Long-range propagation and scattering of low-frequency sound pulses in the middle atmosphere

Summary A short historical review and an analysis of the current status of both theoretical and experimental studies of long-range sound propagation in the atmosphere are given. Basic results are given on the atmospheric fine-layered structure that significantly affects the infrasonic pulse propagation and scattering in the lower and middle atmosphere. The effect of time variations (seasonal changes, tides, and both planetary and internal gravity waves) in the effective acoustic speed profile on the characteristics of infrasonic signals from different pulsed sources is discussed. The results of the studies of partial reflection (scattering) of low-frequency acoustic pulses from the fine-layered inhomogeneities of the middle atmosphere are presented. The results of the corresponding theoretical studies are also given. The potentialities of the method of long-range acoustic sounding of large-scale anisotropic turbulence in the middle atmosphere are discussed. The problems of infrasonic monitoring of nuclear low-energy explosions are also considered.     

A Simple Parameterisation for Flux Footprint Predictions

Flux footprint functions estimate the location and relative importance of passive scalar sources influencing flux measurements at a given receptor height. These footprint estimates strongly vary in size, depending on receptor height, atmospheric stability, and surface roughness. Reliable footprint calculations from, e.g., Lagrangian stochastic models or large-eddy simulations are computationally expensive and cannot readily be computed for long-term observational programs. To facilitate more accessible footprint estimates, a scaling procedure is introduced for flux footprint functions over a range of stratifications from convective to stable, and receptor heights ranging from near the surface to the middle of the boundary layer. It is shown that, when applying this scaling procedure, footprint estimates collapse to an ensemble of similar curves. A simple parameterisation for the scaled footprint estimates is presented. This parameterisation accounts for the influence of the roughness length on the footprint and allows for a quick but precise algebraic footprint estimation.     

Estimated N2O and CO2 Emissions as Influenced by Agricultural Practices in Canada

The Denitrification-Decompostion (DNDC) model was used to estimate the impact of change in management practices on N₂O emissions in seven major soil regions in Canada, for the period 1970 to 2029. Conversion of cultivated land to permanent grassland would result in the greatest reduction in N₂O emissions, particularly in eastern Canada wherethe model estimated about 60% less N₂O emissions for thisconversion. About 33% less N₂O emissions were predicted for a changefrom conventional tillage to no-tillage in western Canada, however, a slight increase in N₂O emissions was predicted for eastern Canada. GreaterN₂O emissions in eastern Canada associated with the adoption of no-tillage were attributed to higher soil moisture causing denitrification, whereas the lower emissions in western Canada were attributed to less decomposition of soil organic matter in no-till versus conventional tilled soil. Elimination of summer fallow in a crop rotation resulted in a 9% decrease in N₂O emissions, with substantial emissions occurringduring the wetter fallow years when N had accumulated. Increasing N-fertilizer application rates by 50% increased average emissions by 32%,while a 50% decrease of N-fertilizer application decreased emissions by16%. In general, a small increase in N₂O emissions was predicted when N-fertilizer was applied in the fall rather than in the spring. Previous research on CO₂ emissions with the CENTURY model (Smith et al.,2001) allowed the quantification of the combined change in N₂O andCO₂ emissions in CO₂ equivalents for a wide range of managementpractices in the seven major soil regions in Canada. The management practices that have the greatest potential to reduce the combined N₂O andCO₂ emissions are conversion from conventional tillage to permanent grassland, reduced tillage, and reduction of summer fallow. The estimated net greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction when changing from cultivated land to permanent grassland ranged from 0.97 (Brown Chernozem) to 4.24 MgCO₂ equiv. ha^–1 y^–1 (BlackChernozem) for the seven soil regions examined. When changing from conventional tillage to no-tillage the net GHG emission reduction ranged from 0.33 (Brown Chernozem) to 0.80 Mg CO₂ equiv. ha^–1 y^–1 (Dark GrayLuvisol). Elimination of fallow in the crop rotation lead to an estimated net GHG emission reduction of 0.43 (Brown Chernozem) to 0.80 Mg CO₂ equiv.ha^–1 y^–1 (Dark Brown Chernozem). The addition of 50% more or 50% less N-fertilizer both resulted in slight increases in combined CO₂ and N₂O emissions. There was a tradeoff in GHG flux with greaterN₂O emissions and a comparable increase in carbon storage when 50% more N-fertilizer was added. The results from this work indicate that conversion of cultivated land to grassland, the conversion from conventional tillage to no-tillage, and the reduction of summerallow in crop rotations could substantially increase C sequestration and decrease net GHG emissions. Based on these results a simple scaling-up scenario to derive the possible impacts on Canada's Kyoto commitment has been calculated.     

Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change on the Water Resources of the Columbia River Basin

