Flow–plant interactions at leaf,stem and shoot scales: drag,turbulence, and biomechanics

Flow–plant interactions are experimentally investigated at leaf, stem, and shoot scales in an open-channel flume at a range of Reynolds numbers. The experiments included measurements of instantaneous drag forces acting on leaves, stems, and shoots of the common freshwater plant species Glyceria fluitans, complemented with velocity measurements, high-resolution video recordings, and biomechanical tests of leaf and stem properties. The analyses of bulk statistics, power spectral densities, transfer functions, and cross-correlations of measured velocities and drag forces revealed that flow characteristics, drag force, and plant biomechanical and morphological properties are strongly interconnected and scale-dependent. The plant element–flow interactions can be subdivided into two classes: (I) passive interactions when the drag variability is due to the time variability of the wetted and frontal areas and squared approach velocity (due to the large-scale turbulence); and (II) active interactions representing a range of element-specific instabilities that depend on the element flexural rigidity and morphology. Implications of experimental findings for plant biophysics and ecology are briefly discussed.     

Micro- and macro-dispersive fluxes in canopy flows

Resolving every detail of the three-dimensional canopy morphology and its underlying topography remains untenable when modeling high Reynolds number geophysical flows. How to represent the effects of such a complex morphological variability and any concomittant topographic variability into one-dimensional bulk flow representation remains a fundamental challenge to be confronted in canopy turbulence research. Theoretically, planar averaging to the scale of interest should be applied to the time-averaged mean momentum balance; however, such averaging gives rise to covariance or dispersive terms produced by spatial correlations of time-averaged quantities that remain ‘unclosed’ or require parameterization. When the averaging scale is commensurate with few canopy heights, these covariances can be labeled as ‘micro-dispersive’ stresses. When averaging is intended to eliminate low-wavenumber topographic variations, we refer to these covariances as ‘macro-dispersive’ terms. Two flume experiments were used to explore the magnitude and sign of both micro- and macro-dispersive fluxes relative to their conventional Reynolds stresses counterparts: a rod-canopy with variable roughness density and a dense rod canopy situated on gentle hilly terrain. When compared to the conventional momentum flux, the micro-dispersive fluxes in the lowest layers of sparse canopies can be significant (∼50%). For dense canopies, the dispersive terms remain negligible when compared to the conventional momentum fluxes throughout. For the macro-dispersive fluxes, model calculations suggest that these terms can be neglected relative to the Reynolds stresses for a deep canopy situated on a narrow hill. For the region in which topographic variations can interact with the pressure, both model calculations and flume experiments suggest that the macro-dispersive fluxes cannot be neglected, and their value can be 20% of the typical Reynolds stresses.     

Flow field downstream of individual aquatic plants—Experiments in a natural river with Potamogeton crispus L. and Myriophyllum spicatum L.

Flow disturbances generated by individual patches of submerged, flexible aquatic vegetation were investigated for two naturally growing macrophyte species, Potamogeton crispus L. and Myriophyllum spicatum L., in a sandy lowland river. Through acoustic Doppler velocimetry, 24 vertical profiles of the 3D velocity field were recorded downstream of each of the patches. The morphological features and biomechanical properties of the plants were also evaluated. The experiments showed the relationship between biomechanical characteristics and turbulence statistics. M. spicatum, which was stiffer and therefore less prone to dynamic reconfiguration, showed a greater effect on velocity damping, causing an increase in Reynold stresses, turbulence intensities, and turbulent kinetic energy downstream of the patch. These effects were present in regions both above and below plant height. In contrast for P. crispus, these effects were present only below plant height. The stiffer plant produced a mixing layer in its wake similar to that of dense plant canopies. The patch of less stiff and more streamlined P. crispus with longer leaves presented a much weaker effect on the flow. In contrast to previous studies conducted with rigid plant surrogates, we concluded that reconfiguration of the living flexible plants allows the plants to minimize drag forces, and therefore, their influence on the flow field was weaker than the effects reported for rigid surrogates.     

