scholarly journals Climatic controls on mountain glacier basal thermal regimes dictate spatial patterns of glacial erosion

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 845-859
Author(s):  
Jingtao Lai ◽  
Alison M. Anders

Abstract. Climate has been viewed as a primary control on the rates and patterns of glacial erosion, yet our understanding of the mechanisms by which climate influences glacial erosion is limited. We hypothesize that climate controls the patterns of glacial erosion by altering the basal thermal regime of glaciers. The basal thermal regime is a first-order control on the spatial patterns of glacial erosion. Polythermal glaciers contain both cold-based portions that protect bedrock from erosion and warm-based portions that actively erode bedrock. In this study, we model the impact of various climatic conditions on glacier basal thermal regimes and patterns of glacial erosion in mountainous regions. We couple a sliding-dependent glacial erosion model with the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) to simulate the evolution of the glacier basal thermal regime and glacial erosion in a synthetic landscape. We find that both basal thermal regimes and glacial erosion patterns are sensitive to climatic conditions, and glacial erosion patterns follow the patterns of the basal thermal regime. Cold temperature leads to limited glacial erosion at high elevations due to cold-based conditions. Increasing precipitation can overcome the impact of cold temperature on the basal thermal regime by accumulating thick ice and lowering the melting point of ice at the base of glaciers. High precipitation rates, therefore, tend to cause warm-based conditions at high elevations, resulting in intensive erosion near the peak of the mountain range. Previous studies often assessed the impact of climate on the spatial patterns of glacial erosion by integrating climatic conditions into the equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) of glaciers, and glacial erosion is suggested to be maximal around the ELA. However, our results show that different climatic conditions produce glaciers with similar ELAs but different patterns of basal thermal regime and glacial erosion, suggesting that there might not be any direct correlation between ELAs and glacial erosion patterns.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingtao Lai ◽  
Alison M. Anders

Abstract. Climate has been viewed as a primary control on the rates and patterns of glacial erosion, yet our understanding of the mechanisms by which climate influences glacial erosion is limited. We hypothesize that climate controls the rates and patterns of glacial erosion by altering the basal thermal regime of glaciers. The basal thermal regime is a first-order control on the spatial patterns of glacial erosion. Polythermal glaciers contain both cold-based portions that protect bedrock from erosion and warm-based portions that actively erode bedrock. In this study, we model the impact of various climatic conditions on glacier basal thermal regimes and patterns of glacial erosion in mountainous regions. We couple a sliding-dependent glacial erosion model with the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) to simulate the evolution of the glacier basal thermal regime and glacial erosion in a synthetic landscape. We find that both basal thermal regimes and glacial erosion patterns are sensitive to climatic conditions and glacial erosion patterns follow the patterns of the basal thermal regime. Cold temperature leads to limited glacial erosion at high elevations due to cold-based conditions. Increasing precipitation can overcome the impact of cold temperature on the basal thermal regime by accumulating thick ice and lowering the melting point of ice at the base of glaciers. High precipitation rates, therefore, tend to cause warm-based conditions at high elevations, resulting in intensive erosion near the peak of the mountain range. Previous studies often assess the impact of climate on the spatial patterns of glacial erosion by integrating climatic conditions into the equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) of glaciers, and glacial erosion is suggested to be maximal around the ELA. However, our results show that different climatic conditions produce glaciers with similar ELAs but different patterns of basal thermal regime and glacial erosion, suggesting that there might not be any direct correlation between ELAs and glacial erosion patterns.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingtao Lai ◽  
Alison Anders

<p>The basal thermal regime of glaciers is a first-order control on the spatial patterns of glacial erosion. Polythermal glaciers contain both cold-based portions that protect bedrock from erosion and warm-based portions that actively erode bedrock. Climatic controls on the thermal structures of mountain glaciers and the spatial patterns of glacial erosion has received little study. In this study, we aim to fill this gap by modeling the impact of various climatic conditions on glacier basal thermal regimes and patterns of glacial erosion in mountainous regions. We couple a sliding-dependent glacial erosion model with the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) to simulate the evolution of the glacier basal thermal regime and glacial erosion in a synthetic landscape. We find that glacial erosion patterns follow the patterns of the basal thermal regime. Cold temperature leads to limited glacial erosion at high elevations due to cold-based conditions. Increasing precipitation could overcome the impact of cold temperature on the basal thermal regime by accumulating thick ice and lowering the melting point of ice at the base of glaciers. High precipitation rates, therefore, tend to cause warm-based conditions at high elevations, resulting in intensive erosion near the peak of the mountain range. Previous studies often assess the impact of climate on the spatial patterns of glacial erosion by integrating climatic conditions into the equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) of glaciers, and glacial erosion is suggested to be maximal around the ELAs. However, our results show that different climatic conditions could produce glaciers with similar ELAs but different patterns of basal thermal regime and glacial erosion, suggesting that there might not be any direct correlation between ELAs and glacial erosion patterns.</p>


