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Rivers of the Asian Highlands introduces readers to the intersecting headwaters of Asia's eight largest rivers, focusing on the upper reaches of two river systems: the Brahmaputra's highland tributaries in the eastern Himalayan Mountains and the Dri Chu (upper Yangzi), which descends from the Tibetan Plateau's east through the Hengduan Mountains.This book guides its readers through these two rivers'physical, environmental, cultural, social, and political histories before providing a multifaceted assessment of their present. It uses general and detailed insights from multiple disciplines, including anthropology, conservation, geography, geomorphology, climate science, ecology, history, hydrology, and religious studies. The rivers'stories explain how the catchments'hazards—earthquakes, landslides, floods, droughts, and erosion—interact with their energetic, hydrological, ecological, cultural, and social abundance.This book's multiple cultural and disciplinary perspectives on the rivers will interest anyone who wants to understand the rivers of this critically important region as the environment faces climate change and other ecological crises.

This open access book prepared by a joint working group committed to critical research on dryland social-ecological systems (SESs) presents a timely synthesis of up-to-date knowledge in various thematic fields relevant to dryland SESs. It aims to organize key salient concepts and establish a conceptual framework relevant to the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural understanding of dryland SESs, which have specific contexts and a geographically representative structure. Through synthesizing research across the world and analyzing scientific evidence for good practices, it has the potential to promote collaboration among global researchers as well as communication with policy makers, managers, and practitioners for dryland ecosystem management to promote sustainability. It calls for synergies between different sectors and countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goals in drylands.

The book offers a wide range of research topics that are addressed with the aim of contributing to the knowledge of geomorphological hazards in the Himalaya. It is emphasized the integration of climate-driven morphogenetic and tectonic processes in the Nepal Himalaya as a substantial phenomenon of active collisional orogeny. The extreme dynamics of landform evolution in the Himalayan terranes triggers severe natural hazards and risks. Interdisciplinary research of geomorphological processes and events related to natural hazards in the Nepal Himalaya follows general efforts to reduce geoenvironmental disasters. Visual documentation is of particular importance in the conception of the book, which is intended for specialized researchers as well as students.

The objective of this publication is to provide insight into advancing remote sensing techniques dealing with floods, droughts, landslides, earthquakes, permafrost-related hazards, glacial lake outburst floods, forest fires, droughts, tropical cyclones, climate resilience and COVID-19. This publication will incorporate the latest technologies and techniques to illustrate disaster monitoring for acquiring information and dissemination of technological results and outcomes for the betterment of society. This publication would be of immense importance for earth scientists, policymakers and professionals working in the field of disaster risk reduction.

This book studies mountains with a global perspective, like a complex topographic and topoclimatic mosaic organized in altitudinal belts that are influenced by a huge variability in slopes, soils, lithology and insolation. Furthermore, the presence of lower temperatures, higher precipitation and the seasonal presence of snow create conditions conductive to supporting various life forms and natural geomorphological and hydrological processes. The integration of environmental and human aspects highlights the impacts of human activities and climate fluctuations on soil hydrology, soil erosion, water resources, and landscape/landforms evolution. After presenting the way in which humans (from Prehistory to Alexander von Humboldt) discovered the mountains, subsequent chapters try to underline the importance of mountains in generating water resources and hydropower for lowlands, serving as biodiversity hotspots, and contributing to cultural diversity. The book delves into the role ofhuman actives in transforming the natural landscapes and creating new cultural landscapes. This exploration considers the significance of altitudinal belts in shaping the spatial and temporal organization of land uses which, in turn, have been determined by population growth and the development of regional and national markets. Additionally, the book illustrates the effect of global change on mountain evolution, exploring their consequences on landscape characteristics and dynamics as well as on the planetary role of the mountains. It concludes by offering a unique perspective on enhancing mountain conservation in order to preserve cultures, land uses, and landscapes.

This book focuses on validation and reconstruction work on the land surface temperature (LST) products retrieved by thermal infrared remote sensing. The LST is a key parameter in the energy-water balance process and has been widely used in research on the global climate change, water cycle, vegetation growing, and drought detection. Remote sensing retrieving LST is the most important source for regional and even global application. However, there are several factors that limited their widespread use: (1) the thermal infrared remote sensing is easily influenced by clouds; therefore, there are lots of pixel with invalid LST; (2) LST products have not been sufficiently validated in global scale. This book arms to overcome above defects and guide the readers to estimate the LST of cloudy pixel and implement the general validation on the remote sensing LST. Furthermore, it helps to understand the scale mismatch between different observation and land surface heterogeneity. The book covers ground-based observation, validation and reconstruction theories, scale mismatch analysis, heterogeneity and representativeness evaluation for observations, and application cases. It is an essential reference to the quantitative retrieval of thermal infrared remote sensing technologies.

This book aims to illustrate how climate change had impacted the socio-economic development in the history of China, under the framework of food security. The 10 years resolution sequences indexing the status of social and economic subsystems in China over the past 2000 years are reconstructed. Statistical methods are used to reveal the major characters and main process of the impact of historical climate change on China's social economy. This book serves as a reference both for researchers, graduates, and undergraduates majoring in geography, climatology, history, and other related fields.

