Towards an integrated arid zone water management using simulation-based optimisation

For ensuring both optimal sustainable water resources management and long-term planning in a changing arid environment, we propose an integrated Assessment-, Prognoses-, Planning- and Management tool (APPM). The new APPM integrates the complex interactions of the strongly nonlinear meteorological, hydrological and agricultural phenomena, considering the socio-economic aspects. It aims at achieving best possible solutions for water allocation, groundwater storage and withdrawals including saline water management together with a substantial increase of the water use efficiency employing novel optimisation strategies for irrigation control and scheduling. To obtain a robust and fast operation of the water management system, it unites process modeling with artificial intelligence tools and evolutionary optimisation techniques for managing both water quality and quantity. We demonstrate some key components of our methodology by an exemplary application to the south Al-Batinah region in the Sultanate of Oman which is affected by saltwater intrusion into a coastal aquifer due to excessive groundwater withdrawal for irrigated agriculture. We show the effectiveness and functionality of a new simulation-based water management system for the optimisation and evaluation of different irrigation practices, crop pattern and resulting abstraction scenarios. The results of several optimisation runs indicate that due to contradicting objectives, such as profit-oriented agriculture versus aquifer sustainability only a multi-objective optimisation can provide sustainable solutions for the management of the water resources in respect of the environment as well as the socio-economic development.     

A small thermoelectric pyranometer for measurements of solar radiation in field crops

Summary The design of a small pyranometer for measurements in field crops is described. Results of a series of laboratory tests with the instrument are given and discussed in relation to the use of the instrument in field crops.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird eine Konstruktion eines kleinen Pyranometers für Messungen in Getreidefeldern beschrieben. Ergebnisse einer Serie von Laboratoriumsprüfungen des Instruments werden wiedergegeben und hinsichtlich der Eignung des Geräts für die erwähnten Feldmessungen diskutiert.

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Résumé On décrit ici la construction d'un petit pyranomètre destiné à la mesure du rayonnement dans des champs de céréales. On indique les résultats de séries d'observations comparatives faites en laboratoire au moyen du dit instrument. On les discute enfin en tenant compte des possibilités d'utiliser ce pyranomètre pour des mesures dans les champs.

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With 8 Figures     

Investigation of hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater from the Cretaceous-Eocene limestone aquifer in southern Ghana and southern Togo using hierarchical cluster analysis

The most relevant controls on the water quality within the Cretaceous-Eocene limestone aquifer of the Keta Basin, Ghana, and the coastal sedimentary basin of Togo were assessed using Q-mode hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and mass-balance modelling. The pattern recognition technique of HCA was employed for partitioning hydrochemical data from a total of 65 surface and borehole samples from the study area into water groups. A spatial plot of the water groups consisting of samples from the limestone aquifer shows that the vast majority of samples belonging to the same group are located in close proximity to one another, suggesting the same processes and/or flow paths in the limestone aquifer system. Geochemical reaction models of selected water groups were constructed using PHREEQC-2. The hydrochemical compositions of the water groups and the mass-balance calculations indicate that the dominant processes and reactions responsible for the hydrochemical evolution in the system are: (1) carbonate equilibria, (2) silicate weathering reactions, (3) limited mixing with saline water, and (4) ion exchange. The combined use of HCA and mass-balance modelling has shown to be a useful approach in interpreting groundwater hydrochemistry in an area where large uncertainties exist in the understanding of the groundwater flow system.     

TAC management in North Sea flatfish fisheries

The Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union adopted in 1983 is primarily focused on a science-based TAC management system with fixed national quota shares. The quality of the assessments of plaice and sole, the consistency of the scientific advice, the congruency of the management decisions, and the enforcement of the regulations are reviewed over a 15-year period. The conclusion is that there have been problems at each level, with the ultimate effect that the policy has not been able to restrict fishing mortality and that the level of overexploitation has only increased. It is argued that the present TAC system has created more problems than it has resolved. Attention is drawn to the autonomic economic developments within the fishery and to the potential for managing the fishery more effectively from the cost side rather than the profit side.     

Distribution of erosion across bedrock channels

Lateral erosion in bedrock rivers is an important control on the shape of channel cross‐sections, and the coupling of channels and hillslopes. Recent observations link lateral erosion to the variability of flow. We propose two mechanisms to explain this. One is based on changing shear stress distributions within the channel with varying flood level, the other on the competition between cover and tool effects in fluvial bedrock erosion. We assess these processes for the Liwu River, Taiwan, and conclude that cover and tool effects dominate the partitioning of lateral and vertical erosion in this case. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meteorological Observations in 1999 at the Arctic Station,Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Central West Greenland/Evidence of a warmer climate around AD 600, Mittivakkat Glacier,South East Greenland

In october 1990 an automatic weather station was established at the Arctic Station (65° 15', 53°31'W), Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Central West Greenland. The Station register parameters each 20 minutes, and the paramters have been described in an earlier paper in this journal by Nielsen et al.(1995). The present paper summarizes meteorological parameters during 1999.