2020 ◽  
pp. 50-64
Author(s):  
Kuladeep Kumar Sadevi ◽  
Avlokita Agrawal

With the rise in awareness of energy efficient buildings and adoption of mandatory energy conservation codes across the globe, significant change is being observed in the way the buildings are designed. With the launch of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in India, climate responsive designs and passive cooling techniques are being explored increasingly in building designs. Of all the building envelope components, roof surface has been identified as the most significant with respect to the heat gain due to the incident solar radiation on buildings, especially in tropical climatic conditions. Since ECBC specifies stringent U-Values for roof assembly, use of insulating materials is becoming popular. Along with insulation, the shading of the roof is also observed to be an important strategy for improving thermal performance of the building, especially in Warm and humid climatic conditions. This study intends to assess the impact of roof shading on building’s energy performance in comparison to that of exposed roof with insulation. A typical office building with specific geometry and schedules has been identified as base case model for this study. This building is simulated using energy modelling software ‘Design Builder’ with base case parameters as prescribed in ECBC. Further, the same building has been simulated parametrically adjusting the amount of roof insulation and roof shading simultaneously. The overall energy consumption and the envelope performance of the top floor are extracted for analysis. The results indicate that the roof shading is an effective passive cooling strategy for both naturally ventilated and air conditioned buildings in Warm and humid climates of India. It is also observed that a fully shaded roof outperforms the insulated roof as per ECBC prescription. Provision of shading over roof reduces the annual energy consumption of building in case of both insulated and uninsulated roofs. However, the impact is higher for uninsulated roofs (U-Value of 3.933 W/m2K), being 4.18% as compared to 0.59% for insulated roofs (U-Value of 0.33 W/m2K).While the general assumption is that roof insulation helps in reducing the energy consumption in tropical buildings, it is observed to be the other way when insulation is provided with roof shading. It is due to restricted heat loss during night.


Author(s):  
S.E. Rudov ◽  
◽  
V.Ya. Shapiro ◽  
O.I. Grigoreva ◽  
I.V. Grigorev ◽  
...  

In the Russian Federation logging operations are traditionally carried out in winter. This is due to the predominance of areas with swamped and water-logged (class III and IV) soils in the forest fund, where work of forestry equipment is difficult, and sometimes impossible in the warm season. The work of logging companies in the forests of the cryolithozone, characterized by a sharply continental climate, with severe frosts in winter, is hampered by the fact that forest machines are not recommended to operate at temperatures below –40 °C due to the high probability of breaking of metal structures and hydraulic system. At the same time, in the warm season, most of the cutting areas on cryosolic soils become difficult to pass for heavy forest machines. It turns out that the convenient period for logging in the forests of the cryolithozone is quite small. This results in the need of work in the so-called off-season period, when the air temperature becomes positive, and the thawing processes of the soil top layer begin. The same applies to the logging companies not operating in the conditions of cryosolic soils, for instance, in the Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, Vologda regions, etc. The observed climate warming has led to a significant reduction in the sustained period of winter logging. Frequent temperature transitions around 0 °C in winter, autumn and spring necessitate to work during the off-season too, while cutting areas thaw. In bad seasonal and climatic conditions, which primarily include off-season periods in general and permafrost in particular, it is very difficult to take into account in mathematical models features of soil freezing and thawing and their effect on the destruction nature. The article shows that the development of long-term predictive models of indicators of cyclic interaction between the skidding system and forest soil in adverse climatic conditions of off-season logging operations in order to improve their reliability requires rapid adjustment of the calculated parameters based on the actual experimental data at a given step of the cycles.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 3746
Author(s):  
Magdalena Polak-Śliwińska ◽  
Małgorzata Tańska

The benefits of natural honeybee products (e.g., honey, royal jelly, beeswax, propolis, beevenom and pollen) to the immune system are remarkable, and many of them are involved in the induction of antibody production, maturation of immune cells and stimulation of the immune system. The type of plants in the geographical area, climatic conditions and production method have a significantly influence on the nutritional quality of honey. However, this variability can influence consumer liking by the sensory attributes of the product. The aim of this work was to compare the most popular honeys from Poland in terms of nutritional value, organoleptic properties and antioxidant activity. In the study, five varieties of honey (honeydew, forest, buckwheat, linden and dandelion) from conventional and organic production methods were tested. The nutritional characteristics of honey samples included acidity, content of water, sugars, vitamin C, HMF and phenolics (total and flavonoids), while honey color, taste, aroma and consistency were investigated in the organoleptic characteristics. The antioxidant activity was determined in water- and ethanol-soluble honey extracts using DPPH and ORAC tests. The results showed that organoleptic and nutritional characteristics of popular Polish honeys differ significantly in relation to plant source and production method. The significant effect of honey variety on the content of HMF, saccharose and phenolics, as well as acidity and antioxidant capacity were noted. The impact of variety and variety × production method interaction was significant in the case of the content of vitamin C, glucose and fructose. A visible difference of buckwheat and forest honeys from other samples was observed. The highest content of total phenolics with antioxidant activity based on the SET mechanism was found in buckwheat honeys, while forest honeys were richer in flavonoids.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4139
Author(s):  
Muriel Diaz ◽  
Mario Cools ◽  
Maureen Trebilcock ◽  
Beatriz Piderit-Moreno ◽  
Shady Attia

