The political sustainability of climate policy: The case of the UK Climate Change Act     

Matthew Lockwood 《Global Environmental Change》2013,23(5):1339-1348

This paper assesses the forces working for and against the political sustainability of the UK 2008 Climate Change Act. The adoption of the Act is seen as a landmark commitment to action on climate change, but its implementation has not been studied in any depth. Recent events, including disagreements over the fourth carbon budget and the decarbonisation of the electricity sector, shows that while the Act might appear to lock in a commitment to reducing emissions through legal means, this does not guarantee political lock-in. The assumption, made by some proponents of the Act, that accountability of political leaders to a public concerned about climate change, via Parliament, would provide the main political underpinning to the Act is criticised. An analysis of alternative sources of political durability is presented, drawing on a framework for understanding the sustainability of reform developed by Patashnik. It is argued that the Act has helped create major institutional transformations, although the degree to which new institutions have displaced the power of existing ones is limited. The Act has produced some policy feedback effects, especially in the business community, and some limited investment effects, but both have been insufficient to withstand destabilisation by recent party political conflicts. The Climate Change Act remains at risk.  相似文献   

A framework for the probabilistic analysis of meteotsunamis     

Eric L. Geist  Uri S. ten Brink  Matthew Gove 《Natural Hazards》2014,74(1):123-142

A probabilistic technique is developed to assess the hazard from meteotsunamis. Meteotsunamis are unusual sea-level events, generated when the speed of an atmospheric pressure or wind disturbance is comparable to the phase speed of long waves in the ocean. A general aggregation equation is proposed for the probabilistic analysis, based on previous frameworks established for both tsunamis and storm surges, incorporating different sources and source parameters of meteotsunamis. Parameterization of atmospheric disturbances and numerical modeling is performed for the computation of maximum meteotsunami wave amplitudes near the coast. A historical record of pressure disturbances is used to establish a continuous analytic distribution of each parameter as well as the overall Poisson rate of occurrence. A demonstration study is presented for the northeast U.S. in which only isolated atmospheric pressure disturbances from squall lines and derechos are considered. For this study, Automated Surface Observing System stations are used to determine the historical parameters of squall lines from 2000 to 2013. The probabilistic equations are implemented using a Monte Carlo scheme, where a synthetic catalog of squall lines is compiled by sampling the parameter distributions. For each entry in the catalog, ocean wave amplitudes are computed using a numerical hydrodynamic model. Aggregation of the results from the Monte Carlo scheme results in a meteotsunami hazard curve that plots the annualized rate of exceedance with respect to maximum event amplitude for a particular location along the coast. Results from using multiple synthetic catalogs, resampled from the parent parameter distributions, yield mean and quantile hazard curves. Further refinements and improvements for probabilistic analysis of meteotsunamis are discussed.  相似文献   

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: the bias of galaxies and the density of the Universe   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Licia Verde  Alan F. Heavens  Will J. Percival  Sabino Matarrese  Carlton M. Baugh  Joss Bland-Hawthorn  Terry Bridges  Russell Cannon  Shaun Cole  Matthew Colless  Chris Collins  Warrick Couch  Gavin Dalton  Roberto De Propris  Simon P. Driver  George Efstathiou  Richard S. Ellis  Carlos S. Frenk  Karl Glazebrook  Carole Jackson  Ofer Lahav  Ian Lewis  Stuart Lumsden  Steve Maddox  Darren Madgwick  Peder Norberg  John A. Peacock  Bruce A. Peterson  Will Sutherland  Keith Taylor 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,335(2):432-440

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Ceres lightcurve analysis—Period determination     

Matthew A. Chamberlain  Mark V. Sykes  Gilbert A. Esquerdo 《Icarus》2007,188(2):451-456

The sidereal period of Ceres is refined from 9.075 h to 9.074170±0.000002, making use of recent and historical lightcurves spanning almost 50 years. An observed increase in the amplitude of the lightcurve with solar phase angle is consistent with bright, discrete albedo features contributing a greater fraction of light as the defect of illumination increases. Observations near the same phase angle over this time span show no evidence of changes that would indicate active surface processes.  相似文献   

