Further evidence for oceanic excitation of polar motion

While the role of the atmosphere in driving variations in polar motion is well established, the importance of the oceans has been recognized only recently. Further evidence for the role of the oceans in the excitation of polar motion is presented. To estimate the equatorial excitation functions, χ ₁ and χ ₂ , for the ocean, we use velocity and mass fields from a constant-density ocean model, driven by observed surface wind stresses and atmospheric pressure, for the period 1993–1995; comparison with similar functions derived from a more complex density-stratified ocean model indicates the effectiveness of the simple constant-density modelling approach. Corresponding atmospheric excitation functions are computed from NCEP/NCAR re-analyses. Results indicate significant improvements in the agreement with the observed polar motion excitation when the simulated oceanic effects are added to atmospheric excitation. Correlations between the polar motion and the geophysical signals at periods of 15–150 days increase from 0.53 to 0.80 and from 0.75 to 0.88 for χ ₁ and χ ₂ , respectively. The oceanic signals are particularly important for seasonal variations in χ ₁ (correlation increases from 0.28 to 0.85 when oceanic excitation is included). A positive impact of the oceans on more rapid polar motion is also observed, up to periods as short as 5 days. The sensitivity of the results to different forcing fields and different amounts of friction in the oceans is also discussed.     

Monitoring of organic pollutants in coastal waters of the Gulf of Gdańsk, Southern Baltic

This paper presents an overview of changes in organic pollution of coastal waters of the Gulf of Gdańsk (Baltic Sea). Toxic pollutants including volatile organic compounds (VOC), volatile organohalogen compounds (VOX), chlorophenols, phenoxyacids, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in seawater from the Gulf of Gdańsk coastal waters in the period 1996-2001. In the case of the Gulf of Gdańsk, non-conservative behaviour of VOC was observed due to random temporal and spatial of inputs along the Vistula estuary and to the dilution of VOC-enriched river water with seawater. The concentrations of VOX in seawater decreased throughout the period and the concentrations of VOX were in the range of few ng dm(-3) up to 250 ng dm(-3), similar to estuaries elsewhere. The average concentrations of chlorophenols and phenoxyacids were between 0.1 and 6.0 and 0.05 and 2.2 microg dm(-3), respectively. However, remarkably high concentrations of 2,4-dichlorophenol (6 microg dm(-3)) were obtained in samples collected from the Vistula River. Generally concentrations of PCBs did not exceed few ng dm(-3) with the exception of 1999, when all samples exhibited elevated concentrations of PCBs. In addition, higher concentrations of PCBs in the open sea compared to river waters suggested localised inputs. Due to the ability of most organic pollutants to bioaccumulate and biomagnify, especially the persistent organic pollutants, continued monitoring is of crucial importance for the health of marine life in the Gulf of Gdańsk.     

Housing Policy Regime in Lithuania: towards liberalization and marketization

This paper reviews housing policy development in Lithuania in the light of previous literature which reinterprets Esping-Andersen’s work on welfare regimes and adopts it to study housing policy. It seeks to highlight the major features of the Lithuanian housing policy. The findings of this paper reveal that the Lithuanian housing regime exhibits many features which are common under the liberal one. Most significant of these are low de-commodification for those who have to buy or rent a home for the market price, increasing stratification based on income and the dominant position of the market in housing production, allocation and price determination. However, a detailed examination of the Lithuanian housing policy reveals that the housing policy system, despite having many features similar to the liberal one, has been operating in different social and economic settings as a result of unique historical experience of the communist housing policy (massive production of low quality apartment blocks during the communist era, which currently need substantial renovation) and consequently drastic changes in the housing field since 1990s (massive privatization of the housing stock and decentralization of the housing management system). The Lithuanian housing policy regime could be characterized as a regime with the higher owner-occupation compared to other welfare state regimes, but the lower economic power of the owners to take care of their property maintenance, repair and renovation.     

Strontium isotope identification of water mixing and recharge sources in a river system (Oder River,central Europe): A quantitative approach

This study uses Sr isotope composition (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and Sr content of waters of the Oder, one of the largest rivers in central Europe, to fingerprint natural and anthropogenic contributions to its Sr budget and to evaluate water mixing processes in its hydrological system. It also demonstrates a simple method of quantifying natural and anthropogenic Sr inputs in the watershed. The method has potential for environmental and archaeological research because past Sr geochemistry of river water can easily be reconstructed. For the first time, a catchment‐scale impact of anthropogenic sources on the Sr budget of a middle‐size river is shown in a quantitative way. The water of the Oder is characterized by a relatively uniform Sr isotope composition, from 0.7100 to 0.7108, contrasting with strong variations in Sr concentration, from 0.25 to 1.27 mg/L. There is a general seasonal trend in variability, with waters becoming more radiogenic and dilute with respect to the Sr in the spring time. This Sr systematics differs significantly from the Sr budgets of the majority of the Oder tributaries that exhibit more radiogenic composition and systematically lower Sr concentrations. A mixing scenario in the Oder involves Sr contribution from four principal water sources: (a) shallow ground waters with Sr derived from near‐surface weathering of silicates, (b) moderately radiogenic mine waters from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, (c) unradiogenic mine waters from the Permian sequence of the copper district, and (d) unradiogenic ground waters from shallow‐seated Palaeogene, Neogene, and Mesozoic aquifers. The Sr budget of the Oder is primarily controlled by inputs of dissolved Sr from anthropogenic sources, which overprint the natural background, controlled by geology. Thus, about 47.5% of Sr originates from agriculture, industrial, and municipal additions, 31.5% from mine water inputs, and only 21% from natural sources, that is, rock weathering and atmospheric precipitation. Reconstruction of the past Sr chemistry of the Oder reveals that its present‐day Sr isotope composition is temporary and significantly different from that of the preindustrial times.     

