WorldWideScience

Sample records for enables water-land transition

  1. A locomotor innovation enables water-land transition in a marine fish.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shi-Tong Tonia Hsieh

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Morphological innovations that significantly enhance performance capacity may enable exploitation of new resources and invasion of new ecological niches. The invasion of land from the aquatic realm requires dramatic structural and physiological modifications to permit survival in a gravity-dominated, aerial environment. Most fishes are obligatorily aquatic, with amphibious fishes typically making slow-moving and short forays on to land. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here I describe the behaviors and movements of a little known marine fish that moves extraordinarily rapidly on land. I found that the Pacific leaping blenny, Alticus arnoldorum, employs a tail-twisting movement on land, previously unreported in fishes. Focal point behavioral observations of Alticus show that they have largely abandoned the marine realm, feed and reproduce on land, and even defend terrestrial territories. Comparisons of these blennies' terrestrial kinematic and kinetic (i.e., force measurements with those of less terrestrial sister genera show A. arnoldorum move with greater stability and locomotor control, and can move away more rapidly from impending threats. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: My results demonstrate that axial tail twisting serves as a key innovation enabling invasion of a novel marine niche. This paper highlights the potential of using this system to address general evolutionary questions about water-land transitions and niche invasions.

  2. Mapping and quantifying geodiversity in land-water transition zones using MBES and topobathymetric LiDAR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandbyge Ernstsen, Verner; Skovgaard Andersen, Mikkel; Gergely, Aron; Schulze Tenberge, Yvonne; Al-Hamdani, Zyad; Steinbacher, Frank; Rolighed Larsen, Laurids; Winter, Christian; Bartholomä, Alexander

    2016-04-01

    Land-water transition zones, like e.g. coastal and fluvial environments, are valuable ecosystems which are often characterised by high biodiversity and geodiversity. However, often these land-water transition zones are difficult or even impossible to map and investigate in high spatial resolution due to the challenging environmental conditions. Combining vessel borne shallow water multibeam echosounder (MBES) surveys ,to cover the subtidal coastal areas and the river channel areas, with airborne topobathymetric light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys, to cover the intertidal and supratidal coastal areas and the river floodplain areas, potentially enables full-coverage and high-resolution mapping in these challenging environments. We have carried out MBES and topobathymetric LiDAR surveys in the Knudedyb tidal inlet system, a coastal environment in the Danish Wadden Sea which is part of the Wadden Sea National Park and UNESCO World Heritage, and in the Ribe Vesterå, a fluvial environment in the Ribe Å river catchment discharging into the Knudedyb tidal basin. Detailed digital elevation models (DEMs) with a grid cell size of 0.5 m x 0.5 m were generated from the MBES and the LiDAR point clouds, which both have point densities in the order of 20 points/m2. Morphometric analyses of the DEMs enabled the identification and mapping of the different landforms within the coastal and fluvial environments. Hereby, we demonstrate that vessel borne MBES and airborne topobathymetric LiDAR, here in combination, are promising tools for seamless mapping across land-water transition zones as well as for the quantification of a range of landforms at landscape scale in different land-water transition zone environments. Hence, we demonstrate the potential for mapping and quantifying geomorphological diversity, which is one of the main components of geodiversity and a prerequisite for assessing geoheritage. Acknowledgements This work was funded by the Danish Council for

  3. Spatially enabled land administration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enemark, Stig

    2006-01-01

    enabling of land administration systems managing tenure, valuation, planning, and development will allow the information generated by these activities to be much more useful. Also, the services available to private and public sectors and to community organisations should commensurably improve. Knowledge....... In other words: Good governance and sustainable development is not attainable without sound land administration or - more broadly – sound land management. The paper presents a land management vision that incorporates the benefits of ICT enabled land administration functions. The idea is that spatial...... the communication between administrative systems and also establish more reliable data due to the use the original data instead of copies. In Denmark, such governmental guidelines for a service-oriented ITarchitecture in support of e-government are recently adopted. Finally, the paper presents the role of FIG...

  4. Climate Change Adaptation via U.S. Land Use Transitions: A Spatial Econometric Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Cho, Sung Ju; McCarl, Bruce A.; Wu, Ximing

    2015-01-01

    Climate change, coupled with biofuels development and other factors may well be changing US land usage patterns. We use a spatial econometric approach to estimate the drivers of US land use transitions in recent years. We consider transitions between six major land uses: agricultural land, forest, grassland, water, urban, and other uses. To examine drivers, we use a two-step linearized, spatial, multinomial logit model and estimate land use transition probabilities. Our results indicate that ...

  5. Analysis of the nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase family provides insight into vertebrate adaptation to different oxygen levels during the water-to-land transition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Chengchi; Guan, Lihong; Zhong, Zaixuan; Gan, Xiaoni; He, Shunping

    2015-08-01

    One of the most important events in vertebrate evolutionary history is the water-to-land transition, during which some morphological and physiological changes occurred in concert with the loss of specific genes in tetrapods. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this transition have not been well explored. To explore vertebrate adaptation to different oxygen levels during the water-to-land transition, we performed comprehensive bioinformatics and experimental analysis aiming to investigate the NAMPT family in vertebrates. NAMPT, a rate-limiting enzyme in the salvage pathway of NAD+ biosynthesis, is critical for cell survival in a hypoxic environment, and a high level of NAMPT significantly augments oxidative stress in normoxic environments. Phylogenetic analysis showed that NAMPT duplicates arose from a second round whole-genome duplication event. NAMPTA existed in all classes of vertebrates, whereas NAMPTB was only found in fishes and not tetrapods. Asymmetric evolutionary rates and purifying selection were the main evolutionary forces involved. Although functional analysis identified several functionally divergent sites during NAMPT family evolution, in vitro experimental data demonstrated that NAMPTA and NAMPTB were functionally conserved for NAMPT enzymatic function in the NAD+ salvage pathway. In situ hybridization revealed broad NAMPTA and NAMPTB expression patterns, implying regulatory functions over a wide range of developmental processes. The morpholino-mediated knockdown data demonstrated that NAMPTA was more essential than NAMPTB for vertebrate embryo development. We propose that the retention of NAMPTB in water-breathing fishes and its loss in air-breathing tetrapods resulted from vertebrate adaptation to different oxygen levels during the water-to-land transition. © 2015 FEBS.

  6. Future land-use related water demand in California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Tamara; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Cameron, D. Richard

    2016-01-01

    Water shortages in California are a growing concern amidst ongoing drought, earlier spring snowmelt, projected future climate warming, and currently mandated water use restrictions. Increases in population and land use in coming decades will place additional pressure on already limited available water supplies. We used a state-and-transition simulation model to project future changes in developed (municipal and industrial) and agricultural land use to estimate associated water use demand from 2012 to 2062. Under current efficiency rates, total water use was projected to increase 1.8 billion cubic meters(+4.1%) driven primarily by urbanization and shifts to more water intensive crops. Only if currently mandated 25% reductions in municipal water use are continuously implemented would water demand in 2062 balance to water use levels in 2012. This is the first modeling effort of its kind to examine regional land-use related water demand incorporating historical trends of both developed and agricultural land uses.

  7. Overview of the Ozone Water-Land Environmental Transition Study: Summary of Observations and Initial Results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkoff, T.; Sullivan, J.; Pippin, M. R.; Gronoff, G.; Knepp, T. N.; Twigg, L.; Schroeder, J.; Carrion, W.; Farris, B.; Kowalewski, M. G.; Nino, L.; Gargulinski, E.; Rodio, L.; Sanchez, P.; Desorae Davis, A. A.; Janz, S. J.; Judd, L.; Pusede, S.; Wolfe, G. M.; Stauffer, R. M.; Munyan, J.; Flynn, J.; Moore, B.; Dreessen, J.; Salkovitz, D.; Stumpf, K.; King, B.; Hanisco, T. F.; Brandt, J.; Blake, D. R.; Abuhassan, N.; Cede, A.; Tzortziou, M.; Demoz, B.; Tsay, S. C.; Swap, R.; Holben, B. N.; Szykman, J.; McGee, T. J.; Neilan, J.; Allen, D.

    2017-12-01

    The monitoring of ozone (O3) in the troposphere is of pronounced interest due to its known toxicity and health hazard as a photo-chemically generated pollutant. One of the major difficulties for the air quality modeling, forecasting and satellite communities is the validation of O3 levels in sharp transition regions, as well as near-surface vertical gradients. Land-water gradients of O3 near coastal regions can be large due to differences in surface deposition, boundary layer height, and cloud coverage. Observations in horizontal and vertical directions over the Chesapeake Bay are needed to better understand O3 formation and redistribution within regional recirculation patterns. The O3 Water-Land Environmental Transition Study (OWLETS) was a field campaign conducted in the summer 2017 in the VA Tidewater region to better characterize O3 across the coastal boundary. To obtain over-water measurements, the NASA Langley Ozone Lidar as well as supplemental measurements from other sensors (e.g. Pandora, AERONET) were deployed on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) 7-8 miles offshore. These observations were complimented by NASA Goddard's Tropospheric Ozone Lidar along with ground-based measurements over-land at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) in Hampton, VA. On measurement days, time-synchronized data were collected, including launches of ozonesondes from CBBT and LaRC sites that provided additional O3, wind, and temperature vertical distribution differences between land and water. These measurements were complimented with: in-situ O3 sensors on two mobile cars, a micro-pulse lidar at Hampton University, an in-situ O3 sensor on a small UAV-drone, and Virginia DEQ air-quality sites. Two aircraft and a research vessel also contributed to OWLETS at various points during the campaign: the NASA UC-12B with the GeoTASO passive remote sensor, the NASA C-23 with an in-situ chemistry analysis suite, and a SERC research vessel with both remote and in-situ sensors. This

  8. Land Use Transition and Human Health in the context of Climate ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Land Use Transition and Human Health in the context of Climate Change in the ... Water management challenges in the context of agricultural intensification and ... to announce that the first call for applications for the new Early Career Women. ... International Water Resources Association, in close collaboration with IDRC, ...

  9. CRUCIAL: Cryosat-2 Success over Inland Water and Land

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moore, Philip; Berry, Philippa; Balmbra, Robert

    2014-01-01

    CRUCIAL is an ESA/STSE funded project investigating innovative land and inland water applications from Cryosat-2 with a forward-look component to the future Sentinel-3 mission. The fact that the Earth’s land surface is, in general, a relatively poor reflector of Ku band energy, with the exceptions...... of inland water, salar and ice surfaces has enabled Earth-orbiting satellite radar altimeters to be used for land surface applications including mapping and measurement of river and lake systems. Research with EnviSat Burst Echoes has shown that substantial high frequency information content is present...... of Cryosat-2 altimeter in SAR mode (I8 KHz) offers the opportunity to recover high frequency signals over much of the Earth’s land surface, enhancing the inland water height retrieval capability. Constraining this application is the limited availability of SAR Full Bit Rate (FBR) data from Cryosat-2 over...

  10. Effect of water table dynamics on land surface hydrologic memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lo, Min-Hui; Famiglietti, James S.

    2010-11-01

    The representation of groundwater dynamics in land surface models has received considerable attention in recent years. Most studies have found that soil moisture increases after adding a groundwater component because of the additional supply of water to the root zone. However, the effect of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory (persistence) has not been explored thoroughly. In this study we investigate the effect of water table dynamics on National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Land Model hydrologic simulations in terms of land surface hydrologic memory. Unlike soil water or evapotranspiration, results show that land surface hydrologic memory does not always increase after adding a groundwater component. In regions where the water table level is intermediate, land surface hydrologic memory can even decrease, which occurs when soil moisture and capillary rise from groundwater are not in phase with each other. Further, we explore the hypothesis that in addition to atmospheric forcing, groundwater variations may also play an important role in affecting land surface hydrologic memory. Analyses show that feedbacks of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory can be positive, negative, or neutral, depending on water table dynamics. In regions where the water table is shallow, the damping process of soil moisture variations by groundwater is not significant, and soil moisture variations are mostly controlled by random noise from atmospheric forcing. In contrast, in regions where the water table is very deep, capillary fluxes from groundwater are small, having limited potential to affect soil moisture variations. Therefore, a positive feedback of groundwater to land surface hydrologic memory is observed in a transition zone between deep and shallow water tables, where capillary fluxes act as a buffer by reducing high-frequency soil moisture variations resulting in longer land surface hydrologic memory.

  11. Discussion of the enabling environments for decentralised water systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moglia, M; Alexander, K S; Sharma, A

    2011-01-01

    Decentralised water supply systems are becoming increasingly affordable and commonplace in Australia and have the potential to alleviate urban water shortages and reduce pollution into natural receiving marine and freshwater streams. Learning processes are necessary to support the efficient implementation of decentralised systems. These processes reveal the complex socio-technical and institutional factors to be considered when developing an enabling environment supporting decentralised water and wastewater servicing solutions. Critical to the technological transition towards established decentralised systems is the ability to create strategic and adaptive capacity to promote learning and dialogue. Learning processes require institutional mechanisms to ensure the lessons are incorporated into the formulation of policy and regulation, through constructive involvement of key government institutions. Engagement of stakeholders is essential to the enabling environment. Collaborative learning environments using systems analysis with communities (social learning) and adaptive management techniques are useful in refining and applying scientists' and managers' knowledge (knowledge management).

  12. Hydrological impacts of global land cover change and human water use

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. H. C. Bosmans

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Human impacts on global terrestrial hydrology have been accelerating during the 20th century. These human impacts include the effects of reservoir building and human water use, as well as land cover change. To date, many global studies have focussed on human water use, but only a few focus on or include the impact of land cover change. Here we use PCR-GLOBWB, a combined global hydrological and water resources model, to assess the impacts of land cover change as well as human water use globally in different climatic zones. Our results show that land cover change has a strong effect on the global hydrological cycle, on the same order of magnitude as the effect of human water use (applying irrigation, abstracting water, for industrial use for example, including reservoirs, etc.. When globally averaged, changing the land cover from that of 1850 to that of 2000 increases discharge through reduced evapotranspiration. The effect of land cover change shows large spatial variability in magnitude and sign of change depending on, for example, the specific land cover change and climate zone. Overall, land cover effects on evapotranspiration are largest for the transition of tall natural vegetation to crops in energy-limited equatorial and warm temperate regions. In contrast, the inclusion of irrigation, water abstraction and reservoirs reduces global discharge through enhanced evaporation over irrigated areas and reservoirs as well as through water consumption. Hence, in some areas land cover change and water distribution both reduce discharge, while in other areas the effects may partly cancel out. The relative importance of both types of impacts varies spatially across climatic zones. From this study we conclude that land cover change needs to be considered when studying anthropogenic impacts on water resources.

  13. [Process of land use transition and its impact on regional ecological quality in the Middle Reaches of Heihe River, China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Fu Hong; Zhao, Rui Feng; Zhang, Li Hua; Li, Hong Wei

    2017-12-01

    Land use transition is one of the main drivers of regional ecosystem change in arid area, which directly affects human well-being. Based on the satellite images of 1987, 2001 and 2016, the change detection assessment model and ecological response model were used to analyze the process of land use transition and response of ecological quality during 1987-2016 in the ecologically fragile middle reaches of the Heihe River. The results showed that the land use change was significant during 1987-2016 and the total change increased significantly, as well as the continuous increase of the cultivated land and construction land. There was a strong tendency of transform from grassland to cultivated land, while the tendency of transforming unused land to other land classes was not strong under a random process of gain or loss. During 1987-2016, the ecological quality of the study area displayed a decreasing trend as a whole and the ecological land decreased by 2.8%. The land use transition with the greatest impact on the ecological environment degradation was the transition of the grassland to the cultivated land and unused land. Therefore, in order to promote the sustainable use of regional land resources and to improve the regional ecological quality, it is necessary to allocate the proportion of production land and ecological land according to the regional water resources.

  14. Decomposition of Phragmites australis rhizomes in artificial land-water transitional zones (ALWTZs) and management implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Zhen; Cui, Baoshan; Zhang, Yongtao

    2015-09-01

    Rhizomes are essential organs for growth and expansion of Phragmites australis. They function as an important source of organic matter and as a nutrient source, especially in the artificial land-water transitional zones (ALWTZs) of shallow lakes. In this study, decomposition experiments on 1- to 6-year-old P. australis rhizomes were conducted in the ALWTZ of Lake Baiyangdian to evaluate the contribution of the rhizomes to organic matter accumulation and nutrient release. Mass loss and changes in nutrient content were measured after 3, 7, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 days. The decomposition process was modeled with a composite exponential model. The Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationships between mass loss and litter quality factors. A multiple stepwise regression model was utilized to determine the dominant factors that affect mass loss. Results showed that the decomposition rates in water were significantly higher than those in soil for 1- to 6-year-old rhizomes. However, the sequence of decomposition rates was identical in both water and soil. Significant relationships between mass loss and litter quality factors were observed at a later stage, and P-related factors proved to have a more significant impact than N-related factors on mass loss. According to multiple stepwise models, the C/P ratio was found to be the dominant factor affecting the mass loss in water, and the C/N and C/P ratios were the main factors affecting the mass loss in soil. The combined effects of harvesting, ditch broadening, and control of water depth should be considered for lake administrators.

  15. Land, carbon and water footprints in Taiwan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Yung-Jaan

    2015-01-01

    The consumer responsibility approach uses footprints as indicators of the total direct and indirect effects of a product or consumption activity. This study used a time-series analysis of three environmental pressures to quantify the total environmental pressures caused by consumption in Taiwan: land footprint, carbon footprint, and water footprint. Land footprint is the pressure from appropriation of biologically productive land and water area. Carbon footprint is the pressure from greenhouse gas emissions. Water footprint is the pressure from freshwater consumption. Conventional carbon footprint is the total CO 2 emitted by a certain activity or the CO 2 accumulation during a product life cycle. This definition cannot be used to convert CO 2 emissions into land units. This study responds to the needs of “CO 2 land” in the footprint family by applying the carbon footprint concept used by GFN. The analytical results showed that consumption by the average Taiwan citizen in 2000 required appropriation of 5.39 gha (hectares of land with global-average biological productivity) and 3.63 gha in 2011 in terms of land footprint. The average Taiwan citizen had a carbon footprint of 3.95 gha in 2000 and 5.94 gha in 2011. These results indicate that separately analyzing the land and carbon footprints enables their trends to be compared and appropriate policies and strategies for different sectors to be proposed accordingly. The average Taiwan citizen had a blue water footprint of 801 m 3 in 2000 and 784 m 3 in 2011. By comparison, their respective global averages were 1.23 gha, 2.36 gha and 163 m 3 blue water in 2011, respectively. Overall, Taiwan revealed higher environmental pressures compared to the rest of the world, demonstrating that Taiwan has become a high footprint state and has appropriated environmental resources from other countries. That is, through its imports of products with embodied pressures and its exports, Taiwan has transferred the environmental

  16. Land, carbon and water footprints in Taiwan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Yung-Jaan, E-mail: yungjaanlee@gmail.com

    2015-09-15

    The consumer responsibility approach uses footprints as indicators of the total direct and indirect effects of a product or consumption activity. This study used a time-series analysis of three environmental pressures to quantify the total environmental pressures caused by consumption in Taiwan: land footprint, carbon footprint, and water footprint. Land footprint is the pressure from appropriation of biologically productive land and water area. Carbon footprint is the pressure from greenhouse gas emissions. Water footprint is the pressure from freshwater consumption. Conventional carbon footprint is the total CO{sub 2} emitted by a certain activity or the CO{sub 2} accumulation during a product life cycle. This definition cannot be used to convert CO{sub 2} emissions into land units. This study responds to the needs of “CO{sub 2} land” in the footprint family by applying the carbon footprint concept used by GFN. The analytical results showed that consumption by the average Taiwan citizen in 2000 required appropriation of 5.39 gha (hectares of land with global-average biological productivity) and 3.63 gha in 2011 in terms of land footprint. The average Taiwan citizen had a carbon footprint of 3.95 gha in 2000 and 5.94 gha in 2011. These results indicate that separately analyzing the land and carbon footprints enables their trends to be compared and appropriate policies and strategies for different sectors to be proposed accordingly. The average Taiwan citizen had a blue water footprint of 801 m{sup 3} in 2000 and 784 m{sup 3} in 2011. By comparison, their respective global averages were 1.23 gha, 2.36 gha and 163 m{sup 3} blue water in 2011, respectively. Overall, Taiwan revealed higher environmental pressures compared to the rest of the world, demonstrating that Taiwan has become a high footprint state and has appropriated environmental resources from other countries. That is, through its imports of products with embodied pressures and its exports, Taiwan has

  17. Cloud-enabled large-scale land surface model simulations with the NASA Land Information System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, D.; Vaughan, G.; Clark, M. P.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.; Nijssen, B.; Nearing, G. S.; Rheingrover, S.; Kumar, S.; Geiger, J. V.

    2017-12-01

    Developed by the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Land Information System (LIS) is a high-performance software framework for terrestrial hydrology modeling and data assimilation. LIS provides the ability to integrate satellite and ground-based observational products and advanced modeling algorithms to extract land surface states and fluxes. Through a partnership with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Washington, the LIS model is currently being extended to include the Structure for Unifying Multiple Modeling Alternatives (SUMMA). With the addition of SUMMA in LIS, meaningful simulations containing a large multi-model ensemble will be enabled and can provide advanced probabilistic continental-domain modeling capabilities at spatial scales relevant for water managers. The resulting LIS/SUMMA application framework is difficult for non-experts to install due to the large amount of dependencies on specific versions of operating systems, libraries, and compilers. This has created a significant barrier to entry for domain scientists that are interested in using the software on their own systems or in the cloud. In addition, the requirement to support multiple run time environments across the LIS community has created a significant burden on the NASA team. To overcome these challenges, LIS/SUMMA has been deployed using Linux containers, which allows for an entire software package along with all dependences to be installed within a working runtime environment, and Kubernetes, which orchestrates the deployment of a cluster of containers. Within a cloud environment, users can now easily create a cluster of virtual machines and run large-scale LIS/SUMMA simulations. Installations that have taken weeks and months can now be performed in minutes of time. This presentation will discuss the steps required to create a cloud-enabled large-scale simulation, present examples of its use, and

  18. Cropping pattern adjustment in China's grain production and its impact on land and water use

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Tian-xiang; Zhu, Jing; Balezentis, Tomas

    2016-01-01

    This paper aims at decomposing China's grain output changes into three terms, namely area sown effect, pure yield effect, and cropping pattern adjustment effect. Furthermore, the paper analyses the impact of shifts in cropping pattern on water and land use in China's grain production. An index...... adjustments). However, these effects vary across regions: Southeast China experienced land-saving and water-using changes, while other regions underwent land- and water-saving changes. In general, China's grain output growth has increased the total amount of land and water needed, implying more severe...... played an important role in promoting China's grain production, with a contribution of over 15 per cent during 2003-2012. Moreover, such changes enabled to save about 6.8 million hectares of sown areas and 31.06 billion m3 of water in grain production (if compared to the case without cropping pattern...

  19. Estimates of Soil Moisture Using the Land Information System for Land Surface Water Storage: Case Study for the Western States Water Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, P. W.; Famiglietti, J. S.; Levoe, S.; Reager, J. T., II; David, C. H.; Kumar, S.; Li, B.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.

    2017-12-01

    Soil moisture is one of the critical factors in terrestrial hydrology. Accurate soil moisture information improves estimation of terrestrial water storage and fluxes, that is essential for water resource management including sustainable groundwater pumping and agricultural irrigation practices. It is particularly important during dry periods when water stress is high. The Western States Water Mission (WSWM), a multiyear mission project of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is operated to understand and estimate quantities of the water availability in the western United States by integrating observations and measurements from in-situ and remote sensing sensors, and hydrological models. WSWM data products have been used to assess and explore the adverse impacts of the California drought (2011-2016) and provide decision-makers information for water use planning. Although the observations are often more accurate, simulations using land surface models can provide water availability estimates at desired spatio-temporal scales. The Land Information System (LIS), developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, integrates developed land surface models and data processing and management tools, that enables to utilize the measurements and observations from various platforms as forcings in the high performance computing environment to forecast the hydrologic conditions. The goal of this study is to implement the LIS in the western United States for estimates of soil moisture. We will implement the NOAH-MP model at the 12km North America Land Data Assimilation System grid and compare to other land surface models included in the LIS. Findings will provide insight into the differences between model estimates and model physics. Outputs from a multi-model ensemble from LIS can also be used to enhance estimated reliability and provide quantification of uncertainty. We will compare the LIS-based soil moisture estimates to the SMAP enhanced 9 km soil moisture product to understand the

  20. Impacts of land cover transitions on surface temperature in China based on satellite observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yuzhen; Liang, Shunlin

    2018-02-01

    China has experienced intense land use and land cover changes during the past several decades, which have exerted significant influences on climate change. Previous studies exploring related climatic effects have focused mainly on one or two specific land use changes, or have considered all land use and land cover change types together without distinguishing their individual impacts, and few have examined the physical processes of the mechanism through which land use changes affect surface temperature. However, in this study, we considered satellite-derived data of multiple land cover changes and transitions in China. The objective was to obtain observational evidence of the climatic effects of land cover transitions in China by exploring how they affect surface temperature and to what degree they influence it through the modification of biophysical processes, with an emphasis on changes in surface albedo and evapotranspiration (ET). To achieve this goal, we quantified the changes in albedo, ET, and surface temperature in the transition areas, examined their correlations with temperature change, and calculated the contributions of different land use transitions to surface temperature change via changes in albedo and ET. Results suggested that land cover transitions from cropland to urban land increased land surface temperature (LST) during both daytime and nighttime by 0.18 and 0.01 K, respectively. Conversely, the transition of forest to cropland tended to decrease surface temperature by 0.53 K during the day and by 0.07 K at night, mainly through changes in surface albedo. Decreases in both daytime and nighttime LST were observed over regions of grassland to forest transition, corresponding to average values of 0.44 and 0.20 K, respectively, predominantly controlled by changes in ET. These results highlight the necessity to consider the individual climatic effects of different land cover transitions or conversions in climate research studies. This short

  1. Geospatial Analysis of Land Use and Land Cover Transitions from 1986–2014 in a Peri-Urban Ghana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Divine Odame Appiah

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Recently, peri-urbanisation has led to the transformation of the rural landscape, changing rural land uses into peri-urban land uses, under varying driving factors. This paper analyzes the dynamic transitions among identified land use and land cover (LULC types in the Bosomtwe district of Ghana, from 1986 to 2014. An integrated approach of geo-information tools of satellite remote sensing in Earth Resource Data Analysis System (ERDAS Imagine 13 and ArcMap 10.2 Geographic Information System (GIS, with Markov chain analytical techniques were used to examine the combined forest land cover transitions, relative to build-up, recent fallows and grasslands and projected possible factors influencing the transitions under business as usual and unusual situations. Statistical analyses of the classified Landsat TM, ETM+ and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIS indicated that over the period of 24 years, the Bosomtwe district has undergone a series of land use conversions with remarkable forest losses especially between 2002 and 2010. In 2010 dense forest cover was degraded to low forest by 4040 ha indicating 0.40% transition probability in the future. There was a remarkable increase of built-up/bare and concrete area with a 380% increment in the 1986–2002 transition periods. The application of the Markov futuristic land use dynamics by the years 2018 and 2028, projected from the 2014 LULC indicated a future steady decline in the area coverage of the dense forest to low forest category. This is currently being driven (as at the 2017 LULC trends, by the combined effects of increasing build up bare and concrete surface land uses as well as the expanding recent fallows and grassland. The paper concluded that the health of the ecosystem and biodiversity of the lake Bosomtwe need to be sustainably managed by the Bosomtwe district assembly.

  2. Water Rights on Community Lands: LandMark’s Findings from 100 Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liz Alden Wily

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes whether national laws acknowledge indigenous peoples and other rural communities in 100 countries as owners of waters that arise within their lands. Results derive from information collected by LandMark to score the legal status of community land tenure. Findings are positive; half of all countries recognize communities as lawful possessors of water on their lands. Three quarters permit communities to manage the distribution and use of water on their lands. While 71 percent of countries declare water to be a public resource, this belies the substantial existence of privately owned water. In 29 percent of countries, private water is an identified legal category, and in many other countries obtainable rights to water are sufficiently substantial to imply lawful possession. Communities are beneficiaries mainly where customary rights are accorded status as property rights, or where ownership of public lands and water are devolved to rural collectives. However, opposite trends of nationalization and regulation of water suggest that while legal recognition of community land ownership may rise in the future, this will not necessarily include waters on the land. Irrespective of tenure, rural communities in 72 of 77 countries (93.5 percent are legally assured access to water for domestic purposes. This is consistent with the rising definition of safe drinking water as a human right, although access does not necessarily come free of cost.

  3. Assessment of the trade-offs and synergies between low-carbon power sector transition and land and water resources of the United Kingdom using the "ForeseerTM" approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konadu, D. D.; Sobral Mourao, Z.

    2016-12-01

    Transitioning to a low-carbon power system has been identified as one of the main strategies for achieving GHG emissions reduction targets stipulated in the UK Climate Change Act (2008). However, projected mix of technologies aimed at achieving the targeted level of decarbonisation have implications for sustainable level natural resource exploitation at different spatial and temporal scales. Critical among these are the impact on land use (food production) and water resources, which are usually not adequately analysed and accounted for in developing these long-term energy system transition strategies and scenarios. Given the importance of the UK power sector to meeting economy-wide emissions targets, the overall environmental consequence of the prescribed scenarios could significantly affect meeting long-term legislated GHG emission reduction targets. It is therefore imperative that synergies and trade-offs between the power systems and these resources are comprehensively analysed. The current study employs an integrated energy and resource use accounting methodology, called ForeseerTM, to assess the land and water requirement for the deployment of the power sector technologies of the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) Carbon Budget scenarios. This is analysed under different scenarios of energy crop yield and electricity infrastructure location. The outputs are then compared with sustainable limits of resource exploitation to establish the environmental tractability of the scenarios. The results show that even if stringent environmental and land use restrictions are applied, all the projected bioenergy and ground-mounted solar PV can be deployed within the UK with no significant impacts on land use and food production. However, inland water resources would be significantly affected if high Carbon Capture and Storage deployment, and without new nuclear capacity. Overall, the output highlights that contrary to the notion of the inevitability of CCS deployment in

  4. Stable water isotope simulation by current land-surface schemes:Results of IPILPS phase 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Henderson-Sellers, A.; Fischer, M.; Aleinov, I.; McGuffie, K.; Riley, W.J.; Schmidt, G.A.; Sturm, K.; Yoshimura, K.; Irannejad, P.

    2005-10-31

    Phase 1 of isotopes in the Project for Intercomparison of Land-surface Parameterization Schemes (iPILPS) compares the simulation of two stable water isotopologues ({sup 1}H{sub 2} {sup 18}O and {sup 1}H{sup 2}H{sup 16}O) at the land-atmosphere interface. The simulations are off-line, with forcing from an isotopically enabled regional model for three locations selected to offer contrasting climates and ecotypes: an evergreen tropical forest, a sclerophyll eucalypt forest and a mixed deciduous wood. Here we report on the experimental framework, the quality control undertaken on the simulation results and the method of intercomparisons employed. The small number of available isotopically-enabled land-surface schemes (ILSSs) limits the drawing of strong conclusions but, despite this, there is shown to be benefit in undertaking this type of isotopic intercomparison. Although validation of isotopic simulations at the land surface must await more, and much more complete, observational campaigns, we find that the empirically-based Craig-Gordon parameterization (of isotopic fractionation during evaporation) gives adequately realistic isotopic simulations when incorporated in a wide range of land-surface codes. By introducing two new tools for understanding isotopic variability from the land surface, the Isotope Transfer Function and the iPILPS plot, we show that different hydrological parameterizations cause very different isotopic responses. We show that ILSS-simulated isotopic equilibrium is independent of the total water and energy budget (with respect to both equilibration time and state), but interestingly the partitioning of available energy and water is a function of the models' complexity.

  5. Metastable liquid-liquid transition in a molecular model of water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, Jeremy C.; Martelli, Fausto; Liu, Yang; Car, Roberto; Panagiotopoulos, Athanassios Z.; Debenedetti, Pablo G.

    2014-06-01

    Liquid water's isothermal compressibility and isobaric heat capacity, and the magnitude of its thermal expansion coefficient, increase sharply on cooling below the equilibrium freezing point. Many experimental, theoretical and computational studies have sought to understand the molecular origin and implications of this anomalous behaviour. Of the different theoretical scenarios put forward, one posits the existence of a first-order phase transition that involves two forms of liquid water and terminates at a critical point located at deeply supercooled conditions. Some experimental evidence is consistent with this hypothesis, but no definitive proof of a liquid-liquid transition in water has been obtained to date: rapid ice crystallization has so far prevented decisive measurements on deeply supercooled water, although this challenge has been overcome recently. Computer simulations are therefore crucial for exploring water's structure and behaviour in this regime, and have shown that some water models exhibit liquid-liquid transitions and others do not. However, recent work has argued that the liquid-liquid transition has been mistakenly interpreted, and is in fact a liquid-crystal transition in all atomistic models of water. Here we show, by studying the liquid-liquid transition in the ST2 model of water with the use of six advanced sampling methods to compute the free-energy surface, that two metastable liquid phases and a stable crystal phase exist at the same deeply supercooled thermodynamic condition, and that the transition between the two liquids satisfies the thermodynamic criteria of a first-order transition. We follow the rearrangement of water's coordination shell and topological ring structure along a thermodynamically reversible path from the low-density liquid to cubic ice. We also show that the system fluctuates freely between the two liquid phases rather than crystallizing. These findings provide unambiguous evidence for a liquid-liquid transition in

  6. Global land-water nexus: Agricultural land and freshwater use embodied in worldwide supply chains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, B; Han, M Y; Peng, K; Zhou, S L; Shao, L; Wu, X F; Wei, W D; Liu, S Y; Li, Z; Li, J S; Chen, G Q

    2018-02-01

    As agricultural land and freshwater inextricably interrelate and interact with each other, the conventional water and land policy in "silos" should give way to nexus thinking when formulating the land and water management strategies. This study constructs a systems multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to expound global land-water nexus by simultaneously tracking agricultural land and freshwater use flows along the global supply chains. Furthermore, land productivity and irrigation water requirements of 160 crops in different regions are investigated to reflect the land-water linkage. Results show that developed economies (e.g., USA and Japan) and major large developing economies (e.g., mainland China and India) are the overriding drivers of agricultural land and freshwater use globally. In general, significant net transfers of these two resources are identified from resource-rich and less-developed economies to resource-poor and more-developed economies. For some crops, blue water productivity is inversely related to land productivity, indicating that irrigation water consumption is sometimes at odds with land use. The results could stimulus international cooperation for sustainable land and freshwater management targeting on original suppliers and final consumers along the global supply chains. Moreover, crop-specific land-water linkage could provide insights for trade-off decisions on minimizing the environmental impacts on local land and water resources. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Understanding Transitions Toward Sustainable Urban Water Management: Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, M. E.; Manago, K. F.; Treuer, G.; Deslatte, A.; Koebele, E.; Ernst, K.

    2016-12-01

    Cities in the United States face numerous threats to their long-term water supplies including preserving ecosystems, competing uses, and climate change. Yet, it is unclear why only some cities have transitioned toward more sustainable water management. These transitions include strategies such as water conservation, water supply portfolio diversification, long-term planning, and integrated resource management. While the circumstances that motivate or moderate transition may vary greatly across cities' physical and institutional contexts, identifying common factors associated with transition can help resource managers capitalize on windows of opportunity for change. To begin the process of identifying such factors, we ask two questions: 1) what combinations of conditions are associated with water management transitions?, and 2) what are the outcomes of these transitions? We examine three cases of utility-level water management in Miami, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles to create data-driven narratives detailing each city's transition. These narratives systematically synthesize multiple data sources to enable cross-case comparison and provide insights into how and why cities transition. Using the foundational concepts from the exposure-based theory of urban change, we focus our analysis on three broad categories of variables that influence urban water management transition: biophysical, political, and regulatory exposures. First, we compare these factors across time and across cities using metrics that standardize diverse data sources. Next, we incorporate qualitative factors that capture a city's unique conditions by integrating these metrics with salient contextual information. Then, through cross-city comparison, we identify factors associated with transition.

  8. 7 CFR 632.13 - Eligible lands and water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Eligible lands and water. 632.13 Section 632.13... lands and water. Lands and water eligible for reclamation are those that were mined for coal or were... lands and water are not eligible if: (a) There is continuing reclamation responsibility on the part of a...

  9. Investigation of transition metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer reactions in water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alderson, Juliet M; Corbin, Joshua R; Schomaker, Jennifer M

    2018-04-11

    Transition metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer is a powerful method for incorporating new CN bonds into relatively unfunctionalized scaffolds. In this communication, we report the first examples of site- and chemoselective CH bond amination reactions in aqueous media. The unexpected ability to employ water as the solvent in these reactions is advantageous in that it eliminates toxic solvent use and enables reactions to be run at increased concentrations with lower oxidant loadings. Using water as the reaction medium has potential to expand the scope of nitrene transfer to encompass a variety of biomolecules and highly polar substrates, as well as enable pH control over the site-selectivity of CH bond amination. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Land and the Sudanese transition to peace

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Domenico Polloni

    2005-11-01

    Full Text Available Land policy issues are not fully addressed in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. As IDPs return home, and lay claim to land and water use rights, disputes could threaten stability in south Sudan, the Three Areas, Darfur and eastern Sudan.

  11. Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Tamara; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Cameron, D. Richard

    2017-01-01

    With growing demand and highly variable inter-annual water supplies, California’s water use future is fraught with uncertainty. Climate change projections, anticipated population growth, and continued agricultural intensification, will likely stress existing water supplies in coming decades. Using a state-and-transition simulation modeling approach, we examine a broad suite of spatially explicit future land use scenarios and their associated county-level water use demand out to 2062. We examined a range of potential water demand futures sampled from a 20-year record of historical (1992–2012) data to develop a suite of potential future land change scenarios, including low/high change scenarios for urbanization and agriculture as well as “lowest of the low” and “highest of the high” anthropogenic use. Future water demand decreased 8.3 billion cubic meters (Bm3) in the lowest of the low scenario and decreased 0.8 Bm3 in the low agriculture scenario. The greatest increased water demand was projected for the highest of the high land use scenario (+9.4 Bm3), high agricultural expansion (+4.6 Bm3), and high urbanization (+2.1 Bm3) scenarios. Overall, these scenarios show agricultural land use decisions will likely drive future demand more than increasing municipal and industrial uses, yet improved efficiencies across all sectors could lead to potential water use savings. Results provide water managers with information on diverging land use and water use futures, based on historical, observed land change trends and water use histories.

  12. Land Use Transition and Human Health in the context of Climate ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Land Use Transition and Human Health in the context of Climate Change in the Eastern Himalayas. Land use change is ... it at the communal level. The overall goal is to reduce the vulnerability of mountain people to health issues caused by land use change using ecosystem approaches to human health (Ecohealth).

  13. Land use efficiency: anticipating future demand for land-sector greenhouse gas emissions abatement and managing trade-offs with agriculture, water, and biodiversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryan, Brett A; Crossman, Neville D; Nolan, Martin; Li, Jing; Navarro, Javier; Connor, Jeffery D

    2015-11-01

    Competition for land is increasing, and policy needs to ensure the efficient supply of multiple ecosystem services from land systems. We modelled the spatially explicit potential future supply of ecosystem services in Australia's intensive agricultural land in response to carbon markets under four global outlooks from 2013 to 2050. We assessed the productive efficiency of greenhouse gas emissions abatement, agricultural production, water resources, and biodiversity services and compared these to production possibility frontiers (PPFs). While interacting commodity markets and carbon markets produced efficient outcomes for agricultural production and emissions abatement, more efficient outcomes were possible for water resources and biodiversity services due to weak price signals. However, when only two objectives were considered as per typical efficiency assessments, efficiency improvements involved significant unintended trade-offs for the other objectives and incurred substantial opportunity costs. Considering multiple objectives simultaneously enabled the identification of land use arrangements that were efficient over multiple ecosystem services. Efficient land use arrangements could be selected that meet society's preferences for ecosystem service provision from land by adjusting the metric used to combine multiple services. To effectively manage competition for land via land use efficiency, market incentives are needed that effectively price multiple ecosystem services. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. A methodology to modify land uses in a transit oriented development scenario.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahu, Akshay

    2018-05-01

    Developing nations are adopting transit oriented development (TOD) strategies to decongest their transportation systems. These strategies are often adopted after the preparation of land use plans. The goal of this study was to build a methodology to modify these land uses using soft computing. This can help to achieve alternate land use plans relevant to TOD. The methodology incorporates TOD characteristics and objectives. Global TOD parameters (density, diversity, and distance to transit) were studied. Expert opinions gave weights and ranges for the parameters in an Indian TOD scenario. Rules to allocate land use was developed. Objective functions were defined. Four objectives were used. First was to maximize employment density, residential density and percent of mix land use. Second was to shape density and diversity with respect to distance. Third was to minimize degree of land use change, and fourth was to increase compactness of the land use allocation. The methodology was applied to two sectors of Naya Raipur, the new planned administrative capital of the state of Chhattisgarh, India. The city has implemented TOD in the form of Bus rapid transit system (BRTS) over an existing land use. Thousand random plans were generated through the methodology. Top 30 plans were selected as parent population for modifications through genetic algorithm (GA). Alternate plans were generated at the end of GA cycle. The best alternate plan was compared with successful BRTS and TOD land uses for its merits and demerits. It was also compared with the initial land use plan for empirical validation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. International trade, and land use intensification and spatial reorganization explain Costa Rica’s forest transition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jadin, I.; Meyfroidt, P.; Lambin, E. F.

    2016-03-01

    While tropical deforestation remains widespread, some countries experienced a forest transition—a shift from net deforestation to net reforestation. Costa Rica had one of the highest deforestation rates in the 1980s and is now considered as a model of environmental sustainability, despite being a major producer of bananas and pineapples. We tested three land use processes that are thought to facilitate forest transitions. First, forest transitions may be accompanied by land use displacement through international trade of land-based products, which may undermine the global-scale environmental benefits of national forest protection. Second, reforestation is often associated with land use intensification in agriculture and forestry, allowing for land sparing. Third, this intensification may partly result from a geographical redistribution of land use at the sub-national scale to better match land use with land suitability. These hypotheses were verified for Costa Rica’s forest transition. We also tested whether forest increased mainly in regions with a low ecological value and agriculture expanded in regions with a high ecological value. Intensification and land use redistribution accounted for 76% of land spared during the forest transition, with 32% of this spared area corresponding to net reforestation. Decreasing meat exports led to a contraction of pastures, freeing an area equivalent to 80% of the reforested area. The forest transition in Costa Rica was environmentally beneficial at the global scale, with the reforested area over 1989-2013 corresponding to 130% of the land use displaced abroad through imports of agricultural products. However, expansion of export-oriented cropland caused deforestation in the most ecologically valuable regions of Costa Rica. Moreover, wood extraction from forest plantations increased to produce the pallets needed to export fruits. This highlights the importance of a multi-scale analysis when evaluating causes and impacts of

  16. Erasing no-man's land by thermodynamically stabilizing the liquid-liquid transition in tetrahedral particles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smallenburg, Frank; Filion, Laura; Sciortino, Francesco

    2014-09-01

    One of the most controversial hypotheses for explaining the origin of the thermodynamic anomalies characterizing liquid water postulates the presence of a metastable second-order liquid-liquid critical point [1] located in the "no-man's land" [2]. In this scenario, two liquids with distinct local structure emerge near the critical temperature. Unfortunately, since spontaneous crystallization is rapid in this region, experimental support for this hypothesis relies on significant extrapolations, either from the metastable liquid or from amorphous solid water [3, 4]. Although the liquid-liquid transition is expected to feature in many tetrahedrally coordinated liquids, including silicon [5], carbon [6] and silica, even numerical studies of atomic and molecular models have been unable to conclusively prove the existence of this transition. Here we provide such evidence for a model in which it is possible to continuously tune the softness of the interparticle interaction and the flexibility of the bonds, the key ingredients controlling the existence of the critical point. We show that conditions exist where the full coexistence is thermodynamically stable with respect to crystallization. Our work offers a basis for designing colloidal analogues of water exhibiting liquid-liquid transitions in equilibrium, opening the way for experimental confirmation of the original hypothesis.

  17. Monitoring urban expansion and land use/land cover changes of Shanghai metropolitan area during the transitional economy (1979-2009) in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Jie; Yin, Zhane; Zhong, Haidong; Xu, Shiyuan; Hu, Xiaomeng; Wang, Jun; Wu, Jianping

    2011-06-01

    This study explored the spatio-temporal dynamics and evolution of land use/cover changes and urban expansion in Shanghai metropolitan area, China, during the transitional economy period (1979-2009) using multi-temporal satellite images and geographic information systems (GIS). A maximum likelihood supervised classification algorithm was employed to extract information from four landsat images, with the post-classification change detection technique and GIS-based spatial analysis methods used to detect land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes. The overall Kappa indices of land use/cover change maps ranged from 0.79 to 0.89. Results indicated that urbanization has accelerated at an unprecedented scale and rate during the study period, leading to a considerable reduction in the area of farmland and green land. Findings further revealed that water bodies and bare land increased, obviously due to large-scale coastal development after 2000. The direction of urban expansion was along a north-south axis from 1979 to 2000, but after 2000 this growth changed to spread from both the existing urban area and along transport routes in all directions. Urban expansion and subsequent LULC changes in Shanghai have largely been driven by policy reform, population growth, and economic development. Rapid urban expansion through clearing of vegetation has led to a wide range of eco-environmental degradation.

  18. Water-induced ethanol dewetting transition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Xiuping; Zhou, Bo; Wang, Chunlei

    2012-07-14

    The dewetting transitions of two hydrophobic plates immersed in pure water, aqueous ethanol solutions with concentrations from 25% to 90%, and pure ethanol were investigated by molecular dynamics simulations, where the dewetting transition was analogous to a first-order phase transition from liquid to vapor. It was found that the dewetting transitions occurred except that in the pure ethanol system. Although the ethanol molecules prefer to locate in the vicinity of the two plates, the inter-plate region is unfavorable for water molecules, due to losing more than one hydrogen bond. Moreover, each inter-plate water molecule forms hydrogen bonds on average with about two ethanol molecules. These intermolecular hydrogen bonds cause water and ethanol to cooperatively fill or exit the inter-plate region. Thus, water molecules play a more important role in the inter-plate filling/empty process, and induce the ethanol dewetting transition. Our results provide insight into the effect of water on the ethanol dewetting phenomena.

  19. Detroit regional transit study : a study of factors that enable and inhibit effective regional transit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-03-01

    An interdisciplinary team of six faculty members and six students at the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) conducted a : comprehensive study of the factors enabling or inhibiting development of effective regional transit. Focusing on Metro Detroit an...

  20. Land Market and Price of the Agricultural Land after the End of the Transitional Period

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dirgasová Katarína

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available After the end of the transition period for the purchase of the agricultural land by foreigners, the legislation regulating the acquisition of the agricultural land was adopted for the purpose of harmonization of the Slovak legislation with the legislation of the European Union. The Law no. 140/2014 Coll. on the acquisition of ownership to the agricultural land and amending and supplementing determines the subjects that are legitimated to acquire the ownership to the agricultural land. In addition, due to the creation of the Register of Offers of the Agricultural Land, the legislation allows the landowner to set a price on the sale of the agricultural land. In Slovakia, apart from the administrative prices and the market prices, there is a new type of prices, so-called „supply price“. The aim of the paper is to sum up the impact of the current legislation on the land market and the prices of agricultural land.

  1. Land use impacts of rapid transit: implications of recent experience. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Knight, R.L.; Trygg, L.L.

    1977-08-01

    Evidence of land use impacts of recent major rapid transit improvements are reviewed and conclusions drawn concerning the extent and nature of such impacts and the conditions under which they have occurred. Transit improvements studied are primarily post-World War II in origin. American and Canadian examples are stressed, although European experience is teated briefly. Virtually all major modern American and Canadian rapid transit investments are included, covering conventional rapid rail, commuter rail, light rail and bus/busway. In addition to conclusions on general patterns of land use impact and causes, research recommendations and Federal policy implications are drawn.

  2. Are land deals driving 'water grabs'?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Skinner, Jamie; Cotula, Lorenzo

    2011-11-15

    Investors in land often look for land with a high growing potential, which means land with lots of rainfall or land that can be irrigated. In multimillion dollar investments involving irrigation, investors typically want to secure water rights as part of the deal. Motivated by potential revenues from water fees and the prospect of improved agricultural productivity, many African governments are signing away water rights for decades to large investors. But they are doing so with little regard for how this will impact the millions of other users — from fishermen to pastoralists — whose livelihoods depend on customary access to water. Water managers must seriously consider the extent to which water rights should be linked to land in this way before setting a long-term precedent that could compromise sustainable and equitable supply to all users in the future.

  3. Creating an enabling environment for WR&R implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stathatou, P-M; Kampragou, E; Grigoropoulou, H; Assimacopoulos, D; Karavitis, C; Gironás, J

    2017-09-01

    Reclaimed water is receiving growing attention worldwide as an effective solution for alleviating the growing water scarcity in many areas. Despite the various benefits associated with reclaimed water, water recycling and reuse (WR&R) practices are not widely applied around the world. This is mostly due to complex and inadequate local legal and institutional frameworks and socio-economic structures, which pose barriers to wider WR&R implementation. An integrated approach is therefore needed while planning the implementation of WR&R schemes, considering all the potential barriers, and aiming to develop favourable conditions for enhancing reclaimed water use. This paper proposes a comprehensive methodology supporting the development of an enabling environment for WR&R implementation. The political, economic, social, technical, legal and institutional factors that may influence positively (drivers) or negatively (barriers) WR&R implementation in the regional water systems are identified, through the mapping of local stakeholder perceptions. The identified barriers are further analysed, following a Cross-Impact/System analysis, to recognize the most significant barriers inhibiting system transition, and to prioritize the enabling instruments and arrangements that are needed to boost WR&R implementation. The proposed methodology was applied in the Copiapó River Basin in Chile, which faces severe water scarcity. Through the analysis, it was observed that barriers outweigh drivers for the implementation of WR&R schemes in the Copiapó River Basin, while the key barriers which could be useful for policy formulation towards an enabling environment in the area concern the unclear legal framework regarding the ownership of treated wastewater, the lack of environmental policies focusing on pollution control, the limited integration of reclaimed water use in current land use and development policies, the limited public awareness on WR&R, and the limited availability of

  4. Water resources planning and modelling tools for the assessment of land use change in the Luvuvhu Catchment, South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jewitt, G. P. W.; Garratt, J. A.; Calder, I. R.; Fuller, L.

    In arid and semi-arid areas, total evaporation is a major component of the hydrological cycle and seasonal water shortages and drought are common. In these areas, the role of land use and land use change is particularly important and it is imperative that land and water resources are well managed. To aid efficient water management, it is useful to demonstrate how changing land use affects water resources. A convenient framework to consider this is through the use of the ‘blue-water’ and ‘green-water’ classification of Falkenmark, where green-water represents water use by land and blue-water represents runoff. In this study the hydrological response of nine land-use scenarios were simulated for the upper reaches of the Mutale River, an important tributary of the Luvuvhu River in S. Africa. The ACRU and HYLUC land use sensitive hydrological models, were used to investigate the change in blue and green water under the various land-use scenarios. The GIS software ArcGIS(8.3) was used to analyse available spatial data to generate inputs required by the hydrological models. The scenarios investigated included the current land use in the catchment, an increase or decrease in forest cover, and an increase or decrease in the area irrigated. Both models predict that increasing either forestry or irrigation significantly reduces the proportion of blue water in the catchment. The predictions from the models were combined with maps of catchment land use, to illustrate the changes in distribution of green and blue water in a user-friendly manner. The use of GIS in this way is designed to enable policy-makers and managers to quickly assimilate the water resource implication of the land use change.

  5. High-resolution Continental Scale Land Surface Model incorporating Land-water Management in United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, S.; Pokhrel, Y. N.

    2016-12-01

    Land surface models have been used to assess water resources sustainability under changing Earth environment and increasing human water needs. Overwhelming observational records indicate that human activities have ubiquitous and pertinent effects on the hydrologic cycle; however, they have been crudely represented in large scale land surface models. In this study, we enhance an integrated continental-scale land hydrology model named Leaf-Hydro-Flood to better represent land-water management. The model is implemented at high resolution (5km grids) over the continental US. Surface water and groundwater are withdrawn based on actual practices. Newly added irrigation, water diversion, and dam operation schemes allow better simulations of stream flows, evapotranspiration, and infiltration. Results of various hydrologic fluxes and stores from two sets of simulation (one with and the other without human activities) are compared over a range of river basin and aquifer scales. The improved simulations of land hydrology have potential to build consistent modeling framework for human-water-climate interactions.

  6. Enablers and barriers of men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy transitioning from an adult clinic within a pediatric hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindsay, Sally; McAdam, Laura; Mahendiran, Tania

    2017-01-01

    Young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) live into adulthood and need specialized care. However, services for adults are fragmented. We know little about young men's experiences, their parents, and clinicians who support them as they transition to adult care. To explore the enablers and barriers of clinicians, young men, and parents as they transition from an adult DMD clinic within a pediatric hospital to an adult health facility. We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 16 participants (7 clinicians, 5 parents, 4 youth). We used an open-coding, thematic approach to analyze the data. Clinicians, youth and their parents experienced several enablers and barriers in transitioning to an adult health care center. Clinicians reported that structural factors including leadership and advocacy supported the transition. Clinicians and parents found that the availability and continuity of care both enabled and hindered the transition. Parents and youth conveyed the difficulties of adjusting to the different model of adult care and also accessing resources. All participants described how relational factors (i.e., effective communication and family involvement) enabled the transition. On an individual level, clinicians, parents and youth viewed transition readiness and other life skill supports as an enabler and a barrier to transitioning. All participants reported the difficulties of maintaining mental health for youth with DMD transitioning to adult health care. Clinicians, youth, and parents experienced several enablers and barriers in transitioning to adult health care. Further work is needed to understand the complex transition needs of youth with DMD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. The water footprint of land grabbing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rulli, Maria Cristina; D'Odorico, Paolo

    2013-12-01

    increasing global demand for food, fibers, and biofuels has made investments in agriculture a priority for some governments and corporations eager to expand their agricultural production while securing good profits. Here we calculate the water appropriation associated with land deals at different negotiation and implementation stages. Using estimates of actual and potential evapotranspiration for the crops planted in the acquired land, we calculate the green and blue water appropriated by land investors under a variety of irrigation scenarios. We also determine the grey water footprint as the amount of water required to dilute to allowable standards the pollution resulting from fertilizer applications. We found that about 380 × 109 m3 yr-1 of rainwater is appropriated with the 43 million ha of reported contract area acquired by agri-investors (>240 × 109 m3 yr-1 in the 29 million ha of foreign acquisitions only). This water would be sufficient to feed ≈ 300-390 million people.

  8. EQUILIBRIUM OF WATER BALANCE AS A BASIC PRECONDITION OF PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF LAND AREA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K KUDRNA

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available The proportion of water balance components – precipitation, transpiration, evaporation, underground waters and surface runoff – is a determining factor of stabile development of land area. But this proportion can be considerably disturbed and is permanently changing. Certain many-year averages are usually accepted as a stable state. That is why, in the presented work, we have tried to defi ne water balance on symmetry and invariance principles, to express it as a limit state, which would characterize it as a natural principle and enable comparison with the present balance.

  9. Breathing air in air: in what ways might extant amphibious fish biology relate to prevailing concepts about early tetrapods, the evolution of vertebrate air breathing, and the vertebrate land transition?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graham, Jeffrey B; Lee, Heather J

    2004-01-01

    The air-breathing fishes have heuristic importance as possible models for the Paleozoic evolution of vertebrate air breathing and the transition to land. A recent hypothesis about this transition suggests that the diverse assemblage of marine amphibious fishes occurring primarily in tropical, high intertidal zone habitats are analogs of early tetrapods and that the intertidal zone, not tropical freshwater lowlands, was the springboard habitat for the Devonian land transition by vertebrates. Here we argue that selection pressures imposed by life in the intertidal zone are insufficient to have resulted in the requisite aerial respiratory capacity or the degree of separation from water required for the vertebrate land transition. The extant marine amphibious fishes, which occur mainly on rocky shores or mudflats, have reached the limit of their niche expansion onto land and remain tied to water by respiratory structures that are less efficient in air and more vulnerable to desiccation than lungs. We further argue that evolutionary contingencies actuated by the Devonian origin of the tetrapods marked a critical point of divergence for a way of life in which selection pressures would operate on the physiology, morphology, and natural history of the different vertebrate groups. While chronically hypoxic and shallow water conditions in the habitats of some primitive bony fishes and some amphibians appear similar to the conditions that prevailed in the Devonian, markedly different selection pressures have operated on other amphibians and bony fishes over the 300 million years since the vertebrate land transition. For example, both egg development and larval metamorphosis in extant amphibians are geared mainly toward compensating for the uncertainty of habitat water quality or even the absence of water by minimizing the time required to develop there. In contrast, reproduction by most intertidal (and amphibious) fishes, all of which are teleosts, remains dependent on a

  10. New findings and setting the research agenda for soil and water conservation for sustainable land management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keesstra, Saskia; Argaman, Eli; Gomez, Jose Alfonso; Quinton, John

    2014-05-01

    The session on soil and water conservation for sustainable land management provides insights into the current research producing viable measures for sustainable land management and enhancing the lands role as provider of ecosystem services. The insights into degradation processes are essential for designing and implementing feasible measures to mitigate against degradation of the land resource and adapt to the changing environment. Land degradation occurs due to multiple pressures on the land, such as population growth, land-use and land-cover changes, climate change and over exploitation of resources, often resulting in soil erosion due to water and wind, which occurs in many parts of the world. Understanding the processes of soil erosion by wind and water and the social and economic constraints faced by farmers forms an essential component of integrated land development projects. Soil and water conservation measures are only viable and sustainable if local environmental and socio-economic conditions are taken into account and proper enabling conditions and policies can be achieved. Land degradation increasingly occurs because land use, and farming systems are subject to rapid environmental and socio-economic changes without implementation of appropriate soil and water conservation technologies. Land use and its management are thus inextricably bound up with development; farmers must adapt in order to sustain the quality of their, and their families, lives. In broader perspective, soil and water conservation is needed as regulating ecosystem service and as a tool to enhance food security and biodiversity. Since land degradation occurs in many parts of the world and threatens food production and environmental stability it affects those countries with poorer soils and resilience in the agriculture sector first. Often these are the least developed countries. Therefore the work from researchers from developing countries together with knowledge from other disciplines

  11. Future hydrological alterations in the Mekong Delta under the impact of water resources development, land subsidence and sea level rise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thanh Duc Dang

    2018-02-01

    New hydrological insights for the region: Depending on hydrological characteristics of each region (river-dominated, transitional or tidal, the influence of each potential driver may vary. The operation of proposed hydropower dams would change river-dominated upper floodplain’s water levels by 26 to 70% and −0.8 to −5.9% in the dry and wet season respectively, but the impact diminishes throughout the floodplains. In the wet season, the upper Vietnamese Delta changes from a transitional stage to a river-dominated stage, and localized water infrastructure development in the upper delta has the greatest effect on water levels in the region. Land subsidence combined with sea level rise could have the greatest future influence on flooding in the delta if current rates are extrapolated. Sustainable water management strategies are thus necessary to mitigate changes in the floodplains and delta and increase resilience to sea level rise and land subsidence.

  12. Understanding Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics from 1976 to 2014 in Yellow River Delta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baolei Zhang

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Long-term intensive land use/cover changes (LUCCs of the Yellow River Delta (YRD have been happening since the 1960s. The land use patterns of the LUCCs are crucial for bio-diversity conservation and/or sustainable development. This study quantified patterns of the LUCCs, explored the systematic transitions, and identified wetland change trajectory for the period 1976–2014 in the YRD. Landsat imageries of 1976, 1984, 1995, 2006, and 2014 were used to derive nine land use classes. Post classification change detection analysis based on enhanced transition matrix was applied to identify land use dynamics and trajectory of wetland change. The five cartographic outputs for changes in land use underlined major decreases in natural wetland areas and increases in artificial wetland and non-wetland, especially aquafarms, salt pans and construction lands. The systematic transitions in the YRD were wetland degradation, wetland artificialization, and urbanization. Wetland change trajectory results demonstrated that the main wetland changes were wetland degradation and wetland artificialization. Coastline change is the subordinate reason for natural wetland degradation in comparison with human activities. The results of this study allowed for an improvement in the understanding of the LUCC processes and enabled researchers and planners to focus on the most important signals of systematic landscape transitions while also allowing for a better understanding of the proximate causes of changes.

  13. Datasets related to in-land water for limnology and remote sensing applications: distance-to-land, distance-to-water, water-body identifier and lake-centre co-ordinates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrea, Laura; Embury, Owen; Merchant, Christopher J

    2015-11-01

    Datasets containing information to locate and identify water bodies have been generated from data locating static-water-bodies with resolution of about 300 m (1/360 ∘ ) recently released by the Land Cover Climate Change Initiative (LC CCI) of the European Space Agency. The LC CCI water-bodies dataset has been obtained from multi-temporal metrics based on time series of the backscattered intensity recorded by ASAR on Envisat between 2005 and 2010. The new derived datasets provide coherently: distance to land, distance to water, water-body identifiers and lake-centre locations. The water-body identifier dataset locates the water bodies assigning the identifiers of the Global Lakes and Wetlands Database (GLWD), and lake centres are defined for in-land waters for which GLWD IDs were determined. The new datasets therefore link recent lake/reservoir/wetlands extent to the GLWD, together with a set of coordinates which locates unambiguously the water bodies in the database. Information on distance-to-land for each water cell and the distance-to-water for each land cell has many potential applications in remote sensing, where the applicability of geophysical retrieval algorithms may be affected by the presence of water or land within a satellite field of view (image pixel). During the generation and validation of the datasets some limitations of the GLWD database and of the LC CCI water-bodies mask have been found. Some examples of the inaccuracies/limitations are presented and discussed. Temporal change in water-body extent is common. Future versions of the LC CCI dataset are planned to represent temporal variation, and this will permit these derived datasets to be updated.

  14. Water en Land

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P.J.E.M. van Dam

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Water and Dry LandWater management has always been a major concern. Dutch pragmatism certainly has roots in water management, but it is also rooted in the culture of meetings of the Dutch cities and in the attitude of the peasant who produced for the market very early on. Water control reached its height when we introduced reinforced concrete for hydraulic engineering. Around 1970, the ecological turning point caused a change in focus. Water managers became concerned about the quality of water, the creation of ‘new nature’ and the adaptation to water. In this way, we did not discard the assets of the Industrial Revolution, but rather put them into a new framework: more green in the blue. Water is by definition international. The Netherlands co-parented the international cooperation of the Rhine countries. Is this history part of our national consciousness? Can the water history of the South- and Eastern Netherlands also join in the national water history of the twentieth century?

  15. SESSION V: INTEGRATED APPROACHES IN LAND AND WATER ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    SESSION V: INTEGRATED APPROACHES IN LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT RESEARCH/LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT ECONOMICS AND POLICY - Socioeconomic implications of improved forage species on smallholder farms in Kenya.

  16. Multiregional input-output model for China's farm land and water use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Shan; Shen, Geoffrey Qiping

    2015-01-06

    Land and water are the two main drivers of agricultural production. Pressure on farm land and water resources is increasing in China due to rising food demand. Domestic trade affects China's regional farm land and water use by distributing resources associated with the production of goods and services. This study constructs a multiregional input-output model to simultaneously analyze China's farm land and water uses embodied in consumption and interregional trade. Results show a great similarity for both China's farm land and water endowments. Shandong, Henan, Guangdong, and Yunnan are the most important drivers of farm land and water consumption in China, even though they have relatively few land and water resource endowments. Significant net transfers of embodied farm land and water flows are identified from the central and western areas to the eastern area via interregional trade. Heilongjiang is the largest farm land and water supplier, in contrast to Shanghai as the largest receiver. The results help policy makers to comprehensively understand embodied farm land and water flows in a complex economy network. Improving resource utilization efficiency and reshaping the embodied resource trade nexus should be addressed by considering the transfer of regional responsibilities.

  17. Linking Spatial Variations in Water Quality with Water and Land Management using Multivariate Techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Yongshan; Qian, Yun; Migliaccio, Kati White; Li, Yuncong; Conrad, Cecilia

    2014-03-01

    Most studies using multivariate techniques for pollution source evaluation are conducted in free-flowing rivers with distinct point and nonpoint sources. This study expanded on previous research to a managed "canal" system discharging into the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, where water and land management is the single most important anthropogenic factor influencing water quality. Hydrometric and land use data of four drainage basins were uniquely integrated into the analysis of 25 yr of monthly water quality data collected at seven stations to determine the impact of water and land management on the spatial variability of water quality. Cluster analysis (CA) classified seven monitoring stations into four groups (CA groups). All water quality parameters identified by discriminant analysis showed distinct spatial patterns among the four CA groups. Two-step principal component analysis/factor analysis (PCA/FA) was conducted with (i) water quality data alone and (ii) water quality data in conjunction with rainfall, flow, and land use data. The results indicated that PCA/FA of water quality data alone was unable to identify factors associated with management activities. The addition of hydrometric and land use data into PCA/FA revealed close associations of nutrients and color with land management and storm-water retention in pasture and citrus lands; total suspended solids, turbidity, and NO + NO with flow and Lake Okeechobee releases; specific conductivity with supplemental irrigation supply; and dissolved O with wetland preservation. The practical implication emphasizes the importance of basin-specific land and water management for ongoing pollutant loading reduction and ecosystem restoration programs. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  18. LANDSAT-1 data as it has been applied for land use and water quality data by the Virginia State Water Control Board. 1: The state project. 2: Monitoring water quality from LANDSAT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trexler, P. L.; Barker, J. L.

    1975-01-01

    LANDSAT-1 imagery has been used for water quality and land use monitoring in and around the Swift Creek and Lake Chesdin Reservoirs in Virginia. This has proved useful by (1) helping determine valid reservoir sampling stations, (2) monitoring areas not accessible by land or water, (3) giving the State a viable means of measuring Secchi depth readings in these inaccessible areas, (4) giving an overview of trends in changing sedimentation loadings over a given time period and classifying these waters into various categories, (5) enabling the State to inventory all major lakes and reservoirs and computing their acreage, (6) monitoring land use changes in any specific area, (7) evaluating possible long-term environmental effects of nearby developments, and (8) monitoring and predicting population shifts with possible impact on water quality problems. The main problems in the long-term use of such imagery appear to be cost and lack of consistency due to cloud cover limitations.

  19. Intersects between Land, Energy, Water and the Climate System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hibbard, K. A.; Skaggs, R.; Wilson, T.

    2012-12-01

    Climate change affects water, and land resources, and with growing human activity, each of these sectors relies increasingly on the others for critical resources. Events such as drought across the South Central U.S. during 2011 demonstrate that climatic impacts within each of these sectors can cascade through interactions between sectors. Energy, water, and land resources are each vulnerable to impacts on either of the other two sectors. For example, energy systems inherently require land and water. Increased electricity demands to contend with climate change can impose additional burdens on overly subscribed water resources. Within this environment, energy systems compete for water with agriculture, human consumption, and other needs. In turn, climate driven changes in landscape attributes and land use affect water quality and availability as well as energy demands. Diminishing water quality and availability impose additional demands for energy to access and purify water, and for land to store and distribute water. In some situations, interactions between water, energy, and land resources make options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions vulnerable to climate change. Energy options such as solar power or biofuel use can reduce net greenhouse gas emissions as well as U.S. dependence on foreign resources. As a result, the U.S. is expanding renewable energy systems. Advanced technology such as carbon dioxide capture with biofuels may offer a means of removing CO2 from the atmosphere. But as with fossil fuels, renewable energy sources can impose significant demands for water and land. For example, solar power mayrequire significant land to site facilities and water for cooling or to produce steam. Raising crops to produce biofuels uses arable land and water that might otherwise be available for food production. Thus, warmer and drier climate can compromise these renewable energy resources, and drought can stress water supplies creating competition between energy

  20. Understanding the Impact of Intensive Horticulture Land-Use Practices on Surface Water Quality in Central Kenya

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faith K. Muriithi

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Rapid expansion of commercial horticulture production and related activities contribute to declining surface water quality. The study sought to understand the impacts on select rivers in Laikipia and Meru, production hotspots. The specific aims were (1 to identify prevailing surface water quality by examining variations of 14 physico-chemical parameters, and (2 to categorize measured surface water quality parameters into land use types highlighting potential pollutant source processes. Water samples were collected in July and August 2013 along 14 rivers in the study area. The data were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA and discriminant analysis (DA. Principal components (PCs explained 70% of the observed total variability of water quality, indicating a prevalence of heavy metal traces (cadmium, phosphate, and zinc. These were linked to the rigorous use of phosphate fertilizers and copper-based agrochemicals in intensive farming. DA provided four significant (p < 0.05 discriminant functions, with 89.5% correct assignment enabling the association of land use with observed water quality. Concentrations of dissolved solids, electro-conductivity, and salinity spiked at locations with intensive small-scale and large-scale horticulture. Understanding the impacts of intensive commercial horticulture and land use practices on water quality is critical to formulating ecologically sound watershed management and pollution abatement plans.

  1. Continuous fields of land cover for the conterminous United States using Landsat data: First results from the Web-Enabled Landsat Data (WELD) project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, M.C.; Egorov, Alexey; Roy, David P.; Potapov, P.; Ju, J.; Turubanova, S.; Kommareddy, I.; Loveland, Thomas R.

    2011-01-01

    Vegetation Continuous Field (VCF) layers of 30 m percent tree cover, bare ground, other vegetation and probability of water were derived for the conterminous United States (CONUS) using Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data sets from the Web-Enabled Landsat Data (WELD) project. Turnkey approaches to land cover characterization were enabled due to the systematic WELD Landsat processing, including conversion of digital numbers to calibrated top of atmosphere reflectance and brightness temperature, cloud masking, reprojection into a continental map projection and temporal compositing. Annual, seasonal and monthly WELD composites for 2008 were used as spectral inputs to a bagged regression and classification tree procedure using a large training data set derived from very high spatial resolution imagery and available ancillary data. The results illustrate the ability to perform Landsat land cover characterizations at continental scales that are internally consistent while retaining local spatial and thematic detail.

  2. Multi-Scale Hydrometeorological Modeling, Land Data Assimilation and Parameter Estimation with the Land Information System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters-Lidard, Christa D.

    2011-01-01

    The Land Information System (LIS; http://lis.gsfc.nasa.gov) is a flexible land surface modeling framework that has been developed with the goal of integrating satellite-and ground-based observational data products and advanced land surface modeling techniques to produce optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes. As such, LIS represents a step towards the next generation land component of an integrated Earth system model. In recognition of LIS object-oriented software design, use and impact in the land surface and hydrometeorological modeling community, the LIS software was selected as a co-winner of NASA?s 2005 Software of the Year award.LIS facilitates the integration of observations from Earth-observing systems and predictions and forecasts from Earth System and Earth science models into the decision-making processes of partnering agency and national organizations. Due to its flexible software design, LIS can serve both as a Problem Solving Environment (PSE) for hydrologic research to enable accurate global water and energy cycle predictions, and as a Decision Support System (DSS) to generate useful information for application areas including disaster management, water resources management, agricultural management, numerical weather prediction, air quality and military mobility assessment. LIS has e volved from two earlier efforts -- North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) that focused primarily on improving numerical weather prediction skills by improving the characterization of the land surface conditions. Both of GLDAS and NLDAS now use specific configurations of the LIS software in their current implementations.In addition, LIS was recently transitioned into operations at the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) to ultimately replace their Agricultural Meteorology (AGRMET) system, and is also used routinely by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/Environmental Modeling

  3. WATER SUPPLY PIPE REPLACEMENT CONSIDERING SUSTAINABLE TRANSITION TO POPULATION DECREASED SOCIETY

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosoi, Yoshihiko; Iwasaki, Yoji; Aklog, Dagnachew; Masuda, Takanori

    Social infrastructures are aging and population is decreasing in Japan. The aged social infrastructures should be renewed. At the same time, they are required to be moved into new framework suitable for population decreased societies. Furthermore, they have to continue to supply sufficient services even during transition term that renewal projects are carried out. Authors propose sustainable soft landing management of infrastructures and it is tried to apply to water supply pipe replacement in this study. Methodology to replace aged pipes not only aiming for the new water supply network which suits for population decreased condition but also ensuring supply service and feasibility while the project is carried out was developed. It is applied for a model water supply network and discussions were carried out.

