RESTORING SALMON HABITAT FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE

An important question for salmon restoration efforts in the western USA is ‘How should habitat restoration plans be altered to accommodate climate change effects on stream flow and temperature?’ We developed a decision support process for adapting salmon recovery plans that incorporates (1) local habitat factors limiting salmon recovery, (2) scenarios of climate change effects on stream flow and temperature, (3) the ability of restoration actions to ameliorate climate change effects, and (4) the ability of restoration actions to increase habitat diversity and salmon population resilience. To facilitate the use of this decision support framework, we mapped scenarios of future stream flow and temperature in the Pacific Northwest region and reviewed literature on habitat restoration actions to determine whether they ameliorate a climate change effect or increase life history diversity and salmon resilience. Under the climate change scenarios considered here, summer low flows decrease by 35–75% west of the Cascade Mountains, maximum monthly flows increase by 10–60% across most of the region, and stream temperatures increase between 2 and 6°C by 2070–2099. On the basis of our literature review, we found that restoring floodplain connectivity, restoring stream flow regimes, and re‐aggrading incised channels are most likely to ameliorate stream flow and temperature changes and increase habitat diversity and population resilience. By contrast, most restoration actions focused on in‐stream rehabilitation are unlikely to ameliorate climate change effects. Finally, we illustrate how the decision support process can be used to evaluate whether climate change should alter the types or priority of restoration actions in a salmon habitat restoration plan. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

The Cycles and Spirals of Justice in water-allocation decision making

Managing for social and environmental justice in water allocation is a necessary yet challenging goal. Often, what can appear as a just or equitable outcome for a specific location or group of stakeholders can also result in injustices at other locations or for other stakeholders. This paper describes a conceptual framework, The Cycles and Spirals of Justice, that helps make sense of the relationship between justice and injustice in the context of water-allocation decision making by explicitly utilizing a landscape-ecology understanding of scale and levels. The framework is illustrated using a case study from the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia and describes how justice and injustice are part of a cycling continuum of “justice for whom” and how this plays out in a multi-level system where the problem of scale can surface.     

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.     

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.     

Highlights of Drought Policy and Related Science in Australia and the U.S.A.

Abstract

Patterns of water supply and use in Australia and the U.S.A. differ in many ways. This results in different perceptions concerning the nature of drought and policy approaches to its management. This paper discusses the differences and similarities and explores lessons that policy makers in both countries can learn from one another. A key difference between the two countries is that whereas drought is perceived in Australia essentially in terms of its impact on agriculture, in the U.S. both perceptions and policy are also heavily influenced by the impact of drought on urban communities. This has led to different policy emphases. In 1992 Australia established its National Drought Policy; the U.S. is presently considering the adoption of a national drought policy. These policies highlight drought being accepted as part of natural climate variability, rather than as a natural disaster. They also emphasize the protection of the natural resource base.     

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。     

A method for spatial interpolation of wind climatologies

The local wind climate is described by probability distributions for the wind direction and for the wind speed given a certain direction. As an alternative to the latter, the wind speed may be described by its statistical moments which are easily integrated over all directions. This allows representation of the wind climatology as a set of directionally independent statistics and the corresponding normalized directional distributions often called wind roses. The methodology is to spatially interpolate wind climatologies in an irregular mesh by two‐dimensioanl third‐order Bézier polynomials for the directionally independent statistics and linear interpolation for the wind roses. Local Bézier surfaces are set up in a patchwork of triangles and adjusted for approximate first‐order geometric continuity (GC¹) and minimal surface curvature. The wind rose interpolation is calculated relative to a typical local wind direction by means of Fourier transformation. A complementary surface extrapolation method is suggested which retains continuity on the grid boundary and asymptotically linear variation away from this. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

浅析高寒环境下水轮机蜗壳焊接质量控制

积石峡水电站1号机蜗壳是在高寒、露天环境下焊接的,为保证焊接质量,焊接之前在工地进行了蜗壳焊接工艺评定试验,焊接中采取了严格的质量控制措施。焊缝检测结果,蜗壳焊接质量一次合格率达到99%以上,总体质量良好。