Air transport development trends were disrupted as a result of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the emergence of a global pandemic. During this difficult period, the largest drop in the number of air passengers in history occurred. For example, in 2020, compared to 2019, there was a global decrease in the number of passengers in air transport by 60% and in Poland by 70%. Temporary restrictions were introduced, related to, inter alia, the cancellation of flights from countries with a high incidence rate, a mandatory SARS-CoV-2 virus test or a quarantine order upon arrival. The main aim of the study was to present the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on passenger traffic at Polish airports. Attempts were made to obtain answers to the following questions: (1) what were the changes in the number of passengers served in Poland before and during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) what actions/restrictions were taken in the field of air transport in the face of an increased number of COVID-19 cases; and (3) how has the SARS-CoV-2 virus affected airports and air carriers in Poland. The research was based on the statistical data of: the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Eurostat, Eurocontrol, and the Polish Central Statistical Office. The study presents the situation as of the end of 2021.

Mural art is popular in many cities in Poland. Słupsk is one of them. The main goal of the paper is to present the distribution, theme, and functions of the murals in Słupsk. In the space of this medium-sized city situated in Pomerania region 40 murals have been catalogued and described according to the adopted criteria, thus obtaining detailed information about their location and subject matter. Most of Słupsk’s murals are in the Old Town, especially located in the revitalized area. The analysis of their detailed location shows that they are both in prominent places (main streets and squares) and in less visible places (side streets, gates, garage walls). The themes of murals in Słupsk are diverse. In-depth interviews with representatives of the city hall, cultural centre, tourist information centre, a foundation operating in the field of culture, social activation, and education, as well as mural artists in Słupsk allowed also to obtain information on the murals’ functions and paths of their creation in the urban space. Respondents emphasized the importance of murals in the revitalization of the city and drew attention to their educational, tourist and promotional function.

The tourist attractiveness of many regions depends on the lakes. The lake ecosystems and the surrounding ecotone zone are among the most vulnerable systems, and tourism development negatively affects them. The aim of this study was to assess the load on the shore zone of the lakes of the Olsztyn Lake District by tourism and recreational infrastructure. The assessment was performed using two indicators. Topographic maps and orthophoto maps were used in the study. Land use and land cover (LU/LC) in the study area was verified through field studies in the summer seasons of 2018 and 2019. The tourism load indicators were positively correlated with the share of the built-up area in the lakeshore zone, although some lakes with a built-up shore zone of more than 25% did not have tourism and recreational facilities. The share of forests in the lakeshore zone was negatively correlated with the values of the tourism load indicators. Tourism infrastructure in the study area was developed in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. The additional load on the lakeshore was found to be caused by private recreational infrastructure related to the settlement process in the lakeshore zone.

The aim of the study was to analyze the Polish health care system from the perspective of its use by outbound and inbound tourists. Health care facilities are part of the supporting facilities in tourism. This type of infrastructure primarily serves local residents, but also determines the proper organization of tourism at the destination. With regard to tourism, this infrastructure is used by people before their travels, mainly for preventive purposes, tourists staying in a particular destination, as well as those returning from trips (e.g., requiring further treatment). In connection with health prophylaxis preceding the trip, attention was paid to the activities of the Polish Society of Maritime, Tropical and Travel Medicine together with the National Network of Travel Medicine Centres. In addition to the data obtained from this association, information from the Central Statistical Office and the System and Implementation Analyzes Database, as well as data obtained from the National Health Fund, were used in the research procedure. However, despite the presence of increasingly available data, there is still much work to be done in developing knowledge about travel risks and preventive measures related to travel to another country. 

European wine tourism has long been carried out in the traditional wine areas of France, Portugal or Germany. In the countries of Central Europe, these traditions also occur, but they have a more local meaning. The article presents one of the wine regions in Eastern Poland – the Lesser Poland Gorge of the Vistula River, where the development of small wineries has been observed for several years. The article’s primary goal is to present vineyards in the Lesser Poland Gorge of the Vistula River concerning the possibilities of development of wine tourism and its impact on the region’s functioning. It seems that the concept of “terroir” can be used by local winemakers to identify the particularities of wines from vineyards. This can be an excellent contribution to the development of wine tourism, considering that nowadays, tourists search for authentic experiences. The production of local grape wine and its promotion may be the basis for rebuilding the region’s wine production tradition, as well as contributing to the region’s development.

Forecasts for the development of ski tourism in the world are not optimistic. They are related to the influence of climate change on the shortening of the ski season and the decrease in skier demand, as well as the progressive ageing process of the societies in economically developed countries. Therefore, ski resorts all over the world are faced with many challenges as a consequence of these phenomena. The purpose of this article is to present the current state of ski infrastructure in the Polish Carpathians and to define contemporary trends in the development of ski resorts in this area. The main methods used in the research process included inventory of ski infrastructure, field observation, analysis of the websites of ski resorts and their profiles posted on social media, and interviews with representatives of leading ski resort management companies. The state of infrastructure for downhill skiing in the Polish Carpathians in 2020 included 469 ski lifts, including 91 cableways, with a total length of 199.8 km and transport capacity of 400.8 thousand people per hour, as well as 528 ski runs with a total length of 304.7 km. The best developed tourist regions are the Tatras and Podhale region, as well as the Silesian Beskids. Among the 91 ski destinations in the Polish Carpathians, the best developed for skiing are: Białka Tatrzańska, Krynica-Zdrój, Wisła, Zakopane and Szczyrk. The most important development trends of ski resorts in the studied region are: modernization and construction of new, high-quality lifts (cableways, gondolas etc.); expanding the offer of ski resorts in terms of the summer season, especially for cyclists and families with children; combining the offers of many ski resorts in the region in the form of one joint ski pass; the use of special price promotions for the purchase of ski passes out of high season; using modern interactive tools for attracting customers; high concentration of tourist traffic in selected ski destinations; development of infrastructure for tourists travelling with motorhomes. The actions mentioned above are the most commonly used adaptation tools to climate and demographic changes that are aimed at increasing the profitability of ski resorts.

The rapid growth in the number of individual tourist trips to the towns and villages of Podhale, observed nowadays in combination with changes in visitor preferences, in particular the growing share of short stays, higher expectations in terms of standards offered by accommodation facilities and a greater interest in renting separate apartments, coincides with the growing demand for properties to be purchased in tourist resorts in Poland for investment purposes. These processes trigger the expansion of accommodation opportunities, particularly by increasing the number of facilities that offer apartments: houses for rent, self-catering apartment buildings, and aparthotels. Recognising the new trends in the development of accommodation facilities in Tatra County that lead to spatial, social, and economic changes, a study was carried out, aiming to: 1) verify the availability of accommodation facilities, in particular including the scale of the phenomenon of apartment rental of apartments (the data were obtained from available statistical and spatial databases, a field inventory and the Booking.com website), and 2) examine the problems caused by the contemporary development of the accommodation infrastructure in local communities (the data were obtained during interviews with representatives of local communities, n = 74). The study demonstrated well-developed accommodation facilities in Tatra County, characterised by uneven spatial distribution, a large share of informally operating facilities and a rich offer of apartments for rent. The development of accommodation facilities, triggered by mechanisms of the free market, helps to satisfy the fluctuating tourist demand, and consequently to maintain the economic function of tourism in the region. However, on the other hand, it causes numerous spatial and social conflicts. In particular, it leads to excessive intensification of development, dwindling of landscape values, and destruction of cultural heritage (including the vanishing of traditional architecture). Furthermore, it may result in reduced availability of accommodation facilities operated by local residents, as well as in tourism gentrification of Zakopane and loss of the traditional highland character of villages of the Podhale region.

The study discusses changes in the average annual air temperature over Europe in the years 1931–2020. The results of the research show that in 1987–1989, there was a sudden change in the thermal regime over Europe and a discontinuity appeared in the course of this climatic element. In the years 1931–1988, despite the high inter-annual variability, the temperature trend was zero. A positive, statistically significant, temperature trend appeared after 1988. The entire warming in Europe, which can be estimated at ~2.3 deg, occurred after 1988. The discontinuity in the course was caused by an abrupt change in macro-circulation conditions in the Atlantic-Eurasian circulation sector, which manifests itself as a fundamental change in the frequency of the macrotypes of the mid-tropospheric circulation (500 hPa) according to the Wangengejm-Girs classification, causing an equally fundamental change in the weather structure. The change in macro-circulation conditions was forced by a change in the thermal state of the North Atlantic – a sharp increase in the intensity of oceanic heat transport to the north. The analysis showed that the annual variability of temperature over Europe was mainly influenced by natural processes, the variability of which explains ~65% of its variance. Radiative forcing, which is a function of anthropogenic increase in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, explains only 7–8% of the variability of the average annual temperature over Europe, being a secondary or tertiary factor in shaping its changes.

Hot or warm extremes are days with exceptionally high air temperatures in a given place and/or season. They may have significant impacts on human health and life, the natural environment, and the economy. The global rise in near-surface air temperatures translates into increases in the frequency, intensity, and duration of such events, which contributes to the intensive development of research on them. This review aims to summarize the state of knowledge of hot and warm extremes in Europe, with a special focus on their definitions, physical drivers and impacts, long-term variability and trends. The study demonstrates that research on temperature extremes is making remarkable progress, but there are still issues to be explored to understand these complex events.

The growing season length indices derived from air temperature are frequently used in climate monitoring applications as well as to predict the response of forest ecosystems to climate change. The indicator most widely used in the studies of forest ecosystems is the length of the thermal growing season (temp ≥5°C), less commonly the parameters of the forest growing season (temp ≥10°C). However, only a few studies used long-term series of temperature measurements in the forest. In this article, we determined the temporal changes in the parameters of the thermal (TGS) and forest (FGS) growing season in the Experimental Forests of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Rogów (51o40’N, 19o55’E, h = 194 m MSL) in the years 1951–2020. The analysis is based on the dataset (daily mean air temperature) obtained from a meteorological station located near the forest complex and from a forest under-canopy station located in a more than 120-year-old fresh mixed forest. The results show a significant extension of the growing season in 1951–2020, the TGS lasted on average 2.8 days/10 years, and the FGS 2.4 days/10 years. The extension of the TGS and FGS was a consequence of both its earlier start and later end. The start of the TGS was characterized by a statistically significant negative trend (1.3 days/10 years), and most changes were characteristic for the last three decades (4.4 days/10 years). The last 30 years were also characterized by a statistically significant trend towards the later end of the TGS. The TGS in 1991–2020 was longer than in 1951–1980 and 1971–2000 by 9 days, while in 1981–2010 by 5 days. Changes in the length of the TGS resulted primarily from its earlier beginning: in the multi-year period 1991–2020, the TGS started 7 days earlier than in 1951–1980. In the case of the FGS, these changes were weaker, although there was a statistically significant negative trend in the start dates and a positive trend in the FGS length. The FGS started almost a month later than the TGS (average on April 28) and ended 4 weeks earlier (average on October 5) and lasted 160 days. TGS in the forest was shorter than outside the forest by 3 days, and FGS by 1 day. The acceleration of the beginning of TGS during the last three decades was faster than the beginning of the frost-free period, indicating a possible increase in vegetation exposure to spring frost. This may pose a threat to the development of plants in the first phase of vegetation.

Based on climatological data from 1901–2020 from the Research Station of the Department of Climatology of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the multi-year course of selected elements of Krakow climate was characterised and the role of local spatial development plans was indicated in terms of minimising the effects of the urban heat island and global warming.

The aim of the study is to present changes in air humidity in central Poland in the years 1966–2000 in Łódź as an example. The values of air temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure from four observation terms, 00, 06, 12 and 18 UTC, were used. On this basis, the saturated vapour pressure, the current vapour pressure, and the saturation deficit were calculated. Then, the variability of these three indicators and relative humidity was examined. The variability of monthly and seasonal average values of humidity indices in four observation periods was presented, the trends in seasonal variability of humidity indices were calculated and the distribution functions of their distributions were compared in the midday period in three 15-year periods: 1966–1980, 1986–2000 and 2006–2020. It has been shown that the pressure of saturated water vapour is the highest in summer, the lowest in winter, and slightly higher in spring than in autumn at all times, except for the night. It increased significantly in the studied period as a result of the increase in air temperature. A comparison of the distributions in three 15-year periods shows a significant increase in the probability of occurrence of high values of saturation vapour pressure, even above 30hPa. The water vapour pressure in the air is highest in summer and lowest in winter, but in spring it is lower than in autumn. All trend coefficients are positive, but only less than half are statistically significant. A comparison of the distributions over three 15-year periods show a slight increase in the probability of higher values of the actual vapour pressure. The saturation deficit, as the difference between the previous two indicators, increases significantly. Its value in spring is significantly higher than in autumn. The trend is positive, especially in spring and summer, and the comparison of distributions shows that in the last 15 years the probability of high values of saturation deficit increased significantly. The course of relative humidity is the opposite of saturation deficit. In autumn, the relative humidity is definitely higher than in spring. The trend is down. To sum up, warming brings an increase in the capacity of the atmosphere for water vapour, a slight increase in the amount of water vapour in the air, but also a significant increase in saturation deficit and a decrease in relative humidity, which is particularly strong in spring in the first half of the growing season.

The article tackles the issue of the identification of relics and type of transformations in the rural cultural landscape of Warmia and Masuria, which took place as a result of the depopulation of localities due to the course and consequences of World War II. The incorporation of the southern part of East Prussia into Poland in 1945 initiated a number of social, economic, and cultural changes. Above all, the region was affected by huge migratory movements. These started with the hurried escape of the local civilian population fleeing from the Red Army that conquered the area in the winter of 1944–1945. Subsequently, the displacement of the German people and the unstable political situation that made it difficult to maintain habitation contributed to the depopulation of hundreds of villages, manor houses, foresters’ lodges, and small settlements. Today, in Poland’s incorporated part of former East Prussia, there are about 788 abandoned localities. The extent to which the rural landscape has changed as a result of the total depopulation of hundreds of settlement units has not yet been determined. The purpose of the research was to diagnose the processes that occurred in the material structure of the landscape of Warmia and Masuria after the continuity of habitation had been interrupted, based on data collected due to on-site prospections, searches, and spatial analyses. The elaboration presents possibilities for identifying transformations that occur after depopulation on the basis of the results of multifaceted spatial analyses carried out with the use of GIS tools. Particularly noteworthy is the use of detailed elevation data obtained from airborne laser scanning, which data largely condition not only identification of surface relics but also the degree of degradation of rural structures. The issues concerning the diagnosis of transformations are discussed using, as an example, the study of one of the depopulated localities – Bartki – a former settlement that lies in Olecko County (Warmia-Masuria Province).

Reintroduction of the European beaver (Castor fiber) in the Beskid Niski started in the 1980s. The increase in the beaver population coincided with the systemic, social and economic changes that took place both in the Beskid Niski and in the entire Poland. In the case of the Magurski National Park, they are part of a longer series of events of the twentieth century, related to intensive warfare and population exchange in this area. As a result, the structure of land use, as an effect of human impact on the natural environment, has undergone significant changes. The article attempts to assess the impact of changes in land cover on the European beaver population in Magura National Park. Particular attention was paid to the changes that take place in the immediate vicinity of the beaver sites. The intensity of land cover transformations within its impact zone was compared with changes that occur in other areas of the park, including those made by humans. The results of field surveys carried out in 1996, 2010 and 2021 were used in the research. Until 2019, information was obtained through segmentation and classification of orthophotos. The Mask R-CNN deep learning model and machine learning algorithms were used to extract information from cartographic materials. In the Magurski National Park area, from the 1980s to the present, there has been an increase in the number of beavers; the forest area and the density of buildings also increased, with a simultaneous decrease in the field and grassland area, as well as the density of the road network. During this period, beavers living in the study area showed a tendency to abandon their positions at the bottom of large river valleys near human habitations, in favour of inhabiting higher-lying areas, more distant from human activity zones. Currently, beavers inhabit the areas of abandoned Lemko villages and adjacent forests in the south of the national park. It is difficult to determine and requires further research whether the described change in the location of the beaver habitat results from the beaver’s desire to avoid humans or from other environmental conditions.

The purpose of the study was to determine the dendroclimatic regions in Poland, based on the analysis of the similarity of the annual growth rhythm of trees of 19 European larch populations, which is the reaction of trees to the pressure of the climatic factor. Treering widths were taken as a measure of this reaction. For each population (site), a mean treering chronology was created that covered the period 1957–2016. Its values were converted into incremental indices. Then, 19 indexed chronologies were included in the principal component analysis (PCA) to identify their common features and group them. As a result, three dendroclimatic regions were distinguished, which coincide with the area of lowlands (Pojezierze Południowobałtyckie and Niziny Środkowopolskie), uplands (Wyżyna Krakowsko- -Częstochowska and Wyżyna Małopolska) and mountain areas (the Sudetes and the Western Carpathians). To identify climatic elements that had a significant impact on the size of the radial growth of larch in the dendroclimatic regions, the values of the main components (PC1, PC2, PC3) were correlated with the climatic parameters. Analogously, these analyzes were performed for three regional chronologies which were created by averaging the site indexed chronologies for a given region (group). The size of radial increments of all larch populations was found to be positively affected by low temperature and high rainfall in September in the year preceding growth, as well as high temperature in March and May and high rainfall in July in the year of ring formation. In turn, the high temperature in November of the previous year had a positive effect on the growth of larches growing in the lowlands and uplands and had a negative effect on the growth of larches in the mountains. High temperature and low rainfall in June had a positive effect on the growth of larches from the mountains, compared to those from the lowlands and uplands. Low temperature and high rainfall in October in the previous year and high rainfall in May in the year of ring deposition had a positive effect on the growth of larches in the uplands.

The article presents the results of research on spatial changes of the forest-field villages in the Podhale. The main goals of the work were: to show the initial character of forest-field villages and to examine the spatial changes that took place in the analysed settlements in the Podhale. Based on the collected literature and cartographic sources, a hypothesis was made: the layout of the old chain systems in the Podhale remains legible today in the countryside landscape. According to the research carried out, some characteristic features were shown in the forest-field villages of the Podhale. At the initial stage, all the systems analysed had a habitat, delimited in one or two-sided built-up or alternating manner, the shape of the habitat lowland was influenced by the natural conditions. The transformations of the planning forms and the changes in rural systems were the result of many factors, the most important of which was the development of tourism. One of the most important morphological changes is the transformation of one-sidedly built-up villages into two-sided built-up villages. The changes that took place within the examined villages clearly contributed to the internal density of the houses as a result of land parcelling. Due to the development in some of the analysed rural settlements, the original spatial arrangement is disturbed by delimiting new habitats within the former runners, entering the extension on the other side of the road, and creating new buildings along the old dirt roads. In some cases, the boundaries of the former habitat are blurred due to the adherence to the neighbouring settlement as a result of the spread of buildings.

This paper assesses the correlation, if any, between the presence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and improvements in quality of life in the regions of Madagascar. The research work involved several stages. First, a database of NGO activity in 2015–2019 was compiled. This included both secular NGOs and aid projects run by missionary centers. Second, 648 locations of where these entities were active were identified and superposed on the maps of the 2015–2019 Human Development Index changes in the various regions. Spatial analyses did not show any relationship between non-governmental aid and quality of life. The southern regions were especially interesting. This is where environmental conditions have been least favorable historically and where the HDI (notably in the Atsimo-Andrefana region) recorded a significant decrease in the analyzed years (despite substantial NGO activity).

Heritage management in a municipality involves many entities, including owners and holders of heritage, local authorities and public administration, scientists and specialists, and non-governmental organizations. Among them, the local government is one of the most important entity due to the broad competences it has as a guardian, i.e., the owner of historic buildings, and the entity legally designated to protect heritage as a public administration body (Murzyn-Kupisz 2010, 2012; Góral 2012; Gwiazdowska 2016; Pawłowska 2016). Thus, the local government has a wide range of instruments that enable the use of various categories of heritage in local development. These instruments include: the municipal register of monuments, the creation of municipal conservation services, the program of care for monuments, municipal revitalization programs or granting subsidies for conservation work on private buildings entered in the register and included in the register of monuments. The scope of the commune’s influence on heritage is not limited only to monuments, but also extends to intangible heritage, e.g., by co-financing cultural events, supporting artists, organizing museums, community centres and libraries. Such a wide range of heritage management instruments requires full cataloguing and classification, which has not been done so far. In the article, the author attempts to describe and organize the tools at the disposal of local governments, proposing their classification. At the same time, despite the possibility of using cultural heritage in local development tools of heritage management, their use is not complete, and the degree of their use varies territorially. Therefore, the author attempts to assess the actual use of these instruments by communes and to present regional differences. This part of the article will be based on a GUS survey conducted in cooperation with the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Poland in September 2019 entitled KK-2 Report on the protection of monuments and the care of monuments in the local government. The study conducted allowed for the collection of such a rich statistical database for the protection of monuments in communes in Poland for the first time. The information obtained enables characterisation of the scope and scale of activities undertaken in communes.

