Evidence for recent warming from perturbed geothermal gradients: examples from eastern Canada

Recent variations of the surface temperature of the Earth can be inferred from borehole temperature measurements. Generalized inversion is used to extract the information from the data; the potential of the method is evaluated. Tests were performed with synthetic data to demonstrate the effectiveness of the inversion to recover the gross features of the surface temperature history even when the data are affected by noise and errors. The tests show that it is possible to reconstruct the long term changes in ground temperature during the past 300 years; the resolution decreases with time, in particular if noise and errors must be filtered. Temperature logs, obtained in eastern Canada, and not suspected of being affected by non-climatic factors, have been inverted. The analysis confirms that eastern Canada has experienced warming by 1 to 2°C over the past 100–200 years. The relationship between air and ground temperatures has been examined. In eastern Canada ground temperature follows air temperature closely in summer but stays well above air temperature in winter. The number of days with snow on the ground correlates with the difference between annual mean ground and air temperature.Contribution to Clima Locarno — Past and Present Climate Dynamics; Conference September 1990, Swiss Academy of Sciences — National Climate-Program     

Tidal currents and residual currents at Norderney,Elbe 1, and Aussen-Eider lightships and their variation under the influence of prevailing winds

Summary Four hourly current-and wind observations during the years 1924–1927 at the German lightvessels Norderney, Elbe 1, and Aussen-Eider were subjected to harmonic analysis with emphasis on the influence of the wind on the residual as well as on the tidal current. The tidal current is strongest at Elbe 1 and weakest at Aussen-Eider. The half-monthly inequality of the current is strongly influenced by a ₂ tidal component. Wind influences the velocity, phase and duration of ebb-and flow current in a systematic way at Norderney and Elbe 1. Deviations from the mean tidal current are caused mainly by the change in wind direction rather than by wind velocity. The mean residual current is weak at the three stations. But wind driven currents have a velocity up to 5 times as great as the mean residual current and reverse their direction with the wind. The annual variation of the mean residual current, however, is caused only to a small part by the annual wind variation.Abbreviations used in this paper Gr. M. Tr. Greenwich moon transit, i.e. Greenwich civil time of the upper or lower transit of the moon through the meridian of Greenwich - C _n computed tidal current at M1/2Hn - C _n ^m computed mean tidal current at M1/2Hn - M _n Moon-half hour mean, i.e. mean of all current velocities observed during M1/2Hn - M.A. Moon age of an observation, true Greenwich time of Gr.M.Tr. directly preceeding the time of observation, expressed in 12 integral numbers, each representing M.A. falling in 12 different hourly intervals - M1/2H Moon-half hour, 1/2 of the interval between one moon transit and the next, i.e. 1/24 of 12h25m - R _n ^o ,R _n ^' ,R _n ^" residual current computed by harmonic analysis ofn M1/2H means of the mean current, the current at weak winds, and the current at strong winds respectively - d.o.f. degrees of freedom - standard deviation ofC _n fromM _n - ^* mean standard deviation ofC _n fromM _n for analysis with weighted means - A _o Standard error of the residual currentA _o - AB standard error of the harmonic coefficientsA ₁,B ₁,A ₂,B ₂,... - S ₂ Phase of the current componentS ₂     

From compassion to compliance? Trends in refugee and humanitarian migration in Australia

Australia has a long history of offering protection to refugees. In the post-World War II period it has predominantly been involved in an offshore refugee settlement program whereby it has assisted international efforts to assist refugees and resettled almost 600,000 refugees in Australia. In recent years, however, substantial numbers of asylum seekers have arrived on Australia's shores and this has seen the development of an onshore refugee program which is seen as quite separate from the offshore program. This has involved the detention of asylum seekers while their claims for protection are assessed and when they are assessed as being qualified for protection they are given different status to offshore determined refugee settlers. The paper summarises the development of refugee policy in Australia and the evolution of the offshore and onshore policies. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Influence of time-domain dam–reservoir interaction on cracking of concrete gravity DAMS

Based on a non-linear dam-reservoir interaction model, a study investigating the earthquake response of concrete gravity dams is presented. For the propagation of cracks in unreinforced mass concrete, a discrete crack approach formulation based on the finite element method is applied. A special crack element is used to follow a fictitious crack in order to account for a zone of microcracks developing at the crack tip. The reservoir is modelled using the boundary element method. At a fictitious boundary dividing the irregular finite part of the reservoir from the regular infinite part, the loss of energy due to pressure waves moving away towards infinity is taken into account rigorously. Analyses are performed on the tallest non-overflow monolith of the Pine Flat Dam located in Kern County, California. The interaction of a dam, which may exhibit cracks in mass concrete, with a reservoir domain of arbitrary geometry extending to infinity is studied. Some main parameters are investigated. The importance of tools capable of handling the non-linear dam-reservoir interaction is emphasized.     

