Dry conditions over Argentina and the related monthly circulation patterns

Summary This paper presents an analysis of the frequency and spatial distribution of droughts in Argentina during the 20th century. Special attention is given to the mean monthly atmospheric circulation associated with dry conditions in the Pampas during the second half of the century. A reduction in the number of dry cases is found throughout the century, especially during the warm season (October to March). Droughts occurred more often in only one or two regions simultaneously and only a few covered a large territory. Many of the dry months in the Pampas occurred under, or were preceded by, neutral ENSO conditions. During the warm season the ENSO cold phase preceded some of the dry months. Circulation patterns at 1000 hPa and 500 hPa and their temporal evolution are determined using Principal Component Analysis. A coupled 1000-500 hPa level analysis is performed to study the vertical coherence associated with dry conditions. Different patterns related to the warm season are clearly identified using this methodology. The principal feature are positive anomalies over the continent (principally at low levels), high circulation index and an enhancement of the westerlies. Patterns related to the cold season reflect high pressure at the surface, but some differences pre- and post- 1970 have been observed. In this season, some dry cases were found to have high correlations with opposites modes of PC scores. In these cases, a water deficit acted as the principal causes of the dry conditions.     

Book Review: Geostatistics Rio 2000, Quantitative Geology and Geostatistics: By M. Armstrong,C. Bettini,N. Champigny,A. Galli,and A. Remacre (eds.) Kluwer Academic Publishers,Dordrecht, 2002, 235 p., $94 (U.S.), ISBN 1-4020-0470-2 (hard back)

Mathematical Geosciences -     

Analysis of electrojet-distorted magnetotelluric sounding curves

South America presents several unique geomagnetic features, one of which is the Equatorial Electrojet (EEJ), a current system which extends itself east to west in Northeastern Brazil for almost 3500 km. Considering the fact that the influence of this phenomenon at low magnetic latitudes can be detected at great distances from its central axis, it is important to simulate its effect in magnetotelluric (MT) exploration. To accomplish this and by the use of an integral equation scheme, we have modeled the MT response of confined three-dimensional (3D) bodies (dykes in an homogeneous half-space) and deep 3D structures (horst and graben located at Marajo Basin in Northern Brazil). As the inductive source, we replace the classical plane wave source by a common line of current, besides gaussian and undulatory electrojets. The results of the modelling indicate that the studied effect is prominent in both one-dimensional (1D) and 3D media for periods (T) greater than 10 s. It decreases with distance, but it is detectable as far as 3000 km from the center of the EEJ. It is also observed that for T greater than 10 s, the computed soundings can be strongly distorted, mainly by EEJ effects in the host medium which, in turn, cause changes in the final branch of the 3D soundings. For structures in the Marajo Basin, our results reveal that the 3D galvanic effect prevails in the interval 0.1<T<10 s, while source influence occurs mainly for T>10 s. On the other hand, automatic inversion of these 3D data shows that, in equatorial regions having complex geology, some errors arise in conventional 1D interpretation of the MT soundings. This is due to the superposition of the host medium response, the galvanic effect of 3D structures, and the EEJ influence.     

A comparison of the Iberian and Ebro Basins during the Permian and Triassic, eastern Spain: A quantitative subsidence modelling approach

The Permian–Triassic sediments of the Iberian Plate are a well studied case of classical Buntsandstein–Muschelkalk–Keuper facies, with good sedimentological interpretations and precise datings based on pollen and spore assemblages, ammonoids and foraminifera. Synrift–postrift cycles are recorded in these facies, but there are only a few studies of quantitative subsidence analysis (backstripping method) and only a previous one using forward modelling for the quantification of synrift–postrift phases of this period.Here we present the results obtained by the quantitative analysis of fourteen field sections and oil-well electric log records in the Iberian and Ebro Basins, Spain. Backstripping analysis showed five synrift phases of 1 to 3 million years duration followed by postrift periods for the Permian–Triassic interval. The duration, however, shows lateral variations and some of them are absent in the Ebro Basin. The forward modelling analysis, assuming local isostatic compensation, has been applied to each observation point using one-layer and two-layer lithospheric configurations. The second one shows a better fit between observation and model prediction in a systematic way, so a two layer configuration is assumed for the sedimentary basin filling analysis. Lithospheric stretching factors β and δ obtained in the forward modelling analysis are never higher than 1.2, but sometimes β < 1 and simultaneously δ > 1 in the same section. If surficial extension is compensated by deep compression either at the roots of the rift basins or in far-away zones is not yet clear, but this anomaly can be explained using a simple shear extensional model for the Iberian and Ebro basins.     

