bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Polar Educators International: A network of scientists and teachers that brings polar research into classrooms
Authors: Lehmann Rainer , Beck Inga , Dooley Julia , Casarini Maria Pia , Singh Neelu , Weeks Sophie , Wilkening Betsy
Published: March 2020

Polar Educators International (PEI) is an outcome of the 4th International Polar Year. During this period (2001 – 2009) educators firstly were highly involved in a scientific initiative and a first bridge between scientists and educators was built. Since then PEI grew rapidly and nowadays has almost 200 members coming from all over the world.

The mission of PEI is to highlight and share the global relevance of the Polar Regions with the broader community. Therefore a vital network of educators and researchers are strongly cooperating together with relevant polar organizations such as IASC or SCAR. Thus PEI is able to provide up-to-date educational material for schools, workshop for teachers and many more. PEI Educators are bridging the gap between the scientists and community at large.

All information is available on a robust, flexible, and useful web presence.

PEI is a network that is open to everybody interested in outreach and education with a special focus on the Arctic, the Antarctic and Mountain Regions.

PEI is a common network where educators, scientists and general public can easily access the educative material especially focus on the Arctic, Antarctic and mountainous regions.  
Stream Flow Measurement: Development of a Relationship between the Float Method and the Current Meter Method
Authors: Kanu Ishmael
Published: March 2020

In diverse developments such as hydropower potential assessment, flood mitigation studies, water supply, irrigation, bridge and culvert hydraulics, the magnitude of stream or river flows is a potential design input. Several methods of flow measurement exist; some basic and some more sophisticated. The sophisticated methods use equipment which, although they provide more accurate and reliable results, are invariably expensive and unaffordable by many institutions that depend greatly on flow records to plan and execute their projects. The need for skilled expertise in the use of these equipment and the associated maintenance problems preclude them from consideration in most projects developed and executed in developing regions such as Africa. For countries or institutions in these regions, there is a need for less expensive, but relatively reliable methods for stream or river flow measurement to be investigated; methods that require no equipment maintenance schemes. One such method is the float method in which the velocity of an object thrown in a river is measured by recording the time taken for the object to traverse a known distance and multiplying the velocity by the cross-sectional area of the river or stream. This method looks simplistic, but when flows obtained from it are correlated with those obtained from the more accurate and conventional methods, reliable results can be obtained. In this study, flow measurements were done at 42 different stream sections using the float method and a more reliable and generally accepted but expensive flow measurement method using a current meter. A statistical relationship was then developed between the flows obtained by the two methods by fitting a linear regression model to the set of data points obtained at the 42 locations on several reaches of selected streams in the western area of Freetown.  The study was conducted on streams with tranquil or laminar flow with flow magnitudes in the range of 0.39 m3/s to 4 m3/s in practically straight reaches with stable banks. The material of the stream beds was laterite soil. Thirty-two data sets were used to develop and calibrate the model and the remaining ten data sets were used to verify the model. The current meter method flows were regressed on the float method flows. For a significance level of 5%, the predicted flows of a current meter, given a float method flow, showed a high level of agreement with the observed current meter flows for the tested data set. 
Some recent efforts for the education in the Russian Arctic: the examples from institutes to individuals
Authors: Tarasenko Anastasiia , Mushta Alexandra , Kosareva Arina , Yarygina Veleta , Frolova Daria
Published: March 2020

In this talk, we present several examples of existing interactions between scientific community and large public, mainly in educational form. The talk is divided into 2 parts: the first is an experience from Arctic and Antarctic Research institute (AARI), and the second, from Saint-Petersburg State University (SPbSU).

From 2018, the AARI started to work with public, when several social networks were reached: Instagram, Facebook and Vkontakte, with an audience of more than 10 000 accounts. Daily posts with a constant feedback are written together with polar scientists: we widely use the photographs and videos from the expeditions to show in livethe current state of the Arctic and its changing, the work and the instruments of polar scientists, and the basic knowledge about it. We regularly publish the interviews with the scientists and have a special hashtag #childrenofpolarscientists. During these 2 years, we created a special concours for the undergraduates and secondary school: “66° 63”, where several winners can visit the Svalbard archipelago and realize their scientific or artistic projects. These projects are officially supported by a special Media department of the AARI.

The scientists continue promoting their activity at their level: giving the lectures, participating in the “Scientific Slams”, writing the blogs during the expedition. Publishing classical albums and books after the expedition, such as recent Transarktika-2019, stay important as a result of scientific journalism.

