Chain of galaxies in centaurus

Further photometric and spectroscopic observations of a chain of galaxies in Centaurus are presented and discussed.     

Lunar velocity structure and compositional and thermal inferences

Seismic data from the Apollo Passive Seismic Network stations are analyzed to determine the velocity structure and to infer the composition and physical properties of the lunar interior. Data from artificial impacts (S-IVB booster and LM ascent stage) cover a distance range of 70–1100 km. Travel times and amplitudes, as well as theoretical seismograms, are used to derive a velocity model for the outer 150 km of the Moon. TheP wave velocity model confirms our earlier report of a lunar crust in the eastern part of Oceanus Procellarum.The crust is about 60 km thick and may consist of two layers in the mare regions. Possible values for theP-wave velocity in the uppermost mantle are between 7.7 km s^–1 and 9.0 km s^–1. The 9 km s^–1 velocity cannot extend below a depth of about 100 km and must decrease below this depth. The elastic properties of the deep interior as inferred from the seismograms of natural events (meteoroid impacts and moonquakes) occurring at great distance indicate that there is an increase in attenuation and a possible decrease of velocity at depths below about 1000 km. This verifies the high temperatures calculated for the deep lunar interior by thermal history models.Paper presented at the Lunar Science Institute Conference on Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration of the Moon and Planets, January 10–12, 1973.     

On some observations of the thermal emission of iron flakes produced in a grinding wheel

A report is given of some laboratory experiments on the thermal emission of glowing iron flakes. Clear effects of polarization are found sometimes in flakes of small size, indicating polarization of a kind similar to that appearing in the thermal emission from narrow metallic filaments. Sudden flashes of light appear in the thermal emission from flakes produced in a grinding wheel. At the same time the flake splits into two parts. It is suggested that the flash is due to tribo-thermoluminescence. It seems possible that the infrared radiation of the solar corona may contain a faintly polarized component due to thermal emission from dust particles.Paper dedicated to Professor Hannes. Alfvén on the occasion of his 70th birthday, 30 May, 1978.     

78-Day periodicity in the solar 1–8 Å X-ray index during the ascending branch of cycle 21

In the present paper, the time series of 1–8 Å X-ray index for the time interval between January 1977 to September 1981 has been analyzed by carrying out power spectrum using Discrete Fourier Transform. The 78-day periodicity which is one-half of the period found from various solar parameters of cycles 20 and 21 by various authors, was found. This periodicity is thought to be related to the 152-day periodicity.     

Preliminary evaluation of the occurrence of herbicides and PAHs in the Wet Tropics region of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, using passive samplers

The proximity of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Marine Park to areas of intensive agriculture and increasing urbanisation places the park under potential threat of contamination by land-based pollutants. Passive samplers were deployed at inshore reef and river mouth sites in the Wet Tropics region of the GBR during a dry and a wet season to measure levels of land-based organic pollutants in this environment. Two types of passive sampling devices were deployed: (i) a polar sampler, which can be used to monitor polar herbicides and (ii) semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) which sequester more hydrophobic compounds (e.g. PAHs, chlorpyrifos). Herbicides (diuron, simazine, atrazine, hexazinone and/or flumeturon) were detected at low concentrations (ng L⁻¹) at all sites sampled and in both seasons. Chlorpyrifos was not detected while PAHs were present in SPMDs at levels below limits of detection. The results show that the GBR environment does contain low levels of organic pollutants and that passive sampling provides a sensitive monitoring tool for measuring waterborne organic pollutants.     