The National Scientific Conference of Young Researchers (OKNMB) Contemporary problems and research directions in geography has for 10 years been a meeting place for young researchers undertaking geographical research. The main objective of the conference is to present the research results of Ph.D.s, postgraduates, and students dealing with issues in geography, spatial management, and related fields. The idea behind the organisation of the first conference was to create a space for the youngest geographers to present their research results to a wider audience, providing an opportunity for constructive criticism that improves the quality of science. The 10-year history of the National Scientific Conference of Young Researchers proves that this premise has been and continues to be fulfilled. Various organisational aspects of the event have changed over the years, but the main assumptions are still the same. Although, for decade, it has been a predominantly doctoral conference, in the coming years an increasing proportion of students will be observed among the participants and the role of OKNMB as a venue for the conference debut will be even greater.

Spatial redistribution of the population in Poland results in migration outflow from some units and migration inflow to others. The uneaven spatial distribution of this process results in different migration characteristics of communes in Poland. In the literature this issue has often been the subject of research and works in this area were based on traditional research methods, based on statistical data analysis. In the paper below the author describes the possibilities of conducting migration studies using spatial autocorrelation methods. The commonly used coefficients of migration turnover and migration efficiency were analysed using Moran’s global and local I statistics. The results obtained by the author lead to the conclusion that the application of spatial autocorrelation tools allows for a new perspective in the study of internal migration, making it possible to determine the spatial distribution of the phenomenon under study in spatial units, taking into account the situation in neighbouring units. The analysis with the use of spatial autocorrelation tools may replace or supplement the research methods used so far, mainly with regard to indicating clusters of high and low values of a given variable, which allows to identify clusters of a specific migration character. It also allows to unambiguously determine whether the similarity of municipalities in terms of migration behaviour is statistically significant or random. Additionally, the juxtaposition of the results with the conclusions drawn from the literature search also allowed for comparison with traditional methods of studying migration processes.

The idea of sustainable development is recognised as a basic concept for the development of communes. Its essence is based on the balance and sustainability of its three basic dimensions, namely social, economic and environmental. From the point of view of shaping the further development of territorial units, it therefore seems important to examine possible imbalances between the various dimensions, since it is recognised that sustainable development can only be achieved if there is a balance between them. The aim of the article is to identify the dominant dimension of sustainable development in rural and urban-rural communes in Poland. Special emphasis was placed on presenting differences in the distribution of these dimensions between units with a high share of protected areas (at least 50% of the area) and other units. The level of development of communes in individual dimensions was determined using the TOPSIS method based on statistical data made available in the CSO Local Data Bank for 2019. The analysis showed that there were disproportions in the level of development of communes in individual dimensions and in the spatial distribution of the dominant dimensions. Large differences were observed between the eastern and western parts of the country. Throughout Poland, the environmental dimension most often prevailed, followed by the economic dimension and least often by the social dimension. In the case of communes with a high share of protected areas, it was the environmental dimension, while in the case of the rest of the communes, it was the economic dimension. The study also showed a low correlation between the level of development of the communes in the economic dimension and the share of protected areas. However, there was no linear relationship between the share of protected areas and the level of development of the communes in other dimensions.

The implementation of autonomous vehicles in cities is the future that is now and will change the urban landscape, although it is associated with a number of ethical, social, technical, and economic dilemmas. Additionally, the problem of designing and transforming public spaces with the application of AV is a huge challenge for contemporary urban planning. The following will change: mobility, transport accessibility, space functionality, places for recreation or using micromobility. Conscious identification of significant changes in the city related to the implementation of AV and preparation for the redesign of a part of the city infrastructure provides greater opportunities for the safe coexistence of AV, normal vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. An attempt was made to identify important research aspects and international trends in urban transformation in the context of the application of AV. The aim of this research is to determine what the main areas of impact of the introduction of AVs in urban transformation are. The types of autonomous vehicles dedicated to public transport were identified as well as the general characteristics of the solutions implemented around the world. The above research can be used to create a design, and then test and implement the above activities related to the safe use of the areas served by AV, taking into account the new civilization needs. Research will have an implementation value and may form the basis for further considerations on the impact of AV on the urban transformation of the city.

The article presents ways to use renewable sources of energy in the 19th and early 20th century in the Zagożdżonka River basin (left tributary of the Vistula River). The river basin is located in central Poland, in the south of the Mazowieckie Province Physico-geo- -graphically, it is located within three mesoregions: the Vistula Central Valley, the Kozienice Plain, the Radom Plain. The aim of the study is to reconstruct the location of the renewable energy source receivers. Special attention was paid to the terrain conditions and settlement network. Archival sources were used to perform detailed analyses. The most important sources include archival maps: Topographic Chart of the Kingdom of Poland, Karte des westlichen Rußlands, the tactical map of WIG, The Geographic Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavic Countries. Thanks to GIS tools, it was possible to reconstruct the location of linear (watercourses), surface (mill ponds, forests), and point objects – water wheels and windmills. Several spatial analyses (density of water wheels and windmills, geomorphological position, density changes) were performed using GIS software. The wind potential (Wind Effect) was also calculated, to which the location of windmills was related. The population density in the water basin was reconstructed, which gave a picture of the socio-economic space. The results of the analyses indicate the dynamic development of milling in the 19th and early 20th century. The reconstruction of the then existing settlement network provided a basis for relating the location of mills to the socio-economic conditions in the river basin. The highest densities of mills were found near the largest towns, e.g. Kozienice, Czarnolas, and Policzna.

Research on the spatial distribution of high technology industries has been the subject of geographers’ studies for a long time. However, in recent years there has been a lack of analyses in Poland which would allow to determine the spatio-temporal variability of advanced economic activities and to verify the determinants of their occurrence. On the basis of GUS data and variables describing transport accessibility, principal component and regression analyses were carried out to identify the location factors of the high-tech industry at the local (commune) level. It is still significantly concentrated in the areas of large cities. Nevertheless, the number of enterprises of the analysed industries in suburban areas increases significantly, which indicates the processes of economic suburbanisation of advanced economic activities. Unfortunately, apart from historically shaped centre of the high technology industry and limited number of new centres, the analysed industries do not develop in medium and small towns and their surroundings. Due to strong emigration, underdeveloped human capital and insufficient transport accessibility, high technology industries have so far generally not appeared in non-metropolitan areas, too. The analysed high-tech industries are concentrated in areas with high values of the entrepreneurship index, high living standards and relatively good transport accessibility. The key variable determining the development of the analysed industries is the situation on the labour market, both in terms of the level of professional activity of the population, the sought-after qualifications of the staff, as well as the level of inter-firm mobility of the staff.

This article raises the issue of potential possibilities for an establishment of the district with the capital in Miastko, which is the town of ten thousand residents, located in Bytów district. Miastko was already a capital of the unit in the past, but this function was not restored in 1999 or later. Based on assumptions from the period of shaping the current administrative division and the functions of the centres in the rank of the capital of the district, distinguished in the literature, in confrontation with the contemporary role of Miastko in the settlement network and its range and strength of functional and spatial relations with surroundings, the level of provision of services for the local community (including administration) was determined as well as the strength of connections between this centre and the surrounding communes. For the purposes of the article, the indicator of communication linkages was constructed, which was used as one of the measures of the size of functional connections between neighbouring communes and Miastko. All the considerations are set in the context of the demographic potential of the possible unit and the regional distinctiveness of the Middle Pomerania, including administratively as the Middle Pomerania Province. The undertaking of this topic is related to the constant need to discuss the shape of the administrative division in Poland and the willingness of the scientific community to formulate recommendations for decision makers in this regard.

Despite the fact that urban areas have existed for millennia, no single, universal, supranational, and fully accepted definition of a city/town has been developed to date. The aim of this article is to review the criteria for identifying cities/towns in the world and their spatial differentiation. 233 territorial entities that are sovereign states or territories belonging to other states were surveyed. The analysis was based on a query from a list provided by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Population Division, which contains the definitions of cities/towns adopted by individual countries or territories when collecting data in censuses. The research carried out shows that singleor multicriteria definitions, referring to quantitative or (and) qualitative elements from the group of legal-administrative, demographic, infrastructural-spatial, and functional criteria, are most often used to distinguish cities/towns from villages. More than half of the surveyed territorial entities use only one criterion mentioned, and this is usually a legal-administrative criterion or a demographic criterion. In the process of identifying cities/towns, just over two-fifths of the surveyed entities apply a minimum population threshold (as the only or one of many criteria), set most often at 2,000 or 5,000 inhabitants. East Africa is the most diverse region in the world in terms of the criteria adopted, while Central Asia, Australia, and New Zealand are the least.

The phenomenon of mass death of mussels in the Rusałka reservoir in Poznań took place in July 2018. As a result of this incident, the Unionidae population has been depleted. The number of dead mussels was counted, which floated around the banks and in the water. A total of approximately 5,500 deaths were found. Due to the scale of the phenomenon, the analysis of water quality was carried out by the Voivodeship Inspectorate for Environmental Protection in Poznań. Four samples of water were taken from different depths of the reservoir to perform physico-chemical and biological analyses. Two profiles, oxygen and temperature, were made in the deepest place of the Rusałka reservoir. There was a presence of hydrogen sulphide at the 5-meter depth of the reservoir. Additionally, oxygen concentration decreased strongly with depth to total deoxidation (< 0.50 mg·l-1O2 from 5 meters depth to the bottom). Furthermore, the average air temperatures in May 2018, in Poznań, were more than 3°C higher than in 2017 and 2016. In June and July, temperatures increased on average by 1 and 2°C compared to the previous. It was shown that the mass death of mussels was probably the result of the interaction of high temperature, a lack of oxygen, and the presence of hydrogen sulphide. It is not possible to clearly indicate only one factor that led to this phenomenon.

The article discusses the issue of attitudes of the Samburu ethnic group towards ’conservancies’ as the form of nature protection. The exploratory interviews (n = 12) were conducted among representatives of the Samburu community in northern Kenya. The aim of the research was to identify how Samburu perceive conservancies, considering current and expected consequences resulting from the development of this conservation form. The results show that the members of the Samburu community recognize the value of conservancies mainly through the economic benefits (gainful employment), as well as nature protection which is consistent with their religious values system (animism). However, the development of conservancies implying regulated access to natural resources (pasturelands) is seen as the real threat to their traditional pastoral culture. The attitudes of the local communities manifest a lack of trust in the management entities of the conservancies in the context of growing tensions between tribes over access to pasturelands. Consequently, prolonged droughts (climate change) may lead to a radical decrease in support for the idea of nature protection among members of the Samburu tribal elders.

The main purpose of this article is to present how geographical names reflect the specificity of the region. The onimic inquiring sight contains over 1000 microtoponyms that were collected during the geographical exploration from 2011 to 2017 in the Wręczyca Wielka community near Kłobuck, in the north of the Silesian Province. During the analysis of the above-mentioned toponomastic inquiry sight, the author used all information which were received from respondents (mainly from representatives of the oldest and middle generation) during informal conversations with the focus method. The first part of the text is devoted to the presentation of the basic methodological solutions and previous research. In the second part of this article, on the basis of detailed analysis of the geographical names of the Wręczyca Wielka community, the elements of environment and cultural factors captured in the geographical names, are presented. The microtoponyms reflect the specificity of the Wręczyca Wielka community because they archive data related to the natural and anthropogenic characteristics of the region. These record information, i.a. about: poorly diverse topography, underdeveloped hydrographic network, high degree of afforestation, iron mining, as well as old national relations.

The purpose of this article is an interpretation of 145 names of chosen valleys and couloirs of the Polish part of the Western Tatra Mountains. There are solely oronyms, which consist of two main components – valley or couloir and other lexemes that show various characteristics of their designations. The study has shown that the information on the topographic nature of an object that recorded in its name is sometimes not compatible with the given geographic term that assigned to the object. This problem can be shown on the example of names excerpted from the publication Rzeźba Tatr Polskich (1988) by Klimaszewski. These oronyms were compared with names excerpted from the monograph Polskie Tatry Zachodnie (1996) by Kunicki and Szczerba. The objective has been achieved using the classification of toponyms by Kornaszewski (1986) that shows how to discern the motivational meaning of toponyms.

The study discusses changes in the sunshine duration in Poland, occurring in the years 1966–2018. The main analysis was carried out on a series of annual area sunshine duration, calculated from 11 stations, distributed relatively evenly throughout the area of Poland (variable UPLRK). A discontinuity was found in the course of UPLRK, consisting a quantum leap of this value in the years 1987–1989, and then the appearance of a statistically significant positive trend in the course of UPLRK. A change in the course of UPLRK and the total change in the sunshine duration regime occurred at the moment of change in ‘circulation epochs’, characterized by a change in the frequency structure of the mid-tropospheric circulation of macro-types W, E and C according to the Wangengejm-Girs classification. The frequency of these macro-types, by controlling the variability of the lower circulation (SLP fields), controls changes in sunshine duration. An increase in the frequency of the W macro-type, with which the UPLRK values are positively correlated, and a simultaneous decrease in the frequency of the E macro-type, with which sunshine duration is negatively correlated, which occurred at the time of change of macro-circulation epochs in 1987–1989, resulted in corresponding changes in the behavior of the sunshine duration process in Poland. Changes in the frequencies of the W and E macro-types are controlled by changes in the distribution of heat resources in particular waters of the North Atlantic. These changes are controlled by changes in the North Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation (NA THC). As a result, the changes in the UPLRK observed in the years 1966–2018 reconstruct changes in both the macro-circulation conditions in the Atlantic-European circulation sector and changes in the NA THC phases. This allows for a conclusion that the variability of UPLRK is a result of the internal dynamics of the climate system, and not, as it has been believed so far, the effects of anthropogenic changes in the concentration of aerosols in the atmosphere.

The purpose of the article is to present the geographical diversity of four national parks in Rwanda (Volcanoes National Park, Akagera National Park, Nyungwe National Park, Gishwati-Mukura National Park), as well as a diversified approach to the ways of sharing them as centers of nature-based tourism. The first part attempts to define nature-based tourism and to outline the characteristics of the geographical environment and the state of tourism development in Rwanda. The natural tourist values of national parks and ways of making them available for tourism were discussed on this background. The study used secondary materials (literature, reports, statistical data) as well as primary materials – results of the field inventory and interviews conducted with employees of the national parks during the geographical field seminar in Rwanda entitled Tourism and the functioning of protected natural areas in overpopulated conditions (January-February 2020). The knowledge and experience of the author who is a native resident of Rwanda was also important in collecting and interpreting data. The conclusions present a synthetic diversity of the geographical environment of Rwanda with regard to three main zones. In addition, the importance of the economic effects of nature-based tourism for many beneficiaries was emphasized: residents, entrepreneurs, the geographical environment of national parks, as well as the state economy. Recommended further research concerns the need to take up issues also in the field of community-based tourism, environmental awareness and attitude of society, and development opportunities for sustainable and responsible tourism in Rwanda.

The aim of the article is to present the results of research on perception of automotive tourism and tourists’ motivations to participate in this form of mobility. The authors propose to define automotive tourism as a form of tourism in which the aim and travellers’ motivation is to visit places related to the automotive industry, important for its development and history. So far, research on this issue has been insufficient. The survey was conducted in the summer season of tourist movement in 2019 among 194 visitors to automobile museums and 217 participants of automotive events. The most frequently indicated motivations for participation in automotive tourism were interests, curiosity, willingness to spend time with the family and to spend free time generally, but also the willingness to be an active participant in the event was often chosen. The understanding of the definition of automotive tourism proposed by the authors is shared by about half of the respondents, but a large part understands it in the context of traveling by car or motorcycle in order to reach a tourist attraction, which in the literature is usually referred to as car or drive tourism. Automotive tourism shows strong connections with cultural, family and event tourism.

The region of Kłodzko belongs to the most important tourist areas in the Lower Silesia. It is also a very important region in the context of health resorts. Because of significant impact of weather conditions on both tourism and health issues, a crucial aspect is to evaluate the influence of weather on human organism and various forms of climatotherapy, tourism and recreation. The goal of the paper was to evaluate the biometeorological conditions of Kłodzko, considering its bio-thermal conditions as well as the usefulness of weather for climatotherapy, tourism and recreation. The basis for the analysis was meteorological data for 1971–2015 from the IMGW-PIB station in Kłodzko. The evaluation of biometeorological conditions included the bio-thermal index of UTCI and the weather suitability index for tourism and recreation (WSI). The WSI is calculated on the basis of the MENEX model which enables an assessment of the human heat balance. The climate tourism information scheme (CTIS) was also considered. It enables an evaluation of recreational potential with a consideration of bio-thermal conditions and the impact of particular meteorological variables. Based on the mentioned methods, a structure of heat stress categories and the annual course of usefulness of weather for climatotherapy, tourism and recreation were presented. The results of the research showed that weather conditions related to no thermal stress prevail on an annual scale. As for the context of the impact of weather on tourism issues, the best conditions are observed in the warm season, especially in the spring and autumn period. The results of the study can be a source of information for tourists and bathers visiting the region. They can also be a basis for increasing the knowledge on biometeorological conditions of the Sudetes.

Visiting monasteries and staying there have become an attractive tourist experience shared by numerous tourists and perceived by them as truly “touching and authentic”. Not only is a monastery in itself a subject of tourists’ interest with all of its physical attributes, but also the idea and the specific way of life behind it. In the paper, a special attention was paid to the participation of Polish contemplative monasteries in the so-called “monastic tourism”, in order to establish to what extent this phenomenon is close to religious tourism as well as to different forms of cultural tourism meant in the broad sense. Answers to these questions should lie in the results of a survey conducted among the Polish contemplative monasteries preceded by an analysis of motivations and conditions transforming ‘a monastery’ into a tourist destination (external individual attributes such as history and architecture were rejected).

The presence of the so-called „Lokalne Grupy Działania” (Local Action Groups, LAGs) has been clearly recognizable in the Polish rural and small-town landscapes for at least a dozen years. By under taking activities on various grounds they obviously support local development, being – at the same time – a source and an effect of local entrepreneurship. According to the principle ”think globally, act locally”, LAGs realize tasks in the field of local tourism development, in terms of tourism facilities, formation of human capital, and tourism promotion. The latter is the goal of the research in this paper. The research resulted in a determination of the broad range of promotional activities and tools used by LAGs. Simultaneously, their effectiveness and the range of influence were evaluated and common good practices in the field of tourism promotion were described. Apart from the generally positive evaluation of tourism promotion provided by LAGs and based on their knowledge on  the local tourism potential, specific conditions negatively affecting the durability of results and the period of influence of the promotional message were indicated.

The author made an attempt to present the demographic aspects of the Frederician colonization in central Poland within the present Łódź Voivodeship. In the first section of the paper, analyses in the field of historical geography dealt with the formation of colonies at the turn of the 18/19th century. Based on archival sources, the dynamics, number and origin of incoming population were shown. The second section of the paper contains an analysis of the demographic development of Frederician settlements till their end in 1945. The research included e. g. comparisons of the lists of German settlers drawn up for selected time periods.

Present urbanization processes are characterized by unusual spontaneity, reflected in numerous problems in defining urban population and determining real city boundaries. Of particular interest, from a scientific point of view, is the case of China, where a considerable dynamics of socio-economic transformations, as  ell as political and administrative issues are reflected in a complex urban structure. Serious complications in determining the real Chinese urban population number, or determining real city boundaries are the complicated administrative division, manifested by an unnatural size of the cities, and the inclusion of rural population under their urban jurisdiction. In addition, the question of social duality between the countryside and the city,caused by the Hukou register system, seriously hampers estimations of a city resident number. Mass migration from the countryside to cities, in most cases without updating the Hukou system, resulted in a lack of complete and accepted statistics concerning the population of Chinese cities. It is also worth mentioning, that rural migrants in urban areas are often a secondary category of citizens facing socio-economic discrimination, leading to a visible and tangible polarization among Chinese urban residents.

The aim of this paper is to systematize the existing literature on the effects of cohesion policy and specifically on the effectiveness of public investments in human capital through typology of research. The conclusions are used to give recommendations both for the academic as well as the public sector. There is a need for long-term statistical and macroeconomic analyses as well as in-depth qualitative research on the quality of interventions and differences between different types of investments. While there is a lot of potential in human capital investments to stimulate regional development, they are not a sole key to success and should rather be considered as part of a horizontal and complex development strategy.

The paper concerns the quality of customer service in tourist services. The aim of this study is to present an assessment of the quality of customer service in selected travel agencies in Krakow. The spatial extent of research involved the Old Town with adjacent quarters and the Kazimierz district in Krakow. To achive the purpose of the work, a stocktaking of travel agencies and an assessment of the quality of customer service using a mystery shopping method were carried out from March to May 2019. The quality of customer service in Krakow’s travel agencies is varied. It is at an average but increasingly unsatisfactory level. Network travel agencies have a higher standard of customer service than non-network ones. The top-rated areas of customer service were staff appearance as well as their behaviour and personal culture during the conversation with a client. The lowest-rated areas were staff behaviour and personal culture during the customer enterance to the office as well as at the end of the conversation and while saying goodbye to the client. Only 16,0% of studied travel agencies showed maximum interest and respect to the customer. The research results presented in this paper can be used in the functioning of travel agencies in Poland to improve the quality of services in these types of enterprises and meet the requirements of quality management.

