Jose
Antonio Rial
Theoretical Geophysics
Professor
Department of Geological Sciences
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Education
| Contact Information
| Research Interests
| Research Activities
| Electronic Classes and Research Links
Recent Collaborators
and Graduate Students | Research
Publications | Authored
Books
 Education
Ph.D., California Institute of Technology,
1979.
M.Sc., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1975
Contact
Information
Department of
Geological Sciences
319 Mitchell Hall, CB#3315
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3315
email: jose_rial@unc.edu
& jar@email.unc.edu
telephone: (919) 966-4553
fax: (919)
966-4519
Research
Interests
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Theoretical and Computational Geophysics/Seismology
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Computer Modeling of Environmental Systems.
Research Accomplishments and Activities
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Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science AAAS, September 2001
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Visiting Fellow, CIRES, University of Colorado, June-December 2005
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Visiting Scientist, CSIRO, Camberra, Australia, March-May, 2005
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Arctic expedition: Measuring the effects of Global Warming on Greenland's Ice Sheet with Konrad Steffen and Russell Huff at Swiss Camp, Spring 2006
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The SMOGIS (Seismic Monitoring of Greenland's Ice Sheet) Project Read about the deployment of an array of seismic stations on Greenland's ice sheet to "listen" to the cracking and fragmenting of the ice buttresses that sustain the ice cap in the SMOGIS page
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Most rewarding research: Mathematical models of Paleoclimate, the isotope
records of the ice ages. Abrupt Climate Change
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My research is related to theoretical and practical
aspects of seimic wave
propagation. This includes the detection and imaging of subsurface fractures in crack-controlled geothermal reservoirs. The photo above in fact was taken during a recent seismic research campaign at the Krafla geothermal field in Iceland. Behind me is the famous lake Myvatn (lake of the flies). Krafla field is just a stone's throw from the Artic circle. But among my
most recent work I must include the development of low-dimensionality models of the paleoclimate that account for some of the observed rythmic evolution of the Pleistocene
Ice Ages. A summary of this work
appears in the Winter 2000 issue of Endeavors
magazine. This is part of my research interests in chaos theory and nonlinear
dynamic systems, and especially in ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE. Two recent papers (see below) in press in Global and Planetary Change include a study of chaos and order while modeling abrupt climate change at orbital and millennial scales. Another paper
in Science, July 23th, 1999 (see below)
describes how frequency modulation, a nonlinear process, appears to be prevalent in
many paleoclimate records.
These and other climate papers can be downloaded from list below.
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In observational seismology, I have
recently collaborated
with Dr. M. Ritzwoller's Geophysics
group at the University of
Colorado ( Boulder)
in a very exciting project called SISAL,
the Surface wave tomographic Inversion of the South American Lithosphere
and neighboring
plates.
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My work in theoretical seismology
includes theoretical
developments and computer simulations of the resonant motions produced
in sedimentary
basins by near earthquakes, with emphasis on the interpretation
of damage patterns of recent destructive
earthquakes.
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Collaborative work with industry
includes our close
collaboration with Dr. V. Pereyra, of Weidlinger
Associates (Los Altos, CA). We are beginning
to use Weidlinger's highly sophisticated
software in modeling and inverting
3D seismic reflection data for use in both research and
teaching.
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Modeling of elastic waves in
anisotropic hetereogeneous
media is also important part of my work with Dr. Peter Malin's seismology
group atDuke University
. One practical aspect of
this problem is the determination of system of
fractures in a geothermal or hydrocarbon reservoir, detected by
the splitting
of shear waves. We have applied this method in the Coso geothermal field,
California, with great
success. Currently we are using the same techniques
in The Geysers, CA, geothermal field ( See the power point presentation below).
Electronic
Classes and Research Links
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Teaching
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Earth Science Resources
Electronic class to complement Geo 13 (Violent Earth) : Text, illustrations and
Internet hyper links to relevant material.
Includes interactive bulletin board where students may submit
homework,
comments/questions and new material for discussion ).
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EARTH MONITORING STATION (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
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Wave Propagation Lab
www.geosci.unc.edu/rial/WPL.html
This site is presently under heavy construction. Visit us soon to see detailed
description of research results produced by
faculty and students in the
Wave Propagation Laboratory.
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Research presentations
Shear Wave Splitting in The
Geysers ( Power Point Presentation) Sponsored by the US Department of Energy (Idaho National Energy Laboratory)
Abrupt Climate Change: Chaos and Order at
Orbital and Millennial Scales (Power Point Presentation). Sponsored by the National Science Foundation (Paleoclimate Program).
