Identification and assessment of groundwater flow and storage components of the relict Schöneben Rock Glacier,Niedere Tauern Range,Eastern Alps (Austria)

More than 2,600 relict rock glaciers are known in the Austrian Alps but the knowledge of their hydraulic properties is severely limited. The relict Schöneben Rock Glacier (Niedere Tauern Range, Austria), with an extension of 0.17 km², was investigated based on spring data (2006–2014) and seismic refraction survey. Spring-discharge hydrographs and natural and artificial tracer data suggest a heterogeneous aquifer with a layered internal structure for the relict rock glacier. The discharge behavior exhibits a fast and a delayed flow component. The spring discharge responds to recharge events within a few hours but a mean residence time of several months can also be observed. The internal structure of the rock glacier (up to several tens of meters thick) consists of: an upper blocky layer with a few meters of thickness, which lacks fine-grained sediments; a main middle layer with coarse and finer-grained sediments, allowing for fast flow; and an approximately 10-m-thick basal till layer as the main aquifer body responsible for the base flow. The base-flow component is controlled by (fine) sandy to silty sediments with low hydraulic conductivity and high storage capacity, exhibiting a difference in hydraulic conductivity to the upper layer of about three orders of magnitude. The high storage capacity of relict rock glaciers has an impact on water resources management in alpine catchments and potentially regulates the risk of natural hazards such as floods and related debris flows. Thus, the results highlight the importance of such aquifer systems in alpine catchments.     

CGSG系列标准物质元素分馏效应及主量微量元素单元内均匀性探究

探究CGSG系列标准物质(CGSG-1、CGSG-2、CGSG-4、CGSG-5)的元素分馏效应及均匀性问题有助于开展其质量评估和应用推广。本文采用电子探针(EMPA)和激光剥蚀电感耦合等离子体质谱(LA-ICP-MS)研究了CGSG标准物质中的元素分馏效应、主量和微量元素单元内均匀性,并报道了主量和微量元素分析数据。结果表明,在50μm激光束斑下,CGSG系列标准物质的元素分馏效应可忽略不计。EMPA均匀性指数结果显示,CGSG标准物质主量元素的单元内均匀性满足要求;以MPI-DING标准物质为参照,LA-ICP-MS测试CGSG标准物质中的大多数微量元素的单元内均匀性良好。与已报道的数据相比,本文报道的EMPA主量元素数据偏差在2%以内;LA-ICP-MS主量元素数据偏差在5%以内,微量元素数据基本匹配,少数元素由于分析不确定度较大等原因,如Cr、Ge、Cd、As、Tl等与已报道数据偏差较大。总体上,本文报道的分析数据可为CGSG定值数据库提供进一步的补充。     

Car navigation – computing routes that avoid complicated crossings

Personalized navigation and way-finding are prominent research areas of location-based service (LBSs). This includes innovative concepts for car navigation. Within this paper, we investigate the idea of providing drivers a routing suggestion which avoids ‘complicated crossings’ in urban areas. Inexperienced drivers include persons who have a driver’s license but, for whatever reason, feel uncomfortable to drive in a city environment. Situations where the inexperienced driver has to depend on a navigation device and reach a destination in an unfamiliar territory may be difficult. Preferences of inexperienced drivers are investigated. ‘Fears’ include driving into ‘complicated crossings’. Therefore, the definition and spatial characteristics of ‘complicated crossings’ are investigated. We use OpenStreetMap as a road dataset for the routing network. Based on the topological characteristics of the dataset, measured by the number of nodes, we identify crossings that are ‘complicated’. The user can choose to compute an alternative route that avoids these complicated crossings. This methodology is one step in building a full ‘inexperienced drivers’ routing system, which includes additional preferences from the user group, for example, as avoiding left turns where no traffic light is present.     

Eemian and Early Weichselian temperature and precipitation variability in northern Germany

Dramatic changes in European vegetation occurred during the transition from the Eemian interglacial to Weichselian glacial climates, correlative with major changes in global ice core and marine records. Quantitative knowledge of climate change is important for understanding of the climate system and for climate modelling, for which reconstructions of this transitional period are of special interest. However, it has been difficult to quantify the climatic changes involved in the Eemian to Early Weichselian transition from terrestrial archives due to the lack of modern vegetation analogues. To circumvent this problem, we applied a suitable multivariate probabilistic approach to pollen and plant macrofossil assemblages to reconstruct temperature and precipitation for this transition in central Europe. Our reconstructions span the interval from the beginning of the Eemian (Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e) to the Odderade interstadial (MIS 5a). They indicate a relatively stable Eemian, with increasing precipitation reducing the continentality of the climate with time. During the transition from the Eemian to the Herning stadial, mean July and January temperatures decreased by 4 °C and by as much as 20 °C, respectively. Temperatures remained high enough to support forests during the stadials, and we infer that the reconstructed decrease of precipitation below 500 mm per year caused the extirpation of forests during these periods. Thus, we conclude that precipitation, although difficult to reconstruct, is of vital importance for explaining vegetation change during the Eemian and Eemian/Early Weichselian transition.     

A Two-Day Case Study: Comparison of Turbulence Data from an Unmanned Aircraft System with a Model Chain for Complex Terrain

The airborne measurement platform MASC-3 (Multi-Purpose Airborne Sensor Carrier) is used for measurements over a forested escarpment in the Swabian Alps to evaluate the wind field. Data from flight legs between 20 and 200 m above the ground on two consecutive days with uphill (westerly) flow in September 2018 are analyzed. In the lowest 140 m above the ground a speed-up is found with increased turbulence and changes in wind direction directly over the escarpment, whereas in the lowest 20 to 50 m above the ground a deceleration of the flow is measured. Additionally, simulation results from a numerical model chain based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and an OpenFOAM (Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation) model, developed for complex terrain, are compared to the data captured by MASC-3. The models and measurements compare well for the mean wind speed and inclination angle.