The first absolute gravity measurements in Indonesia

For the purposes of the calibration of the superconducting gravimeter (SG) in Bandung and the establishment of the absolute gravity (AG) points, we carried out AG measurements for the first time in Indonesia in November 2002. The measurements in Bandung were conducted between November 15th and 20th by means of a FG5 (#210), and 14,520 effective drops were obtained. The gravity value newly determined at the AG point in Bandung is 977976701.2 μgal (1 μgal = 10⁻⁸ ms⁻²) and the scale factor for the SG is −52.22 μgal/V. We also established another AG point in Yogyakarta near Merapi volcano and carried out AG measurements in Yogyakarta between November 22nd and 26th. The gravity value determined for this station is 978203093.5 μgal.     

Multiple Parameter Regularization: Numerical Solutions and Applications to the Determination of Geopotential from Precise Satellite Orbits

Kaula’s rule of thumb has been used in producing geopotential models from space geodetic measurements, including the most recent models from satellite gravity missions CHAMP. Although Xu and Rummel (Manuscr Geod 20 8–20, 1994b) suggested an alternative regularization method by introducing a number of regularization parameters, no numerical tests have ever been conducted. We have compared four methods of regularization for the determination of geopotential from precise orbits of COSMIC satellites through simulations, which include Kaula’s rule of thumb, one parameter regularization and its iterative version, and multiple parameter regularization. The simulation results show that the four methods can indeed produce good gravitational models from the precise orbits of centimetre level. The three regularization methods perform much better than Kaula’s rule of thumb by a factor of 6.4 on average beyond spherical harmonic degree 5 and by a factor of 10.2 for the spherical harmonic degrees from 8 to 14 in terms of degree variations of root mean squared errors. The maximum componentwise improvement in the root mean squared error can be up to a factor of 60. The simplest version of regularization by multiplying a positive scalar with a unit matrix is sufficient to better determine the geopotential model. Although multiple parameter regularization is theoretically attractive and can indeed eliminate unnecessary regularization for some of the harmonic coefficients, we found that it only improved its one parameter version marginally in this COSMIC example in terms of the mean squared error.     

Detection of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) ofPenaeus chinensis by in situ hybridization

White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) was purified from hemolymph of infected shrimp. After nucleic acid extraction from the purified virus particles, EcoR I-digested fragments of the WSSV genome were cloned; three of these fragments were used as non-radioactive probes labeled with DIG-11-dUTP. The probes hybridized in situ, with sections located in the nuclei of all WSSV-infected tissues. The virus was detected in the gill, stomach, epidermis, and connective tissue and so on, but not detected in healthy shrimp tissues and epithelial cells of hepatopancreatic tubules of diseased shrimp. This work was supported by SRF for ROCS, SEM and the National 863 Project (Grant 819-Q-08) and Project under major State Basic Research Development Program (Grant G1999012002).     

Design and Long-Term Monitoring of Tokyo International Airport Extension Project Constructed on Super-Soft Ground

To meet the increasing demand for air transportation, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had carried out the offshore extension project at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport). The airport should be constructed to be perfectly level, but the ground conditions with very thick layers of super soft dredged soils and need for reclamation made the task very difficult. Because of large amount of consolidation settlement, ground improvement by combined vertical drain method was applied to decrease residual and differential settlement after opening of new airport. This paper is aimed to introduce the design concept and method of ground improvement for this project. In addition the result of ground improvement is keeping satisfactory performance for operating airport confirmed by long-term monitoring for airport facilities.     

Scale factor calibration of a superconducting gravimeter at Esashi Station, Japan, using absolute gravity measurements

The scale factor of a superconducting gravimeter (SG) at the Esashi Earth Tides Station, Japan, was revised by repeating co-located absolute gravity measurements with an FG5 gravimeter. Although the calibration results from the absolute gravimeter (AG) show an apparent secular change in the scale factor of the SG (0.4% for the period 1993–2002), the relative scale factors, which are determined by tidal analysis with the response method, indicate that it has changed by no more than 0.01% during the above period. If the mean scale factor over the 10 years is adopted, a value of –56.082±0.029 Gal/V (1 Gal =10^–8 m s^–2) is obtained, which is about 0.4% smaller than that used in the global geodynamics project (GGP) database. Based on this newly determined scale factor, the tidal gravity factors at Esashi have been re-estimated. The observed tidal factors, corrected for the ocean tide effects with recent models, indicate that the theoretical gravity factors for an inelastic Earth model are more consistent with the observations than are those for an elastic model.     

