A modified landform development model for the topography of drained thermokarst lake basins in fine‐grained sediments

Permafrost degradation associated with the expansion of thermokarst lakes is commonly interrupted by catastrophic drainage. Subsequently, in tundra areas, permafrost aggradation in drained basins leads to uneven topography characterized by raised centres and wet, depressed margins. The genesis of such topography has been investigated in Old Crow Flats (OCF), a glaciolacustrine plain in the continuous permafrost of northern Yukon. The thermokarst lakes of OCF have a mean depth of only 1.5 m because excess ice is dominantly found only in the uppermost 10 m of the ground. Surface conditions were measured in three drained thermokarst lake basins, including relief, snow conditions, ground temperatures, near‐surface ground ice, and sediment stratigraphy. Four nearby lakes provided information on wave base, shore recession patterns, and bathymetry before drainage: the bottoms of these lakes were not raised in the centre. An elevation difference of up to 2 m was recorded between drained basin margins and centres but was not associated with variations in ice‐wedge density or segregated ice content. Hence basin topography was not controlled by differences in volumetric ground‐ice content between margins and centres. We propose that transport of fine sediment away from eroding lake margins during lake development is the primary mechanism for the genesis of depressed margins and raised centres in drained basins of OCF. Over time, the transport results in the deposition of more and finer sediment in the central parts of lakes, where the lake bottom has subsided below wave base, than at the shallow margins, where resuspension by wave action occurs frequently. This difference in sediment volume is revealed in the topography after drainage, when permafrost aggrades in the lake‐bottom sediment and underlying talik. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Life-cycle based design of mass dampers for the Chilean region and its application for the evaluation of the effectiveness of tuned liquid dampers with floating roof

The assessment of the effectiveness of mass dampers for the Chilean region within a multi-objective decision framework utilizing life-cycle performance criteria is considered in this paper. The implementation of this framework focuses here on the evaluation of the potential as a cost-effective protection device of a recently proposed liquid damper, called tuned liquid damper with floating roof (TLD-FR). The TLD-FR maintains the advantages of traditional tuned liquid dampers (TLDs), i.e. low cost, easy tuning, alternative use of water, while establishing a linear and generally more robust/predictable damper behavior (than TLDs) through the introduction of a floating roof. At the same time it suffers (like all other liquid dampers) from the fact that only a portion of the total mass contributes directly to the vibration suppression, reducing its potential effectiveness when compared to traditional tuned mass dampers. A life-cycle design approach is investigated here for assessing the compromise between these two features, i.e. reduced initial cost but also reduced effectiveness (and therefore higher cost from seismic losses), when evaluating the potential for TLD-FRs for the Chilean region. Leveraging the linear behavior of the TLD-FR a simple parameterization of the equations of motion is established, enabling the formulation of a design framework that beyond TLDs-FR is common for other type of linear mass dampers, something that supports a seamless comparison to them. This framework relies on a probabilistic characterization of the uncertainties impacting the seismic performance. Quantification of this performance through time-history analysis is considered and the seismic hazard is described by a stochastic ground motion model that is calibrated to offer hazard-compatibility with ground motion prediction equations available for Chile. Two different criteria related to life-cycle performance are utilized in the design optimization, in an effort to support a comprehensive comparison between the examined devices. The first one, representing overall direct benefits, is the total life-cycle cost of the system, composed of the upfront device cost and the anticipated seismic losses over the lifetime of the structure. The second criterion, incorporating risk-averse concepts into the decision making, is related to consequences (repair cost) with a specific probability of exceedance over the lifetime of the structure. A multi-objective optimization is established and stochastic simulation is used to estimate all required risk measures. As an illustrative example, the performance of different mass dampers placed on a 21-story building in the Santiago area is examined.     

The Effects of Tidal Export from Salt Marsh Ditches on Estuarine Water Quality and Plankton Communities

