Molecular and isotopic composition of hydrate-bound and dissolved gases in the southern basin of Lake Baikal, based on an improved headspace gas method

Assessments of the molecular and isotopic composition of hydrate-bound and dissolved gases in pore water were conducted during the multi-phase gas hydrate project (MHP-09) cruise VER09-03 to the southern basin of Lake Baikal in September 2009. To avoid changes in gas composition during core sampling and transport, various headspace methods were investigated aimed at preserving the dissolved gases in pore water. When distilled water was added to the sediment samples, the concentrations of carbon dioxide and oxygen decreased because of dissolution into the water and/or microbial consumption. When the headspace was not flushed with inert gases, trace levels of hydrogen and ethylene were detected. The findings suggest that best preparation is achieved by flushing the headspace with helium, and adding a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride. This improved headspace method served to examine the molecular and isotopic compositions of gas samples retrieved at several new sites in the southern basin. Methane was the major component, and the proportion of ethane ranged widely from 0.0009 to 1.67?mol% of the total hydrocarbon gases. The proportions of propane and higher hydrocarbons were small or less than their detection limits. The carbon isotope signatures suggest that microbial-sourced methane and ethane were dominant in the Peschanka study area, whereas ethane was of thermogenic origin at all other study sites in the southern basin of Lake Baikal.     

DISTRIBUTION OF AEROSOL EXTINCTION IN THE LOWER TROPOSPHERE BY MICRO-PULSE LIDAR OBSERVATION*

The profiles of aerosol extinction coefficients are investigated by micro-pulse lidar(MPL) combined with the meteorological data in the lower troposphere at Meteorological Research Institute(MRI).Japan.Larger extinction values of aerosol are demonstrated in the nocturnal stable air layer with larger Richardson number,and light wind velocities are favorable for aerosol concentrating in the planetary boundary layer(PBL).But aerosol extinction coefficients show larger values over the altitudes of 2.0 to 5.0km where correspond to higher relative humidity(RH).The tops of PBL identified by the aerosol extinction profiles almost agree with ones by radiosonde data.The diurnal variations of aerosol extinction profiles are clearly displayed,intensive aerosol layers usually are formed over the period of mid-morning to 1400 Loeal Time(LT).then elapse in the cloudless late afternoon and nighttime.Thermal eonvection or turbulent transport from the surfaee probably dominates these temporal and spatial changes of aerosol distribution.     

Spinifex Texture of Native Sulfur: A Cooling Product of Sulfur Flow Eruptions at Shiretoko-Iwozan Volcano, Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract: Several native sulfur specimens, collected from Shiretoko-Iwozan volcano, eastern Hokkaido, Japan, exhibit spinifex texture, which appears to resemble that often observed in komatiite. The spinifex texture is exhibited by yellow-colored elongated skeletal native sulfur crystals up to 5 cm long settled in medium gray-colored fine–grained clayey matrix. One surface of a specimen is coated by layers of micro pillow lava of native sulfur. Such specimens were rarely found as clasts or fragments around the 1936 No. 1 crater that erupted native sulfur flows, together with the most common monomineralic native sulfur fragments of native sulfur flows having pahoehoe surface and of native sulfur dikes. The elongated spinifex native sulfur crystals presently consist of aggregated polygrains of orthorhombic sulfur crystals formed through crystallo-graphic transition from the single crystal of monoclinic sulfur initially crystallized. The spinifex texture exhibited by elongated skeletal native sulfur crystals is a product of rapid cooling of sulfur melt. Many lithic fragments of altered country rocks are present in the specimens exhibiting native sulfur spinifex texture. This suggests that segregation of the sulfur melt from the mixture of lithic fragments and sulfur melt was incomplete because the mixture was chilled before the melt segregation. Elongated skeletal native sulfur crystals may have nucleated and crystallized directly from the molten sulfur liquid. Lithic fragments mixed in the melt are supposed to have acted as nuclei for the nucleation of the native sulfur crystals. On the other hand, the most of native sulfur flows consist of monomineralic massive native sulfur with very scarce lithic fragments. Such massive monomineralic native sulfur crystallized from the supercooled, solidified amorphous sulfur. Such supercooled amorphous state may have been attained due to the lack of nuclei because of the scarcity of lithic fragments. The unique structures exhibited by native sulfur lava flow, including pahoehoe surface and spinifex texture, are due to the characteristic physical property of molten sulfur liquid, that is, low viscosity.     

