The normalized topographic method: an automated procedure for gully mapping using GIS

Gully delineation is a critical aspect of accurately determining soil losses but associated methodologies are rarely detailed. Here, we describe a new gully mapping method, the normalized topographic method (NorToM), based on processing digital elevation model (DEM) data, and we assess associated errors when it is applied over a range of geomorphological scales. The NorToM is underpinned by two gully detection variables (normalized slope and elevation) calculated over local windows of prescribed size, and a group of filtering variables. For four study sites, DEMs of gullies were obtained using field and airborne photo‐reconstruction and evaluated using total station and differential global positioning system (dGPS) survey. NorToM provided accurate areal and volume estimates at the individual gully scale but differences increased at the larger gully system and gully network scales. We were able to identify optimal parameters for using the NorToM approach and so confirm that is represents a useful scale‐independent means of gully mapping that is likely to be valid in other environments. Its main limitations are that the normalization process might be time‐consuming at regional scales and the need for a fixed window size when applied to landforms with extreme variations in dimensions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Volatile organic compounds at a rural site in western Senegal

The objectives of this study were to identify species and levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and determine their oxidation capacity in the rural atmosphere of western Senegal. A field study was conducted to obtain air samples during September 14 and September 15, 2006 for analyses of VOCs. Methanol, acetone, and acetaldehyde were the most abundant detected chemical species and their maximum mixing ratios reached 6 parts per billion on a volume basis (ppbv). Local emission sources such as firewood and charcoal burning strongly influenced VOC concentrations. The VOC concentrations exhibited little temporal variations due to the low reactivity with hydroxyl radicals, with reactivity values ranging from 0.001 to 2.6 s⁻¹. The conditions in this rural site were rather clean. Low ambient NO _x levels limited ozone production. Nitrogen oxide (NO _x ) levels reached values less than 2 ppbv and maximum VOC/NO _x ratios reached 60 ppbvC/ppbv, with an overall average of 2.4 ± 4.5 ppbvC/ppbv. This indicates that the rural western Senegal region is NO _x limited in terms of oxidant formation potential. Therefore, during the study period photochemical ozone production became limited due to low ambient NO _x levels. The estimated ozone formation reactivity for VOCs was low and ranged between −5.5 mol of ozone/mol of benzaldehyde to 0.6 mol/mol of anthropogenic dienes.     

Redatuming Operators Analysis in Homogeneous Media

A redatuming operation is used to simulate the acquisition of data in new levels, avoiding distortions produced by near-surface irregularities related to either geometric or material property heterogeneities. In this work, the application of the true-amplitude Kirchhoff redatuming (TAKR) operator on homogeneous media is compared with conventional Kirchhoff redatuming (KR) operator restricted to the zero-offset case. The TAKR and the KR operators are analytically and numerically compared in order to verify their impacts on the data at a new level. Analyses of amplitude and velocity sensitivity of the TAKR and KR were performed: one concerning the difference between the weight functions and the other related to the velocity variation. The comparisons between operators were performed using numerical examples. The feasibility of the KR and TAKR operators was demonstrated not only kinematically but also dynamically for their purposes. In other words, one preserves amplitude (KR), and the other corrects the amplitude (TAKR). In the end, we applied the operators to a GPR data set.     

Development of regional future climate change scenarios in South America using the Eta CPTEC/HadCM3 climate change projections: climatology and regional analyses for the Amazon, S?o Francisco and the Paraná River basins