The subject of this study is the process of women’s professional activation, which takes place as a result of undertaking agritourism activities on farms in rural areas of the Polish Carpathians. The main purpose of the article was to determine the motives of women to undertake professional activity in rural tourism. The study included a sample of 70 agritourism farms run or co-run by women in Carpathian rural tourist communes in the Lesser Poland (Małopolska) Voivodeship. Three groups of motives, which guided women while choosing their path of professional activation in agritourism, were distinguished. The basis for undertaking agritourism activities are expected economic benefits and factors arising from the spatial environment of farms such as local hospitality traditions, the level of tourism development, the presence of attractive values for leisure, the traditional village life, and the “internal” factors associated with household and agricultural resources. Equally  mportant are the “individualistic” motifs of psychological and social nature – the need to contact other people or be “needed” in the family. The female professional activation in agritourism has not only an economic but also a social and cultural dimension.

The passenger rail transport in Poland lets us travel between regions faster every year. But in the first years of the twenty-first century the only way to travel from, for example, the Tatra Mountains to the Baltic coast, was travelling by night train. They were run on long, cross-city routes. Despite a long time of journey, they were still  popular, especially in tourism. As a result of investments in Polish railways, the number of fast daily trains has significantly increased, taking some potential passengers of the night trains. On the other hand, there are still some regions located on the peripheries, which demand night trains to have long-distance connections with other Polish regions. The future of those trains in Poland is not clear. Recently a trend of internationalization of night trains has been observed. For example, in the summer of 2020 new night trains connecting Czechia and Polish Baltic resorts are planned to be run. The topic of the future of night trains in Poland, compared to the past, should be well deliberated and planned to maintain high efficiency of rail transport. The aim of this paper is to discuss the past and the potential future of night trains in Poland. Furthermore an author`s formula estimating the demand in trains is presented in order to define the efficiency of night trains compared to the day trains.

The article discusses the issue of economic relations between an accommodation facility providing safari tourism services and the local Samburu tribal community in northern Kenya. The study illustrates a unique case of safari tourist lodge functioning in a close relation to the traditional shepherd community in the conditions of its spatially isolated location. The local community benefits economically from permanent and occasional work for the lodge, sale of craft and agricultural products, as well as benefits, economically and socially, from the entrepreneur’s charity actions and the visitors’ generosity and donations. The tourist lodge operator is compelled to conduct permanent (almost every-day) trainings of employees from the local Samburu community to sustain the quality of services provided to its guests (‘high-end’ tourists). He also maintains close relations with the local tribal elders, among others by consulting his own intentions regarding the intensification of tourism development and his plans for establishing a local nature protection area in the form of ‘conservancy’. The development of the safari facility depends strongly on local natural conditions, as well as the acceptance of its activities by members of the tribal elders, that is strictly conditioned by the entity’s ability to create economic values (benefits) for the local community.

Abstract: The paper tackles problems associated with the attitudes of local communities and tourists towards landscape parks. The study is based on the results of questionnaire surveys conducted in all landscape parks located in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship among local residents (N=2000) and tourists (N=1077). The surveys demonstrated great support for landscape parks, both among local residents and tourists. The respondents noticed their positive effect on the quality of life and the development of tourism. Sadly, the knowledge on such protected areas was rather poor. Few tourists visited a specific area because of it being protected as a landscape park, as most them were not aware of this fact at all. Respondents from both groups hardly recognised landscape parks as institutions and had never heard of the activities undertaken by the Complex of Landscape Parks of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The study subjects usually declared their willingness to improve their knowledge by getting involved in educational events organised by the Complex and one in four of them declared their readiness to join in activities for the benefit of the landscape parks studied. The domination of approving attitudes, combined with the declared interest in educational projects and the relatively high willingness to act for the benefit of the parks, creates a very favourable climate for the functioning of the Complex as an institution. These conditions should foster the process of building cooperation with local residents, developing initiatives integrating local residents and tourists around activities undertaken for the benefit of the parks, as well as undertaking actions strengthening the brand of the Complex of Landscape Parks of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship as an active entity, having a real impact upon the protection, promotion, and sustainable development of areas covered by its activities.

The paper deals with the topic of transport accessibility of Łódź using data from Intelligent Transportation Systems, in this case from cameras allowing automatical identification of number plates (ANPR), locatedon the city’s 23 intersections. The paper has two aims. The first one is of methodological nature and focuses on  assessing the usefulness of the data from ITS for geographical research. Not only does the paper present some ways of using data and conducting analyses with the use of these data but it also compares their results with research concerning similar phenomena measured by different sets of data (theoretical accessibility and data obtained from the Distance Matrix Responses provided by Google Maps APIs). The latter, in turn, is cognitive and it comes down to a slightly more local dimension, namely showing the internal transport accessibility of Łódź. In the light of the ANPR data it was determined that the internal transport accessibility of Łódź is  much worse than the theoretical accessibility or the accessibility measured with the use of data obtained from the Distance Matrix service. The greatest differences in average travel times between the data from ANPR and the two remaining methods concern primarily the north-western part of the city, whereas the smallest – the central and southern areas, where a substantial part of intersections is covered by a system of cameras.

The main objective of the article is to verify the hypothesis that any municipality in Poland, which is at risk of flood, is a socio-ecological system (SES) of a certain level of adaptability. Assessment of adaptability of an SES municipality at risk of flood requires finding such features of the system which have direct impact on the process of its adaptation to the risk and which make useful indicators for assessing current adaptability of a municipality. Based on the research conducted, the article presents four categories of features: human capital and social potential, financial potential, ecological potential and organisation potential, with 15 features within  them to describe the adaptability of a municipality-SES in case of flood risk.

One of the classifications of atmospheric circulation types applied in Poland is the typology proposed by Lityński (1969). Circulation types were designated based on three classes in each of three indices (zonal Ws, meridional Wp, and cyclonicity index Cp). Indices Ws and Wp were developed based on differences in atmospheric pressure over the area of 40º–65ºN and 0º–35vE. A total of 27 types were designated. Calendars of the types in reference to the period 1951–1999 were published. Lack of information on particular stages of development of the calendars seems to preclude unequivocal interpretation in their use. It is not clear what reference period was considered in the development of the calendars. An example is provided that a change in the reference period causes the shift of 5% of days to another class. The name of the type does not always concern the direction of air advection. For example, in January, the middle class „0” zonal index is  characterised by air  dvection from the west. In such a situation, the type called „S” in practice describes inflow of air from direction „SW”. An example is also provided of a situation where the same value of the Wp index was qualified in June to class „S”, and in November to class „N”. Examples of analyses are also presented with the application of daily values of Wp and Ws concerning air temperature, snow cover, and UTCI index. Attention is drawn to the need of high degree of caution in the interpretation of research concerning multi-annual periods where results of reanalyses were used as source data. It is pointed out that the annual courses of  circulation indices Wp and Ws may be approximated when the determination of air density considered the same temperature in reference to all days in a year.

The study presents the spatial and temporal variability of warm and cold days occurring in the years 1966–2017 at five meteorological stations representing four peripheral areas and the centre of Poland. The analysis was based on the daily maximum air temperature values. A warm or cold day was considered as a day during which the maximum temperature was respectively higher or lower than the average daily temperature by a value of 1.28 standard deviation for a given calendar day. The obtained results indicate an increase in the frequency of the occurrence of warm days sequences and a decrease in the number of sequences of cold days, especially after 1990. The analysis also found a clear differentiation of the annual course of the considered days depending on the geographical location of the area in question. The most distinctive is the north-western region of Poland, where the highest number of warm days was recorded. In contrast, the area of southern Poland is characterized by a higher number of cold days. Most of the analyzed days occurred as one- or two-day long sequences, constituting approximately 70–80% of all cases. In the analyzed period, short (lasting 3–5 days) waves of warm or cold days were most frequent, and the longest waves (lasting at least 11 days) usually accounted for less than 1% of all cases recorded at a given station.

The paper discusses variances in present-day alluvia in the Lepietnica river channel – a left bank tributary of the Czarny Dunajec River in southern Poland. The study focused on the characterization of grain size, petrographic content, and degree of rounding. The analysis considers the morphology of the river channel, sources of material influx to the  fluvial system, and degree of human impact. Research has shown that variances in alluvia in the Lepietnica are determined largely by catchment geology and regional elements of relief. Mountain areas such as the Gorce Mountains are characterized by the alluvia of larger grain size, more complex petrography, and less rounding. The lower stretch of the Lepietnica found in the Nowotarska-Orawska Basin is characterized by alluvia of smaller grain size, more rounding, and a different petrographic content.

This article discusses the annual course and the many-year occurrence of days with fog at three selected airports and their relationship with atmospheric circulation. Fog is a relatively frequent phenomenon – it is recorded around 60 days a year. Occurrence of fog is the most threatened airport Krakow-Balice, and least Katowice-Muchowiec. Fog usually occurred in autumn, and the least in summer. The probability of fog occurring is greatest in autumn and winter. Among the advection types, the types from the southern sector play a large role in shaping the mists. The highest probability of occurrence of a day with fog occurs in the types of non-convective circulation. In these circulation conditions, radiation mists are formed, which are the dominant type of mists in southern Poland. In spring and summer, the probability of fog is the lowest. The analysis confirms that the duration of the fog represents the leading role of the landform of the airport. Short-time fogs mostly occur mainly in Balice, whereas fogs of varying duration have similar frequencies at all airports considered. The most frequent occurrences of the 24-hour fog occur also in Balice, which means that the airport is characterized by the greatest threat to the fluency of air traffic. It is responsible for the location of the aerodrome within the concave form of the land, which is characterized by a tendency to create cold air stagnation and ground temperature inversion. Through a detailed analysis of the frequency and probability of the appearance of fog, its significant relationship with the circulation was demonstrated. This relationship is so strict that on the basis of the forecasted synoptic situation, the occurrence of fog can be predicted with high probability. The possibility of forecasting the occurrence of fog, its density and the time of retention is an extremely important issue in the context of the safety of crews and passengers as well as aviation tasks.

Information and communication technology (ICT) allows for new, more interactive ways of promotion activities and tourist information presentation. Dissemination of broadband Internet and mobile devices as well as development of new programming technologies are main driving forces for broader use of tools such as mobile applications, social media, augmented and virtual reality. Territorial governments and most of all local governments use this potential in executing their tasks in the area of promotion and tourist information established by law regulations. The main goal of this paper was to present research results focused on activities in the area of promotion and tourist information where information and communication technology was implemented by local governments in communes of Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Collecting data about selected digital tools was conducted in 2013 and 2018 for 182 communes. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed on obtained database according to a set of criteria. Then, range and directions of activities were characterized and estimated. On this basis, activities realized by local governments in the research area can be described as numerous and various. Among examples of activities are modernization of official websites of commune offices, creation of next mobile applications, also with QR codes and beacon technology, and growing activity in social media.

The main goal of this paper is to review Polish and world scientific literature as well as local business reports on the broadly understood business services sector. On this basis, the author tries to capture the geographical and economic aspects of its development, i.e. factors affecting the location of companies and features of spatial distribution, as  well as relations with the environment, including the sector’s impact on the demographic and economic structure of the region and the effects it causes. In the following, he makes a synthetic summary of the sector’s development, listing various problems that it encounters, among others rising employment cost, competition on the labor market, or “outflow of talents”.

Abstract: Springs are objects of natural environment, which are studied by different scientific disciplines: geography, hydrology, hydrogeology, hydrochemistry, hydrobiology, ecology, environmental protection, landscape architecture, touring, archeology and ethnography. These objects, in both the past and the present, were of a great importance to  man, who, in different ways and very willingly, used the clean water flowing out and the surrounding environment. Springs, giving rise to streams, which feed into larger rivers, have great scientific, economic, natural, landscape, cultural and even therapeutic values. They have been protected from devastation and pollution for centuries, mainly due to the rational and often iconic perception of them. They were and still are objects of mystification resulting from the assignment of miraculous properties to their water and fantastic legends and historical events to places where they flow out. The question of the origin of water coming from springs has always been vividly discussed. It has contributed to both the development of natural sciences and to the creation of fantastic theories pointing to a specific “power” of these places and healing properties of discharging water. Interesting descriptions of springs that draw people’s attention have appeared in many travel experience stories, which brought them fame. Many springs have become places of worship, being famous for the descriptions of their healing abilities, related myths and fantastic phenomena, which additionally increased the desire to feel their “spirit”.

The area of Poland is already quite well recognized in the aspect of springs. The knowledge about Polish springs has definitely increased in recent decades, mainly as a result of research conducted at all academic centers of the country, as well as thanks to the work on consecutive charts of the Hydrographic Map of Poland. The oldest  information about springs in Poland can be found in historical records as well as in information and descriptions prepared for the needs of mining and balneology. Specialist publications and monographic views on springs and other groundwater outflows appeared in the middle of the 18th century. The springs of Małopolska were recognized at earliest. In the second half of the 20th century scientific works on the springs of the Tatras were published, followed by descriptions of the Carpathians, the Sudetes and the uplands: Kraków-Wieluń, Miechów, Lublin as well as the Nida Basin. Springs of the Łódź Region were also examined. At the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century numerous issues, documenting the occurrence of springs and other outflows in the lowlands and lakelands of Poland, were also published. Despite the quite intensive research and passing years, the number of springs in Poland is still not known, not even estimated. Few outflows are monitored continuously. There are many reasons for this, including the disappearance and devastation of many objects because of anthropopressure and low interest in springs in hydrological and hydrogeological communities. It is probably due to the fact that springs operate at the boundary of the surface and the underground phase of the water cycle. In spite of this, dozens of springs in Poland have been studied in detail, in terms of hydrology, hydrochemistry, hydrobiology and water management.

The place of natural outflow of groundwater with the accompanying depression and water discharge stream creates the spring niche, and, in a wider perspective, the spring zone (the spring area). Such areas occur in various topographical, hydrographic and hydrogeological conditions. The way the water flows out as well as its dynamics and properties are also diversified. Springs waters, usually of a very good quality, have been used by humans for their needs for a long time. Their intakes form an important part of the water management infrastructure. At the same time, the sites of water outflow are important elements of natural and cultural landscapes, enriching them with new values and forms. Springs are often the objects of cultural and religious heritage and are tightly linked to the history of a given place or have a particular significance to the local community. They are sites willingly visited by tourists and recreationists. They provide the basis for the development of balneology and touring, as well as for the cult associated with the symbolism of water or religion.

Springs are important elements of geographical environment, they are also objects possessing unique scientific, landscape and water management characteristics. Due to their high susceptibility to anthropopressure, related to the frequent devastation of outflow sites and degradation of water resources, it is necessary to implement systematic and, nowadays, even urgent activities to preserve these places in their possibly natural state. Such protection should cover the place of outflow of underground water, the spring niche, as well as the groundwater basin. This task can be implemented by local communities, via administrative or ecological education, adequate to the course of actions and the significance of the local impact on the environment. In the case of particularly valuable springs, the establishment of protection zones, which would be similar to the preservation zones of public wells, should also be taken into account. However, to achieve this, it is necessary to recognize, calibrate and, above all, provide an inventory of all valuable springs in Poland.

Abstract: The aim of the study was to estimate the rate and extent of overgrowth of a water reservoir on the example of Lake Gardno, based on the normalized index of vegetation NDVI. In the assessment of the changes taking place in individual summer seasons within the lake basin a thorough analysis was made based on satellite imagery  performed for the years 2000–2014. The main assumption was to develop an appropriate method to determine the extent of expansion of water vegetation on the example of the selected lake. Preliminary results were compiled with monthly average air temperatures and monthly mean precipitation totals, then a detailed analysis was performed to demonstrate the relationships between the effective overgrowth and local meteorological conditions. The observed changes in the ever-growing litoral zone allowed us to suppose that Lake Gardno is going to disappear.

Abstract: The aim of the study is to determine the influence of freshwater fish farming on the chemical status of water in the catchment of the Wąska river. The paper presents the results of physicochemical studies of water supplying and discharged from fish ponds at Klekotki. At measurement points located on the Wąska river above and below the ponds the following properties were determined: total nitrogen, total phosphorus and concentrations of dissolved ammonia, nitrates, phosphates, sulphates. The observations showed that the physicochemical state of water supplying the ponds is below good because of too high phosphate concentrations (0.57 mg∙dm–3 above the joints and 0.41 mg∙dm–3 below). In spite of that, it was stated that fish farming can positively affect the water purification process and improve the physical and chemical parameters of water, as evidenced by the reduction of total nitrogen concentrations by 66%, ammonia by 52%, sulphates by 50%, nitrates by 46% and phosphate by 28%, below the discharge of water from the ponds in relation to the supplying waters. In addition, it was found that the dynamics of biogen transport in the fish pond system is characterized by a clear seasonal differentiation and is associated with the size of outflow.

Abstract: The study determines the frequency of monthly thermal anomalies in the Mediterranean Basin (approx. south of 45oN), in the area from Lisbon in the west to Van in eastern Turkey, changes in the frequency of such anomalies over six decades, as well as the location and size of the area over which they occurred. The present study is based  on the average monthly air temperature values from 80 meteorological stations in the years 1951–2010. Thermally anomalous months are considered to have occurred when the average air temperature t at a given station differed from the corresponding tav. by at least 2 standard deviations (σ); for anomalously cold months (ACMs: t£tav.–2σ) and for anomalously warm months (AWMs: t≥tav.+2σ). One feature that distinguishes the Mediterranean Basin from the rest of Europe located in the temperate climate zone is the prevalence of AWMs over ACMs. The number of ACMs and AWMs showed significant variations over the 60-year period. The years 1971–1980 were the coldest ones, while the 21st century saw the highest temperatures. The vast majority of ACMs and AWMs occur over small areas. There were 22 anomalous months (11 ACMs and AWMs) that covered larger areas (at least 25% of the stations).

Abstract: To determine extreme weather types in Lublin, in the years 1951–2015, the typology of Woś was applied. It provided a basis for the designation of two extreme thermal types: one with hot and one with very frosty weather. Furthermore, a type of weather with intensive precipitation, not included in the original version of the classification, was  analysed. Meteorological data used in the study were obtained from the Meteorological Observatory of the Department of Meteorology and Climatology of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. The circulation conditions were determined based on the classification of circulation types for the area of Central-Eastern Europe.

In the years 1951–2015 extreme weather types occurred in Lublin for 5 days in a year on average. Days with the hot weather type were recorded most frequently. Their occurrence was favoured by air advection from the southern or eastern sector with a transitional or anticyclonic character. In the analysed multi-annual period an increasing tendency in  he number of such days was observed. The number of days with the very frosty weather type, primarily related to the advection of air masses from the east, decreased. In the case of the number of days with the weather type with intensive precipitation no evident tendency of changes was determined in the analysed period.

Abstract: The current global warming causes changes in traditional zones of viticulture worldwide. Poland becomes a country where there are more and more vineyards. The purpose of this work was to characterize vineyards in Poland and indicate in which vineyards there is a possibility of a precise characterization of mesoclimate. A database on  the viticulture in Poland created on the basis of information from the Internet. A map was also created, presenting the distribution of vineyards and meteorological stations of the IMGW-PIB. Polygons with a radius of 30 km were designated, constituting the locational criterion for the precise characterization of mesoclimate. A map was prepared to present vineyards’ distribution and Poland’s land relief. There are 397 Polish vineyards in the data base. Above 82% of them are located within a radius of 30 km from the nearest meteorological station and most of them (94%) are located to 400 meters above sea level and in river valleys. A favourable location in terms of the exposure and inclination of the slope characterizes respectively 58% and 45% of vineyards.

In recent years, a considerable development of the network of hiking trails has taken place in selected parts of the Sudetes. This has occurred both in areas of hitherto poorly developed tourist infrastructure (for example the Orlickie Foothills) as well as in traditional tourist regions with a quite good base (for example the Sowie Mountains). It was  decided to analyse more precisely the changes which occurred in 2005–2017 in selected parts of the Middle Sudetes. For this purpose, changes in the density and connectivity of the networks of hiking trails were assessed using elements of the graph theory and, drawn from it, indices used in the topological analysis of spatial structure. A  comparative analysis of maps was the basis for these works. Important factors deciding about the validity of marking new hiking trails are: their role in the network of trails and their tourist attractiveness. Those were evaluated using field works and an analysis of maps and tourist (sightseeing) literature. An additional aim was to examine ways of tracing new trails and changing routes of those already existing, taking into account the guidelines for hiking trails presented in literature. Marking new trails has undoubtedly enabled the development of networks, but not necessarily resulted in their higher connectivity (new sections of trails resulted in a higher number of nodes). However, new tourist values have been made accessible (especially scenic and cultural ones) and planning hikes has become simpler, which is particularly important in the vicinity of spas. New hiking trails and changes of routes of those existing earlier must be assessed positively in terms of the relation between natural and artificial (hard) surfaces.

Many countries and cities seek the organization of great sports events because of its impact on the economy and society of the hosting country/region. In this article, we seek to answer the question whether the FIFA World Cup, which took place in 2018 in Russia, influenced a change in the tourist image of the Kaliningrad Oblast. The enclave is not a popular tourist destination; therefore the organization of the World Cup in Russia, including Kaliningrad, was an opportunity for the region. However, a question remains as to whether Kaliningrad used this chance appropriately. For this purpose, a survey was conducted among tourists who visited Kaliningrad during the 2018 World Cup.

