Satellite-Based Technologies in Use for Extreme Nocturnal Mountain Rescue Operations: a Synergetic Approach Applying Geophysical Principles

Mountain-rescue operations require rapid response whilst also ensuring the security of the rescue teams. Rescuing people in a big rock-face is even more difficult if night or fog prevent sight. The paper presents a technical solution to optimally support, under these aggravated conditions, the location of the casualties and the navigation of the rescue team(s) in a rock-face from a coordination station. In doing so, standard components like a smartphones with GPS functionality, a data communication on a client–server basis and VR visualisation software have been adapted to the specific requirements. Remote support of the navigation in steep rocky terrain requires a highly accurate wall model which permits the local experts of the coordination station to dependably estimate geometry and structure of the rock along the rescue route and to convey necessary directives to the retrieval team. Based on terrestrial laser-scans from different locations, such a model has been generated for the mighty Dachstein South Face (Austria) and texturised with digital photographs. Over a twelve-month period, a transdisciplinary team of the Dresden University of Technology (Informatics, Electrical Engineering, Cartography) developed and integrated the various technical modules of the mountain-rescue support-system (digital rock-face model, optimised GPS data transmission between mobile device, server and client, data filtering, and dynamic visualisation component). In summer 2011 the proper functioning of the prototype was demonstrated in a rescue exercise under foggy dusk conditions.     

The potential use of OH-defects in enstatite as geobarometer

In this study, single crystals of pure enstatite (Mg₂Si₂O₆) were synthesised under water-saturated conditions at 4 and 8 GPa and 1,150°C with variable silica activity, leading to phase assemblages enstatite + forsterite, enstatite or enstatite + coesite. Run products were investigated using an FTIR spectrometer equipped with a focal plane array detector enabling IR imaging with a lateral pixel resolution of 2.7 μm. IR spectra within the OH-absorption region show two different groups of absorption bands: group 1 (wavenumbers at 3,592 and 3,687 cm^?1) shows strongest absorptions for E||n _β, whereas group 2 (wavenumbers at 3,067 and 3,362 cm^?1) shows strongest absorptions for E||n _γ. The groups are related to different defect types, group 1 to tetrahedral defects (T-site vacancies) and group 2 to octahedral defects (M-site vacancies). The intensity ratio of the bands within one group (i.e. A ₃₀₆₇/A ₃₃₆₂ and A ₃₅₉₂/A ₃₆₈₇) and the intensity ratio of E||n _γ and E||n _α in group 2 bands remain constant within error. In contrast, the intensity ratio of group 2 to group 1 absorption bands [e.g. (A ₃₃₆₂)/(A ₃₆₈₇)] is sensitive to the SiO₂ activity and pressure. On the basis of the results of this and previous studies, a barometer for pure orthoenstatite coexisting with forsterite can be formulated:\( P\,[{\text{GPa}}] = 1.056 + \sqrt {{\frac{{1.025 - A_{{\left( {3362} \right)/\left[ {(3362) + (3687)} \right]}} }}{0.009}}} , \) where A ₍₃₃₆₂₎ and A ₍₃₆₈₇₎ are the integral absorbances of the component E||n _γ of the absorption bands at 3,362 cm^?1 and the component E||n _β of the absorption band at 3,687 cm^?1, respectively.     

Using El Niño/Southern Oscillation Climate Data to Predict Rice Production in Indonesia

Despite the strong signal of El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events on climate in the Indo-Pacific region, models linking ENSO-based climate variability to seasonal rice production and food security in the region have not been well developed or widely used in a policy context. This study successfully measures the connections among sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs), rainfall, and rice production in Indonesia during the past three decades. Regression results show particularly strong connections on Java, where 55% of the country's rice is grown. Two-thirds of the interannual variance in rice plantings and 40% of the interannual variance in rice production during the main (wet) season on Java are explained by year-to-year fluctuations in SSTAs measured 4 and 8 months in advance, respectively. These effects are cumulative; during strong El Niño years, production shortfalls in the wet season are not made up later in the crop year. The analysis demonstrates that quantitative predictions of ENSO's effects on rice harvests can provide an additional tool for managing food security in one of the world's most populous and important rice-producing countries.     

The energy identity of mountainous areas: the example of Greece

Mountainous areas have been long recognized as particularly important for the planet and sustainable mountain development is a global priority. In order to improve the socioeconomic development perspectives of mountain societies, efficient and well-targeted energy strategies should be formed. An important step towards this direction is adequate understanding of local conditions and specific features that affect energy sector. This procedure allows the inclusion of "locality" in energy planning and so, decentralized energy production is facilitated. The present study attempts to determine the particular energy identity of mountainous areas. Greece, which is the second most mountainous country in the EU, has been selected as a case study. Essential features of the mountainous space have been selected, namely altitude, inclination, remoteness, lack of productive activities, old buildings/vernacular architecture, in order to explore their interrelation with the energy sector. Based on literature review and research findings the interaction between mountainous character and energy is outlined. Therefore, a framework of the characteristics of mountain energy identity is composed, which can provide support to the formation of specialized energy policy for mountainous areas. Some of the main findings of the present study include the significantly increased energy loads of mountainous areas, the abundance of renewable energy potential in high – altitude areas, the vulnerability of mountain societies to energy poverty and the difficulties in sitting energy projects in the restricted usable space of mountains. Since the literature regarding mountains and energy is rather poor the present paper aspires to be a step towards highlighting the importance of energy issues for mountain areas and societies. By determining the features of mountain energy identity energy planning in high – altitude areas and so, helping make energy planning more effective, such research works can be parts of sustainable development strategies for mountainous areas.     

