Three‐dimensional microstructure of samples recovered from asteroid 25143 Itokawa: Comparison with LL5 and LL6 chondrite particles

In this study, the three‐dimensional (3‐D) microstructure of 48 Itokawa regolith particles was examined by synchrotron microtomography at SPring‐8 during the preliminary examination of Hayabusa samples. Moreover, the 3‐D microstructure of particles collected from two LL6 chondrites (Ensisheim and Kilabo meteorites) and an LL5 chondrite (Tuxtuac meteorite) was investigated by the same method for comparison. The modal abundances of minerals, especially olivine, bulk density, porosity, and grain size are similar in all samples, including voids and cracks. These results show that the Itokawa particles, which are surface materials from the S‐type asteroid Itokawa, are consistent with the LL chondrite materials in terms of not only elemental and isotopic composition of the minerals but also 3‐D microstructure. However, we could not determine whether the Itokawa particles are purely LL5, LL6, or a mixture of the two. No difference between the particles collected from Rooms A and B of the sample chamber, corresponding to the sampling sequence of the spacecraft's second and first touchdowns, respectively, was detected because of the statistically small amount of particles from Room B.     

Long-term diatom fluxes in response to oceanographic conditions at Stations AB and SA in the central subarctic Pacific and the Bering Sea, 1990–1998

Long-term monitoring of diatom fluxes during 1990–1998 was conducted at Station AB in the Bering Sea and Station SA in the central subarctic Pacific in order to decipher the relationships between sinking diatom and the upper water mass environments. The total diatom flux at Station AB was generally twice as high as that at Station SA. The dominant species in the sinking flora was primarily Neodenticula seminae at both stations, which was a significant contributor to organic carbon flux. The flora at Station AB was represented by relatively abundant coastal taxa including Chaetoceros resting spores. These results suggest more favorable conditions for diatom production at Station AB compared with those at Station SA. The possible influences of oligotrophic and temperate water masses were discerned from the positive SST anomaly and the occurrence of a few specimens of temperate species. The cumulative annual fluxes of total diatoms at Stations AB and SA are apparently related to the variation in the mean annual depth of mixed layer. At Station SA, annual mean of total diatom flux showed a negative correlation with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) Index, which suggests a significant relationship between surface water turbidity and diatom production. At Station AB, the annual change of coastal diatom flux was correlated with the PDO and the winter value of the Arctic Oscillation, which may suggest a significant influence of Alaskan Stream waters via the Aleutian Islands and intensity of surface water mixing.     

The effects of radiative transfer on the reionization of an inhomogeneous universe

Assuming simple dynamics for the growth of density fluctuations, we implement six-dimensional (6D) radiative transfer calculations to elucidate the effects of photon propagation during the reionization of an inhomogeneous universe. The ionizing sources are postulated to be AGN-like in this paper. The present simulations reveal that radiative transfer effects are still prominent considerably after the percolation epoch, in which patchy ionized regions connect with each other. In other words, owing to the collective opacity, the Universe does not become perfectly transparent against ionizing radiation even though strongly self-shielded regions disappear. It turns out that the inhomogeneity of the medium enhances the opacity effects and delays the end of reionization. Owing to such radiative transfer effects, the reionization in an inhomogeneous universe proceeds fairly slowly, in contrast to the prompt reionization in a homogeneous universe, and as a result the surface of reionization is not so sharply edged, but highly uneven. As a signature of the uneven surface of reionization, the cosmic IR background (CIB) radiation, which is produced by Ly photons resulting from radiative recombination, could exhibit strong anisotropies, reflecting the amplitude of density fluctuations at the reionization era. The predicted CIB intensity lies on a level of possible detection by forthcoming IR space telescope facilities.     

Cosmological radiative transfer codes comparison project – I. The static density field tests

Radiative transfer (RT) simulations are now at the forefront of numerical astrophysics. They are becoming crucial for an increasing number of astrophysical and cosmological problems; at the same time their computational cost has come within reach of currently available computational power. Further progress is retarded by the considerable number of different algorithms (including various flavours of ray tracing and moment schemes) developed, which makes the selection of the most suitable technique for a given problem a non-trivial task. Assessing the validity ranges, accuracy and performances of these schemes is the main aim of this paper, for which we have compared 11 independent RT codes on five test problems: (0) basic physics; (1) isothermal H  ii region expansion; (2) H  ii region expansion with evolving temperature; (3) I-front trapping and shadowing by a dense clump and (4) multiple sources in a cosmological density field. The outputs of these tests have been compared and differences analysed. The agreement between the various codes is satisfactory although not perfect. The main source of discrepancy appears to reside in the multifrequency treatment approach, resulting in different thicknesses of the ionized-neutral transition regions and the temperature structure. The present results and tests represent the most complete benchmark available for the development of new codes and improvement of existing ones. To further this aim all test inputs and outputs are made publicly available in digital form.     

