The Mbale meteorite shower

Abstract— On 1992 August 14 at 12:40 UTC, an ordinary chondrite of type L5/6 entered the atmosphere over Mbale, Uganda, broke up, and caused a strewn field of size 3 × 7 km. Shortly after the fall, an expedition gathered eye witness accounts and located the position of 48 impacts of masses between 0.1 g and 27.4 kg. Short-lived radionuclide data were measured for two specimens, one of which was only 12 days after the fall. Subsequent recoveries of fragements has resulted in a total of 863 mass estimates by 1993 October. The surfaces of all fragments contain fusion crust. The meteorite shower caused some minor inconveniences. Most remarkably, a young boy was hit on the head by a small specimen. The data are interpreted as to indicate that the meteorite had an initial mass between 400–1000 kg (most likely ～1000 kg) and approached Mbale from Az = 185 ± 15, H = 55 ± 15, and V_∞ = 13.5 ± 1.5/s. Orbital elements are given. Fragmentation of the initial mass started probably above 25 km altitude, but the final catastrophic breakup occurred at an altitude of 10–14 km. An estimated 190 ± 40 kg reached the Earth's surface minutes after the final breakup of which 150 kg of material has been recovered.     

Geotechnical properties of sediment on the Kodiak continental shelf and upper slope,gulf of Alaska

Abstract

Fine‐grained sedimentary deposits on the Kodiak continental shelf and upper slope comprise three distinct compositional types: terrigenous mud, diatomrich mud, and ash‐rich sandy mud. The sediment types can be distinguished on the basis of geotechnical properties as well as by composition. The terrigenous mud has properties largely within the normal range for fine‐grained marine sediment, except for the low compressibility of many samples. This sediment underlies the walls of canyons that incise the upper slope, and analyses of undrained static and cyclic loading indicate potential instability in the steepest areas. The diatom‐rich mud has high water content, plasticity index, and compression index but low grain specific gravity. The ash‐rich sandy mud is nonplastic and has low water content and compressibility. It has high drained and undrained static strength but is extremely weakened by cyclic loading. Extensive deposits of sedimentary bedrock and coarsegrained glacial sediment in the region apparently are relatively stable, but low sediment strength or high compressibility may be encountered at the local sites of soft sedimentary deposits.     

Geochemical and environmental factors controlling exposure to cerium and magnesium in Uganda

The presence of elevated levels of dietary Ce and deficient levels of dietary Mg in southern India have been assigned as potential environmental cofactors in the aetiology of endomyocardial fibrosis. However, environmental exposure to Ce in tropical environments, where EMF is prevalent, is poorly understood because of wide variation in geochemical environments and local dietary habits. This paper describes collaborative studies based in Uganda to define environmental exposure pathways within a region where EMF is endemic, and represents the most common form of infantile heart condition. Data are presented from a survey of major foodstuffs, soils and waters which indicate that the most probable pathway for Ce exposure is from dust and inadvertent carriage of soil. In addition to substantiating observations made in southwestern India, detailed studies of Ugandan soils, dusts and waters indicate that Ce within the Ugandan environment is controlled by the presence of sub-20 μm particles in the soil. These are probably present as secondary rare earth minerals rather than monazite as assumed by workers in India.     

Radial thresholding to mitigate laser guide star aberrations on centre-of-gravity-based Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensors

Sodium laser guide stars (LGSs) are elongated sources due to the thickness and the finite distance of the sodium layer. The fluctuations of the sodium layer altitude and atom density profile induce errors on centroid measurements of elongated spots, and generate spurious optical aberrations in closed-loop adaptive optics (AO) systems. According to an analytical model and experimental results obtained with the University of Victoria LGS bench demonstrator, one of the main origins of these aberrations, referred to as LGS aberrations, is not the centre-of-gravity (CoG) algorithm itself, but the thresholding applied on the pixels of the image prior to computing the spot centroids. A new thresholding method, termed 'radial thresholding', is presented here, cancelling out most of the LGS aberrations without altering the centroid measurement accuracy.     

A theoretical model of multi-regime convection in a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer

The possible effects on stratocumulus circulations caused by drizzle and radiative cooling or heating are investigated theoretically using a simple Nonlinear Dynamical System (NDS). These effects are incorporated implicitly via the background temperature profile, and are expressed as departures from neutral conditions. These neutral conditions are assumed to be dry adiabatic in the surface, sub-cloud and inversion regions, and moist adiabatic in the cloud region.The NDS domain is divided into six distinct regions that represent those commonly observed in the planetary boundary layer (PBL): 1) the surface layer, 2) the sub-cloud layer, 3) the cloud-base layer, 4) the cloud layer, 5) the cloud-top layer, and 6) the capping inversion. The NDS successfully represents the effects of the capping inversion. Circulations are limited in their upward extent by the inversion, and would only penetrate into it when surface forcing rates are quite large.Surprisingly, when there are identical forcing rates but different initial conditions for the dynamic and thermodynamic flelds, the NDS yields two solutions throughout a wide range of cloud-base stabilities. This range covers the transition from a stable to an unstable cloud-base layer (layer 3 above). The first solution is a steady one having a decoupled form, with separate circulations in the sub-cloud region and the cloud region. The second solution is a temporally varying one exhibiting periodic coupling. The circulation in this case starts as a shallow eddy near the surface. This eddy grows into a deeper plume that penetrates into the inversion before finally dying and beginning the process again. The existence of these two fundamentally different solutions for the same forcing rates, or multi-regime convection, suggests that the PBL response to a particular forcing rate may depend critically on the initial conditions of the dynamic and thermodynamic fields. As a consequence, future modeling efforts of the PBL should consider a broad range of initial flelds.     

Slow steps towards management of the world's largest tuna fishery

Today, the tuna fishery of the western and central Pacific is one of the world's largest fisheries. Annual catches exceed 2 million mt—approximately 50% of the global tuna catch—with an estimated landed value of USD 3 billion (in 2005). The fishery expanded rapidly from the mid 1980s, following the development of the purse-seine fishery. From the mid 1990s, it was recognised that a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation was required to facilitate cooperation in the management of the resource. Following almost a decade of negotiations and planning, the Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission (WCPFC) was established in 2004. During the interim period, stock assessments for the key tuna species were developed and revealed that for two species (yellowfin and bigeye tuna) there was concern regarding the increased levels of fishing mortality. However, declarations and resolutions calling for restraint in the expansion of fishing effort were largely unheeded over the last decade and, to date, the WCPFC has been unable to introduce any measures to effectively reduce (or limit) the level of fishing mortality on yellowfin and bigeye tuna. This paper proposes a number of mechanisms for improving the performance of the WCPFC with respect to meeting the conservation and management objectives of the commission and argues that Pacific Island nations need to collectively take the lead to ensure the effective management of the resource.