Hypernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursts

The nature of very energetic supernovae (hypernovae) is discussed. They are the explosive death of stars more massive than ~20–25M _⊙, probably linked to the enigmatic Gamma-Ray Bursts. The optical properties of hypernovae indicate that they are significantly aspherical. Synthetic light curves and late-phase spectra of aspherical supernova/hypernova models are presented. These models can account for the optical observations of SNe 1998bw and 2002ap. The abundance patterns of hypernovae are characterized by large ratios (Zn, Co)/Fe and small ratios (Mn, Cr)/Fe, indicating a significant contribution of hypernovae to the early Galactic chemical evolution.     

多年冻土区土壤多环芳烃污染研究进展

多环芳烃（polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,PAHs）是一种难降解、毒性强的致癌性污染物,其广泛分布于各环境介质中,陆地环境中90%的PAHs累积在土壤中。随着资源的开发,由油品泄漏、垃圾渗滤、污水排放等行为造成的多年冻土区PAHs土壤污染问题日益突显,并且在气候变化背景下,多年冻土中的PAHs具有重新释放而造成二次污染的风险,多年冻土区土壤多环芳烃污染分布特征和迁移规律研究对评估多年冻土区生态环境风险,防治土壤持久性有机物污染,保障广大多年冻土居民生命健康安全具有重要意义。通过回顾目前国内外多年冻土区土壤中PAHs污染的相关研究,分析发现多年冻土区未受污染的土壤中PAHs的污染水平远低于中低纬度人口密集区域,可代表地球土壤中PAHs的背景值;高纬度或高海拔的地理位置以及严寒的气候使得冻土区土壤中PAHs一个普遍且最重要的来源是大气远距离传输;活动层的冻融作用主要通过改变土壤理化性质和控制水分运移方向影响PAHs在多年冻土区土壤中的垂向分布特征,多年冻土的低渗透性具有阻碍PAHs垂向迁移的作用。综合分析已有研究成果,表明目前冻土区土壤PAHs污染研究还是大量集中于表层土壤中的污染分布调查和来源解析,而关于PAHs在活动层和多年冻土层中的垂向迁移研究还仅限于对其在土壤剖面中分布状况的解释性分析,冻融作用对PAHs在土壤中的迁移、转化和归宿的影响机制还不清楚。未来多年冻土区土壤中PAHs的研究将集中于迁移转化机理与污染治理技术两方面,针对PAHs在多年冻土区土壤中迁移行为的模拟模型亟待研究开发,以实现PAHs污染储量和迁移通量的定量预测;此外,多年冻土区土壤污染问题的深入研究还需要紧密联系多圈层、多界面、多介质、多要素以及多目标污染物而开展。     

Petrological and Geochemical Characteristics of Intrusive Rocks Related to Porphyry Copper Mineralization and the Implications for the Genesis of Deposits in the Namosi area, Viti Levu, Republic of the Fiji Islands

In the Namosi district, of Viti Levu Island, Republic of the Fiji Islands, we conducted chemical analysis on intrusive rocks and attempted to clarify the relationship between petrological characteristics and mineralization. Samples were collected from the Waisoi copper deposit, Waivaka corridor, Waisomo, Wailutelevu and Wainabama Southwest localities. The intrusive rocks in the district show the overall characteristics of calc-alkaline magnetite series. Using the normative composition diagram for granite classification, most of the intrusive rocks plot in the tonalite, granodiorite, quartz monzodiorite and quartz diorite fields. Rare earth element (REE) analysis revealed that at Waisoi the intrusive rocks tend towards an Eu positive anomaly, whereas most of those at Waisomo tend to have a negative anomaly. The (Ce_cn/Yb_cn)/Yb_cn ratio shows that the intrusive rocks in the Namosi district may be derived from a mantle origin magma possibly contaminated by crustal materials. Waisoi rocks have less contamination with continental crust and show higher gold content compared to those of the Waivaka corridor. The observed differences between Waisoi and Waivaka corridor in the Cu/Au ratio might also be caused by varying amounts of contamination by crustal materials. There is no clear correlation between the La/Yb ratio and K–Ar ages, however, the La/Yb ratio of the Waivaka corridor rocks has a wide range, suggesting a variable amount of crustal contamination of the magma from 7 to 5 Ma. The less crustal contamination and generation of relatively high silica contents under relatively oxidized conditions in the Waisoi magmas is correlated with Au-rich porphyry copper mineralization and in contrast more crustal contamination produced Au-poor porphyry copper mineralization at the Waivaka Corridor in the Namosi district.     

Progress Report on the Deployment of MAGDAS

As Japan’s leading contribution to the International Heliophysical Year (IHY), the Space Environment Research Center (SERC) of Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan is in the process of deploying globally 50 state-of-the-art magnetometers. In this brief article, we outline our progress to date (23 Sept 2007). We also briefly describe our magnetometer, which is able to send its data in near realtime to a central server, where data from all units can be compared with relative ease and quickness.     

