Geophysical Environment Research Articles

Exploration of Icy Ocean Worlds Using Geophysical Approaches

Abstract Geophysics-focused missions and improved geophysical data sets are critical for the future exploration of icy ocean worlds. Of particular interest is the exploration of the Galilean moon, Europa, and the Saturnian moons, Titan and Enceladus. These bodies likely have geologically active surfaces and may harbor habitable subsurface environments. Placing any candidate signatures for life in context requires further knowledge of the interior of these worlds. While the surfaces of these bodies have been mapped, their interiors remain poorly understood. Geophysical approaches such as geodesy, seismology, ice-penetrating radar and altimetry measurements, and electromagnetometry would provide critical information regarding the interior of these icy ocean worlds. The approaches described below would answer key science questions regarding ice shell and ocean dynamics, internal structure and interior layer thicknesses, near-surface structure, and how material from the deep interior might be exchanged with the surface. Here we outline the geophysical environments of Enceladus, Europa, and Titan; some outstanding science questions that remain to be addressed; and examples of the geophysical approaches that can provide the context to better understand icy ocean worlds.

Toward monitoring forest ecosystem integrity within the post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

AbstractSignatory countries to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are formulating goals and indicators through 2050 under the post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Among the goals is increasing the integrity of ecosystems. The CBD is now seeking input toward a quantifiable definition of integrity and methods to track it globally. Here, we offer a schema for using Earth observations (EO) to monitor and evaluate global forest ecosystem integrity (EI). Our approach builds on three topics: the concept of EI, the use of satellite‐based EO, and the use of “essential biodiversity variables” to monitor and report on it. Within this schema, EI is a measure of the structure, function, and composition of an ecosystem relative to the range of variation determined by climatic–geophysical environment. We use evaluation criteria to recommend eight potential indicators of EI that can be monitored around the globe using Earth Observations to support the efforts of nations to monitor and report progress to implement the post‐2020 GBF. If operationalized, this schema should help Parties to the CBD take action and report progress on achieving ecosystem commitments during this decade.

Book review: K. Hutter, 2020. Fundamental Glaciology: modelling thermomechanical processes of ice in the geophysical environment, engineering and material science. International Glaciological Society

Book review: K. Hutter, 2020. Fundamental Glaciology: modelling thermomechanical processes of ice in the geophysical environment, engineering and material science. International Glaciological Society - Volume 67 Issue 265

Application of SWAT in Hydrological Simulation of Complex Mountainous River Basin (Part I: Model Development)

The soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) hydrological model has been used extensively by the scientific community to simulate varying hydro-climatic conditions and geo-physical environment. This study used SWAT to characterize the rainfall-runoff behaviour of a complex mountainous basin, the Budhigandaki River Basin (BRB), in central Nepal. The specific objectives of this research were to: (i) assess the applicability of SWAT model in data scarce and complex mountainous river basin using well-established performance indicators; and (ii) generate spatially distributed flows and evaluate the water balance at the sub-basin level. The BRB was discretised into 16 sub-basins and 344 hydrological response units (HRUs) and calibration and validation was carried out at Arughat using daily flow data of 20 years and 10 years, respectively. Moreover, this study carried out additional validation at three supplementary points at which the study team collected primary river flow data. Four statistical indicators: Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), percent bias (PBIAS), ratio of the root mean square error to the standard deviation of measured data (RSR) and Kling Gupta efficiency (KGE) have been used for the model evaluation. Calibration and validation results rank the model performance as “very good”. This study estimated the mean annual flow at BRB outlet to be 240 m3/s and annual precipitation 1528 mm with distinct seasonal variability. Snowmelt contributes 20% of the total flow at the basin outlet during the pre-monsoon and 8% in the post monsoon period. The 90%, 40% and 10% exceedance flows were calculated to be 39, 126 and 453 m3/s respectively. This study provides additional evidence to the SWAT diaspora of its applicability to simulate the rainfall-runoff characteristics of such a complex mountainous catchment. The findings will be useful for hydrologists and planners in general to utilize the available water rationally in the times to come and particularly, to harness the hydroelectric potential of the basin.

