Preliminary optical classification of lakes and coastal waters in Estonia and south Finland

A preliminary optical classification of lakes in Estonia and south Finland which can also be used for small bays of the Baltic Sea is elaborated. The classification is based on the optical properties of water (diffuse attenuation coefficient, diffuse reflectance) and parameters that are routinely monitored in water bodies (Secchi depth, concentration of chlorophyll-a, total suspended matter and yellow substance). The data complex used for our classification covers different types of water ecosystems (ranging from oligotrophic to hypertrophic) and the variability of water constituent concentrations in the ice-free period in Estonia and south Finland. Using cluster analysis, we found 5 optical classes of waters: clear (C), moderate (M), turbid (T), very turbid (V) and brown (B). There is satisfactory correspondence between class of water, shape of diffuse attenuation coefficient and diffuse reflectance spectra and trophic state of the lakes.     

Web Use in Geographical and Environmental Education: An International Survey at the Primary and Secondary Level

This article aims to study Web use and Web-based co-operation and collaboration in geographical and environmental education at the primary and secondary level around the world. Recent trends and future opportunities and challenges are taken into account. The theoretical part of the study considers Web use and different forms of Web-based co-operation. Web use and co-operation in education are classified as co-operative learning, collaborative learning or communal learning. Web use in geographical and environmental education is noted to be growing in significance. Web-based co-operation at any level of intensity is associated with many opportunities and challenges. The empirical part of this study involves a survey of geographical and environmental education researchers in various countries about their views of Web use in education. The results of this survey indicate that the Web in general finds minimal use in geographical and environmental education. As access to the Web is limited and only some pupils can use it, co-operation, particularly collaborative learning on the Web, is still rare in geographical and environmental education. The most often used application is e-mail. Researchers recognise the potential of the Web to enhance local, national and international co-operation, and to facilitate a better understanding of geographical and environmental issues at the grass-root level. Web-based learning can also help to increase and deepen the pupils' cultural understanding. Before that, however, problems in access, costs and teacher training must be solved. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ultraviolet radiation exposure of a high arctic lake in Svalbard during the Holocene

Long‐term fluctuations in lake‐water optical properties were examined using a Holocene sediment sequence and multi‐proxy palaeolimnological approach in Lake Einstaken, Nordaustlandet, Svalbard. UV‐absorbance of sedimentary cladoceran remains provided information on underwater UV exposure and changes in lake‐catchment coupling processes were inferred from sediment geochemistry. In addition, aquatic community succession was used as an indicator for lake‐water bio‐optical properties and a Holocene record of sun activity (sunspots) was utilized to evaluate long‐term solar forcing. The results indicated that the UV‐absorbance of cladoceran remains was highest (i.e. maximum UV‐induced pigmentation) for a short period during the early Holocene and for several millennia during the mid‐Holocene. Sun activity was high during these time intervals, probably impacting the UV intensities, but it is probable that the amount of UV‐attenuating compounds (e.g. dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) also significantly affected the underwater UV environment and were low during high UV exposure. Benthic autotrophic communities also responded to the millennial changes in lake‐water optical properties. UV‐resistant Nostoc cyanobacterial colonies were established during the mid‐Holocene, indicative of high underwater UV intensities, and Fontinalis mosses thrived during the early Holocene, indicating a highly transparent water column. The results further suggested that underwater UV exposure decreased during the late Holocene, which is probably attributable to increased DOC and decreased solar forcing. Owing to the location of Lake Einstaken and its catchment in the periglacial barren landscape of the polar desert, the fluctuations of bio‐optical lake‐water properties were apparently forced by postglacial environmental processes and Holocene climate development. These factors controlled sea shoreline proximity, water discharge, ice‐cover duration and littoral‐benthic primary production and further affected the underwater UV environment. Although the role of solar forcing cannot be underestimated, the current record emphasizes the role of climate‐mediated lake‐catchment interactions in impacting bio‐optical properties and UV exposure of high arctic aquatic systems.     

