Turning surface behaviour for internal waves subject to general gravitational fields

Abstract

It is shown that the turning surfaces associated with internal waves in a uniformly rotating, density stratified, Boussinesq fluid in the presence of an arbitrary gravitational field are regular points for the governing eigenvalue differential equation. The results are illustrated for two particular examples that have geophysical and astrophysical significance, namely radially directed spherical gravity, and the gravitational field in a rapidly rotating cylinder.     

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATIONS OF SOIL MOISTURE IN WEST-CENTRAL OKLAHOMA

From May 7 to August 13, 1985, soil moisture was measured at 12 study sites located along a 200-km east-west trending transect in west-central Oklahoma. Soil moisture was sampled at three depths at each site: 15 cm, 61 cm, and 91 cm. Study site location and the time (week) of data collection were analyzed through correlation and regression analysis in order to assess their impact on soil moisture variability measured at the three sampled depths. Along the transect for the study period, soil moisture increased with depth; soil moisture also increased with depth from west to east along the transect during the sample period. The correlation between the location of the sample site and soil moisture was weak at the 15 cm depth (0.48), but was stronger at greater depths (0.78 at 61 cm; 0.65 at 91 cm). The location of the study site along the transect explained 25% of the variation in soil moisture at a 15 cm depth; 62% at a 61 cm depth; and 51% at a 91 cm depth. The time (week variable) of data collection at each sample site was less useful in explaining the variability in soil moisture than site location. Time explains 15, 23, and 16% of the variability observed in soil moisture along the transect for the depths of 15, 61, and 91 cm, respectively. A combination of time and location variables, however, explained 46% of the variability in soil moisture for all three depths. The same time and location variables explained 55%, 76%, and 52% of the variability observed in soil moisture for the three individual depths: 15, 61, and 91 cm, respectively. Unusual precipitation events affected the transect throughout the study period and diminished the impact of location as a significant explanatory variable for describing variability in soil moisture.     

Hydromagnetic waves in a differentially rotating,stratified spherical shell

Abstract

Investigations of an earlier paper (Friedlander 1987a) are extended to include the effect of an azimuthal shear flow on the small amplitude oscillations of a rotating, density stratified, electrically conducting, non-dissipative fluid in the geometry of a spherical shell. The basic state mean fields are taken to be arbitrary toroidal axisymmetric functions of space that are consistent with the constraint of the ‘‘magnetic thermal wind equation''. The problem is formulated to emphasize the similarities between the magnetic and the non-magnetic internal wave problem. Energy integrals are constructed and the stabilizing/destabilizing roles of the shears in the basic state functions are examined. Effects of curvature and sphericity are studied for the eigenvalue problem. This is given by a partial differential equation (P.D.E.) of mixed type with, in general, a complex pattern of turning surfaces delineating the hyperbolic and elliptic regimes. Further mathematical complexities arise from a distribution of the magnetic analogue of critical latitudes. The magnetic extension of Laplace's tidal equations are discussed. It is observed that the magnetic analogue of planetary waves may propagate to the east and to the west.     

Probing deep weathering in the Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory,Pennsylvania (USA): the hypothesis of nested chemical reaction fronts in the subsurface

Weathering is both an acid‐base and a redox reaction in which rocks are titrated by meteoric carbon dioxide (CO₂) and oxygen (O₂). In general, the depths of these weathering reactions are unknown. To determine such depths, cuttings of Rose Hill shale were investigated from one borehole from the ridge and four boreholes from the valley at the Susquehanna Shale Hills Observatory (SSHO). Pyrite concentrations are insignificant to depths of 23 m under the ridge and 8–9 m under the valley. Likewise, carbonate concentrations are insignificant to 22 and 2 m, respectively. In addition, a 5–6 m‐thick fractured layer directly beneath the land surface shows evidence for loss of illite, chlorite, and feldspar. Under the valley, secondary carbonates may have precipited. The limited number of boreholes and the tight folding make it impossible to prove that depth variations result from weathering instead of chemical heterogeneity within the parent shale. However, carbonate depletion coincides with the winter water table observed at ~20 m (ridge) and ~2 m depth (valley). It would be fortuitous if carbonate‐containing strata are found under ridge and valley only beneath the water table. Furthermore, pyrite and carbonate react quickly and many deep reaction fronts for these minerals are described in the literature. We propose that deep transport of O₂ initiates weathering at SSHO and many other localities because pyrite commonly oxidizes autocatalytically to acidify porewaters and open porosity. According to this hypothesis, the mineral distributions at SSHO are nested reaction fronts that overprint protolith stratigraphy. The fronts are hypothesized to lie subparallel to the land surface because O₂ diffuses to the water table and causes oxidative dissolution of pyrite. Pyrite‐derived sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) plus CO₂ also dissolve carbonates above the water table. To understand how reaction fronts record long‐term coupling between erosion and weathering will require intensive mapping of the subsurface. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Where fast weathering creates thin regolith and slow weathering creates thick regolith

