Coarse clast ridge sequences as suitable archives for past storm events? Case study on the Houtman Abrolhos,Western Australia

Prehistoric storm records are relatively scarce in most parts of the world. This article presents storm records derived from coral rubble‐based geological archives of the Houtman Abrolhos Archipelago located off the west coast of Australia, where the southernmost coral reefs of the Indian Ocean are found. Winter storm swell from the circum‐Antarctic ‘Brave Westerlies’, as well as tropical cyclone waves, have left numerous ridge systems on dozens of islands of the archipelago, all composed of coral rubble from adjacent reefs. At three islands, seven ridge systems were dated by three different methods: U‐series (68 dates), radiocarbon (64 dates), electron spin resonance (7 dates); 139 radiometric dates span the last 5500 years of the Holocene. In contrast to the geomorphological interpretation, the age sequences show ‘inversions’, hiatuses and different ages for the same ridge, all pointing to complicated ridge formation processes. Time gaps, some exceeding 1000 years, are interpreted as phases of erosion and not as phases without storm activity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi-criteria analysis for the identification of waste disposal areas

The municipality of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (ES) is currently the largest domestic producer and exporter of marble and granite in Brazil. The processing of the rock, especially the sawing results in a large volume of waste, including the abrasives used during sawing and the off-cut pieces. Presently these waste products are disposed of without proper environmental protection and cause pollution to surface water and groundwater resources, including silting, an increase in hardness and increased aluminium values in the groundwater. In order to minimize the harmful effects of these practices on the environment, a research project was undertaken to identify potential disposal sites for the generated waste. A multi-criteria approach was followed during which a database was compiled of all the companies generating waste products and also including a baseline environmental study of the region, integrated analysis (multi-criteria analysis) of the restriction factors and the preliminary identification of possible disposal sites. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Multi-criteria decision-making and life cycle assessment model for optimal product selection: case study of knee support

Selection of the optimal product, where several products’ aspects are expressed through criteria, is a multi-criteria decision-making problem. Besides technical, exploitational, functional, structural, market and aesthetic criteria, nowadays, environmental criteria are inevitable aspects of a modern product. Environmental product properties can be successfully evaluated with a life cycle assessment. This paper proposes a multi-criteria decision-making model for optimal product assessment that uses environmental criteria obtained from a life cycle assessment. The proposed model presents a comprehensive approach that aims to overcome complex decision-making problems for optimal product selection, where special attention is given to the product’s environmental impact. Verification of the proposed multi-criteria decision-making and life cycle assessment model was performed on the case study of optimal knee support selection. By changing the criteria weights in multi-criteria decision-making, a sensitivity analysis was performed. The model output results show the product alternatives ranking that supports decision-making in optimal product selection.     

Rainfall-runoff modeling for storm events in a coastal forest catchment using neural networks

The process of transformation of rainfall into runoff over a catchment is very complex and highly nonlinear and exhibits both temporal and spatial ＂variabilities, In this article, a rainfall-runoff model using the artificial neural networks （ANN） is proposed for simulating the runoff in storm events. The study uses the data from a coastal forest catchment, located in Seto Inland Sea, Japan, This article studies the accuracy of the short-term rainfall forecast obtained by ANN time-series analysis techniques and using antecedent rainfall depths and stream flow as the input information. The verification results from the proposed model indicate that the approach of ANN rainfall-runoff model presented in this paper shows a reasonable agreement in rainfall-runoff modeling with high accuracy,     

Optically stimulated luminescence dating of large storm events in Northern Scotland

Climate changes over the Holocene have directly impacted on both coastal processes and human use of coastal areas. This paper presents results from the dating of wind blown sand deposits collected from coastal and archaeological sites in Northern Scotland. Archaeological remains are frequently found interspersed with sand deposits and represent distinct periods of occupation of settlement sites within the local landscapes. In some cases storm events sufficiently inundate the sites with sand to result in periodic abandonment. Storm events can also have dramatic results on adjacent rock coastlines, with storm boulder ridges emplaced by large waves, burying sand deposits on cliff-top sites. Work has been undertaken using a quartz SAR protocol to date sand deposition at two archaeological sites in Orkney and a cliff-top site in Shetland. These dates provide chronological information, which help to construct regional chronologies of climatic instability and environmental change and allow the SAR-OSL method to be assessed as an accurate sediment dating tool in this context.     

