IN SITU MEASUREMENTS OF BASAL WATER QUALITY AND PRESSURE AS AN INDICATOR OF THE CHARACTER OF SUBGLACIAL DRAINAGE SYSTEMS

Continuous subglacial measurements of turbidity and electrical conductivity — two indicators of basal water quality — can be used to help characterize subglacial drainage systems. These indicators of water quality yield information that complements that provided by water pressure measurements. Quantitative attributes of subglacial drainage systems, such as water velocity and subglacial residence time, as well as qualitative behaviour — for example, spatial and temporal variations in system morphology — can be deduced using water quality measurements. Interpretation is complicated by the many potential influences on turbidity and electrical conductivity, but when these complications are appreciated a richer interpretation results. To demonstrate the utility of basal water quality measurements, observations from Trapridge Glacier, Yukon Territory, Canada were examined. The data reveal complex behaviour of the drainage system, but constraints imposed by basal water quality measurements help to clarify the nature of the subglacial flow system. The measurement and interpretation methods described and demonstrated are applicable to other glaciers. As such, they should prove useful for characterizing different subglacial drainage configurations and behaviours, thereby improving our general understanding of the hydrology and dynamics of wet-based glaciers.     

Effective fetch and non-linear four-wave interactions during wave growth in slanting fetch conditions

Wave growth in slanting fetch (with wind blowing obliquely off a coast) is investigated with 7 years worth of routine wave measurements in Lake IJssel in The Netherlands and with the SWAN wave model. Two aspects are considered in particular for this case: the validity of the concept of effective fetch and the role of the non-linear four-wave interactions. For slanting and parallel fetch conditions, we found some significant deviations from the effective fetch assumption, leading to 20–35% mismatch in either the peak period T_p or the significant wave height H_m0 respectively. However, the effect of discrepancies between various widely accepted wave growth formulas turned out to be even more important. The wave directions during slanting fetch are significantly ‘steered’ by the coastline, especially in the first kilometre(s) off the coast. The role of the non-linear four-wave interactions is investigated by running the SWAN (version 40.41) wave model with three different quadruplet formulations. Exact quadruplet methods (Xnl) yielded relatively strong wave steering, despite the four-wave interactions being relatively weak. Application of Xnl did not lead to better overall agreement with measurements — improvements for the mean wave period T_m01 were offset by some deterioration for the wave height H_m0.     

岩石侵蚀速率测算方法研究综述及展望

讨论了目前应用比较广泛的几种测算岩石侵蚀速率的方法,将目前岩石侵蚀速率测算方法分为2类:一类为质量测算法,包括公式计算法、流域水化学监测法、样品称重法;另一类为几何测算法,包括微侵蚀测量仪法、对比计算法和宇宙成因核素法.探讨了各方法的测算原理、优缺点及其适用领域,质量测算法中的公式计算法和流域水化学监测法比较适用于大面积的国土监测工作;样品称重法和3类几何测算法适用于尺度较小的地学研究和文物保护、工程技术等应用领域.最后,总结了岩石侵蚀速率研究者和案例地的地理分布规律,并对岩石侵蚀速率测算研究进行了展望.     

桂北376铀矿床烃气地球化学研究

烃气测量法在锡、金、铜、铅锌等金属矿床找矿中得到了广泛应用,而该技术在花岗岩型铀矿找矿中的应用鲜有报道。本文对桂北376铀矿床已知矿体开展了烃气测量试验,结果显示：相较于其他金属矿,该铀矿区花岗岩和土壤中总烃含量极低,而且花岗岩总烃含量(平均19.42μL/kg)高于上覆土壤(平均6.32μL/kg)。花岗岩中U与多数烃气组分呈负相关,与重烃呈正相关,重烃在U迁移过程中作用强于轻烃;花岗岩烃气标准化配分模式以C₁、iC₄和C₂^-正异常为特征;铀矿化程度与iC₄/nC₄、(C₁+iC₄+C₂^-)/(C₂+C₃+nC₄)及C₂^-/C₃^-比值呈正相关,与C₂₊/∑C比值呈负相关等可为寻找铀矿提供依据。3...     

Detailed measurements during a transient front in a small subtropical estuary

High-resolution measurements of velocity and physio-chemistry were conducted before, during and after the passage of a transient front in a small subtropical system about 2.1 km upstream of the river mouth. Detailed acoustic Doppler velocimetry measurements, conducted continuously at 25 Hz, showed the existence of transverse turbulent shear between 300 s prior to the front passage and 1300 s after. This was associated with an increased level of suspended sediment concentration fluctuations, some transverse shear next to the bed and some surface temperature anomaly.     

Short-term and interannual variability of redox-sensitive chemical parameters in hypoxic/anoxic bottom waters of the Chesapeake Bay

A combination of CTD casts, discrete bottle sampling and in situ voltammetric microelectrode profiling was used to examine changing redox conditions in the water column at a single station south of the Bay Bridge in the upper Chesapeake Bay in late July/early August, 2002–2005. Short-term (2–4 h) fluctuations in the oxic/suboxic/anoxic interface were documented using in situ voltammetric solid-state electrodes. Profiles of dissolved oxygen and sulfide revealed tidally-driven vertical fluctuations of several meters in the depth and thickness of the suboxic zone. Bottom water concentrations of sulfide, Mn²⁺ and Fe²⁺ also varied over the tidal cycle by approximately an order of magnitude. These data indicate that redox species concentrations at this site varied more due to physical processes than biogeochemical processes. Based on analysis of ADCP data, tidal currents at this station were strongly polarized, with the principal axis of tidal currents aligned with the mainstem channel. Together with the chemical data, the ADCP analysis suggests tidal flushing of anoxic bottom waters with suboxic water from north of the site. The present study is thus unique because while most previous studies have focused on processes across relatively stable redox interfaces, our data clearly demonstrate the influence of rapidly changing physical mixing processes on water column redox chemistry.Also noted during the study were interannual differences in maximum bottom water concentrations of sulfide, Mn²⁺ and Fe²⁺. In 2003, for example, heavy spring rains resulted in severe hypoxia/anoxia in June and early July. While reported storm-induced mixing in late July/early August 2003 partially alleviated the low-oxygen conditions, bottom water concentrations of sulfide, Mn²⁺ and Fe²⁺ were still much higher than in the previous year. The latter implies that the response time of the microbial community inhabiting the suboxic/anoxic bottom waters to changing redox conditions is slow compared to the time scale of episodic mixing events. Bottom water concentrations of the redox-sensitive chemical species should thus be useful as a tracer to infer prior hypoxic/anoxic conditions not apparent from ambient oxygen levels at the time of sampling.     

Diurnal SST warming in the Bay of Biscay: satellite measurements and model prediction

INTRODUCTIONIt has long been recognized that a diurnal thermal cycle occurs in the upper layer of the ocean(Stommel et al., 1969; Price and Weller, 1986). Interest in the subject has revived in recentyears due to the importance of resolving the diurnal cycle for correctly coupling the ocean and atmosphere (Lukas, 1991 ). While the study of the diurnal cycle is of intrinsic scientific interest, italso offers the benefit to remote sensing scientists of identifying the bias caused by the di…     

Recent Progress and Future Prospects in Solar Physics, and Their Relevance for Planet Earth

Understanding our star, the Sun, is of fundamental interest for life on Earth. In this paper, the status of knowledge in solar physics of roughly two decades ago is summarised, and the most recent developments in this very active field are shown, many of them achieved by means of space based missions. The Sun–Earth connection is described and, finally, an outlook on future solar research is given.