Initial development of precipitation and onset of cloud electrification in thunderstorms at Pune

Using one-minute interval data of electric field and the records of rainfall measured at the ground surface, time sequence in the initial registration of precipitation and the onset of cloud electrification was examined for a series of 14 thunderstorms of the year 1973 at Pune to study the relationship between the initial development of precipitation and intensification of cloud electrification. The combined result of the 14 storms studied, each of which yielded precipitation, indicated in-cloud development of precipitation at least 3-7 minutes in advance of onset of cloud electrification. It is inferred from the other supplementing studies published by other workers and from the above result that in most cases the precipitation development in thunderstorms is initiated well before the electric field begins to intensify. This result is in close agreement with the result of previous studies.

Landslide Characteristics and Evolution: What We Can Learn from Three Adjacent Landslides

Landslide processes are a consequence of the interactions between their triggers and the surrounding environment. Understanding the differences in landslide movement processes and characteristics can provide new insights for landslide prevention and mitigation. Three adjacent landslides characterized by different movement processes were triggered from August to September in 2018 in Hualong County, China. A combination of surface and subsurface characteristics illustrated that Xiongwa (XW) landslides 1 and 2 have deformed several times and exhibit significant heterogeneity, whereas the Xiashitang (XST) landslide is a typical retrogressive landslide, and its material has moved downslope along a shear surface. Time-series Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Differential InSAR (DInSAR) techniques were used to detect the displacement processes of these three landslides. The pre-failure displacement signals of a slow-moving landslide (the XST landslide) can be clearly revealed by using time-series InSAR. However, these sudden landslides, which are a typical catastrophic natural hazard across the globe, are easily ignored by time-series InSAR. We confirmed that effective antecedent precipitation played an important role in the three landslides’ occurrence. The deformation of an existing landslide itself can also trigger new adjacent landslides in this study. These findings indicate that landslide early warnings are still a challenge since landslide processes and mechanisms are complicated. We need to learn to live with natural disasters, and more relevant detection and field investigations should be conducted for landslide risk mitigation.

An efficient localized collocation solver for anomalous diffusion on surfaces

This paper introduces an efficient collocation solver, the generalized finite difference method (GFDM) combined with the recent-developed scale-dependent time stepping method (SD-TSM), to predict the anomalous diffusion behavior on surfaces governed by surface time-fractional diffusion equations. In the proposed solver, the GFDM is used in spatial discretization and SD-TSM is used in temporal discretization. Based on the moving least square theorem and Taylor series, the GFDM introduces the stencil selection algorithms to choose the stencil support of a certain node from the whole discretization nodes on the surface. It inherits the similar properties from the standard FDM and avoids the mesh generation, which is available particularly for high-dimensional irregular discretization nodes. The SD-TSM is a non-uniform temporal discretization method involving the idea of metric, which links the fractional derivative order with the non-uniform discretization strategy. Compared with the traditional time stepping methods, GFDM combined with SD-TSM deals well with the low accuracy in the early period. Numerical investigations are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed GFDM in conjunction with SD-TSM for solving either single or coupled fractional diffusion equations on surfaces.

Noise Correlations of Wavefield Gradients to Improve Sensitivity to (near surface, time-dependent) Structural Heterogeneity

<p>We assess the potential of rotational ground motions to resolve time-dependent near surface structural heterogeneities using noise correlations. Recent studies reveal an increased sensitivity of gradient related observations to near surface structural heterogeneities (e.g., material contrast, cavities) compared to directly measured wavefields (and their time derivatives). The development of new sensing technologies, such as rotational ground motion sensors and distributing acoustic sensing (DAS), enable measurements of strain and rotations and motivate this study. Combining gradient related observations with ambient noise-based monitoring methods has the potential to increase both spatial and temporal resolution. In order to investigate the suggested benefits, we perform a numerical study in 2D, where we simulate seismic noise with random sources at random locations. We apply interferometric principles and calculate cross-correlations of the resulting noise traces recorded at different receiver locations for multiple realizations of the noise field. After analysing the convergence of the correlation functions in terms of simulation length and number of simulations, we compare noise correlations of acceleration and rotation rate for a homogenous reference and a perturbed model. Ultimately, we establish that noise correlations of wavefield gradients are more sensitive than noise correlations of wavefields to small-scale heterogeneity.</p>

