Morphodynamics of a bedrock‐alluvial meander bend that incises as it migrates outward: approximate solution of permanent form

In meandering rivers cut into bedrock, erosion across a channel cross‐section can be strongly asymmetric. At a meander apex, deep undercutting of the outer bank can result in the formation of a hanging cliff (which may drive hillslope failure), whereas the inner bank adjoins a slip‐off slope that connects to the hillslope itself. Here we propose a physically‐based model for predicting channel planform migration and incision, point bar and slip‐off slope formation, bedrock abrasion, the spatial distribution of alluvial cover, and adaptation of channel width in a mixed bedrock‐alluvial channel. We simplify the analysis by considering a numerical model of steady, uniform bend flow satisfying cyclic boundary conditions. Thus in our analysis, ‘sediment supply’, i.e. the total volume of alluvium in the system, is conserved. In our numerical simulations, the migration rate of the outer bank is a specified parameter. Our simulations demonstrate the existence of an approximate state of dynamic equilibrium corresponding to a near‐solution of permanent form in which a bend of constant curvature, width, cross‐sectional shape and alluvial cover distribution migrates diagonally downward at constant speed, leaving a bedrock equivalent of a point bar on the inside of the bend. Channel width is set internally by the processes of migration and incision. We find that equilibrium width increases with increasing sediment supply, but is insensitive to outer bank migration rate. The slope of the bedrock point bar varies inversely with both outer bank migration rate and sediment supply. Although the migration rate of the outer bank is externally imposed here, we discuss a model modification that would allow lateral side‐wall abrasion to be treated in a manner similar to the process of bedrock incision. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating the vibration properties of integrated ceiling systems considering interactions with surrounding equipment

Studies on recent earthquakes highlighted that buildings with minimal structural damage still suffer from extensive damage and failure of nonstructural components. The dropping and damage of suspended ceiling systems, which typically consist of acceleration-sensitive nonstructural elements, resulted in lengthy functional disruptions and extended recovery time. This article experimentally and analytically examined the vibration properties of an integrated ceiling system considering the interactions with surrounding electrical equipment. The theoretical stiffness and corresponding frequency of electrical equipment were initially derived and then verified by subsequent vibration tests and numerical analyses. The seismic performance of the air conditioner (AC) was evaluated with different installment configurations based on design spectra and floor response spectra. Vibration tests of the suspended integrated ceiling system considering the interactions with surrounding equipment showed that the inclusion of peripheral constraints increased the first horizontal vibration frequency of the ceiling system by a factor of approximately 6. The natural frequencies of all components in the integrated ceiling system were almost identical, which was attributed to the coupled behavior between the ceiling panels and surrounding equipment, emphasizing the effect of interactions between adjacent components during dynamic analysis. Based on the above experimental investigation, an associated numerical model of the integrated ceiling system was created. Finally, corresponding parametric studies that included the interactions with surrounding equipment, reinforcing braces of ACs and strengthening members at the rise-up location between two elevations were performed.     

Simultaneous water and vapour transfer in an unsaturated mudstone in badlands terrain,southwestern Taiwan

The simultaneous transfer of pore fluid and vapour was studied in the unsaturated shallow subsurface of a Plio-Pleistocene marine mudstone badland slope in southwestern Taiwan during the dry season using field monitoring data and numerical simulations. Data from field monitoring show mass-basis water contents of ~0.05 to ~0.10 that decrease towards the unsaturated ground surface and were invariant during the middle part of the dry season, except for daily fluctuations. In addition, the observed daily fluctuations in water content correlate with fluctuations in bedrock temperature, especially at depths of 2.5–5.0 cm. Periodic increases in water content occurred most notably during the day, when the bedrock temperature showed the greatest increase. Water contents then decreased to the previous state as bedrock temperature decreased during the night. Calculated vapour fluxes within the mudstone during the day increased up to 6 × 10⁻⁶–1 × 10⁻⁵ kg m⁻² s⁻¹, deriving a 0.01–0.02 increase in mass-basis water content at 2.5 cm depth for a 12-h period. This agrees with field monitoring data, suggesting that increases in water content occurred due to vapour intrusions into the bedrock. Pore water electrical conductivity (EC) showed periodic variations due to vapour intrusion, and gradually increased between the ground surface and depths of 2.5–5.0 cm. In contrast, pore water EC gradually decreased between 15 and 40 cm depth. Calculated water fluxes at depths of 2.5–40.0 cm varied from −4 × 10⁻⁶ to −2 × 10⁻⁹ kg m⁻² s⁻¹. These fluxes generated an increase in solute concentrations at the ground surface, with negative values of water flux indicating an upwards movement of water towards the surface. We show that the increase in solute content due to solute transfer from depth is highly dependent on variations in water flux with depth. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial variation in low-level <Superscript>134</Superscript>Cs in the coastal sediments off central Honshu in the Sea of Japan: implications for delivery,migration, and redistribution patterns

