Climate Change, Regulatory Fragmentation, and Water Triage

Viewed from a watershed perspective, we are unconsciously sacrificing many marine ecosystems because upstream fresh water is a regulatorily fragmented resource. That is, water is subject to multiple assertions of regulatory authority and to multiple types of use-right claims that those authorities regulate. As freshwater supplies become increasingly unequal to the task of meeting the multiple demands for both consumptive and in situ use, and as consumptive and in situ uses of water come increasingly into irreconcilable conflict, the various regulatory schemes governing water use have also increasingly come into legal conflict. These courtroom battles have revealed many tensions, overlaps, and gaps in the overall governance of water as a natural resource. The ecological effects of this regulatory fragmentation are also becoming obvious, particularly when downstream marine ecosystems are considered. Such conflicts in water management are only likely to increase as climate change alters the expected availability of water in many areas of the country. In particular, in those regions where climate change reduces water supplies, competition for water resources in general, and conflicts between consumptive and in situ users in particular, will increase. As such, climate change is likely to underscore two significant weaknesses of the current regulatory fragmentation of water resources that the nation should address: (1) the lack of any comprehensive public debate that acknowledges and weighs the cross-jurisdictional tradeoffs among water uses that insufficient supply makes necessary; and (2) the general failure of freshwater regulation, particularly consumptive use regulation, to acknowledge watersheds\u27 end of the line --the oceans. This Article focuses primarily on the second weakness of current water resource management. Specifically, it argues that marine ecosystems have often been the largely unnoticed casualties of water\u27s regulatory fragmentation but that these ecosystems are nevertheless too valuable to continue to be left unconsidered in freshwater regulation. This Article also argues that considering marine ecosystems could provide output- focused, ecosystem-based regulatory goals and a basis for coordinating and, when necessary because of water shortage, prioritizing regulatory choices for fresh water. Moreover, by adding weight to existing arguments for leaving water in situ and highlighting less obvious sensitivities to water pollution, marine ecosystem output goals could suggest both regulatory adjustments to inputs and more comprehensive structural reforms that would better protect the entire watershed-including the human health that depends upon the health of that watershed

Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations on Air, Sea, Land

Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations On Air, Sea, Land is our fourth textbook in a series covering the world of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (CUAS). (Nichols R. K., 2018) (Nichols R. K., et al., 2019) (Nichols R. , et al., 2020)The authors have expanded their purview beyond UAS / CUAS systems. Our title shows our concern for growth and unique cyber security unmanned vehicle technology and operations for unmanned vehicles in all theaters: Air, Sea and Land – especially maritime cybersecurity and China proliferation issues. Topics include: Information Advances, Remote ID, and Extreme Persistence ISR; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles & How They Can Augment Mesonet Weather Tower Data Collection; Tour de Drones for the Discerning Palate; Underwater Autonomous Navigation & other UUV Advances; Autonomous Maritime Asymmetric Systems; UUV Integrated Autonomous Missions & Drone Management; Principles of Naval Architecture Applied to UUV’s; Unmanned Logistics Operating Safely and Efficiently Across Multiple Domains; Chinese Advances in Stealth UAV Penetration Path Planning in Combat Environment; UAS, the Fourth Amendment and Privacy; UV & Disinformation / Misinformation Channels; Chinese UAS Proliferation along New Silk Road Sea / Land Routes; Automaton, AI, Law, Ethics, Crossing the Machine – Human Barrier and Maritime Cybersecurity.Unmanned Vehicle Systems are an integral part of the US national critical infrastructure The authors have endeavored to bring a breadth and quality of information to the reader that is unparalleled in the unclassified sphere. Unmanned Vehicle (UV) Systems & Operations On Air, Sea, Land discusses state-of-the-art technology / issues facing U.S. UV system researchers / designers / manufacturers / testers. We trust our newest look at Unmanned Vehicles in Air, Sea, and Land will enrich our students and readers understanding of the purview of this wonderful technology we call UV.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1035/thumbnail.jp

Identifying historic storm surges and calculating storm surge return periods for the Gulf of Mexico coast

Tropical cyclone-generated storm surges inflict natural disasters that are among the most catastrophic globally. The surges observed along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are among the highest in the world, second only to the Bay of Bengal. Storm surge activity along the U.S. Gulf Coast remains poorly understood, however, in part, due to the absence of credible research that accurately depicts the maximum height and location of historic surge events. This research addresses this gap in the scientific literature by creating a database of storm surge observations along the Gulf Coast between the years 1880 to 2009. A total of 53 sources were utilized to construct this database, including 21 government documents, 16 books and online publications, and more than 3,000 pages of newspaper from 16 daily periodicals. The database identifies 193 surge events ¡Ý 1.22 meters, nine of which exceed five meters. Hurricane Katrina is the largest magnitude event in the dataset, at 8.47 meters. Spatial analysis reveals enhanced surge activity along the central and western Gulf Coast, as well as the Florida Keys. Time series analyses reveal surge frequencies and magnitudes generally coincide with Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation phases. This research also tested the correlation between surge activity and four climate teleconnections- the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and solar activity. The SOI correlated the highest, followed by the NAO. Return periods associated with extreme surge levels were calculated using four quantile estimation methods- the Gumbel and Beta-P distribution methods, and the Huff-Angel and Southern Regional Climate Center (SRCC) linear regression methods. The SRCC method produced the line of best fit, estimating a 100-year basin-wide surge level of 8.1 meters, and a 2-year basin-wide return period of 2.75 meters

Volume II Acquisition Research Creating Synergy for Informed Change, Thursday 19th Annual Acquisition Research Proceedings

ProceedingsApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited