Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systematic Practical Evaluation of Snow Entrainment With the Avalanche Simulation Model SamosAT

In computational avalanche simulations snow entrainment is one of the key criteria. This fact is displayed for many observed avalanches that could reach their destructive magnitude due to additional mass intake. The avalanche simulation software SamosAT includes two different modes of additional snow intake for the dense part of the avalanche: frontal ploughing and basal erosion. Additionally snow can di- rectly be entrained in the powder part of the avalanche. Because of the lack of guidelines for the practical application of entrainment in SamosAT a specific analysis was necessary. Consequently a comprehensive study of 21 avalanche events as reference data is examined for dense and powder snow avalanches that were significantly influenced by snow entrainment. The data set contains run out distances, snow deposition measurements, back calculations of minimum avalanche pressures and avalanche front velocities from radar systems. In addition to the classical back calculations a standardised simulation analysis is performed. By transforming simulation results in an avalanche path dependent coordinate system a new run out indicator is defined and evaluated. The results of this study are explained in this paper on the basis of three avalanche tracks in Tyrol. The main result is a suitable parameter setup to apply the entrainment module in SamosAT also in the daily practical use.
Hydroclimatic Controls on the Means and Variability of Vegetation Phenology and Carbon Uptake

AbstractLong-term, global offline (land only) simulations with a dynamic vegetation phenology model are used to examine the control of hydroclimate over vegetation-related quantities. First, with a control simulation, the model is shown to capture successfully (though with some bias) key observed relationships between hydroclimate and the spatial and temporal variations of phenological expression. In subsequent simulations, the model shows that (i) the global spatial variation of seasonal phenological maxima is controlled mostly by hydroclimate, irrespective of distributions in vegetation type; (ii) the occurrence of high interannual moisture-related phenological variability in grassland areas is determined by hydroclimate rather than by the specific properties of grassland; and (iii) hydroclimatic means and variability have a corresponding impact on the spatial and temporal distributions of gross primary productivity (GPP).
Mutations that alter use of hepatitis C virus cell entry factors mediate escape from neutralizing antibodies.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The development of vaccines and other strategies to prevent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is limited by rapid viral evasion. HCV entry is the first step of infection; this process involves several viral and host factors and is targeted by host-neutralizing responses. Although the roles of host factors in HCV entry have been well characterized, their involvement in evasion of immune responses is poorly understood. We used acute infection of liver graft as a model to investigate the molecular mechanisms of viral evasion. METHODS We studied factors that contribute to evasion of host immune responses using patient-derived antibodies, HCV pseudoparticles, and cell culture-derived HCV that express viral envelopes from patients who have undergone liver transplantation. These viruses were used to infect hepatoma cell lines that express different levels of HCV entry factors. RESULTS By using reverse genetic analyses, we identified altered use of host-cell entry factors as a mechanism by which HCV evades host immune responses. Mutations that alter use of the CD81 receptor also allowed the virus to escape neutralizing antibodies. Kinetic studies showed that these mutations affect virus-antibody interactions during postbinding steps of the HCV entry process. Functional studies with a large panel of patient-derived antibodies showed that this mechanism mediates viral escape, leading to persistent infection in general. CONCLUSIONS We identified a mechanism by which HCV evades host immune responses, in which use of cell entry factors evolves with escape from neutralizing antibodies. These findings advance our understanding of the pathogenesis of HCV infection and might be used to develop antiviral strategies and vaccines.
VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations Volunteering and income inequality: cross-national relationships

