A laboratory discharge lamp source for the O2 atmospheric bands and OI 5577 Å and 6300 Å lines of a known line width

A laboratory discharge lamp is described which strongly emits the forbidden OI 5577 and 6300 Å lines and the O₂ (0?0) atmospheric band. Experimental measurements confirm that these atomic and molecular species are in thermal equilibrium with one another, so that a rotational temperature measurement of the O₂ atmospheric band allows one to deduce the line widths of the 5577 and 6300 Å emissions. This thus provides a useful calibration source for interferometric measurements of these emissions.     

Assessment of hurricane wind performance and potential design modifications for informally constructed housing in Puerto Rico

This study assesses the wind performance of various housing typologies representing informal construction practices in Puerto Rico to suggest modifications to enhance housing resilience in hurricanes. Based on fieldwork and interviews, the study defined four base housing typologies and possible variations in design and construction details. Each house was assessed using performance-based static wind analysis of potentially critical components. The results show that the initial governing failure mode in all base house typologies considered is roof panel loss due to tear-through at the fasteners, with subsequent governing failures being panel loss due to failures at the purlin-to-truss connections and failures of the truss-to-wall connections. In-plane wall failures and masonry uplift failures were both found to occur at much higher wind speeds than roof failures. To improve the hurricane performance, several feasible modifications are suggested, including installing hurricane straps at both the truss-to-wall and the purlin-to-truss connections, as well as improving the panel-fastener interface. In the construction of new roofs, this study found that using reduced spacing between roof members, hip roofs instead of gable roofs, and higher roof slopes leads to improved performance. These recommendations can make houses built through informal construction processes safer and more resilient to hurricanes as a form of climate adaptation.

     

Determination of Scandium, Yttrium and Rare Earth Elements in Rocks by High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

The high sensitivity, minimal oxide formation and single internal standard capability of high resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) is demonstrated in the direct determination of Sc, Y and REE in the international reference materials: basalts (BCR-1, BHVO-1, BIR-1, DNC-1), andesite (AGV-1) andultramafics (UB-N, PCC-1 and DTS-1). Time consuming ion exchange separation or preconcentration were found to be unnecessary. Smooth chondrite normalized plots of the REE in PCC-1 and DTS-1 were obtained in the range 0.8-50 ng g-1 (0.01-0.1x chondrite). Method precision was found to be digestion dependent with an average external repeatability of 2-4% for the basalts, AGV-1 and UB-N, and 10% for PCC-1 and DTS-1. The mass peak due to ⁴⁵Sc was completely resolved from ²⁹Si¹⁶O and ²⁸Si¹⁶O¹H spectral interferences using medium resolution, which casts doubt on the accuracy of Sc determinations using quadrupole ICP-MS. Literature values for Y in rock reference materials were found to be approximately 9% high after HR-ICP-MS and XRF analysis.     

Spatial wavelet analysis of line-profile variations

The technique of wavelet analysis is discussed in the context of line-profile variations in rapidly rotating stars undergoing non-radial pulsation. This technique may be used to determine the harmonic degree l of the pulsation using isolated residual spectra; it is able to handle spectra with relatively low signal-to-noise ratio levels, and is well suited to extracting previously unobtainable information from low-quality, patchy data. A demonstration of the technique is presented using data generated from a spectral synthesis code.     

The role of sea ice formation in cycling of aluminium in northern Marguerite Bay,Antarctica

The use of dissolved Al as a tracer for oceanic water masses and atmospheric dust deposition of biologically important elements, such as iron, requires the quantitative assessment of its sources and sinks in seawater. Here, we address the relative importance of oceanic versus atmospheric inputs of Al, and the relationship with nutrient cycling, in a region of high biological productivity in coastal Antarctica. We investigate the concentrations of dissolved Al in seawater, sea ice, meteoric water and sediments collected from northern Marguerite Bay, off the West Antarctic Peninsula, from 2005 to 2006. Dissolved Al concentrations at 15 m water depth varied between 2 and 27 nM, showing a peak between two phytoplankton blooms. We find that, in this coastal setting, upwelling and incorporation of waters from below the surface mixed layer are responsible for this peak in dissolved Al as well as renewal of nutrients. This means that changes in the intensity and frequency of upwelling events may result in changes in biological production and carbon uptake. The waters below the mixed layer are most likely enriched in Al as a result of sea ice formation, either causing the injection of Al-rich brines or the resuspension of sediments and entrainment of pore fluids by brine cascades. Glacial, snow and sea ice melt contribute secondarily to the supply of Al to surface waters. Total particulate Al ranges from 93 to 2057 mg/g, and increases with meteoric water input towards the end of the summer, indicating glacial runoff is an important source of particulate Al. The (Al/Si)_opal of sediment core top material is considerably higher than water column opal collected by sediment traps, indicative of a diagenetic overprint and incorporation of Al at the sediment–water interface. Opal that remains buried in the sediment could represent a significant sink of Al from seawater.     

Effects of energy and pitch angle mixed diffusion on radiation belt electrons

Understanding the dynamics of the Earth’s radiation belts is important for modeling and forecasting the intensities of energetic electrons in space. Wave diffusion processes are known to be responsible for loss and acceleration of electrons in the radiation belts. Several recent studies indicate pitch angle and energy mixed-diffusion are also important when considering the total diffusive effects. In this study, a two-dimensional Fokker Planck equation is solved numerically using the Alternating Direction Implicit method. Mixed diffusion due to whistler-mode chorus waves tends to slow down the total diffusion in the energy-pitch angle space, particularly at smaller equatorial pitch angles. We then incorporate the electron energy and pitch angle mixed diffusions due to whistler-model chorus waves into the 4-dimensional Radiation Belt Environment (RBE) model and study the effect of mixed diffusion during a storm in October 2002. The 4-D simulation results show that energy and pitch angle mixed diffusion decrease the electron fluxes in the outer belt while electron fluxes in the slot region are enhanced (up to a factor of 2) during storm time.     

Increasing shallow groundwater CO2 and limestone weathering, Konza Prairie, USA

In a mid-continental North American grassland, solute concentrations in shallow, limestone-hosted groundwater and adjacent surface water cycle annually and have increased steadily over the 15-year study period, 1991-2005, inclusive. Modeled groundwater CO₂, verified by measurements of recent samples, increased from 10^−2.05 atm to 10^−1.94 atm, about a 20% increase, from 1991 to 2005. The measured groundwater alkalinity and alkaline-earth element concentrations also increased over that time period. We propose that carbonate minerals dissolve in response to lowered pH that occurs during an annual carbonate-mineral saturation cycle. The cycle starts with low saturation during late summer and autumn when dissolved CO₂ is high. As dissolved CO₂ decreases in the spring and early summer, carbonates become oversaturated, but oversaturation does not exceed the threshold for precipitation. We propose that groundwater is a CO₂ sink through weathering of limestone: soil-generated CO₂ is transformed to alkalinity through dissolution of calcite or dolomite. The annual cycle and long-term increase in shallow groundwater CO₂ is similar to, but greater than, atmospheric CO₂.