Protoplanetary core formation by rain-out of minerals

Models of giant gaseous protoplanets calculated by DeCampli and Cameron (1979) indicate that iron and probably other minerals in the interior of a planet would be in the liquid state during part of the protoplanet evolution. Liquid drops in a protoplanet would grow by coalescence much as cloud drops in the Earth's atmosphere grow to rain drops. We have modeled this process by using the stochastic collection equation (Slattery, 1978) for various initial conditions. In all of the cases considered, the growth time (to centimeter-sized droplets) is much shorter than the time, as estimated by detailed evolutionary calculations, that the drops are in the liquid state. Brownian collection is effective in quickly coalescing tiny liquid droplets to an average radius of about 0.005 cm with very few drops remaining with radii less than 0.001 cm. For radii larger than 0.005 cm gravitational collection is dominant. Since the particles are rapidly swept from interstellar grain sizes to much larger sizes, the opacity in the cloud layer is expected to drop sharply following melting of the grains.     

Rapid neutron capture in supernova explosions

The implications of recent studies of the dynamics of the cores of highly evolved massive stars are considered with regard to the general problems of nucleosynthesis. The typical conditions estimated for these models are shown to be very promising for the process of element synthesis by neutron capture on a fast time scale (ther-process ofBurbidge et al., 1957).     

An analysis of the distribution of boulders in the vicinity of small lunar craters

Nine Orbiter 3 high-resolution photographs were examined at three sites for distributions of boulders around craters 110 m in diameter; three kinds of distributions were noted. Some had boulders inside and far outside (designated), others had boulders only inside or on their ramparts (), and some had no detectable boulders (). Additionally, shapes or morphologies of craters were classified according to their resemblance to one of three Jaffe models (1965); a third classification involved the depth of particulate overlay (Jaffe, 1965). Crater morphologies were classified (A) if they were relatively shallow with sharp, raised rims, (B) if they were rimless and shallow, and (C) if they were relatively deep and had low, broad rims. The data suggested that there were strong relationships between crater types and boulder distributions in which, generally, A-type was related to the-distribution, B-type to-distribution, and C-type to-distribution. Plots of numbers of craters of each crater type and each kind of boulder distribution versus steps of overlay for each site and for the totality of craters considered indicated that neither boulder distribution nor crater type represented orderly progression of age or erosional evolution. The apparent overlays for the A's and C's and for the's and's were similar, implying similar ages or stages of erosion. It is suggested that they represent two kinds of primary craters and that the A's are of impact origin while the C's are of volcanic origin. The B's probably represent later stages of erosion of the C's and possibly of some A's.Now at the University of Maryland.Receipt delayed by postal strike in Great Britain.     

An equation of state at subnuclear densities

An equation of state for cold matter above white dwarf densities is evaluated. The gas is considered to be a mixture of degenerate neutrons, protons and electrons combined with nuclei of one type (that is only oneA andZ value). We derive the equilibrium equations for the mixture and calculate the number densities as well as theA andZ of the nucleus. Finally we calculate an equation of state, which smoothly goes over to that of a neutron, proton electron gas mixture at a density of 5×10¹³ g/cm³.     

Cloud computing and virtualization within the regional climate model and evaluation system

The Regional Climate Model Evaluation System (RCMES) facilitates the rapid, flexible inclusion of NASA observations into climate model evaluations. RCMES provides two fundamental components. A database (RCMED) is a scalable point-oriented cloud database used to elastically store remote sensing observations and to make them available using a space time query interface. The analysis toolkit (RCMET) is a Python-based toolkit that can be delivered as a cloud virtual machine, or as an installer package deployed using Python Buildout to users in order to allow for temporal and spatial regridding, metrics calculation (RMSE, bias, PDFs, etc.) and end-user visualization. RCMET is available to users in an “offline”, lone scientist mode based on a virtual machine dynamically constructed with model outputs and observations to evaluate; or on an institution’s computational cluster seated close to the observations and model outputs. We have leveraged RCMES within the content of the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) project, working with the University of Cape Town and other institutions to compare the model output to NASA remote sensing data; in addition we are also working with the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). In this paper we explain the contribution of cloud computing to RCMES’s specifically describing studies of various cloud databases we evaluated for RCMED, and virtualization toolkits for RCMET, and their potential strengths in delivering user-created dynamic regional climate model evaluation virtual machines for our users.     

Finite-element analysis of the transport of water and solutes in title-drained soils

The finite-element method based on a Galerkin technique was used to formulate the problem of simulating the two-dimensional (cross-sectional) transient movement of water and solute in saturated or partially saturated nonuniform porous media. The numerical model utilizes linear triangular elements. Nonreactive, as well as reactive solutes whose behaviour can be described by a distribution coefficient or first-order reaction term were considered. The flow portion of the model was tested by comparison of the model results with experimental and finite-difference results for transient flow in an unsaturated sand column and the solute transport portion of the model was tested by comparison with analytical solution results. The model was applied to a hypothetical case involving movement of water and solutes in tile-drained soils. The simulation results showed the development of distinct solute leaching patterns in the soil as drainage proceeded. Although applied to a tile drainage problem in this study, the model should be equally useful in the study of a wide range of two-dimensional water and solute migration problems.     

A final summary of measurements of cosmogenic AI26 in stone meteorites

A summary is given of the final results of measurements of cosmogenic Al²⁶ activity in a total of 50 stone meteorites, mainly chondrites, carried out using coincidence gamma-spectrometry.