Scenario Evaluator for Electrical Resistivity Survey Pre‐modeling Tool

Geophysical tools have much to offer users in environmental, water resource, and geotechnical fields; however, techniques such as electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) are often oversold and/or overinterpreted due to a lack of understanding of the limitations of the techniques, such as the appropriate depth intervals or resolution of the methods. The relationship between ERI data and resistivity is nonlinear; therefore, these limitations depend on site conditions and survey design and are best assessed through forward and inverse modeling exercises prior to field investigations. In this approach, proposed field surveys are first numerically simulated given the expected electrical properties of the site, and the resulting hypothetical data are then analyzed using inverse models. Performing ERI forward/inverse modeling, however, requires substantial expertise and can take many hours to implement. We present a new spreadsheet‐based tool, the Scenario Evaluator for Electrical Resistivity (SEER), which features a graphical user interface that allows users to manipulate a resistivity model and instantly view how that model would likely be interpreted by an ERI survey. The SEER tool is intended for use by those who wish to determine the value of including ERI to achieve project goals, and is designed to have broad utility in industry, teaching, and research.     

Factors Influencing Adoption and Implementation of Conservation Development Ordinances in Rural United States

Conservation Development (CD) is a land-use tool to reduce the impacts of development on natural resources, yetthe use of CD is highly variable. We used a collaborative conservation model to examine factors influencing adoption and implementation to improve the future application of CD. We interviewed 2–3 individuals including planners, board members, and developers (n?=?46) from 16 rural communities in the intermountain west and northeast U.S. Motivations to preserve rural character or comply with state statutes drove adoption. Greater capacity such as outside expertise, model regulations, and iterative revisions of ordinances was associated with stronger ordinances. Adoption processes including ample dialog across diverse constituents, especially those overseeing subdivision development, facilitated higher rates of implementation. Concerns over open space management, lack of successful CD examples, and inexperience with CD posed barriers to implementation. Understanding social context revealed the strengths and shortcomings of CD and provided guidance for strategically engaging communities in private lands conservation.     

Exploring LiDAR data for mapping the micro-topography and tidal hydro-dynamics of mangrove systems: An example from southeast Queensland,Australia

The aim was to explore the use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to map the micro-topography of an intertidal wetland in southeast Queensland Australia. The driver for this was the need to identify and map the habitats of the immature stages of an aedine disease vector mosquito (Aedes vigilax (Skuse)). We derived a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM) data set at a vertical resolution of 0.05 m from LiDAR data. The relative accuracy of the DEM across the site was tested by comparing water depth predictions derived from the DEM against in-situ water depth readings from pressure sensors over a 10-day tidal cycle, which included high spring tides. We found that the field observations of micro-topographic units important for mosquito management matched those delineated from the DEM. The micro-topography included a low berm or central ridge that was more or less continuous across the site, a shallow back basin and fringing mangroves. The fringing mangroves had unimpeded connection to the tidal source, however the central ridge blocked tidal water from the back basin for all but the highest tides. Eggshell survey indicated that the back basin was the area suitable for immature mosquitoes. We conclude that LiDAR data has application for understanding and mapping the structure of mangrove wetlands. We have also demonstrated (in a small area) that LiDAR is useful for modelling the effect of sea level changes on the coastal fringe. LiDAR may be the only method to inform research on changes to land use and ecosystems caused by sea level change.     

Spectral Models of Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs

We present models of the spectral reflectances of groups of outer Solar System objects defined primarily by their colors in the spectral region 0.4–1.2 mu;m, and which have geometric albedo ～0.04 at wavelength 0.55 μm. Our models of the groups with the strongest reflectance gradients (reddest colors) use combinations of organic tholins. We test the hypothesis that metal-reddened igneous rock-forming minerals contribute to the red colors of Centaurs and KBOs by using the space-weathered lunar soil as one of the components of our models. We find that our models can admit the presence of moderate amounts of space-weathered (metal-reddened) minerals, but that they do not require this material to achieve the red colors of the reddest outer Solar System bodies. Our models with organic tholins are consistent with the results of other investigators.     

