scholarly journals The human impact on North American erosion, sediment transfer, and storage in a geologic context

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Kemp ◽  
Peter M. Sadler ◽  
Veerle Vanacker
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
North American ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
River System ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Alluvial Sediment ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
The Impact

AbstractHumans are primary agents of geomorphic change, and rates of anthropogenic landscape change likely far exceed the pace of change expected from natural geologic processes. Nevertheless, our understanding of the impact of humans on the natural landscape is limited by difficulties in accurately comparing past and present rates of change across wide spatial and temporal scales. Here, we present a compilation of  >4000 rates of alluvial sediment accumulation that provide an indirect record of North American erosion, mass transfer and sediment storage from the late Pleistocene to the present day. Continent-wide rates of alluvium accumulation were broadly stable for ~40,000 years, but increased 10-fold during the rapid expansion of agriculture and river system modification associated with European colonization. Interpreted in terms of mass transfer, humans have moved as much sediment in North America in the past century as natural processes can transfer in 700–3000 years.

CHIRONOMIDAE (DIPTERA) RESPONSES TO 2800 YEARS OF CULTURAL INFLUENCE; A PALAEOLIMNOLOGICAL STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SEDIMENTATION, EUTROPHICATION, AND CONTAMINATION PROCESSES

1980 ◽  
Vol 112 (11) ◽  
pp. 1193-1238 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Warwick
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Fine Sediments ◽  
The Core ◽  
Impact Processes ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
The Impact

AbstractChironomid fossil assemblages in sediment cores collected from the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario, were examined to assess the impact of cultural development on the aquatic environment and to estimate, semi-quantitatively, the relative importance of the various impact processes influencing the chironomid communities. The impact of the six cultures defined in the core—the British–Modern, French, Iroquois, Algonkian, Hopewell, and pre-Hopewell periods—was exerted through eutrophication, sedimentation, and contamination processes. Although the chironomid communities in general followed the accepted theories of faunal response to eutrophication, the impact of sedimentation compounded and at times overshadowed the impact of eutrophication. The chironomid community, which responded to initial European colonization by developing a more eutrophic fauna parallel with increased productivity in the bay, reverted to a more oligotrophic fauna when large scale deforestation of the watershed introduced massive amounts of clay sediments into the bay. The resulting unstable bottom conditions and dilution and/or burial of food materials led to an imbalanced oligotrophic fauna characterized by Micropsectra. This fauna was maintained until the high rates of mineral sediment accumulation declined and the effects of eutrophication became manifest. The transition from the imbalanced oligotrophic fauna to the depleted Chironomus/Procladius fauna tolerant of the present-day eutrophic conditions was so rapid that the intervening mesotrophic Phaenopsectra community was unable to develop fully. The recent increased incidence of deformed larvae implicates industrial and/or agricultural contamination in the continued degradation of the Bay of Quinte fauna.Primitive cultures similarly had measurable effects on the chironomid communities. The “more eutrophic” fauna engendered by the Hopewell culture was not inhibited by the accompanying accumulation of fine sediments as in the European periods and only reverted to a more oligotrophic fauna when reduced populations brought decreased productivity during the Algonkian and early Iroquois stages.

The impact of socioeconomic system on the river system in a heavily disturbed basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 660 ◽  
pp. 851-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zengliang Luo ◽  
Qiting Zuo ◽  
Quanxi Shao ◽  
Xiangyi Ding
Keyword(s):  
River System ◽  
Socioeconomic System ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Improved estimates of preindustrial biomass burning reduce the magnitude of aerosol climate forcing in the Southern Hemisphere

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (22) ◽  
pp. eabc1379
Author(s):  
Pengfei Liu ◽  
Jed O. Kaplan ◽  
Loretta J. Mickley ◽  
Yang Li ◽  
Nathan J. Chellman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fire Activity

