Ice marginal dynamics during surge activity,Kuannersuit Glacier,Disko Island,West Greenland

The Kuannersuit Glacier surged 11 km between 1995 and 1998. The surge resulted in the formation of an ice cored thrust moraine complex constructed by subglacial and proglacial glaciotectonic processes. Four main thrust zones are evident in the glacier snout area with phases of compressional folding and thrusting followed by hydrofracture in response to the build-up of compressional stresses and the aquicludal nature of submarginal permafrost and naled. Various types of stratified debris-rich ice facies occur within the marginal zone: The first (Facies I) comprises laterally continuous strata of ice with sorted sediment accumulations, and is reworked and thrust naled ice. The second is laterally discontinuous stratified debris-rich ice with distinct tectonic structures, and is derived through subglacial extensional deformation and localised regelation (Facies II), whilst the third type is characterised by reworked and brecciated ice associated with the reworking and entrainment of meteoric ice (Facies III). Hydrofracture dykes and sills (Facies IV) cross-cut the marginal ice cored thrust moraines, with their sub-vertically frozen internal contact boundaries and sedimentary structures, suggesting supercooling operated as high-pressure evacuation of water occurred during thrusting, but this is not related to the formation of basal stratified debris-rich ice. Linear distributions of sorted fines transverse to ice flow, and small stratified sediment ridges that vertically cross-cut the ice surface up-ice of the thrust zone relate to sediment migration along crevasse traces and fluvial infilling of crevasses. From a palaeoglaciological viewpoint, marginal glacier tectonics, ice sediment content and sediment delivery mechanisms combine to control the development of this polythermal surge valley landsystem. The bulldozing of proglacial sediments and the folding and thrusting of naled leads to the initial development of the outer zone of the moraine complex. This becomes buried in bulldozed outwash sediment and well-sorted fines through surface ablation of naled. Up-ice of this, the heavily thrust margin becomes buried in sediment melted out from basal debris-rich ice and subglacial diamicts routed along thrusts. These mechanisms combine to deliver sediment to supraglacial localities, and promote the initial preservation of structurally controlled moraines through insulation, and the later development of kettled dead ice terrain.     

Near-nucleus photometry of comets using archived NEAT data

Though optimized to discover and track fast moving Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) survey dataset can be mined to obtain information on the comet population observed serendipitously during the asteroid survey. We have completed analysis of over 400 CCD images of comets obtained during the autonomous operations of two 1.2-m telescopes: the first on the summit of Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui and the second on Palomar Mountain in southern California. Photometric calibrations of each frame were derived using background catalog stars and the near-nucleus comet photometry measured. We measured dust production and normalized magnitudes for the coma and nucleus in order to explore cometary activity and comet size-frequency distributions. Our data over an approximately two-year time frame (2001 August-2003 February) include 52 comets: 12 periodic, 19 numbered, and 21 non-periodic, obtained over a wide range of viewing geometries and helio/geocentric distances. Nuclear magnitudes were estimated for a subset of comets observed. We found that for low-activity comets (Afρ<100 cm) our model gave reasonable estimates for nuclear size and magnitude. The slope of the cumulative luminosity function of our sample of low-activity comets was 0.33 ± 0.04, consistent with the slope we measured for the Jupiter-family cometary nuclei collected by Fernández et al. [Fernández, J.A., Tancredi, G., Rickman, H., Licandro, J., 1999. Astron. Astrophys. 392, 327-340] of 0.38 ± 0.02. Our slopes of the cumulative size distribution α=1.50±0.08 agree well with the slopes measured by Whitman et al. [Whitman, K., Morbidelli, A., Jedicke, R., 2006. Icarus 183, 101-114], Meech et al. [Meech, K.J., Hainaut, O.R., Marsden, B.G., 2004. Icarus 170, 463-491], Lowry et al. [Lowry, S.C., Fitzsimmons, A., Collander-Brown, S., 2003. Astron. Astrophys. 397, 329-343], and Weissman and Lowry [Weissman, P.R., Lowry, S.C., 2003. Lunar Planet. Sci. 34. Abstract 34].     

