scholarly journals Spatial variation of trends in wildfire and summer drought in British Columbia, Canada, 1920 - 2000

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Meyn ◽  
Sebastian Schmidtlein ◽  
Stephen W. Taylor ◽  
Martin P. Girardin ◽  
Kirsten Thonicke ◽  
...  

Owing to large climatic and orographic variation, British Columbia covers a variety of ecosystems extending from temperate rainforests on the Pacific coast to boreal forests in the north-east. The aim of this study is to investigate the spatial variation of trends in wildfire activity and their relationship to summer drought for the entire province of British Columbia. Time series of annual wildfire extent and occurrence, summer self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index and summer Aridity Index were derived from spatially explicit data. Sixteen landscape regions according to the provincial Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification system served as spatial reference. The regional series for 1920–2000 were subjected to trend analysis. Correlations between area burned and summer drought were assessed and tested for significance. The observed decrease in wildfire activity is significantly related to wetter summers with the strength of the relationship considerably varying between British Columbia’s landscapes. Our results suggest that aggregated statistics for large regions with complex topography and climate can hide the spatial variation in direction and strength of changes and may accordingly obscure the relationship between fire and drought. Based on high-spatial-resolution data, our study is the first to provide a differentiated picture for British Columbia.

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miao Bailing ◽  
Li Zhiyong ◽  
Liang Cunzhu ◽  
Wang Lixin ◽  
Jia Chengzhen ◽  
...  

Drought frequency and intensity have increased in recent decades, with consequences for the structure and function of ecosystems of the Inner Mongolian Plateau. In this study, the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) was chosen to assess the extent and severity of drought between 1982 and 2011. The normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to analyse the responses of five different vegetation types (forest, meadow steppe, typical steppe, desert steppe and desert) to drought. Our results show that during the last 30 years, the frequency and intensity of droughts have increased significantly, especially in summer and autumn. The greatest decline in NDVI in response to drought was observed in typical steppe and desert steppe vegetation types. Compared with other seasons, maximum decline in NDVI was observed in summer. In addition, we found that NDVI in the five vegetation types showed a lag time of 1–2 months from drought in the spring and summer. Ancillary soil moisture conditions influenced the drought response, with desert steppe showing a stronger lag effect to spring and summer drought than the other vegetation types. Our results show that drought explains a high proportion of changes in NDVI, and suggest that recent climate change has been an important factor affecting vegetation productivity in the area.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico PIETROGRANDE ◽  
Alessandro DALLA CANEVA ◽  
Ignasi NAVÀS SALVADÓ

This work concerns Vicenza, a city located not far from Venice in the north-east corner of Italy, and it specifically refers to an area situated on the outskirts of the city’s urban fabric between the perimeter of its ancient walls and the banks of the Bacchiglione river, in the shadow of the abandoned monastery of St. Biagio. The idea of restoring that physically and socially degraded area of the city of Vicenza has long been the object of discussion on the part of local authorities. Once intimately linked to the city’s historic center, the area gradually lost its functional and social identity becoming first a parking lot and then equipped as a city warehouse. The intent to regenerate the area and the observation that the relationship between the city and its river is constantly refused, or delayed, lead to recognize in the long edge of the area a unique meeting opportunity which allows to repair the water-city association, recuperating rituals and connections from the past. The municipality is presently planning on pursuing a qualitative restoration of the area which will be used for social and cultural enrichment. The final part of the current work outlines some proposals that were developed during the Architectural and Urban Composition 2 course recently offered by the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua (Italy).


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Chen ◽  
Tongwen Zhang ◽  
Andrea Seim ◽  
Shulong Yu ◽  
Ruibo Zhang ◽  
...  

