Valuing Coastal Risk with Revealed and Stated Preference Methods

Developed coastlines provide a variety of recreation opportunities to coastal residents and visitors but are also the first line of defense for oceanfront development against chronic hazards like erosion and sea level rise. In the Pacific Northwest of the United States, oceanfront homes also face an additional severe but very low frequency acute hazard: a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami. These chronic and acute coastal hazards pose a challenge for policymakers because they often create conflicting interests. This dissertation is composed of two essays on issues of acute and chronic coastal risk in Oregon. The first essay investigates the impact of information shocks about tsunami risk on coastal residents’ risk perceptions, as capitalized into property prices. We use revealed preference methods to examine the coastal Oregon housing market response to three sets of tsunami risk signals: two exogenous events, a hazard planning change, and the addition of visual cues of tsunami risk in residential neighborhoods. The potential housing market impacts identified in these analyses suggest that risk signals about a high severity but low frequency acute hazard can be salient to coastal residents. These findings suggest that Oregon policymakers and emergency managers may be able to use risk signals to induce individuals to pay attention to and prepare more for a Cascadia Subduction Zone event. In the second essay, we develop a combined revealed and stated preference survey and collect survey data from Oregon households. We use this data to estimate stated preference models and measure Oregon residents’ willingness to pay for coastal erosion management conditional on differences in shoreline armoring policy for private oceanfront landowners. Results are suggestive of significant welfare gains stemming from a coastal management plan that would provide funding for sediment management to preserve safe recreation access on developed Oregon beaches. We do not find evidence of a significant difference between how much Oregon residents are willing to pay for a policy scenario where the existing shoreline armoring policy (Goal 18) is relaxed to allow more armoring of private property and a policy scenario where the existing armoring policy is maintained in its current form. Overall, these two essays contribute new information about Oregon residents’ perceptions and preferences regarding acute and chronic coastal risk. These findings can help inform policies in both emergency and resource management

Electron-impact broadening parameters for Be II, Sr II, and Ba II spectral lines

Aims. We present results of the electron-impact broadening parameters (i.e., widths and shifts) of spectral lines in singly ionized Be II, Sr II, and Ba II ions, calculated by using our relativistic quantum mechanical methods. Methods. In these calculations, Dirac R-matrix methods were used to solve (N + 1)-electron colliding systems to obtain the required scattering matrices. The dimensionless collision strength Omega(epsilon) is calculated as a function of incident electron energies epsilon. Results. The present line-broadening parameters are required for future spectral analysis by means of state-of-the-art nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium atmospheres, which is now hampered largely by the paucity of reliable atomic and accurate line-broadening data tables. Our results for the spectral line-broadening parameters in the case of three ions obtained for a set of electron temperatures at an electron density 10(17) cm(-3) show very good agreement with other theoretical calculations, and are much closer to the available experimental measurements.Astronomy & AstrophysicsSCI(E)EI2ARTICLEnull55