Energetic Charged Particles Above Thunderclouds

The French government has committed to launch the satellite TARANIS to study transient coupling processes between the Earth’s atmosphere and near-Earth space. The prime objective of TARANIS is to detect energetic charged particles and hard radiation emanating from thunderclouds. The British Nobel prize winner C.T.R. Wilson predicted lightning discharges from the top of thunderclouds into space almost a century ago. However, new experiments have only recently confirmed energetic discharge processes which transfer energy from the top of thunderclouds into the upper atmosphere and near-Earth space; they are now denoted as transient luminous events, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and relativistic electron beams. This meeting report builds on the current state of scientific knowledge on the physics of plasmas in the laboratory and naturally occurring plasmas in the Earth’s atmosphere to propose areas of future research. The report specifically reflects presentations delivered by the members of a novel Franco-British collaboration during a meeting at the French Embassy in London held in November 2011. The scientific subjects of the report tackle ionization processes leading to electrical discharge processes, observations of transient luminous events, electromagnetic emissions, energetic charged particles and their impact on the Earth’s atmosphere. The importance of future research in this area for science and society, and towards spacecraft protection, is emphasized.     

Water Resources Implications of Global Warming: A U.S. Regional Perspective

The implications of global warming for the performance of six U.S. water resource systems are evaluated. The six case study sites represent a range of geographic and hydrologic, as well as institutional and social settings. Large, multi-reservoir systems (Columbia River, Missouri River, Apalachicola-Chatahoochee-Flint (ACF) Rivers), small, one or two reservoir systems (Tacoma and Boston) and medium size systems (Savannah River) are represented. The river basins range from mountainous to low relief and semi-humid to semi-arid, and the system operational purposes range from predominantly municipal to broadly multi-purpose. The studies inferred, using a chain of climate downscaling, hydrologic and water resources systems models, the sensitivity of six water resources systems to changes in precipitation, temperature and solar radiation. The climate change scenarios used in this study are based on results from transient climate change experiments performed with coupled ocean-atmosphere General Circulation Models (GCMs) for the 1995 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment. An earlier doubled-CO₂ scenario from one of the GCMs was also used in the evaluation. The GCM scenarios were transferred to the local level using a simple downscaling approach that scales local weather variables by fixed monthly ratios (for precipitation) and fixed monthly shifts (for temperature). For those river basins where snow plays an important role in the current climate hydrology (Tacoma, Columbia, Missouri and, to a lesser extent, Boston) changes in temperature result in important changes in seasonal streamflow hydrographs. In these systems, spring snowmelt peaks are reduced and winter flows increase, on average. Changes in precipitation are generally reflected in the annual total runoff volumes more than in the seasonal shape of the hydrographs. In the Savannah and ACF systems, where snow plays a minor hydrological role, changes in hydrological response are linked more directly to temperature and precipitation changes. Effects on system performance varied from system to system, from GCM to GCM, and for each system operating objective (such as hydropower production, municipal and industrial supply, flood control, recreation, navigation and instream flow protection). Effects were generally smaller for the transient scenarios than for the doubled CO₂ scenario. In terms of streamflow, one of the transient scenarios tended to have increases at most sites, while another tended to have decreases at most sites. The third showed no general consistency over the six sites. Generally, the water resource system performance effects were determined by the hydrologic changes and the amount of buffering provided by the system's storage capacity. The effects of demand growth and other plausible future operational considerations were evaluated as well. For most sites, the effects of these non-climatic effects on future system performance would about equal or exceed the effects of climate change over system planning horizons.     

Paleohydrology and paleochemistry of Lake Manitoba,Canada: the isotope and ostracode records

Lake Manitoba, the largest lake in the Prairie region of North America, contains a fine-grained sequence of late Pleistocene and Holocene sediment that documents a complex postglacial history. This record indicates that differential isostatic rebound and changing climate have interacted with varying drainage basin size and hydrologic budget to create significant variations in lake level and limnological conditions. During the initial depositional period in the basin, the Lake Agassiz phase (12–9 ka), ¹⁸O of ostracodes ranged from –16 to –5 (PDB), implying the lake was variously dominated by cold, dilute glacial meltwater and warm to cold, slightly saline water.Candona subtriangulata, which prefers cold, dilute water, dominates the most negative ¹⁸O intervals, when the basin was part of proglacial Lake Agassiz. At times during this early phase, the ¹⁸O of the lake abruptly shifted to higher values; euryhaline taxa such asC. rawsoni orLimnocythere ceriotuberosa, and halobiont taxa such asL. staplini orL. sappaensis are dominant in these intervals. This positive covariance of isotope and ostracode records implies that the lake level episodically fell, isolating the Lake Manitoba basin from the main glacial lake.¹⁸O values from inorganic endogenic Mg-calcite in the post-Agassiz phase of Lake Manitoba trend from –4 at 8 ka to –11 at 4.5 ka. We interpret that this trend indicates a gradually increasing influence of isotopically low (–20 SMOW) Paleozoic groundwater inflow, although periods of increased evaporation during this time may account for zones of less negative isotopic values. The ¹⁸O of this inorganic calcite abruptly shifts to higher values (–6) after 4.5 ka due to the combined effects of increased evaporative enrichment in a closed basin lake and the increased contribution of isotopically high surface water inflow on the hydrologic budget. After 2 ka, the ¹⁸O of the Mg-calcite fluctuates between –13 and –7, implying short-term variability in the lake's hydrologic budget, with values indicating the lake varied from outflow-dominated to evaporation-dominated. The ¹³C values of Mg-calcite remain nearly constant from 8 to 4.5 ka and then trend to higher values upward in the section. This pattern suggests primary productivity in the lake was initially constant but gradually increased after 4.5 ka.This is the sixth in a series of papers published in this issue on the paleolimnology of arid regions. These papers were presented at the Sixth International Palaeolimnology Symposium held 19–21 April, 1993 at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Dr A. R. Chivas served as guest editor for these papers.     

