Towards urbanisation of the non-hydrostatic numerical weather prediction model Lokalmodell (LM)

Numerical weather prediction models are increasingly employed for providing meteorological data for urban air quality applications. Model resolution, physiographic parameters and surface-layer parameterisations need to be adapted to the requirements of the urban boundary layer. The Lokalmodell of the German Weather Service was triple-nested down to a horizontal grid resolution of 1.1 km, urbanised physiographic parameters were implemented, and an additional anthropogenic heat source was introduced. Results of a sensitivity study for a spring dust episode in Helsinki show a clear urbanisation effect of these measures on temperature, humidity and the partitioning of surface fluxes, leading to an increased Bowen ratio and heat storage and an urban heat island effect.     

Progressive aqueous alteration of CM carbonaceous chondrites

CM chondrites are aqueously altered rocks that contain ∼9 wt% H₂O⁺ (i.e., indigenous water) bound in phyllosilicates; also present are clumps of serpentine-tochilinite intergrowths (previously called “poorly characterized phases” or PCP), pentlandite and Ni-bearing pyrrhotite. We studied 11 CM chondrites that span the known range from least altered to most altered. We used various petrologic properties (many previously identified) that provide information regarding the degree of aqueous alteration. There are no known unaltered or slightly altered CM chondrites (e.g., rocks containing numerous chondrules with primary igneous glass). Some CM properties result from processes associated with early and intermediate stages of the alteration sequence (i.e., hydration of matrix, alteration of chondrule glass, and production of large PCP clumps). Other petrologic properties reflect processes active throughout the alteration sequence; these include oxidation of metallic Fe-Ni, alteration of chondrule phenocrysts, changes in PCP composition (reflecting an increase in the phyllosilicate/sulfide ratio), and changes in carbonate mineralogy (reflecting the development of dolomite and complex carbonates at the expense of Ca carbonate).On the basis of these parameters, we propose a numerical alteration sequence for CM chondrites. Because there are no known CM samples that display only incipient alteration, the least altered sample was arbitrarily assigned to subtype 2.6. The most altered CM chondrites, currently classified CM1, are assigned to subtype 2.0. These highly altered rocks have essentially no mafic silicates; they contain chondrule pseudomorphs composed mainly of phyllosilicate. However, their bulk compositions are CM-like, and they are closer in texture to other C2 chondrites than to CI1 chondrites (which lack chondrule pseudomorphs). Using several diagnostic criteria, we assigned petrologic subtypes (±0.1) to every CM chondrite in our study: QUE 97990, CM2.6; Murchison, CM2.5; Kivesvaara, CM2.5; Murray, CM2.4/2.5; Y 791198, CM2.4; QUE 99355, CM2.3; Nogoya, CM2.2; Cold Bokkeveld, CM2.2; QUE 93005, CM2.1; LAP 02277, CM2.0; MET 01070, CM2.0.The proposed CM numerical alteration sequence improves upon the existing scheme of Browning et al. (1996) in that it does not require a complicated algorithm applied to electron-microprobe data to determine the average matrix phyllosilicate composition. The new sequence is more comprehensive and employs petrologic subtypes that are easier to use and remember than mineralogic alteration index values.New neutron-activation analyses of QUE 97990, QUE 93005, MET 01070, Murchison and Crescent, together with literature data, confirm the compositional uniformity of the CM group; different degrees of alteration among CM chondrites do not lead to resolvable bulk compositional differences. This suggests that the textural differences among individual CM chondrites reflect progressive alteration of similar hypothetical CM3.0 starting materials in different regions of the same parent body, with minimal aqueous transport of materials over appreciable (e.g., meters) distances.     

Addressing Scottish rural fuel poverty through a regional industrial symbiosis strategy for the Scottish forest industries sector

Tackling fuel poverty is central to the delivery of the Scottish Executive’s commitment to social justice. Many Scottish rural households are not linked into the mains gas network and rely on expensive alternatives, despite being surrounded by plentiful supplies of low-cost renewable wood biomass. A regional study was undertaken to establish the potential market for pelletised wood fuel, available as a low-value by-product from the rapidly expanding Scottish forest industry sector. The wider implications of the research findings are analysed by extending the principles of industrial symbiosis from a site-specific to a regional scale. Promoting an indigenous pellet-based wood fuel market for rural Scotland would fulfil important Scottish Executive economic, social and environmental sustainability objectives. Adding off-site social symbiotic elements increases the potential for on-site technical symbiosis in nascent Scottish forest industry clusters. At present, market failure is preventing the realisation of these benefits, and the paper concludes by identifying ways in which market intermediation, through wood fuel energy service companies, might overcome the current barriers to exploiting such symbiosis.     

