Lagrangian study of transport of subarctic water across the Subpolar Front in the Japan Sea

The southward near-surface transport of transformed subarctic water across the Subpolar Front in the Japan Sea is simulated and analyzed based on altimeter data from January 1, 1993 to December 31, 2017. Computing Lagrangian indicators for a large number of synthetic particles, advected by the AVISO velocity field, we find preferred transport pathways across the Subpolar Front. The southward transport occurs mainly in the central part of the frontal zone due to suitable dispositions of mesoscale eddies promoting propagation of subarctic water to the south. It is documented with the help of Lagrangian origin and L-maps and verified by the tracks of available drifters. The transport of transformed subarctic water to the south is compared with the transport of transformed subtropical water to the north simulated by Prants et al. (Nonlinear Process Geophys 24(1):89–99, 2017c).     

The modified generalized moveout approximation: a new parameter selection

Non‐hyperbolic generalised moveout approximation is a powerful tool to approximate the travel‐time function by using information obtained from two rays. The standard approach for parameter selection is using three parameters defined from zero‐offset ray and two parameters obtained from a reference ray. These parameters include the travel time and travel‐time derivatives of different order. The original parameter selection implies more fit at zero offset compared with offset from a reference ray. We propose an alternative approach for parameter selection within the frame of generalised moveout approximation by transferring more fit from the zero offset to a reference ray by changing in parameter selection. The modified approximation is tested against the original one in few analytical model examples, including the multi‐layered model.     

Assessment of runoff,water and sediment quality in the Selenga River basin aided by a web-based geoservice

The Selenga River is the main artery feeding Lake Baikal. It has a catchment of ~450000 km² in the boundary region between Northern Mongolia and Southern Siberia. Climate, land use and dynamic socioeconomic changes go along with rising water abstractions and contaminant loads originating from mining sites and urban wastewater. In the future, these pressures might have negative impacts on the ecosystems of Lake Baikal and the Selenga River Delta, which is an important wetland region in itself and forms the last geobiochemical barrier before the Selenga drains into Lake Baikal. The following study aims to assess current trends in hydrology and water quality in the Selenga-Baikal basin, identify their drivers and to set up models (WaterGAP3 framework and ECOMAG) for the prediction of future changes. Of particular relevance for hydrological and water quality changes in the recent past were climate and land use trends as well as contaminant influx from mining areas and urban settlements. In the near future, additional hydrological modifications due to the construction of dams and abstractions/water diversions from the Selenga’s Mongolian tributaries could lead to additional alterations.     

Lake ice simulation using a 3D unstructured grid model

Ocean Dynamics - We develop a single-class ice and snow model embedded inside a 3D hydrodynamic model on unstructured grids and apply it to lake studies using highly variable mesh resolution. The...     

Undersea Buried Pipeline Reconstruction Based on the Level Set and Inverse Multiquadric Regularization Method

The electric inversion technique reconstructs the subsurface medium distribution from acquired data. On the basis of electric inversion, objects buried under the earth or seabed, such as pipelines and unexploded ordnance, are detected and located in a contactless manner. However, the process of accurately reconstructing the shape of the target object is challenging because electric inversion is a nonlinear and ill-posed problem. In this work, we present an inverse multiquadric (IMQ) regularization method based on the level set function for reconstructing buried pipelines. In the case of locating underwater objects, the unknown inversion area is split into two parts, the background and the pipeline with known conductivity. The geometry of the pipeline is represented based on the level set function for achieving a noiseless inversion image. To obtain a binary image, the IMQ is used as the regularization term, which 'pushes' the level set function away from 0. We also provide an appropriate method to select the bandwidth and regularization pa-rameters for the IMQ regularization term, resulting in reconstructed images with sharp edges. The simulation results and analysis show that the proposed method performs better than classical inversion methods.