Developing a building policy for the erosion zone: Solutions to some key (Dutch) questions

In those coastal communities where the most seaward strip of mainland consists of dunes, these dunes often serve as a flexible sea defence. In addition, this strip offers large potential for housing and commercial enterprises. Unfortunately, due to severe storm surges part of this strip (the erosion zone) is subject to erosion, and as a result of which any buildings or infrastructure located here, are destroyed. Therefore, as we will illustrate in this paper, a building policy for this zone should reflect a compromise between two opposite interests: exploitation of the existing potential and, prevention of an unacceptable high risk due to erosion. Accordingly, the authors have developed a framework for such a building policy on the basis of which the desirability of various different types of investments and the location within the erosion zone of such investments can be determined. The examples that are used to illustrate this framework in this paper are limited to experiences in The Netherlands as relevant data and experiences are available and relatively easy accessible here. Nevertheless, the approach as is described is generic and applicable worldwide suggesting that the discovered unused potential for exploitation is not just limited to The Netherlands.     

The effect of a topographic high on the morphological stability of a two-inlet bay system

The cross-sectional stability of two tidal inlets connecting the same back-barrier lagoon to the ocean is investigated. The condition for equilibrium is the cross-sectional area tidal prism relationship. In an earlier study [Van de Kreeke, J., 1990. Can multiple inlets be stable? Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 30: 261–273.], using the same equilibrium condition, it was concluded that where two inlets connect the same basin to the ocean ultimately one inlet will close. One of the major assumptions in that study was that the water level in the basin fluctuated uniformly. In hindsight this assumption might be too restrictive. For example, in the Wadden Sea the back barrier lagoon consists of a series of basins, rather than one single basin, separated by topographic highs. These topographic highs limit but do not exclude the exchange of water between the sub-basins. For this reason in the present study, a topographic high in the form of a weir was added, separating the back-barrier lagoon in two sub-basins. The water level in the sub-basins, rather than in the back-barrier as a whole, is assumed to fluctuate uniformly. For this schematization the hydrodynamic equations are solved using a finite difference method. The results, together with the equilibrium condition, yield the equilibrium flow curve for each of the inlets. The intersections of the two equilibrium flow curves represent combinations of cross-sectional areas for which both inlets are in equilibrium. The stability of the equilibriums was investigated using a non-linear stability analysis resulting in a flow diagram. Calculations were carried out for different inlet and weir characteristics. Sinussoidal tides were the same for both inlets. The results show that for relatively large wetted cross-sectional areas over the topographic high, approaching the situation of a single basin, there are no combinations of inlet cross-sectional areas for which both inlets are in a stable equilibrium. This supports the conclusion in the earlier study. For relatively small wetted cross-sectional areas over the topographic high there is one set of stable equilibriums. In that case the two-inlet bay system approaches that of two single-inlet bay systems.     

Perceptions of Land Tenure Security in Rural China: The Impact of Land Reallocations and Certification

Abstract

Tenure security is commonly recognized as an important factor in stimulating long-term investments in land. Recent studies suggest that a distinction between legal, actual and perceived tenure security needs to be made in analyzing tenure security. This study discusses the relationships between legal, actual and perceived land tenure security in rural China, and empirically examines the impact of actual on perceived land tenure security by applying Probit models to household and village survey data collected in four provinces. Using household expectations about the absence of land reallocations within the next five years as the dependent variable, we find that tenure security is positively affected by the possession of land certificates in villages that periodically reallocated land but not in villages that did not do so. The estimated impact is larger for land certificates issued in the new round of land certification than for land certificates that were issued earlier.     

Cartographic Design and the Space–Time Cube

This paper reports on the results of an empirical evaluation that aimed to define the effectiveness and efficiency of different visual variables in depicting the Space–Time Cube’s (STC) content. Existing STC applications demonstrate that the most used visual variables are size and colour hue. Less is known, however, about their usability metrics. The research sets design criteria for STC contents, such as space–time paths, based on the cartographic design theory. The visual variables colour hue, colour value, colour saturation, size and orientation have been applied in two different use case studies. Besides, to support the three-dimensional visual environment, depth cues such as shading and transparency were considered too. User tests have been executed based on real-world problems with particular attention for the visualization strategy and data complexity. The outcomes revealed the most efficient and effective visual variables to represent data of various complexities in the STC.     

Properties of geogrid-reinforced marine slope due to the groundwater level changes

Evaluation of slope stability, especially in the absence of a proper bed such as marine soils, is one of the most important issues in geotechnical engineering. Using geogrid layers to enhance the strength and stability of embankments is regarded as a commendable stabilization method. On the other hand, groundwater level erratically fluctuates in coastal areas. Therefore, the aim of this research is to study the effects of groundwater level changes on stability of a geogrid-reinforced slope on loose marine soils in Qeshm Island, Iran. At first, geotechnical properties of the site were obtained by comprehensive series of geotechnical laboratory and in situ tests. Then, by simultaneous changes of groundwater level and several parameters such as embankment slope, loading, geogrid length, geogrid number, and tensile strength of geogrid, different characteristics such as embankment safety factor (SF), vertical and horizontal displacements at embankment top and embankment base were studied. It was observed that groundwater level had significant effects on behavior of the embankment. For most of the observations, by decreasing the groundwater level, the displacements decreased and consequently safety factor increased. Increasing the length, number, and tensile strength of geogrid led to the reduction of displacements and an increase in the safety factor.     

