On the X-ray image of the Crab nebula: comparison with Chandra observations

An axisymmetric model for the Crab nebula is constructed to examine the flow dynamics in the nebula. The model is based on that of Kennel & Coroniti, although we assume that the kinetic-energy-dominant wind is confined to an equatorial region. The evolution of the distribution function of the electron–positron plasma flowing out in the nebula is calculated. Given viewing angles, we reproduce an image of the nebula and compare it with the Chandra observation.
The reproduced image is not ring-like, but is rather 'lip-shaped'. It is found that the assumption of a toroidal field does not reproduce the Chandra image. We must assume that there is a disordered magnetic field with an amplitude as large as the mean toroidal field. In addition, the brightness contrast between the front and back sides of the ring cannot be reproduced if we assume that the magnetization parameter σ is as small as ∼10⁻³. The brightness profile along the semimajor axis of the torus is also examined. The non-dissipative, ideal-magnetohydrodynamic approximation in the nebula appears to break down.
We speculate that if the magnetic energy is released by some process that produces a turbulent field in the nebula flow and causes heating and acceleration – for example, by magnetic reconnection – then the present difficulties may be resolved (i.e. we can reproduce a ring image and a higher brightness contrast). Thus, the magnetization parameter σ can be larger than previously expected.     

Tourist preferences for agricultural landscapes: a case study of terraced paddy fields in Noto Peninsula,Japan

Many agricultural landscapes have been formed through the interaction and co-evolution of nature and people, and represent the living landscapes shaped over time through intensive and continuous human cultivation. Terraced paddy fields are being re-evaluated to take into account the multiple functions they fill beyond only rice cultivation, particularly their contribution to the national biodiversity strategy of Japan. Since the 1990s, terraced paddy fields have been considered a representative cultural landscape of Japan and, at the same time, multi-stakeholder conservation activities have been conducted throughout Japan to reverse the increasing abandonment of terraces. Shiroyone Senmaida is an outstanding cultural landscape and a major tourist attraction in Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was designated through an initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) pilot site in 2011. It is important to clarify tourist preference for terraced paddy field landscapes to contribute to future policy making toward improved agricultural landscape conservation. A key finding of this study is that tourists visiting to enjoy the agricultural landscape are also concerned on the sustainability of the farming methods and preferred to maintain the naturalness of the landscape. Respondents with higher educational levels and greater concern for the biological and traditional farming knowledge aspects of the rice terraces were also more inclined to favor sustainable farming practices. Tourists preferred to maintain the naturalness and rurality of the agricultural landscape, and indicated that construction of excessive tourist facilities would cause the landscape to deteriorate. It was suggested that the local community and surroundings, including rural settlements, hills, and forests, should also be conserved together with the scenic terrace.     

Reconstructions of annual discharge and equilibrium line altitude of glaciers at Qilian Shan,northwest China,from 1978 to 2002

Discharge was calculated from a mountainous area, including discharge from glaciers, in the Qilian Shan (Qilian Mountains) of northwest China. The studied Yingluoxia basin is 9983 km² in area, with glaciers making up 0·3% of the basin. The calculation method was based on the heat balance, requiring only daily temperature and precipitation. Calculated annual discharge from the basin corresponded well with the observed data. Calculated annual discharge from glaciers was 3·6% of the total discharge from the basin. The temporal trend of the calculated equilibrium line altitude (ELA) at the July 1st Glacier (western side of the Yingluoxia basin) was similar to that of the observed ELA. The calculated annual mass balance of glaciers within the Yingluoxia basin has a larger negative value than the other glaciers in China, as the ratio of accumulation area to the total glacier area in the Yingluoxia basin is much lower than in neighbouring basins to the west. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing in the Sea of Okhotsk during late summer of 2006

The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the most productive marine basins in the world ocean and plays an important role in transport of organic carbon and iron to the western subarctic Pacific. We report the first measurements of phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing rates in the Sea of Okhotsk, in late summer of 2006. The study area can be divided into two areas: nutrient-sufficient waters on the continental shelf along the east coast of Sakhalin Island and in the vicinity of Bussol Strait, and surface nutrient-depleted waters beyond the shelf break and in the vicinity of Sakhalin Bay. Phytoplankton growth rate in the studied area was strongly affected by nutrient availability, with high phytoplankton growth rate (0.55±0.14 d^?1) in the nutrient-replete region and severely depressed growth (0.03±0.05 d^?1) in the nutrient-depleted region. On the other hand, microzooplankton grazing rates in both the nutrient-replete and nutrient-depleted regions were approximately the same (0.26±0.20 d^?1 vs. 0.27±0.24 d^?1). Consequently, microzooplankton grazing consumed <50% of the phytoplankton growth in nutrient-rich waters but >3 times the phytoplankton growth in nutrient-depleted waters. Phytoplankton physiological condition as measured by the maximum photochemical quantum efficiency (F_v/F_m) of algal photosystem II (PS II) showed a general trend in agreement with the in situ growth rate of phytoplankton. In contrast to the phytoplankton community, picophytoplankton, especially the cyanobacteria Synechococcus, showed no nutrient effect on their growth, and the growth and mortality rates were well balanced, suggesting that they have a low nutrient requirement and their biomass was controlled principally by microzooplankton grazing.     

