Numerical experiments on wind-driven circulations and associated transport processes in Suruga Bay

The dynamics of the wind-driven circulations and surface transport processes in Suruga Bay have been examined by performing numerical experiments. While strong winds exist outside the bay, the winds inside the bays are greatly reduced, which generates a strong wind stress curl in winter and autumn. In particular, in winter, a strong positive curl region is located across the bay mouth, and a strong surface circulation with counterclockwise rotation is generated beneath it. The circulation is nearly geostrophic, but is not affected by the bottom topography in the deep bay. It is suggested that intense surface water exchange through the bay mouth occurs in winter, whereas it is not active in the other seasons when no significant vorticity is supplied on the bay mouth from the atmosphere. Moreover, we propose a hypothesis that the atmospheric wind stress curl will cause the frequent appearance of the counterclockwise circulation in winter in the real ocean.     

Identification of the source caldera for the Middle Miocene ash-flow tuffs in the Kii Peninsula based on apatite trace-element composition

A large caldera cluster consisting of at least four calderas (Omine, Odai, Kumano-North and Kumano calderas) existed in the central–southern part of the Kii Peninsula approximately 14–15 Ma. On the other hand, thick Middle Miocene ash-flow tuffs, referred to as the Muro Ash-flow Tuff and the Sekibutsu Tuff Member, are distributed in the northern part of the Kii Peninsula. Although these tuffs are considered to have erupted from the caldera cluster in the central-southern Kii Peninsula, identifying the source caldera in the cluster has been controversial because of similarities in the petrological characteristics and identical radiometric ages of the volcaniclastic rocks of these calderas. We successfully discriminated the characteristics of the eruptive products of each caldera in the caldera cluster based on the apatite trace-element compositions of the pyroclastic dikes and ash-flow tuffs of the calderas. We also demonstrated that the source caldera of at least the lower main part of the Muro Ash-flow Tuff and the Sekibutsu Tuff Member was the Odai Caldera, which is located in the central Kii Peninsula. Our findings show possible correlations among the pyroclastic conduits and ash-flow tuffs of the caldera-fill and/or outflow deposits, even in cases where they have been densely welded and diagenetically altered. This method is useful for the study of deeply eroded ancient calderas.     

X-ray CT based numerical analysis of fracture flow for core samples under various confining pressures

The X-ray CT based numerical analysis of fracture flow for core samples, recently developed by the authors, was applied to two granite core samples having either a mated artificial or a mated natural fracture at confining pressures of 5 to 50 MPa. A third-generation medical X-ray CT scanner was used to image the samples within a core holder consisting of an aluminum liner and a carbon fiber overwrap. Fracture models (i.e., aperture distributions) were obtained by the CT images, the resolution of which was coarser than the apertures, and a single-phase flow simulation was performed using a local cubic law-based fracture flow model. Numerical results were evaluated by a fracture porosity measurement and a solution displacement experiment using NaCl and NaI aqueous solutions. These numerical results coincided only qualitatively with the experimental results, primarily due to image noise from the aluminum liner of the core holder. Nevertheless, the numerical results revealed flow paths within the fractures and their changes with confining pressure, whereas the experimental results did not provide such results. Different stress-dependencies in the flow paths were observed between the two samples despite the similar stress-dependency in fracture porosity and permeability. The changes in total area of the flow paths with confining pressure coincided qualitatively with changes in breakthrough points in the solution displacement experiment. Although the data is limited, the results of the present study suggest the importance of analyzing fluid flows within naturally fractured core samples under in situ conditions in order to better understand the fracture flow characteristics in a specific field. As demonstrated herein, X-ray CT-based numerical analysis is effective for addressing this concern. Using a multi-phase flow model, as well as a core holder constructed of an engineered plastic, should provide a useful, non-destructive, and non-contaminative X-ray CT-based fracture flow analysis for core samples under in situ conditions in future studies.     

