Potential radionuclide transport pathways from seafloor dumpsites: Kamchatka region of the North Pacific Ocean

Encapsulated nuclear waste materials, dumped by Russia, are present at two deepwater seafloor locations in the offshore north-west Pacific Ocean, south-east of the Kamchatka Peninsula. This paper assesses potential pathways by which these wastes might, if released from their containers, disperse away from the dumpsites and through the surrounding ocean. A review of large-scale ocean circulation theory and of field and model results suggests that mean abyssal currents are north-eastward to eastward from the dumpsite locations and would advect leaking materials toward the north-eastern Pacific. Results of advective and diffusive horizontal plume transport models are consistent with this sense of flow. Trajectory speeds are, however, subject to considerable uncertainty. Our results suggest that as little as 5 years or as long as 100 years might be required for material to be transported from the dump sites to the north-east Pacific. Dilution by 4 or 5 orders of magnitude is predicted during this transit. Vertical mixing or upwelling are necessary in order to transport contaminants upward from north-east Pacific abyssal waters to the near-surface layers before they can potentially impact productive coastal regions, such as those off Alaska. Information concerning such upwelling mechanisms is inadequate for estimation of rates or to identify geographical areas that might be at risk.     

High-resolution atmospheric observations by the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System

High-resolution observations of atmospheric phenomena by the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) during its first mapping year are presented. An atmospheric campaign was implemented on the basis of previous spacecraft imaging. This campaign, however, proved of limited success. This appears to be due to the late local time of the Odyssey orbit (the locations of activity at 4–6 p.m. appear to be different from those at 2 p.m.). Ironically, images targeting the surface were more useful for study of the atmosphere than those images specifically targeting atmospheric features. While many previously recognized features were found, novel THEMIS observations included persistent clouds in the southern polar layered deposits, dust or condensate plumes on the northern polar layered deposits, dust plumes as constituent parts of local dust storms, and mesospheric clouds. The former two features tend to be aligned parallel and normal to polar troughs, respectively, suggesting a wind system directed normal to troughs and radially outward from the center of the polar deposits. This is consistent with katabatic drainage of air off the polar deposits, analogous to flow off Antarctica. The observation of dust lifting plumes at unprecedented resolution associated with local dust storms not only demonstrates the importance of mean wind stresses (as opposed to dust devils) in initiation of dust storms, but is also seen to be morphologically identical to dust lifting in terrestrial dust storms. As Odyssey moves to earlier local times, we suggest that the atmospheric campaign from the first mapping year be repeated.     

Farside explorer: unique science from a mission to the farside of the moon

Farside Explorer is a proposed Cosmic Vision medium-size mission to the farside of the Moon consisting of two landers and an instrumented relay satellite. The farside of the Moon is a unique scientific platform in that it is shielded from terrestrial radio-frequency interference, it recorded the primary differentiation and evolution of the Moon, it can be continuously monitored from the Earth–Moon L2 Lagrange point, and there is a complete lack of reflected solar illumination from the Earth. Farside Explorer will exploit these properties and make the first radio-astronomy measurements from the most radio-quiet region of near-Earth space, determine the internal structure and thermal evolution of the Moon, from crust to core, and quantify impact hazards in near-Earth space by the measurement of flashes generated by impact events. The Farside Explorer flight system includes two identical solar-powered landers and a science/telecommunications relay satellite to be placed in a halo orbit about the Earth–Moon L2 Lagrange point. One lander would explore the largest and oldest recognized impact basin in the Solar System— the South Pole–Aitken basin—and the other would investigate the primordial highlands crust. Radio astronomy, geophysical, and geochemical instruments would be deployed on the surface, and the relay satellite would continuously monitor the surface for impact events.     

Late Quaternary secular variation of geomagnetic declination in western New York

A secular variation record of the geomagnetic declination has been obtained from glaciolacustrine varved clays and postglacial sediments, sampled both from outcrop and from piston cores from Lake Ontario. It appears to be uninterrupted and covers the interval 14,000 years B.P. (¹⁴C) to the present. The record for the interval 14,000–12,300 years B.P. consists of true declination and was obtained from samples collected from outcrop. The record for the interval 12,500 + years B.P. to the present consists of relative declination and was obtained from piston cores. The secular variation record is internally consistent and is compatible with the chronology of events known to have occurred during and following the deglaciation of western New York. Use of the record for magnetic correlation within the study area is demonstrated.     

