Християнство і європейська духовно-культурна ідентичність

Стаття присвячена з’ясуванню ролі і місця християнства у формуванні європейської ідентичності в умовах ціннісної дезорієнтації, дегуманізації людини і суспільства, морального та релігійного хаосу.Статья посвящена выяснению роли и места христианства в формировании европейской идентичности в условиях ценностной дезориентации, дегуманизации человека и общества, морального и религиозного хаоса.The article is devoted to finding out the role and place of christianity in forming of the European identity in the conditions of the valued disorientation, dehumanizing of man and society, moral and religious chaos

Социально-экономические последствия изменения ставок акцизного сбора

Проаналізовано основні тенденції зміни ставок акцизного збору з алкогольних та тютюнових виробів в Україні та запропонована порівняльна характеристика законодавчого забезпечення. Подано оцінку можливих економічних та соціальних наслідків їх підвищення, виявлено як позитивні, так і негативні тенденції, зроблено висновки щодо доцільності змін. Ключові слова: акцизний збір, ставка акцизного збору, підакцизні товари.Проанализированы основные тенденции изменения ставок акцизного сбора с алкогольной продукции и табачных изделий в Украине и предложена сравнительная характеристика законодательного обеспечения. Дана оценка возможных экономических и социальных последствий их повышения, выявлены как положительные, так и отрицательные тенденции, сделаны выводы о целесообразности изменения. Ключевые слова: акцизный сбор, ставка акцизного сбора, подакцизные товары.The basic tendencies in changing of excise duties’ rate, specifically in alcoholic and tobacco products, in Ukraine were analysed, and was shifted the comparison characteristic of the legislative control. The estimation of possible economic and social outcome of the rate increase was made, both negative and positive its tendencies were revealed, and was drawn the conclusion on the expedience of changes. Key words: excise tax, rate of excise duties, items liable to excise duties

The Greenland ice sheet in a warming climate

In this thesis we assess multiple aspects of the Greenland climate, including the surface energy and mass balance of the ice sheet for the contemporary and near future climate. For these purposes we used output of the extensively and well-evaluated regional atmospheric climate model RACMO2. The relatively high horizontal resolution (11 km) enables us to explicitly solve the atmospheric momentum budget and explain both small and large-scale wind patterns over the Greenland ice sheet and its surrounding seas. In the surface layer the katabatic pressure gradient force dominates the momentum budget resulting in strong and persistent cross-slope winds. Along the northeast coast we explain the presence of a persistent thermally induced northerly boundary layer jet (the Greenland Sea Jet), which is the main driver of sea ice export out of the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait. The most important energy source for surface melting at the ice sheet is absorbed solar radiation, which is mainly determined by cloud cover and surface albedo. Due to the relatively high reflectivity of snow and ice, small changes in the surface albedo have a strong impact on the amount of absorbed radiation. Furthermore, the surface albedo is highly variable in space and time making it a challenge to simulate realistically. By implementing a grain size dependent albedo scheme and a background ice albedo field based on satellite observations in RACMO2, we are able to better resemble measured albedos. We show that small changes in the parameter settings of the albedo scheme have a large impact on the surface mass balance and individual components. Using measurements of albedo and melt extent we were able to strongly reduce the uncertainty in the scheme. Greenland has been subject to strong warming over the last two decades and especially for the last few years, with a record low surface mass balance year in 2010 and a melt event affecting almost the entire ice sheet in July 2012. A combination of stronger than average warming in this part of the Arctic region due to reduced sea ice cover, lower surface albedo over the ice sheet and advection of relatively warm air from southern latitudes explain the anomalously strong melting over Greenland. To assess the impact of 21st century climate change over Greenland, we forced RACMO2 with a mid-range warming scenario in which average summer temperatures over the ice sheet rise almost 3 °C towards the end of the century. This induces a strong increase in surface melting and runoff, which is only partly compensated by enhanced precipitation. The total surface mass balance shows a gradual decrease and even turns negative around 2070. Currently, more than 40% of the melt water is refrozen in the snowpack. We show that owing to a strong reduction in pore space in the firn layer upon refreezing, the refreezing capacity of the Greenland ice sheet decreases to less than 30%. This results in an acceleration of mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet and we quantify that the expected contribution to sea level rise will increase to 1.7±0.5 mm/yr, more than four times the current contribution

Momentum Budget of the atmospheric boundary layer over the Greenland ice sheet and its surrounding seas

The atmospheric circulation patterns over the Greenland ice sheet and its surrounding seas are studied by explicitly calculating the momentum budget components, using data of a high‐resolution regional atmospheric climate model. In winter (DJF), the katabatic pressure gradient force (PGF) dominates the momentum budget of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over the ice sheet. Over the western slopes of the ice sheet, the large‐scale PGF acts in the same direction as the katabatic PGF, resulting in a strong southerly jet of up to 12 m s−1. In winter, the accumulation of cold air over the sea ice along the northeast coast leads to a thermally induced northerly flow. This circulation facilitates southward sea ice transport in this area and is enhanced by the large‐scale circulation. Along the west coast, a similar west‐east temperature gradient also forces a northerly flow. In the summer months, sea ice is absent, and thermal wind forcing is largely reduced over the ocean. Summer insolation also reduces katabatic forcing; the large‐scale forcing dominates the ABL momentum budget over the ice sheet. Heating of the ABL over the snow‐free tundra induces thermal contrasts with the ice sheet and ocean, forcing barrier winds in the coastal regions. Throughout the year, strong surface layer winds along the southeast coast of Greenland are forced by the large‐scale PGF

Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model

This paper presents the drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet, using output from a high-resolution ( 11 km) regional climate model. Because reliable direct observations of drifting snow do not exist, we evaluate the modeled near-surface climate instead, using automatic weather station (AWS) observations from the K-transect and find that RACMO2 realistically simulates near-surface wind speed and relative humidity, two variables that are important for drifting snow. Integrated over the ice sheet, drifting snow sublimation (SUds) equals 24±3 Gt yr−1, and is significantly larger than surface sublimation (SUs, 16±2 Gt yr−1). SUds strongly varies between seasons, and is only important in winter, when surface sublimation and runoff are small. A rapid transition exists between the winter season, when snowfall and SUds are important, and the summer season, when snowmelt is significant, which increases surface snow density and thereby limits drifting snow processes. Drifting snow erosion (ERds) is only important on a regional scale. In recent decades, following decreasing wind speed and rising near-surface temperatures, SUds exhibits a negative trend (0.1±0.1 Gt yr−1), which is compensated by an increase in SUs of similar magnitude

Rapid loss of firn pore space accelerates 21st century Greenland mass loss

Mass loss from the two major ice sheets and their contribution to global sea level rise is accelerating. In Antarctica, mass loss is dominated by increased flow velocities of outlet glaciers, following the thinning or disintegration of coastal ice shelves into which they flow. In contrast, 55% of post-1992 Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) mass loss is accounted for by surface processes, notably increased meltwater runoff. A subtle process in the surface mass balance of the GrIS is the retention and refreezing of meltwater, currently preventing 40% of the meltwater to reach the ocean. Here we force a high-resolution atmosphere/snow model with a mid-range warming scenario (RCP4.5, 1970–2100), to show that rapid loss of firn pore space, by >50% at the end of the 21st century, quickly reduces this refreezing buffer. As a result, GrIS surface mass loss accelerates throughout the 21st century and its contribution to global sea level rise increases to 1.7˙0.5 mm yr–1, more than four times the current value

Brief Communication "Expansion of meltwater lakes on the Greenland ice sheet"

Forty years of satellite imagery reveal that meltwater lakes on the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet have expanded substantially inland to higher elevations with warming. These lakes are important because they provide a mechanism for bringing water to the ice bed, warming the ice and causing sliding. Inland expansion of lakes could accelerate ice flow by bringing water to previously frozen bed, potentially increasing future rates of mass loss. Increasing lake elevations in West Greenland closely follow the rise of the mass balance equilibrium line, suggesting no physical limit on lake expansion there. This is not included in ice sheet models

Simulating melt, runoff and refreezing on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard, using a coupled snow and energy balance model

A distributed energy balance model is coupled to a multi-layer snow model in order to study the mass balance evolution and the impact of refreezing on the mass budget of Nordenski¨oldbreen, Svalbard. The model is forced with output from the regional climate model RACMO and meteorological data from Svalbard Airport. Extensive calibration and initialisation are performed to increase the model accuracy. For the period 1989–2010, we find a mean net mass balance of −0.39mw.e. a−1. Refreezing contributes on average 0.27mw.e. a−1 to the mass budget and is most pronounced in the accumulation zone. The simulated mass balance, radiative fluxes and subsurface profiles are validated against observations and are generally in good agreement. Climate sensitivity experiments reveal a non-linear, seasonally dependent response of the mass balance, refreezing and runoff to changes in temperature and precipitation. It is shown that including seasonality in climate change, with less pronounced summer warming, reduces the sensitivity of the mass balance and equilibrium line altitude (ELA) estimates in a future climate. The amount of refreezing is shown to be rather insensitive to changes in climate

Estimating the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance contribution to future sea level rise using the regional atmospheric climate model MAR

To estimate the sea level rise (SLR) originating from changes in surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS), we present 21st century climate projections obtained with the regional climate model MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional), forced by output of three CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5) general circulation models (GCMs). Our results indicate that in a warmer climate, mass gain from increased winter snowfall over the GrIS does not compensate mass loss through increased meltwater run-off in summer. Despite the large spread in the projected near-surface warming, all the MAR projections show similar non-linear increase of GrIS surface melt volume because no change is projected in the general atmospheric circulation over Greenland. By coarsely estimating the GrIS SMB changes from GCM output, we show that the uncertainty from the GCM-based forcing represents about half of the projected SMB changes. In 2100, the CMIP5 ensemble mean projects a GrIS SMB decrease equivalent to a mean SLR of +4 ± 2 cm and +9 ± 4 cm for the RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios respectively. These estimates do not consider the positive melt–elevation feedback, although sensitivity experiments using perturbed ice sheet topographies consistent with the projected SMB changes demonstrate that this is a significant feedback, and highlight the importance of coupling regional climate models to an ice sheet model. Such a coupling will allow the assessment of future response of both surface processes and ice-dynamic changes to rising temperatures, as well as their mutual feedbacks