The Bear Brook Watershed in Maine: Multi-decadal whole-watershed experimental acidification

The Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM) is a long-term research site established to study the response of forest ecosystem function to environmental disturbances of chronic acidic deposition and ecosystem nitrogen enrichment. Starting in 1989, the West Bear (treated) watershed received bimonthly applications of ammonium sulfate [(NH₄)₂SO₄] fertilizer from above the canopy, whereas East Bear (reference) received ambient deposition. The treatments were stopped in 2016, marking the beginning of the recovery phase. Research at the site has focused on soils, streams, and vegetation. Here, we describe data collected over three decades at the BBWM—input and stream output nutrient fluxes, quantitative soil pits and soil chemistry, and soil temperature and moisture.     

Geology and the Allied liberation of Normandy: highlights to help mark the 75th anniversary of D‐Day, 6 June 1944

During the Second World War, the Allied invasion of the French coast of Normandy on D‐Day, 6 June 1944, was the greatest amphibious assault in world history. An article in Geology Today (v.11, for 1995, pp.58–63) marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, on 8 May 1945, by describing how British military geologists had participated in planning for D‐Day and in the NW Europe campaign that followed it. The work of these geologists provides a classic case history, revealing that ‘military geology’ has many potential applications. Geological factors influenced site selection for temporary airfields, predictions of trafficability for the Normandy beaches, the development of potable water supplies, and quarrying for road metal—and more besides. This new article helps to mark the 75th anniversary of D‐Day by further details of how geologists and geology contributed to Allied victory.     

Subsurface flow measurements using passive flux meters in variably-saturated cold-regions landscapes

To date, passive flux meters have predominantly been applied in temperate environments for tracking the movement of contaminants in groundwater. This study applies these instruments to reduce uncertainty in (typically instantaneous) flux measurements made in a low-gradient, wetland dominated, discontinuous permafrost environment. This method supports improved estimation of unsaturated and over-winter subsurface flows which are very difficult to quantify using hydraulic gradient-based approaches. Improved subsurface flow estimates can play a key role in understanding the water budget of this landscape.     

强光照和黑暗条件下刺参体壁的基因表达差异

参对光照变化非常敏感，研究刺参对光照的分子响应非常重要。本研究应用RNA测序获取了刺参暴露于强光（“强光”）、正常光照（“对照”）和完全黑暗（“黑暗”）环境下体壁的基因表达谱情况，通过“对照”与“黑暗”，“对照”与“强光”和“黑暗”与“强光”的比较，在|log₂ ratio|≥1和FDR≤0.001的标准下分别发现了1161、113和1705个差异表达基因（DEGs）。基因本体分析表明，“cellular process”和“binding”在“生物过程”和“分子功能”类别中的DEGs富集最多，而“cell”和“cell part”在“细胞组分”类别中的DEGs富集最多。将DEGs与Kyoto Encyclopedia基因和基因组数据库上的于214、41和229条通路进行比对，发现了51、2和57条通路分别显著富集。本研究发现的光特异性DEGs可作为深入研究刺参对光照变化的生化适应机制的重要目标基因。     

Creating an isotopically similar Earth–Moon system with correct angular momentum from a giant impact

The giant impact hypothesis is the dominant theory explaining the formation of our Moon. However, the inability to produce an isotopically similar Earth–Moon system with correct angular momentum has cast a shadow on its validity. Computer-generated impacts have been successful in producing virtual systems that possess many of the observed physical properties. However, addressing the isotopic similarities between the Earth and Moon coupled with correct angular momentum has proven to be challenging. Equilibration and evection resonance have been proposed as means of reconciling the models. In the summer of 2013, the Royal Society called a meeting solely to discuss the formation of the Moon. In this meeting, evection resonance and equilibration were both questioned as viable means of removing the deficiencies from giant impact models. The main concerns were that models were multi-staged and too complex. We present here initial impact conditions that produce an isotopically similar Earth–Moon system with correct angular momentum. This is done in a single-staged simulation. The initial parameters are straightforward and the results evolve solely from the impact. This was accomplished by colliding two roughly half-Earth-sized impactors, rotating in approximately the same plane in a high-energy, off-centered impact, where both impactors spin into the collision.     

Statistical Characteristics of Meteoroid Parameters in the Earth’s Atmosphere

Statistical characteristics of meteoroids with kinetic energy from 0.1 to 440 kt TNT are estimated based on NASA satellite observations made in 1994–2016. The distributions of the number of falling meteoroids are constructed and analyzed based on the values of their initial kinetic energy, initial velocity, initial mass, altitude, geographic coordinates of the maximum total radiated energy region, and the year of the fall. Correlation dependences “mass–initial kinetic energy,” “maximum total radiated energy region altitude–initial kinetic energy,” and “maximum total radiated energy region altitude–initial velocity (the square of the initial velocity)” are constructed.     

