Ecology and Valuation: Big Changes Needed

Ecological Economics has developed as a “transdisciplinary science,” but it has not taken significant steps toward a truly integrated process of evaluating anthropogenic ecological change. The emerging dominance within ecological economics of the movement to monetize “ecological services,” when combined with the already well-entrenched dominance of contingent pricing as a means to evaluate impacts on amenities, has created a “monistic” approach to valuation studies. It is argued that this monistic approach to evaluating anthropogenic impacts is inconsistent with a sophisticated conception of ecology as a complex science that rests on shifting metaphors. An alternative, pluralistic and iterative approach to valuation of anthropogenic ecological change is proposed

Beyond Value Neutrality: An Alternative to Monetary Monism in Ecological Economics

Ecological Economics has developed as a "transdisciplinary science," but it has not taken significant steps toward a truly integrated process of evaluating anthropogenic ecological change. The emerging dominance within ecological economics of the movement to monetize "ecological services," when combined with the already well-entrenched dominance of contingent pricing as a means to evaluate impacts on amenities, has created a "monistic" approach to valuation studies. It is argued that this monistic approach to evaluating anthropogenic impacts is inconsistent with a sophisticated conception of ecology as a complex science that rests on shifting metaphors. An alternative, pluralistic and iterative approach to valuation of anthropogenic ecological change is propose

Models as Languages: How Can Scientific Modeling Improve Environmental Policy Process?

While scientific models are often thought of as "descriptive" and as mainly designed to generate predictions, in fact scientific models can be constructed for many and varied purposes. Like formal languages, scientific models are conventional representations designed for better understanding and communication. Just as languages have many uses, only some of them to describe and predict the world, models can be constructed to fulfill many purposes. One key--and growing--use of models is to improve communication among stakeholders in contentious and public environmental management processes. Jan Rotmans, Director of the International Center for Integrative Studies, Maastricht, Netherlands, has proposed that we distinguish between "supply" and "demand" modeling. The former involves cutting-edge use of disciplinary or multi-disciplinary tools to develop state-of-the-art models, while the latter models are developed specifically to respond to particular, real-world problems in environmental management. It will be argued that the development of useful "demand" models will require a significant re-thinking of the criteria by which we form and judge scientific models. Especially, it will require that we reconsider important aspects of the way scientists participate in public processes to manage the environment. These ideas will be illustrated by reference to research on modeling and management of Lake Lanier (a large, multipurpose impoundment of the Chattahoochee River North of Atlanta), undertaken by the presenter and colleagues from Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia

A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of High Emitter Non-Compliance and its Impact on Vehicular Tailpipe Emissions in Atlanta, 1997-2001

A quasi-experimental evaluation is employed to assess the compliance behavior of high emitters in response to Atlanta’s Inspection and Maintenance program between 1997 and 2001 and to predict the impact of compliance behavior on vehicular tailpipe emissions of ozone precursors, such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide. Remote sensing data of a sample of approximately 0.8 million observations of on-road vehicles are matched with IM program data and vehicle registration data to identify the compliant and non-compliant high emitters. A mixed-pool time-series regression analysis is carried out to predict changes in the vehicular tailpipe emissions due to the compliance and non-compliance of the high emitters in the Atlanta airshed

Contributions to the Science of Environmental Impact Assessment: Three Papers on the Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) of Northern Alaska

Editor's Introduction -- D. W. Norton; An Assessment of the Colville River Delta Stock of Arctic Cisco--Migrants from Canada? -- B. J. Gallaway, W. B. Griffiths, P. C. Craig, W. J. Gazey, and J. W. Helmericks; Temperature Preference of Juvenile Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) From the Alaskan Beaufort Sea -- R. G. Fechhelm, W. H. Neill, and B. J. Gallaway; Modeling Movements and Distribution of Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) Relative to Temperature-Salinity Regimes of the Beaufort Sea Near the Waterflood Causeway, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. -- W. H. Neill, R. G. Fechhelm, B. J. Gallaway, J. D. Bryan, and S. W. Anderson; Notice to Author

