Organizational climate in air traffic control Innovative preparedness for implementation of new technology and organizational development in a rule governed organization

A positive and innovative organizational climate is of great importance in order to manage and adapt to change. Such a climate seldom evolves in organizations closely governed by rules and regulations. Because of ongoing organizational and technical changes within the Swedish Air Navigation Services Provider, a study concerning the organizational climate for changes and innovations was conducted to investigate the organization's capacity to cope with changes. Study locations were the two Swedish main air traffic control centers and parts of the civil aviation administration headquarters. In the study 390 subjects took part and the CCQ questionnaire was used to measure the organizational climate. The results show that the organizational climate is quite positive despite the rule-governed work. The results also show that administrative personnel assess the organizational climate as more positive than operative personnel. Comparisons between management positions did not result in any differences.     

A CLIMATE‐BASED INDEX OF HISTORIC SPAWNING‐STREAM HYDROLOGY

Reproductive success of stream‐spawning Oncorhynchus fishes (Pacific salmon, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout and their allies) may be greatly affected by stream discharge or its covariate, stream temperature, during the spawning season. Because such data for the physical environment may not have been routinely collected as part of previous investigations of these fishes, identification of simple but robust indices of historic, seasonal stream discharge and temperature, using long‐term climate data sets, would be important, especially to investigations of historic population dynamics. This study examined statistical associations among several climate variables and the spawning‐season (approximately June) discharges and temperatures of Clear Creek, a Yellowstone Lake tributary used by spawning Yellowstone cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri (YCT), from the lake. Correlation analysis showed that total water‐year degree‐days (calculated on the basis of mean daily air temperature > 0°C) at Lake Village, on the lake's north shore, was a robust index (both negative and positive, respectively) of consecutive, total semi‐month metrics of creek discharge and temperature during the YCT spawning season. This study (and subsequent use of the Lake Village degree days metric as an environmental variable in a dynamic, age‐structured model of the lacustrine–adfluvial YCT population of Clear Creek) showed how exploratory analyses of the fragmentary but long‐term and regionally unique data sets for Clear Creek discharge and temperature revealed a simple but robust index of climate variation important to understanding the historic dynamics of Clear Creek's YCT population, which is a key spawning stock of Yellowstone Lake. In addition, the extensive statistical associations among the climate variables, along with the temporal trends in two key variables, broadly showed how climate varied across the Yellowstone Lake region during the past several decades. Those observations have implications for the historic, seasonal hydrology of all Yellowstone Lake tributaries used by spawning YCT. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EPISODIC SUSPENDED SEDIMENT TRANSPORT AND ELEVATED POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON CONCENTRATIONS IN A SMALL,MOUNTAINOUS RIVER IN COASTAL CALIFORNIA

Suspended sediment and organic contaminants were measured during a period of 2 years in the San Lorenzo River, central California, which discharges into the Pacific Ocean within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, in an effort to quantify the potential environmental effects of storm events from a steep, mountainous coastal urban watershed. Most suspended sediment transport occurred during flooding caused by winter storms; 56% of the total sediment load for the 2‐year study was transported by the river during one storm event in January 2010. Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can exceed regulatory criteria during high‐flow events in the San Lorenzo River, and total annual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon load was on the order of 10 kg in water year 2010. These results highlight the importance of episodic sediment and contaminant transport in steep, mountainous coastal watersheds and emphasize the importance of understanding physical processes and quantifying chemical constituents in discharge from coastal watersheds on event‐scale terms. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Anthropogenic and climatic influences over the past three centuries on characteristics of an Adirondack lake,Eastern North America

Fourth Lake is a drainage lake at 43°N, 74°W, from which a 37‐cm long mud‐water interface core was recovered. ²¹⁰Pb dating indicates the core spans ≈340 years, from the Little Ice Age through modern global warming. Diatom accumulation responds to anthropogenic watershed disturbances, declining slightly up‐core until a peak in the late‐1800s attributable to sediment and nutrient influx from logging and enlargement of the outlet dam. A dramatic decrease occurs ≈1900 as logging and lake filling ceased, and a smaller peak ≈1960 accompanies residential development. Similar changes occur in organic carbon accumulation, which ranges from 0.0038–0.024 mg cm^?2 year^?1, with generally decreasing values up‐core, punctuated by maximum values in the late‐1800s. Expressing diatoms as concentration, however, reveals a doubling up‐core that positively correlates with changes extending beyond the watershed, including Northern Hemisphere temperature, atmospheric CO₂ concentration and solar irradiance (R = 0.627, 0.675 and 0.400, respectively). A >50% increase in % organic carbon, from 3.8% to 5.9%, also positively correlates with these larger‐scale environmental conditions (R = 0.828, 0.830 and 0.832), while negative correlations with the extrabasinal records are exhibited by magnetic susceptibility (R = ?0.654, ?0.496, and ?0.660) and clay (R = ?0.770, ?0.762, and ?0.737). These changes are consistent with decreased sediment influx and reduced dilution of biogenous sedimentary components. In contrast to total diatoms, the accumulation of planktonic genus Asterionella displays a long‐term increase up‐core. Potential explanations include increasing duration of the ice‐free season or a shift in the timing of the spring bloom and a mismatch with abundance of predator(s). Asterionella also increases as a percentage of total diatoms, being positively correlated with extrabasinal conditions (R = 0.827, 0.774 and 0.674). This change occurs at the expense of many benthic genera and, over the past century, at the expense of tychoplanktonic genus, Aulacosiera. Heavily silicified, Aulacosiera requires strong mixing to remain within the epilimnion. Thus, its decline might result from increasing stratification caused by warming.     

