ALBERT

Description: Most landslides in Korea are classified as shallow landslides with an average depth of less than 2 m. These shallow landslides are associated with the advance of a wetting front in the unsaturated soil due to rainfall infiltration, which results in an increase in water content and a reduction in the matric suction in the soil. Therefore, this study presents a modified equation of infinite slope stability analysis based on the concept of the saturation depth ratio to analyze the slope stability change associated with the rainfall on a slope. A rainfall infiltration test in unsaturated soil was performed using a column to develop an understanding of the effect of the saturation depth ratio following rainfall infiltration. The results indicated that the rainfall infiltration velocity due to the increase in rainfall in the soil layer was faster when the rainfall intensity increased. In addition, the rainfall infiltration velocity tends to decrease with increases in the unit weight of soil. The proposed model was applied to assess its feasibility and to develop a regional landslide susceptibility map using a geographic information system (GIS). For that purpose, spatial databases for input parameters were constructed and landslide locations were obtained. In order to validate the proposed approach, the results of the proposed approach were compared with the landslide inventory using a ROC (receiver operating characteristics) graph. In addition, the results of the proposed approach were compared with the previous approach used: a steady-state hydrological model. Consequently, the approach proposed in this study displayed satisfactory performance in classifying landslide susceptibility and showed better performance than the steady-state approach.

Description: Most landslides in Korea are classified as shallow landslides with an average depth of less than 2 m. These shallow landslides are associated with the advance of a wetting front in the unsaturated soil due to rainfall infiltration, which results in an increase in water content and a reduction in the matric suction in the soil. Therefore, this study presents a modified equation of infinite slope stability analysis based on the concept of the saturation depth ratio to analyze the slope stability change associated with the rainfall on a slope. A rainfall infiltration test in unsaturated soil was performed using a column to develop an understanding of the effect of the saturation depth ratio following rainfall infiltration. The results indicated that the rainfall infiltration velocity due to the increase in rainfall in the soil layer was faster when the rainfall intensity increased. In addition, the rainfall infiltration velocity tends to decrease with increases in the unit weight of soil. The proposed model was applied to assess its feasibility and to develop a regional landslide susceptibility map using a Geographic Information System (GIS). For that purpose, the spatial databases for input parameters were constructed and landslide locations were obtained. In order to validate the proposed approach, the results of the proposed approach were compared with the landslide inventory using ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristics) graph. In addition, the results of the proposed approach were compared with the previous approach used steady state hydrological model. Consequently, the approach proposed in this study displayed satisfactory performance in classifying landslide susceptibility and showed better performance than the steady state approach.

Description: Aerodynamic roughness height (Zom) is a key parameter required in several land surface hydrological models, since errors in heat flux estimation are largely dependent on optimization of this input. Despite its significance, it remains an uncertain parameter which is not readily determined. This is mostly because of non-linear relationship in Monin-Obukhov similarity (MOS) equations and uncertainty of vertical characteristic of vegetation in a large scale. Previous studies often determined aerodynamic roughness using a minimization of cost function over MOS relationship or linear regression over it, traditional wind profile method, or remotely sensed vegetation index. However, these are complicated procedures that require a high accuracy for several other related parameters embedded in serveral equations including MOS. In order to simplify this procedure and reduce the number of parameters in need, this study suggests a new approach to extract aerodynamic roughness parameter from single or two heat flux measurements analyzed via Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) that affords non-linearity. So far, to our knowledge, no previous study has applied EnKF to aerodynamic roughness estimation, while the majority of data assimilation study have paid attention to updates of other land surface state variables such as soil moisture or land surface temperature. The approach of this study was applied to grassland in semi-arid Tibetan Plateau and maize on moderately wet condition in Italy. It was demonstrated that aerodynamic roughness parameter can be inversely tracked from heat flux EnKF final analysis. The aerodynamic roughness height estimated in this approach was consistent with eddy covariance method and literature value. Through a calibration of this parameter, this adjusted the sensible heat previously overestimated and latent heat flux previously underestimated by the original Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) model. It was considered that this improved heat flux estimation especially during the summer Monsoon period, based upon a comparison with precipitation and soil moisture field measurement. For an advantage of this approach over other previous methodologies, this approach is useful even when eddy covariance data are absent at a large scale and is time-variant over vegetation growth, as well as is not directly affected by saturation problem of remotely sensed vegetation index.