In 2014 and 2015, we examined the spatial distribution of cesium-134 (half-life: 2.06 years) from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in marine sediments within coastal–basin areas (water depths of 40–520 m) off central Honshu Island (the main island of Japan) in the Sea of Japan. The ¹³⁴Cs concentrations in both the surface sediment (0–1 cm depth) and whole-core inventory exhibited wide variations, and were highest at the site closest to the Agano River Estuary area (6.7 Bq/kg-dry and 886 Bq/m², respectively). This indicates that ¹³⁴Cs in coastal areas was delivered by riverine suspended solids (SS). Given the spatial variation in ¹³⁴Cs concentrations, we believe that ¹³⁴Cs partially migrated northeastward within ~50 km along Honshu Island (at water depths shallower than ~140 m), and southwestward, including the Sado Basin area. This is predominantly attributable to the transport of SS by bottom currents and unsteady downward delivery onto the steep slopes of the basin. The total amount of ¹³⁴Cs in the study area in 2014 was estimated at approximately 0.6 TBq (decay-corrected to March 11, 2011, date of FDNPP accident).     

Long-term change and variation of salinity in the western North Pacific subtropical gyre revealed by 50-year long observations along 137°E

The 137°E repeat hydrographic section for 50 winters during 1967–2016 has been analyzed to examine interannual to interdecadal variations and long-term changes of salinity and temperature in the surface and intermediate layers of the western North Pacific, with a particular focus on freshening in the subtropical gyre. Rapid freshening on both isobars and isopycnals began in the mid-1990s and persisted for the last 20 years in the upper main thermocline/halocline in the western subtropical gyre. In addition, significant decadal variability of salinity existed in the subtropical mode water (STMW), as previously reported for the shallower layers. An analysis of the 144°E repeat hydrographic section during 1984–2013 supplemented by Argo profiling float data in 2014 and 2015 revealed that the freshening trend and decadal variability observed at 137°E originated in the winter mixed layer in the Kuroshio Extension (KE) region and was transmitted southwestward to 137°E 1–2 years later in association with the subduction and advection of STMW. The mechanism of these changes and variations in the source region was further investigated. In addition to the surface freshwater flux in the KE region pointed out by previous studies, the decadal KE variability in association with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation likely contributes to the decadal salinity variability through water exchange between the subtropics and the subarctic across the KE. Interdecadal change in both the surface freshwater flux and the KE state, however, failed to explain the rapid freshening for the last 20 years.     

Possible change in distribution of seaweed, Sargassum horneri, in northeast Asia under A2 scenario of global warming and consequent effect on some fish

Global warming effects on seaweed beds are already perceptible. Their geographical distributions greatly depend on water temperatures. To predict future geographical distributions of brown alga, Sargassum horneri, forming large beds in the northwestern Pacific, we referred to future monthly surface water temperatures at about 1.1° of longitude and 0.6° of latitude in February and August in 2050 and 2100 simulated by 12 organizations under an A2 scenario of global warming. The southern limit of S. horneri distribution is expected to keep moving northward such that it may broadly disappear from Honshu Island, the Chinese coast, and Korean Peninsula in 2100, when tropical Sargassum species such as Sargassum tenuifolium may not completely replace S. horneri. Thus, their forests in 2100 do not substitute those of S. horneri in 2000. Fishes using the beds and seaweed rafts consisting of S. horneri in East China Sea suffer these disappearances.     

