Experimental Investigation of Turbulent Momentum Transfer in a Neutral Boundary Layer over a Rough Surface

The turbulent characteristics of the neutral boundary layer developing over rough surfaces are not well predicted with operational weather-forecasting models. The problem is attributed to inadequate mixing-length models, to the anisotropy of the flow and to a lack of controlled experimental data against which to validate numerical studies. Therefore, in order to address directly the modelling difficulties for the development of a neutral boundary layer over rough surfaces, and to investigate the turbulent momentum transfer of such a layer, a set of hydraulic flume experiments were carried out. In the experiments, the mean and turbulent quantities were measured by a particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The measured velocity variances and fluxes \({(\overline{{u_{i}^{\prime}}{u_{j}^{\prime}}})}\) in longitudinal vertical planes allowed the vertical and longitudinal gradients (?/?z and ?/?x) of the mean and turbulent quantities (fluxes, variances and third-order moments) to be evaluated and the terms of the evolution equations for ?e/?t, \({\partial \overline{u^{\prime 2}}/\partial t}\), \({\partial \overline{w^{\prime 2}}/\partial t}\) and \({\partial \overline{{u^{\prime}}{w^{\prime}}}/\partial t}\) to be quantified, where e is the turbulent kinetic energy. The results show that the pressure-correlation terms allow the turbulent energy to be transferred equitably from \({\overline{{u^{\prime}}^{2}}}\) to \({\overline{{w^{\prime}}^{2}}}\). It appears that the repartition between the constitutive terms of the budget of e, \({\overline{{u^{\prime}}^{2}}}\), \({\overline{{w^{\prime}}^{2}}}\) and \({\overline{{u^{\prime}}{w^{\prime}}}}\) is not significantly affected by the development of the rough neutral boundary layer. For the whole evolution, the transfers of energy are governed by the same terms that are also very similar to the smooth-wall case. The PIV measurements also allowed the spatial integral scales to be computed directly and to be compared with the dissipative and mixing length scales, which were also computed from the data.     

贝叶斯算法在拟合自由核章动参数中的应用

用高精度重力技术检测地球自由核章动(FCN)参数(包括周期和Q值等)的难点是资料观测信噪比低,传统的方法是使用最小二乘拟合,但是获得的FCN共振参数精度不理想.本文利用武汉国际潮汐基准站高精度超导重力仪和全球超导重力仪观测的时变重力资料,根据贝叶斯算法拟合地球自由核章动(FCN)参数.我们将贝叶斯拟合方法与传统最小二乘法实施了对比分析,研究了不同台站资料差异.讨论了潮波选择和不同海潮模型等因素对FCN参数的影响.结果表明用贝叶斯算法获得的FCN品质因子与空间大地测量VLBI结果吻合的更好,这说明贝叶斯算法可靠性高,为研究地球深内部构造参数(核幔边界粘滞系数等)提供了有效依据.     

Excitation of the Slichter mode by collision with a meteoroid or pressure variations at the surface and core boundaries

We use a normal-mode formalism to compute the response of a spherical, self-gravitating anelastic PREM-like Earth model to various excitation sources at the Slichter mode period. The formalism makes use of the theory of the Earth’s free oscillations based upon an eigenfunction expansion methodology. We determine the complete response in the form of Green’s function obtained from a generalization of Betti’s reciprocity theorem. Surficial (surface load, fluid core pressure), internal (earthquakes, explosions) and external (object impact) sources of excitation are investigated to show that the translational motion of the inner-core would be best excited by a pressure acting at the core boundaries at time-scales shorter than the Slichter eigenperiods.     

Performance of superconducting gravimeters from long-period seismology to tides

The first phase (1997–2003) of the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) has now been completed. Data from superconducting gravimeters (SGs) within GGP have shown great capabilities in a wide spectrum of geophysical applications from the tidal studies to the long-period seismology. Here, we compare the noise levels of the different contributing stations over the whole spectrum. We use three different processing procedures to evaluate the combined instrument-plus-site noise in the long-period seismic band (200–600 s), in the sub-seismic band (1–6 h) and in the tidal bands (12–24 h). The analysis in the seismic band has demonstrated that SGs are particularly well suited for the studies of the long-period normal modes and thus are complementary to long-period seismometers. In the sub-seismic band, the power spectral densities, computed over a period of 15 continuous days for every GGP station, cross the New Low Noise Model of Peterson from T = 16 min to T = 4.6 h. SG data are therefore appropriate for studying long-period seismic and sub-seismic modes. In the tidal bands, the noise comparison is realised by a least-squares fit to tides, local air pressure and instrumental drift, leading to gravity residuals where we estimate a standard deviation and average noise levels in different tidal frequency bands. Tidal gravity observations using SGs have also shown to be an independent validation tool of ocean tidal models, and they are therefore complementary to tide gauge and altimetric data sets. Knowledge of the noise levels at each station is important in a number of studies that combine the data to determine global Earth parameters. We illustrate it with the stacking of the data in the search for the gravity variations associated with the sub-seismic translational motions of the inner core, the so-called Slichter triplet.     

