Seasonal snow cover decreases young water fractions in high Alpine catchments

Estimation of young water fractions (F_yw), defined as the fraction of water in a stream younger than approximately 2–3 months, provides key information for water resource management in catchments where runoff is dominated by snowmelt. Knowing the average dependence of summer flow on winter precipitation is an essential context for comparing regional drought severity and provides the hydrological template for downstream water users and ecosystems. However, F_yw estimation based on seasonal signals of stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen has not yet explicitly addressed how to parsimoniously include the seasonal shift of water input from snow. Using experimental data from three high-elevation, Alpine catchments (one dominated by glacier and two by snow), we propose a framework to explicitly include the delays induced by snow storage into estimates of F_yw. Scrutinizing the key methodological choices when estimating F_yw from isotope data, we find that the methods used to construct precipitation input signals from sparse isotope samples can significantly impact F_yw. Given this sensitivity, our revised procedure estimates a distribution of F_yw values that incorporates a wide range of possible methodological choices and their uncertainties; it furthermore compares the commonly used amplitude ratio approach to a direct convolution approach, which circumvents the assumption that the isotopic signals have a sine curve shape, an assumption that is generally violated in snow-dominated environments. Our new estimates confirm that high-elevation Alpine catchments have low F_yw values, spanning from 8 to 11%. Such low values have previously been interpreted as the impact of seasonal snow storage alone, but our comparison of different F_yw estimation methods suggests that these low F_yw values result from a combination of both snow cover effects and longer storage in the subsurface. In contrast, in the highest elevation, glacier dominated catchment, F_yw is 3–4 times greater compared to the other two catchments, due to the lower storage and faster drainage processes. A future challenge, capturing spatio-temporal snowmelt isotope signals during winter baseflow and the snowmelt period, remains to improve constraints on the F_yw estimation technique.     

The Italian strong motion network

The Italian Strong Motion Network is a permanent monitoring system run by the Italian national emergency management department (Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, DPC). The network is known as RAN (Rete Accelerometrica Nazionale). An extensive project for updating and improving the technology of RAN instruments as well as the number of recording points was performed in the last 10 years. A wide site selection survey was carried out from eastern Sicily along the Italian peninsula, covering high seismic risk areas. The recording station density and the choice of high-quality digital strong motion instruments ensure reliability of the RAN network in the long-term. At the end of 2008, the free field sites selection and instruments installation, planned in the project, were quite completed. In planning and drawing the new RAN, special attention has been devoted to the robustness of the transmission systems, and to the distribution of new stations in order to ensure plenty of data during a seismic emergency. We spent special care both in the estimation of the RAN site responses and in the diffusion of the strong motion data. In order to better identify damaged earthquake areas, improved ground motion parameters need to be set. Such parameters will also assist future progress for engineering seismic design techniques as well as disaster mitigation.     

Monitoring Etna volcanic plumes using a scanning LiDAR

In this paper, we use data obtained from LiDAR measurements during an ash emission event on 15 November 2010 at Mt. Etna, in Italy, in order to evaluate the spatial distribution of volcanic ash in the atmosphere. A scanning LiDAR system, located at 7?km distance from the summit craters, was directed toward the volcanic vents and moved in azimuth and elevation to analyse different volcanic plume sections. During the measurements, ash emission from the North East Crater and high degassing from the Bocca Nuova Crater were clearly visible. From our analysis we were able to: (1) evaluate the region affected by the volcanic plume presence; (2) distinguish volcanic plumes containing spherical aerosols from those having non-spherical ones; and (3) estimate the frequency of volcanic ash emissions. Moreover, the spatial distribution of ash mass concentration was evaluated with an uncertainty of about 50?%. We found that, even during ash emission episodes characterised by low intensity like the 15 November 2010 event, the region in proximity of the summit craters should be avoided by air traffic operations, the ash concentration being greater than 4?×?10^?3?g/m³. The use of a scanning permanent LiDAR station may usefully monitor the volcanic activity and help to drastically reduce the risks to aviation operations during the frequent Etna eruptions.     

A nonlinear SDOF model for the simplified evaluation of the displacement demand of low-rise URM buildings

