Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans in sediments from Hong Kong

Concentrations of 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were determined in 14 sediment samples collected from four sites in the Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve (within a RAMSAR Site) and from another six sites in Victoria Harbour and along the Hong Kong coastline. Elevated levels of PCDDs, and particularly OCDD, were detectable in all samples collected from the Mai Po Marshes and five of the six sites. In contrast to PCDDs, PCDFs were mainly found in sediment samples collected from industrial areas (Kwun Tong and To Kwa Wan) in Victoria Harbour. PCDD/F levels and congener profiles in the samples from the Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve in particular show strong similarities to those reported in studies which have attributed similar elevated PCDD concentrations to nonanthropogenic PCDD sources.     

Insolation estimates for the LITFASS area derived from high resolution satellite data

Summary ?For the LITFASS-98 experiment, from June 1 until June 30, 1998, the spatially resolved insolation at surface could be computed from NOAA-14 AVHRR data applying the modular analysis scheme SESAT (Strahlungs- und Energiebilanzen aus Satellitendaten). The satellite inferred insolation for this period shows for clear-sky regions a good agreement with surface based observations with a rms error of 76 Wm⁻². For cloudy conditions the insolation is overestimated with respect to ground based observations, with a rms error between 83 and 118 Wm⁻², depending on the cloud optical thickness. This overestimation can be explained by the surface heterogeneity, leading to underestimated cloud optical thickness, and also by a fixed relative humidity below clouds (55%, dry atmosphere) and a fixed horizontal visibility (50 km, clear atmosphere). A detailed study of comparable scales in space and time, considering the different observation geometries and sampling intervals, shows that a 30 min ground based observation can be compared with a 8 × 8 km² mean by the satellite data. Received July 12, 2001; revised April 29, 2002; accepted June 7, 2002     

Carbon fluxes from eroding peatlands – the carbon benefit of revegetation following wildfire

Peatlands are among the largest long‐term soil carbon stores, but their degradation can lead to significant carbon losses. This study considers the carbon budget of peat‐covered sites after restoration, following degradation by past wildfires. The study measured the carbon budget of eight sites: four restored‐revegetated sites, two unrestored bare soil control sites, and two intact vegetated controls over two years (2006–2008). The study considered the following flux pathways: dissolved organic carbon (DOC); particulate organic carbon (POC); dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂); primary productivity; net ecosystem respiration, and methane (CH₄). The study shows that unrestored, bare peat sites can have significant carbon losses as high as 522 ± 3 tonnes C/km²/yr. Most sites showed improved carbon budgets (decreased source and/or increased sink of carbon) after restoration; this improvement was mainly in the form of a reduction in the size of the net carbon source, but for one restored site the measured carbon budget after four years of restoration was greater than observed for vegetated controls. The carbon sequestration benefit of peatland restoration would range between 122 and 833 tonnes C/km²/yr. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ANISOTROPIC TRAVELTIME TOMOGRAPHY

Velocity estimation technique using seismic data is often based on time/distance equations which are independent of direction, and even though we now know that many rocks are quite anisotropic, useful results have been obtained over the years from these isotropic estimates. Nevertheless, if velocities are significantly direction-dependent, then the isotropic assumption may lead to serious structural interpretation errors. Additionally, information on angle-dependence may lead to a better understanding of the lithology of the rocks under measurement. VSP and cross-well data may each lack the necessary aperture to estimate more than two velocity parameters for each wave type, and if the data straddle a symmetry axis, then these may be usefully chosen to be the direct velocities (from time-and-distance measurements along the axis) and NMO velocities (from differential time-offset measurements). These sets of two parameters define ellipses, and provide intermediate models for the variation of velocity with angle which can later be assembled and translated into estimates of the elastic moduli of the rocks under scrutiny. If the aperture of the measurements is large enough e.g. we have access to both VSP and cross-well data, we divide the procedure into two independent steps, first fitting best ellipses around one symmetry axis and then fitting another set around the orthogonal axis. These sets of four elliptical parameters are then combined into a new, double elliptical approximation. This approximation keeps the useful properties of elliptical anisotropy, in particular the simple relation between group and phase velocities which simplifies the route from the traveltimes measurements to the elastic constants of the medium. The inversion proposed in this paper is a simple extension of well-known isotropic schemes and it is conceptually identical for all wave types. Examples are shown to illustrate the application of the technique to cross-well synthetic and field P-wave data. The examples demonstrate three important points: (a) When velocity anisotropy is estimated by iterative techniques such as conjugate gradients, early termination of the iterations may produce artificial anisotropy. (b) Different components of the velocity are subject to different type of artifacts because of differences in ray coverage, (c) Even though most rocks do not have elliptical dispersion relations, our elliptical schemes represent a useful intermediate step in the full characterization of the elastic properties.     

Observations of longitudinal roll vortices during arctic cold air outbreaks over open water

An evolving convective Arctic planetary boundary layer (PBL) containing longitudinal roll vortices (rolls) was observed with aircraft data during the 1983 Marginal Ice Zone Experiment and the 1984 Arctic Cyclone Experiment.The PBL is observed to grow rapidly as the very cold and dry air flows off the ice over the relatively warm water. There is very large sensible heat flux, a result of the large surface-air temperature differences. Coherent structures were identified in these PBL's by use of power, coherence squared and phase spectra of the data. A systematic method of separating the rolls from organized thermal plumes was devised, based on theoretical characteristics for roll circulations and the resulting modified mean wind profile. The rapid mixing by the rolls aids in the establishment of equilibrium and an observed adiabatic modified mean Ekman layer. Rolls that form in a thermally neutral atmosphere over ice have different characteristics than those that appear in the unstable stratification over water. The rolls become increasingly more convective in character with distance from the ice edge. They have aspect ratios (wavelength/PBL height) that decrease with distance from the ice edge in agreement with linear theory. This is in contrast to the cloud street wavelength to inversion height ratio which is observed to increase downwind from the ice edge.     