Description: Aerodynamic roughness height (Zom) is a key parameter required in land surface hydrological model, since errors in heat flux estimations are largely dependent on accurate optimization of this parameter. Despite its significance, it remains an uncertain parameter that is not easily determined. This is mostly because of non-linear relationship in Monin-Obukhov Similarity (MOS) and unknown vertical characteristic of vegetation. Previous studies determined aerodynamic roughness using traditional wind profile method, remotely sensed vegetation index, minimization of cost function over MOS relationship or linear regression. However, these are complicated procedures that presume high accuracy for several other related parameters embedded in MOS equations. In order to simplify a procedure and reduce the number of parameters in need, this study suggests a new approach to extract aerodynamic roughness parameter via Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) that affords non-linearity and that requires only single or two heat flux measurement. So far, to our knowledge, no previous study has applied EnKF to aerodynamic roughness estimation, while a majority of data assimilation study has paid attention to land surface state variables such as soil moisture or land surface temperature. This approach was applied to grassland in semi-arid Tibetan area and maize on moderately wet condition in Italy. It was demonstrated that aerodynamic roughness parameter can inversely be tracked from data assimilated heat flux analysis. The aerodynamic roughness height estimated in this approach was consistent with eddy covariance result and literature value. Consequently, this newly estimated input adjusted the sensible heat overestimated and latent heat flux underestimated by the original Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) model, suggesting better heat flux estimation especially during the summer Monsoon period. The advantage of this approach over other methodologies is that aerodynamic roughness height estimated in this way is useful even when eddy covariance data are absent and is time-variant over vegetation growth, as well as is not affected by saturation problem of remotely sensed vegetation index.

Description: The Thorpe scale is an energy containing vertical overturning scale of large eddies associated with shear generated turbulence. We make here indirect estimates of vertical diffusivities from the Thorpe scale method in the Polar Front region east of the Kerguelen Islands based on fine scale density profiles gathered during the 2011 KEOPS2 cruise. These are validated in comparison with diffusivities estimated from the turbulence dissipation rate directly measured via a TurboMAP microprofiler. The results are sensitive to the choice of the diffusivity parameterization and the Gargett and Garner's (2008) overturn ratio Ro, with the optimal results showing an agreement within a factor of 4, on average, having been obtained from the parameterization by Shih et al. (2005) and the Ro = 0.25 criterion. The Thorpe scale-derived diffusivities in the KEOPS2 region show a high degree of spatial variability, ranging from a canonical value of O(10−5 m2 s−1) in the Winter Water layer and in the Subantarctic surface waters immediately north of the Polar Front to a high value of O(10−4 m2 s−1) in the seasonal thermocline just below the surface mixed layer. The latter values are found especially over the shallow plateau southeast of the Kerguelen Islands and in the Antarctic surface waters associated with the Polar Front attached to the escarpment northeast of the islands.

