Elevated stratified layers observed with sodar during VTMX

Summary A combination of low frequency sodar, radar wind profiler and in-situ balloon-borne measurements of temperature and water vapor have been used to investigate the structure of elevated stratified layers within the transition layer above the nocturnal boundary layer during the Vertical Transport and Mixing Field Campaign in Salt Lake City Utah, during October, 2000. Elevated layers determined from sodar and radar vertical time sections were penetrated with a balloon-born instrument package to determine the fine scale temperature and moisture structure of the layers. As expected a potential temperature increase was found in the upper half of the layers; however the magnitude was considerably smaller than found above the daytime well-mixed layer and the vertical distance of the increase was quite variable. Mixing ratio, in the mean was found to have a relative maximum in the lower portion of the layers. It was found that the potential temperature within the layers decreased with time relative to background values, regardless of whether the layer descended or ascended.     

Radiative Exchange in an Urban Street Canyon

The influence of building geometry on the radiation terms ofthe surface energy balance is a principal reason for surfacetemperature differences between rural and urban areas.Methods exist to calculate the radiation balance in an urban area,but their validity across the range of urban geometries andmaterials has not been carefully considered.Here the exchange of diffuse radiation in an urban street canyon isinvestigated using a method incorporating all reflections of radiation.This exact solution is compared to two commonly used approximationsthat retain either no reflections, or just one reflection of radiation.The area-averaged net radiative flux density from the facets of the canyondecreases in magnitude monotonically as the canyon aspect ratio increases.The two approximate solutions possess unphysical differences from thismonotonic decrease for high canyon aspect ratios or low materialemissivities/high material albedos.The errors of the two approximate solutions are small for near blackbodymaterials and small canyon aspect ratios but can be an order ofmagnitude for intermediate material properties and deep street canyons.Urban street canyon models need to consider at least one reflectionof radiation and multiple reflections are desirable for full applicability.     

Turbulent Pressure Statistics in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer from Large-Eddy Simulation

We use large-eddy simulation (LES) to study the turbulent pressure field in atmospheric boundary layers with free convection, forced convection, and stable stratification. We use the Poisson equation for pressure to represent the pressure field as the sum of mean-shear, turbulence–turbulence, subfilter-scale, Coriolis, and buoyancy contributions. We isolate these contributions and study them separately. We find that in the energy-containing range in the free-convection case the turbulence–turbulence pressure dominates over the entire boundary layer. That part dominates also up to midlayer in the forced-convection case; above that the mean-shear pressure dominates. In the stable case the mean-shear pressure dominates over the entire boundary layer.We find evidence of an inertial subrange in the pressure spectrum in the free and forced-convection cases; it is dominated by the turbulence–turbulence pressure and has a three-dimensional spectral constant of about 4.0. This agrees well with quasi-Gaussian predictions but is a factor of 2 less than recent results from direct numerical simulations at moderate Reynolds numbers. Measurements of the inertial subrange pressure spectral constant at high Reynolds numbers, which might now be possible, would be most useful.     

The Effects of Climate Change on Water Resources in the West: Introduction and Overview

The results of an experimental `end to end' assessment of the effects of climate change on water resources in the western United States are described. The assessment focuses on the potential effects of climate change over the first half of the 21st century on the Columbia, Sacramento/San Joaquin, and Colorado river basins. The paper describes the methodology used for the assessment, and it summarizes the principal findings of the study. The strengths and weaknesses of this study are discussed, and suggestions are made for improving future climate change assessments.     

The making of Stars 'R' Us!

The team behind a successful project to broaden the understanding of astrochemistry – Serena Viti, Wendy Brown, Martin McCoustra, Helen Fraser, Nigel Mason and Robert Massey – recount how they went about it and what benefits resulted.     

Correlation of seismic activity and fumarole temperature at the Mt. Merapi volcano (Indonesia) in 2000

In this paper we present densely sampled fumarole temperature data, recorded continuously at a high-temperature fumarole of Mt. Merapi volcano (Indonesia). These temperature time series are correlated with continuous records of rainfall and seismic waveform data collected at the Indonesian–German multi-parameter monitoring network. The correlation analysis of fumarole temperature and precipitation data shows a clear influence of tropical rain events on fumarole temperature. In addition, there is some evidence that rainfall may influence seismicity rates, indicating interaction of meteoric water with the volcanic system. Knowledge about such interactions is important, as lava dome instabilities caused by heavy-precipitation events may result in pyroclastic flows. Apart from the strong external influences on fumarole temperature and seismicity rate, which may conceal smaller signals caused by volcanic degassing processes, the analysis of fumarole temperature and seismic data indicates a statistically significant correlation between a certain type of seismic activity and an increase in fumarole temperature. This certain type of seismic activity consists of a seismic cluster of several high-frequency transients and an ultra-long-period signal (<0.002 Hz), which are best observed using a broadband seismometer deployed at a distance of 600 m from the active lava dome. The corresponding change in fumarole temperature starts a few minutes after the ultra-long-period signal and simultaneously with the high-frequency seismic cluster. The change in fumarole temperature, an increase of 5 °C on average, resembles a smoothed step. Fifty-four occurrences of simultaneous high-frequency seismic cluster, ultra-long period signal and increase of fumarole temperature have been identified in the data set from August 2000 to January 2001. The observed signals appear to correspond to degassing processes in the summit region of Mt. Merapi.     

