This paper provides new insights into the relationships between income inequality and residential segregation between socioeconomic groups by undertaking a comparative study of European urban ...regions. In Europe, income inequalities are the lowest in North Europe and the highest in South Europe. In many East European countries, a switch from low inequality to high inequality has taken place. The main findings show that changes in the levels of residential segregation between socioeconomic groups correlate to changes in the levels of income inequality found approximately 10 years earlier, that is, with a time lag.
Climate warming due to the enhanced greenhouse effect is expected to have a significant impact on natural environment and human activity in high latitudes. Mostly, it should have a positive effect on ...human activity. The main threats in Estonia that could be connected with sea-level rise are the flooding of coastal areas, erosion of sandy beaches and the destruction of harbour constructions. Possible climate change and its negative impacts in the coastal regions of Estonia are estimated in this paper.
Climate change scenarios for Estonia were generated using a Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse-gas Induced Climate Change (MAGICC) and a regional climate change database—SCENanario GENerator (SCENGEN). Three alternative emission scenarios were combined with data from 14 general circulation model experiments. Climate change scenarios for the year 2100 indicate a significant increase in air temperature (by 2.3–4.5 °C) and precipitation (by 5–30%) in Estonia. The highest increase is expected to take place during winter and the lowest increase in summer.
Due to a long coastline (3794 km) and extensive low-lying coastal areas, global climate change through sea-level rise will strongly affect the territory of Estonia. A number of valuable natural ecosystems will be in danger. These include both marine and terrestrial systems containing rare plant communities and suitable breeding places for birds. Most sandy beaches high in recreational value will disappear. However, isostatic land uplift and the location of coastal settlements at a distance from the present coastline reduce the rate of risk. Seven case study areas characterising all the shore types of Estonia have been selected for sea-level rise vulnerability and adaptation assessment. Results and estimates of vulnerability to 1.0-m sea-level rise by 2100 are presented in this paper. This is the maximum scenario according to which the actually estimated relative sea-level rise would vary from 0.9 m (SW Estonia) to 0.7 m on the north-western coast due to different velocities of land uplift in the studied areas.
The longest coastline section recession (6.4 km) would occur on the western coast of the mainland where extensive areas of reed bed and flooded meadows would relocate landwards or disappear. Possible damages in Tallinn, the capital city, would be the greatest compared to the other study areas. The greatest threat to the environment of the Gulf of Finland and the whole Baltic Sea is the dumping site of the former uranium enrichment plant in Sillamäe which is situated very close to the coastline and can be easily influenced during storms.
Wetlands that are restored for carbon sequestration or created for water treatment are an important sources of greenhouse gases, especially methane. The emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) from these ...systems is often considered negligible due to the inundation and anerobic conditions that support complete denitrification. We used closed chamber method to analyze N2O fluxes over a long-term period across heterogeneous wetland ecosystem constructed for treating nitrate-rich agricultural runoff. Our results showed that the water depth and temperature were most important factors affecting high N2O emissions. The shallow areas where water depth was less than 9 cm created N2O hot spots that emitted 48.8% of the total wetlands annual emission while only covering 6% of the total area. The annual emission from shallow-water hot spots with dense helophytic vegetation was 4.85 ± 0.5 g N2O–N m−2 y−1 while it was only 0.37 ± 0.01 g N2O–N m−2 y−1 in deeper zones. While the water depth was the main factor for high N2O emissions, the temperatures increased the magnitude of the flux and therefore summer droughts and water drawdown created even larger hot spots. These results also suggest that IPCC benchmarks could underestimate N2O emission from shallow waterbodies. Thus, it is important that the shallow zones and water level drawdown in the created or restored wetlands is avoided to minimize the N2O flux.
•Low water level is the main driver for high N2O emission in treatment wetland.•Temperature will control the magnitude of N2O flux in shallow water areas.•Increased water level reduced significantly N2O emission from shallow zones.
