Anthropogenic CO2 distribution in the North Pacific Ocean

The depth of penetration of anthropogenic CO₂ in the North Pacific Ocean based on carbonate data in the literature is discussed. The results indicate that the deepest penetration (over 2000 m) is found in the northwest North Pacific. The shallowest penetration (to less than 400 m) is found in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Depth of penetration of anthropogenic CO₂ appears to have been controlled by such factors as deep water formation in the Northwest Pacific; upwelling in the equatorial Pacific and; vertical mixing in the western boundary areas. These results compare well with results implied from tritium, C-14, and freons distributions. The total inventory of excess carbon in the North Pacific was 14.7±4×10¹⁵ g around 1980.     

Combined position and diameter measures for lunar craters

The note addresses the problem of simultaneously measuring positions and diameters of circular impact craters on wide-angle photographs of approximately spherical planets such as the Moon and Mercury. The method allows for situations in which the camera is not aligned on the planet's center.     

Book reviews

BURNING BUSH: a fire history of Australia by S.J. Pyne. 15 × 23 cm, xix + 520 pp. Allen & Unwin, Sydney 1992. (ISBN 1–86373–194–6) $19–95 (soft).

ADVANCES IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: tributes to W.R. Derrick Sewell edited by H.D. Foster. 15 × 23 cm, viii + 366 pp. Belhaven Press, London 1992 (ISBN 1–85293–292‐ 9) £39.50 (hard).

FEMINISM AND GEOGRAPHY: the limits to geographical knowledge by G. Rose. 15 × 23 cm, 205 pp. Polity Press, Cambridge 1993. (ISBN 0–7456–1156–7) $34.95 (soft).

EVERYDAY LIFE: women's adaptive strategies in time and space (Lund Studies in Geography, Ser.B Human Geography 55) by T. Friberg (translated by M. Gray). 16 × 24 cm, 217 pp. Lund University Press, Lund, and Chartwell‐Bratt, Bromley 1993. (ISBN 0‐ 86238–345–5)

NATURAL DISASTERS by D. Alexander. 16 × 23 cm, xix + 632 pp. University College London Press, London 1993 (ISBN 1–85728–094–6) $55.00 (soft).     

Quantifying shoreline change in Funafuti Atoll,Tuvalu using a time series of Quickbird,Worldview and Landsat data

Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, which has experienced some of the highest rates of global sea-level rise over the past 60 years. Atoll islands are low-lying accumulations of reef-derived sediment that provide the only habitable land in Tuvalu, and are considered vulnerable to the myriad possible impacts of climate change, especially sea-level rise. This study examines the shoreline change of twenty-eight islands in Funafuti Atoll between 2005 and 2015 using 0.65 m QuickBird, 0.46 m WorldView-2, and 0.31 m WorldView-3 imagery using an image segmentation and decision tree classification. Shoreline change estimates are compared to previous study that used a visual interpretation approach. The feasibility of estimating island area with Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data is explored using CLASlite software. Results indicate a 0.13% (0.35 ha) decrease in net island area over the study time period, with 13 islands decreasing in area and 15 islands increasing in area. Substantial decreases in island area occurred on the islands of Fuagea, Tefala and Vasafua, which coincides with the timing of Cyclone Pam in March, 2015. Comparison between the WorldView-2 shoreline maps and those created from Landstat-8 indicate that the estimates tend to be in higher agreement for islands that have an area > 0.5 ha, a compact shape, and no built structures. Ten islands had > 90% agreement, with percent disagreements ranging from 2.78 to 100%. The methods and results of this study speak to the potential of automated EoV shoreline monitoring through segmentation and classification tree approach, which would reduce down data processing and analysis time. With the growing constellation of high and medium spatial resolution satellite-based sensors and the development of semi or fully automated image processing technology, it is now possible to remotely assess the short and medium-term shoreline dynamics on dynamic atolls. Landsat estimates were reasonably matched to those derived from fine resolution imagery, with some caveats about island size and shape.     

Spiral patterns with straight arm segments

The phenomenon of 'rows', which are straight geometrical segments in the spiral arms of galaxies, is studied. The Whirlpool nebula, Messier 51 (NGC 5194) in Canes Venatici, is considered to be an example of a giant grand design galaxy. Optical photographs, H α , ultraviolet and far-ultraviolet images, CO, 21-cm and synchrotron emission maps, and a K _s-band mosaic of M51 are studied. With this observational material, multiple rows can be recognized in the spiral arms of the galaxy. The rows comprise a major part of the arms. The lengths of the rows increase almost linearly with distance from the centre. They intersect one another at an (average) angle ≈2π/3. A possible physical explanation of the phenomenon of rows is discussed on the basis of the assumption that the formation of straight arm segments might be due to the gas-dynamical effect of stability of flat shock fronts, and the tendency of a slightly curved shock front to become flat. A quantitative flattening criterion enables an explanation of the geometrical properties of the arm patterns found in M51 and also in M101. A brief list of spirals with rows is given.     

