Effects of aperture on Marchenko focussing functions and their radiation behaviour at depth

A focussing function is a specially constructed field that focusses on to a purely downgoing pulse at a specified subsurface position upon injection into the medium. Such focussing functions are key ingredients in the Marchenko method and in its applications such as retrieving Green's functions, redatuming, imaging with multiples and synthesizing the response of virtual sources/receiver arrays at depth. In this study, we show how the focussing function and its corresponding focussed response at a specified subsurface position are heavily influenced by the aperture of the source/receiver array at the surface. We describe such effects by considering focussing functions in the context of time-domain imaging, offering explicit connections between time processing and Marchenko focussing. In particular, we show that the focussed response radiates in the direction perpendicular to the line drawn from the centre of the surface data array aperture to the focussed position in the time-imaging domain, that is, in time-migration coordinates. The corresponding direction in the Cartesian domain follows from the sum (superposition) of the time-domain direction and the directional change due to time-to-depth conversion. Therefore, the result from this study provides a better understanding of focussing functions and has implications in applications such as the construction of amplitude-preserving redatuming and imaging, where the directional dependence of the focussed response plays a key role in controlling amplitude distortions.     

Were merely storm-landslides driven by the 2015-2016 Niño in the Mendoza River valley?

Since Holocene time, above-mean precipitations recorded during the El Niño warm ENSO phase have been linked to the occurrence of severe debris flows in the arid Central Andes. The 2015–2016 El Niño, for its unusual strength, began driving huge and dangerous landslides in the Central Andes (32°) in the recent South Hemisphere summer. The resulting damages negatively impacted the regional economy. Despite this, causes of these dangerous events were ambiguously reported. For this reason, a multidisciplinary study was carried out in the Mendoza River valley. Firstly, a geomorphological analysis of affected basins was conducted, estimating morphometric parameters of recorded events such as velocity, stream flow, and volume. Atmospheric conditions during such events were analyzed, considering precipitations, snow cover, temperature range, and the elevation of the zero isotherm. Based on our findings, the role of El Niño on the slope instability in the Central Andes is more complex in the climate change scenario. Even though some events were effectively triggered by intense summer rainstorm following expectations, the most dangerous events were caused by the progressive uplifting of the zero isotherm in smaller basins where headwaters are occupied by debris rock glaciers. Our research findings give light to the dynamic coupled system ENSO–climate change–landslides (ECCL) at least in this particular case study of the Mendoza River valley. Landslide activity in this Andean region is driven by wetter conditions linked to the ENSO warm phase, but also to progressive warming since the twentieth century in the region. This fact emphasizes the future impact of the natural hazards on Andean mountain communities.     

Surface Geophysical Methods used to Verify the Karst Geological Structure in the Built-up Area: A Case Study of Specific Engineering-Geological Conditions

This article presents a research study of complex limestone karst engineering-geological conditions in the municipality Valaská near Banská Bystrica in Slovakia. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the impossibility of spatial identification of cave spaces using surface geophysical methods due to the specific engineering-geological conditions of a thick surface layer of anthropogenic fill containing highly heterogeneous anthropogenic material. Its maximum thickness is 3 m. Another specificific condition of the study area is its location in the built-up area, due to which the applicability of geophysical methods was limited. The article contains methodological recommendations to be used in analogous geological conditions with karst structures topped with anthropogenic fill, which complicates the identification of cave spaces. The recommended solution herein is the identification of the cave system using underground mapping of the karst and its projection onto the surface for which surface geophysical methods have been combined.     

Upwelling of Deep-seated Fluid in the Sikhote-Alin Region,Far East of the Eurasian Plate

Aquatic Geochemistry - Spring waters with high-pCO2 content are widely distributed in the Sikhote-Alin region in Russia. Mukhen spa is one such spring located in the northern Sikhote-Alin region....     

The Bear Brook Watershed in Maine: Multi-decadal whole-watershed experimental acidification

The Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM) is a long-term research site established to study the response of forest ecosystem function to environmental disturbances of chronic acidic deposition and ecosystem nitrogen enrichment. Starting in 1989, the West Bear (treated) watershed received bimonthly applications of ammonium sulfate [(NH₄)₂SO₄] fertilizer from above the canopy, whereas East Bear (reference) received ambient deposition. The treatments were stopped in 2016, marking the beginning of the recovery phase. Research at the site has focused on soils, streams, and vegetation. Here, we describe data collected over three decades at the BBWM—input and stream output nutrient fluxes, quantitative soil pits and soil chemistry, and soil temperature and moisture.     

Plant Cover,Herbivory, and Resiliency in a Cape Cod Salt Marsh: Multi-year Responses and Recovery Following Manipulation of Nutrients and Competition

To assess responses and recovery of salt marsh grass species, we manipulated external nutrient supply and removed shoots of Spartina alterniflora or Spartina patens from fertilized and control plots in a Massachusetts marsh. The pulse-and-recovery experiment included treatments for 5 years, and recovery for an additional 7 years. Responses of these potential competitors sensitively depended on local contingencies of elevation and nutrient dose, and, moreover, the differences in outcomes were emphasized at longer time scales. Local contingencies became manifest as differences in responsiveness and resiliency of the different grass species, with differing time courses and longer-term outcomes as to what species were present. These features might explain the diverse results obtained in shorter-term salt marsh experiments, and provide a view of the complex suite of species-specific and external environmental variables that may control competitive interactions in general.     

Structure Inclination Angles in the Convective Atmospheric Surface Layer

Two-point correlations of the fluctuating streamwise velocity are examined in the atmospheric surface layer over the salt flats of Utah’s western desert, and corresponding structure inclination angles are obtained for neutral, stable and unstable conditions. The neutral surface-layer results supplement evidence for the invariance of the inclination angle given in Marusic and Heuer (Phys Rev Lett 99:114504, 2007). In an extension of those results it is found that the inclination angle changes drastically under different stability conditions in the surface layer, varying systematically with the Monin–Obukhov stability parameter in the unstable regime. The variation is parametrized and subsequently can be used to improve existing near-wall models in the large-eddy simulation of the atmospheric surface layer.     

Volcanic ash clouds affecting Northern Europe: the long view

The volcanic ash or ‘tephra’ cloud resulting from the relatively small (volume and VEI) eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 caused major air travel disruption, at substantial global economic cost. On several occasions in the past few centuries, Icelandic eruptions have created ash and/or sulphur dioxide clouds which were detected over Europe (e.g. Hekla in 1947, Askja in 1875, and Laki in 1783). However, these historical observations do not represent a complete record of events serious enough to disrupt aviation in Europe. The only feasible evidence for this is within the geological tephra record. Ash layers are preserved in bogs and lakes where tephra deposited from the atmosphere is incorporated in the peat/mud. In this article we: 1, introduce the analysis of the Northern European sedimentary tephra record; 2, discuss our findings and modelling results; 3, highlight how these were misinterpreted by the popular media; and 4, use this experience to outline several existing problems with current tephra studies and suggest agendas for future research.