Frequency ratio of twin kHz quasi-periodic oscillations: The case of 4U1820-303

By analyzing all archival Rossi X-ray timing explorer (RXTE) data of the neutron star low mass X-ray binary 4U1820-303, we investigate the detectability of simultaneous twin kHz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) as a function of their frequency, width and root mean squared (RMS) amplitudes. In a blind search over the whole data set (spanning over about 10 years), we show that in continuous time intervals (2000–3000 s), twin QPOs are preferentially detected over narrow range of frequencies (100 Hz wide), leading to a clustering in the distribution of frequency ratios, and a gap around the point (600, 900) Hz in the correlation line that links the upper QPO frequency to the lower QPO frequency. A deficit of lower QPOs around 600 Hz had already been noticed by Belloni et al. [Belloni, T., Méndez, M., Homan, J., 2005. A&A 437, 209], it is now confirmed using a much larger data set. We show that the lack of twin QPOs within the gap is not due to a lack of sensitivity for QPO detection, if the parameters of the QPOs (RMS and width) can be interpolated within the gap, using values measured before and after. Since as previously noticed, the gap cannot be attributed to an incomplete sampling of the source states, it thus implies a sudden change of the QPO properties within the gap, either a loss of coherence or an amplitude decrease, or alternatively, that there may be forbidden frequencies in this system.     

Morphological analysis of olivine grains annealed in an iron‐nickel matrix: Experimental constraints on the origin of pallasites and on the thermal history of their parent bodies

Abstract— Two types of pallasites can be distinguished on the basis of the grain shape of olivine (rounded or angular). It has been suggested that these two types of textures resulted from different degrees of annealing at high temperature in the parent body. In order to characterize the kinetics of rounding of olivine grains in an Fe‐Ni matrix, we carried out a series of annealing experiments using a mixture of olivine and Fe‐Ni powder. We were able to reproduce, at a miniature scale, the range of textures in pallasites. The rate of rounding was rapid enough to be observed and measured at the scale of a few micrometers to 20 μm, even though the experiments were performed below the solidus of the Fe‐Ni metal. For instance, grains ?14 mm in diameter became nearly spherical within 7 days at 1400°C. For the morphological analysis of olivine grains, we used two independent techniques: the “critical diameter method” and the “Gaussian diffusion‐resample method,” a new technique specially developed for our study. Both techniques indicate that the rounding time scale is proportional to the cube of the grain size and that morphological adjustments in our experiments occurred by volume diffusion in the olivine lattice, not by surface diffusion along the olivine‐metal boundaries. We used our experimental data to estimate the time scales required for the development of olivine‐metal textures in natural pallasites. We determined that small scale rounding of olivine grains in a solid metal matrix can be produced within relatively short time intervals: ?100 years to produce rounded olivine grains 0.1 mm in radius at 1300–1400°C.     

Description of a very dense meteorite collection area in western Atacama: Insight into the long‐term composition of the meteorite flux to Earth

We describe the geological, morphological, and climatic settings of two new meteorite collections from Atacama (Chile). The “El Médano collection” was recovered by systematic on‐foot search in El Médano and Caleta el Cobre dense collection areas and is composed of 213 meteorites before pairing, 142 after pairing. The “private collection” has been recovered by car by three private hunters and consists of 213 meteorites. Similar to other hot desert finds, and contrary to the falls and Antarctica finds, both collections show an overabundance of H chondrites. A recovery density can be calculated only for the El Médano collection and gives 251 and 168 meteorites larger than 10 g km^?2, before and after pairing, respectively. It is by far the densest collection area described in hot deserts. The Atacama Desert is known to have been hyperarid for a long period of time and, based on cosmic‐ray exposure ages on the order of 1–10 Ma, to have been stable over a period of time of several million years. Such a high meteorite concentration might be explained invoking either a yet unclear concentration mechanism (possibly related to downslope creeping) or a previously underestimated meteorite flux in previous studies or an average terrestrial age over 2 Myr. This last hypothesis is supported by the high weathering grade of meteorites and by the common terrestrial fragmentation (with fragments scattered over a few meters) of recovered meteorites.     

