Effects of changes in canopy interception on stream runoff response and recovery following clear-cutting of a Japanese coniferous forest in Fukuroyamasawa Experimental Watershed in Japan

Understanding changes in evapotranspiration during forest regrowth is essential to predict changes of stream runoff and recovery after forest cutting. Canopy interception (Ic) is an important component of evapotranspiration, however Ic changes and the impact on stream runoff during regrowth after cutting remains unclear due to limited observations. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of Ic changes on long-term stream runoff in a regrowth Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress forest following clear-cutting. This study was conducted in two 1-ha paired headwater catchments at Fukuroyamasawa Experimental Watershed in Japan. The catchments were 100% covered by Japanese coniferous plantation forest, one of which was 100% clear-cut in 1999 when the forest was 70 years old. In the treated catchment, annual runoff increased by 301 mm/year (14% of precipitation) the year following clear-cutting, and remained 185 mm/year (7.9% of precipitation) higher in the young regrowth forest for 12–14 years compared to the estimated runoff assuming no clear-cutting. The Ic change was −358 mm/year (17% of precipitation) after cutting and was −168 mm/year (6.7% of precipitation) in the 12–14 years old regrowth forest compared to the observed Ic during the pre-cutting period. Stream runoff increased in all seasons, and the Ic change was the main fraction of evapotranspiration change in all seasons throughout the observation period. These results suggest that the change in Ic accounted for most of the runoff response following forest cutting and the subsequent runoff recovery in this coniferous forest.     

Stress Sharing Behavior and Its Mechanism during Consolidation Process in Composite Ground Improved by Sand Compaction Piles with Low Replacement Area Ratio

In order to accurately design a sand compaction pile (SCP) with low replacement area ratio, it is important to understand the mechanical interaction between the sand pile and clay ground and its mechanism during consolidation process in composite ground. In this article, therefore, a series of numerical analyses on composite ground improved by SCP with low replacement area ratio were carried out. The applicability of numerical analyses, in which an elasto-viscoplastic consolidation finite element method was applied, were confirmed by comparing the results obtained from a series of laboratory model tests with the composite ground improved by SCP. Through the results of the numerical analyses, mechanical behavior of the sand pile and clay in composite ground during consolidation is elucidated, together with a stress sharing mechanism between sand pile and clay.     

Numerical study of enhanced energy dissipation near a seamount

Using a two-dimensional primitive equation model, we examine nonlinear responses of a semidiurnal tidal flow impinging on a seamount with a background Garrett-Munk-like (GM-like) internal wavefield. It is found that horizontally elongated pancake-like structures of high vertical wavenumber near-inertial current shear are created both in the near-field (the region over the slope of the seamount) and far-field (the region over the flat bottom of the ocean). An important distinction is that the high vertical wavenumber near-inertial current shear is amplified only at mid-latitudes in the far-field (owing to a parametric subharmonic instability (PSI)), whereas it is amplified both at mid-and high-latitudes (above the latitude where PSI can occur) in the near-field. In order to clarify the generating mechanism for the strong shear in the near-field, additional numerical experiments are carried out with the GM-like background internal waves removed. The experiments show that the strong shear is also created, indicating that it is not caused by the interaction between the background GM-like internal waves and the semidiurnal internal tides. One possible explanation is proposed for the amplification of high vertical wavenumber near-inertial current shear in the near-field where tide residual flow resulting from tide-topography interaction plays an important role in transferring energy from high-mode internal tides to near-inertial internal waves.     

Aspherical correction for free vibration of elastically anisotropic solid by means of theXYZ algorithm

By applying the perturbation theory to theXYZ algorithm (a kind of variational method), the difference f in free vibration frequencies between sphere and ellipsoid was approximated as , where i and _i (i = x,y andz) (i=x, y andz) are aspherical coefficients and asphericities of the ellipsoid, respectively. We developed an analytic method to compute the aspherical coefficients719-4 by using theXYZ algorithm. A numerical example was given for an ellipsoidal olivine, and an attempt was made to estimate the asphericities of the specimen by a least-squares method, based on the relationship between frequency shift and asphericity.     

IR active orientation of OH bending mode in topaz

Infrared (IR) and nearinfrared (NIR) absorption spectra of hydrous and F-rich topazes were measured to assign an OH bending mode of topaz. Three absorption peaks at 1165, 3650, and 4803 cm⁻¹ are assigned to OH related absorption peaks. Since a peak at 4803 cm⁻¹ can be assigned to a combination mode of 1165 and 3650 cm⁻¹, the 1165 cm⁻¹ peak is harmonic with the 3650 cm⁻¹ peak. Polarized IR absorption spectra of (100), (010), and (001) planes of the hydrous topaz were measured to examine IR active orientation of the 1165 cm⁻¹ OH related mode. Three pleochroic distributions of the absorption peak at 1165 cm⁻¹ on (100), (010), and (001) planes indicate an active orientation of the 1165 cm⁻¹ OH related mode. The IR active orientation of the 1165 cm⁻¹ OH related mode in topaz is normal to the OH dipole. The orthogonality and harmonic combination mode indicate that the 1165 cm⁻¹ peak is OH bending mode. The active orientation of OH bending mode is polarized in the plane normal to the OH dipole. The polarization suggests that anisotropic thermal vibration of protons on the hydroxyl is maximum along the IR active orientation. Received: August 16, 1996 / Revised, accepted: April 20, 1997     

