Detailed Distribution of Accelerating Foreshocks before a M 5.1 Earthquake in Japan

—The M 5.1 event (May 23, 1993) which occurred in one of the most active swarm areas of Japan was preceded by foreshock activity. We obtained precise hypocenters of the foreshock-mainshock-aftershock sequences with a temporary seismic network installed just above the source region twenty days before the mainshock. The foreshocks are very unique in their accelerating activity; the acceleration in the number of foreshocks enabled us to estimate the time of the mainshock with time-to-failure analysis proposed by . Although substantial snow remained in the swarm area, we quickly installed the network because the time-to-failure analysis disclosed that the mainshock was impending. The temporary network provided detailed information on both the temporal and spatial distribution of the foreshock-mainshock-aftershock sequences. Foreshocks started fifty days before the mainshock and were distributed linearly at the base of the seismogenic layer with a length of 5 km and horizontal and vertical widths of about 1 km. The temporal change of the number of foreshocks is approximated by a power law, and the time of the mainshock can be estimated by extrapolating plots of the inverse of the daily number of events. An area of seismic quiescence appeared 40 hours before the mainshock and propagated with a rate of 20 m/hour. The mainshock occurred 2 km westward from the primary foreshock area. It was located at the base of the aftershock region. This process can be interpreted as source nucleation; preslip on the fault prior to the mainshock.     

中国和日本降水化学特性的分析比较

本文对中国33个站、日本29个站及美国9个站的降水化学资料进行了分析比较.结果表明,中、日、美三国的降水化学特性有很大不同.三国都有酸雨,但以美国的pH平均值最低.雨水中离子总浓度以中国为最高,其中SO_4~=,NH_4~+和Ca~(++)的浓度特别高.日本雨水中Cl~-和Na~+的浓度很高.NO_3~-在美国雨水中最高.从雨水中离子结构组成和几种重要参量的比值分析表明,中国雨水中的离子浓度受陆地源影响很大,而影响日本雨水中离子浓度最大因素是海洋.在美国以工业交通污染的影响相对最大.文中还对中、日两国不同地区的降水化学特性进行了分析和讨论.     

Computer simulations for direct conversion of the HF electromagnetic wave into the upper hybrid wave in ionospheric heating experiments

Excitation of upper hybrid waves associated with the ionospheric heating experiments is assumed to be essential in explaining some of the features of stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE). A direct conversion process is proposed as an excitation mechanism of the upper hybrid waves where the energy of an obliquely propagating electromagnetic pump wave is converted into the electrostatic upper hybrid waves due to small-scale density irregularities. We performed electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations to investigate the energy conversion process in the ionospheric heating experiments. We studied dependence of the amplitude of the excited wave on the propagation angle of the pump wave, scale length of the density irregularity, degree of the irregularity, and thermal velocity of the plasma. The maximum amplitude is found to be 37% of the pump amplitude under an optimum condition.     

Numerical Study on Vortices in the Middle Layer of Flow around a Large Mountain under Rotating Stratified Conditions

Generation of cyclonic vortices in the middle layer of flow around a large mountain like Tibet and Rocky was investigated by means of a 3-D nonhydrostatic meteorological prognostic model. Special attention was paid to the effects of the earth’s rotation and stratification on the vortices detached successively from the slope of a high and large horizontal scale mountain. It was found the successive formation and detachment of such ‘von Karman-like vortices’ occurred in the flow regime at high Rossby numbers Ro and low Froude numbers Fr. It was successfully divided by the criterion of baroclinic instability. This means that if the condition is unstable baroclinically, a lee vortex is destabilized into a three-dimensional one, while under baroclinically stable conditions the lee vortex with vertical axis retains its standing structure and remains long lasting in the middle layer.     

