Post-solidification cooling and the age of Io's lava flows

The modeling of thermal emission from active lava flows must account for the cooling of the lava after solidification. Models of lava cooling applied to data collected by the Galileo spacecraft have, until now, not taken this into consideration. This is a flaw as lava flows on Io are thought to be relatively thin with a range in thickness from ∼1 to 13 m. Once a flow is completely solidified (a rapid process on a geological time scale), the surface cools faster than the surface of a partially molten flow. Cooling via the base of the lava flow is also important and accelerates the solidification of the flow compared to the rate for the ‘semi-infinite’ approximation (which is only valid for very deep lava bodies). We introduce a new model which incorporates the solidification and basal cooling features. This model gives a superior reproduction of the cooling of the 1997 Pillan lava flows on Io observed by the Galileo spacecraft. We also use the new model to determine what observations are necessary to constrain lava emplacement style at Loki Patera. Flows exhibit different cooling profiles from that expected from a lava lake. We model cooling with a finite-element code and make quantitative predictions for the behavior of lava flows and other lava bodies that can be tested against observations both on Io and Earth. For example, a 10-m-thick ultramafic flow, like those emplaced at Pillan Patera in 1997, solidifies in ∼450 days (at which point the surface temperature has cooled to ∼280 K) and takes another 390 days to cool to 249 K. Observations over a sufficient period of time reveal divergent cooling trends for different lava bodies [examples: lava flows and lava lakes have different cooling trends after the flow has solidified (flows cool faster)]. Thin flows solidify and cool faster than flows of greater thickness. The model can therefore be used as a diagnostic tool for constraining possible emplacement mechanisms and compositions of bodies of lava in remote-sensing data.     

The Preboreal climate reversal and a subsequent solar‐forced climate shift

Accurate chronologies are essential for linking palaeoclimate archives. Carbon‐14 wiggle‐match dating was used to produce an accurate chronology for part of an early Holocene peat sequence from the Borchert (The Netherlands). Following the Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition, two climatic shifts could be inferred. Around 11 400 cal. yr BP the expansion of birch (Betula) forest was interrupted by a dry continental phase with dominantly open grassland vegetation, coeval with the PBO (Preboreal Oscillation), as observed in the GRIP ice core. At 11 250 cal. yr BP a sudden shift to a humid climate occurred. This second change appears to be contemporaneous with: (i) a sharp increase of atmospheric ¹⁴C; (ii) a temporary decline of atmospheric CO₂; and (iii) an increase in the GRIP ¹⁰Be flux. The close correspondence with excursions of cosmogenic nuclides points to a decline in solar activity, which may have forced the changes in climate and vegetation at around 11 250 cal. yr BP. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Occurrence and evolution of the Xiaotangshan hot spring in Beijing, China

Thermal groundwater occurs in bedrock aquifers consisting of the dolomite of the Wumishan Group of the Jixianin System and the Cambrian carbonate in the Xiaotangshan geothermal field near the northern margin of the North China Plain, China. The hot water in the geothermal field of basin-type discharges partly in the form of the Xiaotangshan hot spring under natural conditions. The hot water has TDS of less than 600 mg/L and is of Na·Ca-HCO₃ type. The geothermal water receives recharge from precipitation in the mountain area with elevation of about 500 m above sea level to the north of the spring. Thermal groundwater flows slowly south and southeast through a deep circulation with a residence time of 224 years estimated with the Ra–Rn method. The Xiaotangshan hot spring dried up in the middle of the 1980s owing to the increasing withdrawal of the hot water in the geothermal field in the past decades. The water level of the geothermal system still falls continually at an annual average rate of about 2 m, although water temperature changes very little, indicating that the recharge of such a geothermal system of basin-type is limited. Over-exploitation has a dramatic impact on the geothermal system, and reduction in exploitation and reinjection are required for the sustainable usage of the hot water.     

Wind-driven interannual variability over the northeast Pacific Ocean

Interannual variability of the sea surface height (SSH) over the northeast Pacific Ocean is hindcast with a reduced-gravity, quasi-geostrophic model that includes linear damping. The model is forced with monthly Ekman pumping fields derived from the NCEP reanalysis wind stresses. The numerical solution is compared with SSH observations derived from satellite altimeter data and gridded at a lateral resolution of 1 degree. Provided that the reduced gravity parameter is chosen appropriately, the results demonstrate that the model has significant hindcast skill over interior regions of the basin, away from continental boundaries. A damping time scale of 2 to 3 years is close to optimal, although the hindcast skill is not strongly dependent on this parameter.A simplification of the quasi-geostrophic model is considered in which Rossby waves are eliminated, yielding a Markov model driven by local Ekman pumping. The results approximately reproduce the hindcast skill of the more complete quasi-geostrophic model and indicate that the interannual SSH variability is dominated by the local response to wind forcing. There is a close correspondence the two leading empirical orthogonal modes of the local model and those of the observed SSH anomalies. The latter account for over half of the variance of the interannual signal over the region.     

