Field assessment of surface water–groundwater connectivity in a semi‐arid river basin (Murray–Darling,Australia)

In semi‐arid and arid river basins, understanding the connectivity between rivers and alluvial aquifers is one of the key challenges for the management of groundwater resources. The type of connection present (gaining, losing‐connected, transitional and losing‐disconnected) was assessed at 12 sites along six Murray–Darling Basin river reaches. The assessments were made by measuring the hydraulic head in the riparian zone near the rivers to evaluate if the water tables intersected the riverbeds and by measuring fluid pressure (ψ) in the riverbeds. The rationale for the latter was that ψ will always be greater than or equal to zero under connected conditions (either losing or gaining) and always lesser than or equal to zero under losing‐disconnected conditions. A mixture of losing‐disconnected, losing‐connected and gaining conditions was found among the 12 sites. The losing‐disconnected sites all had a riverbed with a lower hydraulic conductivity than the underlying aquifer, usually in the form of a silty clay or clay unit 0.5–2 m in thickness. The riparian water tables were 6 to 25 m below riverbed level at the losing‐disconnected sites but never lower than 1 m below riverbed level at the losing‐connected ones. The contrast in water table depth between connected and disconnected sites was attributed to the conditions at the time of the study, when a severe regional drought had generated a widespread decline in regional water tables. This decline was apparently compensated near losing‐connected rivers by increased infiltration rates, while the decline could not be compensated at the losing‐disconnected rivers because the infiltration rates were already maximal there. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Secular orbit variation due to solar radiation effects: a detailed model for BYORP

A detailed derivation of the effect of solar radiation pressure on the orbit of a body about a primary orbiting the Sun is given. The result is a set of secular equations that can be used for long-term predictions of changes in the orbit. Solar radiation pressure is modeled as a Fourier series in the body’s rotation state, where the coefficients are based on the shape and radiation properties of the body as parameters. In this work, the assumption is made that the body is in a synchronous orbit about the primary and rotates at a constant rate. This model is used to write explicit variational equations of the energy, eccentricity vector, and angular momentum vector for an orbiting body. Given that the effect of the solar radiation pressure and the orbit are periodic functions, they are readily averaged over an orbit. Furthermore, the equations can be averaged again over the orbit of the primary about the Sun to give secular equations for long-term prediction. This methodology is applied to both circular and elliptical orbits, and the full equations for secular changes to the orbit in both cases are presented. These results can be applied to natural systems, such as the binary asteroid system 1999 KW4, to predict their evolution due to the Binary YORP effect, or to artificial Earth orbiting, nadir-pointing satellites to enable more precise models for their orbital evolution.     

The trigonometric parallax of the neutron star Geminga

We obtained a series of four observations of the isolated neutron star Geminga over an 18 month period using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Wide Field Camera (WFC) on the Hubble Space Telescope in order to determine its trigonometric parallax. We find the parallax π=4.0±1.3 mas, corresponding to a distance to Geminga of 250 _?62 ⁺¹²⁰  pc, a result 60% larger than the previously published value. The proper motion is 178.2±1.8 mas/year. In this paper, we describe the analysis techniques in detail since the amplitude of the parallactic shift is smaller than the camera’s pixel size. We fit each star in the images with an appropriate effective PSF and applied a distortion correction to generate stellar positions accurate to 0.01 pixels (～0.5 mas). The 134 stars common to all images serve to establish a reference frame for alignment of the image series. Our observations were made around the times of maximum parallactic shift. We discuss the implications of this new distance measurement for the inferred radius of Geminga, and the neutron star equation of state.     

Supernova remnants, planetary nebulae and the distance to NGC 4214

We present narrow band, continuum subtracted Hα, [S ii], Hβ, [O iii] and [O ii] data taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope in the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4214. From these images, we identify seventeen new planetary nebula candidates, and seven supernova remnant candidates. We use the observed emission line luminosity function of the planetary nebulae to establish a new velocity-independent distance to NGC 4214. We conclude that the PNLF technique gives a reddening independent distance to NGC 4214 of 3.19±0.36 Mpc, and that our current best-estimate of the distance to this galaxy ids 2.98±0.13 Mpc.     

