Discussion of the Möller radiation chart

Summary M?ller's assumptions for the carbon dioxide-water vapor overlap region, which lead to the construction of his radiation chart, are reinvestigated in the light of modern theory. A new radiation chart, taking into account the carbon dioxide-water vapor overlap, is constructed using water vapor and carbon dioxide absorption data as furnished byM?ller andElsasser respectively. The results of the radiative fluxes computed from the new chart are compared with equivalent results using the original M?ller and the revised Elsasser radiation diagrams, as well as with measurements.

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Zusammenfassung Die Berechtigung derM?llerschen Annahme zur getrennten Behandlung von Kohlens?ure- und Wasserdampfabsorption zwecks Konstruktion eines atmosph?rischen Strahlungsdiagrammes wird im Lichte der modernen Theorie diskutiert. Ein neues Strahlungspapier wird vorgelegt, das die gleichzeitige Anwesenheit von Kohlens?ure und Wasserdampf im gleichen Spektralbereich berücksichtigt. Dieses beruht auf Wasserdampf- und Kohlens?uredaten, die vonM?ller undElsasser vorgegeben wurden. Nach dem neuen Strahlungsdiagramm berechnete Werte werden mit Me?werten und theoretischen Werten verglichen, die mit dem ursprünglichen M?llerschen und mit dem verbesserten Elsasserschen Strahlungspapier ermittelt wurden.

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Résumé Au vu des théories modernes, on discute l'hypothèse formulée parM?ller et sa justification, hypothèse selon laquelle il est nécessaire de traiter séparément l'absorption du dioxyde de carbone et celle de la vapeur d'eau lors de l'établissement d'un diagramme du rayonnement atmosphérique. On propose alors un nouvel abaque qui tient compte de la présence simultanée du dioxyde de carbone et de la vapeur d'eau dans la même région spectrale. Cet abaque s'appuie sur les valeurs données parM?ller et parElsasser, valeurs valables pour ces deux gaz. On compare le résultat de calculs effectués avec ce nouvel abaque à des mesures et à des valeurs théoriques ces dernières étant basées tant sur les travaux originaux deM?ller que sur l'abaque amélioré deElsasser.

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With 4 Figures     

On the Importance of Geolithological Features for the Estimate of the Site Response: The Case of Catania Metropolitan Area (Italy)

The evaluation of seismic site response in the urban area of Catania was tackled by selecting test areas having peculiar lithological and structural features, potentially favourable to large local amplifications of ground motion. The two selected areas are located in the historical downtown and in the northern part of Catania where the presence of a fault is evident. Site response was evaluated using spectral ratio technique taking the horizontal- to-vertical component ratio of ambient noise. Inferences from microtremor measurements are compared with results from synthetic accelerograms and response spectra computed at all drillings available for this area. Such method is particularly suitable in urban areas where the nature of the outcropping geological units is masked by city growth and anthropic intervention on the surface geology. The microtremor H/V spectral ratios evaluated at soft sites located within the downtown profile tend to be smaller than that usually reported in the literature for such soils. A tendency for amplifications to peaks near 2 Hz is observed only in some sites located on recent alluvial deposits. Evidences for amplifications of site effects (frequency range 4–8 Hz) were observed in the sampling sites located on the fault, with a rapid decrease of spectral amplitude just a few tenths of metres away from the discontinuity. Numerical simulations evidenced the importance of geolithological features at depth levels even greater than 20–30 m. Besides this, the results strongly confirm the importance of the subsurface geological conditions, in the estimate of seismic hazard at urban scale.     

Characterization of volcanic thermal anomalies by means of sub-pixel temperature distribution analysis

The simultaneous solution of the Planck equation (involving the widely used “dual-band” technique) using two shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands allows for an estimate of the fractional area of the hottest part of an active lava flow (f _h) and the background temperature of the cooler crust (T _c). The use of a high spectral and spatial resolution imaging spectrometer with a wide dynamic range of 15 bits (DAIS 7915) in the wavelength range from 0.501 to 12.67 μm resulted in the identification of crustal temperature and fractional areas for an intra-crater hot spot at Mount Etna, Italy. This study indicates the existence of a relationship between these T _c and f _h extracted from DAIS and Landsat TM data. When the dual band equation system is performed on a lava flow, a logarithmic distribution is obtained from a plot of the fractional area of the hottest temperature vs. the temperature of the cooler crust. An entirely different distribution is obtained over active degassing vents, where increases in T _c occur without any increase in f _h. This result indicates that we can use scatter plots of T _c vs. fh to discriminate between different types of volcanic activity, in this case between degassing vents and lava flows, using satellite thermal data.     

