Stability of axial orbits in galactic potentials

We investigate the dynamics in a galactic potential with two reflection symmetries. The phase-space structure of the real system is approximated with a resonant detuned normal form constructed with the method based on the Lie transform. Attention is focused on the stability properties of the axial periodic orbits that play an important role in galactic models. Using energy and ellipticity as parameters, we find analytical expressions of bifurcations and compare them with numerical results available in the literature.     

Microzonation of Potenza (Southern Italy) in terms of spectral intensity ratio using joint analysis of earthquakes and ambient noise

A temporary seismic network composed of 11 stations was installed in the city of Potenza (Southern Italy) to record local and regional seismicity within the context of a national project funded by the Italian Department of Civil Protection (DPC). Some stations were moved after a certain time in order to increase the number of measurement points, leading to a total of 14 sites within the city by the end of the experiment. Recordings from 26 local earthquakes (M_l 2.2−3.8 ) were analyzed to compute the site responses at the 14 sites by applying both reference and non-reference site techniques. Furthermore, the Spectral Intensity (SI) for each local earthquake, as well as their ratios with respect to the values obtained at a reference site, were also calculated. In addition, a field survey of 233 single station noise measurements within the city was carried out to increase the information available at localities different from the 14 monitoring sites. By using the results of the correlation analysis between the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios computed from noise recordings (NHV) at the 14 selected sites and those derived by the single station noise measurements within the town as a proxy, the spectral intensity correction factors for site amplification obtained from earthquake analysis were extended to the entire city area. This procedure allowed us to provide a microzonation map of the urban area that can be directly used when calculating risk scenarios for civil defence purposes. The amplification factors estimated following this approach show values increasing along the main valley toward east where the detrital and alluvial complexes reach their maximum thickness.     

Quantitative predictions with detuned normal forms

The phase-space structure of two families of galactic potentials is approximated with a resonant detuned normal form. The normal form series is obtained by a Lie transform of the series expansion around the minimum of the original Hamiltonian. Attention is focused on the quantitative predictive ability of the normal form. We find analytical expressions for bifurcations of periodic orbits and compare them with other analytical approaches and with numerical results. The predictions are quite reliable even outside the convergence radius of the perturbation and we analyze this result using resummation techniques of asymptotic series.     

Tools for gauging the capacity of salmon spawning substrates

We present a set of river management tools based on a recently developed method for estimating the amount of salmon spawning habitat in coarse‐bedded rivers. The method, which was developed from a mechanistic model of redd building by female salmon, combines empirical relationships between fish length, redd area, and the sizes of particles moved by fish during spawning. Model inputs are the grain‐size indices D₅₀ and D₈₄ and an estimate of female fish length, which is used to predict the size of the redd that they will build and the size of the largest particle that they can move on the bed. Outputs include predictions of the fraction of the bed that the fish can use for redd building and the number of redds that they can build within the useable area. We cast the model into easy‐to‐use look‐up tables, charts, an Excel worksheet, a JavaScript web applet, and a MATLAB user interface. We explain how these tools can be used in a new, mechanistic approach to assessing spawning substrates and optimizing gravel augmentation projects in coarse‐bedded rivers. © 2016 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Development and Application of 2D and 3D GRASS Modules for Simulation of Thermally Driven Slope Winds

The ability to manage and process fully three‐dimensional information has only recently been made available for a few Geographical Information Systems (GIS). An example of integrated and complementary use of 2D and 3D GRASS modules for the evaluation and representation of thermally induced slope winds over complex terrain is presented. The analytic solution provided by Prandtl (1942) to evaluate wind velocity and (potential) temperature anomaly induced by either diurnal heating or nocturnal cooling on a constant angle slope is adopted to evaluate wind and temperature profiles at any point over both idealised and real complex terrain. As these quantities depend on the slope angle of the ground and on the distance from the slope surface suitable procedures are introduced to determine the coordinate n of a point in the 3D volume measured along the direction locally normal to the terrain surface. A new GRASS module has been developed to evaluate this quantity and to generate a 3D raster file where each cell is assigned the value of the cell on the surface belonging to the normal vector. The application of the algorithm implemented in GRASS to an ideal valley and to a real valley close to the city of Trento in the Alps provides results in accordance with data reported in the literature. An extension of Prandtl's (1942) model to take into account humidity and evaporation processes on the soil is also proposed and implemented.     

Economic damages due to extreme precipitation during tropical storms: evidence from Jamaica

Natural Hazards - This study investigates economic damage risk due to extreme rainfall during tropical storms in Jamaica. To this end, remote sensing precipitation data are linked to regional...     

