General patterns of circulation, sediment fluxes and ecology of the Palamós (La Fonera) submarine canyon, northwestern Mediterranean

Currents, particle fluxes and ecology were studied in the Palamós submarine canyon (also known as the Fonera canyon), located in the northwestern Mediterranean. Seven mooring arrays equipped with current meters and sediment traps were deployed along the main canyon axis, on the canyon walls and on the adjacent slope. Additionally, local and regional hydrographic cruises were carried out. Current data showed that mean near surface and mid-depth currents were oriented along the mean flow direction (NE–SW), although at 400 and 1200 m depth within the canyon current reversals were significant, indicating a more closed circulation inside the canyon. Mean near-bottom currents were constrained by the local bathymetry, especially at the canyon head. The most significant frequency at all levels was the inertial frequency. A second frequency of about three days, attributed to a topographic wave, was observed at all depths, suggesting that this wave was probably not trapped near the bottom. The current field observed during the most complete survey revealed a meandering pattern with cyclonic vorticity just upstream from and within the canyon. The associated vertical velocity ranged between 10 and 20 m/day and was constrained to the upper 300 m. This latter feature, together with other computations, suggests that during this survey the meander was not induced by the canyon but by some kind of instability of the mean flow.In the canyon, suspended sediment concentration, downward particle fluxes, chlorophyll and particulate C and N were significantly higher up-canyon from about 1200 m depth than offshore, defining, along with the different hydrodynamics, two canyon domains: one from the canyon head to about 1200 m depth more affected by the canyon confinement and the other deeper than 1200 m depth more controlled by the mean flow and the shelf-slope front. The higher near-bottom downward total mass fluxes were recorded in the canyon axis at 1200 m depth along with sharp turbidity increases and are related to sediment gravity flows. During the deployment period, the increase in downward particle fluxes occurred by mid-November, when a severe storm took place. On the canyon walls at 1200 m depth, suspended sediment concentrations, downward particle fluxes, chlorophyll and particulate C and N were higher on the southern wall than on the northern wall inversely to the current’s energy. This could be caused by an upward water supply on the southern canyon wall and/or the mean flow interacting with the canyon bathymetry. In the swimmers collected by the sediment traps, the dominant species was an elasipod holothurian, which has not been recorded in other canyons or elsewhere in the Mediterranean, indicating particular speciation.     

Inhomogeneities in the circumstellar envelope of the A0E herbig star AB aur

Simultaneous high-resolution spectroscopy in H andUBVRI polarimetric observations are proposed as an effective method for the search for circumstellar inhomogeneities in A0-type Herbig stars. The new results for AB Aur are presented as a successful example of the use of this method. The analysis of about 100 CCD H profiles (R = 30 000) and more than 150 polarimetric measurements obtained in January, 1994 allowed to discover a long-lived stream-like inhomogeneity in the circumstellar gaseous envelope.     

High-Performance Parallel Solver for Integral Equations of Electromagnetics Based on Galerkin Method

A new parallel solver for the volumetric integral equations (IE) of electrodynamics is presented. The solver is based on the Galerkin method, which ensures convergent numerical solution. The main features include: (i) memory usage eight times lower compared with analogous IE-based algorithms, without additional restrictions on the background media; (ii) accurate and stable method to compute matrix coefficients corresponding to the IE; and (iii) high degree of parallelism. The solver’s computational efficiency is demonstrated on a problem of magnetotelluric sounding of media with large conductivity contrast, revealing good agreement with results obtained using the second-order finite-element method. Due to the effective approach to parallelization and distributed data storage, the program exhibits perfect scalability on different hardware platforms.     

The Arctic Coastal Dynamics Database: A New Classification Scheme and Statistics on Arctic Permafrost Coastlines

Arctic permafrost coasts are sensitive to changing climate. The lengthening open water season and the increasing open water area are likely to induce greater erosion and threaten community and industry infrastructure as well as dramatically change nutrient pathways in the near-shore zone. The shallow, mediterranean Arctic Ocean is likely to be strongly affected by changes in currently poorly observed arctic coastal dynamics. We present a geomorphological classification scheme for the arctic coast, with 101,447?km of coastline in 1,315 segments. The average rate of erosion for the arctic coast is 0.5?m? year^?1 with high local and regional variability. Highest rates are observed in the Laptev, East Siberian, and Beaufort Seas. Strong spatial variability in associated database bluff height, ground carbon and ice content, and coastline movement highlights the need to estimate the relative importance of shifting coastal fluxes to the Arctic Ocean at multiple spatial scales.     

