Antenna tuning for wearable wireless sensors

When miniaturized wireless sensors are placed on or close to the human body, they can experience a significant loss inperformance due to antenna detuning, resulting in degradationof wireless performance as well as decreased battery lifetime.Several antenna tuning technologies have been proposed formobile wireless devices but devices suitable for widespread integration have yet to emerge. This paper highlights the possible advantages of antenna tuning for wearable wireless sensors and presents the design and characterization of a prototype 433MHz tuner module

A comparison of the 31 January–1 February 1953 and 5–6 December 2013 coastal flood events around the UK

A North Sea storm surge during 31 January–1 February 1953 caused Northwest Europe's most severe coastal floods in living memory. This event killed more than 2000 people on the coasts of England, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In the UK, where this study focuses, this event was a pivotal influence for flood risk management. Subsequent progress included a national tide gauge network, a storm surge forecasting and warning service, and major defense upgrades such as the Thames Barrier. Almost 60-years later, on 5–6 December 2013 Storm “Xaver” generated a surge event of similar magnitude. This paper describes a detailed comparison of these two events in the UK in terms of: (1) the meteorological conditions; (2) the observed high sea levels; and (3) the coastal flooding and impacts. The 1953 storm had a more southerly track and generated bigger waves due to the north-northwesterly onshore winds off East Anglia. The 2013 storm had a more west-to-east path from the north Atlantic to Scandinavia. Consequently, the 1953 high waters were more extreme in the southern North Sea. However, the 2013 event coincided with larger astronomical tides, resulting in a larger spatial “footprint”. The extreme sea levels impacted communities on the west, east, and south coasts, with 2800 properties flooded during the 2013 event, compared to 24,000 properties (mainly between the Humber and Thames) in 1953. The 1953 floods remain a benchmark in the UK as an event which included failed defenses, damaged property and infrastructure and loss of life. Measures taken after 1953 greatly reduced the consequences of the 5–6 December 2013 storm. Continued monitoring of extreme sea levels and their consequences is important to inform a realistic perspective on future planning and resilience

Spatial and temporal analysis of extreme sea level and storm surge events around the coastline of the UK

In this paper we analyse the spatial footprint and temporal clustering of extreme sea level and skew surge events around the UK coast over the last 100 years (1915-2014). The vast majority of the extreme sea level events are generated by moderate, rather than extreme skew surges, combined with spring astronomical high tides. We distinguish four broad categories of spatial footprints of events and the distinct storm tracks that generated them. There have been rare events when extreme levels have occurred along two unconnected coastal regions during the same storm. The events that occur in closest succession (< 4 days) typically impact different stretches of coastline. The spring/neap tidal cycle prevents successive extreme sea level events from happening within 4-8 days. Finally, the 2013/14 season was highly unusual in the context of the last 100 years from an extreme sea level perspective

A user-friendly database of coastal flooding in the United Kingdom from 1915–2014

Coastal flooding caused by extreme sea levels can be devastating, with long-lasting and diverse consequences. Historically, the UK has suffered major flooding events, and at present 2.5 million properties and £150 billion of assets are potentially exposed to coastal flooding. However, no formal system is in place to catalogue which storms and high sea level events progress to coastal flooding. Furthermore, information on the extent of flooding and associated damages is not systematically documented nationwide. Here we present a database and online tool called ‘SurgeWatch’, which provides a systematic UK-wide record of high sea level and coastal flood events over the last 100 years (1915-2014). Using records from the National Tide Gauge Network, with a dataset of exceedance probabilities and meteorological fields, SurgeWatch captures information of 96 storms during this period, the highest sea levels they produced, and the occurrence and severity of coastal flooding. The data are presented to be easily assessable and understandable to a range of users including, scientists, coastal engineers, managers and planners and concerned citizens

Tide and skew surge independence: new insights for flood risk

Storm surges are a significant hazard to coastal communities around the world, putting lives at risk and costing billions of dollars in damage. Understanding how storm surges and high tides interact is crucial for estimating extreme water levels so that we can protect coastal communities. We demonstrate that in a tidal regime the best measure of a storm surge is the skew surge, the difference between the observed and predicted high water within a tidal cycle. Based on tide gauge records spanning decades from the UK, US, Netherlands and Ireland we show that the magnitude of high water exerts no influence on the size of the most extreme skew surges. This is the first systematic proof that any storm surge can occur on any tide, which is essential for understanding worst case scenarios. The lack of surge generation dependency on water depth emphasises the dominant natural variability of weather systems in an observations-based analysis. Weak seasonal relationships between skew surges and high waters were identified at a minority of locations where long period changes to the tidal cycle interact with the storm season. Our results allow advances to be made in methods for estimating the joint probabilities of storm surges and tides

