Energy balance in urban Mexico City: observation and parameterization during the MILAGRO/MCMA-2006 field campaign

The parameterization of the energy balance from a residential and commercial neighborhood of Mexico City was investigated using direct measurements of radiative and heat fluxes carried out during the MILAGRO/MCMA-2006 field campaign as a reference. The measured fluxes were used to evaluate different models of the energy balance based on parameterizations that require standard meteorological observations: ambient temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure and cloudiness. It was found that these models reproduce with reasonable accuracy the diurnal features of the radiative and heat fluxes. The largest differences between modeled and observed fluxes correspond to the incoming longwave radiation, mainly due to errors in the cloudiness data. This paper contributes to the understanding of the energy partitioning in (sub)tropical urban environments, particularly in the developing world, where energy balance models have not been evaluated.     

Visual analytics for diagnosing spatial interpolation models

The development and widespread use of statistical learning models have brought the need for tools that help analysts diagnose, build, and refine those models. In this work, in particular, we focus on interpolation models, which spatially predict the value of a variable based on the values of its neighborhood. Investigating these results spatially or comparing them with other models at different levels of granularity is still a challenge for the analysts trying to understand and refine their models. To deal with that, we propose a visual analytics model-agnostic tool for facilitating the comparison and refinement of spatial models at different levels of granularity using interactive visualization techniques. The tool was built in collaboration with specialists who used it to diagnose and improve a spatial model for predicting residential real estate prices.     

Constraints regarding gold deposition in episyenites: the Permian episyenites associated with the Villalcampo Shear Zone, central western Spain

The Villalcampo Shear Zone (around 307 Ma) shows second-order shear zones (420–390 °C) with gold ore bodies hosted by episyenites, which consist of albite episyenites (albitites) and albite-Kfs episyenites, both types with different contents in sulphides and gold. Mass transfer modelling supports higher fluid/rock ratios in albitites than in albite-Kfs episyenites. The study of worldwide barren and gold-bearing episyenites reveals abundant sulphides in the latter as a distinguishing feature. The electrochemical processes at the surface of sulphide would have enhanced gold precipitation, sulphides working as a gold trap. A complex fluid history occurred in gold ore bodies hosted by episyenites, although in essence, it was similar to quartz-sealed faults hosting late Variscan gold deposits: (a) an early fluid equilibrated with the metamorphic pile with sulphides or with a metamorphic fingerprint, resulted in a sulphide deposition and (b) a shallower fluid reservoir of meteoric origin provided gold deposition. In contrast to earlier claims regarding episyenite fluid flow, a down temperature and probably an upwards fluid flow are proposed for the episyenitization process, also in keeping with the early stages of fluid flow in quartz-sealed faults. Fluid inclusions in albite confirm that the striking coupled quartz leaching albitization processes occurred around 400 °C and 60 MPa, crosscutting the retrograde solubility field of silica and yielding a vuggy rock. Initially, albite, and later quartz and sulphide, filled the vugs from the same or a very similar fluid. Uraninites deposited during the albitization and probably the onset of the sulphide deposition afforded the same age (270 ± 12 Ma) as other Spanish episyenites, confirming a synchronous and a regional-scale process and ruling out a relationship with the granite cooling history (324 ± 11 Ma).     

The last 25,000 years in the Eastern Plateau of Southern Brazil according to Alpes de São Francisco record

The palaeoenvironmental history has been studied based on palynology of a sedimentary profile from the Alpes de São Francisco bog (29°29′35′′S, 50°37′18′′W), São Francisco de Paula municipality, Rio Grande do Sul eastern Plateau, extreme Southern Brazil. The results indicate a regional cold and dry climate between 25,000 and 12,500 yr BP, interpreted from the grassland vegetation, forest taxa were present in refuges and the shallow local lake began to fill in. Climatic conditions became more aride after 16,000 yr BP, when grassland became rare. From 12,500 yr BP onwards, the climate began to change and at 11,000–9700 yr BP a warm and moist climate permitted the slight migration of pioneer arboreal taxa from refuges and locally a marsh formation. Between 9700 and 6500 yr BP a warm and dry climate resulted in reduction of grassland, confined the forest in refuges, dried out the marsh. The gradual increase of humidity between 6500 and 4000 yr BP allowed migration of forests from refuges and a bog developed. Between 4000 and 2000 yr BP Araucaria forest spread, indicating moister climate. The local bog expanded. From 2000 yr BP onwards, humid but warmer climate seems to result in a lower reproductive capacity of Araucaria forest taxa limiting its expansion. The bog reached the present-day in a decline condition. The results are compared to previous records from Southern Brazil highlands and some places from Argentina in order to better elucidate the climatic and vegetational history of these important South America areas during the late Quaternary.     

