Evaluating data stability in aggregation structures across spatial scales: revisiting the modifiable areal unit problem     

Jonathan K. Nelson  Cynthia A. Brewer 《制图学和地理信息科学》2013,40(1):35-50

ABSTRACT

Socioeconomic and health analysts commonly rely on areally aggregated data, in part because government regulations on confidentiality prohibit data release at the individual level. Analytical results from areally aggregated data, however, are sensitive to the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP). Levels of aggregation as well as the arbitrary and modifiable sizes, shapes, and arrangements of zones affect the validity and reliability of findings from analyses of areally aggregated data. MAUP, long acknowledged, remains unresolved. We present an exploratory spatial data analytical approach (ESDA) to understand the scalar effects of MAUP. To characterize relationships between data aggregation structures and spatial scales, we develop a method for statistically and visually exploring the local indicators of spatial association (LISA) exhibited between a variable and itself across varying levels of aggregation. We demonstrate our approach by analyzing the across-scale relationships of aggregated 2010 median income for the State of Pennsylvania and 2005–2009 cancer diagnosis rates for the State of New York between county–tract, tract–block group, and county–block group level US census designated enumeration units. This method for understanding the relationship between MAUP and spatial scale provides guidance to researchers in selecting the most appropriate scales to aggregate, analyze, and represent data for problem-specific analyses.  相似文献   

Assessment of the UV camera sulfur dioxide retrieval for point source plumes     

Marika P. Dalton  I. Matthew Watson  Patricia A. Nadeau  Cynthia Werner  William Morrow  Jeremy M. Shannon 《Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research》2009

Digital cameras, sensitive to specific regions of the ultra-violet (UV) spectrum, have been employed for quantifying sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions in recent years. The instruments make use of the selective absorption of UV light by SO₂ molecules to determine pathlength concentration. Many monitoring advantages are gained by using this technique, but the accuracy and limitations have not been thoroughly investigated. The effect of some user-controlled parameters, including image exposure duration, the diameter of the lens aperture, the frequency of calibration cell imaging, and the use of the single or paired bandpass filters, have not yet been addressed. In order to clarify methodological consequences and quantify accuracy, laboratory and field experiments were conducted. Images were collected of calibration cells under varying observational conditions, and our conclusions provide guidance for enhanced image collection. Results indicate that the calibration cell response is reliably linear below 1500 ppm m, but that the response is significantly affected by changing light conditions. Exposure durations that produced maximum image digital numbers above 32 500 counts can reduce noise in plume images. Sulfur dioxide retrieval results from a coal-fired power plant plume were compared to direct sampling measurements and the results indicate that the accuracy of the UV camera retrieval method is within the range of current spectrometric methods.  相似文献   

Optima系列电感耦合等离子体-发射光谱法测定啤酒中多元素     

珀金埃尔默仪器 《岩矿测试》2009,28(4):文后III-404

~~Optima系列电感耦合等离子体-发射光谱法测定啤酒中多元素@Hergenreder Randy$PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences,710 Bridgeport Avenue,Shelton,CT 06484,USA@Bosnak Cynthia P$PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences,710 Bridgeport Avenue,Shelton,CT 06484,USA[1]Ch airman D Sedin Elemental an alysis of beer and wort by i  相似文献   

Nutrient availability in support of Karenia brevis blooms on the central West Florida Shelf: What keeps Karenia blooming?     

Gabriel A. Vargo  Cynthia A. Heil  Kent A. Fanning  L. Kellie Dixon  Merrie Beth Neely  Kristen Lester  Danylle Ault  Susan Murasko  Julie Havens  John Walsh  Steven Bell 《Continental Shelf Research》2008

