The effect of El Niño Southern Oscillation cycles on the decadal scale suspended sediment behavior of a coastal dry‐summer subtropical catchment

Rivers display temporal dependence in suspended sediment–water discharge relationships. Although most work has focused on multi‐decadal trends, river sediment behavior often displays sub‐decadal scale fluctuations that have received little attention. The objectives of this study were to identify inter‐annual to decadal scale fluctuations in the suspended sediment–discharge relationship of a dry‐summer subtropical river, infer the mechanisms behind these fluctuations, and examine the role of El Niño Southern Oscillation climate cycles. The Salinas River (California) is a moderate sized (11 000 km²), coastal dry‐summer subtropical catchment with a mean discharge (Q_mean) of 11.6 m³ s^?1. This watershed is located at the northern most extent of the Pacific coastal North America region that experiences increased storm frequency during El Niño years. Event to inter‐annual scale suspended sediment behavior in this system was known to be influenced by antecedent hydrologic conditions, whereby previous hydrologic activity regulates the suspended sediment concentration–water discharge relationship. Fine and sand suspended sediment in the lower Salinas River exhibited persistent, decadal scale periods of positive and negative discharge corrected concentrations. The decadal scale variability in suspended sediment behavior was influenced by inter‐annual to decadal scale fluctuations in hydrologic characteristics, including: elapsed time since small (~0.1 × Q_mean), and moderate (~10 × Q_mean) threshold discharge values, the number of preceding days that low/no flow occurred, and annual water yield. El Niño climatic activity was found to have little effect on decadal‐scale fluctuations in the fine suspended sediment–discharge relationship due to low or no effect on the frequency of moderate to low discharge magnitudes, annual precipitation, and water yield. However, sand concentrations generally increased in El Niño years due to the increased frequency of moderate to high magnitude discharge events, which generally increase sand supply. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental study of the atmospheric marine boundary layer from in-situ aircraft measurements (TOSCANE-T Campaign): Variability of boundary conditions and eddy flux parameterization

The need for a thorough knowledge of boundary conditions over the vast oceanic surfaces makes remote sensing appear as the most suitable tool for future development. Remote sensing techniques require calibration data and consequently in-situ experiments to yield those data. Over the sea, aircraft seem to be the most convenient means of conducting validation experiments because they allow exploration of a large range of scales (from local measurements to measurements of pixel scale). This paper reports on some in-situ atmospheric aircraft measurements that were conducted as part of the TOSCANE-T experiment organized by the European Space Agency to calibrate the scatterometer for launch on ERS-1 in the early 1990's for global ocean wind measurement.The data analysed are the thermodynamic and turbulent variables measured by an instrumented aircraft, the Hurel Dubois, flying at a constant level of 50 m over the sea surface. Special attention was drawn to the variability of the boundary conditions within areas of 25 × 30 km. In fact, the two-dimensional fields of fluxes and thermodynamic parameters were inhomogeneous with some rather strong wind distortion.The eddy fluxes were parameterized with the aid of bulk aerodynamic formulations at a basic scale of 30 km samples, which corresponds to the aircraft flux computation legs. The bulk aerodynamic coefficients for momentum and heat were found to remain independent of windspeed (for wind velocities less than 12 m/s). Fluxes and thermodynamic parameters were also investigated at two other scales: the integration scale was either reduced to small areas of which size always remains larger than several characteristic lengths of turbulent transfer, or extended to a large area of 25 × 30km. The results of the bulk aerodynamic relationships appeared to be scale invariant, which would therefore justify the application of average values, within the range of scales under study.     

The Taylor series method for the problem of the rotational motion of a rigid satellite

This paper presents the Taylor series method for integration of differential equations describing the rotational motion of a rigid satellite. We compared the presented algorithm with other methods, and we show that it gives the most accurate results with reasonable efficiency.     

On the gravitational fields of Pandora and Prometheus

Utilizing topographic models of Saturn's F-ring shepherd satellites Prometheus (S16 1980S27) and Pandora (S15 1980S26), derived by Stooke (1994), and supposing that their mass density is constant, we derived basic geometrical and dynamical characteristics of the moons. They include the volume and mass, the mean radii, the tensor of inertia, and Stokes coefficients of the harmonic expansions of external gravitational potential. The best fitting ellipsoid approximations of the topography were calculated. A simple method of determining the gravitational potential on the surface of an irregular satellite is presented. Examples of equipotential surfaces of the satellites are shown     

Solutions homoclinic to regular precessions of a symmetric satellite

The aim of this paper is to study numerically asymptotic manifolds and homoclinic solutions to the regular precessions of a rigid symmetric satellite in a circular orbit.     

Integrating variations in the soil chloride profile and evaporativity for in-situ estimation of evaporation in arid zones: an application in south-eastern Morocco

In arid regions, knowledge of the evaporation rate from the water table is essential for appropriate management of scarce resources and to prevent land degradation. Soil chloride profiles in the unsaturated zone of a bare soil in an arid area of south-eastern Morocco were used to assess the evaporation flux, using chloride inventories in conjunction with evaporative demand. Moisture fluxes were calculated from measured chloride concentrations on the basis of a steady-state flow model. The chloride profiles displayed large variations in concentrations and had (1) low chloride concentrations near the soil surface, (2) maximum chloride concentrations at depths of 11–14 cm beneath the soil surface, respectively in July and February, and (3) gradually decreasing chloride concentrations while depth increased below these peaks. Evaporative demands were found to be inversely proportional to the depth of evaporation fronts and proportional to evaporation fluxes. In addition, the evaporation along the profiles seems to be controlled by the soil composition and texture. The investigation of chloride profiles in February and July enabled the determination of a value for annual evaporation (～30 mm), which is in good agreement with the value estimated by the Allison-Barnes type model (～32 mm).     

Alteration de la fonction de reproduction chez Idotea balthica basteri (Crustacea,Isopoda) soumis a l'effet chronique d'un détergent non ionique

Reproduction is greatly affected when the crustacean isopod Idotea balthica basteri is exposed to detergents, maturation being considerably delayed. Adults suffer a significant decrease in fecundity, either through females failing to produce eggs or miscarrying, and so producing fewer juveniles. This decrease of fecundity is accompanied by hormonal changes. Many juveniles from animals exposed to detergents are malformed.     

Chloride transfer in cement‐based materials. Part 1. Theoretical basis and modelling

In this first part of the work, we develop macroscopic models for migration and diffusion–migration of ionic species in saturated porous media, based on periodic homogenization. The prior application is chloride transport in cementitious materials. The dimensional analysis of Nernst–Planck equation lets appear to dimensionless numbers characterizing the ionic transfer in the porous medium. Using experimental data obtained from electrodiffusion tests on cement‐based materials (Part II), these dimensionless numbers are linked to the perturbation parameter ?. For a strong imposed electrical field, the asymptotic expansion of Nernst–Planck equation leads to a macroscopic model where the migration is predominant. For a weak imposed electrical field or in natural diffusion, we obtain a macroscopic model coupling diffusion and migration at the same order. In both models, the expression of the homogenized diffusion tensor is identical and only involves the geometric properties of the material microstructure. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.