Library: Earth and Environmental Sciences

Due to recent climate change, the character of environmental regional planning has shifted to address the anticipated extreme increases in sea level rise. As such, this project, based on existing scientific research/data, proposes a spatial, habitable landscape architectural solution as a model for flood mitigation for the East coastal edge. This proposal tests the potential for resilient coastal landscapes through a particular site located on Revere Beach, along with the New England coast in Massachusetts. The study demonstrates how through new public spaces designed to renew and protect the ...

Anaerobic digestion is the most widely process used for the stabilisation of wastewater treatment sludge. Organic matter is transformed into CH4 and CO2 by the action of different bacteria groups. The main advantages are the reduction of the volume of waste sludge and the production of methane gas that can be utilized as energy supply for the process. During anaerobic digestion of activated sludge from enhanced biological phosphorus removal process (EBPR-process), most of the phosphorus eliminated during the water treatment, as well as that from cellular lysis, is released. So that, phosphorus...

Groundwater represents an important supply source for municipal and irrigation uses in Far West Texas. The City of El Paso receives about 50 percent of its municipal water supply from surface water and 50 percent from local groundwater. Groundwater pumping in El Paso is from the Hueco Bolson and the Mesilla Bolson. Historic groundwater pumping in the Texas portion of the Mesilla Bolson has not resulted in significant changes in groundwater levels or groundwater quality in existing wells. Historic pumping in the Hueco Bolson has resulted in lowered groundwater levels and brackish groundwater ...

Simulation modeling is arguably the most versatile scientific tool for predicting the future environment. However, the reliability of model-based predictions is limited to the behavior domain defined by the historical data employed for conceptualizing and calibrating the model. Future changes in external inputs and internal structure tend to produce system behavior significantly different from prior predictions. To abate this seeming lack of credibility, it is now customary to qualify model predictions with uncertainty estimates. This dissertation explores the complementary approach of back-ca...

The Agulhas Retroflection transfers heat, salt and vorticity from the Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic. The transfer is accomplished by discrete meso-scale features and by the advection of a water column of mixed Atlantic and Indian Ocean origins. The objectives of this thesis are to measure the strength of the Agulhas-South Atlantic (ASA) exchange and to develop a generalized method for the measurement of mass and thermohaline fluxes. First, ASA mass and energy fluxes are estimated by using sea surface height (SSH) anomalies from satellite altimetry to monitor Agulhas eddies, a signifi...

In recent years, due to expanding populations and industries, regulatory authorities have imposed tighter discharge limits on nutrients from wastewater treatment facilities to avoid eutrophication in water streams. Common methods, such as metal salt precipitation, are being used to lower phosphorus concentrations which are a main contribution. However, alternate phosphorus removal techniques, such as phosphorus crystallisation, can provide further benefits. Precipitated solid can be utilised as a marketable fertiliser. Principles of magnesium and ammonia phosphate precipitation, working with a...

The efficiency of a probabilistic hydrological forecasting system with weather radar and the Probability distributed hydrological model (PDM) was evaluated at the Brue catchment; south-western England. The ability of the radar to measure gauged precipitation in 2007 (regarded as the ground truth) was evaluated using Normalized Bias (NB) and Normalized Error (NE) statistics as the objective function of evaluation. The radar overestimated precipitation measurements by average gauges with NB value of 0.41 and a considerably low NE of 0.68. Furthermore, the effectiveness of a Deterministic nowcas...

A field experiment was conducted at farmer’s field of Anandapur, Mangalpur VDC-3, Chitwan, Nepal during winter season from September 2006 to February 2007 to study the effects of nitrogen and plant population on maize. Fifteen treatment combinations consisting of five levels of nitrogen: 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg N/ha and three levels of plant population; 55555 plants/ha (60 cm × 30 cm spacing), 66666 plants/ha (60 cm × 25 cm spacing) and 83333 plants/ha (60 cm × 20 cm spacing) were tested in factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications. “Rampur Composite” variety of ...

The Louisiana timber industry relies on the availability of harvestable trees. In areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the black turpentine beetle (Dendroctonus terebrans) contributed to the mortality of loblolly (Pinus taeda) and slash (Pinus elliottii) pine trees. This timber loss due to natural causes reduces the landowner’s earnings The BTB girdles the cambium layer of pines that are weakened by wind or drought. This study estimated post-Rita beetle damage on a 458-acre slash pine tract consisting of 157 trees per acre on the West Bay Wildlife Management Area, Louisiana. Timber ...

This study was conducted in South Africa. South Africa is the first country within the Southern African Development Community to have regulated plastic shopping bags waste through the imposition of both a standard on thickness and a levy. Given this scenario, the Plastic Bags Regulations present an illustrative case for researching complexity, uncertainty and controversies surrounding a new trend in environmental policy making, namely waste product regulation. The thesis focuses on understanding and investigating tensions, debates and responses emerging from the policy process as actors and ac...