潮汐对瞬态气候响应模拟的影响研究

In this study, the impact of oceanic processes on the sensitivity of transient climate change is investigated using two sets of coupled experiments with and without tidal forcing, which are termed Exp_Tide and Exp_Control,respectively. After introducing tidal forcing, the transient climate response(TCR) decreases from 2.32 K to 1.90 K,and the surface air temperature warming at high latitudes decreases by 29%. Large ocean heat uptake efficiency and heat storage can explain the low TCR in Exp_Tide. Approximately 21% more heat is stored in the ocean in Exp_Tide(1.10×10~(24) J) than in Exp_Control(0.91×10~(24) J). Most of the large ocean warming occurs in the upper 1 000 m between 60°S and 60°N, primarily in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. This ocean warming is closely related to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation(AMOC). The initial transport at mid-and high latitudes and the decline in the AMOC observed in Exp_Tide are both larger than those observed in Exp_Control. The spatial structures of AMOC are also different with and without tidal forcing in present experiments. The AMOC in Exp_Tide has a large northward extension. We also investigated the relationship between AMOC and TCR suggested by previous studies using the present experiments.     

一种准确通用的台风路径预报模式

应用天气学理论,对台风云图的晴空区轴线制约台风移动的规律进行物理解释。根据台风云团与晴空区之间存在的干、湿梯度力和推动台风前进的惯性力的互相关系,建立台风移向预报方程和轨迹预报方程,分析论证了台风移向变化的物理过程,把影响台风移动的复杂因子转化为单一的预报因子。     

近海海洋石油平台导管架喷涂金属层防腐

锌、铝及其合金涂层对钢铁的防护，不仅对阴极起保护作用(Gartland，1987)， 对涂层本身也具有良好的抗腐蚀性能。此外，涂层中金属微粒表面形成的致密氧化膜，也起到了防腐蚀的作用。在不同大气环境下，锌、铝有良好的耐蚀性，其腐蚀速率比钢铁要低得多(李言涛，1998)。采用热喷涂锌、铝及其合金涂层对钢铁构件和构筑物进行长效防护早在20世纪20年代就已开始应用，至今仍是普遍采用的防护措施，并在继续发展(李守本等，1989)。20年代初，法国首先用于海水闸门的防腐；40年代美国用于墨西哥湾的海上井架和海上输油管以及舰船的防腐；60年代英、法、德等国海军将这一技术扩大应用到舰船的上部结构和船壳。而金属热喷涂技术在海洋工程中使用非常有限，第一次使用热喷铝涂层防护近海平台的实例是Conoco公司在北海的Murchison结构上的锥形塔，并且已获得了4a良好的使用效能(Fisher et al.，1987；Shaw et al.，1985)。1984年6月，Hutton张力支柱平台(TLP)在北海下水(水深148 m)安装。系链、升降机和锥形塔均采用火焰热喷涂技术喷涂铝涂层进行防护(Tyson，1985)。1992年6月，Hotton平台使用8a后，对升降机绳索进行观察，在飞溅区没有发现腐蚀现象，也没有检测到褐色渗漏效应(Fisher et al.，1995)。     

大洋碳循环与气候演变的热带驱动

20世纪气候演变研究的最大突破,在于地球轨道变化驱动冰期旋回的米兰柯维奇理论。然而近年来学术界对热带过程和大气CO2浓度变化的研究进展,暴露了传统的轨道驱动理论存在着对低纬区和碳循环在全球气候系统中作用估计不足的严重缺陷。国家重点基础研究发展计划项目"大洋碳循环与气候演变的热带驱动"拟以南海与西太平洋暖池的深海记录为依据,进行全球性对比和跨越地球圈层的探索,通过观测分析结果与数值模拟的结合、地质记录与现代过程的结合,检验和论证大洋碳储库长周期变化机制的假说,对于不同时间尺度上低纬过程如何通过碳循环在全球气候环境演变中的作用,实现理论上的突破。同时简要介绍了该项目的目的、科学意义、关键科学问题及预期目标等。     

东北大兴安岭多年冻土区工程地质特征及评价

土体在冻结状态具有极高的压缩模量, 具有弹性体的工程地质特征。但是在冻土地温升高过程中, 这种特征急剧衰减, 产生蠕变和流变, 建筑物地基强度降低, 导致建筑物基础破坏。同时土体在冻结过程中产生的冻胀作用也将导致建筑物基础的破坏。东北大兴安岭地区多年冻土为高纬度低海拔多年冻土, 其分布具有明显纬度地带性特点。本文在分析该区多年冻土分布特征及冻土工程地质特点的基础上, 对由于土体的冻胀和融沉导致的建筑物基础的危害进行分类研究, 针对性的提出了用热棒降低土体温度以保证多年冻土稳定及用排水的方法减少水对建筑物地基多年冻土影响的工程病害处理措施。