Recent Improvements to IERS Bulletin A Combination and Prediction

Driven by a need for increased accuracy in real-time Earth orientation parameters (EOPs), the Bulletin A (Rapid Servce and Predictions) of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) has recently made several major changes to its combination and prediction procedures. Changes to the process ob combining multi-technique results include creation of a daily Bulletin A updata, inclusion of several new data sets, and use of polar motion rantes for the latest epoch. Notably, the contributions from GPS observations have grown steadily in significance, both for polar motion and Universal Time (UT1). The prediction procedure has, in turn, benefited from these changes as well as improvements to the polar motion prediction model. As a result, demanding real-time applications, such as for satellite orbit extrapolations should observe a major improvement in the accuracy of our real-time EOP products. All results, together with supporting and diagnostic information, are available at the website http://maia.usno.navy.mil. The maximum EOP errors (root-mean-squared sense) that a real-time user would experience using the latest available update of Bulletin A are currently estimated to be ∼0.9 milliarcseconds (mas) for polar motion and ∼0.15 milliseconds (ms) for UT1-UTC. The data latency (the lag since the most recent observations) for EOP predictions need not exceed ∼41 hours for users who avail themselves of the daily updates. Over the past four years, the accuracy for real-time applications has improved by nearly a factor of 4 in polar motion and a factor of 10 in UT1. This is primarily due to the large reduction in data latency, which in turn is mostly possible due to the Rapid product delivery of the International GPS Service (IGS) (see Mireault et al, 1999). ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An inexpensive sampler for obtaining bulk sediment cores

A large-volume core sampler for sediment—muck substrates is described. The sampler can acquire a discrete sediment core of 10 cm in diameter and up to 1.5 m long. Such samplers are needed to collect the volume necessary for analysis of sediments for contaminants, bulk density, or radioactive dating. The sampler consists of a 1- to 2-m length of PVC pipe mounted below a threaded metal pipe air exhaust—intake assembly. This assembly is quick-connected to standard threaded lengths (300 cm) of water pipe (2 cm diam) or electrical conduit so that bottom sediments in water depths of up to 10 m can be sampled. The core sampler is hand-operated and pushed into bottom sediments from a boat. It does not have to be triggered remotely because of the one-way modified check valve in the air exhaust—intake assembly. After the sampler is extracted from the sediment, the extension handle can be quickly removed for ease of sampler handling, and the core can be extruded from the PVC tube by air pressure.Contribution of the National Sedimentation Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Oxford, Mississippi 38655, U.S.A.     

The effect of bridge piles on stratification in lower Chesapeake Bay

Tidally-forced flow beneath the existing trestle of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel causes significant distortion of the ambient density field in the immediate vicinity of the trestle due to flow over the scour zone around the pilings. Effects are minimal a short distance away from the trestle. Contrary to previous studies, stratification was not appreciably stronger during neap as compared to spring tide periods at the time of these observations, but a tendency toward such a state was detected. Estimates of piling-induced destratification based on direct observations of temperature, salinity, and currents near the pilings indicate that piling effects are substantially less than naturally occurring destratification due to bottom and wind stresses.     

Kinematic hardening predictions of large stress-reversals in 3-D test on loose sand

A rotational kinematic hardening constitutive model with the capability of predicting the behavior of soil during 3-D stress-reversals has been developed. An existing elasto-plastic constitutive model, the Single Hardening Model, utilizing isotropic hardening serves as the basic framework in these formulations. To this framework is added the capability of handling cross-anisotropic behavior as well as the kinematic hardening mechanism to capture inherent anisotropy of the sand in addition to the large stress-reversals. The model involves thirteen parameters, which can be determined from simple laboratory experiments, such as isotropic compression, drained triaxial compression and triaxial extension tests. The results from a series of true triaxial tests with large stress-reversals performed on loose cross-anisotropic Santa Monica Beach sand are employed for comparison with predictions.     

Body tides on a 3-D elastic earth: Toward a tidal tomography

The deformational and gravitational response of the Earth to the tide generating potential has generally involved 1-D (i.e., depth varying) Earth models. Progressive improvement in observational constraints on body tides, generated from both ground and space-based surveys, suggests that an examination of the potential impact of lateral variations in Earth structure is warranted. We present a suite of predictions of the body tide response within the semi-diurnal, diurnal and long-period tidal bands computed using a finite-volume numerical code. The calculations adopt 3-D density and elastic structure taken from seismic inferences and, in a subset of the calculations, dynamic topography on the surface and internal interfaces. We find that perturbations in the radial displacement and surface gravity within the semi-diurnal band reach ~ 1 mm and 0.15 µgal, respectively. The perturbations in the diurnal band are comparable to these values, and within the long-period band they are a factor of 3–5 smaller. We also demonstrate that lateral variations in the elastic moduli, which have been ignored in recent work, contribute greater than 50% of the total perturbation. The level of perturbation associated with 3-D structure exceeds the current observational uncertainty obtainable using space-geodetic methods, and this suggests the possibility of performing tidal tomographic inversions of such data.     

美国内华达Goldstrike矿区卡林型贝茨金矿同变形的富矿分带

贝茨金矿是卡林金矿带在的卡林型矿床,由多个高品位富矿体组成。金矿体产于不纯的碳酸盐岩角砾岩和侵入体中,明显受构造控制,矿体显示出同变形热液沉淀特征。在ＮＷＷ向的ＤＤＺ剪切褶皱构造带中,贝茨金矿的富矿构成空间上的分带形式,主要的富矿类型有含金红石的硅质富矿,伊利石－粘土－黄放富矿,含雄黄、雌黄的富矿,含辉锑矿的硅质富矿和多金属富矿。研究表明,成矿溶液为弱－中等盐度,在构造活动期上升并冷却。变形时水－     

‘New Estimates of Carbon Storage and Sequestration in China’S Forests: Effects of Age–Class and Method On Inventory-Based Carbon Estimation’

We developed a volume-to-biomass method based on age groups representative of forest development stages to estimate live tree biomass, C, and biomass and C accumulation rates of Chinas forests between 1973 and 1993. The data were from plot-level forest inventory, national-level inventory statistics, and ecological site studies specified to estimate biomass in different tree components. Our results indicate that carbon storage in Chinas forests was 4.34 Pg C in the early 1990s, an increase of 13% since the early 1970s. The annual forest C sequestration rate from the late 1980s to early 1990s was 0.068 Pg C/yr and approximately four- to five-times higher than in the 1970s and 1980s. The large C sink in Chinas forests in the early 1990s was likely related to age structure changes that had developed to more productive stages, a consequence of reforestation and afforestation programs from the 1960s. The results were compared with other C store estimates, which were based on the same inventory data. Various methods can produce estimates that differ in the direction of C flux as well as its magnitude. Separating age groups with the volume–biomass method could cause a 27% difference in estimated carbon pools but an 89% difference in C sequestration rates whereas the biomass density method would provide an estimate that differs by 65% in the C pools.