Extended-aperture underwater acoustic multisource azimuth/elevationdirection-finding using uniformly but sparsely spaced vector hydrophones

Aperture extension is achieved in this novel ESPRIT-based two-dimensional angle estimation scheme using a uniform rectangular array of vector hydrophones spaced much farther apart than a half-wavelength. A vector hydrophone comprises two or three spatially co-located, orthogonally oriented identical velocity hydrophones (each of which measures one Cartesian component of the underwater acoustical particle velocity vector-field) plus an optional pressure hydrophone. Each incident source's directions-of-arrival are determined from the source's acoustical particle velocity components, which are extracted by decoupling the data covariance matrix's signal-subspace eigenvectors using the lower dimensional eigenvectors obtainable by ESPRIT. These direction-cosine estimates are unambiguous but have high variance; they are used as coarse references to disambiguate the cyclic phase ambiguities in ESPRIT's eigenvalues when the intervector-hydrophone spacing exceeds a half-wavelength. In one simulation scenario, the estimation standard deviation decreases with increasing intervector-hydrophone spacing up to 12 wavelengths, effecting a 97% reduction in the estimation standard deviation relative to the half-wavelength case. This proposed scheme and the attendant vector-hydrophone array outperform a uniform half-wavelength spaced pressure-hydrophone array with the same aperture and slightly greater number of component hydrophones by an order of magnitude in estimation standard deviation. Other simulations demonstrate how this proposed method improves underwater acoustic communications link performance. The virtual array interpolation technique would allow this proposed algorithm to be used with irregular array geometries     

Okadaic acid, a causative toxin of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, in green-lipped mussels Perna viridis from Hong Kong fish culture zones: method development and monitoring

Green-lipped mussels (Perna viridis) were collected from seven fish culture zones (FCZs) in Hong Kong and analyzed for okadaic acid (OA). A conventional HPLC method was modified by incorporating a proteinase K digestion step. Results suggest that a higher recovery (2.5 times higher) of OA was obtained from spiked samples after the addition of 1.08 mg proteinase K in comparison with samples incubated without the proteolytic enzyme. For the hepatopancreas (HP) of individual field-collected mussels, the additional digestion step can enhance OA extraction by 3.1 times. Spatial and temporal variations in OA concentrations in the mussels from various FCZs were investigated. The highest concentration of OA in mussel HP samples was 1164.9 ng/g HP wet wt. With respect to OA concentrations in whole mussel tissues from seven sites and four seasonal samplings, the concentrations were between 70.0 and 131.0 ng/g wet wt., which did not exceed the generally recognized international regulatory criteria (>200 ng/g) for OA.     

A case study on fuel oil contamination in a mangrove swamp in Hong Kong

Mangroves commonly found along tropical and subtropical coastlines are susceptible to oil pollution. In December 2000, around 500 1 m tall Kandelia candel saplings at the age of 3–5 years old located at the foreshore region of Sheung Pak Nai swamp, Hong Kong SAR, were found to be damaged by oil pollution. More than 80% of the saplings were either dead or washed away and leaving less than 5% healthy saplings with dense green leaves. Elevated concentrations of light n-alkanes (ranging from n-C₁₄ to n-C₂₀), pristane and phytane were recorded in surface sediments collected in December 2000. The ratio between light and total n-alkanes was 0.4. The total petroleum hydrocarbons (60–80 μg g⁻¹ TPH) and unresolved complex mixtures (60–70 μg g⁻¹ UCM) were higher than the background values of other mangrove sediments in Hong Kong, which were 40 and 20 μg g⁻¹, respectively. In certain root zone sediments, TPH concentrations were above 1000 μg g⁻¹. These results suggest that surface sediments in Sheung Pak Nai were contaminated by petroleum oil, most likely by illegal discharge of fuel oil which occurred between 1998 and 2002. One year later, in December 2001, unhealthy saplings had recovered and re-grown. The concentrations of TPH and UCM in sediments declined to around 40 μg g⁻¹, pristane and phytane dropped by 80%, and the ratio of light to total n-alkanes was 0.15, suggesting that residual oil in sediments was weathered leading to a remarkable recovery of the unhealthy saplings.     

