The arch systems,cavities and prominences in the helmet streamer observed at the solar eclipse,November 12, 1966

Arch systems lying above quiescent prominences in the solar corona have long drawn the attention of eclipse observers, and such formations have been investigated since the end of the last century. Almost every eclipse photograph shows one or more arches, and in most cases the arch system is accompanied by a quiescent prominence below it and a helmet streamer above it. Also, in some cases there is a dark cavity between the arch system and the prominence.On large-scale photographs obtained at the November 12, 1966 eclipse, detailed photometry has been carried out on a formation in the corona composed of a helmet streamer straddling two multiple-arch systems each with a dark cavity and a quiescent prominence. The excess of electrons in the arches and the deficiency in the cavities are evaluated. We find that the formation of a prominence requires much more material than available in the cavity before depletion. Consequently the condensation theory of coronal matter into prominences seems to have difficulties explaining the necessary amount of matter in the cases where coronal arches - delineating magnetic field lines above the cavity - may exclude inflow of material from the corona. We comment on the low velocity of solar wind in the helmet streamer.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Vertical distributions of large ontogenetically migrating copepods in the Oyashio region during their growing season

Neocalanus flemingeri, Neocalanus plumchrus, Neocalanus cristatus and Eucalanus bungii are large and dominant mesozooplankton occurring throughout the subarctic Pacific. They are an important trophic link and transporter of organic matter to the mesopelagic zone. Vertical distributions of these copepods were investigated from March to October 2000 in the Oyashio region of the western subarctic Pacific. Neocalanus plumchrus and N. flemingeri were distributed in the surface layer (0–50 m) and N. cristatus and E. bungii in the subsurface layer (50–100 m). However, when examined in detail, clear seasonal and vertical differences were observed. Neocalanus plumchrus was concentrated in the top 20 m from late April to the end of July, and N. flemingeri showed a little deeper distribution from May to July. Neocalanus cristatus showed a deeper distribution than that of grazing individuals of E. bungii from April to early July, but grazing individuals of E. bungii (C3–C6) showed a deeper distribution than that of N. cristatus from the end of July to October. Early copepodites of E. bungii were distributed much shallower than late copepodite stages and overlapped with copepodites of N. plumchrus and N. flemingeri. These results suggest that the four species of large copepods have established habitat segregation by season, vertical distribution and food resource partitioning in the Oyashio region as well as other regions of the North Pacific.     

An emission pathway for stabilization at 6?Wm?2 radiative forcing

Representative Concentration Pathway 6.0 (RCP6) is a pathway that describes trends in long-term, global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), short-lived species, and land-use/land-cover change leading to a stabilisation of radiative forcing at 6.0 Watts per square meter (Wm^?2) in the year 2100 without exceeding that value in prior years. Simulated with the Asia-Pacific Integrated Model (AIM), GHG emissions of RCP6 peak around 2060 and then decline through the rest of the century. The energy intensity improvement rates changes from 0.9% per year to 1.5% per year around 2060. Emissions are assumed to be reduced cost-effectively in any period through a global market for emissions permits. The exchange of CO₂ between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystem through photosynthesis and respiration are estimated with the ecosystem model. The regional emissions, except CO₂ and N₂O, are downscaled to facilitate transfer to climate models.     

Burial of organic carbon in Holocene sediments of the Zhujiang (Pearl River) and Changjiang (Yangtze River) estuaries

The East Asian marginal seas are important sinks of terrigenous materials transported by large rivers. In this study two cores from the Changjiang (Yangtze River) and Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuaries and one core from the inner shelf off of Hong Kong were investigated to examine the burial of organic matter during the postglacial period and its possible links with paleoenvironmental changes. Based on a simple two end-member mixing model, the terrestrial organic matter supplied primarily from the Zhujiang and Changjiang dominates the estuarine areas while marine organic matter contributes more to the inner-mid shelf. The competing contributions of terrestrial and marine organic matter are responsible for the downcore variations of organic elemental compositions. The overall decreasing shifts of total organic carbon concentrations and total organic carbon to total nitrogen ratios in the Zhujiang estuarine sediments since 6.5 kaBP seems to support the notion that depth profiles of organic matter compositions deposited in the Zhujiang Estuary can aid in the reconstruction of monsoon history in the Holocene. Nevertheless, organic matter compositions in the Changjiang Estuary and inner shelf off of southeastern Hong Kong respond in a different and more complex way to freshwater discharges or precipitation changes (monsoon variability) in the catchments, owing to complex controls of deposition and preservation of organic matter in these estuarine and shelf environments. Caution is therefore needed in using organic elemental and isotopic compositions to decipher paleoenvironmental changes in East Asian continental shelves where intense river–sea interactions occur and sedimentary environments change drastically.     

