Principle sources and dispersal patterns of suspended particulate matter in nearshore surface waters of the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Hawaiian Islands
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The author has identified the following significant results. Numerous geologic features can be discerned on ERTS-1 imagery of the northwestern Olympic Peninsula, Washington, and southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A thick homoclinal sequence of north-dipping Tertiary marine strata along the northwestern Olympic Peninsula is readily discernible because of the banded nature of its outcrop. The submarine basalt on which the sequence rests shows as a high, rugged ridge. Within the sedimentary sequence, alternating sandstone and siltstone members 100 m or more thick show in the southeast corner of the image. Broad folds in this banded sequence and faults that cut it can be detected. One large fault, the Pysht River fault, and a large syncline in sandstone and siltstone east of it show prominently on the image. Numerous lineations on the image of southern Vancouver Island correlate with faults shown on Muller's map. Particularly prominent are the Leech River and San Juan faults along the southernmost part of the island.
The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 green and red band imagery supplemented by U-2 photographs provides synoptic views of turbid, nearshore, near-surface bodies of water which adds to the body of knowledge about the coastal ocean necessary for a thorough understanding of the dynamic environment. Tubidity and suspended sediment measurements made in the Gulf of the Farallones correlate well with water tonal patterns visible on satellite imagery. Three successively seaward zones of turbid water could be delineated. Secchi disc visibility tests were the most definitive, ranging from or = 2 meters in the main plume, to almost 3 meters in the second zone of turbid water, to 4 meters in the furthest seaward zone of turbid water measured. These variations in water clarity were reinforced by suspended sediment concentrations which ranged from 26-28 mg/1, to 20-24 mg/1, to 11-15 mg/1, respectively, in each of the three masses of water. Transmissiometer readings were basically in agreement with the suspended sediment and Secchi disc values measured. Satellite imagery and U-2 photographs of the California coastal zone taken early in April 1973 show numerous plumes of suspended sediment being deflected southward. This indicates a southward flow of the nearshore, near-surface waters, a reversal from that noted in January 1973.
The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 imagery used in conjunction with the surface-drift cards indicated a southerly flow direction of the central California near surface coastal currents during mid-June 1973. The near-surface currents off northern California and southern Oregon were more complex. Some drift cards were recovered north and some south of their release points; however, the prevalent direction of flow was northerly. General agreement in flow direction of coastal currents obtained from ERTS-1 imagery and drift card data reinforces the image interpretation. Complete seasonal coverage of nearshore circulation interpreted from ERTS-1 imagery will provide information necessary for proper coastal zone management. Extent of snow cover can be readily delimited on ERTS-1 band 5. In the central Sierra Nevada Mountains this past winter season, the snow line, as recorded by ERTS-1, reached an elevation of less than 1500 meters in January but had melted back to between 2500 and 3000 meters by the end of May. ERTS-1 imagery seems to provide sufficient resolution to make it a useful tool for monitoring changes in snow cover in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The author has identified the following significant results. Release-recovery paths of drift cards released in conjunction with ERTS-1 overflight show that nearshore surface currents along the central and northern California coast flowed southward at an average rate in excess of 10 cm/sec (8.5 km/day) during August and September 1973 (California Current). By the middle of October 1973, the nearshore surface currents had reversed and the dominant flow velocity was northward at an average rate in excess of 20 cm/sec (17 km/ day) (Davidson Current). The August-September data suggested the presence of counterclockwise gyres in Monterey Bay and the Gulf of the Farallones, but by the middle of October, the gyres were no longer evident. Imagery of April 1973 showed well developed plumes of suspended sediment in Monterey Bay from the Salinas River and in the Gulf of the Farallones from San Francisco Bay. ERTS-1 imagery provides an effective means of monitoring timber harvest in the redwood forest along the northern California coast. ERTS-1 imagery also clearly portrays contrasting topographic belts characterized by fluvial erosion and by mass movement. The most visually apparent and most persistent river mouth suspended sediment plumes are associated with those rivers that drain belts of topography that appear to have been eroded primarily by mass movement.
