The Preboreal climate reversal and a subsequent solar‐forced climate shift

Accurate chronologies are essential for linking palaeoclimate archives. Carbon‐14 wiggle‐match dating was used to produce an accurate chronology for part of an early Holocene peat sequence from the Borchert (The Netherlands). Following the Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition, two climatic shifts could be inferred. Around 11 400 cal. yr BP the expansion of birch (Betula) forest was interrupted by a dry continental phase with dominantly open grassland vegetation, coeval with the PBO (Preboreal Oscillation), as observed in the GRIP ice core. At 11 250 cal. yr BP a sudden shift to a humid climate occurred. This second change appears to be contemporaneous with: (i) a sharp increase of atmospheric ¹⁴C; (ii) a temporary decline of atmospheric CO₂; and (iii) an increase in the GRIP ¹⁰Be flux. The close correspondence with excursions of cosmogenic nuclides points to a decline in solar activity, which may have forced the changes in climate and vegetation at around 11 250 cal. yr BP. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geochronological evidence for late‐Grenvillian magmatic and metamorphic events in central Taimyr,northern Siberia*

U–Th–Pb analyses of zircons from six granites and one metasediment collected in the accretionary Central belt of Taimyr, Arctic Siberia, demonstrate that Neoproterozoic (c. 900 Ma) granites intrude late Mesoproterozoic/early Neoproterozoic amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks. This is the first time in the Mamont–Shrenk region that Neoproterozoic ages have been recognized for these lithologies, previously thought to be Archaean/Palaeoproterozoic in age. The Mamont–Shrenk Terrane (MST) represents a Grenvillian age (micro?) continent intercalated with younger Neoproterozoic ophiolites during thrusting and accreted to the northern margin of the Siberian craton sometime before the late Vendian. Basement to the MST may have been derived from the Grenvillian belt of east Greenland. Viable tectonic reconstructions must allow for an active margin along northern Siberia (modern day coordinates) in the middle Neoproterozoic.     

A model for the constant-head pumping test conducted in vertically fractured media

An analytical model for the constant-head pumping test is developed for a partially penetrating well that has a finite thickness skin, and intersects a single vertical fracture. In the model, the fracture is fully confined and flow occurs only in the fracture. The model is developed using Laplace transform and finite Fourier transform methods. The model is to be used for analysing well test data from vertically fractured media and for verifying numerical models. Dimensionless curves are used to study the effects of a finite thickness skin and a partially penetrating wellbore. In the presence of a finite thickness skin, or a partially penetrating wellbore, a typical flow response for the constant-head pumping test has three distinct periods of flow corresponding to small-, intermediate- and large-time. Small- and large-time approximations are presented for the model. For tests where the wellbore is fully penetrating, or the partial penetration ratio is known, these approximations can be used to analyse field data.     

The Leonard Award Address Presented 1996 July 25, Berlin,Germany: The elemental composition of stony cosmic spherules

Abstract— Five hundred stony cosmic spherules collected from deep-sea sediments, polar ice, and the stratosphere have been analyzed for major and some minor element composition. Typical spherules are products of atmospheric melting of millimeter sized and smaller meteoroids. The samples are small and modified by atmospheric entry, but they are an important source of information on the composition of asteroids. The spherules in this study were all analyzed in an identical manner, and they provide a sampling of the solar system's asteroids that is both different and less biased than provided by studies of conventional meteorites. Volatile elements such as Na and S are depleted due to atmospheric heating, while siderophiles are depleted by less understood causes. The refractory nonsiderophile elements appear not to have been significantly disturbed during atmospheric melting and provide important clues on the elemental composition of millimeter sized meteoroids colliding with the Earth. Typical spherules have CM-like composition that is distinctively different than ordinary chondrites and most other meteorite types. We assume that C-type asteroids are the primary origin of spherules with this composition. Type S asteroids should also be an important source of the spherules, and the analysis data provide constraints on their composition. A minor fraction of the spherules are melt products of precursor particles that did not have chondritic elemental compositions. The most common of these are particles that are dominated by olivine. The observed compositions of spherules are inconsistent with the possibility that an appreciable fraction of the spherules are simply chondrules remelted during atmospheric entry.     

Multi-frequency observations of the 1985 outburst of RS ophiuchi

The 1985 outburst of the bright, recurrent nova RS Oph was almost simultaneously observed at X-ray, UV, optical, IR and radio frequencies at many epochs. The abundances in the ejected shell and the development of the bolometric luminosity as a function of time suggest that the cause of the outburst is a nuclear runaway on a massive white dwarf.Paper presented at the IAU Colloquium No. 93 on Cataclysmic Variables. Recent Multi-Frequency Observations and Theoretical Development, held at Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, F.R.G., 16–19 June, 1986.     

