This book reports on developments in Proximal Soil Sensing (PSS) and high resolution digital soil mapping. PSS has become a multidisciplinary area of study that aims to develop field-based techniques for collecting information on the soil from close by, or within, the soil. Amongst others, PSS involves the use of optical, geophysical, electrochemical, mathematical and statistical methods. This volume, suitable for undergraduate course material and postgraduate research, brings together ideas and examples from those developing and using proximal sensors and high resolution digital soil maps for applications such as precision agriculture, soil contamination, archaeology, peri-urban design and high land-value applications, where there is a particular need for high spatial resolution information. The book in particular covers soil sensor sampling, proximal soil sensor development and use, sensor calibrations, prediction methods for large data sets, applications of proximal soil sensing, and high-resolution digital soil mapping.

Key themes: soil sensor sampling - soil sensor calibrations - spatial prediction methods - reflectance spectroscopy - electromagnetic induction and electrical resistivity - radar and gamma radiometrics - multi-sensor platforms - high resolution digital soil mapping - applications

Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel is a scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia.

Alex McBratney is Pro-Dean and Professor of Soil Science in the Faculty of Agriculture Food & Natural Resources at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Budiman Minasny is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Agriculture Food & Natural Resources at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Mathematically, natural disasters of all types are characterized by heavy tailed distributions. The analysis of such distributions with common methods, such as averages and dispersions, can therefore lead to erroneous conclusions. The statistical methods described in this book avoid such pitfalls. Seismic disasters are studied, primarily thanks to the availability of an ample statistical database. New approaches are presented to seismic risk estimation and forecasting the damage caused by earthquakes, ranging from typical, moderate events to very rare, extreme disasters. Analysis of these latter events is based on the limit theorems of probability and the duality of the generalized Pareto distribution and generalized extreme value distribution. It is shown that the parameter most widely used to estimate seismic risk - Mmax, the maximum possible earthquake value - is potentially non-robust. Robust analogues of this parameter are suggested and calculated for some seismic catalogues. Trends in the costs inferred by damage from natural disasters as related to changing social and economic situations are examined for different regions.

The results obtained argue for sustainable development, whereas entirely different, incorrect conclusions can be drawn if the specific properties of the heavy-tailed distribution and change in completeness of data on natural hazards are neglected.

This pioneering work is directed at risk assessment specialists in general, seismologists, administrators and all those interested in natural disasters and their impact on society.

A complete solution for problems of vibration control in structures that may be subject to a broadband primary vibration field, this book addresses the following steps: experimental identification of the dynamic model of the structure; optimal placement of sensors and actuators; formulation of control constraints in terms of controller frequency response shape; controller design and simulation; and controller implementation and rapid prototyping. The identification procedure is a gray-box approach tailored to the estimation of modal parameters of large-scale flexible structures. The actuator/sensor placement algorithm maximizes a modal controllability index improving the effectiveness of the control. Considering limitations of sensors and actuators, the controller is chosen as a stable, band-pass MIMO system resulting from the closed-form solution of a robust control problem. Experimental results on an aeronautical stiffened skin panel are presented using rapid-prototyping hardware.

Short Historical Overview In the 1940s, two phenomena in the ?eld of cosmic rays (CR) forced scientists to think that the Sun is a powerful source of high-energy particles. One of these was discovered because of the daily solar variation of CR, which the maximum number of CR observed near noon (referring to the existence of continuous ?ux of CR from the direction of the Sun); this became the experimental basis of the theory that CR's originate from the Sun (or, for that matter, from within the solar system) (Alfven 1954). The second phenomenon was discovered when large ?uxes of high energy particles were detected from several solar ?ares, or solar CR. These are the - called ground level events (GLE), and were ?rst observed by ionization chambers shielded by 10 cm Pb (and detected mainly from the secondary muon-component CR that they caused) during the events of the 28th of February 1942, the 7th of March 1942, the 25th of July 1946, and the 19th of November 1949. The biggest such event was detected on the 23rd of February 1956 (see the detailed description in Chapters X and XI of Dorman, M1957). The ?rst phenomenon was investigated in detail in Dorman (M1957), by ?rst correcting experimental data on muon temperature effects and then by using coupling functions to determine the change in particle energy caused by the solar-diurnal CR variation."

