Search results for "CEA"

PHYSICS-based retrieval of scattering albedo and vegetation optical depth using multi-sensor data integration

2017

Vegetation optical depth and scattering albedo are crucial parameters within the widely used τ-ω model for passive microwave remote sensing of vegetation and soil. A multi-sensor data integration approach using ICESat lidar vegetation heights and SMAP radar as well as radiometer data enables a direct retrieval of the two parameters on a physics-derived basis. The crucial step within the retrieval methodology is the calculus of the vegetation scattering coefficient KS, where one exact and three approximated solutions are provided. It is shown that, when using the assumption of a randomly oriented volume, the backscatter measurements of the radar provide a sufficient first order estimate and …

How Offshore Groundwater Shapes the Seafloor

2018

The MARCAN project, launched last January, is working to fill a gap in our knowledge of how freshwater flowing underground shapes and alters the continental margins.

High-resolution 40Ar/39Ar chronostratigraphy of the post-caldera (<20 ka) volcanic activity at Pantelleria, Sicily Strait

2011

Abstract The island of Pantelleria (Sicily Strait), the type locality for pantellerite, has been the locus of major caldera-forming eruptions that culminated, ca. 50 ka ago, in the formation of the Cinque Denti caldera produced by the Green Tuff eruption. The post-caldera silicic activity since that time has been mostly confined inside the caldera and consists of smaller-energy eruptions represented by more than twenty coalescing pantelleritic centers structurally controlled by resurgence and trapdoor faulting of the caldera floor. A high-resolution 40Ar/39Ar study was conducted on key units spanning the recent (post-20 ka) intracaldera activity to better characterize the present-day status…

2018

Abstract. The orientation and tectonic regime of the observed crustal/lithospheric stress field contribute to our knowledge of different deformation processes occurring within the Earth's crust and lithosphere. In this study, we analyze the influence of the thermal and density structure of the upper mantle on the lithospheric stress field and topography. We use a 3-D lithosphere–asthenosphere numerical model with power-law rheology, coupled to a spectral mantle flow code at 300 km depth. Our results are validated against the World Stress Map 2016 (WSM2016) and the observation-based residual topography. We derive the upper mantle thermal structure from either a heat flow model combined with …

The Impact of a Very Weak and Thin Upper Asthenosphere on Subduction Motions

2019

Recent geophysical observations report the presence of a very weak and thin upper asthenosphere underneath subducting oceanic plates at convergent margins. Along these margins, trench migrations are significantly slower than plate convergence rates. We use numerical models to assess the role of a weak upper asthenospheric layer on plate and trench motions. We show that the presence of this layer alone can enhance an advancing trend for the motion of the plate and hamper trench retreat. This mechanism provides a novel and alternative explanation for the slow rates of trench migration and fast-moving plates observed globally at natural subduction zones.

The tsunami phenomenon

2017

Abstract With human activity increasingly concentrating on coasts, tsunamis (from Japanese tsu = harbour, nami = wave) are a major natural hazard to today’s society. Stimulated by disastrous tsunami impacts in recent years, for instance in south-east Asia (2004) or in Japan (2011), tsunami science has significantly flourished, which has brought great advances in hazard assessment and mitigation plans. Based on tsunami research of the last decades, this paper provides a thorough treatise on the tsunami phenomenon from a geoscientific point of view. Starting with the wave features, tsunamis are introduced as long shallow water waves or wave trains crossing entire oceans without major energy l…

Submarine morphology of the Comoros volcanic archipelago

2021

co-auteur étranger; International audience; A detailed morpho-bathymetric study of the Comoros archipelago, based on mostly unpublished bathymetric data, provides a first glimpse into the submarine section of these islands. It offers a complete view of the distribution of volcanic structures around the archipelago, allowing to discuss the origin and evolution of this volcanism. Numerous volcanic cones and erosional-depositional features have been recognized throughout the archipelago. The magmatic supply is focused below one or several volcanoes for each island, but is also controlled by lithospheric fractures evidenced by volcanic ridges, oriented along the supposed Lwandle-Somali plate bo…

Soil erosion processes in European vineyards: A qualitative comparison of rainfall simulation measurements in Germany, Spain and France

2016

Small portable rainfall simulators are considered a useful tool to analyze soil erosion processes in cultivated lands. European research groups in Spain (Valencia, Málaga, Lleida, Madrid and La Rioja), France (Reims) and Germany (Trier) have used different rainfall simulators (varying in drop size distribution and fall velocities, kinetic energy, plot forms and sizes, and field of application) to study soil loss, surface flow, runoff and infiltration coefficients in different experimental plots (Valencia, Montes de Málaga, Penedès, Campo Real and La Rioja in Spain, Champagne in France and Mosel-Ruwer valley in Germany). The measurements and experiments developed by these research teams give…

Observation of classically 'forbidden' electromagnetic wave propagation and implications for neutrino detection.

2018

Ongoing experimental efforts in Antarctica seek to detect ultra-high energy neutrinos by measurement of radio-frequency (RF) Askaryan radiation generated by the collision of a neutrino with an ice molecule. An array of RF antennas, deployed either in-ice or in-air, is used to infer the properties of the neutrino. To evaluate their experimental sensitivity, such experiments require a refractive index model for ray tracing radio-wave trajectories from a putative in-ice neutrino interaction point to the receiving antennas; this gives the degree of signal absorption or ray bending from source to receiver. The gradient in the density profile over the upper 200 meters of Antarctic ice, coupled wi…

Evolution of the neodymium isotopic signature of neritic seawater on a northwestern Pacific margin: new constrains on possible end-members for the co…

2013

11 pages; International audience; The Neodymium(Nd) isotope composition of fish remains has beenwidely used to track past changes in oceanic circulation. Although the number of published Nd isotope data for the Cretaceous has markedly increased in the last years, no consensus has been reached on the structure of the oceanic circulation and its evolution during the Late Cretaceous. Yet this period is characterised bymajor geodynamical and climatic changes andmarked by the disappearance of global oceanic anoxic events inwhich changes in oceanic circulation modesmay have played a significant role. In this study we present the first record of Nd isotopic composition of fish remains from contine…