  4. Enabling Water-Energy–Food Nexus: A New Approach for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Mountainous Landlocked Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tek Bahadur Gurung

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Majority of landlocked mountainous countries are poorly ranked in Human Development Index (HDI, mostly due to poor per capita agriculture production, increasing population, unemployment, expensive and delayed transportation including several other factors. Generally, economy of such countries substantially relies on subsistence agriculture, tourism, hydropower and largely on remittance etc. Recently, it has been argued that to utilize scarce suitable land efficiently for food production, poor inland transport, hydropower, irrigation, drinking water in integration with other developmental infrastructures, an overarching policy linking water - energy – food nexus within a country for combating water, energy and food security would be most relevant. Thus, in present paper it has been opined that promotion of such linkage via nexus approach is the key to sustainable development of landlocked mountainous countries. Major land mass in mountainous countries like Nepal remains unsuitable for agriculture, road and other infrastructure profoundly imposing food, nutrition and energy security. However, large pristine snowy mountains function as wildlife sanctuaries, pastures, watershed, recharge areas for regional and global water, food and energy security. In return, landlocked mountainous countries are offered certain international leverages. For more judicious trade off, it is recommended that specific countries aerial coverage of mountains would be more appropriate basis for such leverages. Moreover, for sustainability of mountainous countries an integrated approach enabling water - energy – food nexus via watershed-hydropower-irrigation-aquaculture-agriculture-integrated linking policy model is proposed. This model would enable protection of watershed for pico, micro, and mega hydro power plants and tail waters to be used for aquaculture or irrigation or drinking water purposes for food and nutrition security.

  5. Effects of land use change on soil carbon storage and water consumption in an oasis-desert ecotone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lü, Yihe; Ma, Zhimin; Zhao, Zhijiang; Sun, Feixiang; Fu, Bojie

    2014-06-01

    Land use and ecosystem services need to be assessed simultaneously to better understand the relevant factors in sustainable land management. This paper analyzed land use changes in the middle reach of the arid Heihe River Basin in northwest China over the last two decades and their impacts on water resources and soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. The results indicated that from 1986 to 2007: (1) cropland and human settlements expanded by 45.0 and 17.6%, respectively, at the expense of 70.1, 35.7, and 4.1% shrinkage on woodland, grassland, and semi-shrubby desert; (2) irrigation water use was dominant and increased (with fluctuations) at an average rate of 8.2%, while basic human water consumption increased monotonically over a longer period from 1981 to 2011 at a rate of 58%; and (3) cropland expansion or continuous cultivation led to a significant reduction of SOC, while the land use transition from grassland to semi-shrubby desert and the progressive succession of natural ecosystems such as semi-shrubby desert and grassland, in contrast, can bring about significant carbon sequestration benefits. The increased water consumption and decreased SOC pool associated with some observed land use changes may induce and aggravate potential ecological risks for both local and downstream ecosystems, including water resource shortages, soil quality declines, and degeneration of natural vegetation. Therefore, it is necessary to balance socioeconomic wellbeing and ecosystem services in land use planning and management for the sustainability of socio-ecological systems across spatiotemporal scales, especially in resource-poor arid environments.

  6. Effects of Land Use Change on Soil Carbon Storage and Water Consumption in an Oasis-Desert Ecotone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lü, Yihe; Ma, Zhimin; Zhao, Zhijiang; Sun, Feixiang; Fu, Bojie

    2014-06-01

    Land use and ecosystem services need to be assessed simultaneously to better understand the relevant factors in sustainable land management. This paper analyzed land use changes in the middle reach of the arid Heihe River Basin in northwest China over the last two decades and their impacts on water resources and soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. The results indicated that from 1986 to 2007: (1) cropland and human settlements expanded by 45.0 and 17.6 %, respectively, at the expense of 70.1, 35.7, and 4.1 % shrinkage on woodland, grassland, and semi-shrubby desert; (2) irrigation water use was dominant and increased (with fluctuations) at an average rate of 8.2 %, while basic human water consumption increased monotonically over a longer period from 1981 to 2011 at a rate of 58 %; and (3) cropland expansion or continuous cultivation led to a significant reduction of SOC, while the land use transition from grassland to semi-shrubby desert and the progressive succession of natural ecosystems such as semi-shrubby desert and grassland, in contrast, can bring about significant carbon sequestration benefits. The increased water consumption and decreased SOC pool associated with some observed land use changes may induce and aggravate potential ecological risks for both local and downstream ecosystems, including water resource shortages, soil quality declines, and degeneration of natural vegetation. Therefore, it is necessary to balance socioeconomic wellbeing and ecosystem services in land use planning and management for the sustainability of socio-ecological systems across spatiotemporal scales, especially in resource-poor arid environments.

  7. Land subsidence caused by a single water extraction well and rapid water infiltration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Martinez-Noguez

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays several parts of the world suffer from land subsidence. This setting of the earth surface occurs due to different factors such as earth quakes, mining activities, and gas, oil and water withdrawal. This research presents a numerical study of the influence of land subsidence caused by a single water extraction well and rapid water infiltration into structural soil discontinuities. The numerical simulation of the infiltration was based on a two-phase flow-model for porous media, and for the deformation a Mohr–Coulomb model was used. A two-layered system with a fault zone is presented. First a single water extraction well is simulated producing a cone-shaped (conical water level depletion, which can cause land subsidence. Land Subsidence can be further increased if a hydrological barrier as a result of a discontinuity, exists. After water extraction a water column is applied on the top boundary for one hours in order to represent a strong storm which produces rapid water infiltration through the discontinuity as well as soil deformation. Both events are analysed and compared in order to characterize deformation of both elements and to get a better understanding of the land subsidence and new fracture formations.

  8. Changes in landing mechanics after cold-water immersion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, He; Toner, Michael M; Lemonda, Thomas J; Zohar, Mor

    2010-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of cold-water immersion on kinematics and kinetics during a drop-landing task. On four separate occasions, 9 men performed drop-landings from a 0.6-m platform to a force platform following 30-min immersion to the hip-joint in thermoneutral water (control; 34 degrees C) and in cold water (20 degrees C) to the ankle (low level), knee (medium level), and hip (high level) joints. Sagittal plane kinematics and kinetics were determined. One-way repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis. Compared to the control, the low-level condition had similar joint mechanics, the medium level showed 26% less ankle mechanical work (p = .003), and the high level showed 9% less vertical ground reaction force (p = .025) and 23% less ankle mechanical work (p = .023) with 18% greater trunk flexion (p = .024). In summary, the low-level cold-water immersion had no effect on landing mechanics. The medium- and high-level cold-water immersion resulted in a reduction in impact absorption at the ankle joint during landing. The increased trunk flexion after high-level immersion helped dissipate landing impact.

  9. Mediterranean water cycle changes: transition to drier 21st century conditions in observations and CMIP3 simulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mariotti, Annarita; Zeng Ning; Yoon, Jin-Ho; Artale, Vincenzo; Navarra, Antonio; Alpert, Pinhas; Li, Laurent Z X

    2008-01-01

    We use CMIP3 multi-model simulations to show how individual hydroclimatic changes will concur to determine even greater alterations of 21st century Mediterranean water cycle characteristics, with contrasting behavior over land and sea. By 2070-2099, the average of the models predicts a 20% decrease in land surface water availability and a 24% increase in the loss of fresh water over the Mediterranean Sea due to precipitation reduction and warming-enhanced evaporation, with a remarkably high consensus among analyzed models. The projected decrease in river runoff from the surrounding land will further exacerbate the increase in Mediterranean Sea fresh water deficit. 20th century simulations indicate that the 'transition' toward drier conditions has already started to occur and has accelerated around the turn of the century towards the larger rates projected for the 21st century. These tendencies are supported by observational evidence of century-long negative trends in regionally averaged precipitation, PDSI and discharge from numerous rivers; and are consistent with reported increases in Mediterranean sea water salinity.

  10. Evaluating Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Change on Water Resources in Semiarid Regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scanlon, B. R.; Faunt, C. C.; Pool, D. R.; Reedy, R. C.

    2017-12-01

    Land use/land cover (LU/LC) changes play an integral role in water resources by controlling the partitioning of water at the land surface. Here we evaluate impacts of changing LU/LC on water resources in response to climate variation and change and land use change related to agriculture using data from semiarid regions in the southwestern U.S. Land cover changes in response to climate can amplify or dampen climate impacts on water resources. Changes from wet Pleistocene to much drier Holocene climate resulted in expansion of perennial vegetation, amplifying climate change impacts on water resources by reducing groundwater recharge as shown in soil profiles in the southwestern U.S.. In contrast, vegetation response to climate extremes, including droughts and floods, dampen impacts of these extremes on water resources, as shown by water budget monitoring in the Mojave Desert. Agriculture often involves changes from native perennial vegetation to annual crops increasing groundwater recharge in many semiarid regions. Irrigation based on conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater increases water resource availability, as shown in the Central Valley of California and in southern Arizona. Surface water irrigation in these regions is enhanced by water transported from more humid settings through extensive pipelines. These projects have reversed long-term declining groundwater trends in some regions. While irrigation design has often focused on increased efficiency, "more crop per drop", optimal water resource management may benefit more from inefficient (e.g. flood irrigation) surface-water irrigation combined with efficient (e.g. subsurface drip) irrigation to maximize groundwater recharge, as seen in parts of the Central Valley. Flood irrigation of perennial crops, such as almonds and vineyards, during winter is being considered in the Central Valley to enhance groundwater recharge. Managed aquifer recharge can be considered a special case of conjunctive use of

  11. Adapting to climate change by water management organisations: Enablers and barriers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azhoni, Adani; Jude, Simon; Holman, Ian

    2018-04-01

    Climate change will be particularly experienced though the medium of water. Water organisations, that are managing societal and ecological needs for water, are therefore likely to experience the impact the most. This study reviews the current literature regarding adaptation to climate change by water management organisations and associated barriers. Literature on adaptive capacity is growing and a general consensus is emerging on the determinants of adaptive capacity, although variations exist regarding how it is to be evaluated, enhanced and applied to policy making due to its dynamic, contextual and latent nature. Since adaptive capacity is hard to measure and successful adaptation difficult to define, some studies focus on the existence of adaptation attributes of organisations. Studies reporting successful adaptation are minimal and barriers of adaptation are being discovered as adaptation research transitions into implementation. But the root causes of these barriers are often overlooked and the interconnectedness of the barriers is poorly addressed. Increasingly, combining top-down and bottom-up approaches to adaptation is being recommended due to the limitations of each. However, knowledge regarding how organisations operating at different scales can enhance adaptive capacity of other organisations operating at another scale is lacking due to the few studies of inter-organisational networks across scales. Social networks among actors are recognised as a key factor to enable adaptation. However, network studies generally focus on individual actors and rarely between public agencies/organisations. Moreover, the current literature is inadequate to understand the relationship between adaptation enabling characteristics, barriers and adaptation manifestation. The review demonstrates that research on understanding the emergence and sustenance of barriers is urgently required. Addressing these knowledge gaps will help to improve the design of adaptation strategies

  12. Gendered Access and Control Over Land and Water Resources in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna N. Sikira

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper assessed the gendered access and control over land and water, using the Ihemi cluster of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT as a study area. Specifically, the paper answered the question on how decisions are made between men and women over land and water in the SAGCOT area, as well as how access and control over land and water is conducted. Data for this paper was drawn from the baseline study which was conducted for the project known as Laying Foundation for Effective Landscape-level Planning for Sustainable Development (LiFELand. A cross-sectional research design was used, whereby a questionnaire was administered to 167 women and 440 men. In addition, focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also conducted to complement and allow triangulation of data. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively; while, qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. In general, the results show that female headed households accounted for more than a quarter of the surveyed households; the number was slightly higher in the Njombe region. Results further show that women had no control over land and water as important productive resources in rural areas. The results also show that a larger proportion of both men and women had no right of occupancy over the land they owned hence their inability to use it as collateral in accessing loans from formal financial institutions. The paper therefore recommends efforts be made to empower women, hence enabling them to actively participate in decision-making, particularly regarding land and water. Equitable decision-making power can immensely enhance ecosystem conservation and sustainable utilization over land and water as women are the major actors in agriculture. To achieve gender equality there is a need for awareness creation for both men and women using gender sensitive programs that will allow not only equality in use but a sustainable utilization of Land

  13. Turbulent flow over an interactive alternating land-water surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Heerwaarden, C.; Mellado, J. P.

    2014-12-01

    The alternating land-water surface is a challenging surface to represent accurately in weather and climate models, but it is of great importance for the surface energy balance in polar regions. The complexity of this surface lies in the fact that secondary circulations, which form at the boundary of water and land, interact strongly with the surface energy balance. Due to its large heat capacity, the water temperature adapts slowly to the flow, thus the properties of the atmosphere determine the uptake of energy from the water. In order to study this complex system in a simpler way, retaining only the most essential physics, we have simplified the full surface energy balance including radiation. We have derived a boundary condition that mimics the full balance and can be formulated as a so-called Robin boundary condition: a linear combination of Dirichlet (fixed temperature) and Neumann (fixed temperature gradient) ones. By spatially varying the coefficients, we are able to express land and water using this boundary condition. We have done a series of direct numerical simulations in which we generate artificial land-water patterns from noise created from a Gaussian spectrum centered around a dominant wave number. This method creates realistic random patterns, but we are still in control of the length scales. We show that the system can manifest itself in three regimes: micro-, meso- and macro-scale. In the micro-scale, we find perfect mixing of the near-surface atmosphere that results in identical air properties over water and land. In the meso-scale, secondary circulations alter the heat exchange considerably by advecting air between land and water. In addition, they bring the surface temperature of the land closer to that of the air, thereby modulating the energy loss due to outgoing longwave radiation. In the macro-scale regime, the flow over land and water become independent of each other and only the large scale forcings determine the energy balance.

  14. Monitoring conterminous United States (CONUS) land cover change with Web-Enabled Landsat Data (WELD)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, M.C.; Egorov, Alexey; Potapov, P.V.; Stehman, S.V.; Tyukavina, A.; Turubanova, S.A.; Roy, David P.; Goetz, S.J.; Loveland, Thomas R.; Ju, J.; Kommareddy, A.; Kovalskyy, Valeriy; Forsyth, C.; Bents, T.

    2014-01-01

    Forest cover loss and bare ground gain from 2006 to 2010 for the conterminous United States (CONUS) were quantified at a 30 m spatial resolution using Web-Enabled Landsat Data available from the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) (http://landsat.usgs.gov/WELD.php). The approach related multi-temporal WELD metrics and expert-derived training data for forest cover loss and bare ground gain through a decision tree classification algorithm. Forest cover loss was reported at state and ecoregional scales, and the identification of core forests' absent of change was made and verified using LiDAR data from the GLAS (Geoscience Laser Altimetry System) instrument. Bare ground gain correlated with population change for large metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) outside of desert or semi-desert environments. GoogleEarth™ time-series images were used to validate the products. Mapped forest cover loss totaled 53,084 km2 and was found to be depicted conservatively, with a user's accuracy of 78% and a producer's accuracy of 68%. Excluding errors of adjacency, user's and producer's accuracies rose to 93% and 89%, respectively. Mapped bare ground gain equaled 5974 km2 and nearly matched the estimated area from the reference (GoogleEarth™) classification; however, user's (42%) and producer's (49%) accuracies were much less than those of the forest cover loss product. Excluding errors of adjacency, user's and producer's accuracies rose to 62% and 75%, respectively. Compared to recent 2001–2006 USGS National Land Cover Database validation data for forest loss (82% and 30% for respective user's and producer's accuracies) and urban gain (72% and 18% for respective user's and producer's accuracies), results using a single CONUS-scale model with WELD data are promising and point to the potential for national-scale operational mapping of key land cover transitions. However, validation results highlighted limitations, some of which can be addressed by

  15. Impact of Past Land Use Changes on Drinking Water Quantity and Quality in Ljubljana Aquifer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bracic Zeleznik, Branka; Cencur Curk, Barbara

    2010-05-01

    Most of the practical problems that we face today with the on-site management of drinking water sources and distribution of healthy drinking water, originate from past actions, interventions and political decisions. In Ljubljana, the capital of the Republic of Slovenia, underlying groundwater is the main drinking water source. The main threat to drinking water sources is constant input of pollutant loads from roads, roofs, sewers, industry and agricultural areas. The main problems are directly and indirectly related to the significant decrease of groundwater level and deterioration of groundwater quality observed in the last decades as an effect of land use practices under varying climate conditions. The Vodovod-Kanalizacija Public Utility is responsible for water supply of the city residents as well as for management of the water supply system, its surveillance and maintenance. In the past, the Ljubljana Municipality was responsible for the protection of water resources and the first delineation of groundwater protection areas was issued in Decree in 1955. In 2004 a Decree on the water protection zones for the aquifer of Ljubljansko polje on the state level was issued and passed the competences of proclamation of the water protection zones to the state. Spatial planning is a domain of The Municipality and land use is limited according to water protection legislation. For several observation wells long-time data sets about groundwater levels and quality are available, which enable us to analyse changes in groundwater quantity and quality parameters. From the data it is obvious that climate variations are affecting groundwater recharge. In addition, changing of land use affects groundwater quality. In spite of the Decree on the water protection there is a heavy pressure of investors to change land use plans and regulations on protection zones, which causes every day problems in managing the drinking water source. Groundwater management in Ljubljana demands strong

  16. The Use of Stable Isotope Tracers to Quantify the Transit Time Distribution of Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, T. M.; Troch, P. A. A.

    2016-12-01

    Water pollution is an important societal problem because it can have harmful effects on human and ecological health. In order to improve water quality, scientists must develop land management methods that can avoid or mitigate environmental pollution. State of the art tools to develop such methods are flow and transport models that trace water and other solutes through the landscape. These models deliver important information that can lead to remediation efforts, and improve the quality of water for humans, plants, and animals. However, these models may be difficult to apply since many details about the catchment may not be available. Instead, a lumped approach is often used to find the water transit time using stable isotope tracers such as 18O and 2H that are naturally applied by precipitation to a catchment. The transit time distribution of water is an important indicator for the amount of solutes soil water and groundwater can contain, and thus a predictor of water quality. We conducted a 2-week long experiment using a tilted weighing lysimeter at Biosphere 2 to observe the breakthrough curves of deuterium and specific artificial DNA particles. We show that hydrological parameters can be computed in order to provide an estimate for the transit time distribution of deuterium. The convolution integral is then used to determine the distribution of the water transit time in the system. Unfortunately, stable isotopes such as deuterium make it difficult to pinpoint a specific flowpath since they naturally occur in the environment. Recent studies have shown that DNA tracers are able to trace water through the landscape. We found that DNA has a similar breakthrough curve happening at similar timescales as the deuterium. Therefore, DNA tracers may be able to identify sources of nonpoint source pollution in the future.

  17. Towards an Improved Represenation of Reservoirs and Water Management in a Land Surface-Hydrology Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yassin, F.; Anis, M. R.; Razavi, S.; Wheater, H. S.

    2017-12-01

    Water management through reservoirs, diversions, and irrigation have significantly changed river flow regimes and basin-wide energy and water balance cycles. Failure to represent these effects limits the performance of land surface-hydrology models not only for streamflow prediction but also for the estimation of soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and feedbacks to the atmosphere. Despite recent research to improve the representation of water management in land surface models, there remains a need to develop improved modeling approaches that work in complex and highly regulated basins such as the 406,000 km2 Saskatchewan River Basin (SaskRB). A particular challenge for regional and global application is a lack of local information on reservoir operational management. To this end, we implemented a reservoir operation, water abstraction, and irrigation algorithm in the MESH land surface-hydrology model and tested it over the SaskRB. MESH is Environment Canada's Land Surface-hydrology modeling system that couples Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS) with hydrological routing model. The implemented reservoir algorithm uses an inflow-outflow relationship that accounts for the physical characteristics of reservoirs (e.g., storage-area-elevation relationships) and includes simplified operational characteristics based on local information (e.g., monthly target volume and release under limited, normal, and flood storage zone). The irrigation algorithm uses the difference between actual and potential evapotranspiration to estimate irrigation water demand. This irrigation demand is supplied from the neighboring reservoirs/diversion in the river system. We calibrated the model enabled with the new reservoir and irrigation modules in a multi-objective optimization setting. Results showed that the reservoir and irrigation modules significantly improved the MESH model performance in generating streamflow and evapotranspiration across the SaskRB and that this our approach provides

  18. Biofuel, land and water: maize, switchgrass or Miscanthus?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhuang Qianlai; Qin Zhangcai; Chen Min

    2013-01-01

    The productive cellulosic crops switchgrass and Miscanthus are considered as viable biofuel sources. To meet the 2022 national biofuel target mandate, actions must be taken, e.g., maize cultivation must be intensified and expanded, and other biofuel crops (switchgrass and Miscanthus) must be cultivated. This raises questions on the use efficiencies of land and water; to date, the demand on these resources to meet the national biofuel target has rarely been analyzed. Here, we present a data-model assimilation analysis, assuming that maize, switchgrass and Miscanthus will be grown on currently available croplands in the US. Model simulations suggest that maize can produce 3.0–5.4 kiloliters (kl) of ethanol for every hectare of land, depending on the feedstock to ethanol conversion efficiency; Miscanthus has more than twice the biofuel production capacity relative to maize, and switchgrass is the least productive of the three potential sources of ethanol. To meet the biofuel target, about 26.5 million hectares of land and over 90 km 3 of water (of evapotranspiration) are needed if maize grain alone is used. If Miscanthus was substituted for maize, the process would save half of the land and one third of the water. With more advanced biofuel conversion technology for Miscanthus, only nine million hectares of land and 45 km 3 of water would probably meet the national target. Miscanthus could be a good alternative biofuel crop to maize due to its significantly lower demand for land and water on a per unit of ethanol basis. (letter)

  19. Assessing the Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Change on Global Water Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batra, N.; Yang, Y. E.; Choi, H. I.; Islam, A.; Charlotte, D. F.; Cai, X.; Kumar, P.

    2007-12-01

    Land use and land cover changes (LULCC) significantly modify the hydrological regime of the watersheds, affecting water resources and environment from regional to global scale. This study seeks to advance and integrate water and energy cycle observation, scientific understanding, and human impacts to assess future water availability. To achieve the research objective, we integrate and interpret past and current space based and in situ observations into a global hydrologic model (GHM). GHM is developed with enhanced spatial and temporal resolution, physical complexity, hydrologic theory and processes to quantify the impact of LULCC on physical variables: surface runoff, subsurface flow, groundwater, infiltration, ET, soil moisture, etc. Coupled with the common land model (CLM), a 3-dimensional volume averaged soil-moisture transport (VAST) model is expanded to incorporate the lateral flow and subgrid heterogeneity. The model consists of 11 soil-hydrology layers to predict lateral as well as vertical moisture flux transport based on Richard's equations. The primary surface boundary conditions (SBCs) include surface elevation and its derivatives, land cover category, sand and clay fraction profiles, bedrock depth and fractional vegetation cover. A consistent global GIS-based dataset is constructed for the SBCs of the model from existing observational datasets comprising of various resolutions, map projections and data formats. Global ECMWF data at 6-hour time steps for the period 1971 through 2000 is processed to get the forcing data which includes incoming longwave and shortwave radiation, precipitation, air temperature, pressure, wind components, boundary layer height and specific humidity. Land use land cover data, generated using IPCC scenarios for every 10 years from 2000 to 2100 is used for future assessment on water resources. Alterations due to LULCC on surface water balance components: ET, groundwater recharge and runoff are then addressed in the study. Land

  20. Land Use Transition and Human Health in the Eastern Himalayas ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) will manage the project and provide support and capacity building to the three teams. The aim is to better understand the links between land use transition and human health in mountain habitats and jointly design a program for better managing the ...

  1. ICT enabled land administration systems for sustainable development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enemark, Stig

    2006-01-01

    This paper analyses the current Land Administration System (LAS) in Denmark with a focus on institutional arrangements, land policies, land information infrastructure, and the four land administration functions: land tenure, land value, land-use, and land development. The analysis, this way, builds...

  2. Quantifying outdoor water consumption of urban land use/land cover: sensitivity to drought.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, Shai; Myint, Soe W; Fan, Chao; Brazel, Anthony J

    2014-04-01

    Outdoor water use is a key component in arid city water systems for achieving sustainable water use and ensuring water security. Using evapotranspiration (ET) calculations as a proxy for outdoor water consumption, the objectives of this research are to quantify outdoor water consumption of different land use and land cover types, and compare the spatio-temporal variation in water consumption between drought and wet years. An energy balance model was applied to Landsat 5 TM time series images to estimate daily and seasonal ET for the Central Arizona Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research region (CAP-LTER). Modeled ET estimations were correlated with water use data in 49 parks within CAP-LTER and showed good agreement (r² = 0.77), indicating model effectiveness to capture the variations across park water consumption. Seasonally, active agriculture shows high ET (>500 mm) for both wet and dry conditions, while the desert and urban land cover types experienced lower ET during drought (<300 mm). Within urban locales of CAP-LTER, xeric neighborhoods show significant differences from year to year, while mesic neighborhoods retain their ET values (400-500 mm) during drought, implying considerable use of irrigation to sustain their greenness. Considering the potentially limiting water availability of this region in the future due to large population increases and the threat of a warming and drying climate, maintaining large water-consuming, irrigated landscapes challenges sustainable practices of water conservation and the need to provide amenities of this desert area for enhancing quality of life.

  3. Supercooled and glassy water: Metastable liquid(s), amorphous solid(s), and a no-man's land

    Science.gov (United States)

    Handle, Philip H.; Loerting, Thomas; Sciortino, Francesco

    2017-12-01

    We review the recent research on supercooled and glassy water, focusing on the possible origins of its complex behavior. We stress the central role played by the strong directionality of the water-water interaction and by the competition between local energy, local entropy, and local density. In this context we discuss the phenomenon of polyamorphism (i.e., the existence of more than one disordered solid state), emphasizing both the role of the preparation protocols and the transformation between the different disordered ices. Finally, we present the ongoing debate on the possibility of linking polyamorphism with a liquid-liquid transition that could take place in the no-man's land, the temperature-pressure window in which homogeneous nucleation prevents the investigation of water in its metastable liquid form.

  4. Land and Water requirements for meat production in China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zheng, Wanli

    2010-01-01

    China will face a challenge for meat production with its available land and water. The production of meat requires substantial amounts of livestock feed, which in turn require vast amounts of land and water to produce it. As China has continued to develop

  5. Changes in Landing Mechanics after Cold-Water Immersion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, He; Toner, Michael M.; Lemonda, Thomas J.; Zohar, Mor

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of cold-water immersion on kinematics and kinetics during a drop-landing task. On four separate occasions, 9 men performed drop-landings from a 0.6-m platform to a force platform following 30-min immersion to the hip-joint in thermoneutral water (control; 34 [degrees]C) and in cold water…

  6. WATERPROTECT: Innovative tools enabling drinking water protection in rural and urban environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seuntjens, Piet; Campling, Paul; Joris, Ingeborg; Wauters, Erwin; Lopez de Alda, Miren; Kuczynska, Anna; Lajer Hojberg, Anker; Capri, Ettore; Brabyn, Cristina; Boeckaert, Charlotte; Mellander, Per Erik; Pauwelyn, Ellen; Pop, Edit

    2017-04-01

    High-quality, safe, and sufficient drinking water is essential for life: we use it for drinking, food preparation and cleaning. Agriculture is the biggest source of pesticides and nitrate pollution in European fresh waters. The overarching objective of the recently approved H2020 project WATERPROTECT is to contribute to effective uptake and realisation of management practices and mitigation measures to protect drinking water resources. Therefore WATERPROTECT will create an integrative multi-actor participatory framework including innovative instruments that enable actors to monitor, to finance and to effectively implement management practices and measures for the protection of water sources. We propose seven case studies involving multiple actors in implementing good practices (land management, farming, product stewardship, point source pollution prevention) to ensure safe drinking water supply. The seven case studies cover different pedo-climatic conditions, different types of farming systems, different legal frameworks, larger and smaller water collection areas across the EU. In close cooperation with actors in the field in the case studies (farmers associations, local authorities, water producing companies, private water companies, consumer organisations) and other stakeholders (fertilizer and plant protection industry, environment agencies, nature conservation agencies, agricultural administrations) at local and EU level, WATERPROTECT will develop innovative water governance models investigating alternative pathways from focusing on the 'costs of water treatment' to 'rewarding water quality delivering farming systems'. Water governance structures will be built upon cost-efficiency analysis related to mitigation and cost-benefit analysis for society, and will be supported by spatially explicit GIS analyses and predictive models that account for temporal and spatial scaling issues. The outcome will be improved participatory methods and public policy instruments

  7. Waters Edge Land Company, LLC - Clean Water Act Public Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    The EPA is providing notice of an Administrative Penalty Assessment in the form of an Expedited Storm Water Settlement Agreement against Waters Edge Land Company, LLC, a business located at 10800 Farley St. Overland Park, KS, for alleged violations located

  8. The Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Change on Water Yield in the Jing- Jin-Ji Region in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Suxiao; Yang, Hong

    2017-04-01

    Water yield is one of the key ecosystem services sustaining both people's life and economic development. However, the water yield function is sensitive to anthropogenic activity especially the land use and land cover change (LUCC). Assessment of historical LUCC and its impact on water yield could benefit designing and implementing appropriate land use strategy that enhance the water yield capacity. Beijing (Jing) and its surrounding areas of Tianjin (Jin) and Hebei (Ji) is the political, cultural and economic center of China. The region is facing increasingly water crisis. Taking the Jing-Jin-Ji region as a study area, this study analyzed the historical LUCC and its impact on water yield by using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model to spatially map and quantify the changes of water yield from 1995 to 2010. The results showed there was main decline in area of wetland and forest and increase in area of crop land and built up land. An abrupt decline in water yield was found for year 2000. The water yield was influenced to a great extent by precipitation and evapotranspiration, but the land use played an important role in the water yield capacity (water yield per unit area) through plant cover that affected evapotranspiration, soil water permeability and the capacity of holding the moisture content. By general ranking, the water yield capacity of different land use type was as follows: built-up>bare land>cropland> grassland>forest >wetland, which illustrated that the built-up and bare land had higher run off rate while the vegetation area had higher capacity to control surface run off to increase the groundwater. A good understanding of temporal-spatial allocation of historical LUCC and Water yield of the Jing-Jin-Ji region could help guide land use policy decisions that take into consideration of tradeoffs with respect to spatial distribution of ecosystem services amongst the three administrative entities (Jing-Jin-Ji) and

  9. Integrated Land-Water-Energy assessment using the Foreseer Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allwood, Julian; Konadu, Dennis; Mourao, Zenaida; Lupton, Rick; Richards, Keith; Fenner, Richard; Skelton, Sandy; McMahon, Richard

    2016-04-01

    This study presents an integrated energy and resource modelling and visualisation approach, ForeseerTM, which characterises the interdependencies and evaluates the land and water requirement for energy system pathways. The Foreseer Tool maps linked energy, water and land resource futures by outputting a set of Sankey diagrams for energy, water and land, showing the flow from basic resource (e.g. coal, surface water, and forested land) through transformations (e.g. fuel refining and desalination) to final services (e.g. sustenance, hygiene and transportation). By 'mapping' resources in this way, policy-makers can more easily understand the competing uses through the identification of the services it delivers (e.g. food production, landscaping, energy), the potential opportunities for improving the management of the resource and the connections with other resources which are often overlooked in a traditional sector-based management strategy. This paper will present a case study of the UK Carbon Plan, and highlights the need for integrated resource planning and policy development.

  10. Modelling Interactions between Land Use, Climate, and Hydrology along with Stakeholders’ Negotiation for Water Resources Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Babak Farjad

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the main functionalities of an integrated framework to model the interactions between land use, climate, and hydrology along with stakeholders’ negotiation. Its novelty lies in the combination of individual-based and spatially distributed models within the Socio-Hydrology paradigm to capture the complexity and uncertainty inherent to these systems. It encompasses a land-use/land-cover cellular automata model, an agent-based model used for automated stakeholders’ negotiation, and the hydrological MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 model, which are linked and can be accessed through a web-based interface. It enables users to run simulations to explore a wide range of scenarios related to land development and water resource management while considering the reciprocal influence of human and natural systems. This framework was developed with the involvement of key stakeholders from the initial design stage to the final demonstration and validation.

  11. Drinking Water in Transition: A Multilevel Cross-sectional Analysis of Sachet Water Consumption in Accra.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoler, Justin; Weeks, John R; Appiah Otoo, Richard

    2013-01-01

    Rapid population growth in developing cities often outpaces improvements to drinking water supplies, and sub-Saharan Africa as a region has the highest percentage of urban population without piped water access, a figure that continues to grow. Accra, Ghana, implements a rationing system to distribute limited piped water resources within the city, and privately-vended sachet water-sealed single-use plastic sleeves-has filled an important gap in urban drinking water security. This study utilizes household survey data from 2,814 Ghanaian women to analyze the sociodemographic characteristics of those who resort to sachet water as their primary drinking water source. In multilevel analysis, sachet use is statistically significantly associated with lower overall self-reported health, younger age, and living in a lower-class enumeration area. Sachet use is marginally associated with more days of neighborhood water rationing, and significantly associated with the proportion of vegetated land cover. Cross-level interactions between rationing and proxies for poverty are not associated with sachet consumption after adjusting for individual-level sociodemographic, socioeconomic, health, and environmental factors. These findings are generally consistent with two other recent analyses of sachet water in Accra and may indicate a recent transition of sachet consumption from higher to lower socioeconomic classes. Overall, the allure of sachet water displays substantial heterogeneity in Accra and will be an important consideration in planning for future drinking water demand throughout West Africa.

  12. Multi-Scale Hydrometeorological Modeling, Land Data Assimilation and Parameter Estimation with the Land Information System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Kumar, Sujay V.; Santanello, Joseph A., Jr.; Reichle, Rolf H.

    2009-01-01

    The Land Information System (LIS; http://lis.gsfc.nasa.gov; Kumar et al., 2006; Peters- Lidard et al.,2007) is a flexible land surface modeling framework that has been developed with the goal of integrating satellite- and ground-based observational data products and advanced land surface modeling techniques to produce optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes. As such, LIS represents a step towards the next generation land component of an integrated Earth system model. In recognition of LIS object-oriented software design, use and impact in the land surface and hydrometeorological modeling community, the LIS software was selected ase co-winner of NASA's 2005 Software of the Year award. LIS facilitates the integration of observations from Earth-observing systems and predictions and forecasts from Earth System and Earth science models into the decision-making processes of partnering agency and national organizations. Due to its flexible software design, LIS can serve both as a Problem Solving Environment (PSE) for hydrologic research to enable accurate global water and energy cycle predictions, and as a Decision Support System (DSS) to generate useful information for application areas including disaster management, water resources management, agricultural management, numerical weather prediction, air quality and military mobility assessment. LIS has evolved from two earlier efforts North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS; Mitchell et al. 2004) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS; Rodell al. 2004) that focused primarily on improving numerical weather prediction skills by improving the characterization of the land surface conditions. Both of GLDAS and NLDAS now use specific configurations of the LIS software in their current implementations. In addition, LIS was recently transitioned into operations at the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) to ultimately replace their Agricultural Meteorology (AGRMET) system, and is also used routinely by

  13. Conservation of Water and Related Land Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caldwell, Lynton K.

    1984-04-01

    The author was quite clear about the purpose of this book and clearly achieved his intent. In his preface, the author states, “The purpose of this book is to acquaint the reader with a broad understanding of the topics relevant to the management of the nation's water and related land resources.” The book is a product of the author's 20 years of work as a teacher, consultant, researcher, and student of watershed management and hydrology and has served as a text for a course entitled Soil and Water Conservation, which the author has taught at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, New York. But it was also written with the intent to be of use “to informal students of water and land related resources on the national level as well.” The objectives of Black's course at Syracuse and its larger purpose define the scope of the book which, again in the author's words, have been “(1) to acquaint students with principles of soil and water conservation; (2) to stimulate an appreciation for an integrated, comprehensive approach to land management; (3) to illustrate the influence of institutional, economic, and cultural forces on the practice of soil and water conservation; and (4) to provide information, methods, and techniques by which soil and water conservation measures are applied to land, as well as the basis for predicting and evaluating results.” The book is written in straightforward nontechnical language and provides the reader with a set of references, a table of cases, a list of abbreviations, and an adequate index. It impresses this reviewer as a very well edited piece of work.

  14. Water Landing Impact of Recovery Space Capsule: A Research Overview

    OpenAIRE

    Nakano, Eiichiro; Uchikawa, Hideaki; Tanno, Hideyuki; Sugimoto, Ryu

    2014-01-01

    For the design of a manned or cargo space capsule, it is important to precisely estimate the Earth landing loads to the crew or cargo, and to limit the loads to within a permissible range. Water landing simulations and scale-model water landing tests with varying conditions for descending velocity, pitch angle, and horizontal velocity during splashdown were conducted to estimate the magnitude of water impact on the recovery space capsule. This paper describes the results of the simulation and...

  15. Frontiers of Land and Water Governance in Urban Regions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Thomas, Hartmann; Spit, Tejo

    2015-01-01

    A society that intensifies and expands the use of land and water in urban areas needs to search for solutions to manage the frontiers between these two essential elements for urban living. Sustainable governance of land and water is one of the major challenges of our times. Managing retention areas

  16. The quantum phase-transitions of water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fillaux, François

    2017-08-01

    It is shown that hexagonal ices and steam are macroscopically quantum condensates, with continuous spacetime-translation symmetry, whereas liquid water is a quantum fluid with broken time-translation symmetry. Fusion and vaporization are quantum phase-transitions. The heat capacities, the latent heats, the phase-transition temperatures, the critical temperature, the molar volume expansion of ice relative to water, as well as neutron scattering data and dielectric measurements are explained. The phase-transition mechanisms along with the key role of quantum interferences and that of Hartley-Shannon's entropy are enlightened. The notions of chemical bond and force-field are questioned.

  17. Effects of land use and land cover changes on water quality in the uMngeni river catchment, South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Namugize, Jean Nepomuscene; Jewitt, Graham; Graham, Mark

    2018-06-01

    Land use and land cover change are major drivers of water quality deterioration in watercourses and impoundments. However, understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of land use change characteristics and their link to water quality parameters in catchments is limited. As a contribution to address this limitation, the objective of this study is to assess the linkages between biophysico-chemical water quality parameters and land use and land cover (LULC) classes in the upper reaches of the uMngeni Catchment, a rapidly developing catchment in South Africa. These were assessed using Geographic Information Systems tools and statistical analyses for the years 1994, 2000, 2008 and 2011 based on changes over time of eight LULC classes and available water quality information. Natural vegetation, forest plantations and cultivated areas occupy 85% of the catchment. Cultivated, urban/built-up and degraded areas increased by 6%, 4.5% and 3%, respectively coinciding with a decrease in natural vegetation by 17%. Variability in the concentration of water quality parameters from 1994 to 2011 and an overall decline in water quality were observed. Escherichia coli (E. coli) levels exceeding the recommended guidelines for recreation and public health protection was noted as a major issue at seven of the nine sampling points. Overall, water supply reservoirs in the catchment retained over 20% of nutrients and over 85% of E. coli entering them. A relationship between land use types and water quality variables was found. However, the degree and magnitude of the associations varies between sub-catchments and is difficult to quantify. This highlights the complexity and the site-specific nature of relationships between land use types and water quality parameters in the catchment. Thus, this study provides useful findings on the general relationship between land use and land cover and water quality degradation, but highlights the risks of applying simple relationships or adding

  18. Hydrological implications of land-cover and land-use change: a proposal for spatial analysis at a regional level in the closed Cuitzeo-lake basin, Michoacán

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel Mendoza

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available This study was undertaken to understand the implications of regional land-cover and land-use change (LCLUC in a spatially distributed water balance (SDWB within a poorly gauged basin in 1975 and 2000. Results from this work were derived by integrating remote sensing and geographic information system tools with a water-balance model, along with the application of a transitional matrix analysis. The analysis of changes in water-balance components, based on landforms and transitional matrices, indicated a small tendency towards improvement in the basin's hydrological conditions at a regional level. However, as a consequence of the increase in urban land-use, the basin's plains piedmonts showed a rice in runoff. In addition, the basins' lower areas exhibited a high demand for water resources due to an increased urban land-use in both years, along with the Cuitzeo lake degradation, particularly in terms of pollution and reduction of surface water inflow. The integrated approach used herein constitutes a viable alternative for understanding changes in the amount and spatial distribution of water available in poorly gauged water basins as a consequence of LCLUC.

  19. Watershed land use effects on lake water quality in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Anders; Trolle, Dennis; Søndergaard, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Mitigating nutrient losses from anthropogenic nonpoint sources is today of particular importance for improving the water quality of numerous freshwater lakes worldwide. Several empirical relationships between land use and in-lake water quality variables have been developed, but they are often weak......, which can in part be attributed to lack of detailed information about land use activities or point sources. We examined a comprehensive data set comprising land use data, point-source information, and in-lake water quality for 414 Danish lakes. By excluding point-source-influenced lakes (n = 210....... Relationships between TP and agricultural land use were even stronger for lakes with rivers in their watershed (55%) compared to lakes without (28%), indicating that rivers mediate a stronger linkage between landscape activity and lake water quality by providing a “delivery” mechanism for excess nutrients...

  20. Land use and water pollution in Puerto Rico

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arbona, S.I.

    1991-01-01

    In Puerto Rico, previous water-quality analyses have indicated that most surface-water bodies, as well as ground water, are polluted with both organic and inorganic substances. Contributions to water-quality deterioration come from point and nonpoint sources. These pose a threat on a densely populated island. Urban and industrial development occurred rapidly with a lag in the required infrastructure for expansion. Water pollution has been a by-product of this process and is regarded as the most serious environmental problem on the island. This study examines water-quality parameters in three hydrological basins. It attempts to determine how extensive a problem it is and how the concentration of pollutants compare in different land-use situations. A total of 33 sampling sites distributed among the three watersheds was chosen. Fifteen water-quality parameters were examined. All of the water bodies in spatial association with the land use considered presented detectable concentrations of the selected water-quality parameters

  1. Land cover and water yield: inference problems when comparing catchments with mixed land cover

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. I. J. M. van Dijk

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Controlled experiments provide strong evidence that changing land cover (e.g. deforestation or afforestation can affect mean catchment streamflow (Q. By contrast, a similarly strong influence has not been found in studies that interpret Q from multiple catchments with mixed land cover. One possible reason is that there are methodological issues with the way in which the Budyko framework was used in the latter type studies. We examined this using Q data observed in 278 Australian catchments and by making inferences from synthetic Q data simulated by a hydrological process model (the Australian Water Resources Assessment system Landscape model. The previous contrasting findings could be reproduced. In the synthetic experiment, the land cover influence was still present but not accurately detected with the Budyko- framework. Likely sources of interpretation bias demonstrated include: (i noise in land cover, precipitation and Q data; (ii additional catchment climate characteristics more important than land cover; and (iii covariance between Q and catchment attributes. These methodological issues caution against the use of a Budyko framework to quantify a land cover influence in Q data from mixed land-cover catchments. Importantly, however, our findings do not rule out that there may also be physical processes that modify the influence of land cover in mixed land-cover catchments. Process model simulations suggested that lateral water redistribution between vegetation types and recirculation of intercepted rainfall may be important.

  2. Integrated modelling and the impacts of water management on land use

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorner, W; Spachinger, K; Metzka, R

    2008-01-01

    River systems and the quantity and quality of water depend on the catchment, its structure and land use. In central Europe especially land is a scarce resource. This causes conflicts between different types of land use, but also with the interests of flood protection, nature conservation and the protection of water resources and water bodies in the flood plain and on a catchment scale. ILUP - Integrated Land Use Planning and River Basin Management was a project, funded by the European Union, to address the problems of conflicting interests within a catchment. It addressed the problems of conflicting land use from a hydrological perspective and with regard to the resulting problems of water management. Two test river basins, Vils and Rott, both with a catchment size of about 1000 square kilometres, were considered for the German part of the project. Objective of the project was to identify means of managing land use with regard to water management objectives and adapt planning strategies and methodologies of water management authorities to the new needs of catchment management and planning. Catchment models were derived to simulate hydrological processes, assess the safety of dams and improve the control strategy of detention reservoirs with regard to land use in the lower system. Hydrodynamic models provided the basis to assess flood prone areas, evaluate flood protection measures and analyze the impacts of river training and discharge on morphology. Erosion and transport models were used to assess the impacts of land use on water quality. Maps were compiled from model results to provide a basis for decision making. In test areas new ways of planning and implementation of measures were tested. As a result of model scenarios in combination with the socio economic situation in the catchment new methods of land management and land use management were derived and implemented in model areas. The results of the project show that new ways of managing land use in river

  3. The Influence of Land-Use on the Quality of River Water

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrius Litvinaitis

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Water protection is one of the most all-round regulated areas of the EU environmental control. In order to forecast the state of water ecosystem, it is necessary to evaluate changes in water quality. In order to evaluate the influence of changes in the land-use structure on Lithuanian fluvial water, the article looks into the most characteristic Lithuanian watersheds. To reflect the links between the water of all rivers in Lithuania and the land-use structure of their riverside watersheds, there were chosen eight watersheds of Lithuanian rivers as the object of research with the focus on the characteristics of biogenic substance migration in their water-sheds. Cartographic material CORINE (scale 1: 100,000 and CORINE land cover (1995 were used for evaluating changes in the land-use structure. Research contains land-use structure analysis on two spatial levels: 1 200 m zone from the river bed; 2 the entire watershed. A multiple dispersive analysis between nitrate concentrations and the structural elements of land-use has showed that reliability is absent although correlation coefficients exceed 0.63. This may be explained by a rather complex nitrogen circulation and its components including fixation (biologic and industrial, assimilation, nitrification, denitrification, inflow with rainfall, elution etc.Article in Lithuanian

  4. Drinking Water in Transition: A Multilevel Cross-sectional Analysis of Sachet Water Consumption in Accra.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justin Stoler

    Full Text Available Rapid population growth in developing cities often outpaces improvements to drinking water supplies, and sub-Saharan Africa as a region has the highest percentage of urban population without piped water access, a figure that continues to grow. Accra, Ghana, implements a rationing system to distribute limited piped water resources within the city, and privately-vended sachet water-sealed single-use plastic sleeves-has filled an important gap in urban drinking water security. This study utilizes household survey data from 2,814 Ghanaian women to analyze the sociodemographic characteristics of those who resort to sachet water as their primary drinking water source. In multilevel analysis, sachet use is statistically significantly associated with lower overall self-reported health, younger age, and living in a lower-class enumeration area. Sachet use is marginally associated with more days of neighborhood water rationing, and significantly associated with the proportion of vegetated land cover. Cross-level interactions between rationing and proxies for poverty are not associated with sachet consumption after adjusting for individual-level sociodemographic, socioeconomic, health, and environmental factors. These findings are generally consistent with two other recent analyses of sachet water in Accra and may indicate a recent transition of sachet consumption from higher to lower socioeconomic classes. Overall, the allure of sachet water displays substantial heterogeneity in Accra and will be an important consideration in planning for future drinking water demand throughout West Africa.

  5. Developing knowledge and strategies for enabling and governing transitions to a low carbon society

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard; Jørgensen, Ulrik; Lauridsen, Erik Hagelskjær

    research alliance “Enabling and governing transitions to a low carbon society” during 2010-2013. The aim of this alliance is to conceptualize the dynamics of transition processes towards a low carbon society by involving the diverse set of actors from consumers to governmental agencies, companies...... and organizations. Transition of the path-dependent, socio-technical regimes in the energy system is a governance challenge, since transitions need to occur simultaneously in different arenas without necessarily having a specific „centre‟ of co-ordination. Changes of regimes require innovative breakthroughs......, companies, cities, and national and international policy. Theoretically the research alliance builds upon a combination of theories including social practice theory, innovation economy, institutional theory, actor-network theory and governance theory. Through a combination of historical analysis, case...

  6. Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions in Supercooled Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Limmer, David; Chandler, David

    2012-02-01

    We present results of a simulation study of water driven out of equilibrium. Using transition path sampling, we can probe stationary path distributions parameterize by order parameters that are extensive in space and time. We find that by coupling external fields to these parameters, we can drive water through a first order dynamical phase transition into amorphous ice. By varying the initial equilibrium distributions we can probe pathways for the creation of amorphous ices of low and high densities.

  7. Simulated response of water quality in public supply wells to land use change

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMahon, P. B.; Burow, K. R.; Kauffman, L. J.; Eberts, S. M.; BöHlke, J. K.; Gurdak, J. J.

    2008-07-01

    Understanding how changes in land use affect water quality of public supply wells (PSW) is important because of the strong influence of land use on water quality, the rapid pace at which changes in land use are occurring in some parts of the world, and the large contribution of groundwater to the global water supply. In this study, groundwater flow models incorporating particle tracking and reaction were used to analyze the response of water quality in PSW to land use change in four communities: Modesto, California (Central Valley aquifer); York, Nebraska (High Plains aquifer); Woodbury, Connecticut (Glacial aquifer); and Tampa, Florida (Floridan aquifer). The water quality response to measured and hypothetical land use change was dependent on age distributions of water captured by the wells and on the temporal and spatial variability of land use in the area contributing recharge to the wells. Age distributions of water captured by the PSW spanned about 20 years at Woodbury and >1,000 years at Modesto and York, and the amount of water <50 years old captured by the PSW ranged from 30% at York to 100% at Woodbury. Short-circuit pathways in some PSW contributing areas, such as long irrigation well screens that crossed multiple geologic layers (York) and karst conduits (Tampa), affected age distributions by allowing relatively rapid movement of young water to those well screens. The spatial component of land use change was important because the complex distribution of particle travel times within the contributing areas strongly influenced contaminant arrival times and degradation reaction progress. Results from this study show that timescales for change in the quality of water from PSW could be on the order of years to centuries for land use changes that occur over days to decades, which could have implications for source water protection strategies that rely on land use change to achieve water quality objectives.

  8. Effects of Land Cover / Land Use, Soil Texture, and Vegetation on the Water Balance of Lake Chad Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babamaaji, R. A.; Lee, J.

    2013-12-01

    Lake Chad Basin (LCB) has experienced drastic changes of land cover and poor water management practices during the last 50 years. The successive droughts in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in the shortage of surface water and groundwater resources. This problem of drought has a devastating implication on the natural resources of the Basin with great consequence on food security, poverty reduction and quality of life of the inhabitants in the LCB. Therefore, understanding the effects of land use / land cover must be a first step to find how they disturb cycle especially the groundwater in the LCB. The abundance of groundwater is affected by the climate change through the interaction with surface water, such as lakes and rivers, and disuse recharge through an infiltration process. Quantifying the impact of climate change on the groundwater resource requires reliable forecasting of changes in the major climatic variables and other spatial variations including the land use/land cover, soil texture, topographic slope, and vegetation. In this study, we employed a spatially distributed water balance model WetSpass to simulate a long-term average change of groundwater recharge in the LCB of Africa. WetSpass is a water balance-based model to estimate seasonal and spatial distribution of surface runoff, interception, evapotranspiration, and groundwater recharge. The model is especially suitable for studying the effect of land use/land cover change on the water regime in the LCB. The present study describes the concept of the model and its application to the development of recharge map of the LCB. The study shows that major role in the water balance of LCB. The mean yearly actual evapotranspiration (ET) from the basin range from 60mm - 400 mm, which is 90 % (69mm - 430) of the annual precipitation from 2003 - 2010. It is striking that about 50 - 60 % of the total runoff is produced on build-up (impervious surfaces), while much smaller contributions are obtained from vegetated

  9. Root for rain : Towards understanding land-use change impacts on the water cycle

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wang-Erlandsson, L.

    2017-01-01

    We live today on a human-dominated planet under unprecedented pressure on both land and water. The water cycle is intrinsically linked to vegetation and land use, and anticipating the consequences of simultaneous changes in land and water systems requires a thorough understanding of their

  10. Land-use and land-management change: relationships with earthworm and fungi communities and soil structural properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spurgeon, David J; Keith, Aidan M; Schmidt, Olaf; Lammertsma, Dennis R; Faber, Jack H

    2013-12-01

    Change in land use and management can impact massively on soil ecosystems. Ecosystem engineers and other functional biodiversity in soils can be influenced directly by such change and this in turn can affect key soil functions. Here, we employ meta-analysis to provide a quantitative assessment of the effects of changes in land use and land management across a range of successional/extensification transitions (conventional arable → no or reduced tillage → grassland → wooded land) on community metrics for two functionally important soil taxa, earthworms and fungi. An analysis of the relationships between community change and soil structural properties was also included. Meta-analysis highlighted a consistent trend of increased earthworm and fungal community abundances and complexity following transitions to lower intensity and later successional land uses. The greatest changes were seen for early stage transitions, such as introduction of reduced tillage regimes and conversion to grassland from arable land. Not all changes, however, result in positive effects on the assessed community metrics. For example, whether woodland conversion positively or negatively affects community size and complexity depends on woodland type and, potentially, the changes in soil properties, such as pH, that may occur during conversion. Alterations in soil communities tended to facilitate subsequent changes in soil structure and hydrology. For example, increasing earthworm abundances and functional group composition were shown to be positively correlated with water infiltration rate (dependent on tillage regime and habitat characteristics); while positive changes in fungal biomass measures were positively associated with soil microaggregate stability. These findings raise the potential to manage landscapes to increase ecosystem service provision from soil biota in relation to regulation of soil structure and water flow.

  11. Regional Analysis of Energy, Water, Land and Climate Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tidwell, V. C.; Averyt, K.; Harriss, R. C.; Hibbard, K. A.; Newmark, R. L.; Rose, S. K.; Shevliakova, E.; Wilson, T.

    2014-12-01

    Energy, water, and land systems interact in many ways and are impacted by management and climate change. These systems and their interactions often differ in significant ways from region-to-region. To explore the coupled energy-water-land system and its relation to climate change and management a simple conceptual model of demand, endowment and technology (DET) is proposed. A consistent and comparable analysis framework is needed as climate change and resource management practices have the potential to impact each DET element, resource, and region differently. These linkages are further complicated by policy and trade agreements where endowments of one region are used to meet demands in another. This paper reviews the unique DET characteristics of land, energy and water resources across the United States. Analyses are conducted according to the eight geographic regions defined in the 2014 National Climate Assessment. Evident from the analyses are regional differences in resources endowments in land (strong East-West gradient in forest, cropland and desert), water (similar East-West gradient), and energy. Demands likewise vary regionally reflecting differences in population density and endowment (e.g., higher water use in West reflecting insufficient precipitation to support dryland farming). The effect of technology and policy are particularly evident in differences in the energy portfolios across the eight regions. Integrated analyses that account for the various spatial and temporal differences in regional energy, water and land systems are critical to informing effective policy requirements for future energy, climate and resource management. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

  12. The impact of land use on microbial surface water pollution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schreiber, Christiane; Rechenburg, Andrea; Rind, Esther; Kistemann, Thomas

    2015-03-01

    Our knowledge relating to water contamination from point and diffuse sources has increased in recent years and there have been many studies undertaken focusing on effluent from sewage plants or combined sewer overflows. However, there is still only a limited amount of microbial data on non-point sources leading to diffuse pollution of surface waters. In this study, the concentrations of several indicator micro-organisms and pathogens in the upper reaches of a river system were examined over a period of 16 months. In addition to bacteria, diffuse pollution caused by Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium spp. was analysed. A single land use type predestined to cause high concentrations of all microbial parameters could not be identified. The influence of different land use types varies between microbial species. The microbial concentration in river water cannot be explained by stable non-point effluent concentrations from different land use types. There is variation in the ranking of the potential of different land use types resulting in surface water contamination with regard to minimum, median and maximum effects. These differences between median and maximum impact indicate that small-scale events like spreading manure substantially influence the general contamination potential of a land use type and may cause increasing micro-organism concentrations in the river water by mobilisation during the next rainfall event. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  13. Land use and water quality degradation in the Peixe-Boi River watershed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Wendell de Freitas Pereira

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This study mapped the land use and land cover of the catchment area of the Peixe-Boi River watershed, in northeast Pará, in order to identify conflicts of land use in the permanent preservation areas, and to relate them to water quality. We used LISS-3 sensor imagery from the Resourcesat satellite with a spatial resolution of 23.5 m for supervised classification of land use and land cover based on 22 training samples. Water quality was determined based on 28 sampling points in drainage network. The relationship between human disturbance and water quality was analyzed based on observations of land use changes using satellite imagery and in situ collection of water samples. The results show that 46% of the permanent preservation areas have conflicted uses, especially with respect to urban squatters, exposed soil and, most notably, pasture, with over 84 % of the area in conflict. Critical levels of dissolved oxygen reaching 2.14 mg L-1 and pH of 5.12 were observed in some sampling points. These values are below the fresh water standards set by Resolution 357/05 of CONAMA. The poorest water quality may be related to irregular use and occupation of areas within the permanent preservation areas. There is therefore an urgent need to develop a plan for the sustainable use and occupation of catchment area land in the Peixe-Boi River watershed in order to restore the environment and improve water quality.

  14. Climate, water use, and land surface transformation in an irrigation intensive watershed - streamflow responses from 1950 through 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dale, Joseph; Zou, Chris B.; Andrews, William J.; Long, James M.; Liang, Ye; Qiao, Lei

    2015-01-01

    Climatic variability and land surface change have a wide range of effects on streamflow and are often difficult to separate. We analyzed long-term records of climate, land use and land cover, and re-constructed the water budget based on precipitation, groundwater levels, and water use from 1950 through 2010 in the Cimarron–Skeleton watershed and a portion of the Cimarron–Eagle Chief watershed in Oklahoma, an irrigation-intensive agricultural watershed in the Southern Great Plains, USA. Our results show that intensive irrigation through alluvial aquifer withdrawal modifies climatic feedback and alters streamflow response to precipitation. Increase in consumptive water use was associated with decreases in annual streamflow, while returning croplands to non-irrigated grasslands was associated with increases in streamflow. Along with groundwater withdrawal, anthropogenic-induced factors and activities contributed nearly half to the observed variability of annual streamflow. Streamflow was more responsive to precipitation during the period of intensive irrigation between 1965 and 1984 than the period of relatively lower water use between 1985 and 2010. The Cimarron River is transitioning from a historically flashy river to one that is more stable with a lower frequency of both high and low flow pulses, a higher baseflow, and an increased median flow due in part to the return of cropland to grassland. These results demonstrated the interrelationship among climate, land use, groundwater withdrawal and streamflow regime and the potential to design agricultural production systems and adjust irrigation to mitigate impact of increasing climate variability on streamflow in irrigation intensive agricultural watershed.

  15. Can Mobile-Enabled Payment Methods Reduce Petty Corruption in Urban Water Provision?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aaron Krolikowski

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Corruption in the urban water sector constrains economic growth and human development in low-income countries. This paper empirically evaluates the ability of novel mobile-enabled payment methods to reduce information asymmetries and mitigate petty corruption in the urban water sector’s billing and payment processes. Overcoming these barriers may promote improved governance and water service delivery. The case of Dar es Salaam is used to explore the role of mobile-enabled payment instruments through the use of a stratified random sample of 1097 water utility customers and 42 interviews with representatives from the water sector, the telecommunications industry, civil society, and banking institutions. Results show that mobile-enabled payment methods can reduce information asymmetries and the incidence of petty corruption to promote improved financial management by making payment data more transparent and limiting the availability of economic rents in the billing and payment process. Implications for African urban water services include wider availability and more effective use of human and financial resources. These can be used to enhance water service delivery and citizen participation in the production of urban water supplies. The use of mobile-enabled payment methods in the urban water sector represents an application of mobile communication technologies in a low-income country with proven potential for scalability that simultaneously supports the achievement of development objectives.

  16. Water: A Critical Material Enabling Space Exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickering, Karen D.

    2014-01-01

    Water is one of the most critical materials in human spaceflight. The availability of water defines the duration of a space mission; the volume of water required for a long-duration space mission becomes too large, heavy, and expensive for launch vehicles to carry. Since the mission duration is limited by the amount of water a space vehicle can carry, the capability to recycle water enables space exploration. In addition, water management in microgravity impacts spaceflight in other respects, such as the recent emergency termination of a spacewalk caused by free water in an astronaut's spacesuit helmet. A variety of separation technologies are used onboard spacecraft to ensure that water is always available for use, and meets the stringent water quality required for human space exploration. These separation technologies are often adapted for use in a microgravity environment, where water behaves in unique ways. The use of distillation, membrane processes, ion exchange and granular activated carbon will be reviewed. Examples of microgravity effects on operations will also be presented. A roadmap for future technologies, needed to supply water resources for the exploration of Mars, will also be reviewed.

  17. Land Use, Climate, and Water Resources—Global Stages of Interaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sujay S. Kaushal

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Land use and climate change can accelerate the depletion of freshwater resources that support humans and ecosystem services on a global scale. Here, we briefly review studies from around the world, and highlight those in this special issue. We identify stages that characterize increasing interaction between land use and climate change. During the first stage, hydrologic modifications and the built environment amplify overland flow via processes associated with runoff-dominated ecosystems (e.g., soil compaction, impervious surface cover, drainage, and channelization. During the second stage, changes in water storage impact the capacity of ecosystems to buffer extremes in water quantity and quality (e.g., either losses in snowpack, wetlands, and groundwater recharge or gains in water and nutrient storage behind dams in reservoirs. During the third stage, extremes in water quantity and quality contribute to losses in ecosystem services and water security (e.g., clean drinking water, flood mitigation, and habitat availability. During the final stage, management and restoration strategies attempt to regain lost ecosystem structure, function, and services but need to adapt to climate change. By anticipating the increasing interaction between land use and climate change, intervention points can be identified, and management strategies can be adjusted to improve outcomes for realistic expectations. Overall, global water security cannot be adequately restored without considering an increasing interaction between land use and climate change across progressive stages and our ever-increasing human domination of the water cycle from degradation to ecosystem restoration.

  18. Land Use, Climate, and Water Resources-Global Stages of Interaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaushal, Sujay S; Gold, Arthur J; Mayer, Paul M

    2017-10-24

    Land use and climate change can accelerate the depletion of freshwater resources that support humans and ecosystem services on a global scale. Here, we briefly review studies from around the world, and highlight those in this special issue. We identify stages that characterize increasing interaction between land use and climate change. During the first stage, hydrologic modifications and the built environment amplify overland flow via processes associated with runoff-dominated ecosystems (e.g., soil compaction, impervious surface cover, drainage, and channelization). During the second stage, changes in water storage impact the capacity of ecosystems to buffer extremes in water quantity and quality (e.g., either losses in snowpack, wetlands, and groundwater recharge or gains in water and nutrient storage behind dams in reservoirs). During the third stage, extremes in water quantity and quality contribute to losses in ecosystem services and water security (e.g., clean drinking water, flood mitigation, and habitat availability). During the final stage, management and restoration strategies attempt to regain lost ecosystem structure, function, and services but need to adapt to climate change. By anticipating the increasing interaction between land use and climate change, intervention points can be identified, and management strategies can be adjusted to improve outcomes for realistic expectations. Overall, global water security cannot be adequately restored without considering an increasing interaction between land use and climate change across progressive stages and our ever-increasing human domination of the water cycle from degradation to ecosystem restoration.

  19. Spatially quantifying and attributing 17 years of land cover change to examine post-agricultural forest transition in Hawai`i

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, M.; Trauernicht, C.; Carlson, K. M.; Miura, T.; Giambelluca, T. W.; Chen, Q.

    2017-12-01

    The past decades in Hawaii have seen large scale land use change and land cover shifts. However, much these dynamics are only described anecdotally or studied at a single locale, with little information on the extent, rate, or direction of change. This lack of data hinders any effort to assess, plan, and prioritize land management. To improve assessments of statewide vegetation and land cover change, this project developed high resolution, sub-pixel, percent cover maps of forest, grassland and bare earth at annual time steps from 1999 to 2016. Vegetation cover was quantified using archived LANDSAT imagery and a custom remote-sensing algorithm developed in the Google Earth Engine platform. A statistical trend analysis of annual maps of the these three proportional land covers were then used to detect land cover transitions across the archipelago. The aim of this work focused on quantifying the total area of change, annual rates of change and final vegetation cover outcomes statewide. Additionally these findings were attributed to past and current land uses and management history by compiling spatial datasets of development, agriculture, forest restoration sites and burned areas statewide. Results indicated that nearly 10% of the state's land surfaces are suspected to have transitioned between the three cover classes during the study period. Total statewide net change resulted in a gain in forest cover with largest areas of change occurring in unmanaged areas, current and past pastoral land, commercial forestry and abandoned cultivated land. The fastest annual rates of change were forest increases that occurred in restoration areas and commercial forestry. These findings indicate that Hawaii is going through a forest transition, primarily driven by agricultural abandonment with likely feedbacks from invasive species, but also influenced by the establishment of forestry production on former agricultural lands that show potential for native forest restoration. These

  20. Integrating Ecosystem Carbon Dynamics into State-and-Transition Simulation Models of Land Use/Land Cover Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sleeter, B. M.; Daniel, C.; Frid, L.; Fortin, M. J.

    2016-12-01

    State-and-transition simulation models (STSMs) provide a general approach for incorporating uncertainty into forecasts of landscape change. Using a Monte Carlo approach, STSMs generate spatially-explicit projections of the state of a landscape based upon probabilistic transitions defined between states. While STSMs are based on the basic principles of Markov chains, they have additional properties that make them applicable to a wide range of questions and types of landscapes. A current limitation of STSMs is that they are only able to track the fate of discrete state variables, such as land use/land cover (LULC) classes. There are some landscape modelling questions, however, for which continuous state variables - for example carbon biomass - are also required. Here we present a new approach for integrating continuous state variables into spatially-explicit STSMs. Specifically we allow any number of continuous state variables to be defined for each spatial cell in our simulations; the value of each continuous variable is then simulated forward in discrete time as a stochastic process based upon defined rates of change between variables. These rates can be defined as a function of the realized states and transitions of each cell in the STSM, thus providing a connection between the continuous variables and the dynamics of the landscape. We demonstrate this new approach by (1) developing a simple IPCC Tier 3 compliant model of ecosystem carbon biomass, where the continuous state variables are defined as terrestrial carbon biomass pools and the rates of change as carbon fluxes between pools, and (2) integrating this carbon model with an existing LULC change model for the state of Hawaii, USA.

  1. Globalland30 Mapping Capacity of Land Surface Water in Thessaly, Greece

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioannis Manakos

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The National Geomatics Center of China (NGCC produced Global Land Cover (GlobalLand30 maps with 30 m spatial resolution for the years 2000 and 2009–2010, responding to the need for harmonized, accurate, and high-resolution global land cover data. This study aims to assess the mapping accuracy of the land surface water layer of GlobalLand30 for 2009–2010. A representative Mediterranean region, situated in Greece, is considered as the case study area, with 2009 as the reference year. The assessment is realized through an object-based comparison of the GlobalLand30 water layer with the ground truth and visually interpreted data from the Hellenic Cadastre fine spatial resolution (0.5 m orthophoto map layer. GlobCover 2009, GlobCorine 2009, and GLCNMO 2008 corresponding thematic layers are utilized to show and quantify the progress brought along with the increment of the spatial resolution, from 500 m to 300 m and finally to 30 m with the newly produced GlobalLand30 maps. GlobalLand30 detected land surface water areas show a 91.9% overlap with the reference data, while the coarser resolution products are restricted to lower accuracies. Validation is extended to the drainage network elements, i.e., rivers and streams, where GlobalLand30 outperforms the other global map products, as well.

  2. Forecasting land cover change impacts on drinking water treatment costs in Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woznicki, S. A.; Wickham, J.

    2017-12-01

    Source protection is a critical aspect of drinking water treatment. The benefits of protecting source water quality in reducing drinking water treatment costs are clear. However, forecasting the impacts of environmental change on source water quality and its potential to influence future treatment processes is lacking. The drinking water treatment plant in Minneapolis, MN has recognized that land cover change threatens water quality in their source watershed, the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). Over 1,000 km2 of forests, wetlands, and grasslands in the UMRB were lost to agriculture from 2008-2013. This trend, coupled with a projected population increase of one million people in Minnesota by 2030, concerns drinking water treatment plant operators in Minneapolis with respect to meeting future demand for clean water in the UMRB. The objective of this study is to relate land cover change (forest and wetland loss, agricultural expansion, urbanization) to changes in treatment costs for the Minneapolis, MN drinking water utility. To do this, we first developed a framework to determine the relationship between land cover change and water quality in the context of recent historical changes and projected future changes in land cover. Next we coupled a watershed model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to projections of land cover change from the FOREcasting SCEnarios of Land-use Change (FORE-SCE) model for the mid-21st century. Using historical Minneapolis drinking water treatment data (chemical usage and costs), source water quality in the UMRB was linked to changes in treatment requirements as a function of projected future land cover change. These analyses will quantify the value of natural landscapes in protecting drinking water quality and future treatment processes requirements. In addition, our study provides the Minneapolis drinking water utility with information critical to their planning and capital improvement process.

  3. Enabling the Use of Earth Observation Data for Integrated Water Resource Management in Africa with the Water Observation and Information System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radoslaw Guzinski

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The Water Observation and Information System (WOIS is an open source software tool for monitoring, assessing and inventorying water resources in a cost-effective manner using Earth Observation (EO data. The WOIS has been developed by, among others, the authors of this paper under the TIGER-NET project, which is a major component of the TIGER initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA and whose main goal is to support the African Earth Observation Capacity for Water Resource Monitoring. TIGER-NET aims to support the satellite-based assessment and monitoring of water resources from watershed to cross-border basin levels through the provision of a free and powerful software package, with associated capacity building, to African authorities. More than 28 EO data processing solutions for water resource management tasks have been developed, in correspondence with the requirements of the participating key African water authorities, and demonstrated with dedicated case studies utilizing the software in operational scenarios. They cover a wide range of themes and information products, including basin-wide characterization of land and water resources, lake water quality monitoring, hydrological modeling and flood forecasting and mapping. For each monitoring task, step-by-step workflows were developed, which can either be adjusted by the user or largely automatized to feed into existing data streams and reporting schemes. The WOIS enables African water authorities to fully exploit the increasing EO capacity offered by current and upcoming generations of satellites, including the Sentinel missions.

  4. Water and land availability for energy farming. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schooley, F.A.; Mara, S.J.; Mendel, D.A.; Meagher, P.C.; So, E.C.

