Case Studies in Environmental Hazards - Article Example

Case studies in environmental hazards Case studies in environmental hazards Ebel, A. Brian & Moody, E. John. . Rethinking infiltration in wildfire affected soils. Hydrological processes, Vol. 27:1510-1517. In this article, the authors mainly focus on the aspect of thinking about infiltration in soils that have been affected by wildfire. As such, it is mainly an article that discusses on the need to reconstruct. The authors are in the best position to write on this topic since they are both involved in research that is related to the environmental factors. They are thus well versed with the subject of wildfires and their effects on the environment. They are also knowledgeable on the best steps that can be taken to correct the negative effects of these wildfires. They talk about the dangerous effects of wildfires on a broad range of natural habitats. They indicate that wildfires have been found to be the main cause of flash floods and the flow of debris. They indicate that one of the main causes of the hydrological driven hazards that occur after the wildfires is the decreased rates of infiltration. Besides this reduction in the infiltration rate, it is also caused by the mounting evidence of the fundamental physics of infiltration. This concept is used for further explanation and to provide evidence on the presence of infiltration which enhances the hydraulic effects of wildfires. In this sense, the authors attempt to provide a solution for this in their article. In particular they provide solutions that help to solve the issue of hydrolic effects of wild fires. In this case, the article will be of great insight in this study as it will provide an in depth understanding on the handling and management of post wildfire hydrology caused by the increased rate of wildfires. Notably, the authors have also written on the differences that exist in fire affected soils. For instance, they have indicated that soil surface sealing by either ash or fine sediments contain measurable effects on post wild-fire runoff. They give an explanation by use of diagrams to explain four types of infiltration causing environmental hazard. From the above diagram, Type 1 is the “standard type” that has exponential decreasing infiltration rate with time. Type 2 is a linear decrease in infiltration rate with time. Type 3 contains an initial high soil-water repellency that at first results in a low infiltration rate but as soil wets, the rate of infiltration raises to maximum and afterwards declines exponentially with time. Type 4 is similar to type 3 only that the infiltration rate levels off eventually to a constant level due to macrospore flow. Karavitisa, A. Christos, Tsesmelis, E. Demetrios, Skondrasa, A. Nikolaos, Stamatakos, Demetrios, Alexandris, Stavros, Fassoulia, Vassilia, Vasilakou, G. Constantina, Panagiotis, D. Oikonomoub, Gregor Gregorič, Neil, S. Grigg, & Evan C. Vlachos. Linking drought characteristics to impacts on a spatial and temporal scale. (2014). Water policy 16: 1172-97. In this article, the authors discuss the ways through which drought characteristics can be linked to impact on a spatial and temporal scale. They take a further step to analyze and evaluate the ways with which drought vulnerability in the form of drought vulnerability index can be detected in the effort to find the appropriate solutions. The authors are well versed to write this article in their capacity as engineers where they understand drought and its effects and how these effects can be dealt with. They are also environmentalists who are aware of how to deal with the different environmental problems. In this sense, it discusses the element of drought as a natural phenomenon. The authors link this knowledge with the difficulty that has been faced in the efforts to handle drought and its effects in a holistic way. In this relation, they discuss the various steps that have been taken to manage drought, which is highly widespread and a catastrophic event in most of the places. As such, it will be an extremely useful resource as it will highlight the way that the issue of drought has become vulnerable. In this way, it requires drastic measures that will enable the management of its effects. This will help to identify harmful effects of drought early in advance and work on the proper ways to mitigate them. They noted that drought occurs in many regions regardless of their normal climatic conditions. From their research, it is clear that drought depends on some antecedent conditions. Also, the characteristics of drought are a display of the spatial as well as temporal viability in any region. Normally, drought is as a result of drying of the water supplies resulting to a prolonged period without a trace of water in the affected areas. Such instances of water deficiency may originate from decrease in rate of precipitation, which is accompanied by inefficiency in the management of water supplies over a wide area. The following diagram, produced by the authors, is an example of four type’s water deficiencies that may lead to drought. Terry, J.P., McGree, S. and Raj, R. (2004). The Exceptional Flooding on Vanua Levu Island, Fiji, during Tropical Cyclone Ami in January. Journal