Challenging a Paradigm: Do We Need Active and Inactive Areas to Account for Near-Nuclear Jet Activity?

We briefly describe an advanced 3D gas dynamical model developed for the simulation of theenvironment of active cometary nuclei. The model canhandle realistic nucleus shapes and alternative physical models for the gas and dust production mechanism.The inner gas coma structure is computed by solving self-consistently(a) near to the surface the Boltzman Equation(b) outside of it, Euler or Navier-Stokes equations.The dust distribution is computed from multifluid ``zero-temperature' Euler equations,extrapolated with the help of a Keplerian fountain model.The evolution of the coma during the nucleus orbital and spin motion,is computed as a succession of quasi-steady solutions. Earlier versions of the model using simple,``paedagogic' nuclei have demonstrated that the surface orographyand the surface inhomogeneity contribute similarly to structuring the near-nucleusgas and dust coma,casting a shadow on the automatic attribution of such structures to ``active areas'.The model was recently applied to comet P/Halley, for whichthe nucleus shape is available. In the companion paper of this volume,we show that most near-nucleus dust structuresobserved during the 1986 Halley flybys are reproduced, assuming that the nucleus is strictly homogeneous. Here, we investigate the effect of shape perturbations and homogeneityperturbations. We show that the near nucleus gas coma structure is robust vis-a-vissuch effects. In particular, a random distribution of active and inactive areaswould not affect considerably this structure, suggesting that such areas,even if present, could not be easily identified on images of the coma.     

Detection of rovibrationally excited H2 formed through the heterogeneous recombination of H atoms on a cold HOPG surface

This paper reports results from an experiment designed to measure the nascent rovibrational population of H₂ molecules that have formed through the heterogeneous recombination of H atoms on the surface of cosmic dust analogues under conditions approaching those of the interstellar medium (ISM). H₂ that has formed on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface has been detected, using laser induced resonance-enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI), in the v = 1 (J= 0–3) rovibrational states at surface temperatures of 30 K and 50 K. These excited product molecules display rotational temperatures significantly higher than the target surface temperature. These first results suggest that a considerable proportion of the binding energy released on formation of the H₂ is deposited in the surface, in addition to internal excitation of the product molecules. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Strong interplanetary field enhancements at Ulysses—evidence of dust trails' interaction with the solar wind?

Interplanetary field enhancements were first discovered in the vicinity of Venus. These events are characterised by an increase in the magnitude of the heliospheric magnetic field with a near-symmetrical, sometimes thorn-shaped profile, and last from minutes to hours. Surveys of the events near Venus and Earth indicated clustering of the events in inertial space, which suggested that their sources were Solar System objects other than the Sun. A survey is presented of strong events of this type detected by the Ulysses spacecraft from 1990 to late 2001. Most of the events are accompanied by a discontinuity in the field direction near the events' centres. Other discontinuities are often symmetrical about the enhancement. The majority of events last less than two hours. When examined as a whole, the events tend to be accompanied by subtle changes in some plasma parameters. The majority of the enhancements are accompanied by magnetic holes on their fringes. The enhancements' occurrence rate increases with decreasing heliocentric distance. Possible formation mechanisms are discussed. No link was found with solar, or solar wind sources. Several aspects of the survey results are consistent with an origin related to cometary dust trails. Possible processes associated with a dust-solar wind interaction are discussed.     

Diffuse Galactic light at high Galactic latitude: nature and interpretation

The hypothesis of an extended red emission (ERE) in diffuse Galactic light (DGL) has been put forward in 1998 by Gordon, Witt & Friedmann who found that scattered starlight was not enough to explain the amount of DGL in the R band, in some high Galactic latitude directions. This paper re-investigates, for high Galactic latitudes, the brightnesses and colours of DGL, integrated star and galaxy light (ISGL), and of the total extrasolar light (ISGL+DGL) measured by Pioneer. Under the traditional assumption that DGL is forward scattering of background starlight by interstellar dust on the line of sight, ISGL and Pioneer have very close colours, as it is found by Gordon, Witt & Friedmann. Pioneer observations at high |b| thus accept an alternative and simple interpretation, with no involvement of ERE in DGL.     

Determination of historical emission of heavy metals into the atmosphere: Celje case study

The research shows that in the Celje area (Slovenia), the historical anthropogenical emissions are 1,712 tons of Zn and 9.1 tons of Cd. For Zn, this value represents approximately 0.3% of the total Zn production in that area. Close to the former zinc smelting plant, the “Zn precipitation” has been estimated to be up to 0.036 mm. The 100-year Zn production left behind a heavily contaminated area with maximum concentrations of Zn of up to 5.6% in attic dust and 0.85% in the soil, and 456 mg/kg of Cd in attic dust and 59.1 mg/kg in the soil. The calculation of historical emissions is based on the data of heavy metals concentration in the attic dust at 98 sampling points and on the data from 19 measurement sites of the weight of total monthly air deposit. The main idea behind determining past emissions is that when the weight of the deposited dust on a small area is multiplied by the concentration of the element in that area, the mass of the polluter which has been transported to the place of interest by air can be calculated. If we sum up all the weight over the whole geochemical anomaly, we get the quantity of historical emissions.     

Li-Sr-Nd isotope signatures of the plume and cratonic lithospheric mantle beneath the margin of the rifted Tanzanian craton (Labait)

Lithium concentrations and isotopic compositions of olivine and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd of coexisting clinopyroxene from peridotite xenoliths from the Quaternary Labait volcano, Tanzania, document the influence of rift-related metasomatism on the ancient cratonic mantle. Olivines show negative correlations between Fo content and both δ⁷Li and Li concentrations. Olivines in iron-rich peridotites (Fo_85–87) have high Li concentrations (3.2–4.8 ppm) and heavy δ⁷Li (+5.2 to +6.6). In contrast, olivines in ancient, refractory peridotites have lower Li concentrations (∼2 ppm) and relatively light δ⁷Li (+2.6 to +3.5). This reflects mixing between ancient, refractory cratonic lithosphere and asthenosphere-derived rift magmas. A uniquely fertile, deformed, high-temperature garnet lherzolite, interpreted to be from the base of the lithosphere, has a ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of 0.7029 and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd of 0.51286, similar to HIMU oceanic basalts. It provides the best estimate of the Sr–Nd isotope composition of the upwelling mantle (i.e., plume, sensu lato) underlying this portion of the East African Rift, and is slightly less radiogenic compared to previous estimates of the plume that were based on rift basalts. Although elevated δ⁷Li are not exclusive to HIMU source regions, the data collectively indicate that the plume beneath Labait has HIMU characteristics in Sr, Nd and Li isotope composition. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

离子色谱分析在黄土和粉尘研究中的应用

黄土中存在着大量的碱金属及碱土金属，以往的测试方法多为原子吸收和ICP—MS，离子色谱法在测试黄土样品的碱金属和碱土金属元素含量中应用不多。将黄土地质标准样品进行消解后用离子色谱进行测试，测试效果良好，重复测试的相对标准偏差小于5％，与推荐值的相对误差小于5％，准确度和精密度符舍相关的质量控制要求。本实验方法测试的离子含量都在仪器响应呈线性的最佳测试范围之内，标准曲线经回归后相关系数均达到0．9999。黄土样品的分析结果与粉尘气溶胶样品的离子分析结果对比表明，此方法对于探讨粉尘起源以及沙尘暴天气的研究具有重要意义。