Factors controlling dissolved silica in coral reef surface water of Urasoko Bay, Ishigaki Island, Japan

From August 2006 to August 2007, the concentrations of dissolved silica (Si(OH)₄) were monitored in the surface water of Urasoko Bay and the mouth of the stream that runs into the bay. Urasoko Bay is located on the northern coast of Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan, which is in a subtropical area of the North Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by a relatively poorly developed fringing reef. Added to these samples were freshwater from the upstream area and brackish water that exudes at the beach site, which were collected from April to June 2007. Rainwater samples were also collected during the study period. The concentration of Si(OH)₄ generally decreased from upstream to the bay site, and, on clear days, Si(OH)₄ data from all study sites (the bay, beach, stream mouth, and upstream) plotted against salinity fell on a single straight line. When the influence of rainwater was, the results were scattered below the straight line, which suggests dilution by rainwater with a much lower Si(OH)₄ concentration. These findings show that offshore seawater, rainwater, and upstream freshwater regulate the concentration of Si(OH)₄ in the surface water of Urasoko Bay.     

Cathodoluminescence of high-pressure feldspar minerals as a shock barometer

Cathodoluminescence (CL) analyses were carried out on maskelynite and lingunite in L6 chondrites of Tenham and Yamato-790729. Under CL microscopy, bright blue emission was observed in Na-lingunite in the shock veins. Dull blue-emitting maskelynite is adjacent to the shock veins, and aqua blue luminescent plagioclase lies farther away. CL spectroscopy of the Na-lingunite showed emission bands centered at ~330, 360–380, and ~590 nm. CL spectra of maskelynite consisted of emission bands at ~330 and ~380 nm. Only an emission band at 420 nm was recognized in crystalline plagioclase. Deconvolution of CL spectra from maskelynite successfully separated the UV–blue emission bands into Gaussian components at 3.88, 3.26, and 2.95 eV. For comparison, we prepared K-lingunite and experimentally shock-recovered feldspars at the known shock pressures of 11.1–41.2 GPa to measure CL spectra. Synthetic K-lingunite has similar UV–blue and characteristic yellow bands at ~550, ~660, ~720, ~750, and ~770 nm. The UV–blue emissions of shock-recovered feldspars and the diaplectic feldspar glasses show a good correlation between intensity and shock pressure after deconvolution. They may be assigned to pressure-induced defects in Si and Al octahedra and tetrahedra. The components at 3.88 and 3.26 eV were detectable in the lingunite, both of which may be caused by the defects in Si and Al octahedra, the same as maskelynite. CL of maskelynite and lingunite may be applicable to estimate shock pressure for feldspar-bearing meteorites, impactites, and samples returned by spacecraft mission, although we need to develop more as a reliable shock barometer.     

Nucleation,growth and stability of CaAl2Si2O8 polymorphs

By means of in situ observation, the nucleation and growth of triclinic, pseudo-orthorhombic and pseudo-hexagonal CaAl₂Si₂O₈ were investigated and their relative stabilities established. Pseudo-hexagonal and pseudo-orthorhombic CaAl₂Si₂O₈ nucleate prior to anorthite and grow in a supercooled anorthite melt before the latter appears. They either dissolve or transform to anorthite once the latter nucleates and starts to grow. Corundum and mullite also nucleate metastably prior to anorthite in this melt. The liquidus temperatures of the four metastably nucleated phases were determined precisely by in situ measurements of the transformation temperatures from a polyhedral to a rounded morphology. On the basis of the supercooling thus determined, the growth rate versus supercooling relations were measured and analysed for the respective phases. The growth rate of the stable phase is one order of magnitude higher than those of any metastable phases. However, the growth rates of the three CaAl₂Si₂O₈ polymorphs normalized by the viscosities are nearly the same.     

BALLOON-BORNE MEASUREMENTS OF AEROSOL VERTICAL DISTRIBUTIONS OVER BEIJING DURING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1993

The results of two balloon soundings during the summer and autumn of 1993 from the Xianghe Observation Station are being utilized in a study of the temporal and spatial distribution of the atmospheric aerosols.The balloon,gondola,instrumentation and atmospheric conditions during the observation period are described.The temporal and spatial characteristics of aerosol concentration,size ratio,mixing ratio,and size distribution for both troposphere and strato-sphere are presented and analyzed.     

Re-evaluation of the large deep earthquake of January 21, 1906

The large deep earthquake of January 21, 1906 is re-evaluated using old seismogram data and updated analysis techniques. From the P and pP-P time data the hypocentre parameters are determined as follows: origin time, 13h 49min 35s; latitude, 33.8°N; longitude, 137.5°E; depth, 340 km. The body-wave magnitude m_B is re-evaluated from the amplitude and periods of P, PP and S waves. The average value of 7.4 is obtained. This value is the smallest among any values assigned previously to this shock, and it is denied that the earthquake is the world's largest deep shock in this century. The focal mechanism is estimated from the P-wave first motions and amplitude distribution of P and S waves. Synthetic body waves are used to constrain the mechanism and to determine the seismic moment. The mechanism solution suggests the down-dip compression typical of this region. A seismic moment of 1.5 × 10²⁷ dyn · cm is obtained. This value and the re-evaluated value of m_B are consistent with the moment-_B relation obtained for other deep earthquakes.     

