Water contents, temperatures and diversity of the magmas of the catastrophic eruption of Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia, November 13, 1985

The petrology of the highly phyric two-pyroxene andesitic to dacitic pyroclastic rocks of the November 13, 1985 eruption of Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia, reveals evidence of: (1) increasingly fractionated bulk compositions with time; (2) tapping of a small magma chamber marginally zoned in regard to H₂O contents (1 to 4%), temperature (960–1090°C), and amount of residual melt (35 to 65%); (3) partial melting and assimilation of degassed zones in the hotter less dense interior of the magma chamber; (4) probable heating, thermal disruption and mineralogic and compositional contamination of the magma body by basaltic magma “underplating”; and (5) crustal contamination of the magmas during ascent and within the magma chamber. Near-crater fall-back or “spill-over” emitted in the middle of the eruptive sequence produced a small pyroclastic flow that became welded in its central and basal portions because of ponding and thus heat conservation on the flat glaciated summit near the Arenas crater. The heterogeneity of Ruiz magmas may be related to the comparatively small volume (0.03 km³) of the eruption, nearly ten times less than the 0.2 km³ of the Plinian phase of Mount St. Helens, and probable steep thermal and P_H2O gradients of a small source magma chamber, estimated at 300 m long and 100 m wide for an assumed ellipsoidal shape.     

Climatic forcing on hydrography of a Mediterranean bay (Alfacs Bay)

Time series of meteorological and hydrographic variables were analyzed using Huang's Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) to ascertain the relationships among climatic forcings and the hydrographic behavior in an estuarine bay. The EMD method allowed us to separate the different characteristic oscillation patterns (or modes) of a 14 year-long time series of weekly hydrographic (water temperature and salinity) and meteorological (air temperature, pressure, wind and precipitation) data from Alfacs Bay (Ebre delta, NW Mediterranean). In order to explore the relations between couples of oscillation modes from different series, we developed a correlation index based on the phase differences between these modes. Common characteristic modes in the studied series are a seasonal pattern and an inter-annual oscillation. The comparison between series of meteorological and hydrographic variables shows significant correlations of two modes (of 1 year and 2–3 year periods, respectively) of water temperature with the corresponding two modes of air temperature and air pressure. There were also significant positive correlations between wind speed and water temperature. The use of EMD allowed to discover a strong connection between stratification and the use of irrigation channels in the bay; in addition, with the help of this method we can propose a common meteorological forcing mechanism for the observed patterns of variability. Those findings would have been impossible to guess by use of classical Fourier methods, and gives a demonstration of the power of EMD in climatic series analysis.     

Effects of fish farm waste on Posidonia oceanica meadows: synthesis and provision of monitoring and management tools

This paper provides a synthesis of the EU project MedVeg addressing the fate of nutrients released from fish farming in the Mediterranean with particular focus on the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica habitat. The objectives were to identify the main drivers of seagrass decline linked to fish farming and to provide sensitive indicators of environmental change, which can be used for monitoring purposes. The sedimentation of waste particles in the farm vicinities emerges as the main driver of benthic deterioration, such as accumulation of organic matter, sediment anoxia as well as seagrass decline. The effects of fish farming on P. oceanica meadows are diverse and complex and detected through various metrics and indicators. A safety distance of 400 m is suggested for management of P. oceanica near fish farms followed by establishment of permanent seagrass plots revisited annually for monitoring the health of the meadows.     

Experimentally Determined P-Wave Velocity Anisotropy for Rocks Related to the Western Bohemia Seismoactive Region

The elastic properties of granites from Western Bohemia which we measured and published earlier have been supplemented with measurements of olivine nephelinite from the same region and with data on lherzolitic xenolith from the vicinity of elezný Brod. The set of velocities measured under laboratory conditions has been compared with depth profiles suggested for the purpose of locating seismic swarm events which occur in this region. P-wave velocities were measured under pressures of up to 400 MPa. This pressure corresponds to depths of about 15 km for this region. The data were extrapolated for larger depths. Comparing laboratory measurements and seismic profiles, we can conclude that the rocks under study may be constituents of crust structures.     

