River metamorphosis and environmental change in the Macdonald Valley,New South Wales,since 1949

A significant metamorphosis of channel form occurred on the lower Macdonald River between 1949 and 1955; width and width-depth ratio increased and depth, sinuosity and weighted mean per cent silt-clay in the channel perimeter decreased. The channel has remained unstable since 1955, exhibiting frequent variations in bed elevation and a recent period of minor channel contraction followed by slight enlargement. Since 1946 there has been an increase in summer and annual rainfall and an abrupt, upward shift of the annual series flood frequency curve. As a result an increased proportion of the total sediment load of the river is now being transported as bed-material load. The change in sediment load is a result of greater stream competence and the consequent reworking of sandy sediment temporarily stored within the channel as benches. The observed channel changes are a quasi-adjustment to the increased flood and bed-material load discharges.     

Potential impacts of sand and gravel extraction on the Hunter River,New South Wales

A number of investigations have been undertaken by the New South Wales Water Resources Commission to determine the regional and compound effects of large scale extractive industries on the stability of the Hunter River, New South Wales. Sedimentologic studies of bed material suggest that the Hunter River upstream of Denman has an armoured gravel bed that is immobile during regulated releases from Glenbawn Dam but is disrupted by moderate but less than bankfull flows. Annual bedloadyields have been computed by the bedload rating-flow duration technique for five river gauging stations. Approximate sand and gravel budgets for selected reaches of the Hunter River demonstrate that the present annual extraction rate from temporary sediment storages within the channel greatly exceeds the transport rate upstream of Denman and is approximately equal to the transport rate downstream of Denman. River degradation is imminent if extractive industries continue operating in the channel of the Hunter River     

Mean airstreams of Australia

Streamline analyses of mean monthly resultant surface winds over Australia are presented. Mean confluences represent either cyclone trajectories, or modal fronts. These analyses suggest that Australia's annual airstream climate is of two regimes: that of September to March inclusive, and April to August inclusive. The winter half-year is exemplified by a continental airstream source in southern Australia which diverges over virtually the entire continent. It continues into September and October, although dominating only the southern third to half of Australia, and is absent from November to March. During the summer half-year a new pattern emerges, with three maritime air stream sources represented over the continent: first, air from the Southern Ocean penetrates the south coast reaching its furthest northward extension from December to March inclusive; a second source originating over the Pacific Ocean dominates eastern and northern Australia; and a monsoon source originating over the Indian Ocean which flows overland affecting northern Western Australia. Two modal confluences are noted, one over northwestern Australia from November-February separating monsoon flow from that emanating from the east, and another extending from the west central coast east-southeastward to the southeast coast from November-March separating Southern Ocean air from that originating over the Pacific Ocean.     

Morphological Impacts and Implications of a Trial Release on the Wingecarribee River,New South Wales

A trial, monitored release on the Wingecarribee River over 27 days had a peak discharge below the Wingecarribee Dam of 1090 ML/d, which had a flow duration of 0.95 per cent. Morphological impacts on 29 km of channel below the dam included bank erosion, concentrated neck overflow, bed degradation and channel widening at recent cutoffs, sedimentation in weir pools and overbank flow, particularly at discharges greater than 800 ML/d. Prolonged operational releases at bankfull discharge (400–800 ML/d) will have the greatest morphologic impacts and should be avoided. Pulses which dissipate stream power over a broad, well-vegetated floodplain should be incorporated in the operational release policy, provided such pulses are phased to facilitate channel and vegetation recovery.     

Role of Infragravity Energy in Bar Formation in a Strong‐Wind Bay: Observations from Seaford Beach,Port Phillip Bay,Australia

Measurements of the surf zone wave field and morphology were obtained from a multi‐barred beach in a fetch‐limited, strong‐wind bay (Seaford, southeastern Australia) during both low‐ and high‐energy conditions. Analysis of the infragravity energy present during high‐energy events (onshore winds >7 ms^?1) revealed that it was broad‐banded, consisting of a mixture of standing and progressive motions and displaying daily variations in standing wave length scales. Infragravity standing waves were therefore not considered significant to the formation and migration of bars at Seaford during this study, with bar behaviour during high energy events potentially attributable to either breaking wave‐bed return flow and/or self‐organisational mechanisms.     

The Judicial Bookshelf

“The good that Presidents do is often interred with their Administrations. It is their choice of Supreme Court Justices that lives after them.” ¹ This was the assessment offered by one leading opinion journal more than seven decades ago, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated Professor Felix Frankfurter to the Supreme Court to fill the opening occasioned by the death of Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Because vacancies on the Court not only are infrequent but also occur at irregular intervals, the comment illustrates the reality that selection of Justices is among the most important and consequential responsibilities that fall to any chief executive.     

The Judicial Bookshelf

Millions were reminded on January 20, 2009, that the inauguration of an American President is as remarkable as it is routine. In this distinctly republican rite, the chief executive publicly subordinates himself to the fundamental law of the land. As the Constitution dictates, “[b]efore he enters on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: ‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’” ¹ This display of constitutional fealty was remarkable because the variety of political systems, experiences, and cultures across today's globe graphically illustrates that the seamless and peaceful transfer of authority from one political party or individual to another, as was witnessed at President Barack Obama's inauguration and at President George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001, is not always a foregone occurrence everywhere. January's event was routine in that, from the outset of government under the Constitution and with the notable and tragic exception of 1860, the defeated party or individual has accepted, if not welcomed, the verdict rendered by the electoral process. That was the outcome even in 1800, when the notion of a violence‐free shift of control in a country founded on the principle of government by the “consent of the governed” ² was first put to the test at the presidential level. The assumption of authority by Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic‐Republicans from John Adams and the Federalists marked the world's first peaceful transfer of power from the vanquished to the victors as the result of an election. ³ Given the stark national partisan differences that had crystallized in the short time since ratification of the Constitution and the fact that finalization of the election required extraordinary intervention by the House of Representatives to break an Electoral College tie, this outcome was a greater achievement than is sometimes acknowledged. “Partisanship prevailed to the bitter end and showed no signs of abating,” according to one historian who has recently revisited this critical and precedent‐setting election. “Over the campaign's course, George Washington's vision of elite consensus leadership had died, and a popular two‐party republic … was born.” ⁴     

The Judicial Bookshelf

Change at the Supreme Court may be most visible and frequent in the progression of statutory and constitutional questions the Justices resolve collectively, but it may also be equally highlighted by an individual Justice's decision. This reality became plainly apparent in a letter that Justice John Paul Stevens sent to the White House on April 9, 2010, just eleven days shy of his 90^th birthday: “My dear Mr. President: Having concluded that it would be in the best interests of the Court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court's next Term, I shall retire from regular active service as an Associate Justice … effective the next day after the Court rises for the summer recess this year.” ¹ His statement was dated almost a year after Justice David Souter dispatched a similar notice to President Obama on May 1, 2009, announcing his intention to leave the Bench. Thus, for the fifth time in as many years, the machinery of executive nomination and senatorial advice and consent for the High Court churned again.