Tracing nearshore bottom currents with sea-bed drifters

The experience acquired during 36 Woodhead drifter releases performed along the Tuscan coast is briefly reported. Without a costly apparatus, residual current patterns may be easily obtained with this method. Care should be taken, however, when sediment dispersal patterns are required, since weak currents which drag drifters slowly, displace only finer sediments.     

High Resolution Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in a Transition Zone Environment: Application for Detailed Internal Architecture and Infilling Processes Study of a Rhône River Paleo-channel

Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) was applied in a sand-infilled paleo-channel located in the Rhône Delta, in Southern France. The detailed pattern and sedimentological evolution of the channel fill deposits – know from both historical and geological sources – made it the ideal site to test the ERT method. A geoelectrical survey was performed, using the ABEM SAS-4000 multi-electrode array system in March 2003. Very low electrical resistivity values were obtained, ranging from 0.3 to 10 Ohm m, consistent with the high salinity measured in situ (the pore water conductivity was found to range from 0.9 to 1.2 S/m at 25 °C). The electrical resistivity profiles reflect mainly salinity variations. Indeed, in this case, salinity is so high that surface conductivity associated with clay minerals can be safely neglected. ERT provided valuable high-resolution information that complemented other exiting data such as historical information, bathymetric, geological, and lithostratigraphic data, which allowed the architecture of the channel to be defined. The ERT was used to determine the infilling dynamics of the Pégoulier Channel, which opens new perspectives in terms of paleoenvironmental reconstruction and paleodynamic studies.     

Peculiar velocity reconstruction with the fast action method: tests on mock redshift surveys

We present extensive tests of the fast action method (FAM) for recovering the past orbits of mass tracers in an expanding universe from their redshift-space coordinates at the present epoch. The tests focus on the reconstruction of present-day peculiar velocities using mock catalogues extracted from high-resolution N -body simulations. The method allows for a self-consistent treatment of redshift-space distortions by direct minimization of a modified action for a cosmological gravitating system. When applied to ideal, volume-limited catalogues, FAM recovers unbiased peculiar velocities with a one-dimensional, 1σ error of ∼220 km  s⁻¹  , if velocities are smoothed on a scale of  5 h ⁻¹  Mpc. Alternatively, when no smoothing is applied, FAM predicts nearly unbiased velocities for objects residing outside the highest density regions. In this second case the 1σ error decreases to a level of ∼150 km  s⁻¹  . The correlation properties of the peculiar velocity fields are also correctly recovered on scales larger than  5 h ⁻¹  Mpc. Similar results are obtained when FAM is applied to flux-limited catalogues mimicking the IRAS PSC z survey. In this case FAM reconstructs peculiar velocities with similar intrinsic random errors, while velocity–velocity correlation properties are well reproduced beyond scales of  ∼8 h ⁻¹  Mpc. We also show that FAM provides better velocity predictions than other, competing methods based on linear theory or the Zel'dovich approximation. These results indicate that FAM can be successfully applied to presently available galaxy redshift surveys such as IRAS PSC z .     

Capacity models for shear strength of exterior joints in RC frames: state-of-the-art and synoptic examination

Damage observed in existing structures after recent earthquake events pointed out the key importance of beam-to-column joints in influencing the global response of reinforced concrete structures. In the last two decades several theoretical and empirical models have been proposed for evaluating shear strength of beam-to-column joints. The present paper reports an overview of the models currently available in the scientific literature for evaluating shear capacity of exterior beam-to-column joints. The present study is the first step of a wide analysis aimed at assessing such models and improving them. Moreover, the uncertainties deriving by applying the mentioned models will be also quantified therein, by means of well-established procedures for probabilistic seismic analysis of structures. The final results of that study are reported within a companion paper.     

