The immediate effects of Hurricane Iniki on intertidal fauna on the south shore of O'ahu

When Hurricane Iniki struck the Hawaiian Islands in September 1992, it provided a rare opportunity to examine the immediate effects of a hurricane on two intertidal benthic communities off the reefs of O'ahu, Hawai'i. The Niu Beach site contained large, obvious aggregations of the tube building polychaete Diopatra dexiognatha, and the Wailupe Beach site was without obvious tubiculous fauna at the surface. Ten replicate sediment cores were taken before and after the hurricane with a 7.6 cm PVC corer and organisms were identified to family and enumerated. There were no substantial depletions or loss of taxa after the hurricane. Oligochaetes were the most dominant taxa pre-and post-hurricane. The abundance of all dominant polychaete families increased post-hurricane. The three most abundant polychaetes were capitellids and D. dexiognatha (Onuphidae) at Niu Beach and Pygospio muscularis (Spionidae) at Wailupe Beach. We suggest that D. dexiognatha and P. muscularis help stabilize the sediments since they both form dense tube mats while capitellids and oligochaetes are considered highly adaptive surface burrowers that can take advantage of newly disturbed sediments. Overall, there was no substantial effect observed on the intertidal fauna exposed to this severe disturbance. It is suggested here that invertebrate communities in this area are adapted to survive and thrive in high-energy environments and possibly benefit from dense aggregations of tube building polychaetes.     

The infrared spectra of nitriles and related compounds frozen in Ar and H2O

We present the 2320-2050 cm-1 (4.31-4.88 micrometers) infrared spectra of 16 solid-state nitriles, isonitriles, and related compounds in order to facilitate the assignment of absorption features in a spectral region now becoming accessible to astronomers for the first time through the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). This frequency range spans the positions of the strong C triple bond N stretching vibration of these compounds and is inaccessible from the ground due to absorption by CO2 in the terrestrial atmosphere. Band positions, profiles, and intrinsic strengths (A values) were measured for compounds frozen in Ar and H2O matrices at 12 K. The molecular species examined included acetonitrile, benzonitrile (phenylcyanide), 9-anthracenecarbonitrile, dimethylcyanamide, isopropylnitrile (isobutyronitrile), methylacrylonitrile, crotononitrile, acrylonitrile (vinyl cyanide), 3-aminocrotononitrile, pyruvonitrile, dicyandiamide, cyanamide, n-butylisocyanide, methylisocyanoacetate, diisopropylcarbodiimide, and hydrogen cyanide. The C triple bond N stretching bands of the majority of nitriles fall in the 2300-2200 cm-1 (4.35-4.55 micrometers) range and have similar positions in both Ar and H2O matrices, although the bands are generally considerably broader in the H2O matrices. In contrast, the isonitriles and a few exceptional nitriles and related species produce bands at lower frequencies spanning the 2200-2080 cm-1 (4.55-4.81 micrometers) range. These features also have similar positions in both Ar and H2O matrices, and the bands are broader in the H2O matrices. Three of the compounds (pyruvonitrile, dicyandiamide, and cyanamide) show unusually large shifts of their C triple bond N stretching frequencies when changing from Ar to H2O matrices. We attribute these shifts to the formation of H2O:nitrile complexes with these compounds. The implications of these results for the identification of the 2165 cm-1 (4.62 micrometers) "XCN" interstellar feature and the 4550 cm-1 (2.2 micrometers) feature of various objects in the solar system are discussed.     

The discovery of a new infrared emission feature at 1905 wavenumbers (5.25 microns) in the spectrum of BD +30 degrees 3639 and its relation to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon model

We have discovered a new IR emission feature at 1905 cm-1 (5.25 microns) in the spectrum of BD +30 degrees 3639. This feature joins the family of well-known IR emission features at 3040, 2940, 1750, 1610, "1310," 1160, and 890 cm-1 (3.3, 3.4, 5.7, 6.2, "7.7," 8.6, and 11.2 microns). The origin of this new feature is discussed and it is assigned to an overtone or combination band involving C-H bending modes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Laboratory work suggests that spectral studies of the 2000-1650 cm-1 (5.0-6.1 microns) region may be very useful in elucidating the molecular structure of interstellar PAHs. The new feature, in conjunction with other recently discovered spectral structure, suggests that the narrow IR emission features originate in PAH molecules rather than large carbon grains. Larger species are likely to be the source of the broad underlying "plateaus" seen in many of the spectra.     

