Intercomparison of IRS-P4-MSMR derived geophysical products with DMSP-SSM/I and TRMM-TMI finished products

In this paper, MSMR geophysical products like Integrated Water Vapour (IWV), Ocean Surface Wind Speed (OWS) and Cloud Liquid Water (CLW) in different grids of 50, 75 and 150 kms are compared with similar products available from other satellites like DMSP-SSM/I and TRMMTMI. MSMR derived IWV, OWS and CLW compare well with SSM/I and TMI finished products. Comparison of MSMR derived CLW with that derived from TMI and SSM/I is relatively in less agreement. This is possibly due to the use of 37 GHz in SSM/I and TMI that is highly sensitive to CLW, while 37 GHz channels are not available on MSMR. Monthly comparison of MSMR geophysical products with those from TMI is all carried out for climatological purpose. The monthly comparisons were much better compared to instantaneous comparisons. In this paper, details of the data analysis and comparison results are presented. The usefulness of the MSMR vis-à-vis other sensors is also discussed.     

Hydraulic Characteristics of Rough Fractures in Linear Flow under Normal and Shear Load

Summary A hydro-mechanical testing system, which is capable of measuring both the flow rates and the normal and shear displacement of a rock fracture, was built to investigate the hydraulic behaviour of rough tension fractures. Laboratory hydraulic tests in linear flow were conducted on rough rock fractures, artificially created using a splitter under various normal and shear loading. Prior to the tests, aperture distributions were determined by measuring the topography of upper and lower fracture surfaces using a laser profilometer. Experimental variograms of the initial aperture distributions were classified into four groups of geostatistical model, though the overall experimental variograms could be well fitted to the exponential model. The permeability of the rough rock fractures decayed exponentially with respect to the normal stress increase up to 5 MPa. Hydraulic behaviours during monotonic shear loading were significantly affected by the dilation occurring until the shear stress reached the peak strength. With the further dilation, the permeability of the rough fracture specimens increased more. However, beyond shear displacement of about 7 to 8 mm, permeability gradually reached a maximum threshold value. The combined effects of both asperity degradation and gouge production, which prohibited the subsequent enlargement of mean fracture aperture, mainly caused this phenomenon. Permeability changes during cyclic shear loading showed somewhat irregular variations, especially after the first shear loading cycle, due to the complex interaction from asperity degradations and production of gouge materials. The relation between hydraulic and mechanical apertures was analyzed to investigate the valid range of mechanical apertures to be applied to the cubic law. Received June 12, 2001; accepted February 26, 2002 Published online September 2, 2002     

KARSTIC: a sensitivity method for carbonate aquifers in karst terrain

. Groundwater in karstic aquifers can be dangerously sensitive to contamination. Many cities in the western USA rely on karstic carbonate aquifers for municipal water supplies. For example, Rapid City, South Dakota, pumps more than half of its drinking water from wells in the Madison Limestone. This work examined the sensitivity of karstic aquifers to surface contamination in mountainous terrain. Where karstic carbonate aquifers are exposed at their outcrop areas, they are particularly susceptible to the introduction of contamination through diffuse recharge or through point recharge at swallow holes along streams. Residential developments in mountainous regions of the western USA are encroaching on the recharge areas of karstic aquifers. Many of these residential developments are served by onsite wastewater disposal systems such as septic tanks and drain fields, with the attendant danger of introduction of pathogens from malfunctioning treatment systems above fractured limestone which offers little filtering. Where streams disappear into karstic aquifers at swallow holes, microbial contaminants such as Giardia or Cryptosporidium are a concern, as well as potential spills, leaks, or accidents along roads near these streams. The KARSTIC method developed and modified in this work puts greater emphasis on karst features than previous sensitivity procedures such as the US Environmental Protection Agency's DRASTIC method. The modified method gives increased attention to highly sensitive areas of karstic carbonate aquifers by weighting the synergistic effects of fracturing, karst development, and swallow holes of recharging streams. In a field application, hydrogeologic maps of a watershed in the Black Hills, USA, were digitized into a geographic information system. The resulting sensitivity map and report can be used by planners, managers, and the public as a screening tool for assessing groundwater sensitivity in regions which include karstic aquifers.     

Poroelastic analysis of cover-collapse sinkhole formation by piezometric surface drawdown

Where the water table is above the soil-rock contact in karst regions, cover-collapse sinkholes in the soil and soft sediment above the rock commonly occur as a result of drawdown of the piezometric surface in the karst aquifer. Transient stresses and pore pressures around soil voids at the soil-rock contact can cause hydraulic fracturing of the soil near the wall of the void. After the first such fracture, successive sloughing of soil propagates the soil void rapidly to the surface, resulting in a cover-collapse sinkhole. Sinkhole formation by this mechanism should be strongly a function of rate and magnitude of piezometric surface drawdown, permeability and tensile strength of the soil, and the size, depth, and geometry of the initial soil void. Large soil voids and those with walls that are partly planar or of low curvature are most susceptible to hydraulic fracture and the resulting progression to sinkhole formation.     

