(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON D.C. August 12, 2013 -- Some time around 37,000 BCE a massive volcano erupted in the Campanian region of Italy, blanketing much of Europe with ash, stunting plant growth and possibly dooming the Neanderthals. While our prehistoric relatives had no way to know the ash cloud was coming, a recent study provides a new tool that may have predicted what path volcanic debris would take.
"This paper provides a model for the pattern of the ash cloud if the wind is blowing past an eruption of a given size," said Peter Baines, a scientist at the University of Melbourne in Australia who did the study. He published his work in the journal Physics of Fluids.
Volcanic eruptions are an example of what Baines calls an "intrusion." Other examples include exhaust rising from a chimney, sewage flowing into the ocean, and the oil spilling underwater in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. In all these events, a fluid rises into a density-stratified environment like the atmosphere or the ocean. As the fluid rises, it is pushed by winds or currents, and this crossflow can cause the intruding fluid to disperse far from its origin.
Scientists have previously modeled intrusions into a completely calm environment, but before Baines nobody had ever attempted to introduce the effect of crosswinds, a necessary step toward making such models more realistic and useful.
Predicting Ash and Oil Flows
Baines thinks his work could be used to estimate how much ash is pouring out of a volcano, or how fast oil is gushing from a hole in the sea floor.
Baines is now working with volcanologists in Britain to apply his model to historic eruptions like the Campanian event and the catastrophic Toba supereruption that occurred around 73,000 years ago in Indonesia. The scientists are hoping to use ash deposits from these volcanoes to develop a sharper picture of the amount and speed of the ejected material.
"Most of what we know about prehistoric eruptions is from sedimentary records," said Baines. "You then have to try to infer what the nature of the eruption was, when this is the only information you've got."
Baines said his model can also help forecast the deposition patterns of future eruptions. And that should give us a big leg up on the poor Neanderthals.
How the Model Works
To understand how intrusions work in the presence of crossflows, Baines developed what he calls a semi-analytical model. He began with fluid dynamics equations, and then used numerical calculations to arrive at approximate solutions for specifics combinations of source flow and spread rates, and crosswind speed. He found that, under normal wind speeds, the intruding fluid reached a maximum thickness at a certain distance upstream from the source, and thinned in the downstream direction. The distance to the upstream stagnation point depended much more on the rate of source flow than the crossflow speed.
###
The article, "The dynamics of intrusions into a density-stratified crossflow" by Peter G. Baines, appears in the Journal Physics of Fluids. See: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4811850
ABOUT THE JOURNAL
Physics of Fluids, published by the AIP Publishing with the cooperation of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics, is devoted to the publication of original theoretical, computational, and experimental contributions to the dynamics of gases, liquids, and complex or multiphase fluids. See: http://pof.aip.org
Simulating flow from volcanoes and oil spills
Study in the Journal Physics of Fluids will help scientists understand and predict paths of debris and destruction from natural and manmade disasters
2013-08-12
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Scientists develop method that ensures safe research on deadly flu viruses
2013-08-12
A new strategy that dismantles a viral genome in human lung cells will ensure safe research on deadly strains of influenza, say researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Details of their "molecular biocontainment" approach, designed to prevent effective transmission of these viruses to humans, are published in Nature Biotechnology.
The strategy they developed and tested will enable healthy molecules in human lung cells to latch on to these viruses and cut the bugs up before they have a chance to infect the human host.
Findings from the study, ...
Expert: Taxation of retirement income in need of reform
2013-08-12
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Although planning for a comfortable retirement is a mainstay of public discussion, far less attention has been paid to the tax consequences of generating retirement income, says a University of Illinois expert on taxation and retirement benefits.
According to law professor Richard L. Kaplan, the income tax consequences for retirees are varied, outdated or often outright inappropriate.
"Legal and financial analyses abound regarding the various means of saving for retirement and the tax advantages that each option presents, but very few people consider ...
New insights into neuroblastoma tumor suppressor may provide clues for improved treatment
2013-08-12
August 12, 2013, New York, NY – Loss of a gene required for stem cells in the brain to turn into neurons may underlie the most severe forms of neuroblastoma, a deadly childhood cancer of the nervous system, according to a Ludwig Cancer Research study. Published in Developmental Cell today, the findings also provide clues about how to improve the treatment of this often-incurable tumor.
Neuroblastoma can appear in nervous tissue in the abdomen, chest and spine, among other regions of the body, and can spawn body-wracking metastasis. The most severe tumors respond poorly ...
Why early pregnancy conferes breast cancer protection
2013-08-12
An international scientific collaborative led by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute's Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, has discovered why women who give birth in their early twenties are less likely to eventually develop breast cancer than women who don't, triggering a search for a way to confer this protective state on all women.
The researchers now are in the process of testing p27, a mammary gland progenitor marker, in the tissue of thousands of women collected over a 20-year period—women whose histories have been followed extremely closely—to see if it is an accurate breast ...
