Geodiversity and geoheritage in the perspective of geography

The paper states that geodiversity is the abiotic complement to biodiversity, and is considered to be the elements associated with the abiotic environment, e.g. geological diversity, geomorphodiversity, pedodiversity, hydrodiversity and climodiversity. Geoheritage is considered as the geological heritage of a site, but is here presented as the abiotic heritage of a site, and is related to geological heritage, geomorphoheritage, pedoheritage, hydroheritage and climoheritage. Thus, it is possible to talk about geological sites, geomorphosites, pedosites, hydrosites and climosites. Geodiversity and geoheritage are strongly linked to geology. However, it is also a new paradigm to geography, as physical geography classically works with abiotic and biotic environments.

Application of geospatial technologies in constructing a flash flood warning model in northern mountainous regions of Vietnam: a case study at TrinhTuong commune, Bat Xat district, LaoCai province

The model was constructed based on GIS spatial analyses, combined with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Multi-Criterion Analysis method (MCA). The data gathered for the study were mainly from remote-sensing images, statistical data and surveys. Field experiments were conducted in Trinh Tuong Commune, Bat Xat District, Lao Cai province. This is a typical remote mountainous region of Vietnam in which flash floods often occur. The study analyzes and evaluates six primary factors that incite flash flood, namely: geomorphological characteristics, soil properties, forest and fractional vegetation cover types, local drainage basin slopes, maximum average rainfall of various years, and the river/stream density of the region. The zoning map showing flash flood potentials has determined that 19.91% of the area had an extremely high risk of flash flood occurrence, 64.92% of the area had a medium risk, and 15.17% had a low or very low risk. Based on the employment of daily maximum rainfalls as the primary factor, an online flash flood warning model was constructed for areas with a “high” or “very high” risk of flash flood occurrence.

Variability of nephological conditions in 1971–2010 based on measurements made at Bydgoszcz-Airport weather station

This paper contains a description of nephological conditions in the Bydgoszcz area based on data sourced from the Bydgoszcz-Airport weather station for 1971–2010. In the analysed forty-year period from 1971 to 2010 the average annual total cloud cover in Bydgoszcz – measured on a scale of 0–8 – was 5.5; for the warm season (April – September) it was 5.1, and for the cold season (October – March) 5.8. This corresponds to, respectively, 69, 64 and 72% coverage of the sky by cloud. Cloud cover was largest from November to February (6.1–5.8) and smallest in August (4.7). In 1971–2010, the average mean cloud cover value (scale 0–8) decreased from 5.6 in 1971–1990 to 5.4 in the multi-annual period 1991–2010 (by 0.05 per 10 years).

The influence of benzene air pollution on leukemia incidence and mortality rates

The following study identifies areas where adverse conditions related to benzene pollution are concurrent with leukaemia incidence and mortality (C91–C95). Moreover, it determines the similarities between benzene and leukaemia levels, as well and rules defining their co-occurrence. The analysis covered the period of 2015–2017. Data were obtained from Dane.gov.pl (number of leukaemia cases), the Polish National Cancer Registry website (number of deaths), the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office (population data) and the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection and the Air Quality Portal (data on air quality). Based on the conducted analysis, it was concluded that the following poviat towns have an unfavourable epidemic situation related to leukaemia: Kielce (incidence), Rzeszów (incidence), Elbląg (mortality); meanwhile, high leukaemia incidence and mortality co-occurred with high average benzene concentration in 2015–2017 in the following poviat towns: Kielce, Rybnik, Płock and Rzeszów. It was found that leukaemias belonging to the three-character ICD-10 categories C94, C95 and C92 show the highest rate of co-occurrence with benzene concentration. In addition, two main rules for the co-occurrence of benzene pollution and leukaemia were identified. It was also noted that it is necessary to continue the research for a longer time period, especially in the poviat towns of Kielce and Rzeszów.

Ice phenomena in investigations of Polish lakes

The paper presents nearly 150 years of history of ice research conducted on Polish lakes. In the first stage, these were observations and expedition studies that had an exploratory purpose. It was not until the 1920s that stationary measurements on several lakes were introduced. Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War II interrupted these observations. After the war, they were resumed in 1946, but the real beginning of investigations of ice phenomena on lakes is taken to be 1960. At present, stationary measurements of ice phenomena are conducted on about 70 lakes located mainly in northern Poland. Besides the purely explorative purpose, experimental research on ice phenomena on lakes has also contributed to the development of a measurement methodology. The author of this paper took part in numerous experimental studies conducted on over 30 lakes for which the ice results are partially presented below.

Microscale spatial variation of soil erodibility factor (K) in a young hummocky moraine landscape in Northern Poland

Soil erodibility is one of the crucial parameters for modelling soil erosion, expressed as the K-factor. The presented study tries to illustrate the spatial variance of K-factor on a local scale through the investigation of soil properties and descriptive spatial analysis utilising GIS tools at microscale in a young hummocky moraine landscape in Northern Poland. The results of the interpolation of K-factor values illustrate their changing from high values in eroded pedons on the tops of hummocks to low values in kettle holes. The middle position is occupied by slightly and non-eroded pedons. The mean weight results were very similar to data that were found on the scale of Europe and Poland. In landscapes with heterogeneous soil cover, there are significant differences in maps based on different approaches to data visualisation. There are advantages and disadvantages to both (1) referring to mean values of the K index for soil contours representing different soil types and (2) interpolating the values obtained from individual points (GIS tool). Interpolation can be used for a thoroughly examined area with a high number of input points, while a map based on mean K index values for soil contours would be more effective in homogeneous areas.

