Study of the air-sea interactions at the mesoscale: the SEMAPHORE experiment

The SEMAPHORE (Structure des Echanges Mer-Atmosphère, Propriétés des Hétérogénéités Océaniques: Recherche Expérimentale) experiment has been conducted from June to November 1993 in the Northeast Atlantic between the Azores and Madeira. It was centered on the study of the mesoscale ocean circulation and air-sea interactions. The experimental investigation was achieved at the mesoscale using moorings, floats, and ship hydrological survey, and at a smaller scale by one dedicated ship, two instrumented aircraft, and surface drifting buoys, for one and a half month in October-November (IOP: intense observing period). Observations from meteorological operational satellites as well as spaceborne microwave sensors were used in complement. The main studies undertaken concern the mesoscale ocean, the upper ocean, the atmospheric boundary layer, and the sea surface, and first results are presented for the various topics. From data analysis and model simulations, the main characteristics of the ocean circulation were deduced, showing the close relationship between the Azores front meander and the occurrence of Mediterranean water lenses (meddies), and the shift between the Azores current frontal signature at the surface and within the thermocline. Using drifting buoys and ship data in the upper ocean, the gap between the scales of the atmospheric forcing and the oceanic variability was made evident. A 2 °C decrease and a 40-m deepening of the mixed layer were measured within the IOP, associated with a heating loss of about 100 W m⁻². This evolution was shown to be strongly connected to the occurrence of storms at the beginning and the end of October. Above the surface, turbulent measurements from ship and aircraft were analyzed across the surface thermal front, showing a 30% difference in heat fluxes between both sides during a 4-day period, and the respective contributions of the wind and the surface temperature were evaluated. The classical momentum flux bulk parameterization was found to fail in low wind and unstable conditions. Finally, the sea surface was investigated using airborne and satellite radars and wave buoys. A wave model, operationally used, was found to get better results compared with radar and wave-buoy measurements, when initialized using an improved wind field, obtained by assimilating satellite and buoy wind data in a meteorological model. A detailed analysis of a 2-day period showed that the swell component, propagating from a far source area, is underestimated in the wave model. A data base has been created, containing all experimental measurements. It will allow us to pursue the interpretation of observations and to test model simulations in the ocean, at the surface and in the atmospheric boundary layer, and to investigate the ocean-atmosphere coupling at the local and mesoscales.     

通辽CK－9井水位动态及影响因素的分析

本文在对通辽ＣＫ－９井、水文地质条件和水动态特征初步分析的基础上，采用ＰＣ－１５００计算机，对该井的观测数据与气压、蒸发、降雨、开采、河水位、固体潮、地震波和潜水位等相互关系，进行了定量的相互分析．研究所得结果，对该井水位动态变化和影响因素的关系，提出了新的结论．     

Temperature dependence of the 57Fe Mössbauer parameters in riebeckite

Mössbauer spectra for two riebeckite minerals were collected at temperatures in the range 4.2 to 500 K. The magnetic-ordering temperatures were found to be 33±1 and 31±1 K respectively. Fitting the paramagnetic spectra with a discrete number of doublets (three or four) did not lead to consistent results. Instead, a superposition of an Fe³⁺ (M2) doublet and one distributed ferrous component was found to produce adequate fits with reasonable parameter values. For both samples, a minor fraction of ferrous ions was observed to be present at the M4 sites and for one of the samples at the M2 sites as well. The temperature variations of the center shifts were well reproduced using the Debye model of the lattice vibrational spectrum to evaluate the second-order Doppler shift. The characteristic Mössbauer temperatures were calculated to be in the range 340–390 K for Fe²⁺, and 520 K for Fe³⁺. The temperature dependences of the various ferrous quadrupole splittings could not be explained in terms of the point-charge model and assuming a temperature-independent energy-level scheme for the ⁵D term. It is suggested that a gradual change with temperature of the orbital-level splittings takes place. All calculations yielded a positive sign for the principal component of the electric field gradient (EFG). The spectrum recorded at 4.2 K for one of the riebeckites was fitted with a superposition of an Fe³⁺ and a Fe²⁺ hyperfine-field distribution, the latter one primarily characterizing the Fe²⁺ (M1) cations. The following relevant hyperfine data were calculated: H _hf=161 kOe, ΔE _Q=3.11 mm/s, and V _zz<0, all referring to the maximum-propability values. For the second riebeckite at 4.2 K, an additional distributed ferrous component could independently be resolved. The two maximum-probability hyperfine fields were found to be 189 and 98 kOe and the corresponding ΔE _Q values 3.10 and 2.67 mm/s. Both components exhibit a negative V _zz. The subspectra were attributed to M1 and M3 sites respectively. The Fe³⁺ hyperfine fields are 548+-2 kOe for both riebeckites. The different values found for the Fe³⁺ quadrupole shift 2?_Q for the two samples is explained by a different angle between the hyperfine field and the EFG's principal axis. The magnetic spectra recorded at 15 K and higher, could not be reproduced adequately with reasonable parameter values.     

