Move a Tropical Cyclone with 4D-Var and Vortex Dynamical Initialization in WRF Model

Previous studies showed that 4 D-Var technique used for data assimilation could be modified for weather control. This study demonstrates the ability of 4 D-Var to influence the future path of a tropical cyclone by calculating perturbations in WRF simulation. Given the background error covariance matrix, the initial field is improved by the vortex dynamic initialization technique. Our results show that 4 D-Var can be applied to control the trajectory of simulated tropical cyclones by producing "optimal" perturbations. In the numerical simulation experiment of Typhoon Mitag in 2019, after this kind of weather control similar to data assimilation, the tropical cyclone moved obviously,and the damaging wind over the coastline weakened. The prediction results after the initial field modified by 4 D-Var have a great change, and the position of the tropical cyclone moved about 0.5° southeastward after assimilation,which misses the southeast coast of China. Moreover, the damaging wind is also weakened. Since the 4 D-Var is premised on the assumption that the model is perfect and does not consider the model error, then the research plan to consider model error and introduce new methods is discussed in the paper.     

Metamorphic reactions in mesosiderites: origin of abundant phosphate and silica

The high modal abundances of merrillite [Ca₃(PO₄)₂] and tridymite in most mesosiderites are not the result of igneous fractionation but are attributed to redox reactions between silicates and P-bearing Fe-Ni metal within a limited T-fO₂ range at low pressure. The Emery mesosiderite is the most tridymite- and merrillite-rich mesosiderite so it is used as the model for this study. Examination of reactions in the system CaO-SiO₂-MgSiO₃-Fe-P-O indicate that essentially all of the present phosphorus in Emery should have been dissolved in the metallic portion (calculated to have contained 0.65 wt% P originally), and that it largely reacted to form phosphate. The thermodynamic calculations predict that the reactions would have occurred between 970°C, log fO₂ = ?16.5 and 1030°C, log fO₂ = ?15.0 for the range of phase compositions in Emery. A narrower range of conditions is expected for other mesosiderites. Phosphide (schreibersite) formed only later at temperatures < 600°C during slow cooling. The recalculated amounts of dissolved P and S in the metallic portion of Emery reduce the temperature of the metal liquidus to < 1350°C and the solidus to < 800°C. Thus mixing of liquid metal with cold silicates near the parent body's surface would not have resulted in substantial melting of the silicates but would have resulted in their metamorphism, which is consistent with the textural relationships observed in Emery. This scenario of redox reactions and redistributions of components between metal and silicates represents a new insight into the complexities of mesosiderite processing that helps unravel the mesosiderite history and recalculate their original components.     

Use of remote sensing to document changes in marsh vegetation following the Amoco Cadiz oil spill (Brittany, France, 1978)

Image analysis of historical aerial photographs was used to examine the effects of the Amoco Cadiz oil spill and resulting clean-up on marsh ecology. Two heavily oiled marsh systems were compared. The marsh which received no clean-up recovered to its prior condition. The marshes in the system cleaned by sediment removal were extensively altered as a result of changes in intertidal height of the sediment surface.