On the role of shoreline boundary conditions in wave overtopping modelling with non-linear shallow water equations

The note extends and completes the analysis carried out by Briganti and Dodd [Briganti, R., Dodd, N., 2009. Shoreline motion in nonlinear shallow water coastal models. Coastal Eng. 56(5–6) (doi:101016/j.coastaleng.2008.10.008), 495–505.] on the performance of a state of the art Non-Linear Shallow Water Equations solver in common coastal engineering applications. The case of bore-generated overtopping of a truncated plane beach is considered and the performance of the model is assessed by comparing with the Peregrine and Williams [Peregrine, D., Williams, S.M., 2001. Swash overtopping a truncated beach. J. Fluid Mech. 440, 391–399.] analytical solution. In particular the influence of shoreline boundary conditions is investigated by considering the two best performing approaches discussed in Briganti and Dodd [Briganti, R., Dodd, N., 2009. Shoreline motion in nonlinear shallow water coastal models. Coastal Eng. 56(5–6) (doi:101016/j.coastaleng.2008.10.008), 495–505.]. Different distances of the edge of the beach from the bore collapse point are tested. For larger distances, the accuracy of the overtopping modelling decreases, as a consequence of the error in modelling the tip of the swash lens and, consequently, the run-up. A sensitivity analysis using the numerical resolution is carried out. This reveals that the approach in which cells shallower than a prescribed threshold are drained and wave propagation speeds for wet/dry Riemann problem are used at the interface between a wet and a dry cell (referred as Option 2ea in [Briganti, R., Dodd, N., 2009. Shoreline motion in nonlinear shallow water coastal models. Coastal Eng. 56(5–6) (doi:101016/j.coastaleng.2008.10.008), 495–505.]) performs consistently better than the other.     

Integrating volunteered smartphone data with multispectral remote sensing to estimate forest fuels

Volunteered data sources are readily available due to advances in electronic communications technology. For example, smartphones provide tools to collect ground-based observations over broad areas from a diverse set of data collectors, including people with, and without, extensive training. In this study, volunteers used a smartphone application to collect ground-based observations. Forest structural components were then estimated over a broader area using high spatial resolution RapidEye remote sensing imagery (5 spectral bands 440–850 nm, 5 m spatial resolution) and a digital elevation model following a three nearest neighbor approach (K-NN). Participants with professional forestry experience on average chose high-priority fuel load locations near buildings, while nonprofessional participants chose a broader range of conditions over a larger extent. When used together, the professional and nonprofessional observations provided a more complete assessment of forest conditions. A generalized framework is presented that utilizes K-NN imputation tools for estimating the distribution of forest fuels using remote sensing and topography variables, ensuring spatial representation, checking attribute accuracy, and evaluating predictor variables. Frameworks to integrate volunteered data from smartphone platforms with remote sensing may contribute toward more complete Earth observation for Digital Earth.     

Membrane Interface Probe Protocol for Contaminants in Low‐Permeability Zones

Accurate characterization of contaminant mass in zones of low hydraulic conductivity (low k) is essential for site management because this difficult‐to‐treat mass can be a long‐term secondary source. This study developed a protocol for the membrane interface probe (MIP) as a low‐cost, rapid data‐acquisition tool for qualitatively evaluating the location and relative distribution of mass in low‐k zones. MIP operating parameters were varied systematically at high and low concentration locations at a contaminated site to evaluate the impact of the parameters on data quality relative to a detailed adjacent profile of soil concentrations. Evaluation of the relative location of maximum concentrations and the shape of the MIP vs. soil profiles led to a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the MIP to delineate contamination in low‐k zones. This includes recommendations for: (1) preferred detector (ECD for low concentration zones, PID or ECD for higher concentration zones); (2) combining downlogged and uplogged data to reduce carryover; and (3) higher carrier gas flow rate in high concentration zones. Linear regression indicated scatter in all MIP‐to‐soil comparisons, including R² values using the SOP of 0.32 in the low concentration boring and 0.49 in the high concentration boring. In contrast, a control dataset with soil‐to‐soil correlations from borings 1‐m apart exhibited an R² of ≥0.88, highlighting the uncertainty in predicting soil concentrations using MIP data. This study demonstrates that the MIP provides lower‐precision contaminant distribution and heterogeneity data compared to more intensive high‐resolution characterization methods. This is consistent with its use as a complementary screening tool.     

