Apollo 15 gravity analysis from theS-band transponder experiment

TheS-Band Transponder experiment used precision doppler tracking data of the command and service module, the lunar module and the subsatellite to provide detailed information about the near side gravity field. No special instruments are required other than the existingS-Band transponder used for real time navigation. The data consists of variations in the spacecraft speed as measured by the earth-based radio tracking system, which has a resolution of 0.65 mm/s.Initial data reduction has been concentrated on the low altitude CSM data ( 20 km) which provides new detailed gravity profiles of the Serenitatis and Crisium mascons. The results are in good agreement with Apollo 14 analysis and strongly suggest that the mascons are near surface features with a mass distribution per unit area of approximately 800 kg/cm². The Apennines reveal themselves as a local gravity high of 85 mgal and Marius Hills likewise have a gravity high of 62 mgal.The subsatellite data is too sparse at present to definitely determine new gravity anomaly locations. The spacecraft is functioning well and a dense data block is being obtained, which will provide a new gravity map from ±95° longitude to ±30 latitude. Since periapsis altitudes are following relatively close to predicted altitudes, it seems fairly safe at this point to believe the subsatellite lifetime will be at least one year.     

A Proposed lunar orbiting gravity gradiometer experiment

Analysis of the gravity gradiometer developed by R. L. Forward and C. C. Bell at the Hughes Research Laboratories suggest than an accuracy, in the range 0.1 to 0.5 EU can be expected in a lunar orbiter application. This accuracy will allow gradient anomalies associated with mascons to be mapped with 1% accuracy and should reveal a great deal of new information about the lunar gravity field.The proposed experiment calls for putting such a gradiometer into a closely circular polar orbit at an average height of about 30 km above the lunar surface. This orbit allows the entire lunar surface to be covered in fourteen days, the gradiometer to be checked twice per revolution and results in successive passes above the lunar surface being spaced at about the resolution limit of about 30 km set both by the satellite altitude and instrumental integration time. Doppler tracking will be employed and the spacecraft will carry an electromagnetic altimeter. Gradient and altitude data from the far side of the Moon can be stored for replay when communication is re-established.     

On the relation between chromospheric and photospheric fine structure in an active region

A comparative study was done on the bright fine structure in the upper photosphere and in the lower chromosphere of an active region. The results are shown in the following: (a) The bright points in the H wing are cospatial to the facular points, which confirms the result of Wilson (1981). (b) Some points bright in the H wing are associated with the facular granules which have larger sizes than the facular points, (c) The brightness enhancement in the Ha wing is positively correlated to the enhancement in the blue continuum. However, the correlation is not so strong. (d) The moustache points are also cospatial to the facular features. (e) The geometrical shape of a moustache point is like a funnel and diverging upward in the upper photospheric and the lower chromospheric levels.Some discussions are given on the nature of the heating mechanism of the fine structure based upon these results.On leave from Kyoto University and Hida Observatory, Japan.     

Structure of the solar granulation

The structure of the solar granulation has been analysed using computer-processed images of two very high resolution (0.25) white-light pictures obtained at the Pic-du-Midi Observatory.The narrow dispersion in the distribution of granule sizes is not confirmed. On the contrary, it is found that the number of granules increases continuously toward smaller scales; this means that the solar granulation has no characteristic or mean scale. Nevertheless, the granules appear to have a critical scale of 1.37, at which drastic changes in the properties of granules occur; in particular the fractal dimension changes at the critical scale. The granules smaller than this scale could be of turbulent origin.     

A model of photospheric faculae deduced from white light high resolution pictures

High resolution pictures (about 0.3) of photospheric faculae near the solar limb have been obtained with the Pic du Midi 50 cm refractor; their granular structure then clearly appears. The microphotometric study of these facular granules shows that the ratio of their intensity to the photospheric intensity, I ^f/I ^ph (cos) reaches a maximum near cos = 0.3 and then decreases towards the limb. The values of this ratio have been corrected with a most likely spread function. Then a temperature model of a facular granule is obtained: with respect to the neighbouring photosphere, this granule appears as a photospheric hot cloud which does not extend high in the solar atmosphere (thickness 100 km above ₅₀₀₀ = 1). The temperature excess is 750K at maximum. This hot region is located over a layer which is cooler than the normal photosphere at the same level. Another hot region might extend above the photospheric hot cloud, possibly up to the chromosphere. This photospheric facula model which is confined to the lower photosphere seems to indicate that this phenomenon is different from the photospheric network which is visible up to the lower chromosphere.     

