Wind speeds over the world’s oceans have increased over the past two decades, as have wave heights. Studies of climate change typically consider measurements or predictions of temperature over extended periods of time. Climate, however, is much more than temperature. Over the oceans, changes in wind speed and the surface gravity waves generated by such winds play an important role. We used a 23-year database of calibrated and validated satellite altimeter measurements to investigate global changes in oceanic wind speed and wave height over this period. We find a general global trend of increasing values of wind speed and, to a lesser degree, wave height, over this period. The rate of increase is greater for extreme events as compared to the mean condition.

https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/file/bca43746-6f16-4ad2-a4b7-27f8d8d60fed/1/PDF (Published version).pdf

Global trends in wind speed and wave height over the past 25 years

Lead Authors: Marco Bindi (Italy), Sally Brown (UK), Ines Camilloni (Argentina), Arona Diedhiou (Ivory Coast/Senegal), Riyanti Djalante (Japan/Indonesia), Kristie L. Ebi (USA), Francois Engelbrecht (South Africa), Joel Guiot (France), Yasuaki Hijioka (Japan), Shagun Mehrotra (USA/India), Antony Payne (UK), Sonia I. Seneviratne (Switzerland), Adelle Thomas (Bahamas), Rachel Warren (UK), Guangsheng Zhou (China)

Impacts of 1.5°C Global Warming on Natural and Human Systems

Does humanity's future lie in the ocean? As demand for resources continues to grow and land-based sources decline, expectations for the ocean as an engine of human development are increasing. Claiming marine resources and space is not new to humanity, but the extent, intensity, and diversity of today's aspirations are unprecedented. We describe this as the blue acceleration—a race among diverse and often competing interests for ocean food, material, and space. Exploring what this new reality means for the global ocean and how to steer it in a sustainable and equitable way represents an urgent challenge.

The Blue Acceleration: The Trajectory of Human Expansion into the Ocean

Synthesis and characterization of new zeolite materials obtained from fly ash for heavy metals removal in advanced wastewater treatment

The reclamation of coastal land for agricultural, industrial, and urban land use—a common worldwide practice—has occurred extensively in the coastal region of China. In recent decades, all coastal provinces and metropolises in China have experienced severe coastal reclamation related to land scarcity caused by rapid economic growth and urbanization. However, the value of coastal wetlands and ecosystems has not been well understood and appreciated until recent development of advantageous methods of restoring reclaimed land to coastal wetlands in many developed countries. The overall objective of this study is to provide detailed spatial and temporal distributions of coastal reclamation; analyze drivers such as coastal economy, population growth, and urbanization; and understand the relationships among the drivers and land reclamation. We used long-term Landsat image time series from 1985 to 2010 in 5-year intervals, in combination with remotely sensed image interpretation and spatial analysis, to map the reclamation status and changes across the coastal region of China. The Landsat images time-series analysis was also conducted to evaluate the effects of the economy, population, and urbanization drivers on coastal reclamation. The analysis results indicated that 754,697 ha of coastal wetlands have been reclaimed across all coastal provinces and metropolises from 1985 to 2010, and the trend increased sharply after 2005. High-intensity coastal reclamation was mainly driven by the booming economy, especially after 2000, associated with urbanization and industrial development in China's coastal region; this was closely correlated with the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The continuous large-scale coastal reclamation of its coastal region now means China is facing a great challenge, including the enormous loss of vegetated coastal wetlands, negative environmental effects, and potential disaster risks related to coastal flooding under future change climate conditions. Long-term ecosystem-based coastal protection and management are critical to support sustainable coastal ecosystems in China in the future.

Drivers, trends, and potential impacts of long-term coastal reclamation in China from 1985 to 2010

Final Report for the EPA-sponsored project Snow Caps to White Caps that provides data products and insight for water resource managers to support their predictions and management actions to address future changes in water resources (fresh and marine) in the Puget Sound basin. This report details the efforts of a team of scientists and engineers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Washington (UW) to examine the movement of water in the Snohomish Basin, within the watershed and the estuary, under present and future conditions, using a set of linked numerical models.

