Geostatistical regionalization of glacial aquitard thickness in northwestern Germany, based on fuzzy kriging

In many instances hydrogeological parameters obtained by conventional methods for selected localities within an aquifer or an aquitard are not sufficient for adequate regionalization at the scale of the entire layer. Here, we demonstrate an application of the fuzzy kriging method in regionalization of hydrogeological data, in which the set of conventional, crisp values is supplemented by imprecise information subjectively estimated by an expert. It is believed that such an approach eventually may reflect the real-world conditions more closely than a traditional crisp-value approach, because the former does not impose exactness artificially on phenomena which are diffuse by their nature. Spatial interpolation was done for the thickness of one of the major aquitards (till and glaciolacustrine clay) in northwestern Germany. The dataset consists of 329 crisp values from boreholes supplemented by 172 imprecise values defined as fuzzy numbers. It is demonstrated that the reliability of regionalization was higher, compared to regionalization performed with the crisp dataset only. Fuzzy kriging was performed with FUZZEKS (Fuzzy Evaluation and Kriging System) developed at the Ecosystem Research Center at the University of Kiel.     

GNSS remote sensing of the Australian tropopause

Radio occultation (RO) techniques that use signals transmitted by Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have emerged over the past decade as an important tool for measuring global changes in tropopause temperature and height, a valuable capacity given the tropopause??s sensitivity to temperature variations. This study uses 45,091 RO data from the CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload, 80 months), GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment, 23 months) and COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate, 20 months) satellites to analyse the variability of the tropopause??s height and temperature over Australia. GNSS RO temperature profiles from CHAMP, GRACE, and COSMIC are first validated using radiosonde observations provided by the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia). These are compared to RO soundings from between 2001 and 2007 that occurred within 3 h and 100 km of a radiosonde. The results indicate that RO soundings provide data of a comparable quality to radiosonde observations in the tropopause region, with temperature deviations of less than 0.5 ± 1.5 K. An analysis of tropopause height and temperature anomalies indicates a height increase over Australia as a whole of ca. 4.8 ± 1.3 m between September 2001 and April 2008, with a corresponding temperature decrease of ?0.019 ± 0.007 K. A similar pattern of increasing height/decreasing temperature was generally observed when determining the spatial distribution of the tropopause height and temperature rate of change over Australia. Although only a short period has been considered in this study, a function of the operating time of these satellites, the results nonetheless show an increase in the height of the tropopause over Australia during this period and thus may indicate regional warming. Several mechanisms could be responsible for these changes, such as an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and lower stratospheric cooling due to ozone loss, both of which have been observed during the last decades.     

When hazard avoidance is not an option: lessons learned from monitoring the postdisaster Oso landslide,USA

On 22 March 2014, a massive, catastrophic landslide occurred near Oso, Washington, USA, sweeping more than 1 km across the adjacent valley flats and killing 43 people. For the following 5 weeks, hundreds of workers engaged in an exhaustive search, rescue, and recovery effort directly in the landslide runout path. These workers could not avoid the risks posed by additional large-scale slope collapses. In an effort to ensure worker safety, multiple agencies cooperated to swiftly deploy a monitoring and alerting system consisting of sensors, automated data processing and web-based display, along with defined communication protocols and clear calls to action for emergency management and search personnel. Guided by the principle that an accelerating landslide poses a greater threat than a steadily moving or stationary mass, the system was designed to detect ground motion and vibration using complementary monitoring techniques. Near real-time information was provided by continuous GPS, seismometers/geophones, and extensometers. This information was augmented by repeat-assessment techniques such as terrestrial and aerial laser scanning and time-lapse photography. Fortunately, no major additional landsliding occurred. However, we did detect small headscarp failures as well as slow movement of the remaining landslide mass with the monitoring system. This was an exceptional response situation and the lessons learned are applicable to other landslide disaster crises. They underscore the need for cogent landslide expertise and ready-to-deploy monitoring equipment, the value of using redundant monitoring techniques with distinct goals, the benefit of clearly defined communication protocols, and the importance of continued research into forecasting landslide behavior to allow timely warning.

     

The tropospheric distribution of formaldehyde during TROPOZ II

A series of 149 measurements of the HCHO mixing ratio were made between 0 and 10 km altitude and 70° N to 60° S latitude during TROPOZ II. The data show a vertical decrease of the HCHO mixing ratio with altitude at all latitudes and a broad latitudinal maximum in the HCHO mixing ratio between 30° N and 30° S at all altitudes. The measured mixing ratios of HCHO are considerably higher than those expected from CH₄ oxidation alone, but agree broadly with the average latitude by altitude distribution of HCHO derived by a 2D model including emissions of C₁–C₇ hydrocarbons. A number of the regional scale deviations of the measured HCHO distribution from the average modelled one can be explained in terms of the local wind field.     

