This book presents selected contributions of the 34th International School of Hydraulics that was held in May 2015 in Zelechow, Poland. It gives an overview about the state of the art in environmental hydraulics. A special emphasis is put upon physical, biochemical and ecological processes that act at interfaces in natural surface water bodies but also other important hydraulic problems are considered. The achievements of well-known researchers from all over the world as well as the results obtained by young researchers, among others within a Marie Curie funded Initial Training Network, led by the University of Padua (HYTECH - HYdrodynamic Transport at Ecologically Critical Heterogeneous Interfaces) are gathered in this volume.

"Distribution and Transformation of Nutrients and Eutrophication in Large-scale Lakes and Reservoirs: The Three Gorges Reservoir" presents key findings on early eutrophication in large-scale lakes and reservoirs, providing readers with an overview of lake management problems and the tools that can be applied to solve them. The broad spectrum of available tools is presented in detail, including environmental technological methods, ecotechnological methods and the application of models to determine the best management strategy.

The book is intended for environmental engineers and researchers in the fields of environmental science and ecological chemistry.

Professor Zhenyao Shen, Professor Junfeng Niu and Associate Professor Ying Wang work at the School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, China. Dr. Hongyuan Wang works at Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China. Dr. Xin Zhao works at Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, China.

Currently, spatial analysis is becoming more important than ever because enormous volumes of spatial data are available from different sources, such as GPS, Remote Sensing, and others.

This book deals with spatial analysis and modelling. It provides a comprehensive discussion of spatial analysis, methods, and approaches related to human settlements and associated environment. Key contributions with empirical case studies from Iran, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal, and Japan that apply spatial analysis including autocorrelation, fuzzy, voronoi, cellular automata, analytic hierarchy process, artificial neural network, spatial metrics, spatial statistics, regression, and remote sensing mapping techniques are compiled comprehensively. The core value of this book is a wide variety of results with state of the art discussion including empirical case studies.

It provides a milestone reference to students, researchers, planners, and other practitioners dealing the spatial problems on urban and regional issues.

We arepleased to announce that this book has been presented with the 2011 publishing award from the GIS Association of Japan.
We would like to congratulate the authors

"

The assessment of greenhouse gases emitted to and removed from the atmosphere is high on the international political and scientific agendas. Growing international concern and cooperation regarding the climate change problem have increased the need for policy-oriented solutions to the issue of uncertainty in, and related to, inventories of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The approaches to addressing uncertainty discussed here reflect attempts to improve national inventories, not only for their own sake but also from a wider, systems analytical perspective - a perspective that seeks to strengthen the usefulness of national inventories under a compliance and/or global monitoring and reporting framework. These approaches demonstrate the benefits of including inventory uncertainty in policy analyses. The authors of the contributed papers show that considering uncertainty helps avoid situations that can, for example, create a false sense of certainty or lead to invalid views of subsystems. This may eventually prevent related errors from showing up in analyses. However, considering uncertainty does not come for free. Proper treatment of uncertainty is costly and demanding because it forces us to make the step from "simple to complex" and only then to discuss potential simplifications. Finally, comprehensive treatment of uncertainty does not offer policymakers quick and easy solutions.

This book describes the vast variety of xenobiotics, such as pesticides, antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes, agrochemicals and other pollutants, their interactions with the soil environment, and the currently available strategies and techniques for soil decontamination and bioremediation. Topics covered include: transport mechanisms of pollutants along the Himalayas; use of earthworms in biomonitoring; metagenomic strategies for assessing contaminated sites; xenobiotics in the food chain; phyto-chemical remediation; biodegradation by fungi; and the use of enzymes and potential microbes in biotransformation. Accordingly, the book offers a valuable guide for scientists in the fields of environmental ecology, soil and food sciences, agriculture, and applied microbiology.

This volume provides in-depth coverage of the latest in remote sensing of hydrological extremes: both floods and droughts. The book is divided into two distinct sections - floods and droughts - and offers a variety of techniques for monitoring each. With rapid advances in computer modelling and observing systems, floods and droughts are studied with greater precision today than ever before. Land surface models, especially over the entire Continental United States, can map the hydrological cycle at kilometre and sub-kilometre scales. In the case of smaller areas there is even higher spatial resolution and the only limiting factor is the resolution of input data. In-situ sensors are automated and the data is directly relayed to the world wide web for many hydrological variables such as precipitation, soil moisture, surface temperature and heat fluxes. In addition, satellite remote sensing has advanced to providing twice a day repeat observations at kilometre to ten-kilometre spatial scales. We are at a critical juncture in the study of hydrological extremes, and the GPM and SMAP missions as well as the MODIS and GRACE sensors give us more tools and data than were ever available before. A global variety of chapter authors provides wide-ranging perspectives and case studies that will make this book an indispensable resource for researchers, engineers, and even emergency management and insurance professionals who study and/or manage hydrological extremes.

