Hydrodynamic Instability of Ionization Front in HII Regions: From Linear to Nonlinear Evolution

A sample of 54 6.7-GHz methanol maser sources was monitored at HartRAO for 4 years, and 11 12.2-GHz methanol masers for 3 years. The majority of the maser features display a significant degree of variability but with a wide range of timescales and behaviors. Some maser features remained unvarying throughout the monitoring programme, while others showed sporadic flares or sudden drops in flux density. Yet another group show quasi-periodic and periodic variations. In some cases the maser features dropped below the detection limit for a significant length of time before increasing in intensity and reappearing.     

Optical observations of FY Persei

The results are presented of multi-channel photometry and spectroscopy of the suspected nova-like variable FY Per. These results suggest that FY Per may be a Herbig Ae/Be star rather than a nova-like variable.     

Horizontal electric fields in the middle latitude

Three dimensional electric fields were measured at the altitude of about 27 km in the stratosphere over the Pacific Ocean about 200–400 km away from the Sanriku coast of Honsyu Island (L = 1·4) on 16–17 October 1973, which was magnetically disturbed. The average horizontal electric field thus measured is about 10 mV/m, and the electric field vectors made clockwise semidiurnal rotations rather than diurnal. Daily variation of this electric field was compared with data at L = 2·7–3·5 published by Mozer (1973) and was found to be very similar. This suggests that these electric fields are of common origin in the plasmasphere. From their mean daily variation it is estimated that the plasmaspheric convection is decreased in the night side and is increased in the day side by 200–300 m/sec, and there is an outward flow in the first half of the afternoon and an inward flow in the plasma bulge region of about 500 m/sec.     

Influence of Salinity on pH and Aluminum Concentration on the Interaction of Acidic Red Soil with Seawater

Contamination of acidic red soil in the coastal areas of Okinawa Islands is a serious environmental problem. This study was conducted to examine the effects of the salinity on pH and aluminum concentration when the acidic red soil interacts with seawater. Acidic red soil from Gushikawa recreation center was fractionated into bulk soil, coarse sand and silt + clay. Different weights of each fraction were equilibrated with seawater solutions. The pH and concentrations of Al³⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ were then analyzed in the extracts. The results showed a decreasing trend of pH with increasing soil to solution ratio while the extracted Al³⁺ revealed an increasing trend. The lowest pH values were 3.85, 4.06, 4.41, 4.66 and their corresponding highest Al³⁺ concentrations were 2.50, 1.01, 0.062 and 0.036 mmolL⁻¹ in the seawater extracts, one-tenth seawater extracts, one-hundredth seawater extracts and one-thousandth seawater solution extracts, respectively. Mostly, the concentrations of Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and especially K⁺ decreased with increasing soil weight in the high salinities but showed the opposite trend in the low salinity samples. Potassium concentration decreased by 39%, 53% and 40% in the seawater extracts, one-tenth and one-hundredth seawater extracts but increased by 200% in one-thousandth seawater extracts. The coincidence of the increase in Al³⁺ and H⁺ concentrations, and the decrease of Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ concentrations in the solutions suggests ion exchange/adsorption, while the increased patterns, particularly at low salinity could be attributed to the dissolution of the species from the soils.     

The coriolis effect against frontogenesis in steady buoyancy-driven circulation

The Coriolis effect on frontogenesis in the transitional region between the inner bay and the outer ocean is studied by running several three-dimensional numerical experiments. The aim is to clarify what external parameters, including the transverse scale of the basin, control the phenomena. The characteristics of the front in each case are described by defining three diagnostic quantities, namely, the sharpness of the front, the intrusion of the front, and the buoyancy difference between the minimum buoyancy region and the surrounding part, as the existence of the minimum buoyancy region is closely related to frontogenesis. The three quantities are shown to depend on two nondimensional numbers,R _of (=f ⁻¹ L ^−2/3 F _b ^1/3 : defined as flux Rossby number) andR _ef (=ν _v ⁻¹ L ^−2/3 F _b ^1-3 H ²: defined as flux Reynolds number).     

The study of oceanic turbulent diffusion

Journal of Oceanography - It is indeed a great honor to receive the Oceanographical Society of Japan Prize (1983) for the study of oceanic turbulent diffusion. For this award I owe a great many...     