The occurrence of some metals in mesozooplankton taken from the southern Baltic

The determination of Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cu, Co, Zn, Cd, K and Na was carried out in the mesozooplankton caught in the southern Baltic in July 1980. The species structure of mesozooplankton was characterized on the basis of mean numbers of particular components and their percentage. The chemical analyses of the samples of mesozooplankton show a wide range of values, although they were within the ranges published for zooplankton from other aquatic regions of the world. Both concentration factors and selectivity factors for Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu in the organisms analysed were calculated. The significant cross-correlation coefficients calculated for all possible pairs of metals showed the following associations: CuPbNiMnFe, MnZn and NaZn.     

Restoring nature in mining areas of the Silesian Upland (Poland)

The Silesian Upland is one of the most degraded areas in Poland owing to the long‐lasting influence of mining and metallurgy. Mining influences every component of the environment in significant and diverse ways. But even in such a devastated terrain there is evidence of the proper management of post‐mining areas and natural self‐restoration, which paradoxically, owing to mining, appear in the most intensively used economic areas. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of the geophysical excitations of polar motion from the period: 1980.0–2009.0

In this study we compared contributions to polar motion excitation determined separately from each of three kinds of geophysical data: atmospheric pressure, equivalent water height estimated from hydrological models, and harmonic coefficients of the Earth gravity field obtained from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). Hydrological excitation function (Hydrological Angular Momentum — HAM) has been estimated from models of global hydrology, based on the observed distribution of surfacewater, snow, ice, and soil moisture. In our considerationwe used several global models of land hydrosphere and models ofAtmospheric Angular Momentum (AAM) and Oceanic Angular Momentum (OAM). All of themwere compared with observed Geodetic Angular Momentum (GAM). The spectra of the following excitation functions of polar motion: GAM, AAM+OAM, AAM+OAM+HAM, GAM-AAM-OAM residual geodetic excitation function, and HAM were computed too. The time variable spectra of geodetic, gravimetric, and the sum of atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrological excitation functions are also presented. Phasor diagrams of the seasonal components of polar motion excitation functions of all HAM excitation functions as well as of two GRACE solutions: Center for Space Research (CSR), Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales/Groupe de Recherche en Geodesie Spatiale (CNES/GRGS) were determined and discussed.     

Assessment of the Global and Regional Land Hydrosphere and Its Impact on the Balance of the Geophysical Excitation Function of Polar Motion

The impact of continental hydrological loading from land water, snow and ice on polar motion excitation, calculated as hydrological angular momentum (HAM), is difficult to estimate, and not as much is known about it as about atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) and oceanic angular momentum (OAM). In this paper, regional hydrological excitations to polar motion are investigated using monthly terrestrial water storage data derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and from the five models of land hydrology. The results show that the areas where the variance shows large variability are similar for the different models of land hydrology and for the GRACE data. Areas which have a small amplitude on the maps make an important contribution to the global hydrological excitation function of polar motion. The comparison of geodetic residuals and global hydrological excitation functions of polar motion shows that none of the hydrological excitation has enough energy to significantly improve the agreement between the observed geodetic excitation and geophysical ones.     

Application of Mössbauer spectroscopy,multidimensional discriminant analysis,and Mahalanobis distance for classification of equilibrated ordinary chondrites

Mössbauer spectra of equilibrated ordinary chondrites consist of two doublets due to paramagnetic iron present in olivines and pyroxenes and two sextets due to magnetically ordered iron present in metallic phases and troilite. The spectral areas of the different mineralogical phases found by Mössbauer spectroscopy in meteorites are proportional to the number of iron atoms in this mineralogical phase. This property of Mössbauer spectra can be the basis for constructing a method for the classification of ordinary chondrites. This idea was first explored at the Mössbauer Laboratory in Kanpur. This group suggested a qualitative method based on 2‐dimensional plots of Mössbauer spectral areas and thus classified properly some meteorites. We constructed a quantitative method using Mössbauer spectral areas, multidimensional discriminant analysis, and Mahalanobis distance (4M method) to determine the probability of a meteorite to be of type H, L, or LL. Based on 59 Mössbauer spectra, we calculated by the 4M method, S _cluster , the level of similarity of the Goronyo meteorite to the clusters. On the plot of ferrosilite versus fayalite, the point representing Goronyo is located on the border between H and L areas. Calculated by the 4M method, the meteorite Goronyo is 32% similar to type H, 75% to type L, and 11% to type LL. Additional mineralogical analyses suggested that the Goronyo meteorite would be classified as type L, although it was originally reported as type H in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database.