Measuring Urban Sustainability: the potential and pitfalls of city rankings     

Phil McManus 《The Australian geographer》2012,43(4):411-424

Measuring the sustainability of a city, and ranking the city against other cities, is increasingly seen as a way to achieve urban sustainability. A number of studies have highlighted how Sydney is unsustainable, with two recent ranking exercises appearing to confirm these findings by placing Sydney below many other Australian cities for urban sustainability. These two exercises are situated within international moves towards ranking cities. The article explores the assumptions and criteria used by Mercer in its Eco-City Index and the Australian Conservation Foundation in its Sustainable Cities Index. The conclusion discusses how Sydney could become more sustainable, and identifies why normative urban sustainability rankings should be recognised for their potential while simultaneously being treated with caution.  相似文献   

The role of closed ecological systems in carbon cycle modelling     

Alexandru Milcu  Martin Lukac  Phil Ineson 《Climatic change》2012,112(3-4):709-716

Acquiring a mechanistic understanding of the role of biotic feedbacks for the links between atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and temperature is essential for trustworthy climate predictions. Currently, computer-based simulations are the only available tool to estimate the global impact of biotic feedbacks on future atmospheric CO₂ and temperatures. Here we propose an alternative and complementary approach by using materially closed, energetically open analogue/physical models of the carbon cycle. We argue that there is unexplored potential in using a materially closed approach to improve our understanding of the magnitude and direction of many biotic carbon feedbacks and that recent technological advances make this feasible. We also suggest how such systems could be designed and discuss the advantages and limitations of establishing physical models of the global carbon cycle.  相似文献   

Assessment of surface air warming in northeast China, with emphasis on the impacts of urbanization   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：2  

Qingxiang Li  Wei Li  Peng Si  Gao Xiaorong  Wenjie Dong  Phil Jones  Jiayou Huang  Lijuan Cao 《Theoretical and Applied Climatology》2010,99(3-4):469-478

Based on homogenized land surface air temperature (SAT) data (derived from China Homogenized Historical Temperature (CHHT) 1.0), the warming trends over Northeast China are detected in this paper, and the impacts of urban heat islands (UHIs) evaluated. Results show that this region is undergoing rapid warming: the trends of annual mean minimum temperature (MMIT), mean temperature (MT), and mean maximum temperature (MMAT) are 0.40 C decade^?1, 0.32 C decade^?1, and 0.23 C decade^?1, respectively. Regional average temperature series built with these networks including and excluding “typical urban stations” are compared for the periods of 1954–2005. Although impacts of UHIs on the absolute annual and seasonal temperature are identified, UHI contributions to the long-term trends are less than 10% of the regional total warming during the period. The large warming trend during the period is due to a regime shift in around 1988, which accounted for about 51% of the regional warming.  相似文献   

XUV Photometer System (XPS): Improved Solar Irradiance Algorithm Using CHIANTI Spectral Models     

Thomas N. Woods  Phillip C. Chamberlin  W. K. Peterson  R. R. Meier  Phil G. Richards  Douglas J. Strickland  Gang Lu  Liying Qian  Stanley C. Solomon  B. A. Iijima  A. J. Mannucci  B. T. Tsurutani 《Solar physics》2008,250(2):235-267

Solar soft X-ray (XUV) radiation is highly variable on all time scales and strongly affects Earth’s ionosphere and upper atmosphere; consequently, the solar XUV irradiance is important for atmospheric studies and for space weather applications. Although there have been several recent measurements of the solar XUV irradiance, detailed understanding of the solar XUV irradiance, especially its variability during flares, has been hampered by the broad bands measured in the XUV range. In particular, the simple conversion of the XUV photometer signal into irradiance, in which a static solar spectrum is assumed, overestimates the flare variations by more than a factor of two as compared to the atmospheric response to the flares. To address this deficiency in the simple conversion, an improved algorithm using CHIANTI spectral models has been developed to process the XUV Photometer System (XPS) measurements with its broadband photometers. Model spectra representative of quiet Sun, active region, and flares are combined to match the signals from the XPS and produce spectra from 0.1 to 40 nm in 0.1-nm intervals for the XPS Level 4 data product. The two XPS instruments are aboard NASA’s Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) and Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics, and Dynamics (TIMED) satellites. In addition, the XPS responsivities have been updated for the latest XPS data processing version. The new XPS results are consistent with daily variations from the previous simple conversion technique used for XPS and are also consistent with spectral measurements made at wavelengths longer than 27 nm. Most importantly, the XPS flare variations are reduced by factors of 2 – 4 at wavelengths shorter than 14 nm and are more consistent, for the first time, with atmospheric response to solar flares. Along with the details of the new XPS algorithm, several comparisons to dayglow and photoelectron measurements and model results are also presented to help verify the accuracy of the new XUV irradiance spectra.  相似文献   

Short communication: public interest in rip currents relative to other natural hazards: evidence from Google search data     

Houser  Chris  Vlodarchyk  Brent  Wernette  Phil 《Natural Hazards》2019,97(3):1395-1405

