Marine cold-air outbreaks in the North Atlantic: temporal distribution and associations with large-scale atmospheric circulation

The spatial and temporal distributions of marine cold air outbreaks (MCAOs) over the northern North Atlantic have been investigated using re-analysis data for the period from 1958 to 2007. MCAOs are large-scale outbreaks of cold air over a relatively warm ocean surface. Such conditions are known to increase the severity of particular types of hazardous mesoscale weather phenomena. We used a simple index for identifying MCAOs: the vertical potential temperature gradient between the sea surface and 700 hPa. It was found that atmospheric temperature variability is considerably more important than the sea surface temperature variability in governing both the seasonal and the inter-annual variability of MCAOs. Furthermore, a composite analysis revealed that a few well-defined and robust synoptic patterns are evident during MCAOs in winter. Over the Labrador and Irminger Seas the MCAO index was found to have a correlation of 0.70 with the North Atlantic Oscillation index, while over the Barents Sea a negative correlation of 0.42 was found.     

Gravity studies of the Fen complex,Norway, and their petrological significance

The Fen alkaline complex, which is about 2 km in diameter, is an example of the carbonatite-ijolite-pyroxenite rock association. A Bouguer anomaly map reveals a sharp and almost circular gravity high centered above the complex, the residual peak value being about + 23 mgal. The gravity interpretation supports the ideas that the carbonatites represent only the volatile end fraction accumulated in the upper part of a long vertical magma chamber such as could form in an abyssal fissure, and that the major part of the pipe consists of an ultramafic parental or cogenetic rock originating from great depth (deep crust or upper mantle).Contribution No. 68 in the Norwegian Geotraverse Project.On leave to Dept. of Geology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82070.     

A theory of concentric, kink and sinusoidal folding and of monoclinal flexuring of compressible, elastic multilayers: V. asymmetric folding in interbedded chert and shale of the franciscan complex, san francisco bay area, california

The origin of tight, asymmetric, kink-like or chevron-like folds in interbedded shales and radiolarian cherts of the Franciscan Complex in the San Francisco Bay area has been somewhat of a mystery for many years. Stephenson Ellen provided many clues as to the origin and indicated that the folds became asymmetric as a result of layer-parallel shear. He believed that the original folds were conjugate kink folds.As a result of reexamination of most of the folds studied by Ellen, of experimentation with elastic multilayers and of the theories developed in Parts III and IV of this series of papers, we believe that the original folds were mostly chevron rather than kink folds. Thus, we suggest that the folds formed by a combination of layer-parallel shortening and layer-parallel shear when the rocks were soft and pore pressures were high.Several lines of evidence suggest that typical folds in the Franciscan are asymmetric chevron folds. A combination of theory of finite simple shear and of experimentation with elastic multilayers indicates that the tight folds of the Franciscan could have been produced by smaller angles of simple shear if the original folds were typical chevron folds rather than typical kink folds. Several field observations, including thickening of shales but not of cherts in hinges of folds and lack of deformation of radiolaria in the cherts, indicate that the cherts were soft and the shales very soft at the time of folding. The pore-water pressures in the shales probably were high. Such conditions theoretically favor concentric-like and chevron folding, not kink folding. Finally, most of the asymmetric folds in a quarry exposure can be reconstructed geometrically as typical chevron folds but not as typical kink folds subjected to simple shear.     

Species selection and assessment of eco-engineering effects of seedlings for biogeomorphological landscape experiments

Landscape experiments of fluvial environments such as rivers and deltas are often conducted with live seedlings to investigate effects of biogeomorphological interactions on morphology and stratigraphy. However, such experiments have been limited to a single species, usually alfalfa (Medicago sativa), whereas important environments in nature have many different vegetation types and eco-engineering effects. Landscape experimentation would therefore benefit from a larger choice of tested plant species. For the purpose of experimental design our objective was to identify fast-germinating and fast-growing species and determine their sensitivity to flow conditions during and after settling, their maximum growth, hydraulic resistance and added bank strength. We tested germination time and seedling growth rate of 18 candidate species with readily available seeds that are fast growing and occur at waterlines, plus Medicago sativa as a control. We selected five species that germinate and develop within days and measured properties and eco-engineering effects depending on plant age and density, targeting typical experimental conditions of 0–0.3 m/s flow velocity and 0–30 mm water depth. Tested eco-engineering effects include bank strength and flow resistance. We found that Rumex hydrolapathum can represent riparian trees. The much smaller Veronica beccabunga and Lotus pedunculatus can represent grass and saltmarsh species as they grow in dense patches with high flow resistance but are readily erodible. Sorghum bicolor grows into tall, straight shoots, which add significantly to bank strength, but adds little flow resistance and may represent sparse hardwood trees. Medicago sativa also grows densely under water, suggesting a use for mangroves and perhaps peat. In stronger and deeper flows the application of all species changes accordingly. These species can now be used in a range of landscape experiments to investigate combined effects on living landscape patterns and possible facilitation between species. The testing and treatment methodology can be applied to new species and other laboratory conditions. © 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2019 The Authors Earth Surface Processes and Landforms Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd © 2019 The Authors Earth Surface Processes and Landforms Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Symmetry and M-Matrix Issues for the O-Method on an Unstructured Grid

More sophisticated discretization methods than the traditional control-volume finite-difference methods, have been proposed by Aavatsmark et al. in recent papers for solving the mass balance equations for porous media flow. These methods are based on a local representation of fluxes across cell-edges of control volumes (CVs). This paper will focus on mathematical properties of the discrete operator that arises when an elliptic term of the form ???(K?p) is discretized based on these discretization principles.     

Capturing the two‐way hydromechanical coupling effect on fluid‐driven fracture in a dual‐graph lattice beam model

Fluid‐driven fractures of brittle rock is simulated via a dual‐graph lattice model. The new discrete hydromechanical model incorporates a two‐way coupling mechanism between the discrete element model and the flow network. By adopting an operator‐split algorithm, the coupling model is able to replicate the transient poroelasticity coupling mechanism and the resultant Mandel‐Cryer hydromechanical coupling effect in a discrete mechanics framework. As crack propagation, coalescence and branching are all path‐dependent and irreversible processes, capturing this transient coupling effect is important for capturing the essence of the fluid‐driven fracture in simulations. Injection simulations indicate that the onset and propagation of fractures is highly sensitive to the ratio between the injection rate and the effective permeability. Furthermore, we show that in a permeable rock, the borehole breakdown pressure, the pressure at which fractures start to grow from the borehole, depends on both the given ratio between injection rate and permeability and the Biot coefficient.     

Monotonicity for MPFA methods on triangular grids

Flow in a porous medium can be described by a set of non-linear partial differential equations. The pressure variable satisfies a maximum principle, which guarantees that the solution will have no oscillations. A discretisation of the pressure equation should preserve this monotonicity property. Whether a numerical method is monotone will depend both on the medium and on the grid. We study monotonicity of Multi-point Flux Approximation methods on triangular grids. We derive necessary conditions for monotonicity on uniform grids. Further, we study the robustness of the methods on rough grids, and quantify the violations of the maximum principle. These investigations are done for single phase flow, however, they are supported by two-phase simulations.