Subsurface offset behaviour in velocity analysis with extended reflectivity images

Migration velocity analysis with the constant‐density acoustic wave equation can be accomplished by the focusing of extended migration images, obtained by introducing a subsurface shift in the imaging condition. A reflector in a wrong velocity model will show up as a curve in the extended image. In the correct model, it should collapse to a point. The usual approach to obtain a focused image involves a cost functional that penalizes energy in the extended image at non‐zero shift. Its minimization by a gradient‐based method should then produce the correct velocity model. Here, asymptotic analysis and numerical examples show that this method may be too sensitive to amplitude peaks at large shifts at the wrong depth and to artefacts. A more robust alternative is proposed that can be interpreted as a generalization of stack power and maximizes the energy at zero‐subsurface shift. A real‐data example is included.     

Sensitivity of the regional climate model RegCM4.2 to planetary boundary layer parameterisation

This study investigates the performance of two planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterisations in the regional climate model RegCM4.2 with specific focus on the recently implemented prognostic turbulent kinetic energy parameterisation scheme: the University of Washington (UW) scheme. When compared with the default Holtslag scheme, the UW scheme, in the 10-year experiments over the European domain, shows a substantial cooling. It reduces winter warm bias over the north-eastern Europe by 2 °C and reduces summer warm bias over central Europe by 3 °C. A part of the detected cooling is ascribed to a general reduction in lower tropospheric eddy heat diffusivity with the UW scheme. While differences in temperature tendency due to PBL schemes are mostly localized to the lower troposphere, the schemes show a much higher diversity in how vertical turbulent mixing of the water vapour mixing ratio is governed. Differences in the water vapour mixing ratio tendency due to the PBL scheme are present almost throughout the troposphere. However, they alone cannot explain the overall water vapour mixing ratio profiles, suggesting strong interaction between the PBL and other model parameterisations. An additional 18-member ensemble with the UW scheme is made, where two formulations of the master turbulent length scale in unstable conditions are tested and unconstrained parameters associated with (a) the evaporative enhancement of the cloud-top entrainment and (b) the formulation of the master turbulent length scale in stable conditions are systematically perturbed. These experiments suggest that the master turbulent length scale in the UW scheme could be further refined in the current implementation in the RegCM model. It was also found that the UW scheme is less sensitive to the variations of the other two selected unconstrained parameters, supporting the choice of these parameters in the default formulation of the UW scheme.     

Response to comment by Keith Beven on “Equifinality of formal (DREAM) and informal (GLUE) Bayesian approaches in hydrologic modeling?”

In recent years, a strong debate has emerged in the hydrologic literature regarding what constitutes an appropriate framework for uncertainty estimation. Particularly, there is strong disagreement whether an uncertainty framework should have its roots within a proper statistical (Bayesian) context, or whether such a framework should be based on a different philosophy and implement informal measures and weaker inference to summarize parameter and predictive distributions. In this paper, we compare a formal Bayesian approach using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) with generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) for assessing uncertainty in conceptual watershed modeling. Our formal Bayesian approach is implemented using the recently developed differential evolution adaptive metropolis (DREAM) MCMC scheme with a likelihood function that explicitly considers model structural, input and parameter uncertainty. Our results demonstrate that DREAM and GLUE can generate very similar estimates of total streamflow uncertainty. This suggests that formal and informal Bayesian approaches have more common ground than the hydrologic literature and ongoing debate might suggest. The main advantage of formal approaches is, however, that they attempt to disentangle the effect of forcing, parameter and model structural error on total predictive uncertainty. This is key to improving hydrologic theory and to better understand and predict the flow of water through catchments.     

On the estimation of accuracy for global models of gravitational field of the earth

The methods and techniques for estimating the accuracy of global models of the Earth’s gravity field in the form of spherical harmonic expansion of the geopotential are analyzed. Various methods for obtaining the a priori and a posteriori estimates for the accuracy are considered and classified. The application of different approaches is illustrated by numerical examples for nine models, including those recently developed using the modern methods of space geodesy. The basic requirements for the database and software for estimating the accuracy are formulated.     

