Direct Measurement Of Shear Stress During Snow Saltation

Wind-tunnel experiments were carried out to measure the shear stressduring snow saltation. Shear stress acting on the snow surface, measured directly with a newly developed drag meter system, revealedthat the shear stress increased with the development ofsaltation. This result supports Owen's hypothesis that the saltationlayer acts as an increased roughness to the flow above the saltationlayer, leading to an increase in surface shear stress. To investigate the contribution of the grain borne shear stress_g and the fluid shear stress _f to the increment of the total shear stress _total, _g was calculated from the loss of horizontal momentum of saltating snowparticles. Since _g is the largest contribution to theincrement of _total, the collision of thesaltating particles is dominant for the shear stressmodification. The results qualitatively support the numericalsimulation reported by McEwan and Willetts.     

Low frequency waves in plasmas with spatially varying electron temperature

Low frequency electrostatic waves are studied in magnetized plasmas with an electron temperature which varies with position in a direction perpendicular to the magnetic field. For wave frequencies below the ion cyclotron frequency, the waves need not follow any definite dispersion relation. Instead a band of phase velocities is allowed, with a range of variation depending on the maximum and minimum values of the electron temperature. Simple model equations are obtained for the general case which can be solved to give the spatial variation of a harmonically time varying potential. A simple analytical model for the phenomenon is presented and the results are supported by numerical simulations carried out in a 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell numerical simulation. We find that when the electron temperature is striated along B₀ and low frequency waves (_ci) are excited in this environment, then the intensity of these low frequency waves will be striated in a manner following the electron temperature striations. High frequency ion acoustic waves (_ci) will on the other hand have a spatially more uniform intensity distribution.     

Rupture zones in the area of the 17.08.99 Izmit (NW Turkey) large earthquake (Mw 7.4) and stress changes caused by its generation

The M_w 7.4 Izmit earthquake of 17 August 1999 struck a part ofthe North Anatolian fault in the area of Izmit Bay (NW Turkey). Historicalinformation shows that the fault which moved during the generation of thisearthquake consists of two fault segments moved during the generation oflarge (M 7) earthquakes in 1719 and 1754, respectively. Since then onlythe central part (between Izmit and Lake Sapanca) of this fault ruptured bythe generation of a smaller shock (M = 6.6) in 1878.The spatial stress variations based on the calculation of changes in theCoulomb Failure Function (CFF) associated with this earthquake aresupported by the distribution of strong aftershock foci. Large positive valuesof CFF to the east and west of the mainshock epicenter are inagreement with the notion that secondary faults were triggered there by thegeneration of the main event. Large positive values of CFF are alsoobserved in the adjacent western fault segment where the 1766 event wasgenerated, evidencing the occurrence of the next strong earthquake in thissegment.     

Chironomids as indicators of climate change: a 100‐lake training set from a subarctic region of northern Sweden (Lapland)

Multivariate numerical analyses (DCA, CCA) were used to study the distribution of chironomids from surface sediments of 100 lakes spanning broad ecoclimatic conditions in northern Swedish Lapland. The study sites range from boreal forest to alpine tundra and are located in a region of relatively low human impact. Of the 19 environmental variables measured, ordination by CCA identified mean July air temperature as one of the most significant variables explaining the distribution and the abundance of chironomids. Lossonignition (LOI), maximum lake depth and mean January air temperature also accounted for significant variation in chironomid assemblages. A quantitative transfer function was created to estimate mean July air temperature from sedimentary chironomid assemblages using weightedaveraging partial least squares regression (WAPLS). The coefficient of determination was relatively high (r² = 0.65) with root mean squared error of prediction (RMSEP, based on jack-knifing) of 1.13 °C and maximum bias of 2.1 °C, indicating that chironomids can provide useful quantitative estimates of past changes in mean July air temperature. The paper focuses mainly on the relationship between chironomid composition and July air temperature, but the relationship to LOI and depth are also discussed.     

漫湾水库蓄水前后库区地震活动性与构造应力场分析

对漫湾水库蓄水诱发地震作了分析，结果表明，蓄水后库区小震频次明显增加，近距离地震明显增多，在蓄水首次达到高水位和由高水位突降至低水位时，诱发了最强地震。表明蓄水对库区构造应力场产生了影响，使得局部应力场较区域构造应力场作用方向出现明显偏转，作用方式发生改变，呈现较大的垂直作用效应，节面错动出现较大正倾滑动分量。     

The Relative Impact of Regional Scale Land Cover Change and Increasing CO2 over China

A series of 17-yr equilibrium simulations using the NCAR CCM3 (T42 resolution) were performed to investigate the regional scale impacts of land cover change and increasing CO2 over China. Simulations with natural and current land cover at CO2 levels of 280,355, 430, and 505 ppmv were conducted. Results show statistically significant changes in major climate fields (e.g. temperature and surface wind speed) on a 15-yr average following land cover change. We also found increases in the maximum temperature and in the diurnal temperature range due to land cover change. Increases in CO2 affect both the maximum and minimum temperature so that changes in the diurnal range are small. Both land cover change and CO2 change also impact the frequency distribution of precipitation with increasing CO2 tending to lead to more intense precipitation and land cover change leading to less intense precipitation-indeed, the impact of land cover change typically had the opposite effect versus the impacts of CO2. Our results provide support for the inclusion of future land cover change scenarios in long-term transitory climate inodelling experiments of the 21st Century. Our results also support the inclusion of land surface models that can represent future land cover changes resulting from an ecological response to natural climate variability or increasing CO2. Overall, we show that land cover change can have a significant impact on the regional scale climate of China, and that regionally, this impact is of a similar magnitude to increases in CO2 of up to about 430 ppmv. This means that that the impact of land cover change must be accounted for in detection and attribution studies over China.     

