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Natural Disasters as Interactive Components of Global-Ecodynamics
This book opens a new approach to the study of global environmental changes having unfavourable character for mankind and other living systems. The main advantage of the book consists in the accumulation of knowledge from different sciences to parametrize the global ecodynamic process. Natural catastrophes are considered as an interactive element of global natural dynamics which are described by means of simulation models of global nature/society. The realization of this approach allows the integration within a complex structure of all international and national means of environmental monitoring and provides a tool for objective evaluation of the environmental quality. The main purpose of this book is to develop a universal information technology to estimate the state of environmental subsystems functioning under various climatic and anthropogenic conditions.
Microearthquake Seismology and Seismotectonics of South Asia
This volume comprehensively deals with plate tectonics and seismic waves in general and earthquake monitoring by permanent and temporary networks for active fault mapping, aftershock, swarm and induced seismicity investigations in interplate collision and subduction zones and in intraplate shield region.
International Perspectives on Natural Disasters : Occurrence, Mitigation, and Consequences
Reports of natural disasters fill the media with regularity. Places in the world are affected by natural disaster events every day. Such events include earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis, wildfires – the list could go on for considerable length. In the 1990s there was a concentrated focus on natural disaster information and mitigation during the International Decade for Natural Disasters Reduction (IDNDR). The information was technical and provided the basis for major initiatives in building structures designed for seismic safety, slope stability, severe storm warning systems, and global monitoring and reporting. Mitigation, or planning in the event that natural hazards prevalent in a region would suddenly become natural disasters, was a major goal of the decade-long program. During the IDNDR, this book was conceptualized, and planning for its completion began.
Inorganic Constituents in Soil : Basics and Visuals
A must-read for students of and beginners in soil science. In a well-organized and easy-to-follow manner, it provides basic outlines of soil minerals, new methods and recent developments in the field, with a special focus on visual aids. The chapters on primary minerals, secondary minerals, non-crystalline inorganic constituents and inorganic constituents sensitive to varying redox conditions will help readers understand the basic components of soils. Further, readers are introduced to new analytical methods with the aid of microscopy and recent developments in the field. Uniquely, the book features case studies on the identification and isolation methods for vivianite crystals from paddy field soils, as well as a identical procedure for identifying noncrystalline constituents such as volcanic glasses and plant opals, which can also be applied to other soils depending on the local conditions.
Green infrastructure and climate change adaptation : Function, Implementation and Governance
This book introduces the function, implementation and governance of green infrastructure in Japan and other countries where lands are geologically fragile and climatologically susceptible to climate change. It proposes green infrastructure as an adaptation strategy for climate change and biodiversity conservation.
Geo-information for Disaster Management
Geo-information technology offers an opportunity to support disaster management: industrial accidents, road collisions, complex emergencies, earthquakes, fires, floods and similar catastrophes (for example the recent huge disaster with the Tsunami in South-East Asia on 26 December 2004). Access to needed information, facilitation of the interoperability of emergency services, and provision of high-quality care to the public are a number of the key requirements. The book provides a broad overview of the (geo-information) technology, software, systems needed, used and to be developed for disaster management. The book provokes a wide discussion on systems and requirements for use of geo-information under time and stress constraints and unfamiliar situations, environments and circumstances.
Extreme Man-Made and Natural Hazards in Dynamics of Structures
The present threat of the terrorist attacks or accidental explosions, the climate change which brings strong stormy winds or yet the destructive earthquake motion that occurs in previously inactive regions or brings about tsunamis, are a few examples of the kind of applications we seek to address in this work.
Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Nuclear Risks : Prediction and Assessment Beyond the Fukushima Accident
This book covers seismic probabilistic risk assessment (S-PRA) and related studies which have become more important to increase the safety of nuclear facilities against earthquakes and tsunamis in the face of the many uncertainties after the Fukushima accident. The topics are (1) Active faults and active tectonics important for seismic hazard assessment of nuclear facilities,(2) Seismic source modeling and simulation and modeling techniques indispensable for strong ground motion prediction, and (3) PRA with external hazard and risk communication.
