Observational study of the seasonality of the submonthly and intraseasonal signal over the tropics

Summary Atmospheric variability in outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) and tropospheric relative vorticity (VOR) over the South American region was studied from 1979 to 1996 using the complex Morlet wavelet function. The analyses focus on spatial variation in intraseasonal and submonthly scales. Scalograms were used to measure submonthly intraseasonal oscillations in convection, which were found to be predominant in the tropical regions. However, 7-day and 15-day oscillations were observed at tropical and extratropical latitudes in spring and winter, indicating that transient disturbances play a more prominent role. Regarding VOR, tropical energy intensities were highest in the spring and summer, whereas subtropical and extratropical energy intensities were highest in the autumn and winter. The dynamics of the 25-day and 45-day VOR oscillations indicates a possible correlation with Rossby waves over the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, mainly during the summer. During winter, the 7-day and 15-day VOR oscillations are more frequent at higher latitudes and are enhanced along storm tracks. It was also observed that convection amplitudes in the regions of maximum intensity change appreciably from year to year and from season to season, showing that the behavior of the submonthly and intraseasonal oscillations is nonperiodic and correlates strongly with El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation years. These results confirm the efficiency of wavelet analysis for time-scale studies of atmospheric variability.     

Hazard assessment in rock cliffs at Central Algarve (Portugal): A tool for coastal management

Coastal hazards are in the interface of human activities with natural coastal processes. The conflicts arising from this relationship require new approaches suitable for coastal management that consider the dynamic of coastal areas. A method to assess hazard in rock cliffs is presented, combining cliff evolution forcing mechanisms along with protection factors, according to a weighted factors system. This method provides a rapid evaluation of vulnerability for cliffed areas, supporting coastal management and hazard mitigation. The method was applied to the rocky cliffs of the densely populated coastal zone between Galé and Olhos de Água (Southern Portugal), where high and very high hazard values were found to be dominant. A method validation was made using the vulnerability areas and the recorded mass movements over a 45 year period in the same area.     

Modelling the long-term distribution of significant wave height with the Beta and Gamma models

The paper suggests modelling the long-term distribution of significant wave height with the Gamma, Beta of the first and second kind models. The three models are interrelated, flexible and cover the three different tail types of Extreme Value Theory. They can be used simultaneously as a means of assessing the uncertainty effects that result from choosing equally plausible models with different tail types. This procedure is intended for those applications that require the long-term distribution of significant wave height as input rather than the prediction of extreme values. The models are fitted to some significant wave data as an illustration. Details about maximum likelihood estimation are given in A.     

地下水水源保护区范围计算的KLF法及其在徐州张集地区的应用

详细介绍了地下水水源保护区范围的计算方法:Krijgsman-Lobo-Ferreira(KLF)法,分别推导出了正水流梯度方向、负水流梯度方向和垂直于地下水流方向保护区范围的计算公式,并就方法的适用性及参数取值等问题进行了探讨.在徐州张集地区应用的结果表明,KLF法提供了一种计算地下水保护区范围的便捷、科学、有效的方法,计算结果对于确定地下水源保护区范围及有效保护地下水源具有实际意义.     

Numerical modelling of deformation of multi-directional random waves over a varying topography

Two numerical formulations of the breaking phenomenon were implemented in a numerical model for random wave propagation based on the elliptic formulation of the mild-slope equation. The randomness of the wave field was simulated based on a spectral component method, in which the 3-D spectrum is discretised in components of equal energy. One of the breaking process formulations is based on the concept of breaking each independent spectral component. The other is based on the distribution of the local amount of energy dissipated through the independent spectral components. The model based on the concept of breaking each independent spectral component produces the best estimates of the wave field, when the numerical results are compared with laboratory data.     

