Occurrence of juvenile Atlantic sturgeon,Acipenser oxyrhynchus,in the upper tidal Delaware River

Eighty-nine juvenile Atlantic sturgeon,Acipenser oxyrhynchus oxyrhynchus, including 10 recaptures, were collected, tagged and released in the upper tidal Delaware River between July 1981 and December 1984. All were captured in the river channel between Roebling and Trenton, New Jersey, using bottom-set experimental gill nets during daylight hours. The species was present from July through December and collected in increased numbers in the past two years. The fork lengths ranged from 284 to 862 mm (mean±SD = 516 mm±106 mm) and the weights from 140 to 4,250 g (mean±SD = 1,369 g±815 g). Ten juvenile Atlantic sturgeon were recaptured between September 1983 and December 1984 and were at large from one to 418 d. Recapture data suggest that these sturgeon utilize this area annually from July through December, possibly as a nursery. Juvenile Atlantic sturgeon appear to utilize the upper tidal portion of the Delaware River for a much longer period of time and at lower temperatures than in other river systems.     

Distribution of forms of sulfur in peats from saline environments in the Florida Everglades

Although there is published information on the mechanism of sedimentary pyrite formation resulting from bacterial reduction of sulfate, little is known about the distribution of forms of sulfur, including organic, in peats. In order to increase understanding of the geochemistry of sulfur in coals, we have determined distributions of forms of sulfur in five cores of saline peat and one of brackish peat, all from areas near the Shark River and Whitewater Bay in the coastal swamps of south Florida. All concentrations vary widely with depth. Total sulfur concentrations range up to 6% of dry solids. Minor amounts of sulfur are present as H₂S, S⁰, SO₄²⁻, and acid-soluble sulfide, but the principal forms are usually pyritic and organic. The ratio, organic/pyritic, is highly variable, but at a majority of levels in a profile is considerably greater than unity. It is inferred that topochemical factors are important in determining the distribution of sulfur forms in any element of volume.     

Variograms with zonal anisotropies and noninvertible kriging systems

Zonal anisotropies are usually simply defined as those that are not geometric (i.e., that cannot be removed by an affine transformation). Such anisotropies have often been associated with zonations and models have been proposed to reflect that association. It is shown by example that such models can lead to noninvertible coefficient matrices in kriging systems, because the models are only (conditionally) semidefinite instead of positive definite. The relationship to the construction used in turning bands algorithm and also to spatial-temporal models is discussed.     

Groundwater recharge in natural dune systems and agricultural ecosystems in the Thar Desert region, Rajasthan, India

Water and nutrient availability for crop production are critical issues in (semi)arid regions. Unsaturated-zone Cl tracer data and nutrient (NO₃ and PO₄) concentrations were used to quantify recharge rates using the Cl mass balance approach and nutrient availability in the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India. Soil cores were collected in dune/interdune settings in the arid Thar Desert (near Jaisalmer) and in rain-fed (nonirrigated) and irrigated cropland in the semiarid desert margin (near Jaipur). Recharge rates were also simulated using unsaturated zone modeling. Recharge rates in sparsely vegetated dune/interdune settings in the Jaisalmer study area are 2.7–5.6 mm/year (2–3% of precipitation, 165 mm/year). In contrast, recharge rates in rain-fed agriculture in the Jaipur study area are 61–94 mm/year (10–16% of precipitation, 600 mm/year). Minimum recharge rates under current freshwater irrigated sites are 50–120 mm/year (8–20% of precipitation). Nitrate concentrations are low at most sites. Similarity in recharge rates based on SO₄ with those based on Cl is attributed to a meteoric origin of SO₄ and generally conservative chemical behavior in these sandy soils. Modeling results increased confidence in tracer-based recharge estimates. Recharge rates under rain-fed agriculture indicate that irrigation of 20–40% of cultivated land with 300 mm/year should be sustainable.     

Magnetic properties of soils from sites with different geological and environmental settings

Measurements of magnetic susceptibility of soils, reflecting magnetic enhancement of topsoils due to atmospherically deposited magnetic particles of industrial origin, are used recently in studies dealing with outlining polluted areas, as well as with approximate determination of soil contamination with heavy metals. One of the natural limitations of this method is magnetic enhancement of soils caused by weathering magnetically rich parent rock material. In this study we compare magnetic properties of soils from regions with different geological and environmental settings. Four areas in the Czech Republic and Austria were investigated, representing both magnetically rich and poor geology, as well as point-like and diffuse pollution sources. Topsoil and subsoil samples were investigated and the effect of geology and pollution was examined. Magnetic data including mass and volume magnetic susceptibility, frequency-dependent susceptibility, and main magnetic characteristics such as coercivity (Hc and Hcr) and magnetization (Ms and Mrs) parameters are compared with heavy metal contents. The aim of the paper is to assess the applicability of soil magnetometry under different geological-environmental conditions in terms of magnetic discrimination of dominant lithogenic/anthropogenic contributions to soil magnetic signature. Our results suggest that lithology represents the primary effect on soil magnetic properties. However, in case of significant atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic particles, this contribution can be clearly recognized, independent of the type of pollution source (point-like or diffuse), and discriminated from the lithogenic one. Different soil types apparently play no role. Possible effects of climate were not investigated in this study.     

