The BEAM-project: prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities in the aquatic environment

Freshwater and marine ecosystems are exposed to various multi-component mixtures of pollutants. Nevertheless, most ecotoxicological research and chemicals regulation focus on hazard and exposure assessment of individual substances only, the problem of chemical mixtures in the environment is ignored to a large extent. In contrast, the assessment of combination effects has a long tradition in pharmacology, where mixtures of chemicals are specifically designed to develop new products, e.g. human and veterinary drugs or agricultural and non-agricultural pesticides. In this area, two concepts are frequently used and are thought to describe fundamental relationships between single substance and mixture effects: Independent Action (Response Addition) and Concentration Addition. The question, to what extent these concepts may also be applied in an ecotoxicological and regulatory context may be considered a research topic of major importance, as the concepts would allow to make use of already existing single substance toxicity data for the predictive assessment of mixture toxicities. Two critical knowledge gaps are identified: (a) There is a lack of environmental realism, as a huge part of our current knowledge about the applicability of the concepts is restricted to artificial situations with respect to mixture composition or biological effect assessment. (b) The knowledge on what exactly is needed for using the concepts as tools for the predictive mixture toxicity assessment is insufficient. Both gaps seriously hamper the necessary, scientifically sound consideration of mixture toxicities in a regulatory context.In this paper, the two concepts will be briefly introduced, the necessity of considering the toxicities of chemical mixtures in the environment will be demonstrated and the applicability of Independent Action and Concentration Addition as tools for the prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities will be discussed. An overview of the specific aims and approaches of the BEAM project to fill in the identified knowledge gaps is given and first results are outlined.     

A candidate of the Induan-Olenekian boundary stratotype in the Tethyan region

The Olenekian Stage was proposed by Kiparisova and Popov[1] based on the type section along the lower reaches of the Olenek River, Siberia. Later research showed that this section con-tains only the Olenikites spiniplicatus Zone of the Upper Olenekian Sta…     

Methodology for construction, calibration and validation of a national hydrological model for Denmark

An integrated groundwater/surface water hydrological model with a 1 km² grid has been constructed for Denmark covering 43,000 km². The model is composed of a relatively simple root zone component for estimating the net precipitation, a comprehensive three-dimensional groundwater component for estimating recharge to and hydraulic heads in different geological layers, and a river component for streamflow routing and calculating stream–aquifer interaction. The model was constructed on the basis of the MIKE SHE code and by utilising comprehensive national databases on geology, soil, topography, river systems, climate and hydrology. The present paper describes the modelling process for the 7330 km² island of Sjælland with emphasis on the problems experienced in combining the classical paradigms of groundwater modelling, such as inverse modelling of steady-state conditions, and catchment modelling, focussing on dynamic conditions and discharge simulation. Three model versions with different assumptions on input data and parameter values were required until the performance of the final, according to pre-defined accuracy criteria, model was evaluated as being satisfactory. The paper highlights the methodological issues related to establishment of performance criteria, parameterisation and assessment of parameter values from field data, calibration and validation test schemes. Most of the parameter values were assessed directly from field data, while about 10 ‘free’ parameters were subject to calibration using a combination of inverse steady-state groundwater modelling and manual trial-and-error dynamic groundwater/surface water modelling. Emphasising the importance of tests against independent data, the validation schemes included combinations of split-sample tests (another period) and proxy-basin tests (another area).     

Über die DÜnung aus einem Windfeld,welches am Beobachtungsort in einiger Entfernung vorbeizieht

Zusammenfassung Es werden die zum Teil recht verwickelten Bedingungen besprochen, denen eine am festen BeobachtungsortA auftretende DÜnung genÜgt, wenn das wellenerzeugende Windfeld sich dem PunktA wohl nähert, an ihm dann aber in einiger Entfernung vorbeizieht. Es werden getrennt behandelt: 1. wandernde Windfelder, welche seit langer Zeit eine ausgereifte Windsee besitzen, 2. wandernde Windfelder, deren Ausbildung erst kÜrzere Zeit zurÜckliegt.An geeigneter Stelle wird ein Diagramm gegeben, welches die Bestimmung der angular spreading factors (W. J. Pierson jun., G. Neumann und R. W. James [1953]) wesentlich erleichtert.Abschließend wird die Frage erörtert, ob ein Punkt am Rande des Windfeldes den gesamten Windfeld-Leerand ausreichend repräsentieren kann.

