WASP-10b: a 3MJ, gas-giant planet transiting a late-type K star

We report the discovery of WASP-10b, a new transiting extrasolar planet (ESP) discovered by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) Consortium and confirmed using Nordic Optical Telescope FIbre-fed Echelle Spectrograph and SOPHIE radial velocity data. A 3.09-d period, 29 mmag transit depth and 2.36 h duration are derived for WASP-10b using WASP and high-precision photometric observations. Simultaneous fitting to the photometric and radial velocity data using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo procedure leads to a planet radius of  1.28 R _J   , a mass of  2.96 M _J   and eccentricity of ≈0.06. WASP-10b is one of the more massive transiting ESPs, and we compare its characteristics to the current sample of transiting ESP, where there is currently little information for masses greater than ≈  2 M _J   and non-zero eccentricities. WASP-10's host star, GSC 2752−00114 (USNO-B1.0 1214−0586164) is among the fainter stars in the WASP sample, with   V = 12.7  and a spectral type of K5. This result shows promise for future late-type dwarf star surveys.     

WASP-14b: 7.3 MJ transiting planet in an eccentric orbit

We report the discovery of a 7.3 M _J exoplanet WASP-14b, one of the most massive transiting exoplanets observed to date. The planet orbits the 10th-magnitude F5V star USNO-B1 11118−0262485 with a period of 2.243 752 d and orbital eccentricity   e = 0.09  . A simultaneous fit of the transit light curve and radial velocity measurements yields a planetary mass of 7.3 ± 0.5 M _J and a radius of 1.28 ± 0.08 R _J. This leads to a mean density of about 4.6 g cm⁻³ making it the densest transiting exoplanets yet found at an orbital period less than 3 d. We estimate this system to be at a distance of  160 ± 20  pc. Spectral analysis of the host star reveals a temperature of  6475 ± 100 K, log  g = 4.07  cm s⁻² and   v sin  i = 4.9 ± 1.0  km s⁻¹, and also a high lithium abundance,  log  N (Li) = 2.84 ± 0.05  . The stellar density, effective temperature and rotation rate suggest an age for the system of about 0.5–1.0 Gyr.     

Melanistic southern right‐whale dolphins (Lissodelphis peronii) off Kaikoura,New Zealand,with records of other anomalously all‐black cetaceans

Reports of anomalously pigmented cetaceans, including melanistic (all‐black) individuals are infrequent. We observed four melanistic southern right‐whale dolphins (Lissodelphis peronii) including a calf, off Kaikoura (42°34'S, 173°50'E), New Zealand. We also compiled records of melanistic individuals from five other species of cetaceans. The ecological context of melanistic pigmentation of cetaceans is not well understood; however, it may increase heat absorption, affect ability to capture prey, impair visual/social communication, and/or increase conspicuousness to predators.     

Limitations of single-basket trading: lessons from the Montreal Protocol for climate policy

Numerous policy options exist to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. A single-basket approach, which controls aggregate emissions, was adopted by the Kyoto Protocol. Such an approach allows emissions reductions of one gas to be traded with those of other gases in the “basket”, with the trade “price” determined by some weighting metric like the Global Warming Potential. To reduce stratospheric ozone depletion, the Montreal Protocol also dealt with controlling many compounds, but did so employing an alternative, multi-basket scheme. Trading was allowed within each basket, but not among baskets. While the Montreal Protocol has been highly successful using this approach, we show that if a single-basket approach had been adopted the short-term success could have been at risk due to the non-unique relationship between controls and environmental impacts when using a single basket. Using climate policy as an example, and without considering technological and economic constraints, we further show that the magnitude of the ambiguities in impacts associated with a single-basket approach depends on the rapidity of the emission phaseout. Fast phaseouts lead to less ambiguity than do slow ones. These results suggest that for each set of greenhouse gas control policies considered, the benefit of additional flexibility associated with a single-basket approach should be weighed against the associated increased uncertainties in the impacts to ascertain whether a single- or a multi-basket approach has the greater chance of successfully mitigating climate change.     

Understanding Causes and Impacts of the Dinoflagellate, Cochlodinium polykrikoides, Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay

During August and September 2007, the lower Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries experienced a massive bloom of Cochlodinium polykrikoides Margalef (>10⁴ cells per milliliter) that persisted for over a month, was extremely patchy, and at times penetrated into the Atlantic Ocean. The onset of the bloom coincided with a period of intense rainfall and stormwater runoff after a protracted summer drought period. Genetic evidence showed this species to be distinct from many Asian strains but similar to other North American strains. Populations dominated by C. polykrikoides took up a variety of nitrogenous compounds to support their growth and were able to mobilize additional sources of organic nutrients through peptide hydrolysis. Bioassays determined that C. polykrikoides exerted a lethal affect on juvenile fish and shellfish, causing 100% mortality of juvenile fish (Cyprinodon variegates) in less than 24 h and 20% mortality in juvenile American oysters (~21 mm; Crassostrea virginica) within 72 h.     