Weathering disaggregates rock into regolith – the fractured or granular earth material that sustains life on the continental land surface. Here, we investigate what controls the depth of regolith formed on ridges of two rock compositions with similar initial porosities in Virginia (USA). A priori, we predicted that the regolith on diabase would be thicker than on granite because the dominant mineral (feldspar) in the diabase weathers faster than its granitic counterpart. However, weathering advanced 20× deeper into the granite than the diabase. The 20 × ‐thicker regolith is attributed mainly to connected micron‐sized pores, microfractures formed around oxidizing biotite at 20 m depth, and the lower iron (Fe) content in the felsic rock. Such porosity allows pervasive advection and deep oxidation in the granite. These observations may explain why regolith worldwide is thicker on felsic compared to mafic rock under similar conditions. To understand regolith formation will require better understanding of such deep oxidation reactions and how they impact fluid flow during weathering. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating the functionality and streamflow impacts of explicitly modelling forest–snow interactions and canopy gaps in a distributed hydrologic model

Many plot‐scale studies have shown that snow‐cover dynamics in forest gaps are distinctly different from those in open and continuously forested areas, and forest gaps have the potential to alter the magnitude and timing of snowmelt. However, the watershed‐level impacts of canopy gap treatment on streamflows are largely unknown. Here, we present the first research that explicitly assesses the impact of canopy gaps on seasonal streamflows and particularly late‐season low flows at the watershed scale. To explicitly model forest–snow interactions in canopy gaps, we made major enhancements to a widely used distributed hydrologic model, distributed hydrology soil vegetation model, with a canopy gap component that represents physical processes of snowpack evolution in the forest gap separately from the surrounding forest on the subgrid scale (within a grid typically 10–150 m). The model predicted snow water equivalent using the enhanced distributed hydrology soil vegetation model showed good agreement (R² > 0.9) with subhourly snow water equivalent measurements collected from open, forested, and canopy gap sites in Idaho, USA. Compared with the original model that does not account for interactions between gaps and surrounding forest, the enhanced model predicted notably later melt in small‐ to medium‐size canopy gaps (the ratio of gap radius (r) to canopy height (h) ≤ 1.2), and snow melt rates exhibited great sensitivity to changing gap size in medium‐size gaps (0.5 ≤ r/h ≤ 1.2). We demonstrated the watershed‐scale implications of canopy gaps on streamflow in the snow‐dominated Chiwawa watershed, WA, USA. With 24% of the watershed drainage area (about 446 km²) converted to gaps of 60 m diameter, the mean annual 7‐day low flow was increased by 19.4% (i.e., 0.37 m³/s), and the mean monthly 7‐day low flows were increased by 13.5% (i.e., 0.26 m³/s) to 40% (i.e., 1.76 m³/s) from late summer through fall. Lastly, in practical implementation of canopy gaps with the same total gap areas, a greater number of distributed small gaps can have greater potential for longer snow retention than a smaller number of large gaps.     

The development of a geographic information system (GIS) database for Jiuzhaigou national nature reserve and its application

The objective of this paper is to develop a GIS (Geographic Information System) database for Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve (Jiuzhaigou, hereafter) in China and demonstrate its application as a research tool. A cost-effective procedure was developed to compile a variety of geographical and biological data of the study area in terms of popular GIS format such as shape files. These files were further calibrated and validated using field surveys data. The developed GIS database was used to quantify the distributions of the wildlife (amphibians, mammals, and birds) using the distances of the wildlife to the centerline of the bus-tour routes. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to quantify the correlation in space between pairs of different wildlife using the number of habitats for given space contexts. An ArcObject-based macro was developed to perform the analysis. The results showed the majority of the habitats of wildlife are located in the proximity of the tour-bus routes with an average distance ranging from 564 to 894 m depending on types of wildlife. This indicates a possibility of the disturbance to the wildlife by human activities. The correlation coefficient of the wildlife ranged from 0.36 to 0.64 depending on pairs of wildlife, indicating some correlations in space. However, due to the limited sample size, the statistical significances need to be further investigated. This paper has successfully demonstrated the use of the GIS-based database as a research tool for environmental study.     

