Reflections on the IPCC and global change science: time for a more (physical) geographical tradition

Over the last quarter of a century, physical geography has not been served well by the often homogenising influence of global change science, as exemplified by the structures and activities of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, certain areas of physical geography may have been at fault in being too little, and too uncritically, engaged with international, interdisciplinary research programmes in global environmental change. Moving forward, physical geography should look towards an independently constituted framework that incorporates the complexities of landscape response to both external forcing and internal feedbacks and, above all, works with others to prevent the socio-spatial injustices associated with climate change from being realised

Reflections on the IPCC and global change science: time for a more (physical) geographical tradition

Over the last quarter of a century, physical geography has not been served well by the often homogenising influence of global change science, as exemplified by the structures and activities of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, certain areas of physical geography may have been at fault in being too little, and too uncritically, engaged with international, interdisciplinary research programmes in global environmental change. Moving forward, physical geography should look towards an independently constituted framework that incorporates the complexities of landscape response to both external forcing and internal feedbacks and, above all, works with others to prevent the socio-spatial injustices associated with climate change from being realised

Pilot of the Patient Concerns Inventory - Ward Discharge in Patients following major reconstructive surgery for head and neck cancer

Planning discharge from hospital following microvascular free-tissue surgery can be complex and challenging. Planning involves the patient, carers, and multiple health professionals. Poor communication and expectations can delay discharge or give a suboptimal discharge process. It was hypothesised that prompt-list modelled along the principals of the Patient Concerns Inventory (PCI) could be help in discharge planning. The aim of this study was to define the items and format of a PCI-Ward Discharge (PCI-WD) and undertake a small pilot. Items appropriate for the PCI-WD were formulated through discussion with patients, carers, ward staff, Head and Neck Clinical Nurse Specialists, and clinicians. The pilot took place over three months from December 2019 through to February 2020. Audit approval was given by the hospital Audit Department. The PCI-WD comprises 43 items. Items from existing PCIs for use at diagnosis and follow-up consultations were reduced in number and 38 new or modified items added; six treatment related, five social care and social well-being, four psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being, seven physical and functional well-being, and 16 discharge related. The pilot involved 14 free-tissue transfer patients, seven male, seven female, with an age range of 57 to 87 and a mean age of 72. Eight PCI-WD were returned. PCI-WD items identified most frequently were 'surgery site other than head/neck', 'when do I come back to hospital', 'dental check-up/oral health care' and 'diet/eating'. Early findings suggest that PCI-WD could be a useful tool in aiding the discharge process. Further evaluation is required

The role of cryptotephra in refining the chronology of Late Pleistocene human evolution and cultural change in North Africa

© 2014.Sites in North Africa hold key information for dating the presence of Homo sapiens and the distribution of Middle Stone Age (MSA), Middle Palaeolithic (MP) and Later Stone Age (LSA) cultural activity in the Late Pleistocene. Here we present new and review recently published tephrochronological evidence for five cave sites in North Africa with long MSA/MP and LSA cultural sequences. Four tephra horizons have been identified at the Haua Fteah (Cyrenaica, Libya). They include cryptotephra evidence for the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption dating to ~39 ka that allows correlation with other Palaeolithic sequences in the eastern Mediterranean and as far north as Russia. Cryptotephra have also been recorded from the Moroccan sites of Taforalt, Rhafas and Dar es-Soltane 1. At Taforalt the geochemical composition suggests a provenance in the Azores, while examples from Sodmein (Egypt) appear to derive from central Anatolia and another unknown source. In these latter examples chemical compositional data from relevant proximal volcanic centres is currently lacking so the identification of tephra in layers of known age and cultural association provides the first reliable age determinations for distal volcanic events and their geographical extent. The future potential for tephrochronological research in North Africa is also discussed

The Expanding Fireball of Nova Delphini 2013

A classical nova occurs when material accreting onto the surface of a white dwarf in a close binary system ignites in a thermonuclear runaway. Complex structures observed in the ejecta at late stages could result from interactions with the companion during the common envelope phase. Alternatively, the explosion could be intrinsically bipolar, resulting from a localized ignition on the surface of the white dwarf or as a consequence of rotational distortion. Studying the structure of novae during the earliest phases is challenging because of the high spatial resolution needed to measure their small sizes. Here we report near-infrared interferometric measurements of the angular size of Nova Delphini 2013, starting from one day after the explosion and continuing with extensive time coverage during the first 43 days. Changes in the apparent expansion rate can be explained by an explosion model consisting of an optically thick core surrounded by a diffuse envelope. The optical depth of the ejected material changes as it expands. We detect an ellipticity in the light distribution, suggesting a prolate or bipolar structure that develops as early as the second day. Combining the angular expansion rate with radial velocity measurements, we derive a geometric distance to the nova of 4.54 +/- 0.59 kpc from the Sun.Comment: Published in Nature. 32 pages. Final version available at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v515/n7526/full/nature13834.htm