Wilkinson and Pickett, in their 2009 book The Spirit Level, found that, in rich countries, income inequality was negatively associated with a range of indicators of well-being, but they did not consider the relationship with volunteering. This paper seeks to fill that gap. Using existing data sources, it shows that, among European countries, higher levels of volunteering are associated with lower levels of income inequality. The relationship is particularly strong for regular and sport-related volunteering. The basic Spirit Level thesis is therefore confirmed as applicable to volunteering. However, while the thesis involves just one theoretical explanation for the income inequality/well-being relationship, namely status anxiety, in the case of volunteering, other variables are also found to be at play, including government social spending, available leisure time and geo-historical traditions. It is concluded that, while high levels of volunteering, as a form of social capital, can be seen as one of a number of features of more equal societies, disentangling cause and effect may require a more holistic approach to understanding its contribution to the generation and sustaining of social well-being.
Mechanisms controlling the diurnal solar tide: Analysis using a GCM and a linear model

[1] A general circulation model (GCM, HAMMONIA) and a linear model are used for analyzing the dynamics of the total diurnal solar tide in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, comprising both the migrating and all nonmigrating components. A comparison between this tide in the GCM and in published observations is relatively favorable. The linear model uses monthly means from the GCM as background atmosphere and the diurnal heating rates from that model as forcing. The background atmosphere may be longitude-dependent so that stationary planetary waves can be included. A straightforward analysis of corresponding effects is thus facilitated. To a large degree the seasonal variability of the diurnal tide is due to variations in the background atmosphere. In addition to corresponding previous results on the impact of the zonal mean atmosphere on the migrating tide, the thermospheric tide is shown to be strongly influenced by the variability of the absorption of solar radiation by O2. With regard to the nonmigrating tidal components, also, their most important forcing mechanisms are tropospheric as for the migrating tide below the thermosphere and their seasonal cycle is mostly controlled by variations of the background atmosphere. In the dynamics of these components, however, the planetary waves take an active role. They can cause reductions in the tidal amplitude by destructive interference with the directly forced nonmigrating tide, as for DS0 in February. The opposite effect of enhancing the tidal amplitude is also observed for DW2 in the same season. The component DE3 is controlled by an interplay between the variability of the zonal mean background and diurnal heating. The correct simulation of a meridional wind amplitude minimum in this tide during NH summer May–August seems to depend critically on the phase relation between the two.
The effect of single vegetation elements on wind speed and sediment transport in the Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso

Soil loss caused by wind erosion is a widespread phenomenon in the Sahelian zone of West Africa. According to Sahelian farmers, scattered vegetation standing in amongst the crop has the potential for a wind erosion control strategy. This study was conducted to study the effect of single vegetation elements on the pattern of average wind speed and sediment transport. This was done by two experiments that were carried out during the rainy seasons of 2002 and 2003 in north Burkina Faso, West Africa. Wind speeds were measured using three sonic anemometers, at a sampling frequency of 16 Hz. Sediment transport was determined by calculating the mass fluxes from 17 MWAC catchers. In this study, a shrub was defined as a vegetation element with branches until ground and a tree as a vegetation element with a distinctive trunk below a canopy.
Late Paleozoic depositional history of the Tarim basin, northwest China: An integration of biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic constraints

This study provides the first detailed lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic constraints for improving stratigraphic resolution for hydrocarbon prospecting and exploration in the Tarim basin. A total of 49 stratigraphic units (38 formations and 11 members), ranging in age from the latest Devonian to Permian, are reviewed or redefined in terms of nomenclatures, lithology, age constraints, and lateral distributions based on the detailed field works or newly published data. Of these, the Piqiang Formation (new formation) is proposed to include the reefal carbonates of Asselian–Sakmarian age from the northern Tarim. The subsurface upper Paleozoic stratigraphic framework of the desert areas of the basin is also established for the first time. The high-resolution, basinwide stratigraphic correlations reveal that the sedimentation of the basin in the late Paleozoic was extremely uneven. Of these, the Famennian to Changhsingian successions are completely recorded in the southwestern margin areas of the basin. Here, five eustatic sedimentary cycles are well recognizable, suggesting the sedimentation was more eustatically controlled and little affected by local tectonism. The late Paleozoic successions of both Kalpin and Taklimakan regions are commonly interrupted by major hiatuses at various horizons, suggesting that the sedimentation was apparently modified by local tectonism. Of these, the northward movement of the Tarim block and its subsequent collision with the Yili microcontinent (part of the Kazakhstan plate) may be principally accountable for the discrepancy in the sedimentation of the various regions in the basin in the late Paleozoic.
An improved elevation dataset for climate and ice-sheet modelling: validation with satellite imagery

