Groundwater animals

Groundwater animals are adapted to live in environments with no light and limited nutrients, They can provide insights into fundamental questions of evolution, ecology and biodiversity. They also have an important role to play in informing the reconstruction of past changes in geomorphology and climate, and can be used for characterising aquifers. The BGS is undertaking a systematic survey of selected areas and lithologies in the UK where groundwater animals have not been investigated. This is important because little is known about groundwater ecosystems in the UK despite the unique contribution to biodiversity made by these animals. Groundwater organisms are also thought to provide ecosystem services by means of their role in nutrient cycling and natural remediation of pollutants in the subsurface. They may also be useful indicators of human impacts on groundwaters

Waiting Tolerance: Ramp Delay vs. Freeway Congestion

Waiting tolerance at ramp meters and travel time on the freewaywere measured using a computer administered stated preference (CASP) survey and a virtual experience stated preference (VESP) methodemploying a driving simulator.The selections varied in the number of minutes waiting at a ramp meter with vehicle speed once on the freeway. The subjects ranked the selections in order of preference. The results were statistically analyzed using a binary logit model controlling for demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, daily travel time, and personality scores.The results by the CASP method displayed a preference for freeway congestion to ramp delay, but opposite results were obtained by the VESP method. A number of reasons are posited to explain the difference, but the results indicate that method of stated preference data collection can significantly affect conclusions drawn.Ramp meters; Personality; Stated preference; Driving simulator; Travel time

Weighting Waiting: Evaluating the Perception of In-Vehicle Travel Time Under Moving and Stopped Conditions

This paper describes experiments comparing traditional computer administered stated preference with virtual experience stated preference to ascertain how people value stopped delay compared with stop-and- go or freeflow traffic. The virtual experience stated preference experiments were conducted using a wrap around driving simulator. The two methods produced two different results, with the traditional computer assisted stated preference suggesting that ramp delay is 1.6 Ð 1.7 times more onerous than freeway time, while the driving simulator based virtual experience stated preference suggested that freeway delay is more onerous than ramp delay. Several reasons are hypothesized to explain the differences, including recency, simultaneous versus sequential comparison, awareness of public opinion, the intensity of the stop-and-go traffic, and the fact that driving in the real-world is a goal directed activity. However without further research, which, if any, of these will eventually prove to be the reason is unclear. What is clear is that a comparison of the computer administered stated preference with virtual experience stated preference produces different results, even though both procedures strive to find the same answers in nominally identical sets of conditions. Because people experience the world subjectively, and make decisions based on those subjective experiences, future research should be aimed at better understanding the differences between these subjective methodologies.transportation, travel behavior, driving simulator, ramp meters

Assessing regional variations in groundwater droughts

There is a need for a better understanding of the heterogeneous spatio-temporal response of aquifers to major meteorological droughts. Using a case study from Lincolnshire, UK, this poster describes a method to analyse groundwater level hydrographs and to assess variations in the spatio-temporal response of groundwater systems to meteorological droughts at the regional scale. The methods are equally applicable at larger scales

Trade studies for nuclear space power systems

As human visions of space applications expand and as we probe further out into the universe, our needs for power will also expand, and missions will evolve which are enabled by nuclear power. A broad spectrum of missions which are enhanced or enabled by nuclear power sources have been defined. These include Earth orbital platforms, deep space platforms, planetary exploration, and terrestrial resource exploration. The recently proposed Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) to the Moon and Mars has more clearly defined these missions and their power requirements. Presented here are results of recent studies of radioisotope and nuclear reactor energy sources, combined with various energy conversion devices for Earth orbital applications, SEI lunar/Mars rovers, surface power, and planetary exploration

Evidence for change in the nature of groundwater drought in the UK since 1890

Groundwater is an important source of water for public supply, agricultural irrigation, and industry, as well as sustaining ecological flows to rivers, and it can be affected by drought. Groundwater droughts are characterised by lowered groundwater levels, reduced yields from boreholes, reduced baseflow and shortening of ephemeral streams. Episodes of historic drought are commonly used to benchmark and/or model future groundwater resources and for water resource management and drought planning purposes. Consequently, in order to prepare more effectively for future groundwater droughts, there is a need to better understand groundwater droughts from the recent past and to identify if and how features of groundwater droughts may have changed with time. Here we present the results of a preliminary analysis of the Standardised Groundwater level Index (SGI) for the UKs two longest groundwater level time series from Chilgrove House, Sussex, and Dalton Holme, Yorkshire (top right), to investigate if and how groundwater droughts have changed since the 1890s

