Exploring the time geography of public transport networks with the gtfs2gps package

Journal of Geographical Systems - The creation of the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) in the mid-2000s provided a new data format for cities to organize and share digital information on...     

Evaluation of water resources in a high-mountain basin in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Serra da Estrela</Emphasis>, Central Portugal,using a semi-distributed hydrological model

High-mountain basins provide a source of valuable water resources. This paper presents hydrological models for the evaluation of water resources in the high-mountain Zêzere river basin in Serra da Estrela, Central Portugal. Models are solved with VISUAL BALAN v2.0, a code which performs daily water balances in the root zone, the unsaturated zone and the aquifer and requires a small number of parameters. A lumped hydrological model fails to fit measured stream flows. Its limitations are overcome by considering the dependence of the temperature and precipitation data with elevation and the spatial variability in hydrogeomorphological variables with nine sub-basins of uniform parameters. Model parameters are calibrated by fitting stream flow measurements in the Zêzere river. Computed stream flows are highly sensitive to soil thickness, whereas computed groundwater recharge is most sensitive to the interflow and percolation recession coefficients. Interflow is the main component of total runoff, ranging from 41 to 55% of annual precipitation. High interflows are favored by the steep relief of the basin, by the presence of a high permeability soil overlying the fractured low permeability granitic bedrock and by the extensive subhorizontal fracturing at shallow depths. Mean annual groundwater recharge ranges from 11 to 15% of annual precipitation. It has a significant uncertainty due to uncertainties in soil parameters. This methodology proves to be useful to handle the research difficulties regarding a complex mountain basin in a context of data scarcity.     

Multi-Scale Analysis of the Geomagnetic Symmetric Index (sym)

In this work we present a methodology to estimate the geomagnetic symmetric index (Sym) based on the wavelet analysis of the time series of the H component of the geomagnetic field measured at mid-latitude stations localized at Kakioka (KAK), Honolulu (HON), Hermanus (HER) and San Juan (SJG). A case study of the intense geomagnetic storm of 17–22 February 1999, caused by intense southward magnetic fields just behind an interplanetary shock driven by a magnetic cloud, is shown as an example of the procedure of derivation of the symmetric index and the capabilities of this analysis to improve the study of the coupling of the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. Other examples are shown in order to demonstrate the applicability of the methodology to different magnetospheric conditions. It is shown that the long period variations of the symmetric index are linearly correlated to variations at the same periods of the H component of the geomagnetic field and that the contribution of short period variations to the symmetric index are biased by localized current systems such as the partial ring current and the field aligned currents.     

Comparison Between Halo cme Expansion Speeds Observed on the Sun,the Related Shock Transit Speeds to Earth and Corresponding Ejecta Speeds at 1 au

We have compared characteristics of 38 halo coronal mass ejections observed on the Sun by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph onboard SOHO with their corresponding counterparts observed near Earth by the magnetic field and plasma instruments onboard the ACE, WIND and SOHO satellites, in the period from January 1997 to April 2001. We only have selected events that have some associated interplanetary ejecta structure at 1 AU and we have compared the lateral expansion speeds of these halo CMEs and the corresponding ejecta speeds near Earth. We found that there is a high correlation between these two speeds. The results are very similar to the study done by Lindsay et al. (1999) using observations made by Solwind and SMM coronagraphs, and Helios-1 and PVO plasma and interplanetary field data from the period of 1979 to 1988. Also, we reviewed the relation between the CME-related shock transit speed to Earth and the ejecta speeds near Earth. This kind of relation is very important to estimate ejecta speeds of events for which no interplanetary observations are available.     

From the plutonic root to the volcanic roof of a continental magmatic arc: a review of the Neoproterozoic Araçuaí orogen,southeastern Brazil

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The Araçuaí-West Congo orogen (AWCO) is one of the various components of the Brasiliano/Pan-African orogenic network generated during the...     

