HONDURAS: WHEN THE SAINTS ARRIVE

ABSTRACT. Hurricane Mitch, the most deadly hurricane to strike the Western Hemisphere in two centuries, killed at least 10,000 people in Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador and left tens of thousands homeless. Some needed food; others, medical attention. Americans, Europeans, Mexicans, and others almost immediately responded to the widespread devastation by sending large donations of food, clothing, and medicine. Six weeks after Mitch struck the Honduran mainland, the author traveled to Honduras with the aim of photographing the physical damage and its effect on humans. In San Pedro Sula he was sidetracked by the issue of where the refugees were being housed and whether they were receiving the donations that had been sent on their behalf. This essay narrates that search and what he found.     

An Indicator of Our Pressure on the Land: New Zealand's Ecological Footprint

Sustainability has become a primary goal for much of the legislation which governs resource management in New Zealand. A major difficulty associated with sustainable development objectives, however, is the absence of reliable indicators to measure progress towards the goal of sustainability. The ‘ecological footprint’ provides an estimate of the amount of ecologically productive land required on a continuous basis to sustain current levels of resource consumption and waste assimilation for a given population. By comparing the ecological footprint of a community with the amount of land available, we can more clearly determine whether our current consumption patterns are likely to be sustainable. This paper explores the use of ecological footprint analysis within a New Zealand context. Modifications to the existing procedure for calculating an ecological footprint are proposed, and estimates based on the modified procedures are presented for New Zealand.     

Some observations of intertidal communities on Spitsbergen (79°N), Norwegian Arctic

The zonation pattern of rocky shores on north-west Spitsbergen is described. Intertidal communities on protected sites have features remarkably similar to temperate areas. Black lichens dominate the littoral fringe, fucoids and gastropods the eulittoral zone, whereas upper sublittoral zone is occupied by kelp. The species composition seems to be typical for the Atlantic arctic areas.     

Formation of Organic Aerosols from the Oxidation of Biogenic Hydrocarbons

Measurements of aerosol formation during thephotooxidation of -pinene, -pinene,d-3-carene, d-limonene, ocimene, linalool, terpinene-4-ol, andtrans-caryophyllene were conducted in anoutdoor smog chamber. Daylight experiments in thepresence of and dark experiments withelevated ozone concentrations were performed. Theevolution of the aerosol was simulated by theapplication of a gas/particle absorption model inconnection with a chemical reaction mechanism. Thefractional aerosol yield is shown to be a function ofthe organic aerosol mass concentration andtemperature. Ozone and, for selected hydrocarbons, theNO₃ reaction of the compounds were found torepresent efficient routes to the formation ofcondensable products. For initial hydrocarbon mixingratios of about 100 ppb, the fractional aerosol yieldsfrom daylight runs have been estimated to be 5%for open-chain hydrocarbons, such as ocimene andlinalool, 5–25% for monounsaturated cyclicmonoterpenes, such as -pinene, d-3-carene, orterpinene-4-ol, and 40% for a cyclic monoterpenewith two double bonds like d-limonene. For the onlysesquiterpene investigated, trans-caryophyllene, afractional aerosol yield of close to 100% wasobserved. The majority of the compounds studied showedan even higher aerosol yield during dark experimentsin the presence of ozone.     

Klyuchevskoy Volcano, Kamchatka, Russia: The Role of High-Flux Recharged, Tapped, and Fractionated Magma Chamber(s) in the Genesis of High-Al2O3 from High-MgO Basalt

Mineral Chemistry, and major and trace element variations ofthe basalts from Klyuchevskoy, the world's most active islandare volcano, are most consistently explained by the persistenceof a non-steady state, erupting, recharging, and fractionatingmagma chamber in which fractionation of a parental high-MgObasalt melt produces high-Al₂O₃ basalt. Although fractionalcrystallization is the dominant controlling mechanism, periodicrecharge with a more primitive high-MgO basalt is also an importantprocess contributing to the chemical evolution of the magmas.Hybrid basalts are the mixed product of high-Al₂O₃ basalt rechargedwith high-MgO basalt. The lavas range in composition from high-MgO, low-Al₂O₃ ( 12wt. % MgO, 14 wt. % Al₂O₃) to high-Al₂O₃, low-MgO ( 18 wt. %Al₂O₃, 4 wt. % MgO). The high-MgO lavas are characterized byphenocrysts of olivine (cores FO_90–80 and rims FO_85–75)with chromite inclusions [Cr/(Cr + Al)0.7], clinopyroxene (Wo_46–42En_48–42Fs_15–7),and the rare occurrence of orthopyroxene (En_72–70). Allthe phenocrysts are normally zoned and set in a groundmass ofplagioclase, pigeonite, clinopyroxene, magnetite, orthopyroxene.The high-Al₂O₃ basalts contain plagioclase (An_85–55),olivine (Fo_80–65), clinopyroxene (Wo_45–30En_50–38Fs_23–11), orthopyroxene (En_72–70) phenocrysts, that preserve bothnormal and reverse zoning in a groundmass of plagioclase, pigeonite,olivine, clinopyroxene, magnetite, orthopyroxene. Hybrid basaltshave characteristics of both high-MgO basalts and high-Al₂O₃basalts and preserve complicated normal-to-reverse, reverse-to-normal,and normally zoned phenocrysts. No hydrous minerals are presentin any of the lavas. The varied basaltic magmas erupted from Klyuchevskoy are derivedfrom a magma chamber(s) located near the base of the Kamchatkacrust (pressures 0.5–0.9 GPa) and characterized by relativelyhigh crystallization temperatures, some in excess of 1150C.Under these conditions, the fractionation of a parental high-MgOmagma, produced principally from the melting of a fluid-fluxed,peridotitic mantle wedge, results in the production of a chemicallydiverse spectrum of basalts ranging from high-MgO, low-Al₂O₃to high-Al₂O₃, low-MgO basalt, traversing the relatively primitiveend of both the calc-alkalic and tholeiitic differentiationtrends.     

南极绕极流的经向输运

南极绕极流(ACC)是南大洋中最显著的流动，流量超过130×106m3/s (Nowlin et al.，1986)。传统认为，由于以东向运动为主的ACC的存在极大地阻碍了南大洋中上层的南北向物质和能量的交换，绕极流区的经向输运是非常小的。但是近些年的研究发现，穿过ACC的通量并不是可以忽略不计的，它对维持南极和亚南极区的动力和热力平衡起着重要作用，在全球气候系统中也有着深刻的影响(Doos et al.，1994)。     

一种高效建模数值算法及其应用——LatticeBoltzmann方法

近年来,格子Boltzmann方法(LBM)已发展为一种模拟流体和物理问题的新颖的、有前景的数值方法,在许多领域的各种数值问题求解上取得很大的成功.文章介绍了一种模拟复杂流动的高效建模数值算法Lattice Boltzmann方法和它的基本原理及其应用.并通过两个实例数值模拟计算,说明Lattice Boltzmann方法正确、有效.并展示了广阔的应用前景,为今后更深入的研究和广泛应用打下基础.