Cosmochemical and spectroscopic properties of Northwest Africa 7325—A consortium study

This work is part of a project to build an infrared database in order to link IR data of planetary materials (and therefore possible Mercury material) with remote sensing observations of Mercury, which will probably be obtained by the MERTIS instrument on the forthcoming BepiColombo mission. The unique achondrite Northwest Africa (NWA) 7325, which has previously been suggested to represent the first sample from Mercury, was investigated by optical and electron microscopy, and infrared and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, the oxygen, strontium, xenon, and argon isotopes were measured and the abundance of selected trace elements determined. The meteorite is a cumulate rock with subchondritic abundances of HFSE and REE and elevated Sr contents, which underwent a second heating and partial remelting process. Oxygen isotope measurements show that NWA 7325 plots in the ureilite field, close to the ALM‐A trachyandesitic fragment found in the unique Almahata Sitta meteorite breccia. On the other hand, mineralogical investigations of the pyroxenes in NWA 7325 provide evidence for similarities to the lodranites and acapulcoites. Furthermore, the rock is weakly shocked and argon isotope data record ancient (~4.5 Ga) plateau ages that have not been reset. The sample records a cosmogenic exposure age of ~19 Ma. Systematics of Rb‐Sr indicate an extreme early volatile depletion of the precursor material, similar to many other achondrite groups. However, despite its compositional similarities to other meteorite groups, our results suggest that this meteorite is unique and unrelated to any other known achondrite group. An origin for NWA 7325 as a sample from the planet Mercury is not supported by the results of our investigation. In particular, the evidence from infrared spectroscopy indicates that a direct relationship between NWA 7325 and the planet Mercury can be ruled out: no acceptable spectral match between laboratory analyses and remote sensing observations from Mercury has been obtained. However, we demonstrate that infrared spectroscopy is a rapid and nondestructive method to characterize mineral phases and thus an excellent tool for planetary surface characterization in space missions.     

An investigation of the Eigenvalue Calibration Method (ECM) using GASP for non-imaging and imaging detectors

Polarised light from astronomical targets can yield a wealth of information about their source radiation mechanisms, and about the geometry of the scattered light regions. Optical observations, of both the linear and circular polarisation components, have been impeded due to non-optimised instrumentation. The need for suitable observing conditions and the availability of luminous targets are also limiting factors. The science motivation of any instrument adds constraints to its operation such as high signal-to-noise (SNR) and detector readout speeds. These factors in particular lead to a wide range of sources that have yet to be observed. The Galway Astronomical Stokes Polarimeter (GASP) has been specifically designed to make observations of these sources. GASP uses division of amplitude polarimeter (DOAP) (Compain and Drevillon Appl. Opt. 37, 5938–5944, 1998) to measure the four components of the Stokes vector (I, Q, U and V) simultaneously, which eliminates the constraints placed upon the need for moving parts during observation, and offers a real-time complete measurement of polarisation. Results from the GASP calibration are presented in this work for both a 1D detector system, and a pixel-by-pixel analysis on a 2D detector system. Following Compain et al. (Appl. Opt. 38, 3490–3502 1999) we use the Eigenvalue Calibration Method (ECM) to measure the polarimetric limitations of the instrument for each of the two systems. Consequently, the ECM is able to compensate for systematic errors introduced by the calibration optics, and it also accounts for all optical elements of the polarimeter in the output. Initial laboratory results of the ECM are presented, using APD detectors, where errors of 0.2 % and 0.1° were measured for the degree of linear polarisation (DOLP) and polarisation angle (PA) respectively. Channel-to-channel image registration is an important aspect of 2-D polarimetry. We present our calibration results of the measured Mueller matrix of each sample, used by the ECM, when 2 Andor iXon Ultra 897 detectors were loaned to the project. A set of Zenith flat-field images were recorded during an observing campaign at the Palomar 200 inch telescope in November 2012. From these we show the polarimetric errors from the spatial polarimetry indicating both the stability and absolute accuracy of GASP.     

