The meteorologically abnormal year of 2006 and natural disasters in the Philippines

In the early part of 2006 the Philippines was hit by a La Nina event which brought floods, flashfloods and landslides. The most significant event was the February 2006 landslide that covered the whole community of Guinsaugon, in Southern Leyte, resulting in 154 deaths with 973 people still missing. Another rare event was the simultaneous presence of two tropical cyclones inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility （PAR） in August-- Tropical Depression Bopha and Tropical Storm Saomai--that enhanced the southwest monsoon. With the strong winds and high waves associated with the southwest mon- soon, an oil tanker, the M/T Solar 1, sank, resulting in the worst oil spill the country has ever suffered. Lastly, with a weak El Nino phenomenon forming in the Pacific Ocean and affecting the Philippines, a destructive typhoon, Xangsane, made a multi-landfall before hitting Metropolitan Manila. This was followed by the landfall of three superty- phoons--Cimaron, Chebi and Durian--during the last quarter of the year, bringing tremendous destruction of life and property. The occurrence of these weather events are attributed to climate variability the effects of which were exacerbated by a range of factors that include inappropriate land use.     

Streambank dewatering for increased stability

Streambank erosion is often the dominant source of sediment leaving modified watersheds. Mass failure of high, steep banks is one of the most serious forms of streambank erosion. The risk of a given bank experiencing mass failure is a function of bank height, angle, and soil strength, which is governed by soil moisture. Two methods for bank dewatering were tested in adjacent sections of streambank bordering a deeply incised channel in northern Mississippi: a low‐cost pump system and subsurface horizontal drains. Pore water pressures (both positive and negative pressures, or matric suction) were continuously monitored for 2 years at the pumped site, at an adjacent untreated control section, and for 1 year at the site stabilized with horizontal drains. Resulting data were used to calculate a time series of the factor of safety using a computer model. Over the course of two wet seasons, average bank retreats for the control and pumped plots were 0·43 and 0·21 m, respectively. More limited monitoring revealed that the site with passive drains retreated about 0·23 m. At the pumped site pore water pressure was 3–4 kPa lower than at the control site during the most critical periods. Accordingly, computed factors of safety were above the failure threshold at the pumped site, but fell below unity at the control site on 11 occasions over the period of observation. Similarly, the drained site displayed generally lower pore water pressure and higher safety factors except for two events when drains were evidently overwhelmed with the volume of local surface and subsurface flows. These results suggest, but do not prove, that bank dewatering promoted lower rates of bank retreat and higher levels of stability since the three sites had slight differences in soils, geometry and boundary conditions. Initial cost of the dewatering treatments were significantly less than orthodox bank stabilization measures, but operation and maintenance requirements may be greater. Published in 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemistry of atmospheres formed during accretion of the Earth and other terrestrial planets

We used chemical equilibrium and chemical kinetic calculations to model chemistry of the volatiles released by heating different types of carbonaceous, ordinary and enstatite chondritic material as a function of temperature and pressure. Our results predict the composition of atmospheres formed by outgassing during accretion of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Outgassing of CI and CM carbonaceous chondritic material produces H₂O-rich (steam) atmospheres in agreement with the results of impact experiments. However, outgassing of other types of chondritic material produces atmospheres dominated by other gases. Outgassing of ordinary (H, L, LL) and high iron enstatite (EH) chondritic material yields H₂-rich atmospheres with CO and H₂O being the second and third most abundant gases. Outgassing of low iron enstatite (EL) chondritic material gives a CO-rich atmosphere with H₂, CO₂, and H₂O being the next most abundant gases. Outgassing of CV carbonaceous chondritic material gives a CO₂-rich atmosphere with H₂O being the second most abundant gas. Our results predict that the atmospheres formed during accretion of the Earth and Mars were probably H₂-rich unless the accreted material was dominantly CI and CM carbonaceous chondritic material. We also predict significant amounts of S, P, Cl, F, Na, and K in accretionary atmospheres at high temperatures (1500-2500 K). Finally, our results may be useful for interpreting spectroscopic observations of accreting extrasolar terrestrial planets.     

The total operating characteristic to measure diagnostic ability for multiple thresholds

The relative operating characteristic (ROC) is a popular statistical method to measure the association between observed and diagnosed presence of a characteristic. The diagnosis of presence or absence depends on whether the value of an index variable is above a threshold. ROC considers multiple possible thresholds. Each threshold generates a two-by-two contingency table, which contains four central entries: hits, misses, false alarms, and correct rejections. ROC reveals for each threshold only two ratios, hits/(hits + misses) and false alarms/(false alarms + correct rejections). This article introduces the total operating characteristic (TOC), which shows the total information in the contingency table for each threshold. TOC maintains desirable properties of ROC, while TOC reveals strictly more information than ROC in a manner that makes TOC more useful than ROC. We illustrate the concepts with an application to land change science.     

Lunar materials: Their mineralogy,petrology and chemistry

The manned Apollo 11, 12, 14 and 15 and the automated Luna 16 lunar missions have provided us with lunar rock and regolith (soil) samples from a number of geologically distinct sites. The mare regions were sampled by Apollo 11, 12 and Luna 16, whereas Apollo 14 landed on a terrain with more relief, the Fra Mauro Formation which represents an ejecta blanket from the Imbrian Basin, and Apollo 15 touched down near the lunar highlands. The samples collected consist of a mixture, mainly of basalt, breccia and regolith (soil-particulate matter, generally < 1 cm in size). The basalts show considerable variation in texture, mineralogy and chemistry and probably represent fragments from various parts of relatively thin and extensive lava flows in the maria. The breccias represent regolith material which was indurated to varying degrees by impact events. The regolith is a product of the breakdown, again by impact, of coherent rock masses of basalt and breccia.     

