Evolution of the equatorial and dipole modes of the sea-surface temperature in the Tropical Atlantic at decadal scale

Summary ?One hundred and thirty six years (1856–1991) of monthly sea-surface temperature (SST) data in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean are used to investigate the propagating signals of the SST at a decadal (DD) time scale. The first and the third evolving modes show a relationship between the equatorial and the inter-hemispheric patterns, one evolving into the other mode and vice-versa. These modes describe two different evolutions of the SST at DD time-scale. The first EEOF features a 12-year period oscillatory regime with a strong 2-year duration inter-hemispheric pattern evolving into a weak 1-year duration equatorial pattern and vice-versa. This mode exhibits also a northward displacement of the anomalies in the band 15° S–15° N. The third EEOF also shows an oscillatory regime, but with a period of 10 years and with a relatively strong 2-year duration equatorial pattern evolving into a weak 1-year duration inter-hemispheric pattern and vice-versa. For this mode, the SST anomalies show a southward displacement in the band 15° S–15° N. These results have not yet been documented in previous works and explain some of the previous findings on the DD variability in the Tropical Atlantic. Received December 31, 2001; revised April 9, 2002; accepted September 4, 2002 Published online: March 20, 2003     

Lichens as bioindicators in volcanic areas: Mt. Etna and Vulcano Island (Italy)

 The aim of this paper is to verify whether lichens have the capacity to accumulate atmospheric contaminators linked to volcanic activity. About 100 lichens were collected in 1994 and 1995 from two active volcanic areas in Italy: Mount Etna and Vulcano Island. Twenty-seven elements were analyzed for each individual lichen using Instrumental Neutronic Activation Analysis and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. Lichen composition reflects the contribution of the volcanic particulate material, and the two areas investigated can be distinguished on the basis of the concentration of some lithophile elements. Moreover, the distribution in lichens of the elements (As, Sb, Br, Pb) – derived from gas emissions (plume, fumaroles) – also shows different geochemical trends on Mt. Etna and Vulcano. Received: 20 April 1998 · Accepted: 4 July 1998     

Libration dynamics and stability of electrodynamic tethers in satellite deorbit

This paper studies libration dynamics and stability of deorbiting nano-satellites by short and bare electrodynamic tethers. A critical aspect of satellite deorbit by an electrodynamic tether is to maintain the tether aligned with the local vertical and stable while subjected to external perturbations. The dynamics of electrodynamic tether system in deorbit application is divided into the orbital motion of the center of system’s mass and the tether libration motion relative to that center. Major space environmental perturbations including the current-induced electrodynamic force, atmospheric drag, oblateness effect of the Earth, irregularity of geomagnetic field, variable plasma density, solar radiation pressure, and lunisolar gravitational attractions are considered in the dynamic analysis. Quantitative analyses are provided in order to characterize the order of the perturbative torques during the deorbit process. A single index is derived from the libration energy to stabilize the libration motion by regulating the current in the tether through simple on-off switching. Numerical results show that the libration dynamics of an electrodynamic tether has significant impacts on the deorbit process and the electrodynamic tether cannot effectively deorbit satellites without libration stability control. The proposed current regulation strategy is simple and very effective in stabilizing libration motion of an electrodynamic tether.     

Climatology of extratropical cyclones over the South American–southern oceans sector

A climatology of extratropical cyclones is presented. Extratropical cyclones, their main characteristics and their predominant tracks, as well as their interannual variability, affect weather in South America. For that purpose, a storm track database has been compiled by applying a cyclone tracking scheme to six-hourly sea level pressure fields, available from the National Center for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalyses II for the 1979–2003 period. The spatial distribution of the cyclogenesis frequency shows two main centers: one around Northern Argentina, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil in all seasons and the other near to the North Antarctic Peninsula. The lifetime of extratropical cyclones in the South American sector exhibits small seasonality, being typically of the order of 3.0 days during most of the year and slightly higher (3.5 days) in austral summer. The distance travelled by the cyclones formed in the South American sector tends to be smaller than the total paths found in other areas of the Southern Hemisphere. A k-mean clustering technique is used to summarize the analysis of the 25-year climatology of cyclone tracks. Three clusters were found: one storm-track cluster in Northeast Argentina; a second one west of the Andes Cordillera; and a third cluster located to the north of the Antarctic Peninsula (around the Weddell Sea). The influence of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) in the variability of extratropical cyclones is explored, and some signals of the impacts of the variability of the AAO can be observed in the position of the extratropical cyclones around 40°S, while the impacts on the intensity is detected around 55°S.     

