ALBERT

Description: By introducing two types of zenith troposphere delay (ZTD) products in precise point positioning (PPP), we developed the ZTD-corrected PPP and the ZTD-constrained PPP, both of them reduced the PPP convergence time. Both enhanced PPP methods are examined by global empirical ZTD models and regional ZTD corrections. For global ZTD models, we verified that ZTD-corrected PPP will deviate the positioning results, while ZTD-constrained PPP could produce unbiased estimations. Therefore, the latter is utilized to study the performance of global ZTD models (ITG, GPT2w, GZTD and UNB3m). After numerous experiments, we found that the performance of ZTD models was positively related to the real ZTD accuracy, and we proposed a universal tropospheric stochastic model 2SQR(9rms) which denotes double the square of nine times ZTD rms, to constrain ZTD in PPP. The proposed model subsequently was validated by real-time static and kinematic ZTD-constrained PPP on the premise that the ZTD rms on every station was known. Compared with traditional PPP, in static PPP, the number of improved stations is increased by 15.5 per cent (ITG), 14.4 per cent (GPT2w), 11.1 per cent (GZTD) and 8.3 per cent (UNB3m). For kinematic PPP, PPP constrained by ITG model still had the best performance, the number of improved stations is increased by 14.4 per cent, after 30 min of initialization time, 13.4 cm east, 13.4 cm north and 11.7 cm up positioning accuracy was obtained, compared with 15.3 cm east, 15.3 cm north and 14.3 cm up accuracy by traditional PPP. In addition, experiments using regional ZTD corrections to enhance real-time PPP showed that both ZTD-corrected PPP and ZTD-constrained PPP can notably reduce the convergence time on the vertical component (within 15 cm).

Description: We study fluctuations in the degree-2 zonal spherical harmonic coefficient of the Earth's gravity potential, C 20 , over the period 2003–2015. This coefficient is related to the Earth's oblateness and studying its temporal variations, C 20 , can be used to monitor large-scale mass movements between high and low latitude regions. We examine C 20 inferred from six different sources, including satellite laser ranging (SLR), GRACE and global geophysical fluids models. We further include estimates that we derive from measured variations in the length-of-day (LOD), from the inversion of global crustal displacements as measured by GPS, as well as from the combination of GRACE and the output of an ocean model as described by Sun et al. We apply a sequence of trend and seasonal moving average filters to the different time-series in order to decompose them into an interannual, a seasonal and an intraseasonal component. We then perform a comparison analysis for each component, and we further estimate the noise level contained in the different series using an extended version of the three-cornered-hat method. For the seasonal component, we generally obtain a very good agreement between the different sources, and except for the LOD-derived series, we find that over 90 per cent of the variance in the seasonal components can be explained by the sum of an annual and semiannual oscillation of constant amplitudes and phases, indicating that the seasonal pattern is stable over the considered time period. High consistency between the different estimates is also observed for the intraseasonal component, except for the solution from GRACE, which is known to be affected by a strong tide-like alias with a period of about 161 d. Estimated interannual components from the different sources are generally in agreement with each other, although estimates from GRACE and LOD present some discrepancies. Slight deviations are further observed for the estimate from the geophysical models, likely to be related to the omission of polar ice and groundwater changes in the model combination we use. On the other hand, these processes do not seem to play an important role at seasonal and shorter timescales, as the sum of modelled atmospheric, oceanic and hydrological effects effectively explains the observed C 20 variations at those scales. We generally obtain very good results for the solution from SLR, and we confirm that this well-established technique accurately tracks changes in C 20 . Good agreement is further observed for the estimate from the GPS inversion, showing that this indirect method is successful in capturing fluctuations in C 20 on scales ranging from intra- to interannual. Obtaining accurate estimates from LOD, however, remains a challenging task and more reliable models of atmospheric wind fields are needed in order to obtain high-quality C 20 , in particular at the seasonal scale. The combination of GRACE data and the output of an ocean model appears to be a promising approach, particularly since corresponding C 20 is not affected by tide-like aliases, and generally gives better results than the solution from GRACE, which still seems to be of rather poor quality.