In their search for solutions to problems concerning the dynamics of the Earth as a self-gravitating body, the authors have applied the fundamentals found in their book "Jacobi Dynamics" (1987, Reidel). First, satellite observations have shown that the Earth does not remain in hydrostatic equilibrium, which forms the physical basis of modern geodynamics. Secondly, satellite data have established a relationship between the planet's polar moment of inertia and the potential of the Earth's outer force field, which proves the most basic point of Jacobi dynamics. This allowed the authors to revise their derivation of the classical virial theorem, introducing the concept of a volumetric force and volumetric moment, and so to obtain a generalized virial theorem in the form of Jacobi's equation.
The main dynamical effects are: the kinetic energy of oscillation of the interacting particles, which explains the physical meaning and nature of gravitational forces; separation of shells of a self-gravitating body with respect to its mass density; differences in angular velocities of the shell's rotation; continuity in variance of the potential of the outer gravitational force field, together with reductions in the envelope of the interacting masses (volumetric center of gravity); the nature of Earth, Moon and satellite precession; the nature and generating mechanism of the planet's electromagnetic field; the common nature of gravitational and electromagnetic energy, and other related issues.
The work is a logical continuation of the book "Jacobi Dynamics" and is intended for researchers, teachers and students engaged in theoretical and experimental research in various branches of astronomy, geophysics, planetology and cosmogony, and for students of celestial, statistical, quantum and relativistic mechanics and hydrodynamics.

This book focuses on motions of incompressible ?uids of a freely moving surface being in?uenced by both the Earth's rotation and density strati?cation. In contrast to traditional textbooks in the ?eld of geophysical ?uid dynamics, such as those by by Cushman-Roisin (1994) and Gill (1982), this book uses the method of proce- oriented hydrodynamic modelling to illustrate a rich variety of ?uid phenomena. To this end, the reader can adopt the model codes, found on the Springer server accompanying this book, to reproduce most graphs of this book and, even better, to create animation movies. The reader can also employ the codes as templates for own independent studies. This can be done by a lay person as a hobby activity, undergraduate or postgraduate students as part of their education, or professional scientists as part of research. Exercises of this book are run with open-source software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet. This includes the FORTRAN 95 compiler "G95" used for execution of model simulations, the data visualisation program "SciLab", and "ImageMagick" for the creation of graphs and GIF animations, which can be watched with most Internet browsers.

Most well known structures in planetary atmospheres and the Earth s oceans are jets or fronts interacting with vortices on a wide range of scales. The transition from one state to another, such as in unbalanced or adjustment flows, involves the generation of waves as well as the interaction of coherent structures with these waves.

This book presents a fluid mechanics perspective to the dynamics of fronts and vortices and their interaction with waves in geophysical flows. It provides a basic physical background for modeling coherent structures in a geophysical context, and it gives essential information on advanced topics such as spontaneous wave emission and wavemomentum transfer in geophysical flows.

Based on a set of lectures by leading specialists, this text is targeted at graduate students, researchers and engineers in geophysics and environmental fluid mechanics.

