FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC science mission update

The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC mission is a microsatellite mission for weather forecast, climate monitoring, and atmospheric, ionospheric and geodesy research. This mission is a collaborative Taiwan-USA science experiment to deploy a constellation of six microsatellites in low Earth orbits. The mission life is 2 years with a goal of 5 years. The final mission orbit has an altitude of 750–800 km. Each satellite consists of three science payloads: global positioning system (GPS) occultation experiment (GOX) payload, tiny ionospheric photometer (TIP) and tri-band beacon (TBB). The GOX will collect the GPS signals for the study on atmosphere, ionosphere, and geodesy. The TIP and TBB can provide the electron distribution information for ionospheric research. The deployment of the FORMOSAT-3 constellation and the resulting influence on the occultation sounding distributions are reported. Details are also given on GOX, TIP, and TBB payload operations and the contributions of the Taiwan Science Team.     

Annual amphidromes: a common feature in the ocean?

The scientific term "amphidrome" is usually associated with tides in oceanography. The dozen tidal amphidromes observed in the ocean are critical points that determine the fundamental pattern of the global tidal system. Exploration of recently available satellite data with an unprecedented 1-2 decades duration suggests that an amphidrome is not a tide-only phenomenon in the ocean. Analysis of altimeter-derived sea level anomaly (SLA) data and radiometer-derived sea surface temperature (SST) data allows ten amphidromic points to be clearly identified in annual SLA and SST variations. These amphidromes are located in the tropical areas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. Their existence implies that the annual cycle (in time) of the atmosphere-ocean system is translated into a rotary variation (in space) for many of the geophysical parameters. It can be concluded that annual amphidromes are common, the knowledge of which is of particular interest, given their annually "constant" nature, for the monitoring and understanding of oceanic, climatic, as well as biological variabilities at seasonal to decadal scales, which strongly affect many aspects of the natural and societal activities on the globe.     

安徽凤阳和张八岭地区含金石英脉的40Ar/39Ar年龄及其地质意义

用快中子活化法测定了安徽凤阳和张八岭地区朱顶、毛山和上成3个金矿床第一阶段晚期和第二阶段的含金石英脉,石英的阶段加热40Ar/39Ar坪年龄值域为(116.1±0.6～118.3±0.5)Ma,分别与其最小视年龄和等时线年龄接近.坪年龄、最小视年龄和等时线年龄3种年龄值域为(113.4±0.4～118.3±0.5)Ma,可以作为石英的形成年龄域. 根据含金石英脉和围岩的空间关系,该年龄值域作为石英脉金矿的形成年龄是合理可靠的.金矿床形成于早白垩世阿普特期,与此时郯庐断裂带略带右行走滑正断层活动一致.     

Continental crust and lithospheric mantle interaction beneath North China: isotopic evidence from granulite xenoliths in Hannuoba, Sino-Korean craton

Mafic granulite and pyroxenite xenoliths from Cenozoic alkaline basalts at Hannuoba, Hebei Province, North China have been selected for a systematic geochemical and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic study, which provides a unique opportunity to explore nature of the lower crust and the interaction between the continental crust and lithospheric mantle beneath an Archean craton. The major, compatible and incompatible elements and radiogenic isotopes of these xenoliths suggest great chemical heterogeneity of the lower crust beneath the Hannuoba region. Petrological and geochemical evidences indicate a clear cumulate origin, and most likely, they are related to basaltic underplating in different geological episodes. However, the Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic compositions of the xenoliths reveal a profound enriched source signature (EM I) with some influence of EM II, which implies that some portion of pre-existing, old metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle could have played an important role in their genesis. It is suggested that the interaction between continental crust and subcontinental mantle as manifested by basaltic underplating would be closely related to regional tectonic episodes and geodynamic processes in the deep part of subcontinental lithospheric mantle.     

1993年中甸M5.8地震前后区域尾波衰减研究

以Aki,K和Chouet^[1]提出的地方震尾波散射理论为基础，利用1993年7月17日中甸MS5．8地震的前震和余震资料，研究了该次地震前后的尾波振幅衰减率β和QC^-1值的时空变化。结果表明，主震前后区域尾波振幅衰减率β和QC^-1值发生了明显的变化。主震前，区域平均β值为0．0122s^-1，相应的QC值为111；主震后，区域平均β值为0．023s^-1，相应的QC值为60。主震前后的QC值变化为1．85倍，表明在以主震为中心，半径约50km的小范围内主震前后的介质背景发生了明显变化。用释放的地震应变能ε（t)的空间分布特点分析，表明主震前高QC值地区与高应变能释放地区是相一致的。中甸地震序列的尾波振幅衰减β和QC值显示了具有前兆意义地空变化的过程，并以力学观点分析解释了产生这种变化的成因。     

X线侧位片与高分辨率CT对鼻骨骨折的对比研究

目的　通过86例鼻骨骨折的鼻骨X线侧位片与高分辨率CT(HRCT）对比研究，确定HRCT检查对鼻骨骨折的诊断价值。材料与方祛　86例鼻外伤或/和He、面外伤的患者均进行了鼻骨X线侧位摄影、HRCT扫描检查，经集体讨论，由有经验的放射医师对全部影像资料进行分析并进行统计学处理。结果HRCT显示所有的86例鼻骨骨折，但在此86例骨折中X线平片只显示了35例阳性，包括15例鼻骨汇合部骨折，7例双侧鼻骨骨折，3例复合骨折(鼻骨汇合部及双侧鼻骨骨折)，l0例鼻区骨折。X线平片显示5l例为阴性。结论　对鼻骨骨折的诊断，HRCT明显优于鼻骨X线侧位片，HRCT扫描检查可提高X线隐性鼻骨骨折的诊断，并可明确鼻骨骨折的类型、范围和程度，为临床诊断和治疗提供可靠的依据。     

Predicting average annual groundwater levels from climatic variables: an empirical model

On the basis of one-dimensional theoretical water flow model, we demonstrate that the groundwater level variation follows a pattern similar to recharge fluctuation, with a time delay that depends on the characteristics of aquifer, recharge pattern as well as the distance between the recharge and observation locations. On the basis of a water budget model and the groundwater flow model, we propose an empirical model that links climatic variables to groundwater level. The empirical model is tested using a partial data set from historical records of water levels from more than 80 wells in a monitoring network for the carbonate rock aquifer, southern Manitoba, Canada. The testing results show that the predicted groundwater levels are very close to the observed ones in most cases. The overall average correlation coefficient between the predicted and observed water levels is 0.92. This proposed empirical statistical model could be used to predict variations in groundwater level in response to different climate scenarios in a climate change impact assessment.     

Improved treatments for evaluating horizontal magnetic components through the 3-D FDM in E -polarization induction problems

To improve the accuracy of the numerical evaluation through the 3-D finite difference method, the surface boundary conditions are added to modify the old program. The author has tested the new program by making calculations for the model constructed by Wanamaker, et al (1984). The comparison between the numerical results obtained from this paper and those by Wannamaker, et al (1984) indicates that a pronounced improvement is realized in the evaluation of the horizontal magnetic components. Moreover, better calculations for the vertical magnetic components are also obtainable by using the new program.