This book analyzes China's climate and environmental change facts, impacts and vulnerabilities, and mitigation strategies. On basis of synthesis assessment, through comprehensive integration, it focuses on four aspects: climate change and ecological environment evolution, future climate change and risk prediction, technical measures and action results for adaptation and mitigation, and development path with climate resilience. In terms of change facts, it focuses on extreme climate events, large-scale factors affecting China's climate change, and the impact of climate change on China's social and economic system. In terms of future risks, it focuses on key variables such as temperature, precipitation and other key variables and the prediction of future changes in extreme climate events. Potential risks in resources, agriculture, cryosphere, ecology, human settlements, health and major projects are also discussed. In terms of adaptation and mitigation, this book systematically sorts outand summarizes the effects, policy choices and synergies of climate change adaptation and mitigation from two perspectives, global and Chinese. Finally, from the perspectives of carbon emission path, sustainable development, and building a community with a shared future for mankind, it explains the essentials of choosing a development path with climate resilience.

According to UN estimates, approximately nearly half of the world's population now lives in cities and that figure is expected to rise to almost 70% by 2050. Cities now account for around 70% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and this percentage is predicted to rise in the near future as a result of projected increases in global urbanization patterns. It is widely acknowledged that irrational urban planning and design can increase emissions while also exacerbating threats and risks, resulting in a slew of environmental issues such as urban heat islands, air pollution, flooding, amongst other issues, as well as environmental, social, and economic losses. Therefore, these concerns must be addressed promptly in order to cope up with these rising difficulties and make urban environments safer for residents. With the advancement of remote sensing technology and the use of current remote observation systems, urban data science, remote sensing, and artificialintelligence (AI), modeling and quantifying emergent difficulties in urban regions and urban systems have become easy. They aid in the quantitative analysis of urban shape, functions, and human behavior in cities. Harvesting data, developing models, and suggesting new methodologies will be aided by combining urban ecology with new breakthroughs in data science. This book is of great value to a diverse group of academicians, scientists, students, environmentalists, meteorologists, urban planners, remote sensing and GIS experts with a common interest in geospatial sciences within the earth environmental sciences, as well as human and social sciences.

This book in two volumes, and with a foreword by the renowned Professor M.A.J. Williams, draws on evidence from coastal and inland regions, including desert dunes, wind-blown dust, river and lake sediments, glacial moraines, plant and animal fossils, isotope geochemistry, soils and prehistoric archaeology to better understand the genesis and development of dunes systems in selected northern hemisphere sand dunes from Asia, Africa and the Middle East regions.The collection of research papers and case studies that are presented in this book provide the reader with a wealth of information about the distribution and types of sand dunes and an insight into the complexity of sand dune formation, migration and management. Research in many countries across the northern hemisphere shows that dunes, whether coastal or inland, are under pressure around the world. Much of the pressure comes from human activities, and the anthropogenic disturbance, when coupled with global warming and alterations to the amount, frequency and temporal distribution of precipitation could lead to more serious management challenges in the future.There is much that we still need to find out about the origin, genesis and development of sand dunes so that they can be managed better. The difficult and complex questions being repeatedly raised can be answered only by interdisciplinary endeavours. Geomorphologists, geologists, palaeontologists, climatologists, ecologists, and others, can work together on research projects that better define the origin, evolution and development of dunes, both inland and along the coasts. Many chapters in this book attempt to reconstruct past climatic changes in deserts and their margins at a variety of scales in space and time in the expectation that such information might assist in preparing us for future global warming and drying.

This book vividly shows the fostering environment, activity characteristics, distribution pattern, economic losses, casualties, disaster risks and management of earthquakes, mass movement, drought, floods, and marine disasters in the Silk Road region. It develops a multi-scale and multi-disaster risk assessment method to better assess and understand the Silk Road disaster risk. A multi-level collaborative risk management model has been proposed for transboundary disasters, and it also shares case studies on major disaster risk management. The book makes a major step forward to increase the understanding of the disaster risk of the Silk Road region. It presents a holistic understanding of the natural hazards and their induced disaster risks and is a valuable read for scholars, stakeholders and practitioners in the DRR community.

This book represents the latest research on urban forestry in a Malaysian context. It demonstrates that urban forestry is concerned not only with environmental enhancement, but also other aspects, such as recreation, health and well-being, and government policies. This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of urban forestry studies from various researchers in Malaysia, and includes rich historical perspectives of urban forestry in the country. It also tackles related issues in policy. The greening of urban Malaysia in the 1970s focused primarily on beautification and was primarily the province of horticulturists, landscapers, nursery workers, town planners, and architects, with negligible inputs from foresters, particularly urban foresters. Perhaps for that reason, the term “landscaping” has been used more widely than “urban forestry” by government and private institutions, politicians, stakeholders, academicians, and the public. Nevertheless, the authors show that theconcept of urban forestry is not new for developing countries such as Malaysia, where urbanization is increasing at a rapid rate. The book unpacks this demographic shift from a predominantly rural to a principally urban society. As the only unified body of work on urban forestry and arboricultural studies in Malaysia, this volume presents an important interdisciplinary reference for students, researchers, and scholars in physical geography, forestry and urban forestry, arboriculture and landscape architecture, both in Malaysia, and in other developing urbanizing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. It is also an important resource for those working in environmental policy and practice, excavating the vital connection between the environment and well-being.

