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Books > Science & Mathematics > Physics > Applied physics & special topics > Geophysics
Groundwater is becoming increasingly scarce while the demand for water continues to grow at a global scale. Understanding groundwater resources and their sustainable management is imperative for the future of groundwater use, conservation and protection. This revised and updated two-volume set, focused on sustainability, covers the economic values of groundwater production and use, including micro- and macroeconomic factors, groundwater markets, economic evaluation tools, climate change, transboundary issues and policy evaluation. It explores numerous applications and describes ways to evaluate the economics of groundwater use in the context of the larger ecosystem and the natural capital it provides. FEATURES OF THIS VOLUME Includes an important new chapter on groundwater sustainability management Addresses new examples of groundwater use that are applicable at both the local and international levels Provides the foundation for policy, program and project analysis for all major uses of groundwater Updates groundwater use data along with explanations of major production costs and use benefits Gives a new perspective on users' competition for the subsurface environment Production, Use, and Sustainability of Groundwater, Second Edition, the first volume of the two-volume set Groundwater Economics, is a must-have for any professional or student who needs to understand, evaluate and manage water resources from a range of production and use perspectives affecting groundwater resource sustainability.
This is a major, and deeply thoughtful, contribution to understanding uncertainty and risk. Our world and its unprecedented challenges need such ways of thinking! Much more than a set of contributions from different disciplines, this book leads you to explore your own way of perceiving your own area of work. An outstanding contribution that will stay on my shelves for many years. Dr Neil T. M. Hamilton, Director, WWF International Arctic Programme This collection of essays provides a unique and fascinating overview of perspectives on uncertainty and risk across a wide variety of disciplines. It is a valuable and accessible sourcebook for specialists and laypeople alike. Professor Renate Schubert, Head of the Institute for Environmental Decisions and Chair of Economics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology This comprehensive collection of disciplinary perspectives on uncertainty is a definitive guide to contemporary insights into this Achilles heel of modernity and the endemic hubris of institutional science in its role as public authority. It gives firm foundations to the fundamental historic shift now underway in the world, towards normalizing acceptance of the immanent condition of ignorance and of its practical corollaries: contingency, uncontrol, and respect for difference. Brian Wynne, Professor of Science Studies, Lancaster University Bammer and Smithson have assembled a fascinating, important collection of papers on uncertainty and its management. The integrative nature of Uncertainty and Risk makes it a landmark in the intellectual history of this vital cross-disciplinary concept. George Cvetkovich, Director, Center for Cross-Cultural Research, Western Washington University Uncertainty governs our lives. From the unknowns of living with the risks of terrorism to developing policies on genetically modified foods, or disaster planning for catastrophic climate change, how we conceptualize, evaluate and cope with uncertainty drives our actions and deployment of resources, decisions and priorities. In this thorough and wide-ranging volume, theoretical perspectives are drawn from art history, complexity science, economics, futures, history, law, philosophy, physics, psychology, statistics and theology. On a practical level, uncertainty is examined in emergency management, intelligence, law enforcement, music, policy and politics. Key problems that are a subject of focus are environmental management, communicable diseases and illicit drugs. Opening and closing sections of the book provide major conceptual strands in uncertainty thinking and develop an integrated view of the nature of uncertainty, uncertainty as a motivating or de-motivating force, and strategies for coping and managing under uncertainty.
Treatise on Geophysics: Mantle Dynamics, Volume 7 aims to provide both a classical and state-of-the-art introduction to the methods and science of mantle dynamics, as well as survey leading order problems (both solved and unsolved) and current understanding of how the mantle works. It is organized around two themes: (1) how is mantle convection studied; and (2) what do we understand about mantle dynamics to date. The first four chapters are thus concerned with pedagogical reviews of the physics of mantle convection; laboratory studies of the fluid dynamics of convection relevant to the mantle; theoretical analysis of mantle dynamics; and numerical analysis and methods of mantle convection. The subsequent chapters concentrate on leading issues of mantle convection itself, which include the energy budget of the mantle; the upper mantle and lithosphere in and near the spreading center (mid-ocean ridge) environment; the dynamics of subducting slabs; hot spots, melting anomalies, and mantle plumes; and finally, geochemical mantle dynamics and mixing.
