Geochemical reconstruction of late Holocene drainage and mixing in Kluane Lake,Yukon Territory

The level of Kluane Lake in southwest Yukon Territory, Canada, has fluctuated tens of metres during the late Holocene. Contributions of sediment from different watersheds in the basin over the past 5,000 years were inferred from the elemental geochemistry of Kluane Lake sediment cores. Elements associated with organic material and oxyhydroxides were used to reconstruct redox fluctuations in the hypolimnion of the lake. The data reveal complex relationships between climate and river discharge during the late Holocene. A period of influx of Duke River sediment coincides with a relatively warm climate around 1,300 years BP. Discharge of Slims River into Kluane Lake occurred when Kaskawulsh Glacier advanced to the present drainage divide separating flow to the Pacific Ocean via Kaskawulsh and Alsek rivers from flow to Bering Sea via tributaries of Yukon River. During periods when neither Duke nor Slims river discharged into Kluane Lake, the level of the lake was low and stable thermal stratification developed, with anoxic and eventually euxinic conditions in the hypolimnion.     

Experiments on scalar dispersion within a model plant canopy,part III: An elevated line source

An experiment is reported in which heat was released as a passive tracer from an elevated lateral line source within a model plant canopy, with h _s = 0.85 h _c (h _s and h _c being the source and canopy heights, respectively). A sensor assembly consisting of three coplanar hot wires and one cold wire was used to measure profiles of mean temperature % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaiikamaana% aabaGaeqiUdehaaiaacMcaaaa!390C!\[(\overline \theta )\], temperature variance (Σ_θ ²), vertical and streamwise turbulent heat fluxes, and third moments of wind and temperature fluctuations. Conclusions were:

1. Despite the very heterogeneous flow within the canopy, the observed dispersive heat flux (due to spatial correlation between time-averaged temperature and vertical velocity) was small. However, there is evidence from the plume centroid (which was lower than h _s at the source) of systematic recirculating motions within the canopy.
2. The ratio % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaeq4Wdm3aaS% baaSqaaiabeI7aXjaab2gacaqGHbGaaeiEaaqabaGccaGGVaWaa0aa% aeaacqaH4oqCaaWaaSbaaSqaaiaab2gacaqGHbGaaeiEaaqabaaaaa!41DF!\[\sigma _{\theta {\text{max}}} /\overline \theta _{{\text{max}}} \] (of maximum values on vertical profiles) decreased from 1 near the source to an asymptotic value of 0.4 far downstream, in good agreement with previous experimental and theoretical work for concentration fluctuations in the surface layer well above the canopy.
3. The eddy diffusivity for heat from the line source (K _HL ) increased, downstream of the source, to a nearly constant ‘far-field’ vertical profile. Within the canopy, the far-field K _HL was an order of magnitude larger than K _HP , the equivalent diffusivity for a plane source; well above the canopy, the two were equal. The time scale defined by (far-field K _HL )/(vertical velocity variance) was independent of height within the canopy.
4. Budgets for temperature variance, vertical heat flux and streamwise heat flux are remarkably similar to the equivalent budgets for an elevated line source in the surface layer well above the canopy, except in the lower part of the canopy in the far field, where vertical transport is much more important than in the surface layer.
5. A random flight simulation of the mean height and depth of the temperature plume was generally in good agreement with experiment. However, details of the temperature and streamwise turbulent heat flux profiles were not correct, suggesting that the model formulation needs to be improved.

     

Observational study of the seasonality of the submonthly and intraseasonal signal over the tropics

Summary Atmospheric variability in outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) and tropospheric relative vorticity (VOR) over the South American region was studied from 1979 to 1996 using the complex Morlet wavelet function. The analyses focus on spatial variation in intraseasonal and submonthly scales. Scalograms were used to measure submonthly intraseasonal oscillations in convection, which were found to be predominant in the tropical regions. However, 7-day and 15-day oscillations were observed at tropical and extratropical latitudes in spring and winter, indicating that transient disturbances play a more prominent role. Regarding VOR, tropical energy intensities were highest in the spring and summer, whereas subtropical and extratropical energy intensities were highest in the autumn and winter. The dynamics of the 25-day and 45-day VOR oscillations indicates a possible correlation with Rossby waves over the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, mainly during the summer. During winter, the 7-day and 15-day VOR oscillations are more frequent at higher latitudes and are enhanced along storm tracks. It was also observed that convection amplitudes in the regions of maximum intensity change appreciably from year to year and from season to season, showing that the behavior of the submonthly and intraseasonal oscillations is nonperiodic and correlates strongly with El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation years. These results confirm the efficiency of wavelet analysis for time-scale studies of atmospheric variability.     

LABORATORY OBSERVATIONS OF SEDIMENT ENTRAINMENT BY FREEZING SUPERCOOLED WATER

Debris in basal ice produced by glaciohydraulic supercooling is typically characterized by high proportions of silt. A prominent hypothesis for this silt‐dominance is that frazil ice growing in supercooled water preferentially traps silt from sediment‐laden water percolating through it. It has therefore been suggested that silt‐dominance may be diagnostic of glaciohydraulic supercooling. The aim of our work is to test this hypothesis that freezing sediment‐laden supercooled water necessarily produces ice dominated by silt. We do this by simulating two freezing processes under laboratory conditions: (1) percolation of sediment‐laden water through frazil ice; (2) turbulent supercooling and subsequent freezing of sediment‐laden water. In experiments repeated using different particle sizes (sand, silt and clay in individual experiments) both processes entrained sand most effectively and silt least effectively. In experiments using a sediment mixture dominated by medium to coarse silt, both processes produced ice facies dominated by particle sizes between fine sand and coarse silt. These results suggest that silt‐dominance should therefore not be expected for supercooled freeze‐on, and is not a reliable diagnostic signature for supercooling. The silt‐dominated character of basal ice types associated with supercooling may result from other controls such as a silt‐dominated sediment supply or subglacial water flow rates, rather than the freezing process.     