Trajectory Design and Maintenance of the Martian Moons eXploration Mission Around Phobos

The Martian Moons eXploration mission, currently under development by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), will be launched in 2024 with the goal of retrieving pristine samples from the surface of Phobos. Soon after arrival, the spacecraft will inject into retrograde relative trajectories known as quasi-satellite orbits and study the geophysical environment of the Martian moon for more than three years. This paper presents the orbit design and maintenance strategy of the Martian Moons eXploration mission in the framework of the elliptic Hill problem with ellipsoidal secondary. This paper first introduces a numerical continuation procedure on the eccentricity of Phobos to replace purely periodic solutions with families of quasi-periodic invariant tori. Two-dimensional torus maps can be then constructed and used to represent physical quantities of interest, as well as to generate reference trajectories at arbitrary epochs. Sensitivity and stability analyses are carried out to investigate the dynamic properties of retrograde relative trajectories in the elliptic case. Finally, a linear quadratic regulator is implemented in order to assess the robustness of the computed trajectories under injection, navigation, and execution errors. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the baseline quasi-satellite orbits of the Martian Moons eXploration mission can be maintained with as low as per month.

The Science Case for a Titan Flagship-class Orbiter with Probes

We outline a flagship-class mission concept focused on studying Titan as a global system, with particular emphasis on the polar regions. Investigating Titan from the unique standpoint of a polar orbit would enable comprehensive global maps to uncover the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere, and the topography and geophysical environment of the surface and subsurface. The mission includes two key elements: (1) an orbiter spacecraft, which also acts as a data relay, and (2) one or more small probes to directly investigate Titan's seas and make the first direct measurements of their liquid composition and physical environment. The orbiter would carry a sophisticated remote sensing payload, including a novel topographic lidar, a long-wavelength surface-penetrating radar, a sub-millimeter sounder for winds and for mesospheric/thermospheric composition, and a camera and near-infrared spectrometer. An instrument suite to analyze particles and fields would include a mass spectrometer to focus on the interactions between Titan's escaping upper atmosphere and the solar wind and Saturnian magnetosphere. The orbiter would enter a stable polar orbit around 1500 to 1800 km, from which vantage point it would make global maps of the atmosphere and surface. One or more probes, released from the orbiter, would investigate Titan's seas in situ, including possible differences in composition between higher and lower latitude seas, as well as the atmosphere during the parachute descent. The number of probes, as well as the instrument complement on the orbiter and probe, remain to be finalized during a mission study that we recommend to NASA as part of the NRC Decadal Survey for Planetary Science now underway, with the goal of an overall mission cost in the "small flagship" category of ~$2 bn. International partnerships, similar to Cassini-Huygens, may also be included for consideration.

Characterization of women and youth smallholder agricultural entrepreneur’s in rural irrigation schemes in Vhembe district, South Africa

The purpose of the study was to characterize irrigated smallholder agricultural enterprises (ISAEs) in selected areas of Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. The characterization focused on the geophysical environment and on participants in ISAEs. Precipitation was at most 460mmpa for villages along Madimbo Corridor and 701-1380mmpa for those along Mutale Valley, and temperatures were 38.1℃-44.0℃ (Madimbo) and 30.0℃-40.0℃ (Mutale). Groundwater supplemented surface water and was utilized more at Madimbo Corridor compared to Mutale Valley. The study area was characterized as semi-arid to sub-humid, hence technologies for efficient irrigation should be promoted. Participants in ISAEs were female (94.9%), and adult (52.72%) with low education levels (67.7% ≤ secondary education). The majority (88.65%) were not formally employed (54.61% self-employed, 34.04% full-time farmers). Participants experienced some level of poverty, 68.03 percent received low household incomes (R1001-R5000/month), 77 percent received social grants. Interestingly, the majority (65.31%) stayed in multiple-roomed houses, had cement brick walls, and corrugated iron roofs (54.42%), and all had electricity, a stove, and a fridge. Also, majority-owned radio (96.67%), DSTV (87.45%), vehicles (65.56%), and cellphones. Participants mostly provided adequate food supply (91.84%) with three meals/day (79.38%) except during hard times where 49.56 percent provided fewer meals mostly due to delayed readiness of farm produce. Strategies to empower ISAE participants to be more effective should consider their gender, age, education, and economic status estimated by income, asset ownership, and food security.

