1,505 research outputs found
Vegetation Change Detection in Southern California Solar Energy Developments
Change detection from satellite sensor vegetation indices (VIs) presents an opportunity to monitor trends and disturbances at the regional scale for southern California's Mojave and Lower Colorado Deserts. Renewable energy sites are being constructed in this region on public lands under the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). We have developed a framework for VI change detection over the past two decades, with initial focus on three sites, Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and a proximal group of Development Focus Areas (DFAs), for comparison between protected and development-targeted lands. Three Terra MODIS VIs (normalized difference [NDVI], enhanced [EVI], soil-adjusted [SAVI]) were evaluated in the Breaks for Additive Season and Trend (BFAST) setting for the regional MODIS 250-m resolution grid to estimate significant time series shifts (breakpoints) from February 2000 to May 2018. All three VIs tended to detect the maximum number of breakpoints at a grid location, but cross-correlations with precipitation and comparison with timing of wildfire burns near the study sites for breakpoint density (proportion of area with a breakpoint) showed that NDVI had the strongest response to these major disturbances, supporting its use for subsequent analysis. Time series of NDVI breakpoint change densities for individual solar energy sites did not have a consistent vegetation response following construction. Bootstrapping showed that the DFAs had significantly larger kurtosis and variance in the positive NDVI breakpoint distribution than did the protected sites, but there was no significant difference in the negative distribution for all three sites. The inconsistent post-construction NDVI signal and the large number of breakpoints overall suggested that the largest changes in vegetation cover density were tied to seasonal precipitation amounts. The distributional results indicated that existing site-specific conditions were the main control on VI responses, given the history of human disturbances in the DFAs. Although the results do not support persistent VI disturbances resulting from recent solar energy development, continued monitoring and examination of other ecological variables and surface temperatures will be vital to the long-term protection of this desert environment
Is Brazil really a catholic country? What opinions about abortion, sex between individuals who are not married to each other, and homosexuality say about the meaning of catholicism in three Brazilian cities
The idea of being a Catholic country is quite widespread throughout the nation. What does it mean to be Catholic in Brazil? Do Catholics follow the Catholic Doctrine? The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between religion and religious involvement (measured by religious affiliation and service attendance) and opinions about abortion, sex between individuals who are not married to each other, and homosexuality in São Paulo, Porto Alegre, and Recife. Data come from the survey “Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals,” carried out in 2006. Results suggest that Brazilian Catholics are a very heterogeneous group with respect to opinions about abortion and sex between individuals who are not married to each other. In addition, service attendance among Catholics and those opinions are strongly correlated, except for the case of homosexuality, a topic which Catholics tend to have the same opinions about, irrespective of their religious involvement. Committed Protestants are, by far and away, the most conservative group.Brazil
Terrestrial ecosystem production: A process model based on global satellite and surface data
This paper presents a modeling approach aimed at seasonal resolution of global climatic and edaphic controls on patterns of terrestrial ecosystem production and soil microbial respiration. We use satellite imagery (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project solar radiation), along with historical climate (monthly temperature and precipitation) and soil attributes (texture, C and N contents) from global (1°) data sets as model inputs. The Carnegie‐Ames‐Stanford approach (CASA) Biosphere model runs on a monthly time interval to simulate seasonal patterns in net plant carbon fixation, biomass and nutrient allocation, litterfall, soil nitrogen mineralization, and microbial CO2 production. The model estimate of global terrestrial net primary production is 48 Pg C yr^(−1) with a maximum light use efficiency of 0.39 g C MJ^(−1) PAR. Over 70% of terrestrial net production takes place between 30°N and 30°S latitude. Steady state pools of standing litter represent global storage of around 174 Pg C (94 and 80 Pg C in nonwoody and woody pools, respectively), whereas the pool of soil C in the top 0.3 m that is turning over on decadal time scales comprises 300 Pg C. Seasonal variations in atmospheric CO_2 concentrations from three stations in the Geophysical Monitoring for Climate Change Flask Sampling Network correlate significantly with estimated net ecosystem production values averaged over 50°–80° N, 10°–30° N, and 0°–10° N
Spindown of massive rotating stars
Models of rapidly rotating massive stars at low metallicities show
significantly different evolution and higher metal yields compared to
non-rotating stars. We estimate the spin-down time-scale of rapid rotating
non-convective stars supporting an alpha-Omega dynamo. The magnetic dynamo
gives rise to mass loss in a magnetically controlled stellar wind and hence
stellar spin down owing to loss of angular momentum. The dynamo is maintained
by strong horizontal rotation-driven turbulence which dominates over the Parker
instability. We calculate the spin-down time-scale and find that it could be
relatively short, a small fraction of the main-sequence lifetime. The spin-down
time-scale decreases dramatically for higher surface rotations suggesting that
rapid rotators may only exhibit such high surface velocities for a short time,
only a small fraction of their main-sequence lifetime.Comment: Accepted by MNRA
Towards a unified model of stellar rotation II: Model-dependent characteristics of stellar populations
Rotation has a number of important effects on the evolution of stars. Apart
from structural changes because of the centrifugal force, turbulent mixing and
meridional circulation caused by rotation can dramatically affect a star's
chemical evolution. This leads to changes in the surface temperature and
luminosity as well as modifying its lifetime. Observationally rotation
decreases the surface gravity, causes enhanced mass loss and leads to surface
abundance anomalies of various chemical isotopes. The replication of these
physical effects with simple stellar evolution models is very difficult and has
resulted in the use of numerous different formulations to describe the physics.