Overview of analogue science activities at the McGill Arctic Research Station,Axel Heiberg Island,Canadian High Arctic

The Canadian High Arctic contains several of the highest fidelity Mars analogue sites in the world. Situated at nearly 80° north, Expedition Fjord on Axel Heiberg Island is located within a polar desert climate, with the surrounding landscape and conditions providing an invaluable opportunity to examine terrestrial processes in a cold, dry environment. Through the Canadian Space Agency's Analogue Research Network program, scientific activities based out of the McGill Arctic Research Station (M.A.R.S.) are extremely broad in scope, representing physical, biological, and technological investigations. Some of the most unique hydrogeologic features under investigation near M.A.R.S. are a series of cold saline springs that maintain liquid-state flow year round regardless of air temperature. Previous studies have examined their geomorphic relation to discharge-related formations, water chemistry, temperature monitoring, discharge rates, and combined flow/thermal modeling. Recent investigations have identified microbial communities and characterized biological activity within the springs and within permafrost sections, having direct relevance to astrobiological analogue research goals. Another main thrust of research activities based at M.A.R.S. pertains to the detection, mapping, and quantification of subsurface ice deposits. A long-term study is presently underway examining polygonal terrain, comparing surficial patterns found in the region with those identified on Mars, and using surface morphology to estimate ice wedge volumes through a combination of aerial photography interpretation and ground-based geophysical techniques. Other technological developments include the use of in situ microscopy for the detection of biomarkers and improved permafrost drilling techniques. This paper presents an overview of previous studies undertaken at M.A.R.S. over the past decades and will describe in detail both present and upcoming work.     

Scientific observations at total solar eclipses

The occasion of the longest totality of an eclipse in the 18 yr 111/3 d saros cycle leads to taking stock of the scientific value of ground-based eclipse observations in this space age. Though a number of space satellites from the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Russia study the Sun, scientists at eclipses can observe the solar chromosphere and corona at higher spatial resolution, at higher temporal resolution, and at higher spectral resolution than are possible aloft. Furthermore, eclipse expeditions can transport a wide variety of state-of-the-art equipment to the path of totality. Thus, for at least some years to come, solar eclipse observations will remain both scientifically valuable and cost-effective ways to study the outer solar atmosphere.     

New results on the ages of star clusters in region B of M82

The post-starburst region B in M82 and its massive star cluster component have been the focus of multiple studies, with reports that there is a large population of coeval clusters of age ～1 Gyr, which were created with a Gaussian initial mass distribution. This is in disagreement with other studies of young star clusters, which invariably find a featureless power-law mass distribution. Here, we present Gemini-North optical spectra of seven star clusters in M82-B and show that their ages are all between 10 and 300 Myr (a factor of 3–100 younger than previous photometric results) and that their extinctions range between near zero and 4 mag (A _V ). Using new HST ACS-HRC U-band observations we age date an additional ～30 clusters whose ages/extinctions agree well with those determined from spectroscopy. Completeness tests show that the reported ‘turn-over’ in the luminosity/mass distributions is most likely an artefact, due to the resolved nature of the clusters. We also show that the radial velocities of the clusters are inconsistent with them belonging to a bound region.     

High-frequency coronal oscillations and coronal heating

At the 1980 total solar eclipse, we searched for high-frequency (0.1–2 Hz) oscillations in the intensity of the 5303-Å coronal green line, as a test of predictions of theories of coronal heating via magnetohydrodynamic waves. Portions of the image 2.5- or 5-arc sec across were fed to cooled photomultipliers using fiber-optic probes. We detected excess power in Fourier transforms of the data for the region between 0.5 and 2 Hz at the level of 1% or 2% of the incident power. Such oscillations could be associated with Alfvén waves that are trapped on loops a few thousand kilometers long or with fast waves that are trapped on loops a few thousand kilometers in diameter. Additional observations at the 1983 eclipse are planned to resolve atmospheric and instrumental contributions.     

Methane absorption in the Jovian atmosphere I. The Lorentz half-width in the 3v3 band at 1.1 μm

The Lorentz half-width α_L, of the fine-structure components of the methane 3v₃R-branch in the Jovian spectrum has been measured from photoelectric observations of the singlet R(1). A value of α_L = 0.088_?0.011^+0.015Å, or 0.072_?0.009+0.009 cm^?1, has been found. Curves of growth for the 3v₃R-branch manifolds have been calculated, using the measured value of α_L and assuming a reflecting-layer atmosphere. The Walker-Hayes (1967) equivalent widths have been reanalyzed for rotational temperature and methane abundance. The half-width derived here is significantly different from a similar measurement made by C. B. Farmer (1969). The source of the discrepancy remains obscure.