Fire plays a pivotal role in shaping terrestrial ecosystems and the chemical composition of the atmosphere and thus influences Earth’s climate. The trend and magnitude of fire activity over the past few centuries are controversial, which hinders understanding of preindustrial to present-day aerosol radiative forcing. Here, we present evidence from records of 14 Antarctic ice cores and 1 central Andean ice core, suggesting that historical fire activity in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) exceeded present-day levels. To understand this observation, we use a global fire model to show that overall SH fire emissions could have declined by 30% over the 20th century, possibly because of the rapid expansion of land use for agriculture and animal production in middle to high latitudes. Radiative forcing calculations suggest that the decreasing trend in SH fire emissions over the past century largely compensates for the cooling effect of increasing aerosols from fossil fuel and biofuel sources.

scholarly journals A Link between the Hiatus in Global Warming and North American Drought

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 3834-3845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Delworth ◽  
Fanrong Zeng ◽  
Anthony Rosati ◽  
Gabriel A. Vecchi ◽  
Andrew T. Wittenberg
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
North America ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
North American ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Global Warming Hiatus ◽  
Warming Hiatus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Abstract Portions of western North America have experienced prolonged drought over the last decade. This drought has occurred at the same time as the global warming hiatus—a decadal period with little increase in global mean surface temperature. Climate models and observational analyses are used to clarify the dual role of recent tropical Pacific changes in driving both the global warming hiatus and North American drought. When observed tropical Pacific wind stress anomalies are inserted into coupled models, the simulations produce persistent negative sea surface temperature anomalies in the eastern tropical Pacific, a hiatus in global warming, and drought over North America driven by SST-induced atmospheric circulation anomalies. In the simulations herein the tropical wind anomalies account for 92% of the simulated North American drought during the recent decade, with 8% from anthropogenic radiative forcing changes. This suggests that anthropogenic radiative forcing is not the dominant driver of the current drought, unless the wind changes themselves are driven by anthropogenic radiative forcing. The anomalous tropical winds could also originate from coupled interactions in the tropical Pacific or from forcing outside the tropical Pacific. The model experiments suggest that if the tropical winds were to return to climatological conditions, then the recent tendency toward North American drought would diminish. Alternatively, if the anomalous tropical winds were to persist, then the impact on North American drought would continue; however, the impact of the enhanced Pacific easterlies on global temperature diminishes after a decade or two due to a surface reemergence of warmer water that was initially subducted into the ocean interior.

scholarly journals Numerical Simulation of Heat Mass Transfer Effects on MHD Flow of Williamson Nanofluid by a Stretching Surface with Thermal Conductivity and Variable Thickness

Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 684
Author(s):  
Saeed Islam ◽  
Haroon Ur Rasheed ◽  
Kottakkaran Sooppy Nisar ◽  
Nawal A. Alshehri ◽  
Mohammed Zakarya
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Differential Equations ◽  
Variable Thickness ◽  
Heat Mass Transfer ◽  
Mathematical Formulation ◽  
Stretching Surface ◽  
Nanofluid Flow ◽  
The Impact

The current analysis deals with radiative aspects of magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer flow with heat mass transfer features on electrically conductive Williamson nanofluid by a stretching surface. The impact of variable thickness and thermal conductivity characteristics in view of melting heat flow are examined. The mathematical formulation of Williamson nanofluid flow is based on boundary layer theory pioneered by Prandtl. The boundary layer nanofluid flow idea yields a constitutive flow laws of partial differential equations (PDEs) are made dimensionless and then reduce to ordinary nonlinear differential equations (ODEs) versus transformation technique. A built-in numerical algorithm bvp4c in Mathematica software is employed for nonlinear systems computation. Considerable features of dimensionless parameters are reviewed via graphical description. A comparison with another homotopic approach (HAM) as a limiting case and an excellent agreement perceived.