Realisation of a celestial system based on VLBI geodynamics programs

The relative orientations of various VLBI celestial reference frames are evaluated on the basis of coordinate differences of common sources. It is shown that an accuracy better than 0.001 can be achieved. Possible regional deformations in the different catalogues are investigated; they are found to reach a few 0.001 in some restricted zones. The application of these studies to the realisation of a combined celestial reference frame consistent with the BIH Terrestrial System is outlined.     

THE ANALYTICAL ORIENTATION OF A LUNAR MODEL

An analytical relative orientation of a stereo-pair of photographs was computed in an unusual system of co-ordinates. The disparity in the widely mismatched photographs, their tilts and narrow angles subtended resulted in a rather weak solution from which sections of the lunar surface have been plotted. The results were not good but were better than expected. The main outcome of the work is a, probably unique, demonstration of the versatility of analytical photogrammetry.     

Eine Deutung der D-Schicht-Winter-Anomalie und des “Berliner Phänomens”

Zusammenfassung Die bisher ungeklärte Winter-Anomalie der D-Schicht sowie die explosionsartigen Erwärmungen der Hochstratosphäre im Winter können durch Staubpartikel interplanetaren Ursprungs (Meteorströme) hervorgerufen werden. Eine Anlagerung von Elektronen an die Staubteilchen in der Exosphäre bewirkt das Einfangen der kleinsten Partikel durch das erdmagnetische Feld und verhindert so ihr Verglühen in der Ionosphäre. Durch Sedimentation und turbulente Diffusion gelangt der Meteorstaub bis in die Ozonosphäre, wo er oxydiert wird und so eine plötzliche Wärmeentwicklung zur Folge hat. Die angelagerten Elektronen exosphärischen Ursprungs können bei zeitgerechter Photoablösung elektromagnetische Wellen dämpfen und so die Winter-Anomalie der D-Schicht hervorrufen.

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Summary The winter-anomaly of the ionospheric D-region for which no sufficient explanation existed up to now, as well as the explosive warming of the high stratosphere in wintertime are possibly caused by dust particles of inter-planetary origin (meteoric showers). The attachment of electrons on the dust particles in the exosphere causes the magnetic field of the earth to catch the smallest particles and so they do not evaporate in the ionosphere. By sedimentation and turbulent diffusion the meteoric dust reaches the ozonosphere where it is oxidized, which is followed by a sudden development of heat. After photo-detachment in due time the formerly attached electrons of exospheric origin are able to damp electro-magnetic waves and by this they cause the winter-anomaly of the D-region.

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Résumé L'anomalie de la couche D — inexplicable jusqu'ici — ainsi que les hausses prodigieusement rapides de la température de la haute stratosphère, deux phénomènes particuliers de l'hiver, peuvent être provoquées par des particules de poussière d'origine interplanétaire (courants de météorites). Des électrons adhérant, dans l'exosphère, aux grains de poussière permettent l'entraînement des plus petites particules par le champ magnétique terrestre et empèchent ainsi leur désintégration dans l'ionosphère. Par sédimentation et diffusion turbulente, la poussière cosmique parvient ensuite jusque dans l'ozonosphère où elle est oxydée. Il en résulte alors un dégagement subit de chaleur. Les électrons d'origine exosphérique adhérant à la poussière cosmique peuvent atténuer, s'ils s'en détachent en temps opportun sous l'effet du rayonnement solaire, les ondes électromagnétiques et provoquer ainsi l'anomalie d'hiver de la couche D.

     

Models of the Southern Oscillation in the 300–100 mb layer and the basis of seasonal forecasting

Summary The geometry of the principal Upper High (near the Indian Occean) in the 300–100 mb layer appears to account for the Southern Oscillation (S.O.), and models of its behaviour are presented. Significant features of these models include the equatorial points of upper convergence (C) and divergence (D), a pressure discontinuity (CNDS) forming «arcs» and an «enclosure» around the high, and, lastly, encircling «crescents» both outside and inside the enclosure. The geography of the seasonal sucession can thus—in a qualitative manner—be interpreted in the light of known wind and contour patterns near the tropopause. With a few general principles, the established empirical rules of long-range forecasting then follow by deduction. The models and the terminology are useful likewise in the interpretation of solar-terrestrial relations and of climatic fluctuations.