Tibetan immigrants in India

"This paper documents the current evidence of the state of the Tibetan society in India with special reference to the trends in social transformation, livelihood patterns and cultural adaptation to a geographically alien environment....Three-and-a-half decades of living in India [have] demonstrated how a culture group can survive by carving out ecological niches in ethnically segregated social space and yet adapt to a new cultural environment without losing its identity."     

Aquatic surface microlayer contamination in chesapeake bay

The aquatic surface microlayer (SMIC), 50 μm thick, serves as a concentration point for metal and organic contaminants that have low water solubility or are associated with floatable particles. Also, the eggs and larvae of many fish and shellfish species float on, or come in contact with, the water surface throughout their early development. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the present degree of aquatic surface microlayer pollution at selected sites in Chesapeake Bay, and (2) to provide a preliminary evaluation of sources contributing to any observed contamination.Twelve stations located in urban bays, major rivers, and the north central bay were sampled three times, each at 5-day intervals during May 1986. Samples of 1.4–4.1 each were collected from the upper 30–60-μm water surface (surface microlayer, SMIC) using a Teflon-coated rotating drum microlayer sampler. One sample of subsurface water was collected in the central bay.At all stations, concentrations of metals, alkanes, and aromatic hydrocarbons in the SMIC were high compared with one bulk-water sample and with typical concentrations in water of Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere. SMIC contamination varied greatly among the three sampling times, but high mean contaminant levels (total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 1.9–6.2 μg 1⁻¹; Pb, 4.9–24 μg 1⁻¹; Cu, 4–16 μg 1⁻¹; and Zn, 34–59 μg 1⁻¹) were found at the upper Potomac and northern bay sites. Three separate areas were identified on the basis of relative concentrations of different aromatic hydrocarbons in SMIC samples - the northern bay, the Potomac River, and the cleaner southern and eastern portions of the sampling area.Suspected sources of surface contamination include gasoline and diesel fuel combustion, coal combustion, and petroleum product releases. Concentrations of metals and hydrocarbons, at approximately half the stations sampled, are sufficient to pose a threat to the reproductive stages of some fish and shellfish. Sampling and analysis of the surface microlayer provides a sensitive tool for source identification and monitoring of potentially harmful aquatic pollution.     

Experimental stream acidification — the influence of sediment and streambed vegetation

An acidification experiment was conducted on a small stream in the Loch Ard area of central Scotland. The stream was chosen because of its large, flow related, variation in pH (5.9-4.0). Two acid additions were made to approximately pH 3.5–3.7. The results indicated a strong correlation between labile aluminium and hydrogen, and a noticeable hysteresis in the response of calcium and hydrogen. It is hypothesised that divalent cation response is a result of ion-exchange mechanisms involving the streambed vegetation, with aluminium release resulting primarily from exchange reactions with streambed sediment stores. Data from a program of stream spot sampling have been analysed in an attempt to elucidate the contribution of different sources of aluminium under different flow conditions. Streambed sources of aluminium contribute significantly under low flow conditions; however, at high flow, additional sources of aluminium must contribute to match observed streamwater chemistry.     

An ensemble of dynamically identical thermals and vertical profiles of turbulent moments in the convective surface layer of atmosphere

An ensemble of convective thermals is distinguished from the surface layer of penetrative turbulent convection over a heated horizontally uniform surface. For an isolated convective element, an integral model of a quasi-stationary spontaneous jet is proposed which admits an exact analytical solution. A simple statistical model is constructed for an ensemble of dynamically identical thermals. In this model, convective thermals ascend in a static environment, their dynamic parameters are described by the equations of an isolated quasi-stationary jet, and their diameters are stochastic. It is shown that the ensemble of thermals rising in a horizontally homogeneous environment forms surface-layer turbulent moments. The analytical relationships for higher turbulent moments of vertical velocity and temperature are compared with experimental data from the second to the forth order inclusive.     

Microbiological Processes in the Gor'kovskoe Reservoir

The abundance of various groups of bacteria and the rate of microbiological processes of organic decay and methane cycle in the water and soils of the Gor'kovskoe Reservoir are determined, and the ecological characterization of its river reach is presented. The autochthonous and allochthonous impact on the bacterial community of the reservoir was found to be tolerable; however, some restricted areas were revealed, where the ecosystem is strongly affected by domestic and industrial wastewater, and where the abundance and activity of anaerobic methane-producing and sulfate-reducing soil bacteria increase.