developed on these rocks are of ABC type, which are acidic to slightly acidic. Electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter, total nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen, sulfate, chloride, phosphorus and exchangeable base values were low to very low in the soil samples. Groundwater samples were investigated for their physicochemical characteristics. The wide ranges of EC values (15.1–436 µS/cm) and total dissolved solids (9–249 mg/L) revealed the heterogeneous distribution of hydrochemical processes within the groundwater of the area. The relative abundance of major dissolved species (mg/L) was Ca2+ 〉 Na+ 〉 Mg2+ 〉 K+ for cations and HCO3− 〉〉 NO3− 〉 Cl− 〉 SO42− for anions. All the groundwater samples were soft, with total hardness values (2.54–136.65 mg/L) below the maximum permissible limits of the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. The majority of water samples (67%) were classified as mixed CaMg-HCO3 type. Alkaline earth metal contents dominated those of alkali metals in 66.66% of samples. Thus, for the studied groundwater, Mg2+ and Ca2+ ion adsorption by clay minerals was almost nonexistent; this implies their release into the solution, which accounts for their high concentrations compared to alkali metals. Ion geochemistry revealed that water-rock interactions (silicate weathering) and ion exchange processes regulated the groundwater chemistry. One water sample points towards the evaporation domain of this diagram, indicating that groundwater probably does not originate from a deeper system. Kaolinite is the most stable secondary phase in the waters in the study area, in accordance with the geochemical process of monosiallitization, which predominated in the humid tropical zone.

Description: Heat advection caused by groundwater flow can potentially improve the performance of a borehole heat exchanger. However, the required flow velocity is not achieved under most natural conditions. This study focuses on artificial groundwater flow generated by pumping and investigates the associated effect in a lowland area near the Toyohira River alluvial fan, Sapporo, Japan. Thermal response test results are compared under natural and artificial groundwater flow conditions. A pumping well is constructed one meter from the borehole. Temperature profiles are measured in the U-tube during testing, using a pair of optic fiber distributed temperature sensors. The effective thermal conductivity is calculated from the profiles obtained in each 10-m sub-layer; this thermal conductivity is termed the stepwise thermal conductivity. Additionally, the upward flow velocity in the pumping well is measured to estimate the mean groundwater flow velocity at the borehole. The results show that effective thermal conductivity increases at depths less than 50 m, where the pumping creates mean velocities greater than 0.1 m d−1 in each sub-layer (1.5 md−1 on average). Thus, a borehole length of 50 m is more reasonable at the test site for its efficiency in a ground source heat pump system coupled with the pumping well than that used.

Description: Abstract: Flooding is one of the most frequent natural disasters across the world, which damages properties and may take the lives of people. Flood warning systems can play a significant role in minimizing those effects by helping to evacuate people from the probable affected areas during peak flash flood times. Therefore, a conceptual approach of an automated flood warning system is presented in this research to protect several houses, roads, and infrastructures along the Grand River, which are vulnerable to flooding during a 500 year return period flash flood. The Grand River is a tributary of Lake Erie, which lies in the Grand River watershed in the northeastern region of the United States and has a humid continental climate and receives lake-effect precipitation. The flood warning system for the Grand River was developed specifically during high flow conditions by calculating flood travel time and generating the inundation mapping for 12 different selected flood stages, which were approximately 2 to 500 years in recurrence interval, ranging from 10 ft. to 21 ft. at gage station 04212100, near the City of Painesville, OH. A Hydraulic Engineering Center-River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) was utilized for hydraulic modeling. Geospatial data required for HEC-RAS was obtained using a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) datasets, which were pre-processed and post-processed in HEC-GeoRAS to produce flood inundation maps. The flood travel time and flood inundation maps were generated by integrating LiDAR data with field verified survey results in order to provide the evacuation lead time needed for the people of probable affected areas, which is different from earlier studies. The generated inundation maps estimate the aerial extent of flooding along the Grand River corresponding to the various flood stages at the gage station near the City of Painesville and Harpersfield. The inundation maps were overlaid on digital orthographic maps to visualize its aerial extents, which can be uploaded online to provide a real-time inundation warning to the public when the flood occurs in the river.

Description: The allocation of groundwater resources has been a challenge for many years due to its unforeseen side effect and lag time issues, which are often overlooked. The full impact of groundwater utilization/abstraction takes time to realize its effect at its full. In this paper, long-term effects and groundwater dynamics were assessed using a water balance model and a time series analysis, respectively. Undeveloped groundwater systems are commonly found in a state of equilibrium, where, on average, equal amounts of water are recharged and discharged. A water budget is a static accounting of the state of the system at a given time, often before the system is developed. Water balance analysis was carried out together with the groundwater through flow, hydrograph, and surface-groundwater interaction analysis (base flow index) to develop a conceptual water balance model, which is a very basic representation of a complex natural aquifer system and is instrumental to constrain and build a robust numerical model that can be readily justified and updated. A noble approach was employed to assess and constrain the discharge coming out of the model area to sustain the lake level, located to the north of the study area, using the whole lake catchment and lake water balance analysis. Based on the lake water balance, there is a deficit between input and output computation, and hence there should be a groundwater input to sustain the historical lake area. The analysis showed that the model area contributes 40% of the lake catchment, and hence the portion of the groundwater inflow feeding the lake was computed. This is one of the means to constrain the discharge, which adds more confidence to the recharge estimation. This is very important because the size of a sustainable groundwater development usually depends on how much of the discharge from the system can be captured by the development. Capture is independent of the recharge. Instead, it depends on the dynamic response of the aquifer system to the development. The idea that knowing the recharge is important in determining the size of a sustainable groundwater development is a myth and has no basis. The important entity in determining how a groundwater system reaches a new equilibrium is capture. How capture occurs in an aquifer system is a dynamic process. Following this study, lake water balance assessment was indirectly considered as prior information for the numerical model calibration of the discharge from the model area using a conductance parameter. Conductance is a key parameter to estimate the discharge volume together with the change in the simulated hydraulic head between time steps. The water balance error highlights which one is more sensitive, and this could help to assist in planning for future data collection/field work and where to invest the money. The water balance computation helps to figure out the degree of surface-groundwater interaction, uncertainty, sensitive parameter, helps in the decision to invest time and money, and operates as a cross check with other analytical or numerical modelling.

Description: The extreme rainfall event during June 2013 in the Western Himalayas caused widespread flash floods, which triggered landslides, a lake-outburst, and debris flow. For the hydrological study of such an unexpected extreme event, it is essential to have reliable and accurate rainfall predictions based on satellite observations. The mountainous state of Uttarakhand is covered by complex topography, and this state has few, unevenly distributed, rain gauge networks. This unique study was conducted to evaluate three satellite based rainfall products (i.e., TMPA-3B42, Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP), and NOAA CPC Morphing Technique (CMORPH)) against the observed rain gauge-based India Meteorological Department (IMD) gridded dataset for this rainfall episode. The results from this comprehensive study confirmed that the magnitude of precipitation and peak rainfall intensity were underestimated in TMPA-3B42 and CMORPH against gauge-based IMD data, while GSMaP showed dual trends with under- and over-predictions. From the results of the statistical approach on the determination of error statistic metrics (MAE (mean absolute error), NRMSE (normalized root mean square error), PBIAS (percent bias), and NSE (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency)) of respective satellite products, it was revealed that TMPA-3B42 predictions were more relevant and accurate compared to predictions from the other two satellite products for this major event. The TMPA-3B42-based rainfall was negatively biased by 18%. Despite these caveats, this study concludes that TMPA-3B42 rainfall was useful for monitoring extreme rainfall event in the region, where rain-gauges are sparse.

Description: In this study, two hydrologic models, the Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis (GSSHA) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), were applied to predict stream flow and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in a small agricultural watershed in Ishigaki Island, Japan, in which the typical time scale of flood event was several hours. The performances of these two models were compared in order to select the right model for the study watershed. Both models were calibrated and validated against hourly stream flow and SSC for half-month periods of 15 to 31 May 2011 and 17 March to 7 April 2013, respectively. The results showed that both models successfully estimated hourly stream flow and SSC in a satisfactory way. For the short-term simulations, the GSSHA model performed slightly better in simulating stream flow as compared to SWAT during both calibration and validation periods. GSSHA only gave better accuracy when predicting SSC during calibration, while SWAT performed slightly better during validation. For long-term simulations, both models yielded comparable results for long-term stream flow and SSC with acceptable agreement. However, SWAT predicted the overall variation of long-term SSC better than GSSHA.

Description: The Pettitt abrupt change test method based on ArcGIS was used to undertake change-point analysis on climatic (precipitation and potential evapotranspiration; 39 meteorological stations) and runoff data (27 hydrological stations) from 1954–2015 in the Nenjiang basin. The hydrological sensitivity analysis method was also used to calculate the influential component of climate change upstream, mid-stream, and downstream of the Nenjiang basin, as well as the effect of anthropogenic activities on runoff. Our results show that the upstream area has the highest contribution rate of climate change, followed by the mid-stream area; the downstream area has the lowest contribution rate. Studying climate change contribution rates in various sites in the Nenjiang basin, in addition to anthropogenic activities affecting runoff, can provide the foundation for the protection and utilization of basin water resources, as well as the conservation and restoration of wetlands.

Description: Global greenhouse gas emissions have increased at a rate of nearly 2% per year since 1970, and the rate of increase has been increasing. The contribution of greenhouse gases to global warming constitutes an environmental management challenge requiring interdisciplinary effort and international cooperation. In an effort to meet this challenge, the Kyoto Protocol imposes limits on aggregate CO2-equivalent emissions of four greenhouse gases, although it permits countries to trade off one gas for another at specified rates. This requires a definition of trade-off rates, which the Protocol specifies as Global Warming Potentials, although these have been controversial since their introduction. The primary source of concern has been the constancy of the trade-off rates, both across countries and through time. We propose a new composite index that allows freely variable trade-off rates, thereby facilitating the design of efficient abatement policy. In a pair of exercises we compare our composite index with that used by the Protocol. In both exercises we reject the constancy of trade-off rates, although despite the significantly different weighting schemes we find a degree of concordance between the two greenhouse gas indices.

Description: Indicator-based tools are widely used for the assessment of farm sustainability, but analysts still face methodological and conceptual issues, including data availability, the complexity of the concept of sustainability and the heterogeneity of agricultural systems. This study contributes to this debate through the illustration of a procedure for farm sustainability assessment focussed on the case study of the South Milan Agricultural Park, Italy. The application is based on a set of environmental, social and economic indicators retrieved from the literature review. The framework is based on three main steps: (i) Data collection mainly through interviews with farmers and institutions; (ii) data elaboration through an aggregative structure; and (iii) score analysis. The latter step includes a descriptive analysis that allows a comparison among farms or groups of farms and a principal components analysis that helps to confirm the dimensions in which indicators were previously included (components). Results derived from the sampled farms show that the framework can provide easy-to-read results useful at different levels. The study highlighted the procedures for the framework construction that is compatible with the region’s context and objectives, using an analytical approach that aims at the use of balanced features of availability and reliability of data.

Description: The European Union (EU) has set a mandatory target for renewable fuels of 10% for each member state by 2020. Biomethane is a renewable energy representing an alternative to the use of fossil fuels in the transport sector. This resource is a solution to reach this target. Furthermore, it contributes to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, gives social benefits and increases the security supply. Sustainability is reached also when the economic opportunities are verified. This work studies the profitability of small plants of biomethane, which is sold as vehicle fuel using the Net Present Value (NPV) and Discounted Payback Time (DPBT). The paper shows in detail the method used for the economic assessment of two typologies of feedstock recovered: (i) municipal solid waste and (ii) agricultural waste. Detailed information about the various parameters that affect the profitability of biomethane is given, and several case studies are analyzed as a function of two variables: subsidies and selling price. The results support the commercialization of small-scale plants, reducing also several environmental issues. The role of subsidies is strategic, and the profitability is verified only in some case studies

Description: Recycling has been taking place in South Africa for more than three decades, driven by social and economic needs. While the waste hierarchy is embedded in national policy, an extensive legislative framework has made it more and more challenging for the public and private sector to remain compliant and competitive in a local and global market, and still drive waste away from landfill towards reuse, recycling and recovery. A local recycling economy, on par with many developed countries, is in part due to a large and active informal waste sector. In the absence of separation at source across South African cities and towns, informal waste pickers have been key to accessing resources which the private sector has struggled to access, due to gatekeeping by municipalities. The South African waste and recycling sector can be defined in terms of four main stages of development—“The Age of Landfilling”, “The Emergence of Recycling”, “The Flood of Regulation” and “The Drive for EPR”, and is currently standing on the brink of a fifth stage—“The future is a Circular Economy”. The low hanging fruit, the easy to collect and recycle products, has been reaped. Moving to higher diversion from landfill targets will require more investment by the private sector and by government in the future. The social, economic and environmental benefits of doing this are clear, but must be balanced against the cost that will ultimately be borne by society, as consumers.

