scholarly journals Periodic variability in cetacean strandings: links to large-scale climate events

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Evans ◽  
R Thresher ◽  
R.M Warneke ◽  
C.J.A Bradshaw ◽  
M Pook ◽  
...  

Cetacean strandings elicit much community and scientific interest, but few quantitative analyses have successfully identified environmental correlates to these phenomena. Data spanning 1920–2002, involving a total of 639 stranding events and 39 taxa groups from southeast Australia, were found to demonstrate a clear 11–13- year periodicity in the number of events through time. These data positively correlated with the regional persistence of both zonal (westerly) and meridional (southerly) winds, reflecting general long-term and large-scale shifts in sea-level pressure gradients. Periods of persistent zonal and meridional winds result in colder and presumably nutrient-rich waters being driven closer to southern Australia, resulting in increased biological activity in the water column during the spring months. These observations suggest that large-scale climatic events provide a powerful distal influence on the propensity for whales to strand in this region. These patterns provide a powerful quantitative framework for testing hypotheses regarding environmental links to strandings and provide managers with a potential predictive tool to prepare for years of peak stranding activity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-81
Author(s):  
Ari Susanti ◽  
Hero Marhaento ◽  
Dwiko Budi Permadi ◽  
Budiadi Budiadi ◽  
Muhammad Ali Imron ◽  
...  

Oil palm has become an important export commodity for Indonesia and has been cultivated by both smallholders and large scale companies mainly as monoculture plantations. Research suggests that this massive monoculture practice has led to adverse impacts on natural and social systems. Smallholders encounter difficulties to cope with extreme climate events such as long dry seasons, fluctuating commodity price and long-term tenure insecurity. We argue that oil palm agroforestry (OPAF) could become a promising and realistic alternative to deal with these problems under social forestry (SF) program. To date, OPAF has been adopted by merely small number of smallholders in Indonesia in a limited scale. This article aims at analysing the barriers and factors which influence the decision of smallholders in adopting OPAF. We employ a hybrid method which combines qualitative and quantitative analysis. Binary logistic regression models were constructed to identify factors influencing OPAF adoption. Our findings suggest that education, having side job and relative location of smallholders’ have significantly influenced smallholders’ decision in adopting OPAF. Knowledge gaps especially on the yields and management of OPAF have likely led to low OPAF adoption.  


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Faranda ◽  
Mathieu Vrac ◽  
Pascal Yiou ◽  
Flavio Maria Emanuele Pons ◽  
Adnane Hamid ◽  
...  

<p>Recent advances in statistical learning have opened the possibility to forecast the behavior of chaotic systems using recurrent neural networks. In this letter we investigate the applicability of this framework to geophysical flows, known to be intermittent and turbulent.  We show that both turbulence and intermittency introduce severe limitations on the applicability of recurrent neural networks, both for short term forecasts as well as for the reconstruction of the underlying attractor. We test these ideas on global sea-level pressure data for the past 40 years, issued from the NCEP reanalysis datase, a proxy of the atmospheric circulation dynamics.  The performance of recurrent neural network in predicting both short and long term behaviors rapidly drops when the systems are perturbed with noise. However, we found that a good predictability is partially recovered when scale separation is performed via a moving average filter. We suggest that possible strategies to overcome limitations  should be based on separating the smooth large-scale dynamics, from the intermittent/turbulent features. </p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
I. G. Shokurova ◽  
A. A. Kubryakov ◽  
M. V. Shokurov ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  

Purpose. The paper is aimed at studying the relationship between the wind regime and the wind stress curl in the Black Sea and the long-term changes in the large-scale sea level pressure field in winter months. Methods and Results. The data on wind speed and sea level pressure in January – February from the NCEP/NСAR reanalysis for 1948–2018 are used. Based on the 6-hour data, the synoptic conditions accompanied by high and low values of the wind stress curl in the sea were determined. The synoptic situations in which a vast anticyclone is located north and northeast of the sea, and the area of low pressure – to the southwest of the sea in the Mediterranean region, are accompanied by the northeast and east winds, and by the cyclonic curl predominance. On the contrary, passing of the cyclones to the north of the sea and increase of pressure to the southwest are followed by the westerly and southwesterly winds, and by the anticyclonic curl predominance. Extremely high monthly mean values of the cyclonic curl were observed in those years, when the area occupied by the Siberian anticyclone increased and expanded westward, so that the Black Sea was on the southwestern periphery of its spur. Extremely low values of the anticyclonic curl were noted when the Azores anticyclone area expanded to the Mediterranean region. The wind stress curl changes on the multidecadal scales have shown its relation to the global changes in the field of the sea level pressure and the sign of the pressure anomalies at the low latitudes. Conclusions. The opposite sign of the surface pressure anomalies to the northeast and southwest of the sea is accompanied by the highest values of the wind stress curl.


