Debris-flow release processes investigated through the analysis of multi-temporal LiDAR datasets in north-western Iceland

Debris flows are fast-moving gravity flows of poorly sorted rock and soil, mixed and saturated with water. Debris-flow initiation has been studied using empirical and experimental modelling, but the geomorphic changes, indicative of different triggering processes, are difficult to constrain with field observations only. We identify signatures to distinguish two different debris-flow release styles by integrating high-resolution multi-temporal remote sensing datasets and morphometric analysis. We analyse debris flows sourced above the town of Ísafjörður (Iceland). Two debris-flow triggering processes were previously hypothesised for this site: (i) slope failure, characterised by landslides evolving into debris flows; and (ii) the fire-hose effect, in which debris accumulated in pre-existing, steep-sided bedrock passages is transported by a surge of water. It is unknown which process dominates and determines the local risk. To investigate this question, we compare airborne LiDAR elevation models and aerial photographs collected in 2007 with similar data from 2013. We find that two new debris-flow tracks were created by slope failures. These are characterised by steep sliding surfaces and lateral leveed channels. Slope failure also occurred in two large, recently active tracks, creating the preparatory conditions for the fire-hose effect to mobilise existing debris. These tracks show alternating zones of fill and scour along their length, and debris stored below the source-area at rest angles >35°. Our approach allows us to identify and quantify the morphological changes produced by slope failure release process, which generated the preparatory conditions for the fire-hose effect. As debris flows are rarely observed in action and morphological changes induced by them are difficult to detect and monitor, the same approach could be applied to other landscapes to understand debris-flow initiation in the absence of other monitoring information, and can improve the identification of zones at risk in inhabited areas near hillslopes with potential for debris flows. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

The Science and Policy of the Verified Carbon Standard Methodology for Tidal Wetland and Seagrass Restoration

The restoration of tidal wetland and seagrass systems has the potential for significant greenhouse gas benefits, but project-level accounting procedures have not been available at an international scale. In this paper, we describe the Verified Carbon Standard Methodology for Tidal Wetland and Seagrass Restoration, which provides greenhouse gas accounting procedures for marsh, mangrove, tidal forested wetland, and seagrasses systems across a diversity of geomorphic conditions and restoration techniques. We discuss and critique the essential science and policy elements of the methodology and underlying knowledge gaps. We developed a method for estimating mineral-protected (recalcitrant) allochthonous carbon in tidal wetland systems using field-collected soils data and literature-derived default values of the recalcitrant carbon that accompanies mineral deposition. We provided default values for methane emissions from polyhaline soils but did not provide default values for freshwater, oligohaline, and mesohaline soils due to high variability of emissions in these systems. Additional topics covered are soil carbon sequestration default values, soil carbon fate following erosion, avoided losses in organic and mineral soils, nitrous oxide emissions, soil profile sampling methods, sample size, prescribed fire, additionality, and leakage. Knowledge gaps that limit the application of the methodology include the estimation of CH₄ emissions from fresh and brackish tidal wetlands, lack of validation of our approach for the estimation of recalcitrant allochthonous carbon, understanding of carbon oxidation rates following drainage of mineral tidal wetland soils, estimation of the effects of prescribed fire on soil carbon stocks, and the analysis of additionality for projects outside of the USA.     

