Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prediction of Aboveground Net Primary Productivity and Foliage Projective Cover in an Arid Area of China

It appears that two main factors hinder the effective incorporation of ecological information derived from computer modeling in resource management at large spatial scales: (1) some models are not ecologically sound and (2) most models based on ecological principles are often too sophisticated or detailed, having complex structures and requiring a large range of input data. This paper employs a generic model based on well-established ecological principles, but with appropriate detail, to better serve decision-making in sustainable resource management. The model was used to simulate aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), foliage projective cover (FPC), and the evaporation coefficient (k) for large arid areas in northwest China, where there has been serious desertification recently. Observation data of ANPP and FPC in the study area were used to validate the model, and the model results were in good agreement with observation data and other published data. The model was then used to simulate the evaporation coefficient, FPC, and ANPP for the study area. The simulation results indicated that except for several sites, the k parameter was lower than 0.35 × 10−2 and implied a typical arid climate in the study area. Estimated FPC of the plant community was lower than 50% at most sites, and the annual ANPP was very low—less than 1 tons · ha−1 · yr−1 at 93.8% of sites. These simulation results could serve as references for vegetation restoration and livestock husbandry management in arid areas of China.
Synoptic and dynamical analysis of subtropical cyclone Anita (2010) and its potential for tropical transition over the South Atlantic Ocean

Subtropical cyclogenesis and tropical transitions (TT) over the South Atlantic Ocean only received attention after the first documented Hurricane Catarina occurred close to the southern Brazilian coast in March 2004. However, due to the lack of studies in this part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is still unclear what the main environmental conditions and dynamical processes associated with TT or even subtropical cyclogenesis are over the region. This study presents a synoptic and dynamical analysis of the subtropical cyclone Anita which occurred in March 2010 near the Brazilian coast. This system started as a pure subtropical cyclone, evolved to a condition favorable to TT, later developed into a cold‐core structure, and decayed as an extratropical cyclone. During the period favorable for TT, the turbulent heat fluxes (latent plus sensible) from the ocean decreased, and Anita started interacting with another extratropical disturbance, preventing the TT to happen. This interaction, in turn, increased the vertical wind shear, allowed the extratropical transition to occur, and promoted the westward displacement of Anita to colder waters, thus decreasing the turbulent heat fluxes. The results suggest that the combination of a dipole blocking pattern aloft, with contribution from barotropic energy conversions, and strong turbulent fluxes is an important ingredient for tropical storm development. Hybrid storms in such environmental conditions can be one form of precursors of hurricanes over the South Atlantic.
Ice sculpture in the Martian outflow channels

Many landforms in Martian outflow channels have characteristics that suggest sculpture by glaciers, ice streams, or ice sheets. Viking Orbiter and terrestrial satellite images were examined at similar resolution to compare features of the Martian outflow channels to features produced by the movement of ice on earth. Many resemblances were found. They include the anastomoses, sinuosities, and U-shaped cross profiles of valleys; hanging valleys; and linear scour marks on valley walls, grooves and ridges on valley floors, and streamlining of bedrock highs. The question of whether ice could have moved in the Martian environment is investigated. Since gradients on Martian channel floors are extremely low or even reversed, a certain thickness of ice is required to initiate glacial motion. If ice filled the Martian channels to the level of interior plateaus, flow could have occurred, even under present climatic conditions, although warmer climates in the past would have been more favorable. Additionally, if the channel fluids were brines, ice might have been wet based and would have moved readily by slipping over the ground. It is envisioned that springs or small catastrophic outbursts discharged fluids from structural outlets or chaotic terrains. The fluids built icings that may have grown into substantial masses and eventually flowed like glaciers down preexisting valleys. Alternatively, the fluids may have formed rivers or floods that formed ice jams and consolidated into icy masses in places where obstacles blocked their flow. These masses of ice or slush were probably episodic and temporary, but where they occurred within the channels, they may have produced landforms that are characteristic of glacial sculpture on earth.
CUPRI observations of persistence asymmetry reversals in up‐down vertical type‐I echoes from the equatorial electro jet above Alcântara, Brazil