This book highlights several opportunities that exist in satellite remote sensing of large-scale terrestrial hydrology. It lays bare the novel concept of remote sensing hydrology and demonstrates key applications of advance satellite technology and new methods in advancing our fundamental understanding of environmental systems. This includes, using state-of-the-art satellite hydrology missions like the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment and other multi-mission satellite systems as important tools that underpin water resources planning and accounting. This book discusses and demonstrates how the efficacy, simplicity, and sophistication in novel computing platforms for big earth observation data can help facilitate environmental monitoring and improve contemporary understanding of climate change impacts on freshwater resources. It also provides opportunities for practitioners and relevant government agencies to leverage satellite-based information in a transdisciplinary context to address several environmental issues affecting society. This book provides a general framework and highlights methods to help improve our understanding of hydrological processes and impact analysis from extreme events (e.g., droughts, floods) and climate change.

This textbook provides a comprehensive and very detailed insight into Chinese Contemporary Geography in English. It documents the geographical issues associated with China's rapid growth. Since initiating the reforms and open policy, China has achieved tremendous success. China's rapid growth is now a driving force in the global economy and is achieving unprecedented rates of poverty reduction. However, China also faces a number of sustainability and emerging challenges associated with rapid growth such as growing regional disparities in terms of per capita income and social-economic development, sustainable resource development, and issues related to regional and global economic integration. In addition, rapid economic growth has also brought about major challenges such as resource shortages, ecological and environmental destruction, land degradation and frequent disasters. This book presents the authors'reflections. This lavishly illustrated book covers physical geography, history, and economic and political systems of the world's most populous country. The major focus is on geographical issues in China's contemporary development: agriculture, population, urbanization, resource and energy, and environment. The lead author of the book has taught relevant courses in China for three decades, and authored and edited multiple textbooks for Chinese students. This book will appeal to undergraduate students of geography and related disciplines with a regional focus on China and to the general reader who wants to learn different geographical aspects of modern China with little academic background in geography.

This book compiles available knowledge of the response of mountain ecosystems to recent climate and land use change and intends to bridge the gap between science, policy and the community concerned. The chapters present key concepts, major drivers and key processes of mountain response, providing transdisciplinary orientation to mountain studies incorporating experiences of academics, community leaders and policy-makers from developed and less developed countries. The book chapters are arranged in two sections. The first section concerns the response processes of mountain environments to climate change. This section addresses climate change itself (past, current and future changes of temperature and precipitation) and its impacts on the cryosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and human-environment systems. The second section focuses on the response processes of mountain environments to land use/land cover change. The case studies address effects of changing agriculture and pastoralism, forest/water resources management and urbanization processes, landscape management, and biodiversity conservation. The book is designed as an interdisciplinary publication which critically evaluates developments in mountains of the world with contributions from both social and natural sciences.

This edited volume focuses on the use of remote sensing techniques to assess and monitor mountainous ecosystems in Africa, with a focus on tracking changes related to climate change and human activity. The book is timely, as the interaction of mountain environmental dynamics with conservation and sustainability is an under-researched issue. The chapters in this volume use remotely sensed data to study a variety of topics related to mountains and their ecosystems, including but not limited to vegetation, energy systems, environmental hazards, ecosystem services, diseases, climatic shifts, geological formations and geomorphological dynamics. The ability to monitor, assess and analyze mountainous regions is aided by the availability of remote sensing products such as optical and microwave sensors and low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The works presented here push the frontier of knowledge on mountain studies and will help shape local, national and global assessments and policies, including efforts toward the achievement of the African Agenda 2063. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in remote sensing, geography, ecology and sustainability, as well as to government organizations and conservation specialists.

This book explores the relationship between rivers and ethics in China, with a particular focus on the health of the Yellow River and China's sustainable development. Though the book falls into the category of East Asian History, it is an interdisciplinary academic work that addresses not only history, but also culture, human geography and physical geography.It traces the changes in the Yellow River over time and examines the origin and developmental course of Chinese civilization, which has always been closely intertwined with the Yellow River. It also draws comparisons between the Yellow River and the Yangtze, Nile, Tigris, Euphrates and Indus rivers to provide insights into how they have contributed to civilizations. At the same time, it discusses the lessons learned from people's taming the Yellow River.Most significantly, the book explores the relationship between humans and the environment from an ethical standpoint, makingit an urgent reminder of the crucial role that human activities play in environmental issues concerning the Yellow River so as to achieve a sustainable development for China's “mother river.” The intended audience includes academic readers researching East Asian and Chinese history & culture, geography, human geography, historical geography, the environment, river civilizations, etc., as well as history and geography lovers and members of the general public who are interested in the Yellow River and the civilization that has evolved around it.

This book introduces systematically the cryospheric science, covering the formation, development, evolution, and research methods of each component of the cryosphere, the interaction between the cryosphere and the other spheres of the climate system and the anthroposphere, and the hot topics of social and economic sustainable development and geopolitics. The authors are world-renowned experts and scientists working in the related fields. They have a deep understanding and accurate grasp of the basic theory, evolution mechanism, and international frontiers of the cryosphere, as well as rich teaching experience, which makes this book suitable also as textbook for graduate students. It is also the first book that introduces the knowledge of cryospheric science systematically. In addition to theoretical knowledge, the book also introduces field work and experimental analysis. It should be of interests for the scholars and graduate student working in the fields of geography, hydrology, geology, geomorphology, atmosphere, ecology, environment, oceanography, and regional economic and social sustainable development.

