The production of drops by the bursting of a bubble at an air liquid interface

The fundamental mechanism arising during the bursting of a bubble at an air-liquid interface is described. A single bubble was followed from an arbitrary depth in the liquid, up to the creation and motion of the film and jet drops. Several phenomena were involved and their relative order of magnitude was compared in order to point out the dimensionless parameters which govern each step of the motion. High-speed cinematography is employed. The characteristic bubble radius which separates the creation of jet drops from cap bursting without jet drops is expressed mathematically. The corresponding numerical value for water is 3 mm and agrees with experimental observations

The Black Top Hat function applied to a DEM: A tool to estimate recent incision in a mountainous watershed (Estibère Watershed, Central Pyrenees)

International audienceThe Top Hat Transform function is a grey-level image analysis tool that allows extracting peaks and valleys in a non-uniform background. This function can be applied onto a grey-level Digital Elevation Model (DEM). It is herein applied to quantify the volume of recent incised material in a mountainous Pyrenean watershed. Grey-level Closing operation applied to the Present-Day DEM gives a new image called ''paleo'' DEM. The Black Top Hat function consists in the subtraction of the ''paleo'' DEM with the Present-Day DEM. It gives a new DEM representing all valleys whose sizes range between the size of the structuring element and the null value as no threshold is used. The calculation of the incised volume is directly derived from the subtraction between the two DEM's. The geological significance of the quantitative results is discussed

Long-term denudation rates from the Central Andes (Chile) estimated from a digital elevation model using the black top hat function and inverse distance weighting : implications for the neogene climate of the Atacama Desert

A methodology for determining long-term denudation rates from morphologic markers in a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is checked by a comparative study of two drainage basins in the Precordillera of the Central Andes. In both cases the initial configuration of an incised pediment surface has been restored by using two different methods: the Black Top Hat (BTH) function and the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation. Where vertical incision and hillslope erosion are recorded, the 1DW appears to be the most adequate to reconstitute the pediment surfaces. Conversely, where only vertical incision is observed, the BTH describes more precisely the former pediment surfaces and it is easier to solve. By subtracting the DEM from the reconstructed marker we calculated an eroded volume, and estimated its uncertainty by considering Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and DEM grid error. For the last similar to 10 Myr we obtained long-term denudation rates of 7.33 +/- 1.6 m/Myr in the San Andres drainage basin and 13.59 +/- 1.9 m/Myr in the El Salado drainage basin. These estimations are largely in agreement with other reported estimates of long-term denudation rates in the Atacama Desert. Comparison with long-term denudation rates reported in a wide range of climatic regimes suggests that our estimates cannot be explained by the current rainfall in the Precordillera. However they could be explained by a rainfall similar to that reported 40 km to the east in the Puna. This suggests that during the time span concerned the geomorphologic evolution of the study area, this evolution is dominated by an orographically controlled rainfall pattern. The preserved pediment surface and the small long term denudation rates determined in this study also indicate that the Precordillera was never reached by humid tropical air masses and precipitation as currently observed in the Altiplano during the summer months

Estimation des changements de la ligne de rivage de la zone côtière sablonneuse de Kénitra au Maroc

Les plages du littoral de Kénitra ont connu des modifications au cours de ces quatre dernières décennies. La mise en valeur économique de certaines plages par des aménagements touristiques et l’extraction massive de sables pour les travaux d’aménagements urbains sont à l’origine d’une déstabilisation des échanges transversaux de sédiments. Ils sont accentués par la succession de périodes de sécheresse et par la multiplication de construction de barrages sur le bassin versant du Sebou. Le préambule à une meilleure gestion de ces plages est la compréhension de leur comportement passé vis-à-vis des contraintes naturelles et anthropiques. Cette démarche s’appuie essentiellement sur les missions aériennes de 1963 et de 1993. Le Modèle Numérique de Terrain (MNT), d’une précision de ± 10 cm en altitude issu de ces missions et le suivi du positionnement du trait de côte par un système d’analyse numérique (DSAS), ont permis d’estimer les taux de changement.Mots-clés : Littoral, basin versant de Sebou, Maroc, photographies aériennes,MNT, DSAS

