Temperature measurements of electrostatic shocks in?laser-produced counter-streaming plasmas

Collisionless shocks in counter-streaming plasmas, created by the high-power laser system Gekko XII HIPER, are investigated. The shock structure and density are measured by optical diagnostics such as shadowgraphy, interferometry, and streaked interferometry. The plasma density and temperature are estimated from self-emission measurements with visible light by streaked optical pyrometer and gated optical imager. Brightness temperatures are calculated considering the efficiency of the detectors, and electron temperatures are estimated.     

Polar night vortex breakdown and large-scale stirring in the southern stratosphere

The present paper examines the vortex breakdown and large-scale stirring during the final warming of the Southern Hemisphere stratosphere during the spring of 2005. A unique set of in situ observations collected by 27 superpressure balloons (SPBs) is used. The balloons, which were launched from McMurdo, Antarctica, by the Stratéole/VORCORE project, drifted for several weeks on two different isopycnic levels in the lower stratosphere. We describe balloon trajectories and compare them with simulations obtained on the basis of the velocity field from the GEOS-5 and NCEP/NCAR reanalyses performed with and without VORCORE data. To gain insight on the mechanisms responsible for the horizontal transport of air inside and outside the well-isolated vortex we examine the balloon trajectories in the framework of the Lagrangian properties of the stratospheric flow. Coherent structures of the flow are visualized by computing finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLE). A combination of isentropic analysis and FTLE distributions reveals that air is stripped away from the vortex’s interior as stable manifolds eventually cross the vortex’s edge. It is shown that two SPBs escaped from the vortex within high potential vorticity tongues that developed in association with wave breaking at locations along the vortex’s edge where forward and backward FTLE maxima approximately intersect. The trajectories of three SPBs flying as a group at the same isopycnic level are examined and their behavior is interpreted in reference to the FTLE field. These results support the concept of stable and unstable manifolds governing transport of air masses across the periphery of the stratospheric polar vortex.     

Atmospheric radiative equilibria. Part II: bimodal solutions for atmospheric optical properties

 A simple theoretical model of atmospheric radiative equilibrium is solved analytically to help understand the energetics of maintaining Earth's tropical and subtropical climate. The model climate is constrained by energy balance between shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) radiative fluxes. Given a complete set of SW and LW optical properties in each atmospheric layer, the model yields a unique equilibrium-temperature profile. In contrast, if the atmospheric temperature profile and SW properties are prescribed, the model yields essentially two distinct LW transmissivity profiles. This bimodality is due to a nonlinear competition between the ascending and descending energy fluxes, as well as to their local conversion to sensible heat in the atmosphere. Idealized slab models that are often used to describe the greenhouse effect are shown to be a special case of our model when this nonlinearity is suppressed. In this special case, only one solution for LW transmissivity is possible. Our model's bimodality in LW transmissivity for given SW fluxes and temperature profile may help explain certain features of Earth's climate: at low latitudes the temperature profiles are fairly homogeneous, while the humidity profiles exhibit a bimodal distribution; one mode is associated with regions of moist-and-ascending, the other with dry-and-subsiding air. The model's analytical results show good agreement with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts' reanalysis data. Sensitivity analysis of the temperature profile with respect to LW transmissivity changes leads to an assessment of the low-latitude climate's sensitivity to the “runaway greenhouse” effect. Received: 7 December 1999 / Accepted: 19 February 2001     

Atmospheric radiative equilibria in a simple column model

 An analytic radiative-equilibrium model is formulated where both short- and longwave radiation are treated as two-stream (down- and upward) fluxes. An equilibrium state is defined in the model by the vertical temperature profile. The sensitivity of any such state to the model atmosphere’s optical properties is formulated analytically. As an example, this general formulation is applied to a single-column 11-layer model, and the model’s optical parameters are obtained from a detailed radiative parametrization of a general circulation model. The resulting simple column model is then used to study changes in the Earth-atmosphere system’s radiative equilibrium and, in particular, to infer the role of greenhouse trace gases, water vapor and aerosols in modifying the vertical temperature profile. Multiple equilibria appear when a positive surface-albedo feedback is introduced, and their stability is studied. The vertical structure of the radiative fluxes (both short- and longwave) is substantially modified as the temperature profile changes from one equilibrium to another. These equilibria and their stability are compared to those that appear in energy-balance models, which heretofore have ignored the details of the vertical temperature and radiation profiles. Received: 22 December 1995/Accepted: 17 January 1997     

深部颤动和慢震

过去的10年证实了所发现的不寻常的地震族,可称其为地震频谱的红外线部分。它们以在高频处有（如果有的话）微弱的地震波激发为特征,因为它们比平常的快速地震发生得慢。我们期望能通过这些慢地震更好地了解普通地震,但我们对慢地震的认识还处于初级阶段。     

Radiated Energy of Great Earthquakes from Teleseismic Empirical Green’s Function Deconvolution

We expand on the empirical Green’s function deconvolution method of Ide et al. (2011) to estimate radiated energy for the six largest earthquakes worldwide over the last 10 years: 2011 M _w 9.0 Tohoku-Oki, 2004 M _w 9.1 Sumatra, 2010 M _w 8.8 Maule, 2005 M _w 8.7 Nias, 2007 M _w 8.5 Bengkulu, and 2012 M _w 8.6 off-Sumatra. Deconvolution of P, SV and SH components gives consistent energy results that are comparable to estimates found independently by other researchers. Apparent stress for the five great thrust earthquakes is between 0.4 and 0.8 MPa, while the 2012 off-Sumatra strike-slip earthquake has a higher apparent stress of 3 MPa, which is consistent with other studies that find a tendency for strike-slip events to be more energetic. Our results are within the spread of apparent stress from the wider global earthquake population over a large magnitude range. The azimuthal distribution of energy in each case shows signs of directivity, and in some cases, shows less energy radiated in the trench-ward direction, which may suggest enhanced tsunami potential. We find that eGfs as small as ~M 6.5 can be used for teleseismic deconvolution, and that an eGf-mainshock magnitude difference of 1.5 units yields stable results. This implies that M 8 is the minimum mainshock size for which teleseismic eGf deconvolution will work well. We propose that a database of eGf events could be used to calculate radiated energy and apparent stress of great, hazardous events in near real time, i.e., promptly enough that it could contribute to rapid response measures.