A lightweight vertical rosette for deployment in ice-covered waters

A lightweight modular rosette system has been developed that can be launched and recovered from aircraft in ice-covered waters through a 12 in. diameter hole in the ice. The small diameter is achieved by the modular design, in which a CTD module is attached to the end of a conducting cable and water bottle modules (four 4-L bottles per module) are positioned vertically above it. A novel tripping mechanism based on melting a link of monofilament line is used to close the water bottles at the desired depths. After launching the rosette, the cast proceeds like a normal rosette cast with the traces of temperature, salinity, oxygen and other desired sensors being displayed on a computer screen during the down and up casts and tripping the bottles electronically at the desired depths on the up cast. A Seabird 19+ CTD and Seabird 43 oxygen sensor are mounted in the CTD module and data acquisition and bottle tripping are controlled using a Seabird 33 deck unit and Seabird's SeaSave software run on a laptop computer. Deployment and recovery are done in a heated tent attached to the aircraft to prevent the water from freezing. After recovery the bottle modules are placed in coolers with bags of snow to stabilize the cooler temperature close to 0 °C, which is within ±1.8 °C of the in situ temperature, and the modules are transported back to a base camp for subsampling and sample processing. This system has been used to collect over 250 water samples in the ice-covered Lincoln Sea and the quality of the samples for dissolved gases and other constituents has been excellent.     

Mapping of the Culann-Tohil region of Io from Galileo imaging data

We have used Galileo spacecraft data to produce a geomorphologic map of the Culann-Tohil region of Io's antijovian hemisphere. This region includes a newly discovered shield volcano, Ts?i Goab Tholus and a neighboring bright flow field, Ts?i Goab Fluctus, the active Culann Patera and the enigmatic Tohil Mons-Radegast Patera-Tohil Patera complex. Analysis of Voyager global color and Galileo Solid-State Imaging (SSI) high-resolution, regional (50-330 m/pixel), and global color (1.4 km/pixel) images, along with available Galileo Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) data, suggests that 16 distinct geologic units can be defined and characterized in this region, including 5 types of diffuse deposits. Ts?i Goab Fluctus is the center of a low-temperature hotspot detected by NIMS late during the Galileo mission, and could represent the best case for active effusive sulfur volcanism detected by Galileo. The Culann volcanic center has produced a range of explosive and effusive deposits, including an outer yellowish ring of enhanced sulfur dioxide (SO₂), an inner red ring of SO₂ with short-chain sulfur (S₃-S₄) contaminants, and two irregular green diffuse deposits (one in Tohil Patera) apparently produced by the interaction of dark, silicate lava flows with sulfurous contaminants ballistically-emplaced from Culann's eruption plume(s). Fresh and red-mantled dark lava flows west of the Culann vent can be contrasted with unusual red-brown flows east of the vent. These red-brown flows have a distinct color that is suggestive of a compositional difference, although whether this is due to surface alteration or distinct lava compositions cannot be determined. The main massif of Tohil Mons is covered with ridges and grooves, defining a unit of tectonically disrupted crustal materials. Tohil Mons also contains a younger unit of mottled crustal materials that were displaced by mass wasting processes. Neighboring Radegast Patera contains a NIMS hotspot and a young lava lake of dark silicate flows, whereas the southwest portion of Tohil Patera contains white flow-like units, perhaps consisting of ‘ponds’ of effusively emplaced SO₂. From 0°-15° S the hummocky bright plains unit away from volcanic centers contains scarps, grooves, pits, graben, and channel-like features, some of which have been modified by erosion. Although the most active volcanic centers appear to be found in structural lows (as indicated by mapping of scarps), DEMs derived from stereo images show that, with the exception of Tohil Mons, there is less than 1 km of relief in the Culann-Tohil region. There is no discernable correlation between centers of active volcanism and topography.     

Lava lakes on Io: observations of Io's volcanic activity from Galileo NIMS during the 2001 fly-bys

Galileo's Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) obtained its final observations of Io during the spacecraft's fly-bys in August (I31) and October 2001 (I32). We present a summary of the observations and results from these last two fly-bys, focusing on the distribution of thermal emission from Io's many volcanic regions that give insights into the eruption styles of individual hot spots. We include a compilation of hot spot data obtained from Galileo, Voyager, and ground-based observations. At least 152 active volcanic centers are now known on Io, 104 of which were discovered or confirmed by Galileo observations, including 23 from the I31 and I32 Io fly-by observations presented here. We modify the classification scheme of Keszthelyi et al. (2001, J. Geophys. Res. 106 (E12) 33 025-33 052) of Io eruption styles to include three primary types: promethean (lava flow fields emplaced as compound pahoehoe flows with small plumes <200 km high originating from flow fronts), pillanian (violent eruptions generally accompanied by large outbursts, >200 km high plumes and rapidly-emplaced flow fields), and a new style we call “lokian” that includes all eruptions confined within paterae with or without associated plume eruptions). Thermal maps of active paterae from NIMS data reveal hot edges that are characteristic of lava lakes. Comparisons with terrestrial analogs show that Io's lava lakes have thermal properties consistent with relatively inactive lava lakes. The majority of activity on Io, based on locations and longevity of hot spots, appears to be of this third type. This finding has implications for how Io is being resurfaced as our results imply that eruptions of lava are predominantly confined within paterae, thus making it unlikely that resurfacing is done primarily by extensive lava flows. Our conclusion is consistent with the findings of Geissler et al. (2004, Icarus, this issue) that plume eruptions and deposits, rather than the eruption of copious amounts of effusive lavas, are responsible for Io's high resurfacing rates. The origin and longevity of islands within ionian lava lakes remains enigmatic.     

On the effects of a sudden change in the albedo of the Earth

Acquisition by the upper atmosphere of some 10¹⁴ gm of cometary dust would have major implications on the Earth's climate. Pluvial activity would increase dramatically as temperature differences between sea and land widened. Global distribution of precipitation would be controlled by the density of the dust in the atmosphere; for a partially reflective blanket, a fraction of solar energy would still reach ground level creating new climatic zones. The totally undecomposed state of the interiors of Siberian Mammoths and the curious distribution, often uphill, of erratic boulders point to unbelievably sudden and severe conditions at the onset and possibly end of a glacial period. We suggest that a reflective blanket of particles could produce such conditions.