基于静稳天气下气球探空实验的中国沙漠地区沙尘气溶胶的垂直分布（英文）

塔克拉玛干沙漠是亚洲沙尘气溶胶的重要源地。为探讨塔克拉玛干地区沙尘气溶胶的理化特性与时空变化,研究其环境与气候效应,本文分析了四个季节在中国敦煌(塔克拉玛干沙漠内)取得的探空气球观测数据,包括气溶胶的数浓度、粒径分布、质量浓度及在西风主导下的水平输送通量。气溶胶数浓度的垂直廓线显示,来自沙漠地区的矿物粒子对局地环境与气候有重要影响,且所有季节都存在长距离输送。粒子谱分布显示局地有大量粗粒子输入。结果说明,源于塔克拉玛干沙漠的沙尘气溶胶的背景输送有着重要的科学意义,需进一步研究其对东亚和西太平洋地区环境与气候的影响。     

A luminescence‐based chronology for the Harletz loess sequence,Bulgaria

The Harletz loess‐palaeosol sequence is located in northwestern Bulgaria and represents an important link between well‐studied loess sequences in eastern Romania and further sites to the west of the Carpathians (e.g. Serbia and Hungary). The aim of this study was to establish a chronostratigraphy of the deposits, using various methods of luminescence dating, together with basic stratigraphical field observations as well as magnetic properties. Luminescence dating was carried out using the quartz fine grain fraction and a SAR protocol, and the feldspar coarse grain fraction, applying the MET‐pIRIR protocol. Due to underestimation of the quartz fine grain fraction in the lower parts of the sequence, the resulting chronology is mainly based on the feldspar ages, which are derived from the stimulation temperature at 150 °C. A comparison with nearby sequences from Serbia, Hungary and Romania, and interpretations obtained through the stratigraphical and sedimentological signature of the sequence, supports the established chronology. Our data suggest that the prominent palaeosol (soil complex) in the upper quarter of the sequence was formed during MIS 5. It would follow that large parts of the Last Glacial loess overlying this palaeosol were probably eroded, and that the thick loess accumulation underlying this soil complex can be allocated to the penultimate glacial (MIS 6). A prominent MIS 6 tephra, which has been reported from other sequences in the area, is also present at Harletz.     

Decadal fingerprints of freshwater discharge around Greenland in a multi-model ensemble

The recent increase in the rate of the Greenland ice sheet melting has raised with urgency the question of the impact of such a melting on the climate. As former model projections, based on a coarse representation of the melting, show very different sensitivity to this melting, it seems necessary to consider a multi-model ensemble to tackle this question. Here we use five coupled climate models and one ocean-only model to evaluate the impact of 0.1 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³/s) of freshwater equally distributed around the coast of Greenland during the historical era 1965–2004. The ocean-only model helps to discriminate between oceanic and coupled responses. In this idealized framework, we find similar fingerprints in the fourth decade of hosing among the models, with a general weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Initially, the additional freshwater spreads along the main currents of the subpolar gyre. Part of the anomaly crosses the Atlantic eastward and enters into the Canary Current constituting a freshwater leakage tapping the subpolar gyre system. As a consequence, we show that the AMOC weakening is smaller if the leakage is larger. We argue that the magnitude of the freshwater leakage is related to the asymmetry between the subpolar-subtropical gyres in the control simulations, which may ultimately be a primary cause for the diversity of AMOC responses to the hosing in the multi-model ensemble. Another important fingerprint concerns a warming in the Nordic Seas in response to the re-emergence of Atlantic subsurface waters capped by the freshwater in the subpolar gyre. This subsurface heat anomaly reaches the Arctic where it emerges and induces a positive upper ocean salinity anomaly by introducing more Atlantic waters. We found similar climatic impacts in all the coupled ocean–atmosphere models with an atmospheric cooling of the North Atlantic except in the region around the Nordic Seas and a slight warming south of the equator in the Atlantic. This meridional gradient of temperature is associated with a southward shift of the tropical rains. The free surface models also show similar sea-level fingerprints notably with a comma-shape of high sea-level rise following the Canary Current.     

An experimental study of focused magma transport and basalt–peridotite interactions beneath mid-ocean ridges: implications for the generation of primitive MORB compositions

We performed experiments in a piston-cylinder apparatus to determine the effects of focused magma transport into highly permeable channels beneath mid-ocean ridges on: (1) the chemical composition of the ascending basalt; and (2) the proportions and compositions of solid phases in the surrounding mantle. In our experiments, magma focusing was supposed to occur instantaneously at a pressure of 1.25 GPa. We first determined the equilibrium melt composition of a fertile mantle (FM) at 1.25 GPa-1,310°C; this composition was then synthesised as a gel and added in various proportions to peridotite FM to simulate focusing factors Ω equal to 3 and 6 (Ω = 3 means that the total mass of liquid in the system increased by a factor of 3 due to focusing). Peridotite FM and the two basalt-enriched compositions were equilibrated at 1 GPa-1,290°C; 0.75 GPa-1,270°C; 0.5 GPa-1,250°C, to monitor the evolution of phase proportions and compositions during adiabatic decompression melting. Our main results may be summarised as follows: (1) magma focusing induces major changes of the coefficients of the decompression melting reaction, in particular, a major increase of the rate of opx consumption, which lead to complete exhaustion of orthopyroxene (and clinopyroxene) and the formation of a dunitic residue. A focusing factor of ≈4—that is, a magma/rock ratios equal to ≈0.26—is sufficient to produce a dunite at 0.5 GPa. (2) Liquids in equilibrium with olivine (±spinel) at low pressure (0.5 GPa) have lower SiO₂ concentrations, and higher concentrations in MgO, FeO, and incompatible elements (Na₂O, K₂O, TiO₂) than liquids produced by decompression melting of the fertile mantle, and plot in the primitive MORB field in the olivine–silica–diopside–plagioclase tetrahedron. Our study confirms that there is a genetic relationship between focused magma transport, dunite bodies in the upper mantle, and the generation of primitive MORBs.     

