The impact of vertebrate herbivores on wetland vegetation in Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana

Delta islands in the Atchafalaya and Wax Lake deltas in Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana, are in an extremely dynamic successional phase. These islands initially supported large marshes dominated by the pioneering plant species Sagittaria latifolia and Sagittaria platyphylla. A general decrease in vegetated areas has occurred in the delta island marshes in the Atchafalaya Delta since about 1980, while in the Wax Lake Delta portion of the complex the vegetation still flourished. The Atchafalaya Delta provides an interesting setting for the study of herbivory because of the complex interaction of biotic and physical factors operating in this delta. We hypothesized that grazing by herbivores has a marked effect on vegetation in these developing marshes. To test this hypothesis, exclosures were erected on islands in both deltas in September 1985 and January 1986. Each set of exclosure treatments included an openly-grazed control area, an ungrazed area, an area allowing nutria grazing, and one allowing waterfowl grazing in each site. Results of the experiment, based on field sampling of vegetation, indicated decreases in plant biomass and changes in plant species composition in grazed treatments. Waterfowl and nutria reduced biomass aboul equally, but there was a more marked effect in the openly grazed areas. These findings may be extrapolated to sediment diversion areas along the Mississippi River.     

The Eastern Congo—a beauty spot,rediscovered from a geological point of view

In East Africa, the feedback between tectonic uplift, erosional denudation and associated possible climate changes is being studied by a multidisciplinary research group, ‘Riftlink’. The group's focus is the Albertine Rift, the northern part of the western branch of the East African Rift System, and in particular the rising Rwenzori Mountains that stretch along the border of the D.R. Congo and Uganda. Major questions relate to the timing of the formation of the Rwenzori Mountains, and whether the height of these mountains (> 5000 m) relates to rift movements in Neogene times, or represents an old basement block that formed a topographic high long before. Though, at first, research concentrated on the eastern (Ugandan) part of the Albertine Rift and Rwenzori Mountains, it has now moved further to the west to the D.R. Congo. A first field‐campaign, covering the area from northern Lake Edward along the rift shoulder up to the Blue Mountains at Lake Albert, was conducted in summer 2009, in cooperation with the Ruwenzori State University of Butembo. Here, we present a brief overview of the field‐campaign, with impressions gathered on the morphology and geology of the study area.     

A Technique of Rainfall Assimilation for Dynamic Extended Range Monsoon Prediction

Summary ?A methodology has been developed to assimilate satellite-measured rainfall during the initial phase of model integration for extended range monsoon prediction. The vertical profiles of latent heating corresponding to different rain rates have been derived from the model statistics. These heating rates have been assimilated through nudging in the thermodynamics equation of the model. This procedure of assimilating observed heating has corrected the simulation of heating location in the model and consequently removed the anomalous sinking motion over Indian landmass. With the correction of vertical circulation, both mean July rainfall over India and the distribution have improved. Interannual variability has been brought out for the years 1987 and 1988. In view of the availability of rainfall profile from Tropical Rain Measuring Mission (TRMM) there is a scope of adopting this method of assimilating observed rainfall, for extended range monsoon prediction. Received February 12, 1999/Revised May 4, 1999     

Water Circulation Off the Northeastern Coast of Sakhalin during the Passage of Three Types of Deep Cyclones over the Sea of Okhotsk

Based on the numerical simulation of water circulation in the Sea of Okhotsk in 1986 to 2015, the impact of deep cyclones on the circulation off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin is studied. The circulation in the Sea of Okhotsk is simulated with the COSMO-Ru-INMOM-CICE model configuration, where the COSMO-Ru and INMOM resolve explicitly the mesoscale atmosphere and ocean dynamics and the CICE resolves the ice cover evolution. The extreme atmospheric events associated with the intensive cyclone activity over the Sea of Okhotsk during the cold season are classified. It is found that high velocity is typical of the cyclones coming to the sea from Sakhalin, and wind speed on the periphery is higher for the cyclones coming to the Sea of Okhotsk from the south and southwest. The analysis of water circulation response off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin demonstrates that the meridional current velocity on the shelf increased by several times from the sea surface to the bottom for all types of cyclones. On the edge of the shelf, southern currents intensified in the surface and bottom layers during the passage of cyclones and at the intermediate depths during the passage of fronts. On the continental slope, southern currents intensified in the surface, intermediate, and bottom layers depending on the type of extreme events.

     

Chandra measurements of the X-ray core and cluster of 3C 220.1

We report results of an 18-ks exposure with the ACIS instrument on Chandra of the powerful z =0.62 radio galaxy 3C 220.1. The X-ray emission separates into cluster gas of emission-weighted kT ∼5 keV , 0.7–12 keV luminosity (to a radius of 45 arcsec) of 5.6×10⁴⁴ erg s⁻¹ and unresolved emission (coincident with the radio core). While the extended X-ray emission is clearly thermal in nature, a straightforward cooling-flow model, even in conjunction with a point-source component, is a poor fit to the radial profile of the X-ray emission. This is despite the fact that the measured properties of the gas suggest a massive cooling flow of ∼130 M_⊙ yr⁻¹, and the data show weak evidence for a temperature gradient. The central unresolved X-ray emission has a power-law spectral energy index α ∼0.7 and 0.7–12 keV luminosity of 10⁴⁵ erg s⁻¹, and any intrinsic absorption is relatively small. The two-point spectrum of the core emission between radio and X-ray energies has α _rx=0.75 . Since this is a flatter spectrum than seen in other sources where the X-ray emission is presumed to be radio-related, regions close to the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in this source may dominate the central X-ray output, as is believed to be the case for lobe-dominated quasars. Simple unification models would be challenged if this were found to be the case for a large fraction of high-power radio galaxies.