Coupled changes in sand grain size and sand transport driven by changes in the upstream supply of sand in the Colorado River: Relative importance of changes in bed-sand grain size and bed-sand area

Sand transport in the Colorado River in Marble and Grand canyons was naturally limited by the upstream supply of sand. Prior to the 1963 closure of Glen Canyon Dam, the river exhibited the following four effects of sand supply limitation: (1) hysteresis in sediment concentration, (2) hysteresis in sediment grain size coupled to the hysteresis in sediment concentration, (3) production of inversely graded flood deposits, and (4) development or modification of a lag between the time of a flood peak and the time of either maximum or minimum (depending on reach geometry) bed elevation. Construction and operation of the dam has enhanced the degree to which the first two of these four effects are evident, and has not affected the degree to which the last two effects of sand supply limitation are evident in the Colorado River in Marble and Grand canyons. The first three of the effects involve coupled changes in suspended-sand concentration and grain size that are controlled by changes in the upstream supply of sand. During tributary floods, sand on the bed of the Colorado River fines; this causes the suspended sand to fine and the suspended-sand concentration to increase, even when the discharge of water remains constant. Subsequently, the bed is winnowed of finer sand, the suspended sand coarsens, and the suspended-sand concentration decreases independently of discharge. Also associated with these changes in sand supply are changes in the fraction of the bed that is covered by sand. Thus, suspended-sand concentration in the Colorado River is likely regulated by both changes in the bed-sand grain size and changes in the bed-sand area. A physically based flow and suspended-sediment transport model is developed, tested, and applied to data from the Colorado River to evaluate the relative importance of changes in the bed-sand grain size and changes in the bed-sand area in regulating suspended-sand concentration. Although the model was developed using approximations for steady, uniform flow, and other simplifications that are not met in the Colorado River, the results nevertheless support the idea that changes in bed-sand grain size are much more important than changes in bed-sand area in regulating the concentration of suspended sand.     

High-resolution paleoecological analysis of recent disturbance in a southern Chilean Nothofagus forest

A 1600 year paleoecological record of environmental change is developed from a small lake in the Nothofagus forest of southern Chile (45.5°S, 72°W). High resolution fossil pollen, charcoal, sedimentological, and chrysophycean stomatocyst analyses are used to investigate the impacts of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on terrestrial and lacustrine environments. Chronological control is based on a combination of ²¹⁰Pb and ¹⁴C dating. Temporal resolution during the past 150–200 yr is ca. 8 yr/sample. The macroscopic charcoal record correlates very closely with historical and dendroecological records of 20th century anthropogenic burning in this region. The chrysophyte stratigraphy indicates that this burning had immediate impacts on the lake itself, while the pollen record provides evidence for a succession of vegetation changes lagging slightly behind the disturbance. These palynological changes are very similar to the pollen signal of European disturbance in northeastern North America. Pre-European shifts in chrysophyte assemblages may be due to the influence of earthquake activity on the lake, though there is no corroborative evidence in the pollen or charcoal records. This study demonstrates that high resolution paleoecological methods can be used to help bridge the temporal gap between traditional ecological and paleoecological studies of environmental change in the temperate forests of southern South America.     

Petrology and geochronology of basalt breccia from the 1996 earthquake swarm of Loihi seamount, Hawaii: magmatic history of its 1996 eruption

