Thermal equation of state of CaIrO<Subscript>3</Subscript> post-perovskite

The pressure–volume–temperature (P–V–T) relation of CaIrO₃ post-perovskite (ppv) was measured at pressures and temperatures up to 8.6 GPa and 1,273 K, respectively, with energy-dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffraction using a DIA-type, cubic-anvil apparatus (SAM85). Unit-cell dimensions were derived from the Le Bail full profile refinement technique, and the results were fitted using the third-order Birth-Murnaghan equation of state. The derived bulk modulus \( K_{T0} \) at ambient pressure and temperature is 168.3 ± 7.1 GPa with a pressure derivative \( K_{T0}^{\prime } \) = 5.4 ± 0.7. All of the high temperature data, combined with previous experimental data, are fitted using the high-temperature Birch-Murnaghan equation of state, the thermal pressure approach, and the Mie-Grüneisen-Debye formalism. The refined thermoelastic parameters for CaIrO₃ ppv are: temperature derivative of bulk modulus \( (\partial K_{T} /\partial T)_{P} \) = ?0.038 ± 0.011 GPa K^?1, \( \alpha K_{T} \) = 0.0039 ± 0.0001 GPa K^?1, \( \left( {\partial K_{T} /\partial T} \right)_{V} \) = ?0.012 ± 0.002 GPa K^?1, and \( \left( {\partial^{2} P/\partial T^{2} } \right)_{V} \) = 1.9 ± 0.3 × 10^?6 GPa² K^?2. Using the Mie-Grüneisen-Debye formalism, we obtain Grüneisen parameter \( \gamma_{0} \) = 0.92 ± 0.01 and its volume dependence q = 3.4 ± 0.6. The systematic variation of bulk moduli for several oxide post-perovskites can be described approximately by the relationship K _T0  = 5406.0/V(molar) + 5.9 GPa.     

Predicting gully densities at sub-continental scales: a case study for the Horn of Africa

Despite its environmental and scientific significance, predicting gully erosion remains problematic. This is especially so in strongly contrasting and degraded regions such as the Horn of Africa. Machine learning algorithms such as random forests (RF) offer great potential to deal with the complex, often non-linear, nature of factors controlling gully erosion. Nonetheless, their applicability at regional to continental scales remains largely untested. Moreover, such algorithms require large amounts of observations for model training and testing. Collecting such data remains an important bottleneck. Here we help to address these gaps by developing and testing a methodology to simulate gully densities across Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti (total area: 1.2 million km²). We propose a methodology to quickly assess the gully head density (GHD) for representative 1 km² study sites by visually scoring the presence of gullies in Google Earth and then converting these scores to realistic estimates of GHD. Based on this approach, we compiled GHD observations for 1,700 sites. We used these data to train sets of RF regression models that simulate GHD at a 1 km² resolution, based on topographic/geomorphic, land cover, soil and rainfall conditions. Our approach also accounts for uncertainties in GHD observations. Independent validations showed generally acceptable simulations of regional GHD patterns. We further show that: (i) model performance strongly depends on the amount of training data used, (ii) large prediction errors mainly occur in areas where also the predicted uncertainty is large and (iii) collecting additional training data for these areas results in more drastic model performance improvements. Analyses of the feature importance of predictor variables further showed that patterns of GHD across the Horn of Africa strongly depend on NDVI and annual rainfall, but also on normalized steepness index (k_sn) and distance to rivers. Overall, our work opens promising perspectives to assess gully densities at continental scales. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geochemical distribution of trace metal pollutants in water and sediments of downstream of an urban river

A study was conducted to investigate the trace metal pollution of water and sediments of downstream of Tsurumi River, Yokohama, Japan. Twenty samples of water and sediments were collected from the river starting from Tokyo bay side up to the junction point of the Yagami River. Results show that the mean concentrations of chromium, cupper and nickel in water greatly exceed (>100 times) the surface water standard. The concentration of molybdenum and lead was also higher than standard values while iron and manganese was lower than that of surface water standard. The mean concentration of zinc, cupper, cadmium, lead, chromium, vanadium, bromine and iodine was 381.1, 133.0, 1.0, 40.8, 102.9, 162.0, 71.5 and 10.6 μg/g sediments, respectively and was greatly exceed the average worldwide shale concentrations and average Japanese river sediment values. However, mean concentration of arsenic, nickel and strontium was 11.0, 36.6 and 164.6 μg/g sediments, respectively which was lower than the average shale value. Other analyzed trace metals, including barium, zirconium, rubidium, yttrium, tin, antimony, cesium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium were detected in river sediments; the concentration of which was close to the Japan’s river sediment average values. Pollution load index values of the sites of the studied area ranged from 1.24 to 7.65 which testify that the river sediments are polluted. The PLI value of the area was, however, high (6.53) as the concentration of trace metals like zinc, cupper, cadmium, lead and chromium were very high and were the major pollutants.     

Dynamics and hotspots of soil erosion and management scenarios of the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Most of the lowland in the central rift valley of Ethiopia is arid or semiarid and in degradation,with frequent occurrence of droughts.Soil erosion by water during the rainy season is a serious problem...     

Use of Thermal Image Velocimetry to Measure a Dust-Devil-Like Vortex Within a Sports Ground in a Residential Area

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - We investigate the characteristics of a dust-devil-like vortex (DDLV) observed using thermal image velocimetry (TIV) at a sports ground in Tokyo. Thermal image...