Biomechanical properties of aquatic plants and their effects on plant–flow interactions in streams and rivers

We analysed the biomechanical properties of aquatic plant stems of four common submerged river macrophyte species with bending, tension and cyclic loading/unloading tests and related these properties to the hydraulic habitats of the plants. The studied species included Glyceria fluitans, Ranunculus penicillatus, Myriophyllum alterniflorum and Fontinalis antipyretica. Habitat assessment shows that these species occur in a range from low to high flow velocities, respectively. G. fluitans is a semi-aquatic species with stems of a high flexural rigidity and high breaking force and breaking stress that enable them to carry their own weight and balance gravity when growing upright in slow flowing rivers. G. fluitans may also grow horizontally often producing emerged terrestrial stems. In contrast, F. antipyretica grows in fierce water flow. Its stems have the highest flexibility, a significantly higher ‘tension’ Young’s modulus, breaking stress and work of fracture and a lower plastic deformation compared to M. alterniflorum and R. penicillatus. These traits enable F. antipyretica to survive even in swift flowing streams and constrict the growth of M. alterniflorum and R. penicillatus to the river reaches with moderate flow velocities. R. penicillatus has a weak bottom part with a low breaking force and breaking stress acting as a predetermined breaking point and enabling seasonal regrowth from root parts.     

Tephra dispersal and eruption dynamics of wet and dry phases of the 1875 eruption of Askja Volcano, Iceland

The 1875 rhyolitic eruption of Askja volcano in Iceland was a complex but well-documented silicic explosive eruption. Eyewitness chronologies, coupled with examination of very proximal exposures and historical records of distal deposit thickness, provide an unusual opportunity for study of Plinian and phreatoplinian eruption and plume dynamics. The ∼ 17 hour-long main eruption was characterized by abrupt and reversible shifts in eruption style, e.g., from ‘wet’ to ‘dry’ eruption conditions, and transitions from fall to flow activity. The main eruption began with a ‘dry’ subplinian phase (B), followed by a shift to a very powerful phreatoplinian ‘wet’ eruptive phase (C1). A shift from sustained ‘wet’ activity to the formation of ‘wet’ pyroclastic density currents followed with the C2 pyroclastic density currents, which became dryer with time. Severe ground shaking accompanied a migration in vent position and the onset of the intense ‘dry’ Plinian phase (D). Each of the fall units can be modeled using the segmented exponential thinning method (Bonadonna et al. 1998), and three to five segments have been recognized on a semilog plot of thickness vs. area^1/2. The availability of very proximal and far-distal thickness data in addition to detailed observations taken during this eruption has enabled calculations of eruption parameters such as volumes, intensities and eruption column heights. This comprehensive dataset has been used here to assess the bias of volume calculations when proximal and distal data are missing, and to evaluate power-law and segmented exponential thinning methods using limited datasets.     

Turbulence characteristics of flow region over a series of 2-D dune shaped structures

This paper addresses the development of a flow region associated with turbulence and stress characteristics over a series of 2-D asymmetric dunes placed successively at the flume surface. Experiments were conducted over twelve asymmetric dunes of mean length 32 cm, crest height 3 cm and the dune width almost as wide as width of the flume, using 3-D Micro-ADV at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. The variations of turbulence statistics along the flow affected by the wavy bottom roughness have been studied. Quadrant decomposition of the instantaneous Reynolds shear stress has been adopted to calculate the contribution of ejection and sweeping events in shear stress generation. The relative dominance of two events are found to contribute in a cyclic manner (spatially) in the near bed region, whereas such phenomenon seems to be disappeared towards the main flow.     