A simulation of probabilistic wildfire risk components for the continental United States

This simulation research was conducted in order to develop a large-fire risk assessment system for the contiguous land area of the United States. The modeling system was applied to each of 134 Fire Planning Units (FPUs) to estimate burn probabilities and fire size distributions. To obtain stable estimates of these quantities, fire ignition and growth was simulated for 10,000 to 50,000 “years” of artificial weather. The fire growth simulations, when run repeatedly with different weather and ignition locations, produce burn probabilities and fire behavior distributions at each landscape location (e.g., number of times a “cell” burns at a given intensity divided by the total years). The artificial weather was generated for each land unit using (1) a fire danger rating index known as the Energy Release Component (ERC) which is a proxy for fuel moisture contents, (2) a time-series analysis of ERC to represent daily and seasonal variability, and (3) distributions of wind speed and direction from weather records. Large fire occurrence was stochastically modeled based on historical relationships to ERC. The simulations also required spatial data on fuel structure and topography which were acquired from the LANDFIRE project (). Fire suppression effects were represented by a statistical model that yields a probability of fire containment based on independent predictors of fire growth rates and fuel type. The simulated burn probabilities were comparable to observed patterns across the U.S. over the range of four orders of magnitude, generally falling within a factor of 3 or 4 of historical estimates. Close agreement between simulated and historical fire size distributions suggest that fire sizes are determined by the joint distributions of spatial opportunities for fire growth (dependent on fuels and ignition location) and the temporal opportunities produced by conducive weather sequences. The research demonstrates a practical approach to using fire simulations at very broad scales for purposes of operational planning and perhaps ecological research.     

Pi 2 pulsations and the eastward electrojet: A case study

We report the results of a case study of two Pi 2 pulsations observed near the eastward electrojet by the Scandinavian Magnetometer Array. The power of the two Pi 2 pulsations, calculated using a standard Fast Fourier Transform method, peaks near the centre of the eastward electrojet. For both events there is a strong latitudinal gradient in the power poleward of the equatorward border of the electrojet. The sense of polarisation is predominantly clockwise at the northern stations and anticlockwise at the southern stations although the reversal from clockwise to anticlockwise does not occur at a constant latitude. For the first event the polarisation reversal occurs at higher latitudes in the western half of the array; for the second the polarisation reversal occurs at higher latitudes at the edges of the array. The polarisation reversal does not appear to be related to the location of the eastward electrojet. Equivalent current vectors of the Pi 2 pulsations, obtained by rotating the band pass filtered data through 90°, exhibit clear vortex structures in both events. The vortices change sense of direction at half the period of the Pi 2 pulsation. A simple model for the ionospheric electric field in accord with the field line resonance theory reconstructs the basic features of the observed Pi 2 equivalent current system. We thus conclude that Pi 2 signatures in the region of the eastward electrojet and far away from the auroral break-up region are governed by the field line resonance mechanism.     

A search for planets transiting the M-dwarf debris disc host, AU Microscopii

We present high-cadence, high-precision multiband photometry of the young, M1Ve, debris disc star, AU Microscopii. The data were obtained in three continuum filters spanning a wavelength range from 4500 to 6600 Å, plus Hα, over 28 nights in 2005. The light curves show intrinsic stellar variability due to star-spots with an amplitude in the blue band of 0.051 mag and a period of 4.847 d. In addition, three large flares were detected in the data which all occur near the minimum brightness of the star. We remove the intrinsic stellar variability and combine the light curves of all the filters in order to search for transits by possible planetary companions orbiting in the plane of the nearly edge-on debris disc. The combined final light curve has a sampling of 0.35 min and a standard deviation of 6.8 mmag. We performed Monte Carlo simulations by adding fake transits to the observed light curve and find with 95 per cent significance that there are no Jupiter mass planets orbiting in the plane of the debris disc on circular orbits with periods,   P ≤ 5  d. In addition, there are no young Neptune like planets (with radii 2.5 times smaller than the young Jupiter) on circular orbits with periods,   P ≤ 3  d.