Possible change in distribution of seaweed, Sargassum horneri, in northeast Asia under A2 scenario of global warming and consequent effect on some fish

Global warming effects on seaweed beds are already perceptible. Their geographical distributions greatly depend on water temperatures. To predict future geographical distributions of brown alga, Sargassum horneri, forming large beds in the northwestern Pacific, we referred to future monthly surface water temperatures at about 1.1° of longitude and 0.6° of latitude in February and August in 2050 and 2100 simulated by 12 organizations under an A2 scenario of global warming. The southern limit of S. horneri distribution is expected to keep moving northward such that it may broadly disappear from Honshu Island, the Chinese coast, and Korean Peninsula in 2100, when tropical Sargassum species such as Sargassum tenuifolium may not completely replace S. horneri. Thus, their forests in 2100 do not substitute those of S. horneri in 2000. Fishes using the beds and seaweed rafts consisting of S. horneri in East China Sea suffer these disappearances.     

On the Influence of Sea Surface Height Variability on Satellite Altimeter Derived Gravity

The effect of sea surface height (SSH) variability is one of the primary factors that limit the accuracy and resolution of altimeter-derived gravity values. We propose a method to estimate the influence of variation of the sea surface height on the accuracy of satellite-derived gravity by simulation technique, with a case study around Indonesian waters. Wederived an Indonesian marine gravity map using the Geosat-geodetic mission (GM). Since most of the area studied is located around coastal and shallow areas, the measurement of SSH of this area is less accurate. To obtain a distribution of SSH variability over the study area, Topex/Poseidon (T/P) data were first processed and assessed. Processing 52 cycles of the Topex/Poseidon data, the root mean square (RMS) of SSH variability for each cycle was found to vary from 1 to 179 cm. Further, for the purpose of estimating the accuracy of altimeter-derived gravity, we derived several levels of Gaussian noise, computed simulation data by adding the Gaussian noise to Geosat data, and determined simulated gravity maps. Based on the distribution of RMS values from T/P data and standard deviation (STD) differences between the simulated and the original gravity maps, we estimated the accuracy of the gravity map. Around Indonesian waters, the accuracy of the gravity map influenced by SSH variation was estimated to be within the range 0.8~93 mgal.     

Reaction-induced grain boundary cracking and anisotropic fluid flow during prograde devolatilization reactions within subduction zones

Devolatilization reactions during prograde metamorphism are a key control on the fluid distribution within subduction zones. Garnets in Mn-rich quartz schist within the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt of Japan are characterized by skeletal structures containing abundant quartz inclusions. Each quartz inclusion was angular-shaped, and showed random crystallographic orientations, suggesting that these quartz inclusions were trapped via grain boundary cracking during garnet growth. Such skeletal garnet within the quartz schist formed related to decarbonation reactions with a positive total volume change (?V _t > 0), whereas the euhedral garnet within the pelitic schists formed as a result of dehydration reaction with negative ?V _t values. Coupled hydrological–chemical–mechanical processes during metamorphic devolatilization reactions were investigated by a distinct element method (DEM) numerical simulation on a foliated rock that contained reactive minerals and non-reactive matrix minerals. Negative ?V _t reactions cause a decrease in fluid pressure and do not produce fractures within the matrix. In contrast, a fluid pressure increase by positive ?V _t reactions results in hydrofracturing of the matrix. This fracturing preferentially occurs along grain boundaries and causes episodic fluid pulses associated with the development of the fracture network. The precipitation of garnet within grain boundary fractures could explain the formation of the skeletal garnet. Our DEM model also suggests a strong influence of reaction-induced fracturing on anisotropic fluid flow, meaning that dominant fluid flow directions could easily change in response to changes in stress configuration and the magnitude of differential stress during prograde metamorphism within a subduction zone.