Orogenic mass changes detectable in satellite gravity missions

3Long term GNSS time series detect vertical crustal movement rates, which typically at orogens demonstrate uplift. The orogenic uplift can be ascribed to tectonic and post-glacial adjustments and crustal thickening. We investigate the sensitivity of satellite gravity change rate observations to detect the associated mass changes. Gravity change rate joint with uplift monitoring allows to distinguish the mechanism of uplift (Braitenberg and Shum, 2016). We use known vertical uplift rates over specific orogens to predict the gravity change for different geodynamic hypotheses of pure uplift and mantle inflow, or crustal thickening and isostatic Moho lowering. The sensitivity of gravity as a tool to distinguish the two mechanisms is investigated. The estimate of this tectonic signal is important, when the observed gravity change rates of GRACE and future missions are interpreted exclusively in terms of hydrologic changes tied to climatic variation. We find that in some areas, as the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayan- Alpine range, the tectonic signal is measurable by satellite gravity and contributes to a better understanding of the geodynamic processes leading to orogenesisEGU2017-16481openopenBraitenberg, C.; Pivetta, T.; Morsut, FBraitenberg, Carla; Pivetta, TOMMASO FERRUCCIO MARIA; Morsut, Federic

Europeanisation of civil protection: the cases of Italy and Norway

National civil protection systems have been developed and implemented each time a crisis unfolds with different degrees of success in responding and solving the crisis. However, crises are increasingly not confined by national borders and challenge the states’ capacities to adequately respond and thus calling for a crisis management governance that goes beyond the nation-state. In this respect, the European Union has developed its civil protection policy and through the Civil Protection Mechanism established forms of cooperation among the participating states of the Mechanism. In this paper, through the lenses of Europeanisation, we aim at uncovering the influences the Mechanism exercises on the Norwegian and Italian civil protection systems and, at the same time, we seek to spot out which kind of influences these states have on the Mechanism’s development. Europeanisation has been widely used as an analytical framework to mainly explain how national contexts are shaped by EU developments, but it is equally important to understand, as well, how national context shape European developments. Our data stem from document analysis and semi-structured interviews with civil protection officers at national and EU levels

Geodetic monitoring in Nepal: preliminary results from Gorkha earthquake (25 April 2015)

The Himalaya arc is one of the most complex and tectonically active areas in the world, a very long (2500km) plate boundary capable of catastrophic earthquakes up to 8 Mw (Rajendran and Rajendran, 2011). Segments of the complex fault system, that accomodate the deformation between Asia and India, lie in correspondence of densely populated cities (i.e. 7.8 Mw on 25 April 2015). A good monitoring system, composed of seismographs and a geodetic network, is the indispensable scientific base to assess and mitigate the risk in this area and to get a better understanding of the dynamics of those geodynamic processes. In this contribution we present the preliminary data and analysis from two GNSS stations located in Nepal, one near to the Everest Pyramid (EvK2CNR), the other one near to the Nagarkot city. Both the antennas seem to have sensed and measured the deformation due to the last catastrophic quake occurred on 25 April 2015. The GNSS time series in the Nagarkot station showed an abrupt change in the displacement, that could be the effect of the near field deformation associated to the quake. A forward model approach, using the Okada model (1985), has been used to verify the compatibility of the observed field to the modeled deformation. The other station that is farther from the fault seems to have recorded a transient deformation. We further analyze the noise level of the station and possible atmospheric induced signals. Using the Okada model to simulate different displacement scenarios due to different earthquake parameters, we are able to assess the sensitivity of the network and efficiently program the installation of further stations

Politics of climate risk management in local government: A case study of the municipality of Stavanger

The case study presented in this paper was conducted to study the politics of local-level climate risk management and discuss these politics' implications for responses to climate change and democratic deliberation. Local government plays an important role in the response to climate change, in particular with reference to coping with unwanted consequences of climate change, such as more frequent and intense extreme weather events, including torrential rain and flooding. Climate risk management is an approach that local government can adopt to deal with these unwanted consequences. To investigate the politics of local-level climate risk management, we conducted a case study of the municipality of Stavanger in Norway. In analyzing this case study, we drew on literature on the securitization of climate change, in particular, that of risk-based securitization of climate change produced by governmental power. The analysis given here is derived by applying the concept of risk logic understood as the translation of unwanted consequences of climate change into climate risk together with the actions and use of tools influenced by the discipline of risk analysis thereby entailed. Risk logic manifests in political discourse, actors, and tools. In this case study, the justification for risk logic on unwanted consequences of climate change at the local level comes from national-level laws and regulations. Moreover, climate risk management is translated into existing bureaucratic routines, organizational structures, and the activities of professionals. Risk tools play an essential role in making unwanted consequences of climate change governable and can manifest as a consequence of risk logic or can convey risk logic. The analysis implies that the securitization of climate change based on governmental power at the local level has a depoliticizing effect on the issue. Moreover, the unique characteristics of unwanted consequences of climate change fade as climate risk is seen as a risk driver to be factored into existing and well-known risks, and thereby normalizes the situation. Finally, the focus on the cause of climate change seems to diminish because safety is a function of the referent objects, and the response thereby becomes decoupled from the wider issue of global warming.publishedVersio

Linking resilience, vulnerability, social capital and risk awareness for crisis and disaster research