    1979-10-01

    The physical and economic availability of land and water resources for energy farming were determined. Ten water subbasins possessing favorable land and water availabilities were ranked according to their overall potential for biomass production. The study results clearly identify the Southeast as a favorable area for biomass farming. The Northwest and North-Central United States should also be considered on the basis of their highly favorable environmental characteristics. Both high and low estimates of water availability for 1985 and 2000 in each of 99 subbasins were prepared. Subbasins in which surface water consumption was more than 50% of surface water supply were eliminated from the land availability analysis, leaving 71 subbasins to be examined. The amount of acreage potentially available for biomass production in these subbasins was determined through a comparison of estimated average annual net returns developed for conventional agriculture and forestry with net returns for several biomass production options. In addition to a computerized method of ranking subbasins according to their overall potential for biomass production, a methodology for evaluating future energy farm locations was developed. This methodology included a general area selection procedure as well as specific site analysis recommendations. Thirty-five general factors and a five-step site-specific analysis procedure are described.

  5. Land use and water quality degradation in the Peixe-Boi River watershed

    OpenAIRE

    Bruno Wendell de Freitas Pereira; Maria de Nazaré Martins Maciel; Francisco de Assis Oliveira; Marcelo Augusto Moreno da Silva Alves; Adriana Melo Ribeiro; ; Bruno Monteiro Ferreira; Ellen Gabriele Pinto Ribeiro

    2016-01-01

    This study mapped the land use and land cover of the catchment area of the Peixe-Boi River watershed, in northeast Pará, in order to identify conflicts of land use in the permanent preservation areas, and to relate them to water quality. We used LISS-3 sensor imagery from the Resourcesat satellite with a spatial resolution of 23.5 m for supervised classification of land use and land cover based on 22 training samples. Water quality was determined based on 28 sampling points in drainage networ...

  6. Water-induced convection in the Earth's mantle transition zone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richard, Guillaume C.; Bercovici, David

    2009-01-01

    Water enters the Earth's mantle by subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Most of this water immediately returns to the atmosphere through arc volcanism, but a part of it is expected as deep as the mantle transition zone (410-660 km depth). There, slabs can be deflected and linger before sinking into the lower mantle. Because it lowers the density and viscosity of the transition zone minerals (i.e., wadsleyite and ringwoodite), water is likely to affect the dynamics of the transition zone mantle overlying stagnant slabs. The consequences of water exchange between a floating slab and the transition zone are investigated. In particular, we focus on the possible onset of small-scale convection despite the adverse thermal gradient (i.e., mantle is cooled from below by the slab). The competition between thermal and hydrous effects on the density and thus on the convective stability of the top layer of the slab is examined numerically, including water-dependent density and viscosity and temperature-dependent water solubility. For plausible initial water content in a slab (≥0.5 wt %), an episode of convection is likely to occur after a relatively short time delay (5-20 Ma) after the slab enters the transition zone. However, water induced rheological weakening is seen to be a controlling parameter for the onset time of convection. Moreover, small-scale convection above a stagnant slab greatly enhances the rate of slab dehydration. Small-scale convection also facilitates heating of the slab, which in itself may prolong the residence time of the slab in the transition zone.

  7. Effects of leaf area index on the coupling between water table, land surface energy fluxes, and planetary boundary layer at the regional scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Y.; Rihani, J.; Langensiepen, M.; Simmer, C.

    2013-12-01

    Vegetation plays an important role in the exchange of moisture and energy at the land surface. Previous studies indicate that vegetation increases the complexity of the feedbacks between the atmosphere and subsurface through processes such as interception, root water uptake, leaf surface evaporation, and transpiration. Vegetation cover can affect not only the interaction between water table depth and energy fluxes, but also the development of the planetary boundary layer. Leaf Area Index (LAI) is shown to be a major factor influencing these interactions. In this work, we investigate the sensitivity of water table, surface energy fluxes, and atmospheric boundary layer interactions to LAI as a model input. We particularly focus on the role LAI plays on the location and extent of transition zones of strongest coupling and how this role changes over seasonal timescales for a real catchment. The Terrestrial System Modelling Platform (TerrSysMP), developed within the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 32 (TR32), is used in this study. TerrSysMP consists of the variably saturated groundwater model ParFlow, the land surface model Community Land Model (CLM), and the regional climate and weather forecast model COSMO (COnsortium for Small-scale Modeling). The sensitivity analysis is performed over a range of LAI values for different vegetation types as extracted from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) dataset for the Rur catchment in Germany. In the first part of this work, effects of vegetation structure on land surface energy fluxes and their connection to water table dynamics are studied using the stand-alone CLM and the coupled subsurface-surface components of TerrSysMP (ParFlow-CLM), respectively. The interconnection between LAI and transition zones of strongest coupling are investigated and analyzed through a subsequent set of subsurface-surface-atmosphere coupled simulations implementing the full TerrSysMP model system.

  8. Pilot project as enabler?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Neisig, Margit; Glimø, Helle; Holm, Catrine Granzow

    This article deals with a systemic perspective on transition. The field of study addressed is a pilot project as enabler of transition in a highly complex polycentric context. From a Luhmannian systemic approach, a framework is created to understand and address barriers of change occurred using...... pilot projects as enabler of transition. Aspects of how to create trust and deal with distrust during a transition are addressed. The transition in focus is the concept of New Public Management and how it is applied in the management of the Employment Service in Denmark. The transition regards...

  9. Recent Changes in Land Water Storage and Its Contribution to Sea Level Variations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wada, Yoshihide; Reager, John T.; Chao, Benjamin F.; Wang, Jida; Lo, Min-Hui; Song, Chunqiao; Li, Yuwen; Gardner, Alex S.

    2016-01-01

    Sea level rise is generally attributed to increased ocean heat content and increased rates glacier and ice melt. However, human transformations of Earth's surface have impacted water exchange between land, atmosphere, and ocean, ultimately affecting global sea level variations. Impoundment of water in reservoirs and artificial lakes has reduced the outflow of water to the sea, while river runoff has increased due to groundwater mining, wetland and endorheic lake storage losses, and deforestation. In addition, climate-driven changes in land water stores can have a large impact on global sea level variations over decadal timescales. Here, we review each component of negative and positive land water contribution separately in order to highlight and understand recent changes in land water contribution to sea level variations.

  10. Is the available cropland and water enough for food demand? A global perspective of the Land-Water-Food nexus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibarrola-Rivas, M. J.; Granados-Ramírez, R.; Nonhebel, S.

    2017-12-01

    Land and water are essential local resources for food production but are limited. The main drivers of increasing food demand are population growth and dietary changes, which depend on the socioeconomic situation of the population. These two factors affect the availability of local resources: population growth reduces the land and water per person; and adoption of affluent diets increases the demand for land and water per person. This study shows potentials of global food supply by linking food demand drivers with national land and water availability. Whether the available land and water is enough to meet national food demand was calculated for 187 countries. The calculations were performed for the past situation (1960 and 2010) and to assess four future scenarios (2050) to discuss different paths of diets, population numbers and agricultural expansion. Inclusion of the demand perspective in the analysis has shown stronger challenges for future global food supply than have other studies. The results show that with the "business as usual" scenario, 40% of the global population in 2050 will live in countries with not enough land nor water to meet the demands of their population. Restriction to basic diets will be the most effective in lowering both land and water constraints. Our results identify both food production and food demand factors, and the regions that may experience the strongest challenges in 2050.

  11. Land-Water-Food Nexus and indications of crop adjustment for water shortage solution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Dandan; Yang, Yonghui; Yang, Yanmin; Richards, Keith; Zhou, Xinyao

    2018-06-01

    While agriculture places the greatest demand on water resources, increasing agricultural production is worsening a global water shortage. Reducing the cultivation of water-consuming crops may be the most effective way to reduce agricultural water use. However, when also taking food demand into consideration, sustaining the balance between regional water and food securities is a growing challenge. This paper addresses this task for regions where water is unsustainable for food production (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region for example) by: (i) assessing the different effects of wheat and maize on water use; (ii) analyzing virtual water and virtual land flows associated with food imports and exports between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and elsewhere in China; (iii) identifying sub-regions where grain is produced using scarce water resources but exported to other regions; and (iv) analyzing the potentiality for mitigating water shortage via Land-Water-Food Nexus. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the study reveals that 29.76 bn m 3 of virtual water (10.81 bn m 3 of blue virtual water) are used by wheat and maize production and 8.77 bn m 3 of virtual water used in nearly 2 million ha of cropland to overproduce 12 million ton of maize for external food consumption. As an importing-based sub-region with high population density, Beijing & Tianjin imported mostly grain (wheat and maize) from Shandong Province. Then, Hebei Province, as an exporting-based sub-region with severe water shortage, overproduced too much grain for other regions, which aggravated the water crisis. To achieve an integrated and sustainable development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, Hebei Province should stop undertaking the breadbasket role for Beijing & Tianjin and pay more attention to groundwater depletion. The analysis of the Land-Water-Food Nexus indicates how shifts in cultivated crops can potentially solve the overuse of water resources without adverse effects on food supply

  12. Land-Water-Food Nexus and Indications of Crop Adjustment for Water Shortage Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Y.; Ren, D.; Zhou, X.

    2017-12-01

    Agriculture places the greatest demand on water resources, and increasing agricultural production is worsening a global water shortage. Reducing the cultivation of water-consuming crops may be the most effective way to reduce agricultural water use. However, when also taking food demand into consideration, sustaining the balance between regional water and food securities is a growing challenge. This paper addresses this task for regions where water is unsustainable for food production (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region for example), by (i) assessing the different effects of wheat and maize on water use; (ii) analyzing virtual water and virtual land flows associated with food imports and exports between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and elsewhere in China; (iii) identifying sub-regions where grain are produced using scarce water resources but exported to other regions. (iv) analyzing the potentiality for mitigating water shortage via Land-Water-Food Nexus. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the study reveals that 29.76 bn m3 of virtual water (10.81 bn m3 of blue virtual water) are used by wheat and maize production and nearly 2 million ha of cropland using 8.77 bn m3 of virtual water overproduced 12 million ton of maize for external food consumption. As an importing-based sub-region with high population density, Beijing and Tianjin (BT) imported mostly grain (wheat and maize) from Shandong (SD). Whereas, Hebei (HB), as an exporting-based sub-region with sever water shortage, overproduced too much grain for other regions (like Central area), which aggravated water crisis. To achieve Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei's integrated and sustainable development, HB should not undertake the breadbasket role for BT but pay more attention to groundwater depletion. The analysis of the Land-Water-Food Nexus indicates how shifts in the cultivated crops can potentially solve the overuse of water resources without adverse effect on food supply, and provides meaningful information to support policy

  13. The interaction between land subsidence and urban development in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Yang

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The Yangtze River Delta and North China Plain are experiencing serious land subsidence development and are also the areas that have undergone the fastest urbanization. Rapid urban development inevitably requires more water resources. However, China is a country with small per capita water resources, nonuniform distribution of water resources, and over-exploitation of groundwater – all of which are critical factors contributing to the potential for a land subsidence disaster. In addition, land subsidence has brought about elevation loss, damaged buildings, decreased safety of rail transit projects, lowered land value, and other huge economic losses and potential safety hazards in China. In this paper, Beijing, a typical northern Chinese city deficient in water, is taken as an example to explore (a the problems of urban development, utilization of water resources, and land subsidence development; (b the harm and influence of land subsidence hazards on urban construction; and (c the relationship between urban development and land subsidence. Based on the results, the author has predicted the trend of urban development and land subsidence in Beijing and puts forward her viewpoints and suggestions.

  14. The effects of sewer infrastructure on water quality: implications for land use studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vrebos, Dirk; Staes, Jan; Meire, Patrick

    2010-05-01

    The European Water Framework Directive requires a good ecological status of the European water bodies and the necessary measures to obtain this have to be implemented. The water quality of a river is the result of complex anthropogenic systems (buildings, waste water treatment infrastructure, regulations, etc.) and biogeochemical and eco-hydrological interactions. It is therefore essential to obtain more insight in the factors that determine the water quality in a river. Research into the relation between land use and water quality is necessary. Human activities have a huge impact on the flow regimes and associated water quality of river systems. Effects of land use bound activities on water quality are often investigated, but these studies generally ignore the hydrological complexity of a human influenced catchment. Infrastructure like sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) can displace huge quantities of polluted water. The transfers change flow paths, displace water between catchments and change the residence time of the system. If we want to correctly understand the effect of land use distribution on water quality we have to take these sewer systems into account. In this study we analyse the relation between land use and water quality in the Nete catchment (Belgium) and investigate the impact of the sewage infrastructure on this relation. The Nete catchment (1.673 km²) is a mosaic of semi natural, agricultural and urbanized areas and the land use is very fragmented. For the moment 74% of the households within the catchment are connected to a WWTP. The discharges from these WWTP's compose 15% of the total discharge of the Nete. Based on a runoff model the surface of upstream land use was calculated for 378 points. These data were then corrected for the impact of WWTP's. Using sewage infrastructure plans, urban areas connected to a WWTP were added to the upstream land use of the WWTP's water receiving stream. In order to understand the effect of

  15. Pacific connections for health, ecosystems and society: new approaches to the land-water-health nexus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parkes, Margot W

    2016-03-01

    Renewed effort to understand the social-ecological context of health is drawing attention to the dynamics of land and water resources and their combined influence on the determinants of health. A new area of research, education and policy is emerging that focuses on the land-water-health nexus: this orientation is applicable from small wetlands through to large-scale watersheds or river basins, and draws attention to the benefits of combined land and water governance, as well as the interrelated implications for health, ecological and societal concerns. Informed by research precedents, imperatives and collaborations emerging in Canada and parts of Oceania, this review profiles three integrative, applied approaches that are bringing attention to the importance the land-water-health nexus within the Pacific Basin: wetlands and watersheds as intersectoral settings to address land-water-health dynamics; tools to integrate health, ecological and societal dynamics at the land-water-health nexus; and indigenous leadership that is linking health and well-being with land and water governance. Emphasis is given to key characteristics of a new generation of inquiry and action at the land-water-health nexus, as well as capacity-building, practice and policy opportunities to address converging environmental, social and health objectives linked to the management and governance of land and water resources.

  16. Land use in, and water quality of, the Pea Hill Arm of Lake Gaston, Virginia and North Carolina, 1988-90

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodside, Michael D.

    1994-01-01

    sampling stations in the Pea Hill Arm and Lake Gaston.About 75 percent of the land use in the Pea Hill Arm is forest land. The remaining 25 percent of the Pea Hill Arm drainage basin is 8 percent pasture/open land, 8 percent open water, 6 percent residential land, and 3 percent cropland. No statistical relations are present between water-quality constituents measured and developed land uses within 11 basins in the Pea Hill Arm Basin, except during periods of stormwater runoff. During a stormwater-runoff event, there was a relation between total nitrite plus nitrate and land use (Kendall's tau correlation coefficient of 0.69). The relation between the developed land use and total nitrite plus nitrate can also be related to the increased ground-water inputs during high base-flow periods.Spatial differences in water-quality constituents as determined by Wilcoxon (matched-pairs) signed-rank tests and cluster analyses were longitudinal and primarily grouped into riverine, transition, and lacustrine zones. These zones were grouped on the basis of flow characteristics and nutrient concentrations.

  17. Does moving towards renewable energy causes water and land inefficiency? An empirical investigation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-mulali, Usama; Solarin, Sakiru Adebola; Sheau-Ting, Low; Ozturk, Ilhan

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates the effect of renewable energy production on water and land footprint in 58 developed and developing countries for the period of 1980–2009. Utilizing the ecological footprint as an indicator, the fixed effects, difference and system generalized method of moment (GMM) approaches were employed and eight different models were constructed to achieve robustness in the empirical outcomes. Despite the use of different methods and models, the outcome was the same whereby GDP growth, urbanization, and trade openness increase the water and land footprint. Moreover, renewable energy production increases the water and land inefficiency because of its positive effect on ecological footprint. Additionally, based on the square of GDP it is concluded that the EKC hypothesis does not exist while the square of renewable energy production indicates that renewable energy production will continue to increase water and land footprint in the future. From the outcome of this study, a number of recommendations were provided to the investigated countries. - Highlights: •The effect of renewable energy production on water and land footprint is studied. •58 developed and developing countries were examined for the period of 1980–2009. •Eight different models were constructed to achieve robustness in the outcomes. •GDP, urbanization, and trade openness increase the water and land footprint. •Renewable energy production increases the water and land inefficiency.

  18. Impacts of historic and projected land-cover, land-use, and land-management change on carbon and water fluxes: The Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (LUMIP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, D. M.; Lombardozzi, D. L.; Lawrence, P.; Hurtt, G. C.

    2017-12-01

    Human land-use activities have resulted in large changes to the Earth surface, with resulting implications for climate. In the future, land-use activities are likely to intensify to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. The Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (LUMIP) aims to further advance understanding of the broad question of impacts of land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) as well as more detailed science questions to get at process-level attribution, uncertainty, and data requirements in more depth and sophistication than possible in a multi-model context to date. LUMIP is multi-faceted and aims to advance our understanding of land-use change from several perspectives. In particular, LUMIP includes a factorial set of land-only simulations that differ from each other with respect to the specific treatment of land use or land management (e.g., irrigation active or not, crop fertilization active or not, wood harvest on or not), or in terms of prescribed climate. This factorial series of experiments serves several purposes and is designed to provide a detailed assessment of how the specification of land-cover change and land management affects the carbon, water, and energy cycle response to land-use change. The potential analyses that are possible through this set of experiments are vast. For example, comparing a control experiment with all land management active to an experiment with no irrigation allows a multi-model assessment of whether or not the increasing use of irrigation during the 20th century is likely to have significantly altered trends of regional water and energy fluxes (and therefore climate) and/or crop yield and carbon fluxes in agricultural regions. Here, we will present preliminary results from the factorial set of experiments utilizing the Community Land Model (CLM5). The analyses presented here will help guide multi-model analyses once the full set of LUMIP simulations are available.

  19. [Effects of land use changes on soil water conservation in Hainan Island, China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Zhi; Zhao, He; Liu, Lei; OuYang, Zhi Yun; Zheng, Hua; Mi, Hong Xu; Li, Yan Min

    2017-12-01

    In tropical areas, a large number of natural forests have been transformed into other plantations, which affected the water conservation function of terrestrial ecosystems. In order to clari-fy the effects of land use changes on soil water conservation function, we selected four typical land use types in the central mountainous region of Hainan Island, i.e., natural forests with stand age greater than 100 years (VF), secondary forests with stand age of 10 years (SF), areca plantations with stand age of 12 years (AF) and rubber plantations with stand age of 35 years (RF). The effects of land use change on soil water holding capacity and water conservation (presented by soil water index, SWI) were assessed. The results showed that, compared with VF, the soil water holding capacity index of other land types decreased in the top soil layer (0-10 cm). AF had the lowest soil water holding capacity in all soil layers. Soil water content and maximum water holding capacity were significantly related to canopy density, soil organic matter and soil bulk density, which indicated that canopy density, soil organic matter and compactness were important factors influencing soil water holding capacity. Compared to VF, soil water conservation of SF, AF and RF were reduced by 27.7%, 54.3% and 11.5%, respectively. The change of soil water conservation was inconsistent in different soil layers. Vegetation canopy density, soil organic matter and soil bulk density explained 83.3% of the variance of soil water conservation. It was suggested that land use conversion had significantly altered soil water holding capacity and water conservation function. RF could keep the soil water better than AF in the research area. Increasing soil organic matter and reducing soil compaction would be helpful to improve soil water holding capacity and water conservation function in land management.

  20. Effects of Land Cover Changes to the Quantity of Water Supply and Hydrologic Cycle using Water Balance Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caja CC

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The hydrologic cycle is a recurring consequence of different forms of movement of water and changes of its physical state on a given area of the earth. The land cover of a certain area is a significant factor affecting the watershed hydrology. This also affects the quantity of water supply within the watershed. This study assessed the impacts of the changing land cover of the Ipo watershed, a part of the Angat-Ipo-La Mesa water system which is the main source of Metro Manila’s water supply. The environmental impacts were assessed using the interaction of vegetation cover changes and the output flow rates in Ipo watershed. Using hydrologic modelling system, the hydrological balance using rainfall, vegetation and terrain data of the watershed was simulated. Over the years, there has been a decreasing land cover within the watershed caused mostly by deforestation and other human activities. This significant change in the land cover resulted to extreme increase in water discharge at all streams and rivers in the watershed and the water balance of the area were affected as saturation and shape of the land terrain changes.

  1. The water-land-food nexus of first-generation biofuels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rulli, Maria Cristina; Bellomi, Davide; Cazzoli, Andrea; de Carolis, Giulia; D'Odorico, Paolo

    2016-03-01

    Recent energy security strategies, investment opportunities and energy policies have led to an escalation in biofuel consumption at the expenses of food crops and pastureland. To evaluate the important impacts of biofuels on food security, the food-energy nexus needs to be investigated in the context of its linkages with the overall human appropriation of land and water resources. Here we provide a global assessment of biofuel crop production, reconstruct global patterns of biofuel crop/oil trade and determine the associated displacement of water and land use. We find that bioethanol is mostly produced with domestic crops while 36% of biodiesel consumption relies on international trade, mainly from Southeast Asia. Altogether, biofuels rely on about 2-3% of the global water and land used for agriculture, which could feed about 30% of the malnourished population. We evaluate the food-energy tradeoff and the impact an increased reliance on biofuel would have on the number of people the planet can feed.

  2. Land use planning using transit oriented development concept: Case study: Salaya station

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarritthai, Supanee; Techpeeraparnich, Wasaporn

    2017-10-01

    The urban sprawl of Bangkok has increased with a motorization rate along with the expansion of the road network to adjacent cities. Nakhonpathom province, located at the southern edge of Bangkok has been affected by the urban sprawl. One of Nakhonpathom's Districts named "Salaya" Salaya has been quickly urbanized due to the establishment of many large academic institutes, such as universities, colleges and high schools as well as many commercial shopping malls. The period of 2013-2017, the Thai government introduced sustainable urban planning policy and promoted the use of public transportation systems. The Light Red Line railway extension of the Bangkok Metro Transit system will soon be constructed and the current Salaya Station will be replaced with new station. Many railway expansion projects will be built, should be designed by using transit-oriented development (TOD) scheme. This paper explores demographic information of the area, the demands of the community and relevant stakeholders for designing of the area using TOD. The proposed land use planning is designed based on the existing condition of the area as much as possible to meet the TOD standard and stakeholders' requirement. The result revealed that the guidelines of transit oriented development concept were of importance not only for planning of urban land use, supporting public transport, but also improving the quality of life.

  3. Water Footprint Analysis of Paddy Rice and the Nexus of Water-Land-Rice in Taiwan: 2005-2014

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, T. C.

    2018-05-01

    This paper explores the water footprint (WF) of paddy rice and the nexus of water-land-food (rice) in Taiwan. The research results indicate that the average annual rice WF for the years 2005-2014 was about 7,580 m3/ton, of which 80% was blue, 17% was green, and 3% was grey. This average annual footprint was about 5.7 times larger than the 2000-2004 average annual WF of rice for countries around the globe of 1325 m3/ton, of which 48% was green, 44% was blue, and 8% was grey. The blue WF is the most important source of water for rice production in Taiwan. The water consumption of the second crop is higher than that of the first crop. The water use efficiency in the southern region of Taiwan is the best, while the northern part of Taiwan exhibits relatively high inefficiency. The rates of change in cultivated land and rice production in Taiwan are decreasing in a stable manner. However, the annual rate of change in the rice WF is unstable. The nexus of land, water, and food should be taken into consideration to protect water availability, maintain agricultural production, and avoid land degradation. The results could offer useful information for agriculture policy and water resource management.

  4. Global land and water grabbing for food and bioenergy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rulli, M. C.; D'Odorico, P.

    2014-12-01

    The increasing demand for food, fibers and biofuels, the consequently escalating prices of agricultural products, and the uncertainty of international food markets have recently drawn the attention of governments and corporations toward investments in productive agricultural land, mostly in developing countries. Since 2000 more than 37 million hectares of arable land have been purchased or leased by foreign investors worldwide. The targeted regions are typically located in areas where crop yields are relatively low because of lack of modern technology. It is expected that in the long run large scale investments in agriculture and the consequent development of commercial farming will bring the technology required to close the existing crop yield gaps. Recently, a number of studies and reports have documented the process of foreign land acquisition, while the associated appropriation of land based resources (e.g., water and crops) has remained poorly investigated. The amount of food this land can produce and the number of people it could feed still needs to be quantified. It is also unclear to what extent the acquired land will be used to for biofuel production and the role played by U.S. and E.U. bioenergy policies as drivers of the ongoing land rush. The environmental impacts of these investments in agriculture require adequate investigation. Here we provide a global quantitative assessment of the rates of water and crop appropriation potentially associated with large scale land acquisitions. We evaluate the associated impacts on the food and energy security of both target and investors' countries, and highlight the societal and environmental implications of the land rush phenomenon.

  5. 75 FR 52010 - Land and Water Conservation Fund Description and Notification, Performance Reports, Agreements...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund Description and.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (LWCF Act) (16 U.S.C 4601-4 et seq... for this program: 1. Description and Notification Form Title: Land and Water Conservation Fund...

  6. A New Scheme for Considering Soil Water-Heat Transport Coupling Based on Community Land Model: Model Description and Preliminary Validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chenghai; Yang, Kai

    2018-04-01

    Land surface models (LSMs) have developed significantly over the past few decades, with the result that most LSMs can generally reproduce the characteristics of the land surface. However, LSMs fail to reproduce some details of soil water and heat transport during seasonal transition periods because they neglect the effects of interactions between water movement and heat transfer in the soil. Such effects are critical for a complete understanding of water-heat transport within a soil thermohydraulic regime. In this study, a fully coupled water-heat transport scheme (FCS) is incorporated into the Community Land Model (version 4.5) to replaces its original isothermal scheme, which is more complete in theory. Observational data from five sites are used to validate the performance of the FCS. The simulation results at both single-point and global scale show that the FCS improved the simulation of soil moisture and temperature. FCS better reproduced the characteristics of drier and colder surface layers in arid regions by considering the diffusion of soil water vapor, which is a nonnegligible process in soil, especially for soil surface layers, while its effects in cold regions are generally inverse. It also accounted for the sensible heat fluxes caused by liquid water flow, which can contribute to heat transfer in both surface and deep layers. The FCS affects the estimation of surface sensible heat (SH) and latent heat (LH) and provides the details of soil heat and water transportation, which benefits to understand the inner physical process of soil water-heat migration.

  7. Effects of land use change on streamflow and stream water quality of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study aimed to link land cover/use change to water quality in an important water supply coastal catchment. The approach followed a spatial and temporal analysis of historical catchment land use change to assess how changes influenced water quality and river flow in the Touws and Duiwe Rivers, southwestern Cape, ...

  8. Assessment of Land and Water Resource Implications of the UK 2050 Carbon Plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konadu, D. D.; Sobral Mourao, Z.; Skelton, S.; Lupton, R.

    2015-12-01

    The UK Carbon Plan presents four low-carbon energy system pathways that achieves 80% GHG emission targets by 2050, stipulated in the UK Climate Change Act (2008). However, some of the energy technologies prescribed under these pathways are land and water intensive; but would the increase demand for land and water under these pathways lead to increased competition and stress on agricultural land, and water resources in the UK? To answer the above question, this study uses an integrated modelling approach, ForeseerTM, which characterises the interdependencies and evaluates the land and water requirement for the pathways, based on scenarios of power plant location, and the energy crop yield projections. The outcome is compared with sustainable limits of resource appropriation to assess potential stresses and competition for water and land by other sectors of the economy. The results show the Carbon Plan pathways have low overall impacts on UK water resources, but agricultural land use and food production could be significantly impacted. The impact on agricultural land use is shown to be mainly driven by projections for transport decarbonisation via indigenously sourced biofuels. On the other hand, the impact on water resources is mainly associated with increased inland thermal electricity generation capacity, which would compete with other industrial and public water demands. The results highlight the need for a critical appraisal of UK's long term low-carbon energy system planning, in particular bioenergy sourcing strategy, and the siting of thermal power generation in order to avert potential resource stress and competition.

  9. 78 FR 12349 - Proposed Information Collection; Land and Water Conservation Fund State Assistance Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-22

    ...] Proposed Information Collection; Land and Water Conservation Fund State Assistance Program AGENCY: National.... Abstract The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (LWCF Act) (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 et seq.) was enacted... discussed in detail in the Land and Water Conservation Fund State Assistance Program Federal Financial...

  10. Aggregating land use quantity and intensity to link water quality in upper catchment of Miyun Reservoir

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, E.

    2015-12-01

    Land use is closely related to hydrological and biochemical processes influencing the water quality. Quantifying relationship between both of them can help effectively manage land use to improve water quality. Previous studies majorly utilized land use quantity as an indicator to link water quality parameters, which lacked an insight to the influence of land use intensity. Taking upper catchment of Miyun Reservoir as a case study, we proposed a method of aggregating land use quantity and intensity to build a new land use indicator and investigated its explanation empower on water quality. Six nutrient concentrations from 52 sub-watersheds covering the whole catchment were used to characterize spatial distributions of water eutrophication. Based on spatial techniques and empirical conversion coefficients, combined remote sensing with socio-economic statistical data, land use intensity was measured and mapped visually. Then the new land use indicator was calculated and linked to nutrient concentrations by Pearson correlation coefficients. Results demonstrated that our new land use indicator incorporating intensity information can quantify the potential different nutrients exporting abilities from land uses. Comparing to traditional indicators only characterized by land use quantity, most Pearson correlation coefficients between new indicator and water nutrient concentrations increased. New information enhanced the explanatory power of land use on water nutrient concentrations. Then it can help better understand the impact of land use on water quality and guide land use management for supporting decision making.

  11. Water limited agriculture in Africa: Climate change sensitivity of large scale land investments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rulli, M. C.; D'Odorico, P.; Chiarelli, D. D.; Davis, K. F.

    2015-12-01

    The past few decades have seen unprecedented changes in the global agricultural system with a dramatic increase in the rates of food production fueled by an escalating demand for food calories, as a result of demographic growth, dietary changes, and - more recently - new bioenergy policies. Food prices have become consistently higher and increasingly volatile with dramatic spikes in 2007-08 and 2010-11. The confluence of these factors has heightened demand for land and brought a wave of land investment to the developing world: some of the more affluent countries are trying to secure land rights in areas suitable for agriculture. According to some estimates, to date, roughly 38 million hectares have been acquired worldwide by large scale investors, 16 million of which in Africa. More than 85% of large scale land acquisitions in Africa are by foreign investors. Many land deals are motivated not only by the need for fertile land but for the water resources required for crop production. Despite some recent assessments of the water appropriation associated with large scale land investments, their impact on the water resources of the target countries under present conditions and climate change scenarios remains poorly understood. Here we investigate irrigation water requirements by various crops planted in the acquired land as an indicator of the pressure likely placed by land investors on ("blue") water resources of target regions in Africa and evaluate the sensitivity to climate changes scenarios.

  12. Impacts of Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes on Water Yield: A Case Study in Jing-Jin-Ji, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suxiao Li

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Knowing the impact of land-use and land-cover (LULC changes on the distribution of water yield (WY is essential for water resource management. Using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST model, we investigated the spatial-temporal variations of WY from 1990 to 2015 in China’s northern semi-arid region of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji. We quantified the combined effects of LULC dynamics and climatic variation on WY. Furthermore, we identified the relative contribution of main LULC types to WY. For our study region, the built-up area increased by 35.66% (5380 km2 during the study period. In the meantime, cropland, grassland, and wetland decreased continuously. The expansion of built-up area and decline of vegetated land led to an increase of 1047 million m3 (5.1% in total WY. The impacts of LULC changes on WY were mainly determined by the biophysical characteristics of LULC composition. Vegetated land has relatively lower WY coefficients due to higher rates of evapotranspiration and water infiltration. Built-up areas and bare land have higher WY coefficients as a result of their impermeable surface. The spatial-temporal analysis of WY with specification of WY coefficients by LULC types can facilitate integrated land-use planning and water resource management.

  13. Energy-Water-Land Nexus: The relative contributions of climate and human systems on global water scarcity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hejazi, M. I.; Chen, M.; Turner, S. W. D.; Graham, N. T.; Vernon, C. R.; Li, X.; Kim, S. H.; Link, R. P.

    2017-12-01

    There is a growing consensus that energy, water, and land systems are interconnected and should be analyzed as such. New tools are required to represent the interactions between population, economic growth, energy, land, and water resources in a dynamically evolving system. Here we use the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) to investigate the relative contributions of climate and human systems on water scarcity regionally and globally under a wide range of scenarios. The model accounts for a variety of human activities, including changing demands for water for agriculture, power generation, industry, and public supply. We find that these activities exert a larger influence on water scarcity than climate in 93% of river basins globally. This work highlights the importance of accounting for human activities in hydrologic modeling applications and how they may change under different pathways of how land use and agricultural systems, energy systems, and economies may evolve in the future.

  14. Identifying the hotspots of non-renewable water use using HiGW-MAT: A new land surface model coupled with human interventions and ground water reservoir

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oki, T.; Pokhrel, Y. N.; Yeh, P. J.; Koirala, S.; Kanae, S.; Hanasaki, N.

    2011-12-01

    The real hydrological cycles on the Earth are not natural anymore. Global hydrological model simulations of the water cycle and available water resources should have an ability to consider the effects of human interventions on hydrological cycles. Anthropogenic activity modules (Hanasaki et al., 2008), such as reservoir operation, crop growth and water demand in crop lands, and environmental flows, were incorporated into a land surface model called MATSIRO (Takata et al., 2003), to form a new model, MAT-HI (Pokhrel et al., 2011). Total terrestrial water storages (TWS) in large river basins were estimated using the new model by off-line simulation, and compared with the TWS observed by GRACE for 2002-2007. The results showed MAT-HI has an advantage estimating TWS particularly in arid river basins compared with H08 (Hanasaki et al., 2008). MAT-HI was further coupled with a module representing the ground water level fluctuations (Yeh et al., 2005), and consists a new land surface scheme HiGW-MAT (Human Intervention and Ground Water coupled MATSIRO). HiGW-MAT is also associated with a scheme tracing the origin and flow path with the consideration on the sources of water withdrawal from stream flow, medium-size reservoirs and nonrenewable groundwater in addition to precipitation to croplands enabled the assessment of the origin of water producing major crops as Hanasaki et al. (2010). Areas highly dependent on nonrenewable groundwater are detected in the Pakistan, Bangladesh, western part of India, north and western parts of China, some regions in the Arabian Peninsula and the western part of the United States through Mexico. Cumulative nonrenewable groundwater withdrawals estimated by the model are corresponding fairly well with the country statistics of total groundwater withdrawals. Ground water table depletions in large aquifers in US estimated by HiGW-MAT were compared with in-situ observational data, and the correspondences are very good. Mean global exploitation

  15. Foreign Agricultural Land Acquisition and the Visibility of Water Resource Impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip Woodhouse

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The many headlines focusing on 'land grabbing' have distracted attention from the role that access to water plays in underpinning the projected productivity of foreign direct investment in acquisition of agricultural land in developing countries. This paper identifies questions that arise about the explicit and implicit water requirements for irrigation in agricultural projects on land that is subject to such foreign investment deals. It focuses particularly on land acquisition in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA, where, for savanna ecosystems that cover some two thirds of the region, rainfall uncertainty is the principal constraint to increased agricultural productivity. The paper argues that, even where land acquisition deals do not specify irrigation, choice of location and/or crop type indicates this is invariably an implicit requirement of projects. It is arguable that private investment in water infrastructure (e.g. for water storage could provide wider benefits to neighbouring small-scale producers, thus reducing the risk inherent in much of African agriculture. However, it is also possible that foreign investment may compete with existing water use, and some land deals have included provisions for priority access to water in cases of scarcity. Empirical studies are used to identify the mechanisms through which large-scale land investments influence water availability for smaller-scale land users. The paper concludes that, although effects on water resources may constitute one of the main impacts of land deals, this is likely to be obscured by the lack of transparency over water requirements of agricultural projects and the invisibility of much existing local agricultural water management to government planning agencies.

  16. Recent Progresses in Incorporating Human Land-Water Management into Global Land Surface Models Toward Their Integration into Earth System Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pokhrel, Yadu N.; Hanasaki, Naota; Wada, Yoshihide; Kim, Hyungjun

    2016-01-01

    The global water cycle has been profoundly affected by human land-water management. As the changes in the water cycle on land can affect the functioning of a wide range of biophysical and biogeochemical processes of the Earth system, it is essential to represent human land-water management in Earth system models (ESMs). During the recent past, noteworthy progress has been made in large-scale modeling of human impacts on the water cycle but sufficient advancements have not yet been made in integrating the newly developed schemes into ESMs. This study reviews the progresses made in incorporating human factors in large-scale hydrological models and their integration into ESMs. The study focuses primarily on the recent advancements and existing challenges in incorporating human impacts in global land surface models (LSMs) as a way forward to the development of ESMs with humans as integral components, but a brief review of global hydrological models (GHMs) is also provided. The study begins with the general overview of human impacts on the water cycle. Then, the algorithms currently employed to represent irrigation, reservoir operation, and groundwater pumping are discussed. Next, methodological deficiencies in current modeling approaches and existing challenges are identified. Furthermore, light is shed on the sources of uncertainties associated with model parameterizations, grid resolution, and datasets used for forcing and validation. Finally, representing human land-water management in LSMs is highlighted as an important research direction toward developing integrated models using ESM frameworks for the holistic study of human-water interactions within the Earths system.

  17. Nuclear Energy R and D Imperative 3: Enable a Transition Away from Fossil Fuel in the Transportation and Industrial Sectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petti, David; Herring, J. Stephen

    2010-01-01

    As described in the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's Nuclear Energy R and D Roadmap, nuclear energy can play a significant role in supplying energy for a growing economy while reducing both our dependence on foreign energy supplies and emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. The industrial and transportation sectors are responsible for more than half of the greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and imported oil supplies 70% of the energy used in the transportation sector. It is therefore important to examine the various ways nuclear energy can facilitate a transition away from fossil fuels to secure environmentally sustainable production and use of energy in the transportation and manufacturing industry sectors. Imperative 3 of the Nuclear Energy R and D Roadmap, entitled 'Enable a Transition Away from Fossil Fuels by Producing Process Heat for use in the Transportation and Industrial Sectors', addresses this need. This document presents an Implementation Plan for R and D efforts related to this imperative. The expanded use of nuclear energy beyond the electrical grid will contribute significantly to overcoming the three inter-linked energy challenges facing U.S. industry: the rising and volatile prices for premium fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, dependence on foreign sources for these fuels, and the risks of climate change resulting from carbon emissions. Nuclear energy could be used in the industrial and transportation sectors to: (1) Generate high temperature process heat and electricity to serve industrial needs including the production of chemical feedstocks for use in manufacturing premium fuels and fertilizer products, (2) Produce hydrogen for industrial processes and transportation fuels, and (3) Provide clean water for human consumption by desalination and promote wastewater treatment using low-grade nuclear heat as a useful additional benefit. Opening new avenues for nuclear energy will significantly enhance our nation

  18. PV water pumping for carbon sequestration in dry land agriculture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olsson, Alexander; Campana, Pietro Elia; Lind, Mårten; Yan, Jinyue

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A novel model for carbon sequestration in dry land agriculture is developed. • We consider the water-food-energy-climate nexus to assess carbon sequestration. • Using water for carbon sequestration should be assessed critically. • Co-benefits of carbon sequestration should be included in the assessment. • Moisture feedback is part of the nexus model. - Abstract: This paper suggests a novel model for analysing carbon sequestration activities in dry land agriculture considering the water-food-energy-climate nexus. The paper is based on our on-going studies on photovoltaic water pumping (PVWP) systems for irrigation of grasslands in China. Two carbon sequestration projects are analysed in terms of their water productivity and carbon sequestration potential. It is concluded that the economic water productivity, i.e. how much water that is needed to produce an amount of grass, of grassland restoration is low and that there is a need to include several of the other co-benefits to justify the use of water for climate change mitigation. The co-benefits are illustrated in a nexus model including (1) climate change mitigation, (2) water availability, (3) downstream water impact, (4) energy security, (5) food security and (6) moisture recycling. We argue for a broad approach when analysing water for carbon sequestration. The model includes energy security and food security together with local and global water concerns. This makes analyses of dry land carbon sequestration activities more relevant and accurate. Without the nexus approach, the co-benefits of grassland restoration tend to be diminished

  19. Building a Continental Scale Land Cover Monitoring Framework for Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thankappan, Medhavy; Lymburner, Leo; Tan, Peter; McIntyre, Alexis; Curnow, Steven; Lewis, Adam

    2012-04-01

    Land cover information is critical for national reporting and decision making in Australia. A review of information requirements for reporting on national environmental indicators identified the need for consistent land cover information to be compared against a baseline. A Dynamic Land Cover Dataset (DLCD) for Australia has been developed by Geoscience Australia and the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) recently, to provide a comprehensive and consistent land cover information baseline to enable monitoring and reporting for sustainable farming practices, water resource management, soil erosion, and forests at national and regional scales. The DLCD was produced from the analysis of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data at 250-metre resolution derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for the period from 2000 to 2008. The EVI time series data for each pixel was modelled as 12 coefficients based on the statistical, phenological and seasonal characteristics. The time series were then clustered in coefficients spaces and labelled using ancillary information on vegetation and land use at the catchment scale. The accuracy of the DLCD was assessed using field survey data over 25,000 locations provided by vegetation and land management agencies in State and Territory jurisdictions, and by ABARES. The DLCD is seen as the first in a series of steps to build a framework for national land cover monitoring in Australia. A robust methodology to provide annual updates to the DLCD is currently being developed at Geoscience Australia. There is also a growing demand from the user community for land cover information at better spatial resolution than currently available through the DLCD. Global land cover mapping initiatives that rely on Earth observation data offer many opportunities for national and international programs to work in concert and deliver better outcomes by streamlining efforts on development and

  20. Dynamics and resilience in interdependent systems at the energy-water-land nexus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moss, R. H.

    2017-12-01

    Water resources management is already complex enough, given fragmented landscapes and institutions and uncertain climate and environmental conditions. But given the interdependence of water, energy, and land systems (the "energy-water-land nexus"), integrated approaches to cross-sectoral modeling and decision making that account for the interdependencies are increasingly important. This presentation will describe the context of the broader institutional and policy dimensions (e.g., cross-Federal research agencies) and scientific challenges of bringing the water, energy, and land research communities together (e.g., different epistemologies, data, modeling, and decision support methods). The speaker will describe efforts to develop a shared community of practice to improve research collaboration and provide insights on coupled system resilience.

  1. Water contamination, land prices, and the statute of repose

    Science.gov (United States)

    John F. Chamblee; Carolyn A. Dehring; Craig A. Depken; Joseph R. Nicholson

    2015-01-01

    We examine how water contamination risk from an inactive hazardous waste site is capitalized into surrounding vacant land prices. After public knowledge of the first instance of off-site contamination, we find that shallow groundwater contamination potential is negatively capitalized into land prices, as is proximity to a known contaminated well. Public knowledge of...

  2. A conceptual framework for addressing complexity and unfolding transition dynamics when developing sustainable adaptation strategies in urban water management

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fratini, Chiara; Elle, Morten; Jensen, M. B.

    2012-01-01

    for standardized methods and guidelines to organize transdisciplinary processes where different types of knowledge and perspectives are taken into account. On the basis of the macro-meso-micro pattern inspired by complexity science and transition theory, we developed a conceptual framework to organize processes...... addressing the complexity characterizing urban water management in the context of climate change. In this paper the framework is used to organize a research process aiming at understanding and unfolding urban dynamics for sustainable transition. The final goal is to enable local authorities and utilities...

  3. Integrative Regional Studies in the Mississippi Basin: Investigating the Effects of Land Use / Land Cover Change on Land and Water Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foley, J. A.

    2003-12-01

    Over the last two hundred years, much of the Mississippi basin has been converted from forest, savanna and grassland to mosaic of agricultural and urban areas. Furthermore, technological changes -- especially those dealing with agricultural practices like fertilizer use -- have also had a widespread affect on environmental systems in the basin. Taken together, the massive transformation of land cover and agricultural land use practices have had a tremendous effect on the hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological processes occurring within the region. This transformation of the basin has a significant impact on human welfare and that other of other species, primarily through changing the distribution of ecosystem "goods and services" produced there. Here we present results that examine how large-scale changes in land use and land cover of the basin may have affected: (i) large-scale water balance and hydrology; (ii) water quality, especially nitrate concentrations; (iii) ecosystem productivity and carbon storage; and (iv) agricultural yield. In this study, we use a combination of process-based ecosystem models (for both natural ecosystems and agricultural systems), large-scale hydrological routing models, and detailed historical land use and climatic datasets. By comparing the response of different environmental processes to combinations of land use and climatic drivers, we may examine the underlying "resilience" of these ecosystems -- and how they may respond to environmental changes. Furthermore, we examine the tradeoffs between ecosystem goods and services -- such as a potential balance between increasing crop yields and decreasing water quality -- on a regional scale. Such regional-scale integrative studies are only now in their infancy. But they represent a framework for exploring the complex interactions between human societies, local landscapes, and regional environmental processes. Such "place-based" integrative studies should be compared to other regions

  4. An operative environmental accounting framework for forest land blue water production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beguería, Santiago; Leandri, Marc; Campos, Pablo

    2014-05-01

    We present a conceptual framework for the economic valuation of the water flows occurring in the forest lands. This framework is an extension of the criteria developed in the System of Environmental Economic Accounting-Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EEA) and provides a practical tool for the assessment of national or regional environmental assets. In terms of environmental policy, our accounting framework aims at valuing the contribution of forest lands to fresh water supply, contributing to a more complete valuation of the environmental asset value of forest land. Thanks to a combination of hydrological and economic models, our approach allows organizing hydrological and economic information in a coherent manner, constituting an informed tool to support the design of efficient incentives for forest-owners to manage their land cover towards more water-friendly options. As an example, we apply our hydro-economic model to a real life case study of two reservoirs in Andalusia, Spain, that differ significantly in their use of water. We use available hydrologic and economic data for evaluating the water environmental income at each site. We discuss on the differences found between the two sites and between vegetation types, and we present a sensitivity analysis regarding the main assumptions made in our calculations.

  5. Climate and land use controls over terrestrial water use efficiency in monsoon Asia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanqin Tian; Chaoqun Lu; Guangsheng Chen; Xiaofeng Xu; Mingliang Liu; et al

    2011-01-01

    Much concern has been raised regarding how and to what extent climate change and intensive human activities have altered water use efficiency (WUE, amount of carbon uptake per unit of water use) in monsoon Asia. By using a process-based ecosystem model [dynamic land ecosystem model (DLEM)], we examined effects of climate change, land use/cover change, and land...

  6. Making Sustainable Energy Choices: Insights on the Energy/Water/Land Nexus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2014-10-01

    This periodic publication summarizes insights from the body of NREL analysis work. In this issue of Analysis Insights, we examine the implications of our energy choices on water, land use, climate, developmental goals, and other factors. Collectively, NREL's work helps policymakers and investors understand and evaluate energy choices within the complex web of connections, or nexus, between energy, water, and land.

  7. Interplay of the Glass Transition and the Liquid-Liquid Phase Transition in Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giovambattista, Nicolas; Loerting, Thomas; Lukanov, Boris R.; Starr, Francis W.

    2012-01-01

    Water has multiple glassy states, often called amorphous ices. Low-density (LDA) and high-density (HDA) amorphous ice are separated by a dramatic, first-order like phase transition. It has been argued that the LDA-HDA transformation connects to a first-order liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) above the glass transition temperature Tg. Direct experimental evidence of the LLPT is challenging to obtain, since the LLPT occurs at conditions where water rapidly crystallizes. In this work, we explore the implications of a LLPT on the pressure dependence of Tg(P) for LDA and HDA by performing computer simulations of two water models – one with a LLPT, and one without. In the absence of a LLPT, Tg(P) for all glasses nearly coincide. When there is a LLPT, different glasses exhibit dramatically different Tg(P) which are directly linked with the LLPT. Available experimental data for Tg(P) are only consistent with the scenario including a LLPT. PMID:22550566

  8. The Effect of Land Use on Availability of Japanese Freshwater Resources and Its Significance for Water Footprinting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masaharu Motoshita

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available All relevant effects on water must be assessed in water footprinting for identifying hotspots and managing the impacts of products, processes, and services throughout the life cycle. Although several studies have focused on physical water scarcity and degradation of water quality, the relevance of land use in water footprinting has not been widely addressed. Here, we aimed to verify the extent of land-use effect in the context of water footprinting. Intensity factors of land use regarding the loss of freshwater availability are modeled by calculating water balance at grid scale in Japan. A water footprint inventory and impacts related to land use are assessed by applying the developed intensity factors and comparing them with those related to water consumption and degradation. Artificial land use such as urban area results in the loss of many parts of available freshwater input by precipitation. When considering water footprint inventory, the dominance of land use is less than that of water consumption. However, the effect of land use is relevant to the assessment of water footprint impact by differentiating stress on water resources. The exclusion of land use effect underestimates the water footprint of goods produced in Japan by an average of around 37%.

  9. Irrigation, risk aversion, and water right priority under water supply uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Man; Xu, Wenchao; Rosegrant, Mark W.

    2017-09-01

    This paper explores the impacts of a water right's allocative priority—as an indicator of farmers' risk-bearing ability—on land irrigation under water supply uncertainty. We develop and use an economic model to simulate farmers' land irrigation decision and associated economic returns in eastern Idaho. Results indicate that the optimal acreage of land irrigated increases with water right priority when hydroclimate risk exhibits a negatively skewed or right-truncated distribution. Simulation results suggest that prior appropriation enables senior water rights holders to allocate a higher proportion of their land to irrigation, 6 times as much as junior rights holders do, creating a gap in the annual expected net revenue reaching up to 141.4 acre-1 or 55,800 per farm between the two groups. The optimal irrigated acreage, expected net revenue, and shadow value of a water right's priority are subject to substantial changes under a changing climate in the future, where temporal variation in water supply risks significantly affects the profitability of agricultural land use under the priority-based water sharing mechanism.

  10. Trade-offs between Biofuels Energy Production, Land Use and Water Use in Florida

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fidler, Michal [Intelligentsia International Inc., LaBelle, FL (United States); Capece, John [Intelligentsia International Inc., LaBelle, FL (United States); Hanlon, Edward [Univ. of Florida, Immokalee, FL (United States); Alsharif, Kamal [Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL (United States)

    2014-02-11

    Objective of the presentation is to document land use and water use implications of biomass production to demonstrate the overall resources implications associated with bioethanol production for Florida’s transportation sector needs. Rationale for using biofuels (BF) is explained, so are advantages & challenges of BF production and use. Land use changes (LUC) in Florida are presented and consequences outlined. It is documented that Florida’s agricultural land is a very limited resource, with only 0.43 ac/person comparing to the global average of 1.71 ac/person. The direct relation of increased biofuels production causing increased water use is explained. Favorable climate, water resources, advanced research, traditional leading agricultural role, minor oil reserves, no refineries and increasing energy demands are the main reasons why Florida considers pursuing BF production in large scale. Eight various bioethanol crops produced in Florida were considered in this study (Miscanthus, Switchgrass, Sweet Sorghum, Corn, Elephantgrass, Sugarcane, Energycane, Eucalyptus). Biomass yield and bioethanol yield of these crops are documented. Bioethanol needs of Florida are estimated and related land requirements for the needed bioethanol production calculated. Projections for various bioethanol blends (E15 to E85) are then presented. Finally, water demand for biofuels production is quantified. It is concluded that land use requirement for production of all ethanol in E85 fuel blend in Florida is roughly the same as the total available ag land in Florida for the best yielding biofuels crops (energycane, eucalyptus). Water demand for production of all ethanol needed for E100 would increase current overall water consumption in Florida between 65% and 100% for the most common biofuels crops. Vehicular energy is only 33% of Floridians energy consumption, so even all Florida’s agricultural land was given up for biofuels, it would still produce only 33% of Florida’s total

  11. Arctic transitions in the Land - Atmosphere System (ATLAS): Background, objectives, results, and future directions

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGuire, A.D.; Sturm, M.; Chapin, F. S.

    2003-01-01

    This paper briefly reviews the background, objectives, and results of the Arctic Transitions in the Land-Atmosphere System (ATLAS) Project to date and provides thoughts on future directions. The key goal of the ATLAS Project is to improve understanding of controls over spatial and temporal variability of terrestrial processes in the Arctic that have potential consequences for the climate system, i.e., processes that affect the exchange of water and energy with the atmosphere, the exchange of radiatively active gases with the atmosphere, and the delivery of freshwater to the Arctic Ocean. Three important conclusions have emerged from research associated with the ATLAS Project. First, associated with the observation that the Alaskan Arctic has warmed significantly in the last 30 years, permafrost is warming, shrubs are expanding, and there has been a temporary release of carbon dioxide from tundra soils. Second, the winter is a more important period of biological activity than previously appreciated. Biotic processes, including shrub expansion and decomposition, affect snow structure and accumulation and affect the annual carbon budget of tundra ecosystems. Third, observed vegetation changes can have a significant positive feedback to regional warming. These vegetation effects are, however, less strong than those exerted by land-ocean heating contrasts and the topographic constraints on air mass movements. The papers of this special section provide additional insights related to these conclusions and to the overall goal of ATLAS.

  12. Data compilation and assessment for water resources in Pennsylvania state forest and park lands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galeone, Daniel G.

    2011-01-01

    As a result of a cooperative study between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PaDCNR), available electronic data were compiled for Pennsylvania state lands (state forests and parks) to allow PaDCNR to initially determine if data exist to make an objective evaluation of water resources for specific basins. The data compiled included water-quantity and water-quality data and sample locations for benthic macroinvertebrates within state-owned lands (including a 100-meter buffer around each land parcel) in Pennsylvania. In addition, internet links or contacts for geographic information system coverages pertinent to water-resources studies also were compiled. Water-quantity and water-quality data primarily available through January 2007 were compiled and summarized for site types that included streams, lakes, ground-water wells, springs, and precipitation. Data were categorized relative to 35 watershed boundaries defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for resource-management purposes. The primary sources of continuous water-quantity data for Pennsylvania state lands were the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Weather Service (NWS). The USGS has streamflow data for 93 surface-water sites located in state lands; 38 of these sites have continuous-recording data available. As of January 2007, 22 of these 38 streamflow-gaging stations were active; the majority of active gaging stations have over 40 years of continuous record. The USGS database also contains continuous ground-water elevation data for 32 wells in Pennsylvania state lands, 18 of which were active as of January 2007. Sixty-eight active precipitation stations (primarily from the NWS network) are located in state lands. The four sources of available water-quality data for Pennsylvania state lands were the USGS, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PaDEP), and

  13. Automatic Mode Transition Enabled Robust Triboelectric Nanogenerators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jun; Yang, Jin; Guo, Hengyu; Li, Zhaoling; Zheng, Li; Su, Yuanjie; Wen, Zhen; Fan, Xing; Wang, Zhong Lin

    2015-12-22

    Although the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been proven to be a renewable and effective route for ambient energy harvesting, its robustness remains a great challenge due to the requirement of surface friction for a decent output, especially for the in-plane sliding mode TENG. Here, we present a rationally designed TENG for achieving a high output performance without compromising the device robustness by, first, converting the in-plane sliding electrification into a contact separation working mode and, second, creating an automatic transition between a contact working state and a noncontact working state. The magnet-assisted automatic transition triboelectric nanogenerator (AT-TENG) was demonstrated to effectively harness various ambient rotational motions to generate electricity with greatly improved device robustness. At a wind speed of 6.5 m/s or a water flow rate of 5.5 L/min, the harvested energy was capable of lighting up 24 spot lights (0.6 W each) simultaneously and charging a capacitor to greater than 120 V in 60 s. Furthermore, due to the rational structural design and unique output characteristics, the AT-TENG was not only capable of harvesting energy from natural bicycling and car motion but also acting as a self-powered speedometer with ultrahigh accuracy. Given such features as structural simplicity, easy fabrication, low cost, wide applicability even in a harsh environment, and high output performance with superior device robustness, the AT-TENG renders an effective and practical approach for ambient mechanical energy harvesting as well as self-powered active sensing.

  14. Multi-Terrain Earth Landing Systems Applicable for Manned Space Capsules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fasanella, Edwin L.

    2008-01-01

    A key element of the President's Vision for Space Exploration is the development of a new space transportation system to replace the Shuttle that will enable manned exploration of the moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA has tasked the Constellation Program with the development of this architecture, which includes the Ares launch vehicle and Orion manned spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft must carry six astronauts and its primary structure should be reusable, if practical. These requirements led the Constellation Program to consider a baseline land landing on return to earth. To assess the landing system options for Orion, a review of current operational parachute landing systems such as those used for the F-111 escape module and the Soyuz is performed. In particular, landing systems with airbags and retrorockets that would enable reusability of the Orion capsule are investigated. In addition, Apollo tests and analyses conducted in the 1960's for both water and land landings are reviewed. Finally, tests and dynamic finite element simulations to understand land landings for the Orion spacecraft are also presented.

  15. Sustainability of integrated land and water resources management in the face of climate and land use changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setegn, Shimelis

    2017-04-01

    Sustainable development integrates economic development, social development, and environmental protection. Land and Water resources are under severe pressure from increasing populations, fast development, deforestation, intensification of agriculture and the degrading environment in many part of the world. The demand for adequate and safe supplies of water is becoming crucial especially in the overpopulated urban centers of the Caribbean islands. Moreover, population growth coupled with environmental degradation and possible adverse impacts of land use and climate change are major factors limiting freshwater resource availability. The main objective of this study is to develop a hydrological model and analyze the spatiotemporal variability of hydrological processes in the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico and Jamaica. Physically based eco-hydrological model was developed and calibrated in the Rio Grande Manati and Wag water watershed. Spatial distribution of annual hydrological processes, water balance components for wet and dry years, and annual hydrological water balance of the watershed are discussed. The impact of land use and climate change are addressed in the watersheds. Appropriate nature based adaptation strategies were evaluated. The study will present a good understanding of advantages and disadvantages of nature-based solutions for adapting climate change, hydro-meteorological risks and other extreme hydrological events.

  16. Global Transition Zone Anisotropy and Consequences for Mantle Flow and Earth's Deep Water Cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beghein, C.; Yuan, K.

    2011-12-01

    The transition zone has long been at the center of the debate between multi- and single-layered convection models that directly relate to heat transport and chemical mixing throughout the mantle. It has also been suggested that the transition zone is a reservoir that collects water transported by subduction of the lithosphere into the mantle. Since water lowers mantle minerals density and viscosity, thereby modifying their rheology and melting behavior, it likely affects global mantle dynamics and the history of plate tectonics. Constraining mantle flow is therefore important for our understanding of Earth's thermochemical evolution and deep water cycle. Because it can result from deformation by dislocation creep during convection, seismic anisotropy can help us model mantle flow. It is relatively well constrained in the uppermost mantle, but its presence in the transition zone is still debated. Its detection below 250 km depth has been challenging to date because of the poor vertical resolution of commonly used datasets. In this study, we used global Love wave overtone phase velocity maps, which are sensitive to structure down to much larger depths than fundamental modes alone, and have greater depth resolution than shear wave-splitting data. This enabled us to obtain a first 3-D model of azimuthal anisotropy for the upper 800km of the mantle. We inverted the 2Ψ terms of anisotropic phase velocity maps [Visser, et al., 2008] for the first five Love wave overtones between 35s and 174s period. The resulting model shows that the average anisotropy amplitude for vertically polarized shear waves displays two main stable peaks: one in the uppermost mantle and, most remarkably, one in the lower transition zone. F-tests showed that the presence of 2Ψ anisotropy in the transition zone is required to improve the third, fourth, and fifth overtones fit. Because of parameter trade-offs, however, we cannot exclude that the anisotropy is located in the upper transition zone as

  17. Externality costs by emission. F. Land use and water pollution impacts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1991-01-01

    This section discusses the environmental impacts associated with solid and liquid combustion wastes and cooling system discharges from nuclear, coal, oil, and gas fired power plants. This chapter also presents data for land use requirements for these types of power plants. Coal, oil and nuclear power plants also generate a variety of solid wastes from power generation and maintenance operations. These solid wastes must be disposed of in landfills, which may have a variety of adverse effects on surface water, groundwater, and land use. Power plants also require significant amounts of land for plant sites, fuel storage, transmission lines, and waste disposal. Large fossil fuel and nuclear plants require large quantities of water for cooling and maintenance. The removal from and return of cooling water to rivers, streams and lakes may have adverse effects on fish populations and other aspects of aquatic ecosystems. other water impacts include pollution of surface water from coal storage pile and plant site run-off, and wastewater discharges of acids, organics, suspended solids and metals derived from boiler or cooling system maintenance procedures

  18. Corporatization of the water sector: Implications for transitioning to sustainable urban water management

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fratini, Chiara; Elle, Morten; Brown, Norman R.

    2012-01-01

    In the context of climate change, the Danish water sector is experiencing two major pressures. On one hand, a number of agents are pushing towards more sustainable urban water management (SUWM) approaches with the aim of improving surface water quality and mitigating flood risk. On the other hand....... A more direct collaboration of the national regulator of competitive performances with government institutions and other non-governmental actors might be an effective answer to such challenges....... the influencing factors for transitioning to SUWM and highlighted the potential governance attributes for enhancing and/or constraining such change. This paper explores the corporatization of the water sector and its implications for transitioning to SUWM. On the base of a preliminary literature review we...... identify the rationales for and drawbacks of corporatization and compare them with the critical factors to build institutional capacity for SUWM. Preliminary results suggest that corporatization is expected to create a range of challenges that might hinder the transition towards more SUWM approaches...

  19. Smooth-Water Landing Stability and Rough-Water Landing and Take-Off Behavior of a 1/13-Scale Model of the Consolidated Vultee Skate 7 Seaplane, TED No. NACA DE 338

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKann, Robert F.; Coffee, Claude W.; Arabian, Donald D.

    1949-01-01

    A model of the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation Skate 7 seaplane was tested in Langley tank no. 2. Presented without discussion in this paper are landing stability in smooth water, maximum normal accelerations occurring during rough-water landings, and take-off behavior in waves.

  20. Modifying a dynamic global vegetation model for simulating large spatial scale land surface water balances

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, G.; Bartlein, P. J.

    2012-08-01

    Satellite-based data, such as vegetation type and fractional vegetation cover, are widely used in hydrologic models to prescribe the vegetation state in a study region. Dynamic global vegetation models (DGVM) simulate land surface hydrology. Incorporation of satellite-based data into a DGVM may enhance a model's ability to simulate land surface hydrology by reducing the task of model parameterization and providing distributed information on land characteristics. The objectives of this study are to (i) modify a DGVM for simulating land surface water balances; (ii) evaluate the modified model in simulating actual evapotranspiration (ET), soil moisture, and surface runoff at regional or watershed scales; and (iii) gain insight into the ability of both the original and modified model to simulate large spatial scale land surface hydrology. To achieve these objectives, we introduce the "LPJ-hydrology" (LH) model which incorporates satellite-based data into the Lund-Potsdam-Jena (LPJ) DGVM. To evaluate the model we ran LH using historical (1981-2006) climate data and satellite-based land covers at 2.5 arc-min grid cells for the conterminous US and for the entire world using coarser climate and land cover data. We evaluated the simulated ET, soil moisture, and surface runoff using a set of observed or simulated data at different spatial scales. Our results demonstrate that spatial patterns of LH-simulated annual ET and surface runoff are in accordance with previously published data for the US; LH-modeled monthly stream flow for 12 major rivers in the US was consistent with observed values respectively during the years 1981-2006 (R2 > 0.46, p 0.52). The modeled mean annual discharges for 10 major rivers worldwide also agreed well (differences day method for snowmelt computation, the addition of the solar radiation effect on snowmelt enabled LH to better simulate monthly stream flow in winter and early spring for rivers located at mid-to-high latitudes. In addition, LH

  1. Linking land use with pesticides in Dutch surface waters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van't, Zelfde M T; Tamis, W L M; Vijver, M G; De Snoo, G R

    2012-01-01

    Compared with other European countries The Netherlands has a relatively high level of pesticide consumption, particularly in agriculture. Many of the compounds concerned end up in surface waters. Surface water quality is routinely monitored and numerous pesticides are found to be present in high concentrations, with various standards being regularly exceeded. Many standards-breaching pesticides exhibit regional patterns that can be traced back to land use. These patterns have been statistically analysed by correlating surface area per land use category with standards exceedance per pesticide, thereby identifying numerous significant correlations with respect to breaches of both the ecotoxicological standard (Maximum Tolerable Risk, MTR) and the drinking water standard. In the case of the MTR, greenhouse horticulture, floriculture and bulb-growing have the highest number as well as percentage of standard-breaching pesticides, despite these market segments being relatively small in terms of area cropped. Cereals, onions, vegetables, perennial border plants and pulses are also associated with many pesticides that exceed the drinking water standard. When a correction is made for cropped acreage, cereals and potatoes also prove to be a major contributor to monitoring sites where the MTR standard is exceeded. Over the period 1998-2006 the land-use categories with the most and highest percentage of standards-exceeding pesticides (greenhouse horticulture, bulb-growing and flower cultivation) showed an increase in the percentage of standards-exceeding compounds.

  2. Ecologization of water-land property matters on the territory of the Tom lower course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popov, V. K.; Kozina, M. V.; Levak, Yu Yu; Shvagrukova, E. V.

    2016-03-01

    In the present paper the water-land property complex is considered as a strategic resource of the city development. The formulated question is expounded through the example of water-land property complex usage on the territory of the Tom lower course for land-use planning and developing the systems of water recourses management and land tenure. Consequences of liquid radioactive waste (LRW) landfilling are investigated in terms of arable farming. Also, forming a water budget of the soils spread on the area of the Tomsk underground water supply cone of depression and its role in the development of agricultural industry are studied. The main aspect of the analysis is the incorporation of social, economic, and ecological requirements for the system of life-supporting branches of municipal economy and social services. As far as the system of land tax payments plays an important role in land property complex management, the common issues and tendencies are specified in the paper. These problems are concerned with the inadequate incorporation of an ecological constituent in the methods of cadastral valuation of lands, as well as the situation of the narrow area of its results usage in the Russian Federation. Natural factors (hydrological, territorial, geological (geomorphologic) territory conditions) are combined by the authors into a special group. These factors should be reflected in the results of cadastral valuation. Also, in order to protect the interests of water consumers, it is offered to establish the Water Consumers Association based on the international experience of such countries as Spain and Uzbekistan.

  3. Assessing the impact of land use/land cover and climate changes on water stress in the derived savanna

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Amidu, A

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Understanding the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) and climate patterns on basin runoff is necessary in assessing basin water stress. This assessment requires long-term observed rainfall time series and LULC spatial data. In order to assess...

  4. Transforming the food-water-energy-land-economic nexus of plasticulture production through compact bed geometries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holt, Nathan; Shukla, Sanjay; Hochmuth, George; Muñoz-Carpena, Rafael; Ozores-Hampton, Monica

    2017-12-01

    HYDRUS model simulations of 10-year, 2-h storm events in other major tomato production regions of California and Virginia. Re-designing the bed geometries in plasticulture production systems to be more compact is an example of win-win production optimization not only for traditional farms in rural areas but also for urban and peri-urban farms which are located closer to city centers. Compact beds could enable more plants per unit area, thus requiring less land area for the same production. Needing less area facilitates urban and peri-urban farming where land values can be high. Urban and peri-urban farming has several benefits, including reductions in transportation energy as production is closer to market and the ability for city wastewater to be reused for irrigation instead of freshwater withdrawals. Compact beds allow plasticulture to have smaller water, chemical, energy, carbon, waste, and economic footprints without impacting production. Improving agricultural systems in this way could enhance economic and environmental viability, which is essential for a sustainable food-water-energy-land-economic nexus.

  5. Effects of Climate and Land Use Changes on Water Resources in the Taoer River

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianwei Liu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The changes of both climate and land use/cover have some impacts on water resources. In the Taoer River basin, these changes have directly influenced the land use pattern adjustment, wetland protection, connections between rivers and reservoirs, local social and economic development, and so forth. Therefore, studying the impacts of climate and land use/cover changes is of great practical significance. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT model is employed in this study. With historical measured runoff data and remote sensing maps of annual land use classifications, we analyzed the impacts of climate change on the runoff of the Taoer River. Based on the land use/cover classifications of 1990, 2000, and 2010, we analyzed the land use/cover change over the last 30 years and the contribution coefficient of farmland, woodland, grassland, and other major land use types to the runoff. This study can provide a reference for the rational allocation of water resources and the adjustment of land use structure for decision makers.

  6. Estimating Hydrologic Fluxes, Crop Water Use, and Agricultural Land Area in China using Data Assimilation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Tiziana; McLaughlin, Dennis B.; Hoisungwan, Piyatida

    2016-04-01

    Crop production has significantly altered the terrestrial environment by changing land use and by altering the water cycle through both co-opted rainfall and surface water withdrawals. As the world's population continues to grow and individual diets become more resource-intensive, the demand for food - and the land and water necessary to produce it - will continue to increase. High-resolution quantitative data about water availability, water use, and agricultural land use are needed to develop sustainable water and agricultural planning and policies. However, existing data covering large areas with high resolution are susceptible to errors and can be physically inconsistent. China is an example of a large area where food demand is expected to increase and a lack of data clouds the resource management dialogue. Some assert that China will have insufficient land and water resources to feed itself, posing a threat to global food security if they seek to increase food imports. Others believe resources are plentiful. Without quantitative data, it is difficult to discern if these concerns are realistic or overly dramatized. This research presents a quantitative approach using data assimilation techniques to characterize hydrologic fluxes, crop water use (defined as crop evapotranspiration), and agricultural land use at 0.5 by 0.5 degree resolution and applies the methodology in China using data from around the year 2000. The approach uses the principles of water balance and of crop water requirements to assimilate existing data with a least-squares estimation technique, producing new estimates of water and land use variables that are physically consistent while minimizing differences from measured data. We argue that this technique for estimating water fluxes and agricultural land use can provide a useful basis for resource management modeling and policy, both in China and around the world.

  7. Reflexive Land and Water Management in Iran: Linking Technology, Governance and Culture. Part 1: Land and Water Management Paradigms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Balali, M.R.; Keulartz, F.W.J.; Korthals, M.J.J.A.A.

    2011-01-01

    In order to examine the possibilities for sustainable land and water management in Iran, this research was carried out with two types of research and their combinations, i.e. theoretical and empirical research during 2005- 2009. In the theoretical part, which is the scope of this paper, the

  8. Enabling nucleophilic substitution reactions of activated alkyl fluorides through hydrogen bonding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Champagne, Pier Alexandre; Pomarole, Julien; Thérien, Marie-Ève; Benhassine, Yasmine; Beaulieu, Samuel; Legault, Claude Y; Paquin, Jean-François

    2013-05-03

    It was discovered that the presence of water as a cosolvent enables the reaction of activated alkyl fluorides for bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions. DFT calculations show that activation proceeds through stabilization of the transition structure by a stronger F···H2O interaction and diminishing C-F bond elongation, and not simple transition state electrostatic stabilization. Overall, the findings put forward a distinct strategy for C-F bond activation through H-bonding.

  9. A conceptual framework for addressing complexity and unfolding transition dynamics when developing sustainable adaptation strategies in urban water management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fratini, C F; Elle, M; Jensen, M B; Mikkelsen, P S

    2012-01-01

    To achieve a successful and sustainable adaptation to climate change we need to transform the way we think about change. Much water management research has focused on technical innovation with a range of new solutions developed to achieve a 'more sustainable and integrated urban water management cycle'. But Danish municipalities and utility companies are struggling to bring such solutions into practice. 'Green infrastructure', for example, requires the consideration of a larger range of aspects related to the urban context than the traditional urban water system optimization. There is the need for standardized methods and guidelines to organize transdisciplinary processes where different types of knowledge and perspectives are taken into account. On the basis of the macro-meso-micro pattern inspired by complexity science and transition theory, we developed a conceptual framework to organize processes addressing the complexity characterizing urban water management in the context of climate change. In this paper the framework is used to organize a research process aiming at understanding and unfolding urban dynamics for sustainable transition. The final goal is to enable local authorities and utilities to create the basis for managing and catalysing the technical and organizational innovation necessary for a sustainable transition towards climate change adaptation in urban areas.

