Polarization models of young stellar objects – II. Linear and circular polarimetry of R Coronae Australis

Near-infrared linear imaging polarimetry of the young stellar objects R CrA and T CrA in the J , H and K n bands, and circular imaging polarimetry in the H band, is presented. The data are modelled with the Clark and McCall scattering model. The R CrA and T CrA system is shown to be a particularly complex scattering environment. In the case of R CrA there is evidence that the wavelength dependence of polarization changes across the nebula. MRN dust grain models do not explain this behaviour. Depolarization by line emission is considered as an alternative explanation. The dust grain properties could also be changing across the nebula.
Although surrounded by reflection nebulosity, there is a region of particularly low polarization surrounding R CrA that is best modelled by the canonical bipolar outflow being truncated by an evacuated spherical cavity surrounding the star. The symmetry axis of the nebula appears inclined by 50° to the plane of the sky.
The H -band circular polarimetry of R CrA clearly shows a quadrupolar structure of positive and negative degrees of circular polarization that reach peak magnitudes of ∼5 per cent within our limited map. It is shown that spherical MRN grains are incapable of producing this circular polarization given the observed linear polarization of the R CrA system. Instead, scattering from aligned non-spherical grains is proposed as the operating mechanism.
T CrA is a more archetypical bipolar reflection nebula, and this object is modelled as a canonical parabolic reflection nebula that lies in the plane of the sky. The wavelength independence of linear polarization in the T CrA reflection nebula suggests that the scattering particles are Rayleigh sized. This is modelled with the MRN interstellar grain size distribution.     

Polarization evolution in strong magnetic fields

Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction. Although this polarization-dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars, it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons travelling within the field. The photon states evolve adiabatically and follow the changing magnetic field direction. The combination of a rotating magnetosphere and a frequency-dependent-state decoupling predicts polarization phase lags between different wavebands, if the emission process takes place well within the light cylinder. This QED effect may allow observations to distinguish between different pulsar-emission mechanisms and to reconstruct the structure of the magnetosphere.     

扰动变量在强对流天气分析和模式评估中的应用——以苏北里下河地区引发龙卷的扰动系统为例

2016年6月23日14:00—15:00时,江苏省盐城市阜宁县发生了EF-4级有记录以来的强龙卷风过程,造成了当地30 km长,1.7 km宽的严重气象灾害。受局地环境影响,邻近地区在近50年中发生了大于10人次死亡事件的龙卷风11次,其中6次发生于1979年以后。文章首先是:(1)把6次事件日的再分析变量场分解成瞬时气候和扰动两个部分,发现6次事件都与近地面层出现的负高度扰动轴线和扰动冷暖气团的对峙有关,龙卷发生在暖气团一侧;(2)用模式初始场分解的扰动变量和扰动物理量评估欧美模式对产生阜宁龙卷扰动系统的预报能力。后者的结果也发现,当日14时925 hPa高度扰动槽和850 hPa扰动风辐合线作为环境扰动系统,以及湿涡度扰动和湿散度扰动等环境扰动指标量能够突出地表达有利于龙卷风发生的环境条件。欧洲全球模式能够提前42 h稳定预报出后来扰动槽和环境扰动指标量的位置,美国全球模式也可以提前18 h预报出这样的扰动特征。这些扰动变量和扰动指标量能够快速地帮助预报员判断有可能发生强对流天气的大致时空区域和特征。     

High-sediment tolerance in the reef coral Turbinaria mesenterina from the inner Great Barrier Reef lagoon (Australia)

Sedimentation is an important stressor on coral reefs subjected to run-off, dredging and resuspension events. Reefs with a history of high-sediment loads tend to be dominated by a few tolerant coral species. A key question is whether such species live close to their tolerance thresholds or near their niche optima. Here, we analyse experimentally the sediment tolerance of a spatially dominant coral, Turbinaria mesenterina (Dendrophylliidae), at nearshore reefs in the central Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Testing was conducted in a 5-week tank experiment under manipulated sediment loading and flow conditions. Physiological stress was assessed based on the behaviour of three key response variables: skeletal growth rate, energy reserves (lipid content) and photosynthetic performance. Because sediment effects are likely to vary between flow regimes, sediment and flow responses were tested using a full factorial design. Sediment loads greater than 110 mg cm⁻² had no effect on any of the physiological variables, regardless of flow (0.7–24 cm s⁻¹). Turbinaria mesenterina is thus tolerant to sediment loads an order of magnitude higher than most severe sediment conditions in situ. Likely mechanisms for such tolerance are that: (1) colonies covered in sediment (60–120 μm) in low-flow were able to clear themselves rapidly (within 4–5 h); and (2) sediment provides a source of food. These results suggest that intensified sediment regimes on coastal reefs may shift coral communities towards dominance by a few well-adapted species.     

Fireballs: Interpretation of airblast data

Abstract— When a meteoroid passes through the Earth's atmosphere, it may generate acoustic waves in the form of a conical shock front and again in an explosive terminal burst. These acoustic waves reach the ground and their arrival times may be recorded on seismograms. Equations are given (with numerical examples, and for various atmospheric models) to recover the track of the meteoroid, and possibly the meteorite, from times of arrival at the seismographic stations.     

The metabolism of aquatic ecosystems: history,applications, and future challenges

Measurements of the production and consumption of organic material have been a focus of aquatic science for more than 80 years. Over the last century, a variety of approaches have been developed and employed for measuring rates of gross primary production (P_g), respiration (R), and net ecosystem production (P_n = P_g − R) within aquatic ecosystems. Here, we reconsider the range of approaches and applications for ecosystem metabolism measurements, and suggest ways by which such studies can continue to contribute to aquatic ecology. This paper reviews past and contemporary studies of aquatic ecosystem-level metabolism to identify their role in understanding and managing aquatic systems. We identify four broad research objectives that have motivated ecosystem metabolism studies: (1) quantifying magnitude and variability of metabolic rates for cross-system comparison, (2) estimating organic matter transfer between adjacent systems or subsystems, (3) measuring ecosystem-scale responses to perturbation, both natural and anthropogenic, and (4) quantifying and calibrating models of biogeochemical processes and trophic networks. The magnitudes of whole-system gross primary production, respiration and net ecosystem production rates vary among aquatic environments and are partly constrained by the chosen methodology. We argue that measurements of ecosystem metabolism should be a vital component of routine monitoring at larger scales in the aquatic environment using existing flexible, precise, and durable sensor technologies. Current and future aquatic ecosystem studies will benefit from application of new methods for metabolism measurements, which facilitate integration of process measurements and calibration of models for addressing fundamental questions involving ecosystem-scale processes.     

A nuanced quantile random forest approach for fast prediction of a stochastic marine flooding simulator applied to a macrotidal coastal site

Integrating full-process high resolution hydrodynamic simulations within early warning system (EWS) for marine flooding is hindered by the large computation time cost of such numerical models. This...