Irreversible thermodynamic and viscoelastic model for power-law relaxation and attenuation of rocks

A constitutive law for viscoelastic behaviour of rocks is derived from irreversible thermodynamics. To this model, two specific parameters are introduced; one is an internal state variable which is a variable concerning the microstructures such as defects in crystals or microcracks, and the other is a temperature reduced time obtained by normalizing the various temperature behaviours. A large number of internal state variables have the respective relaxation times and show the respective time evolutions, while a set of the time evolutions generates temporal power-law behaviour of rocks. The time evolutions of internal states are regarded as dynamics of elements of the generalized Maxwell model, and the stress–strain relation is represented by a response function following a temporal power-law in terms of linear system theory. This relation is inversely formulated to investigate the source field from output data. This model enables us to explain experimentally-based constitutive laws for transient and steady-state behaviour of rocks (e.g., lherzolite) following a temporal power-law and for attenuation behaviour of polycrystals (e.g., olivine) represented by a relation between the quality factor and frequency. Both laws show power-laws on deformation time or frequency depending on the fractal structure in polycrystals or rocks, and the experimental high-temperature behaviours can be extrapolated to long deformation time or high frequency behaviour.     

Long-term denudation rates of actively uplifting hillcrests in the Boso Peninsula, Japan, estimated from depth profiling of in situ-produced cosmogenic Be and Al

Depth profiling of in situ-produced cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al was applied to estimate the rate of long-term denudation on actively uplifting hillcrests made of weakly consolidated sandstone in the Boso Peninsula, Japan. The nuclide concentration in the topmost meter of the hillcrest has reached an equilibrium value owing to surface denudation at 90 mm/kyr. This rate is much smaller than the regional uplift rate, and is consistent with the current isolated residual topography of the hillcrest. By considering the epoch of emergence of the sandstone hillcrests, we estimate the summit denudation rate of the adjacent mudstone hill formation to be 720 ± 110 mm/kyr.     

Resolution dependence of tropical cyclone formation in CMIP3 and finer resolution models

Detection of tropical lows is performed in a suite of climate model simulations using objectively-determined detection thresholds that are resolution-dependent. It is found that there is some relationship between model resolution and tropical cyclone formation rate even after the resolution-dependent tropical cyclone detection threshold is applied. The relationship is investigated between model-simulated tropical cyclone formation and a climate-based tropical cyclone Genesis Potential Index (GPI). It is found that coarser-resolution models simulate the GPI better than they simulate formation of tropical cyclones directly. As a result, there appears to be little relationship from model to model between model GPI and the directly-simulated cyclone formation rate. Statistical analysis of the results shows that the main advantage of increasing model resolution is to give a considerably better pattern of cyclone formation. Finer resolution models also simulate a slightly better pattern of GPI, and for these models there is some relationship between the pattern of GPI simulated by each model and that model’s pattern of simulated tropical cyclone formation.     

Paleomagnetism of Cretaceous Red beds from Eastern Part of South China Block

INTRODUCTIONCollisionofIndiawithAsiaappearstohavebroughtaboutlargetectonicdeformationofAsia,especiallyEastAsia(Tapponnieretal.,1986).Post-Cretaceousdeformation(translationand/orrotation)ofSimaoandIndochinablocks,whicharelocatedatthesouthernsideofRedRiverfault(RRF),hasbeenreportedfromCretaceouspaleomagneticin-vestigations(Yangetal.,l995;HuangandOpdyke,l993IYangandBesse,1993).AlsoinSouthChinablock(SCB)locatedatnorthsideoftheRRF,localdeformationofsomeregionsneartheRRFhasbeendocum…     

Development of a new operational system for monitoring and forecasting coastal and open-ocean states around Japan

We developed a new system to monitor and forecast coastal and open-ocean states around Japan for operational use by the Japan Meteorological Agency. The system consists of an eddy-resolving analysis model based on four-dimensional variational assimilation and a high (2-km) resolution forecast model covering Japanese coastal areas that incorporates an initialization scheme with temporal and spatial filtering. Assimilation and forecast experiments were performed for 2008 to 2017, and the results were validated against various observation datasets. The assimilation results captured well the observed variability in sea surface temperature, coastal sea level, volume transport, and sea ice. Furthermore, the volume budget for the Japan Sea was significantly improved by the use of the 2-km resolution forecast model compared with the 10-km resolution analysis model. The forecast results indicate that this system has a predictive limit longer than 1 month in many areas, including in the Kuroshio current area south of Japan and the southern Japan Sea. In the forecast results of case studies, the 2017 Kuroshio large meander was well predicted, and warm water intrusions accompanying Kuroshio path variations south of Japan were also successfully reproduced. Sea ice forecasts for the Sea of Okhotsk largely captured the evolution of sea ice in late winter, but sea ice in early winter included relatively large errors. This system has high potential to meet operational requirements for monitoring and forecasting ocean phenomena at both meso- and coastal scales.