Assessment of the Global and Regional Land Hydrosphere and Its Impact on the Balance of the Geophysical Excitation Function of Polar Motion

The impact of continental hydrological loading from land water, snow and ice on polar motion excitation, calculated as hydrological angular momentum (HAM), is difficult to estimate, and not as much is known about it as about atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) and oceanic angular momentum (OAM). In this paper, regional hydrological excitations to polar motion are investigated using monthly terrestrial water storage data derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and from the five models of land hydrology. The results show that the areas where the variance shows large variability are similar for the different models of land hydrology and for the GRACE data. Areas which have a small amplitude on the maps make an important contribution to the global hydrological excitation function of polar motion. The comparison of geodetic residuals and global hydrological excitation functions of polar motion shows that none of the hydrological excitation has enough energy to significantly improve the agreement between the observed geodetic excitation and geophysical ones.     

Annual deformation signals from homogeneously reprocessed VLBI and GPS height time series

The first part of this paper compares homogeneously reprocessed Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Global Positioning System (GPS) long-term height series from 1994 to 2007. The data analysis used fully adapted state-of-the-art models (like VMF1 and a priori zenith delays from ECMWF) for the GPS and VLBI processing. The series are compared in terms of long-term non-linear behaviour, harmonic and mean annual signals (not necessarily of harmonic nature). The similarity between both techniques is very good (especially the mean annual signals), which is assumed to be due to the adapted models and consistent reprocessing of both series. As two almost independent observing techniques see the same annually recurring signals at almost all co-located sites, we expect a good geophysical interpretability as integral vertical deformation. For the second part of this paper, the height time series of 161 suitable GPS sites (of the same solution as before) are used to determine a harmonic and a mean annual signal for each of them. Comparing the annual signals for this big dataset visually to GRACE-determined load deformations described in other publications, we find good agreement. This puts emphasis to the assumption that our height data have a lot of potential to be interpreted as geophysical signals. Out of these 161, 131 are grouped to 55 clusters, if at least two nearby (some thousand kilometres) sites show similar mean annual signals, which are thus confirmed to be real regional deformation, not local or technical artefacts. These 55 signals are presented on a “world map” of regional average mean annual height signals, as easy-to-handle tool to validate geophysical models. The data of these measured regional mean annual signals can be downloaded from a web-page for numerical analysis.     

Wave reflection from coastal structures in design conditions

Based on an extensive database of more than 4000 data, this paper analyses wave reflection for various types of coastal structures in design conditions, such as smooth, rock and armour unit slopes. A new simple formula has been developed that relates the reflection coefficient to the breaker parameter and seems to fit all kinds of revetment materials by changing two coefficients. These coefficients depend only on the correct roughness factor, provided by recent research on overtopping discharges. The effects on reflection due to composite slopes and to low crests are also examined and proper extensions of the formula are provided.     

Transmission of wave energy at permeable low crested structures

This paper presents a conceptual model for the prediction of energy transmission in presence of emergent permeable low crested structures. The transmitted wave is reconstructed from the superposition of perturbations generated leeward the structure by filtration and overtopped volumes. The model requires only structure geometry and incident wave conditions (wave height, period). A fair agreement is obtained by comparing the predicted transmission coefficients and wave spectra with measurements performed in wave flume and wave basin.     

Integrated monitoring of the hydro-morphodynamics of a beach protected by low crested detached breakwaters

The aim of this paper is to propose an integrated low cost system for monitoring the performance of beach defence works during storms. For this purpose, the site of Igea Marina, Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy, which is protected by low crested detached breakwaters, is selected. The monitoring system is composed by a video installation, for the identification of the shoreline position and of the intertidal bathymetry at high space and time resolution, and a 2DH numerical model, to reconstruct the hydrodynamics induced by coastal defenses. The accuracy of the monitoring system is verified against available measurements of waves and currents performed during a field campaign with acoustic Doppler profilers. Assimilation of data on the shoreline position in 2DH model operatively working is challenging in the improvement of the production of risk maps. These show the current intensities and flooded areas during forecasted storms. First promising results suggest the possibility of setting up an early warning tool.     