Few doctors have adequate training to effectively treat chronic pain patients
2013-08-12
DETROIT – Pain is the most common reason a patient sees a physician but few physicians have received adequate training to help their patients, according to a Henry Ford Hospital article published in the Journal of American Osteopathic Association.
An estimated 100 million people in the United States are living with chronic pain, which accounts for up to $635 billion annually in health care costs and lost productivity. A 2011 study found that for every medical specialist, there are more than 28,500 patients with chronic pain.
Consequently, pain management typically ...
Child obesity interventions -- is change in BMI a good measure of success?
2013-08-12
New Rochelle, NY -- Body mass index (BMI) or a change in BMI is often the sole measure used to evaluate whether an intervention intended to combat childhood obesity is effective. But a new study clearly shows that an intervention can have beneficial effects on other health outcomes, such as cardiovascular fitness, regardless of its effect on BMI. Focusing on a single factor like the degree of BMI change is restrictive and can overlook other important outcomes, according to an article published in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. ...
U of T Mississauga study highlights racial groups in TV ads
2013-08-12
White people are more likely to be represented, and in a positive light, than Blacks or Asians in Canadian television advertisements, says a new study from the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM).
"Previous studies have looked at depictions of race in Canadian media, but this is the first to focus on advertising," says Professor Shyon Baumann, chair of UTM's Department of Sociology. "It's also the first to take a sample of commercials and use quantitative data to find the connections between products and different racial groups."
Baumann and PhD student Loretta ...
Perception of fertility affects quality of life in young, female cancer survivors
2013-08-12
A new study led by a University of Colorado Cancer Center member recently published in the journal Quality of Life Research reveals that in young, female cancer survivors, quality of life is significantly impaired long after treatment. The study compared 59 cancer survivors to 66 healthy controls and found that, as expected, cancer survivors showed higher stress and anxiety than the general population. Of note, survivors reported particular stress around the issues of sexual problems, physical pain and fatigue. The study also measured hormone levels reflecting woman's number ...
New evidence that cancer cells change while moving throughout body
2013-08-12
For the majority of cancer patients, it's not the primary tumor that is deadly, but the spread or "metastasis" of cancer cells from the primary tumor to secondary locations throughout the body that is the problem. That's why a major focus of contemporary cancer research is how to stop or fight metastasis.
Previous lab studies suggest that metastasizing cancer cells undergo a major molecular change when they leave the primary tumor – a process called epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). As the cells travel from one site to another, they pick up new characteristics. ...
Rethinking 'The Code'
2013-08-12
KANSAS CITY, MO—A decade ago, gene expression seemed so straightforward: genes were either switched on or off. Not both. Then in 2006, a blockbuster finding reported that developmentally regulated genes in mouse embryonic stem cells can have marks associated with both active and repressed genes, and that such genes, which were referred to as "bivalently marked genes", can be committed to one way or another during development and differentiation.
This paradoxical state—akin to figuring out how to navigate a red and green traffic signal—has since undergone scrutiny by ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Computer hardware advance solves complex optimization problems
SOX2: a key player in prostate cancer progression and treatment resistance
Unlocking the potential of the non-coding genome for precision medicine
Chitinase-3-like protein 1: a novel biomarker for liver disease diagnosis and management
The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Ahead-of-Print Tip Sheet: August 22, 2025
Charisma Virtual Social Coaching named a finalist for Global Innovation Award
From the atmosphere to the abyss: Iron's role in Earth's climate history
US oil and gas air pollution causes unequal health impacts
Scientists reveal how microbes collaborate to consume potent greenhouse gas
UMass Amherst kinesiologist receives $2 million ‘outstanding researcher’ award from NIH
Wildfire peer review report for land Brandenburg, Germany, is now online
Wired by nature: Precision molecules for tomorrow's electronics
New study finds hidden body fat is linked to faster heart ageing
How a gift card could help speed up Alzheimer’s clinical research
Depression and anxiety symptoms in adults displaced by natural disasters
Cardiovascular health at the intersection of race and gender in Medicare fee for service
World’s first observation of the transverse Thomson effect
Powerful nodes for quantum networks
Mapping fat: How microfluidics and mass spectrometry reveal lipid landscapes in tiny worms
ATOX1 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma carcinogenesis via activation of the c-Myb/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway
Colibactin-producing E. coli linked to higher colorectal cancer risk in FAP patients
Animal protein not linked to higher mortality risk, study finds
Satellite insights into eutrophication trends on the Qinghai–Tibet plateau
Researchers develop an innovative method for large-scale analysis of metabolites in biological samples
Asteroid Bennu is a time capsule of materials bearing witness to its origin and transformation over billions of years
New AI model can help extend life and increase safety of electric vehicle batteries
Wildfires can raise local death rate by 67%, shows study on 2023 Hawaiʻi fires
Yogurt and hot spring bathing show a promising combination for gut health
Study explains how lymphoma rewires human genome
New Durham University study counters idea that Jupiter’s mysterious core was formed by a giant impact
[Press-News.org] Simulating flow from volcanoes and oil spillsStudy in the Journal Physics of Fluids will help scientists understand and predict paths of debris and destruction from natural and manmade disasters