The effect of bedform dynamics on computing suspended sediment fluxes using optical backscatter sensors and current meters

The sensitivity of the suspended sediment flux is tested with respect to rapid changes in bed-level across the surf zone of a sandy beach. The suspended flux was computed using a fixed instrument array, but bed-level changes due to ripple migration caused the instrument elevations to be significantly changed during the course of the experiment. The nominal elevations of the instruments were adjusted during data processing (using the MOBS array) to maintain a fixed elevation with respect to bed-level changes. The resultant suspended sediment concentrations and fluxes were significantly different from the unadjusted data, and for the present data set O(35%) less when averaged over the tide. The maximum difference between adjusted and unadjusted fluxes may be O(260%). The results indicate that changes in bed-level, particularly those due to bedform migration, must be accounted for when processing OBS data if reliable estimates of suspended sediment transport are to be obtained in the field.     

Radar observations of precipitation production in thunderstorms

Abstract

Precipitation production is investigated for 9 intense thunderstorms that developed over the Lowveld in South Africa. A C‐band radar is used to observe the 3‐dimensional reflectivity pattern. Using an empirical relation between reflectivity factor and precipitation content and integrating over the storm volume provides an estimate of the total precipitation content aloft. Likewise, an area integration of the instantaneous rain rate at cloud base yields an estimate of the rate of total outflow. At their maturing stage, the storms had precipitation contents of 0.2 to 5.0 Tg and rainfall rates of about 0.3 to 2.0 Gg s^?1. The total accumulation of rain at the ground ranged from 1 to 10 Tg. The characteristic storm updraft, defined as the ratio of the area‐averaged rainfall rate to the volume‐averaged precipitation content, was about 5 ms^?1 for all storms. The time evolution of integral storm parameters is also presented and related to the overall storm development. The precipitation production values observed in the Lowveld storms compares well with previous estimates reported for large thunderstorms observed in Alberta and New England.     

Winter-to-spring temperature dynamics in Turkey derived from tree rings since AD 1125

In the eastern Mediterranean in general and in Turkey in particular, temperature reconstructions based on tree rings have not been achieved so far. Furthermore, centennial-long chronologies of stable isotopes are generally also missing. Recent studies have identified the tree species Juniperus excelsa as one of the most promising tree species in Turkey for developing long climate sensitive stable carbon isotope chronologies because this species is long-living and thus has the ability to capture low-frequency climate signals. We were able to develop a statistically robust, precisely dated and annually resolved chronology back to AD 1125. We proved that variability of δ¹³C in tree rings of J. excelsa is mainly dependent on winter-to-spring temperatures (January–May). Low-frequency trends, which were associated with the medieval warm period and the little ice age, were identified in the winter-to-spring temperature reconstruction, however, the twentieth century warming trend found elsewhere could not be identified in our proxy record, nor was it found in the corresponding meteorological data used for our study. Comparisons with other northern-hemispherical proxy data showed that similar low-frequency signals are present until the beginning of the twentieth century when the other proxies derived from further north indicate a significant warming while the winter-to-spring temperature proxy from SW-Turkey does not. Correlation analyses including our temperature reconstruction and seven well-known climate indices suggest that various atmospheric oscillation patterns are capable of influencing the temperature variations in SW-Turkey.     

An ESA NEOCC Effort to Eliminate High Palermo Scale Virtual Impactors

In this work we summarize the initial results of a targeted effort of the ESA NEO Coordination Centre to obtain additional observational data in order to eliminate or reduce the impact probability estimate of a subset of the known near-Earth objects representing the highest fraction of the total known impact risk, as measured by the Palermo Scale.     

Solar irradiance below 120 nm and its variations

The solar irradiance below 120 nm was first predicted by astronomers. Since its accurate measurement required the solution of a variety of technological problems, little is known about the variability before 1972, though for more than two decades data have been collected. Therefore, on a quantitative basis only a very rough picture can be given for the solar cycle 19. Also, not enough data with sufficient absolute accuracy are available to describe the solar EUV flux variations of the solar cycle 20, especially during the period of solar maximum. However, due to technological improvements of space and laboratory instrumentations, an almost complete set of data has been obtained from 1972 to date. These observations exhibit strong differences of the flux variations from solar cycle 20 to 21. - For the theoretical and for semi-empirical treatments of many aeronomic processes controlled by the solar EUV radiation, its adequate representation e.g. as indices is required. The problems involved and possible solutions are discussed. Results from some relevant aeronomically oriented computations based on variable solar EUV fluxes are presented.Proceedings of the 14th ESLAB Symposium on Physics of Solar Variations, 16–19 September 1980, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.     

The ‘land-locked’ viewpoint

While the Draft Convention still leaves the land-locked states with very considerable disadvantages, it can be said to represent a success for such states in so far as the notion of land-locked states forms a definite part of the proposed law of the sea and therefore provided them with the power to influence further developments.