Earthquake engineering research needs in light of lessons learned from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake

Earthquake engineering research and development have received much attention since the first half of the twentieth century. This valuable research presented a huge step forward in understanding earthquake hazard mitigation, which resulted in appreciable reduction of the effects of past earthquakes. Nevertheless, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and the subsequent tsunami resulted in major damage. This paper presents the timeline of earthquake mitigation and recovery, as seen by the authors. Possible research directions where the authors think that many open questions still remain are identified. These are primarily based on the important lessons learned from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.     

亚洲通量观测网建立的回顾与展望

1IntroductionTheelucidationofthebudgetsofcarbon,waterandothermassesatvariouslandecosystemshasbecomeanimportantsubjectintheglobalwarmingissue.Forthisstudy,thedatafrompreciseandlong-termobservationsofcarbondioxide,watervapor,andheatfluxtakeninvariouslandsur…     

Cross-scale coupling at a perpendicular collisionless shock

A full particle simulation study is carried out on a perpendicular collisionless shock with a relatively low Alfven Mach number (M_A = 5). Recent self-consistent hybrid and full particle simulations have demonstrated ion kinetics are essential for the non-stationarity of perpendicular collisionless shocks, which means that physical processes due to ion kinetics modify the shock jump condition for fluid plasmas. This is a cross-scale coupling between fluid dynamics and ion kinetics. On the other hand, it is not easy to study cross-scale coupling of electron kinetics with ion kinetics or fluid dynamics, because it is a heavy task to conduct large-scale full particle simulations of collisionless shocks. In the present study, we have performed a two-dimensional (2D) electromagnetic full particle simulation with a “shock-rest-frame model”. The simulation domain is taken to be larger than the ion inertial length in order to include full kinetics of both electrons and ions. The present simulation result has confirmed the transition of shock structures from the cyclic self-reformation to the quasi-stationary shock front. During the transition, electrons and ions are thermalized in the direction parallel to the shock magnetic field. Ions are thermalized by low-frequency electromagnetic waves (or rippled structures) excited by strong ion temperature anisotropy at the shock foot, while electrons are thermalized by high-frequency electromagnetic waves (or whistler mode waves) excited by electron temperature anisotropy at the shock overshoot. Ion acoustic waves are also excited at the shock overshoot where the electron parallel temperature becomes higher than the ion parallel temperature. We expect that ion acoustic waves are responsible for parallel diffusion of both electrons and ions, and that a cross-scale coupling between an ion-scale mesoscopic instability and an electron-scale microscopic instability is important for structures and dynamics of a collisionless perpendicular shock.     

An overview of Task 6 of the Äspö Task Force: modelling groundwater and solute transport: improved understanding of radionuclide transport in fractured rock

An overview is presented of a 4-year study by the Äspö Task Force on Modelling of Groundwater Flow and Transport of Solutes, whose primary aim was to build a bridge between the approaches used for site characterisation (SC) and performance assessment (PA) associated with nuclear waste repositories. Eleven modelling teams representing six national radioactive waste organisations participated in eight modelling exercises whose objectives were: to assess simplifications used in PA models; to determine how, and to what extent, experimental tracer and flow experiments can constrain the range of parameters used in PA models; to support the design of SC programmes to assure that the results have optimal value for PA calculations; and to improve the understanding of site-specific flow and transport behaviour at different scales using SC models. The modelling tasks were concerned with flow and transport through single and multiple near-planar features on SC and PA timescales, including the diffusion of solutes into multiple immobile zones adjacent to fracture surfaces. In general, tracer tests provide only limited quantitative constraints on retention parameter values relevant to PA but nevertheless provide insight about the flow and transport processes, which is a key element of the bridge between SC and PA.