Description: We consider a new approach to both the forward and inverse problems in post-seismic deformation. We present a method for forward modelling post-seismic deformation in a self-gravitating, heterogeneous and compressible earth with a variety of linear and nonlinear rheologies. We further demonstrate how the adjoint method can be applied to the inverse problem both to invert for rheological structure and to calculate the sensitivity of a given surface measurement to changes in rheology or time-dependence of the source. Both the forward and inverse aspects are illustrated with several numerical examples implemented in a spherically symmetric earth model.

Description: This is the second of three papers investigating properties of titanohematite-bearing quartzo-feldspathic rocks that create a significant remanent magnetic anomaly in the Modum District, South Norway. The first paper provided initial magnetic results, mineralogical characterization and evidence for the presence of lamellar magnetism. In this paper, knowledge of lamellar magnetic properties is explored through experiments where ilmenite lamellae were magnetized below 57 K, and interact magnetically along interfaces with the titanohematite host. Samples with known NRM directions were placed in specific orientations in an MPMS then cooled in zero field to 5 K, where hysteresis loops were measured in fields up to 5 Tesla. This assured that results were ultimately related to the natural lamellar magnetism produced during cooling ~1 billion years ago. In a second set of experiments the same oriented samples, were subjected to a +5 Tesla (T) field then field cooled to 5 K before hysteresis experiments. The first experiments consistently produced asymmetric shifted hysteresis loops with two loop separations, one in a positive field and one in a negative field. Without exception, when the NRM was oriented toward the negative field end of the MPMS, the bimodal loop showed a dominant loop separation in a positive field. By contrast, when the NRM was oriented toward the positive field end of the MPMS, the bimodal loop showed a dominant loop separation in a negative field. Both observations are consistent with antiferromagnetic coupling between the hard magnetization of ilmenite and the more easily shifted lamellar magnetism of the hematite. The bimodal nature of the loops indicates that the NRMs are vector sums of natural lamellar moments, which are oriented both positively and negatively, and that these opposite moments control the orientations of ilmenite magnetizations when cooling through 57 K. Here, extreme exchange biases up to 1.68 T were measured. The second set of experiments produced asymmetric shifted hysteresis loops with one opening always in the negative field. These observations indicate that the +5 T field applied at room temperature rotated the hematite lamellar magnetism in a positive direction, so that upon cooling all the ilmenite lamellae acquired negative magnetic moments, thus causing unimodal negatively shifted loops. Here, the largest exchange bias among the unimodal loops was only 0.7 T. These results will be used in paper III to build a better understanding of lamellar magnetism at the atomic layer scale.

Description: The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility ( –T curves) and magnetization ( M–T curves) has been used as a routine rock magnetic tool to characterize the magnetic mineralogy and magnetic granulometry of Chinese loess/palaeosols. However, palaeoclimatic interpretation of these thermomagnetic analyses remains controversial. In the present study, total organic carbon (TOC), thermomagnetic and low-temperature magnetic experiments on Mid-Late Pleistocene loess/palaeosols in Central Asia and the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) have been conducted. We found that the M ( T ) cooling curves at room temperature were mostly lower than the corresponding heating curves, whereas for the ( T ) analyses the cooling curves at room temperature were always much higher than the heating curves. Low-temperature magnetic measurements demonstrated that a large amount of superparamagnetic ferrimagnetic particles were produced during the thermal treatment and resulted in the aforementioned differences. This finding further indicated that the use of the M–T curves to estimate the relative content of maghemite in the loess/palaeosols from the CLP was problematic. In addition, a positive correlation exists between the TOC and the frequency-dependent susceptibility ( FD ) in the CLP, suggesting that stronger pedogenesis would result in the simultaneous increase in the content of both maghemite and organic matter. Consequently, the parameters 1 (representing the relative content of pedogenic maghemite), 2 ([ ph – ] + 1 ) and ph (related to the organic matter concentration), which can be calculated from the –T analyses, can potentially be used as new indicators of pedogenesis and palaeoclimate in Central Asia and the CLP.

