Streambed restoration to remove fine sediment alters reach‐scale transient storage in a low‐gradient fifth‐order river,Indiana, USA

Hyporheic restoration is of increasing interest given the role of hyporheic zones in supporting ecosystem services and functions. Given the prevalence of sediment pollution to waterways, an emerging restoration technique involves the removal of sediment from the interstices of gravel‐bed streams. Here, we document streambed sediment removal following a large, accidental release of fine sediment into a gravel‐bed river. We use this as a natural experiment to assess the impact of fine sediment removal on reach‐scale measures of transient storage and to document the responses of reaches with contrasting morphology (restored vs. unrestored) to changing discharge one‐field season. We conducted a series of conservative solute tracer experiments in each reach, interpreting both summary statistics for the recovered in‐stream solute tracer time series. Additionally, we applied the transient storage model to interpret the results via model parameters, including a Monte Carlo analysis to measure parameter identifiability and sensitivity in each experiment. Despite the restoration effort resulting in an open matrix gravel bed in the restored reach, we did not find the significant differences in most time series metrics describing reach‐scale transport and transient storage. We hypothesize that this is due to enhanced vertical exchange with the gravel bed in the restored reach replacing lateral exchange with macrophyte beds in the unrestored reach, developing a conceptual model to explain our findings. Consequently, we found that the impact of reach‐scale removal of fine sediment is not measureable using reach‐scale solute tracer studies. We offer recommendations for future studies seeking to measure the impacts of stream restoration at the reach scale.     

Flood‐plain responses to contemporary climate change in small High‐Arctic basins (Svalbard,Norway)

Changes in the supply of water and sediment to high‐latitude rivers related to contemporary climate change and glacier fluctuations largely determine the activity of fluvial processes. This study reconstructs fluvial dynamics since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) in two small, partially glaciated basins in the southern part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard Archipelago. We use a combination of aerial photograph interpretation, field mapping and dendrochronological analysis. Sequences of abandoned channels and glacifluvial terraces are distinctly visible in middle and lower parts of the Brattegg and Arie basins in this area. The advance of glaciers during the LIA in the upper part of the basins led to the development of a braiding pattern and to channel aggradation corresponding to the highest glacifluvial levels. The decreasing activity of these braidplains occurred at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, immediately prior to a significant incision period. A second generation of braided channels developed during the first half of the 20th century. Ice‐marginal lake development, less input of fine‐grained sediment to the river channel, and fast incision began from the second half of the 20th century onward. During the last two decades, the main fluvial response to the climatic warming has been contraction of flow within a narrower channel and the abandonment of braidplains. The increased lateral erosion and rate of downcutting and the formation of the most downstream reaches of the modern valley bottom occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. This process was intensified under flood conditions generated by extreme rainfall events. These micro‐scale (small partially glaciated basins) observations concerning the changes of the activity of fluvial processes since the end of LIA may be helpful for the reconstruction of past fluvial changes over longer time scales.     

Major shoreline retreat and sediment starvation following Snowball Earth

While cap dolostones are integral to the Snowball Earth hypothesis, the current depositional model does not account for multiple geological observations. Here we propose a model that rationalises palaeomagnetic, sequence‐stratigraphic and sedimentological data and supports rapid deglaciation with protracted cap dolostone precipitation. The Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that a runaway ice‐albedo can explain the climate paradox of Neoproterozoic glacial deposits occurring at low palaeolatitudes. This scenario invokes volcanic degassing to increase atmospheric greenhouse gases to a critical threshold that overcomes the albedo effect and brings the planet back from the ice‐covered state. Once this occurs, Earth should shift rapidly from a snowball to an extreme greenhouse. However, cap dolostone units overlying glacial sediments, typically interpreted as transgressive deposits, exhibit multiple magnetic reversals indicating they accumulated in >10⁵ years. By reviewing modern post‐glacial systems, sequence stratigraphic concepts and principles of sedimentology, we suggest that cap dolostones are not restricted to the transgression but rather represent sediment starvation following a major landward shoreline migration associated with the demise of Snowball Earth. Thus, the duration in which cap dolostone accumulated is not directly coupled to the timescale of the Snowball Earth deglaciation.     

Streamflow permanence in headwater streams across four geomorphic provinces in Northern California

Mountainous headwater streams represent a substantial proportion of the global stream network. These small streams may flow episodically, seasonally, or perennially, providing diverse values and services. Given their broad importance and growing pressures on terrestrial and aquatic resources, we must improve our understanding of the drivers of flow permanence to facilitate informed land and water management decisions. We used field observations from >10 cross-sections in each of 101 non-fish bearing, headwater streams across four geomorphic provinces in Northern California to quantify flow permanence and network connectivity during the summer low flow period in 2018. At each stream cross-section, we noted the presence or absence of streamflow and used this information to classify streams as perennial (continuous streamflow in all cross-sections) or non-perennial and connected (surface water in the most downstream cross-section) or disconnected. At each cross-section, we also quantified channel size (width and depth) and grain size. We coupled field observations with geospatial data of catchment physiography, hydrology, and climate in random forest models to investigate controls of flow permanence and network connectivity. Potential drivers of flow permanence or network connectivity included in our models were channel geometry, grain size, slope, aspect, elevation, annual and seasonal precipitation, air temperature, and topographic wetness index. We found more perennial streams in the Klamath Mountains and Sierra Nevada than in the Cascades and N. Coast regions. Streams in the Klamath were the most connected followed by streams in the N. Coast, Sierra Nevada, and Cascades. The most important variables for predicting flow permanence were channel grain size, winter 2018 precipitation, and drainage area. Comparatively, the most important variables for predicting network connectivity were winter and spring 2018 precipitation, grain size, and bankfull depth. Our study illustrated the complexity of the processes that drive flow permanence and highlighted the uncertainty in projecting the precense of water in streams across diverse regions.     

