Postglacial midge community change and Holocene palaeotemperaturereconstructions near treeline, southern British Columbia (Canada)

Stratigraphic analysis of fossil chironomid head capsules wasperformed at North Crater Lake and Lake of the Woods, located at treeline (2250m) in the Ashnola region of southernmost British Columbia. Priorto 10,000 yr BP, cold conditions were indicated by the lack oftemperate taxa and the presence of cold-stenotherms. The abundance anddiversity of warm-adapted taxa (e.g., Dicrotendipes,Microtendipes, Polypedilum and Cladopelma)increased rapidly after 9500 yr BP, whereas taxa indicative ofcold conditions disappeared. Beginning prior to deposition of the Mazama ash(6730 ± 40 yr BP), several warm-adapted taxa decreasedin abundance. Mid- to late-Holocene assemblages (ca. 4500yr BP to present) indicated continued cooling as revealed by afurther reduction in diversity and abundance of warm-adapted taxa atboth lakes, and the reappearance of cold-stenotherms in Lake of theWoods. Diversity changes in the cores paralleled the inferred climatic changes.Diversity was low during the late-glacial, increased in theearly-Holocene, and declined after 5400 yr BP.To quantitatively infer past climatic changes, a newweighted yphen;averaging partial-least-squares (WA-PLS)model was developed and applied to the fossil midge data. The quantitativereconstructions revealed late-glacial mean July air temperatures rangingfrom about 8 to 10°C. Summer air temperatures were highest inthe early Holocene (13 to 17°C), gradually decreasing by about3°C through the mid- to late-Holocene.     

Comparison of large-area land cover products with national forest inventories and CORINE land cover in the European Alps

Considerable efforts have recently resulted in the development of global land cover data at large spatial scales. The main objective of this study is a comparison of different AVHRR- and MODIS-based forest and land cover products at the scale of the European Alps: a large natural ecosystem that is exposed to both natural environmental threats and human impacts and exploitation. In a first test, the accuracy of land cover products in predicting the overall amount of forest across national boundaries was assessed using national forest inventory statistics. Both variants of forest class combinations resulted in a general overestimation of the forest area. The IGBP 2.0 cover performed best with an overall mean absolute error of 13% and a bias of 0%. In a second test, large-area land cover products were tested for accuracy in predicting 13 aggregated land cover types in a spatially explicit manner using CORINE land cover as reference dataset. Due to data inconsistencies, partly insufficient spatial resolution, steep terrain and land use heterogeneity of the European Alps, only partly satisfactory results were obtained.     

Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Models in the Grey Zone of Turbulence: Adaptations to FLEXPART-COSMO for Simulations at 1 km Grid Resolution

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - Lagrangian particle dispersion models (LPDMs) are frequently used for regional-scale inversions of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the turbulence parameterizations...     

Image Processing Techniques and Feature Recognition in Solar Physics

This review presents a comprehensive and systematic overview of image-processing techniques that are used in automated feature-detection algorithms applied to solar data: i) image pre-processing procedures, ii) automated detection of spatial features, iii) automated detection and tracking of temporal features (events), and iv) post-processing tasks, such as visualization of solar imagery, cataloguing, statistics, theoretical modeling, prediction, and forecasting. For each aspect the most recent developments and science results are highlighted. We conclude with an outlook on future trends.     

Impact melt dikes in the Sudbury multi-ring basin (Canada): Implications from uranium-lead geochronology on the Foy Offset Dike

Abstract To investigate the origin of Offset Dikes and their age relationships to major impact generated lithologies in the Sudbury multi-ring impact structure, such as the Main Mass of the Sudbury “Igneous” Complex, zircon and baddeleyite were dated by the U-Pb chronometer. The rocks analysed are one diorite and two quartz diorites from inside the Foy Offset, one quartz diorite from the contact zone, and two country rock samples collected at 10 and 30 m distances from the contact within the Levack Gneiss Complex. The 21 analysed zircon and baddeleyite fractions yield a crystallization age of 1852 +4/-3 (2σ) Ma for the accessory minerals in the Foy Offset Dike and an age of 2635 ± 5 Ma for the shocked Levack country rock, in which zircons show significant shock effects (multiple sets of planar fractures), in contrast to the totally unshocked zircons of the Offset Dike. Within given errors, the new age of 1852 Ma is identical to the pooled 1850 ± 1 Ma U-Pb age determined by Krogh et al. (1984) as the crystallization age of accessory phases in different lithologies of the Sudbury “Igneous” Complex, which has been interpreted to represent the coherent impact melt sheet of the Sudbury Structure. This excellent agreement of the ages substantiates that emplacement of the Offset Dikes occurred coevally with the formation of the impact melt sheet. Total absence of inherited zircons in the central part of the Foy Offset indicates melting of the precursor material at temperatures well above 1700 °C, which emphasizes the origin of the dike lithologies by impact melting.     

Measuring snow accumulation and ablation dynamics during rain-on-snow events: innovative measurement techniques

Rain-on-snow (ROS) is the primary generator of peak flow events in mountainous coastal regions of North America. Uncertainty remains as to the role of forest canopy interception leading up to and during ROS events. Much of this uncertainty can be attributed to a lack of suitable techniques to collect data during ROS, due in part to the dynamic nature of climatic conditions, particularly related to snow accumulation and melt. We supplemented a meteorological network with non-weighing snow melt lysimeters, suspended spring scales to measure snow throughfall and an automated time lapse photography network to monitor state of precipitation (rain vs. snow), snow accumulation/ablation, canopy interception and unloading of snow from the canopy. Image analysis software allowed for the extraction of data from images. Rapid loading and unloading of snow from the canopy, closely linked to changes in temperature, was observed using this approach. We were also able to continuously monitor throughfall snow water equivalent using low cost suspended spring scales. This experimental design allowed us to capture information previously unavailable without direct observation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THE EFFECTS OF INACCURATE INPUT PARAMETERS ON DEPOSITION OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT

I.~OntjcnONEngineeringPredictionsofsedimenttransPOrtinopen-Channelsystems,especiallyifunsteadyflowconditionmustbeconsidered,isfraughtwithambigUityduetospatialandtemporalvariability,measurementerrors,lumtedsamplingoftheParameters,bounceandscallconditionS,andsink/sourcetenns.Duringrecentyearsmanysophisticatedmathematicalmodelshavebecomeavailabletocalculateunsteadyflowinone,tWoorthreedimensionS.ThesemodelswillbecoupledwithtranSportequationSforbedloadorsuSpendedloadtocalculateforexamplelongt…     

The SWAN model used to study wave evolution in a flume

The SWAN numerical model is used to model the evolution of JONSWAP wave spectra and hence the significant wave height of waves in a tank. Comparison with experiment has shown that modelling triad interactions in the numerical model leads to too low predictions of spectra and significant wave height and should therefore be excluded. The modelling of the breaking constant was also investigated, by looking at the use of a constant breaking constant, Nelson formula, and Goda formula (added into SWAN for this study). Using a constant value of 0.78 within SWAN gave the best comparison between theory and experiment.     

A Mediterranean earthquake project

Cumulative frequency and cumulative energy may vary from one sample of earthquakes to another either in the same or in the opposite sense. Conditions for the variations are deduced theoretically and illustrated by numerical examples.