Repeating earthquakes recorded by Liaoning Regional Seismograph Network

In the list of ’repeating pairs’ or ’doublets’ of earthquakes in China identified by Schaff and Richards using tele-seismic waveform cross-correlation, there were 23 repeating pairs located in Liaoning Province. In this study the waveforms of these events were cross-correlated using records from Liaoning Regional Seismograph Network (LRSN), and the ’repeating events’ in the sense of regional waveform cross-correlation were obtained. The result was compared with that of Schaff and Richards and was used for the assessment of the seismic phase picking and event location practice of LRSN. The result shows that ’repeating events’ in the sense of teleseismic waveform cross-correlation and those in the sense of regional waveform cross-correlation have significant difference, al-though with some overlap. However, the overall assessment of the location accuracy and the phase pick errors of LRSN by using these two sets of ’repeating events’, respectively, provides similar results, while ’repeating events’ in the sense of regional waveform cross-correlation seem to be better performing in such an assessment. With the assumption that the separation between the ’repeaters’ be less than 1 km, the uncertainty in routine earthquake location of LRSN is estimated to be below 5 km, with the average of 2 km. In the observational bulletins of LRSN the time error in phase picking is estimated to be within ±1s for 94% Pg readings and for 88% Sg readings.     

The Skeptical Environmentalist: A Sociocultural Perspective

Bjorn Lomborg's critique of environmentalism has been praised by The Economist as ‘right’ on its main points and ‘just’ in its criticism of much green activism, and damned by Scientific American as a ‘failure’ in its purpose of describing the state of the world. Most of the debate has centred on Lomborg's treatment of environmental issues. But the book is about more than the environment, and its flaws extend beyond his use and interpretation of the data. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Retrospective forecasting test of a statistical physics model for earthquakes in Sichuan-Yunnan region

Pattern informatics (PI) model is one of the recently developed predictive models of earthquake phys- ics based on the statistical mechanics of complex systems. In this paper, retrospective forecast test of the PI model was conducted for the earthquakes in Sichuan-Yunnan region since 1988, exploring the possibility to apply this model to the estimation of time-dependent seismic hazard in continental China. Regional earthquake catalogue down to ML3.0 from 1970 to 2007 was used. The ‘target magnitude’ for the forecast test was MS5.5. Fifteen-year long ‘sliding time window’ was used in the PI calculation, with ‘anomaly training time window’ being 5 years and ‘forecast time window’ being 5 years, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) test was conducted for the evaluation of the forecast result, showing that the PI forecast outperforms not only random guess but also the simple number counting approach based on the clustering hypothesis of earthquakes (the RI forecast). If the ‘forecast time window’ was shortened to 3 years and 1 year, respectively, the forecast capability of the PI model de- creased significantly, albeit outperformed random forecast. For the one year ‘forecast time window’, the PI result was almost comparable to the RI result, indicating that clustering properties play a more important role at this time scale.     

Statistical property of candidate earthquake precursors and its apparent focal mechanism dependence

Statistical properties of reported earthquake precursors show apparent focal mechanism dependence. Intensity of anomaly is described by the ‘anomaly ratio’ as defined by the number of stations/items reporting anomalies before the target earthquake over the number of stations/items in operation around the target earthquake. Variation of the ‘anomaly ratio’ with the magnitude of the target earthquake was studied for dip-slip earthquakes all over China, strike-slip earthquakes in eastern China, and strike-slip earthquakes in western China, respectively. It is observed that for strike-slip earthquakes, the ‘anomaly ratio’ increases linearly with the magnitude of the target earthquake, while earthquakes in eastern China and western China have different slopes. For dip-slip earthquakes, however, the ‘anomaly ratio’ has no statistically significant change with the magnitude of the target earthquake. Limited data imply that the ‘anomaly ratio’ seems proportional to the apparent stress of the target earthquake. The result might be heuristic for the analysis of candidate earthquake precursors. Foundation item: National Natural Science Foundation of China (40274013) and MOST Project (2001BA601B02). Contribution No.04FE1020, Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration.     

