Lightning optical pulse statistics from storm overflights during the Altus Cumulus Electrification Study

The Altus Cumulus Electrification Study (ACES) was conducted during the month of August 2002 in an area near Key West, Florida. One of the goals of this uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) study was to collect time resolved optical pulse data from thunderstorms. During the month long campaign, we acquired 5256 lightning generated optical pulses. Most of these observations were made while quite close to the top of the storms. We divided our data into two amplitude groups based on prior NASA U2 aircraft optical data and the pulse characteristics. The group of strong pulses with radiance greater than 2.1 mW m^{− 2} sr^{− 1} had mean and median 10–10% optical pulse widths of 770 and 740 μs, respectively, 50–50% pulse widths of 399 and 355 μs, respectively, and 10–90% risetimes of 292 and 260 μs. These values are very similar to the previous U2 based optical results The other group of pulses consisting of slightly more than a quarter of the total pulses observed had radiances less than the minimum values detected in the U2 study. These weak pulses were narrower than the strong pulses with 50–50% mean and median values of 199 and 160 μs, respectively. Only 12% of the flashes observed contained only weak pulses. The source of these weak pulses is unknown, but we suspect that some are artifacts of the close proximity of the aircraft to cloud top.     

EVALUATION OF MODELS FOR ESTIMATION OF NET RADIATION FOR ALPINE SLOPING SURFACES

This paper describes and tests two models for estimating net radiation(or the radiation balance)on sloping surfacesof alpine environments.They are an empirical method based on the linear relationship between net radiation and globalsolar radiation and a flux-by-flux method involving the estimation of all the individual components of radiation budgetindependently.The results show that the empirical method is capable of predicting hourly net radiation on sloping sur-faces to within about±53 W m~(-2) under all sky conditions.During clear sky conditions,it could predict net radiation onslopes to within±58 W m~(-2) or 16% of the measured values.The flux-by-flux method,although it did not perform aswell as the empirical method,performed adequately and could give estimates of net radiation on slopes with root meansquare error of less than 74 W m~(-2)(20%)and a mean bias error of 27 W m~(-2)(7%).     

Paleorainfall Reconstructions from Pedogenic Magnetic Susceptibility Variations in the Chinese Loess and Paleosols

The rock magnetic properties of the Chinese loess and paleosols constitute a unique and sensitive record of East Asian paleoclimate through the Quaternary Period. Systematic variations in the concentration and grain size of the magnetic minerals in these sediments have produced systematic variations in the magnetic susceptibility signal, which can be easily and rapidly measured at many sites across the Loess Plateau. Variations in many other rock magnetic properties can be used to identify the key shifts in ferrimagnetic grain size, but magnetic susceptibility alone is sufficiently sensitive to record stadial and interstadial climate stages, as well as glaciations and interglaciations. Past changes in rainfall and monsoon activity for this region are reconstructed from the susceptibility variations. The susceptibility record is calibrated using the modern relationship between rainfall and pedogenic susceptibility on the Loess Plateau. Our rainfall reconstructions identify enhanced summer monsoonal activity in the Chinese Loess Plateau region in the early Holocene and the last interglaciation. In the presently semiarid western area of the plateau, annual precipitation in interglacial times was up to 80% higher than at present; in the more humid southern and eastern areas, values were up to 20% higher than today's levels. During the last glaciation, precipitation decreased across the entire plateau, typically by 25%. The relationship between pedogenic susceptibility, climate, and weathering age was examined over the Northern Hemisphere temperate zone and the observed positive correlation between rainfall and susceptibility indicates that climate, rather than soil age, is the predominant factor that controls pedogenic susceptibility enhancement in loess soils.     