"

For the fourth consecutive year, the Association of Geographic Infor- tion Laboratories for Europe (AGILE) promoted the edition of a book with the collection of the scientific papers that were submitted as full-papers to the AGILE annual international conference. Those papers went through a th competitive review process. The 13 AGILE conference call for fu- papers of original and unpublished fundamental scientific research resulted in 54 submissions, of which 21 were accepted for publication in this - lume (acceptance rate of 39%). Published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Car- th graphy, this book is associated to the 13 AGILE Conference on G- graphic Information Science, held in 2010 in Guimaraes, Portugal, under the title "Geospatial Thinking." The efficient use of geospatial information and related technologies assumes the knowledge of concepts that are fundamental components of Geospatial Thinking, which is built on reasoning processes, spatial conc- tualizations, and representation methods. Geospatial Thinking is associated with a set of cognitive skills consisting of several forms of knowledge and cognitive operators used to transform, combine or, in any other way, act on that same knowledge. The scientific papers published in this volume cover an important set of topics within Geoinformation Science, including: Representation and Visualisation of Geographic Phenomena; Spatiotemporal Data Analysis; Geo-Collaboration, Participation, and Decision Support; Semantics of Geoinformation and Knowledge Discovery; Spatiotemporal Modelling and Reasoning; and Web Services, Geospatial Systems and Real-time Appli- tions."

It all began with Markus Jochum approaching one of us (HvS) - "when you guys are doing interviews with senior scientists from oceanography and related sciences, why are you not doing Walter Munk?" Indeed, why not? Walter Munk, an icon in oceanography, had just given a wonderful talk in a symposium in honor of his 90th birthday, sweeping a grand circle from his earliest work with Chip Cox on airborne measurements of ocean surface roughness to the latest satellite data - not simply a review, but the struggle of an active scientist opening up new perspectives - as inspiring and stimulating as when one of us (KH) rst met him at the Ocean Waves Conference in Easton in 1961 (Fig. I. 1). Walter immediately agreed to share with us his recollections on the nearly seventy years of his path-breaking contributions in a sheer amazing range of topics, from ocean waves, internal waves, ocean currents, tides, tsunamis, sea level, microseisms and the rotation of the earth to ocean acoustic tomography. With "you guys" Markus was referring to HvS and the various partners HvS had 1 invited to join him in conducting a series of interviews of retired colleagues.

The editors present a state-of-the-art overview on the Physics of Space Weather and its effects on technological and biological systems on the ground and in space. It opens with a general introduction on the subject, followed by a historical review on the major developments in the field of solar terrestrial relationships leading to its development into the up-to-date field of space weather. Specific emphasis is placed on the technological effects that have impacted society in the past century at times of major solar activity. Chapter 2 summarizes key milestones, starting from the base of solar observations with classic telescopes up to recent space observations and new mission developments with EUV and X-ray telescopes (e.g., STEREO), yielding an unprecedented view of the sun-earth system. Chapter 3 provides a scientific summary of the present understanding of the physics of the sun-earth system based on the latest results from spacecraft designed to observe the Sun, the interplanetary medium and geospace. Chapter 4 describes how the plasma and magnetic field structure of the earth's magnetosphere is impacted by the variation of the solar and interplanetary conditions, providing the necessary science and technology background for missions in low and near earth's orbit. Chapter 5 elaborates the physics of the layer of the earth's upper atmosphere that is the cause of disruptions in radio-wave communications and GPS (Global Positioning System) errors, which is of crucial importance for projects like Galileo. In Chapters 6-10, the impacts of technology used up to now in space, on earth and on life are reviewed.

The contributions gathered in this volume provide introductions to current problems in geospace electromagnetic radiation, guides to the associated literature and tutorial reviews of the relevant space physics. Students and scientists working on various aspects of the terrestrial aurora or magnetospheric and near-Earth heliospheric high-frequency waves will find this volume an indispensable companion for their studies.

This book, the first in a series of forthcoming volumes, consists of topical and timely reviews of a number of carefully selected topics in solar systemn science. Contributions, in form of up-to-date reviews, are mainly aimed at professional astronomers and planetary scientists wishing to inform themselves about progress in fields closely related to their own field of expertise.