Description: Sustainable development is inconceivable without healthy real estate market. A housing project can be regarded as sustainable only when all the dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social) are dealt with. There has been an increased interest in using sustainability indicators for evaluating the impacts of the new development projects. Although international literature is rich in sustainability assessments, there are no tools developed for assessment of new residential projects in the specific context of the Baltic States. Therefore, the aim of this article is to fill this gap and to propose an integrated, hierarchically structured system of sustainability indicators to be used for assessment of the new housing development projects. This aim is achieved through accomplishing three objectives. First, based on a review of literature related to assessing building project performance and sustainable development in construction, the paper proposes an original hierarchically structured system of sustainability indicators suitable for the Baltic context. Second, based on a survey of experts, significances of criteria are estimated by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Finally, paper proposes recommendations to government authorities and real estate developers as to how to enhance the performance of new residential projects according to the principles of sustainability.

Description: This paper highlights the thermal performance of reclined (parallel to ground surface) and standing (perpendicular to ground surface) slinky horizontal ground heat exchangers (HGHEs) with different water mass flow rates in the heating mode of continuous and intermittent operations. A copper tube with an outer surface protected with low-density polyethylene was selected as the tube material of the ground heat exchanger. Effects on ground temperature around the reclined slinky HGHE due to heat extraction and the effect of variation of ground temperatures on reclined HGHE performance are discussed. A higher heat exchange rate was experienced in standing HGHE than in reclined HGHE. The standing HGHE was affected by deeper ground temperature and also a greater amount of backfilled sand in standing HGHE (4.20 m3) than reclined HGHE (1.58 m3), which has higher thermal conductivity than site soil. For mass flow rate of 1 L/min with inlet water temperature 7 °C, the 4-day average heat extraction rates increased 45.3% and 127.3%, respectively, when the initial average ground temperatures at 1.5 m depth around reclined HGHE increased from 10.4 °C to 11.7 °C and 10.4 °C to 13.7 °C. In the case of intermittent operation, which boosted the thermal performance, a short time interval of intermittent operation is better than a long time interval of intermittent operation. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of power consumption by the circulating pump, the intermittent operation is more efficient than continuous operation.

Description: During a participatory process in Gmunden, Austria, the organizational and responsibility-sharing arrangements for a landslide warning system proved to be contested issues. While questions on the warning system technology and the distribution of information, including the alarm for evacuation, could be resolved with the support of experts, controversies arose on the financial and legal responsibilities that ensure long-term and effective monitoring for the protection of the landslide-prone community. This paper examines how responsibilities can be shared among the residents, experts, and public authorities during the design and operation of landslide warning systems. In particular, we discuss the outcome and implications of three stakeholder workshops where participants deliberated on warning-system options that, in turn, were based on a discourse analysis of extensive stakeholder interviews. The results of the case study show that an end-user orientation requires the consideration of stakeholder worldviews, interests, and conflicts. Paradoxically, the public did not fully support their own involvement in the maintenance and control of the warning system, but the authorities promoted shared responsibility. Deliberative planning does not then necessarily lead to responsibility sharing, but it proved effective as a platform for information and for shared ownership in the warning system.

Description: This article addresses a research gap on the challenges—specifically risk and value—connected to realizing the potential for closing loops for rare earth elements (REE). We develop an analytical framework from conceptual elements of the global value chain (GVC) framework and the relational theory of risk to examine several empirical REE industry cases for loop closure. The aim of the paper is to identify how risk–value relationships are constructed by different actors as governance structures form in transactions prior to price setting and how these have impacts on the closure of REE loops. Often, REE loops are not closed, and we find that constructions of the risk–value relationship by industrial actors and by government agencies are unstable as they pursue different motivations, consequently hindering REE loop closure in GVCs. In light of this, we propose that governments mediate against the construction of risk–value relationships by facilitating information on the characteristics of end-of-life materials that qualify these for re-entry into loops.

Description: Approximately 〉50% of global rare earth element (REE) resources are hosted by carbonatite related deposits, of which monazite is one of the most important REE minerals. Monazite dominates more than 30 carbonatite-related REE deposits around the world, including currently exploited mineralization at Bayan Obo and Mount Weld. These deposits are widely distributed across all continents, except Antarctica. Though rare, monazite occurs as the primary mineral in carbonatite, and mostly presents as a secondary mineral that has a strong association with apatite. It can partially or completely replace thin or thick overgrowth apatite, depending on the availability of REE. Other mineral phases that usually crystallize together with monazite include barite, fluorite, xenotime, sulfide, and quartz in a carbonate matrix (e.g., dolomite, calcite). This review of monazite geochemistry within carbonatite-related REE deposits aims to provide information regarding the use of monazite as a geochemical indicator to track the formation history of the REE deposits and also supply additional information for the beneficiation of monazite. The chemical compositions of monazite are highly variable, and Ce-monazite is the dominant solid solution in carbonatite related deposits. Most monazite displays steep fractionation from La to Lu, absent of either Eu or Ce anomalies in the chondrite normalized REE plot. The other significant components are huttonite and cheratite. Some rare sulfur-bearing monazite is also identified with an SO3 content up to 4 wt %. A 147Sm/144Nd ratio with an average ~0.071 for monazite within carbonatite-related ores is similar to that of their host rocks (~0.065), and is the lowest among all types of REE deposits. Sm/Nd variation of monazite from a single complex reflects the differentiation stage of magma, which decreases from early to late. Based on the differences of Nd and Sr abundances, Nd isotopic composition for monazite can be used to track the magma source, whereas Sr isotopic composition records the signatures of the fluid source. Th-(U)-Pb age determination of the secondary monazite records variable thermal or metasomatic disturbances, and careful geochronological interpretation should be brought forward combined with other lines of evidence. ThO2 is the most difficult contamination in the beneficiation of monazite, luckily, the ThO2 content of monazite within carbonatite is generally low (〈2 wt %).

Description: Properly managed biopiles can be used for slaughterhouse-residual degradation and bacterial pathogen inactivation, which otherwise represent a major health risk in the environment. Biopiles were used to dispose of slaughterhouse-residuals and determine the occurrence and persistence patterns of indicators of pathogenic bacteria. The indicator bacteria included the family Enterobacteriaceae, total coliforms, Escherichia coli, nalidixic acid-resistant E. coli, and Streptococcus fecalis. The slaughterhouse-residual biopiles remained static for 164 d in 2006 and 141 d in 2007. In biopile effluent samples, exponentially decreasing populations of the indicator bacteria were observed. Indicator bacteria presence in biopile and soil samples suggested their retention and persistence in, but not migration from, the media. Though the family Enterobacteriaceae, total coliforms, and Escherichia coli shared behavioral correlations, they exhibited different fates in all media compared to S. fecalis, which was observed to persist and re-grow. The behavior of inoculated nalidixic acid-resistant E. coli suggested that inactivation was the primary process in the biopiles. However, the biopiles constituted continual sources of the indicator bacteria due to their persistence in isolated and protected locations, and changes in dominant species. While biopiling slaughterhouse-residuals was effective to inactivate 〉99% (log reductions) of indicator bacteria, tertiary methods and biopiling phases should be employed to ensure inactivation of pathogenic bacteria in animal waste biopiles. The fate of bacterial indicators in this system exhibited trends not-as-yet observed for animal waste biopiling activities, which generates numerous questions for further research.

Description: The dairy sector in the Netherlands aims for a 30% increase in efficiency and 30% carbon dioxide emission reduction compared to the reference year of 1990, and a 20% share of renewable energy, all by the year 2020. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) can play a substantial role in achieving these aims. However, results from this study indicate that the AD system is not fully optimized in combination with farming practices regarding sustainability. Therefore, the Industrial Symbiosis concept, combined with energy and environmental system analysis, Life Cycle Analysis and modeling is used to optimize a farm-scale AD system on four indicators of sustainability (i.e., energy efficiency, carbon footprint, environmental impacts and costs). Implemented in a theoretical case, where a cooperation of farms share biomass feedstocks, a symbiotic AD system can significantly lower external energy consumption by 72 to 92%, carbon footprint by 71 to 91%, environmental impacts by 68 to 89%, and yearly expenditures by 56 to 66% compared to a reference cooperation. The largest reductions and economic gains can be achieved when a surplus of manure is available for upgrading into organic fertilizer to replace fossil fertilizers. Applying the aforementioned symbiotic concept to the Dutch farming sector can help to achieve the stated goals indicated by the Dutch agricultural sector for the year 2020.

Description: The transition of farming systems to higher levels of productivity without overusing natural resources is of rising interest especially in African countries, where population growth has often been larger than past productivity increases. This paper aims to contribute to the debate on whether environmentally friendly agricultural practices are compatible with economic interests. In the context of small-scale farm households in Tanzania, the analysis focuses on Conservation Agriculture (CA) at different levels of agricultural output, as CA is a promising toolbox for sustainable intensification. The results are based on a household survey conducted in 2014 with 900 randomly selected small-scale farmers in rural Tanzania, i.e., in semi-arid Dodoma and in semi-humid Morogoro region. We find that mulching is most frequently applied, followed by crop rotation, fallowing, intercropping and tree planting. Logit regressions show that CA adoption is influenced by socio-economic factors, farm characteristics and the regional context. Quantile regressions explain different levels of agricultural output through variables related to the extent of using CA. They indicate that marginalized farmers have the strongest crop income effect from an increased use of mulching. With increasing levels of agricultural output, the use of mulching remains beneficial for farmers, but the effect appears less pronounced.

Description: Regulatory interventions, such as Local Content (LC) requirements, have been incorporated to counter market forces to maximise petroleum revenues. This has been undertaken with the hypothesis that the governments of petroleum-producing countries depend heavily on petroleum sectors for development, yet energy markets inadequately allocate these resources. Thus, governments revise existing, and often out-of-date, petroleum laws and introduce new petroleum legislation to specifically promote socio-economic objectives. This article explores the key legislative instruments of LC as developed and implemented in the oil and gas sectors both from developed and developing countries’ perspectives. In assessing the overall policy approach, this article evaluates instruments used to secure Local Content requirements in the oil and gas industry. In conclusion, governments must identify appropriate frameworks that consider the political and regulatory challenge of striking a balance between incentivising upstream investors and fulfilling national interests, such as creating jobs.

Description: Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) was adopted as a stand-alone goal and reflected as one of the cross-cutting objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a central role to address global resource consumption and its associated environmental impacts, as well as numerous social and economic issues. With this broad characterization of SCP, policy integration is crucial in addressing it at national level. This paper analyzes characteristics of SCP policy integration based on a survey of national government policies. It reveals that SCP is not fully integrated in national policy-making; high resource consumption sectors such as urban planning, building, and tourism are not fully incorporated into national SCP policies, and there is only limited participation of relevant government ministries other than environment ministries. We find that among countries with horizontal policy integration, those with Green Economy/Green Growth frameworks tend to have better sectoral integration; and those with SCP-specific frameworks are likely to have broader coordination of ministries. By conducting cross-analysis using income level and region, the different characteristics of SCP policy-making approaches were identified. The results of this study provide a better understanding of how SCP is integrated into policy for effective national policy-making and measurement of the SDG Goal 12.

Description: The discussion on the circular economy (CE) has attracted a rising interest within global policy and business as a way of increasing the sustainability of production and consumption. Yet the literature mostly portrays a Global North perspective. There is a diverse spectrum of community-based organizations playing important roles in resource recovery and transformation, particularly, but not only, in Global South countries, providing innovative examples for grassroots involvement in waste management and in the CE. This article proposes to add a Southern lens, situated in the context of waste picker organizations, to the concept of CE. The discursive framework in this article couples ecological economy (EE) with social/solidarity economy (SSE), focusing not only on environmental sustainability but also on social, economic, political and cultural dimensions involved in production, consumption and discard. We acknowledge that grassroots movements contribute to policy making and improve urban waste management systems. The paper outlines two empirical studies (Argentina, Brazil) that illustrate how waste picker organizations perform selective waste collection services, engage with municipalities and industries, and practice the CE. The research reveals that social and political facets need to be added to the debate about the CE, linking environmental management and policy with community development and recognizing waste pickers as protagonists in the CE. Our findings emphasize a need for a change of persisting inequalities in public policy by recognizing the importance of popular waste management praxis and knowledge, ultimately redefining the CE.