The determination of displacement demands for masonry buildings subjected to seismic action is a key issue in the performance-based assessment and design of such structures. A technique for the definition of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) nonlinear systems that approximates the global behaviour of multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) 3D structural models has been developed in order to provide useful information on the dependency of displacement demand on different seismic intensity measures. The definition of SDOF system properties is based on the dynamic equivalence of the elastic properties (vibration period and viscous damping) and on the comparability with nonlinear hysteretic behaviour obtained by cyclic pushover analysis on MDOF models. The MDOF systems are based on a nonlinear macroelement model that is able to reproduce the in-plane shear and flexural cyclic behaviour of pier and spandrel elements. For the complete MDOF models an equivalent frame modelling technique was used. The equivalent SDOF system was modelled using a suitable nonlinear spring comprised of two macroelements in parallel. This allows for a simple calibration of the hysteretic response of the SDOF by suitably proportioning the contributions of flexure-dominated and shear-dominated responses. The comparison of results in terms of maximum displacements obtained for the SDOF and MDOF systems demonstrates the feasibility and reliability of the proposed approach. The comparisons between MDOF and equivalent SDOF systems, carried out for several building prototypes, were based on the results of time-history analyses performed with a large database of natural records covering a wide range of magnitude, distance and local soil conditions. The use of unscaled natural accelerograms allowed the displacement demand to be expressed as a function of different ground motion parameters allowing for the study of their relative influence on the displacement demand for masonry structures.     

Simulation of masonry out‐of‐plane failure modes by multi‐body dynamics

The seismic assessment of the local failure modes in existing masonry buildings is currently based on the identification of the so‐called local mechanisms, often associated with the out‐of‐plane wall behavior, whose stability is evaluated by static force‐based approaches and, more recently, by some displacement‐based proposals. Local mechanisms consist of kinematic chains of masonry portions, often regarded as rigid bodies, with geometric nonlinearity and concentrated nonlinearity in predefined contact regions (unilateral no‐tension behavior, possible sliding with friction). In this work, the dynamic behavior of local mechanisms is simulated through multi‐body dynamics, to obtain the nonlinear response with efficient time history analyses that directly take into account the characteristics of the ground motion. The amplification/filtering effects of the structure are considered within the input motion. The proposed approach is validated with experimental results of two full‐scale shaking‐table tests on stone masonry buildings: a sacco‐stone masonry façade tested at Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil and a two‐storey double‐leaf masonry building tested at European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering (EUCENTRE). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluid geochemistry of the Mondragone hydrothermal systems (southern Italy): water and gas compositions vs. geostructural setting

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The geochemistry of natural thermal fluids discharging in the Mondragone Plain has been investigated. Thermal spring emergences are located along the...     

Changes in eruptive style during the A.D. 1538 Monte Nuovo eruption (Phlegrean Fields, Italy): the role of syn-eruptive crystallization

The Monte Nuovo eruption is the most recent event that occurred at Phlegrean Fields (Italy) and lasted from 29 September to 6 October 1538. It was characterized by 2 days of quasi-sustained phreatomagmatic activity generating pumice-bearing pyroclastic density currents and forming a 130-m-high tuff cone (Lower Member deposits). The activity resumed after a pause of 2 days with two discrete Vulcanian explosions that emplaced radially distributed, scoria-bearing pyroclastic flows (Upper Member deposits). The juvenile products of Lower and Upper Members are, respectively, phenocryst-poor, light-coloured pumice and dark scoria fragments with K-phonolitic bulk compositions, identical in terms of both major and trace elements. Groundmass is formed by variable proportions of K-feldspar and glass, along with minor sodalite and Fe-Ti oxide present in the most crystallized samples. Investigations of groundmass compositions and textures were performed to assess the mechanisms of magma ascent, degassing and fragmentation along the conduit and implications for the eruptive dynamics. In pumice of the Lower Member groundmass crystal content increases from 13 to 28 vol% from the base to the top of the sequence. Products of the Upper Member consist of clasts with a groundmass crystal content between 30 and 40 vol% and of totally crystallized fragments. Crystal size distributions of groundmass feldspars shift from a single population at the base of the Lower Member to a double population in the remaining part of the sequence. The average size of both populations regularly increases from the Lower to the Upper Member. Crystal number density increases by two orders of magnitude from the Lower to the Upper Member, suggesting that nucleation dominated during the second phase of the eruption. The overall morphological, compositional and textural data suggest that the juvenile components of the Monte Nuovo eruption are likely to record variations of the magma properties within the conduit. The different textures of pumice clasts from the Lower Member possibly reflect horizontal gradients of the physical properties (P, T) of the ascending magma column, while scoriae from the second phase are thought to result from the disruption of a slowly rising plug crystallizing in response to degassing. In particular, crystal size distribution data point to syn-eruptive degassing-induced crystallization as responsible for the transition in eruptive style from the first to the second phase of the eruption. This mechanism not only has been proved to profoundly affect the dynamics of dome-forming calc-alkaline eruptions, but may also have a strong influence in driving the eruption dynamics of alkaline magmas of intermediate to evolved compositions.Editorial responsibility: J. Donnelly-Nolan     

Comparaison au moyen de la lysotypie entre souches d'Aeromonas de pisciculture et souches isolées de l'homme

The spreading of bacteria of the genusAeromonas in intensive fish rearing tanks was analyzed during one year. Lysotyping has established epidemiologic correlations between the strains ofAeromonas isolated from the aquatic environment and those of clinical (human) origin.

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Dédié à Wolfgang Geiger