A Hybrid Link‐Node Approach for Finding Shortest Paths in Road Networks with Turn Restrictions

Turn restrictions, such as ‘no left turn’ or ‘no U‐turn’, are commonly encountered in real road networks. These turn restrictions must be explicitly considered in the shortest path problem and ignoring them may lead to infeasible paths. In the present study, a hybrid link‐node Dijkstra's (HLND) algorithm is proposed to exactly solve the shortest path problem in road networks with turn restrictions. A new hybrid link–node labelling approach is devised by using a link–based labelling strategy at restricted nodes with turn restrictions, and a node‐based labelling strategy at unrestricted nodes without turn restrictions. Computational results for several real road networks show that the proposed HLND algorithm obtains the same optimal results as the link‐based Dijkstra's algorithm, while having a similar computational performance to the classical node‐based Dijkstra's algorithm.     

Marine debris collects within the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone

Floating marine debris, particularly derelict fishing gear, is a hazard to fish, marine mammals, turtles, sea birds, coral reefs, and even human activities. To ameliorate the economic and environmental impact of marine debris, we need to efficiently locate and retrieve dangerous debris at sea. Guided by satellite-derived information, we made four flights north of Hawaii in March and April 2005. During these aerial surveys, we observed over 1800 individual pieces of debris, including 122 derelict fishing nets. The largest debris concentrations were found just north of the North Pacific Transition Zone Chlorophyll Front (TZCF) within the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone (STCZ). Debris densities were significantly correlated with sea-surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a concentration (Chla), and the gradient of Chla. A Debris Estimated Likelihood Index (DELI) was developed to predict where high concentrations of debris would be most likely in the North Pacific during spring and early summer.     

Determining Titan surface topography from Cassini SAR data

A technique, referred to as SARTopo, has been developed for obtaining surface height estimates with 10 km horizontal resolution and 75 m vertical resolution of the surface of Titan along each Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) swath. We describe the technique and present maps of the co-located data sets. A global map and regional maps of Xanadu and the northern hemisphere hydrocarbon lakes district are included in the results. A strength of the technique is that it provides topographic information co-located with SAR imagery. Having a topographic context vastly improves the interpretability of the SAR imagery and is essential for understanding Titan.SARTopo is capable of estimating surface heights for most of the SAR-imaged surface of Titan. Currently nearly 30% of the surface is within 100 km of a SARTopo height profile. Other competing techniques provide orders of magnitude less coverage.We validate the SARTopo technique through comparison with known geomorphological features such as mountain ranges and craters, and by comparison with co-located nadir altimetry, including a 3000 km strip that had been observed by SAR a month earlier. In this area, the SARTopo and nadir altimetry data sets are co-located tightly (within 5-10 km for one 500 km section), have similar resolution, and as expected agree closely in surface height. Furthermore the region contains prominent high spatial resolution topography, so it provides an excellent test of the resolution and precision of both techniques.     

Formation of mountains on Io: Variable volcanism and thermal stresses

Thermal stresses are potentially important drivers of Io's tectonics and mountain building. It has been hypothesized that sustained local or regional shut down of heat-pipe volcanism on Io could lead to deep crustal heating and large compressive stresses [McKinnon, W.B., Schenk, P.M., Dombard, A.J., 2001. Geology 29, 103-106]. Such large stresses would then be relieved by thrust faulting and uplifting of crustal blocks, producing mountains like those observed on Io. Here we analyze the tectonic consequences of the heat-pipe model in detail, considering both the initial thermal stress state of a basalt or peridotite crust created by heat-pipe volcanism, and relative roles of subsidence stresses (due to burial of preexisting layers) and thermal stresses arising from variable volcanism and changes in crustal (∼lithosphere) thickness. We limit the magnitude of the potential subsidence stresses in our study, because the magnitude of subsidence stresses can be quite large, if not dominant. Results indicate that for a fixed crustal thickness, the region of failure and faulting moves closer to the surface as eruption rate decreases and time increases. When the crust melts at its base as volcanism decreases (as might occur under steady state tidal heating), resulting in crustal thinning, the region of failure is brought even closer to the surface. Naturally, when compressive, subsidence stresses are included, the vertical extent of crust in brittle failure thickens to include most of the lithosphere. In contrast, increases in eruption rate cause the extent of the region in compressional failure to decrease and be driven very deep in the crust (in the absence of sufficient subsidence stress). Therefore, regions of declining volcanism are more likely to produce mountains, whereas regions of extensive or increasing volcanism are less likely to do so. This is consistent with the observation of a global anticorrelation between mountains and volcanic centers on Io. Finally, we find that the choice of crustal composition/rheology (dry basalt vs. dry peridotite) has little effect on our results implying that basalt, peridotite and komatiite are all similarly “stiff” in the Io environment.     