This book focuses on the robustness analysis of high accuracy surface modeling method (HASM) to yield good performance of it. Understanding the sensitivity and uncertainty is important in model applications. The book aims to advance an integral framework for assessing model error that can demonstrate robustness across sets of possible controls, variable definitions, standard error, algorithm structure, and functional forms. It is an essential reference to the most promising numerical models. In areas where there is less certainty about models, but also high expectations of transparency, robustness analysis should aspire to be as broad as possible. This book also contains a chapter at the end featuring applications in climate simulation illustrating different implementations of HASM in surface modeling. The book is helpful for people involved in geographical information science, ecological informatics, geography, earth observation, and planetary surface modeling.

This book presents essential case studies on the integrated modelling of ecosystem services and land-use change in the field of landscape ecology. The case studies were mainly conducted in the Zhangye oasis of the Hexi corridor and the upper reaches of the Heihe river basin, including Loess plateau (for wind power) and the inland waterways of the Yangtze River (for the regulation of extreme events). The book puts forward an integrated modelling method, including human activities, natural processes, land-use change, and ecosystem management, and explores multiple scenarios based on the interests of local managers and their implications for ecosystem services. As the book demonstrates, the integrated modelling method for ecosystem services and land-use change can serve as a valuable tool for gauging the impact of various development scenarios in this study area, and in other regions with similar characteristics. In addition, numerous charts and diagrams are included in each chapter, facilitating the simulation and assessment of specific land-use change impacts on ecosystem services in various study areas.

This book elaborates on the physical principles of polarization remote sensing. It explains the reflective characteristics of surface objects and atmosphere separately, including theory, experiment, instrument and application. In addition, it introduces how polarization remote sensing works in advanced research programs as it can be used in aviation, astronomy, disaster risk prevention and navigation fields. This book serves as a fundamental and comprehensive reference for researchers and students.

This book focuses on geochemical behavior and ancient records of the specific biomarker levoglucosan in Tibetan glaciers, Based on samples from the Zangsegangri (ZSGR) ice cores obtained from the central Tibetan Plateau, it presents annually resolved levoglucosan records and fire changes over the past 430 years. It also discusses the interaction between fire, climate change, and human activities. This is the first effort to reconstruct annual resolution fire records in Tibetan ice, providing crucial information and substantially improved analytical methods toward a better understanding of past fire changes.

This book contributes to our understanding of linkages between carbon management and local livelihoods by taking stock of the existing evidence and drawing on field experiences in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, an area that provides fresh water to more than 2 billion people and supports the world's largest population of pastoralists and millions of livestock. This edited volume addresses two main questions: 1. Does carbon management offer livelihood opportunities or present risks, and what are they? 2. Do the attributes of carbon financing alter the nature of livelihood opportunities and risks? Chapters analyze the most pressing deficiencies in understanding carbon storage in both soils and in above ground biomass, and the related social and economic challenges associated with carbon sequestration projects. Chapters deliver insights to both academics from diverse disciplines (natural sciences, social sciences and engineering) and to policy makers.

Today, geography is about understanding the characteristics of places and the complex interconnections among them.

This book focuses on grassland ecosystem evaluation including vegetation coverage, net primary productivity, carbon sink accounting, and grassland degradation evaluation based on mutual data resource, ecosystem model simulation, remote sensing monitoring and driving mechanism exploration. It aims to provide a guide seeking to understand the overall situation of grassland in China in the context of global climate change and build a scenario for the driving force quantitative evaluation. It will be an essential reference to the terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle and degraded grassland ecological restoration engineer implementation. Chapters are carefully developed to cover (1) situation of grassland in China; (2) spatial-temporal of grassland coverage in China;(3) net primary productivity evaluation; (4) carbon sink/source accounting and its carbon-hydrology effect;(5) grassland landscape pattern; (6) grassland degradation evaluation based on remote sensing;(7) Grassland degradation restoration and constructing green ecological protective screen. The new scenario and driving mechanism evaluation model make this book a valuable read for researcher of land ecosystem carbon cycle, ecosytem degradation remote sensing evaluation as well as organizations engaged in eco-restoration practices.

This book highlights the development of lake systems and water reservoirs as well as the impact of climate change on water resources in Central Asian countries. It provides information on the genesis of lake basins, physical and chemical properties of water in lakes, and the hydrological regimes (water balance and fluctuation levels) of lakes of Central Asia and Xinjiang. The book is useful for scientists and researchers whose work focuses on lakes and the use of natural resources, irrigation, hydropower and water supply, as well as for students and planners.

In geomorphology, landform inheritance refers to the inherited relationship of different landform morphologies in a certain area during the evolutionary process. This book studies loess landform inheritance based on national basic geographic data and GIS spatial analysis method. It reveals the Loess Plateau formation mechanism and broadens the understanding of spatial variation pattern of loess landform in the Loess Plateau.