Sponges boring into precious corals: an overview with description of a new species of Alectona (Demospongiae, Alectonidae) and a worldwide identification key for the genus

Precious corals represent peculiar substrata for several species of boring sponges that exploit their carbonatic scleraxis, strongly decreasing their commercial value. Here we describe a new species of the genus Alectona from Japan recorded in a colony of Paracorallium japonicum (Kishinouye, 1903). The spicular complement of the new species consists of diactinal spicules covered by mushroom-like tubercles, often modified into styloid forms, and fusiform amphiasters with two or sometimes four verticils, each generally made up of six short tubercled rays. A complete survey of the literature on boring sponges recorded in precious corals in the Mediterranean Sea and Pacific Ocean indicates that the species of the family Alectonidae are the most strictly associated to this kind of substratum. Their world distribution, in fact, partially or totally overlap that of their coral hosts.     

Ecotoxicological and human health risk in a petrochemical district of southern Italy

An ecotoxicological investigation has been carried in the petrochemical district of Priolo (Sicily, Italy), one of the largest in Europe. Results indicated a severe mercury contamination in sediments sampled near a chloro-alkali plant. A clear bioavailability of this element was demonstrated in mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis (both native and translocated) and the benthic fish Mullus barbatus, which also exhibited marked genotoxic damages. The elevated mercury concentrations in marine organisms are a serious concern for human health; according to the national average fish consumption, the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) of Hg would be easily exceeded by at least 4 to 12 fold. Such toxicological risk is of particular importance for pregnant women, being possibly involved in the elevated frequency of neonatal malformations.     

Comparing modeled and observed changes in mineral dust transport and deposition to Antarctica between the Last Glacial Maximum and current climates

Mineral dust aerosols represent an active component of the Earth’s climate system, by interacting with radiation directly, and by modifying clouds and biogeochemistry. Mineral dust from polar ice cores over the last million years can be used as paleoclimate proxy, and provide unique information about climate variability, as changes in dust deposition at the core sites can be due to changes in sources, transport and/or deposition locally. Here we present results from a study based on climate model simulations using the Community Climate System Model. The focus of this work is to analyze simulated differences in the dust concentration, size distribution and sources in current climate conditions and during the Last Glacial Maximum at specific ice core locations in Antarctica, and compare with available paleodata. Model results suggest that South America is the most important source for dust deposited in Antarctica in current climate, but Australia is also a major contributor and there is spatial variability in the relative importance of the major dust sources. During the Last Glacial Maximum the dominant source in the model was South America, because of the increased activity of glaciogenic dust sources in Southern Patagonia-Tierra del Fuego and the Southernmost Pampas regions, as well as an increase in transport efficiency southward. Dust emitted from the Southern Hemisphere dust source areas usually follow zonal patterns, but southward flow towards Antarctica is located in specific areas characterized by southward displacement of air masses. Observations and model results consistently suggest a spatially variable shift in dust particle sizes. This is due to a combination of relatively reduced en route wet removal favouring a generalized shift towards smaller particles, and on the other hand to an enhanced relative contribution of dry coarse particle deposition in the Last Glacial Maximum.     

Factor analysis for El Niño signals in sea surface temperature and precipitation

Maximum likelihood factor analysis (MLFA) is applied to investigate the variables of monthly Tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SST) from Niño 1+2, Niño 3, Niño 3.4, and Niño 4 and precipitation over New South Wales and Queensland of eastern Australia, Kalimantan Island of Indonesia, and California and Oregon of the west coast of the United States. The monthly data used were from 1950 to 1999. The November-February SST with time leads of 0, 1, 2, and 3 months to precipitation are considered for both El Niño warm phases and non El Niño seasons. Interpretations of the factor loadings are made to diagnose relationships between the SST and precipitation variables. For El Niño signals, the rotated FA loadings can efficiently group the SST and precipitation variables with interpretable physical meanings. When the time lag is 0 or 1 month, the November–February El Niño SST explains much of the drought signals over eastern Australia and Kalimantan. However, when the time lag is 2 or 3 months, the same SST cannot adequately explain the precipitation during January–May over the two regions. Communality results of five factors for precipitation indicate nearly 100% explanation of variances for Queensland and California, but the percentages are reduced to only about 30% for Oregon and Kalimantan. Factor scores clearly identify the strongest El Niño relevant to precipitation variations. Principal component factor analysis (PCFA) is also investigated, and its results are compared with MLFA. The comparison indicates that MLFA can better group SST data relevant to precipitation. The residuals of MLFA are always smaller than the PCFA. Thus, MLFA may become a useful tool for improving potential predictability of precipitation from SST predictors.