Dynamics of Two Planets in the 3/2 Mean-motion Resonance: Application to the Planetary System of the Pulsar PSR B1257+12

This paper considers the dynamics of two planets, as the planets B and C of the pulsar PSR B1257+12, near a 3/2 mean-motion resonance. A two-degrees-of-freedom model, in the framework of the general three-body planar problem, is used and the solutions are analyzed through surfaces of section and Fourier techniques in the full phase space of the system.On the possibility of existence of a fourth planet in distant orbit, see Wolszczan et al., 2000     

High-energy facility development plan

Plans for the deployment of a comprehensive set of instruments designed to study the high-energy emissions of solar flares have been developed as part of a series of studies for an Advanced Solar Observatory (ASO). These studies have identified the Space Station as the preferred mode for the deployment of the full ASO. The accident of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, and the growth in the estimated costs for the Space Station during the fiscal year 1989 budget discussions, have created an uncertain climate within the United States Space Program, making it difficult to predict the schedule for major programs such as the ASO. Approaches to the deployment of instruments for the study of high-energy solar emissions alone, or in conjunction with other solar instruments are discussed. As an independent entity the High-Energy Facility could be on a co-orbiting platform.     

Water Well Hydrographs: An Underutilized Resource for Characterizing Subsurface Conditions

Many of the world's major aquifers are under severe stress as a result of intensive pumping to support irrigated agriculture and provide drinking water supplies for millions. The question of what the future holds for these aquifers is one of global importance. Without better information about subsurface conditions, it will be difficult to reliably assess an aquifer's response to management actions and climatic stresses. One important but underutilized source of information is the data from monitoring well networks that provide near-continuous records of water levels through time. Most organizations running these networks are, by necessity, primarily focused on network maintenance. The result is that relatively little attention is given to interpretation of the acquired hydrographs. However, embedded in those hydrographs is valuable information about subsurface conditions and aquifer responses to natural and anthropogenic stresses. We demonstrate the range of insights that can be gleaned from such hydrographs using data from the High Plains aquifer index well network of the Kansas Geological Survey. We show how information about an aquifer's hydraulic state and lateral extent, the nature of recharge, the hydraulic connection to the aquifer and nearby pumping wells, and the expected response to conservation-based pumping reductions can be extracted from these hydrographs. The value of this information is dependent on accurate water-level measurements; errors in those measurements can make it difficult to fully exploit the insights that water-well hydrographs can provide. We therefore conclude by presenting measures that can help reduce the potential for such errors.     

Variations in 24-μm morphologies among galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey: new insights into the Hubble sequence

To study the distribution of star formation and dust emission within nearby galaxies, we measured five morphological parameters in the 3.6- and 24-μm wavebands for 65 galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) and eight galaxies that were serendipitously observed by SINGS. The morphological parameters demonstrate strong variations along the Hubble sequence, including statistically significant differences between S0/a-Sab and Sc-Sd galaxies. Early-type galaxies are generally found to be compact, centralized, symmetric sources in the 24-μm band, while late-type galaxies are generally found to be extended, asymmetric sources. These results suggest that the processes that increase the real or apparent sizes of galaxies' bulges also lead to more centralized 24-μm dust emission. Several phenomena, such as strong nuclear star formation, Seyfert activity, or outer ring structures, may cause galaxies to deviate from the general morphological trends observed at 24 μm. We also note that the 24-μm morphologies of Sdm-Im galaxies are quite varied, with some objects appearing very compact and symmetric but others appearing diffuse and asymmetric. These variations reflect the wide variation in star formation in irregular galaxies as observed at other wavelengths. The variations in the 24-μm morphological parameters across the Hubble sequence mirror many of the morphological trends seen in other tracers of the ISM and in stellar emission. However, the 24-μm morphological parameters for the galaxies in this sample do not match the morphological parameters measured in the stellar wavebands. This implies that the distribution of dust emission is related to but not equivalent to the distribution of stellar emission.     

Long-Term Evaluation of Mulch Biowall Performance to Treat Chlorinated Solvents

Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs), such as mulch biowalls, have been installed at numerous groundwater cleanup sites, and laboratory and field studies have demonstrated biotic and abiotic processes that degrade chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) in groundwater passing through these engineered remedies. However, the longevity of mulch biowalls remains a fundamental research question. Soil and groundwater sampling at seven mulch biowalls at Altus Air Force Base (AFB) approximately 10 years after installation demonstrated the ongoing degradation of CVOCs. Trichloroethene was not detected in five of seven groundwater samples collected from the biowall despite upgradient detections above federal drinking water standards. Microbial sampling established the presence of key dechlorinating bacteria and the abundance of genes encoding specific enzymes for degradation, high methane concentrations, low sulfate concentrations, and negative oxidation-reduction potential, all indicative of highly reducing conditions within the biowalls and favorable conditions for CVOC destruction via microbial reductive dechlorination. High cellulose content (>79%) of the mulch, elevated total organic carbon (TOC) content in groundwater, and elevated potentially bioavailable organic carbon (PBOC) measurements in soil samples further supports an ongoing, long-lived source of carbon. These results demonstrate the ongoing and long-term efficacy of the mulch biowalls at Altus AFB. In addition, concentrations of bacteria, TOC, PBOC, and other geochemical parameters suggest a modest impact of the biowalls downgradient. The continued presence of CVOCs downgradient may be attributable to back diffusion from low-permeability shale. However, the biowalls continue to provide benefits by removing CVOCs in groundwater, thus reducing further CVOC loading to the downgradient, low-permeability strata.