Key pluvial parameters in assessing rainfall erosivity in the south-west development region,Romania

Located in the south-western part of Romania, the south-west development region overlaps the main relief forms: the Carpathians mountains, the Getic Subcarpathians, the Getic piedmont, the Romanian plain and the Danube valley. The study aims at providing an overview on the main pluvial parameters and their role in assessing rainfall erosivity in the study area. The authors assessed the occurrence, frequency and magnitude of some of the most significant pluvial parameters and their impact on the climatic aggressiveness in the study area. Thus, the monthly and annual mean and extreme climatic values for different rainfall related parameters (e.g., maximum amounts of precipitation/24 hr, heavy rainfall), as well as relevant indices and indicators for pluvial aggressiveness (Fournier, Fournier Modified, Angot) were calculated. The rainfall erosivity was assessed in order to provide both the spatial distribution of the triggering extreme weather phenomena and the resulted intensity classes for the analysed indices and indicators. The authors used long-term precipitation records (1961–2010) for the selected relevant meteorological stations distributed throughout all analysed relief units.     

Synthetic stellar and SSP libraries as templates for Gaia simulations

ESA’s Gaia mission will collect low resolution spectroscopy in the optical range for ～10⁹ objects. Complete and up-to-date libraries of synthetic stellar spectra are needed to built algorithms aimed to automatically derive the classification and the parametrization of this huge amount of data. In addition, libraries of stellar spectra are one of the main ingredients of stellar population synthesis models, aiming to derive the properties of unresolved stellar populations from their integrated light. We present (a) the newly computed libraries of synthetic spectra built by the Gaia community, covering the whole optical range (300–1100 nm) at medium-high resolution of (0.3 nm) for stars spanning the most different types, from M to O, from A-peculiar to Emission lines to White Dwarfs, and (b) the implementation of those libraries in our SSP code (Tantalo in The Initial Mass Function 50 Years Later, 327:235 2005), exploring different stellar evolution models.     

Attenuation of Peak Horizontal and Vertical Acceleration in the Dinarides Area

Peak acceleration attenuation relations for horizontal and vertical components are presented for the Dinarides region, based on 145 3-component accelerograms related to 46 earthquakes with local magnitudes of 4.5 or greater and with epicentral distances of less than 200 km as recorded on 39 recording sites in the greater Dinarides region. The attenuation functions were obtained by two-stage stratified regression on the local magnitude and epicentral distance as independent variables. The predicted peak acceleration values within the distance range covered by the data are comparable to the ones obtained for stiff-soil or rock sites when selected reference relations are used. The rather large average residuals are caused mostly by the lack of information on local site conditions and by the use of epicentral distance instead of fault distance.     

Surface water/groundwater interaction in the Piora Aquifer,Switzerland: evidence from dye tracing tests

Results of seven dye tracing tests done from 1993–1997 to investigate the extent to which lakes and surface water interact with the underlying Triassic Piora Aquifer, Switzerland, are reported here. Two of the dye tracing tests showed that groundwater flows in the Piora Aquifer from the Piora Valley to springs in the adjacent Santa Maria Valley, and even further east to the di Campo Valley considerably outside of the Piora Valley surface water divide. Lake Ritom located in the Piora Valley loses water only to the Canaria Valley outside of the lake's surface-water watershed at the lake's western margin when lake levels are above 1,835 m above sea level. Dye tracing tests show that a major sinkhole in the Piora Valley, Calderoni Sinkhole, is located precisely on the water divide where subsurface flow in the Piora Valley and surface water diverge and move in opposite directions. The dye tracing results also showed no hydraulic connection between surface water in the Piora Valley and the famous Pertusio Spring, located in the upper Santa Maria Valley. Only a small amount of dye from the two dye tracing tests done in 1993 and 1997 entered an exploratory gallery built to test the viability of the AlpTransit tunnel, being built in competent rock under the Triassic Piora Aquifer, effectively perched above. Electronic Publication     

