A study into the export of saline water from Hervey Bay, Australia

Australia's climate is one of the world's driest and locally characterised by high year-to-year rainfall variability. Due to high evaporation and low river runoff many estuaries and embayments in the region are characterised by inverse conditions with salinity increasing toward the coast and river mouths. Such conditions were also found during the first comprehensive hydrographic survey of Hervey Bay located at the east coast of Australia in early spring 2004. The survey traced a subsurface salinity maximum that was found in earlier studies within the East Australia Current, east of Hervey Bay to the shallow southwest regions of the bay. These are identified as the most likely source region for locally produced saline Hervey Bay Water. Utilising a simple box model, mean evaporation rates and historical river runoff data, it is demonstrated that inverse conditions are likely to dominate throughout the year. The negative circulation is a climatological feature of this estuary that is not limited to the dry season of the year. Due to persistent drought and declining rainfall in coastal eastern Australia, these conditions are likely to persist into the near future and need to be considered in coastal management strategies.     

Numerical studies of gas hydrate systems: sensitivity to porosity-permeability models

The formation of sub-seafloor gas hydrates in marine environments can be described as a coupled transport and thermodynamic process inside a host sediment matrix undergoing structural evolution. The transport processes are driven by the sedimentary load and induced overpressure gradients, controlled by sediment permeability. In order to accurately model the resulting fluid flow profile, the decrease of sediment permeability during hydrate precipitation has to be taken into account, which affects both the transport of solutes and sediment compaction. In this paper, we investigate how total hydrate abundance is affected by regions of low permeability which deflect the flow field in their vicinity. For this purpose, a two-dimensional numerical hydrate system model was set up which permits to quantify this effect in scenarios where changes in water depth cause lateral variations of the thickness of the hydrate stability field, as well as of hydrate saturation and sediment permeability. The microscopic structure of gas hydrate crystals in the host sediment matrix defines the evolution of the permeability reduction during hydrate formation. Grain-coating precipitates have a stronger tendency to clog flow paths through pore throats than do pore-filling precipitates. Our results clearly show that these pore-scale processes affect the large-scale flow field and hydrate abundance. The sensitivity depends on the model geometry and, for a 5° slope of the seafloor, 4.1% relative difference is predicted for the hydrate saturation according to different porosity-permeability relationships.     

IMPACTS OF NUCLEAR WAR: RESULTS FROM AN ENERGY BALANCE GLOBAL CLIMATE MODEL

We use a one-dimensional energy balance global climate model to assess the climatic impacts of various nuclear war scenarios. Our results suggest that mean annual surface temperatures, especially within the war zone, may decrease sharply. Perturbations in the atmospheric circulation system substantially change the distribution and size of the various global heat exchanges.     

HydrIS:一个用于地下水管理的开放的GIS决策支持系统——以Morocco为例(英文)

A regional groundwater management system has been elaborated, integrating Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) and various web services. It consists of web geospatial application so-called HydrIS ( Hydrogeological Information System) based on Open Source components and technologies, leading to a feasible and low-cost solution. Therefore, HydrIS permits delivery of data from a number of heterogeneous sources to standards supported by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The protocols used for exchanging data are also derived from OGC standards, i.e., WMS (Web Mapping Service), WFS (Web Feature Service), and WCS (Web Coverage Service). Finally, a geoportal was developed, which consists of client-applications that communicate with different Web Services (WMS, WCS, and WFS) through http-requests. A prototype for web-based GIS application was designed using the deegree Framework to provide systematic interfaces and functions. This system was developed to demonstrate the value of making hydrogeological data more widely accessible through client/server architecture. This experience and knowledge already gained in this project will be a source for technology transfer and policy decisions. Otherwise, this will enable user groups to improve the management of their groundwater resources and contribute to enhanced decision support capabilities.      

Rb-Sr systematics of Permian volcanites in the Schwarzwald (SW-Germany)

Rb-Sr mineral ages and Sr isotopic ratios were determined for several Permian rhyolites of the Schwarzwald, mainly by using mica-apatite pairs. Extrusion ages between_307+5 and 286+7 Ma were found ( _Rb=1.42· 10^–11 a^–1, 2). The initial Sr isotopic ratios range from 0,710 to 0.7125, with one exception (St. Märgen: 0.706). The Rb-Sr age of the granite porphyry Schweighof in the Southern Schwarzwald is 323+4 Ma.Thus the subsequent volcanic activity of the Hercynian orogeny lasted nearly 20–30 Ma, starting in the Late Carboniferous and culminating in the Early Permian. The volcanic activity moved in time from South to North. In the Southern as well as the Northern Schwarzwald a hiatus of about 20 Ma exists between late orogenic plutonism and subsequent volcanism. The initial ratios lie on the crustal evolution line of Schwarzwald basement and favour, with the St. Märgen porphyry as exception, a crustal provenance of the volcanic magmas.     

Climate Change driven evolution of hazards to Europe’s transport infrastructure throughout the twenty-first century

Air circulation due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect can influence the dispersion of air pollutants in a metropolis. This study focusses on the influence of the UHI effect on particulate matter (PM; including PM_2.5 and PM_2.5–10) between May and September 2010–2012 in the Taipei basin. Meteorological and PM data were obtained from the sites, owned by the governmental authorities. The analysis was carried out using t test, relative indices (RIs), Pearson product–moment correlation and stepwise regression. The results show that the RI values for PM were the highest at moderate UHI intensity (MUI; 2 °C ≤ UHI < 4 °C) rather than at strong UHI intensity (SUI; 4 °C ≤ UHI) during the peak time for anthropogenic emissions (20:00 LST). Neither the accumulation of PM nor the surface convergence occurred in the hot centre, as shown by the case study. At MUI, more than 89 % of the synoptic weather patterns showed that the weather was clear and hot or that the atmosphere was stable. The variation in PM was associated with horizontal and vertical air dispersion. Poor horizontal air dispersion, with subsidence, caused an increase in PM at MUI. However, the updraft motion diluted the PM at SUI. The stepwise regression models show that the cloud index and surface air pressure determined the variation in PM_2.5–10, while cloud index, wind speed and mixing height influenced the variation in PM_2.5. In conclusion, a direct relationship between UHI effect and PM was not obvious.     

Current and turbulence measurements at the FINO1 offshore wind energy site: analysis using 5-beam ADCPs

We report concurrent measurements of ocean currents and turbulence at two sites in the North Sea, one site at upwind of the FINO1 platform and the other 200-m downwind of the Alpha Ventus wind farm. At each site, mean currents, Reynolds stresses, turbulence intensity and production of turbulent kinetic energy are obtained from two bottom-mounted 5-beam Nortek Signature1000s, high-frequency Doppler current profiler, at a water depth of approximately 30 m. Measurements from the two sites are compared to statistically identify the effects of wind farm and waves on ocean current variability and the turbulent structure in the water column. Profiles of Reynolds stresses are found to be sensible to both environmental forcing and the wind farm wake-induced distortions in both boundary layers near the surface and the seabed. Production of turbulent kinetic energy and turbulence intensity exhibit approximately similar, but less pronounced, patterns in the presence of farm wake effects.