This open access volume is the first comprehensive assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. It comprises important scientific research on the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable mountain development and will serve as a basis for evidence-based decision-making to safeguard the environment and advance people's well-being. The compiled content is based on the collective knowledge of over 300 leading researchers, experts and policymakers, brought together by the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP) under the coordination of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). This assessment was conducted between 2013 and 2017 as the first of a series of monitoring and assessment reports, under the guidance of the HIMAP Steering Committee: Eklabya Sharma (ICIMOD), Atiq Raman (Bangladesh), Yuba Raj Khatiwada (Nepal), Linxiu Zhang (China), Surendra Pratap Singh (India), Tandong Yao (China) and David Molden (ICIMOD and Chair of the HIMAP SC).This First HKH Assessment Report consists of 16 chapters, which comprehensively assess the current state of knowledge of the HKH region, increase the understanding of various drivers of change and their impacts, address critical data gaps and develop a set of evidence-based and actionable policy solutions and recommendations. These are linked to nine mountain priorities for the mountains and people of the HKH consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals. This book is a must-read for policy makers, academics and students interested in this important region and an essentially important resource for contributors to global assessments such as the IPCC reports.

Central Asia is a large and understudied region of varied geography, ranging from the high passes and mountains of Tian Shan, to the vast deserts of Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan to the grassy treeles steppes.This region is faced with adverse conditions, as much of the land is too dry or rugged for farming. Additionally, the rich specific and intraspecific diversity of fruit trees and medicinal plants is threatened by overgrazing, oil and mineral extraction, and poaching. Countless species from the approximately 20 ecosystems and 6000 plant taxa are now rare and endangered.Traditional vegetation studies in this region are far from adequate to handle complex issues such as soil mass movement, soil sodicity and salinity, biodiversity conservation, and grazing management. However, data analysis using a Geographical Information System (GIS) tool provides new insights into the vegetation of this region and opens up new opportunities for long-term sustainable management. While vegetation planning can occur at a property scale, it is often necessary for certain factors, such as salinity, to be dealt with on a regional scale to ensure their effective management. GIS increases the effectiveness and accuracy of vegetation planning in a region. Such regional planning will also greatly increases biodiversity values.This book systematically explores these issues and discuses new applications and approaches for overcoming these issues, including the application of GIS techniques for sustainable management and planning. Professional researchers as well as students and teachers of agriculture and ecology will find this volume to be an integral resource for studying the vegetation of Central Asia.

This edited volume is devoted to the examination of the implications of the inevitable changes wrought by global change on the welfare and livelihoods of tens of millions of people who live in dryland regions. Global change is more than just climate change and the ramifications of changing trade patterns (geopolitical and economic aspects), the shift to the market economy, demographic factors (population growth, urbanization and re-settlement), receive attention here. Land use change specialists, policy makers and natural resource management agencies will find the book very useful.Chapters focus on examples that are drawn from a number of sources including previously unpublished studies on the impact of climate change, markets and economics on pastoralist and dryland farming households. The key focus is to provide readers with insights into the real world implications of change (including an analysis of the drivers of change) on these vulnerable groups within dryland societies. The role of humans as agents of these changes is canvassed. A regional analysis of the world's drylands is also performed including those in Australia, Argentina, India, North America, China, North Africa, Central Asia and Southern Africa.

This book systematically discusses the vegetation dynamics in northern China since the LGM, with a focus on three dominant tree species (Pinus, Quercus and Betula). By integrating methods of palaeoecology, phylogeography and species distribution model, it reconstructs the glacial refugia in northern China, demonstrating that the species were located further north than previously assumed during the LGM. The postglacial dynamics of forest distribution included not only long-distance north-south migration but also local spread from LGM micro-refugia in northern China. On the regional scale, the book shows the altitudinal migration pattern of the three dominant tree genera and the role of topographical factors in the migration of the forest-steppe border. On the catchment scale, it analyzes Huangqihai Lake, located in the forest-steppe ecotone in northern China, to indentify the local forest dynamics response to the Holocene climatic change. It showsthat local forests have various modes of response to the climate drying, including shrubland expansion, savannification and replacement of steppe. In brief, these studies at different space-time scales illustrate the effects of climate, topography and other factors on forest migration.

This book summarizes four decades of glacial-geomorphological field research in Central and High Asia in an attempt to draw a significant link between Quaternary science research and paleoclimatology. Based on the latest geomorphological findings, this study offers a large-scale reconstruction of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) that in High Asia encompassed a total expanse of no less than three million km2, including the Central Tibetan plateau with 2.4 million km2. The author offers a complete reconstruction of the Late Glacial, Holocene, and Historical glacier advances as well as the successive Postglacial ablation stages extending to the present. Taken together, the findings presented here provide the first insights into a global-climatic impact of the Last Glacial Maximum in Central and High Asia with respect to the current interglacial stage. The comparative data analyses point to an inland glaciation at subtropical latitude covering an area larger than the Nordic inland glaciation in Greenland. These insights are facilitated by a methodological approach, unprecedented in modern Quaternary research, that combines high-quality panoramic photography with high-resolution satellite imagery. This combination of terrestrial and aerial perspectives enables scientists and readers alike to visualize the geomorphology of the landscape as a three-dimensional space. The author's successful union of digital big data resources with classical geomorphological analysis offers an exciting new template for future research in Quaternary science and related fields.

This book analyzes the issues associated with climate change in the Himalayas. The purpose of choosing the Himalayas as a focus is because it is a particularly fragile mountain system, highly sensitive to climate change impacts, and it contains one of the largest human populations affected by climate change. The book provides extensive data and information regarding the climate history of the Himalayas, and the current effects of climate change on Himalayan weather systems, and on human and animal populations in the region. The book begins with an overview of global climate change with discussions of data trends and international initiatives, then segues into a history of climate changes and weather trends in the Himalayas. Weather systems of the Himalayas, both past and current, are analyzed and detailed through climate models, seasonal observations of weather fronts, and overviews of various climate scenarios. The book then discusses climate change impacts and signatures specific to the Central Himalayan region, where the largest effects of impacts are observed. Readers will discover analysis presented on water resources, meteorological changes, biodiversity, agriculture and human health along with perspectives of management and policy. This book will appeal to researchers studying climate science, climatology, environmental scientists and policymakers.

