The unusual X-ray light curve of GRB 080307: the onset of the afterglow?

Swift -detected GRB 080307 showed an unusual smooth rise in its X-ray light curve around 100 s after the burst, at the start of which the emission briefly softened. This 'hump' has a longer duration than is normal for a flare at early times and does not demonstrate a typical flare profile. Using a two-component power-law-to-exponential model, the rising emission can be modelled as the onset of the afterglow, something which is very rarely seen in Swift -X-ray light curves. We cannot, however, rule out that the hump is a particularly slow early-time flare, or that it is caused by upscattered reverse shock electrons.     

Jet breaks at the end of the slow decline phase of Swift GRB light curves

The Swift mission has discovered an intriguing feature of gamma-ray burst (GRBs) afterglows, a phase of shallow decline of the flux in the X-ray and optical light curves. This behaviour is typically attributed to energy injection into the burst ejecta. At some point this phase ends, resulting in a break in the light curve, which is commonly interpreted as the cessation of the energy injection. In a few cases, however, while breaks in the X-ray light curve are observed, optical emission continues its slow flux decline. This behaviour suggests a more complex scenario. In this paper, we present a model that invokes a double component outflow, in which narrowly collimated ejecta are responsible for the X-ray emission while a broad outflow is responsible for the optical emission. The narrow component can produce a jet break in the X-ray light curve at relatively early times, while the optical emission does not break due to its lower degree of collimation. In our model both components are subject to energy injection for the whole duration of the follow-up observations. We apply this model to GRBs with chromatic breaks, and we show how it might change the interpretation of the GRBs canonical light curve. We also study our model from a theoretical point of view, investigating the possible configurations of frequencies and the values of GRB physical parameters allowed in our model.     

Archimedes and the Tauern eclogites: the role of buoyancy in the preservation of exotic eclogite blocks

The eclogite fragments of the Tauern Window formed at pressures around 20 kbar and temperatures in the region 600–650°C; these pressures are higher by 10–12 kbar than those experienced by the units now surrounding the eclogite-bearing zone. The eclogites probably formed in a subduction zone prior to the main Austroalpine collision: downward shearing forces dominated over buoyancy forces in the subduction zone mélange, permitting the subduction of relatively light material to great depth. At the cessation of subduction this buoyant material returned to the surface, carrying eclogite blocks that were too small to sink rapidly through it. A similar mechanism could account for the emplacement of certain Alpine-type garnet peridotites.     

The impact of drilling fluid and well cuttings on polychaete feeding guilds from the US northeastern continental shelf

The effect of recent drilling operations (fluid and well cuttings) on polychaete feeding guilds from the continental shelf off Atlantic City, New Jersey, was examined. Although there were some adverse effects on macrobenthos from 2160 metric tons of cuttings and mud solids discharged into the marine environment, the composition of polychaete feeding guilds remained essentially unchanged. This key trophic relationship between polychaetes and the changing environment due to the drilling operation was apparently uninterrupted. This relationship remains to be examined in other natural and perturbed habitats.     

A review of the physics and ecological implications of the thermal bar circulation

Following recent applications of numerical modelling and remote sensing to the thermal bar phenomenon, this paper seeks to review the current state of knowledge on the effect of its circulation on lacustrine plankton ecosystems. After summarising the literature on thermal bar hydrodynamics, a thorough review is made of all plankton observations taken in the presence of a thermal bar. Two distinct plankton growth regimes are found, one with production favoured throughout the inshore region and another with a maximum in plankton biomass near the position of the thermal bar. Possible explanations for the observed distributions are then discussed, with reference to numerical modelling studies, and the scope for future study of this interdisciplinary topic is outlined.     