On the chemistry of mantle and magmatic volatiles on Mercury

The surface of Mercury contains ancient volcanic features and signs of pyroclastic activity related to unknown magmatic volatiles. Here, the nature of possible magmatic volatiles (H, S, C, Cl, and N) is discussed in the contexts of formation and evolution of the planet, composition and redox state of its mantle, solubility in silicate melts, chemical mechanisms of magma degassing, and thermochemical equilibria in magma and volcanic gases. The low-FeO content in surface materials (<6 wt%) evaluated with remote sensing methods corresponds to less than 2.3 fO₂ log units below the iron-wüstite buffer. These redox conditions imply restricted involvement of hydrous species in nebular and accretion processes, and a limited loss of S, Cl, and N during formation and evolution of the planet. Reduced conditions correspond to high solubilities of these elements in magma and do not favor degassing. Major degassing and pyroclastic activity would require oxidation of melts in near-surface conditions. Low-pressure oxidation of graphite in moderately oxidized magmas causes formation of low-solubility CO. Decompression of reduced N-saturated melts involves oxidation of nitride melt complexes and could cause N₂ degassing. Putative assimilation of oxide (FeO, TiO₂, and SiO₂) rich rocks in magma chambers could have caused major degassing through oxidation of graphite and S-, Cl- and N-bearing melt complexes. However, crustal rocks may never have been oxidized, and sulfides, graphite, chlorides, and nitrides could remain in crystallized rocks. Chemical equilibrium models show that N₂, CO, S₂, CS₂, S₂Cl, Cl, Cl₂, and COS could be among the most abundant volcanic gases on Mercury. Though, these speciation models are restricted by uncertain redox conditions, unknown volatile content in magma, and the adopted chemical degassing mechanism.     

Extreme Storm Surges in the Gulf of Finland: Frequency-Spectral Properties and the Influence of Low-Frequency Sea Level Oscillations

Oceanology - An analysis of hourly tide gauge observation data yields time-frequency estimates of storm surges in the Gulf of Finland. Spectral analysis of long-term series made it possible to...     

Estimation of the Nucleus Size of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 under the Assumption of Its Step-by-Step Disintegration

The orbital dynamics of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was considered. The size of the nucleus before its disintegration was estimated using positional observations of individual fragments of the comet and taking into account the time when the fragment falls on Jupiter were observed. The center of inertia of the parent body was assumed to coincide with the center of fragment H at the moment of disintegration. The diameter of the parent body was estimated under different assumptions about the moments of disintegration. Thus, if the nucleus of the comet was disintegrated at the moment when fragment H was passing the perijovion, the diameter of the nucleus is equal to 1.39 km; if the nucleus was disintegrated two hours before the perijovion passage, the estimate of the nucleus diameter must be increased up to 9.03 km. The period of revolution of the comet nucleus was estimated assuming that the comet rotated about the axis perpendicular to its orbital plane. The calculations allowed us to assume that fragmentation of the nucleus began approximately an hour before the comet passed the perijovion and the diameter of the parent nucleus was about 4 km.     

Comparison of the electron density variations measured with instruments of the ISZF SO RAN radar complex under the conditions of different geomagnetic disturbance

The variations in the electron density measured with the incoherent scatter radar, DPS-4 digisonde, and FMCW ionosonde are compared in this work. The main regularities in differences are explained by the effect of different-scale ionospheric irregularities. Considerable morning gradients of electron density result in that ionosondes give increased values as compared to the incoherent scatter radar data. Electron density disturbances measured with different instruments can be of correlated and uncorrelated character. Uncorrelated disturbances are explained by intense medium-scale ionospheric irregularities. Correlated disturbances are caused by large-scale irregularities. Observation of such disturbances can be used to determine the velocity and direction of a disturbance.