Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Regional scale'
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Benjamin, Jessica. "Regional-scale controls on rockfall occurrence." Thesis, Durham University, 2018. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12813/.
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Rockfalls exert a first-order control on the rate of rock wall retreat on mountain slopes and on coastal rock cliffs. Their occurrence is conditioned by a combination of intrinsic (resisting) and extrinsic (driving) processes, yet determining the exact effects of these processes on rockfall activity and the resulting cliff erosion remains difficult. Although rockfall activity has been monitored extensively in a variety of settings, high-resolution observations of rockfall occurrence on a regional scale are scarce. This is partly owing to difficulties in adequately quantifying the full range of possible rockfall volumes with sufficient accuracy and completeness, and at a scale that exceeds the influence of localised controls on rockfalls. This lack of insight restricts our ability to abstract patterns, to identify long-term changes in behaviour, and to assess how rock slopes respond to changes in both structural and environmental conditions, without resorting to a space for-time substitution. This thesis develops a workflow, from novel data collection to analysis, which is tailored to monitoring rockfall activity and the resulting cliff retreat continuously (in space), in 3D, and over large spatial scales (> 10^4 m). The approach is tested by analysing rockfall activity and the resulting erosion recorded along 20.5 km of near-vertical coastal cliffs, in what is considered as the first multi-temporal detection of rockfalls at a regional-scale and in full 3D. The resulting data are then used to derive a quantitative appraisal of along-coast variations in the geometric properties of exposed discontinuity surfaces, to assess the extent to which these drive patterns in the size and shape of the rockfalls observed. High-resolution field monitoring is then undertaken along a subsection of the coastline (> 10^2 m), where cliff lithology and structure are approximately uniform, in order to quantify spatial variations in wave loading characteristics and to relate these to local morphological conditions, which can act as a proxy for wave loading characteristics. The resulting rockfall inventory is analysed to identify the characteristics of rock slope change that only become apparent when assessed at this scale, placing bounds on data previously collected more locally (< 10^2 m). The data show that spatial consistencies in the distribution of rockfall shape and volume through time approximately follow the geological setting of the coastline, but that variations in the strength of these consistencies are likely to be conditioned by differences in local processes and morphological controls between sites. These results are used to examine the relationships between key metrics of erosion, structural, and morphological controls, which ultimately permits the identification of areas where patterns of erosion are dominated by either intrinsic or extrinsic processes, or a mixture of both. Uniquely, the methodologies and data presented here mark a step-change in our ability to understand the competing effects of different processes in determining the magnitude and frequency of rockfall activity, and the resulting cliff erosion. The findings of this research hold considerable implications for our understanding of rockfalls, and for monitoring, modelling, and managing actively failing rock slopes.
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Cordova, Vicente D. "Regional-scale carbon flux estimation using MODIS imagery." Virtual Press, 2005. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1325989.
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The National Aeronautics and Space Agency NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) platform carried by Terra and Aqua satellites, is providing systematic measurements summarized in high quality, consistent and well-calibrated satellite images and datasets ranging from reflectance in the visible and near infrared bands to estimates of leaf area index, vegetation indices and biome productivity. The objective of this research was to relate the spectral responses and derived MODIS products of ecosystems, to biogeochemical processes and trends in their physiological variables. When different sources of data were compared, discrepancies between the MODIS variables and the corresponding ground measurements were evident. Uncertainties in the input variables of MODIS products algorithms, effects of cloud cover at the studied pixel, estimation algorithm, and local variation in land cover type are considered as the cause. A simple "continuous field" model based on a physiologically-driven spectral index using two ocean-color bands of MODIS satellite sensor showed great potential to track seasonally changing photosynthetic light use efficiency and stress-induced reduction in net primary productivity of terrestrial vegetation. The model explained 88% of the variability in Flux tower-based daily Net Primary Productivity. Also a high correlation between midday gross CO2 exchange with both daily and 8-day mean gross CO2 exchange, consistent across all the studied vegetation types, was found. Although it may not be possible to estimate 8-day mean Light Use Efficiency reliably from satellite data, Light Use Efficiency models may still be useful for estimation of midday values of gross CO2 exchange which could then be related to longer term means of CO2 exchange. In addition, the MODIS enhanced vegetation index shows a high potential for estimation of ecosystem gross primary production, using respiration values from MODIS surface temperature, providing truly per-pixel estimates.Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management
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Begnert, Joel, and Rasmus Tilljander. "Combining Regional Time Stepping With Two-Scale PCISPH Method." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för datalogi och datorsystemteknik, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-10948.
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Context. In computer graphics, realistic looking fluid is often desired. Simulating realistic fluids is a time consuming and computationally expensive task, therefore, much research has been devoted to reducing the simulation time while maintaining the realism. Two of the more recent optimization algorithms within particle based simulations are two-scale simulation and regional time stepping (RTS). Both of them are based on the predictive-corrective incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (PCISPH) algorithm. Objectives. These algorithms improve on two separate aspects of PCISPH, two-scale simulation reduces the number of particles and RTS focuses computational power on regions of the fluid where it is most needed. In this paper we have developed and investigated the performance of an algorithm combining them, utilizing both optimizations. Methods. We implemented both of the base algorithms, as well as PCISPH, before combining them. Therefore we had equal conditions for all algorithms when we performed our experiments, which consisted of measuring the time it took to run each algorithm in three different scene configurations. Results. Results showed that our combined algorithm on average was faster than the other three algorithms. However, our implementation of two-scale simulation gave results inconsistent with the original paper, showing a slower time than even PCISPH. This invalidates the results for our combined algorithm since it utilizes the same implementation. Conclusions. We see that our combined algorithm has potential to speed up fluid simulations, but since the two-scale implementation was incorrect, our results are inconclusive.
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Hanssen, Christina Wår. "Representations of Scale : Influencing EU policy through transnational networks." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for historie og klassiske fag, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-21481.
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All Norwegian regions are represented with permanent offices and are engaged in different activities in the EU capital. This thesis investigates the regional and network level of EU policy-making, and asks the questions of what Norwegian regions are doing in Brussels; if are they are able to influence EU policy; and what effect participation in transnational policy networks have on their abilities to influence EU policy. To answer this, it applies a theoretical framework comprised of multi-level governance and the policy network approach to conduct an analysis of empirical data collected through interviews with different actors in Brussels. The present thesis argues that participation in transnational policy networks improve Norwegian regions' abilities to influence EU policy through being 'representations of scale'.
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Gallagher, Chris C. "Regional-scale transposition and late large-scale folding in the Teslin Zone, Pelly Mountains, Yukon." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape8/PQDD_0001/MQ43358.pdf.
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Gallagher, Chris C. Carleton University Dissertation Earth Sciences. "Regional-scale transposition and late large-scale folding in the Teslin zone, Pelly Mountains, Yukon." Ottawa, 1999.
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Carrasco, Luis Eduardo. "Scale and Strategy in Environmental Assessment of Regional Development Policies." NCSU, 2008. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-08182008-212000/.
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Since the 1970s multiple research efforts around the world have focused on identifying potential environmental, economic, and social impacts of development. It is well understood that local project assessment approaches fail to identify, or worse quantify, indirect or cumulative effects, when they do not provide an appropriate baseline framework to understand the local and the regional environment as a connected entity. A conceptual approach based on several environmental assessment and spatial analysis tools suggests that we need to consider multi-scale methods that can help describe the different processes that occur within a region. This would help project managers and researchers to better evaluate ongoing regional policies by retrieving a wide characterization of the application and impacts of policies within the whole geographical spectrum. Within each policy assessment, these methods could evolve into a framework for environmental management practices at both local and regional scales that could be updated with new information through time. We analyze two regional policy case studies: poverty targeting in Sri Lanka, and payments for ecosystem services in Costa Rica.
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Boushaki, Farid Ishak. "Statistical relationship between drought indices and NDVI at regional scale." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2002. http://etd.library.arizona.edu/etd/GetFileServlet?file=file:///data1/pdf/etd/azu_etd_hy0192_sip1_w.pdf&type=application/pdf.
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Smallman, Thomas Luke. "Atmospheric profiles of CO₂ as integrators of regional scale exchange." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/8886.
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The global climate is changing due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, primarily due to anthropogenic activity. The dominant GHG is CO₂ which originates from combustion of fossil fuels, land use change and management. The terrestrial biosphere is a key driver of climate and biogeochemical cycles at regional and global scales. Furthermore, the response of the Earth system to future drivers of climate change will depend on feedbacks between biogeochemistry and climate. Therefore, understanding these processes requires a mechanistic approach in any model simulation framework. However ecosystem processes are complex and nonlinear and consequently models need to be validated against observations at multiple spatial scales. In this thesis the weather research and forecasting model (WRF) has been coupled to the mechanistic terrestrial ecosystem model soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA), creating WRF-SPA. The thesis is split into three main chapters: i. WRF-SPA model development and validation at multiple spatial scales, scaling from surface fluxes of CO₂ and energy to aircraft profiles and tall tower observations of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. ii. Investigation of ecosystem contributions to observations of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations made at tall tower Angus, Dundee, Scotland using ecosystem specific CO₂ tracers at seasonal and interannual time scales. iii. An assessment of detectability of a policy relevant national scale afforestation by observations made at a tall tower. Detectability of changes in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations was assessed through a comparison of a control simulation, using current day forest extent, and an experimentally afforested simulation using WRF-SPA. WRF-SPA performs well at both site and regional scales, accurately simulating aircraft profiles of CO₂ concentration magnitudes (error <+- 4 ppm), indicating appropriate source sink distribution and realistic atmospheric transport. Hourly observations made at tall tower Angus were also well simulated by WRF-SPA (R² = 0.67, RMSE = 3.5 ppm, bias = 0.58 ppm). Analysis of CO₂ tracers at tall tower Angus show an increase in the seasonal error between WRF-SPA simulated atmospheric CO₂ and observations, which coincides with simulated cropland harvest. WRF-SPA does not simulate uncultivated land associated with agriculture, which in Scotland represents 36 % of agricultural holdings. Therefore, uncultivated land components may provide an explanation for the increase in model-data error. Interannual variation in weather is indicated to have a greater impact on ecosystem specific contributions to atmospheric CO₂ concentrations at Angus than variation in surface activity. In a model experiment, afforestation of Scotland was simulated to test the impact on Scotland’s carbon balance. The changes were shown to be potentially detectable by observations made at tall tower Angus. Afforestation results in a reduction in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations by up to 0.6 ppm at seasonal time scales at tall tower Angus. Detection of changes in forest surface net CO₂ uptake flux due to afforestation was improved through the use of a network of tall towers (R² = 0.83) compared to tall tower Angus alone (R² = 0.75).