 Samples of basalt were collected during the Rapid Response cruise to Loihi seamount from a breccia that was probably created by the July to August 1996 Loihi earthquake swarm, the largest swarm ever recorded from a Hawaiian volcano. ²¹⁰Po–²¹⁰Pb dating of two fresh lava blocks from this breccia indicates that they were erupted during the first half of 1996, making this the first documented historical eruption of Loihi. Sonobuoys deployed during the August 1996 cruise recorded popping noises north of the breccia site, indicating that the eruption may have been continuing during the swarm. All of the breccia lava fragments are tholeiitic, like the vast majority of Loihi's most recent lavas. Reverse zoning at the rim of clinopyroxene phenocrysts, and the presence of two chemically distinct olivine phenocryst populations, indicate that the magma for the lavas was mixed just prior to eruption. The trace element geochemistry of these lavas indicates there has been a reversal in Loihi's temporal geochemical trend. Although the new Loihi lavas are similar isotopically and geochemically to recent Kilauea lavas and the mantle conduits for these two volcanoes appear to converge at depth, distinct trace element ratios for their recent lavas preclude common parental magmas for these two active volcanoes. The mineralogy of Loihi's recent tholeiitic lavas signify that they crystallized at moderate depths (∼8–9 km) within the volcano, which is approximately 1 km below the hypocenters for earthquakes from the 1996 swarm. Taken together, the petrological and seismic evidence indicates that Loihi's current magma chamber is considerably deeper than the shallow magma chamber (∼3–4 km) in the adjoining active shield volcanoes. Received: 21 August 1997 / Accepted: 15 February 1998     

Amethod of estimating leaf temperatures in a plant community

Summary A method was devised for using profiles of directional long-wave radiation to estimate plant radiating temperatures at any height in a crop. Limited testing of the method was carried out using tubular net radiometers which had one hemisphere covered by a radiation shield equipped with a temperature sensor.The results indicated that, in the absence of solar radiation, profiles of effective radiating temperature in a crop could be obtained to an accuracy of between 0.2 and 0.3°C at any level while day time values were of the order of 0.3 to 0.4°C.

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Eine Methode zur Abschätzung der Blattemperatur in einer Pflanzengemeinschaft

Zusammenfassung Es wurde eine Methode entwickelt, die es erlaubt, die Strahlungstemperatur von Pflanzen in beliebiger Höhe innerhalb eines Bestandes aus Profilen der langwelligen Strahlungsbilanz abzuschätzen. Eine beschränkte Zahl von Versuchen wurde ausgeführt, bei denen zylinderförmige Strahlungsbilanzmesser verwendet wurden, deren eine Hemisphäre durch einen Strahlungsschirm verdeckt war, an dem ein Temperaturmeßgerät angebracht war. Die Resultate zeigen, daß bei fehlender Sonnenstrahlung Profile der effektiven Strahlungs-temperatur in beliebiger Höhe innerhalb eines Bestandes bis zu einer Genauigkeit von 0.2 bis 0.3°C gemessen werden können. Untertags wurden Genauigkeiten von 0.3 bis 0.4° erzielt.

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With 2 Figures     

The mass and moment of inertia of the Earth

Recent revisions of geodetic and astronomical constants by the International Association of Geodesy and the International Astronomical Union lead to improved values for the earth's mass and moment of inertia. Corrections to be applied to these values before they are used as constraints in the inversion of seismic data are discussed.     

Geochronology and geochemistry of lavas from the 1996 North Gorda Ridge eruption

Radiometric dating of three North Gorda Ridge lavas by the ²¹⁰Po–²¹⁰Pb method confirms that an eruption occurred during a period of increased seismic activity along the ridge during late February/early March 1996. These lavas were collected following detection of enhanced T-phase seismicity and subsequent ocean bottom photographs documented the existence of a large pillow mound of fresh-appearing lavas. ²¹⁰Po–²¹⁰Pb dating of these lavas indicates that an eruption coinciding with this seismicity did occur (within analytical error) and that followup efforts to sample the recent lava flows were successful. Compositions of the three confirmed young lavas and eleven other samples of this contiguous “new flow” sequence are distinct from older lavas from this area but are variable at a level outside analytical uncertainty. These intraflow variations can not easily be related to a single, common parent magma. Compositional variability within the new flow is compared to that of other recently documented individual flow sequences, and this comparison reveals a strong positive correlation of compositional variance with flow volumes spanning a range of >2 orders of magnitude. The geochemical heterogeneity in the North Gorda new flow probably reflects incomplete mixing of magmas generated from a heterogeneous mantle source or from slightly different melting conditions of a single source. The compositional variability, range in sample ages (up to 6 weeks) and range in active seismicity (4 weeks) imply that this relatively large flow was erupted over an interval of several weeks.