  10. Effect of land use change on water discharge in Srepok watershed, Central Highland, Viet Nam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nguyen Thi Ngoc Quyen

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Srepok watershed plays an important role in Central Highland in Viet Nam. It impacts to developing social-economic conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to research elements which impact to natural resources in this watershed. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT model and Geography Information System (GIS were used to simulate water discharge in the Srepok watershed. The objectives of the research were to apply GIS and SWAT model for simulation water discharge and then, we assessed land use change which impacted on water discharge in the watershed. The observed stream flow data from Ban Don Stream gauge station was used to calibrate for the period from 1981 to 2000 and then validate for the period from 2001 to 2009. After using SWAT-CUP software to calibration, NSI reached 0.63 and R square value achieved 0.64 from 2004 to 2008 in calibration and NSI gained good level at 0.74 and R square got 0.75 from 2009 to 2012 in validation step at Ban Don Station. After that, land cover in 2010 was processed like land cover in 2000 and set up SWAT model again. The simulated water discharge in scenario 1 (land use 2000 was compared with scenario 2 (land use 2010, the simulation result was not significant difference between two scenarios because the change of area of land use was not much enough to affect the fluctuation of water discharge. However, the effect of land cover on water resource could be seen clearly via total water yield. The percentage of surface flow in 2000 was twice times more than in 2010; retard and base flow in 2000 was slightly more than in 2010. Therefore, decreased surface flow, increased infiltration capacity of water and enriched base flow resulted in the growth of land cover.

  11. Effects of future climate and land use scenarios on riverine source water quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delpla, Ianis; Rodriguez, Manuel J

    2014-09-15

    Surface water quality is particularly sensitive to land use practices and climatic events that affect its catchment. The relative influence of a set of watershed characteristics (climate, land use, morphology and pedology) and climatic variables on two key water quality parameters (turbidity and fecal coliforms (FC)) was examined in 24 eastern Canadian catchments at various spatial scales (1 km, 5 km, 10 km and the entire catchment). A regression analysis revealed that the entire catchment was a better predictor of water quality. Based on this information, linear mixed effect models for predicting turbidity and FC levels were developed. A set of land use and climate scenarios was considered and applied within the water quality models. Four land use scenarios (no change, same rate of variation, optimistic and pessimistic) and three climate change scenarios (B1, A1B and A2) were tested and variations for the near future (2025) were assessed and compared to the reference period (2000). Climate change impacts on water quality remained low annually for this time horizon (turbidity: +1.5%, FC: +1.6%, A2 scenario). On the other hand, the influence of land use changes appeared to predominate. Significant benefits for both parameters could be expected following the optimistic scenario (turbidity: -16.4%, FC: -6.3%; p climate change impacts could become equivalent to those modeled for land use for this horizon. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Research on Land Surface Thermal-Hydrologic Exchange in Southern China under Future Climate and Land Cover Scenarios

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianwu Yan

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Climate change inevitably leads to changes in hydrothermal circulation. However, thermal-hydrologic exchanging caused by land cover change has also undergone ineligible changes. Therefore, studying the comprehensive effects of climate and land cover changes on land surface water and heat exchanges enables us to well understand the formation mechanism of regional climate and predict climate change with fewer uncertainties. This study investigated the land surface thermal-hydrologic exchange across southern China for the next 40 years using a land surface model (ecosystem-atmosphere simulation scheme (EASS. Our findings are summarized as follows. (i Spatiotemporal variation patterns of sensible heat flux (H and evapotranspiration (ET under the land cover scenarios (A2a or B2a and climate change scenario (A1B are unanimous. (ii Both H and ET take on a single peak pattern, and the peak occurs in June or July. (iii Based on the regional interannual variability analysis, H displays a downward trend (10% and ET presents an increasing trend (15%. (iv The annual average H and ET would, respectively, increase and decrease by about 10% when woodland converts to the cultivated land. Through this study, we recognize that land surface water and heat exchanges are affected greatly by the future climate change as well as land cover change.

  13. Impact of Land Use Change and Land Management on Irrigation Water Supply in Northern Java Coast

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suria DarmaTarigan

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available In Indonesia, paddy irrigation covers an area of 7,230,183 ha. Ten percent (10% of those area or 797,971 ha were supplied by reservoirs. As many as 237,790 ha (30% of those area supplied by reservoirs are situated downstream of Citarum Watershed called Northern Java Coast Irrigation Area or Pantura. Therefore, Citarum watershed is one of the most important watershed in Indonesia. Citarum is also categorized as one of most degraded watershed in Java. The study aimed to evaluate influence of land use change on irrigation water supply in Citarum watershed and land management strategies to reduce the impact. Tremendous land use change occurred in the past ten years in Citarum watershed. Settlement areas increases more than a double during 2000 to 2009 (81,686 ha to 176,442 ha and forest area decreased from 71,750 ha to 9,899 ha in the same time period. Land use change influences irrigation water supply through 2 factors: a decreasing storage capacity of watershed (hydrologic functions for dry season, and b decreasing storage capacity of reservoirs due to the sedimentation. Change of Citarum watershed hydrologic function was analyzed using 24 years’ time series discharge data (1984-2008 in combination with rainfall data from 2000 to 2008. Due to the land use change in this time period, discharge tend to decrease despite of increasing trend of rainfall. As a result irrigation area decreased 9,355 ha during wet season and 10,170 ha during dry season in the last ten years. Another threat for sustainability of water irrigation supply is reservoir sedimentation. Sedimentation rate in the past 10 years has reduced upper Citarum reservoir (Saguling half-life period (½ capacity sedimented from 294 to 28 years. If proper land management strategies be carried out, the half-life period of Saguling reservoir can be extended up to 86,4 years

  14. Neutron Scattering Analysis of Water's Glass Transition and Micropore Collapse in Amorphous Solid Water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Catherine R; Mitterdorfer, Christian; Youngs, Tristan G A; Bowron, Daniel T; Fraser, Helen J; Loerting, Thomas

    2016-05-27

    The question of the nature of water's glass transition has continued to be disputed over many years. Here we use slow heating scans (0.4  K min^{-1}) of compact amorphous solid water deposited at 77 K and an analysis of the accompanying changes in the small-angle neutron scattering signal, to study mesoscale changes in the ice network topology. From the data we infer the onset of rotational diffusion at 115 K, a sudden switchover from nondiffusive motion and enthalpy relaxation of the network at 121  K, in excellent agreement with the glass transition onset deduced from heat capacity and dielectric measurements. This indicates that water's glass transition is linked with long-range transport of water molecules on the time scale of minutes and, thus, clarifies its nature. Furthermore, the slow heating rates combined with the high crystallization resistance of the amorphous sample allow us to identify the glass transition end point at 136 K, which is well separated from the crystallization onset at 144 K-in contrast to all earlier experiments in the field.

  15. How do we improve synchronization between land and water reform?

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Nortje, Karen

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available A completed study initiated, managed and funded by the Water Research Commission (WRC) and led by the CSIR is delving into the successes of land reform and water allocation reform in the Maruleng local municipal area....

  16. A narrative method for analyzing transitions in urban water management: The case of the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treuer, Galen; Koebele, Elizabeth; Deslatte, Aaron; Ernst, Kathleen; Garcia, Margaret; Manago, Kim

    2017-01-01

    Although the water management sector is often characterized as resistant to risk and change, urban areas across the United States are increasingly interested in creating opportunities to transition toward more sustainable water management practices. These transitions are complex and difficult to predict - the product of water managers acting in response to numerous biophysical, regulatory, political, and financial factors within institutional constraints. Gaining a better understanding of how these transitions occur is crucial for continuing to improve water management. This paper presents a replicable methodology for analyzing how urban water utilities transition toward sustainability. The method combines standardized quantitative measures of variables that influence transitions with contextual qualitative information about a utility's unique decision making context to produce structured, data-driven narratives. Data-narratives document the broader context, the utility's pretransition history, key events during an accelerated period of change, and the consequences of transition. Eventually, these narratives should be compared across cases to develop empirically-testable hypotheses about the drivers of and barriers to utility-level urban water management transition. The methodology is illustrated through the case of the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and its transition toward more sustainable water management in the 2000s, during which per capita water use declined, conservation measures were enacted, water rates increased, and climate adaptive planning became the new norm.

  17. Links between river water acidity, land use and hydrology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saarinen, T.; Celebi, A.; Kloeve, B. [Oulu Univ. (Finland). Water Resources and Environmental Eng. Lab.], Email: tuomas.saarinen@oulu.fi

    2013-11-01

    In western Finland, acid leaching to watercourses is mainly due to drainage of acid sulphate (As) soils. This study examined how different land-use and land-cover types affect water acidity in the northwestern coastal region of Finland, which has abundant drained AS soils and peatlands. Sampling conducted in different hydrological conditions in studied river basins revealed two different catchment types: catchments dominated by drained forested peatlands and catchments used by agriculture. Low pH and high electric conductivity (EC) were typical in rivers affected by agriculture. In rivers dominated by forested peatlands and wetlands, EC was considerably lower. During spring and autumn high runoff events, water quality was poor and showed large spatial variation. Thus it is important to ensure that in river basin status assessment, sampling is carried out in different hydrological situations and in also water from some tributaries is sampled. (orig.)

  18. Land husbandry: an agro-ecological approach to land use and management Part 1: Considerations of landscape conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francis Shaxson

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available In this, the first of two papers, the roles of key features of any landscape in determining potentials for erosional losses of soil and water are considered from an agro-ecological viewpoint. In this light, the effectiveness of past commonly-accepted approaches to soil and water conservation are often found to have been inadequate. In many cases they have tackled symptoms of land degradation without appreciating fully the background causes, which often relate to inadequate matching of land-use/land-management with features of the landscape. A number of reasons for this mismatch are suggested. Understanding the ecological background to land husbandry (as defined below will improve the effectiveness of attempts to tackle land degradation. In particular, an ecologically based approach to better land husbandry helps to foresee potential problems in some detail, so that appropriate forward planning can be undertaken to avoid them. This paper describes some practical ways of undertaking an appropriate survey of significant landscape features, enabling the definition and mapping of discrete areas of different land-use incapability classes. This is accompanied by an example of how the outcome was interpreted and used to guide the selection of appropriate areas which were apparently suitable for growing flue-cured tobacco within an area of ca. 140 km2 in Malawi. This process relied on knowledge and experience in various disciplines (interpretation of air-photos, topographic survey, soil survey, vegetation analysis, hydrology, soil & water conservation, geology, agronomy so as to ensure that the mapping process was based on the principles of better land husbandry.

  19. Relationship of land use to water quality in the Chesapeake Bay region. [water sampling and photomapping river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Correll, D. L.

    1978-01-01

    Both the proportions of the various land use categories present on each watershed and the specific management practices in use in each category affect the quality of runoff waters, and the water quality of the Bay. Several permanent and portable stations on various Maryland Rivers collect volume-integrated water samples. All samples are analyzed for a series of nutrient, particulate, bacterial, herbicide, and heavy metal parameters. Each basin is mapped with respect to land use by the analysis of low-elevation aerial photos. Analyses are verified and adjusted by ground truth surveys. Data are processed and stored in the Smithsonian Institution data bank. Land use categories being investigated include forests/old fields, pastureland, row crops, residential areas, upland swamps, and tidal marshes.

  20. Shallow to Deep Convection Transition over a Heterogeneous Land Surface Using the Land Model Coupled Large-Eddy Simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, J.; Zhang, Y.; Klein, S. A.

    2017-12-01

    The triggering of the land breeze, and hence the development of deep convection over heterogeneous land should be understood as a consequence of the complex processes involving various factors from land surface and atmosphere simultaneously. That is a sub-grid scale process that many large-scale models have difficulty incorporating it into the parameterization scheme partly due to lack of our understanding. Thus, it is imperative that we approach the problem using a high-resolution modeling framework. In this study, we use SAM-SLM (Lee and Khairoutdinov, 2015), a large-eddy simulation model coupled to a land model, to explore the cloud effect such as cold pool, the cloud shading and the soil moisture memory on the land breeze structure and the further development of cloud and precipitation over a heterogeneous land surface. The atmospheric large scale forcing and the initial sounding are taken from the new composite case study of the fair-weather, non-precipitating shallow cumuli at ARM SGP (Zhang et al., 2017). We model the land surface as a chess board pattern with alternating leaf area index (LAI). The patch contrast of the LAI is adjusted to encompass the weak to strong heterogeneity amplitude. The surface sensible- and latent heat fluxes are computed according to the given LAI representing the differential surface heating over a heterogeneous land surface. Separate from the surface forcing imposed from the originally modeled surface, the cases that transition into the moist convection can induce another layer of the surface heterogeneity from the 1) radiation shading by clouds, 2) adjusted soil moisture pattern by the rain, 3) spreading cold pool. First, we assess and quantifies the individual cloud effect on the land breeze and the moist convection under the weak wind to simplify the feedback processes. And then, the same set of experiments is repeated under sheared background wind with low level jet, a typical summer time wind pattern at ARM SGP site, to

  1. The impact of Land use Change on Water Pollution Index of Kali Madiun Sub-watershed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pranatasari Dyah Susanti

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Land use change is one of the effects of population growth and increased human activities. Land use change that overlooked the rule of ecosystem sustainability has a propensity to adversely affect the environment, including the decline of water quality. Kali Madiun is a sub-watershed of Bengawan Solo Watershed that allegedly endured the impacts of land use change. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of land use change on the water quality index of Kali Madiun Sub-watershed. Land use change analysis was done by overlay analysis of spatial data including the maps of land use in 2010 and 2015. Samples were the surface water in the upper, middle and lower part of Kali Madiun Sub-Watershed. Water quality analysis was carried out by comparing the results of water quality parameter assessment based on Government Regulation No. 82 of 2001, while water quality index was figured out by an assessment based on the Decree of the Minister of Environment No. 115 of 2003. The results indicated that during the five years observation, there were land use changes in the upper, middle and lower part of Kali Madiun Sub-watershed. Several parameters increased in 2010 to 2015, namely: TDS, BOD, COD, nitrate, detergents, oils and greases. Pollution index shifted from slightly polluted in 2010 into moderately polluted in 2015. We propose a strategy to solve these problems by the involvement of stakeholders and the participation of local community in managing both domestic and industrial wastes. Also, it should be supported by palpable regulations related to land conversion. Furthermore, it is expected that the effort will reduce the potential of pollution and improve the water quality.

  2. Contemporary changes of water resources, water and land use in Central Asia based on observations and modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiklomanov, A. I.; Prousevitch, A.; Sokolik, I. N.; Lammers, R. B.

    2015-12-01

    Water is a key agent in Central Asia ultimately determining human well-being, food security, and economic development. There are complex interplays among the natural and anthropogenic drivers effecting the regional hydrological processes and water availability. Analysis of the data combined from regional censuses and remote sensing shows a decline in areas of arable and irrigated lands and a significant decrease in availability of arable and irrigated lands per capita across all Central Asian countries since the middle of 1990thas the result of post-Soviet transformation processes. This change could lead to considerable deterioration in food security and human system sustainability. The change of political situation in the region has also resulted in the escalated problems of water demand between countries in international river basins. We applied the University of New Hampshire - Water Balance Model - Transport from Anthropogenic and Natural Systems (WBM-TrANS) to understand the consequences of changes in climate, water and land use on regional hydrological processes and water availability. The model accounts for sub-pixel land cover types, glacier and snow-pack accumulation/melt across sub-pixel elevation bands, anthropogenic water use (e.g. domestic and industrial consumption, and irrigation for most of existing crop types), hydro-infrastructure for inter-basin water transfer and reservoir/dam regulations. A suite of historical climate re-analysis and temporal extrapolation of MIRCA-2000 crop structure datasets has been used in WBM-TrANS for this project. A preliminary analysis of the model simulations over the last 30 years has shown significant spatial and temporal changes in hydrology and water availability for crops and human across the region due to climatic and anthropogenic causes. We found that regional water availability is mostly impacted by changes in extents and efficiency of crop filed irrigation, especially in highly arid areas of Central Asia

  3. Experimental evidence of a liquid-liquid transition in interfacial water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zanotti, J.-M.; Bellissent-Funel, M.-C.; Chen, S.-H.

    2005-07-01

    At ambient pressure, bulk liquid water shows an anomalous increase of thermodynamic quantities and apparent divergences of dynamic properties on approaching a temperature Ts of 228 K. At normal pressure, supercooled water spontaneously freezes below the homogeneous nucleation temperature, TH = 235 K. Upon heating, the two forms of Amorphous Solid Water (ASW), LDA (Low Density Amorphous Ice) and HDA (High Density Amorphous Ice), crystallise above TX = 150 K. As a consequence, up to now no experiment has been able to explore the properties of liquid water in this very interesting temperature range between 150 and 235 K. We present nanosecond-time-scale measurements of local rotational and translational dynamics of interfacial, non-crystalline, water from 77 to 280 K. These experimental dynamic results are combined with calorimetric and diffraction data to show that after exhibiting a glass transition at 165 K, interfacial water experiences a first-order liquid-liquid transition at 240 K from a low-density to a high-density liquid. This is the first direct evidence of the existence of a liquid-liquid transition involving water.

  4. Mapping Multi-Cropped Land Use to Estimate Water Demand Using the California Pesticide Reporting Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henson, W.; Baillie, M. N.; Martin, D.

    2017-12-01

    Detailed and dynamic land-use data is one of the biggest data deficiencies facing food and water security issues. Better land-use data results in improved integrated hydrologic models that are needed to look at the feedback between land and water use, specifically for adequately representing changes and dynamics in rainfall-runoff, urban and agricultural water demands, and surface fluxes of water (e.g., evapotranspiration, runoff, and infiltration). Currently, land-use data typically are compiled from annual (e.g., Crop Scape) or multi-year composites if mapped at all. While this approach provides information about interannual land-use practices, it does not capture the dynamic changes in highly developed agricultural lands prevalent in California agriculture such as (1) dynamic land-use changes from high frequency multi-crop rotations and (2) uncertainty in sub-annual crop distribution, planting times, and cropped areas. California has collected spatially distributed data for agricultural pesticide use since 1974 through the California Pesticide Information Portal (CalPIP). A method leveraging the CalPIP database has been developed to provide vital information about dynamic agricultural land use (e.g., crop distribution and planting times) and water demand issues in Salinas Valley, California, along the central coast. This 7 billion dollar/year agricultural area produces up to 50% of U.S. lettuce and broccoli. Therefore, effective and sustainable water resource development in the area must balance the needs of this essential industry, other beneficial uses, and the environment. This new tool provides a way to provide more dynamic crop data in hydrologic models. While the current application focuses on the Salinas Valley, the methods are extensible to all of California and other states with similar pesticide reporting. The improvements in representing variability in crop patterns and associated water demands increase our understanding of land-use change and

  5. Structural transition in alcohol–water binary mixtures: A ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    WINTEC

    Abstract. The strengthening of the hydrogen bonding (H-bond) network as well as transition from the tetrahedral-like water network to the zigzag chain structure of alcohol upon increasing the alcohol con- centration in ethanol–water and tertiary butanol (TBA) – water mixtures have been studied by using both steady state ...

  6. Environmental quality of transitional waters: the lagoon of Venice case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Micheletti, C; Gottardo, S; Critto, A; Chiarato, S; Marcomini, A

    2011-01-01

    The health status of European aquatic environments, including transitional waters such as coastal lagoons, is regulated by the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which requires the classification of the water bodies' environmental quality and the achievement of a good ecological status by 2015. In the Venice lagoon, a transitional water body located in the northeastern part of Italy, the achievement of a good ecological status is hampered by several anthropogenic and natural pressures, such as sediment and water chemical contamination, and sediment erosion. In order to evaluate the lagoon's environmental quality according to the WFD (i.e. 5 quality classes, from High to Bad), an integrated Weight-of-Evidence methodology was developed and applied to classify the quality of the lagoon water bodies, integrating biological, physico-chemical, chemical, ecotoxicological, and hydromorphological data (i.e. Lines of Evidence, LOE). The quality assessment was carried out in two lagoon habitat typologies (previously defined on the basis of morphological, sediment, and hydrodynamic characteristics) which were selected taking into account the ecological gradient from sea to land, and the differences in anthropogenic pressure and contamination levels. The LOE classification was carried out by using indicators scored by comparing site specific conditions to reference conditions measured in lagoon reference sites, or provided by local, national or European regulations (e.g. Environmental Quality Standards, EQS, for chemicals). Finally, the overall quality status for each water body was calculated by a probabilistic approach, i.e. by reporting the final result as the frequency distribution of quality classes. The developed procedure was applied by using data and information concerning selected LOE and collected from monitoring programs and research studies carried out in the last 15 years in the lagoon of Venice. A set of sampling stations characterized by spatially and temporally

  7. Linking the effects of land use change with water quality and discharge :an integrated approach

    OpenAIRE

    Fauss, Lynn Michael

    1992-01-01

    Hydrologic and water-quality equilibria are greatly affected by changing land use. This study presents a methodology that integrates the use of remote sensing, geographical information systems (GIS) and water-quality modeling. Archived aerial photography proved to be a valuable source of historical land use data. GIS technology was used to compile and analyze spatial data. A comprehensive watershed model was used to link the effects of land use change to water quali...

  8. Interplay of the Glass Transition and the Liquid-Liquid Phase Transition in Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giovambattista, Nicolas

    2013-03-01

    Most liquids can form a single glass or amorphous state when cooled sufficiently fast (in order to prevent crystallization). However, there are a few substances that are relevant to scientific and technological applications which can exist in at least two different amorphous states, a property known as polyamorphism. Examples include silicon, silica, and in particular, water. In the case of water, experiments show the existence of a low-density (LDA) and high-density (HDA) amorphous ice that are separated by a dramatic, first-order like phase transition. It has been argued that the LDA-HDA transformation evolves into a first-order liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) at temperatures above the glass transition temperature Tg. However, obtaining direct experimental evidence of the LLPT has been challenging since the LLPT occurs at conditions where water rapidly crystallizes. In this talk, I will (i) discuss the general phenomenology of polyamorphism in water and its implications, and (ii) explore the effects of a LLPT on the pressure dependence of Tg(P) for LDA and HDA. Our study is based on computer simulations of two water models - one with a LLPT (ST2 model), and one without (SPC/E model). In the absence of a LLPT, Tg(P) for all glasses nearly coincide. Instead, when there is a LLPT, different glasses exhibit dramatically different Tg(P) loci which are directly linked with the LLPT. Available experimental data for Tg(P) are only consistent with the scenario that includes a LLPT (ST2 model) and hence, our results support the view that a LLPT may exist for the case of water.

  9. Synergistic interactions of dynamic ridesharing and battery electric vehicles land use, transit, and auto pricing policies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-10-01

    It is widely recognized that new vehicle and fuel technology is necessary, but not sufficient, to meet deep greenhouse gas (GHG) : reductions goals for both the U.S. and the state of California. Demand management strategies (such as land use, transit...

  10. 14 CFR 135.183 - Performance requirements: Land aircraft operated over water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... operated over water. 135.183 Section 135.183 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... AND OPERATIONS OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: COMMUTER AND ON DEMAND OPERATIONS AND RULES GOVERNING PERSONS... operated over water. No person may operate a land aircraft carrying passengers over water unless— (a) It is...

  11. Aerial and surface rivers: downwind impacts on water availability from land use changes in Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weng, Wei; Luedeke, Matthias K. B.; Zemp, Delphine C.; Lakes, Tobia; Kropp, Juergen P.

    2018-02-01

    The abundant evapotranspiration provided by the Amazon forests is an important component of the hydrological cycle, both regionally and globally. Since the last century, deforestation and expanding agricultural activities have been changing the ecosystem and its provision of moisture to the atmosphere. However, it remains uncertain how the ongoing land use change will influence rainfall, runoff, and water availability as findings from previous studies differ. Using moisture tracking experiments based on observational data, we provide a spatially detailed analysis recognizing potential teleconnection between source and sink regions of atmospheric moisture. We apply land use scenarios in upwind moisture sources and quantify the corresponding rainfall and runoff changes in downwind moisture sinks. We find spatially varying responses of water regimes to land use changes, which may explain the diverse results from previous studies. Parts of the Peruvian Amazon and western Bolivia are identified as the sink areas most sensitive to land use change in the Amazon and we highlight the current water stress by Amazonian land use change on these areas in terms of the water availability. Furthermore, we also identify the influential source areas where land use change may considerably reduce a given target sink's water reception (from our example of the Ucayali River basin outlet, rainfall by 5-12 % and runoff by 19-50 % according to scenarios). Sensitive sinks and influential sources are therefore suggested as hotspots for achieving sustainable land-water management.

  12. Modifying a dynamic global vegetation model for simulating large spatial scale land surface water balances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Tang

    2012-08-01

    enabled LH to better simulate monthly stream flow in winter and early spring for rivers located at mid-to-high latitudes. In addition, LH-modeled monthly soil moisture for the state of Illinois (US agreed well (R2 = 0.79, p < 0.01 with observed data for the years 1984–2001. Overall, this study justifies both the feasibility of incorporating satellite-based land covers into a DGVM and the reliability of LH to simulate land-surface water balances. To better estimate surface/river runoff at mid-to-high latitudes, we recommended that LPJ-DGVM considers the effects of solar radiation on snowmelt.

  13. Changing characteristics of land use and ecological service value in the water source region of the Middle Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Jian; Zhai, Wenliang; Cao, Huiqun

    2017-08-01

    Research on changing characteristics of land use and ecological service value (ESV) can guide the regional land use planning and promote the rational use of environmental resources. On the basis of four phases of land-use data (2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015), this research analysed the changing characteristics of land use and ESV in the water source region of the Middle Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project (SRMRP). The results showed that forest, grassland and cultivated land were the major land-use types in the SRMRP. During 2000∼2015, forest, grassland, farmland and wetland decreased. Construction land and bare land had increased, and the annual increase rates reached 3.6% and 8%, respectively. After the implementation of the water transfer project in 2003, water area was also increasing. The total ESV in the SRMRP is about 196 billion CNY, and mainly comes from the contributions of forest, grassland and farmland. During 2000∼2015, farmland shrinks leaded to the declines in value from supply service. With increasing in water and construction land, value from entertainment and cultural service increased. During the early stage of the water transfer project, value from regulation and support services increased due to the increase in water. With the decreasing in wetland and the increasing in construction land, the negative effects on the regulation and support services were increasing, and value from regulation and support services were therefore decreasing. During the process of resource exploitation and management, more attentions should be paid to the total control of construction land and wetland protection in the SRMRP.

  14. Incorporating human-water dynamics in a hyper-resolution land surface model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vergopolan, N.; Chaney, N.; Wanders, N.; Sheffield, J.; Wood, E. F.

    2017-12-01

    The increasing demand for water, energy, and food is leading to unsustainable groundwater and surface water exploitation. As a result, the human interactions with the environment, through alteration of land and water resources dynamics, need to be reflected in hydrologic and land surface models (LSMs). Advancements in representing human-water dynamics still leave challenges related to the lack of water use data, water allocation algorithms, and modeling scales. This leads to an over-simplistic representation of human water use in large-scale models; this is in turn leads to an inability to capture extreme events signatures and to provide reliable information at stakeholder-level spatial scales. The emergence of hyper-resolution models allows one to address these challenges by simulating the hydrological processes and interactions with the human impacts at field scales. We integrated human-water dynamics into HydroBlocks - a hyper-resolution, field-scale resolving LSM. HydroBlocks explicitly solves the field-scale spatial heterogeneity of land surface processes through interacting hydrologic response units (HRUs); and its HRU-based model parallelization allows computationally efficient long-term simulations as well as ensemble predictions. The implemented human-water dynamics include groundwater and surface water abstraction to meet agricultural, domestic and industrial water demands. Furthermore, a supply-demand water allocation scheme based on relative costs helps to determine sectoral water use requirements and tradeoffs. A set of HydroBlocks simulations over the Midwest United States (daily, at 30-m spatial resolution for 30 years) are used to quantify the irrigation impacts on water availability. The model captures large reductions in total soil moisture and water table levels, as well as spatiotemporal changes in evapotranspiration and runoff peaks, with their intensity related to the adopted water management strategy. By incorporating human-water dynamics in

  15. Towards integrated solutions for water, energy, and land using an integrated nexus modeling framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wada, Y.

    2017-12-01

    Humanity has already reached or even exceeded the Earth's carrying capacity. Growing needs for food, energy and water will only exacerbate existing challenges over the next decades. Consequently, the acceptance of "business as usual" is eroding and we are being challenged to adopt new, more integrated, and more inclusive development pathways that avoid dangerous interference with the local environment and global planetary boundaries. This challenge is embodied in the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which endeavor to set a global agenda for moving towards more sustainable development strategies. To improve and sustain human welfare, it is critical that access to modern, reliable, and affordable water, energy, and food is expanded and maintained. The Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (IS-WEL) project has been launched by IIASA, together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). This project focuses on the water-energy-land nexus in the context of other major global challenges such as urbanization, environmental degradation, and equitable and sustainable futures. It develops a consistent framework for looking at the water-energy-land nexus and identify strategies for achieving the needed transformational outcomes through an advanced assessment framework. A multi-scalar approach are being developed that aims to combine global and regional integrated assessment tools with local stakeholder knowledge in order to identify robust solutions to energy, water, food, and ecosystem security in selected regions of the world. These are regions facing multiple energy, water and land use challenges and rapid demographic and economic changes, and are hardest hit by increasing climate variability and change. This project combines the global integrated assessment model (MESSAGE) with the global land (GLOBIOM) and water (Community Water Model) model respectively, and the integrated

  16. Experimental Observation of Bulk Liquid Water Structure in ``No Man's Land''

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sellberg, Jonas; McQueen, Trevor; Huang, Congcong; Loh, Duane; Laksmono, Hartawan; Sierra, Raymond; Hampton, Christina; Starodub, Dmitri; Deponte, Daniel; Martin, Andrew; Barty, Anton; Wikfeldt, Thor; Schlesinger, Daniel; Pettersson, Lars; Beye, Martin; Nordlund, Dennis; Weiss, Thomas; Feldkamp, Jan; Caronna, Chiara; Seibert, Marvin; Messerschmidt, Marc; Williams, Garth; Boutet, Sebastien; Bogan, Michael; Nilsson, Anders

    2013-03-01

    Experiments on pure bulk water below about 235 K have so far been difficult: water crystallization occurs very rapidly below the homogeneous nucleation temperature of 232 K and above 160 K, leading to a ``no man's land'' devoid of experimental results regarding the structure. Here, we demonstrate a new, general experimental approach to study the structure of liquid states at supercooled conditions below their limit of homogeneous nucleation. We use femtosecond x-ray pulses generated by the LCLS x-ray laser to probe evaporatively cooled droplets of supercooled bulk water and find experimental evidence for the existence of metastable bulk liquid water down to temperatures of 223 K in the previously largely unexplored ``no man's land''. We acknoweledge NSF (CHE-0809324), Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and the Swedish Research Council for financial support.

  17. Projected land use changes impacts on water yields in the karst mountain areas of China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Yanqing; Song, Wei; Deng, Xiangzheng

    2018-04-01

    Human-induced land use changes over short time scales have significant impacts on water yield, especially in China because of the rapid social economic development. As the biggest developing country of the world, China's economy is expected to continuously grow with a high speed in the next few decades. Therefore, what kind of land use changes will occur in the future in China? How these changes will influence the water yields? To address this issue, we assessed the water yields in the karst mountain area of China during the periods of 1990-2010 and 2010-2030 by coupling an Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model and a Conversion of Land Use and its Effects (CLUE) model. Three different land use scenarios i.e. natural growth, economic development, and ecological protection, were developed in 2030 using the CLUE model. It was concluded that, given land use changes between 1990 and 2010, total water yields in the karst mountain area are characterized by a trend towards fluctuating reduction. However, total water yields of 2030 in the economic development scenario revealed an increase of 1.25% compared to the actual water yields in 2010. The economy development in karst mountain areas of China in the future has a slight positive influence on water yields.

  18. Impact of land cover and land use change on runoff characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sajikumar, N; Remya, R S

    2015-09-15

    Change in Land Cover and Land Use (LCLU) influences the runoff characteristics of a drainage basin to a large extent, which in turn, affects the surface and groundwater availability of the area, and hence leads to further change in LCLU. This forms a vicious circle. Hence it becomes essential to assess the effect of change in LCLU on the runoff characteristics of a region in general and of small watershed levels (sub-basin levels) in particular. Such an analysis can effectively be carried out by using watershed simulation models with integrated GIS frame work. SWAT (Soil and Water Analysis Tool) model, being one of the versatile watershed simulation models, is found to be suitable for this purpose as many GIS integration modules are available for this model (e.g. ArcSWAT, MWSWAT). Watershed simulation using SWAT requires the land use and land cover data, soil data and many other features. With the availability of repository of satellite imageries, both from Indian and foreign sources, it becomes possible to use the concurrent local land use and land cover data, thereby enabling more accurate modelling of small watersheds. Such availability will also enable us to assess the effect of LCLU on runoff characteristics and their reverse impact. The current study assesses the effect of land use and land cover on the runoff characteristics of two watersheds in Kerala, India. It also assesses how the change in land use and land cover in the last few decades affected the runoff characteristics of these watersheds. It is seen that the reduction in the forest area amounts to 60% and 32% in the analysed watersheds. However, the changes in the surface runoff for these watersheds are not comparable with the changes in the forest area but are within 20%. Similarly the maximum (peak) value of runoff has increased by an amount of 15% only. The lesser (aforementioned) effect than expected might be due to the fact that forest has been converted to agricultural purpose with major

  19. Scale-dependence of land use effects on water quality of streams in agricultural catchments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buck, Oliver; Niyogi, Dev K.; Townsend, Colin R.

    2004-01-01

    The influence of land use on water quality in streams is scale-dependent and varies in time and space. In this study, land cover patterns and stocking rates were used as measures of agricultural development in two pasture and one native grassland catchment in New Zealand and were related to water quality in streams of various orders. The amount of pasture per subcatchment correlated well to total nitrogen and nitrate in one catchment and turbidity and total phosphorous in the other catchment. Stocking rates were only correlated to total phosphorous in one pasture catchment but showed stronger correlations to ammonium, total phosphorous and total nitrogen in the other pasture catchment. Winter and spring floods were significant sources of nutrients and faecal coliforms from one of the pasture catchments into a wetland complex. Nutrient and faecal coliform concentrations were better predicted by pastural land cover in fourth-order than in second-order streams. This suggests that upstream land use is more influential in larger streams, while local land use and other factors may be more important in smaller streams. These temporal and spatial scale effects indicate that water-monitoring schemes need to be scale-sensitive. - Land use influences water quality of streams at various spatial scales

  20. Scale-dependence of land use effects on water quality of streams in agricultural catchments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buck, Oliver; Niyogi, Dev K.; Townsend, Colin R

    2004-07-01

    The influence of land use on water quality in streams is scale-dependent and varies in time and space. In this study, land cover patterns and stocking rates were used as measures of agricultural development in two pasture and one native grassland catchment in New Zealand and were related to water quality in streams of various orders. The amount of pasture per subcatchment correlated well to total nitrogen and nitrate in one catchment and turbidity and total phosphorous in the other catchment. Stocking rates were only correlated to total phosphorous in one pasture catchment but showed stronger correlations to ammonium, total phosphorous and total nitrogen in the other pasture catchment. Winter and spring floods were significant sources of nutrients and faecal coliforms from one of the pasture catchments into a wetland complex. Nutrient and faecal coliform concentrations were better predicted by pastural land cover in fourth-order than in second-order streams. This suggests that upstream land use is more influential in larger streams, while local land use and other factors may be more important in smaller streams. These temporal and spatial scale effects indicate that water-monitoring schemes need to be scale-sensitive. - Land use influences water quality of streams at various spatial scales.

  1. Ground-Water Quality and its Relation to Land Use on Oahu, Hawaii, 2000-01

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, Charles D.

    2003-01-01

    Water quality in the main drinking-water source aquifers of Oahu was assessed by a one-time sampling of untreated ground water from 30 public-supply wells and 15 monitoring wells. The 384 square-mile study area, which includes urban Honolulu and large tracts of forested, agricultural, and suburban residential lands in central Oahu, accounts for 93 percent of the island's ground-water withdrawals. Organic compounds were detected in 73 percent of public-supply wells, but mostly at low concentrations below minimum reporting levels. Concentrations exceeded drinking-water standards in just a few cases: the solvent trichloroethene and the radionuclide radon-222 exceeded Federal standards in one public-supply well each, and the fumigants 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP) and 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) exceeded State standards in three public-supply wells each. Solvents, fumigants, trihalomethanes, and herbicides were prevalent (detected in more than 30 percent of samples) but gasoline components and insecticides were detected in few wells. Most water samples contained complex mixtures of organic compounds: multiple solvents, fumigants, or herbicides, and in some cases compounds from two or all three of these classes. Characteristic suites of chemicals were associated with particular land uses and geographic locales. Solvents were associated with central Oahu urban-military lands whereas fumigants, herbicides, and fertilizer nutrients were associated with central Oahu agricultural lands. Somewhat unexpectedly, little contamination was detected in Honolulu where urban density is highest, most likely as a consequence of sound land-use planning, favorable aquifer structure, and less intensive application of chemicals (or of less mobile chemicals) over recharge zones in comparison to agricultural areas. For the most part, organic and nutrient contamination appear to reflect decades-old releases and former land use. Most ground-water ages were decades old, with recharge

  2. Implications of various land use change scenarios on global water scarcity over the 21st century

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Y.; Hejazi, M. I.; Vernon, C. R.; Li, X.; Le Page, Y.; Calvin, K. V.

    2017-12-01

    While the effects of land use and land cover change (LULCC) on hydrological processes (e.g., runoff, peak flow and discharge) and water availability have been extensively researched, the impacts of LULCC on water scarcity has been rarely investigated. Water scarcity, usually defined as the ratio of water demand to available renewable water supply. The involved water demand is an important human-dimension factor, which is affected by both socio-economic conditions (e.g., population, income) as well as LULCC (e.g., the amount of land we dedicate for food, feed, and fuel crops). Recent studies have assessed the combined effects of climate change and human interventions (e.g., dams, water withdrawals and LULCC) on water scarcity, but none to date has focused on the implications of different pathways of LULCC alone on water scarcity. We establish a set of LULCC scenarios under changing climate and socioeconomic pathways using an integrated assessment model - Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), which integrates natural systems (e.g., water supply, ecosystems, climate) and human systems (e.g., water demand, land use, economy, food, energy, population). The LULCC scenarios encompass varying degrees of protected areas, different magnitudes of crop/bioenergy production and subsidies, and whether to penalize potential land use emissions from bioenergy production (e.g., loss of wood carbon stock from land conversion). Then we investigate how water scarcity responds to LULCC and how the distribution of global population under severe water stress varies in the 21st century. Preliminary results indicate that the LULCC-induced changes in water scarcity are overall small at the global scale (water stress and population being affected. Findings from this research could be used to inform strategies focused on alleviating water stress around the world.

  3. Mapping and quantifying geodiversity in land-water transition zones using MBES and topobathymetric LiDAR

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ernstsen, Verner Brandbyge; Andersen, Mikkel Skovgaard; Gergely, Aron

    due to the challenging environmental conditions. Combining vessel borne shallow water multibeam echosounder (MBES) surveys ,to cover the subtidal coastal areas and the river channel areas, with airborne topobathymetric light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys, to cover the intertidal and supratidal...... coastal areas and the river floodplain areas, potentially enables full-coverage and high-resolution mapping in these challenging environments. We have carried out MBES and topobathymetric LiDAR surveys in the Knudedyb tidal inlet system, a coastal environment in the Danish Wadden Sea which is part...... of the Wadden Sea National Park and UNESCO World Heritage, and in the Ribe Vesterå, a fluvial environment in the Ribe Å river catchment discharging into the Knudedyb tidal basin. Detailed digital elevation models (DEMs) with a grid cell size of 0.5 m x 0.5 m were generated from the MBES and the LiDAR point...

  4. Transitioning Enhanced Land Surface Initialization and Model Verification Capabilities to the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Case, Jonathan L.; Mungai, John; Sakwa, Vincent; Zavodsky, Bradley T.; Srikishen, Jayanthi; Limaye, Ashutosh; Blankenship, Clay B.

    2016-01-01

    Flooding, severe weather, and drought are key forecasting challenges for the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), based in Nairobi, Kenya. Atmospheric processes leading to convection, excessive precipitation and/or prolonged drought can be strongly influenced by land cover, vegetation, and soil moisture content, especially during anomalous conditions and dry/wet seasonal transitions. It is thus important to represent accurately land surface state variables (green vegetation fraction, soil moisture, and soil temperature) in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. The NASA SERVIR and the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) programs in Huntsville, AL have established a working partnership with KMD to enhance its regional modeling capabilities. SPoRT and SERVIR are providing experimental land surface initialization datasets and model verification capabilities for capacity building at KMD. To support its forecasting operations, KMD is running experimental configurations of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF; Skamarock et al. 2008) model on a 12-km/4-km nested regional domain over eastern Africa, incorporating the land surface datasets provided by NASA SPoRT and SERVIR. SPoRT, SERVIR, and KMD participated in two training sessions in March 2014 and June 2015 to foster the collaboration and use of unique land surface datasets and model verification capabilities. Enhanced regional modeling capabilities have the potential to improve guidance in support of daily operations and high-impact weather and climate outlooks over Eastern Africa. For enhanced land-surface initialization, the NASA Land Information System (LIS) is run over Eastern Africa at 3-km resolution, providing real-time land surface initialization data in place of interpolated global model soil moisture and temperature data available at coarser resolutions. Additionally, real-time green vegetation fraction (GVF) composites from the Suomi-NPP VIIRS instrument is being incorporated

  5. Evaluating the effects of urbanization and land-use planning using ground-water and surface-water models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, R.J.; Steuer, J.J.

    2001-01-01

    Why are the effects of urbanization a concern? As the city of Middleton, Wisconsin, and its surroundings continue to develop, the Pheasant Branch watershed (fig.l) is expected to undergo urbanization. For the downstream city of Middleton, urbanization in the watershed can mean increased flood peaks, water volume and pollutant loads. More subtly, it may also reduce water that sustains the ground-water system (called "recharge") and adversely affect downstream ecosystems that depend on ground water such as the Pheasant Branch Springs (hereafter referred to as the Springs). The relation of stormwater runoff and reduced ground-water recharge is complex because the surface-water system is coupled to the underlying ground-water system. In many cases there is movement of water from one system to the other that varies seasonally or daily depending on changing conditions. Therefore, it is difficult to reliably determine the effects of urbanization on stream baseflow and spring flows without rigorous investigation. Moreover, mitigating adverse effects after development has occurred can be expensive and administratively difficult. Overlying these concerns are issues such as stewardship of the resource, the rights of the public, and land owners' rights both of those developing their land and those whose land is affected by this development. With the often- contradictory goals, a scientific basis for assessing effects of urbanization and effectiveness of mitigation measures helps ensure fair and constructive decision-making. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Middleton and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, completed a study that helps address these issues through modeling of the hydrologic system. This Fact Sheet discusses the results of this work.

  6. Transitions in midwestern ground water law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowman, J.A.; Clark, G.R.

    1989-01-01

    The evolution of ground-water law in eight states in the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin) is examined, and a review of transitions in ground-water doctrines is presented. Two underlying themes in changing ground-water management are communicated. First, ground-water law is evolving from private property rules of capture based on the absolute ownership doctrines to rules requiring conservation and sharing of ground water as a public resource. Second, in both courts and state legislatures, a proactive role of ground-water management is emerging, again, with an emphasis on sharing. Both of these trends are apparent in the Midwest. In the last decade midwestern states have (1) seen significant shifts in court decisions on ground-water use with greater recognition of the reciprocal or mutually dependent nature of ground-water rights, and (2) seen increased legislative development of comprehensive ground-water management statutes that emphasize the reciprocal liabilities of ground-water use. These trends are examined and ground-water management programs discussed for eight states in the Midwest

  7. Water evaporation: a transition path sampling study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varilly, Patrick; Chandler, David

    2013-02-07

    We use transition path sampling to study evaporation in the SPC/E model of liquid water. On the basis of thousands of evaporation trajectories, we characterize the members of the transition state ensemble (TSE), which exhibit a liquid-vapor interface with predominantly negative mean curvature at the site of evaporation. We also find that after evaporation is complete, the distributions of translational and angular momenta of the evaporated water are Maxwellian with a temperature equal to that of the liquid. To characterize the evaporation trajectories in their entirety, we find that it suffices to project them onto just two coordinates: the distance of the evaporating molecule to the instantaneous liquid-vapor interface and the velocity of the water along the average interface normal. In this projected space, we find that the TSE is well-captured by a simple model of ballistic escape from a deep potential well, with no additional barrier to evaporation beyond the cohesive strength of the liquid. Equivalently, they are consistent with a near-unity probability for a water molecule impinging upon a liquid droplet to condense. These results agree with previous simulations and with some, but not all, recent experiments.

  8. RECYCLING OF WATER TREATMENT PLANT SLUDGE VIA LAND APPLICATION: ASSESSMENT OF RISK

    Science.gov (United States)

    Water treatment sludges (WTS) offer potential benefits when applied to soil and recycling of the waste stream via land application has been proposed as a management option. Recycling of WTS to the land helps conserve landfill disposal capacity and natural resources, but potential...

  9. Water sorption and glass transition of amorphous sugars containing BSA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Imamura, K.; Suzuki, T.; Tatsumichi, T.; Kirii, S.; Okazaki, M. [Kyoto Univ., Kyoto (Japan). Dept. of Chemical Engineering

    2000-08-01

    Water sorption and glass transition of four amorphous sugars (lactose, maltose, sucrose, and trehalose) containing bovine serum albumin (BSA) are investigated. Freeze-dried sugar-BSA samples equilibrated at several water activities ranging from 0 to 0.43 were prepared. Moisture content and glass transition temperature (T{sub g}) were measured. For the all sugars, it is found that BSA lowers T{sub g} at low water activity, and raises it at high water activity. It is also found that the difference between T{sub g} of the sugar-BSA samples and that of the corresponding amorphous sugar samples (T{sub g0}) depends mainly on T{sub g0}. (author)

  10. Emerging investigator series: the rise of nano-enabled photothermal materials for water evaporation and clean water production by sunlight

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Peng

    2018-01-01

    Solar driven water evaporation and distillation is an ancient technology, but has been rejuvenated by nano-enabled photothermal materials in the past 4 years. The nano-enabled state-of-the-art photothermal materials are able to harvest a full solar

  11. A 0.2 V Micro-Electromechanical Switch Enabled by a Phase Transition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Kaichen; Choe, Hwan Sung; Wang, Xi; Liu, Huili; Saha, Bivas; Ko, Changhyun; Deng, Yang; Tom, Kyle B; Lou, Shuai; Wang, Letian; Grigoropoulos, Costas P; You, Zheng; Yao, Jie; Wu, Junqiao

    2018-04-01

    Micro-electromechanical (MEM) switches, with advantages such as quasi-zero leakage current, emerge as attractive candidates for overcoming the physical limits of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices. To practically integrate MEM switches into CMOS circuits, two major challenges must be addressed: sub 1 V operating voltage to match the voltage levels in current circuit systems and being able to deliver at least millions of operating cycles. However, existing sub 1 V mechanical switches are mostly subject to significant body bias and/or limited lifetimes, thus failing to meet both limitations simultaneously. Here 0.2 V MEM switching devices with ≳10 6 safe operating cycles in ambient air are reported, which achieve the lowest operating voltage in mechanical switches without body bias reported to date. The ultralow operating voltage is mainly enabled by the abrupt phase transition of nanolayered vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) slightly above room temperature. The phase-transition MEM switches open possibilities for sub 1 V hybrid integrated devices/circuits/systems, as well as ultralow power consumption sensors for Internet of Things applications. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  12. Land-use change affects water recycling in Brazil's last agricultural frontier.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spera, Stephanie A; Galford, Gillian L; Coe, Michael T; Macedo, Marcia N; Mustard, John F

    2016-10-01

    Historically, conservation-oriented research and policy in Brazil have focused on Amazon deforestation, but a majority of Brazil's deforestation and agricultural expansion has occurred in the neighboring Cerrado biome, a biodiversity hotspot comprised of dry forests, woodland savannas, and grasslands. Resilience of rainfed agriculture in both biomes likely depends on water recycling in undisturbed Cerrado vegetation; yet little is known about how changes in land-use and land-cover affect regional climate feedbacks in the Cerrado. We used remote sensing techniques to map land-use change across the Cerrado from 2003 to 2013. During this period, cropland agriculture more than doubled in area from 1.2 to 2.5 million ha, with 74% of new croplands sourced from previously intact Cerrado vegetation. We find that these changes have decreased the amount of water recycled to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration (ET) each year. In 2013 alone, cropland areas recycled 14 km(3) less (-3%) water than if the land cover had been native Cerrado vegetation. ET from single-cropping systems (e.g., soybeans) is less than from natural vegetation in all years, except in the months of January and February, the height of the growing season. In double-cropping systems (e.g., soybeans followed by corn), ET is similar to or greater than natural vegetation throughout a majority of the wet season (December-May). As intensification and extensification of agricultural production continue in the region, the impacts on the water cycle and opportunities for mitigation warrant consideration. For example, if an environmental goal is to minimize impacts on the water cycle, double cropping (intensification) might be emphasized over extensification to maintain a landscape that behaves more akin to the natural system. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Synergies of solar energy across a land-food-energy-water nexus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffacker, M. K.; Hernandez, R. R.; Allen, M. F.

    2017-12-01

    Land-cover change from energy development, including solar energy, presents trade-offs for the production of food and the conservation of natural ecosystems. Solar energy plays a critical role in contributing to the alternative energy mix to mitigate climate change and meet policy milestones; however, the extent that solar energy development can mitigate land scarcity, water shortages, and conservation is understudied. Here, we test whether projected electricity needs for the state of California (CA, United States [US]) can be met within land-cover types that can also generate environmental, social and fiscal co-benefits (techno-ecological synergies) including: the built environment, salt-affected land, contaminated land, and water reservoirs (as floatovoltaics). Additionally, we analyze general spatial trends and patterns related to clustering and proximity of techno-ecological opportunities and land-cover types (e.g. contamination sites and cities). In total, the Central Valley, a globally significant agricultural region, encompasses 15% of CA, 8,415 km2 of which was identified as potentially synergistic land for solar energy. These areas comprise a capacity-based energy potential of 17,348 TWh y-1 for photovoltaic (PV) and 1,655 TWh y-1 for concentrating solar power (CSP). Accounting for technology efficiencies, this exceeds California's 2025 projected electricity demands up to 13 and 2 times for PV and CSP, respectively. Further, 60% of contaminated lands are clustered within and up to 10 km of the 10 most populated cities in the Central Valley, where energy is consumed. Our study underscores the potential of strategic renewable energy siting to mitigate environmental trade-offs typically coupled with energy development sprawl in landscapes characterized by complex nexus issues.

  14. Water and Land Footprints and Economic Productivity as Factors in Local Crop Choice: The Case of Silk in Malawi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rick J. Hogeboom

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In deciding what crops to grow, farmers will look at, among other things, the economically most productive use of the water and land resources that they have access to. However, optimizing water and land use at the farm level may result in total water and land footprints at the catchment level that are in conflict with sustainable resource use. This study explores how data on water and land footprints, and on economic water and land productivity can inform micro-level decision making of crop choice, in the macro-level context of sustainable resource use. For a proposed sericulture project in Malawi, we calculated water and land footprints of silk along its production chain, and economic water and land productivities. We compared these to current cropping practices, and addressed the implications of water consumption at the catchment scale. We found that farmers may prefer irrigated silk production over currently grown rain-fed staple crops, because its economic water and land productivity is higher than that for currently grown crops. However, because the water footprint of irrigated silk is higher, sericulture will increase the pressure on local water resources. Since water consumption in the catchment generally does not exceed the maximum sustainable footprint, sericulture is a viable alternative crop for farmers in the case study area, as long as silk production remains small-scale (~3% of the area at most and does not depress local food markets.

  15. Calorimetric study of water's two glass transitions in the presence of LiCl

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz, Guadalupe N.; Amann-Winkel, Katrin; Bove, Livia E.; Corti, Horacio R.

    2018-01-01

    A DSC study of dilute glassy LiCl aqueous solutions in the water-dominated regime provides direct evidence of a glass-to-liquid transition in expanded high density amorphous (eHDA)-type solutions. Similarly, low density amorphous ice (LDA) exhibits a glass transition prior to crystallization to ice Ic. Both glass transition temperatures are independent of the salt concentration, whereas the magnitude of the heat capacity increase differs. By contrast to pure water, the glass transition endpoint for LDA can be accessed in LiCl aqueous solutions above 0.01 mole fraction. Furthermore, we also reveal the endpoint for HDA's glass transition, solving the question on the width of both glass transitions. This suggests that both equilibrated HDL and LDL can be accessed in dilute LiCl solutions, supporting the liquid–liquid transition scenario to understand water's anomalies. PMID:29442107

  16. Effects of Land-use/Land-cover and Climate Changes on Water Quantity and Quality in Sub-basins near Major US Cities in the Great Lakes Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, L.; Al-Hamdan, M. Z.; Crosson, W. L.; Barik, M.

    2017-12-01

    Land-cover change over time to urbanized, less permeable surfaces, leads to reduced water infiltration at the location of water input while simultaneously transporting sediments, nutrients and contaminants farther downstream. With an abundance of agricultural fields bordering the greater urban areas of Milwaukee, Detroit, and Chicago, water and nutrient transport is vital to the farming industry, wetlands, and communities that rely on water availability. Two USGS stream gages each located within a sub-basin near each of these Great Lakes Region cities were examined, one with primarily urban land-cover between 1992 and 2011, and one with primarily agriculture land-cover. ArcSWAT, a watershed model and soil and water assessment tool used in extension with ArcGIS, was used to develop hydrologic models that vary the land-covers to simulate surface runoff during a model run period from 2004 to 2008. Model inputs that include a digital elevation model (DEM), Landsat-derived land-use/land-cover (LULC) satellite images from 1992, 2001, and 2011, soil classification, and meteorological data were used to determine the effect of different land-covers on the water runoff, nutrients and sediments. The models were then calibrated and validated to USGS stream gage data measurements over time. Additionally, the watershed model was run based on meteorological data from an IPCC CMIP5 high emissions climate change scenario for 2050. Model outputs from the different LCLU scenarios were statistically evaluated and results showed that water runoff, nutrients and sediments were impacted by LULC change in four out of the six sub-basins. In the 2050 climate scenario, only one out of the six sub-basin's water quantity and quality was affected. These results contribute to the importance of developing hydrologic models as the dependence on the Great Lakes as a freshwater resource competes with the expansion of urbanization leading to the movement of runoff, nutrients, and sediments off the

  17. Land Use and Water Quality in the Upper Stropnice River Catchment

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hellebrandová, K.; Bodlák, L.; Štíchová, J.; Pechar, Libor

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 25, č. 3 (2006), s. 27-40 ISSN 1335-342X Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60870520 Keywords : Surface water chemistrz * land use * agricultural pollution sources Subject RIV: DJ - Water Pollution ; Quality Impact factor: 0.085, year: 2005

  18. Linking land use changes to surface water quality variability in Lake Victoria: some insights from remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mugo, R. M.; Limaye, A. S.; Nyaga, J. W.; Farah, H.; Wahome, A.; Flores, A.

    2016-12-01

    The water quality of inland lakes is largely influenced by land use and land cover changes within the lake's catchment. In Africa, some of the major land use changes are driven by a number of factors, which include urbanization, intensification of agricultural practices, unsustainable farm management practices, deforestation, land fragmentation and degradation. Often, the impacts of these factors are observable on changes in the land cover, and eventually in the hydrological systems. When the natural vegetation cover is reduced or changed, the surface water flow patterns, water and nutrient retention capacities are also changed. This can lead to high nutrient inputs into lakes, leading to eutrophication, siltation and infestation of floating aquatic vegetation. To assess the relationship between land use and land cover changes in part of the Lake Victoria Basin, a series of land cover maps were derived from Landsat imagery. Changes in land cover were identified through change maps and statistics. Further, the surface water chlorophyll-a concentration and turbidity were derived from MODIS-Aqua data for Lake Victoria. Chlrophyll-a and turbidity are good proxy indicators of nutrient inputs and siltation respectively. The trends in chlorophyll-a and turbidity concentrations were analyzed and compared to the land cover changes over time. Certain land cover changes related to agriculture and urban development were clearly identifiable. While these changes might not be solely responsible for variability in chlrophyll-a and turbidity concentrations in the lake, they are potentially contributing factors to this problem. This work illustrates the importance of addressing watershed degradation while seeking to solve water quality related problems.

  19. Ductile transition in nylon-rubber blends: influence of water

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gaymans, R.J.; Borggreve, R.J.M.; Spoelstra, A.B.

    1989-01-01

    On nylon 6 and nylon 6/EPDM blends the influence of water on the glass transition temperature, mechanical properties, and the ductile transition temperature was studied. Blends of 10% and 20% were prepared with a particle size of 0.3 µm and the tensile properties, flexural moduli, torsion moduli,

  20. Ostrich-Like Strategies in Sahelian Sands? Land and Water Grabbing in the Office du Niger, Mali

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Hertzog

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, large-scale agricultural investment projects have increased in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the growing appetites of local and international investors for land resources. Research has so far mainly focused on land issues, but the water implications of these land deals are starting to surface. Taking the Office du Niger (ON, in Mali, as a case study, we show that while around 100,000 ha is currently being cultivated, mostly by smallholders, a total of 600,000 ha of land has been allocated in the past ten years to investors in large-scale farming. This process has largely bypassed the official procedure established by the ON at regional level. The allocation of new lands has shifted to the national level, with an attempt to recentralize the management of land deals and associated benefits at the highest level, despite contrary efforts by foreign donors to strengthen the ON. This article describes the complex allocation process based on 'behind-closed-doors' negotiations. It then analyses the implications of the land deals on water issues by focusing on the strategies of actors to limit the risk of future water shortages, the current and expected difficulties in water management and allocation, and the emerging spatial and social redistribution of benefits and risk that signals a process of water grabbing.

  1. Drivers and barriers towards sustainable water and land management in the Olifants-Doorn Water Management Area, South Africa

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Knüppe, K

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available , 1997: p3). Often ecosystem services are claimed and modified by various actors (e.g., farmers, conservationists and municipalities), which in turn produce social and ecological trade-offs because the use of some services comes at the expense of others..., risks to land degradation should not increase and the quality of soil and water must be maintained for land systems to be economically feasible and socially acceptable (Bouma, 2002). Given the mostly technocratic development trajectory of water...

  2. Kinematic Adaptations of Forward and Backward Walking on Land and in Water

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cadenas-Sanchez Cristina

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to compare sagittal plane lower limb kinematics during walking on land and submerged to the hip in water. Eight healthy adults (age 22.1 ± 1.1 years, body height 174.8 ± 7.1 cm, body mass 63.4 ± 6.2 kg were asked to cover a distance of 10 m at comfortable speed with controlled step frequency, walking forward or backward. Sagittal plane lower limb kinematics were obtained from three dimensional video analysis to compare spatiotemporal gait parameters and joint angles at selected events using two-way repeated measures ANOVA. Key findings were a reduced walking speed, stride length, step length and a support phase in water, and step length asymmetry was higher compared to the land condition (p<0.05. At initial contact, knees and hips were more flexed during walking forward in water, whilst, ankles were more dorsiflexed during walking backward in water. At final stance, knees and ankles were more flexed during forward walking, whilst the hip was more flexed during backward walking. These results show how walking in water differs from walking on land, and provide valuable insights into the development and prescription of rehabilitation and training programs.

  3. Wind and water erosion control on semiarid lands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siddoway, F.H.

    1980-01-01

    Commercial crop production on semiarid lands is difficult because insufficient water is often present to manage the system effectively. Erosion control presents the major management problem. The factors contributing to wind erosion and their interaction have been quantified into a wind erosion equation. The control of wind erosion through agronomic alteration of the various factors is discussed. The quantification and control of water erosion is also discussed with respect to the Universal Soil Loss Equation. Radioisotopes tracers have been used in conjunction with these erosion equations to measure soil losses. (author)

  4. Land and water resources for environmental research on Oak Ridge Reservation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dahlman, R.C.; Kitchings, J.T.; Elwood, J.W.

    1977-01-01

    Resources for environmental research on the Oak Ridge Reservation are analogous to the highly complex, physical and engineering facilities of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Consequently, land and water resources have been committed to comprehensive research for the purpose of providing relevant, scientific insights on environmental problems associated with ERDA's programs. Diverse aquatic, terrestrial, and agricultural ecosystems are designated for short- and long-term research related to environmental impacts or benefits of different energy technologies. Examples of ecosystems employed in this research include hardwood and pine forests, grasslands and pastures, free-flowing streams and impounded reservoirs, field plots, contaminated environmental natural areas, an array of animal habitats, and calibrated watersheds. Some of the characteristic biota of habitat ecosystems are described in the document. Documentation and planning for use of these lands, waters, and biotic resources also respond to the broad issue of appropriate usage of Federal lands

  5. Land and water resources for environmental research on Oak Ridge Reservation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dahlman, R.C.; Kitchings, J.T.; Elwood, J.W.

    1977-01-01

    Resources for environmental research on the Oak Ridge Reservation are analogous to the highly complex, physical and engineering facilities of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Consequently, land and water resources have been committed to comprehensive research for the purpose of providing relevant, scientific insights on environmental problems associated with ERDA's programs. Diverse aquatic, terrestrial, and agricultural ecosystems are designated for short- and long-term research related to environmental impacts or benefits of different energy technologies. Examples of ecosystems employed in this research include hardwood and pine forests, grasslands and pastures, free-flowing streams and impounded reservoirs, field plots, contaminated environmental natural areas, an array of animal habitats, and calibrated watersheds. Some of the characteristic biota of habitat ecosystems are described in the document. Documentation and planning for use of these lands, waters, and biotic resources also respond to the broad issue of appropriate usage of Federal lands.

  6. Conflict management in natural resources : a study of land, water and forest conflicts in Nepal

    OpenAIRE

    Upreti, B.R.

    2001-01-01

    This book is based on the research into natural resource (NR)-conflict carried out between 1997 and 2000 in the Dolakha district of central Nepal, and in several reference sites around the country. The study focussed especially on land, water and forest/pasture conflicts and their resolution/management practices. Five inter-connected conflict cases related to irrigation, Guthi -land, spring water source and forest-pasture land were examined and compared with elev...

  7. Layering of confined water between two graphene sheets and its liquid–liquid transition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Xuyan; Duan Yunrui; Wang Long; Liu Sida; Li Tao; Li Yifan; Li Hui

    2017-01-01

    Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to explore the layering structure and liquid–liquid transition of liquid water confined between two graphene sheets with a varied distance at different pressures. Both the size of nanoslit and pressure could cause the layering and liquid–liquid transition of the confined water. With increase of pressure and the nanoslit’s size, the confined water could have a more obvious layering. In addition, the neighboring water molecules firstly form chain structure, then will transform into square structure, and finally become triangle with increase of pressure. These results throw light on layering and liquid–liquid transition of water confined between two graphene sheets. (paper)

  8. Climate change and large-scale land acquisitions in Africa: Quantifying the future impact on acquired water resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiarelli, Davide Danilo; Davis, Kyle Frankel; Rulli, Maria Cristina; D'Odorico, Paolo

    2016-08-01

    Pressure on agricultural land has markedly increased since the start of the century, driven by demographic growth, changes in diet, increasing biofuel demand, and globalization. To better ensure access to adequate land and water resources, many investors and countries began leasing large areas of agricultural land in the global South, a phenomenon often termed "large-scale land acquisition" (LSLA). To date, this global land rush has resulted in the appropriation of 41million hectares and about 490 km3 of freshwater resources, affecting rural livelihoods and local environments. It remains unclear to what extent land and water acquisitions contribute to the emergence of water-stress conditions in acquired areas, and how these demands for water may be impacted by climate change. Here we analyze 18 African countries - 20 Mha (or 80%) of LSLA for the continent - and estimate that under present climate 210 km3 year-1of water would be appropriated if all acquired areas were actively under production. We also find that consumptive use of irrigation water is disproportionately contributed by water-intensive biofuel crops. Using the IPCCA1B scenario, we find only small changes in green (-1.6%) and blue (+2.0%) water demand in targeted areas. With a 3 °C temperature increase, crop yields are expected to decrease up to 20% with a consequent increase in the water footprint. When the effect of increasing atmospheric CO2concentrations is accounted for, crop yields increase by as much as 40% with a decrease in water footprint up to 29%. The relative importance of CO2 fertilization and warming will therefore determine water appropriations and changes in water footprint under climate change scenarios.

  9. Raise of efficiency of flocculation-precipitation treatment of exuding water from reclaimed land by irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sawai, Teruko; Yamazaki, Masao; Sawai, Takeshi

    1984-01-01

    When rain falls on the coastal reclaimed land filled with home garbage in Tokyo, a large quantity of water containing much organic contaminant flows out. It is difficult to treat this water exuding from reclaimed land by conventional method. Because the water with low BOD which is difficult to treat by biological process flows out for long period after the stabilization of reclaimed land. When the water is treated by flocculation and precipitation, the substances with high molecular weight are easily removed, but the rate of removal of fulvic acid with low molecular weight, which accounts for more than 60% of the composition of the water, is very poor. Therefore, it was examined to change the fulvic acid to high molecular weight by irradiation, and to improve the efficiency of the flocculation-precipitation treatment of exuding water. Exuding water was sampled in Tokyo Bay No.15 reclaimed land, and it was separated into humic acid and fulvic acid. The Co-60 gamma ray of 5 kCi was irradiated to the samples. The experimental method and the results are reported. The change of fulvic acid to high molecular weight by irradiation was most efficient at pH 2.2. More than 90% of organic contaminants was able to be removed. (Kako, I.)

  10. Large-Scale Land Acquisition and Its Effects on the Water Balance in Investor and Host Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breu, Thomas; Bader, Christoph; Messerli, Peter; Heinimann, Andreas; Rist, Stephan; Eckert, Sandra

    2016-01-01

    This study examines the validity of the assumption that international large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) is motivated by the desire to secure control over water resources, which is commonly referred to as 'water grabbing'. This assumption was repeatedly expressed in recent years, ascribing the said motivation to the Gulf States in particular. However, it must be considered of hypothetical nature, as the few global studies conducted so far focused primarily on the effects of LSLA on host countries or on trade in virtual water. In this study, we analyse the effects of 475 intended or concluded land deals recorded in the Land Matrix database on the water balance in both host and investor countries. We also examine how these effects relate to water stress and how they contribute to global trade in virtual water. The analysis shows that implementation of the LSLAs in our sample would result in global water savings based on virtual water trade. At the level of individual LSLA host countries, however, water use intensity would increase, particularly in 15 sub-Saharan states. From an investor country perspective, the analysis reveals that countries often suspected of using LSLA to relieve pressure on their domestic water resources--such as China, India, and all Gulf States except Saudi Arabia--invest in agricultural activities abroad that are less water-intensive compared to their average domestic crop production. Conversely, large investor countries such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Japan are disproportionately externalizing crop water consumption through their international land investments. Statistical analyses also show that host countries with abundant water resources are not per se favoured targets of LSLA. Indeed, further analysis reveals that land investments originating in water-stressed countries have only a weak tendency to target areas with a smaller water risk.

  11. Large-Scale Land Acquisition and Its Effects on the Water Balance in Investor and Host Countries.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Breu

    Full Text Available This study examines the validity of the assumption that international large-scale land acquisition (LSLA is motivated by the desire to secure control over water resources, which is commonly referred to as 'water grabbing'. This assumption was repeatedly expressed in recent years, ascribing the said motivation to the Gulf States in particular. However, it must be considered of hypothetical nature, as the few global studies conducted so far focused primarily on the effects of LSLA on host countries or on trade in virtual water. In this study, we analyse the effects of 475 intended or concluded land deals recorded in the Land Matrix database on the water balance in both host and investor countries. We also examine how these effects relate to water stress and how they contribute to global trade in virtual water. The analysis shows that implementation of the LSLAs in our sample would result in global water savings based on virtual water trade. At the level of individual LSLA host countries, however, water use intensity would increase, particularly in 15 sub-Saharan states. From an investor country perspective, the analysis reveals that countries often suspected of using LSLA to relieve pressure on their domestic water resources--such as China, India, and all Gulf States except Saudi Arabia--invest in agricultural activities abroad that are less water-intensive compared to their average domestic crop production. Conversely, large investor countries such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Japan are disproportionately externalizing crop water consumption through their international land investments. Statistical analyses also show that host countries with abundant water resources are not per se favoured targets of LSLA. Indeed, further analysis reveals that land investments originating in water-stressed countries have only a weak tendency to target areas with a smaller water risk.

  12. MODIS-derived atmospheric water vapor (AWV) content and its correlation to land use and land cover in Northeast China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Kaishan; Wu, Junjie; Li, Lin; Wang, Zongming; Lu, Dongmei; Du, Jia; Zhang, Bai

    2010-08-01

    Atmospheric water vapor (AWV) content is closely related to precipitation that in turn has effects on the productivity of agricultural, forestry and range land. MODIS images have been used for AWV retrieval, and the method uses either two (0.841-0.876 μm and 0.915-0.965 μm) or three (0.841-0.876, 0.915-0.965 and 1.230-0-1.250 μm) MODIS channel ratios. We applied both methods to the MODIS data over Northeast China acquired from June to August, 2008 to retrieve AWV content, and the results were validated on ground observed data from 10 radio sonde stations characterized by various land cover. The bulk results indicate that the two-channel ratio outperformed the three-channel ratio based on the coefficient of determination R2 = 0.81 vs. 0.78. The validation results for individual land cover types also support this observation with R2 = 0.92 vs. 0.84 for woodland, 0.82 vs. 0.79 for cropland, 0.90 vs. 0.86 for grassland and 0.673 vs. 0.669 for urban areas. The spatial distribution of AWV derived using the two-channel ratio method was correlated to land-use classification data, and a high correlation was evident when other conditions were similar. With the exception of dry cropland, the amount of average water vapor content over different land use types demonstrates a consistent order: water-body > paddy-field > woodland > grassland > barren for the analyzed multi-temporal MODIS data. This order partially matches the evapotranspiration pattern of underlying surface, and future work is required for analyzing the association of the landscape pattern with AWV in the region.

