New names and old puzzles

Peter Bond returns with more news from current and future space missions, including a name for the next space telescope.     

New frontiers in astroplasma physics

Plasmas in the laboratory and in space were the subject of a timely RAS Discussion Meeting held on 8 October 1999, reports Steven Rose.     

The equatorial F-layer: progress and puzzles

This work reviews some aspects of the ionospheric F-layer in the vicinity of the geomagnetic equator. Starting with a historical introduction, brief summaries are given of the physics that makes the equatorial ionosphere so interesting, concentrating on the large-scale structure rather than the smaller-scale instability phenomena. Several individual topics are then discussed, including eclipse effects, the asymmetries of the equatorial trough, variations with longitude, the semiannual variation, the effects of the global thermospheric circulation, and finally the equatorial neutral thermosphere, including superrotation and possible topographic influences.     

Patterns,puzzles and people: implementing hydrologic synthesis

There have been several calls made for hydrologic synthesis research: namely activities which unify diverse data sources across sites, scales and disciplines to uncover new connections and to promote a holistic understanding of water science. This paper draws on the NSF‐funded Hydrological Synthesis Project (HSP) run by the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign to elucidate mechanisms, benefits and challenges of implementing hydrologic synthesis research from the perspectives of participants in a pilot research study. Two broadly different mechanisms of implementing synthesis were adopted in the HSP: 6‐week Summer Institutes in which Ph.D. students conducted team‐based research under the guidance of faculty mentors, and focused workshops which disseminated knowledge and shared experiences between scientists at many different career levels. The Summer Institutes were a test bed in which new ideas could be explored, assisted students in developing a wide range of skills, and were highly productive, but posed challenges for mentors and students because the ‘new’ research topics initiated during the Institutes' programmes needed to be completed in competition with students' ongoing Ph.D. research or mentor's existing research programs. The workshop‐based model circumvented this conflict and was also highly productive, but did not offer the same opportunity to experiment with new ideas as part of the synthesis research. Leadership, trust, flexibility and long gestation times were all important to bringing synthesis research to a positive resolution. Funding models that embrace the exploratory aspects of synthesis and provide adequate support to mentors and students over these long timescales would facilitate future hydrologic synthesis research. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Progress and perspective on frontiers of geobiology

Geobiology is a new discipline on the crossing interface between earth science and life science,and aims to understand the interaction and co-evolution between organisms and environments.On the basis of the latest international achievements,the new data presented in the Beijing geobiology forum sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013,and the papers in this special issue,here we present an overview of the progress and perspectives on three important frontiers,including geobiology of the critical periods in Earth history,geomicrobes and their responses and feedbacks to global environmental changes,and geobiology in extreme environments.Knowledge is greatly improved about the close relationship of some significant biotic events such as origin,radiation,extinction,and recovery of organisms with the deep Earth processes and the resultant environmental processes among oceans,land,and atmosphere in the critical periods,although the specific dynamics of the co-evolution between ancient life and paleoenvironments is still largely unknown.A variety of geomicrobial functional groups were found to respond sensitively to paleoenvironmental changes,which enable the establishment of proxies for paleoenvironmental reconstruction,and to play active roles on the Earth environmental changes via elemental biogeochemical cycles and mineral bio-transformations,but to be deciphered are the mechanisms of these functional groups that change paleoenvironmental conditions.Microbes of potential geobiology significance were found and isolated from some extreme environments with their biological properties partly understood,but little is known about their geobiological functions to change Earth environments.The biotic processes to alter or modify the environments are thus proposed to be the very issue geobiology aims to decipher in the future.Geobiology will greatly extend the temporal and spatial scope of biotic research on Earth and beyond.It has great potential of application in the domains of resource exploration and global change.To achieve these aims needs coordinative multidisciplinary studies concerning geomicrobiology and related themes,database and modeling of biogeochemical cycles,typical geological environments,and coupling of biological,physical,and chemical processes.     

21世纪地球物理学的机遇与挑战

21世纪的地球物理学(主要指固体地球物理学)面临着机遇,同时也面临着挑战,其研究的核心领域应为地球深部物质与能量的交换,圈层耦合和其深层动力过程．本文将对以下问题进行探讨：(1)地球物理学的发展和深化与现代科学技术进步的制约．(2)地球物理学必须向高层次的综合研究方向发展．(3)地球物理学面临的机遇与挑战．(4)地球内部圈层结构与大陆动力学研究的思考和内涵．     

Rainfall-runoff forecasting methods,old and new

Here we review the main thrusts of rainfall-runoff modelling with an eye toward the advantageous use of the massive date sets being accumulated and the modern computers capable of dealing effectively with such sets.More than a tutorial, this study is aimed at providing a unifying structure for analyzing available techniques. The closing section draws attention to the existence of an alternative methodology.     

