Error Assessment for Height Above the Nearest Drainage Inundation Mapping

Real‐time flood inundation mapping is vital for emergency response to help protect life and property. Inundation mapping transforms rainfall forecasts into meaningful spatial information that can be utilized before, during, and after disasters. While inundation mapping has traditionally been conducted on a local scale, automated algorithms using topography data can be utilized to efficiently produce flood maps across the continental scale. The Height Above the Nearest Drainage method can be used in conjunction with synthetic rating curves (SRCs) to produce inundation maps, but the performance of these inundation maps needs to be assessed. Here we assess the accuracy of the SRCs and calculate statistics for comparing the SRCs to rating curves obtained from hydrodynamic models calibrated against observed stage heights. We find SRCs are accurate enough for large‐scale approximate inundation mapping while not as accurate when assessing individual reaches or cross sections. We investigate the effect of terrain and channel characteristics and observe reach length and slope predict divergence between the two types of rating curves, and SRCs perform poorly for short reaches with extreme slope values. We propose an approach to recalculate the slope in Manning’s equation as the weighted average over a minimum distance and assess accuracy for a range of moving window lengths.     

Maximizing Returns from Payments for Water‐Based Ecosystem Services: Incorporating Externality Effects of Land Management

Given the expansion of payments for water‐based ecosystem services (PWES) worldwide, two relevant issues are as follows: (1) determination of efficient allocations of payments among land managers, and (2) how this might change when paying one manager to implement a best management practice (BMP) to enhance an ecosystem service impacts the cost‐effectiveness of BMPs considered by other land managers not currently involved in PWES. Such externalities may be negative if diminishing returns dominate, or positive if mechanisms such as “social diffusion” dominate. We analyze how a planner should optimally allocate payments, depending on whether the expected externalities are negligible, negative, or positive. We employ (1) an optimal control model to gain insights on the problem’s dynamics, and (2) stochastic dynamic programming to determine optimal funding strategies using a specific application. The study contributes to the literature by identifying dynamically optimal PWES payment patterns, and illustrates how they should change when one accounts for externalities induced by the program. Because such impacts have not been addressed previously in a rigorous way, this treatment provides useful value added for PWES design and implementation.     

Importance of awareness in improving performance of emergency medical services (EMS) systems in enhancing traffic safety: A lesson from India

Objective: India has been slow in implementing a central emergency medical services (EMS) system across the country. “108 services” is one of the most popular services that is functional under the public–private partnership model. Limited available literature shows that despite access to services, many traffic crash victims are transported using private vehicles. The objective of this study is to understand the effectiveness of 108 services from a traffic safety perspective.

Method: A questionnaire survey is conducted to understand the awareness of EMS and their function. Using traffic-related fatalities as the dependent variable, a fixed effect panel data model is developed to analyze the effectiveness of the 108 services in improving the traffic safety.

Results: The results from the survey show that, in general, people are not aware of the 108 services. A majority of the population prefers taking victims to the hospital using their personal vehicles or any other vehicles available compared to calling an ambulance. Results from panel data analysis show that despite having an efficient system, these services failed to make significant improvement in the safety of road users in the states in which their services were subscribed.

Discussion: The lack of awareness of an important safety service is alarming. This could be a major reason for lower utilization of 108 services for transporting victims of traffic crashes. This article shows the importance of having efficient awareness campaigns to improve the efficiency of any similar programs that are aimed to enhance the safety of a region.     

Implementation of the ecosystem services approach in Swedish municipal planning

While ecosystem-based planning approaches are increasingly promoted through international and national policies, municipalities are still struggling with translating them into practice. Against this background, this paper aims to increase the knowledge of current advances and possible ways to support the implementation of the ecosystem services (ES) approach at the municipal level. More specifically, we analyze how ES have been integrated into comprehensive planning within the municipality of Malmö in Sweden over the last 60 years, a declared forerunner in local environmental governance. Based on a content analysis of comprehensive plans over the period 1956–2014 and interviews with municipal stakeholders, this paper demonstrates how planning has shifted over time toward a more holistic view of ES and their significance for human well-being and urban sustainability. Both explicit and implicit applications of the ES concept were found in the analyzed comprehensive plans and associated programs and projects. Our study shows how these applications reflect international, national, and local policy changes, and indicates how municipalities can gradually integrate the ES approach into comprehensive planning and facilitate the transition from implicit to more explicit knowledge use.     

