Further characterization of carbonaceous materials in Hayabusa‐returned samples to understand their origin

Carbonaceous materials in the sample catcher of the Hayabusa spacecraft were assigned as category 3 particles. We investigated the category 3 particles with a suite of in situ microanalytical methods. Possible contaminants collected from the cleanrooms of the spacecraft assembly and extraterrestrial sample curation center (ESCuC) were also analyzed in the same manner as category 3 particles for comparison. Our data were integrated with those of the preliminary examination team for category 3 particles. Possible origins for the category 3 particles include contamination before and after the operation of the Hayabusa spacecraft.     

Financial risk management for energy service project under the Tokyo emission trading system

Recently, energy service providers (ESP) have increased due to deregulation in the power market. They install energy supply equipment at their own cost and supply the necessary energy to the client. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government started Asia’s first cap-and-trade program in April 2010. This program caps energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from some 1,330 offices and factories in Tokyo. Then, ESPs have to manage the many risks of energy service project directly linked to the profits. In this paper, we describes the risk analysis and investment optimization for energy service projects using financial engineering.     

Flocculation and particle size analysis of expansive clay sediments affected by biological, chemical, and hydrodynamic factors

Expansive clay sediments are abundant in riverine and estuarine waters and bottom beds, and their particle size distributions (PSD) are important for the analysis of sediment transport. This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate, using a laser particle size analyzer under varying flow conditions, the intrinsic PSD of two expansive clays, a Ca- and a Na-montmorillonite and the influence of biological, chemical, and hydrodynamic factors on their flocculation and PSD. The considered biological factor consists of three extracellular polymeric substances of varying polarity, including xanthan gum, guar gum, and chitosan; the chemical factor is the salinity; and the hydrodynamic factor is the types of flow indicated by the Reynolds number and shear rate. The intrinsic PSD of both clays show a multimodal lognormal distribution with sizes ranging from 0.2 to 50 μm. All three biopolymers, xanthan gum, guar gum, and chitosan, can facilitate flocculation through long-range polymer bridging and short-range ion-dipole interaction, hydrogen bonding, and Coulomb force. The influence of salinity is different for the two clays: the particle size of the Na-montmorillonite increases with salinity, which is caused by flocculation resulting from the suppressed electrical double layer, while that of the Ca-montmorillonite is slightly reduced owing to the decreased basal spacing and cation exchange. For different hydrodynamic conditions, higher shear rate promotes the flocculation of Ca-montmorillonite, but breaks the Na-montmorillonite flocs. The significance of understanding the flocculation and PSD of expansive clays is also discussed in terms of sediment transport under different aquatic environments.     

Parameterization of rain cell properties using an advection-diffusion model and rain gage data

To reduce flooding risks and improve urban drainage management, there is a need to increase the forecasting accuracy for rainfall models on small typical urban time and space scales. Increased rainfall forecasting accuracy will in turn improve runoff prediction and thus, prevent flooding hazards, decrease pollution discharge through combined sewers, increase waste water treatment efficiency, etc. For this purpose, we analyzed the parameters of a two-dimensional stochastic advection-diffusion model including a Fourier domain method and an extended Kalman filter algorithm for investigation of motion, shape, size, and intensity distribution of convective rainfall. The resulting set of model parameters (advective velocity, apparent turbulent diffusion, and development/decay of rainfall rate) is used to study convective rainfall variability. It appears that the speed at which the rainfall cell is advected is not dependent on the cell development stage or apparent diffusion. Instead, there is a dependence between the source/sink term and apparent diffusion. This can be explained by the turbulent updraft of warm air which results in large rainfall intensity increase. This strong turbulence results in larger diffusion (and vice versa). The behavior of the model parameters is therefore physically explainable and relevant. The results can be used as first choice of parameter values when modeling convective rainfall over ungaged areas.     

Characterization of the amorphous state in metamict silicates and niobates by EXAFS and XANES analyses

X-ray absorption spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation has been applied to the investigation of the coordination geometries around Y, Zr and Nb atoms in metamict zircon, gadolinite, fergusonite, euxenite and samarskite. EXAFS and XANES spectra of their crystalline counterparts and synthetic compounds including ZrO₂, Y₂O₃, YNbTiO₆, YNbO₄, LiNbO₃, and NiNb₂O₆ were also measured for comparison. Metamict zircon shows a significant decrease in its Zr-O bond distances accompanying an increase in distortion of the Zr-O coordination polyhedra as compared with crystalline zircon. On the contrary, the average Nb-O bond distances and the symmetry of the coordination polyhedra around the Nb atoms in metamict euxenite and samarskite resemble those in the crystalline euxenite. Compared with crystalline fergusonite, a decrease in the distortion of the Nb-O octahedra is observed in metamict fergusonite. The structures of the second nearest neighbors (the metal-metal interactions) are largely disrupted in the metamict specimens except for metamict zircon and samarskite with high trivalent iron concentration. Nb in metamict samarskite is in octahedral coordination by oxygen and is similar to that in euxenite.     