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Rahman, Abdullah Faizur 1963. "Monitoring regional-scale surface hydrologic processes using satellite remote sensing." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/191212.
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Satellite-based remotely sensed data were used to estimate regional-scale surface energy fluxes and a water deficit index of a semi-arid heterogeneous region in southeast Arizona. Spectral reflectance and radiometric temperature of the surface, derived from the digital counts of TM bands of LANDSAT-5 satellite, were used for this purpose. These reflectance and temperature, along with conventional meteorological information of the region, were used as inputs to numerical models which estimate surface energy fluxes. Point-based meteorological data of the region were spatially extrapolated over a grid of 120 m X 120 m so that it could be used with the spatially continuous remotely sensed data. The water deficit index (WDI) was estimated using surface temperature and a spectral vegetation index, "soil adjusted vegetation index" (SAVI). The surface fluxes were net radiation flux, sensible heat flux, soil heat flux and latent heat flux. Measured values obtained from the meteorological flux measurement (METFLUX) stations in the study area were compared with the modeled fluxes. Latent heat flux (LE) was the most important one to estimate in the scope of this study. The method of spatially extrapolating the point-based meteorological information and combining with the remotely sensed data produced good estimation of LE for the region, with a mean absolute difference (MAD) of 65 W/m² over a range of 67 to 196 W/m² . Also it was found that the numerical models that were previously used to estimate daily LE values from a region using mid-day remotely sensed data (mostly from NOAAAVHRR) can also be used with the mid-morning remotely sensed data (from LANDSAT). Out of the two models tested for this purpose (`Seguin-Itier' and 'Jackson' models), one was found to need some modification so that it could use mid-morning remotely sensed data as inputs. The other was found to be useable as it is, without any modification. Outputs from both models compared well with the measured fluxes from the METFLUX stations. In an effort of estimating the water deficit of the different biomes of the region, WDI of the biomes were estimated. The main goal of this effort was to be able to monitor the surface hydrologic conditions of the region using remotely sensed vegetation and surface information, and minimum ground data. Good estimation of the water deficit condition of the area were obtained by this method. This method was found to be sensitive to a few of the ground information such as wind speed and leaf area index (LAI). It was also found that if the required ground data were correctly estimated, this method could be used as an operational procedure for monitoring the vegetation water stress of the biomes and hence for better management of the region.
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Piciullo, Luca. "Performance analysis of landslide early warning systems at regional scale." Doctoral thesis, Universita degli studi di Salerno, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10556/2464.
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2014 - 2015Landslide early warning systems are non-structural risk mitigation strategies aiming at dealing with intolerably high probabilities of landslide occurrence by reducing risk through the reduction of the exposed elements. The majority of landslide early warning systems deal with rainfall-induced landslides. The systems can be classified, as a function of the scale of analysis, into: “local” and “regional” systems. Several differences exists among these two different types of warning systems, such as: the actors involved in the process, the monitoring tools, the variables selected to define triggering thresholds, the way the warnings are issued and spread to the public. This work exclusively deals with regional landslide early warning systems (ReLEWSs). These systems are used to assess the probability of occurrence of landslides over appropriately-defined homogeneous alert zones of relevant extension, typically through the prediction and monitoring of meteorological variables, in order to give generalized warnings to administrators and the population. At first, a detailed review of the structure and the functioning of these systems is presented. The information has been gathered mainly from the literature, with the exception of the regional system operating in Campania region, Italy, the municipal system of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the national Norwegian landslide early warning system. The functioning and the structure of the latter two systems have been analyzed in greater depth thanks to research periods spent, respectively, at the GEO-Rio foundation in Rio de Janeiro and at The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) in Oslo. In literature, several authors provided a general description of the structure of a landslide early warning system. Starting from the analysis of these contributions, an original scheme and the main components of such systems for rainfall-induced landslides forecast is proposed. The scheme is based on a clear distinction among the following components: correlation laws, decisional algorithm and warning management. Subsequently, the functioning of the reviewed ReLEWSs has been described according to these components, with a special attention on how the performance of the various warning models was assessed. It is straightforward that a periodical assessment of the technical performance of a landslide early warning system, in terms of evaluation of the warning issued in relation to the landslides occurred, is a required task in order to continuously keep the system reliable. Nevertheless, no standard requirements exist for assessing the performance of regional warning models (ReWaMs) and, typically, this is evaluated by computing the joint frequency distribution of landslides and warnings, both considered as dichotomous variables. Herein, an original methodology to assess the performance of ReWaMs, called the “Event, Duration Matrix, Performance” (EDuMaP) method, is proposed. The performance is evaluated taking into account: the possible occurrence of multiple landslides in the warning zone; the duration of the warnings in relation to the time of occurrence of the landslides; the warning level issued in relation to the landslide spatial density in the warning zone; the relative importance system managers attribute to different types of errors. The applicability of EDuMaP method is tested considering three different ReLEWSs: the municipal early warning system operating in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); the Norwegian landslide early warning system; the landslide early warning system for hydro-geological risk management of the Campania region, Italy. The main differences among these systems are discussed in great detail, mainly dealing with the functioning and the databases available for the three case studies. The LEWS operational in Rio de Janeiro is employed to issue a certain level of warning in four warning zones in which the municipality is divided. The warnings can be issued at any time during the day if the monitored rainfall exceeds pre-identified thresholds. The Norwegian landslide early warning system is employed to issue daily warnings adopting variable warning zones. In the LEWS of the Campania region each municipality has a reference rain gauge for which three different rainfall threshold are specified for the activation of 3 warning levels. The EDuMaP method was successfully employed to assess the performance for all these case studies, thus underlying the wide applicability of the method, which can be easily adopted to evaluate the performance of any regional landslide early warning systems for which landslides and warnings data are available. For the three case studies, sensitivity analyses are also conducted by varying some of the input parameters of the EDuMaP method. The results of these analyses indicate that the input parameters most affecting the performance of the warning models are: i) the landslide density criterion used to differentiate among the classes of landslide events; ii) the database on landslides considered in the simulations; iii) the time set xvii as the minimum time interval between landslide events; iv) the area of analysis; v) the time frame of the analysis. In conclusion, the analyses prove the applicability of the EDuMaP method in evaluating the performance of real case studies related to ReLWaMs characterized by different decisional algorithms, components and input parameters. The method can also be used as an effective tool to calibrate a warning model by back-analysing landslide and warning data in test area with the aim of defining the set of warning criteria which maximises the model performance. [edited by author]
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Fundanga, Caleb Mailoni. "The role of small scale industries in regional development in Zambia." Konstanz : Hartung-Gorre, 1985. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/14876631.html.
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Parker, Simon John. "Chalk regional groundwater models and their applicability to site scale processes." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.543348.
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Tapper, Simon Warwick. "A global survey and regional scale study of coronae on Venus." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.298135.
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Knote, Christoph [Verfasser]. "Regional scale impacts of changing anthropogenic emissions on aerosols / Christoph Knote." Augsburg : Universität Augsburg, 2019. http://d-nb.info/124147530X/34.
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Yamamoto, Keiko. "Study on regional scale mass variation using GRACE satellite gravity data." 京都大学 (Kyoto University), 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/59309.
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Motamedi, Manouchehr. "Quantitative Landslide Hazard Assessment in Regional Scale Using Statistical Modeling Techniques." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1374074469.
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Gunderson, Lance, Barbara A. Cosens, Brian C. Chaffin, Craig A. (Tom) Arnold, Alexander K. Fremier, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Robin Kundis Craig, et al. "Regime shifts and panarchies in regional scale social-ecological water systems." RESILIENCE ALLIANCE, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/623960.
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In this article we summarize histories of nonlinear, complex interactions among societal, legal, and ecosystem dynamics in six North American water basins, as they respond to changing climate. These case studies were chosen to explore the conditions for emergence of adaptive governance in heavily regulated and developed social-ecological systems nested within a hierarchical governmental system. We summarize resilience assessments conducted in each system to provide a synthesis and reference by the other articles in this special feature. We also present a general framework used to evaluate the interactions between society and ecosystem regimes and the governance regimes chosen to mediate those interactions. The case studies show different ways that adaptive governance may be triggered, facilitated, or constrained by ecological and/or legal processes. The resilience assessments indicate that complex interactions among the governance and ecosystem components of these systems can produce different trajectories, which include patterns of (a) development and stabilization, (b) cycles of crisis and recovery, which includes lurches in adaptation and learning, and (3) periods of innovation, novelty, and transformation. Exploration of cross scale (Panarchy) interactions among levels and sectors of government and society illustrate that they may constrain development trajectories, but may also provide stability during crisis or innovation at smaller scales; create crises, but may also facilitate recovery; and constrain system transformation, but may also provide windows of opportunity in which transformation, and the resources to accomplish it, may occur. The framework is the starting point for our exploration of how law might play a role in enhancing the capacity of social-ecological systems to adapt to climate change.
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Whitfield, Brent. "SVAT calibration of point and regional scale water and energy dynamics." [Gainesville, Fla.] : University of Florida, 2003. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/UFE0000824.
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Senf, Cornelius. "Landscape to regional scale patterns and drivers of forest insect disturbances." Doctoral thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/17616.
