Fission tracks in minerals: Annealing kinetics,track structure and age correction

It is shown that the annealing kinetics of fission tracks in apatite can be described by a sum of exponential decay functions. From an analysis of the temperature dependence of this annealing law it is concluded that the etchability of fission tracks is due to extended defects, i.e. systems of dislocation loops. The multiexponential annealing law is also applied to prove that the plateau correction method is basically correct, but rather as a method for determining a lower limit than the “true” fission track age.     

Street-scale storm surge load impact assessment using fine-resolution numerical modelling: a case study from Nemuro,Japan

Natural Hazards - Due to gradual sea level rise and changes in the climate system, coastal vulnerability to storm surge hazards is expected to increase in some areas. Studies regarding the effect...     

Hydraulic roughness over simple subaqueous dunes

Detailed studies of flow over subaqueous dunes in laboratory flumes were used to suggest a virtual near-bed layer of twice the dune height in which the mean velocity is accelerated towards the crest by contraction. The mean flow velocity in this layer above the crest, transformed into friction velocity by means of the surface skin roughness, is shown to give values consistent with measured values. The resulting dimensionless shear stress due to skin friction is depth-independent, in contrast to that derived by means of often cited traditional methods. As a result of the relationship between dune height and the thickness of the near-bed layer, an expression for the expansion loss behind dunes was formulated and used to relate form resistance directly to dune height.     

A global heat and freshwater forcing dataset for ocean models

A global dataset based on the ECMWF Re-Analyses (ERA) is presented that can be used as surface boundary conditions for ocean models with sea-ice components. The definition of these conditions is based on bulk formulae. To study the mean ocean circulation, a mean annual cycle on a daily basis was constructed from ERA for all relevant parameters including wind stress. Continental runoff is considered by using information about the catchment areas of the rivers and about the main drainage basins. The bulk formulae were extended by using sea ice concentration.To estimate meridional heat transports (MHT) and to avoid any drift in ocean model simulations, the heat and fresh water budgets have been closed by applying an inverse procedure to fine-tune the fluxes towards observed transports. To improve the MHTs on the Southern Hemisphere the winds and the short wave radiation at southern higher latitudes should be corrected. Furthermore, tests were performed concerning short wave radiation which was increased in the tropics and decreased in the subsidence zones.The heat and fresh water fluxes are assessed by using a scheme of Macdonald and Wunsch based on hydrographic sections. The net heat fluxes of ERA and of the forcing dataset are consistent with the heat flux divergences and convergences estimated by this scheme except for parts of the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean where none of these datasets is consistent with these estimates. In the subtropical South Indian Ocean the forcing dataset is consistent with these estimates while ERA are not. The flux components of ERA and the forcing dataset were compared to several observational datasets (SRB, SOC, HOAPS, GPCP, and CMAP). For each component, at least one of these datasets (especially HOAPS) supports the effects of the inverse procedure and the bulk formulae almost globally with some regional exceptions: short wave radiation in the tropical oceans and the subtropical North Atlantic, latent heat flux at higher latitudes, and precipitation in the northern North Atlantic.Comparisons to the NCAR/NCEP Re-Analyses (NRA) (versions 1 and 2) and the ECHAM model in place of ERA lead to similar results. In the North Atlantic the net heat fluxes of the model based datasets approach the hydrographic estimate with increasing resolution. Applied to any ocean/sea-ice model and compared to ERA, the forcing dataset would induce only a relative small net sea-surface buoyancy loss.A comparison of the forcing dataset to measurements made using one buoy deployed in the western Pacific warm pool and five buoys deployed in the subduction region of the Northeast Atlantic shows that at the site of the first buoy the net heat fluxes of the forcing dataset are in poorer agreement than those of ERA. At the sites of two subduction buoys both datasets show the same level of agreement within the error bars specified. At the sites of the three remaining subduction buoys the forcing dataset shows a marginal improvement on ERA.     

A method for detecting the diffusion of silver iodide particles in the atmosphere

Summary A technique is described which allows the study of the concentration of silver-iodide particles produced by a ground generator. It consists of marking these particles with Iodine 131, then filtering the air at the required places with air-borne filters. The iodine is extracted chemically, concentrated in a very small silver iodide disc which is then placed upon a nulcear emulsion. After two weeks the activity is measured by electron track counting. Limitations of the method are given.The paper has been published in extenso in the «Zeitschrift für angewandte Mathematik and Physik» (ZAMP), XIa, p. 375, 1958.