The challenge of non-stationary feedbacks within the response of debris-covered glaciers to climate forcing

Author(s):  
Anna Wirbel ◽  
Lindsey Nicholson ◽  
Christoph Mayer ◽  
Astrid Lambrecht

<p><strong>The challenge of non-stationary feedbacks within the response of debris-covered glaciers to climate forcing</strong></p><p>Debris-covered glaciers are a feature of many mountain ranges around the world and their proportion is expected to increase under continued climate warming.</p><p>The impact of debris cover on glacier behavior, via its profound modification of the glacier ablation regime, causes debris-covered glaciers to respond to the same climate forcing in a markedly different way to clean ice glaciers. In order to better understand how debris cover impacts the glacier’s response to climate forcing, we revisit the concept of steady state and examine it for a debris-covered glacier system. We present simple modeling results to explore how the development and evolution of debris cover affects the potential for steady-state and how feedbacks instigated by supraglacial debris cover complicate the glacier’s response to a prescribed steady climate. These investigations highlight the non-stationarity induced by the presence of debris and as a result, that debris cannot be considered as a static component, as it is a highly dynamic component which affects the glacier system in different ways.</p><p><br><br></p>

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 313-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zi-Chu Xie ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
Qing-Hua Feng ◽  
Er’si Kang ◽  
Chao-Hai Liu ◽  
...  

AbstractA glacier system is regarded as the ensemble of many glaciers sharing the same region, influenced by a similar climate and organized by certain intrinsic laws. It can be either ‘sensitive’ or ‘steady’. On the basis of the structure of the glacier system and the nature of the equilibrium-line altitudes at the steady state, functional models of a glacier system responding to climate warming were established, using the Kotlyakov–Krenke equation relating annual glacier ablation and mean summer temperature and the glacier system’s median size. The modeling results under the climatic scenarios with a rate of temperature increase of 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05 K a-1 indicate that by the end of this century the glacial area of China will be reduced by –14%, –40%and –60% respectively. However, model results show distinct differences between the sensitive glacier system and the steady glacier system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Nicholson ◽  
Anna Wirbel ◽  
Christoph Mayer ◽  
Astrid Lambrecht

Ongoing changes in mountain glaciers affect local water resources, hazard potential and global sea level. An increasing proportion of remaining mountain glaciers are affected by the presence of a surface cover of rock debris, and the response of these debris-covered glaciers to climate forcing is different to that of glaciers without a debris cover. Here we take a back-to-basics look at the fundamental terms that control the processes of debris evolution at the glacier surface, to illustrate how the trajectory of debris cover development is partially decoupled from prevailing climate conditions, and that the development of a debris cover over time should prevent the glacier from achieving steady state. We discuss the approaches and limitations of how this has been treated in existing modeling efforts and propose that “surrogate world” numerical representations of debris-covered glaciers would facilitate the development of well-validated parameterizations of surface debris cover that can be used in regional and global glacier models. Finally, we highlight some key research targets that would need to be addressed in order to enable a full representation of debris-covered glacier system response to climate forcing.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inês Freitas ◽  
Soumia Fahd ◽  
Guillermo Velo-Antón ◽  
Fernando Martínez-Freiría

Abstract The Maghreb region (North Africa) constitutes a major component of the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot. During the last centuries, a consistent human population growth has led to an unprecedented rate of habitat transformation and loss in the region and thus, threatening its biodiversity. The Western Mediterranean viper Vipera latastei-monticola inhabits humid and subhumid areas in the main mountain ranges of the Maghreb, facing such threatening factors; however, its elusive character and rarity hindered data collection for distinct biological purposes. Here, we study the biogeographical patterns and conservation status of the Maghrebian V. latastei-monticola resulting from recent sampling campaigns in Morocco and Tunisia. We update species distribution, and integrate phylogeographic and ecological niche modelling analyses at both species and lineage level to identify suitable areas, and to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic transformation and level of protection of their suitable space. We identified four highly divergent mitochondrial lineages, including a new lineage endemic to the Western High Atlas, with allopatric distributions and restricted to mountain ranges, supporting the role of mountains as past climatic refugia. Despite the remoteness of suitable areas, we report widespread habitat degradation and identify the low effectiveness of the current protected areas system in preserving the species and lineages range. Our study shows the urgent need to apply management actions for the long-term conservation of this vulnerable species and suggests a revaluation of the specific status of V. monticola, as these populations likely represent an ecotype of V. latastei.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 367
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Giannokostas ◽  
Yannis Dimakopoulos ◽  
Andreas Anayiotos ◽  
John Tsamopoulos