Description: Although recycling is considered the core of a circular economy for returning materials to the supply chain, its procedures are poorly understood. Waste recycling is considered a big source of energy saving and a promoter of CO2 recovery. Besides that, it generates jobs and changes markets worldwide. The Brasilian National Policy on Solid Waste (PNRS) recognizes Waste Pickers as the major social agent in the recycling process responsible for putting Brasil among the ten largest paper-recycling countries in the world. This paper presents an analysis of Brasilian recycling chains of paper and plastics and the main challenges for expanding recycling from Municipal solid waste. The research data were obtained from primary and secondary source related to the recycling supply chain of paper and of the following plastics—High Density Polyethylene (HDPE),Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Polypropylene(PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate(PET) and Polystyrene(PS). Enterprises of various sizes, including informal ones and WPs associations/cooperatives, were visited, in the five Brasilian geographic regions, during the years of 2013 and 2014. A nomenclature was defined for the various enterprises that operate in the Brasilian recycling chain. Each node of the plastic and paper recycling chain was described. The main bottleneck observed in these chains is the lack of continuous programs of selective collection with an emphasis on environmental education processes in the 5570 Brasilian municipalities. Several possibilities not only to promote waste recycling but also to increase the productivity of the sorting process are discussed.

Description: Ore mining has served as a predictor of economic wellbeing since it brought development to countries. However, these benefits do not always extend to all localities that comprised the center of this industry. This paper examined the contribution of mining to local communities. An index of local sustainability was constructed based on economic, social, and land-use data from twelve localities where mining and forestry are their major economic activities. Land-use variables were obtained from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM 5) images for 2000, and Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI8) for 2014, while the socio-economic variables were collected in twelve localities with an 85-question survey. A sustainability index was developed for each group of variables—economic (ESI), social (SSI) and land-use sustainability index (LUSI)—to further build a local sustainability index (LSI). Three localities showed the highest ESI (0.61, 0.53 and 0.43) and SSI (0.90, 0.79 and 0.78), while two localities had the lowest values in the ESI and SSI. In contrast, the highest value of LUSI was found in two other different localities and in one with lower SSI. Income from mining activities is positively associated with the ESI and SSI, but there was no evidence of linear association with the LUSI. A local index of sustainability provides useful information for planning and development strategies.

Description: The availability of rare earth elements from primary resources has come into question in the last two decades. This has sparked various government and industry initiatives to examine potential rare earth element resources apart from virgin ore bodies. Geothermal fluids are potentially significant sources of valuable minerals and metals, while co-recovery with geothermal energy production would be an attractive sustainable system. In this work, we give a brief survey of data collected on rare earth element concentrations in geothermal fluids. A survey of methods and technologies for extracting rare earth elements from geothermal is discussed along with the feasibility of recovering rare earth elements from geothermal brines. Based on the findings of this study, rare earth element extraction from geothermal fluids is technically possible, but neither economically viable nor strategically significant at this time.

Description: The Lake Chad Basin has for a very long period supported the livelihoods of millions of peoples from the different countries that share this transboundary water resource. Its shrinking over the decades has meant that many of those who depend on it for livelihoods would have to adjust to the changing resource environment of this lake basin. This study sets out to examine the seasonal migration of people in search of water, pasture, fuelwood and cultivable land, and how this movement affects access and use of basin resources. The study made use of survey data obtained from 220 household heads on the Cameroon side of the Lake Chad basin, and secondary data from Cameroon ministries in charge of agriculture, the environment, and that of livestock. Our findings show that while fishing and livestock rearing continue to feature among the oldest determinants of population movements in the Lake Chad basin, increasingly the search for new farming opportunities made available by a shrinking lake and the political instability emanating from Nigeria are also becoming an important determinant. The increasing population in the lake region is compounding pressures created by a shrinking lake on access to water, fuelwood, pasture, and farmland. While there is potential to develop and benefit from the agricultural possibilities emerging from a shrinking lake, the impacts of poor agricultural resource management (especially land degradation, loss of agricultural biodiversity, and poor water management) may hamper the sustainable practice of agriculture if proper efforts are not made to address them. This study contributes to the scientific understanding of the changing nature of environmental resources in Africa. It specifically contributes to understanding the exacerbating threats to the sustainability of natural resources (water, agricultural and grazing land) caused by environmental changes, diversification of rural actors (fishers, farmers, breeders), weak resource management, and since 2013, by an armed conflict.

Description: Climate change can have serious impacts on human health, resulting in increased healthcare utilization. Many studies on the relationship between mortality and temperature exist, but few studies focus on heat related outbreaks. Our objective was to verify the relationship between ambient temperature and heat related illnesses during the summer months. This study analyzed the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) database. Patients with an ICD-10 code T67 (Effects of Heat and Light) presenting between May and September were included. Generalized additive models (GAM) were used to determine the association between ambient temperature and heat related illnesses including differences by region and patient age. A total of 335,759 patients with heat related illnesses were identified from 2002 to 2013. The number of heat related illnesses increased from 14,994 in 2002 to 29,332 in 2013. For every 1 °C increase in the daily temperature above 29.5 °C, the number of patients with heat related illnesses also increased (RR 1.060; 95% CI, 1.059 to 1.061). In addition, a higher association between temperature and outbreaks of heat related to elderly patients (RR 1.084; 95% CI, 1.081 to 1.086) and rural patients (RR 1.229; 95% CI, 1.208 to 1.251) was identified. The association between the daily maximum temperature and outbreaks of heat related illness is identified. The number of patients with heat related illnesses increased over the years and was especially noted in elderly and rural patients.

Description: This study presents a comprehensive trend analysis of precipitation, temperature, and runoff extremes in the Central Valley of California from an operational perspective. California is prone to those extremes of which any changes could have long-lasting adverse impacts on the society, economy, and environment of the State. Available long-term operational datasets of 176 forecasting basins in six forecasting groups and inflow to 12 major water supply reservoirs are employed. A suite of nine precipitation indices and nine temperature indices derived from historical (water year 1949–2010) six-hourly precipitation and temperature data for these basins are investigated, along with nine indices based on daily unimpaired inflow to those 12 reservoirs in a slightly shorter period. Those indices include daily maximum precipitation, temperature, runoff, snowmelt, and others that are critical in informing decision making in water resources management. The non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test is applied with a trend-free pre-whitening procedure in identifying trends in these indices. Changes in empirical probability distributions of individual study indices in two equal sub-periods are also investigated. The results show decreasing number of cold nights, increasing number of warm nights, increasing maximum temperature, and increasing annual mean minimum temperature at about 60% of the study area. Changes in cold extremes are generally more pronounced than their counterparts in warm extremes, contributing to decreasing diurnal temperature ranges. In general, the driest and coldest Tulare forecasting group observes the most consistent changes among all six groups. Analysis of probability distributions of temperature indices in two sub-periods yields similar results. In contrast, changes in precipitation extremes are less consistent spatially and less significant in terms of change rate. Only four indices exhibit statistically significant changes in less than 10% of the study area. On the regional scale, only the American forecasting group shows significant decreasing trends in two indices including maximum six-hourly precipitation and simple daily intensity index. On the other hand, runoff exhibits strong resilience to the changes noticed in temperature and precipitation extremes. Only the most southern reservoir (Lake Isabella) shows significant earlier peak timing of snowmelt. Additional analysis on runoff indices using different trend analysis methods and different analysis periods also indicates limited changes in these runoff indices. Overall, these findings are meaningful in guiding reservoir operations and water resources planning and management practices.

Description: Climate change is a serious threat to the livelihoods of rural communities, particularly in mountainous areas because they are very sensitive to such changes. In this study, we assessed the household determinants to climate change adaptation drawing from a case study of agricultural adaptation in the Mount Rwenzori area of South Western Uganda. The study identified the major adaptation practices that are adopted by farmers to cope with the impacts of climate change and using available on-farm technologies. A total of 143 smallholder farmers were sampled and interviewed using field based questionnaires, field observations, and key informant interviews. Data was cleaned, entered and analysed using SPSS and Stata software for descriptive statistics. Thereafter, a Multinomial logistic regression model was used to assess the drivers of farmers’ choice for adaptation practices, factors influencing the choice of adaptation, and barriers. The major adaptation practices that were identified included; use of different crop varieties, tree planting, soil and water conservation, early and late planting, and furrow irrigation. Discrete choice model results indicated the age of the household head, experience in farming, household size, climate change shocks, land size, use of agricultural inputs, landscape position (location), and crop yield varied significantly (p 〉 0.05), which influenced farmers’ choice of climate change adaptation practices. The main barriers to adaptation included inadequate information on adaptation methods and financial constraints, leading us to conclude that contextual adaptation practices are more desirable for adoption to farmers. Adapting to climate change needs support from government and other stakeholders, however the implementation is more successful when appropriate and suitable choices are employed.

Description: This bibliometric analysis deals with research on the collapse of the Maya civilization—a research topic with a long-lasting history, which has been boosted significantly by recent paleoclimatic research. The study is based on a publication set of 433 papers published between 1923 and 2016. The publications covered by the Web of Science (WoS) show a significant increase since 1990, reaching about 30 papers per year at present. The results show that the current discourse on the collapse of the Maya civilization is focused on the role of climate as a major factor for the demise of this ancient civilization. The bibliometric analyses also reveal that (1) paleoclimatic records become numerous and are increasingly better dated; (2) the explanatory power of the records has been significantly increased by analyzing samples from regions closer to the relevant Maya sites; and (3) interdisciplinary cooperation of the humanities (archeology, anthropology, history) with natural sciences disciplines (geoscience, ecology, paleoclimatology, meteorology) seems to be highly promising. The collapse of the Maya civilization is a good example of how natural sciences entered research in the humanities and social sciences (anthropology, archeology, history) and boosted research (and solutions) around long-discussed, but unsolved questions.

Description: This study is focused on establishing the extent of potential hydraulic connections of local lowland aquifers with the run-off waters of a nearby creek and two major rivers in and around Fort Riley in northeastern Kansas, USA. It is based on collective evidence by combining the contents of several major and trace elements of the waters with their oxygen, hydrogen and Sr isotopic compositions. The area of investigation is located a few miles to the west of the Kansas Konza Prairie, which is a United States designated site for regular monitoring of ecological and environmental configurations. The δ18O and δD of the run-off waters from the two rivers and the creek, and of the ground waters from local aquifers are almost identical. Relative to the General Meteoric Water Line, the δ18O-δD data have a tendency to deviate towards relatively lower δ18O values, as do generally the sub-surface waters of intra-continental basins. The observed stable isotope compositions for these waters preclude any significant impact by either an evapo-transpiration process by the vegetation, or an interaction with immediate mineral-rock matrices. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the aquifer waters collected from wells close to the Kansas River were markedly different from those of the river waters, confirming a lack of hydraulic interactions between the aquifers and the river. On the contrary, ground waters from wells at a relative distance from the Kansas River have 87Sr/86Sr ratios, Sr contents and Sr/Ca ratios that are similar to those of the river water, suggesting a hydraulic connection between these aquifers and the river, as well as a lack of any impact of the vegetation. An underground water supply from nearby Summer Hill located to the north of the study area has also been detected, except for its western border where no interactions occurred apparently between the aquifer waters and the reservoir rocks, or with the creek and river waters. The 87Sr/86Sr signatures of the ground waters suggest also a major east-west flow system in the study area that can be divided into three entities, together with a supplementary north-south trend along the Threemile creek towards the Kansas River.

