Impact assessment of land cover changes on the runoff changes on the extreme flood events in the Kelantan River basin

In the current years, changing the land cover/land use had serious hydrological impacts affecting the flood events in the Kelantan River basin. The flood events at the east coast of the peninsular Malaysia got highly affected in the recent decades due to several factors like urbanisation, rapid changes in the utilisation of land and lack of meteorological (i.e. change in climate) and developmental monitoring and planning. The Kelantan River basin has been highly influenced due to a rapid change in land use during 1984 to 2013, which occurred in the form of transformation of agricultural area and deforestation (logging activities). In order to evaluate the influence of the modifications in land cover on the flood events, two hydrological regional models of rainfall-induced runoff event, the Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC)-Hydrologic Modeling System (HMS) model and improved transient rainfall infiltration and grid-based regional model (Improved TRIGRS), were employed in this study. The responses of land cover changes on the peak flow and runoff volume were investigated using 10 days of hourly rainfall events from 20 December to the end of December 2014 at the study area. The usage of two hydrological models defined that the changes in land use/land cover caused momentous changes in hydrological response towards water flow. The outcomes also revealed that the increase of severe water flow at the study area is a function of urbanisation and deforestation, particularly in the conversion of the forest area to the less canopy coverage, for example, oil palm, mixed agriculture and rubber. The monsoon season floods and runoff escalate in the cleared land or low-density vegetation area, while the normal flow gets the contribution from interflow generated from secondary jungle and forested areas.     

Regional modelling of rainfall-induced runoff using hydrological model by incorporating plant cover effects: case study in Kelantan,Malaysia

The objective of this paper is to develop a spatial temporal runoff modelling of local rainfall patterns effect on the plant cover hilly lands in Kelantan River Basin. Rainfall interception loss based on leaf area index, loss/infiltration on the ground surface, and runoff calculation were considered as the main plant cover effects on the runoff volume. In this regard, a hydrological and geotechnical grid-based regional model (integrated model) was performed using Microsoft Excel^® and GIS framework system for deterministic modelling of rainfall-induced runoff by incorporating plant cover effects. The infiltration process of the current model was integrated with the precipitation distribution method and rainfall interception approach while the runoff analysis of integrated model was employed based on loss/infiltration water on the ground surface with consideration of water interception loss by canopy and the remaining surface water. In the following, the spatial temporal analysis of rainfall-induced runoff was performed using 10 days of hourly rainfall events at the end of December 2014 in Kelantan River Basin. The corresponding changes in pressure head and consequent rate of infiltration were calculated during rainfall events. Subsequently, flood volume is computed using local rainfall patterns, along with water interception loss and the remaining surface water in the study area. The results showed the land cover changes caused significant differences in hydrological response to surface water. The increase in runoff volume of the Kelantan River Basin is as a function of deforestation and urbanization, especially converting the forest area to agricultural land (i.e. rubber and mixed agriculture).     

Evapotranspiration measurement for tall plant canopies: The sweet sorghum case

Summary A methodological study on a tall canopy in a Mediterranean region was carried out in order to identify the most suitable method for measuring the actual evapotranspiration (ET). ET from a sweet sorghum crop was measured by 4 different methods: (i) energy balance/eddy correlation, (ii) energy balance/Bowen ratio, (iii) energy balance/aerodynamic simplified, and (iv) floating lysimeter (ETmeter). In order to compare a very large range of ET values and to reduce experimental errors due to low gradients of air humidity and temperature, the crop was submitted to two soil drying-wetting cycles. To evaluate the main limitations of each method with respect to crop height, crop ET was monitored during the entire vegetative cycle, from stem elongation (crop height 0.85 m, full canopy) to grain filling (when the crop was 2.5 m high). The comparison between the micrometeorological methods (i, ii, and iii) was made on hourly and daily time steps, while the analysis of ETmeter measurements was made on a daily time step only. On an hourly scale: eddy correlation ET was 106% of Bowen ratio ET and simplified aerodynamic ET was 116%, 125% and 135% of Bowen ratio ET with the first sensors are placed at the top of the canopy and the second sensors at 0.7 m, 1.4 m and 2.8 m from the first sensors, respectively. On a daily scale: eddy correlation ET was 102% of Bowen ratio ET, simplified aerodynamic was 114% of Bowen ratio ET and ETmeter ET was 97% of Bowen ratio ET. In the last case the values are very widely spread and the correlation is really not so good. The results show that the Bowen ratio method and the eddy correlation method are in good agreement on daily scales, however, certain precautions, must be taken concerning the eddy correlation method on an hourly scale. The simplified aerodynamic method failed when crop height was > 1.5 m and the ETmeter failed under windy conditions (wind speed > 2.0 m/s) and limited crop water conditions.With 13 Figures     

