Hydrological and meteorological data from research catchments at the Marcell Experimental Forest,Minnesota, USA

The Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF) in northern Minnesota, USA, with hydrological research and monitoring of peatland catchments in a low-topographic relief landscape, contrasts with the mountainous terrain that typifies most research catchments. Six research catchments were instrumented and hydrological and meteorological monitoring was initiated during 1960. Paired-catchment studies, which started during 1969, have been used to assess land management and environmental change effects on forests, water availability, and biogeochemistry. Over the decades, the research and collaborations have proliferated to include new monitoring and ecosystem experiments. We provide an overview of available datasets and access information for hydrological and meteorological data. Data on streamflow, water table elevation, precipitation, snow, ground frost, air temperature, soil moisture, upland runoff, and water chemistry are discoverable with associated metadata and are archived through several Web-based, community repositories. The research programme is ongoing and we anticipate updates on an annual or more frequent basis. Additionally, we aim to release other physical, chemical, and isotopic measurements associated with long-term catchment monitoring and studies at the MEF.     

Ice‐margin and meltwater dynamics during the mid‐Holocene in the Kangerlussuaq area of west Greenland

Land‐terminating parts of the west Greenland ice sheet have exhibited highly dynamic meltwater regimes over the last few decades including episodes of extremely intense runoff driven by ice surface ablation, ponding of meltwater in an increasing number and size of lakes, and sudden outburst floods, or ‘jökulhlaups’, from these lakes. However, whether this meltwater runoff regime is unusual in a Holocene context has not been questioned. This study assembled high‐resolution topographical data, geological and landcover data, and produced a glacial geomorphological map covering ~1200 km². Digital analysis of the landforms reveals a mid‐Holocene land‐terminating ice margin that was predominantly cold‐based. This ice margin underwent sustained active retreat but with multiple minor advances. Over c. 1000 years meltwater runoff became impounded within numerous and extensive proglacial lakes and there were temporary connections between some of these lakes via spillways. The ice‐dams of some of these lakes had several quasi‐stable thicknesses. Meltwater was apparently predominantly from supraglacial sources although some distributary palaeochannel networks and some larger bedrock palaeochannels most likely relate to mid‐Holocene subglacial hydrology. In comparison to the geomorphological record at other Northern Hemisphere ice‐sheet margins the depositional landforms in this study area are few in number and variety and small in scale, most likely due to a restricted sediment supply. They include perched fans and deltas and perched braidplain terraces. Overall, meltwater sourcing, routing and the proglacial runoff regime during the mid‐Holocene in this land‐terminating part of the ice sheet was spatiotemporally variable, but in a manner very similar to that of the present day.     

Adaptive multi‐rate interface: development and experimental verification for real‐time hybrid simulation

Real‐time hybrid simulation (RTHS) is a powerful cyber‐physical technique that is a relatively cost‐effective method to perform global/local system evaluation of structural systems. A major factor that determines the ability of an RTHS to represent true system‐level behavior is the fidelity of the numerical substructure. While the use of higher‐order models increases fidelity of the simulation, it also increases the demand for computational resources. Because RTHS is executed at real‐time, in a conventional RTHS configuration, this increase in computational resources may limit the achievable sampling frequencies and/or introduce delays that can degrade its stability and performance. In this study, the Adaptive Multi‐rate Interface rate‐transitioning and compensation technique is developed to enable the use of more complex numerical models. Such a multi‐rate RTHS is strictly executed at real‐time, although it employs different time steps in the numerical and the physical substructures while including rate‐transitioning to link the components appropriately. Typically, a higher‐order numerical substructure model is solved at larger time intervals, and is coupled with a physical substructure that is driven at smaller time intervals for actuator control purposes. Through a series of simulations, the performance of the AMRI and several existing approaches for multi‐rate RTHS is compared. It is noted that compared with existing methods, AMRI leads to a smaller error, especially at higher ratios of sampling frequency between the numerical and physical substructures and for input signals with high‐frequency content. Further, it does not induce signal chattering at the coupling frequency. The effectiveness of AMRI is also verified experimentally. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A simple water balance model adapted for soil water repellency: application on Portuguese burned and unburned eucalypt stands