Between the ages of 6 and 18, children spend between 30 and 42 h a week at school, mostly indoors, where indoor environmental quality is usually deficient and does not favor learning. The difficulty of delivering indoor air quality (IAQ) in learning facilities is related to high occupancy rates and low interaction levels with windows. In non-industrialized countries, as in the cases presented, most classrooms have no mechanical ventilation, due to energy poverty and lack of normative requirements. This fact heavily impacts the indoor air quality and students’ learning outcomes. The aim of the paper is to identify the factors that determine acceptable CO2 concentrations. Therefore, it studies air quality in free-running and naturally ventilated primary schools in Chile, aiming to identify the impact of contextual, occupant, and building design factors, using CO2 concentration as a proxy for IAQ. The monitoring of CO2, temperature, and humidity revealed that indoor air CO2 concentration is above 1400 ppm most of the time, with peaks of 5000 ppm during the day, especially in winter. The statistical analysis indicates that CO2 is dependent on climate, seasonality, and indoor temperature, while it is independent of outside temperature in heated classrooms. The odds of having acceptable concentrations of CO2 are bigger when indoor temperatures are high, and there is a need to ventilate for cooling.


Author(s):  
Nikolaj Dobrzinskij ◽  
Algimantas Fedaravicius ◽  
Kestutis Pilkauskas ◽  
Egidijus Slizys

Relevance of the article is based on participation of armed forces in various operations and exercises, where reliability of machinery is one of the most important factors. Transportation of soldiers as well as completion of variety of tasks is ensured by properly functioning technical equipment. Reliability of military vehicles – armoured SISU E13TP Finnish built and HMMWV M1025 USA built were selected as the object of the article. Impact of climatic conditions on reliability of the vehicles exploited in southwestern part of the Atlantic continental forest area is researched by a case study of the vehicles exploitation under conditions of the climate of Lithuania. Reliability of military vehicles depends on a number of factors such as properties of the vehicles and external conditions of their operation. Their systems and mechanisms are influenced by a number of factors that cause different failures. Climatic conditions represent one of the factors of operating load which is directly dependent on the climate zone. Therefore, assessment of the reliability is started with the analysis of climatic factors affecting operating conditions of the vehicles. Relationship between the impact of climatic factors and failure flow of the vehicles is presented and discussed.


Geomorphology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 223 ◽  
pp. 96-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivi K. Pedersen ◽  
Ritske S. Huismans ◽  
Frédéric Herman ◽  
David L. Egholm

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiemi Iba ◽  
Ayumi Ueda ◽  
Shuichi Hokoi

Purpose – Frost damage is well-known as the main cause of roof tile deterioration. The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical model for predicting the deterioration process under certain climatic conditions. This paper describes the results of a field survey conducted to acquire fundamental information useful to this aim. Design/methodology/approach – A field survey of roof tile damage by freezing was conducted in an old temple precinct in Kyoto, Japan. Using detailed observations and photographic recordings, the damage progress was clarified. To examine the impact of climatic conditions upon the damage characteristics, weather data and roof tile temperatures were measured and logged in the winter season. Findings – The deterioration process was observed under the climatic conditions associated with the measured temperature of the roof tiles. In particular, it was revealed that the orientation has a significant influence on increasing or decreasing the risk of frost damage. For certain distinctive forms of damage, the deterioration mechanisms were estimated from the viewpoint of the moisture flow and temperature distribution in the tile. Originality/value – This study contributes to the elucidation of the mechanism behind frost damage to roof tiles. The findings will guide the construction of a numerical model for frost damage prediction.


2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. A. Malcolm ◽  
D. M. Hannah ◽  
M. J. Donaghy ◽  
C. Soulsby ◽  
A. F. Youngson

Abstract. The spatio-temporal variability of stream water temperatures was investigated at six locations on the Girnock Burn (30km2 catchment), Cairngorms, Scotland over three hydrological years between 1998 and 2002. The key site-specific factors affecting the hydrology and climatology of the sampling points were investigated as a basis for physical process inference. Particular emphasis was placed on assessing the effects of riparian forest in the lower catchment versus the heather moorland riparian zones that are spatially dominant in the upper catchment. The findings were related to river heat budget studies that provided process detail. Gross changes in stream temperature were affected by the annual cycle of incoming solar radiation and seasonal changes in hydrological and climatological conditions. Inter-annual variation in these controlling variables resulted in inter-annual variability in thermal regime. However, more subtle inter-site differences reflected the impact of site-specific characteristics on various components of the river energy budget. Inter-site variability was most apparent at shorter time scales, during the summer months and for higher stream temperatures. Riparian woodland in the lower catchment had a substantial impact on thermal regime, reducing diel variability (over a period of 24 hours) and temperature extremes. Observed inter-site differences are likely to have a substantial effect on freshwater ecology in general and salmonid fish in particular. Keywords: temperature, thermal regime, forest, salmon, hydrology, Girnock Burn, Cairngorm


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