Using geolifespans to model dynamic geographic domains

Geographic objects are characterized by having different durations of existence, or geolifespans. A typology based on the concept of a geolifespan is developed to model variations in the longevity of entities that are stored in geographic information systems. The typology consists of two upper-level classes: Persistent and Ephemeral. The Ephemeral class is composed of three subclasses: Temporary, Transient and Brief. The set of possible transitions between classes in the typology is described, capturing how objects can change from one class to another, e.g., from Temporary to Brief or from Transient to Persistent. A transition sequence models the geolifespan class(es) to which an object belongs over a period of time and captures the evolution of dynamic geographic objects with respect to their longevity. Geolifespan classes are applied to scenarios of spatial change as well as a geosensor network to illustrate their role in modelling geographic dynamics.     

GPS and GLONASS Integration: Modeling and Ambiguity Resolution Issues

The integration of GPS with GLONASS may be considered a major milestone in satellite-based positioning, because it can dramatically improve the reliability and productivity of said positioning. However, unlike GPS, GLONASS satellites transmit signals at different frequencies, which result in significant complexity in terms of modeling and ambiguity resolution for integrated GPS and GLONASS positioning systems. In this paper, a variety of mathematical and stochastic modeling methodologies and ambiguity resolution strategies are analyzed, and some remaining research challenges are identified. The exercise, of developing mathematical models and processing methodologies for integrated systems based on more than one satellite system, is a valuable one as it identified crucial issues concerned with the combination of any two or more microwave positioning systems, be they satellite-based or terrestrial. Hence these are experiences that can be applied to future projects that might integrate GPS with Galileo, or GLONASS and Galileo, or all three. ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The influence of flushing rates, terrestrial input and low salmon escapement densities on paleolimnological reconstructions of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) nutrient dynamics in Alaska and British Columbia

Recent advances in paleolimnology have enabled reconstructions of past sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) dynamics using a number of proxy-indicators, including diatoms and stable isotopes. Thus far, studies have focused on nursery lakes with high escapement densities and low flushing rates, ensuring that levels of salmon-derived nutrients (SDN) are high and are incorporated into the food chain. This study examines three oligotrophic sockeye salmon nursery lakes in Alaska (Afognak and Saltery lakes) and British Columbia (Hobiton Lake) to determine if sockeye salmon populations can be tracked in nursery systems with lower salmon escapement densities, higher flushing rates and/or higher terrestrial input. We adopted a multi-proxy approach using diatoms, stable isotopes (¹⁵N), organic carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratios and pollen to draw inferences from ²¹⁰Pb-dated sediment cores. ¹⁵N showed little response to historic variation in sockeye salmon populations, even in Saltery Lake, which has a very high escapement density, and in Afognak Lake, in which average escapement is known to have increased. Dilution effects due to high flushing rates were likely partly responsible for the low ¹⁵N and minimal variation throughout the cores, although very high terrestrial input in Hobiton Lake also dampened the salmon signal. Small changes in diatom species assemblages, however, were evident in all three lakes and may be in response to fluctuating loads of salmon-derived nutrients. Most notably, increases of mesotrophic diatom taxa, such as Asterionella formosa and Aulacoseira subarctica, corresponded to increased salmon production in Alaskan lakes as a result of enhancement (fertilization) activities and climatic changes. Changes in the relative abundance of Cyclotella pseudostelligera in Hobiton Lake may also be in response to a significant decline in sockeye salmon populations off the west coast of Vancouver Island in the 1970s. Other factors, however, such as logging and lake fertilization may also have influenced diatom species composition. These results confirm that, while salmon-derived nutrients may be of key importance in juvenile salmonid development in some lakes, this may not be the case in all systems, especially those in which flushing rates are high. Further, in these systems, diatom communities appear to respond more sensitively to fluctuations in salmon populations (and therefore nutrients) than stable isotope methods, provided that other changes in trophic status are minor.     

