Barnacle suspension-feeding in variable flow

Suspension-feeding behavior of the adult barnacleSemibalanus balanoides (L.), collected at Woods Hole, USA, in 1987 and 1988, was studied in variable conditions of unidirectional and oscillating water flow. Barnacles growing on rocks were placed in a laboratory flume and exposed to precise patterns of water flow created with a specially designed electronic-circuit controlling a motor-driven propeller submersed in the flume. Laser darkfield and brightfield illumination were used to video-record the movement of suspended particles and dye in the flume and barnacle activity. When water was accelerated unidirectionally past feeding barnacles, they consistently changed feeding behavior from actively sweeping their thoracic appendages (cirri) through the water in slow-flow to passively holding cirri into the current in faster flow. The mean water velocity at which this behavioral switch occurred was 3.10 cm s^–1. In slow-flow, each active sweep of the cirri created a feeding vortex that caused suspended particles to swirl into the capture zone of the following sweep. Barnacles in simulated wave-action conditions (oscillatory flow) fed passively, and orientated extended cirri to flow direction. Cirri were rapidly reoriented with the same frequency at which flow direction reversed. Slow-motion analysis of one barnacle feeding in oscillating flow (0.65 Hz) indicated that reversal of the orientation of the cirri began 0.19 s before the water itself started to reverse direction. In additional experiments, barnacles were exposed to a repetitive pattern of accelerating-decelerating flow. During each flow cycle, barnacles switched from active to passive feeding as water accelerated. Repeated exposure of an individual to the same flow-cycle caused a consistent decrease in the water-velocity threshold at which the behavioral switch occurred.     

Influence of the secondary motions on pollutant mixing in a meandering open channel flow

This paper presents large eddy simulation of turbulent flow in a meandering open channel with smooth wall and rectangular cross-section. The Reynolds number based on the channel height is 40,000 and the aspect ratio of the cross-section is 4.48. The depth-averaged mean stream-wise velocity agree well to experimental measurements. In this specific case, two interacting cells are formed that swap from one bend to the other. Transport and mixing of a pollutant is analysed using three different positions of release, e.g. on the inner bank, on the outer bank and on the centre of the cross section. The obtained depth-average mean concentration profiles are reasonably consistent with available experimental data. The role of the secondary motions in the mixing processes is the main focus of the discussion. It is found that the mixing when the scalar is released on the centre of the cross-section is stronger and faster than the mixing of the scalar released on the sides. When the position of release is close to a bank side, the mixing is weaker and a clear concentration of scalar close to the corresponding side-wall can be observed in both cases.     

Impact of aquacultures on the marine ecosystem: Modelling benthic carbon loading over variable depth

In order to be used within Environmental Impact Assessment study, we have developed a three-dimensional particle tracking model for prediction of benthic carbon loading (BCL) caused by fish farms. The model is based on stochastic differential equations for particle transport consistent with the well-known semi-empirical advection/diffusion equation. It requires only easily obtainable input data in the form of measured current record, the source location and a specification of local bathymetry. The model accounts for advection by long-term residual and tidal currents, turbulent diffusion, realistic bathymetry and variations in daily (monthly or yearly) emissions from fish farm.Here, we concentrate on the changes in sedimentation pattern caused by various bathymetric shapes. Examination of idealized cases reveals where and why we can expect the worst impact on benthic communities. For future reference, these results will be included into guidelines for fish farming.     

Changes in photosynthetic pigment concentration in seaweeds as a function of water depth

We conducted a study of the relationship between changes in photosynthetic pigment content and water depth in Great Harbor near Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA, on the green algae Ulva lactuca and Codium fragile and the red algae Porphyra umbilicalis and Chondrus crispus. A calibrated underwater photometer equipped with spectral band filters measured light attenuation by the water column. The depth required for a 10-fold diminution of photon flux was 3.6, 5.3, 6.0 and 6.0 m for red, blue, yellow and green light, respectively. Seaweeds were attached to vertically buoyed lines and left to adapt for 7 days; then, with their positions reversed, they were allowed to readapt for 7 days. All species showed greater photosynthetic pigment content with increased depth. Further, the ratio of phycobiliproteins and chlorophyll b to chlorophyll a increased with depth. Changes in pigment content were reversible and occurred in the absence of cell division. There was a net loss of pigments near the surface (high irradiance), and subsequent synthesis when seaweeds were transferred to a position deep in the water column (low irradiance). In contrast, seaweeds which were found in intertidal habitats changed only their pigment concentration, and not pigment ratio, a phenomena analogous to higher plant sun and shade adaptation. Therefore, seaweeds modify their photon-gathering photosynthetic antennae to ambient light fields in the water column by both intensity adaptation and complementary chromatic adaptation.     