基于经济普查引入EGSS统计框架的可行性分析

环境货物和服务部门(EGSS)统计框架是由欧盟统计署研究制定的、用于收集和整理环境产品与服务相关统计数据的方法,已经被联合国统计署纳入"环境经济统计体系(SEEA)"中,成为一项国际统计标准。中国的经济普查工作在数据采集方式上与EGSS具有较好的一致性,本文主要对我国的经济普查与EGSS统计框架进行比较研究,探索从经济普查表核算EGSS数据的方法和思路。结果表明:经济普查可作为常规统计口径核算EGSS数据的一个切入点,但是需要在数据连续性、行业小类划分、统计的经济指标范围方面进行衔接融合;基于经济普查数据引进EGSS统计框架可采取分阶段推进方式。     

含铬废渣炻质砖固体块长期稳定性试验和加速试验

在制砖基料中加入２０％铬渣,制成所要求几何形试块,按给定的烧成温度烧成试块,测量烧成块几何尺寸和烧成前后试块所含水溶样Ｃｒ（Ⅵ）值,将烧成试块置于不同条件的浸出液中进行长期浸取,根据Ｉａ的浸出数据,浸出率ＬＲ＝０．８×１０＾－７ｃｍ／ｄ,累积浸出分数ＬＦ＝１×１０＾－４ｃｍ,判断炻质砖试块中Ｃｒ（Ⅵ）的稳定程度,从而判定此处理铬渣方法的可行性。     

锆英石及锆英釉料瓷砖的放射性水平及致公众剂量

报道在正常生产情况下,用环境监测仪测定锆英石及锆英釉料瓷砖的放射性水平。锆英石的总比放射性大于7.0×10~4Bq·kg~(-1),属放射性物质;锆英釉料瓷砖的γ、β放射性污染致公众的附加年剂量当量为0.34mSv,相当于公众剂量限值的1/3。     

Effects of Amazonian flying rivers on frog biodiversity and populations in the Atlantic rainforest

Given the speed at which humans are changing the climate, species with high degrees of endemism may not have time to avoid extinction through adaptation. We investigated through teleconnection analysis the origin of rainfall that determines the phylogenetic diversity of rainforest frogs and the effects of microclimate differences in shaping the morphological traits of isolated populations (which contribute to greater phylogenetic diversity and speciation). We also investigated through teleconnection analysis how deforestation in Amazonia can affect ecosystem services that are fundamental to maintaining the climate of the Atlantic rainforest biodiversity hotspot. Seasonal winds known as flying rivers carry water vapor from Amazonia to the Atlantic Forest, and the breaking of this ecosystem service could lead Atlantic Forest species to population decline and extinction in the short term. Our results suggest that the selection of morphological traits that shape Atlantic Forest frog diversity and their population dynamics are influenced by the Amazonian flying rivers. Our results also suggest that the increases of temperature anomalies in the Atlantic Ocean due to global warming and in the Amazon forest due to deforestation are already breaking this cycle and threaten the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest hotspot.     

试论提升我国环保服务业运行机制的策略

对环保服务业及其运行机制的涵义进行了科学的界定,论述了环保服务业运行机制的合理化发展是环保服务业稳定快速发展的关键和全面建设我国"两型"社会的重要内容。结合我国环保服务业发展运行机制存在的问题,探讨了提升我国环保服务业运行机制的策略和建议。     

黄河流域近十五年生态系统服务价值变化特征及影响因素研究

黄河流域生态系统服务变化的定量评估有利于考核流域生态综合治理效果。本研究构建了基于能值的生态系统服务价值核算方法体系,核算了黄河流域2000—2015年省级及地市级尺度生态系统服务价值变化及导致变化的原因。结果表明:(1)近15年,黄河流域生态状况有明显好转,除河南和山东外,增幅主要集中在黄河流域的中上游(7%～27%),增幅最大的为甘肃;(2)黄河流域的117个地级市(地区、自治州、盟)中,有77个地级市(地区、自治州、盟)生态系统服务价值有不同增幅(0.46%～210%);(3)黄河流域"源""过程""汇"区位不同保护重点不同,要根据其所提供生态服务的能力及改善情况动态制定分区分类保护策略;(4)近15年的林地面积增加对所提供的服务提升效果明显,湿地(湖泊、沼泽地)的减少变成黄河流域上、中、下游省份服务下降的最大驱动因素。本研究能够为黄河流域生态治理及城市绿色发展提供基础性依据。