Total and opportunistic algal cover in relation to environmental variables

Based on a large data set from the national Danish monitoring program, spatial and temporal variability in total algal cover and in the fraction of opportunistic macroalgae was analysed in relation to environmental variables. Variations in water clarity and salinity combined with information on geographical location of sampling areas were found to explain almost 80% of the large-scale variation in algal cover between areas. As water clarity was largely regulated by concentrations of total-nitrogen (TN), and TN-concentrations by TN-input from land, total algal cover at given water depths was partly related to TN-input from land. The fraction of opportunistic algae responded predominantly to differences in salinity, the highest fractions being found in the most brackish areas. Temporal variability in algal cover and fraction of opportunists over the 14-year investigation period was much smaller than the variability between areas and could not be predicted from variations in environmental variables. In order for macroalgal cover to become a more sensitive indicator of water quality it would be necessary to either increase the sensitivity of the method or identify and include supplementary regulating factors in the model.     

Statistical principles for ecological status classification of Water Framework Directive monitoring data

Bias, precision and confidence of the classification framework are crucial elements for decisions to invest large sums to improve the ecological quality. In this study, the statistical principles for classification in relation to WFD are outlined and exemplified. Indicator adjustment to seasonal variation and other significant covariates reduces bias and improves precision. Precision is generally improved using annual means with seasonal adjustment instead of seasonal means. For classification I argue that the balance between costs of monitoring and reduction measures is only fully maintained by the fail-safe approach. The required monitoring efforts to ensure a precise classification are substantially higher than envisaged in WFD, for nutrients and phytoplankton measurements as high as 500 observations to characterise a water body. It must be ensured that sufficient monitoring data become available for classification, while indicator bias and precision is improved through modelling and further development of measurement techniques.     

Estimating geoid height change in North America: past, present and future

The forthcoming GRAV-D gravimetric geoid model over the United States is to be updated regularly to account for changes in geoid height. Its baseline precision is to be at the 10–20 mm level over non-mountainous regions. The aim of this study is to provide an estimate of the magnitude, time scale, and spatial footprint of geoid height change over North America, from mass redistribution processes of hydrologic, cryospheric and solid Earth nature. Geoid height changes from continental water storage changes over the past 50 years and predicted over the next century are evaluated and are highly dependent on the used model. Groundwater depletion from anthropogenic pumping in regional scale aquifers may lead to geoid changes of 10 mm magnitude every 50–100 years. The GRACE time varying gravity fields are used to (i) assess the errors in a glacial isostatic adjustment model, which, if used to correct the GRAV-D model, may induce errors at the 10 mm geoid height level after ~20 years, (ii), evaluate geoid height change over ice mass loss regions of North America, which, if they remain unchanged in the future, may lead to geoid height changes at the 10 mm level in under a decade and (iii), compute sea level rise and its effect on the geoid, which is found to be negligible. Coseismic gravitational changes from past North American earthquakes are evaluated, and lead to geoid change at the 10-mm level for only the largest thrust earthquakes. Finally, geoid change from volcanic processes are assessed and found to be significant with respect to the GRAV-D geoid model baseline precision for cataclysmic events, such as that of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption. Recommendations on how to best monitor geoid change in the future are given.     

Public-space planning in four Nordic cities: Symbolic values in tension

This article takes its point of departure in the assumption that values shape planning practices and that alternatively one can reconstruct such values from the way planning interventions are argued and evaluated. We contend that planners’ discourses involve implicit value commitments that are observable in their representations of public space and implicated in the results of public-space planning. The paper builds an empirical case from representations of public space elaborated in planning documents developed by planners in four medium-sized Nordic cities. We show how these planning representations form four thematic value clusters concerning urban public space, namely leisure-play, identity-unity, power-organization and unruliness-change. Together these clusters constitute a value framework which reveals a number of central tensions relating to the way that planners seek to balance order and spontaneity in public space. The paper concludes by outlining and discussing these values and the tensions they represent.     

