Magnetic Rossby waves in a stably stratified layer near the surface of the Earth's outer core

Abstract

The stratification profile of the Earth's magnetofluid outer core is unknown, but there have been suggestions that its upper part may be stably stratified. Braginsky (1984) suggested that the magnetic analog of Rossby (planetary) waves in this stable layer (the ‘H’ layer) may be responsible for a portion of the short-period secular variation. In this study, we adopt a thin shell model to examine the dynamics of the H layer. The stable stratification justifies the thin-layer approximations, which greatly simplify the analysis. The governing equations are then the Laplace's tidal equations modified by the Lorentz force terms, and the magnetic induction equation. We linearize the Lorentz force in the Laplace's tidal equations and the advection term in the magnetic induction equation, assuming a zeroth order dipole field as representative of the magnetic field near the insulating core-mantle boundary. An analytical β-plane solution shows that a magnetic field can release the equatorial trapping that non-magnetic Rossby waves exhibit. A numerical solution to the full spherical equations confirms that a sufficiently strong magnetic field can break the equatorial waveguide. Both solutions are highly dissipative, which is a consequence of our necessary neglect of the induction term in comparison with the advection and diffusion terms in the magnetic induction equation in the thin-layer limit. However, were one to relax the thin-layer approximations and allow a radial dependence of the solutions, one would find magnetic Rossby waves less damped (through the inclusion of the induction term). For the magnetic field strength appropriate for the H layer, the real parts of the eigenfrequencies do not change appreciably from their non-magnetic values. We estimate a phase velocity of the lowest modes that is rather rapid compared with the core fluid speed typically presumed from the secular variation.     

Dioxins and PCBs in Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) from the North-East Atlantic

The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) is a high-trophic fish species present in Arctic waters. The present study aimed to determine concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDDs/Fs), dioxin-like (DL) PCBs and six non-dioxin-like (NDL) PCBs in muscle and liver from 10 female Greenland sharks collected between 2001 and 2003 from Icelandic waters. The mean total concentrations of PCDDs/Fs were 13 and 530pg/g fat for muscle and liver, respectively, and show enrichment in the liver. Concentrations of DL-non-ortho PCBs were also higher in liver compared to muscle with mean concentrations of 7.8 and 0.36ng/g fat, respectively. No enrichment in the liver was found for DL-mono-ortho- and NDL-PCBs. No correlation was found between the size range studied and total concentrations of the compounds analyzed. Total WHO-TEQs (PCDDs/Fs and DL-PCBs) ranged between 7.1-70 and 54-1500pg/g fat in muscle and liver, respectively.     

On the moments of time to first passage of the linear oscillator

The moments of time to first passage of the response process of the linear oscillator excited by a stationary wide-band process are obtained numerically for the symmetric two-sided barrier problem. A recursive set of partial differential equations governing the moments is solved using a Petrov-Galerkin finite element method. Stable, accurate solutions for the first few moments are calculated over a wide range of oscillator damping.     

Abundances of ethylene oxide and acetaldehyde in hot molecular cloud cores.

We have searched for millimetre-wave line emission from ethylene oxide (c-C2H4O) and its structural isomer acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) in 11 molecular clouds using SEST. Ethylene oxide and acetaldehyde were detected through multiple lines in the hot cores NGC 6334F, G327.3-0.6, G31.41+0.31, and G34.3+0.2. Acetaldehyde was also detected towards G10.47+0.03, G322.2+0.6, and Orion 3'N, and one ethylene oxide line was tentatively detected in G10.47+0.03. Column densities and rotational excitation temperatures were derived using a procedure which fits the observed line intensifies by finding the minimum chi 2-value. The resulting rotational excitation temperatures of ethylene oxide and acetaldehyde are in the range 16-38 K, indicating that these species are excited in the outer, cooler parts of the hot cores or that the excitation is significantly subthermal. For an assumed source size of 20", the deduced column densities are (0.6-1)x10(14) cm-2 for ethylene oxide and (2-5)x10(14) cm-2 for acetaldehyde. The fractional abundances with respect to H2 are X[c-C2H4O]=(2-6)xl0(-10), and X[CH3CHO]=(0.8-3)x10(-9). The ratio X[CH3CHO]/X[c-C2H4O] varies between 2.6 (NGC 6334F) and 8.5 (G327.3-0.6). We also detected and analysed multiple transitions of CH3OH, CH3OCH3, C2H5OH, and HCOOH. The chemical, and possibly evolutionary, states of NGC 6334F, G327.3-0.6, G31.41+0.31, and G34.3+0.2 seem to be very similar.     

BASIC: Baltic Sea cyanobacteria. An investigation of the structure and dynamics of water blooms of cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea—responses to a changing environment

The blooms of cyanobacteria that develop each summer in the Baltic Sea are composed of two functional groups, namely the small-sized picocyanobacteria (Synechococcus sp.) and the larger, colony-forming, filamentous N₂-fixing cyanobacteria. The former encompassed both red (phycoerythrin-rich) and blue-green (phycocyanin-rich) species. The majority of the picocyanobacteria measured less than 1 μm and this size fraction comprised as much as 80% of the total cyanobacterial biomass and contributed as much as 50% of the total primary production of a cyanobacterial bloom. The picocyanobacteria are incapable of fixing N₂, do not possess gas vesicles and are not toxic. However, a small filamentous Pseudanabaena sp. that could potentially fix N₂ was isolated from the picocyanobacteria fraction. The larger cyanobacteria may form surface scums because they possess gas vesicles that make them buoyant. Although their biomass was less than the picocyanobacteria, they therefore form the more conspicuous and nuisance-forming part of the bloom. The larger cyanobacteria were composed mainly of three different species: Nodularia spumigena, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Anabaena sp. These all belong to the heterocystous, N₂-fixing cyanobacteria. N. spumigena and A. flos-aquae were the dominant species; only N. spumigena was toxic. Although individual Nodularia filaments showed a range of different phenotypes, they all belong to one species as judged from 16S rDNA sequencing. Through determination of the genotypes of many individual Nodularia filaments, it was shown that this population was not clonal and that horizontal exchange of genetic information occurs. N. spumigena and A. flos-aquae were different with respect to their photosynthetic and N₂-fixing potentials. Depending on prevailing environmental conditions, these differences would promote the proliferation of one species over the other and hence would determine overall the toxicity of a bloom. Daily integrals of photon irradiance rather than temperature determined the onset of bloom formation. During a bloom, the diazotrophic cyanobacteria fixed N₂ at a rate that was 10–20% in excess of their own demand for N. Picocyanobacteria assimilated most of this excess N as shown by ¹⁵N incorporation. During bloom conditions, the diazotrophic cyanobacteria met about 50% of the N demand of the total cyanobacterial community. The picocyanobacteria were predominantly N-limited while the diazotrophic cyanobacteria were probably iron limited. These findings allow us to understand the formation of toxic cyanobacterial blooms and also to develop tools to predict bloom formation.