Dynamics of suspended sediment delivery to the Eastern Mediterranean continental shelf     

Amir Sandler  Noam Greenbaum  Barak Herut 《水文研究》2013,27(7):1105-1116

This study provides data on the fluvial sediment transport at the Eastern Mediterranean, an area in which the regional importance for comparative study has often been raised by investigators but the data are rather scarce. We analysed long‐ and short‐term hydrologic and sedimentological data from one of the largest coastal streams of Israel, Qishon River (1100 km²), and its estuarine environment. The results indicate that during 65 years (1944–2009), a total 140 floods have contributed to the sea an amount of approximately 2.58 × 10⁶ tons of sediment. During this period, (i) the number of floods with a return period of more than 10 years has almost doubled during the last 30 years, and (ii) the mean annual discharge during last 10 years increased by approximately 175%. The analysis of the short (2 years) hydrological and sediment data revealed that approximately 30% of the upstream channel loads do not reach the river mouth and are deposited along the channel bed, even during major flood events. This observation was attributed largely to the facts that the lower river bed is incised below sea level, to the very low slopes and to the correspondingly low stream power and transport capacity. The results of this study highlight the effect of interchannel dynamics as well as the constraints of interaction between fluvial system and estuarine processes on sediment transport. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Magnetic activity of the cool component in symbiotic systems     

Noam Soker 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,337(3):1038-1042

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The 'second parameter': a memory from the globular cluster formation epoch     

Noam Soker  Ron Hadar† 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,324(1):213-217

We study the correlations between the distribution of stars on the horizontal branch (HB), the HB morphology, and some other properties of globular clusters (GCs) in a large sample of GCs. We strengthen previous results that a general correlation exists only between HB morphology and metallicity. Correlations with other properties, e.g. central density and core radius, exist only for GCs within a narrow metallicity range. We conjecture that the lack of correlations with present properties of GCs (besides metallicity) is because the variation of the HB morphologies between GCs having similar metallicities is caused by a process, or processes, the effect of which was determined at the formation time of GCs. This process (or processes) is historically termed the 'second parameter', metallicity being the 'first parameter'. We then argue that the 'planet second parameter' model, where the presence of planets and to a lesser degree brown dwarfs and low-mass main-sequence stars is the 'second parameter', fits this conjecture. This is because the processes that determine the presence of planets and their properties occur during the formation epoch of the star and its circumstellar disc.  相似文献   

Perchlorate accumulation and migration in the deep vadose zone in a semiarid region     

Harel Gal  Noam Weisbrod  Ofer Dahan  Zeev Ronen  Ronit Nativ   《Journal of Hydrology》2009,378(1-2):142-149

For 25 years, a plant in Israel manufacturing ammonium perchlorate disposed of untreated wastewater in four unlined ponds. This study explores the transport mechanisms of perchlorate infiltrated from 1965 to 1990 from one of these active storage ponds into a deep (40 m) layered vadose zone and the underlying Israeli coastal aquifer. Perchlorate migration from 1990, when wastewater disposal ceased, until today, with infiltration due only to natural rain (500 mm y⁻¹), was also studied. Several indirect methods were used, including: mass balance in the unsaturated zone profile, δ¹⁸O and δ²H profiles below the pond, and a comparison of the same sediment profiles in 2005 and 2007. The isotopic composition of the pore water could be divided into two separate groups: lighter (depleted) and heavier (enriched) samples. All samples in the lighter group were from the shallow vadose zone, above two clayey layers, and represent natural infiltration of rainwater. The enriched samples were from the deeper section of the unsaturated zone (20–40 m) and represent water used for perchlorate manufacturing 14 years prior to drilling. Consequently, the overall maximum infiltration rate was estimated to be 1.4 m y⁻¹. Below the clayey layer almost identical perchlorate concentrations were found along the sediment profile in 2005 and 2007 (two boreholes, 3 m apart). Very different perchlorate profiles were observed above the clayey layers. This suggests that perchlorate below the clay layers (20–40 m) is practically stagnant under the current natural conditions. The reduction in perchlorate concentration in groundwater below the ponds vs. its increased concentration further downgradient supports the contention that the current migration of perchlorate from the vadose zone to the groundwater is very small. We estimate that perchlorate concentration in the groundwater under the infiltration pond, which was 187 mg l⁻¹ in 2004, will reach 10 μg l⁻¹ within about 14 years. The existence of a clayey layer crossing the thick vadose zone was thus found to significantly change the infiltration rate when ponded conditions were replaced with natural precipitation.  相似文献   

