Monitoring of playa evaporites as seen with optical remote sensing sensors: case of Chott El Jerid,Tunisia, from 2003 to present

Chott El Jerid in the Zone of Chotts of Tunisia is one of the largest endorheic basins in the world. During the dry period, from May to August, it is generally covered by continental evaporites which result from the desiccation of the lake formed after a flooding event. This lake comprises runoff water from the surrounding relief and also water resurgence. In order to map and monitor these evaporitic surfaces (mineral composition and evolution in space and time), optical multisource, multispectral, and multidate satellite data have been used. Landsat 4–5 TM, Landsat 8 OLI, SPOT 6, and Landsat Surface Reflectance (LSR) constitute the main data set. The central part of the Chott, north and south of the road crossing the Chott over 70 km from Tozeur to Kebili, has been particularly studied, because it corresponds to the major evaporite accumulation zone. These evaporites precipitated as concentric layers (a relatively rare pattern), mainly north of the road, after several recent flooding events during the last 15 years. Winds can play a significant role in the development of the evaporite layers. Image interpretation associated with field data shows that after the final desiccation of the playa lake, the mineralogy of the salt crust comprised an assemblage dominated by halite south of the road and by gypsum north of the road. Halite and gypsum are the only minerals to be identified using satellite remote sensing data. Sulfates such as gypsum can be identified thanks to a drop in reflectance in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) range caused by vibrations of the SO₄ group. Gypsum crusts are more widely distributed than halite crusts. LSR data are particularly suitable for multitemporal comparison because they are calibrated and atmospherically corrected. The classical bull’s eye pattern characterizing evaporitic deposits (from carbonates along the rims to halite, gypsum, and finally potassium-magnesium minerals in the center of the basin) is deeply disturbed by the road crossing Chott El Jerid.     

Cartographie de l’érosion dans le bassin versant de l’Oued Mina en Algérie par télédétection et SIG

Résumé

Dans cette étude, on a fait appel à la télédétection et aux systèmes d’information géographiques (SIG) pour évaluer et cartographier l’érosion hydrique en utilisant l’équation universelle des pertes en sol USLE dans le bassin versant de l’Oued Mina en Algérie. Ce bassin est caractérisé par une grande irrégularité dans les précipitations, une forte pente, une lithologie essentiellement marneuse et une couverture végétale très faible ce qui le rend très vulnérable à l’érosion. L’USLE est la combinaison de six facteurs spécifiques qui décrivent les caractéristiques du bassin versant. Les données de télédétection multi-temporelles et les SIG sont utilisés pour évaluer et cartographier chaque facteur individuellement. L’intégration des cartes thématiques des facteurs du modèle USLE dans le SIG permet de cerner l’impact de chaque facteur dans les pertes en sol, de classer par importance relative les zones d’érosion, et de quantifier les pertes en sol dans le bassin.

Editeur Z.W. Kundzewicz

Citation Toumi, S., Meddi, M., Mahé, G., et Brou, Y.T., 2013. Cartographie de l’érosion dans le bassin versant de l’Oued Mina en Algérie par télédétection et SIG. Hydrological Sciences Journal 58 (7), 1542–1558.     

Why is Indian Ocean warming consistently?

Observations have shown that the Indian Ocean is consistently warming and its warm pool is expanding, particularly in the recent decades. This paper attempts to investigate the reason behind these observations. Under global warming scenario, it is expected that the greenhouse gas induced changes in air–sea fluxes will enhance the warming. Surprisingly, it is found that the net surface heat fluxes over Indian Ocean warm pool (IOWP) region alone cannot explain the consistent warming. The warm pool area anomaly of IOWP is strongly correlated with the sea surface height anomaly, suggesting an important role played by the ocean advection processes in warming and expansion of IOWP. The structure of lead/lag correlations further suggests that Oceanic Rossby waves might be involved in the warming. Using heat budget analysis of several Ocean data assimilation products, it is shown that the net surface heat flux (advection) alone tends to cool (warm) the Ocean. Based on above observations, we propose an ocean-atmosphere coupled positive feedback mechanism for explaining the consistent warming and expansion of IOWP. Warming over IOWP induces an enhancement of convection in central equatorial Indian ocean, which causes anomalous easterlies along the equator. Anomalous easterlies in turn excite frequent Indian ocean Dipole events and cause anti-cyclonic wind stress curl in south-east and north-east equatorial Indian ocean. The anomalous wind stress curl triggers anomalous downwelling oceanic Rossby waves, thereby deepening the thermocline and resulting in advection of warm waters towards western Indian ocean. This acts as a positive feedback and results in more warming and westward expansion of IOWP.     

Wavelet based identification of dominant scales for self-affine road roughness in context of riding comfort in vehicles

We present a simulation based study of multiscale roughness of road surfaces and its effect on riding comfort in vehicles, given the fact that characterization of the measured roughness is important to ensure smooth ride. Self-affine fractals are used to simulate typically measured roughness data. Multiscale characteristics of such surfaces are obtained through varied level of spatial resolutions. The hierarchical nature of the multiscale fractal roughness and their role in affecting the riding comfort is investigated herein. Wavelet transform technique is exploited for multiscale decomposition. Roughness is synthesized from cumulation of scales in a multiscale fashion. Single degree of freedom car model is used for characterizing riding comfort parameters in terms of dynamic response of vehicle suspension system subjected to jerks exerted by rough profiles. The dominant scales of roughness governing the comfort parameters are identified through parametric study. It is shown that not all the scales are equally important in deciding the comfort parameters; rather, these parameters remain nearly intact with the inclusion of only a few initial scales. This facilitates multiscale visualization of roughness data and allows representing the profiles in a precise form by excluding the spurious higher scales. Apparently, it gives an economic estimate of the required resolution in the physical measurement for specific purpose.     

Financing LNG carriers

The author examines the various methods of finance for LNG carriers at each stage of funding. First, he describes the various factors involved in the funding of LNG carriers, and continues by highlighting the different methods of finance. He concludes by summarizing the prospects for shipping finance in a severely depressed ship sale and purchase market.     

Laboratory observations of electron temperature in the wake of a sphere in a streaming plasma

A parametric study was performed of electron temperature variation in the wake of a conducting sphere in a streaming plasma. The flow conditions were varied as follows: the ambient electron temperatures in the range 850–2450 K; the ambient electron densities in the range 5 × 10⁴?7 × 10⁵/cm³; and body potentials relative to plasma potential in the range of + 1.7 to ?2.8 V for an ion beam energy of ～4 eV. Electron temperature enhancements were observed which ranged up to 200 per cent above ambient in the nearest proximity of the body surface. The magnitude of the enhancement depends upon the ambient density, temperature and body potential.     

Beach erosion along the coastline of Alexandria, Egypt

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