During a field campaign in 1999, woody remains from Salix glauca were found on a nunatak, 515 m. a.s.l. on the Mittivakkat Glacier, South East Greenland. Radio carbon dating determined the age of a wood sample to AD 640. Together with analyses of macroscopic botanical remains and insect rests in peaty material found nearby, these results indicate, that a warmer climate prevailed near the glacier around AD 600. These findings are in accordance with temperature records based on studies of ice cores from the Greenland Ice sheet.     

Tectonic,sedimentary and diagenetic controls on sediment maturity of lower Cambrian quartz arenite from southwestern Baltica

Lower Cambrian quartz arenitic deposits have a worldwide occurrence. In this study, petrographic and mineralogical analyses were carried out on samples from the quartz‐rich Ringsaker Member of the Vangsås Formation from southern Norway and the corresponding Hardeberga Formation from southern Sweden and on the Danish island of Bornholm. The quartz arenite is almost completely quartz cemented and has an average intergranular volume of 30%. The quartz cement is the dominating cause for porosity loss. Dissolution along stylolites and microstylolites is suggested to be the primary and secondary source for the quartz cement respectively. The quartzose sandstone from southern Norway was severely cemented prior to the Caledonian Orogeny, thus limiting the tectonic influence on diagenesis during thrusting. For most samples, authigenic clay minerals and detrital phyllosilicates represent ca. 5% of the present‐day composition. This, together with a low feldspar content, of on average 4%, indicates that the sediment was extremely quartz‐rich already during deposition. The low amount of feldspar prior to burial and the formation of early diagenetic kaolinite point to weathering, sediment reworking and early diagenesis act as important controls on sediment maturity. The large variation in clay‐mineral and feldspar content between the localities, as well as within the sandstone successions, can be explained by different palaeogeography on the shelf during deposition and subsequently dissimilar subjection to reworking and early diagenetic processes. Weathering in the provenance area, reworking in the depositional shallow‐marine environment and meteoric flushing during the burial stage are suggested to explain the high mineralogical maturity of the lower Cambrian sandstone from southwestern Baltica. These processes may generally account for similar quartz‐rich shallow‐marine sandstone units, deposited as a result of intensive continental denudation and during temperate to subtropical and moderately humid conditions.     

Observations of sea ice influence on the littoral sediment exchange,North Zealand,Denmark

Nielsen, Niels: Observations of sea ice influence on the littoral sediment exchange, North Zealand, Denmark. Geografisk Tidsskrift 88:61–67. Copenhagen. 1988.

In 1985 and 1986 monthly surveys of sediment volumes were carried out on a sandy beach and its nearshore platform at the north coast of Zealand. Both winters in the research period had temperatures below average, and consequently abundant sea ice formations. ‘Ice winters’ in open Danish waters occur statistically about 1/3 of the winters. The appearance of sea ice resulted in marked loss of sediment from the whole littoral zone, but by far the largest net erosion could be detected on the nearshore plane. An important factor is assumed to be the interaction of waves with the icefoot and ice pile-ups. For the beach itself, ice-glazing of the beach surface and interstitial frost in the foreshore sediments caused wave erosion within and just off the swash zone due to variations of the percolation parameter. This dynamic was observed during both the freeze-up and thaw-up periods. On the backshore, wind-derived forms characterized the winter beach, but here the net sediment budget was less affected.     

On farsidedness of palaeomagnetic poles: Magnetic refraction,sediment compaction and dipole off-set

Summary Three possible ways to explain the Caenozoically observed farsidedness of paleomagnetic poles (apart from lithospheric plate movements) are discussed: magnetic refraction, sediment compaction and dipole off-set. The dipole off-set, being a possible geomagnetic field property, will be of opposite sign on opposite hemispheres, and hence will not tend to smoothe out by sectorial averaging. Sediment compaction shallows the inclination on both hemispheres, and hence will tend to smoothe out by sectorial averaging, provided that sediment properties, site latitude coverage and number of investigations are equal (fairly unlikely).Magnetic refraction causes systematic directional distortions of the remanent magnetization in rocks of moderate to high magnetic intensity (or apparent susceptibility k_app=k(1+Q)) such as in many volcanics, some metamorphics, as well as in baked clays and slags, etc. A detailed discussion of this effect is given: If the k_app of the material is above 0.001 emu/cm ³ (×4 SI), this effect is likely to cause a significant palaeomagnetic refraction error of the NRM (typically a TRM or a CRM) of the rock. An apparent susceptibility of this order of magnitude is quite common in volcanic rocks; e.g. for oceanic floor basalts the average of k_app is about 0.02 emu/cm ³ corresponding to systematic errors (flattening) of some 3° to 6° in the inclination of a horizontal flow, depending on the latitude.To improve paleomagnetic results in general, a simple refraction correction is therefore suggested to be applied in the case of common two-dimensional (i.e. flat, elongated) geological bodies such as dykes, sills, lava flows and baked clays. Numerical solutions are given for the horizontal case, while a graphical solution is given for the general two-dimensional case.Being of systematic types, the refraction error together with the sediment compaction effect may be responsible for a major part of the observed farsidedness of the Caenozoic palaeomagnetic pole positions, the apparent farsidedness not yet beeing masked by the scatter of pole positions produced by older individual lithospheric plate movements.Presented at 2nd conference on New Trends in Geomagnetism, Castle of Bechyn, Czechoslovakia, September 24–29, 1990.