Description: Analysis and interpretation of soil properties dynamics is a keystone in understanding the hydrologic responses and yield potential of floodplain wetlands. This study characterizes the distribution and spatial trends of selected soil physical properties in the Kilombero floodplain, Tanzania. A total of 76 composite soil samples were taken from 0 to 20 cm and 20 to 40 cm depth in a regular grid design across three hydrological zones, related to flooding intensity defined as fringe, middle, and riparian during the rainy season of 2015. The samples were analyzed for soil texture, bulk density, organic carbon, and saturated hydraulic conductivity. Seasonal soil moisture content was monitored at depths of 10, 20, 30, and 40 cm, using 17 frequency domain reflectometry profile probes type PR2, installed at each hydrological zone for 18 months (March 2015–August 2016). Data were subjected to classical statistical and geostatistical analyses. Results showed significant (p 〈 0.05) differences in bulk density, texture, soil organic carbon (SOC), and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) across the hydrological zones. Bulk density showed a clear increasing trend towards the fringe zone. Mean Ksat was highest at the riparian zone (69.15 cm·d−1), and clay was higher in the riparian (20.3%) and middle (28.7%) zones, whereas fringe had the highest percentage of sand (33.7–35.9%). Geostatistical spatial results indicated that bulk density, silt, and SOC at 0–20 cm had intermediate dependence, whereas other soil properties at both depths had high spatial dependence. Soil moisture content showed a significant (p 〈 0.05) difference across the hydrological zones. The riparian zone retained the highest soil moisture content compared to the middle and fringe zone. The temporal soil moisture pattern corresponded to rainfall seasonality and at the riparian zone, soil moisture exhibited a convex shape of sloping curve, whereas a concave sloping curve for topsoil and for the middle zone at the subsoil was observed during the start of the dry season. Our results are seen to contribute to a better understanding of the spatial distribution of soil properties and as a reference for soil and water management planning in the floodplain.

Description: An affordable standalone sensor that can provide volumetric information on soil moisture distribution in real time was developed and tested for potential application in irrigation control systems. The moisture content of soil is reconstructed tomographically from electrical resistivity measured between multiple pairs of electrodes, which are installed on two opposite sides of the soil volume. The measurement of relative moisture content reconstructed from the measured resistance values demonstrated in this paper requires a simple, in-situ, two-point calibration (for dry and wet soil conditions) after electrodes are installed in place. This calibration has to be repeated once the soil conditions, such as salinity or fertilizer content, are altered as the season progresses. Historical data collected over a 12-month period can be stored locally or transferred over a wireless network at given intervals or in real time. Although existing single-point sensors can provide more accurate measurements of soil moisture, knowledge on the three-dimensional distribution of moisture around plant roots should allow substantial savings of precious fresh water resources and more intelligent multi-channel irrigation systems. The same system can possibly be extended to estimation of fertilizer distribution.

Description: Sub-Saharan Africa is highly vulnerable to climate change given its low capacities of resilience to the enormous challenges climate change will pose. Research aimed at evaluating changes in hydrological trends and methods of adaptation was conducted in the Niger Basin parts of Benin at the peak of the rainy season in the year 2012. Rainfall and river discharge were analyzed from 1950–2010 in order to generate patterns of changes in the region. Structured questionnaires were used to evaluate the perceptions of 14 farming communities on climate-related issues and their methods of adaptations. Mann-Kendall and Pettit trend analyses were conducted for rainfall and river discharge. The findings indicated that significant decreases characterized rainfall and river discharge in the period of study. Flash flood was considered the major challenge faced in the region according to more than 90% of crop, animal, and fish farmers. Aside from that, decrease in water availability was identified as an additional challenge. Irrigation, diversification, water treatment, drainage, small dams, and dikes were reported as the common adaptation mechanisms in the catchments. This study will help in designing sustainable adaptation mechanisms to abrupt changes in the hydrology of the region.

Description: Finite element discretization of the pressure head form of the Richards equation leads to a nonlinear model, which yields numerical convergence difficulties. When the numerical solution to this problem has either an extremely sharp moving front, infiltration into dry soil, flow domains containing materials with spatially varying properties, or involves time-dependent boundary conditions, the corrector iteration used in many time integrators can terminate prematurely, which leads to incorrect results. While the Picard and Newton iteration methods can solve this problem through tightening the tolerances provided to the solvers, there is a more efficient approach to overcome the convergence difficulties. Four tests examples are examined, and each test case is solved with five sufficiently small tolerances to demonstrate the effectiveness of convergence. The numerical results illustrate that the methods greatly improve the convergence and stability. Test experiments show that the Newton method is more complex and expensive on a per iteration basis than the Picard method for simulating variably saturated–unsaturated flow in one spatial dimension. Consequently, it is suggested that the resulting local and global mass balance is exact within the minimum specified accuracy.

Description: Agricultural subsurface drainage changes the field hydrology and potentially the amount of water available to the crop by altering the flow path and the rate and timing of water removal. Evapotranspiration (ET) is normally among the largest components of the field water budget, and the changes in ET from the introduction of subsurface drainage are likely to have a greater influence on the overall water yield (surface runoff plus subsurface drainage) from subsurface drained (TD) fields compared to fields without subsurface drainage (UD). To test this hypothesis, we examined the impact of subsurface drainage on ET at two sites located in the Upper Midwest (North Dakota-Site 1 and South Dakota-Site 2) using the Landsat imagery-based METRIC (Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration) model. Site 1 was planted with corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) during the 2009 and 2010 growing seasons, respectively. Site 2 was planted with corn for the 2013 growing season. During the corn growing seasons (2009 and 2013), differences between the total ET from TD and UD fields were less than 5 mm. For the soybean year (2010), ET from the UD field was 10% (53 mm) greater than that from the TD field. During the peak ET period from June to September for all study years, ET differences from TD and UD fields were within 15 mm (〈3%). Overall, differences between daily ET from TD and UD fields were not statistically significant (p 〉 0.05) and showed no consistent relationship.

Description: This work aims to evaluate future water availability in the Mékrou catchment under climate change scenarios. To reach this goal, data from Regional Climate Models (RCMs) were used as the input for four rainfall-runoff models which are ModHyPMA (Hydrological Model based on Least Action Principe), HBV (Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning), AWBM (Australian Water Balance Model), and SimHyd (Simplified Hydrolog). Then the mean values of the hydro-meteorological data of three different projected periods (2011–2040, 2041–2070 and 2071–2100) were compared to their values in the baseline period. The results of calibration and validation of these models show that the meteorological data from RCMs give performances that are as good as performances obtained with the observed meteorological data in the baseline period. The comparison of the mean values of the hydro-meteorological data of the baseline period to their values for the different projected periods indicates that for PET there is a significantly increase until 2100 for both Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) and RCP8.5 scenarios. Therefore, the rate’s increase of potential evapotranspiration (PET) under the RCP8.5 scenario is higher than that obtained under the RCP8.5 scenario. Changes in rainfall amounts depend on the scenario of climate change and the projected periods. For the RCP4.5 scenario, there is a little increase in the annual rainfall amounts over the period from 2011 to 2040, while there is a decrease in the rainfall amounts over the other two projected periods. According to the RCP8.5 scenario, the contrary of changes observed with the RCP4.5 scenario are observed. At a monthly scale, the rainfall amounts will increase for August and September and decrease for July and October. These changes in rainfall amounts greatly affect yearly and monthly discharge at the catchment outlet. Over the three projected periods and for both RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, the mean annual discharge will significantly increase related to the baseline periods. However, the magnitude of increases will depend on the projected period and the RCP scenario. At a monthly scale, it was found that runoff increases significantly from August to November for all projected periods and the climate change scenario.

Description: This paper evaluates contributions to global temperature anomalies from greenhouse gas concentrations and from a source of natural variability. There is no accepted causation for the apparent interrelationships between multidecadal oscillations and regime changes in atmospheric circulation, upwelling, and the slowdowns in global surface temperatures associated with a ~60-year oscillation. Exogenous tidal forcing is hypothesized as a major causal agent for these elements, with orthogonal components in tidal forcing generating zonal and meridional regime-dependent processes in the climate system. Climate oscillations are simulated at quasi-biennial to multidecadal timescales by tidal periodicities determined by close approaches of new or full moon to the earth. Subtracting a tidal analog of the ~60-year oscillation from global mean surface temperatures reveals an exponential component comparable with greenhouse gas emission scenarios, and which is responsible for almost 90% or contemporary global temperature increases. Residual subdecadal temperature anomalies correlate with the subdecadal variability of evolved carbon dioxide (CO2), ENSO activity and tidal components, and indicate a causal sequence from tidal forcing to greenhouse gas (GHG) release to temperature increase. Tidal periodicities can all be expressed in terms of four fundamental frequencies. Because of the potential importance of this formulation, tests are urged using general circulation models.

Description: In Finnish Lapland, reindeer herders’ activity is strongly dependent on the surrounding natural environment, which is directly exposed to environmental changes and climatic variations. By assessing whether there is any evidence of change in climate in Fell Lapland over the last 50 years, this paper attempts to link global climatic trends with local conditions and respond to the need of information at the local level. It aims at assessing the changes in temperature, precipitation and snow cover at a regional and local scale, as well as determining the climatic trends for the period 1960–2011. Statistical methods were used to conduct analyses of the regional homogeneity, the annual and seasonal variability, and the cold intensity. The results show that the regional climate is not homogeneous and differences exist between locations. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that, in general, a warming trend is discernible for the period 1960–2011, frost and thaw cycles slightly increase, and variations in mean temperatures are more important in the winter. Precipitation is more variable according to the site but, in general, precipitation is increasing with time, especially in the winter, and the snow cover does not seem to contain any discernible trend.

Description: Changes in climate because of global warming during the 20th and 21st centuries have a direct impact on the hydrological cycle as driven by precipitation. However, studying precipitation over the Western Maritime Continent (WMC) is a great challenge, as the WMC has a complex topography and weather system. Understanding changes in precipitation patterns and their groupings is an important aspect of planning mitigation measures to minimize flood and drought risk as well as of understanding the redistribution of precipitation arising from climate change. This paper employs Ward’s hierarchical clustering on regional climate model (RCM)-simulated monthly precipitation gridded data over 42 approximately evenly distributed grid stations from the years 2030 to 2060. The aim was to investigate spatial and temporal groupings over the four major landmasses in the WMC and to compare these with historical precipitation groupings. The results showed that the four large-scale islands of Java, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo would experience a significant spatial redistribution of precipitation over the years 2030 to 2060, as compared to historical patterns from 1980 to 2005. The spatial groups were also compared for two future forcing scenarios, representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5, and different groupings over the Borneo region were observed.

Description: Nepal has an extreme altitudinal range from 60–8850 m with heterogeneous topography and distinct climatic zones. The country is considered a biodiversity hotspot, with nearly a quarter of the land area located in protected areas. Nepal and the surrounding Himalayan region are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their abrupt ecological and climatic transitions. Tens of millions of people rely on the region’s ecosystem services, and observed and modeled warming trends predict increased climate extremes in the Himalayas. To study the ecological impacts of climate change in Nepal and inform adaptation planning, we review the literature on past, present, and predicted future climatic changes and their impacts on ecological diversity in Nepal. We found few studies focusing on organisms, while research on species and communities was more common. Most studies document or predict species range shifts and changes in community composition. Results of these few investigations highlight major lacunae in research regarding the effects of changing climate on species comprising the Himalayan biota. Further empirical work is needed at all levels of biological organization to build on information regarding direct ecological impacts of climatic changes in the region. Countries face an ever-increasing threat of climate change, and Nepal has strong physiographic, elevational, and climatic gradients that could provide a useful model for studying the effects of climate change on a mountainous, and highly biodiverse, area.

Description: A continuous spatio-temporal database of accurate soil moisture (SM) measurements is an important asset for agricultural activities, hydrologic studies, and environmental monitoring. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), which was launched in May 2012, has been providing SM data globally with a revisit period of two days. It is imperative to assess the quality of this data before performing any application. Since resources of accurate SM measurements are very limited in Puerto Rico, this research will assess the quality of the AMSR2 data by comparing it with ground-based measurements, as well as perform a downscaling technique to provide a better description of how the sensor perceives the surface soil moisture as it passes over the island. The comparison consisted of the evaluation of the mean error, root mean squared error, and the correlation coefficient. Two downscaling techniques were used, and their performances were studied. The results revealed that AMSR2 products tend to underestimate soil moisture. This is due to the extreme heterogeneous distributions of elevations, vegetation densities, soil types, and weather events on the island. This research provides a comprehensive study on the accuracy and potential of the AMSR2 products over Puerto Rico. Further studies are recommended to improve the AMSR2 products.