The 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO Survey: the LRG 2-point correlation function and redshift-space distortions     

Nicholas P. Ross  J. da Ângela  T. Shanks  David A. Wake  Russell D. Cannon  A. C. Edge  R. C. Nichol  P. J. Outram  Matthew Colless  Warrick J. Couch  Scott M. Croom  Roberto De Propris  Michael J. Drinkwater  Daniel J. Eisenstein  Jon Loveday  Kevin A. Pimbblet  Isaac G. Roseboom  Donald P. Schneider  Robert G. Sharp  P. M. Weilbacher 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,381(2):573-588

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The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: a targeted study of catalogued clusters of galaxies     

Roberto De Propris  Warrick J. Couch  Matthew Colless  Gavin B. Dalton  Chris Collins  Carlton M. Baugh  Joss Bland-Hawthorn  Terry Bridges  Russell Cannon  Shaun Cole  Nicholas Cross  Kathryn Deeley  Simon P. Driver  George Efstathiou  Richard S. Ellis  Carlos S. Frenk  Karl Glazebrook  Carole Jackson  Ofer Lahav  Ian Lewis  Stuart Lumsden  Steve Maddox  Darren Madgwick  Stephen Moody  Peder Norberg  John A. Peacock  Will Percival  Bruce A. Peterson  Will Sutherland  Keith Taylor 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,329(1):87-101

We have carried out a study of known clusters within the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) observed areas and have identified 431 Abell, 173 APM and 343 EDCC clusters. Precise redshifts, velocity dispersions and new centroids have been measured for the majority of these objects, and this information is used to study the completeness of these catalogues, the level of contamination from foreground and background structures along the cluster's line of sight, the space density of the clusters as a function of redshift, and their velocity dispersion distributions. We find that the Abell and EDCC catalogues are contaminated at the level of about 10 per cent, whereas the APM catalogue suffers only 5 per cent contamination. If we use the original catalogue centroids, the level of contamination rises to approximately 15 per cent for the Abell and EDCC catalogues, showing that the presence of foreground and background groups may alter the richness of clusters in these catalogues. There is a deficiency of clusters at     that may correspond to a large underdensity in the Southern hemisphere. From the cumulative distribution of velocity dispersions for these clusters, we derive a space density of     clusters of     This result is used to constrain models for structure formation; our data favour low-density cosmologies, subject to the usual assumptions concerning the shape and normalization of the power spectrum.  相似文献   

Compositional analyses of lunar pyroclastic deposits   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Lisa R Gaddis  Matthew I Staid  B.Ray Hawke 《Icarus》2003,161(2):262-280

The 5-band Clementine UVVIS data at ∼100 m/pixel were used to examine the compositions of 75 large and small lunar pyroclastic deposits (LPDs), and these were compared to representative lunar maria and highlands deposits. Results show that the albedo, spectral color, and inferred composition of most LPDs are similar to those of low-titanium, mature lunar maria. These LPDs may have consisted largely of fragmented basalt, with substantial components of iron-bearing mafic minerals (pyroxenes, olivine) and smaller amounts (if any) of volcanic glass. Several smaller LPDs also show substantial highland components. Three classes of very large deposits can be distinguished from most LPDs and from each other on the basis of crystallinity and possible titanium content of their pyroclastic components. One class has spectral properties that are dominated by high-titanium, crystallized “black beads” (e.g., Taurus-Littrow), a second consists of a mixture of high-titanium glasses and beads with a higher glass/bead ratio (Sulpicius Gallus) than that of Taurus-Littrow, and a third has a significant component of quenched iron-bearing volcanic glasses (Aristarchus) with possible moderate titanium contents. Although areally extensive, these three classes of very large pyroclastic deposits compose only 20 of the 75 deposits studied (∼27%), and eruption of such materials was thus likely to have been less frequent on the Moon.  相似文献   

Can redistribution of material by sputtering explain the hemispheric dichotomy of europa?     

