Using historical source data to understand urban flood risk: a socio-hydrological modelling application at Gregório Creek,Brazil

ABSTRACT

The city of São Carlos, state of São Paulo, Brazil, has a historical coexistence between society and floods. Unplanned urbanization in this area is a representative feature of how Brazilian cities have developed, undermining the impact of natural hazards. The Gregório Creek catchment is an enigma of complex dynamics concerning the relationship between humans and water in Brazilian cities. Our hypothesis is that social memory of floods can improve future resilience. In this paper we analyse flood risk dynamics in a small urban catchment, identify the impacts of social memory on building resilience and propose measures to reduce the risk of floods. We applied a socio-hydrological model using data collected from newspapers from 1940 to 2018. The model was able to elucidate human–water processes in the catchment and the historical source data proved to be a useful tool to fill gaps in the data in small urban basins.     

Photometry and polarimetry of Jupiter at large phase angles: I. Analysis of imaging data of a prominent belt and a zone from pioneer 10

Limb-darkening curves are derived from Pioneer 10 imaging data for Jupiter's STrZ (?18 to ?21° latitude) and SEBn (?5 to ?8° latitude) in red and blue light at phase angles of 12, 23, 34, 109, 120, 127, and 150°. Inhomogeneous scattering models are computed and compared with the data to constrain the vertical structure and the single-scattering phase functions of the belt and the zone in each color. The very high brightness observed at a 150° phase angle seems to require the presence of at lleast a thin layer of reasonably bright and strongly forward-scattering haze particles at pressure levelsof about 100 mbar or less above both belts and zones. Marginally successful models have been constructed in which a moderate optical thickness (τ ≥ 0.5) of haze particles was uniformly distributed in the upper 25 km-amagats of H₂. Excellent fits to the data were obtained with models having a thin (optical depths of a few tenths) haze conentraated above most of the gas. Following recent spectrospcopicanalyses, we have placed the main “cloud” layer or layers beneath about 25 km-amagats of H₂, although successful fits to our continuum data probably could be achieved also if the clouds were permitted to extend all the way up to the thin haze layer. Similarly, below the haze level our data cannot distinguish between models having two clouds separated by a clear space as suggested by R. E. Danielson and M. G. Tomasko and models with a single extensive diffuse cloud having an H₂ abundance of a few kilometer-amagats per scattering mean free path as described by W. D. Cochran. In either case, the relative brightness of the planet at each phase angle primarily serves to constrain the single-scattering phase functions of the Jovian clouds at the corresponding scattering angles. The clouds in these models are characterized by single-scattering phase functions having strong forward peaks and modest backward-scattering peaks, indicating cloud particles with dimensions larger than about 0.6 μm. In our models, a lower single-scattering albedo of the cloud particles in the belt relative to the zone accounts for the contrast between these regions. If an increased abundance of absorbing dust above uniformly bright clouds is used to explain the contrast between belts and zones at visible wavelengths, the limb darkening is steeper than that observed for the SEBn in blue light at small phase angles. The phase integral for the planet calculated for either the belt or the zone model in either color lies in the range 1.2 to 1.3. If a value of 1.25 is used with D.J. Taylor's bolometric geometric albedo of 0.28, the planet emits 2.25 or 1.7 times the energy it absorbs from the Sun if it effective temperature is 134 or 125°K, respectively—roughly as expected from current theories of the cooling of Jupiter's interior.     

Adjustments in channel morphology due to land‐use changes and check dam installation in mountain torrents of Calabria (southern Italy)

In Mediterranean semi‐arid conditions, the availability of studies monitoring channel adjustments as a response to reforestation and check dams over representative observation periods, could help develop new management strategies. This investigation is an integrated approach assessing the adjustments of channel morphology in a typical torrent of southern Italy after land‐use changes and check dam construction across a period of about 60 years. A statistical analysis of historical rainfall records, an analysis of land‐use changes in the catchment area and a geomorphological mapping of channel adjustments were carried out and combined with field surveys of bed surface grain‐size over a 5‐km reach including 14 check dams. The analysis of the historical rainfall records showed a slight decrease in the amount and erosivity of precipitation. Mapping of land‐use changes highlighted a general increase of vegetal coverage on the slopes adjacent to the monitored reaches. Together with the check dam network installation, this increase could have induced a reduction in water and sediment supply. The different erosional and depositional forms and adjustments showed a general narrowing between consecutive check dams together with local modifications detected upstream (bed aggradation and cross‐section expansion together with low‐flow realignments) and downstream (local incision) of the installed check dams. Changes in the torrent bends were also detected as a response to erosional and depositional processes with different intensities. The study highlighted: the efficiency of check dams against the disrupting power of intense floods by stabilizing the active channel and the influence of reforestation in increasing hillslope protection from erosion and disconnectivity of water and sediment flows towards the active channel. Only slight management interventions (for instance, the conversion of the existing check dams into open structures) are suggested, in order to mobilize the residual sediment avoiding further generalized incision of the active channel and coast line erosion. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Atacama Field Campaign: laboratory and in-situ measurements for remote sensing applications

This work presents the preliminary results of the first field calibration campaign performed in the Atacama Desert, Chile, between the 18 and 22 August 2014, called the Atacama Field Campaign (ATAFIC 2014). In situ measurements were performed in order to spectrally characterize the surface reflectance spectra between 0.3 and 2.5?µm, radiometric temperature (8.0–14.0?µm) and atmospheric measurements. A soil sample was collected and analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction techniques to characterize the surface reflectance spectra and mineralogical composition, respectively. ASTER land surface emissivity in addition to GOES, MODIS and Landsat-8 land surface temperature (LST) were also used. Results showed that the spectral features of the Atacama soil and the characteristics of this geographical zone, which is featured as the most hyper-arid and cloudless place in the world, make this area a potential target for surface reflectance characterization. Day and night LST comparison between field and remote sensing data are lower than 2?K and the Root Mean Square Error for land surface emissivity is close to 2%. This work opens the possibilities to consider the Atacama Desert as a reference target for calibration and validation activities for earth observation missions’ purposes.     

