The problems of hydrocarbon extraction

The problems associated with hydrocarbon extraction in the EEZ are discussed under the headings of resources and environment, technology and the industrial structure, government management, decision-making, and policy formulation. Policy areas identified include boundary delimitation relative to resources, environment and technology, co-ordination and decision-making machinery, relationships with UK and EEC energy policies, and regional planning of the sea and coastal areas used by the off-shore industry.     

Incorporating sustainability assessment in transportation planning: an urban transportation vehicle-based approach

Environmental assessments are on the critical path for the development of land, infrastructure and transportation systems. These assessments are based on planning methods which, in turn, are subject to continuous enhancement. The substantial impacts of transportation on environment, society and economy strongly urge the incorporation of sustainability into transportation planning. Two major developments that enhance transportation sustainability are new fuels and vehicle power systems. Traditional planning ignores technology including the large differences among conventional, hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles and buses. The introduction of alternative fuel vehicles is likely to change the traditional transportation planning process because different characteristics need to be taken into account. In this study a sustainability framework is developed that enables assessment of transportation vehicle characteristics. Identified indicators are grouped in five sustainability dimensions (Environment, Technology, Energy, Economy and Users). Our methodology joins life cycle impacts and a set of quantified indicators to assess the sustainability performance of seven popular light-duty vehicles and two types of transit buses. Bus Rapid Transit receives the highest sustainability index and the pickup truck the lowest. Hybrid electric vehicles are found to have the highest sustainability index among all other passenger vehicles. A sensitivity analysis shows the proposed sustainability dimensions produce robust sustainability assessment for several weighting scenarios. The results are both technology and policy sensitive, thus useful for both short- and long-term planning.     

Altimeter assimilation in the OCCAM global model: Part I: A twin experiment

An altimeter data assimilation scheme has been tested in the OCCAM (Ocean Circulation and Climate Advanced Modelling) global 1/4°, 36-level model using a twin experiment format. The Cooper and Haines displacement scheme is used. The method works well in most regions and depths. Currents and densities in the top 1000 m generally improve by over 50–70% after 5 months of sea level assimilation every 15 days. Below 1000 m, an error reduction of up to 50% is achieved. The errors remain low during a further 60-day run without assimilation. Diagnostics for the North Atlantic, the Tropical Pacific and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current are shown alongside the global averages.The main problems encountered were in weakly stratified regions of the Antarctic and Arctic seas. A scale selective filter is developed to avoid assimilating scales much larger than the local deformation radius, and this avoids the adverse assimilation effects in the southern oceans. A companion paper uses this scheme to assimilate TOPEX and ERS-1 altimeter maps.     

Short sea shipping: a Canadian perspective

Short sea shipping has begun to receive attention from governments worldwide, as they seek to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gases. Despite a long coastline and its interest in international maritime affairs, the Canadian government had, until 2003, placed greater emphasis on resolving the issues of other transport modes. In July 2003, Canada and the United States signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on Sharing Short Sea Shipping Information and Experience. Subsequently, the federal government embarked on an assessment of short sea shipping through a series of workshops. This paper explores the key issues with respect to further development of short sea shipping from a Canadian perspective. It examines the critical limitations and impediments to further growth of short sea services in Canada and trans-border trade with the USA, and identifies a number of questions Canadian policymakers need to answer.     

使用新型辅助变流器节能

新型辅助变流器(BNU)及其新结构设计可减轻有轨车辆辅助电源装置的质量.与传统的典型地铁车辆的辅助变流器相比,这种新辅助变流器的质量可减轻约50%,并且可大大降低能耗.通过采用中频隔离变压器和非焊接箱体可减轻质量,随之而来也扩展了BNU的功能.     

