Arabian Sea mixed layer dynamics experiment : mooring deployment cruise report R/V Thomas Thompson cruise number 46, 14 April-29 April 1995

This report describes in a general manner the work that took place during the R/V Thomas Thompson cruise number 46 which was the mooring turnaround cruise for the moored array program. A detailed description of the WHOI surface mooring and its instrumentation is provided. Information about the XBT and CTD data and near-surface temperature data collected during the cruise is also included.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research through Grant No. NOOOl4-94-1-0161

Extreme enrichment in atmospheric 15N15N.

Molecular nitrogen (N2) comprises three-quarters of Earth's atmosphere and significant portions of other planetary atmospheres. We report a 19 per mil (‰) excess of 15N15N in air relative to a random distribution of nitrogen isotopes, an enrichment that is 10 times larger than what isotopic equilibration in the atmosphere allows. Biological experiments show that the main sources and sinks of N2 yield much smaller proportions of 15N15N in N2. Electrical discharge experiments, however, establish 15N15N excesses of up to +23‰. We argue that 15N15N accumulates in the atmosphere because of gas-phase chemistry in the thermosphere (>100 km altitude) on time scales comparable to those of biological cycling. The atmospheric 15N15N excess therefore reflects a planetary-scale balance of biogeochemical and atmospheric nitrogen chemistry, one that may also exist on other planets

Terror, War, and the Economy in George W. Bush’s Approval Ratings: The Importance of Salience in Presidential Approval

George W. Bush\u27s presidency provides a fertile ground to further develop the standard model of presidential approval. In contrast to the vast presidential approval literature, early studies of Bush conclude economic conditions had no effect once the war in Iraq began. Rather than require a fundamental rethinking of presidential approval theories, we argue that approval models must take into account issue salience. When a factor is salient, it has a stronger effect. During the Bush presidency, with considerable over-time variation in the salience of the economy, terrorism, and the war in Iraq, each, in turn, powerfully affected Bush\u27s approval

Pan American Climate Study (PACS) mooring recovery and deployment cruise report : R/V Thomas Thompson cruise number 73, 28 November to 26 December 1997

Three surface moorings were recovered and redeployed during R/V Thomas Thompson cruise number 73 in the eastern equatorial Pacific as pan of the Pan American Climate Study (PACS). PACS is a NOAA-funded study with the goal of investigating links between sea-surface temperature variability in the tropical oceans near the Americas and climate over the American continents. The three moorings were deployed near 125°W, spanning the strong meridional sea-surface temperature gradient associated with the cold tongue south of the equator and the warmer ocean north of the equator, near the northernmost, summer location of the Intertopical Convergence Zone. The moored array was deployed to improve the understanding of air-sea fluxes and of the processes that control the evolution of the sea surface temperature field in the region. Two surface moorings, located at 3°S, 125°W and lO°N, 125°W, belonging to the Upper Ocean Processes (UOP) Group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), were recovered after being on station for eight months and redeployed. Two eight-month deployments were planned. A third mooring deployed at the equator and 128°W by the Ocean Circulation Group at the University of South Florida (USF) was also recovered and redeployed. The USF mooring, unfortunately, had to be recovered immediately following redeployment due to a problem with the buoy and instrumentation. The buoys of the two WHOI moorings were each equipped with meteorological instrumentation, including a Vector Averaging Wind Recorder (VAWR), and an Improved Meteorological (IMET) system. The WHOI moorings also carried Vector Measuring Current Meters, single point temperature recorders, and conductivity and temperature recorders located in the upper 200 meters of the mooring line. In addition to the instrumentation noted above, a variety of other instruments, including an acoustic current meter, acoustic doppler current meters, bio-optical instrument packages and an acoustic rain gauge, were deployed during the PACS field program. The USF mooring had an IMET system on the surface buoy and for oceanographic instrumentation, two RD Instruments acoustic doppler current profilers (ADCPs), single-point temperature recorders, and conductivity and temperature recorders. Conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profiles were made at each mooring site and during the transit between mooring locations. This report describes, in a general manner, the work that took place during R/V Thomas Thompson cruise number 73. A description of the WHOI moored array and instrumentation is provided. Details of the mooring designs and preliminary data from the CTD profies are included.Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Contract No. NA66GPO130