Compositional mapping of Saturn's satellite Dione with Cassini VIMS and implications of dark material in the Saturn system

Cassini VIMS has obtained spatially resolved imaging spectroscopy data on numerous satellites of Saturn. A very close fly-by of Dione provided key information for solving the riddle of the origin of the dark material in the Saturn system. The Dione VIMS data show a pattern of bombardment of fine, sub-0.5-μm diameter particles impacting the satellite from the trailing side direction. Multiple lines of evidence point to an external origin for the dark material on Dione, including the global spatial pattern of dark material, local patterns including crater and cliff walls shielding implantation on slopes facing away from the trailing side, exposing clean ice, and slopes facing the trailing direction which show higher abundances of dark material. Multiple spectral features of the dark material match those seen on Phoebe, Iapetus, Hyperion, Epimetheus and the F-ring, implying the material has a common composition throughout the Saturn system. However, the exact composition of the dark material remains a mystery, except that bound water and, tentatively, ammonia are detected, and there is evidence both for and against cyanide compounds. Exact identification of composition requires additional laboratory work. A blue scattering peak with a strong UV-visible absorption is observed in spectra of all satellites which contain dark material, and the cause is Rayleigh scattering, again pointing to a common origin. The Rayleigh scattering effect is confirmed with laboratory experiments using ice and 0.2-μm diameter carbon grains when the carbon abundance is less than about 2% by weight. Rayleigh scattering in solids is also confirmed in naturally occurring terrestrial rocks, and in previously published reflectance studies. The spatial pattern, Rayleigh scattering effect, and spectral properties argue that the dark material is only a thin coating on Dione's surface, and by extension is only a thin coating on Phoebe, Hyperion, and Iapetus, although the dark material abundance appears higher on Iapetus, and may be locally thick. As previously concluded for Phoebe, the dark material appears to be external to the Saturn system and may be cometary in origin. We also report a possible detection of material around Dione which may indicate Dione is active and contributes material to the E-ring, but this observation must be confirmed.     

Beach-ridge development and lake-level variation in southern Lake Michigan

The most accurate source of information on lake-level fluctuations in the Great Lakes is the historical record from lake-level gauges. Although it can be semiquantitatively extended back into the late 1700's, the historical record is too short to recognize long-term patterns of lake-level behavior. To extend the historical record, information must be obtained from the Great Lakes geologic record. Such information includes the elevation and age of geomorphic features and stratigraphic sequences.

One of the longest geologic records of late Holocene lake-level variation is preserved in a beach-ridge complex along the southern shore of Lake Michigan called the Toleston Beach. This strandplain contains over 150 beach ridges that arc across northwestern Indiana and fan out into northeastern Illinois. Each ridge was formed during the fall from a high lake level, and the elevation of the foreshore deposits in each ridge provides information on the upper physical limit of lake level over the past 4000 years. Three scales of quasi-periodic lake-level variation were determined by radiocarbon-dating basal peats of wetlands between the ridges and by measuring the elevation of foreshore (swash) deposits within ridges. These three scales are: (1) a short-term and small-scale fluctuation of 25 to 35 years with a range of about 0.5 to 0.6 m; (2) an intermediate-term and meso-scale fluctuation of 140 to 160 years and a range of about 0.8 to 0.9 m; and (3) a long-term and large-scale fluctuation of 500 to 600 years and a range of 1.8 to 3.7 m. The short-term and intermediate-term fluctuations are reflected in the historical record.

An increase in the rate of shoreline progradation from east to west across Indiana's shoreline causes differential preservation of the lake-level fluctuations. That is, groups of four to six ridges in the western part of the strandplain that formed in response to the small-scale fluctuations combine eastward into single ridges and groups of ridges representing the meso-scale fluctuations. The large-scale fluctuations produced the most dramatic response in the western part of the Toleston Beach. Here, following each high stand, individual spits prograded southward off of a bedrock headland. The successive spit extensions created several small lakes landward of the spits and started the 20 km eastward stream-mouth deflection of the Grand Calumet River across Indiana's western lakeshore.     

Visibility: a determinant of park visitor behavior

Regarding visual range experienced as an input in the household production function implies that households and individuals adjust their behavior in order to obtain optimal amounts. Sightseers have some control over visual range days by staying longer at a site that they believe will have optimal atmospheric conditions at a given time. Initial visibility conditions provide site visitors with information on which to base their length of stay. Deriving the measurement of these behavioral adjustments and presenting the results of a statistical test of the hypothesis at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado are the subjects of this paper.     

Agricultural land-use policies i Prairie Manitoba and the farm-size phenomenon

The issues of rural development and agricultural land use planning are topics of growing provincial attention in the Canadian prairies. The focus of this research is an analysis of land-use policies impacting on rural development and an empirical analysis of mechanisms producing instability in the rural areas of Manitoba, Canada.     

Huge landslide blocks in the growth of piton de la fournaise, La réunion, and Kilauea volcano, Hawaii

Piton de la Fournaise, on the island of La Réunion, and Kilauea volcano, on the island of Hawaii, are active, basaltic shield volcanoes growing on the flanks of much larger shield volcanoes in intraplate tectonic environments. Past studies have shown that the average rate of magma production and the chemistry of lavas are quite similar for both volcanoes. We propose a structural similarity — specifically, that periodic displacement of parts of the shields as huge landslide blocks is a common mode of growth. In each instance, the unstable blocks are within a rift-zone-bounded, unbuttressed flank of the shield. At Kilauea, well-documented landslide blocks form relatively surficial parts of a much larger rift-zone-bounded block; scarps of the Hilina fault system mark the headwalls of the active blocks. At Fournaise, Hilina-like slump blocks are also present along the unbuttressed east coast of the volcano. In addition, however, the existence of a set of faults nested around the present caldera and northeast and southeast rift zones suggests that past chapters in the history of Fournaise included the slumping of entire rift-zone-bounded blocks themselves. These nested faults become younger to the east southeast and apparently record one of the effects of a migration of the focus of volcanism in that direction. Repeated dilation along the present set of northeast and southeast rift zones, most recently exemplified by an eruption in 1977, suggests that the past history of rift-zone-bounded slumping will eventually be repeated. The record provided by the succession of slump blocks on Fournaise is apparently at a relatively detailed part of a migration of magmatic focus that has advanced at least 30 km to the east-southeast from neighboring Piton des Neiges, an extinct Pliocene to Pleistocene volcano.