Almost sure existence of global weak solutions for super-critical Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper we show that after suitable data randomization there exists a large set of super-critical periodic initial data, in $H^{-\alpha}({\mathbb T}^d)$ for some $\alpha(d) > 0$, for both 2d and 3d Navier-Stokes equations for which global energy bounds are proved. As a consequence, we obtain almost sure super-critical global weak solutions. We also show that in 2d these global weak solutions are unique.Comment: 22 pages, a revised argument in Section 5, the $d=3$ cas

A permafrost warming in a cooling Antarctica?

The magnitude and even direction of recent Antarctic climate change is still debated because the paucity of long and complete instrumental data records. While along Antarctic Peninsula a strong warming coupled with large retreat of glaciers occurred, in continental Antarctica a cooling was recently detected. Here, the first existing permafrost data set longer than 10 years recorded in continental Antarctica is presented. Since 1997 summer ground surface temperature showed a strong warming trend (0.31\ub0C per year) although the air temperature was almost stable. The summer ground surface temperature increase seemed to be influenced mainly by the increase of the total summer radiation as confirmed also by the increase of the summer thawing degree days. In the same period the active layer exhibited a thickening trend (1 cm per year) comparable with the thickening rates observed in several Arctic locations where air warming occurred. At all the investigated depths permafrost exhibited an increase of mean annual temperature of approximately 0.1\ub0C per year. The dichotomy between active layer thickness and air temperature trends can produce large unexepected and unmodelled impacts on ecosystems and CO2 balance

Relationships between vegetation patterns and periglacial landforms in northwestern Svalbard

We studied the small-scale vegetation pattern in the high Arctic at Ny Angstromlesund to assess if the plant distribution was related to periglacial landforms. The whole area has been deglaciated for millennia but only a modest part of the area was covered by mature vegetation. The plant cover varied considerably in relation to ground patterning originated by periglacial processes, especially frost heave, frost creep, gelifluction and ice segregation, giving rise to a mosaic of microhabitats sharply differing from each other as regards physical properties and microclimate. The distributional patterns of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes were primarily affected by complex responses to substrate texture, soil moisture content and substrate disturbance. Since global warming will probably affect both periglacial processes and plant responses to altered habitat conditions, we concluded that long-term monitoring of relationships between landforms and vegetation represents a suitable tool for assessing the impact of global change on arctic regions

Global wellposedness for a certain class of large initial data for the 3D Navier-Stokes Equations

In this article, we consider a special class of initial data to the 3D Navier-Stokes equations on the torus, in which there is a certain degree of orthogonality in the components of the initial data. We showed that, under such conditions, the Navier-Stokes equations are globally wellposed. We also showed that there exists large initial data, in the sense of the critical norm $B^{-1}_{\infty,\infty}$ that satisfies the conditions that we considered.Comment: 13 pages, updated references for v

Global regularity for the supercritical dissipative quasi-geostrophic equation with large dispersive forcing

We consider the 2D quasi-geostrophic equation with supercritical dissipation and dispersive forcing in the whole space. When the dispersive amplitude parameter is large enough, we prove the global well-posedness of strong solution to the equation with large initial data. We also show the strong convergence result as the amplitude parameter goes to $\infty$. Both results rely on the Strichartz-type estimates for the corresponding linear equation.Comment: 26page

Unexpected impacts of climate change on Alpine vegetation

The vegetation in a high alpine site of the European Alps experienced changes in area between 1953 and 2003 as a result of climate change. Shrubs showed rapid expansion rates of 5.6% per decade at altitudes between 2400 m and 2500 m. Above 2500 m, vegetation coverage exhibited unexpected patterns of regression associated with increased precipitation and permafrost degradation. As these changes follow a sharp increase in both summer and annual temperatures after 1980, we suggest that vegetation of the alpine (2400-2800 m) and nival (above 2800 m) belts respond in a fast and flexible way, contradicting previous hypotheses that alpine and nival species appear to have a natural inertia and are able to tolerate an increase of 1-2 degrees C in mean air temperature

Modeling of the Rheological Properties of Asphalt Binder and Asphalt Mortar Containing Recycled Asphalt Material

Abstract The use of recycled materials in asphalt pavements increased significantly over the years, determining well known environmental and economic benefits. Many research agencies and road authorities evaluated the impact of Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) on pavement performance. Nevertheless, the mechanism governing the interaction between virgin asphalt binder and aged RAP binder is not well understood. In this paper, the effect of RAP on the rheological properties of asphalt binders and mortars is experimentally evaluated, and theoretically modeled with the objective of defining a relationship between the linear viscoelastic (LVE) properties of binders and those of the corresponding mortars. Three asphalt binder types, obtained by blending a hard and a soft binder at three different percentages, were mixed with three different contents of a Selected fraction of Recycled Asphalt Pavement, called SRAP, for preparing the asphalt mortar samples. Dynamic Shear Rheomether tests were performed on binders and mortars to determining the complex modulus over a wide range of temperatures and frequencies. The rheological properties of the compound of virgin and RAP binder were evaluated by using a new approach based on a modified version of the Nielsen model, avoiding the extraction and recovery method. The results were then modelled by using the analogical 2S2P1D model, consisting of one spring, two parabolic and one-dashpot elements combined in series and then assembled together with a second spring in parallel. Based on test results, a simple experimental relationship between the characteristic times of the binder and the percentage of RAP in the mortar was found

