An analysis of soil moisture dynamics using multi-year data from a network of micrometeorological observation sites

Soil moisture data, obtained from four AmeriFlux sites in the US, were examined using an ecohydrological framework. Sites were selected for the analysis to provide a range of plant functional type, climate, soil particle size distribution, and time series of data spanning a minimum of two growing seasons. Soil moisture trends revealed the importance of measuring water content at several depths throughout the rooting zone; soil moisture at the surface (0–10 cm) was approximately 20–30% less than that at 50–60 cm. A modified soil moisture dynamics model was used to generate soil moisture probability density functions at each site. Model calibration results demonstrated that the commonly used soil matric potential values for finding the vegetation stress point and field content may not be appropriate, particularly for vegetation adapted to a water-controlled environment. Projections of future soil moisture patterns suggest that two of the four sites will become severely stressed by climate change induced alterations to the precipitation regime.     

Wave-induced surface drift of an inextensible thin film

In this study, the surface drift of an inextensible film due to a series of progressive gravity waves is investigated both analytically and experimentally. A second approximation of the conformal mapping that transforms the progressive sinusoidal surface to the horizontal axis is applied, thus allowing the analysis to formally accommodate a boundary layer thickness that is much less than the wave height. By computing the stream function to the third order that is an order higher than the past analysis, a pressure component in phase with the wave slope is revealed. The pressure force generated is comparable to the bottom shear on the thin film induced by the moving fluid and thus cannot be ignored. Based on the combined forces on the surface firm, a mean drift is estimated by assuming that the opposing force is due to the viscous drag induced by the drift motion. The experimental results show that the computed drift velocity based on the present study mostly underestimates the experimental observations, but it is in closer agreement than the classical Phillips' 7/4 estimate.     

Size sorting of fine-grained sediments during erosion: Results from the western Gulf of Lions

Sediment cores from the western Gulf of Lions France were subject to known bottom shear stresses with the goal of understanding size-specific sediment erodibility. On cruises in October 2004, February and April 2005, cores with an undisturbed sediment–water interface were collected along a transect extending seaward from the Tet river mouth. The cores were exposed to increasing shear stresses (0.01–0.4 Pa) onboard the vessel shortly after collection by using a Gust erosion chamber. Samples of the suspensate were collected during the erosion experiments and analyzed for disaggregated inorganic grain size (DIGS) using a Coulter Multisizer IIe. Size-specific mobility plots were generated by dividing the proportion of each grain size in suspension at each shear stress by its proportion in the sediment before erosion. If all grain sizes that make up the bottom sediment are eroded equally from the bed, then mobility equals one for all grain sizes. Values >1 indicate that the suspended sediment is enriched in the size class and values <1 indicate that the size class is enriched in the bed. Results show that in non-cohesive, sandy silts, fine grains (clays and fine silts) are eroded preferentially from the bed at low shear stresses. With increasing bottom stress progressively larger grains are eroded from the bed. In cohesive silts, preferential erosion of the finer sizes no longer occurs, with all sizes up to medium silts eroding at approximately the same rate. Effectively, a sandy silt can be winnowed of its fine grain fraction during erosion while cohesive silts cannot. This difference in the sortability of cohesive and non-cohesive sediment during erosion may control the position and maintenance of the sand–mud transition and the sequestration of surface-adsorbed contaminants.     

Temporal and spatial changes in grain size on a macro-tidal channel-flat complex: results from Kingsport,Nova Scotia,Bay of Fundy

Ocean Dynamics - Understanding the processes that lead to seasonal changes in grain size on muddy macro-tidal flat and channel complexes will assist efforts to predict future changes caused by...     

An experimental study of temperature effect on modal parameters of the Alamosa Canyon Bridge

Damage detection techniques have been proposed to exploit changes in modal parameters and to identify the extent and location of damage in large structures. Most of such techniques, however, generally neglect the environmental effects on modal parameters. Such environmental effects include changes in loads, boundary conditions, temperature, and humidity. In fact, the changes due to environmental effects can often mask more subtle structural changes caused by damage. This paper examines a linear adaptive model to discriminate the changes of modal parameters due to temperature changes from those caused by structural damage or other environmental effects. Data from the Alamosa Canyon Bridge in the state of New Mexico were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the adaptive filter for this problem. Results indicate that a linear four-input (two time and two spatial dimensions) filter to temperature can reproduce the natural variability of the frequencies with respect to time of day. Using this simple model, we attempt to establish a confidence interval of the frequencies for a new temperature profile in order to discriminate the natural variation due to temperature. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Taylor Dispersion of Contaminants by Dual-peak Spectral Random Waves

Recent extensive and important studies have provided detailed information and compelling evidence on how the presence of waves influences the vertical diffusivity/dispersivity in the coastal environment, which can affect various water quality considerations such as the distribution of suspended sediments in the water column as well as the potential of eutrophication. Comparatively, how the presence of waves influences the horizontal diffusivity/dispersivity has received only scant attention in the literature. Our previous works investigated the role played by the Taylor mechanism due to the wave-induced drift profile which leads to the longitudinal dispersion of contaminants in the horizontal direction, under regular sinusoidal waves and random waves with single-peak spectra.Natural waves in the coastal environment, however, often possess dual-peak spectra, comprising both higher frequency wind waves and lower frequency swells. In this study, the Taylor dispersion of contaminants under random waves with dual-peak spectra is examined through analytical derivation and numerical calculations. The effects of various dual-peak spectral parameters on the horizontal dispersion, including the proportion of lower frequency energy, peak frequency ratio and spectral shape parameter, are investigated. The results show that the relative energy distribution between the dual peaks has the most significant effect. Compared with single-peak spectra with equivalent energy, the Taylor dispersion with dual-peak spectra is stronger when the lower frequency is close to the peak frequency of the single-peak spectrum, and weaker with the higher frequency instead. Thus, it can be concluded that with a dual-peak wave spectrum, wind-dominated seas with higher frequency lead to stronger dispersion in the horizontal direction than swell-dominated seas with lower frequency.     

Targeting European R&D for accidental marine pollution

Accidental marine pollution can have major ecological and economic consequences at national and trans-national levels, and there is a need to achieve a better integration of science into actual decision-making systems to support prevention measures, response systems and management activities.. Effective linking mechanisms between R&D and end-users/policy stakeholders are required to ensure the relevance of R&D, effective uptake of R&D outputs, and suitable policy development. Different issues and barriers to effectively link accidental marine pollution R&D effort to end-users concerns and needs and to develop a trans-national strategic approach are identified, analysed, and further developed into recommendations.     

A Bayesian probabilistic approach for structure damage detection

A Bayesian probabilistic approach is presented for the damage detection of multistorey frame structures. In this paper, a Bayesian probabilistic approach is applied to identify multiple damage locations using estimated modal parameters when (1) the measurement data are potentially corrupted with noise, (2) only a small number of degrees of freedom are measured, and (3) a few fundamental modes are estimated. To reduce the potentially intensive computational cost of the proposed method, a branch-and-bound search scheme is proposed and a simplified approach for the modelling of multistorey frame structures is employed. A six-storey shear frame example and two multistorey frame examples, with multiple damage locations, are presented to illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.