Modification and testing of a one‐dimensional energy and mass balance model for supraglacial snowpacks

A one‐dimensional energy and mass balance snow model (SNTHERM) has been modified for use with supraglacial snowpacks and applied to a point on Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland. It has been adapted to incorporate the underlying glacier ice and a site‐specific, empirically derived albedo routine. Model performance was tested against continuous measurements of snow depth and meltwater outflow from the base of the snowpack, and intermittent measurements of surface albedo and snowpack density profiles collected during the 1993 and 2000 melt seasons. Snow and ice ablation was simulated accurately. The timing of the daily pattern of meltwater outflow was well reproduced, although magnitudes were generally underestimated, possibly indicating preferential flow into the snowpack lysimeter. The model was used to assess the quantity of meltwater stored temporally within the unsaturated snowpack and meltwater percolation rates, which were found to be in agreement with dye tracer experiments undertaken on this glacier. As with other energy balance studies on alpine valley glaciers, the energy available for melt was dominated by net radiation (64%), with a sizable contribution from sensible heat flux (36%) and with a negligible latent heat flux overall, although there was more complex temporal variation on diurnal timescales. A basic sensitivity analysis indicated that melt rates were most sensitive to radiation, air temperature and snowpack density, indicating the need to accurately extrapolate/interpolate these variables when developing a spatially distributed framework for this model. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmental tolerance of Caprella mutica: implications for its distribution as a marine non-native species

Physiological tolerances limit the distribution of marine species, with geographical ranges being set by environmental factors, such as temperature and salinity, which affect the rates of vital processes and survival of marine ectotherms. The physiological tolerances of the non-native marine amphipod Caprella mutica were investigated in laboratory experiments. Adult C. mutica were collected from a fish farm on the west coast of Scotland and exposed to a range of temperatures and salinities for 48 h. C. mutica were tolerant of a broad range of temperature and salinity conditions, with 100% mortality at 30 degrees C (48 h LT50, 28.3+/-0.4 degrees C), and salinities lower than 16 (48 h LC50, 18.7+/-0.2). Although lethargic at low temperatures (2 degrees C), no mortality was observed, and the species is known to survive at temperatures as low as -1.8 degrees C. The upper LC(50) was greater than the highest salinity tested (40), thus it is unlikely that salinity will limit the distribution of C. mutica in open coastal waters. However, the species will be excluded from brackish water environments such as the heads of sea lochs or estuaries. The physiological tolerances of C. mutica are beyond the physical conditions experienced in its native or introduced range and are thus unlikely to be the primary factors limiting its present distribution and future spread.     

Increasing Lifetime of Recurrent Sunspot Groups Within the Greenwich Photoheliographic Results

Long-lived (>20 days) sunspot groups extracted from the Greenwich Photoheliographic Results (GPR) are examined for evidence of decadal change. The problem of identifying sunspot groups that are observed on consecutive solar rotations (recurrent sunspot groups) is tackled by first constructing manually an example dataset of recurrent sunspot groups and then using machine learning to generalise this subset to the whole GPR. The resulting dataset of recurrent sunspot groups is verified against previous work by A. Maunder and other Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) compilers. Recurrent groups are found to exhibit a slightly larger value for the Gnevyshev?–?Waldmeier Relationship than the value found by Petrovay and van Driel-Gesztelyi (Solar Phys. 51, 25, 1977), who used recurrence data from the Debrecen Photoheliographic Results. Evidence for sunspot-group lifetime change over the previous century is observed within recurrent groups. A lifetime increase of a factor of 1.4 between 1915 and 1940 is found, which closely agrees with results from Blanter et al. (Solar Phys. 237, 329, 2006). Furthermore, this increase is found to exist over a longer period (1915 to 1950) than previously thought and provisional evidence is found for a decline between 1950 and 1965. Possible applications of machine-learning procedures to the analysis of historical sunspot observations, the determination of the magnetic topology of the solar corona and the incidence of severe space–weather events are outlined briefly.     

