Error analyses of resonant orbits for geodesy

An error analysis of resonant orbits for geodesy indicates that attempts to use resonance to recover high order geopotential coefficients may be seriously hampered by errors in the geopotential. This effect, plus the very high correlations (up to .99) of the resonant coefficients with each other and the orbital period in single satellite solutions, makesindividual resonant orbits of limited value for geodesy. Multiple-satellite, single-plane solutions are only a slight improvement over the single satellite case. Accurate determination of high order coefficients from low altitude resonant satellites requires multiple orbit planes and small drift-periods to reduce correlations and effects of errors of non-resonant geopotential terms. Also, the effects of gravity model errors on low-altitude resonant satellites make the use of tracking arcs exceeding two to three weeks of doubtful validity. Because high-altitude resonant orbits are less affected by non-resonant terms in the geopotential, much longer tracking arcs can be used for them.     

Some exact solutions for the flow of fluid through tubes with uniformly porous walls

Summary This paper considers an incompressible fluid flowing through a straight, circular tube whose walls are uniformly porous. The flow is steady and one dimensional. The loss of fluid through the wall is proportional to the mean static pressure in the tube. Several formulations of the wall shear stress are considered; these formulations were motivated by the results from Hamel's radial flow problem, boundary layer flows/and boundary layer suction profiles. For each of these formulations exact solutions for the mean axial velocity and the mean static pressure of the fluid are obtained. Sample results are plotted on graphs. For the constant wall shear stress problem, the theoretical solutions compare favorably with some experimental results.Notations A, B, D, E constant parameters - a, b constant parameters - Ai(z), Bi(z) Airy functions - Ai, Bi derivatives of Airy functions - k constant of proportionality betweenV andp - L length of pores - p,p mean static pressure - p ₀ static pressure outside the tube - p ₀ value ofp atx=0 - Q constant exponent - R inside radius of the tube - T wall shear stress - T ₀ shear parameter - t wall thickness - U free stream velocity - ,u mean axial velocity - u ₀ value ofu atx=0 - V,V mean seepage velocity through the wall - v ₀ mean seepage velocity - x,x axial distance along the tube - z transformed axial distance - z ₀ value ofz atx=0 - mean outflow angle through the wall - cos - density of the fluid - wall shear stress - dynamic viscosity of the fluid - over-bar dimensional terms - no bar nondimensional terms The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation     

Mass fluxes of xenobiotics below cities: challenges in urban hydrogeology

Urban areas are the focus of major ecological, social and economical activity. They are thus also prime locations of increasing conflict with regard to water use and water protection. As a direct and/or indirect consequence of urban land use and human activity, urban water systems are frequently polluted with organic contaminants including waste water-born xenobiotics such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products (collectively known as PPCPs) and endocrine-active substances. This study reviews new integrated methodologies including flux calculations as well as chemical investigations for determining the impact of human activities on urban water systems and on processes within the urban watershed. The use of indicator substances, representing different contaminant sources and pathways, integral pumping tests and mass balance approaches are suitable alternatives within these environments. The issues are explored using contaminant mass balance examples from Halle/Saale and Leipzig, Germany.     

High chromium contents in Tertiary coal deposits of northwestern Washington — A key to their depositional history

Chromium contents obtained from 20 coal and 5 associated rock samples collected from the basal part of the Eocene Chuckanut Formation, in Skagit and Whatcom counties, northwest Washington, range between 30 and 300 ppm (mean 120 ppm whole-coal basis). The lenticular coals, ranging in rank from subbituminous to anthracite, and with an ash content of 12–46%, crop out along the western flank of the Cascade Range. Results of X-ray diffraction analysis of low-temperature ash show that the mineral matter in the coal samples consists predominantly of quartz and clay (kaolinite, illite and chlorite group). However, accessory minerals, isolated from the coal samples and analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and optical methods, contain angular fragments and euhedral crystals of the spinel group (chromite, magnetite and trevorite ), kaolinite-serpentine group (antigorite and chrysotile), chlorite group, amphibole group and pyroxene group minerals (augite, diopside and enstatite), all of which are commonly enriched in chromium.Although associated primarily with the inorganic fraction of the coal, concentrations of chromium in the samples show no statistically significant correlation with ash content. Localized concentrations of chromium in the coal are the result of natural contamination from the alteration of detrital chromium-bearing mineral grains introduced into the peat-forming mires from nearby Jurassic ophiolite bodies. The coals formed in the early Eocene, in rapidly subsiding small basins that developed during the uplift and erosion of the pre-Tertiary ophiolite terrain. Scattered bodies of source rock, random distribution of chromium-bearing minerals within the coal and sample heterogeneity account for the variation in Cr contents of the samples.     