The main objective of the article is to present geographical factors conditioning the activity and tourist destinations among Chicago’s Polonia. The following aspects were emphasized among these factors: location (climate, weather, exotics of the place), accessibility of transport, travel time, tourist attractions (unspoilt nature, quiet, peace), place of  residence of the respondents. The objective of research was to check whether the place of residence influences the frequency of tourist trips and the choice of tourist destinations of Chicago’s Polonia as well. The method of diagnostic survey in the form of surveys among Chicago’s Polonia in the total number of 1014 in the Polish and English language is presented in the article. The study includes results of the research which confirm that people living outside the city of Chicago (in the suburbs) travel more frequently than people living in Chicago. The relaxation of people living outside Chicago lasts longer during the year than the relaxation of people living in Chicago as well as people living outside Chicago choose foreign journeys more frequently than people who live in Chicago.

The paper presents the usage of the lower Vistula waterway on the basis of the number of floating units passing the Włocławek lock in the period 1997–2016. The Włocławek dam plays an important role in ensuring navigability on the inland waterway on the lower Vistula. The analysis revealed that the number of units locked in the Włocławek dam varied in particular years and was decreasing throughout the whole period. It depended on the serviceability of the lock and the hydrological conditions (water levels, ice phenomena). Throughout the year, water transportation was seasonal. The highest number of passing units falls on summer months (VI–VIII). Regarding the transportation type  subdivision, freight traffic dominated over touristic traffic. An exception took place in the years with low water levels (mainly in summer), in which freight traffic was impossible, which resulted in a lack of delivery guarantee. A solution to that problem is the construction of intermodal transshipment ports along the waterway.

This article is an analysis of accessibility and quality of space in three Cracow’s housing estates: Azory, Dębniki, and Nowy Bieżanów in terms of usability by the elderly. Each of the studied areas has a different functional and spatial structure, and a local architectural environment. The purpose of the analysis is to draw attention to the needs of older  residents, whose participation in the Polish society will increase thanks to changing demographics. The result of the research is a determination of the impact of urban and spatial layout on pedestrian traffic and activities of the elderly. The presented observations highlight how the physical proximity between the place of residence and recreational areas or service buildings determines the behaviour of senior residents.

The article reveals the significance of geopolitics in the political and academic achievements of Antoni Sujkowski, a Polish geographer of the generation which witnessed the rebirth of independent Poland in 1918. It describes the political activity of Sujkowski, the only geographer who served as minister in the government of the Second Polish  Republic. The most attention is paid to his contribution to the controversy over proposals of the territory of Poland during the Paris peace conference in 1919, when he advocated the creation of “vast strategic Poland,” i. e. a federation of Poland and historical Lithuania (including Belarus). As an academic geopolitician Sujkowski is especially the author of The geography of lands of the old Poland. That was the first book in geohistory (or “geographical history”) of Poland, considering the influence of geographic environment on the historical development of the Polish state. The literature used in research includes works by Sujkowski, other geographical and geopolitical writings of his time (as primary sources), memoirs, contemporary biographies and studies in geopolitics, the history of Poland and Polish science in the first half of the twentieth century (as secondary sources).

Discharge is one of the most important quantitative characteristics of springs. Not only does it specify the yield of groundwater, but it also reflects the water retention conditions of the aquifers. An analysis of the long-term spring discharge allows to link them to the hydrogeological and meteorological conditions of the area as well as to calculate the seasonal and multiannual variability parameters. The data from 84 springs in the south of Poland from the PIG-PIB databases were used in the paper. The time series differ in length and come from the period 1973–2016. The spring discharge variability index varies widely: from 2 to over 2 thousand, wherein the contribution of slightly variable, variable and highly variable springs is around 33%. The discharge of individual springs featured significant seasonal variations. Not only does the volume of outflowing water depend on the atmospheric conditions, but primarily on the properties of aquifer which feeds the spring’s groundwater catchment and on its location. The discharge of fissure springs as well as low-flow outflows is generally more variable than that of porous or karst springs. The seasonality of discharge depends less on the discharge of the spring and more on its elevation – springs which are at higher altitudes are characterized by a bigger seasonality index of discharge and a later date of its yearly peak discharge.

The aim of the study is to identify the flow seasonality of the Vistula river in 14 water-gauge cross-sections located along the river course (from Skoczów to Tczew). For this purpose, the following characteristics were used: seasonality index (IS), period of seasonal concentration (PK) half-flow date (TPO), and concentration index (GMO).  Hydrometric data from the 1951–2016 period were shared by IMGW-PIB. The average time of seasonal concentrations and half-flow dates in the analysed cross-sections occurred in April or May. Along the Vistula river the mean PK and TPO regress towards winter (are earlier and earlier). The average seasonality index is comprised in the range 22–32%, while  the values of the concentration index fall into the range 10.0–14.5. The highest IS values characterize the upper part of the river down to the Goczałkowice water-gauge (here it reaches the maximum). Next the IS rapidly decreases, due to the summing of the flows from the Vistula river tributaries varying conditions of flow formation (from Carpathian Mountains and Uplands). A significant increase in the IS is visible below the mouths of the Dunajec and then the San rivers. A local maximum of the seasonality index occurs in the Zawichost cross-section. Next, the IS slowly decreases along the river down to the Vistula river mouth. One exception is the Włocławek water-gauge where a small increase of the IS can be noticed. It is due to the functioning of a dam and a big reservoir in the town. The changes of the concentration index along the Vistula river are similar to the seasonality index changes but the differences between the values of extremes are less visible. In the five analysed flood years, both the seasonality indexes and the concentration indexes were quite high in the upper part of the Vistula river and average in the central and lower parts of the river. The half-flow dates and the periods of seasonal concentration were stable along the whole river’s course but very diversified in particular years. The changes of the examined seasonality characteristics in dry years were very similar to analogical changes in normal years. Only in 1959 was the situation different when the IS was very low and the PK and TPO occured later and later down the river’s course.

Runoff from a karstic catchment (southern part of the Krakow–Częstochowa Upland) was analyzed. The Prądnik-Ojców river gauge station, which closes the upper and the most interesting from the hydrological point of view part of the catchment (67.5 km2), was selected for detailed analyses. The 1961–2014 timespan was studied. Characteristic  water discharges and runoff structure were analyzed. Based on the results, water resources were evaluated as large. The specific discharge reached 6.5 dm3∙s–1∙km–2, being slightly higher than the average for Poland (5.62 dm3∙s–1∙km–2), but comparable to other karstic catchments located in the Upland Belt of Poland. The discharge is stable both in the annual hydrological cycle as well as in the multiannual course. The 53-year long series did not reveal any statistically important tendencies in runoff and the multiannual changes of runoff were predominantly related to changes in precipitation. The structure of runoff is dominated by groundwater runoff, which reached 90% on average, and the unit groundwater runoff reached 5.8 dm3∙s–1∙km–2. This value is a little higher (up to 1.5 dm3∙s–1∙km–2) in comparison with the neighboring karstic catchments.

The aim of this study is to investigate the distribution of soil temperature in a forest clearing in the Wielkopolska National Park. The results of measurements of ground temperature at depths of 0, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 cm at the UAM Ecological Station in Jeziory were analyzed. Characterization of the annual and diurnal course and the thermal stratification of the soil in the period 2002–2015 was made. The variability of soil temperature gradients between levels at different depths was investigated. During the warm period there is a lapse, and in the cold period an increase in the temperature with depth. In March and September a reversal of the thermal profile takes place in the ground. The greatest amplitude between the surface and the depth of 100 cm occurs in December and is 5,2°C. The amplitude is also high in June, i.e. 4,8°C. Temperature gradients decrease with depth. In the soil layer of 0–5 cm there are greater changes in temperature (on average 0,04°C/1 cm), and with depth the rate of change is lower (0,0001°C/1cm in the layer of 50–100 cm). A high thermal activity of soil in layers up to 20 cm is indicated by the smallest difference in temperature between the layers at the surface. The deepest layers store most heat. The layer of 20–50 cm is characterized by high heat accumulation in the warm half of the year – then the greatest differences between the 20 and 50 cm levels occur. The average diurnal ground temperature in Jeziory in the years 2002–2015 is 9,8°C and does not change with depth. The diurnal amplitude of temperature changes – it decreases with the depth. The highest amplitude of temperature is characterized by the lowest layers of soil and is 8,4°C on average throughout the day. The amplitude values decrease with depth to 0,0°C at a depth of 100 cm. It is clearly shown that the maximum temperature of soil is shifted in time with depth. The greatest diurnal changes of soil temperature in the warm half of the year are in the layer up to 50 cm, and in the cold half of the year – to a depth of 20 cm. The obtained results show that the thermal conditions of the ground in a forest clearing are different from those characterizing the ground  in open areas.

The work discusses the air temperature course of winter periods (December–March) in Poland in the years 1720–2015. The analysis is carried out for area mean values calculated from 5 stations: Szczecin, Wrocław, Warsaw, Wilno and Lwów. The time series of the mean area winter temperature (hereinafter PLZ) consists of combined observational (140 years) and  reconstructed (156 years) data. The PLZ reconstruction is based on independent variables, i.e. the values of the maximum area of the Baltic Sea covered with ice in a given ice season and the monthly temperatures in January and March from the Central England Temperature (CET) data set. The obtained correlations between the independent variables and the PLZ  are strong, highly significant and stable. A statistical analysis shows that the course of PLZ is strongly correlated (r = 0.80, p <0.001) with the series of mean winter temperatures in Europe reconstructed by Luterbacher et al. (2006). In the analysed period of the years 1720–2015 the course of winter temperatures is non-stationary, there were periods of cooling and warming with different amplitude and duration. The variation range of PLZ falls within the limits from –6.24 (in 1929) to +3.35°C (in 1990). Winters with temperatures below 0°C account for 72% of winters in the examined period. Relatively mild winters dominated  ver Poland during the analysed period, with an average temperature ranging from –1°C to 0°C and from 0°C to 1°C, accounting for a total of 39.5% of all winters. The trend occurring in the PLZ time series is very weak (+0.0020 (±0.0012)°C·year–1; p = 0.103) and statistically insignificant, despite the fact that the highest PLZ values in the entire analysed period occur after the year 1988. The analyses show that the variability of PLZ in the entire examined period does not go beyond the limits of natural variability and the recent increase in PLZ is not unprecedented. Similarly strong temperature increases in winter temperatures were observed several times after the year 1720. The coldest winters occurred between the decades 1751–1760 and 1841–1850. The greatest variability of PLZ is observed in the twentieth century, when the coldest (1961–1970, decade mean PLZ –2.253°C) and the warmest decades (1991–2000, PLZ +0.020°C) occurred in the entire analysed period. The breakthrough in the course of PLZ, combined with the change in the thermal structure of winters, which can be identified with the end of the Little Ice Age, occurred gradually in the years 1858–1885 along with an increase in the intensity of the zone circulation. Changes in the solar constant and the frequency of volcanic eruptions did not affect the variability of winter temperatures.

Areas located within the hot, arid zone are characterized by extremely low availability of fresh water. In the Tunisian regions of Kébili and Medenine, deep-water sources and connate groundwater constitute its main sources. Surface waters, as well as shallow groundwaters found in those areas, are affected by a high level of salinity, which significantly reduces their use for either drinking or agriculture. Due to intensifying droughts the rainwater accumulation system, neither fulfils the needs of residents nor the developing agriculture. Waters in the oases of El Faour (Kébili) and Beni Kchedeche (Medenine) were analyzed in 2017 to find out their chemical composition, as well as their suitability for irrigation. The chemical composition of the investigated waters is dominated by the Na+, Ca2+, Cl– and SO4 3– ions. The value of electrolytic conductivity (EC) was found to be within the range of 1100 to 6400 μS/cm. The highest concentration of nitrate was 44 mg/L. Salinity indicators classified this water mainly as unsuitable for irrigation on the basis of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and EC, sodium total percentage (%Na) and Kelly’s ratio (KR). The iron concentration in all examined wells exceeded the recommended values set for potable water and ranged from 0.6 to 2.5 mg/L.

The study area is located in the gorge section of the Upper Vistula river valley between Tyniec and Piekary near Kraków, where natural and industrial overbank alluvia with a different radionuclide activity, heavy metals content and grain size composition occur. Overbank deposits cover three levels of the floodplain where three cores of deposits were  collected. Alluvia of the lowest level along the channel are more heterogeneous and coarser than those on the middle and the highest level. Most of the overbank deposits were accumulated in the lower regime of water flow. On the basis of luminescence dating it was determined that the accumulation of overbank deposits on the first level started  200 years ago and on the highest level – 3,000 years ago.
All the three alluvium cores investigated in this study show a similar and regular vertical pattern of 137Cs and 210Pb activity. The vertical distribution of 137Cs in the profiles reflects its postdepositional migration and soil mixing due to ploughing. At the same time the vertical distribution of 210Pb seems not to be disturbed by this process. Moreover,  he peaks of 137Cs are concomitant with a decrease in heavy metal concentration in the top part of all profiles. This reflects the diminishing of industrial activity in Poland after the early 80’s of the 20th century. The vertical profile of 210Pb activity in the two cores from the upper levels of the floodplain wasused for the estimation of accumulation rates which occur to be approximately 0.4 cm/year. The vertical differentiation of heavy metals concentration in these profiles reflects both the economic changes in this region over the last century as well as the fluvial activity of the Vistula river. The higher pollution in the upper parts of the two profiles can be correlated with the industrial period which began at the end of the 19th century and lasted up to the middle of the 20th century in the upper Vistula river basin (Silesian Upland and Kraków Upland). The decrease of pollution at the top of all the profiles have results from economic recession and pro-ecological activities since the 1990’s.

Contemporary cities are in a state of constant transformations, which in a great part of the world literature, including Polish, is considered in the context of the concept of gentrification (R. Glass). One of its newer developments is the concept of tourism gentrification proposed in 2005 by K.F. Gotham. This view well interprets today’s cities where tourism has grown to the rank of an urban strategy of economic development. In recent years, the effects of urban tourism development have more and more often caused a widespread debate and tourist gentrification has been becoming a constitutive element in it. The insufficient presence of the tourism gentrification problem in Polish literature, especially in the field of urban tourism, was an inspiration to undertake the following research. The aim of the study is to present the concept of tourism gentrification of K.F. Gotham, its evolution and current understanding. The basic method is a review, mainly of English-language literature, and its critical analysis. The conclusions show that this concept is subject to expansion along with the transformation of tourism and cities. There are also differences in the recognition of the studied phenomenon from the perspective of urban studies and studies on tourism. Tourism gentrification becomes an important challenge for the 21st century city. It can be perceived as a simultaneous economic, physical, social and cultural influence exerted by the development of tourism and favourable revitalization processes (triggered by the market forces and actions of authorities), inseparably connected with the displacement of residents caused by tourism. Its effect is the transformation of the urban social space into the space of tourism and entertainment consumption. In extreme cases, tourism gentrification can take the total form – a collective displacement and replacement of residents with temporary users of urban space, unseen in the classical processes of gentrification.

The article describes anthropogenic transformations of relief features associated with former economic use of rivers and the changes that occurred in individual sections of artificial canals as a result of their naturalisation. The study was carried out in two river valleys – of the Sumina and Wierzbnik Rivers, which are located in the Ruda River catchment (within the Odra River drainage basin), on the boundary of the Rybnik Plateau and the Racibórz Basin. The use of water in these rivers for the purposes of former grain mills, sawmills and other industrial facilities as well as fish ponds involved the construction of bypasses. The deep erosion gullies recorded in the relief of the Sumina and Wierzbnik River valleys are in fact transformed anthropogenic forms: artificial river channels and old bypasses. In the Wierzbnik River valley, these canals – today dead, but still visible in relief, reflect the technical solutions which were once used to protect ponds from damage during floods. The sections of old artificial canals such as the man-made channel of the Sumina River, are still subject to naturalisation processes, being were later transformed by natural fluvial processes. This is reflected in an increase in channel sinuosity and the development of meanders. It is proposed that the erosive forms described in the article be referred to as anthropogenically determined river gorges.

The article presents the results of an analysis of the impact of cumulated series of negative air temperatures (cumulated degree-days) on the formation and persistence of the permanent ice cover on the River Noteć in the period 1987–2013. When assessing ice phenomena, use was made of observations conducted over 24-hour periods at four IMGW-PIB stations located along the River Noteć: Pakość (upper section), Ujście and Krzyż Wielkopolski (middle section) and Nowe Drezdenko (lower section). The authors determined the nature of the distribution of negative series and 24-hour air temperatures in terms of their duration, increase and distribution in years and months, using data from the Piła meteorological station. The primary objective was to specify the threshold values of cumulated degree-days at which the permanent ice cover starts to appear on the river, and the conditions under which this phenomenon is accelerated. When determining the strength of the relation between cumulated degree-days and the probability of appearance of an ice cover, use was made of the logistic regression model. Research showed that in the majority of instances ice cover appeared on the river at values of cumulated degree-days greater than: –16°C in Pakość, –21°C in Ujście and Krzyż Wielkopolski, and –73.5°C in Nowe Drezdenko. During the analysed period, 306 negative air temperature series occurred in the studief catchment area, with those lasting 5–10 days (76 of all instances) being predominant. As regards the River Noteć in Pakość, the logistic regression model confirmed that, on average, a one-degree increase in the value of cumulated degree-days is associated with an increase in the probability of  appearance of the permanent ice cover of approximately 2.10%, of approximately 1.17% in Ujście, of 2.72% in Krzyż Wielkopolski, and of approximately 5.70% in Nowe Drezdenko. The more rapid the increase in cumulated series of negative air temperatures, the greater the probability of ice cover appearing and persisting on the River Noteć. The  analysis pointed to the usefulness of the cumulated degree-days factor for predicting the appearance of ice cover on the river. The results obtained are significant for maintaining the economic and ecological function of the River Noteć. Information about the icing of the river has a practical dimension, among others as concerns identifying and minimising hazards connected with the occurrence of jams and ice-jam floods, which bring about enormous economic losses and constitute a threat to human life.

The purpose of the study is to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation in Japan. This article uses data from 55 stations from the years 1901–2015. Annual patterns and preconditions of rainfall were analyzed. The range of variations for individual stations, the time of maximum and minimum occurrence, and the coefficients of precipitation irregularity were calculated. The temporal variability of rainfall was investigated using the linear trend method, the significance of which was determined by the tau-Kendall coefficient.The precipitation pattern in Japan shows a very strong variation throughout the country. The largest variability of annual precipitation totals is in the Hokuriku, Shikoku area along the Pacific Ocean and southeastern Kyushu with the archipelago of the Ryuku islands. The maximum monthly precipitation figures show a greater variability than the minimum values, and the time of their occurrence in each region is conditioned by the monsoon circulation and the location to the flow of major air masses and  orographic barriers. Japan is characterized by a statistically insignificant decrease in the annual rainfall in most areas, but the variability of precipitation in different months and seasons shows different directions and the rate of change depending on the region.

In winter, western air masses arriving in Europe, including Poland, change the weather for relatively warmer, while an eastern advection tends to bring freezing temperatures. While the NAO provides a quantitative measure of this western advection, its relationship with air temperature is not always clear-cut. For this reason, this study characterises the circulation and thermal conditions over Poland depending on the sign and the value of the NAO index (NAO+, NAO–).
The study is based on NAO values and winter (December – March) monthly temperature records in Warsaw spanning 65 years (1951–2015), as well as on the calendar of circulation types proposed by Lityński. A detailed analysis was performed looking at the top 10 months with the highest NAO+ and NAO–, as well as the top 10 months with the greatest positive and negative deviations from the long-term average air temperature (Dt). This selection was based on a premise that the months should largely coincide. The results, however, show certain deviations from previously established patterns in the influence of the NAO+/NAO– on air temperature in Poland.

In this paper authors present an evaluation of bioclimatic conditions in the eastern part of Poland in regard to selected forms of recreation and tourism. For this purpose the biothermal-meteorological weather classification by K. Błażejczyk was used. Meteorological data for the period 1981–2015 were obtained from the Institute of Meteorology and  Water Management meteorological stations at Białystok, Lublin-Radawiec and Lesko. It was found that in Eastern Poland the most favourable conditions for sunbathing (SB) and aerotherapy (AB) occur from mid-April to mid-October, but in Lesko better conditions for these recreation  types are more frequent during the autumn moths. As for mild forms of recreation (MR) weather conditions are favourable more often during the year in Lesko than in Lublin or Białystok. As for intense activity (AR), favourable weather conditions occur during most days of the year. The type of recreation favoured by weather conditions in Eastern Poland for the shortest period of the year is ski tourism (ST). In Lublin and Białystok this period lasts from the beginning of February to the first decade of March. In Lesko the ski tourism season begins at the end of December and it is twice as long as in the other stations.