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Insekten spielen eine bedeutende Rolle im Erhalt von Waldökosystemen, haben aber auch eine nicht zu vernachlässigende ökonomische Bedeutung. Obwohl die ökologische sowie ökonomische Bedeutung von Insekten bekannt ist, gibt es bisher wenig Forschung zu den Dynamiken von herbivoren Insekten in der westamerikanischen Nadelholzzone, insbesondere durch die Art Choristoneura occidentalis. Der Mangel an Studien kann durch ein Fehlen von geeigneten Methoden zur Quantifizierung von Insektenausbrüchen auf der Landschafts- und Regionalskala erklärt werden. Die Nutzung von Fernerkundung vermag diese Wissenslücke zu schließen. Das übergeordnete Ziel dieser Dissertation ist daher, anhand von Fernerkundung ein besseres Verständnis der raumzeitlichen Muster von Insektenausbrüchen in der nord-west amerikanischen Nadelholzzone zu erlangen. Die spezifischen Forschungsfragen der Dissertation sind: (1) Inwieweit kann Fernerkundung die Kartierung und Quantifizierung von Insektenausbrüchen, insbesondere durch Herbivoren, unterstützen? (2) Was sind die raumzeitlichen Muster und Prozesse von Ausbrüchen des Choristoneura occidentalis in der west-nord-amerikanischen Nadelholzzone? Anhand des rezenten Ausbruches in Britisch Kolumbien, Kanada, wurde gezeigt, dass Fernerkundung ein geeigneter Weg ist um die raumzeitlichen Muster von Choristoneura occidentalis zu rekonstruieren. Mit dieser Erkenntnis konnten die hauptsächlichen Triebkräfte hinter diesen raumzeitlichen Mustern erklärt werden. So zeigte sich, dass sich die Dynamiken durch Ausbreitung adulter Motten, eine hohe Abundanz von Wirtsbäumen, Wetter, sowie deren Interaktion erklärt werden konnte. Aus den Ergebnissen kann geschlossen werden, dass Ausbrüche herbivorer Insekten in der westamerikanischen Nadelholzzone durch Prozesse welche über ein Management auf Standesebene hinausgehen bestimmt werden. Ein nachhaltiges Waldmanagement sollte daher neben Standfaktoren auch Faktoren auf Landschafts- und Regionalebene berücksichtigen.Insect disturbances play a key role for maintaining healthy forest ecosystems, though they are also important for the timber industry, reducing yields and wood quality during major outbreaks. Despite the ecological and economic importance of insect disturbances, the outbreak dynamics of defoliating insects of the coniferous forests of western North America -- in particular the western spruce budworm Choristoneura occidentalis - are yet poorly understood. This is partly caused by a lack of suitable methods for quantifying landscape to regional scale outbreak patterns. Remote sensing time series analysis can help overcoming this challenge. Consequently, the overall goal of this dissertation was to increase the understanding of landscape to regional scale patterns and processes of insect defoliator disturbances in the coniferous forests of western North America with the help of Landsat remote sensing. Precisely, the research questions of the dissertation were: (1) How can Landsat remote sensing be used to map and quantify insect defoliator outbreaks? (2) What are the spatiotemporal patterns and processes of outbreaks of western spruce budworm in the coniferous forests of western North America? Using the current outbreak in British Columbia as example, it could be demonstrated that Landsat time series can be used to map and quantify the spatial and temporal dynamics of budworm outbreaks at the landscape and regional scale. The outbreak dynamics were mainly driven by direct effects and interactions of moth dispersal, host abundance, and weather patterns. Concluding from my results, it is suggested that outbreaks of forest defoliators in the coniferous forests of western North America are governed by factors that go beyond stand level management. Forest management thus should consider those factors in their operational planning, as well as in their models of future forest change.
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Isaac, Peter Robert, and peter isaac@flinders edu au. "Estimating Surface-Atmosphere Exchange at Regional Scales." Flinders University. School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences, 2006. http://catalogue.flinders.edu.au./local/adt/public/adt-SFU20060412.170700.
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This thesis examines a method for estimating the daytime fluxes of heat, water vapour and carbon dioxide at regional scales by using simple models to combine spatially resolved surface properties with bulk meteorological quantities measured at a central location. The central themes of this thesis are that the spatial and temporal variability of regional scale fluxes are contained in the surface properties and meteorology respectively and that the surface properties can be interpolated across a heterogeneous landscape using remotely sensed data. The regional scale fluxes estimated using this technique are compared to the values from three other methods and this allows some conclusions to be made regarding the relative strengths and weaknesses of each method. The surface property approach yields robust estimates of the fluxes that will be useful in researching exchange processes at regional scales, providing input parameters for, and validation of, the biosphere components of General Circulation Models and testing inventory estimates of CO2 budgets.
The surface properties are derived using data from 33 aircraft flights and eight ground-based sites along a 96 km transect established during the 1995 Observations At Several Interacting Scales experiment held near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. Surface properties examined are the evaporative fraction (ratio of evapotranspiration to available energy), the Bowen ratio (ratio of sensible heat flux to evapotranspiration), the maximum stomatal conductance (maximum stomatal opening under optimal conditions) and the water-use efficiency (ratio of CO2 flux to evapotranspiration). Maximum stomatal conductance is calculated using a simple model of the stomatal response to light and water vapour deficit assuming soil evaporation occurs at the equilibrium rate. The diurnal trend and day-to-day variability in the surface properties is found to be significantly less than the spatial variability. All of the surface properties examined show some sensitivity to the synoptic conditions.
The relationships between the surface properties and the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are examined using a 130 km by 50 km sub-scene from a Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) image obtained five days before the start of the experiment period. The ground-based and aircraft observations are used to calculate the source-area influencing each measurement and this is combined with the Landsat 5 TM data to produce an average, source-area weighted NDVI for each ground-based site and each aircraft location. The source-area model is important because it provides the link between the observations and the remotely sensed data by identifying the surface patch that influences the measurements. Linear relationships are found between the source-area weighted NDVI and the surface properties. The observed relationships are used to interpolate the surface properties over the region covered by the satellite image and spatial variations in water loss and CO2 uptake by the surface vegetation are identified that are not resolved by the ground-based network.
Analysis of the ground-based data showed that the spatial variability of the bulk meteorological quantities used in the surface property approach was much less than the diurnal trend in these data. With the small temporal variation in the surface properties noted before, this confirms the utility of assigning the spatial and temporal variability of the fluxes to the surface properties and the meteorology respectively.
The combination of surface properties derived from the aircraft data and meteorology measured at a single location at the centre of the transect shows good skill in predicting the observed fluxes. Furthermore, the discrepancies between the predictions and the observations are explained by the different source-areas of the aircraft and ground-based data and much of the bias is removed when the surface properties are scaled from the NDVI of the aircraft source-area to the NDVI of the ground-based sites. Regional scale fluxes of heat and water vapour calculated using the surface property approach agree with averages of the ground-based data and this indicates that the ground-based network was representative of the OASIS region. Estimates of regional scale CO2 fluxes are not available from the ground-based network due to the lack of measurements at the driest ground-based site but the surface property approach yields plausible values. The results demonstrate the utility of extrapolating surface properties across heterogeneous landscapes using remotely sensed data.
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Wiston, Modise. "Regional modelling of air quality and aerosol-interactions over southern Africa : impact of aerosols and regional-scale meteorology." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2016. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/regional-modelling-of-air-quality-and-aerosolinteractions-over-southern-africa-impact-of-aerosols-and-regionalscale-meteorology(50819acb-590e-4e18-8552-038ec1f2ab78).html.
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Atmospheric trace components play a critical role in the earth–atmosphere system through their interaction and perturbation to global atmospheric chemistry. They perturb the climate through scattering and absorbing of solar radiation (direct effects), thereby impacting on the heat energy balance of the atmosphere, and alter cloud microphysical properties affecting cloud formation, cloud lifetime and precipitation formation (indirect effects). These trace components can also have adverse effects on human health, visibility and air quality (AQ) composition, including various feedback processes on the state of the atmosphere. As well as their direct and indirect effects, aerosols are important for cloud formation. They serve as cloud condensation and ice nuclei (CCN and IN) during cloud droplet and ice crystal formations. Although many connections between clouds and aerosol effects have been established in cloud physics and climate modelling, aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI) is still one of the areas of large uncertainties in modern climate and weather projections. Different models have been developed placing much emphasis on ACIs, to have robust and more consistent description processes within the meteorological and chemical variables to account for ACIs and feedback processes. Because pollutant distributions are controlled by a specific meteorology that promotes residence times and vertical mixing in the atmosphere, reliable chemical composition measurements are required to understand the changes occurring in the earth–atmosphere system. Also, because atmospheric pollution is a combination of both natural and man-made (anthropogenic) sources, to direct controlled and/or mitigation procedures efficiently, contributions of different sources need to be considered. Occasionally these are explored from a particular region or global environment, depending on a specific area of interest. A fully coupled online meteorology–chemistry model framework (WRF-Chem) is used to investigate atmospheric ACIs over southern Africa –a region characterized by a strong and intense seasonal biomass burning (BB) cycle. The large transport of aerosol plumes originating from the seasonal burning from agriculture, land-use management and various activities give rise to a unique situation warranting special scrutiny. Simulations are conducted for the 2008 dry season BB episode, implementing a chemical dataset from various emission sources (anthropogenic, BB, biogenic, dust and sea salt) with the meteorological conditions. A base line (CNTRL) simulation was conducted with all emission sources from 26 August to 10 September 2008. To probe the contribution of BB on the regional pollution and influence on ACIs, a sensitivity (TEST) simulation was conducted without BB emissions and compared to the base line. The impact of natural and anthropogenic aerosol particles is studied and quantified for the two simulations, focusing on aerosol concentration and cloud responses under different model resolutions. A statistical analysis of pollutant concentration of major regulated species and cloud variables is conducted and the percentage difference used to assess the contribution due to BB emissions. Results confirm the high variability of spatial and temporal patterns of chemical species, with the greatest discrepancies occurring in the tropical forests whereas the subtropics show more urban/industrial related emissions. Whilst CO and O3 show statistically significant increases over a number of cities/towns, the trend and spatial variability is much less uniform with NO2 and PM in most urban and populous cities. Statistical analysis of major chemical pollutants was mainly influenced by BB emissions. O3, NOx, CO and PM increase by 24%, 76%, 51%, 46% and 41% over the main source regions, whereas in the less affected regions concentrations increased by 5%, 5%, 5%, 3% and 2% when BB emissions are included. This study sheds new light on the response of cloud processes to changing aerosol concentrations and different model resolutions. In the parameterised case (dx = 20 km), clouds become more cellular, correlated with high supersaturations, whereas in the resolved case (dx = 4 km), they become more faint with relatively lower supersaturations. Aerosol effects on cloud properties were further studied and statistical analysis conducted on CCN, cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC), supersaturation and aerosol optical depth (AOD) at two different grid spacings. Most clouds occur to the west of the domain coincident with increase in aerosol concentration and AOD, while single scattering albedo (SSA) decreases. A considerable cloud ‘burn-off’ occurs in tropical west Africa, where aerosols can also be lofted up to 500-hPa level when BB emissions are included in the simulation. Due to BB, absorbing aerosol increased by 76% and 23% over tropical west and subtropical southeast, while tropical east shows no change. The study shows that tropical central Africa is characterized by an increased build-up in biomass burning aerosols (BBAs), forming a regional haze with high AOD; this becomes stronger near active burning areas with a significant proportion occurring to the west. AOD enhancement increases up to 38%, 31% and 11% in the west, east and south respectively. Although CDNC increased in areas with high aerosol concentration, supersaturation decreases (in the small domains) since increase in aerosol number concentration decreases maximum supersaturation Smax. Changes in absorbed radiation increased by +56 Wm-2, +23 Wm-2 and +14 Wm-2 in the west, east and southeast. To further evaluate the model sensitivity and its skill, an analysis was conducted by comparing the model performance with measurement data. Simulated AOD, surface concentrations of CO and O3, ozonesondes and liquid water path (LWP) were compared with measured data from MODIS satellite, SAFARI2000 field study and Cape Point WMO. The model shows a good skill in capturing and reproducing the trends as that measured. However, a severe lack of measurement data over southern Africa makes it more difficult to effectively evaluate WRF-Chem over southern Africa. There is a need for increased availability of measurements to adequately compare with models. This study is one of the first WRF-Chem studies conducted over southern Africa to simulate the weather and pollution interaction. The novelty of the present study is the combined analysis of ACI sensitivity to aerosol loading and cloud response in a regime-based approach. The study concludes with a brief discusssion of future directions for work on AQ and modelling interactions between pollution and weather over southern Africa.