Application of chemical tracers to an estimate of benthic denitrification in the Okhotsk Sea

To estimate benthic denitrification in a marginal sea, we assessed the usefulness of \({\text{N}}_{2}^{*}\) , a new tracer to measure the excess nitrogen gas (N₂) using dissolved N₂ and argon (Ar) with N* in the intermediate layer (26.6–27.4σ _θ ) of the Okhotsk Sea. The examined parameters capable of affecting \({\text{N}}_{2}^{*}\) are denitrification, air injection and rapid cooling. We investigated the relative proportions of these effects on \({\text{N}}_{2}^{*}\) using multiple linear regression analysis. The best model included two examined parameters of denitrification and air injection based on the Akaike information criterion as a measure of the model fit to data. More than 80 % of \({\text{N}}_{2}^{*}\) was derived from the denitrification, followed by air injection. Denitrification over the Okhotsk Sea shelf region was estimated to be 5.6 ± 2.4 μmol kg^?1. The distribution of \({\text{N}}_{2}^{*}\) was correlated with potential temperature (θ) between 26.6 and 27.4σ _θ (r = ?0.55). Therefore, we concluded that \({\text{N}}_{2}^{*}\) and N* can act complementarily as a quasi-conservative tracer of benthic denitrification in the Okhotsk Sea. Our findings suggest that \({\text{N}}_{2}^{*}\) in combination with N* is a useful chemical tracer to estimate benthic denitrification in a marginal sea.     

Long-term (36-year) observations on the dynamics of the fish-killing raphidophyte Chattonella in Harima-Nada,eastern Seto Inland Sea,Japan

Long-term changes of the fish-killing raphidophyte Chattonella spp. (Chattonella antiqua, Chattonella marina and Chattonella ovata) were examined in relation to environmental factors at 19 sampling stations in Harima-Nada, eastern Seto Inland Sea, Japan, for 36 years from 1973 to 2008. Long-term trends in the dynamics of Chattonella populations were considered to relate to environmental factors such as nutrient concentrations and water temperature. High nutrient levels during the period from the 1970s to the early 1980s have contributed to the high cell density and large-scale red tides of Chattonella spp. in Harima-Nada. However, nutrient levels exhibited a decreasing trend thereafter, and it is thought that Chattonella spp. cannot form large-scale blooms under the present conditions. After the mid-1990s, the occurrence period of vegetative cells of Chattonella spp. has been several weeks or 1 month earlier than that of the 1970s and early 1980s, and the appearance frequency of Chattonella spp. has increased in the northern coastal area, although the cell density and the spatial scale of the distribution have become lower and smaller than those in the previous decades. It is suggested that the timing of germination of Chattonella cysts has become earlier as a result of the increase in water temperature, and the chances of vegetative growth have also increased, especially at the northern coast where most of large rivers discharge into the Harima-Nada. In addition, the present results revealed that fewer diatoms were also one of the significant factors for the high abundance of Chattonella spp. in Harima-Nada.     

Soft X-ray observation of a large-scale coronal wave and its exciter

Recent extreme ultraviolet (EUV) observations from SOHO have shown the common occurrence of flare-associated global coronal waves strongly correlated with metric type II bursts, and in some cases with chromospheric Moreton waves. Until now, however, few direct soft X-ray detections of related global coronal waves have been reported. We have studied Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) imaging observations to understand this apparent discrepancy, and describe the problems in this paper. We have found good X-ray evidence for a large-scale coronal wave associated with a major flare on 6 May 1998. The earliest direct trace of the wave motion on 6 May consisted of an expanding volume within 20 Mm (projected) of the flare-core loops, as established by loop motions and a dimming signature. Wavefront analyses of the soft X-ray observations point to this region as the source of the wave, which began at the time of an early hard X-ray spike in the impulsive phase of the flare. The emission can be seen out to a large radial distance (some 220 Mm from the flare core) by SXT, and a similar structure at a still greater distance by EIT (the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope) on SOHO. The radio dynamic spectra confirm that an associated disturbance started at a relatively high density, consistent with the X-ray observations, prior to the metric type II burst emission onset. The wavefront tilted away from the vertical as expected from refraction if the Alfvén speed increases with height in the corona. From the X-ray observations we estimate that the electron temperature in the wave, at a distance of 120 Mm from the flare core, was on the order of 2–4 MK, consistent with a Mach number in the range 1.1–1.3. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1022904125479 deceased     

