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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > General
Since the first international conference on urban air quality, held at the University ofHertfordshire in 1996, significant advances have taken place in the field of urban air pollution. In addition to the scientific advances in the measurement, modelling and management of urban air quality, significant progress has been achieved in relation to the establishment of major frameworks to ensure a more effective mechanism for international collaboration. Two such frameworks are SATURN (Studying Atmospheric Pollution in Urban Areas) and TRAPOS (Optimisation of Modelling Methods for Traffic Pollution in Streets). In response to such advances, the second international conference was held at the Technical University of Madrid in March 1999 with active participation of SATURN and TRAPOS investigators. The organisation of the conference was headed by the Institute of Physics in collaboration with the Technical University of Madrid and the University of Hertfordshire. The support of IUAPPA and AWMA ensured a truly worldwide promotion and participation. The meeting attracted 140 scientists from 26 different countries establishing it as a major forum for exchanging and discussing the latest research fmdings in this field.
Only a few laboratories in the world have taken the bold step to attempt the integration of sub-models of the climate system, the global biogeochemical cycles and the human/societal components. This volume reports such a major undertaking and it is an important step towards an integrated approach to global change science. The IMAGE 2 model is important in demonstrating our current ability to model the complex global system.
The workshop on "Optical Properties of Low Dimensional Silicon sL Structures" was held in Meylan, France on March, I yd, 1993. The workshop took place inside the facilities of France Telecom- CNET. Around 45 leading scientists working on this rapidly moving field were in attendance. Principal support was provided by the Advanced Research Workshop Program of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). French Delegation a l'Armement and CNET gave also a small financial grant, the organisational part being undertaken by the SEE and CNET. There is currently intense research activity worldwide devoted to the optical properties of low dimensional silicon structures. This follow the recent discovery of efficient visible photoluminescence (PL) from highly porous silicon. This workshop was intended to bring together all the leading European scientists and laboratories in order to reveal the state of the art and to open new research fields on this subject. A large number of invited talks took place (12) together with regular contribution (20). The speakers were asked to leave nearly 1/3 of the time to the discussion with the audience, and that promoted both formal and informal discussions between the participants.
Funding Science: An Immense Challenge The real challenge in science should be hypothesis formation, experimental design and conducting the actual research under rigorous control and experimental condi of tions with the best available equipment/infrastructure. However, in many parts the world, the real challenge in science is trying to obtain some minimal amount of funding to initiate research. Every country in the world is challenged with an im mense number of interconnected environmental and health problems. Examples in clude biologically and chemically contaminated water and soil, air pollution, waste and sewage treatment, a multitude of infectious diseases in humans, animals and plants, global change, population growth, alternate energy sources, deforestation, floods, crop production and so on. Solutions to these national and international problems require training and re search to ensure the best available people and knowledge are available to man age and/or solve these problems. This can only be accomplished if the research community has the funding to conduct priority research and apply the knowledge globally. The challenge in science should be discovering the unknown and col laborative research/training of new scientists. Too often the challenge is how to conduct research without proper support. Many scientists are likely of the opinion that it is not their jobs/careers that is stressful, but the inability to do their research properly, that is stressful. Good research in a knowledge based economy requires proper funding.
Mohamed Larbi Selassi Deputy Director of the National Meteorology, Morocco Welcome address (translated from French) WMO, WCRP, Medias-France and scientific institutions representatives, ladies and gentlemen, to thank WMO and MEDIAS-France, who have honoured us by I want first organizing the two workshops, climate indices in Africa and data assessment for global change research in the Mediterranean region, in Casablanca and I welcome all of you here in Morocco. It is with great pleasure that I open these two workshops on behalf of myself and on behalf of the Direction of the Meteorologie N ationale of Morocco. Climate change is becoming the focus of the international community because of its global scale and unpredictable effects, the numerous impacts it causes, its global feature and the complexity of the solutions that can mitigate its impacts. Global warming and the greenhouse effect became a subject of study at the international level since the United Nations Conference on the human environment that was held in Stockholm in 1972. The research and coordination efforts that have been made in this area have led to an "International Scientific consensus". High level meetings like those held in Toronto in 1988, in Lahaye in 1989 and in Geneva in 1990, did confirm the greenhouse threat and the emergency to treat it.