Estimation des changements de la ligne de rivage de la zone côtière sablonneuse de Kénitra au Maroc

Les plages du littoral de Kénitra ont connu des modifications au cours de ces quatre dernières décennies. La mise en valeur économique de certaines plages par des aménagements touristiques et l’extraction massive de sables pour les travaux d’aménagements urbains sont à l’origine d’une déstabilisation des échanges transversaux de sédiments. Ils sont accentués par la succession de périodes de sécheresse et par la multiplication de construction de barrages sur le bassin versant du Sebou. Le préambule à une meilleure gestion de ces plages est la compréhension de leur comportement passé vis-à-vis des contraintes naturelles et anthropiques. Cette démarche s’appuie essentiellement sur les missions aériennes de 1963 et de 1993. Le Modèle Numérique de Terrain (MNT), d’une précision de ± 10 cm en altitude issu de ces missions et le suivi du positionnement du trait de côte par un système d’analyse numérique (DSAS), ont permis d’estimer les taux de changement

Recovery of rapid water mass changes (RWMC) by Kalman filtering of GRACE observations

We demonstrate a new approach to recover water mass changes from GRACE satellite data at a daily temporal resolution. Such a product can be beneficial in monitoring extreme weather events that last a few days and are missing by conventional monthly GRACE data. The determination of the distribution of these water mass sources over networks of juxtaposed triangular tiles was made using Kalman Filtering (KF) of daily GRACE geopotential difference observations that were reduced for isolating the continental hydrology contribution of the measured gravity field. Geopotential differences were obtained from the along-track K-Band Range Rate (KBRR) measurements according to the method of energy integral. The recovery approach was validated by inverting synthetic GRACE geopotential differences simulated using GLDAS/WGHM global hydrology model outputs. Series of daily regional and global KF solutions were estimated from real GRACE KBRR data for the period 2003–2012. They provide a realistic description of hydrological fluxes at monthly time scales, which are consistent with classical spherical harmonics and mascons solutions provided by the GRACE official centers but also give an intra-month/daily continuity of these variations

Automatic Reconstruction of Fault Networks from Seismicity Catalogs: 3D Optimal Anisotropic Dynamic Clustering

We propose a new pattern recognition method that is able to reconstruct the 3D structure of the active part of a fault network using the spatial location of earthquakes. The method is a generalization of the so-called dynamic clustering method, that originally partitions a set of datapoints into clusters, using a global minimization criterion over the spatial inertia of those clusters. The new method improves on it by taking into account the full spatial inertia tensor of each cluster, in order to partition the dataset into fault-like, anisotropic clusters. Given a catalog of seismic events, the output is the optimal set of plane segments that fits the spatial structure of the data. Each plane segment is fully characterized by its location, size and orientation. The main tunable parameter is the accuracy of the earthquake localizations, which fixes the resolution, i.e. the residual variance of the fit. The resolution determines the number of fault segments needed to describe the earthquake catalog, the better the resolution, the finer the structure of the reconstructed fault segments. The algorithm reconstructs successfully the fault segments of synthetic earthquake catalogs. Applied to the real catalog constituted of a subset of the aftershocks sequence of the 28th June 1992 Landers earthquake in Southern California, the reconstructed plane segments fully agree with faults already known on geological maps, or with blind faults that appear quite obvious on longer-term catalogs. Future improvements of the method are discussed, as well as its potential use in the multi-scale study of the inner structure of fault zones

Development and Qualification of Instrumented Unmanned Planes for Turbulence Observations in the Atmospheric Surface Layer

