Estimation of electron temperature by VLF waves propagating in directions near the resonance cone

A ray tracing computer program for non-ducted whistler mode waves in a warm plasma in the magnetosphere is developed, where electron temperature effects are taken into account. The refractive index is calculated from the warm-plasma approximation and is used in the ray tracing after its accuracy has been checked by comparison with the hot-plasma solution without approximation. The ray paths do not depend appreciably on electron temperature. However, there are regions where the waves are heavily damped by Landau damping. By paying attention to this damping region, the electron temperature can be estimated from a satellite observation of the Doppler shift and damping of a ground-based VLF signal.     

Pacific ocean circulation based on observation

A thorough understanding of the Pacific Ocean circulation is a necessity to solve global climate and environmental problems. Here we present a new picture of the circulation by integrating observational results. Lower and Upper Circumpolar Deep Waters (LCDW, UCDW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) of 12, 7, and 5 Sv (10⁶ m³s⁻¹) in the lower and upper deep layers and the surface/intermediate layer, respectively, are transported to the North Pacific from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). The flow of LCDW separates in the Central Pacific Basin into the western (4 Sv) and eastern (8 Sv) branches, and nearly half of the latter branch is further separated to flow eastward south of the Hawaiian Ridge into the Northeast Pacific Basin (NEPB). A large portion of LCDW on this southern route (4 Sv) upwells in the southern and mid-latitude eastern regions of the NEPB. The remaining eastern branch joins nearly half of the western branch; the confluence flows northward and enters the NEPB along the Aleutian Trench. Most of the LCDW on this northern route (5 Sv) upwells to the upper deep layer in the northern (in particular northeastern) region of the NEPB and is transformed into North Pacific Deep Water (NPDW). NPDW shifts southward in the upper deep layer and is modified by mixing with UCDW around the Hawaiian Islands. The modified NPDW of 13 Sv returns to the ACC. The remaining volume in the North Pacific (11 Sv) flows out to the Indian and Arctic Oceans in the surface/intermediate layer.     

Water masses and currents of deep circulation southwest of the Shatsky Rise in the western North Pacific

We conducted full-depth hydrographic observations in the southwestern region of the Northwest Pacific Basin in September 2004 and November 2005. Deep-circulation currents crossed the observation line between the East Mariana Ridge and the Shatsky Rise, carrying Lower Circumpolar Deep Water westward in the lower deep layer (θ<1.2 °C) and Upper Circumpolar Deep Water (UCDW) and North Pacific Deep Water (NPDW) eastward in the upper deep layer (1.3–2.2 °C). In the lower deep layer at depths greater than approximately 3500 m, the eastern branch current of the deep circulation was located south of the Shatsky Rise at 30°24′–30°59′N with volume transport of 3.9 Sv (1 Sv=10⁶ m³ s⁻¹) in 2004 and at 30°06′–31°15′N with 1.6 Sv in 2005. The western branch current of the deep circulation was located north of the Ogasawara Plateau at 26°27′–27°03′N with almost 2.1 Sv in 2004 and at 26°27′–26°45′N with 2.7 Sv in 2005. Integrating past and present results, volume transport southwest of the Shatsky Rise is concluded to be a little less than 4 Sv for the eastern branch current and a little more than 2 Sv for the western branch current. In the upper deep layer at depths of approximately 2000–3500 m, UCDW and NPDW, characterized by high and low dissolved oxygen, respectively, were carried eastward at the observation line by the return flow of the deep circulation composing meridional overturning circulation. UCDW was confined between the East Mariana Ridge and the Ogasawara Plateau (22°03′–25°33′N) in 2004, whereas it extended to 26°45′N north of the Ogasawara Plateau in 2005. NPDW existed over the foot and slope of the Shatsky Rise from 29°48′N in 2004 and 30°06′N in 2005 to at least 32°30′N at the top of the Shatsky Rise. Volume transport of UCDW was estimated to be 4.6 Sv in 2004, whereas that of NPDW was 1.4 Sv in 2004 and 2.6 Sv in 2005, although the values for NPDW may be slightly underestimated, because they do not include the component north of the top of the Shatsky Rise. Volume transport of UCDW and NPDW southwest of the Shatsky Rise is concluded to be approximately 5 and 3 Sv, respectively. The pathways of UCDW and NPDW are new findings and suggest a correction for the past view of the deep circulation in the Pacific Ocean.     

Gravelly spit deposits in a transgressive systems tract: the Pleistocene Higashikanbe Gravel, central Japan