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McGregor, Tanya. "Conservation on a Regional Scale: Assessing the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative." Thesis, Waterloo, Ont. : University of Waterloo, [Dept. of Environment and Resource Studies], 2003. http://etd.uwaterloo.ca/etd/tmcgrego2003.pdf.
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Thesis (MES)--University of Waterloo, 2003."A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Environmental Studies in Environment and Resource Studies." Includes bibliographical references.
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Stoewer, Myriam Maria [Verfasser], and Christine [Akademischer Betreuer] Stumpp. "Vulnerability assessment of nitrate leaching on the regional scale using isotope techniques." Freiburg : Universität, 2016. http://d-nb.info/1119717485/34.
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Harper, Michael. "Spatial planning scale for regional renewable energy supply in the UK context." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2018. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/427151/.
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Faced with challenges of energy security and recognition of the anthropogenic climate change, there have been ongoing international efforts to develop indigenous renewable energy resources. This transition is challenging traditional planning approaches of energy systems, with difficulties faced in both identifying suitable locations for renewable energy development, and issues in delivering projects within existing top-down governmental planning structures. Within the context of the United Kingdom, this project explored the vulnerability of cities and regions in meeting their electricity requirements through renewable energy sources. Onshore wind energy was selected as the primary focus of the study, being the most established technology in the region, with over 3000 planning applications made between 1990 and 2017. In order to create a more accurate site location model, analysis was conducted to identify the influential factors for a wind energy site receiving planning permission. This understanding was then integrated into a novel onshore wind site selection model, assessing the economic, legislative and social suitability of potential wind energy site. Finally, an overarching methodology to assess the potential for a region to meet its energy requirements through renewable energy resources was proposed, with the methodology demonstrated within a case study which considered 14 UK towns and cities. The study revealed that local demographic and political parameters appear to influence the planning outcomes of onshore wind energy projects. By integrating social constraints, the results from this onshore wind energy site modelling highlight that the exploitable wind capacity is an order of magnitude less than previous estimates. Finally, it is demonstrated that cities and regions face major restrictions in meeting their energy requirements through local renewable energy resources, and that there is the potential for resource conflict between neighbouring cities. The application of these findings can help inform planning policy and aid further renewable energy development within the United Kingdom.
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Nascimento, Victor Fernandez. "Modeling environmental susceptibility of municipal solid waste disposal sites in regional scale." Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), 2017. http://urlib.net/sid.inpe.br/mtc-m21b/2017/04.10.17.59.
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The world population is increasing and since the last decade is considered predominantly urban. The enormous population growth is causing changes in the Earth System that can have serious and lasting consequences. Anthropogenic activities in urban areas are always associated with municipal solid waste (MSW) production. Currently, the MSW generation in the world does not favor an appropriate use of natural resources and the large amount of MSW generated exceeds the capacity of the environment to decompose and recycle these wastes through natural processes. Properly managing this MSW is a global environmental challenge. The improper Municipal solid waste disposal (MSWD) locally cause environmental impacts, such as contamination of soil and water sources, and also globally cause environmental impacts, such as increase of Greenhouse gases (GHG) due to methane emissions. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) through the environmental susceptibility analysis of Municipal solid waste disposal sites (MSWDS) in regional scale from an interdisciplinary overview. This thesis explored an innovative modeling approach using Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and Analytic hierarchy processes (AHP) coupled with Geographic information system (GIS) to develop an environmental impact susceptibility model (EISM) for MSWDS. The model was applied for the two most populous states and largest MSW generators in South and North America, São Paulo state and California state, respectively. The EISM considers factors such as geology, pedology, geomorphology, water resources, and climate represented by several sub-factors that vary according to the geographical characteristics of the area and data availability. The results of this thesis demonstrate that approximately half of MSW generated in California and São Paulo state is disposed in environmentally susceptible areas and can cause several impacts on the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. In summary, the EISM findings can help decision makers, landfill managers, and local governments develop control and mitigation measures against the occurrence of negative environmental impacts caused by MSWDS.O aumento da população, que desde a última década é considerada predominantemente urbana, vem causando diversas mudanças no sistema terrestre. Atividades antropogênicas em áreas urbanas estão sempre associadas com a geração de resíduos sólidos urbanos (RSU). Atualmente, a taxa de geração dos RSU vem crescendo e gerenciar adequadamente estes resíduos é um desafio ambiental global. A disposição inadequada dos RSU causa diversos impactos ambientais locais como a contaminação dos solos e recursos hídricos, e globais como a geração do gás metano, que contribui para o efeito estufa. Este trabalho objetivou contribuir no gerenciamento dos resíduos sólidos urbanos através da análise de suscetibilidade de impacto ambiental em locais de disposição final de RSU em escala regional, a partir de uma abordagem interdisciplinar. Esta tese tratou de forma inovadora a elaboração de um modelo espacial, que utiliza análise multi critério de decisão e análise hierárquica de processos, acoplado a um sistema de informação geográfica para desenvolver uma ferramenta de avaliação da suscetibilidade a impactos ambientais em locais de disposição final de RSU. Este modelo foi aplicado para os dois estados mais populosos e maiores geradores de RSU da América do Sul e do Norte, respectivamente o estado de São Paulo, no Brasil, e o estado da Califórnia, nos EUA. O modelo leva em consideração fatores como geologia, pedologia, geomorfologia, recursos hídricos e clima e é representado por diversos subfatores que variam de acordo com as características geográficas da área e da disponibilidade de dados espaciais. Os resultados desta tese demonstram que aproximadamente metade dos RSU em São Paulo e na Califórnia é disposto em áreas suscetíveis a sofrer impactos ambientais, podendo causar diversos impactos ao sistema terrestre. Em conclusão, os resultados do modelo permitem que tomadores de decisão, gestores municipais e órgãos fiscalizadores, desenvolvam medidas de controle e mitigação contra a ocorrência de impactos ambientais causados pelos locais de disposição de RSU.
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Mishra, Umakant. "PREDICTING STORAGE AND DYNAMICS OF SOIL ORGANIC CARBON AT A REGIONAL SCALE." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1243890700.
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Silva, Sam, and A. Arellano. "Characterizing Regional-Scale Combustion Using Satellite Retrievals of CO, NO2 and CO2." MDPI AG, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/625469.
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We present joint analyses of satellite-observed combustion products to examine bulk characteristics of combustion in megacities and fire regions. We use retrievals of CO, NO2 and CO2 from NASA/Terra Measurement of Pollution In The Troposphere, NASA/Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument, and JAXA Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite to estimate atmospheric enhancements of these co-emitted species based on their spatiotemporal variability (spread, sigma) within 14 regions dominated by combustion emissions. We find that patterns in sigma(XCO)/sigma(XCO2) and sigma(XCO)/sigma(XNO2) are able to distinguish between combustion types across the globe. These patterns show distinct groupings for biomass burning and the developing/developed status of a region that are not well represented in global emissions inventories. We show here that such multi-species analyses can provide constraints on emission inventories, and be useful in monitoring trends and understanding regional-scale combustion.
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Giacometti, Alberto. "Communicative Planning at a city-regional scale: A case study on the actor-oriented arrangement of Stockholm’s regional planning process." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för fysisk planering, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-10509.
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Hodge, Kim S. J. "Prairie potholes, loca scale studies and regional scale applications, a case study from South-Western Manitoba and South-Eastern Saskatchewan." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape17/PQDD_0023/MQ30478.pdf.
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Meng, Zhiyong. "Tests of an ensemble Kalman filter for mesoscale and regional-scale data assimilation." Texas A&M University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/5870.