Treaties on Geophysics: Core Dynamics, Volume 8, provides a comprehensive review of the current state of understanding of core dynamics. The book begins by analyzing a subject of long-standing and on-going controversy: the gross energetics of the core. It then explains the important elements of dynamo theory; actual fluid motions in the core; the basic physical principles involved in thermochemical convection in the core and the basic equations governing the convection; and turbulence and the small-scale dynamics of the core. This is followed by discussions of the state of knowledge on rotation-induced core flows; the use of first-principles numerical models of self-sustaining fluid dynamos; and the behavior of polarity reversals in numerical dynamo models. The remaining chapters cover the various roles the inner core plays in core dynamics and the geodynamo; experiments that have shaped knowledge about the flows in the core that produce the geodynamo and govern its evolution; and ways the mantle can affect core dynamics, and corresponding ways the core can affect the mantle.
Geodesy, which is the science of measuring the size and shape of the Earth, explores the theory, instrumentation and results from modern geodetic systems. The beginning sections of the volume cover the theory of the Earth's gravity field, the instrumentation for measuring the field, and its temporal variations. The measurements and results obtained from variations in the rotation of the Earth are covered in the sections on short and long period rotation hanges. Space based geodetic methods, including the global positioning system (GPS) and Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR), are also examined in detail. Self-contained volume starts with an overview of the subject
then explores each topic with in depth detail
Treatise on Geophysics: Geomagnetism, Volume 5, provides an overview of the most important aspects of geomagnetism. The book begins by tracing the history of the study of geomagnetism. It then reviews global models of the Earth's magnetic field; the main sources of external magnetic field contributions; and the instruments and practices used to observe and measure the full range of features of the geomagnetic field. It discusses the origins of current knowledge of the secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field; crustal magnetism; geomagnetic excursions; the study of geophysical electromagnetic induction; the magnetization process; and the status of recent magnetic field data and their applications. The remaining chapters cover the geometry of the geomagnetic field and its temporal variability as recorded in volcanic and sedimentary rocks over the past few million years; the ocean crust as a recorder of geomagnetic field variations; and the theoretical basis for paleointensity experiments in igneous and sedimentary environments. The final chapter explains the concept of true polar wander (TPW), defined as shifts in the geographic location of Earth's daily rotation axis and/or by fluctuations in the spin rate (length of day anomalies).
Evolution of the Earth focuses on the formation of Earth. Topics
include the differention of the core, mantle and crust; the
formation of the ocean basins and continents; outgassing and
volcanism; the initiation of plate tectonics, the origin and
persistence of Earth's magnetic field; the growth of the inner
core; changes in mantle convection through time; and the impact of
life on the planet. The volume takes an interdisciplinary viewpoint
that emphasizes the interplay of geophysics, other aspects of earth
science and biological evolution. Some outstanding questions are
identified and debated.
Treatise on Geophysics: Mineral Physics, Volume 2, provides a comprehensive review of the current state of understanding of mineral physics. Each chapter demonstrates the significant progress that has been made in the understanding of the physics and chemistry of minerals, and also highlights a number of issues which are still outstanding or that need further work to resolve current contradictions. The book first reviews the current status of our understanding of the nature of the deep Earth. These include the seismic properties of rocks and minerals; problems of the lower mantle and the core-mantle boundary; and the state of knowledge on mantle chemistry and the nature and evolution of the core. The discussions then turn to the theory underlying high-pressure, high-temperature physics, and the major experimental methods being developed to probe this parameter space. The remaining chapters explain the specific techniques for measuring elastic and acoustic properties, electronic and magnetic properties, and rheological properties; the nature and origin of anisotropy in the Earth; the properties of melt; and the magnetic and electrical properties of mantle phases.
