Hyperbolic cosmic dust: Its origin and its astrophysical significance

The heliocentric radial distribution of the flux of hyperbolic cosmic dust particles, as measured by the Pioneer 8 and 9 spacecraft, is closely related to the radial variation of the spatial density of source or “parent” meteoroids. Within the limits of the experimental and theoretical uncertainties the spatial density of parent meteoroids, as deduced from the hyperbolic cosmic dust data, is found to be increasing with increasing heliocentric distance in the neighborhood of one a.u. Other recent experimental evidence confirms this result. The new results also suggest that the ratio of the areal density of submicron sized craters to the areal density of millimeter sized craters will be less on the north-south faces of lunar rocks than on the east-west faces of the same rocks. The changeinratio is not as large as previously thought, however. Finally it is noted that the solar system is not presently contributing significant amounts of dust to the interstellar medium though it may once have done so.     

Computing a design flood in the absence of historical records

Summary A design flood for a Venezuelan river is computed in the absence of rainfall and stream-flow data of more than a few years. From synoptic studies of an area embracing northern South America and the Caribbean, the type of disturbance producing the abundant rains of the area is determined. A disturbance of this type is maximized on the basis of the ratio of energy dissipated through friction to released latent energy represented by rainfall — in other words, theefficiency of the system is given its highest reasonable value. The synthetic disturbance is moved over the river basin in a manner most favorable for heavy rain. Certain data available from other rivers are used as a cross-check on the resultant flood values.     

Kinetic rate laws derived from order parameter theory III: Al,Si ordering in sanidine

The time dependence of the ordering and disordering of Al and Si in sanidine is described within the framework of the kinetic rate laws developed in papers I and II of this series. It was found that the relevant order parameter Q _t is homogeneous and non-conserved. The rate law is:

Metal fluxes to the sediments of the northern Venice Lagoon

Eighteen short cores were analyzed for major and trace metals (Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Mn, Si, K, Ti, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr), ²¹⁰Pb, ¹³⁷Cs, and other sediment characteristics, so as to describe the chronology of pollution and calculate metal concentration factors and fluxes. Substantial evidence was found that trace metal profiles are influenced by anthropogenic sources and by changes in sediment composition. Only Zn presents concentrations (up to 13.1 μmol g⁻) and concentration factors (1.3 to 13.2) that can be attributed to heavy contamination. Pb, Cu and Ni, in this order, are less significant. The areal distribution of concentrations and inventories reflects the importance of direct sources, in particular the industrial area of Porto Marghera and the Dese river. The inventories of excess metals, above pre-industrial levels, were determined for each core and the three different parts of the study area, the amounts of Zn accumulated in sediments are 11.0 Mmol, 5.1 Mmol and 0.37 Mmol in the Campalto, S. Erasmo, and Palude di Cona areas, respectively. Ruxes were also calculated and compared with those suggested for the atmospheric delivery by Cochran et al. [(1995)b. Atmospheric fluxes of heavy metal contaminants to the Venice Lagoon, Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer Médit., 34, 136.], the atmospheric contribution is predominant or significant in many cases, especially at sites far from the major local inputs. Concentrations and fluxes show a significant increase in the anthropogenic metal supply starting from the second decade of this century, with maximum inputs in the period between the (1930)s and the (1970)s. At some stations a decrease in heavy metal contamination of surficial sediments was found and this could be ascribed to a reduced input of pollutants in recent years.     

Climate change effects on hydrological system conditions influencing generation of storm runoff in small Alpine catchments

Floods and debris flows in small Alpine torrent catchments (<10 km²) arise from a combination of critical antecedent system state conditions and mostly convective precipitation events with high precipitation intensities. Thus, climate change may influence the magnitude–frequency relationship of extreme events twofold: by a modification of the occurrence probabilities of critical hydrological system conditions and by a change of event precipitation characteristics. Three small Alpine catchments in different altitudes in Western Austria (Ruggbach, Brixenbach and Längentalbach catchment) were investigated by both field experiments and process‐based simulation. Rainfall–runoff model (HQsim) runs driven by localized climate scenarios (CNRM‐RM4.5/ARPEGE, MPI‐REMO/ECHAM5 and ICTP‐RegCM3/ECHAM5) were used in order to estimate future frequencies of stormflow triggering system state conditions. According to the differing altitudes of the study catchments, two effects of climate change on the hydrological systems can be observed. On one hand, the seasonal system state conditions of medium altitude catchments are most strongly affected by air temperature‐controlled processes such as the development of the winter snow cover as well as evapotranspiration. On the other hand, the unglaciated high‐altitude catchment is less sensitive to climate change‐induced shifts regarding days with critical antecedent soil moisture and desiccated litter layer due to its elevation‐related small proportion of sensitive areas. For the period 2071–2100, the number of days with critical antecedent soil moisture content will be significantly reduced to about 60% or even less in summer in all catchments. In contrast, the number of days with dried‐out litter layers causing hydrophobic effects will increase by up to 8%–11% of the days in the two lower altitude catchments. The intensity analyses of heavy precipitation events indicate a clear increase in rain intensities of up to 10%.     

Parameterization of the CCN-humidity spectrum in dependency on nucleation conditions and aerosol size distribution

Summary Atmospheric CCN-humidity spectra (describing the CCN-number concentration as function of supersaturation) are derived as the integral over given particle size distributions. In that concept the finite boundary, representing the limiting activated particle size, results from the critical values of the Köhler-curve. As utilization of this general outcome different representative aerosol size distributions of the power law type as well as the log-normal type are chosen for case studies which are compared to empirical results. The dependency on temperature of the limiting activated particle size is shown to provide a non-negligible influence on the number of activated particles.With 3 Figures     

The local invariants under rotations about an axis and their applications

The three possible scalar products formed from the position-speed state vector lead to Stumpff's local invariants. The assumption of a distinguished axis (001) gives rise to the axial local invariantsz and under the rotations about this axis.-If a satellite moves in the field of a rotationally symmetric central body, then there will be an appropriate set of invariants for which a regular, non-linear system of differential equations holds. It can be used to derive recurrence relations for time series expansions and special perturbation methods, which are characterised by the occurrence of the scalar products of the perturbational acceleration with the position and speed vectors and (001).Presented at the Conference on Celestial Mechanics, Oberwolfach, Germany, August 17–23, 1969.