Realizing User-Relevant Conceptual Model for the Ski Jump Venue of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

As was the case for most other Olympic competitions, providing weather guidance for the ski jump and Nordic combined events involved its own set of unique challenges. The extent of these challenges was brought to light before the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics during a series of outflow wind events in the 2008/2009 winter season. The interactions with the race officials during the difficult race conditions brought on by the outflows provided a new perspective on the service delivery requirements for the upcoming Olympic Games. In particular, the turbulent nature of the winds and its impact on the ski jump practice events that season highlighted the need of race officials for nowcasting advice at very short time scales (from 2 min to 1 h) and forecast products tailored to their decision-making process. These realizations resulted in last minute modifications to the monitoring strategy leading up to the Olympic Games and required forecasters’ conceptual models for flow within the Callaghan Valley to be downscaled further to reflect the evolution of turbulence at the ski jump site. The SNOW-V10 (Science of Nowcasting Olympic Weather for Vancouver 2010) team provided support for these efforts by supplying diagnostic case analyses of important events using numerical weather data and by enhancing the real-time monitoring capabilities at the ski jump venue.     

Influence of Hydraulic Fracturing on Overlying Aquifers in the Presence of Leaky Abandoned Wells

The association between hydrocarbon‐rich reservoirs and organic‐rich source rocks means unconventional oil and gas plays usually occur in mature sedimentary basins—where large‐scale conventional development has already taken place. Abandoned wells in proximity to hydraulic fracturing could be affected by increased fluid pressures and corresponding newly generated fractures that directly connect (frac hit) to an abandoned well or to existing fractures intersecting an abandoned well. If contaminants migrate to a pathway hydraulically connected to an abandoned well, upward leakage may occur. Potential effects of hydraulic fracturing on upward flow through a particular type of leaky abandoned well—abandoned oil and gas wells converted into water wells were investigated using numerical modeling. Several factors that affect flow to leaky wells were considered including proximity of a leaky well to hydraulic fracturing, flowback, production, and leaky well abandonment methods. The numerical model used historical records and available industry data for the Eagle Ford Shale play in south Texas. Numerical simulations indicate that upward contaminant migration could occur through leaky converted wells if certain spatial and hydraulic conditions exist. Upward flow through leaky converted wells increased with proximity to hydraulic fracturing, but decreased when flowback and production occurred. Volumetric flow rates ranged between 0 and 0.086 m³/d for hydraulic‐fracturing scenarios. Potential groundwater impacts should be paired with plausible transport mechanisms, and upward flow through leaky abandoned wells could be unrelated to hydraulic fracturing. The results also underscore the need to evaluate historical activities.     

Spatiotemporal Distribution of Dissolved Heavy Metals in Gyeonggi Bay,Korea

In this study, we investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of heavy metals and nutrients in Gyeonggi Bay, Korea, to determine their present statu     

南海东北部海域次表层水与中层水之流径

1992年春季以及1994年夏季，台湾海峡两岸曾同时出动多艘研究船在南海东北部海域协力执行了两次较大区域的水文调查作业。根据温盐曲线之类聚情形，发现盐温变率比（即温盐曲线斜率之倒数）是除了盐度极大值与盐度极小值外另一个简单又好用的温盐特征参数。此值乍视之下仅与温盐曲线之形状有关，但因其隐涵了时间的效应，故可有效反映出水团之变性程度，对分析、推断水团之流径甚有助益。经分析、对比温盐参数与动力高度之水平分布，发现1992年春季观测时之地转流场与温盐参数二者趋势不甚一致，但1994年夏季之测情却有很好的共通性，似乎表示后者之流况系处于稳定状态，因此观测现象应较具代表性。资料亦显示：不论春、夏，在吕宋岛西北角与东沙群岛之间的广大海域主要是受成群的气旋型环流所控制，此气旋群之范围因季节而异，夏季时其势力较向东、向北扩展，因而在巴士海峡、巴林塘海峡阻挡住黑潮区之外洋次表层与中层水团向西伸展，但外洋水团仍可在台湾岛南端逸入南海东北部，然后被南海内部流系辗转带往南海腹地。春季时，外洋水团虽可占据气旋群环流场东北方之台湾西南外海，但并未见能长驱直入南海内部者，仅有部分经变性后之外洋水被气旋群西侧之环流带往南海中部，表示逸入过程是南海与西菲律     

Sources of CAM3 temperature bias during northern winter from diagnostic study of the temperature bias equation