Climate change is a matter of great interest and worldwide concern. The latest evidences from scientific studies and official documents produced by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show that the challenges posed by climate change need to be taken seriously if they are ever to be tackled properly. It is widely acknowledged that information, communication and education on climate change are important tools in the search for solutions to the social, economic or political problems climate changes poses. But despite the fact that much has been written about climate change, most works to date tend to focus on specific issues (e.g. climate modeling, forecasts) as opposed to addressing the problem in an interdisciplinary way as it should be. This book tries to address this perceived gap by providing a wide range of perspectives on climate change, which goes over and above the traditional barriers seen among subjects. It is interdisciplinary in nature and comprehensive in scope. This book was prepared in the context of «Climate 2008 (www.klima2008.net), the world's first scientific conference on climate change held on the internet, and is one of the first outputs of the newly-created «International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP). It provides a long-needed contribution to a better understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of the subject matter of climate change and offers an overview of some of the on-going interdisciplinary projects and initiatives in this field taking place in different parts of the world.
Groundwater is a vitally important resource and as its use increases, the available supply is depleted, creating a ripple effect of impacts on both the environment and the economy that need to be disseminated to a larger audience of students and practitioners. This second edition of Groundwater Economics accomplishes just that. This two-volume set is a comprehensive work focused on the economic values of groundwater resources and use, and it reinforces the need for a strong economic rationale in decision-making relating to that use. This new edition includes a new chapter on sustainability as well as updating all chapters with a focus on sustainability. It thoroughly explains the economic value of groundwater for sustainable use and needs, with practical examples, and includes thirteen new and updated case studies on the economics of groundwater data for decision-making. It also addresses both local and regional groundwater economic choices through a series of applications at an international level. This set, written by a sustainability professional with decades of experience in managing groundwater use and protection, is written for other professionals as well as students, who need to understand and evaluate water resources and mange their use from a variety of sustainable approaches.
The recent explosion of global and regional seismicity data in the world requires new methods of investigation of microseismicity and development of their modelling to understand the nature of whole earth mechanics. In this book, the author proposes a powerful tool to reveal the characteristic features of global and regional microseismicity big data accumulated in the databases of the world. The method proposed in this monograph is based on (1) transformation of stored big data to seismicity density data archives, (2) linear transformation of microseismicity density data matrixes to correlated seismicity matrixes by means of the singular value decomposition method, (3) time series analyses of globally and regionally correlated seismicity rates, and (4) the minimal non-linear equations approximation of their correlated seismicity rate dynamics. Minimal non-linear modelling is the manifestation for strongly correlated seismicity time series controlled by Langevin-type stochastic dynamic equations involving deterministic terms and random Gaussian noises. A deterministic term is composed minimally with correlated seismicity rate vectors of a linear term and of a term with a third exponent. Thus, the dynamics of correlated seismicity in the world contains linearly changing stable nodes and rapid transitions between them with transient states. This book contains discussions of future possibilities of stochastic extrapolations of global and regional seismicity in order to reduce earthquake disasters worldwide. The dataset files are available online and can be downloaded at springer.com.
This book encompasses the most challenging topics in earthquake engineering and seismology aiming at seismic risk reduction and reveals the outstanding progresses made in Europe in the past four years. Earthquakes pose a significant threat to countries around the world. But, equipped with the right knowledge and tools, engineers and seismologists can support policy and decision makers and building officials in creating a safer future for all of us. In this paradigm, the Third European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (3ECEES) is organized in Bucharest (Romania) in September 2022 by the Romanian Association for Earthquake Engineering, Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest and National Institute for Earth Physics. This outstanding scientific event is the third in a series started in 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland and continued in 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey. The papers included in this book are written by the most prominent contemporary European scholars in the two-folded fields of 3ECEES. The Distinguished Nicholas Ambraseys, along with 28 invited lectures providing the best knowledge in the fields of earthquake engineering and seismology, are shared with the general readership of this book. The book is organized in three parts, as follows: (1) Seismicity, engineering seismology and seismic hazard, (2) Seismic risk assessment and mitigation, and (3) Structural earthquake engineering. The 29 contributed papers for this book are shared among these three parts almost equally. Chapter "The Challenge of the Integrated Seismic Strengthening and Environmental Upgrading of Existing Buildings" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