Limb Spicules from the Ground and from Space

We amassed statistics for quiet-sun chromosphere spicules at the limb using ground-based observations from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope on La Palma and simultaneously from NASA’s Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) spacecraft. The observations were obtained in July 2006. With the 0.2 arcsecond resolution obtained after maximizing the ground-based resolution with the Multi-Object Multi-Frame Blind Deconvolution (MOMFBD) program, we obtained specific statistics for sizes and motions of over two dozen individual spicules, based on movies compiled at 50-second cadence for the series of five wavelengths observed in a very narrow band at Hα, on-band and at ± 0.035 nm and ± 0.070 nm (10 s at each wavelength) using the SOUP filter, and had simultaneous observations in the 160 nm EUV continuum from TRACE. The MOMFBD restoration also automatically aligned the images, facilitating the making of Dopplergrams at each off-band pair. We studied 40 Hα spicules, and 14 EUV spicules that overlapped Hα spicules; we found that their dynamical and morphological properties fit into the framework of several previous studies. From a preliminary comparison with spicule theories, our observations are consistent with a reconnection mechanism for spicule generation, and with UV spicules being a sheath region surrounding the Hα spicules.     

On the origin of shocked and unshocked CM clasts in H‐chondrite regolith breccias

Abstract— CM chondrite clasts that have experienced different degrees of aqueous alteration occur in H‐chondrite and HED meteorite breccias. Many clasts are fragments of essentially unshocked CM projectiles that accreted at low relative velocities to the regoliths of these parent bodies. A few clasts were heated and dehydrated upon impact; these objects most likely accreted at higher relative velocities. We examined three clasts and explored alternative scenarios for their formation. In the first scenario, we assumed that the H and HED parent bodies had diameters of a few hundred kilometers, so that their high escape velocities would effectively prevent soft landings of small CM projectiles. This would imply that weakly shocked CM clasts formed on asteroidal fragments (family members) associated with the H and HED parent bodies. In the second scenario, we assumed that weakly shocked CM clasts were spall products ejected at low velocities from larger CM projectiles when they slammed into the H and HED parent bodies. In both cases, if most CM clasts turn out to have ancient ages (e.g., ?3.4‐4.1 Ga), a plausible source for their progenitors would be outer main belt objects, some which may have been dynamically implanted 3.9 Ga ago by the events described in the so‐called “Nice model.” On the other hand, if most CM clasts have recent ages (<200 Ma), a plausible source location for their parent body would be the inner main belt between 2.1–2.2 AU. In that case, the possible source of the CM‐clasts' progenitors' parent fragments would be the breakup ?160 Ma ago of the parent body 170 km in diameter of the Baptistina asteroid family (BAF).     

