GCM simulation of balloon trajectories on Titan

Possible trajectories of passive balloons in Titan's troposphere are simulated with the instantaneous wind field predicted by a GCM (general circulation model). In most areas the basic motion of a balloon is a predominantly eastward or westward drift, depending on altitude, latitude and season of the balloon release point. Some meridional oscillation is always superposed on this basic motion, resulting in a wavy trajectory, with a maximum extent (of 40^°) at high latitudes of the winter hemisphere. As a general rule, the meridional oscillation can be maximised if a balloon is deployed in altitudes and latitudes where the mean zonal wind is eastward and smaller than the phase speed of Saturn's gravitational tide on Titan. A balloon's groundtrack does not repeat as it makes successive circuits around Titan, but rather makes a spiral or braided pattern. The summer pole is rather difficult to access for a balloon not directly introduced there because of small meridional oscillation, while the winter pole can be readily accessed and left several times. A preferred zonal drift direction can be achieved by choosing a proper altitude and hemisphere, but choosing a preferred meridional direction is not possible.     

Construction of Wide Field Cryogenic Telescope

We constructed a wide field cryogenic telescope (WFCT) containing a whole Ritchey-Chrétien system and a focal plane array in a cryostat for near infrared observations to cover the field of view of 0.4°. The telescope has a primary mirror of 220 mm and an engineering grade 256 × 256 InSb array. The optical components such as two mirrors, filters, spiders, and radiation shield tube are cooled down to 180 K as well as the InSb array to 35 K by a mechanical refrigerator. We show the results of the background surface brightnesses and the limiting magnitudes at 3.3 and 3.67 μm measured at Sutherland, South Africa. We describe the on-going upgrade of this instrument, equipped with a 1024 × 1024 ALADDIN InSb science grade array. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001028

A study on the effect of the solar ultra-violet radiation on the human skin fibroblast cells revealed that the production of matrix metalloproteinase-2 was inhibited by the radiation.A CO2 incubator connected by optical fibers to a reflector telescope for collecting the solar light was built at Syowa station by the 49th Japanese Antarctica Research Expedition.The direction of the telescope was continuously controlled by a sun-tracker to follow the movement of the Sun automatically.The intensity of the collected light was monitored by a portable spectrophotometer housed inside.The human skin fibroblast cells were incubated in the CO2 chamber to investigate the effect of the solar radiation at Syowa station and were compared with those reference experiments at a laboratory in Japan.The results showed cell damage by strong UV radiation.The production of matrix metalloproteinase-2 was prompted by the moderate UV-B,but was inhibited by the strong UV-B radiation,as studied under laboratory conditions in Japan.The effect of strong solar radiation at Syowa station involving the radiation of UV-B region was estimated to be of the same extent of the radiation caused by an artificial UV-B light with the intensity more than 50 mJ/cm2.     

Enrichment Ratio-Tonnage Diagrams for Resource Assessment

The enrichment ratio (ER), defined as the ratio of grade of a metal element in a deposit to the crustal abundance of the metal, is proposed for assessing mineral resources. According to the definition, the enrichment ratio of a polymetallic deposit is given as a sum of enrichment ratios of all metals. The relation between ER and the cumulative tonnage integrated from the high ER side of about 4750 deposits in the world is approximated by the combination of three exponential functions crossing at ER values of 16 · 10³ and 600. High ER deposits are expected for the commodities Ag, Pb, and Au+Ag, and for epithermal, mesothermal, unconformity-related and vein types. In contrast, low ER deposits are typical for the commodities Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, and U, and for chemically precipitated, Cyprus, laterite, orthomagmatic, pegmatite, placer, porphyry, and sandstone deposits. The critical ER value of the low ER class (the differential metal amount decreases with decreasing ER in the regions lower than the value) is 250 in all deposits, 610 in W+Mo, 2800 in Pb+Zn and 360 in Au+Ag, 530 in massive sulfides, 160 in the orthomagmatic type, 170 in placers, 220 in the porphyry type, 1900 in the replacement type, 580 in the stratabound type, 3400 in the unconformity-related type, and 1700 in vein type deposits. The frequency proportion determined by a keyword and a commodity provides valuable suggestions for mineral exploration: for example, the exploration target for chromite is a deposit characterized as orthomagmatic, whereas the expected commodity of a newly developed orthomagmatic deposit is chromite.     