The impact of oceanic near-inertial waves on climate

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 26 (2013): 2833–2844, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00181.1.The Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4) is used to assess the climate impact of wind-generated near-inertial waves (NIWs). Even with high-frequency coupling, CCSM4 underestimates the strength of NIWs, so that a parameterization for NIWs is developed and included into CCSM4. Numerous assumptions enter this parameterization, the core of which is that the NIW velocity signal is detected during the model integration, and amplified in the shear computation of the ocean surface boundary layer module. It is found that NIWs deepen the ocean mixed layer by up to 30%, but they contribute little to the ventilation and mixing of the ocean below the thermocline. However, the deepening of the tropical mixed layer by NIWs leads to a change in tropical sea surface temperature and precipitation. Atmospheric teleconnections then change the global sea level pressure fields so that the midlatitude westerlies become weaker. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the real air-sea flux of NIW energy is poorly constrained by observations; this makes the quantitative assessment of their climate impact rather uncertain. Thus, a major result of the present study is that because of its importance for global climate the uncertainty in the observed tropical NIW energy has to be reduced.This research was funded as part of the Climate Process Team on internal wave-driven mixing with NSF Grant Nr E0968771 at NCAR.2013-11-0

Ethical considerations in functional magnetic resonance imaging research in acutely comatose patients

After severe brain injury, one of the key challenges for medical doctors is to determine the patient’s prognosis. Who will do well? Who will not do well? Physicians need to know this, and families need to do this too, to address choices regarding the continuation of life supporting therapies. However, current prognostication methods are insufficient to provide a reliable prognosis. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) holds considerable promise for improving the accuracy of prognosis in acute brain injury patients. Nonetheless, research on functional MRI in the intensive care unit context is ethically challenging. These studies raise several ethical issues that have not been addressed so far. In this article, Prof. Charles Weijer and his co-workers provide a framework for researchers and ethics committees to design and review these studies in an ethically sound way

Climate Process Team on internal wave–driven ocean mixing

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 98 (2017): 2429-2454, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0030.1.Diapycnal mixing plays a primary role in the thermodynamic balance of the ocean and, consequently, in oceanic heat and carbon uptake and storage. Though observed mixing rates are on average consistent with values required by inverse models, recent attention has focused on the dramatic spatial variability, spanning several orders of magnitude, of mixing rates in both the upper and deep ocean. Away from ocean boundaries, the spatiotemporal patterns of mixing are largely driven by the geography of generation, propagation, and dissipation of internal waves, which supply much of the power for turbulent mixing. Over the last 5 years and under the auspices of U.S. Climate Variability and Predictability Program (CLIVAR), a National Science Foundation (NSF)- and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-supported Climate Process Team has been engaged in developing, implementing, and testing dynamics-based parameterizations for internal wave–driven turbulent mixing in global ocean models. The work has primarily focused on turbulence 1) near sites of internal tide generation, 2) in the upper ocean related to wind-generated near inertial motions, 3) due to internal lee waves generated by low-frequency mesoscale flows over topography, and 4) at ocean margins. Here, we review recent progress, describe the tools developed, and discuss future directions.We are grateful to U.S. CLIVAR for their leadership in instigating and facilitating the Climate Process Team program. We are indebted to NSF and NOAA for sponsoring the CPT series.2018-06-0

Climate Process Team On Internal Wave-Driven Ocean Mixing

The study summarizes recent advances in our understanding of internal wave–driven turbulent mixing in the ocean interior and introduces new parameterizations for global climate ocean models and their climate impacts

Climate Process Team on Internal-Wave Driven Ocean Mixing

Diapycnal mixing plays a primary role in the thermodynamic balance of the ocean, and consequently, in oceanic heat and carbon uptake and storage. Though observed mixing rates are on average consistent with values required by inverse models, recent attention has focused on the dramatic spatial variability, spanning several orders of magnitude, of mixing rates in both the upper and deep ocean. Climate models have been shown to be very sensitive not only to the overall level but to the detailed distribution of mixing; sub-grid-scale parameterizations based on accurate physical processes will allow model forecasts to evolve with a changing climate. Spatio-temporal patterns of mixing are largely driven by the geography of generation, propagation and destruction of internal waves, which are thought to supply much of the power for turbulent mixing. Over the last five years and under the auspices of US CLIVAR, a NSF and NOAA supported Climate Process Team has been engaged in developing, implementing and testing dynamics-base parameterizations for internal-wave driven turbulent mixing in global ocean models. The work has primarily focused on turbulence 1) near sites of internal tide generation, 2) in the upper ocean related to wind-generated near inertial motions, 3) due to internal lee waves generated by low-frequency mesoscale flows over topography, and 4) at ocean margins. Here we review recent progress, describe the tools developed, and discuss future directions