Spatial distribution and temporal trends of rainfall and erosivity in the Eastern Africa region

Soil erosion by water is one of the main environmental concerns in the drought‐prone Eastern Africa region. Understanding factors such as rainfall and erosivity is therefore of utmost importance for soil erosion risk assessment and soil and water conservation planning. In this study, we evaluated the spatial distribution and temporal trends of rainfall and erosivity for the Eastern Africa region during the period 1981–2016. The precipitation concentration index, seasonality index, and modified Fournier index have been analysed using 5 × 5‐km resolution multisource rainfall product (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations). The mean annual rainfall of the region was 810 mm ranging from less than 300 mm in the lowland areas to over 1,200 mm in the highlands being influenced by orography of the Eastern Africa region. The precipitation concentration index and seasonality index revealed a spatial pattern of rainfall seasonality dependent on latitude, with a more pronounced seasonality as we go far from the equator. The modified Fournier index showed high spatial variability with about 55% of the region subject to high to very high rainfall erosivity. The mean annual R‐factor in the study region was calculated at 3,246 ± 1,895 MJ mm ha^?1 h^?1 yr^?1, implying a potentially high water erosion risk in the region. Moreover, both increasing and decreasing trends of annual rainfall and erosivity were observed but spatial variability of these trends was high. This study offers useful information for better soil erosion prediction as well as can support policy development to achieve sustainable regional environmental planning and management of soil and water resources.     

High-resolution records of the response of coastal wetland systems to long-term and short-term sea-level variability

While it is well known that coastal systems respond to long-term sea-level changes, the importance of short-term sea-level dynamics is often overlooked. Year-to-year variability in annual mean sea level along the North American Atlantic coast is part of a regionally consistent pattern that is coupled to low atmospheric pressure and high wind field anomalies persisting over 100s to 1000s of km. These short-term sea-level dynamics, along with long-term sea-level changes are shown to be closely coupled to a set of high resolution excess ²¹⁰Pb geochronologies from four physiographically distinct salt marsh estuaries surrounding Long Island, NY, USA. However, the degree to which a marsh responds to either forcing depends on its physiographic setting. Accretion and mineral deposition rates in marshes situated in embayments with long fetches and low-tidal ranges are shown to respond most to the short-term dynamically driven changes in sea level. On the other hand, accretion and mineral deposition in a marsh in an embayment with a high-tidal range and reduced fetch best track the long-term changes in mean sea level, presumably because the physiography limited the meteorological drivers of short-term sea-level change. The close coupling between marsh accretion, physiographic setting and indices of sea-level change indicates that these coastal system respond both differently and rapidly (2–5 yr) to climate variability.     

Efficiency of carrier-phase integer ambiguity resolution for precise GPS positioning in noisy environments

Precise GPS positioning relies on tracking the carrier-phase. The fractional part of carrier-phase can be measured directly using a standard phase-locked loop, but the integer part is ambiguous and the ambiguity must be resolved based on sequential carrier-phase measurements to ensure the required positioning precision. In the presence of large phase-measurement noise, as can be expected in a jamming environment for example, the amount of data required to resolve the integer ambiguity can be large, which requires a long time for any generic integer parameter estimation algorithm to converge. A key question of interest in significant applications of GPS where fast and accurate positioning is desired is then how the convergence time depends on the noise amplitude. Here we address this question by investigating integer least-sqaures estimation algorithms. Our theoretical derivation and numerical experiments indicate that the convergence time increases linearly with the noise variance, suggesting a less stringent requirement for the convergence time than intuitively expected, even in a jamming environment where the phase noise amplitude is large. This finding can be useful for practical design of GPS-based systems in a jamming environment, for which the ambiguity resolution time for precise positioning may be critical.     

New Larvicidal Acetogenin from the Red Alga Laurencia papillosa

A new C₁₅ acetogenin, cyclic enyne (12E)‐cis‐maneonene‐E ( 1 ) and (12Z)‐trans‐maneonene‐B ( 2 ), together with different secondary metabolites including sesquiterpenoid 2,10‐dibromo‐3‐chloro‐α‐chamigrene ( 3 ) and fatty acid aldehydes ( 4–8 ) were isolated from the petroleum ether extract of a red alga, identified as Laurencia papillosa, collected from the Saudi Red Sea coast. The L. papillosa crude extract and its active ingredient acetogenin ( 1 ) have been evaluated for the ability to control two main economically important pests, the confused flour beetle larvae Tribolium confusum and Culex pipiens mosquito larvae. Compound 1 showed high potential as a natural insecticide against these two pests. In the case of T. confusum larvae, the LD₅₀ values were 0.21 and 0.16% after 6 and 12 days of treatment with crude extract and acetogenin, respectively. On the other hand, the resulting LC₅₀ values of mosquito larvae bioassay were 30.7, 36.9, and 41.8 ppm after 24 h treatment against 2nd, 3rd, and 4th larval instars, respectively. Also, an increase of the insecticidal effects against mosquito larvae was recorded after extending treatment time to 48 h.     

