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Estimating snow-cover trends from space
Extensive evidence reveals that Earth’s snow cover is declining, but our ability to monitor trends in mountain regions is limited. New satellite missions with robust snow water equivalent retrievals are needed to fill this gap.
Journal Article
Batman, the brave and the bold : the Bronze Age
\"The late '60s marked the height of Batmania, when fans of the Batman television series and the comic books couldn't get enough of the Caped Crusader. His appearances on covers meant higher sales, so it was decreed Batman would take up permanent residence in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD. His courage was never questioned, and he fearlessly teamed up with the most daring partners from across the DC Universe at a time when such crossovers were rare. These groundbreaking stories featured some of Batman's greatest team-ups with such legendary characters as Wonder Woman, the Flash, Deadman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, the Teen Titans and others, all by some of the foremost comics talent of the Bronze Age--Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Bob Haney, Dick Giordano and Dennis O'Neil, to name a few.\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Medicating the environment: assessing risks of pharmaceuticals to wildlife and ecosystems
Global pharmaceutical consumption is rising with the growing and ageing human population and more intensive food production. Recent studies have revealed pharmaceutical residues in a wide range of ecosystems and organisms. Environmental concentrations are often low, but pharmaceuticals typically are designed to have biological effects at low doses, acting on physiological systems that can be evolutionarily conserved across taxa. This Theme Issue introduces the latest research investigating the risks of environmentally relevant concentrations of pharmaceuticals to vertebrate wildlife. We take a holistic, global view of environmental exposure to pharmaceuticals encompassing terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems in high- and low-income countries. Based on both field and laboratory data, the evidence for and relevance of changes to physiology and behaviour, in addition to mortality and reproductive effects, are examined in terms of the population- and community-level consequences of pharmaceutical exposure on wildlife. Studies on uptake, trophic transfer and indirect effects of pharmaceuticals acting via food webs are presented. Given the logistical and ethical complexities of research in this area, several papers focus on techniques for prioritizing which compounds are most likely to harm wildlife and how modelling approaches can make predictions about the bioavailability, metabolism and toxicity of pharmaceuticals in non-target species. This Theme Issue aims to help clarify the uncertainties, highlight opportunities and inform ongoing scientific and policy debates on the impacts of pharmaceuticals in the environment.
Journal Article
The Response of Northern Hemisphere Snow Cover to a Changing Climate
A snowpack model sensitivity study, observed changes of snow cover in the NOAA satellite dataset, and snow cover simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) multimodel dataset are used to provide new insights into the climate response of Northern Hemisphere (NH) snow cover. Under conditions of warming and increasing precipitation that characterizes both observed and projected climate change over much of the NH land area with seasonal snow cover, the sensitivity analysis indicated snow cover duration (SCD) was the snow cover variable exhibiting the strongest climate sensitivity, with sensitivity varying with climate regime and elevation. The highest snow cover–climate sensitivity was found in maritime climates with extensive winter snowfall—for example, the coastal mountains of western North America (NA). Analysis of trends in snow cover duration during the 1966–2007 period of NOAA data showed the largest decreases were concentrated in a zone where seasonal mean air temperatures were in the range of −5° to +5°C that extended around the midlatitudinal coastal margins of the continents. These findings were echoed by the climate models that showed earlier and more widespread decreases in SCD than annual maximum snow water equivalent (SWEmax), with the zone of earliest significant decrease located over the maritime margins of NA and western Europe. The lowest SCD–climate sensitivity was observed in continental interior climates with relatively cold and dry winters, where precipitation plays a greater role in snow cover variability. The sensitivity analysis suggested a potentially complex elevation response of SCD and SWEmax to increasing temperature and precipitation in mountain regions as a result of nonlinear interactions between the duration of the snow season and snow accumulation rates.
Journal Article
Creating good public policy to support high-growth firms
Writing in Small Business Economics Scott Shane argues that policy-makers should stop subsidising start-ups and instead focus on supporting the small subset of new businesses with high growth potential. However, both Shane and other scholars who have made the same argument only offer broad-brush proposals to achieve this objective. The aim of this article, in contrast, is to engage in a detailed discussion of how to create appropriate policies for high-growth firms (HGFs). Drawing on research in Scotland, we argue that policy-makers are looking for HGFs in the wrong places. The heterogeneous nature of HGFs in terms of sector, age, size and origins makes in impractical to target support on particular sectors, technologies or types of firms (e.g., new or R&D intensive). The article proposes a reorientation of HGFs, both in terms of appropriate targeting and forms of support. Public policy also needs to focus on the retention of HGFs which are acquired by non-local businesses. Finally, policy-makers need to properly reflect upon the specificities of their entrepreneurial environment when devising appropriate policy interventions.
