Thermal Conductivity of Argillaceous Rocks: Determination Methodology Using In Situ Heating Tests

This study focuses on the characterisation of thermal conductivity for three potential host rocks for radioactive waste disposal. First, the heat conduction process is reviewed on the basis of an analytical solution and key aspects related to anisotropic conduction are discussed. Then the existing information on the three rocks is summarised and a broad uncertainty range of thermal conductivity is estimated based on the mineralogical composition. Procedures to backanalyse the thermal conductivity on the basis of in situ heating tests are assessed and a methodology is put forward. Finally, this methodology is used to estimate the impact of experimental uncertainties and applied to the four in situ heating tests. In the three potential host rocks, a clear influence of the bedding planes was identified and anisotropic heat conduction was shown to be necessary to interpret the observed temperature field. Experimental uncertainties were also shown to induce a larger uncertainty on the anisotropy ratio than on the equivalent thermal conductivity defined as the geometric mean of the thermal conductivity in the three principal directions.     

Wetland classification in Newfoundland and Labrador using multi-source SAR and optical data integration

A vast portion of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is covered by wetland areas. Notably, it is the only province in Atlantic Canada that does not have a wetland inventory system. Wetlands are important areas of research because they play a pivotal role in ecological conservation and impact human activities in the province. Therefore, classifying wetland types and monitoring their changes are crucial tasks recommended for the province. In this study, wetlands in five pilot sites, distributed across NL, were classified using the integration of aerial imagery, Synthetic Aperture Radar, and optical satellite data. First, each study area was segmented using the object-based method, and then various spectral and polarimetric features were evaluated to select the best features for identifying wetland classes using the Random Forest algorithm. The accuracies of the classifications were assessed by the parameters obtained from confusion matrices, and the overall accuracies varied between 81% and 91%. Moreover, the average producer and user accuracies for wetland classes, considering all pilot sites, were 71% and 72%, respectively. Since the proposed methodology demonstrated high accuracies for wetland classification in different study areas with various ecological characteristics, the application of future classifications in other areas of interest is promising.     

Combination of GRACE monthly gravity field solutions from different processing strategies

We combine the publicly available GRACE monthly gravity field time series to produce gravity fields with reduced systematic errors. We first compare the monthly gravity fields in the spatial domain in terms of signal and noise. Then, we combine the individual gravity fields with comparable signal content, but diverse noise characteristics. We test five different weighting schemes: equal weights, non-iterative coefficient-wise, order-wise, or field-wise weights, and iterative field-wise weights applying variance component estimation (VCE). The combined solutions are evaluated in terms of signal and noise in the spectral and spatial domains. Compared to the individual contributions, they in general show lower noise. In case the noise characteristics of the individual solutions differ significantly, the weighted means are less noisy, compared to the arithmetic mean: The non-seasonal variability over the oceans is reduced by up to 7.7% and the root mean square (RMS) of the residuals of mass change estimates within Antarctic drainage basins is reduced by 18.1% on average. The field-wise weighting schemes in general show better performance, compared to the order- or coefficient-wise weighting schemes. The combination of the full set of considered time series results in lower noise levels, compared to the combination of a subset consisting of the official GRACE Science Data System gravity fields only: The RMS of coefficient-wise anomalies is smaller by up to 22.4% and the non-seasonal variability over the oceans by 25.4%. This study was performed in the frame of the European Gravity Service for Improved Emergency Management (EGSIEM; http://www.egsiem.eu) project. The gravity fields provided by the EGSIEM scientific combination service (ftp://ftp.aiub.unibe.ch/EGSIEM/) are combined, based on the weights derived by VCE as described in this article.     

Climate change beliefs, concerns, and attitudes toward adaptation and mitigation among farmers in the Midwestern United States

A February 2012 survey of almost 5,000 farmers across a region of the U.S. that produces more than half of the nation’s corn and soybean revealed that 66 % of farmers believed climate change is occurring (8 % mostly anthropogenic, 33 % equally human and natural, 25 % mostly natural), while 31 % were uncertain and 3.5 % did not believe that climate change is occurring. Results of initial analyses indicate that farmers’ beliefs about climate change and its causes vary considerably, and the relationships between those beliefs, concern about the potential impacts of climate change, and attitudes toward adaptive and mitigative action differ in systematic ways. Farmers who believed that climate change is occurring and attributable to human activity were significantly more likely to express concern about impacts and support adaptive and mitigative action. On the other hand, farmers who attributed climate change to natural causes, were uncertain about whether it is occurring, or did not believe that it is occurring were less concerned, less supportive of adaptation, and much less likely to support government and individual mitigative action. Results suggest that outreach with farmers should account for these covariances in belief, concerns, and attitudes toward adaptation and mitigation.     

