A flare in the mira X oph

Before the observation of the 1974 U Ori eruption, it was considered that the Mira stars had only some regular OH variations. With this eruption, we realized that sometimes flares can occur in this type of star. In the course of an OH Mira star monitoring programme with the Nançay radio telescope, we have discovered a new eruptive type of OH maser emission in several sources. Especially, in early 1992, we observed a quickly rising 1665 Mhz emission in the Mira X Oph. The main characteristics of this flare were: large flux variations independent of the light curve; large degree of circular polarization; radial velocity emission close to the stellar velocity.     

Synchronous Transformations of Mineral and Organic Constituents of Sedimentary Rocks in Geological Structure with an Initial Extension and Subsequent Compression Tectonic Regime

Sedimentary rocks of the section in the Red River fold zone of northern Viet Nam are considered. It is shown that secondary mineral parageneses formed in two stages. The first stage (35–17 Ma ago) corresponded to the period of structure extension and sediment subsidence to a depth of about 6 km. This period and subsequent 10 Ma were marked by the formation of a usual dia- and catagenetic zoning of metasedimentary rocks. The second stage (5–7 Ma ago) corresponded to processes of compression that were responsible for the deformation of rocks into gentle folds and 1.5 to 2.2 times contraction of the section thickness in different places. The sequential–mineralogical zoning was disturbed at this stage. Smectites and mixed-layer minerals were replaced by chlorites and hydromicas. Organic material also responded to compression simultaneously with inorganic components. The bituminous component was released from humic matter and rocks became enriched in hydrocarbons.     

The Energy Equation in the Lower Solar Convection Zone

As a consequence of the Taylor–Proudman balance, a balance between the pressure, Coriolis and buoyancy forces in the radial and latitudinal momentum equations (that is expected to be amply satisfied in the lower solar convection zone), the superadiabatic gradient is determined by the rotation law and by an unspecified function of r, say, S(r), where r is the radial coordinate. If the rotation law and S(r) are known, then the solution of the energy equation, performed in this paper in the framework of the ML formalism, leads to a knowledge of the Reynolds stresses, convective fluxes, and meridional motions. The ML-formalism is an extension of the mixing length theory to rotating convection zones, and the calculations also involve the azimuthal momentum equation, from which an expression for the meridional motions in terms of the Reynolds stresses can be derived. The meridional motions are expanded as U _r(r,)=P ₂(cos)₂(r)/r ²+P ₄(cos)₄(r)/r ² +..., and a corresponding equation for U (r,). Here is the polar angle, is the density, and P ₂(cos), P ₄(cos) are Legendre polynomials. A good approximation to the meridional motion is obtained by setting ₄(r)=–H₂(r) with H–1.6, a constant. The value of ₂(r) is negative, i.e., the P ₂ flow rises at the equator and sinks at the poles. For the value of H obtained in the numerical calculations, the meridional motions have a narrow countercell at the poles, and the convective flux has a relative maximum at the poles, a minimum at mid latitudes and a larger maximum at the equator. Both results are in agreement with the observations.     

High-Resolution Keck Adaptive Optics Imaging of Violent Volcanic Activity on Io

Io, the innermost Galilean satellite of Jupiter, is a fascinating world. Data taken by Voyager and Galileo instruments have established that it is by far the most volcanic body in the Solar System and suggest that the nature of this volcanism could radically differ from volcanism on Earth. We report on near-IR observations taken in February 2001 from the Earth-based 10-m W. M. Keck II telescope using its adaptive optics system. After application of an appropriate deconvolution technique (MISTRAL), the resolution, ∼100 km on Io's disk, compares well with the best Galileo/NIMS resolution for global imaging and allows us for the first time to investigate the very nature of individual eruptions. On 19 February, we detected two volcanoes, Amirani and Tvashtar, with temperatures differing from the Galileo observations. On 20 February, we noticed a slight brightening near the Surt volcano. Two days later it had turned into an extremely bright volcanic outburst. The hot spot temperatures (>1400 K) are consistent with a basaltic eruption and, being lower limits, do not exclude an ultramafic eruption. These outburst data have been fitted with a silicate-cooling model, which indicates that this is a highly vigorous eruption with a highly dynamic emplacement mechanism, akin to fire-fountaining. Its integrated thermal output was close to the total estimated output of Io, making this the largest ionian thermal outburst yet witnessed.     

