A 20cm 2 CCD mosaic camera for a dark matter search part II : Electronics,data acquisition and performance

Conclusion To summarize, the readout and the control system of the CCD mosaic camera are running since December 1991 at the La Silla Observatory (ESO). The overall performance of the camera has been good. About 12000 pictures (data and flat-fields) have been successfully registered up to now. We will report in the near future preliminary scientific results of the EROS experiment.     

Long-term persistence of solar activity

The solar irradiante has been found to change by 0.1% over the recent solar cycle. A change of irradiante of about 0.5% is required to effect the Earth's climate. How frequently can a variation of this size be expected? We examine the question of the persistence of non-periodic variations in solar activity. The Hürst exponent, which characterizes the persistence of a time series (Mandelbrot and Wallis, 1969), is evaluated for the series of¹⁴ C data for the time interval from about 6000 BC to 1950 AD (Stuiver and Pearson, 1986). We find a constant Hürst exponent, suggesting that solar activity in the frequency range of from 100 to 3000 years includes an important continuum component in addition to the well-known periodic variations. The value we calculate,H ≈ 0.8, is significantly larger than the value of 0.5 that would correspond to variations produced by a white-noise process. This value is in good agreement with the results for the monthly sunspot data reported elsewhere, indicating that the physics that produces the continuum is a correlated random process (Ruzmaikin et al., 1992), and that it is the same type of process over a wide range of time interval lengths. We conclude that the time period over which an irradiance change of 0.5% can be expected to occur is significantly shorter than that which would be expected for variations produced by a white-noise process. The full paper has been submitted to Solar Physics. Part of the research decribed here was carried out by JPL, Caltech under a contract with NASA.     

A data assimilation approach to discharge estimation from space

River discharge is currently monitored by a diminishing network of gauges, which provide a spatially incomplete picture of global discharges. This study assimilated water level information derived from a fused satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image and digital terrain model (DTM) with simulations from a coupled hydrological and hydrodynamic model to estimate discharge in an un‐gauged basin scenario. Assimilating water level measurements led to a 79% reduction in ensemble discharge uncertainty over the coupled hydrological hydrodynamic model alone. Measurement bias was evident, but the method still provided a means of improving estimates of discharge for high flows. The study demonstrates the potential of currently available synthetic aperture radar imagery to reduce discharge uncertainty in un‐gauged basins when combined with model simulations in a data assimilation framework, where sufficient topographic data are available. The work is timely because in the near future the launch of satellite radar missions will lead to a significant increase in the volume of data available for space‐borne discharge estimation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The variability of the large-amplitude internal wave field on the Australian North West Shelf

Observations are presented of large-amplitude internal waves (LAIWs) generated by the steepening of the internal tide on the Australian North West Shelf (NWS) over a 4-month period extending from strongly stratified summer conditions to weakly stratified winter conditions. The observations are from a site in water depth of 124 m where current and temperature measurements were made from a fixed vertical mooring and a benthic L-shaped spatial array. The observations show the LAIWs at this site to be characterized by strong seasonal variability, with energetic LAIWs of depression being dominant during summer and weaker LAIWs of elevation being dominant during the winter months as the stratification weakens, the upper mixed layer deepens, and the thermocline is close to the bottom. Waves were also seen to propagate from a range of directions towards the observation site. Modeling using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS v2.1) revealed that internal tide generation in the area occurred at water depths of between 400 and 600 m along an arc of approximately 120 km in length, some 70 km to the northwest of our experimental site. The results demonstrate both the 3D nature as well as the seasonal variation of the LAIW field.     

Accumulation,solid partitioning and remobilisation of 99Tc in subtidal and intertidal sediments in the Irish Sea

Recent studies have shown that accumulation of ⁹⁹Tc in seabed sediments labelled by authorised radioactive liquid discharges into the NE Irish Sea from the Sellafield reprocessing complex is greater than previously thought. In this paper, new data on ⁹⁹Tc concentration profiles in subtidal and intertidal sediments from the eastern and western Irish Sea are provided with a view to elucidating the processes responsible for the incorporation and retention of ⁹⁹Tc in the seabed. The data show that substantial amounts of ⁹⁹Tc have accumulated in the fine-grained subtidal sediments off the Cumbrian coast, particularly after increased releases from Sellafield following the commissioning of the Enhanced Actinide Removal Plant (EARP) in 1994. In all the cores taken in this area, ⁹⁹Tc has been found to be present to depths in excess of 30 cm. Analysis of ¹³⁷Cs and ²⁴¹Am profiles, together with other supporting geochemical data, show a high degree of homogenisation of the sediments down to these depths as a result of physical and biological processes, and confirm that incorporation of ⁹⁹Tc into the sediment compartment is actually the result of mixing and reworking, rather than active sediment accumulation. In contrast, active deposition of material transported from this mixed pool of sediment appears to be the dominant mechanism controlling ⁹⁹Tc profiles in intertidal areas close to the Sellafield discharge outfall.Data obtained from the analysis of subtidal sediment cores from the western Irish Sea mud basin suggest that similar mixing processes to those occurring in the subtidal sediments of the eastern Irish Sea are also active in this area. Time-series data on ⁹⁹Tc concentrations in surficial sediments from this basin, gathered in the period 1988–2004, inclusive, show a clear increase in concentrations, by a factor of ～2, between samples collected pre-EARP and post-EARP. The constancy of ⁹⁹Tc concentrations in surface sediments throughout the 1980s and the early-1990s suggests that little redissolution and export of ⁹⁹Tc occurred over this extended period. A similar observation applies to the post-EARP period, when concentrations remained relatively constant despite the reported steady decrease in ⁹⁹Tc concentrations in the overlying waters.This apparent lack of remobilisation is consistent with data from sequential extraction analyses, which indicate that the bulk of the ⁹⁹Tc is strongly bound to non-labile geochemical phases, with only a small proportion associated with exchangeable and acido-soluble phases. Further, these analyses show that ⁹⁹Tc is not associated with oxygen-sensitive and highly-reactive acid-volatile sulphides (AVS) to any significant extent.