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The Carolina Environmental Program (CEP)
The Carolina Environmental Program is one of the fastest growing undergraduate programs at UNC. As chair of the Environmetal Sciences BS Curriculum I am involved in the development of this important aspect of science at carolina. A vist to the CEP's web site will hopefully convince you that this is an enormously important program and that to many of us is the best thing that has happened in UNC science in many decades.Also visit the Energy Initiative web pages of the CEP, where many of our faculty discuss their energy-related projects
Recent
Scientific Collaborators and Graduate
Students
Selected Recent
Publications and reprints
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Rial,
J.A. (1999): Pacemaking the Ice Ages
by Frequency Modulation of Earth's Orbital Eccentricity, Science, 285,
564-568. download pdf file
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- Rial, J.A. and Anaclerio, C.A.(2000):Understanding nonlinear responses of the climate system to orbital forcing,
Quaternary Science Reviews , 19 , 1709-1722. download pdf file
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- Elkibbi, M. and Rial, J.A.,(2001): An outsider's view of the ice ages: A review, Earth Science Reviews, 56, pp159-175. download pdf file
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- Vlahovic, G., Elkibbi, M. and Rial, J.A. (2002): Shear Wave Splitting and Reservoir Crack Characterization: Coso geothermal field, Jour. Volcanology and Geothermal Research,
120, 123-140. download pdf file
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- Rial, J.A. , R.A. Pielke Sr., M. Beniston, M. Claussen, J. Canadell, P. Cox, H. Held, N. de Noblet-Ducudre, R. Prinn, J. Reynolds and J.D. Salas ( 2004): Nonlinearities, Feedbacks and Critical Thresholds Within the Earth's Climate System, Climatic Change, Vol65, (1-2),p11-38 download pdf file
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- Rial, J.A. (2004): Abrupt Climate Change: Chaos and Order at Orbital and Millennial Scales, Global and Planetary Change, 41, p. 95-109. download pdf file . Most requested paper from G&PC, 2004-2005
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- Rial, J.A. (2004):Evidence for control of the Pleistocene ice ages by changes in earth's orbital eccentricity: The concealed pacemaker, Global and Planetary Change, 41 , p 81-93. download pdf file
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- Elkibbi, M., Yang, M. and Rial, J.A. (2004):Imaging Crack Systems in The Geysers with Shear-wave Splitting, Geothermal Res. Council Proc. (Best Paper Award) p789-800. download pdf file
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- Elkibbi, M. and Rial, J.A. (2005):The Geysers geothermal field: Results from shear-wave splitting analysis in a fractured reservoir, Geophys. Jour. Int., download pdf file
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- Elkibbi, M. , Yang, M. and Rial, J.A. (2005):Crack-induced anisotropy models it the Geysers geothermal field, Geophys. Jour. Int., download pdf file
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- Rial, J.A., Elkibbi, M. and Yang,M.(2005): Shear-wave splitting as a tool for the characterization of geothermal fractured reservoirs:lessons learned, Geothermics, download pdf file
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- Yang, M., Elkibbi, M. and Rial, J.A. (2005): An inversion scheme to model subsurface fracture systems using shear wave splitting polarization and delay time observations simultaneously, Geophys. Jour. Int., download pdf file
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- Tang, C., Rial, J.A. and Lees,J.(2005): Shear-wave splitting: A diagnostic tool to monitor fluid pressure in geothermal fields, Geophys. Res. Lett., download pdf file
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- Clark, P.U., D. Archer, D. Pollard, J. Blum, J.A. Rial, V. Brovkin, A. Mix, N.G. Pisias, and M. Roy (2006): The Middle Pleistocene Transition: Characteristics, Mechanisms, and Implications for Long-term Changes in Atmospheric pCO2, Quaternary Science Reviews (in press) , download pdf file.
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Rial, J.A. and M. Yang (2007): Is Abrupt Climate Change Paced by the Orbital Insolation?, in AGU Monograph 173, Ocean Circulation, Mechanisms and Impacts, Edited by S. Hamming, pp. 167-174.
Rial, J.A. (2007): Polar Earthquakes are nothing new, and don’t foretell catastrophe, The Guardian, London, September 13, 2007.
Tang, C., J. A. Rial and J. M. Lees (2008): Seismic Imaging of the Geothermal Field at Krafla, Iceland Using Shear-wave Splitting. Jour. Vol. Geotherm. Res, 176 (2), 315-324.doi: 10.1016 / j.jvolgeores. 2008.04.017.
Rial, J.A. and R. Saha (2008): Stochastic Resonance, Frequency modulation and the Mechanisms of Abrupt Climate Change in the Arctic, First International Symposium on Arctic Research, Drastic Change Under Global Warming (ext. abs.) Vol. 1, pp. 94-97
Rial, J.A., Tang, C. and K. Steffen (2009): Glacial Rumblings from Jakobshavn Ice Stream, Greenland, Journal of Glaciology , Vol. 55, N0 192, pp389-399 (available online).
Manuscripts IN PREPARATION, IN REVIEW
Rial, J.A. and R. Saha (2009): On the Predictability of Abrupt Climate Change and the role of the Orbital Insolation (To be submitted to Science)
Tang, C., Zhao, Y., Rial, J. A., and Lees, J. M. (2009). Automatic, Real-time Detection of Subsurface Cracks in Geothermal Fields Using Shear-wave Splitting. (In review).
Tang, C., Rial, J. A., and Lees, J. M. (2009). Modeling Subsurface Cracks in the Hengill Geothermal Field, Iceland Using Shear-wave Splitting and Waveform Simulation. (In review)
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Books
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Violent Earth: Textbook on
introductory geophysics,
based on the web page notes available at Earth Monitoring Station.
Includes CD-ROM supplement with Internet links
(in
preparation).
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