Summary of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Physical Signatures of Magnetospheric Boundary Layer Processes T A POTEMRA, M I PUDOVKIN, R W SMITH, V M VASYLIUNAS and A EGELAND 451 PREFACE These proceedings are based on the invited talks and selected research reports presented at the NATO Advanced Workshop on "PHYSICAL SIGNATURES OF MAGNETOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER PROCESSES", held at Sundvolden Hotel, Norway, 9.-14.May 1993. The international political and scientific communities have gradually realized that the Earth's environment is more fragile than previously believed. This has led to the establishment of international research programmes directed toward the understanding of "Global Change". The Earth's magnetosphere, "the Earth-space", is a part of our environment, and physical processes in the magnetosphere and coupling between the solar energy stream, the solar wind, and the Earth-space are important in the complete understanding of our environment. Variations in the electromagnetic and particle energy output of the Sun have a significant effect on global changes. The energy transfer mechanisms at the days ide magnetospheric boundary layers and their ionospheric signatures are perhaps even more important to solar terrestrial research than the night-side processes in this connection. The dayside boundary layers and the polar cusps are the Earth's windows to outer space. The present NATO ARW was the latest in a series of conferences focused on dayside magnetospheric phenomena. It is five years since the preceding Workshop on "Electromag netic Coupling in the Polar Clefts and Caps" was held at Lillehammer in September 1988.
Processes of synchronization and interaction play a very special role in different physical problems concerning the dynamics of the Earth's interior; they are of particular importance in the study of seismic phenomena, and their complexity is strongly affected by the variety of geological structures and inhomogeneities of the medium that hamper the course of these processes and their intensity. The attempt to tackle these problems is a great challenge from experimental, observational and theoretical point of view. We present in this Monograph the theoretical and experimental results achieved in the frame of the European Project "Triggering and synchronization of seismic/ acoustic events by weak external forcing as a sign of approaching the critical point" (INTAS Ref. Nr 05-1000008-7889); in this Project, which was inspired by Professor Tamaz Chelidze, our aim was to give grounds for better understanding and interpretation of dynamical interactive processes of physical ?elds, both found in the laboratory experiments as well as in ?eld observations. One of the leading problems - related to synchronization and interaction of different physical ?elds in fracture processes concerns triggering and initiation of rupture and displa- ments within the Earth interior. From this point of view, the results from laboratory studies on synchronization and interaction and those found and involved in ?eld observations, helped to improve the theoretical background. Reversely, some of the presented new theoretical approaches have served to stimulate laboratory and ?eld studies.
In recent years an increasing number of studies have been published reporting observations of adapted behaviour and shifting species ranges of plant and animal species due to recent climate warming. Are these `fingerprints' of climate change? An international conference was organised to bring together scientists from different continents with different expertise but sharing the same issue of climate change impact studies. Ecologists, zoologists, and botanists exchanged and discussed the findings from their individual field of research. The present book is an international collection of biological signs of recent climate warming, neither based only on computer models nor on prediction for the future, but mainly on actually occurring changes in the biosphere such as adapted behaviour or shifts in the ranges of species. `Fingerprints' of Climate Change presents ecological evidence that organisms are responding to recent global warming. The observed changes may foreshadow the types of impacts likely to become more frequent and widespread with continued warming.
Measurements of solar irradiance, both bolometric and at various wavelengths, over the last two decades have established conclusively that the solar energy flux varies on a wide range of time scales, from minutes to the 11-year solar cycle. The major question is how the solar variability influences the terrestrial climate. The Solar Electromagnetic Radiation Study for Solar Cycle 22 (SOLERS22) is an international research program operating under the auspices of the Solar-Terrestrial Energy Program (STEP) Working Group 1: The Sun as a Source of Energy and Disturbances'. STEP is sponsored by the Scientific Committee of Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). The main goal of the SOLERS22 1996 Workshop was to bring the international research community together to review the most recent results obtained from observations, theoretical interpretation, empirical and physical models of the variations in the solar energy flux and their possible impact on climate studies. These questions are essential for researchers and graduate students in solar-terrestrial physics.
This volume contains the lectures presented at the second course of the International School of Space Chemistry held in Erice (Sicily) from October 20 - 30 1991 at the "E. Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture." The course was attended by 58 participants from 13 countries. The Chemistry of Life's Origins is well recognized as one of the most critical subjects of modem chemistry. Much progress has been made since the amazingly perceptive contributions by Oparin some 70 years ago when he first outlined a possible series of steps starting from simple molecules to basic building blocks and ultimate assembly into simple organisms capable of replicating, catalysis and evolution to higher organisms. The pioneering experiments of Stanley Miller demonstrated already forty years ago how easy it could have been to form the amino acids which are critical to living organisms. However we have since learned and are still learning a great deal more about the primitive conditions on earth which has led us to a rethinking of where and how the condition for prebiotic chemical processes occurred. We have also learned a great deal more about the molecular basis for life. For instance, the existence of DNA was just discovered forty years ago.
