A sophisticated lander for scientific exploration of Mars: scientific objectives and implementation of the Mars-96 Small Station

A mission to Mars including two Small Stations, two Penetrators and an Orbiter was launched at Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 16 November 1996. This was called the Mars-96 mission. The Small Stations were expected to land in September 1997 (Ls approximately 178 degrees), nominally to Amazonis-Arcadia region on locations (33 N, 169.4 W) and (37.6 N, 161.9 W). The fourth stage of the Mars-96 launcher malfunctioned and hence the mission was lost. However, the state of the art concept of the Small Station can be applied to future Martian lander missions. Also, from the manufacturing and performance point of view, the Mars-96 Small Station could be built as such at low cost, and be fairly easily accommodated on almost any forthcoming Martian mission. This is primarily due to the very simple interface between the Small Station and the spacecraft. The Small Station is a sophisticated piece of equipment. With the total available power of approximately 400 mW the Station successfully supports an ambitious scientific program. The Station accommodates a panoramic camera, an alpha-proton-x-ray spectrometer, a seismometer, a magnetometer, an oxidant instrument, equipment for meteorological observations, and sensors for atmospheric measurement during the descent phase, including images taken by a descent phase camera. The total mass of the Small Station with payload on the Martian surface, including the airbags, is only 32 kg. Lander observations on the surface of Mars combined with data from Orbiter instruments will shed light on the contemporary Mars and its evolution. As in the Mars-96 mission, specific science goals could be exploration of the interior and surface of Mars, investigation of the structure and dynamics of the atmosphere, the role of water and other materials containing volatiles and in situ studies of the atmospheric boundary layer processes. To achieve the scientific goals of the mission the lander should carry a versatile set of instruments. The Small Station accommodates devices for atmospheric measurements, geophysical and geochemical studies of the Martian surface and interior, and cameras for descent phase and panoramic views. These instruments would be able to contribute remarkably to the process of solving some of the scientific puzzles of Mars.     

Effects of sewage-impacted sediment on reproduction in the benthic crustacean Leptocheirus plumulosus

Several organic contaminants in sewage effluent have been shown to elicit an estrogenic response in juvenile fish. Comparatively little emphasis has been placed on assessing these effects in marine invertebrates, particularly benthic organisms inhabiting sediment where lipophilic contaminants tend to persist. The present study examined reproductive effects in the benthic crustacean Leptocheirus plumulosus exposed to sewage-impacted sediment from Jamaica Bay, New York. Data from chronic 28-day tests showed a 50% reduction in the average number of young (juveniles + embryos) produced per surviving female in exposures to sediment from Jamaica Bay (JB). Nonylphenol ethoxylate ('NPEO) concentrations at this site were measured at 44.2 microg/g dw, concentrations two orders of magnitude higher than reference site concentrations in central Long Island Sound (CLIS). Dose-response studies with nonylphenol (NP) amended reference sediment, however, did not significantly affect reproduction suggesting that other contaminants may have contributed to the effects observed.     

Imposex and surface sediment speciation: a combined approach to evaluate organotin contamination in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

An integrated biological-chemical survey of organotin compounds was carried out in Guanabara Bay, the second most important Brazilian harbor complex. The biological survey revealed high levels of imposex in Stramonita haemastoma populations. Inside the bay values of relative penis length index from 42.7 to 107.6 and vas deferens sequence index from III to VI were found, while organisms collected outside the bay had values ranging from <0.1 to 35.2 and from 0 to II. None of the females sampled inside the bay were normal and imposex was found in all stations. Surface sediments in the bay are contaminated by tributyltin (10-522 ng/g d.w.) and triphenyltin (<3.9-39.4 ng/g d.w.) with greater concentrations close to shipyards and marinas. The observed predominance of parent compounds (TBT and TPT) is commonly found when recent inputs occur, but may also indicate slow degradation processes in the anoxic conditions of these sediments. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a combined imposex-sediment approach to evaluate organotin contamination in marine environments of South America, and also the first report of TPT detection in environmental matrices in this region.     