A SWAT evaluation of the effect of climate change on the hydrology of the Volta River basin

The SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used to evaluate the impacts of a climate scenario based on IPCC A1B emissions on flows in the Volta River basin in West Africa for 2021–2050 and 2071–2100, using 1983–2012 as the reference period. Overall, the simulation indicates increased variability and a decrease of up to 40% in river flow as a consequence of decreasing rainfall and increasing temperature. In particular, the analysis shows smaller absolute but greater relative changes in the hydrology of the northern (upper) part of the basin, particularly at the end of the century.     

Changes of Pan Evaporation in the Recent 40 Years in the Yellow River Basin

Abstract

Based on monitoring data of 123 meteorological stations from 1960 to 2000 near or in the Yellow River Basin, the spatial and temporal distributions and their trends for pan evaporation (PE) are investigated in this study. The results indicate that, despite the annual mean air temperature over the Yellow River Basin has, on average, increased by 0.6° over the past 40 years, the rate of PE has steadily decreased, especially in summer and spring. Compared with the period of 1960s to 1970s, the rate of annual pan evaporation during 1980s to 1990s has decreased by 126mm or 7.0 percent. Spatial distribution of the rate of change show that this kind of trend is general but not universal, PE has significantly decreased over the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River, but increased to a small degree over the middle reaches. Further analyses show that the decrease of PE is mainly related to reductions in sunshine durations and solar irradiance, owing to more clouds and aerosols.     

Irrigation infrastructure development in the Limarí Basin in Central Chile: implications for adaptation to climate variability and climate change

One option to deal with climate variability in agriculture is to build irrigation infrastructure, although this may lead to the overdevelopment of water resources, leading to ‘basin closure’. The Limarí Basin, in central north Chile, has relied on irrigation infrastructure over the last 30 years to increase water supply reliability and extend irrigated acreage, especially for permanent crops. This situation has reduced adaptation opportunities in the basin, which is currently experiencing a severe drought that, according to climate change projections, is expected to persist in the future, with important consequences for the sustainability of agriculture production.     

白洋淀气候变化及对生态系统的影响

根据1955年-2010年白洋淀地区气象数据及生态资料,研究了气候变化对白洋淀湿地生态系统的影响,以期为白洋淀湿地保护和可持续发展提供依据。结果表明:近56年来,白洋淀地区的气温总体呈现上升趋势,且在2007年达到最高值,而降水量、平均风速和日照时数均呈现下降趋势,其中1996年以后的降水量均低于56年的平均降水量。白洋淀地区降水量和年最高水位呈明显的正相关关系,平均气温和水域面积的变化趋势则相反。水位、水域面积的变化以及人类活动等因素影响了白洋淀水质和生物多样性以及不同土地利用类型的分配比例。     

东亚地区二氧化碳体积分数变化特征

利用2004年以来东亚地区10个本底观测站大气φ(CO₂)观测资料,分析了各站大气φ(CO₂)的变化特征及其各站之间的差异,讨论了下垫面特征、源汇作用等对φ(CO₂)变化的影响.结果表明:10个本底站大气月均φ(CO₂)有明显的季节变化,高值多出现在冬春等寒冷季节,而低值则多出现在6—9月,属于北半球的夏季;大气φ(CO₂)日变化趋势较为一致,15时(当地时间)前后达到全天最低,随后φ(CO₂)升高,并在日落后继续积累,至清晨7时(当地时间)前后达到全天最高,之后φ(CO₂)随着太阳辐射的增强而逐渐降低,且平均φ(CO₂)水平与下垫面植被量成反比,φ(CO₂)日变化的幅度与下垫面植被量成反比.作为全球基准站之一的瓦里关山站,2004—2008年φ(CO₂)年均值逐年增加,年增长率为2.28×10^-6/a.     

气候因素对城市色彩的影响分析

明确了城市色彩和城市色彩规划的概念,对气候影响城市色彩进行了分析.根据城市色彩的分类,分别分析气候因素对城市自然色以及人工色的不同影响.在分析人工色时,采用了"城市色彩三要素"的概念,即城市色彩的物理属性、构成性以及材质三要素,对这三个要素分别进行了气候影响力的分析.并针对当前温室效应的热点问题,指出城市色彩对城市气温的影响,以及如何利用城市色彩来达到减轻温室效应的目的.最后简要提出了城市色彩规划的一些应用原则.