What is wrong with post-fire soil erosion modelling? A meta-analysis on current approaches,research gaps,and future directions

In the near future, a higher occurrence of wildfires is expected due to climate change, carrying social, environmental, and economic implications. Such impacts are often associated with an increase of post-fire hydrological and erosive responses, which are difficult to predict. Soil erosion models have been proven to be a valuable tool in the decision-making process, from emergency response to long-term planning, however, they were not designed for post-fire conditions, so need to be adapted to include fire-induced changes. In recent years, there have been an increasing number of studies testing different models and adaptations for the prediction of post-fire soil erosion. However, many of these adaptations are being applied without field validation or model performance assessment. Therefore, this study aims to describe the scientific advances in the last 20 years in post-fire soil erosion modelling research and evaluate model adaptations to burned areas that aim to include: (i) fire-induced changes in soil and ground cover; (ii) fire-induced changes in infiltration; (iii) burn severity; and (iv) mitigation measures in their predictions. This study also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, suggests potential improvements, and identifies directions for future research. Results show that studies are not homogeneously distributed worldwide, according to the model type used or by region most affected by wildfire. During calibration, 73% of cases involved model adaptation to burned conditions, and only 21% attempted to accommodate new processes. Burn severity was addressed in 75% of cases, whilst mitigation measures were simulated in 27%. Additionally, only a minor percentage of model predictions were validated with independent field data (17%) or assessed for uncertainties (13%). Therefore, further efforts are required in the adaptation of erosion models to burned conditions, to be widely used for post-fire management decisions. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Limit Equilibrium Analyses for Internal Design of Geosynthetic Reinforced Slopes: Influence of Potential Failure Surface and Strength Distribution

The paper presents results from a computer code, based on limit equilibrium analyses, able to quantify earth pressure coefficients for the internal design of geosynthetic reinforced soil structures and identify the potential failure surfaces. Failure mechanisms assuming bilinear or logarithmic spiral failure surfaces are considered. The influence of the potential failure surface and geosynthetic strength distribution on the earth pressure coefficient is analysed. Required reinforcement tensile strengths calculated by the developed program are compared with values published in the literature. To further evaluate the capabilities of limit equilibrium analyses, the numerical modelling of a geosynthetic reinforced steep slope, designed at ultimate limit state conditions (FS = 1), is also presented. Good agreement was achieved between the potential failure surfaces predicted by limit equilibrium analyses and those obtained with numerical modelling.     

A New Interlaboratory Characterisation of Silicon,Rare Earth Elements and Twenty‐Two Other Trace Element Concentrations in the Natural River Water Certified Reference Material SLRS‐6 (NRC‐CNRC)

The natural river water reference material SLRS‐6 (NRC‐CNRC) is the newest batch of a quality control material routinely used in many international environmental laboratories. This work presents a nine‐laboratory compilation of measurements of major and trace element concentrations and their related uncertainties, unavailable in the NRC‐CNRC certificate (B, Cs, Li, Ga, Ge, Hf, Nb, P, Rb, Rh, Re, S, Sc, Se, Si, Sn, Th, Ti, Tl, W, Y, Y, Zr and REEs). Measurements were mostly made using inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry. The results are compared with equivalent data for the last batch of the material, SLRS‐5, measured simultaneously with SLRS‐6 in this study. In general, very low concentrations, close to the quantification limits, were found in the new batch. The Sr isotopic ratio is also reported.     

A viscoplastic subloading soil model for rate‐dependent cyclic anisotropic structured behaviour

This paper presents a new purely viscoplastic soil model based on the subloading surface concept with a mobile centre of homothety, enabling the occurrence of viscoplastic strains inside the yield surface and avoiding the abrupt change in stiffness of the traditional overstress viscoplastic models. This is required for overconsolidated soils. The model is formulated to reproduce the soil rate‐dependent behaviour under cyclic loading (changes in loading direction) and incorporates both initial and induced anisotropy, as well as destructuring. The model shows good qualitative response to some imposed three‐dimensional stress paths under quasi‐inviscid (elastoplastic) behaviour. Some of the main time‐dependent aspects of soil behaviour that the model is capable of reproducing were also illustrated. The capability of the model to adequately reproduce the results from an undrained triaxial test performed on stiff overconsolidated clays from the Lisbon region (Formação de Benfica), with an unloading–reloading deviatoric stress cycle at constant mean stress, that incorporates a series of staggered fast loading and creep stages, was evaluated. The model was able to reproduce well the main observed aspects of the time‐dependent stress–strain response and pore pressure evolution of a stiff overconsolidated clay under complex loading. The revised and generalised viscoplastic subloading surface concept is viable and can be applied to a consistent extension to viscoplasticity, including in the interior of the yield surface, of existing elastoplastic models formulated for soils and other materials. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.