The Impact of Assimilating GPS Precipitable Water Vapor in Convective-Permitting WRF-ARW on North American Monsoon Precipitation Forecasts over Northwest Mexico

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoforus Bayu Risanto ◽  
Christopher L. Castro ◽  
Avelino F. Arellano ◽  
James M. Moker ◽  
David K. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
North American ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
Precipitable Water Vapor ◽  
North American Monsoon ◽  
Convective Systems ◽  
Northwest Mexico ◽  
Dewpoint Temperature ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWe assess the impact of GPS precipitable water vapor (GPS-PWV) data assimilation (DA) on short-range North American monsoon (NAM) precipitation forecasts, across 38 days with weak synoptic forcing, during the NAM GPS Hydrometeorological Network field campaign in 2017 over northwest Mexico. Utilizing an ensemble-based data assimilation technique, the GPS-PWV data retrieved from 18 observation sites are assimilated every hour for 12 hours into a 30-member ensemble convective-permitting (2.5 km) Advanced Research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model. As the assimilation of the GPS-PWV improves the initial condition of WRF by reducing the root mean square error and bias of PWV across 1200-1800 UTC, this also leads to an improvement in capturing nocturnal convection of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs; after 0300 UTC) and to an increase by 0.1 mm h-1 in subsequent precipitation during the 0300-0600 UTC period relative to no assimilation of the GPS-PWV (NODA) over the area with relatively more observation sites. This response is consistent with observed precipitation from the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement Final Precipitation product. Moreover, compared to the NODA, we find that the GPS-PWV DA decreases cloud top temperature, increases most unstable convective available energy and surface dewpoint temperature, and thus creates a more favorable condition for convective organization in the region.

scholarly journals Impacts of Large-Scale Circulation on Urban Ambient Concentrations of Gaseous Elemental Mercury in New York, USA

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiting Mao ◽  
Dolly Hall ◽  
Zhuyun Ye ◽  
Ying Zhou ◽  
Dirk Felton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North American ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Measurement Data ◽  
Elemental Mercury ◽  
Urban Site ◽  
Large Scale Circulation ◽  
Gaseous Elemental Mercury ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The impact of large-scale circulation on urban gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) was investigated through analysis of 2008–2015 measurement data from an urban site in New York City (NYC), New York, USA. Distinct annual cycles were observed in 2009–2010 with mixing ratios in warm seasons (i.e. spring–summer) 10–20 ppqv (~ 10 %–25 %) higher than in cool seasons (i.e. fall–winter). This annual cycle was disrupted in 2011 by an anomalously strong influence of the North American trough in that warm season and was reproduced in 2014 with annual amplitude enhanced up to ~ 70 ppqv associated with a particularly strong Bermuda High. North American trough axis index (TAI) and intensity index (TII) were used to characterize the effect of the North American trough on NYC GEM especially in winter and summer. The intensity and position of the Bermuda High had a significant impact on GEM in warm seasons supported by a strong correlation (r reaching 0.96, p 

scholarly journals Evaluating and Predicting the Effects of Land Use Changes on Hydrology in Wami River Basin, Tanzania

Hydrology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sekela Twisa ◽  
Shija Kazumba ◽  
Mathew Kurian ◽  
Manfred F. Buchroithner
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
River System ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
The Impact

Understanding the variation in the hydrological response of a basin associated with land use changes is essential for developing management strategies for water resources. The impact of hydrological changes caused by expected land use changes may be severe for the Wami river system, given its role as a crucial area for water, providing food and livelihoods. The objective of this study is to examine the influence of land use changes on various elements of the hydrological processes of the basin. Hybrid classification, which includes unsupervised and supervised classification techniques, is used to process the images (2000 and 2016), while CA–Markov chain analysis is used to forecast and simulate the 2032 land use state. In the current study, a combined approach—including a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR)—is used to explore the influences of individual land use classes on fluctuations in the hydrological components. From the study, it is evident that land use has changed across the basin since 2000 (which is expected to continue in 2032), as well as that the hydrological effects caused by land use changes were observed. It has been found that the major land use changes that affected hydrology components in the basin were expansion of cultivation land, built-up area and grassland, and decline in natural forests and woodland during the study period. These findings provide baseline information for decision-makers and stakeholders concerning land and water resources for better planning and management decisions in the basin resources’ use.

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