The biological effects of asteroid and comet impacts have been widely viewed as primarily destructive. The role of an impactor in the K/T boundary extinctions has had a particularly important influence on thinking concerning the role of impacts in ecological and biological changes. th During the 10 and final workshop of the ESF IMPACT program during March 2003, we sought to investigate the wider aspects of the involvement of impact events in biological processes, including the beneficial role of these events from the prebiotic through to the ecosystem level. The ESF IMPACT programme (1998-2003) was an interdisciplinary effort that is aimed at understanding impact processes and their effects on the Earth environment, including environmental, geological and biological changes. The IMPACT programme has 15 member states and the activities of the programme range from workshops to short courses on topics such as impact stratigraphy, shock metamorphism, etc. The program has also awarded mobility grants and been involved in the development of teaching aids and numerous publications, including this one.

This is a detailed introduction to the statistical analysis of geophysical time series, using numerous examples and exercises to build proficiency. The exercises lead the reader to explore the meaning of concepts such as the estimation of the linear time series (AMRA) models or spectra. The book also serves as a guide to using the open-source "R" program for statistical analysis of time series.

Initially, this book reviews the general characteristics of the Earth 's magnetic field and the magnetic properties of minerals, and then proceeds to introduce the multifold applications of geomagnetism in earth sciences. The authors analyze the contribution of geomagnetism both in more general geological fields, such as tectonics and geodynamics, and in applied ones, such as prospecting and pollution. Primarily, the book is aimed at undergraduate geology or geophysics students. It is geared to provide them with a general overview of geomagnetism, allowing them to understand what contributions this branch of science can offer in the more special sectors of earth sciences. Graduate students and geology researchers will also benefit from it, as it enables them to gain a clear and concise image of the techniques which can be applied in their areas of specialization.

In the recent years, space-based observation methods have led to a subst- tially improved understanding of Earth system. Geodesy and geophysics are contributing to this development by measuring the temporal and spatial va- ations of the Earth's shape, gravity ?eld, and magnetic ?eld, as well as at- sphere density. In the frame of the GermanR&D programmeGEOTECHNO- LOGIEN, researchprojectshavebeen launchedin2002relatedto the satellite missions CHAMP, GRACE and ESA's planned mission GOCE, to comp- mentary terrestrial and airborne sensor systems and to consistent and stable high-precision global reference systems for satellite and other techniques. In the initial 3-year phase of the research programme (2002-2004), new gravity ?eld models have been computed from CHAMP and GRACE data which outperform previous models in accuracy by up to two orders of m- nitude for the long and medium wavelengths. A special highlight is the - termination of seasonal gravity variations caused by changes in continental water masses. For GOCE, to be launched in 2006, new gravity ?eld analysis methods are under development and integrated into the ESA processing s- tem. 200,000 GPS radio occultation pro?les, observed by CHAMP, have been processed on an operational basis. They represent new and excellent inf- mation on atmospheric refractivity, temperature and water vapor. These new developments require geodetic space techniques (such as VLBI, SLR, LLR, GPS) to be combined and synchronized as if being one global instrument.

Micrometeorites played an essential role in the formation of the atmosphere of the Early Earth and also served as a significant source of activation for organic prebiotic chemistry on mineral surfaces. The present book gives a coherent account of this scenario, embedding the more specific results within a broader framework that considers the creation and evolution of the Early Earth. It thus addresses students and nonspecialist researchers in the fields of planetary atmospheres, biogeophysics and astrobiology. The experienced researcher will find this volume to be a modern and compact reference, as well as a source of material for lectures in this field.

Almost 50 years after the launch of Sputnik, the diversity and criticality of the technology and applications already in place to exploit the high-frontier is impressive. And it is no exaggeration to state that a precondition for meeting human needs, coping with environmental problems, and maintaining security is the successful exploitation of space. Yet no one overview exists to document what we have so far done, and soon plan to accomplish, to utilize the near-Earth space environment. Utilization of Space aims to serve as an authoritative overview for professionals and interested laymen by explaining scientific space utilisation, commercial and entrepreneurial issues, and technological applications. The chapters are written by leading specialists in the respective fields and on a level comprehensible to an educated, but not necessarily technically-trained, reader. Enhanced by informative color illustrations, it is intended not only to transmit useful and timely information to readers, but also to share with them the fascination attached to space activities experienced by those actively engaged in them.