A Massive Coccolithophorid Bloom Observed in Mikawa Bay, Japan

In April 1996, a massive algal bloom of the coccolithophorid Gephyrocapsa oceanica developed in both Chita Bay and Atsumi Bay which comprise the bay known as Mikawa Bay of Japan. It was the first record of such a bloom in this area. In Chita Bay, the bloom persisted until the middle of May, however in Atsumi Bay, it remained until early June. From the analysis of salinity, water temperature, and current velocity and direction data, it is considered that the following mechanism accounts for the occurrence and maintenance of the bloom: Before the bloom, the standing crop of phytoplankton was poor, resulting in relatively rich nutrients throughout the bay. Thereafter, with the influx of oceanic water into Mikawa Bay, high salinity occurred firstly in Chita Bay. Under these hydrographic conditions, the bloom occurred first in Chita Bay, and extended throughout the bay with the clockwise circulation of water into Atsumi Bay. In Chita Bay, the bloom was influenced by rainfall and G. oceanica flowed out from this area. Whereas, in Atsumi Bay, the bloom persisted for longer due to the clockwise circulation and another influx of oceanic water.     

Effects of seawater acidification by ocean CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> sequestration on bathypelagic prokaryote activities

We investigated the effects of seawater acidification induced by ocean CO₂ sequestration on bathypelagic prokaryotes. We simulated acidification conditions by bubbling high-CO₂ air or adding chemical buffer solutions to seawater samples in order to examine changes in total cell counts, heterotrophic production rate, direct viable cell count, and relative abundance of Bacteria and Archaea. Considerable suppression of prokaryotic activities was observed at pH 7.0 or lower, especially in samples enriched with organic matter. The relative abundance of Archaea increased with increasing CO₂ concentration. We found that seawater acidification can potentially alter heterotrophic activities and community structure of bathypelagic prokaryotes.     

Star formation histories of local group dwarf galaxies

We present the study of the star formation histories (SFHs) of a sample of Local Group dwarf galaxies (LGDGs), via the analysis and modelling, with the means of an evolutionary stellar population synthesis, of their colour-magnitude (CM) diagrams. It appears that important parameters to describe the SFHs are star formation rate (SFR) and duration of star formation. We find a possible correlation between the mass and the SFRs. The correlation might be the origin of the observed luminosity-metallicity relation in the LGDGs. A well-defined correlation between the durations of star formation and the distance from M31 or the Galaxy indicates that the current early-type dwarf galaxies should have been transformed from late-type by strong tidal force of the massive galaxies. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characteristics of Tsunamis Propagating over Oceanic Ridges: Numerical Simulation of the 1996 Irian Jaya Earthquake Tsunami

The 1996 Irian Jaya earthquake tsunami was simulated by using the numerical model based on the linear long wave theory including Coriolis force in the spherical coordinate system. The numerical modeling result at Chichijima is in good agreement with the observed tide gauge data. The distinctive oscillation at Chichijima can be interpreted as the formation of boundary waves, so called ridge waves that are excited on the South-Honshu ridge. The mechanism of tsunami propagation trapped on an oceanic ridge is analyzed with the simple ridge model. The result explains the characteristics of ridge waves excited on theSouth-Honshu ridge.     

Set-up of deep circulation in multi-level numerical models

The present study investigates the way an ocean filled with homogeneous warm water is cooled by prescribing cold water formation inside the ocean in the southern part of the southern hemisphere using multi-level numerical models. Cooling of the whole ocean starts with introduction of the cold water from the formation region into the deepest part of the ocean in the equatorial and eastern boundary regions by Kelvin wave-type density currents. The cold water along the eastern boundary extends westward as a Rossby wave-type density current setting up an interior poleward flow, and hits the western boundary to form a northward flowing boundary current in the northern hemisphere. Only then does the western boundary current cross the equator. Cooling of the rest of the ocean basin is accomplished by upwellings in the interior and also along the coasts. During this introduction the cold water is mixed with surrounding warm waters, and the thermocline, rather than forming just below the top level where heating is imposed, tends to spread down to deeper depths. Consequently the circulation at a steady state has a significant vertical structure such that the maximum upwelling in the interior occurs in the mid-depths, and only the deeper part of the deep ocean yields the Stommel and Arons circulation pattern. In the equatorial region higher vertical mode motions dominate, and a set of alternating zonal jets forms along the equator.