Education could play a role in decreasing and mitigating damages caused by natural disaster. By analysing relationships between level of education and components of the World Risk Index, this study ...demonstrated an education’s role in natural hazard awareness and mitigation. For this purpose, we analysed relationships between the components of WRI, created an education factor independent of WRI (based on PISA 2018 Science test results), analysed the frequency, magnitude and exposure of natural hazards of an extreme event character in selected countries and analysed the relationships between the education factor and WRI components among the countries. A detailed analysis was performed for 15 countries representing the full global range of natural hazards (frequency, magnitude and exposure to droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods (not related to hurricanes), mass movements, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis) and level of education. We found that the education factor (ranked and normalised to the maximal value among the considered countries) has significant negative correlation with the following WRI parameters: the Natural Hazard Factor (relative vulnerability, based on the difference between the relative and calculated WRI, ranked and normalised to the maximal value of WRI differences), susceptibility, lack of coping capacities and lack of adaptive capacities (all ranked and normalised to the maximal value). Results indicated that countries at low risk tend to be over-aware while countries at high risk are under-aware of natural hazards. Education can significantly increase awareness of natural hazards and reduce their impact.
Relative sea level (RSL) changes and the palaeogeography of a Neolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement site on the former shore of the Gulf of Finland in the city centre of Tallinn were ...reconstructed by implementing GIS in landscape modelling based on archaeological, sedimentary and shore displacement data. AMS radiocarbon dating of mammal bones from the cultural layer suggests the existence of the hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement around 5.1–4.8 cal. ka BP on a seaward inclining sandy beach of Tallinn palaeo-bay c. 100 m from the Litorina Sea shoreline and at about 2.4 m above the coeval sea level. The shoreline passed the study site at about 5.8 cal. ka BP and retreated towards northeast with an average speed of 13 m per century, while the RSL lowered by c. 2.5 mm annually. Combining radiocarbon dates of terrestrial and marine mammal bones from the Neolithic cultural layer, a marine reservoir effect of 350 14C years for the brackish-water Baltic Sea was calculated. By using high-resolution archaeological data in combination with RSL and other geological proxies, we demonstrate new possibilities to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment of deeply buried coastal settlement sites and to predict a possible continuation of the cultural layer in heavily built-up areas.
Trends in the frequencies, durations, mean and minimum sea level pressures, and cyclone formation point sea level pressures of relatively strong (mean sea level pressure < 1000 hPa) cyclones entering ...the Baltic Sea region between 1948 and 2010 were subject to analysis. Incoming cyclones were divided into ten clusters based on their formation points using the k-means clustering method. Changes in cyclone activity were compared with the North Atlantic Oscillation index. Although the incoming cyclone frequency did not change over the study period, over time the incoming cyclones became significantly stronger as they approached the region. There is no reason at present to assume that more cyclones have begun to form in some clusters. Only weak correlations were found between the number of incoming cyclones and the North Atlantic Oscillation index. Nevertheless, the overall tendency was for fewer but stronger incoming cyclones when the North Atlantic Oscillation index was positive.
Based on geological and archaeological proxies from NW Russia and NE Estonia and on GIS‐based modelling, shore displacement during the Stone Age in the Narva‐Luga Klint Bay area in the eastern Gulf ...of Finland was reconstructed. The reconstructed shore displacement curve displays three regressive phases in the Baltic Sea history, interrupted by the rapid Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea transgressions c. 10.9–10.2 cal. ka BP and c. 8.5–7.3 cal. ka BP, respectively. During the Ancylus transgression the lake level rose 9 m at an average rate of about 13 mm per year, while during the Litorina transgression the sea level rose 8 m at an average rate of about 7 mm per year. The results show that the highest shoreline of Ancylus Lake at an altitude of 8–17 m a.s.l. was formed c. 10.2 cal. ka BP and that of the Litorina Sea at an altitude of 6–14 m a.s.l., c. 7.3 cal. ka BP. The oldest traces of human activity dated to 8.5–7.9 cal. ka BP are associated with the palaeo‐Narva River in the period of low water level in the Baltic basin at the beginning of the Litorina Sea transgression. The coastal settlement associated with the Litorina Sea lagoon, presently represented by 33 Stone Age sites, developed in the area c. 7.1 cal. ka BP and existed there for more than 2000 years. Transformation from the coastal settlement back to the river settlement indicates a change from a fishing‐and‐hunting economy to farming and animal husbandry c. 4.4 cal. ka BP, coinciding with the time of the overgrowing of the lagoon in the Narva‐Luga Klint Bay area.