Identifying nutrient sources, primarily nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), sufficient to support high biomass blooms of the red tide dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis, has remained problematic. The West Florida Shelf is oligotrophic, yet populations >10⁶ cells L⁻¹ frequently occur and blooms can persist for months. Here we examine the magnitude and variety of sources for N and P that are available to support blooms. Annual average in situ or background concentrations of inorganic N in the region where blooms occur range 0.02–0.2 μM while inorganic P ranges 0.025–0.24 μM. Such concentrations would be sufficient to support the growth of populations up to ∼3×10⁴ cells L⁻¹ with at least a 1 d turnover rate. Organic N concentrations average 1–2 orders of magnitude greater than inorganic N, 8–14 μM while organic P concentrations average 0.2–0.5 μM. Concentrations of organic N are sufficient to support blooms >10⁵ cells L⁻¹ but the extent to which this complex mixture of N species is utilizable is unknown. Other sources of nutrients included in our analysis are aerial deposition, estuarine flux, benthic flux, zooplankton excretion, N₂-fixation, and subsequent release of organic and inorganic N by Trichodesmium spp., and release of N and P from dead and decaying fish killed by the blooms. Inputs based on atmospheric deposition, benthic flux, and N₂-fixation, were minor contributors to the flux required to support growth of populations >2.6×10⁴ cells L⁻¹. N and P from decaying fish could theoretically maintain populations at moderate concentrations but insufficient data on the flux and subsequent mixing rates does not allow us to calculate average values. Zooplankton excretion rates, based on measured zooplankton population estimates and excretion rates could also supply all of the N and P required to support populations of 10⁵ and 10⁶ cells L⁻¹, respectively, but excretion is considered as “regenerated” nutrient input and can only maintain biomass rather than contribute to “new” biomass. The combined estuarine flux from Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor, and the Caloosahatchee River can supply a varying, but at times significant level of N and P to meet growth and photosynthesis requirements for populations of approximately 10⁵ cells L⁻¹ or below. Estimates of remineralization of dead fish could supply a significant proportion of bloom maintenance requirements but the rate of supply must still be determined. Overall, a combination of sources is required to maintain populations >10⁶ cells L⁻¹.  相似文献   

Zooplankton and Karenia brevis in the Gulf of Mexico     

Kristen M. Lester  Cynthia A. Heil  Merry B. Neely  Danylle N. Spence  Susan Murasko  Thomas L. Hopkins  Tracey T. Sutton  Scott E. Burghart  Richard N. Bohrer  Andrew W. Remsen  Gabriel A. Vargo  John J. Walsh 《Continental Shelf Research》2008

Blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis are common in the Gulf of Mexico, yet no in situ studies of zooplankton and K. brevis have been conducted there. Zooplankton abundance and taxonomic composition at non-bloom and K. brevis bloom stations within the Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) study area were compared. At non-bloom stations, the most abundant species of zooplankton were Parvocalanus crassirostris, Oithona colcarva, and Paracalanus quasimodo at the 5-m isobath and P. quasimodo, O. colcarva, and Oikopleura dioica at the 25-m isobath. There was considerable overlap in dominance of zooplankton species between the 5 and 25-m isobaths, with nine species contributing to 90% of abundance at both isobaths. At stations within K. brevis blooms however, Acartia tonsa, Centropages velificatus, Temora turbinata, Evadne tergestina, O. colcarva, O. dioica, and P. crassirostris were dominant. Variations in abundance between non-bloom and bloom assemblages were evident, including the reduction in abundance of three key species within K. brevis blooms.  相似文献   

Eddies and Tropical Instability Waves in the eastern tropical Pacific: A review   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Cynthia S. Willett  Robert R. Leben  Miguel F. Lavín 《Progress in Oceanography》2006,69(2-4):218

Mesoscale eddies and tropical instability waves in the eastern tropical Pacific, first revealed by satellite infrared imagery, play an important role in the dynamics and biology of the region, and in the transfer of mass, energy, heat, and biological constituents from the shelf to the deep ocean and across the equatorial currents.From boreal late autumn to early spring, four to 18 cyclonic or anticyclonic eddies are formed off the coastal region between southern Mexico and Panama. The anticyclonic gyres, which tend to be larger and last longer than the cyclonic ones, are the best studied: they typically are 180–500 km in diameter, depress the pycnocline from 60 to 145 m at the eddy center, have swirl speeds in excess of 1 m s⁻¹, migrate west at velocities ranging from 11 to 19 cm s⁻¹ (with a slight southward component), and maintain a height signature of up to 30 cm. The primary generating agents for these eddies are the strong, intermittent wind jets that blow across the isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico, the lake district in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and the Panama canal. Other proposed eddy-generating mechanisms are the conservation of vorticity as the North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) turns north on reaching America, and the instability of coastally trapped waves/currents.Tropical Instability Waves (TIWs) are perturbations in the SST fronts on either side of the equatorial cold tongue. They produce SST variations on the order of 1–2 °C, have periods of 20–40 days, wavelengths of 1000–2000 km, phase speeds of around 0.5 m s⁻¹ and propagate westward both north and south of the Equator. The Tropical Instability Vortices (TIVs) are a train of westward-propagating anticyclonic eddies associated with the TIWs. They exhibit eddy currents exceeding 1.3 m s⁻¹, a westward phase propagation speed between 30 and 40 km d⁻¹, a signature above the pycnocline, and eastward energy propagation. Like the TIWs, they result from the latitudinal barotropically unstable shear between the South Equatorial Current (SEC) and the NECC with a potential secondary source of energy from baroclinic instability of the vertical shear with the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC).This review of mesoscale processes is part of a comprehensive review of the oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.  相似文献   