Natural Hazards - Informing and warning beach users about the danger posed by the rip current hazard remain a difficult challenge. Recent evidence suggests that warning signs and flags alone have...  相似文献   

Natural resources and environmental justice: Australian perspectives     

Phil McManus 《The Australian geographer》2019,50(1):131-132

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Shapes of chondrules determined from the petrofabric of the CR2 chondrite NWA 801          下载免费PDF全文

Christopher R. J. Charles  Pierre-Yves F. Robin  Donald W. Davis  Phil J. A. McCausland 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2018,53(5):935-951

The approximately spherical shapes of chondrules has long been attributed to surface tension acting on ~1 mm melt droplets that formed and cooled in the microgravity field of the solar nebula. However, chondrule shapes commonly depart significantly from spherical. In this study, 109 chondrules in a sample of CR2 chondrite NWA 801 were imaged by X-ray computed tomography and best-fitted to ellipsoids. The analysis confirms that many chondrules are indeed not spherical, and also that the chondrules’ collective shape fabric records a definite 13% compaction in the host meteorite. Dehydration of phyllosilicates within chondrules may account for that strain. However, retro-deforming all chondrules shows that a large majority were already far from spherical prior to accretion. Possible models for these initial shapes include prior deformation of individual chondrules in earlier hosts, and, as suggested by previous authors, rotation of chondrules as they were solidifying, and/or “streaming” of molten chondrules by their differential velocities with their gaseous hosts after melting. More in situ 3-D work such as this study on a variety of unequilibrated chondrites, combined with detailed structural petrography, should help further constrain these models and refine our understanding of chondrite formation.  相似文献   

William Smith's map brought alive by digital remastering     

Alan R. Butcher  Duncan Pirrie  Gavyn K. Rollinson  Hanna Horsch  Stephen P. Hesselbo  Michael Owen  David Haberlah 《Geology Today》2020,36(5):175-182

The geological mapping carried out by William Smith, which resulted in the publication of his famous map in 1815, was remarkable in many respects, not least because it relied on him being able to make consistent and accurate observations on the rock types he encountered during his fieldwork. This ability, gained from his many years studying rocks, allowed him to observe features with his own eyes (or at the very least, with the aid of a simple magnifying device) that others could not. We take a new look at William Smith's original stratigraphical sequences, and with samples collected from his classic field areas (many of which are around the city of Bath, Somerset, UK), demonstrate how spatial mineralogy mapping can be incorporated into the modern age of digital mapping.  相似文献   

New insights into precious metal enrichment on the Isle of Rum,Scotland     

Brian O'Driscoll  Alan R. Butcher  Rais Latypov 《Geology Today》2014,30(4):134-141

The Rum Layered Suite (NW Scotland) is generally regarded as one of a handful of classic examples of open‐system layered mafic‐ultramafic intrusions, or ‘fossilized’ basaltic magma chambers, world‐wide. The eastern portion of the Rum intrusion is constructed of sixteen repeated, coupled, peridotite–troctolite units. Each major cyclic unit has been linked to a major magma replenishment event, with repeated settling out of ‘crops’ of olivine and plagioclase crystals to form the cumulate rocks. However, there are variations in the lithological succession that complicate this oversimplified model, including the presence of chromitite (>60 vol. percent Cr‐spinel) seams. The ～2 mm thick chromitite seams host significant platinum‐group element (PGE) enrichment (e.g. ～2 ppm Pt) and likely formed in situ, i.e. at the crystal mush–magma interface. Given that the bulk of the world's exploited PGE come from a layered intrusion that bears remarkable structural and lithological similarities to Rum, the Bushveld Complex (South Africa), comparisons between these intrusions raise intriguing implications for precious metal mineralization in layered intrusions.  相似文献   

LA‐ICP‐MS Pb isotope test of meteorite provenance: A terrestrial origin for Lovina     

Christopher R. J. Charles  Phil J. A. McCausland  Donald W. Davis 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2020,55(5):1093-1102

Lovina, classified as an ungrouped ataxite, is controversial and its identity as a meteorite has been questioned. In this work, we use Pb isotopes on targeted troilite nodules in Lovina as a test of its antiquity and provenance. Although precise ages cannot be obtained, LA‐ICP‐MS offers a rapid, straightforward procedure to establish the source of lead, whether ancient (meteoritic) or modern (terrestrial). For nine pristine, unweathered nodules in Lovina, we find a lead isotopic composition of: ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁸Pb = 0.492 ± 0.003 (2σ, MSWD 0.79; 95%) and ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb = 0.852 ± 0.003 (2σ, MSWD 1.09; 95%) with no detectable uranium. All lead compositions of the troilite fall in the range expected for modern environmental and mantle lead and are distinctly different from the primordial Canyon Diablo Troilite (CDT) composition of ancient meteoritic troilite. Although the origin of Lovina remains unknown, we conclude that lead in the Lovina troilite is unsupported by U decay and originated from a terrestrial source.  相似文献