Südchina, insbes. die Provinz Guandong, ist eines der am dichtesten besiedelten Gebiete der Erde. Positive Konsequenz dieser Ballung ist eine äußerst dynamische Wirtschaftsentwicklung, aber gerade diese von subtropischem Monsunklima geprägte Region ist auch immer wieder Ausgangspunkt für sich schnell und zunehmend global ausbreitende epidemische Krankheiten wie zuletzt SARS. Mit der globalen Erwärmung einhergehende Klimaveränderungen könnten sich für diese Region insbesondere durch Veränderungen der Häufigkeit und Intensität tropischer Wirbelstürme, aber auch Änderungen der Niederschlagsmenge- und Intensität bemerkbar machen. Im Gegensatz zu den schon recht umfangreichen Datensätzen aus der Südchinesischen See (SCS) gibt es bisher jedoch nur sehr wenige terrestrische Paläoklimaarchive aus der Region, die Klimaveränderungen während des Holozäns, des Spätglazials oder Glazials hochauflösend dokumentieren. Wir haben deshalb einen an der nördlichen Küste der SCS gelegenen Maarsee ausgewählt, um über die Analyse von Proxydaten aus Seesedimenten solche Paläo-Klimavariationen zu untersuchen. Aus dem Sediment des Huguang-Maarsees wurden mittels Usinger-Präzisionsstechtechnik von einem Floss aus insgesamt 7 Sedimentsequenzen gewonnen, von denen die tiefste bis 57 m unter den Seeboden reicht. Die zeitliche Einstufung der Profile wurde mit Hilfe von 17 Radiokohlenstoff-Datierungen vorgenommen und ergab ein extrapoliertes Maximalalter von ca. 78.000 Jahren. Ein breites Spektrum aus sedimentologischen, geochemischen, paläo- und gesteinsmagnetischen sowie palynologischen Methoden kam sodann zum Einsatz, um die Paläo-Umweltbedingungen, die natürlich immer das entsprechende Klima widerspiegeln, während dieses Zeitraumes zu rekonstruieren. Überraschenderweise ergab sich ein von vielen bekannten Klimaprofilen der Nordhemisphäre (insbes. des Atlantikraumes, aber auch mariner Kerne aus dem Indik und Südostasien) abweichendes Muster. Im Gegensatz zu dem bekannten Grundmuster eines vergleichsweise stabilen Klimas während des Holozäns und stärkerer Schwankungen während des letzten Glazials weisen die Daten aus dem Huguang-Maarsee für das letzte Glazial im Zeitraum zwischen 15.000 und 40.000 Jahren auf relativ stabile Umweltbedingungen hin. Die älteren Bereiche zwischen 40.000 und ca. 78.000 Jahren haben durch Eintrag von umgelagertem Torf eine eher lokale Komponente und sind somit für den regionalen und globalen Vergleich ungeeignet. Das Holozän hingegen zeichnet sich durch hohe Schwankungsamplituden vieler Proxydaten (Karbonatgehalt, magnetische Suszeptibilität, organischer Kohlenstoff, Trockendichte, gesteinsmagnetische Parameter, Redox-Verhältnisse) aus, die auf ein recht variables Klima hinweisen. Besonders interessant ist die Übergangsphase vom Glazial zum Holozän, die bei etwa 15.000 Jahren vor heute in etwa zeitgleich mit dem beobachteten stärksten Meeresspiegelanstieg der Südchinesischen See einsetzt und eine abrupte Intensitätszunahme des Sommermonsuns anzeigt
In the framework of the international ANtarctic DRILLing program (ANDRILL) the 1138 m deep core borehole SMS was drilled in the Southern McMurdo Sound (Ross Sea). The investigations of Antarctic Neogene ice sheet variations, of long-term climate evolutions and of the tectonic history of McMurdo Sound represent the main project aims. One part of the German participation in the ANDRILL project is the extensive geophysical logging of the SMS borehole. It delivers a main basis for answering a lot of questions in the scope of the whole project consisting of about 100 scientists. Interpreting the downhole logging data permits among other things to establish a complete lithological log, to characterize the drilled sediments petrophysically, to determine sedimentary structures and to get evidence about palaeoclimatic conditions during up to 19 Mio years. Seismic experiments in the borehole allow linking detailed geological information with shipborne seismic sections. This way, local results can be transformed into spatial information thus providing an important contribution to the understanding of the tectonic structure of the Ross Sea.
