South Africa is located in the sub tropics with an elevated plateau which is located approximately 1500 m above mean sea level (a.m.s.l). Every year, snow occurs on the mountains of Lesotho, but on occasions this snow descends to lower elevations which impacts on the livelihood of people. Severe weather originating from extra-tropical weather systems has been well documented in South Africa and yet very little research has been done to predict significant snowfall from these weather systems. The main aim of this research is to identify those weather systems responsible for snow and to understand the processes causing snow to form when these systems occur. A comprehensive database of significant snowfall events is supplied from 1981 to 2011. The database is subjectively classified into characteristic synoptic patterns. The snow cases are then objectively classified using self-organising maps (SOMs) to obtain synoptic configurations most typically associated with significant snowfall over South Africa. Case studies which aim to explain the synoptic conditions, formation mechanisms as well as critical surface temperature and relative humidity during snowfall events are described. This is done by analysing each case study with respect to synoptic circulations, surface observations, atmospheric soundings, satellite imagery as well as atmospheric thickness. Conclusions are drawn and critical threshold values of atmospheric thickness, surface temperature and humidity are identified when snowfall occurs. A methodical snow forecasting decision tree is devised. It takes the synoptic classification of circulation patterns during significant snowfall, atmospheric thickness, height of the freezing level, surface temperature, and relative humidity into account. This process is explained by case studies. It is recommended that results from this dissertation are made available to weather forecasters in South Africa and that the results are implemented in the operational forecasting environment. Further case study investigations are suggested, taking the mesoscale processes effects into account. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / am2013 / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / MSc / Unrestricted

Předkládaná práce se zabývá tématikou lidové architektury v Jizerských horách se zaměřením na štíty domů. První část práce seznamuje čtenáře s tématem a dosavadním výzkumem v dané oblasti. V dalších kapitolách je představena architektura severních Čech a konkrétně pak Jizerských hor. Toto téma je obsaženo včetně popisu vývoje osídlení. Další část práce se věnuje štítu domu a typům jeho výzdoby v severních Čechách, v Jizerských horách a zaměřuje se na lomenice a dřevěné bedněné štíty včetně menších zdobných prvků, dále na břidlicové a eternitové skládané štíty a také na okna a jejich úpravu. Závěrečná část práce pak předkládá zpracovaný terénní výzkum, který probíhal v jizerskohorských lokalitách Karlov a Bílý Potok. Obsažen je popis obou obcí včetně jejich historie a dále popis zachovaných hodnotných objektů. Na přiloženém CD je zpracovaný fotografický katalog. Následuje zhodnocení terénního výzkumu a jeho zasazení do předcházející teoretické části.

The Atnarko complex located in west-central British Columbia comprises pre-Early Jurassic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks, termed the Atnarko assemblage, which is structurally interleaved with Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous orthogneiss. The Atnarko assemblage correlates with continental margin assemblages found within the Coast plutonic complex. Tectonic interaction between the Insular and Intermontane superterranes resulted in several phases of deformation including; 1) poorly preserved Jurassic deformation, 2) Early to mid-Cretaceous, southwest to west directed, compression, 3) mid-Cretaceous, north to northeast directed, compression, 4) mid- to Late Cretaceous dextral and sinistral ductile/brittle shearing, and 5) post latest Cretaceous brittle faulting. Peak metamorphism coincides with generation of migmatite in the Early Cretaceous (~117-115 Ma) and is contemporaneous with penetrative ductile fabrics. The Atnarko complex had cooled below 350°C by the Late. Comparison of the Atnarko complex to equivalent portions of the orogen along strike, indicates a post mid-Cretaceous change in structural style. To the northwest the orogen records continued southwest-directed compression which dominates the deformation style; while to the southeast large dextral strike-slip faults dominate. Relative plate motions between ca. 70-60 Ma indicate that dextral transpression occurred between the Kula and North American plates. Strain during this transpressive deformation was partitioned into compressive and translational regions. The Atnarko complex area is situated at the transition between translation and compression. The conditions of the lower and middle crust within the orogen were established by how strain was partitioned across the orogen. The distributed strain also shaped how the orogen responded to Tertiary extension. Continued compression to the northwest of the Atnarko complex led to increased crustal thickness and partial melting of lower and middle crust in the Tertiary. Conversely, the cessation of compression in the southeast lead to a more stable (i.e. cooler) crustal lithosphere. A change in relative plate motions in the early Tertiary triggered full-scale, orogen-perpendicular, collapse in the northwest facilitated by decoupling between the middle and lower crusts along thermally weakened layers. Localized orogen-parallel extension occurred in the southeast which was kinematically linked to large dextral strike-slip faults where the upper crust remained coupled to the middle and lower crust. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

