Water balance estimation of the Campo de Cartagena watershed using hydrological modeling and remote sensing

This work uses hydrological modeling and remote sensing techniques to estimate the spatial and temporal patterns of the water balance of an intensively irrigated agricultural watershed in south-eastern Spain. Remote sensing-based vegetation indexes were used to estimate crop evapotranspiration rates and as an input in the model. Model outcomes give insight in the overall water account of the watershed. They highlight the critical role of the groundwater system in the water balance, and the differences between abstractions and recharge, depending on the hydrological conditions

Crop coefficients parameterization using remote sensing in basin-scale hydrological modelling

[SPA] Se utiliza un modelo hidrológico distribuido para evaluar cómo diferentes métodos influyen en la estimación de la evapotranspiración (ETc) y el balance de agua a escala de cuenca. La zona de estudio se ubica en la cuenca alta del Segura (~ 2.500 km2) en el Sureste español, zona caracterizada por una elevada heterogeneidad de condiciones del terreno y usos del suelo. El modelo hidrológico SPHY fue desarrollado y calibrado para un período de simulación de 15 años. Se emplearon cinco métodos para parametrizar el coeficiente de cultivo y se compararon los patrones espaciales y las dinámicas temporales simuladas para la evapotranspiración, la humedad del suelo y los caudales. Tres de los cinco métodos utilizan información de satélite, otro los valores del coeficiente de cultivo establecidos por FAO, y el último asume un valor constante para toda la cuenca y periodo de simulación. El análisis muestra que la generación de caudales apenas se ve afectada por la selección del método de parametrización, aunque sí es importante a la hora de calcular la evapotranspiración real, especialmente durante épocas húmedas y para los valores tabulados de FAO. [ENG] A distributed hydrologic model is used to evaluate how different methods to estimate evapotranspiration (ETc) influence the water balance and hydrologic response of basins. The study site, the upper Segura basin (~2500 km2) in Spain, is characterized by a wide range of terrain, soil, and ecosystem conditions. Input and calibration data for the hydrological model SPHY are obtained from best available data sources. The model was setup for a period of 15 year. Five crop coefficient parameterization methods are compared to explore the impact of spatial and temporal variations in these input datasets on actual evapotranspiration, streamflow and soil moisture. Methods include three that are based on remote sensing information; one based on FAO literature, and another that takes the crop coefficient equal to unity for the entire basin. The analysis shows that basin-level streamflow is hardly influenced by the choice in parameterization, but actual evapotranspiration and soil moisture are quite different, especially in the wet season and for the FAO-based method

The cosmology dependence of the concentration-mass-redshift relation

The concentrations of dark matter haloes provide crucial information about their internal structure and how it depends on mass and redshift -- the so-called concentration-mass-redshift relation, denoted $c(M,z)$. We present here an extensive study of the cosmology-dependence of $c(M,z)$ that is based on a suite of 72 gravity-only, full N-body simulations in which the following cosmological parameters were varied: $\sigma_{8}$, $\Omega_{\mathrm{M}}$, $\Omega_{\mathrm{b}}$, $n_{\mathrm{s}}$, $h$, $M_{\nu}$, $w_{0}$ and $w_{\mathrm{a}}$. We characterize the impact of these parameters on concentrations for different halo masses and redshifts. In agreement with previous works, and for all cosmologies studied, we find that there exists a tight correlation between the characteristic densities of dark matter haloes within their scale radii, $r_{-2}$, and the critical density of the Universe at a suitably defined formation time. This finding, when combined with excursion set modelling of halo formation histories, allows us to accurately predict the concentrations of dark matter haloes as a function of mass, redshift, and cosmology. We use our simulations to test the reliability of a number of published models for predicting halo concentration and highlight when they succeed or fail to reproduce the cosmological $c(M,z)$ relation.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Impacto socioeconómico por lahares y caída de ceniza ante la erupción del volcán Cayambe en la actividad florícola en Cayambe y Pedro Moncayo