This book seeks to promote better understanding of China through improved knowledge of its geography. It presents papers on a variety of environmental topics in China ranging from earthquake hazards to nature preserves. New research techniques and analytical methodologies are also presented.

This book contains papers presented at the 6th Global Workshop on Digital Soil Mapping, held 11-14 November 2014 at the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences of Nanjing, China. Digital soil mapping is advancing on different fronts at different paces throughout the world. The researches and applications on DSM are moving from method development to realizations in different scales and regions, serving the generation of national and continental to global soil grids. Meanwhile, new ideas and insights on mapping complex soil-landscapes such as flat plains,anthropogenically altered agriculture and urban spaces are emerging, with the help of new paradigms and models.The goal of the sixth workshop was to review and discuss the state of the art in digital soil mapping, and to explore strategies for bridging research, production, and environmental applications. This book provides a very useful and comprehensive overview of the status of digital soil mapping, in which graduate students, scientists and specialists working within the field of geography can find the spatial prediction approaches and related theory.

In four chapters and an introduction, this book systematically helps readers understand the development of the Geographical Sciences both in China and in the world during the past 30 years. Through data analysis of methodologies including CiteSpace, TDA, qualitative analysis, questionnaires, data mining and mathematical statistics, the book explains the evolution of research topics and their driving factors in the Geographical Sciences and its four branches, namely Physical Geography, Human Geography, Geographical Information Science and Environmental Geography. It also identifies the role of the Geographical Sciences in the analysis of strategic issues such as global change and terrestrial ecosystems, terrestrial water cycle and water resources, land change, global cryosphere evolution and land surface processes on the Tibetan Plateau, economic globalization and local responses, regional sustainable development, remote sensing modelling and parameter inversion, spatial analysis and simulation, and tempo-spatial processes and modelling of environmental pollutants. It then discusses research development and inadequacy of Chinese Geographical Sciences in the above-mentioned topics, as well as in the fields including Geomorphology and Quaternary environmental change, Ecohydrology, ecosystem services, the urbanization process and mechanism, medical and health geography, international rivers and transboundary environment and resources, detection and attribution of changes in land surface sensitive components, and uncertainty of spatial information and spatial analysis. It shows that the NSFC has driven the development in all these topics and fields. In addition, the book summarises trends of the Geographical Sciences in China and the research level in major countries of the world through an overview of geographical education in colleges and universities, the analysis of publications, citations and author networks of SCI/SSCI and CSCD indexed articles, and the description of Sino-USA, Sino-UK and Sino-German cooperation. This book serves as an important reference to anyone interested in geographical sciences and related fields.

This book offers a comprehensive review of the landscapes and ecosystems of the Upper Yellow River. It focuses on landscapes as a platform for considering environmental values and issues across the region. The book is based on extensive field-based analyses, applications, and photographs.

This second edition of the book Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions: Southeastern Europe integrates the scientific results and expertise of the researchers from the countries in Southeastern Europe. The book consists of updated information for the topics observed in first edition and several new chapters with analysis of some problems in the mountain regions of four new for the edition countries in Southeastern European space. The general themes in the book are related to Global problems and mountain regions; Nature resources and landuse in mountain regions; Social, economic and regional problems of mountain regions; Nature protection, conservation and monitoring and Networks and strategies for mountain regions. The key topics for discussion are:Natural recourses and land use in mountain regions.Sustainable social and economic development of the mountain regions. Natural disasters and risk prevention.Spatial modeling and planning. Nature protection, monitoring and conservation.Politics and sustainable practices for development of mountain regions.Transborder and regional cooperation. Mountain regions in Southeastern Europe are characterized by unique landscape and biological diversity and great economic potential. They have function as a living space and provide different groups of ecosystem and landscape services. In social and economic aspects these regions are one of the poorest in Southeastern European countries with unused potential. Human, ecological and economic problems arising in various mountain regions have the same basic characteristics irrespective of the country. Some mountain regions are subject to specific for the conditions of the mountain and country policy for planning, development and mountain population promotion. The general goal is development of whole economy and the efficient management of natural resources and prevention of natural and technological disasters. The mountain regions are one of the most threatened landscape systems in Southeastern Europe. Understanding the importance of the mountain regions and conservation of the natural heritage require scientific and institutional cooperation at all levels.

This is the first book solely devoted to Cryopedology, the study of soils of cold regions. The analysis treats Cryosols as a three-part system (active layer, transition layer, permafrost). The book considers soil-forming factors, cryogenic processes, and classification and distribution of Cryosols. Cryosols of the Arctic, Antarctica, and the high mountains are considered in detail. The chapters address cryosols and earth-system science, cryosols in a changing climate, cryosols databases and their use, and management of cryosols. The book is rich in color photographs and highlights the author's 43 field trips to Antarctica, the Arctic, and alpine areas.

