Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Nature and Society Relations
Barrier islands as coupled human–landscape systems
Published: 2021-04-09
Subjects: Geomorphology, Nature and Society Relations, Sustainability
There are nearly 300 barrier islands between Maine and Texas, and of these, at least 70 are intensively developed. Mean population density along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are the highest in the country. Such concentrated development exists and continues despite the fact that barrier islands are transient landscapes, not only over geologic time scales of millennia but also within human and [...]
The UK needs an open data portal dedicated to coastal flood and erosion hazard risk and resilience
Published: 2020-12-18
Subjects: Geographic Information Sciences, Geomorphology, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Sustainability
In the UK, coastal flooding and erosion are two of the primary climate-related hazards to communities, businesses, and infrastructure. To better address the ramifications of those hazards, now and into the future, the UK needs to transform its scattered, fragmented coastal data resources into a systematic, integrated, quality-controlled, openly accessible data portal. Such a portal would support [...]
Climate change research and action must look beyond 2100
Published: 2020-12-17
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Anthropogenic activity is changing Earth’s climate and ecosystems in ways that are potentially dangerous and disruptive to humans. Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise, ensuring these changes will be felt for centuries beyond 2100, the current benchmark for prediction. Estimating the effects of past, current, and potential future emissions to only 2100 is therefore [...]
Operationalising coastal resilience to flood and erosion hazard: A demonstration for England
Published: 2020-12-03
Subjects: Geomorphology, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Sustainability
Resilience is widely seen as an important attribute of coastal systems and, as a concept, is increasingly prominent in policy documents. However, there are conflicting ideas on what constitutes resilience and its operationalisation as an overarching principle of coastal management remains limited. In this paper, we show how resilience to coastal flood and erosion hazard could be measured and [...]
Comparing patterns of hurricane washover into built and unbuilt environments
Published: 2020-10-23
Subjects: Geomorphology, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Sustainability
Extreme geohazard events can change landscape morphology by redistributing huge volumes of sediment. Event-driven sediment deposition is typically studied in unbuilt settings – despite the ubiquity of occurrence and high economic cost of these geohazard impacts in built environments. Moreover, sedimentary consequences of extreme events in built settings tend to go unrecorded because they are [...]
Climate has contrasting direct and indirect effects on armed conflicts
Published: 2020-07-08
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Human Geography, International and Area Studies, Library and Information Science, Life Sciences, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Statistics and Probability
There is an active debate regarding the influence that climate has on the risk of armed conflict, which stems from challenges in assembling unbiased datasets, competing hypotheses on the mechanisms of climate influence, and the difficulty of disentangling direct and indirect climate effects. We use gridded historical non-state conflict records, satellite data, and land surface models in a [...]
A framework to quantify the human footprint in Africa using supply and demand of net primary production
Published: 2020-05-29
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Sustainability
The human-environment connection in the mostly rural drylands of Africa forms a complex, interlinked system that provides ecosystem services. This system is susceptible to climatic variability that impacts the supply of its products, and high population growth, which impacts the demand for these products. When plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis, [...]
The El Niño – La Niña cycle and recent trends in supply and demand of net primary productivity in African drylands
Published: 2019-04-24
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Sciences, Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences
The role of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the balance between supply and demand of net primary productivity (NPP) over Africa is unclear. Here, we analyze the impact of ENSO on this balance in a spatially explicit framework using gridded population data from the WorldPop project, satellite-derived data on NPP supply, and statistical data from the United Nations. Our analyses demonstrate [...]
Balancing Open Science and Data Privacy in the Water Sciences
Published: 2019-03-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Hydrology, Library and Information Science, Nature and Society Relations, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Water Resource Management
Open science practices such as publishing data and code are transforming water science by enabling synthesis and enhancing reproducibility. However, as research increasingly bridges the physical and social science domains (e.g., socio-hydrology), there is the potential for well-meaning researchers to unintentionally violate the privacy and security of individuals or communities by sharing [...]
Current Development of Tourism and Recreation on Baltic Sea Coasts: New Directions and Perspectives
Published: 2019-02-14
Subjects: Education, Environmental Studies, Geography, Human Geography, Medicine and Health Sciences, Nature and Society Relations, Other Geography, Physical and Environmental Geography, Rehabilitation and Therapy, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science
Research work analyses current situation and development of tourism in the region of Baltic Sea. Specific case study of this paper is Pärnu Bay, Estonia. This region is known for unique environmental settings: mild maritime climate, broad beaches, coniferous pine forests on the coastal zone and high aesthetic value of the surrounding landscapes. However, after the end of USSR, Estonia survived a [...]
Opportunities for Classes of Geography in the High School: the Use of ’CORINE’ Project Data, Satellite Images and IDRISI GIS for Geovisualization
Published: 2019-02-14
Subjects: Adult and Continuing Education, Education, Educational Methods, Environmental Education, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Higher Education, Human Geography, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Science and Mathematics Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Sustainability
Presented work illustrates application of the GIS based processing of various geographic data: satellite images and CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) layers at the lessons of geography in the high schools and universities. The research illustrates GIS application for understanding, visualizing and modeling landscapes of the Earth. Practically, the work aims to demonstrate [...]
Sustainability of the Marine Environment Towards the Anthropogenic Impacts in the Ecosystem of the Barents Sea
Published: 2019-01-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Education, Environmental Education, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Science and Mathematics Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Water Resource Management
Among all Arctic seas, the Barents Sea is characterized by its unique environment and high level of the biodiversity. At the same time the Gulf Stream waters transport large amounts of pollutants in the Barents Sea bringing various contaminants and substances from the North Sea. Nowadays, there are in Timan Pechora-Carboniferous basin located in the Barents Sea with 76 oil and gas subsidies, [...]
Report for the Yujiang Government on the China-UK Knowledge Exchange Project for the Red Soil Critical Zone
Published: 2018-12-19
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Knowledge exchange (KE) has been increasingly used to translate the scientific findings to produce outputs that inform land users and policy makers to lead to the sustainable environmental management. As part of the wider China-UK Critical Zone (CZ) programme, a KE research project was conducted to help ensure research results can be more effectively delivered to those who need them. Following on [...]
Report for the Puding Government on the China-UK Karst Knowledge Exchange Project
Published: 2018-12-13
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Water Resource Management
The report summaries the first stage output from the Knowledge Exchange (KE) research carried out in one of China’s rural areas in the karst landscape, aiming to understand the local knowledge sharing dynamic and learning preference of stakeholders. A social science survey was carried out in November 2016 in 7 villages of Puding County to 15 county leaders, 8 town leaders and 24 village leaders [...]
Summary Report of China-UK Knowledge Exchange Project for Their Critical Zone Programme
Published: 2018-12-12
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Water Resource Management
Global to local environmental policy-making is increasingly evidenced-based. Knowledge exchange (KE) is increasingly used by environmental scientists and policymakers, to deliver evidence-based policy and practice. This study presents the output from the KE research project within the China-UK Critical Zone (CZ) programme in China from 2016 to 2018, focussing on understanding: (i) the key issues [...]