  13. Stakeholders' expectations on connectivity research for water and land management addressed by a survey in the collaborative EU-COST Connecteur network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smetanova, Anna; Paton, Eva N.; Keesstra, Saskia

    2016-04-01

    Transfer of knowledge across the science-society interface is essential for both, ethical and economic reasons, and inevitable for successful climate change adaptation and integrated management of sustainable, resilient landscapes. The transdisciplinary research of connectivity (which is the degree to which a system facilitates the movement of matter and energy through itself. It is an emergent property of the system state, Connecteur web resources,2015) has the potential to supply monitoring, modelling and management tools to land and water managers in order to reach these goals. The research of water and sediment connectivity has received significant and increasing scientific attention across the entire realm of the environmental disciplines, and the COST Action ES 1306 Connecteur facilitates the multi-sectorial collaboration in connectivity research at EU level. In order to appropriately address the transfer of the cutting edge research developments of the Connecteur network, the collaborative research project on stakeholders' perception of connectivity was conducted by the Working Group 5 "Transition of connectivity research towards sustainable land and water management". The questionnaire survey on stakeholder perception was conducted by volunteering scientist involved in the Connecteur network together from 19 European countries. Together 84 stakeholders from all mayor sectors in water and land management were asked about the main challenges of their work, their understanding of connectivity, the desired areas of cooperation with connectivity science, and the best tools for transferring knowledge. The results showed differences between different stakeholders groups in the way they percept and work with connectivity, as well as their requirement of knowledge transfers. While farmers, and (in lower extend) the agricultural administration officers articulated no, or little need for connectivity management, the majority of stakeholders involved in land and water

  14. Effects of institutional changes on land use: agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prishchepov, Alexander V; Müller, Daniel; Radeloff, Volker C; Baumann, Matthias; Kuemmerle, Tobias

    2012-01-01

    Institutional settings play a key role in shaping land cover and land use. Our goal was to understand the effects of institutional changes on agricultural land abandonment in different countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union after the collapse of socialism. We studied ∼273 800 km 2 (eight Landsat footprints) within one agro-ecological zone stretching across Poland, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and European Russia. Multi-seasonal Landsat TM/ETM + satellite images centered on 1990 (the end of socialism) and 2000 (one decade after the end of socialism) were used to classify agricultural land abandonment using support vector machines. The results revealed marked differences in the abandonment rates between countries. The highest rates of land abandonment were observed in Latvia (42% of all agricultural land in 1990 was abandoned by 2000), followed by Russia (31%), Lithuania (28%), Poland (14%) and Belarus (13%). Cross-border comparisons revealed striking differences; for example, in the Belarus–Russia cross-border area there was a great difference between the rates of abandonment of the two countries (10% versus 47% of abandonment). Our results highlight the importance of institutions and policies for land-use trajectories and demonstrate that radically different combinations of institutional change of strong institutions during the transition can reduce the rate of agricultural land abandonment (e.g., in Belarus and in Poland). Inversely, our results demonstrate higher abandonment rates for countries where the institutions that regulate land use changed and where the institutions took more time to establish (e.g., Latvia, Lithuania and Russia). Better knowledge regarding the effects of such broad-scale change is essential for understanding land-use change and for designing effective land-use policies. This information is particularly relevant for Northern Eurasia, where rapid land-use change offers vast opportunities for carbon balance and

  15. Afloat in a Boat: Linking Land Use / Land Cover to the Spatial Evolution of Water Quality along a Blackwater Stream

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neville, J.; Vose, J. M.; Nichols, E. G.; Jass, T. L.; Emanuel, R. E.; McRae, J.

    2016-12-01

    Water quality and land use/land cover (LULC) are linked intimately in many watersheds, although exact relationships are often nonlinear and sometimes complex. Together with watershed topography, LULC can affect water quality in various ways. As such, attributing water quality characteristics to LULC variations (either in space or time) can be difficult. Many studies seek to understand these relationships from a Eulerian reference frame, which typically involves many samples or observations through time at a fixed location. Here we explore an alternative approach to understanding relationships between LULC and water quality that relies on a Lagrangian, or moving, reference frame, in which the effects of LULC and watershed topography on water quality can be observed through a different lens. We studied three reaches of the Lumber River, a blackwater stream in North Carolina's Coastal Plain, to assess relationships between LULC and water quality in a watershed that is a patchwork of agriculture, forests, wetlands and developed land. Our study combines spatially intensive water quality measurements (temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, pH and nitrate concentration), collected by boat, with geospatial analyses of LULC to understand influences on the spatial evolution of reach-scale water quality. In particular, we investigate relationships between spatial patterns in nitrate and the changing spatial characteristics of the watershed integrated at sampling points along each reach. We also assess relationships between nitrate and other water quality variables, such as pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen to better understand the potential role of in-stream nutrient processing in observed spatial patterns. This work has implications for the regulation and management of agriculture, wetlands, and forests in a region that has long struggled to balance agriculture, a major economic driver, with water quality, a major concern for recreation and cultural

  16. Further evidence of a liquid-liquid transition in interfacial water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zanotti, J-M; Bellissent-Funel, M C; Chen, S-H; Kolesnikov, A I

    2006-01-01

    In a previous paper we combined calorimetric, diffraction and high-resolution quasi-elastic neutron scattering data to show that after exhibiting a glass transition at 165 K, interfacial water experiences a first order liquid-liquid transition at 240 K from a low-density to a high-density liquid. Here we present further evidence of these transitions obtained by high-energy inelastic neutron scattering

  17. 水库水面用地性质及水利水电建设项目用地保障研究%A Study on the Land Use Features of Reservoir Water Surface and the Land Use Security of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Projects

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    陈俊; 吴晓伟

    2014-01-01

    This paper comprehensively analyzes the definition,features,characteristics of reservoir and res-ervoir water land use.Using case studies,it analyzes and investigates the proportion of land for reservoir water in water land.Though comparing definition and classification of various land use classification system in China, it studies the similarities and differences of reservoir water and other water.It arrives at the conclusion that the land use for the reservoir water should be categorized as waters land rather than construction land.According to fine management requirement of land and resources ministry which explores water conservancy and hydropower for land,the paper proposes the strategies to improve the examining and approving of the land-use of water re-sources and hydropower construction project.%综合分析了水库及水库水面用地的定义、性质及特点。运用实例分析,研究了水库水面用地在水利用地中的比例及水库与其他水体的异同,认为水库水面用地宜归入水域类用地,而非建设用地。按照国土资源部探索水利水电用地精细化管理的要求,提出了改进水利水电建设项目用地审批的相关对策。

  18. Land-use and Land-cover Change from 1974 to 2008 around Mobile Bay

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, Jean; Spruce, Joseph; Smoot, James; Hilbert, Kent; Swann, Roberta

    2008-01-01

    This project is a Gulf of Mexico Application Pilot in which NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) is working within a regional collaboration network of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. NASA researchers, with support from the NASA SSC Applied Science Program Steering Committee, employed multi-temporal Landsat data to assess land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes in the coastal counties of Mobile and Baldwin, AL, between 1974 and 2008. A multi-decadal time-series, coastal LULC product unique to NASA SSC was produced. The geographic extent and nature of change was quantified for the open water, barren, upland herbaceous, non-woody wetland, upland forest, woody wetland, and urban landscapes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Coastal Development Data Center (NCDDC) will assist with the transition of the final product to the operational end user, which primarily is the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP). We found substantial LULC change over the 34-year study period, much more than is evident when the change occurring in the last years. Between 1974 and 2008, the upland forest landscape lost almost 6% of the total acreage, while urban land cover increased by slightly more than 3%. With exception to open water, upland forest is the dominant landscape, accounting for about 25-30% of the total area.

  19. Water Resources Response to Climate and Land-Cover Changes in a Semi-Arid Watershed, New Mexico, USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joonghyeok Heo

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This research evaluates a climate-land cover-water resources interconnected system in a semi-arid watershed with minimal human impact from 1970 - 2009. We found _ increase in temperature and 10.9% decrease in precipitation. The temperature exhibited a lower increase trend and precipitation showed a similar decrease trend compared to previous studies. The dominant land-cover change trend was grass and forest conversion into bush/shrub and developed land and crop land into barren and grass land. These alterations indicate that changes in temperature and precipitation in the study area may be linked to changes in land cover, although human intervention is recognized as the major land-cover change contributor for the short term. These alterations also suggest that decreasing human activity in the study area leads to developed land and crop land conversion into barren and grass land. Hydrological responses to climate and land-cover changes for surface runoff, groundwater discharge, soil water content and evapotranspiration decreased by 10.2, 10.0, 4.1, and 10.5%, respectively. Hydrological parameters generally follow similar trends to that of precipitation in semi-arid watersheds with minimal human development. Soil water content is sensitive to land-cover change and offset relatively by the changes in precipitation.

  20. Effect of water phase transition on dynamic ruptures with thermal pressurization: Numerical simulations with changes in physical properties of water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urata, Yumi; Kuge, Keiko; Kase, Yuko

    2015-02-01

    Phase transitions of pore water have never been considered in dynamic rupture simulations with thermal pressurization (TP), although they may control TP. From numerical simulations of dynamic rupture propagation including TP, in the absence of any water phase transition process, we predict that frictional heating and TP are likely to change liquid pore water into supercritical water for a strike-slip fault under depth-dependent stress. This phase transition causes changes of a few orders of magnitude in viscosity, compressibility, and thermal expansion among physical properties of water, thus affecting the diffusion of pore pressure. Accordingly, we perform numerical simulations of dynamic ruptures with TP, considering physical properties that vary with the pressure and temperature of pore water on a fault. To observe the effects of the phase transition, we assume uniform initial stress and no fault-normal variations in fluid density and viscosity. The results suggest that the varying physical properties decrease the total slip in cases with high stress at depth and small shear zone thickness. When fault-normal variations in fluid density and viscosity are included in the diffusion equation, they activate TP much earlier than the phase transition. As a consequence, the total slip becomes greater than that in the case with constant physical properties, eradicating the phase transition effect. Varying physical properties do not affect the rupture velocity, irrespective of the fault-normal variations. Thus, the phase transition of pore water has little effect on dynamic ruptures. Fault-normal variations in fluid density and viscosity may play a more significant role.

  1. Land-use change may exacerbate climate change impacts on water resources in the Ganges basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsarouchi, Gina; Buytaert, Wouter

    2018-02-01

    Quantifying how land-use change and climate change affect water resources is a challenge in hydrological science. This work aims to quantify how future projections of land-use and climate change might affect the hydrological response of the Upper Ganges river basin in northern India, which experiences monsoon flooding almost every year. Three different sets of modelling experiments were run using the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) land surface model (LSM) and covering the period 2000-2035: in the first set, only climate change is taken into account, and JULES was driven by the CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5) outputs of 21 models, under two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), whilst land use was held fixed at the year 2010. In the second set, only land-use change is taken into account, and JULES was driven by a time series of 15 future land-use pathways, based on Landsat satellite imagery and the Markov chain simulation, whilst the meteorological boundary conditions were held fixed at years 2000-2005. In the third set, both climate change and land-use change were taken into consideration, as the CMIP5 model outputs were used in conjunction with the 15 future land-use pathways to force JULES. Variations in hydrological variables (stream flow, evapotranspiration and soil moisture) are calculated during the simulation period. Significant changes in the near-future (years 2030-2035) hydrologic fluxes arise under future land-cover and climate change scenarios pointing towards a severe increase in high extremes of flow: the multi-model mean of the 95th percentile of streamflow (Q5) is projected to increase by 63 % under the combined land-use and climate change high emissions scenario (RCP8.5). The changes in all examined hydrological components are greater in the combined land-use and climate change experiment. Results are further presented in a water resources context, aiming to address potential implications of

  2. Discharge of water containing waste emanating from land to the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    containing waste (wastewater), which emanates from land-based sources and which directly impact on the marine environment. These sources include sea outfalls, storm water drains, canals, rivers and diffuse sources of pollution. To date ...

  3. Land-cover composition, water resources and land management in the watersheds of the Luquillo Mountains, northeastern Puerto Rico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamara Heartsill Scalley; Tania del M. Lopez-Marrero

    2014-01-01

    An important element of the wise use of water-related ecosystem services provided by El Yunque National Forest, located in the Luquillo Mountains in northeastern Puerto Rico, is the facilitation of a clear understanding about the composition of land cover and its relation to water resources at different scales of analysis, management, and decision making. In this study...

  4. Hydrological impacts of global land cover change and human water use

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bosmans, J.H.C.; van Beek, L.P.H.; Sutanudjaja, E.H.; Bierkens, M.F.P.

    2017-01-01

    Human impacts on global terrestrial hydrology have been accelerating during the 20th century. These human impacts include the effects of reservoir building and human water use, as well as land cover change. To date, many global studies have focussed on human water use, but only a few focus on or

  5. Land Use Impacts on Water Quality of Rivers draining from Mulanje ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Land Use Impacts on Water Quality of Rivers draining from Mulanje Mountain: A Case of Ruo River in the Southern Malawi. ... The research recommends an integrated water resources management approach where all users and relevant stakeholders should take an active role in the conservation of Ruo River catchment in ...

  6. Shale gas vs. coal: Policy implications from environmental impact comparisons of shale gas, conventional gas, and coal on air, water, and land in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jenner, Steffen; Lamadrid, Alberto J.

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to examine the major environmental impacts of shale gas, conventional gas and coal on air, water, and land in the United States. These factors decisively affect the quality of life (public health and safety) as well as local and global environmental protection. Comparing various lifecycle assessments, this paper will suggest that a shift from coal to shale gas would benefit public health, the safety of workers, local environmental protection, water consumption, and the land surface. Most likely, shale gas also comes with a smaller GHG footprint than coal. However, shale gas extraction can affect water safety. This paper also discusses related aspects that exemplify how shale gas can be more beneficial in the short and long term. First, there are technical solutions readily available to fix the most crucial problems of shale gas extraction, such as methane leakages and other geo-hazards. Second, shale gas is best equipped to smoothen the transition to an age of renewable energy. Finally, this paper will recommend hybrid policy regulations. - Highlights: ► We examine the impacts of (un)conventional gas and coal on air, water, and land. ► A shift from coal to shale gas would benefit public health. ► Shale gas extraction can affect water safety. ► We discuss technical solutions to fix the most crucial problems of shale gas extraction. ► We recommend hybrid regulations.

  7. Land application of domestic wastewater in Florida--statewide assessment of impact on ground-water quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franks, Bernard J.

    1981-01-01

    In Florida domestic waste water is being applied to the land for disposal and reuse. State and Federal regulations favor land-application methods over other advanced waste water treatment practices. Despite the increasing use of this alternative technology, little is known about localized effects on groundwater quality. This report documents the extent of land-application practices in Florida and summarizes case study information on some of the more adequately monitored site throughout the State. More than 2,500 sites in Florida are permitted by the Department of Environmental Regulation for applying domestic waste water to the land. The majority (more than 1,700 sites), classified as infiltration ponds, are concentrated in central and southern Florida. More than 560 sites classified as drainfields, and more than 250 sites classified as irrigation sites, are located primarily in central Florida. An estimated 150 million gallons per day of domestic waste water, after required secondary treatment, are applied to Florida soils. Despite the large numbers of sites and the considerable volume of waste water utilized, little is known about potential impact on groundwater quality. At the few sites where observation wells have been drilled and local groundwater quality monitored, no significant deterioration of water quality has been detected. (USGS)

  8. Agriculture and Energy: Implications for Food Security, Water, and Land Use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tokgoz, S.; Zhang, W.; Msangi, S.; Bhandary, P.

    2011-12-01

    Sustainable production of agricultural commodities and growth of international trade in these goods are challenged as never before by supply-side constraints (such as climate change, water and land scarcity, and environmental degradation) and by demand-side dynamics (volatility in food and energy markets, the strengthening food-energy linkage, population growth, and income growth). On the one hand, the rapidly expanding demand can potentially create new market opportunities for agriculture. On the other hand, there are many threats to a sufficient response by the supply side to meet this growing and changing demand. Agricultural production systems in many countries are neither resource-efficient, nor producing according to their full potential. The stock of natural resources such as land, water, nutrients, energy, and genetic diversity is shrinking relative to demand, and their use must become increasingly efficient in order to reduce environmental impacts and preserve the planet's productive capacity. World energy prices have increased rapidly in recent years. At the same time, agriculture has become more energy-intensive. Higher energy costs have pushed up the cost of producing, transporting and processing agricultural commodities, driving up commodity prices. Higher energy costs have also affected water use and availability through increased costs of water extraction, conveyance and desalinization, higher demand for hydroelectric power, and increased cost of subsidizing water services. In the meantime, the development of biofuels has diverted increasing amounts of agricultural land and water resources to the production of biomass-based renewable energy. This more "intensified" linkage between agriculture and energy comes at a time when there are other pressures on the world's limited resources. The related high food prices, especially those in the developing countries, have led to setbacks in the poverty alleviation effort among the global community with more

  9. STUDY ON KOKKALA CANAL WATER IN KOLE LANDS NEAR THRISSUR CORPORATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON PADDY FIELDS

    OpenAIRE

    J. Jenin Rajasingh; K. Bhaskaran

    2017-01-01

    The Thrissur kole wet land is a unique natural wet land system lying in Thrissur district. It is used for paddy cultivation and it covers more than 10,000 Ha. In fact kole in Malayalam means bumper yield, bumper prize, Jackpot etc. As the wet land all over the world are depleted and affected by development, the importance of natural wet land in water shed system becomes increasingly apparent effort to restore and maintain wet land have been crucial to water quality in many areas. This kole la...

  10. Highest and best use of agricultural land in multifunctional land market evidence from South Africa

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Reed, L

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Traditionally, rural lands are important for agricultural production, land value strongly related to productive potential of land income based and measurable. Transition towards multifunctional rural environment, income from land not only...

  11. Land application for disposal of excess water: an overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riley, G.H.

    1992-01-01

    Water management is an important factor in the operation of uranium mines in the Alligator Rivers Region, located in the Wet-Dry tropics. For many project designs, especially open cut operations, sole reliance on evaporative disposal of waste water is ill-advised in years where the Wet season is above average. Instead, spray irrigation, or the application of excess water to suitable areas of land, has been practised at both Nabarlek and Ranger. The method depends on water losses by evaporation from spray droplets, from vegetation surfaces and from the ground surface; residual water is carried to the groundwater system by percolation. The solutes are largely transferred to the soils where heavy metals and metallic radionuclides attach to particles in the soil profile with varying efficiency depending on soil type. Major solutes that can occur in waste water from uranium mines are less successfully immobilised in soil. Sulphate is essentially conservative and not bound within the soil profile; ammonia is affected by soil reactions leading to its decomposition. The retrospective viewpoint of history indicates the application of a technology inadequately researched for local conditions. The consequences at Nabarlek have been the death of trees on one application area and the creation of contaminated groundwater which has moved into the biosphere down gradient and affected the ecology of a local stream. At Ranger, the outcome of land application has been less severe in the short term but the effective adsorption of radionuclides in surface soils has lead to dose estimates which will necessitate restrictions on future public access unless extensive rehabilitation is carried out. 2 refs., 1 tab

  12. Communication: Diffusion constant in supercooled water as the Widom line is crossed in no man's land

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Yicun; Hestand, Nicholas J.; Skinner, J. L.

    2018-05-01

    According to the liquid-liquid critical point (LLCP) hypothesis, there are two distinct phases of supercooled liquid water, namely, high-density liquid and low-density liquid, separated by a coexistence line that terminates in an LLCP. If the LLCP is real, it is located within No Man's Land (NML), the region of the metastable phase diagram that is difficult to access using conventional experimental techniques due to rapid homogeneous nucleation to the crystal. However, a recent ingenious experiment has enabled measurement of the diffusion constant deep inside NML. In the current communication, these recent measurements are compared, with good agreement, to the diffusion constant of E3B3 water, a classical water model that explicitly includes three-body interactions. The behavior of the diffusion constant as the system crosses the Widom line (the extension of the liquid-liquid coexistence line into the one-phase region) is analyzed to derive information about the presence and location of the LLCP. Calculations over a wide range of temperatures and pressures show that the new experimental measurements are consistent with an LLCP having a critical pressure of over 0.6 kbar.

  13. The influence of land use on water quality and diatom community ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Epilithic diatom communities offer a holistic and integrated approach for assessing water quality as they remain in one place for a number of months and reflect an ecological memory of water quality over a period of time. The objective of this study is to use diatom assemblages to distinguish between particular land types ...

  14. Inorganic Surface Coating with Fast Wetting-Dewetting Transitions for Liquid Manipulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yajie; Zhang, Liaoliao; Wang, Jue; Wang, Xinwei; Duan, Libing; Wang, Nan; Xiao, Fajun; Xie, Yanbo; Zhao, Jianlin

    2018-06-06

    Liquid manipulation is a fundamental issue for microfluidics and miniaturized sensors. Fast wetting-state transitions by optical methods have proven being efficient for liquid manipulations by organic surface coatings, however rarely been achieved by using inorganic coatings. Here, we report a fast optical-induced wetting-state transition surface achieved by inorganic coating, enabling tens of second transitions for a wetting-dewetting cycle, shortened from an hour, as typically reported. Here, we demonstrate a gravity-driven microfluidic reactor and switch it to a mixer after a second-step exposure in a minimum of within 80 s of UV exposure. The fast wetting-dewetting transition surfaces enable the fast switchable or erasable smart surfaces for water collection, miniature chemical reaction, or sensing systems by using inorganic surface coatings.

  15. Nanophotonics-enabled solar membrane distillation for off-grid water purification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dongare, Pratiksha D; Alabastri, Alessandro; Pedersen, Seth; Zodrow, Katherine R; Hogan, Nathaniel J; Neumann, Oara; Wu, Jinjian; Wang, Tianxiao; Deshmukh, Akshay; Elimelech, Menachem; Li, Qilin; Nordlander, Peter; Halas, Naomi J

    2017-07-03

    With more than a billion people lacking accessible drinking water, there is a critical need to convert nonpotable sources such as seawater to water suitable for human use. However, energy requirements of desalination plants account for half their operating costs, so alternative, lower energy approaches are equally critical. Membrane distillation (MD) has shown potential due to its low operating temperature and pressure requirements, but the requirement of heating the input water makes it energy intensive. Here, we demonstrate nanophotonics-enabled solar membrane distillation (NESMD), where highly localized photothermal heating induced by solar illumination alone drives the distillation process, entirely eliminating the requirement of heating the input water. Unlike MD, NESMD can be scaled to larger systems and shows increased efficiencies with decreased input flow velocities. Along with its increased efficiency at higher ambient temperatures, these properties all point to NESMD as a promising solution for household- or community-scale desalination.

  16. Modifying a dynamic global vegetation model for simulating large spatial scale land surface water balance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, G.; Bartlein, P. J.

    2012-01-01

    Water balance models of simple structure are easier to grasp and more clearly connect cause and effect than models of complex structure. Such models are essential for studying large spatial scale land surface water balance in the context of climate and land cover change, both natural and anthropogenic. This study aims to (i) develop a large spatial scale water balance model by modifying a dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM), and (ii) test the model's performance in simulating actual evapotranspiration (ET), soil moisture and surface runoff for the coterminous United States (US). Toward these ends, we first introduced development of the "LPJ-Hydrology" (LH) model by incorporating satellite-based land covers into the Lund-Potsdam-Jena (LPJ) DGVM instead of dynamically simulating them. We then ran LH using historical (1982-2006) climate data and satellite-based land covers at 2.5 arc-min grid cells. The simulated ET, soil moisture and surface runoff were compared to existing sets of observed or simulated data for the US. The results indicated that LH captures well the variation of monthly actual ET (R2 = 0.61, p 0.46, p 0.52) with observed values over the years 1982-2006, respectively. The modeled spatial patterns of annual ET and surface runoff are in accordance with previously published data. Compared to its predecessor, LH simulates better monthly stream flow in winter and early spring by incorporating effects of solar radiation on snowmelt. Overall, this study proves the feasibility of incorporating satellite-based land-covers into a DGVM for simulating large spatial scale land surface water balance. LH developed in this study should be a useful tool for studying effects of climate and land cover change on land surface hydrology at large spatial scales.

  17. Simulation of ground-water flow and land subsidence in the Antelope Valley ground-water basin, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leighton, David A.; Phillips, Steven P.

    2003-01-01

    Antelope Valley, California, is a topographically closed basin in the western part of the Mojave Desert, about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The Antelope Valley ground-water basin is about 940 square miles and is separated from the northern part of Antelope Valley by faults and low-lying hills. Prior to 1972, ground water provided more than 90 percent of the total water supply in the valley; since 1972, it has provided between 50 and 90 percent. Most ground-water pumping in the valley occurs in the Antelope Valley ground-water basin, which includes the rapidly growing cities of Lancaster and Palmdale. Ground-water-level declines of more than 200 feet in some parts of the ground-water basin have resulted in an increase in pumping lifts, reduced well efficiency, and land subsidence of more than 6 feet in some areas. Future urban growth and limits on the supply of imported water may continue to increase reliance on ground water. To better understand the ground-water flow system and to develop a tool to aid in effectively managing the water resources, a numerical model of ground-water flow and land subsidence in the Antelope Valley ground-water basin was developed using old and new geohydrologic information. The ground-water flow system consists of three aquifers: the upper, middle, and lower aquifers. The aquifers, which were identified on the basis of the hydrologic properties, age, and depth of the unconsolidated deposits, consist of gravel, sand, silt, and clay alluvial deposits and clay and silty clay lacustrine deposits. Prior to ground-water development in the valley, recharge was primarily the infiltration of runoff from the surrounding mountains. Ground water flowed from the recharge areas to discharge areas around the playas where it discharged either from the aquifer system as evapotranspiration or from springs. Partial barriers to horizontal ground-water flow, such as faults, have been identified in the ground-water basin. Water-level declines owing to

  18. Evaluating the skills of isotope-enabled general circulation models against in situ atmospheric water vapor isotope observations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Steen-Larsen, Hans Christian; Risi, C.; Werner, M.

    2017-01-01

    The skills of isotope-enabled general circulation models are evaluated against atmospheric water vapor isotopes. We have combined in situ observations of surface water vapor isotopes spanning multiple field seasons (2010, 2011, and 2012) from the top of the Greenland Ice Sheet (NEEM site: 77.45°N......: 2014). This allows us to benchmark the ability to simulate the daily water vapor isotope variations from five different simulations using isotope-enabled general circulation models. Our model-data comparison documents clear isotope biases both on top of the Greenland Ice Sheet (1-11% for δ18O and 4...... boundary layer water vapor isotopes of the Baffin Bay region show strong influence on the water vapor isotopes at the NEEM deep ice core-drilling site in northwest Greenland. Our evaluation of the simulations using isotope-enabled general circulation models also documents wide intermodel spatial...

  19. Emerging investigator series: the rise of nano-enabled photothermal materials for water evaporation and clean water production by sunlight

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Peng

    2018-04-05

    Solar driven water evaporation and distillation is an ancient technology, but has been rejuvenated by nano-enabled photothermal materials in the past 4 years. The nano-enabled state-of-the-art photothermal materials are able to harvest a full solar spectrum and convert it to heat with extremely high efficiency. Moreover, photothermal structures with heat loss management have evolved in parallel. These together have led to the steadily and significantly improved energy efficiency of solar evaporation and distillation in the past 4 years. Some unprecedented clean water production rates have been reported in small-scale and fully solar-driven devices. This frontier presents a timely and systematic review of the impressive developments in photothermal nanomaterial discovery, selection, optimization, and photothermal structural designs along with their applications especially in clean water production. The current challenges and future perspectives are provided. This article helps inspire more research efforts from environmental nano communities to push forward practical solar-driven clean water production.

  20. Development of an Operational Land Water Mask for MODIS Collection 6, and Influence on Downstream Data Products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, M. L.; DiMiceli, C. M.; Townshend, J. R. G.; Sohlberg, R. A.; Elders, A. I.; Devadiga, S.; Sayer, A. M.; Levy, R. C.

    2016-01-01

    Data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS)on-board the Earth Observing System Terra and Aqua satellites are processed using a land water mask to determine when an algorithm no longer needs to be run or when an algorithm needs to follow a different pathway. Entering the fourth reprocessing (Collection 6 (C6)) the MODIS team replaced the 1 km water mask with a 500 m water mask for improved representation of the continental surfaces. The new water mask represents more small water bodies for an overall increase in water surface from 1 to 2 of the continental surface. While this is still a small fraction of the overall global surface area the increase is more dramatic in certain areas such as the Arctic and Boreal regions where there are dramatic increases in water surface area in the new mask. MODIS products generated by the on-going C6 reprocessing using the new land water mask show significant impact in areas with high concentrations of change in the land water mask. Here differences between the Collection 5 (C5) and C6 water masks and the impact of these differences on the MOD04 aerosol product and the MOD11 land surface temperature product are shown.

  1. A transdisciplinary approach for supporting the integration of ecosystem services into land and water management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fatt Siew, Tuck; Döll, Petra

    2015-04-01

    Transdisciplinary approaches are useful for supporting integrated land and water management. However, the implementation of the approach in practice to facilitate the co-production of useable socio-hydrological (and -ecological) knowledge among scientists and stakeholders is challenging. It requires appropriate methods to bring individuals with diverse interests and needs together and to integrate their knowledge for generating shared perspectives/understanding, identifying common goals, and developing actionable management strategies. The approach and the methods need, particularly, to be adapted to the local political and socio-cultural conditions. To demonstrate how knowledge co-production and integration can be done in practice, we present a transdisciplinary approach which has been implemented and adapted for supporting land and water management that takes ecosystem services into account in an arid region in northwestern China. Our approach comprises three steps: (1) stakeholder analysis and interdisciplinary knowledge integration, (2) elicitation of perspectives of scientists and stakeholders, scenario development, and identification of management strategies, and (3) evaluation of knowledge integration and social learning. Our adapted approach has enabled interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral communication among scientists and stakeholders. Furthermore, the application of a combination of participatory methods, including actor modeling, Bayesian Network modeling, and participatory scenario development, has contributed to the integration of system, target, and transformation knowledge of involved stakeholders. The realization of identified management strategies is unknown because other important and representative decision makers have not been involved in the transdisciplinary research process. The contribution of our transdisciplinary approach to social learning still needs to be assessed.

  2. Co-creating Understanding in Water Use & Agricultural Resilience in a Multi-scale Natural-human System: Sacramento River Valley--California's Water Heartland in Transition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fairbanks, D. H.; Brimlowe, J.; Chaudry, A.; Gray, K.; Greene, T.; Guzley, R.; Hatfield, C.; Houk, E.; Le Page, C.

    2012-12-01

    The Sacramento River Valley (SRV), valued for its $2.5 billion agricultural production and its biodiversity, is the main supplier of California's water, servicing 25 million people. . Despite rapid changes to the region, little is known about the collective motivations and consequences of land and water use decisions, or the social and environmental vulnerability and resilience of the SRV. The overarching research goal is to examine whether the SRV can continue to supply clean water for California and accommodate agricultural production and biodiversity while coping with climate change and population growth. Without understanding these issues, the resources of the SRV face an uncertain future. The defining goal is to construct a framework that integrates cross-disciplinary and diverse stakeholder perspectives in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of how SRV stakeholders make land and water use decisions. Traditional approaches for modeling have failed to take into consideration multi-scale stakeholder input. Currently there is no effective method to facilitate producers and government agencies in developing a shared representation to address the issues that face the region. To address this gap, researchers and stakeholders are working together to collect and consolidate disconnected knowledge held by stakeholder groups (agencies, irrigation districts, and producers) into a holistic conceptual model of how stakeholders view and make decisions with land and water use under various management systems. Our approach integrates a top-down approach (agency stakeholders) for larger scale management decisions with a conceptual co-creation and data gathering bottom-up approach with local agricultural producer stakeholders for input water and landuse decisions. Land use change models that combine a top-down approach with a bottom-up stakeholder approach are rare and yet essential to understanding how the social process of land use change and ecosystem function are

  3. Seasonal Dynamics of Water Use Strategy of Two Salix Shrubs in Alpine Sandy Land, Tibetan Plateau.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yajuan; Wang, Guojie; Li, Renqiang

    2016-01-01

    Water is a limiting factor for plant growth and vegetation dynamics in alpine sandy land of the Tibetan Plateau, especially with the increasing frequency of extreme precipitation events and drought caused by climate change. Therefore, a relatively stable water source from either deeper soil profiles or ground water is necessary for plant growth. Understanding the water use strategy of dominant species in the alpine sandy land ecosystem is important for vegetative rehabilitation and ecological restoration. The stable isotope methodology of δD, δ18O, and δ13C was used to determine main water source and long-term water use efficiency of Salix psammophila and S. cheilophila, two dominant shrubs on interdune of alpine sandy land in northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The root systems of two Salix shrubs were investigated to determine their distribution pattern. The results showed that S. psammophila and S. cheilophila absorbed soil water at different soil depths or ground water in different seasons, depending on water availability and water use strategy. Salix psammophila used ground water during the growing season and relied on shallow soil water recharged by rain in summer. Salix cheilophila used ground water in spring and summer, but relied on shallow soil water recharged by rain in spring and deep soil water recharged by ground water in fall. The two shrubs had dimorphic root systems, which is coincident with their water use strategy. Higher biomass of fine roots in S. psammophila and longer fine roots in S. cheilophila facilitated to absorb water in deeper soil layers. The long-term water use efficiency of two Salix shrubs increased during the dry season in spring. The long-term water use efficiency was higher in S. psammophila than in S. cheilophila, as the former species is better adapted to semiarid climate of alpine sandy land.

  4. Pattern transitions of oil-water two-phase flow with low water content in rectangular horizontal pipes probed by terahertz spectrum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Xin; Wu, Shi-Xiang; Zhao, Kun; Wang, Wei; Zhan, Hong-Lei; Jiang, Chen; Xiao, Li-Zhi; Chen, Shao-Hua

    2015-11-30

    The flow-pattern transition has been a challenging problem in two-phase flow system. We propose the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to investigate the behavior underlying oil-water flow in rectangular horizontal pipes. The low water content (0.03-2.3%) in oil-water flow can be measured accurately and reliably from the relationship between THz peak amplitude and water volume fraction. In addition, we obtain the flow pattern transition boundaries in terms of flow rates. The critical flow rate Qc of the flow pattern transitions decreases from 0.32 m3 h to 0.18 m3 h when the corresponding water content increases from 0.03% to 2.3%. These properties render THz-TDS particularly powerful technology for investigating a horizontal oil-water two-phase flow system.

  5. Land suitability maps for waste disposal siting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hrasna, M.

    1996-01-01

    The suitability of geoenvironment for waste disposal depends mainly on its stability and on the danger of groundwater pollution. Besides them, on the land suitability maps for the given purpose also those factors of the factors of the geoenvironment and the landscape should be taken into account, which enable another way of the land use, such as mineral resources, water resources, fertile soils, nature reserves, etc. On the base of the relevant factors influence evaluation - suitable, moderately suitable and unsuitable territorial units are delimited on the maps. The different way of various scale maps compilation is applied, taken into account their different representing feasibilities. (authors)

  6. Sustainability in the Food-Water-Ecosystem Nexus: The Role of Land Use and Land Cover Change for Water Resources and Ecosystems in the Kilombero Wetland, Tanzania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constanze Leemhuis

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Land Use Land Cover Change (LULCC has a significant impact on water resources and ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA. On the basis of three research projects we aim to describe and discuss the potential, uncertainties, synergies and science-policy interfaces of satellite-based integrated research for the Kilombero catchment, comprising one of the major agricultural utilized floodplains in Tanzania. LULCC was quantified at the floodplain and catchment scale analyzing Landsat 5 and Sentinel 2 satellite imagery applying different adapted classification methodologies. LULC maps at the catchment scale serve as spatial input for the distributed, process-based ecohydrological model SWAT (Soil Water Assessment Tool simulating the changes in the spatial and temporal water balance in runoff components caused by LULCC. The results reveal that over the past 26 years LULCC has significantly altered the floodplain and already shows an impact on the ecosystem by degrading the existing wildlife corridors. On the catchment scale the anomalies of the water balance are still marginal, but with the expected structural changes of the catchment there is an urgent need to increase the public awareness and knowledge of decision makers regarding the effect of the relationship between LULCC, water resources and environmental degradation.

  7. Effects of Land Use Change for Crops on Water and Carbon Budgets in the Midwest USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian Sun

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Increasing demand for food and bioenergy has altered the global landscape dramatically in recent years. Land use and land cover change affects the environmental system in many ways through biophysical and biogeochemical mechanisms. In this study, we evaluate the impacts of land use and land cover change driven by recent crop expansion and conversion on the water budget, carbon exchange, and carbon storage in the Midwest USA. A dynamic global vegetation model was used to simulate and examine the impacts of landscape change in a historical case based on crop distribution data from the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Services. The simulation results indicate that recent crop expansion not only decreased soil carbon sequestration (60 Tg less of soil organic carbon and net carbon flux into ecosystems (3.7 Tg·year−1 less of net biome productivity, but also lessened water consumption through evapotranspiration (1.04 × 1010 m3·year−1 less over 12 states in the Midwest. More water yield at the land surface does not necessarily make more water available for vegetation. Crop residue removal might also exacerbate the soil carbon loss.

  8. Alluvial Mountain Meadow Source-Sink Dynamics: Land-Cover Effects on Water and Fluvial Carbon Export

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, T.; Covino, T. P.; Wohl, E.; Rhoades, C.; Fegel, T.; Clow, D. W.

    2017-12-01

    Fluvial networks of historically glaciated mountain landscapes alternate between confined and unconfined valley segments. In low-gradient unconfined reaches, river-connected wet meadows commonly establish, and have been recognized as important locations of long-term water, carbon, and nutrient storage. Among connected meadow floodplains, sink-source behavior shifts as a function of flow state; storing water at high flows (snowmelt) and contributing toward higher late-season baseflows. Despite these benefits, historical and contemporary land-use practices often result in the simplification of wet meadow systems, leading to reduced river-floodplain connectivity, lower water-tables and reductions in hydrologic buffering capacity. In this study, we are exploring hydrologic-carbon relationships across a gradient of valley confinement and river-floodplain connectivity (connected, n=3; disconnected, n=4) within the Colorado Rockies. Our approach includes hydrologic analysis, fluorometric assays, water chemistry, instream metabolic measures, and land-cover assessment to examine patterns between land-form, carbon quantity and quality, and stream ecosystem productivity. Between different meadow types, preliminary results suggest differences between instream productivity, carbon qualities, and hydrologic-carbon sink-source dynamics across the season. These data and analyses will provide insight into water, carbon and nutrient flux dynamics as a function of land-cover in mountain headwaters.

  9. Sustainable Water and Agricultural Land Use in the Guanting Watershed under Limited Water Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wechsung, F.; Möhring, J.; Otto, I. M.; Wang, X.; Guanting Project Team

    2012-04-01

    The Yongding River System is an important water source for the northeastern Chinese provinces Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin. The Guanting Reservoir within this river system is one of the major water sources for Beijing, which is about 70 km away. Original planning assumed a discharge of 44 m3/s for the reservoir, but the current mean discharge rate is only about 5 m3/s; there is often hardly any discharge at all. Water scarcity is a major threat for the socio-economic development of the area. The situation is additionally aggravated by climate change impacts. Typical upstream-downstream conflicts with respect to water quantity and quality requests are mixed up with conflicts between different sectors, mainly mining, industry, and agriculture. These conflicts can be observed on different administrative levels, for example between the provinces, down to households. The German-Chinese research project "Sustainable water and agricultural land use in the Guanting Watershed under limited water resources" investigates problems and solutions related to water scarcity in the Guanting Catchment. The aim of the project is to create a vulnerability study in order to assess options for (and finally achieve) sustainable water and land use management in the Guanting region. This includes a comprehensive characterization of the current state by gap analysis and identification of pressures and impacts. The presentation gives an overview of recent project results regarding regionalization of global change scenarios and specification for water supply, evaluation of surface water quantity balances (supply-demand), evaluation of the surface water quality balances (emissions-impact thresholds), and exploration of integrative measurement planning. The first results show that climate in the area is becoming warmer and drier which leads to even more dramatically shrinking water resources. Water supply is expected to be reduced between one and two thirds. Water demand might be

  10. Impacts of Biofuel-Induced Agricultural Land Use Changes on Watershed Hydrology and Water Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Z.; Zheng, H.

    2015-12-01

    The US Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 has contributed to widespread changes in agricultural land uses. The impact of these land use changes on regional water resources could also be significant. Agricultural land use changes were evaluated for the Red River of the North Basin (RRNB), an international river basin shared by the US and Canada. The influence of the land use changes on spring snowmelt flooding and downstream water quality was also assessed using watershed modeling. The planting areas for corn and soybean in the basin increased by 62% and 18%, while those for spring wheat, forest, and pasture decreased by 30%, 18%, and 50%, from 2006 to 2013. Although the magnitude of spring snowmelt peak flows in the Red River did not change from pre-EISA to post-EISA, our uncertainty analysis of the normalized hydrographs revealed that the downstream streamflows had a greater variability under the post-EISA land use scenario, which may lead to greater uncertainty in predicting spring snowmelt floods in the Red River. Hydrological simulation also showed that the sediment and nutrient loads at the basin's outlet in the US and Canada border increased under the post-EISA land use scenario, on average sediment increasing by 2.6%, TP by 14.1%, nitrate nitrogen by 5.9%, and TN by 9.1%. Potential impacts of the future biofuel crop scenarios on watershed hydrology and water quality in the RRNB were also simulated through integrated economic-hydrologic modeling.

  11. Land area change and fractional water maps in the Chenier Plain, Louisiana, following hurricane Rita

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaseanu-Lovejoy, M.; Kranenburg, C.; Brock, J. C.

    2009-12-01

    The objective of this study is to develop a fractional water map at 30-m resolution scale using QuickBird and/or IKONOS high-resolution imagery as dependent variable to investigate the impact of hurricane Rita in the Chenier Plain, Louisiana. Eleven different indices were tested to obtain a high-resolution land / water classification on QuickBird (acquired on 05/23/2003) and IKONOS (acquired on 03/25/2006) images. The percent area covered by water in the high resolution images varied from 22 to 26% depending on the index used , with the simple ratio index (red band / NIR band) accounting for the lowest percent and the blue ratio index (blue band / sum(all bands)) for the highest percent. Using the ERDAS NLCD (National Land Cover Data) Mapping tool module, 100, 000 stratified random sample points with minimum 1000 points per stratum were selected from the high resolution dependent variable as training information for the independent variable layers. The rules for the regression tree were created using the data mining software Rulequest Cubist v. 2.05. This information was used to generate a fractional water map for the entire Landsat scene. The increase in water areas of about 10 - 15% between 2003 to 2006, as well as temporary changes in the water - land configurations are attributed to remnant flooding and removal of aquatic vegetation caused by hurricane Rita, and water level variations caused by tidal and / or meteorological variations between the acquisition dates of the satellite images. This analysis can assist in monitoring post-hurricane wetland recovery and assess trends in land loss due to extreme storm events, although estimation of permanent land loss cannot be made until wetland areas have the opportunity to recover from hurricane impacts.

  12. The Water Cycle from Space: Use of Satellite Data in Land Surface Hydrology and Water Resource Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laymon, Charles; Blankenship, Clay; Khan, Maudood; Limaye, Ashutosh; Hornbuckle, Brian; Rowlandson, Tracy

    2010-01-01

    This slide presentation reviews how our understanding of the water cycle is enhanced by our use of satellite data, and how this informs land surface hydrology and water resource management. It reviews how NASA's current and future satellite missions will provide Earth system data of unprecedented breadth, accuracy and utility for hydrologic analysis.

  13. Water Quality Conditions Associated with Cattle Grazing and Recreation on National Forest Lands.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leslie M Roche

    Full Text Available There is substantial concern that microbial and nutrient pollution by cattle on public lands degrades water quality, threatening human and ecological health. Given the importance of clean water on multiple-use landscapes, additional research is required to document and examine potential water quality issues across common resource use activities. During the 2011 grazing-recreation season, we conducted a cross sectional survey of water quality conditions associated with cattle grazing and/or recreation on 12 public lands grazing allotments in California. Our specific study objectives were to 1 quantify fecal indicator bacteria (FIB; fecal coliform and E. coli, total nitrogen, nitrate, ammonium, total phosphorus, and soluble-reactive phosphorus concentrations in surface waters; 2 compare results to a water quality regulatory benchmarks, b recommended maximum nutrient concentrations, and c estimates of nutrient background concentrations; and 3 examine relationships between water quality, environmental conditions, cattle grazing, and recreation. Nutrient concentrations observed throughout the grazing-recreation season were at least one order of magnitude below levels of ecological concern, and were similar to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA estimates for background water quality conditions in the region. The relative percentage of FIB regulatory benchmark exceedances widely varied under individual regional and national water quality standards. Relative to USEPA's national E. coli FIB benchmarks-the most contemporary and relevant standards for this study-over 90% of the 743 samples collected were below recommended criteria values. FIB concentrations were significantly greater when stream flow was low or stagnant, water was turbid, and when cattle were actively observed at sampling. Recreation sites had the lowest mean FIB, total nitrogen, and soluble-reactive phosphorus concentrations, and there were no significant differences in FIB and

  14. Identifying the Relationships between Water Quality and Land Cover Changes in the Tseng-Wen Reservoir Watershed of Taiwan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hone-Jay Chu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The effects on water quality of land use and land cover changes, which are associated with human activities and natural factors, are poorly identified. Fine resolution satellite imagery provides opportunities for land cover monitoring and assessment. The multiple satellite images after typhoon events collected from 2001 to 2010 covering land areas and land cover conditions are evaluated by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI. The relationship between land cover and observed water quality, such as suspended solids (SS and nitrate-nitrogens (NO3-N, are explored in the study area. Results show that the long-term variations in water quality are explained by NDVI data in the reservoir buffer zones. Suspended solid and nitrate concentrations are related to average NDVI values on multiple spatial scales. Annual NO3-N concentrations are positively correlated with an average NDVI with a 1 km reservoir buffer area, and the SS after typhoon events associated with landslides are negatively correlated with the average NDVI in the entire watershed. This study provides an approach for assessing the influences of land cover on variations in water quality.

  15. Environmental and resource burdens associated with world biofuel production out to 2050: footprint components from carbon emissions and land use to waste arisings and water consumption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammond, Geoffrey P; Li, Bo

    2016-09-01

    Environmental or 'ecological' footprints have been widely used in recent years as indicators of resource consumption and waste absorption presented in terms of biologically productive land area [in global hectares (gha)] required per capita with prevailing technology. In contrast, 'carbon footprints' are the amount of carbon (or carbon dioxide equivalent) emissions for such activities in units of mass or weight (like kilograms per functional unit), but can be translated into a component of the environmental footprint (on a gha basis). The carbon and environmental footprints associated with the world production of liquid biofuels have been computed for the period 2010-2050. Estimates of future global biofuel production were adopted from the 2011 International Energy Agency (IEA) 'technology roadmap' for transport biofuels. This suggests that, although first generation biofuels will dominate the market up to 2020, advanced or second generation biofuels might constitute some 75% of biofuel production by 2050. The overall environmental footprint was estimated to be 0.29 billion (bn) gha in 2010 and is likely to grow to around 2.57 bn gha by 2050. It was then disaggregated into various components: bioproductive land, built land, carbon emissions, embodied energy, materials and waste, transport, and water consumption. This component-based approach has enabled the examination of the Manufactured and Natural Capital elements of the 'four capitals' model of sustainability quite broadly, along with specific issues (such as the linkages associated with the so-called energy-land-water nexus). Bioproductive land use was found to exhibit the largest footprint component (a 48% share in 2050), followed by the carbon footprint (23%), embodied energy (16%), and then the water footprint (9%). Footprint components related to built land, transport and waste arisings were all found to account for an insignificant proportion to the overall environmental footprint, together amounting to

  16. Appraisal of boundary layer trips for landing gear testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, Philip; Feltham, Graham; Ekmekci, Alis

    2013-11-01

    Dynamic similarity during scaled model testing is difficult to maintain. Forced boundary layer transition via a surface protuberance is a common method used to address this issue, however few guidelines exist for the effective tripping of complex geometries, such as aircraft landing gears. To address this shortcoming, preliminary wind tunnel tests were performed at Re = 500,000. Surface transition visualisation and pressure measurements show that zigzag type trips of a given size and location are effective at promoting transition, thus preventing the formation of laminar separation bubbles and increasing the effective Reynolds number from the critical regime to the supercritical regime. Extension of these experiments to include three additional tripping methods (wires, roughness strips, CADCUT dots) in a range of sizes, at Reynolds number of 200,000 and below, have been performed in a recirculating water channel. Analysis of surface pressure measurements and time resolved PIV for each trip device, size and location has established a set of recommendations for successful use of tripping for future, low Reynolds number landing gear testing.

  17. Taking the Next Step: Using Water Quality Data in a Decision Support System for County, State, and Federal Land Managers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raby, K. S.; Williams, M. W.

    2004-12-01

    Each passing year amplifies the demands placed on communities across the US in terms of population growth, increased tourism, and stresses resulting from escalated use. The conflicting concerns of recreational users, local citizens, environmentalists, and traditional economic interests cause land managers to contend with controversial decisions regarding development and protection of watersheds. Local history and culture, politics, economic goals, and science are all influential factors in land use decision making. Here we report on a scientific study to determine the sensitivity of alpine areas, and the adaptation of this study into a decision support framework. We use water quality data as an indicator of ecosystem health across a variety of alpine and subalpine landscapes, and input this information into a spatially-based decision support tool that planners can use to make informed land use decisions. We develop this tool in a case study in San Juan County, Colorado, a site chosen because its largest town, Silverton, is a small mountain community experiencing a recent surge in tourism and development, and its fragile high elevation locale makes it more sensitive to environmental changes. Extensive field surveys were conducted in priority drainages throughout the county to map the spatial distribution and aerial extent of landscape types during the summers of 2003 and 2004. Surface water samples were collected and analyzed for inorganic and organic solutes, and water quality values were associated with different land covers to enable sensitivity analysis at the landscape scale. Water quality results for each watershed were entered into a module linked to a geographic information system (GIS), which displays maps of sensitive areas based on criteria selected by the user. The decision support system initially incorporates two major water quality parameters: acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and nitrate (NO3-) concentration, and several categories of sensitivity were

  18. The use of biomarkers as integrative tools for transitional water bodies monitoring in the Water Framework Directive context - A holistic approach in Minho river transitional waters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capela, R; Raimundo, J; Santos, M M; Caetano, M; Micaelo, C; Vale, C; Guimarães, L; Reis-Henriques, M A

    2016-01-01

    The Water Framework Directive (WFD) provides an important legislative opportunity to promote and implement an integrated approach for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwaters. The transitional waters constitute a central piece as they are usually under high environmental pressure and by their inherent characteristics present monitoring challenges. Integrating water quality monitoring with biological monitoring can increase the cost-effectiveness of monitoring efforts. One way of doing this is with biomarkers, which effectively integrate physical-chemical status and biological quality elements, dealing holistically with adverse consequences on the health of water bodies. The new Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) already incorporates the biomarker approach. Given the recent activities of OSPAR and HELCOM to harmonize existing monitoring guidelines between MSFD and WFD the use of similar methodologies should be fostered. To illustrate the potential of the biomarker approach, juveniles of flounder (Platichthys flesus) were used to evaluate the quality of the Minho river-estuary water bodies. The use of juveniles instead of adults eliminates several confounding factors such changes on the biological responses associated with reproduction. Here, a panel of well-established biomarkers, EROD, AChE, SOD, CAT, GST, LPO, ENA and FACs (1-Hydroxyrene) were selected and measured along with a gradient of different physical conditions, and integrated with trace elements characterization on both biota and sediments. In general, a clear profile along the water bodies was found, with low seasonal and spatial variation, consistent with a low impacted area. Overall, the results support the use of both the battery of biomarkers and the use of juvenile flounders in the monitoring of the water quality status within the WFD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Water Footprint and Land Requirement of Solar Thermochemical Jet-Fuel Production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falter, Christoph; Pitz-Paal, Robert

    2017-11-07

    The production of alternative fuels via the solar thermochemical pathway has the potential to provide supply security and to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. H 2 O and CO 2 are converted to liquid hydrocarbon fuels using concentrated solar energy mediated by redox reactions of a metal oxide. Because attractive production locations are in arid regions, the water footprint and the land requirement of this fuel production pathway are analyzed. The water footprint consists of 7.4 liters per liter of jet fuel of direct demand on-site and 42.4 liters per liter of jet fuel of indirect demand, where the dominant contributions are the mining of the rare earth oxide ceria, the manufacturing of the solar concentration infrastructure, and the cleaning of the mirrors. The area-specific productivity is found to be 33 362 liters per hectare per year of jet fuel equivalents, where the land coverage is mainly due to the concentration of solar energy for heat and electricity. The water footprint and the land requirement of the solar thermochemical fuel pathway are larger than the best power-to-liquid pathways but an order of magnitude lower than the best biomass-to-liquid pathways. For the production of solar thermochemical fuels arid regions are best-suited, and for biofuels regions of a moderate and humid climate.

  20. A global, 30-m resolution land-surface water body dataset for 2000

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, M.; Sexton, J. O.; Huang, C.; Song, D. X.; Song, X. P.; Channan, S.; Townshend, J. R.

    2014-12-01

    Inland surface water is essential to terrestrial ecosystems and human civilization. The distribution of surface water in space and its change over time are related to many agricultural, environmental and ecological issues, and are important factors that must be considered in human socioeconomic development. Accurate mapping of surface water is essential for both scientific research and policy-driven applications. Satellite-based remote sensing provides snapshots of Earth's surface and can be used as the main input for water mapping, especially in large areas. Global water areas have been mapped with coarse resolution remotely sensed data (e.g., the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)). However, most inland rivers and water bodies, as well as their changes, are too small to map at such coarse resolutions. Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) and ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus) imagery has a 30m spatial resolution and provides decades of records (~40 years). Since 2008, the opening of the Landsat archive, coupled with relatively lower costs associated with computing and data storage, has made comprehensive study of the dynamic changes of surface water over large even global areas more feasible. Although Landsat images have been used for regional and even global water mapping, the method can hardly be automated due to the difficulties on distinguishing inland surface water with variant degrees of impurities and mixing of soil background with only Landsat data. The spectral similarities to other land cover types, e.g., shadow and glacier remnants, also cause misidentification. We have developed a probabilistic based automatic approach for mapping inland surface water bodies. Landsat surface reflectance in multiple bands, derived water indices, and data from other sources are integrated to maximize the ability of identifying water without human interference. The approach has been implemented with open-source libraries to facilitate processing large

  1. Source Apportionment of Annual Water Pollution Loads in River Basins by Remote-Sensed Land Cover Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Wang

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available In this study, in order to determine the efficiency of estimating annual water pollution loads from remote-sensed land cover classification and ground-observed hydrological data, an empirical model was investigated. Remote sensing data imagery from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer were applied to an 11 year (1994–2004 water quality dataset for 30 different rivers in Japan. Six water quality indicators—total nitrogen (TN, total phosphorus (TP, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD, chemical oxygen demand (COD, and dissolved oxygen (DO—were examined by using the observed river water quality data and generated land cover map. The TN, TP, BOD, COD, and DO loads were estimated for the 30 river basins using the empirical model. Calibration (1994–1999 and validation (2000–2004 results showed that the proposed simulation technique was useful for predicting water pollution loads in the river basins. We found that vegetation land cover had a larger impact on TP export into all rivers. Urban areas had a very small impact on DO export into rivers, but a relatively large impact on BOD and TN export. The results indicate that the application of land cover data generated from the remote-sensed imagery could give a useful interpretation about the river water quality.

  2. Globalizing land use transitions: the soybean acceleration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reenberg, Anette; Fenger, Nina Astrid

    2011-01-01

    into a leading player on the global scale. It takes point of departure in a land change science approach and employs the notions of underlying and proximate drivers and teleconnections to characterize the process of land use change in relation to the accelerating use of land for soybean cultivation.......This note presents the recent global development trends in soybean cultivation as derived from the FAO statistics. It focuses on the change over the course of the last thirty years, when significant new allocations of the global production have occurred, which have turned South America...

  3. 30 CFR 875.14 - Eligible lands and water after certification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    .... 875.14 Section 875.14 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT... such mining or processing, and abandoned or left in an inadequate reclamation status before August 3, 1977. However, for Federal lands, waters, and facilities under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service...

  4. Vertebrate land invasions-past, present, and future: an introduction to the symposium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashley-Ross, Miriam A; Hsieh, S Tonia; Gibb, Alice C; Blob, Richard W

    2013-08-01

    The transition from aquatic to terrestrial habitats was a seminal event in vertebrate evolution because it precipitated a sudden radiation of species as new land animals diversified in response to novel physical and biological conditions. However, the first stages of this environmental transition presented numerous challenges to ancestrally aquatic organisms, and necessitated changes in the morphological and physiological mechanisms that underlie most life processes, among them movement, feeding, respiration, and reproduction. How did solutions to these functional challenges evolve? One approach to this question is to examine modern vertebrate species that face analogous demands; just as the first tetrapods lived at the margins of bodies of water and likely moved between water and land regularly, many extant fishes and amphibians use their body systems in both aquatic and terrestrial habitats on a daily basis. Thus, studies of amphibious vertebrates elucidate the functional demands of two very different habitats and clarify our understanding of the initial evolutionary challenges of moving onto land. A complementary approach is to use studies of the fossil record and comparative development to gain new perspectives on form and function of modern amphibious and non-amphibious vertebrate taxa. Based on the synthetic approaches presented in the symposium, it is clear that our understanding of aquatic-to-terrestrial transitions is greatly improved by the reciprocal integration of paleontological and neontological perspectives. In addition, common themes and new insights that emerged from this symposium point to the value of innovative approaches, new model species, and cutting-edge research techniques to elucidate the functional challenges and evolutionary changes associated with vertebrates' invasion of the land.

  5. Implications of high renewable electricity penetration in the U.S. for water use, greenhouse gas emissions, land-use, and materials supply

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arent, Doug; Pless, Jacquelyn; Mai, Trieu; Wiser, Ryan; Hand, Maureen; Baldwin, Sam; Heath, Garvin; Macknick, Jordan; Bazilian, Morgan; Schlosser, Adam; Denholm, Paul

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Renewable electricity generation could supply 80% of U.S. generation in 2050. • GHGs are reduced proportionally and water use is reduced by 50%. • Gross land-use impacts total less than 3% of land area of the contiguous U.S. • Some clean energy technologies rely on materials that face short-term risks. • No insurmountable long-term constraints to materials supply were identified. - Abstract: Recent work found that renewable energy could supply 80% of electricity demand in the contiguous United States in 2050 at the hourly level. This paper explores some of the implications of achieving such high levels of renewable electricity for supply chains and the environment in scenarios with renewable supply up to such levels. Expanding the renewable electricity supply at this scale by 2050 implies annual capacity additions of roughly 20 gigawatts per year (GW/year) over the next decade, rising to roughly 40 GW/year from 2040 to 2050. Given total 2012 renewable electricity capacity additions of slightly more than 16 GW, this suggests moderate growth of the related supply chains, averaging overall roughly 4% annual growth to 2040. Transitioning to high renewable electricity supply would lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and water use, with only modest land-use implications. While renewable energy expansion implies moderate growth of the renewable electricity supply chains, no insurmountable long-term constraints to renewable electricity technology manufacturing capacity or materials supply are identified

  6. A novel assessment of the role of land-use and land-cover change in the global carbon cycle, using a new Dynamic Global Vegetation Model version of the CABLE land surface model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haverd, Vanessa; Smith, Benjamin; Nieradzik, Lars; Briggs, Peter; Canadell, Josep

    2017-04-01

    In recent decades, terrestrial ecosystems have sequestered around 1.2 PgC y-1, an amount equivalent to 20% of fossil-fuel emissions. This land carbon flux is the net result of the impact of changing climate and CO2 on ecosystem productivity (CO2-climate driven land sink ) and deforestation, harvest and secondary forest regrowth (the land-use change (LUC) flux). The future trajectory of the land carbon flux is highly dependent upon the contributions of these processes to the net flux. However their contributions are highly uncertain, in part because the CO2-climate driven land sink and LUC components are often estimated independently, when in fact they are coupled. We provide a novel assessment of global land carbon fluxes (1800-2015) that integrates land-use effects with the effects of changing climate and CO2 on ecosystem productivity. For this, we use a new land-use enabled Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) version of the CABLE land surface model, suitable for use in attributing changes in terrestrial carbon balance, and in predicting changes in vegetation cover and associated effects on land-atmosphere exchange. In this model, land-use-change is driven by prescribed gross land-use transitions and harvest areas, which are converted to changes in land-use area and transfer of carbon between pools (soil, litter, biomass, harvested wood products and cleared wood pools). A novel aspect is the treatment of secondary woody vegetation via the coupling between the land-use module and the POP (Populations Order Physiology) module for woody demography and disturbance-mediated landscape heterogeneity. Land-use transitions to and from secondary forest tiles modify the patch age distribution within secondary-vegetated tiles, in turn affecting biomass accumulation and turnover rates and hence the magnitude of the secondary forest sink. The resulting secondary forest patch age distribution also influences the magnitude of the secondary forest harvest and clearance fluxes

  7. Analysis of Water Resources in Horqin Sandy Land Using Multisource Data from 2003 to 2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenzhen Zhao

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Over the past four decades, land use/land cover (LU/LC change, coupled with persistent drought, has resulted in the decline of groundwater levels in Horqin Sandy Land. Accordingly, this study quantifies changes in LU/LC and groundwater storage (GWS. Furthermore, it investigates the effects of LU/LC changes on GWS. GWS changes are estimated using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE data and ground-based measurements obtained from July 2003 to December 2010. Soil moisture and snow water equivalent data derived from the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS are used to isolate GWS changes from GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage changes. The result shows that the groundwater depletion rate in Horqin Sandy Land is 13.5 ± 1.9 mm·year−1 in 2003–2010, which is consistent with the results of monitoring well stations. LU/LC changes are detected using bitemporal imageries (2003 and 2010 from Landsat Thematic Mapper through the post-classification comparison method. The result shows that LU/LC significantly changed during the aforementioned period. Bare soil and built-up land have increased by 76.6% and 82.2%, respectively, while cropland, vegetation, and water bodies have decreased by 14.1%, 74.5%, and 82.6%, respectively. The analysis of GWS and LU/LC changes shows that LU/LC changes and persistent drought are the main factors that affect groundwater resources.

  8. Water and Ethanol Droplet Wetting Transition during Evaporation on Omniphobic Surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xuemei; Weibel, Justin A.; Garimella, Suresh V.

    2015-01-01

    Omniphobic surfaces with reentrant microstructures have been investigated for a range of applications, but the evaporation of high- and low-surface-tension liquid droplets placed on such surfaces has not been rigorously studied. In this work, we develop a technique to fabricate omniphobic surfaces on copper substrates to allow for a systematic examination of the effects of surface topography on the evaporation dynamics of water and ethanol droplets. Compared to a water droplet, the ethanol droplet not only evaporates faster, but also inhibits Cassie-to-Wenzel wetting transitions on surfaces with certain geometries. We use an interfacial energy-based description of the system, including the transition energy barrier and triple line energy, to explain the underlying transition mechanism and behaviour observed. Suppression of the wetting transition during evaporation of droplets provides an important metric for evaluating the robustness of omniphobic surfaces requiring such functionality. PMID:26603940

  9. Compounding Effects of Agricultural Land Use and Water Use in Free-Flowing Rivers: Confounding Issues for Environmental Flows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardie, Scott A; Bobbi, Chris J

    2018-03-01

    Defining the ecological impacts of water extraction from free-flowing river systems in altered landscapes is challenging as multiple stressors (e.g., flow regime alteration, increased sedimentation) may have simultaneous effects and attributing causality is problematic. This multiple-stressor context has been acknowledged in environmental flows science, but is often neglected when it comes to examining flow-ecology relationships, and setting and implementing environmental flows. We examined the impacts of land and water use on rivers in the upper Ringarooma River catchment in Tasmania (south-east Australia), which contains intensively irrigated agriculture, to support implementation of a water management plan. Temporal and spatial and trends in river condition were assessed using benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. Relationships between macroinvertebrate community structure and environmental variables were examined using univariate and multivariate analyses, focusing on the impacts of agricultural land use and water use. Structural changes in macroinvertebrate communities in rivers in the catchment indicated temporal and spatial declines in the ecological condition of some stretches of river associated with agricultural land and water use. Moreover, water extraction appeared to exacerbate impairment associated with agricultural land use (e.g., reduced macroinvertebrate density, more flow-avoiding taxa). The findings of our catchment-specific bioassessments will underpin decision-making during the implementation of the Ringarooma water management plan, and highlight the need to consider compounding impacts of land and water use in environmental flows and water planning in agricultural landscapes.

  10. Compounding Effects of Agricultural Land Use and Water Use in Free-Flowing Rivers: Confounding Issues for Environmental Flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardie, Scott A.; Bobbi, Chris J.

    2018-03-01

    Defining the ecological impacts of water extraction from free-flowing river systems in altered landscapes is challenging as multiple stressors (e.g., flow regime alteration, increased sedimentation) may have simultaneous effects and attributing causality is problematic. This multiple-stressor context has been acknowledged in environmental flows science, but is often neglected when it comes to examining flow-ecology relationships, and setting and implementing environmental flows. We examined the impacts of land and water use on rivers in the upper Ringarooma River catchment in Tasmania (south-east Australia), which contains intensively irrigated agriculture, to support implementation of a water management plan. Temporal and spatial and trends in river condition were assessed using benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. Relationships between macroinvertebrate community structure and environmental variables were examined using univariate and multivariate analyses, focusing on the impacts of agricultural land use and water use. Structural changes in macroinvertebrate communities in rivers in the catchment indicated temporal and spatial declines in the ecological condition of some stretches of river associated with agricultural land and water use. Moreover, water extraction appeared to exacerbate impairment associated with agricultural land use (e.g., reduced macroinvertebrate density, more flow-avoiding taxa). The findings of our catchment-specific bioassessments will underpin decision-making during the implementation of the Ringarooma water management plan, and highlight the need to consider compounding impacts of land and water use in environmental flows and water planning in agricultural landscapes.

  11. Water in urban planning, Salt Creek Basin, Illinois water management as related to alternative land-use practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spieker, Andrew Maute

    1970-01-01

    Water management can be an integral part of urban comprehensive planning in a large metropolitan area. Water both imposes constraints on land use and offers opportunities for coordinated land and water management. Salt Creek basin in Cook and Du Page Counties of the Chicago metropolitan area is typical of rapidly developing suburban areas and has been selected to illustrate some of these constraints and opportunities and to suggest the effects of alternative solutions. The present study concentrates on the related problems of ground-water recharge, water quality, management of flood plains, and flood-control measures. Salt Creek basin has a drainage area of 150 square miles. It is in flat to. gently rolling terrain, underlain by glacial drift as much as 200 feet thick which covers a dolomite aquifer. In 1964, the population of the basin was about 400,000, and 40 percent of the land was in urban development. The population is expected to number 550,000 to 650,000 by 1990, and most of the land will be taken by urban development. Salt Creek is a sluggish stream, typical of small drainage channels in the headwaters area of northeastern Illinois. Low flows of 15 to 25 cubic feet per second in the lower part of the basin consist largely of sewage effluent. Nearly all the public water supplies in the basin depend on ground water. Of the total pumpage of 27.5 million gallons per day, 17.5 million gallons per day is pumped from the deep (Cambrian-Ordovician) aquifers and 10 million gallons per day is pumped from the shallow (Silurian dolomite and glacial drift) aquifers. The potential yield of the shallow aquifers, particularly glacial drift in the northern part of the basin, far exceeds present use. The largest concentration of pumpage from the shallow ,aquifers is in the Hinsdale-La Grange area. Salt Creek serves as an important source of recharge to these supplies, particularly just east of Hinsdale. The entire reach of Salt Creek south and east of Elmhurst can be

  12. Land Exploration Study and Water Quality Changes in Tanah Tinggi Lojing, Kelantan, Malaysia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wan Adi Yusoff; Mokhtar Jaafar; Mohd Khairul Amri Kamarudin; Mohd Khairul Amri Kamarudin; Mohd Ekhwan Toriman; Mohd Ekhwan Toriman

    2015-01-01

    Land exploration activities in the highlands areas without mitigation can give more impact on the environment health in the river basin. Tanah Tinggi Lojing Gua Musang is one of the commercial areas developed for agricultural activities. Sungai Belatop is one of the affected river at Tanah Tinggi Lojing. This article was conducted to investigate the relationship of land development and water quality changes in the Belatop river basin.The study was conducted by analyzing data from the Department of Environment starts from February to October 2012. The results indicated the development of land exploration activities in the Tanah Tinggi Lojing area has affected on water quality parameters in the area. Where, the suspended sediment (SS) is high with 1161 mg/L, turbidity value is 991 (NTU) and this parameters is increasing on the rainy season impacted from surface erosion and surface runoff at land is not covered. Magnisium content also has increased from 0.66 mg/L to 1.38 mg/L. The high content magnesium result is from fertilizers used in agricultural activities in the study area. Chemical fertilizers content excessive causes the contents of calcium (Ca) high (3.18 mg/L). Ferum content in the water has also exceeded (0.3 mg/L), in Class IIA/B and Class III by WQI. Therefore, some recommendations is proposed to reduce and solving this problem. (author)

  13. Modeling the hydrologic effects of land and water development interventions: a case study of the upper Blue Nile river basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haregeweyn, Nigussie; Tsunekawa, Atsushi; Tsubo, Mitsuru; Meshesha, Derege; Adgo, Enyew; Poesen, Jean; Schütt, Brigitta

    2014-05-01

    Over 67% of the Ethiopian landmass has been identified as very vulnerable to climate variability and land degradation. These problems are more prevalent in the Upper Blue Nile (UBN, often called Abay) river basin covering a drainage area of about 199,800 km2. The UBN River runs from Lake Tana (NW Ethiopia) to the Ethiopia-Sudan border. To enhance the adaptive capacity to the high climate variability and land degradation in the basin, different land and water management measures (stone/soil bunds, runoff collector trenches, exclosures) have been extensively implemented, especially since recent years. Moreover, multipurpose water harvesting schemes including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD, reservoir area of ca. 4000 km2) and 17 other similar projects are being or to be implemented by 2025. However, impact studies on land and water management aspects rarely include detailed hydrological components especially at river basin scale, although it is generally regarded as a major determinant of hydrological processes. The main aim of this study is therefore to model the significance of land and water management interventions in surface runoff response at scale of UBN river basin and to suggest some recommendations. Spatially-distributed annual surface runoff was simulated for both present-day and future (2025) land and water management conditions using calibrated values of the proportional loss model in ArcGIS environment. Average annual rainfall map (1998-2012) was produced from calibrated TRMM satellite source and shows high spatial variability of rainfall ranging between ca. 1000 mm in the Eastern part of the basin to ca. 2000 mm in the southern part of the basin. Present-day land use day condition was obtained from Abay Basin Master Plan study. The future land use map was created taking into account the land and water development interventions to be implemented by 2025. Under present-day conditions, high spatial variability of annual runoff depth was observed

  14. ENHANCING RURAL LIVELIHOODS THROUGH SUSTAINABLE LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT IN NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehretie Belay

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Rural livelihoods (RLs in highland Ethiopia is critically threatened by increasing degradation of land and water resources (LWRs and lack of sufficient livelihood assets. In response, farmers adapted diverse indigenous land and water management (LWM technologies and livelihood strategies. This paper describes farmers’ methods of soil erosion identification and the practices of managing LWRs to enhance RLs. It presents the results of studies focusing on assessment of soil erosion indicators, farmers’ in-built sustainable land and water management practices (LWMPs and RLs in Dangila woreda (district in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Data were gathered from May 2010 to October 2013 through participatory transect walks, field observation, formal and informal discussions with farmers, examination of office documents and from a survey of 201 rural households. Descriptive statistics and the livelihood strategy diversification index (LSDI were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that farmers employ around 13 indicators to identify soil erosion on their farmlands. Over 79% of the farmers indicated the occurrence of soil erosion on their farm fields and some 59% reported the trend was increasing for twenty years, 1991-2011. More than 174 km soil-bunds and greater than 4 km stone-bunds were constructed on farmlands and on grazing fields through farmer participatory watershed development campaigns. Some 34 gullies were stabilized using check-dams and vegetative measures. Almost 72% of the households applied cattle manure on about of their 75 ha lands to improve soil fertility. A total of 44 diversion canals and 34 water committees were established to facilitate the irrigation practice of 33% rural households. Over 20% farmers obtained results ranging from moderate to excellent by combining manure with chemical fertilizers in the same field. Nevertheless, introduced methods such as improved seeds and fertilizers were commented for

  15. Water, land and carbon footprints of sheep and chicken meat produced in Tunisia under different farming systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ibidhi, R.; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Gerbens-Leenes, Winnie; Chouchane, Hatem

    2017-01-01

    Meat production puts larger demands on water and land and results in larger greenhouse gas emissions than alternative forms of food. This study uses footprint indicators, the water, land and carbon footprint, to assess natural resources use and greenhouse gas emissions for sheep and chicken meat

  16. Capacity Building in Land Administration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enemark, Stig; Williamson, I

    2004-01-01

    Capacity building increasingly seen as a key component of land administration projects in developing and countries in transition undertaken by the international development banks and individual country development assistance agencies. However, the capacity building concept is often used within...... infrastructures for implementing land policies in a sustainable way. Where a project is established to create land administration infrastructures in developing or transition countries, it is critical that capacity building is a mainstream component, not as an add-on, which is often the case. In fact such projects...... should be dealt with as capacity building projects in themselves.    The article introduces a conceptual analytical framework that provides some guidance when dealing with capacity building for land administration in support of a broader land policy agenda....

