Magnetic characteristics of sediment grains concurrently contaminated with TBT and metals near a shipyard in Busan,Korea

Bottom sediments near shipyards are often susceptible to receiving accidental spills of TBT and metals or their degradation products from hull scraping of antifouling system paints applied prior to 2008, when the AFS Convention 2001 was not in force. We investigated TBT and metal contamination of sediments near the shipyards of a small marina located in Busan, Korea and found that they were highly contaminated with TBT, Cu, and Zn. To better understand the environmental impacts and to make an optimal remediation plan, we characterized individual antifouling fragments in terms of metal and TBT contents, magnetic properties, and grain-size. Coarse-sized individual antifouling fragments exhibited simultaneously high levels of TBT, metals and high magnetic susceptibility, and appeared to be a major source of pollution in the sediment. Therefore, magnetic separation in combination with size-separation appears to be a cost-effective remediation method to remove the TBT and metals from contaminated shipyard sediments.     

2D acoustic‐elastic coupled waveform inversion in the Laplace domain

Although waveform inversion has been intensively studied in an effort to properly delineate the Earth's structures since the early 1980s, most of the time‐ and frequency‐domain waveform inversion algorithms still have critical limitations in their applications to field data. This may be attributed to the highly non‐linear objective function and the unreliable low‐frequency components. To overcome the weaknesses of conventional waveform inversion algorithms, the acoustic Laplace‐domain waveform inversion has been proposed. The Laplace‐domain waveform inversion has been known to provide a long‐wavelength velocity model even for field data, which may be because it employs the zero‐frequency component of the damped wavefield and a well‐behaved logarithmic objective function. However, its applications have been confined to 2D acoustic media. We extend the Laplace‐domain waveform inversion algorithm to a 2D acoustic‐elastic coupled medium, which is encountered in marine exploration environments. In 2D acoustic‐elastic coupled media, the Laplace‐domain pressures behave differently from those of 2D acoustic media, although the overall features are similar to each other. The main differences are that the pressure wavefields for acoustic‐elastic coupled media show negative values even for simple geological structures unlike in acoustic media, when the Laplace damping constant is small and the water depth is shallow. The negative values may result from more complicated wave propagation in elastic media and at fluid‐solid interfaces. Our Laplace‐domain waveform inversion algorithm is also based on the finite‐element method and logarithmic wavefields. To compute gradient direction, we apply the back‐propagation technique. Under the assumption that density is fixed, P‐ and S‐wave velocity models are inverted from the pressure data. We applied our inversion algorithm to the SEG/EAGE salt model and the numerical results showed that the Laplace‐domain waveform inversion successfully recovers the long‐wavelength structures of the P‐ and S‐wave velocity models from the noise‐free data. The models inverted by the Laplace‐domain waveform inversion were able to be successfully used as initial models in the subsequent frequency‐domain waveform inversion, which is performed to describe the short‐wavelength structures of the true models.     

An englacial image and water pathways of the Fourcade glacier on King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula, inferred from ground-penetrating radar

The distribution of small fractures and water content of the Fourcade glacier on King George Island, Antarctica, was investigated in November 2006 and December 2007 by two ground-based (470-and 490-m-long profiles) and one helicopter-borne (470-m-long profile) ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys using 50-, 100-, and 500-MHz antennas. Radar images in the pre-migrated GPR sections are characterized by a smooth ice surface and irregular bed topography, numerous diffraction hyperbolas in the ice and at the g...     