Salt marshes are an important transition zone between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and in their natural state, they often function to cycle or trap terrestrially derived nutrients and organic matter. Many US salt marshes were ditched during the twentieth century, potentially altering their functionality. The goal of this 4-year study was to assess the impact of water from ditches within seven salt marshes on estuarine water quality and plankton communities within four estuaries on Long Island, NY, USA. We found that concentrations of inorganic nutrients (ammonium, phosphate), dissolved and particulate organic nitrogen and carbon (POC, PON, DOC, DON), and total coliform bacteria were significantly enriched in salt marsh ditches compared to the estuaries they discharged into. In addition, concentrations of ammonium and DON became more enriched in ditches as tidal levels decreased, suggesting these constituents were generated in situ. Quantification of nitrogen sources in Flanders Bay, NY, suggested salt marsh ditches could represent a substantial source of N to this estuary during summer months. Experimental incubations demonstrated that water from salt marsh ditches was capable of significantly enhancing the growth of multiple classes of phytoplankton, with large diatoms and dinoflagellates displaying the most dramatic increases in growth. Experiments further demonstrated that salt marsh ditchwater was capable of significantly enhancing pelagic respiration rates, suggesting discharge from ditches could influence estuarine oxygen consumption. In summary, this study demonstrates that tidal draining of salt marsh ditches is capable of degrading multiple aspects of estuarine water quality.     

Evaluating the use of 3'-(p-Aminophenyl) fluorescein for determining the formation of highly reactive oxygen species in particle suspensions

Background  

Given the importance of highly reactive oxygen species (hROS) as reactants in a wide range of biological, photochemical, and environmental systems there is an interest in detection and quantification of these species. The extreme reactivity of the hROS, which includes hydroxyl radicals, presents an analytical challenge. 3'-(p-Aminophenyl) fluorescein (APF) is a relatively new probe used for measuring hROS. Here, we further evaluate the use of APF as a method for the detection of hydroxyl radicals in particle suspensions.     

Groupers on the Edge: Shelf Edge Spawning Habitat in and Around Marine Reserves of the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico

The northeastern Gulf of Mexico contains some of the most diverse and productive marine habitat in the United States. Much of this habitat, located on the shelf edge in depths of 50 to 120 m, supports spawning for many economically important species, including groupers. Here, we couple acoustic surveys with georeferenced videography to describe the primary spatial and geologic features of spawning aggregation sites for four economically important species: gag (Mycteroperca microlepis), scamp (M. phenax), red grouper (Epinephelus morio), and red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), with notes on fish distribution and abundance and spawning activities. We provide information on movement patterns of reef fish determined using acoustic telemetry. Finally, we discuss the possible coupling of geomorphology with hydrographic features to influence the overall productivity of the region and the importance of spatial fishery management in sustaining that productivity.     

Toward a Spatial Understanding of Staple Food and Nonstaple Food Production in Brazil

Brazilian agricultural census data at the municipal level are used to develop and map a simple index of staple food versus nonstaple food agriculture for Brazil over time (1996–2006). The results show spatial variation in the direction and degree of the shift toward or away from staple food cropping across Brazil. The index is presented as an important methodological step toward a systematic geographic understanding of crop share changes surrounding food versus fuel and other nonfood crop production.     

A genetic algorithm for designing optimal patch configurations in GIS

Optimal patch design is a generic problem in which the objective is to find the best configuration of patches subject to multiple criteria. It is a hard problem in spatial geometry relevant to numerous applications in spatial planning and analysis. GIS packages do not have optimal patch design functions and there has been very little research in this area. This paper describes a computer system for solving optimal patch design problems in raster GIS. The method uses a genetic algorithm search heuristic combined with a region-growing programme that generates alternative patch configurations. The version described here solves multiple patch problems and was developed from an earlier version for designing single patches. In tests on a hypothetical planning problem the multi-patch version was found to be more efficient, but less effective, than the single patch version. The last part of the paper discusses outstanding issues regarding the applicability usability and external validity of the system and suggests ideas for further research.     

A global kinetic spatial data structure for a marine simulation

This paper proposes a new Free-Lagrange method based on the kinetic Voronoi diagram for fluid simulation. The objective here is to combine the advantages of an adoptive mesh structure with the advantages of kinetic mesh maintenance, and demonstrate their value for dynamic simulation. Despite the theoretical advantages of the Free-Lagrange method, its use has been handicapped with the reconstruction of topology after each time step that considerably reduces the efficiency of the method. In addition, the use of fixed time steps causes problems such as overshoots and undetected collisions. In order to demonstrate the ability of the proposed model to solve these problems, the method is applied to a dam-breaking problem and global tides. With the results obtained from these numerical experiments, the validity of the global kinetic data structure is approved. In particular, the method is found to be more efficient than existing methods. In addition, qualitative comparison of physical results with analytical solutions demonstrates the similarity of the results and confirms the physical validity of the proposed method. Further investigations with real-world data and the complete equation of motion are suggested to compare it with other numerical methods.