Reach-scale bankfull channel types can exist independently of catchment hydrology

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Reach-scale morphological channel classifications are underpinned by the theory that each channel type is related to an assemblage of reach- and catchment-scale hydrologic, topographic, and sediment supply drivers. However, the relative importance of each driver on reach morphology is unclear, as is the possibility that different driver assemblages yield the same reach morphology. Reach-scale classifications have never needed to be predicated on hydrology, yet hydrology controls discharge and thus sediment transport capacity. The scientific question is: do two or more regions with quantifiable differences in hydrologic setting end up with different reach-scale channel types, or do channel types transcend hydrologic setting because hydrologic setting is not a dominant control at the reach scale? This study answered this question by isolating hydrologic metrics as potential dominant controls of channel type. Three steps were applied in a large test basin with diverse hydrologic settings (Sacramento River, California) to: (1) create a reach-scale channel classification based on local site surveys, (2) categorize sites by flood magnitude, dimensionless flood magnitude, and annual hydrologic regime type, and (3) statistically analyze two hydrogeomorphic linkages. Statistical tests assessed the spatial distribution of channel types and the dependence of channel type morphological attributes by hydrologic setting. Results yielded 10 channel types. Nearly all types existed across all hydrologic settings, which is perhaps a surprising development for hydrogeomorphology. Downstream hydraulic geometry relationships were statistically significant. In addition, cobble-dominated uniform streams showed a consistent inverse relationship between slope and dimensionless flood magnitude, an indication of dynamic equilibrium between transport capacity and sediment supply. However, most morphological attributes showed no sorting by hydrologic setting. This study suggests that median hydraulic geometry relations persist across basins and within channel types, but hydrologic influence on geomorphic variability is likely due to local influences rather than catchment-scale drivers. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Filtering of the signal of sediment export from a glacier by Its proglacial forefield

This is the final version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record. Data Availability Statement: The data used in this study (i.e., water discharge, suspended sediment load and bedload records for 2020 and 2021) are archivied in Zenodo. These are available in (Mancini et al., 2023; Müller & Miesen, 2022).Alpine glaciers are rapidly retreating due to global warming and this has been associated with enhanced supply of subglacially derived sediment to downstream environments. We present the first high frequency quantitative record on how the signal of sediment exported from an Alpine glacier is filtered by its proglacial forefield. The data, covering two climatically distinct glacier melt seasons, show that the signal of subglacial bedload export is strongly filtered over short distances, unlike suspended load whose signal is less impacted. The reason is related to the interplay of short particle advection lengths with strong morphodynamic forcing. The subglacial sediment export signal is thus rapidly replaced by one combining (a) the local forcing by stream hydraulics and (b) the reworking of the proglacial braid plain itself. These findings have implications for estimating subglacial erosion rates, natural hazard mitigation, sediment management for hydropower plants and ecological succession related to rapid glacier retreat.Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschun

A restatement of the natural science evidence concerning catchment-based "natural” flood management in the United Kingdom

Flooding is a very costly natural hazard in Great Britain and is expected to increase further under future climate change scenarios. Flood defences are commonly deployed to protect communities and property from flooding, but in recent years flood management policy has looked towards solutions that seek to mitigate flood risk at flood-prone sites through targeted interventions throughout the catchment, sometimes using techniques which involve working with natural processes. This paper describes a project to provide a succinct summary of the natural science evidence base concerning the effectiveness of catchment-based “natural” flood management in the United Kingdom. The evidence summary is designed to be read by an informed but not technically-specialist audience. Each evidence statement is placed into one of four categories describing the nature of the underlying information. The evidence summary forms the appendix to this paper and an annotated bibliography is provided in the electronic supplementary material

DSM-V: modifying the postpartum-onset specifier to include hypomania

By failing to include it under the rubric of the postpartum-onset specifier, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV-TR has ignored the clinical reality that childbirth is a potent trigger of hypomania. Given the serious and occasionally tragic consequences of misdiagnosis of bipolar II depression as unipolar depression in the postpartum period, it is argued that DSM-V should consider modifying the postpartum-onset specifier to include episodes of hypomania