Macroparasites of angelfish Brama brama (Bonnaterre, 1788) in the southern Benguela Current ecosystem

The angelfish Brama brama is a mesopelagic species distributed circumglobally in temperate to warm-temperate waters, including continental-shelf-edge and upper-slope waters of the Benguela Current ecosystem. Little is known about the parasite assemblage of Benguela B. brama, with only three parasite taxa having previously been documented from this species in the southern Benguela. This study describes the macroparasites recorded from 35 B. brama collected during research surveys off the west coast of South Africa in 2015 and 2016. A total of six macroparasite taxa were documented, including the nematode Anisakis pegreffii, the copepod Hatschekia conifera, the cestode Hepatoxylon trichiuri, an acanthocephalan from the genus Rhadinorhynchus, a monogenean from the family Diclidophoridae, and an unidentified species. Three of these (He. trichiuri, Rhadinorhynchus sp. and the unidentified species) had not previously been found to infect B. brama. The most prevalent macroparasite taxa were A. pegreffii (94%), the unidentified species (71%) and Ha. conifera (60%). Two of the parasites, Ha. conifera and He. trichiuri, showed seasonal variation in infection, and infection with the latter was positively correlated with host length. These findings increase our knowledge of B. brama biology and contribute to our understanding of the biodiversity of the southern Benguela ecosystem.     

Understanding the Role of Mass-Unloading in a Filament Eruption

We describe a partial filament eruption on 11 December 2011 that demonstrates that the inclusion of mass is an important next step for understanding solar eruptions. Observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-Behind (STEREO-B) and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft were used to remove line-of-sight projection effects in filament motion and correlate the effect of plasma dynamics with the evolution of the filament height. Flux cancellation and nearby flux emergence are shown to have played a role in increasing the height of the filament prior to eruption. The two viewpoints allow the quantitative estimation of a large mass-unloading, the subsequent radial expansion, and the eruption of the filament to be investigated. A 1.8 to 4.1 lower-limit ratio between gravitational and magnetic-tension forces was found. We therefore conclude that following the loss-of-equilibrium of the flux-rope, the radial expansion of the flux-rope was restrained by the filamentary material until 70% of the mass had evacuated the structure through mass-unloading.     

Why chromatic imaging matters

During the last two decades, the first generation of beam combiners at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer has proved the importance of optical interferometry for high-angular resolution astrophysical studies in the near- and mid-infrared. With the advent of 4-beam combiners at the VLTI, the u ? v coverage per pointing increases significantly, providing an opportunity to use reconstructed images as powerful scientific tools. Therefore, interferometric imaging is already a key feature of the new generation of VLTI instruments, as well as for other interferometric facilities like CHARA and JWST. It is thus imperative to account for the current image reconstruction capabilities and their expected evolutions in the coming years. Here, we present a general overview of the current situation of optical interferometric image reconstruction with a focus on new wavelength-dependent information, highlighting its main advantages and limitations. As an Appendix we include several cookbooks describing the usage and installation of several state-of-the art image reconstruction packages. To illustrate the current capabilities of the software available to the community, we recovered chromatic images, from simulated MATISSE data, using the MCMC software SQUEEZE. With these images, we aim at showing the importance of selecting good regularization functions and their impact on the reconstruction.     

Authigenic carbonates from the eastern Black Sea as an archive for shallow gas hydrate dynamics – Results from the combination of CT imaging with mineralogical and stable isotope analyses

Authigenic carbonates associated with cold seeps provide valuable archives of changes in the long-term seepage activity. To investigate the role of shallow-buried hydrates on the seepage strength and fluid composition we analysed methane-derived carbonate precipitates from a high-flux hydrocarbon seepage area (“Batumi seep area”) located on the south-eastern Black Sea slope in ca. 850 m. In a novel approach, we combined computerized X-ray tomography (CT) with mineralogical and isotope geochemical methods to get additional insights into the three-dimensional internal structure of the carbonate build-ups.     

Micromorphological characteristics of glacimarine sediments: implications for distinguishing genetic processes of massive diamicts

Glacimarine diamicts are produced by diverse processes, and genetic differentiation is often problematic using macro-sedimentological criteria alone. Micromorphology offers a potentially helpful tool in such investigations. Macroscopically massive diamict samples of known glacimarine origin, from the Polar North Atlantic, Antarctica and north Irish Sea, were prepared for micromorphological analysis to (1) identify microstructures unique to different modes of sedimentation and (2) interpret genetic processes from those structures. The samples comprised examples of debris-flow, iceberg-turbate and suspension settling deposits from late Quaternary glacier-influenced marine environments: tidewater glacier, sub- or pro-ice shelf and continental slopes in front of ice stream termini. Results show two significant features of debris-flow sediments: a bimodal grain fabric of near-horizontal and -vertical grains, and laminated clay and silt coatings on sand and pebble grains. Coatings are best developed in sediments with finer grain-size distributions and in debris-flow sediments which have had relatively long run-out distances on trough-mouth fans, suggesting continuous rotation of grains in a buoyant, turbulent aqueous environment. This is significant because it precludes debris-flow delivery by plug flow. The micromorphology of iceberg turbate has not been described previously. It contains structures similar to those described in tills, so that unambiguous identification of these sediments seems unlikely based on micromorphological criteria alone. Suspension sediments range from fine-grained massive diamicts containing microfossils to more heterogeneous coarser sediments characterised by abrupt textural variations, from ice-distal and ice-proximal glacimarine environments respectively. The ice-proximal sediments contain fine vertical lineations marking the trajectories of dropstones through wet matrix. These dropstone tracks have not been reported in previous studies.