Basin-Scale 3D Sedimentary Modelling: An Approach to Subdivide Baltic Sea Onshore Sediments for Land use and Construction

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Understanding the local stratigraphy and geometry of sediment units is necessary for successful 3D modelling and the prediction of ground behaviour and...     

Modelling of space weather effects on pipelines

The interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field produces time varying currents in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. The currents cause variations of the geomagnetic field at the surface of the earth and induce an electric field which drives currents in oil and gas pipelines and other long conductors. Geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) interfere with electrical surveys of pipelines and possibly contribute to pipeline corrosion.In this paper, we introduce a general method which can be used to determine voltage and current profiles for buried pipelines, when the external geoelectric field and the geometry and electromagnetic properties of the pipeline are known. The method is based on the analogy between pipelines and transmission lines, which makes it possible to use the distributed source transmission line (DSTL) theory. The general equations derived for the current and voltage profiles are applied in special cases. A particular attention is paid to the Finnish natural gas pipeline network.This paper, related to a project about GIC in the Finnish pipeline, thus provides a tool for understanding space weather effects on pipelines. Combined with methods of calculating the geoelectric field during magnetic storms, the results are applicable to forecasting of geomagnetically induced currents and voltages on pipelines in the future.     

On the global structure of self-gravitating discs for softened gravity

The effects of gravitational softening on the global structure of self-gravitating discs in centrifugal equilibrium are examined in relation to hydrodynamical/gravitational simulations. The one-parameter spline softening proposed by Hernquist & Katz is used.
It is found that if the characteristic size of a disc, r , is comparable to or less than the gravitational softening length, ε, then the cross-section of the simulated disc is significantly larger than that of a no-softening (Newtonian) disc with the same mass and angular momentum.
We demonstrate, furthermore, that if r ≲ε/2 then the scaling relation r ∝ε^3/4 holds for a given mass and specific angular momentum distribution with mass. Finally, we compare some of the theoretical results obtained in this paper and a previous one with the results of numerical Tree-SPH simulations and find qualitative agreement.     

Solar shield: forecasting and mitigating space weather effects on high-voltage power transmission systems

In this paper, central elements of the Solar Shield project, launched to design and establish an experimental system capable of forecasting the space weather effects on high-voltage power transmission system, are described. It will be shown how Sun–Earth system data and models hosted at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) are used to generate two-level magnetohydrodynamics-based forecasts providing 1–2 day and 30–60 min lead-times. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) represents the end-user, the power transmission industry, in the project. EPRI integrates the forecast products to an online display tool providing information about space weather conditions to the member power utilities. EPRI also evaluates the economic impacts of severe storms on power transmission systems. The economic analysis will quantify the economic value of the generated forecasting system. The first version of the two-level forecasting system is currently running in real-time at CCMC. An initial analysis of the system’s capabilities has been completed, and further analysis is being carried out to optimize the performance of the system. Although the initial results are encouraging, definite conclusions about system’s performance can be given only after more extensive analysis, and implementation of an automatic evaluation process using forecasted and observed geomagnetically induced currents from different nodes of the North American power transmission system. The final output of the Solar Shield will be a recommendation for an optimal forecasting system that may be transitioned into space weather operations.     

Recent observations of meteotsunamis on the Finnish coast

We present four case studies of exceptional wave events of meteorological origin, observed on the Finnish coast in the summers of 2010 and 2011. Eyewitnesses report unusually rapid and strong sea-level variations (up to 1 m in 5–15 min) and strong oscillating currents during these events. High-resolution sea-level measurements confirm the eyewitness observations, but the oscillations recorded by tide gauges mostly have a considerably smaller amplitude. The oscillations coincide with sudden jumps in surface air pressure at coastal observation stations, related to the passage of squall lines or gust fronts. These fronts propagate above the sea at a resonant speed, allowing efficient energy transfer between the atmospheric disturbance and the sea wave that it generates. Thus, we interpret the observed sea-level oscillations as small meteotsunamis, long tsunami-like waves generated by meteorological processes and resonance effects.