Numerical studies of the transport of solar protons in interplanetary space

Numerical solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation governing the transport of solar protons are obtained using the Crank-Nicholson technique with the diffusion coefficient represented by K_r=K₀r^b where r is radial distance from the Sun and b can take on positive or negative values. As b ranges from +1 to ?3, the time to the observation of peak flux decreases by a factor of 5 for 1 MeV protons when $\text{V}\text{K}{}_0\text{=}\text{3 AU}{}^{\mathrm{b?1}}$ where V is the solar wind speed. The time to peak flux is found to be very insensitive to assumptions concerning the solar and outer scattering boundary conditions and the presence of exponential time decay in the flux does not depend on the existence of an outer boundary. At $\text{V}\text{K}{}_0\text{? 15 AU}{}^{\mathrm{b?1}}$, 1 MeV particles come from the Sun by an almost entirely convective process and suffer large adiabatic deceleration at b?0 but for b=+1, large Fermi acceleration is possible at all reasonable $\text{V}\text{K}{}_0$ values. Implications of this result for the calculation and measurement of particle diffusion coefficients is discussed. At $\text{b?0}$, the pure diffusion approximation to transport overestimates by a factor 2 or more the time to peak flux but as b becomes more negative, the additional effects of convection and energy loss become less important.     

Lithium abundance in cold giants

Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 271–281, September–October, 1990.     

Interaction of particles with ion cyclotron waves and magnetosonic waves. Observations from GEOS 1 and GEOS 2

Coordinated observations involving ion composition, thermal plasma, energetic particle, and ULF magnetic field data from GEOS 1 and 2 often reveal the presence of electromagnetic ion cyclotron and magnetosonic waves, which are distinguished by their respective polarization characteristics and frequency spectra. The ion cyclotron waves are identified by a magnetic field perturbation that lies in a plane perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic field B₀ and propagate along B₀. They are associated with the abundance of cold He⁺ in the presence of anisotropic pitch angle distributions of ions having energies E > 20 keV, and were observed at frequencies near the He⁺ gyrofrequency. The magnetosonic waves are characterized by a magnetic field perturbation parallel to B₀ and thus seem to be propagating perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic field. They often occur at harmonics (not always including the fundamental) at the proton gyrofrequency and are associated with phase-space-density distributions that peak at energies E ～ 5–30 keV and at a pitch angle of 90°. Such a ring-like distribution is shown to excite instability in the magnetosonic mode near harmonics of the proton gyrofrequency. Magnetosonic waves are associated in other cases with sharp spatial gradients in energetic ion intensity. Such gradients are encountered in the early afternoon sector (as a consequence of the drift shell distortion caused by the convection electric field) and could likewise constitute a source of free energy for plasma instabilities.     

The behavior of 232Th and the 238U decay chain nuclides during magma formation and volcanism

Concentrations of the members of the ²³⁸U decay chain and ²³²Th were determined in volcanic rocks from convergent plate margins, intraplate volcanoes and oceanic spreading centers. Contemporary and historical volcanic rocks from Mt. St. Helens, Arenal, El Chichon, Hawaii and Iceland and submarine basaltic glass from the Galapagos spreading center all show no fractionation of U and Th in the mantle source or during magma formation at least for the past 300,000 years. Mauna Kea (Hawaii) rocks of alkaline composition greater than 4000 years old and an old submarine basalt show disequilibrium for several of the nuclides in the ²³⁸U decay chain. We interpret these as resulting from post-emplacement processes.     

Coherence mapping—An automated approach to display goodness-of-correlation between wells in a field

Patterns of inter-well correlations in map view can yield insight into the architecture of an area such as a petroleum reservoir. Preferred directions of fluid communications, discontinuities, and structural or depositional “grain” of an area often can be identified. In coherence mapping, large numbers of wells are compared in pairs, using a similarity coefficient. Sliding cross-correlation techniques of sections can be used to adjust for some normal stratigraphic inconsistencies. The calculated parameters are mapped as vector spider plots for each well, or as link-lines between well pairs with line thickness proportional to the strength of correlation. The resulting maps display areas of coherence and lines of discontinuities which can be interpreted according to the geologic style of the region. The method works best for areas with relatively great density of wells and uniform distribution. The database should contain logs digitized over the interval of interest and at least one stratigraphic marker. A pilot study of a carbonate reservoir with some 150 wells provided useful suggestions for reinterpretation of the field in terms of steeply dipping clinoforms of basin margin deposits.     