In the 20th century Wałbrzych and its surroundings was the most prominent area of coal mining in the Sudetes. Nevertheless, in 1997 the mines were closed. An intensive anthropogenic geomorphic cycle commenced there in 1865 and lasted for 130 years. The biggest transformations in landforms occurred in two basins: Wałbrzych and Kuźnice, where a complex of anthropogenic forms was created from dumps and settling ponds, as well as subsidence depression. Among the dominant geomorphic processes related to anthropopressure were anthropogenic aggradation and anthropogenic denudation. Those processes resulted in raising and lowering of the land surface. Their intensity was diverse both in time and space. The average pace of anthropogenic aggradation in the years 1865–1996 amounted to 328 mm/year and was higher in the years 1945–1996 (439 mm/year) than during the period from 1865 to 1944 (255 mm/year). In both basins: Wałbrzych and Kuźnice, there was an increase in the intensity of this process in the years 1945–1996 when compared to the period of 1865–1944. The pace of anthropogenic denudation in the Wałbrzych coal mining area was considerably lower than the intensity of anthropogenic aggradation. During the research period, the land surface lowered, on average, by 66 mm/year, whereas the pace of the process decreased from 75 mm/year in the years 1865–1944 to 57 mm/year in the period 1945–1996. A considerably higher intensity of anthropogenic denudation was noted the Wałbrzych Basin (96 mm/year) than in the Kuźnice Basin (36 mm/year). It was determined that the anthropogenic denudation balance in the in the Wałbrzych coal mining area in the years 1865–1996 was positive (+262 mm/year). When comparing the scale of anthropogenic aggradation and denudation in several coal mining areas (Wałbrzych, Upper Silesia, Ostrava-Karvina and Ruhr), it needs to be emphasized that in the research area the intensity of those processes in the period 1865–1996 was similar and, at times, higher than in the other areas, which results from the preference of cumulating of gangue on spoil tips as the cheapest way of its disposal, as well as from the dominance of caving coal extraction.

Ongoing changes in communications technology create new opportunities not only in terms of acquisition of data on urban cultural heritage, but also in terms of active participation in the creation of such heritage. One example of this is interactive games, which are used in the field of tourism, including urban games and rural games. One of such games is Ingress, which is played in real time in virtual reality on mobile devices. The game board for Ingress is a real map of the world, produced by Google Maps, with superimposed virtual objects (portals) that reflect physical sites in geographic space submitted by gamers and approved by the entity managing the game. The aim of this study was to identify sites in urban space that are submitted to the world of virtual reality in the Ingress game. In addition, the goal was to determine how these sites affect the tourist offering of the city. The study consisted of an analysis of the number and type of historical sites officially listed in the register of stationary historical sites in 12 small towns in the Krakow Metropolitan Area. The list was then compared with their presence in the game of Ingress. The study analyzes the nature of the virtual game map for towns, presents an inventory and classification of sites submitted by gamers, and estimates the rank of historical sites among all sites available in the game. Research has shown a strong  dependence of the number of portals introduced into the game of Ingress on the number of residents of local municipalities. The virtual world of attractive sites introduced by gamers into Ingress is substantially different from that shaped by tourist guides and the actual history of cities. The number of Ingress portals per city does not reflect the nature and number of historical sites registered as cultural heritage sites. In small cities, the nature of the portals is similar. Most portals are dominated by commemorative plaques, sculptures, and monuments as well as religion-oriented sites including churches and chapels. On the other hand, the number of recreational, educational, and cultural sites is negligible. The employment of new local marketing strategies based on social networks and urban games is not very common.

The considerations presented below are part of current studies focused on touristic regionalisation methods. They attempt at developing a method for identification of tourist units (potential and functional areas) in the Roztocze region based on uniform criteria. The aim of the study was to initiate a discussion on methodological problems related to delimitation of touristic regions. This was achieved by a description and analysis of criteria applied currently in the touristic division of Roztocze and by a detailed assessment of potential and functions. Consequently, areas differing in their tourism potential and the degree of development of the tourism function have been distinguished. The obtained results indicate a necessity to continue the investigations of this issue, since delimitation of tourist regions remains a yet unresolved current problem. Therefore, it requires further studies, based in particular on modern techniques and research tools used in combination with various conceptual approaches.

The aim of the article is to characterize the accommodation base in the vicinity of the Warsaw’s Old Town from the point of view of its location, category structure and prices for accommodation services. Although this area is the only tourist precinct in Warsaw (‘tourist district’), for many years accommodation establishments were scarce here. The situation has changed since the development of sharing economy was launched. The study conducted in October and November of 2016 showed that on the area within a radius of 1 km from the centre of the Old Town Market Square there were as many as 225 establishments with about 1,500 beds. An important part of these places were  apartments to rent from the website provided by the Airbnb. Although about 43% of accommodation establishments were located up to 300 m from the centre of the market, no clear relationship between a distance from the market and a number of apartments to rent was identified. This, however, might have been caused by a relatively small area chosen for the research. Finally, the study shows that the most expensive apartments to rent are located in the surroundings of the Old Town Market Square.

The presence of a river determines to a large extent the development and shape of a city. The process of revitalization of riverbank areas, which can be seen in cities all over the world, started in the second half of the 20th century. It leads to the creation of new, attractive spaces. In Warsaw too, much has been undertaken to transform the riverbank areas into recreational sites for the city’s inhabitants. The purpose of this paper is to present the social importance of riverbank areas in Warsaw. The issue has been discussed on the basis of the results of surveys conducted among the inhabitants of two Warsaw housing developments, as well as of research in the literature and news posted on web portals. Many projects are being implemented in Warsaw, whose main purpose is to increase the attractiveness of the riverbank areas through the improvement of their state of development and esthetics, as well as through the formation of new relationships between the city and the river and the development of diverse forms of activities, especially tourist – and recreation-oriented ones. Moreover, the Capital City of Warsaw markets and promotes these areas. As can be seen from the surveys, public awareness also undergoes changes related to the perception and utilization of the Vistula riverbank areas. Further shaping of these spaces depends not only on the city’s authorities, but also on its inhabitants. For that reason, the cooperation between the self-government, public organizations, and business is of essential importance for the creation of the future of these areas

Located in the Czech Western Sudetes, the Izerskie Mountains Landscape Park has a quite developed network of tourist trails. Among them are hiking trails, which were analysed in this article. The density of this network was examined with reference to the natural conditions, tourist attractiveness of certain parts of the park and directions of tourist movement. Using coefficients connected with the graph theory the connectivity and the type of the network was defined. The course of the trails was analysed in comparison with the distribution of the most valuable areas (nature reserves), tourist infrastructure was also taken into account. Besides methods connected with the graph theory the analysis of tourist maps (including comparative analysis of maps from different periods) and results of field studies focused on inventory of types of trail’s surface and connected infrastructure were used in the paper. A stress was laid on changes introduced in the network in recent years (new trails and changes of course of those already existing), which resulted in reduction in the length of sections having asphalt or concrete surface and sections of combined course of trails intended for different forms of tourism. The network of hiking trails in the Izerskie Mountains Landscape Park can be assessed as proper and being a source of some good standards.

The Międzyrzecz Fortified Region (Festungsfront the Oder-Warthe-Bogen in German) is located between the Odra and Warta Rivers. This fortification system was built by the Germans in order to protect the eastern border of the Third Reich, in the years 1934–1944. The area between Kursko and Lubrza (the central part of the Międzyrzecz Fortified  Region) was the most fortified one. In this paper the author discusses geomorphological and geological factors, which determined the location of bunkers in the studied area. The morphology, lithostratigraphy and hydrogeology of the central part of the Międzyrzecz Fortified Region were described in detail. Moreover, the depositional processes and  sedimentary environments during the Weichselian were identified. The placement of pillboxes in the central part of the Międzyrzecz Fortified Region was conditioned by geomorphological factors and to a lesser importance – by geological ones. The bunkers connected by underground system were built on the upland, whereas isolated objects were located in valleys and in the vicinity of lakes and watercourses. An additional factor that could affect the location of bunkesr was provided by hydrogeological conditions.

The aim of the article is to analyse changes in the channel layout of the Piaśnica River estuary and the lithodynamic characteristic of bed deposits as a consequence of sea level changes. The analysis is based on the results of measurements in the river estuary conducted in the years 2014–2015. The data of daily average sea level were obtained from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMiGW) station in Władyslawowo and Łeba. The research documented distinct changes in the position of the riverbed. Analyses of textual indicators were conducted i.e. mean grain size (MZ), standard deviation (σI), skewness (SkI) and kurtosis (KG) were calculated according to Folk and Ward  ormulas (1957) using the Gradistat software. Based on the abovementioned data conclusions were made about the changing conditions of the river sediment transport.

The aim of the paper was to identify groundwater runoff in small mountain catchments draining crystalline rocks and compact sedimentary rocks. The research consisted of field measurements taken in the hydrogeological year 2013 in four test catchments (Machowski Stream, Inflow at the foot of Mount Grodziec, Podgórna, Mostowy Stream) with  areas up to 4.5 km2. The measurements were the basis for the calculation of total, underground and spring runoff, the ratio of spring runoff in groundwater runoff, groundwater recharge coefficient and spring recharge coefficient. The results indicate that crystalline rocks have a lower storage capacity but a higherconductivity than compact sedimentary rocks. The subsurface runoff coefficient was from 11 to 20% of precipitation and 57% of groundwater runoff is directed towards river beds (linear drainage). At the same time, small mountain catchments are the recharge area. The calculated values show that ca. 20% of groundwater is present in deeper circulation (in the regional circulation process) and recharge the lower located river systems. Groundwater renewable resources for the whole area (14.9 km2) were 5974 m3·d–1.

By definition, a flood is a natural event with social and economic consequences. These effects can be both direct and immediate as flood losses, as well as indirect and long-lasting, influencing local community’s perception of the geographical environment they live in and of possible local disasters. Flash floods in mountainous areas constitute a particular type of hazard. They appear when intense rainfall over a small area causes violent and destructive flooding. Such an event occurred on July 5th, 2012 in the upper Kaczawa catchment when heavy rainfall formed sudden overflowing in small river and stream catchments in the town of Wojcieszów (Złotoryja county, Dolnośląskie voivodship in Poland). Precipitation was characterized by a very high intensity up to 69 mm·h–1 with the daily sum reaching 94 mm. Such high rainfall occurred on a very small area stretching 25 km in length and 10–12 km in width. It caused a very rapid concentration of flood wave with the culmination reached within 30–40 min. after the most intense precipitation. The flow of Kaczawa river in Świerzawa reached 115 m3·s–1 (qmax = 0,86 m3·s–1·km2), though it did not stand out from historic floods in this catchment. Much higher specific discharges were measured for the Kaczawa catchment in Wojcieszów Dolny (1.95 m3·s–1·km2) and for the Olszanka catchment (2.06 m3·s–1·km2). The overflow of water in smaller catchments was catastrophic and caused considerable damage. The main aim of the paper is to analyse the social memory of the 2012 flash flood in Wojcieszów several years after its occurrence. The research included mental sketch mapping of flooded areas conducted two and four years after the flood happened and an analysis of flood recordings available on the YouTube video-sharing website. The findings show that, despite being surprised by the sudden flood that hit their town, memories about that event are slowly fading away. With time passing by, flood witnesses tend to mark a progressively smaller than actual area covered by flood waters. They are not likely to watch historic flood recordings on YouTube either. The authors believe that the decline of social memories of the flood may translate into lower hazard awareness resulting in inadequate preparedness for a possible future flood.

The High Tatra Mountains are the highest mountain chain of alpine landforms in Central Europe to the east of the Alps. The northern (windward) part of the mountains is mostly located in Poland while the southern (leeward) part is in Slovakia. The article presents the first analysis of daily precipitation (10 stations) and discharge (7 catchments) data
covering the entire territory of the mountains. Data from the period 1961–2010 were used in the analysis. The precipitation data confirmed significant differences between the windward and the leeward sides. We found an increase in the number of days with precipitation amounts 40 to 60 mm in the season from May to October in the decade 2001–2010 compared to previous decades. More frequent long wet periods in the decades 1991–2000 and 2001–2010 were found as well. Runoff from the catchments located on the windward side of the mountains is higher than on the leeward side. It reflects higher precipitation on the windward side, but also a higher mean elevation of the catchments. The statistical analysis revealed inhomogeneities in 5 of 7 runoff data series. An increase in the number of events classified as small and large floods found in several catchments on both sides of the mountains in the decade 2001–2010 can be attributed to the increase of the number of days with daily precipitation 40–60 mm
and a higher frequency of the long-term wet periods.

Water circulation in flysch mountains is characterized by a substantial role of runoff due to the mountain topography and thin slope covers, which result in low retention rates. Climatic conditions determine streamflow and runoff regime, thus changes in precipitation and temperature could affect water circulation patterns. Stream runoff analysis in the  upper San catchment up to Solina Lake is interesting due to semi-natural features of the catchment (minimum human impact) and potential climate changes affecting streamflow. However, the investigation of stream runoff in the High Bieszczady Mountains has not yet been studied extensively with the use of the longest data series. The research objectives were to (1) characterize stream runoff in the High Bieszczady Mountains; and to (2) identify and assess changes in stream runoff for two periods: 1961–2015 and 1986–2015 on the example of the San river (Dwernik stream gauge) and the Solinka river (Terka stream gauge). Runoff variability was assessed using monthly flow coefficients and coefficients of multi-year variability of monthly flows. Minimum, mean and maximum streamflow records were analysed for trends with the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test in different time intervals: months, half-years and years. Streamflow regime of the San and Solinka rivers is characterized by the highest runoff values with low variability over a long period in spring months (March, April) due to snowmelt, whereas the lowest runoff occurres in August. Mean streamflow trends in the period 1961–2015 were not significant and indicated runoff fluctuations. However, the second period (1986–2015) revealed significant increase in mean and minimum runoff in the winter half-year (mainly January–March) and slight decrease in runoff in the summer half-year (particularly September). These changes are similar to trends observed in other mountain catchments in Europe, which have been explained by recent changes especially in Prace Geograficzne temperature but also in the type and sum of precipitation. Trends identified in the selected catchments as well as more frequent water deficits indicate a high demand for streamflow trends assessment in the other parts of the Polish Carpathians in the context of potential changes in groundwater resources.

In order to analyse discharge regimes in the middle course of the Sava River (Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina), three hydrologic stations were chosen, having homogenous as well as continuous data in the observed 1931–2010 period. Those stations are Rugvica at the beginning of the middle course of the Sava River, station Jasenovac located just forehead of the Una River mouth and all the other large tributaries from Bosnia and Herzegovina and station Županja near the end of the middle course of the Sava River. At all three stations, there are notable negative trends of annual mean (all stat. significant) and minimum discharges for the whole period. At the same time, only in the upper part of the middle course of the Sava River maximum annual discharges have a positive trend, contributing to more unfavourable regime characteristics. At all three stations a cyclic variation of mean annual discharges is observed, likely to be linked to the cyclic variation of annual precipitation in the area of the basin. According to the latest discharge regime typology of the region the discharge regime at Rugvica is of Peripannonian pluvial-nival type, while the discharge regimes downstream, at Jasenovac and Županja fall into Pannoninan pluvial-nival type. A comparison of discharge regimes established for two past climatological standard reference periods 1931–1960 and 1961–1990 as well as for the contemporary 30-year period 1981–2010 lead to a conclusion that important changes in mean monthly discharges yearly course already occurred in the climatological standard reference period 1961–1990 compared to the previous one. In 1961–1990 period the autumn season discharge decreased, which is almost solely a result of a large fall in the November mean monthly discharge at all stations. Furthermore, in the same 1961–1990 period a transition of the primary maximum in the annual course of mean  onthly discharges from November to December and of the secondary maximum from March to April occurred, which is preserved in discharge regimes in the middle course of the Sava River. Discharge regimes in the middle course of the Sava River in the contemporary period are characterised by decreased summer and even spring time discharges, which is linked to the trend of raising air temperatures, an increase in potential and real evapotranspiration and to a slowly decrease in annual precipitation, particularly in the summer season as established in spatially relevant previous climatological research.

Knowledge about water flow and contaminant transport in the unsaturated zone is crucial for groundwater resource estimations and groundwater vulnerability assessments. Large field lysimeters are commonly used as physical models of the unsaturated zone. Tracer experiments conducted in lysimeters are generally applied to investigate the time  scale of leaching processes in the unsaturated zone. In this paper the preliminary results of using penetrometer-based electrical resistivity profiling to follow tracer transport through the soil in a lysimeter. The measurements were made in two lysimeters (Liz A and Liz I) filled with the same sandy soil. A tracer solution was injected only into lysimeter A. The measurements in lysimeter I were treated as a benchmark reflecting the influence of temporal soil moisture variations on the soil electrical resistivity. Additionally, temperature profiling in the soil next to lysimeter column was conduceted to consider the impact of the temperature fluctuations on soil resistivity. The obtained soil resistivity profiles for lysimeter A clearly reflect the tracer breakthrough curves in the 7th and 22nd day after injection. The analysis of the curves yielded the approximated velocity of tracer transport.

The paper discusses chosen results of the third part of long-time, interdisciplinary studies on Hutsul summer farming in the Chornohora mountains, published in a book titled Pasterstwo w Czarnohorze (the English title: Shepherding in the Chornohora). Janusz Gudowski (the book’s editor) claims that the representativeness of the research carried out by his team in a small part of the Chornohora (Mt Kukul), is high, which is a matter of discussion here. The paper’s author argues with the applied research approach, which does not take into consideration a possible variation of economic relations in different grazing seasons and its influence on summer farming change. Examples of changes investigated during this research, and caused by such a variation, are discussed in the paper as a separate category of interdisciplinary study results, which cannot be extrapolated outside the study area. Treating such results as representative could give a false view of summer farming changes. Above all, the study area used in this interdisciplinary research cannot be recognized in author’s opinion as representative, when only relatively small secondary grasslands were investigated, resulting, among others, in overrepresentation of cattle farms as well as a lack of secondary succession symptoms. Among the most important features of the Chornohora summer livestock farming, not represented in the study area, and not described in this book, are sheep grazing in general (despite the English title of this book, only cattle grazing was investigated during this research) and communal grazing, both sheep and cattle. A different view on the role of long-time pasture ownership changes (1999–2014) and relations between the nature protection and summer farming in the Chornohora (two protected areas with different protection zones) is also presented in this paper.

Tekst stanowi odpowiedź na artykuł Mateusza Trolla pt. O reprezentatywności długoletnich, interdyscyplinarnych badań pasterstwa w Czarnohorze zamieszczony w tym tomie.

Odpowiedź nie była recenzowana, a w jej treść redakcja nie ingerowała.

Autor jest ekonomistą, pracuje w Wyższej Szkole Ekonomii i Innowacji w Lublinie

The aim of this article is to determine the share of frost processes in the annual balance of river bank erosion. Rates of erosional retreat of river banks in Podhale (boundary zone between the Central and Outer Carpathians) were measured for the hydrological year 2013–2014. Bank erosion during the winter half year was caused mainly by frost phenomena (ground ice and needle ice) and during the summer half year – by fluvial processes and mass movements (undercutting, slumping). The share of erosion by fluvial processes in the yearly progress of bank retreat (this amounted to 71 cm on average) was four times greater than by frost processes, including mass movements. The effects of erosion by frost processes were greatest in the upper parts of banks, built mostly of fine-grained alluvia, while the lower parts, built largely of gravel, were mostly eroded by fluvial processes.

The paper presents the possibilities of the airborne laser scanning (ALS) data use in the morphological analysis of the bottom of the designed Pietraszki multi-purpose water reservoir, which is located in the mouth section of the Sufraganiec river (5th rank) in Kielce. The source material consisted of 0.5 m resolution digital terrain model created by the MGGP Aero company on the base of ALS point cloud obtained in 2011. The analysis was performed in SAGA GIS software and included modelling of the Sufraaniec valley bottom, where the reservoir’s coastline was outlined, and a calculation of the reservoir’s geometrical and morphological parameters. A practical effect of the analysis was the estimation of the ground masses volume that need to be moved in the investment area and also the designation of recreational zones along the reservoir’s coastline. The performed analysis demonstrates the legitimacy of ALS digital terrain model use in detailed modelling of the planned reservoir bottom and also in outlining its coastline reach at the designed water levels.

The objective of the study was the long-term and annual variability of atmospheric circulation indices over the Lublin region in the years 1951–2010. The zonal, meridional and cyclonicity indices were calculated based on the calendar of circulation types over East-Central Poland. Furthermore, the relationships between atmospheric circulation and thermal as well as precipitation conditions in the Lublin region were examined. In winter season, the strongest zonal circulation was noticed in the period from the second half of the 1980s to the end of the 20th century. In the last two decades of the analyzed period, a higher frequency of southern circulation in summer was observed. The characteristic features of atmospheric circulation in the study area include the prevalence of westerly circulation in autumn and winter, and easterly air flow in spring. The zonal circulation had an important role for monthly air temperature both in winter and in summer, whereas meridional air flow in spring and autumn. Compared to the air flow direction, the character of atmospheric circulation, expressed by anticyclonic and cyclonic circulation, had a weak influence on monthly air temperatures. The cyclonicity index most accurately reflects the variability of monthly precipitation totals in the Lublin region

There are many classifications of atmospheric circulation types. In Poland, the most important one, used in climatological studies, is the classification of circulation types developed by Lityński. This study aims to compare the results of two variations of this classification: the “old” one – based on the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data and on the original limits of the classes (of indicators Ws, Wp and Cp) proposed by the author of the original classification and the “new” one – which also calculates the limits of the classes on the basis of NCEP/NCAR reanalysis material, but with increasingly longer periods each year. In the period 1971–2015 more than 21% of the results of the “new” classification were different from the “old” one. The differences in the frequency of each class (in relation to individual circulation indicators) in the “old” classification were much higher than in the “new” one. Consequently, the use of “new” limits of the classes causes that in the circulation types catalog the division of the distribution of the Ws, Wp and Cp indicators into three classes is more similar to the one of equal-probability. In the second part of the paper, a modification of the “new” classification isproposed. The “new modified” classification, takes into account only the 30 last years while calculating the limits of the classes. Shortening the period based on which the limits of the classes are calculated one can capture long-term variations in the values of individual circulation indicators, and thus the division of their distributions into three classes is even closer to the equal-probability one.