The Community Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3) temperature simulation bias is examined in this paper. We compare CAM3 output with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 40 year reanalysis (ERA-40) data. We formulate a time mean temperature bias equation then evaluate each term in the equation. Our focus is on the Northern Hemisphere winter time. We group the temperature equation terms into these categories: linear advection terms, nonlinear advection terms, transient eddy terms and diabatic heating, and find that linear advection and diabatic bias are the largest. The nonlinear terms (velocity bias advection of temperature bias) are much smaller than each of the other groups of terms at all levels except near the surface. Linear advection terms have dipolar pattern in the Atlantic (negative NW of positive) which reflects the shift of the CAM3 model North Atlantic storm track (NAST) into Europe, especially in the upper troposphere; opposite sign dipolar structure occurs over Alaska (positive) and the north Pacific storm track (negative). The transient advection terms in middle latitudes are larger in the upper troposphere and generally positive along the Atlantic storm track. Along the north Pacific storm track (NPST), the transient terms are negative in the mid and lower troposphere over much of the NPST (positive in upper troposphere). The diabatic heating bias has large values in the tropics along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ICZ) and along the midlatitude storm tracks. During this time of year the ICZ is mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, but CAM3 emphasizes an ICZ-like heating in the northern hemisphere of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. CAM3 tends to have a weaker ICZ, especially in the Atlantic. In midlatitudes, we find large bias in heating by precipitation and vertically averaged net radiation over the NAST, Europe, and the Middle East.     

On the contribution of groundwater to streamflow in laterite catchments of the Darling Range,south-western Australia

In deeply weathered laterite catchments of the Darling Range in south-western Australia, the direct contribution (i.e., discharge) of permanent groundwater to streamflow has long been considered as minor. Instead, downslope shallow throughflow was thought to dominate, generating more than 90% of streamflow. We used a chemical hydrograph separation approach to estimate annual groundwater discharge for three catchments over periods of up to 39 years, and found that direct groundwater contributions to streamflow were far more variable across catchments and through time than has previously been acknowledged. The estimated proportion of annual streamflow sourced directly from groundwater ranged from 0 to 93% and was related linearly to the size of the groundwater discharge area in the catchment valley floor. In contrast, contributions from shallow sources including shallow throughflow varied primarily and linearly with annual rainfall. However, the response to rainfall was “amplified” in a predictable way by the size of the groundwater discharge area, consistent with the variable source area concept. We derived a functional relationship between catchment annual rainfall-runoff ratio and groundwater discharge area and successfully applied this to a further four catchments, inferring that the results were broadly applicable across the Darling Range. The implications for an improved understanding of streamflow generating processes in the study region, and for laterite catchments generally, are discussed.     

The upper ocean response to a moving typhoon

The upper ocean response to the translation speed of typhoons is studied using a three-dimensional primitive equation model. Similar models studied previously have applied stability criteria rather than the diffusion term to simulate the vertical mixing process. This study retains the diffusion term and uses the level-2 turbulence closure scheme to estimate the vertical eddy viscosity. The model results indicate that in the forced period, the mixed-layer temperature decrease is greater for a slow-moving storm due to stronger upwelling caused by the longer residence time. A fast-moving storm can attain a similar cooling intensity in the wake period if its residence time allows the wind to resonate with the current. The significant downward momentum diffusion and advection in the first few inertial periods of these events leads to strong, persistent inertial pumping throughout the upper ocean in the wake period. The mixed layer is further cooled by turbulent mixing supported by vertical current shears. Meanwhile, the upper thermocline exhibits a compensating temperature increase. The vertical transfer magnitude and penetration scale are smaller in the slow-moving case, when the inertial motion decays rapidly. The model results also indicate that the dominant cooling process can be inferred from the non-dimensional storm speed. However, this value may be misleading for rapidly moving storms in which the current response is so distant from the storm that little wind work is performed on the ocean.     

MTD distribution on a ‘passive’ continental margin: The Espírito Santo Basin (SE Brazil) during the Palaeogene

Mass-wasting on the Brazilian margin during the Mid-Eocene/Oligocene resulted in the accumulation of recurrent Mass Transport Deposits (MTDs) offshore Espírito Santo, SE Brazil. In this paper, we use three-dimensional seismic data to characterize a succession with stacked MTDs (Abrolhos Formation), and to assess the distribution of undeformed stratigraphic packages (i.e. turbidites) with reservoir potential separating the interpreted MTDs. High-amplitude strata in less deformed areas of MTDs reflect their internal heterogeneity, as well as possible regions with a higher sand content. Separating MTDs, turbiditic intervals reach 100 ms Two-Way Travel Time (TWTT), with thicker areas coincident with the flanks of growing diapirs and areas of the basin where mass-wasting is less apparent. Turbiditic strata laterally grade into, or are eroded by MTDs, with transitional strata between MTDs and turbidites being also influenced by the presence of diapirs. MTDs show average thickness values ranging from 58 to 82 ms TWTT and constitute over 50% of Eocene-Oligocene strata along the basin slope. Low average accumulations of 58 ms TWTT in areas of high confinement imposed by diapirs suggest sediment accumulation upslope, and/or bypass into downslope areas. This character was induced by the high sediment input into the basin associated with coastal erosion and growth of the Abrolhos volcanic plateau. Our results suggest that significant amounts of sediment derive from the northwest, and were accumulated in the middle-slope region. Interpretations of (palaeo)-slope profiles led to the establishment of a model of margin progradation by deposition of MTDs, contrasting with the retrogressive erosional margins commonly associated with these settings.     

Hydroclimatic river discharge and seasonal trends assessment model using an advanced spatio-temporal model

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment - Climatic changes have a significant impact on the hydrologic behavior of a river especially its discharge. Sustainable management of water...