Ultra-wideband radar studies of steep crested waves with scanning laser measurements of wave slope profiles

We report results of ultra wide-band radar sea spike experiments using steep and weakly breaking non-linear water surface features in a wave tank. To generate these features we used a 1 s paddle wave and wind waves for a sequence of wind speeds. A scanning laser was used to measure synchronously the surface slope profile across 12 cm along the wave propagation direction once per radar pulse. A time domain reflectometer (TDR) radar transmitted short horizontally polarized pulses at X-band, several hundred picoseconds long, to give a range resolution of 10 cm. A radar range of 36 cm was digitally sampled so that surface feature echoes could be tracked through the area continuously with 5 ms temporal resolution with each instrument. We report results considering the wave slope component in the propagation direction and the corresponding curvature component. For the conditions studied, two types of features which produce sea spike radar echoes were generated–a non-linear feature near the crest front of the wind wave, caused by extreme steepening as a result of the passage of the paddle wave, and a steepened blocked wind wave in the trough of the paddle wave, caused by the local orbital current of the 1 s wave being nearly equal to and opposite the phase velocity of the wind wave.     

The Location of Office Space in the Metropolitan Service Economy of the United States, 1985–1990

As the economic base of most American metropolitan areas relies increasingly on services, office industries have shifted to a more pivotal role in the new metropolitan service economy. Using primary office-space usage data of the time period 1985–1990, the changing spatial patterns of this new metropolitan service economy are investigated. It is found that the primary office activities are predominantly concentrated in a relatively small number of the largest metropolitan areas. However, an emerging spatial dispersion in primary office activities is also exhibited. Such dispersion is extremely strong at the upper end of the urban hierarchy. The Sunbelt-Snowbelt dichotomy fails to reveal any differences in the growth pattern of the new metropolitan service economy. A more diversified growth pattern of primary office activities is observed. Concentrated dispersion is the major spatial characteristic of this new metropolitan service economy.     

Mapping the Geographical Diffusion of a Finnish Smallpox Epidemic from Historical Population Records

Smallpox mortality from an early 19th century epidemic in Finland is mapped at the parish village level. First, geographically referenced historical materials are used to construct a map showing the spread of smallpox mortality among villages. Next, the diffusion of smallpox morbidity is simulated by computer for the same set of villages. These two maps are then compared. Results indicate that at this scale maps of mortality diffusion can show general trends but have no direct spatial correspondence to the underlying pattern of morbidity diffusion. Mortality maps cannot be used as a surrogate measure of infectious contact behavior at micro scales of analysis.     

Structural Spatial Interaction*

This paper identifies a concept of structural spatial interaction. Although it is defined differently from its counterpart of structural unemployment in economics, it attempts to define a similar idea. In economics, the focus is on equilibrium in the supply and demand of labor. In this paper structural interaction is that which minimizes aggregate distance travelled, subject to constraints on origins and destinations. The structural interaction model produces an equilibrium, therefore, in the supply and demand of movers, while identifying a spatially efficient trip distribution. It is portrayed as a type of relaxed interaction model and is illustrated using an example of structural migration with Canadian interprovincial migration data.     

Formation of humic-like substances by fungi epiphytic onSpartina alterniflora

In laboratory experiments, two fungi that commonly colonize leaves of Spartina aZterniJEoru(L oisel.) were studied to determine if they contribute to the formation of humic substances, which have been isolated earlier from salt marsh estuaries. In incubations of up to one year in duration, Phaeosphaeria spartinicola and Phaeosphaeria halima did not form dark pigments when grown in an artificial, full-nutrient medium. However, if the nutrient solution was enriched with a water extract of S. alterniJEoro, appreciable amounts of dark brown substances were produced. Elemental (C, H, N, 0) and spectral (ultraviolet, visible, and Fourier Transform Infrared) analyses of these dark brown substances show them to be similar to salt marsh humic substances.     

Characterizing the dispersive state of convective boundary layers for applied dispersion modeling

Estimates from semiempirical models that characterize surface heat flux, mixing depth, and profiles of temperature, wind, and turbulence are compared with observations from atmospheric field studies conducted in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota. Sodar observations are compared with tower measurements at the Colorado site, for wind and turbulence profiles. The median surface heat flux, as calculated using surface-layer flux-profile relationships and an energy budget model, was consistently overestimated by 20 to 80%. Several mixing-depth models were evaluated: (1) integration of the hourly surface heat flux and friction velocity, (2) solving for the time rate of change of profiles of virtual potential temperature, and (3) an interpolation scheme used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in regulatory dispersion models. For the late afternoon, 80 to 90% of the estimates from the first and third models were within 40% of the observed values. For the morning hours after sunrise, all were less accurate. Temperature estimates from surface-layer flux-profile relationships compared well with observations within the mixed layer, but were too low for the inversion layer aloft. Wind profiles were derived using surface-layer flux-profile relationships, a windprofile power-law based on Pasquill stability category, and sodar measurements. The sodar measurements were superior to both types of model estimates. Turbulence profiles were derived from sodar measurements and from semiempirical similarity relationships based on mixing depth and Obukhov length. The scatter in the comparisons with the sodar observations is twice that seen in the comparisons with empirical profile relationships. Overall, it appears that uncertainty of as low as 20 to 30% in the characterization of the diffusion meteorology is the exception rather than the rule.On assignment from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U. S. Department of Commerce.Disclaimer: Although the research described in this article has been supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, it has not been subjected to Agency review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency and no official endorsement should be inferred. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.