Modeling of 500-year tsunamis for probabilistic design of coastal infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest

This paper describes the development of tsunami scenarios from the National Seismic Hazard Maps for design of coastal infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest. The logic tree of Cascadia earthquakes provides four 500-year rupture configurations at moment magnitude 8.8, 9.0, and 9.2 for development of probabilistic design criteria. A planar fault model describes the rupture configurations and determines the earth surface deformation for tsunami modeling. A case study of four bridge sites at Siletz Bay, Oregon illustrates the challenges in modeling of tsunamis on the Pacific Northwest coast. A nonlinear shallow-water model with a shock-capturing scheme describes tsunami propagation across the northeastern Pacific as well as barrier beach overtopping, bore formation, and detailed flow conditions at Siletz Bay. The results show strong correlation with geological evidence from the six paleotsunamis during the last 2800 years. The proposed approach allows determination of tsunami loads that are consistent with the seismic loads currently in use for design of buildings and structures.     

Stoichiometry among bioactive trace metals in seawater on the Bering Sea shelf

The distribution of Al, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in seawater was investigated on the Bering Sea shelf (56–64°N, 165–169°W) in September 2000. The unfiltered and filtered seawater samples were used for determination of total dissolvable (TD) and dissolved (D) metals (M), respectively. The TD-M concentrations were generally higher than in the Pacific Ocean. TD-Cd was highest in deep water of the outer shelf domain and dominated by dissolved species. The other TD-M were highest at stations close to the Yukon River delta and had higher fractions of labile particulate (LP) species that were obtained as the difference between TD-M and D-M. Dissolved Al, Ni, and Cu were characterized by input from the Yukon River. Dissolved Mn and Co showed maximums on the bottom of the coastal domain, suggesting influence of sedimentary Mn reduction. The correlations of D-Zn, D-Cd, and macronutrients indicated their distributions were largely controlled through uptake by microorganisms and remineralization from settling particles. All these three processes (river input, sedimentary reduction, and biogeochemical cycle) had an influence on the distribution of D-Fe. D-Pb was fairly uniformly distributed in the study area. The stoichiometry of D-M in the Bering Sea shelf showed enrichment of Co and Pb and depletion of Ni, Cu, Zn, and Cd compared with that in the North Pacific. The LP-M/LP-Al ratio revealed significant enrichment of the other eight metals relative to their crustal abundance, suggesting importance of formation of Fe–Mn oxides and adsorption of trace metals on the oxides.     

Seasonal variation of bivalve larvae on an exposed sandy beach on Kashima-nada: Tips for the sandy beach recruitment process

Bivalves are often the dominant macrobenthos species in exposed sandy beach environments. However, our understanding of their recruitment processes before post-settlement stages on sandy beaches with highly energetic environments is incomplete. To clarify the characteristics of the free-swimming planktonic stage that affects recruitment efficiency in sandy shore ecosystems, we investigated the temporal (weekly–biweekly) variation of bivalve planktonic larval concentration coupled with oceanographic conditions on an exposed sandy shore on the sea of Kashima-nada, Japan, from summer 2003 to autumn 2005. Larvae were observed throughout the year, but the surge of larval concentration composed of sandy beach and sessile bivalves occurred most prominently in summer, from August to September. The peak concentration of larvae during this season was more than 1000 times higher than in other seasons. The larval concentration was positively correlated with water temperature and northward wind velocity and negatively correlated with each of the nutrient concentrations. On the other hand, chlorophyll a concentration and salinity seemed to have little effect on the larval concentration. Based on this fundamental knowledge, further investigations about planktonic larvae in sandy beaches are needed.     