Novel measurements of atmospheric iodine species by resonance fluorescence

A field instrument has been developed for the purpose of measuring gas-phase atmospheric iodine species in the marine boundary layer. Vacuum UV resonance-fluorescence (RF), generated using a microwave discharge lamp, is employed to detect atomic iodine via the (5p⁴6s)–(5p⁵) transitions around 178–184 nm. The system can be operated in two modes; either to directly measure ambient iodine atoms, or to measure the total photolabile iodine loading of ambient air, through broadband visible photolysis of photolabile iodine-containing species, with subsequent RF detection of the iodine atoms released. In both cases the instrument allows for the in situ measurement of the species detected, which is advantageous for gathering information concerning their local sources and distribution. The instrument is calibrated through generation of a known concentration of iodine atoms from the photolysis of I₂ using a mercury pen-ray lamp. The instrument was deployed for the first time in August 2007 at Mace Head on the west coast of Ireland; initial results from this field trial are presented. Ambient iodine atoms were measured at levels up to 22 ± 4.8 ppt during the day, coinciding with the lowest tides, when Laminaria seaweed beds were exposed. The total photolabile iodine loading was also measured during several night-time and day-time periods and was found to correlate inversely with tidal height. Inferred I₂ concentrations based on these measurements indicate levels of several hundred ppt at the Mace Head site. These measurements represent the first direct observations of ambient iodine atoms and measurement of total photolabile iodine in the atmosphere.     

Travelling and hunting in a changing Arctic: assessing Inuit vulnerability to sea ice change in Igloolik, Nunavut

The observations of community members and instrumental records indicate changes in sea ice around the Inuit community of Igloolik, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. This paper characterizes local vulnerability to these changes, identifying who is vulnerable, to what stresses, and why, focusing on local and regional use of sea ice for the harvesting of renewable resources and travel. This analysis is coupled with instrumental and sea ice data to evaluate changing temperature/wind/sea ice trends over time, to complement local observations. We demonstrate the relationships between changing sea ice conditions/dynamics and harvesting activities (i.e. dangers and accessibility), with specific emphasis on ringed seal and walrus seasonal hunting, to illustrate current sea ice exposures that hunters are facing. Community members are adapting to such changes, as they have done for generations. However, current adaptive capacity is both enabled, and constrained, by social, cultural, and economic factors that manifest within the modern northern Hamlet. Enabling factors include the ability of hunters to manage or share the risks associated with sea ice travel, as well as through their flexibility in resource use, as facilitated by sophisticated local knowledge and land/navigational skills. Constraining factors include the erosion of land-based knowledge and skills, altered sharing networks, as well as financial and temporal limitations on travel/harvesting. The differential ability of community members to balance enabling and constraining factors, in relation to current exposures, comprises their level of vulnerability to sea ice change.     

≥3700 Ma pre-metamorphic dolomite formed by microbial mediation in the Isua supracrustal belt (W. Greenland): Simple evidence for early life?

Chemical (meta)sedimentary rocks in the amphibolite facies ≥3700 Ma Isua supracrustal belt (W. Greenland) are mostly strongly deformed, so there is only a small chance of the survival of features such as stromatolites or microfossils that would be direct proof of a ≥3700 Ma biosphere. Therefore the search for evidence of ≥3700 Ma life in Isua rocks has focused on chemical signatures, particularly C-isotopes. The new approach presented here is based on whole rock chemistry rather than isotopic signatures. Isua chemical sedimentary rocks have Ca–Mg–Fe bulk compositions that coincide with ferroan dolomite – siderite/Fe-oxide mixtures. Most have low Al₂O₃, TiO₂ contents (<0.5 and <0.05 wt% respectively) showing minimal contamination from terriginous materials. Identical seawater-like REE + Y shale-normalised trace element signatures with La, Ce, Eu and Y positive anomalies are found in magnetite-rich banded iron formation (BIF – such as the geochemical standard IF-G), dolomite-rich rocks and quartz–carbonate–calc-silicate rocks. Additionally from a rare, small area of low deformation in Isua, there are ∼3700 Ma pillow lava interstices consisting of quartz + tremolite + calcite derived from pre-metamorphic dolomite + silica. Thus the dolomite in the chemical sediments and the pillow interstice was part of the pre-metamorphic assemblage, and was deposited from seawater and/or low-temperature groundwater (as shown by the REE + Y chemistry). Therefore, at least some Isua carbonate rocks are sedimentary or diagenetic in origin rather than being formed by metasomatism at 600–500 °C as proposed by Rose et al. (1996. American Journal of Science 296, 1004–1044).