A conceptual model for response to Arctic oil spills

The potential for oil spills in Arctic regions has increased significantly because of the development of petroleum resources. Response to an oil spill in the Arctic is likely to be much slower than that in the temperate region because of the remoteness of the area and its severe climate. In the face of these unique problems, accurate prediction of the extent and subsequent movement of an oil spill is vital to any cleanup effort. Presented is the framework of a program to study the movement of oil spills in the Arctic. Existing models of oil spreading and polar ice dynamics are reviewed and areas where new model development is required are defined. A system design is developed that may be used for developing a plan to act in the event of a major spill.     

Environmental democracy in action: The Toxics Release Inventory

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) created by the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act initially received limited attention. During the early years of its implementation, the TRI has become the basis for a national experiment in voluntaristic problem solving among citizens and industry, but that process of environmental democracy hinges on citizens' ability to actually acquire, understand, and apply the new data on industrial toxic emissions. A national study of TRI-using organizations in the public and private sectors reveals that effective citizen access depends in part on the efforts of intermediary public interest groups to bridge individual needs and right-to-know data. Although the TRI has had early success as a supplement to conventional command and control regulation, questions exist about the extent to which state and federal government should or must provide special efforts to make environmental information access work for citizens.     

Improving lake riparian source area management using surface and subsurface runoff indices

Sensitivity indices, which rank factors pertinent to surface and subsurface runoff pathways, were used to identify phosphorus source areas in riparian zones of 15 northern Minnesota lakes. Watershed models were first developed using a geographic information system (GIS). Empirical models were then developed correlating water quality with land use, lake morphometry, and riparian sensitivity. Base models of forested, cultivated, pasture/open, wetland and residential land use within 100, 200, 400, and 2000 m of the study lakes were regressed on total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. Area-weighted groundwater and surface runoff sensitivity indices were then incorporated into each model and tested for significance. Within the 200-m buffer, the total phosphorus base model was improved by including the groundwater index alone. The chlorophyll-a base model at 200 m was improved by including: (1) the groundwater index alone, and (2) both the groundwater and surface runoff sensitivity indices. Results suggest that surface and subsurface runoff analysis of potential source areas can improve decision making for lake riparian management.     

Application of a GIS-based stream buffer generation model to environmental policy evaluation

In this article a GIS method is presented for riparian environmental buffer generation. It integrates a scientifically tested buffer width delineation model into a GIS framework. Using the generally available data sets, it determines buffer widths in terms of local physical conditions and expected effectiveness. Technical burdens of data management, computation, and result presentation are handled by the GIS. The case study in which the method was used to evaluate the stream buffer regulations in a North Carolina county demonstrates its capability as a decision support tool to facilitate environmental policy formulation and evaluation, and environmental dispute resolution.     

Adaptive management: Promises and pitfalls

Proponents of the scientific adaptive management approach argue that it increases knowledge acquisition rates, enhances information flow among policy actors, and provides opportunities for creating shared understandings. However, evidence from efforts to implement the approach in New Brunswick, British Columbia, Canada, and the Columbia River Basin indicates that these promises have not been met. The data show that scientific adaptive management relies excessively on the use of linear systems models, discounts nonscientific forms of knowledge, and pays inadequate attention to policy processes that promote the development of shared understandings among diverse stakeholders. To be effective, new adaptive management efforts will need to incorporate knowledge from multiple sources, make use of multiple systems models, and support new forms of cooperation among stakeholders.     

基于GIS的城市公共安全规划信息系统研究

随着城市建设步伐的加快和城市人口的急剧膨胀,各种灾害事故发生的频度和程度迅速增加,使得城市的可持续发展受到严重威胁,城市公共安全面临空前的挑战,建立城市公共安全规划信息系统势在必行。介绍了以地理信息系统为开发平台,实现安全规划对象海量数据的可视化、规范化、条理化及可编辑化,并根据城市各类防救灾设施的规划标准与建构模式,建立城市救灾单元区域和危险源区域,得出救灾单位的有效服务范围和危险源的风险范围,利用G IS的分析统计功能,快速统计出区域内人口及资源,依此计算救灾单位应具备的资源量,并合理组织危险源区域内人口的转移搬迁工作。     

层级化环境质量数据网络直报业务系统的设计和应用

分析了目前环境监测部门的数据传输现状,设计了基于VPN互联网络的环境质量数据层级化直报业务系统,介绍了网络直报系统的业务模型、数据审核和存储策略、系统功能设计及其应用等。     

Survivor needs or logistical convenience? Factors shaping decisions to deliver relief to earthquake‐affected communities,Pakistan 2005–06

In Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan , Waters (2001) argues that bureaucratic rationality distracts humanitarian agencies from the needs of the people they are supposed to assist, in favour of other values that their institutional frameworks dictate. We test his claim by investigating the response to the Pakistan 2005 earthquake. One of us (Dittemore) worked with the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre in the theatre, managing a relief cargo shipment database. The response, known as 'Operation Winter Race', was hampered by extreme logistical challenges, but ultimately succeeded in averting a second disaster resulting from cold and starvation. We use statistical models to probe whether survivor needs significantly guided decisions to deliver relief to affected communities. Needs assessments remained incomplete and incoherent. We measure needs through proxy indicators and integrate them, on a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, with logistics and relief delivery data. We find that, despite strong logistics effects, needs orientations were significant. However, the strength of decision factors varies between commodity types (food versus clothing and shelter versus reconstruction materials) as well as over the different phases of the response. This study confirms Thomas's observation that logistics databases are rich 'repositories of data that can be analyzed to provide post-event learning' (Thomas, 2003, p. 4). This article is an invitation for others to engage in creative humanitarian data management.     

GKS在国家水质管理信息系统中的应用

图形核心系统是开发图形应用软件的一组核心功能描述,它独立于设备和各种高级语言,自８０年代中期被ＩＳＯ正式批准为第一个计算机图形学国际标准以来,世界上各大计算机厂商纷纷推出ＧＫＳ不同级别的实现版本,广大用户也不断将自己的图形应用开发平台转向ＧＫＳ。本研究结合国家水质管理信息系统的需求,以ＧＫＳ为起点,完成了ＮＷＱＭＩＳ图形管理系统的设计与实施,有效地支持了其应用功能的实现。