Benchmarking sustainability in cities: The role of indicators and future scenarios     

Christopher T. Boyko  Mark R. Gaterell  Austin R.G. Barber  Julie Brown  John R. Bryson  David Butler  Silvio Caputo  Maria Caserio  Richard Coles  Rachel Cooper  Gemma Davies  Raziyeh Farmani  James Hale  A. Chantal Hales  C. Nicholas Hewitt  Dexter V.L. Hunt  Lubo Jankovic  Ian Jefferson  Joanne M. Leach  D. Rachel Lombardi  Christopher D.F. Rogers 《Global Environmental Change》2012,22(1):245-254

Scenarios are a useful tool to help think about and visualise the future and, as such, are utilised by many policymakers and practitioners. Future scenarios have not been used to explore the urban context in much depth, yet have the potential to provide valuable insights into the robustness of decisions being made today in the name of sustainability. As part of a major research project entitled Urban Futures, a toolkit has been developed in the UK to facilitate the use of scenarios in any urban context and at any scale relevant to that context. The toolkit comprises two key components, namely, (i) a series of indicators comprising both generic and topic area-specific indicators (e.g., air quality, biodiversity, density, water) that measure sustainability performance and (ii) a list of characteristics (i.e., 1–2-sentence statements about a feature, issue or small set of issues) that describe four future scenarios. In combination, these two components enable us to measure the performance of any given sustainability indicator, and establish the relative sensitivity or vulnerability of that indicator to the different future scenarios. An important aspect of the methodology underpinning the toolkit is that it is flexible enough to incorporate new scenarios, characteristics and indicators, thereby allowing the long-term performance of our urban environments to be considered in the broadest possible sense.  相似文献   

Geological characterization of the Prestige sinking area     

Ercilla G  Córdoba D  Gallart J  Gràcia E  Muñoz JA  Somoza L  Vázquez JT  Vilas F;Prestige Group 《Marine pollution bulletin》2006,53(5-7):208-219

The tanker Prestige sank off NW Iberia on the 19th November 2002. The stern and bow of the Prestige wreck are located on the southwestern edge of the Galicia Bank, at 3565 m and 3830 m water depths, respectively. This bank is a structural high controlled by major faults with predominant N-S, NNE-SSW, and NNW-SEE trends. It is characterized by moderate to low seismic activity. The faults have controlled the local depositional architecture, deforming, fracturing, relocating and distributing sediments since the Valangian (early Cretaceous). The Prestige sinking area corresponds to an asymmetric half-graben structure with a N-S trend, which conditions the present-day morphology. The faulted flank outcrops and its activity and erosion have favoured the occurrence of mass-movements (slumps, slump debris, mass-flows and turbidity currents), building valleys and depositional lobes. Nearsurface sediments comprise mostly terrigenous and biogenous turbiditic muds and sands with a minor presence of hemipelagic muds, except on the fault scarp where pelagites predominate. Potential geological hazards resulting from tectonic and sedimentary processes affect almost the entire Prestige sinking area.  相似文献   

Deep-water Circulation: Processes & Products (16�C18 June 2010, Baiona): introduction and future challenges     

Francisco Javier Hern��ndez-Molina  Dorrik A. V. Stow  Estefan��a Llave  Michele Rebesco  Gemma Ercilla  David Van Rooij  Anxo Mena  Juan-Tom��s V��zquez  Antje H. L. Voelker 《Geo-Marine Letters》2011,31(5-6):285-300

