39Ar recoil losses and presolar ages in Allende inclusions

Ar analyses are reported for five coarse-grained, Ca-Al-rich inclusions from the Allende meteorite. The samples were neutron-irradiated in individual evacuated ampoules, and the Ar gas in the ampoules as well as the samples was analyzed. A large fraction (up to 60%) of the³⁹Ar from³⁹K (n, p) reactions was lost out of the inclusions into the ampoules. The³⁹Ar losses resulted in substantial increases in the apparent⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar ages of the samples.³⁹Ar recoil loss during neutron-irradiation is a major effect and must be accounted for in⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar dating. All of the Allende inclusions studied contained substantial trapped³⁶Ar. The origin of the trapped³⁶Ar is unknown, and the possible presence of trapped⁴⁰Ar cannot be excluded. Ar measurements on Allende inclusions which have yielded anomalously old ages must be re-examined in the context of³⁹Ar recoil loss and possible contributions of trapped⁴⁰Ar. Allende inclusions appear on both accounts to be poor candidates to search for relicts of presolar materials with well-defined K/Ar ages.     

Variations in plasma parameters and magnetic field upon magnetopause crossing at the main phase maximum of the magnetic storm of November 14, 2012

Measurements of the plasma parameters and magnetic field upon magnetopause crossings by the THEMIS-А satellite during the large magnetic storm of November 14, 2012, are analyzed. The main specific feature of this event is the magnetopause crossing at the time of the magnetic-storm maximum. An imbalance of total pressure on the magnetopause reaching up to ~40% has been observed. An abrupt turn of the magnetic field immediately on the magnetopause is recorded. Inside the magnetosphere, plasma motions have been observed, both along the magnetopause and inward, at velocities of ~100–300 km/s. Variations in geomagnetic parameters are analyzed before and after the crossing. It is shown that specific features of the observed crossing may be associated with a sharp change in the magnetospheric current systems during the magnetospheric substorm.     

Retrieving earthquake signature in grace gravity solutions

The GRACE satellites have been orbiting the Earth since 2002, monitoring the time variable gravity field. Some of the observed fluctuations are due to geodynamic causes, but they are often hidden in the complex signal, composed of hydrology, ocean, atmosphere, and geodynamics, the signal of geodynamic origin being usually the smallest. In addition, dealiasing residuals and noise make the separation of the signal from the different causes more difficult. We proposed a method based on the Empirical Orthogonal Function decomposition to extract the signal of physical origin, under the hypothesis that the physical signal is spatially more consistent than the noise and aliasing incomplete correction. We used synthetic geoid variations associated with earthquakes located at nearly 2000 positions at the Earth surface, based on several examples of large actual subduction events. We show that, with the present day accuracy, we can retrieve the geoid variations associated with more than 98 per cent of the earthquakes of magnitude 9 or above, around 60 per cent for magnitude 8.8, 40 per cent for magnitude 8.6 and 33 per cent for magnitude 8.3. Some events, with the right properties and location, can be detected with magnitude as low as 8. We then applied the method to the GRACE solutions, and retrieved the Hokkaido event (2003) and the Sumatra event (2004), which is in agreement with the retrieval rates mentioned here above.     

Numerical simulation of physical and dynamical characteristics associated with the severe thunderstorm on April 5, 2015 at Kushtia and Jhenaidah

The paper deals with the study of the physical and dynamical characteristics of a severe thunderstorm, which had occurred on April 5, 2015, at about 2100 UTC in the southwestern Bangladesh with location around 23.3–23.7N and 89.0–89.4E within the upazilas (sub-districts) of Kumarkhali and Shailkupa under the districts of Kushtia and Jhenaidah, respectively. The thunderstorm was associated with numerous hails of large size. More than 5000 birds which used to live in the bird sanctuary at Shailkupa and 22,011 birds in Chhaglapara Bird Sanctuary of Kumarkhali died as they were hit by the hails. Large hails also damaged crops, houses and forests over the thunderstorm hit areas. The evolution of the thunderstorm is studied by the WRF model, which is initialized using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Final reanalysis data of 0000 UTC of April 5, 2015. The simulated results provide a basis to study the physical and dynamical characteristics of the thunderstorm, which are generally not identified by the meteorological observations which are too sparse. The model has captured a micro-low over Kumarkhali and its neighborhood, which favored the occurrence of the severe thunderstorm. The model simulated rainfall is about 26 mm near the place of occurrence, which matches well with the area where the reflectivity of hydrometeor is maximum. The convective available potential energy is found to be 1600 J kg^?1 at 1730 UTC near the place of occurrence of the thunderstorm; this indicates high atmospheric instability over the thunderstorm location for the formation of the thunderstorm. The vertical velocity, convergence, cloud water mixing ratio and the ice water mixing ratio and their vertical extensions are found to be satisfactory and responsible for the occurrence of large hails associated with the thunderstorm.     