Extremity analysis of storm surge for fixing safe design water level

Phenomenal storm surge levels associated with cyclones are common in East Coast of India. The coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh are in rapid stride of myriad marine infrastructural developments. The safe elevations of coastal structures need a long-term assessment of storm surge conditions. Hence, past 50 years (1949–1998), tropical cyclones hit the Bay are obtained from Fleet Naval Meteorological & Oceanographic Center, USA, and analyzed to assess the storm surge experienced around Kakinada and along south Andhra Pradesh coast. In this paper, authors implemented Rankin Hydromet Vortex model and Bretschneider’s wind stress formulation to hindcast the surge levels. It is seen from the hindcast data that the November, 1977 cyclone has generated highest surge of the order of 1.98 m. Extreme value analysis is carried out using Weibull distribution for long-term prediction. The results reveal that the surge for 1 in 100-year return period is 2.0 m. Further the highest surge in 50 years generated by the severe cyclone (1977) is numerically simulated using hydrodynamic model of Mike-21. The simulation results show that the Krishnapatnam, Nizampatnam and south of Kakinada have experienced a surge of 1.0, 1.5 and 0.75 m, respectively.     

On the use of synthetic tropical cyclones and hypothetical events for storm surge assessment under climate change

Natural Hazards - This study presents a new approach to assess storm surge risk from tropical cyclones under climate change by direct calculation of the local flood levels using a limited number of...     

Quantification of karst aquifer discharge components during storm events through end-member mixing analysis using natural chemistry and stable isotopes as tracers

Karst aquifer components that contribute to the discharge of a water supply well in the Classical Karst (Kras) region (Italy/Slovenia) were quantitatively estimated during storm events. Results show that water released from storage within the epikarst may comprise as much as two-thirds of conduit flow in a karst aquifer following rainfall. Principal components analysis (PCA) and end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) were performed using major ion chemistry and the stable isotopes of water (δ¹⁸O, δ²H) and of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ¹³C_DIC) to estimate mixing proportions among three sources: (1) allogenic river recharge, (2) autogenic recharge, and (3) an anthropogenic component stored within the epikarst. The sinking river most influences the chemical composition of the water-supply well under low-flow conditions; however, this proportion changes rapidly during recharge events. Autogenic recharge water, released from shallow storage in the epikarst, displaces the river water and is observed at the well within hours after the onset of precipitation. The autogenic recharge end member is the second largest component of the well chemistry, and its contribution increases with higher flow. An anthropogenic component derived from epikarstic storage also impacts the well under conditions of elevated hydraulic head, accounting for the majority of the chemical response at the well during the wettest conditions.     

Magnetic properties of airborne particulate matter in Shanghai during dust storm events and the implications for heavy metal contaminant sources

Airborne particulate samples (including dust storm period samples) were collected from the Putuo, Qingpu and Minhang districts of Shanghai city from October, 2009 to October, 2010, and also tracked the dust transporting pathways from NW (Northwest) to SE (Southeast) including the cities of Xi’an, Beijing, Zhengzhou and Nantong, as a means of sampling the dust storm particulate matter in the spring of 2010. After measuring the magnetic parameters and the concentrations of particles and heavy metals, their magnetic properties were analyzed to track the source locations of heavy metal pollution during dust storm events, and then combined for backward trajectory analysis. It was found that the slightly polluted dust particles carried many contaminants during dust storm periods when the dust palls were transported by winter monsoon winds from the NW desert region towards the SE. The contaminants were further increased by contributions of fine SP&SD grains derived from local automobile exhausts in Shanghai as well as being enriched also in Northern cities during non-dust storm periods. A significantly positive linear relation was found between the χ_lf and SIRM of loess and the storm dust, indicating a similar material source for these two kinds of samples. A higher χ_lf and SIRM in storm dust content compared to loess suggests that storm dust contains not only materials from natural sources, but also those from partly anthropogenic sources. Backward trajectory analysis indicates intuitively the source region of the Shanghai storm dust. These conclusions have important scientific significance for research on long-distance transportation of contaminants (such as heavy metals) adsorbed onto airborne particulate matter during dust storm events.     

