Influence of changed vegetations fields on regional climate simulations in the Barents Sea Region

In the context of the EU-Project BALANCE () the regional climate model REMO was used for extensive calculations of the Barents Sea climate to investigate the vulnerability of this region to climate change. The regional climate model REMO simulated the climate change of the Barents Sea Region between 1961 and 2100 (Control and Climate Change run, CCC-Run). REMO on ~50 km horizontal resolution was driven by the transient ECHAM4/OPYC3 IPCC SRES B2 scenario. The output of the CCC-Run was applied to drive the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS. The results of the vegetation model were used to repeat the CCC-Run with dynamic vegetation fields. The feedback effect of the modified vegetation on the climate change signal is investigated and discussed with focus on precipitation, temperature and snow cover. The effect of the offline coupled vegetation feedback run is much lower than the greenhouse gas effect.     

“Enough Wandering Around!”: Life Trajectories,Mobility, and Place Making in Neoliberal Academia

This article analyzes the life trajectories of twelve early-career geographers in relation to their life–work experiences in an increasingly neoliberal academia and its constant demands of hypermobility. Using (auto)ethnographic research methods, it delves into the manifestations and effects of the pervasive myth of the detached, always ready-to-move scholar. We analyze the role of mobility in imaginaries and practices of academia and its close relationship with privilege and precarity. Our findings show how academic work is inescapably located despite the systematic erasure of the bodies, places, and networks that scholars are part of. By taking into account the centrality of place making in academic experience, our conclusions point to more comprehensive ways in which academic mobility can be understood, reflected on as part of geographers’ professional training, and transformed.     

Caves and karst of Ecuador – state-of-the-art and research perspectives

Current knowledge of caves and karst regions of Ecuador is scarce and broadly limited to discrete areas such as that of the Galápagos volcanokarst. In continental Ecuador, carbonate karst mostly outcrops in the Amazonian basin and accounts for 5–10% of the surface of the country. However, owing to the difficulties of access within the Amazonian rainforest, most surface and subterranean karst is yet to be revealed. In this review, we present an updated map of the solutional karst of Ecuador based on the most recent geological surveys and our own research. We describe the principal karst regions of Ecuador from the Amazonian basin (Napo and Santiago) as well as the Galápagos pseudokarst. We show that Ecuador karst research may be of considerable importance for both basic and applied research owing to its geographical position and intrinsic vulnerabilities. We discuss the main challenges of karst-related research in Ecuador, such as paleoclimatic studies, subterranean biodiversity, and archeology. We discuss the main vulnerabilities and hazards related to karst uses in Ecuador, considering the paramount importance of tourism for the country.     

Total Mercury Distribution and Volatilization in Microcosms with and Without the Aquatic Macrophyte Eichhornia Crassipes

Mercury (Hg) is one of the most toxic pollutants and spreads in the environment according to its affinity to several compartments. Aquatic macrophytes, such as Eichhornia crassipes, are known as sites for accumulation of Hg and methylmercury formation. The objective of this research was to observe Hg distribution among air, water and whole plants of the macrophyte E. crassipes for 17?days. The distribution of a single ²⁰³Hg spike was evaluated by gamma spectrometry. Two experiments, with and without macrophytes, were made, and the compartments analyzed for the presence of Hg were air, 0.2-μm filtered water, suspended and settled particles, roots, leafs, petioles and adsorption on the desiccators walls. ²⁰³Hg was detected in all analyzed compartments, and the highest total Hg concentrations were found in the roots and particles of the incubations with and without macrophytes that retained in average 68 and 34?% of added Hg, respectively. On the other hand, the lowest concentrations were found in air for both incubations, with higher volatilization (up to 2.5?% of added Hg) in the absence of macrophytes. The lower Hg values in leafs and petioles suggest this plant has mechanisms of Hg retention in the roots. Results suggest this macrophyte promotes changes in the Hg cycle since it attracts most Hg present in water and particulate to its roots and settled particles underneath and also reduces Hg volatilization.     

Low cyclic fatigue and hysteretic behavior of U‐shaped steel dampers for seismically isolated buildings under dynamic cyclic loadings

Energy dissipation devices are necessary for base‐isolated buildings to control the deformation in the isolation system and to dissipate the earthquake‐induced energy. U‐shaped steel dampers (also known as U‐dampers) dissipate energy through plastic deformation of specially designed U‐shaped steel elements. This type of device can be installed at several locations in the isolation system. U‐dampers have been widely used in Japan for different types of isolated structures, such as hospitals, plants and residential buildings, since the 1995 Kobe Earthquake. Previous research has used static tests to estimate the performance of U‐dampers. However, the ultimate plastic deformation capacities and hysteretic behaviors of full‐scale U‐dampers under dynamic excitations still remain unclear. In addition, it is unclear whether the initial temperature has an effect on the hysteretic behavior and plastic deformation capacity of U‐dampers. In this paper, two series of dynamic loading tests of U‐dampers were conducted to evaluate the issues described earlier. The major findings of the study are (i) the loading speed has little effect on the plastic deformation capacity of U‐dampers; (ii) method to evaluate the ultimate plastic deformation capacities of U‐shaped steel dampers of different sizes is established using a Manson–Coffin relation‐based equation that is based on the peak‐to‐peak horizontal shear angle γ_t, which is defined as the lateral deformation amplitude (peak‐to‐peak amplitude) divided by the height of the dampers; (iii) the loading rate and the initial temperature have a minimal effect on the hysteretic behavior of the U‐dampers; and (iv) a bilinear model is proposed to simulate the force‐deformation relationships of the U‐dampers. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Last glacial geomorphologic records in Mt Chelmos,North Peloponnesus,Greece