Echo intensity data as a directional antenna for observing processes above sloping ocean bottoms

Relative ‘echo intensity’ data (dI) from a bottom-mounted four-beam 300 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) are used to infer propagation of vigorous processes above a continental slope. The 3- to 60-m horizontal beam spread and the 2-Hz sampling allow the distinction of different arrival times t _i , i = 1,..., 4, at different distances in the acoustic beams from sharp changes in dI-content associated with frontal non-linear and turbulent bores or ‘waves’. The changes in dI are partially due to variations in amounts of resuspended material carried by the near-bottom turbulence and partially due to the fast variations in density stratification (‘stratified turbulence’), as inferred from 1-Hz sampled thermistor string data above the ADCP. Such bores are observed to pass the mooring up to 80 m above the bottom, having typical propagation speeds c = 0.15–0.5 m s⁻¹, as determined from dI(t _i ). Particle speeds in the immediate environment of a bore amount to |u|_env=c ± 0.05 m s⁻¹, the equality being a necessary condition for kinematic instability, whilst the maximum particle speeds amount |u|_max = 1.2–2c. The dI-determined directions of up-, down- and alongslope processes are all to within ±10° of the ADCP’s beam-spread averaged current (particle velocity) data.     

Why are the chemical compositions of living organisms so similar?

The partition of elements between seawater and the marine solid phases (organisms and pelagic clays) is basically controlled by the same surface adsorption mechanisms as between soil pore water and the land solid phases (plants and soils). However, the elements in living organisms are separated into ‘biophile’ and ‘biophobe’ groups.     

Die Felchen des Alpnachersees

In eutrophic Lake Alpnach, several forms of whitefish (Coregonus spp.) are found which show different growth rates. In recent years, immature whitefish of the fastgrowing form (local name: ‘Felchen’, here called ‘Grossfelchen’) have been caught in the nets used for fishing the slowgrowing form (local name: ‘Albeli’, here called ‘Kleinfelchen’). The aim of this study was to identify the different forms of coregonids and to determine their growth rate, age of first maturation, and relative frequency in the catch with gill nets of different mesh sizes. While the separation of the different forms on the basis of meristic characters proved unsatisfactory, the growth during the first year of life was found best suited for this purpose. For the whitefish fishery in Lake Alpnach, the fastgrowing form is regarded as the most important one. Due to eutrophication, the whitefish now show a considerably faster growth than about 40 years ago. In addition, they mature at a younger age than before. The consequences of these findings for the management of the whitefish stocks in Lake Alpnach are discussed.      

Statistics and spectra of turbulence under different roughness in the near-neutral atmospheric surface layer

Accurate knowledge of the contacts between surface roughness and the resultant wind speed are important for climatic models, wind power meteorology, agriculture and erosion hazards especially on sand saltation in arid and semi-arid environments, where vegetation cover is scarce. In this study, synchronous measurements of three-dimensional wind speed below 5 m are carried out in three different surface roughness conditions in Minqin, China, and the difference in the turbulence statistics and the structure of the very large-scale motions (VLSMs) were revealed. The results show that the slope of the mean wind profile (MVP), the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and Reynolds stress increase with the surface roughness. The roughness seems to suppress the ejection events and the surface roughness will not only weaken the energy of the VLSMs, but also reduce the scale values of VLSMs near the wall. These influences may cause some changes regarding the dust transportation in streamwise and vertical directions during the sand and dust storm (SDS). That is, the decrease of the mean velocity near the ground will reduce the dust transportation in the streamwise direction and influence of the roughness on the ejection and sweep events will change the dust transportation in the vertical direction. Furthermore, the increase of roughness will weaken the scale and energy of VLSMs, which will lead to the decrease of the capacity of dust transportation. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The flow dynamics of an extremely large volume pyroclastic flow,the 2.08-Ma Cerro Galán Ignimbrite,NW Argentina,and comparison with other flow types

