Geostatistical seismic Amplitude‐versus‐angle inversion

Seismic inversion plays an important role in reservoir modelling and characterisation due to its potential for assessing the spatial distribution of the sub‐surface petro‐elastic properties. Seismic amplitude‐versus‐angle inversion methodologies allow to retrieve P‐wave and S‐wave velocities and density individually allowing a better characterisation of existing litho‐fluid facies. We present an iterative geostatistical seismic amplitude‐versus‐angle inversion algorithm that inverts pre‐stack seismic data, sorted by angle gather, directly for: density; P‐wave; and S‐wave velocity models. The proposed iterative geostatistical inverse procedure is based on the use of stochastic sequential simulation and co‐simulation algorithms as the perturbation technique of the model parametre space; and the use of a genetic algorithm as a global optimiser to make the simulated elastic models converge from iteration to iteration. All the elastic models simulated during the iterative procedure honour the marginal prior distributions of P‐wave velocity, S‐wave velocity and density estimated from the available well‐log data, and the corresponding joint distributions between density versus P‐wave velocity and P‐wave versus S‐wave velocity. We successfully tested and implemented the proposed inversion procedure on a pre‐stack synthetic dataset, built from a real reservoir, and on a real pre‐stack seismic dataset acquired over a deep‐water gas reservoir. In both cases the results show a good convergence between real and synthetic seismic and reliable high‐resolution elastic sub‐surface Earth models.     

Strategies to Make Methods Based on Flow Injection Analysis Greener

The implementation of flow injection analysis (FIA) systems and correlated techniques in the laboratory routine provides an increase of analytical throughput and the reduction of risks of analyte losses and contamination. Naturally, it contributes to the reduction of reagent consumption and minimization of waste generation. This paper presents and discusses an overview of the main strategies adopted to make methods based on FIA systems more environmentally friendly, and offers a review of these methods that covers the period from January 2002 to December 2019. Strategies based on reagent management (adoption of procedures without reagents, replacement of toxic reagents, recycling and reuse of reagents and, use of immobilized reagents), the online waste treatment, and the improvements of FIA systems (flow system configurations that avoid reagent wastage, use of green detectors, automation, and miniaturization) are approached in this perspective.     

Current Drive by Alfvén Waves in Elongated Cross Section Tokamak

In this paper, an attempt is made to clarify some general aspects of the Alfvén current drive problem for magnetic traps. For large aspect ratio tokamaks, with an elongated cross-section, some general formulas concerning the untrapped particles dynamics and their input to the Landau damping of the Alfvén waves are presented. They are supposed to be used for the further development of the Alfvén current drive theory for tokamaks.     

Non-inductive current driven by Alfvén waves in solar coronal loops

It has been shown that Alfvén waves can drive non-inductive current in solar coronal loops via collisional or collisionless damping. Assuming that all the coronal-loop density of dissipated wave power (W= 10–3 erg cm^–3 s^–1), which is necessary to keep the plasma hot, is due to Alfvén wave electron heating, we have estimated the axial current density driven by Alfvén waves to be jz 10³–10⁵ statA cm^–2. This current can indeed support the quasi-stationary equilibrium and stability of coronal loops and create the poloidal magnetic field up to B 1–5 G.     

A generalized rigid particle contact model for fracture analysis

Rigid particle models taking directly into consideration the physical mechanisms and the influence of the material meso‐structure have recently been developed for fracture studies of quasi‐brittle material such as concrete. The formulation of a generalized contact model for rigid particle simulations is presented in which the contact discretization is a model parameter. The contact model performance for different discretizations is evaluated for uniaxial tensile tests, for uniaxial compression tests and for a notched beam in mode I. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Eutrophication and retention time affecting spatial heterogeneity in a tropical reservoir

Longitudinal heterogeneity in reservoirs is especially related to increase in sedimentation and water transparency along the river/dam axis. Consequently, primary production tends to reach higher values in intermediate regions where there is a balance between the availability of the main resources (light and nutrients) suitable for phytoplankton growth. Many factors such as reservoir morphometry, retention time, thermal stratification and geographical location can affect the boundaries between these regions. The tropical Funil Reservoir (Brazil), despite a low retention time, has experienced severe eutrophication in recent decades, with persistent cyanobacteria blooms. During the course of 1 year, samples were collected at four stations along the reservoir (fluvial, intermediate and lentic compartments) to evaluate if spatial heterogeneity could affect the occurrence and distribution of these blooms along the reservoir. Although the reservoir has a short annual retention time (mean 41.5 days), the typical zonation pattern was observed for the main abiotic variables and phytoplankton abundance. However, higher biomass occurred in the lentic compartment rather than in the intermediate zone. Despite the peculiar heterogeneity in total biomass, the phytoplankton composition and seasonal variability were very similar along the entire reservoir, with a few marked differences only in the fluvial zone. Phytoplankton total biomass in Funil Reservoir was high, even in periods of lower seasonal retention time (around 15 days), and was especially related to high input of nutrients. Moreover, retention time directly affects the spatial heterogeneity of phytoplankton biomass, since strong variability was only observed during the cold-dry season, corresponding to periods of longer retention time (around 80 days). While high availability of nutrients promoted high cyanobacterial biomass in the entire system, the few periods of heterogeneous spatiality seemed to be related to changes in retention time.     

Underwater noise pollution in a coastal tropical environment

Underwater noise pollution has become a major concern in marine habitats. Guanabara Bay, southeastern Brazil, is an impacted area of economic importance with constant vessel traffic. One hundred acoustic recording sessions took place over ten locations. Sound sources operating within 1 km radius of each location were quantified during recordings. The highest mean sound pressure level near the surface was 111.56 ± 9.0 dB re 1 μPa at the frequency band of 187 Hz. Above 15 kHz, the highest mean sound pressure level was 76.21 ± 8.3 dB re 1 μPa at the frequency 15.89 kHz. Noise levels correlated with number of operating vessels and vessel traffic composition influenced noise profiles. Shipping locations had the highest noise levels, while small vessels locations had the lowest noise levels. Guanabara Bay showed noise pollution similar to that of other impacted coastal regions, which is related to shipping and vessel traffic.     

A new procedure to estimate the RUSLE EI30 index, based on monthly rainfall data and applied to the Algarve region, Portugal

One of the best indicators of the potential erosion risks is the rainfall–runoff erosivity factor (R) of the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE). Frequently, however, there is not enough data available to compute the R value, and other parameters, such as the modified Fournier index (F_mod), are used instead. But RUSLE is less effective if only the alternative procedures exist. One of the major discrepancies between R and the alternative parameters is time resolution: individual storms are used to calculate R while monthly averages over the year are used to calculate F_mod.

In this study, a multiple linear regression (r²=0.89) involving monthly EI₃₀, monthly rainfall for days with ≥10.0 mm and monthly number of days with rainfall ≥10.0 mm, for the Algarve region, is presented. Twenty-seven years of monthly rainfall erosivity values were computed for the 32 standard daily-read raingauge stations of the Algarve region.