LES validation of urban flow,part I: flow statistics and frequency distributions

Essential prerequisites for a thorough model evaluation are the availability of problem-specific, quality-controlled reference data and the use of model-specific comparison methods. The work presented here is motivated by the striking lack of proportion between the increasing use of large-eddy simulation (LES) as a standard technique in micro-meteorology and wind engineering and the level of scrutiny that is commonly applied to assess the quality of results obtained. We propose and apply an in-depth, multi-level validation concept that is specifically targeted at the time-dependency of mechanically induced shear-layer turbulence. Near-surface isothermal turbulent flow in a densely built-up city serves as the test scenario for the approach. High-resolution LES data are evaluated based on a comprehensive database of boundary-layer wind-tunnel measurements. From an exploratory data analysis of mean flow and turbulence statistics, a high level of agreement between simulation and experiment is apparent. Inspecting frequency distributions of the underlying instantaneous data proves to be necessary for a more rigorous assessment of the overall prediction quality. From velocity histograms local accuracy limitations due to a comparatively coarse building representation as well as particular strengths of the model to capture complex urban flow features with sufficient accuracy are readily determined. However, the analysis shows that further crucial information about the physical validity of the LES needs to be obtained through the comparison of eddy statistics, which is focused on in part II. Compared with methods that rely on single figures of merit, the multi-level validation strategy presented here supports conclusions about the simulation quality and the model’s fitness for its intended range of application through a deeper understanding of the unsteady structure of the flow.     

Numerical study of flow characteristics and pollutant dispersion using three RANS turbulence closure models

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - The flow characteristics and pollutant dispersion around building are investigated numerically using three RANS turbulence closure models, i.e. Standard...     

Spatial and temporal distributions of air pollutant emissions from open crop straw and biomass burnings in China from 2002 to 2016

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Open biomass burning (OBB) with a main contribution from open crop straw burning (OCSB) plays a key role in the formation of heavy haze episodes during harvest...     

Effects of secondary current and stratification on suspension concentration in an open channel flow

In this work, a mathematical model on concentration distribution is developed for a steady, uniform open channel turbulent flow laden with sediments by incorporating the effect of secondary current through velocity distribution together with the stratification effect due to presence of sediments. The effect of particle-particle interaction at reference level and the effect of incipient motion probability, non-ceasing probability and pick-up probability of the sediment particles at reference concentration are taken into account. The proposed model is compared with the Rouse equation as well as verified with existing experimental data. Good agreement between computed value and experimental data indicates that secondary current influences the suspension of particles significantly. The direction and magnitude (strength) of secondary current lead to different patterns of concentration distribution and theoretical analysis shows that type II profile (where maximum concentration appears at significant height above channel bed surface) always corresponds to upward direction and greater magnitude of secondary current.     

Study on the concentration distribution in a trapezoidal open-channel flow with a side discharge

The number and distribution of pollutant concentration in a trapezoidal open channel flow with a side discharge is calculated and effects of the bank gradient are investigated in this paper. A sigma-coordinate water quality numerical model is used to simulate the process of both water and pollutant transportation in the trapezoidal channel open flow. The diffusion coefficient used in the prediction is determined by two methods including constant coefficient and the depth-averaged k-epsilon turbulence closure model. The change of the concentration with the bank gradient is acquired based on the simulation of cases with different bank gradients. An analytical formula is derived by using the mirror image method and related diffusion theories, ignoring the discharge momentum and the influence of the opposite bank. The formula can predict the number and distribution of pollutant concentration with some acceptable errors. The results demonstrate that the bank gradient has great influence on the concentration distribution which will decrease with the increase of the bank gradient approximately following a hyperbolic law.     

A new prediction method of industrial atmospheric pollutant emission intensity based on pollutant emission standard quantification

● Established a quantification method of pollutant emission standard. ● Predicted the SO₂ emission intensity of single coking enterprises in China. ● Evaluated the influence of pollutant discharge standard on prediction accuracy. ● Analyzed the SO₂ emissions of Chinese provincial and municipal coking enterprises. Industrial emissions are the main source of atmospheric pollutants in China. Accurate and reasonable prediction of the emission of atmospheric pollutants from single enterprise can determine the exact source of atmospheric pollutants and control atmospheric pollution precisely. Based on China’s coking enterprises in 2020, we proposed a quantitative method for pollutant emission standards and introduced the quantification results of pollutant emission standards (QRPES) into the construction of support vector regression (SVR) and random forest regression (RFR) prediction methods for SO₂ emission of coking enterprises in China. The results show that, affected by the types of coke ovens and regions, China’s current coking enterprises have implemented a total of 21 emission standards, with marked differences. After adding QRPES, it was found that the root mean squared error (RMSE) of SVR and RFR decreased from 0.055 kt/a and 0.059 kt/a to 0.045 kt/a and 0.039 kt/a, and theR² increased from 0.890 and 0.881 to 0.926 and 0.945, respectively. This shows that the QRPES can greatly improve the prediction accuracy, and the SO₂ emissions of each enterprise are highly correlated with the strictness of standards. The predicted result shows that 45% of SO₂ emissions from Chinese coking enterprises are concentrated in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei provinces in central China. The method created in this paper fills in the blank of forecasting method of air pollutant emission intensity of single enterprise and is of great help to the accurate control of air pollutants.     

