Improving age estimates for late Holocene glacial landforms using dendrochronology – Some examples from Garibaldi Provincial Park,British Columbia

Dating of late Holocene landforms below treeline in high mountains is commonly done using dendrochronology. Four factors can reduce the accuracy of ages obtained by dendrochronology: (1) locating the oldest living tree on a surface; (2) the method of counting the rings; (3) the age-height correction factor; and (4) ecesis, which is the time it takes trees to successfully germinate on a bare surface. A review of published studies from the western Cordillera of the Americas shows that some of these issues have not been fully addressed. Research in Garibaldi Provincial Park in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia shows that the accuracy of tree-ring ages can be improved if (1) crossdating and chronology construction, rather than simple ring counts, are done; (2) individual age-height correction factors are applied; and (3) site-specific ecesis estimates are made. While these suggestions are not always necessary to their fullest extent, researchers should at least report their methods in more detail and provide uncertainties in their age estimates that take into account age-height and ecesis corrections.     

Numerical simulations of a large-amplitude mesoscale gravity wave event

Summary Numerical simulations with the NCAR/PSU Mesoscale Model 5 (MM5) were performed to study a large-amplitude gravity wave event that occurred on 4 January 1994 along the East Coast of the United States. Results from the MM5 control simulation using a 12-km mesh resolution compared well with the synoptic and mesoscale observational analysis. The simulated gravity waves displayed timing, location, wavelength, and propagation speed similar to those observed in a synoptic-scale environment described by the Uccellini and Koch (1987) conceptual model. Additional features existing upstream of the wave generation region not contained within their conceptual model were a warm occlusion and tropopause fold prior to and during the gravity wave generation. Wave ducting criteria were nearly satisfied along the path of the gravity waves.Several sensitivity tests were performed. In a simulation in which the Appalachian Mountains were removed, the model still produced similar cyclone development and mesoscale gravity waves. Thus topography was not directly responsible for the gravity wave genesis. Also, three different fake dry sensitivity tests were performed with the latent heating related to changes of water substance turned off in the model at different stages of the simulation. The results from these simulations suggest that diabatic heating played an important role in both jet/cyclone development and in gravity wave amplification and maintenance, though not wave generation. The simulation with grid resolution increased to 4km, which included fully explicit microphysics produced gravity wave characteristics similar to those in the control simulation, though the higher resolution resolved much shorter waves (though unverifiable) closely associated with convection. This 4-km sensitivity experiment with no cumulus parameterization also confirmed that the dominant gravity wave was not an artifact of the particular cumulus parameterization scheme used for the control simulation. The reliability of the simulated gravity waves is further confirmed with another sensitivity experiment initialized 20 hours before the observed wave generation in which qualitatively-similar gravity waves were produced.Received August 28, 2000; revised May 2002; accepted October 8, 2002 Published online: April 10, 2003     

Rare-earths in size fractions and sedimentary rocks of Pennsylvanian-Permian age from the mid-continent of the U.S.A.

The REE (rare-earth) contents of sixty-three <2 μ fractions of Pennsylvanian and Permian platform sediment from the mid-continent of the U.S.A. vary considerably (ΣREE = 46–439 ppm;La/ Lu = 5.2–15.7; correlation coefficient of REE with La/Lu = 0.89), but the Eu/Sm ratios are nearly constant even in reducing environments that concentrate U (0.16–0.22). There is no correlation of REE content to clay mineralogy.Lower Permian <2 μ fractions from continental to nearshore marine sediment in Oklahoma have higher REE content (244–261 ppm) than marine facies in Kansas (46–140ppm), but <2μ Upper Permian fractions in an evaporite basin have constant but high REE content (288–281 ppm; one = 153—ppm). All Pennsylvanian <2 μ fractions from Oklahoma have high REE content (209–439 ppm), and fractions from Kansas cyclothems have variable REE content (86–438 ppm). REE content in the <2 μ fractions is inherited from the provenance, but is modified by ion exchange during weathering, transportation, or deposition. Exchangable REE tend to be concentrated in clay minerals in basic environments, but removed in acid environments.Sand and gravel-size fractions consist mostly of quartz or chert so their REE content is low (7.9–40.6 ppm) although heavy minerals may contribute a large fraction of the REE content. Unexpectedly, silt-size fractions have REE contents (74–355 ppm) that are usually lower but similar to their <2 μ fractions, and the REE contents do not correlate to clay mineral/quartz ratios. The interpretation of REE content in sedimentary rocks needs to be done cautiously due to the above factors.     

Numerical Prediction of the Boundary-Layer Flow Over the Bolund Hill: Assessment of Turbulence Models and Advection Schemes

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - The WindStation software package is applied to simulate the wind field over the Bolund hill. The standard, ReNormalization Group (RNG), realizable, and limited-length...     

The HEAO-3 Cosmic Ray Isotope spectrometer

This paper describes the Cosmic Ray Isotope instrument launched aboard the HEAO-3 satellite on September 20, 1979. The primary purpose of the experiment is to measure the isotopic composition of cosmic ray nuclei from Be-7 to Fe-58 over the energy range 0.5 to 7 GeV/nucleon. In addition charge spectra will be measured between beryllium and tin over the energy range 0.5 to 25 GeV/nucleon. The charge and isotope abundances measured by the experiment provide essential information needed to further our understanding of the origin and propagation of high energy cosmic rays. The instrument consists of 5 Cerenkov counters, a 4 element neon flash tube hodoscope and a time-of-flight system. The determination of charge and energy for each particle is based on the multiple Cerenkov technique and the mass determination will be based upon a statistical analysis of particle trajectories in the geomagnetic field.Representing the Saclay-Copenhagen CollaborationOriginally submitted to the journalSpace Science Instrumentation.The Saclay-Copenhangen Collaboration consists of the authors and the following members.     

Ocean wind fields retrieved from the advanced synthetic aperture radar aboard ENVISAT

In this paper an algorithm is presented which enables high-resolution ocean surface wind fields to be retrieved from the advanced synthetic aperture radar (ASAR) data acquired by the European remote sensing satellite ENVISAT. Wind directions are extracted from wind-induced streaks that are visible in ASAR images at scales above 200 m and that are approximately in line with the mean surface wind direction. Wind speeds are derived from the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) and image geometry of the calibrated ASAR images, together with the local ASAR-retrieved wind direction. Therefore the empirical C-band model CMOD4, which describes the dependency of the NRCS on wind and image geometry, is used. CMOD4 is a semi-empirical model, which was originally developed for the scatterometer of the European remote sensing satellites ERS-1 and 2 operating at C-band with vertical polarization. Consequently, CMOD4 requires modification when applied to ASAR images that were acquired with horizontal polarization in transmitting and receiving. This is performed by considering the polarization ratio of the NRCS. To demonstrate the applicability of the algorithm, wind fields were computed from several ENVISAT ASAR images of the North Sea and compared to atmospheric model results of the German weather service.Acknowledgements The authors were supported by the German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) in the framework of the project. A new perspective of the Ocean ENVISAT Oceanography (ENVOC). The ENVISAT ASAR data were kindly made available by the European Space Agency in the framework of the ENVISAT Project AO-ID 220, Biological and geophysical parameters from synthetic aperture radar over the ocean (BIGPASO).