U–Pb zircon ages of the Nakanogawa Group in the Hidaka Belt,northern Japan: Implications for its provenance and the protolith of the Hidaka metamorphic rocks

Zircon U–Pb ages of two acidic tuff and two turbidite sandstone samples from the Nakanogawa Group, Hidaka Belt, were measured to estimate its depositional age and the development of the Hokkaido Central Belt, northeast Japan. In the northern unit, homogeneous zircons from pelagic acidic tuff from a basal horizon dated to 58–57 Ma, zircons from sandstone from the upper part of the unit dated to 56–54 Ma, and zircons from acidic tuff from the uppermost part dated to 60–56 Ma and 69–63 Ma. Both of the tuff U–Pb ages are significantly older than the youngest radiolarian fossil age (66–48 Ma). Therefore, the maximum depositional age of the turbidite facies in the northern unit is 58 Ma and the younger age limit, estimated from the fossil age, is 48 Ma. In the southern unit, homogeneous zircons from turbidite sandstone dated to 58–57 Ma. Thus the depositional age of this turbidite facies was interpreted to be 66–56 Ma from the fossil age, probably close to 57 Ma. Most of the zircon U–Pb ages from the Nakanogawa Group are younger than 80 Ma, with a major peak at 60 Ma. This result implies that around Hokkaido volcanic activity occurred mainly after 80 Ma. Older zircon ages (120–80 Ma, 180–140 Ma, 340–220 Ma, 1.9 Ga, 2.2 Ga, and 2.7 Ga) give information about the provenance of other rocks in the Hidaka Belt. It is inferred that the Nakanogawa Group comprises protoliths of the upper sequence of the Hidaka Metamorphic Zone, which therefore has the same depositional age as the Nakanogawa Group (66–48 Ma). The depositional ages of the lower sequence of the Hidaka Metamorphic Zone and the Nakanogawa Group are probably the same.     

Modeling Marine Stratocumulus with a Detailed Microphysical Scheme

A one-dimensional 3rd-order turbulence closure model with size-resolved microphysics and radiative transfer has been developed for investigating aerosol and cloud interactions of the stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layer. A new method is presented for coupling between the dynamical model and the mierophysical model. This scheme allows the liquid water related correlations to be directly calculated rather than parameterized. On 21 April 2001, a marine stratocumulus was observed by the Caesar aircraft over the west Pacific Rim south of Japan during the 2001 APEX/ACE-Asia field measurements. This cloud is simulated by the model we present here. The model results show that the general features of the stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layer predicted by the model are in agreement with the measurements. A new onboard cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) counter provides not only total CCN number concentration (as the traditional CCN counters do at a certain supersaturation) but also the CCN size distribution information. Using these CCN data, model responses to different CCN initial concentrations are examined. The model results are consistent with both observations and expectations.The numerical results show that the cloud microphysieal properties are changed fundamentally by different initial CCN concentrations but the cloud liquid water content does not differ significantly. Different initial CCN loadings have large impacts on the evolution of cloud microstructure and radiation transfer while they have a modest effect on thermodynamics. Increased CCN concentration leads to significant decrease of cloud effective radius.     

Development of a Multi-Layer Urban Canopy Model for the Analysis of Energy Consumption in a Big City: Structure of the Urban Canopy Model and its Basic Performance

A multilayer one-dimensional canopy model was developed to analyze the relationship between urban warming and the increase in energy consumption in a big city. The canopy model, which consists of one-dimensional diffusion equations with a drag force, has three major parameters: building width, distance between buildings, and vertical floor density distribution, which is the distribution of a ratio of the number of the buildings that are taller than some level to all the buildings in the area under consideration. In addition, a simplified radiative process in the canopy is introduced. Both the drag force of the buildings and the radiative process depend on the floor density distribution. The thermal characteristics of an urban canopy including the effects of anthropogenic heat are very complicated. Therefore, the focus of this research is mainly on the basic performance of an urban canopy without anthropogenic heat. First, the basic thermal characteristics of the urban canopy alone were investigated. The canopy model was then connected with a three-dimensional mesoscale meteorological model, and on-line calculations were performed for 10 and 11 August, 2002 in Tokyo, Japan. The temperature near the ground surface at the bottom of the canopy was considerably improved by the calculation with the canopy model. However, a small difference remained between the calculation and the observation for minimum temperature. Deceleration of the wind was well reproduced for the velocity at the top of the building by the calculation with the canopy model, in which the floor density distribution was considered.     

