Exploring the Effects of Microscale Structural Heterogeneity of Forest Canopies Using Large-Eddy Simulations

The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS)-based Forest Large-Eddy Simulation (RAFLES), developed and evaluated here, is used to explore the effects of three-dimensional canopy heterogeneity, at the individual tree scale, on the statistical properties of turbulence most pertinent to mass and momentum transfer. In RAFLES, the canopy interacts with air by exerting a drag force, by restricting the open volume and apertures available for flow (i.e. finite porosity), and by acting as a heterogeneous source of heat and moisture. The first and second statistical moments of the velocity and flux profiles computed by RAFLES are compared with turbulent velocity and scalar flux measurements collected during spring and winter days. The observations were made at a meteorological tower situated within a southern hardwood canopy at the Duke Forest site, near Durham, North Carolina, U.S.A. Each of the days analyzed is characterized by distinct regimes of atmospheric stability and canopy foliage distribution conditions. RAFLES results agreed with the 30-min averaged flow statistics profiles measured at this single tower. Following this intercomparison, two case studies are numerically considered representing end-members of foliage and midday atmospheric stability conditions: one representing the winter season with strong winds above a sparse canopy and a slightly unstable boundary layer; the other representing the spring season with a dense canopy, calm conditions, and a strongly convective boundary layer. In each case, results from the control canopy, simulating the observed heterogeneous canopy structure at the Duke Forest hardwood stand, are compared with a test case that also includes heterogeneity commensurate in scale to tree-fall gaps. The effects of such tree-scale canopy heterogeneity on the flow are explored at three levels pertinent to biosphere-atmosphere exchange. The first level (zero-dimensional) considers the effects of such heterogeneity on the common representation of the canopy via length scales such as the zero-plane displacement, the aerodynamic roughness length, the surface-layer depth, and the eddy-penetration depth. The second level (one-dimensional) considers the normalized horizontally-averaged profiles of the first and second moments of the flow to assess how tree-scale heterogeneities disturb the entire planar-averaged profiles from their canonical (and well-studied planar-homogeneous) values inside the canopy and in the surface layer. The third level (three-dimensional) considers the effects of such tree-scale heterogeneities on the spatial variability of the ejection-sweep cycle and its propagation to momentum and mass fluxes. From these comparisons, it is shown that such microscale heterogeneity leads to increased spatial correlations between attributes of the ejection-sweep cycle and measures of canopy heterogeneity, resulting in correlated spatial heterogeneity in fluxes. This heterogeneity persisted up to four times the mean height of the canopy (h _c ) for some variables. Interestingly, this estimate is in agreement with the working definition of the thickness of the canopy roughness sublayer (2h _c –5h _c ).     

Validation of a regional Indonesian Seas model based on a comparison between model and INSTANT transports

The International Nusantara Stratification and Transport (INSTANT) program measured currents through multiple Indonesian Seas passages simultaneously over a three-year period (from January 2004 to December 2006). The Indonesian Seas region has presented numerous challenges for numerical modelers — the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) must pass over shallow sills, into deep basins, and through narrow constrictions on its way from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. As an important region in the global climate puzzle, a number of models have been used to try and best simulate this throughflow. In an attempt to validate our model, we present a comparison between the transports calculated from our model and those calculated from the INSTANT in situ measurements at five passages within the Indonesian Seas (Labani Channel, Lifamatola Passage, Lombok Strait, Ombai Strait, and Timor Passage). Our Princeton Ocean Model (POM) based regional Indonesian Seas model was originally developed to analyze the influence of bottom topography on the temperature and salinity distributions in the Indonesian seas region, to disclose the path of the South Pacific Water from the continuation of the New Guinea Coastal Current entering the region of interest up to the Lifamatola Passage, and to assess the role of the pressure head in driving the ITF and in determining its total transport. Previous studies found that this model reasonably represents the general long-term flow (seasons) through this region. The INSTANT transports were compared to the results of this regional model over multiple timescales. Overall trends are somewhat represented but changes on timescales shorter than seasonal (three months) and longer than annual were not considered in our model. Normal velocities through each passage during every season are plotted. Daily volume transports and transport-weighted temperature and salinity are plotted and seasonal averages are tabulated.     

