Pay roll voucher # 17 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Northern Division for the month of May, 1857, approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and W.G. Thompson, assistant engineer, May 27, 1857

Pay roll voucher # 17 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Northern Division for the month of May, 1857, approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and W.G. Thompson, assistant engineer, May 27, 1857.

Pay roll voucher #16 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the office approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer, May 30, 1857

Pay roll voucher #16 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the office approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer, May 30, 1857.

Pay roll voucher #18 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Southern Division approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and F.A. Doyle assistant engineer, May 31, 1857

Pay roll voucher #18 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Southern Division approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and F.A. Doyle assistant engineer, May 31, 1857.

Pay roll voucher #21 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Southern Division approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and Francis A. Doyle, assistant engineer (copy) June 29, 1857

Pay roll voucher #21 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Southern Division approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and Francis A. Doyle, assistant engineer (copy) June 29, 1857.

Pay roll voucher #19 from the Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the office approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer (copy), July 1, 1857

Pay roll voucher #19 from the Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the office approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer (copy), July 1, 1857.

Pay roll voucher #26 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Southern Division, for the month of July, 1857 approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and Francis A. Doyle (copy), July 28, 1857

Pay roll voucher #26 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Southern Division, for the month of July, 1857 approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and Francis A. Doyle (copy), July 28, 1857.

Voucher from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to Francis A. Doyle for fees at the Fonthill Registry Office (copy), July 28, 1857

Voucher from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to Francis A. Doyle for fees at the Fonthill Registry Office (copy), July 28, 1857.

Pay roll voucher #24 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the office, for the month of July, 1857 approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer (copy), July 31, 1857

Pay roll voucher #24 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the office, for the month of July, 1857 approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer (copy), July 31, 1857.

Voucher from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W.G. Thompson regarding horse hire (copy), Jul. 30, 1857

Voucher from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W.G. Thompson regarding horse hire (copy), Jul. 30, 1857.

Pay roll voucher #25 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Northern Division, for the month of July, 1857 approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and W. G. Thompson (copy), July 30, 1857

Pay roll voucher #25 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension, for the Northern Division, for the month of July, 1857 approved by F. Shanly, chief engineer and W. G. Thompson (copy), July 30, 1857.

Past and recent changes in the North Atlantic oscillation

The North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) is under current climate conditions the leading mode of atmospheric circulation variability over the North Atlantic region. While the pattern is present during the entire year, it is most important during winter, explaining a large part of the variability of the large-scale pressure field, being thus largely determinant for the weather conditions over the North Atlantic basin and over Western Europe. In this study, a review of recent literature on the basic understanding of the NAO, its variability on different time scales and driving physical mechanisms is presented. In particular, the observed NAO variations and long-term trends are put into a long term perspective by considering paleo-proxy evidence. A representative number of recently released NAO reconstructions are discussed. While the reconstructions agree reasonably well with observations during the instrumental overlapping period, there is a rather high uncertainty between the different reconstructions for the pre-instrumental period, which leads to partially incoherent results, that is, periods where the NAO reconstructions do not agree even in sign. Finally, we highlight the future need of a broader definition of the NAO, the assessment of the stability of the teleconnection centers over time, the analysis of the relations to other relevant variables like temperature and precipitation, as well as on the relevant processes involved

Understanding the rapid summer warming and changes in temperature extremes since the mid-1990s over Western Europe

Analysis of observations indicates that there was a rapid increase in summer (June-August, JJA) mean surface air temperature (SAT) since the mid-1990s over Western Europe. Accompanying this rapid warming are significant increases in summer mean daily maximum temperature, daily minimum temperature, annual hottest day temperature and warmest night temperature, and an increase in frequency of summer days and tropical nights, while the change in the diurnal temperature range (DTR) is small. This study focuses on understanding causes of the rapid summer warming and associated temperature extreme changes. A set of experiments using the atmospheric component of the state-of-the-art HadGEM3 global climate model have been carried out to quantify relative roles of changes in sea surface temperature (SST)/sea ice extent (SIE), anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs), and anthropogenic aerosols (AAer). Results indicate that the model forced by changes in all forcings reproduces many of the observed changes since the mid-1990s over Western Europe. Changes in SST/SIE explain 62.2% ± 13.0% of the area averaged seasonal mean warming signal over Western Europe, with the remaining 37.8% ± 13.6% of the warming explained by the direct impact of changes in GHGs and AAer. Results further indicate that the direct impact of the reduction of AAer precursor emissions over Europe, mainly through aerosol-radiation interaction with additional contributions from aerosol-cloud interaction and coupled atmosphere-land surface feedbacks, is a key factor for increases in annual hottest day temperature and in frequency of summer days. It explains 45.5% ± 17.6% and 40.9% ± 18.4% of area averaged signals for these temperature extremes. The direct impact of the reduction of AAer precursor emissions over Europe acts to increase DTR locally, but the change in DTR is countered by the direct impact of GHGs forcing. In the next few decades, greenhouse gas concentrations will continue to rise and AAer precursor emissions over Europe and North America will continue to decline. Our results suggest that the changes in summer seasonal mean SAT and temperature extremes over Western Europe since the mid-1990s are most likely to be sustained or amplified in the near term, unless other factors intervene.