Future developments in modelling and monitoring of volcanic ash clouds: outcomes from the first IAVCEI-WMO workshop on Ash Dispersal Forecast and Civil Aviation

As a result of the serious consequences of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption (Iceland) on civil aviation, 52 volcanologists, meteorologists, atmospheric dispersion modellers and space and ground-based monitoring specialists from 12 different countries (including representatives from 6 Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres and related institutions) gathered to discuss the needs of the ash dispersal modelling community, investigate new data-acquisition strategies (i.e. quantitative measurements and observations) and discuss how to improve communication between the research community and institutions with an operational mandate. Based on a dedicated benchmark exercise and on 3 days of in-depth discussion, recommendations have been made for future model improvements, new strategies of ash cloud forecasting, multidisciplinary data acquisition and more efficient communication between different communities. Issues addressed in the workshop include ash dispersal modelling, uncertainty, ensemble forecasting, combining dispersal models and observations, sensitivity analysis, model variability, data acquisition, pre-eruption forecasting, first simulation and data assimilation, research priorities and new communication strategies to improve information flow and operational routines. As a main conclusion, model developers, meteorologists, volcanologists and stakeholders need to work closely together to develop new and improved strategies for ash dispersal forecasting and, in particular, to: (1) improve the definition of the source term, (2) design models and forecasting strategies that can better characterize uncertainties, (3) explore and identify the best ensemble strategies that can be adapted to ash dispersal forecasting, (4) identify optimized strategies for the combination of models and observations and (5) implement new critical operational strategies.     

Mapping of freshwater lake wetlands using object-relations and rule-based inference

Inland freshwater lake wetlands play an important role in regional ecological balance.Hongze Lake is the fourth biggest freshwater lake in China.In the past three decades,there has been significant loss of freshwater wetlands within the lake and at the mouths of neighboring rivers,due to disturbance,primarily from human activities.The main purpose of this paper was to explore a practical technology for differentiating wetlands effectively from upland types in close proximity to them.In the paper,an integrated method,which combined per-pixel and per-field classification,was used for mapping wetlands of Hongze Lake and their neighboring upland types.Firstly,Landsat ETM+ imagery was segmented and classified by using spectral and textural features.Secondly,ETM+ spectral bands,textural features derived from ETM+ Pan imagery,relative relations between neighboring classes,shape features,and elevation were used in a decision tree classification.Thirdly,per-pixel classification results from the decision tree classifier were improved by using classification results from object-oriented classification as a context.The results show that the technology has not only overcome the salt-and-pepper effect commonly observed in the past studies,but also has improved the accuracy of identification by nearly 5%.     

Variation in the photochemical lability of dissolved organic matter in a large boreal watershed

Boreal watersheds contain a vast quantity of terrestrially derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) originating from wetland and forest soils, yet variation in the potential for photochemical transformation of boreal aquatic DOM sources remains poorly understood. Laboratory solar radiation exposure experiments were conducted on DOM samples collected in three seasons, across nine sites, representing contrasting catchment composition and watershed position to assess variation in the photochemical lability of boreal DOM source and stable carbon isotopic signature (δ¹³C) of photomineralized DOM. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) loss rates during laboratory exposure were lowest in summer, suggesting that DOM may have been more photo-degraded during summer. DOM from upstream portions of forested stream sites and wetland-influenced sites was more photolabile relative to downstream portions and the river DOM, suggesting potential losses in photolabile DOM downstream and in the lower reaches of the watershed. Increased a₂₅₄:a₃₅₀ and spectral slope following sample exposure suggest photoproduction of low molecular weight (LMW) CDOM and/or a higher photoreactivity of high molecular weight versus LMW compounds. Photomineralization of nitrogen was regulated by organic nitrogen concentration and resulted in NH₄ ⁺-photoproduction rates between 0.01 and 0.3?μM N?h^?1 and ecologically significant increases in NH₄ ⁺ for these waters. The δ¹³C of the photomineralized DOM was positively correlated to initial DOC concentration and generally lower when initial DOC concentrations were lower, suggesting variation in photomineralized DOM δ¹³C may be a result of kinetic isotope fractionation. Results from this study demonstrate significant variation in the photochemical lability of boreal watershed sources of DOM. Such variation suggests landscape and environmental change has the potential to alter the biogeochemical role photochemical transformations play in downstream portions of boreal watersheds.