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This dissertation examines the performance of an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF)
implemented in a mesoscale model in increasingly realistic contexts from under a perfect
model assumption and in the presence of significant model error with synthetic
observations to real-world data assimilation in comparison to the three-dimensional
variational (3DVar) method via both case study and month-long experiments. The EnKF
is shown to be promising for future application in operational data assimilation practice.
The EnKF with synthetic observations, which is implemented in the mesoscale
model MM5, is very effective in keeping the analysis close to the truth under the perfect
model assumption. The EnKF is most effective in reducing larger-scale errors but less
effective in reducing errors at smaller, marginally resolvable scales. In the presence of
significant model errors from physical parameterization schemes, the EnKF performs
reasonably well though sometimes it can be significantly degraded compared to its
performance under the perfect model assumption. Using a combination of different
physical parameterization schemes in the ensemble (the so-called âÂÂmulti-schemeâ ensemble) can significantly improve filter performance due to the resulting better
background error covariance and a smaller ensemble bias. The EnKF performs
differently for different flow regimes possibly due to scale- and flow-dependent error
growth dynamics and predictability.
Real-data (including soundings, profilers and surface observations) are assimilated
by directly comparing the EnKF and 3DVar and both are implemented in the Weather
Research and Forecasting model. A case study and month-long experiments show that
the EnKF is efficient in tracking observations in terms of both prior forecast and
posterior analysis. The EnKF performs consistently better than 3DVar for the time
period of interest due to the benefit of the EnKF from both using ensemble mean for
state estimation and using a flow-dependent background error covariance. Proper
covariance inflation and using a multi-scheme ensemble can significantly improve the
EnKF performance. Using a multi-scheme ensemble results in larger improvement in
thermodynamic variables than in other variables. The 3DVar system can benefit
substantially from using a short-term ensemble mean for state estimate. Noticeable
improvement is also achieved in 3DVar by including some flow dependence in its
background error covariance.
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Bohlen, Lisa [Verfasser]. "Regional and global scale modeling of the benthic marine nitrogen cycle / Lisa Bohlen." Kiel : Universitätsbibliothek Kiel, 2012. http://d-nb.info/1020284021/34.
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Schans, Henderkje. "Data-driven approach to regional scale beach behaviour on the East Anglian coastline." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2003. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/251871.
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Anfort, Stephen J. "Regional-scale hydrogeology of Lower Cretaceous to Middle Devonian aquifers in southeastern Alberta." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape17/PQDD_0001/MQ31328.pdf.
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Shea, Joseph Michael. "Regional-scale distributed modelling of glacier meteorology and melt, southern Coast Mountains, Canada." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/23491.
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Spatially distributed regional scale models of glacier melt are required to assess the potential impacts of climate change on glacier response and proglacial streamflow. The objective of this study was to address the challenges associated with regional scale modelling of glacier melt, specifically by (1) developing methods for estimating regional fields of the meteorological variables required to run melt models, and (2) testing models with a range of complexity against observed snow and ice melt at four glaciers in the southern Coast Mountains, ranging in size from a small cirque glacier to a large valley glacier.
Near-surface air temperature and humidity measured over four glaciers in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia were compared to ambient values estimated from a regional network of off-glacier weather stations. Systematic differences between measured and ambient conditions represent the effects of katabatic flow, and were modelled as a function of flow path length calculated from glacier digital elevation models. Near-surface wind speeds were classified as either katabatic or channelled, and were modelled based on Prandtl flow (for katabatic winds) or gradient wind speeds. Models for atmospheric transmissivity, snow and ice albedo, and incoming longwave radiation were tested and developed from observations of incident and reflected shortwave radiation and incoming longwave radiation.
Data from a regional climate network were used to run a degree-day model, a radiation-indexed degree-day model, a simple energy balance model (including tuned parameters for turbulent exchange) and two full energy balance models (incorporating stability corrections, with and without corrections for katabatic effects on air temperature and humidity). Modelled melt was compared to mass balance measurements of seasonal snow and ice melt. Models were also compared based on their ability to predict date of snow disappearance, given an initial snowpack water equivalence. The degree-day model outperformed the simple energy balance and radiation-indexed degree-day approaches, while the full energy balance model without katabatic boundary layer corrections yielded the lowest errors.
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Nuryanti, Wiendu. "Scale and locational effects on tourism multipliers : tourism and regional development in Indonesia." Thesis, Bournemouth University, 1998. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/325/.
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The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of scale and location on the multiplier values associated with tourism expenditure in each of the regions of Indonesia. Furthermore, various factors are examined that determine the economic impacts of tourism to better understand how scale of accommodation and location can be used as a conceptual framework to help comprehend the patterns and interactions across regions. These concepts may be used to reveal the complexities underlying the fundamental structures in developing countries to show to what extent development facilitates tourism, and to what extent tourism encourages development. The specific objectives of the research are as follows: 1. To examine the effects of scale of accommodation on the multiplier values within the framework of similarities and differences in the levels of development, density and accessibility in the regions. The results can be used to identify the factors that influence the economic impact of tourism. This perspective examines tourism not only as a source of demand but also the simultaneous relationship between supply and demand within the intersectoral linkages of the national-regional Indonesian economic structure. 2. To examine the locational effects on the characteristics of multiplier values associated with tourism within the core-periphery relationship of the 27 regions of Indonesia. The study analyses the different locations of these regions as tourism destinations and compares how they act as a mediating absorption force for tourism's contribution to regional development. ii 3. To determine the characteristics of the economic impact of tourism in order to aid regional development planning with a better understanding of the concept of intersectoral and interspatial systems by treating tourism in a holistic manner and putting it in a broader context. Tourism, similar to other export industries, involves intersectoral activities, which is based on the recognition that the various sectors that make up the structure of the economy are interdependent. What makes tourism a unique phenomenon compared to other consumer-production relationships is that tourists must travel to the location of the destination in order to consume its product. It is this essential characteristic of tourism that ensures that it has a simultaneous effect not only on economic but also social, environmental and cultural structures in the region concerned. However, the impacts on environment and socio-cultural matters are outside the scope of the thesis. Due to these complex realities, tourism in developing countries can not be approached only in terms of master planning or marketing, rather it is fundamentally a problem of development. The main findings of this research indicate that each region has its own regional differentiation and unique characteristics. These differences involve location or accessibility, proximity to the centres of economic activities, regional economic structures, type and characteristics of tourist activities, and spending patterns. These findings seem to confirm the combined input/output and deductive gravity principles whereby the effects of interlinkages and interspatial factors are strongly intertwined in determining multiplier values of tourism across regions. iii In brief, the less developed the regions, and the farther the accessibility from the centre, the smaller the resulting multiplier values. There is a concept of 'absorption' involved in these relationships, in that multiplier values are gradually absorbed in proportion to flow per unit of economic distance. This evidence suggests that tourism in Indonesia is strongly related not only to development disparities but also to locational constraints. It is hoped that these findings, which offer an understanding of the contribution of scale and location in tourism and regional development, may help address national and regional tourism development policy-making and strategies in developing countries.
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Lawley, Sue. "The investigation of regional ecology using 2km x 2km scale botanical distribution data." Thesis, University of Wolverhampton, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2436/134350.
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Tetrad vascular plant data from Staffordshire (VC 39), accumulated 1995 - 2009, were analysed using Two Way Indicator Species Analysis and Principal Components Analysis, explored using GIS, to examine major floristic distribution patterns. Environmental data were also examined using Redundancy Analysis. The strongest floristic trend was a human influence axis, arranged south—north, with the south being most anthropocentric and the north having a high proportion of semi-natural habitats. Indicator species for different parts of the County showed a corresponding strong biogeographic element, with ‘Southern-temperate’ and ‘Boreo-temperate’ characteristics in south and north respectively. The next most important factor in the distribution of plant species in Staffordshire was habitat quality and richness, which separated intensively-managed farmland from areas with seminatural habitats and from human influenced urban areas. Environmental variables associated with the main division in the data were mainly climate and altitude and the extent of developed land. Historic field patterns, identified by Staffordshire County Council, were associated with semi-natural habitats, linking an historical landscape characterisation with vascular plant analysis for the first time in the UK. The investigation set out to characterise and classify spatial units in terms of biodiversity importance, and to produce an objective ecological classification of the Staffordshire region based on botanical and physical features. The resulting classification characterises different areas of the County in terms of plant species composition, and has many potential applications in terms of nature conservation strategy development, targeting of resources and monitoring. A further aim was to facilitate the selection of indicator species for high quality habitats – the study has enabled revision of Staffordshire’s axiophyte plant list. Both the ecological classification and indicator species will be of strategic value because the information provided is authenticated by being based on objective analysis of a wide range of data. In Staffordshire, further work is required to develop environmental data, especially an effective dataset for hedges, while comparison of the data with historical botanical data could provide further information about the County’s previous environment. The techniques developed in the study could be used more widely to: produce of lists of key species, provide information for environmental modeling, climate change monitoring, target nature conservation activity, and to develop landscape strategies.
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Perry, Alison L. "Regional scale impacts of climate change on coral reefs and fishing-dependent countries." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.445532.
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Arango, Argoti Miguel Andres. "Nitrous oxide emissions: measurements in corn and simulations at field and regional scale." Diss., Kansas State University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/16680.
