On the cooling of the moon by solid convection

If a molten, or partially molten, lunar core exists at present, constraints would be placed on the viscosity of the solid mantle and the distribution of radioactive heat sources. Models in which the heat sources have been concentrated near the surface would rapidly solidify if the effective viscosity was equal to, or less than, 10²² cm² s⁻¹. Retention of most of the heat sources throughout the mantle would permit present day solid convection to occur without cooling the core.     

A new interpretation of the Venera 11 spectra of Venus: I. The 0.94-μm water band

Band models for CO₂ and H₂O absorption are described, and used to model the Venera 11 spectra near 1 μm. An effective-path approximation is used to allow for scattering in the clouds. The model has 10 layers and uses 211 CO₂ and 15 H₂O vibrational transitions, at 5 cm^? resolution. Within a factor of 2, a maximum absorption in the 0.94-μm H₂O band just below the clouds, corresponding to 200 ppm by volume, in agreement with V. I. Moroz, N. A. Parfen'ev, and N. F. San'ko (1979, Cosmic Res. 17, 601–614) is found. More accurate band strenghts are needed to model the bottom scale height accurately. The possibility that the 0.94-μm feature is blended with a band of some other molecule has been examined. Ten possible chemical species were examined, with negative results.     

Radar and photoelectric observations of asteroid 2100 Ra-Shalom

Results of 13-cm-wavelength radar observations and V-filter photoelectric observations of Ra- Shalom during its 1981 Aug–Sep apparition are reported. The radar data yid detections of echoes in the same sense of circular polarization as transmitted (i.e., the SC sense) as well as in the opposite (OC) sense. The estimate of the ratio of SC to OC echo power, μ_c = 0.14 ± 0.02, indicates that most, but certainly not all, of the backscattering is due to single reflections from surface elements that are fairly smooth at decimeter scales. The value obtained for the OC radar cross section on Aug 26 (1.2 ± 0.3 km²) is about three times larger than those obtained on Aug 23, 24, and 25. The echo bandwidth appears to be within about 1.5 Hz of 5.0 Hz on each date. The photoelectric data suggest a value, P_syn = 19.79 hr, for the synodic rotation period, and yield a composite lightcurve with two pairs of extrema. Combining this value for P_syn with a firm lower bound (4 Hz) on the maximum echo bandwidth yields a lower bound of 1.4 km on the maximum distance between Ra-Shalom's spin axis and any point on its surface.     

Factors affecting outbreaks of high-density Cochlodinium polykrikoides red tides in the coastal seawaters around Yeosu and Tongyeong, Korea

Red tides caused by the dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides occur annually in coastal waters of Korea, causing significant damage. A distinguishing characteristic of C. polykrikoides red tides is that they develop and persist in the open sea, where the water is comparatively clean with little contamination from the shore. We examined the causes of and key nutrients involved in high-density C. polykrikoides red tide outbreaks in the coastal seawaters around Yeosu and Tongyeong, Korea. High-density C. polykrikoides red tides occur in the coastal areas of Geomo Island, where freshwater flows into the sea after heavy rainfall events. Red tides are widespread in years when rainfall is heavy. The maximum concentration of C. polykrikoides and the duration of the red tides increase with increasing rainfall. Adding nitrogen and Seomjin River water to cultures of C. polykrikoides also increases biomass production and cell density of C. polykrikoides remarkably increased after heavy rainfall events. The occurrence of high concentrations of C. polykrikoides along the shores of Yeosu and Tongyeong seems to result from rainfall-initiated inflows of high concentrations of nitrate secondarily, after a conducive physical and chemical open-water environment has been established for C. polykrikoides to spread initially.     

Effects of high-resolution land cover and topography on local circulations in two different coastal regions of Korea: a numerical modeling study

The effects of high-resolution land cover (LC) and topography (TP) on coastal wind circulations were evaluated in two different coastal regions of Korea (i.e. a southwestern coast (SWC), including a fairly complex coastline and a number of islands, and an eastern coast (EC), including a simple coastline with high mountains) during spring 2007. These analyses were performed based on a numerical modeling approach, using data sets with different resolutions, such as the LC and TP from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS-LC and USGS-TP: a 900-m resolution), the LC from the Environmental Geographic Information System (EGIS-LC: a 90-m), and the TP from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM-TP: a 90-m). The combined effects of the LC and TP on the spatial distributions of the coastal winds in the SWC region during the day were somewhat higher than those of the EC region, mainly due to the daytime land surface warming or the extension of the coastal area resulting from changes in the LC. At night, the effects of the EC region were more apparent along the coastline and adjacent sea. From the correlation analyses, the effect of the LC on the vertical wind distributions on land during the day was higher in the SWC region than in the EC region and vice versa for the effect of the TP. In particular, large effects of the LC and TP occurred in the EC region at night and at sea due to the differences in the surface conditions and elevations resulting from the changes in the LC and TP, respectively. In addition, the circulation of coastal winds from the near surface to the upper levels occurred at a relatively high elevation in the EC region (about 1,500?m) relative to the SWC region (about 600?m).     