Specificity Between Lactobacilli And Hymenopteran Hosts Is The Exception Rather Than The Rule

Lactobacilli (Lactobacillales: Lactobacillaceae) are well known for their roles in food fermentation, as probiotics, and in human health, but they can also be dominant members of the microbiota of some species of Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps). Honey bees and bumble bees associate with host-specific lactobacilli, and some evidence suggests that these lactobacilli are important for bee health. Social transmission helps maintain associations between these bees and their respective microbiota. To determine whether lactobacilli associated with social hymenopteran hosts are generally host specific, we gathered publicly available Lactobacillus 16S rRNA gene sequences, along with Lactobacillus sequences from 454 pyrosequencing surveys of six other hymenopteran species (three sweat bees and three ants). We determined the comparative secondary structural models of 16S rRNA, which allowed us to accurately align the entire 16S rRNA gene, including fast-evolving regions. BLAST searches and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic reconstructions confirmed that honey and bumble bees have host-specific Lactobacillus associates. Regardless of colony size or within-colony oral sharing of food (trophallaxis), sweat bees and ants associate with lactobacilli that are closely related to those found in vertebrate hosts or in diverse environments. Why honey and bumble bees associate with host-specific lactobacilli while other social Hymenoptera do not remains an open question. Lactobacilli are known to inhibit the growth of other microbes and can be beneficial whether they are coevolved with their host or are recruited by the host from environmental sources through mechanisms of partner choice.National Science Foundation PRFB-1003133, DEB-0919519Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board 01923, National Institutes of Health GM067317Integrative BiologyCellular and Molecular BiologyCenter for Computational Biology and BioinformaticsBrackenridge Field Laborator

Well-posedness of the Viscous Boussinesq System in Besov Spaces of Negative Order Near Index s=−1s=-1

This paper is concerned with well-posedness of the Boussinesq system. We prove that the $n$ ($n\ge2$) dimensional Boussinesq system is well-psoed for small initial data $(\vec{u}_0,\theta_0)$ ($\nabla\cdot\vec{u}_0=0$) either in $({B}^{-1}_{\infty,1}\cap{B^{-1,1}_{\infty,\infty}})\times{B}^{-1}_{p,r}$ or in ${B^{-1,1}_{\infty,\infty}}\times{B}^{-1,\epsilon}_{p,\infty}$ if $r\in[1,\infty]$, $\epsilon>0$ and $p\in(\frac{n}{2},\infty)$, where $B^{s,\epsilon}_{p,q}$ ($s\in\mathbb{R}$, $1\leq p,q\leq\infty$, $\epsilon>0$) is the logarithmically modified Besov space to the standard Besov space $B^{s}_{p,q}$. We also prove that this system is well-posed for small initial data in $({B}^{-1}_{\infty,1}\cap{B^{-1,1}_{\infty,\infty}})\times({B}^{-1}_{\frac{n}{2},1}\cap{B^{-1,1}_{\frac{n}{2},\infty}})$.Comment: 18 page

Salix shrub encroachment along a 1000 m elevation gradient triggers a major ecosystem change in the European Alps

Shrub encroachment, a globally recognized response to climate warming, usually involves late successional species in mountain environments, without alteration to climax communities. We show that a major ecosystem change is occurring in the European Alps across a 1000 m elevation gradient, with pioneer hygrophilous Salix shrubs, previously typical of riparian forests, wetlands and avalanche ravines, encroaching into the climax communities of subalpine and alpine belts shrublands and grasslands, as well as snowbeds, pioneer vegetation and barren grounds in the nival belt. We analyzed Salix recruitment through dendrochronological methods, and assessed its relationships with climate and atmospheric CO2 concentration. The dendrochronological data indicated that Salix encroachment commenced in the 1950s (based on the age of the oldest Salix individuals, recruited in 1957), and that it was correlated with increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, spring warming and snow cover decrease. Hygrophilous Salix shrubs are expanding their distribution both through range filling and upwards migration, likely achieving competitive replacement of species of subalpine and alpine climax communities. They benefit from climate warming and CO2 fertilization and are not sensitive to spring frost damage and soil limitations, being observed across a gradient of soil conditions from loose glacial sediments in recently deglaciated areas (where soils had not had sufficient time to develop) to mature soils such as podzols (when colonizing late successional subalpine shrublands). Salix encroachment may trigger ecosystem and landscape transformations, promoting the development of forests that replace pre-existing subalpine shrublands, and of open woodlands invading alpine grasslands and snowbeds, making the alpine environment similar to sub-Arctic and Arctic areas. This results in a new threat to the conservation of the plant species, communities and landscapes typical of the alpine biota, as mountain ranges such as the Alps provide limited opportunities for upward migration and range-shift