Evaluation of landslide triggering mechanisms in model fill slopes

Hong Kong is particularly susceptible to landslide risk due to the steep natural topography and prolonged periods of high intensity rainfall. Compounding the risk of slope failure is the existence of loose fill slopes which were constructed prior to the 1970s by end-tipping. A clear understanding of the underlying triggering mechanisms of fast landslides in fill slopes is required to analyse landslide risk and to optimise slope stabilisation strategies. The work described here had the objective of evaluating two candidate triggering mechanisms—static liquefaction and the transition from slide to flow due to localised transient pore water pressures—against observations of slope behaviour obtained from highly instrumented centrifuge model tests. These results indicate that static liquefaction is unlikely to occur if the model fill is unsaturated and the depth to bedrock large, as the high compressibility and mobility of air in the unsaturated void spaces allows the model fill slope to accommodate wetting collapse without initiating undrained failure. In contrast, high-speed failures with low-angle run-outs are shown to be easily triggered in model fill slopes from initially slow moving slips driven by localised transient pore water pressures arising from constricted seepage and material layering.     

Studying fractal geometry on submicron length scales by small-angle scattering

Recent studies have shown that internal surfaces of porous geological materials, such as rocks and lignite coals, can be described by fractals down to atomic length scales, In this paper, the basic properties of self-similar and self-affine fractals are reviewed and how fractal dimensions can be measured by small-angle scattering experiments are discussed.This paper was presented at Emerging Concepts, MGUS-87 Conference, Redwood City, California, 13–15 April 1987.     

The oxidation state diagram: Additional comments

The oxidation state diagram provides additional information that cannot be readily discerned from an activity ratio—pE diagram. A theoretical framework for explaining the existence of thermodynamically unstable species becomes available.     

A Two-Dimensional Spectrum for Bistatic SAR Processing Using Series Reversion

This letter derives the two-dimensional point target spectrum for an arbitrary bistatic synthetic aperture radar configuration. The method described makes use of series reversion, the method of stationary phase, and Fourier transform pairs to derive the point target spectrum. The accuracy of the spectrum is controlled by keeping enough terms in the two series expansions, and is verified with a point target simulation     

Aeolian sediment transport on a human‐altered foredune

Changes in wind speed and sediment transport are evaluated at a gap and adjacent crest of a 2 to 3 m high, 40 m wide foredune built by sand fences and vegetation plantings on a wide, nourished fine sand beach at Ocean City, New Jersey. Anemometer masts, cylindrical sand traps and erosion pins were placed on the beach and dune during two obliquely onshore wind events in February and March 2003. Results reveal that: (1) changes in the alongshore continuity of the beach and dune system can act as boundaries to aeolian transport when winds blow at an angle to the shoreline; (2) oblique winds blowing across poorly vegetated patches in the dune increase the potential for creating an irregular crest elevation; (3) transport rates and deflation rates can be greater within the foredune than on the beach, if the dune surface is poorly vegetated and the beach has not had time to dry following tidal inundation; (4) frozen ground does not prevent surface deflation; and (5) remnant sand fences and fresh storm wrack have great local but temporary effect on transport rates. Temporal and spatial differences due to sand fences and wrack, changes in sediment availability due to time‐dependent differences in surface moisture and frozen ground, combined with complex topography and patchy vegetation make it difficult to specify cause–effect relationships. Effects of individual roughness elements on the beach and dune on wind flow and sediment transport can be quantified at specific locations at the event scale, but extrapolation of each event to longer temporal and spatial scales remains qualitative. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The old alluvium of Singapore and the extinct drainage system to the South China Sea

In both sand quarry faces and boreholes the Old Alluvium of Singapore is a matrix supported pebbly sand with minor beds of better sorted sands and clays. The beds can be grouped into four textural classes (pebbles, coarse sand with fine pebbles, medium to coarse sand, clay, and silt), each with characteristic sedimentary structures. The deposit appears to be the proximal facies of an ancient braided river alluvium of possible Pleistocene age. This widespread but scattered alluvium is found both on land and offshore on the Sunda Shelf in Southeast Asia. It is believed to have been deposited during low sea levels. In Singapore, the mineralogy of the grains forming the Old Alluvium suggests a mixed provenance of granitic and low-grade metamorphic origin. The volume and freshness of the deposited material indicate an environment of considerable relief, seasonal rainfall, and extremely active erosional processes, conditions considerably different from the current ones. The Old Alluvium was probably deposited by seasonal rivers which experienced periodic large floods. Such regional conditions could have prevailed over much of Southeast Asia at the time of deposition of the Old Alluvium.