COOL AND FRESHWATER SKIN OF THE OCEAN DURING RAINFALL

Rainfall over the sea modifies the molecular boundary layers of the upper ocean through a variety of different effects. These cover the freshwater flux stabilizing the near-surface layer, additional heat flux established due to rain versus surface temperature differences, modification of physical parameters by temperature and salinity changes, enhancement of the surface roughness, damping of short gravity waves, surface mixing by rain, and transfer of additional momentum from air to sea. They are separately described and included in our surface renewal model to investigate the rain's influence on the cool skin of the ocean and the creation of a haline molecular diffusion layer. Simulations with the upgraded model show that the most important effect on the conductive layer is that of reduced renewal periods followed by additional surface cooling due to rain on the order of 0.1 K. At rain rates below 50 mm h-1 rainfall is not able to completely destroy the mean temperature difference across the cool skin. A freshwater skin is created that exhibits a salinity difference exceeding 4 under strong rainfall. Comparisons with field data of the cool skin taken during the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment confirm the upgraded renewal model. Surface salinity measurements taken during the same field campaign are consistent with the calculated salinity differences across the freshwater skin. The enhancement of surface roughness by natural rain is less pronounced than described in earlier laboratory studies of rain with large drop sizes only.     

The spa Deutsch-Altenburg and the hydrogeology of the Vienna basin (Austria)

 Some years ago the thermal water wells of the spa Deutsch-Altenburg were considered the result of a local water circulation. Extensive measurements of the water chemistry, trace elements, and environmental isotopes combined with drillings in the river bed of the Danube resulted in the indication of a key position of the mineral thermal wells of Deutsch-Altenburg for the groundwater circulation in the entire Vienna basin. The proof of this fact demanded the inclusion of the complicated geological position of the basin into the argumentation. The historical background of Bad Deutsch-Altenburg is the Roman municipium Carnuntum. During the reign of the Roman emperor Marc Aurel (161-180 A.C.) Carnuntum became the largest Roman municipium northeast of Rome with about 50 000 inhabitants covering the areas of present-day villages Petronell and Deutsch-Altenburg due to its strategic and trade position. The town was totally destroyed during the era of "migration of nations." The land surface was farmland or meadows. The first document concerning the thermal water of Deutsch-Altenburg is an expertise of the medical faculty of the University of Vienna (1548). During the siege of Vienna by the Turkish army under Kara Mustafa (1683–84) Deutsch-Altenburg was again, destroyed. It was only at the end of the 19th century that the modern installation of the spa began. The healing thermal water with the highest content of sulfur in Austria made Deutsch-Altenburg one of the most well-known spas in the country. The archaeological excavation of Carnuntum is the largest in Austria. Received: 6 October 1995 · Accepted: 13 November 1995