广州地区雷暴过程云-地闪特征及其环境条件

应用雷电定位系统和高空观测资料并结合雷达回波资料, 对广州地区雷暴过程云-地闪特征进行分析, 并就有、无云-地闪出现的两组不同对流天气过程的环境条件进行了比较研究。结果表明:广州地区的雷暴过程以负的云-地闪为主, 负云-地闪所占比例在90%以上。云-地闪发生频率与雷暴系统强度演变有直接联系, 对于同一系统来说, 随着系统回波强度的增强, 云-地闪发生的频率也增高。但不同系统中, 云-地闪发生频率有很大不同, 回波强(弱)的对流系统并不意味着云-地闪发生的频率就高(低)。有云-地闪记录的对流天气过程具有更大的垂直切变、更高的相对风暴螺旋度以及更多的对流抑制能量, 云-地闪现象更易于出现在更加有组织和更强的对流系统中。研究还发现广州及周边城市区域对雷暴系统回波强度及云-地闪现象可能有影响, 两个典型个例分析表明, 雷暴系统移经城市区域时回波强度减弱, 云-地闪发生频率减小, 雷暴移过城市区域后, 强度可重新加强, 云-地闪发生频率增大。     

风暴生命史雷达特征量反演

从风暴演变各阶段物理特征出发, 基于多普勒雷达观测的三维反射率因子, 定义物理量———单体重力势能。结果表明:单体重力势能是一个能够简洁、客观描述风暴单体整体强度的物理量; 利用该物理量可描述单体生命史为发展和减弱两个基本过程; 单体重力势能大小有助于辨别风暴类型和强度。同时, 生成和分析了风暴单体演变各阶段的反射率因子垂直廓线, 分析表明:在30~150 km的雷达观测范围内, 风暴单体的反射率因子垂直廓线 (降水廓线) 及其随时间的变化能较好地揭示风暴的垂直结构和生命史演变特征, 但没有用重力势能那样简洁。     

GPS授时服务系统在气象业务中的应用

介绍了利用GPS的时间信息组建内部局域网的授时服务系统的方法:首先通过微控制器(MCU)将GPS接收器送出的二进制信息转换成各种不同的格式输出供服务器调用,然后通过基于网络时间协议的服务器/客户端时间校对软件,实现内部局域网计算机的自动对时.此外,针对GPS失锁或出现异常不可用的情况,提出了系统应对处理方法.     

Modeling diffusion advection in the mass transfer of water vapor through martian regolith

Diffusion advection is an effect in diffusive multicomponent mass transfer that occurs when the flux vectors of the individual components do not add up to zero. This can be a significant effect for the mass transfer of water vapor from subsurface ice or liquid reservoirs through porous regolith at martian temperatures and pressures. Ignoring diffusion advection and using Fick's law alone to calculate the flux under these conditions will result in an erroneously small value while using a measured flux to calculate a diffusivity will result in an erroneously high value. The inaccuracy in both cases increases with temperature. The literature contains several examples of erroneous treatment of this effect. The correct approach is well-known from other applications of mass transfer and takes diffusion advection into account in the appropriate amount regardless of the temperature and pressure and reduces to the simple Fick's law when conditions warrant. In this way, there is no need to decide under what conditions diffusion advection is or is not important. It can be used in the transition region to pure Knudsen diffusion in a fashion similar to that used with the more limited Fickian approach.     

Spectral properties and composition of potentially hazardous Asteroid (99942) Apophis

The known close approach of Asteroid (99942) Apophis in April 2029 provides the opportunity for the case study of a potentially hazardous asteroid in advance of its encounter. The visible to near-infrared (0.55 to 2.45 μm) reflectance spectrum of Apophis is compared and modeled with respect to the spectral and mineralogical characteristics of likely meteorite analogs. Apophis is found to be an Sq-class asteroid that most closely resembles LL ordinary chondrite meteorites in terms of spectral characteristics and interpreted olivine and pyroxene abundances, although we cannot rule out some degree of partial melting. A meteorite analog allows some estimates and conjectures of Apophis' possible range of physical properties such as the grain density and micro-porosity of its constituent material. Composition and size similarities of Apophis with (25143) Itokawa suggest a total porosity of 40% as a “current best guess” for Apophis. Applying these parameters to Apophis yields a mass estimate of 2×¹⁰¹⁰ kg with a corresponding energy estimate of 375 Mt for its potential hazard. Substantial unknowns, most notably the total porosity, allow uncertainties in these mass and energy estimates to be as large as factors of two or three.     

