The second most disastrous windstorm of the nineteenth century in the Czech Lands, 26-27 October 1870

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - One of the most disastrous windstorms to take place over the Czech Lands occurred on the night of 26/27 October 1870. It is here analysed through the use of...     

Hydrogeochemistry of a deep gas-storage cavern,Czech Republic

Groundwater was occasionally found during the construction of a deep gas-storage cavern at approximately 1 km below land surface near Pribram, Czech Republic. The individual groundwater seeps, with a discharge not exceeding 0.01 l/s and T?=?23°C, were usually a strongly alkali natural solution with maximum pH values of 9.9 and TDS concentrations from 0.2 to 0.86 g/l; Na⁺, \({\text{HCO}}^{ - }_{3}\), and Cl^? ions were the major dissolved chemical constituents. Two main groundwater quality groups were defined: Na–Cl and Na–HCO₃. Based on the stable isotope (¹⁸O/¹⁶O, D/H), tritium and radiocarbon analyses, some groundwater originated from rainwater infiltrating during the Upper Pleistocene Epoch. Strontium in the groundwater of the crystalline aquifer was isotopically homogenous and equilibrates with strontium in the granite and granodiorite of the gas-storage cavern. Based on the information, the deep groundwater seeps were associated with slow or ‘stagnant’ groundwater circulation, without direct relation to the recent groundwater of faster circulation near the surface, which is periodically recharged by precipitation. The results of the water-quality monitoring of the deep groundwater seeps have been used in estimating the insulating properties of the neighboring rocks near the gas-storage cavern. This information will be important in the safe operation of the gas-storage cavern.     

The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540 – a worst case

The heat waves of 2003 in Western Europe and 2010 in Russia, commonly labelled as rare climatic anomalies outside of previous experience, are often taken as harbingers of more frequent extremes in the global warming-influenced future. However, a recent reconstruction of spring–summer temperatures for WE resulted in the likelihood of significantly higher temperatures in 1540. In order to check the plausibility of this result we investigated the severity of the 1540 drought by putting forward the argument of the known soil desiccation-temperature feedback. Based on more than 300 first-hand documentary weather report sources originating from an area of 2 to 3 million km², we show that Europe was affected by an unprecedented 11-month-long Megadrought. The estimated number of precipitation days and precipitation amount for Central and Western Europe in 1540 is significantly lower than the 100-year minima of the instrumental measurement period for spring, summer and autumn. This result is supported by independent documentary evidence about extremely low river flows and Europe-wide wild-, forest- and settlement fires. We found that an event of this severity cannot be simulated by state-of-the-art climate models.     

Continuous measurements of stress and temperature during testing of a fibre shotcrete pressure plug

The paper describes an investigation of pressure barriers (plugs) for an underground gas storage facility which were to be constructed from fibre shotcrete. An extensive measurement program on a test plug was carried out to verify the suitability of fibre shotcrete for this purpose. The results of stress and temperature measurements carried out during the construction of the test plug and during cyclic loading of the plug to a water pressure up to 13 MPa are presented. The measurement program provided information on the stress and temperature development inside the plug body during hydration and hardening and also on the residual tensile stresses at the interface between the plug and the rock mass after the end of hydration. Another important output was information on the quality of the plug-rock mass interface, which was critical for a possible leakage. The results obtained during the cyclic loading of the plug revealed uneven stress distribution at the contact and in the adjacent rock mass. It also provided information on the rate of stress redistribution at the contact and inside the rock mass. The results were used to modify the technology of the shotcrete technique to be applied in the final plugs. The gas storage facility using the modified design has been in trial operation since the end of 1998.     

