Three-dimensional numerical modelling of wind-driven circulation in a homogeneous lake

A three-dimensional numerical model has been developed to study wind-induced circulation patterns in a shallow homogeneous lake with a complex bathymetry. The governing equations are the unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes equations in which the non-hydrostatic pressure distribution has been included. The model was tested against analytical solutions and laboratory data for wind-induced currents and then applied to Esthwaite Water, a small lake in Cumbria, UK. The model was used to study the main model parameters and to generate typical circulation patterns for a variety of conditions in the lake. Simulations showed that a non-hydrostatic pressure distribution did not have any noticeable influence on the overall circulation pattern in the lake. However, comparisons with field data at some measurement stations in the near-shore region with sharply varying bottom topography showed that the hydrodynamic pressure component had some influence on the vertical velocity profile.     

Including prior information in the estimation of effective soil parameters in unsaturated zone modelling

In this paper we propose a methodology to include prior information in the estimation of effective soil parameters for modelling the soil moisture content in the unsaturated zone. Laboratory measurements on undisturbed soil cores were used to estimate the moisture retention curve and hydraulic conductivity curve parameters. The soil moisture content was measured at 25 locations along three transects and at three different depths (surface, 30 and 60 cm) on an 80×20 m hillslope for the year 2001. Soil cores were collected in 84 locations situated in three profile pits along the hillslope. For the estimation of the effective soil hydraulic parameters the joint probability distribution of measured parameter values was used as prior information. A two-horizon single column 1D MIKE SHE model based on Richards' equation was set-up for nine soil moisture measurement locations along the middle transect of the hillslope. The goal of the model is to simulate the soil moisture profile at each location. The shuffled complex evolution (SCE) algorithm has been applied to estimate effective model parameters using either wide parameter ranges, referred to as the ‘no-prior’ case, or the joint probability distribution of measured parameter values as prior information (‘prior’ case). When the prior information is incorporated in the SCE optimisation the goodness-of-fit of the model predictions is only slightly worse compared to when no-prior information is incorporated. However, the effective parameter estimates are more realistic when the prior information is incorporated. For both the no-prior and prior case the generalised likelihood uncertainty estimation procedure (GLUE) was subsequently used to estimate the uncertainty bounds (UB) on the model predictions. When incorporating the prior information more parameter sets were accepted for the estimation of the predictive uncertainty and the parameter values were more realistic. Moreover, UB better enclosed the observations. Thus, incorporating prior information in GLUE reduces the amount of model evaluations needed to obtain sufficient behavioural parameter sets. The results indicate the importance of prior information in the SCE and GLUE parameter estimation strategies.     

Application of lidar digital terrain modelling to predict intertidal habitat development at a managed retreat site: Abbotts Hall,Essex, UK

A key question in designing any managed retreat site concerns the nature of the habitats which will be created, and their likely long‐term sustainability and development. Studies of historical sea wall failures in Essex have shown that former reclaimed areas may respond to renewed tidal ?ooding in different ways depending on a number of factors, most importantly the elevation of the land at the time of breach, which governs the frequency and duration of tidal ?ooding. This paper demonstrates how digital terrain modelling using airborne lidar data can be used to calculate the elevation of the land behind a breach and to predict the likely habitats which will be created. When combined with data from sites of historical sea wall failure, predictions can also be made about the likely geomorphological and biological evolution of the created habitats in the longer term. At Abbotts Hall on the northern side of Salcott Creek, Essex, where a managed retreat scheme was activated in October 2002, the highest areas above 2·35 m OD were predicted to develop stable saltmarsh, intermediate areas between 2·1 and 2·34 m OD to develop potentially unstable saltmarsh which is likely undergo internal dissection, and the lowest areas below 2·1 m OD to remain as mud?at or lagoon. Approximately 38 per cent of the site was predicted to develop stable saltmarsh, and nearly 50 per cent to remain as lagoon or mud?at. Monitoring is now being undertaken but it will be several years before the accuracy of the predictions can be assessed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