Description: Previous magnetotelluric (MT) studies of the high-temperature Coso geothermal system in California identified a subvertical feature of low resistivity (2–5 Ohm m) and appreciable lateral extent (〉1 km) in the producing zone of the East Flank field. However, these models could not reproduce gross 3-D effects in the recorded data. We perform 3-D full-tensor inversion and retrieve a resistivity model that out-performs previous 2-D and 3-D off-diagonal models in terms of its fit to the complete 3-D MT data set as well as the degree of modelling bias. Inclusion of secondary Z xx and Z yy data components leads to a robust east-dip (60) to the previously identified conductive East Flank reservoir feature, which correlates strongly with recently mapped surface faults, downhole well temperatures, 3-D seismic reflection data, and local microseismicity. We perform synthetic forward modelling to test the best-fit dip of this conductor using the response at a nearby MT station. We interpret the dipping conductor as a fractured and fluidized compartment, which is structurally controlled by an unmapped blind East Flank fault zone.

Description: We have developed a method to estimate the geometry, location and densities of anomalies coming from 2-D gravity data based on compact gravity inversion technique. Compact gravity inversion is simple, fast and user friendly but severely depends on the number of model parameters, that is, by increasing the model parameters, the anomalies tend to concentrate near the surface. To overcome this ambiguity new weighting functions based on density contrast, depth, and compactness models have been introduced. Variable compactness factors have been defined here to get either a sharp or a smooth model based on the depth of the source or existence of prior information. Depth weighting derived from one station of gravity data whereas the effect of gravity data is 2-D and 3-D. To compensate this limitation an innovating weighting function namely kernel function has been introduced which multiplies with weight and compactness matrixes to yield a general model weighting function. The method is tested using three different sets of synthetic examples: a body at various depths (20, 40, 80 and 140 m), two bodies at the same depth but various distances to estimate lateral resolution and three bodies with negative and positive density contrast in different depths. The method is also applied to three real gravity data of Woodlawn massive sulphide body, sulphides mineralization of British Colombia and iron ore body of Missouri. The method produces solutions consistent with the known geologic attributes of the gravity sources, illustrating its potential practicality.

Description: The magnetic susceptibility measured in alternating field can in general be resolved into a component that is in-phase with the applied field and a component that is out-of-phase. While in non-conductive diamagnetic, paramagnetic and many ferromagnetic materials the phase is effectively zero, in some ferromagnetic minerals, such as pyrrhotite, hematite, titanomagnetite or small magnetically viscous grains of magnetite, it is clearly non-zero. The anisotropy of out-of-phase susceptibility (opAMS) can then be used as a tool for the direct determination of the magnetic subfabrics of the minerals with non-zero phase. The error in determination of out-of-phase susceptibility non-linearly increases with decreasing phase angle. This may result in imprecise determination of the opAMS in specimens with very low phase angle. The degree of opAMS is higher than that of ipAMS, which may in contrast result in slightly increasing precision n the opAMS determination. It is highly recommended to inspect the results of the statistical tests of each specimen and to exclude the specimens whose opAMS is determined with insufficient precision from further processing. In rocks, whose magnetism is dominated by the mineral with non-zero out-of-phase susceptibility, the principal directions of the opAMS and ipAMS are virtually coaxial, while the degree of opAMS is higher than that of ipAMS. In some specific cases, the opAMS provides us with similar data to those provided by anisotropies of low-field dependent susceptibility and frequency-dependent susceptibility. The advantage of the opAMS compared to the other two anisotropies is its simultaneous measurement with the ipAMS during one measuring process, while the other two anisotropies require the AMS measurements in several fields or at least at two operating frequencies.

