Design and development of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

Led by the National Solar Observatory, plans have been made to design and to develop the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST). The ATST will be a 4‐m general‐purpose solar telescope equipped with adaptive optics and versatile post‐focus instrumentation. Its main aim will be to achieve an angular resolution of 0.03 arcsec (20 km on the solar surface). The project and the telescope design are briefly described.     

滩间山金矿矿床成因初步探讨

本文通过对滩间山矿区地层、构造及岩浆岩与成矿关系的研究,认为中元古界万洞沟群是金的矿源层;成矿构造具有多期次、多阶段活动的特点,矿体受单一及复合型式的构造控制;华力西期侵入体对成矿作用仅体现于为矿床的形成与再造提供热源。矿质在弱酸—中偏碱性溶液中,主要呈硫络合物的形式搬运、并在还原条件下成矿。特别指出,含磷质物地层是区内重要的岩金找矿标志之一。     

Transient surface liquid in Titan’s polar regions from Cassini

Cassini RADAR images of Titan’s south polar region acquired during southern summer contain lake features which disappear between observations. These features show a tenfold increases in backscatter cross-section between images acquired one year apart, which is inconsistent with common scattering models without invoking temporal variability. The morphologic boundaries are transient, further supporting changes in lake level. These observations are consistent with the exposure of diffusely scattering lakebeds that were previously hidden by an attenuating liquid medium. We use a two-layer model to explain backscatter variations and estimate a drop in liquid depth of approximately 1-m-per-year. On larger scales, we observe shoreline recession between ISS and RADAR images of Ontario Lacus, the largest lake in Titan’s south polar region. The recession, occurring between June 2005 and July 2009, is inversely proportional to slopes estimated from altimetric profiles and the exponential decay of near-shore backscatter, consistent with a uniform reduction of 4 ± 1.3 m in lake depth.Of the potential explanations for observed surface changes, we favor evaporation and infiltration. The disappearance of dark features and the recession of Ontario’s shoreline represents volatile transport in an active methane-based hydrologic cycle. Observed loss rates are compared and shown to be consistent with available global circulation models. To date, no unambiguous changes in lake level have been observed between repeat images in the north polar region, although further investigation is warranted. These observations constrain volatile flux rates in Titan’s hydrologic system and demonstrate that the surface plays an active role in its evolution. Constraining these seasonal changes represents the first step toward our understanding of longer climate cycles that may determine liquid distribution on Titan over orbital time periods.     

Mountains on Titan observed by Cassini Radar

The Cassini Titan Radar mapper has observed elevated blocks and ridge-forming block chains on Saturn's moon Titan demonstrating high topography we term “mountains.” Summit flanks measured from the T3 (February 2005) and T8 (October 2005) flybys have a mean maximum slope of 37° and total elevations up to 1930 m as derived from a shape-from-shading model corrected for the probable effects of image resolution. Mountain peak morphologies and surrounding, diffuse blankets give evidence that erosion has acted upon these features, perhaps in the form of fluvial runoff. Possible formation mechanisms for these mountains include crustal compressional tectonism and upthrusting of blocks, extensional tectonism and formation of horst-and-graben, deposition as blocks of impact ejecta, or dissection and erosion of a preexisting layer of material. All above processes may be at work, given the diversity of geology evident across Titan's surface. Comparisons of mountain and blanket volumes and erosion rate estimates for Titan provide a typical mountain age as young as 20-100 million years.     

Northern Eurasia earth science partnership initiative (NEESPI), science plan overview

Northern Eurasia Earth System Partnership Initiative, NEESPI, was established to address the global change processes associated with and/or originated within Northern Eurasia as well as to study the major socially-important processes within the region. NEESPI began as a US–Russian initiative but has quickly broadened into a fully international program. Scientists from 11 countries participated in preparing the NEESPI Science Plan. Current version of the Science Plan was released for public review on the World Wide Web in summer 2004 and finalized in December 2004. This paper provides an Overview of the Plan and is based, mainly, on its Executive Summary. The Overview describes the Plan's science themes and key science questions, provides a justification of the urgency studying Northern Eurasia from the global change prospective, and outlines research strategy and tools to address NEESPI science questions, as well as projected deliverables of the Initiative.     

Remote sensing of mesospheric winds with the high-resolution doppler imager

Observations of the winds in the upper atmosphere obtained with the High-Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) are discussed. This instrument is a very stable high-resolution triple-etalon Fabry-Perot interferometer, which is used to observe the slight Doppler shifts of absorption and emission lines in the O₂ Atmospheric bands induced by atmospheric motions. Preliminary observations indicate that the winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere are a mixture of migrating and non-migrating tides, and planetary-scale waves. The mean meridional winds are dominated by the 1,1 diurnal tide which is easily extracted from the daily zonal means of the satellite observations. The daily mean zonal winds are a mixture of the diurnal tide and a zonal flow which is consistent with theoretical expectations.     

青海德尔尼硫化物矿床成因的新认识

通过对青海德尔尼硫化物矿床的产出部位、成矿环境、矿石矿物的组合、主要化学元素的成份及同位素测试数据等分析研究,认为该矿床具有裂谷成矿机制的特征,成因类型应属裂谷型层控矿床。     

磺厂雄磺矿床地质特征及找矿方向

磺厂雄磺矿有千余年开采历史,是我国目前最大的雄磺-雌磺砷矿床。矿体赋存古岩溶漏斗(垂直溶管)内。矿石类型分块状矿石、角砾状矿石及浸染状矿石三种。矿体(化)与岩溶角砾岩、次生硅质岩关系密切。矿床成因属“岩溶漏斗低温热液充填(交代)型”矿床。并探讨了找矿方向。     

营口—宽甸地区重力场特征及地质解释

营口—宽甸地区重力场自北而南有逐渐增高的总趋势。中部区重力低与重力高呈带状相间出现。结合该区已知的地质构造特征综合分析,重力负值带是早元古宙拗拉槽边界深断裂和构造—岩浆岩带的反映。隐伏、半隐伏花岗岩体的解释和推断,为逃一步寻找金、硼、铅锌等矿产提供了信息。     

Dust aerosols above the south polar cap of Mars as seen by OMEGA

The time evolution of atmospheric dust at high southern latitudes on Mars has been determined using observations of the south seasonal cap acquired in the near infrared (1-2.65 μm) by OMEGA/Mars Express in 2005. Observations at different solar zenith angles and one EPF sequence demonstrate that the reflectance in the 2.64 μm saturated absorption band of the surface CO₂ ice is mainly due to the light scattered by aerosols above most places of the seasonal cap. We have mapped the total optical depth of dust aerosols in the near-IR above the south seasonal cap of Mars from mid-spring to early summer with a time resolution ranging from one day to one week and a spatial resolution of a few kilometers. The optical depth above the south perennial cap is determined on a longer time range covering southern spring and summer. A constant set of optical properties of dust aerosols is consistent with OMEGA observations during the analyzed period. Strong variations of the optical depth are observed over small horizontal and temporal scales, corresponding in part to moving dust clouds. The late summer peak in dust opacity observed by Opportunity in 2005 propagated to the south pole contrarily to that observed in mid spring. This may be linked to evidence for dust scavenging by water ice-rich clouds circulating at high southern latitudes at this season.