scholarly journals Reconstructing 20th century global hydrography: a contribution to the Global Terrestrial Network- Hydrology (GTN-H)

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 2679-2732 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Wisser ◽  
B. M. Fekete ◽  
C. J. Vörösmarty ◽  
A. H. Schumann

Abstract. This paper presents a new reconstruction of the 20th Century global hydrography using fully coupled water balance and transport model in a flexible modeling framework. The modeling framework allows a high level of configurability both in terms of input forcings and model structure. Spatial and temporal trends in hydrological cycle components are assessed under "pre-industrial" conditions (without modern-day human activities) and contemporary conditions (incorporating the effects of irrigation and reservoir operations). The two sets of simulations allow the isolation of the trends arising from variations in the climate input driver alone and from human interventions. Our findings confirm that the expansion of irrigation and the construction has significantly and gradually impacted hydrological components in individual river basins. Variations in the volume of water entering the oceans, however, are governed by variations in the climate signal alone with human activities playing secondary role. Globally, we do find a significant trend in the terrestrial discharge over the last century. The largest impact of human intervention on the hydrological cycle arises from the operation of reservoirs that drastically changes the seasonal pattern of horizontal water transport in the river system and thereby directly and indirectly affects a number of processes.

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Wisser ◽  
B. M. Fekete ◽  
C. J. Vörösmarty ◽  
A. H. Schumann

Abstract. This paper presents a new reconstruction of the 20th century global hydrography using fully coupled water balance and transport model in a flexible modeling framework. The modeling framework allows a high level of configurability both in terms of input forcings and model structure. Spatial and temporal trends in hydrological cycle components are assessed under "pre-industrial" conditions (without modern-day human activities) and contemporary conditions (incorporating the effects of irrigation and reservoir operations). The two sets of simulations allow the isolation of the trends arising from variations in the climate input driver alone and from human interventions. The sensitivity of the results to variations in input data was tested by using three global gridded datasets of precipitation. Our findings confirm that the expansion of irrigation and the construction of reservoirs has significantly and gradually impacted hydrological components in individual river basins. Variations in the volume of water entering the oceans annually, however, are governed primarily by variations in the climate signal alone with human activities playing a minor role. Globally, we do not find a significant trend in the terrestrial discharge over the last century. The largest impact of human intervention on the hydrological cycle arises from the operation of reservoirs that drastically changes the seasonal pattern of horizontal water transport in the river system and thereby directly and indirectly affects a number of processes such as ability to decompose organic matter or the cycling of nutrients in the river system.


Author(s):  
E.S. Zenkevich ◽  
N.V. Popov

During the second half of 20th century, a high level of plague incidence in the world was in 1960–1979 and 1990–2009. The significant decrease of infection cases was in 1950–1959, 1980–1989, 2010–2015. It is noticed, that the observed cyclical nature of the alternation of high and low incidence plague’s periods, in many respects related to modern trend of climate fluctuations.


2008 ◽  
Vol 363 (1499) ◽  
pp. 2011-2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin Hutchins

Innate cognitive capacities are orchestrated by cultural practices to produce high-level cognitive processes. In human activities, examples of this phenomenon range from everyday inferences about space and time to the most sophisticated reasoning in scientific laboratories. A case is examined in which chimpanzees enter into cultural practices with humans (in experiments) in ways that appear to enable them to engage in symbol-mediated thought. Combining the cultural practices perspective with the theories of embodied cognition and enactment suggests that the chimpanzees' behaviour is actually mediated by non-symbolic representations. The possibility that non-human primates can engage in cultural practices that give them the appearance of symbol-mediated thought opens new avenues for thinking about the coevolution of human culture and human brains.


1995 ◽  
Vol 412 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Wolfsberg ◽  
B. A. Robinson ◽  
J. T. Fabryka-Martin

AbstractCharacterization and performance assessment (PA) studies for the potential high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain require an understanding of migration mechanisms and pathways of radioactive solutes. Measurements of 36C1 in samples extracted from boreholes at the site are being used in conjunction with recent infiltration estimates to calibrate a site-scale flow and solute transport model. This exercise using the flow and solute transport model, FEHM, involves testing different model formulations and two different hypotheses to explain the occurrence of elevated 36Cl in the Calico Hills unit (CHn) which indicates younger water than in the overlying Topopah Spring unit (TSw). One hypothesis suggests fast vertical transport from the surface via fractures in the TSw to the CHn. An alternative hypothesis is that the elevated 36C1 concentrations reflect rapid horizontal flow in the CHn or at the interface between the CHn and the TSw with the source being vertical percolation under spatially isolated regions of high infiltration or at outcrops of those units. Arguments in favor of and against the hypotheses are described in conjunction with the site-scale transport studies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 2164-2170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Sillanpää ◽  
Harri Koivusalo