青藏高原腹地现今地应力测量与应力状态研究

青藏高原腹地现今构造活动强烈，为了解强烈构造活动下的应力背景，我们在五道梁、风火山、雁石坪和安多不同构造部位的四个测点采用压磁应力解除法进行了现场应力实测工作，测量深度12～20m.测量结果表明, 最大主应力方向总体为北东向，与地质、地震以及大地测量等方面的研究成果基本吻合；最大主应力量值为36～68MPa（安多测点除外），与其他地区测量结果相比，属于中等偏高；安多测点最大主应力方向为北西西向，最大主应力量值为81MPa，与其他测点有较大差别，反映了板块缝合带附近现今应力状态的复杂性.     

江苏浅层低温位地热资源开发利用前景

江苏能源供应的严峻形势促使了地热资源的勘查和开发力度的加大；地热工作的实践和科学技术的进步，逐步扩大了其工作领域；浅层地温作为江苏地热资源开发利用的新领域被提上日程，依据现有资料，认为其前景广阔。     

Reduced complexity strategies for modelling urban floodplain inundation

Significant advances in flood inundation modelling have been made in the last decade through the use of a new generation of 2D hydraulic numerical models. These offer the potential to predict the local pattern and timing of flood depth and velocity, enabling informed flood risk zoning and improved emergency planning. With the availability of high resolution DEMs derived from airborne lidar, these models can theoretically now be routinely parameterized to represent considerable topographic complexity, even in urban areas where the potential exists to represent flows at the scale of individual buildings. Currently, however, computational constraints on conventional finite element and volume codes typically require model discretization at scales well below those achievable with lidar and are thus unable to make optimal use of this emerging data stream.In this paper we review two strategies that attempt to address this mismatch between model and data resolution in an effort to improve urban flood forecasts. The first of these strives for a solution by simplifying the mathematical formulation of the numerical model by using a computationally efficient 2D raster storage cell approach coupled to a 1D channel model. This parsimonious model structure enables simulations over large model domains offering the opportunity to employ a topographic discretization strategy which explicitly represents the built environment. The second approach seeks to further reduce the computational overhead of this raster method by employing a subgrid parameterization to represent the effect of buildings and micro-relief on flow pathways and floodplain storage. This multi-scale methodology enables highly efficient model applications at coarse spatial resolutions while retaining information about the complex geometry of the built environment.These two strategies are evaluated through numerical experiments designed to reconstruct a flood in the small town of Linton in southern England, which occurred in response to a 1 in 250 year rainfall event in October 2001. Results from both approaches are encouraging, with the spatial pattern of inundation and flood wave propagation matching observations well. Both show significant advantages over a coarse resolution model without subgrid parameterisation, particularly in terms of their ability to reproduce both hydrograph and inundation depth measurements simultaneously, without need for recalibration. The subgrid parameterization is shown to achieve this without contributing significant computational complexity and reduces model run-times by an order of magnitude.     

Link between convection and meridional gradient of sea surface temperature in the Bay of Bengal

We use daily satellite estimates of sea surface temperature (SST) and rainfall during 1998–2005 to show that onset of convection over the central Bay of Bengal (88–92°E, 14–18°N) during the core summer monsoon (mid-May to September) is linked to the meridional gradient of SST in the bay. The SST gradient was computed between two boxes in the northern (88–92°E, 18–22°N) and southern (82–88°E, 4–8°N) bay; the latter is the area of the cold tongue in the bay linked to the Summer Monsoon Current. Convection over central bay followed the SST difference between the northern and southern bay (ΔT) exceeding 0.75°C in 28 cases. There was no instance of ΔT exceeding this threshold without a burst in convection. There were, however, five instances of convection occurring without this SST gradient. Long rainfall events (events lasting more than a week) were associated with an SST event (ΔT ≥ 0.75°C); rainfall events tended to be short when not associated with an SST event. The SST gradient was important for the onset of convection, but not for its persistence: convection often persisted for several days even after the SST gradient weakened. The lag between ΔT exceeding 0.75°C and the onset of convection was 0–18 days, but the lag histogram peaked at one week. In 75% of the 28 cases, convection occurred within a week of ΔT exceeding the threshold of 0.75°C. The northern bay SST, T _N , contributed more to ΔT, but it was a weaker criterion for convection than the SST gradient. A sensitivity analysis showed that the corresponding threshold for T _N was 29°C. We hypothesise that the excess heating (∼1°C above the threshold for deep convection) required in the northern bay to trigger convection is because this excess in SST is what is required to establish the critical SST gradient.