El Nino/Southern oscillation signals in the global tropical ocean

The monthly mean sea surface temperature data of 6 areas are used to study the El Nino/Southern Oscillation signals in the global tropical ocean. These areas are in the 5oN-5oS latitude zone at 1) eastern Pacific (110o-l40oW), 2) western Atlantic (30o-50oW), 3) eastern Atlantic (10oW-10oE), 4) western Indian Ocean (30o-50oE), 5) central Indian Ocean (70o-90oE) and 6) far western Pacific (120o-140oE), and the data cover the 120-month period of December 1968 to November 1978.A power spectrum analysts shows that the characteristic time of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (about 3-4 years) appears not only in the eastern Pacific but also in other areas of the tropics except for the western Pa-cific, where the spectrum is of white noise. The amplitude of oscillation in the eastern Pacific is about 4 times larger than the others, making the El Nino/Southern Oscillation signal the strongest in this area. According to a cross-spectrum analysis, there is no time lag between the variation in the central Indian Ocean and that in the eastern Pacific. These two areas oscillate simultaneously and comprise the main feature of the El Nino/ Southern Oscillation. Other tropical areas are related with time lags, as shown by correlation and coherence calculations.It should be noted that the sea surface temperature in the eastern Pacific oscillates in phase with that in the Indian Ocean, while the pressure oscillations in these two areas are out of phase with each other, according to the Southern Oscillation definition. It is suggested that the Southern Oscillation cannot be explained simply by the sea surface temperature anomalies.Variations in the far western equatorial Pacific do not have the time scale of the El Nino/Southern Oscilla-tion, perhaps because it is a buffer zone between the monsoon system and the trade wind system.     

An evaluation of the Wellington Regional Genuine Progress Index

There is widespread discontent with the gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of progress for society. Alternative measures have been proposed, including the genuine progress indicator (GPI). This paper examines the changing institutional arrangements and attitudinal context in the recently developed Wellington region (New Zealand) GPI. We found an alignment between the GPI framework and the Local Government Act. Despite this fit, we identified challenges, including the need to revitalise public participation through deliberative techniques. It remains too early to judge whether the GPI initiative will launch a viable alternative to the GDP for the Wellington region.     

The importance of local‐scale openness within regions dominated by closed woodland

New and existing pollen data from Wales, UK, are used to assess the level of landscape openness at the regional and local scale. At the regional scale, the existing pollen data support the high‐forest model of vegetation structure by 6000 cal. yr. BC prior to any palynological signal for anthropogenic impact in the region. New data from two sites in southwest Wales follow the general regional pattern of early to middle Holocene vegetation succession, but are striking owing to maintenance of high non‐arboreal pollen percentages (NAPs) throughout the mid‐Holocene. It is argued that these NAPs indicate that a significant degree of openness can be found at the local level (and beyond the confines of the peat‐forming site) within regions characterised by closed woodland. It is possible that woodland development in these areas may have been suppressed by reduced drainage, although the role of grazing animals in maintenance of clearings cannot be assessed. Implications for this local degree of openness are discussed, in particular the significance of vegetation heterogeneity at the local scale for the construction of place or locale for prehistoric communities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three-dimensional simulations of a starburst wind

In order to better understand the formation of a starburst-driven wind, we have performed a series of three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations in an inhomogeneous interstellar medium. We present the results of these simulations, which provide new insights into the formation of the optical filaments and the origin of the soft X-ray emission.     

Airborne near-real-time monitoring of assembly and parking areas in case of large-scale public events and natural disasters

A critical requirement for an effective and coordinated response by public entities tasked with management, security, and relief during large-scale public events or natural disasters is the availability of current situational information. However, today there is a lack of comprehensive operational systems allowing a near-real-time (NRT) collection, visualization, and provision of situational information for larger areas. In this study a methodological framework is proposed, which allows an NRT extraction and visualization of situational information based on aerial image acquisition. The framework combines digital image analysis using a generic supervised information extraction approach based on statistical modeling with a downstream web-based visualization component realized through an automatic update of web services. Even though being applicable for different scenarios, the workflow will be demonstrated for the specific use-case of a NRT monitoring of open spaces including assembly and parking areas. Compared to other approaches, image analysis results indicate a high robustness and a low demand for computational power sources (7 seconds per image). Due to a high degree of automation, the proposed workflow contributes to a NRT ‘end-to-end’ monitoring system, which was developed within the VABENE (German acronym for ‘traffic management under large-scale public events and disaster conditions’) project covering all parts from the acquisition of raw aerial imagery to the dissemination of information products to end-users.     

Results from the Greenland Search for Meteorites expedition

Abstract— Following discoveries of blue ice areas in Greenland resembling meteorite‐bearing blue ice fields in Antarctica, a surface search of several of the most promising sites was carried out in August 2003. The ice fields are located in Kong Christian X Land, in northeastern Greenland around 74°N at elevations between 2100 and 2400 m. No meteorites were found in any of the localities that were searched. Evidence of occasional significant melting (filled crevasses and melt sheets) suggest that summer temperatures are sometimes high enough that dark rocks, like meteorites, can melt through the upper layers of ice. Small terrestrial rocks and cryogenite were found down to 50 cm below the ice surface. Meter‐sized terrestrial rocks were found on top of the ice downstream from nunataks. These rocks shade the ice below, and since they were apparently too massive to warm up during warm days, they remained at the surface as the surrounding ice ablated away. Our findings strongly suggest that Greenland is currently unlikely to harbor significant meteorite concentrations on blue ice fields.     

The Yarkovsky effect as a heat engine

We show how the Yarkovsky effect can be understood as a heat engine. The output of the engine, manifested in the rate of change in semimajor axis of the body, has a maximum at an intermediate heat capacity, depending on the rotation rate of the body. This maximum arises because the work output depends on the product of the solar heat absorbed by the body and transported from its morning to evening side (this am-pm heat flux increases with heat capacity) and the Carnot efficiency (which declines with heat capacity).