Velocities of a natural mid-ocean ridge basalt glass

We report, for the first time, ultrasonic velocity values for a pure (>95%), natural, submarine basalt glass of mid-ocean ridge basalt composition, from 10 to 1000 MPa at room temperature. These new data show that basalt glass, abundant in the upper oceanic crust, has the lowest velocity of any primary solid component of the oceanic crust. In addition, natural basalt glass has a steeper pressure-dependence of velocity than previously measured in more crystalline samples, indicating that cracks in natural basalt glass are weaker than in more crystalline rocks. To obtain values for the pure glass phase, we correct the natural glass data for the low-pressure closure of cracks, and the presence of minor mineralogic components and vesicles. These new data provide a baseline for evaluating the effect of abundant basalt glass and glassy mesostasis in oceanic upper crust on in situ seismic velocities. In addition, data on the elastic and seismic properties of natural glasses are useful for a better understanding of glass structure, and glass relaxation, with potential applications to submarine volcanology.     

The Effect of Coherent Structures in the Atmospheric Surface Layer on Blowing-Snow Transport

While turbulent bursts are considered critical for blowing-snow transport and initiation, the interaction of the airflow with the snow surface is not fully understood. To better characterize the coupling of turbulent structures and blowing-snow transport, observations collected in natural environments at the necessary high-resolution time scales are needed. To address this, high-frequency measurements of turbulence, blowing-snow density and particle velocity were made in the Canadian Rockies. During blowing-snow storms, modified variable-interval time averaging enabled identification of periods of near-surface blowing-snow coupling with shear-stress-producing motions in the lowest 2 m of the atmospheric surface layer. The identification of those turbulent motions responsible for blowing snow yields a better understanding of the event-driven mechanics of initiation and sustained transport. The type of coherent structures generating the Reynolds stress are just as important as the magnitude of the Reynolds stress in initiating and sustaining near-surface blowing snow. Our results suggest that blowing-snow models driven by merely the time-averaged shear stress lack physical realism in the near-surface region. The next phase of the development of blowing-snow models should incorporate parametrizations of coherent turbulent structures.     

Continental mantle seismic anisotropy: a new look at the Twin Sisters massif

Recent interpretations of upper continental mantle seismic anisotropy observations have often relied on fabric measurements and calculated anisotropies of upper mantle xenoliths. Seismic ray paths of P and S waves, which provide information on azimuthal compressional wave anisotropy and shear wave splitting, are tens to hundreds of kilometers, whereas, xenoliths are usually only a few centimeters in diameter. To place better constraints on field-based anisotropy observations and to evaluate anisotropy information provided by xenoliths, it is important to examine anisotropy in large ultramafic massifs which have originated in the upper mantle. One such massif is the Twin Sisters Range located in the western portion of the North Cascades of Washington State, USA. The Twin Sisters massif, a slab of unaltered dunite, is 16 km in length, 6 km in width and 3 km thick. Exposed along its south and west sides are mafic granulite facies rocks, which likely represent lower continental crustal fragments. The ultramafic rocks are porphyroclastic in texture, consisting of strained, flattened porphyroclasts of olivine and enstatite and strain-free olivine mosaics. Olivine fabrics are typical of those formed at high temperatures and low strain rates. Petrofabrics and calculated anisotropies of individual samples vary throughout the massif, however, overall anisotropy of the body is significant, with maximum P and S waves anisotropies of 5.4% and 3.9%, respectively. The maximum delay time for split shear waves traveling through a 100-km-thick slab is 0.8 s and two directions of shear wave singularity are observed. The directions of maximum shear wave splitting and shear wave singularities do not coincide with the directions of maximum and minimum compressional wave velocity. In general, individual hand samples show significantly higher anisotropy than the overall anisotropy of the massif. It is concluded that simple averages of xenolith anisotropies are unreliable for use in the interpretation of field anisotropy observations.     

Elastic constants and velocity surfaces of indurated anisotropic shales

The velocities of two Devonian-Mississippian shales have been measured to confining pressures of 200 MPa in a laboratory study of anisotropy and wave propagation. Both samples were found to be transversely isotropic at elevated pressures with the main symmetry axis perpendicular to bedding. The elastic constants of the shales were used to calculate phase and group velocity surfaces as a function of angle to the bedding normal. Multiple velocity measurements in non-symmetry directions, not undertaken in previously published studies of shales, have been used to confirm features observed on calculated velocity surfaces. It is demonstrated that velocities measured in non-symmetry directions are phase velocities. Group velocities were found to be significantly lower than the corresponding phase velocities of the shales due to their high anisotropies. Shear wave splitting was found to be negligible for propagation directions within approximately 30° of the bedding normals.