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This project intends to use the Mount Denali ice core archive to develop the most comprehensive suite of North Pacific fire and summer climate proxy records since about 2500 years before present. Wildfire is a key component of summer climate in the North Pacific where wildfires are projected to increase with continued summer warming. Studies that combine paleorecords of summer climate and wildfire are therefore critically needed, especially in the North Pacific region where fire recurrence rate and decadal-to-centennial scale climate fluctuations occur over longer time periods than are covered by direct observations. The goal of the proposed research is to improve our understanding of relationships between summertime climate and wildfire activity, focusing especially on the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), when regional temperatures were perhaps as warm as the 20th century. Recent advances now permit the measurement of new fire-related (pyrogenic) compounds in ice cores, enabling the development of a robust fire record capable of rigorous comparison with regional paleoclimate reconstructions.

Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership

With every passing year, Southeast Florida faces more pressure to adapt to climate change. The region already experiences the effects of climate change, such as flooding on sunny days during the highest tides of the year, the failure of flood control canals, rapid beach erosion and saltwater intrusion into drinking water supplies.

Abstract The rapidly growing construction industry has accelerated water and energy scarcity in China, threatening its sustainable development. This study integrates multi-regional input-output (MRIO) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate the water-energy nexus in the construction industry at the provincial level through the entire industrial supply chain. Results show that the construction industry accounts for 8.97% and 27.20% of virtual water and embodied energy in China, respectively. The western area experiences the most energy- and water-intensive construction processes given its backward economy and outdated technological development. The northern area faces great challenges with regard to energy intensity improvements, whereas the central regions suffer from large pressure relating to inefficient water use. The manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, smelting, and the pressing of metals are the largest suppliers of virtual water and embodied energy. The efficiency assessment results demonstrate that Jiangsu and Zhejiang are two DEA-effective regions. China has achieved a relatively high level of scale efficiency but suffers from backward technology.

Renewable energy generation reduces carbon emissions and responds to the targets for renewable energy sources of most EU countries; it also enhances infrastructure resilience and creates flexibility of the energy matrix. However, the availability of biomass may drastically differ from country to country within the EU. In most cases, the most challenged countries to achieve high targets for sustainability are not those with a sufficiently large supply of biomass. Because of this, it is necessary to design new biomass supply chain networks and improve the existing networks. This paper aims to assess the efficiency of biomass alternative pathways of the supply network from South America to Europe. In this particular work, three scenarios of biomass using two transportation systems were investigated, i.e., transportation of wood logs, pellets and torrefied biomass in the country of origin by truck and train transportation. Efficiency was measured using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model derived from CCR. The results present the most efficient supply chain alternatives and highlight the feasibility of establishing closer cooperation between Brazil and countries in Europe for green energy generation. This information can assist in the process of planning and decision-making to determine the practicability of the implementation of torrefaction facilities using the most efficient logistical pathways

Arctic ecosystems are already experiencing and responding to climate change. Inuit communities are highly dependent on the natural environment for their livelihoods, and hence are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change. Community-based studies across the Canadian Arctic have identified several widespread vulnerabilities. Subsistence hunting is susceptible to changes in wildlife populations and access to hunting areas; permafrost degradation has implications for community infrastructure and for coastal erosion; changes in the availability of harvested food contribute an additional risk to people s health; the erosion of environmental knowledge and land skills enhances the vulnerability of Inuit hunters to climate risks; and economic opportunities may come with more shipping, but may be constrained by closed ice roads and limits on the sport hunting industry.

A group of 40 hvb coals, mostly from western Kentucky fields, has been examined with regard to ASTM Gieseler plastometric properties. Twenty-nine of these coals have also been studied over a range of temperatures by isothermal Gieseler plastometry. Raw Gieseler data provide melting and coking slopes and readily calculable fluidity spans. Maximum fluidity by slope intersection is a more consistent measure than observed maximum fluidity. Isothermal slopes and maximum fluidities follow Arrhenius temperature dependencies, with activation energies related systematically to fluid properties. These freshly sampled coals are also characterized by chemical, physical and petrographic criteria, by quantitative solvent extractions, by pyrolysis gas chromatography, by Fourier Transform infrared analysis of coals and extraction residues, by the HPLC analysis of coal extracts, and by optical microscopy of coals and Gieseler semi-coke residues. Multiple linear regression analysis yields three-term expressions which estimate maximum fluidities (both ASTM and isothermal) with R values of .90 to .92. Slopes and critical temperatures are similarly predictable. Plastometer experiments with selected coals under superatmospheric pressures show both melting slopes and maximum fluidities to be sharply increased, the latter by one to three orders of magnitude. Some suggestions are offered to accommodate this new information into the general body of knowledge concerning the phenomenon of plasticity in mid-ranked coals. 81 references, 28 figures, 40 tables.

The Integrated History and future of People on Earth (IHOPE) initiative is a global network of researchers and research projects with its International Program Office (IPO) now based at the Stockho ...

The Marine Shoreline Design Guidelines is one of a series of guidance documents being developed by the Aquatic Habitat Guidelines (AHG) Program.Guidelines developed in the AHG program employ an integrated approach to marine, freshwater, and riparian habitat protection and restoration. That is, they seek to protect and restore the structure and function of whole ecosystems by striving to consider projects in their landscape and watershed contexts. Development of guidance documents and underlying scientific surveys has involved broad participation from academic, public, and private sector practitioners, planners, and regulators. This guideline contains: 1. the geomorphic setting of Puget Sound; 2. stewardship; 3. site assessment; 4. coastal processes assessment; 5. alternatives assessment; 6. passive management techniques; 7.1 beach nourishment; 7.2 large wood; 7.3 reslope-revegetation; 7.4 bulhead removal; 7.5 hard armour; 8. monitoring 9. research and development Case studies (25 cases)