Modelling the multiphase near-surface chemistry related to ozone depletions in polar spring

Near-total depletions of ozone have been observed in the Arctic spring since the mid 1980s. The autocatalytic reaction cycles involving reactive halogens are now recognized to be of main importance for ozone depletion events in the polar boundary layer. We present sensitivity studies using the model MISTRA in the box-model mode on the influence of chemical species on these ozone depletion processes. In order to test the sensitivity of the chemistry under polar conditions, we compared base runs undergoing fluxes of either Br₂, BrCl, or Cl₂ to induce ozone depletions, with similar runs including a modification of the chemical conditions. The role of HCHO, H₂O₂, DMS, Cl₂, C₂H₆, HONO, NO₂, and RONO₂ was investigated. Cases with elevated mixing ratios of HCHO, H₂O₂, DMS, Cl₂, and HONO induced a shift in bromine speciation from Br / BrO to HOBr/HBr, while high mixing ratios of C₂H₆ induced a shift from HOBr/HBr to Br/BrO. The shifts from Br/BrO to HOBr/HBr accelerated the aerosol debromination, but also increased the total amount of deposited bromine at the surface (mainly via increased deposition of HOBr). For all NO_y species studied (HONO, NO₂, RONO₂) the chemistry is characterized by an increased bromine deposition on snow reducing the amount of reactive bromine in the air. Ozone is less depleted under conditions of high mixing ratios of NO_x. The production of HNO₃ led to the acid displacement of HCl, and the release of chlorine out of salt aerosol (Cl₂ or BrCl) increased.     

The effect of particle size distributions on the dynamics of falling precipitation zones

A simplistic study of the dynamics of a falling particle ensemble is described. It shows the effect created by the introduction of particle size distributions on precipitation onset and duration and compares it to the case where air motions or pressure fields triggered by the particles are neglected. The assumption of homogeneously sized raindrops seems adequate if precipitation rates and total rainfall are considered. As soon as timing is involved a more refined treatment is required.     

A multi-hazard regional level impact assessment for Europe combining indicators of climatic and non-climatic change

To better prioritise adaptation strategies to a changing climate that are currently being developed, there is a need for quantitative regional level assessments that are systematic and comparable across multiple weather hazards. This study presents an indicator-based impact assessment framework at NUTS-2 level for the European Union that quantifies potential regional changes in weather-related hazards: heat stress in relation to human health, river flood risk, and forest fire risk. This is done by comparing the current (baseline) situation with two future time periods, 2011–2040 and 2041–2070. The indicator values for the baseline period are validated against observed impact data. For each hazard, the method integrates outcomes of a set of coherent high-resolution regional climate models from the ENSEMBLES project based on the SRES A1B emission scenario, with current and projected non-climatic drivers of risk, such as land use and socio-economic change. An index of regional adaptive capacity has been developed and compared with overall hazard impact in order to identify the potentially most vulnerable regions in Europe. The results show strongest increases in impacts for heat stress, followed by forest fire risk, while for flood risk the sign and magnitude of change vary across regions. A major difference with previous studies is that heat stress risk could increase most in central Europe, which is due to the ageing population there. An overall assessment combining the three hazards shows a clear trend towards increasing impact from climaterelated natural hazards for most parts of Europe, but hotspot regions are found in eastern and southern Europe due to their low adaptive capacities. This spatially explicit assessment can serve as a basis for discussing climate adaptation mainstreaming, and priorities for regional development in the EU.     

The GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam/Groupe de Recherche de Gèodésie Spatiale satellite-only and combined gravity field models: EIGEN-GL04S1 and EIGEN-GL04C

The recent improvements in the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) tracking data processing at GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ) and Groupe de Recherche de Géodésie Spatiale (GRGS) Toulouse, the availability of newer surface gravity data sets in the Arctic, Antarctica and North-America, and the availability of a new mean sea surface height model from altimetry processing at GFZ gave rise to the generation of two new global gravity field models. The first, EIGEN-GL04S1, a satellite-only model complete to degree and order 150 in terms of spherical harmonics, was derived by combination of the latest GFZ Potsdam GRACE-only (EIGEN-GRACE04S) and GRGS Toulouse GRACE/LAGEOS (EIGEN-GL04S) mean field solutions. The second, EIGEN-GL04S1 was combined with surface gravity data from altimetry over the oceans and gravimetry over the continents to derive a new high-resolution global gravity field model called EIGEN-GL04C. This model is complete to degree and order 360 and thus resolves geoid and gravity anomalies at half- wavelengths of 55 km at the equator. A degree-dependent combination method has been applied in order to preserve the high accuracy from the GRACE satellite data in the lower frequency band of the geopotential and to form a smooth transition to the high-frequency information coming from the surface data. Compared to pre-CHAMP global high-resolution models, the accuracy was improved at a spatial resolution of 200 km (half-wavelength) by one order of magnitude to 3 cm in terms of geoid heights. The accuracy of this model (i.e. the commission error) at its full spatial resolution is estimated to be 15 cm. The model shows a reduced artificial meridional striping and an increased correlation of EIGEN-GL04C-derived geostrophic meridional currents with World Ocean Atlas 2001 (WOA01) data. These improvements have led to select EIGEN-GL04C for JASON-1 satellite altimeter data reprocessing. Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Dual models of pore spaces

