Proximity Of Water Bodies Research Articles

Environmental risks of plastic losses from landfills: A comparative study of divisional cities in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, where nearly 95% of landfills are unsanitary or open dumps, these sites are significant contributors to environmental plastic pollution, making it a critical issue for the country. This study presents a framework to quantify the risk index of plastic losses from landfills across the eight major divisional cities of Bangladesh. The assessment focuses on three key components: hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. The hazard index is derived from local weather and climate data, exposure is evaluated based on the proximity of water bodies and urban areas, and vulnerability is measured using population, landfill, and waste production data. The study employs a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to quantify and compare the levels of exposure, vulnerability, and overall risk among the cities. The results reveal that Sylhet is located in a severe hazard zone, Dhaka faces severe exposure and vulnerability, and Chittagong experiences very high levels of exposure and vulnerability. Overall, Dhaka is categorized as severe in risk, while Chittagong and Sylhet are classified as very high risk, with other cities at comparatively safer risk levels. Cities identified with severe to high-risk levels must urgently address plastic losses. This city-wise assessment provides valuable insights for urban planners and policymakers, enabling them to identify and prioritize cities in urgent need of interventions to mitigate environmental plastic losses, and to focus on the reduction, substitution, and management of plastics.

Evaluation of RUSLE and spatial assessment of agricultural soil erosion in Finland

Agricultural soil erosion has negative effects on surface water quality and aquatic ecosystems. A major impediment to agricultural erosion management in Finland has been the lack of high-resolution country-scale data on the spatial distribution of erosion. As a result, erosion mitigation measures have been targeted with limited information. Therefore, we evaluated the performance of the widely used RUSLE model against measurements from experimental fields, used the model to produce a two-metre resolution crop and management independent erosion estimate for all agricultural lands of Finland, and analysed erosion over different spatial scales. RUSLE showed skill (R2 = 0.76, NSE = 0.72) in estimating the observed erosion at experimental fields (55–2100 kg ha−1 yr−1) but with large errors (mean: −134 kg ha−1 yr−1, 90% range: −711 and 218 kg ha−1 yr−1). The evaluation, however, suggests that RUSLE performs similarly in Finland as elsewhere. The analysis of the developed country-scale data, in turn, revealed high erosion regions, and it showed how erosion varies between sub-catchment and between and within field parcels. For example, high-erosion areas concentrated in the proximity of water bodies were identified at the sub-catchment and within-field parcel scales. Altogether, the results demonstrate the predictive skill of RUSLE in high-latitude conditions, fill the earlier data gap in country-scale erosion, provide information for targeting erosion mitigation measures, and considerably improve the understanding of the spatial distribution of erosion in Finland.

Применение космических снимков в исследованиях постпирогенных территорий Северо-Западного Прикаспия

The paper considers the experience of using space imagery materials from the Landsat 8 satellite to determine the values of the earth's surface temperatures according to the data of the thermal infrared channel. This experience is important in identifying the factors contributing to the emergence of steppe fires, assessing their consequences in the arid climate of the South of Russia. An analysis of multi-season space images (SI) for the period 2018-2020 was carried out covering the largest fires in terms of area located on the territory of the Tersko-Kuma lowland. SI were selected according to the principle - the scenes preceding the fire event and after it in different seasons of the year. Fires were visually identified at the SI and linear profiles were laid. Linear profiles at the SI were laid in such a way as to cover equally the territory subjected to fires and the non-burnt part of the landscape. The length of the profile was 1 km, the points were laid with an interval of one pixel (30 m) and the same width. The direction of the profile is from north to south, taking into account the uniformity of the relief, landscape and land use. As a result, for the analyzed segments, using QGIS3, the temperature of the underlying surface was measured for each point of the profile. It has been established that the temperature regime of the coastal strip differs from the continental part, which is associated with the proximity of water bodies, the hydromorphism of soil and vegetation, and the shift in vegetation periods. In the natural state before the fire, the vegetation largely levels the temperature background of the surface due to the partial shading of the surface and the formation of special microclimatic conditions in the near-surface layer. The data obtained from post-fire images indicate that the temperature differences between the burnt and unburned areas are maximum in summer (up to 4 °C) and persist throughout all warm seasons of the year, up to the onset of constant negative temperatures.

Richness and activity of arthropodophagous bats in an arid landscape of central México

The insectivorous bats of arid and semi-arid ecosystems have been poorly studied in Mexico. The aim of this work was to determine the richness and activity of insectivorous bats in arid landscapes of central Mexico over an annual cycle and identify the landscape and environmental features related to relative abundance patterns of bats. We carried out captures with mist nets and active acoustic monitoring in 10 transects, semi-active monitoring in eight stations, and passive monitoring in two desert grassland and scrub sites in Aguascalientes and Jalisco, from January to December 2012. The activity index of each insectivorous species was calculated and related to the local features at the landscape level. An automated monitoring weather station was established in the study area to explore the potential effect of environmental conditions on activity through time. Two species of insectivorous bats were captured: Myotis melanorhinus and Myotis occultus; seven additional species belonging to three families were acoustically identified, with Tadarida brasiliensis as the most active species. Activity levels were concentrated during the spring (April-June) and from mid-summer to late fall (August-October). The null activity in winter (January-March) and the increased activity of T. brasiliensis in the spring suggest migratory movements of the species in the region. The highest values of the activity index were recorded in the proximity of water bodies and ravines. Overall activity was recorded at temperatures between 6.8 and 20.3 °C, and under wind speeds between 1.6 and 24.1 km/h.

