A method to detect and characterize sub‐daily flow fluctuations

Hydro peaking causes an important environmental impact on running water ecosystems. Many affected rivers have a poor ecological status. In rivers affected by hydro peaking, the flow conditions are highly complex and difficult to grasp. To develop a general framework for detecting and characterizing sub‐daily flow fluctuations, we analysed more than 500 Austrian hydrographs, covering the whole range from unimpacted to heavily impacted rivers. Different fluctuation types could be identified according to the potential source: e.g. sub‐daily flow fluctuations caused by hydro peaking, rainfall or snow and glacier melt. Additionally, the term ‘hydro fibrillation’ was established, to indicate frequently occurring artificial fluctuations with comparably low intensities. An automatic procedure was used to detect frequency and intensity of each flow fluctuation. Using variables based on duration curves of flow fluctuation rates (ramping rates), amplitudes, flow ratios, durations and daily numbers of fluctuations, a predictive model (linear discriminant analysis) was fitted to classify hydrographs into predominant fluctuation regimes. This is the basis for a detailed investigation of present sub‐daily flow regimes and to analyse the differences between the regimes. Based on the results, we finally propose a general framework that enables a standardized assessment of flow fluctuations regarding event intensities and/or event timing. The proposed framework offers a standardized selection of particular flow fluctuations referring to increase and decrease events separately. The selection of specific flow fluctuations can be defined with respect to several research questions (e.g. ecologically relevant fluctuations), which offers a wide range of applications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Processes controlling rapid temperature variations on rock surfaces

In arid environments, thermal oscillations are an important source of rock weathering. Measurements of temperature have been made on the surface of rocks in a desert environment at a sampling interval of 0·375 s, with simultaneous measurements of wind speed, air temperature, and incoming shortwave radiation. Over timescales of hours, the temperature of the rock surface was determined primarily by shortwave radiation and air temperature, while rapid temperature variations, high dT/dt, at intervals of seconds or less, were determined by wind speed. The maximum values of temperature change and time spent above 2°C min^?1 increased at high measurement rates and were much higher than previously reported. The maximum recorded value of dT/dt was 137°C min^?1 and the average percentage time spent above 2°C min^?1 was ～70 ± 13%. Maximum values of dT/dt did not correlate with the maximum values of time spent above 2°C min^?1. Simultaneous measurements of two thermocouples 5·5 cm apart on a single rock surface had similar temperature and dT/dt values, but were not correlated at sampling intervals of less than 10 s. It is suggested that this is resulting from rapid fluctuations due to small spatial and timescale wind effects that are averaged out when data is taken at longer sampling intervals, ～10 s or greater. Published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Closed-form analytical solutions incorporating pumping and tidal effects in various coastal aquifer systems

Pumping wells are common in coastal aquifers affected by tides. Here we present analytical solutions of groundwater table or head variations during a constant rate pumping from a single, fully-penetrating well in coastal aquifer systems comprising an unconfined aquifer, a confined aquifer and semi-permeable layer between them. The unconfined aquifer terminates at the coastline (or river bank) and the other two layers extend under tidal water (sea or tidal river) for a certain distance L. Analytical solutions are derived for 11 reasonable combinations of different situations of the L-value (zero, finite, and infinite), of the middle layer’s permeability (semi-permeable and impermeable), of the boundary condition at the aquifer’s submarine terminal (Dirichlet describing direct connection with seawater and no-flow describing the existence of an impermeable capping), and of the tidal water body (sea and tidal river). Solutions are discussed with application examples in fitting field observations and parameter estimations.     

Measurements of Damping of Temperature Fluctuations in a Tube

Using field measurements we evaluate a previously deduced semi-empirical model for the dampening of temperature fluctuations in a circular tube. The measurements show that the model is a reasonably good approximation, and the previous recommendation of using a tube length of the order of 1,000 times the inner diameter of the tube to remove most of the temperature fluctuations seems to hold. Part of the difference between the empirical results and the model is possibly due to deviations from the idealized conditions assumed in the model such as no inclusion of the influence from the ambient atmospheric stability. Limitations of the measurements are also likely to affect the evaluation.     

全球气候变化大趋势与次级波动

联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）报告近百年升温约0.74℃,并将气候变化归因于人为排放的温室气体,然而该报告中的多处结论引起了国际社会对IPCC报告的广泛质疑.人为排放的温室气体对全球升温贡献有多大？人为过程与自然过程对全球变暖分别贡献多少？IPCC评估报告中过去百年0.74℃的变化是否为变冷总趋势中的次级波动？针对这些问题,本研究梳理了近年来全球气候变化的相关研究成果.结果显示,第四纪以来的地球气候波动主要受控于太阳辐射变化周期,各个时间尺度上的气候变化既表现出明显的周期性,也同时存在次一级的波动.在全新世晚期气候变冷的背景下,气候变化千年—百年尺度上同样存在一系列周期性和次级波动,且波动范围在0.5～6℃之间变化.IPCC报告中百年气候变暖的合理解释是全球变冷趋势下的次级波动.     