High resolution vertical radar measurements of the equatorial electrojet above Alcântara, Brazil, were made with the Cornell University Portable Radar Interferometer (CUPRI) as part of the Guará Dip Equator Campaign. Type‐I spectra obtained from the main body of the electrojet during strong daytime conditions show a preponderance of upward phase velocities as a function of time. However, the data from a few kilometers higher show a persistence of downward phase velocities. This reversal in sign of the most persistent type‐I peak occurs regularly in our data whenever the electrojet is strongly driven. The persistence of upward phase velocities is similar to that seen earlier at Jicamarca but the reversal in sign of the dominating mode has not been previously observed, nor is it consistent with current electrojet theories. Another unexpected result from the Alcântara data set is that the absolute values of the phase velocities of the type‐I spectra peaks decrease with altitude. This is through a region where the temperature (and hence the acoustic velocity) should be increasing with altitude. Hence, the saturation of the type‐I peak phase velocities is not just a simple function of the acoustic velocity.
Oriented, non-topotactic olivine → serpentine replacement in mesh-textured, serpentinized peridotites

Partially serpentinized harzburgites from Southern Tuscany, Italy, show serpentine replacing the peridotitic minerals, as rims around olivine and thin lamellae parallel to pyroxene cleavage. Exempt from post-serpentinization tectonometamorphic overprints, these mesh-textured serpentinites offer a favourable setting for the study of seafloor serpentinization. Studied by HRTEM and AEM, the olivine → serpentine replacement reveals a complex sequence of reaction steps. Initially, olivine dissolves forming a silicon-enriched amorphous domain, where early serpentine nuclei are formed. These nuclei recrystallize producing oriented columnar lizardite. The lizardite in the rim shows silicon excess, due to intermixed amorphous or talc-like layers. No chrysotile fiber occurs at the reaction front. Although the olivine-to-lizardite reaction is clearly not-topotactic, recrystallization of early formed serpentine leads to large lizardite sectors, oriented with (001) almost parallel to the reaction front. As the olivine-to-lizardite reaction is estimated to occur in the upper 300–500°C range, lizardite has to be considered as the high-temperature serpentine phase in retrograde serpentinites.
Modelling ice-dammed lake drainage

The drainage of ice-dammed lakes produces floods that can pose hazards, waste water resources and modulate ice flow. In this thesis I investigate several aspects of ice-dammed lake drainage through the development and analysis of mathematical models. After an introduction in the first chapter and a description of the mathematical background to the thesis in the second, the third chapter investigates the mechanisms behind observed variability in the size and timing of subglacial floods from ice-dammed lakes. In particular, I examine how environmental controls like the weather and the shape of glaciers affect floods. In the next chapter, I quantify how well simple models can predict the dates of floods from an ice-marginal lake in Kyrgyzstan. I find that incorporating environmental controls into models improves their prediction ability. Next I investigate the coupling between subglacial drainage and glacier motion during ice-dammed lake drainage by developing and analysing a model which couples a marginal lake, glacier sliding, subglacial drainage through a channel and subglacial drainage through a distributed system of cavities. I show how changes in lake level cause the rate at which a glacier slides to increase during the first half of floods and decrease during the second half. The next two chapters are concerned with two lake-drainage scenarios that involve water flowing as an open stream: firstly, the subglacial open-channel flow that occurs after a marginal lake drains completely during a flood, and secondly, the drainage of supraglacial lakes across the surface of ice sheets. I end the thesis with a summary of my findings and some suggestions of theoretical and field-based investigations that are worthwhile pursing in the future.
EVALUATION OF TOPOGRAPHIC MODELS OF ROCKFALL TRAVEL DISTANCE FOR USE IN HAZARD APPLICATIONS

