Gary W. Phillips

Application of a Global Model to the Study of Arctic Basin Pollution

The introduction of man-made radionuclides, heavy metals and oil hydrocarbons into the Arctic basin has been, of international concern since the 1992 release of information on Soviet dumping of nuclear reactor and solid industrial waste. The purpose of this chapter is to develop and to investigate a simulation model of the pollution dynamics in the Arctic basin. There are many observational and theoretical results giving estimates of the growing dependencies between the pollution dynamics in the World Ocean and the state of the continental environment.

Crossed-beam two-photon readout system for three-dimensional radiation dosimeters

Three-dimensional optical random access memory (3D ORAM) materials with enormous capacity and fast access speed have shown a great potential in overcoming limitations of access and storage capacity in current memory devices. As another useful development of this 3D ORAM, we have shown the application of 3D ORAM materials as a practical dosimeter. The local heating of the polymer matrix by the deposited energy of ionizing radiation is thought to contribute to the conversion of the fluorescent photochromic dye to a nonfluorescent form. The two-photon readout system is very useful in tracking the interactions of energy of ionizing radiation deposited in a polymer matrix. However, the polymer fracturing that has occurred during two-photon readout has been an obstacle in utilization of 3D ORAM materials as a dosimeter. In this work, we further evaluated the readout system using a high-energy variable attenuator in order to prevent polymer fracturing due to the strong absorption of the 1064 nm beam by the polym...

A New Technology for Monitoring Environment in the Okhotsk Sea

There are many examples of effective marine models making it possible to study the sea ecosystem dynamics. However, the sea ecosystem modeling runs into difficulties which require the development of new modeling methods. Namely, the functioning of the sea ecosystem is complex under unstable conditions of the environment. These conditions are defined for both measured and unmeasured parameters. Therefore, the sea ecosystems are studied with the use of observation data, mathematical models, and satellite observations. A combination of these approaches gives the most useful results (Krapivin 1996). The main difficulties of this method arise because of incompleteness of information.

Pollutant Dynamics in the Angara-Yenisey River System

The intensive industrial development of the northern Russian territories has led to significant environment changes in these regions (Morgan and Codispoti 1995). Oil and gas extraction on the Yamal and Taimir peninsulas in northwestern Siberia; coal and gold extraction in Yakutia and Chukotka, as well as mining industry operations on the Kola Peninsula, have led to strong anthropogenic intervention into the natural environment. Vegetation cover has been violated over large territories; the range, size, and productivity of reindeer pastures diminished; and the hydrologie regime of rivers disturbed. Major quantities of pollution substances are brought to the northern coast of Russia by rivers, thus violating the ecosystems of the northern seas. One such river system is the Angara-Yenisey river system (AYRS).

Decision-Making Procedures in Environmental Monitoring Systems

The environmental monitoring regime can foresee decision-making situations in real time based on the data accumulated up until the moment of the decisionmaking or as a result of the prior data analysis without correlation to the current time. Statistical analysis of the events accompanying the functioning of the monitoring system can be realized by means of many methods, the applicability of which is determined in each case by the probable combination of parameters characterizing the process studied. However, nonstationary and parametrical uncertainty demand a search for new methods capable of making the decision using fragmentary time and space data. These kinds of methods are proposed by a sequential analysis and evolutionary technology (Bukatova et al. 1991; Krapivin et al. 1997b; Nitu et al. 2000b).

The Basic Principles of Global Ecoinformatics

The accelerating accumulation of knowledge, vast scientific and engineering progress and unprecedented growth of human influences on the environment have already been felt since the 1970s posing the problem of global evaluation of the state of the environment and suggesting the possibility of its long-term forecasting. The scientific research in this field has led scientists throughout the world to the conclusion that the solution of the problem of objective control of the environmental quality is possible only through creation of a unified international monitoring system in combination with a global Nature/Society (NS) modeling system. Many international and national environmental programs are dedicated to the realization of such a system (Abalkin 1999; Drake 2000; French 2000; Ivashov 2000; Barlybaev 2001; Demirchian 2001). In the framework of these programs, sufficiently voluminous databases of environmental parameters are created, information about the dynamics of natural and anthropogenic processes on various scales is accumulated and models of biogeochemical, biogeocenotic, climatic and demographic processes are created. The technical base of global geoinformation monitoring is combined with efficient means of data acquisition, recording, accumulation and processing of measurement data obtained from onboard spacecraft, aircraft, ground platforms, and floating laboratories.

Estimation of the Peruvian Current Ecosystem

The Peruvian Current moves northward along the coast of South America where it causes an upwelling of cold, nutrient- and oxygen-rich water. This current belongs to those areas of the World Ocean where complex interrelated physical, biological, and chemical processes are taking place within a relatively small area, characterized by a high concentration of nutrients and large quantities of matter for the production of phytoplankton and other living elements (Sorokin 1977).

Monitoring of the Seas in the Oil and Gas Extraction Zones

Sea oil and gas condensation deposits (GCD) are usually situated in zones where sufficiently intensive anthropogenic influences on the environment occur. Consequently, the task of designing and creating the ecological monitoring system to control the sea aquatory is to be done with consideration for the state of the atmospheric and water environments for the adjoining aquatories. The GIMS-technology helps to solve this task (Aota et al. 1992; Hong et al. 1992; Kelley et al. 1992b; Kondratyev et al. 2000).

Realization of GIMS Technology for the Study of the Aral-Caspian Aquageosystem

One of the dramatic aspects of anthropogenic activity is its influence on the biosphere water cycle (see Sect. 3.4). Presently, this influence occurs on a global level and is composed of a hierarchy of regional changes, especially in the arid districts. The control of the biosphere water systems is one element of climate system monitoring. The Aral-Caspian system (ACS) attracts a great deal of attention of scientists as an economically and ecologically significant subsystem of the biosphere which has been subject to rapid changes due to human activities. The catastrophic state of this water system is well known (Precoda 1991; Klotzi 1994; Hublaryan 1995; Pearce 1995).

Modeling of Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics

Investigation of the structure and functioning of oceanic ecosystems has become an important and rapid developing area of sea biology and environmental studies. Different aspects of relevant problems have been studied in the framework of many international biological and environmental programs. One of the tasks is the substantiation of the possibilities to forecast the behavior of the system under the impact of its variable parameters. Because of the unique and enormous spatial extension of the World Ocean ecosystems, it is difficult to assess their parameters at different times and for the various aquatories. That is why the use of modeling technology is one effective approach to study and solve various problems.