The influence of sea waves on the wind profile

From wind profile and wave measurements performed during the JONSWAP II experiment, relations between the dimensionless profile slope and the significant wave height are derived. It is shown that the wind profile is distorted by the waves especially in the vicinity of the water surface. The wave influence on the profile seems to be restricted to heights below about three wave heights. Above this level, the dimensionless profile slope is an approximately constant value corresponding to a drag coefficient of about 1.15 × 10^–3.     

Rb-Sr whole-rock dating of late diagenetic to anchimetamorphic,palaeozoic sediments in southern France (Montagne Noire)

Rb-Sr whole-rock and mineral analyses are reported from Early Paleozoic sediments of the southern rim of the French Central Massif (Montagne Noire). The sediments—mainly pelites, silt- and sandstones—can be separated into three different zones (A, B, and C) according to their varying degrees of deformation and transformation, which took place during the Hercynian (= Variscan) orogeny (Carboniferous). For the least deformed, folded but not schistose, fossiliferous Lower Ordovician sediments (zone A), a scatter of the data points resulted, at least partly due to the varying amount of detrital muscovites, which did not equilibrate their Sr isotopes with those of the clay minerals. Fossiliferous Middle Cambrian sediments (zone B), however, are colinear in an isochron plot. The rocks are also folded, and show a beginning schistosity in the pelitic layers. The age of 333±16 m.y. therefore does not correspond to the time of sedimentation, as one would expect from most of the interpretations given in the literature. It is, however, in close agreement with the stratigraphically known time of folding and anchimetamorphism. The same result, within analytical error, of 326±17 m.y. was obtained for Lower Ordovician sediments (zone C), which show a schistosity not only in the pelites but also in some psammitic layers. As for the sediments of zone B, this result indicates open whole-rock systems for Rb and/or Sr during folding and anchimetamorphism. Minerals extracted from psammites of zones B and C gave the following results: albite coincides with the isochrons; detrital muscovites do not coincide and yield ages of about 650 m.y. (Cadomian orogeny) for both zone B and C sediments; detrital chlorites from zone B sediments seem to be only partly reset by anchimetamorphism and therefore plot closer to the whole-rock isochron. From this it must be concluded that an increasing amount of these detrital micas could significantly shift the position of the total-rock points, as might be the case for zone A sediments. From the whole-rock results of zone B and C sediments and the mineralogical and petrological changes during diagenesis and anchimetamorphism we conclude that many of the isochrons obtained from stratigraphically uncontrollable Precambrian sediments should be reinterpreted in favour of metamorphic and not sedimentary ages, especially if the metamorphism reached greenschist facies conditions. Devonian and Cambrian limestones intercalated between the pelites, silstones and sandstones contain Sr of a variable and slightly radiogenic isotopic composition in contrast to the expected ancient sea water Sr. This fact is interpreted again in favour of open whole-rock systems during the postdepositional history of the rock, rather than primary scatter of ancient, radiogenic sea water Sr.     

Noble gas investigations of lunar rocks 10017 and 10071

The noble gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe and also K and Ba were measured in the Apollo 11 igneous rocks 10017 and 10071, and in an ilmenite and two feldspar concentrates separated from rock 10071. Whole rock K/Ar ages of rocks 10017 and 10071 are (2350 ± 60) × 10⁶ yr and (2880 ± 60) × 10⁶ yr, respectively. The two feldspar concentrates of rock 10071 have distinctly higher ages: (3260 ± 60) × 10⁶ yr and (3350 ± 70) × 10⁶ yr. These ages are still 10 per cent lower than the Rb/Sr age obtained by Papanastassiouet al. (1970) and some Ar⁴⁰ diffusion loss must have occurred even in the relatively coarse-grained feldspar.The relative abundance patterns of spallation Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe are in agreement with the ratios predicted from meteoritic production rates. However, diffusion loss of spallation He³ is evident in the whole rock samples, and even more in the feldspar concentrates. The ilmenite shows little or no diffusion loss. The isotopic composition of spallation Kr and Xe is similar to the one observed in meteorites. Small, systematic differences in the spallation Kr spectra of rocks 10017 and 10071 are due to variations in the irradiation hardness (shielding). The Kr spallation spectra in the mineral concentrates are different from the whole rock spectra and also show individual variations, reflecting the differences in target element composition. The relative abundance of cosmic ray produced Xe¹³¹ differs by nearly 50 per cent in the two rocks. The other Xe isotopes show no variations of similar magnitude. The origin of the Xe¹³¹ yield variability is discussed.Kr⁸¹ was measured in all the samples investigated. The Kr⁸¹/Kr exposure ages of rocks 10017 and 10071 are (480 ± 25) × 10⁶ yr and (350 ± 15) × 10⁶ yr, respectively. Exposure ages derived from spallation Ne²¹, Ar³⁸, Kr⁸³ and Xe¹²⁶ are essentially in agreement with the Kr⁸¹/Kr ages. The age of rock 10071 might be somewhat low because of a possible recent exposure of our sample to solar flare particles.     

