Elementary flare bursts explained by explosive coalescence

The observed burst durations of Elementary Flare Bursts (5–25 s), as well as the related other flare characteristics, such as the temperature (30–50 MK), the electron density (log ne = 10 to 11) and the magnetic field strengths (100 G to 200 G) can be explained quantitatively by the mechanism of explosive coalescence.     

Particulate matter exchange across a Rjord sill

Recent studies have indicated the existence of a considerably higher planktonic biomass in the deep waters of the Saguenay Fjord as compared to corresponding depths in the adjacent St Lawrence Estuary on the other side of a shallow sill. The hypothesis that has been put forward to explain this phenomenon is related to the advection of near surface estuarine waters, at times very rich in particulate matter, over the entrance sill into the deeper waters of the fjord. Mixing processes associated with the development of a density flow, the presence of a hydraulic jump or other mechanisms are assumed to be responsible for the common occurrence of lower density subsurface water within the basin as compared to that penetrating over the sill.The exchange processes between the estuary and the fjord are described and an estimate made of the estuarine water volume that penetrates into the lower layer of the fjord over a semidiurnal tide cycle. From these calculations, the replacement time for the outer basin was estimated to range between one and four days. The biological characteristics of this water were used to establish a budget for particulate matter exchange which showed, in early August, a typical net input of ? 188 t of particulate organic carbon into the deep waters of the fjord over one tide cycle.     

Differential phase estimation with the SeaMARCII bathymetricsidescan sonar system

A maximum-likelihood estimator is used to extract differential phase measurements from noisy seafloor echoes received at pairs of transducers mounted on either side of the SeaMARC II bathymetric sidescan sonar system. Carrier frequencies for each side are about 1 kHz apart, and echoes from a transmitted pulse 2 ms long are analyzed. For each side, phase difference sequences are derived from the full complex data consisting of base-banded and digitized quadrature components of the received echoes. With less bias and a lower variance, this method is shown to be more efficient than a uniform mean estimator. It also does not exhibit the angular or time ambiguities commonly found in the histogram method used in the SeaMARC II system. A figure for the estimation uncertainty of the phase difference is presented, and results are obtained for both real and simulated data. Based on this error estimate and an empirical verification derived through coherent ping stacking, a single filter length of 100 ms is chosen for data processing applications     

Shaking table testing and numerical simulation of the seismic response of a typical Mexican colonial temple

A shaking table testing program was undertaken with the main objective of providing basic information for the calibration of analytical models, and procedures for determining seismic response of typical stone masonry temples of the 16–18th centuries stone masonry construction in Mexico. A typical colonial temple was chosen as a prototype. A model at a 1:8 geometric scale was built with the same materials and techniques as the prototype, and was subjected to horizontal and vertical motions of increasing intensities. The maximum applied intensity corresponded to a base shear force of about 58 of the total building weight. Vertical component of the base motion significantly affected the response and increased the damage of the model. Damage patterns were similar to those observed in actual temples. Damping coefficients of the response ranged from 7 for undamaged state, reached about 14 for severe damage. The main features of the measured response were compared with those computed using a nonlinear, finite element model; for the latter, a constitutive law developed for plain concrete was adopted for reproducing cracking and crushing of the irregular stone masonry. Observed damage patterns as well as measured response could be reproduced with reasonable accuracy by the analytical simulation, except for some local vibrations, as those at the top of the bell towers. It can be concluded that the simple constitutive law adopted for the simulation was able to reproduce the experimental response with reasonable level of accuracy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrogeological and hydrochemical characterization of two karstic discharge areas in San Luis Potosí, Mexico

Two karstic discharge areas, Río Verde (RV) and Ciénega de Cabezas (CC), located in a distance of 80 km to each other are chosen to determine the influence of local variations in geology and climatic condition on water chemistry and to examine if the groundwater, supplying the discharge areas, undergoes the same evolution and has a common source. Both study areas are situated on the carbonate platform Valles-San Luis Potosí and comprise a similar geological setting, but despite of their spatial vicinity the climate is semiarid in RV and humid in CC presenting an important factor on the amount of discharge and the concentrations of ions in the discharge. The investigation encompasses discharge, hydrochemical and physico-chemical parameter evaluations as well as the determination of saturation indices, hydrochemical modelling and water type characterization of surface water samples to derive knowledge of the groundwater systems. Scatterplots and saturation indices were used to proof the influence of lithological variability. Both study areas represent normal alkaline water, marked by high concentrations of calcium and magnesium with varying concentrations of bicarbonate and sulphate. In RV, the water interacts with dolomite rocks and gypsum layers, whereas in CC the dolomite content is depleted and the influence of limestone rocks increases. The climatic impact on the groundwater in RV is noticeable by the increase in ionic concentrations due to higher evaporation. In CC the higher amount of precipitation dilutes the groundwater and causes decreasing ionic concentrations.     