The day-to-day monitoring of the 2011 severe drought in China

Dry/wet condition has a large interannual variability. Decision-makers need to know the onset, duration, and intensity of drought, and require droughts be monitored at a daily to weekly scale. However, previous tools cannot monitor drought well at this short timescale. The Palmer Drought Severity Index has been found dissatisfactory in monitoring because of its complexity and numerous limitations. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) always asks for a timescale, and precipitation is averaged over the period of the scale. Because of this, the SPI cannot be used for short scales, e.g., several days, and what it tells is the overall drought situation of the period. The weighted average of precipitation (WAP) developed by Lu (Geophys Res Lett 36:L12707, 2009) overcomes the deficiency of the SPI; it does not require a timescale, and can provide the drought (and flood) extent of each day. Therefore, the WAP can monitor drought at scales from daily to weekly, monthly, and any longer scale, and is really “flexible and versatile for all timescales”. In this study, the standardized WAP (SWAP) is used to monitor the 2011 drought over China. Drought swept the country during the year from north to south and from east to west. In spring, a once-in-a-fifty-year drought occurred over the Yangtze River basin and the southern region, causing serious shortage of drinking water for people and livestock, as well as tremendous losses in agriculture and the shipping industry. Results show that the SWAP, with its monthly mean plots, can well reproduce the seasonal shift of the 2011 drought across the country. The animation of daily plots demonstrates that the SWAP would have been able to monitor the day-to-day variation of the spring drought around the Yangtze River basin. It can provide the details of the drought, such as when the drought emerged over the region, how long it maintained there (though drought area may move back and forth with extension and contraction of the area), and when the drought relieved over the basin.     

Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment

This paper reviews and synthesizes findings from scholarly work on linkages among rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment. Using the livelihood approach as an organizing framework, we examine evidence on the multiple pathways linking environmental variables and the following demographic variables: fertility, migration, morbidity and mortality, and lifecycles. Although the review draws on studies from the entire developing world, we find the majority of microlevel studies have been conducted in either marginal (mountainous or arid) or frontier environments, especially Amazonia. Though the linkages are mediated by many complex and often context-specific factors, there is strong evidence that dependence on natural resources intensifies when households lose human and social capital through adult morbidity and mortality, and qualified evidence for the influence of environmental factors on household decision-making regarding fertility and migration. Two decades of research on lifecycles and land cover change at the farm level have yielded a number of insights about how households make use of different land-use and natural resource management strategies at different stages. A thread running throughout the review is the importance of managing risk through livelihood diversification, ensuring future income security, and culture-specific norms regarding appropriate and desirable activities and demographic responses. Recommendations for future research are provided.     

Scale interaction in the Western Pacific Monsoon

Summary The lower-tropospheric scale interactions occurring in the summer monsoon of the western North Pacific are reviewed and summarised in a conceptual model. Diabatic heating produces a circulation with similar characteristics to those that are observed. In the lower troposphere the advection of vorticity by the divergent wind produces a compact, and more intense response than in the upper levels. Subsequent phase dispersion westward, and group propagation eastwards, lead to a monsoon depression in convectively suppressed conditions, a westerly jet with cross-equatorial flow, and a strong confluence region to the east of the monsoon depression.I suggest that this confluence zone traps tropical waves in the mid-lower troposphere in a similar manner to the accumulation and emanation mechanisms described by Chang and Webster. The details of the convection in the confluence zone are of little direct consequence to the monsoon circulation, which is similar in scale to the deformation radius for the undisturbed tropics. However, mesoscale convective systems can both self organise into larger coherent structures and produce vortices of horizontal scale 100–200 km, which are long-lived and potentially have considerable indirect influence on both the monsoon and embedded systems, such as tropical cyclones. The confluence zone provides an excellent environment for tropical cyclone formation, which is enhanced by the presence of a previously developed tropical cyclone. Scale-interaction arising from the merger of developing vortices and the large monsoon depression can lead to development of a very large typhoon and rapid breakdown of the total monsoon circulation. The interaction of tropical cyclones with the mid-latitude systems is complex and not well understood, but recurving tropical cyclones may provide a major component of the emanation of energy to higher latitudes.With 16 Figures     

The sea ice mass budget of the Arctic and its future change as simulated by coupled climate models

Arctic sea ice mass budgets for the twentieth century and projected changes through the twenty-first century are assessed from 14 coupled global climate models. Large inter-model scatter in contemporary mass budgets is strongly related to variations in absorbed solar radiation, due in large part to differences in the surface albedo simulation. Over the twenty-first century, all models simulate a decrease in ice volume resulting from increased annual net melt (melt minus growth), partially compensated by reduced transport to lower latitudes. Despite this general agreement, the models vary considerably regarding the magnitude of ice volume loss and the relative roles of changing melt and growth in driving it. Projected changes in sea ice mass budgets depend in part on the initial (mid twentieth century) ice conditions; models with thicker initial ice generally exhibit larger volume losses. Pointing to the importance of evolving surface albedo and cloud properties, inter-model scatter in changing net ice melt is significantly related to changes in downwelling longwave and absorbed shortwave radiation. These factors, along with the simulated mean and spatial distribution of ice thickness, contribute to a large inter-model scatter in the projected onset of seasonally ice-free conditions.