Lichenometric dating using Rhizocarpon subgenus Rhizocarpon in the Patagonian Andes, Argentina

This study represents the first attempt to develop and apply lichenometric dating curves of Rhizocarpon subgenus Rhizocarpon for dating glacier fluctuations in the Patagonian Andes. Six glaciers were studied along the Patagonian Andes. Surfaces of known ages (historical evidences and tree-ring analyses) were used as control sites to develop indirect lichenometric dating curves. Dating curves developed for the studied glaciers show the same general logarithmic form, indicating that growth rate of subgenus Rhizocarpon decreases over time. The strong west–east precipitation gradient across the Andean Cordillera introduces statistically significant differences in the growth curves, with faster growth rates in the moist west sites than the drier eastern sites. Latitudinal difference among the studied glaciers does not appear to be a major factor regulating lichen growth rates. Therefore, we developed two lichenometric curves for dating glacier fluctuations in wetter and drier sites in the Patagonian Andes during the past 450 yrs. Application of the developed curves to moraine dating allowed us to complement glacial chronologies previously obtained by tree-ring analyses. A first chronosequence for moraine formation in the Torrecillas Glacier (42°S) is presented. Our findings confirm the utility of lichenometry to date deglaciated surfaces in the Patagonian Andes.     

A REVIEW OF THE PALEO­HYDROLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF LAKE NAM CO|SOUTH­CENTRAL TIBET

Department of Earth Sciences,Freie Universität Berlin,Malteserstraße 74－100,12249 Berlin,Germany)
The endorheic Lake Nam Co,south Eastern Tibetan Plateau,was selected to investigate the interrelation between drainage basin processes,especially post­glacial glacier decay,and lake level fluctuations. Landforms of the drainage basin are highly influenced by tectonics,superimposed by fluvial and periglacial processes,and locally by glacial and eolian processes. Thus,geomorphological features and hydrological characteristics were compiled for the lake­basin to provide an overview of the landscape character. Data show that during the Last Glacial Maximum melt water from the mountains accumulated fluvial deposits in the foreland. Concurrently,an increase of the lake level occurred which is presently shown by a cliff line all around Nam Co with its base approximately 29m above the present lake level. The Holocene decrease of the lake level is traced by beach ridges. As Nam Co is an endorheic lake post­glacial water loss has to be primarily explained by evaporation and moisture conditions. However,more detailed conclusions on quantitative and chronological patterns of both factors,melt­water input and evaporation output,still remain to be drawn.     

The Interference of Higher-Order Statistics of the Concentration Field Produced by Two Point Sources According to a Generalized Fluctuating Plume Model

The higher-order correlation functions for the concentrationfluctuations arising from a two-point-source configuration have beencalculated analytically within the context of the phenomenology of afluctuating plume model (viz., a meandering plume model that explicitlyincorporates internal fluctuations). Explicit expressions for thesecond-, third-, and fourth-order correlationfunctions between the concentrationfluctuations produced by two point sources are given in terms of the sourceseparation d and the five physically based parameters that define thegeneralized fluctuating plume model: namely, the absolute plume dispersion,_a, which determines the outer plume length scale; the relative plume dispersion, _r, which determines the inner plume length scale; the fluctuation intensity, i_r, in relative coordinates, which determines the internal concentration fluctuation level; the correlation coefficient, r,between the positions of the centroids of the two interfering plumes; and,the correlation coefficient, r^*, between the concentration fluctuationsof the two plumes in relative coordinates, which determines the degree ofinternal mixing of the two scalars. Furthermore, the form of the totalconcentration probability density function arising from the interferenceproduced by two point sources is presented. Predictions for the second-ordercorrelation function, , and for the total concentration probabilitydensity function have been compared with some new experimental data fora two-point-source configuration in grid turbulence generated in awater-channel simulation. These results are in good agreement with the dataand suggest that the analytical model for the second-order correlationfunction and the total concentration probability density function canreproduce many qualitative trends in the interaction of plumes from twosources.     

Vereisung und Meeresspiegel

GLACIATION AND SEALEVEL — EARLY RESEARCH: Changes of sealevel positions depend on vertical crustal movements, different distributions of oceanic water masses and variations of ocean water volume. In spite of the fact that C. Maclaren explained the relations between the fluctuations of continental ice masses and ocean water volumes correctly in 1842, only two years after the classical paper of L. Agassiz, it took half a century to reach global agreement on the matter. Some examples of the different ways of research may illustrate the complex treatment of the problem, the fact that correct approaches were forgotten but wrong ideas were discussed for decades and the influence of geological authorities. However, some problems remain open even now, such as the exact dating of Pleistocene and Holocene sealevel fluctuations in different geological settings, or the influence of a changing geoid.