Antimony in iron meteorites

Antimony concentrations determined by radiochemical neutron activation analysis in 60 iron meteorites range from 0.2 ng/g to 36 μg/g. The meteorites with the highest Sb concentrations are those of the non-magmatic groups IAB and IIICD, while the lowest Sb concentrations are found in groups IVA and IVB, the groups with the lowest concentrations of the other most volatile siderophiles Ge and Ga. In all groups Sb is positively correlated with Ni. In each of the magmatic groups slopes on log Sb vs. log Ni plots decrease with increasing Ni. This decrease may reflect an increasing tendency to avoid schreibersite during the analysis of high-Ni meteorites because Sb partitions strongly into schreibersite.Schreibersite from New Westville is enriched in Cr, Ni, Ge, As, Sb and Au and depleted in Fe, Co and Ir; the content of Sb in schreibersite is 540 × higher than the bulk metal value.The Sb abundances of the iron meteorite groups are as expected from volatility trends with the exception of IAB and IIAB in which abundances appear depleted. The most likely explanation for this and the decreasing slope in the magmatic groups is that one or more Sb-rich phases were not sampled during metal analyses.     

A core origin for group IVA iron meteorites: a reply to Moren and Goldstein

Because uncertainties in experimental data are large, one has considerable latitude in choosing the input parameters needed to calculate iron meteorite cooling rates. The best way to test input parameters is by examining their ability to yield the observed properties of the meteorites. Our phase diagram yields fits to kamacite profiles that are superior to those based on the Moren-Goldstein phase diagram. Our method of allowing for the effect of P on the Ni diffusion coefficient takes into account the enhancement in this effect with decreasing temperature; Moren and Goldstein use a relationship derived for a temperature of 1100°C, well outside the 700–350°C range where kamacite growth occurs. Use of our input parameters yields cooling rates in IVA irons that are independent of composition, consistent with a core origin. Since the fractionation of siderophiles in group IVA also indicates a core origin, we conclude that this is the correct model for this group.     

Influence of impact ionisation detection methods on determination of dust particle flux in space

Results are presented for a series of experiments investigating effects which can influence the interpretation of data from ionisation-based dust detectors carried on spacecraft. First, the variation of the impact ionisation yield with angle of impact was studied for impacts of iron microparticles onto gold at speeds of 1-. The angle of incidence was from 0° (normal incidence) to 80° (glancing incidence). Little or no variation was observed at angles up to 60°, but at 80° the total impact ionisation signal was around an order of magnitude lower than at smaller angles. In addition, the fast rising component of the ionisation signal rise time showed no variation with impact angle, but the total signal rise time showed a steady decrease. The effect of secondary impact ionisation resulting from particle impacts on detector side walls was also studied. Iron microparticles were fired on to an aluminium target at various angles, and the impact ionisation signal on a nearby gold target was measured. It was found that ionisation signals were observed on the gold target, and that these were very similar in appearance to those observed in direct impacts.The effect of reduction in particle charge on an impact ionisation signal was investigated. Iron microparticles were fired on to a gold target after passing through a thin film which reduced the charge which was used to accelerate them. It was found that there was a measurable drop in ionisation signal in the reduced-charge case. The empirical relation I_IONISATION=1.67×10⁻⁹Q_PARTICLE^0.35 (units of C) was found. This implies there is a component in the observed ionisation signal that is not related to the impact. To test this, charged tungsten carbide particles were dropped at very low velocity onto a replica of a dust detector used in space whilst placed in a vacuum chamber. Ionisation signals were frequently recorded by the detector. It was concluded that this signal originated from the incident particle charge.In the final section of work, as an example, the influence of oblique incidence, side-wall impacts and particle charge effects on data collected by the Gorid dust detector in Earth orbit were investigated. Corrections were applied to the mass and velocity distributions derived from Gorid data. In extremis, oblique incidence effects were found to shift the mass distribution down by an order of magnitude, and the velocity distribution up by a factor of two to three. If all the data had come from unrecognised side-wall impacts, the mass distribution would be shifted downwards to lower masses by three orders of magnitude, and the velocity distribution upwards by a factor of five. Possible particle charge effects were found to shift the mass distribution down by 30%, and did not alter the velocity distribution.Overall we have investigated a variety of impact-related phenomena and conclude that these can affect the interpretation of data from instruments deployed in space.