The Rapid Retreat of Jakobshavns Isbræ, West Greenland: Field Observations of 2005 and Structural Analysis of its Evolution

Jakobshavns Isbræ in West Greenland (terminus at ≈69° 10′ N/50° W), a major outlet glacier of the Greenland Ice Sheet and a continuously fast-moving ice stream, has long been the fastest moving and one of the most productive glaciers on Earth. It had been moving continuously at speeds of over 20 m/day with a stable front position throughout most of the latter half of the twentieth century, except for relatively small seasonal changes. In 2002, the ice stream apparently suddenly entered a phase of rapid retreat. The ice front started to break up, the floating tongue disintegrated, and the production of icebergs increased. In July 2005, we conducted an extensive aerial survey of Jakobshavns Isbræ to measure and document the present state of retreat compared to our previous field observations since 1996. We use an approach that combines structural analysis of deformation features with continuum mechanics to assess the kinematics and dynamics of glaciers, based on aerial imagery, satellite data and GPS measurements. Results from interpretation of ERS-SAR and ASTER data from 1995 to 2005 in combination with aerial imagery from 1996 to 2005 shed light on the question of changes versus stability and their causes in the Jakobshavns Isbræ dynamical system. The recently observed retreat of Jakobshavns Isbræ is attributed to climatic warming, rather than to an inherent change in the glaciodynamic system. Close to the retreating front, deformation structures are characteristic of extension and disintegration. Deformation provinces that do not border the retreating front have had the same deformation characteristics throughout the past decade (1996–2005).     

Groundwater Availability as Constrained by Hydrogeology and Environmental Flows

Groundwater pumping from aquifers in hydraulic connection with nearby streams has the potential to cause adverse impacts by decreasing flows to levels below those necessary to maintain aquatic ecosystems. The recent passage of the Great Lakes‐St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact has brought attention to this issue in the Great Lakes region. In particular, the legislation requires the Great Lakes states to enact measures for limiting water withdrawals that can cause adverse ecosystem impacts. This study explores how both hydrogeologic and environmental flow limitations may constrain groundwater availability in the Great Lakes Basin. A methodology for calculating maximum allowable pumping rates is presented. Groundwater availability across the basin may be constrained by a combination of hydrogeologic yield and environmental flow limitations varying over both local and regional scales. The results are sensitive to factors such as pumping time, regional and local hydrogeology, streambed conductance, and streamflow depletion limits. Understanding how these restrictions constrain groundwater usage and which hydrogeologic characteristics and spatial variables have the most influence on potential streamflow depletions has important water resources policy and management implications.     

Estimation of streambed groundwater fluxes associated with coaster brook trout spawning habitat

We hypothesized that the spatial distribution of groundwater inflows through river bottom sediments is a critical factor associated with the distribution of coaster brook trout (a life history variant of Salvelinus fontinalis) spawning redds. An 80-m reach of the Salmon Trout River, in the Huron Mountains of the upper peninsula of Michigan, was selected to test the hypothesis based on long-term documentation of coaster brook trout spawning at this site. A monitoring well system consisting of 22 wells was installed in the riverbed to measure surface and subsurface temperatures over a 13-month period. The array of monitoring wells was positioned to span areas where spawning has and has not been observed. Over 200,000 total temperature measurements were collected from five depths within each monitoring well. Temperatures in the substrate beneath the spawning area were generally less variable than river temperatures, whereas temperatures under the nonspawning area were generally more variable and closely tracked temporal variations in river temperatures. Temperature data were inverted to obtain subsurface groundwater velocities using a numerical approximation of the heat transfer equation. Approximately 45,000 estimates of groundwater velocities were obtained. Estimated groundwater velocities in the spawning area were primarily in the upward direction and were generally greater in magnitude than velocities in the nonspawning area. Both the temperature and velocity results confirm the hypothesis that spawning sites correspond to areas of significant groundwater flux into the river bed.     

青藏铁路多年冻土区工程复杂性分析

青藏铁路穿越550km多年冻土区,多年冻土地温、冻土类型以及沿线生态环境等存在较大的差异,使多年冻土区工程较为复杂。因此本文提出了冻土工程复杂性概念,建立冻土工程复杂性评价模型,并利用GIS平台对青藏铁路沿线唐古拉山越岭地段工程复杂性进行了分析和研究。研究结果表明,青藏铁路穿越的唐古拉山越岭地段工程复杂性相对较小,而青藏公路的工程复杂性相对较大。这表明了青藏公路沿线冻土工程比青藏铁路沿线更为复杂,在各种因素的影响下,青藏公路路基稳定性变化比青藏铁路更加复杂。     

BUBBLE – an Urban Boundary Layer Meteorology Project

Summary The Basel UrBan Boundary Layer Experiment (BUBBLE) was a year-long experimental effort to investigate in detail the boundary layer structure in the City of Basel, Switzerland. At several sites over different surface types (urban, sub-urban and rural reference) towers up to at least twice the main obstacle height provided turbulence observations at many levels. In addition, a Wind Profiler and a Lidar near the city center were profiling the entire lower troposphere. During an intensive observation period (IOP) of one month duration, several sub-studies on street canyon energetics and satellite ground truth, as well as on urban turbulence and profiling (sodar, RASS, tethered balloon) were performed. Also tracer experiments with near-roof-level release and sampling were performed. In parallel to the experimental activities within BUBBLE, a meso-scale numerical atmospheric model, which contains a surface exchange parameterization, especially designed for urban areas was evaluated and further developed. Finally, the area of the full-scale tracer experiment which also contains several sites of other special projects during the IOP (street canyon energetics, satellite ground truth) is modeled using a very detailed physical scale-model in a wind tunnel. In the present paper details of all these activities are presented together with first results.     