Seismic vulnerability and risk evaluation for old urban nuclei

The evaluation of the seismic damageability of existing buildings is a primary element in the planning for mitigation of earthquake effects. To this purpose, the use of the vulnerability index has been recently proposed and adopted in various surveys in Italy. The index results from grading the status of various structural and non-structural components exposed to damage in a seismic event. The effectiveness of the vulnerability index as a measure of the health status of buildings is discussed on the basis of regional surveys of vulnerability index versus reported damage, carried out in various Italian areas such as Friuli and the city of Gubbio. Also, investigation of the items most effective in describing damageability among those contributing to the index is performed, in view of formulating a reduced survey procedure. A damage versus vulnerability index database collected in these surveys is presented as well. Finally, a vulnerability index based procedure to evaluate the expected damage in a territory is proposed.     

Problems in determining paleointensities from very old rocks

Polyphase magnetizations are not uncommon in old rocks. To obtain reliable paleointensities, these magnetizations need to be recognized and separated so that the paleointensity determination can be derived from one of the phases of magnetization. Some of the techniques used to detect and separate (and sometimes isolate) the different phases are described by means of a few examples. Special attention is given to the chemical remanent magnetization which can be found in both sedimentary and igneous rocks. It appears that a sedimentary rock near an igneous contact is the preferferred specimen for reliable paleointensity determinations.     

新老测点之间的地磁对比观测研究

１９９３年８─１１月，在马起乏与新测点上进行了较长时间的地磁场对比观测，获得了大量准确可靠的地磁资料。应用通化处理法、同步差值法、日变特征量比较法、快速谱分析法（ＦＦＴ）、幅比与位相差值法，分析研究了地磁对比观测资料。结果表明，在相同时间段内，各测点地磁变化形态相当一致，两个测点之间的同步差值平稳。由各测点地磁场总强度日变化的定量分析比较得出，其日变化是相当一致的。快速谱分析显示，在相同时间段内，各测点的幅度随周期的变化形态十分相似，总体上看，ＦＦＴ幅度随周期的减小呈下降趋势；从ＦＦＴ幅度Ａ，位相以及快谱幅比Ａ＿ｉ／Ａ与位相差的定量比较结果上看，各测点的ＦＦＴ有着良好的一致性。此外，还得到了新老测点之间的地磁数据的接点差。     

Salsvatn,a lake with old sea water

Salsvatn is a 464 m deep lake laying 16 m above sea level in North Trøndelag, Norway. The lake was isolated from the sea some 3,000 years ago. It is assumed that salt-water in the deepest 50 m of the lake is the remain of sea water being trapped in the lake at this time. The concentration of cloride in the salt-water layer corresponds to a salinity of 29‰ in ordinary sea water. Hydrography of the lake and changes in some components of the salt water compared with ordinary sea water are discussed. Comparison is made with changes in the stagnant layers of the Black Sea and Lake Rørholtjorden. The latest is another lake with old sea-water at its bottom. Surface sediment samples have been collected from the freshwater and salt-water layers in Lake Rørholtfjorden and from the salt-water layer of Lake Salsvatn. Some chemical components of the sediments and interstitial water have been analysed and discussed.     

A study of VLF field strength data: Both old and new

Summary Employing some old data ofRound et al. and the recent data ofHeritage et al., attenuation rates at VLF are deduced. For middle latitudes, day-time rates of less than 2 db per 1000 km of path length are not uncommon. These are in general accord with values derived from spheric waveforms and they are compatible with mode theory. An extensive bibliography is appended.     

The main old lands in China and assembly of Chinese unified continent

The main old lands in China include the North China Block (NCB), South China Block (SCB) and Tarim Block (TRB), all of which have individual tectonic evolving histories. The NCB experienced complex geological evolution since the early Precambrian onwards, and carries important records from the old continental nuclei, giant crustal growth episode and cratonization (stabilitization), then to the Paleoproterozoic rifting-subduction-accretion-collision with imprints of the Great Oxygen Event (GOE), and to the Late Paleoproterozoic-Neoproterozoic multi-stage rifting representing North China platform tectonic features. The TRB has two-layer basement of the Early Precambrian metamorphic complexes and Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequences. Three till sheets have been reported. The SCB consists of the Yangtze Block (YZB) and Cathaysia Block (CTB) that were cohered in the Neoproterozoic. The YZB recorded tectonic processes of the Early Precambrian crustal growth, 1.0–0.9 Ga and 0.8–0.6 Ga metamorphic-magmatic events, and two Neoproterozoic glaciations. The CTB consists of ca. 1.8 Ga, 1.0 to 0.9 Ga and ca. 0.8 Ga granitic gneisses and metamorphic rocks, indicating there was a vast Precambrian basement. The Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks overlie partly on the basement. That the YZB and CTB have a Neoproterozoic uniform cover layer illustrates the SCB should form, at least, during 1.0–0.9 Ga, corresponding to the Rodinia Supercontinent. The Central Chinese Orogenic System with high-ultra-high-pressure metamorphic rocks supports a suggestion that the above-mentioned three old lands were collided to assemble a unified Chinese Continent during the Pangea orogenic period.