Estonia is a coastal country with a long coastline (3800 km) for which climate change and accelerated sea-level rise are key problems that need to be considered in any future impact assessment. Due ...to its flat, low-lying coastal zone, any rise in sea level places many coastal ecosystems and recreationally valuable sandy beaches at risk. Milder winters, combined with increased storminess and the absence of sea-ice cover, would exacerbate these impacts. However, isostatic uplift and the distance of coastal settlements from the present coastline could reduce these risks. This paper presents the potential impact of a 1-m global sea-level rise by 2100 if no adaptation is undertaken. Seven representative study areas, characterising all shore types in Estonia, were selected for sea-level rise vulnerability and adaptation assessment. The diverse structure of Estonia's coasts, the rapidly migrating shorelines, and the abundance of small islands were found to complicate reliable predictions regarding climate warming and accelerated sea-level rise. SISUTUTVUSTUS: Eesti on pika rannajoonega (3800 km) mereäärne maa. Seetõttu on võimalik meretaseme tõus üks võtmeküsimusi kliima muutuse mõju hindamisel Eesti jaoks. Kuna siinne rannik on valdavalt madal ja tasane, on paljud väärtuslikud rannikuökosüsteemid kliima muutuse ja meretaseme tõusu korral hävimisohus. Paljud kõrge rekreatiivse väärtusega liivarannad lakkaksid eksisteerimast. Kliima muutusega kaasnevate pehmete talvede, jääkatte puudumise ning sagedaste tormide koosmõju teravdaksid veelgi ülalmainitud protsesse. Ent isostaatiline maakerge ja rannikuäärsete asulate paiknemine tänapäeva rannajoonest eemal mõnevõrra leevendavad riski suurust. Käesolevas artiklis on esitatud analüüsi tulemused aastaks 2100 toimuva 1 meetrise globaalse meretaseme tõusu stsenaariumi järgi tingimusel, et mingeid kaitse- ega kohandamismeetmeid ei võeta eelnevalt tarvitusele. Meretaseme tõusuga kaasneva rannikualade haavatavuse ning selle tagajärgedele vastavate kaitse- ja kohandamismeetmete analüüsiks valiti seitse võtmeala, mis esindavad kõiki peamisi Eesti rannikutüüpe. Eesti rannikutüüpide vahel-dusrikkus, kiiresti muutuv rannajoon ning saarte rohkus teevad kliima soojenemise ning meretaseme tõusu võimalike tagajärgede ennustamise väga keerukaks.
The homogenization and fragmentation of landscapes caused by intensive management is an increasing problem worldwide. Therefore, there is need for development of methods that help to improve ...sustainable management and maintain the identity of landscapes. We proposed that landscape coherence is the similarity between soil pattern (potential landscape) and land use intensity (actual landscape), which may be investigated by means of correlograms. We studied the spatial autocorrelation (Moran's
I) of raster format soil maps and land use maps (1:10,000; 10
m pixel size) in 35 study areas representing all landscape regions in Estonia. Various soil characteristics were taken into consideration in compiling the scale of contrast of 17 soil groups, whereas 19 land use types were ordered according to the intensity of human influence. We use a simple characteristic based on correlograms: a half-value distance lag,
h
I
=
0.5, a distance where Moran's
I equals 0.5. According to the value of
h
I
=
0.5, in till-covered areas, the landscape structure is more fragmented in uplands than in lowlands. We found two study areas where the soil pattern was coherent with land use intensity, and detected a tendency that human influence makes the landscape pattern in uplands more homogeneous and in lowlands more heterogeneous, whereas the similarity between landscape patterns in lowlands and uplands is increasing due to human influence. This concept of coherence helps planners and decision makers to determine the optimal land use in landscapes by either reducing or increasing the fragmentation of the landscape pattern.
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