The 2.08-Ma Cerro Galán Ignimbrite (CGI) represents a >630-km³ dense rock equivalent (VEI 8) eruption from the long-lived Cerro Galán magma system (∼6 Ma). It is a crystal-rich (35–60%), pumice (<10% generally) and lithic-poor (<5% generally) rhyodacitic ignimbrite, lacking a preceding plinian fallout deposit. The CGI is preserved up to 80 km from the structural margins of the caldera, but almost certainly was deposited up to 100 km from the caldera in some places. Only one emplacement unit is preserved in proximal to medial settings and in most distal settings, suggesting constant flow conditions, but where the pyroclastic flow moved into a palaeotopography of substantial valleys and ridges, it interacted with valley walls, resulting in flow instabilities that generated multiple depositional units, often separated by pyroclastic surge deposits. The CGI preserves a widespread sub-horizontal fabric, defined by aligned elongate pumice and lithic clasts, and minerals (e.g. biotite). A sub-horizontal anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility fabric is defined by minute magnetic minerals in all localities where it has been analysed. The CGI is poor in both vent-derived (‘accessory’) lithics and locally derived lithics from the ground surface (‘accidental’) lithics. Locally derived lithics are small (<20 cm) and were not transported far from source points. All data suggest that the pyroclastic flow system producing the CGI was characterised throughout by high sedimentation rates, resulting from high particle concentration and suppressed turbulence at the depositional boundary layer, despite being a low aspect ratio ignimbrite. Based on these features, we question whether high velocity and momentum are necessary to account for extensive flow mobility. It is proposed that the CGI was deposited by a pyroclastic flow system that developed a substantial, high particle concentration granular under-flow, which flowed with suppressed turbulence. High particle concentration and fine-ash content hindered gas loss and maintained flow mobility. In order to explain the contemporaneous maintenance of high particle concentration, high sedimentation rate at the depositional boundary layer and a high level of mobility, it is also proposed that the flow(s) was continuously supplied at a high mass feeding rate. It is also proposed that internal gas pressure within the flow, directed downwards onto the substrate over which the flow was passing, reduced the friction between the flow and the substrate and also enhanced its mobility. The pervasive sub-horizontal fabric of aligned pumice, lithic and even biotite crystals indicates a consistent horizontal shear force existed during transport and deposition in the basal granular flow, consistent with the existence of a laminar, shearing, granular flow regime during the final stages of transport and deposition.     

Experimental observation on the characteristics of the near-surface turbulence over the Antarctic ice sheets during the polar day period

Based on the ultrasonic anemometer/thermometer data in the East Antarctic coastal area ice sheets ob-tained first by Chinese scientists, turbulent intensity, kinetic energy and sensible heat of turbulence, surface roughness height drag coefficient and normalized variation were calculated and analysed using the eddy-correlation method. The results show that the values of roughness height and drag coefficient are 4.3 X 10 m and 1.8x 10 -³, respectively. These turbulent parameters have apparent diurnal variations. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49675252).     

Vesiculation path of ascending magma in the 1983 and the 2000 eruptions of Miyakejima volcano, Japan

The vesiculation of magma during the 1983 eruption of Miyakejima Volcano, Japan, is discussed based on systematic investigations of water content, vesicularity, and bubble size distribution for the products. The eruption is characterized by simultaneous lava effusion and explosive sub-plinian (‘dry’) eruptions with phreatomagmatic (‘wet’) explosions. The magmas are homogeneous in composition (basaltic andesite) and in initial water content (H₂O = 3.9±0.9 wt%), and residual groundmass water contents for all eruption styles are low (H₂O <0.4 wt%) suggestive of extensive dehydration of magma. For the scoria erupted during simultaneous ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ explosive eruptions, inverse correlation was observed between vesicularity and residual water content. This relation can be explained by equilibrium exsolution and expansion of ca. 0.3 wt% H₂O at shallow level with different times of quenching, and suggests that each scoria with different vesicularity, which was quenched at a different time, provides a snapshot of the vesiculation process near the point of fragmentation. The bubble size distribution (BSD) varies systematically with vesicularity, and total bubble number density reaches a maximum value at vesicularity Φ ∼ 0.5. At Φ  ∼ 0.5, a large number of bubbles are connected with each other, and the average thickness of bubble walls reaches the minimum value below which they would rupture. These facts suggest that vesiculation advanced by nucleation and growth of bubbles when Φ < 0.5, and then by expansion of large bubbles with coalescence of small ones for Φ > 0.5, when bubble connection becomes effective. Low vesicularity and low residual water content of lava and spatter (Φ  < 0.1, H₂O  < 0.1 wt%), and systematic decrease in bubble number density from scoria through spatter to lava with decrease in vesicularity suggest that effusive eruption is a consequence of complete degassing by bubble coalescence and separation from magma at shallow levels when magma ascent rate is slow.