This book introduces the companion modelling approach by presenting the stance that underpins it, the methods and tools used with stakeholders and the specific role of models during the process. It addresses the means to deal with the different levels of decision-making and to take into account the various power relationships. It proposes a methodology to assess the impact of the approach on the stakeholders involved in the process.

The book includes 27 case studies and 7 teaching tools that describe the successful use of the approach in a variety of settings or teaching contexts. It is intended for researchers working on rural development or renewable resources management, as well as students and teachers.

Geomatics, the handling and processing of information and data about the Earth, is one geoscience discipline that has seen major changes in the last decade, as mapping and observation systems become ever more sensitive and sophisticated. This book is a unique and in-depth survey of the field, which has a central role to play in tackling a host of environmental issues faced by society. Covering all three strands of geomatics - applications, information technology and surveying - the chapters cover the history and background of the subject, the technology employed both to collect and disseminate data, and the varied applications to which geomatics can be put, including urban planning, assessment of biodiversity, disaster management and land administration. Relevant professionals, as well as students in a variety of disciplines such as geography and surveying, will find this book required reading.
This rapidly developing field uses increasingly complex and accurate systems. Today, technology enables us to capture geo-data in full 3D as well as to disseminate it via the Web at the speed of light. We are able to continuously image the world from space at resolutions of up to 50 cm. Airborne LiDAR (laser surveying) sensors can be combined with digital camera technology to produce geometrically correct images of the Earth's surface, while integrating these with large-scale topographic maps and terrestrial as well as aerial images to produce 3D cityscapes that computer users can explore from their desktops.

This book explores the challenges that confront leaders in government and industry when making decisions in the areas of environmental health and safety. Today, decision making demands transparency, robustness, and resiliency. However thoughtfully they are devised, decisions made by governments and enterprises can often trigger immediate, passionate public response. Expertise Under Scrutiny shows how leaders can establish organizational decision making processes that yield valid, workable choices even in fast-changing and uncertain conditions. The first part of the book examines the organizational decision making process, describing the often-contentious environment in which important environmental health and safety decisions are made, and received. The authors review the roles of actors and experts in the decision making process. The book goes on to address such topics as: * The roles of actors and experts in the decision making process * Ethics and analytics as drivers of good decisions * Why managing problems in safety, security, environment, and health Part II offers an outline for adopting a formal decision support structure, including the use of decision support tools. It includes a chapter devoted to ELECTRE (ELimination and Choice Expressing Reality), a multi-criteria decision analysis system. The book concludes with an insightful appraisal and analysis of the expertise, structure and resources needed for navigating well-supported, risk-informed decisions in our 21st Century world. Expertise Under Scrutiny benefits a broad audience of students, academics, researchers, and working professionals in management and related disciplines, especially in the field of environmental health and safety.

Each tree ring contains an image of the time when the ring formed, projected onto the ring's size, structure, and composition. Tree rings thus are natural archives of past environments, and contain records of past climate. While dendrochronologists have investigated the impact of climate on tree-ring growth by empirical statistical methods, this volume presents a process-based model complementing previous approaches. Basic ideas concerning the biology of tree-ring growth and its control by environmental factors are treated, especially for conifers. The use of the model is illustrated by means of several examples from widely differing environments, and possible future directions for model development and application are discussed. The volume provides an improved mechanistic basis for the interpretation of tree rings as records of past climate. It advances process understanding of the large-scale environmental control of wood growth. As forests are the main carbon sink on land, the results are of great importance for all global change studies. "

Rural regions in Europe are evolving under powerful boundary conditions such as globalisation, socio-cultural transformations and climate change, which in turn increases natural hazards. The regional land use and the evolvement of landscapes is increasingly shaped trends and drivers like infrastructural, energy or housing needs, globalised agricultural markets, and consumption habits. To face these challenges and to balance competitiveness with social cohesion, the "InnoLand research and development network" induces and accompanies promising land use innovations at the landscape scale in 10 European rural regions. Based on a common conceptual approach among the InnoLand partners, the development and implementation of new competitive strategies is conducted as a science-practice dialogue with strong commitment to the regional policy design for rural development. With this book, the network partners provide an overview and a comparative analysis of selected experimental regional approaches and give examples for the successful tackling of future opportunities and threats.