Description: Some of the problems in drought assessments are that: analyses tend to focus on coarse temporal scales, many of the methods yield skewed indices, a few terminologies are ambiguously used, and analyses comprise an implicit assumption that the observations come from a stationary process. To solve these problems, this paper introduces non-stationary frequency analyses of quantiles. How to use non-parametric rescaling to obtain robust indices that are not (or minimally) skewed is also introduced. To avoid ambiguity, some concepts on, e.g., incidence, extremity, etc., were revisited through shift from monthly to daily time scale. Demonstrations on the introduced methods were made using daily flow and precipitation insufficiency (precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration) from the Blue Nile basin in Africa. Results show that, when a significant trend exists in extreme events, stationarity-based quantiles can be far different from those when non-stationarity is considered. The introduced non-parametric indices were found to closely agree with the well-known standardized precipitation evapotranspiration indices in many aspects but skewness. Apart from revisiting some concepts, the advantages of the use of fine instead of coarse time scales in drought assessment were given. The links for obtaining freely downloadable tools on how to implement the introduced methods were provided.

Description: Nitrogen (N) saturation of upland forests has been assumed to be a substantial N source downstream. However, removal processes of N, including assimilation and denitrification in the downstream area, have not been clarified. To evaluate the N removal processes, nitrate (NO3−) and organic N concentrations, as well as nitrogen isotope ratio (δ15N) and oxygen isotope ratio (δ18O) of NO3− were measured along three rivers of Tatara River Basin, Japan where upland forests have already been N-saturated. Geographic information system (GIS) based topographical analysis was also conducted to evaluate the land use as urban area in relation to topography. In two of the three rivers, NO3− concentrations did not increase from upstream to downstream, despite the potential non-point N sources of urban areas. In another river, NO3− concentrations rather decreased. The values of δ15N and δ18O of NO3− and organic N concentrations suggested the presence of denitrification and assimilation over N pollutants in the river whose watersheds have a lower percentage of urban area. The lower percentage of urban area could be explained by the lower topographic index. This study concluded that the NO3− leaching from upland N-saturated forests was substantially assimilated or denitrified in the downstream area.

Description: Resistivity soundings and hydrogeochemical methods were carried out in order to establish the characteristics of the aquifer in Jeddo, Southern Nigeria. Results of the resistivity sounding revealed that the formation is made up of clay, clayey sand, and fine- to coarse-grained sand. The mean depth of the aquifer was obtained as 12.7 m while the aquifer resistivity ranged from 161 to 1728 Ωm. The mean value of transmissivity obtained for the aquifer is 169 m2 day−1 while analysis of the transmissivity revealed that about 6% of the study area has greatest potential for a productive aquifer. The study also revealed that the underground water flows in the northeast–southwest direction. The hydro geochemical analysis of water samples showed that some parameters such as lead, color and pH exceeded the permissible limits, which were established by Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization. It is concluded from the water quality index (WQI) that the groundwater is of poor quality and requires some remediation before it can be used for domestic and industrial purposes.

Description: Urban air quality in most megacities has been found to be critical and Kolkata Metropolitan City is no exception to this. An analysis of ambient air quality in Kolkata was done by applying the Exceedance Factor (EF) method, where the presence of listed pollutants’ (RPM, SPM, NO2, and SO2) annual average concentration are classified into four different categories; namely critical, high, moderate, and low pollution. Out of a total of 17 ambient air quality monitoring stations operating in Kolkata, five fall under the critical category, and the remaining 12 locations fall under the high category of NO2 concentration, while for RPM, four record critical, and 13 come under the high pollution category. The causes towards the high concentration of pollutants in the form of NO2 and RPM have been identified in earlier studies as vehicular emission (51.4%), followed by industrial sources (24.5%) and dust particles (21.1%). Later, a health assessment was undertaken with a structured questionnaire at some nearby dispensaries which fall under areas with different ambient air pollution levels. Three dispensaries have been surveyed with 100 participants. It shows that respondents with respiratory diseases (85.1%) have outnumbered waterborne diseases (14.9%) and include acute respiratory infections (ARI) (60%), chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) (7.8%), upper track respiratory infection (UTRI) (1.2%), Influenza (12.7%), and acid fast bacillus (AFB) (3.4%). Although the pollution level has been recorded as critical, only 39.3% of the respondents have felt that outdoor (air) pollution has affected their health.

Description: The aim of this study is to assess the performance of various global precipitation products for water resources application in the Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia. Three precipitation products of gauge-adjusted (corrected) CMORPH, (TRMM) TMPA 3B42v7 and ECMWF reanalysis products are evaluated. A Coupled Routing and Excess Storage (CREST) distributed hydrological model is calibrated and used for the evaluation. The model is calibrated for 2000–2005 and validated for 2006–2011 periods using daily observed rainfall and discharge datasets. The results indicate the precipitation products consistently provide a better performance of runoff estimation when they are independently calibrated than simulation modes of the products. We conclude as long as each product is calibrated independently, global precipitation products can provide enough information for water resource management in data-scarce regions of upper Blue Nile Basin. Further analysis is underway to understand the response characteristics of the precipitation products at larger spatio-temporal scales.

Description: This paper described the variability of stream temperature, T s , and compared relationships between T s and air temperature, T a , at 10 sites along a 1.2 km reach in a 2 km 2 basin in New Jersey, USA, using Bayesian Hierarchical Regression. Mean daily mean T s was significantly cooler at two sites and significantly warmer at three sites relative to the mean daily T s for all sites combined. Seasonal daily mean T s showed the greatest variation between sites in the summer within the reach for both daily mean and daily maximum temperatures. Posterior distributions for slope parameters ( β j ) for regressions varied significantly by season and showed the greatest variation in summer. The strongest relationships occurred in autumn with β = 0 . 743 ± 0 . 019 ( β = 0 . 712 ± 0 . 022 ), and the weakest relationships occurred in the summer with β = 0 . 254 ± 0 . 030 ( β = 0 . 193 ± 0 . 039 ). Results support the conclusion that riparian shading impacts the effect of T a on T s , and that T s shows a stronger relationship with measured T a at sites in open areas that are more likely to have meteorologic conditions similar to bulk conditions.

Description: Groundwater discharge, including submarine groundwater discharge, discharge to lakes and rivers, and subglacial discharge, affects freshwater and marine ecosystems across the globe. The implications for biogeochemistry include the transport of nutrients, metals, and gases to these systems. The Arctic is one region of the globe that has been understudied with respect to groundwater discharge until recently, when a handful of studies sought to understand the nature of groundwater discharge and its impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Those studies are summarized here, and the implications for biogeochemistry are synthesized. Carbon and nitrogen are the most frequently studied solutes with respect to groundwater discharge in the Arctic. The transport of carbon and nitrogen through groundwater discharge are discussed across study sites, and scientists expect their transport through this mechanism to significantly change with the onset of climate change. The Arctic is of special interest in terms of groundwater discharge, as climate change data predicts that it will warm faster than other environments. Lastly, the effects of climate change on the physical and biogeochemical aspects of groundwater discharge in the Arctic are discussed, as are research priorities.

Description: In this study, the recent variability of the annual potential evapotranspiration (PET) of six synoptic stations of Benin was carried out. The future changes of PET under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were also quantified under three different projected periods (P1 = 2011–2040, P2 = 2041–2070 and P3 = 2071–2100) compared to the reference period (1981–2010). The results show a high variability of PET at all stations over the baseline period with alternating of deficit and excess periods. The Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) scenarios indicate that annual PET gradually increase and reach its maximum on 2100. However, PET’s changes from the two forcing scenarios start to diverge only around 2070 and this divergence is maximal on 2100. The rates of changes related to the baseline period vary from 2 to 7% for P1 and both scenarios, 5 to 10% for P2 and both scenarios, 7 to 12% for P3 and RCP4.5 scenario and 15 to 20% for P3 and RCP8.5 scenario. At seasonal scale, the results show a progressive increase (from 15 to 25% related to the baseline period) of PET until 2100 for January, February, June, July and December. In April, May, August, September and October, there is a slight decrease (from −5 to 0%) of PET according to RCP4.5 scenario while there is a slight increase (0 to 5%) for RCP8.5 scenario.

Description: In recent years, pyroclastic covers mantling slopes in the Campania region of southern Italy have frequently been affected by flowslides. Due to high exposure and demographic pressure in these areas, assessment of the potential effects of climate change on the frequency of such events has become a crucial issue. In this regard, our paper proposes a simulation chain comprising three main elements: (i) climate simulation at the highest horizontal resolution available for Italy (8 km); (ii) a bias correction procedure in an attempt to remove systematic errors in the entire weather forcing probability distribution; (iii) the data obtained used as input for an interpretative tool estimating the evolution of soil pore water pressure and water storage (bulk water content) by means of a well-calibrated coupled thermo-hydraulic approach able to adequately take into account soil-atmosphere interaction dynamics. The predictive ability of the geotechnical model to reproduce failure conditions was tested by forcing it with temperature and precipitation observations. Subsequently, the performance of the entire modeling chain was evaluated for a period from 1981 to 2010. Lastly, variations in landslide occurrence were assessed up to 2100 under two concentration scenarios. An increase with different features was estimated under both scenarios depending on the time horizon and the severity of the concentration scenario.

Description: Soil moisture is placed at the interface between land and atmosphere which influences water and energy flux. However, soil moisture information has a significant importance in hydrological modelling and environmental processes. Recent advances in acquiring soil moisture from the satellite and its effective utilization provide an alternative to the conventional soil moisture methods. In this study, an attempt is made to apply physically based, distributed-parameter, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to validate Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR2) soil moisture in parts of Puerto Rico. For this, calibration is performed for the years 2010 to 2012 with known observed discharge sites, Rio Gunajibo and Rio Grande de Anasco in Puerto Rico and validation, with the observed stream flow for the year 2013 using the AMSR2 soil moisture. Moreover, the SWAT and AMSR2 soil moisture outcome are compared on a monthly basis. The model capability and performance in simulating the stream flow are evaluated utilizing the statistical method. The results indicated a negligible difference in SWAT soil moisture and AMSR2 soil moisture for stream flow estimation. Finally, the model retrievals show a satisfactory agreement between observed and simulated streamflow.

Description: The Niger Inland Delta (NID) wetland comprises a large flooded area that plays an important role in the ecosystem services. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the NID’s hydro-climatological functioning using water balance approach. After a clear description of the water budget’s elements specific to the NID catchment, a spatial and temporal dynamics of the annual flood across the NID over the period 2000–2009 was performed using data from satellite QuickSCAT and its associated sensor SeaWinds. The estimated areas were used along with observed discharge and remotely-sensed climatic data to quantitatively evaluate each water balance component. The results indicate: (i) a clear spatiotemporal of the flooded areas varied between 25,000 km2 in wet periods and 2000 km2 in dry periods; (ii) an average evapotranspiration loss of 17.31 km3 (43% of the total inflow) was assessed in the catchment; (iii) precipitation’s contribution to the NID’s budget totals 5.16 km3 (12.8% of the total inflow); and (iv) the contribution of return flow from irrigated fields totals 1.8 km3 (4.5% of the total inflow, among which 1.2 km3 are from Office du Niger) to the flooded areas, refined the NID’s water balance estimates. Knowledge gained on NID’s water balance analysis will be used to develop and calibrate hydrological models in the Niger Inland Delta of the basin.

Description: Flood Response System (FRS) is a network-enabled solution developed using open-source software. The system has query based flood damage assessment modules with outputs in the form of spatial maps and statistical databases. FRS effectively facilitates the management of post-disaster activities caused due to flood, like displaying spatial maps of area affected, inundated roads, etc., and maintains a steady flow of information at all levels with different access rights depending upon the criticality of the information. It is designed to facilitate users in managing information related to flooding during critical flood seasons and analyzing the extent of damage. The inputs to FRS are provided using two components: (1) a semi-automated application developed indigenously, to delineate inundated areas for Near-Real Time Flood Monitoring using Active Microwave Remote Sensing data and (2) a two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic river model generated outputs for water depth and velocity in flooded areas for an embankment breach scenario. The 2D Hydrodynamic model, CCHE2D (Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering Two-Dimensional model), was used to simulate an area of 600 km2 in the flood-prone zone of the Brahmaputra basin. The resultant inundated area from the model was found to be 85% accurate when validated with post-flood optical satellite data.

Description: Innovative experimental field designs and methods are instrumental for dissecting hydrological processes in hillslopes. However, experimental studies at the catchment scale are rarely affordable to most research groups, and laboratory flumes are oversimplified to reproduce natural phenomena. In this work, we present the innovative “hybrid” experimental plot of Cape Fear, which features controllable water fluxes and boundary conditions, but it is directly exposed to external atmospheric agents. We demonstrate the suitability of Cape Fear to study hydrological phenomena through a feasibility test, whereby the response of the plot to a natural storm is in line with the well-known hydrological response of natural hillslopes. Future studies will address the influence of the plot geometry parameters on rill formation.