Taking a deeper look : revisiting our understanding of deep groundwater systems

Improved identification and protection of fresh groundwater resources is important in an increasingly water stressed world. Total dissolved solids (TDS) in groundwater can be used to better understand variations in the quality of deep groundwater systems. Here ‘deep groundwater’ refers to an interval below the current depth of groundwater exploitation. Could this be used in the future for additional resources

Evidence for changes in historic and future groundwater levels in the UK

We examine the evidence for climate-change impacts on groundwater levels provided by studies of the historical observational record, and future climate-change impact modelling. To date no evidence has been found for systematic changes in groundwater drought frequency or intensity in the UK, but some evidence of multi-annual to decadal coherence of groundwater levels and large-scale climate indices has been found, which should be considered when trying to identify any trends. We analyse trends in long groundwater level time-series monitored in seven observation boreholes in the Chalk aquifer, and identify statistically significant declines at four of these sites, but do not attempt to attribute these to a change in a stimulus. The evidence for the impacts of future climate change on UK groundwater recharge and levels is limited. The number of studies that have been undertaken is small and different approaches have been adopted to quantify impacts. Furthermore, these studies have generally focused on relatively small regions and reported local findings. Consequently, it has been difficult to compare them between locations. We undertake some additional analysis of the probabilistic outputs of the one recent impact study that has produced coherent multi-site projections of changes in groundwater levels. These results suggest reductions in annual and average summer levels, and increases in average winter levels, by the 2050s under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario, at most of the sites modelled, when expressed by the median of the ensemble of simulations. It is concluded, however, that local hydrogeological conditions can be an important control on the simulated response to a future climate projection

Gas adsorption studies and microcalorimetry on some iron oxides

A volumetric gas adsorption apparatus uas built and calibrated with two surface area standards. The nitrogen adsorption and desorption isotherms were determined for five iron oxides and the specific surface area was calculated. Four of the oxides were found to be mesoporous. [alpha]s-plots were constructed using the non-porous sample (haematite) as the reference. An attempt was made to measure the effectiveness of an organic pretreatment on two of the porous samples by comparing their surface areas and pore size distributions before and after treatment. A commercial flow microcalorimeter was used to investigate the adsorption and desorption of 1-butanol and 1,2-epoxybutane on one of the porous samples and haematite. For haematite the adsorption of both 1-butanol and 1,2-epoxybutane were reversible. The surface area of both samples estimated from microcalorimetry were smaller than their measured specific surface areas, probably because of water precoverage. The heat of 1-butanol adsorption on sample 'A' was a function of concentration, the number of previous adsorption-desorption cycles and the volume of solvent passed over the surface prior to the adsorption. The adsorption of 1,2-epoxybutane on sample 'A' was substantially irreversible. Dilution effects became important for both samples for concentrations above ca. 1.0 wt.%. A speculative water vapour adsorption experiment was performed using the microcalorimeter. Comparisons were made of the water adsorption-desorption properties of all the samples. The observed effects could not be simply explained. The heats and rates of water adsorption and desorption increased with increasing sample temperature.<p

Shame campaigns and environmental justice: corporate shaming as activist strategy

Shame campaigns aim to change industry practices by targeting the reputational value of individual firms. They occupy a contested political space from which they leverage existing inequalities in the market to redress political inequalities on the ground. Two such campaigns – the No Dirty Gold and Global Finance campaigns – are assessed based upon their ability to overcome the limitations of relying on markets for leverage and selectively targeting firms directly. While activists connect companies’ right to profit with social and environmental responsibilities, they do not directly tackle over-consumption and have done little work to reduce economic inequality. However, campaigners work to rectify existing political inequalities through their efforts to promote transparency, supply educational information, and facilitate inclusive debate amongst stakeholders. While shame campaigns reflect many of the inherent contradictions of global civil society, activists manage to challenge unwanted industry activities by circumventing the state institutions that facilitate their imposition