Temporal variations in heat fluxes over a central European city centre

Summary Energy fluxes have been measured over an area near the centre of the city of Łódź, Poland, since November 2000. The site was selected because the building style (surface cover and morphology) is typical of European cities, yet distinct from the majority of cities where energy balance observations have been studied thus far. The multi-year dataset permits consideration of temporal changes in energy balance partitioning over a wide range of seasonal and synoptic conditions and of the role of heat storage and anthropogenic fluxes in the energy balance. Partitioning of net radiation into the turbulent fluxes is consistent in the two years, with the largest differences occurring due to differing precipitation. The monthly ensemble diurnal cycles of the turbulent fluxes over the two years are similar. The largest differences occur during the July–September period, and are attributable to greater net radiation and lower rainfall in 2002. The latent heat flux accounts for approximately 40% of the turbulent heat transfer on an annual basis. The average daily daytime Bowen ratio and its variability are slightly reduced during the summer (growing) season. Anthropogenic heat is a significant input to the urban energy balance in the winter. The fluxes observed in this study are consistent with results from other urban sites.     

Urban–rural contrasts of meteorological parameters in Łódź

Summary Data from two automatic stations in Łódź (one urban and one rural) for the period 1997–2002 are analyzed to reveal urban–rural contrasts of such parameters as air temperature, relative humidity, water vapour pressure and wind speed. Under favourable weather conditions the highest temperature differences between the urban and rural station exceeds 8 °C. Relative humidity is lower in the town, sometimes by more than 40%. Water vapour pressure differences can be either positive (up to 5 hPa) or negative (up to −4 hPa). Wind speed at the urban station is on average lower by about 34% in night and 39% during daytime. Regression analysis shows that for rural winds lower than 1.13 m s⁻¹ urban winds can be stronger than rural speeds. Attention has also been paid to singularities in the course of the analyzed parameters over 24 hour periods. It is shown that the typical course of the urban heat island intensity under favourable conditions is similar in all season. Four stages of this course have been distinguished. Wind speed differences also seem to change in a typical way. Case studies show that humidity contrasts, unlike temperature, can evolve in different ways under fine weather conditions. Types of relative humidity evolution are proposed.     

Compositions,sources and depositional environments of organic matter from the Middle Jurassic clays of Poland

The comprehensive biomarker characteristics from previously undescribed Middle Jurassic clays of Poland are presented. The molecular composition of the organic matter (OM) derived from clays of Aalenian to Callovian age has not changed significantly through time. High relative concentrations of many biomarkers typical for terrestrial material suggest a distinct dominance of OM derived from land plants. Increasing concentrations of C₂₉-diaster-13(17)-enes towards the northern part of the basin indicate an increase in terrestrial input. This terrestrial material would have originated from the enhanced transport of organic matter from land situated at the northern bank of the basin, i.e., the Fennoscandian Shield. The organic matter was deposited in an oxic to suboxic environment, as indicated by relatively low concentrations of C₃₃–C₃₅ homohopanes, moderate to high Pr/Ph ratio values, an absence of compounds characteristic for anoxia and water column stratification, such as isorenieratane, aryl isoprenoids and gammacerane, as well as common benthic fauna and burrows. δ¹⁸O measurements from calcitic rostra of belemnites suggest that the mean value of the Middle Jurassic sea-water temperature of the Polish Basin was 13.1 °C. It is suggested that this mirrored the temperature of the lower water column because belemnites are considered here to be necto-benthic. The organic matter from the Middle Jurassic basin of Poland is immature. This is clearly indicated by a large concentration of biomarkers with the biogenic configurations, such as ββ-hopanes, hop-13(18)-enes, hop-17(21)-enes, diasterenes and sterenes. The identification of preserved, unaltered biomolecules like ferruginol, 6,7-dehydroferruginol and sugiol in Protopodocarpoxylon wood samples from these sediments present particularly strong evidence for the presence of immature OM in the Middle Jurassic sediments. Moreover, the occurrence of these polar diterpenoids is important due to the fact that they are definitely the oldest known natural products detected in geological samples.     

Lu–Hf geochronology and trace element distribution in garnet: Implications for uplift and exhumation of ultra-high pressure granulites in the Sudetes, SW Poland

Combining Lu–Hf garnet geochronology with in situ trace element analyses in garnet allowed us to gain new insight into the metamorphic evolution of UHP–UHT rocks in the Stary Gierałtów region, in the Polish Sudetes. Prograde garnet growth recorded by Rayleigh-type heavy REE (HREE) zoning in the felsic granulites indicates that the obtained 386.6 ± 4.9 Ma Lu–Hf age represents the time of garnet crystallization on a prograde UHP metamorphic path. The surrounding rocks were metamorphosed at the same time as indicated by 381.2 ± 6.7 Ma Sm–Nd garnet age obtained for the mid-crustal metapelites. The second metamorphic episode, which affected most of the lower crust in the Orlica–Śnieżnik Massif (OSM) occurred at ca. 340 Ma as determined by U–Pb zircon and Sm–Nd garnet dating of granulites in this and previous studies is interpreted as a high temperature event, which took place on a retrograde path.