Comparison of local grid refinement methods for MODFLOW

Many ground water modeling efforts use a finite-difference method to solve the ground water flow equation, and many of these models require a relatively fine-grid discretization to accurately represent the selected process in limited areas of interest. Use of a fine grid over the entire domain can be computationally prohibitive; using a variably spaced grid can lead to cells with a large aspect ratio and refinement in areas where detail is not needed. One solution is to use local-grid refinement (LGR) whereby the grid is only refined in the area of interest. This work reviews some LGR methods and identifies advantages and drawbacks in test cases using MODFLOW-2000. The first test case is two dimensional and heterogeneous; the second is three dimensional and includes interaction with a meandering river. Results include simulations using a uniform fine grid, a variably spaced grid, a traditional method of LGR without feedback, and a new shared node method with feedback. Discrepancies from the solution obtained with the uniform fine grid are investigated. For the models tested, the traditional one-way coupled approaches produced discrepancies in head up to 6.8% and discrepancies in cell-to-cell fluxes up to 7.1%, while the new method has head and cell-to-cell flux discrepancies of 0.089% and 0.14%, respectively. Additional results highlight the accuracy, flexibility, and CPU time trade-off of these methods and demonstrate how the new method can be successfully implemented to model surface water-ground water interactions.     

The dilution and dispersion of ballast water discharged into Goderich Harbor

Observations are presented on dilution and dispersion rates of ballast water discharged under normal operational conditions at the semi-enclosed port of Goderich, Ontario. The ballast water was tagged with Rhodamine-WT dye and microscopic magnetically-attractive tracer particles. Maximum concentrations of dye immediately after discharge were diluted to 1-5% of initial ballast tank concentrations, and within 3 days had decreased to less than 0.1% of initial concentrations. Inside the harbor, there was 10-20% of the ballast water still present after 2 days, consistent with a flushing rate of 0.8-1.15 day⁻¹. Magnetic particles were collected up to 7.5 km outside the harbor after one day, consistent with a dilution factor of order 10⁵ outside the harbor. The results of this study are discussed in the context of ballast water discharge standards proposed by the International Maritime Organization to minimize the introduction of aquatic nonindigenous species through ships’ ballast water and sediments.     

Bacterial transport experiments in fractured crystalline bedrock

The efficiency of contaminant biodegradation in ground water depends, in part, on the transport properties of the degrading bacteria. Few data exist concerning the transport of bacteria in saturated bedrock, particularly at the field scale. Bacteria and microsphere tracer experiments were conducted in a fractured crystalline bedrock under forced-gradient conditions over a distance of 36 m. Bacteria isolated from the local ground water were chosen on the basis of physicochemical and physiological differences (shape, cell-wall type, motility), and were differentially stained so that their transport behavior could be compared. No two bacterial strains transported in an identical manner, and microspheres produced distinctly different breakthrough curves than bacteria. Although there was insufficient control in this field experiment to completely separate the effects of bacteria shape, reaction to Gram staining, cell size, and motility on transport efficiency, it was observed that (1) the nonmotile, mutant strain exhibited better fractional recovery than the motile parent strain; (2) Gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria exhibited higher fractional recovery relative to the Gram-positive rod-shaped strain of similar size; and (3) coccoidal (spherical-shaped) bacteria transported better than all but one strain of the rod-shaped bacteria. The field experiment must be interpreted in the context of the specific bacterial strains and ground water environment in which they were conducted, but experimental results suggest that minor differences in the physical properties of bacteria can lead to major differences in transport behavior at the field scale.     

通过地理信息系统评估地震破坏和损失

引言在评价地震对某一地区的社会经济影响时,评估地震造成的破坏和损失是头等重要的。除对减轻风险的工作和应急准备提供帮助以外,地震破坏和损失分析还用于鉴别高危险性的设施,也即那些为某一区域提供基本服务的建筑和生命线单元或     

中尺度对流系统和闪电

1.引言每年春夏时节美国包括大平原和东南地区在内的广大地区的总降水量与中尺度对流系统(Mesoscale Convective Systems,以下简称MCS)过境有关.MCS定义为持续时间至少几小时且在生命史内具有明显对流活动的大范围降水系统(水平尺度为100-500km).根据定义,MCS包括超级单体雷暴,伴有层状云降水区的飑线以及中尺度对流复合体(MCC).MCC是根据云顶最低温度和特定温度阈值的覆盖范围来定义的(Maddox,1980).MCC中的对流单体的分布较为     

根据海底地震仪观测资料确定克里特海岩石层S波的衰减

１９８７年在克里特海设置了５台海底地震仪。在９天的时间里记录到了４３０个地方震，测定了其中８５个微震的震中。根据海底地震仪和一些陆地上的希腊台站同时记录到的１４个地震的数据，发现了震级ＭＬ与海底地震仪记录上的地震持续时间之间的相关关系，给出了由海底地震仪记录到的ＭＬ＝２－４地震的震级－频度关系。绘制了描述克里特海岩石层体波振幅衰减的曲线图。通过对比实验和理论振幅曲线，对品质因素作了评估。计算出克里