Anisotropy beneath Hawaii from surface wave particle motion observations

Observed polarization ellipses for fundamental-mode surface waves observed at a digital station in Hawaii deviate from those expected for isotropic models of crust and mantle structure for that region. The anomalous motion occurs as rotations of the ellipse about all three axes in a cartesian corrdinate system. The largest and most consistent deviations occur as anomalous slopes of the ellipse about the horizontal axis transverse to the direction of propagation.The observed orientations and magnitudes of these angles can be explained by models of the upper mantle which contain olivine for which thea-axis dips significantly from the horizontal and which includes a sufficiently thick sedimentary layer (1 km) and a thicker than normal oceanic crust (15 km). The ellipses are also generally inclined from great circle paths about the vertical axis and are tilted about the axis aligned with the propagation direction. Both angles are small and difficult to measure, but the inclination angles are consistent with a model of the upper mantle in which thea-axis of olivine is preferentially oriented in an east-west direction.     

Coronal disturbances

Time lapse movies acquired with the Sacramento Peak Observatory 6-in filter coronagraph very infrequently show dramatic transient events. Many of these events (at 1.04 < r/r < 1.20) are correlated with H activity at the limb, especially with large surges and eruptive prominences. Metric or centrimetric radio bursts are found associated with certain types of 5303 coronal events. The heights to which such disturbances will propagate can often be estimated from the green line movie data. We report the results of a study of all the examples of such transients observed during the last 16 years.     

Sedimentological analysis of two drill cores through the crater moat‐filling breccia,Flynn Creek impact structure,Tennessee

Sedimentological (line‐logging) analysis of two drill cores, FC77‐3 and FC67‐3, situated, respectively, in the northwestern and southeastern quadrants of the Flynn Creek impact structure's crater‐moat area reveals that the ~27 m thick crater moat‐filling breccia consists of three subequal parts. These parts, which were deposited during early modification stage of this marine‐target impact structure, are distinguished on the basis of vertical trends in sorting, grain size, and counts of clasts per meter in comparison with other well‐known marine‐target impact structures, namely Lockne, Tvären, and Chesapeake Bay. The lower part is interpreted to represent mainly slump deposits, and the middle part is interpreted to represent a stage intermediate between slump and marine resurge, that is, a traction flow driven by overriding suspension flow. The upper part (size graded, and relatively well sorted and fine grained) is interpreted to represent marine resurge flow only. The upper part is capped by a relatively thin and relatively fine‐grained calcarenite to calcisiltite deposit.     

Sediment deposition in the flood plain of Stemple Creek Watershed, northern California

Over the past 150 years, major land use changes have occurred in the Stemple Creek Watershed in northern California that have caused erosion to move soils from the upland to the flood plain, stream channels, and the bay. The purpose of this study is to document the recent (1954 to present) sediment deposition patterns in the flood plain area adjacent to Stemple Creek using the ¹³⁷Cesium technique. Sediment deposition ranged from 0.26 to 1.84 cm year⁻¹ for the period from 1964 to 2002 with an average of 0.85±0.41 cm year⁻¹. Sediment deposition rates were higher for the 1954 to 1964 period with a range of 0.31–3.50 cm year⁻¹ and an average of 1.29±1.04 cm year⁻¹. These data indicate that sediment deposition in the flood plain has decreased since the middle 1950s, probably related to reduction in row crop agriculture and an increase in pasturelands. This study shows that the flood plains in the Stemple Creek Watershed are a significant sink for the soils being eroded from the upland area. Given the significance of the flood plain for trapping eroded materials before they reach the stream channels or the bay, efforts need to be made to manage these flood plain areas to insure that they do not change and become a source rather than a sink for eroded materials as improved management practices on the upland areas reduce sediment input to the flood plain.     

Current Convenience,Desperate Deforestation: Ghana's AdjustmentProgram and the Forestry Sector

Since the early 1980s, most Sub-Saharan African countries have resorted to structural adjustment programs to reform their ailing economies. Adjustment, however, may provide a convenient means for governments of the adjusting economies and international capital to meet their current economic and political interests, usually by sacrificing the physical environment, with huge environmental costs for the adjusting country. This paper uses Ghana's forestry sector, which has been characterized by a dramatic increase in woodexports since adjustment, to demonstrate a direct link between adjustment and environmental destruction. Ghana's dramatic increase in wood exports, involving a rapid and extensive deforestation, results from the government's need to meet its increasing external debt service obligations, and is exacerbated by the series of massive local currency devaluation required under adjustment “to get prices right.” The systematic reduction in government revenue from devaluation to amortize the increasing debts, keeps the government and indebted wood processing firms on a treadmill of export-based extraction/deforestation.