Slump debris flows in the Akovolwo Mountains area of Benue State,Nigeria

In September 1979, rain-induced complex landslides occurred in two separate localities along the slopes of the Akovolwo Mountains near Jato-Aka in the Kwande Local Government area of Benue State, Nigeria.The two movements developed on bedrock slopes covered by a veneer of colluvium and (or) residuum no more than 1.5 to 2m deep. Each started as a slump and graduated into a debris flow. The slump, extending downhill a short distance away from the head scarp, had been reconstituted into a debris flow as the initial movement (sliding movement) of the soil mass caused remoulding of the saturated moving mass into viscous debris-laden mud. The resulting mass moved partly along a pre-existing mountain stream channel and partly along a fresh channel it cleared in the savanna forest. At the break of slope, the mass of boulders was dumped and a trail of smaller fragments littered the channels towards the Katsina-Ala River.     

Numerical studies of the transport of solar protons in interplanetary space

Numerical solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation governing the transport of solar protons are obtained using the Crank-Nicholson technique with the diffusion coefficient represented by K_r=K₀r^b where r is radial distance from the Sun and b can take on positive or negative values. As b ranges from +1 to ?3, the time to the observation of peak flux decreases by a factor of 5 for 1 MeV protons when $\text{V}\text{K}{}_0\text{=}\text{3 AU}{}^{\mathrm{b?1}}$ where V is the solar wind speed. The time to peak flux is found to be very insensitive to assumptions concerning the solar and outer scattering boundary conditions and the presence of exponential time decay in the flux does not depend on the existence of an outer boundary. At $\text{V}\text{K}{}_0\text{? 15 AU}{}^{\mathrm{b?1}}$, 1 MeV particles come from the Sun by an almost entirely convective process and suffer large adiabatic deceleration at b?0 but for b=+1, large Fermi acceleration is possible at all reasonable $\text{V}\text{K}{}_0$ values. Implications of this result for the calculation and measurement of particle diffusion coefficients is discussed. At $\text{b?0}$, the pure diffusion approximation to transport overestimates by a factor 2 or more the time to peak flux but as b becomes more negative, the additional effects of convection and energy loss become less important.     

Anomalous Behavior of the Linear Polarization of the Herbig Ae Star WW Vul during the 1997 Minimum

In the course of photopolarimetric monitoring of the Herbig Ae star WW Vul, an unusual variation of linear polarization upon energence from a deep minimum was recorded, which cannot be explained by the standard mechanism for such objects (UX Ori stars): a variable contribution of radiation scattered by circumstellar dust. An analysis of possible causes of the anomalous behavior of polarization shows that it was most likely due to the presence of aligned, aspherical dust grains in the dust cloud crossing the line of sight at that time.     

Preliminary study on assessment of nutrient transport in the Taihu Basin based on SWAT modeling

With the Taihu Basin as a study area, using the spatially distributed and mechanism-based SWAT model, preliminary simulations of nutrient transport in the Taihu Basin during the period of 1995:_2002 has been carried out. The topography, soil, meteorology and land use with industrial point pollution discharge, the loss of agricultural fertilizers, urban sewerage, and livestock drainages were all considered in the boundary conditions of the simulations. The model was calibrated and validated against water quality monitoring data from 2001 to 2002. The results show that the annual total productions of nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) into Lake Taihu are 40000t and 2000t respectively. Nutrient from the Huxi Region is a major resource for Lake Taihu. The non-point source (surface source) pollution is the main form of catchment sources of nutrients into Lake Taihu, occupied TN 53% and TP 56% respectively. TN and TP nutrients from industrial point pollution discharge are 30% and 16%, and sewerage in both forms of point source and non-point source are TN 31% and TP 47%. Both the loss of agricultural fertilizers and livestock drainages from the catchment should be paid more attention as an important nutrient source. The results also show that SWAT is an effective model for the simulation of temporally and spatially nutrient changes and for the assessment of the trends in a catchment scale.     