  17. Modeling the effects of climatic and land use changes on phytoplankton and water quality of the largest Turkish freshwater lake: Lake Beyşehir.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bucak, Tuba; Trolle, Dennis; Tavşanoğlu, Ü Nihan; Çakıroğlu, A İdil; Özen, Arda; Jeppesen, Erik; Beklioğlu, Meryem

    2018-04-15

    Climate change and intense land use practices are the main threats to ecosystem structure and services of Mediterranean lakes. Therefore, it is essential to predict the future changes and develop mitigation measures to combat such pressures. In this study, Lake Beyşehir, the largest freshwater lake in the Mediterranean basin, was selected to study the impacts of climate change and various land use scenarios on the ecosystem dynamics of Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems and the services that they provide. For this purpose, we linked catchment model outputs to the two different processed-based lake models: PCLake and GLM-AED, and tested the scenarios of five General Circulation Models, two Representation Concentration Pathways and three different land use scenarios, which enable us to consider the various sources of uncertainty. Climate change and land use scenarios generally predicted strong future decreases in hydraulic and nutrient loads from the catchment to the lake. These changes in loads translated into alterations in water level as well as minor changes in chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentrations. We also observed an increased abundance of cyanobacteria in both lake models. Total phosphorus, temperature and hydraulic loading were found to be the most important variables determining cyanobacteria biomass. As the future scenarios revealed only minor changes in Chl-a due to the significant decrease in nutrient loads, our results highlight that reduced nutrient loading in a warming world may play a crucial role in offsetting the effects of temperature on phytoplankton growth. However, our results also showed increased abundance of cyanobacteria in the future may threaten ecosystem integrity and may limit drinking water ecosystem services. In addition, extended periods of decreased hydraulic loads from the catchment and increased evaporation may lead to water level reductions and may diminish the ecosystem services of the lake as a water supply for irrigation and

  18. Walking in water and on land after an incomplete spinal cord injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamburella, Federica; Scivoletto, Giorgio; Cosentino, Elena; Molinari, Marco

    2013-10-01

    Although no data are available on the effects of water environment on the gait of subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI), hydrotherapy is used in the rehabilitation protocols of SCI patients. The aim of this study was to characterize gait features of subjects with incomplete SCI walking in water and on land in comparison with healthy controls (CTRLs) to identify the specificity of water environment on influencing gait in SCI subjects. This is a matched case-control study. Kinematic gait parameters and range of motion of joint angles of 15 SCI subjects and 15 CTRLs were analyzed. Compared with gait on land, gait in water of the SCI patients was characterized by speed and stance phase reduction, gait cycle time increment, and invariance of stride length and range of motion values. Comparison with CTRL data remarked that walking in water reduces gait differences between the groups. Furthermore, in water, the SCI subjects presented a reduction in variability of the hip and knee joint angles, whereas in the CTRLs, a larger variability was observed. Gait in water of the SCI subjects is associated with kinematic parameters more similar to those of the CTRLs, particularly regarding speed, stride length, and stance phase, supporting the idea that walking in a water environment may be of rehabilitative significance for SCI subjects.

  19. Land use, climate parameters and water quality changes at surroundings of Code River, Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muryanto; Suntoro; Gunawan, T.; Setyono, P.

    2018-03-01

    Regional development of an area has the potential of adverse impact on land use, vegetation, or green space. The reduction of green open space is known to contribute to global warming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming has become a serious and significant phenomenon in human life. It affects not only ecological environment but also social and cultural environment. Global warming is a rise in global annual temperature due to, one of which, greenhouse gases. The purpose of this research is to determine the effects of land use change on water pollution and climate parameters at Code river. The results showed that Code River is experiencing land use conversion. Rice field was the most extensively reduced land use, by 467.496 ha. Meanwhile, the other land uses, namely plantation, grass, and forest, were reduced by 111.475 ha, 31.218 ha, and 1.307 ha, respectively. The least converted land use was bushed, whose decreased 0.403 ha. The land use conversion in the study area deteriorated the water quality of river, as proven by the increasing trend of COD and BOD from 2012 to 2016. The COD from 2012 to 2016 was 14, 16.6, 18.7, 22.5, and 22.8 ppm, respectively. Meanwhile, the BOD from the same observation years was 6, 7.2, 8.9, 9.3, and 10.3 ppm, respectively.

  20. Effects of Land Use Change on Sediment and Water Yields in Yang Ming Shan National Park, Taiwan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas C. C. Huang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT is a watershed-based, semi-distributed hydrologic model for simulating hydrological processes at different spatial scales. The SWAT hydrology and erosion/sediment components are first validated after the hydrologic components calibration. The SWAT model also utilizes geographic information system (GIS and digital elevation model (DEM to delineate watersheds and extract the stream network. This study applies SWAT model to assess the impacts of land use change on soil and water losses from Yang Ming Shan National Park Watershed in northern Taiwan. Although the government has formulated regulations to limit the development, however, intense human activities, such as farming and building construction, still continue to exist. This study utilized two land-use data periods, one in 1996 and another in 2007, along with the SWAT model to simulate soil and water losses in Yang Ming Shan National Park. Based on the baseline scenario, the SWAT model was also successful in simulating the future scenario. Study results for scenario 2007, as compared to 1996 baseline period indicate that land use change shows forest land decreases about 6.9%, agricultural land increases about 9.5%, and causes sediment yield increase of 0.25 t/ha. Human activities deserve more attention when assessing soil and water losses because of their inevitable impacts. Government needs to modify land development policies and plans for land use change detection using satellite imagery to avoid illegal development activities.

  1. Erasing no-man's land by thermodynamically stabilizing the liquid-liquid transition in tetrahedral particles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smallenburg, Frank; Filion, Laura|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/326823484; Sciortino, Francesco

    2014-01-01

    One of the most controversial hypotheses for explaining the origin of the thermodynamic anomalies characterizing liquid water postulates the presence of a metastable second-order liquid-liquid critical point located in the 'no-man's land'. In this scenario, two liquids with distinct local structure

  2. Port Cities and Urban Waterfronts : How Localized Planning Ignores Water as Connector

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hein, C.M.

    2016-01-01

    People have redesigned coastlines, creating ports, shaping waterfronts, and building cities to connect water and land. Specialists from many disciplines have explored the function and design of the water–land transition over many centuries. Among them is planning, a discipline that engages both with

  3. Environmental Land Management in Tajikistan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makhmudov, Zafar; Ergashev, Murod

    2015-04-01

    Tackling Environmental Land Management in Tajikistan "Project approach" Khayrullo Ibodzoda, Zafar Mahmoudov, Murod Ergashev, Kamoliddin Abdulloev Among 28 countries in Europe and Central Asia, Tajikistan is estimated to be the most vulnerable to the climate change impacts depending on its high exposure and sensitivity combined with a very low adaptive capacity. The agricultural sector of Tajikistan is subject to lower and more erratic rainfalls, as well as dryness of water resources due to the possible temperature rising in the region, high evaporation, reducing the accumulation of snow in the mountain glaciers and increased frequency of extreme events. Climate change and variability are likely to pose certain risks, especially for those who prefer natural agriculture or pasture management that just reinforces the need for sound, adapted to new climatic conditions and improved principles of land management. Adoption of new strategies and best practices on sustainable land and water management for agricultural ecosystems will help the farmers and communities in addressing the abovementioned problems, adapt and become more resilient to changing climate by increasing wellbeing of local population, and contributing to food security and restoring productive natural resources. The Environmental Land Management and Rural Livelihoods Project is being financed by the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) and Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Project goal is to enable the rural population to increase their productive assets by improving management of natural resources and building resilience to climate change in selected climate vulnerable sites. The project will facilitate introduction of innovative measures on land use and agricultural production by providing small grants at the village level and grants for the Pasture User Groups (PUGs) at jamoat level in order to implement joint plans of pasture management and wellbred livestock, also for the Water User

  4. Solar Powered Automated Pipe Water Management System, Water Footprint and Carbon Footprint in Soybean Production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satyanto, K. S.; Abang, Z. E.; Arif, C.; Yanuar, J. P. M.

    2018-05-01

    An automatic water management system for agriculture land was developed based on mini PC as controller to manage irrigation and drainage. The system was integrated with perforated pipe network installed below the soil surface to enable water flow in and out through the network, and so water table of the land can be set at a certain level. The system was operated by using solar power electricity supply to power up water level and soil moisture sensors, Raspberry Pi controller and motorized valve actuator. This study aims to implement the system in controlling water level at a soybean production land, and further to observe water footprint and carbon footprint contribution of the soybean production process with application of the automated system. The water level of the field can be controlled around 19 cm from the base. Crop water requirement was calculated using Penman-Monteith approach, with the productivity of soybean 3.57t/ha, total water footprint in soybean production is 872.01 m3/t. Carbon footprint was calculated due to the use of solar power electric supply system and during the soybean production emission was estimated equal to 1.85 kg of CO2.

  5. Preventing and controlling land subsidence in Shanghai -towards more integrated and effective land use and ground water governance in the Yangtze Delta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Liping

    2016-04-01

    The Yangtze Delta, covers 210,700 square kilometers and with 156 million inhabitants (NRDC, 2010; The National Bureau of Statistics, 2011), is one of the areas most severely affected by land subsidence in China. Up to 2012, the area with cumulative subsidence above 200 mm in Yangtze Delta has been closed to 10,000 square kilometers. Shanghai, located at the estuary of the Yangtze River and with a population of 23 million, is the most densely populated city in Yangtze Delta (The National Bureau of Statistics, 2011). Since 1921, the recorded cumulative subsidence has been 200 to 300 mm in the central area of the city (Chai, Shen, Zhu, & Zhang, 2005). Excessive pumping of groundwater is considered to be the leading reason, accounts for nearly 70%, of the city's land subsidence, the weight of skyscrapers and global warming also play hefty roles (30%) (Springer, 2012). Research has shown that the main method to control land subsidence in Shanghai is to prevent groundwater from dropping (Chai, Shen, Zhu, & Zhang, 2005), the city has made great efforts in this regard since 1965 (the beginning of the so-called "control period"), for example, it has been recharging underground water through 121 wells with more than 60,000 tons every day since 2012 (Chinadaily, 2012). It is a huge burden considering the city has been suffering from a shortage of fresh water. In 2013, with the other two provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in Yangtze Delta, Shanghai signed a delta cooperation agreement on the prevention and control of land subsidence and jointly issued a Prevention and Control Planning on Land Subsidence in Yangtze Delta (2014-2020), which aims to establish a long-effect mechanism in the delta scope. This research aims to analyze and assess the land and groundwater governance arrangements related to land subsidence in the Yangtze Delta in general and Shanghai in specific, in order to develop optimizing adaptation strategies and associated governance arrangements. It examines the

  6. Modelling the impact of rural land use scenarios on water management: a FREEWAT approach to the Bakumivka catchment case study, Ukraine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mykhailo Grodzynskyi

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The Bakumivka River’s catchment, Ukraine serves as a case study to the application of FREEWAT to the ground and surface water management. The main objective of the study is to find out the optimal spatial distribution of the water supplied to the farms by modifying the land cover pattern of the catchment. An integrated numerical model was developed to provide quantitative estimates of the water budget components. The model includes four model layers, representing the main hydrostratigraphic units, different types of boundary conditions assigned along the area’s boundaries, major components of the water balance introduced through source and sink layers. It was implemented through the FREEWAT software. Three water management scenarios were developed in order to compare different spatial patterns of land cover and distribution of water within the Bakumivka River’s basin. The scenarios represent continuum from market oriented pattern to environmentally sounding pattern of land cover. The objective of the modeling exercise is to obtain mass balances and maps representing three scenarios of water management. Each map shows distribution of the areas where the water balance is optimal, insufficient (dry or excessive (wet for vegetation (land cover of particular type.The simulation shows that changing spatial land cover pattern is an effective measure to reduce water supply to the farms, however it does not prevent water logging in the areas adjacent to the flood plains and drying on summer stress periods in lands of sandyloam soils. Irrigation should be excluded in the areas with sandy and sandyloam soils. The flood plain with peat bogs despite the high water head in spring and late summer stress periods should be irrigated to prevent peat fires. The intrusion of eco-corridors to the land cover pattern in the catchment is positive from ecological perspective, but could prevent drainage causing water logging in the arable lands.

  7. Studies of Physcomitrella patens reveal that ethylene-mediated submergence responses arose relatively early in land-plant evolution

    KAUST Repository

    Yasumura, Yuki

    2012-10-18

    Colonization of the land by multicellular green plants was a fundamental step in the evolution of life on earth. Land plants evolved from fresh-water aquatic algae, and the transition to a terrestrial environment required the acquisition of developmental plasticity appropriate to the conditions of water availability, ranging from drought to flood. Here we show that extant bryophytes exhibit submergence-induced developmental plasticity, suggesting that submergence responses evolved relatively early in the evolution of land plants. We also show that a major component of the bryophyte submergence response is controlled by the phytohormone ethylene, using a perception mechanism that has subsequently been conserved throughout the evolution of land plants. Thus a plant environmental response mechanism with major ecological and agricultural importance probably had its origins in the very earliest stages of the colonization of the land. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  8. Improving Agricultural Water Use Efficiency: A Quantitative Study of Zhangye City Using the Static CGE Model with a CES Water−Land Resources Account

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Liu

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Water resources play a vital role in human life and agriculture irrigation, especially for agriculture-dominant developing countries and regions. Improving agricultural water use efficiency has consequently become a key strategic choice. This study, based on Zhangye City’s economic characteristics and data, applies a static Computable General Equilibrium (CGE model with a constant elasticity of substitution (CES composited water−land resources account to assess the impact of improving agricultural water use efficiency on economy, water conservation and land reallocation. Results reveal that: Zhangye City’s GDP increases by 0.10% owing to an increasing average technical level by improving agricultural water use efficiency; total water consumption decreases by 122 million m3, 69% of which comes from a reduction of surface water use; and land demand increases by 257.43 hectares mainly due to agricultural land demands. With respect to the sectors’ output, export-oriented sectors with higher water intensities in the agricultural sectors benefit most. In contrast, land-intensive sectors contract the most, as the rental price of land rises. Therefore, agricultural water conservation technology should be introduced considering more in surface water. Furthermore, higher demand for agricultural land would reduce land availability for other sectors, thus inhibiting urbanization pace on a small scale.

  9. Assessing the impacts of combined climate and land use changes for water availability and demands in a Mediterranean watershed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacinto, Rita; Nunes, João Pedro; Santos, Juliana

    2014-05-01

    Mediterranean basins experience water scarcity issues due to the dry climate associated with the need for agricultural irrigation and recurrent severe drought episodes. Recent land use changes have increased the pressure over water resources due to an expansion of irrigation. Global climate change is expected to bring forth a drier climate, which may simultaneously lead to higher irrigation demands and less water to sustain them, which would be a great management challenge. The issues surrounding climate and associated land use changes were addressed for the Xarrama basin in southern Portugal. This is a region where there is already a large amount of irrigation, mostly consisting of corn and rice fields, but recent trends point to an increase of drip-irrigation in olives and vineyards. The water management strategies for this region assume water transfers from the larger Alqueva reservoir, without taking into account the impacts of these future changes which might introduce additional evapotranspiration losses while decreasing the amount of available water both in Xarrama and Alqueva. Future climate and land-use scenarios were downscaled to the basin level, the latter taking into account local land-use change trends in recent decades. Downscaling based on local tendencies allowed detailed land use changes for agriculture and forest (the main land uses for this region), i.e. the most likely types of crops and trees to be introduced or replaced. The results of local tendencies scenarios reflect the SRES tendencies for Europe, namely agricultural abandonment and increased biofuel production, with species adapted to this climatic region. These scenarios are the first for this region with highly detailed information about land use change scenarios under climate change. The SWAT eco-hydrological model is being applied to quantify the individual impact of climate and land-use change scenarios on both water availability and demands, and the synergies between both. This

  10. Water balance versus land surface model in the simulation of Rhine river discharges

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hurkmans, R.T.W.L.; Moel, de H.; Aerts, J.C.J.H.; Troch, P.A.

    2008-01-01

    Accurate streamflow simulations in large river basins are crucial to predict timing and magnitude of floods and droughts and to assess the hydrological impacts of climate change. Water balance models have been used frequently for these purposes. Compared to water balance models, however, land

  11. Modeling land use change impacts on water resources in a tropical West African catchment (Dano, Burkina Faso)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yira, Y.; Diekkrüger, B.; Steup, G.; Bossa, A. Y.

    2016-06-01

    This study investigates the impacts of land use change on water resources in the Dano catchment, Burkina Faso, using a physically based hydrological simulation model and land use scenarios. Land use dynamic in the catchment was assessed through the analysis of four land use maps corresponding to the land use status in 1990, 2000, 2007, and 2013. A reclassification procedure levels out differences between the classification schemes of the four maps. The land use maps were used to build five land use scenarios corresponding to different levels of land use change in the catchment. Water balance was simulated by applying the Water flow and balance Simulation Model (WaSiM) using observed discharge, soil moisture, and groundwater level for model calibration and validation. Model statistical quality measures (R2, NSE and KGE) achieved during calibration and validation ranged between 0.6 and 0.9 for total discharge, soil moisture, and groundwater level, indicating a good agreement between observed and simulated variables. After a successful multivariate validation the model was applied to the land use scenarios. The land use assessment exhibited a decrease of savannah at an annual rate of 2% since 1990. Conversely, cropland and urban areas have increased. Since urban areas occupy only 3% of the catchment it can be assumed that savannah was mainly converted to cropland. The conversion rate of savannah was lower than the annual population growth of 3%. A clear increase in total discharge (+17%) and decrease in evapotranspiration (-5%) was observed following land use change in the catchment. A strong relationship was established between savannah degradation, cropland expansion, discharge increase and reduction of evapotranspiration. The increase in total discharge is related to high peak flow, suggesting (i) an increase in water resources that are not available for plant growth and human consumption and (ii) an alteration of flood risk for both the population within and

  12. Hydrologic parameters and land use reflection on water quality at Mun river, Thailand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akter, A.; Babel, M.S.

    2005-01-01

    The 'River Basin' is the land area surrounding one river from its headwaters to its mouth whereas the area drained by a river and its tributaries. So that the land use changes and excessive application of nutrients (Nitrogen and Phosphorus) in predominant agricultural river basins may have a great influence on water quality. Here the study area Mun River Basin is approximately of 69,701 km/sup 2/ and in 1994, out of the total basin area 'about 80 percent was covered by agricultural purposes. Also one of the driest parts of Thailand as well as one of the industrialized provinces in Thailand, Nakhon Ratchasima is situated at the upstream of the river. Accordingly the downstream part Ubon Ratchathani seems totally agricultural based area. To get the water quality changing trends due to land use, there are around forty water quality parameters has considered for the last ten years along with the basins hydrological parameters. For this study based on the fifteen years rainfall data, the whole year divided into two seasons namely wet season (May to October) and dry season (November to April). The result shows: (1) most of the physicochemical parameters are high in wet season; (2) heavy metals moreover appear higher at wet season and (3) although the presences of pesticides are very nominal, the higher values are detected at wet season. The conclusion draws for the water quality by having wet season water sampling and then the testing of water samples for selected seven parameters whereas the water samples are collected at a duration of one-week to three-week from April to October 2004. And this short duration analysis shows that the mean value of the nutrient shows not only higher at wet season (May to October) than April's data also exceed the existing Thailand's surface water quality standard. (author)

  13. Connecting Satellite Observations with Water Cycle Variables Through Land Data Assimilation: Examples Using the NASA GEOS-5 LDAS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichle, Rolf H.; De Lannoy, Gabrielle J. M.; Forman, Barton A.; Draper, Clara S.; Liu, Qing

    2013-01-01

    A land data assimilation system (LDAS) can merge satellite observations (or retrievals) of land surface hydrological conditions, including soil moisture, snow, and terrestrial water storage (TWS), into a numerical model of land surface processes. In theory, the output from such a system is superior to estimates based on the observations or the model alone, thereby enhancing our ability to understand, monitor, and predict key elements of the terrestrial water cycle. In practice, however, satellite observations do not correspond directly to the water cycle variables of interest. The present paper addresses various aspects of this seeming mismatch using examples drawn from recent research with the ensemble-based NASA GEOS-5 LDAS. These aspects include (1) the assimilation of coarse-scale observations into higher-resolution land surface models, (2) the partitioning of satellite observations (such as TWS retrievals) into their constituent water cycle components, (3) the forward modeling of microwave brightness temperatures over land for radiance-based soil moisture and snow assimilation, and (4) the selection of the most relevant types of observations for the analysis of a specific water cycle variable that is not observed (such as root zone soil moisture). The solution to these challenges involves the careful construction of an observation operator that maps from the land surface model variables of interest to the space of the assimilated observations.

  14. Geopolitical drivers of foreign investment in African land and water resources

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sebastian, A.; Warner, J.F.

    2013-01-01

    Resource grabs, particularly land and water, can be a proxy for geopolitical influence. As such, ‘grabs’ become intertwined in international power relations and the competing collective goals and state priorities of economic development, poverty elimination, ecosystem management, energy,

  15. Spatiotemporal Analysis of Heavy Metal Water Pollution in Transitional China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huixuan Li

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available China’s socioeconomic transitions have dramatically accelerated its economic growth in last three decades, but also companioned with continuous environmental degradation. This study will advance the knowledge of heavy metal water pollution in China from a spatial–temporal perspective. Specifically, this study addressed the following: (1 spatial patterns of heavy metal water pollution levels were analyzed using data of prefecture-level cities from 2004 to 2011; and (2 spatial statistical methods were used to examine the underlying socioeconomic and physical factors behind water pollution including socioeconomic transitions (industrialization, urbanization, globalization and economic development, and environmental characteristic (natural resources, hydrology and vegetation coverage. The results show that only Cr pollution levels increased over the years. The individual pollution levels of the other four heavy metals, As, Cd, Hg, and Pb, declined. High heavy metal water pollution levels are closely associated with both anthropogenic activities and physical environments, in particular abundant mineral resources and industrialization prosperity. On the other hand, economic development and urbanization play important roles in controlling water pollution problems. The analytical findings will provide valuable information for policy-makers to initiate and adjust protocols and strategies for protecting water sources and controlling water pollution; thus improving the quality of living environments.

  16. Erasing no-man’s land by thermodynamically stabilizing the liquid-liquid transition in tetrahedral particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smallenburg, Frank; Filion, Laura; Sciortino, Francesco

    2014-09-01

    One of the most controversial hypotheses for explaining the origin of the thermodynamic anomalies characterizing liquid water postulates the presence of a metastable second-order liquid-liquid critical point located in the `no-man’s land’. In this scenario, two liquids with distinct local structure emerge near the critical temperature. Unfortunately, as spontaneous crystallization is rapid in this region, experimental support for this hypothesis relies on significant extrapolations, either from the metastable liquid or from amorphous solid water. Although the liquid-liquid transition is expected to feature in many tetrahedrally coordinated liquids, including silicon, carbon and silica, even numerical studies of atomic and molecular models have been unable to conclusively prove the existence of this transition. Here we provide such evidence for a model in which it is possible to continuously tune the softness of the interparticle interaction and the flexibility of the bonds, the key ingredients controlling the existence of the critical point. We show that conditions exist where the full coexistence is thermodynamically stable with respect to crystallization. Our work offers a basis for designing colloidal analogues of water exhibiting liquid-liquid transitions in equilibrium, opening the way for experimental confirmation of the original hypothesis.

  17. Quantifying the role of National Forest system lands in providing surface drinking water supply for the Southern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter Caldwell; Corinne Muldoon; Chelcy Ford-Miniat; Erika Cohen; Suzanne Krieger; Ge Sun; Steven McNulty; Paul V. Bolstad

    2014-01-01

    Forests and water are inextricably linked, and people are dependent on forested lands to provide clean, reliable water supplies for drinking and to support local economies. These water supplies are at risk of degradation from a growing population, continued conversion of forests to other land uses, and climate change. Given the variety of threats to surface water, it...

  18. Ground Reaction Force and Cadence during Stationary Running Sprint in Water and on Land.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fontana, H de Brito; Ruschel, C; Haupenthal, A; Hubert, M; Roesler, H

    2015-06-01

    This study was aimed at analyzing the cadence (Cadmax) and the peak vertical ground reaction force (Fymax) during stationary running sprint on dry land and at hip and chest level of water immersion. We hypothesized that both Fymax and Cadmax depend on the level of immersion and that differences in Cadmax between immersions do not affect Fymax during stationary sprint. 32 subjects performed the exercise at maximum cadence at each immersion level and data were collected with force plates. The results show that Cadmax and Fymax decrease 17 and 58% from dry land to chest immersion respectively, with no effect of cadence on Fymax. While previous studies have shown similar neuromuscular responses between aquatic and on land stationary sprint, our results emphasize the differences in Fymax between environments and levels of immersion. Additionally, the characteristics of this exercise permit maximum movement speed in water to be close to the maximum speed on dry land. The valuable combination of reduced risk of orthopedic trauma with similar neuromuscular responses is provided by the stationary sprint exercise in water. The results of this study support the rationale behind the prescription of stationary sprinting in sports training sessions as well as rehabilitation programs. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  19. Forests, Water and People: Drinking water supply and forest lands in the Northeast and Midwest United States, June 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martina Barnes; Albert Todd; Rebecca Whitney Lilja; Paul Barten

    2009-01-01

    Forests are critically important to the supply of clean drinking water in the Northeast and Midwest portion of the United States. In this part of the country more than 52 million people depend on surface water supplies that are protected in large part by forested lands. The public is generally unaware of the threats to their water supplies or the connection between...

  20. [Simulation for balanced effect of soil and water resources on cultivated land in Naoli River Basin, Northeast China under the RCPs climate scene].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Hao; Lei, Guo Ping; Yang, Xue Xin; Zhao, Yu Hui; Zhang, Ji Xin

    2018-04-01

    Under the scenarios of climate change, balancing the land and water resources is one of the key problems needed to be solved in land development. To reveal the water dynamics of the cultivated land in Naoli River Basin, we simulated the future scenarios by using the future land use simulation model based on Landsat Satellite images, the DEM data and the meteorological data. Results showed that the growth rate of cultivated land gradually decreased. It showed different changing characteristics in different time periods, which led to different balancing effect between land and water resources. In 1990, the water dynamics of the cultivated land resources was in good state, At the same time, the adjustment of crops structure caused the paddy fields increased dramatically. During 2002 to 2014, the cultivated land that in moderate and serious moisture shortage state increased slightly, the water deficit was deteriorating to a certain degree, and maintained sound development of water profit and loss situation gradually. By comparing the simulation accuracy with different spatial resolutions and time scales, we selected 200 m as the spatial resolution of the simulation, and simulated the land use status in 2038. The simulation results showed that the cultivated land's water profit and loss degree in the river basin showed significant polarization characteristic, in that the water profit and loss degree of the cultivated land would be further intensified, the area with the higher grades of moisture profit and loss degree would distribute more centralized, and partially high evaluated grades for the moisture shortage would expand. It is needed to develop the cultivated land irrigation schemes and adjust the cultivated land in Naoli River Basin to balance soil and water resources.

  1. Influences of the land use pattern on water quality in low-order streams of the Dongjiang River basin, China: A multi-scale analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Jiao; Jiang, Yuan; Liu, Qi; Hou, Zhaojiang; Liao, Jianyu; Fu, Lan; Peng, Qiuzhi

    2016-05-01

    Understanding the relationships between land use patterns and water quality in low-order streams is useful for effective landscape planning to protect downstream water quality. A clear understanding of these relationships remains elusive due to the heterogeneity of land use patterns and scale effects. To better assess land use influences, we developed empirical models relating land use patterns to the water quality of low-order streams at different geomorphic regions across multi-scales in the Dongjiang River basin using multivariate statistical analyses. The land use pattern was quantified in terms of the composition, configuration and hydrological distance of land use types at the reach buffer, riparian corridor and catchment scales. Water was sampled under summer base flow at 56 low-order catchments, which were classified into two homogenous geomorphic groups. The results indicated that the water quality of low-order streams was most strongly affected by the configuration metrics of land use. Poorer water quality was associated with higher patch densities of cropland, orchards and grassland in the mountain catchments, whereas it was associated with a higher value for the largest patch index of urban land use in the plain catchments. The overall water quality variation was explained better by catchment scale than by riparian- or reach-scale land use, whereas the spatial scale over which land use influenced water quality also varied across specific water parameters and the geomorphic basis. Our study suggests that watershed management should adopt better landscape planning and multi-scale measures to improve water quality. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Interferograms showing land subsidence and uplift in Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, 1992-99

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavelko, Michael T.; Hoffmann, Jörn; Damar, Nancy A.

    2006-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources-Division of Water Resources and the Las Vegas Valley Water District, compiled 44 individual interferograms and 1 stacked interferogram comprising 29 satellite synthetic aperture radar acquisitions of Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, from 1992 to 1999. The interferograms, which depict short-term, seasonal, and long-term trends in land subsidence and uplift, are viewable with an interactive map. The interferograms show that land subsidence and uplift generally occur in localized areas, are responsive to ground-water pumpage and artificial recharge, and, in part, are fault controlled. Information from these interferograms can be used by water and land managers to mitigate land subsidence and associated damage. Land subsidence attributed to ground-water pumpage has been documented in Las Vegas Valley since the 1940s. Damage to roads, buildings, and other engineered structures has been associated with this land subsidence. Land uplift attributed to artificial recharge and reduced pumping has been documented since the 1990s. Measuring these land-surface changes with traditional benchmark and Global Positioning System surveys can be costly and time consuming, and results typically are spatially and temporally sparse. Interferograms are relatively inexpensive and provide temporal and spatial resolutions previously not achievable. The interferograms are viewable with an interactive map. Landsat images from 1993 and 2000 are viewable for frames of reference to locate areas of interest and help determine land use. A stacked interferogram for 1992-99 is viewable to visualize the cumulative vertical displacement for the period represented by the individual interferograms. The interactive map enables users to identify and estimate the magnitude of vertical displacement, visually analyze deformation trends, and view interferograms and Landsat images side by side. The

  3. Assessment of land use and land cover change in Tecolutla River Basin, Veracruz, Mexico; during the period 1994-2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Karen Osuna-Osuna

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Studies related to changes in vegetation and land use cover have gained importance in environmental research, as they allow for the assessment of time-space trends in deforestation and environmental degradation processes, especially as caused by human activity. In this context, the main goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of human activity in the basin of the Tecolutla River, in Veracruz, Mexico during a 16-year period. Landsat satellite images were used for the years 1994 and 2010, distinguishing nine land use coverage classes: rainforest, forest, agricultural land, water, disturbed vegetation, urban settlements, grasslands, citrus crops and shrubs. Thematic maps were validated, yielding overall accuracies greater than 92% and Kappa coefficients of 0.89 and 0.91 for the 1994 and 2010 classifications, respectively. Analysis of the transition matrix revealed a trend of increasing areas related to human activity (agriculture and urban use showing percentage changes of 28% and 67% within 16 years, respectively. Consequently, a decrease (-1.1% per year in areas with natural cover, specifically forest and jungle, was observed. Similar findings were reported in works done at national and state levels, where the transition of natural cover by the increasing of anthropogenic activities has been proven. The results of this study are useful for future environmental development planning, land management planning and planning strategies for the conservation of the natural resources in the basin.

  4. Impacts of Land Use on Surface Water Quality in a Subtropical River Basin: A Case Study of the Dongjiang River Basin, Southeastern China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiao Ding

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Understanding the relationship between land use and surface water quality is necessary for effective water management. We estimated the impacts of catchment-wide land use on water quality during the dry and rainy seasons in the Dongjiang River basin, using remote sensing, geographic information systems and multivariate statistical techniques. The results showed that the 83 sites can be divided into three groups representing different land use types: forest, agriculture and urban. Water quality parameters exhibited significant variations between the urban-dominated and forest-dominated sites. The proportion of forested land was positively associated with dissolved oxygen concentration but negatively associated with water temperature, electrical conductivity, permanganate index, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and chlorophyll-a. The proportion of urban land was strongly positively associated with total nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen concentrations. Forested and urban land use had stronger impacts on water quality in the dry season than in the rainy season. However, agricultural land use did not have a significant impact on water quality. Our study indicates that urban land use was the key factor affecting water quality change, and limiting point-source waste discharge in urban areas during the dry season would be critical for improving water quality in the study area.

  5. High-resolution Land Cover Datasets, Composite Curve Numbers, and Storm Water Retention in the Tampa Bay, FL region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Policy makers need to understand how land cover change alters storm water regimes, yet existing methods do not fully utilize newly available datasets to quantify storm water changes at a landscape-scale. Here, we use high-resolution, remotely-sensed land cover, imperviousness, an...

  6. Impacts of land use and population density on seasonal surface water quality using a modified geographically weighted regression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Qiang; Mei, Kun; Dahlgren, Randy A; Wang, Ting; Gong, Jian; Zhang, Minghua

    2016-12-01

    As an important regulator of pollutants in overland flow and interflow, land use has become an essential research component for determining the relationships between surface water quality and pollution sources. This study investigated the use of ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models to identify the impact of land use and population density on surface water quality in the Wen-Rui Tang River watershed of eastern China. A manual variable excluding-selecting method was explored to resolve multicollinearity issues. Standard regression coefficient analysis coupled with cluster analysis was introduced to determine which variable had the greatest influence on water quality. Results showed that: (1) Impact of land use on water quality varied with spatial and seasonal scales. Both positive and negative effects for certain land-use indicators were found in different subcatchments. (2) Urban land was the dominant factor influencing N, P and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in highly urbanized regions, but the relationship was weak as the pollutants were mainly from point sources. Agricultural land was the primary factor influencing N and P in suburban and rural areas; the relationship was strong as the pollutants were mainly from agricultural surface runoff. Subcatchments located in suburban areas were identified with urban land as the primary influencing factor during the wet season while agricultural land was identified as a more prevalent influencing factor during the dry season. (3) Adjusted R 2 values in OLS models using the manual variable excluding-selecting method averaged 14.3% higher than using stepwise multiple linear regressions. However, the corresponding GWR models had adjusted R 2 ~59.2% higher than the optimal OLS models, confirming that GWR models demonstrated better prediction accuracy. Based on our findings, water resource protection policies should consider site-specific land-use conditions within each watershed to

  7. Ptaquiloside in Irish Bracken Ferns and Receiving Waters, with Implications for Land Managers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Connie O’Driscoll

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Ptaquiloside, along with other natural phytotoxins, is receiving increased attention from scientists and land use managers. There is an urgent need to increase empirical evidence to understand the scale of phytotoxin mobilisation and potential to enter into the environment. In this study the risk of ptaquiloside to drinking water was assessed by quantifying ptaquiloside in the receiving waters at three drinking water abstraction sites across Ireland and in bracken fronds surrounding the abstraction sites. We also investigated the impact of different management regimes (spraying, cutting and rolling on ptaquiloside concentrations at plot-scale in six locations in Northern Ireland, UK. Ptaquiloside concentrations were determined using recent advances in the use of LC-MS for the detection and quantification of ptaquiloside. The results indicate that ptaquiloside is present in bracken stands surrounding drinking water abstractions in Ireland, and ptaquiloside concentrations were also observed in the receiving waters. Furthermore, spraying was found to be the most effective bracken management regime observed in terms of reducing ptaquiloside load. Increased awareness is vital on the implications of managing land with extensive bracken stands.

  8. Ptaquiloside in Irish Bracken Ferns and Receiving Waters, with Implications for Land Managers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Driscoll, Connie; Ramwell, Carmel; Harhen, Brendan; Morrison, Liam; Clauson-Kaas, Frederik; Hansen, Hans Christian B; Campbell, Graeme; Sheahan, Jerome; Misstear, Bruce; Xiao, Liwen

    2016-04-26

    Ptaquiloside, along with other natural phytotoxins, is receiving increased attention from scientists and land use managers. There is an urgent need to increase empirical evidence to understand the scale of phytotoxin mobilisation and potential to enter into the environment. In this study the risk of ptaquiloside to drinking water was assessed by quantifying ptaquiloside in the receiving waters at three drinking water abstraction sites across Ireland and in bracken fronds surrounding the abstraction sites. We also investigated the impact of different management regimes (spraying, cutting and rolling) on ptaquiloside concentrations at plot-scale in six locations in Northern Ireland, UK. Ptaquiloside concentrations were determined using recent advances in the use of LC-MS for the detection and quantification of ptaquiloside. The results indicate that ptaquiloside is present in bracken stands surrounding drinking water abstractions in Ireland, and ptaquiloside concentrations were also observed in the receiving waters. Furthermore, spraying was found to be the most effective bracken management regime observed in terms of reducing ptaquiloside load. Increased awareness is vital on the implications of managing land with extensive bracken stands.

  9. Water conservation and hydrological transitions in cities in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hornberger, George M.; Hess, David J.; Gilligan, Jonathan

    2015-06-01

    Cities across the world have had to diversify and expand their water supply systems in response to demand growth, groundwater depletion and pollution, and instability and inadequacy of regional surface freshwater sources. In the U.S., these problems plague not only the arid Western cities but increasingly also cities in the Eastern portions of the country. Although cities continue to seek out new sources of water via Promethean projects of long-distance supply systems, desalinization plants, and the recharge of aquifers with surface water, they also pursue water conservation because of its low cost and other benefits. We examine water conservation as a complex sociotechnical system comprising interactions of political, sociodemographic, economic, and hydroclimatological factors. We provide quantitative data on the factors that affect more and less advanced transitions in water conservation regimes, and we show that water stress and other hydrological data can only partially predict the transition. We also provide qualitative case studies to identify institutional and political barriers to more advanced water conservation regimes. This interdisciplinary, mixed methods approach typifies the need for knowledge that informs hydrologists about how their research may or may not be adopted by decision-makers.

  10. Effects of local land-use on riparian vegetation, water quality, and the functional organization of macroinvertebrate assemblages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fierro, Pablo; Bertrán, Carlos; Tapia, Jaime; Hauenstein, Enrique; Peña-Cortés, Fernando; Vergara, Carolina; Cerna, Cindy; Vargas-Chacoff, Luis

    2017-12-31

    Land-use change is a principal factor affecting riparian vegetation and river biodiversity. In Chile, land-use change has drastically intensified over the last decade, with native forests converted to exotic forest plantations and agricultural land. However, the effects thereof on aquatic ecosystems are not well understood. Closing this knowledge gap first requires understanding how human perturbations affect riparian and stream biota. Identified biological indicators could then be applied to determine the health of fluvial ecosystems. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of land-use change on the health of riparian and aquatic ecosystems by assessing riparian vegetation, water quality, benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages, and functional feeding groups. Twenty-one sites in catchment areas with different land-uses (i.e. pristine forests, native forests, exotic forest plantations, and agricultural land) were selected and sampled during the 2010 to 2012 dry seasons. Riparian vegetation quality was highest in pristine forests. Per the modified Macroinvertebrate Family Biotic Index for Chilean species, the best conditions existed in native forests and the worst in agricultural catchments. Water quality and macroinvertebrate assemblages significantly varied across land-use areas, with forest plantations and agricultural land having high nutrient concentrations, conductivity, suspended solids, and apparent color. Macroinvertebrate assemblage diversity was lowest for agricultural and exotic forest plantation catchments, with notable non-insect representation. Collector-gatherers were the most abundant functional feeding group, suggesting importance independent of land-use. Land-use areas showed no significant differences in functional feeding groups. In conclusion, anthropogenic land-use changes were detectable through riparian quality, water quality, and macroinvertebrate assemblages, but not through functional feeding groups. These data, particularly the

  11. The impact of land use and land cover changes on solute dynamics in seepage water of soil from karst hillslopes of Southwest China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ding Hu; Lang Yunchao; Liu Congqiang

    2011-01-01

    Land use and land cover changes can cause variations in terrestrial energy, water balance and availability of nutrients. To understand the role of vegetation in regulating the hydrochemistry of karst hillslopes, overland flow and soil seepage water from two hillslopes covered with and without vegetation were studied in the Huanjiang Observation and Research Station for Karst Ecosystems, Guangxi, SW China. Dissolved major ions, as well as isotopic compositions of dissolved inorganic C (DIC) were examined. Water from the vegetated control slope had higher solute concentrations (except NO 3 - ) and lower δ 13 C values than water from the disturbed slope. The dynamics of K + and NO 3 - in soil water sampled in time-sequence from the control slope was different from the disturbed slope. Specifically, K + and NO 3 - concentrations of the control slope decreased gradually over time, while K + and NO 3 - concentrations of the disturbed slope increased, and other ionic concentrations increased in both of the slopes.

  12. Potential interactions among disease, pesticides, water quality and adjacent land cover in amphibian habitats in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battaglin, W A; Smalling, K L; Anderson, C; Calhoun, D; Chestnut, T; Muths, E

    2016-10-01

    To investigate interactions among disease, pesticides, water quality, and adjacent land cover, we collected samples of water, sediment, and frog tissue from 21 sites in 7 States in the United States (US) representing a variety of amphibian habitats. All samples were analyzed for >90 pesticides and pesticide degradates, and water and frogs were screened for the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) using molecular methods. Pesticides and pesticide degradates were detected frequently in frog breeding habitats (water and sediment) as well as in frog tissue. Fungicides occurred more frequently in water, sediment, and tissue than was expected based upon their limited use relative to herbicides or insecticides. Pesticide occurrence in water or sediment was not a strong predictor of occurrence in tissue, but pesticide concentrations in tissue were correlated positively to agricultural and urban land, and negatively to forested land in 2-km buffers around the sites. Bd was detected in water at 45% of sites, and on 34% of swabbed frogs. Bd detections in water were not associated with differences in land use around sites, but sites with detections had colder water. Frogs that tested positive for Bd were associated with sites that had higher total fungicide concentrations in water and sediment, but lower insecticide concentrations in sediments relative to frogs that were Bd negative. Bd concentrations on frog swabs were positively correlated to dissolved organic carbon, and total nitrogen and phosphorus, and negatively correlated to pH and water temperature. Data were collected from a range of locations and amphibian habitats and represent some of the first field-collected information aimed at understanding the interactions between pesticides, land use, and amphibian disease. These interactions are of particular interest to conservation efforts as many amphibians live in altered habitats and may depend on wetlands embedded in these landscapes to survive

  13. Potential interactions among disease, pesticides, water quality and adjacent land cover in amphibian habitats in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battaglin, William A.; Smalling, Kelly L.; Anderson, Chauncey; Calhoun, Daniel L.; Chestnut, Tara E.; Muths, Erin L.

    2016-01-01

    To investigate interactions among disease, pesticides, water quality, and adjacent land cover, we collected samples of water, sediment, and frog tissue from 21 sites in 7 States in the United States (US) representing a variety of amphibian habitats. All samples were analyzed for > 90 pesticides and pesticide degradates, and water and frogs were screened for the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) using molecular methods. Pesticides and pesticide degradates were detected frequently in frog breeding habitats (water and sediment) as well as in frog tissue. Fungicides occurred more frequently in water, sediment, and tissue than was expected based upon their limited use relative to herbicides or insecticides. Pesticide occurrence in water or sediment was not a strong predictor of occurrence in tissue, but pesticide concentrations in tissue were correlated positively to agricultural and urban land, and negatively to forested land in 2-km buffers around the sites. Bd was detected in water at 45% of sites, and on 34% of swabbed frogs. Bd detections in water were not associated with differences in land use around sites, but sites with detections had colder water. Frogs that tested positive for Bd were associated with sites that had higher total fungicide concentrations in water and sediment, but lower insecticide concentrations in sediments relative to frogs that were Bd negative. Bd concentrations on frog swabs were positively correlated to dissolved organic carbon, and total nitrogen and phosphorus, and negatively correlated to pH and water temperature.Data were collected from a range of locations and amphibian habitats and represent some of the first field-collected information aimed at understanding the interactions between pesticides, land use, and amphibian disease. These interactions are of particular interest to conservation efforts as many amphibians live in altered habitats and may depend on wetlands embedded in these landscapes to

  14. Utilization of saline water and land: Reclaiming lost resources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naqvi, Mujtaba

    2001-01-01

    There is an abundance of saline water on the globe. Large tracts of land are arid and/or salt-affected, and a large number of plant species are known to be salt-tolerant. It would seem obvious that salt tolerant plants (halophytes) have a role in utilizing the two wasted resources, saline water and wastelands. We will briefly describe how these resources can be fruitfully utilized and how the IAEA has helped several countries to demonstrate the possibility of cultivating salt tolerant plant species on arid saline wastelands for economic and environmental benefit. After some brief introductory remarks we will discuss the results of the project

  15. 78 FR 18562 - Economic and Environmental Principles and Requirements for Water and Related Land Resources...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-27

    ... COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Economic and Environmental Principles and Requirements for Water... ``Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land Resources Implementation... Secretary of the Army to revise the ``Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and...

  16. Insight conference reports : proceedings of the water and land use in Alberta forum : sustainable resource management in a boom economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-01-01

    Alberta's booming oil and gas industry has led to concerns over land and water use in the province. This forum provided a venue for the discussion of issues related to water and land use in Alberta. Various strategies for land use planning were evaluated. Regulatory frameworks for water and land pollution abatement were considered along with strategies for reducing the environmental impacts of oil and gas resource development in the province. The Wildlife, Habitat, and Species at Risk Act was discussed, as well as issues related to Canada's new endangered species laws. Issues concerning water scarcity and stakeholder relations were discussed. Various water management strategies were evaluated. One of the 14 presentations featured at this conference has been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. refs., tabs., figs

  17. Spatial and temporal analysis of land cover changes and water quality in the Lake Issaqueena watershed, South Carolina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilgrim, C M; Mikhailova, E A; Post, C J; Hains, J J

    2014-11-01

    Monitoring changes in land cover and the subsequent environmental responses are essential for water quality assessment, natural resource planning, management, and policies. Over the last 75 years, the Lake Issaqueena watershed has experienced a drastic shift in land use. This study was conducted to examine the changes in land cover and the implied changes in land use that have occurred and their environmental, water quality impacts. Aerial photography of the watershed (1951, 1956, 1968, 1977, 1989, 1999, 2005, 2006, and 2009) was analyzed and classified using the geographic information system (GIS) software. Seven land cover classes were defined: evergreen, deciduous, bare ground, pasture/grassland, cultivated, and residential/other development. Water quality data, including sampling depth, water temperature, dissolved oxygen content, fecal coliform levels, inorganic nitrogen concentrations, and turbidity, were obtained from the South Carolina (SC) Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) for two stations and analyzed for trends as they relate to land cover change. From 1951 to 2009, the watershed experienced an increase of tree cover and bare ground (+17.4 % evergreen, +62.3 % deciduous, +9.8 % bare ground) and a decrease of pasture/grassland and cultivated land (-42.6 % pasture/grassland and -57.1 % cultivated). From 2005 to 2009, there was an increase of 21.5 % in residential/other development. Sampling depth ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 m. Water temperature fluctuated corresponding to changing air temperatures, and dissolved oxygen content fluctuated as a factor of water temperature. Inorganic nitrogen content was higher from December to April possibly due to application of fertilizers prior to the growing season. Turbidity and fecal coliform bacteria levels remained relatively the same from 1962 to 2005, but a slight decline in pH can be observed at both stations. Prior to 1938, the area consisted of single-crop cotton farms; after 1938, the

  18. Monitoring terrestrial dissolved organic carbon export at land-water interfaces using remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Q.; Li, J.; Tian, Y. Q.

    2017-12-01

    Carbon flux from land to oceans and lakes is a crucial component of carbon cycling. However, this lateral carbon flow at land-water interface is often neglected in the terrestrial carbon cycle budget, mainly because observations of the carbon dynamics are very limited. Monitoring CDOM/DOC dynamics using remote sensing and assessing DOC export from land to water remains a challenge. Current CDOM retrieval algorithms in the field of ocean color are not simply applicable to inland aquatic ecosystems since they were developed for coarse resolution ocean-viewing imagery and less complex water types in open-sea. We developed a new semi-analytical algorithm, called SBOP (Shallow water Bio-Optical Properties algorithm) to adapt to shallow inland waters. SBOP was first developed and calibrated based on in situ hyperspectral radiometer data. Then we applied it to the Landsat-8 OLI images and evaluated the effectiveness of the multispectral images on inversion of CDOM absorption based on our field sampling at the Saginaw Bay in the Lake Huron. The algorithm performances (RMSE = 0.17 and R2 = 0.87 in the Saginaw Bay; R2 = 0.80 in the northeastern US lakes) is promising and we conclude the CDOM absorption can be derived from Landsat-8 OLI image in both optically deep and optically shallow waters with high accuracy. Our method addressed challenges on employing appropriate atmospheric correction, determining bottom reflectance influence for shallow waters, and improving for bio-optical properties retrieval, as well as adapting to both hyperspectral and the multispectral remote sensing imagery. Over 100 Landsat-8 images in Lake Huron, northeastern US lakes, and the Arctic major rivers were processed to understand the CDOM spatio-temporal dynamics and its associated driving factors.

  19. Contamination of Community Potable Water from Land Grabbing: A Case Study from Rural Tanzania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serena Arduino

    2012-06-01

    The paper discusses the direct causes of water contamination (the use of fertilisers and pesticides and the presence of cattle and the indirect causes (unclear administrative boundaries, lack of participation and transparency, procedures not followed and limited resources. The negotiation process and its outcomes are described. From this study we conclude that stakeholder communication and transparency are key elements in anticipating and preventing the arising of such situations. Often, these are in short supply when large land deals occur. In this case, ex-post solutions were arrived at. Finally, the paper looks at the broader dimensions of land deals that pollute the water feeding a water supply scheme. Such situations are a clear violation of the human right to safe drinking water – an issue that has not yet been sufficiently documented in the literature and which merits further attention.

  20. Land management strategies for improving water quality in biomass production under changing climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ha, Miae; Wu, May

    2017-03-01

    The Corn Belt states are the largest corn-production areas in the United States because of their fertile land and ideal climate. This attribute is particularly important as the region also plays a key role in the production of bioenergy feedstock. This study focuses on potential change in streamflow, sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus due to climate change and land management practices in the South Fork Iowa River (SFIR) watershed, Iowa. The watershed is covered primarily with annual crops (corn and soybeans). With cropland conversion to switchgrass, stover harvest, and implementation of best management practices (BMPs) (such as establishing riparian buffers and applying cover crops), significant reductions in nutrients were observed in the SFIR watershed under historical climate and future climate scenarios. Under a historical climate scenario, suspended sediment (SS), total nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) at the outlet point of the SFIR watershed could decrease by up to 56.7%, 32.0%, and 16.5%, respectively, compared with current land use when a portion of the cropland is converted to switchgrass and a cover crop is in place. Climate change could cause increases of 9.7% in SS, 4.1% in N, and 7.2% in P compared to current land use. Under future climate scenarios, nutrients including SS, N, and P were reduced through land management and practices and BMPs by up to 54.0% (SS), 30.4% (N), and 7.1% (P). Water footprint analysis further revealed changes in green water that are highly dependent on land management scenarios. The study highlights the versatile approaches in landscape management that are available to address climate change adaptation and acknowledged the complex nature of different perspectives in water sustainability. Further study involving implementing landscape design and management by using long-term monitoring data from field to watershed is necessary to verify the findings and move toward watershed-specific regional programs for climate adaptation.

  1. Landsat-Based Land Use Change Assessment in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: Forest Transition and Sugarcane Expansion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alindomar Lacerda Silva

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we examine the hypothesis of a forest transition in an area of early expansion of the agricultural frontier over the Brazilian Atlantic Forest in the south-central part of the State of São Paulo. Large scale land use/cover changes were assessed by integrating Landsat imagery, census data, and landscape metrics. Two Landsat multi-temporal datasets were assembled for two consecutive periods—1995–2006 and 2006–2013—to assess changes in forest cover according to four classes: (i transition from non-forest cover to planted forest (NF-PF; (ii transition from non-forest to secondary (successional forest (NF-SF; (iii conservation of planted forest (PF and (iv conservation of forest remnants (REM. Data from the two most recent, 1995/96 and 2006 agricultural censuses were analyzed to single out major changes in agricultural production. The total area of forest cover, including primary, secondary, and planted forest, increased 30% from 1995 to 2013, whereas forest planted in non-forest areas (NF-PF and conservation of planted forest (PF accounted for 14.1% and 19.6%, respectively, of the total forest area by 2013. Such results showed a relatively important forest transition that would be explained mostly by forest plantations though. Analysis of the landscape metrics indicated an increase in connectivity among forest fragments during the period of study, and revealed that nearly half of the forest fragments were located within 50 m from riverbeds, possibly suggesting some level of compliance with environmental laws. Census data showed an increase in both the area and productivity of sugarcane plantations, while pasture and citrus area decreased by a relatively important level, suggesting that sugarcane production has expanded at the expense of these land uses. Both satellite and census data helped to delineate the establishment of two major production systems, the first one dominated by sugarcane plantations approximately located in

  2. Land Area Change and Fractional Water Maps in the Chenier Plain, Louisiana, following Hurricane Rita (2005)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Monica; Kranenburg, Christine J.; Brock, John C.

    2010-01-01

    In this study, we estimated the changes in land and water coverage of a 1,961-square-kilometer (km2) area in Louisiana's Chenier Plain. The study area is roughly centered on the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, which was impacted by Hurricane Rita on September 24, 2005. The objective of this study is twofold: (1) to provide pre- and post-Hurricane Rita moderate-resolution (30-meter (m)) fractional water maps based upon multiple source images, and (2) to quantify land and water coverage changes due to Hurricane Rita.

  3. User manuals for the Delaware River Basin Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (DRB–WATER) and associated WATER application utilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williamson, Tanja N.; Lant, Jeremiah G.

    2015-11-18

    The Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (WATER) is a decision support system (DSS) for the nontidal part of the Delaware River Basin (DRB) that provides a consistent and objective method of simulating streamflow under historical, forecasted, and managed conditions. WATER integrates geospatial sampling of landscape characteristics, including topographic and soil properties, with a regionally calibrated hillslope-hydrology model, an impervious-surface model, and hydroclimatic models that have been parameterized using three hydrologic response units—forested, agricultural, and developed land cover. It is this integration that enables the regional hydrologic-modeling approach used in WATER without requiring site-specific optimization or those stationary conditions inferred when using a statistical model. The DSS provides a “historical” database, ideal for simulating streamflow for 2001–11, in addition to land-cover forecasts that focus on 2030 and 2060. The WATER Application Utilities are provided with the DSS and apply change factors for precipitation, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration to a 1981–2011 climatic record provided with the DSS. These change factors were derived from a suite of general circulation models (GCMs) and representative concentration pathway (RCP) emission scenarios. These change factors are based on 25-year monthly averages (normals) that are centere on 2030 and 2060. The WATER Application Utilities also can be used to apply a 2010 snapshot of water use for the DRB; a factorial approach enables scenario testing of increased or decreased water use for each simulation. Finally, the WATER Application Utilities can be used to reformat streamflow time series for input to statistical or reservoir management software. 

  4. Effects of Water and Land-based Sensorimotor Training Programs on Static Balance among University Students

    OpenAIRE

    Abdolhamid Daneshjoo; Ashril Yusof

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the effect of sensorimotor training on static balance in two different environments; in water and on land. Thirty non-clinical university male students (aged 22±0.85 years) were divided randomly into three groups; water, land and control groups. The experimental groups performed their respective sensorimotor training programs for 6 weeks (3 times per week). The Stork Stand Balance Test was used to examine the static balance at pre- and post-time points. Significant main ef...

  5. Understanding land administration systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    P. Williamson, Ian; Enemark, Stig; Wallace, Judy

    2008-01-01

    This paper introduces basic land administration theory and highlights four key concepts that are fundamental to understanding modern land administration systems - firstly the land management paradigm and its influence on the land administration framework, secondly the role that the cadastre plays...... in contributing to sustainable development, thirdly the changing nature of ownership and the role of land markets, and lastly a land management vision that promotes land administration in support of sustainable development and spatial enablement of society. We present here the first part of the paper. The second...

  6. 78 FR 18562 - Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land Resources...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-27

    ... COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water... the Army to revise the ``Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related... Army to revise the ``Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land...

  7. Quantifying Water and Energy Fluxes Over Different Urban Land Covers in Phoenix, Arizona

    Science.gov (United States)

    Templeton, Nicole P.; Vivoni, Enrique R.; Wang, Zhi-Hua; Schreiner-McGraw, Adam P.

    2018-02-01

    The impact of urbanization on water and energy fluxes varies according to the characteristics of the urban patch type. Nevertheless, urban flux observations are limited, particularly in arid climates, given the wide variety of land cover present in cities. To help address this need, a mobile eddy covariance tower was deployed at three locations in Phoenix, Arizona, to sample the surface energy balance at a parking lot, a xeric landscaping (irrigated trees with gravel) and a mesic landscaping (irrigated turf grass). These deployments were compared to a stationary eddy covariance tower in a suburban neighborhood. A comparison of the observations revealed key differences between the mobile and reference sites tied to the urban land cover within the measurement footprints. For instance, the net radiation varied substantially among the sites in manners consistent with albedo and shallow soil temperature differences. The partitioning of available energy between sensible and latent heat fluxes was modulated strongly by the presence of outdoor water use, with the irrigated turf grass exhibiting the highest evaporative fraction. At this site, we identified a lack of sensitivity of turbulent flux partitioning to precipitation events, which suggests that frequent outdoor water use removes water limitations in an arid climate, thus leading to mesic conditions. Other urban land covers with less irrigation, however, exhibited sensitivity to the occurrence of precipitation, as expected for an arid climate. As a result, quantifying the frequency and magnitude of outdoor water use is critical for understanding evapotranspiration losses in arid urban areas.

  8. An interactive water indicator assessment tool to support land use planning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hellegers, P.J.G.J.; Jansen, H.C.; Bastiaanssen, W.G.M.

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents an interactive web-based rapid assessment tool that generates key water related indicators to support decision making by stakeholders in land use planning. The tool is built on a consistent science based method that combines remote sensing with hydrological and socioeconomic

  9. Effects of changes in land use and climate on water availability of a tropical catchment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Marhaento, Hero

    2018-01-01

    Land use changes such as deforestation and urbanization influence the hydrology of catchments and hence water availability. Together with climate change, land use changes can affect the frequency of floods or droughts and thus threaten local or regional socio-economic development. For Indonesia, the

  10. Energy sprawl, land taking and distributed generation: towards a multi-layered density

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moroni, Stefano; Antoniucci, Valentina; Bisello, Adriano

    2016-01-01

    The transition from fossil fuels to renewable resources is highly desirable to reduce air pollution, and improve energy efficiency and security. Many observers are concerned, however, that the diffusion of systems based on renewable resources may give rise to energy sprawl, i.e. an increasing occupation of available land to build new energy facilities of this kind. These critics foresee a transition from the traditional fossil-fuel systems, towards a renewable resource system likewise based on large power stations and extensive energy grids. A different approach can be taken to reduce the risk of energy sprawl, and this will happen if the focus is as much on renewable sources as on the introduction of distributed renewable energy systems based on micro plants (photovoltaic panels on the roofs of buildings, micro wind turbines, etc.) and on multiple micro-grids. Policy makers could foster local energy enterprises by: introducing new enabling rules; making more room for contractual communities; simplifying the compliance process; proposing monetary incentives and tax cuts. We conclude that the diffusion of innovation in this field will lead not to an energy sprawl but to a new energy system characterized by a multi-layered density: a combination of technology, organization, and physical development. - Highlights: • Energy sprawl is not a necessary consequence of the transition to renewable sources. • A polycentric, distributed renewable energy system reduces land consumption. • This polycentric model is founded on building-related renewable energy production and micro-grids. • Enabling rules, simplified compliance, and tax cuts can foster this result. • The concept of multi-layered density is proposed as a new framework for interpreting this scenario.

  11. Analyzing the Relative Linkages of Land Use and Hydrologic Variables with Urban Surface Water Quality using Multivariate Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, S.; Abdul-Aziz, O. I.

    2015-12-01

    We used a systematic data-analytics approach to analyze and quantify relative linkages of four stream water quality indicators (total nitrogen, TN; total phosphorus, TP; chlorophyll-a, Chla; and dissolved oxygen, DO) with six land use and four hydrologic variables, along with the potential external (upstream in-land and downstream coastal) controls in highly complex coastal urban watersheds of southeast Florida, U.S.A. Multivariate pattern recognition techniques of principle component and factor analyses, in concert with Pearson correlation analysis, were applied to map interrelations and identify latent patterns of the participatory variables. Relative linkages of the in-stream water quality variables with their associated drivers were then quantified by developing dimensionless partial least squares (PLS) regression model based on standardized data. Model fitting efficiency (R2=0.71-0.87) and accuracy (ratio of root-mean-square error to the standard deviation of the observations, RSR=0.35-0.53) suggested good predictions of the water quality variables in both wet and dry seasons. Agricultural land and groundwater exhibited substantial controls on surface water quality. In-stream TN concentration appeared to be mostly contributed by the upstream water entering from Everglades in both wet and dry seasons. In contrast, watershed land uses had stronger linkages with TP and Chla than that of the watershed hydrologic and upstream (Everglades) components for both seasons. Both land use and hydrologic components showed strong linkages with DO in wet season; however, the land use linkage appeared to be less in dry season. The data-analytics method provided a comprehensive empirical framework to achieve crucial mechanistic insights into the urban stream water quality processes. Our study quantitatively identified dominant drivers of water quality, indicating key management targets to maintain healthy stream ecosystems in complex urban-natural environments near the coast.

  12. Approach to developing numeric water quality criteria for coastal waters: a transition from SeaWiFS to MODIS and MERIS satellites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Human activities on land increase nutrient loads to coastal waters, which can increase phytoplankton production and biomass and potentially cause harmful ecological effects. States can adopt numeric water quality criteria into their water quality standards to protect the designa...

  13. Food, Fracking, and Freshwater: The Potential for Markets and Cross-Sectoral Investments to Enable Water Conservation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margaret Cook

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Hydraulic fracturing—the injection of pressurized fluid, often water, to increase recovery of oil or gas—has become increasingly popular in combination with horizontal drilling. Hydraulic fracturing improves production from a well, but requires a significant amount of water to do so and could put pressure on existing water resources, especially in water-stressed areas. To supply water needs, some water rights holders sell or lease their water resources to oil and gas producers in an informal water market. These transactions enable the opportunity for cross-sectoral investments, by which the energy sector either directly or indirectly provides the capital for water efficiency improvements in the agricultural sector as a mechanism to increase water availability for other purposes, including oil and gas production. In this analysis, we employ an original water and cost model to evaluate the water market in Texas and the potential for cross-sectoral collaboration on water efficiency improvements through a case study of the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. We find that, if irrigation efficiency management practices were fully implemented, between 420 and 800 million m3 of water could be spared per year over a ten year period, potentially enabling freshwater use in oil and gas production for up to 26,000 wells, while maintaining agricultural productivity and possibly improving water flows to the ecosystem.

  14. The Research on Metrological Characteristics of House Water Meters during Transitional Flow Regimes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Inga Briliūtė

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to find the influence of transitional flow regimes on inlet water meters. Four construction types of mechanical inlet water meters (each capacity Q = 10 m3/h were investigated. The biggest additional volume 0,12–0,26% when Q = 0,2…2 m3/h shows single-jet vane wheel meter. This additional volume is less 0,06–0,13% for the multi-jet concentric water meter. The minimum influence of transitional flow regimes was for turbine water meters till 0,1% for all flow range. The volumetric meters are not sensitive for this effect.Article in Lithuanian

  15. Estimating the Effects of Conversion of Agricultural Land to Urban Land on Deep Percolation of Irrigation Water in the Grand Valley, Western Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayo, John W.

    2008-01-01

    The conversion of agricultural land to urban residential land is associated with rapid population growth in the Grand Valley of western Colorado. Information regarding the effects of this land-use conversion on deep percolation, irrigation-water application, and associated salt loading to the Colorado River is needed to support water-resource planning and conservation efforts. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) assessed deep percolation and estimated salt loading derived from irrigated agricultural lands in the Grand Valley in a 1985 to 2002 monitoring and evaluation study (NRCS M&E). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Colorado River Salinity Control Forum and the Mesa Conservation District, quantified the current (2005-2006) deep percolation and irrigation-water application characteristics of 1/4-acre residential lots and 5-acre estates, urban parks, and urban orchard grass fields in the Grand Valley, and compared the results to NRCS M&E results from alfalfa-crop sites. In addition, pond seepage from three irrigation-water holding ponds was estimated. Salt loading was estimated for the urban study results and the NRCS M&E results by using standard salt-loading factors. A daily soil-moisture balance calculation technique was used at all urban study irrigated sites. Deep percolation was defined as any water infiltrating below the top 12 inches of soil. Deep percolation occurred when the soil-moisture balance in the first 12 inches of soil exceeded the field capacity for the soil type at each site. Results were reported separately for urban study bluegrass-only sites and for all-vegetation type (bluegrass, native plants, and orchard grass) sites. Deep percolation and irrigation-water application also were estimated for a complete irrigation season at three subdivisions by using mean site data from each subdivision. It was estimated that for the three subdivisions, 37 percent of the developed acreage was irrigated (the balance

  16. The analysis of clean water demand for land use optimization based on water resource balance in Balikpapan city

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghozali, Achmad; Yanti, Rossana Margaret Kadar

    2017-11-01

    Balikpapan city has transformed from oil city to trade and industry center. In the last 5 years, industry and trade sectors experienced annual economic growth by more than 25%, while mining had only 0.05%. This condition raised a strong economic attraction which increased urban activities and population growth, especially urbanization process. Nevertheless, the growth of the city had a challenge in the urban water supply. Due to natural condition of the city, Balikpapan does not have a large river, making water supply conducted by reservoirs relying on rainfall intensity. In line with population growth and conversion of green open space, the city government should consider to the allocation of land use effectively based on sustainable water resources. As the associated pressure on water resources continued to increase, it is crucial to identify the water demand future in Balikpapan City related to domestic and non-domestic activities as the first step to optimize land use allocation. Domestic's activities is defined as household and public hydrant, while non-domestic sectors are public facilities, offices, trade and services, and industrial areas. Mathematical calculations, population projections and water consumption estimation, were used as analysis methods. Analysis result showed that the total the city population in 2025 amounted to 740.302 people, increasing by 14.5% from 2016. Population growth increased the urban water needs. From the calculations, the amount of water consumption in 2016 amounted to 5075.77 liter/s, and in 2025 to 7528.59 liter/s. Thus, the water needs of the population of Balikpapan from 2016-2025 year increased by 32.58%.

  17. Land, Water and Society in the Maya Lowlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murtha, T.; French, K.; Duffy, C.; Webster, D.

    2013-12-01

    This paper reports the results of our project investigating the long-term spatial and temporal dynamics of land use management, agricultural decision-making and patterns of resource availability in the tropical lowlands of Central America. Overall, our project combines diachronic environmental simulation with historic settlement pattern survey to address a series of long-standing questions about the coupled natural and human (CNH) landscape history in the Central Maya lowlands (at the UNESCO world heritage site of Tikal in the Maya Biosphere Reserve). The paper describes the preliminary results of our project, including changing patterns of land, water, settlement and political history using climate, soil and hydrologic modeling and time series spatial analysis of population and settlement patterns. The critical period of the study, 1000 BC until the present, begins with dispersed settlements accompanied by widespread deforestation and soil erosion. Population size and density grows rapidly for 800 years, while deforestation and erosion rates decline; however, there is striking evidence of political evolution during this period, including the construction of monumental architecture, hieroglyphic monuments detailing wars and alliances, and the construction of a defensive earthwork feature, signaling political territories and possibly delineating natural resource boundaries. Population decline and steady reforestation followed until more recent migration into the region, which has impacted the biosphere ecology. Building on our previous research regionally and comparative research completed in Belize and Mexico, we are modeling sample periods the 3,000-year landscape history of the region, comparing land and water availability to population distributions and what we know about political history. Simulations are generated using historic climate and land use data, primarily relying on the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) and the Penn State Integrated

  18. Prawn landings and their relationship with the extent of mangroves and shallow waters in western peninsular Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loneragan, N. R.; Ahmad Adnan, N.; Connolly, R. M.; Manson, F. J.

    2005-04-01

    This study investigated changes in landings of all prawns, white prawns (mainly Penaeus merguiensis), mangrove extent, rainfall and the area of shallow water in western peninsular Malaysia. The most important state for both the landings of all prawns and white prawns was Perak where about 50% of all prawns and 35% of white prawns were landed. This is also the state with the largest, and most stable, extent of mangrove forest reserve (40 000 ha) and the largest area of shallow water (Johor, where large losses of mangrove forest reserve have been recorded, appear to have been maintained or increased in the 1990s. The lack of a clear relationship between mangrove loss and prawn landings may be due to the migration of prawns from adjacent areas or that other attributes of mangroves, such as the length of mangrove-water interface, may be more important for the growth and survival of prawn populations than total area of mangroves.

  19. Quantifying the impact of land use change on hydrological responses in the Upper Ganga Basin, India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsarouchi, Georgia-Marina; Mijic, Ana; Moulds, Simon; Chawla, Ila; Mujumdar, Pradeep; Buytaert, Wouter

    2013-04-01

    Quantifying how changes in land use affect the hydrological response at the river basin scale is a challenge in hydrological science and especially in the tropics where many regions are considered data sparse. Earlier work by the authors developed and used high-resolution, reconstructed land cover maps for northern India, based on satellite imagery and historic land-use maps for the years 1984, 1998 and 2010. Large-scale land use changes and their effects on landscape patterns can impact water supply in a watershed by altering hydrological processes such as evaporation, infiltration, surface runoff, groundwater discharge and stream flow. Three land use scenarios were tested to explore the sensitivity of the catchment's response to land use changes: (a) historic land use of 1984 with integrated evolution to 2010; (b) land use of 2010 remaining stable; and (c) hypothetical future projection of land use for 2030. The future scenario was produced with Markov chain analysis and generation of transition probability matrices, indicating transition potentials from one land use class to another. The study used socio-economic (population density), geographic (distances to roads and rivers, and location of protected areas) and biophysical drivers (suitability of soil for agricultural production, slope, aspect, and elevation). The distributed version of the land surface model JULES was integrated at a resolution of 0.01° for the years 1984 to 2030. Based on a sensitivity analysis, the most sensitive parameters were identified. Then, the model was calibrated against measured daily stream flow data. The impact of land use changes was investigated by calculating annual variations in hydrological components, differences in annual stream flow and surface runoff during the simulation period. The land use changes correspond to significant differences on the long-term hydrologic fluxes for each scenario. Once analysed from a future water resources perspective, the results will be

  20. Effects of River Discharge and Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) on Water Quality Dynamics in Migina Catchment, Rwanda

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uwimana, Abias; van Dam, Anne; Gettel, Gretchen; Bigirimana, Bonfils; Irvine, Kenneth

    2017-09-01

    Agricultural intensification may accelerate the loss of wetlands, increasing the concentrations of nutrients and sediments in downstream water bodies. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of land use and land cover and river discharge on water quality in the Migina catchment, southern Rwanda. Rainfall, discharge and water quality (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH, and temperature) were measured in different periods from May 2009 to June 2013. In 2011, measurements were done at the outlets of 3 sub-catchments (Munyazi, Mukura and Akagera). Between May 2012 and May 2013 the measurements were done in 16 reaches of Munyazi dominated by rice, vegetables, grass/forest or ponds/reservoirs. Water quality was also measured during two rainfall events. Results showed seasonal trends in water quality associated with high water flows and farming activities. Across all sites, the total suspended solids related positively to discharge, increasing 2-8 times during high flow periods. Conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH decreased with increasing discharge, while total nitrogen and total phosphorus did not show a clear pattern. The total suspended solids concentrations were consistently higher downstream of reaches dominated by rice and vegetable farming. For total nitrogen and total phosphorus results were mixed, but suggesting higher concentration of total nitrogen and total phosphorus during the dry and early rainy (and farming) season, and then wash out during the rainy season, with subsequent dilution at the end of the rains. Rice and vegetable farming generate the transport of sediment as opposed to ponds/reservoir and grass/forest.

