Surface Synoptic Circulation and Daily Precipitation in Catalonia

Summary Catalonian daily precipitation patterns were obtained by means of S-mode Principal Component Analysis (PCA) applied to subsets built up according to synoptic surface airflow. Daily data from November to April 1990–1994 from 45 raingauge sites in Catalonia without missing data were used. Eight circulation classes for days in this period were considered. A Precipitation Activity Index (PAI) was calculated for each station and class, leading to the determination of the highest activity regions for each subset. In addition, we determined which circulation type produced most precipitation at each station of the network. Separate PCAs were performed for each of the eight classes considered and the first four Varimax rotated solutions were interpreted for each circulation type. The physical meaning of the rest of the factors were omitted as they were associated with local behaviour. Finally, some concluding remarks on the cyclogenic properties of the Western Mediterranean Basin and the diversity of the extracted patterns are presented and supported by the authors experience in forecasting in Catalonia. Received February, 11, 1997 Revised May 23, 1997     

Thermoluminescence studies of the Allende meteorite

The Allende meteorite has been examined with a view to applying thermoluminescence (TL) to the study of a meteorite's passage through the atmosphere. At least three kinds of TL-bearing minerals are present. A strong peak at 140°C is due to forsterite, and one at 200°C is probably caused by cordierite. By far the most intense TL comes from an alteration product associated with gehlenite.In the 4-cm diameter meteorite examined the 200°C TL varied in intensity across the stone, showing it to be produced by fragmentation. Temperature gradients induced by atmospheric heating can also be derived, and indicate the orientation of the meteorite. Together with fusion crust measurements these results enable the final phase of the meteorite's passage through the atmosphere to be delineated.     

Further birth records of elephant seals Mirounga leonina in New Zealand (note)

The second and third recorded births of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina on the mainland of New Zealand occurred at Kaikoura in mid‐October 1976. One female pup died within 14 d of birth and the other (sex unknown) disappeared from the region with its mother on 19 November 1976.     

The crystal structure of waylandite from Wheal Remfry, Cornwall, United Kingdom

Sr- and Ca-rich waylandite, $ {\left( {{\hbox{B}}{{\hbox{i}}_{0.{54}}}{\hbox{S}}{{\hbox{r}}_{0.{31}}}{\hbox{C}}{{\hbox{a}}_{0.{25}}}{{\hbox{K}}_{0.0{1}}}{\hbox{B}}{{\hbox{a}}_{0.0{1}}}} \right)_{\Sigma 1.12}}{{\hbox{H}}_{0.{18}}}{\left( {{\hbox{A}}{{\hbox{l}}_{{2}.{96}}}{\hbox{C}}{{\hbox{u}}_{0.0{2}}}} \right)_{\Sigma 2.98}}{\left[ {{{\left( {{{\hbox{P}}_{0.{97}}}{{\hbox{S}}_{0.0{3}}}{\hbox{S}}{{\hbox{i}}_{0.0{1}}}} \right)}_{\Sigma 1.00}}{{\hbox{O}}_4}} \right]_2}{\left( {\hbox{OH}} \right)_6} $ , from Wheal Remfry, Cornwall, United Kingdom has been investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analyses. Waylandite crystallises in space group R $ \overline 3 $ ? m, with the cell parameters: a?=?7.0059(7) Å, c?=?16.3431(12) Å and V?=?694.69(11) ų. The crystal structure has been refined to R ₁?=?3.76%. Waylandite has an alunite-type structure comprised of a rhombohedral stacking of (001) composite layers of corner-shared AlO₆ octahedra and PO₄ tetrahedra, with (Bi,Sr,Ca) atoms occupying icosahedrally coordinated sites between the layers.     

Breaks and unit roots in global and hemispheric temperatures: an updated analysis

The unit root testing within a breaking trend framework for global and hemispheric temperatures of Gay-Garcia, Estrada and Sánchez Clim Chang 94:333–349, 2009 is extended in two directions: first, the extended HadCRUT3 temperature series from Brohan et al. J Geophys Res 111:D12106, 2006 are used and, second, new breaking trend estimators and unit root tests are employed, along with direct modelling of breaking trend and unit root processes for the series. Some differences to the results of Gay-Garcia et al. are found: break dates are shifted to 1976 for global and northern hemisphere temperatures and to 1964 for the southern hemisphere. Although the results are somewhat ambiguous, global and northern hemisphere temperatures are probably best modelled by unit root processes with a break in drift, while southern hemisphere temperatures follow a breaking trend process with stationary fluctuations about this trend. Irrespective of the models selected, there is little evidence of trend warming before the breaks, i.e., until the third quarter of the 20th century, and after the breaks northern hemisphere and global trend temperatures warm quicker than in the southern hemisphere, the range being between 0.01 and 0.02 °C per annum.     