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The effect of pressure on the heterogeneous thermal and pyrolytic decomposition of nitrous oxides adsorbed on sand was studied. Results indicate that N20 adsorbed on certain sand surfaces can be decomposed by photons which nitrous oxide cannot absorb in the gas phase. There is also a thermal heterogeneous decomposition of nitrous oxide which also produces nitrogen. The photolysis of CC14, CFC13, CF2C12 adsorbed on fused quartz and on different types of sand was also investigated. There was no thermal heterogeneous reaction with any of these chloromethanes. Apparently the larger bond energy of approximately 74 kcal for the C-C1 bond compared to approximately 40 kcal for the N-O bond in N2O makes the thermal reaction inoperative for the chloromethanes.
Approximately 400 samples were collected from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay for various analyses, including 138 for suspended solids. Characteristics of suspended solids that were analyzed included: total suspended matter; total suspended inorganics, total suspended organics; percent organics; particle size distribution; and presence or absence of 11 of the most prominent particle types.
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The pilot national land use information system developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the Central Atlantic Regional Ecological Test Site project has provided an improved technique for estimating emissions, diffusion, and impact patterns of sulfur dioxide (S0 2 ) and particulate matter. Implementation of plans to control air quality requires land use information, which, until this time, has been inadequate. The pilot system, however, provided data for updating information on the sources of point and area emissions of S0 2 and particulate matter affecting the Norfolk--Portsmouth area of Virginia for the 1971-72 winter (Dec.-Jan.-Feb.) and the annual 1972 period, and for a future annual period--1985. This emission information is used as input to the Air Quality Display Model of the Environmental Protection Agency to obtain diffusion and impact patterns for the three periods previously mentioned. The results are: (1) During the 1971-72 winter, estimated SO 2 amounts over an area with a SW-NE-axis in the central section of Norfolk exceeded both primary and secondary levels; (2) future annual levels of SO 2 , estimated by anticipated residential development and point-source changes, are not expected to cause serious deterioration of the region's present air quality; and (3) for the 1971-72 winter and annual 1972 period the diffusion results showed that both primary and secondary standards for particulate matter are regularly exceeded in central Norfolk and Portsmouth. In additions on the bas is of current control programs, the 1985 levels of particulate matter are expected to exceed the presently established secondary air quality standards throughout central Norfolk and Portsmouth and in certain areas of Virginia Beach. The land use information can be used to estimate emissions for inputs to diffusion models and to interpret the implications of diffusion patterns for: (1) Implementing various control strategies (2) selecting sites of air sampling stations, and (3) predicting the effects that proposed changes in land use might have on emission patterns and air quality.
The cooling rates of meteorites through approximately 900 -650 K, as read from their metal alloy compositions, are reviewed. Metallographic cooling rates are compared with the cooling rates that appear to be required by the K/Ar and Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of five meteorite classes, and discrepancies are found in all cases. Either (1) the metallographic cooling rates (and also Pu-244 fission cooling rates) are systematically in error, being too slow by a factor of approximately 6; or (2) the traditional thermal model for parent meteorite planets (having constant dimension and uniform physical properties) is oversimplified and the Ar closure temperatures for chondrites derived by Turner et al. (1978) are too low. An alternative parent planet model is proposed and numerically modeled, in which accretion of thermally insulating particulate matter, heat generation by Al-26 decay, melting or sintering of the particulate matter into conductive rock, and establishment of the properties of the meteorites occurred concurrently. Meteorite chronologies are somewhat easier to understand in this context, since the initially small, hot (thus sintered and conductive) bodies would have cooled rapidly to isotopic closure, but later cooling might have been much slower as a result of the continued accretion of insulating particulate matter.
This project investigates the input, transport, and degradation of particulate organic matter (POM) in near-surface riverbed sediments at the Hanford 300 Area of the Columbia River, a dynamic, regulated river system influenced by upstream dam operations. Riverbed sediments are biogeochemical hot spots where organic carbon inputs stimulate intense microbial activity, affecting nutrient cycling and redox transformations in the hyporheic zone (HZ). While dissolved organic matter (DOM) cycling has been studied extensively, little is known about the infiltration and transformation of POM—particularly under variable flow regimes common in large, regulated rivers.