Coniferous forests cover the mountains in many parts of Central Asia and provide large potentials for dendroclimatic studies of past climate variability. However, to date, only a few tree-ring based climate reconstructions exist from this region. Here, we present a regional tree-ring chronology from the moisture-sensitive Zeravshan juniper (Juniperus seravschanica Kom.) from the Kuramin Range (Tajikistan) in western Central Asia, which is used to reveal past summer drought variability from 1650 to 2015 Common Era (CE). The chronology accounts for 40.5% of the variance of the June–July self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) during the instrumental period (1901 to 2012). Seven dry periods, including 1659–1696, 1705–1722, 1731–1741, 1758–1790, 1800–1842, 1860–1875, and 1931–1987, and five wet periods, including 1742–1752, 1843–1859, 1876–1913, 1921–1930, and 1988–2015, were identified. Good agreements between drought records from western and eastern Central Asia suggest that the PDSI records retain common drought signals and capture the regional dry/wet periods of Central Asia. Moreover, the spectral analysis indicates the existence of centennial (128 years), decadal (24.3 and 11.4 years), and interannual (8.0, 3.6, 2.9, and 2.0 years) cycles, which may be linked with climate forces, such as solar activity and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The analysis between the scPDSI reconstruction and large-scale atmospheric circulations during the reconstructed extreme dry and wet years can provide information about the linkages of extremes in our scPDSI record with the large-scale ocean–atmosphere–land circulation systems.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 559-570
Author(s):  
B. AMUDHA ◽  
Y. E. A. RAJ ◽  
R. ASOKAN

South Peninsular India (SPI) benefits largely from the rainfall (RF) realised during the North East Monsoon (NEM) season that prevails from October to December spilling over to January in some of the years.  Salient aspects of clouding / RF over SPI associated with 13 NEM seasons from 2000-01 to 2012-13 have been analysed using estimates of Outgoing Long wave Radiation (OLR) at 1° × 1° resolution derived from the radiance observations in the infra-red channel onboard the geostationary operational Indian satellite (INSAT) radiometers. OLR is considered as a proxy indicator for convective activity with the value of 230 Wm-2  as the threshold for RF occurrence. Year-to-year mean OLR patterns of the NEM season along with the latitudinal and longitudinal variabilities were analysed for dry, light and active phases of NEM. Based on rigorous analysis of INSAT OLR data for the above 13 years, it has been shown that during the active phase of NEM, Coastal Tamil Nadu (CTN) receives more RF while over BoB the RF is lower and decreases sharply over interior Tamil Nadu. This is a reiteration of a similar result from an earlier study based on 3 years (1996-98) OLR data from polar orbiting NOAA satellites. The spatial variation in OLR over the latitudes of 10.5, 12.5 and 14.5° N along  the longitudes of 75.5-85.5° E  has revealed the feature that  north of 10.5° N, values of OLR are higher with decrease in RF from south to north.  During dry phase of NEM in December and January, higher OLR is observed over northern latitudes of BoB than southern latitudes. It has been comprehended that in the southern latitudes of BoB, where higher sea surface temperatures (SST) are prevalent, more moisture is generated and pumped in to upper levels of the atmosphere leading to lower values of OLR compared to northern latitudes.  


2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Wishart

AbstractCheaply available high-quality digital recording equipment, and the ubiquity of computer music tools and the Internet make the creation of electroacoustic music in diverse localities, and its dissemination around the globe, extremely easy. This raises important questions about the relationship of local sound worlds and cultural experience to a potentially global audience. This quandary is examined through the compositions Globalalia (which deals explicitly with speech material from many languages) and Fabulous Paris – a virtual oratorio whcih uses speech in different ways to contrast our relationship to the local and personal with our relationship to the mass experience of the globalised mega-city. The problems in relating to both a local and a global audience are considered in relation to the composer's current project recording speech materials in local communities in the North East of England.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 91-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofan Liu ◽  
Liliang Ren ◽  
Fei Yuan ◽  
Jing Xu ◽  
Wei Liu