Recent studies by several groups have indicated that the performance of general circulation models (GCMs) over the ice sheets is severely limited by the relatively low resolution of the models at the margins, where surface slopes are greatest. To provide accurate energy-budget estimates, resolutions of better than 0.5° are desirable, requiring nested or multiple gridding and accurate, high-resolution boundary conditions. Here we present a new, high-resolution (5 km) digital elevation model for the Antarctic ice sheet, derived from radar-altimeter data obtained from the geodetic phase of the satellite, ERS-1. These data have been combined with the revised ice-thickness grid reported in Bamber and Huybrechts (1996) to produce a bed- and surface-elevation dataset for use in regional and global climate and paleo-climaie modelling applications. The real level of spatial detail in the datasets has been examined with the aid of Landsat Thematic Mapper data. Imagery around Ice Stream D, West Antarctica, shows that the revised ice-thickness grid is accurately geolocated, and contains valuable fine-scale topographic detail beyond that available from the cartographic version of the data (Drewry, 1983). The surface topography in the region of the Ross Ice Shelf has been used to illustrate the level of detail in both the vertical and horizontal resolution of (he surface dataset. Laudsat data has also been used to examine features in the surface-elevation data. In particular, the location of the grounding zone, for Ice Streams D and E, derived from the two data sources shows good agreement. The results of this validation underscore the utility of the new datasets for high-resolution modelling, and highlight the limitations of the Folio maps for such applications.
Thermal alteration of the organic matter around the Precambrian-Cambrian transition in the Lublin Slope of the East European Platform in Poland

Abstract A study of the thermal alteration of organic matter deriving from transitional Upper Proterozoic (Upper Vendian) and Lower Cambrian marine deposits in the Lublin Slope of the East European Platform in Poland is presented and set in relation to tectonic events during Late Proterozoic-Early Phanerozoic times. Well preserved acritarchs and cyanobacteria are abundant in these deposits. They display variable stages of thermal alteration which varies according to the age of the investigated formations. Palaeotemperatures estimated from the thermal alteration of organic matter seem to positively correlate with anomalous heat flow and with recorded temperatures of the crystalline basement. Here, I report on an observed discrepancy in the thermal alteration of microphytoplankton deriving from Upper Vendian and Lower Cambrian deposits. It is suggested that organic matter from Upper Proterozoic deposits display a thermal alteration index considerably higher than that displayed by organic matter from immedia.
The thermal regime of the active layer at the Murtèl rock glacier based on data from 2002

Active layer temperatures are presented from a rock glacier in the Swiss Alps. The data represent a full year (2002) covering parts of two very different winters. Winter/spring 2002 was very cold and dry; fall 2002 was characterized by an unusual amount of snow. Active layer temperatures are examined together with climate data and are used to discuss the processes which control the thermal regime of an active layer on a slope of a bouldery rock glacier surface. The development of the snow cover as well as the snow depth are shown to be essential, but the non‐linear heating of the bouldery material with increasing air temperatures and the micro‐topography of the rock glacier surface are also shown to have an influence on the thermal regime of the active layer. Furthermore, it is shown that the advective air movement within the blocky deposit has much less influence on the thermal regime than the vertical displacement of air masses. This is contradicts earlier literature on the subject. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Tectonic development of the northern Taiizaiiian sector of the East African Rift System