Matthew S. Tiscareno  Paul E. Geissler 《Icarus》2003,161(1):90-101

Sputtering and redeposition make up a significant geologic process on Europa and may contribute to the observed color differences between the leading and trailing hemispheres. Sputtering is particularly efficient on Europa as an erosive process, due to the high rate of ion bombardment from the Io plasma torus, together with Europa’s easily sputtered icy surface. We estimate the global average sputtering erosion rate on Europa at 14.7 mm Myr⁻¹. However, 42% to 86% of sputtered water molecules survive to redeposit onto the surface again. Due to gravitational escape and removal by electron-impact ionization, the number of redepositing particles cannot overcome sputtering erosion, and the global average result of sputtering is net erosion. However, neither sputtering nor redeposition is globally uniform, and differences in the global distributions of the two processes can result locally in net deposition.We propose that Europa’s hemispheric color dichotomy might be explained by net deposition on the leading hemisphere, which may obscure the non-ice signature by covering it with a thin water frost. To test this hypothesis, we have created a simulated model of the sputtering erosion/redeposition process on Europa. Our objectives are to determine the conditions under which net deposition occurs on the leading hemisphere and to evaluate the effects on this process of Jupiter’s gravity, of Europa’s rotation, and of the loss of water molecules to the jovian magnetosphere. We have followed the trajectories of hundreds of thousands of simulated sputtered water molecules in a Monte Carlo process, evolving their orbits under the gravity of both Europa and Jupiter. We have performed this model multiple times, in order to explore the effects of different assumptions of the global distribution of impacting ions, as well as of the sputtered particle ejection velocity. Based upon our results, we conclude that net deposition occurs under a wide range of conditions, making sputtering erosion and redeposition a plausible explanation for the hemispheric color dichotomy of Europa.  相似文献   

The formation of a star cluster: predicting the properties of stars and brown dwarfs   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Matthew R. Bate  Ian A. Bonnell  Volker Bromm 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,339(3):577-599

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The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: luminosity functions by density environment and galaxy type     

Darren J. Croton  Glennys R. Farrar  Peder Norberg  Matthew Colless  John A. Peacock  I. K. Baldry  C. M. Baugh  J. Bland-Hawthorn  T. Bridges  R. Cannon  S. Cole  C. Collins  W. Couch  G. Dalton  R. De Propris  S. P. Driver  G. Efstathiou  R. S. Ellis  C. S. Frenk  K. Glazebrook  C. Jackson  O. Lahav  I. Lewis  S. Lumsden  S. Maddox  D. Madgwick  B. A. Peterson  W. Sutherland  K. Taylor 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2005,356(3):1155-1167

We use the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey to measure the dependence of the b _J-band galaxy luminosity function on large-scale environment, defined by density contrast in spheres of radius  8  h ⁻¹ Mpc  , and on spectral type, determined from principal component analysis. We find that the galaxy populations at both extremes of density differ significantly from that at the mean density. The population in voids is dominated by late types and shows, relative to the mean, a deficit of galaxies that becomes increasingly pronounced at magnitudes brighter than   M _{b J}−5log₁₀ h ≲−18.5  . In contrast, cluster regions have a relative excess of very bright early-type galaxies with   M _{b J}−5log₁₀ h ≲−21  . Differences in the mid- to faint-end population between environments are significant: at   M _{b J}−5log₁₀ h =−18  early- and late-type cluster galaxies show comparable abundances, whereas in voids the late types dominate by almost an order of magnitude. We find that the luminosity functions measured in all density environments, from voids to clusters, can be approximated by Schechter functions with parameters that vary smoothly with local density, but in a fashion that differs strikingly for early- and late-type galaxies. These observed variations, combined with our finding that the faint-end slope of the overall luminosity function depends at most weakly on density environment, may prove to be a significant challenge for models of galaxy formation.  相似文献