Drivers of Australian dust: a case study of frontal winds and dust dynamics in the lower lake Eyre basin

The roles of pre‐frontal, frontal and post‐frontal winds as the primary wind systems for dust entrainment and transport in Australia are well established. While the relevance of each system has been observed across different wind erosion events in central Australia, the entrainment of dust by all three winds during the passage of an individual front has not been demonstrated until now. Synoptic information, satellite aerosol and imagery, meteorological and dust concentration data are presented for a single case study erosion event in the lower Lake Eyre Basin. This event demonstrates variable dust transport in three different directions from one of the southern Hemisphere's most significant source regions, and the changing nature of the active dust pathways during the passage of a frontal system. While only a single dust event is considered, the findings show the complexity of mineral aerosol emission and transport patterns even within an individual dust outbreak. For the lower Lake Eyre Basin, this appreciation of pathway behaviour is significant for better understanding the role of aeolian inputs from the dominant Australian source to surrounding marine systems. In a wider context, the findings exhibit the detailed insights into major dust source dynamics that can be obtained from high resolution spatial and particularly temporal data, as used in combination. This work highlights the importance of adequately resolved data for the accurate determination of dust entrainment and transport patterns of major dust sources. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mussel reefs on soft sediments: a severely reduced but important habitat for macroinvertebrates and fishes in New Zealand

Green-lipped mussels (Perna canaliculus) formed extensive reefs on soft sediments in sheltered embayments around northern New Zealand until overfishing and/or increased sediment input caused their virtual disappearance by 1980. To determine the role of mussel reefs as habitat for other animals, we located remnant soft-sediment reefs in five locations and compared the density, biomass, productivity and composition of mobile macroinvertebrate communities, and the density of small fishes associated with mussels, with fauna in the surrounding soft sediments. The mussel reefs had a distinct assemblage of macroinvertebrates, which had 3.5 times the density, 3.4 times the biomass and 3.5 times the productivity of surrounding areas. The density of small fishes was 13.7 times higher than in surrounding areas. These results show that soft-sediment mussel reefs support an abundant and productive fauna, highlighting the probable large loss of productivity associated with the historical decline in mussel habitat and the consequent desirability of restoration efforts.     

Navy sonar, cetaceans and the US Supreme Court: a review of cetacean mitigation and litigation in the US

One source of anthropogenic noise in the oceans which has attracted much concern is naval sonar. As a result of possible impacts of such sonar, several environmental NGOs have pursued legal cases in the United States criticizing environmental assessments conducted prior to exercises and proposed mitigation measures. Cases have been brought using the US National Environmental Protection Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, Coastal Zone Management Act and other statutes. This paper reviews the chronology and results of these various cases. During the G.W. Bush presidential administration, the legal battle went to the US Supreme Court in the case Winter vs. Natural Resources Defense Council. This case however, did not address the potential impacts of sonar on cetaceans or the effectiveness of mitigation measures. During the Obama administration, mitigation measures for naval exercises have been revised, and working groups planned, in an attempt to resolve conflict between parties.     

Making data useful for modelers to understand complex Earth systems

The Arctic is changing rapidly with dramatic local and global effect. To understand that change requires understanding the Arctic as a system. Models of different processes and at various scales are necessary tools for analyzing and understanding the Earth system. Models are extremely diverse, yet they all require quality data. Through a series of case studies, augmented with ethnographic observation around the International Polar Year, this work examines how modelers assess, acquire, and prepare data for their models. By comparing specific case studies, common themes emerge that can be compared against broader observation. These themes, in turn, suggest data management techniques or requirements for data systems to improve access and use by modelers and generally improve understanding of the Arctic system. The study has an Arctic focus because of the rapid changes occurring in the Arctic, but the approach and results should apply generally to Earth system science. This case study based approach has proven to be a useful method for teasing out both general and specific data needs for different models. An overarching lesson is that greater short-term benefit to modelers and significant gains in efficiency can be achieved by improving the formats, convention, and consistency of the data rather than improved interfaces and analysis tools. A “data-first” philosophy can improve the data systems that support the overall interdisciplinary, integrative science necessary to understand the complex Earth system.     

