Sensitivity analysis of influencing parameters on slit-type barrier performance against debris flow using 3D-based numerical approach

Extreme rainfall-induced debris flow can be catastrophic to an urban area,and installation of slit-type barriers can prevent such damage while minimizing negative impact on environments.However,the performance of slit-type barriers against debris flows remains poorly identified partly due to the innate complexity in interactions between debris flow and solid structure.This paper investigated the flow behaviors of debris affected by slit-type barriers using the computational fluid dynamics(CFD)method,in which the numerical model based on the volume of fluid method was verified using the physical modeling results.The sensitivity analysis was performed by building metamodels to determine the primary parameters influencing the barrier performance against debris flows among various variables,in which the effect of input properties and design parameters,particularly the soil concentration in fluidized debris,initial velocity and volume of debris,the barrier height,and the opening ratio,was evaluated from the perspectives of the flow energy reduction and debris trapping.The initial velocity and volume of debris were found to play a significant role in determining the debris flow characteristics.A decrease in the opening ratio in the channel primarily facilitated the energy reduction and trapping due to the reduced opening size.However,the barrier height exhibited a limited effect when the height was sufficiently high to block the debris flow volume.In addition,it was observed that the double barrier system effectively increased the energy reduction while keeping the benefit of open-type barrier.The developed simulation method and obtained results provide an effective tool and an insight that can contribute to an optimum design of the debris-flow barrier.     

Application of enterococci antibiotic resistance patterns for contamination source identification at Huntington Beach,California

Huntington Beach, California, one of the most popular surfing spots in the world, is plagued by sporadic, elevated levels of fecal bacteria. To assist with pollution source identification, we analyzed antibiotic resistance patterns (ARPs) of enterococci from four known sources (bird feces, urban runoff, coastal marsh sediment and sewage effluent from local sanitation district) and one unknown source (seawater) using seven antibiotics at four concentrations each. Of 2491 enterococci tested, all were resistant to at least one antibiotic at some level. Discriminant analysis indicated that the average correct classification rates for bird feces and urban runoff sources were above 80%. Sewage effluent contained mixed fecal sources. Sixty-four percent of the sewage isolates classified with the sewage category, while the other 35% of isolates were assigned evenly across the other three categories. When enterococci isolated from the seawater were classified using the known ARP database, it was evident that bird feces were the source of surf zone contamination on some days while the coastal salt marsh and sewage plume may have impacted the surf zone water quality to various degrees during other times.     

Environmental management of marine fish culture in Hong Kong

Marine fish farming is an important commercial practice in Hong Kong. Marine fish farms located in eutrophic coastal waters often face the threat of severe dissolved oxygen depletion associated with algal blooms and red tides. On the other hand, mariculture activities also contribute to pollution. The sustainable management of mariculture requires proper siting of the fish farms and stocking density control. Both of these are related to the carrying capacity of the water body concerned, which is mainly governed by its flushing characteristics. A simple method to determine the carrying capacity of a fish farm has been developed by using three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic modelling and its effective coupling with a diagenetic water quality model. A systematic methodology using numerical tracer experiments has been developed to compute the tidal flushing in a fish farm. The flushing time is determined from the results of a numerical tracer experiment using robust 3D hydrodynamic and mass transport models. A unit tracer concentration is initially prescribed inside the region of interest and zero elsewhere; the subsequent mass transport and the mass removal process are then tracked. The fish farms are usually situated in well-sheltered shallow embayments and may not connect directly to the open water. It is found that it is necessary to define both "local" and "system-wide" flushing times to represent the effectiveness of the mass exchange with the surrounding water body and the open sea respectively. A diagenetic water quality model simulating the sediment-water-pollutant interaction is employed to address the response of the water column and the benthic layer to pollution discharges. With the flushing rate reliably computed, the carrying capacity of the fish farm can be determined in terms of key water quality parameters: chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen, organic nitrogen and potential lowest dissolved oxygen level on a day of negligible photosynthetic production. The predictions are well-supported by field data.     

240-kHz bistatic bottom scattering measurements in shallow water

High-frequency bistatic sediment scattering experiment was conducted in the shallow waters off the east coasts of Korea. Acoustic data were taken as a function of grazing angle (30°, 45°, and 60°), scattered angle (30°, 45°, and 60°), and bistatic (azimuthal) angle (0°, 60°, and 120°). Besides a flat bottom it was artificially raked so as to produce directional ripples. The measured scattering strengths for a flat bottom were compared to model predictions of D.R. Jackson et al. (1986). The surface reverberation component is seen to dominate over the volume scattering part at the frequency of 240 kHz. Compared to the flat bottom case, the scattering strengths for directional ripples showed lower and higher variation depending on the ripple's orientation     

Screening of surfactants for harmful algal blooms mitigation

Screening experiments were conducted in order to find promising synthetic surfactants for harmful algal blooms (HABs) mitigation. The chemically synthesized surfactant cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) showed characteristics of relatively high inhibition efficiency, high biodegradability and low cost. The motility inhibition ratios of 10 mg/L CAPB on Cochlodinium polykrikoides and Alexandrium tamarense were about 60% after 5 min. The biodegradation test indicated that the half-life of CAPB in seawater was shorter than one day and 90% was biodegraded after five days under the initial concentration of 100 mg/L at 25 degrees C. Further cell lysis experiments revealed the selective lysis effect of CAPB on different HAB organisms. More than 90% of C. polykrikoides lysed at the concentration of 10 mg/L CAPB after 24 h and at 15 mg/L CAPB after 4 h, whereas the lysis effect of CAPB on A. tamarense was slight, no more than 10% after 2 h interaction with 50 mg/L CAPB. This research provided preliminary data for CAPB as a candidate in harmful algal blooms mitigation and pointed out unresolved problems for its practical application in the meantime.     

