A Motion-Stabilized W-Band Radar for Shipboard Observations of Marine Boundary-Layer Clouds

Cloud radars at X, Ka and W-bands have been used in the past for ocean studies of clouds, but the lack of suitable stabilization has limited their usefulness in obtaining accurate measurements of the velocity structure of cloud particles and the heights of cloud features. A 94 GHz (W-band) radar suitable for use on shipboard studies of clouds has been developed that is small and lightweight and can maintain the radar’s beam pointing in the vertical to reduce the affects of the pitch and roll of the ship. A vertical velocity sensor on the platform allows the effects of the ship’s heave to be removed from the measured cloud particle motions. Results from the VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-Rex) field program on the NOAA vessel Ronald H. Brown demonstrate the improvements to the cloud measurements after the ship’s motion effects are removed. The compact design of the radar also makes it suitable for use in aircraft studies. The radar is being repackaged to fit in an aft bay of a NOAA P3 aircraft to observe sea-spray profiles during ocean storms.     

Soil erosion assessment using geomorphological remote sensing techniques: an example from southern Italy

The aim of this study is to assess of the distribution and map the geomorphological effects of soil erosion at the basin scale identifying newly‐formed erosional landsurfaces (NeFELs), by means of an integration of Landsat ETM 7+ remotely sensed data and field‐surveyed geomorphological data. The study was performed on a 228·6 km²‐wide area, located in southern Italy. The study area was first characterized from a lithological, pedological, land‐use and morpho‐topographic point of view and thematic maps were created. Then, the georeferenced Landsat ETM 7+ satellite imagery was processed using the RSI ENVI 4.0 software. The processing consisted of contrast stretching, principal component analysis (PCA), decorrelation stretching and RGB false colour compositing. A field survey was conducted to characterize the features detected on the imagery. Particular attention was given to the NeFELs, which were located using a global positioning system (GPS). We then delimited the Regions of Interest (ROI) on the Landsat ETM 7+ imagery, i.e. polygons representing the ‘ground‐truth’, discriminating the NeFELs from the other features occurring in the imagery. A simple statistical analysis was conducted on the digital number (DN) values of the pixels enclosed in the ROI of the NeFELs, with the aim to determine the spectral response pattern of such landsurfaces. The NeFELs were then classified in the entire image using a maximum likelihood classification algorithm. The results of the classification process were checked in the field. Finally, a spatial analysis was performed by converting the detected landsurfaces into vectorial format and importing them into the ESRI ArcViewGIS 9.0 software. Application of these procedures, together with the results of the field survey, highlighted that some ‘objects’ in the classified imagery, even if displaying the same spectral response of NeFELs, were not landsurfaces subject to intense soil erosion, thus confirming the strategic importance of the field‐checking for the automatically produced data. During the production of the map of the NeFELs, which is the final result of the study, these ‘objects’ were eliminated by means of simple, geomorphologically‐coherent intersection procedures in a geographic information system (GIS) environment. The overall surface of the NeFELs had an area of 22·9 km², which was 10% of the total. The spatial analysis showed that the highest frequency of the NeFELs occurred on both south‐facing and southwest‐facing slopes, cut on clayey‐marly deposits, on which fine‐textured and carbonate‐rich Inceptisols were present and displaying slope angle values ranging from 12° to 20°. The comparison of two satellite imageries of different periods highlighted that the NeFELs were most clearly evident immediately after summer tillage operations and not so evident before them, suggesting that these practices could have played an important role in inducing the erosional processes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Weakening of gneiss surfaces colonized by endolithic lichens in the temperate climate area of northwest Italy

