Planktonic foraminiferal distribution record productivity cycles: evidence from the Aptian-Albian Piobbico core (central Italy)

The Aptian-Albian 'Scisti a Fucoidi' varicoloured pelagic sediments in central Italy, show a 'couplet' alternation of carbonate-rich/carbonate-poor layers, which are interpreted as the sedimentary expression of precession (frequency 19–23 kyr). Carbonate content, chromatic variation, and planktonic foraminiferal abundance were analysed at a 1-cm spacing for a 10-m interval of the Piobbico core, specifically drilled through this formation. Spectral analysis of these parameters shows a prominent signal equated to the c . 100 kyr cycle of orbital eccentricity at a sedimentation rate of 5 mm kyr⁻¹. The coherency of the spectral response of each parameter suggests that a single mechanism controlled the whole sedimentary record. Detailed study of planktonic foraminiferal distribution of the same section at 1-mm scale resolves the Milankovitch frequencies of 41 kyr and 18 to 23 kyr, equated with the obliquity and precessional cycles. But foraminiferal abundance is not in phase with carbonate content, which was largely controlled by calcareous nannofossils, but peaked at intermediate carbonate values. The proposed model for explaining the discrepancy at the precessional level is that foraminifera thrived at intermediate values of the precession index, when the environment was only moderately fertile but stable, while during highs of the precession index, mixing of the water column increased fertility and caused calcareous nannofossil blooms and restriction of planktonic foraminifera to few and tolerant species. The resulting bimodality of foraminiferal abundance per precessional cycle appears to be recorded in the spectrum by peaks at the 11 and 14 kyr levels. Cross correlation of foraminiferal abundances with the calcium carbonate curve over 1–2 Myr intervals produces discrepant results (apparent phase lags) which we attribute to differences in the response to the fundamental eccentricity cycles.     

Modes of variability of Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation estimated by AGCMs

The seasonal mean variability of the atmospheric circulation is affected by processes with time scales from less than seasonal to interannual or longer. Using monthly mean data from an ensemble of Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) realisations, the interannual variability of the seasonal mean is separated into intraseasonal, and slowly varying components. For the first time, using a recently developed method, the slowly varying component in multiple AGCM ensembles is further separated into internal and externally forced components. This is done for Southern Hemisphere 500?hPa geopotential height from five AGCMs in the CLIVAR International Climate of the Twentieth Century project for the summer and winter seasons. In both seasons, the intraseasonal and slow modes of variability are qualitatively well reproduced by the models when compared with reanalysis data, with a relative metric finding little overall difference between the models. The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is by far the dominant mode of slowly varying internal atmospheric variability. Two slow-external modes of variability are related to El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability, and a third is the atmospheric response to trends in external forcing. An ENSO-SAM relationship is found in the model slow modes of variability, similar to that found by earlier studies using reanalysis data. There is a greater spread in the representation of model slow-external modes in winter than summer, particularly in the atmospheric response to external forcing trends. This may be attributable to weaker external forcing constraints on SH atmospheric circulation in winter.     

AQD occurrence at Addis Ababa,Trivandrum and Alibag

The effect of the equatorial electrojet is sufficient to reduce the probability of an abnormal quiet day occurring at Addis Ababa, Trivandrum and Alibag. Addis Ababa AQD occurrence exhibits an anomalous or subdued relationship to solar intensity, compared to that of Alibag, Trivandrum, and Greenwich/Abinger/Hartland; this is thought to be due to some unknown characteristic of the PM electrojet. Few AQD's are common to Addis Ababa and Trivandrum, Addis Ababa and Alibag, and Trivandrum and Alibag compared to the number common to Abinger and Wingst.     

Distribution and origin of nitrate in groundwater in an urban and suburban aquifer in Mar del Plata,Argentina