Petrochemical variations among mildly peralkaline (comendite) obsidians from the oceans and continents

Eleven new analyses and modes of comendite obsidians are presented, and compared with all available data on similar rocks. Most specimens are aphyric or contain only sparse phenocrysts, most commonly alkali feldspar. The oxides SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Na₂O and K₂O total over ninety percent by weight in all analyses. Iron, as FeO, is the only other constituent rising above one percent by weight. When the analyses are projected into the system Na₂O-K₂O-Al₂O₃-SiO₂, oceanic and continental samples group differently. Oceanic specimens have a compositional spread ranging from trachytic to the quartz-feldspar cotectic zone, consistent with derivation through a trachyte magma stem. Continental comendites show a strong correlation with the experimentally determined quartz-feldspar minima along a path of increasing peralkalinity. These differences presumably reflect the contrasting environments of magma generation, and suggest an origin by partial melting within the continental crust for the continental comendite obsidians.     

Carbonatite in the tuffs of the West Eifel,Germany

Newly-discovered carbonatitic fragments from the West Eifel are described in terms of their petrography and trace-element content.     

Seismic structure of the upper mantle beneath the United States by three-dimensional inversion of body wave arrival times

Summary. Teleseismic P and S arrival times to North American stations are obtained from the ISC bulletins for the 10-yr period 1964–73, and relative travel-time delays are calculated with respect to standard tables. Station anomalies as well as variations of the delays with azimuth and epicentral distance from station are analysed, and the location of the velocity anomalies responsible for them is discussed. Inversion of the P delays to infer upper mantle velocity structure down to a depth of 700 km is obtained using three-dimensional blocks, as proposed by Aki, Christofferson & Husebye. Three layers can be resolved in this depth range. It is found that the heterogeneities responsible for the travel-time delays are primarily located in the first 250 km of the upper mantle, and that they correlate with surface features. Significant heterogeneities subsist to depths of at least 700 km and their broad scale pattern also correlates with the surface features: in the third layer (500 to 700 km depth) there is an increase of velocity from the West to the East of the United States, while the second layer (250 to 450 km depth) exhibits a reversed pattern. A tentative interpretation of these deeper anomalies is made, as being due mainly to topography of the major upper mantle discontinuities, near 400 and 650 km depth.     

Isotopic and molecular distributions of biochemicals from fresh and buried <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhizophora mangle</Emphasis> leaves†

Rhizophora mangle L. (red mangrove) is the dominant species of mangrove in the Americas. At Twin Cays, Belize (BZ) red mangroves are present in a variety of stand structures (tall >5 m in height, transition ~2–4 m and dwarf ~1–1.5 m). These height differences are coupled with very different stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic values[1] (mean tall δ ¹³C = -28.3‰, δ ¹⁵N = 0‰; mean tall δ ¹³C = -25.3‰, δ ¹⁵N = -10‰). To determine the utility of using these distinct isotopic compositions as 'biomarkers' for paleoenvironmental reconstruction of mangrove ecosystems and nutrient availability, we investigated the distribution and isotopic (δ ¹³C and δ ¹⁵N) composition of different biochemical fractions (water soluble compounds, free lipids, acid hydrolysable compounds, individual amino acids, and the residual un-extractable compounds) in fresh and preserved red mangrove leaves from dwarf and tall trees. The distribution of biochemicals are similar in dwarf and tall red mangrove leaves, suggesting that, regardless of stand structure, red mangroves use nutrients for biosynthesis and metabolism in a similar manner. However, the δ ¹³C and δ ¹⁵N of the bulk leaf, the biochemical fractions, and seven amino acids can be used to distinguish dwarf and tall trees at Twin Cays, BZ. The data support the theory that the fractionation of carbon and nitrogen occurs prior to or during uptake in dwarf and tall red mangrove trees. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes could, therefore, be powerful tools for predicting levels of nutrient limitation at Twin Cays. The δ ¹³C and δ ¹⁵N of biochemical fractions within preserved leaves, reflect sedimentary cycling and nitrogen immobilization. The δ ¹⁵N of the immobilized fraction reveals the overlying stand structure at the time of leaf deposition. The isotopic composition of preserved mangrove leaves could yield significant information about changes in ecosystem dynamics, nutrient limitation and past stand structure in mangrove paleoecosystems.