We are proposing an SSA 'SEARCH for DAMOCLES' that is based on recent initiatives started in Europe and the USA in the field of Arctic marine ecosystems and Global change, with specific emphasis on Arctic Ocean long-term observatories. The SSA will capitalize on opportunities and significant benefits arising from coordination of large scale research programmes such as the European Integrated Project DAMOCLES (Developing Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental studies) and the US research program SEARCH (Study of Environmental ARctic Change). 'SEARCH for DAMOCLES', positioned in the domain of Arctic Science, will be particularly timely in the context of the International Polar Year and will significantly contribute to the coordinated implementation of the DAMOCLES and SEARCH work programmes in the field of Global Change and Ecosystems. Close synchronization of these programmes will enhance the acquisition of pan-arctic data sets, and their analysis, the dissemination and archiving of results, as well as heightening public awareness. International workshops and conferences including other partners such as Canada, Russia, and Asian countries (Japan, China, and South Korea), will enable translation of the results into planning of integrated, future activities that will be based on the SSA 'SEARCH for DAMOCLES'. The coordination and synchronization of Arctic programs such as DAMOCLES and SEARCH, through an SSA is a unique opportunity to ensure the necessary pan-arctic coverage of observations and data evaluation for understanding Arctic system variability, avoiding major gaps and unnecessary overlaps. This EU-US SSA will also contribute to promotion and facilitation of future RTD activities via prospective studies, exploratory measures and pilot actions. The EU-US SSA 'SEARCH for DAMOCLES' is proposed for 3 years covering the 3 last years of the 4-year DAMOCLES Integrated Project (2006-2009) and the 2 years of the IPY (2007-2008). Prime Contactor: Universite Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris VI; Paris; France.
The ZEF research focuses on the Tungabhadra basin in south India, which is one of the four basins studied in the project. Tungabhadra river is a tributary of the Krishna river. ZEF will be mainly active in Work Package (WP) 9 IWRM in the twinned Tungabhadra and Tejo/Tagus river basins, with a focus and land and water use interactions . The research focuses on the interaction between irrigated and rainfed farming in the lower Tungabhadra basin, in the border area of the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The districts on the Karnataka side are Raichur, Koppal and Bellary, on the Andhra Pradesh side Mahbubnagar and Kurnool. Some of the sub-themes ZEF will look at, together with other partners, are: 1) Flows and relations (people (livelihood linkages, labour), nutrients and energy, money/income, water); 2) Institutional and policy (dis)integration (departmental coordination, agency coordination, policy contradictions and alignments); 3) Innovations (water saving farming systems (SRI and other), (tiered) water users associations, water pricing and water rights, substitutability of technical and institutional solutions to water problems); 4) History (heads and tails of different kinds: the spatial dimension of social differentiation; evolution of policy regimes, natural resources degradation/conservation in historical perspective, land and water use change over time and its implications). It is part of the research design to compare the situation in the Tungabhadra basin with that in the Tajo/Tegus basin in Spain/Portugal. Other basins studied in the larger project are the Glomma basin in Norway and the Sesan basin in Vietnam/Cambodia).
The Mediterranean Partner Countries of the European Union are confronted with a rapidly increasing energy demand caused by a growing population especially in cities and increasing living standards. The region has a great potential for the use of renewable energies, notably solar energy due to its high level of solar radiation. However, only a small variety of solar thermal technologies is used in the region. The state of technology and the political support mechanisms vary strongly across the region and in relation to the EU countries, where new solar thermal applications for water and space heating as well as cooling are developed. SOLATERM is an EU-funded project that brings together research institutions, energy agencies, authorities and enterprises from EU and the Southern Mediterranean partners. The project consortium with partners from eight Southern Mediterranean and five EU countries has the aim of promoting the application of a new generation of solar thermal systems in the Mediterranean partner countries. SOLATERM combines the technological know-how of EU research institutions with the specific experiences and knowledge of the Southern Mediterranean partners. The EU partners provide important experiences in developing a successful political framework to boost the use of renewable energy.
The objective of this project is to quantify near-surface processes for predicting soil degradation by erosion and changes in the water balance, in the context of dry environmental conditions. Field and laboratory experiments, remote sensing observations, and hydrological and erosion modelling are combined to improve process understanding and to further develop prognostic methods for the assessment of soil degradation. The study area is located in refilled landscapes left over from the Niederlausitzer coal-mining industry (Brandenburg region, Eastern Germany ). The area is particularly suitable for this study because it is characterised by exceptionally dry climate conditions for Central European standards, and because it is free of vegetation or covered by sparse vegetation only. Specific goals of the study are: Monitoring and modelling of near-surface processes to predict runoff generation and erosion by water. Coupling of remote sensing data with field measurements to derive information about soil surface characteristics, erosion status and near-surface soil moisture content. Examining the influence of soil moisture / dryness on soil-physical and hydrological parameters, such as hydrophobicity, surface crusts, infiltration capacity, water storage capacity. Study area: The study area in Welzow-Süd (South-East of Germany, close to the town of Cottbus) of 4 ha in size was refilled in 2001 after mining by sediments of different origin and properties, with the major contributions being composed of two different sandy materials of Tertiary and Quaternary origin and, third, by clay deposits. The focus of the this study is on the sandy areas. While the Tertiary deposits are free of vegetation, an initial sparse vegetation cover of grasses has developed on the other areas. Runoff from the test site is episodic. These conditions, together with low annual rainfall volumes, make the test site a valuable pilot study area for the development of monitoring and modelling approaches to assess erosion and soil degradation processes in dryland areas.
