Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

California Groundwater Management, Science-Policy Interfaces, And The Legacies Of Artificial Legal Distinctions, David Owen, Alida Cantor, Nell Green Nylen, Thomas Harter, Michael Kiparsky

Nell Green Nylen

California water law has traditionally treated groundwater and surface water as separate resources. The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) broke with this tradition by requiring groundwater managers to avoid significant and unreasonable adverse impacts to beneficial uses of surface water. This paper considers the trajectory of this partial integration of science, law, and resource management policy. Drawing on legal analysis and participatory workshops with subject area experts, we describe the challenges of reconciling the separate legal systems that grew out of an artificial legal distinction between different aspects of the same resource.

Our analysis offers two main contributions. First, …

Reanalysis Data Underestimate Significant Changes In Growing Season Weather In Kazakhstan, C. K. Wright, K. M. De Beurs, Z. K. Akhmadiyeva, P. Y. Groisman, G. M. Henebry

Geoffrey Henebry

We present time series analyses of recently compiled climate station data which allowed us to assess contemporary trends in growing season weather across Kazakhstan as drivers of a significant decline in growing season normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) recently observed by satellite remote sensing across much of Central Asia. We used a robust nonparametric time series analysis method, the seasonal Kendall trend test to analyze georeferenced time series of accumulated growing season precipitation (APPT) and accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD). Over the period 2000–2006 we found geographically extensive, statistically significant (p < 0.05) decreasing trends in APPT and increasing trends in AGDD. The temperature trends were especially apparent during the warm season and coincided with precipitation decreases in northwest Kazakhstan, indicating that pervasive drought conditions and higher temperature excursions were the likely drivers of NDVI declines observed in Kazakhstan over the same period. We also compared the APPT and AGDD trends at individual stations with results from trend analysis of gridded monthly precipitation data from the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) Full Data Reanalysis v4 and gridded daily near surface air temperature from the National Centers for Climate Prediction Reanalysis v2 (NCEP R2). We found substantial deviation between the station and the reanalysis trends, suggesting that GPCC and NCEP data substantially underestimate the geographic extent of recent drought in Kazakhstan. Although gridded climate products offer many advantages in ease of use and complete coverage, our findings for Kazakhstan should serve as a caveat against uncritical use of GPCC and NCEP reanalysis data and demonstrate the importance of compiling and standardizing daily climate data from data-sparse regions like Central Asia.

Remote Sensing-Based Time Series Models For Malaria Early Warning In The Highlands Of Ethiopia, A. Midekisa, G. Senay, G. M. Henebry, P. Semuniguse, M. C. Wimberly

Geoffrey Henebry

Background

Malaria is one of the leading public health problems in most of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. Almost all demographic groups are at risk of malaria because of seasonal and unstable transmission of the disease. Therefore, there is a need to develop malaria early-warning systems to enhance public health decision making for control and prevention of malaria epidemics. Data from orbiting earth-observing sensors can monitor environmental risk factors that trigger malaria epidemics. Remotely sensed environmental indicators were used to examine the influences of climatic and environmental variability on temporal patterns of malaria cases in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. …

Assessing The Impacts Of Climate And Land Use And Land Cover Change On The Freshwater Availability In The Brahmaputra River Basin, M. S. Pervez, G. M. Henebry

Geoffrey Henebry

Study Region: Brahmaputra River basin in South Asia.

Study Focus: The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to evaluate sensitivities and patterns in freshwater availability due to projected climate and land use changes in the Brahmaputra basin. The daily observed discharge at Bahadurabad station in Bangladesh was used to calibrate and validate the model and analyze uncertainties with a sequential uncertainty fitting algorithm. The sensitivities and impacts of projected climate and land use changes on basin hydrological components were simulated for the A1B and A2 scenarios and analyzed relative to a baseline scenario of 1988–2004.

New hydrological insights for …

Bringing Football Back To Los Angeles, Gabriel Leiner

Gabriel Leiner

Identifying a suitable parcel for a large scale professional football stadium in the greater Los Angeles, CA area, which does not conflict with current uses, environmental protection codes, or airspace rights, and also has adequate transportation access and nearby populated neighborhoods.

Empowering Young Children: Multi-Method Exploration Of Young Children’S Preference For Natural Or Manufactured Elements In Outdoor Preschool Settings, Zahra Zamani

Zahra Zamani

When designing play environments for children, it is critical to understand children’s accounts of their experiences rather than making inferences based on observations or parental report. However, limited data is available on the views of young children. Further, few studies have focused on understanding young children’s perspective on enjoyable cognitive play opportunities via different elements in outdoor settings. Emphasizing on the value of hearing children’s voices, this study combined drawings, photo preferences, and interview methods to understand the perspectives of 22 four- to five-year-old children. These children were enrolled in a preschool with a manufactured, mixed, and natural outdoor play …

Progress Made With Early Warning Systems In Australia Since 2005, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

No abstract provided.

Sebkhet Karkura: An Example Of A Semi-Arid Mediterranean Climate Wetland Rich In Biotic Sediments;, Mansour M. Elbabour, Esam O. Abdulsamad

Mansour M Elbabour

Habitat wetlands in Libya may be grouped into several distinct varieties, according to climate, water supply, soils, and biotic diversity. They include coastal Sabkhas (salt marshes), karst lakes, Wadi estuaries, below sea-level desert lakes, and balat flats (playas) where the soil is saturated part of some rainy seasons forming a kind of ephemeral, shallow lakes in pre-desert areas. The most prominent, however, are the extensive coastal salt marshes. These have either organic or inorganic soils, or both, depending on their location and climate conditions. Soils common to most coastal wetlands are composed largely of inorganic material in the form of …

Association Of Children's Perceived Access And Sense Of Affinity And Stewardship Towards Nature Within Tehran's Schoolyards., Zahra Zamani

Zahra Zamani

Interacting with natural environments during childhood can impact children’s mental and physical well being. Comprehending children’s environmental orientation is a significant topic as their chance for contact with nature is decreasing. In this research, natural environments are considered as spaces that incorporate a variety of trees and vegetation that are free of human control, or part of human’s manipulation (such as in zoo, park, gardens, etc.). However, urbanized conditions and lifestyles have limited children’s daily contact opportunities with natural environments. This disconnection with nature is defined as “natural deficit disorder” (Louv, 2005), which can impact children’s knowledge, environmental orientation and …