3,757 research outputs found
Temporal changes in the spatial variability of shear strength and stability.
Avalanche forecasting involves the prediction of spatial and temporal variability of the snowpack. To predict avalanches with more accuracy it is important to determine whether the snowpack is becoming more spatially variable or more spatially uniform. Greater variability increases uncertainty in extrapolation and prediction. Our results offer a look at the evolution of the spatial variability of shear strength and stability of a buried surface hoar layer in southwestern Montana, USA, from shortly after burial until it was no longer the weakest layer in the snowpack. We selected the study site for its 27- degree planar slope, uniform ground cover, and wind-sheltered location. This simplified the comparison of the plots by minimizing initial spatial differences so we could focus on temporal change. Within the site, we sampled four 14 m x 14 m arrays of more than 70 shear frame tests in a layout optimized for spatial analysis. Over a three-week period, the sampling of the four adjacent arrays showed temporal change. The variability of the shear strength of this layer initially decreased then became increasingly variable through time. This suggests that extrapolating test results to other locations becomes increasingly unreliable as layers age, a result that matches practical experience. The data also provide indications that shear strength has a correlation length, the distance at which test results are related, of just a few meters. This short correlation length demonstrates quantitatively why stability tests that are relatively close together can be quite different
Temporal changes in the spatial variability of shear strength and stability
Avalanche forecasting involves the prediction of spatial and temporal variability of the
snowpack. To predict avalanches with more accuracy it is important to determine whether the snowpack
is becoming more spatially variable or more spatially uniform. Greater variability increases uncertainty in
extrapolation and prediction. Our results offer a look at the evolution of the spatial variability of shear
strength and stability of a buried surface hoar layer in southwestern Montana, USA, from shortly after
burial until it was no longer the weakest layer in the snowpack. We selected the study site for its 27-
degree planar slope, uniform ground cover, and wind-sheltered location. This simplified the comparison
of the plots by minimizing initial spatial differences so we could focus on temporal change. Within the
site, we sampled four 14 m x 14 m arrays of more than 70 shear frame tests in a layout optimized for
spatial analysis. Over a three-week period, the sampling of the four adjacent arrays showed temporal
change. The variability of the shear strength of this layer initially decreased then became increasingly
variable through time. This suggests that extrapolating test results to other locations becomes
increasingly unreliable as layers age, a result that matches practical experience. The data also provide
indications that shear strength has a correlation length, the distance at which test results are related, of
just a few meters. This short correlation length demonstrates quantitatively why stability tests that are
relatively close together can be quite different
Recommended from our members
A Royal Flush? Ecological and Social Success of Urban River Restoration on the Truckee
Proximal Air-Fall Deposits of Eruptions Between May 24 and August 7, 1980 -- Stratigraphy and Field Sedimentology. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey
During each of the magmatic eruptions of Mount St. Helens on May 25, June 12, and August 7, a vertical eruptive column rose intermittently to altitudes of 12-15 km, from which pumice, lithic fragments, and crystals settled downwind in lobes that generally become thinner and finer away from the volcano. Each ejecta lobe is asymmetric according to several criteria, including (1) the axes of maximum thickness and of maximum pumice size are not midway between the two margins of the lobe, (2) the axis of maximum pumice size does not correspond to the axis of thickness, and (3) the median size of particles grades through several grain-size intervals from one lateral margin to the other. The fining in grain size across the lobe is due to the rotation of wind directions with altitude, so material falling from a high-level airborne plume is winnowed as it falls through transverse low-level winds. Wind directions that rotate clockwise with increasing altitude effect an air-fall lobe whose axis of maximum coarseness is clockwise of the axis of maximum thickness; wind directions that rotate counterclockwise with increasing altitude effect an air-fall lobe whose trend of maximum coarseness is counterclockwise of the axis of maximum thickness.