Factors influencing surface runoff generation in a Mediterranean semi-arid environment: Chicamo watershed,SE Spain

A deeper knowledge of the hydrological response of semi-arid Mediterranean watersheds would be useful in the prediction of runoff production for assessing flood risks and planning flood mitigation works. This study was conducted to identify the runoff generation mechanisms and their controlling factors at the hillslope scale in a Mediterranean semi-arid watershed. Four zero-order microcatchments were selected to measure rainfall and runoff for a three-year period. Two groups of soil were differentiated with respect to the hydrological response. The fine textured, poorly permeable soils of low organic carbon content had a greater runoff coefficient (9%) and lower runoff threshold (3·6 mm) than more permeable, coarser textured soils of medium organic carbon content (<3%, and 8 mm, respectively). The influence of rainfall characteristics on the hydrological response was different. Rain intensity was the major rainfall parameter controlling the runoff response in the microcatchments on fine textured, low infiltrability soils with a poor plant cover, while total rainfall was more closely correlated with runoff in coarser textured, highly permeable soils with a denser plant cover. It can be concluded that there are two runoff generation mechanisms: (i) an infiltration-excess overland flow in the more degraded areas with low organic carbon content (<0·5%) and low infiltrability (>5 mm h⁻¹); and (ii) a saturation-excess overland flow in the less degraded areas with a high organic carbon content (>2%), high infiltrability (>8 mm h⁻¹) and covered by a dense plant cover (>50%). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Origin of high field strength element enrichment in volcanic arcs: Geochemical evidence from the Sulu Arc, southern Philippines

Lavas from the Sulu Arc, southern Philippines, exhibit an enrichment in high field strength elements (HFSE) that represents a departure from the typical volcanic arc geochemical signature. It has been postulated that this relative enrichment arises from metasomatism of mantle wedge peridotites by melts derived from the subducting oceanic lithosphere, through formation of amphibole which subsequently breaks down and enriches the mantle source of parental arc magmas in HFSE. Divergent chemical and isotopic characteristics between Sulu Arc HFSE-enriched lavas and the Sulu Sea crust being subducted—the presumed source of slab-derived melts—render it unlikely, however, that HFSE enrichment arises from the influence of such melts. New geochemical data suggest that the varying degrees of HFSE enrichment in Sulu Arc lavas are instead the result of variable amounts of mixing between enriched and depleted mantle end-components—the sources of South China Sea intraplate lavas and Sulu seafloor basalts, respectively—within a compositionally heterogeneous mantle wedge.     

Long term variation in rainfall erosivity in Uruguay: a preliminary Fournier approach

In order to explore the consequences of precipitation increase on soil erosion in Uruguay, the monthly Fournier Index (FI) and the annual Modified Fournier Index (MFI) were developed as a preliminary approach, covering consecutive decadal periods from 1931 to 2000. Rainfall data were used from 13 stations distributed all over the country. MFI shows a decrease in the 1940s, an increase during the 1950s, then a little decrease during the 1960s and 1970s and an increase in the 1980s, remaining near these last values during the 1990s. FI behavior in July and October in the last two decades shows a decrease in the Northeast region of the country—the region with highest annual precipitation—and a slight increase over the Southeast—the region with the lowest annual precipitation and the only region with a winter rainfall maximum. For the core months of winter and early spring there is a decline in erosivity in the Northeast, but an increase in the Southeast. January shows erosivity decreasing in the South during the last two decades. In April there is a peak in precipitation variability all across the country. FI shows an early increase during the 1940s in the Northwest, and generally very low values during the 1970s, with the return of high values in the 1990s, especially in the Northern corner. Results pose a challenge in order to improve research on the erosion problem, since the main source of freshwater nationwide remains surface river flow, which is prone to higher turbidity problems in areas of high soil erosion.     

Transgressive dunefield landforms and vegetation associations,Doña Juana,Veracruz, Mexico

Transgressive dune fields often comprise a multiplicity of landforms where vegetation processes largely affect landform dynamics, which in turn, also affect vegetation processes. These associations have seldom been studied in detail. This paper examines four separate landform types in a complex coastal transgressive dunefield located in the central Gulf of Mexico, in order to assess the relationships between dunefield habitat, local environmental factors, vegetation associations and landform evolution. Topographic surveys using tape and clinometer were conducted in conjunction with vegetation survey transects at four locations across the Doña Juana dunefield. Vegetation surveys allowed the estimation of relative plant cover of each plant species found along the transects. A large variety of landforms were found at the Doña Juana Dunefield: deflation plains, gegenwalle (counter) ridges, transverse dune trailing ridges, blowouts and parabolic dunes, aklé (fish‐scale shaped) dunefields and precipitation ridges, with plant species associations developing on these different landforms equally variable. Flood tolerant species were located in the lower parts (deflation plain and gegenwalle ridges) whereas the older and dryer parts were covered by coastal matorral shrubs. Burial‐tolerant species were dominant in the most mobile areas (blowouts and aklé dunefield and margin). The dune trailing ridge, with relatively milder conditions, showed the highest richness, with no dominant species. A dual interaction was found such that colonizing species both create and affect topography, and in turn, topography determines vegetation association and succession patterns. In coastal dunes, the vegetation and abiotic environment (namely the different landforms and the inherent micronevironmental variability) interact tightly and generate a complex and highly dynamic biogeomorphic system where substrate mobility and colonization processes reinforce one another in positive feedback. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.