This volume is on the flexibility mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol and summarises the main fmdings of a two day workshop on 'Dealing with Carbon Credits after Kyoto', organised by ETC and the JIN foundation (both from the Netherlands) in Callantsoog, the Netherlands, on 28-29 May 1998. The workshop was one of the fIrst meetings held on the flexibility mechanisms after the Kyoto Protocol had been accepted at the Third Conference of the Parties (CoP3) in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. During the workshop it became clear that during the stage of translating the Protocol provisions on the flexibility mechanisms (notably Articles 6, 12 and 17) into concrete action, there are still many questions on how to interpret the scope and meaning of the Protocol text precisely. Indeed, various issues need to be elaborated on before a full assessment of the future practical work - the start of CDM and JI projects and possibly international emissions trading - can be made. Several issues were addressed at the workshop: e. g. how and via which procedures to determine the net abatement of particular CDMIJI projects; who is liable for non compliance in international emissions trading; is there a need for credit sharing formulae; can incentives be provided for early action, etc.
As the regional models required to understand and control the
generation, distribution and deposition of air pollutants become
more precise, the need to understand the detailed effects of hilly
and mountainous terrain becomes more acute. The Alpine regions and
the mountainous Mediterranean coasts have large effets on the way
the pollutant burden is spread in their areas. Similarly an
understanding of the effects of chemical and physical processes
controlling pollutant deposition and the emission of biogenic
compounds is essential to the correct modelling of the coastal
regions which surround so much of Europe.
This is the eighth volume in the series "Mathematics in Industrial Prob lems." The motivation for these volumes is to foster interaction between Industry and Mathematics at the "grass roots level"; that is, at the level of specific problems. These problems come from Industry: they arise from models developed by the industrial scientists in ventures directed at the manufacture of new or improved products. At the same time, these prob lems have the potential for mathematical challenge and novelty. To identify such problems, I have visited industries and had discussions with their scientists. Some of the scientists have subsequently presented their problems in the IMA Seminar on Industrial Problems. The book is based on the seminar presentations and on questions raised in subsequent discussions. Each chapter is devoted to one of the talks and is self-contained. The chapters usually provide references to the mathematical literature and a list of open problems that are of interest to industrial scientists. For some problems, a partial solution is indicated briefly. The last chapter of the book contains a short description of solutions to some of the problems raised in the previous volume, as well as references to papers in which such solutions have been published."
Significant amounts of liquid and solid radioactive waste have been generated in Russia during the production of nuclear weapons, and there is an urgent need to find suitable ways to manage these wastes in a way that protects both the current population and future generations. This book contains contributions from pure and applied scientists and other representatives from Europe, North America, and Russia, who are, or have been, actively involved in the field of radioactive waste management and disposal. First-hand experience of specific problems associated with defence-related wastes in the USA and the Russian Federation is presented, and current plans are described for the disposal of solid wastes arising from civilian nuclear power production programmes in other countries, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany and the UK. The book provides a good insight into ongoing research at local and national level within Russia, devoted to the safe disposal of defence-related radioactive waste. It also demonstrates how existing expertise and technology from civilian nuclear waste management programmes can be applied to solving the problems created by nuclear defence programmes. Contributions address methods of immobilisation, site selection methodology, site characterisation techniques and data interpretation, the key elements of safety/performance assessments of planned deep (geological) repositories for radioactive waste, and radionuclide transport modelling. Concerns associated with certain specific nuclear waste disposal concepts and repository sites are also presented.
Superfund liability). This is an issue that is currently having an dramatic impact on the industry. The impact is being felt in transactions involving the potential sale of properties, insuring operations, development of new properties, joint ventures, or more generally, practically every phase of the mining firms operation. The second issue focuses on an environmental topic that has not been specifically addressed in federal legislation, although it has been indirectly considered, that is global warming or the "greenhouse effect." One of the interesting aspects to this environmental problem is the uncertainty associated with it at every phase of the analysis. The predictions of the general circulation models of climatologists are questioned due to the uncertainty of ocean effects, urbanization, etc. (see Burness & Martin, Chapter 5). The economic models are criticized for the uncertainty associated with the benefit estimates from reducing greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (COJ, concentrations in the atmosphere as well as estimates of the cost of reducing GHG concentrations and/or emissions. This raises the interesting question of what is the optimal policy and what will be the impact of this policy(s) on the mining sector, given the uncertainty. The first of these two topics is addressed by V. Kerry Smith and Ronald G. Cummings, et al. Professors Smith and Cummings were chosen due to their pioneering work in the area of valuation of nonmarket goods, particularly involving the use of survey methods.
