Mathematical modeling of nighttime enhanced electron density regions in the Earth’s ionospheric <Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis>2 layer and plasmasphere

A mathematical modeling method and the global numerical model of the Earth’s upper atmosphere were used to study nighttime enhanced electron density regions (EEDRs) in the ionospheric F2 layer and their possible manifestations at altitudes of the Earth’s plasmasphere. It has been established that EEDRs are formed owing to latitudinally nonuniform longitudinal (along the magnetic field) plasma flows from the plasmasphere into the nighttime ionosphere and the wind transport of ions along geomagnetic field lines. The specific features of the effect of ionospheric-plasmaspheric plasma transport processes, related to their three-dimensional character, on EEDRs have been revealed.     

Quantification of the environmental structural risk with spoiling ties: is randomization worthwhile?

Many recent works show that copulas turn out to be useful in a variety of different applications, especially in environmental sciences. Here the variables of interest are usually continuous, being times, lengths, weights, and so on. Unfortunately, the corresponding observations may suffer from (instrumental) adjustments and truncations, and eventually may show several repeated values (i.e., ties). In turn, on the one hand, a tricky issue of identifiability of the model arises, and, on the other hand, the assessment of the risk may be adversely affected. A possible remedy is to adopt suitable randomization procedures: here three different strategies are outlined. The goal of the work is to carry out a simulation study in order to evaluate the effects of the randomization of multivariate observations when ties are present. In particular, it is investigated whether, how, and to what extent, the randomization may change the estimation of the structural risk: for this purpose, a coastal engineering example will be used, as archetypical of a broad class of models and problems in engineering applications. Practical advices and warnings about the use of randomization techniques are hence given.     

Stability and phase relations of nonstoichiometric clinopyroxenes in the join diopside-Ca-Eskola component at high pressures

The stability of nonstoichiometric clinopyroxenes in the Di-CaEsk join was experimentally studied, and phase diagrams were constructed for this join at pressures of 2.0 and 3.0 GPa. It was found that melting in the diopside part of the join occurs at anomalously low temperatures, and nonstoichiometric clinopyroxene coexists with a phase approaching diopside in composition. Phase relations along the Di-CaEsk join can be described and consistently interpreted only assuming that the diopside phase (α-diopside) is thermodynamically stable. The following phase volumes were observed along the solidus of the join at a pressure of 3.0 GPa: Cpx, αDi+Cpx, αDi+Cpx+Qtz, αDi+Cpx+Grt+Qtz, Cpx+Grt+Qtz, Cpx+Grt+Ky+Qtz, Grt+Ky+Qtz. Melting occurs via the eutectic reaction αDi+Cpx+Grt+Qtz=L at a temperature of about 1200°C in the diopside part of the system and via the eutectic reaction Cpx+Grt+Ky+Qtz=L at a temperature of 1400°C in the calcium-rich part of the system. At a pressure of 2.0 GPa, melting occurs at temperatures of 1200–1300°C via the eutectic reaction αDi+Cpx+ An + Qtz=L. The invariant equilibrium (L, An, Cpx, Grt, αDi, Qtz) lies within the pressure range 2.0–3.0 GPa. Nonstoichiometric clinopyroxenes form complex solid solutions, the compositions of which are not strictly confined to the Di-CaEsk join and depend on temperature, pressure, and phase association. Grossular garnets coexist with nonstoichiometric clinopyroxenes and α-diopside.     

Development of Seismic Risk Scenarios Based on a Hybrid Method of Vulnerability Assessment

A hybrid methodology of vulnerability analysis is presented, involving elements from both empirical and theoretical methods. A model for correlating analytically calculated structural damage indices to loss (in monetary terms) is also proposed and calibrated against available statistical data. Probability damage matrices derived using this methodology are incorporated into a cost-benefit model tailored to the problem of estimating the feasibility of seismically rehabilitating the existing stock of reinforced concrete buildings in Thessaloniki, Greece. Losses calculated using the suggested procedure are found to be in good agreement with losses incurred during the 1978 Thessaloniki earthquake. The results of the present study also indicate that benefit/cost ratios for reinforced concrete buildings are quite low. Hence, it appears that a pre-earthquake strengthening programme is not economically justifiable.     

