Exploring Environmental Data in a Highly Immersive Virtual Reality Environment

Geography inherently fills a 3D space and yet we struggle with displaying geography using, primarily, 2D display devices. Virtual environments offer a more realistically-dimensioned display space and this is being realized in the expanding area of research on 3D Geographic Information Systems (GISs). Traditionally, a GIS has only limited tools for statistical analysis, and 3D GIS research has concentrated on the visualization of the geographical terrain. Here we discuss linking multivariate statistical graphics to geography in the highly immersive C2 virtual reality environment at Iowa State University using mid-Atlantic streams data.     

Environmental risk perception and urban renewal in the West Midlands, UK

This is a report of a social environmental audit of urban renewal schemes based on an investigation of environmental hazard risk perceptions of people in their homes, workplaces and other places of urban activity, in the vicinity of five major renewal sites in Sandwell, West Midlands, UK. The selection of the renewal schemes was designed to incorporate a range of the types of contemporary urban development in the UK. People were asked to give a scaled score response reflecting the perceived magnitude of risk of each of a series of hazards. Each person was asked to give two responses to each hazard, one response referring to the actual present situation post-renewal and the second response referring to an imagined present situation as if renewal had not occurred. The statistical analysis of the responses suggested that urban renewal had brought about an increase in certain perceived environmental risks and not necessarily a more desirable perceived environmental state than the alternative of dereliction.     

An examination of the compatibility of World Bank policies towards population, development and biodiversity in the Third World

This paper addresses the compatibility of World Bank policies towards population growth, development and biodiversity in the Third World. The World Bank has been central to the design and implementation of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the remit of which includes the conservation of global biodiversity. However, the Bank's influence over the facility has in itself created controversy which may undermine its effectiveness. More significantly, the Bank's commitment to the GEF is subverted by its policies in other social and economic sectors. The World Bank, together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), directs the structural adjustment of Third World economies through economic deregulation and privatization. This approach exacerbates inequalities and further empowers large landowners who may then displace tenant farmers and claim exclusive rights to former common land. Thus, biodiversity loss occurs as large landowners reorientate the land use towards the production of export goods and dispossessed farmers invade marginal land. Population growth influences biodiversity loss through its contribution to agricultural intensification and the settlement of marginal land. The World Bank encourages this trend through its non-committal approach to population control, but more especially through structural adjustment's positive effect on fertility.     

Simulating Spatial and Temporal Context of Forest Management Using Hypothetical Landscapes

/ Spatially explicit models that combine remote sensing with geographic information systems (GIS) offer great promise to land managers because they consider the arrangement of landscape elements in time and space. Their visual and geographic nature facilitate the comparison of alternative landscape designs. Among various activities associated with forest management, none cause greater concern than the impacts of timber harvesting on the composition, structure, and function of landscape ecosystems. A timber harvest allocation model (HARVEST) was used to simulate different intensities of timber harvest on 23,592-ha hypothetical landscapes with varying sizes of timber production areas and different initial stand age distributions. Our objectives were to: (1) determine the relative effects of the size of timber production areas, harvest intensity, method used to extract timber, and past timber harvest activity on the production of forest interior and edge; and (2) evaluate how past management (in the form of different initial stand age distributions) constrains future timber production options. Our simulations indicated that the total area of forest interior and the amount of forest edge were primarily influenced by the intensity of timber harvest and the size of openings created by harvest. The size of the largest block of interior forest was influenced most by the size of timber harvests, but the intensity of harvest was also significant, and the size of nontimber production areas was important when harvests were numerous and widely dispersed within timber management areas, as is often the case in managed forests. Stand age-class distributions produced by past harvest activity limited the amount of timber production primarily when group selection was used, but also limited clear-cutting when recent harvest levels were high.KEY WORDS: Simulation modeling; Timber harvest; Historical context; Spatial context; Landscape pattern; Forest interior; Forest edge     

The pedagogy of atmospheric issues and the UK Atmospheric Research and Information Centre's Education Programme

Mrs Sue Hare is the education and information services coordinator of the UK Atmospheric Research and Information Centre (ARIC). Professor James Longhurst was recently the director of the ARIC and Joe Buchdahl its global climate change information services coordinator. Professor Longhurst is now head of the Department of Environmental Health and Science, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY. Kelvin Williams is a geography consultant and is head of geography at Ysgol y Creuddyn, Penrhyn Bay, Llandudno, Gwynedd LL30 3LB. The pedagogy of atmospheric issues is identified in the context of environmental education in this paper. The UK Atmospheric Research and Information Centre (ARIC) has developed an education programme which has responded to the dynamic issues relating to the atmosphere since the establishment of the ARIC in 1984. The main route for the teaching of atmospheric issues is identified as being through the UK's National Curriculum although public awareness of issues has increased through the media and more recently through government publicity campaigns.     