Modeling of the runup heights of the Hokkaido-Nansei-Oki tsunami of 12 July 1993

The Hokkaido-Nansei-Oki earthquake (M _w 7.7) of July 12, 1993, is one of the largest tsunamigenic events in the Sea of Japan. The tsunami magnitudeM _t is determined to be 8.1 from the maximum amplitudes of the tsunami recorded on tide gauges. This value is larger thanM _w by 0.4 units. It is suggested that the tsunami potential of the Nansei-Oki earthquake is large forM _w . A number of tsunami runup data are accumulated for a total range of about 1000 km along the coast, and the data are averaged to obtain the local mean heightsH _n for 23 segments in intervals of about 40 km each. The geographic variation ofH _n is approximately explained in terms of the empirical relationship proposed byAbe (1989, 1993). The height prediction from the available earthquake magnitudes ranges from 5.0–8.4 m, which brackets the observed maximum ofH _n , 7.7 m, at Okushiri Island.     

Revision of magnitudes of large shallow earthquakes, 1897–1912

In previous research, trace amplitudes of surface wave maxima recorded by undamped Milne seismographs were used to determine the surface-wave magnitudes M_s of large shallow earthquakes which occurred prior to 1912. For this purpose, the effective gain of these instruments was calibrated by using the surface-wave magnitudes M_s(GR) which were calculated from the unpublished worksheets for Seismicity of the Earth of Gutenberg and Richter. In this paper, the real quality of M_s(GR) is critically re-evaluated by using independent sets of data. It is found that M_s(GR) for the period 1904–1909 is considerably overestimated. The average excess from the real M_s is 0.5 units for 1904–1906, 0.4 for 1907, 0.3 for 1908–1909 and 0.0 for 1910–1912. This overestimation is so systematic and large that the previous results are all redetermined. The average effective gain of Milne instruments is revised to be 21.9; previously, the gain depended on M_s. This revision results in systematic reduction in the previously assigned magnitudes. The revised values of M_s for 264 shallow earthquakes, with M_s=6.8 and over in the period 1897–1912 inclusive, are listed. The present revision is large enough to preclude the possibility of the high activity of large shallow earthquakes around the turn of the century. The present results have a direct effect on all the magnitude catalogues of shallow earthquakes which occurred prior to 1909.     

Phases Representing Source Lengths of Tsunami in Tide Gauge Records

We identified a phase representing the source length of tsunami's in the tide gauge records around Japan. This phase was observed at tide stations, located in the direction of the long axis of the sources, for four large tsunamis: 1964 Niigata, 1968 Tokachi-oki, 1983 Nihonkaichubu, and 1993 Hokkaido-nanseioki. The phase consists of two continuous crests starting as the initial arrival and has a time length of 15–47 minutes. This is the time required to propagate across the source area along the long axis. Strong evidence that the phase is generated at the source is the good correlation between waveform observed at one side and time-inversed waveform at another side. The correlation results from the instantaneous generation of the source. The source lengths of 74–254 km were obtained under an assumption of sea depths at the sources and verified to coincide with ones within a relative error of 15% that were previously obtained by other methods.     

Influence of surface and vegetation characteristics on C-band radar measurements for soil moisture content

Soil moisture estimation using microwave remote sensing faces challenges of the segregation of influences mainly from roughness and vegetation. Under static surface conditions, it was found that Radarsat C-band SAR shows reasonably good correlation and sensitivity with changing soil moisture. Dynamic surface and vegetation conditions are supposed to result in a substantial reduction in radar sensitivity to soil moisture. A C-band scatterometer system (5.2 GHz) with a multi-polarization and multi-angular configuration was used 12 times to sense the soil moisture over a tall vegetated grass field. A score of vegetation and soil parameters were recorded on every occasion of the experiment. Three radar backscattering models Viz., Integral Equation Model (IEM), an empirical model and a volume scattering model, have been used to predict the backscattering phenomena. The volume scattering model, using the Distorted Born Approximation, is found to predict the backscattering phenomena reasonably well. But the surface scattering models are expectedly found to be inadequate for the purpose. The temporal variation of soil moisture does show good empirical relationship with the observed radar backscattering. But as the vegetation biomass increases, the radar shows higher sensitivity to the vegetation parameters compared to surface characteristics. A sensitivity analysis of the volume scattering model for all the parameters also reveals that the radar is more sensitive to plant parameters under high biomass conditions, particularly vegetation water content, but the sensitivity to surface characteristics, particularly to soil moisture, is also appreciable.     

Thermal diffusivity of lunar rocks under atmospheric and vacuum conditions

Thermal diffusivity, k, of three lunar rocks (10049 and 10069; Type A, Apollo 11 and 14311; Apollo 14) and a terrestrial basalt (alkaline olivine basalt, Oki-do?go, Japan) was measured under one atmosphere and in vacuum conditions (10^?3 ～ 10^?5 mmHg) in the temperature range from 85 to 850°K. The semi-empirical curve of k =A + B/T +CT³ is fitted to the data in each condition. The porosity of rocks strongly affects the thermal diffusivity at low temperature ( T ? 500°K) in vacuum condition. At 150°K, thermal diffusivity of lunar rocks with porosity of 5.5% (10049) and 11% (10069) at one atmosphere is about 1.7 and 3.2 times of that in vacuum, respectively. The difference between the values at one atmosphere and those in vacuum decreases as the temperature increases. Measurements of k should be made at gas pressures at least lower than 10^?3 mmHg to estimate the value under lunar surface conditions.