The work is a description of onerousness of bio-thermal conditions occurring at midday during days of tmax≥30°C in three towns located in north-western Poland: Kolobrzeg, Chojnice and Poznan, for people undertaking physical activity of varying intensity. Based on the meteorological data for 12 a.m. UTC from the period 1981–2016 average values of biometeorological (HIS, STI) and thermophysiologial (HR, Oh_H, SW, DhRna) indices, as well as their extreme values and amplitudes were calculated. The frequency of conditions burdening human body, when undertaking exercise outdoors, was also determined. The analyses showed that in the midday hours an increased physical activity leads to an increase in intense thermal sensations and a significant burdening of the human body with heat stress. A potential risk of overheating, that could occur within an hour of intense effort, was noted. A serious risk of dehydration of the body, even at moderate activity, was also indicated. Particularly burdening conditions, with high sultriness and a possibility of hyperthermia were observed in Kolobrzeg.

The paper shows the expected changes in selected climatic indices on the basis of the results of dynamic downscaling for the 2041–2070 period with regard to the 1971–2000 period in the Polish territory. Results of the EURO CORDEX simulations with a resolution of 50 km and 12.5 km and regional models HIRHAM5, RACMO22E and the RCA4 driven by EC EARTH global climate model and RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios have been used.
The maps showing absolute differences in the following climatic indices: number of frost days, ice days, summer days, wet days and days with precipitation exceeding 10 and 20 mm, between the values obtained in the scenarios and the values obtained for the reference period have been analysed. All the model results show an increase in the global temperature resulting in a decrease in the number of frost and ice days and an increase in the number of summer days. The models also show an increase in the frequency of extreme precipitation. Despite general similarities between the results of the simulations, some differences are evident, mainly due to model-specific setup.

The increasing role of renewable energy sources implies significant socio-economic changes at the local level. In Poland, a great importance in that area is attached to wind turbines and biofuel-based combined heat and power stations. Localization of these investments often leads to social conflicts. The aim of this study is to assess the consequences of local policy in Kisielice, which in the years 1998 to 2015 gave priority to RES development. Considering this problem from the perspective of the energy justice framework and the law on wind energy investments, a case study has been investigated. The case study consists of: (1) literature review, including nine interviews with the local authorities (2) statistical and spatial analysis (3) fieldwork in five villages located in the direct neighbourhood of wind energy turbines. The results show that long-term local energy policy in Kisielice, implemented with an intensity comparable to the German Energiewende, has met the most of social acceptance conditions. Support for RES in the villages susceptible to anthropogenic influence displays similar patterns to trends at the national level. However, the inhabitants have a sense of injustice resulting from the fact that only a small group obtains benefits from the use of wind turbines. According to the author’s opinion, a compromise between restrictive provisions of the law on wind energy investments and local community’s interests can only be based on creating the atmosphere of trust and partnership, as well as implementing mechanisms of direct compensations for negative external effects created by renewable installations.

While cities are sites of both individuality and collectivity, the resulting dualism translates into contradictory processes. On the one hand, city dwellers are inclined to adopt egoistic and self-concerned attitudes, while on the other, there is an opposite tendency with common interests secured and celebrated through common actions for the common sake. The aim of the article is to discuss the notions of common good, to examine urban space as its particular case and to conduct a preliminary analysis of conditions typical for Central European cities, all of which is followed by a proposal for an empirical study and conclusions

In the article we analyze types and determinants of local climate policies undertaken by Polish communes. We use a distinction between adaptation and mitigation policies. Our study is based on a survey on all Polish communes conducted in 2014 (response rate 51%).
The research has revealed a far-reaching coherence of situation in Polish and foreign communes (when compared to foreign literature). Polish communes declare most frequently mitigation activities, which we explain by national and EU support. Obligation for local plans of low emission economy, together with financial incentives for this goal has led to a local focus being placed on air quality.
Among the factors explaining differentiation in locally undertaken actions, the most important one is size (population) of a commune (which influences e.g. the competences of local administration). In the case of adaptation, the perceived vulnerability of a commune (experience of past and expectation of future extreme weather events related to water) is also important. Other factors, like the affluence of municipality a commune, has turned out to have secondary importance, determined by size. When looking at determinants of the will to spend more money on mitigation than adaptation, we have discovered that it depends on the conviction that human activity influences climate changes and that local governments should undertake climate policies.

Secondary data comprise resources collected in various sectors of social life, independently from the researcher undertaking their analyses. Collecting such data is usually less time consuming and less costly compared to reactive studies, thus, each time when planning a research study, inclusion of secondary data should be considered. This specifically requires: 1) usage of systematic, multi-criteria evaluation methods; 2) separate evaluation of certain categories of secondary data; 3) separate reference to each of the research specific aims.
The following paper presents an example of such an evaluation that meets all the criteria mentioned above. Using a point grading technique we assessed usefulness of three categories of secondary data (scientific literature, data used in content analysis and content of the public statistics) to meet all three specific aims of an interdisciplinary research project conducted by the same authors. Each of the aims differs in a) spatial scale of analyses (regional, local and topological) and b) dominant form of enquiry (quantitative, qualitative and qualitative accompanied with the use of GIS techniques). The results suggest usefulness of the technique in the context of multifaceted research projects: final evaluation scores for particular secondary data categories differed substantially depending on the specific aim. However, we suggest all the analysts to perform a deep insight into the evaluation process itself before deciding to replace reactive research with secondary data analyses. Among others, this is because weights assigned to certain criteria of the evaluation process are often dependent on organisational capacity of a particular research project. At the same time, exemption of the proposed stage of research planning may result in various negative consequences, e.g. 1) reduction in funding perspectives due to weak justification of the planned costs, or 2) lowering research scientific value of the study due to a lack of critical insight into the data, which are out of actual analyses.

Tourism development is perceived as one of the strategies with a positive impact on national and local economies Following global trends these three levels was introduced in Poland in 2000 for organisations devoted to the development and promotion of tourism. This paper focuses on tourism development at the local level, i.e. Local Tourism Organisations (LTOs). It aims to assess whether the 3-tier tourism development system complies with its purpose at the LTO level. In 2013, questionnaires were sent to all LTOs registered in Poland (only 30 of 130 LTOs participated in the research), and next to members of these LTOs, which completed the survey (88 of 500 participated in the research). Study results suggest that LTOs do fulfil their primary task of contributing to the development of tourism in the region. The main advantages of membership are marketing benefits and the consolidation of activities with other members. Moreover, the presence of LTOs on the local market supports activities associated with tourism promotion. Despite the positive study results, the functioning of LTOs in Poland requires corrective measures. Organisations should place stronger emphasis on the integration of the various stakeholder groups in the region and become more involved in inter-regional cooperation and the development of new tourism products.

Dynamic migrations from urban to suburban areas and related to them development of residential buildings in rural areas are both desirable by local authorities and raise many concerns, including anticipation of natural environmental values degradation. The source of those concerns is common opinion, that urban people prefer moving out toward areas with exceptional natural environmental values and, through transforming them with intensive residential building, eventually destroy them. The aim of the article was the attempt to find the answer for the following question: do urban people actually select areas with exceptional natural environmental values for their suburban residential houses? What are their motives to select the particular localization for suburban homes? Studies were carried out in the area including all communes surrounding Olsztyn, the capital of Warmia and Mazury region, where almost half of the region’s area is legally protected. Achieving the aim required considering natural environmental values, analyzing the preferences toward suburban localization for residential buildings and its actual concentration. As a result, it was eventually verified, that areas with exceptional environmental values were not simultaneously attractive for residential building, therefore properly directed suburbanization do not have to explicitly mean environmental degradation, but can even contribute to gentrification of villages located in the areas that are of less importance for agriculture or maintaining valuable ecosystems.

The primary goal of the study was to examine the temporal and spatial variability of values of selected atmospheric instability indices over Poland for the period 2005–2014. The research involved six indices most frequently applied in convection forecasting – Convective Available Potential Energy, K-Index, Lifted Index, Severe Weather Threat Index, Showalter Index and Total Totals Index. The data from three Polish upper air sounding stations ( Łeba, Legionowo, Wrocław ), as well as SYNOP codes on present and past weather and reports on severe meteorological phenomena from the European Severe Weather Database were used in this study. It was found that extremely high values of the selected indices were characterised by strong temporal and spatial variability. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the days when no convective events were observed, despite extreme values of instability indices, demonstrated that the occurrence of isothermal or inversion layers were the most common mechanisms inhibiting the development of severe convective phenomena. Convection was also inhibited when the area was free from an influence of atmospheric fronts, convergence zones or low-pressure troughs.

The aim of this paper is to present both anomalously warm months ( AWM ) and anomalously cold months ( ACM ) in Alaska and to refine the linkage of Pacific Decadal Oscillation ( PDO ) with their occurrence. The study is based on mean monthly temperature data from 15 weather stations located in Alaska recorded during the period of 1951–2015. The anomalous months were defined as having an average temperature different from the long-term mean by at least 2 standard deviations. Temporal variability, spatial extent and temperature magnitude of AWM and ACM were characterized.
In total ( considering all 15 stations ), there were 243 cases of AWM and 298 cases of ACM, which occurred during 100 and 123 months of the 65-year period respectively. AWM occurred most frequently in January and from June to August while ACM from February to April and in November and December. To some degree months with the biggest number of AWM were the same as months with the smallest number of ACM and vice versa. This indicates that during particular months synoptic and/or local conditions may be more favourable for the occurrence of positive or negative anomalies. Both AWM and ACM covered from 1 to 11 weather stations simultaneously, though the majority of the anomalous months of each type were observed at single stations or at two neighboring stations. Generally, the scale of the anomaly tended to be larger during ACM than AWM ( i.e. down to –17,0°C compared to maximum 15,6°C for AWM ), during winter than summer, and in the central part of Alaska than at the seaside. There is a clearly visible increase in the frequency of AWM and a decrease in the frequency of ACM after 1976 when PDO shifted from dominantly negative to positive values. Comparing two periods, 1951–1976 and 1977–2015, one can notice that in the latter the mean annual number of ACM in Alaska decreased by one-third and the mean annual number of AWM doubled. The spatial extent of ACM was also considerably smaller ( on average ) and of AWM – larger. In total about 80% of AWM ( ACM ) occurred during the positive ( negative ) values of PDO index.
Monthly temperature anomalies in Alaska are mainly driven by atmospheric circulation patterns. AWM coincide with advection of warm air masses from the south while ACM tend to occur in association with northern cold advections. Local effects, which include radiative cooling, temperature inversions and local winds ( i.e. chinook ), also have a great contribution to the occurrence of anomalous months in Alaska.

The aim of the study was to locate and describe groundwater outflows in a selected lake basin. The second aim was to measure spring discharge and measure physical characteristics of the studied waters ( temperature, conductivity ). The time scope of the work comprised the period from January 2011 to September 2012. The spatial scope of the work included the area of Lake Raduńskie Górne located in the Kashubian Lake District in northern Poland. The study consisted mostly of fieldwork and reviewing archived materials. Four groundwater outflows were located in the course of the study. Their total discharge was 4.6 l·s-1 and ranged between 0.5 and 2.5 l·s-1. This produces an annual yield of about 145,000 m3·yr-1. This value is comparable to that for other lakes in the world. In effect, Lake Raduńskie Górne receives about 0.15% of its water from under-lake springs. This is a minute value in comparison with the lake’s total groundwater recharge ( 97 mln m3 per year ). However, it must be assumed that the actual number of under-lake springs is many times greater than that identified in the course of this study, which means that the share of water supplied in this manner is likely much higher and its effect on water chemistry and water levels in the lake is also likely much more pronounced.

The chemical composition of the waters of mountain streams depends on natural and anthropogenic conditions. The aim of the study was to determine the variability of physico-chemical properties of water in the streams in the massif of Babia Góra. The study selected fourteen streams located in the Babia Góra National Park and its buffer zone. Based on the results of analyses of macronutrients and micronutrients of ions, conditions determining the physico-chemical parameters of water were determined. The physical and chemical composition of stream waters proved to be conditioned by the geology of catchments, the process of dilution, water temperature and the type of plant communities as well as and the seasonality of vegetation.

The aim of the study was the analysis of the integration of a flood risk management and water protection system in a selected section of the Warta Valley with taking into consideration the guidelines of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive. The structure of the valley is comprised within a distance of 201.1 km by stretches of: an urstromtal, between the towns of Konin and Śrem, and the Warta gorge stretch between Śrem and Oborniki. High environmental values of the valley are shown, related to the presence of conservation areas and, on the other hand, a high flood hazard risk, resulting e.g. from advancing land development in the valley and its low retention capacity. The Integrated Water Resources Management guidelines conception was used in the analysis, inlcuding pointing out the directions of relations between minimizing flood risk and protection of natural values of the Warta River and its valley. Spatial distribution of the flood hazard and risk in the Warta Valley was also analyzed. A detailed analysis covered activities of a technical and non-technical character intended to stop the growth of flood risk. In the field of water conservation, the considered objectives included: achieving and maintaining a good ecological potential of waters or the risk of failing to achieve it, which is determined by a high urbanisation ratio, draining of an open-pit lignite mine, extensive morphological change in the river bed and pollution discharged into the waters from land used for agriculture. The results proved that one of the most significant factors directly impacting the environmental condition and ecological potential of the waters is the activity related to flood risk reduction. Potential threats to the functioning of NATURA 2000 areas characterized by high natural values were also indicated.

Fusion of satellite data from different sources is a technique commonly used in studies focused on land cover and land use. Combining images of various spectral bands allows to increase objects differentiation and thereby improve overall classification accuracy. In this study, I focused on crops maps creation using integrated optical and radar data. Landsat 8 multispectral data from OLI sensor and Sentinel-1A SAR ( Synthetic Aperture Radar ) data were applied here. The study was performed for a test area of the Żywiec Basin, which is a part of the Polish Carpathians. The advantage of this small, agricultural region was that it is covered by a mosaic of different-size cultivated fields. I tested six methods of satellite data integration ( IHS, HPF, PCA, Brovey, Ehlers and wavelet transforms ) and two classification algorithms ( Support Vector Machines and Random Forest ). The results demonstrated that the use of integrated optical and radar data is effective for crops classification – the highest overall accuracy achieved in this study was equal to 87.9% and was obtained for Random Forest classification and Ehlers fusion.

Soil erosion by water is one of the most important morphogenetic processes taking place within the lowland geoecosystems in Poland. Therefore, it is relevant to recognise its nature, course, conditions and dynamics. This article presents some lithological conditions of water soil erosion on a testing plot within the Chwalimski Potok catchment in the Drawskie Lakeland. The conducted measurements of soil particle size distribution, soil moisture and compaction, shear strength and degree,  as well as infiltration rate constitute the basis of the analysis and all relevant calculations. It was shown that topsoil (slightly loamy sands) with increased humidity at the surface is most susceptible to the process of soil erosion by water. Some methods to prevent adverse degradation processes were suggested in the article.

The endorheic catchment of Lake Gardno is located in  northwestern Poland on the Wolin Island at a distance of 0.2 km from the Baltic Sea cliff coast. Within the Lake Gardno catchment, on a monthly basis, water with its quantitative aspects and physicochemical properties was examined at every stage of its circulation. For the diagnosis of the circulation of water and solutes, as well asits mechanisms it was essential to determine the seasonal variability of the concentration of biogenic (NO₃^-, NH₄⁺, K⁺) and denudative ions (HCO₃^-, SO₄^2-, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺), and ions supplied primarily from sea aerosols (Cl^-, Na⁺). At the first stage of the water cycle, atmospheric water reaching tree-tops has the lowest mineralization at 1.8  mS·m^–1. Throughfall and stemflow lead to an increase in the mineralization up to 8.7  mS·m^–1 on average. The next stage, connected with the underground water circulation and leaching of soils, increases the mineralization of water up to 46.3  mS·m^–1. The lake water was mineralized at 36.7  mS·m^–1. The seasonal variability of the hydrochemical activity of water circulating within the Lake Gardno geoecosystem was represented by groups: with increased concentrations of solutes, with average concentrations of solutes and with reduced concentrations of solutes. The analyzed geoecosystem is characterized by a high concentration level of chloride and sodium ions at every stage of water circulation, which is related to the supply of sea aerosols.

Drainage of groundwater by surface water, i.e. groundwater inflow into a stream or lake, is an essential component of the water balance. Moreover, the drainage and its spatial distribution determine geomorphological processes taking place in the riverbed. In order to identify the spatial distribution of groundwater inflow into the river, prototypes of two new meters filtrometer and gradientmeter) were designed and developed. The filtrometer allows to directly measure the groundwater-surface water seepage through bottom sediments at the place where the meter is embedded into the riverbed. The gradientmeter allows to measure hydraulic gradient within bottom sediments between groundwater and the river. Both parameters measured directly in the riverbed allow to specify the conditions of groundwater flow through bottom sediments. The field research studies conducted by means of the specified meters (filtrometer and gradientmeter) within the Parsęta River valley at Storkowo were aimed to investigate the drainage of groundwater and its conditions. A section of the Parsęta River with a length of 1600 meters and having no tributaries was selected. Three series of field measurements: spring, summer and autumn ones were conducted. During each series approximately 30 measurements were made by means of the filtrometer and the gradientmeter. The conducted measurements made it possible to calculate flow rates of the drainage of groundwater within the examined section of the Parsęta. The obtained results were verified on the basis of control measurements with the application of the differential river flow method. Moreover, it was possible to assess the spatial distribution of specific discharge, hydraulic gradient and hydraulic conductivity in bottom sediments of the Parsęta. On an annual basis, the largest drainage of groundwater was found within meander erosive areas where it reached nearly 150% of the average value for the examined section within the Parsęta valley. Within meander accumulative areas, the drainage level was at approximately 110% of the average value. At straight sections the drainage of groundwater was the lowest and amounted about 66% of the average value. The research studies conducted in the Parsęta valley confirmed the usefulness of the new method to assess the drainage of groundwater and its conditions within the river.

The article contains an analysis of the duration and the dates of the start of thermal seasons of the year, distinguishedon the basis of the average daily air temperature at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Research Station at Szymbark over a period of 46 years (1968-2013). To determine the initial dates of thermal seasons a method proposed by Makowiec (1983) was used. According to this method, the year was divided into eight thermal seasons, with temperature threshold values: 0, 5, 10 and 15 ° C. The classification by Makowiec is based on the growth or fall of cumulative ranks of air temperature diminished by the temperature threshold value for a particular season. The determination of the initial dates enabled the calculation of the length of the seasons. The long-term analysis involved also the tendencies of length and changes of the initial date of a given season. The location of the meteorological station enables to expand the area of the interpretation of results into the borderland of the Beskid Niski Mts and the Carpathian Foothills.

A high variability ofthe dates of the start and the duration of seasons was observed. The trends of durationand starting dates are multidirectional. The longest season is summer (89 days), which starts increasingly earlier and lasts increasingly longer. An increase in duration also refers to pre-spring and autumn. Increasingly shorter winters and springs were also observed within the multi-year period

The object of this study was the actual inflow of short-wave solar radiation (K↓) to the plateau and the bottom of a canyon in the southern part of the Kraków-CzęstochowaUpland. Its diurnal and annual variability was expressed in hourly, daily, monthly, seasonal and annual K↓totals from the years 2008–2014. The K↓flux was measured using CM3 (305–2800 nm) sensors. Great diversity of the terrain, varied landforms, expositions and slopes, big denivelations, and also the diversity of land cover and land use makes this small area very diversified as far as radiation conditions are concerned. On the basis of the actinometrical study the differences in radiation were assessed on two different landforms: plateau and the bottom of a canyon. The mean daily value of the total K↓ in the analysed period amounted to 10.8 MJ·m^–2 on the plateau and 9.1 MJ·m^–2 at the bottom of the canyon. The mean annual total K↓, in he studied multi-year period amounted to 3955 MJ·m^–2 and 3312 MJ·m^–2 , respectively.

Thermal extremes in the Świętokrzyskie Mts ( central Poland ) at the turn of the 21st century

The aim of this study was to determine the number of hot days, very hot days and very frosty days as well as heat waves and cold spells in the Świętokrzyskie Mts ( central Poland ) during the 1981 – 2013 period. Datasets of minimum and maximum daily air temperatures from the IMGW-PIB stations : Kielce-Suków, Bodzentyn and Święty Krzyż were used in the study. During the last 35 years 17 heat waves and 12 cold spells occurred in the study area. The number of hot and very hot days and heat waves on the summits of the Świętokrzyskie Mts ( Święty Krzyż weather station ) was 2 – 5 times lower than at the valley stations. There was an evident increase in the occurrence frequency of hot weather extremes in the 2001 – 2010 period as compared to the end of the past century. There is no clear tendency to change in the number of very frosty days and cold spells. Two indices : WSNC and WSNZ were proposed as tools for the assessment of the intensity of heat waves and cold spells.