Climatological responses of winter precipitation in Turkey to variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation during the period 1930–2001

Summary Climatological responses of winter (DJFM) precipitation at 78 stations of Turkey to variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) were investigated for the period 1930–2001. The analysis was performed with respect to relationships between precipitation and three different NAO indices (NAOIs) and composite precipitation changes corresponding to the extreme phases of the NAOIs, and individual wet conditions and drought events linked to the extreme NAOI events. Main conclusions of the study can be evaluated as follows:(a) The Ponta Delgada–Reykjavik (PD–R) NAOI is superior among the three NAOIs compared, followed by the Lisbon–Stykkisholmur/Reykjavik NAOI, with regards to its ability to control year-to-year variability in winter precipitation series and composite precipitation conditions corresponding to the extreme NAOI phases in Turkey. (b) Variability of winter precipitation at most stations in Turkey is significantly correlated with variability of the three NAOIs. Negative relationships are stronger over the Marmara, the Mediterranean Transition and the Continental Central Anatolia regions, and the Aegean part of the Mediterranean region. (c) Composite precipitation analysis exhibited an apparent opposite anomaly pattern at the majority of stations between the weak and strong phases of the NAOIs. Composite precipitation means corresponding to the weak NAOI phase are explained mostly by wetter than long-term average conditions, whereas composite precipitation responses to the strong NAOI phase mostly produce drier than long-term average conditions. (d) Composite wet (dry) conditions during the weak (strong) phase of the NAOI are significant at about 32% (69%) of 78 stations for the PD–R NAOI, and about 38% (55%) for the L–S(R) NAOI. The dry signals from the strong NAO phases are stronger and show a larger spatial coherence over Turkey. The significant signals are evident in the west, centre and south of the country. (g) Widespread severe droughts in 1943, 1957, 1973, 1974, 1983, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993 and 1994, and widespread strong wet conditions in 1940–1942, 1956, 1963, 1966, 1969 and 1970 were linked to the extreme high- and low-index events of at least two NAOIs, respectively.     

Refining the timing of eclogite metamorphism: a geochemical,petrological, Sm-Nd and U-Pb case study from the Pohorje Mountains,Slovenia (Eastern Alps)

High-pressure metamorphism in the Pohorje Mountains of Slovenia (Austroalpine unit, Eastern Alps) affected N-MORB type metabasic and metapelitic lithologies. Thermodynamic calculations and equilibrium phase diagrams of kyanite–phengite-bearing eclogites reveal PT conditions of >2.1 GPa at T<750°C, but within the stability field of quartz. Metapelitic eclogite country rocks contain the assemblage garnet + phengite + kyanite + quartz, for which calculated peak pressure conditions are in good agreement with results obtained from eclogite samples. The eclogites contain a single population of spherical zircon with a low Th/U ratio. Combined constraints on the age of metamorphism come from U/Pb zircon as well as garnet–whole rock and mineral–mineral Sm-Nd analyses from eclogites. A coherent cluster of single zircon analyses yields a ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 90.7±1.0 Ma that is in good agreement with results from Sm-Nd garnet–whole rock regression of 90.7±3.9 and 90.1±2.0 Ma (εNd: +8) for two eclogite samples. The agreement between U-Pb and Sm-Nd age data strongly suggests an age of approximately 90 Ma for the pressure peak of the eclogites in the Pohorje Mountains. The presence of garnet, omphacite and quartz inclusions in unfractured zircon indicates high-pressure rather than ultrahigh pressure conditions. The analysed metapelite sample yields a Sm-Nd garnet–whole rock scatterchron age of 97±15 Ma. These data probably support a single P-T loop for mafic and pelitic lithologies of the Pohorje area and a late Cretaceous high-pressure event that affected the entire easternmost Austroalpine basement including the Koralpe and Saualpe eclogite type locality in the course of the complex collision of the Apulian microplate and Europe.     

