A statistical model to downscale local daily temperature extremes from synoptic-scale atmospheric circulation patterns in the Australian region

 The study seeks to describe one method of deriving information about local daily temperature extremes from larger scale atmospheric flow patterns using statistical tools. This is considered to be one step towards downscaling coarsely gridded climate data from global climate models (GCMs) to finer spatial scales. Downscaling is necessary in order to bridge the spatial mismatch between GCMs and climate impact models which need information on spatial scales that the GCMs cannot provide. The method of statistical downscaling is based on physical interaction between atmospheric processes with different spatial scales, in this case between synoptic scale mean sea level pressure (MSLP) fields and local temperature extremes at several stations in southeast Australia. In this study it was found that most of the day-to-day spatial variability of the synoptic circulation over the Australian region can be captured by six principal components. Using the scores of these PCs as multivariate indicators of the circulation a substantial part of the local daily temperature variability could be explained. The inclusion of temperature persistence noticeably improved the performance of the statistical model. The model established and tested with observations is thought to be finally applied to GCM-simulated pressure fields in order to estimate pressure-related changes in local temperature extremes under altered CO₂ conditions. Received: 26 March 1996 / Accepted: 20 September 1996     

Sampling Fauna in Stream Sediments as well as Groundwater Using One Net Sampler

Groundwater bores act as traps. Net samplers are regularly used for sampling this type of trap for fauna. To enable direct comparisons of faunal communities in groundwater bores and stream sediments, stream sediment tubes were built similar to groundwater bores and were sampled with net samplers for fauna. These stream sediment tubes consisted of a tube anchored in the stream sediment, also called interstitial space. To test the efficacy of this trap method in stream sediments, it was compared to another type of trap, Hahn's trap. Faunal communities sampled by a net in the stream sediment tubes did not differ hugely from fauna in Hahn's trap samples. Physical and chemical factors of sampled water in both the stream sediment tubes, the surrounding interstitial sediments and the second type of traps, Hahn's traps, showed that water in both the tubes and Hahn's traps was closely related to interstitial water. The net sampler is inexpensive and easy to handle. It is suggested that sampling stream tubes with nets may be an appropriate method for long‐term monitoring studies.     

Rivers turned to rock: Late Quaternary alluvial induration influencing the behaviour and morphology of an anabranching river in the Australian monsoon tropics

Late Quaternary alluvial induration has greatly influenced contemporary channel morphology on the anabranching Gilbert River in the monsoon tropics of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Gilbert, one of a number of rivers in this region, has contributed to an extensive system of coalescing low-gradient and partly indurated riverine plains. Extensive channel sands were deposited by enhanced flow conditions during marine oxygen isotope (OI) Stage 5. Subsequent flow declined, probably associated with increased aridity, however, enhanced runoff recurred again in OI Stages 4–3 (65–50 ka). Aridity then capped these plains with 4–7 m of mud. A widespread network of sandy distributary channels was incised into this muddy surface from sometime after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the mid Holocene during a fluvial episode more active than the present but less so than those of OI Stages 5 and 3. This network is still partly active but with channel avulsion and abandonment now occurring largely proximal to the main Gilbert flow path.A tropical climate and reactive catchment lithology have enhanced chemical weathering and lithification of alluvium along the river resulting in the formation of small rapids, waterfalls and inset gorges, features characteristic more of bedrock than alluvial systems. Thermoluminescence (TL) and comparative optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages of the sediments are presented along with U/Th ages of pedogenic calcrete and Fe/Mn oxyhydroxide/ oxide accumulations. They show that calcrete precipitated during the Late Quaternary at times similar to those that favoured ferricrete formation, possibly because of an alternating wet–dry climate. Intense chemical alteration of the alluvium leading to induration appears to have prevailed for much of the Late Quaternary but, probably due to exceptional dryness, not during the LGM. The result has been restricted channel migration and a reduced capacity for the channel to adjust and accommodate sudden changes in bedload. Consequent avulsions have caused local stream powers to increase by an order of magnitude, inducing knickpoint erosion, local incision and the sudden influx of additional bedload that has triggered further avulsions. The Gilbert River, while less energetic than its Pleistocene ancestors, is clearly an avulsive system, and emphasizes the importance in some tropical rivers of alluvial induration for reinforcing the banks, generating nickpoints, reworking sediment and thereby developing and maintaining an indurated and anabranching river style.     

