Vertical Distribution of Gelatinous Macroplankton in the North Pacific Observed by Manned Submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2

The vertical distribution of several medusa species in the Kurile-Kamtchatka region of the Pacific Ocean is described. Animals were observed in the light cone from deep-sea submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2 throughout the water column, from the surface to 5000–6000 m at four different sites. Bathy- and abyssopelagic species are noted along with the species living in an extremely wide depth range. A faunistic border is revealed at a depth of 3000 m. The contribution of gelatinous animals (medusae, siphonophores, salps) to the total deep-sea plankton biomass was estimated using a wire reference cube during nine dives in the highly productive areas of the northwest Pacific, eastern Pacific (California, Costa-Rica Dome), and subtropical oligotrophic areas. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Time-dependent ionization in the envelopes of type II supernovae at the photospheric phase

The importance of allowance for the time-dependent effect in the kinetics at the photospheric phase during a supernova explosion has been confirmed by several independent research groups. The time-dependent effect provides a higher degree of hydrogen ionization in comparison with the steadystate solutions and strengthens the Hα line in the resulting simulated spectrum, with the intensity of the effect increasing with time. However, some researchers argue that the time-dependent ionization effect is unimportant. Its allowance leads to an insignificant strengthening of Hα in their modeling only in the first days after explosion. We have demonstrated the importance of the time-dependent effect with the models of SN 1999em as an example using the new original LEVELS software package. The role of a number of factors that can weaken the time-dependent effect has been checked. We have confirmed that the intensity of the effect is affected by the abundance of metal admixtures in the envelope, while the addition of extra levels to the model hydrogen atom weakens the time-dependent effect to a lesser degree and never removes it completely.     

Visibility of the new Moon at two sites I: Maryland situated at northern geographical latitude. II: Sacramento peak situated at high altitude above sea level

The optimum conditions to see the crescent of the new Moon have been obtained at Sacramento Peak and Maryland. We have used the data of the sky twilight brightness given by Koomenet al. (1952) for the two sites. The results show that the crescent can not be seen at the two sites for sun's depression less than 4° and 8° elongation between Sun, Moon and Earth confirming the results obtained before by Asaadet al. (1976). The visibility conditions at Maryland and Sacramento Peak are better than that obtained before for the three sites Misallat, Helwan and Daraw at Egypt. The reason is mainly due to the decrease in the sky twilight brightness at sites having higher geographical northern latitudes and high elevation above sea level.     

Optimal Initial Conditions for Simulation of Seismotectonic Tsunamis

Numerical simulation of seismotectonic tsunamis usually starts with specification of the initial elevation of the water surface in the tsunami source. The initial elevation is traditionally set equal to the vertical residual bottom deformation resulting from earthquakes. We discuss the imperfectness of the traditional approach and suggest an improved practical method of calculating the initial elevation from the solution of the 3D problem in the framework of potential theory. The method takes into account horizontal and vertical components of bottom deformation and bathymetry in the source area. Within the assumption of instant tsunami generation the suggested method represents the optimal way to specify the initial condition in the tsunami propagation problem. The tsunamis in the Central Kuril Islands on 15 November 2006 and 13 January 2007 are taken as examples to demonstrate the efficiency of the new method.     

Time domain scattering of acoustic plane waves by vertical faults

Acoustic plane wave scattering at a vertical fault structure represents the simplest two-dimensional model of geophysical exploration that can be investigated by analytical techniques. The exact and complete solution, in the time domain, for the scattering of the pressure field of an acoustic plane wave normally incident on a vertical fault structure is determined adapting previous results given for the frequency domain. The wave form of the pressure field of the incident plane wave is expressed by a causal time function that decays exponentially with time at every point above the fault (z<0). The zero-order term of the scattered pressure field has been computed above the fault. This zero-order term consists of an inverse Fourier transform which reduces to a closed expression forx=0, and contains an integral of a Hankel function forx#0. The high frequency part of the inverse Fourier transform forx#0 is computed employing asymptotic expressions for the Hankel function. The integral of the asymptotic expression of the Hankel function reduces to: (i) a Fresnel integral which contains a plane wave term for |x||z|; and (ii) a stationary point plane wave term plus an upper limit term for |x|=O(|z|). For the latter case the plane wave term cancels, leaving a cylindrical wave emanated from the edge of the fault. The wave front is well defined in shape, in phase and in amplitude. The amplitude of the scattered field is discontinuous atx=0, presents a jump and is well defined for |x| small and is rather smooth for |x| large.     