Extreme value Birnbaum–Saunders regression models applied to environmental data

Extreme value models are widely used in different areas. The Birnbaum–Saunders distribution is receiving considerable attention due to its physical arguments and its good properties. We propose a methodology based on extreme value Birnbaum–Saunders regression models, which includes model formulation, estimation, inference and checking. We further conduct a simulation study for evaluating its performance. A statistical analysis with real-world extreme value environmental data using the methodology is provided as illustration.     

Using Thermal Remote Sensing in Environmental Studies

Thermovision is a relatively new method of remote sensing with applications in areas such as military operations, residential monitoring, technological process control and emergency management. Surprisingly, it has not seen much application in environmental studies. The article presents a method of using thermovision for topoclimatic studies. The method is based on the spatial distribution of land surface temperature (LST). The LST distribution indicates the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth surface and depends primarily on terrain shape and land cover types. By analyzing the LST distribution, one can determine spatial topoclimatic variability. The LST derived topoclimatic classification was compared with the theoretical topoclimatic classification based on heat balance. New classes of topoclimates were created and some of the existing types were diversified into more detailed subtypes. The analysis of selected lowland areas in north‐western Poland revealed that both land cover and terrain shape characteristics had a significant impact on the LST distribution, contrary to the expectation of land cover characteristics being more important than terrain shape. The article demonstrates the possibilities of using thermovision in environmental research and presents a new method of topoclimate delimitation based on thermal remote sensing data and geographical information systems (GIS) techniques comparing. The LST classification method with conventional methods based on DEM and land cover analysis.     

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.     

Instantaneous global ozone balance including observed nitrogen dioxide

The catalytic destruction of stratospheric ozone by the oxides of nitrogen is believed to be an important part of the global ozone balance. The lack of sufficient measurements of NO _x concentrations has impeded efforts to quantify this process. Recent measurements of stratospheric nitrogen dioxide from ground-based stations as well as aircraft and balloons have provided a first approximation to a global distribution of NO₂ vertical columns at sunset. These observed vertical columns have been translated into time-dependent vertical NO₂ profiles by means of a one-dimensional atmospheric photochemical model. Using recent observations of air temperature and ozone along with this information, the independent instantaneous (one second) rates of ozone production from oxygen photolysis P(O₃), of ozone destruction from pure oxygen species (Chapman reactions) L(O _x ), and of ozone destruction by nitrogen oxides L(NO _x ) were estimated over the three-dimensional atmosphere. These quantities are displayed as zonal average contour maps, summed over various latitude zones, summed over various altitude bands, and integrated globally between 15 and 45 km. Although the global summation between 15 and 45 km by no means tells the complete story, these numbers are of some interest, and the relative values are: P(O₃), 100; L(O _x ), 15; L(NO _x ), 45±15. It is to be emphasized that this relative NO _x contribution to the integrated ozone balance is not a measure of the sensitivity of ozone to possible perturbations of stratospheric NO _x ; recent model results must be examined for current estimates of this sensitivity.     

Palaeointensity of the geomagnetic field during upper cainozoic derived from palaeo-slags and porcellanites in north Bohemia

Summary Porcellanites and palaeo-slags from North Bohemia are natural materials which can be used to derive the palaeomagnetic directions and palaeointensity of the geomagnetic field active at the time of caustic alteration. The origin of these rocks, called erdbrands, was due to the caustic alteration of predominantly pelitic sediments as a result of underground fires conditioned by spontaneous ignition of coal seams. The caustic alteration occurred during the Upper Pliocene to the Quaternary. Three procedure based on the methods by Thellier and Nagata are presented in the paper. The newly developed apparatus MAVACS (Magnetic Vacuum Control System) was used for the thermal demagnetization of samples. A procedure based on multi-component analysis was also proposed and tested. Besides some methodic results, it was found that the geomagnetic field intensity varied during the respective period within the limits of 48%±4% to 154%±32% of the present geomagnetic field intensity.

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