“Grey swan” storm surges pose a greater coastal flood hazard than climate change

In this paper, we show that over the next few decades, the natural variability of mid-latitude storm systems is likely to be a more important driver of coastal extreme sea levels than either mean sea level rise or climatically induced changes to storminess. Due to their episodic nature, the variability of local sea level response, and our short observational record, understanding the natural variability of storm surges is at least as important as understanding projected long-term mean sea level changes due to global warming. Using the December 2013 North Atlantic Storm Xaver as a baseline, we used a meteorological forecast modification tool to create “grey swan” events, whilst maintaining key physical properties of the storm system. Here we define “grey swan” to mean an event which is expected on the grounds of natural variability but is not within the observational record. For each of these synthesised storm events, we simulated storm tides and waves in the North Sea using hydrodynamic models that are routinely used in operational forecasting systems. The grey swan storms produced storm surges that were consistently higher than those experienced during the December 2013 event at all analysed tide gauge locations along the UK east coast. The additional storm surge elevations obtained in our simulations are comparable to high-end projected mean sea level rises for the year 2100 for the European coastline. Our results indicate strongly that mid-latitude storms, capable of generating more extreme storm surges and waves than ever observed, are likely due to natural variability. We confirmed previous observations that more extreme storm surges in semi-enclosed basins can be caused by slowing down the speed of movement of the storm, and we provide a novel explanation in terms of slower storm propagation allowing the dynamical response to approach equilibrium. We did not find any significant changes to maximum wave heights at the coast, with changes largely confined to deeper water. Many other regions of the world experience storm surges driven by mid-latitude weather systems. Our approach could therefore be adopted more widely to identify physically plausible, low probability, potentially catastrophic coastal flood events and to assist with major incident planning

Forum: Critical Decision Dates for Drought Management in Centraland Northern Great Plains Rangeland

Ranchers and other land managers of central and northern Great Plains rangelands face recurrent droughts that negatively influence economic returns and environmental resources for ranching enterprises. Accurately estimating annual forage production and initiating drought decision-making actions proactively early in the growing season are both critical to minimize financial losses and degradation to rangeland soil and plant resources. Long-term forage production data sets from Alberta, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming demonstrated that precipitation in April, May, and June (or some combination of these months) robustly predict annual forage production. Growth curves from clipping experiments and ecological site descriptions (ESDs) indicate that maximum monthly forage growth rates occur 1 mo after the best spring month (April to June) precipitation prediction variable. Key for rangeland managers is that the probability of receiving sufficient precipitation after 1 July to compensate for earlier spring precipitation deficits is extremely low. The complexity of human dimensions of drought decision-making necessitates that forage prediction tools account for uncertainty in matching animal demand to forage availability, and that continued advancements in remote sensing applications address both spatial and temporal relationships in forage production to inform critical decision dates for drought management in these rangeland ecosystems

Natural hazards in Australia : sea level and coastal extremes

The Australian coastal zone encompasses tropical, sub- and extra-tropical climates and accommodates about 80 % of Australia’s population. Sea level extremes and their physical impacts in the coastal zone arise from a complex set of atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial processes that interact on a range of spatial and temporal scales and will be modified by a changing climate, including sea level rise. This review details significant progress over recent years in understanding the causes of past and projections of future changes in sea level and coastal extremes, yet a number of research questions, knowledge gaps and challenges remain. These include efforts to improve knowledge on past sea level extremes, integrate a wider range of processes in projections of future changes to sea level extremes, and focus efforts on understanding long-term coastline response from the combination of contributing factors

Unraveling the H2 promotional effect on the Palladium catalysed CO oxidation using a combination of temporally and spatially resolved investigations

The promotional effect of H2 on the oxidation of CO is of topical interest and there is debate over whether this promotion is due to either thermal or chemical effects. As yet there is no definitive consensus in the literature. Combining spatially resolved mass spectrometry and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) we observe a specific environment of the active catalyst during CO oxidation, having the same specific local coordination of the Pd in both the absence and presence of H2. In combination with Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP), performed under isothermal conditions, a mechanistic insight into the promotional effect of H2 was found, providing clear evidence of non-thermal effects in the hydrogen promoted of oxidation of carbon monoxide. We have identified that H2 promotes the Langmuir Hinshelwood mechanism and we propose this is linked to the increased interaction of O with the Pd surface in the presence of H2. This combination of spatially resolved MS and XAS and TAP studies has provided previously unobserved insights into the nature of this promotional effect

Lymphatic network drainage resolves cerebral edema and facilitates recovery from experimental cerebral malaria.

While brain swelling, associated with fluid accumulation, is a known feature of pediatric cerebral malaria (CM), how fluid and macromolecules are drained from the brain during recovery from CM is unknown. Using the experimental CM (ECM) model, we show that fluid accumulation in the brain during CM is driven by vasogenic edema and not by perivascular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) influx. We identify that fluid and molecules are removed from the brain extremely quickly in mice with ECM to the deep cervical lymph nodes (dcLNs), predominantly through basal routes and across the cribriform plate and the nasal lymphatics. In agreement, we demonstrate that ligation of the afferent lymphatic vessels draining to the dcLNs significantly impairs fluid drainage from the brain and lowers anti-malarial drug recovery from the ECM syndrome. Collectively, our results provide insight into the pathways that coordinate recovery from CM