Description: A representative watershed was instrumented with five gauging sites (n = 5), partitioning the catchment into five nested-scale sub-watersheds. Four physiochemical variables were monitored: water temperature, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), and dissolved oxygen (DO). Data were collected four days per week from October 2010–May 2014 at each gauging site. Statistical analyses indicated significant differences (p 〈 0.05) between nearly every monitoring site pairing for each physiochemical variable. The water temperature regime displayed a threshold/step-change condition, with an upshifted and more variable regime attributable to the impacts of urban land uses. TDS, pH, and DO displayed similar spatiotemporal trends, with increasing median concentrations from site #1 (agriculture) to #3 (mixed-use urban) and decreasing median concentrations from site #3 to #5 (suburban). Decreasing concentrations and increasing streamflow volume with stream distance, suggest the contribution of dilution processes to the physiochemical regime of the creek below urban site #3. DO concentrations exceeded water quality standards on an average of 31% of observation days. Results showed seasonal trends for each physiochemical parameter, with higher TDS, pH, and DO during the cold season (November–April) relative to the warm season (May–October). Multivariate modeling results emphasize the importance of the pH/DO relationship in these systems, and demonstrate the potential utility of a simple two factor model (water temperature and pH) in accurately predicting DO. Collectively, results highlight the interacting influences of natural (autotrophic photosynthesis, organic detritus loading) and anthropogenic (road salt application) factors on the physiochemical regime of mixed-land-use watersheds.

Description: A rise in the shallow unconfined groundwater at a site in Australia is causing water logging of the underground facility in the affected area. Realizing this problem, a study was conducted to identify the source of water that is causing the rise and to develop an implementation and operation plan of the mitigation (dewatering system). Modelling was undertaken using MODFLOW-SURFACT code, within the framework of Visual MODFLOW, to assess the spatial and temporal groundwater level at the site. The study undertaken incorporates compilation and assessment of available data, including a list of factual information reviewed, development of a conceptual groundwater model for the site and modelling of the pre and post development conditions. The outcomes of the assessment indicate water level rises due to the construction of the embankment are likely less than 0.12 m and changes in land, such as affected area burial, may change aquifer characteristics more significantly than the embankment. It is concluded that the elevated groundwater levels in the affected area are most likely a result of above average rainfall since 2007 and long term cumulative land use changes. The embankment construction is just one of many land use changes that have occurred both within and surrounding the affected area and likely only a minor contributor to the elevated water levels. Greater contribution may be attributed to re-direction of the natural flow paths the railway culvert weir reducing the overland flow gradient and ongoing changes (burial) within the affected area and including the embankment. The model findings gives answers on what factors may be/are causing/contributing to, the higher than usual groundwater levels in the study area. A combination of drainage and/or pumping (dewatering system) is suggested as a solution to overcome the problem of rising groundwater levels at the site. Further, the model output can aid in assessing mitigation options, including horizontal drainage networks and pumping to control for the rising water table conditions in the area, depending on the level of treatment and pathogenic criteria.

Description: The lookup table option, as an alternative to analytical calculation for evaluating the nonlinear heterogeneous soil characteristics, is introduced and compared for both the Picard and Newton iterative schemes in the numerical solution of Richards’ equation. The lookup table method can be a cost-effective alternative to analytical evaluation in the case of heterogeneous soils, but it has not been examined in detail in the hydrological modeling literature. Three layered soil test problems are considered, and the robustness and accuracy of the lookup table approach are assessed for uniform and non-uniform distributions of lookup points in the soil moisture retention curves. Results from the three one-dimensional test simulations show that the uniform distributed option gives improved convergence and robustness for the drainage problem compared to the non-uniform strategy. On the other hand, the non-uniform technique can be chosen for test problems involving flow into initially dry layered soils.

Description: This study analyzed trends in extreme precipitation based on daily rainfall data provided by Bénin Méteo Agency for the Upper Ouémé valley in Benin over the period 1951–2014. Eleven indices divided into two groups were considered. The first group consists of frequency indices: number of heavy rainfall days, very heavy rainfall days and extremely heavy rainfall days; and maximum number of Consecutive dry days and wet days. The second group concerns intensity: daily maximum rainfall (RX1day), maximum five-day rainfall (RX5day), annual total wet-day rainfall (PRCPTOT), simple daily intensity index (SDII), very wet day (R95P) and extremely wet day rainfall (R99P). The non-parametric Mann-Kendall test was used to assess trends in those indices. The results show that only 30% of the stations experienced decreasing trends for the number of heavy rainfall days (R10mm) and daily maximum rainfall (RX1day). For the annual total wet-day rainfall (PRCPTOT), the simple daily intensity index (SDII) and the very wet day rainfall (R95P), 20% of stations faced significant negative trends. In addition, the decreasing trends are observed for 10% stations considering the number of very heavy rainfall days (R20mm), the maximum five-day rainfall (RX5day) and the extremely wet day rainfall (R99P). About the increasing trend, 10% stations are identified for the number of consecutive dry days (CDD), very heavy rainfall days (R20mm), the daily maximum rainfall (RX1day), the simple daily intensity index, and the extremely wet day rainfall (R99P). These results show the absence of clear trend of climate indices evolution in almost all stations. Consequently, uncertainties in the evolution of rainfall indices must be taken into account in the definition of adaptation strategies for flood or drought risks. Similarly, these results show a slight drop in the dry sequences of the 1970s and 1980s revealed in the region by previous studies.

Description: Ecosystem services (ES) were conceived to emphasize the role of ecological processes in supporting societal needs and to allow their inclusion in the decision-making process. Currently climate change mitigation is one of the most important services ecosystems can provide to enhance sinks of greenhouse gas emissions as the planet warms and related extreme events take their toll on societies. Because ES cannot always be directly measured and because measurements are often cost prohibitive, process-based models are used to estimate their supply, delivery and/or value. We ran the MC2 dynamic global vegetation model for the conterminous US with/without land use for several future scenarios. We translated results into key ES such as carbon sequestration, which contributes to climate regulation, into a regulatory service or aboveground forest carbon into timber biomass, a provisioning service, and evaluated constraints to maintain them. By comparing projections with/without land use we illustrated differences between managed and natural lands and provided information to help the valuation of societally relevant services.

Description: Many studies have shown that isotope data are valuable for hydrological model calibration. Recent developments have made isotope analyses more accessible but event sampling still involves significant time and financial costs. Therefore, it is worth to study how many isotope samples are needed for hydrological model calibration and what the most informative sampling times are. In this study, we used synthetic data to investigate how systematic errors in the precipitation, streamflow and the isotopic composition of precipitation affect the information content of stream isotope samples for model calibration. The results show that model performance improves significantly when two or three isotope samples are used for calibration and that the most informative samples are taken on the falling limb. However, when there are errors in the rainfall isotopic composition, rising limb samples are more informative. Data errors caused the most informative samples to be more clustered and to occur earlier in the event compared to error free data. These results provide guidance on when to sample events for model calibration and thus help to reduce the cost and effort in obtaining useful data for model calibration.

Description: The present study aims to present all the findings of micro-climate measurements that were performed by the University of Athens in the center of Athens, during the summer period. The extended experimental campaign aimed to collect thermal and air flow measurements, in different measuring points along a main street in the city center, in order to estimate the surface and canopy heat island intensity. In this work, the methodology of collecting the data, the experimental procedure, the equipment used, and lastly, the results are being presented. Comparison with the meteorological conditions that are recorded in the National Observatory of Athens, for the same period, lead to important conclusions about the local microclimate in the center of Athens and specifically the magnitude of the heat island effect. Particularly, in the denser area of the city after midday, air temperature increases reaching values up to 5 degrees higher than the one recorded in the suburban area. On the contrary, early in the morning the air temperature of the “green area” of the city was found to be lower up to 2 degrees than the corresponding in the suburban area.

Description: It is often stated that short-term precipitation of synoptical weather is related to trends or interannual variations of precipitation. We analyzed nine long-term series of daily precipitation values of the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN-D V2.0). Generally, the mean amplitude of short-term variations increases (decreases) if there is a positive (negative) interannual anomaly of precipitation, respectively. In all cases, the amplitude of the short-term variations (periods 〈 10 days) clearly correlates with the long-term variations (periods 〉 1.5 years) of precipitation. The correlation coefficient is between 0.7 and 0.95 at periods 〈8 days. For Kukuihaele (Hawaii), the correlation maximizes at a period of about 14 days. In the other cases, the maximum of the correlation is reached at periods 〈5 days.

Description: The livestock sector is vulnerable to climate change and related policy in two ways. First, livestock production and performance are directly impacted by climate with many projected effects being negative. Second, the sector may need to alter operations to limit the effects of climate change through adaptation and mitigation. Potential adaptation strategies involve land use decisions, animal feeding changes, genetic manipulation and alterations in species and/or breeds. In terms of mitigation, livestock is a substantial contributor to global non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation opportunities involve altered land use for grazing and feed production, feeding practices, manure treatment and herd size reduction. In addition, strengthening institutions that promote markets and trade, as well as local support programs can help both mitigation and adaptation. Previous literature has summarized the options available to individual producers. This overview extends the literature by including sector-level response as well as the relationships between adaptation and mitigation activities.

Description: The so far largely unabated emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are expected to increase global temperatures substantially over this century. We quantify the patterns of increases for 246 globally-representative cities in the Sustainable Healthy Urban Environments (SHUE) database. We used an ensemble of 18 global climate models (GCMs) run under a low (RCP2.6) and high (RCP8.5) emissions scenario to estimate the increase in monthly mean temperatures by 2050 and 2100 based on 30-year averages. Model simulations were from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Annual mean temperature increases were 0.93 degrees Celsius by 2050 and 1.10 degrees Celsius by 2100 under RCP2.6, and 1.27 and 4.15 degrees Celsius under RCP8.5, but with substantial city-to-city variation. By 2100, under RCP2.6 no city exceeds an increase in Tmean 〉 2 degrees Celsius (relative to a 2017 baseline), while all do under RCP8.5, some with increases in Tmean close to, or even greater than, 7 degrees Celsius. The increases were greatest in cities of mid to high latitude, in humid temperate and dry climate regions, and with large seasonal variation in temperature. Cities are likely to experience large increases in hottest month mean temperatures under high GHG emissions trajectories, which will often present substantial challenges to adaptation and health protection.

Description: Groundwater recharge remains almost totally unknown across the Mekong River Basin, hindering the evaluation of groundwater potential for irrigation. A regional regression model was developed to map groundwater recharge across the Lower Mekong Basin where agricultural water demand is increasing, especially during the dry season. The model was calibrated with baseflow computed with the local-minimum flow separation method applied to streamflow recorded in 65 unregulated sub-catchments since 1951. Our results, in agreement with previous local studies, indicate that spatial variations in groundwater recharge are predominantly controlled by the climate (rainfall and evapotranspiration) while aquifer characteristics seem to play a secondary role at this regional scale. While this analysis suggests large scope for expanding agricultural groundwater use, the map derived from this study provides a simple way to assess the limits of groundwater-fed irrigation development. Further data measurements to capture local variations in hydrogeology will be required to refine the evaluation of recharge rates to support practical implementations.

Description: The NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) has produced a 17-plus-year time-series of calibrated microwave radiances that have remarkable value for investigating the effects of the Earth’s climate change over the tropics. Recently, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Inter-Satellite Radiometric Calibration (XCAL) Working Group have performed various calibration and corrections that yielded the legacy TMI 1B11 Version 8 (also called GPM05) brightness temperature product, which will be released in late 2017 by the NASA Precipitation Processing System. Since TMI served as the radiometric transfer standard for the TRMM constellation microwave radiometer sensors, it is important to document its accuracy. In this paper, the various improvements applied to TMI 1B11 V8 are summarized, and the radiometric calibration stability is evaluated by comparisons with a radiative transfer model and by XCAL evaluations with the Global Precipitation Measuring Microwave Imager during their 13-month overlap period. Evaluation methods will be described and results will be presented, which demonstrate that TMI has achieved a radiometric stability level of a few deciKelvin over almost two decades.