Data selection using support vector regression

Geophysical data sets are growing at an ever-increasing rate, requiring computationally efficient data selection(thinning)methods to preserve essential information. Satellites, such as Wind Sat, provide large data sets for assessing the accuracy and computational efficiency of data selection techniques. A new data thinning technique, based on support vector regression(SVR), is developed and tested. To manage large on-line satellite data streams, observations from Wind Sat are formed into subsets by Voronoi tessellation and then each is thinned by SVR(TSVR). Three experiments are performed. The first confirms the viability of TSVR for a relatively small sample, comparing it to several commonly used data thinning methods(random selection, averaging and Barnes filtering), producing a 10% thinning rate(90% data reduction), low mean absolute errors(MAE) and large correlations with the original data. A second experiment, using a larger dataset, shows TSVR retrievals with MAE < 1 m s-1and correlations 0.98. TSVR was an order of magnitude faster than the commonly used thinning methods. A third experiment applies a two-stage pipeline to TSVR, to accommodate online data. The pipeline subsets reconstruct the wind field with the same accuracy as the second experiment, is an order of magnitude faster than the nonpipeline TSVR. Therefore, pipeline TSVR is two orders of magnitude faster than commonly used thinning methods that ingest the entire data set. This study demonstrates that TSVR pipeline thinning is an accurate and computationally efficient alternative to commonly used data selection techniques.     

A diagnostic analysis on the effect of the residual layer in convective boundary layer development near Mongolia using 20th century reanalysis data

Although the residual layer has already been noted in the classical diurnal cycle of the atmospheric boundary layer,its effect on the development of the convective boundary layer has not been well studied. In this study, based on 3-hourly20 th century reanalysis data, the residual layer is considered as a common layer capping the convective boundary layer. It is identified daily by investigating the development of the convective boundary layer. The region of interest is bounded by(30°–60° N, 80°–120° E), where a residual layer deeper than 2000 m has been reported using radiosondes. The lapse rate and wind shear within the residual layer are compared with the surface sensible heat flux by investigating their climatological means, interannual variations and daily variations. The lapse rate of the residual layer and the convective boundary layer depth correspond well in their seasonal variations and climatological mean patterns. On the interannual scale, the correlation coefficient between their regional averaged(40°–50°N, 90°–110° E) variations is higher than that between the surface sensible heat flux and convective boundary layer depth. On the daily scale, the correlation between the lapse rate and the convective boundary layer depth in most months is still statistically significant during 1970–2012. Therefore, we suggest that the existence of a deep neutral residual layer is crucial to the formation of a deep convective boundary layer near the Mongolian regions.     

Atmospheric Circulation Changes in Response to an Observed Stratospheric Zonal Ozone Anomaly

Abstract

In a sensitivity study, the influence of an observed stratospheric zonal ozone anomaly on the atmospheric circulation was investigated using the Fifth Generation European Centre Hamburg Model (ECHAM5) which is a general circulation model. The model was run from 1960 to 1999 (40 years) with a mean seasonal cycle of zonally symmetric ozone. In order to isolate the induced dynamical influence of the observed zonally asymmetric part of the three-dimensional stratospheric ozone, a second run was performed for the boreal extratropics using prescribed monthly means from the 40-year reanalysis dataset from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ERA-40). The main findings are the interdecadal westward shift of the polar vortex at about 65°N and a significant increase in the number of stratospheric sudden warmings during the 1980–99 period. Under the action of zonally asymmetric ozone a decrease in the Arctic Oscillation was identified between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s. The lag correlation between the mean Arctic Oscillation at the surface and the daily stratospheric northern annular mode increased in mid-winter. Furthermore, we examined the influence of the stratospheric zonal ozone anomaly on Rossby wave breaking in the upper troposphere and found a significant westward shift of poleward Rossby wave breaking events over western Europe in the winter. By this we show that the stratospheric zonal ozone anomaly has a strong influence on the tropospheric circulation as a result of enhanced dynamical coupling processes.