It is known that topography is an important factor controlling the variation of road surface temperature (RST). In order to explore possible relationships between RST and topography, the authors used Thermal Mapping data obtained by a vehicle-mounted thermometer in a mountainous area in Nevada, USA, under different weather conditions in December 1994. The data were validated against the measurements of road surface sensors. After that, a step-wise regression technique is employed to find out possible statistic relationships between RST and altitude at different surveying routes. It was found that the relationships exhibited different characteristics in different climate domains and under different weather types. In most cases, the relationships were non-linear. In order to obtain more information about the cause of the residuals and the variation, the error of regression fitting is related to near-ground meteorological parameters (air temperature, dew point and wind, etc.). This study proved that Thermal Mapping is a reliable and effective method to display spatial variation of road surface temperature.research and winter maintenance operations that

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This paper presents an evaluation of inundation, erosion, and wave damage for a coastal community in Rhode Island, USA. A methodology called the Coastal Environmental Risk Index (CERI) was used that incorporates levels of inundation including sea level rise, wave heights using STWAVE, and detailed information about individual structures from an E911 database. This information was input into damage functions developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following Hurricane Sandy. Damage from erosion was evaluated separately from local published erosion rates. Using CERI, two different adaptation strategies were evaluated that included a combination of dune restoration, protective berms, and a tide gate. A total of 151 out of 708 structures were estimated to be protected from inundation and wave action by the combined measures. More importantly, the use of CERI allowed for the assessment of the impact of different adaptation strategies on both individual structures and an entire community in a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment. This tool shows promise for use by coastal managers to assess damage and mitigate risk to coastal communities.

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