Structure and characteristics of submonthly-scale waves along the Indian Ocean ITCZ

This study examines wave disturbances on submonthly (6–30-day) timescales over the tropical Indian Ocean during Southern Hemisphere summer using Japanese Reanalysis (JRA25-JCDAS) products and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration outgoing longwave radiation data. The analysis period is December–February for the 29 years from 1979/1980 through 2007/2008. An extended empirical orthogonal function (EEOF) analysis of daily 850-hPa meridional wind anomalies reveals a well-organized wave-train pattern as a dominant mode of variability over the tropical Indian Ocean. Daily lagged composite analyses for various atmospheric variables based on the EEOF result show the structure and evolution of a wave train consisting of meridionally elongated troughs and ridges along the Indian Ocean Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The wave train is oriented in a northeast–southwest direction from Sumatra toward Madagascar. The waves have zonal wavelengths of about 3,000–5,000 km and exhibit westward and southwestward phase propagation. Individual troughs and ridges as part of the wave train sequentially travel westward and southwestward from the west of Sumatra into Madagascar. Meanwhile, eastward and northeastward amplification of the wave train occurs associated with the successive growth of new troughs and ridges over the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean. This could be induced by eastward and northeastward wave energy dispersion from the southwestern to eastern Indian Ocean along the mean monsoon westerly flow. In addition, the waves modulate the ITCZ convection. Correlation statistics show the average behavior of the wave disturbances over the tropical Indian Ocean. These statistics and other diagnostic measures are used to characterize the waves obtained from the composite analysis. The waves appear to be connected to the monsoon westerly flow. The waves tend to propagate through a band of the large meridional gradient of absolute vorticity produced by the mean monsoon westerly flow. This suggests that the monsoon westerly flow provides favorable background conditions for the propagation and maintenance of the waves and acts as a waveguide over the tropical Indian Ocean. The horizontal structure of the wave train may be interpreted as that of a mixture of equatorial Rossby waves and mixed Rossby-gravity wavelike gyres.     

Mineralogy of new Antarctic achondrites with affinity to Lodran and a model of their evolution in an asteroid

Abstract— We studied five new Antarctic achondrites, MacAlpine Hills (MAC) 88177, Yamato (Y)74357, Y75274, Y791491 and Elephant Moraine (EET)84302 by mineralogical techniques to gain a better understanding of the mineral assemblages of a group of meteorites with an affinity to Lodran (stony-iron meteorite) and their formation processes. This group is being called lodranites. These meteorites contain major coarse-grained orthopyroxene (Opx) and olivine as in Lodran and variable amounts of FeNi metal and troilite etc. MAC88177 has more augite and less FeNi than Lodran; Y74357 has more olivine and contains minor augite; Y791491 contains in addition plagioclase. EET84302 has an Acapulco-like chondritic mineral assembladge and is enriched in FeNi metal and plagioclase, but one part is enriched in Opx and chromite. The EET84302 and MAC88177 Opx crystals have dusty cores as in Acapulco. EET84302 and Y75274 are more Mg-rich than other members of the lodranite group, and Y74357 is intermediate. Since these meteorites all have coarse-grained textures, similar major mineral assemblages, variable amounts of augite, plagioclase, FeNi metal, chromite and olivine, we suggest that they are related and are linked to a parent body with modified chondritic compositions. The variability of the abundances of these minerals are in line with a proposed model of the surface mineral assemblages of the S asteroids. The mineral assemblages can best be explained by differing degrees of loss or movements of lower temperature partial melts and recrystallization, and reduction. A portion of EET84302 rich in metal and plagioclase may represent a type of component removed from the lodranite group meteorites. Y791058 and Caddo County, which were studied for comparison, are plagioclase-rich silicate inclusions in IAB iron meteorites and may have been derived by a similar process but in a different body.     

Demonstration of crystalline forsterite grain formation due to coalescence growth of Mg and SiO smoke particles

Abstract— Experimental studies of coalescence between Mg grains and SiO grains in smoke reveal the direct production of crystalline forsterite grains. The present results also show that different materials can be produced by grain‐grain collisions, which have been considered one of the models of grain formation in the interstellar medium. The fundamentals of coalescence growth in smoke, which have been developed in our series of experiments, are presented in this paper. Mg₂Si polyhedral grains were obtained in a Mg grain‐rich atmosphere. Mg₂SiO₄ polyhedral grains were obtained in a SiO grain‐rich atmosphere. The IR spectra of the resultant grains showed the characteristics of crystalline forsterite.