Enhancement of long period components of recorded and synthetic ground motions using InSAR

Tall buildings and flexible structures require a better characterization of long period ground motion spectra than the one provided by current seismic building codes. Motivated by that, a methodology is proposed and tested to improve recorded and synthetic ground motions which are consistent with the observed co-seismic displacement field obtained from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) analysis of image data for the Tocopilla 2007 earthquake (M_w=7.7) in Northern Chile. A methodology is proposed to correct the observed motions such that, after double integration, they are coherent with the local value of the residual displacement. Synthetic records are generated by using a stochastic finite-fault model coupled with a long period pulse to capture the long period fling effect.It is observed that the proposed co-seismic correction yields records with more accurate long-period spectral components as compared with regular correction schemes such as acausal filtering. These signals provide an estimate for the velocity and displacement spectra, which are essential for tall-building design. Furthermore, hints are provided as to the shape of long-period spectra for seismic zones prone to large co-seismic displacements such as the Nazca-South American zone.     

Complex size-dependent habitat associations in potamodromous fish species

Knowledge of the distribution of species life stages at multiple spatial scales is fundamental to both a proper assessment of species management and conservation programmes and the ability to predict the consequences of human disturbances for river systems. The habitat requirements of three native cyprinid species—the Iberian barbel Barbus bocagei Steindachner, the Iberian straight-mouth nase Pseudochondrostoma polylepis (Steindachner), and the Northern straight-mouth nase Pseudochondrostoma duriense (Coelho)—were examined at 174 undisturbed or minimally disturbed sites in 8 river catchments across western Iberia, by modelling occurrence and counts of species life stages at two spatial scales—large (regional) and instream (local)—using hurdle models. All the life stages of the barbel showed a negative association with upstream high-gradient river reaches, whereas juvenile P. duriense favoured such areas. Stream width and openness were negatively related with the occurrence of juvenile and small adult barbel, but not with large adults. Juvenile nase, on the other hand, were found to be mainly confined to fast-flowing habitats with high instream cover and coarser substrata. Advanced life stages of the barbel were mainly associated with the “pure” regional and shared components, whereas the purely local attributes accounted for much of the model variation among nases, in particular juveniles, and juvenile barbel. The results of this study are useful for setting or refining management goals, and highlight the need to separately consider life stages when performing conservation-related studies of species distribution.     

Least-cost adaptation options for global climate change impacts on the Brazilian electric power system

Global climate change induced by the emission of greenhouse gases may pose challenges to energy security. The vulnerability of energy sources, in particular of renewable sources, to climate change raises the need to identify adaptation measures. This paper applies an integrated resource planning approach to calculate least-cost adaptation measures to a set of projected climate impacts on the Brazilian power sector. The methodology used has the advantage of finding optimal solutions that take into consideration the whole energy chain and the interactions between energy supply and demand. Results point in the direction of an increased installed capacity based, mostly, on natural gas, but also sugarcane bagasse, wind power and coal/nuclear plants, to compensate for a lower reliability of hydroelectric production, amongst other impacts. The indirect effect of these results is the displacement of natural gas from other consuming sectors, such as industry, in favor of its use for power generation. Results obtained are, however, based on the techno-economic premises used in the simulation, which may vary in the long term.     

A Semi-classical calculus of correlations

The method of passive imaging in seismology has been developped recently in order to image the Earth’s crust from recordings of the seismic noise. This method is founded on the computation of correlations of the seismic noise. In this article, we give an explicit formula for this correlation in the “semi-classical” regime. In order to do that, we define the power spectrum of a random field as the ensemble average of its Wigner measure; this allows phase-space computations: the pseudo-differential calculus and the ray theory. In this way, we get a formula for the correlation of the seismic noise in the semi-classical regime with a source noise which can be localized and non-homogeneous. After that, we show how the use of surface guided waves allows us to image the Earth’s crust.