Journal Article
A multi-data set analysis of variability and change in Arctic spring snow cover extent, 1967-2008
A new multi‐data set estimate of Arctic monthly snow cover extent (SCE) in the May–June melt period is derived from 10 data sources covering different time periods from 1967 to 2008. The data sources include visible and microwave satellite observations, objective analyses of surface snow depth observations, reconstructed snow cover from daily temperature and precipitation, and proxy information derived from thaw dates. The new estimates show a more linear reduction in spring SCE than previously characterized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weekly snow chart data set, with air temperature explaining 49% of the variability in Arctic SCE in May and 56% of the variability in June. The Arctic Oscillation is only significantly linked to Arctic SCE in May where it explains 25% of the variance in Eurasian sector SCE. Trend analysis of the multi‐data set series (including an annually varying estimate of error) reveals that May and June SCE have decreased 14% and 46%, respectively, over the pan‐Arctic region over the 1967–2008 period in response to earlier snow melt. These results are confirmed with in situ data from Canada, Alaska and Russia that show significant reductions in spring snow cover duration over the last 30 years. The spring snow cover temperature sensitivity over the pan‐Arctic region during this period is estimated to be in the range −0.8 to −1.00 × 106 km2 °C−1. The observed reductions in June SCE over the 1979–2008 period are found to be of the same magnitude as reductions in June sea ice extent with both series significantly correlated to air temperature changes over the Arctic region and to each other. This result underscores the close relationship between the cryosphere and surface air temperatures over the Arctic region in June when albedo feedback potential is at a maximum.
Journal Article
Evaluation of long-term Northern Hemisphere snow water equivalent products
Nine gridded Northern Hemisphere snow water equivalent (SWE) products were evaluated as part of the European Space Agency (ESA) Satellite Snow Product Intercomparison and Evaluation Exercise (SnowPEx). Three categories of datasets were assessed: (1) those utilizing some form of reanalysis (the NASA Global Land Data Assimilation System version 2 – GLDAS-2; the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) interim land surface reanalysis – ERA-Interim/Land and ERA5; the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 1 (MERRA) and version 2 (MERRA-2); the Crocus snow model driven by ERA-Interim meteorology – Crocus); (2) passive microwave remote sensing combined with daily surface snow depth observations (ESA GlobSnow v2.0); and (3) stand-alone passive microwave retrievals (NASA AMSR-E SWE versions 1.0 and 2.0) which do not utilize surface snow observations. Evaluation included validation against independent snow course measurements from Russia, Finland, and Canada and product intercomparison through the calculation of spatial and temporal correlations in SWE anomalies. The stand-alone passive microwave SWE products (AMSR-E v1.0 and v2.0 SWE) exhibit low spatial and temporal correlations to other products and RMSE nearly double the best performing product. Constraining passive microwave retrievals with surface observations (GlobSnow) provides performance comparable to the reanalysis-based products; RMSE over Finland and Russia for all but the AMSR-E products is ∼50 mm or less, with the exception of ERA-Interim/Land over Russia. Using a seven-dataset ensemble that excluded the stand-alone passive microwave products reduced the RMSE by 10 mm (20 %) and increased the correlation from 0.67 to 0.78 compared to any individual product. The overall performance of the best multiproduct combinations is still at the margins of acceptable uncertainty for scientific and operational requirements; only through combined and integrated improvements in remote sensing, modeling, and observations will real progress in SWE product development be achieved.
Journal Article
Contactless probing of polycrystalline methane hydrate at pore scale suggests weaker tensile properties than thought
Methane hydrate is widely distributed in the pores of marine sediments or permafrost soils, contributing to their mechanical properties. Yet the tensile properties of the hydrate at pore scales remain almost completely unknown, notably the influence of grain size on its own cohesion. Here we grow thin films of the hydrate in glass capillaries. Using a novel, contactless thermal method to apply stress, and video microscopy to observe the strain, we estimate the tensile elastic modulus and strength. Ductile and brittle characteristics are both found, dependent on sample thickness and texture, which are controlled by supercooling with respect to the dissociation temperature and by ageing. Relating the data to the literature suggests the cohesive strength of methane hydrate was so far significantly overestimated.
The authors here report tensile properties of polycrystalline methane hydrate at the micron scale by applying a contactless, thermos-induced stress to a tenuous shell of hydrate grown in a thin glass capillary. The results suggest that the cohesive strength of methane hydrate in marine settings may be an order of magnitude less than currently thought.
Journal Article
Augmenting Community Engagement in City 4.0: Considerations for Digital Agency in Urban Public Space
An engaged community that reflects a diverse set of experiences is key to an equitable and livable city. However, maximizing engagement activities is often difficult when competing with residents’ busy schedules and hectic daily lives. To explore new opportunities in this space, we developed four augmented reality experiences to learn more about the potential for this technology to transform community engagement practices in the context of City 4.0. City 4.0 utilizes digital technologies to transform public services and the local economy. Its goal is to produce more sustainable urban and societal outcomes. Our findings suggest that augmented reality is least successful when used to recreate existing engagement practices, such as surveys or questionnaires, and more successful when it empowers a sense of agency and ownership over the process in its users. The way augmented reality situates information can aid in making public space feel personal to the individual. In this way, augmented reality’s affordances are less about overlaying digital information in physical space and more about how this can enable individuals to reclaim a sense of control and relevance in the relationship between citizens and councils. We aim to contribute: (a) novel interaction paradigms and an evaluation of their effectiveness and limitation, and (b) new insights into how to support citizens’ sense of agency in public discourse with augmented reality. This paper highlights the value of augmented reality’s affordances to bring to light new interactions between community engagement stakeholders.
Journal Article