32,843 research outputs found
Wetland restoration and nitrate reduction: the example of the periurban wetland of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, North Spain)
Changes in land use and agricultural intensification caused wetlands on the quaternary aquifer of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country) to disappear some years ago and nitrate concentration in groundwaters increased very quickly. The Basque Government recently declared the East Sector of this aquifer a Vulnerable Zone according to the 91/676/CEE European Directive. Recently, the wetlands have been restored through the closure of the main drainage ditches, the consequent elevation of the water table and the abondonment of agricultural practices near the wetlands. This is the case of the Zurbano wetland. Restoration has allowed the recovery of its biogeochemical function, which has reduced nitrate concentrations in waters. Nitrate concentrations which exceed 50 mg l–1 in groundwaters entering into the wetland are less than 10 mg l–1 at the outlet. Conditions in the wetland are conducive to the loss of nitrates: organic matter rich wetted soils, clay presence allowing a local semiconfined flow and very low hydraulic gradient. Water quality monitoring at several points around the wetland showed the processes involved in nitrate loss, although some aspects still remain unresolved. However, during storm events, the wetland effectively reduces the nitrate concentration entering the Alegria River, the most important river on the quaternary aquifer
Formation of corner waves in the wake of a partially submerged bluff body
We study theoretically and numerically the downstream flow near the corner of a bluff body partially submerged at a deadrise depth Δh into a uniform stream of velocity U, in the presence of gravity, g. When the Froude number, Fr=U/√gΔh, is large, a three-dimensional steady plunging wave, which is referred to as a corner wave, forms near the corner, developing downstream in a similar way to a two-dimensional plunging wave evolving in time. We have performed an asymptotic analysis of the flow near this corner to describe the wave's initial evolution and to clarify the physical mechanism that leads to its formation. Using the two-dimensions-plus-time approximation, the problem reduces to one similar to dam-break flow with a wet bed in front of the dam. The analysis shows that, at leading order, the problem admits a self-similar formulation when the size of the wave is small compared with the height difference Δh. The essential feature of the self-similar solution is the formation of a mushroom-shaped jet from which two smaller lateral jets stem. However, numerical simulations show that this self-similar solution is questionable from the physical point of view, as the two lateral jets plunge onto the free surface, leading to a self-intersecting flow. The physical mechanism leading to the formation of the mushroom-shaped structure is discussed
Spectropolarimetric analysis of an active region filament. I. Magnetic and dynamical properties from single component inversions
The determination of the magnetic filed vector in solar filaments is possible
by interpreting the Hanle and Zeeman effects in suitable chromospheric spectral
lines like those of the He I multiplet at 10830 A. We study the vector magnetic
field of an active region filament (NOAA 12087). Spectropolarimetric data of
this active region was acquired with the GRIS instrument at the GREGOR
telescope and studied simultaneously in the chromosphere with the He I 10830 A
multiplet and in the photosphere with the Si I 10827 A line. As it is usual
from previous studies, only a single component model is used to infer the
magnetic properties of the filament. The results are put into a solar context
with the help of the Solar Dynamic Observatory images. Some results clearly
point out that a more complex inversion had to be done. Firstly, the Stokes
map of He I does not show any clear signature of the presence of the filament.
Secondly, the local azimuth map follows the same pattern than Stokes as if
the polarity of Stokes were conditioning the inference to very different
magnetic field even with similar linear polarization signals. This indication
suggests that the Stokes could be dominated by the below magnetic field
coming from the active region, and not, from the filament itself. Those and
more evidences will be analyzed in depth and a more complex inversion will be
attempted in the second part of this series.Comment: 18 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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