Detecting cold pools from soundings during EUREC4A

<p>We develop a novel method to detect cold pools from atmospheric soundings over tropical oceans and apply it to sounding data from EUREC<sup>4</sup>A. The proposed method exploits the fact that the air in a cold pool is denser than the air above it. It leads us to define cold pool soundings as those for which the mixed-layer height is smaller than 400 m. We first test this criterion by verifying its consistency with surface temperature and precipitation in a realistic high-resolution simulation over the western tropical Atlantic. Applying to EUREC<sup>4</sup>A data, we then identify 7 % of EUREC<sup>4</sup>A dropsondes and radiosondes as cold pool soundings. In two selected case studies, we find that cold pool soundings coincide with mesoscale cloud arcs and temperature drops in the surface time series. Statistics for the entire campaign further characterize the signature of cold pools in temperature, humidity and wind profiles. In the presence of wind shear, we show in particular that the spreading of cold pools is favored downshear, suggesting downward momentum transport by unsaturated downdrafts. These results support the robustness of our simple method in different environmental conditions and illustrate the new insights it offers for the characterization of cold pools and their environment. </p>

Estimating Inert Gas Bubbling from Simple SCUBA Diving Parameters

Inert gas bubbles frequently occur in SCUBA divers’ vascular systems, eventually leading to decompression accidents. Only in professional settings, dive profiles can be adjusted on individual basis depending on bubble grades detected through ultrasonography. A total of 342 open-circuit air dives following sports diving profiles were assessed using echocardiography. Subsequently, (Eftedal-Brubakk) bubble grades were correlated with dive and individual parameters. Post-dive cardiac bubbles were observed in 47% of all dives and bubble grades were significantly correlated with depth (r=0.46), air consumption (r=0.41), age (r=0.25), dive time (r=0.23), decompression diving (r=0.19), surface time (r=− 0.12). Eftedal-Brubakk categorical bubble grades for sports diving with compressed air can be approximated by bubble grade = (age*50−1 – surface time*150−1+maximum depth*45−1+air consumption*4500−1)2 (units in years, hours, meter, and bar*liter; R2=0.31). Thus, simple dive and individual parameters allow reasonable estimation of especially relevant medium to higher bubble grades for information on relevant decompression stress after ascent. Echo bubble grade 0 is overestimated by the formula derived. However, echo might fail to detect minor bubbling only. The categorical prediction of individual decompression stress with simple bio and dive data should be evaluated further to be developed towards dive computer included automatic ex-post information for decision-making on individual safety measures.

200 years of equilibrium-line altitude variability across the European Alps (1901−2100)

Mountain glaciers are key indicators of climate change. Their response is revealed by the environmental equilibrium-line altitude (ELA), i.e. the regional altitude of zero mass balance averaged over a long period of time. We introduce a simple approach for distributed modelling of the environmental ELA over the entire European Alps based on the parameterization of ELA in terms of summer temperature and annual precipitation at a glacier. We use 200 years of climate records and forecasts to model environmental ELA from 1901 to 2100 at 5 arcmin grid cell resolution. Historical environmental ELAs are reconstructed based on precipitation from the Long-term Alpine Precipitation reconstruction (LAPrec) dataset and temperature from the Historical Instrumental climatological Surface Time series of the greater Alpine region (HISTALP). The simulations of future environmental ELAs are forced with high-resolution EURO-CORDEX regional climate model projections for the European domain using three different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways, RCP). Our reconstructions yielded an environmental ELA across the European Alps of 2980 m above sea level for the period 1901−1930, with a rise of 114 m in the period 1971−2000. The environmental ELA is projected to exceed the maximum elevation of 69%, 81% and 92% of the glaciers in the European Alps by 2071−2100 under mitigation (RCP2.6), stabilization (RCP4.5) and high greenhouse gas emission (RCP8.5) scenarios, respectively.

Intelligent Object Shape and Position Identification for Needs of Dynamic Luminance Shaping in Object Floodlighting and Projection Mapping

Innovative lighting and dynamic sound systems as well as adaptive object mapping solutions constitute a rapidly developing branch of lighting technology and multimedia technology. In order to make it possible to adjust the content to specific objects in the scene, it is necessary to correctly identify them and place them in the accepted frame of reference. Dynamic identification and tracking of objects can be carried out based on two particular types of input data: data from markers installed on objects and data from digital recording systems, founding the operation on infrared (IR), visible light (RGB) and the most advanced RGB-D (RGB and depth) analysis. Most systems used today are those that use various types of markers. This paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of such solutions as well as a target system for dynamic identification and mapping of objects and the human body based on the analysis of data from digital RGB-D cameras. Analyses of identification times, implementation of perspective transformations and 3D-to-2D transformations have been carried out in relation to a planar and cuboidal moving surface. Time analyses have been performed in relation to the resolution of registered and processed images.