A new method for three-carrier GNSS ambiguity resolution

A new method for resolving the carrier-phase integer ambiguity in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is presented: the MOdified Cholesky factorization for Ambiguity (MOCA) resolution. The characteristics and features of this method are described and results obtained using a software simulator and an emulator are presented to validate its efficiency. The results are then compared to those obtained using another existing method and good performance of the MOCA method in new GNSS systems is shown. Furthermore, the proposed method yields accurate results even when short time spans are used or when there are poor estimations of measurement error, making it immune to non-ideal conditions and ultimately a practical solution for real applications.     

Galileo Constellation Design

A significant effort has been carried out in Europe to define the European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), named Galileo Satellites flying in Medium Earth Orbits (MEO) will compose the system (according to the most recent architecture definition baseline); a regional complement of geosynchronous satellites may be required to increase performances over Europe and maybe also to provide some specific communication services. Nominal medium performances are envisaged, but they will be increased by means of augmentation systems (local or wide area), or even by using simultaneously other GNSSs such as GPS. All the involved requirements make the design process quite complex. A powerful software tool, Elcano, has been developed for this purpose; its capabilities will be outlined, and the results of the design process will be presented. ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

New System of Coordinates for Tokamaks

A new system of coordinates for tokamak is presented here. They are described by the usual toroidal angle and coordinates in the meridian plane using the projection of the magnetic field lines and families of orthogonal lines. The number of families depends on the number of magnetic axis, and in this way the number of regions in the meridian plane are also defined. The differential operators are obtained using the curvatures _s and of each family. Grad–Safranov equation, poloidal field equations and Pfirsch–Schlüter transport are described in a general way using this kind of coordinates.     

Porosity and size gradation of saturated gravel with percolated fines

Fine particles may infiltrate through coarse alluvial beds and eventually saturate the subsurface pore space. It is essential to understand the conditions that lead to bed saturation, and to forecast the packing characteristics of saturated beds to assess the effect of excess fine sediment supply on a number of processes that occur in the stream–sediment boundary. To address this problem, in this study, a new method is introduced to predict the grain‐size distribution for the saturated condition, and the resulting porosity decrease, given the characteristics of the bed and the supplied sediments. The new method consists of the numerical aggregation of infilling fines in a finite bed volume, during which the bed properties change to affect further infilling. An existing semi‐empirical, particle packing model is implemented to identify these properties. It is shown that these types of models are adequate to describe regimes of natural sediment fabric quantitatively, and are thus useful tools in the analysis of sediment infiltration processes. Unlike previous developments to quantify saturated bed conditions, which assume that the supplied material is uniform and finer than the bed pore openings, the method developed herein considers poorly sorted fines, and can identify size fractions that are able to ingress into the bed due to being smaller than the particles that form the bed structure. Application of the new method to published experimental data showed that the final content of infiltrated fines is strongly sensitive to the initial bed packing density, highlighting the need to measure and understand open‐work gravel deposits. In addition, the new method was shown to be suitable for assessing the degree of bed saturation, when it was applied to a published data set of field samples.     

Residence time distribution in a large unconfined–semiconfined aquifer in the Argentine Pampas using <Superscript>3</Superscript>H/<Superscript>3</Superscript>He and CFC tracers

The Pampa region in Argentina includes vast unconfined–semiconfined aquifers that local economies depend upon, but detailed knowledge of the associated water resources is still lacking. The Pampeano aquifer in the Pampa plain of Argentina covers around 1.5 million km². In order to achieve a better understanding of the hydrogeological system through the estimation of mean residence times (MRT), water samples were taken from 12 monitoring wells, drilled at different depths in four locations, and analyzed for environmental tracers. The concentrations of ³H, tritiogenic ³He and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can be explained by mixtures of young waters adjusted to exponential piston flow models (EPM) or dispersion models (DM), and different proportions of tracer-free waters (dead water). The sampling site located very close to the water divide shows a dominance of young waters: 85 % of water best represented by a DM model with a MRT of 3 years. For the shallow wells at other sites, best-fitting models result in a DM with MRT between 20 and 35 years, and proportions of dead water between 40 and 60 %. These results lead to important updates in the conceptual model of the Pampeano aquifer. Large proportions of dead water at a few meters depth can be the consequence of upward flows in a multilayered aquifer or diffusive retardation in the inter-bedded clay layers.     

Terremoti dell'Appennino Vogherese-Tortonese e la geologia della regione

Riassunto L'A. studia macro- e microsismicamente i terremoti del 14 giugno, 29 giugno e 15 dicembre 1945, determinandone la posizione delf'epicentio, che pei i primi due viene a cadere nell'Appennino Vogherese fra la Val Staffora e la Val di Nizza, per il terzo invece a N della congiungente Tortona-Alessandria. La profondita ipocentrale del terremoto del 29 giugno 1945 oscilla fra un valore minimo di 9 Km ottenuto macrosismicamente ed un valore massimo, ricavato per via microsismica, di 25 km; quello del 15 dicembre 1945 ha una profondità, microsismicamente calcolata sui 25 km; per quello del 14 giugno 1945 i risultati sono molto incerti. La scossa all'epicentro ha sempre nei tre sismi il carattere di sprofondamento.Posta a confronto colla struttura geologica della regione tale attività sismica non sembra derivare da un determinato elemento strutturale rilevabile; essa è probabilmente dovuta a sprofondamenti avvenuti a media profondità e presenta un'intensificazione in corrispondenza a direttrici tettoniche trasversali al locale andamento del corrugamento. I danni maggiori poi si possono mettere in stretto rapporto colla presenza di esigue formazioni alluvionali sciolte su roccia in posto.

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Summary The author studies macro-microseismically the earthquakes which we have ascertained on the 14^th of June, the 29^th of June and the 15^th of December in the year 1945, giving us the position of the epicentrum, which in the first two falls in Vogherese Appennino between Staffora and Nizza valleys, for the third instead north of Tortona-Alessandria connecting. The ipocentrum depth of the earthquake on the 29^th of June goes from a lowest value of 9 km had macro-seismically to a maximum value had micro-seismically of about 25 km. The 15^th of December one has a depth microseismically computed about 25 km, for the other on the 14^th of June the outcomes are very dubious.The skate at the ipocentrum has in all these three seisms the sinking type.Having made a comparison with the geological structure of the country such a seismical activity does not seem to come from a determinate structural relieving element; it is of course owed sinkings that we had in a middle depth and has an intensity which are in conformity with transversal tectonical directresses. The biggest damages can be put in strait relation with the presence of very little alluvial formations.