This book about the Mekong Delta presents a unique collection of state-of-the-art contributions by international experts from different scientific disciplines about the characteristics and pressing water-related challenges of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta belongs to one of the areas, which are to expect the largest challenges concerning environmental change and climate change induced sea level rise . The Delta acts as the "rice bowl" of Southeast Asia and is home to over 17 Million people, who need to cope with ecologic as well as socio-economic changes linked to the rapid economic development of the country. Annual floods, severe droughts, salt water intrusion, degrading water quality, tropical cyclones, hydrologic changes due to hydropower projects in the upstream of the Mekong, coastal erosion, and the loss of biodiversity are some of the problems in the region. Heterogeneous resource management responsibilities, and the fact that the Mekong - and thus also the Delta - is influenced by six countries aggravate the situation. Integrated water resources management and fostered cooperation and information exchange are pressing needs for the sustainable development of the Delta.

Nowadays, environmental issues including air and water pollution, climate change, overexploitation of marine ecosystems, exhaustion of fossil resources, conservation of biodiversity are receiving major attention from the public, stakeholders and scholars from the local to the planetary scales. It is now clearly recognized that human activities yield major ecological and envir- mental stresses with irreversible loss of species, destruction of habitat or c- matecatastrophesasthemostdramaticexamplesoftheire?ects.Infact, these anthropogenic activities impact not only the states and dynamics of natural resources and ecosystems but also alter human health, well-being, welfare and economic wealth since these resources are support features for human life. The numerous outputs furnished by nature include direct goods such as food, drugs, energy along with indirect services such as the carbon cycle, the water cycle and pollination, to cite but a few. Hence, the various ecological changes our world is undergoing draw into question our ability to sustain economic production, wealth and the evolution of technology by taking natural systems into account. The concept of "sustainable development" covers such concerns, although no universal consensus exists about this notion. Sustainable development - phasizes the need to organize and control the dynamics and the complex - teractions between man, production activities, and natural resources in order to promote their coexistence and their common evolution. It points out the importance of studying the interfaces between society and nature, and es- ciallythecouplingbetweeneconomicsandecology.Itinducesinterdisciplinary scienti?c research for the assessment, the conservation and the management of natural resources.

This book demonstrates the measurement, monitoring and mapping of environmental contaminants in soil & sediment, surface & groundwater and atmosphere. This book explores state-of-art techniques based on methodological and modeling in modern geospatial techniques specifically focusing on the recent trends in data mining techniques and robust modeling. It also presents modifications of and improvements to existing control technologies for remediation of environmental contaminants. In addition, it includes three separate sections on contaminants, risk assessment and remediation of different existing and emerging pollutants. It covers major topics such as: Radioactive Wastes, Solid and Hazardous Wastes, Heavy Metal Contaminants, Arsenic Contaminants, Microplastic Pollution, Microbiology of Soil and Sediments, Soil Salinity and Sodicity, Aquatic Ecotoxicity Assessment, Fluoride Contamination, Hydrochemistry, Geochemistry, Indoor Pollution and Human Health aspects. The content of this book will be of interest to researchers, professionals, and policymakers whose work involves environmental contaminants and related solutions.

Recent developments in air pollution modeling and its application are explored here in contributions by researchers at the forefront of their field. The book is focused on local, urban, regional and intercontinental modeling; data assimilation and air quality forecasting; model assessment and evaluation; aerosol transformation; the relationship between air quality and human health and the effects of climate change on air quality. The work will provide useful reference material for students and professors interested in air pollution modeling at the graduate level as well as researchers and professionals involved in developing and utilizing air pollution models.

Competing in both high and low-cost operating environments can present a number of unique challenges. In light of global competition and the changing scope of various industries due to technological advancement, these challenges must be addressed in order to ensure business success. Global Perspectives on Achieving Success in High and Low Cost Operating Environments features a collection of research and case studies addressing contemporary issues surrounding operational success in various regions. Business professionals, managers, academics, and upper-level students will find this publication an essential resource for the latest tools and solutions for managing operations in diverse operating environments.