Arabian Sea mixed layer dynamics experiment : mooring deployment cruise report R/V Thomas Thompson cruise number 40, 11 October-25 October 1994

An array of surface and subsurface moorings were deployed in the Arabian Sea to provide high quality time series of local forcing and upper ocean currents, temperature, and conductivity in order to investigate the dynamics of the ocean's response to the monsoonal forcing characteristic of the area. The moored array was deployed during R/V Thomas Thompson cruise number 40, One Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) surface mooring, two Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) surface moorings and two University of Washington (UW) Profiling Current Meter moorings were deployed. The moorings were deployed for a period of one year beginning in October 1994 as part of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) funded Arabian Sea experiment. Two six month deployments were planned. The moorings were deployed at 15.5°N 61.5°E (WHOI), 15.7°N 61.3°E (SIO), 15.3°N 61.3°E (SIO), 15.7°N 61.7°E (UW), and 15.3°N 61.7°E (UW). The WHOI surface mooring was outfitted with two meteorological data collection systems. A Vector Averaging Wind Recorder (VAWR) and an IMET system made measurements of wind speed and direction, sea surface temperature, air temperature, short wave radiation, long wave radiation, barometric pressure, relative humidity and precipitation. Subsurface instrumentation included Vector Measuring Current Meters (VMCMs), Multi-Variable Moored Systems (MVMS), conductivity and temperature recorders and single point temperature recorders. Expendable bathythermograph (XBT) data and CTD data were collected while in transit to the site and between mooring locations. This report describes in a general manner the work that took place during R/V Thomas Thompson cruise number 40 which was the initial deployment cruise for this moored array. A detailed description of the WHOI surface mooring and its instrumentation is provided. Information about the XBT and CTD data collected during the cruise is also included.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research under Grant No. N00014-94-1-0161

Climate change adaptation in European river basins

This paper contains an assessment and standardized comparative analysis of the current water management regimes in four case-studies in three European river basins: the Hungarian part of the Upper Tisza, the Ukrainian part of the Upper Tisza (also called Zacarpathian Tisza), Alentejo Region (including the Alqueva Reservoir) in the Lower Guadiana in Portugal, and Rivierenland in the Netherlands. The analysis comprises several regime elements considered to be important in adaptive and integrated water management: agency, awareness raising and education, type of governance and cooperation structures, information management and—exchange, policy development and—implementation, risk management, and finances and cost recovery. This comparative analysis has an explorative character intended to identify general patterns in adaptive and integrated water management and to determine its role in coping with the impacts of climate change on floods and droughts. The results show that there is a strong interdependence of the elements within a water management regime, and as such this interdependence is a stabilizing factor in current management regimes. For example, this research provides evidence that a lack of joint/participative knowledge is an important obstacle for cooperation, or vice versa. We argue that there is a two-way relationship between information management and collaboration. Moreover, this research suggests that bottom-up governance is not a straightforward solution to water management problems in large-scale, complex, multiple-use systems, such as river basins. Instead, all the regimes being analyzed are in a process of finding a balance between bottom-up and top–down governance. Finally, this research shows that in a basin where one type of extreme is dominant—like droughts in the Alentejo (Portugal) and floods in Rivierenland (Netherlands)—the potential impacts of other extremes are somehow ignored or not perceived with the urgency they might deserv

Governing policy evaluation? Towards a new typology

As policy evaluation matures, thoughts are turning to its governance. However, few scholars have combined insights from the evaluation and governance literatures to shed new light on this matter. In order to address this important gap, this article develops a new typology of ways to comprehend and perhaps ultimately govern ex-post policy evaluation activities. The article then explores its validity in the context of climate policy evaluation activities, a vibrant policy area in which the demand for and practices of evaluation have grown fast, particularly in Europe. The analysis reveals that the typology usefully guides new thinking, but also highlights important gaps in our empirical knowledge of the various modes of governing policy evaluation. The article identifies a need for a new research agenda that simultaneously develops a fuller understanding of these evaluation practices and the options for governing them