Soil water repellency can impact soil hydrology, overland flow generation and associated soil losses. However, current hydrological models do not take it into account, which creates a challenge in repellency‐prone regions. This work focused on the adaptation for soil water repellency of a daily water balance model. Repellency is estimated from soil moisture content using site‐specific empirical relations and used to limit maximum soil moisture. This model was developed and tested using approximately 2 years of data from one long‐unburned and two recently burned eucalypt plantations in northern Portugal, all of which showed strong seasonal soil water repellency cycles. Results indicated important improvements for the burned plantations, with the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency increasing from ?0.55 and ?0.49 to 0.55 and 0.65. For the unburned site, model performance was already good without the modification and efficiency only improved slightly from 0.71 to 0.74, mostly due to the better simulation of delayed soil wetting after dry periods. Results suggested that even a simple approach to simulate soil water repellency can markedly improve the performance of hydrological models in eucalypt forests, especially after fire. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new determination of the orbit and masses of the Be binary system δ Scorpii

The binary star δ Sco (HD143275) underwent remarkable brightening in the visible in 2000, and continues to be irregularly variable. The system was observed with the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2007. The 1999 observations were consistent with predictions based on the previously published orbital elements. The subsequent observations can only be explained by assuming that an optically bright emission region with an angular size of  ≳2 ± 1 mas  formed around the primary in 2000. By 2006/2007 the size of this region grew to an estimated ≳4 mas.
We have determined a consistent set of orbital elements by simultaneously fitting all the published interferometric and spectroscopic data as well as the SUSI data reported here. The resulting elements and the brightness ratio for the system measured prior to the outburst in 2000 have been used to estimate the masses of the components. We find   M_A = 15 ± 7 M_⊙  and   M_B = 8.0 ± 3.6 M_⊙  . The dynamical parallax is estimated to be  7.03 ± 0.15 mas  , which is in good agreement with the revised Hipparcos parallax.     

Pyroxenes microstructure in comet 81P/Wild 2 terminal Stardust particles

Abstract— We report the examination by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of four Stardust terminal particles extracted from two neighboring tracks (32 an 69). The particles are made of well‐preserved crystalline grains dominated by low‐Ca pyroxene ranging from nearly pure enstatite to pigeonite. Some olivine grains are also found, in chemical equilibrium with the surrounding pyroxenes. Various microstructures are observed, as a function of the composition of the grains. They include (100)‐twinned pigeonite, clino/ortho domains in enstatite and exsolution in a Ca‐rich grain. The microstructures are mostly consistent with a formation by cooling from high‐temperature phases, which could be associated to igneous processes. Some dislocations in glide configuration are also present, probably attesting for small intensity shocks. Possible effects of the rapid heating/cooling stage and thermal shock associated to the collect are discussed. It appears that most of the microstructural features reported here are plausibly pristine.     

区域气候模式REMO对中国气温和降水模拟能力的评估

采用泰勒图和偏差分析等统计方法,评估分析了德国区域气候模式（REMO）对中国1989-2008年气温和降水的模拟能力。结果表明：REMO气温模拟值与观测值空间相关系数为0.94,降水空间相关系数较低（0.42）,气温模拟结果明显优于降水;从空间偏差上看,在中国大部分地区,REMO模拟的气温高于观测值,偏差在±4℃以内,青藏高原整体有明显的-4～-2℃的冷偏差;模拟的降水值则高于观测值,空间偏差分布较均匀,中国大部分地区偏差在±300 mm之内;除青藏高原、华南和西南地区外,REMO能较准确地反映出中国气温和降水的空间分布特征,其中华北和东北地区模拟效果最好;REMO对夏季气温和冬季降水的模拟能力相对较好;REMO在地形起伏较大地区的模拟能力有待提高。     

Evaporation from Heterogeneous and Sparse Canopies: On the Formulations Related to Multi-Source Representations

Evaporation from heterogeneous and sparse canopies is often represented by multi-source models that take the form of electrical analogues based upon resistance networks. The chosen representation de facto imposes a specific form on the composition of elementary fluxes and resistances. The two- and three-source representations are discussed in relation to previous work where some ambiguities arise. Using the two-layer model (Shuttleworth and Wallace, Q J R Meteorol Soc 111:839–855, 1985) and the clumped (three-source) model (Brenner and Incoll, Agric For Meteorol 84:187–205, 1997) as a basis, it is shown that the stomatal characteristics of the foliage (amphistomatous or hypostomatous) generate different formulations. New generic and more concise equations, valid in both configurations, are derived. The differences between the patch and layer approaches are outlined and the consequences they have on the composition and formulation of component fluxes are specified. Then, the issue of calculating the effective resistances of the single-layer model from multi-source representations is addressed. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to illustrate the significance of the new formulations.