Integrated geophysical interpretation for the area located at the eastern part of Ismailia Canal, Greater Cairo, Egypt

The integrated geophysical interpretation for the different geophysical tools such as resistivity and gravity is usually used to define the structural elements, stratigraphic units, groundwater potentiality, and depth to the basement rocks. In the present work, gravity and resistivity data were utilized for detecting the groundwater aquifer and structural elements, as well as the upper and lower surfaces of the subsurface basaltic sheet in an area located at the eastern side of Ismailia Canal, northeastern Greater Cairo, Egypt. Two hundred and ten gravity stations were measured using an Autograv instrument through a grid pattern of 50?×?50 m. The different required corrections were carried out, such as drift, elevation, tide, and latitude corrections. The final corrected data represented by the Bouguer anomaly map were filtered using high- and low-pass filters into regional and residual gravity anomaly maps. The resulting residual gravity anomaly map was used for gravity modeling to calculate the depths to the upper and lower surfaces of the basaltic sheet. The resulting gravity models indicated that the depths to the upper surface of the basaltic sheet are ranged between 26 and 314 m, where the shallower depths were found around the southern and eastern parts. The depths to the lower surface of the basaltic sheet are varied from 86 to 338 m, and the thickness of the basaltic sheet is ranged from 24 to 127 m, where the biggest thicknesses were found around the southern and northern parts of the study area. Forty-two vertical electrical soundings (VES) were carried out using Schlumberger configuration with AB/2 spacings ranged from 1.5 to 500 m. 1D quantitative interpretation was carried out through manual and analytical interpretations. The VES data were also inverted assuming a 3D resistivity distribution. The results from the 3D resistivity inversion indicated that the subsurface section consists of sand, sandstone, and sandy–clays of Miocene deposits overlying the basalts. Such basaltic features (of Oligocene age) are underlain by Gabal Ahmar Formation of Oligocene deposits, which are composed of sand and sandstone. Therefore, two aquifers were deduced in the area. The first is the Miocene aquifer (shallower) and the other is the Oligocene aquifer (deeper).     

Influence of Azores High pressure on Middle Eastern rainfall

Several studies demonstrate that North Atlantic Oscillation influences variability of climate over Middle East. We use the centers of action approach for the study of winter rainfall variability over Middle East, taking into account variations in the components of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Azores High and the Icelandic Low pressure systems. The results show there is a negative relation between the interannual variations of winter rainfall over Middle East and Azores High pressure. The east–west shifts of Indian Ocean high pressure has also impact on precipitation over Middle East, there being more precipitation when the Indian Ocean High shifts eastward versus when it is westward. We present a regression model for Middle East precipitation in which the Azores High pressure and the Indian Ocean High longitude are independent variables and it explains 40 % of the variance of precipitation during 1952–2002. Furthermore, the ongoing decrease in winter precipitation over the Middle East is attributed to the increasing pressure of the Azores High over the same period.     

Analyzing the runoff response to soil and water conservation measures in a tropical humid Ethiopian highland

Abstract

Different soil and water conservation (SWC) practices have been implemented in many drought-prone parts of Ethiopia since the 1980s. We assessed the effect of SWC practices on runoff response and experimentally derived and tested the validity of the runoff curve number (CN) model parameter for the tropical humid highland climate of the Kasiry watershed in northwestern Ethiopia. We recorded daily rainfall and runoff depth from 18 runoff plots (30 m long × 6 m wide) representing the five main land-use types with various SWC practices and two slope classes (gentle and steep). CN values were derived using the lognormal geometric mean CN procedure. Runoff was significantly less from plots with SWC measures, with average reductions of 44 and 65% observed in cultivated and non-agricultural lands, respectively. Runoff on plots representing non-agricultural land was relatively accurately predicted with the derived CN method, but predictions were less accurate for plots treated with a SWC practice. We conclude that predicting the effect of SWC practices on runoff requires parameterization with separate sets of CN value for each SWC practice.     

Growth,diet, movement,and abundance of adult banded kokopu (Galaxias fasciatus) in five Coromandel,New Zealand streams

Banded kokopu populations were surveyed seasonally over 1 year in five Coromandel streams to determine the influence of food supply on diet, growth, abundance, and movement. Streams with high benthic invertebrate abundance and drift of aquatic origin had high fish abundance. However, terrestrial drift was the dominant food for adult banded kokopu over all seasons and streams, on average comprising 75% of their diet by number and 89% by weight. Annual growth rates of tagged individuals ranged from 3 mm to 16.5 mm, with smaller fish growing faster than large fish. Low growth rates of large fish were consistent with the recapture of a fish that had only grown from 195 mm to 215 mm in 7 years. Our observations confirmed the strong association between banded kokopu, pool habitat, and cover, and also indicated that high fish abundance restricted growth rates and movement and increased interaction.