This study deals with the analysis of the glacial processes that have affected the relief of Mt Chelmos in northern Peloponnesus, Greece during middle and Late Pleistocene. The goal was to compile a combined geomorphological-geological map of the study area which would enable the chronological stratification of the glacial landforms cropping up on Mt. Chelmos. Chronological stratification was further aided by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. The map served as the basis upon which the reconstruction and discussion on the phases of the Middle-Late Quaternary paleoclimatic history of Mt. Chelmos have been made. A sophisticated semiautomated method was first used to analyze the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), combined with Aster, Quickbird and ALOS imagery in order to identify glacial and periglacial, as well as karstic features. Then, these features along with other nonrecognizable features from the remote-sensing images were documented in the field. In this way, several glacial landforms were identified, such as moraines and cirques, indicating extended glaciation phases during the middle and Late Pleistocene. Additionally, a ground moraine located at an altitude of 1900-2050 m, within the Spanolakos glacial valley, was dated using the OSL-dating method. The resulting ages indicate a phase of glacier advance/stabilization during MIS-5b (89-86 ka), which is in consistence with pollenrecord evidence from Greece and the Mediterranean.     

Can climate variability information constrain a hydrological model for an ungauged Costa Rican catchment?

Long‐term hydrological data are key to understanding catchment behaviour and for decision making within water management and planning. Given the lack of observed data in many regions worldwide, such as Central America, hydrological models are an alternative for reproducing historical streamflow series. Additional types of information—to locally observed discharge—can be used to constrain model parameter uncertainty for ungauged catchments. Given the strong influence that climatic large‐scale processes exert on streamflow variability in the Central American region, we explored the use of climate variability knowledge as process constraints to constrain the simulated discharge uncertainty for a Costa Rican catchment, assumed to be ungauged. To reduce model uncertainty, we first rejected parameter relationships that disagreed with our understanding of the system. Then, based on this reduced parameter space, we applied the climate‐based process constraints at long‐term, inter‐annual, and intra‐annual timescales. In the first step, we reduced the initial number of parameters by 52%, and then, we further reduced the number of parameters by 3% with the climate constraints. Finally, we compared the climate‐based constraints with a constraint based on global maps of low‐flow statistics. This latter constraint proved to be more restrictive than those based on climate variability (further reducing the number of parameters by 66% compared with 3%). Even so, the climate‐based constraints rejected inconsistent model simulations that were not rejected by the low‐flow statistics constraint. When taken all together, the constraints produced constrained simulation uncertainty bands, and the median simulated discharge followed the observed time series to a similar level as an optimized model. All the constraints were found useful in constraining model uncertainty for an—assumed to be—ungauged basin. This shows that our method is promising for modelling long‐term flow data for ungauged catchments on the Pacific side of Central America and that similar methods can be developed for ungauged basins in other regions where climate variability exerts a strong control on streamflow variability.     

Reliability of U‐shaped steel dampers used in base‐isolated structures subjected to biaxial excitation

A reliable performance of anti‐seismic devices when the upper‐structure is subjected to strong biaxial seismic excitation is of vital importance to ensure the latter doesn't reach critical behavior. U‐shaped steel dampers are hysteretic devices used to dissipate the earthquake‐induced energy of base‐isolated structures. In the framework of performance‐based design, which is gaining more and more recognition, it is of particular importance to assess the performance of base‐isolated structures with such dampers under different intensity levels of bidirectional ground motion. To achieve this goal, an analytical model able to simulate the bidirectional displacement response of an isolation system is adopted. Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) is used to obtain the relation between the earthquake‐induced bidirectional damage of U‐shaped steel dampers and different intensity levels of the considered records. The performance of the dampers is categorized into 5 levels delimited by 4 limit states for which fragility curves are derived. The results obtained using the bidirectional approach are quantitatively compared to those given by employing an in‐plane model (widely used in current design practices in Japan) with the purpose of assessing whether the latter provides unconservative estimates of the performance of the dampers. The main conclusion is that, for large seismic intensities, the safety margin against fracture of the dampers is significantly overestimated when an in‐plane model is adopted. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Source wavelet correction for practical Marchenko imaging: A sub-salt field-data example from the Gulf of Mexico

Imaging a target zone below a salt body can be challenging because large velocity contrasts in the overburden between the salt and surrounding sediments generate internal multiples, which interfere with primary reflections from the target level in the imaging process. This can lead to an erroneous interpretation of reflections in the sub-salt area if multiples are misinterpreted as primaries. The Marchenko redatuming method may enable imaging of the sub-salt target area where the effect of the multiply-scattering overburden is removed. This is achieved by creating a redatumed reflection response where virtual sources and receivers are located below the overburden using a macromodel of the velocity field and the surface reflection data. The accuracy of the redatumed data and the associated internal multiple removal, however, depends on the accurate knowledge of the source wavelet of the acquired reflection data. For the first time, we propose a method which can accurately and reliably correct the amplitudes of the reflection response in field data as required by the Marchenko method. Our method operates by iteratively and automatically updating the source function so as to cancel the most artefact energy in the focusing functions, which are also generated by the Marchenko method. We demonstrate the method on a synthetic dataset and successfully apply it to a field dataset acquired in a deep-water salt environment in the Gulf of Mexico. After the successful source wavelet estimation for the field dataset, we create sub-salt target-oriented images with Marchenko redatumed data. Marchenko images using the proposed source wavelet estimation show clear improvements, such as increased continuity of reflectors, compared to surface-based images and to conventional Marchenko images computed without the inverted source wavelet. Our improvements are corroborated by evidence in the literature and our own synthetic results.