Relationship between tree height and landslide characteristics obtained by GIS assessment

Landslides in forested landscapes have far-reaching implications, beyond that of just destroying the forest itself, sometimes initiating large-scale sediment disasters. Although vegetation increases slope stability through its root network, it is hard to evaluate its contribution to slope stability over a wide area. In this study, the relationship between tree height and landslide characteristics in the Ikawa catchment, central Japan, was investigated to develop a method for evaluating the effects of forest cover on slope stability over a regional extent. Catchment-wide tree height was obtained using airborne LiDAR point cloud data and used in conjunction with the root depth profile, measured for trees of various height by digging trenches. Root tensile strength per unit area of soil was calculated from individual root diameters and empirical power law equations on the relationship between root diameter and root tensile force in order to better understand the effect that tree height has on slope stability. Landslide density in the Ikawa catchment shows that landslides occur more frequently in forests with shorter trees, with occurrence decreasing as tree height increases. This is likely due to the stabilizing features of larger trees having a greater network of roots, which is supported by the general increase in total root area and the deeper penetration of root biomass into the soil as the height of trees surveyed increases. Landslide density was not solely affected by tree height, but also by slope gradient and plane curvature. Decreasing landslide occurrence and landslide area as tree height increases suggests that slope stability increases with tree height, while the random distribution of results when comparing landslide depth to tree height suggests that while tree height has an impact on relative slope stability, the landslide failure depth is independent of tree height, and thus controlled by other factors. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experimental study on impact-induced alterations of planetary organic simulants

The present study systematically investigates shock-induced alteration of organic simulants of planetary bodies (OSPBs) as a function of peak shock pressure and temperature by impact experiments. Our results show that the composition and structure of OSPBs are unchanged upon impacts at peak pressures ≤~5 GPa and temperatures ≤~350 °C. On the other hand, these are dramatically changed upon impacts at >7–8 GPa and > ~400 °C, through loss of hydrogen-related bonds and concurrent carbonization, regardless of the initial compositions of OSPBs. Compared with previous results on static heating of organic matter, we suggest that shock-induced alteration cannot be distinguished from static heating only by Raman and infrared spectroscopy. Our experimental results would provide a proxy indicator for assessing degree of shock-induced alteration of organic matter contained in carbonaceous chondrites. We suggest that a remote-sensing signature of the 3.3–3.6 μm absorption due to hydrogen-related bonds on the surface of small bodies would be a promising indicator for the presence of less-thermally-altered (i.e., <350 °C) organic matter there, which will be a target for landing to collect primordial samples in sample-return spacecraft missions, such as Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx.     

Tectonic evolution of the triple junction off central Honshu for the past 1 million years

We discuss several models of the evolution of the trench-trench-trench triple junction off central Honshu during the past 1 m.y. on the basis of plate kinematics, morphology, gravity and seismic reflection profile data available for the area. The study area is characterized by large basins, 7–8 km deep on the inner lower trench slope on the Philippine Sea side and the deep (9 km) Izu-Bonin Trench to the east. Between the basins and the trench, there are 6–7 km-deep basement highs. The triple junction is unstable due to the movement of the Philippine Sea plate at a velocity of 3 cm/yr in WNW direction with respect to Eurasia (Northeast Japan), subparallel to the strike of the Sagami Trough. Generally we can expect the boundary area between the Philippine Sea and Pacific plates to be extended because the Pacific plate is unlikely to follow the retreating Philippine Sea plate due to the obstruction of the southeastern corner of Eurasia. The above peculiar morphology of the junction area could have resulted from this lack of stability. However, there are several possible ways to explain the above morphology.

Our gravity model across the trench-basement high-basin area shows that the basement highs are made of low-density materials (1.8–2 g/cm³). Thus we reject the mantle diapir model which proposes that the basement highs have been formed by diapiric injection of serpentinites between the retreating Philippine Sea plate and the Pacific plate.

The stretched basin model proposes that the basins have been formed by stretching of the Philippine Sea plate wedge. We estimated the extension to be about 10 km at the largest basin. We reconstructed the morphology at 1 Ma by moving the Philippine Sea plate 20 km farther to the east after closing the basins, and thus obtained 8 km depth of the 1 Ma trench, which is similar to that of the present Japan Trench to the north. Although this stretched basin model can explain the formation of the basins and the deep trench, other models are equally possible. For instance, the eduction model explains the origin of the basin by the eduction of the Philippine Sea basement from beneath the basement high, while the accretion model explains the basement highs by the accretion of the Izu-Bonin trench wedge sediments. In both of these models we can reconstruct the 1 Ma trench depth as about 8 km, similar to that of the stretched basin model.