3D Structure of Arcade-Type Flares Derived from the Homologous Flare Series of 21, 24, and 27 February 1992

In February 1992, three flares, which we consider constitute a homologous flare series (flares having basically the same configuration repeating in the same situation), occurred in the active region NOAA 7070 and were observed by Yohkoh SXT. In the present paper, we first discuss the homology of these three flares, and derive the 3D structure by making use of the information obtained from the three different lines of sight at common phases. The result of this analysis made clear for the first time that the so-called `cusped arcade' at the maximum phase in the well-known 21 February 1992 flare is, contrary to the general belief, an `elongated arch' created at the beginning of the flare, seen with a shallow oblique angle. It is not the `flare arcade' seen on axis as widely conceived. This elongated arch roughly coincides with a diagonal of the main body of the soft X-ray arcade that came up later. The magnetic structure responsible for the flare as a whole turned out to be a structure with quadruple magnetic sources – with the third and fourth sources also playing essential roles. The observationally derived information in our paper provides strong restrictions to the theoretical models of the process occurring in arcade flares.     

Dynamical interpretation of the very hot region appearing at the top of the loop

In order to explain the appearance of a hard X-ray source at the top of a loop, we present a model in which the dynamical effects of the dark filament mass infallng along the loop in association with the “disparition brusque” plays an important role. The crash of the infalling mass produces high temperature regions in the low corona above the two footpoints of the loop, and the up-going shocks, created in the crash and strengthened in propagating upwards along the steep density gradient in the tail of the infalling mass, produce a very high temperature (10⁸ K) region upon colliding with each other near the top of the loop. Successive occurrence of this process in successively higher loops in magnetic arcade may account for the sources of gradual hard X-ray bursts appearing at the top of the loop-like structure.     

Excess heating of corona and chromosphere above magnetic regions by non-linear Alfvén waves

Excess heating of the active region solar atmosphere is interpreted by the decay of MHD slow-mode waves produced in the corona through the non-linear coupling of Alfvén waves supplied from subphotospheric layers. It is stressed that the Alfvén-mode waves may be very efficiently generated directly in the convection layer under the photosphere in magnetic regions, and that such magnetic regions, at the same time, provide the ‘transparent windows’ for Alfvén waves in regard to the Joule and frictional dissipations in the photospheric and subphotospheric layers. Though the Alfvén waves suffer considerable reflection in the chromosphere and in the transition layer, a certain fraction of this large flux is propagated out to the corona, and a large velocity amplitude exceeding the local Alfvén velocity is attained during the propagation along the magnetic tubes of force into a region of lower density and weaker magnetic field. The otherwise divergence-free velocity field in Alfvén waves gets involved in such a case with a compressional component (slow-mode waves) which again is of considerable velocity amplitude relative to the local acoustic velocity when estimated by using the formulation for non-linear coupling between MHD wave modes derived by Kaburaki and Uchida (1971). Therefore, the compressional waves thus produced through the non-linear coupling of Alvén waves will eventually be thermalized to provide a heat source. The introduction of this non-linear coupling process and the subsequent thermalization of thus produced slow-mode waves may provide means of converting the otherwise dissipation-free Alfvén mode energy into heat in the corona. The liberated heat will readily be redistributed by conduction along the magnetic lines of force, with higher density as a consequence of increased scale height, and thus the loop-like structure of the coronal condensations (or probably also the thread-like feature of the general corona) may be explained in a natural fashion.