A Combined Mode-Matching Technique and Born Approximation Method to Model Well-Logging Sensors in Non-Axisymmetric Boreholes

This paper presents a study on pseudo-analytic techniques for modeling electromagnetic sensors used in geophysical well logging. Logging-while-drilling (LWD) tools are sensors typically used on the exploration of hydrocarbons reservoirs and are usually immersed in complex geophysical formations (inhomogeneous, dissipative, and anisotropic), resulting in a challenging problem for conventional computational electromagnetic techniques. The geophysical environment is typically treated as a radially and longitudinally stratified medium, conforming with the boundaries of a cylindrical borehole drilled in the earth. We analyzed this propagation problem by using a full-wave method based on the mode-matching technique for solving the cylindrical stratifications. This method was then supplemented by a perturbational solution on the grounds of the Born approximation for handling the non-symmetries the borehole and earth layers can present. Preliminary results show the ability of the techniques introduced in this paper to accurately modeling electromagnetic sensors more realistically when compared with other semi-analytic methods available in the literature.

The associations between social, built and geophysical environment and age-specific dementia mortality among older adults in a high-density Asian city

BackgroundAlthough socio-environmental factors which may affect dementia have widely been studied, the mortality of dementia and socio-environmental relationships among older adults have seldom been discussed.MethodA retrospective, observational study based on territory-wide register-based data was conducted to evaluate the relationships of four individual-level social measures, two community-level social measures, six short-term (temporally varying) environmental measures, and four long-term (spatially varying) environmental measures with dementia mortality among older adults in a high-density Asian city (Hong Kong), for the following decedents: (1) all deaths: age >= 65, (2) “old-old”: age > = 85, (3) “mid-old”: aged 75–84, and (4) “young-old”: aged 65–74.ResultsThis study identified 5438 deaths (3771 old-old; 1439 mid-old; 228 young-old) from dementia out of 228,600 all-cause deaths among older adults in Hong Kong between 2007 and 2014. Generally, regional air pollution, being unmarried or female, older age, and daily O3 were associated with higher dementia mortality, while more urban compactness and greenness were linked to lower dementia mortality among older adults. Specifically, being unmarried and the age effect were associated with higher dementia mortality among the “old-old”, “mid-old” and “young-old”. Regional air pollution was linked to increased dementia mortality, while urban compactness and greenness were associated with lower dementia mortality among the “old-old” and “mid-old”. Higher daily O3 had higher dementia mortality, while districts with a greater percentage of residents whose native language is not Cantonese were linked to lower dementia mortality among the “old-old”. Economic inactivity was associated with increased dementia mortality among the “young-old”. Gender effect varied by age.ConclusionThe difference in strengths of association of various factors with dementia mortality among different age groups implies the need for a comprehensive framework for community health planning. In particular, strategies for air quality control, usage of greenspace and social space, and activity engagement to reduce vulnerability at all ages are warranted.

To Sink or Swim: Evaluating Coastal Archaeological Stability through a System of Indices

ABSTRACT Archaeological resources in the coastal zone are subjected to a variety of cultural, social, and environmental conditions that affect a site’s stability, which can be defined in physical (e.g. structure, geophysical environment), sociocultural (e.g. looting, vandalism), and regulatory (e.g. federal, state, and local mandates) terms. To effectively manage resources within this dynamic environment requires a holistic understanding of what drives stability (or instability) at each site. The systematic development of indices for archaeological site stability aggregates a large number of complex conditions, both drivers and pressures, into a smaller set of key indicators that can be used to evaluate site stability, and to monitor changes over time. This system of indices provides an integrated framework for evaluation of site-specific stability that allows for adaptive management and the prioritisation of resources (e.g. funding, time, staff).

How effective are drainage systems in mitigating flood losses?

The impacts of flooding can be devastating. Huge financial burden often follows major storm events to recover from structural damage. Well-designed drainage systems allow for effective discharge of stormwater, reducing property losses and expenditures on recovery. However, a lack of empirical studies on the topic has impeded the determination of which drainage method might be the most effective in preventing or minimizing property losses from flooding. This study assessed the economic impacts of three drainage systems − storage-, conveyance-, and infiltration-based facilities – on reducing flood damage recorded from 2009 to 2012 by Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Buffalo Bayou watershed in Houston, Texas, USA. Ordinary least squares and spatial autoregressive models were developed with a group of variables featuring drainage system, housing structure, geophysical environment, and storm characteristics. The results show that storage-based systems outperform conveyance-based mechanisms. Infiltration-based facilities are found to be less effective in reducing property damage because green spaces disconnected from sewer systems are rapidly inundated after being saturated while excessive overflow is not properly drained. This study confirms that the performance of a drainage system varies by facility type and environmental setting. The results encourage the recovery of wetlands and integration of retention/detention basins into community development in flood-prone areas to prevent potential future economic losses.

