Seasonal changes of the South American monsoon system during the Mid-Holocene in the CMIP5 simulations

The South American Monsoon System (SAMS) is a major climatic feature of South America, and its domain extends from Amazon to La Plata basin. The SAMS region is vulnerable to variations of climate and precipitation patterns, which could impact economic activities and lead to potential societal consequences. In the face of a warming future scenario, the importance of the study of the past climate with numerical simulations is to evaluate the climate models and to assure the reliability of future projections. Here we investigate the Mid-Holocene SAMS, evaluating changes in strength, life cycle and associated dynamical mechanisms in ten Earth System Models simulations. Our results show that the SAMS was weaker in the Mid-Holocene than in the pre-industrial climate in December–January–February (DJF), but stronger in September–October–November (SON). This is probably a consequence of insolation variations in the Mid-Holocene, which contributed to changes in the moisture flux from the Atlantic Ocean to the continent, the strength of the upper-level atmospheric circulation, and the amount of precipitation over the SAMS region. Moreover, we suggest that the life cycle of the SAMS was altered during the Mid-Holocene, with an earlier onset and demise. Our results also indicate that Mid-Holocene SAMS changes are connected to precipitation variations near Northeast Brazil, in a dipole configuration of precipitation between western Amazon and Northeast Brazil, due to the influence of the Walker cell. Finally, this study highlights a need for improvement of the numerical models to better simulate the amount of precipitation over South America and the upper-level circulation over western Amazon in SON, which are crucial factors for a more realistic representation of the SAMS.     

Solar vector magnetograms of the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory

The title instrument is mounted on the 65 cm solar Coudé telescope at the Okayama observatory. Observation is usually of the Fei 5250 Å line. The data obtained are briefly described.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.     

A study of Mg and K isotopes in Allende CAIs: Implications to the time scale for the multiple heating processes

Abstract— The measurements of magnesium and potassium isotopic compositions of refractory minerals in Allende calcium‐aluminum‐rich inclusions (CAIs), 7R‐19–1, HN3–1, and EGG3 were taken by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The 7R‐19–1 contains ¹⁶O‐rich and ¹⁶O‐poor melilite grains and define a single isochron corresponding to an initial ²⁶Al/²⁷Al ratio of (6.6 ± 1.3) × 10^?5. The Al‐Mg isochron, O isotope measurements and petrography of melilite in 7R‐19–1 indicate that ¹⁶O‐poor melilite crystallized within 0.4 Myr after crystallization of ¹⁶O‐rich melilite, suggesting that oxygen isotopic composition of the CAI‐forming region changed from ¹⁶O‐rich to ¹⁶O‐poor within this time interval. The ¹⁶O‐poor melilite is highly depleted in K compared to the adjacent ¹⁶O‐rich melilite, indicating evaporation during remelting of 7R‐19–1. We determined the isochron for ⁴¹Ca‐⁴¹K isotopic systematics in EGG3 pyroxene with (4.1 ± 2.0) × 10^?9 (2s?) as an initial ratio of ⁴¹Ca/⁴⁰Ca, which is at least two times smaller than the previous result (Sahijipal et al. 2000). The ratio of ⁴¹Ca/⁴⁰Ca in the EGG3 pyroxene grain agrees within error with the value obtained by Hutcheon et al. (1984). No evidence for the presence of ⁴¹K excess (decay product of a short‐lived radionuclide ⁴¹Ca) was found in 7R‐19–1 and HN3–1. We infer that the CAI had at least an order of magnitude lower than canonical ⁴¹Ca/⁴⁰Ca ratio at the time of the CAI formation.     

Particle acceleration in the 1981 April 1 flare

The large microwave burst of 1981 April 1, which was accompanied by both hard X-ray and γ-ray emissions, was analyzed to study the acceleration of particles in the impulsive phase. The analysis suggests the following results. (1) Electrons were accelerated up to energies of several hundred keV in a low loop. On the other hand, electrons were accelerated to relativistic energy without injection of pre-accelerated electrons near the top of a large loop where energetic ions were also probably accelerated. (2) The mechanism for accelerating electrons to relativistic energy and also ions was different from that for accelerating electrons up to energies of several hundred KeV and was closely related with upward motion of a flare loop.     