This book provides theoretical concepts and applications of fractals and multifractals to a broad range of audiences from various scientific communities, such as petroleum, chemical, civil and environmental engineering, atmospheric research, and hydrology. In the first chapter, we introduce fractals and multifractals from physics and math viewpoints. We then discuss theory and practical applications in detail. In what follows, in chapter 2, fragmentation process is modeled using fractals. Fragmentation is the breaking of aggregates into smaller pieces or fragments, a typical phenomenon in nature. In chapter 3, the advantages and disadvantages of two- and three-phase fractal models are discussed in detail. These two kinds of approach have been widely applied in the literature to model different characteristics of natural phenomena. In chapter 4, two- and three-phase fractal techniques are used to develop capillary pressure curve models, which characterize pore-size distribution of porous media. Percolation theory provides a theoretical framework to model flow and transport in disordered networks and systems. Therefore, following chapter 4, in chapter 5 the fractal basis of percolation theory and its applications in surface and subsurface hydrology are discussed. In chapter 6, fracture networks are shown to be modeled using fractal approaches. Chapter 7 provides different applications of fractals and multifractals to petrophysics and relevant area in petroleum engineering. In chapter 8, we introduce the practical advantages of fractals and multifractals in geostatistics at large scales, which have broad applications in stochastic hydrology and hydrogeology. Multifractals have been also widely applied to model atmospheric characteristics, such as precipitation, temperature, and cloud shape. In chapter 9, these kinds of properties are addressed using multifractals. At watershed scales, river networks have been shown to follow fractal behavior. Therefore, the applications of fractals are addressed in chapter 10. Time series analysis has been under investigations for several decades in physics, hydrology, atmospheric research, civil engineering, and water resources. In chapter 11, we therefore, provide fractal, multifractal, multifractal detrended fluctuation analyses, which can be used to study temporal characterization of a phenomenon, such as flow discharge at a specific location of a river. Chapter 12 addresses signals and again time series using a novel fractal Fourier analysis. In chapter 13, we discuss constructal theory, which has a perspective opposite to fractal theories, and is based on optimizationof diffusive exchange. In the case of river drainages, for example, the constructal approach begins at the divide and generates headwater streams first, rather than starting from the fundamental drainage pattern.
This book presents a broad overview of pollution issues facing climatic, economic, and legal globalization. Topics include changes in oceans from ancient times to the present, the importance of marine currents and changing climates, marine pollution linked to climate change (fossil fuels, global carbon dioxide, heavy metals, pesticides, plastics, emerging pollutants, and marine debris), global shipping and species invasion, global climate change in the Arctic and Antarctic environments, and regulatory responses to mitigate pollution and climate change in oceans.
This book presents an integrated discussion on ecotoxicology, containing both general concepts and specific ecotoxicological issues of major biological groups, extending beyond conventional systems. It explores worldwide, regional, and biocompartmentalized topics, bringing forth new points of view on global issues and addressing the increasing diversity and complexity of the ecotoxicological field. It also contains novel information on emerging contaminants, presents bioaccumulation effects on different levels of ecological organization and risk analyses, and discusses novel fields of methodological applications, including key aspects in ecotoxicological and environmental monitoring studies.
Problems in nonlinear structural dynamics and critical excitation with elastic-plastic structures are typically addressed using time-history response analysis, which requires multiple repetitions and advanced computing. This alternative approach transforms ground motion into impulses and takes an energy balance approach. This book is accessible to undergraduates, being based on the energy balance law and the concepts of kinetic and strain energies, and it can be used by practitioners for building and structural design. This presentation starts with simple models that explain the essential features and extends in a step-by-step manner to more complicated models and phenomena.
Climate for the 21st century is expected to be considerably
different from the present and recent past. Industrialization
growth combined with the increasing CO2 concentration in the
atmosphere and massive deforestation are well above the values over
the past several decades and are expected to further grow. Air
temperature is rising rapidly well as does the weather variability
producing frequent extreme events. Six of the ten warmest years
occurred in the 1990s. Temperatures predicted for the 21st century
ranges well above the present day value.
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.