Lander radioscience for obtaining the rotation and orientation of Mars

The paper presents the concept, the objectives, the approach used, and the expected performances and accuracies of a radioscience experiment based on a radio link between the Earth and the surface of Mars. This experiment involves radioscience equipment installed on a lander at the surface of Mars. The experiment with the generic name lander radioscience (LaRa) consists of an X-band transponder that has been designed to obtain, over at least one Martian year, two-way Doppler measurements from the radio link between the ExoMars lander and the Earth (ExoMars is an ESA mission to Mars due to launch in 2013). These Doppler measurements will be used to obtain Mars’ orientation in space and rotation (precession and nutations, and length-of-day variations). More specifically, the relative position of the lander on the surface of Mars with respect to the Earth ground stations allows reconstructing Mars’ time varying orientation and rotation in space.Precession will be determined with an accuracy better by a factor of 4 (better than the 0.1% level) with respect to the present-day accuracy after only a few months at the Martian surface. This precession determination will, in turn, improve the determination of the moment of inertia of the whole planet (mantle plus core) and the radius of the core: for a specific interior composition or even for a range of possible compositions, the core radius is expected to be determined with a precision decreasing to a few tens of kilometers.A fairly precise measurement of variations in the orientation of Mars’ spin axis will enable, in addition to the determination of the moment of inertia of the core, an even better determination of the size of the core via the core resonance in the nutation amplitudes. When the core is liquid, the free core nutation (FCN) resonance induces a change in the nutation amplitudes, with respect to their values for a solid planet, at the percent level in the large semi-annual prograde nutation amplitude and even more (a few percent, a few tens of percent or more, depending on the FCN period) for the retrograde ter-annual nutation amplitude. The resonance amplification depends on the size, moment of inertia, and flattening of the core. For a large core, the amplification can be very large, ensuring the detection of the FCN, and determination of the core moment of inertia.The measurement of variations in Mars’ rotation also determines variations of the angular momentum due to seasonal mass transfer between the atmosphere and ice caps. Observations even for a short period of 180 days at the surface of Mars will decrease the uncertainty by a factor of two with respect to the present knowledge of these quantities (at the 10% level).The ultimate objectives of the proposed experiment are to obtain information on Mars’ interior and on the sublimation/condensation of CO₂ in Mars’ atmosphere. Improved knowledge of the interior will help us to better understand the formation and evolution of Mars. Improved knowledge of the CO₂ sublimation/condensation cycle will enable better understanding of the circulation and dynamics of Mars’ atmosphere.     

Using the minimum spanning tree to trace mass segregation

We present a new method to detect and quantify mass segregation in star clusters. It compares the minimum spanning tree (MST) of massive stars with that of random stars. If mass segregation is present, the MST length of the most massive stars will be shorter than that of random stars. This difference can be quantified (with an associated significance) to measure the degree of mass segregation. We test the method on simulated clusters in both 2D and 3D and show that the method works as expected.
We apply the method to the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) and show that the method is able to detect the mass segregation in the Trapezium with a 'mass segregation ratio (MSR)'  Λ_MSR= 8.0 ± 3.5  (where  Λ_MSR= 1  is no mass segregation) down to  16 M_⊙  , and also that the ONC is mass segregated at a lower level  (∼2.0 ± 0.5)  down to  5 M_⊙  . Below  5 M_⊙  we find no evidence for any further mass segregation in the ONC.     

The depletion of carbon by extra mixing in metal-poor giants

There is an apparent dichotomy between the metal-poor  ([Fe/H]≤−2)  yet carbon-normal giants and their carbon-rich counterparts. The former undergo significant depletion of carbon on the red giant branch after they have undergone first dredge-up, whereas the latter do not appear to experience significant depletion. We investigate this in the context that the extra mixing occurs via the thermohaline instability that arises due to the burning of  ³He  . We present the evolution of [C/Fe], [N/Fe] and  ¹²C/¹³C  for three models: a carbon-normal metal-poor star, and two stars that have accreted material from a  1.5 M_⊙  AGB companion, one having received  0.01 M_⊙  of material and the other having received  0.1 M_⊙  . We find the behaviour of the carbon-normal metal-poor stars is well reproduced by this mechanism. In addition, our models also show that the efficiency of carbon-depletion is significantly reduced in carbon-rich stars. This extra-mixing mechanism is able to reproduce the observed properties of both carbon-normal and carbon-rich stars.     

Modelling the binary progenitor of Supernova 1993J

We have developed a detailed stellar evolution code capable of following the simultaneous evolution of both stars in a binary system, together with their orbital properties. To demonstrate the capabilities of the code, we investigate potential progenitors for the Type IIb Supernova 1993J, which is believed to have been an interacting binary system prior to its primary exploding. We use our detailed binary stellar evolution code to model this system to determine the possible range of primary and secondary masses that could have produced the observed characteristics of this system, with particular reference to the secondary. Using the luminosities and temperatures for both stars (as determined by Maund et al.) and the remaining mass of the hydrogen envelope of the primary at the time of explosion, we find that if mass transfer is 100 per cent efficient, the observations can be reproduced by a system consisting of a  15 M_⊙  primary and a  14 M_⊙  secondary in an orbit with an initial period of 2100 days. With a mass transfer efficiency of 50 per cent, a more massive system consisting of a  17 M_⊙  primary and a  16 M_⊙  secondary in an initial orbit of 2360 days is needed. We also investigate some of the uncertainties in the evolution, including the effects of tidal interaction, convective overshooting and thermohaline mixing.