Tropical storm motion and structure in a fine mesh primitive equation model

Summary Convective to planetary scale processes govern the motion and structure of tropical storms. A model with a high resolution and a large domain is required for accurate prediction of a storm's track and intensity. A series of integrations are performed using a primitive equation model and an initial state that defines a tropical storm that later developed into a hurricane in the real atmosphere. Increasing the horizontal resolution or domain of the model improves the forecast track. However only the increase in the horizontal resolution produces a better hurricane structure.Banded structure in the vertical motion field, asymmetries in the low tropospheric winds similar to those observed and upper tropospheric cyclonic outflow develop in high horizontal resolution experiments. It is shown that horizontal advection and pressure gradient terms produce wind tendencies in the low troposphere that displace the vortex in the observed direction. A high pressure area surrounding the central low pressure area appears in the upper troposphere. Around this high pressure area large pressure gradients develop that induce outflow winds in the distal storm area.     

Application of IRS-1A data for delineating buried channels in Southern part of Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh

Two buried channels were identified in southern part of Allahabad district based on the visual interpretation of IRS-1 A LISS II FCC followed by detailed study of aerial photographs and cheks. It has been concluded on basis of the configuration of the channels that these were initially joined forming one channel which flowed from east to west although the present master slope of the area is from west to east. The present reversal of the drainage might have been caused by the neo-tectonic activity in the area. The buried channels provide potential ground water reservoirs in the area as proved by a few boreholes drilled on the channels. Some part of the area has become waterlogged due to the seepage of water from the canals cutting across one of the buried channels.     

An improved segmentation approach for planar surfaces from unstructured 3D point clouds

The extraction of object features from massive unstructured point clouds with different local densities, especially in the presence of random noisy points, is not a trivial task even if that feature is a planar surface. Segmentation is the most important step in the feature extraction process. In practice, most segmentation approaches use geometrical information to segment the 3D point cloud. The features generally include the position of each point (X, Y and Z), locally estimated surface normals and residuals of best fitting surfaces; however, these features could be affected by noisy points and in consequence directly affect the segmentation results. Therefore, massive unstructured and noisy point clouds also lead to bad segmentation (over-segmentation, under-segmentation or no segmentation). While the RANSAC (random sample consensus) algorithm is effective in the presence of noise and outliers, it has two significant disadvantages, namely, its efficiency and the fact that the plane detected by RANSAC may not necessarily belong to the same object surface; that is, spurious surfaces may appear, especially in the case of parallel-gradual planar surfaces such as stairs. The innovative idea proposed in this paper is a modification for the RANSAC algorithm called Seq-NV-RANSAC. This algorithm checks the normal vector (NV) between the existing point clouds and the hypothesised RANSAC plane, which is created by three random points, under an intuitive threshold value. After extracting the first plane, this process is repeated sequentially (Seq) and automatically, until no planar surfaces can be extracted from the remaining points under the existing threshold value. This prevents the extraction of spurious surfaces, brings an improvement in quality to the computed attributes and increases the degree of automation of surface extraction. Thus the best fit is achieved for the real existing surfaces.     

The eastern Tonale fault zone: a ‘natural laboratory’ for crystal plastic deformation of quartz over a temperature range from 250 to 700 °C

Near the eastern end of the Tonale fault zone, a segment of the Periadriatic fault system in the Italian Alps, the Adamello intrusion produced a syn-kinematic contact aureole. A temperature gradient from 250 to 700 °C was determined across the Tonale fault zone using critical syn-kinematic mineral assemblages from the metasedimentary host rocks surrounding deformed quartz veins. Deformed quartz veins sampled along this temperature gradient display a transition from cataclasites to mylonites (frictional–viscous transition) at 280±30 °C. Within the mylonites, zones characterized by different dynamic recrystallization mechanisms were defined: Bulging recrystallization (BLG) was dominant between 280 and 400 °C, subgrain rotation recrystallization (SGR) in the 400–500 °C interval, and the transition to dominant grain boundary migration recrystallization (GBM) occurred at 500 °C. The microstructures associated with the three recrystallization mechanisms and the transitions between them can be correlated with experimentally derived dislocation creep regimes. Bulk texture X-ray goniometry and computer-automated analysis of preferred [c]-axis orientations of porphyroclasts and recrystallized grains are used to quantify textural differences that correspond to the observed microstructural changes. Within the BLG- and SGR zones, porphyroclasts show predominantly single [c]-axis maxima. At the transition from the SGR- to the GBM zone, the texture of recrystallized grains indicates a change from [c]-axis girdles, diagnostic of multiple slip systems, to a single maximum in Y. Within the GBM zone, above 630±30 °C, the textures also include submaxima, which are indicative of combined basal a- and prism [c] slip.     

Sea/land breeze climatological characteristics along the northern Croatian Adriatic coast

Summary Climatological characteristics along the northern Croatian Adriatic coast have been examined for nine meteorological stations for the summertime sea/land breeze circulation. The stations considered are Pula-airport, Opatija, Rijeka, Senj, Malinska, Rijeka-airport, Mali Lošinj, Rab and Zadar. The hourly surface measurements at each station from June to September for the period 1991–2004 as well as the radiosoundings in Zadar (from 2002 to 2004) were used for the analysis. A dataset with the sea/land breeze days was formed according to the several criteria. The mean daily maxima of both air and sea surface temperatures were more influenced by the large scale disturbances toward north (e.g. in Rijeka or Opatija) compared to the values for e.g. Zadar. Furthermore, the influence of the large scale disturbances diminished toward the south concerning the sea–land temperature difference only at the stations placed at Rijeka Bay and Velebit channel. The strongest sea breeze was found at Pula-airport and the most frequent ones at Opatija and Zadar. At Senj the rarest, the weakest and the shortest sea breeze was observed. The climatological records of wind speed and air-sea temperature difference (ΔT) showed for Opatija, Malinska and Zadar that the maximum measured wind speed is around 4.5 °C confirming the nonlinear relationship between the sea breeze speeds and the ΔT during the day. At most stations, the clockwise rotation of the hodographs prevails which is typical for the Northern hemisphere due to Coriolis force, with the exception at Senj and Malinska. While the hodographs for Pula, Rijeka-airport and Mali Lošinj display a later onset of the prevailing sea breeze because of the interaction among several sea breeze circulations, the results for Opatija, Zadar and Senj show considerably distorted hodographs because of the nearby channeling of the air flow.     

