Geophysics
We present a dynamo mechanism arising from the presence of barotropically unstable zonal jet currents in a rotating spherical shell. The shear instability of the zonal flow develops in the form of a global Rossby mode, whose azimuthal…
We consider dry granular flow down an inclined chute with a localised contraction theoretically and numerically. The flow regimes are predicted through a novel extended one-dimensional hydraulic theory. A discrete particle method validated…
Both muon tomography and gravimetry are geophysical methods that provide information on the density structure of the Earth's subsurface. Muon tomography measures the natural flux of cosmic muons and its attenuation produced by the screening…
Snow slab avalanche release usually results from failure of weak layers made of loose ice crystals. In previous field experiments, we evidenced for the first time an interesting stress-driven transition in the weak layer between a granular…
Spectroscopically measuring low levels of non-equilibrium phenomena (e.g. emission in the presence of a large thermal background) can be problematic due to an unfavorable signal-to-noise ratio. An approach is presented to use time-series…
There is argument as to the extent to which there has been an increase over the past few decades in the frequency of the extremes of climatic parameters, such as temperature, storminess, precipitation, etc, an obvious point being that…
We propose a class of spherical wavelet bases for the analysis of geophysical models and forthe tomographic inversion of global seismic data. Its multiresolution character allows for modeling with an effective spatial resolution that varies…
Ice sheets appeared in the northern hemisphere around 3 million years ago and glacial-interglacial cycles have paced Earth's climate since then. Superimposed on these long glacial cycles comes an intricate pattern of millennial and…
Algorithms for the computation of the forward and inverse geodesic problems for an ellipsoid of revolution are derived. These are accurate to better than 15 nm when applied to the terrestrial ellipsoids. The solutions of other problems…
Natural earthquake fault systems are highly non-homogeneous. The inhomogeneities occur be- cause the earth is made of a variety of materials which hold and dissipate stress differently. In this work, we study scaling in earthquake fault…
We analyzed observation data collected by the Instrument for the Detection of Particles (IDP) on board of DEMETER satellite during the period of total seventeen months in 2007 and 2008. In the meantime, the VLF transmitter located at NWC…
VLBI observations carried out by global networks provide the most accurate values of the precession-nutation angles determining the position of the celestial pole; as a rule, these results become available two to four weeks after the…
Several methods exist for surveying the dunes and estimate their migration rate. Among methods suitable for the macroscopic scale, the use of the satellite images available on Google Earth is a convenient resource, in particular because of…
We study the flow of particle-laden turbidity currents down a slope and over an obstacle. A high-resolution 2D computer simulation model is used, based on the Navier-Stokes equations. It includes poly-disperse particle grain sizes in the…
On 1 August 2009, the global Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability (CSEP) launched a prospective and comparative earthquake predictability experiment in Italy. The goal of the CSEP-Italy experiment is to test earthquake…
We propose that the widely observed and universal Gutenberg-Richter relation is a mathematical consequence of the critical branching nature of earthquake process in a brittle fracture environment. These arguments, though preliminary, are…
The Last Interglacial (LIG) stage, with polar temperatures likely 3-5 C warmer than today, serves as a partial analogue for low-end future warming scenarios. Based upon a small set of local sea level indicators, the Intergovernmental Panel…
In the expanding Earth framework it is possible to find additional phenomena that could contribute in a proper way to the water balance and general tectonic eustatism involved in the sea lever rising. Recent compilations seems to leave…
Injections of large volumes of water into tight shale reservoirs allows the extraction of oil and gas not previously accessible. This large volume "super" fracking induces damage that allows the oil and/or gas to flow to an extraction well.…
The presence of desiccation cracks in soils can significantly alter their mechanical and hydrological properties. In many circumstances, desiccation cracking in soils can cause significant damage to earthen or soil supported structures. For…