THE KRAMER CREEK,COLORADO METEORITE: A NEW L4 CHONDRITE

The Kramer Creek, Colorado, chondrite was found in 1966 and identified as a meteorite in 1972. Bulk chemical analysis, particularly the total iron content (20.36%) and the ratio of Fe_total/SiO₂ (0.52), as well as the compositions of olivine (Fa_21.7) and orthopyroxene (Fs_18.3) place the meteorite into the L-group of chondrites. The well-defined chondritic texture of the meteorite, the presence of igneous glass in the chondrules and of low-Ca clinopyroxene, as well as the slight variations in FeO contents of olivine (2.4% MD) and orthopyroxene (5.6% MD) indicate that the chondrite belongs to the type 4 petrologic class.     

Th sorption and export models in the water column: A review

Over the past few decades, the radioisotope pair of ²³⁸U / ²³⁴Th has been widely and increasingly used to describe particle dynamics and particle export fluxes in a variety of aquatic systems. The present paper is one of five review articles dedicated to ²³⁴Th. It is focused on the models associated with ²³⁴Th whereas the companion papers (same issue) are focused on present and future methodologies and techniques (Rutgers van der Loeff et al.), C / ²³⁴Th ratios (Buesseler et al.), ²³⁴Th speciation (Santschi et al.) and present and future applications of ²³⁴Th [Waples, J.T., Benitez-Nelson, C.R., Savoye, N., Rutgers van der Loeff, M., Baskaran, M., Gustafsson, Ö., this issue. An Introduction to the application and future use of ²³⁴Th in aquatic systems. Marine Chemistry, FATE special issue]. In this paper, we review current ²³⁴Th scavenging models and discuss the relative importance of the non-steady state and physical terms associated with the most commonly used model to estimate ²³⁴Th flux. Based on this discussion we recommend that for future work the use of models should be accompanied by a discussion of the effect that model and data uncertainty have on the model results. We also suggest that future field work incorporate repeat occupations of sample sites on time scales of 1–4 weeks in order to evaluate steady state versus non-steady state estimates of ²³⁴Th export, especially during high flux events (> ca. 800 dpm m^− 2 d^− 1). Finally, knowledge of the physical oceanography of the study area is essential, particularly in ocean margins and in areas of established upwelling (e.g., Equatorial Pacific). These suggestions will greatly enhance the application of ²³⁴Th as a tracer of particle dynamics and flux in more complicated regimes.     

Significance of vertical flux as a sink for surface water DMSP and as a source for the sediment surface in coastal zones of northern Europe

In April 1997 and 1998 the significance of sedimentation as a sink for epipelagic dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) production and as a source for marine sediments was reassessed using a newly designed sediment trap. The behaviour of the traps in immersion was monitored continuously and the collection efficiency was evaluated with ²³⁴Th measurements. Net DMS(P) fluxes were corrected for some physical and biological losses during the whole sedimentation process providing reliable estimates of gross DMSP fluxes. It is shown that daily losses by sedimentation account for between 0.1% and 16% of seawater particulate DMSP (DMSPp) standing stocks, and between 3% and 75% of daily DMSPp production. In the Malangen fjord we observed temporal increases of DMSP production and standing stocks which resulted also in increases of DMSP vertical fluxes and DMS(P) concentrations at the sediment surface. This result illustrates how tight the coupling can be between pelagos and benthos, and confirms that DMS(P) concentration in the sediment was a reliable diagnostic indicator of vertical export from overlying waters in Malangen fjord. In Ullsfjord, however, DMS(P) concentrations in the sediment were poorly indicators of Phaeocystis pouchetii export during the early stage of growth of a bloom. The high load of DMS(P) in Balsfjord's sediments could neither be attributed to local vertical sedimentation nor to short-term lateral advection of fresh DMSP-containing phytoplanktonic material, and provides indication that this tracer sometimes also can be misleading. The highest loads of DMS(P) in sediments and the fastest rates of sedimentation occurred in the Southern Bight of the North Sea.     

Cosmological constraints from the X-ray gas mass fraction in relaxed lensing clusters observed with Chandra

We present precise measurements of the X-ray gas mass fraction for a sample of luminous, relatively relaxed clusters of galaxies observed with the Chandra observatory, for which independent confirmation of the mass results is available from gravitational lensing studies. Parametrizing the total (luminous plus dark matter) mass profiles using the model of Navarro, Frenk & White, we show that the X-ray gas mass fractions in the clusters asymptote towards an approximately constant value at a radius r ₂₅₀₀, where the mean interior density is 2500 times the critical density of the Universe at the redshifts of the clusters. Combining the Chandra results on the X-ray gas mass fraction and its apparent redshift dependence with recent measurements of the mean baryonic matter density in the Universe and the Hubble constant determined from the Hubble Key Project, we obtain a tight constraint on the mean total matter density of the Universe,     , and measure a positive cosmological constant,     . Our results are in good agreement with recent, independent findings based on analyses of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background radiation, the properties of distant supernovae, and the large-scale distribution of galaxies.     

On the emptiness of voids

The observability of a galaxy population inside of voids is estimated by assuming a void population similar to the one of nearby field galaxies in density as well as in morphological mixture. Obviously an extension to apparent magnitudes beyond m = 22 for a complete sample of galaxies in a sufficient large field is needed to get reliable information on a void population.