Kosa (yellow sand) components in precipitation collected at central Japan

In east Asia, acidic gases derived from fossil fuel combustion have increased in the past decades. On the other hand, the Asian dust, also called Kosa (yellow sand) is transported following windstorms from arid lands in the Asian continent. Many researchers have been interested in the reaction between acidic aerosols and Kosa aerosols as well as the long-range transport of these emissions. To investigate the characteristics of chemical components in precipitation on a long-term basis over Japan, precipitation was sequentially collected from April 1984 to March 1997 at Kanazawa located near the coast of the Sea of Japan. Precipitation samples were collected at 1 mm intervals for the first 5 mm rainfall and all volume of rainwater after 6 mm for all precipitation events with an automatic wet only precipitation collector. According to the analyses of precipitation including Kosa aerosols during Kosa periods, the reaction in the air between Kosa and acidic components during the long-range transport was discussed.     

Petrological,petrofabric, and oxygen isotopic study of five ungrouped meteorites related to brachinites

Northwest Africa (NWA) 6112, Miller Range (MIL) 090206 (plus its pairs: MIL 090340 and MIL 090405), and Divnoe are olivine‐rich ungrouped achondrites. We investigated and compared their petrography, mineralogy, and olivine fabrics. We additionally measured the oxygen isotopic compositions of NWA 6112. They show similar petrography, mineralogy, and oxygen isotopic compositions and we concluded that these five meteorites are brachinite clan meteorites. We found that NWA 6112 and Divnoe had a c axis concentration pattern of olivine fabrics using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). NWA 6112 and Divnoe are suggested to have been exposed to magmatic melt flows during their crystallization on their parent body. On the other hand, the three MIL meteorites have b axis concentration patterns of olivine fabrics. This indicates that the three MIL meteorites may be cumulates where compaction of olivine grains was dominant. Alternatively, they formed as residues and were exposed to olivine compaction. The presence of two different olivine fabric patterns implies that the parent body(s) of brachinite clan meteorites experienced diverse igneous processes.     

Cathodoluminescence of high-pressure feldspar minerals as a shock barometer

Cathodoluminescence (CL) analyses were carried out on maskelynite and lingunite in L6 chondrites of Tenham and Yamato-790729. Under CL microscopy, bright blue emission was observed in Na-lingunite in the shock veins. Dull blue-emitting maskelynite is adjacent to the shock veins, and aqua blue luminescent plagioclase lies farther away. CL spectroscopy of the Na-lingunite showed emission bands centered at ~330, 360–380, and ~590 nm. CL spectra of maskelynite consisted of emission bands at ~330 and ~380 nm. Only an emission band at 420 nm was recognized in crystalline plagioclase. Deconvolution of CL spectra from maskelynite successfully separated the UV–blue emission bands into Gaussian components at 3.88, 3.26, and 2.95 eV. For comparison, we prepared K-lingunite and experimentally shock-recovered feldspars at the known shock pressures of 11.1–41.2 GPa to measure CL spectra. Synthetic K-lingunite has similar UV–blue and characteristic yellow bands at ~550, ~660, ~720, ~750, and ~770 nm. The UV–blue emissions of shock-recovered feldspars and the diaplectic feldspar glasses show a good correlation between intensity and shock pressure after deconvolution. They may be assigned to pressure-induced defects in Si and Al octahedra and tetrahedra. The components at 3.88 and 3.26 eV were detectable in the lingunite, both of which may be caused by the defects in Si and Al octahedra, the same as maskelynite. CL of maskelynite and lingunite may be applicable to estimate shock pressure for feldspar-bearing meteorites, impactites, and samples returned by spacecraft mission, although we need to develop more as a reliable shock barometer.     

BALLOON-BORNE MEASUREMENTS OF AEROSOL VERTICAL DISTRIBUTIONS OVER BEIJING DURING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1993

The results of two balloon soundings during the summer and autumn of 1993 from the Xianghe Observation Station are being utilized in a study of the temporal and spatial distribution of the atmospheric aerosols.The balloon,gondola,instrumentation and atmospheric conditions during the observation period are described.The temporal and spatial characteristics of aerosol concentration,size ratio,mixing ratio,and size distribution for both troposphere and strato-sphere are presented and analyzed.     

Temperature changes over Eurasia during the late summer of 1979

During the late summer of 1979, massive changes occurred in the distribution of temperature over Eur asia north of 15oN. At 300 hPa, zonal mean temperature averaged over Eurasia along 20o－25oN de-creased sharply around 23 August. An abrupt decrease in 300 hPa zonal mean temperature also occurred over extensive mid-latitude zones (40o－55oN) around 18 August, i. e., about 5 days prior to the monsoon withdrawal over South Asia.The intensity and location of N－S oriented, vertical overturning underwent significant changes over Eurasia during the transition from summer to fall. Near 20o－25oN, zonal mean updrafts weakened con-siderably during the transition period (18－27 August). Around 45oN, zonal mean downdrafts and the asso-ciated cooling (radiative) rate increased considerably during the transition period.Near 15oN, 300 hPa zonal mean temperature fluctuated nearly periodically with an approximate 40-day period. These fluctuations appear to be associated with a small imbalance between 40-day filtered adiabatic cooling (heating) and diabatic heating (cooling).     