Revisiting the existence of an effective stress for wet granular soils with micromechanics

A possible effective stress variable for wet granular materials is numerically investigated based on an adapted discrete element method (DEM) model for an ideal three‐phase system. The DEM simulations consider granular materials made of nearly monodisperse spherical particles, in the pendular regime with the pore fluid mixture consisting of distinct water menisci bridging particle pairs. The contact force‐related stress contribution to the total stresses is isolated and tested as the effective stress candidate for dense or loose systems. It is first recalled that this contact stress tensor is indeed an adequate effective stress that describes stress limit states of wet samples with the same Mohr‐Coulomb criterion associated with their dry counterparts. As for constitutive relationships, it is demonstrated that the contact stress tensor used in conjunction with dry constitutive relations does describe the strains of wet samples during an initial strain regime but not beyond. Outside this so‐called quasi‐static strain regime, whose extent is much greater for dense than loose materials, dramatic changes in the contact network prevent macroscale contact stress‐strain relationships to apply in the same manner to dry and unsaturated conditions. The presented numerical results also reveal unexpected constitutive bifurcations for the loose material, related to stick‐slip macrobehavior.     

Analytical study of the swing-by maneuver in an elliptical system

The objective of the present paper is to derive a set of analytical equations that describe a swing-by maneuver realized in a system of primaries that are in elliptical orbits. The goal is to calculate the variations of energy, velocity and angular momentum as a function of the usual basic parameters that describe the swing-by maneuver, as done before for the case of circular orbits. In elliptical orbits the velocity of the secondary body is no longer constant, as in the circular case, but it varies with the position of the secondary body in its orbit. As a consequence, the variations of energy, velocity and angular momentum become functions of the magnitude and the angle between the velocity vector of the secondary body and the line connecting the primaries. The “patched-conics” approach is used to obtain these equations. The configurations that result in maximum gains and losses of energy for the spacecraft are shown next, and a comparison between the results obtained using the analytical equations and numerical simulations are made to validate the method developed here.     

Parameters of Acoustic Signals Generated by the Atmospheric Meteoroid Explosion over Romania on January 7, 2015

System spectral analysis of temporal variations in the level of acoustic signals recorded at a number of European infrasound stations is carried out. The prevailing periods that varied within 3–5 s are found. Initial kinetic and acoustic energies of the Romanian meteoroid and infrasound parameters are calculated: celerity (280 m/s), acoustic efficiency, and stratospheric wind velocity (about 20 m/s). Parameters of cylindrical and explosive shock waves are found: duration, characteristic size, and amplitude. The dependence of the attenuation of infrasonic waves on distance is estimated. The results of the estimates are in good agreement with the results of the observations.     

Spatial variation of the relationship between transport accessibility and the level of economic development in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,China

As an important component of China' transportation systems, for a long time, the insufficient performance of transport in QinghaiTibet Plateau(QTP) was a bottleneck restricting the economic growth and social development in this area. Nevertheless, the implementation of the western development strategy has accelerated the preliminary construction of comprehensive transport network since 2000. Due to the large area and significant geographical heterogeneity, there is a growing need to understand the relationship between transportation and economic development based on the perspective of spatial difference. By using GIS-based raster analysis and Geographically Weighted Regression(GWR) model, we investigated the spatial-temporal distribution of highway, railway and airport accessibility, respectively, and estimated the correlation and heterogeneity between transport accessibility and the level of economic development. Results revealed that:(1) Transport accessibility in the QTP improved by 53.38% in the past 15 years, which is specifically embodied in the improvement of both highway and railway.(2) Accessibility presented prominent differentiation in the space, increasing from west to east and reducing with the rise of elevation, specifically, the best accessibility area of the highway is below 4000 m above sea level, while the area with an altitude of over 4000 m has the lowest aviation time cost.(3) In general, the long weighted average time cost to critical transport facilities posed significantly negative effect on county economic growth in QTP, more positively, the adverse effect gradually weakened over time.(4) Obvious heterogeneity exists at the influence of different transport accessibility factors on the level of economic development, reflecting both in the horizontal space and altitudinal belt. Therefore, region-specific policies should be addressed for the sustainable development of transport facilities as well as economy in the west mountain areas.