Life-patterns on the periphery : a humanities base for development imperatives and their application in the Chicago city-region

Life-Patterns on the Periphery: A Humanities Base for Development Imperatives and their Application in the Chicago City-Region is informed by the need to bring diverse fields together in order to tackle issues related to the contemporary city-region. By honouring the long-term economic, social, political, and ecological imperatives that form the fabric of healthy, productive, sustainable communities, it becomes possible to setup political structures and citizen will to develop distinct places that result in the overlapping of citizen life patterns, setting the stage for citizen action and interaction. Based in humanities scholarship, the four imperatives act as checks on each other so that no one imperative is solely honoured in development. Informed by Heidegger, Arendt, deCerteau, Casey, and others, their foundation in the humanities underlines their importance, while at the same time creating a stage where all fields can contribute to actualizing this balance in practice. For this project, theoretical assistance has been greatly borrowed from architecture, planning theory, urban theory, and landscape urbanism, including scholarship from Saskia Sassen, John Friedmann, William Cronon, Jane Jacobs, Joel Garreau, Alan Berger, and many others. This project uses the Chicago city-region as a site, specifically the Interstate 80 and 88 corridors extending west from Chicago. Both transportation corridors are divided into study regions, providing the opportunity to examine a broad variety of population and development densities. Through observational research, a picture of each study region can be extrapolated, analyzed, and understood with respect to the four imperatives. This is put to use in this project by studying region-specific suggestions for future development moves, culminating in some universal steps that can be taken to develop stronger communities and set both the research site specifically and North American city-regions in general on a path towards healthy, productive, sustainable development.

North-south palaeohydrological contrasts in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene: tentative synthesis and working hypotheses

On the basis of a multi-proxy approach and a strategy combining lacustrine and marine records along a north–south transect, data collected in the central Mediterranean within the framework of a collaborative project have led to reconstruction of high-resolution and well-dated palaeohydrological records and to assessment of their spatial and temporal coherency. Contrasting patterns of palaeohydrological changes have been evidenced in the central Mediterranean: south (north) of around 40° N of latitude, the middle part of the Holocene was characterised by lake-level maxima (minima), during an interval dated to ca. 10 300–4500 cal BP to the south and 9000–4500 cal BP to the north. Available data suggest that these contrasting palaeohydrological patterns operated throughout the Holocene, both on millennial and centennial scales. Regarding precipitation seasonality, maximum humidity in the central Mediterranean during the middle part of the Holocene was characterised by humid winters and dry summers north of ca. 40° N, and humid winters and summers south of ca. 40° N. This may explain an apparent conflict between palaeoclimatic records depending on the proxies used for reconstruction as well as the synchronous expansion of tree species taxa with contrasting climatic requirements. In addition, south of ca. 40° N, the first millennium of the Holocene was characterised by very dry climatic conditions not only in the eastern, but also in the central- and the western Mediterranean zones as reflected by low lake levels and delayed reforestation. These results suggest that, in addition to the influence of the Nile discharge reinforced by the African monsoon, the deposition of Sapropel 1 has been favoured (1) by an increase in winter precipitation in the northern Mediterranean borderlands, and (2) by an increase in winter and summer precipitation in the southern Mediterranean area. The climate reversal following the Holocene climate optimum appears to have been punctuated by two major climate changes around 7500 and 4500 cal BP. In the central Mediterranean, the Holocene palaeohydrological changes developed in response to a combination of orbital, ice-sheet and solar forcing factors. The maximum humidity interval in the south-central Mediterranean started ca. 10 300 cal BP, in correlation with the decline (1) of the possible blocking effects of the North Atlantic anticyclone linked to maximum insolation, and/or (2) of the influence of the remnant ice sheets and fresh water forcing in the North Atlantic Ocean. In the north-central Mediterranean, the lake-level minimum interval began only around 9000 cal BP when the Fennoscandian ice sheet disappeared and a prevailing positive NAO-(North Atlantic Oscillation) type circulation developed in the North Atlantic area. The major palaeohydrological oscillation around 4500–4000 cal BP may be a non-linear response to the gradual decrease in insolation, with additional key seasonal and interhemispheric changes. On a centennial scale, the successive climatic events which punctuated the entire Holocene in the central Mediterranean coincided with cooling events associated with deglacial outbursts in the North Atlantic area and decreases in solar activity during the interval 11 700–7000 cal BP, and to a possible combination of NAO-type circulation and solar forcing since ca. 7000 cal BP onwards. Thus, regarding the centennial-scale climatic oscillations, the Mediterranean Basin appears to have been strongly linked to the North Atlantic area and affected by solar activity over the entire Holocene. In addition to model experiments, a better understanding of forcing factors and past atmospheric circulation patterns behind the Holocene palaeohydrological changes in the Mediterranean area will require further investigation to establish additional high-resolution and well-dated records in selected locations around the Mediterranean Basin and in adjacent regions. Special attention should be paid to greater precision in the reconstruction, on millennial and centennial timescales, of changes in the latitudinal location of the limit between the northern and southern palaeohydrological Mediterranean sectors, depending on (1) the intensity and/or characteristics of climatic periods/oscillations (e.g. Holocene thermal maximum versus Neoglacial, as well as, for instance, the 8.2 ka event versus the 4 ka event or the Little Ice Age); and (2) on varying geographical conditions from the western to the eastern Mediterranean areas (longitudinal gradients). Finally, on the basis of projects using strategically located study sites, there is a need to explore possible influences of other general atmospheric circulation patterns than NAO, such as the East Atlantic–West Russian or North Sea–Caspian patterns, in explaining the apparent complexity of palaeoclimatic (palaeohydrological) Holocene records from the Mediterranean area.