A Review of Research and Development of Wind Energy in Turkey

During the end of the 20^th and the beginning of the 21^st centuries, interest has risen in new and renewable energy sources, and especially wind energy for electricity generation. In a short time, wind energy has been welcomed by society, industry and politicians as a clean, practical, economical and environmentally friendly alternative to existing fossil fuels. As a result of extensive studies on this topic, wind energy has recently been applied in various industries, and has started to compete with other energy resources. Wind energy applications and turbine installations at different scales have increased since the beginning of this millennium. Technically installed wind turbines capacity factors have high values in most areas of Turkey. It is seen that, in general, the modeling of wind speed and its parameters have been studied and researched rather than wind power technological development in Turkey. Wind investors had doubts about uncertainties in the renewable energy policies. After May 2007, an energy efficiency law was accepted and 10 years of electricity generation by renewable sources is considered as guaranteed by the Turkish government. The installed wind power has reached 131.35 MW in Turkey and it is expected that this value will be increased to 808.81 MW by the end of 2008. The dependence of strong technological and economical development on Turkey's energy needs have increased and new national or international sources have to be taken into account for the energy sector of the country. It is clear that this source gap could be filled by using the high potential of wind power, which is estimated at 58 GW. It is expected that installed wind power to supply up to 5% of electricity consumption by 2015 and for the end of 2008 this ratio will increase to 2% (it is currently ca. 1.0%). However, unexpected and unpredicted wind power applications have occurred on November 1^st, 2007 in Turkey. It has been announced that 78,000.00 MW wind power investments have been applied by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA). This is a new era for the Turkish energy sector and there is no model for this new situation. Therefore, in this paper, wind energy in Turkey is reviewed and opened up for further discussion.     

Development of New Electrochemical Surfaces for the Detection of Metals in Waste Water

In this study, electrochemical experiments were performed in non‐aqueous media in order to determine electrochemical behavior of some of the glyoxime derivatives (GDs). Phenylglyoxime (PG), p‐chloro‐phenylglyoxime (p‐CPG), and 1,2‐phenylendiamino‐p‐chlorophenylglyoxime (PACPG) were chosen as GDs. Pt wire, Ag/Ag⁺ (in 0.01 M AgNO₃) and glassy carbon (GC) electrode were used as counter, reference, and working electrode, respectively. The multiscan cyclic voltammograms (CVs) of these compounds were registered in acetonitrile (MeCN) containing 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborat (TBATFB) at scan rate of 100 mV/s. The potential was swept from 0 to +2.0 V versus Ag/Ag⁺ (0.01 M). The CVs of GDs were compared with each other and the electrochemical behaviors of the compounds were investigated depending on the functional groups in their structures. The electrochemical characterization of these modified surfaces was performed and characterizations were compared with the chatacterization results of bare GC surfaces. The application areas for new surfaces were investigated. These results will be active in the disciplines of electrochemistry and industrial physical chemistry, and in related industrial fields at the dissemination of new information for scientific area.     

Magnetic properties and Archeointensity of Earth’s magnetic field recovered from El Opeño,earliest funeral architecture known in Western Mesoamerica

Despite of the impressive cultural heritage and abundant archaeological sites, absolute geomagnetic intensity data from Mesoamerica are still sparse. Archeointensity determinations using the Coe variant of the Thellier and Thellier method have been carried out on some selected pottery fragments from the El Opeño archeological site which has the earliest funeral architecture known in western Mesoamerica. The El Opeño chronology is supported by six C¹⁴ datings performed on carbon-bearing materials. Detailed rock magnetic experiments including susceptibility vs. temperature curves, hysteresis cycles and thermal demagnetization procedures were carried out in order to estimate the magnetic carriers and their stability. Cooling rate and anisotropy remanence corrected intensity values range from 25.0 ± 2.3 to 40.2 ± 3.0 μT and corresponding virtual axial dipole moments (VADM) range from 5.6 ± 0.5 to 8.9 ± 0.7 × 10²² Am². In addition, we present here a new compilation and analysis of existing absolute intensity data in order to try to estimate the variation of the Earth’s magnetic field over the past three millennia. The mean archeointensity obtained in the present study agrees reasonably well with the predicted absolute intensities retrieved from the CALS7K main field model. Other available Mesoamerican data, however, differ from this model. Most of available archeointensity data from Mesoamerica agree reasonably well with the ARCH3K main field model prediction. The broad peak defined at about 50 A.D. by our data is also predicted by the CALS3k.3 main field model but slightly displaced to the right while two smaller peaks are observed on the ARCH3K curve for the same time interval. The intensity value obtained at about 200 B.C. is a clear outlier and thus its geomagnetic significance should be confirmed by further investigations.     