This volume presents state-of-the-art research about mineral dust, including results from field campaigns, satellite observations, laboratory studies, computer modelling and theoretical studies. Dust research is a new, dynamic and fast-growing area of science and due to its multiple roles in the Earth system, dust has become a fascinating topic for many scientific disciplines. Aspects of dust research covered in this book reach from timescales of minutes (as with dust devils, cloud processes and radiation) to millennia (as with loess formation and oceanic sediments), making dust both a player and recorder of environmental change.The book is structured in four main parts that explore characteristics of dust, the global dust cycle, impacts of dust on the Earth system, and dust as a climate indicator. The chapters in these parts provide a comprehensive, detailed overview of this highly interdisciplinary subject.The contributions presented here cover dust from source to sink and describe all the processes dust particles undergo while travelling through the atmosphere. Chapters explore how dust is lifted and transported, how it affects radiation, clouds, regional circulations, precipitation and chemical processes in the atmosphere and how it deteriorates air quality. The book explores how dust is removed from the atmosphere by gravitational settling, turbulence or precipitation, how iron contained in dust fertilizes terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and about therole that dust plays in human health. We learn how dust is observed, simulated using computer models and forecast. The book also details the role of dust deposits for climate reconstructions.Scientific observations and results are presented, along with numerous illustrations. This work has an interdisciplinary appeal and will engage scholars in geology, geography, chemistry, meteorology and physics, amongst others with an interest in the Earth system and environmental change.body>

This book examines the possible impacts of climate change on hydrology and water resources in the vast arid region of Northwest China, which is one of the world's largest arid places.The first chapter offers an introductory discussion of the physical geography and socioeconomic conditions in the region. Chapters 2 through 7 discuss the climate system and hydrologic system changes in the region, and assess some implications of these changes in relation to potential evapotranspiration, the hydrological cycle and spatiotemporal variations of the snow cover and glaciers as measured via remote sensing, geographic information systems, and statistical analysis. Chapters 8 and 9 focus on model description and experimental design for interpreting the hydro-climatic process, emphasizing the integration of water, climate, and land ecosystems through field observations and computer-based simulations. Chapter 10 examines some extreme hydrological events and presents a study using the historical trend method to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of changing temperature and precipitation extremes in the hyper-arid region of Northwest China.A concluding chapter discusses possible strategies for sustainable watershed management. The contributors are acknowledged experts who bring broad, relevant experience on water resources research in China's cold and arid regions. The lessons of this volume will prove useful for understanding arid areas elsewhere in the world.

An international team of over 150 experts provide up-to-date satellite imaging and quantitative analysis of the state and dynamics of the glaciers around the world, and they provide an in-depth review of analysis methodologies. Includes an e-published supplement.Global Land Ice Measurements from Space - Satellite Multispectral Imaging of Glaciers (GLIMS book for short) is the leading state-of-the-art technical and interpretive presentation of satellite image data and analysis of the changing state of the world's glaciers. The book is the most definitive, comprehensive product of a global glacier remote sensing consortium, Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS, http://www.glims.org). With 33 chapters and a companion e-supplement, the world's foremost experts in satellite image analysis of glaciers analyze the current state and recent and possible future changes of glaciers across the globe and interpret these findings for policy planners.Climate change is with us for some time to come, and its impacts are being felt by the world's population. The GLIMS Book, to be released about the same time as the IPCC's 5th Assessment report on global climate warming, buttresses and adds rich details and authority to the global change community's understanding of climate change impacts on the cryosphere. This will be a definitive and technically complete reference for experts and students examining the responses of glaciers to climate change. World experts demonstrate that glaciers are changing in response to the ongoing climatic upheaval in addition to other factors that pertain to the circumstances of individual glaciers. The global mosaic of glacier changes is documented by quantitative analyses and are placed into a perspective of causative factors. Starting with a Foreword, Preface, and Introduction, the GLIMS book gives the rationale for and history of glacier monitoring and satellite data analysis. It includes acomprehensive set of six'how-to'methodology chapters, twenty-five chapters detailing regional glacier state and dynamical changes, and an in-depth summary and interpretation chapter placing the observed glacier changes into a global context of the coupled atmosphere-land-ocean system.An accompanying e-supplement will include oversize imagery and other other highly visual renderings of scientific data.

Based on four decades of research by Professor Andrew Goudie, this volume provides a state-of-the-art synthesis of our understanding of desert geomorphology. It presents a truly international perspective, with examples from all over the world. Extensively referenced and illustrated, it covers such topics as the importance of past climatic changes, the variability of different desert environments, rock breakdown, wind erosion and dust storm generation, sand dunes, fluvial and slope forms and processes, the role of the applied geomorphologist in desert development and conservation, and the Earth as an analogue for other planetary bodies. This book is destined to become the classic volume on arid and semi-arid geomorphology for advanced students and researchers in physical geography, geomorphology, Earth science, sedimentology, environmental science and archaeology.