In recent years, the increased availability and fidelity of broadband seismic instruments have effectively narrowed the gap between exploration and global seismic applications. Global seismologists are now able to take advantage of high-resolution, often exploration-based, tools to examine rock properties tens to hundreds of kilometers below surface. This book reviews the key assumptions, algorithms and prospects of several important array-based methods in today s global and regional seismic surveys. A short list of topics includes data migration, PP and SS precursors, Radon transform, mantle triplication, P-to-S and S-to-P converted waves, shear-wave splitting, high-resolution seismic tomography, and ambient-noise interferometry. Each approach is presented in a cookbook fashion for easy comparison, implementation and critique by the general readership."

The International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) was established as a means of raising worldwide public and political awareness of the vast, though frequently under-used, potential the Earth Sciences possess for improving the quality of life of the peoples of the world and safeguarding Earth's rich and diverse environments. The International Year project was jointly initiated in 2000 by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and the Earth Science Division of the United Nations Educational, Scienti?c and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). IUGS, which is a Non-Governmental Organisation, and UNESCO, an Inter-Governmental Orga- sation, already shared a long record of productive cooperation in the natural sciences and their application to societal problems, including the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) now in its fourth decade. With its main goals of raising public awareness of, and enhancing research in the Earth sciences on a global scale in both the developed and less-developed countries of the world, two operational programmes were demanded. In 2002 and 2003, the Series Editors together with Dr. Ted Nield and Dr. Henk Schalke (all four being core members of the Management Team at that time) drew up outlines of a Science and an Outreach Programme. In 2005, following the UN proclamation of 2008 as the United Nations International Year of Planet Earth, the "Year" grew into a triennium (2007-2009).

Accretion flows, winds and jets of compact astrophysical objects and stars are generally described within the framework of hydrodynamical and magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) flows. Analytical analysis of the problem provides profound physical insights, which are essential for interpreting and understanding the results of numerical simulations. Providing such a physical understanding of MHD Flows in Compact Astrophysical Objects is the main goal of this book, which is an updated translation of a successful Russian graduate textbook. The book provides the first detailed introduction into the method of the Grad-Shafranov equation, describing analytically the very broad class of hydrodynamical and MHD flows. It starts with the classical examples of hydrodynamical accretion onto relativistic and nonrelativistic objects. The force-free limit of the Grad-Shafranov equation allows us to analyze in detail the physics of the magnetospheres of radio pulsars and black holes, including the Blandford-Znajek process of energy extraction from a rotating black hole immersed in an external magnetic field. Finally, on the basis of the full MHD version of the Grad-Shafranov equation the author discusses the problems of jet collimation and particle acceleration in Active Galactic Nuclei, radio pulsars, and Young Stellar Objects. The comparison of the analytical results with numerical simulations demonstrates their good agreement. Assuming that the reader is familiar with the basic physical and mathematical concepts of General Relativity, the author uses the 3+1 split approach which allows the formulation of all results in terms of physically clear language of three dimensional vectors. The book contains detailed derivations of equations, numerous exercises, and an extensive bibliography. It therefore serves as both an introductory text for graduate students and a valuable reference work for researchers in the field.

