Sublimation coefficient of water ice under simulated cometary-like conditions

In papers dealing with evolution of cometary nuclei it is commonly assumed that the coefficients of sublimation _s and condensation _c of vapour are both equal to one. The experimental investigation of ice samples under simulated cometary-like conditions (Kossacki, K.J., Kömle, N.I., Leliwa-Kopysty ski, J., Kargl, G., 1997. Thermal and structural evolution of cometary subsurface layer: selfconsistent model and experimental verification. Icarus 128, 127–144) suggests, however, that the sublimation flux calculated with the Hertz–Knudsen formula and the above assumption is nearly an order of magnitude too high. This may imply that actual values of _s for the ice/dust sample used in these experiments are of the order of 0.1. A similar conclusion can be drawn for _c from the results of various experiments concerning growth of ice crystals from the vapour phase and their sublimation (Lamb, D., Scott, W.D., 1972. Linear growth rates of ice crystals grown from the vapor phase. Journal of Crystal Growth 12, 21–31; Beckmann, W., Lacmann, R., 1982. Interface kinetics of growth and evaporation of ice II. Journal of Crystal Growth 58, 433–442; Sei, T., Gonda, T., 1989. The growth mechanism and the habit change of ice crystals growing from the vapour phase. Journal of Crystal Growth 94, 697–707). The exact values of both of these coefficients depend on various parameters such as temperature, concentration of surface impurities and deviation of the vapour pressure from that of the phase equilibrium. In this work the temperature dependence of the sublimation and condensation coefficients is discussed and an appropriate formula is proposed to fit the experimental results. This new formulation is then used to analyse the implications for the thermal conductivity of a porous cometary-like ice and the rate of vapour flux from a cometary nucleus.     

The rate of flux pile-up magnetic reconnection in reduced MHD

The rate of two-dimensional flux pile-up magnetic reconnection is known to be severely limited by gas pressure in a low-beta plasma of the solar corona. As earlier perturbational calculations indicated, however, the pressure limitation should be less restrictive for three-dimensional flux pile-up. In this paper the maximum rate of reconnection is calculated in the approximation of reduced magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD), which is valid in the solar coronal loops. The rate is calculated for finite-magnitude reconnecting fields in the case of a strong axial field in the loop. Gas pressure effects are ignored in RMHD but a similar limitation on the rate of magnetic merging exists. Nevertheless, the magnetic energy dissipation rate and the reconnection electric field can increase by several orders of magnitude as compared with strictly two-dimensional pile-up. Though this is still not enough to explain the most powerful solar flares, slow coronal transients with energy release rates of order 10²⁵– 10²⁶ erg s^–1and heating of quiet coronal loops are within the compass of the model.     

Magnetic Energy Release in Flux Pile-up Merging

The problem of pressure limitations on the rate of flux pile-up magnetic reconnection is studied. We first examine the recent suggestion of Jardine and Allen (1998) for moderating the build-up of magnetic pressure in the current sheet by considering inflows with nonzero vorticity. An analytic argument shows, however, that unbounded magnetic pressures in the limit of small resistivities can be avoided only at the cost of unphysical dynamic pressures in the plasma. Hence, the pressure limitation on the reconnection rate in a low-beta plasma cannot be avoided completely. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that reconnection can be more rapid in a new solution that balances the build-up in dynamic pressure against both the plasma and magnetic pressures. This exact MHD solution has the characteristics of merging driven by the coalescence instability. The maximum energy release rate of the model is capable of explaining a modest solar flare.     

Correlation between foam-bubble size and drag coefficient in hurricane conditions

A recently proposed model of foam impact on the air–sea drag coefficient C _d has been employed for the estimation of the effective foam-bubble radius R _b variation with wind speed U₁₀ in hurricane conditions. The model relates C _d (U₁₀) with the effective roughness length Z _eff (U₁₀) represented as a sum of aerodynamic roughness lengths of the foam-free and foam-covered sea surfaces Z _w (U₁₀) and Z _f (U₁₀) weighted with the foam coverage coefficient α _f (U₁₀). This relation is treated for known phenomenological distributions C _d (U₁₀), Z _w (U₁₀), and α _f (U₁₀) at strong wind speeds as an inverse problem for the effective roughness parameter of foam-covered sea surface Z _f (U₁₀). The present study is aimed at the estimation of the effective roughness of the sea surface assuming that the measurement data for the effective drag coefficient are known. The effective foam-bubble size is found as a function of the wind speed.     