Okadaic acid, a causative toxin of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, in green-lipped mussels Perna viridis from Hong Kong fish culture zones: Method development and monitoring

Green-lipped mussels (Perna viridis) were collected from seven fish culture zones (FCZs) in Hong Kong and analyzed for okadaic acid (OA). A conventional HPLC method was modified by incorporating a proteinase K digestion step. Results suggest that a higher recovery (2.5 times higher) of OA was obtained from spiked samples after the addition of 1.08 mg proteinase K in comparison with samples incubated without the proteolytic enzyme. For the hepatopancreas (HP) of individual field-collected mussels, the additional digestion step can enhance OA extraction by 3.1 times. Spatial and temporal variations in OA concentrations in the mussels from various FCZs were investigated. The highest concentration of OA in mussel HP samples was 1164.9 ng/g HP wet wt. With respect to OA concentrations in whole mussel tissues from seven sites and four seasonal samplings, the concentrations were between 70.0 and 131.0 ng/g wet wt., which did not exceed the generally recognized international regulatory criteria (>200 ng/g) for OA.     

Distribution Functions of Tsunami Wave Heights

The problem of describing the distribution functions of tsunami wave heights is discussed. Data on runup heights obtained in field surveys of several tsunamis for the last decade are used to calculate the empirical distribution functions. It is shown that the log-normal distribution describes the observed data well. This means that the irregular topography and coastline are major factors which influence the height distribution. The power distribution related with the geometric decay of the propagated wave is a good approximation for one event (Sulawesi, January 1, 1996) only. Results of a numerical simulation of the tsunami event in the Japan (East) Sea on July 12, 1993 are presented. It is shown that the computed wave height distribution, obtained by using the runup correction in the framework of nonlinear shallow-water theory, is in good agreement with the observed height distribution. Simulations are used to study the transformation of the distribution function on different distances from the source.     

Observation and Numerical Simulation of Cold Clouds and Snow Particles in the Yeongdong Region

The Yeongdong region of the Korean Peninsula is vulnerable to high-impact weather events, because of its complicated geographical characteristics and East Sea effect, such that heavy snowfall episodes have frequently occurred in winter. Snow crystal play an important role in cloud and precipitation physics because it is an essential element for improvement of numerical model, and remote sensing retrieval such as radar and satellite. In this study, the high-temporal resolution (3-hourly) dataset of radiosonde soundings and snow particle photographs during the intensive observation period for 2013–2016 has been used to understand characteristics of snow particles for the different meteorological conditions in the Yeongdong region. We also attempt to simulate two episodes that occurred on 23–24 February and 13–14 December 2016; one has a single-layered cloud and the other has two-layered cloud structure. This study demonstrates that the rimed particles in the first period tend to shift to aggregates of dendrites with the decrease of 850-hPa temperature. In general, the low-level clouds in the Yeongdong region are observed along with the distinctive wind shear and strong inversion in equivalent potential temperature around 2 ~ 3 km above the sea level. The simulation successfully represents the variations of the characteristics of snow particles as well as different cloud structure for both episodes. The observation and model simulations clearly suggest that snow particles primarily depend on the 850-hPa temperature.     

Investigation of Primary Factors Affecting the Variation of Modeled Oak Pollen Concentrations: A Case Study for Southeast Texas in 2010

Oak pollen concentrations over the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) area in southeastern Texas were modeled and evaluated against in-situ data. We modified the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to include oak pollen emission, dispersion, and deposition. The Oak Pollen Emission Model (OPEM) calculated gridded oak pollen emissions, which are based on a parameterized equation considering a plant-specific factor (C _e ), surface characteristics, and meteorology. The simulation period was chosen to be February 21 to April 30 in the spring of 2010, when the observed monthly mean oak pollen concentrations were the highest in six years (2009-2014). The results indicated C _e and meteorology played an important role in the calculation of oak pollen emissions. While C _e was critical in determining the magnitude of oak pollen emissions, meteorology determined their variability. In particular, the contribution of the meteorology to the variation in oak pollen emissions increased with the oak pollen emission rate. The evaluation results using in-situ surface data revealed that the model underestimated pollen concentrations and was unable to accurately reproduce the peak pollen episodes. The model error was likely due to uncertainty in climatology-based C _e used for the estimation of oak pollen emissions and inaccuracy in the wind fields from the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model.