In order to better understand the relationship between vegetation vigour and moisture availability, a correlation analysis based on different vegetation types was conducted between time series of monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) during the growing season from April to October within the Laohahe catchment. It was found that NDVI had good correlation with PDSI, especially for shrub and grass. The correlation between NDVI and PDSI varies significantly from one month to another. The highest value of correlation coefficients appears in June when the vegetation is growing; lower correlations are noted at the end of growing season for all vegetation types. The influence of meteorological drought on vegetation vigour is stronger in the first half of the growing season, before the vegetation reaches the peak greenness. In order to take the seasonal effect into consideration, a regression model with seasonal dummy variables was used to simulate the relationship between NDVI and PDSI. The results showed that the NDVI–PDSI relationship is significant (α = 0.05) within the growing season, and that NDVI is an effective indicator to monitor and detect droughts if seasonal timing is taken into account.


2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin-Philippe Girardin ◽  
Jacques Tardif ◽  
Mike D Flannigan ◽  
B Mike Wotton ◽  
Yves Bergeron

Trends and periodicities in summer drought severity are investigated on a network of Canadian Drought Code (CDC) monthly average indices extending from central Quebec to western Manitoba and covering the instrumental period 1913–1998. The relationship and coherency between CDC indices and ocean–atmosphere circulation patterns are also examined. Trend analyses indicate that drought severity is unchanged in eastern and central Canada. Composite analyses indicate that for most of the corridor, severe drought seasons occur with a combination of positive 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies centered over the Gulf of Alaska and over the Baffin Bay. Additional severe drought seasons develop across the corridor in the presence of positive height anomalies located over or upstream of the affected regions. According to spectral analyses, the North Atlantic and the North Pacific circulation patterns modulate the drought variability at the decadal scale. Our results lead us to conclude that climate warming and the increases in the amount and frequency of precipitation in eastern Canada during the last century had no significant impact on summer drought severity. It is unlikely that linear climate change contributed to the change in the boreal forest dynamics observed over the past 150 years.


1931 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. M. Nash

In a recent paper by the writer (Bull. Ent. Res., xxi, 1930, pp. 201–256) it was shown that the apparent fly density varied according to season. It has now been found that these seasonal variations in the fly density can be correlated with the evaporation rate.The accompanying graph shows the mean monthly evaporation rate, and the mean monthly apparent fly density. The evaporation rate figures have been obtained from a Livingston atmometer at the Kikori Entomological Station. The fly figures have been taken from the North-East Kikori Round, because this fly-round is not subjected to large game movements and hence is considered to be the best for demonstrating the correlation between fly density and season.The graph deals with a period of eighteen months, and it is clear that a relationship does exist between the two curves.In June and July 1929, the fly density was at its maximum. Hence it is reasonable to postulate that, at this time, the evaporation rate was suited to the requirements of the fly community.


1999 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Tilley ◽  
David Johnson

This paper explores the ‘best practice’ interactions between universities and small firms in the UK. The purpose is to identify ways in which a university can build stronger and more effective links with small firms. The relationship between universities and small firms is of growing importance. There are political, economic and educational pressures which influence the behaviour and relationship of higher education toward the business sector, and small firms in particular. The wider context of the changes taking place within higher education are discussed. This is followed by the initial findings from a recently completed research project for the Council for Industry and Higher Education which investigated the foremost components in ‘best practice’ interactions and linkages between small firms and universities in the North East of England. Some preliminary ideas are suggested on how best practice can be further facilitated. These proposals are then interpreted in terms of the operational implications for universities and other strategic organizations involved in building linkages with small firms.


1966 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. G. Lemon

AbstractSix serpentinites occur in the Moinian granulites of the North-East Ox Mountains. Four have been known for some time and have been previously described. Additional information on these and the associated vermiculite deposits is provided. The remaining two serpentinites are described for the first time. A pyroxenite vein associated with one of these may have been produced by meta-morphic regeneration.The relationship of some of these serpentinites to the probable position of the Highland Boundary Fracture-zone in Eire is also discussed. Brief comparison is made with serpentinites occurring in the Scottish Moinian.


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