The European Soil Erosion Model (EUROSEM): a dynamic approach for predicting sediment transport from fields and small catchments

The European Soil Erosion Model (EUROSEM) is a dynamic distributed model, able to simulate sediment transport, erosion and deposition over the land surface by rill and interill processes in single storms for both individual fields and small catchments. Model output includes total runoff, total soil loss, the storm hydrograph and storm sediment graph. Compared with other erosion models, EUROSEM has explicit simulation of interill and rill flow; plant cover effects on interception and rainfall energy; rock fragment (stoniness) effects on infiltration, flow velocity and splash erosion; and changes in the shape and size of rill channels as a result of erosion and deposition. The transport capacity of runoff is modelled using relationships based on over 500 experimental observations of shallow surface flows. EUROSEM can be applied to smooth slope planes without rills, rilled surfaces and surfaces with furrows. Examples are given of model output and of the unique capabilities of dynamic erosion modelling in general. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Survey of Precipitation-Induced Atmospheric Cold Pools over Oceans and Their Interactions with the Larger-Scale Environment

Pools of air cooled by partial rain evaporation span up to several hundreds of kilometers in nature and typically last less than 1 day, ultimately losing their identity to the large-scale flow. These fundamentally differ in character from the radiatively-driven dry pools defining convective aggregation. Advancement in remote sensing and in computer capabilities has promoted exploration of how precipitation-induced cold pool processes modify the convective spectrum and life cycle. This contribution surveys current understanding of such cold pools over the tropical and subtropical oceans. In shallow convection with low rain rates, the cold pools moisten, preserving the near-surface equivalent potential temperature or increasing it if the surface moisture fluxes cannot ventilate beyond the new surface layer; both conditions indicate downdraft origin air from within the boundary layer. When rain rates exceed \(\sim\) 2 mm h\(^{-1}\), convective-scale downdrafts can bring down drier air of lower equivalent potential temperature from above the boundary layer. The resulting density currents facilitate the lifting of locally thermodynamically favorable air and can impose an arc-shaped mesoscale cloud organization. This organization allows clouds capable of reaching 4–5 km within otherwise dry environments. These are more commonly observed in the northern hemisphere trade wind regime, where the flow to the intertropical convergence zone is unimpeded by the equator. Their near-surface air properties share much with those shown from cold pools sampled in the equatorial Indian Ocean. Cold pools are most effective at influencing the mesoscale organization when the atmosphere is moist in the lower free troposphere and dry above, suggesting an optimal range of water vapor paths. Outstanding questions on the relationship between cold pools, their accompanying moisture distribution and cloud cover are detailed further. Near-surface water vapor rings are documented in one model inside but near the cold pool edge; these are not consistent with observations, but do improve with smaller horizontal grid spacings.     

Twin laws of whewellite,CaC2O4·H2O. A structural and growth approach

Both natural and synthetic crystals of whewellite (CaC₂O₄·H₂O, sp.g. P2₁/c) occur commonly as twins. The geometrical, reticular and structural features of the most important twin law, twin plane (100), and the dubious law ( \(\overline {\text{1}} \) 01) were investigated. The strict application of the periodic bond chain (PBC) theory (Hartman and Perdok 1955) makes possible the identification of original composition planes (OCP). Following the OCP analysis it has been deduced that the energy necessary to produce a (100) twin is very low. This is evidenced by the easy reciprocal arrangement of the two crystal structures which can be shown in two slightly different ways, i.e., by a (100) reflection with a mean [0, 1/2, ?a ₀cosβ] translation and a weak relaxation (from 0.1 to 0.25 Å) of the common interface. In OCP an important role is played by water molecules. With regard to ( \(\overline {\text{1}} \) 01) twinning, the geometrical and reticular agreement is not matched by the structural situation. The structural and growth approach to the twin laws of whewellite therefore justifies the very common occurrence only of (100) twinned crystals.     

Theoretical growth morphology of whewellite CaC2O4·H2O

The morphological theory of Hartman and Perdok (1955, 1956) allows to deduce the character of a growth form {hkl} on the basis of structural data alone. Its application to the structure of whewellite leads to the identification of forms {100}, {010}, {021}, {011}, {12 \(\bar 1\) } and {121} which show during the growth a flat surface profile (flat forms F). These forms occur very frequently in the crystals we grew from pure aqueous solutions at supersaturation β≦1,90. Other forms, {001} and {10 \(\bar 1\) }, possibly show a double character (F or S, where S stays for related faces showing a stepped profile during the growth) according to the bonds assumed within some periodic bond chains (PBCs). Alternative ways of bonding water molecules lead to different structures of the same PBC. The different energy corresponding to these structures may explain the complex morphology of both natural and synthetic crystals grown at high β values.