Phobos-II results and the Martian magnetic field

The results of the Phobos-2 mission concerning the Martian magnetic field are interpreted in the framework of a model for the planetary evolution taking into account certain effects of material properties.     

Why allanite may swindle about its true age

Allanite from the Tertiary Rieserferner pluton (Austrian Alps) is texturally and chemically heterogeneous. Continuous covariation trends reflect coupled substitution of Ca+Al vs. Fe+REE+Th in allanite, whereas systematic variations in La/Nd demonstrate the increasingly stronger depletion of LREE in the melt during its crystallization. Allanite samples (corrected for ²⁰⁶Pb_excess) from two rocks scatter in the concordia diagram and define discordias from 31.8±0.4 Ma and 32.2±0.4 Ma to ca. 540 Ma. The apparent inheritance does not originate from the inclusion of older allanite or a high- phase, such as monazite, xenotime, or zircon, but from the incorporation of radiogenic Pb originating from a precursor. Since allanite requires a high enrichment of Th, (U), and LREE, it may form at the expense of a Th-LREE-rich precursor in metamorphic rocks or where such a phase had dissolved in melts. Likely precursors acquire with time radiogenic Pb isotopic compositions. This Pb, if incorporated in the product mineral, may give the illusion of inheritance. The allanite samples from the Rieserferner pluton show a tendency from high Th/U_calc (30–50) in samples with an Alpine age to low Th/U_calc (4–12) in samples with distinct inheritance. This relation between extent of inheritance and apparent Th/U_calc indicates a lower Th/U_calc for a possible precursor, falling into the Th/U range commonly encountered for monazite. Precursor monazite would have originated from assimilated Palaeozoic rocks and give rise to localized enrichments of Th and LREE in the melt, thus eventually enabling the growth of allanite.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at .Editorial responsibility: J. Hoefs     

Comparison of Large-Eddy Simulation Data with Spatially Averaged Measurements Obtained by Acoustic Tomography – Presuppositions and First Results

An attempt is made to compare results oflarge-eddy simulation (LES) in a convective boundarylayer using the model PALM with experimental data obtained from acoustic travel time tomography.This method provides two-dimensional data arrays, which are considered as more suitable forLES-validation than classical local orline-integrated measurements, because the tomographic data are area- or volume-averaged.For a quantitative comparison with experimental data in general, some prerequisites have to be considered: First of all, the initial and boundary conditions of the LES model have to be provided correctly by the experiment. Considering measurement errors, a sensitivity study was performed to investigate the influence of inaccurate initial and boundary conditions on the simulation results.This showed that for determining some boundary conditions, such as the surface temperature and the roughness length, high measurement accuracies are necessary, which are difficult to reach or which at least require considerable extra measurement efforts.The initial and boundary conditions provided by the Lindenberg experiment in 1999 turned out to be of insufficient accuracy to allow quantitative comparisons.However, a qualitative comparison was performed instead to investigate if the acoustic tomography method is a proper method for comparisons with LES models in general.It showed a good qualitative agreement with some quantitative differences. These differences can partly be explained by the sensitivity of the LES to initial and boundary conditions and by the limitations of the acoustic tomography.     

Interaction between Wind and Temperature Fields in the Planetary Boundary Layer for a Spatially Heterogeneous Surface Heat Flux

Interaction between wind and temperature fields in the planetary boundary layerfor a spatially heterogeneous surface heat flux has been investigated using large-eddysimulation. It is shown that a substantial difference exists in the wind and temperaturefields, depending on whether the directions of the background wind and the surfaceheat flux variation are parallel or perpendicular.When they are parallel to each other, two-dimensional plumes induced by theheterogeneous surface heat flux are easily destroyed by the background wind,and the velocity field is strongly modified by convective eddies compared tothe case when they are perpendicular to each other. This leads to a substantialdifference in the profiles of turbulent kinetic energy and its flux.It also results in a difference between the two cases in the bulk properties of theplanetary boundary layer, such as the entrainment at the top of the planetary boundarylayer and the drag at the bottom, which have important implications for boundary-layermodelling. The difference between the two cases exists even when the background windspeed is as large as 15.0 m s^-1. Meanwhile, the contrast between two cases is weakened by the Coriolis force.     

LES Study of the Energy Imbalance Problem with Eddy Covariance Fluxes

The spatial representativeness of heat fluxes on the basis of single-tower measurements, and the mechanism of the so-called energy imbalance problem, are investigated through numerical experiments using large-eddy simulation (LES). LES experiments are done for the daytime atmospheric boundary layer heated over a flat surface, as a best-case scenario completely free of sensor errors and the uncertainties of field conditions. Imbalance is defined as the deviation of the `turbulent' heat flux at a grid point from the horizontally averaged `total' heat flux. Both the theoretical and numerical results of the present study suggest the limitation of single-tower measurements and the necessity of horizontally-distributed observation networks.The temporally averaged `turbulent' flux based on a point measurement systematically underestimates the `total' flux (negative imbalance). This is attributed to local advection effects caused by the existence of turbulent organized structures (TOS), whose time scale is much longer than that of thermal plumes. The temporal and spatial change of TOS patterns causes low-frequency trends in the velocity and temperature data resulting in large scatter of the flux estimates. The influences of geostrophic wind speed, averaging time, observation height, computational domain size and resolution on tower-measured fluxes are also discussed. Finally, it is suggested that a weak inhomogenity in surface heating may reduce the negative bias of flux estimates.     