Deep-water circulation is a critical part of the global conveyor belt that regulates Earth??s climate. The bottom (contour)-current component of this circulation is of key significance in shaping the deep seafloor through erosion, transport, and deposition. As a result, there exists a high variety of large-scale erosional and depositional features (drifts) that together form more complex contourite depositional systems on continental slopes and rises as well as in ocean basins, generated by different water masses flowing at different depths and at different speeds either in the same or in opposite directions. Yet, the nature of these deep-water processes and the deposited contourites is still poorly understood in detail. Their ultimate decoding will undoubtedly yield information of fundamental importance to the earth and ocean sciences. The international congress Deep-water Circulation: Processes & Products was held from 16?C18 June 2010 in Baiona, Spain, hosted by the University of Vigo. Volume 31(5/6) of Geo-Marine Letters is a special double issue containing 17 selected contributions from the congress, guest edited by F.J. Hernández-Molina, D.A.V. Stow, E. Llave, M. Rebesco, G. Ercilla, D. Van Rooij, A. Mena, J.-T. Vázquez and A.H.L. Voelker. The papers and discussions at the congress and the articles in this special issue provide a truly multidisciplinary perspective of interest to both academic and industrial participants, contributing to the advancement of knowledge on deep-water bottom circulation and related processes, as well as contourite sedimentation. The multidisciplinary contributions (including geomorphology, tectonics, stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleoceanography, physical oceanography, and deep-water ecology) have demonstrated that advances in paleoceanographic reconstructions and our understanding of the ocean??s role in the global climate system depend largely on the feedbacks among disciplines. New insights into the link between the biota of deep-water ecosystems and bottom currents confirm the need for this field to be investigated and mapped in detail. Likewise, it is confirmed that deep-water contourites are not only of academic interest but also potential resources of economic value. Cumulatively, both the congress and the present volume serve to demonstrate that the role of bottom currents in shaping the seafloor has to date been generally underestimated, and that our understanding of such systems is still in its infancy. Future research on contourites, using new and more advanced techniques, should focus on a more detailed visualization of water-mass circulation and its variability, in order to decipher the physical processes involved and the associations between drifts and other common bedforms. Moreover, contourite facies models should be better established, including their associations with other deep-water sedimentary environments both in modern and ancient submarine domains. The rapid increase in deep-water exploration and the new deep-water technologies available to the oil industry and academic institutions will undoubtedly lead to spectacular advances in contourite research in terms of processes, morphology, sediment stacking patterns, facies, and their relationships with other deep-marine depositional systems.  相似文献   

High-frequency maximum observable shaking map of Italy from fault sources     

Gaetano Zonno  Roberto Basili  Fabrizio Meroni  Gemma Musacchio  P. Martin Mai  Gianluca Valensise 《Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering》2012,10(4):1075-1107

We present a strategy for obtaining fault-based maximum observable shaking (MOS) maps, which represent an innovative concept for assessing deterministic seismic ground motion at a regional scale. Our approach uses the fault sources supplied for Italy by the Database of Individual Seismogenic Sources, and particularly by its composite seismogenic sources (CSS), a spatially continuous simplified 3-D representation of a fault system. For each CSS, we consider the associated Typical Fault, i.e., the portion of the corresponding CSS that can generate the maximum credible earthquake. We then compute the high-frequency (1–50?Hz) ground shaking for a rupture model derived from its associated maximum credible earthquake. As the Typical Fault floats within its CSS to occupy all possible positions of the rupture, the high-frequency shaking is updated in the area surrounding the fault, and the maximum from that scenario is extracted and displayed on a map. The final high-frequency MOS map of Italy is then obtained by merging 8,859 individual scenario-simulations, from which the ground shaking parameters have been extracted. To explore the internal consistency of our calculations and validate the results of the procedure we compare our results (1) with predictions based on the Next Generation Attenuation ground-motion equations for an earthquake of M_w 7.1, (2) with the predictions of the official Italian seismic hazard map, and (3) with macroseismic intensities included in the DBMI04 Italian database. We then examine the uncertainties and analyse the variability of ground motion for different fault geometries and slip distributions.  相似文献   