The deformation of the basement of the basins constitutes the best criterion to differentiate between these models. The multi-channel seismic reflection profiles show that the basement of the largest basin is cut by normal faults, in particular at its eastern edge. This suggests that the stretched basin model is most likely. However, the upper part of the sediments shows that the basement high to the east has been recently uplifted. This uplift is probably due to the recent (0.5 Ma) start of accretion of the trench wedge sediments beneath this basement high.     

Intercomparison of remote measurements of stratospheric NO and NO2

During the 1982 and 1983 Balloon Intercomparison Campaigns, the vertical profile of stratospheric NO₂ was measured remotely by nine instruments and that of NO by two. Total overhead columns were measured by two more instruments. Between 30 and 35km, where measurements overlapped, agreement between NO profiles was within ±30%, which is better than the accuracies claimed by the experimenters. Between 35 and 40km there was similarly good agreement between NO₂ profiles, but below 30km, differences of greater than a factor three were found. In the second Campaign, NO₂ values from most instruments agreed within their quoted errors, except that the Oxford radiometer gave much lower values; but the first Campaign and the column measurements show a more uniform spread of results.These differences below 30km could not be resolved, but new laboratory measurements are planned which should do so.     

Mesoscale Reproducibility in Regional Ocean Modelling with a Three-Dimensional Stratification Estimate Based on Aviso-Argo Data

ABSTRACT

For dynamically consistent, high-resolution, yet cost-effective regional oceanic downscaling modelling, an empirical three-dimensional (3D) density estimate based on publicly available datasets is utilized for the Regional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS) with simple data assimilation (i.e., TS nudging, where TS stands for temperature and salinity). We rely on a method built upon the two-layer model to reconstruct a mesoscale 3D temperature and salinity field, referred to as Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMSAT)-TS, using near real-time altimeter-derived dynamic height along with Argo float profiling data. The TUMSAT-TS is first validated using in situ hydrographic data, then is implemented in the Japan Coastal Ocean Predictability Experiment (JCOPE2)-ROMS downscaling system for the Kuroshio region off Japan. We explore the usability of TUMSAT-TS by carrying out three comparative simulations with temperature and salinity nudging towards the (i) TUMSAT-TS and (ii) JCOPE2-TS fields, and (iii) without the nudging. Whereas the unassimilated case fails to properly account for the Kuroshio, both datasets individually are found to help reproduce the mesoscale variability of the Kuroshio, as well as its transient paths, volume transport, associated kinetic energy (KE) and eddy KE, and seasonally varying stratification.     

Sulfur stable isotopes indicate the source of sinking materials in a coastal bay: Otsuchi Bay,Sanriku, Japan

Through 2004 and 2005, δ ³⁴S of sinking material from Otsuchi Bay was measured at the center and rocky shore of the bay. At the center of the bay δ ³⁴S was high (18∼21‰) in the material collected from April to November. However, δ ³⁴S was low (9∼14‰) in the material collected from December to March. The increase in δ ³⁴S in April was attributed to an increase in phytoplankton biomass because marine phytoplanktonic δ ³⁴S is high. When δ ³⁴S of sinking material was low, input of riverine material or bottom sediment resuspension were considered as the probable causes, because their δ ³⁴S is low. Marine sulfur was always high (more than 70%) at both stations. The difference between the δ ³⁴S of sinking material collected from the different sampling stations indicates that marine macroalgae contribute to sinking material near the shore when phytoplankton is scarce. In conclusion, the relative influence of different material sources to sinking materials could be successfully estimated using δ ³⁴S.     

Determination of Selenium in Marine Aquatic Products by Hydride Generation-atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry （HG-AFS）

A method for the analysis of selenium in marine aquatic products by HG-AFS has been investigated. The method is based on the reduction of inorganic selenium to volatile SeH2 which is bubbled out by carrier gas of pure argon, and then swept to Ar-H2 flame quarts atomizer to measure its fluorescence intensity. The hydride generation, transportation, atomization and some instrumental parameters were studied by a kind of orthogonal design. The optimum conditions selected are as follows： reactive acidity, 20% HC1; the amount of NaBH4, 4.9mL; gas flow of argon, 600mLmin^-1; atomizing temperature, 200 ℃ ; negative high voltage, - 300V; light current, 100 mA; integral time, 7s. The detection limit of the presented method is 0.072μgL^-1 for selenium. The calibration curve shows a satisfactory line inthe concentration range from 0.000 to 1.000μgL^-1 Se. The recovery is 95.8%-102.2%.