国家数字地震台网中心应用地震波形数据格式及转换

SAC是广泛应用于地震学分析研究中的工具软件, SAC格式也成为地震波形数据的通用格式。国家数字地震台网中心向用户提供47个国家数字地震台站该格式的事件波形资料。文中详细介绍数据格式的结构、特点和内容,并给出格式转换的流程及程序实现。最后给出某些地震事件的波形及头段变量内容。     

国家数字地震台网中心的技术系统

详细阐述了国家数字地震台网中心技术系统的组成部分与地震数据流程。计算机网络系统和地震数据硬件系统是整个台网中心技术系统的基础;地震数据接收与自动定位系统、人机交互系统、半自动CM T系统、地震数据格式转换系统和地震数据管理与服务系统这5个地震专业应用系统实现了台网中心的二个基本任务: 防震减灾和为地震基础研究服务。     

Listening to the Deep: live monitoring of ocean noise and cetacean acoustic signals

The development and broad use of passive acoustic monitoring techniques have the potential to help assessing the large-scale influence of artificial noise on marine organisms and ecosystems. Deep-sea observatories have the potential to play a key role in understanding these recent acoustic changes. LIDO (Listening to the Deep Ocean Environment) is an international project that is allowing the real-time long-term monitoring of marine ambient noise as well as marine mammal sounds at cabled and standalone observatories. Here, we present the overall development of the project and the use of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) techniques to provide the scientific community with real-time data at large spatial and temporal scales. Special attention is given to the extraction and identification of high frequency cetacean echolocation signals given the relevance of detecting target species, e.g. beaked whales, in mitigation processes, e.g. during military exercises.     

应用接收函数方法研究海南及其邻区地幔转换带结构

利用海南、广东及广西区域台网和国家台网共88个宽频带地震台站记录的2007年8月至2010年3月75个远震事件波形资料,采用接收函数共面元叠加的方法,得到了海南及其邻区上地幔410 km和660 km间断面结构和转换带厚度.结果表明,研究区410 km间断面形态较复杂,局部下沉到447 km,而660 km间断面相对简单,其深度分布在670 km左右.海南岛东北部存在一个直径约200 km的转换带异常薄的区域,其厚度较全球平均值薄25±5 km,相当于转换带中存在约180℃的高温异常,转换带厚度局部偏薄暗示海南地幔柱可能起源于下地幔.     

Heated distributed temperature sensing for field scale soil moisture monitoring

Characterizing both spatial and temporal soil moisture (θ) dynamics at site scales is difficult with existing technologies. To address this shortcoming, we developed a distributed soil moisture sensing system that employs a distributed temperature sensing system to monitor thermal response at 2 m intervals along the length of a buried cable which is subjected to heat pulses. The cable temperature response to heating, which is strongly dependent on soil moisture, was empirically related to colocated, dielectric-based θ measurements at three locations. Spatially distributed, and temporally continuous estimates of θ were obtained in dry conditions (θ≤ 0.31) using this technology (root mean square error [RMSE] = 0.016), but insensitivity of the instrument response curve adversely affected accuracy under wet conditions (RMSE = 0.050).     

Bacterial transport experiments in fractured crystalline bedrock

The efficiency of contaminant biodegradation in ground water depends, in part, on the transport properties of the degrading bacteria. Few data exist concerning the transport of bacteria in saturated bedrock, particularly at the field scale. Bacteria and microsphere tracer experiments were conducted in a fractured crystalline bedrock under forced-gradient conditions over a distance of 36 m. Bacteria isolated from the local ground water were chosen on the basis of physicochemical and physiological differences (shape, cell-wall type, motility), and were differentially stained so that their transport behavior could be compared. No two bacterial strains transported in an identical manner, and microspheres produced distinctly different breakthrough curves than bacteria. Although there was insufficient control in this field experiment to completely separate the effects of bacteria shape, reaction to Gram staining, cell size, and motility on transport efficiency, it was observed that (1) the nonmotile, mutant strain exhibited better fractional recovery than the motile parent strain; (2) Gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria exhibited higher fractional recovery relative to the Gram-positive rod-shaped strain of similar size; and (3) coccoidal (spherical-shaped) bacteria transported better than all but one strain of the rod-shaped bacteria. The field experiment must be interpreted in the context of the specific bacterial strains and ground water environment in which they were conducted, but experimental results suggest that minor differences in the physical properties of bacteria can lead to major differences in transport behavior at the field scale.