Formation of astrophysical jets by a contracting magnetic accretion disk

In the present paper, we discuss an MHD model for the formation of astrophysical jets, in which the directed flows are ejected along the rotation axis of an accretion disk formed from a cloud having a large scale magnetic field parallel to the angular momentum axis of the disk. The acceleration of jets is due to thej×B force in the relaxing magnetic twist which is produced by the rotation of the disk. The characteristic features of the jets, predicted by our mechanism and hopefully to be proven by observations, are the helical velocity and the hollow cylindrical shape of the jet, with a diameter of roughly the size of the region from which the acceretion disk collected its mass. Justification for the assumption of the perpendicular orientation of the disk, or the parallelism of the jets, to the external magnetic field may be provided by the fact that the component of rotation whose axis is perpendicular to the field may have been damped in the earlier phase of the cloud contraction.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 Septemper–6 October, 1984.     

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.     

Coastal current on the eastern shelf of Hidaka Bay

In order to examine seasonal variation in a coastal current and the dynamics of the current, we carried out a mooring current measurement near the coast on the eastern shelf of Hidaka Bay from December 2002 to July 2003. There seemed to be two current regimes during the observed period; one a southeastward current from December to March, and the other a northwestward current after April. Arrested topographic wave dynamics was used to understand along-shore steady momentum balance at the mooring site. It was found that the friction term was negligible during the former regime, that is, the wind stress term roughly counterbalanced the pressure gradient term. On the other hand, the contribution of each term to the momentum balance was sensitive to the resistance coefficient value during the latter regime. A numerical study showed that wind forcing alone could not reproduce the observed current velocity and momentum balance during the former regime. One possible interpretation of the observed results is superposition of the arrested topographic waves forced by the along-shore wind stress and downstream extension of the Coastal Oyashio. Numerical experiments using combined forcing of the wind stress and an inflow associated with the Coastal Oyashio supported the expected dynamics.     

Bifurcation current along the southwest coast of the Kii Peninsula

Along the southwest coast of the Kii Peninsula, a bifurcation current is regularly observed. By using ADCP data taken on board the R/V Wakayama of the Wakayama Prefectural Fisheries Experimental Station, characteristics of this bifurcation current are analyzed. The occurrence frequency of the bifurcation current reaches about 70% in the period from 1988 to 1996. The bifurcation point appears to be changeable and occurs almost evenly between Cape Ichie and Cape Shionomisaki. The current divergence in the alongshore direction was also investigated. Positive divergence values dominated in the whole analyzed area, and an onshore current appears to be dominant along the southwest coast of the Kii Peninsula, except in 1990 when the Kuroshio flowed in a large meandering path.     

Isotopic composition of gas hydrates in subsurface sediments from offshore Sakhalin Island, Sea of Okhotsk

Hydrate-bearing sediment cores were retrieved from recently discovered seepage sites located offshore Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk. We obtained samples of natural gas hydrates and dissolved gas in pore water using a headspace gas method for determining their molecular and isotopic compositions. Molecular composition ratios C₁/_C2+ from all the seepage sites were in the range of 1,500–50,000, while δ¹³C and δD values of methane ranged from ?66.0 to ?63.2‰ VPDB and ?204.6 to ?196.7‰ VSMOW, respectively. These results indicate that the methane was produced by microbial reduction of CO₂. δ¹³C values of ethane and propane (i.e., ?40.8 to ?27.4‰ VPDB and ?41.3 to ?30.6‰ VPDB, respectively) showed that small amounts of thermogenic gas were mixed with microbial methane. We also analyzed the isotopic difference between hydrate-bound and dissolved gases, and discovered that the magnitude by which the δD hydrate gas was smaller than that of dissolved gas was in the range 4.3–16.6‰, while there were no differences in δ¹³C values. Based on isotopic fractionation of guest gas during the formation of gas hydrate, we conclude that the current gas in the pore water is the source of the gas hydrate at the VNIIOkeangeologia and Giselle Flare sites, but not the source of the gas hydrate at the Hieroglyph and KOPRI sites.     

Seasonal Variations in the Sea off Sanriku Coast, Japan

The temperature and salinity data obtained by the Iwate Fisheries Technology Center for the 25-year period from 1971 to 1995 were analyzed to clarify the seasonal variations in the sea off Sanriku, Japan. The variations of three typical waters found in this region, the Tsugaru Current water, the Oyashio water, and the Kuroshio water are discussed in terms, of a T-S scatter diagram referring to the water mass classification proposed by Hanawa and Mitsudera (1986). The mean temperature and salinity fields averaged for each month show clear seasonal variation. Distributions of the Tsugaru Current water and the Oyashio water can barely be distinguished in the fields deeper than 200 m since the Tsugaru Current has a shallow structure; however, the fields at 100 m depth indicate remarkable seasonal variation in the area of the Tsugaru Current. At 100 m depth, the temperature and salinity fronts between the Tsugaru Current water and the Oyashio water gradually disappear in January through April, appear again in May, then become clearest in September. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.