This volume is a collection of reports presented at the International NATO Advanced Research Workshop Conservation of the Biological Diversity as a Prerequisite for Sustainaible Development of the Black Sea Region. The seminar was held at Batumi - Kobuleti, Georgia, on the Black Sea during October 5 -12, 1996 with participants from the countries of the Black Sea Region -Georgia, Russia, the Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, as well as Germany, Italy and the United States of America. The Black Sea Region is an essential and unique part of southern Europe because of its geographical, cultural and historical features. It is the cradle of European civilisation, together with Greece and Rome. For centuries it neighboured onto and interacted with the cultures of the northern and southern Mediterranean, the Christian and Moslim worlds, and was the route of conquerors and migrations of whole nations. Here are closely interwoven the cultures and customs of nations, economic and trade relations, the history of wars and civilised relations of neighbouring countries.
This book is the provisional result of more than 10 years of continued discussion with friends and colleagues from neighbouring disciplines. Although only a small minority ofthe millions of GIS users on this planet are geographers, it seems that somehow, geographers are a kind ofnatural contact persons for historians, archae- ologists, economists, social scientists or others who are looking for appropriate ways ofworking with spatial data. We received constant encouragements and many valuable suggestions from our colleagues. Particularly we wish to thank the members ofthe GIS Study Group of the German Association of Geography (AK GIS) as well as the participants of a workshop in June 2000 on "Mapping Europe's historic boundaries and borders" which was generously sponsored by the European Science Foundation. Among the individuals we owe special appreciation are Humphrey Southall and Ian Gregory (The Great Britain Historical GIS Programme, University ofPortsmouth), Michael Goerke (European University Institute, Florence), Konrad Pierau (Center for His- torical Social Research, University of Cologne), Bernhard Holfter (Forderverein Historische Grundkarte, Leipzig) and Stephan Riediger (Department of History, University of Mannheim).
While I was participating in the IUTAM Symposium on Structure of Turbulence and Drag Reduction in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1989, I was approached by Prof. Dr. Themistocles Dracos to give a course oflectures on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer during my sabbatical leave at Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich - Hoenggerberg in 1991. His reason for the suggestion was the growing interest in the environment and its dynamics created by flow in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer. I have been teaching boundary layer to undergraduate and graduate students for more than twenty five years, so I agreed to give a series of lectures on boundary layer of the atmosphere. From the start I thought very seriously about the problem and consulted all the published works in English on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL). First consider the topography of the Earth which has oceans calm and turbulent, mountain ranges of height up to 9 km, lands of variable height with forests, food growing vegetable and deserts. The shape of the Earth is nearly spherical except at the north and south poles. Sun supplies the energy to drive circulation of air around the Earth's atmosphere which for all practical purposes occupies the region up to about 10 to 11 km. This brief scenerio of Earth's topography reveals the complexity of flow very close to the Earth's surface that is hardly flat except at the oceans' surface which consists of about 70% of the total Earth's surface.
New developments in computer science, biology, mathematics and physics offer possibilities to obtain deeper understanding of growth and forms of organisms. It is now possible to carry out simulation experiments in which the growth process can be simulated in virtual computer objects. In this book, methods from fractal geometry are applied to model growth forms. As a case study, a type of growth process is used which can be found among various taxonomic classes of organisms such as sponges and corals. The growth of these organisms is simulated with 2D and 3D geometrical objects. The models presented in the book provide a rendering method for natural objects which is based on the actual growth process. The models can be used, for example, to understand the amazing variety of forms to be found in a coral reef. Models which mimic the growth of forms and the environmental influence on the growth process are also useful for ecologists. A combination of simulation models and the actual growth forms can be used to detect the effects of slow changes in the environment.
Towards the Balance and Management of the Carbon Budget of the Biosphere The current state of misunderstanding of the global C cycle and our failure to resolve an issue that has been debated for 100 years (Jones and Henderson-Sellers, 1990) speaks loudly about the limitations of modem science when faced with the complexity of the biosphere. Efforts to understand and balance the global C budget have gone through several phases. First was a holistic view of the C budget as part of efforts to understand the geochemistry of the Earth (e. g. , Clarke, 1908). Next, came a period of data collection and sythesis which focused on the diversity of sectors of the biosphere. This phase culminated in the early 1970's with the realization that humans were greatly impacting the global C cycle as measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory (Keeling et al. , 1973). New syntheses of the global C budget emerged at this time (Woodwell and Pacan, 1973; Bolin et al. , 1979). The next phase was one of controversy and intense focus on particular sectors of the biosphere. The controversy rested on discrepancies about the role of the terrestrial biota in the global C cycle and the failure to account for sufficient C sinks to absorb all the C emitted by land-use change in the tropics (Woodwell et al. , 1978, 1983; Houghton et al. , 1983).