Oceanic fine structure

Abstract

Measurements by free fall instruments, in the San Diego Trough, the Florida Current, and the central Pacific, reveal the detailed structure of the vertical component of the oceanic temperature gradient. The temperature changes are concentrated into regions on the order of a meter thick wherein the measured gradients are often more than ten times the average gradient. The horizontal extent of the regions of high gradient is greater than 750 meters in the seasonal thermocline off San Diego, but is only a few hundred meters at depths greater than 400 meters.

Fine scale measurements show that the layers of high gradient consist of even finer fluctuations in gradient which are only a few centimeters thick. Time scales of the thinnest of these regions of high gradient are of the order of five minutes. The data also yields an estimate of the entropy generation. According to the results of an idealized model relating entropy generation to the turbulent heat transport, only 240 to 700 ergs per cm.² per sec were transported in a 25 meter vertical section measured in the San Diego Trough. This value compared with 3600 ergs per cm.² per sec estimated from the mean gradient and an eddy coefficient of 1 cm.² per sec.     

Iron and Sulfur Chemistry in a Stratified Lake: Evidence for Iron-Rich Sulfide Complexes

A four month study of a man-made lake used for hydroelectric power generation in northeastern Pennsylvania USA was conducted to investigate seasonal anoxia and the effects of sulfide species being transported downstream of the power generation equipment. Water column analyses show that the system is iron-rich compared to sulfide. Total Fe(II) concentrations in the hypolimnion are typically at least twice the total sulfide levels. In situ voltammetric analyses show that free Fe(II) as [Fe(H₂O)₆]²⁺ or free H₂S as H₂S/HS^- are either not present or at trace levels and that iron-rich sulfide complexes are present. From the in situ data and total Fe(II) and H₂S measurements, we infer that these iron-rich sulfide complexes may have stoichiometries such as Fe₂SH³⁺ (or polymeric forms of this and other stoichiometries). These iron-rich sulfide complexes appear related to dissolution of the iron-rich FeS mineral, mackinawite, because IAP calculations on data from discrete bottle samples obtained from bottom waters are similar to the pK_sp of mackinawite. Soluble iron-sulfide species are stable in the absence of O₂ (both in lake waters and the pipeline) and transported several miles during power generation. However, iron-sulfide complexes can react with O₂ to oxidize sulfide and can also dissociate releasing volatile H₂S when the waters containing them are exposed to the atmosphere downstream of the powerplant. Sediment analyses show that the lake is rich in oxidized iron solids (both crystalline and amorphous). Fe concentrations in FeS solids are low (<5 μmole/gr_{dry wt}) and the pyrite concentration ranges from about equal to the solid FeS to 30 times the solid FeS concentration. The degree of pyritization is below 0.12 indicating that pyrite formation is limited by free sulfide, which can react with the iron-rich sulfide complexes.     

Behaviour of radiogenic Pb in zircon during ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism: an ion imaging and ion tomography case study from the Kerala Khondalite Belt,southern India

Zircon crystals from a locally charnockitized Paleoproterozoic high-K metagranite from the Kerala Khondalite Belt (KKB) of southern India have been investigated by high-spatial resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis of U–Th–Pb and rare earth elements (REE), together with scanning ion imaging and scanning ion tomography (depth-profiled ion imaging). The spot analyses constrain the magmatic crystallization age of the metagranite to ca. 1,850 Ma, with ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism occurring at ca. 570 Ma and superimposed charnockite formation at ca. 520–510 Ma, while the ion imaging reveals a patchy distribution of radiogenic Pb throughout the zircon cores. Middle- to heavy-REE depletion in ca. 570 Ma zircon rims suggests that these grew in equilibrium with garnet and therefore date the UHT metamorphism in the KKB. The maximum apparent ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb age obtained from the unsupported radiogenic Pb concentrations is also consistent with formation of the Pb patches during this event. The superimposed charnockitization event appears to have caused additional Pb-loss in the cores and recrystallization of the rims. The results of depth-profiling of the scanning ion tomography image stack show that the Pb-rich domains range in size from <5 nm to several 10 nm (diameter if assumed to be spherical). The occurrence of such patchy Pb has previously been documented only from UHT metamorphic zircon, where it likely results from annealing of radiation-damaged zircon. The formation of a discrete, heterogeneously distributed and subsequently immobile Pb phase effectively arrests the normal Pb-loss process seen at lower grades of metamorphism.