Hydrodynamical simulations of Galactic fountains – I. Evolution of single fountains

The ejection of the gas out of the disc in late-type galaxies is related to star formation and is due mainly to Type II supernovae. In this paper, we studied in detail the development of the Galactic fountains in order to understand their dynamical evolution and their influence on the redistribution of the freshly delivered metals over the disc. To this aim, we performed a number of 3D hydrodynamical radiative cooling simulations of the gas in the Milky Way where the whole Galaxy structure, the Galactic differential rotation and the supernova explosions generated by a single OB association are considered. A typical fountain powered by 100 Type II supernovae may eject material up to ∼2 kpc which than collapses back mostly in the form of dense, cold clouds and filaments. The majority of the gas lifted up by the fountains falls back on the disc remaining within a radial distance  Δ R = 0.5 kpc  from the place where the fountain originated. This localized circulation of disc gas does not influence the radial chemical gradients on large scale, as required by the chemical models of the Milky Way which reproduce the metallicity distribution without invoking large fluxes of metals. Simulations of multiple fountains fuelled by Type II supernovae of different OB associations will be presented in a companion paper.     

Assessing the Vibrational Frequencies of the Cathedral of Cologne (Germany) by Means of Ambient Seismic Noise Analysis

Ambient seismic noise measurements were conducted inside the Cathedral of Cologne (Germany) for assessing its frequencies of vibration and for checking whether these occur in the range where soil amplification is expected. If this is the case, damages may increase in case of an earthquake due to an increased structural response of the building. Analysis of the ratio between the horizontal and vertical components of the spectra recorded at stations located inside the building as well as the ratio between the corresponding components of the spectra recorded simultaneously inside the building and at a reference station placed in the basement of the cathedral indicated several modes of vibration. Facilitated by these results an assessment of the seismic vulnerability was attempted for a 2D ground motion scenario using the finite element method.     

土壤质量评价国外研究进展

土壤是人类赖以生存的根本资源。土壤质量涉及到动植物生产力,大气、水的质量和人类的健康,随着人们对自然资源和环境保护意识的增强,越来越多的国家和地区已将土壤质量评价工作作为实现可持续发展的一个重要方面。通过土壤质量评价,了解土壤管理和利用的现状,为土壤质量的改善及可持续利用提供理论依据和技术支撑。根据国外近10年的研究,总结了主要的评价指标体系和评价方法。评价指标主要包括土壤物理、化学和生物性质3个方面的指标。评价方法分为定性和定量评价,定量评价应用较广,包括土壤质量指数、土壤质量模型、多元线性回归、相对土壤质量法等。掌握和了解国外相关研究的动态,对于开展土地质量地球化学评估及土地的分等定级工作有着重要的意义。     

Harmonic analysis of cosmic microwave background data – I. Ring reductions and point-source catalogue

We present a harmonic model for the data analysis of an all-sky cosmic microwave background survey, such as Planck , where the survey is obtained through ring-scans of the sky. In this model, resampling and pixelization of the data are avoided. The spherical transforms of the sky at each frequency, in total intensity and polarization, as well as the bright-point-source catalogue, are derived directly from the data reduced on to the rings. Formal errors and the most significant correlation coefficients for the spherical transforms of the frequency maps are preserved. A clean and transparent path from the original samplings in the time domain to the final scientific products is thus obtained. The data analysis is largely based on Fourier analysis of rings; the positional stability of the instrument's spin axis during these scans is a requirement for the data model and is investigated here for the Planck satellite. Brighter point sources are recognized and extracted as part of the ring reductions and, on the basis of accumulated data, used to build the bright-point-source catalogue. The analysis of the rings is performed in an iterative loop, involving a range of geometric and detector response calibrations. The geometric calibrations are used to reconstruct the paths of the detectors over the sky during a scan and the phase offsets between scans of different detectors; the response calibrations eliminate short- and long-term variations in detector response. Point-source information may allow the reconstruction of the beam profile. The reconstructed spherical transforms of the sky in each frequency channel form the input to the subsequent analysis stages. Although the methods in this paper were developed with the data processing for the Planck satellite in mind, there are many aspects which have wider implementation possibilities, including the construction of real-space pixelized maps.     

