Vertical circulation in the tropical atmosphere during extreme El Niño-Southern Oscillation events

Scenarios for the development of large-scale vertical circulation anomalies during warm and cold phases of El Niño-Southern Oscillation are generalized based on the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for 1958-1998. Composite models of the cells of vertical circulation in the monsoon and trade-wind regions of the tropical Pacific are obtained for the first time for El Niño and La Niña separately. An unprecedented shift of the ascending branch of the zonal Walker circulation from the “maritime continent” of Indonesia to the east, to the central and eastern Pacific, was observed during the warm phase over the tropical Pacific; this shift was accompanied by an abrupt increase in the tropical cyclogenesis activity in the southern Pacific zone of convergence. On the contrary, during the cold phase, the ascending motions in the region of the summer Australian monsoon are subject to abrupt intensification. The reconstruction of the vertical meridional circulation during the warm phase manifested itself in the almost complete disappearance of the Hadley classic circulation over the central Pacific, characteristic of the trade-wind intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), and in its replacement by the latitudinal monsoon circulation typical of the ITCZ over the Indian Ocean. During a cold phase, the Hadley circulation is both restored and intensified.     

Use of the population potential model for predicting the growth of cities in a region (with reference to Moscow Oblast)

"A modification of the population potential model is used to analyze the structure of the potential of population for cities of the Moscow region, to develop a relationship between population potential and city size, and to use this procedure to forecast future population change in Moscow Oblast cities." Cities in the region with a population of 50,000 or more at the censuses of 1959, 1970, and 1979 are included.     

Calculating surface water PCO2 from foraminiferal organic δC

The δ¹³C of organic matter bound within the crystal lattice of foraminiferal calcite tests may provide a potential tracer of the isotopic composition of the surface water primary photosynthate. Using δ¹³C of the organic matter extracted from the crystal lattice and the calcite test, it is theoretically possible to estimate the paleo-surface water pCO₂. We have tailored this technique initially for the subpolar planktonic foraminifera species Globigerina bulloides. Initial surface water pCO₂ estimates from deep-sea core BOFS 5K (50°41.3′N, 21°51.9′W, water depth 3547 m) indicate that the northeast Atlantic Ocean may have been a greater sink for CO₂ during the last glacial than during the Holocene. Greatly reduced benthic foraminifera abundances, especially phytodetritus feeders, in BOFS 5K during the last glacial indicates low surface productivity. This rules out a productivity-driven CO₂ sink. The enhanced glacial CO₂ sink must, therefore, have results from a southwards shift of the centre of deep water formation.     

Geoarchaeological and Bioarchaeological Studies at Mira,an Early Upper Paleolithic Site in the Lower Dnepr Valley,Ukraine

New geoarchaeological and bioarcheological research was undertaken at the open‐air site of Mira, which is buried in deposits of the Second Terrace of the Dnepr River, roughly 15 km downstream from the city of Zaporozhye in Ukraine. Previous excavation of the site revealed two occupation layers dating to ∼32,000 cal BP. The lower layer (II/2) yielded bladelets similar to those of the early Gravettian, while the upper layer (I) contained traces of an artificial shelter and hundreds of bones and teeth of horse (Equus latipes). Mira represents the only firmly dated early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) site in the Dnepr Basin, and occupies a unique topographic setting for the EUP near the center of the broad floodplain of the Dnepr River. The site was visited during a period of floodplain stability, characterized by overbank deposition and weak soil formation under cool climate conditions. Mira was used as a long‐term camp, but also was the locus of large‐mammal carcass processing associated with a nearby kill of a group of horses (Layer I).     

Seismic earth pressures on rigid and flexible retaining walls

While limiting-equilibrium Mononobe–Okabe type solutions are still widely used in designing rigid gravity and flexible cantilever retaining walls against earthquakes, elasticity-based solutions have been given a new impetus following the analytical work of Veletsos and Younan [23]. The present paper develops a more general finite-element method of solution, the results of which are shown to be in agreement with the available analytical results for the distribution of dynamic earth pressures on rigid and flexible walls. The method is then employed to further investigate parametrically the effects of flexural wall rigidity and the rocking base compliance. Both homogeneous and inhomogeneous retained soil is considered, while a second soil layer is introduced as the foundation of the retaining system. The results confirm the approximate convergence between Mononobe–Okabe and elasticity-based solutions for structurally or rotationally flexible walls. At the same time they show the beneficial effect of soil inhomogeneity and that wave propagation in the underlying foundation layer may have an effect that cannot be simply accounted for with an appropriate rocking spring at the base.     