Spectral accuracy of Jgm3 from satellite crossover altimetry

A detailed accuracy assessment of the geopotential model Jgm3 is made based on independent single- and dual-satellite sea-height differences at crossovers from altimetry with Jgm3-based orbits. These differences, averaged over long time spans and in latitude bands, are converted to spectra (latitude-lumped coefficients) by least-squares estimation. The observed error spectra so obtained are then compared directly to error projections for them from the Jgm3 variance–covariance matrix. It is found from these comparisons that Jgm3 is generally well calibrated with respect to the crossover altimetry of and between Geosat, TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P), and Ers 1. Some significant discrepancies at a few lower orders (namely m=1 and 3) indicate a need for further improvement of Jgm3. A companion calibration (by order) of the geopotential model Jgm2 shows its variance–covariance matrix also to be generally well calibrated for the same single- and dual-satellite altimeter data sets (but based on Jgm2 orbits), except that the error projections for Geosat are too pessimistic. The analysis of the dual-satellite crossovers reveals possible relative coordinate system offsets (particularly for Geosat with respect to T/P) which have been discussed previously. The long-term detailed seasonally averaged Geosat sea level with respect to T/P (covering 1985–1996) should be useful in gauging the relative change in sea level between different parts of the ocean over the single 4-year gap between these missions (1988–1992). Received: 16 February 1998 / Accepted: 25 November 1998     

Can suspended sediment concentrations be estimated from multispectral imagery using only image-derived information?

Sampling for suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) in inland waters is traditionally based on collecting samples at sparse locations and in limited intervals. A number of investigators explored the utility of earth-observing satellites and air-borne sensors for monitoring of SSC over vast areas. Two approaches are commonly deployed: (1) empirical relationships between a chosen remotely sensed quantity and the actual in-situ SSC; and (2) bio-optical models founded on radiative transfer modeling. Unfortunately, in-situ measurements are often unavailable for direct image calibration, and inherent optical properties of optically active constituents (specific scattering and absorption coefficients) are usually unknown. This paper examines the possibility to retrieve SSC from multispectral satellite imagery without any in-situ data, i.e. using only image-derived information. The fundamental principle of image selfcalibration relies on the fact that in the visual domain of wavelengths (∼400–700 nm) the at-sensor reflectance becomes “saturated“ at high SSC, whereas the near-infrared domain (∼700–900 nm) remains almost perfectly linearly related to sediment concentrations. The core idea of the self-calibrating procedure is rather simple and is based on fitting an exponential function between reflectance and SSC, with SSC replaced by a linear relationship between SSC and reflectance in the near-infrared domain. As a first approximation of the non-linearity between reflectance and SSC levels in the 400–700 nm range, we used the equation proposed by Schiebe et al. (1992), although other equations, especially those arising from optical theory could be used as well. The technique is illustrated on a moderately sediment-laden reservoir and two scenes acquired from Landsat ETM+. The standard error of the estimated SSC was below 15 mg/L (i.e. ∼25 % relative error for the observed range of SSC). Although the proposed algorithm does not yield better results than other models mentioned in the literature, the primary advantage of the outlined methodology is that no in-situ measurements (water sampling nor spectral profiling) are needed — i.e. only image-derived information is used.     

Detecting,sourcing, and age-dating dredged sediments on the open shelf,southern California,using dead mollusk shells

Molluscan shell debris is an under-exploited means of detecting, sourcing, and age-dating dredged sediments in open-shelf settings. Backscatter features on the Southern California shelf are suggestive of dredged sediment hauled from San Diego Bay but deposited significantly inshore of the EPA-designated ocean disposal site. We find that 36% of all identifiable bivalve shells > 2 mm (44% of shells > 4 mm) in sediment samples from this 'short dump' area are from species known to live exclusively in the Bay; such shells are absent at reference sites of comparable water depth, indicating that their presence in the short-dump area signals non-compliant disposal rather than natural offshore transport or sea level rise. These sediments lack the shells of species that invaded California bays in the 1970s, suggesting that disposal preceded federal regulations. This inexpensive, low-tech method, with its protocol for rejecting alternative hypotheses, will be easy to adapt in other settings.     

Palaeo- and rock-magnetic investigations across Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary at St Bertrand’s Spring,Drôme,France: applications to magnetostratigraphy

Palaeo- and rock-magnetic investigations of the St Bertrand’s Spring (Le Ravin de Font de St Bertrand) locality in France were carried out in order to contribute to, and improve, the stratigraphy of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. Magnetic susceptibility shows slightly diamagnetic behaviour in the lowermost part of the profile and an increase (paramagnetic) towards its middle and upper parts. Rock-magnetic measurements throughout the section show magnetite as the main magnetic fraction, together with traces of hematite. Additionally, thermal demagnetization indicates the presence of goethite. Our magnetostratigraphy indicates three normal/reversed polarity sequences; possibly encompassing the magnetozones M19r to the M17n. This suggests that the St Bertrand section straddles the Tithonian/Berriasian boundary and reaches the middle Berriasian sensu lato.