Volcaniclastic habitats for early life on Earth and Mars: A case study from ∼3.5 Ga-old rocks from the Pilbara, Australia

Within the context of present and future in situ missions to Mars to investigate its habitability and to search for traces of life, we studied the habitability and traces of past life in ∼3.5 Ga-old volcanic sands deposited in littoral environments an analogue to Noachian environments on Mars. The environmental conditions on Noachian Mars (4.1-3.7 Ga) and the Early Archaean (4.0-3.3 Ga) Earth were, in many respects, similar: presence of liquid water, dense CO₂ atmosphere, availability of carbon and bio-essential elements, and availability of energy. For this reason, information contained in Early Archaean terrestrial rocks concerning habitable conditions (on a microbial scale) and traces of past life are of relevance in defining strategies to be used to identify past habitats and past life on Mars.One such example is the 3.446 Ga-old Kitty’s Gap Chert in the Pilbara Craton, NW. Australia. This formation consists of volcanic sediments deposited in a coastal mudflat environment and is thus a relevant analogue for sediments deposited in shallow water environments on Noachian Mars. Two main types of habitat are represented, a volcanic (lithic) habitat and planar stabilized sediment surfaces in sunlit shallow waters. The sediments hosted small (<1 μm in size) microorganisms that formed colonies on volcanic particle surfaces and in pore waters within the volcanic sediments, as well as biofilms on stabilised sediment surfaces. The microorganisms included coccoids, filaments and rare rod-shaped organisms associated with microbial polymer (EPS). The preserved microbial community was apparently dominated by chemotrophic organisms but some locally transported filaments and filamentous mat fragments indicate that possibly photosynthetic mats formed nearby. Both microorganisms and sediments were silicified during very early diagenesis.There are no macroscopic traces of fossilised life in these volcanic sediments and sophisticated instrumentation and specialized sample preparation techniques are required to establish the biogenicity and syngenicity of the traces of past life. The fact that the traces of life are cryptic, and the necessity of using sophisticated instrumentation, reinforces the challenges and difficulties of in situ robotic missions to identify past life on Mars. We therefore recommend the return of samples from Mars to Earth for a definitive search for traces of life.     

Long-term and seasonal gravity changes at the Strasbourg station and their relation to crustal deformation and hydrology

The time-varying gravity is observed at the Strasbourg station with super-conducting gravimeters (SG) since 1987, with a first record from 1987 to 1996 (GWR T005) and a second one in continuity from 1996 till now (GWR C026). The long-term behaviour of the SG is constrained by regular absolute gravity (AG) measurements, which are performed in parallel since 1989, first with the JILAg-5 instrument and later on with the FG5#206. Moreover, a permanent GPS station, which belongs to the French geodetic network, has been installed at the end of 1999. We will show that the AG measurements suggest that the gravity is slowly increasing in time at a rate of about 1.6 μGal/year, and besides, exhibits a quasi-annual component of several μGal variable amplitude. We present an analysis of the GPS data obtained at the SG station in the Rhine graben as well as at another regional station in the Vosges mountains distant by about 40 km in order to constrain the gravity contribution due to the vertical displacement of the station in the earth's gravity field (geometrical part). The tectonic context of the region is described and our first results from our two data sets of limited duration suggest a small subsidence of our station in the graben; however, this fact needs further confirmation when more geodetic data will be available. We also analyze the water table changes beneath the station (local scale) and in the Alsatian Plain (regional scale) to estimate the hydrological contributions from ground water to the gravity residual signal, and we show that some similarities exist between the gravity residuals and the hydrological contributions, especially for the seasonal terms. Other missing contributions of annual period (air mass motion in the atmosphere, ocean circulation, continental hydrology) have to be considered.     