Harnessing Crowdsourced Data and Prevalent Technologies for Atmospheric Research     

Noam DAVID 《大气科学进展》2019,(7):766-769

The knowledge garnered in environmental science takes a crucial part in informing decision-making in various fields,including agriculture, transportation, energy, public health and safety, and more. Understanding the basic processes in each of these fields relies greatly on progress being made in conceptual, observational and technological approaches. However,existing instruments for environmental observations are often limited as a result of technical and practical constraints. Current technologies, including remote sensing systems and ground-level measuring means, may suffer from obstacles such as low spatial representativity or a lack of precision when measuring near ground-level. These constraints often limit the ability to carry out extensive meteorological observations and, as a result, the capacity to deepen the existing understanding of atmospheric phenomena and processes. Multi-system informatics and sensing technology have become increasingly distributed as they are embedded into our environment. As they become more widely deployed, these technologies create unprecedented data streams with extraordinary levels of coverage and immediacy, providing a growing opportunity to complement traditional observation techniques using the large volumes of data created. Commercial microwave links that comprise the data transfer infrastructure of cellular communication networks are an example of these types of systems. This viewpoint letter briefly reviews various works on the subject and presents aspects concerning the added value that may be obtained as a result of the integration of these new means, which are becoming available for the first time in this era, for studying and monitoring atmospheric phenomena.  相似文献   

The permeability of fault zones: a case study of the Dead Sea rift (Middle East)     

Gabay Ran  Shalev Eyal  Yechieli Yoseph  Sagy Amir  Weisbrod Noam 《Hydrogeology Journal》2014,22(2):425-440

Fault zone architecture plays an important role in flow regimes of hydrological systems. Fault zones can act as conduits, barriers, or conduits/barrier systems depending on their spatial architecture. The goal of this study is to determine the fault-zone permeability structure and its effect on the local hydrogeological system in the Dead Sea fault system. Permeability was measured on small-scale outcrop plug samples at four faults along the Dead Sea fault system, and large-scale slug tests in four boreholes, in different parts of the fault, at Yair fault in Israel. The research results show that values in the damage zone are two to five orders of magnitude higher than those of the fault core (~3.5?×?10^?10, 1?×?10^?15 m² respectively), resulting in an anisotropic permeability structure for the overall fault zone and preferable flow parallel to the fault. A set of injection tests in the Yair fault damage zone revealed a water-pressure-dependent behavior. The permeability of this zone increases when employing a higher water pressure in the fault fracture-dominated damage zone, due to the reopening of fractures.  相似文献   

The outcome of the protoplanetary disk of very massive stars     

Amit Kashi  Noam Soker 《New Astronomy》2011,16(1):27-32

We suggest that planets, brown dwarfs, and even low mass stars can be formed by fragmentation of protoplanetary disks around very massive stars (M ? 100 M_⊙). We discuss how fragmentation conditions make the formation of very massive planetary systems around very massive stars favorable. Such planetary systems are likely to be composed of brown dwarfs and low mass stars of ～0.1–0.3 M_⊙, at orbital separations of ～ few × 100–10⁴ AU. In particular, scaling from solar-like stars suggests that hundreds of Mercury-like planets might orbit very massive stars at ～10³ AU where conditions might favor liquid water. Such fragmentation objects can be excellent targets for the James Webb Space Telescope and other large telescopes working in the IR bands. We predict that deep observations of very massive stars would reveal these fragmentation objects, orbiting in the same orbital plane in cases where there are more than one object.  相似文献   