To illustrate the effect of local educational programs, we present the efforts of an ecological team from Saint-Petersburg State University working at Ust’-Yany village in the Arkhangesk region. The program lasted from 2013 to 2016 with a main purpose of letting know the local children what happen to their region and describe them the possibilities to work in a new environment, to develop their forests, create new jobs. The main audience was the secondary school children. A large support of local administration was obtained and helped to realize multiple short-term visits, 2 conferences, scholar projects. A very good feedback from children and administration was received for this personal initiative organized by students and professors of SPbSU.
A multidisciplinary scientific outreach journal designed for and made by middle and high school students to bring research closer to the classroom
Authors: Dalmas Benjamin , Goncalves Barbara , Poulet Lucie , Vernay Antoine , Vernay Mathilde
Published: March 2020

One mission of a researcher is to share their work and results with the general public but there is a real challenge in accurately and effectively sharing scientific results with a broad audience. Indeed, they are published in scientific journals that are mostly available at high costs; the vocabulary used makes it hard for people outside of the field to understand the concepts; and sometimes there is a language barrier for non-English speakers.

 

However, to make informed decisions on a variety of scientific and societal topics, citizens need to have access to and keep up with these research results. To build critical thinking, this good practise should be developed from an early age. We created the journal DECODER (French for “to decode”, journal-decoder.fr), which enables a researcher and a class to work together on their own simplified research article. The middle and high school students can have the role of active reviewers on the researcher’s shorten article or they can write an outreach article on a given topic in which the researcher is a specialist. Articles are then published under a creative commons license and are freely available on the journal website to benefit a majority. Our partner researchers work in space agencies, in academia, or in industry, in a variety of disciplines from STEM to social sciences. The emphasis is set on multidisciplinarity to raise students’ awareness about research wideness and show them that research is not limited to STEM fields but also exists in economics and humanities. This points out the significance and ubiquity of transdisciplinarity in solving real world’s problems, such as global change issues, biological and physical questions or space exploration from different perspectives. In its first year and a half, the journal has already involved more than ten classes in five different schools and 18 articles have been submitted by ten researchers. The project allows a tight and direct interaction between students and researchers and it makes students responsible for the publication content over a large audience. Thanks to an easy procedure for classes and researchers and small-time requirement, our hope is to mobilize the largest scientific community to help people being more critics and having access to scientific results.
Hydrodynamic rainfall-runoff modeling using different approaches for runoff creation
Authors: Broich Karl , Pflugbeil Thomas , Mitterer Johannes , Disse Markus
Published: March 2020

After extreme flash floods events 2016 in Bavaria, the cooperation project HiOS (reference map for surface runoff and flash floods) was started aiming at the detailed analysis of risk generated by flash floods using GIS methods as well as hydrological and hydrodynamic models. Part of the risk analysis is done using hydrodynamic rainfall-runoff modeling (HDRRM). HDRRM gets more and more popular since hydrodynamic models are able to accept rainfall as input. But most of the known hydrodynamic models have no integrated precipitation modules and therefore cannot be used uniquely for rainfall-runoff modeling. In this study, TELEMAC-2D is used for HDRRM because it already contains the SCS-CN-method and offers the possibility to implement new precipitation modules due to its open source license. An additional advantage of TELEMAC-2D is the good scaling on HPC cluster systems.

In this study, two different approaches for runoff creation will be compared. (1) The well-proven SCS-CN method calculates effective rain. Due to its simple structure, the process of runoff generation is completely decoupled from runoff concentration. Consequently, SCS-CN cannot account for re-infiltration due to surface runoff. (2) However, the Green-Ampt infiltration (GAI) is coupled to surface runoff as long as the water depth is non-zero. GAI is implemented recently and thus will be described in more detail. Both approaches are first tested using a simple model setup. The general model performance of the enhanced hydrodynamic rainfall-runoff modeling (EHDRRM) is verified using the case study Simbach/Triftern in Bavaria. This extreme flash flood event from 1st June 2016 hit the townships Simbach am Inn and Triftern. It is well documented and all necessary data is available in good quality. The main setup for the catchment area of 47 km² resp. 90 km² is built on a 1x1 m DEM, land use data, hydrological soil group data and 5 min-RADOLAN precipitation data. The calculated catchment outflow can be verified by measured data at the gauging stations in Simbach am Inn resp. Triftern. All comparisons include as reference results for precipitation without losses by infiltration.

The hydrodynamic precipitation runoff modeling HDRRM has proven to be a useful method for calculating flow paths, depths and velocities with a high spatial resolution during flash flood events. If the process of runoff generation is performed by the hydrodynamic model EHDRRM then the quality of results is improved significantly while keeping the modeling procedure simple. Concerning infiltration, EHDRRM allows for a physically correct representation taking the actual local water depth into consideration.
The COST action CA17133 "Circular city"
Authors: Atanasova Natasa , Langergraber Guenter
Published: March 2020

Resource depletion, climate change and degradation of ecosystems are challenges faced by cities worldwide and will increase if cities do not adapt. In order to tackle those challenges, it is necessary to transform our cities into sustainable systems using a holistic approach. One element in achieving this transition is the implementation of nature-based solutions (NBS). They can provide a range of ecosystem services beneficial for the urban biosphere such as regulation of micro-climates, flood prevention, water treatment, food provision and more. However, most NBS are implemented serving only one single purpose. Adopting the concept of circular economy by combining different types of services and returning resources to the city, would increase the benefits gained for urban areas.