M2 tidal currents near the continental shelf margin in the East China Sea

Time series of velocity and water temperature were measured at three stations on the continental shelf, on the shelf margin and on the slope off the northwest Tokunoshima in December 1980 to study influences of the slope on tides.Tidal currents with semidiurnal periods were dominant at the stations on the shelf and shelf margin. However, semidiurnal components in temperature fluctuations were dominant at the stations on the shelf margin and the slope. We estimated horizontal currents due to semidiurnal internal tides from the vertical distribution of water density and temperature, assuming that the temperature fluctuations were caused by the vertical displacement of water particles due to semidiurnal internal tides. The tidal ellipses at the station on the shelf and the phase relation of the tidal currents between the two stations on the shelf and shelf margin indicated that the M₂ surface tide on the shelf was a Sverdrup wave propagating to the northwest.Semidiurnal tidal currents on the slope were also caused by tides of surface and internal modes. Furthermore, the axis of the tidal ellipse was not perpendicular to the co-tidal line estimated by Ogura (1934) but rather parallel to the isobaths on the slope, which shows a striking effect of the bottom topography on the tidal currents.     

Phase velocity of semi-diurnal internal waves at Ocean Weather Station T

Phase velocity of semi-diurnal internal waves is determined from differences between phases at three stations which were situated to form a triangle in the vicinity of sta. T (29N, 135E). The wave phases are estimated from temporal variations in depths of isotherms obtained from serial measurements of vertical temperature profiles at these stations. The measurements were carried out in cooperative operation of two vessels, the R. V.Tansei-maru and theNojima, during the period from 30 July to 1 August 1965. Wave propagation with the speed of about 2 m/s in the direction from east to west is obtained as an average over several isotherms of temperature from 19C to 23C. The area of measurement is to the west of Izu-Mariana ridge and the distance from the ridge to the station is about 500 km, which would be about 5 times as large as the wave length of the internal waves under consideration, and so it is possible to suppose that the internal waves observed generated at the ridge and propagated to the area without being subjected to serious refraction, scattering, reflection and decay.     

Dynamic modeling of forest conversion: Simulation of past and future scenarios of rural activities expansion in the fringes of the Xingu National Park,Brazilian Amazon

The present work is committed to simulate the expansion of agricultural and cattle raising activities within a watershed located in the fringes of the Xingu National Park, Brazilian Amazon. A spatially explicit dynamic model of land cover and land use change was used to provide both past and future scenarios of forest conversion into such rural activities, aiming to identify the role of driving forces of change in the study area. The employed modeling platform – Dinamica EGO – consists in a cellular automata environment that embodies neighborhood-based transition algorithms and spatial feedback approaches in a stochastic multi-step simulation framework. Biophysical variables and legal restrictions drove this simulation model, and statistical validation tests were then conducted for the generated past simulations (from 2000 to 2005), by means of multiple resolution fitting methods. Based on optimal calibration of past simulations, future scenarios were conceived, so as to figure out trends and spatial patterns of forest conversion in the study area for the year 2015. In all simulated scenarios, pasturelands remained nearly stable throughout the analyzed period, while a large expansion in croplands took place. The most optimistic scenario indicates that more than 50% of the natural forest will be replaced by either cropland or pastureland by 2015. This modeling experiment revealed the suitability of the adopted model to simulate processes of forest conversion. It also indicates its possible further applicability in generating simulations of deforestation for areas with expanding rural activities in the Amazon and in tropical forests worldwide.     

VLF-emissions associated with ring current electrons: Off-equatorial observations

The combination of a small inclination of the orbit (～4°) with the tilt angle (～11°) of the Earth's magnetic dipole axis enabled the S³-A satellite (Explorer 45) to make simultaneous observations of magnetospheric VLF-emissions and the associated enhancement of ring current electrons not only at the magnetic equator but also up to 15° geomagnetic latitudes. Microdensitometer scanning of the wideband data of these emissions reveals that the band of missing emission in the off-equatorial whistler mode emissions (chorus) appears at $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ho</mtext>}}\text{2}$ and that the intensities of the off-equatorial emission above $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ho</mtext>}}\text{2}$ are very weak in contrast to those of the near equatorial emissions, where $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ho</mtext>}}\text{2}$ is the equatorial electron gyrofrequency corresponding to the local gyrofrequency f_H at the satellite. Ray-tracing of whistler mode waves produced by the enhanced ring-current electrons at the geomagnetic equator just outside of the plasmapause has shown that some of these waves are reflected from high latitudes back to the Equator inside the source region. This process had been previously speculated to explain the formation of the bimodal intensity distribution with a gap at half the gyrofrequency (the two-band chorus) in the equatorial emission data. The intensities of those reflected waves, however, are shown to be insufficient to explain the observed emissions below $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ho</mtext>}}\text{2}$ at the Equator. These results indicate that the superposition of two types of emissions produced by the same processes but from different locations is not the main mechanism for the formation of the two-band chorus and that the dominant sources of these choruses are located around ± 5° geomagnetic latitude.