The double inverse polarity paradigm

A model is presented for the origin of inverse polarity magnetic fields in the perpendicular as well as in the axial direction of quiescent prominences. The model is based on the presence of a discrete coronal arcade structure where magnetic separating surfaces can be identified. On the crossing of these separating surfaces magnetic reconnection driven by photospheric shear and converging motions can create the observed field direction in quiescent prominences.Dedicated to Cornelis de Jager     

La pénétration de l'air froid dans une vallée alpine

Résumé Les observations de deux stations situées à l'entrée de la vallée du Rhône et à l'intérieur de celle-ci permettent de déterminer dans une certaine mesure comment l'air froid pénètre dans cette longue vallée des Alpes suisses. L'accès se fait beaucoup plus souvent par-dessus les montagnes de l'Ouest ou du Nord que par le chenal de la vallée seulement.

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Summary The observations of two stations at the entrance and in the interior of the Rhône valley allow to a certain degree to determine how cold air penetrates this long extended valley of the Swiss Alps. The influx of air takes much more frequently place over the mountains in the West and North than through the trough of the valley.

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Zusammenfassung Die Beobachtungen von zwei Stationen, die am Eingang und im Inneren des Rhonetals gelegen sind, erlauben einigermaßen festzustellen, wie die Kaltluft in dieses langgestreckte Tal der Schweizeralpen eindringt. Dabei erfolgt der Luftzustrom viel häufiger über die Berge im W und N als ausschließlich durch die Talrinne.

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Avec 1 Figure     

Monitoring the Kuroshio Extension with Dynamically Constrained Synthesis of the Acoustic Tomography, Satellite Altimeter and in situ Data

A finite-difference quasigeostrophic (QG) model of an open ocean region has been employed to produce a dynamically constrained synthesis of acoustic tomography and satellite altimetry data with in situ observations. The assimilation algorithm is based upon the 4D variational data interpolation scheme controlled by the model's initial and boundary conditions. The data sets analyzed include direct and differential travel times measured at the array of five acoustic transceivers deployed by JAMSTEC in the region of the Kuroshio Extension in 1997, Topex/Poseidon altimetry, CTD soundings, and ADCP velocity profiles. The region monitored is located within the area 27.5°–36.5°N, 143°–155°. The results of assimilation show that mesoscale variability can be effectively reconstructed by five transceivers measuring direct and reciprocal travel times supported by relatively sparse in situ measurements. The misfits between model and data lie within the observational error bars for all the data types used in assimilation. We have compared the results of assimilation with the statistical inversion of travel time data and analyzed energy balances of the optimized model solution. Energy exchange between the depth-averaged and shear components of the observed currents reveals a weak decay of the barotropic mode at the rate of 0.2 ± 0.7⋅10⁻⁵ cm²/s³ due to topographic interaction. Mean currents in the region are unstable with an estimate of the available potential energy flux from the mean current to the eddies of 4.7 ± 2.3⋅10⁻⁵ cm²/s³. Kinetic energy transition has the same sign and is estimated as 2.8 ± 2.5⋅10⁻⁵ cm²/s³. Potential enstrophy is transferred to the mesoscale at a rate of 5.5 ± 2.7⋅10⁻¹⁸ s⁻³. These figures provide observational evidence of the properties of free geostrophic turbulence which were predicted by theory and observed in numerical experiments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Processing of cometary grains at the nucleus surface

Cometary material inevitably undergoes chemical changes before and on leaving the nucleus. In seeking to explain comets as the origin of many IDPs (interplanetary dust particles), an understanding of potential surface chemistry is vital. Grains are formed and transformed at the nucleus surface; much of the cometary volatiles may arise from the organic material. In cometary near-surface permafrost, one expects cryogenic chemistry with crystal growth and isotope. This could be the hydrous environment where IDPs form. Seasonal and geographic variations imply a range of environmental conditions and surface evolution. Interplanetary dust impacts and electrostatic forces also have roles in generating cometary dust. The absence of predicted cometary dust envelopes is compatible with the wide range of particle structures and compositions. Study of IDPs would distinguish between this model and alternatives that see comets as aggregates of core-mantle grains built in interstellar clouds.     

Comet Halley's dust drag perturbing the Giotto spacecraft

Hypervelocity impact sputter causes impulses substantially greater than the initial momenta of micro-grains of comet Halley's dust coma, the effective factor being discontinuous at the dust mass (0.2 g) that just penetrates the spacecraft bumper shield. Marginally non-penetrating grains determine the net drag and torque, calculated here for the Giotto shield and exposed components. The torque due to asymmetries induces a precession of the spacecraft axis, whose amplitude is solved for passage through the model dust coma, to find slowly damped oscillations of significant (1°) amplitude.     