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is an approach that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. Without public interest and participation, successful implementation of IWRM plans for river basin cannot be possible. Further to this, management at the watershed level to assure water supplies to support livelihood (i.e. domestic water, irrigation, industries, etc.) and sustainable groundwater development requires water augmentation through water conservation structures, and pollution control will also play a vital role. In India, because of limited period of rainfall during Monsoon (i.e. three to four months), water conservation and rainwater harvesting have been practiced since ancient days in order to meet water demands throughout the year. These structures are generally constructed and operated through the public participation. Keeping in view of the importance of public partnership, the role of public partnership in context of water-related awareness and practices has been investigated in different parts of the Yamuna River basin. The investigation evaluates the impact of various water conservation devices on livelihood; compares the performance of recently developed water conservation structures with ancient structures; examines spatial variation of water-related problems in the basin; and proposes an institutional setup for effective governance.
Along with the general development of numerical methods in pure and applied to apply integral equations to geophysical modelling has sciences, the ability improved considerably within the last thirty years or so. This is due to the successful derivation of integral equations that are applicable to the modelling of complex structures, and efficient numerical algorithms for their solution. A significant stimulus for this development has been the advent of fast digital computers. The purpose of this book is to give an idea of the principles by which boundary-value problems describing geophysical models can be converted into integral equations. The end results are the integral formulas and integral equations that form the theoretical framework for practical applications. The details of mathematical analysis have been kept to a minimum. Numerical algorithms are discussed only in connection with some illustrative examples involving well-documented numerical modelling results. The reader is assu med to have a background in the fundamental field theories that form the basis for various geophysical methods, such as potential theory, electromagnetic theory, and elastic strain theory. A fairly extensive knowledge of mathematics, especially in vector and tensor calculus, is also assumed."
Designed in direct response to student surveys, focus groups and interviews, Hendrix/Thompson's EARTH SCIENCE: AN INTRODUCTION, 3rd Edition, delivers concise yet comprehensive coverage in an engaging and accessible format for majors and non-majors alike. The revised text brings concepts to life with current research and examples, a new-and-improved art program, over 150 new photos, and a clean, modern design. A second-to-none supplements package equips you with a wealth of resources, including MindTap--the digital learning solution that enables you to learn on your own terms.
The editors intend that this book conveys the remarkable variety and fundamental importance of the late Helmut E. Landsberg's many contributions to the science of climatology and its practice over a very productive 55-year career. We thank the distinguished authors for their contributions. We also thank Corinne Preston and Charlene Mann for their invaluable word-processing assistance and preparation of camera-ready copy. Finally, we thank Joshua Holland for permission to reproduce his portrait of Landsberg, and Jeanne Moody for preparation of the index. F. Baer N. L. Canfield J. M. Mitchell Editors vii CONTRmUTORS Ferdinand Baer, Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA Norman L. Canfield, Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA Dennis M. Driscoll, Department of Meteorology, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, USA William H. Haggard, Climatological Consulting Corporation, Asheville, North Carolina, USA David M. Ludlum, Founding Editor, Weatherwise, Princeton, New Jersey, USA Thomas F. Malone, St. Joseph College, West Hartford, Connecticut, USA J. Murray Mitchell, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (retired), McLean, Virginia, USA Timothy R. Oke, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Joseph Smagorinsky, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (retired), Princeton, New Jersey, USA Hessam Taba, World Meteorological Organization (retired), Geneva, Switzerland Morley Thomas, Atmospheric Environment Service (retired), Downsview, Ontario, Canada. IX OVERVIEW Ferdinand Baer Helmut E.
The first part of the conference explores two major environmental concerns that arise from fuel use: (1) the prospect that the globe will become warmer as a result of emissions of carbon dioxide, and (2) the effect upon health of the fine particles emitted as combustion products. The conference focused on the fact that there was lack of data direct enough to enable us to predict an entirely satisfactory result, and that makes policy options particularly difficult. With regard to (1) above, in the second half of the 20th century there were major increases in anthropogenic C02 emissions, and it is generally agreed that these were responsible for an increase in C02 concentrations. But the relationship between global temperature and CO2 concentrations remains murky. The principal problem is that water vapor is a more important greenhouse gas than C02 and that the concentrations of water vapor vary widely in time and space. The approach to this problem is probably, but not certainly, a positive feedback effect: as temperature increases so does the water vapor leading to further temperature increases. Scientists associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tend to believe the general features of the models. Other scientists are often less convinced. |
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