The thickness of air-fall deposits from eruptions on May 25 through August 7 range variously from one-third to one-fortieth that of the May 18 air-fall deposit at a given distance from the volcano. The post-May 18 deposits are an order of magnitude thinner than Mount St. Helens pumice layer T (A.D. 1800) and two orders of magnitude thinner than Mount St. Helens pumice layer Yn (3400 yr B.P.), which is similar in thickness to the most voluminous air-fall deposits of other Cascade Range volcanoes. The maximum size of pumice within the May 18 air-fall lobe is 5-10 times that of the post-May 18 lobes. The overlapping air-fall lobes of May 25, June 12, July 22, and August 7 form a stratigraphic layer that in most places is indivisible into deposits of the separate eruptions
Modeling the Enceladus plume--plasma interaction
We investigate the chemical interaction between Saturn's corotating plasma
and Enceladus' volcanic plumes. We evolve plasma as it passes through a
prescribed H2O plume using a physical chemistry model adapted for water-group
reactions. The flow field is assumed to be that of a plasma around an
electrically-conducting obstacle centered on Enceladus and aligned with
Saturn's magnetic field, consistent with Cassini magnetometer data. We explore
the effects on the physical chemistry due to: (1) a small population of hot
electrons; (2) a plasma flow decelerated in response to the pickup of fresh
ions; (3) the source rate of neutral H2O. The model confirms that charge
exchange dominates the local chemistry and that H3O+ dominates the water-group
composition downstream of the Enceladus plumes. We also find that the amount of
fresh pickup ions depends heavily on both the neutral source strength and on
the presence of a persistent population of hot electrons.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, 2 figure
Saturn in hot water: viscous evolution of the Enceladus torus
The detection of outgassing water vapor from Enceladus is one of the great
breakthroughs of the Cassini mission. The fate of this water once ionized has
been widely studied; here we investigate the effects of purely neutral-neutral
interactions within the Enceladus torus. We find that, thanks in part to the
polar nature of the water molecule, a cold (~180 K) neutral torus would undergo
rapid viscous heating and spread to the extent of the observed hydroxyl cloud,
before plasma effects become important. We investigate the physics behind the
spreading of the torus, paying particular attention to the competition between
heating and rotational line cooling. A steady-state torus model is constructed,
and it is demonstrated that the torus will be observable in the millimeter band
with the upcoming Herschel satellite. The relative strength of rotational lines
could be used to distinguish between physical models for the neutral cloud.Comment: submitted to Icarus updated: references fixe
The roles of charge exchange and dissociation in spreading Saturn's neutral clouds
Neutrals sourced directly from Enceladus's plumes are initially confined to a
dense neutral torus in Enceladus's orbit around Saturn. This neutral torus is
redistributed by charge exchange, impact/photodissociation, and neutral-neutral
collisions to produce Saturn's neutral clouds. Here we consider the former
processes in greater detail than in previous studies. In the case of
dissociation, models have assumed that OH is produced with a single speed of 1
km/s, whereas laboratory measurements suggest a range of speeds between 1 and
1.6 km/s. We show that the high-speed case increases dissociation's range of
influence from 9 to 15 Rs. For charge exchange, we present a new modeling
approach, where the ions are followed within a neutral background, whereas
neutral cloud models are conventionally constructed from the neutrals' point of
view. This approach allows us to comment on the significance of the ions'
gyrophase at the moment charge exchange occurs. Accounting for gyrophase: (1)
has no consequence on the H2O cloud; (2) doubles the local density of OH at the
orbit of Enceladus; and (3) decreases the oxygen densities at Enceladus's orbit
by less than 10%. Finally, we consider velocity-dependent, as well as
species-dependent cross sections and find that the oxygen cloud produced from
charge exchange is spread out more than H2O, whereas the OH cloud is the most
confined.Comment: Accepted to the Journal of Geophysical Research, 49 pages, 10 figure
Graphics for relatedness research
Studies of relatedness have been crucial in molecular ecology over the last decades. Good evidence of this is the fact that studies of population structure, evolution of social behaviours, genetic diversity and quantitative genetics all involve relatedness research. The main aim of this article is to review the most
common graphical methods used in allele sharing studies for detecting and identifying family relationships. Both IBS and IBD based allele sharing studies are considered. Furthermore, we propose two additional graphical methods from the field of compositional data analysis: the ternary diagram and scatterplots of isometric log-ratios of IBS and IBD probabilities. We illustrate all graphical tools with genetic data from the HGDP-CEPH diversity panel, using mainly 377 microsatellites genotyped for 25 individuals from the Maya population of this panel. We enhance all graphics with convex hulls obtained by simulation and use these to confirm the documented relationships. The proposed compositional graphics are shown to be useful in relatedness research, as they also single out the most prominent related pairs. The ternary diagram is advocated for its ability to display all three allele sharing probabilities simultaneously. The log-ratio plots are advocated as an attempt to overcome the problems with the Euclidean distance interpretation in the
classical graphics.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Perturbation-Based Balance Training added to a Fall Prevention Exercise Program and its Effect on Fall Risk and Fear of Falling in Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Background:
● Falls lead to decreased independence, increased disability, and increased risk of death
● Falls occur in more than one out of four older adults each year
Research Suggests:
● 50 hours of a structured strength and balance exercise program supplemented with fall prevention education over 12 weeks decreases fall risk in community dwelling older adults
● One session of perturbations provided at the appropriate dosage can decrease fall risk by 50%, with multidirectional perturbations having the greatest benefit
Hypothesis:
● Adding one session of perturbation-based training to a structured strength and balance exercise program will reduce the risk of falls and fear of falling in community dwelling older adult
- …