Relationship between the path of the Kuroshio in the south of Japan and the path of the Kuroshio Extension in the east

A relationship between paths of the Kuroshio and Kuroshio Extension (KE) is investigated, using the satellite-derived altimetry dataset of 1993–2008. When the Kuroshio takes the nearshore nonlarge meander path or typical large meander path and resultantly goes through the deeper channel (about 2500 m) of the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge, the KE path adopts a relatively stable state with the two quasi-stationary meanders. On the other hand, when the Kuroshio takes the offshore nonlarge meander path and then passes over the shallower part of the Ridge (about 1000 m), the KE path tends to be convoluted, i.e., an unstable state.     

A new method of snowmelt sampling for water stable isotopes

We modified a passive capillary sampler (PCS) to collect snowmelt water for isotopic analysis. Past applications of PCSs have been to sample soil water, but the novel aspect of this study was the placement of the PCSs at the ground‐snowpack interface to collect snowmelt. We deployed arrays of PCSs at 11 sites in ten partner countries on five continents representing a range of climate and snow cover worldwide. The PCS reliably collected snowmelt at all sites and caused negligible evaporative fractionation effects in the samples. PCS is low‐cost, easy to install, and collects a representative integrated snowmelt sample throughout the melt season or at the melt event scale. Unlike snow cores, the PCS collects the water that would actually infiltrate the soil; thus, its isotopic composition is appropriate to use for tracing snowmelt water through the hydrologic cycle. The purpose of this Briefing is to show the potential advantages of PCSs and recommend guidelines for constructing and installing them based on our preliminary results from two snowmelt seasons. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrogen flicker and associated high-energy radiation

The accretion of matter onto stars formed by carbon-oxygen cores triggers hydrogen flicker. The development of hydrogen flicker and the shock generation associated therewith are discussed. If the matter thus ejected is halted by a dense gas surrounding a star, a corona of high temperature is formed. This may take place in dense planetary nebulae and is regarded as an origin of starlike X-ray sources. More violent hydrogen flicker takes place at white dwarfs and may be an origin of novae. Nuclear-reaction products ejected are positron sources and they may provide MeV positrons as strong as 10^–3 cm^–2 sec^–1 sr^–1. Nuclides produced by hydrogen flicker and a part of the carbon-oxygen core ejected may contribute to galactic cosmic rays; their chemical composition is like that observed in cosmic rays.