Ice cover variability in the Caspian and Aral seas from active and passive microwave satellite data

The paper discusses time and space variations of ice extent in the Caspian and Aral seas during the last decade (1992-2002). It uses synergy of data from active (radar altimeter) and passive (radiometer) microwave nadir-looking instruments onboard the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. The proposed approach is substantiated and validated using both in situ and satellite imagery data for the Caspian Sea. The results indicate significant spatial and temporal variability of ice conditions, with a significant decrease of both the duration of ice season and ice extent during the last four winters (1998-2002). The TOPEX/Poseidon-derived time series of sea ice extent are very valuable in view of the fragmentary and mostly unpublished data on ice conditions on the Caspian and Aral seas since the mid-1980s.     

Use of a Sodar to Improve the Forecast of Fogs and Low Clouds on Airports

A sodar was deployed at Roissy–Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, France, in 2008 with the aim of improving the forecast of low visibility conditions there. During the winter of 2008–2009, an experiment was conducted that showed that the sodar can effectively detect and locate the top of fog layers which is signaled by a strong peak of acoustic reflectivity. The peak is generated by turbulence activity in the inversion layer that contrasts sharply with the low reflectivity recorded in the fog layer below. A specific version of the 1D-forecast model deployed at Roissy for low visibility conditions (COBEL-ISBA) was developed in which fogs’ thicknesses are initialized by the sodar measurements rather than the information derived from the down-welling IR fluxes observed on the site. It was tested on data archived during the winters of 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 and compared to the version of the model presently operational. The results show a significant improvement—dissipation times of fogs are better predicted.     

Computed tomography scan imaging of natural open fractures in a porous rock; geometry and fluid flow

Computed tomography scan imaging techniques have been used on core samples to investigate the effect of natural open fractures on reservoir flow in the Snøhvit Gas Condensate Field. Firstly, computed tomography (CT) scanning was used to describe the 3D geometrical properties of the fracture network including orientation and fracture density. Two types of fractures were observed: F1 fractures are short and stylolite related and F2 fractures are longer, cross-cutting the core and without any obvious relationship to stylolites. Secondly, monitoring of single and two phase flow experiments on samples containing these two types of natural open fractures was performed under 10 and 80 bar net confining pressure while using CT scanning. 1-phase miscible flooding experiment shows approximately 3 times higher flooding velocity in an open F2 fracture than in the matrix. 2-phase flooding by gas injection into a 100% water saturated core gave early gas breakthrough due to flow in the fracture and thereafter very little water production. The flow experiments showed that the presence of open fractures has a significant local effect on fluid flow even in a case with relatively high matrix porosity (200–300 mD). The sample containing F1 fractures showed a complex flow pattern influenced both by open fractures and stylolites. The CT scan data enables an exact representation of the fracture network in core scale simulation models and therefore improves the understanding of fracture influence on flow in a fractured porous medium. CT scanning of core samples provides an effective tool for integrating geology and fluid flow properties of a porous fractured medium.     

Present weathering rates in a humid tropical watershed: Nsimi, South Cameroon

The study of biogeochemical and hydrological cycles in small experimental watersheds on silicate rocks, common for the Temperate Zone, has not yet been widely applied to the tropics, especially humid areas. This paper presents an updated database for a six-year period for the small experimental watershed of the Mengong brook in the humid tropics (Nsimi, South Cameroon). This watershed is developed on Precambrian granitoids (North Congo shield) and consists of two convexo-concave lateritic hills surrounding a large flat swamp covered by hydromorphic soils rich in upward organic matter. Mineralogical and geochemical investigations were carried out in the protolith, the saprolite, the hillside lateritic soils, and the swamp hydromorphic soils. Biomass chemical analyses were done for the representative species of the swamp vegetation. The groundwater was analysed from the parent rock/saprolite weathering front to the upper fringe in the hillside and swamp system. The chemistry of the wet atmospheric and throughfall deposits and the Mengong waters was monitored.In the Nsimi watershed the carbon transfer occurs primarily in an organic form and essentially as colloids produced by the slow biodegradation of the swamp organic matter. These organic colloids contribute significantly to the mobilization and transfer of Fe, Al, Zr, Ti, and Th in the uppermost first meter of the swamp regolith. When the organic colloid content is low (i.e., in the hillside groundwater), Th and Zr concentrations are extremely low (<3 pmol/L, ICP-MS detection limits). Strongly insoluble secondary thorianite (ThO₂) and primary zircon (ZrSiO₄) crystals control their mobilization, respectively. This finding thus justifies the potential use of both these elements as inert elements for isoelement mass balance calculations pertaining to the hillside regolith.Chloride can not be used as a conservative tracer of hydrological processes and chemical weathering in this watershed. Biogenic recycling significantly influences the low-Cl input fluxes. Sodium is a good tracer of chemical weathering in the watershed. The sodium solute flux corrected from cyclic salt input was used to assess the chemical weathering rate. Even though low (2.8 mm/kyr), the chemical weathering rate predominates over the mechanical weathering rate (1.9 mm/kyr). Compared to the Rio Icacos watershed, the most studied tropical site, the chemical weathering fluxes of silica and sodium in the Mengong are 16 and 40 times lower, respectively. This is not only related to the protective role of the regolith, thick in both cases, but also to differences in the hydrological functioning. This is to be taken into account in the calculations of the carbon cycle balance for large surfaces like that of the tropical forest ecosystems on a stable shield at the global level.     

The deuterium and oxygen-18 isotopic composition of the groundwater in Khan Younis City,southern Gaza Strip (Palestine)

The environmental isotopes such as deuterium and oxygen-18 and the deuterium excess values have been used to assess groundwater recharge sources and their dynamics in Khan Younis City in the Gaza Strip in Palestine. Three isotopic lines for the relationship between δ²H and δ¹⁸O were used in the assessment. These lines are the global meteoric water line, the local meteoric water line and the groundwater evaporation line. The δ²H, δ¹⁸O and D-excess values indicate that deuterium and oxygen-18 isotopes originated in the groundwater from groundwater mixing with rainfall and other water sources; the groundwater in the area recharged from rainfall from a distant source that came from the Mediterranean Sea and from other sources such as wastewater, irrigation return flow and saline water.