Prediction of the upper tail of concentration distributions of a continuous point source release in urban environments

The peak values observed in a measured concentration time series of a dispersing gaseous pollutant released continuously from a point source in urban environments, and the hazard level associated with them, demonstrate the necessity of predicting the upper tail of concentration distributions. For the prediction of concentration distributions statistical models are preferably employed which provide information about the probability of occurrence. In this paper a concentration database pertaining to a field experiment is used for the selection of the statistical distribution. The inverses of the gamma cumulative distribution function (cdf) for 75th–99th percentiles of concentration are found to be more consistent with the experimental data than those of the log-normal distribution. The experimental values have been derived from measured high frequency time series by sorting first the concentrations and then finding the concentration which corresponds to each probability. Then the concentration mean and variance that are predicted with Computational Fluid Dynamics-Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) methodology are used to construct the gamma distribution. The proposed model (“RANS-gamma”) is included in the framework of a computational code (ADREA-HF) suitable for simulating the dispersion of airborne pollutants over complex geometries. The methodology is validated by comparing the inverses of the model cdfs with the observed ones from two wind tunnel experiments. The evaluation is performed in the form of validation metrics such as the fractional bias, the normalized mean square error and the factor-of-two percentage. From the above comparisons it is concluded that the overall model performance for the present cases is satisfactory.     

ETU mineralization in soil under influence of organic carbon content,temperature, concentration,and depth

The mineralization of ¹⁴C‐ETU was measured by the evolution of ¹⁴CO₂ and described with a mathematical model consisting of two terms — one term describing the immediate mineralization of ¹⁴C‐ETU and another term describing the first order degradation of humus and/or biomass, where ¹⁴C had been built in. The influence of pesticide concentration, depth of soil, and incubation temperature showed combined interaction effects on the amount of ¹⁴CO₂ formed during the process and on the degradation rate of the pesticide. With the addition of soil extract, a combined effect between concentration and addition of organic extract was seen for the degradation rate, while a three‐way interaction between depth, concentration and organic extract was seen for the formation of ¹⁴CO₂. Degradation of ¹⁴C‐ETU can thus not be described only through investigations of one single of the mentioned parameters.     

Mixing at a sediment concentration interface in turbulent open channel flow

In this work we address the role of turbulence on mixing of clear layer of fluid with sediment-laden layer of fluid at a sediment concentration interface. This process can be conceived as the entrainment of sediment-free fluid into the sediment-laden layer, or alternatively, as the transport of sediment into the top sediment-free flow. This process is governed by four parameters—Reynolds number of the flow \(Re_\tau\), non-dimensional settling velocity of the sediment (proxy for sediment size) \(\tilde{V}\), Richardson number \(Ri_\tau\) and Schmidt number Sc. For this work we have performed direct numerical simulations for fixed Reynolds and Schmidt numbers while varying the values of Richardson number and particle settling velocity. In the simple model considered here, the flow’s momentum and turbulence pre-exists over the entire layer of fluid, while the sediment is initially confined to a layer close to the bed. Mixing of sediment-free fluid with the sediment-laden layer is associated primarily with upward transport of sediment and buoyancy. There is no simultaneous upward transport of fluid momentum and turbulence into the sediment-free fluid layer, which is already in motion and turbulent. The analysis performed shows that the ability of the flow to transport a given sediment size decreases with the distance from the bottom, and thus only fine enough sediment particles are transported across the sediment concentration interface. For these cases, the concentration profiles evolve to a final steady state in good agreement with the well-known Rouse profile. The approach towards the Rouse profile happens through a transient self-similar state. This behavior of the flow is not seen for larger particles. Detailed analysis of the three dimensional structure of the sediment concentration interface shows the mechanisms by which sediment particles are lifted up by tongues of sediment-laden fluid with positive correlation between vertical velocity and sediment concentration. Finally, the mixing ability of the flow is addressed by monitoring the time evolution of the center of mass of the sediment-laden layer and the vertical location of the sediment-free/sediment-laden interface.     

