Long-term investigation of subsidence rate and its environmental effects using the InSAR technique and geospatial analyses

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Zohreh Masoumi ◽  
Zahra Mousavi ◽  
Zahra Hajeb
2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 393
Author(s):  
Xiao YAN ◽  
De-Jian WANG ◽  
Gang ZHANG ◽  
Lu-Ji BO ◽  
Xiao-Lan PENG

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua G. Cronmiller ◽  
Bram F. Noble

Long-term regional environmental monitoring, coupled with shorter-term and more localized monitoring carried out under regulatory permitting processes, is foundational to identifying, understanding, and effectively managing cumulative environmental effects. However, monitoring programs that emerge to support cumulative effects science are often short-lived initiatives or disconnected from land use planning and regulatory decision making. This paper examines the history and evolution of environmental monitoring in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada, and the enabling and constraining influences of institutional arrangements. Methods involved a review of regional-scale monitoring programs based on an analysis of monitoring agency mandates, performance reports, and external program reviews, supplemented by discussions with monitoring program or agency key informants to triangulate results. Results show that monitoring to support cumulative effects understanding in the Lower Athabasca has advanced considerably, especially since the mid-1990s, but its relevance to, and impact on, cumulative effects management and decision making has been stifled by institutional arrangements. Monitoring has been episodic, reflecting shifting priorities and competing mandates; criticized by stakeholders based on concerns about transparency, credibility, influence over decision making; and characterized by short-lived commitments by the agencies involved. This has generated significant uncertainty about the stability of institutional arrangements to support long-term environmental monitoring, and tensions between the need for scientific autonomy for credible science whilst ensuring the pursuit of monitoring questions that are relevant to the day-to-day needs of regulatory decision makers. Regional monitoring programs require, at a minimum, clear vision and agreed-upon monitoring questions that are of scientific and management value, meaningful and balanced stakeholder engagement, and a clear governance process to ensure credibility and influence of monitoring results on decision making.


2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Webb ◽  
Kenneth L. Gee ◽  
Randy W. DeYoung ◽  
Seth M. Harju

Context Long-term studies of large, vertebrate mammals using capture–recapture data are scarce, even though long-term ecological studies are requisite to understanding quantitative genetics and evolutionary processes that can be applied as part of management programs. Aims Objectives were to (1) partition components of variation in body mass to understand the differential effects of environmental variation on the sexes during ontogeny, to better prescribe habitat-improvement projects, and (2) estimate repeatability to assess potential for selection on body mass. Methods We used a 23-year dataset (1983–2005) of capture–recapture records of wild white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to estimate components of variance and repeatability of body mass. We used an animal-model approach that employed the use of general linear mixed models and restricted maximum likelihood to adjust for the effects of age (i.e. fixed effect), and to partition the total phenotypic variance into among-individual (i.e. the deer), permanent environmental (i.e. year of birth) and temporary environmental (i.e. year of measurement and residual) effects (all modelled as random effects). Key results We found that body mass increased with age in both sexes, repeatability of body mass was 0.595 for females and 0.716 for males, and among-individual variation was more influential on body mass than were permanent and temporary environmental effects combined. Year of birth was more important in males than females, but changed during the course of ontogeny for both sexes. Year of measurement did not influence post-rut body mass in males, but did contribute to variation in body mass of females. Conclusions These long-term data offer insights into the sources of variation that influence body mass of deer, which can be used to understand how environmental sources of variation influence phenotypic traits, and for developing management plans and making selection decisions. Implications Knowledge of repeatability (as an upper limit to heritability) can be used to make management decisions related to selection, culling and breeding, whereas understanding environmental effects can lead to better management recommendations (e.g. habitat-improvement projects).


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1583-1602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangbo Yu ◽  
Guoquan Wang

Abstract. This study investigates current ground deformation derived from the GPS geodesy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico region. The positions and velocity vectors of 161 continuous GPS (CGPS) stations are presented with respect to a newly established local reference frame, the Stable Gulf of Mexico Reference Frame (SGOMRF). Thirteen long-term (> 5 years) CGPS are used to realize the local reference frame. The root mean square (RMS) of the velocities of the 13 SGOMRF reference stations achieves 0.2 mm yr−1 in the horizontal and 0.3 mm yr−1 in the vertical directions. GPS observations presented in this study indicate significant land subsidence in the coastal area of southeastern Louisiana, the greater Houston metropolitan area, and two cities in Mexico (Aguascalientes and Mexico City). The most rapid subsidence is recorded at the Mexico City International airport, which is up to 26.6 cm yr−1 (2008–2014). Significant spatial variation of subsidence rates is observed in both Mexico City and the Houston area. The overall subsidence rate in the Houston area is decreasing. The subsidence rate in southeastern Louisiana is relatively smaller (4.0–6.0 mm yr−1) but tends to be steady over time. This poses a potential threat to the safety of coastal infrastructure in the long-term.


Rural History ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC L. JONES

AbstractThis paper considers the effects of blood sports on the landscape, wildlife and farming, and assesses the implications of the topic for some matters of historical interpretation. Histories of individual sports written by practitioners are rarely candid about the environmental costs and even descriptions by professional historians tend to neglect the dynamic ecological consequences. Ritualised foxhunting supplanted more effective control and encouraged pests. Any benign consequences were incidental. Thanks to commercial money, shooting intensities held up well even during agricultural depressions. Game preservation, notably of pheasants, meant heavy pressure on birds of prey and other wild species; planting woodland was the main benign effect, although this simultaneously fostered so-called pests. Killing species that competed with game eliminated some wildlife but often proved self-defeating in the long term. Angling had mixed implications for waterside wildlife, although riverine habitats were lastingly modified when sport-fishing replaced fishing for food. Hunting and shooting meant some withdrawal of land from farming and interference with rotations: these activities reduced productivity. That the national economy could ‘afford’ to divert so many resources to elite sports contradicts the dominant view that England came up against a resources barrier.


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