Baroclinic instabilities in Jupiter's zonal flow

The baroclinic stability of Jupiter's zonal flow is investigated using a model consisting of two continuously stratified fluid layers. The upper layer, containing a zonal shear flow and representing the Jovian cloudy regions above p ～ 5 bars, is the same as Eady's (1949) model for the Earth. The lower layer has a relatively large but finite depth with a quiescent basic state, representing the deep Jovian fluid bulk below p ～ 5 bars. Due to the presence of the lower layer, the linearized non-dimensional growth rates are drastically reduced from the O(1) growth rates of the original Early model. Only very long wavelengths relative to the upper fluid's radius of deformation L₁ are unstable. Eddy transports of heat are also reduced relative to estimates based on scaling arguments alone. Since the hydrostatic approximation for the lower-layer perturbation breaks down at great depths, a second model is presented in which energy propagates downward in an infinitely deep lower fluid obeying the full linearized fluid equations. In this model, the growth rates are again very small, but now all wavelengths are unstable with maximum growth rates occurring for wavelengths O(1) relative to L₁. These results illustrate the importance for the upper-layer meteorology of the interface boundary condition with the lower fluid, which is radically different from the rigid lower boundary of the Earth's troposphere.     

Calculations of the effects of angular momentum on the early evolution of Jupiter

The planet Jupiter is assumed to have formed as a subcondensation in the solar nebula. The initial phase of its evolution is one of hydrostatic contraction with radiative energy transport. Calculations of evolutionary sequences through this phase are presented, including the effects of angular momentum. The calculations are carried out in two space dimensions under the assumptions of axial symmetry, constancy of angular velocity on cylindrical surfaces about the rotation axis, a pressure-density relation given by the polytrope of index 3, conservation of angular momentum, and a homogeneous composition. The results show that under certain physically reasonable initial distributions of density and angular momentum the formation of a central planet and a rotating circumplanetary envelope is possible, while under assumptions a point of instability is reached that probably results in the breakup of the condensation by fission into two or more parts. The models are discussed with reference to the present angular momenta of Jupiter and its regular satellites.     

Ce and Nd isotope geochemistry on island arc volcanic rocks with negative Ce anomaly: existence of sources with concave REE patterns in the mantle beneath the Solomon and Bonin island arcs

¹³⁸Ce/¹⁴²Ce isotope ratios in Cenozoic island arc volcanic rocks are reported for the first time, together with isotope ratios of Nd and Sr and abundances of REE, Ba and Sr. The island arc volcanics studies here are boninites from Chichijima, the Bonin Islands, and basalts and andesites from the Solomon Islands. REE patterns of the island arc volcanic rocks from the Solmon Islands and the Bonin Islands are confirmed to have negative Ce anomalies. It is also disclosed that the majority of these island arc volcanic rocks show mainly positive values for both _Ce and _Nd. It is shown that these _Ce and _Ce values can hardly be interpreted by simple mixing between MORB and oceanic or continental crustal rocks; the former have positive _Nd and negative _Ce and the latter have negative _Ce and positive or negative _Nd. Existence of sources having positive _Ce and _Nd values is strongly suggested. If the sources are assumed to have been fractionated from CHUR (chondritic uniform reservoir) at the early or middle Precambrian era, the sources from which the volcanics were derived are concluded to have kept concave REE patterns with larger (La/Ce)_N and smaller (Nd/Sm)_N ratios than chondritic values over a substantial period of time, until the time of Cenozoic magmatism forming island arc volcanic rocks in question. During the periods of the Cenozoic magmatic activities and their related events, Ce anomalies are considered to have been created. From Ce and Nd isotope ratios, however, it is difficult to determine which of the following processes was responsible for the Ce anomaly; the incorporation process of subducted oceanic crust into magma at the mantle or the slab dehydration and metasomatism process. Nevertheless, so far as Ce and Nd isotopic ratios are concerned, incorporation of oceanic sediments did not take place to any clearly detectable degree.     