We present a model for pore spaces that consists of two parts related by duality: (1) a decomposition of an open polyhedral pore space into open contractible pore bodies separated by relatively open interfaces and (2) a pore network that is homotopy equivalent to the pore space. The dual model is unique and free of parameters, but it relies on regularity conditions for the pore space. We show how to approximate any pore space by the interior of a polyhedral complex such that the regularity conditions are fulfilled. Thus, we are able to calculate the dual model from synthetic porous media and images of real porous media. The pore bodies are unions of relatively open Delaunay cells with respect to the corners of the pore boundary, and the pore network consists of certain at most two-dimensional (2D) Voronoi cells with respect to the corners of the pore boundary. The pore network describes the neighborhood relations between the pore bodies. In particular, any relatively open 2D Delaunay face f separating two pore bodies has a unique (relatively open) dual network edge. In our model, f is a pore throat only if it is hit by its dual network edge. Thus, as opposed to widespread intuition, any pore throat is convex, and adjacent pore bodies are not necessarily separated by pore throats. Due to the duality between the pore network and the decomposition of the pore space into pore bodies it is straightforward to store the geometrical properties of the pore bodies [pore throats] as attributes of the dual network vertices [edges]. Such an attributed network is used to perform 2D drainage simulations. The results agree very well with those from a pore-morphology based modeling approach performed directly on the digital image of a porous medium. Contractibility of the pore bodies and homotopy equivalence of the pore space and the pore network is proven using discrete Morse theory and the nerve theorem from combinatorial topology.     

Gravity field determination using boundary element methods

The Boundary Element Method (BEM), a numerical technique for solving boundary integral equations, is introduced to determine the earth's gravity field. After a short survey on its main principles, we apply this method to the fixed gravimetric boundary value problem (BVP), i.e. the determination of the earth's gravitational potential from measurements of the intensity of the gravity field in points on the earth's surface. We show how to linearize this nonlinear BVP using an implicit function theorem and how to transform the linearized BVP into a boundary integral equation using the single layer representation. A Galerkin method is used to transform the boundary integral equation using the single layer representation. A Galerkin method is used to transform the boundary integral equation into a linear system of equations. We discuss the major problems of this approach for setting up and solving the linear system. The BVP is numerically solved for a bounded part of the earth's surface using a high resolution reference gravity model, measured gravity values of high density, and a 50 50 m² digital terrain model to describe the earth's surface. We obtain a gravity field resolution of 1 1 km² with an accuracy of the order 10^–3 to 10^–4 in about 1 CPU-hour on a Siemens/Fujitsu SIMD vector pipeline machine using highly sophisticated numerical integration techniques and fast equation solvers. We conclude that BEM is a powerful numerical tool for solving boundary value problems and may be an alternative to classical geodetic techniques.     

A geochemical record of the mining history of the Erme Estuary, south Devon, UK

The concentration of selected trace metals (Cu, Pb and Zn) in salt-marsh sediments from within the Erme Estuary have been measured in order to assess possible historical sources of pollution. The Erme Estuary, south Devon, UK is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has remained largely unaffected by industrialisation, although a number of small silver–lead mines were in operation in the 1800s. Five cores reveal comparable geochemical profiles. An increase of lead at 40 cm depth is observed, reaching maximum values of 427 ppm. Less distinct trends are revealed by zinc and copper, probably reflecting the lack of widespread mining for ores of these elements within the catchment and possible post-depositional mobility rendering the metal concentrations non-contemporaneous with the chemostratigraphy of lead. The geochemical analysis of the salt-marsh sediments provides a fairly robust chemostratigraphic scheme and the likely sources of mine waste can be pinpointed within the catchment. Based upon reference to the historical mining record of these mines chemostratigraphic dating of the sediments can be achieved in order to provide an estimate of salt-marsh accretion rates and sea-level rise.     

Comparative hydrogeology – reference analysis of groundwater dynamics from neighbouring observation wells

ABSTRACT

Groundwater level fluctuations are caused by spatial and temporal superposition of processes within and outside the aquifer system. Most of the subsurface processes are usually observed on a small scale. Upscaling to the regional scale, as required for future climate change scenarios, is difficult due to data scarcity and increasing complexity. In contrast to the limited availability of system characteristics, high-resolution data records of groundwater hydrographs are more generally available. Exploiting the information contained in these records should thus be a priority for analysis of the chronical lack of data describing groundwater system characteristics. This study analyses the applicability of 63 indices derived from daily hydrographs to quantify different dynamics of groundwater levels in unconfined gravel aquifers from three groundwater regions (Bavaria, Germany). Based on the results of two different skill tests, the study aids index selection for different dynamic components of groundwater hydrographs.     

Gravimetric monitoring of the first field‐wide steam injection in a fractured carbonate field in Oman – a feasibility study

Gas‐Oil Gravity Drainage is to be enhanced by steam injection in a highly fractured, low permeability carbonate field in Oman. Following a successful pilot, field‐wide steam injection is being implemented, first of this type in the world. A dedicated monitoring program has been designed to track changes in the reservoir. Various observations are to be acquired, including, surface deformation, temperature measurements, microseismic, well logs, pressure and saturation measurements to monitor the reservoir. Because significant changes in the reservoir density are expected, time‐lapse gravimetry is also being considered. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of gravimetric monitoring of the thermally enhanced gravity drainage process at the carbonate field in Oman. For this purpose, forward gravity modelling is performed. Based on field groundwater measurements, the estimates of the hydrological signal are considered and it is investigated under what conditions the groundwater influences can be minimized. Using regularized inversion of synthetic gravity data, we analyse the achievable accuracy of heat‐front position estimates. In case of large groundwater variations at the field, the gravity observations can be significantly affected and, consequently, the accuracy of heat‐front monitoring can be deteriorated. We show that, by applying gravity corrections based on local observations of groundwater, the hydrological influences can to a large extent be reduced and the accuracy of estimates can be improved. We conclude that gravimetric monitoring of the heat‐front evolution has a great potential.