Strontium isotope ratios in volcanic rocks from the south-eastern part of the Hellenic arc

Isotopic ratios of strontium in 9 volcanic rocks from the south-eastern part of the Hellenic arc range from 0.7037 to 0.7075. Within individual series of differentiation, there seems to be a correlation between Sr⁸⁷/Sr⁸⁶ and K₂O/SiO₂.All strontium isotope data for the Hellenic arc are reviewed. Comparable (but slightly smaller) ranges of Sr isotope ratios are found in other island arcs with continental basement. To explain the high values of Sr⁸⁷/Sr⁸⁶ ratio for the Hellenic arc, a selective addition of Sr⁸⁷ from the wall rock, and a process of assimilation involving water, perhaps from subducted sediments, are suggested. Since closely-spaced individual volcanic centres of similar ages have very different Sr isotope ratios, and since the range of Sr isotopic composition in individual centres is quite large, the variation is unlikely to be due to primary variation in mantle composition.     

Textural recognition of mudflow deposits

A plot of median grain size against quartile deviation (after Buller and McManus) can be used to distinguish mudflow deposits. A characteristic envelope for poorly sorted streamflow deposits is also defined. Unlike most other sediment transport mechanisms, mudflows appear to deposit sediments with sorting independent of median grain size.     

Witnessing North Atlantic westerlies variability from ships’ logbooks (1685–2008)

A monthly index based on the persistence of the westerly winds over the English Chanel is constructed for 1685–2008 using daily data from ships’ logbooks and comprehensive marine meteorological datasets. The so-called Westerly Index (WI) provides the longest instrumental record of atmospheric circulation currently available. Anomalous WI values are associated with spatially coherent climatic signals in temperature and precipitation over large areas of Europe, which are stronger for precipitation than for temperature and in winter and summer than in transitional seasons. Overall, the WI series accord with the known European climatic history, and reveal that the frequency of the westerlies in the eastern Atlantic during the twentieth century and the Late Maunder Minimum was not exceptional in the context of the last three centuries. It is shown that the WI provides additional and complementary information to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) indices. The analysis of WI series during the industrial era indicates an overall good agreement with the winter and high-summer NAO, with the exception of several multidecadal periods of weakened correlation. These decoupled periods between the frequency and the intensity of the zonal flow are interpreted on the basis of several sources of non-stationarity affecting the centres of the variability of the North Atlantic and their teleconnections. Comparisons with NAO reconstructions and long instrumental indices extending back to the seventeenth century suggest that similar situations have occurred in the past, which call for caution when reconstructing the past atmospheric circulation from climatic proxies. The robustness and extension of its climatic signal, the length of the series and its instrumental nature make the WI an excellent benchmark for proxy calibration in Europe and Greenland.     

How to increase technology transfers to developing countries: a synthesis of the evidence

The existing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has failed to deliver the rate of low-carbon technology transfer (TT) required to curb GHG emissions in developing countries. This failure has exposed the limitations of universalism and renewed interest in bilateral approaches to TT. Gaps are identified in the UNFCCC approach to climate change TT: missing links between international institutions and the national enabling environments that encourage private investment; a non-differentiated approach for (developing) country and technology characteristics; and a lack of clear measurements of the volume and effectiveness of TTs. Evidence from econometric literature and business experience on climate change TT is reviewed, so as to address the identified pitfalls of the UNFCCC process. Strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches are highlighted. International policy recommendations are offered aimed at improving the level of emission reductions achieved through TT.     

Interacting Ricci-like holographic dark energy

In a flat Friedmann–Lemaitre–Robertson–Walker background, a scheme of dark matter–dark energy interaction is studied considering a holographic Ricci-like model for the dark energy. Without giving a priori some specific model for the interaction function, we show that this function can experience a change of sign during the cosmic evolution. The parameters involved in the holographic model are adjusted with Supernova data and we obtained results compatible with the observable universe.     

On The Origin of The High-Perihelion Scattered Disk: The Role of The Kozai Mechanism And Mean Motion Resonances

We study the transfer process from the scattered disk (SD) to the high-perihelion scattered disk (HPSD) (defined as the population with perihelion distances q > 40 AU and semimajor axes a>50 AU) by means of two different models. One model (Model 1) assumes that SD objects (SDOs) were formed closer to the Sun and driven outwards by resonant coupling with the accreting Neptune during the stage of outward migration (Gomes 2003b, Earth, Moon, Planets 92, 29–42.). The other model (Model 2) considers the observed population of SDOs plus clones that try to compensate for observational discovery bias (Fernández et al. 2004, Icarus , in press). We find that the Kozai mechanism (coupling between the argument of perihelion, eccentricity, and inclination), associated with a mean motion resonance (MMR), is the main responsible for raising both the perihelion distance and the inclination of SDOs. The highest perihelion distance for a body of our samples was found to be q = 69.2 AU. This shows that bodies can be temporarily detached from the planetary region by dynamical interactions with the planets. This phenomenon is temporary since the same coupling of Kozai with a MMR will at some point bring the bodies back to states of lower-q values. However, the dynamical time scale in high-q states may be very long, up to several Gyr. For Model 1, about 10% of the bodies driven away by Neptune get trapped into the HPSD when the resonant coupling Kozai-MMR is disrupted by Neptune’s migration. Therefore, Model 1 also supplies a fossil HPSD, whose bodies remain in non-resonant orbits and thus stable for the age of the solar system, in addition to the HPSD formed by temporary captures of SDOs after the giant planets reached their current orbits. We find that about 12 – 15% of the surviving bodies of our samples are incorporated into the HPSD after about 4 – 5 Gyr, and that a large fraction of the captures occur for up to the 1:8 MMR (a ⋍ 120 AU), although we record captures up to the 1:24 MMR (a ≃ 260 AU). Because of the Kozai mechanism, HPSD objects have on average inclinations about 25°–50°, which are higher than those of the classical Edgeworth–Kuiper (EK) belt or the SD. Our results suggest that Sedna belongs to a dynamically distinct population from the HPSD, possibly being a member of the inner core of the Oort cloud. As regards to 2000 CR₁₀₅ , it is marginally within the region occupied by HPSD objects in the parametric planes (q,a) and (a,i), so it is not ruled out that it might be a member of the HPSD, though it might as well belong to the inner core.