The spectacular fossils of the ‘water margin’: the Cambrian biota of Chengjiang,Yunnan, China

Shi Nai'an's fourteenth century Chinese epic ‘Water Margin’ tells of the release of 36 heavenly spirits and 72 baleful stars from their captivity beneath a tablet of stone at Mount Longhu in Jiangxi Province. They are reincarnated as the 108 heroes of the Liangshan marsh in Shandong Province, who rise against an unjust world. The virtuous exploits of the ‘108’ were brought to life through the cathode‐ray screens of 1970s television sets, as the TV series The Water Margin introduced heroes like Lin Chong battling his evil nemesis Gao Qiu. Far to the west of Jiangxi Province and several hundred years after the Water Margin during the summer of 1984, a young scientist from Nanjing was working amongst the hills and lakes of southern Yunnan Province. He too overturned a stone slab, releasing from their half‐billion year captivity a cornucopia of new Chinese legends. His name was Xianguang Hou and he had made one of the most momentous fossil discoveries in history, uncovering the exceptionally preserved marine fossils of the Chengjiang biota from the ancient water margin of Cambrian seas.     

Physicochemical parameters of the melts participating in the formation of chromite ore hosted in the Klyuchevsky ultramafic massif,the Central Urals,Russia

The results of melt inclusion study are reported for chromites of the Klyuchevsky ultramafic massif, which is the most representative of all Ural ultramafic massifs localized beyond the Main Ural Fault Zone. The massif is composed of a dunite-harzburgite complex (tectonized mantle peridotite) and a dunite-wehrlite-clinopyroxenite-gabbro complex (layered portion of the ophiolitic section). The studied Kozlovsky chromite deposit is located in the southeastern part of the Klyuchevsky massif and hosted in serpentinized dunite as a series of lenticular bodies and layers up to 7–8 m thick largely composed of disseminated and locally developed massive ore. Melt inclusions have been detected in chromites of both ore types. The heated and then quenched into glass melt inclusions and host minerals were analyzed on a Camebax-Micro microprobe. The glasses of melt inclusions contain up to 1.06 wt % Na₂O + K₂O and correspond to melts of normal alkalinity. In SiO₂ content (49–56 wt %), they fit basalt and basaltic andesite. The melt inclusions are compared with those from chromites of the Nurali massif in the southern Urals and the Karashat massif in southern Tuva. The physicochemical parameters of magmatic systems related to the formation of disseminated and massive chromite ores of the Klyuchevsky massif are different. The former are characterized by a wider temperature interval (1185–1120°C) in comparison with massive chromite ore (1160–1140°C).     

A detailed comparison of theoretical wave spectra and wave forecasting methods

Conclusion The status of various results on the determination of the appropriate family of theoretical wave spectra to describe wind generated seas and the status of various wave forecasting methods have been reviewed. The spectra of Neumann appear to describe the sea more accurately than other theoretical spectra and the wave forecasting methods of Pierson, Neumann and James appear to be the most nearly correct for the widest variety of possible wave and weather situations.     

Radial velocity and profile variations of the ultraviolet circumstellar lines in ζ tauri

The radial velocity and profile variations of UV lines of the shell star Tau have been examined in the IUE spectra obtained in 1978–1982. The neutral atoms, and once or twice-ionized ions (exceptCii, Aliii, Siiii resonance lines) follow the same velocity variations as in the visual spectra, while the Siiv andCiv resonance lines show a constant negative velocity (–50 km s^–1 at the core). The Aliii,Cii resonance lines and probably Feiii (mult. No. 34) are formed in both regions, i.e., in lowly-ionized and highly-ionized regions and the Siiii resonance line is formed in a highly-ionized region.Paper presented at the Lembang-Bamberg IAU Colloquium No. 80 on Double Stars: Physical Properties and Generic Relations, held at Bandung, Indonesia, 3–7 June, 1983.