Production of organic molecules in the outer solar system by proton irradiation: Laboratory simulations

In the past few years considerable attention has been given to the determination of likely compounds that could account for the various colors observed in the outer solar system: and to possible formation mechanisms for these compounds. Many experiments have been done using electrical discharges (Chadha, M. S., et al., 1971, Icarus15, 39) and ultraviolet light (Khare, B. N., and Sagan, C., 1973, Icarus20, 311) on mixtures of CH₄, NH₃, and H₂S, which are most likely the dominant minor constituents of the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, and possibly the other satellites early in their histories. Colored polymers, usually brownish-red, have been produced in these experiments. With the passage of Pioneer 10 around Jupiter, there is another source of energy worthy of consideration, energetic protons (and electrons). Preliminary experiments to investigate the formation of colored polymers and other interesting molecules by the irradiation of gas mixtures by protons are discussed. Two to four Mev protons were used, with corresponding beam fluxes (as measured at 6R_J from the planet) equivalent to approximately 80 Earth years at Jupiter per hour of exposure. As in the other types of experiments, colored polymers have been produced. An important feature of this work is the presence or absence of absorption at 5 μm in the different materials produced; Titan is quite dark at this wavelength and Io is fairly bright. Such features may provide criteria for accepting or rejecting various materials produced in these experiments as reasonable coloring agents for the outer solar system.     

Point-connected rigid bodies in a topological tree

Identical equations of motion are shown to emerge for a system ofn+1 rigid bodies all interconnected byn points, each of which is common to two bodies, by means of each of the following derivation procedures, all of which employ a kinematical identity developed by Hooker and Margulies: The Hooker-Margulies/Hooker equations; Kane's quasicoordinate formulation of D'Alembert's principle; the combination of Lagrange's generalized coordinate equations and Lagrange's quasicoordinate equations; and the combination of Lagrange's generalized coordinate equations and the vector rotational equationM=H applied to the total system and resolved into a vector basis fixed in a reference body of the system. Thus the previously published Hooker-Margulies/Hooker equations are shown to be the natural result of several derivation procedures other than the Newton-Euler method originally used, provided that the central kinematical identity of the original derivation of Hooker and Margulies is employed.     

Incorporating solid solutions in reactive transport equations using a kinetic discrete-composition approach

A new approach is proposed for incorporating solid solution reactions into mass conservation equations describing reaction paths in both closed and open systems. The method is applicable to problems involving advective, dispersive, and diffusive transport in a porous medium. By representing the continuously variable solid solution composition with a discrete set of stoichiometric solids that span composition space, combined with a kinetic formulation of their rates of reaction, a self-determining spatial and temporal evolution of the solid solution concentration and composition is obtained. It is demonstrated that equilibrium of an aqueous solution with a stoichiometric solid derived from a solid solution corresponds to equilibrium of the solid solution itself if and only if equilibrium of the stoichiometric solid is stable. One advantage of this approach is that it is unnecessary to introduce any additional compositional variables to represent the solid solution. Discretization may be over the entire range of composition space, or over some subset depending on the system. A major consequence of the kinetic discrete-composition solid solution representation is that modeling solid solutions is similar to modeling pure mineral phases with the exception of a weighting factor applied to reaction rates of stoichiometric solids corresponding to a common solid solution. With this approach, precipitation leads to a discrete zonation of the solid solution that approximates the continuous variation in composition expected for the actual solid solution. The approach is demonstrated for a hypothetical ideal and non-ideal binary solid solution A_xB_1−xC for a reaction path formulation and reactive transport involving advection and diffusion.     

Semi-analytical solutions of a contaminant transport equation with nonlinear sorption in 1D

A new method to determine semi-analytical solutions of one-dimensional contaminant transport problem with nonlinear sorption is described. This method is based on operator splitting approach where the convective transport is solved exactly and the diffusive transport by finite volume method. The exact solutions for all sorption isotherms of Freundlich and Langmuir type are presented for the case of piecewise constant initial profile and zero diffusion. Very precise numerical results for transport with small diffusion can be obtained even for larger time steps (e.g., when the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition failed).