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On swell generated by a fetch passing at some distance from the observation point

Summary The paper treats the rather complex conditions that may lead to the occurrence of swell at a fixed observation pointA when the wave generating fetch though approaching pointA passes it at some distance. Two contingencies are separately discussed: 1) moving fetches associated for a long time past with a fully developed wind sea, 2) moving fetches whose generation took place only quite recently.The paper includes a diagram which largely facilitates the determination of the angular spreading factor (W. J. Pierson jun., G. Neumann, and R. W. James [1953]).In the end, the question is discussed whether one point on the border of the fetch may be regarded as being sufficiently representative of the entire lee-side of the fetch.

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Sur une houle soulevée par un »fetch« qui passe le point d'observation à quelque distance

Résumé Ce travail traite les conditions assez complexes qui peuvent conduire à l'apparition de houles à un point fixe d'observationA si le »fetch« qui a soulevé les vagues en question s'approche de ce point mais finit par le passer à quelque distance. On discute deux éventualités: 1) des »fetches« progressifs dont les vagues de vent on depuis longtemps terminé leur developpement, 2) des »fetches« progressifs qui n'ont accompli leur formation que depuis peu.On a introduit dans le travail un diagramme qui rend beaucoup plus facile la détermination des facteurs d'extension angulaire (»angular spreading factors«) (W. J. Pierson, jun., G. Neumann et R. W. James [1953]).Enfin, on discute la question si un seul point sur le bord du »fetch« peut suffisamment représenter les conditions dominant sur tout le bord sous le vent.

     

Synthetic seismograms from generalized ray tracing1

A new method of numerical computation of elastic wavefields in regions containing caustics is tested. The method is an extension of the asymptotic ray theory (ART). The essential features of the method consist of the application of expressions which are well defined at caustics and expressed in terms of ray tracing combined with complex ray tracing in caustic shadows. The method and an outline of the underlying theory are briefly presented, followed by a comparison with finite differences on a test model involving a caustic cusp. The comparison reveals the unexpectedly high degree of accuracy of the new method.     

Late Holocene flood magnitudes in the Lower Rhine river valley and upper delta resolved by a two-dimensional hydraulic modelling approach

Palaeoflood hydraulic modelling is essential for quantifying ‘millennial flood’ events not covered in the instrumental record. Palaeoflood modelling research has largely focused on one-dimensional analysis for geomorphologically stable fluvial settings because two-dimensional analysis for dynamic alluvial settings is time consuming and requires a detailed representation of the past landscape. In this study, we make the step to spatially continuous palaeoflood modelling for a large and dynamic lowland area. We applied advanced hydraulic model simulations (1D–2D coupled set-up in HEC-RAS with 950 channel sections and 108 × 10³ floodplain grid cells) to quantify the extent and magnitude of past floods in the Lower Rhine river valley and upper delta. As input, we used a high-resolution terrain reconstruction (palaeo-DEM) of the area in early mediaeval times, complemented with hydraulic roughness values. After conducting a series of model runs with increasing discharge magnitudes at the upstream boundary, we compared the simulated flood water levels with an inventory of exceeded and non-exceeded elevations extracted from various geological, archaeological and historical sources. This comparison demonstrated a Lower Rhine millennial flood magnitude of approximately 14,000 m³/s for the Late Holocene period before late mediaeval times. This value exceeds the largest measured discharges in the instrumental record, but not the design discharges currently accounted for in flood risk management.     

Multi-directional wave spectra from marine X-band radar

The signal measured by heave–pitch–roll directional wave buoys yields the first four coefficients of a Fourier series. Data adaptive methods must be employed to estimate a directional wave spectrum. Marine X-band radars (MRs) have the advantage over buoys that they can measure “model-free” two-dimensional (2D) wave spectra. This study presents the first comprehensive validation of MR-derived multi-directional wave characteristics. It is based on wave data from the 2010 Impact of Typhoons on the Ocean in the Pacific (ITOP) experiment in the Philippine Sea, namely MR measurements from R/V Roger Revelle, Extreme Air–Sea Interaction (EASI) buoy measurements, as well as WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) modeling results. Buoy measurements of mean direction and spreading as function of frequency, which do not require data adaptive methods, are used to validate the WW3 wave spectra. An advanced MR wave retrieval technique is introduced that addresses various shortcomings of existing methods. Spectral partitioning techniques, applied to MR and WW3 results, reveal that multimodal seas are frequently present. Both data sets are in excellent agreement, tracking the evolution of up to 4 simultaneous wave systems over extended time periods. This study demonstrates MR’s and WW3’s strength at measuring and predicting 2D wave spectra in swell-dominated seas.