The impact of urbanization on groundwater quality is of special concern for water managers dealing with the provision of drinking water to large urban centers. Nitrate is one of the most common contaminants found in urban aquifers. This paper presents a case study aiming at evaluating the distribution and sources of nitrate in an urban aquifer in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. Four study zones under different land uses, including a pristine, a semi-rural, an intermediate, and an urban area, were evaluated as a part of this study. The three latter zones are linked by the groundwater flow system. The average nitrate concentration in the pristine area is 6.7 mg/L as nitrate and is over the permissible level of 50 mg/L for drinking water in the other areas. In the semi-rural area it ranges from 39.2 to 107.1 mg/L with an average value of 38.2 mg/L and the nitrate concentration tends to decrease in the intermediate zone to an average value of 38.2 mg/L; however, values above 60 mg/L are also observed there. Then the nitrate concentration in the urban area water is higher than that in the intermediate zonewater ranging from 48.2 to 100.3 mg/L with an average value of 67.3 mg/L. Data on the stable isotopes 15N and 18O in nitrate show that the main sources of nitrate in the study area are manure associated to agriculture uses and cesspools in the semi-rural area, and leakage of the sewage distribution network in the urban area, respectively. This is supported by a previous study which found that 20 % of the water flooding many underground structures in the city came from leakage of the sewage network. No evidence of nitrate attenuation by denitrification was found in the groundwater. This study has shown that aquifers in urban areas can be affected by agricultural activity in the upstream areas and leakage of the sewage network in the urban area.     

Discharge variability in Romania using Palmer indices and a simple atmospheric index of large-scale circulation

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to analyse the seasonal characteristics of four Palmer indices calculated on the basis of data from 27 meteorological stations in Romania, and the impact of these indices on river discharges in the period 1931–1998. Our research also tests the influence of large-scale atmospheric circulation on these indices and on discharge. For each season, developments in the empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) and multivariate EOF (MEOF) are achieved. The MEOF representation highlights the overall characteristics of the four Palmer indices. It maximizes specific information for each season compared with individual information of each Palmer index. We then identify geographical areas with homogeneous distribution, taking into account both the discharge distribution and the rotated EOF components of each Palmer index. Finally, we analysed the impact of large-scale atmospheric circulation on hydro-climatic events in Romania by means of the Greenland-Balkan Oscillation Index (GBOI), which is shown to have a greater influence on southeastern Europe than the North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI).     

Seismic assessment of masonry buildings accounting for limited knowledge on materials by Bayesian updating

Several building codes propose methodologies to account for epistemic uncertainties in the seismic assessment of masonry buildings by selecting a knowledge level and reducing material strengths by means of the associated value of the confidence factor. Previous works showed that, in the case of masonry structures, this approach has various limitations, such as the lack of proper consideration of experimental tests performed. This article focuses on the issue of imperfect knowledge on material properties of existing masonry buildings and proposes a probabilistic methodology for the assessment, based on Bayesian updating of mechanical properties. The use of a Bayesian approach allows to update the values of the material properties assumed a priori as knowledge on the building increases, by taking into account all the experimental information gathered during the assessment process. A large number of simulated assessments is carried out and the values of the confidence factors on material properties are defined through the comparison between the obtained results and those of the reference structure, assumed to be perfectly known. These factors are useful in a more general framework for the assessment of masonry buildings accounting for different sources of uncertainty.     

Simulating the diurnal cycle of rainfall in global climate models: resolution versus parameterization

The effects of horizontal resolution and the treatment of convection on simulation of the diurnal cycle of precipitation during boreal summer are analyzed in several innovative weather and climate model integrations. The simulations include: season-long integrations of the Non-hydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM) with explicit clouds and convection; year-long integrations of the operational Integrated Forecast System (IFS) from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts at three resolutions (125, 39 and 16 km); seasonal simulations of the same model at 10 km resolution; and seasonal simulations of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) low-resolution climate model with and without an embedded two-dimensional cloud-resolving model in each grid box. NICAM with explicit convection simulates best the phase of the diurnal cycle, as well as many regional features such as rainfall triggered by advancing sea breezes or high topography. However, NICAM greatly overestimates mean rainfall and the magnitude of the diurnal cycle. Introduction of an embedded cloud model within the NCAR model significantly improves global statistics of the seasonal mean and diurnal cycle of rainfall, as well as many regional features. However, errors often remain larger than for the other higher-resolution models. Increasing resolution alone has little impact on the timing of daily rainfall in IFS with parameterized convection, yet the amplitude of the diurnal cycle does improve along with the representation of mean rainfall. Variations during the day in atmospheric prognostic fields appear quite similar among models, suggesting that the distinctive treatments of model physics account for the differences in representing the diurnal cycle of precipitation.     

Thermo-mechanical ratcheting in soil–structure interfaces

Acta Geotechnica - This paper proposes and validates a thermo-mechanical ratcheting mechanism that explains the cumulative displacement of soil–continuum interfaces when subjected to...