左手地图，右手生活     

Cynthia 《地图》2009,(4):18-18

很喜欢英国作家R．L．斯蒂文森。他的小说《金银岛》开创了以发掘宝藏为题材的探险小说之先河，而另一部充满想象力的《化身博士》则以神秘诡异的故事探讨人性善恶，既引人入胜又寓有深意。但不久前，我于无意中发现，斯蒂文森竟然还说过这样一句话：“据说，一些人认为地图可有可无，而我对此难以置信。”甫见此言，颇有些惊讶，转而一想，他在《金银岛》中把那幅海盗绘制的藏宝图描绘得生动细致，看来是很有些情感依据的。不过，地图当真如斯蒂文森所说，是不可或缺的吗？我开始留心自己的日常生活，并做下相应的记录。  相似文献   

The 2004–2008 dome-building eruption at Mount St. Helens,Washington: epilogue     

Daniel Dzurisin  Seth C. Moran  Michael Lisowski  Steve P. Schilling  Kyle R. Anderson  Cynthia Werner 《Bulletin of Volcanology》2015,77(10):1-17

  相似文献   

The pace of Holocene vegetation change – testing for synchronous developments     

Thomas Giesecke  K.D. Bennett  H. John B. Birks  Anne E. Bjune  Elisaveta Bozilova  Angelica Feurdean  Walter Finsinger  Cynthia Froyd  Petr Pokorný  Manfred Rösch  Heikki Seppä  Spasimir Tonkov  Verushka Valsecchi  Steffen Wolters 《Quaternary Science Reviews》2011,30(19-20):2805-2814

Mid to high latitude forest ecosystems have undergone several major compositional changes during the Holocene. The temporal and spatial patterns of these vegetation changes hold potential information to their causes and triggers. Here we test the hypothesis that the timing of vegetation change was synchronous on a sub-continental scale, which implies a common trigger or a step-like change in climate parameters. Pollen diagrams from selected European regions were statistically divided into assemblage zones and the temporal pattern of the zone boundaries analysed. The results show that the temporal pattern of vegetation change was significantly different from random. Times of change cluster around 8.2, 4.8, 3.7, and 1.2 ka, while times of higher than average stability were found around 2.1 and 5.1 ka. Compositional changes linked to the expansion of Corylus avellana and Alnus glutinosa centre around 10.6 and 9.5 ka, respectively. A climatic trigger initiating these changes may have occurred 0.5 to 1 ka earlier, respectively. The synchronous expansion of C. avellana and A. glutinosa exemplify that dispersal is not necessarily followed by population expansion. The partly synchronous, partly random expansion of A. glutinosa in adjacent European regions exemplifies that sudden synchronous population expansions are not species specific traits but vary regionally.  相似文献   

Diurnal-period internal waves near point conception,California     

Cynthia N. Cudaback  Erika McPhee-Shaw 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2009

Diurnal-period internal waves were observed near Point Conception California, using an array of moorings extending 120 km along the inner shelf. The waves have an along-shelf coherence scale of at least 50 km, and appear to propagate nearly straight onshore. Wave amplitudes vary over time, depending on thermal stratification and the amplitude of the diurnal sea breeze oscillation. Barotropic tides and vorticity over the mid-shelf are not correlated with internal wave amplitude. Large amplitude internal waves, with supercritical Froude numbers, are observed in mid-summer. Although such waves may drive vertical mixing and cross-shelf transport of passive particles, there is no significant correlation between wave amplitude and invertebrate settlement in the Santa Barbara Channel.  相似文献