The Pleistocene Higashikanbe Gravel, which crops out along the Pacific coast of the Atsumi Peninsula, central Japan, consists of well‐sorted, pebble‐ to cobble‐size gravel beds with minor sand beds. The gravel includes large‐scale foreset beds (5–10 m high) and overlying subhorizontal beds (0·5–3 m thick), showing foreset and topset structure, from which the gravel has previously been interpreted as deposits of a Gilbert‐type delta. However, (1) the gravel beds lack evidence of fluvial activity, such as channels in the subhorizontal beds; (2) the foresets incline palaeolandwards; (3) the gravels fill a fluvially incised valley; and (4) the gravels overlie low‐energy deposits of a restricted environment, such as a bay or an estuary. The foresets generally dip towards the inferred palaeoshoreline, indicating landward accretion of gravel. Reconstruction of the palaeogeography of the peninsula indicates that the Higashikanbe Gravel was deposited as a spit similar to that developed at the western tip of the present Atsumi Peninsula, rather than as a delta. According to the new interpretation, the large‐scale foreset beds are deposits on the slopes of spit platforms and accreted in part to the sides of small islets that are fragments of the submerging spit during relative sea‐level rise. The subhorizontal beds include nearshore deposits on the spit platform topsets and deposits of gravel shoals or bars, which are reworked sediments of the spit beach gravels during a transgression. The lack of spit beach facies in the subhorizontal beds results from truncation by shoreface erosion. Dome structure, which is a cross‐sectional profile of a recurved gravel spit at its extreme point, and sandy tidal channel deposits deposited between the small islets were also identified in the Higashikanbe Gravel. The Higashikanbe Gravel fills a fluvially incised valley and occupies a significant part of a transgressive systems tract, suggesting that gravelly spits are likely to be well developed during transgressions. The large‐scale foreset beds and subhorizontal beds of gravelly spits in transgressive systems tracts contrast with the foreset and topset beds of deltas, characteristic of highstand, lowstand and shelf‐margin systems tracts.     

Nanophase magnetite in matrix of anomalous EL3 chondrite Northwest Africa (NWA) 8785

NWA 8785 is a remarkable EL3 chondrite with a high abundance (~34 vol%) of an Fe-rich matrix. This is the highest matrix abundance known among enstatite chondrites (ECs) and more similar to the matrix abundances in some carbonaceous and Rumuruti chondrites. X-ray diffraction and TEM data indicate that the fine-grained portion of the NWA 8785 matrix consists of nanoscale magnetite mixed with a noncrystalline silicate material and submicron-sized enstatite and plagioclase grains. This is the first report of magnetite nanoparticles in an EL3. The Si content of the metal (0.7 wt%), presence of ferroan alabandite, and its O isotopic composition indicate NWA 8785 is EL3-related. Having more abundant matrix than in other ECs, and that the matrix is rich in magnetite nanoparticles, which are not present in any other EC, suggest classification as an EL3 anomalous. Although we cannot completely exclude any of the mechanisms or environments for formation of the magnetite, we find a secondary origin to be the most compelling. We suggest that the magnetite formed due to hydrothermal activity in the meteorite parent body. Although ECs are relatively dry and likely formed within the nebular snow line, ices may have drifted inward from just beyond the snow line to the region where the EL chondrites were accreting, or more likely the snow line migrated inward during the early evolution of the solar system. This may have resulted in the condensation of ices and provided an ice-rich region for accretion of the EL3 parent body. Thus, the EL3 parent body may have had hydrothermal activity and if Earth formed near the EC accretion zone, similar bodies may have contributed to the Earth's water supply. NWA 8785 greatly extends the range of known characteristics of ECs and EC parent body processes.     

Agricultural risk management policies under climate uncertainty

Climate change is forecasted to increase the variability of weather conditions and the frequency of extreme events. Due to potential adverse impacts on crop yields it will have implications for demand of agricultural risk management instruments and farmers’ adaptation strategies. Evidence on climate change impacts on crop yield variability and estimates of production risk from farm surveys in Australia, Canada and Spain, are used to analyse the policy choice between three different types of insurance (individual, area-yield and weather index) and ex post payments. The results are found to be subject to strong uncertainties and depend on the risk profile of different farmers and locations; the paper provides several insights on how to analyse these complexities. In general, area yield performs best more often across our countries and scenarios, in particular for the baseline and marginal climate change (without increases in extreme events). However, area yield can be very expensive if farmers have limited information on how climate change affects yields (misalignment in expectations), and particularly so under extreme climate change scenarios. In these more challenging cases, ex post payments perform well to increase low incomes when the risk is systemic like in Australia; Weather index performs well to reduce the welfare costs of risks when the correlation between yields and index is increased by the extreme events. The paper also analyses the robustness of different instruments in the face of limited knowledge of the probabilities of different climate change scenarios; highlighting that this added layer of uncertainty could be overcome to provide sound policy advice under uncertainties introduced by climate change. The role of providing information to farmers on impacts of climate change emerges as a crucial result of this paper as indicated by the significantly higher budgetary expenditures occurring across all instruments when farmers’ expectations are misaligned relative to actual impacts of climate change.     

Demonstration of crystalline forsterite grain formation due to coalescence growth of Mg and SiO smoke particles

Abstract— Experimental studies of coalescence between Mg grains and SiO grains in smoke reveal the direct production of crystalline forsterite grains. The present results also show that different materials can be produced by grain‐grain collisions, which have been considered one of the models of grain formation in the interstellar medium. The fundamentals of coalescence growth in smoke, which have been developed in our series of experiments, are presented in this paper. Mg₂Si polyhedral grains were obtained in a Mg grain‐rich atmosphere. Mg₂SiO₄ polyhedral grains were obtained in a SiO grain‐rich atmosphere. The IR spectra of the resultant grains showed the characteristics of crystalline forsterite.