Adsorption of tributyltin by tributyltin resistant marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. cells

The isolate, Pesudoalteromonas sp. TBT1, could grow to overcome the toxicity of tributyltin chloride (TBTCl) up to 30 μM in the absence of Cl⁻ in the medium until the cells reached an exponential phase of growth. The viability, however, was reduced after the cells reached a stationary phase. The degradation products, such as dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT), were not detected in the growth medium, indicating that the isolate has no ability to degrade TBT into less toxic DBT and MBT. Up to about 10^7.5 TBT molecules were adsorbed by a single cell. The observation of morphological changes with an electron microscope showed that the cell surface became wrinkled after exposure to the lethal concentration of 10 mM TBTCl. These results indicate that the resistance of the isolate toward the toxicity of TBTCl is not related to the unique cell surface, which seems to play an important role in preventing the diffusion of TBTCl into the cytoplasm.     

Variation of the partial pressure of CO2 in surface water from Kuroshio to Oyashio and the relation between environmental factors and the partial pressure at 144°E off Sanriku, northwestern North Pacific in May, 1997

Partial pressure of CO₂ in surface sea water (pCO₂) was measured continuously off Sanriku in May, 1997 by a new pCO₂ measurement system. We have examined the relation of pCO₂ to physical factors such as temperature, salinity and density, chemical and biological factors such as nutrients and carbonate system and chlorophylla. In the Kuroshio region pCO₂ was not correlated to physical, chemical and biological factors in the range of 260 to 290 μatom. In transition water (Tr1) between Kuroshio and the Oyashio second branch, pCO₂ was weakly correlated to physical factors and strongly correlated to nutrients. In transition water (Tr2) between the Oyashio first and second branches, pCO₂ was highly correlated to temperature (SD: 10.9 μatom) and salinity (SD: 8.6 μatom) and also to nutrients. In transition water (Tr1+Tr2), pCO₂ was highly multivariately correlated to temperature (T), salinity (S), chlorophylla (CH) (or nitrate+nitrite (N)) as follows, pCO₂(μatom)= 10.8×T(°C)+27.7×S+2.57CH(μg/1) −769, R²= 0.86, SD = 20.9, or pCO₂(μatom)= 3.9×T(°C)+25.5×S+16.0NO₃(μM) −686, R²= 0.99, SD = 6.4. Moreover, pCO₂ was predicted by only two factors, one physical (S) and the other chemical/biological (N) as follows: pCO₂ (μatom)=32.8×S+19.4N−908, R²=0.97, SD=8.4. The pH measured at 25°C was well correlated with normalized pCO₂ at a fixed temperature. In the Oyashio region pCO₂ was decreased to 160 μatom, probably because of spring bloom, but was not correlated linearly to chlorophylla. The results obtained showed the possibility of estimating pCO₂ of the Oyashio and transition regions in May by satellite remote sensing of SST, but the problem of estimation of pCO₂ in Kuroshio water remains to be solved.     

A numerical study of the effect of frozen soil on dust emission during an East Asian dust event in December 2009

There are few dust simulation studies for East Asian dust events that took place in the wintertime, when the surface conditions of the dust source region differ from those of the springtime. The soil water turns into ice when the temperature falls below freezing, and the ice might prohibit wind erosion by increasing the binding strength between soil particles. However, the contribution of frozen soil to reducing dust outbreaks remains unclear. This study investigates the effect of frozen soil on dust emission through a case study of a severe wintertime East Asian dust event that originated on 23 and 24 December 2009 in Southern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia and reached Korea on 25 and 26 December 2009 using WRF/Chem with a new dust emission scheme. Model simulations with and without the effect of frozen soil were conducted. A temperature below 0°C and relative soil saturation exceeding 40% were used for frozen soil criteria, and the frozen soil was prohibited from emitting dust. The dust concentrations derived from the simulation without the effect of frozen soil were about three times higher than the observed PM₁₀ concentrations, while the results from the simulation with the frozen-soil effect were quite similar to those of the observation data. The simulation of the wintertime East Asian dust event with the frozen-soil effect improved the model representation. The sensitivity tests for frozen soil indicate that the criteria of frozen soil used in this study are appropriate for this case study.     