1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
P. Ambrož

AbstractThe large-scale coronal structures observed during the sporadically visible solar eclipses were compared with the numerically extrapolated field-line structures of coronal magnetic field. A characteristic relationship between the observed structures of coronal plasma and the magnetic field line configurations was determined. The long-term evolution of large scale coronal structures inferred from photospheric magnetic observations in the course of 11- and 22-year solar cycles is described.Some known parameters, such as the source surface radius, or coronal rotation rate are discussed and actually interpreted. A relation between the large-scale photospheric magnetic field evolution and the coronal structure rearrangement is demonstrated.


1967 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 8-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. Collen

The utilization of an automated multitest laboratory as a data acquisition center and of a computer for trie data processing and analysis permits large scale preventive medical research previously not feasible. Normal test values are easily generated for the particular population studied. Long-term epidemiological research on large numbers of persons becomes practical. It is our belief that the advent of automation and computers has introduced a new era of preventive medicine.


2014 ◽  
pp. 124-129
Author(s):  
Z. V. Karamysheva

The review contains detailed description of the «Atlas of especially protected natural areas of Saint Petersburg» published in 2013. This publication presents the results of long-term studies of 12 natural protected areas made by a large research team in the years from 2002 to 2013 (see References). The Atlas contains a large number of the historical maps, new satellite images, the original illustrations, detailed texts on the nature of protected areas, summary tables of rare species of vascular plants, fungi and vertebrates recorded in these areas. Special attention is paid to the principles of thematic large-scale mapping. The landscape maps, the vegetation maps as well as the maps of natural processes in landscapes are included. Reviewed Atlas deserves the highest praise.


2000 ◽  
Vol 151 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-83
Author(s):  
Pascal Schneider ◽  
Jean-Pierre Sorg

In and around the state-owned forest of Farako in the region of Sikasso, Mali, a large-scale study focused on finding a compromise allowing the existential and legitimate needs of the population to be met and at the same time conserving the forest resources in the long term. The first step in research was to sketch out the rural socio-economic context and determine the needs for natural resources for autoconsumption and commercial use as well as the demand for non-material forest services. Simultaneously, the environmental context of the forest and the resources available were evaluated by means of inventories with regard to quality and quantity. According to an in-depth comparison between demand and potential, there is a differentiated view of the suitability of the forest to meet the needs of the people living nearby. Propositions for a multipurpose management of the forest were drawn up. This contribution deals with some basic elements of research methodology as well as with results of the study.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-98
Author(s):  
R. Winzenbacher ◽  
R. Schick ◽  
H.-H. Stabel ◽  
M. Jekel

Improved removal of particles during the treatment of natural aquatic suspensions has been achieved by pre-ozonation and the addition of small quantities of iron salts (βFe ≤ 0.1 mg.L-1; “Fe(III)-assisted filtration”) followed by rapid filtration. As shown by investigations on a large-scale installation at Lake Constance Water Supply, this procedure reliably reduces suspended solids by at least 2-3 powers of ten in long-term use. However, the high efficacy of Fe(III)-assisted filtration cannot be explained on the basis of known coagulation mechanisms (like adsorption-charge neutralization, co-precipitation). Instead, the essential step was found to be the conditioning of the filter medium by coating it with colloids containing Fe(OH)3, and this “Fe coating” process occurs only in the presence of alkaline earths (especially Ca2+). According to further experiments, the enhanced solid-liquid separation was ultimately traced to chemical interactions such as the formation of calcium-organic association structures between the iron hydroxides and other solids. For design of Fe(III)-assisted filtration steps, finally, a βCa/DOC ratio above 40 mg.mg-1 and pre-oxidation with ozone dosages not exceeding 2 mg O3/mg DOC was recommended.


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