Biomarkers of Exposure and Effects for Assessing Toxicological Risk of Endocrine Disrupters in Top Predators of the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract. Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) have the potential to alter hormone pathways that regulate reproductive processes in wildlife and fisheries. In this research the unexplored hypothesis that Mediterranean top predator species (such as large pelagic fish and marine mammals) are potentially at risk due to EDCs is investigated. In the Mediterranean environment, top predators accumulate high concentrations of polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) and toxic metals, incurring high toxicological risk. Here we illustrate the need to develop sensitive biomarkers for evaluation of toxicological risk in top marine predators (Xiphias gladius, Thunnus thynnus thynnus) and non-lethal techniques, such as non-destructive biomarkers, for the hazard assessment of threatened species exposed to EDCs, such as marine mammals ( Stenella coeruleoalba, Tursiops truncatus, Delphinus delphis and Balaenoptera physalus ).     

Do extrusion ages reflect magma generation processes at depth? An example from the Neogene Volcanic Province of SE Spain

The high-K calc-alkaline volcanic rocks along the Neogene Volcanic Province of SE Spain represent crustal anatectic melts mixed with mantle components during the opening of the Alborán Sea. Partially melted metapelitic enclaves, along with the geochemical signature, provide evidence of their crustal source. U–Pb SHRIMP geochronology on monazite and zircon from enclaves and their hosting lavas in the localities of El Hoyazo, Mazarrón and Mar Menor reveals variable delays between the melting at depth and the eruption of the volcanics. These data indicate that: (1) the most important event of anatexis in the Neogene spanned at least the 3 m.y. interval between 12 and 9 Ma; (2) there is no trend in age of crustal melting; and (3) the delay between magma generation and extrusion varies from more than 3 m.y. at El Hoyazo to ~0.5 m.y. and possibly 2.5 m.y. at Mar Menor, with no significant delay measurable at Mazarrón. The variable time delay between anatexis and lava extrusion indicates that radiometric ages of volcanics may provide misleading information on the timing of magma genesis occurring at depth. This highlights the pitfall of basing detailed geodynamic models on volcanic extrusion ages alone. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Rockfall seismic features analysis based on in situ tests:frequency,amplitude, and duration

In the seismic event classification,determining the seismic features of rockfall is significantly important for the automatic classification of seismic events because of the huge amount of raw data recorded by seismic stations in continuous monitoring. At the same time, the rockfall seismic features are still not completely understood.This study concentrates on the rockfall frequency content, amplitude(ground velocity), seismic waveform and duration analysis, of an artificial rockfall test at Torgiovannetto(a former quarry in Central Italy). A total of 90 blocks were released in the test, and their seismic signals and moving trajectories were recorded by four tri-axial seismic stations and four cameras, respectively. In the analysis processing,all the artificial rockfall signal traces were cut separately and the seismic features were extracted individually and automatically. In this study, the relationships between a) frequency content and impacted materials, b) frequency content and the distance between block releasing position and seismic station(source-receiver distance) were discussed. As a result, we found that the frequency content of rockfall focuses on 10-60 Hz and 80-90 Hz within a source-receiver distance of 200 m, and it is well correlated with impacted material and source-receiver distance. To evaluate the difference between earthquake and rockfall, 23 clear earthquake signals recorded in a seven month-long continuous seismic monitoring, carried out with the four seismic stations, were picked out, according to the Italian national earthquakes database(INGV). On these traces we performed the same analysis as in the artificial rockfall traces, and two parameters were defined to separate rockfall events from earthquake noise. The first one, the amplitude ratio, is related to the amplitude variation of rockfall between two stations and is greater than that of earthquakes, because of the higher attenuation occurring for rockfall events, which consists in high frequencies whereas for earthquakes it consists in low frequencies. The other parameter, the shape of waveform of signal trace, showed a significant difference between rockfall and earthquake and that could be a complementary feature to discriminate between both. This analysis of artificial rockfall is a first step helpful to understand the seismic characteristics of rockfall, and useful for rockfall seismic events classification in seismic monitoring of slope.     

A Measurement of Omega from the North American Test Flight of Boomerang

We use the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background, measured during the North American test flight of the Boomerang experiment, to constrain the geometry of the universe. Within the class of cold dark matter models, we find that the overall fractional energy density of the universe Omega is constrained to be 0.85相似文献