探测冰盖和多年冻土层的融冰探头研发

The exploration of ice sheets by melting vertical holes into the ground has some tradition in terrestrial glaciology. Such probes have been used since the 1960's to investigate the vertical structure of the ice in Greenland and Antarctica and in alpine glaciers. In this paper we look into the possibility to develop similar devices for use on extraterrestrial icy bodies, like e.g. the polar areas on Mars or the icy satellites of the outer solar system. We report on some basic experiments performed in the cryo-vacuum laboratory of the Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz. In these experiments the penetration of a simple melting probe into compact and porous water ice (with a snow-like texture) was monitored, both under vacuum conditions and under air pressure. The observed penetration speeds for a given power supply are compared with a simple mathematical model. We conclude that a miniature melting probe with small overall dimensions and a reasonable power demand could well be part of the payload of a future planetary mission, for example to the poles of Mars. Such missions are currently under discussion in several space agencies. Moreover such probes could also e? ectively be used in terrestrial environments. A possible design is presented at the end of the paper.     

Treatment of Malting Wastewater in a Granular Sludge Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR)

Aerobic granular sludge was successfully cultivated in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating wastewater from the malting process with a high content of particulate organic matter. At an organic loading rate of 3.2 kg/(m³ d) COD_total and an influent particle concentration of 0.95 g/L MLSS an average removal of 50% in COD_total and 80% in COD_dissolved could be achieved. A comparison of granular and flocculent sludge grown under the same operating conditions showed no significant difference in removal efficiency although granules exhibited a higher metabolic activity in terms of specific oxygen uptake rate (r_{O2, X}). Two distinct mechanisms of particle removal were observed for granular sludge: during initial granule formation, particles were incorporated into the biofilm matrix. For mature granules, a high level of protozoa growth on the granule surface accounted for the ability to remove particulate COD. Combined evaluation of the development in MLSS content and sludge bed settling rate (i.e., mean derivative of the normalized sludge volume) was found to be an adequate method for monitoring the characteristic settling properties of a granulizing sludge bed. By means of this method, a distinct substrate gradient out of several operating conditions was concluded to have the biggest impact on the formation of aerobic granular sludge.     

Adaptation of Pressure Based CFD Solvers for Mesoscale Atmospheric Problems

General purpose Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers are frequently used in small-scale urban pollution dispersion simulations without a large extent of ver- tical flow. Vertical flow, however, plays an important role in the formation of local breezes, such as urban heat island induced breezes that have great significance in the ventilation of large cities. The effects of atmospheric stratification, anelasticity and Coriolis force must be taken into account in such simulations. We introduce a general method for adapting pressure based CFD solvers to atmospheric flow simulations in order to take advantage of their high flexibility in geometrical modelling and meshing. Compressibility and thermal stratification effects are taken into account by utilizing a novel system of transformations of the field variables and by adding consequential source terms to the model equations of incompressible flow. Phenomena involving mesoscale to microscale coupled effects can be analyzed without model nesting, applying only local grid refinement of an arbitrary level. Elements of the method are validated against an analytical solution, results of a reference calculation, and a laboratory scale urban heat island circulation experiment. The new approach can be applied with benefits to several areas of application. Inclusion of the moisture transport phenomena and the surface energy balance are important further steps towards the practical application of the method.     

Holocene survival of the wild horse in Europe: a matter of open landscape?

The wild horse Equus ferus was one of the most frequent species of the Late Pleistocene large ungulate fauna in Eurasia and played an important role in the subsistence of human groups, especially at the end the Late Glacial. It is frequently assumed that E. ferus became extinct in Europe at the beginning of the Holocene because of the development of woodlands and loss of open habitats. Because of its preference for open habitats and in spite of its adaptability, the appearance or disappearance of the wild horse could therefore be a suitable palaeoecological indicator for the opening of the Holocene primeval woodlands. We revised the dating and reliability of the subfossil record and dated several bones by atomic mass spectrometry ¹⁴C dating. From the beginning of the Holocene (9600 cal a BC) to the end of the Atlantic Period (3750 cal a BC) there are 207 archaeological sites with wild horse records available in Europe. E. ferus survived the Pleistocene Holocene transition in Europe, but the spatiotemporal dynamics of populations fluctuated remarkably in the early and middle Holocene. Small and sparse populations increasingly became extinct during the early Holocene, until between 7100 and 5500 cal a BC the wild horse was almost absent in central parts of the European Lowlands. Particular conditions in natural open patches in the canopy forests, chalklands and floodplains may have maintained the local survival of the horse in some regions of the Lowlands, however. In the Late Atlantic, between 5500 and 3750 cal a BC the range of the wild horse was again extended. It re‐immigrated into central and western Europe, probably as a consequence of increasing landscape opening by Neolithic peoples. The data presented here may be a valuable part of the debate on the degree of openness of the early and middle Holocene landscape. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploratory Factor Analysis of Wireline Logs Using a Float-Encoded Genetic Algorithm

In the paper, a novel inversion approach is used for the solution of the problem of factor analysis. The float-encoded genetic algorithm as a global optimization method is implemented to extract factor variables using open-hole logging data. The suggested statistical workflow is used to give a reliable estimate for not only the factors but also the related petrophysical properties in hydrocarbon formations. In the first step, the factor loadings and scores are estimated by Jöreskog’s fast approximate method, which are gradually improved by the genetic algorithm. The forward problem is solved to calculate wireline logs directly from the factor scores. In each generation, the observed and calculated well logs are compared to update the factor population. During the genetic algorithm run, the average fitness of factor populations is maximized to give the best fit between the observed and theoretical data. By using the empirical relation between the first factor and formation shaliness, the shale volume is estimated along the borehole. Permeability as a derived quantity also correlates with the first factor, which allows its determination from an independent source. The estimation results agree well with those of independent deterministic modeling and core measurements. Case studies from Hungary and the USA demonstrate the feasibility of the global optimization based factor analysis, which provides a useful tool for improved reservoir characterization.     

Estuaries of the northeastern United States: Habitat and land use signatures

Geographic signatures are physical, chemical, biotic, and human-induced characteristics or processes that help define similar or unique features of estuaries along latitudinal or geographic gradients. Geomorphologically, estuaries of the northeastern U.S., from the Hudson River estuary and northward along the Gulf of Maine shoreline, are highly diverse because of a complex bedrock geology and glacial history. Back-barrier estuaries and lagoons occur within the northeast region, but the domiant type is the drowned-river valley, often with rocky shores. Tidal range and mean depth of northeast estuaries are generally greater when compared to estuaries of the more southern U.S. Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico. Because of small estuarine drainage basins, low riverine flows, a bedrock substrate, and dense forest cover, sediment loads in northeast estuaries are generally quite low and water clarity is high. Tidal marshes, seagrass meadows, intertidal mudflats, and rocky shores represent major habitat types that fringe northeast estuaries, supporting commercially-important fauna, forage nekton and benthos, and coastal bird communities, while also serving as links between deeper estuarine waters and habitats through detritus-based pathways. Regarding land use and water quality trends, portions of the northeast have a history of over a century of intense urbanization as reflected in increased total nitrogen and total phosphorus loadings to estuaries, with wastewater treatment facilities and atmospheric deposition being major sources. Agricultural inputs are relatively minor throughout the northeast, with relative importance increasing for coastal plain estuaries. Identifying geographic signatures provides an objective means for comparing the structure, function, and processes of estuaries along latitudinal gradients.