Unusual diatoms linked to climatic events in the northeastern English Channel

The composition of the micro-phytoplankton was investigated at two fixed stations in the northeastern English Channel from November 1997 to December 2005. In late summer-autumn 2005, proliferations of the centric diatoms Proboscia indica and Rhizosolenia hebetata f. semispina were recorded for the first time in this area. The weather in 2005 was abnormal: a cold winter and early arrival of summer conditions that extended to late autumn. This resulted in an unusually long, sustained calm and warm period. We suggest that the reduction in mixing may have allowed diatoms of more-stratified waters to be competitive in the normally highly mixed northeastern English Channel in summer-autumn 2005. In 2003 and in 2005, two warm-water diatom species were recorded for the first time. A colony of Eucampia cornuta was observed after an exceptional heat wave in September of 2003, and again in September 2005. Simultaneously at both fixed stations, Chaetoceros peruvianus was recorded in the warm October of 2005. The climatic events are associated with the northward spreading of thermophilic diatoms such as E. cornuta and Ch. peruvianus in the European Atlantic waters, and the proliferation of diatoms of stratified environments such as P. indica and R. hebetata f. semispina in the usually highly turbulent waters of the northeastern English Channel.     

Spatio-temporal analysis of temperature variability,trend, and magnitude in the Hindu Kush region using Monte Carlo and Sen’s slope approaches

The present study explores the spatial and temporal deviations in temperature using Monte Carlo (MC) and Sen’s slope (SS) approaches in the Hindu Kush (HK) region. Climate change holds sturdy association against the temperature trend that has generated adverse impacts in the form of floods. In this attempt, for trend analysis, temperature has been selected as a meteorological parameter. This study mainly focuses on exploring the tendency in average temperature with respect to time and the consequential flood recurrences in the region. For the current study, data regarding temperature were typically collected from Pakistan Meteorological Department. In the study region, there are a total of seven meteorological station falls namely Dir, Chitral, Drosh, Saidu, Malam Jabba, Kalam, and Timergara. The temperature time series data was calculated and analyzed using MC and SS approaches for trend detection in order to demonstrate the kind of fluctuation in the Hindu Kush region. The resultant analysis further revealed that in the meteorological station of Dir, a more significant positive trend (α?=?0.0001) was found in mean monthly maximum, minimum, and monthly normal temperature. Likewise, at Drosh, a positive trend is detected in mean monthly maximum (α?=?0.04), monthly minimum (α?=?0.003), and monthly average (α?=?0.0005). Moreover, at Saidu met station, there is also a trend detected in temperature sub-variables such as monthly maximum (α?=?0.0001) and monthly minimum (α?=?0.001). In addition to these, at Kalam, there is a temperature trend noted for monthly minimum (α?=?0.01) and monthly average (α?=?0.02). Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that there is no trend detected in the remaining stations, i.e., Chitral, Malam Jabba, Drosh, and Timergara. The overall analysis discovered that there is a sturdy relationship between climate change phenomenon and temperature variability. After using SS test to the temperature data of mean monthly maximum (TMMMax), the results explored that Kalam station grips the highest magnitude, i.e., Q?=?0.76; however, Timergara shows the lowermost, i.e., Q?=???0.34. For the monthly minimum temperature (TMMMin), at Kalam again, the highest value (Q?=?0.005) was detected; however, other stations revealed a negative trend, except Drosh which express no change in terms of magnitude. Similarly, in terms of monthly normal temperature (TMNor), Timergara station (Q?=???0.4) verified a negative trend magnitude and Malam Jabba station again trendless. Among all, the met station of Malam Jabba which holds an altitude of 2591 m is a hilly station just followed by Kalam having 2103 m height; however, Dir holds 1375 m height and the rest of the met stations show low elevation. The main reason for the temperature difference is the altitude of the study region.     

Minimum principle and related numerical scheme for simulating initial flow and subsequent propagation of liquefied ground

The problem of predicting the evolution of liquefied ground, modelled as a viscoplastic material, is addressed by combining a minimum principle for the velocity field, which characterizes such an evolution, and a time step integration procedure. Two different numerical schemes are then presented for the finite element implementation of this minimum principle, namely, the regularization technique and the decomposition‐co‐ordination method by augmented Lagrangian. The second method, which proves more accurate and efficient than the first, is finally applied to simulate the incipient flow failure and subsequent spreading of a liquefied soil embankment subject to gravity. The strong influence of liquefied soil residual shear strength on reducing the maximum amplitude of the ground displacement is particularly emphasized in such an analysis. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

InSAR datum connection using GNSS-augmented radar transponders

Deformation estimates from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) are relative: they form a ‘free’ network referred to an arbitrary datum, e.g. by assuming a reference point in the image to be stable. However, some applications require ‘absolute’ InSAR estimates, i.e. expressed in a well-defined terrestrial reference frame, e.g. to compare InSAR results with those of other techniques. We propose a methodology based on collocated InSAR and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements, achieved by rigidly attaching phase-stable millimetre-precision compact active radar transponders to GNSS antennas. We demonstrate this concept through a simulated example and practical case studies in the Netherlands.     