Behaviour of a trial embankment on hydraulically placed pfa

The paper describes the performance of a 5.3-m trial embankment constructed on approximately 45 m of hydraulically placed pulverised fuel ash (pfa). It is planned to redevelop the 17-ha lagoon containing the pfa as a landfill. There is little variation in the particle size distribution of the uniformly graded silt sized pfa over the lagoon. However, the density of the pfa varies with depth with loose material underlying a denser surface layer, in a pattern that probably results from the water level in the lagoon during pfa deposition.

Settlement under the trial embankment was apparently largely complete by the end of the construction period (17 days), with approximately 300 mm of settlement under the crest of the embankment. The embankment settlement is significantly affected by compression of the loose layers within the deposit. Analysis of the problem using the conventional one-dimensional settlement method, and an m_v profile determined by CPT calibrated against laboratory tests gave a reasonable prediction of the embankment crest settlement.     

The mixed-bed glacial landform imprint of the North Sea Lobe in the western North Sea

During the last glacial cycle an intriguing feature of the British-Irish Ice Sheet was the North Sea Lobe (NSL); fed from the Firth of Forth and which flowed south and parallel to the English east coast. The controls on the formation and behaviour of the NSL have long been debated, but in the southern North Sea recent work suggests the NSL formed a dynamic, oscillating terrestrial margin operating over a deforming bed. Further north, however, little is known of the behaviour of the NSL or under what conditions it operated. This paper analyses new acoustic, sedimentary and geomorphic data in order to evaluate the glacial landsystem imprint and deglacial history of the NSL offshore from NE England. Subglacial tills (AF2/3) form a discontinuous mosaic interspersed with bedrock outcrops across the seafloor, with the partial excavation and advection of subglacial sediment during both advance and retreat producing mega-scale glacial lineations and grounding zone wedges. The resultant ‘mixed-bed’ glacial landsystem is the product of a dynamic switch from a terrestrial piedmont-lobe margin with a net surplus of sediment to a partially erosive, quasi-stable, marine-terminating, ice stream lobe as the NSL withdrew northwards. Glaciomarine sediments (AF4) drape the underlying subglacial mixed-bed imprint and point to a switch to tidewater conditions between 19.9 and 16.5 ka cal BP as the North Sea became inundated. The dominant controls on NSL recession during this period were changing ice flux through the Firth of Forth ice stream onset zone and water depths at the grounding line; the development of the mixed-bed landsystem being a response to grounding line instability. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The no‐slip constraint and ocean models

Abstract

The conclusion that there is no vorticity and no vorticity transport in a boundary current, assuming no slip at the boundary, is shown to be robust to the level (L₁/L₂)², where L₁ is a characteristic width and L₂ a characteristic length of the boundary current. Vorticity transport into the interior from the boundary is shown to be related to the stress gradient at the boundary, which is in turn equal to the pressure gradient along the boundary. On western boundaries the flow is down the pressure gradient, a circumstance that usually leads to thin boundary layers. It is shown that in the inner, fractional, boundary layer both the stress and the energy dissipation depend on the thickness of the inner layer and become small when it is thin.     

A negative search for an ultra-slow component to the source of the Yunnan earthquakes of May 29, 1976

Following Nagamune's suggestion of a giant, but very slow, component to the source of the Yunnan earthquakes of May 29, 1976, a systematic study of the ultra-low frequency content of a number of tiltmeter, strainmeter, and IDA records of the events is conducted. First, Nagamune's hypothesis is quantified, and it is found that it would require a moment in the range 10²⁹–10³⁰ dyn-cm. Such a large moment would have important consequences for our understanding of stress release in the plates, but is incompatible with the extent of the aftershock zone, and with observations on other instruments: specifically, only one IDA record shows a time-domain oscillation which may be related to the proposed source. In the Fourier domain, however, a spectral analysis fails to identify any of the Earth's modes in any of the available records, including the one originally used by Nagamune. It must therefore be concluded that the apparent signal present in a few records is due to noise—probably of instrumental origin—rather than to an ultra-low-frequency component of the seismic source.