The COST Action CA17133 "Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful circular city" aims to establish a network testing the hypothesis that a circular flow system that implements NBS for managing nutrients and resources within the urban biosphere will lead to a resilient, sustainable and healthy urban environment.

To tackle this challenge the Action comprises five working groups (WGs):

WG1: Built environment

WG2: Sustainable urban water utilisation

WG3: Resource recovery

WG4: Urban Farming

WG5: Transformation tools

The network of researches, companies and stakeholders from more than 40 countries spread over whole Europe brings together a large diversity of disciplines and is therefore well equipped taking holistic approach on embedding NBS within circular economy. In the presentation we will present the first results already achieved and the future plans of the Action.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for “typical Dutch” houses failure: experiments and numerical modelling comparison.
Authors: Díaz Loaiza Manuel Andrés , Bratz Benedikt , Bricker Jeremy , Korswagen PAul
Published: March 2020

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)  for “typical Dutch” houses failure: experiments and numerical modelling comparison.

Authors: Andres Diaz Loaiza1, Benedikt Bratz1,2, Jeremy Bricker1 and Paul Korswagen1

1- Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk, Technical University of Delft, 1- Technische Universität Braunschweig

 

Coastal and riverine floods can be a catastrophic natural hazard with importance consequences. Many of the casualties occurring during these events can be attributed to the collapse of residential houses, and it is thus required to gain knowledge about the failure mechanism of these structures. Multiple variables can lead to various flow conditions that will in turn represent different load pressures over the house; among these, the type of the material (used in the construction), the orientation angle in respect to the main flow direction, the shape of the structure, and the urban density (blockage ratio), are relevant. In the present paper, small scale experiments are compared with CFD simulations performed with openFOAM in order to obtain a numerical model than can predict different combinations of load pressures for various flood events.

 

The present study aims to represent different “typical Dutch” houses near or close to a dam break in which rapid high flow velocities and depths can be presented. The flow conditions and load pressures outputs are compared to physical results in order to validate the numerical model.
A two-phase dilatant debris flow model based on full scale shear stress and pore pressure measurements
Authors: Meyrat Guillaume
Published: March 2020

Since 2004, observations of shear and normal stresses have been collected at the base of naturally-triggered debris flows at the Illgraben observation station (Wallis, Switzerland) [1].   Because flow height and the normal force are simultaneously measured, and limited observations of basal fluid pore pressure are available, it is possible to investigate how the solid/fluid contents of the flow influence the measured shear stress.  The experimental results have emphasized two debris flow properties: (1) Debris flows are characterized by rocky or boulder-rich front, following by a fluidized tail. Consequently, the mass density varies from large values at the front of the flow to lower values towards the tail. A comparison between different debris flow events, however, likewise reveals that the streamwise change in density can vary dramatically between two different events. (2) The relationship between the measured shear and normal tress is highly non-linear. 

Operating on the assumption that the streamwise change in density (or equivalently change in streamwise composition) is primarily responsible for the observed non-linear stress behavior, we develop a rheological model describing two-phase debris flow motion. The underlying idea behind the model is that the granular content of the flow can dilate, changing the solid/fluid composition of the flow, and thereby alter the bulk flow density. The model allows us to estimate the correct debris flow composition for different classes of debris flow varying from granular to muddy fluid. Based on these results, we are then able to reproduce the measured shear stress data when we simulate the measured events numerically.  The results appear to confirm dilatant-type flow models proposed by Takahashi [2], and later developed in detail by Iverson and George [3]. The model is used to back-calculate recent debris flow events that occurred near Davos Switzerland in 2018/2019.

 

 

 

REFERENCES

McArdell, B.W., Bartelt, P. and Kowalski, J. (2007): Field observations of basal forces and fluid pore pressure in a debris flow, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 34, No. L07406.

 

Takahashi, T. (2007): Debris flows: mechanics, prediction and countermeasures, Taylor and Francis / Balkema, 448pp.