The relationship between landscape and meteorological parameters on COVID-19 risk in a small-complex region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

As of the beginning of September 2021, the COVID-19 outbreak has lasted for more than 1.5 years in Indonesia, especially on Java and Bali islands. Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia, is one of the areas that continued to impose restrictions on community activities at the highest level for that period. This is due to the high rate of COVID-19 spread in this region. In this paper, the influence of landscape and meteorological parameters on the spread of COVID-19 risk in Yogyakarta is investigated. This study utilises primary and secondary data obtained from observation, remote-sensing-image interpretation, literature study and data documented by several agencies. The data were statistically analysed using simple linear regression and Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis utilising the average nearest neighbour. The results show that the variation in landscape and meteorological parameters in the Yogyakarta area does not have a significant impact on the spread of COVID-19. Ease of accessibility in various areas of Yogyakarta is able to overcome landscape barriers. This affects the random distribution pattern of COVID-19, clustering in plain areas that facilitate population mobility rather than in mountainous, volcanic or karst areas. Also, meteorological conditions with small variations do not impact the spread of COVID-19. In summary, this study shows that ease of mobility in a medium-wide area can encourage the spread of COVID-19 in various regions even though there are variations in its terrain and climate.

Meghna riverbank erosion on lives and livelihoods of rural people: impacts and coping strategies

Riverbank erosion is one of the most hazardous disaster types for Bangladesh. It has both a direct and a negative impact on people and their livelihoods. This study aims to explore the impacts of Meghna riverbank erosion and the coping strategies that have been adopted by the affected people to combat this calamity, considering four unions under Matlab Uttar of Chadpur District. The findings reveal that the occupational status, income and expenditure of the affected people have changed due to erosion. Ninety-one percent of the respondents’ houses were fully damaged and 48% of them are living in shelter houses. The results also show that a large portion of the affected populace lost their assets and most of them are suffering from psychological distress. Around 87% of people borrowed money to cope with this hazard, and a strict law against sand dredging is recommended as one of the effective strategies to prevent Meghna river bank erosion.

Analysing flood history and simulating the nature of future floods using Gumbel method and Log-Pearson Type III: the case of the Mayurakshi River Basin, India

Floods of the Mayurakshi River Basin (MRB) have been historically documented since 1860. The high magnitude, low-frequency flood events have drastically changed to low magnitude, high-frequency flood events in the post-dam period, especially after the 1950s, when the major civil structures (Massanjore dam, Tilpara barrage, Brahmani barrage, Deucha barrage, and Bakreshwar weir) were constructed in the MRB. The present study intends to find out the nature of flood frequency using the extreme value method of Gumbel and Log-Pearson type III (LP-III). The results show that the highest flood magnitude (11,327 m3 s−1) was observed during 1957–2009 for the Tilpara barrage with a return probability of 1.85% and the lowest (708 m3 s−1) recorded by the Bakreshwar weir during 1956–77 with a return probability of 4.55%. In the present endeavour, we have computed the predicted discharge for the different return periods, like 2, 5, 10, 25, 50,100, and 200 years. The quantile-quantile plot shows that the expected discharge calculated using LP-III is more normally distributed than that of Gumbel. Moreover, Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) test, Anderson–Darling (AD), and x2 distribution show that LP-III distribution is more normally distributed than the Gumbel at 0.01 significance level, implying its greater reliability and acceptance in the flood simulation of the MRB.

The spatial pattern of selected extreme precipitation indices for Turkey (1975-2012)

This paper analyses extreme precipitation characteristics of Turkey based on selected WMO climate change indices. The indices – monthly total rainy days (RDays); monthly maximum 1-day precipitation (Rx1day); simple precipitation intensity index (SDII); and monthly count of days when total precipitation (represented by PRCP) exceeds 10 mm (R10mm) – were calculated for 98 stations for the 38-year overlapping period (1975–2012). Cluster analysis was applied to evaluate the spatial characterisation of the annual precipitation extremes. Four extreme precipitation clusters were detected. Cluster 1 corresponds spatially to Central and Eastern Anatolia and is identified with the lowest values of the indices, except rainy days. Cluster 2 is concentrated mainly on the west and south of Anatolia, and especially the coastal zone, and can be characterised with the lowest rainy days, and high and moderate values of other indices. These two clusters are the most prominent classes throughout the country, and include a total of 82 stations. Cluster 3 is clearly located in the Black Sea coastal zone in the north, and has high and moderate index values. Two stations on the north-east coast of the Black Sea region are identified as Cluster 4, which exhibits the highest values among all indices. The overall results reveal that winter months and October have the highest proportion of precipitation extremes in Turkey. The north-east part of the Black Sea region and Mediterranean coastal area from the south-west to the south-east are prone to frequent extreme precipitation events.