Phase relationship between sea level and abrupt climate change

Direct traces of past sea levels are based on the elevation of old coral reefs at times of sea level highstands. However, these measurements are discontinuous and cannot be easily correlated with climate records from ice cores. In this study we show a new approach to recognizing the imprint of sea level changes in continuous sediment records taken from the continental slope at locations that were continuously submerged, even during periods of sea level lowstand. By using a sediment core precisely synchronized with Greenland ice cores, we were able to recognize major floods of the Mediterranean continental shelf over the past 270 kyr. During the last glacial period five flooding events were observed at the onset of the warmest Greenland interstadials. Consistent correspondence between warm climate episodes and eustatic sea level rises shows that these global flooding events were generated by pronounced melting of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, due to rapid intensification of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.The method described in this study opens a new perspective for inter-hemispheric synchronization of marine climate records if applied in other continental margins from the Southern Hemisphere or the equatorial regions.     

Removal of Carbamazepine,Naproxen, and Trimethoprim from Water by Amberlite XAD‐7: A Kinetic Study

The adsorption kinetics of carbamazepine, naproxen, and trimethoprim in aqueous solution by Amberlite? XAD‐7 has been studied. The influence of adsorbent dose (1–3 g/L), stirring rate (80–240 rpm), pH (2–9), temperature (20–60°C), and initial concentration (25–75 ppm) on the adsorption kinetics has been analyzed. The removal efficiency in the first 2 h reaches 85% for carbamazepine, 60% for naproxen, and 70% for trimethoprim. pH appears to be the most important factor conditioning the removal of these latter solutes, whereas carbamazepine adsorption seems to be independent of the pH of the adsorptive solution. Initial concentration and operation temperature moderately influence the adsorption process. Finally, stirring rate scarcely affects the process. The experimental data have been fitted to four kinetic models, namely pseudo‐first and pseudo‐second order, intra‐particle diffusion and Bangham's. The model providing the best fit is the pseudo‐second order one. Again, pH is the factor that affects the adsorption rate in a more remarkable manner although other parameters such as temperature and stirring rate also contribute to accelerate the removal of the solutes. Under the optimal operation conditions, Amberlite? XAD‐7 exhibits a promising ability for the removal of the pharmaceuticals under study.     

Trajectory models and reference frames for crustal motion geodesy

We sketch the evolution of station trajectory models used in crustal motion geodesy over the last several decades, and describe some recent generalizations of these models that allow geodesists and geophysicists to parameterize accelerating patterns of displacement in general, and postseismic transient deformation in particular. Modern trajectory models are composed of three sub-models that represent secular trends, annual oscillations, and instantaneous jumps in coordinate time series. Traditionally the trend model invoked constant station velocity. This can be generalized by assuming that position is a polynomial function of time. The trajectory model can also be augmented as needed, by including one or more logarithmic transients in order to account for typical multi-year patterns of postseismic transient motion. Many geodetic and geophysical research groups are using general classes of trajectory model to characterize their crustal displacement time series, but few if any of them are using these trajectory models to define and realize the terrestrial reference frames (RFs) in which their time series are expressed. We describe a global GPS reanalysis program in which we use two general classes of trajectory model, tuned on a station by station basis. We define the network trajectory model as the set of station trajectory models encompassing every station in the network. We use the network trajectory model from the each global analysis to assign prior position estimates for the next round of GPS data processing. We allow our daily orbital solutions to relax so as to maintain their consistency with the network polyhedron. After several iterations we produce GPS time series expressed in a RF similar to, but not identical with   ITRF2008. We find that each iteration produces an improvement in the daily repeatability of our global time series and in the predictive power of our trajectory models.