Improving fluorometry as a source tracking method to detect human fecal contamination

In a continuing effort to develop inexpensive source tracking methods to detect human fecal contamination in environmental waters, targeted sampling was combined with fluorometry. Targeted sampling works by identifying hot spots of fecal contamination through multiple samplings over ever-decreasing distances. Fluorometry identifies human fecal contamination by detecting optical brighteners, primarily from laundry detergents. Because organic matter fluoresces and interferes with fluorometry, two locations were chosen for sampling: waters relatively low in organic matter at Mayagüez Bay, Puerto Rico, and waters relatively high in organic matter at St. Simons Island, Georgia. In Puerto Rico, targeted sampling and fluorometry quickly and easily identified two hot spots of human fecal contamination in the Yagüez River, which flows through the city of Mayagüez. Another source tracking method, detection of theesp gene, confirmed their human origin. On St. Simous Island, targeted sampling and fiuorometry identified two hot spots of potential human fecal contamination. Detection of theesp gene confirmed the human origin of one site but not the other, most likely because background organic matter fluorescence interfered with fhiorometry. A separate experiment showed that adding a 436-um emission filter to the fluorometer reduced this background fluorescence by > 50%. With the 436-nm Filter in place, another sampling was conducted on St. Simons Island, and the second hot spot was identified as fecal contamination from birds. As long as the fluorometer was equipped with a 436-nm filter and organic matter concentrations were considered, targeted sampling combined with fluorometry was a relatively inexpensive method for identifying human fecal contamination in water.     

The gas-phase reaction of ClONO2 with hydrogen chloride

The gas-phase reaction of ClONO₂ with HCl was investigated using two large-volume environmental chambers with analysis by in situ long pathlength Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy. In these chambers the reaction was observed to proceed, at least in part, by heterogenous routes, and an upper limit to the rate constant for the homogeneous gas-phase reaction of geneous routes, and an upper limit to the rate constant for the homogeneous gas-phase reaction of $$k\left( {{\text{ClONO}}_{\text{2}} + {\text{HCl}}} \right) < 1.5 \times 10^{ - 19} {\text{ cm}}^{\text{3}} {\text{ molecule}}^{{\text{ - 1}}} {\text{ s}}^{{\text{ - 1}}}$$ Was derived at 298±2K. Assuming that this room-temperature upper limit to the rate constant is applicable to stratospheric temperatures, this homogeneous gas-phase reaction can be estimated to be of negligible importance as a ClONO₂ loss process in the stratosphere.     

Atmospheric electricity at Brébeuf college geophysical observatory in Montréal,Canada

Summary The author gives the results obtained by means of nine years (1957–1965 inclusive) of recordings of the potential gradient and two years (1964–1965 inclusive) of the current density. Some general aspects of these registrations are discussed.     

Oil spill fishery impact assessment modeling: The fisheries recruitment problem

A model to assess the impact of oil spill on fisheries, consisting of an oil spill fates model, a continental shelf hydrodynamics model, an ichthyoplankton transport and fates model, and a fish population model, has been applied to the Georges Bank-Gulf of Maine region to estimate the impact of oil spills on several important commercial fisheries. The model addresses direct impacts of oil on a fishery through hydrocarbon-induced egg and larval mortality. This early life stage mortality is estimated by dynamically mapping the spatial intersection of the surface and subsurface oil concentrations resulting from the spill with the developing eggs and larvae. Ichthyoplankton entering an area with hydrocarbon concentrations in excess of a specified threshold are assumed lost. Model output is given in terms of differential catch, comparing the non-impacted and the hydrocarbon impacted fisheries. Difficulties in establishing stock-recruit relationships, and the inability to predict first year survival even one year ahead make the quantification of absolute catch losses impossible. Output of the model system discussed here is therefore limited to relative rather than absolute catch losses.The paper is organized to demonstrate first the importance of the recruitment question to impact estimation, second that a modeling methodology is necessary to evaluate impacts given the magnitude of unexplained observed recruitment variability, and third a stochastic solution to the problem which places impact estimates in the context of a probability distribution. Lastly, the model system is applied to the problem of attaining better early life history mortality estimates, to ultimately improve impact estimation capabilities.     

Cosmo-SkyMed X-band SAR data for classification of ice-free areas and glacier facies on Potter Peninsula,King George Island Antarctica

The climate change phenomena have been influencing terrestrial and glacial ecosystems around the planet. Maritime Antarctica is especially sensitive to these climate variations and over the last 50 years increasing global air temperatures have caused extensive glacial retreat. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential use of the SAR technology in monitoring the surface dynamics of the Potter Peninsula, King George Island, maritime Antarctica. An image generated by the SAR satellite COSMO-SkyMed, obtained on 2 February 2011, was used to extract the backscattering values of targets on the surface for further processing and classification, using a supervised statistic classifier of maximum likelihood for the determination of the surface classes. The average backscattering of water bodies presented high similarity, which made its separation unattainable. On the other hand, the surface classes’ bare ice and wet snow over the glacier presented distinct average backscattering values, which allowed an efficient and precise classification using only this parameter. The classification process showed satisfactory results for periglacial environments, presenting high fidelity to the field data.     