 

George, D. L., & Iverson, R. M. (2011). A two-phase debris-flow model that includes coupled evolution of volume fractions, granular dilatancy, and pore-fluid pressure. Italian journal of engineering geology and Environment, 43, 415-424.
Remote sensing of snow and atmosphere properties using Ocean and Land Colour Instrument on board Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission
Authors: Kokhanovsky Alexander , Box Jason , Vandecrux Baptiste , Kern Michael
Published: March 2020

In this work we propose a simple technique to derive snow and atmosphere properties from satellite top-of-atmosphere spectral reflectance observations using asymptotic radiative transfer theory valid for the case of weakly absorbing and optically thick media. The following snow properties are derived and analyzed: ice grain size, snow specific surface area, snow pollution load, snow spectral and broadband albedo. The developed retrieval technique includes both atmospheric correction and cloud screening routines and is based on Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) measurements on board Sentinel-3A, B. The spectral aerosol optical thickness, total ozone and water vapour column are derived fitting the measured and simulated OLCI-registered spectral reflectances at 21 OLCI channels.

The derived results are validated using ground - based observations. It follows that satellite observations can be used to study time series of spectral and broadband albedo over Greenland. The deviations of satellite and ground observations are due to problems with cloud screening over snow and also due to different spatial scale of satellite and ground observations (Kokhanovsky et al., 2020).

Acknowledgements

The work has been supported by the European Space Agency in the framework of ESRIN contract No. 4000118926/16/I-NB ‘Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions (SEOM) Sentinel-3 Snow (Sentinel-3 for Science, Land Study 1: Snow’) and ESRIN contract 4000125043 – ESA/AO/1-9101/17/I-NB EO science for society ‘Pre-operational Sentinel-3 snow and ice products’.

References

Kokhanovsky, A.A., et al. (2020), The determination of snow albedo from satellite observations using fast atmospheric correction technique, Remote Sensing, 12 (2), 234,  https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12020234.
Social and environmental dynamics in a charcoal producing area: The case of Central Pokot, Kenya
Authors: Petersen Maike , Bergmann Christoph , Roden Paul , Nüsser Marcus
Published: March 2020

Wood charcoal ranks amongst the most commercialized but least regulated commodities in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite its prevalence as an energy source for cooking and heating, the localized environmental and livelihood impacts of charcoal production are poorly understood. This research deficit is amplified by widespread negative views of this activity as a poverty-driven cause of deforestation and land-degradation. However, the charcoal-degradation nexus is apparently more complicated, not least because the extraction of biomass from already degraded woodlands can be sustainable under various management regimes. In a case study in Central Pokot, Kenya, where charcoal production began in earnest in the early 1990’s we have investigated the social and environmental dynamics that are interlinked with the production of charcoal. Our methodological approach integrates remote sensing techniques with empirically based social scientific analyses across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Our results show that the area has undergone significant changes, both in the human and in the physical sphere. While the public opinion suggests a close connection between charcoal production and land degradation, a detailed Landsat-based land use and land cover change detection could not reveal a causal connection. In addition, a high-resolution analysis using an unmanned aerial system showed only minor effects of charcoal production on the vegetation. Our data indicates that rural small-scale production of charcoal has the potential to be transformed into a sustainable livelihood. Therefore, however, policy makers need to include their specific situation into the legal frameworks.
Gender and career-stage distribution at EGU General Assemblies
Authors: Toth Elena , Jesus-Rydin Claudia , Montanari Alberto
Published: March 2020

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is the leading organisation for Earth, planetary and space science research in Europe. The annual EGU General Assembly is the largest and most prominent European geosciences event, attracting over 16,000 scientists from all over the world in the year 2019. 
This presentation aims to present the results from gender and career stage distribution at the last (2015 to 2019) EGU General Assemblies (GA).  Data and statistics will be presented not only on the attendance, but also to the role in the general assembly, i.e. author, convener, presenter.
As expected, given the academic history of the geosciences as a male - dominated field, a gender gap is observed, with an overall gender breakdown of EGU GA’s attendance of about one third of women and two thirds of men; on the other hand, the fraction of female attendees is very slightly but constantly increasing in the years (and not only among early-career scientists). The percentage of female attendees in fact passed from 32.6% in 2015 to 33.8% in 2018 (the percentage in 2019 was even greater, but in that year the number of those who provided gender information dropped from 17% to 30%, so we consider the last year the less informative for the gender analysis).
In addition, when looking at organisational roles, much steeper is the increase in the fraction of female conveners: in fact the percentage of female conveners was 30.1% in 2018, that is much closer to that of the overall female attendees, whereas it was about 25.9% only 3 years earlier.
Looking at career stages, the percentage of early-career scientists among the overall attendees is substantially increased in the last years (from 43% in 2015 to 52% in 2019), and also in this case, the fraction of early-career conveners steeply raised too (from 30% in 2015 to 43% in 2019).
The analysis on the number of conveners, even if there is still a skew towards male and mid-career or senior scientists, shows that there has been a noticeable improvement in the balance of gender and career-stage over the last years in terms of key-roles in the organisation of the main EGU event.
Despite such improvement in term of convenorship, more can certainly be done inside the Union, and an attempt to provide constructive indications to further steps to the target of giving equal opportunities to researchers across gender and career-stage will also be given.
Comparing streamflow analysis and remote sensing observations to assess climate change impact on permafrost degradation
Authors: sergeant flore , therrien rene , oudin ludovic , jost anne , anctil françois
Published: March 2020