1979年印度夏季风活跃、中断和撤退时期欧亚上空风场和温度场的变化

本文对1979年夏季印度西南季风活跃、中断和撤退时欧亚地区大范围环流和温度场进行了分析。结果表明,该年季风活动的变率与欧亚中高纬环流形势的演变有明显关系。季风活跃期,高空西风带显著北移,西藏高原上空有高空反气旋环流建立、发展,苏联西部阻塞高压发展、维持;季风中断期,西藏高原西部有高空槽存在;苏联西部阻塞高压减弱、崩溃或有高空槽发展;季风的撤退也与东亚冷空气活动关系密切。     

Influence of surface and vegetation characteristics on C-band radar measurements for soil moisture content

Soil moisture estimation using microwave remote sensing faces challenges of the segregation of influences mainly from roughness and vegetation. Under static surface conditions, it was found that Radarsat C-band SAR shows reasonably good correlation and sensitivity with changing soil moisture. Dynamic surface and vegetation conditions are supposed to result in a substantial reduction in radar sensitivity to soil moisture. A C-band scatterometer system (5.2 GHz) with a multi-polarization and multi-angular configuration was used 12 times to sense the soil moisture over a tall vegetated grass field. A score of vegetation and soil parameters were recorded on every occasion of the experiment. Three radar backscattering models Viz., Integral Equation Model (IEM), an empirical model and a volume scattering model, have been used to predict the backscattering phenomena. The volume scattering model, using the Distorted Born Approximation, is found to predict the backscattering phenomena reasonably well. But the surface scattering models are expectedly found to be inadequate for the purpose. The temporal variation of soil moisture does show good empirical relationship with the observed radar backscattering. But as the vegetation biomass increases, the radar shows higher sensitivity to the vegetation parameters compared to surface characteristics. A sensitivity analysis of the volume scattering model for all the parameters also reveals that the radar is more sensitive to plant parameters under high biomass conditions, particularly vegetation water content, but the sensitivity to surface characteristics, particularly to soil moisture, is also appreciable.     

Thermal diffusivity of lunar rocks under atmospheric and vacuum conditions

Thermal diffusivity, k, of three lunar rocks (10049 and 10069; Type A, Apollo 11 and 14311; Apollo 14) and a terrestrial basalt (alkaline olivine basalt, Oki-do?go, Japan) was measured under one atmosphere and in vacuum conditions (10^?3 ～ 10^?5 mmHg) in the temperature range from 85 to 850°K. The semi-empirical curve of k =A + B/T +CT³ is fitted to the data in each condition. The porosity of rocks strongly affects the thermal diffusivity at low temperature ( T ? 500°K) in vacuum condition. At 150°K, thermal diffusivity of lunar rocks with porosity of 5.5% (10049) and 11% (10069) at one atmosphere is about 1.7 and 3.2 times of that in vacuum, respectively. The difference between the values at one atmosphere and those in vacuum decreases as the temperature increases. Measurements of k should be made at gas pressures at least lower than 10^?3 mmHg to estimate the value under lunar surface conditions.     

Nutrients adsorption from seawater by new porous carrier made from zeolitized fly ash and slag

This study investigated the adsorption and precipitation of phosphate by blast furnace slag (BFS) separately.

In order to evaluate the adsorption capacity of BFS, BFS was treated before its use by acid. The authors aim to develop a new porous carrier to adsorb simultaneously ammonium and phosphate from seawater under eutrophic conditions. The current paper deals with a promising new approach to improve the utilization of some industrial solid wastes such as BFS and zeolite synthesized from fly ash [ZFA(Fe)] by their solidification to cylindrical porous carriers using a hydrothermal hot-pressing (HHP) method.

Attempts to produce porous carriers using an arranged HHP method with different porosities (24%, 40% and 52% (v/v)) were carried out. Physical properties of carriers such as porosity, compressive strength and height have been investigated. Laboratory studies showed strong evidence that the porous carrier was very selective towards phosphate and ammonium. The results demonstrated the role of porosity in enhancing phosphate and ammonium adsorption by the increase of the surface area per weight. The estimates of the parameters and the correlation coefficients according to the Freundlich equations revealed that adsorption was related to the porosity of carriers and phosphate and ammonium were adsorbed well on the carriers having large porosity.

The results suggested that developing carrier with high porosity was a promising way to enhance nutrients adsorption.