Adapting rail and road networks to weather extremes: case studies for southern Germany and Austria

The assessment of the current impacts of extreme weather conditions on transport systems reveals high costs in specific locations. Prominent examples for Europe are the economic consequences of the harsh winter periods 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 and the floods in Austria, Eastern Europe, Germany and the United Kingdom in 2005 and 2007. Departing from the EC-funded project WEATHER, this paper delves into the subject of adaptation strategies by revisiting the project’s general findings on adaptation strategies and by adding two specific cases: (1) advanced winter maintenance on roads in southwest Germany and (2) technical and organizational measures in Alpine rail transport. For these two cases, feasible adaptation strategies are elaborated and their potential is discussed in light of damage cost forecasts up to 2050. For the road sector, we find a high potential to mitigate weather-related costs, although damages here are expected to decline. In contrast, rail systems face strongly increasing damages and the mitigation options offered by improved information and communication systems seem to be largely exploited. Consequently, it is easier to justify expensive adaptation measures for high-cost rail infrastructures than for road transport. A generic analysis of 14 damage cases worldwide, however, revealed that generally awareness raising, cooperation and communication strategies are sufficient to mitigate the most severe damages by natural disasters.     

Assessment of the stability of H/V spectral ratios from ambient noise and comparison with earthquake data in the Cologne area (Germany)

Situated in an active tectonic region the highly industrialised Cologne area (Germany) suffers from moderate-sized earthquakes. Our contribution to the mitigation of earthquake risk includes a microzonation study using ambient seismic noise and earthquake recordings from two field campaigns. An analysis of these data using the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) as well as the classical spectral ratio (CSR) technique led to the following observations and conclusions: (1) The spatial variation in the thickness of the sedimentary cover is reliably retrieved using the fundamental resonance frequency estimated from the peak in the (H/V) ratio of ambient noise. (2) This fundamental resonance frequency is stable in time, but the amplitude of the peak (the amplification factor) is not. (3) The relative amplification variation of the H/V ratio in the area should therefore be checked systematically with repeated measurements before drawing conclusions about its significance. (4) The analysis of the H/V ratio of ambient noise provides the lower frequency bound, above which amplification may occur. (5) The shapes of the spectral ratios obtained by the different methods are generally in good agreement. However, the analysis of earthquake data shows that significant amplification of ground motion may also occur at frequencies higher than the fundamental one even when thick sediments are present.     

Atmospheric transmission at Davos,Switzerland 1909–1979

Pyrheliometric measurements at Davos, Switzerland from 1909 to 1979 are used to reconstruct the time history of atmospheric transmission. Measurements were numerous enough to allow yearly and seasonal values of atmospheric transmission to be determined. Other than the eruptions of Katmai in 1912 and Agung in 1963, there are no significant long-term changes in atmospheric transmission observed at this central European site. The implications of this result upon those theories of climatic change which depend upon changes in atmospheric transmission are briefly considered.     

The Spectro Point Spread Function for GAIA

We discuss the point spread function for the Spectro instrument based on realistic effects of the time delayed integration, transverse image motion and pixelization, but assuming rather small wave front errors. Stars brighter than 10 mag, which will saturate the CCD, may be observed photometrically using the image wings, but the central wavelengths will be slightly shifted towards the red. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A generalized zero-lag cross-correlation approach for Rapid Earthquake Localization (REL): the example of the Istanbul Megacity Rapid Response System