Description: The in situ primary production rates and various environmental variables were investigated in the Chukchi Sea during the 3rd RUSALCA expedition, which was conducted in 2012, to identify the current status of primary production. A 13C-15N dual tracer technique was used to measure the daily primary production rates, which ranged from 0.02 to 1.61 g C m−2 d−1 (mean ± SD = 0.42 ± 0.52 g C m−2 d−1). The primary production rates showed large regional differences, with the southern region (0.66 ± 0.62 g C m−2 d−1) producing approximately five times as much as the northern region (0.14 ± 0.10 g C m−2 d−1), which was primarily due to the differences in phytoplankton biomasses induced by regional nutrient conditions. The primary production rates in the Chukchi Sea were averaged using data acquired during the three different RUSALCA expeditions (2004, 2009, and 2012) as 0.33 g C m−2 d−1 (SD = 0.40 g C m−2 d−1), which was significantly lower than previously reported rates. In addition to strong seasonal and interannual variations in primary production, recent decreases in the concentrations of major inorganic nutrients and chlorophyll a could be among the reasons for the recent low primary production in the Chukchi Sea because the primary production is mainly affected by nutrient concentration and phytoplankton biomass. The nutrient inventory and primary production appear to be largely influenced by the freshwater content (FWC) variability in the region due to the significant relationships between FWC, nitrate concentrations (r = 0.54, p 〈 0.05) and primary production rates (r = 0.56, p 〈 0.05). Moreover, we found highly significant relationships between the nutrient levels and the primary production rates (r = 0.75, p 〈 0.001). In conclusion, the primary production in the Chukchi Sea is primarily controlled by nutrient availability which is strongly related to the FWC variability. Our results imply that the predicted increase in freshwater accumulation might cause a decrease in primary production by lowering the nutrient inventory in the euphotic zone of the Chukchi Sea.

Description: The in situ primary production rates and various environmental variables were investigated in the Chukchi Sea during the RUSALCA expedition, which was conducted in 2012, to identify the current status of primary production. A 13C–15N dual-tracer technique was used to measure the daily primary production rates, which ranged from 0.02 to 1.61 g C m−2 d−1 (mean ±SD  =  0.42 ± 0.52 g C m−2 d−1). The primary production rates showed large regional differences, with the southern region (0.66 ± 0.62 g C m−2 d−1) producing approximately 5 times as much as the northern region (0.14 ± 0.10 g C m−2 d−1), which was primarily due to the differences in phytoplankton biomasses induced by regional nutrient conditions. The primary production rates in the Chukchi Sea were averaged using data acquired during the three different RUSALCA expeditions (2004, 2009, and 2012) as 0.33 g C m−2 d−1 (SD  =  0.40 g C m−2 d−1), which was significantly lower than previously reported rates. In addition to strong seasonal and interannual variations in primary production, recent decreases in the concentrations of major inorganic nutrients and chlorophyll a could be among the reasons for the recent low primary production in the Chukchi Sea because the primary production is mainly affected by nutrient concentration and phytoplankton biomass. The nutrient inventory and primary production appear to be largely influenced by the freshwater content (FWC) variability in the region due to the significant relationships between FWC, nitrate inventory (r  =  0.54, p 

Description: The Thorpe scale is an energy-containing vertical overturning scale of large eddies associated with shear-generated turbulence. This study investigates indirect estimates of vertical diffusivities from the Thorpe scale method in the polar front region east of the Kerguelen Islands based on fine-scale density profiles gathered during the 2011 KEOPS2 (KErguelen Ocean and Plateau compared Study 2) cruise. These diffusivities are validated in comparison with diffusivities estimated from the turbulence dissipation rate directly measured via a TurboMAP (Turbulence ocean Microstructure Acquisition Profiler) microstructure profiler. The results are sensitive to the choice of the diffusivity parameterization and the overturn ratio Ro, and the optimal results have been obtained from the parameterization by Shih et al. (2005) and the Ro = 0.25 criterion, rather than the parameterization by Osborn (1980) and the Ro = 0.2 criterion originally suggested by Gargett and Garner (2008). The Thorpe-scale-derived diffusivities in the KEOPS2 region show a high degree of spatial variability, ranging from a canonical value of O(10−5) m2 s−1 in the Winter Water layer and in the area immediately north of the polar front to a high value of O(10−4) m2 s−1 in the seasonal thermocline between the surface mixed layer and the Winter Water. The latter high diffusivities are found especially over the shallow plateau southeast of the Kerguelen Islands and along the polar front that is attached to the escarpment northeast of the islands. The interaction of strong frontal flow with prominent bottom topography likely causes the observed elevated mixing rates.