Features of the Comacchio ecosystem transformed during persistent bloom of picocyanobacteria

The big Comacchio lagoons (NW Adriatic coast) have been experiencing a super-dense, long-term bloom of picocyanobacteria (PCB) since 1985. This bloom has caused profound transformations in their ecosystem and has resulted in the loss of valuable fish and clam resources. The composition, density and seasonal dynamics of this bloom and its impact on the ecosystem were studied between spring and autumn 1995 and in the summer of 2001. The density of the blooming phytoplankton assemblages varied from 8 to 35 × 10⁶ cells ml⁻¹, and biomass from 20 to 40 g m⁻³, thus demonstrating a quasi-stable status since 1993. The share of pico + nanocyanobacterial fraction of the total phytoplankton biomass was 98% in spring to early summer, and 92% in autumn. The remaining 0.2–5% comprised eukaryotic nano-algae. All components of the animal food web were found to be drastically depleted in the lagoons. Their biomass range in the open lagoons areas were: 2 to 20 mg m⁻³ of microzooplankton, 10 to 40 mg m⁻³ mesozooplankton, and 5 to 12 g m⁻² macrozoobenthos. The share of filtering fauna in the whole ecosystem metabolism was less than 2%. The malfunction of the deteriorated animal food web resulted in the hyper-accumulation of non-grazed microplankton biomass and detritus in the water column and in bottom sediments. The sequence brought the acceleration of sulfide production and the accumulation of acid soluble sulfides in the upper sediment layer of up to 700–800 mg S dm⁻³ of wet silt. The results of this study provide evidence that the state of ecological collapse continues in the lagoons since 1993.     

Recommendations on methods for the detection and control of biological pollution in marine coastal waters

Adverse effects of invasive alien species (IAS), or biological pollution, is an increasing problem in marine coastal waters, which remains high on the environmental management agenda. All maritime countries need to assess the size of this problem and consider effective mechanisms to prevent introductions, and if necessary and where possible to monitor, contain, control or eradicate the introduced impacting organisms. Despite this, and in contrast to more enclosed water bodies, the openness of marine systems indicates that once species are in an area then eradication is usually impossible. Most institutions in countries are aware of the problem and have sufficient governance in place for management. However, there is still a general lack of commitment and concerted action plans are needed to address this problem. This paper provides recommendations resulting from an international workshop based upon a large amount of experience relating to the assessment and control of biopollution.     

Spurious shifts in the pattern of diurnal variation of sea level pressure of reanalysis datasets

The main purpose of this work is to report the presence of spurious discontinuities in the pattern of diurnal variation of sea level pressure of the three reanalysis datasets from: the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and National Center for Atmospheric Science (R1), the NCEP and Department of Energy (R2), and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ERA-40). Such discontinuities can be connected to the major changes in the global observing system that have occurred throughout reanalyses years. In the R1, the richest period in discontinuities is 1956–1958, coinciding with the start of modern radiosonde observation network. Rapid increase in the density of surface-based observations from 1967 also had an important impact on both R1 and ERA-40, with larger impact on R1. The reanalyses show discontinuities in the 1970s related to the assimilation of radiances measured by the Vertical Temperature Profile Radiometer and TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounders onboard satellites. In the ERA-40, which additionally assimilated Special Sensor Microwave/Imager data, there are discontinuities in 1987–1989. The R1 also presents further discontinuities, in 1988–1993 likely connected to replacement/introduction of NOAA-series satellites with different biases, and to the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991, which is known to have severely affected measurements of infrared radiances for several years. The discontinuities in 1996–1998 might be partially connected to change in the type of radiosonde, from VIZ-B to VIZ-B2. The R2, which covers only satellite era (1979-on), shows discontinuities mainly in 1992, 1996–1997, and 2001. The discontinuities in 1992 and 2001 might have been caused by change in the satellite measurements and those in 1996–1997 by some changes in land-based observations network.     

Character of Sedimentation in the Potassium-Bearing Basin of the Gremyachinskoye Field(The Volga Monocline)

正1 Introduction The Gremyachinskoye potassium salt field lies within the Safronovskaya area and is confined to the preoverthrust zone–the 20-25 kilometer band conventionally recognized in the southern termination of the Volga