Acoustic, Magnetic, and Electric Effects of Stromboli Volcano Eruption, Italy, in July–August 2019

The results of instrumental observations of acoustic oscillations, geomagnetic variations, and variations in the electric field and atmospheric electric current during the activation of the Stromboli volcano, Italy, in 2019 are presented. Separately considered are the periods of explosive activity and the interval marked by intense emission of incandescent ash-and-gas mixture. It is shown that volcanic activity is accompanied by acoustic signal generation at the explosive stages of the eruption and by the emergence of internal gravity waves at the stage of intense effusion of ash and gas (“purging”). The characteristic variations in the Earth’s magnetic field and in the electrical parameters of the atmospheric surface layer are observed during different periods of volcanic eruption. The presented results expand the existing database and can be useful for improving the existing models and developing the new models describing the effect of volcanic activity on the geophysical environment as well as for verifying these models.

Cross‐shore distributions of peracarid crustaceans after changes in beach morphology: The importance of suction as a key geoenvironmental variable

AbstractRecently, it has been shown that suction, which means the tension of moisture in sediments, is responsible for the distribution limits of the amphipods Haustorioides japonicus and Trinorchestia trinitatis and the isopod Excirolana chiltoni. Such effects take place through three distinctive suction‐induced mechanisms, associated with burrowing, physiology and the stability of burrows. Based on this background, in this study, we investigated storm‐induced morphological changes in beach profiles and the associated variations in geoenvironments, namely the suction, the degree of saturation, water content and sediment hardness, of the sandy beach habitats. The associated changes in cross‐shore distributions of the three peracarid crustaceans were also investigated. Field studies were carried out before and after monsoonal storms at two sandy beaches, Maze and Gokahama, located on the Japan Sea coast in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The results showed that the suction‐induced variations of the geophysical environments were universal, irrespective of the storm‐induced morphological changes in the beach profiles. In addition, there were distinct changes in the cross‐shore distributions of the peracarid crustacean populations, associated with the storm‐induced morphological changes. The variations in the developed suction consistently and quantitatively accounted for these distinct changes in the cross‐shore distributions of the peracarid crustaceans, associated with the event‐induced morphological changes. Hence, suction played a crucial role as a key geoenvironmental variable in determining the distribution changes of the three peracarid crustaceans studied, even following the event‐induced morphological changes of the beach profiles.

Response of cracking processes in variations of geophysical fields

This paper discusses a range of issues related to the interpretation of time variations of geophysical fields as a response of the geophysical environment to lunar-solar tidal influences and seismic events under conditions of submeridional compression. A model linking the mechanism of crack formation and generation of geophysical fields has been proposed. The concept of the energy characteristics of a seismic field of deep underground (endogenous) origin along the seismic wave field observed on the Earth's surface for three mutually perpendicular components has been introduced. The results of field studies of simultaneous recording of a seismic wave field by a three-component gradient system and a magnetotelluric field at monitoring sites of the Bishkek Geodynamic Proving Ground (BGPG in Northern Tien Shan) are presented. The test area is situated in an active intracontinental mountain Central Asian Orogenic Belt with the frequent seismicity. For the experiment purposes, we select the Ukok regime monitoring point in the Kochkor basin of Kyrgyz Tien Shan. Because the location is characterized by low-level of seismic noise and the technical-and-industrial influence. The applicability of such a joint approach in geophysics is discussed.According to the results of the experiments performed, we establish a possible causal relationship between lunar-solar tides and activation of the deep underground (endogenous) source. Based on the correlation analysis of gravitational tidal effects, and the results of magnetotelluric monitoring, the azimuthal dependence of the electrical conductivity of the medium was revealed. We detect characteristic changes in the studied electromagnetic parameters, which we identify as a result of the redistribution of fluids between the fracture systems, were. The joint analysis of data from regime magnetotelluric observations and seismicity distribution confirms the high sensitivity of the method to changes in the stress-strain state of the geological environment. The confinement of seismic events to zones with high gradients of variations of apparent electrical resistivity is shown.The work may be of interest to specialists in the field of Earth Sciences, dealing with the interpretation of experimental data from geophysical test sites.

