Measurements of wave normal direction of whistler mode signals in the ionosphere by means of the Rocket-Doppler technique

Wave normal directions of VLF signals propagating through the ionosphere can be determined by measuring Doppler frequency shift of the signals by means of rocket borne receivers. Two rockets were launched to detect the NWC signal of 22.3 kHz which was transmitted from Australia and propagated on two completely different paths, one being propagated through the Earth-ionosphere waveguide and up to the rocket, the other propagated down to the rocket by the whistler mode directly from the source in the opposite hemisphere. The wave normal directions of the latter mode were almost vertically downward in the ionosphere in the northern hemisphere, although substantial error was involved in the determination of the wave normal direction for a part of the upgoing flight of the rockets, due to the relative geometry of the directions of the rocket flight and the geomagnetic field. The effect of the horizontal gradients of the ionosphere on the above results were found to be not significant. From the experimental results it is concluded that field aligned ducts stretching down to the rocket altitudes did not exist, at least, during the rocket flights.     

Variation in the thermohaline front at the mouth of Tokyo Bay

The generation, variation, and disappearance of the thermohaline front at the mouth of Tokyo Bay were investigated using water temperature data obtained by a commercial ferry boat in 1987. The thermohaline front was generated south of Kan-non-zaki in mid November 1987 after the beginning of sea-surface cooling. It moved northward to Kan-non-zaki until the end of the year. The thermohaline front was most intense in February and March and disappeared in late March 1987 when sea-surface warming began.     

Tidal Correction of Altimetric Data in the Japan Sea

Satellite altimetric data have been very useful in the study of variation in the eddy field of the ocean. In order to investigate the variation in the eddy field, we have to remove tidal signals from altimetric data. However, global tidal models do not have sufficient accuracy in marginal seas such as the Japan Sea. In this study, we carried out harmonic analysis of temporal fluctuations of sea surface height data in the Japan Sea measured by TOPEX/POSEIDON. We could eliminate the tidal signals from altimetric data of TOPEX/POSEIDON and also from ERS-2 altimetric data with use of the harmonic constants derived from TOPEX/POSEIDON and tide gauge data along the coast. We draw co-tidal and co-range charts in the Japan Sea using the result of the harmonic analysis of TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetric data and tide gauge data along the coast. The results obtained turn out to be very useful for the tidal correction of altimetric data from satellite in the Japan Sea.     

Generation mechanisms of tidal residual circulation

Two new types of mechanism for the generation of tidal residual flow are revealed with the use of a hydraulic model experiment. A remarkable anticlockwise tidal residual circulation is formed in a model bay due to the presence of a tidal current, the Coriolis force and a horizontal boundary. A similar circulation is also formed due to the presence of a bottom slope, a horizontal boundary and a tidal current which flows normal to the inclination of the bottom slope. The residual circulation in the Sea of Iyo in the Seto Inland Sea is considered to be due to a combination of the effects of the Coriolis force, a bottom slope, a horizontal boundary and the tidal current. We classified some of the generation mechanisms of tidal residual flow which have been described to date into seven types on the basis of vorticity considerations.     

Visualizing Diurnal Population Change in Urban Areas for Emergency Management

There is an increasing need for a quick, simple method to represent diurnal population change in metropolitan areas for effective emergency management and risk analysis. Many geographic studies rely on decennial U.S. Census data that assume that urban populations are static in space and time. This has obvious limitations in the context of dynamic geographic problems. The U.S. Department of Transportation publishes population data at the transportation analysis zone level in fifteen-minute increments. This level of spatial and temporal detail allows for improved dynamic population modeling. This article presents a methodology for visualizing and analyzing diurnal population change for metropolitan areas based on this readily available data. Areal interpolation within a geographic information system is used to create twenty-four (one per hour) population surfaces for the larger metropolitan area of Salt Lake County, Utah. The resulting surfaces represent diurnal population change for an average workday and are easily combined to produce an animation that illustrates population dynamics throughout the day. A case study of using the method to visualize population distributions in an emergency management context is provided using two scenarios: a chemical release and a dirty bomb in Salt Lake County. This methodology can be used to address a wide variety of problems in emergency management.     

JAMSTEC-IARC international collaboration enhancing understanding of the Arctic climate system

Collaborations amongst researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan and the International Arctic research Center (IARC), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), U.S., have been on-going since 1998 and resulted in a great number and magnitude of accomplishments that could not have been achieved without this close partnership. The Arctic represents an important region for Japan, the U.S. and the world, and many opportunities and challenges press for immediate understanding to enable wise decisions and policy making. We have many common interests and our countries face many common problems and goals. Addressing the tremendous scientific challenges of the Arctic requires such massive investment of manpower and resources that sharing efforts, data and working together on expeditions are in our mutual best interests.This issue presents a compilation of selected results on recent analyses conducted in the five-year (2009–2014) research term related to observational studies, model development and remote sensing applications of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent marginal seas, and the surrounding terrestrial regions. All of these studies are intended to provide a better understanding of how individual components and processes interact to form a complex and dynamic arctic system. Through these collaborations, Japanese and UAF Arctic researchers can achieve our goals of developing a quantitative understanding of the Arctic System.     