Description: The prediction of dominant hydrological processes is imperative with the available information in data scarce regions by means of the lumped hydrological models for the purpose of water resource management. This study is aims at an intercomparison of the performances of the conceptual hydrological models in predicting streamflow. The Veralgemeend Conceptueel Hydrologisch (VHM) and NedborAfstromnings Model (NAM) lumped rainfall–runoff models were manually calibrated and validated for periods of 1 January 1990–31 December 2000 and 1 January 2001–31 December 2005, respectively. Some of the parameters of the models (i.e., recession constants of subflow components) were estimated from the preprocessing of the streamflow data using the Water Engineering Time Series PROcessing tool (WETSPRO). These parameters were used for the initial model setup and subjected to slight adjustments during calibration. The performances of the models were evaluated by graphical and statistical means. The results depicted that the models reproduced the streamflow in a good way and that the overall shape of the hydrograph was properly captured. A Nash Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.71 and 0.67 were obtained during calibration, whereas, for the validation period, NSE of 0.6 and 0.58 were obtained for VHM and NAM, respectively. The water balance discrepancy (WBD) of −0.1% and −13.7% were achieved for calibration, while −17% and −9% were acquired during validation for VHM and NAM, respectively. Though the models underestimated the high flows, the low flows were relatively well simulated. From the overall evaluation of the models, it is noted that the NAM model performed better than the VHM model in predicting the flow. In conclusion, the models can be used for water resource management and planning with precautions for extreme flow.

Description: Designing post retirement benefits requires access to appropriate investment instruments to manage the interest rate and longevity risks. Post retirement benefits are increasingly taken as a form of income benefit, either as a pension or an annuity. Pension funds and life insurers offer annuities generating long term liabilities linked to longevity. Risk management of life annuity portfolios for interest rate risks is well developed but the incorporation of longevity risk has received limited attention. We develop an immunization approach and a delta-gamma based hedging approach to manage the risks of adverse portfolio surplus using stochastic models for mortality and interest rates. We compare and assess the immunization and hedge effectiveness of fixed-income coupon bonds, annuity bonds, as well as longevity bonds, using simulations of the portfolio surplus for an annuity portfolio and a range of risk measures including value-at-risk. We show how fixed-income annuity bonds can more effectively match cash flows and provide additional hedge effectiveness over coupon bonds. Longevity bonds, including deferred longevity bonds, reduce risk significantly compared to coupon and annuity bonds, reflecting the long duration of the typical life annuity and the exposure to longevity risk. Longevity bonds are shown to be effective in immunizing surplus over short and long horizons. Delta gamma hedging is generally only effective over short horizons. The results of the paper have implications for how providers of post retirement income benefit streams can manage risks in demanding conditions where innovation in investment markets can support new products and increase the product range.

Description: Hepatic steatosis is the accumulation of fat in the hepatic cells and the liver. Triglycerides and other kinds of molecules are included in the lipids. When there is some defect in the process, hepatic steatosis arise, during which the free fatty acids are taken by the liver and exuded as lipoproteins. Alcohol is the main cause of steatosis when excessive amounts are consumed for a long period of time. In many cases, steatosis can lead to inflammation that is mentioned as steatohepatitis or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can later lead to fibrosis and finally cirrhosis. For automated detection and quantification of hepatic steatosis, a novel two-stage methodology is developed in this study. Initially, the image is processed in order to become more suitable for the detection of fat regions and steatosis quantification. In the second stage, initial candidate image regions are detected, and then they are either validated or discarded based on a series of criteria. The methodology is based on liver biopsy image analysis, and has been tested using 40 liver biopsy images obtained from patients who suffer from hepatitis C. The obtained results indicate that the proposed methodology can accurately assess liver steatosis.

Description: Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) are developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide guidance in establishing the risk to structures and infrastructure from storm surge sand associated waves in the coastal zone. The maps are used by state agencies and municipalities to help guide coastal planning and establish the minimum elevation and construction standards for new or substantially improved structures. A summary of the methods used and a comparison with the results of 2013 FIRM mapping are presented for Warwick, Rhode Island (RI), a coastal community located within Narragansett Bay. Because of its location, Warwick is protected from significant coastal erosion and wave attacks, but is subject to surge amplification. Concerns surrounding the FEMA methods used in the 2013 FIRM analysis are put in context with the National Research Council’s (NRC) 2009 review of the FEMA coastal mapping program. New mapping is then performed using state of the art, fully coupled surge and wave modeling, and data analysis methods, to address the NRC concerns. The new maps and methodologies are in compliance with FEMA regulations and guidelines. This new approach makes extensive use of the numerical modeling results from the recent US Army Corp of Engineers, North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS, 2015). Revised flooding maps are presented and compared to the 2013 FIRM maps, to provide insight into the differences. The new maps highlight the importance of developing better estimates of surge dynamics and the advancement in nearshore mapping of waves in flood inundated areas by the use of state of the art, two-dimensional, wave transformation models.

Description: We report the results of an observational program to investigate the gamma-ray and optical variability properties of the vRL NLSY1 galaxies listed in the Yuan et al. sample. We have identified 17 members of the Yuan et al. sample possibly associated with gamma-ray sources based on a combination of their optical polarization and optical variability and their gamma-ray properties. Eight have previously been associated with gamma-ray sources. We find nine additional members that we predict are excellent candidates to be associated with gamma-ray sources in the future. All 17 sources have many properties in common with flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), suggesting that they may, in fact, constitute a new subclass of FSRQs.

Description: Given incontrovertible evidence that humans are the most powerful agents of environmental change on the planet, research has begun to acknowledge and integrate human presence and activity into updated descriptions of the world’s biomes as “anthromes”. Thus far, a classification system for anthromes is limited to the terrestrial biosphere. Here, I present a case for the consideration and validity of coastal anthromes. Every coastal environment on Earth is subject to direct and indirect human modification and disturbance. Despite the legacy, ubiquity, and pervasiveness of human interactions with coastal ecosystems, coastal anthromes still lack formal definition. Following the original argument and framework for terrestrial anthromes, I outline a set of coastal anthrome classifications that dovetail with terrestrial and marine counterparts. Recognising coastal environments as complex and increasingly vulnerable anthropogenic systems is a fundamental step toward understanding their modern dynamics—and, by extension, realising opportunities for and limits to their resilience.

Description: Competing interests in land for agriculture and commodity production in tropical human-dominated landscapes make forests and biodiversity conservation particularly challenging. Establishment of protected areas in this regard is not functioning as expected due to exclusive ecological focus and poor recognition of local people’s traditional forest use and dependence. In recent years, multifunctional land-use systems such as agroforestry have widely been promoted as an efficient land-use in such circumstances, although their conservation effectiveness remains poorly investigated. We undertake a rapid biodiversity survey to understand the conservation value of four contrasting forms of local land-use, namely: betel leaf (Piper betle) agroforestry; lemon (Citrus limon) agroforestry; pineapple (Ananas comosus) agroforestry; and, shifting cultivation–fallow managed largely by the indigenous communities in and around a highly diverse forest protected area of Bangladesh. We measure the alpha and beta diversity of plants, birds, and mammals in these multifunctional land-uses, as well as in the old-growth secondary forest in the area. Our study finds local land-use critical in conserving biodiversity in the area, with comparable biodiversity benefits as those of the old-growth secondary forest. In Bangladesh, where population pressure and rural people’s dependence on forests are common, multifunctional land-uses in areas of high conservation priority could potentially be used to bridge the gap between conservation and commodity production, ensuring that the ecological integrity of such landscapes will be altered as little as possible.

Description: The genetic transformation of trees by wood modification genes for the improvement of forest plantations results in shifts in plant litter quality. These alterations in plant chemistry lead to changes in decomposition rates, thus affecting the carbon and nitrogen cycling in ecosystems and nutrient availability for plants. To assess the environmental impacts of transgenic trees, we studied the decomposition of plant litter from aspen plants (Populus tremula L.) transformed with the xyloglucanase gene from Penicillium canescens. Mass, carbon and nitrogen losses in the leaves, stems and roots of greenhouse-grown plants were evaluated during incubation in laboratory microcosms. After 12 months of the decomposition experiment, leaves, stems, and roots lost on average 51%, 46%, and 37% of initial mass, respectively. Decomposition of the transgenic stems was not different from wild-type aspen, but we observed significant differences for the leaves (only at the end of the experiment) and the roots (at the early stage). These differences may be related to the nitrogen content and the C/N ratio in the initial samples. Since the litter decomposability determines the availability of nutrients, such alterations should be taken into consideration when cultivating transgenic trees.

Description: Information, Vol. 8, Pages 98: An Information Theory Calculator for Understanding Information and Library Science Applications Information doi: 10.3390/info8030098 Authors: Robert Losee The study of information as proposed in information theory provides a useful tool for studying many aspects of information systems, libraries, and archives. How does a calculator that computes information-theoretic functions contribute to students learning database ideas such as the relationships between various attributes, or columns in a relational database? Understanding the relationships between variables in a professional discipline can be viewed as the core of the discipline, and these information measures are very important to the study of the organization of information. A web-based information-theoretic calculator is examined that enables students to easily and completely process various information-theoretic calculations that are useful in studying database relationships. Students were questioned after using the calculator on a homework assignment. The students’ evaluations of this form of calculator were then examined, and lastly, recommendations about using information-theoretic calculators are suggested. Recommendations are made about the use of this form of calculator in a range of academic disciplines, from computer science and business, to library and information sciences. These recommendations apply to both the academy and professional practice applications in informational domains.

Description: Agronomy, Vol. 7, Pages 54: Combination of Lactic Acid-Based Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) with β-Cyclodextrin: Performance Screening Using Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of Polyphenols from Selected Native Greek Medicinal Plants Agronomy doi: 10.3390/agronomy7030054 Authors: Chrysa Georgantzi Antonia-Eleni Lioliou Nikos Paterakis Dimitris Makris A series of novel l-lactic acid-based deep eutectic solvents (DES) were tested for polyphenol extraction performance, using organically grown, native Greek medicinal plants. The extractions were ultrasonically-assisted and the effect of the addition of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) as extraction booster was also tested, at a concentration of 1.5% (w/v). The estimation of total polyphenol yield (YTP) suggested that DES composed of l-lactic acid and nicotinamide and l-lactic acid and l-alanine, both at a molar ratio of 7:1, are promising solvents giving significantly higher yields compared with 60% (v/v) aqueous ethanol and water. However, when β-CD was combined with DES comprised of l-lactic acid and ammonium acetate (molar ratio 7:1), the extraction yields obtained in some instances were equal of even higher. The pattern was not consistent when the yield in total flavonoids (YTFn) was considered, indicating water, 60% (v/v) aqueous ethanol and l-lactic acid:sodium acetate (molar ratio 7:1) to be the most efficient solvents. In this case, the effect of β-CD was of rather lower magnitude. The examination of the antioxidant activity of the extracts generated showed that there is a close correlation mainly with their concentration in total polyphenols.

Description: Aerospace, Vol. 4, Pages 44: GPS Based Navigation Performance Analysis within and beyond the Space Service Volume for Different Transmitters’ Antenna Patterns Aerospace doi: 10.3390/aerospace4030044 Authors: Endrit Shehaj Vincenzo Capuano Cyril Botteron Paul Blunt Pierre-André Farine In recent years, global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based navigation in high earth orbits (HEOs) has become a field of research interest since it can increase the spacecraft’s autonomy, thereby reducing the operating costs. However, the GNSS availability and the GNSS-based navigation performance for a spacecraft orbiting above the GNSS constellation are strongly constrained by the signals’ power levels at the receiver position and the sensitivity. The simulated level of signal power at the receiver’s position may considerably increase or decrease when assuming different gain/attenuation values of the transmitter antenna for a certain azimuth and elevation. Assuming a slightly different antenna pattern therefore may significantly change the simulated signal’s availability results and accordingly the simulated navigation accuracy, leading to an inexact identification of the requirements for the GNSS receiver. This problem particularly concerns the case of orbital trajectories above the GNSS constellation, where most of the signals received are radiated from the secondary lobe of the transmitters’ antennas, for which typically very little information is known. At the time of this study, it was possible to model quite accurately the global positioning system (GPS) L1 antenna patterns for the IIR and IIR-M Blocks because of the precise information available. No accurate information was available for the GPS L1 antenna patterns of the IIF Block. Even less accurate information was available on the GPS L5 antenna patterns. In this context, this paper aims at investigating the effect of different antenna pattern assumptions on the simulated signal availability and on the consequent simulated navigation performance of a spaceborne receiver orbiting in a very highly elliptical orbit from the Earth to the Moon. Initially the impact of averaging the transmitter’s antenna gain over the azimuth, a typical assumption in many studies, is analyzed. Afterwards, we also consider three different L5 antenna patterns assumed in the literature (the precise L5 patterns are unfortunately not yet fully available). For each of the considered antenna pattern assumptions, we simulate received signal power level, availability, geometric dilution of precision (GDOP), and navigation accuracy in order to evaluate their different effects. After identifying the most conservative assumptions for the transmitters’ antenna patterns, for each elevation of the receiver antenna, we also compute the number of available GNSS observations and analyze their distribution. Moreover, possible aiding of the acquisition process using the prediction of the elevation at which the signal is transmitted, as well as the elevation at which the signal is received, are discussed. Finally, the impact on the GDOP of using only signals transmitted from certain angle intervals of the transmitter antenna pattern and the importance of selecting the transmitters that provide the best GDOP (in the case of a receiver with a limited number of channels) are considered and discussed.