ОТРАЖЕНИЕ ДИНАМИКИ РАЗВИТИЯ АФТЕРШОКОВОГО ПРОЦЕССА ЗЕМЛЕТРЯСЕНИЯ 20.12.2018, MW = 7.3 В ПОЛЕ КИНЕМАТИЧЕСКОГО ПАРАМЕТРА VP /VS

The paper presents the results of calculations, as well as further analysis of the kinematical parameter Vp/Vs in the source area of the strong earthquake (Mw = 7.3), which occurred on December 20, 2018 at the junction of the Kurile-Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches. Calculations of the Vp/Vs field based on the results of processing the parameters of moderate and weak earthquakes (Mw ≤ 6.5) in the earthquake source area and its surroundings, registered by the system of seismic observations of the Kamchatka branch of Federal Research Center « Geophysical Survey of RAS» in the period from 2009 to 15.06.2019. The results of the analysis of the Vp/Vs field and its comparison with the mechanisms of strong events in the vicinity of the source area of the studied earthquake lead us to the conclusion that the kinematic parameter Vp/Vs characterizes the elastic and strength properties of the geophysical environment, and also reflects the nature and changes in the stress field. The paper discusses also the probable effect of deformation regime on the type and form of distribution of the Vp/Vs parameter. This may be of particular importance for the development of methods of earthquake prediction and diagnosis of the environment.

К исследованию резонансного поведения вулканических построек

It is known that the geophysical medium in the vicinity of volcanoes is characterized by the presence of significant structural heterogeneities, which differ in their internal structure from the surrounding geological environment. This gives reason to attribute the volcanic structure with heterogeneities to the geological structures of the resonance type, which determine the mechanisms of preparation and development of the catastrophic event, both earthquakes and activation and eruption of the volcano. It is known that the geophysical environment in the vicinity of volcanoes is characterized by the presence of significant structural heterogeneities, which differ in their internal structure from the surrounding geological environment. This gives reason to attribute the volcanic structure with heterogeneities to the geological structures of the resonance type, which determine the mechanisms of preparation and development of the catastrophic events such as earthquakes, and the activation and eruption of the volcano. During the study of the volcanic structure resonance behavior modeled by a block structure, it is necessary to analyze the pseudo-differential equations that arise in the implementation process of the block element method and the differential factorization method. By extracting from them the corresponding integral or integro-differential equations, we are able to write out the conditions that describe the so-called "natural viruses", which can be considered as a generalization of the static conditions. Mathematical descriptions of the "viruses" allow us to find the conditions when the localization of selected parameters occurs, possible under certain conditions in reality. In the paper we study the resonance properties of particular models of volcanic structures. We obtain an expression for the ``virus'' of a volcanic structure modeled by a stamp on an elastic foundation in the form of a layer, as well as establish the existence of system parameters which lead to the occurrence of unlimited resonance. To study processes in the environment of trap provinces, we present a model of a tectonic plate, represented by a layer of finite thickness with the distributed load applied to the upper surface simulating anthropogenic effect and distributed load applied to lower surface simulating the effect of the environment of mantle plumes. In the model under consideration, we use the integral Fourier transform, which allows us to reduce the dimension of the problem and construct functional relations for obtaining the Fourier images of the main characteristics of the system, which are further determined by applying the inverse Fourier transform using the apparatus of residue theory. The obtained expressions provide an opportunity for studying the laws of the emerging fields of displacements and stresses in the environment of the trap province.

Cognitive HF radar

Radars operating in the high-frequency (HF) band can exploit propagation modes other than line-of-sight and are hence widely employed to provide over-the-horizon surveillance and remote sensing. Most HF radars operating today rely on surface wave propagation; while opportunities for enhancing their performance by adding cognitive features exist, these have not been widely seized. In contrast, designers of HF skywave radars, which exploit ionospheric reflection to achieve ranges in excess of 4000 km, have long sought to counter the enormous challenges of the geophysical environment by implementing schemes to raise radar intelligence quotient (IQ) and autonomy. Measures that have been explored relate to resource allocation, operating procedures, signal processing, target classification and remote sensing. The perception–action cycle constitutes the structural element of these developments, accessing prior knowledge and input from auxiliary sensors, exactly as proposed by those who later coined the term cognitive radar. Here, the roles of cognition in HF skywave radars are reviewed, illustrating the needs and benefits with examples including detection in sea clutter, ionospheric channel compensation and multiple-input and multiple-output HF radar.