Submarine and intertidal groundwater discharge through a complex multi-level karst conduit aquifer

The quantification of submarine and intertidal groundwater discharge (SiGD) or purely submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) from coastal karst aquifers presents a major challenge, as neither is directly measurable. In addition, the expected heterogeneity and intrinsic structure of such karst aquifers must be considered when quantifying SGD or SiGD. This study applies a set of methods for the coastal karst aquifer of Bell Harbour in western Ireland, using long-term onshore and offshore time series from a high-resolution monitoring network, to link catchment groundwater flow dynamics to groundwater discharge as SiGD. The SiGD is estimated using the “pollution flushing model”, i.e. a mass-balance approach, while catchment dynamics are quantified using borehole hydrograph analysis, single-borehole dilution tests, a water balance calculation, and cross-correlation analysis. The results of these analyses are then synthesised, describing a multi-level conduit-dominated coastal aquifer with a highly fluctuating overflow regime draining as SiGD, which is in part highly correlated with the overall piezometric level in the aquifer. This concept was simulated using a hydraulic pipe network model built in InfoWorks ICM [Integrated Catchment Modeling]^® version 7.0 software (Innovyze). The model is capable of representing the overall highly variable discharge dynamics, predicting SiGD from the catchment to range from almost 0 to 4.3 m³/s. The study emphasises the need for long-term monitoring as the basis for any discharge studies of coastal karst aquifers. It further highlights the fact that multiple discharge locations may drain the aquifer, and therefore must be taken into consideration in the assessment of coastal karst aquifers.     

An example of cluster analysis applied to a large geologic data set: Aerial radiometric data from Copper Mountain, Wyoming

One objective of the aerial radiometric surveys flown as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) program was to ascertain the spatial distribution of near-surface radioelement abundances on a regional scale. Some method for identifying groups of observations with similar -ray spectral signatures and radioelement concentration values was therefore required. It is shown in this paper that cluster analysis can identify such groups with or without a priori knowledge of the geology of an area. An approach that combines principal components analysis with convergentk-means cluster analysis is used to classify 6991 observations (each observation comprising three radiometric variables) from the Precambrian rocks of the Copper Mountain, Wyoming area. This method is compared with a convergentk-means analysis that utilizes available geologic knowledge. Both methods identify four clusters. Three of the clusters represent background values for the Precambrian rocks of the area, and the fourth represents outliers (anomalously high²¹⁴Bi). A segmentation of the data corresponding to geologic reality as interpreted by other methods has been achieved by perceptive quantitative analysis of aerial radiometric data. The techniques employed are composites of classical clustering methods designed to handle the special problems presented by large data sets.     

From Forests and Fields to Coffee and Back Again: Historic Transformations of a Traditional Coffee Agroecosystem in Oaxaca,Mexico

Studies of coffee agroecosystems have focused on their role in providing habitat for biodiversity across a range of management intensities. These studies have not taken into account the temporal and spatial transformations in coffee landscapes and their impacts on structural heterogeneity and biodiversity, nor systematically linked these transformations to farmer management responses to price and policy shocks. We utilize a coupled natural–human system framework to examine the historical transformations of the coffee landscape in a matrix of community-protected forests in a coffee-growing community in Oaxaca, Mexico, and study how those transformations impact tree biodiversity across a range of management options, including formerly certified organic and conventional coffee, abandonment, and conversion. The coffee landscape has historically transitioned from forests and fields (1950s–1960s) to one dominated by coffee (1970s–1980s) to a richly mosaic and biodiverse landscape (1990–2010) resulting from 43% recent abandonment and conversion of coffee back to forest and fields.     

Feeding behavior in Caribbean surgeonfishes varies across fish size,algal abundance,and habitat characteristics

Feeding behavior of coral reef fishes often determines their species‐specific ecological roles. We studied the two most common Caribbean surgeonfishes (Acanthurus coeruleus and Acanthurus tractus) to examine their species‐specific grazing rates and feeding preferences and how these differed with environmental context. We quantified the feeding activity of both surgeonfishes at four spur and groove reefs in the Florida Keys, USA, that varied in fish abundance, rugosity, algal community composition, and sediment loading. Overall, A. tractus fed twice as fast as A. coeruleus. Both species selected for turf algae but avoided feeding on turf algae that had become laden with sediment. Selectivity for upright macroalgae was more complex with A. tractus targeting Dictyota spp., while A. coeruleus avoided Dictyota spp. relative to the alga's abundance. Both species selected for epiphytes growing on other organisms such as macroalgae and sponges. However, several of these feeding patterns changed with ontogeny. For example, larger individuals of both species fed more frequently on long, sediment‐laden algal turf and less frequently on Dictyota spp. compared to smaller sized individuals. In addition, A. tractus also increased its preference for upright calcareous algae as they attained larger sizes. Overall, the disparity in feeding preferences of surgeonfishes likely indicates subtle differences in species‐specific ecological roles. Both A. coeruleus and A. tractus likely prevent development of turf algae and thus maintain algal communities in the early stages of succession. Additionally, A. tractus may also help reduce macroalgal abundance by targeting common macroalgal species.