Revisiting the existence of an effective stress for wet granular soils with micromechanics

A possible effective stress variable for wet granular materials is numerically investigated based on an adapted discrete element method (DEM) model for an ideal three‐phase system. The DEM simulations consider granular materials made of nearly monodisperse spherical particles, in the pendular regime with the pore fluid mixture consisting of distinct water menisci bridging particle pairs. The contact force‐related stress contribution to the total stresses is isolated and tested as the effective stress candidate for dense or loose systems. It is first recalled that this contact stress tensor is indeed an adequate effective stress that describes stress limit states of wet samples with the same Mohr‐Coulomb criterion associated with their dry counterparts. As for constitutive relationships, it is demonstrated that the contact stress tensor used in conjunction with dry constitutive relations does describe the strains of wet samples during an initial strain regime but not beyond. Outside this so‐called quasi‐static strain regime, whose extent is much greater for dense than loose materials, dramatic changes in the contact network prevent macroscale contact stress‐strain relationships to apply in the same manner to dry and unsaturated conditions. The presented numerical results also reveal unexpected constitutive bifurcations for the loose material, related to stick‐slip macrobehavior.     

Zircon M127 – A Homogeneous Reference Material for SIMS U–Pb Geochronology Combined with Hafnium,Oxygen and,Potentially, Lithium Isotope Analysis

In this article, we document a detailed analytical characterisation of zircon M127, a homogeneous 12.7 carat gemstone from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. Zircon M127 has TIMS‐determined mean U–Pb radiogenic isotopic ratios of 0.084743 ± 0.000027 for ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U and 0.67676 ± 0.00023 for ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U (weighted means, 2s uncertainties). Its ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 524.36 ± 0.16 Ma (95% confidence uncertainty) is concordant within the uncertainties of decay constants. The δ¹⁸O value (determined by laser fluorination) is 8.26 ± 0.06‰ VSMOW (2s), and the mean ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf ratio (determined by solution ICP‐MS) is 0.282396 ± 0.000004 (2s). The SIMS‐determined δ⁷Li value is ?0.6 ± 0.9‰ (2s), with a mean mass fraction of 1.0 ± 0.1 μg g^?1 Li (2s). Zircon M127 contains ~ 923 μg g^?1 U. The moderate degree of radiation damage corresponds well with the time‐integrated self‐irradiation dose of 1.82 × 10¹⁸ alpha events per gram. This observation, and the (U–Th)/He age of 426 ± 7 Ma (2s), which is typical of unheated Sri Lankan zircon, enable us to exclude any thermal treatment. Zircon M127 is proposed as a reference material for the determination of zircon U–Pb ages by means of SIMS in combination with hafnium and stable isotope (oxygen and potentially also lithium) determination.     

Some life history aspects of the seaboard goby (gobiosoma ginsburgi) in Rhode Island

This paper represents the first report of adultG. ginsburgi from Rhode Island waters since 1938. Gobies were collected only from subtidal shell communities in high salinity waters. Seaboard gobies eat a variety of benthic invertebrates but feed most heavily on harpacticoid copepods. Gravid females collected in July contained one size class of ova indicating a single spawning per season. Egg counts ranged from 1268 to 1977 per female. Larval densities indicate that peak spawning occurs in July and suggest thatG. ginsburgi is more abundant in the Sakonnet River and nearby Narragansett Bay than previously reported.     

