|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONTENT 1 (2) 2009
GEOGRAPHY
M.V.àLomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory, Moscow, 119991, Russia
E-mail: vkonish@mail.ru
Abstract:
The purpose of the paper is to discuss responses of the cryolithozone to two different scale warming events: (1) climate warming of
recent decades at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, and (2) climate warming in the
interval between the cryochron in the late Pleistocene through the Holocene. Changes in several permafrost parameters that occur
with climate warming were influenced by the entire complex of landscape characteristics and landscape components that also change
under climate warming. This phenomenon may explain why in certain landscapes during climate warming aggradational changes, such as
a decrease or stabilization of permafrost temperatures, decrease in the thickness of the seasonal freezing/thawing layer, and
increase in the ice content of the upper permafrost layers, are present along with degradation processes (e.g., permafrost
temperature increase, increase in the area of taliks, etc.)
Key words: climatic and non-climatic factor of heat exchange, lateral and frontal permafrost degradation,
protective layer, ice complex.
Sergej S.àZilitinkevich
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), PO Box 503, 00101 Helsinki, Finland
Phone: +358-9-1929-4678
Fax: +358-9-1929-4103
http://pbl-pmes.fmi.fi/
E-mail: sergej.zilitinkevich@fmi.fi
Division of Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysics, Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research,
Thormohlensgt. 47, N-5006 Bergen, Norway
A.M.àObukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Igor N.àEsau
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research,
Thormohlensgt. 47, N-5006 Bergen, Norway
E-mail: igore@nersc.no
Abstract:
A remarkable feature of the ongoing global warming is the asymmetry in trends of the daily minima and maxima, of the surface air
temperature (SAT): daily minima increases faster than daily maxima, so that the daily temperature range (DTR), basically decreases.
The state of the art general circulation and climate models (GCMs) do not reproduce it and predict approximately the same change
rates for daily minima and daily maxima. We propose that the difference in trends of daily minima and daily maxima is caused by the
strong stability dependence of the height, h, of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Indeed, the daytime warming is
associated with deep convective (C) PBLs (with the heights hCà~à103àm), in contrast to the nocturnal
and/or wintertime cooling associated with shallower mid-latitudinal nocturnal stable (NS) PBLs (with
hNSà~à200àm) and even shallower high-latitudinal long-lived stable (LS) PBLs (with
hLSà~à30Ö50àm) developing during longer than night periods of the persistent surface cooling. As a result, one
and the same increment in the surface heat flux leads to only minor increment in daily maxima in deep C PBLs, but essential
increments in daily minima in shallow NS and especially NS PBLs. The latter type of the PBL has been discovered only recently and
is not yet accounted for in modern GCMs. In the present paper, we derive theoretical estimates of the variations, the daily minima,
and maxima, in the SAT minima and maxima associated with the stable and convective PBLs, respectively, and by this means explain
the observed asymmetry in the growth rates of daily minima and the daily maxima. To characterise the role of PBLs in the climate
system, we introduce the concepts of local and general PBL feedbacks. Besides the strengths of feedbacks, we propose to take into
account the reaction times of different mechanisms. The proposed concepts could be applied to different climate-change problems
from global (as in this paper) to local, in particular, to those caused by the land-use modification.
Key words: climate change, daily maxima and minima in SAT, daily temperature range (DTR), global warming,
stable and convective planetary boundary layers (PBLs), sensitivity of SAT and DTR to the PBL height,
surface air temperature (SAT).
Faculty of Geography, M.V.àLomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, Moscow, 119991, Russia
E-mail: lan1@mail.ru
Abstract:
The banking system is the core of the financial sector (outside of public finance) and a key element of the modern economy as a
whole. In Russia, the period between 2000 and 2007 was successful for the commercial banks; we could watch a rapid growth of most
indicators of their activities. Significant internal diversity of natural and socio-economic geography of Russia has a noticeable
impact on the development of the banking system. The paper presents the authorsÒ typology of the regions of Russia and the attempt
to link the level of development and character of development of the banking sector to the unique features of respective
territories.
Key words: banking, finance, geography, crisis, Russia, regions, typology.
ENVIRONMENT
Institute of Remote Sensing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101
E-mail: weihong.cui@gmail.com,
king1302217@yahoo.com.cn
Abstract:
This paper demonstrates the scientific basis, operation mechanism, technical support and informatization of circular economy,
including the following building blocks: physics, ecology, systematic science and regional science. It also analyzes the way these
various elements support the development of circular economy and how they interrelate. This paper also discusses entropy increasing
and decreasing processes, as well as the dynamic equilibrium between these two processes. The paper demonstrates the basic
framework of circular economy operation mechanism and its technical support system. Information technology is fundamental to
circular economy. In order to promote the development of circular economy, we must vigorously promote circular economy
informatization.
