Volcanic ash clouds affecting Northern Europe: the long view     

Graeme T. Swindles  Ivan P. Savov  Charles B. Connor  Jonathan Carrivick  Elizabeth Watson  Ian T. Lawson 《Geology Today》2013,29(6):214-217

The volcanic ash or ‘tephra’ cloud resulting from the relatively small (volume and VEI) eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 caused major air travel disruption, at substantial global economic cost. On several occasions in the past few centuries, Icelandic eruptions have created ash and/or sulphur dioxide clouds which were detected over Europe (e.g. Hekla in 1947, Askja in 1875, and Laki in 1783). However, these historical observations do not represent a complete record of events serious enough to disrupt aviation in Europe. The only feasible evidence for this is within the geological tephra record. Ash layers are preserved in bogs and lakes where tephra deposited from the atmosphere is incorporated in the peat/mud. In this article we: 1, introduce the analysis of the Northern European sedimentary tephra record; 2, discuss our findings and modelling results; 3, highlight how these were misinterpreted by the popular media; and 4, use this experience to outline several existing problems with current tephra studies and suggest agendas for future research.  相似文献   

Vulnerability assessment for loss of access to drinking water due to extreme weather events   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Jeanne Luh  Elizabeth C. Christenson  Aizhan Toregozhina  David A. Holcomb  Tucker Witsil  Laura R. Hamrick  Edema Ojomo  Jamie Bartram 《Climatic change》2015,133(4):665-679

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A rare reflection effect eclipsing sdB+dM binary: 2M 1533+3759     

Bi-Qing For  Elizabeth M. Green  Gilles Fontaine  Scott Shaw 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2010,328(1-2):87-90

In this paper, we report a rare reflection effect eclipsing sdB+dM binary, 2M?1533+3759. It is the seventh eclipsing sdB+dM binary that has been discovered to date. This system has an orbital period of 0.16177042 day and a velocity semi-amplitude of 71.1 km?s^?1. Using a grid of zero-metallicity NLTE model atmospheres, we derived T _eff=29250 K, log?g=5.58 and [He/H]=?2.37 from spectra taken near the reflection effection minimum. Lightcurve modeling resulted in a system mass ratio of 0.301 and an orbital inclination angle of 86.6°. The derived primary mass for 2M?1533+3759, 0.376±0.055 M _⊙, is significantly lower than the canonical mass (0.48 M _⊙) found for most previously investigated sdB stars. This implies an initial progenitor mass >1.8 M _⊙, at least a main sequence A star and perhaps even one massive enough to undergo non-degenerate helium ignition.  相似文献   

Detecting infiltration and impacts of introduced water using strontium isotopes   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Brinck EL  Frost CD 《Ground water》2007,45(5):554-568

Water introduced to surface drainages, such as agricultural and roadway runoff, mine drainage, or coalbed natural gas (CBNG)-produced water, potentially can be of environmental concern. In order to mitigate potential environmental effects, it may be important to be able to trace water discharged to the surface as it infiltrates and interacts with near-surface aquifers. We have chosen to study water withdrawn during CBNG production for isotope tracing in the hyporheic zone because it poses a variety of economic, environmental, and policy issues in the Rocky Mountain states. Ground water quality must be protected as CBNG water is added to semiarid ecosystems. Strontium (Sr) isotopes are effective fingerprints of the aquifer from which water originates. In this study, CBNG water was found to have a higher (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratio than the local alluvial aquifer water. This measurable difference allows the strontium isotope ratio and concentration to be used as tracers of CBNG water following its discharge to the surface. The dissolution and mobilization of salts from soil are an important contributor to ground water quality degradation. In the Powder River basin of Wyoming, the soils are calcium carbonate-buffered systems. The chemical similarity of strontium to calcium allows it to substitute into calcium minerals and enabled us to use strontium isotopes to identify calcium salts mobilized from the soil. Strontium isotopes are an effective monitor of the source of ions and the volume and direction of introduced water flow in the hyporheic zone.  相似文献   

Interviewing landed elites in post-war Guatemala   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Elizabeth Oglesby 《Geoforum》2010,41(1):23-25

This essay explores the methodological challenges of conducting ethnographic research among economic and managerial elites in Guatemala’s landed sector during the country’s post-war transition. Guatemala’s 34-year civil war ended with peace accords in 1996. From the mid 1990s through 2001, I conducted interviews with leading representatives of the private sector in Guatemala, including the owners and top managers of the country’s sugar plantations. The Guatemalan sugar elite describes itself as the new face of the private sector in Central America, implementing “corporate social responsibility” programs linked to the World Bank and other international agencies. Questions of access and interview dynamics are often discussed in relation to qualitative research on “elites.” Yet, I found the interview process to be less complicated than I anticipated. Of greater concern were the problems of research dissemination and praxis. The experience discussed here raises questions about whether research on particular elite groups can be sustained over long periods of time.  相似文献   

Solar shield: forecasting and mitigating space weather effects on high-voltage power transmission systems     

Antti Pulkkinen  Michael Hesse  Shahid Habib  Luke Van der Zel  Ben Damsky  Fritz Policelli  David Fugate  William Jacobs  Elizabeth Creamer 《Natural Hazards》2010,53(2):333-345