Characterizing rockfall travel distances over a broad scale is time-consuming and expensive if a detailed numerical model is used that must account for varying boulder size and shape. In this paper four models are developed that utilize simple terrain parameters in order to predict extreme rockfall runout distances. Of these models, three are statistical and the fourth is a simple dynamics model. The results of our model testing suggest that a statistical model is advantageous if one wishes to determine rockfall hazard over a broad area quickly and effectively. In particular, the runout ratio approach is particularly useful at low exceedance probabilities because of the positively skewed distribution used. However, this model would appear to be more sensitive to the underlying data than other techniques. Consequently, the favored model may well depend upon the amount of data available from a given region.
High‐resolution single‐cell transcriptomic survey of cardiomyocytes from patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Abstract Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common inherited cardiovascular disease, which can cause heart failure and lead to death. In this study, we performed high‐resolution single‐cell RNA‐sequencing of 2115 individual cardiomyocytes obtained from HCM patients and normal controls. Signature up‐ and down‐regulated genes in HCM were identified by integrative analysis across 37 patients and 41 controls from our data and published human single‐cell and single‐nucleus RNA‐seq datasets, which were further classified into gene modules by single‐cell co‐expression analysis. Using our high‐resolution dataset, we also investigated the heterogeneity among individual cardiomyocytes and revealed five distinct clusters within HCM cardiomyocytes. Interestingly, we showed that some extracellular matrix (ECM) genes were up‐regulated in the HCM cardiomyocytes, suggesting that they play a role in cardiac remodelling. Taken together, our study comprehensively profiled the transcriptomic programs of HCM cardiomyocytes and provided insights into molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of HCM.
Migration of radar altimeter waveform data

Wingham [1993] demonstrated that migration of radar waveforms appears to improve the images of ice sheet topography. We examine whether this qualitative improvement might lead to quantitative benefits in measuring ice sheet elevation change. We find, instead, that estimates based on migrated waveforms at cross‐over points are degraded relative to unmigrated waveforms. Lack of cross‐track data, which would allow true 3D migration, and migration “noise” related to the Kirchoff algorithm are likely contributors to the degradation. Additionally, lack of phase information in radar waveforms degrades the result. This problem is not encountered in seismic applications of migration and is a limitation of the current generation of radar altimeter data. We have not investigated whether other quantitative benefits may be derived from migrating altimeter waveforms. For example, improved resolution of smaller scale topography in migrated data may lead to better quantitative understanding of ice sheet dynamics.
Reconstruction of oceanic flow characteristics from quasi‐Lagrangian data: 2. Characteristics of the large‐scale circulation in the Black Sea

The circulation in the western portion of the Black Sea in 1987 is assessed from surface drifter trajectories, climatological data, and numerical modeling. These diverse data sources are combined by the paradigm reported in the companion article. The primary emphasis is on the low-frequency and wave number circulation characteristics. The analysis suggests that in the Black Sea there may be a seasonal change in the direction of the large-scale circulation.
Characteristics of Ambient Noise Cross Correlations in Northern Italy within the Frequency Range of 0.1–0.6 Hz

Abstract In this note, we investigate the characteristics of ambient noise cross correlations for station pairs in northern Italy, considering the secondary microseism bandwidth (0.1–0.6 Hz). The preliminary analysis that we performed exploiting the available continuous recording in the investigated area agrees with the recent results of Achauer et al. (2007): the directionality of the noise signal cannot be disregarded when the group velocity is estimated in the range 0.1–0.6 Hz, and the selection of the path orientation for tomography must be carefully performed. In particular, while the favorable directions with respect to microseisms generated along the Atlantic coasts of France, Norway, and the British Islands cover a quite wide azimuthal range (from about 270° N to 5° N), allowing us to reliably estimate the fundamental mode Rayleigh group velocity for paths in the Alps (about 2.7 km/sec), more care must be taken when the microseisms are generated in the Mediterranean Sea. In that case, different locations of the generating areas of microseisms could provide biased estimates of the group velocity due to differences between the true and the apparent velocity of propagation between the stations.
Nd isotopes, geochemistry, and constraints on sources of sediments in the Franklinian mobile belt, Arctic Canada