Description: The spectral complex conductivity of a water-bearing sand during interaction with carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is influenced by multiple, simultaneous processes. These processes include partial saturation due to the replacement of conductive pore water with CO 2 and chemical interaction of the reactive CO 2 with the bulk fluid and the grain-water interface. We present a laboratory study on the spectral induced polarization of water-bearing sands during exposure to and flow-through by CO 2 . Conductivity spectra were measured successfully at pressures up to 30 MPa and 80 °C during active flow and at steady-state conditions concentrating on the frequency range between 0.0014 and 100 Hz. The frequency range between 0.1 and 100 Hz turned out to be most indicative for potential monitoring applications. The presented data show that the impact of CO 2 on the electrolytic conductivity may be covered by a model for pore-water conductivity, which depends on salinity, pressure and temperature and has been derived from earlier investigations of the pore-water phase. The new data covering the three-phase system CO 2 -brine-sand further show that chemical interaction causes a reduction of surface conductivity by almost 20 per cent, which could be related to the low pH-value in the acidic environment due to CO 2 dissolution and the dissociation of carbonic acid. The quantification of the total CO 2 effect may be used as a correction during monitoring of a sequestration in terms of saturation. We show that this leads to a correct reconstruction of fluid saturation from electrical measurements. In addition, an indicator for changes of the inner surface area, which is related to mineral dissolution or precipitation processes, can be computed from the imaginary part of conductivity. The low frequency range between 0.0014 and 0.1 Hz shows additional characteristics, which deviate from the behaviour at higher frequencies. A Debye decomposition approach is applied to isolate the feature dominating the data at low frequencies. We conclude from our study that electrical conductivity is not only a highly sensitive indicator for CO 2 saturation in pore space. When it is measured in its full spectral and complex form it contains additional information on the chemical state of the system, which holds the potential of getting access to both saturation and interface properties with one monitoring method.

Description: In a pioneering study, Wahr & Bergen developed the widely adopted, pseudo-normal mode framework for predicting the impact of anelastic effects on the Earth's body tides. Lau et al. have recently derived an extended normal mode treatment of the problem (as well as a minor variant of the theory known as the direct solution method) that makes full use of theoretical developments in free oscillation seismology spanning the last quarter century and that avoids a series of assumptions and approximations adopted in the traditional theory for predicting anelastic effects. There are two noteworthy differences between these two theories: (1) the traditional theory only considers perturbations to the eigenmodes of an elastic Earth, whereas the new theory augments this set of modes to include the relaxation modes that arise in anelastic behaviour; and (2) the traditional theory approximates the complex perturbation to the tidal Love number as a scaled version of the complex perturbation to the elastic moduli, whereas the new theory computes the full complex perturbation to each eigenmode. In this study, we highlight the above differences using a series of synthetic calculations, and demonstrate that the traditional theory can introduce significant error in predictions of the complex perturbation to the Love numbers due to anelasticity and the related predictions of tidal lag angles. For the simplified Earth models we adopt, the computed lag angles differ by ~20 per cent. The assumptions in the traditional theory have important implications for previous studies that use model predictions to correct observables for body tide signals or that analyse observations of body tide deformation to infer mantle anelastic structure. Finally, we also highlight the fundamental difference between apparent attenuation (i.e. attenuation inferred from observations or predicted using the above theories) and intrinsic attenuation (i.e. the material property investigated through experiments), where both are often expressed in terms of lag angles or Q –1 . In particular, we demonstrate the potentially significant (factor of two or more) bias introduced in estimates of Q –1 and its frequency dependence in studies that have treated Q –1 determined from tidal phase lags or measured experimentally as being equal. The observed or theoretically predicted lag angle (or apparent Q –1 ) differs from the intrinsic, material property due to inertia, self-gravity and effects associated with the energy budget. By accounting for these differences we derive, for a special case, an expression that accurately maps apparent attenuation predicted using the extended normal mode formalism of Lau et al. into intrinsic attenuation. The theory allows for more generalized mappings which may be used to robustly connect observations and predictions of tidal lag angles to results from laboratory experiments of mantle materials.