基于GPS观测研究中国东北地区现今地壳形变特征

基于中国东北和俄罗斯远东东南部2012—2017年的GPS观测数据, 利用包含年周期、 半年周期、 线性项和阶跃项的函数模型拟合GPS站坐标时间序列, 得到ITRF2014下的速度场, 并进一步转换到欧亚参考框架下得到相对欧亚板块的速度场。 基于多尺度球面小波方法解算应变率场, 并分析了其空间分布特征, 同时研究了各GPS站对2011年日本东北M_W9.0大地震的震后松弛响应特征和背景形变场特征。 结果表明: ① 若不扣除日本东北大地震的松弛效应, 相对欧亚板块中国东北主体上表现为东南方向运动, 在依兰—伊通断裂和嫩江断裂带之间, 地壳表现为逆时针旋转, 其他区域向东南方向运动, 方向一致性较好, 在敦化—密山断裂东侧速度大小明显增加。 敦化—密山断裂和依兰—伊通断裂两侧拉张量分别为3.96±0.04 mm/a和0.71±0.05 mm/a, 两条断裂的剪切运动不明显。 总体上, 面应变率显示出NW—SE向的拉张和NE—SW向的挤压, 面应变率显示出依兰—伊通断裂南端、 嫩江断裂带北端和俄罗斯远东东南部呈挤压状态。 在依兰—伊通断裂、 敦化—密山断裂南侧以及俄罗斯远东东南部最大剪应变率相对较大。 ② 各GPS测站对2011年日本东北M_W9.0大地震震后松弛的响应整体上表现为东南向运动, 松弛形变量随震中距增加而减小。 松弛效应的面应变率总体上表现为NW—SE向的拉张和NE—SW向的挤压, 面应变率显示出依兰—伊通、 敦化—密山断裂南端、 嫩江断裂带北端以及俄罗斯远东地区具有挤压特征, 其他地区表现为拉张特征。 中国与俄罗斯远东边界南端存在一个明显的最大剪应变率高值区。 ③ 扣除日本东北M_W9.0大地震引起的松弛变形后, 总体上面应变率仍然表现为NW—SE向的拉张和NE—SW向的挤压, 面应变率最大值仍然位于依兰—伊通断裂和敦化—密山断裂南端、 第二松花江断裂带以及俄罗斯远东和中国边界最南段。 在依兰—伊通断裂、 敦化—密山断裂南端, 中国与俄罗斯远东边界南端的最大剪应变率高值区仍然存在, 表明这些地区应变积累较快, 并且一直在持续。     

Local-scale climate scenarios for impact studies and risk assessments: integration of early 21st century ENSEMBLES projections into the ELPIS database

We present the integration of early 21st century climate projections for Europe based on simulations carried out within the EU-FP6 ENSEMBLES project with the LARS-WG stochastic weather generator. The aim was to upgrade ELPIS, a repository of local-scale climate scenarios for use in impact studies and risk assessments that already included global projections from the CMIP3 ensemble and regional scenarios for Japan. To obtain a more reliable simulation of daily rainfall and extremes, changes in wet and dry series derived from daily ENSEMBLES outputs were taken into account. Kernel average smoothers were used to reduce noise arising from sampling artefacts. Examples of risk analyses based on 25-km climate projections from the ENSEMBLES ensemble of regional climate models illustrate the possibilities offered by the updated version of ELPIS. The results stress the importance of tailored information for local-scale impact assessments at the European level.     

Learning wind fields with multiple kernels

This paper presents multiple kernel learning (MKL) regression as an exploratory spatial data analysis and modelling tool. The MKL approach is introduced as an extension of support vector regression, where MKL uses dedicated kernels to divide a given task into sub-problems and to treat them separately in an effective way. It provides better interpretability to non-linear robust kernel regression at the cost of a more complex numerical optimization. In particular, we investigate the use of MKL as a tool that allows us to avoid using ad-hoc topographic indices as covariables in statistical models in complex terrains. Instead, MKL learns these relationships from the data in a non-parametric fashion. A study on data simulated from real terrain features confirms the ability of MKL to enhance the interpretability of data-driven models and to aid feature selection without degrading predictive performances. Here we examine the stability of the MKL algorithm with respect to the number of training data samples and to the presence of noise. The results of a real case study are also presented, where MKL is able to exploit a large set of terrain features computed at multiple spatial scales, when predicting mean wind speed in an Alpine region.     

Quantitative biome reconstruction using modern and late Quaternary pollen data from the southern part of the Russian Far East

In this study we present a recent compilation of 286 modern surface pollen spectra from the southern part of the Russian Far East (42–54°N, 131–141°E) and use it to test the biome reconstruction method. Seventy terrestrial pollen taxa were assigned to plant functional types and then classified to eight regional biomes. When applied to 286 surface pollen spectra, the method assigns about 70% (201 sites) of the samples to the cool mixed forest biome, 17% – to the taiga, 2% – to the cool conifer forest, 3% – to the temperate deciduous forest, and 7% – to the steppe. The steppe reconstruction is characteristic of the pollen spectra from the agricultural areas around Lake Khanka. A visual comparison shows good agreement between pollen-derived biomes and actual vegetation distribution in the region. However, pollen and botanical data, compared with the potential vegetation distribution simulated from the modern climate dataset using the BIOME1 model, demonstrate that spatial distribution of cool mixed forest is underrepresented in the model simulation. The model sets the mean temperature of the coldest month of −15 °C as the factor limiting distribution of the temperate deciduous broadleaf taxa, while vegetation and pollen data from the region demonstrate that this limit should be lowered to −26 °C. Application of the method to the Gur 3–99 pollen record (50°00^′N, 137°03^′E) demonstrates that tundra vegetation predominated around the site prior to 14 ka BP (1 ka = 1000 cal. years). However, the local presence of boreal trees and mixed forest-tundra vegetation is suggested by relatively high taiga scores. Soon after 14 ka BP the scores of taiga become slightly higher than tundra scores. During 11.4–10.5 ka BP a cool conifer forest is reconstructed. Establishment of the full interglacial conditions is marked by the onset of cool mixed forest by 10.5 ka BP. Between 10.3 and 2.5 ka BP the scores of temperate deciduous forest are close to those of cool mixed forest and become distinctly lower during the late Holocene.