The present work focuses on the in-silico investigation of the steady-state blood flow in straight microtubes, incorporating advanced constitutive modeling for human blood and blood plasma. The blood constitutive model accounts for the interplay between thixotropy and elasto-visco-plasticity via a scalar variable that describes the level of the local blood structure at any instance. The constitutive model is enhanced by the non-Newtonian modeling of the plasma phase, which features bulk viscoelasticity. Incorporating microcirculation phenomena such as the cell-free layer (CFL) formation or the Fåhraeus and the Fåhraeus-Lindqvist effects is an indispensable part of the blood flow investigation. The coupling between them and the momentum balance is achieved through correlations based on experimental observations. Notably, we propose a new simplified form for the dependence of the apparent viscosity on the hematocrit that predicts the CFL thickness correctly. Our investigation focuses on the impact of the microtube diameter and the pressure-gradient on velocity profiles, normal and shear viscoelastic stresses, and thixotropic properties. We demonstrate the microstructural configuration of blood in steady-state conditions, revealing that blood is highly aggregated in narrow tubes, promoting a flat velocity profile. Additionally, the proper accounting of the CFL thickness shows that for narrow microtubes, the reduction of discharged hematocrit is significant, which in some cases is up to 70%. At high pressure-gradients, the plasmatic proteins in both regions are extended in the flow direction, developing large axial normal stresses, which are more significant in the core region. We also provide normal stress predictions at both the blood/plasma interface (INS) and the tube wall (WNS), which are difficult to measure experimentally. Both decrease with the tube radius; however, they exhibit significant differences in magnitude and type of variation. INS varies linearly from 4.5 to 2 Pa, while WNS exhibits an exponential decrease taking values from 50 mPa to zero.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Jia ◽  
Minghui Jiang ◽  
Lei Shi

From the perspective of the interactive cooperation among subjects, this paper portrays the process of cooperative innovation in industrial cluster, in order to capture the correlated equilibrium relationship among them. Through the utilization of two key tools, evolutionary stable strategy and replicator dynamics equations, this paper considers the cost and gains of cooperative innovation and the amount of government support as well as other factors to build and analyze a classic evolutionary game model. On this basis, the subject’s own adaptability is introduced, which is regarded as the system noise in the stochastic evolutionary game model so as to analyze the impact of adaptability on the game strategy selection. The results show that, in the first place, without considering subjects’ adaptability, their cooperation in industrial clusters depends on the cost and gains of innovative cooperation, the amount of government support, and some conditions that can promote cooperation, namely, game steady state. In the second place after the introduction of subjects’ adaptability, it will affect both game theory selection process and time, which means that the process becomes more complex, presents the nonlinear characteristics, and helps them to make faster decisions in their favor, but the final steady state remains unchanged.


