Radionuclides produits par le rayonnement cosmique dans la météorite Saint-Séverin

]The activities of 18 radionuclides in 4 samples from the Saint-Séverin meteorite have been measured after chemical separation. The results show that the DI sample from the D piece has been less irradiated than the samples B₂, B₃ and B₄ from the B piece. This is based on activities of isotopes produced both by spallation as ²⁶Al, ⁵³Mn, ⁵⁴Mn, ⁵⁵Fe, ⁵⁷Co and by thermal neutron capture as ⁵⁹Ni and ⁶⁰Co.Comparison of experimental values to calculated production rates suggests that the D piece was connected to the main body of the meteorite by a small surface, and that the DI sample in this piece was opposite to the main body of the meteorite.     

Conditional heavy-tail behavior with applications to precipitation and river flow extremes

This article deals with the right-tail behavior of a response distribution \(F_Y\) conditional on a regressor vector \({\mathbf {X}}={\mathbf {x}}\) restricted to the heavy-tailed case of Pareto-type conditional distributions \(F_Y(y|\ {\mathbf {x}})=P(Y\le y|\ {\mathbf {X}}={\mathbf {x}})\), with heaviness of the right tail characterized by the conditional extreme value index \(\gamma ({\mathbf {x}})>0\). We particularly focus on testing the hypothesis \({\mathscr {H}}_{0,tail}:\ \gamma ({\mathbf {x}})=\gamma _0\) of constant tail behavior for some \(\gamma _0>0\) and all possible \({\mathbf {x}}\). When considering \({\mathbf {x}}\) as a time index, the term trend analysis is commonly used. In the recent past several such trend analyses in extreme value data have been published, mostly focusing on time-varying modeling of location or scale parameters of the response distribution. In many such environmental studies a simple test against trend based on Kendall’s tau statistic is applied. This test is powerful when the center of the conditional distribution \(F_Y(y|{\mathbf {x}})\) changes monotonically in \({\mathbf {x}}\), for instance, in a simple location model \(\mu ({\mathbf {x}})=\mu _0+x\cdot \mu _1\), \({\mathbf {x}}=(1,x)'\), but the test is rather insensitive against monotonic tail behavior, say, \(\gamma ({\mathbf {x}})=\eta _0+x\cdot \eta _1\). This has to be considered, since for many environmental applications the main interest is on the tail rather than the center of a distribution. Our work is motivated by this problem and it is our goal to demonstrate the opportunities and the limits of detecting and estimating non-constant conditional heavy-tail behavior with regard to applications from hydrology. We present and compare four different procedures by simulations and illustrate our findings on real data from hydrology: weekly maxima of hourly precipitation from France and monthly maximal river flows from Germany.     

A first Holocene leaf wax isotope-based paleoclimate record from the semi-humid to semi-arid south-eastern Caucasian lowlands

The Holocene paleoclimate of the Caucasus region is rather complex and not yet well understood: while existing studies are mainly based on pollen records from high-altitude and humid lowland regions, no records are available from the semi-humid to semi-arid south-eastern Caucasian lowlands. Therefore, this study investigated compound-specific δ²H and δ¹³C isotopes of leaf wax biomarkers from Holocene floodplain soils in eastern Georgia. Our results show that the leaf wax δ²H signal from the paleosols mostly reflects changes in the moisture source and its isotopic composition. Depleted δ²H values before ~8 cal ka bp change towards enriched values after ~5 cal ka bp and become again depleted after ~1.6 cal ka bp. This trend could be caused by Holocene changes of the isotopic compositions of the Black and eastern Mediterranean Sea, and/or by varying contribution of both moisture sources linked with the North Atlantic Oscillation. The leaf wax δ¹³C signal from the paleosols directly indicates varying local water availability and drought stress. Depleted δ¹³C values before ~8 and after ~5 cal ka bp indicate wetter local conditions with higher water availability, whereas more enriched values during the middle Holocene (~8 until at least 5 cal ka bp ) indicate drier conditions with increased drought stress.     