Quasilinear infiltration from an elliptical cavity

We develop analytic solutions to the linearized steady-state Richards equation for head and total flowrate due to an elliptic cylinder cavity with a specified pressure head boundary condition. They are generalizations of the circular cylinder cavity solutions of Philip [Philip JR. Steady infiltration from circular cylindrical cavities. Soil Sci Soc Am J 1984;48:270–8]. The circular and strip sources are limiting cases of the elliptical cylinder solution, derived for both horizontally- and vertically-aligned ellipses. We give approximate rational polynomial expressions for total flowrate from an elliptical cylinder over a range of sizes and shapes. The exact elliptical solution is in terms of Mathieu functions, which themselves are generalizations of and computed from trigonometric and Bessel functions. The required Mathieu functions are computed from a matrix eigenvector problem, a modern approach that is straightforward to implement using available linear algebra libraries. Although less efficient and potentially less accurate than the iterative continued fraction approach, the matrix approach is simpler to understand and implement and is valid over a wider parameter range.     

Forms, response times and variability of relative sea-level curves, glaciated North America

Relative sea level curves from glaciated North America reveal coherent spatial patterns of response times. In the Laurentide Ice Sheet area, curve half-lives range from 1.2–1.4 ka at the uplift centre to 1.7–2 ka in a ridge of high values inboard of the glacial limit. Half-lives decline from this ridge to less than 1 ka along the margin. In the Innuitian Ice Sheet area, half-lives are about 2 ka at the uplift centre and decline to less than 1 ka at the margin. The central Laurentide response times are about half those of central Fennoscandia. This accords with the theoretical expectation that central response times are inversely proportional to ice sheet radius for ice loads large enough that rebound at the centre is insensitive to lithospheric thickness. The Innuitian central response time indicates that rebound at the centre of this ice sheet, which is much smaller than the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, remains sensitive to lithospheric thickness. Radial gradients in response times reflect the increasing influence of the lithosphere at sites increasingly closer to the margin. Along this gradient, rebound progresses as though at the centres of smaller and smaller ice sheets. That is, the effective spatial scale of the ice load decreases toward the margin. Near the glacial limit, postglacial isostatic adjustment is complicated by forebulge migration and collapse. This is seen most strongly in the relative sea level record of Atlantic Canada, which has subsided during the Holocene more than 20 m more than the adjacent American seaboard. The relative sea level history of some areas, notably the St. Lawrence Estuary, is complicated by tectonic processes.     

Dependency of flow and transport properties on aperture distributions and compression states

Fluid conductivity and elastic properties in fractures depend on the aperture geometry – in particular, the roughness of fracture surfaces. In this study, we have characterized the surface roughness with a log-normal distribution and investigated the transport and flow behaviour of the fractures with varying roughness characteristics. Numerical flow and transport simulations have been performed on a single two-dimensional fracture surface, whose aperture geometry changes with different variances and correlation lengths in each realization. We have found that conventional measurement of hydraulic conductivity alone is insufficient to determine these two parameters. Transient transport measurements, such as the particle breakthrough time, provide additional constraints to the aperture distribution. Nonetheless, a unique solution to the fracture aperture distribution is still under-determined with both hydraulic conductivity and transport measurements. From numerical simulations at different compression states, we have found that the flow and transport measurements exhibit different rates of changes with respect to changes in compression. Therefore, the fracture aperture distribution could be further constrained by considering the flow and transport properties under various compression states.     

Modification of fractal algorithm for oil spill detection from RADARSAT-1 SAR data

This paper introduces a modified formula for the fractal box counting dimension. The method is based on utilization of the probability distribution formula in the fractal box count. The purpose of this method is to use it for the discrimination of oil spill areas from the surrounding features, e.g., sea surface and look-alikes in RADARSAT-1 SAR Wide beam mode (W1) and Standard beam mode (S2) data have been collected under different wind speeds. The results show that the new formula of the fractal box counting dimension is able to discriminate between oil spills, look-alike areas and pixels of the size of a single ship. The W1 mode data illustrate an error standard deviation of 0.05, thus performing a better discrimination of oil spills as compared to S2 mode data. We conclude that automatic detection and discrimination of oil spill and other sea surface features can be opertionalized by using the new formula for fractal box counting.