In the present authors attempted to have a clear insight into the interworking of geotectonic, geomorphic, hydrologic and anthropogenic factors leading to landslide in the Shiv khola Watershed, the most worst affected region of Darjiling Himalaya. This book includes the parameters responsible for landslide events in mountainous areas. It provides knowledge and understanding to the local people, planners, and policy makers about the causes and consequences of landslides as well as provides a suitable method to mitigate the landslips. The book deals with the role of land, water and soil in landslide phenomena. These three attributes have been described in terms of critical rainfall, critical slope, critical height and changes and development of drainage network in landslides. Mitigations and site-specific management options are evaluated considering the roles of local govt., community and other organizations in both pre-slide and post-slide periods. Various scientific methods have been used to assess the landslides that will bring about tremendous help to researchers in the field. In particular, Researchers in Mountain Geomorphology and Geological and Geographical Society will get tremendous help from some topics such as 1-D slope stability model, SCS Curve Number Technique, Assessment of morphological parameters, application of RS & GIS, Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process. Semi-quantitative approach is followed for understanding spatial distribution of cohesion, friction angle slope, lithology and lineaments, drainage, upslope contributing area, land use and land cover types etc. This book also reveals some techniques and models for initiating slope instability.

In this book the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) patterns of decadal-to-multidecadal variability observed and simulated by 17 general circulation models (GCMs) are analyzed. Furthermore, their impact on precipitation in West Africa and South America and the atmospheric mechanisms involved are assessed. Through this analysis, the effect of external forcings on these impacts and the relative contribution of decadal-to-multidecadal variability patterns of SST to precipitation are presented in depth. Finally, a humid period in the West African region of the Sahel during the 19th century, previously little documented, is analyzed using an atmospheric GCM. The monsoons of West Africa and South America have shown changes in the timescales of a few decades. Previous work suggests a relationship with patterns of decadal-to-multidecadal variability of SST, such as global warming and the Atlantic and Pacific variability. However, the dynamics underlying this relationship and its simulation by current GCMs had not been addressed in a consistent manner. This is the main motivation of this book. The results of this book not only represent a great step forward in our understanding of the changes in the precipitation regimes of the studied regions, but they can also be of great help for the improvement of decadal prediction systems and the associated social consequences.

Each year more than 200 million people are affected by floods, tropical storms, droughts, earthquakes, and also operational failures, wars, terrorism, vandalism, and accidents involving hazardous materials. These are part of the wide variety of events that cause death, injury, and significant economic losses for the countries affected.

In an environment where natural hazards are present, local actions are decisive in all stages of risk management: in the work of prevention and mitigation, in rehabilitation and reconstruction, and above all in emergency response and the provision of basic services to the affected population. Commitment to systematic vulnerability reduction is crucial to ensure the resilience of communities and populations to the impact of natural and manmade hazards.

Current challenges for the water and sanitation sector require an increase in sustainable access to water and sanitation services in residential areas, where natural hazards pose the greatest risk. In settlements located on unstable and risk-prone land there is growing environmental degradation coupled with extreme conditions of poverty that increase vulnerability. The development of local capacity and risk management play vital roles in obtaining sustainability of water and sanitation systems as well as for the communities themselves.

Unfortunately water may also represent a potential target for terrorist activity or war conflict and a deliberate contamination of water is a potential public health threat. An approach which considers the needs of communities and institutions is particularly important in urban areas affected by armed conflict. Risk management for large rehabilitation projects has to deal with major changes caused by conflict: damaged or destroyed infrastructure, increased population, corrupt or inefficient water utilities, and impoverished communities.

Water supply and sanitation are amongst the first considerations in disaster response. The greatest water-borne risk to health in most emergencies is the transmission of faecal pathogens, due to inadequate sanitation, hygiene and protection of water sources. However, some disasters, including those involving damage to chemical and nuclear industrial installations, or involving volcanic activity, may create acute problems from chemical or radiological water pollution. Sanitation includes safe excreta disposal, drainage of wastewater and rainwater, solid waste disposal and vector control.

This book is based on the discussions and papers prepared for the NATO Advanced Research Workshop that took place in Ohrid, Macedonia under the auspices of the NATO Security Through Science Programme and addressed problems Risk management of water supply and sanitation systems impaired by operational failures, natural disasters and war conflicts.

The main purpose of the workshop was to critically assess the existing knowledge on Risk management of water supply and sanitation systems, with respect to diverse conditions in participating countries, and promote close co-operation among scientists with different professional experience from different countries.