Phytoplankton and ice-algal communities in the seasonal ice zone during January (Southern Ocean,Indian sector)

Journal of Oceanography - In the seasonal ice zone (SIZ), sea-ice algae have been hypothesized to influence phytoplankton species composition in seawater after melting from sea ice. However,...     

Ore‐forming Ages and Sulfur Isotope Study of Hydrothermal Deposits in Kamchatka,Russia

In Kamchatka, Central Koryak, Central Kamchatka and East Kamchatka metallogenic belts are distributed from northwest to southeast. K–Ar age, sulfur isotopic composition of sulfide minerals, and bulk chemical compositions of ores were analyzed for 13 ore deposits including hydrothermal gold‐silver and base metal, in order to elucidate the geological time periods of ore formation, relationship to regional volcanic belts, type of mineralization, and origin of sulfur in sulfides. The dating yielded ore‐forming ages of 41 Ma for the Ametistovoe deposit in the Central Koryak, 17.1 Ma for the Zolotoe deposit and 6.9 Ma for the Aginskoe deposit in the Central Kamchatka, and 7.4 Ma for the Porozhistoe deposit and 5.1 Ma for the Vilyuchinskoe deposit in the East Kamchatka metallogenic belt. The data combined with previous data of ore‐forming ages indicate that the time periods of ore formation in these metallogenic belts become young towards the southeast. The averaged δ³⁴S_CDT of sulfides are ?2.8‰ for the Ametistovoe deposit in Central Koryak, ?1.8‰ to +2.0‰ (av. ?0.1‰) for the Zolotoe, Aginskoe, Baranievskoe and Ozernovskoe deposits in Central Kamchatka, and ?0.7 to +3.8‰ (av. +1.7‰) for Bolshe‐Bannoe, Kumroch, Vilyuchinskoe, Bystrinskoe, Asachinskoe, Rodnikovoe, and Mutnovskoe deposits in East Kamchatka. The negative δ³⁴S_CDT value from the Ametistovoe deposit in Central Koryak is ascribed to the contamination of ³²S‐enriched sedimentary sulfur in the Ukelayat‐Lesnaya River trough of basement rock. Comparison of the sulfur isotope compositions of the mineral deposits shows similarity between the Central Koryak and Magadan metallogenic belts, and East Kamchatka and Kuril Islands belts. The Central Kamchatka belt is intermediate between these two groups in term of sulfur isotopic composition.     

Venusian middle-atmospheric dynamics in the presence of a strong planetary-scale 5.5-day wave

The middle atmospheric dynamics on Venus are investigated using a middle atmosphere general circulation model. The magnitude of the superrotation is sensitive to the amplitude of the planetary-scale waves. In particular, the critical level absorptions of the forced planetary-scale waves might contribute to the maintenance of the superrotation near the cloud base. In the case of strong 5.5-day wave forcing, the superrotation with zonal wind speed higher than 100 m s^?1 is maintained by the forced wave. Four-day and 5.5-day waves are found near the equatorial cloud top and base, respectively. The planetary-scale waves have a Y-shaped pattern maintained by the amplitude modulation in the presence of strong thermal tides.The polar hot dipole is unstable and its dynamical behavior is complex near the cloud top in this model. The dipole merges into a monopole or breaks up into a tripole when the divergent eddies with high zonal wavenumbers are predominant in the hot dipole region. A cold collar is partly enhanced by a cold phase of slowly propagating waves with zonal wavenumber 1. Although such a complex dipole behavior has not been observed yet, it is likely to occur under a dynamical condition similar to the present simulation. Thus, the dynamical approach using a general circulation model might be useful for analyzing Venus Express and ground-based observation data.     

Zonal variations in abundance and body length of chaetognaths in the 140°E seasonal ice zone during the austral summer of 2001/02

Time-series observations of chaetognaths were carried out during four cruises along the 140°E transect between 61°S and 66°28′S from November to March in the 2001/02 austral summer. Three species – Eukrohnia hamata, Sagitta gazellae and Sagitta marri – occurred in the samples between 0 and 150 m. E. hamata was the most dominant species comprising between 89.6 and 100% of the chaetognath population, followed by S. gazellae (0–5.7%). There were large differences in the abundance and size frequency distribution of body length of E. hamata between the north and south of the Southern Boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (SB-ACC) which was located between 64°S and 65°S. For E. hamata, low abundance and large sized animals (22–24 mm) occurred south of the SB-ACC. A possible reason could be that the breeding season in waters north of the SB-ACC may be early spring and summer. On the other hand, low reproduction was recognized by low the abundance of E. hamata and few occurrences of juveniles south of the SB-ACC (65°S). The result of a general comparison suggests that the abundance of chaetognaths along the 140°E transect has decreased during the 20 years since 1983.