  1. Relation of water chemistry of the Edwards aquifer to hydrogeology and land use, San Antonio Region, Texas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buszka, Paul M.

    1987-01-01

    Water-chemistry data from the Edwards aquifer for 1976-85, consisting of nearly 1,500 chemical analyses from 280 wells and 3 springs, were used to statistically evaluate relations among ground-water chemistry, hydrogeology, and land use. Five land uses associated with sampled wells were classified on the basis of published information and field surveys. Four major subareas of the aquifer were defined to reflect the relative susceptibility of ground water to contamination originating from human activities using hydrogeologic and tritium data.

  2. High resolution, topobathymetric LiDAR coastal zone characterization in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Steinbacher, Frank; Baran, Ramona; Andersen, Mikkel S.

    2016-01-01

    Coastal and tidal environments are valuable ecosystems, which, however, are under pressure in many areas around the world due to globalization and/or climate change. Detailed mapping of these environments is required in order to manage the coastal zone in a sustainable way. However, historically...... locations with different environmental settings. We demonstrate the potential of using airborne topobathymetric LiDAR for seamless mapping of land-water transition zones in challenging coastal environments, e.g. in an environment with high water column turbidity and continuously varying water levels due...... these transition zones between land and water are difficult or even impossible to map and investigate in high spatial resolution due to the challenging environmental conditions. The new generation of airborne topobathymetric light detection and ranging (LiDAR) potentially enables full-coverage and high...

  3. Water and sustainable land use at the ancient tropical city of Tikal, Guatemala

    OpenAIRE

    Scarborough, Vernon L.; Dunning, Nicholas P.; Tankersley, Kenneth B.; Carr, Christopher; Weaver, Eric; Grazioso, Liwy; Lane, Brian; Jones, John G.; Buttles, Palma; Valdez, Fred; Lentz, David L.

    2012-01-01

    The access to water and the engineered landscapes accommodating its collection and allocation are pivotal issues for assessing sustainability. Recent mapping, sediment coring, and formal excavation at Tikal, Guatemala, have markedly expanded our understanding of ancient Maya water and land use. Among the landscape and engineering feats identified are the largest ancient dam identified in the Maya area of Central America; the posited manner by which reservoir waters were released; construction...

  4. Wet-dry seasonal and vertical geochemical variations in soil water and their driving forces under different land covers in southwest China karst

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Peng; Hu, Bill X.; Wu, Chuanhao; Xu, Kai

    2017-04-01

    Karst aquifers supply drinking water for 25% of the world's population, and they are, however, vulnerable to climate change. Bimonthly hydrochemical data in karst soil water samples from July 2010 to July 2011 were obtained to reveal the seasonal and vertical geochemical variations in soil water under five vegetation types in Qingmuguan, a small karst catchment in southwest China. Soil water chemistry was dominated by Ca2+, HCO3-, and SO42- because of the dissolution of limestone, dolomite, and gypsum minerals in the strata. The predominant hydrochemical types in soil water were Ca2+-HCO3-, Ca2+-SO42-, and mixed Ca2+-HCO3-SO42-. Ca2+ and HCO3- concentrations ranked in the following order: shrub land > dry land > afforestation farmland > bamboo land > grassland. In warm and wet seasons, the main ion concentrations in soil water from grasslands were low. Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3-, SO42-, and Cl- concentrations in soil water from other lands were high. An opposite trend was observed in cold and dry seasons. Marked seasonal variations were observed in Ca2+, HCO3-, and NO3- in soil water from dry land. The main ion concentrations in soil water from bamboo lands decreased as soil depth increased. By contrast, the chemistry of soil water from other lands increased as soil depth increased. Their ions were accumulated in depth. A consistent high and low variation between the main ions in soil water and the contents of carbonate and CO2 was found in the soil. Hydrochemical changes in soil water were regulated by the effects of dilution and soil CO2.

  5. Decoding size distribution patterns in marine and transitional water phytoplankton: from community to species level.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonilde Roselli

    Full Text Available Understanding the mechanisms of phytoplankton community assembly is a fundamental issue of aquatic ecology. Here, we use field data from transitional (e.g. coastal lagoons and coastal water environments to decode patterns of phytoplankton size distribution into organization and adaptive mechanisms. Transitional waters are characterized by higher resource availability and shallower well-mixed water column than coastal marine environments. Differences in physico-chemical regime between the two environments have been hypothesized to exert contrasting selective pressures on phytoplankton cell morphology (size and shape. We tested the hypothesis focusing on resource availability (nutrients and light and mixed layer depth as ecological axes that define ecological niches of phytoplankton. We report fundamental differences in size distributions of marine and freshwater diatoms, with transitional water phytoplankton significantly smaller and with higher surface to volume ratio than marine species. Here, we hypothesize that mixing condition affecting size-dependent sinking may drive phytoplankton size and shape distributions. The interplay between shallow mixed layer depth and frequent and complete mixing of transitional waters may likely increase the competitive advantage of small phytoplankton limiting large cell fitness. The nutrient regime appears to explain the size distribution within both marine and transitional water environments, while it seem does not explain the pattern observed across the two environments. In addition, difference in light availability across the two environments appear do not explain the occurrence of asymmetric size distribution at each hierarchical level. We hypothesize that such competitive equilibria and adaptive strategies in resource exploitation may drive by organism's behavior which exploring patch resources in transitional and marine phytoplankton communities.

  6. How GNSS Enables Precision Farming

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-12-01

    Precision farming: Feeding a Growing Population Enables Those Who Feed the World. Immediate and Ongoing Needs - population growth (more to feed) - urbanization (decrease in arable land) Double food production by 2050 to meet world demand. To meet thi...

  7. How does subsurface retain and release stored water? An explicit estimation of young water fraction and mean transit time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ameli, Ali; McDonnell, Jeffrey; Laudon, Hjalmar; Bishop, Kevin

    2017-04-01

    The stable isotopes of water have served science well as hydrological tracers which have demonstrated that there is often a large component of "old" water in stream runoff. It has been more problematic to define the full transit time distribution of that stream water. Non-linear mixing of previous precipitation signals that is stored for extended periods and slowly travel through the subsurface before reaching the stream results in a large range of possible transit times. It difficult to find tracers can represent this, especially if all that one has is data on the precipitation input and the stream runoff. In this paper, we explicitly characterize this "old water" displacement using a novel quasi-steady physically-based flow and transport model in the well-studied S-Transect hillslope in Sweden where the concentration of hydrological tracers in the subsurface and stream has been measured. We explore how subsurface conductivity profile impacts the characteristics of old water displacement, and then test these scenarios against the observed dynamics of conservative hydrological tracers in both the stream and subsurface. This work explores the efficiency of convolution-based approaches in the estimation of stream "young water" fraction and time-variant mean transit times. We also suggest how celerity and velocity differ with landscape structure

  8. Two drastically different climate states on an Earth-like land planet with overland water recycling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalidindi, S.; Reick, C. H.; Raddatz, T.; Claussen, M.

    2017-12-01

    Prior studies have demonstrated that habitable areas on low-obliquity land planets are confined to the edges of frozen ice caps. Whether such dry planets can maintain long-lived liquid water is unclear. Leconte et al. 2013 argue that on such planets mechanisms like gravity driven ice flows and geothermal flux can maintain liquid water at the edges of thick ice caps and this water may flow back to the lower latitudes through rivers. However, there exists no modelling study which investigates the climate of an Earth-like land planet with an overland recycling mechanism bringing fresh water back from higher to lower latitudes. In our study, by using a comprehensive climate model ICON, we find that an Earth-like land planet with an overland recycling mechanism can exist in two drastically different climate states for the same set of boundary conditions and parameter values: A Cold and Wet (CW) state with dominant low-latitude precipitation and, a Hot and Dry (HD) state with only high-latitude precipitation. For perpetual equinox conditions, both climate states are stable below a certain threshold value of background soil albedo (α) while above that only the CW state is stable. Starting from the HD state and increasing α above the threshold causes an abrupt shift from the HD state to the CW state resulting in a sudden cooling of about 35°C globally which is of the order of the temperature difference between the present-day and the Snowball Earth state. In contrast to the Snowball Earth instability, we find that the sudden cooling in our study is driven by the cloud albedo feedback rather than the snow-albedo feedback. Also, when α in the CW state is reduced back to zero the land planet does not display a closed hysteresis. Our study also has implications for the habitability of Earth-like land planets. At the inner edge of the habitable zone, the higher cloud cover in the CW state cools the planet and may prevent the onset of a runaway greenhouse state. At the outer

  9. Globalization and Land-Use Transitions in Latin America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Ricardo. Grau

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Current socioeconomic drivers of land-use change associated with globalization are producing two contrasting land-use trends in Latin America. Increasing global food demand (particularly in Southeast Asia accelerates deforestation in areas suitable for modern agriculture (e.g., soybean, severely threatening ecosystems, such as Amazonian rain forests, dry forests, and subtropical grasslands. Additionally, in the coming decades, demand for biofuels may become an emerging threat. In contrast, high yields in modern agricultural systems and rural-urban migration coupled with remittances promote the abandonment of marginal agricultural lands, thus favoring ecosystem recovery on mountains, deserts, and areas of poor soils, while improving human well-being. The potential switch from production in traditional extensive grazing areas to intensive modern agriculture provides opportunities to significantly increase food production while sparing land for nature conservation. This combination of emerging threats and opportunities requires changes in the way the conservation of Latin American ecosystems is approached. Land-use efficiency should be analyzed beyond the local-based paradigm that drives most conservation programs, and focus on large geographic scales involving long-distance fluxes of products, information, and people in order to maximize both agricultural production and the conservation of environmental services.

  10. Spatiotemporal response of the water cycle to land use conversions in a typical hilly-gully basin on the Loess Plateau, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Linjing; Wu, Yiping; Wang, Lijing; Lei, Xiaohui; Liao, Weihong; Hui, Ying; Meng, Xianyong

    2017-12-01

    The hydrological effects of the Grain for Green project (GFGP) on the Loess Plateau have been extensively debated due to the complexity of the water system and its multiple driving factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the response of the hydrological cycle to the GFGP measures based in a case study of the Yanhe Basin, a typical hilly-gully area on the Loess Plateau of China. First, we analyzed the land use and land cover (LULC) changes from 1990 to 2010. Then, we evaluated the effects of LULC changes and sloping land conversion on the main hydrological components in the basin using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The results indicated that cropland exhibited a decreasing trend, declining from 40.2 % of the basin area in 1990 to 17.6 % in 2010, and that the woodland and grassland areas correspondingly increased. With the land use changes from 1990 to 2010, the water yield showed a decreasing trend which was mainly due to decrease in surface runoff. In contrast, evapotranspiration (ET) showed an increasing trend over the same period, resulting in a persistent decrease in soil water. The conversion of sloping cropland to grassland or woodland exerted negative effects on water yield and soil water. Compared with the land use condition in 2010, the negative effects were most evident where cropland with a slope ≥ 15° was converted to woodland, with decreases in surface runoff and soil water of 17.1 and 6.4 %, respectively. These results suggest that the expansive reforestation on sloping land in the loess hilly-gully region decreased water yield and increased ET, resulting in reduced soil water. The results of this study can be used to support sustainable land use planning and water resource management on the Loess Plateau in China.

  11. The blue water footprint and land use of biofuels from algae

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gerbens-Leenes, Winnie; Xu, L.; de Vries, G.J.; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert

    2014-01-01

    Biofuels from microalgae are potentially important sources of liquid renewable energy. Algae are not yet produced on a large scale, but research shows promising results. This study assesses the blue water footprint (WF) and land use of algae-based biofuels. It combines the WF concept with an energy

  12. The impact of land use and land cover changes on solute dynamics in seepage water of soil from karst hillslopes of Southwest China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ding Hu; Lang Yunchao [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 46th Guanshui Road, Guiyang 550002 (China); Liu Congqiang, E-mail: liucongqiang@vip.skleg.cn [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 46th Guanshui Road, Guiyang 550002 (China)

    2011-06-15

    Land use and land cover changes can cause variations in terrestrial energy, water balance and availability of nutrients. To understand the role of vegetation in regulating the hydrochemistry of karst hillslopes, overland flow and soil seepage water from two hillslopes covered with and without vegetation were studied in the Huanjiang Observation and Research Station for Karst Ecosystems, Guangxi, SW China. Dissolved major ions, as well as isotopic compositions of dissolved inorganic C (DIC) were examined. Water from the vegetated control slope had higher solute concentrations (except NO{sub 3}{sup -}) and lower {delta}{sup 13}C values than water from the disturbed slope. The dynamics of K{sup +} and NO{sub 3}{sup -} in soil water sampled in time-sequence from the control slope was different from the disturbed slope. Specifically, K{sup +} and NO{sub 3}{sup -} concentrations of the control slope decreased gradually over time, while K{sup +} and NO{sub 3}{sup -} concentrations of the disturbed slope increased, and other ionic concentrations increased in both of the slopes.

  13. Optimal allocation of land and water resources to achieve Water, Energy and Food Security in the upper Blue Nile basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allam, M.; Eltahir, E. A. B.

    2017-12-01

    Rapid population growth, hunger problems, increasing energy demands, persistent conflicts between the Nile basin riparian countries and the potential impacts of climate change highlight the urgent need for the conscious stewardship of the upper Blue Nile (UBN) basin resources. This study develops a framework for the optimal allocation of land and water resources to agriculture and hydropower production in the UBN basin. The framework consists of three optimization models that aim to: (a) provide accurate estimates of the basin water budget, (b) allocate land and water resources optimally to agriculture, and (c) allocate water to agriculture and hydropower production, and investigate trade-offs between them. First, a data assimilation procedure for data-scarce basins is proposed to deal with data limitations and produce estimates of the hydrologic components that are consistent with the principles of mass and energy conservation. Second, the most representative topography and soil properties datasets are objectively identified and used to delineate the agricultural potential in the basin. The agricultural potential is incorporated into a land-water allocation model that maximizes the net economic benefits from rain-fed agriculture while allowing for enhancing the soils from one suitability class to another to increase agricultural productivity in return for an investment in soil inputs. The optimal agricultural expansion is expected to reduce the basin flow by 7.6 cubic kilometres, impacting downstream countries. The optimization framework is expanded to include hydropower production. This study finds that allocating water to grow rain-fed teff in the basin is more profitable than allocating water for hydropower production. Optimal operation rules for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam (GERD) are identified to maximize annual hydropower generation while achieving a relatively uniform monthly production rate. Trade-offs between agricultural expansion and hydropower

  14. The CUAHSI Water Data Center: Enabling Data Publication, Discovery and Re-use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seul, M.; Pollak, J.

    2014-12-01

    The CUAHSI Water Data Center (WDC) supports a standards-based, services-oriented architecture for time-series data and provides a separate service to publish spatial data layers as shape files. Two new services that the WDC offers are a cloud-based server (Cloud HydroServer) for publishing data and a web-based client for data discovery. The Cloud HydroServer greatly simplifies data publication by eliminating the need for scientists to set up an SQL-server data base, a requirement that has proven to be a significant barrier, and ensures greater reliability and continuity of service. Uploaders have been developed to simplify the metadata documentation process. The web-based data client eliminates the need for installing a program to be used as a client and works across all computer operating systems. The services provided by the WDC is a foundation for big data use, re-use, and meta-analyses. Using data transmission standards enables far more effective data sharing and discovery; standards used by the WDC are part of a global set of standards that should enable scientists to access unprecedented amount of data to address larger-scale research questions than was previously possible. A central mission of the WDC is to ensure these services meet the needs of the water science community and are effective at advancing water science.

  15. Residual volume on land and when immersed in water: effect on percent body fat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demura, Shinichi; Yamaji, Shunsuke; Kitabayashi, Tamotsu

    2006-08-01

    There is a large residual volume (RV) error when assessing percent body fat by means of hydrostatic weighing. It has generally been measured before hydrostatic weighing. However, an individual's maximal exhalations on land and in the water may not be identical. The aims of this study were to compare residual volumes and vital capacities on land and when immersed to the neck in water, and to examine the influence of the measurement error on percent body fat. The participants were 20 healthy Japanese males and 20 healthy Japanese females. To assess the influence of the RV error on percent body fat in both conditions and to evaluate the cross-validity of the prediction equation, another 20 males and 20 females were measured using hydrostatic weighing. Residual volume was measured on land and in the water using a nitrogen wash-out technique based on an open-circuit approach. In water, residual volume was measured with the participant sitting on a chair while the whole body, except the head, was submerged . The trial-to-trial reliabilities of residual volume in both conditions were very good (intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.98). Although residual volume measured under the two conditions did not agree completely, they showed a high correlation (males: 0.880; females: 0.853; P body fat computed using residual volume measured in both conditions was very good for both sexes (males: r = 0.902; females: r = 0.869, P body fat: -3.4 to 2.2% for males; -6.3 to 4.4% for females). We conclude that if these errors are of no importance, residual volume measured on land can be used when assessing body composition.

  16. Providing Public Space Continuities in Post-Industrial Areas through Remodelling Land/Water Connections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burda, Izabela M.; Nyka, Lucyna

    2017-10-01

    This article examines the problem of urban transformation strategies applied in recent years which are based on the creation of new water areas and modification of existing ones. The research is an attempt to prove that modifications of plans of water areas and forms of their borders may play an important role in achieving the best quality public spaces in post-industrial territories. The basis for demonstrating the importance of modifying water borders, and introducing new forms of water-based structures in cities, are theoretical surveys, comparative studies and in-field analyses. It can be seen that post-industrial areas, which used to create voids in the urban fabric, can be perceived as unique but isolated places that should be integrated into the layout of cities. Thus, creating continuity of public spaces that will relate converted areas to their surroundings is a well-known objective of many transformation strategies. This research proves that an effective strategy toward achieving this goal can be based on the modification of relationships between land and water. Namely, the introduction of new water areas, designing new pieces of land that protrude into the water, softening the boundaries of water lines or the opposite, like structuring smaller water flows into well-defined canals, may significantly contribute to the quality of public spaces. As such, all of this fosters the development of sustainable cities and contributes significantly to the emergence of high-quality urban landscapes.

  17. Closing the loop: integrating human impacts on water resources to advanced land surface models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaitchik, B. F.; Nie, W.; Rodell, M.; Kumar, S.; Li, B.

    2016-12-01

    Advanced Land Surface Models (LSMs), including those used in the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS), offer a physically consistent and spatially and temporally complete analysis of the distributed water balance. These models are constrained both by physically-based process representation and by observations ingested as meteorological forcing or as data assimilation updates. As such, they have become important tools for hydrological monitoring and long-term climate analysis. The representation of water management, however, is extremely limited in these models. Recent advances have brought prognostic irrigation routines into models used in NLDAS, while assimilation of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) derived estimates of terrestrial water storage anomaly has made it possible to nudge models towards observed states in water storage below the root zone. But with few exceptions these LSMs do not account for the source of irrigation water, leading to a disconnect between the simulated water balance and the observed human impact on water resources. This inconsistency is unacceptable for long-term studies of climate change and human impact on water resources in North America. Here we define the modeling challenge, review instances of models that have begun to account for water withdrawals (e.g., CLM), and present ongoing efforts to improve representation of human impacts on water storage across models through integration of irrigation routines, water withdrawal information, and GRACE Data Assimilation in NLDAS LSMs.

  18. Identification of ballast water discharge profiles of a port to enable effective ballast water management and environmental studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    David, Matej; Gollasch, Stephan; Penko, Ludvik

    2018-03-01

    Information about the profile of ballast water discharges in a port is one of the basic elements of the decision making process in ballast water risk assessment and management, and supports the evaluation of dimensions and processes of aquatic species invasions with vessels ballast water. In the lack of ballast water reporting, ballast water discharge assessments need to be conducted. In this study we have assessed and compared ballast water discharge profiles of two ports with different maritime traffic and cargo profiles, the Port of Hamburg (Germany) and the Muuga Harbour, Port of Tallinn (Estonia). This study shows methods and approaches which can be used to assess volumes and donor ports of ballast water discharges for a port at the level of each vessel call. These methods and approaches can be applied to any port to support the implementation of feasible and efficient ballast water management measures and to enable environmental studies including long-term accumulation risks of disinfection by-products from ballast water management systems making use of active substances, as well as for discharges of other chemical compounds.

  19. Liquidation sales: Land speculation and landscape change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazarus, E.

    2012-12-01

    Large-scale land-use transitions can occur with astonishing speed, and landscape stability can change with equal suddenness: for example, the catastrophic dustbowl that paralyzed the Midwestern US in the early 1930s came barely 40 years after the derby for homestead land in Oklahoma in 1889. Some human-landscape systems, like the large prehistoric settlements in the Brazilian Amazon, persisted for centuries without environmental collapse. Others quickly exhausted all of the environmental resources available, as occurred with phosphate mining on the Pacific Island of Nauru. Although abrupt shifts from resource plenty to resource scarcity are theoretically interesting for their complexity, the very real consequences of modern social and environmental boom-bust dynamics can catalyze humanitarian crises. Drawing on historical examples and investigative reporting of current events, I explore the hypothesis that land speculation drives rapid transitions in physical landscapes at large spatial scales. "Land grabs" is one of four core environmental justice and equality issues Oxfam International is targeting in its GROW campaign, citing evidence that foreign investors are buying up vast tracts of land in developing countries, and as a consequence exacerbating food scarcity and marginalization of poor families. Al Jazeera has reported extensively on land-rights disputes in Honduras and investment deals involving foreign ownership of large areas of agricultural land in New Zealand, India, Africa, and South America. Overlapping coverage has also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the BBC News, the Guardian, and other outlets. Although land itself is only one kind of natural resource, land rights typically determine access to other natural resources (e.g. water, timber, minerals, fossil fuels). Consideration of land speculation therefore includes speculative bubbles in natural-resource markets more broadly. There are categorical commonalities in agricultural

  20. Global pattern for the effect of climate and land cover on water yield

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guoy Zhou; Xiaohua Wei; Xiuzhi Chen; Ping Zhou; Xiaodong Liu; Yin Xiao; Ge Sun; David F. Scott; Shuyidan Zhou; Liusheng Hano; Yongxian Su

    2015-01-01

    Research results on the effects of land cover change on water resources vary greatly and the topic remains controversial. Here we use published data worldwide to examine the validity of Fuh’s equation, which relates annual water yield (R) to a wetness index (precipitation/ potential evapotranspiration; P/PET) and watershed characteristics (m). We identify two critical...

  1. Identifying Hotspots in Land and Water Resource Uses on the Way towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palazzo, A.; Havlik, P.; Van Dijk, M.; Leclere, D.

    2017-12-01

    Agriculture plays a key role in achieving adequate food, water, and energy security (as summarized in the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs) as populations grow and incomes rise. Yet, agriculture is confronted with an enormous challenge to produce more using less. Land and water resources are projected to be strongly affected by climate change demand and agriculture faces growing competition in the demand for these resources. To formulate policies that contribute to achieving the SDGs, policy makers need assessments that can anticipate and navigate the trade-offs within the water/land/energy domain. Assessments that identify locations or hotspots where trade-offs between the multiple, competing users of resources may exist must consider both the local scale impacts of resource use as well as regional scale socioeconomic trends, policies, and international markets that further contribute to or mitigate the impacts of resource trade-offs. In this study, we quantify impacts of increased pressure on the land system to provide agricultural and bioenergy products under increasingly scarce water resources using a global economic and land use model, GLOBIOM. We model the supply and demand of agricultural products at a high spatial resolution in an integrated approach that considers the impacts of global change (socioeconomic and climatic) on the biophysical availability and the growing competition of land and water. We also developed a biodiversity module that relates changes in land uses to changes in local species richness and global species extinction risk. We find that water available for agriculture and freshwater ecosystems decreases due to climate change and growing demand from other sectors (domestic, energy and industry) (Fig 1). Climate change impacts will limit areas suitable for irrigation and may lead to an expansion of rainfed areas in biodiverse areas. Impacts on food security from climate change are significant in some regions (SSA and SA) and policies

  2. Local flooding phenomena in channel and land areas occurring during dynamic operation of a PEFC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dahlen, S. von; Schneider, I.A. [Fuel Cell Diagnostics Activities, Paul Scherrer Institut, Electrochemistry Laboratory, Villigen (Switzerland)

    2012-12-15

    In this work, we report on flooding phenomena occurring during dynamic operation of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The combination of high spatially and temporally resolved neutron radiography and submillimeter resolved current density distribution measurements enables the simultaneous observation of local liquid water content and current density transients in the channel and land areas of a differentially operated PEFC air cathode. The local transients of a triangular voltage sweep and a voltage step are presented here. Both results demonstrate that in the land area the current density is only marginally affected by the local liquid water content. In the voltage sweep experiment, at higher cell polarization a limiting current density is observed in the land area as a result of mass transport limitations due to the high lateral diffusion path length. In the channel area the corresponding transients of the liquid water content and the current density both exhibit a hysteresis. The transients of the voltage step indicate liquid water rearrangement in channel and land areas as a slow process occurring on a time scale of several minutes. Thereby, the local cell performance is primarily affected by the local liquid water content in front of the oxygen electrode. (Copyright copyright 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  3. Evaluating the Liquid Liquid Phase Transition Hypothesis of Supercoooled Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Limmer, David; Chandler, David

    2011-03-01

    To explain the anomalous behavior of supercooled water it has been conjectured that buried within an experimentally inaccessible region of liquid water's phase diagram there exists a second critical point, which is the terminus of a first order transition line between two distinct liquid phases. The so-called liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) has since generated much study, though to date there is no consensus on its existence. In this talk, we will discuss our efforts to systematically study the metastable phase diagram of supercooled water through computer simulation. By employing importance-sampling techniques, we have calculated free energies as a function of the density and long-range order to determine unambiguously if two distinct liquid phases exist. We will argue that, contrary to the LLPT hypothesis, the observed phenomenology can be understood as a consequence of the limit of stability of the liquid far away from coexistence. Our results suggest that homogeneous nucleation is the cause of the increased fluctuations present upon supercooling. Further we will show how this understanding can be extended to explain experimental observations of hysteresis in confined supercooled water systems.

  4. Possibilities of Land Administration Domain Model (ladm) Implementation in Nigeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babalola, S. O.; Rahman, A. Abdul; Choon, L. T.; Van Oosterom, P. J. M.

    2015-10-01

    LADM covers essential information associated components of land administration and management including those over water and elements above and below the surface of the earth. LADM standard provides an abstract conceptual model with three packages and one sub-package. LADM defined terminology for a land administration system that allows a shared explanation of different formal customary or informal tenures. The standard provides the basis for national and regional profiles and enables the combination of land management information from different sources in a coherent manner. Given this, this paper started with the description of land and land administration in Nigeria. The pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial era with organization structure was discussed. This discussion is important to present an understanding of the background of any improvement needed for the LADM implementation in Nigeria. The LADM, ISO 19152 and the packages of LADM was discussed, and the comparison of the different aspects of each package and classes were made with Nigerian land administration and the cadastral system. In the comparison made, it was discovered that the concept is similar to LADM packages in Nigerian land administration. Although, the terminology may not be the same in all cases. Having studied conceptualization and the application of LADM, as a model that has essential information associated with components of the land administration. Including those on the land, over water as well as elements above and below the surface of the earth and discovered that the standard is suitable for the country. The model can, therefore, be adopted into Nigerian land administration system by mapping in some of the concepts of LADM.

  5. Using Dynamic Time Warping and Data Forensics to Examine Tradeoffs among Land-Energy-Water Networks Across the Conterminous United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    McManamay, R.; Allen, M. R.; Piburn, J.; Sanyal, J.; Stewart, R.; Bhaduri, B. L.

    2017-12-01

    Characterizing interdependencies among land-energy-water sectors, their vulnerabilities, and tipping points, is challenging, especially if all sectors are simultaneously considered. Because such holistic system behavior is uncertain, largely unmodeled, and in need of testable hypotheses of system drivers, these dynamics are conducive to exploratory analytics of spatiotemporal patterns, powered by tools, such as Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). Here, we conduct a retrospective analysis (1950 - 2010) of temporal trends in land use, energy use, and water use within US counties to identify commonalities in resource consumption and adaptation strategies to resource limitations. We combine existing and derived data from statistical downscaling to synthesize a temporally comprehensive land-energy-water dataset at the US county level and apply DTW and subsequent hierarchical clustering to examine similar temporal trends in resource typologies for land, energy, and water sectors. As expected, we observed tradeoffs among water uses (e.g., public supply vs irrigation) and land uses (e.g., urban vs ag). Strong associations between clusters amongst sectors reveal tight system interdependencies, whereas weak associations suggest unique behaviors and potential for human adaptations towards disruptive technologies and less resource-dependent population growth. Our framework is useful for exploring complex human-environmental system dynamics and generating hypotheses to guide subsequent energy-water-nexus research.

  6. Carbon, land, and water footprint accounts for the European Union: consumption, production, and displacements through international trade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steen-Olsen, Kjartan; Weinzettel, Jan; Cranston, Gemma; Ercin, A Ertug; Hertwich, Edgar G

    2012-10-16

    A nation's consumption of goods and services causes various environmental pressures all over the world due to international trade. We use a multiregional input-output model to assess three kinds of environmental footprints for the member states of the European Union. Footprints are indicators that take the consumer responsibility approach to account for the total direct and indirect effects of a product or consumption activity. We quantify the total environmental pressures (greenhouse gas emissions: carbon footprint; appropriation of biologically productive land and water area: land footprint; and freshwater consumption: water footprint) caused by consumption in the EU. We find that the consumption activities by an average EU citizen in 2004 led to 13.3 tCO(2)e of induced greenhouse gas emissions, appropriation of 2.53 gha (hectares of land with global-average biological productivity), and consumption of 179 m(3) of blue water (ground and surface water). By comparison, the global averages were 5.7 tCO(2)e, 1.23 gha, and 163 m(3) blue water, respectively. Overall, the EU displaced all three types of environmental pressures to the rest of the world, through imports of products with embodied pressures. Looking at intra-EU displacements only, the UK was the most important displacer overall, while the largest net exporters of embodied environmental pressures were Poland (greenhouse gases), France (land), and Spain (freshwater).

  7. [Response of water yield function of ecosystem to land use change in Nansi Lake Basin based on CLUE-S model and InVEST model .

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Hong Wei; Sun, Xiao Yin; Lian, Li Shu; Zhang, Da Zhi; Xu, Yan

    2016-09-01

    Land use change has an important role in hydrological processes and utilization of water resources, and is the main driving force of water yield function of ecosystem. This paper analyzed the change of land use from 1990 to 2013 in Nansi Lake Basin, Shandong Province. The future land use in 2030 was also predicted and simulated by CLUE-S model. Based on land use scenarios, we analyzed the influence of land use change on ecosystem function of water yield in nearly 25 years through InVEST water yield model and spatial mapping. The results showed that the area of construction land increased by 3.5% in 2013 because of burgeoning urbanization process, but farmland area decreased by 2.4% which was conversed to construction land mostly. The simulated result of InVEST model suggested that water yield level of whole basin decreased firstly and increased subsequently during last 25 years and peaked at 232.1 mm in 2013. The construction land area would increase by 6.7% in 2030 based on the land use scenarios of fast urbanization, which would lead to a remarkable growth for water yield and risk of flowing flooding. However, the water yield level of whole basin would decrease by 1.2 % in 2013 if 300 meter-wide forest buffer strips around Nansi Lake were built up.

  8. Adaptive capacity based water quality resilience transformation and policy implications in rapidly urbanizing landscapes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Yi; Degener, Jan; Gaudreau, Matthew; Li, Yangfan; Kappas, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Resilience-based management focuses on specific attributes or drivers of complex social-ecological systems, in order to operationalize and promote guiding principles for water quality management in urban systems. We therefore propose a resilience lens drawing on the theory of adaptive capacity and adaptive cycle to evaluate the urban resilience between water quality and land use type. Our findings show that the resilience of water quality variables, which were calculated based on their adaptive capacities, showed adaptive and sustainable trends with dramatic fluctuation. NH_3-N, Cadmium and Total Phosphorus experienced the most vulnerable shifts in the built-up area, agricultural areas, and on bare land. Our framework provided a consistent and repeatable approach to address uncertainty inherent in the resilience of water quality in different landscapes, as well as an approach to monitor variables over time with respect to national water quality standards. Ultimately, we pointed to the political underpinnings for risk mitigation and managing resilient urban system in a particular coastal urban setting. - Highlights: • Integrated framework to analyze the resilience of urban land-water systems • Addressed the changes of adaptive capacity based resilience and transitions • Applied four transition phases of adaptive cycle to water quality management

  9. Adaptive capacity based water quality resilience transformation and policy implications in rapidly urbanizing landscapes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Yi, E-mail: ly463526@gmail.com [Department of Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Institute of Geography, Georg-August University of Goettingen, Goettingen 37077 (Germany); Key Laboratory of Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems (Ministry of Education), College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102 (China); Degener, Jan [Department of Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Institute of Geography, Georg-August University of Goettingen, Goettingen 37077 (Germany); Gaudreau, Matthew [Balsillie School of International Affairs, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON N2L 6C2 (Canada); Li, Yangfan, E-mail: yangf@xmu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems (Ministry of Education), College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102 (China); Kappas, Martin [Department of Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Institute of Geography, Georg-August University of Goettingen, Goettingen 37077 (Germany)

    2016-11-01

    Resilience-based management focuses on specific attributes or drivers of complex social-ecological systems, in order to operationalize and promote guiding principles for water quality management in urban systems. We therefore propose a resilience lens drawing on the theory of adaptive capacity and adaptive cycle to evaluate the urban resilience between water quality and land use type. Our findings show that the resilience of water quality variables, which were calculated based on their adaptive capacities, showed adaptive and sustainable trends with dramatic fluctuation. NH{sub 3}-N, Cadmium and Total Phosphorus experienced the most vulnerable shifts in the built-up area, agricultural areas, and on bare land. Our framework provided a consistent and repeatable approach to address uncertainty inherent in the resilience of water quality in different landscapes, as well as an approach to monitor variables over time with respect to national water quality standards. Ultimately, we pointed to the political underpinnings for risk mitigation and managing resilient urban system in a particular coastal urban setting. - Highlights: • Integrated framework to analyze the resilience of urban land-water systems • Addressed the changes of adaptive capacity based resilience and transitions • Applied four transition phases of adaptive cycle to water quality management.

  10. lands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.T. O'Geen

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Groundwater pumping chronically exceeds natural recharge in many agricultural regions in California. A common method of recharging groundwater — when surface water is available — is to deliberately flood an open area, allowing water to percolate into an aquifer. However, open land suitable for this type of recharge is scarce. Flooding agricultural land during fallow or dormant periods has the potential to increase groundwater recharge substantially, but this approach has not been well studied. Using data on soils, topography and crop type, we developed a spatially explicit index of the suitability for groundwater recharge of land in all agricultural regions in California. We identified 3.6 million acres of agricultural land statewide as having Excellent or Good potential for groundwater recharge. The index provides preliminary guidance about the locations where groundwater recharge on agricultural land is likely to be feasible. A variety of institutional, infrastructure and other issues must also be addressed before this practice can be implemented widely.

  11. Understanding enabling capacities for managing the 'wicked problem' of nonpoint source water pollution in catchments: a conceptual framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patterson, James J; Smith, Carl; Bellamy, Jennifer

    2013-10-15

    Nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution in catchments is a 'wicked' problem that threatens water quality, water security, ecosystem health and biodiversity, and thus the provision of ecosystem services that support human livelihoods and wellbeing from local to global scales. However, it is a difficult problem to manage because water catchments are linked human and natural systems that are complex, dynamic, multi-actor, and multi-scalar in nature. This in turn raises questions about understanding and influencing change across multiple levels of planning, decision-making and action. A key challenge in practice is enabling implementation of local management action, which can be influenced by a range of factors across multiple levels. This paper reviews and synthesises important 'enabling' capacities that can influence implementation of local management action, and develops a conceptual framework for understanding and analysing these in practice. Important enabling capacities identified include: history and contingency; institutional arrangements; collaboration; engagement; vision and strategy; knowledge building and brokerage; resourcing; entrepreneurship and leadership; and reflection and adaptation. Furthermore, local action is embedded within multi-scalar contexts and therefore, is highly contextual. The findings highlight the need for: (1) a systemic and integrative perspective for understanding and influencing change for managing the wicked problem of NPS water pollution; and (2) 'enabling' social and institutional arenas that support emergent and adaptive management structures, processes and innovations for addressing NPS water pollution in practice. These findings also have wider relevance to other 'wicked' natural resource management issues facing similar implementation challenges. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Effect of landcover/land-use changes on water availability in and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2018-01-15

    Jan 15, 2018 ... The images were downloaded for the June–September period which coincides with the cool dry season of Zimbabwe. Landsat MSS, TM and ETM (30 m resolution) images for the period 1984–2011 were downloaded and used for digital image classification in the Integrated Land and Water Information ...

  13. Application of the Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index 2 to benthos in Dutch transitional and coastal waters

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Loon, W. M. G. M.; Boon, A. R.; Gittenberger, A.; Walvoort, D. J. J.; Lavaleye, M.; Duineveld, G. C. A.; Verschoor, A. J.

    2015-09-01

    The Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index 2 (BEQI2) is the Dutch multi-metric index (MMI) for assessing the status and trend of benthic invertebrates in transitional and coastal waters for the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It contains the same indicators, i.e. species richness, Shannon index and AMBI, as in the multivariate m-AMBI. The latter MMI has been adopted by several European countries in the context of WFD implementation. In contrast to m-AMBI, the BEQI2 calculation procedure has been strongly simplified and consists of two steps, i.e. the separate indicator values are normalized using their long-term reference values resulting in three Ecological Quality Ratios (EQRs), which are subsequently averaged to give one BEQI2 value. Using this method only small numbers of samples need to be analysed by Dutch benthos laboratories annually, without the necessity to co-analyse a larger historical dataset. BEQI2 EQR values appeared to correlate quantitatively very well with m-AMBI EQR values. In addition, a data pooling procedure has been added to the BEQI2 tool which enables the pooling of small core samples (0.01-0.025 m2) into larger standardized data pools of 0.1 m2 in order to meet the data requirements of the AMBI indicator and to obtain comparable reference values. Furthermore, the BEQI2 tool automatically and efficiently converts species synonym names into standardized species names. The BEQI2 tool has been applied to all Dutch benthos data monitored by Rijkswaterstaat in the period of 1991-2010 in the transitional and coastal waters and salt lakes and these results are reported here for the first time. Reference values for species richness and Shannon index (99 percentile values) and AMBI reference values (1 percentile values) were estimated for all water body-ecotopes and are discussed. BEQI2 results for all these water bodies are discussed in view of natural and human pressures. The pressure sensitivity of the BEQI2 for sewage and dredging/dumping, via the

  14. Water-quality assessment of part of the Upper Mississippi River Basin, Minnesota and Wisconsin - Ground-water quality in three different land-use areas, 1996-98

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fong, Alison L.

    2000-01-01

    The surficial sand and gravel aquifer is susceptible to effects from land-use in the Upper Mississippi River Basin study unit of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The purpose of this report is to describe the ground-water quality and the assessment of how different land-uses affect the shallow ground-water quality in the surficial sand and gravel aquifer. Ground-water quality was compared in three different land-use areas; an urban residential/commercial area on the edge of the Anoka Sand Plain in a portion of the Twin Cities metropolitan area (urban study), an intensive agricultural area in the Anoka Sand Plain (agricultural study), and a forested area in the Bemidji-Bagley Sand Plain (forested study). Ground water was sampled and analyzed for about 200 constituents, including physical parameters, major ions, selected trace elements, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, selected pesticides, selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and tritium. The urban study wells were sampled during June and July 1996. The agricultural study wells were sampled during May and September 1998. The forested study wells were sampled during June 1998.

  15. Functionalized Graphene Enables Highly Efficient Solar Thermal Steam Generation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Junlong; Pang, Yunsong; Huang, Weixin; Shaw, Scott K; Schiffbauer, Jarrod; Pillers, Michelle Anne; Mu, Xin; Luo, Shirui; Zhang, Teng; Huang, Yajiang; Li, Guangxian; Ptasinska, Sylwia; Lieberman, Marya; Luo, Tengfei

    2017-06-27

    The ability to efficiently utilize solar thermal energy to enable liquid-to-vapor phase transition has great technological implications for a wide variety of applications, such as water treatment and chemical fractionation. Here, we demonstrate that functionalizing graphene using hydrophilic groups can greatly enhance the solar thermal steam generation efficiency. Our results show that specially functionalized graphene can improve the overall solar-to-vapor efficiency from 38% to 48% at one sun conditions compared to chemically reduced graphene oxide. Our experiments show that such an improvement is a surface effect mainly attributed to the more hydrophilic feature of functionalized graphene, which influences the water meniscus profile at the vapor-liquid interface due to capillary effect. This will lead to thinner water films close to the three-phase contact line, where the water surface temperature is higher since the resistance of thinner water film is smaller, leading to more efficient evaporation. This strategy of functionalizing graphene to make it more hydrophilic can be potentially integrated with the existing macroscopic heat isolation strategies to further improve the overall solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency.

  16. Land and water management paradigms in Iran: technical, social and ethical aspects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Balali, M.R.; Keulartz, F.W.J.; Korthals, M.J.J.A.A.

    2007-01-01

    With respect to land and water management in Iran, three paradigms can be distinguished. The pre-modern paradigm can be characterised by its key technical system (the `qanat¿ underground irrigation system), its main social institution (the `buneh¿ cooperative organisation of agricultural

  17. Integrating Process and Factor Understanding of Environmental Innovation by Water Utilities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Spiller, Marc; McIntosh, Brian S.; Seaton, Roger A.F.; Jeffrey, Paul J.

    2015-01-01

    Innovations in technology and organisations are central to enabling the water sector to adapt to major environmental changes such as climate change, land degradation or drinking water pollution. While there are literatures on innovation as a process and on the factors that influence it, there is

  18. Optimal Use of Agricultural Water and Land Resources through Reconfiguring Crop Planting Structure under Socioeconomic and Ecological Objectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qian Tan

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Many economic, social and ecological problems can be attributed to the scarcity and mismanagement of water and land resources. In this study, a multi-objective fuzzy–robust programming (MOFRP method was developed for supporting the optimal use of land and water resources in agriculture. MOFRP improved existing methods through taking ecological services of crop cultivation into account. It was also capable of reflecting fuzziness in preferences, priorities and parameters that were largely neglected in previous agricultural decision making. This method was applied to address a case in arid northwestern China. Optimal plans of crop cultivation reconfiguration were generated for sustaining local development under economic, ecological and social objectives as well as physical restraints in water and land resources. Compared to the status quo, the optimized plan would increase economic and ecological benefits by 12.2% and 18.8%, respectively. The efficiency of irrigation water could also be enhanced with the economic and ecological benefits per unit water being raised and the water consumption per unit land being reduced. The comparisons of the MOFRP model to four alternatives validated that it was capable of achieving satisfactory benefits and reducing system-violation risks without neglecting valuable uncertain information and ecological services of crops. The proposed method was also applicable to other multi-objective management problems under uncertainty without loss of generality.

  19. Electromyographic signal and force comparisons during maximal voluntary isometric contraction in water and on dry land.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinto, Stephanie Santana; Liedtke, Giane Veiga; Alberton, Cristine Lima; da Silva, Eduardo Marczwski; Cadore, Eduardo Lusa; Kruel, Luiz Fernando Martins

    2010-11-01

    This study was designed to compare surface electromyographic (sEMG) signal and force production during maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVCs) in water and on dry land. The reproducibility of sEMG and isometric force measurements between water and dry land environments was also assessed. Nine women performed MVC for elbow flexion and extension, hip flexion, and extension against identical fixed resistance in both environments. The sEMG signal from biceps brachii, triceps brachii, rectus femoris, and biceps femoris was recorded with waterproof adhesives placed over each electrode. The sEMG and force production showed no significant difference between water and dry land, except for HEX (p = 0.035). In addition, intraclass correlation coefficient values were significant and ranged from moderate to high (0.66-0.96) for sEMG and force production between environments. These results showed that the environment did not influence the sEMG and force in MVC.

  20. Sustained Manned Mars Presence Enabled by E-sail Technology and Asteroid Water Mining

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janhunen, Pekka; Merikallio, Sini; Toivanen, Petri; Envall, M. Jouni

    would be reduced because of intermediate tankings plus opening up the possibility of making the craft reusable for several back and forth trips. The manned spacecraft can be tanked first time at Earth C3, second time in Mars orbit for the return trip, and again in Earth C3 for the next trip if the spacecraft is reusable. When propellant is cheap in Mars orbit, it may also make sense to perform an all-propulsive landing which would make thermal shielding unnecessary. In this case the manned spacecraft would be tanked in Mars orbit two times plus once on the surface per each bidirectional mission. We estimate that the dry mass of cryogenic propellant factories and their associated temporary storage tanks that can process 50 tonnes of water per year is 20 tonnes. By developing the E-sail as enabling technology and by employing asteroid water mining, we think that sustained bidirectional Earth-Mars manned transportation could be created which would asymptotically require no more resources than what running the International Space Station requires today. References [1] Janhunen, P., et. al, Electric solar wind sail: Towards test missions (Invited article), Rev. Sci. Instrum., 81, 111301, 2010. [2] Janhunen, P., A. Quarta and G. Mengali G., Electric solar wind sail mass budget model, Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 2, 85-95, 2013.

  1. Land Use and Land Cover Change Analysis along the Coastal ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Agribotix GCS 077

    are carried out on the land usually effect changes in its cover. ... The FAO document on land cover classification systems, (2000) partly answers this ... over the surface land, including water, vegetation, bare soils and or artificial structures. ... diseases may occur more readily in areas exposed by Land Use and Land Cover ...

  2. Glass transition and intermixing of amorphous water and methanol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Souda, Ryutaro

    2004-01-01

    The diffusion of molecules in amorphous water and methanol films has been investigated on the basis of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry as a function of temperature. The glass-liquid transition of the amorphous water film occurs at 130-145 K as confirmed from the surface segregation of embedded methanol molecules. The morphology of the pure amorphous water film changes drastically at 160 K as a consequence of dewetting induced by the surface tension and the strongly decreased viscosity of the film. The morphology of the amorphous methanol film changes at 115 K following the self-diffusion onset at 80 K. The binary films of water and heavy methanol are intermixed completely at 136 K as evidenced by the occurrence of the H/D exchange

  3. Hydrochemistry, water quality and land use signatures in an ephemeral tidal river: implications in water management in the southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Kushal; Karim, Md. Rezaul; Akter, Farjana; Islam, Md. Safiqul; Ahmed, Kousik; Rahman, Masudur; Datta, Dilip Kumar; Khan, M. Shah Alam

    2018-05-01

    Despite its complexity and importance in managing water resources in populous deltas, especially in tidal areas, literatures on tidal rivers and their land use linkage in connection to water quality and pollution are rare. Such information is of prior need for Integrated Water Resource Management in water scarce and climate change vulnerable regions, such as the southwestern coast of Bangladesh. Using water quality indices and multivariate analysis, we present here the land use signatures of a dying tidal river due to anthropogenic perturbation. Correlation matrix, hierarchical cluster analysis, factor analysis, and bio-geo-chemical fingerprints were used to quantify the hydro-chemical and anthropogenic processes and identify factors influencing the ionic concentrations. The results show remarkable spatial and temporal variations ( p quality parameters. The lowest solute concentrations are observed at the mid reach of the stream where the agricultural and urban wastewater mix. Agricultural sites show higher concentration of DO, Na+ and K+ reflecting the effects of tidal spill-over and shrimp wastewater effluents nearby. Higher level of Salinity, EC, Cl-, HCO3 -, NO3 -, PO4 3- and TSS characterize the urban sites indicating a signature of land use dominated by direct discharge of household organic waste into the waters. The spatial variation in overall water quality suggests a periodic enhancement of quality especially for irrigation and non-drinking purposes during monsoon and post-monsoon, indicating significant influence of amount of rainfall in the basin. We recommend that, given the recent trend of increasing precipitation and ground water table decrease, such dying tidal river basins may serve as excellent surface water reservoir to supplement quality water supply to the region.

  4. Hydro-economic modeling of integrated solutions for the water-energy-land nexus in Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parkinson, S.; Kahil, M.; Wada, Y.; Krey, V.; Byers, E.; Johnson, N. A.; Burek, P.; Satoh, Y.; Willaarts, B.; Langan, S.; Riahi, K.

    2017-12-01

    This study focused on the development of the Extended Continental-scale Hydro-economic Optimization model (ECHO) and its application to the analysis of long-term water, energy and land use pathways for Africa. The framework is important because it integrates multi-decadal decisions surrounding investments into new water infrastructure, electric power generation and irrigation technologies. The improved linkages in ECHO reveal synergies between water allocation strategies across sectors and the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from electricity supply. The African case study features a reduced-form transboundary river network and associated environmental flow constraints covering surface and groundwater withdrawals. Interactions between local water constraints and the continental-scale economy are captured in the model through the combination of regional electricity markets. Spatially-explicit analysis of land availability is used to restrict future reservoir expansion. The analysis demonstrates the massive investments required to ensure rapidly expanding water, energy and food demands in Africa aligned with human development objectives are met in a sustainable way. Modeled constraints on environmental flows in line with presumptive ecological guidelines trigger diffusion of energy-intensive water supply technologies in water-stressed regions, with implications for the cost and speed of the electricity sector decarbonization required to achieve climate targets.

  5. Quantifying longitudinal land use change from land degradation to rehabilitation in the headwaters of Tekeze-Atbara Basin, Ethiopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gebremicael, T G; Mohamed, Y A; van der Zaag, P; Hagos, E Y

    2018-05-01

    The spatiotemporal variability of the Land Use/Cover (LULC) is a strong influence on the land management and hydrological processes of a river basin. In particular in semi-arid regions like the Tekeze-Atbara (T-A) basin, accurate information about LULC change is a prerequisite for improved land and water management. The human-induced landscape transformations in the T-A basin, one of the main tributaries of the Nile River, were investigated for the last four decades (1972-2014). Separate LULC maps for the years 1972, 1989, 2001, and 2014 were developed based on satellite images, Geographic Information System (GIS) and ground information. Change detection analysis based on the transitional probability matrix was applied to identify systematic transitions among the LULC categories. The results show that >72% of the landscape has changed its category during the past 43years. LULC in the basin experienced significant shifts from one category to other categories by 61%, 47%, and 45%, in 1972-1989, 1989-2001, and 2001-2014, respectively. Although both net and swap (simultaneous gain and loss of a given LULC during a certain period) change occurred, the latter is more dominant. Natural vegetation cover, including forests, reduced drastically with the rapid expansion of crops, grazing areas and bare lands during the first two decades. However, vegetation started to recover since the 1990s, when some of the agricultural and bare lands have turned into vegetated areas. Forest land showed a continuous decreasing pattern, however, it has increased by 28% in the last period (2001-2014). In contrast, plantation trees have increased by 254% in the last three decades. The increase of vegetation cover is a result of intensive watershed management programs during the last two decades. The driving forces of changes were also discussed and rapid population growth and changing government policies were found to be the most important. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Relationship between land use and water quality in Pesanggrahan River

    Science.gov (United States)

    Effendi, Hefni; Muslimah, Sri; Ayu Permatasari, Prita

    2018-05-01

    Pesanggrahan River watershed has several activities such as residential and commercial area in its catchment area. The purpose of this study was to analyse water quality related to spatial land use in Pesanggrahan River using GIS Analysis. River water quality in some locations, did not meet water quality standard of class III. From pollution load estimation it was revealed that segment 2 (Bogor City) has the highest BOD, COD, and TSS of 15,043 kg/day, 25,619 kg/day, and 18,104 kg/day respectively. On the other hand, the most developed area in Pesanggrahan Watershed is located in segment 7 (24.5%). Hence, it can be concluded that although an area has a fairly small developed area, high urban activity can cause high BOD, COD, and TSS.

  7. Modelling the effects of land cover and climate change on soil water partitioning in a boreal headwater catchment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hailong; Tetzlaff, Doerthe; Soulsby, Chris

    2018-03-01

    Climate and land cover are two major factors affecting the water fluxes and balance across spatiotemporal scales. These two factors and their impacts on hydrology are often interlinked. The quantification and differentiation of such impacts is important for developing sustainable land and water management strategies. Here, we calibrated the well-known Hydrus-1D model in a data-rich boreal headwater catchment in Scotland to assess the role of two dominant vegetation types (shrubs vs. trees) in regulating the soil water partitioning and balance. We also applied previously established climate projections for the area and replaced shrubs with trees to imitate current land use change proposals in the region, so as to quantify the potential impacts of climate and land cover changes on soil hydrology. Under tree cover, evapotranspiration and deep percolation to recharge groundwater was about 44% and 57% of annual precipitation, whilst they were about 10% lower and 9% higher respectively under shrub cover in this humid, low energy environment. Meanwhile, tree canopies intercepted 39% of annual precipitation in comparison to 23% by shrubs. Soils with shrub cover stored more water than tree cover. Land cover change was shown to have stronger impacts than projected climate change. With a complete replacement of shrubs with trees under future climate projections at this site, evapotranspiration is expected to increase by ∼39% while percolation to decrease by 21% relative to the current level, more pronounced than the modest changes in the two components (seasons, which may result in water stress experienced by the vegetation. The findings provide an important evidence base for adaptive management strategies of future changes in low-energy humid environments, where vegetation growth is usually restricted by radiative energy and not water availability while few studies that quantify soil water partitioning exist.

  8. Controlled Environments Enable Adaptive Management in Aquatic Ecosystems Under Altered Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bubenheim, David L.

    2016-01-01

    Ecosystems worldwide are impacted by altered environment conditions resulting from climate, drought, and land use changes. Gaps in the science knowledge base regarding plant community response to these novel and rapid changes limit both science understanding and management of ecosystems. We describe how CE Technologies have enabled the rapid supply of gap-filling science, development of ecosystem simulation models, and remote sensing assessment tools to provide science-informed, adaptive management methods in the impacted aquatic ecosystem of the California Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Delta is the hub for California's water, supplying Southern California agriculture and urban communities as well as the San Francisco Bay area. The changes in environmental conditions including temperature, light, and water quality and associated expansion of invasive aquatic plants negatively impact water distribution and ecology of the San Francisco Bay/Delta complex. CE technologies define changes in resource use efficiencies, photosynthetic productivity, evapotranspiration, phenology, reproductive strategies, and spectral reflectance modifications in native and invasive species in response to altered conditions. We will discuss how the CE technologies play an enabling role in filling knowledge gaps regarding plant response to altered environments, parameterization and validation of ecosystem models, development of satellite-based, remote sensing tools, and operational management strategies.

  9. Land application of waste waters in the Alligator Rivers region, Northern Territory - environmental constraints on design and operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kearns, A.

    1986-01-01

    The existing uranium mines in the Alligator River Region presently operate under a no release water management regime for water stored within the designated restricted release zones (RRZ). This water is of variable quality ranging from rainwater influenced by runoff from the mill sites and ore stockpiles to mill process water stored within the trailings repositories. There is a pressing need to reduce the volume of stored RRZ water at Nabarlek as a prerequisite to decommissioning. There is also a requirement at Ranger to rapidly reduce the volume of stored water in the mine pit at the end of the season to allow the mining of ore. Land application of RRZ water by spray irrigation has been investigated at both sites because it offers the benefits of applying chemical constituents in the wastewater within a clearly defined irrigation area. the environmental planning for the design of a land application system involves calculations of the chemical load in the wastewater and evaluation of the assimilative capacity of the soil-plant system. The monsoon climate, lateritic soil and fluctuating water table creates a unique set of environmental constraints and conditions in which to design and operate a successful land application system for the treatment of stored water at minesites within ecologically sensitive areas

  10. Water-Enabled Healing of Conducting Polymer Films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shiming; Cicoira, Fabio

    2017-10-01

    The conducting polymer polyethylenedioxythiophene doped with polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) has become one of the most successful organic conductive materials due to its high air stability, high electrical conductivity, and biocompatibility. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been paid to its fundamental physicochemical properties, but its healability has not been explored in depth. This communication reports the first observation of mechanical and electrical healability of PEDOT:PSS thin films. Upon reaching a certain thickness (about 1 µm), PEDOT:PSS thin films damaged with a sharp blade can be electrically healed by simply wetting the damaged area with water. The process is rapid, with a response time on the order of 150 ms. Significantly, after being wetted the films are transformed into autonomic self-healing materials without the need of external stimulation. This work reveals a new property of PEDOT:PSS and enables its immediate use in flexible and biocompatible electronics, such as electronic skin and bioimplanted electronics, placing conducting polymers on the front line for healing applications in electronics. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  11. A good road lies easy on the land: Water harvesting from low-standard rural roads

    OpenAIRE

    Zeedyk, B.

    2006-01-01

    Metadata only record This book addresses the construction and maintenance of unpaved rural roads including strategies, techniques and practices for dealing with problems frequently encountered by landowners, land managers and maintenance personnel. Running water is the primary force affecting road condition and generating the need for maintenance. Economical maintenance means dealing effectively with water, but not just surface runoff. Standing water, seeping water, rain, snow, ice, frost ...

  12. Aerosol optical thickness retrieval over land and water using SCIAMACHY/GOME data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kusmierczyk-Michulec, J.; Leeuw, G. de

    2005-01-01

    An algorithm for the retrieval of the aerosol optical thickness over land and over water from SCIAMACHY (SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for Atmospheric ChartographY) is presented. Because calibrated data are not yet available for the SCIAMACHY channels used by the algorithm, the concepts

  13. A web-enabled system for integrated assessment of watershed development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dymond, R.; Lohani, V.; Regmi, B.; Dietz, R.

    2004-01-01

    Researchers at Virginia Tech have put together the primary structure of a web enabled integrated modeling system that has potential to be a planning tool to help decision makers and stakeholders in making appropriate watershed management decisions. This paper describes the integrated system, including data sources, collection, analysis methods, system software and design, and issues of integrating the various component models. The integrated system has three modeling components, namely hydrology, economics, and fish health, and is accompanied by descriptive 'help files.' Since all three components have a related spatial aspect, GIS technology provides the integration platform. When completed, a user will access the integrated system over the web to choose pre-selected land development patterns to create a 'what if' scenario using an easy-to-follow interface. The hydrologic model simulates effects of the scenario on annual runoff volume, flood peaks of various return periods, and ground water recharge. The economics model evaluates tax revenue and fiscal costs as a result of a new land development scenario. The fish health model evaluates effects of new land uses in zones of influence to the health of fish populations in those areas. Copyright ASCE 2004.

  14. Using Vision System Technologies to Enable Operational Improvements for Low Visibility Approach and Landing Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kramer, Lynda J.; Ellis, Kyle K. E.; Bailey, Randall E.; Williams, Steven P.; Severance, Kurt; Le Vie, Lisa R.; Comstock, James R.

    2014-01-01

    Flight deck-based vision systems, such as Synthetic and Enhanced Vision System (SEVS) technologies, have the potential to provide additional margins of safety for aircrew performance and enable the implementation of operational improvements for low visibility surface, arrival, and departure operations in the terminal environment with equivalent efficiency to visual operations. To achieve this potential, research is required for effective technology development and implementation based upon human factors design and regulatory guidance. This research supports the introduction and use of Synthetic Vision Systems and Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (SVS/EFVS) as advanced cockpit vision technologies in Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) operations. Twelve air transport-rated crews participated in a motion-base simulation experiment to evaluate the use of SVS/EFVS in NextGen low visibility approach and landing operations. Three monochromatic, collimated head-up display (HUD) concepts (conventional HUD, SVS HUD, and EFVS HUD) and two color head-down primary flight display (PFD) concepts (conventional PFD, SVS PFD) were evaluated in a simulated NextGen Chicago O'Hare terminal environment. Additionally, the instrument approach type (no offset, 3 degree offset, 15 degree offset) was experimentally varied to test the efficacy of the HUD concepts for offset approach operations. The data showed that touchdown landing performance were excellent regardless of SEVS concept or type of offset instrument approach being flown. Subjective assessments of mental workload and situation awareness indicated that making offset approaches in low visibility conditions with an EFVS HUD or SVS HUD may be feasible.

  15. Molecular water oxidation mechanisms followed by transition metals: state of the art.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sala, Xavier; Maji, Somnath; Bofill, Roger; García-Antón, Jordi; Escriche, Lluís; Llobet, Antoni

    2014-02-18

    One clean alternative to fossil fuels would be to split water using sunlight. However, to achieve this goal, researchers still need to fully understand and control several key chemical reactions. One of them is the catalytic oxidation of water to molecular oxygen, which also occurs at the oxygen evolving center of photosystem II in green plants and algae. Despite its importance for biology and renewable energy, the mechanism of this reaction is not fully understood. Transition metal water oxidation catalysts in homogeneous media offer a superb platform for researchers to investigate and extract the crucial information to describe the different steps involved in this complex reaction accurately. The mechanistic information extracted at a molecular level allows researchers to understand both the factors that govern this reaction and the ones that derail the system to cause decomposition. As a result, rugged and efficient water oxidation catalysts with potential technological applications can be developed. In this Account, we discuss the current mechanistic understanding of the water oxidation reaction catalyzed by transition metals in the homogeneous phase, based on work developed in our laboratories and complemented by research from other groups. Rather than reviewing all of the catalysts described to date, we focus systematically on the several key elements and their rationale from molecules studied in homogeneous media. We organize these catalysts based on how the crucial oxygen-oxygen bond step takes place, whether via a water nucleophilic attack or via the interaction of two M-O units, rather than based on the nuclearity of the water oxidation catalysts. Furthermore we have used DFT methodology to characterize key intermediates and transition states. The combination of both theory and experiments has allowed us to get a complete view of the water oxidation cycle for the different catalysts studied. Finally, we also describe the various deactivation pathways for

  16. Variations of physicochemical properties in Kalpakkam coastal waters, east coast of India, during southwest to northeast monsoon transition period.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satpathy, Kamala Kanta; Mohanty, Ajit K; Sahu, Gouri; Sarkar, Santosh K; Natesan, Usha; Venkatesan, R; Prasad, M V R

    2010-12-01

    A significant variation in physicochemical properties of the Kalpakkam coastal waters, eastern part of India, was observed during the event of southwest to northeast monsoon transition. Increase in nitrate, total nitrogen, and silicate concentrations were noticed during post-transition period. Ammonia concentration was at peak during transition period as compared to pre- and post-transition periods. Hypo-saline condition (~23 psu) was observed during post-transition as the surface water salinity decreased by ~10 psu from the pre-transitional values. Turbidity, suspended particulate matter, phosphate and total phosphorous values decreased marginally, coinciding with northward to southward current reversal. A drastic decrease (eightfold) in chlorophyll-a concentration was observed in the coastal water during post-transition period.

  17. Land Cover Monitoring for Water Resources Management in Angola

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miguel, Irina; Navarro, Ana; Rolim, Joao; Catalao, Joao; Silva, Joel; Painho, Marco; Vekerdy, Zoltan

    2016-08-01

    The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of improved temporal resolution and multi-source satellite data (SAR and optical) on land cover mapping and monitoring for efficient water resources management. For that purpose, we developed an integrated approach based on image classification and on NDVI and SAR backscattering (VV and VH) time series for land cover mapping and crop's irrigation requirements computation. We analysed 28 SPOT-5 Take-5 images with high temporal revisiting time (5 days), 9 Sentinel-1 dual polarization GRD images and in-situ data acquired during the crop growing season. Results show that the combination of images from different sources provides the best information to map agricultural areas. The increase of the images temporal resolution allows the improvement of the estimation of the crop parameters, and then, to calculate of the crop's irrigation requirements. However, this aspect was not fully exploited due to the lack of EO data for the complete growing season.

  18. Effect of water content on the glass transition temperature of mixtures of sugars, polymers, and penetrating cryoprotectants in physiological buffer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drake, Andrew C; Lee, Youngjoo; Burgess, Emma M; Karlsson, Jens O M; Eroglu, Ali; Higgins, Adam Z

    2018-01-01

    Long-term storage of viable mammalian cells is important for applications ranging from in vitro fertilization to cell therapy. Cryopreservation is currently the most common approach, but storage in liquid nitrogen is relatively costly and the requirement for low temperatures during shipping is inconvenient. Desiccation is an alternative strategy with the potential to enable viable cell preservation at more convenient storage temperatures without the need for liquid nitrogen. To achieve stability during storage in the dried state it is necessary to remove enough water that the remaining matrix forms a non-crystalline glassy solid. Thus, the glass transition temperature is a key parameter for design of cell desiccation procedures. In this study, we have investigated the effects of moisture content on the glass transition temperature (Tg) of mixtures of sugars (trehalose or raffinose), polymers (polyvinylpyrrolidone or Ficoll), penetrating cryoprotectants (ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, or dimethyl sulfoxide), and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solutes. Aqueous solutions were dried to different moisture contents by equilibration with saturated salt solutions, or by baking at 95°C. The glass transition temperatures of the dehydrated samples were then measured by differential scanning calorimetry. As expected, Tg increased with decreasing moisture content. For example, in a desiccation medium containing 0.1 M trehalose in PBS, Tg ranged from about 360 K for a completely dry sample to about 220 K at a water mass fraction of 0.4. Addition of polymers to the solutions increased Tg, while addition of penetrating cryoprotectants decreased Tg. Our results provide insight into the relationship between relative humidity, moisture content and glass transition temperature for cell desiccation solutions containing sugars, polymers and penetrating cryoprotectants.

  19. Hypotensive response after water-walking and land-walking exercise sessions in healthy trained and untrained women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bocalini DS

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Daniel Rodriguez1, Valter Silva2, Jonato Prestes3, Roberta Luksevicius Rica4, Andrey Jorge Serra5, Danilo Sales Bocalini6, Francisco Luciano Pontes Junior71São Judas Tadeu University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; 2College of Physical Education of Sorocaba, Sorocaba, SP, Brazil; 3Graduation Program in Physical Education, Catholic University of Brasilia, Brasilia-DF, Brazil; 4Department of Physical Education, Arbos College, São Bernardo do Campo, SP, Brazil; 5Department of Physical Education and Laboratory of Rehabilitation Science, Nove de Julho University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; 6Department of Medicine, Federal University of São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; 7School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, BrazilBackground: The aim of this study was to compare post-exercise hypotension after acute sessions of water-walking and land-walking in healthy trained and untrained women.Methods: Twenty-three untrained (n = 12 and trained (n = 11 normotensive women performed two walking sessions in water and on land at 40% of peak VO2 for 45 minutes. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure were measured 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes after the exercise sessions.Results: No differences were found between the groups for age and anthropometric parameters, but peak VO2 for the trained women (45 ± 8 mL/kg/minute was higher than for the untrained women (31 ± 3 mL/kg/minute. No differences were found between the groups with regard to systolic and diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure after water immersion. The heart rate in the trained group (62 ± 3 beats per minute [bpm] was significantly lower (P < 0.05 than in the untrained group (72 ± 4 bpm on land, and after water immersion, this difference disappeared (58 ± 5 bpm in the trained women and 66 ± 5 bpm in the untrained women. Sixty minutes after water-walking, systolic blood pressure (108 ± 8 mmHg vs

  20. Assessing dam development, land use conversion, and climate change pressures on tributary river flows and water quality of the Mekong's Tonle Sap basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cochrane, T. A.; Arias, M. E.; Oeurng, C.; Arnaiz, M.; Piman, T.

    2016-12-01

    The Tonle Sap Lake is Southeast Asia's most productive freshwater fishery, but the productivity of this valuable ecosystem is under threat from extensive development in the lower Mekong. With dams potentially blocking all major tributaries along the lower Mekong River, the role of local Tonle Sap basin tributaries for maintaining environmental flows, sediment loads, and fish recruitment is becoming increasingly critical. Development within the Tonle Sap basin, however, is not stagnant. Developers are proposing extensive dam development in key Tonle Sap tributaries (see Figure). Some dams will provide hydroelectricity and others will provide opportunities for large-scale irrigation resulting in agro-industrial expansion. There is thus an immediate need to assess the current situation and understand future effects of dam development and land use conversion under climate change on local riverine ecosystems. A combination of remote sensing, field visits, and hydro-meteorological data analyses enabled an assessment of water infrastructure and agricultural development in the basin. The application of SWAT for modelling flows and water quality combined with HEC-RESSIM for reservoir operations enabled for a holistic modelling approach. Initial results show that dams and land use change dominate flow and water quality responses, when compared to climate change. Large ongoing dam and irrigation development in the Pursat and Battambang subbasins will critically alter the natural river flows to the Tonle Sap Lake. Some of the observed dams did not have provisions for sediment flushing, clearing of flooded areas, fish passages, or other environmental protection measures. Poor planning and operation of this infrastructure could have dire consequences on the fragile riverine ecosystem of Tonle Sap tributaries, resulting in fish migration barriers, losses in aquatic habitats, and ecological degradation. The seemingly chaotic development in the Tonle Sap basin induces a great level

  1. Community participatory sustainable land management byelaw ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Widespread adoption of sustainable land management (SLM) innovations by land users is considered key in addressing the rampant land degradation in the high rainfall and densely populated highlands of eastern and southern Africa. However, absence of enabling policy environments hamperes massive adoption of SLM ...