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Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Agronomy
Charles W. Rice
Nitrogen is critical for plant growth and is a major cost of inputs in production agriculture. Too much nitrogen (N) is also an environmental concern. Agricultural soils account for 85% of anthropogenic N₂O which is a major greenhouse gas. Management strategies for N fertilization and tillage are necessary for enhancing N use efficiency and reducing negative impacts of N to the environment. The different management practices induce changes in substrate availability for microbial activity that may result in increasing or reducing net N₂O emitted from soils. The objectives of this research were to (1) integrate results from field studies to evaluate the effect of different management strategies on N₂O emissions using a meta-analysis, (2) quantify N₂O-N emissions under no-tillage (NT) and tilled (T) agricultural systems and the effect of different N source and placements, (3) perform sensitivity analysis, calibration and validation of the Denitrification Decomposition (DNDC) model for N₂O emissions, and (4) analyze future scenarios of precipitation and temperature to evaluate the potential effects of climate change on N₂O emissions from agro-ecosystems in Kansas. Based on the meta-analysis there was no significant effect of broadcast and banded N placement. Synthetic N fertilizer usually had higher N₂O emission than organic N fertilizer. Crops with high N inputs as well as clay soils had higher N₂O fluxes. No-till and conventional till did not have significant differences regarding N₂O emissions. In the field study, N₂O-N emissions were not significantly different between tillage systems and N source. The banded N application generally had higher emissions than broadcasted N. Slow release N fertilizer as well as split N applications reduced N₂O flux without affecting yield. Simulations of N₂O emissions were more sensitive to changes in soil parameters such as pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), field capacity (FIELD) and bulk density (BD), with pH and SOC as the most sensitive parameters. The N₂O simulations performed using Denitrification Decomposition model on till (Urea) had higher model efficiency followed by no-till (compost), no-till (urea) and till (compost). At the regional level, changes in climate (precipitation and temperature) increased N₂O emission from agricultural soils in Kansas. The conversion from T to NT reduced N₂O emissions in crops under present conditions as well as under future climatic conditions.
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Zhang, Ruoyu. "An evaluation of a data-driven approach to regional scale surface runoff modelling." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/84499.
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Modelling surface runoff can be beneficial to operations within many fields, such as agriculture planning, flood and drought risk assessment, and water resource management. In this study, we built a data-driven model that can reproduce monthly surface runoff at a 4-km grid network covering 13 watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay area. We used a random forest algorithm to build the model, where monthly precipitation, temperature, land cover, and topographic data were used as predictors, and monthly surface runoff generated by the SWAT hydrological model was used as the response. A sub-model was developed for each of 12 monthly surface runoff estimates, independent of one another. Accuracy statistics and variable importance measures from the random forest algorithm reveal that precipitation was the most important variable to the model, but including climatological data from multiple months as predictors significantly improves the model performance. Using 3-month climatological, land cover, and DEM derivatives from 40% of the 4-km grids as the training dataset, our model successfully predicted surface runoff for the remaining 60% of the grids (mean R2 (RMSE) for the 12 monthly models is 0.83 (6.60 mm)). The lowest R2 was associated with the model for August, when the surface runoff values are least in a year. In all studied watersheds, the highest predictive errors were found within the watershed with greatest topographic complexity, for which the model tended to underestimate surface runoff. For the other 12 watersheds studied, the data-driven model produced smaller and more spatially consistent predictive errors.Master of Science
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Shrestha, Rudra Kumar. "Towards an improved understanding of regional scale climate change in the Nepal Himalayas." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2013. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/towards-an-improved-understanding-of-regional-scale-climate-change-in-the-nepal-himalayas(e2fe4192-a0ef-4d4e-be16-107b5c572d47).html.
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The effects of enhanced greenhouse gas concentrations on Earth’s climate are well understood. However, the impacts of anthropogenic aerosol particles, in particular due to the many aerosol-cloud indirect feedback mechanisms are not fully or even explicitly quantified as yet. This PhD seeks to contribute to improve our knowledge and understanding of aerosol – precipitation interactions over the Nepal Himalayas region and their consequences for precipitation patterns there. The research was carried out using the cloud-resolving Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model through a series of sensitivity studies and supported by literature reviews of satellite and field observations, although the latter are sparse. To complement the modelling studies, from March to December 2011, aerosols and surface meteorology were also continuously measured at Nagarkot (Lat: 27.7°N, Lon: 85.5° E, Alt: 1900m), Nepal, located in the eastern flank of a bowl shaped Kathmandu valley. The location was chosen to provide a representative vertical profile of aerosol and the impact on topographical flows. Our results showed a unique pattern of diurnal pollution circulation within the valley with a morning and evening peak. The evening peak, which is higher than the morning peak is attributed to the light wind blowing through the valley carrying locally generated fresh evening pollution, further enhanced by re-circulations of aged pollutants through suppression of the mixing layers as suggested by a previous study at a different location. The morning peak is caused by calm wind conditions followed by the transitional growth of the nocturnal boundary layer. It is found that the thermally driven mountain – valley wind circulations are responsible for ventilation of pollutants. The WRF simulations showed that a sophisticated double moment bulk microphysics parameterization scheme performed best, which did not show any statistically significant difference compared to the observed data at 80% confidence interval using a Chi-squared goodness of best fit test. A sensitivity analysis of aerosol and temperature perturbations on the monsoon precipitation was conducted. We found that the model represented the first indirect effect reasonably well however, rainfall was not particularly sensitive to the aerosol perturbations used, due to the poorly documented role of the ice phase processes which assume a greater importance in this region due to the influence of topography and diurnal heating cycle. Further model studies focusing on chemical properties of aerosol and sensitivity of Ice Nuclei (IN) to precipitation in this region are recommended. In contrast, the effects of temperature perturbation were found to be significant, more so than the currently modelled aerosol indirect effects, suggesting that reduced frequency but intense rain events are likely over the Himalayas as the climate warms.
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Roscioni, Federica. "Modelling the cumulative impact of wind farms on bats on a regional scale." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi del Molise, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11695/66278.
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L’industria eolica è in continua espansione in Europa con potenziali effetti negativi sulla fauna selvatica. Nella pianificazione dello sviluppo delle centrali eoliche a scala regionale è necessario tener conto degli impatti cumulativi di più centrali piuttosto che degli effetti a scala locale dovuti a singoli impianti. La creazione di mappe di rischio potenziale a scala regionale può essere di aiuto nella pianificazione a larga scala e utile alla programmazione dei sopralluoghi di campo nelle aree più vulnerabili. Sebbene le recenti tecniche di modellizzazione permettano di raggiungere questo scopo, la loro applicazione è stata a lungo trascurata.
Al fine di affrontare questa problematica abbiamo implementato un’analisi a scala regionale basata sullo sviluppo di modelli di distribuzione costruiti a partire da dati di presenza in un’area del centro Italia che attualmente è interessata da una forte espansione del fenomeno eolico.
Abbiamo scelto deliberatamente la scala regionale piuttosto che la scala nazionale, in quanto è a questa dimensione geografica e amministrativa che vengono prese le decisioni relative allo sviluppo degli impianti eolici e vengono attuate le misure di compensazione.
Gli impatti delle centrali eoliche sono stati valutati sia in termini di alterazione dell’habitat che in termini di effetto barriera.
Nella prima fase del progetto abbiamo deciso di testare la funzionalità della nostra idea sviluppando modelli di distribuzione per due specie di chirotteri particolarmente sensibili agli impatti da eolico,N. leisleri eP. pipistrellus, analizzando le alterazioni dei pattern di paesaggio prodotte dalle centrali eoliche.
In una seconda fase incoraggiati dai risultati ottenuti per le due specie abbiamo esteso le analisi a tutte le specie presenti in regione maggiormente sensibili agli impatti da eolico: N. Leisleri, P. Pipistrellus, P. Kuhlii, H. Savii, E. Serotinus, T. teniotis. Abbiamo anche raffinato le procedure per l’implementazione dei modelli di distribuzione considerando variabili ambientali “proxy” per l’esposizione al vento e le rotte di migrazione giornaliera e a lungo raggio.
Il nostro scopo è stato quello di individuare le aree migliori per la presenza delle specie potenzialmente impattate dalle turbine eoliche e sviluppare una mappa di ricchezza di specie utile a individuare gli “hot spot” in regione per la presenza dei chirotteri in modo da identificare le aree più a rischio. Attraverso i modelli sviluppati nella seconda fase abbiamo anche implementato il primo tentativo per studiare l’effetto barriera attraverso un’analisi basata su modelli di connettività.
Gli obiettivi specifici del nostro progetto sono stati: a) produzione di mappe di rischio sovrapponendo le mappe degli habitat di foraggiamento con la mappa delle centrali eoliche regionali; b) valutazione dell’alterazione dei pattern di paesaggio degli habitat di foraggiamento causata della presenza delle turbine eoliche costruite e pianificate; c) a seguito della combinazione delle mappe di foraggiamento, identificazione delle aree più vulnerabili dove la costruzione degli impianti eolici può avere gli impatti più severi e quindi dove la costruzione di nuovi impianti può essere più dannosa e deve essere evitata; d) investigazione specie specifica delle rotte di connettività e identificazione degli hot spot di rotte migratorie; e) sovrapposizione dei corridoi di spostamento con gli impianti eolici.
Tutti i modelli di distribuzione sono supportati da valori di AUC significativi (per tutte le specie AUC > 0.80).
I cambiamenti in termini di pattern di paesaggio in presenza delle turbine hanno interessato un incremento nel numero di patch pari al 7% e un incremento del 10,7% dell’indice di forma, mentre l’area media delle patch di foraggiamento è diminuita dell’8,1%. Inoltre, il 21% delle turbine ricade nei margini forestali aumentando il rischio di collisione.
La parte occidentale della regione Molise, area “hot spot” delle specie in regione, necessita una considerazione attenta nei futuri programmi di sviluppo dell’energia eolica in regione.
A seguito delle analisi di connettività abbiamo individuato 4 principali corridoi di spostamento per N. leisleri che si estendono dall’area occidentale all’area sud-est della regione.