Chemical studies of copper-organic complexes isolated from estuarine waters using C18 reverse-phase liquid chromatography

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) and dissolved copper-organic complexes were isolated from the estuarine waters of Narragansett Bay, RI, using reverse-phase liquid chromatography employing C₁₈ Sep-Pak cartridges (Waters Associates). The cartridges were found to have a constant retention efficiency for processing ? 1-l volumes of seawater. Fractionation of the isolated material, by sequential elution of the Sep-Pak with water: methanol mixtures of increasing organic solvent concentration, yielded a fraction of the organic matter with a specific copper activity six times greater than the overall activity for the isolated DOM. Analysis of this fraction by high performance liquid chromatography suggested that the organic components are of intermediate polarity and have appreciable aromatic character.An investigation of the protonation characteristics of the isolated complexes indicated that most of the copper is associated with a broad range of acidic sites on the DOM. Analysis by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed the organic association of the isolated copper and also suggested the presence of several types of binding sites which probably involve oxygen donor ligands.Studies of the exchange of ⁶⁴Cu with these binding sites on the isolated DOM indicated that 70% of the sites undergo rapid exchange with copper in seawater while 20% of these sites did not exchange in a 24-h time period.     

Isolation of dissolved organic matter and copper-organic complexes from estuarine waters using reverse-phase liquid chromatography

Reverse-phase liquid chromatography was used for the isolation of dissolved organic matter and dissolved copper-organic complexes from the estuarine waters of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. The procedure isolates 10–30% of the organic matter and up to 50% of the total dissolved copper from various bay samples. Chromatograms obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography of the isolated organic matter showed qualitative differences between sampling stations progressing from the Providence River in the upper bay to the lower bay.     

The clearing of the Illawarra rainforests: problems in reconstructing Pre‐European vegetation patterns

Historical information is used in conjunction with a detailed knowledge of the environment and vegetation types of the Illawarra district to reconstruct the original extent of rainforest in the district. While most of the literature and popular opinion suggest that much of the Illawarra was covered in rainforest vegetation, historical accounts and the patterns of existing vegetation clearly indicate that the rainforests were much less extensive than this. Based on historical evidence, the present occurrence of rainforest and other vegetation and a detailed knowledge of the environmental requirements for local rainforest development, three major concentrations of rainforest have been delineated. Termed the ‘Illawarra’, ‘Yarrawa’ and ‘Berkeley’ brushes, these areas covered 12,000, 2,450 and 1,600 hectares, respectively. These brushes represented 70 per cent of the 23,000 ha of rainforest estimated to have occurred in the district before European settlement. Historical information is a valuable tool in ecological research, but a detailed knowledge of the interactions of the vegetation and environment are also required to reconstruct original vegetation patterns.     

Thrust faulting and crust—upper mantle structure in East Australia

Summary. The mid-crustal earthquake of 1973 March 9 (m_b= 5.5, h ≤ 20 km) located 60 km south-west of Sydney, Australia, provides unambiguous evidence of contemporary thrust faulting in South-eastern Australia — a region of high heat flow and Cenozoic basaltic volcanism. Aftershock locations suggest a steeply dipping fault in the depth range from 8 to 24 km with a lateral extent of about 8 km. The mechanism solution is consistent with a tectonic stress field that is dominated by east—west horizontal compression. A seismic moment of 5.7 ± 10²³± 20 per cent dyne-cm was computed from surface-wave amplitudes. Minimum values of slip and stress drop, 2 cm and 1 bar respectively, were estimated from the moment and a fault size taken' from aftershock locations.
Refinement modelling by a controlled Monte Carlo technique was used to provide unbiased models directly from multimode group velocities. The dispersion of fundamental and higher mode surface waves recorded at the digital high-gain station at Charters Towers, Queensland, and the WWSSN station at Adelaide, South Australia, is satisfied by crust- and upper-mantle models which have neither pronounced S-wave low-velocity zones nor thick high-velocity lids within 140 km of the Earth's surface. These models have subcrustal shear velocities of 4.20–4.32 km/s which are 0.4–0.5 km/s slower than Canadian shield shear velocities (CANSD).