SENSITWITY ANALYSIS OF SIMULATED CONTAMINATED SEDIMENT TRANSPORT1

ABSTRACT: A simulation analysis of contaminated sediment transport involves model selection, data collection, model calibration and verification, and evaluation of uncertainty in the results. Sensitivity analyses provide information to address these issues at several stages of the investigation. A sensitivity analysis of simulated contaminated sediment transport is used to identify the most sensitive output variables and the parameters most responsible for the output variable sensitivity. The output variables included are streamflow and the flux of sediment and Cs¹³⁷. The sensitivities of these variables are measured at the field and intermediate scales, for flood and normal flow conditions, using the HSPF computer model. A sensitivity index was used to summarize and compare the results of a large number of output variables and parameters. An extensive database was developed to calibrate the model and conduct the sensitivity analysis on a 6.2 mi² catchment in eastern Tennessee. The fluxes of sediment and Cs¹³⁷ were more sensitive than streamflow to changes in parameters for both flood and normal flow conditions. The relative significance of specific parameters on output variable sensitivity varied according to the type of flow condition and the location in the catchment. An implications section illustrates how sensitivity analysis results can help with model selection, planning data collection, calibration, and uncertainty analysis.     

A SEDIMENT RESUSPENSION AND WATER QUALITY MODEL OF LAKE OKEECHOBEE1

ABSTRACT: The influence of sediment resuspension on the water quality of shallow lakes is well documented. However, a search of the literature reveals no deterministic mass-balance eutrophication models that explicitly include resuspension. We modified the Lake Okeechobee water quality model - which uses the Water Analysis Simulation Package (WASP) to simulate algal dynamics and phosphorus, nitrogen, and oxygen cycles - to include inorganic suspend. ed solids and algorithms that: (1) define changes in depth with changes in volume; (2) compute sediment resuspension based on bottom shear stress; (3) compute partition coefficients for ammonia and ortho-phosphorus to solids; and (4) relate light attenuation to solids concentrations. The model calibration and validation were successful with the exception of dissolved inorganic nitrogen species which did not correspond well to observed data in the validation phase. This could be attributed to an inaccurate formulation of algal nitrogen preference and/or the absence of nitrogen fixation in the model. The model correctly predicted that the lake is light-limited from resuspended solids, and algae are primarily nitrogen limited. The model simulation suggested that biological fluxes greatly exceed external loads of dissolved nutrients; and sediment-water interactions of organic nitrogen and phosphorus far exceed external loads. A sensitivity analysis demonstrated that parameters affecting resuspension, settling, sediment nutrient and solids concentrations, mineralization, algal productivity, and algal stoichiometry are factors requiring further study to improve our understanding of the Lake Okeechobee ecosystem.     

LAKE ONTARIO REGULATION UNDER TRANSPOSED CLIMATES1

ABSTRACT: The implications of Lake Ontario regulation under transposed climates with changed means and variability are presented for seasonal and annual time scales. The current regulation plan is evaluated with climates other than the climate for which it was developed and tested. This provides insight into potential conflicts and management issues, development of regulation criteria for extreme conditions, and potential modification of the regulation plan. Transposed climates from the southeastern and south central continental United States are applied to thermodynamic models of the Great Lakes and hydrologic models of their watersheds; these climates provide four alternative scenarios of water supplies to Lake Ontario. The scenarios are analyzed with reference to the present Great Lakes climate. The responses of the Lake Ontario regulation plan to the transposed climate scenarios illustrate several key issues: (1) historical water supplies should no longer be the sole basis for testing and developing lake regulation plans; (2) during extreme supply conditions, none of the regulation criteria can be met simultaneously, priority of interests may change, and new interests may need to be considered, potentially requiring substantial revision to the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909; (3) revised regulation criteria should be based on ecosystem health and socio-economic benefits for a wider spectrum of interests and not on frequencies and ranges of levels and flows of the historical climate; and (4) operational management of the lake should be improved under the present climate, and under any future climate with more variability, through the use of improved water supply forecasts and monitoring of current hydrologic conditions.     

Assessing potential bioavailability of metals in sediments: A proposed approach

Due to anthropogenic inputs, elevated concentrations of metals frequently occur in aquatic sediments. In order to make defensible estimates of the potential risk of metals in sediments and/or develop sediment quality criteria for metals, it is essential to identify that fraction of the total metal in the sediments that is bioavailable. Studies with a variety of benthic invertebrates indicate that interstitial (pore) water concentrations of metals correspond very well with the bioavailability of metals in test sediments. Many factors may influence pore water concentrations of metals; however, in anaerobic sediments a key phase controlling partitioning of several cationic metals (cadmium, nickel, lead, zinc, copper) into pore water is acid volatile sulfide (AVS). In this paper, we present an overview of the technical basis for predicting bioavailability of cationic metals to benthic organisms based on pore water metal concentrations and metal-AVS relationships. Included are discussions of the advantages and limitations of metal bioavailability predictions based on these parameters, relative both to site-specific assessments and the development of sediment quality criteria.