Airborne near-real-time monitoring of assembly and parking areas in case of large-scale public events and natural disasters

A critical requirement for an effective and coordinated response by public entities tasked with management, security, and relief during large-scale public events or natural disasters is the availability of current situational information. However, today there is a lack of comprehensive operational systems allowing a near-real-time (NRT) collection, visualization, and provision of situational information for larger areas. In this study a methodological framework is proposed, which allows an NRT extraction and visualization of situational information based on aerial image acquisition. The framework combines digital image analysis using a generic supervised information extraction approach based on statistical modeling with a downstream web-based visualization component realized through an automatic update of web services. Even though being applicable for different scenarios, the workflow will be demonstrated for the specific use-case of a NRT monitoring of open spaces including assembly and parking areas. Compared to other approaches, image analysis results indicate a high robustness and a low demand for computational power sources (7 seconds per image). Due to a high degree of automation, the proposed workflow contributes to a NRT ‘end-to-end’ monitoring system, which was developed within the VABENE (German acronym for ‘traffic management under large-scale public events and disaster conditions’) project covering all parts from the acquisition of raw aerial imagery to the dissemination of information products to end-users.     

The challenge of dating early pleistocene fossil teeth by the combined uranium series–electron spin resonance method: the Venta Micena palaeontological site (Orce,Spain)

The palaeontological site of Venta Micena (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) lies in the eastern sector of the Guadix–Baza basin, one of the best documented areas in Europe for Plio‐Pleistocene biostratigraphy. The combination of biochronological and palaeomagnetic results, combined with the radiometric data obtained for Atapuerca Sima del Elefante, indicated that the Venta Micena stratum was formed between the Jaramillo and Olduvai palaeomagnetic events, most likely between 1.22 and 1.77 Ma. Five fossil teeth from two outcrops (sites A and B) were selected to assess the potential of combined uranium series–electron spin resonance (US‐ESR) dating of Early Pleistocene sites. Although the US‐ESR results of the first outcrop showed a large scatter between the three teeth, the mean age of 1.37 ± 0.24 Ma can be considered a reasonable age estimate for Venta Micena. The mean ESR age of 0.62 ± 0.03 Ma obtained for site B seems to be a severe underestimation when compared with the independent age control. This underestimation is attributed to a relative recent U‐mobilization event that led to some U‐leaching. The results show that any ESR age calculations of old samples are extremely sensitive to variations in the measured ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U ratios in dental tissues. Although the results demonstrate that ESR can in principle be applied to Early Pleistocene sites, they also reveal the complexity of dating such old teeth. It is necessary to continue research in several directions, such as study of the behaviour of ESR signals in old teeth and understanding recent U‐mobilization processes, to improve the reliability of the combined US‐ESR dating method applied to Early Pleistocene times, a period for which the number of available numerical dating techniques is very limited. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Magnetization of celestial bodies with special application to the primeval Earth and Moon

The magnetic fields of celestial bodies are usually supposed to be due to a ‘hydromagnetic dynamo’. This term refers to a number of rather speculative processes which are supposed to take place in the liquid core of a celestial body. In this paper we shall follow another approach which is more closely connected with hydromagnetic processes well-known from the laboratory, and hence basically less speculative. The paper should be regarded as part of a general program to connect cosmical phenomena with phenomena studied in the laboratory. As has been demonstrated by laboratory experiments, a poloidal magnetic field may be increased by the transfer of energy from a toroidal magnetic field through kink instability of the current system. This mechanism can be applied to the fluid core of a celestial body. Any differential rotation will produce a toroidal field from an existing poloidal field, and the kink instability will feed toroidal energy back to the poloidal field, and hence amplify it. In the Earth-Moon system the tidal braking of the Earth's mantle acts to produce a differential angular velocity between core and mantle. The braking will be transferred to the core by hydromagnetic forces which at the same time give rise to a strong magnetic field. The strength of the field will be determined by the rate of tidal braking. It is suggested that the magnetization of lunar rocks from the period ?4 to ?3 Gyears derives from the Earth's magnetic field. As the interior of the Moon immediately after accretion probably was too cool to be melted, the Moon could not produce a magnetic field by hydromagnetic effects in its core. The observed lunar magnetization could be produced by such an amplified Earth field even if the Moon never came closer than 10 or 20 Earth's radii. This hypothesis might be checked by magnetic measurements on the Earth during the same period.     

Volatile Organic Compounds in the Po Basin. Part B: Biogenic VOCs

Measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were performed in the Po Basin, northern Italy in early summer 1998, summer 2002, and autumn 2003. During the three campaigns, trace gases and meteorological parameters were measured at a semi-rural station, around 35 km north of the city center of Milan. Bimodal diurnal cycles of isoprene with highest concentrations in the morning and evening were found and could be explained by the interaction of emissions, chemical reactions, and vertical mixing. The diurnal cycle could be qualitatively reproduced by a three-dimensional Eulerian model. The nighttime decay of isoprene could be attributed mostly to reactions with NO₃, while the decay of the isoprene oxidation products could not be explained with the considered chemical reactions. Methanol reached very high mixing ratios, up to 150 ppb. High concentrations with considerable variability occurred during nights with high relative humidities and low wind speeds. The origin of these nighttime methanol concentrations is most likely local and biogenic but the specific source could not be identified.