Shallow degassing events as a trigger for very-long-period seismicity at Kīlauea Volcano,Hawai‘i

The first eruptive activity at Kīlauea Volcano’s summit in 25 years began in March 2008 with the opening of a 35-m-wide vent in Halema‘uma‘u crater. The new activity has produced prominent very-long-period (VLP) signals corresponding with two new behaviors: episodic tremor bursts and small explosive events, both of which represent degassing events from the top of the lava column. Previous work has shown that VLP seismicity has long been present at Kīlauea’s summit, and is sourced approximately 1 km below Halema‘uma‘u. By integrating video observations, infrasound and seismic data, we show that the onset of the large VLP signals occurs within several seconds of the onset of the degassing events. This timing indicates that the VLP is caused by forces—sourced at or very near the lava free surface due to degassing—transmitted down the magma column and coupling to the surrounding rock at 1 km depth.     

Preconditioning effects of intermittent stream flow on leaf litter decomposition

Autumnal input of leaf litter is a pivotal energy source in most headwater streams. In temporary streams, however, water stress may lead to a seasonal shift in leaf abscission. Leaves accumulate at the surface of the dry streambed or in residual pools and are subject to physicochemical preconditioning before decomposition starts after flow recovery. In this study, we experimentally tested the effect of photodegradation on sunlit streambeds and anaerobic fermentation in anoxic pools on leaf decomposition during the subsequent flowing phase. To mimic field preconditioning, we exposed Populus tremula leaves to UV–VIS irradiation and wet-anoxic conditions in the laboratory. Subsequently, we quantified leaf mass loss of preconditioned leaves and the associated decomposer community in five low-order temporary streams using coarse and fine mesh litter bags. On average, mass loss after approximately 45 days was 4 and 7% lower when leaves were preconditioned by irradiation and anoxic conditions, respectively. We found a lower chemical quality and lower ergosterol content (a proxy for living fungal biomass) in leaves from the anoxic preconditioning, but no effects on macroinvertebrate assemblages were detected for any preconditioning treatment. Overall, results from this study suggest a reduced processing efficiency of organic matter in temporary streams due to preconditioning during intermittence of flow leading to reduced substrate quality and repressed decomposer activity. These preconditioning effects may become more relevant in the future given the expected worldwide increase in the geographical extent of intermittent flow as a consequence of global change.     

Generalized algorithms for particle motion and collision with streambeds

Recent theoretical and numerical models for the motion of saltating particles close to stream beds are constituted of three sub-models: a) a set of equations describing the particle “free flight”, b) a sub-model to calculate the post-collision particle velocity, and c) a mathematical representation of the bed roughness. In this paper, a comprehensive three-dimensional (3-D), theoretical/numerical model for bedload motion at large Reynolds numbers is presented. By using geometric considerations and stochastic parameters to characterize collisions with the wall, five new sub-models for representation of bed roughness are, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, proposed and implemented. The emphasis of this paper is on the particle model, for which Basset, Magnus, drag, submerged weight, virtual mass, and lift forces are included. For the range of particle sizes (sands) analyzed herein, it is found that the stream-wise contribution of the Basset force, compared to other forces, may be as large as 60%. Whereas in the wall-normal direction, the Basset force is equally important as the drag force, and it is exceeded only by the submerged weight. It is also found that the best agreement between numerical and experimental results in terms of jump length, jump height, and stream-wise particle velocity is achieved for restitution and friction coefficients of 0.65 and 0.1, respectively. Important conclusions are obtained regarding the lack of realistic prediction with available “roughness” models with small ranges of angles.