Behavior of Niobium, Tantalum and other high field strength elements in adakites and related lavas from The Philippines

Abstract Pliocene–Quaternary adakites and spatially and temporally associated niobium-enriched basalts (the latter thought to be derived by melting of slab melt-metasomatized mantle) from the Philippine island arcs have been selected for analysis of high field strength elements (HFSE). All these samples have nearly constant and chondritic Zr/Hf ratio (36.5) and slightly infrachondritic Nb/Ta ratio (14.7). We interpret adakitic magmas to be derived from the partial melting at approximately 900°C of subducted mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) crust, with rutile and/or ilmenite as residual minerals. Melting calculations show that, under these conditions, slab melts should have suprachondritic Nb/Ta ratios. The obvious discrepancy with our data is attributed to insufficient knowledge of rutile-melt partition coefficients for HFSE. Consequently, abnormal Nb/Ta or Zr/Hf ratios cannot be considered as potential markers of slab melting processes in island arcs.     

Impact of road building on gully erosion risk: a case study from the Northern Ethiopian Highlands

Although obvious in the field, the impact of road building on hydrology and gullying in Ethiopia has rarely been analysed. This study investigates how road building in the Ethiopian Highlands affects the gully erosion risk. The road between Makalle and Adwa in the highlands of Tigray (northern Ethiopia), built in 1993–1994, caused gullying at most of the culverts and other road drains. While damage by runoff to the road itself remains limited, off‐site effects are very important. Since the building of the road, nine new gullies were created immediately downslope of the studied road segment (6·5 km long) and seven other gullies at a distance between 100 and 500 m more downslope. The road induces a concentration of surface runoff, a diversion of concentrated runoff to other catchments, and an increase in catchment size, which are the main causes for gully development after road building. Topographic thresholds for gully formation are determined in terms of slope gradient of the soil surface at the gully head and catchment area. The influence of road building on both the variation of these thresholds and the modification of the drainage pattern is analysed. The slope gradient of the soil surface at the gully heads which were induced by the road varies between 0·06 and 0·42 m m^?1 (average 0·15 m m^?1), whereas gully heads without influence of the road have slope gradients between 0·09 and 0·52 m m^?1 (average 0·25 m m^?1). Road building disturbed the equilibrium in the study area but the lowering of topographic threshold values for gullying is not statistically significant. Increased gully erosion after road building has caused the loss of fertile soil and crop yield, a decrease of land holding size, and the creation of obstacles for tillage operations. Hence roads should be designed in a way that keeps runoff interception, concentration and deviation minimal. Techniques must be used to spread concentrated runoff in space and time and to increase its infiltration instead of directing it straight onto unprotected slopes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in the spectral and chemical properties of a water mass passing through extensive macrophyte beds in a large fluvial lake (Lake Saint-Pierre, Québec, Canada)

Large fluvial lakes, as part of river corridors, are recognized as spatially heterogeneous ecosystems. Due to their shallowness, the littoral zone of these lakes occupies a large proportion of their surface and is extensively covered by macrophytes that are known to affect their physical, chemical and biological environments in various ways. This study documents the small-scale (5 km) bio-optical variations associated with the longitudinal passage of a water mass through macrophyte beds during their maximal growth season. The utilization of a 2D hydrodynamic model allowed us to establish hydrological connectivity between stations within the beds, and thus to identify longitudinal heterogeneity along the macrophyte beds. Significant changes in the inherent properties of the water were observed along the upstream-downstream gradient. Due to their effects on hydrodynamics, macrophytes were responsible for a decrease in particles and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) resulting in an increasing penetration depth of ultraviolet (UV) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Along the transect, chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) decreased more rapidly than DOC resulting in a decrease of the CDOM to DOC ratio. The observed changes in the DOC pool may be explained by the constant input of non-chromophoric DOC from macrophyte leachates and exudation within the bed and/or the photochemical and microbial degradation of CDOM. The implication of such small-scale heterogeneity on Lake Saint-Pierre productivity is discussed.     

Does sediment resuspension by storms affect the fate of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in the benthic food chain? Interactions between changes in POM characteristics, adsorption and absorption by the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis

Environmental parameters and gross sedimentation rates (GSR) were monitored at a fixed site located in the Bay of Banyuls-sur-Mer (NW Mediterranean), between March 1997 and April 1998, together with the main biochemical characteristics of both sedimenting and sedimented particulate organic matter (POM). Three storms which occurred during this time period resulted in natural sediment resuspension. This is indicated by the corresponding increase in GSR and a decrease in the enzymatically hydrolysable amino acids/totally hydrolysable amino acids ratio (EHAA/THAA), within the sedimenting POM. Only the strongest storm resulted in (1) a transitory increase in fine-grained particles, (2) concomitant increases in organic carbon, carbohydrates, lipids and THAA, and (3) a decrease in the EHAA/THAA ratio in surficial sediments. For most of the assayed parameters, the values recorded after the December 1997 storm corresponded to extremes for the whole period under study. This emphasises the role of storms in controlling the characteristics of sedimented and sedimenting POM.Ten sediment types, with contrasting biochemical characteristics, were selected for experiments; these were based on the results of the monitoring survey and were used during adsorption and absorption experiments involving ¹⁴C tetrachlorobiphenyl (TCB). Adsorption rates differed significantly between the sediment types, but did not correlate with any of the assayed biochemical parameters. Absorption efficiency by the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis also differed between the sediment types; it correlated positively with all the assayed biochemical parameters, except lipids. Comparison between the magnitudes of the increase in GSR, together with the decrease in absorption efficiency during resuspension events, suggests that resuspension tends to enhance the transfer of organic pollutants in the benthic food chain.