Evolution of undercut slopes on abandoned incised meanders in the Eastern Highland Rim of Tennessee, USA

Field surveys, location-for-time reasoning, and computer modeling were used to study the evolution of slopes on valley walls of abandoned bedrock meanders on the Eastern Highland Rim, Tennessee. Hillslopes on the undercut slopes of cutoff incised meanders were ordered as to relative age by the height of their meander floors above the modern stream level. The assumption is that the undercut slope is actively eroded by the stream until abandonment of the meander, at which time the slope begins to evolve to a different form. More-advanced stages of evolution occur on walls of higher meanders that were abandoned earlier. The most rapid change in this initial form is the elimination of a free face, which occurs soon after the meander is abandoned. In addition, the hillslopes associated with even the lowest (youngest) cutoff meanders show somewhat gentler overall gradients than the actively undercut slopes. Hillslopes associated with meanders 3 to about 20 m above modern stream level maintain straight segments with angles showing only a slight decrease from the 36–38° associated with the lowest cutoffs; overall angles decrease, however, as the straight segment becomes shorter. The oldest slopes, those on cutoffs 30 m or greater above modern stream level, have developed into convex–concave slopes with maximum slopes of 15°.A hillslope evolution model based on previously published algorithms was used to simulate the transition of actively undercut hillslopes into hillslopes on abandoned meanders. Hillslope modeling is particularly useful in this setting. If the valley incision rate is known, an age can be estimated for the cutoff and hence for the hillslope. Alternatively, if hillslope process rates are known, a model age obtained for the hillslope can be used to estimate an incision rate. Even where both incision rates and hillslope process rates are poorly constrained, as in the present setting, modeling allows assumptions about specific rates to be evaluated by determining their implications for other rates. For example, for three cutoff meanders along one stream, best-fit criteria were used to select process rates for the model. Model ages of hillslopes were then obtained and compared with those calculated from a valley-incision rate measured elsewhere in the same physiographic province. For two of the hillslopes, model ages were found to be much younger than those calculated from the incision rate. In order to make the two ages agree, unreasonably low process rates had to be used in the model, thus implying that the incision rate probably underestimates the actual incision rate in this valley.Experimentation with heights of initial profiles, again using best-fit criteria, suggests that since abandonment of the highest cutoff, the plateau has been downwasting at a rate about one-fourth that of the valley incision rate, a finding in agreement with published rates of chemical denudation in the area.     

Analysis and interpretation of anomalous conductivity and magnetic permeability effects in time domain electromagnetic data: Part I: Numerical modeling

Time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) response is usually associated with eddy currents in conductive bodies, since this is the dominant effect. However, other effects, such as displacement currents from dielectric processes and magnetic fields associated with rock magnetization, can contribute to TDEM response. In this paper we analyze the effect of magnetization on TDEM data. We use a 3-D code based on finite-difference method, developed by Wang and Hohmann [Geophysics 58 (1993) 797], to study transient electromagnetic field propagation through a medium containing bodies with both anomalous conductivity and anomalous magnetic permeability. The remarkable result is that the combination of anomalous conductivity and permeability within the same body could increase significantly the anomalous TDEM response in comparison with purely conductive or purely magnetic anomalies. This effect has to be taken into account in interpretation of TDEM data over electrical inhomogeneous structures with potentially anomalous magnetic permeability.     