Earthquakes : Simulations, Sources and Tsunamis
This book includes a variety of studies that focus on the modeling of tsunamis and earthquakes, both large-scale simulation and visualization programs, as well as detailed models of small-scale features. Particular attention is paid to computational techniques, languages, and hardware that can be used to facilitate data analysis, visualization, and modeling. Also included are studies of several earthquake forecasting techniques and associated comparisons of their results with historic earthquake data. Finally, the volume ends with theoretical analyses of statistical properties of seismicity by internationally recognized experts in the field. This volume will be of particular interest to researchers interested in the multiscale simulation and visualization of large earthquakes and tsunamis.
Earthquake Monitoring and Seismic Hazard Mitigation in Balkan Countries
this book including deployment of modern seismograph stations and arrays and these developments are detailed in the book. Station and network operations require near real time record analysis and topics dealt with here are 2-D signal detector, epicenter location and earthquake monitoring. Balkan is seismically the most active part of Europe due to multiple plate interactions in the Aegean Sea. The tectonic evolution and on-going geodynamic deformations are described in 2 articles. Earthquake hazard analysis and topographic site effects are discussed and likewise large earthquake hazards in the Aegean and the Marmara seas relate to practical applications of such procedures. Foremost; the book gives a good account of past, present and likely future seismological developments in Balkan countries and various kinds of network operations on local to global scales.
Developing Tsunami-Resilient Communities : The National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program
Tsunamis remain an ever-present threat to lives and property along the coasts of most of the world’s oceans. Because of the geographical extent of U.S. coastlines, an earthquake in Alaska can generate a local tsunami for Alaskans and, hours later, a distant tsunami for communities in Hawaii and along the Pacific Coast . This volume chronicles the development and accomplishments of a joint State/Federal partnership that was forged to reduce tsunami hazards along U.S. coastlines – the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. By integrating hazard assessment, warning guidance, and mitigation activities, the program has created a roadmap and a set of tools to develop communities more resilient to local and distant tsunamis. Among the set of tools are tsunami forecasting, educational experiments, early alerting systems, and design guidance for tsunami-resilient communities. Part of this book has already been published in a recent journal issue.
Landslides : Risk Analysis and Sustainable Disaster Management
Based on contributions to the first General Assembly of the International Consortium on Landslides, this reference and status report emphasizes the mechanisms of different types of landslides, landslide risk analysis, and sustainable disaster management. It comprises the achievements of the ICL over the past three years, since the Kyoto assembly. It consists of three parts: research results of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL); contributions on landslide risk analysis; and articles on sustainable disaster management. The contributions reflect a wide range of topics and concerns, randing from field studies, identification of objects of cultural heritage at landslide risk, as well as landslide countermeasures.
Catastrophic Events Caused by Cosmic Objects
Many times all of us could hear from mass media that an asteroid approached and swept past the Earth. Such an asteroid or comet will inevitably strike the planet some day. This volume considers hazards due to collisions with cosmic objects, particularly in light of recent investigations of impacts by the authors. Each chapter written by an expert contains an overview of an aspect and new findings in the field. The main hazardous effects – cratering, shock, aerial and seismic waves, fires, ejection of dust and soot, tsunami are described and numerically estimated. Numerical simulations of impacts and impact consequences have received much attention in the book. Fairly small impacting objects 50 -100 m in diameter pose a real threat to humanity and their influence on the atmosphere and ionosphere is emphasized.
Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident : The First Three Years
Consists of various topics, including radioactivity inspection of food products; decontamination trials for rice and livestock production; the state of contamination in wild animals and birds, trees, mushrooms, and timber; the dynamics of radioactivity distribution in mountain and paddy fields; damage incurred by the forestry and fishery industries; and the change in consumers’ minds. The last chapter introduces a real-time radioisotope imaging system, the forefront technique to visualize actual movement of cesium in soil and in plants. This is the only book to provide systematic data about the actual change of radioactivity, and thus is of great value for all researchers who wish to understand the effect of radioactive fallout on agriculture.
A Short Course in Geology for Civil Engineers
Explains the process of ground formation - what it is made of and how it behaves as an engineering material. This enables the civil engineer to work from a few first principles to determine if the ground is an asset or a hazard. It focuses on the tectonic plate mechanisms that give rise to the geology of our planet and describes the way these create hazards such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis. The authors state that groundwater can be both a resource and a hazard and through this book they provide an overview of the origins of geomaterials.