Some observations from the data taken in and around Kharagpur during the onset of the monsoon, 1990

During MONTBLEX 1990, various observational platforms were operated at Kharagpur and the nearby Kalaikunda Air Base. Using the data from all the platforms, one can draw the following conclusions. The temperature and wind data obtained from various sensors have overall compatibility. Sodar wind data indicate the presence of a low level jet at around 300 m above ground. The inversion height may be evaluated from the vertical profile of the sodar back-scatter echo intensity. The sub-synoptic or synoptic scale convergence modulates the inversion height and the presence of cloud-base within the inversion height in turn modulates the sensible heat and momentum fluxes.     

Climate change in Yellowstone National Park: Is the drought-related risk of wildfires increasing?

The increased frequency of wildfires in the United States has become a common prediction associated with the build-up of greenhouse gases. In this investigation, variations in annual wildfire data in Yellowstone National Park are compared to variations in historical climate conditions for the area. Univariate and multivariate analytical techniques reveal that (a) summer temperatures in the Park are increasing, (b) January-June precipitation levels are decreasing, and (c) variations in burn area within the Park are significantly related to the observed variations in climate. Outputs from four different general circulation model simulations for 2 × CO₂ are included in the analyses; model predictions for increasing aridity in the Yellowstone Park area are generally in agreement with observed trends in the historical climate records.     

Basalt magmatism along the passive continental margin of SE Brazil (Campos basin)

The SE-Brazil passive continental margin is characterized by tholeiitic magmatism that is particularly widespread in the marginal Campos basin, facing the inland flood basalts of the adjacent Paranà basin. Campos magmatism is represented by Early Cretaceous (EC; 134–122 Ma) flood basalts and minor Upper Cretaceous-Early Tertiary basalt flows and intrusives, which were emplaced in a basin with attenuated crustal thickness (20 km). Petrography, mineral chemistry, wholerock geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotope composition emphasize that the EC-Campos basalts have suffered extensive seawater interaction which caused enrichment in MgO, FeO total, K₂O, Rb and Ba, and depletion in SiO₂ and CaO, while Zr, Nb, Y and REE remained virtually constant in samples with loss-on-ignition values less than 4 wt%. In general, Campos basalts have bulkrock chemistry similar to those of the inland Parana tholeiites (140–130 Ma) with relatively low concentrations of incompatible elements and TiO₂ (<2 wt%). Batch-melting calculations suggest that Campos basalt genesis requires a garnet-peridotite source and variable degree of melting (9–25%) in order to explain the rare-earth-element (REE) patterns with chondrite normalised La/Yb_(N) ratio ranging from 0.9–1.0 to 4.4–7.1. The Sr–Nd isotopic data for the slightly altered Campos basalts, of both Early Cretaceous and Upper Cretaceous-Early Tertiary age, plot close to bulk earth, or in the enriched quadrant of the mantle array. Inter-element (La, Zr, Nb, Ba) ratios preclude for the Campos (and Paranà) basalt genesis any significant participation of N-type (Zr/Nb>16) MORB (mid-ocean-ridge basalt) mantle in simple binary mixing models. On the whole, the Early Cretaceous Campos basalts appear as an easterly, younger extension of the northern Paranà volcanism and probably erupted during early stages of the major riftingprocesses which caused continental thinning. It is notable that in the Campos marginal basin both the basalt magmatism contemporaneous with the continental break-up, as well as that which occurred after the S. America-Africa separation, appears substantially related to subcontinental lithosphere and a Dupal-like OIB (ocean-island basalt) (e.g. Tristan da Cunha) source components.     

通过对调查数据的趋势和多变量分析确定宏观场

通过多变(相关分析)和趋势分析等统计方法对宏观调查数据进行了解释.这种方法使我们通过评定不同宏观效应叠加的程度、估计调查数据的不确定性更客观地评定烈度.通过滤波确定烈度场的区域分量,使我们消除观测中的局部变化.给出了选取适当滤波参数的准则.本文应用这一方法对发生在意大利的一次地震的调查数据进行了处理.     

The volcano of Capelinhos (Azores), the solar activity and the earth-tide

Bulletin of Volcanology - Correlations on the eruptive behaviour of the volcano of Capelinhos (Fayal island) in 1957–58, with (a) solar activity, and (b) earth-tide amplitudes, by way of a...     

The submarine volcano of Capelinhos and the tectonics of the Azores

Bulletin of Volcanology - In another paper of the author, a picture of the tectonics of the Azores was presented. The morphological analysis showed evidence of a folded and faulted structure and...