Spatial and temporal changes in dry-snow line altitude on the Antarctic Peninsula

Drastic changes were detected in glacial systems of the Antarctic Peninsula in the last decades. The observed phenomena comprise the disintegration of ice shelves, acceleration and thinning of glaciers, and retreat of glacier fronts. However, due to the lack of consistent systematic observations in particular of the higher parts of the glacial systems, it is difficult to predict further responses of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers to climatic change. The present paper analyses spatial and temporal variations of changes in the dry-snow line altitude on the Antarctic Peninsula as extracted from a time series (1992–2005) of ERS-1/2 SAR and Envisat ASAR data. Upward changes in dry-snow line altitude were observed in general, and are attributed to extreme high-temperature events impacting the central plateaus of the Antarctic Peninsula and the increasing duration of warming periods. A mean decrease in dry-snow line altitude was detected on the west side of the peninsula and is identified as a response to recorded increase in precipitation and accumulation. These results validate the capability of SAR data for deriving superficial parameters of glaciers to be used as indicators of climatic changes in high-latitude regions where operational restrictions limit conventional meteorological observations.     

Tidal effects and the environment dependence of halo assembly

We explore a possible origin for the puzzling anti-correlation between the formation epoch of galactic dark-matter haloes and their environment density. This correlation has been revealed from cosmological N -body simulations and is in conflict with the extended Press–Schechter model of halo clustering. Using similar simulations, we first quantify the straightforward association of an early formation epoch with a reduced mass-growth rate at late times. We then find that a primary driver of suppressed growth, by accretion and mergers, is tidal effects dominated by a neighbouring massive halo. The tidal effects range from a slowdown of the assembly of haloes due to the shear along the large-scale filaments that feed the massive halo to actual mass loss in haloes that pass through the massive halo. Using the restricted three-body problem, we show that haloes are prone to tidal mass loss within 1.5 virial radii of a larger halo. Our results suggest that the dependence of the formation epoch on environment density is a secondary effect induced by the enhanced density of haloes in filaments near massive haloes where the tides are strong. Our measures of assembly rate are particularly correlated with the tidal field at high redshifts   z ∼ 1  .     

TNOs are Cool: A Survey of the Transneptunian Region

Over one thousand objects have so far been discovered orbiting beyond Neptune. These trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) represent the primitive remnants of the planetesimal disk from which the planets formed and are perhaps analogous to the unseen dust parent-bodies in debris disks observed around other main-sequence stars. The dynamical and physical properties of these bodies provide unique and important constraints on formation and evolution models of the Solar System. While the dynamical architecture in this region (also known as the Kuiper Belt) is becoming relatively clear, the physical properties of the objects are still largely unexplored. In particular, fundamental parameters such as size, albedo, density and thermal properties are difficult to measure. Measurements of thermal emission, which peaks at far-IR wavelengths, offer the best means available to determine the physical properties. While Spitzer has provided some results, notably revealing a large albedo diversity in this population, the increased sensitivity of Herschel and its superior wavelength coverage should permit profound advances in the field. Within our accepted project we propose to perform radiometric measurements of 139 objects, including 25 known multiple systems. When combined with measurements of the dust population beyond Neptune (e.g. from the New Horizons mission to Pluto), our results will provide a benchmark for understanding the Solar debris disk, and extra-solar ones as well.     

