Photometric observations of 107P/Wilson-Harrington

We present lightcurve observations and multiband photometry for 107P/Wilson-Harrington using five small- and medium-sized telescopes. The lightcurve has shown a periodicity of 0.2979 day (7.15 h) and 0.0993 day (2.38 h), which has a commensurability of 3:1. The physical properties of the lightcurve indicate two models: (1) 107P/Wilson-Harrington is a tumbling object with a sidereal rotation period of 0.2979 day and a precession period of 0.0993 day. The shape has a long axis mode (LAM) of L₁:L₂:L₃ = 1.0:1.0:1.6. The direction of the total rotational angular momentum is around λ = 310°, β = −10°, or λ = 132°, β = −17°. The nutation angle is approximately constant at 65°. (2) 107P/Wilson-Harrington is not a tumbler. The sidereal rotation period is 0.2979 day. The shape is nearly spherical but slightly hexagonal with a short axis mode (SAM) of L₁:L₂:L₃ = 1.5:1.5:1.0. The pole orientation is around λ = 330°, β = −27°. In addition, the model includes the possibility of binary hosting. For both models, the sense of rotation is retrograde. Furthermore, multiband photometry indicates that the taxonomy class of 107P/Wilson-Harrington is C-type. No clear rotational color variations are confirmed on the surface.     

Observations and modeling of the ice-ocean conditions in the coastal Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas include several important hydrological features： inflow of the Pacific water, Alaska coast current （ ACC ）, the seasonal to perennial sea ice cover, and landfast ice ＇along the Alaskan coast. The dynamics of this coupled ice-ocean system is important for both regional scale oceanography and large-scale global climate change research. A mumber of moorings were deployed in the area by JAMSTEC since 1992, and the data revealed highly variable characteristics of the hydrological environment. A regional high-resolution coupled ice-ocean model of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas was established to simulate the ice-ocean environment and unique seasonal landfast ice in the coastal Beaufort Sea. The model results reproduced the Beaufort gyre and the ACC. The depthaveraged annual mean ocean currents along the Beaufort Sea coast and shelf hreak compared well with data from four moored ADCPs, but the simulated velocity had smaller standard deviations, which indicate small-scale eddies were frequent in the region. The model resuits captured the sea,real variations of sea ice area as compared with remote sensing data, and the simulated sea ice velocity showed an ahnost stationary area along the Beaufort Sea coast that was similar to the observed landfast ice extent. It is the combined effects of the weak oceanic current near the coast, a prevailing wind with an onshore component, the opposite direction of the ocean current, and the blocking hy the coastline that make the Beaufort Sea coastal areas prone to the formation of landfast ice.