The potential effects of climate change on the hydrology and water resources of the Columbia River Basin (CRB) were evaluated using simulations from the U.S. Department of Energy and National Center for Atmospheric Research Parallel Climate Model (DOE/NCAR PCM). This study focuses on three climate projections for the 21st century based on a `business as usual' (BAU) global emissions scenario, evaluated with respect to a control climate scenario based on static 1995 emissions. Time-varying monthly PCM temperature and precipitation changes were statistically downscaled and temporally disaggregated to produce daily forcings that drove a macro-scale hydrologic simulation model of the Columbia River basin at 1/4-degree spatial resolution. For comparison with the direct statistical downscaling approach, a dynamical downscaling approach using a regional climate model (RCM) was also used to derive hydrologic model forcings for 20-year subsets from the PCM control climate (1995–2015) scenario and from the three BAU climate(2040–2060) projections. The statistically downscaled PCM scenario results were assessed for three analysis periods (denoted Periods 1–3: 2010–2039,2040–2069, 2070–2098) in which changes in annual average temperature were +0.5,+1.3 and +2.1 °C, respectively, while critical winter season precipitation changes were –3, +5 and +1 percent. For RCM, the predicted temperature change for the 2040–2060 period was +1.2 °C and the average winter precipitation change was –3 percent, relative to the RCM controlclimate. Due to the modest changes in winter precipitation, temperature changes dominated the simulated hydrologic effects by reducing winter snow accumulation, thus shifting summer streamflow to the winter. The hydrologic changes caused increased competition for reservoir storage between firm hydropower and instream flow targets developed pursuant to the Endangered Species Act listing of Columbia River salmonids. We examined several alternative reservoir operating policies designed to mitigate reservoir system performance losses. In general, the combination of earlier reservoir refill with greater storage allocations for instream flow targets mitigated some of the negative impacts to flow, but only with significant losses in firm hydropower production (ranging from –9 percent in Period1 to –35 percent for RCM). Simulated hydropower revenue changes were lessthan 5 percent for all scenarios, however, primarily due to small changes inannual runoff.     

多年冻土地区金刚石矿的环境问题--以Yakutia 西北部Anabar矿为例

Placer diamond mining in the Anabar area involves various operations that cause long-term (nearly a quarter of a century) environmental impacts. The long history of mining activities, the technology used to mine the placers, as well as the poor assimilative capacity of the natural systems can result in serious environmental impacts in the area. The primary geochemical processes in the diamond-bearing area are affected by the occurrence of permafrost and relict ice, the lengthy duration of ice cover in water bodies, and the widespread development of cryogenic processes. This promotes physical migration of contaminants, cryogenic metamorphization of waters, and long-term accumulation of organic contaminants in low-temperature, reduction and sedimentation barriers. In this paper, some environmental and geochemical effects of diamond mining in the Arctic area are discussed.     

Transport over a narrow shelf: Exuma Cays, Bahamas

Current meter and temperature data were collected over a 402-day period from an outer shelf and a tidal channel study site in the Exuma Cays, Bahamas. The shelf width is less than 2 km, and floods and ebbs through a nearby tidal channel extend across the entire shelf and reduce coherence of wind forcing and along-shelf flow. The data are used in perturbation analyses to investigate the across-shelf turbulent transport of heat and momentum over seasonal time scales. Data show a net landward transport of both heat and momentum over the course of the study, but the perturbation products contain distinct seasonal cycles. In fall and winter months, across-shelf heat and momentum fluxes are landward, while during spring and summer months fluxes are seaward. Comparison of shelf-water temperature with the temperature of bank water leaving on the ebb suggests that seasonal cycles of across-shelf heat and momentum in shelf waters are influenced by the seasonal export of relatively warm and cool water from Great Bahama Bank.Responsible Editor: Iris Grabemann     

Space-time mapping of soil salinity using probabilistic bayesian maximum entropy

The mapping of saline soils is the first task before any reclamation effort. Reclamation is based on the knowledge of soil salinity in space and how it evolves with time. Soil salinity is traditionally determined by soil sampling and laboratory analysis. Recently, it became possible to complement these hard data with soft secondary data made available using field sensors like electrode probes. In this study, we had two data sets. The first includes measurements of field salinity (EC_a) at 413 locations and 19 time instants. The second, which is a subset of the first (13 to 20 locations), contains, in addition to EC_a, salinity determined in the laboratory (EC_2.5). Based on a procedure of cross-validation, we compared the prediction performance in the space-time domain of 3 methods: kriging using either only hard data (HK) or hard and mid interval soft data (HMIK), and Bayesian maximum entropy (BME) using probabilistic soft data. We found that BME was less biased, more accurate and giving estimates, which were better correlated with the observed values than the two kriging techniques. In addition, BME allowed one to delineate with better detail saline from non-saline areas.     

PART II: Comparison of Theoretical and Experimental Estimations of Site Effects

— To check the reliability and the quality of the theoretically estimated ground responses obtained from the 2-D simulation by the application of the hybrid method in PART-I, we compare some of them with those obtained at the same sites from observed data using the Standard Spectral Ratio (SSR). The comparison validates our synthetic modeling and shows that in cases of complex geometries, the use of at least 2-D numerical simulations is required in order to reliably evaluate site effects and thus facilitate the microzonation of the city of Thessaloniki.     

Effect of Natural and Anthropogenic Factors on Soils,Soil Water,and Subsoil Water in Kola Peninsula

The concentrations of mobile compounds of S, Cu, and Ni are determined in podzol soils in the Murmansk region taken at different distances from Severonikel Copper–Nickel Plant and their variations are analyzed. The concentrations are found to have an effect on the distribution of these elements in lysimetric and subsoil waters.     

Functioning of the White Sea Ecosystem: Studying the Transformations of Organogenic Substances Using a Mathematical Model

Long-term observational data on hydrology, hydrochemistry, and hydrobiology are generalized and used for systems analysis of the biohydrochemical transformation processes of organic and biogenic substances in a marine environment. An ecological model with the systematized data is used to assess the annual dynamics of concentrations of organic and mineral N, P, and Si compounds and dissolved organic C and O₂ in eight water areas within the White Sea at specified conditions of water mass transport, river runoff, and water exchange with the Barents Sea. Variations in the biomasses of the major transformers of organic and biogenic substances (heterotrophic bacteria, phyto- and zooplankton, and microphytes) and their biological production were also evaluated. These characteristics serve as indicators of the state of the water environment, the presence of nutrients in it, and their import from outside.