Ab initio study on carbon Kinetic Isotope Effect (KIE) in the reaction of CH4+Cl•

Recent studies suggest that the destruction of methane by Cl in the marine boundary layer could be accounted for as another major sink besides the methane destruction by OH. High level ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been carried out to study the CH₄+Cl reaction, the carbon Kinetic Isotope Effect (KIE) is calculated using Conventional Transition-State Theory (CTST) plus Wigner and Eckart semiclassical tunneling corrections. The calculated KIE is around 1.026 at 300 K and has a small temperature variation. This is by far the largest KIE among different processes involving atmospheric methane destruction (e.g., OH, soil). A calculated mass balance of atmospheric methane including the KIE for the CH₄+Cl reaction is found to favor those methane budgets with enhanced biological methane sources, which have relatively lighter carbon isotope composition.     

Distribution of Planetesimals around a Protoplanet in the Nebula Gas

We have developed a semi-analytic method of calculating the changes in heliocentric Keplerian orbital elements due to gravitational scattering by a protoplanet as a three-body problem. In encounters with high incident velocities, either the gravity of the protoplanet or the solar gravity can be regarded as perturbation force. In close encounters, by taking into account the solar gravity as a perturbation, we modified the two-body gravitational scattering. On the other hand, in slightly distant encounters, we apply the perturbing force of the protoplanet to the heliocentric Keplerian orbit of planetesimals. As a result, as for high-velocity encounters, the three-body problem is semi-analytically solvable. Our semi-analytic method can reproduce the numerical result of the orbital changes of individual planetesimals for the broad range of high-energy encounters with surprising high accuracy. We found that our method is valid under the conditions (i)b₀? 2 and (ii) (e²₀+i²₀− b²₀)^1/2? 4, wheree₀andi₀are eccentricity and inclination of relative motion normalized by the reduced Hill radius andb₀is the difference between semimajor axes normalized by the Hill radius. Though our method needs some numerical procedure, its cpu time is negligibly short compared with that of the direct orbital integration. In simulation of orbital evolution of planetesimals around a protoplanet in the gas, which we will perform in the subsequent paper, most encounters can be calculated by the semi-analytic method. This makes it possible to perform the long term (∼10⁵years) orbital calculation of ∼10^3–4planetesimals.     

Gaseous formic and acetic acids in the atmosphere of Yokohama,Japan

Gaseous formic acid (HCOOH_g) and acetic acid (CH₃COOH_g) were measured every 30 minutes during a 10 hour daylight period in August, and a 24 hour period in October, 1990 in the urban atmosphere of Yokohama, Japan. An aqueous nebulizer sampler and ion-chromatography exclusion (ICE) were used for the measurements. In the August experiment (0800–1800 local time) the mean HCOOH_g concentration was found to be 7.3±2.5 ppbv. The mean CH₃COOH_g concentration was 3.8±1.2 ppbv. In the 24 hour experiment in October, concentrations of both acids were lower between 0800–1800 than during the same time-period in August (mean HCOOH_g=4.4±2.7 ppbv, mean CH₃COOH_g=1.4±0.5 ppbv). In October, concentrations of both acids were higher in daylight hours than at night; sporadic high HCOOH_g concentrations were observed. In both experiments the ratio HCOOH_g/CH₃COOH_g of individual samples was usually 2.0 (mean ratio of 2.0 in August, 3.1 in October).     

ANS observations of Cygnus X-1

Cygnus X-1 was observed from 3 November until 9 November, 1974, using the hard X-ray (1–28 keV) and soft X-ray (1–8 keV) experiment on board the Astronomical Netherlands Satellite. On three occasions, on 4 and 5 November, the X-ray spectrum was observed to be harder, while the flux intensity in the 1–7 keV ranges decreased by 50% from its quiescent value. These events occurred near and following the time of superior conjunction of the likely optical counterpart HDE 226 868. These events appear to be the same as previously reported absorption dips and reveal this phenomenon to be more complex than had been believed. A systematic study of the X-ray spectral variations in these energy bands, on a time scale of 64 seconds over the period of the spectroscopic binary, is presented.Paper presented at the COSPAR Symposium on Fast Transients in X-and Gamma-Rays, held at Varna, Bulgaria, 29–31 May, 1975.On leave from Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science, University of Tokyo.