Diffusion of Ar in muscovite

Hydrothermal treatment of closely sized muscovite aggregates in a piston-cylinder apparatus induced ⁴⁰Ar^∗ loss that is revealed in ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step heating spectra. Age spectra and Arrhenius data, however, differ from that expected from a single diffusion length scale. A numerical model of episodic loss assuming the presence of multiple diffusion domains yields excellent fits between synthetic and actual degassing spectra. We used this model to isolate ⁴⁰Ar^∗ loss from the grains that remained intact during hydrothermal treatment at 10 kbar permitting calculation of diffusion coefficients in the temperature range 730-600 °C. Diffusion data generated in this manner yield an activation energy (E) of 63 ± 7 kcal/mol and frequency factor (D_o) of 2.3  cm²/s. Experiments at 20 kbar yield diffusivities lower by about an order of magnitude and correspond to an activation volume of ∼14 cm³/mol. Together, these parameters predict substantially greater retentivity of Ar in muscovite than previously assumed and correspond to a closure temperature (T_c) of 425 °C for a 100 μm radius grain cooling at 10 °C/Ma at 10 kbar (T_c = 405 °C at 5 kbar. Age and log (r/r_o) spectra for the run products show strong correlations indicating that muscovites can retain Ar diffusion boundaries and mechanisms that define their natural retentivity during vacuum step heating. This may permit the application of high resolution, continuous ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronology to low grade, regionally metamorphosed terranes.     

Origin of fault domains and fault-domain boundaries (transfer zones and accommodation zones) in extensional provinces: Result of random nucleation and self-organized fault growth

In many extensional provinces, large normal faults dip in the same direction forming fault domains. Features variously named transfer faults, transfer zones, and accommodation zones (hereafter non-genetically referred to as fault-domain boundaries) separate adjacent fault domains. Experimental modeling of distributed extension provides insights on the origin, geometry, and evolution of these fault domains and fault-domain boundaries. In our scaled models, a homogeneous layer of wet clay or dry sand overlies a latex sheet that is stretched orthogonally or obliquely between two rigid sheets. Fault domains and fault-domain boundaries develop in all models in both map view and cross-section. The number, size, and arrangement of fault domains as well as the number and orientation of fault-domain boundaries are variable, even for models with identical boundary conditions. The fault-domain boundaries in our models differ profoundly from those in many published conceptual models of transfer/accommodation zones. In our models, fault-domain boundaries are broad zones of deformation (not discrete strike-slip or oblique-slip faults), their orientations are not systematically related to the extension direction, and they can form spontaneously without any prescribed pre-existing zones of weakness. We propose that fault domains develop because early-formed faults perturb the stress field, causing new nearby faults to dip in the same direction (self-organized growth). As extension continues, faults from adjacent fault domains propagate toward each another. Because opposite-dipping faults interfere with one another in the zone of overlap, the faults stop propagating. In this case, the geometry of the domain boundaries depends on the spatial arrangement of the earliest formed faults, a result of the random distribution of the largest flaws at which the faults nucleate.     

Properties of dusty tori in active galactic nuclei – I. The case of SWIRE/SDSS quasars

We derive the properties of dusty tori in active galactic nuclei from the comparison of observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of SDSS quasars and a precomputed grid of torus models. The observed SEDs comprise SDSS photometry, Two-Micron All-Sky Survey J , H and K data, whenever available, and mid-infrared (mid-IR) data from the Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic Survey. The adopted model is that of Fritz, Franceschini & Hatziminaoglou. The fit is performed by standard  χ²  -minimization; the model, however, can be a multicomponent comprising a stellar and a starburst component, whenever necessary. Models with low equatorial optical depth, τ_9.7, were allowed as well as 'traditional' models with  τ_9.7≥ 1.0  , corresponding to   A _V≥ 22  and the results were compared. Fits using high optical depth tori models only produced dust more compactly distributed than in the configuration where all τ_9.7 models were permitted. Tori with decreasing dust density with the distance from the centre were favoured while there was no clear preference for models with or without angular variation of the dust density. The computed outer radii of the tori are of some tens of parsecs large but can reach, in a few cases, a few hundreds of parsecs. The mass of dust, M _Dust, and IR luminosity, L _IR, integrated in the wavelength range between 1 and 1000 μm, do not show significant variations with redshift, once the observational biases are taken into account. Objects with 70-μm detections, representing 25 per cent of the sample, are studied separately and the starburst contribution (whenever present) to the IR luminosity can reach, in the most extreme but very few cases, 80 per cent.     

Shalstab mathematical model and WorldView-2 satellite images to identification of landslide-susceptible areas

Natural Hazards - Natural hazards, occurring all over the world, may become a disaster when humans and nature interact. In Brazil, landslides triggered by heavy rainfall are the most common...