The research examines the relationship between the Sublime, the written works of H. P. Lovecraft, and the researcher’s production in the studio arts. It analyses how the Sublime is approached as a subject matter and principal objective within philosophical and artistic discourses, historically and within a contemporary paradigm. It also investigates the applicability of the Sublime to selected themes uncovered in H. P. Lovecraft’s work in general, and At the Mountains of Madness in particular. This is undertaken through an investigation of primary and secondary sources whose explorations and contextualization informs and supports the researcher’s practical visual studies. A reflective and critical analysis of this studio work is performed and included in the main body of the dissertation, from which a conclusion is drawn about the effectiveness of this approach. Specifically, the research explores the relevance of the Sublime both as a critical component of contemporary fine arts and as a fundamental element of the work of H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness in particular. In addition, the research’s practical component consists of a visual exploration of the intersection between the two. Furthermore, it represents an evaluation of this overlap in its effective translation across modes of expression, as interpreted through the medium of the researcher’s creative process.

I have attempted to denaturalize and historicize tourism in Crested Butte as an economic, social, and physical phenomenon that fits into the broader histories of Colorado and the West, as well as the broader histories and realities of travel and tourism. Why do people seek out certain places and experiences in the name of pleasure? How did these activities and spaces come to qualify as desirable? What about people who fall outside temporally limited definitions of tourist, such as those who come to Crested Butte for only a season or a year, or second homeowners who stay for months at a time, or, really, any resident? All these people value the place and their experiences in the exact same ways, influenced by the same physical and psychic constructions of desirability. These current constructions are informed by a long history of evolving tastes and interests, the products of converging local, national, and international dynamics. In tracing a history of tourism and especially tourism in the West, I used a variety of secondary sources authored by scholars of tourism, the West, and Colorado. In charting a history of Crested Butte, I utilized archived local newspapers. I spoke to a number of current Crested Butte residents to understand how Crested Butte locals view themselves, their community, their lifestyles, and their town.

This thesis applies a novel method of change detection, the Landsat Image Stack Trend Analysis method to the monitoring of retrogressive thaw slumps in the Richardson Mountains, NWT. This method represents a significant improvement upon previous methods of thaw slump monitoring, which utilized air photos and high-resolution satellite imagery. This method applies Tasseled Cap brightness, wetness and greenness indices to Landsat TM/ETM images acquired between 1985 and 2011 and analyzes the temporal change of each pixel for the different indices values. This method is useful in retrogressive thaw slump monitoring in two ways. First, by creating a map showing the linear change over time from 1985 to 2011, retrogressive thaw slumps can be easily identified, as they are more dynamic than the surrounding tundra. In total, 251 thaw slumps were identified within an area of roughly 18 000km2. Second, thaw slump activity, from initiation, growth and stabilization can be studied by plotting the annual vegetation index pixel values of adjacent pixels in a thaw slump. This method allows for the efficient extraction of annual thaw slump headwall retreat rates, provided the availability of cloud-free imagery. The retreat rates of 16 slumps were extracted, which were found to have an average annual retreat rate of 11.8 m yr-1.

The main aim is to describe and analyze a key determinants of the demand for services of ski schools in Krkonoše mountains. At the beginning I focus on a segment of ski schools itself. After, the hypotesis are set up, based on the defined determinants, and verified by a survey. The survey was held in a winter season 2008/ 2009 in Dolní Dvůr, Ski school SKi Baron. In addition the survey focusing on visit rate of Krkonoše mountains is mentioned. Next point is to compare two ski schools according to a different clients (SKOL MAX in Špindlerův Mlýn and Ski Baron in Dolní Dvůr).