Iron and Manganese Minerals in Suspended Matter from the Barents Sea

The mineralogy of suspended matter from surface and bottom waters is studied at two sites in the Barents Sea. Along with terrigenous minerals, the suspended matter samples contain authigenic mineral phases of iron and manganese oxyhydroxides. Mn-feroxyhite, Fe-vernadite, goethite, and proto-ferrihydrite were identified in samples from surface waters, whereas birnessite and nonferruginous vernadite were registered in samples from bottom waters. The formation of suspended manganese minerals in bottom waters is explained by an additional Mn supply from underlying reduced sediments during their early diagenesis and oxygen depletion in the near-bottom nepheloid layer. Bacteria are supposed to take part in the authigenic mineral formation.     

Bildung bromhaltiger Desinfektionsnebenprodukte nach Chlorung von Bodenseewasser in Abhängigkeit von Aufbereitungsschritten und der Bromidkonzentration

Formation of Brominated Disinfection By-products after Chlorination of Water from Lake Constance Depending on Treatment Steps and Bromide Concentration The formation of halogenated disinfection by-products (DNP) (trihalomethanes (THM), haloacetic acids (HES), haloacetonitriles (HAN), haloketones (HKE) and chloropicrin (TCNM)) was studied after chlorination (0.5 mg/L) of raw water and drinking water from Lake Constance. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of bromide ion on the distribution of DNP-species resulting from chlorination and to draw up a bromide mass-balance. The treatment of water from Lake Constance with ozone decreased the formation of DNP about 35% and of total organic halogens (AOX) about 45%. This decline in DNP-formation is mainly due to the formation of chloroform, dichloro- and trichloroacetic acid. Though there is only a small amount of bromide (6.2 μg/L) in water from Lake Constance, about 32% of THM, 16% of HES, and 30% of HAN contained bromine after chlorination of treated water. The addition of bromide ion (up to 1 mg/L) shifted the DNP-composition to more brominated species. The distribution of the DNP-species depends on the initial molar bromide-to-chlorine ratio. A mathematic model showed the same pattern of DNP-species depending on the initial molar bromide-to-chlorine ratio that was observed experimentally in microstrained raw water and drinking water from Lake Constance. After chlorination of microstrained raw water, 27% of the bromide were incorporated in known DNP, 34% in unknown substances, and about 39% of bromide were not converted to organic bromine. After chlorination of treated water, only 16% of the bromide were incorporated in unknown substances, whereas 34% were found in known DNP. About 50% were found as bromide again. After addition of bromide (up to 25 μg/L) to ozonated and treated water from Lake Constance, between 60 and 72% of the bromide that had reacted after chlorination were found in analyzed low-molecular DNP.     

<Superscript>10</Superscript>Be, <Superscript>18</Superscript>O and radiogenic isotopic constraints on the origin of adakitic signatures: a case study from Solander and Little Solander Islands,New Zealand

Subduction-related Quaternary volcanic rocks from Solander and Little Solander Islands, south of mainland New Zealand, are porphyritic trachyandesites and andesites (58.20–62.19 wt% SiO₂) with phenocrysts of amphibole, plagioclase and biotite. The Solander and Little Solander rocks are incompatible element enriched (e.g. Sr ~931–2,270 ppm, Ba ~619–798 ppm, Th ~8.7–21.4 ppm and La ~24.3–97.2 ppm) with MORB-like Sr and Nd isotopic signatures. Isotopically similar quench-textured enclaves reflect mixing with intermediate (basaltic-andesite) magmas. The Solander rocks have geochemical affinities with adakites (e.g. high Sr/Y and low Y), whose origin is often attributed to partial melting of subducted oceanic crust. Solander sits on isotopically distinct continental crust, thus excluding partial melting of the lower crust in the genesis of the magmas. Furthermore, the incompatible element enrichments of the Solander rocks are inconsistent with partial melting of newly underplated mafic lower crust; reproduction of their major element compositions would require unrealistically high degrees of partial melting. A similar argument precludes partial melting of the subducting oceanic crust and the inability to match the observed trace element patterns in the presence of residual garnet or plagioclase. Alternatively, an enriched end member of depleted MORB mantle source is inferred from Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic compositions, trace element enrichments and εHf ? 0 CHUR in detrital zircons, sourced from the volcanics. ¹⁰Be and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic systematics are inconsistent with significant sediment involvement in the source region. The trace element enrichments and MORB-like Sr and Nd isotopic characteristics of the Solander rocks require a strong fractionation mechanism to impart the high incompatible element concentrations and subduction-related (e.g. high LILE/HFSE) geochemical signatures of the Solander magmas. Trace element modelling shows that this can be achieved by very low degrees of melting of a peridotitic source enriched by the addition of a slab-derived melt. Subsequent open-system fractionation, involving a key role for mafic magma recharge, resulted in the evolved andesitic adakites.