Uncertainties in differential thermodynamic (Gibbs' method) P-T paths

A combined analytical and numerical evaluation of the uncertainties in P-T paths is made for three assemblages that propagates errors in the parameters: initial pressure, initial temperature, initial composition, change of composition of monitor parameters, endmember entropy, and endmember volume. Propagated errors along an isobaric heating path (T=77°C) for assemblage 1 (Grt-Bt-Pl-Qtz-Ms-Chl-H₂O), using as monitor parameters the mole fractions of almandine, spessartine, grossular, and anorthite, and ignoring uncertainties in thermodynamic properties, are approximately ±320 bars (1) and ±8.3°C (1) if rim compositional uncertainties of 5% in major cations are assumed, or ±2.5°C (1) and ±50 bars (1) if electron microprobe analytical uncertainties are assumed for compositions. The largest source of uncertainty is from the errors in the monitor parameters, and P-T path uncertainties can depend critically on which monitor parameters are used. If the mole fraction of annite is used as a monitor parameter in place of the anorthite content of plagioclase, then propagated uncertainties are worse than ±29°C (1) and ±5800 bars (1). P-T path uncertainties also depend on assemblage. 1 precisions in assemblages 2 (Grt–Bt–Pl–Qtz–Ms–Sil–H₂O) and 3 (Grt–Bt–Qtz–Kfs–Sil–H₂O) using as monitor parameters the mole fractions of almandine, spessartine, grossular, and anorthite are calculated to be ±267 bars and ±43.4°C and ±372 bars and ±8.2°C respectively. Estimates of the accuracies in P-T paths that include potential errors in endmember entropy of ±1 J/mol·K and in endmember volume of ±1 cm³/mol are: ±324 bars and ±8.5°C (assemblage 1), ±341 bars and ±48.6°C (assemblage 2), and ±388 bars and ±9.7°C (assemblage 3). Use of different garnet, plagioclase, and muscovite activity models can change the length of a P-T path by as much as 15%, but does not typically change directions in P-T space significantly. Models that incorporate changes of fluid composition shorten P-T paths in assemblages 1 and 3 but do not change trajectories significantly. Assemblage 2 is virtually unaffected by fluid phase models. For the mineral assemblages considered here and using appropriate monitor parameters, propagated errors are small compared to the total path length, suggesting that the differential thermodynamic approach is a precise and accurate method for determining amounts of heating or thickening during metamorphism, and hence for interpreting orogenic processes.     

Substructure shake table test method using a controlled mass: formulation and numerical simulation

This study proposes a new substructure shake table test method that allows for experimental investigation of the lower portion of structures while the upper part is numerically analyzed. Compatibility conditions are derived to ensure that the dynamic characteristics of the substructured system are equivalent to the reference entire structure. This method utilizes controlled masses to incorporate interface forces from the computational substructure to the experimental substructure. A feasible implementation procedure for the interface force compatibility is developed using a series of conversions and signal processing. For validation of the capabilities and limitations of the proposed substructure method, numerical simulations are performed using detailed models including dynamics of the controlled mass systems. Results from the numerical simulations showed that the proposed substructure method produced comparable results to the reference entire simulations. The average error between top floor displacements produced by substructured and entire responses for earthquake inputs was 7.1%. Numerical studies showed that the substructure method has potential to serve as an alternative to shaking table tests of entire structures. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biomechanical properties and morphological characteristics of lake and river plants: implications for adaptations to flow conditions

Biomechanical properties and morphological characteristics of stems of eight species of submerged aquatic plants were studied to analyse (1) differences between river and lake specimens, (2) seasonal differences between winter/spring and summer/autumn specimens, and (3) change of biomechanical properties and morphological characteristics along the stems. The data show that river macrophytes display not only characteristic biomechanical traits and morphological characteristics specific to their hydraulic habitats, but also distinctive temporal changes due to seasonally varying water temperature, flow velocity, and growth phase. Furthermore, the data reveal differences between lake and river specimens that could be explained by wind exposure of the lake sampling sites and the species-specific flow requirements of the river macrophytes. Biomechanical properties and morphological characteristics varied along the stem with larger cross-sections and a higher resistance against tension and bending forces at the bottom compared to the top parts, being similar for both lake and river specimens. The acquired and analysed stem biomechanical and morphological data contribute to the plant biomechanics database to underpin a wide range of studies in aquatic ecology, river and wetland management.     

Stabilization of fine gravels by net‐spinning caddisfly larvae

We examined the impact of Hydropsychidae caddisfly larvae on the incipient motion of two sizes of narrowly graded fine‐gravel (4–6 and 6–8 mm). This impact was assessed relative to the collective impact of other abiotic and biotic processes that are potentially important conditioning agents of fine‐gravels. Trays of gravel were placed in the River Soar, Leicestershire, UK, where they were colonized to natural densities by caddisfly larvae. Identical trays that were surrounded by a 250 µm mesh were also deployed, preventing colonization but allowing field conditioning of sediments, including minor reworking of grains and biofilm development. After 21 days in the river, trays were removed to a laboratory flume where grain entrainment stresses were established. In addition to the colonized and conditioned treatments, critical shear stresses were measured for identical sediments that were not placed in the river (laboratory gravels). Gravels that were colonized by Hydropsychidae required significantly greater shear stresses for entrainment than conditioned trays (p ≤ 0·002), however, there was no significant difference between conditioned and laboratory gravels. This implies that the presence of caddisfly can be a more important influence on fine‐gravel stability than some conditioning processes. Shields parameter was compared across treatments and across the two gravel size‐fractions using two‐way ANOVA. No significant differences or interactions were observed, indicating that 4–6 mm gravel was stabilized to a similar degree as 6–8 mm gravel by conditioning and colonization processes. Our results extend earlier studies in two important ways: (1) entrainment stresses were established for fine gravels that were colonized at natural densities, under natural stream conditions; and (2) the caddisfly effect was measured relative to both field‐conditioned and unconditioned laboratory controls. The temporal and spatial distribution of silk‐spinning caddisfly larvae suggests that they have the potential to influence fine‐sediment mobility in many rivers, worldwide. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The variation of ENSO characteristics associated with atmospheric parameter perturbations in a coupled model

