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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

High-Resolution Mapping In Manus Basin, C. Roman, V. Ferrini Dec 2006

High-Resolution Mapping In Manus Basin, C. Roman, V. Ferrini

Christopher N. Roman

Near-bottom seafloor mapping with precisely navigated deep submergence vehicles has become increasingly common in a range of oceanographic settings. Recent mapping efforts at deep-water hydrothermal vent sites have resulted in high-resolution (sub-meter) bathymetry datasets that can be used to identify morphological features associated with volcanic, tectonic, and hydrothermal processes. The resolution of these maps, and our ability to accurately quantify the complex morphologic details of hydrothermal structures has been limited by a number of variables including navigational accuracy, sonar settings (e.g. acoustic wavelength, sonar orientation, ping rate), survey parameters (e.g. altitude, speed), data density, and data processing techniques (e.g. gridding …


Stratospheric Variability And Trends In Models Used For The Ipcc Ar4, P. M. De F. Forster, Eugene Cordero Nov 2006

Stratospheric Variability And Trends In Models Used For The Ipcc Ar4, P. M. De F. Forster, Eugene Cordero

Eugene C. Cordero

Atmosphere and ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) experiments for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) are analyzed to better understand model variability and assess the importance of various forcing mechanisms on stratospheric trends during the 20th century. While models represent the climatology of the stratosphere reasonably well in comparison with NCEP reanalysis, there are biases and large variability among models. In general, AOGCMs are cooler than NCEP throughout the stratosphere, with the largest differences in the tropics. Around half the AOGCMs have a top level beneath ~2 hPa and show a significant cold bias in their …


Assessment Of Temperature, Trace Species, And Ozone In Chemistry-Climate Model Simulations Of The Recent Past, V. Eyring, N. Butchart, D. W. Waugh, H. Akiyoshi, J. Austin, S. Bekki, G. E. Bodeker, B. A. Boville, C. Brühl, M. P. Chipperfield, E. Cordero, M. Dameris, M. Deushi, V. E. Fioletov, S. M. Frith, R. R. Garcia, A. Gettelman, M. A. Giorgetta, V. Grewe, L. Jourdain, D. E. Kinnison, E. Mancini, E. Manzini, M. Marchand, D. R. Marsh, T. Nagashima, P. A. Newman, J. E. Nielsen, S. Pawson, G. Pitari, D. A. Plummer, E. Rozanov, M. Schraner, T. G. Shepherd, K. Shibata, R. S. Stolarski, H. Struthers, W. Tian, M. Yoshiki Nov 2006

Assessment Of Temperature, Trace Species, And Ozone In Chemistry-Climate Model Simulations Of The Recent Past, V. Eyring, N. Butchart, D. W. Waugh, H. Akiyoshi, J. Austin, S. Bekki, G. E. Bodeker, B. A. Boville, C. Brühl, M. P. Chipperfield, E. Cordero, M. Dameris, M. Deushi, V. E. Fioletov, S. M. Frith, R. R. Garcia, A. Gettelman, M. A. Giorgetta, V. Grewe, L. Jourdain, D. E. Kinnison, E. Mancini, E. Manzini, M. Marchand, D. R. Marsh, T. Nagashima, P. A. Newman, J. E. Nielsen, S. Pawson, G. Pitari, D. A. Plummer, E. Rozanov, M. Schraner, T. G. Shepherd, K. Shibata, R. S. Stolarski, H. Struthers, W. Tian, M. Yoshiki

Eugene C. Cordero

[1] Simulations of the stratosphere from thirteen coupled chemistry-climate models (CCMs) are evaluated to provide guidance for the interpretation of ozone predictions made by the same CCMs. The focus of the evaluation is on how well the fields and processes that are important for determining the ozone distribution are represented in the simulations of the recent past. The core period of the evaluation is from 1980 to 1999 but long-term trends are compared for an extended period (1960–2004). Comparisons of polar high-latitude temperatures show that most CCMs have only small biases in the Northern Hemisphere in winter and spring, but …


The Karst Of West-Central Florida, Lee J. Florea Aug 2006

The Karst Of West-Central Florida, Lee J. Florea

Lee J Florea, PhD, P.G.

Caves, the cornerstone feature of karst aquifers, are little understood in Florida. This dissertation, which analyzes the morphology, elevation, lithologic setting, and hydrology of caves in west-central Florida, demonstrates that the karst of the unconfined Floridan aquifer differs from the paradigm view of karst presented in modern geology textbooks. The differences reflect setting: eogenetic (west-central Florida) vs. telogenetic (conventional).


Architecture Of Air-Filled Caves Within The Karst Of The Brooksville Ridge, West-Central Florida, Lee J. Florea Aug 2006

Architecture Of Air-Filled Caves Within The Karst Of The Brooksville Ridge, West-Central Florida, Lee J. Florea

Lee J Florea, PhD, P.G.

Air-filled caves surveyed in the Brooksville Ridge of west-central Florida provide insight into the organization of karstic permeability within the unconfined portions of the Upper Floridan Aquifer. The morphology of the passages that compose these caves in geologically young, high-permeability limestones is strikingly different from caves found in ancient carbonates far from the influence of the coast. Cave passages in west-central Florida are laterally extensive and tiered. Principal horizons of cave development occur between +3 m and +5 m, +12 m and +15 m, and +20 m and +22 m above modern sea level. The primary guide of cave passage …


“Late Cretaceous Terrestrial Vertebrates From Madagascar: Implications For Latin American Biogeography.”, Raymond Rogers, D.W. Krause, P.M. O’Connor, K. Curry Rogers, S.D. Sampson, G.A. Buckley Aug 2006

“Late Cretaceous Terrestrial Vertebrates From Madagascar: Implications For Latin American Biogeography.”, Raymond Rogers, D.W. Krause, P.M. O’Connor, K. Curry Rogers, S.D. Sampson, G.A. Buckley

Raymond Rogers

No abstract provided.