The ARW technical program comprised papers on 4 topics: (a) Vulnerability of Wastewater and Sanitation Systems, (b) Vulnerability of Drinking Water Systems, (c) Emergency response plans, and (d) Case studies from regions affected by Drinking Water System, Wastewater and Sanitation System failures.

If the political and social benchmarks of sustainability and sustainable development are to be met, ignoring the role of the humanities and social, cultural and ethical values is highly problematic. People's worldviews, beliefs and principles have an immediate impact on how they act and should be studied as cultural dimensions of sustainability. Collating contributions from internationally renowned theoreticians of culture and leading researchers working in the humanities and social sciences, this volume presents an in-depth, interdisciplinary discussion of the concept of cultural sustainability and the public visibility of such research. Beginning with a discussion of the concept of cultural sustainability, it goes on to explore its interaction with philosophy, theology, sociology, economics, arts and literature. In doing so, the book develops a much needed concept of 'culture' that can be adapted to various disciplines and applied to research on sustainability. Addressing an important gap in sustainability research, this book will be of great interest to academics and students of sustainability and sustainable development, as well as those studying sustainability within the humanities and social sciences, such as cultural studies, ethics, theology, sociology, literature and history.

Central Asia is a large and understudied region of varied geography, ranging from the high passes and mountains of Tian Shan, to the vast deserts of Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan to the grassy treeles steppes. This region is faced with adverse conditions, as much of the land is too dry or rugged for farming. Additionally, the rich specific and intraspecific diversity of fruit trees and medicinal plants is threatened by overgrazing, oil and mineral extraction, and poaching. Countless species from the approximately 20 ecosystems and 6000 plant taxa are now rare and endangered. Traditional vegetation studies in this region are far from adequate to handle complex issues such as soil mass movement, soil sodicity and salinity, biodiversity conservation, and grazing management. However, data analysis using a Geographical Information System (GIS) tool provides new insights into the vegetation of this region and opens up new opportunities for long-term sustainable management. While vegetation planning can occur at a property scale, it is often necessary for certain factors, such as salinity, to be dealt with on a regional scale to ensure their effective management. GIS increases the effectiveness and accuracy of vegetation planning in a region. Such regional planning will also greatly increases biodiversity values. This book systematically explores these issues and discuses new applications and approaches for overcoming these issues, including the application of GIS techniques for sustainable management and planning. Professional researchers as well as students and teachers of agriculture and ecology will find this volume to be an integral resource for studying the vegetation of Central Asia.

In the past decade, there has been a substantial increase of grid-feeding photovoltaic applications, thus raising the importance of solar electricity in the energy mix. This trend is expected to continue and may even increase. Apart from the high initial investment cost, the fluctuating nature of the solar resource raises particular insertion problems in electrical networks. Proper grid managing demands short- and long-time forecasting of solar power plant output.

"Weather modeling and forecasting of PV systems operation" is focused on this issue. Models for predicting the state of the sky, nowcasting solar irradiance and forecasting solar irradiation are studied and exemplified. Statistical as well as artificial intelligence methods are described. The efficiency of photovoltaic converters is assessed for any weather conditions.

"Weather modeling and forecasting of PV systems operation" is written for researchers, engineers, physicists and students interested in PV systems design and utilization.

The second volume of "Adaptation and Evolution in Marine Environments - The Impacts of Global Change on Biodiversity" from the series "From Pole to Pole" integrates the marine biology contribution of the first tome to the IPY 2007-2009, presenting overviews of organisms (from bacteria and ciliates to higher vertebrates) thriving on polar continental shelves, slopes and deep sea. The speed and extent of warming in the Arctic and in regions of Antarctica (the Peninsula, at the present ) are greater than elsewhere. Changes impact several parameters, in particular the extent of sea ice; organisms, ecosystems and communities that became finely adapted to increasing cold in the course of millions of years are now becoming vulnerable, and biodiversity is threatened. Investigating evolutionary adaptations helps to foresee the impact of changes in temperate areas, highlighting the invaluable contribution of polar marine research to present and future outcomes of the IPY in the Earth system scenario.

The human footprint on the global environment now touches every corner of the world. This book explores the myriad ways that environmental archives can be used to study the distribution and long-term trajectories of chemical contaminants. The volume first focuses on reviews that examine the integrity of the historic record, including factors related to hydrology, post-depositional diffusion, and mixing processes. This is followed by a series of chapters dealing with the diverse archives and methodologies available for long-term studies of environmental pollution, such as the use of sediments, ice cores, sclerochronology, and museum specimens.