The Eastern Branch of the East African Rift System diverges from a single, c. 50 km wide rift in southern Kenya to a c. 200 km wide zone in northern Tanzania, where it is comprised of three distinct rifts with different orientations. The western part of this zone contains two rift branches: the Natron-Man yara-Balangida and Eyasi-Wembere rifts. Each rift contains individual basins that are defined here on the basis of structural and geophysical interpretations. These basins are shallow (<3km) and total extension across the bounding faults is small. New K/Ar age determinations on basalts from the western rift basins show that volcanism and sedimentation began in the area at c. 5 Ma. Major fault escarpments were present by c. 3 Ma and the present-day rift escarpments developed later than c. 1.2 Ma. Pre-rift volcanism produced large shield volcanoes of a basalt-trachyte-phonolite association that now lie on the rift flanks. Volcanism after the main phase of rift faulting produced volatile- and alkali-rich explosive centres which are active today, and have no equivalent in southern Kenya. The change in morphology of the Eastern Branch of the East African Rift System, and the style of volcanism in northern Tanzania, may be the result of the transition from the rifting of Proterozoic Mozambique Belt lithosphere to the rifting of cratonic Archaean lithosphere.
Assessment of the CMIP5 global climate model simulations of the western tropical Pacific climate system and comparison to CMIP3

A set of 27 global climate models from the Coupled Model Inter‐comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) ensemble are assessed for their performance for the purpose of making future climate projection studies in the western tropical Pacific and differences to Coupled Model Inter‐comparison Project Phase 3 (CMIP3) are assessed. The CMIP5 models show some improvements upon CMIP3 in the simulation of the climate in the western tropical Pacific in the late 20th century. There are fewer CMIP5 models with very poor skill scores than in CMIP3 for some measures and a small group of the well‐performing models in CMIP5 have lower biases than in an equivalent group from CMIP3. These best‐performing models could be particularly informative for studying certain climate sensitivities and feedbacks in the region. There is evidence to reject one model as unsuitable for making regional climate projections in the region, and another two models unsuitable for analysis of the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ). However, while there have been improvements, many of the systematic model biases in the mean climate in CMIP3 are also present in the CMIP5 models. They are primarily related to the shape of the transition between the Indo‐Pacific warm pool and equatorial cold tongue, and the associated biases in the position and orientation of the SPCZ and Inter‐Tropical Convergence Zone, as well as in the spatial pattern, variability and teleconnections of the West Pacific monsoon, and the simulation of El Niño Southern Oscillation. Overall, the results show that careful interpretation and consideration of biases is required when using CMIP5 outputs for generating regional climate projections for the western tropical Pacific, particularly at the country scale, just as there was with CMIP3.
The role of thrust faulting in the formation of the eastern Alaska Range: Thermochronological constraints from the Susitna Glacier Thrust Fault region of the intracontinental strike‐slip Denali Fault system

Horizontal‐slip along restraining bends of strike‐slip faults is often partitioned into a vertical component via splay faults. The active Susitna Glacier Thrust Fault (SGTF), as shown by its initiation of the 2002 M7.9 Denali Fault earthquake, lies south of, and intersects the dextral strike‐slip Denali Fault. Geochronology and thermochronology data from samples across the SGTF constrain the region's tectonic history and the role of thrusting in the formation of the eastern Alaska Range south of the Denali fault. U‐Pb zircon ages indicate intrusion of plutons in the footwall (~57 Ma) and hanging wall (~98 Ma). These U‐Pb zircon ages correlate to those from the Ruby Batholith/Kluane Terrane ~400 km east along the Denali Fault, supporting geologic correlations and hence constraints on long‐term slip rates. 40Ar/39Ar mica and K‐feldspar data from footwall and hanging wall samples (~54 to ~46 Ma) reflect cooling following magmatism and/or regional Eocene metamorphism related to ridge subduction. Combined with apatite fission track data (ages 43–28 Ma) and thermal models, both sides of the SGTF acted as a coherent block during the Eocene and early Oligocene. Contrasting apatite (U‐Th)/He ages across the Susitna Glacier (~25 Ma footwall, ~15 Ma hanging wall) suggest initiation of faulting during the middle Miocene. Episodic cooling and exhumation is related to thrusting on known or hypothesized faults that progressively activate due to varying partition of strain along the Denali Fault associated with changing kinematics and plate interaction (Yakutat microplate collision, flat‐slab subduction and relative plate motion change) at the southern Alaskan plate margin.
A high-resolution proxy record of rainfall and ENSO since AD 1550 from layering in stalagmites from Anjohibe Cave, Madagascar