A seismic antenna approach based on the generalized zero-lag cross-correlation method for rapid earthquake localization is proposed. This method is intended to be applied primarily for early warning, whenever the epicentre-to-target distances guarantee enough lead-time, rapid response purposes, and for those circumstances when a seismogenic area is not directly accessible with seismic stations or/and a network of instruments is concentrated within the area to be warned. The procedure we propose aims to provide useful information for magnitude determination and shake-maps generation. Indeed, it relies only on the first P-wave triggered arrivals from seismic stations, and is designed to work in real-time for the localization of events occurring outside of the network, that is, under conditions that might be detrimental to standard localization approaches. The procedure can by summarized by a few preliminary pre-seismic and real-time co-seismic steps. In the pre-seismic time-frame, for the cases where a large and dense network exists, waiting for all stations to trigger could dramatically reduce the available lead-time for the warning. Therefore, in such cases, the network could profitably be divided into sub-arrays, while also taking advantage of available earthquake recordings or simulated data sets. During the co-seismic time-frame, the main operations are: (1) individual on-site triggering by the P-wave of the seismic stations (e.g. by a STA/LTA algorithm); (2) real-time communication of key parameters (e.g. P-wave arrival time, and signal quality) to a main centre by SMS/WLAN; (3) setup of a pseudo data set, composed by a Gaussian function centred at the P-time, and with a bell width that can be set up proportional to the trigger signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); (4) calculation of a coherency map for the sub-array with triggered stations (preliminary sub-array location); and (5) stacking of coherency maps from the different sub-arrays (final location). By the stack of coherency maps estimated by the different sub-arrays in the last step of the procedure, the epicentral area’s location may be better constrained. This innovative approach for rapid localization was applied to both synthetic data, and real observations of two small earthquakes that occurred in the Marmara Sea, Turkey, which were recorded by the Istanbul Earthquake Rapid Response System.     

Wave observation in the marginal ice zone with the TerraSAR-X satellite

This article investigates the penetration of ocean waves into the marginal ice zone (MIZ), observed by satellite, and likewise provides a basis for the future cross-validation of respective models. To this end, synthetic aperture radar images from the TerraSAR-X satellite (TS-X) and numerical simulations of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) are used. The focus is an event of swell waves, developed during a storm passage in the Atlantic, penetrating deeply into the MIZ off the coast of Eastern Greenland in February 2013. The TS-X scene which is the basis for this investigation extends from the ice-free open ocean to solid ice. The variation of the peak wavelength is analysed and potential sources of variability are discussed. We find an increase in wavelength which is consistent with the spatial dispersion of deep water waves, even within the ice-covered region.     

Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity Using Optical Devices I (ASTROD I)—A class-M fundamental physics mission proposal for Cosmic Vision 2015–2025

ASTROD I is a planned interplanetary space mission with multiple goals. The primary aims are: to test general relativity with an improvement in sensitivity of over three orders of magnitude, improving our understanding of gravity and aiding the development of a new quantum gravity theory; to measure key solar system parameters with increased accuracy, advancing solar physics and our knowledge of the solar system; and to measure the time rate of change of the gravitational constant with an order of magnitude improvement and the anomalous Pioneer acceleration, thereby probing dark matter and dark energy gravitationally. It is an international project, with major contributions from Europe and China and is envisaged as the first in a series of ASTROD missions. ASTROD I will consist of one spacecraft carrying a telescope, four lasers, two event timers and a clock. Two-way, two-wavelength laser pulse ranging will be used between the spacecraft in a solar orbit and deep space laser stations on Earth, to achieve the ASTROD I goals. A second mission, ASTROD (ASTROD II) is envisaged as a three-spacecraft mission which would test General Relativity to 1 ppb, enable detection of solar g-modes, measure the solar Lense–Thirring effect to 10 ppm, and probe gravitational waves at frequencies below the LISA bandwidth. In the third phase (ASTROD III or Super-ASTROD), larger orbits could be implemented to map the outer solar system and to probe primordial gravitational-waves at frequencies below the ASTROD II bandwidth.

Ergebnisse präzisionsgravimetrischer Messungen auf einer WE-Linie in der DDR 1977

Summary Results of gravity measurements performed in 1977 along a WE-profile situated in the GDR area are discussed. Systematic influences caused by the variations of the hydrologic conditions in the local regions of the observation points reach 100 nm s^–2. From the results of the yearly repeated gravity measurements (1970/77) a mean yearly gravity variation of about 20 nm s^–2 a^–1 was calculated for the sedimentary eastern part of the profile.     

Web-enabled spatial decision analysis using Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA)

 This paper presents a spatial decision support tool that implements the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) method. OWA is a family of multicriteria evaluation operators characterised by two sets of weights: criterion importance weights and order weights. We propose a highly interactive way of choosing, modifying, and fine-tuning the decision strategy defined by the order weights. This exploratory approach to OWA is supported by a graphical representation of the operator's behaviour in terms of decision risk and tradeoff/dispersion between criteria. Our prototype implementation is based on the CommonGIS software, and thus, Web-enabled and working with vector data. We successfully demonstrate online, exploratory support of spatial decision strategies using a data set of skiing resorts in Wallis, Switzerland. Received: 24 September 2002 / Accepted: 10 January 2003