Kizawa tunnel cracked on 23 October 2004 Mid-Niigata earthquake: An example of earthquake-induced damage to tunnels in active-folding zones

Earthquakes in active-folding zones often trigger long-lasting landform changes. Since an underground structure closely follows the motion of its surrounding soils and rocks even after it was damaged in an intense earthquake, experts in charge of reconstruction have to wait until they are convinced that the soils and rocks have been stabilized. Kizawa tunnel was seriously cracked during the 23 October 2004 Mid-Niigata Earthquake. The upper half of the tunnel's cross-section near the north mouth shifted about 0.5 m sideways. Since a ring-shaped cross-section of a tunnel sustains the surrounding soil pressure, this crack pattern seemed to be serious. The authors collaborated with the Nagaoka Regional Development Bureau, Niigata Prefectural Government, in investigating the causes of the damage and in conducting long-term observation of the soils and rocks. This paper summarizes some findings for rational rehabilitations through the investigations.     

Geochemical characteristics of deposits from the 2011 Tohoku‐oki tsunami at Hasunuma,Kujukuri coastal plain,Japan

We examined the geochemical characteristics and temporal changes of deposits associated with the 2011 Tohoku‐oki tsunami. Stable carbon isotope ratios, biomarkers, and water‐leachable ions were measured in a sandy tsunami deposit and associated soils sampled at Hasunuma, Kujukuri coastal plain, Japan, in 2011 and 2014. At this site, the 2011 tsunami formed a 10–30 cm ‐thick layer of very fine to medium sand. The tsunami deposit was organic‐poor, and no samples contained any detectable biomarkers of either terrigenous or marine origin. In the underlying soil, we identified hydrocarbons and sterols derived from terrestrial plants, but detected no biomarkers of marine origin. In the samples collected in 2011, concentrations of tsunami‐derived water‐leachable ions were highest in the soil immediately beneath the tsunami deposit and then decreased gradually with depth. Because of its finer texture and higher organic content, the soil has a higher water‐holding capacity than the sandy tsunami deposit. This distribution suggests that ions derived from the tsunami quickly penetrated the sand layer and became concentrated in the underlying soil. In the samples collected in 2014, concentrations of water‐leachable ions were very low in both soil and sand. We attribute the decrease in ion concentrations to post‐tsunami rainfall, seepage, and seasonal changes in groundwater level. Although water‐leachable ions derived from seawater were concentrated in the soil beneath the tsunami deposit following the tsunami inundation, they were not retained for more than a few years. To elucidate the behavior of geochemical characteristics associated with tsunamis, further research on organic‐rich muddy deposits (muddy tsunami deposits and soils beneath sandy tsunami deposits) as well as sandy tsunami deposits is required.     

A speculation on the structure of the D″ layer: The growth of anti-crust at the core–mantle boundary through the subduction history of the Earth

The growth curve of the continental crust shows that large amounts of continental crust formed in the early part of the Earth history are missing. In order to test a hypothesis that the former crust was subducted to the deep mantle, we performed phase assemblage analysis in the systems of mid-oceanic ridge basalt (MORB), anorthosite, and tonalite–trondhjemite–granite (TTG) down to the core–mantle boundary (CMB) conditions. Results show that all these materials can be subducted to the CMB leading to the development of a compositional layering in the D″ layer. We speculate that there could be five layers of FeO-enriched melt from partial melting of MORB, MORB crust, anorthosite, TTG, and slab or mantle peridotite in ascending order. Although the polymorphic transformation of perovskite to post-perovskite in (Mg,Fe)SiO₃ may explain the seismic discontinuity at the top of the D″ layer (D″ discontinuity), the effects of solid solution on the sharpness of the transformation suggest that the compositional layering is more plausible for the origin of the D″ discontinuity. The D″ layer can be an “anti-crust” made up mostly of TTG + anorthosite derived from the former continental crust. Tectonic style of the anti-crust at the CMB is similar to that at the surface. At both places, chemically distinct layers are density stratified and are also characterized by the processes of accretion, magmatism, and metasomatism.     