Estimating sensible heat flux from radiometric temperature over crop canopy

The model devised by Lhommeet al. (1988) allows one to calculate the sensible heat flux over a homogeneous crop canopy from radiometric surface temperature by adding a so-called canopy aerodynamic resistance to the classical aerodynamic resistance calculated above the canopy. This model is reformulated in order to simplify the mathematical procedure needed to calculate this additional resistance. Analytical expressions of micrometeorological profiles within the canopy are introduced. Assuming a constant leaf area density, an analytical expression of canopy aerodynamic resistance is inferred, which is a function of wind velocity, inclination angle of the radiometer and crop characteristics such as crop height, leaf area index, inclination index of the foliage and leaf width. Sensitivity of this resistance to the different parameters is investigated. The most significant are wind velocity and LAI. Finally, the predictions of the model are tested against two sets of measurements obtained for two different crops, potato and maize.     

Sedimentological and stratigraphic evolution of northern Lebanon since the Late Cretaceous: implications for the Levant margin and basin

This paper presents an updated review of the Upper Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentological and stratigraphic evolution of the Levant margin with a focus on the northern Lebanon. Facies and microfacies analysis of outcrop sections and onshore well cores (i.e., Kousba and Chekka) supported by nannofossil and planktonic foraminifers biostratigraphy, allowed to constrain the depositional environments prevailing in the Turonian to Late Miocene. The “Senonian” (a historical term used to define the Coniacian to Maastrichtian) source rock interval was subdivided into four sub-units with related outer-shelfal facies: (1) Upper Santonian, (2) Lower, (3) Upper Campanian, and (4) Lower Maastrichtian. This Upper Cretaceous rock unit marks the major drowning of the former Turonian rudist platform. This paper confirms the Late Lutetian to Late Burdigalian hiatus, which appears to be a direct consequence of major geodynamic events affecting the Levant region (i.e., the continued collision of Afro-Arabia with Eurasia), potentially enhanced by regressional cycles (e.g., Rupelian lowstand). The distribution of Late Burdigalian–Serravallian rhodalgal banks identified in northern Lebanon was controlled by pre-existing structures inherited from the pulsating onshore deformation. Reef barriers facies occur around the Qalhat anticline, separating an eastern, restricted back-reef setting from a western, coastal to open marine one. The acme of Mount Lebanon’s uplift and exposure is dated back to the Middle–Late Miocene; it led to important erosion of carbonates that were subsequently deposited in paleo-topographic lows. The Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic facies variations and hiatuses show that the northern Lebanon was in a higher structural position compared to the south since at least the Late Cretaceous.     

Rapid Formation of Ice Giant Planets

The existence of Uranus and Neptune presents severe difficulties for the core accretion model for the formation of ice giant planets. We suggest an alternative mechanism, namely disk instability leading to the formation of gas giant protoplanets, coagulation and settling of dust grains to form ice-rock cores at their centers, and photoevaporation of their gaseous envelopes by a nearby OB star, as a possible means of forming ice giant planets.     

Can GJ 876 host four planets in resonance?

Prior to the detection of its outermost Uranus-mass object, it had been suggested that GJ 876 could host an Earth-sized planet in a 15-day orbit. Observation, however, did not support this idea, but instead revealed evidence for the existence of a larger body in a ~125-day orbit, near a three-body resonance with the two giant planets of this system. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the dynamics of the four-planet system of GJ 876, and examine the possibility of the existence of other planetary objects interior to its outermost body. We have developed a numerical scheme that enables us to search the orbital parameter-space very effectively and, in a short time, identify regions where an object may be stable. We present details of this integration method and discuss its application to the GJ 876 four-planet system. The results of our initial analysis suggested possible stable orbits at regions exterior to the orbit of the outermost planet and also indicated that an island of stability may exist in and around the 15-day orbit. However, examining the long-term stability of an object in that region by direct integration revealed that the 15-day orbit becomes unstable and that the system of GJ 876 is most likely dynamically full. We present the results of our study and discuss their implications for the formation and final orbital architecture of this system.