ABSTRACT

Due to polar amplification of climate change, high latitudes are warming up twice as fast as the rest of the world. This warming leads to permafrost thawing, which induces greenhouse gases release, ground subsidence, and modifies surface and subsurface hydrologic regimes. Ground subsidence in turn affects local infrastructure stability. In this context and to better manage future infrastructures and water resources of northern regions, it is crucial to be able to evaluate the thawing rate of permafrost.

In many Arctic zones, the frequency of environmental disturbances caused by permafrost thawing increases so rapidly that maintaining an accurate inventory of the state of permafrost at a regional scale represents a great challenge. Moreover, depending on the study area and the permafrost ice content, the thawing rate can vary from millimetres to decimeters per year. Another current challenge is the limited availability of temporal and spatial data on permafrost thawing rates.

To address the above challenges, two indirect methods are used: (1) Arctic river streamflow analysis method and (2) Ground settlement analysis method via satellite image observation. Both methods use free-access data that have an exceptionally large temporal and spatial coverage capacity for such a poorly instrumented region. The first method analyses the recession events’ behavior of Arctic streams and relates those behaviors to changes in catchment-scale depth to permafrost that influences storage-discharge dynamics. This work differs from previous hydrological system analysis in northern systems in that it looks at long-term trends (>10 years) in recession intercept to assess permafrost dynamics, while other studies looked at recession characteristics within a season to assess active-layer dynamics. The second method analyses satellite images of the Arctic ground and associates surface elevation change to long-term permafrost degradation due to climate change.

Both methods have already been tested through multiple local investigations and gave promising results. The recession flow analysis method has been applied to Yukon river basin, northern Sweden basins and Lena basin in Siberia, while the remote sensing analysis method has been tested on Baffin Island, Herschel Island in Canada, North Slope of Alaska and the Tibetan Plateau. However, no comparative study and no large-scale application have been conducted so far. Extending the analysis to hundreds of Arctic basins and comparing the resulting permafrost-thawing rate values from both methods constitute the innovative aspect of this project.

 

KEY WORDS: climate change, permafrost thawing, storage-discharge dynamics, ground subsidence, satellite images
Uncertainties of climate and CO2 impacts on carbon stocks and biome distribution in Africa
Authors: Martens Carola , Hickler Thomas , Davis-Reddy Claire , Engelbrecht Francois , Higgins Steven I. , von Maltitz Graham P. , Midgley Guy F. , Pfeiffer Mirjam , Scheiter Simon
Published: March 2020

Climate change is expected to cause vegetation change in Africa, with profound impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity. Projections of future ecosystem states are constrained by uncertainties regarding relative impacts of climate change and CO2 fertilisation effects. Rising atmospheric CO2 drives climate change, but also directly affects plant physiological functions via carbon uptake, carbon allocation, water use efficiency, and growth. We use the adaptive Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (aDGVM) to quantify uncertainties in projected African vegetation until 2099. High-resolution climate forcing for the aDGVM, was generated by regional climate modelling. An ensemble of 24 aDGVM simulations based on six downscaled General Circulation Models (GCMs) under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs 4.5 and 8.5) with plant-physiological CO2 effects enabled and disabled was implemented.

Under strong climatic change with high CO2 increases (RCP 8.5), almost a third of terrestrial Africa is projected to experience biome changes with woody encroachment into grassy biomes dominating biome changes. Projections under medium-impact scenarios (RCP 4.5) still predict biome changes for around a quarter of Africa. With climate change only and elevated-CO2 effects disabled, woody encroachment is weak and reduction of forest cover in favour of savannas prevails. Change in aboveground vegetation carbon until 2099 varied from a strong increase under elevated CO2 (61.5%, RCP 8.5; 33.9%, RCP 4.5) to a small increase of 5.4% (RCP 4.5) and a decrease of -13.6% (RCP 8.5) without CO2 effects.