Trace element distribution in garnets from the layered granulites showed significant differences in distribution of medium and HREE in garnets from mafic and felsic protoliths over the course of the metamorphic evolution. This had strong impact on the isotopic dating results and led to “decoupling” of the Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf clocks, which recorded timing of the two different metamorphic episodes separated by as much as 40 Ma. Moreover, the preservation of the HREE growth zonation profile in garnets from the felsic granulites whose minimum metamorphic temperature was established at 900 °C implies that the Lu–Hf system under relatively dry conditions does not undergo significant diffusional re-equilibration even at such extreme temperatures and therefore it sill provides the age of prograde garnet growth. Under hydrous conditions, at least some resetting will take place, as documented by the partially relaxed HREE zonation profile in the amphibolitised mafic granulite, which yielded a 10 Ma younger age. The HREE distribution study appeared to be a particularly valuable and essential tool, which allowed us to distinguish garnet growth from post-growth complexities and hence, provide improved age interpretation. Medium REE, on the other hand, did not show any obvious correlation with the isotopic signature of garnet.

Two distinct metamorphic episodes recorded in the Stary Gierałtów region show that buoyancy-driven uplift of UHP rocks can be arrested at the base of a continental crust if not supported by any additional force. In our case study, the UHP rocks would have never reached the surface if their uplift had not been resumed after a long pause under a different tectonic regime. The multistage, discontinuous uplift revealed by the UHP rocks of the OSM provides a new scenario for the exhumation of continental crust from mantle depths distinct from the fast-track exhumation histories recognized in UHP terranes elsewhere.     

3D structure of the Earth's crust beneath the northern part of the Bohemian Massif

The SUDETES 2003 wide-angle refraction/reflection experiment covered the area of the south-western Poland and the northern Bohemian Massif. The good quality data that were gathered combined with the data from previous experiments (POLONAISE'97, CELEBRATION 2000) allowed us to prepare a 3D seismic model of the crust and uppermost mantle for this area. We inverted travel times of both refracted and reflected P waves using the JIVE3D package. This allowed us to obtain a model of P-wave velocity distribution as well as the shape of major boundaries in the crust. We also present a detailed uncertainty analysis for both the boundary depths and the velocity field. In doing the uncertainty analysis we found an interesting, strong dependence between uncertainty and inversion scheme (order of used phases). We also compared the model with surface geology and found good correlation between velocity inhomogeneities in the uppermost crust (down to 2 km) and major geological units. The higher velocity lower crust (6.9–7.2 km/s) could result from remelting of the lower crust or magmatic underplating.     

Diurnal atmospheric forcing and temporal variations of the nutation amplitudes

A 29-year time-series of four-times-daily atmospheric effective angular momentum (EAM) estimates is used to study the atmospheric influence on nutation. The most important atmospheric contributions are found for the prograde annual (77 μas), retrograde annual (53 as), prograde semiannual (45 as), and for the constant offset of the pole (δψsinɛ₀=−86 as, δɛ=77 as). Among them only the prograde semiannual component is driven mostly by the wind term of the EAM function, while in all other cases the pressure term is dominant. These are nonnegligible quantities which should be taken into account in the new theory of nutation. Comparison with the VLBI corrections to the IAU 1980 nutation model taking into account the ocean tide contribution yields good agreement for the prograde annual and semiannual nutations. We also investigated time variability of the atmospheric contribution to the nutation amplitudes by performing the sliding-window least-squares analysis of both the atmospheric excitation and VLBI nutation data. Almost all detected variations of atmospheric origin can be attributed to the pressure term, the biggest being the in-phase annual prograde component (about 30 as) and the retrograde one (as much as 100200 as). These variations, if physical, limit the precision of classical modeling of nutation to the level of 0.1 mas. Comparison with the VLBI data shows significant correlation for the retrograde annual nutation after 1989, while for the prograde annual term there is a high correlation in shape but the size of the atmospherically driven variations is about three times less than deduced from the VLBI data. This discrepancy in size can be attributed either to inaccuracy of the theoretical transfer function or the frequency-dependent ocean response to the pressure variations. Our comparison also yields a considerably better agreement with the VLBI nutation data when using the EAM function without the IB correction for ocean response, which indicates that this correction is not adequate for nearly diurnal variations. Received: 10 September 1997 / Accepted: 5 March 1998     

Tourist farms in Lower Silesia, Poland

In view of the small size of most Polish farms, attempts have been made to encourage diversification into rural tourism. The paper examines the progress made in Lower Silesia which has good resources for domestic and international tourism. Thanks to the promotional work of the Agricultural Consultative Centres over a hundred farms are now providing services. They do not generate a large share of the farm income but business is expanding and some areas are becoming very popular. Thus a base has been established for future expansion. Further development depends on easier access to credit and government support for ecological agriculture. Better promotion is also needed to increase interest in rural tourism in Poland and attract more visitors from abroad. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.