Landsat-8 vs. Sentinel-2: examining the added value of sentinel-2’s red-edge bands to land-use and land-cover mapping in Burkina Faso

The availability of freely available moderate-to-high spatial resolution (10–30 m) satellite imagery received a major boost with the recent launch of the Sentinel-2 sensor by the European Space Agency. Together with Landsat, these sensors provide the scientific community with a wide range of spatial, spectral, and temporal properties. This study compared and explored the synergistic use of Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 data in mapping land use and land cover (LULC) in rural Burkina Faso. Specifically, contribution of the red-edge bands of Sentinel-2 in improving LULC mapping was examined. Three machine-learning algorithms – random forest, stochastic gradient boosting, and support vector machines – were employed to classify different data configurations. Classification of all Sentinel-2 bands as well as Sentinel-2 bands common to Landsat-8 produced an overall accuracy, that is 5% and 4% better than Landsat-8. The combination of Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 red-edge bands resulted in a 4% accuracy improvement over that of Landsat-8. It was found that classification of the Sentinel-2 red-edge bands alone produced better and comparable results to Landsat-8 and the other Sentinel-2 bands, respectively. Results of this study demonstrate the added value of the Sentinel-2 red-edge bands and encourage multi-sensoral approaches to LULC mapping in West Africa.     

Age and origin of groundwater resources in the Ararat Valley,Armenia: a baseline study applying hydrogeochemistry and environmental tracers

Within the Ararat Valley (Armenia), a continuously growing water demand (for irrigation and fish farming) and a simultaneous decline in groundwater recharge (due to climate change) result in increasing stress on the local groundwater resources. This detrimental development is reflected by groundwater-level drops and an associated reduction of the area with artesian conditions in the valley centre. This situation calls for increasing efforts aimed at more sustainable water resources management. The aim of this baseline study was the collection of data that allows for study on the origin and age distribution of the Ararat Valley groundwater based on environmental tracers, namely stable (δ²H, δ¹⁸O) and radioactive (³⁵S, ³H) isotopes, as well as physical-chemical indicators. The results show that the Ararat Valley receives modern recharge, despite its (semi-)arid climate. While subannual groundwater residence times could be disproved (³⁵S), the detected ³H pattern suggests groundwater ages of several decades, with the oldest waters being recharged around 60 years ago. The differing groundwater ages are reflected by varying scatter of stable isotope and hydrochemical signatures. The presence of young groundwater (i.e., younger that the 1970s), some containing nitrate, indicates groundwater vulnerability and underscores the importance of increased efforts to achieve sustainable management of this natural resource. Since stable isotope signatures indicate the recharge areas to be located in the mountains surrounding the valley, these efforts must not be limited to the central part of the valley where most of the abstraction wells are located.

     

Resource Model Updating For Compositional Geometallurgical Variables

In the field of mineral resources extraction, one main challenge is to meet production targets in terms of geometallurgical properties. These properties influence the processing of the ore and are often represented in resource modeling by coregionalized variables with a complex relationship between them. Valuable data are available about geometalurgical properties and their interaction with the beneficiation process given sensor technologies during production monitoring. The aim of this research is to update resource models as new observations become available. A popular method for updating is the ensemble Kalman filter. This method relies on Gaussian assumptions and uses a set of realizations of the simulated models to derive sample covariances that can propagate the uncertainty between real observations and simulated ones. Hence, the relationship among variables has a compositional nature, such that updating these models while keeping the compositional constraints is a practical requirement in order to improve the accuracy of the updated models. This paper presents an updating framework for compositional data based on ensemble Kalman filter which allows us to work with compositions that are transformed into a multivariate Gaussian space by log-ratio transformation and flow anamorphosis. This flow anamorphosis, transforms the distribution of the variables to joint normality while reasonably keeping the dependencies between components. Furthermore, the positiveness of those variables, after updating the simulated models, is satisfied. The method is implemented in a bauxite deposit, demonstrating the performance of the proposed approach.

     

Modeling and Fitting of Three-Dimensional Mineral Microstructures by Multinary Random Fields

Mathematical Geosciences - Modeling a mineral microstructure accurately in three dimensions can render realistic mineralogical patterns which can be used for three-dimensional processing...     

Discriminant Analysis for Compositional Data Incorporating Cell-Wise Uncertainties

Mathematical Geosciences - In the geosciences it is still uncommon to include measurement uncertainties into statistical methods such as discriminant analysis, but, especially for trace elements,...