El complejo volcánico Cayambe representa una potencial amenaza para poblaciones que basan su economía en la floricultura. En este trabajo, se presenta: 1) modelar espacialmente escenarios de erupción del volcán, 2) modelar espacialmente el potencial impacto de estos escenarios de riesgos por afectación de lahares y de ceniza; y 3) evaluar los impactos socioeconómicos de escenarios de erupción modelados por caída de ceniza mediante un análisis estadístico de simulaciones numéricas de escenarios eruptivos y zonas de afectación por lahares tomadas del nuevo mapa de amenazas del Cayambe. Así se determinó que espesores de ceniza de 20 a 50 mm serían el principal problema cubriendo el 81.46% de la superficie con pérdidas que ascienden los 300 millones de dólares en plantas e invernaderos. En el caso de lahares las pérdidas se darían en los suelos y se estiman pérdidas de 45 millones de dólares en el caso de lahares primarios y 15 millones de dólares en caso de lahares secundarios. Los resultados obtenidos en las simulaciones tienen mejor nivel de detalle que los obtenidos en años anteriores por la información cartográfica disponible del sector y las herramientas computacionales utilizadas; los mismos que concuerdan con los depósitos del Cayambe y pueden ser manejados para la toma de decisiones en beneficio de las poblaciones afectadas, considerando que una erupción del volcán Cayambe merece una atención especial por su alto impacto socioeconómico local y nacional por ser las exportaciones de flores un rubro importante para el país

Is the reputation of Eucalyptus plantations for using more water than Pinus plantations justified?

The effect of Eucalyptus plantations on water balance is thought to be more severe than for commercial alternatives such as Pinus species. Although this perception is firmly entrenched, even in the scientific community, only four direct comparisons of the effect on the water balance of a Eucalyptus species and a commercial alternative have been published. One of these, from South Africa, showed that Eucalyptus grandis caused a larger and more rapid reduction in streamflow than Pinus patula. The other three, one in South Australia and two in Chile, did not find any significant difference between the annual evapotranspiration of E. globulus and P. radiata after canopy closure. While direct comparisons are few, there are at least 57 published estimates of annual evapotranspiration of either a Eucalyptus or Pinus species. This paper presents a meta-analysis of these published data. Zhang et al. (2004) fitted a relationship between the crop factor and the climate wetness index to published data from catchment studies and proposed this approach for comparing land uses. We fitted the same model to the published data for Eucalyptus and Pinus and found that the single parameter of this model did not differ significantly between the two genera (p=0.48). This implies that for a given climate wetness index the two genera have similar annual water use. The residuals compared to this model were significantly correlated with soil depth for Eucalyptus, but this was not the case for Pinus. For Eucalyptus the model overestimates the crop factor on deep soils and underestimates the crop factor on shallow soils.</p

Is the reputation of Eucalyptus plantations for using more water than Pinus plantations justified?

The effect of Eucalyptus plantations on water balance is thought to be more severe than for commercial alternatives such as Pinus species. Although this perception is firmly entrenched, even in the scientific community, only four direct comparisons of the effect on the water balance of a Eucalyptus species and a commercial alternative have been published. One of these, from South Africa, showed that Eucalyptus grandis caused a larger and more rapid reduction in streamflow than Pinus patula. The other three, one in South Australia and two in Chile, did not find any significant difference between the annual evapotranspiration of E. globulus and P. radiata after canopy closure. While direct comparisons are few, there are at least 57 published estimates of annual evapotranspiration of either the Eucalyptus or Pinus species. This paper presents a meta-analysis of these published data. Zhang et al. (2004) fitted a relationship between the vegetation evaporation efficiency and the climate wetness index to published data from catchment studies and proposed this approach for comparing land uses. We fitted this model to the published data for Eucalyptus and Pinus and found that the single parameter of this model did not differ significantly between the two genera (p = 0.48). This was also the case for all parameters of an exponential relationship between evapotranspiration and rainfall (p = 0.589) and a linear relationship between the vegetation evaporation index and rainfall (p = 0.155). These results provide strong evidence that, for a given climate wetness index, the two genera have similar annual water use. The residuals compared to the model of Zhang et al. (2004) were significantly correlated with soil depth for Eucalyptus, but this was not the case for Pinus. For Eucalyptus, the model overestimates the vegetation evaporation efficiency on deep soils and underestimates the vegetation evaporation efficiency on shallow soils