Use of Plant Bioassays for the Detection of Genotoxins in the Aquatic Environment

The present article describes the use of plant bioassays for the detection of genotoxins in the aquatic environment and gives an overview of test methods, their detection spectrum for environmental mutagens and carcinogens and their limitations and pitfalls. The most widely used test systems are micronucleus assays with meiotic cells of Tradescantia and with meristematic root tip cells of Allium and Vicia. In the last years, protocols for single cell gel electrophoresis assays have been developed, which can be conducted with a variety of species. Also various gene mutation test procedures have been developed with plants but they have hardly ever been used in environmental studies. Plants detect a broad variety of environmentally relevant genotoxins, in particular directly acting compounds. Many pesticides and industrial chemicals caused positive results; plant assays are also a unique tool for the detection of DNA‐reactive carcinogenic heavy metals in the environment. In many studies with complex mixtures, positive results were obtained which indicates that plants are sufficiently sensitive to detect effects without concentration of water samples. One of the shortcomings of the use of plants as indicators is their lack of sensitivity towards certain classes of promutagens such as nitrosamines, heterocyclic amines, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, the former compounds are hardly encountered in the environment and PAHs can easily be detected chemically and in other mutagenicity tests. Taken together, the currently available data show that plant bioassays are a useful component of test batteries for environmental monitoring.     

Population dynamics of spot,leiostomus xanthurus,in polyhaline tidal creeks of the York River estuary,Virginia

Most populations of estuarine-dependent, early life stages of marine fishes are open. As a result, it has been difficult to apply conventional population models to most systems. In this study, a marked population of young-of-year spot (Leiostomus xanthurus) was released into a polyhaline tidal creek within the Guinea Marshes of the York River estuary, Virginia. Over a 90-day study period, 221 marked fishes were recaptured. Plots of the ratio of marked to unmarked individuals (m_i/n_i) in subsequent samples indicated that the population was resident in the creek for up to 162 days with the average individual present for 81 days. When this population turnover rate was compared to the total population decay rate (marked plus unmarked fish), it was determined that exchange between habitats (immigration/emigration) accounted for about 36.4% of the total decay rate, with the remainder attributed to natural mortality. By correcting the overall disappearance rate for population turnover due to emigration and using this adjusted value as a measure of instantaneous mortality (z), the estimated production (over 90 days) in this population was 23,630 cal (98,870 J) per m². This figure agrees with a previously derived estimate for spot in the Guinea marshes and is nearly two orders of magnitude higher than other reported values for this species for all size classes over the entire growing season.     

Spatial representativeness of single tower measurements and the imbalance problem with eddy-covariance fluxes: results of a large-eddy simulation study

A large-eddy simulation (LES) study is presented that investigates the spatial variability of temporal eddy covariance fluxes and the systematic underestimation of representative fluxes linked to them. It extends a prior numerical study by performing high resolution simulations that allow for virtual measurements down to 20 m in a convective boundary layer, so that conditions for small tower measurement sites can be analysed. It accounts for different convective regimes as the wind speed and the near-surface heat flux are varied. Moreover, it is the first LES imbalance study that extends to the stable boundary layer. It reveals shortcomings of single site measurements and the necessity of using horizontally-distributed observation networks. The imbalances in the convective case are attributed to a locally non-vanishing mean vertical advection due to turbulent organised structures (TOS). The strength of the TOS and thus the imbalance magnitude depends on height, the horizontal mean wind and the convection type. Contrary to the results of a prior study, TOS cannot generally be responsible for large energy imbalances: at low observation heights (corresponding to small towers and near-surface energy balance stations) the TOS related imbalances are generally about one order of magnitude smaller than those in field experiments. However, TOS may cause large imbalances at large towers not only in the case of cellular convection and low wind speeds, as found in the previous study, but also in the case of roll convection at large wind speeds. In the stably stratified boundary layer for all observation heights neither TOS nor significant imbalances are observed. Attempting to reduce imbalances in convective situations by applying the conventional linear detrending method increases the systematic flux underestimation. Thus, a new filter method is proposed.     

A new view of martian evolution

Conventional evolutionary models for Mars adopt a dry mantle solidus. Taking into account the condensation conditions in the preplanetary nebula in the accretion zone of Mars, it can be concluded that large amounts of water or hydrated silicates have condensed in those regions. Therefore, water influences significantly the melting behaviour and the viscosity of the silicatic material. A model for the calculation of the thermal history of a planet is constructed. On this basis, and use of water — saturated solidus — it is possible to derive that the core is not liquid, as given in models employing a dry mantle solidus, but solid to a large extent, which prevents the operation of a large-scale dynamo and explains in that way the lack of a magnetic field. With these assumptions one can construct a possible evolutionary scheme that covers early crust differentiation, a hot thermal past and the missing magnetic field at present.