Crisis and disaster research has extensively contributed to theoretical, conceptual, methodological and empirical advances in the understanding of resilience, vulnerability, social capital and risk awareness. These concepts identify complex social phenomena, which are intensified, in both positive and negative terms, by crises and disasters. However, the accumulation of knowledge about these notions has produced a vast range of definitions, which affects the way they are used in the study of crises and disasters. This paper sets a research agenda, by promoting a conceptual model to help simplify and make more researchable these complex concepts. This model stems from a triangulation of methods, with the goal of providing more researchable definitions of these notions and of illustrating linkages among them, seldom addressed in the way this model suggests, in the context of the crisis management cycle.publishedVersio

Gravimetry and petrophysics in the Chad basin area: determination of the basement depth and the implication for defining a scientific drilling site (ICDP-CHADRILL project)

The Chad basin is a huge intracratonic sag-basin (2.5 million km2) in the North Central Africa. In this work, we investigated the basement depth under the Chad Lake using the inversion of gravity residual data obtained by the regression analysis between gravity and topography data. It has been carried on with a collaboration between the University of Trieste and the Institut de Physique du Globe, Strasbourg (IPGS) in order to contribute to the decision of the location of a ICDP drilling site (Bol, SE Chad Lake). This project consists in a compared analysis between gravity data with other geological/geophysical data and their interpretation in terms of tectonic features. The main objectives of this work are: (1) estimation of the basement depth under the Chad basin through a joint analysis and interpretation of satellite and terrestrial gravity data (GOCE, BGI) [1] with borehole data and density values of Cameroon-Chadian rock samples. (2) Estimation and interpretation of the Bouguer and residual gravity anomalies. The results obtained gave us information about the basement depth and the thickness of sediment infill of the basin. Observing the residual values of gravity anomaly field we found a large negative anomaly (-30 mGal) under the Chad basin connected to the presence of low-density sediments. Furthermore, there are several positive anomalies around the edges of the basin [3] and a pattern of linear negative anomalies outside of it. Both types of trends are linked to the presence of rifts and extensional structures. Using the inversion modelling, we could observe a deepening variation of the depth of the basement moving from the southern part (2-3 km) to the northern (4-6 km) one of the Chad Lake. The deepening of the basement is connected to the Termit rift basin and the values are consistent with previous seismic surveys [2]. The depth of the basement under the city of Bol is between 3 and 4 km, but unfortunately, there are no other geological/geophysical constraints to confirm these values. For the drilling purpose, since in the inversion we used a minimum value of the density contrast (200 kg/m3) among the range defined (200-400 kg/m3), it is possible to assume that the maximum expected depth of the basement is about 4 km. We suggest an integrative geophysical survey, such as a seismic reflection campaign to get more detailed information about the structure of the basement (faults, highs and lows) as well as on the variability of its depth and the thickness of the sediment cover

Engineering Customized Cell Sensing and Response Behaviors Using Synthetic Notch Receptors

The Notch protein is one of the most mechanistically direct transmembrane receptors—the intracellular domain contains a transcriptional regulator that is released from the membrane when engagement of the cognate extracellular ligand induces intramembrane proteolysis. We find that chimeric forms of Notch, in which both the extracellular sensor module and the intracellular transcriptional module are replaced with heterologous protein domains, can serve as a general platform for generating novel cell-cell contact signaling pathways. Synthetic Notch (synNotch) pathways can drive user-defined functional responses in diverse mammalian cell types. Because individual synNotch pathways do not share common signaling intermediates, the pathways are functionally orthogonal. Thus, multiple synNotch receptors can be used in the same cell to achieve combinatorial integration of environmental cues, including Boolean response programs, multi-cellular signaling cascades, and self-organized cellular patterns. SynNotch receptors provide extraordinary flexibility in engineering cells with customized sensing/response behaviors to user-specified extracellular cues

Vulnerability and vulnerable groups from an intersectionality perspective

In general, the identification and protection of vulnerable groups in the case of hazards or when a crisis unfolds is an issue that any crisis and disaster risk management should address, since people have different levels of exposure to hazards and crises. In this article, we promote the application of the intersectionality perspective in the study of vulnerable groups, and we call for intersectionality as a guiding principle in risk and crisis management, to provide a better and more nuanced picture of vulnerabilities and vulnerable groups. This can help national and local authorities and agencies to formulate specific guides, to hire staff with the skills necessary to meet particular needs, and to inform vulnerable groups in a particular way, taking into account the differences that may coexist within the same group. Intersectionality allows us to read vulnerability not as the characteristic of some socio-demographic groups. It is rather the result of different and interdependent societal stratification processes that result in multiple dimensions of marginalisation. In this vein, we argue that research should focus on 1) self-perceived vulnerability of individuals and an intersectionality approach to unpack vulnerable groups; 2) cases of crises according to the level and/or likelihood of individual exposure to hazards, to better nuance issues of vulnerability.publishedVersio

The sound of silence:Transgene silencing in mammalian cell engineering

To elucidate principles operating in native biological systems and to develop novel biotechnologies, synthetic biology aims to build and integrate synthetic gene circuits within native transcriptional networks. The utility of synthetic gene circuits for cell engineering relies on the ability to control the expression of all constituent transgene components. Transgene silencing, defined as the loss of expression over time, persists as an obstacle for engineering primary cells and stem cells with transgenic cargos. In this review, we highlight the challenge that transgene silencing poses to the robust engineering of mammalian cells, outline potential molecular mechanisms of silencing, and present approaches for preventing transgene silencing. We conclude with a perspective identifying future research directions for improving the performance of synthetic gene circuits.ISSN:2405-472