Dynamic riverine landscapes: the role of ecosystem engineers          下载免费PDF全文

Gemma L. Harvey  Walter Bertoldi 《地球表面变化过程与地形》2015,40(12):1701-1704

An important and highly active research agenda has developed at the interface of fluvial geomorphology and ecology that addresses the capacity for vegetation and animals to act as ecosystem engineers within fluvial systems. This paper briefly introduces this research domain and describes the 15 papers that contribute to the special issue on 'Dynamic riverine landscapes: the role of ecosystem engineers'. The papers illustrate the breadth of research activity at this interface, investigating the influence of a range of ecosystem engineering organisms through a combination of field study, laboratory experiments, numerical simulation and analysis of remotely sensed data. Together, the papers address a series of key themes: conceptual frameworks for feedbacks between aquatic biota, hydraulics, sediment dynamics and nutrient dynamics and their quantification through experimental and field research; the potential contribution of ecosystem engineering species to assist river recovery and restoration; and the contribution of riparian vegetation to bank stability and morphodynamics across a range of spatio‐temporal scales. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Tectonic indentation in the central Alboran Sea (westernmost Mediterranean)          下载免费PDF全文

Ferran Estrada  Jesús Galindo‐Zaldívar  Juan Tomás Vázquez  Gemma Ercilla  Elia D'Acremont  Belén Alonso  Christian Gorini 《地学学报》2018,30(1):24-33

The Alboran Sea constitutes a Neogene–Quaternary basin of the Betic–Rif Cordillera, which has been deformed since the Late Miocene during the collision between the Eurasian and African plates in the westernmost Mediterranean. NNE–SSW sinistral and WNW–ESE dextral conjugate fault sets forming a 75° angle surround a rigid basement spur of the African plate, and are the origin of most of the shallow seismicity of the central Alboran Sea. Northward, the faults decrease their transcurrent slip, becoming normal close to the tip point, while NNW–SSE normal and sparse ENE–WSW reverse to transcurrent faults are developed. The uplifting of the Alboran Ridge ENE–WSW antiform above a detachment level was favoured by the crustal layering. Despite the recent anticlockwise rotation of the Eurasian–African convergence trend in the westernmost Mediterranean, these recent deformations—consistent with indenter tectonics characterised by a N164°E trend of maximum compression—entail the highest seismic hazard of the Alboran Sea.  相似文献   

Esterification of vertebrate-like steroids in the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica)     

Janer G  Mesia-Vela S  Wintermyer ML  Cooper KR  Kauffman FC  Porte C 《Marine environmental research》2004,58(2-5):481-484

The esterification of two model vertebrate steroid hormones - estradiol (E2) and dehidroepiandrosterone (DHEA) - was studied in the oyster Crassostrea virginica. The activity of acyl-CoA:steroid acyltransferase was characterized in microsomal fractions isolated from oyster digestive glands. The apparent Km and Vmax values changed with the fatty acid acyl-CoA used (C20:4, C18:2, C18:1, C16:1, C18:0 or C16:0), and were in the range of 9-17 microM, and 35-74 pmol/min/mg protein for E2, and in the range of 45-120 microM, and 30-182 pmol/min/mg protein for DHEA. Kinetic parameters were also assessed in gonadal tissue. The enzyme saturated at similar concentrations, although conjugation rates were lower than in digestive gland. Preliminary data shows that tributyltin (TBT) in the low microM range (1-50) strongly inhibits E2 and DHEA esterification, the esterification of E2 being more sensitive to inhibition than that of DHEA. Overall, results indicate that apolar conjugation occurs in oysters, in both digestive gland and gonads, at a very similar rate to mammals, suggesting that this is a well conserved conjugation pathway during evolution. Esterification, together with other mechanisms, can modulate endogenous steroid levels in C. virginica, and might be a target for endocrine disrupters, such as TBT.  相似文献   

Reply to Discussion of “Perceptual models of uncertainty for socio-hydrological systems: a flood risk change example”*     