Sea Surface Salinity Observations from Space with the SMOS Satellite: A New Means to Monitor the Marine Branch of the Water Cycle

While it is well known that the ocean is one of the most important component of the climate system, with a heat capacity 1,100 times greater than the atmosphere, the ocean is also the primary reservoir for freshwater transport to the atmosphere and largest component of the global water cycle. Two new satellite sensors, the ESA Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and the NASA Aquarius SAC-D missions, are now providing the first space-borne measurements of the sea surface salinity (SSS). In this paper, we present examples demonstrating how SMOS-derived SSS data are being used to better characterize key land–ocean and atmosphere–ocean interaction processes that occur within the marine hydrological cycle. In particular, SMOS with its ocean mapping capability provides observations across the world’s largest tropical ocean fresh pool regions, and we discuss from intraseasonal to interannual precipitation impacts as well as large-scale river runoff from the Amazon–Orinoco and Congo rivers and its offshore advection. Synergistic multi-satellite analyses of these new surface salinity data sets combined with sea surface temperature, dynamical height and currents from altimetry, surface wind, ocean color, rainfall estimates, and in situ observations are shown to yield new freshwater budget insight. Finally, SSS observations from the SMOS and Aquarius/SAC-D sensors are combined to examine the response of the upper ocean to tropical cyclone passage including the potential role that a freshwater-induced upper ocean barrier layer may play in modulating surface cooling and enthalpy flux in tropical cyclone track regions.     

Modeling Geochemically Caused Permanent Stratification in Lake Waldsee (Germany)

A geochemical model was incorporated into a stratification model for lakes to create the model package: DYCD-CORE, a numerical code that couples the thermal and hydrodynamic capabilities of DYRESM and the geochemical capabilities of the reactive transport model CORE^2D V4. Based on the chemical composition of solutes calculated in each node for each time step, density was computed using specific partial molal volumes of all considered solutes and fed back into the stratification module of the program package. The density calculated each time step leads to a strong coupling of hydrodynamics and hydrogeochemistry and reflects the complex interaction as it is present in all lakes. To demonstrate the functionality of the numerical approach, an example of an iron-meromictic lake was chosen, where the reactivity of the dissolved iron kept the water body perennially stratified. To critically validate the model results, temperatures were continously measured at high vertical and temporal resolution in a field investigation of Waldsee (near Döbern, Germany). Multiparameterprobe profiles and water samples confirmed the continous chemical stratification and served as initial and boundary conditions for the simulation period. The model package DYCD-CORE could reproduce the permanent stratification as it were in the lake. A demonstration run using the standard UNESCO equation for density, and hence assuming non-reactive solutes, failed entirely. Hence, stratification models using salinity for density are not suited for simulating density created by lake-internal geochemical transformation of solutes. However, density can be based directly on the simultaneous numerical simulation of lake geochemistry. Predictive modeling of changing lake circulation in a variable climate or considering change of use will require a proper inclusion of the geochemistry as demonstrated in this paper.     

Food and habitat partitioning in grazing snails (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Turbo smaragdus</Emphasis>), Northern New Zealand

Gut content analyses and fatty acid profiles were used to identity food consumption and assimilation in a dominant grazing snail (Turbo smaragdus) in rocky shore and estuarine habitats, at Waiwera Estuary, northern New Zealand. Gut contents of freshly collected individuals indicated that snails utilize a wide range of food sources within their habitats, including microalgae and foliose-corticated macrophytes (rocky intertidal), and mangrove tissue and filamentous algae (mangrove stand). Laboratory feeding experiments revealed thatT. smaragdus prefers microalgae and possibly filamentous epiphytes, regardless of snail size or habitat of origination. The fatty acid profiles of snails fed different diets (brown algae [Hormosira banksii], diatoms, mangrove pneumatophores, and filamentous green algae [Chaetomorpha sp.]) confirmed the assimilation of the given foods, except for the mangrove treatment, which resulted in a low, long chain, fatty acid (LCFA) signature. Incongruities between the gut content analyses (high number of mangrove particles) and fatty acid profiles (low LCFA signature) of field and laboratory snails exposed to a mangrove diet suggest that snails target microalgal and filamentous epiphyte food sources on the pneumatophores and inadvertently ingest mangrove particles. Snails within all food treatments, except diatoms, had a relatively strong bacterial signature (18∶1n–7, Σ15+Σ17). Bacteria may have readily accumulated in the experimental tanks and been selected by snails as an alternative food source. In the field, snails and other grazers may ingest detritus and biofilms to access dense populations of bacteria. This research highlights the need for a comprehensive and multianalytical approach to elucidate the role of grazers in algal-plant dominated ecosystems.