Hydraulic and numerical study on the generation of a subaqueous landslide-induced tsunami along the coast

By carrying out the hydraulic experiments in a one-dimensional open channel and two-dimensional basin, we clarified the process of how a landslide on a uniform slope causes the generation of a tsunami. The effect of the interactive force that occurs between the debris flow layer and the tsunami is significant in the generation of a tsunami. The continuous flow of the debris into the water makes the wave period of the tsunami short. The present experiments apply numerical simulation using the two-layer model with shear stress models on the bottom and interface, and the results are compared. The simulated debris flow shows good agreement with the measured results and ensures the rushing process into the water. We propose that the model use a Manning coefficient of 0.01 for the smooth slope and 0.015 for the rough slope, and a horizontal viscosity of 0.01 m²/s for the landslide; an interactive force of 0.2 for each layer is recommended. The dispersion effect should be included in the numerical model for the propagation from the shore.     

Advanced Micro-XRF Method to Separate Sedimentary Rhythms and Event Layers in Sediments: Its Application to Lacustrine Sediment from Lake Suigetsu,Japan

Event-related sedimentary layers, which are deposited occasionally due to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes or heavy rains, are often contained in the rhythmical sequences of lacustrine and marine sediments. We have developed an analytical method for separating the sedimentary rhythms and the event layers identified using the scanning X-ray analytical microscope (SXAM) and obtained sequential profiles of seven elements Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, and Fe in the lacustrine sediment from Lake Suigetsu, Japan. Two types of event layers could be detected from the elemental composition of 33 layers of sediment: three known volcanic ash layers and 30 clay layers containing 12 turbidites. The recurrence interval of the latter, which may potentially be initiated and archived by locally important earthquakes, is estimated to be an average of 640 ± 160 years by using Sompi event analysis (SEA) based on an autoregressive (AR) model. After removing those portions that represented event layers from the elemental profiles, we obtained event-removed (ER) temporal profiles based on the tephrochronology of the three volcanic ash layers. The ER temporal profiles of manganese and iron, probably representing the siderite content, showed a millennial-scale variation in the Holocene that corresponded well with ice-rafting events in the North Atlantic.     

Nine unusually large tsunami deposits from the past 4000 years at Kiritappu marsh along the southern Kuril Trench

Large earthquakes along the Kuril subduction zone in northern Japan are known to have caused damaging tsunami, although there is a little information on historical earthquakes and tsunami in this area because no documents exist before the 19th century that might refer to tsunami events. To determine the likely timing and size of future events we need information on their recurrence intervals and to do this for the prehistoric past we have investigated sediments located in the Kiritappu marsh in eastern Hokaido that we interpret as laid down by tsunami. Using reliable multiple lines of evidence from sedimentological, geomorphological, micropaleontological, and chronological results, we identify 13 tsunami sands. Two of these lie within a peat bed above a historical tephra, Ta-a (AD 1739); the upper one probably corresponds to the AD 1843 Tempo Tokachi-oki earthquake (M 8.2) tsunami, and the lower to either the AD 1952 Tokachi-oki earthquake (M 8.2) tsunami or the AD 1960 Chilean earthquake (M 9.5) tsunami. Underlying are 11 prehistoric tsunami sand beds (nine large sand beds and two smaller sand beds) deposited during the past 4000 years. Because of the wide spatial distribution of the large sand beds, and inundation distances inland of between 1200 to 3000 m, we suggest that they record unusually large tsunamis along the Kuril subduction zone. According to our analyses, these tsunami sands were derived from the coastal area and, although they do not show clear graded bedding, they commonly have gradational upper boundaries and erosional bases and include internal sedimentary structures such as plane beds, dunes, and current ripples, reflecting bedload transportation. Based on our results we calculate the recurrence interval of unusually large earthquakes (probably M 8.6) along the Kuril subduction zone as about 365–553 years and estimate the youngest large event to have occurred in the 17th century.     

Mass motions due to shock propagations along low-lying loops in the solar atmosphere

The formation of fibrils in low-lying loops is investigated by performing one-dimensional nonlinear hydrodynamic calculations. The loops have the height of 3000–5000 km and have an atmosphere extending from the photosphere to the corona. A shock wave is generated from a pressure pulse in the photosphere and it ejects the chromosphere-corona transition region along the loop, expanding the underlying chromosphere into the corona. This expanding chromospheric material in a loop is regarded as a fibril. The shock propagates in the corona and collides with another transition region where a reflected shock and a penetrating shock are generated. The effect of the reflected shock on the motion of the fibril is weak. The fibril shows a nearly ballistic motion as observations suggest, if it does not extend beyond the summit of the loop. The corona in the loop is compressed nearly adiabatically by the fibril, and the enhanced coronal pressure leads the fibril finally to a retracting motion even if the fibril goes beyond the summit of the loop.Contributions from the Kwasan and Hida Observatories, University of Kyoto, No. 261.