近十年来台风暴雨研究的若干进展与讨论

对近10年来国内外台风暴雨研究的进展简要归纳如下:高低空急流、西风槽等对远距离台风暴雨有重要影响;涡旋Rossby波说和重力惯性波说仍然是螺旋雨带形成理论的两种不同观点;地形、海岸线等不同的下垫面特征对台风暴雨有不同的作用;暴雨的异常分布;台风系统可以触发中纬度地区降水,也可以中断梅雨.同时对台风暴雨中尺度系统的源和汇、螺旋雨带的形成理论、台风暴雨异常分布的机理和暴雨的定量预报等问题进行了讨论.     

Land use change effects on catchment streamflow response in a humid tropical montane cloud forest region,central Veracruz,Mexico

Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) are recognized for their capacity to maintain high dry-season baseflow and a host of other ecosystem services. Substantial areas of TMCF have been converted to pasture and crops such as coffee, while in other areas TCMF are recovering. However, little is known about the effects of this complex dynamic on catchment hydrology. We investigated the effect of land use on rainfall-runoff response in five neighbouring headwater micro-catchments in central Veracruz, Mexico, dominated by either mature TMCF (MF), young (20 year-old) and intermediate (40 year-old) naturally regenerating TMCF (YF and IF, respectively), shaded coffee (SC), and an intensively grazed pasture (IP). We used a 4-year record of high-resolution rainfall and streamflow (10 min) data collected from 2015 to 2019. These data were analysed via comparison of hydrologic metrics that summarize streamflow responses at various time scales and magnitudes. Results showed no statistical difference in the regulation capacity of high flows in the micro-catchment with 20 years of natural regeneration, compared to the MF. In terms of baseflow sustenance, our results support the hypothesis that MF and IF better promote this hydrologic service than the other land uses. SC exhibited a high capacity to modulate peak flows comparable to that of MF, and an intermediate capacity to sustain baseflow, suggesting that the integrated functioning of this micro-catchment was largely preserved. Finally, 40 years of intense pasture management was found to have degraded the soil hydraulic properties of IP; mainly, reducing its infiltration capacity, causing a fivefold greater peak flow response and a lower baseflow compared to MF.     

Atmospheric profiling with the UAS SUMO: a new perspective for the evaluation of fine-scale atmospheric models

For the first time, unmanned aerial system measurements collected by the small unmanned meteorological observer (SUMO) are used to evaluate atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) parameterization schemes embedded in the Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting model (AR-WRF). Observation sites were located in the vicinity of the almost idealized shaped mountain Hofsj?kull, Central Iceland. SUMO profiles provided temperature, relative humidity and wind data to maximum heights of 3?km above ground. Two cases are investigated, one with calm wind conditions and development of a convective ABL and one with moderate winds and gravity waves over Hofsj?kull. For the high-resolution simulation with AR-WRF, three two-way nested domains are chosen with a grid size of 9, 3 and 1?km. During its first meteorological test, SUMO has proved its great value for the investigation of the diurnal evolution of the ABL and the identification of mesoscale features residing above the ABL, such as subsidence.     

Geoarchaeology of the Mockingbird Gap (Clovis) site,Jornada del Muerto,New Mexico

The Mockingbird Gap site is one of the largest Clovis sites in the western United States, yet it remains poorly known after it was tested in 1966–1968. Surface collecting and mapping of the site revealed a dense accumulation of Clovis lithic debris stretching along Chupadera Draw, which drains into the Jornada del Muerto basin. We conducted archaeological testing and geoarchaeological coring to assess the stratigraphic integrity of the site and gain clues to the paleoenvironmental conditions during the Clovis occupation. The 1966–1968 excavations were in stratified Holocene eolian sand and thus that assemblage was from a disturbed content. An intact Clovis occupation was found elsewhere in the site, embedded in the upper few centimeters of a well‐developed buried Bt horizon formed in eolian sand, representing the regional Clovis landscape. Coring in Chupadera Draw revealed ∼11 m of fill spanning the past ∼11,000 ¹⁴C years. The stratified deposits provide evidence of flowing and standing water on the floor of the draw during Clovis times, a likely inducement to settlement. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Native antimony emplaced by methane‐rich hydrothermal fluid in an orogenic fault‐zone

Antimony‐rich gold deposits represent a subclass of orogenic hydrothermal systems. The study of the Lapa gold deposit in the Abitibi greenstone belt shows that antimony occurs during two different stages: (1) as early prograde Sb–Ni disseminated sulphides in talc schists, associated with CO₂‐bearing fluids, and (2) as a late native antimony association, associated with methane‐bearing fluids indicating a reducing environment. Methane could be related to the serpentinization of the ultramafic rocks of the Piché Group hosting the Lapa deposit. Several deposits display the same methane antimony association along fault zones.