/pdf/integrated-modeling-and-decision-support-system-for-water-4kq9g1lwrc.pdf

Integrated Modeling and Decision-Support System for Water Management in the Puget Sound Basin: Snow Caps to White Caps

Multi-decade high-resolution regional hindcasts for wave energy resource characterization in U.S. coastal waters

Lake Simtustus, impounded by the Pelton Dam, is the second of three reservoirs that are a part of Portland General Electric's (PGE's) Pelton/Round Butte Hydroelectric Project, located on the Deschutes River in central Oregon. Lake Simtustus is a narrow, deep lake with a flow field that is strongly affected by daily peaking inflows, outflows, and thermal stratification. This paper describes the development of a water quality model of Lake Simtustus to support PGE's proposed modifications to project operations for enhancement of fish passage. A dynamic, laterally averaged, vertical, 2-D water quality model for Lake Simtustus was developed using the CE-QUAL-W2 model to predict water quality under existing project conditions and to evaluate the impacts on water quality that would result from the proposed modifications to project operations. Model calibration was complicated by the fact that Lake Simtustus exhibits sharp density destratiflcation in the fall and has two pronounced algal growth seasons (spring and fall blooms) that are dominated by a different algal species. The water quality in the hypolimnion is dominated by the cooler inflows while the water quality in the epilimnion is dominated by meteorological forcing and in-lake t Senior Water Resources Engineer, Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation, 12 I00 NE 195 th Street, Suite 200, Bothell, WA 98011 2 Senior Consulting Engineer, Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation, 12100 NE 195 ~ Street, Suite 200, Bothell, WA 98011 3 Water Quality Engineer, King County Wastewater Treatment Division, Department of, Natural Resources, 201 South Jackson Street MS KSC-NR-0503, Seattle, WA 98104 4 Project Manager, Portland General Electric, 121 SW Salmon Street, Portland, OR 97204

Temperature Stratification and Water Quality Modeling for Lake Simtustus, Oregon

The Framework for Risk Analysis in Multimedia Environmental Systems FRAMES) is decision-support middleware that provides users the ability to design software solutions for complex problems. It is a software platform that provides seamless and transparent communication between modeling components by using a multi-thematic approach to provide a flexible and holistic understanding of how environmental factors potentially affect humans and the environment. It incorporates disparate components (e.g., models, databases, and other frameworks) that integrate across scientific disciplines, allowing for tailored solutions to specific activities. This paper discusses one example application of FRAMES, where several commercialoff-the-shelf (COTS) software products are seamlessly linked into a planning and decision-support tool that helps manage water-based emergency situations and sustainable response. Multiple COTS models, including three surface water models, and a number of databases are linked through FRAMES to assess the impact of three asymmetric and simultaneous events, two of which impact water resources. The asymmetric events include 1) an unconventional radioactive release into a large potable water body, 2) a conventional contaminant (oil) release into navigable waters, and 3) an instantaneous atmospheric radioactive release.

Using FRAMES to Manage Environmental and Water Resources

Naturally occurring sites with sufficient kinetic energy suitable for tidal power generation with sustained currents > 1 to 2 m/s are relatively rare. Yet sites with greater than 3 to 4 m of tidal range are relatively common around the U.S. coastline. Tidal potential does exist along the shoreline but is mostly distributed, and requires an approach which allows trapping and collection to also be conducted in a distributed manner. In this paper we examine the feasibility of generating sustainable tidal power using multiple nearshore tidal energy collection units and present the Modular Tidal Prism (MTP) basin concept. The proposed approach utilizes available tidal potential by conversion into tidal kinetic energy through cyclic expansion and drainage from shallow modular manufactured overland tidal prisms. A preliminary design and configuration of the modular tidal prism basin including inlet channel configuration and basin dimensions was developed. The unique design was shown to sustain momentum in the penstocks during flooding as well as ebbing tidal cycles. The unstructured-grid finite volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) was used to subject the proposed design to a number of sensitivity tests and to optimize the size, shape and configuration of MTP basin for peak power generation capacity. Themore » results show that an artificial modular basin with a reasonable footprint (≈ 300 acres) has the potential to generate 10 to 20 kw average energy through the operation of a small turbine located near the basin outlet. The potential of generating a total of 500 kw to 1 MW of power through a 20 to 40 MTP basin tidal power farms distributed along the coastline of Puget Sound, Washington, is explored.« less

Zhaoqing Yang

Papers

Integrated Modeling and Decision-Support System for Water Management in the Puget Sound Basin: Snow Caps to White Caps

Multi-decade high-resolution regional hindcasts for wave energy resource characterization in U.S. coastal waters

Temperature Stratification and Water Quality Modeling for Lake Simtustus, Oregon

Using FRAMES to Manage Environmental and Water Resources

Overland Tidal Power Generation Using Modular Tidal Prism