3D Building Modelling with Digital Map, Lidar Data and Video Image Sequences

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and texture mapping of buildings or other man-made objects are key aspects for 3D city landscapes. An effective coarse-to-fine approach for 3D building model generation and texture mapping based on digital photogrammetric techniques is proposed. Three video image sequences, two oblique views of building walls and one vertical view of building roofs, acquired by a digital video camera mounted on a helicopter, are used as input images. Lidar data and a coarse two-dimensional (2D) digital vector map used for car navigation are also used as information sources. Automatic aerial triangulation (AAT) suitable for a high overlap image sequence is used to give initial values of camera parameters of each image. To obtain accurate image lines, the correspondence between outlines of the building and their line features in the image sequences is determined with a coarse-to-fine strategy. A hybrid point/line bundle adjustment is used to ensure the stability and accuracy of reconstruction. Reconstructed buildings with fine textures superimposed on a digital elevation model (DEM) and ortho-image are realistically visualised. Experimental results show that the proposed approach of 3D city model generation has a promising future in many applications.     

A quantitative analysis of the desiccation and re-filling of the Mediterranean during the Messinian Salinity Crisis

Notwithstanding the great deal of attention that the Messinian evaporites of the Mediterranean region have received from an observational point of view, there is, to date, no consensus as to their mechanism of formation. We aim to contribute to the investigation through a quantitative analysis of the processes of desiccation and re-filling. These processes are thought to have played a role in particular during the deposition of the upper part of the evaporite sequence. We calculate the evolution of sea level and average salinity based on both the present-day geometry and a paleogeographic reconstruction and assess the sensitivity to variations in the freshwater budget. Our results support previous inferences that desiccation and re-filling are fast; desiccation occurs on a time scale of 3-8 kyr, re-filling probably even faster. Equilibrium sea levels imply that most water has gone from the western basin while a significant water column remains in the eastern basin. Whether or not the eastern basin reaches the level of halite saturation depends critically on, in particular, the freshwater budget. The fast rate of desiccation and re-filling imply that temporal differences in the onset of salt precipitation between western and eastern basin and between marginal basins and basin centres are below the resolution of (astronomical) dating. Also, when Atlantic sea level periodically varied from below to above the level of the intervening sill, the Mediterranean basin will have responded with repeated desiccation and re-filling. Fast re-filling is found to require only a small connection to the Atlantic Ocean. This, in combination with the previous results, suggests the Mediterranean is unlikely to attain stable intermediate water levels.     

Flow behaviour and runout modelling of a complex debris flow in a clay‐shale basin

Identification of debris‐flow hazard areas necessitates the knowledge of the flow thickness and the runout distance. Both have been investigated using a numerical runout model. On the Faucon stream (South French Alps), representative of clay‐shale basins, results of various rheological tests and numerical experiments are presented and discussed. The calibration of the model was undertaken using the results of both geomorphological surveys and sedimentological analyses. Rheological tests using either a parallel‐plate rheometer, a coaxial rheometer, slump tests, and an inclined plane were carried out on several samples. Results have shown that the flow behaviour could be described by an Herschel‐Bulkley constitutive equation. The rheological responses of several natural suspensions collected from surficial deposits (sandstones, moraines, weathered black marls) were also investigated. In order to model the runout of the flow, the model BING was used. The model describes well the influence of each type of sediment on the behaviour (runout distance, deposit thickness) of the flow, although the velocities were significantly overestimated. Different risk scenarios are tested and discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling of the conductance distribution at the eastern margin of the European Hercynides

Magnetic variation data recorded at 143 sites in the period range of 1000–6000 seconds were used to model the conductance distribution in the eastern part of the Bohemian Massif (BM) and the West Carpathians (WCP). The region represents a contact zone of the Palaeozoic Hercynian and Tertiary Carpathian orogenic systems. Two anomalies in the distribution of the electrical conductivity were found. One with a simple two-dimensional feature is located approximately near the boundary of the Inner and Outer West Carpathians, but the other of a complicated three-dimensional character is at the eastern margin of the BM. We inverted the observed geomagnetic data for the conductance in a unimodal thin sheet embedded at a specific depth. The inversion algorithm minimises the parametric functional that sums the squared norm of the misfit and the stabilising functional, and employs conjugate gradient optimisation. To express the sharp tectonic boundaries, we employed a minimum gradient support functional, which is applied in areas with strong variations of the model parameters. The inversion results confirmed a quasi-linear character of the regional anomaly distinguishing the Carpathian plate and led to new insight into the anomaly over the eastern margin of the BM. According to the results of the modelling the anomaly is formed by several conductive belts intersecting the anomalous zone. These belts follow important faults, dividing the transition zone between the BM and the WCP into individual blocks.