Three‐dimensional gravity‐current flow within a subaqueous bend: Spatial evolution and force balance variations

The nature of three‐dimensional flow in submarine channel bends is poorly understood, largely due to the absence of detailed data from natural channels. Herein, data from density‐driven flows in a large reservoir on the Huanghe (Yellow) River are presented showing the spatio‐temporal variation of flow around a subaqueous bend. The data demonstrate for the first time that reversed helical flow, relative to that found in river channel bends, can occur from the centrifugal forcing of flow, even when the Coriolis force acts in the opposite direction. The data also suggest that reversed helical flow fields in submarine channels may be more frequent than currently estimated, notably for bends where Coriolis and centrifugal forces combine in the same direction. In addition, this study provides the first field evidence suggesting that sinuous submarine channels can exhibit an asymmetry in helical flow orientation between left and right‐turning bends, which will have major implications for the morphodynamics of submarine channels, their resultant patterns of sedimentation and, ultimately, the distribution of depositional units across submarine fan systems.     

Tsunami Probability in the Caribbean Region

We calculated tsunami runup probability (in excess of 0.5 m) at coastal sites throughout the Caribbean region. We applied a Poissonian probability model because of the variety of uncorrelated tsunami sources in the region. Coastlines were discretized into 20 km by 20 km cells, and the mean tsunami runup rate was determined for each cell. The remarkable ~500-year empirical record compiled by O’Loughlin and Lander (2003) was used to calculate an empirical tsunami probability map, the first of three constructed for this study. However, it is unclear whether the 500-year record is complete, so we conducted a seismic moment-balance exercise using a finite-element model of the Caribbean-North American plate boundaries and the earthquake catalog, and found that moment could be balanced if the seismic coupling coefficient is c = 0.32. Modeled moment release was therefore used to generate synthetic earthquake sequences to calculate 50 tsunami runup scenarios for 500-year periods. We made a second probability map from numerically-calculated runup rates in each cell. Differences between the first two probability maps based on empirical and numerical-modeled rates suggest that each captured different aspects of tsunami generation; the empirical model may be deficient in primary plate-boundary events, whereas numerical model rates lack backarc fault and landslide sources. We thus prepared a third probability map using Bayesian likelihood functions derived from the empirical and numerical rate models and their attendant uncertainty to weight a range of rates at each 20 km by 20 km coastal cell. Our best-estimate map gives a range of 30-year runup probability from 0–30% regionally.     

A transport‐distance approach to scaling erosion rates: 1. Background and model development

The process basis of existing soil‐erosion models is shown to be ill‐founded. The existing literature builds directly or indirectly on Bennett's (1974) paper, which provided a blueprint for integrated catchment‐scale erosion modelling. Whereas Bennett recognized the inherent assumptions of the approach suggested, subsequent readings of the paper have led to a less critical approach. Most notably, the assumption that sediment movement could be approximated by a continuity equation that related to transport in suspension has produced a series of submodels that assume that all movement occurs in suspension. For commonly occurring conditions on hillslopes, this case is demonstrably untrue both on theoretical grounds and from empirical observations. Elsewhere in the catchment system, it is only partially true, and the extent to which the assumption is reasonable varies both spatially and temporally. A second ground‐breaking paper – that of Foster and Meyer (1972) – was responsible for subsequent uncritical application of a first‐order approximation to deposition based on steady‐state analysis and again a weak empirical basis. We describe in this paper an alternative model (Mahleran – Model for Assessing Hillslope‐Landscape Erosion, Runoff And Nutrients) based upon particle‐travel distance that overcomes existing limitations by incorporating parameterizations of the different detachment and transport mechanisms that occur in water erosion in hillslopes and small catchments. In the second paper in the series, we consider the sensitivity and general behaviour of Mahleran , and test it in relation to data from a large rainfall‐simulation experiment. The third paper of the sequence evaluates the model using data from plots of different sizes in monitored rainfall events. From this evaluation, we consider the scaling characteristics of the current form of Mahleran and suggest that integrated modelling, laboratory and field approaches are required in order to advance the state of the art in soil‐erosion modelling. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.