Modelling the cosmological co-evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies – II. The clustering of quasars and their dark environment

We use semi-analytic modelling on top of the Millennium simulation to study the joint formation of galaxies and their embedded supermassive black holes. Our goal is to test scenarios in which black hole accretion and quasar activity are triggered by galaxy mergers, and to constrain different models for the light curves associated with individual quasar events. In the present work, we focus on studying the spatial distribution of simulated quasars. At all luminosities, we find that the simulated quasar two-point correlation function is fit well by a single power law in the range  0.5 ≲ r ≲ 20  h ⁻¹ Mpc  , but its normalization is a strong function of redshift. When we select only quasars with luminosities within the range typically accessible by today's quasar surveys, their clustering strength depends only weakly on luminosity, in agreement with observations. This holds independently of the assumed light-curve model, since bright quasars are black holes accreting close to the Eddington limit, and are hosted by dark matter haloes with a narrow mass range of a few  10¹²  h ⁻¹ M_⊙  . Therefore, the clustering of bright quasars cannot be used to disentangle light-curve models, but such a discrimination would become possible if the observational samples can be pushed to significantly fainter limits. Overall, our clustering results for the simulated quasar population agree rather well with observations, lending support to the conjecture that galaxy mergers could be the main physical process responsible for triggering black hole accretion and quasar activity.     

The fundamental cosmic distance scale: state of the art and the Gaia perspective

In recent papers we had developed a unified picture of black hole entropy and curvature which was shown to lead to Hawking radiation. It was shown that for any black hole mass, holography implies a phase space of just one quantum associated with the interior of the black hole. Here we study extremal rotating and charged black holes and obtain unique values for ratios of angular momentum to entropy, charge to entropy, etc. It turns out that these ratios can be expressed in terms of fundamental constants in nature, having analogies with other physical systems, like in condensed matter physics.     

Lava flow hazard and risk at Mt. Cameroon volcano

Mt. Cameroon is one of the most active effusive volcanoes in Africa. About 500,000 people living or working around its fertile flanks are subject to significant threat from lava flow inundation. Lava flow hazard and risk were assessed by simulating probable lava flow paths using the DOWNFLOW code. The vent opening probability density function and lava flow length distribution were determined on the basis of available data from past eruptions at Mt. Cameroon volcano. Code calibration was performed through comparison with real lava flow paths. The topographic basis for simulations was the 90-m resolution SRTM DEM. Simulated lava flows from about 80,000 possible vents were used to produce a detailed lava flow hazard map. The lava flow risk in the area was mapped by combining the hazard map with digitized infrastructures (i.e., human settlements and roads). Results show that the risk of lava flow inundation is greatest in the most inhabited coastal areas comprising the town of Limbe, which constitutes the center of Cameroon’s oil industry and an important commercial port. Buea, the second most important town in the area, has a much lower risk although it is significantly closer to the summit of the volcano. Non-negligible risk characterizes many villages and most roads in the area surrounding the volcano. In addition to the conventional risk mapping described above, we also present (1) two reversed risk maps (one for buildings and one for roads), where each point on the volcano is classified according to the total damage expected as a consequence of vent opening at that point; (2) maps of the lava catchments for the two main towns of Limbe and Buea, illustrating the expected damage upon venting at any point in the catchment basin. The hazard and risk maps provided here represent valuable tools for both medium/long-term land-use planning and real-time volcanic risk management and decision making.     

Use of ETM+ images to extend stem volume estimates obtained from LiDAR data

Airborne LiDAR techniques can provide accurate measurements of tree height, from which estimates of stem volume and forest woody biomass can be obtained. These techniques, however, are still expensive to apply repeatedly over large areas. The current paper presents a methodology which first transforms mean stand heights obtained from LiDAR over small strips into relevant stem volume estimates. These are then extended over an entire forest by applying two estimation methods (k-NN and locally calibrated regression) to Landsat ETM+ images. The methodology is tested over a coastal area covered by pine forest in the Regional Park of San Rossore (Central Italy). The results are evaluated by comparison with the ground stem volumes of a recent forest inventory, taking into consideration the effect of stand size. In general, the accuracies of two estimation methods are dependent on the size of the forest stands and are satisfactory only when considering stands larger than 5-10 ha. The outputs of the parametric regression procedure are slightly more stable than those of k-NN and more faithfully reproduce the spatial patterns of the ground data.     

Body force,body couple and heat source equivalents for seismic dislocations

Summary An explicit expression is derived for the body force, body couple and heat source to be applied in the absence of a seismic dislocation, which produces a thermodynamical behaviour equivalent to that produced by the dislocation.