Companions to sdB binaries−degenerate or non-degenerate?

We report the results of an on-going programme to collect lightcurves for EHB binaries with orbital periods P ? 1 d. Degenerate and non-degenerate companions are clearly distinguished by the presence or absence of a reflection effect in these binaries. The amplitude of the reflection effect can be combined with other data to provide an estimate of the mass of the companion star. We find that the fraction of sdB binaries in our sample which have non-degenerate companions is 0.08±0.06 (1?σ error). These non-degenerate companions have very low masses (? 0.1M⊙). This property is not predicted by existing population synthesis models.     

High to low velocity succession in the upper crust related to tectonic emplacement: Tras os Montes-Galicia (Iberia), Brittany and Limousin (France)

Summary. Seismic probing of the upper crust in a catazonal massif in Tras os Montes, Hercynian Iberia, demonstrates the absence of a root towards the lower crust and favours a mechanism of thrust and nappe emplacement. Similar high to low velocity successions in the upper crust are evidenced in particular segments of the Hercynian domain of France. All these occurrences are related to a type region to which a particular meaning has been given in a recent plate tectonics interpretation of the Hercynian orogenesis. This model, implying large-scale nappe displacement and intracrustal thrusts furnishes in turn a general mechanism for the tectonic formation of upper crustal high and low velocity layers of limited extent in orogenic cycles.     

PS-InSAR processing methodologies in the detection of field surface deformation—Study of the Granada basin (Central Betic Cordilleras,southern Spain)

Differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) is a very effective technique for measuring crustal deformation. However, almost all interferograms include large areas where the signals decorrelate and no measurements are possible. Persistent scatterer interferometry (PS-InSAR) overcomes the decorrelation problem by identifying resolution elements whose echo is dominated by a single scatterer in a series of interferograms.Two time series of 29 ERS-1/2 and 22 ENVISAT ASAR acquisitions of the Granada basin, located in the central sector of the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain), covering the period from 1992 to 2005, were analyzed. Rough topography of the study area associated to its moderate activity geodynamic setting, including faults and folds in an uplifting relief by the oblique Eurasian–African plate convergence, poses a challenge for the application of interferometric techniques. The expected tectonic deformation rates are in the order of ～1 mm/yr, which are at the feasibility limit of current InSAR techniques.In order to evaluate whether, under these conditions, InSAR techniques can still be used to monitor deformations we have applied and compared two PS-InSAR approaches: DePSI, the PS-InSAR package developed at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and StaMPS (Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers) developed at Stanford University. Ground motion processes have been identified for the first time in the study area, the most significant process being a subsidence bowl located at the village of Otura.The idea behind this comparative study is to analyze which of the two PS-InSAR approaches considered might be more appropriate for the study of specific areas/environments and to attempt to evaluate the potentialities and benefits that could be derived for the integration of those methodologies.     

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Concentration and Composition of Planktonic Cyanobacteria Community in a Tropical Reservoir Chain

Water Resources - Cyanobacteria are very heterogeneous microorganisms that are important in both natural and artificial environments. Nevertheless, an uncontrolled growth of cyanobacteria, or...     

Dynamics of sedimentary environments in the accelerated siltation of a reservoir: the case of Alhama de Granada,southern Spain

An analysis has been made of sedimentary systems involved in the rapid silting of a reservoir constructed in 1974 in Alhama de Granada (S. Spain); in only 30 years the storage capacity of the reservoir has shrunk by 80% and its perimeter has decreased by 64%. A study of sediment lithofacies identified in a series of shallow trenches and of georadar facies identified in a series of almost 900 m lines of ground penetrating radar (GPR) images, together with a survey of surface geology, has identified 3 alluvial systems (2 transversal systems and a longitudinal system) whose deltas have filled in the reservoir. Thus, there are three phases in the evolution of the reservoir siltation: (1) an initial stage (1974–1977) typified by northward progradation of the longitudinal river delta of about 100 m year⁻¹ and an eastward progradation of the transversal system delta of about 20 m year⁻¹; (2) an intermediate stage (1977–1984) in which the longitudinal river delta progradation slowed to 25 m year⁻¹ and the axial drainage became obstructed due to the considerable eastward progradation of the transversal delta; and (3) a final phase (1984–present) in which there have been few changes in the areal distribution of the deltas apart from a southeastward expansion of the transversal delta. Generally, aggradational growth patterns (vertical accretion) have dominated in this final phase. The lithology of the source area, the slope and precipitation distribution has a significant effect not only on the sediment supply, but also indirectly on the creation of accommodation space and on the evolution of stratal growth patterns.