A robust sequential CO2 emissions strategy based on optimal control of atmospheric CO2 concentrations

This paper formally introduces the concept of mitigation as a stochastic control problem. This is illustrated by applying a digital state variable feedback control approach known as Non-Minimum State Space (NMSS) control to the problem of specifying carbon emissions to control atmospheric CO₂ concentrations in the presence of uncertainty. It is shown that the control approach naturally lends itself to integrating both anticipatory and reflexive mitigation strategies within a single unified framework. The framework explicitly considers the closed-loop nature of climate mitigation, and employs a policy orientated optimisation procedure to specify the properties of this closed-loop system. The product of this exercise is a control law that is suitably conditioned to regulate atmospheric CO₂ concentrations through assimilating online information within a 25-year review cycle framework. It is shown that the optimal control law is also robust when faced with significant levels of uncertainty about the functioning of the global carbon cycle.     

Ternary forecast of heavy snowfall in the Honam area,Korea

The objective of this study is to improve the statistical modeling for the ternary forecast of heavy snowfall in the Honam area in Korea. The ternary forecast of heavy snowfall consists of one of three values, 0 for less than 50 mm, 1 for an advisory (50–150 mm), and 2 for a warning (more than 150 mm). For our study, the observed daily snow amounts and the numerical model outputs for 45 synoptic factors at 17 stations in the Honam area during 5 years (2001 to 2005) are used as observations and potential pre...     

New dinosaur tracks from Korea, Ornithopodichnus masanensis ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. (Jindong Formation, Lower Cretaceous): implications for polarities in ornithopod foot morphology

Twelve trackways of ornithopods from Lower Cretaceous lacustrine margin deposits of the Jindong Formation represent new dinosaur trackways described from Korea. The site, discovered during highway construction, was rescued by removing the most important trackways to the Korean Natural Heritage Center in Daejeon, where they are on permanent display. The new ichnotaxon Ornithopodichnus masanensis ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. is recognized as a distinctive robust tridactyl track, slightly wider than long (l/w ratio = 0.91), with positive (inward) rotation. The toe prints are very thick, broad and U-shaped, resulting in a trefoil outline with a smoothly rounded hind margin. Digit III is short and projects anteriorly much less than digit II and IV (= weak mesaxony). Divarication of digits II-IV is about 70° with interdigital angle II-III larger than III-IV. Trackway width is narrow and the stride length/track length ratio is about 4.2–4.6. The Ornithopodichnus trackways evidently represent gregarious blunt-toed Iguanodon-like bipedal ornithopods, although poorly preserved manus traces are discerned in a few trackways. Ornithopodichnus is distinct from other well known iguanodontid tracks that display much stronger mesaxony and indicates a polarity in ornithopod foot morphology that can be verified by reference to known foot skeletons.     

Model-based remote sensing algorithms for particulate organic carbon (POC) in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Hydrographic data, including particulate organic carbon (POC) from the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico (NEGOM) study, were combined with remotely-sensed SeaWiFS data to estimate POC concentration using principal component analysis (PCA). The spectral radiance was extracted at each NEGOM station, digitized, and averaged. The mean value and spurious trends were removed from each spectrum. De-trended data included six wavelengths at 58 stations. The correlation between the weighting factors of the first six eigenvectors and POC concentration were applied using multiple linear regression. PCA algorithms based on the first three, four, and five modes accounted for 90, 95, and 98% of total variance and yielded significant correlations with POC with R ² = 0.89, 0.92, and 0.93. These full waveband approaches provided robust estimates of POC in various water types. Three different analyses (root mean square error, mean ratio and standard deviation) showed similar error estimates, and suggest that spectral variations in the modes defined by just the first four characteristic vectors are closely correlated with POC concentration, resulting in only negligible loss of spectral information from additional modes. The use of POC algorithms greatly increases the spatial and temporal resolution for interpreting POC cycling and can be extrapolated throughout and perhaps beyond the area of shipboard sampling.     

Analysis of energetic electron drop-outs in the upper atmosphere of Titan during flybys in the dayside magnetosphere of Saturn

We discuss the high energy electron absorption signatures at Titan during the Cassini dayside magnetospheric encounters. We use the electron measurements of the Low Energy Measurement System of the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument. We also examine the mass loading boundary based on the ion data of the Ion Mass Spectrometer sensor of the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer. The dynamic motion of the Kronian magnetopause and the periodic charged particle flux and magnetic field variations – associated with the magnetodisk of Saturn – of the subcorotating magnetospheric plasma creates a unique and complex environment at Titan. Most of the analysed flybys (like T25–T33 and T35–T51) cluster at similar Saturn Local Time positions. However the instantaneous direction of the incoming magnetospheric particles may change significantly from flyby to flyby due to the very different magnetospheric field conditions which are found upstream of Titan within the sets of encounters.The energetic magnetospheric electrons gyrate along the magnetic field lines of Saturn, and at the same time bounce between the mirror points of the magnetosphere. This motion is combined with the drift of the magnetic field lines. When these flux tubes interact with the upper atmosphere of Titan, their content is depleted over approximately an electron bounce period. These depletion signatures are observed as sudden drop-outs of the electron fluxes. We examined the altitude distribution of these drop-outs and concluded that these mostly detected in the exo-ionosphere of Titan and sometimes within the ionosphere.However there is a relatively significant scatter in the orbit to orbit data, which can be attributed to the which can be attributed to the variability of the plasma environment and as a consequence, the induced magnetosphere of Titan. A weak trend between the incoming electron fluxes and the measured drop-out altitudes has also been observed.