Structural,dynamic and anthropic conditions that trigger the emergence of the levee effect: insight from a simplified risk-based framework

ABSTRACT

Levees are the most common structural solution to prevent flooding, reduce damage and generate benefits through more investment/economic activity in floodplain areas. While being relatively easy to build, levee effectiveness can be compromised by poor design and substandard construction methods and maintenance, thus increasing failure probability. Further, levees might increase societal vulnerability by instilling a sense of safety, the so-called “levee effect”. To cope with these phenomena, we develop a risk-based framework that quantifies residual risk under levee breaching and the levee effect, by disentangling its structural, dynamic and anthropic components, thus contributing to a better understanding of the phenomena at different spatial scales and the definition of flood risk policies. Through an illustrative example, we show how residual risk might become larger than under natural conditions, as function of the scale of interest, e.g. an area, a line at a given distance from the river, or a point within the floodplain.     

Signification de la présence de radon 222 dans les fluides géothermiques

The²²²Rn content of a subterranean fluid depends on the physico-chemical nature of the media through which the fluid passes and on the time spent by the fluid in the various geological formations encountered. Consequently,²²²Rn measurement in a geofluid gives a clue to the subsurface transport conditions of this geofluid. Simple models are proposed for various types of buried structures connected with the surface by a geothermal well; they all lead to the²²²Rn concentration expressed as a function of the flow-rate of the carrier fluid. In real systems, the variations of this concentration with flow-rate would allow the type of structure feading the well to be determined, and, in propitious circumstances, the volume of the possible reservoir to be estimated.     

四川峨眉麦地坪剖面震旦系—寒武系界线的新认识及有关化石群的记述

研究剖面位于峨眉山东坡,距峨眉县城约14公里。峨眉山区在大地构造上处于川滇南北向构造带的东侧——峨眉山块断带。震旦系-寒武系出露在蛾眉山背斜两翼,构造简单,地层连续,化石丰富。此剖面先后经过多人研究。     

Dynamical and microphysical characteristics of Arctic clouds using integrated observations collected over SHEBA during the April 1998 FIRE.ACE flights of the Canadian Convair

Summary The purpose of this study is to better understand the dynamical and microphysical processes within Arctic clouds, which occurred in April 1998 over the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) ship during the First ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) Regional Experiment Arctic Cloud Experiment (FIRE.ACE). The observations from the four cases in the present study were collected by instruments mounted onboard the National Research Council (NRC) Convair, as well as, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite, the SHEBA surface based NOAA Doppler radar (35GHz, Ka-Band), and the NOAA depolarization lidar (0.523µm) measurements. The aircraft observations were collected at 32Hz (3-m scale). The Meteorological Services of Canada (MSC) lidar (1.064µm) was operated onboard the Convair-580. The AVHRR observations, representing a 5-km horizontal resolution, were used to estimate particle size, phase, and optical thickness. Constant altitude flight legs were made at about 100m over the ocean surface. Vertical air velocity (w), reflectivity and Doppler velocity, and backscatter and depolarization ratio values were used to define the size of the important dynamical structures. Ice crystal number concentration (N_i), ice water content (IWC), droplet number concentration (N_d), liquid water content (LWC) and characteristic particle size and shape were summarized for each case. The effective radius (r_eff) values for liquid clouds obtained from in-situ and AVHRR observations were found comparable. The large variability in IWC can be due to undetected ice crystals at small size ranges. Mixed phased conditions in the AVHRR retrievals complicated the comparisons with in-situ data. N_i was found to be directly related to the history of the air-parcel dynamics e.g., w. The variability and differences in the parameters obtained from various platforms can be attributed to their instrumental capabilities, resolution, as well as the cloud development.     