Ida K. Westerberg  Giuliano Di Baldassarre  Keith J. Beven  Gemma Coxon  Tobias Krueger 《水文科学杂志》2013,58(13-14):2001-2003

ABSTRACT

Ertsen discusses the representation of reality and uncertainty in our paper, raising three critical points. In response to the first, we agree that discussion of different interpretations of the concept of uncertainty is important when developing perceptual models – making different uncertainty interpretations explicit was a key motivation behind our method. Secondly, we do not, as Ertsen suggests, deny anyone who is not a “certified” scientist to have relevant knowledge. The elicitation of diverse views by discussing perceptual models is a basis for open discussion and decision making. Thirdly, Ertsen suggests that it is not useful to treat socio-hydrological systems as if they exist. We argue that we act as “pragmatic realists” in most practical applications by treating socio-hydrological systems as an external reality that can be known. But the uncertainty that arises from our knowledge limitations needs to be recognized, as it may impact on practical decision making and associated costs.  相似文献   

Estimation and evaluation of hourly updated global GPS Zenith Total Delays over ten months   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Jan Dousa  Gemma V. Bennitt 《GPS Solutions》2013,17(4):453-464

The EUMETNET EIG GNSS Water Vapour Programme (E-GVAP) is responsible for the coordination of near real time GPS Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) production in Europe and for aiding the development of ZTD assimilation into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. Since 2000, the Geodetic Observatory Pecný (GOP) has been routinely estimating regional ZTDs in near real time. In 2010, GOP developed a modified processing system in order to provide the first optimal and robust ZTD solution with a global scope and hourly upgrade, fulfilling the requirements for assimilation into operational NWP models. Since July 2010, the GOP global tropospheric product has consisted of about 90 sites and has contributed routinely in a testing mode into the E-GVAP database. Global near real time ZTDs generated over ten months have been evaluated with respect to IGS and EUREF routine post-processed ZTD products, ZTDs integrated from radiosonde profiles, and ZTDs calculated from the Met Office global NWP model. Comparison with the GNSS post-processed solutions gives standard deviations of 3–6 mm in ZTD and biases of 1–2 mm, which is comparable to GOP regional near real time solution, however, for some isolated or low data quality stations up to 20 % quality decrease can be found. Comparison with NWP shows a latitudinal trend in the standard deviation with values as low as 4 mm at high latitudes, increasing to almost 20 mm in the tropics, and a lack of variability in the model background ZTD in the tropics. The evaluation with global radiosondes gives ZTD standard deviation of 5–16 mm, which is comparable with previous studies in European scope. Since the 10-month comparison gave satisfactory results, GOP was asked by UK Met Office to disseminate the global product to the end users via the Global Telecommunications System. Since 10 October 2011, the GOP global ZTD product configuration has been extended to about 164 global stations and still processed within 10 min. However, in GOP routine contribution to E-GVAP, about 124 stations are available in general due to hourly data latency above 30 min or data gaps.  相似文献   

Ship board testing of a deoxygenation ballast water treatment   总被引：2，自引：1，他引：1  

McCollin T  Quilez-Badia G  Josefsen KD  Gill ME  Mesbahi E  Frid CL 《Marine pollution bulletin》2007,54(8):1170-1178

A ship board trial of a deoxygenation method for treating ballast water was carried out during a voyage from Southampton (United Kingdom) to Manzanillo (Panama). A nutrient solution added to two ballast tanks encouraged bacterial growth, resulting in a gradual change to an anoxic environment. Samples were taken from two treated tanks and two untreated tanks to assess changes in the abundance and viability of zooplankton, phytoplankton and bacteria. The work was carried out before the International Maritime Organization (IMO) standard was agreed so only a broad indication of whether the results achieved the standard was given. For the zooplankton, the standard would have been achieved within 5 or 7 days but the phytoplankton results were inconclusive. The biological efficacy was the result of the combination of several factors, including the treatment, pump damage and an increase in the water temperature during the voyage.  相似文献