Discussion of “Geology and diamond distribution of the 140/141 kimberlite, Fort à la Corne, central Saskatchewan, Canada”, by A. Berryman, B.H. Scott-Smith and B.C. Jellicoe (Lithos v. 76, p. 99–114)

A wide variety of geological data and geological observations by numerous geoscientists do not support a two-stage crater excavation and in-fill model, or a champagne glass-shaped geometry for the 169 or 140/141 kimberlite bodies in the Fort à la Corne kimberlite field, Saskatchewan as described by Berryman, A., Scott Smith, B.H., Jellicoe, B., (2004). Rather, these kimberlite bodies are best described as polygenetic kimberlite tephra cones and tuff rings with associated feeder vents of variable geometry as shown by previous workers for the 169 kimberlite, the 140/141 kimberlite and the Star kimberlite. The domal tephra cone geometry is preserved due to burial by conformable Cretaceous marine mudstones and siltstones and is not an artifact of Quaternary glacial processes.     

Natural hazard impacts in small island developing states: A review of current knowledge and future research needs

Small island developing states (or SIDS) are exposed to a large number of natural hazards and many characteristics of small island developing states make them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural hazards. In spite of this acknowledged vulnerability, there are relatively few studies which focus on the impacts of natural hazards in these countries. This paper presents a review of our current state of knowledge of impacts in small island developing states and highlights a number of research needs. Central to these is the need to integrate natural hazards research within a sustainable development context and the need to exploit existing procedures such as government coordinated disaster impact assessments to generate a detailed understanding of natural hazards impacts.     

Measurement of stratospheric aerosol on Saturn using an eclipse of Titan

An eclipse of Titan by Saturn was observed on December 20, 1979, to measure the aerosol content in the atmosphere of Saturn. The measurements were made with the 74-in. telescope of the Helwan Observatory, Egypt, in the bandpass 6300–7300 Å and extend to ～5 magnitudes of eclipse darkening. The faint portion of the lightcurve unambiguously requires the presence of aerosol in the lower stratosphere of Saturn. The aerosol extends to at least 20 km above the tropopause and has a one-way stratospheric vertical optical depth of 0.4_?0.02^+0.04 at 6700 Å. The results apply to the sunset terminator at a cronographic latitude of 23°S.     

Ashtech轨迹接收机在外业

美国ＤＢＢ测量公司于 1998年 10月购进Ａｓｈｔｅｃｈ公司最新产品“轨迹”单频ＧＰＳ接收机 ,以及两台ＨＰ - 48　ＧＸ电子手薄、轨迹后处理软件、红外数据通信装置及相应附件。主要用于静态控制测量、工程测量、动态地形测量和陆地勘界测量。轨迹系统的问世促使我们重新考虑ＧＰＳ技术在测绘各领域的深入应用。目前 ,ＧＰＳ外业中通常采用两台接收机安置在坐标为已知的两个基地站上持续进行静态观测 ,另一台 (或几台 )接收机在各待定点上进行静态观测和动态观测。我们试图找到一种新的测量方法完成今后的测量任务。轨迹的设计思路是 :既…     

Model evaluation experiments in the North Atlantic Basin: simulations in nonlinear terrain-following coordinates

A primitive equation ocean circulation model in nonlinear terrain-following coordinates is applied to a decadal-length simulation of the circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean. In addition to the stretched sigma coordinate, novel features of the model include the utilization of a weakly dissipative, third-order scheme for tracer advection, and a conservative and constancy-preserving time-stepping algorithm. The objectives of the study are to assess the quality of the new terrain-following model in the limit of realistic basin-scale simulations, and to compare the results obtained with it against those of other North Atlantic models used in recent multi-model comparison studies.The new model is able to reproduce many features of both the wind-driven and thermohaline circulation, and to do so within error bounds comparable with prior model simulations (e.g., CME and DYNAMO). Quantitative comparison with comparable results obtained with the Miami Isopycnic Coordinate Model (MICOM) show our terrain-following solutions are of similar overall quality when viewed against known measures of merit including meridional overturning and heat flux, Florida Straits and Gulf Stream transport, seasonal cycling of temperature and salinity, and upper ocean currents and tracer fields in the eastern North Atlantic Basin. Sensitivity studies confirm that the nonlinear vertical coordinate contributes significantly to model fidelity, and that the global inventories and spatial structure of the tracer fields are affected in important ways by the choice of lateral advection scheme.