Application Suggesting Attractive Walking Routes for Pedestrians Using an Example of Saint-Petersburg City

Nowadays, when services suggesting the shortest path installed in every smartphone, people use them even if it is not necessary. In most cases when people use vehicles, the shortest path may really be the most relevant, but in case of pedestrians, we are less protected from environment and the factors like noise level, air quality, beauty and safety of route are coming to the fore. Moreover, in most cases we consider several factors deciding which route to choose: we need silent and green at the same time, beautiful as well as illuminated and etc. In most studies this factors are taking into account separately. In our research, using an example of Saint-Petersburg, we developed the prototype application suggesting attractive walking route for pedestrians considering the combination of different factors besides it’s length.To estimate true score of places from the point of walking attractiveness we conducted a questionnaire, and collected scores of attractiveness in the different places of the city. The acquired samples were used to create model defining attractiveness of place by combination of different factors such as noise, architecture, density of photos and proximity of water bodies as well as green and industrial zones. The model created by Random Forest algorithm classifies places in three groups: attractive, mid-attractive and non-attractive with f1 - scores about 0.6; Using this model, we determined the attractiveness index of all of the footways in the city.To create navigation algorithm and design mobile application we applied classic Dijkstra’s shortest path finding algorithm with cost weighted by attractiveness index of footways. The preliminary estimation of algorithm shows that provided routes are 14% more attractive and just 6% longer than the shortest ones.

Subtle Influence of the Weibull Shape Parameter on Homer Optimization Space of a Wind Diesel Hybrid Gen Set for Use in Southern Brazil

Wind power is an increasingly important alternative for obtaining energy supplies, both in large interconnected power systems and in smaller hybrid systems and even in backup systems. The temporal and spatial variability of the winds represent an obstacle to be overcome so that wind energy can be increasingly used. The capacity factor of wind farms shows how this variability impacts the operation of the plants and its value is of the order of 30% to 35%. The variability of the wind speed is influenced if the point of interest is on land or on sea, the shape of the surface, the proximity of water bodies, among other factors. The availability of wind is best described by the Weibull probability distribution, which has as one of its defining parameters one which is termed as shape parameter. This parameter is much higher as higher is the variability of the wind speed. This paper studies the subtle influence of Weibull shape parameter on the optimal combination of components in a wind diesel hybrid system, by means of computer simulations with the well known software Homer. The results indicate a relatively small influence (as expected) in the studied system, which appears particularly when the cost of diesel is higher and the availability of wind is lower.

Breeding season habitat selection by Ferruginous Pygmy Owls Glaucidium brasilianum in central Argentina

Capsule The presence of Ferruginous Pygmy Owls Glaucidium brasilianum breeding in the xerophytic forest of Caldén Prosopis caldenia in central Argentina was slightly affected by forest maturity but neither by the structure of vegetation strata at the micro-habitat scale, nor by forest composition (mosaic of forest–grassland or shrubland) or proximity of water bodies at the macro-habitat scale. Aims To assess the habitat characteristics selected by Ferruginous Pygmy Owls during the breeding season. Methods Random transects were performed across a portion of the Luro Natural Reserve by broadcasting Ferruginous Pygmy Owl calls. Locations along these transects were used to carry out a presence/absence habitat analysis at micro- and macro-habitat levels. Results Ferruginous Pygmy Owls were found in the majority of sampled locations. However, their presence was not associated with the vegetation structure and composition around sampled locations. Model outputs suggested similarity among presence and absence locations at both spatial scales, though owls showed a slight preference for areas with older trees and higher edge-density values. Conclusion The Ferruginous Pygmy Owl was more abundant than previously thought in the Caldén xerophytic forest, emphasizing the habitat's conservation importance, particularly because of the land-use changes that the La Pampa region is experiencing (e.g. forest exploitation).

Spatial pattern analyses of post-fire residual stands in the black spruce boreal forest of western Quebec

In this study, we characterised the composition and configuration of post-fire residual habitats belonging to two physiographic zones of the black spruce–moss domain in western Quebec. Thirty-three large fires (2000–52 000 ha) were selected and extracted on classified Landsat satellite imagery. The results show that a minimum of 2% and a maximum of 22% of burned areas escaped fire, with an overall average of 10.4%. The many forest patches that partially or entirely escaped fire formed residual habitats (RHs). It was found that although the area of RHs follows a linear relationship with fire size, their proportion appears relatively constant. Spatial analyses showed that the fires could be separated into two groups depending on the physiographic zones (East-Canadian Shield v. West-Clay Belt Lowlands). Fires in the west zone generate less RHs and appear to be associated with more extreme weather conditions. In most cases there was no association with water or wetlands; in some fires the presence of RHs is associated with the proximity of water bodies. The failure to find an association between RHs and wetlands suggests that this type of environment is part of the fuel. Coniferous woodland with moss appears particularly overrepresented within RHs. Our results suggest that the local and regional physiographic conditions strongly influence the creation of RHs; therefore, it is important to consider those differences when applying ecosystem-based management.

Spatial analysis of herbicide decay rates in louisiana

This analysis presents results based on a five-yearstudy recently supported by the Louisiana Departmentof Transportation and Development (DOTD) in which theacute toxicity, fate and effect of herbicide mixtureson human health and the environment were assessed. Three sites were routinely sprayed by DOTD to killweeds along the roadsides. Two herbicide mixtures wereused, 2,4-D and Roundup, and Garlon 3A and Roundup.Water, vegetation, soil and sediment samples werecollected quarterly for three years and were analyzedfor pesticide content to study the fate and impact ofherbicides in the environment. Results indicate acorrelation between soil type, herbicide type, andpersistence of the herbicide in the environment. Usingthe correlations found in these data, spatial analysisidentified areas where herbicide use may potentiallycause surface water and sediment contamination, basedon soil composition/properties, type of herbicideapplied, and proximity of water bodies to sprayed areas.