Development and potential of space-borne doppler wind lidar

1　Introduction　Globalwindprofiledataprovidepartofthemostimportantparametersinatmosphericdynamics ,involv ingtheglobalatmosphericcyclingofenergy ,transportofwater ,aerosols ,andotherairborneelements .Un derstandingofwindisalsoimportantinoceanicre search .Thatiswhygreatattentionhasbeenpaidtothewinddetection .　Asaprovedfeasiblewinddetectionmethod ,windlidarhasbeendevelopedforabout 30 years .Windve locitycanberetrievedfromtheDopplerfrequencyshiftinthesignalbackscatteredbytheatmosphericelements…     

Isotopic characteristics of precipitation in Slovenia and Croatia: Comparison of continental and maritime stations

The stable isotopic composition of hydrogen and oxygen (δ²H and δ¹⁸O) and tritium activity (³H) were monitored in monthly precipitation at two continental stations (Ljubljana, Zagreb) and six stations along the eastern Adriatic coasts of Slovenia and Croatia in the period 2001–2003. Mean air temperatures and amount of precipitation were also recorded.

Distinct differences in both meteorological and isotopic data between the continental and maritime stations were observed. Seasonal variations in δ¹⁸O are smaller at the maritime stations than at the continental ones due to smaller seasonal temperature variations. A good correlation between δ¹⁸O and δ²H was obtained for each station, and the local meteoric water lines are close to the Global Meteoric Water Line, with a decreasing trend of slope for the south-Adriatic stations. Good correlations between δ¹⁸O in monthly precipitation and mean monthly air temperature were observed at all stations. The slope of δ¹⁸O vs. T varied between 0.37‰ °C⁻¹ and 0.15‰ °C⁻¹. Mean ³H activity and seasonal variation of ³H activity are smaller at maritime stations than at continental ones. Additionally, ³H activity decreases in the NW–SE direction of the Adriatic coast.

The study of spatial variations over this relatively small area rich in geographical and climatic diversities showed the complexity of the isotopic composition of precipitation and the isotopic data obtained for eight stations, most of them in the karstic area along the Adriatic coast, and gave valuable information for regional hydrological investigations and modelling of isotope variability over the Mediterranean basin.     

A new emergent alpine front chain in central Tunisia (Maktar area): filtering gravimetric data contribution

A residual anomaly gravity map of the Maktar area has been processed via several methods including horizontal gradient, upward continuation, and Euler deconvolution to highlight structures hidden by sedimentary cover. These methods reinforce the existence of several faults inferred from geologic studies. This work outlines deep or near-surface faults that had remained hidden until now. The most important set of these faults is NE–SW trending, with depths in excess of 3,000 m. These faults limit the Northwestern limb of Balouta massif and restrain the Northwestern side of Oued Ousafa syncline. This last fault presents a thrust front which constituted the western continuity of a southern Tunisian thetys margin and a western Zaghouan scar prolongation. E–W striking faults refer to an arched beam of faults limiting Kessera plateau and others situated in the northern part of the Maktar plateau. N–S and NW–SE directions correspond to branches of less-apparent importance. Superposition of local maxima specifies dipping vergence of different proven structures. Results from this work show the importance of gravimetric data analysis in Maktar area and provide new insight into Central Atlas Tunisia structure such as new emergent segment front Alpine chain. The proposed map could be a basis for planning future hydrogeological and petroleum research in this region.     

Scientific program construction principles and time allocation scheme for the World Space Observatory—Ultraviolet mission

We present scientific program construction principles and a time allocation scheme developed for the World Space Observatory—Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) mission, which is an international space observatory for observation in UV spectral range 100–300 nm. The WSO-UV consists of a 1.7 m aperture telescope with instrumentation designed to carry out high resolution spectroscopy, long-slit low resolution spectroscopy and direct sky imaging. The WSO-UV Ground Segment is under development by Spain and Russia. They will coordinate the Mission and Science Operations and provide the satellite tracking stations for the project.