Paleomagnetic evidence for large en-bloc rotations in the Eastern Alps during Neogene orogeny

We present new paleomagnetic data from the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Central Alps of Austria. All new data are overprint magnetizations and can be subdivided into two groups: In rocks older than earliest Rupelian, two remagnetizations reflecting both clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation were detected. In rocks of late Rupelian and younger ages, only a counter-clockwise rotated remagnetization was found. Our results together with results from previous paleomagnetic studies from the Eastern and Southern Alps suggest two main phases of vertical axis rotation. The first, clockwise rotation affecting the Northern Calcareous Alps was active between earliest to Late Rupelian. We propose a model where the Northern Calcareous Alps are segmented into individual blocks. Within a dextral shear corridor these blocks rotated clockwise due to the counter-clockwise rotation of the Southern Alps and Central Alps. The second, counter-clockwise rotation occurred in the Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene, affecting Eastern and Southern Alps. In this stage of orogeny, the internal massifs of the Western Alps were already accreted to the upper plate and therefore included in counter-clockwise rotation. This rotation is contemporaneous with counter-clockwise rotation in the Apennines and opening of the Balearic basin, and a genetic relationship is suggested. A second step of counter-clockwise rotation, reconstructed from published data, is observed in the sedimentary basins at the southeastern margin of the Eastern Alps, where counter-clockwise rotated Miocene and Pliocene sedimentary rocks are present. This rotation is seen in connection to a young counter-clockwise rotation of the Adriatic plate.     

Long-term groundwater level changes and land subsidence in Tianjin,China

Acta Geotechnica - A large volume of groundwater is withdrawn annually in Tianjin Municipality, China, to meet agricultural, industrial, and municipal water uses. Groundwater overdraft in the urban...     

横向非均匀地球负荷问题的CLFE有限元算法的有效性

本文设计了三个数值算例分别模拟径向分层黏弹地球对二阶球谐负荷、均厚圆盘负荷和全球末次冰期真实冰负荷的响应.利用耦合位扰动Laplace方程的三维有限元法(CLFE),计算出地球表面的位移、大地水准面的变化、冰后海平面变化和这些量的现今变化速率,并将其结果与传统谱方法的结果进行对比.结果表明,两种方法的结果总体上表现出良好的一致性,因此,CLFE方法被证实是正确的、有效的、能被用于研究地幔横向非均匀性的影响.值得注意的是,新的方法完全没有横向非均匀小扰动假设的限制.     

Contrasting changes between the northern and southern Gulf of St. Lawrence ecosystems associated with the collapse of groundfish stocks

In order to have a global view of ecosystem changes associated with the collapse of groundfish species in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the early 1990s, Ecopath mass-balance models were constructed incorporating uncertainty in the input data. These models covered two ecosystems (northern and southern Gulf of St. Lawrence; NAFO divisions 4RS and 4T), and two time periods (before the collapse, in the mid-1980s, and after it, in the mid-1990s). Our analyses revealed that the ecosystem structure shifted dramatically from one previously dominated by piscivorous groundfish and small-bodied forage species during the mid-1980s to one now dominated only by small-bodied pelagic species during the mid-1990s in both southern and northern Gulf. The species structure in the northern Gulf versus southern Gulf was different, which may explain why these two ecosystems did not recover the same way from the collapse in the early 1990s. Productivity declined in the northern Gulf after the collapse but increased in the southern Gulf. The collapse of groundfish stocks resulted in declines in the mean trophic level of the landings in both the northern and the southern Gulf. Even though fishing mortality was then intentionally reduced, this part of the total mortality was taken up by predation. The temporal changes in the internal structure of both ecosystems are reflected in their overall emergent properties.