Fermat's principle for seismic rays in elastic media

We prove that rays in linearly elastic anisotropic nonuniform media obey Fermat's principle of stationary traveltime. First, we formulate the concept of rays, which emerges from the Hamilton equations. Then, we show that these rays are solutions of the variational problem stated by Fermat's principle. This proof is valid for all rays except the ones associated with infection points on the phase-slowness surface.     

The effect of horizontal resolution on simulation of very extreme US precipitation events in a global atmosphere model

We investigate the ability of a global atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) to reproduce observed 20 year return values of the annual maximum daily precipitation totals over the continental United States as a function of horizontal resolution. We find that at the high resolutions enabled by contemporary supercomputers, the AGCM can produce values of comparable magnitude to high quality observations. However, at the resolutions typical of the coupled general circulation models used in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the precipitation return values are severely underestimated.     

Secular variations in the spectrum of solar p-modes

The solar p-mode spectrum of very low I is measured with high accuracy for a long enough period of time so as to allow the search for solar cycle variations. In this paper solar cycle variations of the frequency and energy of the modes are confirmed. Moreover, a slight variation,within errors, of its rotational splitting with the solar cycle, is suggested.     

Salt thickness and composition influence rift structural style,northern North Sea,offshore Norway

“Salt” giants are typically halite‐dominated, although they invariably contain other evaporite (e.g. anhydrite, bittern salts) and non‐evaporite (e.g. carbonate, clastic) rocks. Rheological differences between these rocks mean they impact or respond to rift‐related, upper crustal deformation in different ways. Our understanding of basin‐scale lithology variations in ancient salt giants, what controls this and how this impacts later rift‐related deformation, is poor, principally due to a lack of subsurface datasets of sufficiently regional extent. Here we use 2D seismic reflection and borehole data from offshore Norway to map compositional variations within the Zechstein Supergroup (ZSG) (Lopingian), relating this to the structural styles developed during Middle Jurassic‐to‐Early Cretaceous rifting. Based on the proportion of halite, we identify and map four intrasalt depositional zones (sensu Clark et al., Journal of the Geological Society, 1998, 155, 663) offshore Norway. We show that, at the basin margins, the ZSG is carbonate‐dominated, whereas towards the basin centre, it becomes increasingly halite‐dominated, a trend observed in the UK sector of the North Sea Basin and in other ancient salt giants. However, we also document abrupt, large magnitude compositional and thickness variations adjacent to large, intra‐basin normal faults; for example, thin, carbonate‐dominated successions occur on fault‐bounded footwall highs, whereas thick, halite‐dominated successions occur only a few kilometres away in adjacent depocentres. It is presently unclear if this variability reflects variations in syn‐depositional relief related to flooding of an underfilled presalt (Early Permian) rift or syn‐depositional (Lopingian) rift‐related faulting. Irrespective of the underlying controls, variations in salt composition and thickness influenced the Middle Jurassic‐to‐Early Cretaceous rift structural style, with diapirism characterising hangingwall basins where autochthonous salt was thick and halite‐rich and salt‐detached normal faulting occurring on the basin margins and on intra‐basin structural highs where the salt was too thin and/or halite‐poor to undergo diapirism. This variability is currently not captured by existing tectono‐stratigraphic models largely based on observations from salt‐free rifts and, we argue, mapping of suprasalt structural styles may provide insights into salt composition and thickness in areas where boreholes are lacking or seismic imaging is poor.     

FORWARD MODELING IN THE FREQUENCY-SPACE DOMAIN*

Forward modeling of zero-offset data is performed in the frequency-space domain using a one-way extrapolation equation. The use of the frequency domain offers several advantages over conventional time domain methods. The greatest advantage of the frequency domain is that all time derivatives are evaluated exactly by a simple multiplication. Synthetic zero-offset sections are computed with a high degree of accuracy for arbitrary velocity and reflectivity structures. Examples are shown for realistic complicated models and compared with results from physical modeling.