The estimation of soil moisture content and actual evapotranspiration using thermal infra-red remote sensing

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Testing an Energy Balance Model for Estimating Actual Evapotranspiration Using Remotely Sensed Data

An energy-balance model is used to estimate daily evapotranspiration for 3 days for a barley field and a wheat field near Hannover, Federal Republic of Germany. The model was calibrated using once-daily estimates of surface temperatures, which may be remotely sensed. The evaporation estimates were within the 95% error bounds of independent eddy correlation estimates for the daytime periods for all three days for both sites, but the energy-balance estimates are generally higher; it is unclear which estimate is biassed. Soil moisture in the top 2 cm of soil, which may be remotely sensed, may be used to improve these evaporation estimates under partial ground cover. Sensitivity studies indicate the amount of ground data required is not excessive

Evapotranspiration and remote sensing

There are three things required for evapotranspiration to occur: (1) energy (580 cal/gm) for the change of phase of the water; (2) a source of the water, i.e., adequate soil moisture in the surface layer or in the root zone of the plant; and (3) a sink for the water, i.e., a moisture deficit in the air above the ground. Remote sensing can contribute information to the first two of these conditions by providing estimates of solar insolation, surface albedo, surface temperature, vegetation cover, and soil moisture content. In addition there have been attempts to estimate precipitation and shelter air temperature from remotely sensed data. The problem remains to develop methods for effectively using these sources of information to make large area estimates of evapotranspiration

Effect of ENSO phase on large-scale snow water equivalent distribution in a GCM

Understanding links between the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and snow would be useful for seasonal forecasting, but also for understanding natural variability and interpreting climate change predictions. Here, a 545-year run of the general circulation model HadCM3, with prescribed external forcings and fixed greenhouse gas concentrations, is used to explore the impact of ENSO on snow water equivalent (SWE) anomalies. In North America, positive ENSO events reduce the mean SWE and skew the distribution towards lower values, and vice versa during negative ENSO events. This is associated with a dipole SWE anomaly structure, with anomalies of opposite sign centered in western Canada and the central United States. In Eurasia, warm episodes lead to a more positively skewed distribution and the mean SWE is raised. Again, the opposite effect is seen during cold episodes. In Eurasia the largest anomalies are concentrated in the Himalayas. These correlations with February SWE distribution are seen to exist from the previous June-July-August (JJA) ENSO index onwards, and are weakly detected in 50-year subsections of the control run, but only a shifted North American response can be detected in the anaylsis of 40 years of ERA40 reanalysis data. The ENSO signal in SWE from the long run could still contribute to regional predictions although it would be a weak indicator onl

A nod in the wrong direction : Does nonverbal feedback affect eyewitness confidence in interviews?

Eyewitnesses can be influenced by an interviewer's behaviour and report information with inflated confidence as a result. Previous research has shown that positive feedback administered verbally can affect the confidence attributed to testimony, but the effect of non-verbal influence in interviews has been given little attention. This study investigated whether positive or negative non-verbal feedback could affect the confidence witnesses attribute to their responses. Participants witnessed staged CCTV footage of a crime scene and answered 20 questions in a structured interview, during which they were given either positive feedback (a head nod), negative feedback (a head shake) or no feedback. Those presented with positive non-verbal feedback reported inflated confidence compared with those presented with negative non-verbal feedback regardless of accuracy, and this effect was most apparent when participants reported awareness of the feedback. These results provide further insight into the effects of interviewer behaviour in investigative interviewsPeer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Estimating water flow through a hillslope using the massively parallel processor

A new two-dimensional model of water flow in a hillslope has been implemented on the Massively Parallel Processor at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Flow in the soil both in the saturated and unsaturated zones, evaporation and overland flow are all modelled, and the rainfall rates are allowed to vary spatially. Previous models of this type had always been very limited computationally. This model takes less than a minute to model all the components of the hillslope water flow for a day. The model can now be used in sensitivity studies to specify which measurements should be taken and how accurate they should be to describe such flows for environmental studies

Efficiency Costs of Meeting Industry-Distributional Constraints under Environmental Permits and Taxes

A politically realistic approach to environmental policy seems to require avoiding significant profit-losses in major pollution-related industries. The government can avoid such losses by freely allocating some emissions permits or by exempting some inframarginal emissions from a pollution tax. However, preventing profit-losses in this way involves an efficiency cost because it compels the government to forego especially efficient sources of revenue and to rely more heavily on ordinary, distortionary taxes. Using analytically and numerically solved equilibrium models, we analyze these efficiency costs. We find that when the required amount of abatement is small, the efficiency cost implied by the profits-constraint dwarfs the other efficiency costs of pollution-control. When the abatement requirement becomes more extensive, the cost of this constraint diminishes relative to the other efficiency costs. We also calculate and analyze the determinants of the gross compensation ratio' the share of pollution permits that must be freely allocated to prevent profit-losses in the targeted industries. Numerical simulations of sulfur dioxide pollution-control suggest that the Bush Administration's Clear Skies Initiative would exceed this ratio, freely allocating more permits than necessary to preserve profits.

Toward Judicial Reform

President Nixon has several times in the recent past publicly recognized a growing national attitude-the American people, as a class, are losing confidence in the ability of their governments to govern. And this unfortunate lack, or at least diminution of confidence, is nowhere more evident than in the way the average citizen views the courts of this country

Increasing Support and Collective Teacher Efficacy of Part-Time English-Language Instructors in a Japanese University

This organizational improvement plan (OIP) seeks to enhance the support and collective teacher efficacy of part-time English-language instructors in the Department of English Language and Culture (DELC) at Kei University (KU) (pseudonyms), a private university in the Kansai region of Japan. Currently, part-time and foreign part-time English-language instructors teach most of the compulsory English courses in the DELC at KU, but they receive limited institutional support and guidance, which negatively affects their ability to teach effectively and their students\u27 learning outcomes. This OIP examines the lack of support and collective teacher efficacy of part-time instructors as a problem of practice (PoP) that exists both within the organizational context of KU and the broader contextual forces of internationalization, economic globalization, and national and organizational cultures that shape the teaching and learning of English in Japanese universities. This OIP is grounded in the theoretical frameworks of social cognitive theory, the capabilities approach, and an eclectic leadership approach based on the principles of servant leadership. Drawing from the author\u27s experience as a committed part-time instructor, this OIP proposes an integrated change plan that underscores the connection between the well-being, support, and collective efficacy of instructors, addresses the PoP, and serves the needs of the broader community of students, faculty, and staff at KU. The change plan described in this OIP should be beneficial to educational leaders in Japanese universities who aspire to foster support and collective teacher efficacy among their faculty