Heavy metal concentrations in surficial sediments from accreting and eroding areas along the coast of Guyana

. Surficial sediments sampled from accreting and eroding areas along the coast of Guyana were examined for concentrations of heavy metals; aluminum, copper, chromium, iron, nickel, lead, vanadium and zinc. Twenty-four samples were collected, 12 from each of the eroding and accreting areas. For granulometric composition determination, samples were separated into particle-size fractions using sieving and hydrometer procedures. The consideration of three grain-size fractions (4.0, 5.0, and greater than 5.0 phi), plus 24 bulk samples less than 4.0 phi in diameter, required analyzing a total of 96 samples for the presence of heavy metals. The analysis employed was aquaregia digestion, followed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. The statistical techniques of discriminant analysis, analysis of variance, and correlation and regression were used to analyze all obtained data. Discriminant analysis revealed that metal concentrations were statistically unique to each area. From the analysis of variance, and correlation and regression, it was discovered that the grain size of the sediment had a pronounced effect on the spatial distribution of heavy metals. The accreting area, with finer sediments, accumulated higher concentrations of heavy metals.     

The effect of acoustic waves on spectral-line profiles in the solar atmosphere: Observations and theory

The fine structure of the FeI λ 532.4185-nm line of neutral iron is studied with high spatial (0.5″) and temporal (9.3 s) resolution using observations of a quiet region at the center of the solar disk. The character of the line asymmetry depends strongly on the nature of the velocity field, i.e., on whether it is due to convective or wave motions. The magnitude of the asymmetry due to acoustic waves is comparable to that due to convective motions. The propagation of acoustic waves in moving granules and intergranular lanes is studied by solving a system of hydrodynamical equations in a three-dimensional model for the solar atmosphere. The temporal variations in the bisector of the line synthesized in a non-LTE approximation agree well with the observational data.     

Disk wind in young binaries and its impact on the infrared excesses of young stars

We consider the effect of binarity of young stars on the spectral energy distribution of the IR radiation from circumstellar dust. The formation of a common dust envelope in a binary system with a low-mass secondary component is strongly affected by the disk wind from the secondary. The small velocities in peripheral areas of the wind are such that it can be partially or entirely captured by the primary, even when the distance between the components is up to several astronomical units. As a result, an envelope with a rather complex spatial and kinematic structure is formed. Its mass is many orders of magnitude smaller than that of the accretion disk around the binary. However, the thermal radiation emitted by dust particles of the envelope can be comparable to the total radiation of the accretion disk. This result is discussed in the context of the deficit at near-IR wavelengths (2–10µm) in current models for accretion disks around young stars.     

The possible formation of massive tori in white-dwarf binary systems

Mass exchange in white-dwarf binary systems with mass ratios 0.35–0.55 and total masses exceeding the Chandrasekhar limit could lead to the disruption of the less massive component of the system and the formation of a torus around the more massive component.     

A Model for the polar motion of the deformable Earth adequate for astrometric data

Refined analytical expressions for the frequencies corresponding to the Chandler motion of the pole and the diurnal rotation of the deformable Earth are derived. Numerical estimates of the period and amplitude of the polar oscillations are presented. The trajectory of the Chandler polar motion derived via numerical modeling is in qualitative and quantitative agreement with experimental data from the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). An evolutionary model describing slow variations in the Earth’s rotation parameters under the action of the dissipative moments of the tidal gravitational forces on time scales considerably longer than the precession period of the Earth’s axis is constructed. The axis of the Earth’s figure tends to approach the angular momentum vector of the proper rotation.     

Groundwater abstraction and contamination in Lithuania as geoindicators of environmental change

Groundwater abstraction not only affects subsurface water, but also causes changes in the hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. There are certain symptoms of these environmental changes that might be designated as geoindicators. Geoindicators related to groundwater abstraction and contamination in Lithuania have been classified into three groups related to: (1) the decline/rise of groundwater levels, (2) the deterioration of groundwater quality, and (3) the intensification of water-rock interaction. On the basis of hydrogeological and hydrological investigations carried out over many years, different environmental impacts of intensive groundwater use are demonstrated. The most important among them are the formation of depression cones, intensification of groundwater pollution, saltwater encroachment, and the intensification of karst.