A comparison of turbulence measurements by different instruments; Tsimlyansk field experiment 1970

In the summer of 1970 an international intercomparison of turbulence measurement sensors was carried out at the Tsimlyansk field station of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IFA) Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Improved sonic anemometer sensors of the IFA were compared with the Kaijo sonic used by the Canadian group and with the fluxatron from CSIRO, Australia.Results from the experiment indicate that spectral and cospectral shapes are basically similar between the sonic anemometers. The spectra and cospectra of the fluxatron in the high-frequency region showed an attenuation which can be explained in terms of the response characteristics of the fluxatron. The maintenance of absolute calibration of the sensors in the field was found to be difficult, but when properly corrected for this variation, the measurements were found to agree within 13%, with a standard error of 0.2. A single point observation of turbulent fluxes at a few meters above the surface and averaged over a period of the order of one hour was shown to be representative of turbulent fluxes at the site.     

An examination of turbulence statistics in the surface boundary layer

Simulated data derived from random numbers are used to show that the process of relating % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqaqpepeea0xe9qqVa0l% b9peea0lb9Lq-JfrVkFHe9peea0dXdarVe0Fb9pgea0xa9W8qr0-vr% 0-viWZqaceaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqaaaOqaaiabeo8aZnaaBa% aaleaacaWG3baabeaakiaac+cacaWG1bWaaSbaaSqaaiabgEHiQaqa% baaaaa!3D7C!\[\sigma _w /u_ * \]and similar properties to the stability parameter % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqaqpepeea0xe9qqVa0l% b9peea0lb9Lq-JfrVkFHe9peea0dXdarVe0Fb9pgea0xa9W8qr0-vr% 0-viWZqaceaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqaaaOqaaiaadQhacaGGVa% Gaamitaaaa!3A42!\[z/L\]is highly susceptible to error. An alternative method, making use of Ri as a stability index, is not affected in this way and is used to re-examine the data obtained in the 1968 Kansas micrometeorological experiment. The relationship % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqaqpepeea0xe9qqVa0l% b9peea0lb9Lq-JfrVkFHe9peea0dXdarVe0Fb9pgea0xa9W8qr0-vr% 0-viWZqaceaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqaaaOqaaiabeo8aZnaaBa% aaleaacaWG3baabeaakiaac+cacaWG1bWaaSbaaSqaaiabgEHiQaqa% baGccqWIdjYocaaIXaGaaiOlaiaaikdacaaI1aaaaa!419F!\[\sigma _w /u_ * \simeq 1.25\] % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqaqpepeea0xe9qqVa0l% b9peea0lb9Lq-JfrVkFHe9peea0dXdarVe0Fb9pgea0xa9W8qr0-vr% 0-viWZqaceaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqaaaOqaamaabmaabaGaaG% ymaiabgkHiTiaaikdacaWG6bGaai4laiaadYeaaiaawIcacaGLPaaa% daahaaWcbeqaaiaaigdacaGGVaGaaG4maaaaaaa!4087!\[\left( {1 - 2z/L} \right)^{1/3} \]is found to provide a good fit to the unstable data, but it is unclear as to whether a small peak observed in stable conditions is real (perhaps associated with gravity waves) or not (possibly a consequence of measurement errors).The properties % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqaqpepeea0xe9qqVa0l% b9peea0lb9Lq-JfrVkFHe9peea0dXdarVe0Fb9pgea0xa9W8qr0-vr% 0-viWZqaceaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqaaaOqaaiabeo8aZnaaBa% aaleaacaWG1baabeaakiaac+cacaWG1bWaaSbaaSqaaiabgEHiQaqa% baaaaa!3D7A!\[\sigma _u /u_ * \]and % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqaqpepeea0xe9qqVa0l% b9peea0lb9Lq-JfrVkFHe9peea0dXdarVe0Fb9pgea0xa9W8qr0-vr% 0-viWZqaceaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqaaaOqaaiabeo8aZnaaBa% aaleaacaWG1baabeaakiaac+cacaWG1bWaaSbaaSqaaiabgEHiQaqa% baaaaa!3D7A!\[\sigma _u /u_ * \] are found to attain a relatively constant value ( 3) in conditions more unstable than about Ri = -0.4. The shape ratio % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqaqpepeea0xe9qqVa0l% b9peea0lb9Lq-JfrVkFHe9peea0dXdarVe0Fb9pgea0xa9W8qr0-vr% 0-viWZqaceaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqaaaOqaaiabeo8aZnaaBa% aaleaacaWG1baabeaakiaac+cacqaHdpWCdaWgaaWcbaGaamODaaqa% baaaaa!3E4F!\[\sigma _u /\sigma _v \] is found to decrease to less than unity in very unstable conditions, possibly as a consequence of some undetected error in measurement of _u . In the case of temperature fluctuations, % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqaqpepeea0xe9qqVa0l% b9peea0lb9Lq-JfrVkFHe9peea0dXdarVe0Fb9pgea0xa9W8qr0-vr% 0-viWZqaceaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqaaaOqaaiabeo8aZnaaBa% aaleaacqaHepaDaeqaaOGaai4laiaadsfadaWgaaWcbaGaey4fIOca% beaakiabg2da9iaaicdacaGGUaGaaGyoaiaaiwdacaGGOaGaeyOeI0% IaamOEaiaac+cacaWGmbGaaiykamaaCaaaleqabaGaeyOeI0IaaGym% aiaac+cacaaIZaaaaaaa!4A30!\[\sigma _\tau /T_ * = 0.95( - z/L)^{ - 1/3} \] is found to provide an excellent fit in unstable conditions (Ri < -0.1), even though this form also agrees well with random behavior.Now With: Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Laboratory, NOAA, P. O. Box E, Oak Ridge Tenn., 37830, U.S.A.     