This first full-length book addresses disasters in the context of vulnerability of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that comprise 572 islands in the Bay of Bengal. It looks at the disasters that the islands have experienced in the last 200 years and analyzes major disasters since colonization by the British. Raising some critical questions, this book attempts to understand the overall profile of disasters - the facts, causes, damage, response and recovery - in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It discusses earthquakes, cyclones, tsunami and epidemics, as well as impacts of World War II, the penal colony and the post-Independence resettlement on the tribal population. The work will serve as a rich resource with its detailed tables, figures, maps and diagrams; appendices; and database ranging from travelogues, Census of India reports and fieldwork to Right to Information (RTI) petitions that collect hitherto unknown facts. The book will be useful to students of geography, disasters and disasters management, climate and environmental studies, history, sociology, island and ocean studies, and South Asian studies.
This book provides an in-depth discussion of various aspects of metal ecotoxicology. State-of-the-art information and techniques in areas ranging from metal behavior in surface waters to bioaccumulation kinetics and toxicokinetics to community effects are presented in a hierarchical arrangement. Specific topics discussed include metals in abiotic components of ecosystems, autecology (effects of metals relative to the individual or a single species), and metals in marine and freshwater systems in the context of synecology (species associated and interacting as a unit). This is an important book that will be useful to researchers, risk assessment consultants, regulatory personnel, and teachers and students.
Finally, someone has written a comprehensive, easily readable explanation of the tides on earth that is both simple enough for students and solid enough for their professors. Step by step, by analogy and illustration, Beyond the Moon describes how the cyclical motion of the near solar system is impressed upon the earth's oceans, and how the hydraulics over the continental shelf and the geography of the coastline orchestrate this rhythm into the bewildering variety of tide patterns seen around the globe. This volume demystifies the complexity of the tides by systematically examining its many constituents and demonstrates that: "Nature is, at once, awesome in complexity and beautiful in simplicity."
Finally, someone has written a comprehensive, easily readable explanation of the tides on earth that is both simple enough for students and solid enough for their professors. Step by step, by analogy and illustration, Beyond the Moon describes how the cyclical motion of the near solar system is impressed upon the earth's oceans, and how the hydraulics over the continental shelf and the geography of the coastline orchestrate this rhythm into the bewildering variety of tide patterns seen around the globe. This volume demystifies the complexity of the tides by systematically examining its many constituents and demonstrates that: "Nature is, at once, awesome in complexity and beautiful in simplicity."
This book presents short papers of participants of the 7th International Scientific Conference-School for Young Scientists "Physical and Mathematical Modeling of Earth and Environment Processes" (Ishlinsky Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences). The book includes theoretical and experimental studies of processes in the atmosphere, oceans, the lithosphere, and their interaction; environmental issues; problems of human impact on the environment; and methods of geophysical research.
Geologists must be able to "read" a geological map. That means interpreting the vertical dimension through the 2D view represented on the map and at different scales. The main objective of this book is to help students during this difficult learning process. Based on an abundant iconography (field photos, maps, cross-sections) and on basics in mathematics and mechanics, the book dissects the geometry of emblematic geological structures and objects in order to build 3 D models, printable in 3D. The book is dedicated to structural geology with a particular emphasis on kinematics of faulting and folding and on salt tectonics (chapters III, IV and V). The origin of continental great unconformities and oceanic break-up unconformities is also discussed (chapter II). The audience of the book is broad and includes (under)graduate students in Earth Sciences, professors of Natural Sciences, and professional or amateur geologists.
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Infrastructures: Challenges and Opportunities reveals how environmental research infrastructures (RIs) provide new valuable insights on ecological processes that cannot be realized by more traditional short-term funding cycles and are integral to understand our changing world. This book bonds the latest state-of-the-science knowledge on environmental RIs, the challenges in creating them, their place in addressing scientific frontiers, and the new perspectives they bear. Each chapter is thoughtfully invested with fresh viewpoints from the environmental RI vantage as the authors explore and explain many topics such as the rationale and challenges in global change, field and modeling platforms, new tools, challenges in data management, distilling information into knowledge, and new developments in large-scale RIs. This work serves an advantageous guide for academics and practitioners alike who aim to deepen their knowledge in the field of science and project management, and logistics operations. |
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