A role of lithobionts in geomorphological processes is increasingly argued, but the spatio‐temporal scale of their impact is largely unexplored in many ecosystems. This study first characterizes in the temperate zone (northwest Italy) the relationships between lithobiontic communities including endolithic lichens and the hardness of their siliceous rock substrate (Villarfocchiardo Gneiss). The communities are characterized, on humid and xeric quarry surfaces exposed for decades and natural outcrops exposed for centuries, in terms of lichen and microbial constituents, using a combined morphological and molecular approach, and with regard to their development on and within the gneiss. A lichen species belonging to Acarosporaceae (Polysporina‐Sarcogyne‐Acarospora group, needing taxonomic revision) chasmoendolithically colonizes both the humid and xeric quarry surfaces, on which epilithic cyanobacterial biofilms and epilithic pioneer lichens respectively occur. Light and electron microscopic observations show the development of the endolithic thalli within rock microcracks and the hyphal penetration along crystal boundaries down to depths of 1 to 3 mm, more pronounced within the humid surfaces. Such colonization patterns are likely related to biogeophysical deterioration, while no chemical alteration characterizes minerals contacted by the endolithic lichen. By contrast, on natural outcrops, where the endolithic colonization is negligible, a reddish rind below epilithic lichens indicates chemical weathering processes. Schmidt Hammer measurements highlight that the endolithic lichens deeply affect the hardness of the gneiss (down to ?60% with respect to fresh controls and surfaces only colonized by cyanobacteria), exerting a significantly higher weakening effect with respect to the associated epilithic lithobionts. The phenomenon is more remarkable on humid than on xeric quarry surfaces and natural outcrops, where epilithic lichens are likely involved in long‐term hardening processes supporting surface stabilization. Endolithic lichens are thus active biogeomorphological agents at the upper millimetric layer of siliceous rocks in temperate areas, exerting their weakening action during the early decade‐scaled stages of surface exposure. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Late Jurassic fossil assemblage in Gondwana: Biostratigraphy and correlations of the Tacuarembó Formation, Parana Basin, Uruguay

The Tacuarembó Formation has yielded a fossil assemblage that includes the best known body fossils, consisting of isolated scales, teeth, spines, and molds of bones, recovered from thin and patchy bonebeds, from the Botucatu Desert, Parana Basin, South America. The remains are preserved in the sandstones widespread around the city of Tacuarembó. We propose a new formalized nomenclature for the Tacuarembó Formation, naming its “Lower” and “Upper” members as the Batoví (new name) and Rivera (new rank) members, respectively. An assemblage zone is defined for the Batoví Member (fluviolacustrine and aeolian deposits). In this unit, the freshwater hybodontid shark Priohybodus arambourgi D’Erasmo is well represented. This species was previously recorded in Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous units of the Sahara and the southern Arabian Peninsula. Globally considered, the fossil assemblage of this member (P. arambourgi, dipnoan fishes, Ceratosaurus-like theropods, and conchostracans) is indicative of a Kimmeridgian–Tithonian age, which in combination with the stratigraphic relationships of the Tacuarembó Formation with the overlying basalts of the Arapey Formation (132 My average absolute age) implies that the latter was deposited during the Kimmeridgian–Hauterivian interval.     

Triassic synthems of southern South America (southwestern Gondwana) and the Western Caucasus (the northern Neotethys), and global tracing of their boundaries

Global tracing of the key surfaces of Triassic deposits may contribute significantly to the understanding of the common patterns in their accumulation. We attempt to define synthems – disconformity-bounded sedimentary complexes – in the Triassic successions of southern South America (southwestern Gondwana, Brazil and Argentina) and the Western Caucasus (the northern Neotethys, Russia), and then to trace their boundaries in the adjacent regions and globally. In southern South America, a number of synthems have been recognized – the Cuyo Basin: the Río Mendoza–Cerro de las Cabras Synthem (Olenekian–Ladinian) and the Potrerillos–Cacheuta–Río Blanco Synthem (Carnian–Rhaetian); the Ischigualasto Basin: the Ischichuca-Los Rastros Synthem (Anisian–Ladinian) and the Ischigualasto–Los Colorados Synthem (Carnian–Rhaetian); the Chaco–Paraná Basin: the Sanga do Cabral Synthem (Induan), the Santa Maria 1 Synthem (Ladinian), the Santa Maria 2 Synthem (Carnian), and the Caturrita Synthem (Norian); western Argentina: the Talampaya Synthem (Lower Triassic) and the Tarjados Synthem (Olenekian?). In the Western Caucasus, three common synthems have been distinguished: WC-1 (Induan–Anisian), WC-2 (uppermost Anisian–Carnian), and WC-3 (Norian–lower Rhaetian). The lower boundary of WC-1 corresponds to a hiatus whose duration seems to be shorter than that previously postulated. The synthem boundaries that are common to southwestern Gondwana and the Western Caucasus lie close to the base and top of the Triassic. The Lower Triassic, Ladinian, and Upper Triassic disconformities are traced within the studied basins of southern South America, and the first two are also established in South Africa. The Upper Triassic disconformity is only traced within the entire Caucasus, whereas all synthem boundaries established in the Western Caucasus are traced partly within Europe. In general, the synthem boundaries recognized in southern South America and the Western Caucasus are correlated to the global Triassic sequence boundaries and sea-level falls. Although regional peculiarities are superimposed on the appearance of global events in the Triassic synthem architecture, the successful global tracing suggests that planetary-scale mechanisms of synthem formation existed and that they were active in regions dominated by both marine and non-marine sedimentation.     

