Characterization of bedload intermittency near the threshold of motion using a Lagrangian sediment transport model

At the smallest scales of sediment transport in rivers, the coherent structures of the turbulent boundary layer constitute the fundamental mechanisms of bedload transport, locally increasing the instantaneous hydrodynamic forces acting on sediment particles, and mobilizing them downstream. Near the critical threshold for initiating sediment motion, the interactions of the particles with these unsteady coherent structures and with other sediment grains, produce localized transport events with brief episodes of collective motion occurring due to the near-bed velocity fluctuations. Simulations of these flows pose a significant challenge for numerical models aimed at capturing the physical processes and complex non-linear interactions that generate highly intermittent and self-similar bedload transport fluxes. In this investigation we carry out direct numerical simulations of the flow in a rectangular flat-bed channel, at a Reynolds number equal to Re = 3632, coupled with the discrete element method to simulate the dynamics of spherical particles near the bed. We perform two-way coupled Lagrangian simulations of 48,510 sediment particles, with 4851 fixed particles to account for bed roughness. Our simulations consider a total of eight different values of the non-dimensional Shields parameter to study the evolution of transport statistics. From the trajectory and velocity of each sediment particle, we compute the changes in the probability distribution functions of velocities, bed activity, and jump lengths as the Shields number increases. For the lower shear stresses, the intermittency of the global bedload transport flux is described by computing the singularity or multifr actal spectrum of transport, which also characterizes the widespread range of transport event magnitudes. These findings can help to identify the mechanisms of sediment transport at the particle scale. The statistical analysis can also be used as an ingredient to develop larger, upscaled models for predicting mean transport rates, considering the variability of entrainment and deposition that characterizes the transport near the threshold of motion.     

Buy Me a River: Purchasing Water Rights to Restore River Flows in the Western USA

In recent decades, public and private environmental entities have been purchasing or leasing water rights across the Western United States (U.S.) in efforts to restore river flows and aquatic ecosystems. The need to pay for flow restoration arises from the fact that state governments did not begin to reserve water for instream purposes until the 1970s, long after water rights had become over‐appropriated and flows were substantially depleted in most rivers. As a consequence, flow depletion has become the leading cause of fish endangerment in the U.S., including the imperilment of two‐thirds of all native fish species in the Colorado River system. This paper takes stock of the progress made in buying water for the environment, specifically by reviewing and analyzing more than 50 transactions executed by public and private entities and the sources of funding underpinning these transactions. We conclude that nongovernmental actors — such as environmental organizations and state water trusts — are integral to regional efforts to restore river flows; these nongovernmental actors executed more than two‐thirds of the transactions we documented. However, we also conclude that the long‐term success of these nongovernmental actors depends upon the availability of sustained public funding that enables them to build capacity and engage in the large number of transactions needed to restore flows across each state.     

Comparison of satellite observed tropospheric NO2 over India with model simulations

Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) plays a key role in the chemistry of the atmosphere and is emitted mainly by combustion processes. These emissions have been increasing over India over the past few years due to rapid economic growth and yet there are very few systematic ground based observations of NO₂ over this region. We thus take recourse to satellite data and compare tropospheric NO₂ column abundances simulated by a chemical transport model, MOZART, with data from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) for a few locations in India that have seen a rapid economic growth in the last decade. The model generally simulates higher columnar abundances of NO₂ compared to GOME observations and does not reproduce the features of the observed seasonal behaviour. The combined uncertainties of the emission inventory and retrieval of the satellite data could be contributing factors to the discrepancies. It may be thus worthwhile to develop emission inventories for India at a higher resolution to include local level activity data. The ten year data (1996–2006) from GOME and SCIAMACHY (SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY) show increasing trends for Indian cities where rapid industrial and vehicular traffic growth has been observed during this period.     

Regional NOx emission inversion through a four-dimensional variational approach using SCIAMACHY tropospheric NO2 column observations

In this paper, the NOx emission scaling factors applied over the 2001 National Emissions Inventory (NEI) are estimated through a four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) approach using SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY) tropospheric NO₂ columns measured during summer 2004. In the “top-down” approach, two-month average NO₂ columns are assimilated into a regional chemical transport model (CTM), STEM, using different assimilation setups. In a basic setup, NOx emissions are adjusted by assimilating the NO₂ columns. A more general setup of emission inversion allows the initial O₃ concentrations be adjusted along with the NOx emissions. A final case is set up to assimilate both the NO₂ columns and O₃ measurement from various platforms while allowing adjustments of both the NOx emissions and the initial O₃ concentrations. It is found that the addition of O₃ measurements did not improve the NOx emission inversion. With the NOx emission at surface and upper levels being adjusted separately, results from four cases show that the elevated NOx emission reduction ranges from 8.9% to 11.4%, and the surface NOx emission reduction is up to 6.6%. All the cases show NOx emission reduction in Ohio valley and Washington, District of Columbia areas.     

Mobile measurements of aerosol number and volume size distributions in an Alpine valley: Influence of traffic versus wood burning

The spatial variability of highly time resolved size distributions was investigated in a narrow valley which provides the opportunity to study the impact of different sources on ambient particle concentrations during summer and winter time. The measurements were performed with a Fast Mobility Particle Sizer (FMPS) from TSI, Inc. on a mobile laboratory in Southern Switzerland. The results indicate enhanced number concentrations (between 150 000 and 500 000 cm^?3) along the busy highway A2 which is the main transit route through the Swiss Alps connecting the northern and southern part of Switzerland. Especially the nanoparticles with diameters lower than 30 nm showed strongly increased number concentrations on the highway both in summer and winter. In winter time, high aerosol volume concentrations (PM_0.3) were found in villages where wood burning is often used for heating purposes. Both traffic and wood burning were found to be important sources for particulate mass which accumulates during temperature inversions in winter time. Traffic was the dominant and wood burning a minor source for the nanoparticle number concentration. This is important regarding health impacts and its attribution to different sources because wood burning might contribute most to particulate mass whereas at the same time and place traffic contributes most to particulate number. In addition, during summer time volatility measurements were performed with the FMPS showing that the nucleation mode prevalently seen on the highway was removed by more than 95% by thermal treatment.     

Teil I: Stoffstromanalysen landwirtschaftlicher Produktionsverfahren

When discussing strategies for realising an environmental friendly agricultural production, there are methods for quantifying environmental effects which do not originate in agricultural contexts. For instance, the methodology of Life Cycle Assessment is mainly developed from analyses of industrial production lines and products. Substance flow analyses in agriculture contain a complete analysis of agriculturally caused substance and energy flows, to which certain environmental effects are assigned, and also an assessment of these effects. For the provision of production means, balancing agricultural production procedures includes the extraction of energy sources and mineral resources from their reservoirs. The growth phase of the crops regarded (cereals, sugar beet, rape) is described depending on the nutrients nitrogen, phophor, potassium and calcium. The nitrogen flux within the system plant-soil-atmosphere is recorded referring to its temporal dynamic. In the framework of this study, selected environmental effects of agricultural production procedures of winter wheat are calculated regarding different conditions of locations and are supplemented by declining scenario simulations. Essential features of the structure of the substance flow net, which is implemented for the calculation and which can be used completely or as for single modules for further studies, are explained. Basing on selected categories of effectiveness, ecological optimisation potentials of varying agricultural provision of production means and procedures are estimated within the whole context of provision. Thereby, the effects of a reduced employment of fertilisers, of a change as for the kind of fertiliser and of the region of origin of the N-fertiliser, as well as variations concerning mechanical work in the fields are outlined for the cultivation of winter wheat.