On the photochemical formation of CN,C2, and C3 radicals in cometary comae

The formation of cometary CN, C₂ and C₃ radicals is investigated in a photochemical reaction scheme. From an analysis of the observed brightness profiles of these radicals, it is shown that CN is formed as a primary product in the photolysis of its parent molecules, whereas C₂ and C₃ are formed via two-step photodissociation of their parents. We suggest that major parent of C₂ is different species from those of CN and C₃ on the basis of the difference of the variation with heliocentric distance of the sublimation rate of the parents of these radicals. Parent molecules and reaction schemes for the formation of these radicals are discussed.     

Determination of the phase boundary between ilmenite and perovskite in MgSiO3 by in situ X-ray diffraction and quench experiments

Determination of the phase boundary between ilmenite and perovskite structures in MgSiO₃ has been made at pressures between 18 and 24 GPa and temperatures up to 2000 °C by in situ X-ray diffraction measurements using synchrotron radiation and quench experiments. It was difficult to precisely define the phase boundary by the present in situ X-ray observations, because the grain growth of ilmenite hindered the estimation of relative abundances of these phases. Moreover, the slow reaction kinetics between these two phases made it difficult to determine the phase boundary by changing pressure and temperature conditions during in situ X-ray diffraction measurements. Nevertheless, the phase boundary was well constrained by quench method with a pressure calibration based on the spinel-postspinel boundary of Mg₂SiO₄ determined by in situ X-ray experiments. This yielded the ilmenite-perovskite phase boundary of P (GPa) = 25.0 (±0.2) – 0.003 T (°C) for a temperature range of 1200–1800 °C, which is generally consistent with the results of the present in situ X-ray diffraction measurements within the uncertainty of ∼±0.5 GPa. The phase boundary thus determined between ilmenite and perovskite phases in MgSiO₃ is slightly (∼0.5 GPa) lower than that of the spinel-postspinel transformation in Mg₂SiO₄. Received: 19 May 1999 / Accepted: 21 March 2000     

The 10 ka multiple vent pyroclastic eruption sequence at Tongariro Volcanic Centre, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: Part 2. Petrological insights into magma storage and transport during regional extension

The six eruption episodes of the 10 ka Pahoka–Mangamate (PM) sequence (see companion paper) occurred over a ?200–400-year period from a 15-km-long zone of multiple vents within the Tongariro Volcanic Centre (TgVC), located at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ). Most TgVC eruptives are plagioclase-dominant pyroxene andesites and dacites, with strongly porphyritic textures indicating their derivation from magmas that ascended slowly and stagnated at shallow depths. In contrast, the PM pyroclastic eruptives show petrographic features (presence of phenocrystic and groundmass hornblende, and the coexistence of olivine and augite without plagioclase during crystallisation of phenocrysts and microphenocrysts) which suggest that their crystallisation occurred at depth. Depths exceeding 8 km are indicated for the dacitic magmas, and >20 km for the andesitic and basaltic andesitic magmas. Other petrographic features (aphyric nature, lack of reaction rims around hornblende, and the common occurrence of skeletal microphenocrystic to groundmass olivine in the andesites and basaltic andesites) suggest the PM magmas ascended rapidly immediately prior to their eruption, without any significant stagnation at shallow depths in the crust. The PM eruptives show three distinct linear trends in many oxide–oxide diagrams, suggesting geochemical division of the six episodes into three chronologically-sequential groups, early, middle and late. Disequilibrium features on a variety of scales (banded pumice, heterogeneous glassy matrix and presence of reversely zoned phenocrysts) suggest that each group contains the mixing products of two end-member magmas. Both of these end-member magmas are clearly different in each of the three groups, showing that the PM magma system was completely renewed at least three times during the eruption sequence. Minor compositional diversity within the eruptives of each group also allows the PM magmas to be distinguished in terms of their source vents. Because petrography suggests that the PM magmas did not stagnate at shallow levels during their ascent, the minor diversity in magmas from different vents indicates that magmas ascended from depth through separate conduits/dikes to erupt at different vents either simultaneously or sequentially. These unique modes of magma transport and eruption support the inferred simultaneous or sequential tapping of small separate magma bodies by regional rifting in the southern Taupo Volcanic Zone during the PM eruption sequence (see companion paper).