Following a decision by the Arctic Ocean Sciences Board (AOSB) in July 1996 the then chainnan, Geoffrey Holland, wrote a letter of invitation to a meeting to plan a "Symposium on the Freshwater Balance of the Arctic." The meeting was held in Ottawa on November 12-13 1996 and was attended by representatives of various organisations, including the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as individual scientists. Results of this meeting included: Co-sponsorship with AOSB by the Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR), the Arctic Climate System Study (ACSYS) and the Global Energy...

For historical and socio-economic reasons, the countries of the southern Black Sea region are facing mounting and apparently intractable problems in managing their solid waste, with increasingly serious implications for public health and quality of life, as well as the wider socio-economic development of the region. Hitherto, no comprehensive, systematic study of the problem seems to have been conducted, to determine the underlying causes and suggesting how it might be alleviated in socially and economically viable ways, aiming at sustainability.
The present book analyzes the causes of...

A source of up-to-date information on current water resources, their quality and quantity, in every country in the Balkans. Institutional structures, water management issues and water monitoring problems are analyzed, with special reference to international waters, using characteristic case studies, including the Sava River, Lake Ohrid, The Nestos/Mesta River, the Neretva River estuary, and coastal waters in Turkey. Contributions written by experts from France, the UK and the USA demonstrate state-of-the-art electronic networking and the management of distributed water databases.
The...

The countries of the Black Sea region are beset by a great number of problems: there are many large cities along the coast; intensive agriculture is practised in the region; great rivers such as the Danube and the Dnieper carry pollution from a large part of Europe; and the lowlands are threatened by flooding from the rivers, wind-induced surges, and future sea-level rise due to global warming. Any integrated, sustainable development of the region will require an interdisciplinary approach, which the present book reflects. Contributions range from the monitoring of biological diversity...

The hydrological cycle of the Arctic Ocean has intimate and complex linkages to global climate: changes in one affect the other, usually with a feedback. The combined effects of large river runoff, advection of meteoric water, low evaporation rates and distillation by freezing contribute to the formation of a strong halocline in the upper Arctic ocean, which limits thermal communication between the sea ice and the warmer waters of Atlantic origin below. Sea ice and freshened surface waters are transported from the marginal seas by winds and currents, ultimately exiting the Arctic Ocean...

In 1997 disastrous flooding running through the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany took the lives of a great number of people and caused economic damage estimated in tens of billions of dollars. Flooding of the Yangtze river in 1998 killed more than 3000 people, dislocated 230 million souls, and caused direct damage of more than $ 45 billion. Both the general public and the experts are asking what we can learn from these recent events to reduce loss of life and flood damage.
The 1997 floods were dealt with by experts from the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany, who presented timely reports...

These proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Environmental Reconstruction in Headwater Areas" provide a landmark in the evolution of a distinctive movement, perhaps an emerging new philosophy, within the practice of headwater management. The Headwater Control movement traces its history back to the First International Conference on Headwater Control, Prague, 1989. Throughout this brief history, Headwater Control has remained a typical environment movement 'ad hocracy'. At its meetings, for every convert to the multidisciplinary, integrative, practical, interventionist, and...

This volume is based on the presentations and deliberations of an Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) "Caspian Sea: A Quest for Environmental Security" that was held on March 15-19, 1999, in Venice (Italy). The Workshop was sponsored by the NATO's Division for Scientific and Environmental Affairs, with additional support provided by the Trust for Mutual Understanding (USA). It was organized by Duke University's Center for International Development Research with the guidance of the International Committee of scientists from Russia, United States. Georgia and Italy and organizational assistance...

Acridids (grasshoppers and locusts) can range from being rare curiosities to abundant menaces. Some are threatened with extinction and become subjects of intensive conservation efforts, while others are devastating pests and become the objects of massive control programmes. Even within a species, there are times when the animal is so abundant that its crushed masses cause the wheels of trains to skid (the Rocky Mountain grasshopper, Melanoplus spretus Walsh in western North America in the 1860s and I 870s), while at other times the animal is alarmingly scarce (the Rocky Mountain grasshopper...

This is the best compilation of current seismic and engineering data on the seismic hazard of the capitals of the Central Asian republics available in the English language. It comes to the conclusion that the risk to residents of these cities is extremely high.