The development of new observation systems like drones, present an opportunity to measure differently the turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. One of the main advantage of the unmanned plane lies in its capacity to fly at very low heights which is not possible with piloted airplanes, and thus to in situ investigate the turbulence in a way complementary to instrumented towers/masts. In the recent years, we have developed in Toulouse (France) two platforms of different size. The first one, called OVLI-TA, is a small unmanned aerial system (UAS) (3kg, payload included). It is instrumented with a 5-hole probe on the nose of the airplane, a Pitot probe, a fast inertial measurement unit (IMU), a GPS receiver, as well as temperature and moisture sensors in specific housings. After wind tunnel calibrations, the drone’s flight tests were conducted in Lannemezan (France), where there is an equipped 60m tower, which constitutes a reference to our measurements. The drone then participated to the international project DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Clouds Interactions In West Africa), in Benin. Moreover, another project is carried out about the instrumentation of a so-called “Boreal” drone, which weights 25 kg and can embark 5 kg of sensors and IMU with data fusion. The scientific payload relates to atmospheric turbulence, GNSS reflectometry and gravimetry. In addition, this UAS has a long endurance (up to 10 h) and is more robust to fly in turbulent conditions. We will present the instrumental packages of the two UASs, the results of qualification flights as well as the first scientific results obtained in the DACCIWA campaign. We will also give some examples of envisaged deployment and observation strategy in future campaigns

Der Verbleib kupferbasierter Fungizide in Weinbergböden: Eine Fallstudie der stabilen Kupfer-Isotopenverhältnisse und Elektronenspinresonanz von Calco- und Vertisolen in Soave (Italien)

Kupferbasierte Fungizide sind im Weinbau weit verbreitet und im biologischen Weinbau die einzig erlaubten Pestizide zur Bekämpfung von falschem Mehltau. Durch den intensiven, dauerhaften Gebrauch von Kupfer reichert sich dieser, mit wachsenden ökotoxikologischen Konsequenzen, in Weinbergböden an. In dieser Studie untersuchen wir den Verbleib von Kupfer in einem Calcosol und einem Vertisol aus Soave (Italien). Beide Böden werden seit über 50 Jahren mit Kupfer behandelt. Wir stellen Massenbilanzen auf und nutzen die innovative Kombination aus Messung stabiler Cu-Isotopenverhältnisse und Elektronenspinresonanzspektroskopie (ESR), um Einblicke in die biogeochemischen Mechanismen der Kupferbindung zu erlangen. Die untersuchten Böden weisen hohe exogene Kupfergehalte auf, welche eine Akkumulation der heutigen maximalen Behandlungsmenge über 50 Jahre überschreiten. Dies belegt, dass einmal sehr viel größere Mengen Cu im Weinbau verwendet wurden und dass ein Großteil dieses Kupfers in den jeweiligen Böden verbleibt. In Vertisolen fallen die Cu-Konzentrationen unter dem vertischen Horizont schnell auf die geogene Hintergrundkonzentration, wobei in Calcosolen dieser Abfall progressiver erfolgt. Isotopenverhältnisse unterscheiden sich zwischen den verschieden Bodentypen (δCu-65 zwischen 0.12 und 0.37 ‰), obwohl sie die gleiche Behandlung erfahren haben. Kupferisotope in Oberböden sind schwerer als in Unterböden und Citratextraktionen zeigen, dass mobiles Kupfer isotopisch schwerer ist als der Gesamtgehalt. Die Horizonte des Calcosols sind systematisch leichter als die des Vertisols, was auf unterschiedliche biogeochemische Bindungsmechanismen von Kupfer hinweist. Dies wird durch die ESR-Spektren bestätigt. In Oberböden zeigen sie eine Kupferbindung an organisches Material, wobei es im gesamten Bodenprofil Unterschiede in der Cu-Bindung zwischen den beiden Bodentypen gibt. Wenn jedoch Horizonte des Calcosols mit Säure entkalkt werden, nähren sich deren ESR-Spektren denen der Vertisole an, wohingegen letztere nicht auf eine Säurebehandlung reagieren. Somit wird gezeigt, dass in Calcosolen Karbonate an der Bindung von Kupfer beteiligt sind wobei in Vertisolen der vertische Horizont eine wichtige Rolle spielt. Darüber hinaus wird durch die analoge Variation von ESR-Spektren und Isotopenverhältnissen wird die Anwendbarkeit von Cu-Isotopenanalysen und ESR-Spektroskopie zur Aufklärung von biogeochemischen Prozessen in Böden demonstriert

Detecting the Onset of Strain Localization Using Two‐Dimensional Wavelet Analysis on Sandstone Deformed at Different Effective Pressures

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Grant Number: NE/N003063/1Peer reviewedPublisher PD