An open dataset for landslides triggered by the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake,New Zealand

On November 14, 2016, the northeastern South Island of New Zealand was hit by the magnitude Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake, which is characterized by the most complex rupturing mechanism ever recorded. The widespread landslides triggered by the earthquake make this event a great case study to revisit our current knowledge of earthquake-triggered landslides in terms of factors controlling the spatial distribution of landslides and the rapid assessment of geographic areas affected by widespread landsliding. Although the spatial and size distributions of landslides have already been investigated in the literature, a polygon-based co-seismic landslide inventory with landslide size information is still not available as of June 2021. To address this issue and leverage this large landslide event, we mapped 14,233 landslides over a total area of approximately 14,000 km². We also identified 101 landslide dams and shared them all via an open-access repository. We examined the spatial distribution of co-seismic landslides in relation to lithologic units and seismic and morphometric characteristics. We analyzed the size statistics of these landslides in a comparative manner, by using the five largest co-seismic landslide inventories ever mapped (i.e., Chi-Chi, Denali, Wenchuan, Haiti, and Gorkha). We compared our inventory with respect to these five ones to answer the question of whether the landslides triggered by the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake are less numerous and/or share size characteristics similar to those of other strong co-seismic landslide events. Our findings show that the spatial distribution of the Kaikōura landslide event is not significantly different from those belonging to other extreme landslide events, but the average landslide size generated by the Kaikōura earthquake is relatively larger compared to some other large earthquakes (i.e., Wenchuan and Gorkha).

     

Exploratory seismic site response surveys in a complex geologic area: a case study from Mt. Etna volcano (southern Italy)

A preliminary study targeting to evaluate the local seismic response was performed in the eastern flank of Mt. Etna (southern Italy) using ambient noise measurements. The obtained spectral ratios were subdivided through cluster analysis into different classes of fundamental frequency permitting to draw an iso-frequency contour map. The analysis set into evidence the extreme heterogeneity of lava sequences, which makes difficult to identify a single seismic bedrock formation. Another important outcome, concerning the local seismic effects in terms of frequency and azimuth, is the important role played by the fracture fields associated with the main structural systems of the area. The existence of two zones with strong directional effects striking WNW–ESE and NW–SE, nearly orthogonal to the orientation of the main fracture fields, corroborate such hypothesis.     

Quantitative morphometric analysis of lakes using GIS: rectangularity R,ellipticity E,orientation O,and the rectangularity vs. ellipticity index,REi

Quantitative measures of polygon shapes and orientation are important elements of geospatial analysis. These kinds of measures are particularly valuable in the case of lakes, where shape and orientation patterns can help identifying the geomorphological agents behind lake formation and evolution. However, the lack of built-in tools in commercial geographic information system (GIS) software packages designed for this kind of analysis has meant that many researchers often must rely on tools and workarounds that are not always accurate. Here, an easy-to-use method to measure rectangularity R, ellipticity E, and orientation O is developed. In addition, a new rectangularity vs. ellipticity index, REi, is defined. Following a step-by-step process, it is shown how these measures and index can be easily calculated using a combination of GIS built-in functions. The identification of shapes and estimation of orientations performed by this method is applied to the case study of the geometric and oriented lakes of the Llanos de Moxos, in the Bolivian Amazon, where shape and orientation have been the two most important elements studied to infer possible formation mechanisms. It is shown that, thanks to these new indexes, shape and orientation patterns are unveiled, which would have been hard to identify otherwise.     

Discussion on the atmospheric radiation tables byElsasser andCulbertson

Summary The radiation tables byElsasser andCulbertson [1]²) are based upon an integrated form of the radiative transfer equation. Unfortunately, a term dealing with the temperature dependency of the transmission function is left out. This leads to an inconsistency of their analysis. It is the aim of this paper to correct and to modifyElsasser's graphical-numerical procedure such as to make his treatment internally consistent.     

Relationship between Micro-shocks Recorded on the Island of Vulcano (Italy) and Meteorological Parameters

—Swarms of micro-shocks having low magnitude (< 0), and duration between 2 and 4 seconds are often recorded at Vulcano in the Aeolian Archipelago (Italy) close to Gran Cratere which is the most recent eruptive edifice of the island. This study describes the characteristics of such peculiar seismic events, and examines their relationship with meteorological parameters. The set of shocks considered spanned from 1984 and 1990, and is here analyzed along with the daily values of temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and amount of rainfall. The meteorological parameters were recorded at a station which was located a few kilometers from Gran Cratere. On the basis of their features, seismic events were divided into two groups one showing a monochromatic character with a dominant spectral peak at 9.4 Hz, the other having a wider spectrum with dominant peaks in the range between 7 and 14 Hz. From the cross-correlation analysis of seismic and meteorological data a seasonal distribution of the occurrence of such micro-shocks can be surmised. Significant relationships with a 99% confidence level were found with all meteorological parameters. In particular, rainfalls precede with a short-time interval (about one day) the occurrence of these swarms. This result inferentially leads to an origin of such shocks in the surficial part of the volcano, and a source mechanism which may be linked to activation of microfractures induced by the action of meteoric water.