Eutrophication and retention time affecting spatial heterogeneity in a tropical reservoir

Longitudinal heterogeneity in reservoirs is especially related to increase in sedimentation and water transparency along the river/dam axis. Consequently, primary production tends to reach higher values in intermediate regions where there is a balance between the availability of the main resources (light and nutrients) suitable for phytoplankton growth. Many factors such as reservoir morphometry, retention time, thermal stratification and geographical location can affect the boundaries between these regions. The tropical Funil Reservoir (Brazil), despite a low retention time, has experienced severe eutrophication in recent decades, with persistent cyanobacteria blooms. During the course of 1 year, samples were collected at four stations along the reservoir (fluvial, intermediate and lentic compartments) to evaluate if spatial heterogeneity could affect the occurrence and distribution of these blooms along the reservoir. Although the reservoir has a short annual retention time (mean 41.5 days), the typical zonation pattern was observed for the main abiotic variables and phytoplankton abundance. However, higher biomass occurred in the lentic compartment rather than in the intermediate zone. Despite the peculiar heterogeneity in total biomass, the phytoplankton composition and seasonal variability were very similar along the entire reservoir, with a few marked differences only in the fluvial zone. Phytoplankton total biomass in Funil Reservoir was high, even in periods of lower seasonal retention time (around 15 days), and was especially related to high input of nutrients. Moreover, retention time directly affects the spatial heterogeneity of phytoplankton biomass, since strong variability was only observed during the cold-dry season, corresponding to periods of longer retention time (around 80 days). While high availability of nutrients promoted high cyanobacterial biomass in the entire system, the few periods of heterogeneous spatiality seemed to be related to changes in retention time.     

Stochastic particle based models for suspended particle movement in surface flows

Modeling of suspended sediment particle movement in surface water can be achieved by stochastic particle tracking model approaches.In this paper,different mathematical forms of particle tracking models are introduced to describe particle movement under various flow conditions,i.e.,the stochastic diffusion process,stochastic jump process,and stochastic jump diffusion process.While the stochastic diffusion process can be used to represent the stochastic movement of suspended particles in turbulent flows,the stochastic jump and the stochastic jump diffusion processes can be used to describe suspended particle movement in the occurrences of a sequence of extreme flows.An extreme flow herein is defined as a hydrologic flow event or a hydrodynamic flow phenomenon with a low probability of occurrence and a high impact on its ambient flow environment.In this paper,the suspended sediment particle is assumed to immediately follow the extreme flows in the jump process（i.e.the time lag between the flow particle and the sediment particle in extreme flows is considered negligible）.In the proposed particle tracking models,a random term mainly caused by fluid eddy motions is modeled as a Wiener process,while the random occurrences of a sequence of extreme flows can be modeled as a Poisson process.The frequency of occurrence of the extreme flows in the proposed particle tracking model can be explicitly accounted for by the Poisson process when evaluating particle movement.The ensemble mean and variance of particle trajectory can be obtained from the proposed stochastic models via simulations.The ensemble mean and variance of particle velocity are verified with available data.Applicability of the proposed stochastic particle tracking models for sediment transport modeling is also discussed.     

A study of weather types at Athens and Thessaloniki and their relationship to circulation types for the cold-wet period, part II: discriminant analysis

A discriminant analysis is applied in order to determine the relationships between circulation types in the middle troposphere and prevailing weather types over two major Greek cities, Athens and Thessaloniki. In order to describe the synoptic conditions, an automatic classification scheme for the Greek region is used. For each circulation type identified (14 in total), several meteorological parameters at the 500 hPa level are calculated such as geopotential heights and their anomalies, temperature and relative vorticity. Weather group-types that reflect the conditions at the surface, were previously defined using a two-step cluster analysis. These types result from a combination of five meteorological parameters—maximum temperature, precipitation amount, relative humidity, wind velocity and sunshine duration. The study period is 43 years long (1958–2000) and is restricted to the cold and wet period of the year, from December until March. For Athens, six weather types are developed, whereas for Thessaloniki five are produced. By means of a stepwise discriminant analysis (DA) model, the most important variables from the 500 hPa level are found and are used to generate the necessary functions that can discriminate weather types over the two stations. The aim of the present study is first to discriminate weather types effectively and to identify the most important discriminating variables, and second, to connect these weather types to elements of the prevailing synoptic pattern, through mathematical functions provided by DA. The results of the evaluation of the aforementioned procedure are considered to be very satisfactory.     