Two stalagmites from Anjohibe Cave have annual layers made up of inclusion-rich calcite over inclusion-free calcite or of darker aragonite over clear aragonite. Geochemical evidence indicates that the basal units are deposited slowly in the wet season and the upper units more rapidly in the dry season. For the period with rainfall and temperature data (ad 1951–1992), layer thickness correlates well with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), as well as rainfall, water surplus, and actual evapotranspiration (AET) at nearby Majunga. Com parison of the layer record for one stalagmite with 1866–1994 SOI data indicates that layer thickness correlates best with the frequency and intensity of warm, low-phase SO (El Niño) events, not with average SOI conditions. In addition, the 415-year layer thickness time-series from that speleothem agrees remarkably well with historical records of El Niño frequency, with Galápagos (Ecuador) coral records of sea-surface temperature in the eastern Pacific, and with accumulation rates on the Quelccaya Ice Cap of Peru, which are lower at times of high El Niño frequency.
Electrical structure of Garhwal Himalayan region, India, inferred from magnetotelluric

Magnetotelluric investigations have been carried out in the Garhwal Himalayan corridor to delineate electrical structure of the crust along a profile extending from Indo-Gangetic Plane to Higher Himalayan region in Uttarakhand, India. The profile passing through major Himalayan thrusts: Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFF), Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and Main Central Thrust (MCT), and is nearly perpendicular to the regional geological strike. These Himalayan thrusts are broadly parallel to each other, steeper near surface and become shallow with the depth until they merge with the detachment surface. The main tectonic elements of Garhwal Himalayan region have an average strike of NW-SE (Khattri 1992). Magneto-variation (MV) studies (Arora et al 1982), were carried out over a rectangular array of 24 stations in the Siwalik Himalayan region, indicated the presence of a conductive anomaly, which they interpreted as an extension of the Aravallis and referred to as Trans Himalayan conductor. Subsequently, MT investigations were carried out by Gupta et al (1994) in the Siwalik region over 150 km long Mohand - Ramnagar profile to determine the thickness of Siwalik sediments. They recorded MT data in the frequency range 0.01–100 Hz using short period MT system and estimated geoelectric strike of N 800 W on the basis of
Variation in aerosol properties over Hyderabad, India during intense cyclonic conditions

In this study, we examine the changes in aerosol properties associated with an intense tropical cyclone, the so‐called ‘Mala’, that occurred during April 2006, over the Bay of Bengal. This cyclone, accompanied by very strong surface winds reaching 240 km h−1, caused extensive disasters in houses and beach resorts in the coastal areas of Myanmar. Ground‐based measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD), particle‐size distribution and erythemal UV radiation in the neighbouring urban environment of Hyderabad, India, showed significant variations due to changes in wind velocity and direction associated with the cyclone event. The results show an increase in ground‐measured PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations, probably associated with the strong surface winds on 28 April, the day on which the cyclone affected the study region. In contrast, the AOD on that day exhibited a significant decrease, since the winds probably acted as a ventilation mechanism for the atmosphere. The Terra‐MODIS satellite images showed a prevalence of dust particles over the study region on the next day of the cyclone. Results from ground‐based AOD sun‐photometer observations matched well with satellite AOD retrievals. Aerosol index obtained from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) during the cyclone events suggested increasing trend, indicating the presence of an elevated dust‐aerosol layer during and after the cyclone. Results on the effects of wind and air mass fields in affecting the AOD during cyclone events are also presented.