Two scales for the frequency dependence of the scattering of pulsar radio emission

We have measured the pulse broadening by scattering at 40, 60, and 111 MHz for the pulsars PSR B0809+74, B0950+08, B1919+21, and B2303+30. The frequency dependence of the scatter-broadening parameter is analyzed based on these measurements and data from the literature. The dependence obtained purely from the literature data is not consistent with the theory, and the scattering magnitudes differs considerably from the data of the catalog of 706 pulsars of Taylor et al. A two-component model for the frequency dependence of the scattering of the pulsar radio emission in the interstellar medium is proposed. Allowing for the presence of two scattering scales removes both inconsistencies between the observational data for these four pulsars and differences between the observed and theoretical frequency dependences for the scattering, as well as the need to invoke anomalous scattering magnitudes. The data of the catalog of Taylor et al. need to be corrected for the difference in the scattering magnitudes in the two branches of the frequency dependence.     

Modeling of emission spectra of the flaring red dwarf EV Lac: Active regions,flares, and microflares

Echelle spectrograms of the flaring red dwarf EV Lac obtained on the Nordic Optical Telescope are used to study the chromosphere of the star during the impulsive flare of 23:19 UT on August 30, 1994, and in two nearby time intervals when UBV RI photometry showed the star to be in a quiescent state. The high spectral resolution of the observations enabled the detection of broad Balmer emission wings in the nonflaring state, which are interpreted as evidence for microflares. Semiempirical models for active regions in the chromosphere, flares, and microflares are constructed and used to compare the main physical characteristics of these structures. The place of the detected microflares in the overall energetics of flare events in EV Lac is discussed.     

Solar-Blind Diamond Detectors for Lyra, the Solar VUV Radiometer on Board Proba II

Fabrication, packaging and experimental results on the calibration of metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors made on diamond are reported. LYRA (Lyman- RAdiometer onboard PROBA-2) will use diamond detectors for the first time in space for a solar physics instrument. A set of measurement campaigns was designed to obtain the XUV-to-VIS responsivity of the devices and other characterizations. The measurements of responsivity in EUV and VUV spectral ranges (40–240 nm) have been carried out by the Physkalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany at the electron storage ring BESSY II. The longer wavelength range from 210 to 1127 nm was measured with monochromatic light by using a Xe-lamp at IMO-IMOMEC. The diamond detectors exhibit a photoresponse which lie in the 35–65 mA/W range at 200 nm (corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of 20–40%) and indicate a visible rejection ratio (200–500 nm) higher than four orders of magnitude.     

三维AVO解释技术在洪泽地区岩性油藏勘探中的应用

洪泽地区由于沉积的特点，储层横向变化快，油藏受构造、岩性、油源多因素控制。在对该区三维AVO属性体解释中，利用多元回归方法求取了横波曲线，分岩性和含油气性统计了纵、横波、泊松比参数分布规律，建立了本区的含油砂岩的正演模型，从而降低了AVO解释的多解性。通过井-震结合对四种AVO属性数据体进行了标定，并确定了各属性体应用范围，进而进行了储层和含油气检测。实践表明，该方法能有效地利用AVO属性数据体进行储层预测及油气检测，具有一定的推广价值。     

Changes in the source and transport mechanism of terrigenous input to the Indian sector of Southern Ocean during the late Quaternary and its palaeoceanographic implications

Changes in the terrigenous sediment source and transport mechanisms during the late Quaternary have been investigated using four sediment cores within the Indian sector of Southern Ocean, using the magnetic susceptibility (MS) and sedimentological records. Sediments deposited during the Holocene and other interglacial periods were characterised by low MS, low sand content, reduced ice-rafted detritus (IRD) input and increased illite possibly transported via hydrographic advection from the south. The glacial intervals are characterised by high MS, high sand content, increased IRD input and reduced illite clays, derived from both local as well as Antarctic sources. Significant reduction in clay fraction and illite content during glacials suggests that the erosive and transporting capabilities of the deep and bottom waters could have reduced compared to the interglacial times. The changes in terrigenous influx to this region were significantly influenced by the rhythmic glacial-interglacial fluctuations in bottom circulation and the position of the Polar Front.