The Wadden Sea in transition - consequences of sea level rise

The impact of sea level rise (SLR) on the future morphological development of the Wadden Sea (North Sea) is investigated by means of extensive process-resolving numerical simulations. A new sediment and morphodynamic module was implemented in the well-established 3D circulation model GETM. A number of different validations are presented, ranging from an idealized 1D channel over a semi-idealized 2D Wadden Sea basin to a fully coupled realistic 40-year hindcast without morphological amplification of the Sylt-Rømøbight, a semi-enclosed subsystem of the Wadden Sea. Based on the results of the hindcast, four distinct future scenarios covering the period 2010–2100 are simulated. While these scenarios differ in the strength of SLR and wind forcing, they also account for an expected increase of tidal range over the coming century. The results of the future projections indicate a transition from a tidal-flat-dominated system toward a lagoon-like system, in which large fractions of the Sylt-Rømøbight will remain permanently covered by water. This has potentially dramatic implications for the unique ecosystem of the Wadden Sea. Although the simulations also predict an increased accumulation of sediment in the back-barrier basin, this accumulation is far too weak to compensate for the rise in mean sea level.     

Estimation of spawning area of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pisodonophis sangjuensis</Emphasis> Ji and Kim, 2011 (Pisces: Ophichthidae) based on leptocephali size and distribution

Pre-metamorphic leptocephali of Pisodonophis sangjuensis (n = 91, 10.4?90.2 mm in total length, TL) were collected in the East China Sea for the first time. Pre-metamorphic leptocephali of P. sangjuensis, which were identified using mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (mtDNA COI), are characterized by various combinations of morphological characters: 8 moderate to pronounced gut loops with the kidney terminating on the 6-7th loops; and 8 subcutaneous pigment patches on the tail just ventral to the notochord. Pisodonophis sangjuensis leptocephali were more numerously collected offshore than inshore around Jeju Island. The smallest leptocephali (< 15.0 mm TL) were collected from the south far from Jeju Island, and the largest leptocephali (> 100.0 mm TL) were collected from around Jeju Island and the southern coast of Korea. Our findings indicate that P. sangjuensis spawns offshore south of Jeju Island that is an area associated with high water temperature, and then the hatched leptocephali are transported to Jeju Island or the southern coast of Korea by the Tsushima Warm Current.     

A new method for platform design based on parametric technology

A new method for platform design, named parametric platform design method (PPDM), is presented in this paper in order to improve the mobile platform design efficiency. In this method, an integrated parametric system that fully considers the characteristics of the platform is developed, which significantly optimizes the design process with the top–bottom design concept. In the parametric system, the main geometric dimensions are taken as parameters, while the topology between the structure members, the function requirements and the safety requirements are converted into geometric constraints. By geometric constraint solving (GCS), a set of parameters that satisfy all the given constraints are determined, and then the design scheme is obtained by several core algorithms, such as parametric tank subdivision, 3D stability calculation, parametric structure design, FEM preprocessing, etc. The parametric method greatly increases the changeability and the reusability of the platform model, and concurrent design is well supported. As the model is driven by parameters, PPDM is an excellent method for optimization design. As a result, PPDM has incomparable advantages on the design efficiency over traditional methods.     

Mechanical shaking and soil water affect the growth of Psammochloa villosa in the Mu Us Sandland

The Mu Us Sandland is basically characterized by water shortage and high wind. Thus, wind-induced mechanical perturbation (MP) and soil water availability are likely to interact to affect plant growth. Since high water availability and MP can induce responses that are in the opposite direction, we hypothesized that MP effects on perennial grasses might be mitigated by increased soil water availability in the Mu Us Sandland. We counducted an experiment in which seedlings of Psammochloa villosa were subjected to two levels of MP (non-MP vs. MP 1 min d⁻¹) and two levels of water availability (200 ml d⁻¹vs. 400 ml d⁻¹) and measured three plant traits. MP significantly decreased plant height, total biomass, and root/shoot ratio. There were significant interactions between MP and soil water availability on plant height and root/shoot ratio. These findings imply that MP alone is a stressful factor for P. villosa and MP effects on its growth can be partially mitigated by increased soil water availability, and also suggest that P. villosa may respond to MP in a way that allows plants to survive in the windy semiarid environments.     

Nonlinear inversion of electrical resistivity imaging using pruning Bayesian neural networks

Conventional artificial neural networks used to solve electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) inversion problem suffer from overfitting and local minima. To solve these problems, we propose to use a pruning Bayesian neural network (PBNN) nonlinear inversion method and a sample design method based on the K-medoids clustering algorithm. In the sample design method, the training samples of the neural network are designed according to the prior information provided by the K-medoids clustering results; thus, the training process of the neural network is well guided. The proposed PBNN, based on Bayesian regularization, is used to select the hidden layer structure by assessing the effect of each hidden neuron to the inversion results. Then, the hyperparameter α _k , which is based on the generalized mean, is chosen to guide the pruning process according to the prior distribution of the training samples under the small-sample condition. The proposed algorithm is more efficient than other common adaptive regularization methods in geophysics. The inversion of synthetic data and field data suggests that the proposed method suppresses the noise in the neural network training stage and enhances the generalization. The inversion results with the proposed method are better than those of the BPNN, RBFNN, and RRBFNN inversion methods as well as the conventional least squares inversion.     