Volcanoes as possible indicators of tectonic stress orientation — Aleutians and Alaska

A new method for obtaining from volcanic surface features the orientations of the principal tectonic stresses is applied to Aleutian and Alaskan volcanoes. The underlying concept for this method is that flank eruptions for polygenetic volcanoes can be regarded as the result of a large-scale natural magmafracturing experiment. The method essentially relies on the recognition of the preferred orientation of radial and parallel dike swarms, primarily using the distribution of monogenetic craters including flank volcanoes. Since dikes tend to propagate in a direction normal to the minimum principal stress (T-axis), the method primarily yields the direction of the maximum horizontal compression (MHC) of regional origin. The direction of the MHC may correspond to either the maximum (P-axis) or intermediate (B-axis) principal stress.The direction of MHC obtained at 20 volcanoes in the Aleutian arc coincides well with the direction of convergence between the Pacific and North American plates. This result provides evidence that in the island arc the inferred direction of MHC is parallel to the maximum principal tectonic stress. In the back-arc region, general E-W trends of MHC are obtained from seven volcanic fields on islands on the Bering Sea shelf and the mainland coast of Alaska. These volcanic fields consist mostly of clusters of monogenetic volcanoes of alkali basalt. In the back-arc region, the trends of MHC may correspond to an E-W intermediate, a vertical maximum, and a N-S minimum principal stress.Implications for the tectonics of island arcs and back-arc regions are: (1) volcanic belts of some island arcs, including the Aleutian arc, are under compressional deviatoric stress in the direction of plate convergence. It is improbable that such arcs would split along the volcanic axis to form actively spreading marginal basins. (2) This compressional stress at the arc, probably generated by underthrusting, appears to be transmitted across the entire arc structure, but is apparently replaced within several hundred kilometers by a stress system characterized by horizontal extension (tensional deviatoric stress) in the back-arc region. (3) The volcanoes associated with these two stress systems differ in type (polygenetic vs. monogenetic) and in the chemistry of their magmas (andesitic vs. basaltic). These differences and the regional differences in orientation of the principal tectonic stresses suggest that the back-arc stress system has its own source at considerable depth beneath the crust.Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory Contribution No. 2503.