The MESSENGER mission to Mercury: scientific objectives and implementation

Mercury holds answers to several critical questions regarding the formation and evolution of the terrestrial planets. These questions include the origin of Mercury's anomalously high ratio of metal to silicate and its implications for planetary accretion processes, the nature of Mercury's geological evolution and interior cooling history, the mechanism of global magnetic field generation, the state of Mercury's core, and the processes controlling volatile species in Mercury's polar deposits, exosphere, and magnetosphere. The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission has been designed to fly by and orbit Mercury to address all of these key questions. After launch by a Delta 2925H-9.5, two flybys of Venus, and two flybys of Mercury, orbit insertion is accomplished at the third Mercury encounter. The instrument payload includes a dual imaging system for wide and narrow fields-of-view, monochrome and color imaging, and stereo; X-ray and combined gamma-ray and neutron spectrometers for surface chemical mapping; a magnetometer; a laser altimeter; a combined ultraviolet–visible and visible-near-infrared spectrometer to survey both exospheric species and surface mineralogy; and an energetic particle and plasma spectrometer to sample charged species in the magnetosphere. During the flybys of Mercury, regions unexplored by Mariner 10 will be seen for the first time, and new data will be gathered on Mercury's exosphere, magnetosphere, and surface composition. During the orbital phase of the mission, one Earth year in duration, MESSENGER will complete global mapping and the detailed characterization of the exosphere, magnetosphere, surface, and interior.     

The corona associated with solar filaments

Spectroheliograms in high temperature ions such as Fe XV show the existence of both filaments that are brighter than the ambient corona and filaments that are darker than the ambient corona. We describe the relationship of the filaments to photospheric magnetograms, and discuss a possible physical mechanism to explain the differences.     

Modeling Total Solar Irradiance with San Fernando Observatory Ground-Based Photometry: Comparison with ACRIM, PMOD, and RMIB Composites

We model total solar irradiance (TSI) using photometric irradiance indices from the San Fernando Observatory (SFO), and compare our model with measurements compiled from different space-based radiometers. Space-based measurements of TSI have been obtained recently from ACRIM-3 on board the ACRIMSAT. These data have been combined with other data sets to create an ACRIM-based composite. From VIRGO on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft two different TSI composites have been developed. The VIRGO irradiance data have been combined by the Davos group to create a composite often referred to as PMOD (Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos). Also using data from VIRGO, the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMIB) has created a separate composite TSI referred to here as the RMIB composite. We also report on comparisons with TSI data from the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) experiment on board the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) spacecraft. The SFO model correlates well with all four experiments during the seven-year SORCE interval. For this interval, the squared correlation coefficient R ² was 0.949 for SORCE, 0.887 for ACRIM, 0.922 for PMOD, and 0.924 for RMIB. Long-term differences between the PMOD, ACRIM, and RMIB composites become apparent when we examine a 21.5-year interval. We demonstrate that ground-based photometry, by accurately removing TSI variations caused by solar activity, is useful for understanding the differences that exist between TSI measurements from different spacecraft experiments.     

The resource boom and socio-economic well-being in Australian resource towns: a temporal and spatial analysis

The economy of Western Australia has long been characterized by a heavy dependence on extractive industries. The past decade, however, has seen the mining industry expand very rapidly, with significant implications for the small towns that support the sector. In this article, we consider the socio-economic performance of these towns through an assessment of unemployment, welfare dependence and incomes. In contrast to many other studies of resource boomtowns that typically focus on a single locality or time period, in this study we focus explicitly on spatial and temporal variability. We examine the ways in which place-specific characteristics—the commodity produced, local economic diversity and basic demographic features of a town—interact and have contributed to change in socio-economic well-being of mining communities across Western Australia over a 10-year period.     

High‐frequency sediment transport responses on a vegetated foredune

Wind flow and sand transport intensity were measured on the seaward slope of a vegetated foredune during a 16 h storm using an array of sonic anemometers and Wenglor laser particle counters. The foredune had a compound seaward slope with a wave‐cut scarp about 0.5 m high separating the upper vegetated portion from the lower dune ramp, which was bare of vegetation. Wind direction veered from obliquely offshore at the start of the event to obliquely onshore during the storm peak and finally to directly onshore during the final 2 h as wind speed dropped to below threshold. Sand transport was initially inhibited by a brief period of rain at the start of the event but as the surface dried and wind speed increased sand transport was initiated over the entire seaward slope. Transport intensity was quite variable both temporally and spatially on the upper slope as a result of fluctuating wind speed and direction, but overall magnitudes were similar over the whole length. Ten‐minute average transport intensity correlates strongly with mean wind speed measured at the dune crest, and there is also strong correlation between instantaneous wind speed and transport intensity measured at the same locations when the data are smoothed with a 10 s running mean. Transport on the beach for onshore winds is decoupled from that on the seaward slope above the small scarp when the wind angle is highly oblique, but for wind angles <45° from shore perpendicular some sand is transported onto the lower slope. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nyctiphanes australis (Euphausiacea) and an upwelling plume in western Cook Strait,New Zealand

Quantitative data are presented on the distribution of adult and larval stages of the euphausiid Nyctiphanes australis G. O. Sars, in western Cook Strait, New Zealand, an area influenced by an upwelling plume. The behaviour of N. australis in the Kahurangi Point region at different stages of its life history appears to ensure its maintenance, in general, over the continental shelf on an upwelling coast. Population structure at the source of the upwelling near Kahurangi Point differed from that in regions “down stream” from the plume. Nyctiphanes australis was most abundant at the “downstream” eastern end of the upwelling plume, and the evidence suggesting that the dense populations there may be resident is discussed. Possible reasons for low densities of furcilia II and III stages in the eastern plume region are considered.     

A new species of Boeckella (Copepoda: Calanoida) from northland,New Zealand

Boeckella tanea, n.sp. is described. It shows similarities to B. propinqua and B. delicata, and appears to be confined to lakes and ponds in Northland, New Zealand.     

Membrane Interface Probe Protocol for Contaminants in Low‐Permeability Zones

Accurate characterization of contaminant mass in zones of low hydraulic conductivity (low k) is essential for site management because this difficult‐to‐treat mass can be a long‐term secondary source. This study developed a protocol for the membrane interface probe (MIP) as a low‐cost, rapid data‐acquisition tool for qualitatively evaluating the location and relative distribution of mass in low‐k zones. MIP operating parameters were varied systematically at high and low concentration locations at a contaminated site to evaluate the impact of the parameters on data quality relative to a detailed adjacent profile of soil concentrations. Evaluation of the relative location of maximum concentrations and the shape of the MIP vs. soil profiles led to a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the MIP to delineate contamination in low‐k zones. This includes recommendations for: (1) preferred detector (ECD for low concentration zones, PID or ECD for higher concentration zones); (2) combining downlogged and uplogged data to reduce carryover; and (3) higher carrier gas flow rate in high concentration zones. Linear regression indicated scatter in all MIP‐to‐soil comparisons, including R² values using the SOP of 0.32 in the low concentration boring and 0.49 in the high concentration boring. In contrast, a control dataset with soil‐to‐soil correlations from borings 1‐m apart exhibited an R² of ≥0.88, highlighting the uncertainty in predicting soil concentrations using MIP data. This study demonstrates that the MIP provides lower‐precision contaminant distribution and heterogeneity data compared to more intensive high‐resolution characterization methods. This is consistent with its use as a complementary screening tool.