The Franklinian mobile belt of Arctic Canada and Greenland was formed by plate convergence of an unknown landmass with North America during Silurian and Devonian time. Clastic sedimentary units of the thick passive- to convergent-margin sequence seen in the Franklinian mobile belt have been characterized for Nd isotopes and trace element geochemistry. Samples of Lower Cambrian to Upper Devonian sedimentary rocks from Ellesmere, Bathurst, and Melville Islands show no trends in trace elements either in space or time, but do display an abrupt shift in ϵNd values at ca. 450 Ma. Samples older than Late Ordovician have initial ϵNd values of −17 to −25, consistent with derivation from Archean to Early Proterozoic shield terrane of Greenland and Canada. Silurian and Devonian samples have less negative ϵNd values of −5 to −13, requiring detrital input from a source with a significantly younger mantle extraction age. The shift to a younger provenance occurred first in condensed deep-water sediments, whose deposition predated the arrival of voluminous clastic materials. For the massive quantities of Silurian and Devonian sedimentary rocks that are present in the Franklinian belt, the only plausible ultimate source lies in the Caledonian orogenic belt, which extends into the Arctic region along the east coast of Greenland. Sediments from these Caledonian mountains, which were probably first shed around the time of the Ordovician–Silurian boundary, were deposited in the Franklinian trough at ca. 440 to 435 Ma. As deformation in the Franklinian orogen progressed, this material was in turn recycled during Middle to Late Devonian time into the large clastic wedge of the Franklinian foreland basin. This propagated southwestward to give rise to the thick Upper Devonian Imperial Assemblage of the northern Cordilleran miogeocline, as well as to thinner Devonian clastic rocks over a wide region of the miogeocline and continental interior, at least as far south as Alberta. In all these regions, our previous work identified an anomalously young ϵNd signature similar to that seen in the post–450 Ma Franklinian rocks. Clastic material with this signature continued to dominate miogeoclinal sedimentation in Alberta until Late Jurassic time. Thus, the Franklinian orogen was a throughway for voluminous sediments derived from Caledonian mountains to reach the western side of the North American continent.
Petrographic and geochemical evidence for the formation of primary, bacterially induced lacustrine dolomite: La Roda ‘white earth’ (Pliocene, central Spain)

Upper Pliocene dolomites (‘white earth’) from La Roda, Spain, offer a good opportunity to evaluate the process of dolomite formation in lakes. The relatively young nature of the deposits could allow a link between dolomites precipitated in modern lake systems and those present in older lacustrine formations. The La Roda Mg‐carbonates (dolomite unit) occur as a 3·5‐ to 4‐m‐thick package of poorly indurated, white, massive dolomite beds with interbedded thin deposits of porous carbonate displaying root and desiccation traces as well as local lenticular gypsum moulds. The massive dolomite beds consist mainly of loosely packed 1‐ to 2‐μm‐sized aggregates of dolomite crystals exhibiting poorly developed faces, which usually results in a subrounded morphology of the crystals. Minute rhombs of dolomite are sparse within the aggregates. Both knobbly textures and clumps of spherical bodies covering the crystal surfaces indicate that bacteria were involved in the formation of the dolomites. In addition, aggregates of euhedral dolomite crystals are usually present in some more clayey (sepiolite) interbeds. The thin porous carbonate (mostly dolomite) beds exhibit both euhedral and subrounded, bacterially induced dolomite crystals. The carbonate is mainly Ca‐dolomite (51–54 mol% CaCO3), showing a low degree of ordering (degree of ordering ranges from 0·27 to 0·48). Calcite is present as a subordinate mineral in some samples. Sr, Mn and Fe contents show very low correlation coefficients with Mg/Ca ratios, whereas SiO2 and K contents are highly correlated. δ18O‐ and δ13C‐values in dolomites range from −3·07‰ to 5·40‰ PDB (mean=0·06, σ=1·75) and from −6·34‰ to −0·39‰ PDB (mean=−3·55, σ=1·33) respectively. Samples containing significant amounts of both dolomite and calcite do not in general show significant enrichment or depletion in 18O and 13C between the two minerals. The correlation coefficient between δ18O and δ13C for dolomite is extremely low and negative (r=−0·05), whereas it is higher and positive (r=0·47) for calcite. The lacustrine dolomite deposit from La Roda is interpreted mainly as a result of primary precipitation of dolomite in a shallow, hydrologically closed perennial lake. The lake was supplied by highly saturated HCO3−/CO32− groundwater that leached dolomitic Mesozoic formations. Precipitation of dolomite from alkaline lake waters took place under a semi‐arid to arid climate. However, according to our isotopic data, strong evaporative conditions were not required for the formation of the La Roda dolomite. A significant contribution by bacteria to the formation of the dolomites is assumed in view of both petrographic and geochemical evidence.
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Accumulation in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Vegetation