A ‘charge bunching’ approach to the gravitohydrodynamic instability

The criterion for the gravitational hydrodynamic instability of an infinite uniform selfgravitating system in uniform translational motion is established by making use of the conservation laws written in the system of coordinates in which the pressure wave produced by an initial density fluctuation is at rest.An analogous method, based on the hydrodynamic formulation of charge bunching has been used in the past to establish a criterion for the instabilities of plasma oscillations (Jackson, 1960).     

Impacts of an uncontrolled phosphogypsum dumpsite on summer distribution of phytoplankton, copepods and ciliates in relation to abiotic variables along the near-shore of the southwestern Mediterranean coast

In connection with the Taparura Project, studies of spatial distribution of the crustacean zooplankton community, nutrients, phytoplankton and ciliates were conducted in July 2007 at 45 stations spread over fifteen transects along the coast north of Sfax. The results showed that the N/P ratio was lower than the Redfield ratio, suggesting potential N limitation. Phytoplankton was characterised by the proliferation of several diatoms, while ciliates were largely dominated by spirotrichs. Copepods were the most abundant zooplankton present during the entire study period, comprising 61% of the total zooplankton community. Twelve copepod families were identified at every station, with a high percentage of Oithonidae (77% of copepods) dominated by Oithona nana. The abundance of this species was correlated with that of diatoms, Cocoolithophorideae and ciliated Colpodea, suggesting that O. nana may feed on a wide range of prey. Despite human pressure and industrial activities, the coastal waters north of Sfax showed a wide diversity of phytoplankton, ciliates and zooplankton.     

A new scenario framework for climate change research: the concept of shared climate policy assumptions

The new scenario framework facilitates the coupling of multiple socioeconomic reference pathways with climate model products using the representative concentration pathways. This will allow for improved assessment of climate impacts, adaptation and mitigation. Assumptions about climate policy play a major role in linking socioeconomic futures with forcing and climate outcomes. The paper presents the concept of shared climate policy assumptions as an important element of the new scenario framework. Shared climate policy assumptions capture key policy attributes such as the goals, instruments and obstacles of mitigation and adaptation measures, and introduce an important additional dimension to the scenario matrix architecture. They can be used to improve the comparability of scenarios in the scenario matrix. Shared climate policy assumptions should be designed to be policy relevant, and as a set to be broad enough to allow a comprehensive exploration of the climate change scenario space.     

Dynamical friction in an isentropic gas

When a gravitating object moves across a given mass distribution, it creates an overdense wake behind it. Here, we performed an analytical study of the structure of the flow far from object when the flow is isentropic and the object moves subsonically within it. We show that the dynamical friction force is the main drag force on the object and by using a perturbation theory, we obtain the density, velocity and pressure of the perturbed flow far from the mass. We derive the expression of the dynamical friction force in an isentropic flow and show its dependence on the Mach number of the flow and on the adiabatic index. We find that the dynamical friction force becomes lower as the adiabatic index increases. We show analytically that the wakes are less dense in our isentropic case in comparison to the isothermal ones.     

Coronal Density Structures and CMEs: Superior Solar Conjunctions of Mars Express, Venus Express, and Rosetta: 2004, 2006, and 2008

Coronal radio-sounding experiments were carried out using the S-band (2.3 GHz) and X-band (8.4 GHz) signals of the ESA Mars Express, Venus Express, and Rosetta spacecraft during five superior conjunctions occurring in 2004, 2006 (3×), and 2008/2009. Differential frequency and propagation delay (ranging) observations were recorded during these opportunities over the better part of a solar cycle, yielding information on the large-scale structure of the coronal electron-density distribution and its variations, including fluctuations on time scales from seconds to hours. These results concern primarily regions of slow solar wind because the radio propagation path is generally confined to the low heliolatitude regions by the conjunction. The mean frequency fluctuation and total electron content are determined as a function of heliocentric distance, and, with a few exceptions caused by streamers and CMEs, are found to be consistent with previous results from experiments on Ulysses. Dense coronal streamers and several coronal mass ejection (CME) events were identified in the radio-frequency data, some of which were observed in white light by the LASCO coronagraphs onboard SOHO. For those events with sufficient mutual coverage, good correlations are found between the electron-content fluctuations and structure imaged by the LASCO instrument.