火山地震活动的实验室模拟

火山体内产生地震活动的物理过程非常复杂,目前仍然没有被完全理解。我们在实验室内用来自埃特纳火山(意大利)的玄武岩做了变形和破碎实验并报道了实验结果。该实验用一组围绕样品的传感器监测,以完成全波形记录及微震事件定位和分析。充满液体的孔隙和损伤区快速破裂后减压激发了许多低频事件,类似于长周期火山地震活动。低频事件与孔隙流体的减压有关,位于破裂样本的损伤区;这些事件都具有一个弱剪切滑动分量(双力偶),与发生在活火山下的流体驱动事件相一致。     

Effects of spilled oil on microbial communities in a tidal flat

Effects of spilled oil on microbial communities in tidal flats were examined by use of a simulator for a tidal flat ecosystem. The simulator is composed of a wave generator, a tide control device, and a tidal flat. Sediment for the tidal flat was obtained at a natural tidal flat in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. After stabilizing the benthic organisms, fuel oil C was added to the surface of the flat at 1 lm(-2). Although the total number of micro-organisms remained at 1.5-3.5 x 10(9) cells g(-1) dry sediment irrespective of the addition of oil, bacterial communities which were analyzed based on the 16S rDNA showed clear changes after the addition of fuel oil C and after a subsequent recovery period. Bacterial colonies were randomly isolated from the oil-supplemented sediment during the experiments, and the isolates were examined for susceptibility to hydrocarbons in order to screen the oil-susceptible bacteria. The proportion of oil-susceptible bacteria in the isolates decreased with the addition of the oil. Oil-susceptible bacteria showed an inability to assimilate petroleum compounds as well as an inhibition of growth. The possibility of using oil-susceptible bacteria as an indicator of bioremediation in tidal flats was discussed.     

The Stratification of Jupiter's Troposphere at the Galileo Probe Entry Site

Galileo Probe Atmospheric Structure Investigation (ASI) pressure and temperature sensor data acquired during the parachute descent phase have been used to derive the static stability structure of Jupiter's troposphere at pressure levels of 0.5-22 bars using three techniques. The first approach utilizes both the p-sensor and T-sensor data, but since the p-sensor's zero offset was significantly affected by the thermal anomaly in the probe, two other approaches using only T-sensor data have also been developed. By making the physically reasonable assumptions of equilibrium descent for the probe and hydrostatic balance of the atmosphere, an algorithm for deriving the background static stability from T-sensor measurements alone is developed. Regions with static stability 0.1-0.2 K km⁻¹ are found at 0.5-1.7 bars, 3-8.5 bars, and 14-20 bars. Between these layers, regions of weaker static stability are present. Mean molecular weight gradients due to the vertical variation of water vapor abundance near the 11-bar pressure level appear to stabilize the atmosphere at this level. Oscillatory structures with vertical wavelength ∼15-30 km and amplitude ∼0.1-0.2 K are observed in the T-sensor data. For pressure <2 bars, these eddies are well above the noise level of the measurements and are consistent with the predictions of linear gravity wave theory for a wave with horizontal phase speed c_x=160 m s⁻¹ with respect to System III propagating through the static stability derived from the T-sensor data alone. They provide quantitative confirmation of the static stability derived from T-sensor data in the troposphere where p<2 bars. The observed static stability structure shows an inverse correlation with the regions of wind shear observed by the Doppler Wind Experiment: regions of highest shear in the horizontal wind appear to be associated with regions of lowest static stability. The particulate population detected by other experiments on the probe shows some correlation with the uppermost layer of static stability, suggesting enhanced solar energy deposition at these levels may play a role in producing the positive static stability.     

Standard and Non-Standard Solar Models

We summarize the physical input and assumptions commonly adopted in modern standard solar models that also produce good agreement with solar oscillation frequencies. We discuss two motivations for considering non-standard models: the solar neutrino problem and surface lithium abundance problem. We begin to explore the potential for mixed core models to solve the neutrino problem, and compare the structure, neutrino flux, and oscillation frequency predictions for several models in which the inner 25% of the radius is homogenized, taking into account the effects of non-local equilibrium abundances of ³He. The results for the neutrino flux and helioseismic predictions are far from satisfactory, but such models have the potential to reduce the predicted ⁷Be/⁸B neutrino flux ratio, and further studies are warranted. Finally, we discuss how much the neutrino problem can be alleviated in the framework of the standard solar model by using reaction rates, abundances and neutrino capture cross-sections at the limits of their uncertainties, while still satisfying the constraints of helioseismology.