We analyse the differences in the properties of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in a set of 17 coupled integrations with the flux-adjusted, 19-level HadCM3 model with perturbed atmospheric parameters. Within this ensemble, the standard deviation of the NINO3.4 deseasonalised SSTs ranges from 0.6 to 1.3 K. The systematic changes in the properties of the ENSO with increasing amplitude confirm that ENSO in HadCM3 is prevalently a surface (or SST) mode. The tropical-Pacific SST variability in the ensemble of coupled integrations correlates positively with the SST variability in the corresponding ensemble of atmosphere models coupled with a static mixed-layer ocean (“slab” models) perturbed with the same changes in atmospheric parameters. Comparison with the respective coupled ENSO-neutral climatologies and with the slab-model climatologies indicates low-cloud cover to be an important controlling factor of the strength of the ENSO within the ensemble. Our analysis suggests that, in the HadCM3 model, increased SST variability localised in the south-east tropical Pacific, not originating from ENSO and associated with increased amounts of tropical stratocumulus cloud, causes increased ENSO variability via an atmospheric bridge mechanism. The relationship with cloud cover also results in a negative correlation between the ENSO activity and the model’s climate sensitivity to doubling CO₂.     

Use of fused airborne scanning laser altimetry and digital map data for urban flood modelling

Flood modelling of urban areas is still at an early stage, partly because until recently topographic data of sufficiently high resolution and accuracy have been lacking in urban areas. However, digital surface models (DSMs) generated from airborne scanning laser altimetry (LiDAR) having sub‐metre spatial resolution have now become available, and these are able to represent the complexities of urban topography. This paper describes the development of a LiDAR post‐processor for urban flood modelling based on the fusion of LiDAR and digital map data. The map data are used in conjunction with LiDAR data to identify different object types in urban areas, though pattern recognition techniques are also employed. Post‐processing produces a digital terrain model (DTM) for use as model bathymetry, and also a friction parameter map for use in estimating spatially distributed friction coefficients. In vegetated areas, friction is estimated from LiDAR‐derived vegetation height, and (unlike most vegetation removal software) the method copes with short vegetation less than ～1 m high, which may occupy a substantial fraction of even an urban floodplain. The DTM and friction parameter map may also be used to help to generate an unstructured mesh of a vegetated urban floodplain for use by a two‐dimensional finite element model. The mesh is decomposed to reflect floodplain features having different frictional properties to their surroundings, including urban features (such as buildings and roads) and taller vegetation features (such as trees and hedges). This allows a more accurate estimation of local friction. The method produces a substantial node density due to the small dimensions of many urban features. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Submillimeter lightcurves of Vesta

Thermal lightcurves of Asteroid Vesta with significant amplitude have been observed at 870 μm (345 GHz) using the MPIfR 19-channel bolometer of the Heinrich–Hertz Submillimeter Telescope. Shape and albedo are not sufficient to explain the magnitude of this variation, which we relate to global variations in thermal inertia and/or other thermophysical parameters. Vesta's lightcurve has been observed over several epochs with the same general shape. However, there are some changes in morphology that may in part be related to viewing geometry and/or asteroid season. Inconsistent night-to-night variations exhibit the inherent difficulties in photometry at this wavelength. We are able to match the observed brightness temperatures with a relatively simple thermal model that integrates beneath the surface and assumes reasonable values of thermal inertia, loss tangent and refractive index, and without having to assume low values of emissivity in the submillimeter. High flux portions of the submillimeter lightcurve are found to correspond to regions with weak mafic bands observed in Hubble Space Telescope images.