CO2 effects in combination with RCP scenarios caused the greatest uncertainty in projected ecosystem changes. Downscaled GCM projections caused weaker uncertainties in the simulations. Future biome changes due to climate and CO2 change are therefore likely in large parts of Africa. Their magnitude and location often remain uncertain. Climate mitigation and adaptation response measures that rely upon vegetation-derived ecosystem services will need to account for alternative climate futures.
3D identification and quantification of multi-phase diagenetic carbonate mineralogy using µ-computed tomography: roadmap to original isotope geochemistry of altered archives
Authors: Krause Stefan , Liebetrau Volker , Engelkes Karolin , Büsse Sebastian , Jurikova Hana , Nehrke Gernot , Gorb Stanislav , Eisenhauer Anton
Published: March 2020

Marine biogenic carbonate deposits are important climate archives as environmental conditions during mineral genesis are recorded chemically in the crystal lattice. When exposed to diagenetic alteration metastable carbonate phases as aragonite are prone to transform into more stable calcite, Mg-calcite or dolomite resulting in the loss of the original geochemical information. As diagenetic alteration is often heterogeneous, numerous carbonate archives are characterized by multi-phase compositions, including potentially unaltered remains of primary formation. Consequently, high-spatial-resolution identification of adjacent carbonate mineral phases is of key interest to constrain diagenetic fronts, as well as the degree and pattern of a carbonate archive alteration, and the deciphering of relevant geochemical proxy information.

The aim of the present study is to contribute to the localization of potentially unaltered localities within heterogeneous carbonate samples, enhancing the retrieval of original geochronological and proxy information. Using natural tropical fossil coral samples as an example, we present an approach for the 3D-identification of multiple carbonate phases using µ-computed tomography scans with a resolution on a µm scale. The straightforward discrimination of aragonite, calcite, and dolomite from CT-imaging is principally hampered by the similar X-ray densities of these carbonate phases. To overcome this problem, reference material blocks for each of the three carbonate minerals were scanned together with the carbonate sample. Using the AVIZO 2019 software package in combination with a self-developed Tool command language (Tcl) script each of the carbonate reference blocks within the scanned volume was systematically subsampled for its voxel grey values. The obtained data set was statistically analysed and a robust mean voxel grey-value was calculated for each reference mineral. Subsequently, these mean grey values were used for the automated selection of seed points for subsequent image segmentation throughout the entire scanned volume based on a self-developed Tcl script. After seed point definition mineral identification was carried out throughout the volume using the watershed algorithm as a region-based image segmentation method. The final result yielded an approximation of the 3D-distribution of identified carbonate phases throughout the sample on a µm scale, which represents an excellent starting point for subsampling strategy development. 
Stimulating implementation of best management practices to reduce pesticide loads to surface water in a small agricultural catchment
Authors: Seuntjens Piet , Pauwelyn Ellen , Belmans Els , Joris Ingeborg , Dupon Elien , Kerselaers Eva , Borremans Lieve , Lammens Saskia , Keupers Ingrid
Published: March 2020

High-quality, safe, and sufficient drinking water is essential for life: we use it for drinking, food preparation and cleaning. Agriculture is the biggest source of pesticides and nitrate pollution in European fresh waters. Pesticide occurrences in rivers result from diffuse runoff from farmland or from point sources from the farmyard. Although many best management practices (BMPs) to mitigate these diffuse and point sources are developed and widely disseminated for several years, the effective implementation of mitigation measures in practice remains limited. Therefore, the Waterprotect project has been set up to improve the knowledge and awareness of the impact of crop protection products on the water quality among the many actors, to identify the bottlenecks for implementation of suitable BMPs and further develop new governance strategies to overcome these issues for a more effective drinking water protection. As all actors share the responsibility to deal with the water quality, government agencies (e.g. environmental agencies), private actors (e.g. drinking water company, input supplier, processing industry) and civil society actors (e.g. farmers) are involved in the project. Processes to cope with the problem are initiated in 7 action labs among which the Belgian Bollaertbeek action lab. The study area is a small agricultural catchment where surface water is used as intake to produce drinking water for the nearby city. The area is sensitive to erosion and based on a physical analysis and risk analysis of the catchment, the implementation of filling and cleaning places on individual farms and buffer strips along the watercourse are proposed as suitable measures to tackle the pollution problem. In order to implement them, mechanisms to increase the involvement of targeted farmers and alternative governance systems are studied. Results of the analysis of the water quality issues and the water governance system in the Belgian Bollaertbeek action lab and the strategies to try to improve the uptake of mitigation measures to improve water quality will be presented.
Paleoenvironmental indications and cyclostratigraphic studies of sediments from tropical Lake Towuti obtained from downhole logging
Authors: Ulfers Arne , Hesse Katja , Wonik Thomas
Published: March 2020

Lake Towuti is a tectonic lake on central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is located within the Indo Pacific Warm Pool, a convection cell which has major impact on tropical climate and the ability to project its influence on a global scale (Chiang, 2009; De Deckker, 2016). Pre-site surveys using seismic methods and piston cores indicated that sediments in Lake Towuti provide best conditions to obtain a long-term paleoclimate record in this key region (Russel et al., 2014).  