Effects of the introduction of rice on evapotranspiration in seasonal wetlands

Land use changes in wetland areas can alter evapotranspiration, a major component of the water balance, which eventually affects the water cycle and ecosystem. This study assessed the effect of introduced rice‐cropping on evapotranspiration in seasonal wetlands of northern Namibia. By using the Bowen ratio–energy balance method, measurements of evapotranspiration were performed over a period of 2.5 years at two wetland sites—a rice field (RF) and a natural vegetation field (NVF)—and at one upland field (UF) devoid of surface water. The mean evapotranspiration rates of RF (1.9 mm daytime^?1) and NVF (1.8 mm daytime^?1) were greater than that in UF (1.0 mm daytime^?1). RF and NVF showed a slight difference in seasonal variations in evapotranspiration rates. During the dry season, RF evapotranspiration was less than the NVF evapotranspiration. The net radiation in RF was less in this period because of the higher albedo of the non‐vegetated surface after rice harvesting. In the early growth period of rice during the wet season, evapotranspiration in RF was higher than that in NVF, which was attributed to a difference in the evaporation efficiency and the transfer coefficient for latent heat that were both affected by leaf area index (LAI). Evapotranspiration sharply negatively responded to an increase in LAI when surface water is present according to sensitivity analysis, probably because a higher LAI over a surface suppresses evaporation. The control of LAI is therefore a key for reducing evaporation and conserving water. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large-Eddy-Simulation Study of the Effects of Building-Height Variability on Turbulent Flows over an Actual Urban Area

Large-eddy simulation (LES) is used to investigate the effects of building-height variability on turbulent flows over an actual urban area, the city of Kyoto, which is reproduced using a 2-m resolution digital surface dataset. Comparison of the morphological characteristics of Kyoto with those of European, North American, and other Japanese cities indicates a similarity to European cities but with more variable building heights. The performance of the LES model is validated and found to be consistent with turbulence observations obtained from a meteorological tower and from Doppler lidar. We conducted the following two numerical experiments: a control experiment using Kyoto buildings, and a sensitivity experiment in which all the building heights are set to the average height over the computational region \(h_{all}\). The difference of Reynolds stress at height \(z=2.5h_{all}\) between the control and sensitivity experiments is found to increase with the increase in the plan-area index (\(\lambda _p\)) for \(\lambda _p > 0.32\). Thus, values of \(\lambda _p\approx 0.3\) can be regarded as a threshold for distinguishing the effects of building-height variability. The quadrant analysis reveals that sweeps contribute to the increase in the Reynolds stress in the control experiment at a height \(z= 2.5h_{all}\). The exuberance in the control experiment at height \(z=0.5h_{all}\) is found to decrease with increase in the building-height variability. Although the extreme momentum flux at height \(z=2.5h_{all}\) in the control experiment appears around buildings, it contributes little to the total Reynolds stress and is not associated with coherent motions.     

Nutrient and Phytoplankton Dynamics in Harima-Nada, Eastern Seto Inland Sea, Japan During a 35-Year Period from 1973 to 2007

Long-term monitoring of water quality and phytoplankton was conducted at 19 sampling stations in Harima-Nada, eastern Seto Inland Sea, Japan for 35 years from 1973 to 2007. There were two significant long-term changes, an increase in winter water temperatures of 0.042°C year^?1, and a decrease in dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) from about 10 μM in the 1970s to ~5 μM in the late 1990s due to the reduction in nutrient inputs. DIN concentrations and total phytoplankton cell density were both higher during the 1970s to the early 1980s and then exhibited a significant decrease in the mid 1980s and remained relatively constant thereafter. Diatoms were the dominant phytoplankton group (>90%) over the 35-year period, and there was a dramatic shift from Skeletonema dominance (~70%) to Chaetoceros in the mid 1980s. This shift in diatom species may be attributed to differences in the life cycle of Skeletonema and Chaetoceros and the response to the decrease in DIN concentration.