Effects and removal of systematic errors in crosshole georadar attenuation tomography

We have developed an algorithm that allows crosshole georadar amplitude data contaminated with systematic errors to be tomographically inverted. The effects of the errors, which may due to variable antenna-borehole coupling, the groundwater table, and 3-D heterogeneities in the vicinity of one or more boreholes, are included in a series of transmitter and receiver amplitude-correction factors. Tests with synthetic georadar sections demonstrate that the new approach is capable of producing reliable attenuation information, even when large systematic errors are present in the amplitude data. Standard inversions of crosshole georadar data acquired within a highly complex alpine rock glacier yield distorted tomograms. In contrast the new approach results in geologically useful images.     

Influence of the zone of weakness on dip angle and shear heating of subducted slabs

We study the importance of the zones of weakness and the pattern of downgoing flow in steady-state models of subducting lithosphere, which interacts mechanically and thermally with the ambient mantle. The non-linear system of governing equations consists of (i) the momentum equation in stream function formulation and (ii) the steady-state heat transfer equation including conduction and advection of heat and dissipation. A finite element method has been applied to this system. We consider the viscosity to be a non-linear function of both the temperature and the stream function. In steady-state two-dimensional (2D) flow, the stream function isolines follow material trajectories. They are used to follow the top of the subducting slab, which because of its possible increase in water content, is assumed to have a lower viscosity. The zone of weakness has been thus obtained in the self-consistent fashion since the stream function as well as the temperature are the output from our modeling and no a priori assumptions about the shape of the bending lithosphere are taken into account. It was shown that several orders decrease of viscosity in the zone of weakness is required to obtain the dip angle of about 45°. If the decrease of viscosity is not sufficient enough, the subducted slab either sinks almost vertically or does not exhibit a plate-like behavior. We have also demonstrated that shear heating can unrealistically increase at the zone of weakness for fast subductions if decrease of viscosity is underestimated.     

Sulfur isotope fractionation during growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria on various carbon sources

Stable sulfur isotope fractionation during microbial sulfate reduction is a potential tool to estimate sulfate reduction rates at field sites. However, little is known about the influence of the utilized carbon source on the magnitude of sulfur isotope fractionation. To investigate this effect, both a pure culture (strain PRTOL1) and enrichment cultures from a petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC)-contaminated aquifer were used and grown in batch cultures on various carbon sources with an initial sulfate concentration of 1 mmol/L. As sole carbon sources the PHC components naphthalene, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, and heating oil (enrichment culture) and the organic acids acetate, pyruvate, benzoate, and 3-phenylpropionate (enrichment culture and PRTOL1) were used. Sulfate reduction rates of all cultures ranged from 6 ± 1 nmol cm⁻³ d⁻¹ (enrichment culture grown on 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene) to 280 ± 6 nmol cm⁻³ d⁻¹ (enrichment culture grown on pyruvate). Cell-specific sulfate reduction rates ranged from 1.1 × 10⁻¹⁴ mol cell⁻¹ d⁻¹ (PRTOL1 grown on pyruvate) to 1.5 × 10⁻¹³ mol cell⁻¹ d⁻¹ (PRTOL1 grown on acetate). Sulfur isotope enrichment factors (ε) for the enrichment culture ranged from 16.1‰ (3-phenylpropionate) to 34.5‰ (1,3,5-trimethylbenzene) and for PRTOL1 from 30.0‰ (benzoate) to 36.0‰ (pyruvate). Cultures of PRTOL1 always showed higher ε values than the enrichment culture when grown on the same carbon source due to culture-specific properties. Higher ε values were obtained when the enrichment culture was grown on PHC components than on organic acids. No relationship between ε values and cell-specific sulfate reduction rate existed when all data were combined. When comparing the magnitude of ε values determined in this laboratory study with ε values measured at contaminated and uncontaminated field sites, it becomes evident that a multitude of factors influences ε values at field sites and complicates their interpretation. The results of this study help us assess some of the general parameters that govern the magnitude of ε in sulfate-reducing environments.