Comment on “Mechanics of tidally driven fractures in Europa's ice shell” by S. Lee, R.T. Pappalardo, and N.C. Makris [2005. Icarus 177, 367-379]

We show Lee, Pappalardo, and Makris' [2005. Icarus 177, 367-379] argument that surface cracks in Europa's icy shell penetrate 3-10 times deeper in the presence of subsurface ocean is not correct. We use numerical calculations to demonstrate that there is at most 50% increase in penetration depth for a crack opening in a shell of finite thickness compared to a half-space. We also propose a simple equation based on force balances to estimate the maximum thickness of an ice shell that can be opened under tensile stress. Our calculations show that a crack can only penetrate 330-m-thick ice shell under 200 kPa far-field tensile stress and half of that if the stress is 100 kPa. But the presence of water would allow crack penetrate ∼4.0 km into the ice shell with zero porosity.     

太阳活动周的3个参量：AS,BT和BW

通过对１２－２２周（（１８７８－１９９５年）太阳大黑子群分布南北半球不对称的整体特征的研究,探讨了太阳活动周的长期演化趋势．约定Ｎ与Ｓ分别表示北南半球大黑子群数之和,ＢＮ与ＢＳ为北南半球大黑子群的纬度和．由这４个物理量定义了太阳活动周的３个参量：（１）太阳活动不对称指数ＡＳ＝（Ｎ－Ｓ）／（Ｎ＋Ｓ）;（２）平均纬度ＢＴ＝（ＢＮ＋ＢＳ）／（Ｎ＋Ｓ）,ＢＳ取负值;（３）太阳活动带的宽度ＢＷ＝ＢＮ／Ｎ－ＢＳ／Ｓ．对上述１１个活动周,得到了有关８０年周期的性质及奇偶数周大黑子群数变化的有意义的统计结果．     

Comment on: Constraints on the depth and variability of the lunar regolith,by B. B. Wilcox,M. S. Robinson,P. C. Thomas,and B. R. Hawke

Abstract— Any permanent presence on the Moon will require use of materials from the lunar regolith, the surface soil layer on the Moon. Thus, knowledge of the thickness of the lunar regolith is essential. It has been proposed that crater counts obtained from high Sun angle photography give larger estimates of impact crater equilibrium diameters than for low Sun angle photography, and thus deeper estimates of lunar surface regolith than were previously made using crater morphology, size of blocky rimmed craters, and equilibrium diameters determined on low Sun angle images. The purpose of this comment is to evaluate this result as a means of resolving this important question before planning for future lunar missions is undertaken     

Comment on: “Electrical coupling of the E- and F-regions”: by R. A. Heelis,P. C. Kendall,R. J. Moffett,D. W. Windle and H. Rishbeth

New measurements have been made of the reduced polarization in a Fraunhofer line (Hβ) of blue sky light. The value of the depolarization agrees well with a previously reported intensity filling-in effect. There is no evidence of a change of the azimuth of vibration of the polarization across the line profile.