Author(s):  
Dipankar Dua ◽  
Brahmaji Vasantharao

Industrial and aeroderivative gas turbines when used in CHP and CCPP applications typically experience an increased exhaust back pressure due to pressure losses from the downstream balance-of-plant systems. This increased back pressure on the power turbine results not only in decreased thermodynamic performance but also changes power turbine secondary flow characteristics thus impacting lives of rotating and stationary components of the power turbine. This Paper discusses the Impact to Fatigue and Creep life of free power turbine disks subjected to high back pressure applications using Siemens Energy approach. Steady State and Transient stress fields have been calculated using finite element method. New Lifing Correlation [1] Criteria has been used to estimate Predicted Safe Cyclic Life (PSCL) of the disks. Walker Strain Initiation model [1] is utilized to predict cycles to crack initiation and a fracture mechanics based approach is used to estimate propagation life. Hyperbolic Tangent Model [2] has been used to estimate creep damage of the disks. Steady state and transient temperature fields in the disks are highly dependent on the secondary air flows and cavity dynamics thus directly impacting the Predicted Safe Cyclic Life and Overall Creep Damage. A System-level power turbine secondary flow analyses was carried out with and without high back pressure. In addition, numerical simulations were performed to understand the cavity flow dynamics. These results have been used to perform a sensitivity study on disk temperature distribution and understand the impact of various back pressure levels on turbine disk lives. The Steady Sate and Transient Thermal predictions were validated using full-scale engine test and have been found to correlate well with the test results. The Life Prediction Study shows that the impact on PSCL and Overall Creep damage for high back pressure applications meets the product design standards.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongqi Feng ◽  
Tianshu Zhang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the driving forces and structural changes of China as a market provider for Korea. This paper gives the answers for the following questions: How do China’s final demands trigger the growth of its imports from Korea? And what’s the impact of China’s final demands on the import in different industries? Design/methodology/approach Based on the Multi-Regional Input-Output model and World Input-Output Table database, this paper constructs the non-competitive imports input-output (IO) table of China to Korea. According to this table, we can calculate the induced imports coefficient and comprehensive induced import coefficients of China’s four final demands for imports from Korea in the 56 industries in China. Findings Among the four driving forces, the strongest one is changes in inventories and valuables. The impact of final consumption expenditure and fixed capital formation is much lower than that of changes in inventories and valuables, but they have a broader impact for the 56 industries. This paper finds out the China’s import induction of the final demands to Korea peaked in 2005 and 2010 and decreased greatly in 2014, so the position of China as market provider for Korea will no longer rise substantially, contrarily it will be in a steady state. Originality/value First, this paper constructs the non-competitive IO table to analyze the market provider issues between two countries and provides practical ways and methods for studies on the issues of imports and market provider. Second, this paper investigates the different roles of four final demands on driving force of China as market provider for Korea and the structural changes of China as a market provider for Korea among 56 industries from 2000 to 2014.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Purushottam Kumar Garg ◽  
Aparna Shukla ◽  
Santosh Kumar Rai ◽  
Jairam Singh Yadav

<p>This study presents field evidences (October 2018) and remote sensing measurements (2000-2020) to show stagnant conditions of lower ablation zone (LAZ) of the ‘companion glacier’, central Himalaya, India and its implication on the morphological evolution. The Companion glacier is named so as it accompanied the Chorabari glacier (widely studied benchmark glacier in the central Himalaya) in the distant past. Supraglacial debris thickness, supraglacial ponds anf other morphological features (e.g. lateral moraine height, supraglacial mounds) were measured/observed in the field. Glacier area, length, debris extent, surface elevation change and surface ice velocity were estimated using satellite remote sensing data from Landsat-TM/ETM+/OLI, Sentinel-MSI, Terra-ASTER and SRTM, Cartosat-1 and Google Earth images. Results show that the glacier has very small accumulation area and it is mainly fed by avalanches. The headwall of glacier is very steep which causes frequent avalanches leading to voluminous debris addition to the glacier system. Consequently, about 80% area of the glacier is debris-covered. The debris is very thick in the LAZ exceeding several meters in the LAZ and comprised of big boulders making debris thickness measurements practically impossible particularly in the snout region. However, debris thickness decreases with increasing distance from the snout and is in the order of 20-40 cm at about 2.5 km upglacier. The huge debris cover has protected the glacier ice from rapid melting. That’s why surface lowering of the glacier is less as compared to nearby Chorabari glacier. Moreover, due to (a) less mass supply from upper reaches and (b) huge debris cover, the glacier movement is very slow. The movement is too low that is allowed vegetation (some big grasses with wooded stems) to grow and survive on the glacier surface. The slow moving LAZ also causing bulging on the upper ablation zone (UAZ). Consequently, several mounds have developed on the UAZ. Thin debris slides down from mounds exposing the ice underneath for melting. Owing to these processes, spot melting is now a dominant mechanism of glacier wastage in the companion glacier. Thus, it can be summarized that careful field observations along with remote sensing estimates can be very important for understanding the glacier evolution.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1034-1052
Author(s):  
Denis Yu. SAMYGIN

Subject. This article examines the impact of the natural and economic conditions and factors of Russia's regions on the development of agriculture. Objectives. The article aims to assess the role of climate forcing in the development of agriculture. Methods. For the study, I used the binning technique. An author-developed spatial database of Russia's regions for 2017–2019 was used as an information resource. The cadastral value of one hectare of agricultural land was used as an analytical expression of the natural and economic conditions of business activities. Results. The article describes a directly proportional dependence of and relationships between natural-and-economic conditions and achieved results in the production and consumption of quality products per capita. Conclusions. It is advisable to increase the amount of government support for regions with unfavorable production conditions, develop the competitive potential of the majority of farms in relation to products that are profitable for producers and consumers.


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