Aeolian system sediment state: theory and Mojave Desert Kelso dune field example

The sediment state of aeolian dune fields and sand seas at a basinal scale is defined by the separate components of sediment supply, sediment availability and the transport capacity of the wind. The sediment supply for aeolian systems is the sediment that contemporaneously or at some later point serves as the source material for the aeolian system. Numerous factors impact the susceptibility of grains on a surface to transport, but these are cumulatively manifested by the actual transport rate, which serves as a proxy for sediment availability. Transport capacity is the potential sediment transport rate of the wind. Because the three aspects of sediment state can be given as a volumetric rate, they are directly comparable. Plotted simultaneously against time, the generated curves define nine possible classes of sediment state. Sediment supply that is stored occurs because it is transport or availability limited, or generated at a rate greater than the potential or actual transport rates respectively. Contemporaneous or lagged influx to an aeolian system may be limited by sediment availability, but cannot exceed the transport capacity of the wind. For the Kelso dune field in the Mojave Desert of California, a variety of stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence is used to approximate the sediment state of the system. The sediment supply was generated during the latest Pleistocene and earliest Holocene during humid periods of enhanced discharge by the Mojave River to form the Lake Mojave fan delta or terminal fan, and has been calculated over time from the sedimentation rate and the frequency of floods. Estimation of transport capacity over time was based upon modern wind data, with an allowance for greater winds during the Pleistocene based upon climatic models. Sediment availability was approximated by calculation of a modern dune mobility index, with variation over time based upon climatic inferences. While quantifying the Kelso or any natural system is subject to numerous uncertainties, the sediment state approach reflects the temporal and spatial disjointed nature of accumulations at Kelso, as well as illuminating questions for future research.     

Tropical Pacific – mid-latitude teleconnections in medieval times

Terrestrial and marine late Holocene proxy records from the western and central US suggest that climate between approximately 500 and 1350 a.d. was marked by generally arid conditions with episodes of severe centennial-scale drought, elevated incidence of wild fire, cool sea surface temperatures (SSTs) along the California coast, and dune mobilization in the western plains. This Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) was followed by wetter conditions and warming coastal SSTs during the transition into the “Little Ice Age” (LIA). Proxy records from the tropical Pacific Ocean show contemporaneous changes indicating cool central and eastern tropical Pacific SSTs during the MCA, with warmer than modern temperatures in the western equatorial Pacific. This pattern of mid-latitude and tropical climate conditions is consistent with the hypothesis that the dry MCA in the western US resulted (at least in part) from tropically forced changes in winter NH circulation patterns like those associated with modern La Niña episodes. We examine this hypothesis, and present other analyses showing that the imprint of MCA climate change appears in proxy records from widely distributed regions around the planet, and in many cases is consistent with a cool medieval tropical Pacific. One example, explored with numerical model results, is the suggestion of increased westerlies and warmer winter temperatures over northern Europe during medieval times. An analog technique for the combined use of proxy records and model results, Proxy Surrogate Reconstruction (PSR), is introduced.     

Microstructural constraints on the mechanisms of the transformation to reidite in naturally shocked zircon