Amphibole composition in tonalite as a function of pressure: an experimental calibration of the Al-in-hornblende barometer

The Al-in-hornblende barometer, which correlates Al^tot content of magmatic hornblende linearly with crystallization pressure of intrusion (Hammarstrom and Zen 1986), has been calibrated experimentally under water-saturated conditions at pressures of 2.5–13 kbar and temperatures of 700–655°C. Equilibration of the assemblage hornlende-biotite-plagioclase-orthoclasequartz-sphene-Fe-Ti-oxide-melt-vapor from a natural tonalite 15–20° above its wet solidus results in hornblende compositions which can be fit by the equation: P(±0.6 kbar) = –3.01 + 4.76 Al _hbl ^tot r ²=0.99, where Al^tot is the total Al content of hornblende in atoms per formula unit (apfu). Al^tot increase with pressure can be ascribed mainly to a tschermak-exchange ( ) accompanied by minor plagioclase-substitution ( ). This experimental calibration agrees well with empirical field calibrations, wherein pressures are estimated by contact-aureole barometry, confirming that contact-aureole pressures and pressures calculated by the Al-in-hornblende barometer are essentially identical. This calibration is also consistent with the previous experimental calibration by Johnson and Rutherford (1989b) which was accomplished at higher temperatures, stabilizing the required buffer assemblage by use of mixed H₂O-CO₂ fluids. The latter calibration yields higher Al^tot content in hornblendes at corresponding pressures, this can be ascribed to increased edenite-exchange ( ) at elevated temperatures. The comparison of both experimental calibrations shows the important influence of the fluid composition, which affects the solidus temperature, on equilibration of hornblende in the buffering phase assemblage.     

Stochastic scattering and other contributions to the Sun's wake in the local hydrogen cloud

Gas streaming through the solar system experiences both destructive and scattering processes, the latter primarily in collisional interactions with the solar wind protons. The scattering interactions can be important in filling the downstream wake. They may effectively increase the velocity dispersion and also cause discrete orbit changes.The downstream intensity moment is here evaluated analytically for particles suffering a single, discrete collision, and compared with the moment from a thermal velocity dispersion (both in the absence of a central force field). The elastic scattering collisions of protons in H-gas lead to a contribution to theL backscatter from the wake equivalent to an initial thermal velocity of about 1 km s^–1, giving an intensity for cool gas of the order of 10R. This exceeds the contribution due to focussing in the solar gravitational field if the radiation pressure is not less than 0.8 of the gravitational attraction.     

Numerical Homogenization of the Rigidity Tensor in Hooke's Law Using the Node-Based Finite Element Method

Combining a geological model with a geomechanical model, it generally turns out that the geomechanical model is built from units that are at least a 100 times larger in volume than the units of the geological model. To counter this mismatch in scales, the geological data model's heterogeneous fine-scale Young's moduli and Poisson's ratios have to be “upscaled” to one “equivalent homogeneous” coarse-scale rigidity. This coarse-scale rigidity relates the volume-averaged displacement, strain, stress, and energy to each other, in such a way that the equilibrium equation, Hooke's law, and the energy equation preserve their fine-scale form on the coarse scale. Under the simplifying assumption of spatial periodicity of the heterogeneous fine-scale rigidity, homogenization theory can be applied. However, even then the spatial variability is generally so complex that exact solutions cannot be found. Therefore, numerical approximation methods have to be applied. Here the node-based finite element method for the displacement as primary variable has been used. Three numerical examples showing the upper bound character of this finite element method are presented.     

Most likely locations of large earthquakes in the Kanto and Tokai areas, Japan, based on the local recurrence times

We examined the hypothesis that minima in local recurrence time, T_L, or equivalently maxima in local probability, P_L, may map asperities in the Kanto and Tokai areas of Japan, where the earthquake catalog of the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) is complete at the M=1.5 (M1.5) level. We mapped T_L (P_L) based on the a- and b-values of the nearest earthquakes within 20 km of every node of a grid spaced 0.01° for M7 target events. Only earthquakes within the top 33 km were used. The b-values increase strongly with depth, in several areas. Therefore, some of the T_L (P_L) anomalies are not revealed if data from the entire crustal seismogenic zone are mixed. Thus, we mapped T_L (P_L) separately for the top 15 km and the rest of the depth range, as well as for the entire seismogenic crust. The resulting T_L- and P_L-maps show that approximately 12% of the total area shows anomalously short recurrence times. Out of six shallow target events with M≥6.5 and which occurred since 1890, five are located within the anomalous areas with T_L <450 years. We interpret this to mean that areas with anomalously short T_L map asperities, which are more likely than other areas to generate future target events. The probability that this result is due to chance is vanishingly small. The great Kanto rupture of 1923 appears to have initiated in the most significant asperity we mapped in the study area. One anomaly is located in the northeastern part of the area of the proposed future rupture of the Tokai earthquake, and another one at its southwestern corner. The absolute values of T_L calculated are uncertain because they depend on the size of the volume used for the calculation.