A noble record

Alexander B Verchovsky and Mark A Sephton review the origins and significance of noble gases in meteorites, focusing on what this unique record reveals about the early solar system.     

Structural and geotechnical impacts of surface rupture on highway structures during recent earthquakes in Turkey

The most significant damage on highway bridges during the recent earthquakes in Turkey (Kocaeli and Duzce earthquakes) and Taiwan (Chi–Chi earthquake) was the result of fault ruptures traversing transportation infrastructure. This phenomenon and its consequences accentuate the need to examine surface rupture hazards and to identify those areas at risk. This understanding can help to develop remedial measures for both structural and geotechnical engineering. For that purpose, damage to highway bridges during the recent events was reviewed. The total collapse of the highway overpass in Arifiye, during the Kocaeli earthquake, was investigated. The major problems under consideration (in Arifiye) were: (i) dislodging of the bridge spans, and consequently, the total separation of the reinforced concrete girders from the piers; and (ii) the stability of a mechanically stabilized earth wall (MSEW) system under extreme loading conditions. The results of the structural and geotechnical investigations presented herein can be taken in consideration to improve transportation infrastructure against surface rupture hazards.     

Channel adjustments of the lower Trinity River,Texas, downstream of Livingston Dam

Channel cross‐sectional changes since construction of Livingston Dam and Lake Livingston in 1968 were studied in the lower Trinity River, Texas, to test theoretical models of channel adjustment, and to determine controls on the spatial extent of channel response. High and average flows were not significantly modified by the dam, but sediment transport is greatly reduced. The study is treated as an opportunistic experiment to examine the effects of a reduction in sediment supply when discharge regime is unchanged. Channel scour is evident for about 60 km downstream, and the general phenomena of incision, widening, coarsening of channel sediment and a decrease in channel slope are successfully predicted, in a qualitative sense, by standard models of channel response. However, there is no consistent channel response within this reach, as various qualitatively different combinations of increases, decreases or no change in width, depth, slope and roughness occur. These multiple modes of adjustment are predicted by the unstable hydraulic geometry model. Between about 60 km and the Trinity delta 175 km downstream of the dam, no morphological response to the dam is observed. Rather than a diminution of the dam's effects on fluvial processes, this is due to a fundamental change in controls of the fluvial system. The downstream end of the scour zone corresponds to the upstream extent of channel response to Holocene sea level rise. Beyond 60 km downstream, the Trinity River is characterized by extensive sediment storage and reduced conveyance capacity, so that even after dam construction sediment supply still exceeds transport capacity. The channel bed of much of this reach is near or below sea level, so that sea level rise and backwater effects from the estuary are more important controls on the fluvial system than upstream inputs. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于二维小波变换的FMI图象分割

为了从FMI资料中定量提取参数，一个重要的步骤是从实际FMI资料中分离出反映溶孔、溶洞、裂缝的子图像。本文给出的方法，考虑图像像元邻域的特征，应用二维小波变换求出目标与背景边缘的点集，按这个边缘点集的坐标点所对应的原图像像素灰度值的平均值作为分割阈值进行图像分割。实际资料处理表明，应用这种方法可以从实际的FMI资料中准确地分割出孔洞、裂缝的子图像并且可以按深度段连续自动处理，为后续定量计算参数奠定了良好基础。     

Retrospective Assessment of Bottom Deposits in Kondopoga Bay,Lake Onega

Long-term observations of the chemical composition of bottom sediments in Kondopoga Bay, Lake Onega, are considered. The present-day state of bottom sediments is characterized, and regularities of variations in the composition and properties of sediments occurring in the zone of influence of wastewaters from a pulp and paper plant (PPP).     

Assessing the Comparability of Ammonium,Nitrate and Sulfate Concentrations Measured by Three Air Quality Monitoring Networks

Airborne fine particulate matter across the United States is monitored by different networks, the three prevalent ones presently being the Clean Air Status and Trend Network (CASTNet), the Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environment Network (IMPROVE) and the Speciation and Trend Network (STN). If combined, these three networks provide speciated fine particulate data at several hundred locations throughout the United States. Yet, differences in sampling protocols and samples handling may not allow their joint use. With these concerns in mind, the objective of this study is to assess the spatial and temporal comparability of the sulfate, nitrate and ammonium concentrations reported by each of these networks. One of the major differences between networks is the sampling frequency they adopted. While CASTNet measures pollution levels on seven-day integrated samples, STN and IMPROVE data pertain to 24-hour samples collected every three days. STN and IMPROVE data therefore exhibit considerably more short-term variability than their CASTNet counterpart. We show that, despite their apparent incongruity, averaging the data with a window size of four to six weeks is sufficient to remove the effects of differences in sampling frequency and duration and allow meaningful comparison of the signals reported by the three networks of concern. After averaging, all the sulfate and, to a lesser degree, ammonium concentrations reported are fairly similar. Nitrate concentrations, on the other hand, are still divergent. We speculate that this divergence originates from the different types of filters used to collect particulate nitrate. Finally, using a rotated principal component technique (RPCA), we determined the number and the geographical organization of the significant temporal modes of variation (clusters) detected by each network for the three pollutants of interest. For sulfate and ammonium, the clusters’ geographical boundaries established for each network and the modes of variations within each cluster seem to correspond. RPCA erformed on nitrate concentrations revealed that, for the CASTNet and IMPROVE networks, the modes of variation do not correspond to unified geographical regions but are found more sporadically. For STN, the clustered areas are unified and easily delineable. We conclude that the possibility of jointly using the data collected by CASTNet, IMPROVE and STN has to be weighed pollutant by pollutant. While sulfate and ammonium data show some potential for joint use, at this point, combining the nitrate data from these monitoring networks may not be a judicious choice.     

Energetic Particles Observed in the CUSP Region During a Storm Recovery Phase

In this paper we report energetic ion behavior and its composition variations observed by the Cluster/RAPID instrument when the spacecraft was travelling in the high latitude magnetospheric boundary region on the day of the 31 March, 2001, strongest magnetic storm in the past 50 years. The Dst index reached −360 nT at about 09:00 UT. During its early recovery phase, large amounts of oxygen and helium ions were observed; the ratio of oxygen to hydrogen in the RAPID energy range reached as high as 250%, which suggests that the observed energetic particles might be of magnetospheric origin. The observations further show that enhanced energetic electron fluxes are confined in a very narrow region, while protons have occupied a larger region, and heavy ions have been observed in an even larger region. The flux of energetic electrons show a slight enhancement in a region where the magnetic field magnitude is around zero. These observed energetic ions could be quasi-trapped by the current sheet in the stagnation region of the cusp.