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) partition from the atmosphere to vegetation, soil, water, and sediment. In an effort to quantitate vegetation's ability to scavenge PAH, we collected vegetation samples from urban, suburban, and rural locations during the summer and fall of 1995 and determined PAH burdens (ng/cm2) on a mass per total leaf surface area basis. The total PAH burdens in the rural vegetation samples were, on average, 10 times lower than in the urban samples, confirming that atmospheric PAH burdens are higher near presumed source regions. We also compared the individual PAH burden profiles for urban, suburban, and rural samples. All samples had similar profiles for fluorene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, and pyrene, while the rural samples were depleted of anthracene, benz[a]anthracene, and several higher molecular weight PAH. In order to calculate a PAH to vegetation mass balance for the northeastern region of the United States, we divided this land area into rural, suburban, and urban clas.
Macroscopic laws for immiscible two-phase flow in porous media: Results From numerical experiments

Flow through porous media may be described at either of two length scales. At the scale of a single pore, fluids flow according to the Navier-Stokes equations and the appropriate boundary conditions. At a larger, volume-averaged scale, the flow is usually thought to obey a linear Darcy law relating flow rates to pressure gradients and body forces via phenomenological permeability coefficients. Aside from the value of the permeability coefficient, the slow flow of a single fluid in a porous medium is well-understood within this framework. The situation is considerably different, however, for the simultaneous flow of two or more fluids: not only are the phenomenological coefficients poorly understood, but the form of the macroscopic laws themselves is subject to question. I describe a numerical study of immiscible two-phase flow in an idealized two-dimensional porous medium constructed at the pore scale. Results show that the macroscopic flow is a nonlinear function of the applied forces for sufficiently low levels of forcing, but linear thereafter. The crossover, which is not predicted by conventional models, occurs when viscous forces begin to dominate capillary forces; i.e., at a sufficiently high capillary number. In the linear regime, the flow may be described by the linear phenomenological law ui = ΣjLijfj, where the flow rate ui of the ith fluid is related to the force fj applied to the jth fluid by the matrix of phenomenological coefficients Lij which depends on the relative concentrations of the two fluids. The diagonal terms are proportional to quantities commonly referred to as “relative permeabilities. ” The cross terms represent viscous coupling between the two fluids; they are conventionally assumed to be negligible and require special experimental procedures to observe in a laboratory. In contrast, in this numerical study the cross terms are straightforward to measure and are found to be of significant size. The cross terms are additionally observed to be approximately equal, which is the behavior predicted by Onsager's reciprocity theorem. However, persistent transient effects can render the reciprocity unobservable. The numerical study is performed with a discrete numerical model of the molecular dynamics of immiscible mixtures called the immiscible lattice gas. The immiscible lattice gas models both the Navier-Stokes equations and surface tension. Numerical tests presented here additionally provide quantitative validation of the method's ability to simulate wetting phenomena and the effects of capillary pressure. Whereas the numerical study of the linear phenomenological laws utilizes a highly simplified porous medium with one pore and two throats, numerical examples of wetting and nonwetting invasion experiments in a geometrically complex 2-D porous medium are also provided.