Hollow bridge-pier properties for response spectrum analysis

The present paper proposes equivalent stiffness and energy dissipation properties of reinforced concrete hollow bridge piers to be used in the context of response spectrum performance based assessment and design. The work is carried out by performing parametric numerical analysis using a 2D fibre model calibrated against experimental results and by varying the longitudinal steel reinforcement ratio, height over width ratio, normalised axial force, level of confinement and concrete class of a rectangular hollow section reinforced with Tempcore B500C steel. The results of the analysis are given in the form of charts and closed form expressions for the yield curvature and moment, ultimate ductility, post yielding stiffness ratio and energy dissipated of the section, and are translated to the member level through the plastic hinge length approach. Likewise, the parameters of a Takeda model derived from the parametric analysis are given for use in nonlinear time history analysis.     

On the Occurence of Extreme Events in Long-term Correlated and Multifractal Data Sets

We review recent studies of the statistics of return intervals (i) in long-term correlated monofractal records and (ii) in multifractal records in the absence (or presence) of linear long-term correlations. We show that for the monofractal records which are long-term power-law correlated with exponent γ, the distribution density of the return intervals follows a stretched exponential with the same exponent γ and the return intervals are long-term correlated, again with the same exponent γ. For the multifractal record, significant differences in scaling behavior both in the distribuiton and correlation behavior of return intervals between large events of different magnitudes are demonstrated. In the absence of linear long-term correlations, the nonlinear correlations contribute strongly to the statistics of the return intervals such that the return intervals become long-term correlated even though the original data are linearly uncorrelated (i.e., the autocorrelation function vanishes). The distribution density of the return intervals is mainly described by a power law.     

Differences in flood hazard projections in Europe – their causes and consequences for decision making

This paper interprets differences in flood hazard projections over Europe and identifies likely sources of discrepancy. Further, it discusses potential implications of these differences for flood risk reduction and adaptation to climate change. The discrepancy in flood hazard projections raises caution, especially among decision makers in charge of water resources management, flood risk reduction, and climate change adaptation at regional to local scales. Because it is naïve to expect availability of trustworthy quantitative projections of future flood hazard, in order to reduce flood risk one should focus attention on mapping of current and future risks and vulnerability hotspots and improve the situation there. Although an intercomparison of flood hazard projections is done in this paper and differences are identified and interpreted, it does not seems possible to recommend which large-scale studies may be considered most credible in particular areas of Europe.

EDITOR D. Koutsoyiannis

ASSOCIATE EDITOR not assigned     

Urban stormwater thermal gene expression models for protection of sensitive receiving streams

Thermal impact of typical high‐density residential, industrial, and commercial land uses is a major concern for the health of aquatic life in urban watersheds, especially in smaller, cold, and cool‐water streams. This is the first study of its kind that provides simple easy‐to‐use equations, developed using gene expression programming (GEP) that can guide the assessment and the design of urban stormwater management systems to protect thermally sensitive receiving streams. We developed 3 GEP models using data collected during 3 years (2009–2011) from 4 urban catchments; the first GEP model predicts event mean temperature at the inlet of the pond; the second model predicts the stormwater temperature at the outlet of the pond; and the third model predicts the temperature of the stormwater after flowing through a cooling trench and before discharging to the receiving stream. The new models have high correlation coefficients of 0.90–0.94 and low prediction uncertainty of less than 4% of the median value of the predicted runoff temperatures. Sensitivity analysis shows that climatic factors have the highest influence on the thermal enrichment followed by the catchment characteristics and the key design variables of the stormwater pond and the cooling trench. The general method presented here is easily transferable to other regions of the world (but not necessarily the exact equations developed here); also through sensitivity and parametric analysis, we gained insight on the key factors and their relative importance in modelling thermal enrichment of urban stromwater runoff.     

Elucidation of the Alum Shale kerogen structure using a multi-disciplinary approach

The significance and validity of integrating data obtained from a variety of analytical techniques to understand, elucidate and model kerogen's complex chemical structure is reported here using degradative (open and closed system pyrolysis, chemical oxidation), non-degradative (¹³C CP/MAS NMR) and optical (incident white light and blue light) methods. Seven Cambrian Alum Shale samples, ranging in maturity from immature to post-mature with respect to petroleum generation, were studied and were chosen for their simple geological history, uniform organic matter type and high organic carbon content. The Alum Shale kerogens, which primarily consist of algal organic matter, liberate low molecular weight gaseous and aromatic compounds on pyrolysis and give mostly branched dicarboxylic acids on chemical oxidation. ¹³C NMR spectroscopy shows that the Alum Shale kerogens are anomalously rich in oxygen-bearing functional groups (such as C = O, ArCO, CHO, CH_xO), most of which apparently remain intact within the kerogen macro-molecule (KMM) through the diagenetic and catagenetic stages. Fragments released by different degradative techniques are quantified and the aromaticity (f_a), O/C and relative proportions of various carbon types estimated by ¹³C NMR. A synthesis of these data has allowed us to better understand the chemistry of the Alum Shale kerogen.