Magneto-atmospheric waves from a localized source

A technique developed by Lighthill for finding the asymptotic solution of an inhomogeneous wave equation with constant coefficients is applied to the study of wave propagation in magneto-atmospheres. The geometry of the wave number surface plays an important role in determining the generation and propagation of various types of magneto-atmospheric waves from a localized forcing region. Examples of these wavenumber surfaces are exhibited for various magnetic field strengths and wave frequencies. The asymptotic far field is tabulated for a time-harmonic, spatially gaussian, localized forcing term.     

The interpretation of sunspot magnetic field observations

Magnetic field strengths and directions of the lines of force have been measured over two large sunspots in 1975 and 1976 using Treanor's method. Further refinements in observational technique reduce the effects of instrumental polarization to a small phase change, and the reduction procedure has been made more objective. The new observations confirm the existence of differences between the polarization states of the red and violet Zeeman -components in some regions of the spots. These differences, which are especially associated with light bridges and streamers, are attributed to magneto-optical effects, coupled with Doppler shifts, in extraneous material lying over the spots.     

Storylines: an alternative approach to representing uncertainty in physical aspects of climate change

Investigating the relationships between climate extremes and crop yield can help us understand how unfavourable climatic conditions affect crop production. In this study, two statistical models, multiple linear regression and random forest, were used to identify rainfall extremes indices affecting wheat yield in three different regions of the New South Wales wheat belt. The results show that the random forest model explained 41–67% of the year-to-year yield variation, whereas the multiple linear regression model explained 34–58%. In the two models, 3-month timescale standardized precipitation index of Jun.–Aug. (SPI_JJA), Sep.–Nov. (SPI_SON), and consecutive dry days (CDDs) were identified as the three most important indices which can explain yield variability for most of the wheat belt. Our results indicated that the inter-annual variability of rainfall in winter and spring was largely responsible for wheat yield variation, and pre-growing season rainfall played a secondary role. Frequent shortages of rainfall posed a greater threat to crop growth than excessive rainfall in eastern Australia. We concluded that the comparison between multiple linear regression and machine learning algorithm proposed in the present study would be useful to provide robust prediction of yields and new insights of the effects of various rainfall extremes, when suitable climate and yield datasets are available.     

Predictable and Unpredictable Components of the Summer East Asia–Pacific Teleconnection Pattern

The East Asia–Pacific(EAP) teleconnection pattern is the dominant mode of circulation variability during boreal summer over the western North Pacific and East Asia, extending from the tropics to high latitudes. However, much of this pattern is absent in multi-model ensemble mean forecasts, characterized by very weak circulation anomalies in the mid and high latitudes. This study focuses on the absence of the EAP pattern in the extratropics, using state-of-the-art coupled seasonal forecast systems. The results indicate that the extratropical circulation is much less predictable, and lies in the large spread among different ensemble members, implying a large contribution from atmospheric internal variability. However,the tropical–mid-latitude teleconnections are also relatively weaker in models than observations, which also contributes to the failure of prediction of the extratropical circulation. Further results indicate that the extratropical EAP pattern varies closely with the anomalous surface temperatures in eastern Russia, which also show low predictability. This unpredictable circulation–surface temperature connection associated with the EAP pattern can also modulate the East Asian rainband.     

Deriving incline values for street networks from voluntarily collected GPS traces

ABSTRACT

When producing optimal routes through an environment, considering the incline of surfaces can be of great benefit in a number of use cases. For instance, steep segments need to be avoided for energy-efficient routes and for routes that are suitable for mobility-restricted people. Such incline information may be derived from digital elevation models (DEMs). However, the corresponding data capturing methods (e.g. airborne LiDAR, photogrammetry, and terrestrial surveying) are expensive. Current low-cost and open-licensed DEM (e.g. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission [SRTM] and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer [ASTER]) generally do not have sufficient horizontal resolution or vertical accuracy, and lack a global coverage. Therefore, we have investigated an alternative low-cost approach which derives street incline values from GPS traces that have been voluntarily collected by the OpenStreetMap contributors. Despite the poor absolute accuracy of this data, the relative accuracy of traces seems to be sufficient enough to compute incline values with reasonable accuracy. A validation shows that the accuracy of incline values calculated from GPS traces slightly outperforms incline values derived from SRTM-1 DEM, though results depend on how many traces per street segment are used for computation.     

Applicability of Kinetic Models for In Situ Combustion Processes with Different Oil Types

The in situ combustion (ISC) process is of interest as an enhanced oil recovery method because it is an alternative to traditional steam-based processes for heavy oil and bitumen recovery. ISC is a technique applicable outside the window of reservoir conditions deemed appropriate for steam injection (such as deeper and thinner reservoirs). The process involves complex chemical reactions and physical recovery mechanisms, and predicting the likelihood of successful ISC in field applications remains challenging. This paper describes a numerical investigation of the capability of different ISC kinetic models to predict the combustion behaviors of different types of oils (light oil, heavy oil, and bitumen). Three kinetic models (of Coats, Crookston, and Belgrave) were selected from literature and compared using data from four published combustion-tube experiments. The comparison procedure is as follows: (1) validate the numerical modeling of each kinetic model by matching the selected experimental results or duplicating the numerical results found in published literature; (2) adjust fluid viscosities and densities to match the fluid properties of each experiment;and (3) use each validated kinetic model to predict the performance of the other experiments without further tuning the kinetic parameters. The knowledge derived from the experiments provides guidance for choosing the appropriate kinetic model when no other data are available and for the preliminary design and screening study of a potential ISC project.