Morphologic Features Of Conduits And Aquifer Response In The Unconfined Floridan Aquifer System, West Central Florida, Lee J. Florea, H L. Vacher Jun 2006

Morphologic Features Of Conduits And Aquifer Response In The Unconfined Floridan Aquifer System, West Central Florida, Lee J. Florea, H L. Vacher

Lee J Florea, PhD, P.G.

Conduits within the unconfined Floridan Aquifer of west-central Florida include both horizontal and vertical components. In this paper, we investigate each and propose theories based upon cave survey data and a collection of over 300 Florida cave maps. First, we find that vertical portions of conduits visually correlate to fractures, and these fractures tend to be the dominant control of conduit directionality. Length-weighted rose diagrams of passage directions reveal a NW-SE and NE-SW pattern of conduit directions statistically similar to results found in remote sensing studies of photolinears. Secondly we note that horizontal elements of conduits occur at consistent horizons …


Consistency Based Error Evaluation For Deep Sea Bathymetric Mapping With Robotic Vehicles, Christopher Roman, Hanumant Singh Apr 2006

Consistency Based Error Evaluation For Deep Sea Bathymetric Mapping With Robotic Vehicles, Christopher Roman, Hanumant Singh

Christopher N. Roman

This paper presents a method to evaluate the mapping error present in point cloud terrain maps created using robotic vehicles and range sensors. This work focuses on mapping environments where no a priori ground truth is available and self consistency is the only available check against false artifacts and errors. The proposed error measure is based on a disparity measurement between common sections of the environment that have been imaged multiple times. This disparity measure highlights inconsistency in the terrain map by showing regions where multiple overlapping point clouds do not fit together well. This error measure provides the map …


Sea Surface Temperature Patterns On The West Florida Shelf Using Growing Hierarchical Self-Organizing Maps, Yonggang Liu, Robert H. Wesiberg, Ruoying He Feb 2006

Sea Surface Temperature Patterns On The West Florida Shelf Using Growing Hierarchical Self-Organizing Maps, Yonggang Liu, Robert H. Wesiberg, Ruoying He

Yonggang Liu

Neural network analyses based on the self-organizing map (SOM) and the growing hierarchical self-organizing map (GHSOM) are used to examine patterns of the sea surface temperature (SST) variability on the West Florida Shelf from time series of daily SST maps from 1998 to 2002. Four characteristic SST patterns are extracted in the first-layer GHSOM array: winter and summer season patterns, and two transitional patterns. Three of them are further expanded in the second layer, yielding more detailed structures in these seasons. The winter pattern is one of low SST, with isotherms aligned approximately along isobaths. The summer pattern is one …


Le Voragini Catastrofiche Della Florida, Lee J. Florea, Robert Brooks, Tom Turner, Mario Parise Jan 2006

Le Voragini Catastrofiche Della Florida, Lee J. Florea, Robert Brooks, Tom Turner, Mario Parise

Lee J Florea, PhD, P.G.

The West-Central Florida landscape is worlds away from white-sand beaches and palm trees: gentle rolling hills, dense jungle-like forests, pine tree and palmetto scrub lands, impenetrable cypress swamps, and alligator-laden rivers. Numerous crystal-clear springs offer a glimpse of the hidden world below these wildly-diverse ecosystems. Internationally recognized in the cave diving community, Florida harbors some of the longest and most spectacular underwater cave systems. Lesser known are Florida’s “dry” caves, that rarely have large natural openings and, though often smaller than their aquatic counterparts, the beauty found within can rival the world’s best show-caves. Little was known about caves and …


Cave Levels, Marine Terraces, Paleoshorelines, And The Water Table In Peninsular Florida, Lee J. Florea, H L. Vacher Jan 2006

Cave Levels, Marine Terraces, Paleoshorelines, And The Water Table In Peninsular Florida, Lee J. Florea, H L. Vacher

Lee J Florea, PhD, P.G.

Levels of passages are a common feature of many cave systems around the world. Likewise, coastal and marine terraces are common in coastal plain settings. This paper extends the discussion of cave levels from traditional research sites in the interior lowlands of the United States to the Atlantic Coastal Plains, namely peninsular Florida. Are there levels in Florida caves, and is there a link between the elevation of cave levels, marine terraces, paleoshorelines, and thus the water table, above and below present sea level in peninsular Florida?


Threats To Water Supplies In The Tropical Andes, Raymond S. Bradley, Mathias Vuille, Henry F. Diaz, Walter Vergara Jan 2006

Threats To Water Supplies In The Tropical Andes, Raymond S. Bradley, Mathias Vuille, Henry F. Diaz, Walter Vergara

Raymond S Bradley

Climate models predict that greenhouse warming will cause temperatures to rise faster at higher than at lower altitudes. In the tropical Andes, glaciers may soon disappear, with potentially grave consequences for water supplies.


Committee On Climate Change And Sustainable Development: 2005 Annual Report, John Dernbach Dec 2005

Committee On Climate Change And Sustainable Development: 2005 Annual Report, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.