Using stellar evolution calculations based on several physical models we
discuss the features of the resulting simulated stellar populations which can
help to distinguish between the models.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Comparison of boreal ecosystem model sensitivity to variability in climate and forest site parameters
Ecosystem models are useful tools for evaluating environmental controls on carbon and water cycles under past or future conditions. In this paper we compare annual carbon and water fluxes from nine boreal spruce forest ecosystem models in a series of sensitivity simulations. For each comparison, a single climate driver or forest site parameter was altered in a separate sensitivity run. Driver and parameter changes were prescribed principally to be large enough to identify and isolate any major differences in model responses, while also remaining within the range of variability that the boreal forest biome may be exposed to over a time period of several decades. The models simulated plant production, autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration, and evapotranspiration (ET) for a black spruce site in the boreal forest of central Canada (56°N). Results revealed that there were common model responses in gross primary production, plant respiration, and ET fluxes to prescribed changes in air temperature or surface irradiance and to decreased precipitation amounts. The models were also similar in their responses to variations in canopy leaf area, leaf nitrogen content, and surface organic layer thickness. The models had different sensitivities to certain parameters, namely the net primary production response to increased CO2 levels, and the response of soil microbial respiration to precipitation inputs and soil wetness. These differences can be explained by the type (or absence) of photosynthesis-CO2 response curves in the models and by response algorithms of litter and humus decomposition to drying effects in organic soils of the boreal spruce ecosystem. Differences in the couplings of photosynthesis and soil respiration to nitrogen availability may also explain divergent model responses. Sensitivity comparisons imply that past conditions of the ecosystem represented in the models\u27 initial standing wood and soil carbon pools, including historical climate patterns and the time since the last major disturbance, can be as important as potential climatic changes to prediction of the annual ecosystem carbon balance in this boreal spruce forest
The origin of high magnetic fields in white dwarfs
The lack of evidence for Zeeman splitting of the hydrogen lines in the spectra of the 1,253 close but detached binary systems consisting of a white dwarf and a nondegenerate star, a sample that includes the pre-Cataclysmic Variables, identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey indicates that there are no identifiable progenitors for the Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (MCVs), even though these comprise some 25per cent of all Cataclysmic Variables (CVs). Indeed, all high-field white dwarfs appear to be either single stars or components of AM Her systems. This suggests that all such white dwarfs have a binary origin. We resolve this dilemma by postulating that the 106-108G magnetic fields that are observed in the white dwarfs in the MCVs are generated in the common envelope phase of pre-CV evolution in systems which almost merge. Systems that merge in the common envelope phase yield a population of isolated magnetic white dwarfs with fields of 106-109G that make up the entire single magnetic white dwarf population
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Boreal forest CO2 exchange and evapotranspiration predicted by nine ecosystem process models: Intermodel comparisons and relationships to field measurements
Nine ecosystem process models were used to predict CO2 and water vapor exchanges by a 150-year-old black spruce forest in central Canada during 1994–1996 to evaluate and improve the models. Three models had hourly time steps, five had daily time steps, and one had monthly time steps. Model input included site ecosystem characteristics and meteorology. Model predictions were compared to eddy covariance (EC) measurements of whole-ecosystem CO2exchange and evapotranspiration, to chamber measurements of nighttime moss-surface CO2release, and to ground-based estimates of annual gross primary production, net primary production, net ecosystem production (NEP), plant respiration, and decomposition. Model-model differences were apparent for all variables. Model-measurement agreement was good in some cases but poor in others. Modeled annual NEP ranged from −11 g C m−2 (weak CO2source) to 85 g C m−2 (moderate CO2 sink). The models generally predicted greater annual CO2sink activity than measured by EC, a discrepancy consistent with the fact that model parameterizations represented the more productive fraction of the EC tower “footprint.” At hourly to monthly timescales, predictions bracketed EC measurements so median predictions were similar to measurements, but there were quantitatively important model-measurement discrepancies found for all models at subannual timescales. For these models and input data, hourly time steps (and greater complexity) compared to daily time steps tended to improve model-measurement agreement for daily scale CO2 exchange and evapotranspiration (as judged by root-mean-squared error). Model time step and complexity played only small roles in monthly to annual predictions
Stellar evolution of massive stars with a radiative alpha-omega dynamo
Models of rotationally-driven dynamos in stellar radiative zones have
suggested that magnetohydrodynamic transport of angular momentum and chemical
composition can dominate over the otherwise purely hydrodynamic processes. A
proper consideration of the interaction between rotation and magnetic fields is
therefore essential. Previous studies have focused on a magnetic model where
the magnetic field strength is derived as a function of the stellar structure
and angular momentum distribution. We have adapted our one-dimensional stellar
rotation code, RoSE, to model the poloidal and toroidal magnetic field
strengths with a pair of time-dependent advection-diffusion equations coupled
to the equations for the evolution of the angular momentum distribution and
stellar structure. This produces a much more complete, though still reasonably
simple, model for the magnetic field evolution. Our model reproduces well
observed surface nitrogen enrichment of massive stars in the Large Magellanic
Cloud. In particular it reproduces a population of slowly-rotating
nitrogen-enriched stars that cannot be explained by rotational mixing alone
alongside the traditional rotationlly-enriched stars. The model further
predicts a strong mass-dependency for the dynamo-driven field. Above a
threshold mass, the strength of the magnetic dynamo decreases abruptly and so
we predict that more massive stars are much less likely to support a
dynamo-driven field than less massive stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 15 pages, 13 figure
Exploring methods the for selection and integration of stakeholder views in the development of core outcome sets: a case study in reconstructive breast surgery
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