Previous studies have indicated that many rock slope failures in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, occur during relatively dry periods when there is little, if any, rainfall. In the present paper, we describe these events and propose possible mechanisms for their occurrence. It is believed that daily fluctuations in temperature may create thermally induced stresses of enough magnitude to propagate fractures already existing in the rock mass. Laboratory experiments were conducted in order to measure temperature variations in a fractured rock system. Using the experimentally obtained data, we carried out numerical analyses in order to verify whether temperature-related stresses were indeed able to propagate fractures existing in the rock mass. The results obtained indicate that cycles of temperature change over time, especially during the colder months of the year can indeed create stress conditions in the rock mass able to propagate existing non-persistent joints, and ultimately lead to failure of the rock slope. 相似文献
Abstract This paper examines the potential effects of urbanization on streamflow in Maine, USA, from 1950 to 2000. The study contrasts nine watersheds in southern Maine, which has seen steady urban growth over the study period, with nine rural watersheds from northern Maine. Historical population data and current land cover data are used to develop an urbanization score for each watershed. Trends in watershed urbanization over the study period are compared to trends in ecologically relevant streamflow characteristics. The results indicate that trends in northern, rural watersheds are much more consistent than the trends in the southern watersheds. Additionally, trends in the southern watersheds are inconsistent with the hydrological characteristics observed in urban watersheds elsewhere, likely due to the comparatively low level of current urban development in Maine's urban watersheds. Our study suggests that urban areas in Maine have not yet reached an urbanization threshold where streamflow impacts become consistently detectable. Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz Citation Martin, E.H., Kelleher, C., and Wagener, T., 2012. Has urbanization changed ecological streamflow characteristics in Maine (USA)? Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (7), 1337–1354. 相似文献
Obtaining realistic land-surface states for initial and boundary conditions is important for the numerical weather prediction of many atmospheric phenomena. Here we investigate model sensitivity to land use and snow cover for a persistent wintertime cold-air pool in northern Utah during 1–8 January 2011. A Weather Research and Forecast model simulation using the 1993 United States Geological Survey land-use and North American Mesoscale model reanalysis snow-cover datasets is compared to an improved configuration using the modified 2011 National Land Cover Database and a more realistic representation of snow cover. The improved surface specification results in an increase (decrease) in urban land cover (Great Salt Lake surface area), and changes to the snow-cover initialization, depth, extent, and albedo. The results obtained from the model simulations are compared to observations collected during the Persistent Cold-Air Pool Study. The changes in land use and snow cover and the resulting impacts on the surface albedo and surface heat fluxes contributed to near-surface air temperature increases of 1–\(2\,^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) in urban areas and decreases of 2–\(4\,^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) in areas surrounding the Great Salt Lake. Although wind speeds in the boundary layer were overestimated in both simulations, shallow thermally-driven and terrain-forced flows were generally lessened in intensity and breadth in response to the decreased areal extent of the Great Salt Lake and increases in the urban footprint. 相似文献
How societies organize themselves to respond to cascading impacts exacerbated by climate change will help define the future of disaster planning, mitigation, response, and recovery. Current emergency management risk analyses focus on identifying a broad array of threats and hazards that may affect an area. However, there is limited attention and understanding of the totality of hazard impacts, the relationship of consequences across disasters, and the dangers of not addressing critical capabilities necessary to rapidly managing consequences—including the potential to create new incidents within incidents. Through a focused review of the related literature and guiding policy documents, this study aims to provide a cascading consequence-based framework that can support emergency managers in the analysis of their jurisdictional risks, development of emergency operations plans, and decision-making. Results include the identification of an alternative framework to identify cascading networks, the creation of a supplementary model for downstream risk assessment, and refined Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis (THIRA) outputs for improved grant allocation. The proposed framework has the potential to help organizations factor both conspicuous and downstream consequences into their Emergency Operations Plans in the planning and mitigations phases. This proposed refinement, which looks deeper into the progression of a disaster, has both national and international implications.
Accurate wind modeling is important for wind resources assessment and wind power forecasting.To improve the WRF model configuration for the offshore wind modeling over the Baltic Sea,this study per-formed a sensitivity study of the WRF model to multiple model configurations,including domain setup,grid resolution,sea surface temperature,land surface data,and atmosphere-wave coupling.The simu-lated offshore wind was evaluated against LiDAR observations under different wind directions,atmo-spheric stabilities,and sea status.Generally,the simulated wind profiles matched observations,despite systematic underestimations.Strengthening the forcing from the reanalysis data through reducing the number of nested domains played the largest role in improving wind modeling.Atmosphere-wave cou-pling further improved the simulated wind,especially under the growing and mature sea conditions.Increasing the vertical resolution,and updating the sea surface temperature and the land surface infor-mation only had a slight impact,mainly visible during very stable conditions.Increasing the horizontal resolution also only had a slight impact,most visible during unstable conditions.Our study can help to improve the wind resources assessment and wind power forecasting over the Baltic Sea. 相似文献
The Afar Depression offers a rare opportunity to study the geodynamic evolution of a rift system from continental rifting
to sea floor spreading. This study presents geochemical data for crustal and mantle xenoliths and their alkaline host basalts
from the region. The basalts have enriched REE patterns, OIB-like trace element characteristics, and a limited range in isotopic
composition (87Sr/86Sr = 0.70336–0.70356, εNd = +6.6 to +7.0, and εHf = +10.0 to +10.7). In terms of trace elements and Sr–Nd isotopes, they are similar to basalts from the Hanish and Zubair
islands in the southern Red Sea and are thus interpreted to be melts from the Afar mantle. The gabbroic crustal xenoliths
vary widely in isotope composition (87Sr/86Sr = 0.70437–0.70791, εNd = −8.1 to +2.5, and εHf = −10.5 to +4.9), and their trace element characteristics match those of Neoproterozoic rocks from the Arabian–Nubian Shield
and modern arc rocks, suggesting that the lower crust beneath the Afar Depression contains Neoproterozoic mafic igneous rocks.
Ultramafic mantle xenoliths from Assab contain primary assemblages of fresh ol + opx + cpx + sp ± pl, with no alteration or
hydrous minerals. They equilibrated at 870–1,040°C and follow a steep geothermal gradient consistent with the tectonic environment
of the Afar Depression. The systematic variations in major and trace elements among the Assab mantle xenoliths together with
their isotopic compositions suggest that these rocks are not mantle residues but rather series of layered cumulate sills that
crystallized from a relatively enriched picritic melt related to the Afar plume that was emplaced before the eruption of the
host basalts. 相似文献