Gas capture and rare gas retention by accreting planets in the solar nebula

In this paper, the physico-chemical effects of the nebula gas on the planets are reviewed from a standpoint of planetary formation in the solar nebula.The proto-Earth growing in the nebula was surrounded by a primordial atmosphere with a solar chemical composition and solar isotopic composition. When the mass of the proto-Earth was greater than 0.3 times the present Earth mass, the surface was molten because of the blanketing effect of the atmosphere. Therefore, the primordial rare gasses contained in the primordial atmosphere dissolved into the molten Earth material without fractionation and in particular the dissolved neon is expected to be conserved in the present Earth material. Hence, if dissolved neon with a solar isotopic ratio is discovered in the Earth material, it will indicate that the Earth was formed in the nebula and that the dissolved rare gases were one of the sources which degassed to form the present atmosphere.     

Ultraviolet absorbers in the Venus clouds

Some absorption features in the ultraviolet spectrum of Venus observed by the OAO-2 cannot be interpreted in terms of H₂SO₄. Carbon suboxide polymer has a yellow colour and absorption at 2000 Å. Fine graphite grains have an absorption band at about 2175 Å as is well known in the case of the interstellar extinction curves. A mixture of these substances which is inevitably formed in the Venus atmosphere by photochemical reactions is the best candidate for explaining the Venus absorption features in the ultraviolet.     

Ion chemistry in the cometary atmosphere

Dirty ice of a second kind (major components, H₂O, CO, and N₂; minor components less than several percents, NH₃, CH₄, and other organic substances such as HCN, CH₃CN etc.) is assumed for the composition of volatiles in the cometary nucleus. The consistency with the observations of molecular ions and daughter molecules in the cometary atmosphere is argued by taking into account various ion-molecular reactions and dissociative recombinations. There is a satisfactory agreement for the second kind of dirty-ice model, but the presence of large amounts of CH₄ and NH₃ is found to be rather in contradiction with observational evidence. A velocity of 8 km s^?1 for the hydrogen atoms, derived from analysis of the hydrogen Lyman-alpha corona around comets, is found from the dissociative recombination of H₃O⁺, the dominant constituent of cometary ionosphere, in accordance with H₃O⁺+e ^?→OH+H+H.     

The definition of the ecliptic

The ecliptic as a mean orbital plane of the Sun in Le Verrier's theory is a mean orbital plane determined from the secular parts of the longitude of the ascending node and the inclination of the Sun with respect to a reference plane. On the other hand, the ecliptic in Newcomb's theory is so chosen that the latitude with respect to his ecliptic does not have cosg nor sing whereg is the mean anomaly of the Sun. The two definitions are really different in spite of their apparent similarity. Standish (1981) defined the ecliptic from a kinematical point of view, and it is shown that the ecliptic defined by Standish (in the rotating sense) does coincide with the ecliptic defined by Newcomb.     

Location and parameters of a microwave millisecond spike event

A typical microwave millisecond spike event on November 2, 1997 was observed by the radio spectrograph of National Astronomical Observatories (NAOs) at 2.6–3.8 GHz with high time and frequency resolution. This event was also recorded by Nobeyama Radio Polarimeters (NoRP) at 1–35 GHz and Radio Heliograph (NoRH) at 17 GHz. The source at 17 GHz is located in one foot-point of a small bright coronal loop of YOHKOH SXT and SOHO EIT images with strong photospheric magnetic field in SOHO MDI magnetograph. It is assumed that the electron cyclotron maser instability and gyro-resonance absorption dominate, respectively, the rising and decay phase of the spike event. For different harmonic number of gyro-frequency or magnetic field strength, a fitting program with free plasma parameters is used to minimize the difference between the observational and theoretical values of the exponential growth and decay rates for a given spike. The plasma parameters at third harmonic number are more comparable to their typical values in solar corona. Hence, it is able to provide a diagnosis for the source parameters (magnetic field, density, and temperature), the properties of radiations (wave vector and propagation angle), and the properties of non-thermal electrons (density, pitch angle, and energy). The results are also comparable with the diagnosis of the gyro-synchrotron radiation model, the frequency drift rates and a dipole magnetic field model, as well as the YOHKOH SXT and SOHO MDI data. This study is supported by the NFSC project nos. 10333030 and 10273025, and “973” program with no. G2000078403.