Gravimetric monitoring of the first field‐wide steam injection in a fractured carbonate field in Oman – a feasibility study

Gas‐Oil Gravity Drainage is to be enhanced by steam injection in a highly fractured, low permeability carbonate field in Oman. Following a successful pilot, field‐wide steam injection is being implemented, first of this type in the world. A dedicated monitoring program has been designed to track changes in the reservoir. Various observations are to be acquired, including, surface deformation, temperature measurements, microseismic, well logs, pressure and saturation measurements to monitor the reservoir. Because significant changes in the reservoir density are expected, time‐lapse gravimetry is also being considered. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of gravimetric monitoring of the thermally enhanced gravity drainage process at the carbonate field in Oman. For this purpose, forward gravity modelling is performed. Based on field groundwater measurements, the estimates of the hydrological signal are considered and it is investigated under what conditions the groundwater influences can be minimized. Using regularized inversion of synthetic gravity data, we analyse the achievable accuracy of heat‐front position estimates. In case of large groundwater variations at the field, the gravity observations can be significantly affected and, consequently, the accuracy of heat‐front monitoring can be deteriorated. We show that, by applying gravity corrections based on local observations of groundwater, the hydrological influences can to a large extent be reduced and the accuracy of estimates can be improved. We conclude that gravimetric monitoring of the heat‐front evolution has a great potential.     

The state of Lake Ladoga pollution by global 90Sr, 137Cs, and 239,240Pu

The state of radioactive pollution of Lake Ladoga has been studied. The purification half-life of lake water from ⁹⁰Sr was found to be 21.7 year. The ratio of ⁹⁰Sr storage in lake water volume to its storage in silts (0?C10 cm layer) was 2: 1. Lake water purification from global ¹³⁷Cs was slower than that from ¹³⁷Cs originating from Chernobyl emergency emission because of the chronic supplement of global ¹³⁷Cs reserve by atmospheric fallouts. The behavior of ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, and ^239,240Pu in bed soils was in agreement with the geochemical nature of the elements. By the distribution of ^{239, 240}Pu in bed soils, the sedimentation of substances of non-radiation nature was estimated at 0.3 and 0.5 mm/year at denting and flat relief, respectively.     

Inclined lidar observations of boundary layer aerosol particles above the Kongsfjord,Svalbard

An inclined lidar with vertical resolution of 0.4 m was used for detailed boundary layer studies and to link observations at Zeppelin Mountain (474 m) and Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. We report on the observation of aerosol layers directly above the Kongsfjord. On 29 April 2007, a layer of enhanced backscatter was observed in the lowest 25 m above the open water surface. The low depolarization ratio indicated spherical particles. In the afternoon, this layer disappeared. The ultrafine particle concentration at Zeppelin and Corbel station (close to the Kongsfjord) was low. On 1 May 2007, a drying process in the boundary layer was observed. In the morning, the atmosphere up to Zeppelin Mountain showed enhanced values of the backscatter coefficient. Around noon, the top of the highly reflecting boundary layer decreased from 350 to 250 m. The top of the boundary layer observed by lidar was confirmed by radiosonde data.     