The Potential of the Maximum Cross-Correlation Technique to Estimate Surface Currents From Thermal AVHRR Global Area Coverage Data

Having already shown its potential of deriving the vector fields representing the ocean-surface advection from sequential 1.1-km-resolution local area coverage (LAC) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images, the maximum cross-correlation (MCC) technique here is applied to four 4.4-km-resolution global area coverage (GAC) AVHRR images. The resulting three vector fields are compared to the vector fields obtained from the LAC imagery corresponding to the same satellite passages. To quantify the reduction in accuracy inevitable when applying the method to the lower resolution imagery, the LAC vector fields were assumed to be error free. The deviation of the GAC vectors from the LAC vectors is expressed as percentage errors of the signal variance of meridional u and zonal v velocity components, and they are 16%/30%, respectively, for the best case and 62%/117% and 92%/111% for the other two cases. These results indicate that, in its present state, the GAC data do not allow the MCC technique to extract reliable current-vector information from it     

Upscaling: Effective Medium Theory, Numerical Methods and the Fractal Dream

Upscaling is a major issue regarding mechanical and transport properties of rocks. This paper examines three issues relative to upscaling. The first one is a brief overview of Effective Medium Theory (EMT), which is a key tool to predict average rock properties at a macroscopic scale in the case of a statistically homogeneous medium. EMT is of particular interest in the calculation of elastic properties. As discussed in this paper, EMT can thus provide a possible way to perform upscaling, although it is by no means the only one, and in particular it is irrelevant if the medium does not adhere to statistical homogeneity. This last circumstance is examined in part two of the paper. We focus on the example of constructing a hydrocarbon reservoir model. Such a construction is a required step in the process of making reasonable predictions for oil production. Taking into account rock permeability, lithological units and various structural discontinuities at different scales is part of this construction. The result is that stochastic reservoir models are built that rely on various numerical upscaling methods. These methods are reviewed. They provide techniques which make it possible to deal with upscaling on a general basis. Finally, a last case in which upscaling is trivial is considered in the third part of the paper. This is the fractal case. Fractal models have become popular precisely because they are free of the assumption of statistical homogeneity and yet do not involve numerical methods. It is suggested that using a physical criterion as a means to discriminate whether fractality is a dream or reality would be more satisfactory than relying on a limited data set alone.     

Brest sea level record: a time series construction back to the early eighteenth century

The completeness and the accuracy of the Brest sea level time series dating from 1807 make it suitable for long-term sea level trend studies. New data sets were recently discovered in the form of handwritten tabulations, including several decades of the eighteenth century. Sea level observations have been made in Brest since 1679. This paper presents the historical data sets which have been assembled so far. These data sets span approximately 300 years and together constitute the longest, near-continuous set of sea level information in France. However, an important question arises: Can we relate the past and the present-day records? We partially provide an answer to this question by analysing the documents of several historical libraries with the tidal data using a ‘data archaeology’ approach advocated by Woodworth (Geophys Res Lett 26:1589–1592, 1999b). A second question arises concerning the accuracy of such records. Careful editing was undertaken by examining the residuals between tidal predictions and observations. It proved useful to remove the worst effects of timing errors, in particular the sundial correction to be applied prior to August 1, 1714. A refined correction based on sundial literature [Savoie, La gnomique, Editions Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 2001] is proposed, which eliminates the systematic offsets seen in the discrepancies in timing of the sea level measurements. The tidal analysis has also shown that shallow-water tidal harmonics at Brest causes a systematic difference of 0.023 m between mean sea level (MSL) and mean tide level (MTL). Thus, MTL should not be mixed with the time series of MSL because of this systematic offset. The study of the trends in MTL and MSL however indicates that MTL can be used as a proxy for MSL. Three linear trend periods are distinguished in the Brest MTL time series over the period 1807–2004. Our results support the recent findings of Holgate and Woodworth (Geophys Res Lett) of an enhanced coastal sea level rise during the last decade compared to the global estimations of about 1.8 mm/year over longer periods (Douglas, J Geophys Res 96:6981–6992, 1991). The onset of the relatively large global sea level trends observed in the twentieth century is an important question in the science of climate change. Our findings point out to an ‘inflexion point’ at around 1890, which is remarkably close to that in 1880 found in the Liverpool record by Woodworth (Geophys Res Lett 26:1589–1592, 1999b).