of Natural Disaster Science, 26, 27-36. In this article, the authors have written on Tropical Cyclone Ami that passed across the Islands of Fiji in January 2003. The article is about a study, the authors conducted to compare the records of that cyclone with the past records on Vanua Levu Island. According to the authors, Nasekawa River, located in the southern part of Vanua Levu produced a phenomenal discharge of more than 6100me/s. This hazard left seventeen people dead and also, it caused extensive damage to properties. Scientifically, this cyclone was not fit to be termed a hazard, but a disaster, owing to the number of people that lost their lives. Scandone, R., Giacomelli, L., and Speranza, F.F. (2008). Persistent activity and violent strombolian eruptions at Vesuvius between 1631 and 1944. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 170, 167180. The article discusses the persistent activity of the vesuvius which is a different strain from that of the violent strombolian eruptions. It shows that their modes of eruptions were different and it was a result of varied stages and the effusion rates. As such, it presents a formula through which the pattern can be worked out to make future predictions. The authors are reliable and can be trusted with the material since they are geologist and have a wide range of knowledge on the materials that compose part of the earth’s structure as well as those that are associated with eruptions. This persistent activity is provided alongside the comparison with other eruption modes. The information that is presented by the authors is highly informative as it provides the frequency of the eruptions that take place as a result of the versuvius. It provides a great comparison between the eruption activities of the versuvius eruption activities that were in high alternation with the mild strombolian explosions. It highlights some of the major causes of these eruptions and their effects. These will provide the reliable strategies on how they can be reduced. It also provides information to depict the pattern of activities that are related to the eruptions and hence make it possible for the reader to be able to work out using the formula and predict when next there is likely to be a major eruption. Anita, G., Sandri, L., Marzocchi, W., Argnani, A., Gasparini, P., & Selva, J. (2012). Probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment for Messina Strait Area (Sicily, Italy). Natural hazards, 64(1), 329-358. Authors in this article have discussed the general modular Bayesian procedure applied in providing a probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment (PTHA). This was applied in Messina Strait Area (MSA) in Italy. From the authors, this was the first study conducted in an Italian area with the potential tsunamigenic events caused by submarine seismic sources (SSSs) as well as submarine mass failures (SMFs) were explained in a probabilistic assessment. The reason why authors chose this particular region for research was that for many years, areas of Southern Italy experienced frequent tsunami strikes. The tsunamis were as a result of regional seismic sources such as submarine earthquakes and non-seismic sources such as landslides. The authors came up with the following diagram which is a representation of the number of events that tsunamis have occurred and their moment of magnitude. From their study, the results were that the Bayesian methodology made use of all the information that was available in the area. Another current study conducted by the authors combined both spatial and temporal probability of occurrences of the sources. Also, the study looked into the aleatory as well as the epistemic uncertainties that are associated with the different tsunami sources. The study reported a prior and posterior 1-year probability of tsunami occurrence in MSA. The study revealed that tsunami occurrences probabilities due to seismic sources and also submarine failures were comparable in the area. That was evidence that both sources should be considered and combined in order for reliable PTHA to be produced. References Anita, G., Sandri, L., Marzocchi, W., Argnani, A., Gasparini, P., & Selva, J. (2012). Probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment for Messina Strait Area (Sicily, Italy). Natural hazards, 64(1), 329-358. Ebel, A. Brian & Moody, E. John. (2013). Rethinking infiltration in wildfire affected soils. Hydrological processes, Vol. 27:1510-1517. Karavitisa, A. Christos, Tsesmelis, E. Demetrios, Skondrasa, A. Nikolaos, Stamatakos, Demetrios, Alexandris, Stavros, Fassoulia, Vassilia, Vasilakou, G. Constantina, Panagiotis, D. Oikonomoub, Gregor Gregorič, Neil, S. Grigg, & Evan C. Vlachos. (2014). Linking drought characteristics to impacts on a spatial and temporal scale. Water policy 16: 1172-97. Scandone, R., Giacomelli, L., and Speranza, F.F. (2008). Persistent activity and violent strombolian eruptions at Vesuvius between 1631 and 1944. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 170, 167180. Terry, J.P., McGree, S. and Raj, R. (2004). The Exceptional Flooding on Vanua Levu Island, Fiji, during Tropical Cyclone Ami in January. Journal of Natural Disaster Science, 26, 27-36. Read More