During an ICDP-project in 2015, downhole logging equipment of the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics was used at two drill-sites to record a series of chemical and physical parameters (spectral gamma ray, magnetic susceptibility, resistivity, sonic velocity, dipmeter, ultrasonic imaging of the borehole wall). Continuous lithological logs based on downhole logging data were constructed using cluster analysis. Although the spatial resolution of constructed logs is not as detailed as core descriptions, good correlation to core descriptions and differentiation between the upper lacustrine facies and the lower pre-lacustrine facies (Russell et al., 2016) show that cluster analysis is a powerful tool in giving an instant overview of in situ sediments and determining their physical properties.

Cyclostratigraphic methods in downhole logging can help developing a better understanding of sedimentation rates and thus improving age-depth models for lacustrine sediments (Molinie and Ogg, 1990; Hinnov, 2013; Baumgarten et al., 2015). In case of Lake Towuti, a magnetic susceptibility log from the upper lacustrine facies (0-98 meters below lake floor) was analysed to calculate changes in sediment influx. A careful pre-processing of the data is crucial to secure undisturbed amplitude spectra. This includes the identification and exclusion of event-layers (tephra and turbidite-like mass movement deposits) from the log. Also side effects of those layers to surrounding sediments were diminished from the record.

Sedimentation rates for certain parts were calculated and complement the preliminarily age model derived from 14C- (Russel et al., 2014) and tephra-dating (A. Deino, personal communication, December, 2018). Further refining of the model and omission of an interpretation of long cyclicities results in the most detailed age-depth model for Lake Towuti, and thus is a fundamental step towards our understanding of paleoclimate processes in this region.
Climate monitoring products for Europe based on Surface in-situ Observations
Authors: van den Besselaar Else , van der Schrier Gerard , Tveito Ole Einar , Isotta Francesco , Jones Phil , Chimani Barbara , Lakatos Monika , Bissolli Peter , Stepanek Petr
Published: March 2020

This C3S service provides various observational surface in-situ datasets for Europe. Its core builds on the European Climate Assessment and Dataset (ECA&D) and the gridded E-OBS daily datasets for Europe. The pan-European E-OBS datasets for temperature, precipitation and sea level pressure are now available as ensemble datasets. Additional gridded datasets for other Essential Climate Variables are developed, like global radiation, wind speed and relative humidity. Next to the pan-European datasets, regional datasets for the Nordic, Alpine and Carphatian regions are available.

Climate monitoring products such as the indices defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) are
available. Within this service, uncertainty estimates are provided as well for the pan-European datasets and indices.

All the information from these datasets and indices will flow into monthly State of the Climate reports which are available around the
25th of the next month from the dedicated portal for this service. The annual State of the Climate reports are created more centrally within
C3S and this service provides input for that report as well.

 
Ionospheric Weather Observations of FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2
Authors: Chang Fu-Yuan , Liu Jann-Yenq , Lin Chi-Yen , Chen Shih-Ping , Lin Charles
Published: March 2020

FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (F7/C2), with the mission orbit of 550 km altitude, 24-deg inclination, and a period of 97 minutes, was launched on June 25, 2019.  Tri-GNSS Radio occultation (RO) receiver System (TGRS), Ion Velocity Meter (IVM), and RF Beacon (RFB) onboard F7/C2 six small satellites allow scientists to three-dimensionally observe the plasma structure and dynamics in the mid-latitude, low-latitude, and equatorial ionosphere.  Measurements of F7/C2 RO as well as the IVM ion density, ion temperature, and ion velocity have a better understanding on mechanisms of the plasma depletion bays, non-migrating tides, and scintillations.  Moreover, observations of ionospheric F7/C2 RO electron density profiles and the total electron content derived from global ground-based GNSS receivers are used to carry out ionospheric weather monitoring, nowcast, and forecast for positioning, navigation, and communication application.
Enhancing alpine glacial lakes detection and mapping using multi-source data and machine learning techniques
Authors: Wangchuk Sonam , Bolch Tobias
Published: March 2020

An accurate detection and mapping of glacial lakes in the Alpine regions such as the Himalayas, the Alps and the Andes are challenged by many factors. These factors include 1) a small size of glacial lakes, 2) cloud cover in optical satellite images, 3) cast shadows from mountains and clouds, 4) seasonal snow in satellite images, 5) varying degree of turbidity amongst glacial lakes, and 6) frozen glacial lake surface. In our study, we propose a fully automated approach, that overcomes most of the above mentioned challenges, to detect and map glacial lakes accurately using multi-source data and machine learning techniques such as the random forest classifier algorithm. The multi-source data are from the Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar data (radar backscatter), the Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument data (NDWI), and the SRTM digital elevation model (slope). We use these data as inputs for the rule-based segmentation of potential glacial lakes, where decision rules are implemented from the expert system. The potential glacial lake polygons are then classified either as glacial lakes or non-glacial lakes by the trained and tested random forest classifier algorithm. The performance of the method was assessed in eight test sites located across the Alpine regions (e.g. the Boshula mountain range and Koshi basin in the Himalayas, the Tajiks Pamirs, the Swiss Alps and the Peruvian Andes) of the word. We show that the proposed method performs efficiently irrespective of geographic, geologic, climatic, and glacial lake conditions.
Permian inheritance : post-orogenic extension and metamorphic core complex formation (Western Pyrenees)
Authors: Saspiturry Nicolas , Cochelin Bryan , Razin Philippe , Leleu Sophie , Issautier Benoit , Serrano Olivier , Baudin Thierry , Allanic Cécile
Published: March 2020