Zircon (ZrSiO₄) is used to study impact structures because it responds to shock loading and unloading in unique, crystallographically controlled manners. One such phenomenon is the transformation of zircon to the high-pressure polymorph, reidite. This study quantifies the geometric and crystallographic orientation relationships between these two phases using naturally shocked zircon grains. Reidite has been characterized in 32 shocked zircon grains (shocked to stages II and III) using a combination of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and focused ion beam cross-sectional imaging techniques. The zircon-bearing clasts were obtained from within suevite breccia from the Nördlingen 1973 borehole, close to the center of the 14.4 Ma Ries impact crater, in Bavaria, Germany. We have determined that multiple sets (up to 4) of reidite lamellae can form in a variety of non-rational habit planes within the parent zircon. However, EBSD mapping demonstrates that all occurrences of lamellar reidite have a consistent interphase misorientation relationship with the host zircon that is characterized by an approximate alignment of a {100}_zircon with a {112}_reidite and alignment of a {112}_zircon with a conjugate {112}_reidite. Given the tetragonal symmetry of zircon and reidite, we predict that there are eight possible variants of this interphase relationship for reidite transformation within a single zircon grain. Furthermore, laser Raman mapping of one reidite-bearing grain shows that moderate metamictization can inhibit reidite formation, thereby highlighting that the transformation is controlled by zircon crystallinity. In addition to lamellar reidite, submicrometer-scale granules of reidite were observed in one zircon. The majority of reidite granules have a topotaxial alignment that is similar to the lamellar reidite, with some additional orientation dispersion. We confirm that lamellar reidite likely forms via a deviatoric transformation mechanism in highly crystalline zircon, whereas granular reidite forms via a reconstructive transformation from low-crystallinity ZrSiO₄ within the reidite stability field. The results of this study further refine the formation mechanisms and conditions of reidite transformation in naturally shocked zircon.     

In Situ Remediation of Jet A in Soil and Ground Water by High Vacuum, Dual Phase Extraction

This report summarizes the initial results of subsurface remediation at Terminal 1, Kenneth International Airport, to remediate soil and ground water contaminated with Jet A fuel. The project was driven and constrained In the const ruction schedule of a major new terminal at the facility. The remediation system used a combination of ground water pumping, air injection, and soil vapor extraction. In the first five months of operation, the combined processes of dewatering, volatilization, and biodegradation removed a total of 36,689 pounds of total volatile and semivolatile organic jet fuel hydrocarbons from subsurface soil and ground water. The. results of this case study have shown that 62 percent of the removal resulted from biodegradation, 21 percent occurred as a result of liquid removal, and 11 percent resulted from the extraction of volatile organic compounds (VOC's).     

The distribution of basaltic asteroids in the Main Belt

We present the observational results of a survey designed to target and detect asteroids whose photometric colors are similar to those of Vesta family members and thus may be considered as candidates for having a basaltic composition. Fifty basaltic candidates were selected with orbital elements that lie outside of the Vesta dynamical family. Optical and near-infrared spectra were used to assign a taxonomic type to 11 of the 50 candidates. Ten of these were spectroscopically confirmed as V-type asteroids, suggesting that most of the candidates are basaltic and can be used to constrain the distribution of basaltic material in the Main Belt. Using our catalog of V-type candidates and the success rate of the survey, we calculate unbiased size-frequency and semi-major axis distributions of V-type asteroids. These distributions, in addition to an estimate for the total mass of basaltic material, suggest that Vesta was the predominant contributor to the basaltic asteroid inventory of the Main Belt, however scattered planetesimals from the inner Solar System (a<2.0 AU) and other partially/fully differentiated bodies likely contributed to this inventory. In particular, we infer the presence of basaltic fragments in the vicinity of Asteroid 15 Eunomia, which may be derived from a differentiated parent body in the middle Main Belt (2.5<a<2.8). We find no asteroidal evidence for a large number of previously undiscovered basaltic asteroids, which agrees with previous theories suggesting that basaltic fragments from the ∼100 differentiated parent bodies represented in meteorite collections have been “battered to bits” [Burbine, T.H., Meibom, A., Binzel, R.P., 1996. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 31, 607-620].     

Estimating the Accuracy of Geographic Variation in Indigenous Population Counts

The ABS 2006 Post-Enumeration Survey was extended to include a sample of localities from the whole of Australia, thereby providing an estimate of census net undercount reflective of the enumeration in remote Indigenous settlements for the first time. The results revealed substantial undercounting of the Indigenous population in certain jurisdictions. At the same time, census counts in many locations were substantially higher than demographic factors could account for. The analytical and policy issues that arise from this revolve around a simple question: what credence can we give to observed spatial patterns of Indigenous population change? This paper seeks to provide an answer by establishing the spatial relationship between population change and net migration at the small area level. This reveals the detailed geography of census undercount and ‘overcount’ with the former common in remote areas and the latter most evident in regional towns and cities. The findings raise important policy issues about the proper interpretation of Indigenous population change data and the nature of estimates used to determine fiscal resourcing for Indigenous policies and programs.