Model for the Processing and Estimation of Dual Frequency Echo Sounder Observations in Detailed Bathymetries

The dataset acquired by an echo sounder generally comprises outliers and erroneous measurements which must be automatically processed. The main aim of this research is the development and validation of an algorithm which permits detecting outliers, estimating their real value from data acquired with a multifrequency echo sounder, and verifying the measure according to the desired accuracy. The process considers the nature of the seabed and improves the density and number of lectures without globally compromising the precision, but enhancing it in areas with anomalous measurements. Twenty-nine percent of this type of measurements, which would have been otherwise rejected, have been estimated.     

Combined electromagnetic, geochemical and thermal surveys of Taal volcano (Philippines) during the period 2005–2006

Since 1572, 33 phreatic to phreatomagmatic eruptions have occurred on Taal volcano (Philippines), some of them causing several hundred casualties. Considering the time delay between two consecutive eruptions, there is an 88% probability that Taal volcano should have already erupted. Since 1992, several phases of seismic activity have been recorded accompanied by ground deformation, opening of fissures, and surface activity. The volcanic activity of Taal appears to be controlled by dike injections and magma supply, buffered by a hydrothermal system that releases fluids and heat through boiling and subsequent steaming. In early 2005, a multidisciplinary project was launched for studying the hydrothermal activity. To map the hydrothermal system, combined surveys were carried out to investigate self-potential, total magnetic field, ground temperature and carbon dioxide soil degassing, along with satellite thermal imaging of the Main Crater Lake. The elevated temperatures and high concentrations of carbon dioxide, as well as electromagnetic anomalies, indicate large-scale hydrothermal degassing. This process is enhanced along the tectonic features (e.g., crater rim and faults) of the volcano, while active fissures opened along the E–W northern flank during the 1992–1994 seismic activity. Heat and fluids from the hydrothermal system are essentially released in the northern part of the crater, which is bounded to the South by a suspected NW–SE fault along which seismicity seems to take place, and dikes are thought to be intruded. During the January 2005 surveys, a new seismic crisis started, and the felt earthquakes prompted spontaneous evacuation of hundreds of inhabitants living on the volcano. Repeated surveys show changes of self-potential, total magnetic field, and ground temperature with time, without any noticeable spatial enlargement. These observations suggest that the northern flank located between the crater rim and the 1992–1994 fissures is connected with a deep thermal source in Main crater and is reactivated during seismic crises. This sector could be subjected to flank failure.     

Bearing Capacity of Strip Footings Near Slopes

In the last decades a great attention was given by many authors to the evaluation of the static and seismic bearing capacity of footings near slopes. In this paper a model has been developed based on the limit equilibrium method, considering a circular surface propagates towards the slope until the sloping ground is reached. The bearing capacity is investigated considering either the distance of the footing from the edge of the slope and/or the effect of the footing embedment. A validation of the proposed model was made by a comparison with solutions taken from literature regarding the evaluation of the bearing capacity for a footing adjacent to a slope and for an inclined load. The loading conditions consist in vertical and horizontal stress on the footing and on the soil below the footing. Both the inertial and kinematic effects of the seismic loading have been analyzed, and a simple equation has been derived for the evaluation of the seismic bearing capacity. The static and seismic bearing capacity has been investigated as a function of the soil friction angle, of the seismic coefficient, of the sloping ground. Finally, the influence of the distance of the footing from the edge of the slope was taken into consideration in the evaluation of the bearing capacity, and a threshold distance at which the reduction of the bearing capacity due to the sloping ground vanishes has been defined.     

A Pulsed Laser Photolysis-Resonance Fluorescence Kinetic Study of the Atmospheric Cl Atom-Initiated Oxidation of Propene and a Series of 3-Halopropenes at Room Temperature

Absolute rate coefficient measurements have been carried out for the reactions of Cl atoms with propene and a series of 3-halopropenes, at room temperature (298 ± 2) K using a newly constructed laser photolysis-resonance fluorescence (PLP-RF) system. The rate coefficients obtained (in units of cm³ molecule^–1 s^–1) are: propene (1.40± 0.24) ×10^–10, 3-fluoropropene (4.92 ± 0.42) ×10^–11, 3-chloropropene (7.47 ± 1.50) × 10^–11, 3-bromopropene (1.23± 0.14) ×10^–10 and 3-iodopropene (1.29± 0.15) ×10^–10. In order to test this new system, the reactions of Cl atoms with acetone and isoprene have also been studied and compared with data previously reported. The rate coefficients determined at room temperature for these last two reactions are (2.93 ± 0.20) ×10^–12 cm³ molecule^–1 s^{– 1} and (3.64± 0.20)×10^–10 cm³ molecule^–1 s^–1, respectively. The measured values were independent of pressure over the range 20–200 Torr. The influence of the different halogen atoms substituents on the reactivity of these alkenes with Cl atoms as well as the atmospheric implications of these measurements are studied and discussed for the first time in this work and compared with the reactivity with NO₃ and OH radicals.