Thisbookfocusesonthedynamicsoftheoceanbeingin?uencedbytheEarth'sro- tion and density strati?cation. Fluids in motion are a dif?cult subject of study that traditionally requires advanced knowledge of analytical mathematics, in particularly matrix algebra, differential and integral calculus, and complex analysis. Hence, this fascinating ?eld of science, known as geophysical ?uid dynamics, is accessible only to a limited number of students - those who either are naturally geniuses or those who underwent tough years of intense University study. Fluid processes are inherently complex and analytical solutions describing ?uid dynamics exist only in a few instances and only under highly simpli?ed assu- tions. Computer-based numerical models are required to approximate ?uid beh- ior in more realistic situations. Because of its complexity, universities tend to offer subjects in computational modelling of ?uid dynamics only at postgraduate level. This is a pity given that ?uid processes are truly fascinating in nature and given that the oceans play a signi?cant role in shaping life on Earth. The approach I pursue in this book is different from the traditional approach.

This book is a translation of the French book "Pollution atmospherique. Des p- cessus a la modelisation", published by Springer France (2007). The content is mainly derived from a course devoted to air pollution I taught at Ecole nationale des ponts et chaussees (ENPC; one of the foremost French high schools, at ParisTech Institute of Technology and University Paris-Est) during the decade 1997-2006. This book has of course been deeply in uenced by my research activity at CEREA, the Teaching and Research Center for Atmospheric Envir- ment, a joint laboratory between ENPC and the Research and Development Di- sion of Electricite de France (EDF R&D), that I created and then headed from 2002 to 2007. I want to thank many of my colleagues for discussions, help and review. Thanks to Vivien Mallet for his careful review, his availability and his pieces of advice (both for the content and the form of this book). Thanks to Marc Bocquet, Karine Sartelet- Kata, Irene Korsakissok for their help in reviewing chapters. I want also to thank a few colleagues for having provided me illustrations from their research work. Thanks to Bastien Albriet, Marc Bocquet, Edouard Debry, Irene Korsakissok, H- sein Malakooti, Denis Quelo, Yelva Roustan, Karine Sartelet, Christian Seigneur and Marilyne Tombette. Thanks also to the American family, Celine and Julien, for their review of the introduction.

Realistically representing our three-dimensional world has been the subject of many (philosophical) discussions since ancient times. While the recognition of the globular shape of the Earth goes back to Pythagoras' statements of the sixth century B. C. , the two-dimensional, circular depiction of the Earth's surface has remained prevailing and also dominated the art of painting until the late Middle Ages. Given the immature technological means, objects on the Earth's surface were often represented in academic and technical disciplines by two-dimensional cross-sections oriented along combinations of three mutually perpendicular directions. As soon as computer science evolved, scientists have steadily been improving the three-dimensional representation of the Earth and developed techniques to analyze the many natural processes and phenomena taking part on its surface. Both computer aided design (CAD) and geographical information systems (GIS) have been developed in parallel during the last three decades. While the former concentrates more on the detailed design of geometric models of object shapes, the latter emphasizes the topological relationships between geographical objects and analysis of spatial patterns. Nonetheless, this distinction has become increasingly blurred and both approaches have been integrated into commercial software packages. In recent years, an active line of inquiry has emerged along the junctures of CAD and GIS, viz. 3D geoinformation science. Studies along this line have recently made significant inroads in terms of 3D modeling and data acquisition.

During the last decades, the monitoring and modelling of various geodynamic processes have gained ever increasing importance. In particular, temporal variations of the deformation and gravity fields recorded by new types of geodetic measuring techniques and reflecting isostatic, tectonic or volcanic processes in the earth's interior as well as climatologically induced changes on its surface have opened new avenues. The present volume succeeds a similar topical volume published in 2007 and reflects the most recent developments in these fields of research.

Part of the papers in this book were presented at the second workshop on 'Deformation and Gravity Change: Indicators of Isostasy, Tectonics, Volcanism and Climate Change' that took place at the Casa de los Volcanes on Lanzarote, Spain, during March 27-30, 2007. It was jointly organized and supported by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, the Spanish Council for Scientific Research and the Cabildo Insular de Lanzarote. The workshop also served as the second meeting of the members of the IAG Working Group ICCT2 on 'Dynamic Theories of Deformation and Gravity Fields'.