Despite the crucial role of snow in the hydrological cycle in cold climate conditions, monitoring studies of urban snow quality often lack discussions about the relevance of snow in the catchment-scale runoff management. In this study, measurements of snow quality were conducted at two residential catchments in Espoo, Finland, simultaneously with continuous runoff measurements. The results of the snow quality were used to produce catchment-scale estimates of areal snow mass loads (SML). Based on the results, urbanization reduced areal snow water equivalent but increased pollutant accumulation in snow: SMLs in a medium-density residential catchment were two- to four-fold higher in comparison with a low-density residential catchment. The main sources of pollutants were related to vehicular traffic and road maintenance, but also pet excrement increased concentrations to a high level. Ploughed snow can contain 50% of the areal pollutant mass stored in snow despite its small surface area within a catchment.


Author(s):  
Anna Hrytsyshyn ◽  

The article deals with the development of festival tourism in the second half of the 20th century. Festival tourism is referred to the special types of tourism and should satisfy specific needs of people during the trip. The motivational basis of the festival tourism is the desire of people to visit new places, regions and events in the world, including festivals. The article analyzes the main factors of the development of festival tourism in the second half of the 20th century after the end of the Second World War. Six main groups of factors are determined, in particular: civilization, sociological and psychological factors; economic factors; political factors; technological factors; ecological factors and tourism as a factor in festival development. It was established that the progress of civilization and higher incomes made it possible to satisfy the basic social needs in the highly developed countries, as well as to concentrate on high-level needs, including those connected with culture and entertainment, thus, also with festivals. The collapse of the USSR and the democratization of the post-communist countries in Europe caused the appearance of a new cultural and entertainment activity. Moreover, the authorities began to take more and more responsibility for the socioeconomic development of cities and regions, including the cultural aspect, which in turn resulted in promotion of local festivals. The development of transport infrastructure and modern information technologies has also positively contributed to the development of festival tourism. The ecological approach to life and to civilization in general is considered to be an important factor in the development of festival tourism in recent years.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-128
Author(s):  
M. Gresko ◽  
A. Gresko

The main stages of formation of endoscopic surgery are analyzed in chronological sequence. It is shown that the development of surgical technologies at the end of 20th century was due to the fruitful work of individual surgeons, who, in close cooperation with engineers, "broke" the classic vision of the development of surgery of their colleagues. Their talent and persistence in the introduction of new therapies tended to reduce the traumaticity of the various methods of diagnosis and treatment and made it possible to perform high-tech surgeries with a high level of rehabilitation. Since 1992, endoscopic techniques have become widely used in hospitals in different cities of Ukraine and in 1996 were introduced in Bukovyna. Bukovynian surgeons continue to improve the methods of endoscopic treatment of patients, keeping in mind that this is the key to the progress of treatment and the prevention of intra - and postoperative complications. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahibah Twahir@Hj Tahir ◽  
Kamaruzzaman Yusof ◽  
Abu Hassan Abdul

The study aims to identify the development of the Islah and Tajdid movements in Malaya and the impact on Islamic education for women starting at the madrasah level to the high level in the late 20th century. This study discusses the movement of Islah and Tajdid which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in Malaya and analyzed the influence of thinking on Islamic women's education. This study was conducted using a qualitative study, where all data information from primary and secondary sources was scrutinized and analyzed by taking an inductive approach. The study found that the characters involved in this movement in Malaya since the very beginning of their return from their studies in Egypt have supported the thought of Sheikh Muhammad Abduh and Sheikh Rasyid Ridha in the case of women's education. They wrote and worked on publications through newspapers and magazines that voiced the importance of Muslim women to be given freedom of education to engage in society. In order to realize these thoughts and awareness, they also set up special madrasah for female students in Penang, Melaka and Singapore. The influence of their thinking has led to the awareness of the Malay community with the establishment of madrasah in the states of Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis, and Johor and opened the widest opportunities for female students to receive education. Until the Independence era of Malaya, these madrasah have expanded to whole land of Malay as the efforts and awareness of group of religionist that support the thinking of Islah and Tajdid. In 1952 Malaya Islamic College was established and followed by Yayasan Pengajian Tinggi Islam Kelantan (YPTIK) in 1956 as a result of this group's efforts. Women's students also have the opportunity to pursue higher levels of education until there is an Islamic women's education network between Malaysia, Indonesia and Egypt. At the end of the 20th century, Muslim women had succeeded in occupying various career fields, especially in Islamic education as teachers in schools, as a lecturer at higher learning centers that offering various fields of Islamic studies and as civil servants in government departments.


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