General aspects of the evolutionary history of whales and dolphins

Abstract The Cetacea are the most diverse and highly aquatically adapted group of mammals. Their fossil record extends back at least to the Middle Eocene ( ca 50 Ma), and they will possibly be found earlier, judging by the relatively highly evolved nature of the earliest known whales. The most likely terrestrial ancestors of whales are the mesonychids, primitive hoofed mammals with omnivorous diets. Recently discovered archaeocetes with large, mesonychid-like heads and dentitions and functional hind limbs reconfirm earlier ideas about the mesonychid origin of cetaceans and the amphibious nature of the earliest transitional forms. Fossil cetaceans are relatively abundant and diverse thoughout the world, and are now known from every continent, including Antarctica. Odontocetes evolved echolocation to locate food. Mysticetes developed bulk feeding adaptations. Both undoubtedly evolved from archaeocetes, and the monophyly of Cetacea is the most parsimonious present hypothesis. Chromosomal and molecular evidence has taken an increasingly important role in determining cetacean relationships, but fossils and classical comparative morphological studies remain a necessary and pivotal source of information about cetacean phylogeny.     

Pressure effect on the divalent cation distribution in nonideal solid solution of forsterite and fayalite

The divalent cation distribution in olivine (Mg, Fe)₂SiO₄ under high pressure and temperature was studied to clarify the detailed state of olivine in the mantle. Single crystal samples were heated for a sufficient period of time for the cations to migrate and quenched fast enough to preserve the equilibrated state under high pressures, and the crystal structure was determined with X-ray method. The pressure effect on the distribution coefficient K _D[= (Fe/Mg) _M1/(Fe/Mg) _M2] was determined for the first time; dK _D/dP?0.02 GPa^?1. A set of five thermodynamic parameters required to describe the regular solution model was determined from data concerning the pressure dependence and the known temperature and compositional effects. As a result we have shown how K _D depends on pressure, temperature, and composition. The notable feature clarified is the very large contribution of nonideality in the olivine solid solution. The K _D of olivine crystals in the mantle is predicted; K _D increases to ～ 2.2 at the depth of 400 km, in contrast to 0.9 ～ 1.2 of natural samples available at the surface of the Earth.     

Carbonate deposits on submerged seamounts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean

Abstract   The lithology of shallow-water carbonates collected from 19 sites on 16 seamounts in six areas of the northwestern Pacific Ocean using the Deep-sea Boring Machine System are described. The areas include the Amami Plateau, Daito Ridge, Oki-Daito Ridge, Urdaneta Plateau, Kyushu-Palau Ridge and Ogasawara Plateau. Chronological constraint is provided by calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy, larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy and strontium (Sr) isotope stratigraphy. Large amounts of shallow-water carbonates accumulated on the seamounts during the Oligocene, a relatively cool period, whereas limited carbonate deposits formed during the Early Miocene, a relatively warm period. This might indicate that deposition of shallow-water carbonates on seamounts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean was not necessarily controlled by climatic conditions, but was related to volcanism and tectonics that served as foundations for reef/carbonate-platform formation. Remarkable differences in biotic composition exist between Cretaceous and Cenozoic shallow-water carbonates. Late Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates are distinguished by the occurrence of rudists, solenoporacean algae and microencrusters. Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene shallow-water carbonates are dominated by Halimeda or nummulitid and discocyclinid larger foraminifers. Scleractinian corals became common from the Oligocene onward. Nongeniculate coralline algae and larger foraminifers were common to abundant throughout the Eocene to the Pleistocene. The replacement of major carbonate producers in the shallow-water carbonate factory during post-Cretaceous time is in accordance with previous studies and is considered to reflect a shift in seawater chemistry.     

Short-term variability of Cyg X-1

The short-term X-ray variability distinguishes Cyg X-1, which is the most likely candidate for a black hole, from other X-ray sources. The present status of our knowledge on this short-term variation, mainly from the UHURU, the MIT and the GSFC observations, is reviewed. The nature of impulsive variations which compose the time variation exceeding the statistical fluctuation is discussed. There are indications that the energy spectrum of large pulses is harder than the average spectrum, or that the large pulses are the characteristics of the hard component of the spectrum if it is composed of two, soft and hard, components. Features of the variations may be partly simulated by the superposition of random shot-noise pulses with a fraction of a second duration. However, the autocorrelation analysis and the dynamic spectrum analysis indicate that the correlation lasts for several seconds and in the variation are buried some regularities which exhibit power concentrations in several frequency bands; 0.2–0.3, 0.4–0.5, 0.8, 1.2–1.5 Hz. There are several possible interpretations of these results in terms of; e.g. (a) a mixture of shot-noise pulses with two or more constant durations, (b) the shape of the basic shot-noise pulse, (c) bunching of the pulses, (d) superposition of wave-packets or temporal oscillations. But we have not yet reached any definite understandings in the nature of the variabilities. The substructure of the fluctuations on a time scale of milliseconds suggested by two investigations is also discussed.Paper presented at the COSPAR Symposium on Fast Transients in X- and Gamma-Rays, held at Varna, Bulgaria, 29–31 May, 1975.