Mycorrhizal associations are key drivers of soil biogeochemistry, but previous studies have focused almost exclusively on ectomycorrhizal (EcM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations. Ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) shrubs frequently occur in forest understories and are expanding in response to disturbance, but are rarely considered in biogeochemical frameworks. We investigated the relationships of understory ErM shrubs and overstory trees on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in soil organic matter fractions in a southern Appalachian temperate forest. We sampled the 0–10 cm mineral soil layer from 43 plots at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, across gradients in overstory EcM dominance and understory ErM shrub biomass. Soil C:N ratios increased with both increasing EcM dominance and increasing ErM shrub biomass. However, total particulate organic matter (POM) C, and the proportion of C and N held in POM increased with increasing ErM shrub biomass, but not with increasing EcM dominance. In contrast, mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) C and N were negatively associated with EcM dominance, but were not related to ErM shrubs. Our findings suggest that ErM shrubs facilitate POM formation while AM trees promote MAOM formation. Because ErM shrub biomass represents a small fraction of total forest biomass, our work provides evidence that ErM shrubs have an outsized effect on soil organic matter, which advocates for their inclusion in mechanistic studies and biogeochemical frameworks.
To capture fine particulate matter in a gas such as air, a dielectric fluid is directed to the center of whichever face of a rotating disc is exposed to the air flow. The disc is comprised of two or more segments which bear opposite electrostatic potentials. As the dielectric fluid is centrifuged towards the periphery of the rotating disc, the fluid becomes charged to the same potential as the segment over which it is passing. Particulate matter is attracted to the charged segment and is captured by the fluid. The fluid then carries the captured particulate matter to a collection device such as a toroidal container disposed around the periphery of the disc. A grounded electrically-conductive ring may be disposed at the outer periphery of the disc to neutralize the captured particles and the fluid before they enter the container.
This paper is to be submitted at the IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV) Computer Vision for Earth Observation workshop. The full paper abstract is below: The ability to rapidly quantify atmospheric pollutants is important both for global emissions monitoring and for mitigating the adverse effects that follow a hazardous chemical release. In the aftermath of a chemical release, imagery is often the only available resource to assess local conditions. Recent work has demonstrated initial success in predicting particulate matter pollution from imagery; however, these results are tied to a specific site and do not generalize to new geographic locations. In this work, we seek to understand how easily deep learning models generalize to new locations in the context of image-based air quality assessments, targeting two distinct tasks: (1) broad measures of particulate matter pollution, and (2) the mass of a given chemical released in hazardous plumes. For the latter, we focus on sulfur dioxide, a toxic aerosol and a major component of particulate matter pollution caused by industrial fossil fuel consumption. To develop a model that operates in the widest possible range of environments, we test different training strategies, including the use of new geolocation foundation models. The best performing models achieve >80% accuracy when evaluating unseen imagery at previously seen sites, but we find significant drops in performance when evaluating imagery from unseen sites, at best 65%. Additionally, we present the public release of the National Parks Air Quality Index Dataset, a new medium-sized dataset that pairs imagery with sensor-based air quality measurements at 15 different national parks.
To obtain useable corrosion and erosion results it was necessary to have data with several levels of particulate matter in the hot gases. One level of particulate loading was as low as possible so that ideally no erosion and only corrosion occurred. A conical fluidized bed was used to obtain some degree of filtration through the top of the bed which would not be highly fluidized. This would minimize the filtration required for the hot gases or conversely the amount of particulate matter in the hot gases after a given level of filtration by cyclones and/or filters. The data obtained during testing characterized the effluent from the bed at different test conditions. A range of bed heights, coal flows, air flows, limestone flows, and pressure are represented. These tests were made to determine the best operating conditions prior to using the bed to determine erosion and corrosion rates of typical turbine blade materials.
The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tennessee has been conducting routine probing of the lower troposphere and comparing the results with those obtained with turbidity photometers and a distant suspended particulate station. The change in scale height, K (sub z) divided by v (sub s), with time permits the vertical turbulence coefficient K (sub z) to be estimated if v (sub s) is known or assumed. Extremely high monthly correlations of turbidity versus the log of backscatter at 100 meters have been obtained. In addition, high correlations of suspended particulate matter at Chattanooga and Oak Ridge suggest that the bulk of particulate matter is of natural, rather than industrial, origin.