Modelling of local velocity anomalies: a cookbook

The determination of small-scale velocity anomalies (from tens to a few hundreds of metres) is a major problem in seismic exploration. The impact of such anomalies on a structural interpretation can be dramatic and conventional techniques such as tomographic inversion or migration velocity analysis are powerless to resolve the ambiguity between structural and velocity origins of anomalies. We propose an alternative approach based on stochastic modelling of numerous anomalies until a set of models is found which can explain the real data. This technique attempts to include as much a priori geological information as possible. It aims at providing the interpreter with a set of velocity anomalies which could possibly be responsible for the structural response. The interpreter can then choose one or several preferred models and pursue a more sophisticated analysis. The class of retained models are all equivalent in terms of data and therefore represent the uncertainty in the model space. The procedure emulates the real processing sequence using a simplified scheme. Essentially, the technique consists of five steps: 1 Interpretation of a structural anomaly in terms of a velocity anomaly with its possible variations in terms of position, size and amplitude. 2 Drawing a model by choosing the parameters of the anomaly within the acceptable range. 3 Modelling the traveltimes in this model and producing the imaging of the reflected interface. 4 Comparing the synthetic data with the real data and keeping the model if it lies within the data uncertainty range. 5 Iterate from step 2. In order to avoid the high computational cost inherent in using statistical determinations, simplistic assumptions have been made: ? The anomaly is embedded in a homogeneous medium: we assume that the refraction and the time shift due to the anomaly have a first-order effect compared with ray bending in the intermediate layers. ? We model only the zero-offset rays and therefore we restrict ourselves to structural problems. ? We simulate time migration and so address only models of limited structural complexity. These approximations are justified in a synthetic model which includes strong lateral velocity variations, by comparing the result of a full processing sequence (prestack modelling, stack and depth migration) with the simplified processing. This model is then used in a blind test on the inversion scheme.     

An Improved Approach for Parameterizing Surface-Layer Turbulent Transfer Coefficients in Numerical Models

Based on classic iterative computation results, new equations to calculate the surface turbulent transfer coefficients are proposed, which allow for large ratios of the momentum and heat roughness lengths. Compared to the Launiainen scheme, our proposed scheme generates results closer to classical iterative computations. Under unstable stratification, the relative error in the Launiainen scheme increases linearly with increasing instability, even exceeding 15%, while the relative error of the present scheme is always less than 8.5%. Under stable stratification, the Launiainen scheme uses two equations, one for 0 < Ri _B ≤ 0.08 and another for 0.08 < Ri _B ≤ 0.2, and does not consider the condition that Ri _B > 0.2, while its relative errors in the region 0 < Ri _B ≤ 0.2 exceed 31 and 24% for momentum and heat transfer coefficients, respectively. In contrast, the present scheme uses only one equation for 0 < Ri _B ≤ 0.2 and another equation for Ri _B > 0.2, and the relative error of the present scheme is always less than 14%.     

Estimation of the effect of protective piers on wind wave parameters in the Sevastopol Bay

An effectiveness of the storm wave attenuation by protective piers in the Sevastopol Bay of the Black Sea is studied on the basis of numerical simulation using the SWAN spectral model. Analyzed are the parameters of waves generated by winds of four main directions as well as by the southern cyclone during the storm on November 11, 2007. It is obtained that waves from the northwest part of the Black Sea penetrate most intensively into the Sevastopol Bay in case of western wind and, to a lesser degree, in case of northern and southern winds. A protective effect of the piers is observed in the west part of the bay only and the wave attenuation near the southern coast is more significant than near the northern one. The area of the southern coast directly behind the southern pier is completely protected from the storm waves and, as moving away from the pier, the danger of intensive wave effect on the coast is kept.     

The biogeochemical sulfur cycle in the marine boundary layer over the Northeast Pacific Ocean

The major components of the marine boundary layer biogeochemical sulfur cycle were measured simultaneously onshore and off the coast of Washington State, U.S.A. during May 1987. Seawater dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentrations on the continental shelf were strongly influenced by coastal upwelling. Concentration further offshore were typical of summer values (2.2 nmol/L) at this latitude. Although seawater DMS concentrations were high on the biologically productive continental shelf (2–12 nmol/L), this region had no measurable effect on atmospheric DMS concentrations. Atmospheric DMS concentrations (0.1–12 nmol/m³), however, were extremely dependent upon wind speed and boundary layer height. Although there appeared to be an appreciable input of non-sea-salt sulfate to the marine boundary layer from the free troposphere, the local flux of DMS from the ocean to the atmosphere was sufficient to balance the remainder of the sulfur budget.     

Observational estimation of heat budgets on drifting ice and open water over the Arctic Ocean

It is of major scientific interests to determine the parameters of momentum, heat and vapor exchange in the planetary boundary layer in order to study the effects of ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions and their feedback mechanisms on global climate[1]. Lin…