Measurements of flow over an elongated ridge and its thermal stability dependence: The mean field

Measurements of mean wind flow and turbulence parameters have been made over Cooper's Ridge, a 115 m high elongated ridge with low surface roughness. This paper describes measurements of the streamwise and vertical variations in the mean field for a variety of atmospheric stability conditions. In near-neutral conditions, the normalised speedup over the ridge compares well with measurements from Askervein (Mickleet al., 1988). The near-neutral results are also compared to an analytical flow model based on that of Huntet al. (1988a). Measured streamwise variations show less deceleration at the foot of the hill and slightly more acceleration at the crest of the hill than does the model. In non-neutral conditions, the speedup over the ridge reduces slightly in unstable conditions and increases by up to a factor of two in stable conditions. The model is modified to allow boundary-layer stability to change the upwind wind profile and the depths of the inner and middle layers. Such a modification is shown to describe the observations of speedup well in unstable and weakly stable conditions but to overestimate the speedup in moderate to strongly stable conditions. This disagreement can be traced to the model's overestimation of the upstream scaling velocity at the height of the middle layer through its use of a stable wind profile form which has greater shear than that of the observed profiles, in possible combination with the three-dimensionality of the ridge which would allow enhanced flow around, rather than over, the feature in more stable conditions.     

Responses of marine phytoplankton in iron enrichment experiments in the northern North Sea and northeast Atlantic Ocean

Short-term iron enrichment experiments were carried out with samples collected in areas with different phytoplankton activity in the northern North Sea and northeast Atlantic Ocean in the summer of 1993. The research area was dominated by high numbers of pico-phytoplankton, up to 70,000 ml⁻¹. Maximum chlorophyll a concentrations varied from about 1.0 μg l⁻¹ in a high-reflectance zone (caused by loose coccoliths, remnants from a bloom of Emiliania huxleyi) and about 3.5 μg l⁻¹ in a zone in which the phytoplankton were growing, to about 0.5 μg l⁻¹ in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. From the high-reflectance zone to the northeast Atlantic Ocean, nitrate concentrations increased from 0.5 μM to 6.0 μM. Concentrations of reactive iron in surface water showed an opposite trend and decreased from about 2.6 nM in the high-reflectance zone to <1.0 nM in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. In the research area, no signs of true iron deficiency were found, but iron enrichments in the high-reflectance zone, numerically dominated by Synechococcus sp., resulted in increased nitrate uptake. Ammonium uptake was hardly affected. Strong support for the effect of Fe on cell physiology is given by the increase in the f-ratio. Net growth rates of the phytoplankton (changes in cell numbers over 24 h) were almost unchanged. Phytoplankton collected from the northeast Atlantic Ocean, did not show changes in the nitrogen metabolism upon addition of iron. Net growth rates in these incubations were low or negative, with only slightly higher values with additional iron.     

Geochemistry and potential use of groundwater in the Rocca Busambra area (Sicily, Italy)

In the Rocca Busambra area (mid-west Sicily, Italy), from November 1999 to July 2002, 23 water points including wells and springs were sampled and studied for their chemical and isotopic compositions. Two rain gauges were also installed at different altitudes, and rainwater was collected monthly to determine the isotopic composition. The obtained results revealed the Rocca Busambra carbonate complex as being the main recharge area on account of its high permeability value. From a chemical view point, two main groups of water can be distinguished: calcium–magnesium–bicarbonate-type and calcium–magnesium–chloride–sulphate-type waters. The first group reflects the dissolution of the carbonate rocks; the second group probably originates from circulation within flyschoid sediments. Three water wells differ from the other samples due to their relatively high Na and K content, which probably is to be referred to a marked interaction with the “Calcareniti di Corleone” formation, which is rich in glauconite [(K, Na)(Fe³⁺, Al, Mg)₂(Si, Al)₄O₁₀(OH)₂]. In accordance with WHO guidelines for drinking water (2004), almost all the samples collected can be considered drinkable, with the exception of four of them, whose NO₃ ⁻, F⁻ and Na⁺ contents exceed the limits. On the contrary, the sampled groundwater studied is basically suitable for irrigation.