Mountains cover a quarter of the Earth's land surface and a quarter of the global population lives in or adjacent to these areas. The global importance of mountains is recognized particularly because they provide critical resources, such as water, food and wood; contain high levels of biological and cultural diversity; and are often places for tourism and recreation and/or of sacred significance. This major revision of Larry Price's book Mountains and Man (1981) is both timely and highly appropriate. The past three decades have been a period of remarkable progress in our understanding of mountains from an academic point of view. Of even greater importance is that society at large now realizes that mountains and the people who reside in them are not isolated from the mainstream of world affairs, but are vital if we are to achieve an environmentally sustainable future. Mountain Geography is a comprehensive resource that gives readers an in-depth understanding of the geographical processes occurring in the world's mountains and the overall impact of these regions on culture and society as a whole. The volume begins with an introduction to how mountains are defined, followed by a comprehensive treatment of their physical geography: origins, climatology, snow and ice, landforms and geomorphic processes, soils, vegetation, and wildlife. The concluding chapters provide an introduction to the human geography of mountains: attitudes toward mountains, people living in mountain regions and their livelihoods and interactions within dynamic environments, the diverse types of mountain agriculture, and the challenges of sustainable mountain development.

This two volume set (CCIS 398 and 399) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Symposium on Geo-Informatics in Resource Management and Sustainable Ecosystem, GRMSE 2013, held in Wuhan, China, in November 2013. The 136 papers presented, in addition to 4 keynote speeches and 5 invited sessions, were carefully reviewed and selected from 522 submissions. The papers are divided into 5 sessions: smart city in resource management and sustainable ecosystem, spatial data acquisition through RS and GIS in resource management and sustainable ecosystem, ecological and environmental data processing and management, advanced geospatial model and analysis for understanding ecological and environmental process, applications of geo-informatics in resource management and sustainable ecosystem.

Cryosols occupy a unique part of the earth and have properties greatly different from other soils. They also occur where the greatest impact of global warming is predicted. They have been studied extensively in Russia, Canada and in other regions. This is, however, the first book which brings together experts from all fields in order to focus on these unique soils. It will undoubtedly provide one of the best sources of information available about these soils.

Seasonal Snowpacks examines the processes which control the chemistry of seasonal snowcover and provides detailed information on the biogeographical distribution of snow (e.g. urban, alpine snowpacks), snow composition (e.g. micropollutants, stable isotopes) or the physical and biological processes which influence the chemical changes in snow (e.g. wind, microbiological activity). The fluxes of chemicals at the snow-atmosphere and snow-soil interfaces are examined, as are processes which modify composition within the snowcover. It is the first book in which the reader will find a comprehensive overview of the theoretical concepts, latest measurement techniques, process-oriented research methods, and models of studies in snow chemistry. The linkages between snow chemistry, atmospheric chemistry and hydrology will make this book of use to both research workers and students in the physical and biological sciences and to natural resource management personnel.

After UNCED (United Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, July 1992), a second edition of Desertification was necessary. About 150 corrections, amendments and additions take scientific progress into account. The author also presents an updated chapter in which the results of UNCED are analyzed. This book aims at an understanding of what is commonly called'desertification'- a term which is proposed to be replaced by'land degradation'. Each level of technology, excessive or insufficient, creates its own mismanagement. This is reflected in an increase in land degradation and eventually a decrease in soil productivity. The benefit to the reader is an awareness of the ecozones and a global overview of the phenomena, mechanisms and existing solutions.

Intense uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in Late Cenozoic Era is one of the most important events in geological history of the Earth. The plateau offers an ideal region for studying of lithospheric formation and evolution, probing into the mechanism of crustal movement, and understanding of changes in environments and geo-ecosystems in Asia. Intense uplift ofthe plateau resulted in drastic changes of natural environment and apparent regional differentiation on the plateau proper and neighboring regions. The plateau therefore becomes a sensitive area of climate change in Asian monsoon region, which is closely related to the global change. As a special physical unit, its ecosystems occupy a prominent position in the world. Due to its extremely high elevation and great extent, natural types and characteristics of physical landscapes on the plateau are quite different from those in lowlands at comparable latitudes, and environments are also different from those in high­ latitudinal zones. Consequently, the Tibetan Plateau has been classified as one of three giant physical regions in China and considered as a unique unit on Earth. Scientific surveys and expeditions to the Tibetan Plateau on large scale began from 1950's. Amongst them, a number of comprehensive scientific expeditions to the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, Hengduan Mts. areas, Karakorum and Kunlun Mts. regions, as well as the Hoh Xii Mts. areas, have been successively carried out by the Integrated Scientific Expedition to Tibetan Plateau, sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1973.

This volume arises from the work of the International Geographical Union Working Group on Regional Hydrological Response to Climate Change and Global Warming under the chairmanship of Professor Changming Liu (1992-96). The book consists mostly of peer-reviewed papers delivered at the Working Group's first three scientific meetings held in Washington, D.C. (1992), Lhasa, Tibet (1993) and Moscow (1995). These have been supplemented by a few additional chapters that have been specifically commissioned in order to give a well-rounded coverage of the global and scientific aspects of the topic. As editors, we have sought to balance state-of-the-art reviews of methodology and regional research with detailed studies of specific countries and river basins. In the spirit of the IGU, we have devoted particular effort to encouraging contributions from scientists in the non-English-speaking world. These chapters provide valuable evidence of recent climatic change and predictions of future hydrological impacts from parts of the world where little detailed work has been conducted hitherto. They provide much valuable information that is new and interesting to an international audience and is otherwise very difficult or impossible to acquire. It is hoped that the present volume will be not only a record of current achievements, but also a stimulus to further hydrological research as the detail and spatial resolution of Global Climate Models improves. One notable aspect that emerges from a number of the contributions is that many, though by no means all, recent hydrological trends are in line with global warming predictions.