城市边界层气象条件对O3浓度垂直分布的影响

利用2002年7月21日至26日,北京325m气象塔O3浓度梯度观测资料及同期的气象资料,分析了O3浓度的时空分布特征、超标情况及不同天气条件下,O3浓度的日变化规律;并对7月23日,24日两天出现高浓度污染的大气稳定度和逆温、相对湿度、低空风等边界层气象条件对O3垂直分布的影响进行了详细分析。研究表明:城市边界层气象条件,尤其逆温是影响O3垂直分布的重要因素。     

低分子量有机酸对可变电荷土壤吸附铝的影响机制

通过吸附性铝的解吸实验研究了低分子量有机酸对三种可变电荷土壤(2种砖红壤和1种赤红壤)吸附铝的影响机制，结果表明，柠檬酸、苹果酸和酒石酸等带有3个及3个以上活性官能团的有机酸在低pH条件下可以通过形成土壤一有机酸一铝三元表面络合物和增加土壤的表面负电荷两种机制显著增加土壤对铝离子的吸附量，但以前一种影响机制为主。乳酸、水杨酸、草酸和丙二酸等带有2个活性官能团的有机酸仅通过改变土壤的表面负电荷影响铝的吸附。土壤氧化铁是土壤吸附有机酸的主要载体，当用化学方法将土壤中的氧化铁除去后，有机酸对铝吸附的影响变小。在pH5．0时有机酸主要通过形成可溶性有机铝络合物减小土壤对铝的吸附，但有机酸的存在增加了Al^3 在吸附性铝中所占的比例，导致铝的解吸率增加。土壤中大量氧化铁的存在使其即使在低pH下也能对铝离子发生专性吸附，导致吸附性铝的解吸率减小。     

Analysis of ecosystem structure and function: extended path and flow analysis of a steady-state oyster reef model

An analysis of the extended path and flow structure of a six compartment steady-state oyster reef model was conducted. The extended path and flow structure were analyzed in the context of a refined canonical path classification system based on the systems theory methods of environ and network unfolding analyses. A computer implementation of an operational path classification system facilitated investigation of a finite portion (path length ≤17 arcs) of the direct and indirect path structure of the oyster reef model. Important results of the path structure analysis include: (1) few simple paths and large numbers of compound paths enumerated; (2) dominance of path numbers by subsequent passage terminal cycle paths; (3) structural evidence in support of feedback control in ecosystems; (4) results provide evidence by analogy to support the hypothesis of network homogenization first described using the systems analysis methods of environ analysis and network unfolding; (5) constancy of the pattern of origin–destination path counts with increasing path length; (6) importance of nonliving compartments in the extended path structure of ecosystems. Simultaneous path and flow analysis of the oyster reef model assessed the flow contributions of the fundamental path categories for this model using a modification of a path-based network unfolding method. First passage paths contribute most of the flow; however, multiple passage cyclic paths also provide a large (22%) flow contribution. Because of cycling in the system, the numerous long paths in the extended path structure of this ecosystem model are significant in its function as represented by the flows. These results provide microscopic evidence for the macroscopic results of environ analysis that implicate cycling as a key ecosystem attribute in the mechanisms of holistic system determination. The principles enunciated here for a model with a low cycling index (11%) carry over to, and would be even more significant for, models with high cycling indexes. These results also serve to form a link between the extended structure of food webs and their functioning as represented by energy-matter flows. The present analysis demonstrates that extended path structure, and the component articulation from which it is generated, have significant consequences for ecosystem function.     

Short-term prediction of influent flow rate and ammonia concentration in municipal wastewater treatment plants

The prediction of the influent load is of great importance for the improvement of the control system to a large wastewater treatment plant. A systematic data analysis method is presented in this paper in order to estimate and predict the periodicity of the influent flow rate and ammonia （NH3） concentrations： 1） data filtering using wavelet decomposition and reconstruction; 2） typical cycle identification using power spectrum density analysis; 3） fitting and prediction model establishment based on an autoregressive model. To give meaningful information for feedforward control systems, predictions in different time scales are tested to compare the corresponding predicting accuracy. Considering the influence of the rainfalls, a linear fitting model is derived to estimate the relationship between flow rate trend and rain events. Measurements used to support coefficient fitting and model testing are acquired from two municipal wastewater treatment plants in China. The results show that 1） for both of the two plants, the periodicity affects the flow rate and NH3 concentrations in different cycles （especially cycles longer than 1 day）; 2） when the flow rate and NH3 concentrations present an obvious periodicity, the decreasing of prediction accuracy is not distinct with increasing of the prediction time scales; 3） the periodicity influence is larger than rainfalls; 4） the rainfalls will make the periodicity of flow rate less obvious in intensive rainy periods.