Key words: scientific basis of circular economy, information negative entropy, technical support system,
circular economy informatization.
Elena V.àMilanova, Boris A.àAlekseev, Natalia N.àKalutskova, Vladimir N.àSolntsev, Pavel A.àTcherkashin
Faculty of Geography, M.V.àLomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Phone: +7-495-9393842
E-mail: emilanova@fund-sd.ru
Ivan Bicik
Prirodovedchesky Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Abstract:
The present-day landscape methodology of land use/cover change studying is presented. It provides a base for perceiving the world
as a system of interrelated territorial units (present-day landscapes) with closed interaction of natural and socio-economic
subsystems, different degree and trends of land cover/land use anthropogenic replacement by managed systems of altered structure.
The hierarchical land cover classificatory scheme is proposed on the base of analysis of present-day landscape structure,
elaboration of integrated landscape modeling principles and scale-dependent land cover applications. Land cover mapping and
classification have been conducted at macroregional (the whole Russia), regional (European part of country) and local (key areas)
levels using combination of remote sensing data, traditional maps and in-field observations. The resultant land cover maps and
databases contain multiple information layers and statistics and could be used for elaboration of rational land use policy and land
management in Russia.
Key words: present-day landscape, scale-dependent land cover classification, and remote sensing data.
Laboratory of Bioindication of Ecosystems, Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry,
Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences 664033, 132, Lermontova st., P.O.Box 317, Irkutsk, Russia
E-mail: alexander_sizykh@yahoo.com,
bioin@sifibr.irk.ru
Abstract:
This paper presents a discussion on the dynamics and spatial variability of vegetation in response to climate change in the Baikal
region. The geography and environment of the region determined the development of structurally highly contrasting plant
communities. Increase in annual mean summer rainfall and annual mean winter temperatures over the last years have altered spatial
structure of vegetation, which resulted in increasingly more gradual forest to steppe transition. The upper boundary of forest is
changing following changes in environmental properties responsible for vertical zonation of vegetation in the mountains surrounding
Lake Baikal. Changes in vegetation serve as indicators of climate change and provide diagnostic tools for monitoring the
development of the Baikal regionÒs natural environment.
Key words: spatial structure of vegetation, taiga-steppe communities.
SUSTAINABILITY
UniversiteÒ Libre de Bruxelles, Royal Belgian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts
E-mail: cvdmotte@ulb.ac.be
Abstract:
The geography of the European economy is characterized by a centreà× periphery pattern, which is not only a quantitative one, but
also qualitative. The main opposition is between a central belt, from the centre of the UK toward the centre of Italy, through the
Rhine axis, with Paris at the edge, and Central-Eastern and Eastern Europe. Mediterranean Europe is in an intermediate position,
but Southern Scandinavia is strongly developed too notwithstanding its quite peripheral location. For the most, this pattern is
already present before the Industrial revolution, even if this latter deepened strongly the gaps. It is linked to the forms of the
merchant capitalist developments from the Middle ages and with the forms of building of the Modern States, in particular the
relative weights of the big feudal landowners and of the capitalist merchants. The first phases of the Industrial revolution
concentrated the development on the Western coal basins and main cities, in particular the capitals, but the Fordist developments
after WW2 favoured more peripheral labour pools or even remote industrial polygons in the South of Europe, mainly coastal. The
present post-Fordist developments, linked with the globalisation of the world economy, privileges at new the main metropolitan and
central areas, which are the nodes of the worldwide networks, and also competitivity vs. cohesion. At the same time, they lead to
deepening social gaps. In spite of the strengthening of the European integration, the present geo-economic evolutions remain
strongly influenced by the characteristics of the national capitalisms.
Key words: Europe, spatial structures, economy, capitalism, centreà× periphery.
Center for Administration and Management, New Bulgarian University, 21 Montevideo Street, 1618 Sofia, Bulgaria
Professor Emeritus, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Tel +359-0894965470
E-mail: bakerr@indiana.edu
Abstract:
Sustainability is, incontestably, a Ógood thing.Ô But, however obvious that may seem, much of our economic and social behavior
disregards even the basic requirements for sustainablility to become a reality. At the same time, Science lays down the Órules of
the gameÔ as derived from evolution, for living in harmony with our resources and our life-support system. Yet again, much of
modern social behavior seems to deny these basic rules and borders on the irrational. The three key elements to making
sustainability work are Science, Policy and Values, but even more important is the way these interact. This paper explores what is
wrong with the current interaction, and what it would take to fix it.
Key words: Sustainability, environmental policy, environmental economics, financial crisis.
|
|
|