  2. Reconnaissance of land-use sources of pesticides in drinking water, McKenzie River, Oregon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Valerie J.; Anderson, Chauncey W.; Morgenstern, Karl

    2012-01-01

    The Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) provides water and electricity to the City of Eugene, Oregon, from the McKenzie River. In the spring of 2002, EWEB initiated a pesticide monitoring program in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey as part of their Drinking Water Source Protection Plan. Approximately twice yearly pesticide samples were collected from 2002 to 2010 at a suite of sampling sites representing varying land uses in the lower McKenzie River basin. A total of 117 ambient samples were collected from 28 tributary and mainstem sites, including those dominated by forestry, urban, and agricultural activities, as well as the mouths of major tributaries characterized by a mixture of upstream land use. Constituents tested included 175 compounds in filtered water (72 herbicides, 43 insecticides, 10 fungicides, and 36 of their degradation products, as well as 14 pharmaceutical compounds). No attempt was made to sample different site types equivalently; sampling was instead designed primarily to characterize representative storm events during spring and fall runoff conditions in order to assess or confirm the perceived importance of the different site types as sources for pesticides. Sampling was especially limited for agricultural sites, which were only sampled during two spring storm surveys. A total of 43 compounds were detected at least once, with many of these detected only at low concentrations (urban stormwater drains. Urban sites also were associated with the highest concentrations, occasionally exceeding 1 microgram per liter. Many of the compounds detected at urban sites were relatively hydrophobic (do not mix easily with water), persistent, and suspected of endocrine disruption. In contrast, forestry compounds were rarely detectable in the McKenzie River, even though forest land predominates in the basin and forestry pesticide use was detected in small tributaries draining forested lands following application. Agricultural pesticide runoff was

  3. [Prokaryote diversity in water environment of land-ocean ecotone of Zhuhai City].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Xiao-Lan; Chen, Jian-Yao; Zhou, Shi-Ning; Xie, Li-Chun; Fu, Cong-Sheng

    2010-02-01

    By constructing 16S rDNA clone library with PCR-RFLP, the prokaryote diversity in the seawater and groundwater of land-ocean ecotone of Zhuhai City was investigated, and the similarity and cluster analyses were implemented with the database of the sequences in Genbank. In the seawater, Proteobacteria was dominant, followed by Archaeon, Gemmatimonadetes, Candidate division OP3 and OP8, and Planctomycetes, etc.; while in the groundwater, Archaeon was dominant, followed by Proteobacteria, Sphingobacteria, Candidate division OP3, Actinobacterium, and Pseudomonas. The dominant taxa in the groundwater had high similarity to the unculturable groups of marine microorganisms. Large amount of bacteria capable of degrading organic matter and purifying water body existed in the groundwater, suggesting that after long-term evolution, the land-ocean ecotone of Zhuhai City had the characteristics of both land and ocean.

  4. Seawater/Saline Agriculture for Energy, Warming, Water, Rainfall, Land, Food and Minerals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bushnell, Dennis

    2006-01-01

    The combination of the incipient demise of cheap oil and increasing evidence of Global Warming due to anthropogenic fossil carbon release has reinvigorated the need for and efforts on Renewable energy sources, especially for transportation applications. Biomass/Bio-diesel appears to have many benefits compared to Hydrogen, the only other major renewable transportation fuel candidate. Biomass Production is currently limited by available arable land and fresh water. Halophyte Plants and seawater irrigation proffer a wholly new biomass production mantra using wastelands and very plentiful seawater. Such an approach addresses many-to-most of the major emerging Societal Problems including Land, Water, Food, Warming and Energy. For many reasons, including seawater agriculture, portions of the Sahara appear to be viable candidates for future Biomass Production. The apparent nonlinearity between vegetation cover and atmospheric conditions over North Africa necessitates serious coupled boundary layer Meteorology and Global Circulation Modeling to ensure that this form of Terra Forming is Favorable and to avoid adverse Unintended Consequences.

  5. Water and Slabs in the Transition Zone - Hydrous Ringwoodite in Diamond

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, D. G.; Brenker, F. E.; Nestola, F.; McNeill, J.; Nasdala, L.; Hutchison, M.; Matveev, S.; Mather, K.; Vincze, L.; Schmitz, S.; Vekemens, B.

    2014-12-01

    Theory and experiments have shown that the Earth's Transition Zone (TZ) could be a major repository for water, due to the ability of the higher-pressure polymorphs of olivine - wadsleyite and ringwoodite - to host up to ~2.5wt. % H2O. Despite experimental demonstration of the water-bearing capacity of these phases, geophysical probes such as electrical conductivity have provided conflicting results, and the issue of whether the TZ contains abundant water remains highly controversial. We report X-ray diffraction, Raman and infra-red spectroscopic evidence for the first terrestrial occurrence of any higher pressure polymorph of olivine: ringwoodite, included in a diamond from Juína, Brazil. The ringwoodite occurs with a Ca-walstromite phase that we interpret to be retrogressed Ca-silicate perovskite. The most likely interpretation of this two-phase assemblage is that it represents a partially retrogressed portion of a somewhat Fe-rich peridotitic mantle, in which hydrous ringwoodite, and former CaSiO3- perovskite co-existed above 15GPa. The ringwoodite has a Mg# of ~ 75, suggesting that it may be mantle hybrised with a more fertile component such as subducted oceanic crust. The water-rich nature of this inclusion (~1.5 wt%), along with the preservation of ringwoodite, is the first direct evidence that, at least locally, the TZ is hydrous, to about 1 wt%. As well as being in agreement with recent magnetotelluric estimates of the TZ water content, this amount of water helps to reconcile measured TZ seismic velocities with those predicted from lab experiments. The finding also indicates that some kimberlites must have their primary sources in this deep mantle region. The high water content of the ringwoodite suggests that it was not close to the mantle geotherm when trapped in the diamond. This may be an indication that the the assemblage was part of a water-rich subducted slab out of thermal equilibrium, within the transition zone. The water-rich nature of the

  6. Assessing the Impact of Population Growth, Climate Change, and Land Use Change on Water Resources in India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, N.; Cherkauer, K. A.

    2014-12-01

    India is poised to become the most populous country in the world by 2019 and reach a population of over 2 billion by 2050 based on current growth rates. It is also a region which will be under severe socio-economic and environmental stress if mitigation efforts are not adapted. In the past 10 years the population of India has grown by an average rate of 17 million people per year. In addition to unprecedented population growth, rapid urbanization and industrialization are straining the overburdened environmental system. This rapid growth in population, urbanization and industrialized will result in increased demand for food, requiring expansion of agricultural resources. Since total agricultural land in India has been relatively constant over the past 10 years the demand for additional food has to be partly met by enhanced production on existing land. Arable land in India has declined by around 3% according to FAOSTAT while the total agricultural area under irrigation has increased by about 9% thus further straining its water resources. In addition projections for future climate indicate that India is one of the regions where water resources are expected to be negatively impacted. Total agriculture water withdrawal in India increased by approximately 18 % from 2000-2010 while the total per capita water withdrawal increased by over 9% from 2000-2010. Total freshwater withdrawal as percentage of renewable water resources was around 40% in 2010. In addition, recent mandates of biofuel policies in India are also expected to impact its water resources. The combined impact of these various factors on future water availability in India could be one of the most severe globally due its unprecedented increase in population, food production and industrialization. In this study we assess the impact of land use and climate change on water resources over southern India in the face of a growing population and interest in development of national biofuel supplies. We use

  7. The development and application of a decision support system for land management in the Lake Tahoe Basin—The Land Use Simulation Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forney, William M.; Oldham, I. Benson; Crescenti, Neil

    2013-01-01

    This report describes and applies the Land Use Simulation Model (LUSM), the final modeling product for the long-term decision support project funded by the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act and developed by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Geographic Science Center for the Lake Tahoe Basin. Within the context of the natural-resource management and anthropogenic issues of the basin and in an effort to advance land-use and land-cover change science, this report addresses the problem of developing the LUSM as a decision support system. It includes consideration of land-use modeling theory, fire modeling and disturbance in the wildland-urban interface, historical land-use change and its relation to active land management, hydrologic modeling and the impact of urbanization as related to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board’s recently developed Total Maximum Daily Load report for the basin, and biodiversity in urbanizing areas. The LUSM strives to inform land-management decisions in a complex regulatory environment by simulating parcel-based, land-use transitions with a stochastic, spatially constrained, agent-based model. The tool is intended to be useful for multiple purposes, including the multiagency Pathway 2007 regional planning effort, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Regional Plan Update, and complementary research endeavors and natural-resource-management efforts. The LUSM is an Internet-based, scenario-generation decision support tool for allocating retired and developed parcels over the next 20 years. Because USGS staff worked closely with TRPA staff and their “Code of Ordinances” and analyzed datasets of historical management and land-use practices, this report accomplishes the task of providing reasonable default values for a baseline scenario that can be used in the LUSM. One result from the baseline scenario for the model suggests that all vacant parcels could be allocated within 12 years. Results also include

  8. Modeling the Effects of Land Use on the Quality of Water, Air, Noise, and Habitat for a Five-County Region in Georgia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virginia H. Dale

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available A computer simulation model, the Regional Simulator (RSim, was constructed to project how land-use changes affect the quality of water, air, noise, and habitat of species of special concern. RSim was designed to simulate these environmental impacts for five counties in Georgia that surround and include Fort Benning. The model combines existing data and modeling approaches to simulate the effects of land-cover changes on: nutrient export by hydrological unit; peak 8-h average ozone concentrations; noise caused by small arms and blasts; and habitat changes for the rare Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis and gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus. The model also includes submodules for urban growth, new urbanization influenced by existing roads, nonurban land cover transitions, and a new military training area under development at Fort Benning. The model was run under scenarios of business as usual (BAU and greatly increased urban growth for the region. The projections show that the effects of high urban growth will likely differ from those of BAU for noise and nitrogen and phosphorus loadings to surface water, but not for peak airborne ozone concentrations, at least in the absence of associated increases in industry and transportation use or technology changes. In both scenarios, no effects of urban growth are anticipated for existing populations of the federally endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker. In contrast, habitat for gopher tortoise in the five-county region is projected to decline by 5 and 40% in the BAU and high urban growth scenarios, respectively. RSim is designed to assess the relative environmental impacts of planned activities both inside and outside military installations and to address concerns related to encroachment and transboundary influences.

  9. Monitoring algal blooms in drinking water reservoirs using the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keith, Darryl; Rover, Jennifer; Green, Jason; Zalewsky, Brian; Charpentier, Mike; Hursby, Glen; Bishop, Joseph

    2018-01-01

    In this study, we demonstrated that the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor is a powerful tool that can provide periodic and system-wide information on the condition of drinking water reservoirs. The OLI is a multispectral radiometer (30 m spatial resolution) that allows ecosystem observations at spatial and temporal scales that allow the environmental community and water managers another means to monitor changes in water quality not feasible with field-based monitoring. Using the provisional Land Surface Reflectance product and field-collected chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentrations from drinking water monitoring programs in North Carolina and Rhode Island, we compared five established approaches for estimating chl-aconcentrations using spectral data. We found that using the three band reflectance approach with a combination of OLI spectral bands 1, 3, and 5 produced the most promising results for accurately estimating chl-a concentrations in lakes (R2 value of 0.66; root mean square error value of 8.9 µg l−1). Using this model, we forecast the spatial and temporal variability of chl-a for Jordan Lake, a recreational and drinking water source in piedmont North Carolina and several small ponds that supply drinking water in southeastern Rhode Island.

  10. Monitoring of Trichloroethene and Tetrachloroethene Content in Soil-Water Environment in Third Phase of Ecological Audit of Land

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pusz Agnieszka

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Trichloroethene (TCE and tetrachloroethene (PCE are chemical compounds which pose a serious threat for human health. Their specific properties make it possible that these substances may linger in soil and water for many years. These are the reasons why wells with water designed for drinking purposes have been subject of monitoring since 2006. This paper presents the results of monitoring research conducted in the soil-water environment within the framework in third phase of an ecological audit of land. The ecological audit of land made it possible to identify the cause and degree of the degradation, and helped formulate rationale for remedy decisions pertaining to the land (remediation/reclamation. The objective of the paper was to determine the pollution status of the soil-water environment and, subsequently, monitor (in years 2008-2010 the contents of the hazardous substances, namely trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene, within the area of the potential impact of metallurgical plant located in borders of the Main Underground Water Reservoir Wierzbica-Ostrowiec (GZWP 420 in in voivodeship Świętokrzyskie.

  11. The land management perspective

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enemark, Stig

    2006-01-01

    paradigm. In many countries, and especially developing countries and countries in transition, the national capacity to manage land rights, restrictions and responsibilities is not well developed in terms of mature institutions and the necessary human resources and skills. In this regard, the capacity......Land management is the process by which the resources of land are put into good effect. Land management encompasses all activities associated with the management of land that are required to achieve sustainable development. The concept of land includes properties and natural resources and thereby...... encompasses the total natural and built environment. Land Administration Systems (LAS) are institutional frameworks complicated by the tasks they must perform, by national cultural, political and judicial settings, and by technology. This paper facilitates an overall understanding of the land management...

  12. Pressure Dependence of the Liquid-Liquid Phase Transition of Nanopore Water Doped Slightly with Hydroxylamine, and a Phase Behavior Predicted for Pure Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagoe, Atsushi; Iwaki, Shinji; Oguni, Masaharu; Tôzaki, Ken-ichi

    2014-09-01

    Phase transition behaviors of confined pure water and confined water doped with a small amount of hydroxylamine (HA) with a mole fraction of xHA = 0.03 were examined by high-pressure differential thermal analyses at 0.1, 50, 100, and 150 MPa; the average diameters of silica pores used were 2.0 and 2.5 nm. A liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) of the confined HA-doped water was clearly observed and its pressurization effect could be evaluated, unlike in the experiments on undoped water. It was found that pressurization causes the transition temperature (Ttrs) to linearly decrease, indicating that the low-temperature phase has a lower density than the high-temperature one. Transition enthalpy (ΔtrsH) decreased steeply with increasing pressure. Considering the linear decrease in Ttrs with increasing pressure, the steep decrease in ΔtrsH indicates that the LLPT effect of the HA-doped water attenuates with pressure. We present a new scenario of the phase behavior concerning the LLPT of pure water based on the analogy from the behavior of slightly HA-doped water, where a liquid-liquid critical point (LLCP) and a coexistence line are located in a negative-pressure regime but not in a positive-pressure one. It is reasonably understood that doping a small amount of HA into water results in negative chemical pressurization and causes the LLPT to occur even at ambient pressure.

  13. Potential in hot and tepid waters in the department of Landes - Present and future applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hauquin, J.P.; Godard, J.M.; Tronel, F.; Pouchan, P.

    1994-12-31

    This study of the geothermal waters potentialities in the Landes department has selectively reviewed the areas of interest in respect of geology and hydrogeology and gives a picture of their potential valorizations. In the Landes, the exploitation of geothermal fields outside of the use for spa bathing was mainly geared to conventional applications (flats heating, swimming pools). Today geothermal potentialities can be extended to balneotherapy, horticultural and market garden greenhouses, fish farming and wood drying. The study performed delivers a data base to be used by the investor to define and to accurately devise their projects of hot and tepid waters utilization. (Authors). 12 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.

  14. An Evaluation of Water and Land Uses in the Kano River Project ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    MICHAEL

    project farmers apply irrigation water and cultivate land to the levels specified by the project ... to efficient performance of the irrigation project, and, hence a threat to a sustainable irrigation development. @JASEM ... sectors and for implementation and management of ..... complex innovations, which require a lot of time for.

  15. When land breezes collide: Converging diurnal winds over small bodies of water

    OpenAIRE

    Gille, ST; Llewellyn Smith, SG

    2014-01-01

    © 2013 Royal Meteorological Society. Over enclosed and semi-enclosed bodies of water, the land-breeze/sea-breeze circulation is expected to be modified by the presence of opposing coastlines. These effects are studied using satellite scatterometer surface wind observations from the QuikSCAT and ADEOS-2 tandem mission from April-October 2003. Winds are studied for six bodies of water: the Red Sea, the Gulf of California, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. T...

  16. NASA's Water Solutions Using Remote Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toll, David

    2012-01-01

    NASA Water Resources works within Earth sciences to leverage investments of space-based observation, model results, and development and deployment of enabling technologies, systems, and capabilities into water resources management decision support tools for the sustainable use of water. Earth science satellite observations and modelling products provide a huge volume of valuable data in both near-real-time and extended back nearly 50 years about the Earth's land surface conditions such as land cover type, vegetation type and health, precipitation, snow, soil moisture, and water levels and radiation. Observations of this type combined with models and analysis enable satellite-based assessment of the water cycle. With increasing population pressure and water usage coupled with climate variability and change, water issues are being reported by numerous groups as the most critical environmental problems facing us in the 21st century. Competitive uses and the prevalence of river basins and aquifers that extend across boundaries engender political tensions between communities, stakeholders and countries. The NASA Water Resources Program has the objective to provide NASA products to help deal with these issues with the goal for the sustainable use of water. The Water Resources program organizes its projects under five functional themes: 1) stream-flow and flood forecasting; 2) water consumptive use (includes evapotranspiration) and irrigation; 3) drought; 4) water quality; and 5) climate and water resources. NASA primarily works with national and international groups such as other US government agencies (NOAA, EPA, USGS, USAID) and various other groups to maximize the widest use of the water products. A summary of NASA's water activities linked to helping solve issues for developing countries will be highlighted.

  17. Long-term rise of the Water Table in the Northeast US: Climate Variability, Land-Use Change, or Angry Beavers?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boutt, D. F.

    2011-12-01

    The scientific evidence that humans are directly influencing the Earth's natural climate is increasingly compelling. Numerous studies suggest that climate change will lead to changes in the seasonality of surface water availability thereby increasing the need for groundwater development to offset those shortages. Research suggests that the Northeast region of the U.S. is experiencing significant changes to its' natural climate and hydrologic systems. Previous analysis of a long-term regional compilation of the water table response to the last 60 years of climate variability in New England documented a wide range of variability. The investigation evaluated the physical mechanisms, natural variability and response of aquifers in New England using 100 long term groundwater monitoring stations with 20 or more years of data coupled with 67 stream gages, 75 precipitation stations, and 43 temperature stations. Groundwater trends were calculated as normalized anomalies and analyzed with respect to regional compiled precipitation, temperature, and streamflow anomalies to understand the sensitivity of the aquifer systems to change. Interestingly, a trend and regression analysis demonstrate that water level fluctuations are producing statistically significant results with increasing water levels over at least the past thirty years at most (80 out of 100) well sites. In this contribution we investigate the causal mechanisms behind the observed ground water level trends using site-by-site land-use change assessments, cluster analysis, and spatial analysis of beaver populations (a possible proxy for beaver activity). Regionally, average annual precipitation has been slightly increasing since 1900, with 95% of the stations having statistically significant positive trends. Despite this, no correlation is observed between the magnitude of the annual precipitation trends and the magnitude of the groundwater level changes. Land-use change throughout the region has primarily taken

  18. Applications of NASA GSFC's Land Information System (LIS) for water resources management in Korea and East-Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, D. H.; Hwang, E.; Jung, H. C.; Kim, E. J.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.; Kumar, S.; Chae, H.; Baeck, S. H.

    2017-12-01

    NASA has contributed to resolve global water issues by utilizing their long-term legacy of remote sensing technologies supported by a state of art software engineering. In this context, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a land surface model framework to monitor and predict water hazards such as flood and drought with the Land Information System (hereafter LIS) applied to North America and beyond it to include a global coverage. However, it is still challenging to apply the LIS to East-Asia where a rice-paddy agriculture is prevalent compared to other parts of the world, but retains a high population density in this region. Thus, this paper introduces recent efforts from the Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) in S. Korea to establish the LIS in East-Asia including Korea, aiming at producing surface hydrology datasets in Asia. One of the ultimate goals of this project is to manage the water hazards in Korea and to provide the water resources dataset in East-Asia by adapting the LIS with their abundantly available hydrometeorological observations to support the LIS applications. Preliminary results from initiating efforts since the beginning of 2017 between NASA and K-water are addressed in the paper to review the possible outcomes after this ongoing project to benefit both entities. Acknowledgements This research was supported by a grant (17AWMP-B079625-04) from Water Management Research Program sponsored by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korean government.

  19. Integrating terrestrial through aquatic processing of water, carbon and nitrogen over hot, cold and lukewarm moments in mixed land use catchments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Band, L. E.; Lin, L.; Duncan, J. M.

    2017-12-01

    A major challenge in understanding and managing freshwater volumes and quality in mixed land use catchments is the detailed heterogeneity of topography, soils, canopy, and inputs of water and biogeochemicals. The short space and time scale dynamics of sources, transport and processing of water, carbon and nitrogen in natural and built environments can have a strong influence on the timing and magnitude of watershed runoff and nutrient production, ecosystem cycling and export. Hydroclimate variability induces a functional interchange of terrestrial and aquatic environments across their transition zone with the temporal and spatial expansion and contraction of soil wetness, standing and flowing water over seasonal, diurnal and storm event time scales. Variation in sources and retention of nutrients at these scales need to be understood and represented to design optimal mitigation strategies. This paper discusses the conceptual framework used to design both simulation and measurement approaches, and explores these dynamics using an integrated terrestrial-aquatic watershed model of coupled water-carbon-nitrogen processes at resolutions necessary to resolve "hot spot/hot moment" phenomena in two well studied catchments in Long Term Ecological Research sites. The potential utility of this approach for design and assessment of urban green infrastructure and stream restoration strategies is illustrated.

  20. A land-use and water-quality history of White Rock Lake Reservoir, Dallas, Texas, based on paleolimnological analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Platt, Bradbury J.; Van Metre, P.C.

    1997-01-01

    White Rock Lake reservoir in Dallas, Texas contains a 150-cm sediment record of silty clay that documents land-use changes since its construction in 1912. Pollen analysis corroborates historical evidence that between 1912 and 1950 the watershed was primarily agricultural. Land disturbance by plowing coupled with strong and variable spring precipitation caused large amounts of sediment to enter the lake during this period. Diatoms were not preserved at this time probably because of low productivity compared to diatom dissolution by warm, alkaline water prior to burial in the sediments. After 1956, the watershed became progressively urbanized. Erosion decreased, land stabilized, and pollen of riparian trees increased as the lake water became somewhat less turbid. By 1986 the sediment record indicates that diatom productivity had increased beyond rates of diatom destruction. Neither increased nutrients nor reduced pesticides can account for increased diatom productivity, but grain size studies imply that before 1986 diatoms were light limited by high levels of turbidity. This study documents how reservoirs may relate to land-use practices and how watershed management could extend reservoir life and improve water quality.

  1. Geo-spatial analysis of land-water resource degradation in two economically contrasting agricultural regions adjoining national capital territory (Delhi).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaur, Ravinder; Minhas, P S; Jain, P C; Singh, P; Dubey, D S

    2009-07-01

    The present study was aimed at characterizing the soil-water resource degradation in the rural areas of Gurgaon and Mewat districts, the two economically contrasting areas in policy zones-II and III of the National Capital Region (NCR), and assessing the impact of the study area's local conditions on the type and extent of resource degradation. This involved generation of detailed spatial information on the land use, cropping pattern, farming practices, soils and surface/ground waters of Gurgaon and Mewat districts through actual resource surveys, standard laboratory methods and GIS/remote sensing techniques. The study showed that in contrast to just 2.54% (in rabi season) to 4.87% (in kharif season) of agricultural lands in Gurgaon district, about 11.77% (in rabi season) to 24.23% (in kharif season) of agricultural lands in Mewat district were irrigated with saline to marginally saline canal water. Further, about 10.69% of agricultural lands in the Gurgaon district and 42.15% of agricultural lands in the Mewat district were drain water irrigated. A large part of this surface water irrigated area, particularly in Nuh (48.7%), Nagina (33.5%), and Punhana (24.1%) blocks of Mewat district, was either waterlogged (7.4% area with water depth) or at risk of being waterlogged (17.1% area with 2-3 m ground water depth). Local resource inventory showed prevalence of several illegal private channels in Mewat district. These private channels divert degraded canal waters into the nearby intersecting drains and thereby increase extent of surface irrigated agricultural lands in the Mewat district. Geo-spatial analysis showed that due to seepage of these degraded waters from unlined drains and canals, ground waters of about 39.6% of Mewat district were salt affected (EC(m)ean = 7.05 dS/m and SAR(m)ean = 7.71). Besides, sub-surface drinking waters of almost the entire Mewat district were contaminated with undesirable concentrations of chromium (Cr 2.0-3.23 ppm), manganese (Mn: 0

  2. Agricultural irrigated land-use inventory for the counties in the Suwannee River Water Management District in Florida, 2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marella, Richard L.; Dixon, Joann F.; Berry, Darbi R.

    2016-07-28

    A detailed inventory of irrigated crop acreage is not available at the level of resolution needed to accurately estimate agricultural water use or to project future water demands in many Florida counties. A detailed digital map and summary of irrigated acreage during the 2015 growing season was developed for 13 of the 15 counties that compose the Suwannee River Water Management District. The irrigated areas were delineated using land-use data, orthoimagery, and information obtained from the water management district consumptive water-use permits that were then field verified between May and November of 2015. Selected attribute data were collected for the irrigated areas, including crop type, primary water source, and type of irrigation system. Results indicate that an estimated 113,134 acres were either irrigated or had potential for irrigation in all or part of the 13 counties within the Suwannee River Water Management District during 2015. This estimate includes 108,870 acres of field-verified, irrigated crops and 4,264 acres of irrigated land observed as (1) idle (with an irrigation system visible but no crop present at the time of the field-verification visit), (2) acres that could not be verified during field visits, or (3) acres that were located on publicly owned research lands.

  3. The wetting behavior of alkanes on water

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ragil, Karine; Broseta, Daniel; Kalaydjian, Francois [Institut Francais du Petrole, BP 311, 92852 Rueil Malmaison Cedex (France); Bonn, Daniel; Meunier, Jacques [ENS, Laboratoire de Physique Statistique, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05 (France); Indekeu, Joseph [Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Laboratorium voor Vaste-Stoffysica en Magnetisme, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)

    1998-06-06

    This paper presents recent experimental and theoretical results concerning the wetting behavior of n-alkanes on water as a function of thermodynamic conditions (i.e., temperature, pressure, etc.). The transition from lenses to a macroscopically thick film, that takes place when the temperature is increased, occurs for n-alkanes on water in a manner very different from that encountered in other fluid systems. For n-pentane on water, ellipsometric measurements reveal that the growth of the pentane layer to a macroscopically thick film occurs in a continuous manner, for a temperature ({approx}53C) corresponding to a change in the sign of the Hamaker constant. A theoretical approach based on the Cahn-Landau theory, which takes into account long-range (van der Waals) forces, enables us to explain the mechanism of this continuous wetting transition. This transition is preceded (at a lower temperature) by a discontinuous transition from a thin film (of adsorbed molecules) to a thick (but not macroscopically thick) film. The latter transition was not visible for pentane on water (it should occur below the freezing temperature for water), but we expect to observe it for longer alkanes (e.g., hexane) on water. Work is underway to examine the wetting behavior of oil/brine systems more representative of reservoir conditions

  4. Water Balance in the Amazon Basin from a Land Surface Model Ensemble

    Science.gov (United States)

    Getirana, Augusto C. V.; Dutra, Emanuel; Guimberteau, Matthieu; Kam, Jonghun; Li, Hong-Yi; Decharme, Bertrand; Zhang, Zhengqiu; Ducharne, Agnes; Boone, Aaron; Balsamo, Gianpaolo; hide

    2014-01-01

    Despite recent advances in land surfacemodeling and remote sensing, estimates of the global water budget are still fairly uncertain. This study aims to evaluate the water budget of the Amazon basin based on several state-ofthe- art land surface model (LSM) outputs. Water budget variables (terrestrial water storage TWS, evapotranspiration ET, surface runoff R, and base flow B) are evaluated at the basin scale using both remote sensing and in situ data. Meteorological forcings at a 3-hourly time step and 18 spatial resolution were used to run 14 LSMs. Precipitation datasets that have been rescaled to matchmonthly Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) andGlobal Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) datasets and the daily Hydrologie du Bassin de l'Amazone (HYBAM) dataset were used to perform three experiments. The Hydrological Modeling and Analysis Platform (HyMAP) river routing scheme was forced with R and B and simulated discharges are compared against observations at 165 gauges. Simulated ET and TWS are compared against FLUXNET and MOD16A2 evapotranspiration datasets andGravity Recovery and ClimateExperiment (GRACE)TWSestimates in two subcatchments of main tributaries (Madeira and Negro Rivers).At the basin scale, simulated ET ranges from 2.39 to 3.26 mm day(exp -1) and a low spatial correlation between ET and precipitation indicates that evapotranspiration does not depend on water availability over most of the basin. Results also show that other simulated water budget components vary significantly as a function of both the LSM and precipitation dataset, but simulated TWS generally agrees with GRACE estimates at the basin scale. The best water budget simulations resulted from experiments using HYBAM, mostly explained by a denser rainfall gauge network and the rescaling at a finer temporal scale.

  5. Assessment of air, water and land-based sources of pollution in the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A quantitative assessment of air, water and land-based sources of pollution to the coastal zone of the Accra-Tema Metropolitan Area of Ghana was conducted by making an emission inventory from information on industrial, commercial and domestic activities. Three sources of air pollution were analysed, viz, emission from ...

  6. Terminal area automatic navigation, guidance, and control research using the Microwave Landing System (MLS). Part 2: RNAV/MLS transition problems for aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pines, S.

    1982-01-01

    The problems in navigation and guidance encountered by aircraft in the initial transition period in changing from distance measuring equipment, VORTAC, and barometric instruments to the more precise microwave landing system data type navaids in the terminal area are investigated. The effects of the resulting discontinuities on the estimates of position and velocity for both optimal (Kalman type navigation schemes) and fixed gain (complementary type) navigation filters, and the effects of the errors in cross track, track angle, and altitude on the guidance equation and control commands during the critical landing phase are discussed. A method is presented to remove the discontinuities from the navigation loop and to reconstruct an RNAV path designed to land the aircraft with minimal turns and altitude changes.

  7. Determinants of epidemiologic transition in rural Africa: the role of socioeconomic status and drinking water source.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engelaer, Frouke M; Koopman, Jacob J E; van Bodegom, David; Eriksson, Ulrika K; Westendorp, Rudi G J

    2014-06-01

    Many African countries experience a protracted epidemiologic transition, different from the classical transition in western societies. The factors driving this protracted transition are largely unknown. In northeast Ghana, we studied an ongoing epidemiologic transition and investigated the effects of socioeconomic status and drinking water source on the transition. During a 9-year period, we followed a cohort of almost 30 000 individuals and collected information on mortality and fertility rates. In addition, using the standards set out by the WHO, we obtained the causes of death by verbal autopsy. Individuals were stratified according to their socioeconomic status and the households' use of an improved or unimproved drinking water source. Mortality rates decreased by -5.0% annually (pwater source. Factors other than socioeconomic status and drinking water source are responsible for the observed declines in mortality and fertility observed during the protracted epidemiologic transition. Identifying the specific determinants of the ongoing transition is of importance, as they could be targeted in order to further improve public health in rural African countries. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  8. Behavior of supercooled aqueous solutions stemming from hidden liquid-liquid transition in water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biddle, John W; Holten, Vincent; Anisimov, Mikhail A

    2014-08-21

    A popular hypothesis that explains the anomalies of supercooled water is the existence of a metastable liquid-liquid transition hidden below the line of homogeneous nucleation. If this transition exists and if it is terminated by a critical point, the addition of a solute should generate a line of liquid-liquid critical points emanating from the critical point of pure metastable water. We have analyzed thermodynamic consequences of this scenario. In particular, we consider the behavior of two systems, H2O-NaCl and H2O-glycerol. We find the behavior of the heat capacity in supercooled aqueous solutions of NaCl, as reported by Archer and Carter [J. Phys. Chem. B 104, 8563 (2000)], to be consistent with the presence of the metastable liquid-liquid transition. We elucidate the non-conserved nature of the order parameter (extent of "reaction" between two alternative structures of water) and the consequences of its coupling with conserved properties (density and concentration). We also show how the shape of the critical line in a solution controls the difference in concentration of the coexisting liquid phases.

  9. Climate change mitigation options in the rural land use sector: Stakeholders’ perspectives on barriers, enablers and the role of policy in North East Scotland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feliciano, Diana; Hunter, Colin; Slee, Bill; Smith, Pete

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Farmers are mainly willing to expand the uptake of mitigation practices they already implement. • Main barriers and enablers to uptake are physical–environmental constraints and personal values. • Farmers consider that agriculture is a “special case” because their function is to produce food. • Lack of incentives is not the main barrier to the uptake of mitigation practices. • Policies should allow differentiation, and mitigation measures should be integrated with other mechanisms. - Abstract: The rural land use sector could potentially mitigate a large amount of GHG emissions. Implementation requires the engagement of farmers and other land managers. Understanding the barriers and enablers for the uptake of these practices is essential both to inform policy-makers and to achieve effective policy outreach. In Scotland, the rural land use sector is subject to a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target of 21% by 2020 relative to 1990 levels. This study contributes to the body of research on stakeholders’ perspectives about suitability of climate change mitigation practices at the regional level. Mixed-methods were used to collect the data, namely participatory workshops with scientists and relevant stakeholders, a farmer questionnaire, and focus groups with farmers. Findings show that farmers were mainly willing to expand the uptake of mitigation practices they were already implementing because they consider these are the most cost-effective. Barriers to the implementation of mitigation practices are mainly related to physical–environmental constraints, lack of information and education and personal interests and values. Similarly, enablers are also related to physical–environmental factors and personal interests and values. Economic incentives, voluntary approaches and provision of information have been identified by workshop participants as the most favourable approaches needed to promote the uptake of technically feasible

  10. Temperature Induced Solubility Transitions of Various Poly(2-oxazolines in Ethanol-Water Solvent Mixtures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hanneke M. L. Lambermont-Thijs

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available The solution behavior of a series of poly(2-oxazolines with different side chains, namely methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, pentyl, hexyl, heptyl, octyl, nonyl, phenyl and benzyl, are reported in ethanol-water solvent mixtures based on turbidimetry investigations. The LCST transitions of poly(2-oxazolines with propyl side chains and the UCST transitions of the poly(2-oxazolines with more hydrophobic side chains are discussed in relation to the ethanol-water solvent composition and structure. The poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazolines with side chains longer than propyl only dissolved during the first heating run, which is discussed and correlated to the melting transition of the polymers.

  11. Role of soil characteristics on analysis of water flow in shallow land

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tohaya, Takayuki; Wakabayashi, Noriaki; Wadachi, Yoshiki.

    1987-09-01

    Analysis of water flow on posutulated model grounds has been carried out by using 2-dimensional finite element analytical model, to clarify the effects of soil characteristics (hydroulic conductivities in saturated and unsaturated zones, moisture content - water head relationship, porosity, etc.) of a shallow land layer on variations in water tables and water flow rates. Results thus obtained indicate that hydroulic conductivities in saturated and unsaturated zones play an important role in governing the development of a water table, especially the hydroulic conductivity of the top layer and of the layers near the water table give significant effect on the water table development. It was found through multiple regression analyses of the variation of the water table that among soil characteristics following parameters give pronounced effect on the development of the water table in the order; the relationship between moisture content of the unsaturated zone and pressure head, the distance between the water table and ground surface, and the saturated hydroulic conductivity of the layer immediately above the water table. (author)

  12. Spatiotemporal, kinematic, force and muscle activation outcomes during gait and functional exercise in water compared to on land: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heywood, Sophie; McClelland, Jodie; Geigle, Paula; Rahmann, Ann; Clark, Ross

    2016-07-01

    Exercises replicating functional activities are commonly used in aquatic rehabilitation although it is not clear how the movement characteristics differ between the two environments. A systematic review was completed in order to compare the biomechanics of gait, closed kinetic chain and plyometric exercise when performed in water and on land. Databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Embase and the Cochrane library were searched. Studies were included where a functional lower limb activity was performed in water and on land with the same instructions. Standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for spatiotemporal, kinematic, force and muscle activation outcomes. 28 studies included walking or running (19 studies), stationary running (three), closed kinetic chain exercise (two), plyometric exercise (three) and timed-up and go (one). Very large effect sizes showed self-selected speed of walking (SMD >4.66) and vertical ground reaction forces (VGRF) (SMD >1.91) in water were less than on land, however, lower limb range of movement and muscle activity were similar. VGRF in plyometric exercise was lower in water when landing but more similar between the two environments in propulsion. Maximal speed of movement for walking and stationary running was lower in water compared to on land (SMD>3.05), however was similar in propulsion in plyometric exercise. Drag forces may contribute to lower self-selected speed of walking. Monitoring speed of movement in water assists in determining the potential advantages or limitations of aquatic exercise and the task specificity to land-based function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Complex land cover change, water and sediment yield in a degraded Andean environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molina, Armando; Vanacker, Veerle; Balthazar, Vincent; Mora, Diego; Govers, Gerard

    2012-11-01

    SummaryRapid land use/-cover change has increasingly transformed the hydrological functioning of tropical Andean ecosystems. The hydrological response to forest cover change strongly depends on the initial state of the ecosystem. Relatively little is known about human-disturbed ecosystems where forest plantations have been established on highly degraded land. In this paper, we analyze the impact of forest change on water and sediment fluxes for a highly degraded Andean catchment. Different pathways of land cover change (1963-2007) are observed in the Jadan catchment, with deforestation taking place in remote uplands and recovery and reforestation in the middle and lower parts where agricultural and bare lands are prevalent. Time series analyses of streamflow and rainfall data (1979/1982-2005/2007) show significant shifts in the distribution of rainfall and flow data. Changes in discharge are not resulting from changes in precipitation, as the direction of change is opposite. The removal of native forest for rangeland or croplands (by -20 km2) is likely to have contributed to the increase in total annual water yield, through an increase in annual baseflow by 25 mm. The observed changes in peakflow are important as the 1st percentile highest flow rates were 54% lower, while the 1st percentile rainfall amounts increased by 52%. The observed decrease in peakflow cannot be explained by clearcut of native forest, but is likely to be related to reforestation of degraded lands as well as spontaneous recovery of vegetation on remaining grazing lands. Over the same time period, a major decrease in specific sediment yields and suspended sediment loads was observed. Although deforestation in the upper parts led to increased landslide activity, this change is not reflected in an increased sediment yield. Small upland rivers are often nearly completely blocked by landslide material, thereby reducing their potential to transport sediment. In contrast, the reduction in estimated

  14. Restoring abandoned agricultural lands in cold desert shrublands: Tradeoffs between water availability and invasive species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeanne C. Chambers; Eric P. Eldredge; Keirith A. Snyder; David I. Board; Tara Forbis de Queiroz; Vada Hubbard

    2014-01-01

    Restoration of abandoned agricultural lands to create resilient ecosystems in arid and semi-arid ecosystems typically requires seeding or transplanting native species, improving plant-soil-water relations, and controlling invasive species. We asked if improving water relations via irrigation or surface mulch would result in negative tradeoffs between native species...

  15. Variation in surface water-groundwater exchange with land use in an urban stream

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Robert J.; Welty, Claire; Larson, Philip C.

    2010-10-01

    SummaryA suite of methods is being utilized in the Baltimore metropolitan area to develop an understanding of the interaction between groundwater and surface water at multiple space and time scales. As part of this effort, bromide tracer experiments were conducted over two 10-day periods in August 2007 and May 2008 along two sections (each approximately 900 m long) of Dead Run, a small urban stream located in Baltimore County, Maryland, to investigate the influence of distinct zones of riparian land cover on surface-subsurface exchange and transient storage under low and high baseflow conditions. Riparian land cover varied by reach along a gradient of land use spanning parkland, suburban/residential, commercial, institutional, and transportation, and included wooded, meadow, turf grass, and impervious cover. Under summer low baseflow conditions, surface water-groundwater exchange, defined by gross inflow and gross outflow, was larger and net inflow (gross inflow minus gross outflow) had greater spatial variability, than was observed under spring high baseflow conditions. In addition, the fraction of nominal travel time attributable to transient storage ( Fmed) was lower and was more spatially variable under high baseflow conditions than under low baseflow conditions. The influence of baseflow condition on surface water-ground water exchange and transient storage was most evident in the subreaches with the least riparian forest cover and these effects are attributed to a lack of shading in reaches with little riparian forest cover. We suggest that under summer low baseflow conditions, the lack of shading allowed excess in-channel vegetation growth which acted as a transient storage zone and a conduit for outflow (i.e. uptake and evapotranspiration). Under spring high baseflow conditions the transient storage capacity of the channel was reduced because there was little in-channel vegetation.

  16. Temporal change detection of land use/land cover using GIS and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Satellite images for the years 1972, 1989, 1999 and 2016 were used for LULC ... built-up areas, pastures and bare land, agricultural land and water bodies. For the accuracy of assessment classifications, matrix error and KAPPA ... Keywords: land use/land cover change; change detection; classification; remote sensing; GIS ...

  17. Soil Organic Carbon Fractions and Stocks Respond to Restoration Measures in Degraded Lands by Water Erosion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nie, Xiaodong; Li, Zhongwu; Huang, Jinquan; Huang, Bin; Xiao, Haibing; Zeng, Guangming

    2017-05-01

    Assessing the degree to which degraded soils can be recovered is essential for evaluating the effects of adopted restoration measures. The objective of this study was to determine the restoration of soil organic carbon under the impact of terracing and reforestation. A small watershed with four typical restored plots (terracing and reforestation (four different local plants)) and two reference plots (slope land with natural forest (carbon-depleted) and abandoned depositional land (carbon-enriched)) in subtropical China was studied. The results showed that soil organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon and microbial biomass carbon concentrations in the surface soil (10 cm) of restored lands were close to that in abandoned depositional land and higher than that in natural forest land. There was no significant difference in soil organic carbon content among different topographic positions of the restored lands. Furthermore, the soil organic carbon stocks in the upper 60 cm soils of restored lands, which were varied between 50.08 and 62.21 Mg C ha-1, were higher than 45.90 Mg C ha-1 in natural forest land. Our results indicated that the terracing and reforestation could greatly increase carbon sequestration and accumulation and decrease carbon loss induced by water erosion. And the combination measures can accelerate the restoration of degraded soils when compared to natural forest only. Forest species almost have no impact on the total amount of soil organic carbon during restoration processes, but can significantly influence the activity and stability of soil organic carbon. Combination measures which can provide suitable topography and continuous soil organic carbon supply could be considered in treating degraded soils caused by water erosion.

  18. Soil Organic Carbon Fractions and Stocks Respond to Restoration Measures in Degraded Lands by Water Erosion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nie, Xiaodong; Li, Zhongwu; Huang, Jinquan; Huang, Bin; Xiao, Haibing; Zeng, Guangming

    2017-05-01

    Assessing the degree to which degraded soils can be recovered is essential for evaluating the effects of adopted restoration measures. The objective of this study was to determine the restoration of soil organic carbon under the impact of terracing and reforestation. A small watershed with four typical restored plots (terracing and reforestation (four different local plants)) and two reference plots (slope land with natural forest (carbon-depleted) and abandoned depositional land (carbon-enriched)) in subtropical China was studied. The results showed that soil organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon and microbial biomass carbon concentrations in the surface soil (10 cm) of restored lands were close to that in abandoned depositional land and higher than that in natural forest land. There was no significant difference in soil organic carbon content among different topographic positions of the restored lands. Furthermore, the soil organic carbon stocks in the upper 60 cm soils of restored lands, which were varied between 50.08 and 62.21 Mg C ha -1 , were higher than 45.90 Mg C ha -1 in natural forest land. Our results indicated that the terracing and reforestation could greatly increase carbon sequestration and accumulation and decrease carbon loss induced by water erosion. And the combination measures can accelerate the restoration of degraded soils when compared to natural forest only. Forest species almost have no impact on the total amount of soil organic carbon during restoration processes, but can significantly influence the activity and stability of soil organic carbon. Combination measures which can provide suitable topography and continuous soil organic carbon supply could be considered in treating degraded soils caused by water erosion.

  19. Ecosystem-groundwater interactions under changing land uses: Linking water, salts, and carbon across central Argentina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jobbagy, E. G.; Nosetto, M. D.; Santoni, C. S.; Jackson, R. B.

    2007-05-01

    Although most ecosystems display a one-way connection with groundwater based on the regulation of deep water drainage (recharge), this link can become reciprocal when the saturated zone is shallow and plants take up groundwater (discharge). In what context is the reciprocal link most likely? How is it affected by land use changes? Has it consequences on salt and carbon cycling? We examine these questions across a precipitation gradient in the Pampas and Espinal of Argentina focusing on three vegetation change situations (mean annual rainfall): afforestation of humid (900-1300 mm) and subhumid grassland (700-900 mm/yr of rainfall), annual cultivation of subhumid grasslands (700-800 mm/yr), and annual cultivation of semiarid forests (500-700 mm). Humid and subhumid grasslands have shallow (measurements. Groundwater contributions enhance carbon uptake in plantations compared to grasslands as suggested by aboveground biomass measurements and satellite vegetation indexes from sites with and without access to groundwater. Where rainfall is 15 m deep) and recharge under natural conditions is null. The establishment of crops, however, triggers the onset of recharge, as evidenced by vadose zones getting wetter and leached of atmospheric chloride. Cropping may cause water table raises leading to a two-way coupling of ecosystems and groundwater in the future, as it has been documented for similar settings in Australia and the Sahel. In the Pampas land use change interacts with groundwater consumption leading to higher carbon uptake (humid and subhumid grasslands) and salt accumulation (subhumid grasslands). In the Espinal (semiarid forest) land use change currently involves a one-way effect on groundwater recharge that may switch to a reciprocal connection if regional water table raises occur. Neglecting the role of groundwater in flat sedimentary plains can obscure our understanding of carbon and salt cycling and curtail our attempts to sustain soil and water resources under

  20. Policy Entrepreneurs and Change Strategies: Lessons from Sixteen Case Studies of Water Transitions around the Globe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sander Meijerink

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper focuses on the role of policy entrepreneurs in realizing water policy transitions. The central questions are to what extent have policy entrepreneurs played a role in realizing major change in water policies, who are these policy entrepreneurs, and what strategies have they used to bring about change? The policy science literature suggests that policy entrepreneurs have an "arsenal" of possible strategies for achieving change. Based on a comparative analysis of water policy changes in 15 countries around the globe and the European Union, we investigate which strategies have in practice been used by policy entrepreneurs, to what effect, and which lessons for managing water transitions we can draw from this. The comparative case analysis shows that individuals play complementary roles; hence, entrepreneurship in water management is often collective entrepreneurship. Strategies of coalition building, the manipulation of decision making forums, and the strategic framing of issues and windows are crucial to understanding water policy change, which suggests that the management of water policy transitions is a highly political game. We conclude by listing recommendations for those who would like to direct water policy change.

  1. Phase transitions on (liquid + liquid) equilibria for (water + 1-methylnaphthalene + light aromatic hydrocarbon) ternary systems at T = (563, 573, and 583) K

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Togo, Masaki; Inamori, Yoshiki; Shimoyama, Yusuke

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Mixtures of (water + 1-methylnaphthalene + light aromatic hydrocarbon) are focused. ► Phase transition pressures on (liquid + liquid) equilibria were measured. ► Effects of aromatic hydrocarbons on phase transition pressure are investigated. ► Phase transition pressures are discussed using dielectric constants of hydrocarbons. - Abstract: Phase transitions for (water + 1-methylnaphthalene + light aromatic hydrocarbon) ternary systems are observed at their (liquid + liquid) equilibria at T = (563, 573, and 583) K and (8.6 to 25.0) MPa. The phase transition pressures at T = (563, 573, and 583) K were measured for the five species of light aromatic hydrocarbons, o-, m-, p-xylenes, ethylbenzene, and mesitylene. The measurements of the phase transition pressures were carried out by changing the feed mole fraction of water and 1-methylnaphthalene in water free, respectively. Effects of the feed mole fraction of water on the phase transition pressures are very small. Increasing the feed mole fraction of 1-methylnaphthalene results in decreasing the phase transition pressures at constant temperature. The slopes depending on the feed mole fraction for 1-methylnaphthalene at the phase transition pressures are decreased with increasing temperature for (water + 1-methylnaphthalene + p-xylene), (water + 1-methylnaphthalene + o-xylene), and (water + 1-methylnaphthalene + mesitylene) systems. For xylene isomers, the highest and lowest of the phase transition pressures are obtained in the case of p- and o-xylenes, respectively. The phase transition pressures for ethylbenzene are lower than those in the case of p-xylene. The similar phase transition pressures are given for p-xylene and mesitylene.

  2. Water quality and small-scale land use mapping in the South-Chinese megacity Guangzhou

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strohschoen, R.; Azzam, R.; Baier, K.

    2011-12-01

    Since China adopted its "open-door" policy in 1978/ 79, the Pearl River Delta became one of the most rapid and dynamic urbanizing areas in East Asia due to migration, industrialization and globalization processes. The study area Guangzhou grew from a small town to a megacity with some 15 million inhabitants within less than 30 years. The rapid population growth and the urban and industrial expansion led to a remarkably increasing demand for freshwater, a high water consume and a rising sewage production. While economy and house constructions developed very fast, the expansion of water infrastructures could not keep pace with the urban growth. The consequences arising out of these situations are a serious deterioration of the surface and groundwater resources but also a degradation of living conditions and a threat to human health, particularly of the urban poor. In contrast to other studies that often consider the surface water quality outside Guangzhou, our focus was put on the urban Pearl River and its tributaries as well as urban groundwater and tap water. The study was conducted to spatially investigate the present status of the water quality in view of the concurrent formal and informal anthropogenic influences. Additional land use mapping was undertaken to analyze the interrelations between different land use types and water quality and to determine local pollution hotspots which should be taken into particular consideration of future city planning. Supplementing interviews were hold to find out usage patterns of groundwater and strategies to cope with both insufficient tap water quality and water infrastructures. A total of 74 surface water samples and 16 groundwater samples of privately and publicly accessible wells were taken at the beginning of the rainy season in May 2010. Those samples were partly compared to measurements carried out from 2007-2009, where adequate. Further, 15 tap water samples were taken in 2007/ 08 to draw conclusions about possible

  3. Effect of long-term application of biosolids for land reclamation on surface water chemistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, G; Granato, T C; Pietz, R I; Carlson, C R; Abedin, Z

    2006-01-01

    Biosolids are known to have a potential to restore degraded land, but the long-term impacts of this practice on the environment, including water quality, still need to be evaluated. The surface water chemistry (NO3-, NH4+, and total P, Cd, Cu, and Hg) was monitored for 31 yr from 1972 to 2002 in a 6000-ha watershed at Fulton County, Illinois, where the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago was restoring the productivity of strip-mined land using biosolids. The mean cumulative loading rates during the past 31 yr were 875 dry Mg ha(-1) for 1120-ha fields in the biosolids-amended watershed and 4.3 dry Mg ha(-1) for the 670-ha fields in the control watershed. Biosolids were injected into mine spoil fields as liquid fertilizer from 1972 to 1985, and incorporated as dewatered cake from 1980 to 1996 and air-dried solids from 1987 to 2002. The mean annual loadings of nutrients and trace elements from biosolids in 1 ha were 735 kg N, 530 kg P, 4.5 kg Cd, 30.7 kg Cu, and 0.11 kg Hg in the fields of the biosolids-amended watershed, and negligible in the fields of the control watershed. Sampling of surface water was conducted monthly in the 1970s, and three times per year in the 1980s and 1990s. The water samples were collected from 12 reservoirs and 2 creeks receiving drainage from the fields in the control watershed, and 8 reservoirs and 4 creeks associated with the fields in the biosolids-amended watershed for the analysis of NO3- -N (including NO2- N), NH4+-N, and total P, Cd, Cu, and Hg. Compared to the control (0.18 mg L(-1)), surface water NO3- -N in the biosolids-amended watershed (2.23 mg L(-1)) was consistently higher; however, it was still below the Illinois limit of 10 mg L(-1) for public and food-processing water supplies. Biosolids applications had a significant effect on mean concentrations of ammonium N (0.11 mg L(-1) for control and 0.24 mg L(-1) for biosolids) and total P (0.10 mg L(-1) for control and 0.16 mg L(-1) for biosolids) in

  4. Ocean World Exploration and SLS: Enabling the Search for Life

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creech, Stephen D.; Vane, Greg

    2016-01-01

    Whether life exists on worlds other than Earth is one of the most compelling questions facing space science today. Given that, on Earth, life exists wherever water is found, worlds harboring large amounts of water are prime targets in the search for an answer to this question. Jovian moons Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede; Saturnian moons Enceladus and Titan; and possibly Neptune's Triton are all worlds in the outer solar system on which large quantities of water can be found in solid and liquid form. So compelling are these worlds as targets for scientific study that the United States Congress recently initiated a directive to NASA to create an "Ocean Worlds Exploration Program, comprised of frequent small, medium and large missions that poses the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the solar system and life within it, perhaps more profoundly event than the modern-day search for past or extant life on Mars. Any life detected at the remote "ocean worlds" in the outer solar system would likely have formed and evolved along an independent path from life on Earth itself, giving us a deeper understanding of the potential for broad variety amongst life in the universe. In NASA's robotic study of Mars, a key to the success of the "search for water" was the ability to conduct iterative exploration via a series of missions launched on a regular cadence based on 26-month cycles of prime planetary-alignment windows of reduced transit time. Through this cadence, NASA was able to send to Mars a series of orbiters and landers, using the knowledge gained from each mission to inform and refine the goals of the next. The ability to conduct iterative exploration in this manner could have a substantial impact on exploration of the "ocean worlds," allowing scientists to narrow their targets of interest in the search for life based on data sent back by successive missions. This ability is currently limited by the transit periods available from contemporary evolved expendable

  5. A stochastic dynamic model to assess land use change scenarios on the ecological status of fluvial water bodies under the Water Framework Directive

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hughes, Samantha Jane; Cabral, João Alexandre; Bastos, Rita; Cortes, Rui; Vicente, Joana; Eitelberg, David; Yu, Huirong; Honrado, João; Santos, Mário

    2016-01-01

    This method development paper outlines an integrative stochastic dynamic methodology (StDM) framework to anticipate land use (LU) change effects on the ecological status of monitored and non-monitored lotic surface waters under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Tested in the Alto Minho River

  6. The role of land use and soils in regulating water flow in small headwater catchments of the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roa-GarcíA, M. C.; Brown, S.; Schreier, H.; Lavkulich, L. M.

    2011-05-01

    Land use changes can have a significant impact on the terrestrial component of the water cycle. This study provides a comparison of three small headwater catchments in the Andean mountains of Colombia with different composition of land use. Several methods were used to quantify differences in the hydrological behavior of these catchments such as flow duration curves, stormflow analysis, and the linear reservoir concept. They were combined with an analysis of the characteristics of soils that contribute to understanding the aggregate catchment hydrological behavior. Andisols, which are soils formed in volcanic areas and with a large capacity to hold water, amplify differences in land use and limit the potential impact of land use management activities (conservation or restoration) on the water regulation function of catchments. Of the three studied catchments, less variability of flows was observed from the catchment with a larger percentage of area in forest, and a slower decrease of flows in the dry season was observed for the catchment with a relatively higher percentage of area in wetlands. Evidence is provided for the infiltration trade-off hypothesis for tropical environments, which states that after forest removal, soil infiltration rates are smaller and the water losses through quick flow are larger than the gains by reduced evapotranspiration; this is compatible with the results of the application of the linear reservoir concept showing a faster release of water for the least forested catchment.

  7. Capacity Building in Land Management

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enemark, Stig; Ahene, Rexford

    2003-01-01

    There is a significant need for capacity building in the interdisciplinary area of land management especially in developing countries and countries in transition, to deal with the complex issues of building efficient land information systems and sustainable institutional infrastructures. Capacity...... building in land management is not only a question of establishing a sufficient technological level or sufficient economic resources. It is mainly a question of understanding the interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral nature of land administration systems, and understanding the need for human resource...... and professionals for implementing the new land policy. The curriculum combines the diploma and the bachelor level and it combines the key areas of land surveying, land management and physical planning....

  8. Is the available cropland and water enough for food demand? A global perspective of the Land-Water-Food nexus

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ibarrola-Rivas, M. J.; Granados-Ramirez, R.; Nonhebel, S.

    2017-01-01

    Land and water are essential local resources for food production but are limited. The main drivers of increasing food demand are population growth and dietary changes, which depend on the socioeconomic situation of the population. These two factors affect the availability of local resources:

  9. Ground-water quality and its relation to hydrogeology, land use, and surface-water quality in the Red Clay Creek basin, Piedmont Physiographic Province, Pennsylvania and Delaware

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senior, Lisa A.

    1996-01-01

    The Red Clay Creek Basin in the Piedmont Physiographic Province of Pennsylvania and Delaware is a 54-square-mile area underlain by a structurally complex assemblage of fractured metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks that form a water-table aquifer. Ground-water-flow systems generally are local, and ground water discharges to streams. Both ground water and surface water in the basin are used for drinking-water supply.Ground-water quality and the relation between ground-water quality and hydrogeologic and land-use factors were assessed in 1993 in bedrock aquifers of the basin. A total of 82 wells were sampled from July to November 1993 using a stratified random sampling scheme that included 8 hydrogeologic and 4 land-use categories to distribute the samples evenly over the area of the basin. The eight hydrogeologic units were determined by formation or lithology. The land-use categories were (1) forested, open, and undeveloped; (2) agricultural; (3) residential; and (4) industrial and commercial. Well-water samples were analyzed for major and minor ions, nutrients, volatile organic compounds (VOC's), pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCB's), and radon-222.Concentrations of some constituents exceeded maximum contaminant levels (MCL) or secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCL) established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. Concentrations of nitrate were greater than the MCL of 10 mg/L (milligrams per liter) as nitrogen (N) in water from 11 (13 percent) of 82 wells sampled; the maximum concentration was 38 mg/L as N. Water from only 1 of 82 wells sampled contained VOC's or pesticides that exceeded a MCL; water from that well contained 3 mg/L chlordane and 1 mg/L of PCB's. Constituents or properties of well-water samples that exceeded SMCL's included iron, manganese, dissolved solids, pH, and corrosivity. Water from 70 (85 percent) of the 82 wells sampled contained radon-222 activities greater than the proposed MCL of

  10. Mesoscale modeling of the water vapor cycle at Mawrth Vallis: a Mars2020 and ExoMars exploration rovers high-priority landing site

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pla-García, Jorge

    2017-04-01

    Introduction: The Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (MRAMS) was used to predict meteorological conditions that are likely to be encountered by the Mars 2020 (NASA) Rover at several of their respective proposed landing sites during entry, descent, and landing at Ls5 [1] and by the ExoMars (ESA) Rover at one of the final landing sites. MRAMS is ideally suited for this type of investigation; the model is explicitly designed to simu-late Mars' atmospheric circulations at the mesoscale and smaller with realistic, high-resolution surface proper-ties [2, 3]. One of the sights studied for both rovers was Mawrth Vallis (MV), an ancient water outflow channel with light colored clay-rich rocks in the mid-latitude north hemisphere (Oxia Palus quadrangle). MV is the northernmost of the Mars2020 and ExoMars landing sites and the closest to the northern polar cap water source. The primary source of water vapor to the atmosphere is the northern polar cap during the northern summer. In order to highlight MV habitability implications, additional numerical experiments at Ls90, 140 and 180, highest column abundance of water vapor is found over MV [4], were performed to study how the atmospheric circulation connects MV with the polar water source. Once the winter CO2 retreats, the underlying polar water ice is exposed and begins to sublimate. The water is transported equatorward where it is manifested in the tropical aphelion cloud belt. If transport is assumed to be the result of the summer Hadley Cell, then the polar water is carried aloft in the northern high latitude rising branch before moving equatorward and eventually toward the southern high latitudes. Thus, the mean meridional summer circulation precludes a direct water vapor connection between MV and the polar source. Around the equinoxes (Ls0 and Ls180), there is a brief transition period where the rising branch quickly crosses from one hemisphere into the other as it migrates to its more typical solstitial location

  11. Concept for a Wireless Sensor Network to support GIS based water and land resource management in the Aksu-Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doluschitz, Reiner; Feike, Til

    2013-04-01

    Farmers in the oases along the Aksu-Tarim River suffer from severe seasonal water shortage caused by high fluctuations of river run-off. The uncertainty of water availability makes the planning of crop production and related investments extremely difficult. As a consequence farm management is often sub-optimal, manifesting in low input efficiencies, and the value generated in the agricultural sector being way below its potential. The "Tarim Basin Water Resource Bureau" (TBWRB) was founded in the 1990s. Its major task is to implement a basin wide water resources management plan, which involves fair allocation of water resources among the farmers in the different administrative units along the river. Among others, the lack of reliable and timely information on water quantities and qualities within the major water bodies of the basin hinders the implementation of an effective water management plan. Therefore we introduce the concept of a wireless sensor network (WSN) that provides reliable instantaneous information on the status of all important water resources within the basin. In the first step a GIS including all vital geospatial data, like river courses, channel and reservoir network and capacities, soil and land use map, is built. In the second step a WSN that monitors all important parameters at essential positions throughout the basin needs to be established. Measured parameters comprise meteorological data, river run-off, water levels of reservoirs, groundwater levels, and salinity levels of water resources. All data is centrally collected and processed by the TBWRB. Apart from generating a prompt and complete picture of currently available water resources, the TBWRB can use the system to record actual water allocation, and develop an early warning system for upcoming droughts or floods. Finally an integrated water and land management scheme can be established that allocates resources maximizing the benefits at basin level. Financed by public funding, the data

  12. THE ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY OF LAND RENTAL MARKETS IN TRANSITION AGRICULTURE

    OpenAIRE

    Vranken, Liesbet; Mathijs, Erik

    2001-01-01

    This paper examines the functioning of the Hungarian land rental market. The allocative inefficiency of the land rental market is determined by calculating the marginal value productivity of land and using rental prices. Regional differences in allocative inefficiency are then correlated with demographic and socio-economic variables and with labor market-related factors.

  13. Historical releases of mercury to air, land, and water from coal combustion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Streets, David G; Lu, Zifeng; Levin, Leonard; Ter Schure, Arnout F H; Sunderland, Elsie M

    2018-02-15

    Coal combustion is one of the largest contemporary sources of anthropogenic mercury (Hg). It releases geologically sequestered Hg to the atmosphere, and fly ash can contaminate terrestrial and aquatic systems. We estimate that coal combustion has released a cumulative total of 38.0 (14.8-98.9, 80% C.I.) Gg (gigagrams, 10 9 g or thousand tonnes) of Hg to air, land, and water up to the year 2010, most of which (97%) has occurred since 1850. The rate of release has grown by two orders of magnitude from 0.01Ggyr -1 in 1850 to 1Ggyr -1 in 2010. Geographically, Asia and Europe each account for 32% of cumulative releases and an additional 18% is from North America. About 26.3 (10.2-68.3) Gg, 71% of the total, were directly emitted to the atmosphere, mostly from the industrial (45%) and power generation (36%) sectors, while the remainder was disposed of to land and water bodies. While Europe and North America were the major contributing regions until 1950, Asia has surpassed both in recent decades. By 2010, Asia was responsible for 69% of the total releases of Hg from coal combustion to the environment. Control technologies installed on major emitting sources capture mainly particulate and divalent Hg, and therefore the fraction of elemental Hg in emissions from coal combustion has increased over time from 0.46 in 1850 to 0.61 in 2010. About 11.8 (4.6-30.6) Gg of Hg, 31% of the total, have been transferred to land and water bodies through the disposal or utilization of Hg-containing combustion waste and collected fly ash/FGD waste; approximately 8.8Gg of this Hg have simply been discarded to waste piles or ash ponds or rivers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Constraints and opportunities for climate adaptation in regional water and land use planning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Werners, S.E.; Tàbara, J.D.; Dai, X.; Flachner, Z.; Neufeldt, H.; McEvoy, D.; West, J.; Cots, F.; Trombi, G.; Leemans, R.

    2009-01-01

    Whereas the literature on adaptation is rich in detail on impacts, vulnerability and constraints to climate adaptation, less is known about the conditions that facilitate adaptation in practice. We examined the constraints and opportunities for adaptation in water and land use planning in three

  15. A stochastic dynamic model to assess land use change scenarios on the ecological status of fluvial water bodies under the Water Framework Directive

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hughes, Samantha Jane, E-mail: shughes@utad.pt [Fluvial Ecology Laboratory, CITAB – Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real (Portugal); Cabral, João Alexandre, E-mail: jcabral@utad.pt [Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB – Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real (Portugal); Bastos, Rita, E-mail: ritabastos@utad.pt [Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB – Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real (Portugal); Cortes, Rui, E-mail: rcortes@utad.pt [Fluvial Ecology Laboratory, CITAB – Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real (Portugal); Vicente, Joana, E-mail: jsvicente@fc.up.pt [Centro de Investigacão em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto (Portugal); Eitelberg, David, E-mail: d.a.eitelberg@vu.nl [Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands); Yu, Huirong, E-mail: h.yu@vu.nl [Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands); College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan W. Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100193 (China); and others

    2016-09-15

    This method development paper outlines an integrative stochastic dynamic methodology (StDM) framework to anticipate land use (LU) change effects on the ecological status of monitored and non-monitored lotic surface waters under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Tested in the Alto Minho River Basin District in North West Portugal, the model is an innovative step towards developing a decision-making and planning tool to assess the influence impacts such as LU change and climate change on these complex systems. Comprising a series of sequential steps, a Generalized Linear Model based, competing model Multi Model Inference (MMI) approach was used for parameter estimation to identify principal land use types (distal factors) driving change in biological and physicochemical support elements (proximal factors) in monitored water bodies. The framework integrated MMI constants and coefficients of selected LU categories in the StDM simulations and spatial projections to simulate the ecological status of monitored and non-monitored lotic waterbodies in the test area under 2 scenarios of (1) LU intensification and (2) LU extensification. A total of 100 simulations were run for a 50 year period for each scenario. Spatially dynamic projections of WFD metrics were obtained, taking into account the occurrence of stochastic wildfire events which typically occur in the study region and are exacerbated by LU change. A marked projected decline to “Moderate” ecological status for most waterbodies was detected under intensification but little change under extensification; only a few waterbodies fell to “moderate” status. The latter scenario describes the actual regional socio-economic situation of agricultural abandonment due to rural poverty, partly explaining the projected lack of change in ecological status. Based on the WFD “one out all out” criterion, projected downward shifts in ecological status were due to physicochemical support elements, namely increased

  16. A stochastic dynamic model to assess land use change scenarios on the ecological status of fluvial water bodies under the Water Framework Directive

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hughes, Samantha Jane; Cabral, João Alexandre; Bastos, Rita; Cortes, Rui; Vicente, Joana; Eitelberg, David; Yu, Huirong

    2016-01-01

    This method development paper outlines an integrative stochastic dynamic methodology (StDM) framework to anticipate land use (LU) change effects on the ecological status of monitored and non-monitored lotic surface waters under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Tested in the Alto Minho River Basin District in North West Portugal, the model is an innovative step towards developing a decision-making and planning tool to assess the influence impacts such as LU change and climate change on these complex systems. Comprising a series of sequential steps, a Generalized Linear Model based, competing model Multi Model Inference (MMI) approach was used for parameter estimation to identify principal land use types (distal factors) driving change in biological and physicochemical support elements (proximal factors) in monitored water bodies. The framework integrated MMI constants and coefficients of selected LU categories in the StDM simulations and spatial projections to simulate the ecological status of monitored and non-monitored lotic waterbodies in the test area under 2 scenarios of (1) LU intensification and (2) LU extensification. A total of 100 simulations were run for a 50 year period for each scenario. Spatially dynamic projections of WFD metrics were obtained, taking into account the occurrence of stochastic wildfire events which typically occur in the study region and are exacerbated by LU change. A marked projected decline to “Moderate” ecological status for most waterbodies was detected under intensification but little change under extensification; only a few waterbodies fell to “moderate” status. The latter scenario describes the actual regional socio-economic situation of agricultural abandonment due to rural poverty, partly explaining the projected lack of change in ecological status. Based on the WFD “one out all out” criterion, projected downward shifts in ecological status were due to physicochemical support elements, namely increased

  17. On the molecular origin of the cooperative coil-to-globule transition of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) in water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tavagnacco, L; Zaccarelli, E; Chiessi, E

    2018-04-18

    By means of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations we investigate the behaviour of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), PNIPAM, in water at temperatures below and above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), including the undercooled regime. The transition between water soluble and insoluble states at the LCST is described as a cooperative process involving an intramolecular coil-to-globule transition preceding the aggregation of chains and the polymer precipitation. In this work we investigate the molecular origin of such cooperativity and the evolution of the hydration pattern in the undercooled polymer solution. The solution behaviour of an atactic 30-mer at high dilution is studied in the temperature interval from 243 to 323 K with a favourable comparison to available experimental data. In the water soluble states of PNIPAM we detect a correlation between polymer segmental dynamics and diffusion motion of bound water, occurring with the same activation energy. Simulation results show that below the coil-to-globule transition temperature PNIPAM is surrounded by a network of hydrogen bonded water molecules and that the cooperativity arises from the structuring of water clusters in proximity to hydrophobic groups. Differently, the perturbation of the hydrogen bond pattern involving water and amide groups occurs above the transition temperature. Altogether these findings reveal that even above the LCST PNIPAM remains largely hydrated and that the coil-to-globule transition is related with a significant rearrangement of the solvent in the proximity of the surface of the polymer. The comparison between the hydrogen bonding of water in the surrounding of PNIPAM isopropyl groups and in the bulk displays a decreased structuring of solvent at the hydrophobic polymer-water interface across the transition temperature, as expected because of the topological extension along the chain of such interface. No evidence of an upper critical solution temperature behaviour

  18. Heterogeneous distribution of water in the mantle transition zone beneath United States inferred from seismic observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Y.; Pavlis, G. L.; Li, M.

    2017-12-01

    The amount of water in the Earth's deep mantle is critical for the evolution of the solid Earth and the atmosphere. Mineral physics studies have revealed that Wadsleyite and Ringwoodite in the mantle transition zone could store several times the volume of water in the ocean. However, the water content and its distribution in the transition zone remain enigmatic due to lack of direct observations. Here we use seismic data from the full deployment of the Earthscope Transportable Array to produce 3D image of P to S scattering of the mantle transition zone beneath the United States. We compute the image volume from 141,080 pairs of high quality receiver functions defined by the Earthscope Automated Receiver Survey, reprocessed by the generalized iterative deconvolution method and imaged by the plane wave migration method. We find that the transition zone is filled with previously unrecognized small-scale heterogeneities that produce pervasive, negative polarity P to S conversions. Seismic synthetic modeling using a point source simulation method suggests two possible structures for these objects: 1) a set of randomly distributed blobs of slight difference in size, and 2) near vertical diapir structures from small scale convections. Combining with geodynamic simulations, we interpret the observation as compositional heterogeneity from small-scale, low-velocity bodies that are water enriched. Our results indicate there is a heterogeneous distribution of water through the entire mantle transition zone beneath the contiguous United States.

  19. Using GIS to integrate the analysis of land-use, transportation, and the environment for managing urban growth based on transit oriented development in the metropolitan of Jabodetabek, Indonesia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasibuan, H S; Moersidik, S; Koestoer, R; Soemardi, T P

    2014-01-01

    There is an interaction between land use, transportation, and environment in improving and managing urban quality. One of the concpets to integrate those three aspects is Transit Oriented Development (TOD). It is a concept for managing urban growth in transit corridors which have characteristics of mixed land use, compact, walkability, and development focused around public transit area. This research aims at utilizing GIS to organize, sort, and analyze spatial data including aspects of land use, transportation, and environment. Jabodetabek is a strategic metropolitan area in Indonesia, and consists of DKI Jakarta and the neighboring Bodetabek cities, with more than 27 million population in 2010. Approximately 1,105,000 people are entering Jakarta every workday from the negihboring Bodetabek region. The surge in the number of passenger cars and motorcycles is astonishing. In contrast, the usage of public transport has declined deeply. Public transport infrastructure development without the integration of TOD may not attain the objective of reducing car dependency. This paper discusses the study which was carried out to identify the applicability of TOD principles in Jabodetabek using GIS as a tool to analysis and create model

  20. Gypsiferous mine water use in irrigation on rehabilitated open-cast mine land: Crop production, soil water and salt balance

    OpenAIRE

    Annandale, J.; Jovanovic, N.; Pretorius, J.; Lorentz, S.; Rethman, N.; Tanner, P.

    2001-01-01

    The use of gypsiferous mine water for irrigation of agricultural crops is a promising technology, which could alleviate a shortage of irrigation water and address the problem of disposal of mine effluent. A field trial was established at Kleinkopje Colliery in Witbank (Mpumalanga Province, South Africa) during the 1997-1998 season. Sugar beans and wheat were irrigated with three center pivots, on both virgin and rehabilitated land. The objectives were to determine crop response to irrigation ...