Field experiment on studying solar radiation passing through aerosol layers

Results of a field experiment on studying solar radiation passing in the visible wavelength range are described with the model aerosol media created in the surface atmosphere. High-efficiency thermocondensation generators were used for creating model aerosol media. The index of refraction and an average size of the aerosol particles formed are close to those characteristic of the natural stratospheric aerosol. The composition and technical characteristics of the equipment complex used in the experiments to control aerosol optical and microphysical parameters and meteorological conditions of the experiment are considered. The Gaussian model of impurity dispersion in the boundary layer is used for the analysis and interpretation of measurement results. It is found that with a number concentration of aerosol particles of ～10²–10³ cm^?3 (which corresponds to the aerosol density in the deposited layer of about 1–10 mg/m² with the layer thickness along the ray path of about 100 m) the solar radiation attenuation with artificial aerosol layers accounts for 1 to 10%. Model estimates are in satisfactory agreement with the measurement results.     

The first finds of cretaceous belemnites from the Magellan Rise, Pacific Ocean

The occurrence of belemnites in Mesozoic sediments of the Pacific guyots is established for the first time (rostra Dimitobelidae gen. et sp. indet. from the late Campanian-Maastrichtian detrital limestone of the DVGI Guyot, Belemnitella? sp. from oolitic limestone of the Gelendzhik Guyot, which are presumably of the Santonian-Maastrichtian age, and Belemnitidae? gen. et sp. indet. from the Maastrichtian oolitic limestone of the Butakov Guyot, the Magellan Rise). In recent years, fossil cephalopods important in stratigraphic and paleobiogeographic aspects have been found at five guyots of that rise. New data on fossil invertebrates from the study region suggest breaks in the sedimentation here at the terminal Maastrichtian, Paleogene, and initial Neogene time. Possible limits of vertical migration in the tropical Pacific are estimated for the Late Cretaceous belemnites based on preliminary results of the oxygen isotope analysis.     

Navier-Stokes and direct Monte-Carlo simulations of the circumnuclear gas coma: III. Spherical, inhomogeneous sources

We pursue our program of comparative simulations of the cometary gas coma by the two most advanced techniques available: (1) numerical solution of Navier-Stokes equations coupled to the Boltzman equation in the surface boundary layer, and (2) direct Monte-Carlo simulation. Here, we consider two different spherical but compositionally inhomogeneous nuclei, at three very different levels of gas production. The results show the same excellent agreement between the two methods in a domain adjacent to the surface as found precedingly, practically down to free-molecular conditions. A wealth of coma density patterns with non-intuitive structure is obtained. Some of these structures appear even under free-molecular effusion from the surface. The physical origin of all structures is discussed, and their evolution with changing gas production is studied. The computed comae are compared to those computed by various authors precedingly. Intercomparison of the present results demonstrates that differing inhomogeneity patterns may lead to similar structures in the gas coma. Comparison between these structures and those created by homogeneous, aspherical surfaces shows that it is not possible to guess from empirical rules which one of the two processes is responsible for the creation of a given structure. The implications for the interpretation of future high resolution images, or of future in situ mass spectrometric samplings of the near-nucleus gas coma are discussed.     

Comparison between Navier-Stokes and Direct Monte-Carlo Simulations of the Circumnuclear Coma: I. Homogeneous, Spherical Source

The structure of the near-nucleus H₂O atmosphere formed by sublimation under solar heating of a hypothetical large dusty ice sphere is computed (1) by the direct simulation Monte-Carlo method (DSMC) and (2) by solving Navier-Stokes equations (NSE) combined with a locally plane-parallel solution of the collisional Boltzmann equation for the nonequilibrium near-surface Knudsen layer. For Hale-Bopp-like comets, perfect agreement is obtained between the two methods on the day and night sides. This excellent agreement is maintained on the near-nucleus dayside for less productive comets, even down to production rates as low as those expected for Comet P/Wirtanen near 3 AU. It provides a direct validation of the gasdynamic simulations performed in support of the ESA Rosetta mission lander descent optimization studies (Crifo et al. 2001) and also confirms the similarity between the dayside coma and underexpanded axially symmetric free jets pointed out in Crifo (1986). On the nightside, moderate to high discrepancies appear between the two solutions as the production rate decreases, revealing the limits of the NSE method. The limits of the present study are delineated, and directions for future investigations are indicated.     

Pliensbachian-Toarcian biotic turnover in north Siberia and the Arctic region

The biotic turnover in the Pliensbachian-Toarcian transition and changes in assemblages of bivalves, ostracodes, foraminifers, dinocysts, spores, and pollen are described. Only five of 24 bivalve genera and two of four ostracode genera cross the Pliensbachian-Toarcian boundary so that composition of genera and families to be entirely renewed at the base of the Harpoceras falciferum Zone. In the interval of three ammonite zones, diversity of foraminifers is reducing from 27 genera in the Amaltheus margaritatus Zone (upper Pliensbachian) to 17 and then to 15 genera in the Tiltoniceras antiquum (lower Toarcian) and Harpoceras falciferum zones, respectively. Single dinocysts of the Pliensbachian are replaced by their abundant specimens at the base of the Toarcian, and substantial changes in composition of palynological assemblages are simultaneously established. Factors responsible for “mass extinctions” of marine invertebrates are suggested to be the paleogeographic reorganization, anoxic events, eustatic sea-level changes, and climatic fluctuations. The biotic turnover in the Arctic region is interrelated mainly with thermal changes, which caused the southward displacements of taxa distribution areas during a rapid cooling and their gradual return to former habitat areas in the period of warming, rather than with extinction events.     

Possibilities for studying microlensing of distant quasars using the RADIOASTRON space interferometer

Gravitational lensing is a powerful tool for studies of the distribution of matter (including dark matter) in the Universe. The characteristic angular separation of images and characteristic variability time scale depend on the characteristic masses of the gravitational lenses. The construction of the RADIOASTRON space interferometer in the coming years will provide qualitatively new conditions for investigations of microlensing of distant quasars in the radio, since it will become possible not only to resolve individual microimages of these quasars, but also to observe astrometric microlensing (i.e., the shift of an image of a distant quasar, sometimes called weak microlensing). Astrometric microlensing by compact objects in the Galactic halo is not a very significant effect for the RADIOASTRON interferometer, since the probability of such events is low and the characteristic time scales involved appreciably exceed the proposed operational lifetime of the interferometer.     

Boreal-tethyan correlation of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval by magneto- and biostratigraphy

As a result of detail sampling and paleomagnetic study of the 27-m-thick section of Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary beds in the Nordvik Peninsula (Anabar Bay, Laptev Sea), a succession of M-zones correlative with chrons M20n-M17r is established for the first time in the Boreal deposits. Inside the normal polarity zone corresponding to Chron M20n, a thin interval of reversed polarity, presumably an equivalent of the Kysuca Subzone (M20n.1r), is discovered. The other thin interval of reversed polarity established within the next normal polarity zone (M19n) is correlated with the Brodno Subzone (M19n.1r). The same succession of normal and reversed polarity zones has been discovered recently in the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary beds of the Tethyan sections: in the Bosso Valley (Italy), at the Brodno (Slovak Republic) and Puerto Escaño (Spain) sites. Correlation of successions established lead us to conclusion, that the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary corresponds in the Panboreal Superrealm to a level within the Craspedites taimyrensis Zone of the upper Volgian Substage. Hence, the greatest part of Volgian Stage should be included into the Jurassic System. Biostratigraphic data do not contradict this conclusion.