In this paper, central elements of the Solar Shield project, launched to design and establish an experimental system capable of forecasting the space weather effects on high-voltage power transmission system, are described. It will be shown how Sun–Earth system data and models hosted at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) are used to generate two-level magnetohydrodynamics-based forecasts providing 1–2 day and 30–60 min lead-times. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) represents the end-user, the power transmission industry, in the project. EPRI integrates the forecast products to an online display tool providing information about space weather conditions to the member power utilities. EPRI also evaluates the economic impacts of severe storms on power transmission systems. The economic analysis will quantify the economic value of the generated forecasting system. The first version of the two-level forecasting system is currently running in real-time at CCMC. An initial analysis of the system’s capabilities has been completed, and further analysis is being carried out to optimize the performance of the system. Although the initial results are encouraging, definite conclusions about system’s performance can be given only after more extensive analysis, and implementation of an automatic evaluation process using forecasted and observed geomagnetically induced currents from different nodes of the North American power transmission system. The final output of the Solar Shield will be a recommendation for an optimal forecasting system that may be transitioned into space weather operations.  相似文献   

The impact of precipitation on speed–flow relationships along a UK motorway corridor     

Elizabeth Hooper  Lee Chapman  Andrew Quinn 《Theoretical and Applied Climatology》2014,117(1-2):303-316

Although the fundamental traffic diagram provides the characteristics of a typical road traffic speed–flow relationship, little consideration has been given to the impact of adverse weather conditions on the relationship and the subsequent impact on local speed–flow. For the first time, this study uses precipitation radar along with a state-of-the art traffic information system to ascertain the relationship between speed–flow and precipitation on a UK transport corridor at the local (junction to junction) scale. It is evident that precipitation causes a significant reduction in speed and maximum flow on many links of the corridor as well as a downward reduction in the overall speed-flow relationship. With increased instances of heavy precipitation predicted in the UK as a result of climate change, these findings highlight the subsequent impact on journey travel times and associated economic costs.  相似文献   

The critical behaviour of a power law between preseismic electric signals and earthquakes of different mechanism in Greece and Japan     

Elizabeth Dologlou 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2014,103(6):1527-1532

The consistency of the critical exponent in the power law relation between the stress drop of the earthquake and the lead time of the precursory seismic electric signal is checked using new data from the recent M _w 4.9 earthquake of strike-slip mechanism that occurred on 12 November 2013 in northern Evia island, Greece and the megathrust M _w 9.0 Tohoku earthquake on 11 March 2011, in Japan. For the first case, the derived exponent is in excellent agreement with previous ones obtained from all non thrust events analysed by the author and matches the value of critical exponent for fracture. On the other hand, the megathrust Tohoku earthquake follows the behaviour of all thrust events studied by the author, and thus, the calculated exponent significantly deviates from this critical value. The different behaviour between non thrust and thrust-type events could be attributed to the fact that thrust mechanism earthquakes usually occur in collision or subduction zones which are characterised by high accumulation of strain. However, a larger number of thrust events are required in order to obtain reliable results and shed light in the above experimental findings.  相似文献   

A physical model for the precursory magnetic anomalies of the M5.4 Alum Rock and M6.0 Parkfield earthquakes     

Elizabeth Dologlou 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2014,103(4):977-980

Here, we propose an alternative physical model, based on the concept of criticality, for the explanation of the observed magnetic signals prior to the M6.0 Parkfield and the M5.4 Alum Rock earthquakes. Motivated by an analogous experience from major earthquakes in Greece, where both magnetic field variations and seismic electric signals were also recorded few weeks before the main shock, we suggest that in all these cases, similar dynamic processes characterized by critical behaviour should govern the corresponding pre-focal areas when the relevant precursory signals emerged.  相似文献   

Aspects on the origin of the precursory magnetic anomalies of the Mw 6.4 Aquila earthquake     

Elizabeth Dologlou 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2014,103(2):397-400

An anomalous behaviour of the scaling exponent derived from the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) of the time series of low frequency variations of the horizontal and vertical magnetic field components has been recently reported as being observed 2 months prior to the Mw 6.3 earthquake on 6 April 2009, close to L’Aquila city, Italy. Here, we suggest a possible physical explanation of this effect based on the experience from similar measurements in Greece. In particular, for example, we compare these observations associated with Aquila earthquake with the ones of the Mw 6.6 earthquake on 13 May 1995 at Kozani-Grevena, Greece where both magnetic field variations and seismic electric signals (SES) were recorded. Almost 1 month before the latter earthquake, anomalous variations in both electric and magnetic field were detected, the time series of that were analysed by means of DFA and led to an exponent close to unity. Similarly, the calculated DFA exponent for the Aquila earthquake time series of the anomalous magnetic field variations 2 months before the main shock was also found close to unity. These results could imply that in the case of Aquila, according to the Maxwell’s laws, one should expect to observe simultaneously with the magnetic signal an associated SES activity, provided that an appropriate station to monitoring the earth’s electric field variations in the same area was available. Hence, it seems that similar underlying non-linear dynamic processes in mechanical and as well as electromagnetic sense, with features of criticality, dominated in both pre-focal areas.  相似文献