Coastal Disturbance in Sea Level Propagating along the South Coast of Japan and Its Impact on the Kuroshio

The coastal sea level propagating westward along the south coast of Japan and the impact of the disturbance on the generation of the Kuroshio small meander have been examined. The propagation occurs in sea level variations for periods shorter than 10 days and is remarkable for periods of 4–6 days. Characteristics of the 4–6 day component have been studied using the extended empirical orthogonal function (EEOF). The first and second modes of EEOF are almost in-phase throughout the south coast of Japan. The higher four modes of EEOF are significantly excited when the Kuroshio takes the non-large-meander path, and propagate westward with phase speeds of 2.8 m s⁻¹ (third and fourth modes) and 1.6 m s⁻¹ (fifth and sixth modes) in the Kuroshio region west of Mera in the Boso Peninsula. The analysis shows that more than 70% of the small meanders generate in two months after a significant propagating disturbance reaches south of Kyushu when the velocity of the Kuroshio is high. This effect of coastal disturbance is examined by numerical experiments with a 2.5-layer model in which coastal disturbance is excited by vertical displacement of the upper interface. The result is that offshore displacement of the Kuroshio occurs southeast of Kyushu only in the case of significant upward displacement of the interface under the influence of a high Kuroshio velocity. The significant coastal disturbance, which is associated with upward displacement of the density interface, and a high Kuroshio velocity can therefore be important factors in generating small meanders.     

Distribution of ephyrae and polyps of jellyfish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aurelia</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">aurita</Emphasis> (Linnaeus 1758) <Emphasis Type="Italic">sensu lato</Emphasis> in Mikawa Bay,Japan

We surveyed the distribution of colonies of polyps of Aurelia aurita sensu lato (s.l.) in Mikawa Bay, Japan. First, we surveyed the distribution of ephyrae of A. aurita s.l. at 75 stations encompassing the whole of Mikawa Bay in early 2008. A total of 37 ephyrae were sampled mostly from fishing ports. Ephyrae were most abundant around the islands located near the mouth of the bay, and decreased from the western part to the eastern part of Mikawa Bay. Next, we selected five fishing ports in Mikawa Bay where ephyrae occurred and surveyed the underside of floating piers and underwater overhangs of wharfs. We found dense colonies of polyps of A. aurita s.l. under nearly all of the floating piers at the two islands located near the mouth of the bay. Fitting a logistic regression model to the dataset showed that the percentage coverage of Aurelia polyps was significantly greater at the two islands compared with the other locations. In addition, the coverage of Aurelia polyps was greater when the coverage of other fouling organisms was in the range of 65–90%, and the coverage of Aurelia polyps was lower on floating piers with a vinyl surface and on concrete wharfs. The combined distribution of polyp colonies of A. aurita s.l. in Ise Bay and Mikawa Bay suggested that A. aurita s.l. in the two bays probably forms a single population and shoals of medusae mainly originate from protected harbors along the mouth-part of the bays.     

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2016.06.013

The Archean continental crusts account for ca.20% of the present volume,but the thermal history of the Earths' mantle suggests much more continental crusts were formed in the early Archean.Because the Archean continental crust underwent severe metamorphism,it is important to avoid influence by the later thermal events.We carried out a comprehensive geochronological work of Cathodoluminescence(CL) observation and U-Pb dating of zircons from orthogneisses and supracrustal rocks over the Saglek Block to obtain their protolith ages.The zircons were classified into three domains of core,mantle and rims,and the cores were further classified into three groups of inherited,altered and zoned cores based on the zonation on the CL images.We estimated the protolith ages from Pb-Pb ages of the zoned-cores of zircons with low U contents.We made a detailed sketch of a small outcrop in St.John's Harbour South(SJHS) area,and classified the orthogneisses and mafic enclaves into seven generations based on the geologic occurrence.The first and second generations comprise mafic rocks and lack magmatic zircons.We conducted CL imaging and U-Pb dating of zircons from the third,sixth and seventh generation of the orthogneisses to estimate the protolith ages at 3902 L 25,3892 ± 33 and 3897 ± 33 Ma for each,supporting the presence of the over 3.9 Ca Iqaluk Gneiss.The geological occurrence that the mafic rocks occur as enclaves within the 3.9 Ga Iqaluk Gneiss indicates that they are the oldest supracrustal rocks in the world.Our geochronological and geological studies show the Uivak Gneiss is quite varied in lithology and age from 3.6 to 3.9 Ga,and tentatively classified into six groups based on their ages.The oldest Uivak Gneiss components including the Iqaluk Gneiss are present around the SJHS area,and the orthogneisses become young as it is away.The lines of evidence of overprinting of younger granitoid on older granitoid in small outcrops and geological-map scale as well as presence of inherited zircons even in the oldest suite suggests that crustal reworking played an important role on erasing the ancient crusts.     

An anthophyllite-hornblende pair from Japan

Chemical, optical and X-ray powder data on coexisting anthophyllite and hornblende in an amphibolite are presented. Some chemical features of amphibole pairs are briefly discussed.