In this paper, we develop and apply a multi-dimensional vulnerability assessment framework for understanding the impacts of climate change-induced hazards in Sub-Saharan African cities. The research was carried out within the European/African FP7 project CLimate change and Urban Vulnerability in Africa, which investigated climate change-induced risks, assessed vulnerability and proposed policy initiatives in five African cities. Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) was used as a main case with a particular focus on urban flooding. The multi-dimensional assessment covered the physical, institutional, attitudinal and asset factors influencing urban vulnerability. Multiple methods were applied to cover the full range of vulnerabilities and to identify potential response strategies, including: model-based forecasts, spatial analyses, document studies, interviews and stakeholder workshops. We demonstrate the potential of the approach to assessing several dimensions of vulnerability and illustrate the complexity of urban vulnerability at different scales: households (e.g., lacking assets); communities (e.g., situated in low-lying areas, lacking urban services and green areas); and entire cities (e.g., facing encroachment on green and flood-prone land). Scenario modeling suggests that vulnerability will continue to increase strongly due to the expected loss of agricultural land at the urban fringes and loss of green space within the city. However, weak institutional commitment and capacity limit the potential for strategic coordination and action. To better adapt to urban flooding and thereby reduce vulnerability and build resilience, we suggest working across dimensions and scales, integrating climate change issues in city-level plans and strategies and enabling local actions to initiate a ‘learning-by-doing’ process of adaptation.
We have used the ESO Schmidt telescope during the apparitions 1996, 1997 and 1998 to study the preceding Lagrangian cloud of Jupiter, L4. In our observed field of view, about 700 square degrees, during 1996 we found 399 moving objects that we classified as Trojans. From this we conclude that down to absolute magnitude H ≤ 13.0 there are ≈ 1100 Trojans in the L4 cloud. Proper elements of 696 numbered and multiopposition Trojans were calculated and one of these in the L5 cloud were found to be a non Trojan. A discussion of the Trojan proper elements is also presented. 相似文献
Observations of noctilucent clouds have revealed a surprising coupling between the winter stratosphere and the summer polar mesopause region. In spite of the great distance involved, this inter-hemispheric link has been suggested to be the principal reason for both the year-to-year variability and the hemispheric differences in the frequency of occurrence of these high-altitude clouds. In this study, we investigate the dynamical influence of the winter stratosphere on the summer mesosphere using simulations from the vertically extended version of the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM). We find that for both Northern and Southern Hemispheres, variability in the summer polar mesopause region from one year to another can be traced back to the planetary-wave flux entering the winter stratosphere. The teleconnection pattern is the same for both positive and negative wave-flux anomalies. Using a composite analysis to isolate the events, it is argued that the mechanism for inter-hemispheric coupling is a feedback between summer mesosphere gravity-wave drag (GWD) and zonal wind, which is induced by an anomaly in mesospheric cross-equatorial flow, the latter arising from the anomaly in winter hemisphere GWD induced by the anomaly in stratospheric conditions. 相似文献
Even if mires have proven to be relatively reliable archives over the temporal trends in atmospheric mercury deposition, there are large discrepancies between sites regarding the magnitude of the anthropogenic contribution to the global mercury cycle. A number of studies have also revealed significant differences in mercury accumulation within the same mire area. This raises the question of which factors, other than mercury deposition, affect the sequestration of this element in peat. One such factor could be vegetation type, which has the potential to affect both interception and retention of mercury. In order to assess how small-scale differences in vegetation type can affect mercury sequestration we sampled peat and living plants along three transects on a northern Swedish mire. The mire has two distinctly different vegetation types, the central part consists of an open area dominated by Sphagnum whereas the surrounding fen, in addition to Sphagnum mosses, has an understory of ericaceous shrubs and a sparse pine cover. A few main patterns can be observed in our data; (1) Both peat and Sphagnum-mosses have higher mercury content (both concentration and inventory) in the pine-covered fen compared to the open Sphagnum area (100% and 71% higher for peat and plants, respectively). These differences clearly exceed the 33% difference observed for lead-210, which is considered as a good analogue for atmospheric mercury deposition. (2) The differences in mercury concentration between peat profiles within a single vegetation type can largely be attributed to differences in peat decomposition. (3) When growing side by side in the open Sphagnum area, the moss species Sphagnum subsecundum has significantly higher mercury concentrations compared to S. centrale (24 ± 3 and 18 ± 2 ng Hg g−1, respectively). Based on these observations we suggest that species composition, vegetation type and decomposition can affect the mercury sequestration in a peat record, and that any changes in these properties over time, or space, have the potential to modify the mercury deposition signal recorded in the peat. 相似文献
Summary. The propagation of a pulsed elastic wave in the following geometry is considered. An elastic half-space has a surface layer of a different material and the layer furthermore contains a bounded 3-D inhomogeneity. The exciting source is an explosion, modelled as an isotropic pressure point source with Gaussian behaviour in time. The time-harmonic problem is solved using the null field approach (the T matrix method), and a frequency integral then gives the time-domain response. The main tools of the null field approach are integral representations containing the free space Green's dyadic, expansions in plane and spherical vector wave functions, and transformations between plane and spherical vector wave functions. It should be noted that the null field approach gives the solution to the full elastodynamic equations with, in principle, an arbitrarily high accuracy. Thus no ray approximations or the like are used. The main numerical limitation is that only low and intermediate frequencies, in the sense that the diameter of the inhomogeneity can only be a few wavelengths, can be considered. The numerical examples show synthetic seismograms consisting of data from 15 observation points at increasing distances from the source. The normal component of the velocity field is computed and the anomalous field due to the inhomogeneity is sometimes shown separately. The shape of the inhomogeneity, the location and depth of the source, and the material parameters are all varied to illustrate the relative importance of the various parameters. Several specific wave types can be identified in the seismograms: Rayleigh waves, direct and reflected P -waves, and head waves. 相似文献