The aim of the article is to analyze methods of flood risk assessment used in Poland and to compare the results obtained on the basis of these analyses. The analysis involves 21 communes (Polish: gmina), which in the document created by the Department of Security and Crisis Management of the Łódź Municipal Government were referred to as those in which the damage connected with flooding is the biggest. In accordance with the Flood Directive (2007), flood risk is a “combination of the probability of a flood event and potential adverse consequences for human health, the natural environment, and culturaland economic activity” (Flood Directive of 2007, Art. 2 Item 2). The article uses the methodology implemented in the Flood Control Operating Plan for the Łódź province (2013), Plans of Flood Risk Management (2015), and their results were compared with the author’s interpretation. Research has shown that the biggest discrepancies concerning flood risk levels concern five communes: Uniejów, Działoszyn, Warta, Gidle and Sulejów. This is linked with a different attitude towards flood risk. Regrettably, there still exists no reliable method of risk assessment, which would greatly facilitate the pursuance of an adequate anti-flood policy.

The main object of this paper was an analysis of the causes and effects of the disintegration of urban-rural conglomerates (urban communes with a dual, urban and rural spatial character). In the years 2008-16 4 urban communes changed their status into urban-rural (Szczawnica in 2008, Czarna Woda in 2014, Władysławowo in 2015 and Pieszyce in 2016), which involved a secession of 15 rural administrative units. In the justifications of the Council of Ministers regulations financial benefits and functional, structural-spatial and social factors were indicated as the reasons for, that the changes in the status of communes. In the nearest years secession tendencies are most probable in the case of towns divided into rural administrative units and towns containing separate settlements of a rural character (former villages). Secession of rural administrative units in the case of urban communes can be formally conducted in three ways: changing the commune status from urban to urban-rural, dividing the urban commune into two communes (urban and rural) and through the incorporation of rural administrative units functioning in city borders into existing rural communes.

This article presents the origins and the impact of demographic and socio-economic factors on the process of demographic ageing of the population of Cuba. The main aim of the study was to show the dynamics and regional differences in population ageing based on the W_SD dynamic ageing index_, as well as the W_SE economic ageing index.It was shown that the ageing process reveals moderate diversity of the investigated phenomenon both in the urban-rural dimension as well as at the regional level. The process of population ageing is progressing throughout the whole country and its fastest pace was recorded in the outermost provinces.However, spatial differences in the ageing process may change fundamentally in the years to come, which will result from internal regulations concerning the mobility of the population, and new business investments. As a result, spatial differences are likely to increase and the spatial image of the ageing processwill probably change.

Assessing the uncertainty of historical map information is a prerequisite for using this source type for land cover reconstructions. We assessed the accuracy of forest cover information from 1930 / 1940 Swiss topographic maps ( Siegfried maps ) by comparing them with forest cover gained from orthophotos and terrestrial photos from the same period. Orthophotos were considered to contain the true forest cover information and consequently inconsistencies between historical maps and orthophotos were considered as true errors ( overor underestimation of the forest cover on the map ). Terrestrial photos reflect the surveyors perspective in the field and we therefore used this source type to develop hypotheses on potential reasons for inaccuracy of map information. Generalized linear models were used to test the hypotheses. The results confirmed our expectation that disagreement between maps is more likely to occur near forest edges, at higher altitudes and in less accessible and visible areas. Contrary to our expectations terrain slope did not play a significant role to explain surprisingly high rates of inaccuracy occurred in forest core areas.

The paper compares the influence of dependent and independent vectorisation approaches on forest cover change analysis, with a hypothesis that the former reduces the number and area of sliver polygons. Independent vectorisation is based on separate creation of the vector layer for each period in the time series, while the dependent is based on modification of the successive vector layers. The comparison is based on three map sets – the second Austrian military survey ( 1861/1862 ), a Polish military map ( 1936 ) and a Polish topographic map ( 1979 ) and carried out in Szczawnica commune located in the Polish Carpathians. The results show that the overall differences between the two vectorisation approaches are low at the commune level, but the local differences, within the grids 500 × 500 m might be up to 30 – 40 %. Statistical analysis did not indicate any considered variable directly responsible for the differences, confirming that it is a randomly distributed phenomenon. The results show also that the dependent vectorisation cannot eliminate the existence of sliver polygons, but their number may be limited when compared to the independent approach. As the dependent vectorisation is much more time efficient, we conclude that it might be a better solution in the situation when  manual vectorisation is the most appropriate method of land use data acquisition from historical maps.

Previous studies concerning forest cover changes in the Polish Carpathians did not formerly extend further than the mid-19 th century, because of the lack of detailed cartographic materials. Earlier forest changes, especially their magnitude but sometimes even their direction ( deforestation, stabilisation or afforestation ) are poorly investigated. This paper shows how to extend a temporal sequence of forest cover data for Zawoja village in the Polish Carpathians using non-cartographic data from the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries. We used non-cartographic data from the first Austrian cadastral system, the so-called Josephinian cadastre, carried out in the 1780s, and its revision done in 1819 – 1820. These data were compared with the stable cadastre and its two revisions ( 1844 – 1898 ) and mostly later cartographic materials ( 1861 – 2014 ). Thematic coherence of cadastral and cartographic data, conformity of Zawoja village boundaries in the analysed period, as well as errors of the earliest cadastral measurements were investigated. The data acquired in the 1780s and 1819 – 1820 enabled the estimation of the productive and non-productive forest area as well as the area of pastures and meadows partly covered with forest. Though possible measurement errors could add up to 7 % of the total village area, the data clearly document the end of the deforestation phase ongoing in Zawoja until the first half of the 19 th century, and later relative stabilisation of forest cover during the second half of that century. Data from the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries indicate a change trend opposite to the later, frequently described stabilisation of forest cover and progressive afforestation. Using the unpublished data extracted from cartographic materials, we also show this latter part of long term forest cover changes, thereby presenting an example of forest transition in the Polish Carpathians.

One of the most widespread land cover change processes in European countries is the increase in forest cover. Forest expansion on abandoned agricultural land has played a major role in marginal mountain areas since World War II, and especially affected the post-socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This study aimed at mapping forest cover change and forest succession in one of the communes of the Polish Carpathians ( Budzów ) over two time periods : 1977 – 1997 and 1997 – 2009. We identified rates of agricultural land abandonment and forest succession and assessed the dynamics of the process using aerial photographs, orthophotomaps as well as cadastral and census data. The results showed that Budzów commune experienced an expansion of forest cover from 40% in 1977 to almost 45% in 2009, and a significant increase in forest succession from 1% in 1997 to 10% in 2009, at the expense of agricultural land area ( 54% in 1977 and 40% in 2009 ). If the trend is widespread over the Polish Carpathians, the real forest cover may be much higher than follows from statistical data.

Wooded pastures or pastured woods are disappearing from European landscapes. It is caused by the cessation of traditional farming ( in particular traditional pasturing ), lack of proper protection, forestry and agriculture intensification. Oak is one of the most common trees in such ecosystems, where it successfully regenerates, in particular due to conducive light conditions. According to the studies carried out in North America and Mediterranean zone in Europe, grass burning is one of important factors contributing to the establishment of open and semi-open habitats fostering oak regeneration. Our goal was to check the potential and progress of oak regeneration in marginal woods neighboring with grasslands in Ostoja Przemyska ( SE Poland ) and in Rozhniativ District ( W Ukraine ). In Poland the traditional silvopastoral management was ceased after the World War II ( finally in the 1970s ), while in Ukraine oak woods are still subject to occasional burning and pasturing. The inventory of oak regeneration, accompanied with the measurement of photosynthetically active radiation and the phytosociological assessment of plant communities, revealed a relatively abundant oak regeneration in the studied Ukrainian woods ( on average 4750 saplings ha-1 ), contrasting with the absence of young oaks in the Polish stands ( on average 30 saplings ha-1 ). This coincided with the sharp difference in both light conditions and vegetation characteristics between the two studied landscape units. Occasional spring grass burning in Ukrainian woods is considered an important factor contributing to the oak regeneration success.

The paper presents the local residents’ attitudes towards the Babia Góra National Park (BGNP), their views on the Park’s impact on the local development and their opinions on the development of tourism in the Babia Góra area. The results of a survey conducted among the residents of areas surrounding the BGNP (n=397) show a relatively positive image of the Park in the local community. The residents are mostly approving of the National Park’s operation and usually declare having positive relations with the BGNP management. They perceive a positive impact of the BGNP on the natural environment and on the local communities’ environmental awareness but also on the spatial order and the quality of life in the villages. The impact on economic development is usually assessed as neutral. The economic aspect in which the BGNP’s influence is perceived as the most beneficial is tourism development. Those benefits are most evident in Zawoja, the village concentrating the majority of incoming traffic of Babia Góra visitors. The neutral attitudes of many residents towards the BGNP and a lack of clear views on many aspects of the Park’s functioning show that the residents’ interactions with the Park are not close or frequent. This is mostly because the BGNP is relatively small and the percentage of private land within its boundaries is low. Consequently, there are few direct economic links between the local communities and the Park. In order to win more support from the local residents, there should be more focus on presenting indirect economic benefits and intangible advantages from the Park’s operation. Coinciding interests should also be sought, as should be patterns of social and economic activity which could foster the residents’ cooperation with the Park management.

Film tourism (movie tourism) covers all tourist trips in the footsteps of movie stars (actors and directors) and their artworks, creating an opportunity for deeper reflection and personal live tracks. It is also visiting places known from the screen, searching for the atmosphere, climate, touring of the facilities immortalized in a film or a television series – the so-called set-jetting (Stasiak 2009). Examples from different places in the world and Poland show that film can perfectly promote any place and affect the turnout of tourists. The scale of this phenomenon depends on the rank of a given film production. Undertaking appropriate promotional activities may bring benefits from film tourism even many years after the film’s release. One of the most important cities on the map of film tourism in Poland is Sandomierz, where the action of a popular television series Ojciec Mateusz takes place. The aim of the article is to show the importance of film for the promotion and development of tourism, on the example of this city. The example of Sandomierz shows that a television series can become a very effective form of promotion and generate a significant increase in tourist traffic, which, in turn, has an influence on the financial benefits and quality of life of the residents of Sandomierz. Based on the presented research it can be said that, since the start of airing of the television series Ojciec Mateusz in 2008, a significant increase in tourist traffic has been observed in Sandomierz. This is confirmed both by official statistics and the opinions of people working in the service of tourist traffic. In addition, watching the TV series Ojciec Mateusz affects decisions about coming to Sandomierz.

From the point of view of sustainable development of tourist localities, an important issue is the continuous monitoring of tourist traffic and the timely response to fluctuations in its size. Determination of the number of persons participating in tourist traffic is an extremely difficult undertaking. Research into tourist traffic is carried out in Poland but a vast majority of it is periodic and incomplete. Furthermore, the methods used to determine tourist traffic are burdened with many defects, so they do not give grounds to determine the number of people resting in tourist facilities and localities. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of single persons that use the services of the Kotelnica Białczańska Ski Resort in Białka Tatrzańska in the winter season 2014/2015 and to identify the source areas of tourist traffic. In contrast to the most of publications taking up the issue of the size of tourist traffic, in this work a person who came to the studied ski resort several times in a  season was not counted as a few people but as one person. The assumptions and calculations contained in the article allow to conclude that about 318 000–342 000 people visited the Kotelnica Białczańska Ski Resort in the winter season 2014/2015, of which about 291 000–312 000 were tourists from Poland and about 27 000–30 000 from abroad. Those from Poland accounted for 91.3% visitors and they came from all voivodships of the country. About ⅓ of them arrived from the agglomerations of Warsaw and Cracow. Foreign tourists accounted for 8.7% of all people relaxing in the studied ski resort. They came from 34 countries of the world,  excluding Poland. The research method presented in this article allows to estimate the number of single persons resting in a given area and in a specified time as well as it allows for a precise indication of the source areas of tourist traffic. However, an unquestionable disadvantage of the method is its time- and labor-consuming character.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia celebrated in 2013 the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius to the area of Great Moravia. This mission marked the formal beginning of Christianity in this part of Europe. Veligrad, known since the Middle Ages, was widely considered as a centre of missionary activity. The contemporary city of Velehrad is the heir of this rich past and related heritage. In the contemporary cultural landscape of Velehrad we can indicate different overlapping historical layers forming the unique character of the place: the times of the Great Moravian state, the location of the Cistercian monastery in the 13th century, the secularization of the property during the reign of Emperor Joseph I, the arrival of the Jesuits and their educational activity, the formation of national awareness and aspirations for self-determination in the mid-nineteenth century, connected with the birth of the pilgrimage tradition to Velehrad, the times of the communist regime and closure of the monastery, political changes after 1989 related with the return of the Jesuits, the visit of Pope John Paul II and the celebration of the year of Cyril and Methodius in 2013. All these events have left a material trace, as well as enriched the particular genius loci of this place. The 2013 celebration contributed towards turning Velehrad into a centre of dialogue between East and West. Modern exhibition spaces were created from renovated historic buildings. A key element was the creation of the European Cultural Route of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the connecting Velehrad with the network of pilgrimage routes to important spiritual centres of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and neighbouring countries (including Poland). The aim of these projects was to turn Velehrad into a place where both pilgrims and ordinary tourists will be able to enrich their experience and their knowledge, and thus be able to satisfy the need for self-realization.

The aim of the paper is to carry out a multi-faceted analysis of the changes and the multiannual variability of the seasonal structure of river runoff in Poland. The research study is focused on river catchments situated in various regions of Poland. The seasonality index (Markham 1970) is employed to provide an assessment of river discharge seasonality for a multi-year period using data obtained from 40 water gauges. The collected data include the daily discharge of the analyzed rivers in the period 1951–2010. Average seasonality indices of the discharge of the investigated rivers were computed. On the basis of average seasonality indices (8%–37%) and their variability levels in the studied multiannual period, it is possible to compute small differences in the magnitude and dynamics of the changes in the seasonal structure of river discharge and precipitation in the studied multiannual period (Kożuchowski, Wibig 1988) and the total outflow from river catchments in the central Poland (Bartnik, Jokiel 2001), respectively. At the same time, the seasonal structure of river runoff, it is conjectured, continually constitutes a stable part of the river regime in Poland over the years as well as across geographic space. However, statistically significant trends (α=0.05) for the obtained seasonality indices of river discharge in the multiannual period was identified only for seven rivers. On the one hand, the data indicate that the smallest seasonality of river discharge is a characteristic of lake district rivers in northern Poland. On the other hand, by contrast, the best seasonal structure of river discharge is typical of Carpathian rivers distinguished by apluvial–nival river regime as well as a nival–pluvial river regime, respectively. At the same time, the data suggest that lowland rivers characterized by a nival well-developedriver regime also feature a better seasonal structure of river discharge. Correlation coefficients (r) between the seasonality indices of river discharge of the studied  rivers and the seasonality indices of river discharge of other rivers account for the fact that the seasonal structure of river discharge has changed almost simultaneously with rivers, which are situated close to one another. At the same time, the seasonal structure of river discharge has changed similarly to that of rivers, which drain the same regions of Poland.

The organisation and performance of research on geomorphological processes should be based on the methodological and methodical grounds of the empirical sciences. A well-organised observation in the form of geomorphological monitoring forms the grounds for the collection of observational data. Actually, it is not an option to consider the geoecological approach in the study of present-day geomorphological processes. This is a methodological must. Adopting a certain concept of the geoecosystem seems to be a good option in research on present-day geomorphological processes (Kostrzewski 1993). A geoecosystem is a unit of geographic space with varying size and structure. This geomorphological monitoring stands for the organisation and conduct of research on geomorphological processes (considered to be dominant) and relevant conditions (weather-related, hydrological) based on a standardised measurement system in order to obtain reliable data aimed to assess current research studies and plan future studies. Currently in Poland, geomorphological monitoring is conducted at scientific research sites; for example, at selected high schools and as part of the Integrated Environmental Monitoring Network in Poland, which is a subsystem of Poland’s National Environmental Monitoring Network. The data obtained from geomorphological monitoring sites, verified on the grounds of accepted statistical tests, forms the basis for the analysis and assessment of a given geoecosystem and its operation, taking into account observed climate changes and increasing human impact.

The paper discusses the spatial variability of the physical and chemical properties of river water in the upper Parsęta catchment (West Pomerania, Poland) during rising spring flows. Making use of data generated by 6 hydrochemical surveys, the studied waters were classified based on so-called fuzzy clustering methodology and attempts were made to interpret their spatial distribution. The obtained results show that during spring rising flows meteorological and hydrological conditions present in the period prior to sampling have a major impact on the water chemistry of the upper Parsęta catchment. These prior conditions significantly weaken the spatial variability of lithological and hydrogeological characteristics which is clearly perceptible in the case of low outflows.

Anthropogenic landforms are an important part of the landscape of Magura National Park. Human impact in this region for centuries has led to significant transformations of the local landscape and the local water cycle. The Lemko population, who had lived in the Beskid Niski Mountains until 1945 practiced animal husbandry, agriculture, forestry, rock material processing (stonemasonry), and extracted so-called wood oil. A rapid increase in population density led to intensive residential construction in the 19^th and 20^th centuries and increased human impact in the area. After the end of the Second World War in 1945, most Beskid Niski residents were moved to other parts of the country by the new communist government of Poland. Changes in land use then ensued. Mountain slopes that were previously used for agriculture as pastures and farmland were subjected to afforestation or gradually subjected to secondary plant succession. Despite a presently low population density and dispersed built-up sites in Magura National Park, anthropogenic forms are still very distinct as a result of several centuries of human activity across these lands. Due to their initial purpose, anthropogenic landforms can be distinguished as old residential and farm buildings (mainly stone foundation), remnants of agro-forestry industries, rock material extraction sites, religious sites, and military sites from the first and second world wars. These serve as the background for the effects of economic activity undertaken in this area after the Second World War. The most valuable and interesting anthropogenic landforms and areas were inventoried in this study. Especially important in this regard are concentrations of agricultural terraces in Nieznajowa, Ciechania, Żydowskie, and Rostajne. In the course of field research, evident effects of re-naturalization were observed, and consequently also the disappearance of many anthropogenic landforms in the study area. A full inventory of these sites could leads to the protection of selected sites associated with  anthropogenic geodiversity.

This paper presents an analysis of spatial differentiation of access to the road network in the Lodz region in Poland. The basic research unit here is the municipality. The population of each of the municipalities studied was established based on Poland’s Local Data Bank, run by the Central Statistical Office of Poland, for the end of 2014. The second part of the research consisted of road junctions and street intersections located in the study area. The study was conducted in two variants. Assuming the current layout of nodal transport network elements and future layout that will be produced via new investment, which is currently under GDDKiA development or at the planning stage. The entire research procedure was divided into three main stages. The first two consisted of the use of a two-step method of analysis of market areas. The first part of the two-step method is based on the definition of the impact of each node/intersection, assuming certain boundary values of automobile travel time. Each studied node/intersection was also assigned a weight corresponding to its importance in the regional road network. The second part of the study focused on municipalities and indicated the level of road access for each of them to the regional road network. The third and last stage of the study served to indicate, based on earlier results obtained, areas of the Lodz region that are moving distinctively upward or downward in terms of road accessibility. The significance of the spatial relationships within a certain radius was calculated using local spatial data on autocorrelation as proposed by Getis and Ord (1995).

Research has shown significant differences in the level of accessibility of citizens in individual municipalities to point elements of the road transport network. Despite ongoing and planned investments in this area, they highlight specific areas lagging behind in terms of user accessibility to the road network. At the same time, it is important to pay close attention to the potential of the four different areas of the province. An above-average level of availability of the municipalities constituting these geographic areas can serve as a competitive advantage in the area of potential locations for investment activity.

The purpose of the paper is to attempt to show that tram transportation fulfills the postulates of sustainable transportation to a greater extent than other means of municipal transportation. Its potential is connected with its small impact on the natural environment, high accessibility also for passengers with limited mobility and – last but not least – the opportunity to create urban space.

The paper analyzes tram investment completed after the year 2000 in two cities that already had this means of municipal transportation – the Polish city of Kraków and the Aystrian city of Linz – as well as two tram networks constructed from scratch, located in the Italian city of Florence and the French city of Nice. The first two cities have built several new tram lines, mainly connecting housing estates with city centers. In both cases, tunnel sections under a main railway station had to be opened. The latter two cities, by contrast, are examples of a return of trams to the streets from which they were removed in the 1950s.

These major investments show that the advantages of trams – especially in the context of their considerably smaller negative environmental impact and overall greater effectiveness compared with buses – are quite well known today to decision makers in different parts of Europe. However, knowledge on the opportunities that trams provide in order to help create urban space seems to be less widespread. What is more, the potential of trams to help create a sustainable municipal transportation system is not fully realized either. This fact applies in particular to Kraków where investment in the tram system is realized together with a large scale extension of the city’s road network. However, even the new tram systems of Florence and Nice do not seem to utilize all the opportunities that municipal tram transportation yields to help create a really sustainable transportation system in a so-called sustainable city.

Demographic aging has become a global issue. In 2011 people aged 60 and over accounted for 11% of the world population. Moreover, it is estimated that by 2050 older persons will make up one fifth of the global population. However, until recently, the aging of the population was perceived mainly as a problem of the most developed countries. Today, a large share of the elderly population lives in the countries of the Global South. What is more, the pace of aging in this part of the world is supposed to be higher than elsewhere.