2006年铁道养路机械展销会成果介绍

在卡卢加举行的第12届"2006年铁道线路机械"例行国际专业展销会上,100多家俄罗斯及世界各国的企业和组织展示出了在铁路轨道技术装备方面最新的研发成果。展览会用实物反映了在铁道线路运营方面的2个重要的发展方向,一是利用功能更多的机械采用先进的养路作业工艺;二是线路整体在科学技术进步方面有了进一步的发展。展览会向参加者和各方来宾介绍了各种现代化的高生产率机械、检查设备和线路诊断设备、机械化的工具、高效的技术研发成果等。     

Hydrographic cruises off northwest Africa: the Canary Current and the Cape Ghir region

We present hydrographic data for several sections located along the African coastline and off Cape Ghir, carried out at times of weak surface winds (October 1995 and September 1997). The main sections are near the continental slope, at mean distances between 100 and 150 km from the coastline. North of Cape Ghir (31°N) the geostrophic transport (referenced to 650 m) of North Atlantic Central Water through these sections is 3.7 and 2.0 Sv for 1995 and 1997, respectively. This confirms that a major fraction of the water transport by the Canary Current flows east, into the continental slope off northwest Africa, at latitudes above Cape Ghir. Most of this flow continues south past Cape Ghir, along the coast and probably through the eastern passages of the Canary Archipelago. A significant fraction, however, may escape through surface Ekman transport (0.3–0.5 Sv during the early fall season) and by offshore flow at Cape Ghir (1.1 Sv in September 1997, referenced to 650 m). Despite the weak winds the Cape Ghir filament was clearly visible, characterized by localized coastal upwelling associated to a cyclonic shallow structure and cold (and fresh) waters stretching offshore as a very shallow feature (50–100 m deep). The satellite images show that the surface temperature field is highly variable, in rapid response to the surface winds, always with a core region of relatively cold water and commonly with one or two associated eddies. Our results support the existence of two recirculation cells in the area: a horizontal one that connects the interior eastern boundary currents with the coastal region and a vertical one related to both wind-induced and filament upwelling. The data also show a salinity subsurface maximum at the root of the filament, linked to water inflow from northern latitudes, and a subsurface anticyclonic eddy over the Agadir canyon, likely related to the poleward slope undercurrent.     

Initial results from long-term measurements of atmospheric humidity and related parameters in the marine boundary layer at two locations in the Gulf of Mexico

Measurements of boundary layer moisture have been acquired from Rotronic MP-100 sensors deployed on two NDBC buoys in the northern Gulf of Mexico from June through November 1993. For one sensor, which was retrieved approximately 8 months after deployment, the post- and precalibrations agreed closely and fell well within WMO specifications for accuracy. The second sensor operated continuously from June 1993 to February 1997 (3.5 years). Buoy observations of relative humidity and supporting data were used to calculate specific humidity and the surface fluxes of latent and sensible heat. Specific humidities from the buoys were compared with observations of moisture obtained from nearby ship reports, and the correlations were generally high (0.7–0.9). Surface gravity wave spectra were also acquired. The time series of specific humidity and the other buoy parameters revealed three primary scales of variability, small (h), synoptic (days), and seasonal (months). The synoptic variability was clearly dominant and occurred primarily during September, October, and November. Most of the synoptic variability was due to frontal systems that dropped down into the Gulf of Mexico from the continental US followed by air masses which were cold and dry. Cross-correlation analyses of the buoy data indicated that: (1) the moisture field was highly coherent over distances of 800 km or more in the northern Gulf of Mexico; and (2) both specific humidity and air temperature served as tracers of the motion associated with propagating atmospheric disturbances. These correlation analyses also revealed that the prevailing weather systems generally entered the buoy domain from the South prior to September, but primarily from the North thereafter. Spectra of the various buoy parameters indicated strong diurnal and semidiurnal variability for barometric pressure and sea surface temperature (SST) and lesser variability for air temperature, wind speed and significant wave height. The surface fluxes of latent and sensible heat were dominated by the synoptic events which took place from September through November with the transfer of latent heat being primarily from the ocean to the atmosphere. Finally, an analysis of the surface wave observations from each buoy, which included calculations of wave age and estimates of surface roughness, indicate that major heat and moisture flux events coincide with periods of active wave growth, although the data were insufficient to identify any causal relationships.     

Fleet deployment optimization for liner shipping Part 1. Background, problem formulation and solution approaches

The background and the literature in liner fleet scheduling is reviewed and the objectives and assumptions of our approach are explained. We develop a detailed and realistic model for the estimation of the operating costs of liner ships on various routes, and present a linear programming formulation for the liner fleet deployment problem. Independent approaches for fixing both the service frequencies in the different routes and the speeds of the ships, are presented.