14 impianti eolici esistenti e 6 impianti pianificati provocano impatti sia in termini di alterazione di habitat che in termini di effetto barriera.A velocità del vento inferiori ai 7 km/h il funzionamento delle turbine eoliche esistenti deve essere arrestato.La costruzione dei 6 impianti pianificati che ricadono in habitat idonei e incontrano i principali corridoi di spostamento deve essere evitata.Wind farms are steadily growing across Europe, with potentially detrimental effects on wildlife. When planning wind farm development on a regional scale, cumulative impacts besides local effects should be taken into account. Mapping the potential risk to bats on this scale would help large-scale planning of wind turbines and focus field surveys on more vulnerable areas. Although modelling offers a powerful approach to tackle this goal, its application has been so far neglected. To address this issue we developed a regional scale analysis based on Species Distribution Models (SDM) built on presence data in an area in central Italy that is currently undergoing a large-scale development of wind farms. We deliberately selected a regional rather than a national scale, since this is the geographical (and administrative) dimension at which wind farms development is planned and mitigation or compensation actions are done. Wind farms impacts were evaluated in terms of habitat alteration and barrier effect. In the first phase of the project we decided to test the functionality of our idea developing SDMs for two bat species particularly affected by wind turbines impact N. leisleri and P. pipistrellus and to investigate the landscape pattern alteration produced by wind farms. In a second phase encouraged by the results obtained for the two species we decided to investigate all the bat species present in the region particularly affected by wind turbinesN. Leisleri, P. Pipistrellus, P. Kuhlii, H. Savii, E. Serotinus, T. teniotisand to refine the SDMs considering environmental variables proxies for wind exposure and commuting ad migration routes. We were interested in highlighting the best areas for all the species potentially highly impacted by wind farms and to develop a species richness map useful to point out the hot spot of bat species in the region to identify the most risky area. With the SDMs developed in this second phase we also developed the first attempt to study the barrier effect through connectivity procedures. The specific objectives of our analysis were:a) to produce risk maps by overlaying the foraging habitat maps with existing and planned wind farms locations;b) to assess changes in the spatial pattern of foraging habitat determined by existing and planned wind turbines; c) to combine SDMs to identify highly vulnerable areas where wind farm construction would be especially harmful to bats and should be avoided. d) to investigate species specific connectivity and hot spot of migration routes e) to overlap corridors routes and wind farms. . SDMs were statistically robust (AUC≥ 0.8 for all species).Changes in landscape patterns consisted of a 7.7% increase in the number of patches and a 10.7% shape index increase and of a 8.1% decrease in the mean area of foraging habitat patches. Moreover, 21% of turbines were located within 150m from forest edges, increasing fatality risk. The region’s western part, the hot spot of bat species in the region, needs careful consideration in future wind farm planning. We observed four main corridors routes for N. leisleri from the western part to the south-eastern part of the region. 14 existing and 6 planned wind farms impact both in term of landscape pattern alteration and barrier effect.At wind speed lower than 7 km/h existing turbines have to be shut down, and the construction of the 6 planned wind farms that fall in suitable areas and encounters high connectivity routes has to be avoided.
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D'Alonzo, Valentina. "A Spatial Decision Support System for thermal energy planning at the regional scale." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/11572/368160.
Full textAbstract:
The focus of the Ph.D. dissertation is on the thermal part of the energy planning issue since the space conditioning (heating and cooling – H&C) of buildings represents about 75% of the energy consumed by European residential buildings and only 16% of the heating and cooling consumption is covered by renewable energy sources (RES). At the same time, the increased complexity of the spatial planning process when energy issues are involved has made clear the need for new “energy-aware†tools and methods used in this field.
The proposed methodology is GIS (Geographical Information System)-based and performed at regional scale given that the movement of energy planning activities from national to regional and local scale allows a much more detailed analysis of both the energy demand and supply, balancing them more effectively. The integration of the spatial dimension within energy analyses can also provide the decision-makers with a spatially-explicit approach towards the energy transition and the development of sustainable energy plans and strategies. The general aim of the Ph.D. thesis is to develop a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) allowing the decision-makers to take into account (during the planning process) both the improvement of the energy production from RES and the energy renovation of the existing building stock. The SDSS aims also to connect the energy planning (supply side) with spatial planning (demand side) by seeking synergies between the two fields. This connection is made taking advantage of the framework of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).
The Ph.D. thesis is partially developed within a European co-financed project included in the Interreg Alpine Space programme. The GRETA project was designed to foster the use of shallow geothermal energy (SGE) in energy plans and strategies along the Alps. SGE is a low-carbon source for H&C of buildings, which exploits the heat stored within the ground, a local source widely available and less dependent from changes in time compared to other RES. Despite this, its exploitation is not yet diffused and its growth is limited mainly by factors such as scarce knowledge, complicated and fragmented legislation, and high installation costs. Considering all these issues, the research questions that shaped the Ph.D. activities are:
➢ How to estimate the thermal energy demand of the residential building stock at the regional scale, as a starting point for developing sustainable energy strategies aimed at the reduction of the thermal energy consumption in the existing buildings.
➢ How to integrate this appraisal in the energy planning of a region in order to elaborate different scenarios for the energy balance between thermal demand and supply, fostering the use of shallow geothermal energy (SGE) that is a renewable source still not well-known and not exploited.
➢ How to encourage the connection between energy planning and spatial planning towards the common goal of sustainable energy transition, helping to fill the gap between the development of plans and strategies and their implementation, thanks to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) framework.
The proposed methodology has been applied in a case study, i.e. Valle d’Aosta, an Italian alpine region. Almost all the data processing is performed with open-source software (GRASS GIS, QGIS, Python, and R) and applying a spatially-explicit approach, for pushing the integration of the spatial dimension in the energy analysis. The spatial units of analysis are the single building and the census tract. The single building has been chosen as the smallest unit available for ensuring a better characterization of the thermal energy demand and of the potential energy production from SGE. Moreover, the scenario analysis for the energy renovation of buildings is better performed at the building level; so, it is particularly suitable for developing an SDSS. Nevertheless, some data processing is done at the census tract level, using aggregated and statistical information to estimate the required values at the building level. The reason for this twofold scale of analysis is that the data availability often changes depending on time, space and data provider. For instance, for the case study area only little data was available at the building level for the whole region. Therefore, the methodology integrates data from different sources to fill this knowledge gap.
The methodology applied in the case study is divided into two parts:
1) The first one concerns the data collection and processing for the spatial estimation of the space heating demand of the existing building stock. At the end of it, the technical and economic suitability of SGE (performed within the GRETA project) for covering the energy demand of buildings and replacing some fossil fuels is evaluated.
2) The second one is carried out in the framework of SEA, by defining common objectives and developing scenarios for the integration of SGE in the energy planning process, as the short-term objective, and the coordination of energy and spatial planning goals, as the long-term objective. In the Ph.D. thesis, SEA is intended as a conceptual framework for integrating energy and spatial planning, rather than as an evaluation tool.
The main outputs of the Ph.D. thesis are: (i) the spatial evaluation of the space heating demand of each residential building of the case study, without using the “archetypes approach†; (ii) the development of a method for the integration of data from different sources and for its estimation if missing at the building level; (iii) the use of SEA as a framework for connecting energy planning and spatial planning fields, to support strategic decision-making processes. Even though the Ph.D. case study is a typical alpine region, (iv) the developed methodology can be applied at different scales and not only on alpine regions but potentially in every kind of context. Since it strongly depends on the availability of data, the replicability of the methodology is quite high.
The main expected impacts of these outputs are: (1) SDSS allows to reach a trade-off between the number of input data and the level of detail often required by decision-makers; (2) SDSS can support the decision-makers allowing them to analyse from various viewpoints different energy scenarios and also to localise where is better to address the energy measures; (3) the results at the building level represent a starting point for defining and developing strategies for the energy transition of settlements at different scales; (4) SEA used as a strategic tool for integrating energy and spatial planning, by coordinating strategic objectives, and linking the thesis outputs to the energy decision-making process.
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D'Alonzo, Valentina. "A Spatial Decision Support System for thermal energy planning at the regional scale." Doctoral thesis, University of Trento, 2019. http://eprints-phd.biblio.unitn.it/3657/1/VDAlonzo_PhDthesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
The focus of the Ph.D. dissertation is on the thermal part of the energy planning issue since the space conditioning (heating and cooling – H&C) of buildings represents about 75% of the energy consumed by European residential buildings and only 16% of the heating and cooling consumption is covered by renewable energy sources (RES). At the same time, the increased complexity of the spatial planning process when energy issues are involved has made clear the need for new “energy-aware” tools and methods used in this field.
The proposed methodology is GIS (Geographical Information System)-based and performed at regional scale given that the movement of energy planning activities from national to regional and local scale allows a much more detailed analysis of both the energy demand and supply, balancing them more effectively. The integration of the spatial dimension within energy analyses can also provide the decision-makers with a spatially-explicit approach towards the energy transition and the development of sustainable energy plans and strategies. The general aim of the Ph.D. thesis is to develop a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) allowing the decision-makers to take into account (during the planning process) both the improvement of the energy production from RES and the energy renovation of the existing building stock. The SDSS aims also to connect the energy planning (supply side) with spatial planning (demand side) by seeking synergies between the two fields. This connection is made taking advantage of the framework of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).
The Ph.D. thesis is partially developed within a European co-financed project included in the Interreg Alpine Space programme. The GRETA project was designed to foster the use of shallow geothermal energy (SGE) in energy plans and strategies along the Alps. SGE is a low-carbon source for H&C of buildings, which exploits the heat stored within the ground, a local source widely available and less dependent from changes in time compared to other RES. Despite this, its exploitation is not yet diffused and its growth is limited mainly by factors such as scarce knowledge, complicated and fragmented legislation, and high installation costs. Considering all these issues, the research questions that shaped the Ph.D. activities are:
➢ How to estimate the thermal energy demand of the residential building stock at the regional scale, as a starting point for developing sustainable energy strategies aimed at the reduction of the thermal energy consumption in the existing buildings.
➢ How to integrate this appraisal in the energy planning of a region in order to elaborate different scenarios for the energy balance between thermal demand and supply, fostering the use of shallow geothermal energy (SGE) that is a renewable source still not well-known and not exploited.
➢ How to encourage the connection between energy planning and spatial planning towards the common goal of sustainable energy transition, helping to fill the gap between the development of plans and strategies and their implementation, thanks to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) framework.