山东暴雨洪涝灾害的风险区划与分析

根据暴雨洪涝灾害致灾因子危险性、孕灾环境敏感性、承载体易损性和防灾减灾能力4个一级因子,以山东地区为研究对象,综合考虑降雨、地形地势、河网密度、植被、人口和经济实力、道路交通信息等因子进行风险区划与分析。利用地理信息系统软件（ArcGIS）将上述因子进行归一化来获得标准化的多源栅格数据,结合层次分析法和自然断点法确定相关指标的权重,建立了暴雨洪涝灾害的风险评估模型,最后得到了山东地区暴雨洪涝灾害综合风险区划等级评估图。对研究区进行定性和定量分析后得出结论,山东地区暴雨洪涝灾害发生的高风险区在鲁中西部、鲁南及山东半岛东部沿海部分地区,此结论与历史数据基本吻合。研究结果为预防山东暴雨洪涝灾害提供了参考信息。     

时域反射仪（TDR）测定土壤含水量标定曲线评价与方案推荐

时域反射仪（Time Domain Reflectometry）可用于室内和田间快速、 准确、 自动测定土壤含水量, 是目前应用最广泛的土壤含水量测定方法之一。适宜的土壤含水量标定曲线（即土壤表观介电常数和土壤含水量之间的关系）是TDR准确测定土壤含水量的关键。目前文献中存在大量的土壤含水量标定曲线, 但尚未有研究对这些标定曲线进行系统的验证和分析评价。因此, 它们的准确性和适用范围尚不明晰, 严重影响到与土壤含水量测定相关的研究。通过查阅大量国内外文献, 收集整理了一系列土壤含水量标定曲线的经验公式（19个）和半经验半物理模型（5个）, 并利用大量的文献实测数据对其进行综合评价。同时运用均方根差（RMSE）, 平均误差（AD）, 纳什效率系数（NSE）等三个指标对比分析和评价这些标定曲线的准确性和可靠性。研究结果表明： 经验公式中Topp、 Roth（1992）2、 Jacobosen、 Yoshikawa2、 Alharathi模型和半经验模型中Malicki1公式及其修订模型综合性能较好。研究成果可为利用TDR准确测定土壤含水量及土壤含水量标定曲线的选择提供参考和指导。     

Spatial multi-criteria analysis for selecting potential sites for aquifer recharge via harvesting and infiltration of surface runoff in north Jordan

In (semi-)arid regions, available water resources are scarce and groundwater resources are often overused. Therefore, the option to increase available water resources by managed aquifer recharge (MAR) via infiltration of captured surface runoff was investigated for two basins in northern Jordan. This study evaluated the general suitability of catchments to generate sufficient runoff and tried to identify promising sites to harvest and infiltrate the runoff into the aquifer for later recovery. Large sets of available data were used to create regional thematic maps, which were then combined to constraint maps using Boolean logic and to create suitability maps using weighted linear combination. This approach might serve as a blueprint which could be adapted and applied to similar regions. The evaluation showed that non-committed source water availability is the most restricting factor for successful water harvesting in regions with <200 mm/a rainfall. Experiences with existing structures showed that sediment loads of runoff are high. Therefore, the effectiveness of any existing MAR scheme will decrease rapidly to the point where it results in an overall negative impact due to increased evaporation if maintenance is not undertaken. It is recommended to improve system operation and maintenance, as well as monitoring, in order to achieve a better and constant effectiveness of the infiltration activities.     

Regional frequency analysis of extreme rainfall events in Jakarta

Natural Hazards - Jakarta is vulnerable to flooding and extreme rainfall events are always the main cause of the occurrence of heavy flood events with loss of life and property. The flood in...     

Toward a general procedure for analysis of extreme random events in the earth sciences

Engineering and scientific approaches to design magnitude estimation are briefly revisited. Some defense is offered for use of annual maxima in design as if they were variables from a common distribution. However, to assume any particular form of distribution tail beyond the largest data value is not justifiable, regardless of the degree of data support over the main body of the distribution. An alternative approach to the design problem is suggested through use of parameter-free nonparametric estimation using the kernel method. Some simulation results are presented which suggest that the parameter-free approach is worthy of further development. A particular advantage of nonparametric methods is that competing estimators can be checked against parametric distributions, leading to a progressive improvement in estimator accuracy.This paper was presented (by title) at Engineering Concepts, MGUS-87 Conference, Redwood City, California, 13–15 April 1987.     

Physical origins for variations in the apparent positions of quasars

The physical origins of the apparent motion of radio sources in the ICRF are considered. The sources can be divided into four groups, according to the characteristics of their motion. Here, we consider the model for the motion of the first group of sources—those displaying uniform linear motion. Since the apparent speeds of the radio sources are close to, and sometimes exceeding, the speed of light, it is natural to suppose that these sources are relativistic jets or plasma clouds moving with speeds close to the speed of light. Uniform linear motion can be explained by a model invoking precession of the jet. We consider the physical characteristics of a number of selected sources of the ICRF in the proposed model.