The palaeoenvironment from which early tetrapods emerged is crucial to comprehend in order to understand the mechanisms that drove and allowed the terrestrialization of vertebrates; one of the most important evolutionary ‘events’ in the history of animals. Nevertheless, much of the terrestrialization is shrouded in obscurity, inter alia, due to scarcity of early tetrapods in the fossil record. Each new discovery of anything linked to vertebrate terrestrialization is therefore of great importance. Here, I present new detailed analyses of the palaeoenvironmental conditions at the time of formation of the earliest (early Middle Devonian) tetrapod trackways found in the Zachełmie Quarry in the Holy Cross Mountains of southern Poland. The trackways are found in three horizons in a clay-rich dolomitic succession represented by the Lower Complex of the Wojciechowice Formation. This Lower Complex is composed of short shallowing upward sequences that often terminate with desiccation cracks and/or paleosols. Vertically fluctuating δ18O values in the complex suggest multiple episodes of closed hydrological systems. A model of ephemeral to perennial lakes in a terrestrial setting is therefore proposed. Such environment is in concordance with evidence of scarce bioturbation and a flourish of microbial communities that, in contrast to a normal marine setting, most likely represent an ecologically stressed ecosystem. Furthermore: non-marine rare earth element (REE) signals, desiccation events, fossils of green algae (charophytes), paleosol development, low energy cyclic deposits and general lack of marine taxa in the body and trace fossil records in this complex firmly establishes the interpretation of palustrine carbonates formed in a lacustrine-like setting. However, in the lower part of the complex, some highly fractioned marine fossils occur. These are suggested to have been transported during wash-up events which temporally places the setting in marine proximity. Seasons of monsoonal rainfall resulted in erosion and influx of detrital grains which is evidenced by fine planar lamination (of seasonal cyclicity) in most of the sediments and occasional occurrence of blackened clasts (and rain-drop imprints). Thus, none of the pre-existing palaeoenvironmental hypotheses of tetrapod emergence are in full concordance with the data from the Zachełmie Quarry. Instead, a new palaeoenvironment is proposed for the earliest tetrapods: schizohaline ephermal to perennial lakes with periodic desiccation. This infers that already in the early Middle Devonian, tetrapods had conquered the terrestrial realm and were perhaps already capable of terrestrial locomotion over quite substantial distances. / Däggdjur, reptiler, fåglar och amfibier utgör tillsammans en besläktad djurgrupp som kallas för tetrapoder (fyrfotingar). Deras gemensamma förfader härstammade från de lobfenade fiskarna men skiljde sig från dem genom att inneha utvecklade ben med tår istället för de ”köttiga” fenor som de lobfeniga fiskarna karaktäriseras av. Denna evolutionära nyhet tillät, tillsammans med en rad andra egenskaper (lungor, skydd för uttorkning av dermis etc.), att vertebrater helt och hållet kunde koloni-sera land. I och med att vår egen existens är en direkt följd av denna evolutionära händelse är detta ett hett forskningsämne inom evolutionsbiologin. Ändå är mycket fortfarande höljt i dunkel beträffande hur koloniseringen av land gick till och vad det var som drev denna utveckling eftersom övergången skedde under en, i geologisk mått, snabb tidsrymd. Dock har de sista årtiondena resulterat i flertalet nya fossilfynd av primitiva tetrapoder. Ett fynd som är speciellt spektakulärt eftersom det är den hittills äldsta efterlämningen av tetrapoder, är fotspår som uppenbart är gjorda av ett djur som hade ben och tår istället för fenor. Detta förvånade hela det vetenskapliga samfundet eftersom det innebar att vi (tetrapoderna) utvecklades tidigare än vad som var dittills trott och att vertebrat-koloniseringen av land förmodligen skedde flertalet miljoner år tidigare. Vad som också skiljer ett spårfossil från andra fossil är att de är spår av djuren från när och där de levde till skillnad från bara deras skelettdelar som oftast transporterats från där de dog och bara preserveras i speciella miljöer. Detta har jag utnyttjat i detta arbete för att försöka avgöra i vilken miljö de är avsatta i. Jag har analyserat de sedimentära bergarterna i stenbrottet i södra Polen med skärningen som innehåller de lagren i vilka fotspåren finns. Analyser av sällsynta jordartsmetaller från de tre lager där fotspår är tydliga, antyder en speciell avsättningsmiljö som inte liknar en typisk havsmiljö. I den undre delen av lagerföljden där de spårbärande lagren påträffats finns återkristalliserade saltkristaller, torkningssprickor och fossila jordar som indikerar korta respektive långvariga perioder av uttorkning. Andra fossil som i en normal marin miljö borde bevaras i en dolomitisk kalksten lyser med sin frånvaro och istället påfinns massiv koloni-sering av cyanobakterier. Detta brukar ske i speciella miljöer som avviker från vanlig marin komposi-tion, så som äldre sötvattensmiljöer eller laguner med hög salthalt, som därmed är ”svårbebodd” för djur som annars livnär sig på de fotosyntiserande bakterierna. Implikationen av mitt arbete är att tetrapoderna redan i tidig mellan Devon (ca 390 miljoner år sedan) inte bara hade utvecklat ben utan också att de kunde använda dem över landsträckor för att ta sig till, och mellan, kontinentala vatten. Detta är ännu en viktig pusselbit i pusslet som ämnar rekonstruera tetrapodernas (och vår egen) uppkomst.

The Final Thesis deals with the evaluation of the benefits of the Elbe Cycling Path within the Giant Mountains Tourist Region. The teoretical part is explaining the basic terms of cycling, describing the infrastructure necessary for this activity and also organizations and institutions active in this area. Within one separate chapter there is a description of the Elbe Cycling Path including it's history. The practical part is focusing on particular section of the cycling path between Elbe spring and Dvůr Králové nad Labem. It is based on the results of the qualitative and quantitative research, both undertaken on the Elbe Cycling Path. The benefits are evalueted according to the results of the research and some measures are proposed to use the potential of the path in better way.

No description available.