This study documents the sedimentary and structural response of continental crust in relatively hot lithosphere that is subjected to extension. We focus on the Permian rift system in the Western Pyrenees, where the narrow, post-orogenic intracontinental extensional Bidarray Basin is in contact with late Variscan granulites of the Ursuya massif. The western margin of the N-S trending Bidarray Basin preserves alluvial fans dominated by hyperconcentrated flows and interdigitating eastward into a N-S trending fluvial system. Structural analysis of the Ursuya granulites shows that they underwent orogen-parallel mid-crustal flow and were exhumed owing to strain localization during retrogressive metamorphism within an extensional shear zone flanking an E-W elongated domal structure. We show that the Bidarray Basin formed during Permian time on the hanging wall of a south-vergent detachment system that developed in response to the formation of an immature “a-type” metamorphic core complex (the Ursuya massif) under regional E-W extension, resulting in homogeneous thinning of the hot crust. This core complex was later exposed by denudation during Cenomanian time. The preservation of the Permian and Triassic paleogeography and structure indicates that there has been no lateral motion between Iberia and Europe in the study area. The Cretaceous Pamplona transfer zone, responsible for the shift of the Mesozoic rift axis, reactivated a N-S trending Permian crustal heterogeneity.
Approaches to minimising risk in glaciated terrain travel
Authors: Galton-Fenzi Benjamin , Winberry J Paul , Comery Jacqueline , Wilson Geoff
Published: March 2020

With expeditions into glaciated regions on the planet becoming more commonplace there is a need to be able to make route assessments to identify potential hazards for safe operational planning. We use an example from the recently completed "the Longest Journey", a polar expedition that has broken the record for the longest solo unsupported polar journey in human history. The expedition route is in excess of 5,600 kilometres, commencing at the Russian Novolaskaya Station (Novo), to the Pole of Inaccessibility, to Dome Argus (Dome A), and returning to Novo. The estimation and provision of several derived quantities were provided along the route that included inferred crevassing potential of the, supplemented by reporting of additional terrain conditions and hazards. Here we present the route analysis and evaluation with what was actually found under field conditions with footage obtained during the traverse. We show significant success with apriori route planning can be obtained by careful analysis and expert interpretation of available data, that include satellite data based on visible and radar imagery. This approach to minimising hazard exposure can be usefully applied to other operations, including travel over remote and glaciated field locations for science and expedition purposes.
Numerical Simulation of Ultra-short Laser Pulses Propagation in Gas Media
Authors: Cidorkina Katsiaryna , Svetashev Alexander , Bruchkouski Ilya , Barodka Siarhei , Turishev Leonid
Published: March 2020

Over the past ten years, important theoretical and practical results have been obtained in the field of interaction of high-power ultra-short laser pulses with solid transparent media. These results are significant for nonlinear optics and laser physics and are of practical interest for the development of femtosecond laser technology in sensing the environment, in the management of electrical discharge, in microphotonics.

However, many of the physical aspects of the supercontinuum generation and distribution of high-power femtosecond and attosecond laser pulses in an optically transparent gas media are not clear and require a detailed theoretical study.

Main objectives of the present study are the numerical simulation of high-intensity femtosecond pulses in the air, given the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and the stimulated Raman self-mode (SRSM) on pure nitrogen and oxygen molecules as well as on their mixtures.

Computer programs have been developed for solving nonlinear equations associated with the SRS and SRSM on the basis of a semi-classical energetic and wave theory with the help of numerical methods.

All calculations were made in the Visual Studio C ++ and Java programming environment.

The SRS mode for the distance of up to 5m for the main components of the air - nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%), in addition to the dynamics of the change of the pulse energy for different initial values have been calculated.

The propagation of SRMS laser pulses (λ=400, 800 nm; τ= 14, 20 fs) with positive chirp was numerically investigated for pulse energies 2π, π, π/100 and βz = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5.

The results obtained show that the dynamics of pulse propagation in SRMS mode is nonlinear in the pulse shape and spectrum.

It was estimated that the calculation results in energetic and wave models for βz≤1.5 are similar.