The increasing share of the elderly in the global population creates a number of challenges, which are even more important considering the fact, that older people are both beneficiaries of, and contributors to, what is frequently called sustainable development. The consequences of demographic aging are still perceived mainly as a threat to the development of countries and economies. However, it is being increasingly emphasized that the elderly should be treated as a resource rather than a burden. In addition, proper policy is more often being perceived as an opportunity to convert the barriers posed by the aging of the population into opportunities for further development. On the other hand, countries of the Global South, where demographic aging is a relatively recent issue, which remains largely unrecognized, but is a rapidly growing problem, are facing the problem of demographic changes outpacing local economic growth.

The article describes the specifics of the socio-economic autonomous region of Navarra (Spain), and characterizes functioning of business environment institutions that influence region’s development. Location of the region and its rich history affects modern high economic position of the region against the background of the country. The article presentsexisting model of interaction between various regional institutions and presents implemented plans to modernize the regional economy. It was found that cooperation of business sector, academic and business institutions, together with local authorities may be a determinant which stimulates regional development.The article refers to particular activities of the regional administration resulting from the implementation of technological plans and development strategy until 2030. There are also references to economic sectors considered fundamental for the region as well as there is a presentation of the region’s contemporary position against Spain using a few selected economic indicators.

There are numerous ( though spread unevenly ) small run-off-free bodies of water in the Parsęta basin as well as in the upper Parsęta catchment. The geoecosystems of these non-run-off bodies serve various functions in the geographic environment ; they are particularly important in terms of shaping catchment retention and water circulation. They quickly react to environmental conditions, especially to changes in land use and land cover in the catchment and the supply of pollutants in waters. Radomyskie Lake is a small body of water in the upper Parsęta catchment within which radical changes in land use and changes in the chemistry of the lake waters have taken place over the last 30 years. The concentration of ion components in the lake waters has become significantly reduced compared with that in the early 1980s. A comparison with Czarne Lake – a similar body of water in the upper Parsęta catchment revealed that these ongoing changes have two causes : afforestation of agriculturally cultivated catchment areas around Radomyskie Lake and consequently reduced supply of fertilizer as well as a drop in precipitation mineral content, which had been noted by researchers for 20 years. Radomyskie Lake is experiencing the stage of re-naturalization and its evolution is moving towards a peat-bog geoecosystem.

The paper seeks to present the exceptional qualities of closed basins commonly found in areas covered by the last Pleistocene glaciation. Such basins are a natural part of the landscape ; they occupy a large percentage of the area. The research was conducted in the Parsęta catchment over the course of several years. Two basic types of basins without outlets were analyzed absorptive basins : absorption basins, evapotranspiration basins. The geographic individuality of small landforms with no surface runoff was characterized on the basis of key morphometric indicators, lithology, soil distribution, and physical-chemical properties of surface and groundwaters. Closed basins are usually small concave landforms, roughly circular in shape, at the bottom of which organic sediments attain a great thickness. In the southern part of the Parsęta catchment, permeable sediments predominate, while those located in its middle part are predominantly retentive in nature. Typical features of the spatial distribution of soils in the small catchments of closed depressions are their ring-like pattern going down towards the bottom and a predominance of organic soils in the bottom. Surface and groundwaters in these catchments display a low and a medium level of mineralization, and the elements dominating in their chemical composition are those coming from the leaching of rocks, the chief source of which is chemical weathering, as well as biogenic components connected with the deposition of organic sediments in the bottoms.

The presented results constitute a summary of a five-year study conducted from 2009 to 2013 in the upper catchment of the Lewińska Struga stream. Weekly research on the physical and chemical properties of Lewińska Struga waters at the Domysłów profile was combined with seasonal hydrochemical studies conducted in the following five flow-through lakes : Warnowo, Rabiąż, Czajcze, Domysłowskie and Żółwińskie. Across young glacial areas of the Polish Lowland, a drainage network is often produced by a fluvial-lacustrine system, in which a river links subsequent lakes via short sections. In such cases, this fluvial transport of solutes is sometimes disturbed in lakes, which are both their source and deposition area. The main research strategy of the paper was aimed at determining the functioning of the fluvial-lacustrine system of Lewińska Struga stream on Wolin Island. This paper also discusses the dynamics of fluvial transport of solutes carried with Lewińska Struga waters.

Detailed research studies on the physical and chemical properties of waters were conducted within the Żarnowo channel head in West Pomerania. Samples were collected at regular measuring sites, which represent groundwater of the footslope zone, interstitial waters and rivulets. In order to identify the origin of ionic components in channel headwaters, the collected hydrochemical data were subjected to factor analysis using the principal component method. The main factors shaping the chemistry of waters : geogenic, anthropogenic, biogenic, and redox were identified. The study was designed to identify the determinants of the water chemistry of 1st-order streams.

The Gardno Lake catchment on Wolin Island is located within the Wolin Range micro-region. Its coastal location and early glacial terrain within the temperate climate zone are the distinguishing features of this catchment. The catchment is non-run-off in character, and its area is dominated by beech forests and affected by a small degree of human impact. In the Gardno Lake catchment, atmospheric precipitation undergoes both physical and chemical conversion during its permeation in the beech forest zone, and then during infiltration through the slope cover, percolation to aquifers and subsequent drainage down towards the lake. A pattern of increased mineral content and higher pH at subsequent stages of water circulation were also identified. In the period 2010 – 2014, on a monthly basis, waters at the atmospheric stage ( precipitation, throughfall, stemflow ), transitional stage ( throughflow ), and lithospheric stage ( groundwaters, lake waters ) were examined in the Gardno  Lake catchment. The research study described herein allowed to determine changes in water physical and chemical characteristics at individual stages of its cycle and discrete solute loads reaching the studied catchment area. The annual variability of water mineral content circulating in the Gardno Lake geoecosystem – presented in the paper – was calculated via the total concentration of biogenic ions (NO 3 – , NH 4 + , K +), denudation-originated ions ( SO4 2– , Ca 2+, Mg 2+), and ions resulting from a large supply of marine aerosols ( Cl –– Na + ).

The research sought to determine the range of conversion of the chemical composition of precipitation in a beech stand located in the Gardno Lake catchment ( Wolin Island ) and a pine stand in the Czarne Lake catchment ( Upper Parsęta catchment, West Pomerania Province ). The presented results cover three hydrological years : 2012, 2013 and 2014. The research focused on the chemical composition of bulk precipitation ( in the open ), throughfall and stemflow ( in a forest ). The obtained results confirm that after precipitation has had contact with plant surfaces there is an increase in its mineral content. This is due to the process of enrichment of throughfall and stemflow with elements leached out of needles and leaves ( K +, Mg 2+ ) and coming from dry deposition ( NH 4 +, Cl –, Na +, Mg 2+, SO 4 2– , NO 3 – ) washed out from plant surfaces. The research, based on the canopy budget model, indicates that in the case of potassium, its load leached out of needles and leaves accounted for 75.6 % and 73 %, respectively, of its total deposition on the forest floor. Calcium leaching was not detected in either of the two stands. In comparison with potassium, the range of magnesium leaching was smaller and amounted to 34 % under beech and 26.5 % under pine. As to loads of potassium and magnesium in the beech stand, they were more than twice as large as the ones observed in the pine stand. In spite of the fact that coniferous trees capture aerosols present in the air much more effectively, a higher mineral content was recorded in the beech stand. It applies primarily to ions of marine origin ( Cl –, SO 4
2– , Na +, Mg 2+ ). It was only when ammonium ions originated from agriculture that their higher concentrations and loads were found in the pine stand.

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the sustainability of the location of all elements of tourist infrastructure on the slopes of Babia Góra Mt. in the Western Beskidy Mountains taking into account local relief and a range of geomorphologic processes. For more than 130 years, local tourist facilities remained unthreatened by slope processes with the exception of very limited sections of the northern slope. A deep-seated landslide reactivated in the mid 19th century affected a small section of that slope that is outside of regular tourist traffic while another landslide, a shallow one that remains active, has been damaging a single marked tourist trail. Debris flows observed locally on the northern slope are not typical of contemporary relief dynamics across Babia Góra Mt. and therefore cannot be regarded as a universal threat to local tourist infrastructure. In addition, snow avalanches that reach short stretches of tourist trails on the northern slope have not damaged them. The current hazard status of the tourist infrastructure on Babia Góra Mt. is clearly better than it would have been if certain heavy development plans had been carried out in geomorphologically vulnerable areas.

The paper presents the results of a study of the human impact on the evolution of a landslide lake. An example of a landslide lake subjected to strong anthropogenic influence is that of the Pucołowski Stawek lake in the Gorce Mts. Historical data analysis, interviews with local inhabitants, and several surveys of the lake area and shoreline at various moments of its history have enabled us to reconstruct the lake’s evolution since the early 20th century. Research has shown that since the first field description in 1932, the lake did not become overgrown (as it is very common for this type of lake), until the late 1980s. The reason for its preservation has been human activity. The subsequent acceleration of the overgrowing of the Pucołowski Stawek lake has been connected with the cessation of mowing, grazing and peat extraction in the lake basin. This has led to the full disappearance of this water body and the reservoir to fen type peat bog. In December 2011, the owners of the lake deepened the lake basin and removed organic sediments at the same time. This led to lake reactivation, although with a changed shoreline. The area of the lake basin decreased about 22% compared with its size in 1968. The same is true of the shoreline development factor which is now 1.08 compared with 1.23 in 1968.  Dynamic plant succession has been observed since 2012 in the Pucołowski Stawek lake, and the lake area has decreased about 27% compared with its size in 2012. The consequences of the action which led to the deepening of the lake significantly affected the fauna and flora of the reservoir, causing improvement in amphibians’ habitat conditions. Human activity in this area has led to water reservoir reactivation, giving it unique landscape value as well as increasing its biodiversity by restoring adequate habitat conditions.

Outdoor advertising is increasingly being used as a medium in marketing. It allows a simple and effective way to reach potential customers. Outdoor advertising as „the only medium that cannot be turned off” is growing faster than traditional means of marketing communication; it results in an increase in the intensity of its  occurrence in public space. However, it is accompanied by negative consequences such as the degradation of the quality of public space and the aesthetics of the landscape. The aim of the study is to answer the question: Is the quality of the mountain landscape significantly threatened by widespread outdoor advertising? The study area consists of the Tatras on the Polish and Slovak sides. Significant differences were found in the occurrence of outdoor advertising on both sides of the border. Much more advertising media exists in the Polish (northern) part of the study area where they have the highest concentration along major roads and at tourist  destinations. In the Slovak part, the distribution of advertising media has a lower intensity. The final finding is that chaos exists in areas of high landscape value in terms of advertising volume.

The aim of the study is to evaluate spatial organization quality using the urban audit. It is one of the suitable methods used in this type of diagnosis, and it is a procedure with independent modules for the collection and processing of information in order to show social, economic, and urban public space diversity. However, this study is limited to a single subsystem – urban space. The basic condition for the correctness of the urban audit execution is the selection of a relatively small and functionally and morphologically homogeneous area. The study was conducted in Sosnowiec City – in the Maczki district, in the area associated with the establishment of the Warsaw–Vienna Railway border station between the Kingdom of Poland ( then part of Russia ) and Austria–Hungary and the broad-gauge railway station of the Iwangorodzko-Dąbrowska Railway. The urban audit was conducted for the following streets: Kadłubka, Krakowska, Skwerowa, Spacerowa, Stacyjna and Wodociągi. It was found that in the worst condition are the following streets: Stacyjna Street, leading to the former broad-gauge station, with gaps between buildings and low quality of road infrastructure, and Skwerowa Street, which is characterized by a predominance of old housing stock for railway workers. The best technical condition for identified in the case of Spacerowa Street, primarily due to the occurrence of privately-owned housing. Thus, research has shown that the district is in need of urban revitalization.

The aim of the paper is an analysis of the planning process of the Integrated Revitalization Program for the Nikiszowiec public housing project in Katowice. The article is based on desk research (data provided by the Katowice Municipal Office, work reports for the project), interview with an expert responsible for the consultation and the final shape of the project – Dagmara Mliczyńska-Hajda, as well as on surveys conducted among organizations working for the citizens of Nikiszowiec. The paper presents the history of the Nikiszowiec housing project and the current crisis area. Discussed is the process of planning and designing a revitalization project by an expert. It has been shown that social participation is needed for successful revitalization and the analyzed example can be considered as a model case study.

Knowledge of prevailing winds and ocean currents was one of the crucial factors deciding the success of European sailors during the Age of Discovery. Its role has not been fully appreciated in Polish geography yet. The role of prevailing winds and ocean currents in the determination of sea lanes in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean is described in this paper. It has been shown that winds and ocean currents can both make easier or more difficult navigation to a given destination. Some navigational techniques were developed to overcome such obstacles. The volta do mar technique was used to avoid beating trade winds during return voyages from the West Africa coast. The use of this technique in the South Atlantic Gyre demanded to drift southwest after passing by the Guinea coast and use the Brazilian Current and next prevailing westerlies to reach the Cape of Good Hope. Monsoon circulation is the main navigational challenge in the Indian Ocean. Good timing is essential for the fastest voyage there. The Brouwer Route resolved the problem of the seasonality of navigation to the Malay Archipelago to some degree. It was shown too that using the sea lanes mentioned above enabled many important discoveries, particularly those of the Brazilian and Western Australian coasts.

In recent years, social media has gained significant popularity. The popularization of portable devices has produced a significant number of posts on social media along with a geolocation. Twitter is especially interesting. Thanks to an open Application Programming Interface ( API ), it ensures free access to published content. Data obtained this way gives new possibilities for social and geographic research. The research literature emphasizes the usefulness of Twitter for the purpose of the monitoring of extreme phenomena. This paper presents the main trends in research on Twitter tweets and technical solutions enabling data downloading.

Sustainable development is characterized by the existence of two components: the natural and the socio-economic one. It seems that the key to real action to protect the environment is to use instruments of sustainable development for enhance social cohesion. In the context of social exclusion characteristics can be assumed that individualizing operations, using full potencial of educational system, creating better conditions for the development of enterprises, enabling easy access to specialist psychological support, including basic therapeutic support, are basic actions need to be done. Necessary is also a change of mind: the minimum wage, intervention buying-in, subsidies and cheap loans to farmers, benefits for the poor and unemployed, and ways to design competitions for EU funds, not only do not help, but sometimes are even harmful for sustainable development

The main objective of the paper is to present Polish eastern border problems in a particular geopolitical context including efforts such as shopping tourism, which helps overcome border problems and associated limitations. National borders serve as a factor of separation between different political and institutional systems, but on the other hand, borders can be a source of contact between different groups of people or different societies. It is important to understand the nature and various types and functions of borders and the related factors that make nearby regions special destinations for tourists. National borders may prove highly valuable to local autonomy as well as tourism planning and destination marketing organizations making border area economics less prone to recession. The paper describes the main motivations for borderland tourism – that is shopping – giving many different reasons to travel across national borders. Shopping tourism close to Poland’s eastern  border is characterized via an analysis of commercial endeavors, the frequency of border crossings, as well as the structure and average costs. National border area tourism plays an important role in local economies, making them more prosperous and/or enlarging the black market zone. The European Union’s Schengen eastern  border is a special example of the occurrence of these problems. This borderland faces serious economic and demographic problems due to the political function of the eastern border as a strong barrier to development. In this situation, it is important to examine relevant trends and observe if tourism is one of the ways for local area residents to deal with economic stagnation.

This paper consists of quantitative analysis of different types of green open spaces in 26 towns and cities in Poland. It shows a few examples of good ideas of multifamily residential areas built in 50. and 60. of XX century in Lublin. Quality of green open spaces in Polish multifamily residential areas is considered by three examples – Żabiniec and Ruczaj in Cracow and LSM in Lublin. Polish spatial planning law system was analysed through local plans, especially Stare Podgórze-Krzemionki local spatial planning law. A part of this plan is focesed on green open space called Bednarski Park.

Bad urban policy leads to environmental degradation and a reduction in the quality of life in cities. Therefore, local government action ought to be guided by the principle of sustainable development. The application of the green city idea can have a positive effect on the natural environment and urban quality of life. The research  methods presented in this paper concern the development of green cities, which are most vulnerable to the risk of what can be called excessive urbanization. The conversion of degraded or neglected cities into green urban centers may be the answer to environmental, social, and economic problems in such cities. Urban planners increasingly more often pay attention to the link, which exists between the idea of green cities and the urban concept of a garden city. However, this novel idea assumes not only the creation of green areas, but also a reduction in dust and gas emissions, likewise noise and waste, renewable energy, implementation of sustainable transportation, and promotion of organic food staples. Cities that properly apply these principles are called green cities or eco-cities. Many Scandinavian and North American countries base their policy on sustainable development. Local governments in Poland, as well as urban planners in Poland, must derive inspiration from the environmental approach employed in other countries. Greenery plays important roles in urban aesthetics; therefore, it is necessary to take it into consideration in land use planning, city development strategies, and local programs linked with urban revitalization. New housing projects should assume the existence of such spaces, which would interfere with the natural environment as little as possible. Developers should also be required to restore destroyed green areas. The revitalization of Polish housing units must be rethought in the spirit of the green city concept. Greenery should dominate in all housing complexes, which would refresh and enrich the landscape through so-called living walls. This would have a positive effect not only on the aesthetic appearance of buildings, but also it would help maintain a more comfortable temperature throughout housing estates in the winter and in the summer. So-called green roofs could be built on the flat roofs of all existing housing  blocks. Geographers and landscape ecologists should be permitted to evaluate new construction projects. Community participation and environmental education both play a key role in pro-environmental policy. Moreover, city residents should have some influence on the appearance of their city.

Geothermal energy is one of the renewable sources of energy, which is extremely important from the point of view of the idea of sustainable development. In modern Poland, the use of geothermal energy is so far limited. There are several plants that use geothermal energy for heating purposes, but the cost-effectiveness of this type of investment is low. For several years, a rapid development of so-called thermal parks has been observed, which is related with a newfound fashionability of the healthy lifestyle. Particularly advantageous geological conditions in the region of Podhale, as well as the significant tourist popularity of this area in general all year round, make this type of investment substantially profitable. In other parts of the country, only a few relatively small thermal parks are operational and development is not easy because of the high start-up cost and difficulty of providing adequate financial resources

The first part of the paper presents the basic terminology associated with the industrial landscape, which is a specific type of the cultural landscape, and the concepts of landscape preservation and sustainable development. In the following part of the paper, basing on the example of the Upper Silesian urban area, the typical characteristics of the industrial landscape are specified. Its most important virtues, which are the reason why it should be protected in the context of sustainable development, are also presented. The author tried to identify the obstacles to preservation of the industrial landscape, including the problem of its negative perception. The paper also contains the analysis of presently applied legal forms of preservation of the industrial landscape basing on same examples form Upper Silesia. There is also an example from Ruhr Region presented in the purpose of comparison. The demanded actions, which should take place in the Upper Silesian urban area basing on the German experiences, are presented in the summary.

The development and functioning of ski resorts brings many economic an social benefits for the mountain regions. However, this results in many cases, with the significant cost in environment. Reducing disadvantageous changes due to the development for the mass skiing movement in the late 80th and 90th twentieth century resulted in the need to revise the current model of ski tourism development. The aim of this study is to present – on the basis of the current state of research – contemporary problems of ski tourism development in the world in the context of achieving economic and social benefits, while preserving the value of natural environment of mountain areas, according to the principles of sustainable development. Despite of the negative environmental impacts, resulting from the development and functioning of ski resorts and unfavorable predictions of climate and demographic changes, ski tourism should continue to develop in the traditional ski regions. For many  communities, this activity is the most important sector of the local economy, supporting other forms of development, as well as inhibit the phenomenon of emigration in search of work. Activities which seek to ” balance ” the development of ski tourism have environmental, economic and social dimensions. Environmental aspects relate to eliminate negative environmental impact of ski infrastructure and ski tourism movement includes: modernization of ski lifts, cableways and snowmaking system, appropriate waste management, improvement of air quality, continues monitoring of natural environment quality, the planned development of ski resorts, participation in voluntary environmental programs and initiatives aimed to raising the ecological awareness of employees, visitors and local communities. Economic aspects financial performance though the development of new tourism products. In order to achieve a competitive advantage, in many ski resorts are conducted market research and marketing actions in order to create a good image of the company, locality and region, and to search for niches of the market. However, very important issue is to implement social activities by the ski resorts consisting primarily on employing local communities, meeting the expectations of tourists referred to their satisfaction with the stay, educating tourists of the safety on ski slopes and adapting some of ski resorts to disabled ski tourists. The concept of sustainable development of ski resorts can be applied in the developed mountain tourist regions, where the economy is dominated by mass ski tourism or in areas, where this form of tourism is still developing. The preservation of development of specialized and addicted to this form of tourism regions requires to conduct active marketing actions, continues monitoring and preventive procedure in the event of a deterioration in economic conditions or reduction in the quality of tourist values. Sustainable tourism development assumes conscious adaptation and adjustment to its objectives both by tourists, leisure organizers, local authorities and representatives of host communities, but this goal in practice may be difficult to achieve.