All EU Member States face economic and ecological losses due to forest damages. Thus, combating forest dieback, as for example caused by climate change, is a contribution to human safety and well-being and the sustainable development of Europe. The Feasibility Study on means of combating forest dieback in the European Union was initiated by the European Parliament demanding the European Commission to develop a concrete proposal for preventing, mitigating and control forest dieback in the EU. The study was carried out by the Institute for World Forestry and the European Forest Institute (EFI) in 2007. The main objectives of the study were to: - review the different factors affecting forest dieback in the EU and their related causes, - analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of available EU legislations and instruments to combat forest dieback in the EU and - examine the possibilities for establishing a specialised entity for forest protection. In the scope of the feasibility study a survey was conducted in the EU Member States on the importance of damaging agents in EU27 forests. The results of the survey show that the importance of individual threats to forest ecosystem health and vitality varies within European regions. Insects, storm/windfall, and fire were regarded as the most serious threats in Central Europe, Western Europe and Southern Europe respectively. Regional differences exist in relation to damage types and intensity, which thus reflect the importance for particular instruments to prevent, mitigate and control various causes of forest dieback. The feasibility study showed that at the EU level several efficient and well established measures have been implemented which contribute to the prevention, mitigation and control of forest dieback. The study showed also that as a consequence of the current state and the predicted development of environmental pressures, such as climate change, future activities on the EU level to combat forest dieback are urgently needed. Existing measures have to be further developed in order to (a) increase synergy effects between individual instruments, (b) make the instruments more transparent to the entire range of potential stakeholders and beneficiaries, and (c) improve the communication between the different actors involved. A major challenge will be to incorporate future patterns of forest dieback, into existing, amended or new measures. Only the triad of prevention, mitigation and control will put the EU into a position to maintain and enhance the multiple, beneficial functions of forests and their contribution to the quality of life.
High-quality chronologies of late Pleistocene tropical climate have become increasingly important in discussions concerning tropical forcing of deglaciation, i.e., the transition from a glacial to an interglacial. The key argument of this hypothesis is that tropical climate leads high-latitude ice volumes by several thousand years. A tropical forcing of deglaciation would also help to explain why ice ages occur in both hemispheres simultaneously, although the changes in solar irradiance from orbital variations have opposite effects in the two hemispheres. Lake Naivasha provides a unique opportunity to study a continuous record of tropical climate changes during the last two glacial-interglacial cycles (approximately 175 kyr) through sedimentologic and paleoecologic changes reflected in the sediments. We propose a two-step strategy to reconstruct the lake history during this period: (A) a high-resolution seismic survey to characterize the depositional setting, lake-level fluctuations and neotectonics in the Naivasha basin. This survey will also guide up to the best sites for (B) two 50- and 40-m-long sediment cores from the present lake area. These sediment records are expected to fill the gap between a well-studied section exposed south of the present lake (175 to 60 kyr before present) and two sediment cores studied in the 1960's (25 kyr to present).
South Tirol is an important region for apple production in Europe. The mild climate allows a high productivity but during the last decades, winter damage on apple trees was observed in 3 to 4 year intervals at numerous sites in South Tirol. This winter damage in apple orchards is economically relevant as e.g. in season 2004/2005 costs of more than 6 Mio Euros were caused. There are several indications that the observed dieback of crown parts or even trees was related to frost drought. The situation is comparable to that of trees at the timberline, where winter damage was analysed in previous projects. Based on our experience with trees growing at the alpine timberline, we hypothesize that winter damage in South Tirol apple orchards is strongly influenced by the duration of water uptake blockages, the extent of transpirational water losses, the trees water storage capacity as well as the climatic conditions in autumn. We expect damage in living tissues as well as xylem embolism to cause prolonged drought stress in spring. In the proposed project, these aspects will be analysed and avoidance strategies will be developed. In field measurements at five apple orchards in South Tirol, climatic conditions and effects on tree water relations (water potential, hydraulic conductivity, water storage, transpiration) as well as winter injury will be quantified, and in experimental approaches important parameters will be analysed in detail. These data will be compared with hydraulic characteristics (vulnerability to embolism, drought resistance of living tissues, water storage capacity) of studied varieties. In consequence, numerous varieties will be screened for resistance to frost drought, whereby hydraulic as well as related anatomical parameters will be analysed to develop a valuable screening protocol for variety selection. Cultivation techniques to avoid winter damage will also be tested in thi u.s.w.
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