A high resolution line survey of IRC+10216 with Herschel. First results: Detection of warm silicon dicarbide SiC2

We present the first results of a high-spectral-resolution survey of the carbon-rich evolved star IRC+10216 that was carried out with the HIFI spectrometer onboard Herschel. This survey covers all HIFI bands, with a spectral range from 488 to 1901GHz. In this letter we focus on the band-1b spectrum, in a spectral range 554.5-636.5GHz, where we identified 130 spectral features with intensities above 0.03 K and a signal-to-noise ratio >5. Detected lines arise from HCN, SiO, SiS, CS, CO, metal-bearing species and, surprisingly, silicon dicarbide (SiC2). We identified 55 SiC2 transitions involving energy levels between 300 and 900 K. By analysing these rotational lines, we conclude that SiC2 is produced in the inner dust formation zone, with an abundance of ~2x10^-7 relative to molecular hydrogen. These SiC2 lines have been observed for the first time in space and have been used to derive an SiC2 rotational temperature of ~204 K and a source-averaged column density of ~6.4x10^15 cm^-2. Furthermore, the high quality of the HIFI data set was used to improve the spectroscopic rotational constants of SiC2.Comment: A&A HIFI Special Issue, 201

KAPAO: a MEMS-based natural guide star adaptive optics system

We describe KAPAO, our project to develop and deploy a low-cost, remote-access, natural guide star adaptive optics (AO) system for the Pomona College Table Mountain Observatory (TMO) 1-meter telescope. We use a commercially available 140-actuator BMC MEMS deformable mirror and a version of the Robo-AO control software developed by Caltech and IUCAA. We have structured our development around the rapid building and testing of a prototype system, KAPAO-Alpha, while simultaneously designing our more capable final system, KAPAO-Prime. The main differences between these systems are the prototype's reliance on off-the-shelf optics and a single visible-light science camera versus the final design's improved throughput and capabilities due to the use of custom optics and dual-band, visible and near-infrared imaging. In this paper, we present the instrument design and on-sky closed-loop testing of KAPAO-Alpha as well as our plans for KAPAO-Prime. The primarily undergraduate-education nature of our partner institutions, both public (Sonoma State University) and private (Pomona and Harvey Mudd Colleges), has enabled us to engage physics, astronomy, and engineering undergraduates in all phases of this project. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0960343.Comment: 10 pages and 11 figure

Evaluating predictive pharmacogenetic signatures of adverse events in colorectal cancer patients treated with fluoropyrimidines

The potential clinical utility of genetic markers associated with response to fluoropyrimidine treatment in colorectal cancer patients remains controversial despite extensive study. Our aim was to test the clinical validity of both novel and previously identified markers of adverse events in a broad clinical setting. We have conducted an observational pharmacogenetic study of early adverse events in a cohort study of 254 colorectal cancer patients treated with 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine. Sixteen variants of nine key folate (pharmacodynamic) and drug metabolising (pharmacokinetic) enzymes have been analysed as individual markers and/or signatures of markers. We found a significant association between TYMP S471L (rs11479) and early dose modifications and/or severe adverse events (adjusted OR = 2.02 [1.03; 4.00], p = 0.042, adjusted OR = 2.70 [1.23; 5.92], p = 0.01 respectively). There was also a significant association between these phenotypes and a signature of DPYD mutations (Adjusted OR = 3.96 [1.17; 13.33], p = 0.03, adjusted OR = 6.76 [1.99; 22.96], p = 0.002 respectively). We did not identify any significant associations between the individual candidate pharmacodynamic markers and toxicity. If a predictive test for early adverse events analysed the TYMP and DPYD variants as a signature, the sensitivity would be 45.5 %, with a positive predictive value of just 33.9 % and thus poor clinical validity. Most studies to date have been under-powered to consider multiple pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variants simultaneously but this and similar individualised data sets could be pooled in meta-analyses to resolve uncertainties about the potential clinical utility of these markers