Early angiosperm diversification: evidence from southern South America

In this report, we analyze the angiosperm fossil record (micro- and megafossil) from the central and southern basins of Argentina, southern South America, deposited between the late Barremian (128.3 Ma) to the end of the Coniacian (85.8 Ma). Based on this analysis, three major stages in the evolution of the angiosperms in the southernmost region of South America are established as follows: the late Barremian–Aptian, the latest Aptian-earliest Albian, and the middle Albian- Coniacian. The comparison between our fossil data set and those from Australia, North America, Asia and Europe suggest that the evolution and diversification of the angiosperms at mid and high latitudes in both hemispheres occurred roughly synchronously.     

A diagnosis of rainfall over South America during 1997/98 El Niño and 1998/99 La Niña events: Comparison between TRMM PR and GPCP rainfall estimates

A comparison between TRMM PR rainfall estimates and rain gauge data from ANEEL and combined gauge/satellite data from GPCP over South America (SA) is made. In general, the annual and seasonal regional characteristics of rainfall over SA are qualitatively well reproduced by TRMM PR and GPCP. It is found that over most of SA GPCP exceeds TRMM PR rainfall. The largest positive differences between GPCP and TRMM PR data occur in the north SA, northwestern and central Amazonia. However, there are regions where GPCP rainfall is lower than TRMM PR, particularly in the Pacific coastal regions and in southern Brazil. We suggest that the cause for the positive differences GPCP minus TRMM PR rainfall are related to the fact that satellite observations based on infrared radiation and outgoing longwave radiance sensors overestimate convective rainfall in GPCP and the cause for the negative differences are due to the random errors in TRMM PR. Rainfall differences in the latter phases of the 1997/98 El Niño and 1998/99 La Niña are analyzed. The results showed that the rainfall anomalies are generally higher in GPCP than in TRMM PR, however, as in the mean annual case, there are regions where the rainfall in GPCP is lower than in TRMM PR. The higher positive (negative) differences between the rainfall anomalies in GPCP and TRMM PR, which occur in the central Amazonia (southern Brazil), are reduced (increased) in the El Niño event. This is due to the fact that during the El Niño episode the rainfall decreases in the central Amazonia and increases in the southern Brazil. Consequently, the overestimation of the convective rainfall by GPCP is reduced and the overestimation of the rainfall by TRMM PR is increased in these two regions, respectively.     

A simulation of the Chilean Coastal Current and associated topographic upwelling near Valparaíso, Chile

A 4-year simulation of the surface circulation driven by the local wind on a section of the central Chilean coast is presented. The model is shown to reproduce the major observed features of the circulation. Comparison to observations of sea-surface temperature (SST) taken within the study area suggests that the model captures well coastal upwelling processes in the region. The circulation is shown to have two distinct modes corresponding to spring/summer and autumn/winter. During spring/summer sustained strong south-westerly wind forcing drives an equatorward coastal jet consistent with the Chile Coastal Current (CCC) and coastal upwelling at previously identified locations of intense upwelling at Topocalma Point and Curaumilla Point. Weaker winds during autumn/winter produce a slower CCC and a more homogenous SST field. Upwelling/relaxation and topographic eddies provide the main sources of variability on sub-seasonal time-scales in the model. The mechanisms responsible for each of these are discussed. Upwelling at Topocalma and Curaumilla Points is shown to be produced through generation of an upwelling Ekman bottom boundary layer following acceleration of the CCC close to the coast, reinforced by secondary circulation due to flow curvature around the headlands. Additional upwelling occurs north of Curaumilla Point due to development of shallow wind-driven overturning flow. Wind-sheltering is shown to be an important factor for explaining the fact that Valparaíso Bay is typically an upwelling shadow. Flow separation and eddy formation within Valparaíso Bay is seen to occur on the order of 10 times per year during relaxation after strong wind events and may persist for a number of weeks. Shorter lived topographic eddies are also seen to occur commonly at Topocalma and Toro Points. These eddies are shown to form in response to the surface elevation minima produced at each of these locations during upwelling.