High abnormal rotation rates of sunspots and flare productivity

Solar activity, such as flares and CMEs, affect the interplanetary medium, and Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, to understand the Space Weather, we need to understand the mechanisms of solar activity. Towards this end, we use 1135 events of solar H_α flares and the positional data of sunspots from the archive of Solar Geophysical Data (SGD) for the period January–April, 2000 and compute the abnormal rotation rates that lead to high flare productivity. We report that the occurrence of 5 or more flares in a day in association with a given sunspot group can be defined as high flare productivity and the sunspots that have an abnormal rotation rates of ～4–10 deg day^?1 trigger high flare productivity. Further, in order to compare the flare productivity expressed as the strength of the flux emitted, especially the soft X-ray (SXR) flares in the frequency range of 1–8 Å, we compute the flare index of SXR flares and find that 8 out of 28 active regions used in this study satisfy the requirement for being flare productive. This enables us to conclude that the high rotation rates of sunspots are an important mechanism to understand the flare productivity, especially numerical flare productivity that includes flares of all class.     

Distinct groundwater recharge sources and geochemical evolution of two adjacent sub-basins in the lower Shule River Basin,northwest China

Based on analysis of groundwater hydrogeochemical and isotopic data, this study aims to identify the recharge sources and understand geochemical evolution of groundwater along the downstream section of the Shule River, northwest China, including two sub-basins. Groundwater samples from the Tashi sub-basin show markedly depleted stable isotopes compared to those in the Guazhou sub-basin. This difference suggests that groundwater in the Tashi sub-basin mainly originates from meltwater in the Qilian Mountains, while the groundwater in the Guazhou sub-basin may be recharged by seepage of the Shule River water. During the groundwater flow process in the Tashi sub-basin, minerals within the aquifer material (e.g., halite, calcite, dolomite, gypsum) dissolve in groundwater. Mineral dissolution leads to strongly linear relationships between Na⁺ and Cl^? and between Mg²⁺+ Ca²⁺ and SO₄ ^2??+?HCO₃ ^?, with stoichiometry ratios of approximately 1:1 in both cases. The ion-exchange reaction plays a dominant role in hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in the Guazhou sub-basin and causes a good linear relationship between (Mg²⁺+ Ca²⁺)–(SO₄ ^2??+?HCO₃ ^?) and (Na⁺+ K⁺)–Cl^? with a slope of ?0.89 and also results in positive chloroalkaline indices CAI 1 and CAI 2. The scientific results have implications for groundwater management in the downstream section of Shule River. As an important irrigation district in Hexi Corridor, groundwater in the Guazhou sub-basin should be used sustainably and rationally because its recharge source is not as abundant as expected. It is recommended that the surface water should be used efficiently and routinely, while groundwater exploitation should be limited as much as possible.     

Preliminary study on assessment of nutrient transport in the Taihu Basin based on SWAT modeling

With the Taihu Basin as a study area, using the spatially distributed and mechanism-based SWAT model, preliminary simulations of nutrient transport in the Taihu Basin during the period of 1995:_2002 has been carried out. The topography, soil, meteorology and land use with industrial point pollution discharge, the loss of agricultural fertilizers, urban sewerage, and livestock drainages were all considered in the boundary conditions of the simulations. The model was calibrated and validated against water quality monitoring data from 2001 to 2002. The results show that the annual total productions of nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) into Lake Taihu are 40000t and 2000t respectively. Nutrient from the Huxi Region is a major resource for Lake Taihu. The non-point source (surface source) pollution is the main form of catchment sources of nutrients into Lake Taihu, occupied TN 53% and TP 56% respectively. TN and TP nutrients from industrial point pollution discharge are 30% and 16%, and sewerage in both forms of point source and non-point source are TN 31% and TP 47%. Both the loss of agricultural fertilizers and livestock drainages from the catchment should be paid more attention as an important nutrient source. The results also show that SWAT is an effective model for the simulation of temporally and spatially nutrient changes and for the assessment of the trends in a catchment scale.