Dynamics of microphytobenthic biomass in a coastal area of western Seto Inland Sea, Japan

This study focused on the causes of the variation in microphytobenthic biomass and the effects of this variation on macrobenthic animals in the western Seto Inland Sea, Japan, where the importance of microphytobenthos as the primary food source for benthic animals has been recently reported. We investigated the microphytobenthic biomass together with light attenuation of seawater, phytoplanktonic biomass, macrobenthic density and biomass at eight stations (water depth = 5–15 m) during four cruises in 1999–2000. The increased light attenuation coefficient of the water column associated with increased concentration of the phytoplanktonic Chl-a caused a decrease in light flux that reached the seafloor. The biomass of the microphytobenthos within the upper 1 cm of the sediment, 1.9–46.5 mg Chl-a m⁻², was inversely correlated with the phytoplanktonic biomass in the overlying water column, 10.9–65.0 mg Chl-a m⁻². Thus, interception of light by phytoplankton is considered to be a main cause of the variation in the microphytobenthic biomass. The microphytobenthos biomass showed a significant positive correlation with the macrobenthic density (78–9369 ind. m⁻²) and biomass (0.4–78.8 gWW m⁻²). It appears that the increase in oxygen production by the microphytobenthos allowed macrobenthic animals to become more abundant, as a consequence of oxygenation of the organically enriched muddy sediments (14.5 ± 2.69 mg TOC g⁻¹). This study suggests that the variation in the microphytobenthic biomass is influenced by the phytoplanktonic biomass due to shading effect, and the balance between these two functional groups might affect the variability in the macrobenthic density and biomass.     

Taxonomic reexamination and geographic distribution of copepods known asAcartia clausi in Japanese Coastal and inlet waters

Abundant planktonic copepods which have been attributed toAcartia clausi in Japanese coastal and inlet waters were revised by examining specimens from various localities. It is concluded that they consist of two species,A. omorii andA. hudsonica, and no other closely related species occur in Japanese waters.A. omorii is widespread in coastal waters and bays, whileA. hudsonica is strictly confined to brackish waters and closed embayments, in which the two species usually co-occur. The two species are readily distinguished by the shape of the inner lobe of the 3rd segment of the right 5th leg in the male. But the relative lengths of the 2nd and 3rd segments of the male left 5th leg, which separate the two species in Bradford's key to the subgenusAcartiura, did not differ clearly between the specimens of the two species examined here. The body size is also an important distinctive character of the two species especially when water temperature is low.1985 11 29, 1986 2 10, 1986     

Redescription of the planktonic calanoid copepodAcartia hudsonica from Atlantic and Pacific waters: A new record from Japanese waters

The neritic planktonic copepodAcartia hudsonica is redescribed from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America and newly from Japanese waters. This species formerly has been identified asA. clausi in the Northwest Pacific. The Atlantic and Pacific populations cannot be morphologically separated even in fine ornamentation; the variations found in the two populations overlap each other. Prosome length/width ratio of the female is negatively correlated with the body size and the ratio is not significantly different between Atlantic and Pacific females of the same size. The length/width ratio of the genital segment of Pacific females is positively correlated with their body size, and the mean value of the ratio for Atlantic females is smaller than that expected for Pacific females of the same size. The size-temperature relationship differs among localities but it is uncertain whether there is a genetic difference in copepod size between the Atlantic and Pacific populations.     

SPRINKLING ASSEMBLY FOR SIMULATION OF DESIGN STORMS AS A MEANS FOR EROSION AND RUNOFF STUDIES

Abstract

Various patterns of sprinkling assemblies constructed to simulate natural design storms in the field are described. A design storm is that storm causing the most severe erosion losses out of all storms in the period of design. Adequate means of conservation or protection should be devised to meet such a storm. The objective in the use of a rainfall simulator is to considerably shorten the study period, without having to wait for a natural design storm to occur.

The simulated rain is applied by various overlapping patterns of two-arm rotating sprinklers positioned 2 metres above the ground.

Results of performance tests of the simulator in relation to natural storms are summarized as follows:

Uniformity of application was reproduced within a 10% range lower than natural storms. Intensities can be applied between 6 and 120 mm/hr within 10% of designed intensity. Angles of impact of simulator drops were found comparable to those of natural rain with wind velocities of 10 to 20 kph. The mode diameter of simulator drop size distribution was found to be 0.5–1.0 mm lower than that of natural rain. Kinetic energy was 60 to 75% and momentum 70 to 80% of those in a natural storm.

Collection and measurement of runoff and erosion are described.