Description: Climate, Vol. 5, Pages 64: Adaption to Climate Change through Fallow Rotation in the U.S. Pacific Northwest Climate doi: 10.3390/cli5030064 Authors: Hongliang Zhang Jianhong Mu Bruce McCarl In this paper, we study the use of wheat land fallow production systems as a climate change adaptation strategy. Using data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture, we find that fallow is an important adaption strategy for wheat farms in the U.S. Pacific Northwest region. In particular, we find that a warmer and wetter climate increases the share of fallow in total cropland and thus reduces cropland in production. Our simulations project that, on average by 2050, the share of fallow (1.5 million acres in 2012) in the U.S. Pacific Northwest region will increase by 1.3% (0.12 million acres) under a medium climate change scenario and by 1.8% (0.16 million acres) under a high climate change scenario.

Description: Galaxies, Vol. 5, Pages 39: Deep MOS Spectroscopy of NGC 1316 Globular Clusters Galaxies doi: 10.3390/galaxies5030039 Authors: Leandro Sesto Favio Faifer Juan Forte Analía Castelli The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1316 is the brightest galaxy in the Fornax cluster, and displays a number of morphological features that might be interpreted as an intermediate age merger remanent (∼3 Gyr). Based on the idea that globular clusters systems (GCS) constitute genuine tracers of the formation and evolution of their host galaxies, we conducted a spectroscopic study of approximately 40 globular clusters (GCs) candidates associated with this interesting galaxy. We determined ages, metallicities, and α -element abundances for each GC present in the sample, through the measurement of different Lick indices and their subsequent comparison with simple stellar populations models (SSPs).

Description: Environments, Vol. 4, Pages 57: Biotrickling Filtration of Air Contaminated with 1-Butanol Environments doi: 10.3390/environments4030057 Authors: Thomas Schmidt William Anderson The removal of high concentrations of 1-butanol in an air stream was evaluated with a biotrickling filter for potential application to an industrial off-gas. Experiments were conducted on a laboratory-scale system, packed with perlite, in a co-current downward mode with constant recycling of water. The performance was monitored for different inlet concentrations and empty bed residence times during a period of over 60 days of stable operation. A maximum elimination capacity (EC) of 100 g m−3 h−1 was achieved during periods in which the butanol concentration varied from 0.55 to 4.65 g m−3. The removal efficiency was stable and exceeded 80% for butanol concentrations in the range of 0.4 to 1.2 g m−3, corresponding to inlet mass loadings of up to approximately 100 g m−3 h−1. However, when the concentration exceeded 4 g m−3, removal efficiency rapidly dropped to 15% (EC of 22 g m−3 h−1), indicating an inhibition effect that was reversed by decreasing the inlet concentration. This biotrickling filter was able to deal with higher sustained butanol concentrations than have been previously reported, but might not be suitable for concentrations much in excess of 1.2 g m−3 or mass inlet loads in excess of 100 g m−3 h−1.

Description: JMSE, Vol. 5, Pages 37: Anti-Collision Assessment and Prediction Considering Material Corrosion on an Offshore Protective Device Journal of Marine Science and Engineering doi: 10.3390/jmse5030037 Authors: Ang Qiu Xiangxi Han Hongyu Qin Wei Lin Youhong Tang Corrosion deterioration of steel can heavily degrade the performance of marine and offshore structures. A typical steel protective device, which has worked for a dozen years in a river estuary, is selected as the research object. Its current corrosion response is measured on site and its further corrosive response is predicted based on measurement data and the structure’s current state. Nonlinear finite element method is utilized to analyze the degradation of the protective device’s anti-collision performance. Meanwhile the rubber buffer effect has been investigated for its anti-collision on the protective device. A prediction method is proposed that can accurately forecast degradation of the anti-collision performance of a protective device as time progresses.

Description: Information, Vol. 8, Pages 99: Special Issue on Mobile Systems, Mobile Networks, and Mobile Cloud: Security, Privacy, and Digital Forensics Information doi: 10.3390/info8030099 Authors: Lei Chen Wenjia Li Rami Haddad The use of smartphones and mobile devices has become an indispensable part of everyone’s daily life and work [...]

Description: Galaxies, Vol. 5, Pages 42: The Baryonic Halos of Isolated Elliptical Galaxies Galaxies doi: 10.3390/galaxies5030042 Authors: Ricardo Salinas Adebusola Alabi Nicklas Hammar Tom Richtler Richard Lane Mischa Schirmer Without the interference of a number of events, galaxies may suffer in crowded environments (e.g., stripping, harassment, strangulation); isolated elliptical galaxies provide a control sample for the study of galaxy formation. We present the study of a sample of isolated ellipticals using imaging from a variety of telescopes, focusing on their globular cluster systems as tracers of their stellar halos. Our main findings are: (a) GC color bimodality is common even in the most isolated systems; (b) the specific frequency of GCs is fairly constant with galaxy mass, without showing an increase towards high-mass systems like in the case of cluster ellipticals; (c) on the other hand, the red fraction of GCs follows the same inverted V shape trend with mass as seen in cluster ellipticals; and (d) the stellar halos show low Sérsic indices which are consistent with a major merger origin.

Description: Hydrology, Vol. 4, Pages 40: Water Balance Analysis over the Niger Inland Delta-Mali: Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of the Flooded Area and Water Losses Hydrology doi: 10.3390/hydrology4030040 Authors: Moussa Ibrahim Dominik Wisser Abdou Ali Bernd Diekkrüger Ousmane Seidou Adama Mariko Abel Afouda The Niger Inland Delta (NID) wetland comprises a large flooded area that plays an important role in the ecosystem services. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the NID’s hydro-climatological functioning using water balance approach. After a clear description of the water budget’s elements specific to the NID catchment, a spatial and temporal dynamics of the annual flood across the NID over the period 2000–2009 was performed using data from satellite QuickSCAT and its associated sensor SeaWinds. The estimated areas were used along with observed discharge and remotely-sensed climatic data to quantitatively evaluate each water balance component. The results indicate: (i) a clear spatiotemporal of the flooded areas varied between 25,000 km2 in wet periods and 2000 km2 in dry periods; (ii) an average evapotranspiration loss of 17.31 km3 (43% of the total inflow) was assessed in the catchment; (iii) precipitation’s contribution to the NID’s budget totals 5.16 km3 (12.8% of the total inflow); and (iv) the contribution of return flow from irrigated fields totals 1.8 km3 (4.5% of the total inflow, among which 1.2 km3 are from Office du Niger) to the flooded areas, refined the NID’s water balance estimates. Knowledge gained on NID’s water balance analysis will be used to develop and calibrate hydrological models in the Niger Inland Delta of the basin.

Description: Risks, Vol. 5, Pages 43: On the First Crossing of Two Boundaries by an Order Statistics Risk Process Risks doi: 10.3390/risks5030043 Authors: Dimitrina Dimitrova Zvetan Ignatov Vladimir Kaishev We derive a closed form expression for the probability that a non-decreasing, pure jump stochastic risk process with the order statistics (OS) property will not exit the strip between two non-decreasing, possibly discontinuous, time-dependent boundaries, within a finite time interval. The result yields new expressions for the ruin probability in the insurance and the dual risk models with dependence between the claim severities or capital gains respectively.

Description: Resources, Vol. 6, Pages 39: On the Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Geothermal Brines Resources doi: 10.3390/resources6030039 Authors: York Smith Pankaj Kumar John McLennan The availability of rare earth elements from primary resources has come into question in the last two decades. This has sparked various government and industry initiatives to examine potential rare earth element resources apart from virgin ore bodies. Geothermal fluids are potentially significant sources of valuable minerals and metals, while co-recovery with geothermal energy production would be an attractive sustainable system. In this work, we give a brief survey of data collected on rare earth element concentrations in geothermal fluids. A survey of methods and technologies for extracting rare earth elements from geothermal is discussed along with the feasibility of recovering rare earth elements from geothermal brines. Based on the findings of this study, rare earth element extraction from geothermal fluids is technically possible, but neither economically viable nor strategically significant at this time.

Description: Agronomy, Vol. 7, Pages 55: Impacts of Fertilization Type on Soil Microbial Biomass and Nutrient Availability in Two Agroecological Zones of Ghana Agronomy doi: 10.3390/agronomy7030055 Authors: Richard Omari Elsie Sarkodee-Addo Yoshiharu Fujii Yosei Oikawa Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura The decline in soil productivity amidst efforts to increase crop yield in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has made it imperative to assess the current fertilization management approaches. This study was conducted in two agroecological zones (i.e., Guinea Savannah (GS) and Deciduous forest (DF)) of Ghana to evaluate how different fertilization schemes in the long term (>5 years) impacted the soil biochemical properties. Soil samples under four fertilization schemes (inorganic fertilizer only, low-to-medium organic residues only, inorganic fertilizers plus low-to-medium organic residues, and no fertilization) from 20 farmers’ field were sampled from March to April 2015. Soil biochemical quality indicators were determined using standard procedures. Overall, the average chemical and microbial biomass contents for most indicators were significantly higher in DF compared to GS. Relative to the reference sites, soil quality improvement were observed under inorganic fertilization in both agroecologies in contrast to significant soil deterioration (26.5%) under sole organic residue application in GS. Furthermore, the results showed that increased inorganic fertilization rate alone or combination with organic residues improved soil quality relative to the reference. The present results suggest the need to raise the current fertilizer application rates, especially in GS in order to enhance optimum soil productivity.

Description: Mathematics, Vol. 5, Pages 43: On Minimal Covolume Hyperbolic Lattices Mathematics doi: 10.3390/math5030043 Authors: Ruth Kellerhals We study lattices with a non-compact fundamental domain of small volume in hyperbolic space H n . First, we identify the arithmetic lattices in Isom + H n of minimal covolume for even n up to 18. Then, we discuss the related problem in higher odd dimensions and provide solutions for n = 11 and n = 13 in terms of the rotation subgroup of certain Coxeter pyramid groups found by Tumarkin. The results depend on the work of Belolipetsky and Emery, as well as on the Euler characteristic computation for hyperbolic Coxeter polyhedra with few facets by means of the program CoxIter developed by Guglielmetti. This work complements the survey about hyperbolic orbifolds of minimal volume.

Description: Land, Vol. 6, Pages 57: Understanding Pollinator Habitat Conservation under Current Policy Using Economic Experiments Land doi: 10.3390/land6030057 Authors: Chian Jones Ritten Christopher Bastian Jason Shogren Thadchaigeni Panchalingam Mariah Ehmke Gregory Parkhurst Pollinators provide critical ecosystems services vital to the production of numerous crops in the United States’ agricultural sector. However, the U.S. is witnessing a serious decline in the abundance and diversity of domestic and wild pollinators, which threatens U.S. food security. In response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has created the Pollinator Habitat Initiative (CP-42) to induce landowners to create quality habitat for pollinators by planting beneficial crops and wildflowers on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)-eligible land. Landowners’ potential conservation decisions under CP-42 and the resulting impact on land use decisions regarding crop production are not well-understood. We examine these issues by designing an economic experiment that simulates landowners’ decisions to enroll in CP-42. As our motivating example, we focus on how CP-42 might affect crop production patterns and the resulting returns in Goshen County, Wyoming. The results indicate that about 16% of CRP-eligible land would be enrolled. Based on the relatively low CP-42 payment, our subjects remove only lower value crops from production. Our results suggest that (1) all dry wheat and sunflower production and a portion of barley, corn, and dry beans could be taken out of production when transferred to pollinator habitat, and (2) that habitat fragmentation would likely occur, which would reduce the efficacy of pollination. Overall, our results suggest that there are significant limits to the overall effectiveness of the CP-42 policy.