The proposed methodology has been applied in a case study, i.e. Valle d’Aosta, an Italian alpine region. Almost all the data processing is performed with open-source software (GRASS GIS, QGIS, Python, and R) and applying a spatially-explicit approach, for pushing the integration of the spatial dimension in the energy analysis. The spatial units of analysis are the single building and the census tract. The single building has been chosen as the smallest unit available for ensuring a better characterization of the thermal energy demand and of the potential energy production from SGE. Moreover, the scenario analysis for the energy renovation of buildings is better performed at the building level; so, it is particularly suitable for developing an SDSS. Nevertheless, some data processing is done at the census tract level, using aggregated and statistical information to estimate the required values at the building level. The reason for this twofold scale of analysis is that the data availability often changes depending on time, space and data provider. For instance, for the case study area only little data was available at the building level for the whole region. Therefore, the methodology integrates data from different sources to fill this knowledge gap.
The methodology applied in the case study is divided into two parts:
1) The first one concerns the data collection and processing for the spatial estimation of the space heating demand of the existing building stock. At the end of it, the technical and economic suitability of SGE (performed within the GRETA project) for covering the energy demand of buildings and replacing some fossil fuels is evaluated.
2) The second one is carried out in the framework of SEA, by defining common objectives and developing scenarios for the integration of SGE in the energy planning process, as the short-term objective, and the coordination of energy and spatial planning goals, as the long-term objective. In the Ph.D. thesis, SEA is intended as a conceptual framework for integrating energy and spatial planning, rather than as an evaluation tool.
The main outputs of the Ph.D. thesis are: (i) the spatial evaluation of the space heating demand of each residential building of the case study, without using the “archetypes approach”; (ii) the development of a method for the integration of data from different sources and for its estimation if missing at the building level; (iii) the use of SEA as a framework for connecting energy planning and spatial planning fields, to support strategic decision-making processes. Even though the Ph.D. case study is a typical alpine region, (iv) the developed methodology can be applied at different scales and not only on alpine regions but potentially in every kind of context. Since it strongly depends on the availability of data, the replicability of the methodology is quite high.
The main expected impacts of these outputs are: (1) SDSS allows to reach a trade-off between the number of input data and the level of detail often required by decision-makers; (2) SDSS can support the decision-makers allowing them to analyse from various viewpoints different energy scenarios and also to localise where is better to address the energy measures; (3) the results at the building level represent a starting point for defining and developing strategies for the energy transition of settlements at different scales; (4) SEA used as a strategic tool for integrating energy and spatial planning, by coordinating strategic objectives, and linking the thesis outputs to the energy decision-making process.
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QAJA, Besjana. "“Transport Corridors”. Large scale planning for regional and national development. Case study: Albania." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Ferrara, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11392/2478842.
Full textAbstract:
Transportation and the need for movement was born together with humans, and the transportation system in its modern concept consists of a series of factors such as network infrastructure, control systems, movement flow, accessibility of regions, etc. These constituent components have been the basis for the development of this research topic. Beyond the development of transport, the opportunity and the trail they create in the territory creates the possibility of the development of corridors which are much more than the geographical crossing line. The quality of the development of regional connections through transport corridors have of great importance in the economic and social development of a country. A transport corridor represents an important structure to serve and strengthen the functional characteristics of a region, and the corridor can provide important interconnection and communication between two or more separate functional regions. The transport corridor is a model based on the use of a high-density flow along an artery and short capillary services at the corridor nodes, where these nodes are arranged hierarchically creating an interconnected network. Regions that have no connection and interaction with others are considered as isolated and inaccessible places remaining unexploited. Transport corridors depend on its construction objectives.
In this context, this research has been developed about the concept of road transport corridors, the impact they have on the social and economic development of the region where they pass, built only within one state or between several states, often impacting the cultures of the regions where they pass and bringing the settlements closer to each other in time. In addition to developing and discussing the concept of the corridor in its construction theory, the research includes fieldwork through: visual observation of the connection of the settlements to the corridor, focus groups with 5 different stakeholders who mostly frequent this infrastructure, analysis of annual reports and data from preliminary studies, interpretation of results and their processing in giving some conclusions on the situation. Methodologically, the geographical area of the research is a road corridor which connects the settlements with each other and northern Albania with the state of Kosova. In generating this process, the work is developed in 3 different clusters which are grouped according to several characteristics. Work has also been done on the analysis of different contexts to see the differences between them (Egnatia Odos).
The findings revealed that in the case of the "National Road" the regional benefit was only in terms of the effect of reducing travel time, while the region has faced a population exodus. To help this situation, a combined model of corridor management is proposed by integrating and connecting the settlements with each other, where in the center of this corridor observatory is placed and some theoretical conceptions for "transport corridors" are suggested. The research provides a logical framework for further and in-depth study of this field based on the recommendations given at the end of this study to give these projects another territorial range of their importance.
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Guan, ChengHe. "Spatial Distribution of Urban Territories at a Regional Scale: Modeling the Changjiang Delta’s Urban Network." Thesis, Harvard University, 2016. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:30121939.
Full textAbstract:
The formation of ‘Urban Networks’ has become a wide-spread phenomenon around the world. In the study of metropolitan regions, there are competing or diverging views about management and control of environmental and land-use factors. Especially in China, these matters, regulatory aspects, infrastructure applications, and resource allocations, are important due to population concentrations and the overlapping of urban areas with other land resources. On the other hand, the increasing sophistication of models operating on iterative computational power and widely-available spatial information and techniques make it possible to investigate the spatial distribution of urban territories at a regional scale.
This thesis applies a Scenario Cellular Automata (SCA) model to the case study of the Changjiang Delta Region, which produces useful and predictive scenario-based projections within the region, using quantitative methods and baseline conditions that address issues of regional urban development. The contribution of the research includes the improvement of computer simulation of urban growth, the application of urban form and other indices to evaluate complex urban conditions, and a heightened understanding of the performance of an urban network in the Changjiang Delta Region composed of big, medium, and small-sized cities and towns.
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McCann, David Michael. "Basin-scale spatiotemporal analysis of hydrologic floodplain connectivity." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/64179.
Full textAbstract:
Floodplain inundation often provides water quality benefits by trapping sediment and biogeochemically transforming other pollutants. Hydrologic floodplain connectivity is a measure of water exchanges and interactions between the main channel and the floodplain via surface (inundation) and subsurface (groundwater) connections. Using an automated model combining GIS and numerical analysis software, this study examined floodplain inundation patterns and measured floodplain connectivity for the Mahantango Creek watershed (Pennsylvania, USA). Connectivity was quantified by developing a metric that included inundation area and duration. Long-term hydrographs at each reach in the watershed were developed via QPPQ (Flow-Percentile-Percentile-Flow) methodology using regional regression analysis to calculate the ungauged flow duration curves (FDC). Inundation area (normalized to stream length) was found to increase with drainage area, suggesting larger streams have more area available for biogeochemical activity. Annual connectivity increased with drainage area, suggesting larger streams, having higher connectivity, should be the focus of individual reach restoration projects due to higher potential for water quality benefits. Across the watershed as a whole, however, the total annual connectivity across first order streams was greater than higher order streams, suggesting the collection of small streams in a watershed may have a stronger effect on outlet water quality. Connectivity was consistently higher during the non-growing season, which was attributed to higher flows. Despite higher connectivity during the non-growing season, increased floodplain biological activity may be negated by low temperatures, reducing microbial activity. Correlations between land use and connectivity were also found, emphasizing dynamics between flow, channel morphology, and floodplain inundation.Master of Science
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Jaeger, Windy Lee. "Select problems in planetary structural Geology: Global-scale tectonics on Io, regional-scale kinematics on Venus, and local-scale field analyses on Earth with application to Mars." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280768.
Full textAbstract:
Io's mountains are cataloged in order to investigate their formation. Of the 101 mountains imaged with sufficient coverage and resolution for further analysis, 4 are volcanoes, and 97 are tectonic massifs. Of the 97 tectonic mountains, ≥40 abut paterae (volcanic or volcano-tectonic depressions). This juxtaposition is unlikely to be coincidental as the probability of it occurring by chance is ∼1.08%. The observed mountain-patera association may be due to orogenic faults acting as conduits for magma ascent, thus fueling patera formation near mountains. As resurfacing buries a shell of material from Io's surface to the base of the lithosphere, its effective radius is reduced and it heats up. The volume change due to subsidence and thermal expansion is calculated as a function of lithospheric thickness. Conservation of volume dictates that this material is uplifted at Io's surface. By estimating the total volume of mountains, Io's average lithospheric thickness is constrained to ≥12 km. A kinematic analysis of Nefertiti Corona, Venus, reveals that the corona's interior moved east as a relatively coherent thrust sheet with most deformation occurring on the distal margin. Additionally, an en-echelon array indicates a history of semi-brittle deformation on the northern side of Nefertiti's tectonic annulus. Regional heating from the thermal diapir that formed Nefertiti probably reduced the crustal viscosity and enabled the semi-brittle deformation. The "Odessa Craters" in the Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington State are basaltic ring structures (BRSs) 50-500 m in diameter that are comprised of discontinuous, concentric outcrops of subvertically-jointed basalt and autointrusive basaltic dikes. It is postulated that they formed as follows: phreatovolcanic activity disrupted a relatively thin, active lava flow forming rootless cones; the lava flow inflated around the cones; tensile stresses caused concentric fracturing; dikes exploited the fractures and fed lava to the surface; and subsequent erosive floods excavated the structures. A second population of BRSs near Tokio Station, WA, are morphologically analogous to quasi-circular structures in Athabasca Valles, Mars (a region that is geologically similar to the Channeled Scabland). If the martian features formed as BRSs, then they indicate local water-lava interactions and at least two floods through Athabasca Valles.
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Greenwood, Charles. "The impact of large scale wave energy converter farms on the regional wave climate." Thesis, University of the Highlands and Islands, 2016. https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/portal/en/studentthesis/the-impact-of-large-scale-wave-energy-converter-farms-on-the-regional-wave-climate(e734db00-2108-48f9-b162-a1fc85ef61d6).html.
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Van, der Merwe Schalk Willem Jacobus. "Local and sub-regional socio-economic and environmental impact of large-scale resort development." Thesis, Link to the online version, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/1658.
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