Initialisation and predictability of the AMOC over the last 50 years in a climate model

The mechanisms involved in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) decadal variability and predictability over the last 50 years are analysed in the IPSL–CM5A–LR model using historical and initialised simulations. The initialisation procedure only uses nudging towards sea surface temperature anomalies with a physically based restoring coefficient. When compared to two independent AMOC reconstructions, both the historical and nudged ensemble simulations exhibit skill at reproducing AMOC variations from 1977 onwards, and in particular two maxima occurring respectively around 1978 and 1997. We argue that one source of skill is related to the large Mount Agung volcanic eruption starting in 1963, which reset an internal 20-year variability cycle in the North Atlantic in the model. This cycle involves the East Greenland Current intensity, and advection of active tracers along the subpolar gyre, which leads to an AMOC maximum around 15 years after the Mount Agung eruption. The 1997 maximum occurs approximately 20 years after the former one. The nudged simulations better reproduce this second maximum than the historical simulations. This is due to the initialisation of a cooling of the convection sites in the 1980s under the effect of a persistent North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) positive phase, a feature not captured in the historical simulations. Hence we argue that the 20-year cycle excited by the 1963 Mount Agung eruption together with the NAO forcing both contributed to the 1990s AMOC maximum. These results support the existence of a 20-year cycle in the North Atlantic in the observations. Hindcasts following the CMIP5 protocol are launched from a nudged simulation every 5 years for the 1960–2005 period. They exhibit significant correlation skill score as compared to an independent reconstruction of the AMOC from 4-year lead-time average. This encouraging result is accompanied by increased correlation skills in reproducing the observed 2-m air temperature in the bordering regions of the North Atlantic as compared to non-initialized simulations. To a lesser extent, predicted precipitation tends to correlate with the nudged simulation in the tropical Atlantic. We argue that this skill is due to the initialisation and predictability of the AMOC in the present prediction system. The mechanisms evidenced here support the idea of volcanic eruptions as a pacemaker for internal variability of the AMOC. Together with the existence of a 20-year cycle in the North Atlantic they propose a novel and complementary explanation for the AMOC variations over the last 50 years.     

Dihedral angle measurements and infiltration property of SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-rich melts in mantle peridotite assemblages

Petrological and experimental studies demonstrated that nepheline-normative, SiO₂-rich melts can be present in the upper mantle at pressures 1.5 GPa. To evaluate the role of such melts in mantle processes and magma genesis, we carried out two types of experiments: (1) melt distribution experiments to characterize the grain-scale distribution of a small fraction of typical SiO₂-rich mantle melt (SRMM) in polycrystalline olivine (Ol) at 1,180°C, 1.2 GPa; and (2) an infiltration experiment to test the ability of SRMM to impregnate and metasomatise neighbouring non-molten mantle rocks. The median dihedral angles at Ol-Ol-SRMM contacts are equal to 50°, implying that melt should be interconnected at all melt fractions. Complications arise, however, in the investigated system because Ol–liquid interfacial energy is anisotropic, and we estimate that the connectivity threshold in the SRMM–Ol system is 0.3 vol%. Regarding the very low volume fraction of SRMM in peridotites, we conclude that these melts either occur as isolated pockets or form a network of grain edge channels with a low degree of connectivity due to a large number of dry grain edges. Even in the case where an interconnected network exists, their large viscosities should prohibit the extraction of SRMM from peridotite sources. The infiltration experiment also points to a very reduced mobility of SRMM in the upper mantle. In this experiment, a slice of synthetic dunite was immersed into a magma reservoir made of 60 wt% SRMM+40 wt% Ol, and subjected to 1,180°C-1.2 GPa for 113 h: despite this long duration, the SiO₂-rich liquid was unable to infiltrate measurably the dunite. Our experiments do not support the hypothesis that SRMM represent agents of mantle metasomatism.