Offset dependent amplitudes: Fault curvature effects and dip move-out corrections

Equations have been presented previously which predict that reflector curvature can affect significantly seismic reflection amplitudes at both zero and nonzero source-receiver offsets. Here the fact that faults are generally concave-upward is used to examine the curvature effect for compaction-driven faults which the sediments have both exponential and logarithmic porosity decreases with increasing depth.The curvature effect is generally larger over upwardly concave reflectors where amplitudes can either increase with offset (exposed focus) or decrease with offset (buried focus). The magnitude of the effect depends on the ratio between the depth to the structure and the radius of curvature of the structure. A phase change of 90° also occurs at a critical offset in the case of an exposed focus concave-upward reflector, with decreasing amplitude at offsets larger than the critical value. Dip move-out (DMO) dominantly removes the amplitude variation with offset due to curvature. These results suggest that when looking for amplitude variations with offset in a fault prospect, DMO should be applied as a preprocessing step. Compaction-driven faults have an exposed focus and, for an exponential variation of porosity with depth, there is a maximum curvature effect at a depth roughly the same as the scaling depth for the porosity. Logarithmic porosity with depth variations suggest a continued increase in the curvature effect of faults with increasing depth, to a maximum amplitude increase of about 35% relative to a plane interface.     

Behavior of braced excavation in sand under a seismic condition: experimental and numerical studies

The behavior of braced excavation in dry sand under a seismic condition is investigated in this paper. A series of shake table tests on a reduced scale model of a retaining wall with one level of bracing were conducted to study the effect of different design parameters such as excavation depth, acceleration amplitude and wall stiffness. Numerical analyses using FLAC 2D were also performed considering one level of bracing. The strut forces, lateral displacements and bending moments in the wall at the end of earthquake motion were compared with experimental results. The study showed that in a post-seismic condition, when other factors were constant, lateral displacement, bending moment, strut forces and maximum ground surface displacement increased with excavation depth and the amplitude of base acceleration. The study also showed that as wall stiffness decreased, the lateral displacement of the wall and ground surface displacement increased, but the bending moment of the wall and strut forces decreased. The net earth pressure behind the walls was influenced by excavation depth and the peak acceleration amplitude, but did not change significantly with wall stiffness. Strut force was the least affected parameter when compared with others under a seismic condition.     

On the use of JMA intensity in earthquake early warning systems

The estimation of strength of shaking at a site from the initial P-wave portion of ground motion is the key problems for shortening the alert time of the earthquake Early Warning (EEW). The most of the techniques proposed for the purpose utilize (a) ground motion models based on the estimated magnitude and hypocentral distance, or (b) the interim proxies, such as initial vertical displacement P _d . We suggest the instrumental Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) intensity (JMA_I) as a characteristic for fast estimation of damage potential in the EEW systems. We investigated the scaling relations between JMA_I measured using the whole earthquake recordings (overall intensity) and using particular time intervals of various duration (2.0–8.0 s) starting from the P-wave arrival (preliminary intensity). The dataset included 3,660 records (K-NET and the KiK-net networks) from 55 events (M _W 4.1–7.4) occurred in 1999–2008 in Japan. We showed that the time interval of 4–5 s from the P-wave arrival can be used for reliable estimations of the overall intensity with the average standard error of about 0.5 JMA units. The uncertainty in the prediction may be reduced by consideration of local site conditions or by development of the station-specific models.     

ELF-VLF atmospheric waveforms under night-time ionospheric conditions

Tweek atmospherics generated by lightning discharges and propagated in the night-time Earth-ionosphere waveguide, have often very pronounced dispersive features near the first few waveguide cut-off frequencies (f_cm\simm\dot{s}f_c1, f_c1\sim1.6-1.9 kHz, m=1, 2, ...,), being very extended in time, and have rather large amplitudes of oscillations with periods corresponding to the narrow vicinity of the cut-off frequencies. In this paper an analytical approach is developed to describe the waveform of distant tweeks. It is based on the solving of the Maxwell equations in two qualitatively different regions, whose changes are related in the first instance to the changes in the relative magnitudes of the displacement current and components of the conduction currents, and the following asymptotic matching of the solutions in the transitional region. The analytical night-time waveguide model accounts for both anisotropy and vertical inhomogeneity of the low ionosphere. The model is valid for upper ELF - lower VLF range and is well suitable for the analysis of the QTE_m modes in the cut-off frequency regions, which determine the most important part of the tweek spectra and tweek amplitudes. The influence of the different ionospheric heights on the tweek characteristics is determined. The efficiency of the tweek generation by cloud-to-cloud discharge is also evaluated.     

西南天山东柯坪推覆系古地震初步研究

西南天山柯坪推覆系发育多排逆断裂-褶皱带,各排逆断裂-褶皱带的变形速率并不一致,古地震发生规律也可能具有不同特点.自汶川地震造成龙门山中央和前山两条断裂同时活动之后,对于如何判断多条逆断裂级联破裂的逆断裂古地震事件,是一个值得讨论的问题.文中通过对东柯坪塔格和萨尔干塔格两排逆断裂-褶皱带山前多期地貌面(冲洪积扇面)上发...