A theoretical investigation of bed-form shapes

The deformation of movable boundaries under the action of an applied turbulent shear stress is well known. The resulting bed forms often are highly organized and nearly two-dimensional, which makes them an intriguing focus of study considering that they are generated in both steady and oscillatory turbulent flows. Many past studies share a common approach in which an infinitesimal perturbation is prescribed and the resulting growth or decay patterns are examined. In this approach, the bed forms are usually sinusoidal and the perturbation analysis does not provide a theoretical prediction of equilibrium bed-form geometry. An alternative approach is suggested here in which the forcing terms (pressure and stress) are prescribed parametrically and the governing equations are solved for the flow velocity and the associated boundary deformation. Using a multilayered approach, in which the bottom boundary layer is divided into a discrete, yet, arbitrary number of finite layers, analytical solutions for the horizontal current and bed profile are derived. The derivations identify two nondimensional parameters, p₀/u₀² and ₀/kh₀u₀², which modulate the amplitude of the velocity fluctuations and boundary deformation. For the case of combined pressure and stress divergence anomalies, the magnitude of the front face and lee slopes exhibit an asymmetry that is consistent with observed bed forms in steady two-dimensional flows.Responsible Editor: Jens Kappenberg     

Isotopic partitioning between scallop shell calcite and seawater: effect of shell growth rate

The relationship between molluscan shell growth rate and skeletal δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C was investigated in a detailed field study for the scallop, Pecten maximus. Seasonal variation in shell growth rate was found to be a governing factor influencing shell δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C. At low shell growth rates, shell δ¹⁸O were more positive (of the order +0.4‰) and δ¹³C more negative (up to −2‰) as compared with predicted values for precipitation of inorganic calcite in isotopic equilibrium with seawater. The deviations in δ¹⁸O were hypothesized as reflecting possible differences in solution carbonate chemistry at the site of mineralization in the extrapallial fluid as compared with that of the external seawater medium. The deviations in shell δ¹³C were consistent with incorporation of isotopically depleted respiratory ¹³C (i.e., a metabolic effect). A trend toward more depleted shell δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values occurred at higher shell growth rates, with negative δ¹⁸O values as compared with predicted equilibrium at shell growth rates above 0.13 mm per day. These simultaneous negative deviations in skeletal δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C were interpreted as resulting from a kinetic effect. The implications for environmental reconstruction from molluscan isotopic records are discussed in light of a model of isotopic behavior based on the findings of the study.     

Identifying extreme hottest days from large scale upper air data: a pilot scheme to find California Central Valley summertime maximum surface temperatures

A pilot scheme uses upper air data from a few extreme hottest days to identify those and other extreme hottest days measured by 3 stations sampling the California Central Valley (CV). Prior work showed that CV extreme heat wave onsets have characteristic large scale patterns in many upper-air variables; those patterns also occur for the hottest days. A pilot scheme uses areas of two upper-air variables with high significance and consistency to forecast extreme surface temperatures. The scheme projects key parts of composite patterns for one or more variables onto daily weather maps of the corresponding variables resulting in a ??circulation index?? for each day. The circulation index measures how similar the pattern on that day is to the composite patterns in areas dynamically relevant to a CV extremely hot day, with a larger value for a stronger match and larger amplitude. The scheme is tested on the development period (1979?C1988) and on the subsequent 18?year ??independent?? period (1989?C2006). The pilot scheme captures about half of the rare events in the development period, with similar skill for the independent period. Based only on 16?days of extreme heat in the first 10?years, the scheme is not intended to represent the general distribution; however the circulation index has similar kurtosis, variance, and skewness as the observed maximum temperatures. Properties of the high end tail of the distribution are notably improved by adding the second predictor. The scheme outperforms simply using 850?hPa temperature above the CV.     

Geochronology of Precambrian rocks in the Laramie Range and implications for the tectonic framework of Precambrian southern Wyoming

From Casper Mountain; at its northern end, to the northwestern margin of the Laramie anorthosite—syenite complex, in its central parts, the Laramie Range is underlain by granite and granitic gneiss that has a minimum age of 2.54 ± 0.04 Ga (Rb/Sr whole-rock isochron) and by metasedimentary rocks, including marble and quartzite, that appear to overlie the granitic gneiss nonconformably (minimum age: 1.7 Ga based on several horn-blende K/Ar dates). Southward from the anorthosite—syenite complex into Colorado, the Range is underlain chiefly by the Sherman Granite (1.41 Ga; Peterman and Hedge, 1968) and scattered patches of gneiss that are not dated, but are tentatively correlated wit similar gneiss in the southern Medicine Bow Mountains and in the Colorado Front Range, where they are dated as ? 1.7 Ga (Peterman and Hedge, 1968).The Laramie anorthosite—syenite complex (minimum age: ? 1.42 Ga or ? 1.51 Ga if a hornblende K/Ar date is accepted) apparently intruded the suture separating the old (? 2.5 Ga) continental edge from younger (? 1.7 Ga) geosynclinal rocks. The suture, which manifests itself as the Mullen Creek—Nash Fork shear zone in the Medicine Bow Mountains, also is the boundary between ensialic and ensimatic geosynclinal deposition that occurred during the interval 1.7–2.5 Ga ago.K/Ar dates on biotite and muscovite from rocks north of the anorthosite—syenite complex grade from 2.5 Ga on Casper Mountain down to 1.38 Ga near the complex. Near its northern tip, the Laramie Range is crossed by a geochronologic front, separating 2.5 Ga old gneiss whose K/Ar dates were not lowered by subsequent metamorphism from 2.5 Ga old gneiss whose mica dates were reset between 1.4 and 1.6 Ga ago.