Wind-driven estuarine turbidity maxima in Mandovi Estuary,central west coast of India

Systematic studies on the suspended particulate matter (SPM) measured on a seasonal cycle in the Mandovi Estuary, Goa indicate that the average concentrations of SPM at the regular station are ∼20mg/l, 5mg/l, 19mg/l and 5mg/l for June–September, October–January, February–April and May, respectively. SPM exhibits low-to-moderate correlation with rainfall indicating that SPM is also influenced by other processes. Transect stations reveal that the SPM at sea-end stations of the estuary are at least two orders of magnitude greater than those at the river-end during the monsoon. Estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM) of nearly similar magnitude occurs at the same location in two periods, interrupted by a period with very low SPM concentrations. The ETM occurring in June–September is associated with low salinities; its formation is attributed to the interactions between strong southwesterly winds (5.1–5.6ms⁻¹) and wind-induced waves and tidal currents and, dominant easterly river flow at the mouth of the estuary. The ETM occurring in February–April is associated with high salinity and is conspicuous. The strong NW and SW winds (3.2–3.7ms⁻¹) and wind-driven waves and currents seem to have acted effectively at the mouth of the estuary in developing turbidity maximum. The impact of sea breeze appears nearly same as that of trade winds and cannot be underestimated in sediment resuspension and deposition     

Development of satellite green vegetation fraction time series for use in mesoscale modeling: application to the European heat wave 2006

A method is presented for development of satellite green vegetation fraction (GVF) time series for use in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The GVF data is in the WRF model used to describe the temporal evolution of many land surface parameters, in addition to the evolution of vegetation. Several high-resolution GVF products, derived from high-quality satellite retrievals from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer images, were produced and their performance was evaluated in long-term WRF simulations. The atmospheric conditions during the 2006 heat wave year over Europe were simulated since significant interannual variability in vegetation seasonality was found. Such interannual variability is expected to increase in the coming decades due to climatic changes. The simulation using a quadratic normalized difference vegetation index to GVF relationship resulted in consistent improvements of modeled temperatures. The model mean temperature cold bias was reduced by 10 % for the whole domain and by 20–45 % in areas affected by the heat wave. The study shows that WRF simulations during heat waves and droughts, when vegetation conditions deviate from the climatology, require concurrent land surface properties in order to produce accurate results.     

Short- and long-term sediment transport in western Bohai Bay and coastal areas

Sediment cores (∼40–100 cm) were collected at 12 locations in the western Bohai Bay, the Haihe River estuary, the Yongding River estuary and the Tianjin Harbor, China, during 24–26 July 2007, and analyzed for ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb activities. Due to localized hydrodynamic patterns and frequent disturbance from dredging activities, steady-state sedimentation features were not observed in this study. As demonstrated in the ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb profiles, the temporal and spatial variations of these radionuclides support a non-steady state depositional environment in the study area. By comparing ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb inventories in the sediments with those of the atmospheric source, we found that: 1) sediments dredged from the Tianjin Harbor or eroded from nearby estuarine and coastal areas are retained in the western Bohai Bay for relatively short intervals (several months), as reflected in the relatively high ⁷Be inventories in the western Bohai Bay; 2) over the long-term (years to decades), ²¹⁰Pb inventories in the sediments imply that there is a net on-shore transport of sediments, and the sediments are mass-balanced in the entire study area. Overall, our results suggest that the sediments are retained in the estuaries and the western Bohai Bay despite local variability in sediment dynamics and disturbance due to human activities.     

Supereruptions as a Threat to Civilizations on Earth-like Planets

The largest explosive volcanic eruptions (supereruptions) produce >1000 km³ of ejected material and ≥1000 Mt (10¹⁵ g) of submicron atmospheric aerosols and dust. These eruptions may be capable of creating global climatic disturbances sufficient to cause severe problems for world agriculture and modern civilization. Supereruptions are estimated to occur on average about every 50,000 years, which is about twice the frequency of impacts by comets and asteroids ≥1 km diameter predicted to cause similar climatic effects. Prediction, prevention, and mitigation of global volcanic climatic disasters may be potentially more difficult than planetary protection from the threat of large impacts, so that explosive volcanism might limit the longevity of technological civilizations.     

Tides in a body librating about a spin–orbit resonance: generalisation of the Darwin–Kaula theory

The Darwin-Kaula theory of bodily tides is intended for celestial bodies rotating without libration. We demonstrate that this theory, in its customary form, is inapplicable to a librating body. Specifically, in the presence of libration in longitude, the actual spectrum of Fourier tidal modes differs from the conventional spectrum rendered by the Darwin–Kaula theory for a nonlibrating celestial object. This necessitates derivation of formulae for the tidal torque and the tidal heating rate, that are applicable under libration. We derive the tidal spectrum for longitudinal forced libration with one and two main frequencies, generalisation to more main frequencies being straightforward. (By main frequencies we understand those emerging due to the triaxiality of the librating body.) Separately, we consider a case of free libration at one frequency (once again, generalisation to more frequencies being straightforward). We also calculate the tidal torque. This torque provides correction to the triaxiality-caused physical libration. Our theory is not self-consistent: we assume that the tidal torque is much smaller than the permanent-triaxiality-caused torque, so the additional libration due to tides is much weaker than the main libration due to the permanent triaxiality. Finally, we calculate the tidal dissipation rate in a body experiencing forced libration at the main mode, or free libration at one frequency, or superimposed forced and free librations.     

Magnetospheric accretion and pre-main-sequence stellar masses

We present a method of determining lower limits on the masses of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars and so constraining the PMS evolutionary tracks. This method uses the redshifted absorption feature observed in some emission-line profiles of T Tauri stars, indicative of infall. The maximum velocity of the accreting material measures the potential energy at the stellar surface, which, combined with an observational determination of the stellar radius, yields the stellar mass. This estimate is a lower limit owing to uncertainties in the geometry and projection effects. Using available data, we show that the computed lower limits can be larger than the masses derived from PMS evolutionary tracks for M   0.5 M. Our analysis also supports the notion that accretion streams do not impact near the stellar poles but probably hit the stellar surface at moderate latitudes.