The new hominid skeleton from Sterkfontein,South Africa: age and preliminary assessment

A new hominid skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2 attaches to foot bones recovered from loose blocks during the 1980s and first described in 1995. Several flowstone horizons are present above and below the skeleton and have given clear palaeomagnetic signatures. Five changes in magnetic polarity have been identified; when constrained by the available biostratigraphy, this sequence can be placed confidently between 3.22 and 3.58 Ma. Interpolation of sedimentation rates over the small intervals between reversals allows this range to be reduced to 3.30–3.33 Ma. The skeleton is thus the oldest yet discovered and is considered to belong to a species of Australopithecus other than africanus. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Miocene shelf‐edge deltas and their impact on deepwater slope progradation and morphology,Northwest Shelf of Australia

Late‐middle Miocene to Pliocene siliciclastics in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, Northwest Shelf of Australia, are interpreted as having been deposited by deltas. Some delta lobes deposited sediments near and at the shelf break (shelf‐edge deltas), whereas other lobes did not reach the coeval shelf break before retreating landward or being abandoned. Shelf‐margin mapview morphology changes from linear to convex‐outward in the northern part of the study area where shelf‐edge deltas were focused. Location and character of shelf‐edge deltas also had significant impact on along‐strike variability of margin progradation and shelf‐edge trajectory. Total late‐middle and late Miocene margin progradation is ca. 13 km in the south, where there were no shelf‐edge deltas, vs. ca. 34 km in the north where shelf‐edge deltas were concentrated. In the central area, the deltas were arrested and accumulated a few kilometres landward of the shelf break, resulting in an aggradational shelf‐edge trajectory, in contrast to the more progradational trajectory farther north. This illustrates a potential limitation of shelf‐edge trajectory analysis: only where shelf‐edge deltas occur, there is sufficient sediment available for the shelf‐edge trajectory to record relative sea‐level fluctuations reliably. Small‐scale (ca. 400 m wide) incisions were already conspicuous on the coeval slope even before deltas reached the shelf break. However, slope gullies immediately downdip from active shelf‐edge deltas display greater erosion of underlying strata and are wider and deeper (>1 km wide, ca. 100 m deep) than coeval incisions that are laterally offset from the deltaic depocenter (ca. 0.7 km wide, ca. 25 m deep). We interpret this change in slope‐gully dimensions as the result of greater erosion by sediment gravity flows sourced from the immediately adjacent shelf‐edge deltas. Similarly, gullies also incised further (up to 6 km) into the outer shelf in the region of active shelf‐edge deltas.     

Quaternary alluvial-fan development, climate and morphologic dating of fault scarps in Laguna Salada, Baja California, Mexico

Late Quaternary slip across the Cañada David detachment has produced an extensive array of Quaternary scarps cutting alluvial-fans along nearly the entire length (~ 60 km) of the range-bounding detachment. Eight regional alluvial-fan surfaces (Q₁ [youngest] to Q₈ [oldest]) are defined and mapped along the entire Sierra el Mayor range-front. Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide ¹⁰Be concentrations from individual boulders on alluvial-fan surfaces Q₄ and Q₇ yield surface exposure ages of 15.5 ± 2.2 ka and 204 ± 11 ka, respectively. Formation of the fans is probably tectonic, but their evolution is strongly moderated by climate, with surfaces developing as the hydrological conditions have changed in response to climate change on Milankovitch timescales. Systematic mapping reveals that the fault scarp array along active range-bounding faults in Sierras Cucapa and El Mayor can be divided into individual rupture zones, based on cross-cutting relationships with alluvial-fans. Quantitative morphological ages of the Laguna Salada fault-scarps, derived from linear diffusive degradation modeling, are consistent with the age of the scarps based on cross-cutting relationships. The weighted means of the maximum mass diffusivity constant for all scarps with offsets < 4 m is 0.051 and 0.066 m²/ka for the infinite and finite-slope solutions of the diffusion equation, respectively. This estimate is approximately an order of magnitude smaller than the lowest diffusivity constants documented in other regions and it probably reflects the extreme aridity and other microclimatic conditions that characterize the eastern margin of Laguna Salada.     

Contaminant concentrations in sport fish from San Francisco Bay, 1997

In 1997, seven sport fish species were sampled from seven popular fishing areas in San Francisco Bay. Mercury exceeded a human health screening value in 44 of 84 (52%) samples. All collected samples of leopard shark and striped bass exceeded the mercury screening value of 0.23 microg/g wet weight. PCBs exceeded the screening value in 51 of 72 (71%) samples. DDT, chlordane, and dieldrin, had lower numbers of samples above screening values: 16 of 72 (22%) for DDT, 11 of 72 (15%) for chlordanes, and 27 of 72 (37%) for dieldrin. Concentrations of PCBs and other trace organics were highest in white croaker and shiner surfperch, the two species with the highest fat content in their muscle tissue. Fish from one location, Oakland Harbor, had significantly elevated wet weight concentrations of mercury, PCBs, DDTs, and chlordanes compared to other locations. Removal of skin from white croaker fillets reduced lipid concentrations by 27-49% and concentrations of trace organics by 33-40%.     

Examining the C1-P1 Pseudorange Bias

Use of GPS tracking data from different dual-frequency receiver types (cross-correlating vs. codeless) has revealed satellite-dependent biases in pseudorange observables P1 (Y-code) and C1 (C/A, Clear Acquisition code). These biases can have a direct effect on clock estimates, carrier phase bias fixing, and other parameters estimated in GPS data processing. A set of satellite-specific compensatory pseudorange offsets is calculated, and each is applied to a wee of daily global network analyses in which satlellite, receiver, atmospheric, and Earth rotation parameters are estimated. Results from these analyses are then compared to those from corresponding baseline cases in which no biases were applied. There is also some evidence that suggests that the pseudorange biases differ even among codeless receiver models. Hence, a second set of offsets is computed on a different basis, and compared with the baseline model in a similar manner. A preliminary examination of C1-P1 variations over time is presented. Finally, recommendations are made for the use of the calculated offsets, and consideration is given to a future dissemination of updates to these values as necessary. ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.