A first attempt to model an Artificial Ice Reservoir (Ice Stupa) using a simple energy balance approach

<div> <div> <p>Artificial Ice Reservoirs (AIRs, also called icestupas) have been successful in storing water during winter and releasing the water during spring and summer. Therefore, they can be seen as a vital fresh water resource for irrigation in dry environments. Many different forms of AIRs do exist and not many studies have tried to model theses ice structures.<br>We will present simulations of the most important physical processes that causes the formation and melt of AIRs using one dimensional equations governing the heat transfer, vapour diffusion and water transport of a phase changing water mass. For validation, an AIR was constructed in Schwarzsee region in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. Meteorological data in conjunction with fountain discharge data was measured. According to the model, the Schwarzsee AIR was able to store and discharge 850 litres or  3.7 percent of all the water sprayed over a duration of 41 days. Alternate model scenarios will also be presented to show how this freezing efficiency can be increased.</p> </div> </div>

Radon Concentration Measurement in Groundwater of Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

Groundwater is the largest fresh water resource and radon is a radioactive naturally occurring noble gas that may be found anywhere in soil, air and water due to decay of uranium in rocks. It is important to investigate the radon in groundwater to safeguard against the health hazard caused due radon. The results presented here are from radon concentrations measured using RAD7 detector in 9 representative groundwater samples collected from hand pumps from southern parts of Roorkee in Haridwar district of Uttrakhand. Radon activity concentration was found in the range of 0.55+0.22 Bq L-1 to 3.39+0.28 Bq L-1 with an average value of 2.16+0.37 Bq L-1. Radon values were compared with United State Environmental Protection Agency value of 11 Bq L-1. The radon activity trend was found within the permissible limit.

The significance of vertical moisture diffusion on drifting Snow sublimation near snow surface

Drifting snow sublimation is a physical process containing phase change and heat change of the drifting snow, which is not only an important parameter for the studying of polar ice sheets and glaciers, but a significant one for the ecology of arid and semi-arid lands, where snow cover is the main fresh water resource. However, in the previous studies drifting snow sublimation near surface was ignored. Herein, we built a drifting snow sublimation model containing vertical moisture diffusion equation and heat balance equation, to study drifting snow sublimation near surface. The results showed that though drifting snow sublimation near surface was strongly reduced by negative feedback effect, relative humidity near surface didn’t reach the saturation state caused by vertical moisture diffusion. Therefore, the sublimation near surface will not stop in drifting snow near surface. The sublimation rate near surface is 3–4 orders of magnitude higher than that at 10 m. And the mass of snow sublimation near surface accounts for even more than half of the total if the wind velocity is small. Therefore, drifting snow sublimation near surface can't be neglected.

Prediction of China's Water Shortage in the Year of 2025

In order to predict the demand of fresh water in China in the year of 2025, a mathematical model is proposed based on the summation of demand of water in ten major regions in China. The gray model is applied to predict the fresh water resource in the year of 2025 while neural network model is applied to predict the fresh water demand. The degree of water shortage is evaluated by the international water scarcity assessment criteria which are commonly used. The conclusion is that some provinces in China may be faced with big challenges for water shortage.

Designing Resource-Efficient Military Base Camps From a Holistic Perspective

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has recently shown an interest in incorporating resource efficiency into decision-making processes, including decisions that pertain to Forward Operating Military Base Camp (FOB) equipment. Often deployed in environments without access to grid utilities, FOBs require costly deliveries by land or air of resources such as fuel and fresh water. Resource-efficient FOB designs have the potential to reduce supply costs, but competing objectives and uncertain operational conditions complicate the design process. For example, integration of solar photovoltaic panels into existing designs has the potential to reduce the need to burn fuel in generators, however solar panels have up-front logistical and monetary costs that limit widespread use. There are also uncertainties associated with available solar energy and camp electrical loads. The research described here uses computer modeling and simulation of a real FOB subsystem under different operational scenarios to develop configurations of solar panels and batteries that, when integrated with an existing FOB design, maximize resource savings but minimize logistical and monetary costs, showing the benefit of a holistic design strategy that accounts for scenario variation. This research will also show that while different hardware configurations prove most efficient under different scenarios and objectives, certain hardware configurations provide good performance under all scenarios and objectives.