A Review on Hydrodynamical Stability of Thin Film Flowing Along an Inclined Plane

The dynamics and stability of thin liquid films have fascinated scientists over many decades. Thin film flows occur over a wide range of length scales and are central to numerous areas of engineering, geophysics and biophysics. These include nanofluidics and microfluidics, lava flows, coating flows, tear-film rupture, dynamics of continental ice sheets and surfactant replacement therapy. Study of falling film instability has its wide applications in the practical field of industry and engineering. Practical applications in industrial processing motivate the recent research to investigate the factors which may affect the formation of waves on the surface of the coating layers and/or to determine the ways to overcome or to minimize the unwanted factors within the desired limit of tolerance. The dynamics of a liquid film flowing down a plane under the action of gravity is a problem which appears in many technological and natural systems, namely large scale geophysical environments such as lava flows or spillways, daily life scenarios such as water flowing down a window pane or a slippery road on a rainy day, chemical engineering processes such as evaporators, heat exchanges and falling film reactors or surface coating. The aim of this paper is to throw light on the studies conducted on hydrodynamical stability.

Mixed Total Field/Scattered Field-Based Discontinuous Galerkin Frequency-Domain Method for Subsurface Sensing

To model the responses of electromagnetic surveys for geophysical subsurface sensing, a mixed total field/scattered field-based discontinuous Galerkin frequency-domain (TF/SF DGFD) method is proposed in this paper. The proposed TF/SF DGFD method is implemented at a subdomain level based on the domain decomposition technique. Different subdomains can employ either the TF DGFD framework or the SF DGFD framework, which are then coupled through the Riemann transmission condition. To balance the computation efficiency and accuracy for practical applications, the proposed method prefers to using the SF DGFD framework for subdomains with sources and using the TF DGFD framework for the remaining subdomains. At the interfaces between total field and scattered field subdomains, the Riemann transmission condition is slightly modified by incorporating the background fields due to the physically imposed sources in the background media. In this way, the proposed method only requires surface integrals of the background fields as extra overhead instead of elementwise integration of the scattering objects for the purely scattered field-based method, which can improve the computational efficiency. Also, it is more accurate than the purely TF DGFD method given the same mesh. Numerical examples are studied to examine the performance of the proposed method, which is proven to have better accuracy than the TF DGFD method. The TF/SF DGFD method will facilitate modeling of electromagnetic surveys under complicated geophysical environments for subsurface sensing.

Continuum Modeling of Pressure‐Balanced and Fluidized Granular Flows in 2‐D: Comparison With Glass Bead Experiments and Implications for Concentrated Pyroclastic Density Currents

AbstractGranular flows are found across multiple geophysical environments and include pyroclastic density currents, debris flows, and avalanches, among others. The key to describing transport of these hazardous flows is the rheology of these complex multiphase mixtures. Here we use the multiphase model MFIX in 2‐D for concentrated currents to examine the implications of rheological assumptions and validate this approach through comparison to experiments of both frictional and fluidized flows made of glass beads (Sauter mean grain‐size of 75 μm). Because the rheology of highly polydisperse, highly angular, polydensity granular mixtures is poorly known, we focus on simplified monodisperse or bidisperse mixtures described by the frictional flow theory of Schaeffer (1987, https://doi.org/10.1016/0022‐0396(87)90038‐6) and Srivastava‐Sundaresan, often referred to as the Princeton model (Srivastava & Sundaresan, 2003, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0032‐5910(02)00132‐8). We show that simulations including the latter model replicate well the flow shape, kinematics, and pore fluid pressure that match well‐constrained dam‐break experiments of initially fluidized or pressure‐balanced granular flows. Simulations reveal that pore fluid pressure is intrinsically modulated by dilation and compaction of the flow and hence can be generated in concentrated pyroclastic density currents. We use these simulations to interpret basal pore pressure signals from local flow properties (mixture density, solid velocity, and pore fluid pressure). Rheological changes retard these simulated flows considerably near the predicted runout, but most continuum models cannot inherently predict a zero velocity. We suggest an inertial number parameter that can be used to approximate deposition, and this approach could be a valuable tool used to validate simulations against natural pyroclastic current examples.