Asymmetry and inhomogeneity in proto- and young planetary nebulae     

Noam Soker 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2000,318(4):1017-1022

I study some effects of aspherical mass loss during the last stages of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) on the appearance of proto-planetary nebulae (proto-PNs) and young PNs. The aspherical mass loss can be small-scale inhomogeneities, and/or axially symmetric mass-loss geometry. I first examine the role of the dust opacity in the optical band on the appearance of proto-PNs. I conclude that large optical depths will be found in proto-PNs that are post-AGB stars having high equatorial mass-loss rates, which require a stellar binary companion for their existence. In these cases light from the central star will reach larger distances along and near the polar directions, leading to the appearance of an elongated reflection nebula. These proto-PNs will become bipolar PNs, i.e., PNs with two lobes and an equatorial waist between them, or extreme ellipticals, e.g., a ring but no lobes on the two sides of the equatorial plane. I then derive the conditions for the enhancement of non-radial density inhomogeneity by the propagation of the ionization front at the early PN stages. The ionization will proceed faster in the radial direction along low-density regions. The low-density regions will be heated earlier, and they will expand as a result of their higher pressures, reducing further their densities. The opposite occurs in high-density regions. The condition for this ionization instability to develop is that the ionization time difference between two directions at the same radius is longer than the sound crossing time between these two regions. This condition for the ionization front instability can be expressed as a condition on the mass-loss rate inhomogeneity, i.e., its dependence on direction.  相似文献   

A model for the outer rings of SN 1987A     

Noam Soker 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》1999,303(3):611-615

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A high magnitude storm and flood in a hyperarid catchment,Nahal Zin,Negev Desert,Israel     

Noam Greenbaum  Adina Margalit  Asher P. Schick  David Sharon  Victor R. Baker 《水文研究》1998,12(1):1-23

In October 1991 a high magnitude rainstorm flood, estimated return period 40 years, occurred in Nahal Zin, a 1400 km² catchment in the hyperarid Negev Desert. The meso-scale structure of the storm was a curved squall line that developed from a thunderstorm in accordance with the topography of the catchment divide, by which it was strongly affected. Tropical moisture reached the area via the subtropical jet stream, in conjunction with a lower level northward intrusion of the Red Sea trough (RST-N) into the Mediterranean Sea. Rainfall, as measured at the few and sparse gauging stations, was much too small to account for the resulting large flood. Peak flow and other hydraulic characteristics of the flood were indirectly reconstructed. The techniques of palaeoflood hydrology used were based on sedimentological evidence of fine-grained flood sediments deposited in back-flooded tributaries, as well as on other stage indicators. The HEC-2 procedure was employed to determine water surface profiles. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the event were studied through a combination of rainstorm analysis, remote sensing, hydrological and sedimentological data; they jointly explain the magnitude and timing of tributary contributions producing the integrated flood in the main channel. The flood as reconstructed reveals a three-peak hydrograph: two peaks were generated by the same storm but had different floodwave arrival times in the main channel; the third resulted from a local rainstorm which occurred on the following day and covered only one tributary. The curved structure of the storm and its dynamics in relation to catchment orientation resulted in storm move- ment in tandem with the floodwave. The synchronous contribution from all main tributaries preserved evidence of the floodwave both in stage and volume by replacing the transmission losses in the sections with thick alluvium. Other high magnitude floods on record for the large Negev Desert catchments are caused by a cold upper air incursion associated with the RST-N. Most of them occur in the autumn and are caused by storms with high-intensity rainfall. This is in stark contrast with the flooding behaviour of the semi-arid zone further north, which is linked primarily to the core of the Mediterranean winter. The complexities involved in the generation of a large desert flood, as revealed by this study, illustrate the fallacy of applying routine hydrological modelling to such events, and underline the need to study the processes involved in adequate detail. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献