The objective of this study is to assess the climate projections over South America using the Eta-CPTEC regional model driven by four members of an ensemble of the Met Office Hadley Centre Global Coupled climate model HadCM3. The global model ensemble was run over the twenty-first century according to the SRES A1B emissions scenario, but with each member having a different climate sensitivity. The four members selected to drive the Eta-CPTEC model span the sensitivity range in the global model ensemble. The Eta-CPTEC model nested in these lateral boundary conditions was configured with a 40-km grid size and was run over 1961–1990 to represent baseline climate, and 2011–2100 to simulate possible future changes. Results presented here focus on austral summer and winter climate of 2011–2040, 2041–2070 and 2071–2100 periods, for South America and for three major river basins in Brazil. Projections of changes in upper and low-level circulation and the mean sea level pressure (SLP) fields simulate a pattern of weakening of the tropical circulation and strengthening of the subtropical circulation, marked by intensification at the surface of the Chaco Low and the subtropical highs. Strong warming (4–6°C) of continental South America increases the temperature gradient between continental South America and the South Atlantic. This leads to stronger SLP gradients between continent and oceans, and to changes in moisture transport and rainfall. Large rainfall reductions are simulated in Amazonia and Northeast Brazil (reaching up to 40%), and rainfall increases around the northern coast of Peru and Ecuador and in southeastern South America, reaching up to 30% in northern Argentina. All changes are more intense after 2040. The Precipitation–Evaporation (P–E) difference in the A1B downscaled scenario suggest water deficits and river runoff reductions in the eastern Amazon and S?o Francisco Basin, making these regions susceptible to drier conditions and droughts in the future.     

Understanding Causes and Impacts of the Dinoflagellate, Cochlodinium polykrikoides, Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay

During August and September 2007, the lower Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries experienced a massive bloom of Cochlodinium polykrikoides Margalef (>10⁴ cells per milliliter) that persisted for over a month, was extremely patchy, and at times penetrated into the Atlantic Ocean. The onset of the bloom coincided with a period of intense rainfall and stormwater runoff after a protracted summer drought period. Genetic evidence showed this species to be distinct from many Asian strains but similar to other North American strains. Populations dominated by C. polykrikoides took up a variety of nitrogenous compounds to support their growth and were able to mobilize additional sources of organic nutrients through peptide hydrolysis. Bioassays determined that C. polykrikoides exerted a lethal affect on juvenile fish and shellfish, causing 100% mortality of juvenile fish (Cyprinodon variegates) in less than 24 h and 20% mortality in juvenile American oysters (~21 mm; Crassostrea virginica) within 72 h.     

Shifting level modelling of hydrologic series

The potential of applying shifting level (SL) models to hydrologic processes is discussed in light of observed statistical characteristics of hydrologic data. An SL model and an ARMA (1, 1) model are fitted to an actual hydrologic series. Computer simulation experiments with these models are carried out to compare maximum accumulated deficit and run properties. Results obtained indicate that the mean maximum accumulated deficit, mean longest negative run length, and mean largest negative run sum for both models are similar while there are differences in their corresponding variances.     

Analytic neutron stars in general relativity: Exact solutions for the non-homogeneous charged model

We have extended the so-called Adams' method to the non-homogeneous charged model of neutron stars. Numerical applications have been compared with results obtained for a given equation of state.     

Socio-spatial segregation and urban form: Belém at the end of the 1990s

In the second half of the 1990s, socio-spatial segregation increased in Brazilian cities, accentuating inequity among social groups. Using a combination of space syntax techniques and statistical analysis, this paper explores locational differences in central and peripheral portions of Belém. The analysis shows how socio-spatial segregation was made more pronounced by relationships between urban form, infrastructure provision and locational values. Social groups' opportunities in the city are suggested to be limited by features of its urban form, associated with infrastructure provision, especially for groups unable to take advantage of intra-urban accessibility. The paper also discusses the findings of the study in relation to the Brazilian urban context at the end of the 1990s.     

A method for the study of the zonal kinetic energy balance in the atmosphere

Summary The atmospheric balance of the kinetic energy of the zonally averaged zonal motion is investigated from five years of daily data at 800 stations for the northern hemisphere. The basic equation for such energy is used, together with the simplifying assumption that the frictional destruction is due in the main to stresses acting across horizontal surfaces, being thus presumably related to the vertical shear of the mean zonal wind, although no further details are needed in the analysis. The five-year averages of various terms as well as their seasonal means appear to give reasonable results.The research reported in this paper was sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. GA-1310X.