Epiphytic diatoms as flood indicators

The hydroecology of floodplain lakes is strongly regulated by flood events. The threat of climate warming and increasing human activities requires development of scientific methods to quantify changes in the frequency of short-lived flood events, because they remain difficult to identify using conventional paleolimnological and monitoring approaches. We developed an approach to detect floods in sediment records by comparing the abundance and composition of epiphytic diatom communities in flooded and non-flooded ponds of the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD), Canada, that grew on submerged macrophytes (Potamogeton zosteriformis, P. perfoliatus) and an artificial substrate (polypropylene sheets) during the open-water season of 2005. Analysis of similarity tests showed that epiphytic diatom community composition differs significantly between flooded and non-flooded ponds. After accounting for the “pond effect,” paired comparisons of the three substrates determined that variation in community composition between the artificial substrate and macrophytes was similar to that between the macrophyte taxa. Similarity percentage analysis identified diatom taxa that discriminate between flooded and non-flooded ponds. The relative abundance of ‘strong flood indicator taxa’ was used to construct an event-scale flood record spanning the past 180 years using analyses of sedimentary diatom assemblages from a closed-drainage pond (PAD 5). Results were verified by close agreement with an independent paleoflood record from a nearby flood-prone oxbow pond (PAD 54) and historical records. Comparison of epiphytic diatoms in flooded and non-flooded lakes in this study provides a promising approach to detect changes in flood frequency, and may have applications for reconstructing other pulse-type disturbances such as hurricanes and pollutant spills.     

Analysing Debris-Flow Impact Models, Based on a Small Scale Modelling Approach

The objective of this study is to analyse adaptable debris-flow impact models, which are very important for mitigation measurements and buildings using their sphere of influence. For this reason, 16 debris-flow experiments, on a small-scale modelling approach, were performed. Impact forces were measured with a force plate panel, consisting of 24 aluminium devices, coaxially mounted with resistance strain gauges. Flow velocities, flow heights as well as horizontal impact forces were sampled with a frequency of 2.4 kHz. Sub datasets of sampled raw force data were defined by applying an average median filter, a low-pass filter routine. Further, estimated peak pressure values as well as empirical coefficients of hydraulic impact models were compared, and the influence of signal processing is discussed.     

Evaluating the performance of ground-based and remotely sensed near real-time rainfall fields from a hydrological perspective

Abstract

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) issues routine experimental, near real-time rainfall maps from daily raingauge networks, radar networks and satellite images, as well as merged rainfall fields. These products are potentially useful for near real-time forecasting, especially in areas of fast hydrological response, and also to simulate the “now state” of various hydrological state variables such as soil moisture content, streamflow, and reservoir inflows. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate their skill as inputs to hydrological simulations and, in particular, the skill of the merged field in terms of better hydrological results relative to the individual products. Rainfall fields derived from raingauge, radar, satellite, conditioned satellite and the merged (gauge/radar/satellite) were evaluated for two selected days with relatively high amounts of rainfall, as well as for a continuous period of 90 days in the Mgeni catchment, South Africa. Streamflows simulated with the ACRU model indicate that the use of raingauge as well as merged fields of satellite/raingauge and satellite/radars/raingauge provides relatively realistic rainfall results, without much difference in their hydrological outputs, whereas the radar and raw satellite information by themselves cannot be used in operational hydrological application in their current status.

Citation Ghile, Y., Schulze, R. & Brown, C. (2010) Evaluating the performance of ground-based and remotely sensed near real-time rainfall fields from a hydrological perspective. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(4), 497–511.     

北京市细颗粒物时空分布及与呼吸系统疾病相关分析

细颗粒物（PM2.5）即粒径小于2.5μm的可吸入颗粒物[1],是当今中国城市大气污染的首要污染物。本研究以北京市为例,选取北京市2010年至2012年三年内采暖期与非采暖期两个不同时期的细颗粒物（PM0.3,PM0.5,PM1）实测数据,及同时期北京市患呼吸系统疾病人数数据,运用地统计的空间分析方法,对获取数据进行空间化及插值研究。通过偏相关分析法对北京市细颗粒物浓度与患呼吸系统疾病人数数据进行相关分析。得出以下主要结论：①细颗粒物的空间变化明显,2010年、2011年及2012年细颗粒物浓度整体呈上升趋势,2012年三种粒径细颗粒物浓度整体高于2010年与2011年。②不同粒径的细颗粒物,对呼吸疾病的影响程度不同：在0.3μm,0.5μm与1μm三种粒径的细颗粒物中,PM1对呼吸系统疾病影响最大,偏相关系数达到0.785。