Photoelectric observations of long-period RS CVn binary CQ aurigae

Long-period RS CVn-type binary CQ Aur was observed in 1987 and 1988.B andV light curves for the 1987 and 1988 epochs have been analyzed for the photometric solution by the modified Wilson and Devinney computing code with adjustable spot parameters. One-spot fit is good enough for the 1987 epoch while a wider distribution of spots in longitude is required for the 1988 epoch. The spot covers approximately 3% of total surface area of the cooler component. Absolute dimensions were deduced by combining Popper's spectroscopic results. The volume of the cooler component is approximately 100 times larger than that of the hotter component. Both components are subgiants but the cooler component evolved more than the hotter component.     

ARD generation and corrosion potential of exposed roadside rockmass at Boeun and Mujoo,South Korea

Acid rock drainage (ARD) is a longstanding problem often associated with the resulting corrosion due to the acidity generated from sulfidic oxidation. To evaluate characteristics of ARD and corrosion, samples from the road side rock mass of Boeun and Mujoo were analysed using X-ray diffraction, acid/base accounting and Leaching tests. The results indicated that many samples had a pyritic origin and can be regarded as acid-generating rocks. The Leaching test showed that the average pH of the leachates of samples from both Boeun and Mujoo were moderately acidic, ranging from 3 to 4. Interestingly, as acidity increases from pH 4, the SO₄₋, Fe, Al and Mg concentrations increase abnormally. Samples from roadside slope of Mujoo showed high corrosive potential. Maximum sulfide oxidation rate of a sample taken from Mujoo was as high as 5,166 mg/kg/week.     

香港花岗岩地貌地质旅游的开发

地质旅游利用现有的地质资源，以一种崭新的角度去发展可持续性的旅游景点。香港地少人多，发展旅游吸引点是极度困难的。香港陆地约有30％为花岗岩覆盖，其中的一半已在城市之下，其余的则拥有相当吸引人的地质景象，有极大潜力发展地质旅游。除吸引地质生态有关游客外，在花岗岩地区开发地质旅游，更容易普及地球科学，同时增强公众对地质地貌之欣赏能力，提高环保及地质保护意识。不过，于香港花岗岩区发展地质旅游所遇到的困难亦不少，主要来自规划、行政及安全的问题，当中需要政府、地区民众及地质旅游工作者并肩合作，寻求最佳解决方法。     

Performance of a real‐time pseudodynamic test system considering nonlinear structural response

This paper presents the implementation details of a real‐time pseudodynamic test system that adopts an implicit time integration scheme. The basic configuration of the system is presented. Physical tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the system and validate a theoretical system model that incorporates the dynamics and nonlinearity of a test structure and servo‐hydraulic actuators, control algorithm, actuator delay compensation methods, and the flexibility of an actuator reaction system. The robustness and accuracy of the computational scheme under displacement control errors and severe structural softening are examined with numerical simulations using the model. Different delay compensation schemes have been implemented and compared. One of the schemes also compensates for the deformation of an actuator reaction system. It has been shown that the test method is able to attain a good performance in terms of numerical stability and accuracy. However, it has been shown that test results obtained with this method can underestimate the inelastic displacement drift when severe strain softening develops in a test structure. This can be attributed to the fact that the numerical damping effect introduced by convergence errors becomes more significant as a structure softens. In a real‐time test, a significant portion of the convergence errors is caused by the time delay in actuator response. Hence, a softening structure demands higher precision in displacement control. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seasonal variations in pCO2 and its controlling factors in surface seawater of the northern East China Sea

Surface partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂), temperature, salinity, nutrients, and chlorophyll a were measured in the East China Sea (ECS; 31°30′–34°00′N to 124°00′–127°30′E) in August 2003 (summer), May 2004 (spring), October 2004 (early fall), and November 2005 (fall). The warm and saline Tsushima Warm Current was observed in the eastern part of the survey area during four cruises, and relatively low salinity waters due to outflow from the Changjiang (Yangtze River) were observed over the western part of the survey area. Surface pCO₂ ranged from 236 to 445 μatm in spring and summer, and from 326 to 517 μatm in fall. Large pCO₂ (values >400 μatm) occurred in the western part of the study area in spring and fall, and in the eastern part in summer. A positive linear correlation existed between surface pCO₂ and temperature in the eastern part of the study area, where the Tsushima Warm Current dominates; this correlation suggests that temperature is the major factor controlling surface pCO₂ distribution in that area. In the western part of the study area, however, the main controlling factor is different and seasonally complex. There is large transport in this region of Changjiang Diluted Water in summer, causing low salinity and low pCO₂ values. The relationship between surface pCO₂ and water stability suggests that the amount of mixing and/or upwelling of CO₂-rich water might be the important process controlling surface pCO₂ levels during spring and fall in this shallow region. Sea–air CO₂ flux, based on the application of a Wanninkhof [1992. Relationship between wind speed and gas exchange over the ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research 97, 7373–7382] formula for gas transfer velocity and a set of monthly averaged satellite wind data, were −5.04±1.59, −2.52±1.81, 1.71±2.87, and 0.39±0.18 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹ in spring, summer, early fall, and fall, respectively, in the northern ECS. The ocean in this study area is therefore a carbon sink in spring and summer, but a weak source or in equilibrium with the atmosphere in fall. If the winter flux value is assumed to have been the mean of autumnal and vernal values, then the northern ECS absorbs about 0.013 Pg C annually. That result suggests that the northern ECS is a net sink for atmospheric CO₂, a result consistent with previous studies.     

Magnetospheric plasma motion during a sudden commencement

A sudden commencement occurred at 2348 UT on 15 February 1967, when the ATS-1 satellite was about 2 hr past local noon at a geocentric distance of 6.6R _E. Plasma was observed by the Suprathermal Ion Detector (SID) first to flow in the antisolar direction, as expected, but then to flow westward, for about 2 min, at about 50 km/sec. Analysis of ground magnetograms suggests that the surprising westward flow, which must have involved an electric field of about 10 mV/m at 6.6R _E, resulted from the ionosphere's reaction to the sudden commencement. Beginning about 2 min before the start of the westward flow at ATS-1, ground magnetometers near the foot of the ATS-1 field line typically recorded magnetic-field deflections of about 70 γ, to the northeast. No attempt is made in this paper to explain these ground observations. However, taking the ground observations, assuming a height-integrated Hall conductivity of 1 mho, and a standoff distance of 7.2R _E inferred from Explorer 33 solar-wind data, we derive a magnetospheric electric field that agrees in magnitude and direction with that required to produce the observed flow at ATS-1.