Rare earth element and Pb isotope variations in a 52 kyr peat core from Lynch’s Crater (NE Queensland, Australia): Proxy development and application to paleoclimate in the Southern Hemisphere

Accurate prediction of future climate scenarios is contingent on our understanding of past and present climate mechanisms. This is done in part through the reconstruction of historical climate changes using proxy records from terrestrial and marine archives. Terrestrial archives covering the Holocene and late Pleistocene are limited, most acutely in the Southern Hemisphere. Here, Rare earth elements (REE) and Pb isotopes are developed as inorganic geochemical proxies of mineral dust source changes and, by extension, climate change. Using a peat core from Lynch’s Crater in NE Queensland, Australia, we present the first long-term (c. 52 kyr) terrestrial record of atmospheric REE and Pb deposition (with the exception of four wet events which represent periods of erosion from the crater itself) in the Southern Hemisphere covering both glacial and interglacial times. Based on a combination of correlation analyses, Al and Ti normalised profiles and elemental patterns, we establish REE are immobile within the peat deposit and not subject to significant post depositional diagenetic changes (important particularly for Ce). This is vital as REE can be mobile under acid and organic rich conditions like those that can occur during the development of a peat deposit. The volcanic provinces of eastern Australia have characteristic Eu anomaly signatures, which allowed their use in a novel way to detect changes in dust source to Lynch’s Crater. Between 41,095 and 52,505 BP the deposit was under the influence of dust carried by long distance transport (>1500 km) from SE Australia. From 8525 to 40,815 BP regional sources (100-1500 km) dominated the deposited signals while between 1740 and 8390 BP the dust signal was controlled by local sources (<100 km). These findings were also confirmed by Pb isotope data. Changepoint modelling refined the timing of these changes in dust source, recognizing concurrent shifts in our tracing tools ((Eu/Eu^∗)_PAAS and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb). These changepoints were then compared to other palaeoenvironmental records (pollen, lake levels and dune building) from eastern Australia and found to be similar. Our results demonstrate that REE and Pb isotopes are effective tools for tracing past changes in atmospheric dust sources and to the study of climate change using minerotrophic peat deposits.     

Analysis of nodal point pollution,variability, and sustainability in mesohaline tidal creeks

Mesohaline tidal creeks are critical since they may lie at the crossroads of aquatic habitat and urban/sub-urban pressures. The emphasis of this study was to determine the water quality stressor variations within and between tidal creeks and determine whether they serve as nodes of pollutants into the sub-estuary. Measurements of water quality stressors were conducted over a six-year period. The study revealed that characterizing the variability of individual tidal creeks is critical to understanding the process and impacts of stressors in sub-estuarine environments and that the tidal creeks are actually nodal points of sediment and nutrient pollution. This results in hypoxia being controlled within tidal creeks rather than being imported from the parent estuary. The calculated metrics were then used to create a Sustainability Characterization Map. Methods incorporated in this study would be of value to restoration managers, and in the decision-making process of urban and suburban watershed planners.     

Formation of Network Bright Points by granule compression

Network Bright Points (NBPs) are tiny, subarcsecond, bright features, visible in high-resolution filtergrams taken in white light as well as in photospheric and chromospheric absorption lines. They form the photospheric network and are associated with kilogauss, concentrated magnetic fields. Their behaviour is studied in a 3-hour, high-resolution granulation movie recorded at the Pic-du-Midi Observatory and processed at Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory. The movie shows the important role played by granules. It appears that NBPs are formed in dark spaces when surrounding granules converge to fill this space. The formation is a fast phenomenon which lasts only 4 min. The lifetime of NBPs is 18 min on the average. About 15% of them split when they are squeezed between two expanding granules. Some consequences concerning the strength of the magnetic field during the formation of NBPs are discussed.