Steady state analysis of unsaturated flow above a shallow water-table aquifer drained by ditches

The one-dimensional pressure head profile above a fixed water-table was studied for different steady infiltration rates. As shown in previous studies, when the infiltration rate (q_in) is less than the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), this profile can be divided into two parts: (1) from the water-table surface (z₀) to an elevation z_γ, the pressure head varies from 0 to a value h_γ such as K(h_γ)=−q_in; (2) above the elevation z_γ the pressure head is constant and equal to h_γ. Above the water-table the zone where the pressure head is variable has been called ‘transition zone’. Its height is shown to be highly variable and to depend on soil properties as well as on the infiltration rate. This transition zone is not the ‘capillary fringe’ as defined by Gillham (Gillham R.W., 1984. The capillary fringe and its effect on water-table response. J. Hydrol. 67, 307–324). Numerical experiments performed with HYDRUS-2D^® for the case of a water-table drained by parallel ditches have shown that the height of the transition zone is similar in the one-dimensional profile and in the two-dimensional system as long as the local slope of the water-table is small. This result is important since in a two-dimensional system, the transition zone is the place where all the horizontal component of the unsaturated flow occurs. The ratio of the horizontal component of the unsaturated flow vs the total horizontal flow in both the unsaturated and saturated zones has been computed. For a given soil, this ratio decreases as the infiltration rate increases; for a given infiltration rate, the soil with the thinnest transition zone transfers the largest amount of water above the water-table.     

末次冰期东亚季风气候的数值模拟研究

利用一个Ｔ４２全球大气环流谱模式模拟了现代及末次冰期极盛时期边界条件下的东亚季风气候，并与中国区域内古气候变化的地质证据了对比，综合分析表明，末次末期时东亚冬季风强盛，夏季风衰退，气候大陆度增加。年平均气温普遍下降，我国华南，西北东部至华北，东北地区分别比现代降温２－４℃、８－１０℃及１０℃以上；季风多降水明显减少，与现代相比，东南沿海，江淮至华北，东北地区年降水量分别减少７０－８０％，６０－７０     

天津局地气候的反演建模及其研究

利用天津月平均温度Ｔ、气压Ｐ和雨量Ｒ的时间序列反演出一组近似描写天津（Ｔ－Ｐ－Ｒ）局地气候的动力方程，并对其演化特性及内部相互作用机制进行了研究。     

Geodatabase数据模型在配电设备管理中的应用

首先简要介绍了Geodatabase数据模型；然后设计了Geodatabase配电网数据模型，并着重配电网中拓扑分析问题的处理；最后，利用一个简单设备介绍了Geodatabase数据模型中“复杂”节点的创建。     

Model tank electrical resistivity characterization of LNAPL migration in a clayey-sand formation

A modeling tank time-lapse 2D electrical resistivity experiment was undertaken to model the leakage of petroleum products from underground pipelines into a clayey-sand aquifer. Numerical modeling was employed to simulate the electrode arrays that would resolve the post-leakage subsurface image most efficiently. Of the four arrays tested, the dipole–dipole array proved most effective and was adopted for the laboratory studies. Pre-injection surveys were conducted to assist in discriminating between features caused by hydrocarbon accumulation and those due to natural geologic variability. Subsequently, controlled injection of diesel–oil into the model tank was undertaken at regular intervals over a period of 3 days. Experimental evidence obtained from the studies indicates that high resistivity build up few hours after injection is directly related to hydrocarbon accumulation. Rather than biodegradation of the hydrocarbon, a more probable explanation for the observed decrease in resistivity observed a few hours after injection is simply that the hydrocarbons drained to a deeper level after pooling temporarily at a shallow level.     

对城市活断层探测项目中地震地质数据建模的探讨

在城市活断层探测项目中,基于地震地质和活动构造研究的数据模型研究是相关应用领域中的重要问题。本文依据"中国地震活动断层探测技术系统"规程应用统一建模语言讨论和建立了地震地质数据模型,着重论述了地震地质数据模型与活动断层探测相关数据的组织方法,给出了地震地质基于ArcGIS的UML模型的空间和属性类结构图、类关系图表。在此基础上分析了地震地质UML模型的特点。