Coseismic and other short-term strain changes recorded with Sacks-Evertson strainmeters in a deep mine, South Africa

Summary. During 1977 March and April, three Sacks-Evertson borehole dilatometers were installed at the ends of boreholes drilled into the sidewall of an experimental tunnel at a depth of 3.1 km in the ERPM gold mine near Johannesburg. In the following year coseismic strain changes ranging from 5 ± 10⁻¹⁰ to values exceeding 5 ± 10⁻⁶ were recorded for hundreds of mine tremors in the magnitude range -1 to 3.7 and at hypocentral distances of 50 m to about 2 km. Hypocentral coordinates and magnitudes were determined from seismograms recorded from an underground array of geophones. Amplitudes and polarities of the coseismic strain steps are generally in excellent agreement with theoretical expectations based on point-source dislocation theory; specifically, the strain steps are proportional to the seismic moment divided by the cube of hypocentral distance. At a strain level of 5 ± 10⁻⁹ or greater the tremors do not appear to be preceded by any short-term indications of instability even for tremors producing coseismic steps greater than 5 ± 10⁻⁶ and for which the strainmeters were within a source radius of the hypocentre. Continuous strain changes observed at the times when the mine excavation, at a distance of about 100 m, is extended are in good agreement with calculated changes based on the theory of elasticity. A similar calculation is consistent with post-seismic strain changes observed to follow some of the closer tremors. These post-seismic strains show a logarithmic dependence on time following the tremor and appear to be due to the interaction of a tremor with the adjacent mine excavation rather than to deformation within the actual seismic source region.     

Atmospheric temperature sounding with the Fourier spectrometer

Preliminary results of a space experiment using the IKFS-2 infrared sounder (Meteor-M2 satellite) showed high-quality of measurements of spectra of the outgoing thermal radiation of the atmosphere–surface system and the adequacy of developed IR radiation atmospheric models in the 15-μm carbon gas absorption band used to recover the vertical profiles of the atmospheric temperature. Outgoing radiation spectra measured by IKFS-2 instruments make it possible to restore vertical temperature profiles with errors close to 1K in most of the 0–30 km high-altitude region, except for the lower troposphere and altitudes above 30 km, where these errors are close to 2–3K.     

TRANSFORMATION OF THE LINE LENGTHS OF CARTOGRAPHIC MODELS IN ACCORDANCE WITH FUNCTIONAL UNITS

A paper devoted to the transformation of cartographic images based on nontraditional systems of scaling (travel time, transport effort, cost, etc.) describes the results of work to develop a more effective algorithm for such transformations, i.e., one which the authors claim provides for the more accurate determination of “transformed” line lengths than possible with earlier methods. Translated from: Izvestiya AN SSSR, seriya geograficheskaya, 1987, No. 4, pp. 105-111.     

Behaviour of brick infill walls strengthened with expanded steel plates

The present study was dedicated to investigate an effective, economical and convenient method for strengthening brick infill walls, i.e. the use of externally-bonded expanded steel plates. A total of 30 plastered wall assemblies were tested under monotonic diagonal loading to investigate the contribution of these plates to the load capacities, ductilities and rigidities of brick walls. The plate thickness, bolt spacing and location of the plates in the wall were the parameters of the test program. The experiments indicated that application of the plates on the outermost fine plaster layer significantly improves the diagonal load–deflection behaviour of infill walls and reducing the bolt spacing provides the strengthened walls with higher load capacity values. An analytical expression was developed for estimating the diagonal load capacities of plated brick walls. The analytical load estimates were found to be in close agreement with the experimental values.