Geochemistry of mylonitic gneisses from the Cycladic Basement Unit (Paros and Serifos,Aegean Sea): implications for protoliths of the high-grade gneisses

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The nature of the protolith(s) of high-grade gneisses from the Aegean Cycladic Basement Unit of the islands of Paros and Serifos is investigated using...     

Lotic communities of two small temporary karstic stream systems (East Westphalia, Germany) along a longitudinal gradient of hydrological intermittency

The spatial and temporal discharge regime and its effects on benthic communities were studied in two small temporary karstic stream systems of the Paderborner Hochfläche (East Westphalia, Germany). Both streams are characterized by very small perennial springbrook sections. Benthic invertebrates were sampled three times at 12 sites and discharge was measured monthly from March to September 2000. The spatial extension of streamflow was observed regularly to evaluate the duration of drought. Both streams showed a longitudinal gradient of hydrological intermittency from very small perennial reaches with low intermittency to an extremely harsh hydrological situation. The benthic communities displayed a decreasing species richness at increasing intermittency. The different hydrological stream sections were colonized by different lotic communities, characterized by typical species of temporary streams and by several typical species of springs. Particularly the perennial springs and springbrooks are very important for the species richness in these karstic stream systems.     

Geodynamic evolution of the northern Molucca Sea area (Eastern Indonesia) constrained by 3-D gravity field inversion

In order to better understand the tectonic framework of the Northern Molucca Sea area, we inverted satellite and sea-surface gravity data into an iterative scheme including a priori seismological and geological data. The resulting 3-D density model images the various tectonic units from the surface down to 40 km. We proceed to various tests to assess the stability and robustness of our inversion. In particular, we performed an offset and average smoothing method to properly refine our results. The resulting model shows a striking vertical regularity of the structures through the different layers, whereas the density contrasts appear strongly uneven in the horizontal direction.The density model emphasizes the complexity of the upper lithospheric structure in the northern Molucca Sea, which is clearly dominated by the interaction between ophiolitic ridges, sedimentary wedges and rigid blocks of the Philippine Sea Plate. It also provides new, hard information that can be used in discussion of the evolution of the region.Large density variations are concentrated in the central part of northern Molucca Sea and dominate the upper lithospheric. North–south trending density structures along the Central Ridge and west dipping thrust faults on the western side of the region are clearly imaged. In the eastern part of the region, we distinguish several blocks, especially the Snellius Plateau which seems to be split into two parts. We interpret this as an oceanic plateau associated with thicker crust that previously belonged to the Philippine Sea Plate. This crust is now trapped between the Molucca Sea complex collision zone and the Philippine Trench, due to the development of a new subduction zone in its eastern side.     

Evaluation of maximum and minimum temperature of NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data over Greece

Summary Assessment of the reliability of NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data has been the subject of much recent climatological research. In this study, an attempt is made to evaluate the reanalysis data for maximum and minimum temperatures over Greece for the period 1958–2000. Considering that available observations for Greek stations are not included as input in the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data, the evaluation was made using gridded observational data derived from long time series for the examined area, using an objective scheme. The reanalysis data were compared with respect to the intra-annual variability for extreme years, the inter-annual variability of the corresponding temperature anomalies, and their ability to represent cold and warm spells. Also, the correlation patterns between the two datasets of daily and monthly values were examined. In general, it was found that there was good agreement between the two datasets, although some regional and seasonal differences existed and these were associated with topographical features not correctly represented by the reanalysis model resolution, such as land-sea distribution and orography.     

Records of cosmogenic radionuclides Be, Al and Cl in corals: First studies on coral erosion rates and potential of dating very old corals

We present results of measurements of cosmogenic ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al and ³⁶Cl, and the indigenous (intrinsic) concentrations of the stable elements Be, Al and Cl in 120-200 kyr old corals from Barbados and Puerto Rico. The concentration levels of these radionuclides in the corals lie in the range 10⁴ to 10⁸ atoms/g. A comparison of the measured nuclide concentrations with those expected to be produced in the corals by nuclear interactions of energetic cosmic radiation shows that (i) the radionuclides ²⁶Al and ³⁶Cl are derived from in situ cosmic ray interactions in the corals after their formation, but that (ii) the radionuclide ¹⁰Be owes its provenance in the coralline lattice primarily due to incorporation of dissolved beryllium in seawater in the lattice structure of the corals.