Experimental investigation on the dynamic response of a moored wave energy device under regular sea waves

This paper attempts to provide a better understanding of the hydrodynamic behaviour of a floating multi-resonant oscillating column wave energy device which combines the concept of a floating breakwater and a wave energy device. Experiments were conducted on a 1:20 scale model of the floating wave energy device moored by six mooring lines to study the dynamics of the device under regular waves for various scopes. The effect of non-dimensionalized wave frequency parameter on the motion response and mooring force are reported and discussed in detail in this paper.     

Road Extraction Using Topological Derivative and Mathematical Morphology

Road extraction from remotely sensed images has always been a challenging problem. In this paper we present an approach for road extraction based on topological derivative and mathematical morphology. The road extraction scheme has three main steps: image segmentation using topological derivative, road cluster identification and road cluster filtering using mathematical morphology.     

The Bunburra Rockhole meteorite fall in SW Australia: fireball trajectory,luminosity, dynamics,orbit, and impact position from photographic and photoelectric records

Abstract– We report an analysis of the first instrumentally observed meteorite fall in Australia, which was recorded photographically and photoelectrically by two eastern stations of the Desert Fireball Network (DFN) on July 20, 2007. The meteoroid with an initial mass of 22 kg entered the atmosphere with a low speed of 13.36 km s^?1 and began a luminous trajectory at an altitude of 62.83 km. In maximum, it reached ?9.6 absolute magnitude and terminated after a 5.7 s and 64.7 km long flight at an altitude of 29.59 km with a speed of 5.8 km s^?1. The angle of the atmospheric trajectory to the Earth’s surface was 30.9°. The first organized search took place in October 2008 and the first meteorite (150 g) was found 97 m southward from the predicted central line at the end of the first day of searching (October 3, 2008). The second stone (174 g) was recovered 39 m northward from the central line, both exactly in the predicted mass limits. During the second expedition in February 2009, a third fragment of 14.9 g was found again very close (～100 m) from the predicted position. Total recovered mass is 339 g. The meteorite was designated Bunburra Rockhole (BR) after a nearby landscape structure. This first DFN sample is an igneous achondrite. Initial petrography indicated that BR was a brecciated eucrite but detailed analyses proved that BR is not a typical eucrite, but an anomalous basaltic meteorite ( Bland et al. 2009 ). BR was delivered from an unusual, Aten type orbit (a < 1 AU) where virtually the entire orbit was contained within Earth’s orbit. BR is the first achondrite fall with a known orbit and it is one of the most precise orbits ever calculated for a meteorite dropping fireball.     

Habitat suitability curves for benthic macroinvertebrates from a small New Zealand river

We developed habitat suitability curves (HSC) using generalised additive models (GAMs) for nine benthic macroinvertebrate taxa from a small New Zealand river for hydraulic-habitat modelling assessments of instream flow requirements. We included interaction terms between the primary variables (water depth, velocity, substrate) when significant, to address a longstanding criticism of univariate HSC. To date, only large-river univariate HSC have been available and these have been used in hydraulic-habitat applications on small rivers, despite doubt over the transferability of HSC between rivers of different size and type. We tested the outcome on the predicted abundance–flow relationship of applying the small-river habitat suitability GAMs versus large-river GAMs for two taxa on the same small river. We found the effects of flow allocation were overestimated by the large-river GAMs relative to the small-river GAMs. Further research to develop general HSC for categories of river size and type is needed to better inform hydraulic-habitat modelling applications.     

Climate and human induced hydrological change since AD 800 in an ombrotrophic mire in Pomerania (N Poland) tracked by testate amoebae, macro-fossils, pollen and tree rings of pine

This high-resolution, multiproxy, palaeoenvironmental study of the Słowińskie Błota raised bog in N Poland, 10 km from the Baltic Sea, covering the last 1200 years reveals different aspects of environmental change in a range of spatial scales from local to regional. Testate amoebae allowed quantitative reconstruction of the local water table using a transfer function based on a training set from N and W Poland. Special attention is paid to the testate amoeba Arcella discoides , which responds to rapid water-table fluctuations more than to average surface wetness. Macrofossils supported by local pollen tracked the local vegetation dynamics caused by local human impact and disturbance, including nutrients. Regional pollen showed human-induced landscape change outside the bog. Tree rings of Pinus sylvestris reflected the history of tree establishment and desiccation of the bog. Strong correlations between DCA axes 1 of regional pollen, of macrofossils and of testate amoebae, and a testate-amoebae-based water-table reconstruction that excludes A. discoides , indicate that changes on all spatial scales are linked, which is explained by a strong hydrologic connection between bog and surroundings. The combination of proxies shows that groundwater levels were modified by both human impact and climate change.     

Square Kilometre Array: The radio telescope of the XXI century

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. It will address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, how dark energy is accelerating the expansion of theUniverse, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth. This project envisages the construction of 133 15-m antennas in South Africa and 131072 log-periodic antennas in Australia, together with the associated infrastructure in the two desert sites. In addition, the SKA is an exemplar Big Data project, with data rates of over 10 Tbps being transported from the telescope to HPC/HTC facilities.     

Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing data

ABSTRACT

East Rennell of Solomon Island is the first natural site under customary law to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Potential threats due to logging, mining and agriculture led to the site being declared a World Heritage in Danger in 2013. For East Rennell World Heritage Site (ERWHS) to ‘shed’ its ‘Danger’ status the management must monitor forest cover both within and outside of ERWHS. We used satellite data from multiple sources to track forest cover changes for the entire East Rennell island since 1998. 95% of the island is still covered by undisturbed forests; annual average normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for the whole island was above 0.91 in 2015. However, vegetation cover in the island has been slowly decreasing, at a rate of –0.0011 NDVI per year between 2000 and 2015. This decrease less pronounced inside ERWHS compared to areas outside. While potential threats due to forest clearing outside ERWHS remain the forest cover change from 2000 to 2015 has been below 15%. We suggest ways in which the Government of Solomon Islands could use our data as well as unmanned air vehicles and field surveys to monitor forest cover change and ensure the future conservation of ERWHS.     

Assessment of groundwater chemistry in a coastal region (Kunsan, Korea) having complex contaminant sources: a stoichiometric approach

Groundwater chemistry in a coastal region (Kunsan, Korea) having complex contaminant sources was investigated. Water analysis data for 197 groundwater samples collected from the uniformly distributed sixty-six wells were used. Chemical analysis results indicate that groundwaters show wide concentration ranges in major inorganic ions, reflecting complex hydrochemical processes. Due to the complexity of groundwater chemistry, the samples were classified into four groups based on Cl and NO₃ concentrations and the processes controlling water chemistry were evaluated based on the reaction stoichiometry. The results explained the importance of mineral weathering, anthropogenic activities (nitrification and oxidation of organic matters), and Cl-salt inputs (seawater, deicer, NaCl, etc.) on groundwater chemistry. It was revealed that mineral dissolution is the major process controlling the water chemistry of the low Cl and NO₃ group (Group 1). Groundwaters high in NO₃ (Groups 2 and 4) are acidic in nature, and their chemistry is largely influenced by nitrification, oxidation of organic matters and mineral dissolution. In the case of chloride rich waters (Group 3), groundwater chemistry is highly influenced by mineral weathering and seawater intrusion associated with cation-exchange reactions.     

Application of space borne cartographic camera for thematic mapping

A remote sensing experiment ‘TERRA’ was conducted during the first Indo-Soviet joint manned space flight. Under this experiment aerial photographs of the Indian terrain were taken using fixed cameras like MKF-6 and KATE-140 and hand held cameras like Hasselblad 500 EL/M and Practika B-200. In order to find out the positional accuracy of features identifiable on TERRA photographs, an experiment was carried out photogrammetrically using a stereopair of KATE-140 photographs. Analog as well as analytical stereo-plotter were used. A simple technique of comparing the known ground coordinates of various well defined ground features identifiable both on map as well as on stereo model, with the coordinate calculated from the stereopair observation was adopted. Due to the non availability of the actual coordinates of ground details/features and limitations of identifications of such ground details, used for observation in the present study, the results obtained have indicated that the residual errors are random in nature and not systematic. The results showed that such space borne aerial photographs like KATE-140, can be used for obtaining desired cartographic accuracy for the preparation of topographical as well as other thematic maps on scale 1:250,000 and smaller.     

Impact of flash flood recharge on groundwater quality and its suitability in the Wadi Baysh Basin,Western Saudi Arabia: an integrated approach

An integrated approach was used to evaluate the impact of flash flood recharge on groundwater quality and its suitability for drinking, irrigation, livestock and poultry uses in the Wadi Baysh Basin, Western Saudi Arabia. Analyses of 182 groundwater samples, collected from the study area before and after a flash flood (FF) event, show that the average concentrations of TDS, Mg, Na, Cl, NO₃ and EC decreased significantly after the event. The major water types (mixed CaMgCl, NaCl and CaCl) indicate that the infiltration of surface water from FF recharge has a great influence on groundwater chemistry. Drinking water suitability maps, created using WHO standards, indicate that wells located in the upstream region are suitable for drinking despite their high TDS and total hardness (TH) values. Groundwater in the coastal region is unsuitable due to its high salinity, high TH and high concentrations of major ions. The suitability of groundwater for irrigational use was assessed using salinity, sodium adsorption ratio, bicarbonate hazard, residual sodium carbonate, Kelly’s ratio, magnesium hazard, sodium percentage and permeability index values, which indicated that groundwater in the study region is suitable for most soils and crops. After FF, groundwater quality is improved by dilution, especially in the downstream region. USSL classification shows that the majority of the water samples are in the C3S1, C4S2, and C3S2 classes and are therefore suitable for the irrigation of salt-tolerant crops. Irrigational suitability maps suggest that wells in the upstream region are suitable for irrigation, whereas wells located near to the coast are unfit for irrigation. This study implies that construction of check dams in the dry valleys (wadies) may improve the groundwater quality in the area.