The Town Effect: Dynamic Interaction between a Group of Structures and Waves in the Ground

In a conventional approach, the mechanical behaviour of a structure subjected to seismic or blast waves is treated separately from its surroundings, and in many cases, the dynamic coupling effect between multiple structures and the waves propagating in the ground is disregarded. However, if many structures are built densely in a developed urban area, this dynamic interaction may not become negligible. The first purpose of this contribution is to briefly show the effect of multiple interactions between waves and surface buildings in a town. The analysis is based on a recently developed, fully coupled, rigorous mathematical study, and for simplicity, each building in the town is represented by a rigid foundation, a mass at the top and an elastic spring that connects the foundation and mass. The buildings stand at regular spatial intervals on a linear elastic half-space and are subjected to two-dimensional anti-plane vibrations. It is found that the buildings in this model significantly interact with each other through the elastic ground, and the resonant (eigen) frequencies of the collective system (buildings or town) become lower than that of a single building with the same rigid foundation. This phenomenon may be called the “town effect” or “city effect.” Then, second, it is shown that the actual, unique structural damage pattern caused by the 1976 Friuli, Italy, earthquake may better be explained by this “town effect,” rather than by investigating the seismic performance of each damaged building individually. The results suggest that it may also be possible to evaluate the physical characteristics of incident seismic/blast waves “inversely” from the damage patterns induced to structures by the waves.     

Variation of precipitation δ18O in Langtang Valley Himalayas

The variation of the δ¹⁸O in precipitation and the relationship with precipitation amount at Kyangjin Base House and Yala Glacier Camp in Langtang Valley, Nepal Himalayas were analyzed. The variations of the δ¹⁸O with precipitation had great scatter, and the correlations between the δ¹⁸O and precipitation changed with time on the synoptic scale. On the seasonal scale, there was marked amount effect at Kyangjin Base House. However, the δ¹⁸O-precipitation gradient was smaller than that on the synoptic scale. Because of the maintenance of the basic equilibrium between stable isotopic compositions in atmospheric vapor and precipitation, the evaporation enrichment was light during the rainy season. Therefore, the variation of stable isotopic compositions in precipitation was independent on the sampling intervals. Simulations show that the rainfall in Langtang Valley was not the outcome of the initial condensation of ocean vapor that originated from low latitudes. The stable isotopic compositions in precipitation were greatly depleted due to the strong rainout of the vapor from oceans as the vapor was raised over the Himalayas.     

How faithfully will the geostrophic currents represent the existing ocean currents?

It is widely recognized that the geostrophic flows computed by the dynamic method of Bjerknes and collaborators represent the actual currents pretty faithfully. However, what would be the reason that a geostrophic current derived by only retaining the terms of Coriolis and the pressure gradient forces in the hydrodynamical equations agrees so closely with the actual ocean current of the same area? In this attempt was assumed an imaginative ocean of homogeneous water and uniform depth on a rotating earth but with neither continent nor islands. The average wind distribution observed along several meridians over the Pacific Ocean was assumed to prevail in this sea throughout with no variation in east-west direction. Taking the curvature of the earth surface, rotation of the earth, Coriolis forces, pressure gradients and the horizontal and vertical eddy viscosity into account, the equations of motion were solved and velocity components were derived for all latitudes. A comparison of the east-west components thus obtained with the corresponding components of the geostrophic flows, reveals that they agree well in higher latitudes but there appears a remarkable disagreement in lower latitudes. This means that a special care must be taken in replacing the existing currents with the geostrophic flows at lower latitudes.     

Modeling Local Tidal Constituents Using TOPEX/POSEIDON SSH for the Malaysian Marine Region

A new Local Ocean Tide Model, has been produced for the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Malaysia, which incorporates some of the latest TOPEX/POSEIDON data for the years 1992 to 1998. Local tide gauge data are used as a comparison, along with another leading Global Ocean Tide Model, Ori96. The leading diurnal and semidiurnal constituents M₂, S₂, N₂, K₁, O₁, P₁ and Q₁ are reproduced using TOPEX/POSEIDON Sea Surface Heights (SSH) in a response analysis type least squares derivation following Munk and Cartwright (1966).     

Possible source of the antarctic bottom water in the Prydz Bay Region

It has been inferred that the Prydz Bay region is one of the source regions of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) based on rather indirect evidence. In order to examine this inference, we investigate the hydrographic condition of the bay based mainly on XCTD data obtained during the Japanese Whale Research Program in the Antarctic (JARPA). The JARPA hydrographic data reveal Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW), which is a salty, warm water mass approaching the shelf break, and capture Modified CDW (MCDW) intruding into the shelf water. AABW production requires mixing of CDW and cold shelf water saltier than 34.6 psu, which is a saltier type of Low Salinity Shelf Water (LSSW). Saltier LSSW is observed near the bottom over the shelf, being mixed with MCDW. We further identify saltier LSSW near the shelf break. This saltier LSSW appears close enough to unmodified CDW to be mixed with it over the continental slope, indicating a possible source of AABW in Prydz Bay.