Computation of 5-day temperature normals in western Europe and the Mediterranean area

Summary UsingCraddock's method of representing the annual temperature variation by a two-term harmonic form fitted to monthly means, the harmonic coefficients of 63 stations in western Europe and around the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the 5-day normals for 24 Mediterranean stations, were computed and tabulated. In addition, some of the harmonic coefficients were charted and isoplethed, showing very distinctly the influence of continentality and topography. These charts, together withCraddock's charts for northern and northwestern Europe, provide fairly complete coverage of Europe and the Mediterranean area.This paper was prepared in the offices of the Technical Support Division of the 2d Weather Wing, United States Air Force, as a matter of routine business. The information contained herein was presented at the 5th Meeting of the Italian Society of Geophysics and Meteorology by Dr.Ingrid Weiss (Genoa: 23–25 April 1957). Since the paper is of general interest to all meteorologists of the Mediterranean area, it is published here with the permission of the originating agency as «Mémoire No. 3 du Centre International de Recherches sur la Météorologie de la Méditerranée (CIRMM)».     

Kimberlites: Their relation to mantle hotspots

Available age data support the hypothesis that kimberlite intrusions are formed by mantle hotspots. The hypothesis has been tested by inverting the volcanic traces formed by three hotspots to determine the post-Triassic motions of Africa, South America, and North America relative to these hotspots. Then, using these motions, the kimberlites intruded on these continents within the last 150 m.y. are relocated to their place of origin in the present hotspot reference frame. The result indicates that a majority of the kimberlites formed within 5° of a mantle hotspot. Statistical analysis shows that this kimberlite/hotspot correlation is significant at above the 90% level.     

Including spatial distribution in a data‐driven rainfall‐runoff model to improve reservoir inflow forecasting in Taiwan

Multi‐step ahead inflow forecasting has a critical role to play in reservoir operation and management in Taiwan during typhoons as statutory legislation requires a minimum of 3‐h warning to be issued before any reservoir releases are made. However, the complex spatial and temporal heterogeneity of typhoon rainfall, coupled with a remote and mountainous physiographic context, makes the development of real‐time rainfall‐runoff models that can accurately predict reservoir inflow several hours ahead of time challenging. Consequently, there is an urgent, operational requirement for models that can enhance reservoir inflow prediction at forecast horizons of more than 3 h. In this paper, we develop a novel semi‐distributed, data‐driven, rainfall‐runoff model for the Shihmen catchment, north Taiwan. A suite of Adaptive Network‐based Fuzzy Inference System solutions is created using various combinations of autoregressive, spatially lumped radar and point‐based rain gauge predictors. Different levels of spatially aggregated radar‐derived rainfall data are used to generate 4, 8 and 12 sub‐catchment input drivers. In general, the semi‐distributed radar rainfall models outperform their less complex counterparts in predictions of reservoir inflow at lead times greater than 3 h. Performance is found to be optimal when spatial aggregation is restricted to four sub‐catchments, with up to 30% improvements in the performance over lumped and point‐based models being evident at 5‐h lead times. The potential benefits of applying semi‐distributed, data‐driven models in reservoir inflow modelling specifically, and hydrological modelling more generally, are thus demonstrated. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Derivation of a Tidal Inundation Model to Support Environmental Research in Roebuck Bay (Western Australia)

A method for deriving mean inundation times for a large expanse of intertidal mudflats is presented. Image processing techniques are used to extract waterlines from two Landsat Thematic Mapper scenes at approximately high and low tides, respectively. Along with data based on standard tidal predictions, the waterlines are utilised to derive an initial Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the tidal flat within a GIS environment. As the model fails to fully cover the mean spring tidal range, a routine is developed to linearly extrapolate this surface to the elevation of the mean spring low tide. Tidal interpolation equations are then utilised to generate an inundation time in hours for each cell on this extrapolated DEM. Output from the generalised model is a series of maps showing isolines of inundation for both the mean spring and neap tidal cycles, as well as sets of point data that may be integrated with existing biological sample data. These data will be used to support an ongoing geologic and biologic investigation of the bay and its ecology.