Ontario Ministry of Transportation

About: Ontario Ministry of Transportation is a government organization based out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Poison control & Asphalt. The organization has 4652 authors who have published 3882 publications receiving 59011 citations.

Flood maps in Europe – methods, availability and use

Abstract: . To support the transition from traditional flood defence strategies to a flood risk management approach at the basin scale in Europe, the EU has adopted a new Directive (2007/60/EC) at the end of 2007. One of the major tasks which member states must carry out in order to comply with this Directive is to map flood hazards and risks in their territory, which will form the basis of future flood risk management plans. This paper gives an overview of existing flood mapping practices in 29 countries in Europe and shows what maps are already available and how such maps are used. Roughly half of the countries considered have maps covering as good as their entire territory, and another third have maps covering significant parts of their territory. Only five countries have very limited or no flood maps available yet. Of the different flood maps distinguished, it appears that flood extent maps are the most commonly produced floods maps (in 23 countries), but flood depth maps are also regularly created (in seven countries). Very few countries have developed flood risk maps that include information on the consequences of flooding. The available flood maps are mostly developed by governmental organizations and primarily used for emergency planning, spatial planning, and awareness raising. In spatial planning, flood zones delimited on flood maps mainly serve as guidelines and are not binding. Even in the few countries (e.g. France, Poland) where there is a legal basis to regulate floodplain developments using flood zones, practical problems are often faced which reduce the mitigating effect of such binding legislation. Flood maps, also mainly extent maps, are also created by the insurance industry in Europe and used to determine insurability, differentiate premiums, or to assess long-term financial solvency. Finally, flood maps are also produced by international river commissions. With respect to the EU Flood Directive, many countries already have a good starting point to map their flood hazards. A flood risk based map that includes consequences, however, has yet to be developed by most countries.

A Method for the Routine Analysis of Pitch-and-Roll Buoy Wave Data

Abstract: A simple, computationally efficient method is proposed as a standard procedure for the routine analysis of pitch-and-roll buoy wave data. The method yields four directional model-free parameters per frequency: the mean direction, the directional width, the skewness, and the kurtosis of the directional energy distribution. For most applications these parameters provide sufficient directional information. The estimation procedure and error characteristics of the parameter estimates are discussed and illustrated with computer simulated data. An optional interpretation of the combination of skewness and kurtosis as an indicator of uni-modality of the directional energy distribution is suggested and illustrated with field observations.

Rapidly Desorbing Fractions of PAHs in Contaminated Sediments as a Predictor of the Extent of Bioremediation

Abstract: In the present study, the desorption kinetics of 15 PAHs (two to six rings) from sediments were determined before and after bioremediation in a bioreactor or landfarm. Desorption kinetics were measured with a method in which the water phase was kept PAH-free by Tenax TA beads. For almost all degraded PAHs, rapidly desorbing fractions (desorption rate constants > 0.1 h-1) were much smaller after bioremediation than before treatment whereas the slowly desorbing amounts remained unchanged. Thus, mainly the rapidly desorbing PAHs are degraded during bioremediation. The extent of possible PAH degradation could be roughly predicted from the initial rapidly desorbing fraction. For nondegraded PAHs, the rapidly desorbing fractions were substantial (up to 55%) and remained unchanged by remediation. The magnitude of the rapidly desorbing fractions of the nondegraded PAHs suggests that their persistence is due to microbial factors, not bioavailability.

Increase in the range between wet and dry season precipitation

Abstract: The water vapour content of the atmosphere has increased as a result of global warming, strengthening the hydrological cycle. An analysis of observational data suggests that wet seasons have become wetter, and dry seasons drier, in recent decades.