Orbital-scale record of the late Cenomanian–Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE-2) in the Tarfaya Basin (Morocco)

High sedimentation rates (up to 12 cm/kyear) of laminated organic carbon-rich biogenic limestones in the Tarfaya Basin provide an unusually high (millennial) resolution record of the late Cenomanian oceanic anoxic event (OAE-2). The global positive carbon-isotope excursion across the Cenomanian–Turonian corresponds to 11 light/dark sedimentary cycles. We interpret these cycles as a response to orbital obliquity variation and estimate the duration of the complete excursion as 440 kyear or one long eccentricity cycle. On this timescale, the main increase in ¹³C values occurred over a short time interval of less than 20 kyear in the late Cenomanian and reached a first maximum approximately 15 kyear prior to the bulk (mainly coccoliths) ¹⁸O-derived sea surface maximum temperature that occurs coeval to the extinction of Rotalipora cushmani. Organic carbon-accumulation rates follow obliquity cycles, reaching a maximum approximately 10 kyear after the last occurrence of R. cushmani, then slowly decreasing during the early Turonian. Thus, the maximum temperature and the maximum organic carbon accumulation in the Tarfaya Basin lagged by at least 15 kyear behind the global carbon-isotope shift and a proposed reduction of atmospheric CO₂ content. The climate change across the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary probably occurred independent of CO₂ levels and may have been controlled by different greenhouse gases (water vapour and methane) and changes in ocean circulation (i.e., opening of the Equatorial Atlantic gateway)     

Evaluation of the accuracy of the EIGEN-1S and -2 CHAMP-derived gravity field models by satellite crossover altimetry

Since the advent of CHAMP, the first in a series of low-altitude satellites being almost continuously and precisely tracked by GPS, a new generation of long-wavelength gravitational geopotential models can be derived. The accuracy evaluation of these models depends to a large extent on the comparison with external data of comparable quality. Here, two CHAMP-derived models, EIGEN-1S and EIGEN-2, are tested with independent long-term-averaged single satellite crossover (SSC) sea heights from three altimetric satellites (ERS-1, ERS-2 and Geosat). The analyses show that long-term averages of crossover residuals still are powerful data to test CHAMP gravity field models. The new models are tested in the spatial domain with the aid of ERS-1/-2 and Geosat SSCs, and in the spectral domain with latitude-lumped coefficient (LLC) corrections derived from the SSCs. The LLC corrections allow a representation of the satellite-orbit-specific error spectra per order of the models spherical harmonic coefficients. These observed LLC corrections are compared to the LLC projections from the models variance–covariance matrix. The excessively large LLC errors at order 2 found in the case of EIGEN-2 with the ERS data are discussed. The degree-dependent scaling factors for the variance-covariance matrices of EIGEN-1S and –2, applied to obtain more realistic error estimates of the solved-for coefficients, are compatible with the results found here.     

‘Surface Drag in the Arctic Marginal Sea-ice Zone: A Comparison of Different Parameterisation Concepts’

Two parameterisation schemes for the turbulent surface fluxes and drag coefficients over the Arctic marginal sea-ice zone (MIZ) are (further) developed, and their results are compared with each other. Although the schemes are based on different principles (flux averaging and parameter averaging), the resulting drag coefficients differ only slightly in the case of neutral and stable stratification. For unstable stratification and sea-ice conditions being typical for the north-eastern Fram Strait, the drag coefficients resulting from the parameter-averaging concept are 5–10% larger than those of the flux-averaging concept. At a sea-ice concentration of 45%, the parameter-averaging method overestimates the heat fluxes by a factor of 1.2. An inclusion in the schemes of form drag caused by floe edges and ridges has a much larger effect on the drag coefficient, and on the momentum fluxes, than the choice between the parameter-averaging or flux-averaging methods. Based on sensitivity studies with the flux-averaging scheme, a simple formula for the effective drag coefficient above the Arctic MIZ is derived. It reduces the computational costs of the more complex parameterisations and could also be used in larger scale models. With this simple formula, the effective drag coefficient can be calculated as a function of the sea-ice concentration and skin drag coefficients for water and ice floes. The results obtained with this parameterisation differ only slightly from those using the more complex schemes. Finally, it is shown that in the MIZ, drag coefficients for sea-ice models may differ significantly from the effective drag coefficients used in atmospheric models.