Physical and thermal treatment of phosphate ores — An overview

The annual consumption of phosphate rock approached 150 million tons. The marketable phosphate is usually 30% P₂O₅ or higher. The run-of-mine material is mostly of lower grade which needs processing or upgrading. The processing techniques of phosphate ores depend mostly on the type of associated gangue minerals present in the mined rock. In some cases, simple, inexpensive techniques are enough to produce the required grade. For example, crushing and screening is used to get rid of the coarse hard siliceous material, and attrition scrubbing and desliming is used to remove the clayey fine fraction. If silica is the main gangue material, single-stage or double-stage flotation is the conventional mineral processing technique used in this case. If the ore is igneous carbonatitic alkaline or ultra basic phosphate deposit, crushing, grinding, scrubbing, and flotation associated with other steps such as magnetic and/or gravity separation is proved to be successful in upgrading this type of ore. The sedimentary phosphate ores having carbonate-apatite as the main phosphate minerals and containing carbonates (calcite and/or dolomite) represent a challenge in the field of phosphate concentration due to similarity in the physico-chemical properties of surfaces of the ore constituents. Also, if considerable amount of organic matter constitutes the main gangue material, upgrading of the ore becomes difficult. New flotation systems (techniques and reagents) are being developed to treat these challenging phosphate ores. Furthermore, calcination is another solution for upgrading these difficult-to-treat types of ores. However, calcination is indicted with some controversial drawbacks. This overview discusses and summarizes the State-of-the-Art and the existing efforts to overcome these problems and to produce a high-grade phosphate product suitable for fertilizers and other phosphate compounds.     

不同污染条件下气溶胶对短波辐射通量影响的模拟研究

将高光谱分辨率的气溶胶光学参数化方案应用于高精度的辐射传输模式BCC_RAD（974带）中,研究不同污染状况下气溶胶在地表与近地层大气中造成的直接辐射强迫与辐射强迫效率。发现气溶胶在地表产生的直接辐射强迫为负,在近地层大气中产生的直接辐射强迫为正,且随气溶胶浓度的升高变大,说明大气气溶胶的含量越高,单位气溶胶光学厚度产生的直接辐射强迫越大。将短波划分为3个波段:紫外、可见光和近红外,发现在紫外、可见光和近红外波段中,不同污染状况下气溶胶在地表造成的直接辐射强迫范围分别为:-1.36—-13.66、-3.03—-32.41和-2.74—-28.62 W/m2,在近地层大气中产生的直接辐射强迫范围分别为0.44—4.26、0.99—9.80和0.93—8.87 W/m2。通过进一步对比自然和人为气溶胶的影响,发现人为气溶胶在地表和大气层顶产生的负直接辐射强迫以及对整层和近地面大气造成的正直接辐射强迫均大于自然气溶胶的影响,且上述两种排放源的气溶胶对整层大气辐射收支的影响主要集中在800 hPa高度以下的大气中。按照地表直接辐射强迫大小来分析不同种类气溶胶的影响,结果为硫酸盐>有机碳>黑碳>海盐>沙尘;按照近地层大气直接辐射强迫大小排序则为黑碳>有机碳>沙尘>海盐>硫酸盐。最后,通过分析散射型气溶胶与吸收型气溶胶对辐射通量的影响,还探究了大气中散射与吸收过程的异同。      

The production of Ganymede's magnetic field

One of the great discoveries of NASA's Galileo mission was the presence of an intrinsically produced magnetic field at Ganymede. Generation of the relatively strong (750 nT) field likely requires dynamo action in Ganymede's metallic core, but how such a dynamo has been maintained into the present epoch remains uncertain. Using a one-dimensional, three layer thermal model of Ganymede, we find that magnetic field generation can only occur if the sulfur mass fraction in Ganymede's core is very low (?3%) or very high (?21%), and the silicate mantle can cool rapidly (i.e. it has a viscosity like wet olivine). However, these requirements are not necessarily compatible with cosmochemical and physical models of the satellite. We therefore investigate an alternative scenario for producing Ganymede's magnetic field in which passage through an eccentricity pumping Laplace-like resonance in Ganymede's past enables present day dynamo action in the metallic core. If sufficient tidal dissipation occurs in Ganymede's silicate mantle during resonance passage, silicate temperatures can undergo a runaway which prevents the core from cooling until the resonance passage ends. The rapid silicate and core cooling that follows resonance escape triggers dynamo action via thermal and/or compositional convection. To test the feasibility of this mechanism we couple our thermal model with an orbital evolution model to examine the effects of resonance passage on Ganymede's silicate mantle and metallic core. We find that, contrary to expectations, there are no physically plausible scenarios in which tidal heating in the silicates is sufficient to cause the thermal runaway necessary to prevent core cooling. These findings are robust to variations in the silicate rheology, tidal dissipation factor of Jupiter (QJ), structure of the ice shell, and the inclusion of partial melting in the silicate mantle. Resonance passage therefore appears unlikely to explain Ganymede's magnetic field and we must appeal to the special conditions described above to explain the presence of the field.     

A New Method for Predicting the Decadal Component of Global SST

A simple approach that considers both internal decadal variability and the effect of anthropogenic forcing is developed to predict the decadal components of global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) for the three decades 2011-2040. The internal decadal component is derived by harmonic wave expansion analyses based on the quasiperiodic evolution of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), as obtained from observational SST datasets. Furthermore, the external decadal component induced by anthropogenic forcing is assessed with a second-order fit based on the ensemble of projected SSTs in the experiments with multiple coupled climate models associated with the third Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) under the Intergovernmental Panels on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Reports on Emissions Scenario (SRES) A1B. A validation for the years from 2002 to 2010 based on a comparison of the predicted and the observed SST and their spatial correlation, as well as the root mean square error (RMSE), suggests that the approach is reasonable overall. In addition, the predicted results over the 50°S-50°N global band, the Indian Ocean, the western Pacific Ocean, the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, and the North and the South Atlantic Ocean are presented.     

Hydrological changes in the European midlatitudes associated with freshwater outbursts from Lake Agassiz during the Younger Dryas event and the early Holocene

Recent studies of lake-level fluctuations during the last deglaciation in eastern France (Jura Mountains and Pre-Alps) and on the Swiss Plateau show distinct phases of higher water level developing at the beginning and during the latter part of Greenland Stade 1 (i.e., Younger Dryas event) and punctuating the early Holocene period at 11,250-11,050, 10,300-10,000, 9550-9150, 8300-8050, and 7550-7250 cal yr B.P. The phases at 11,250-11,050 and 8300-8050 cal yr B.P. appear to be related to the cool Preboreal Oscillation and the 8200 yr event assumed to be associated with deglaciation events. A comparison of this mid-European lake-level record with the outbursts from proglacial Lake Agassiz in North America suggests that, between 13,000 and 8000 cal yr B.P., phases of positive water balance were the response in west-central Europe to climate cooling episodes, which were induced by perturbation of the thermohaline circulation due to sudden freshwater releases to oceans. This probably was in response to a southward migration of the Atlantic Westerly Jet and its associated cyclonic track. Moreover, it is hypothesized that, during the early Holocene, varying solar activity could have been a crucial factor by amplifying or reducing the possible effects of Lake Agassiz outbursts on the climate.     

基于热红外遥感的农田蒸散估算方法研究综述

农田蒸散是农田土壤蒸发和作物蒸腾的总称,基于热红外遥感的农田蒸散估算方法研究是农业遥感领域重要前沿课题之一。经过30多年的发展,基于热红外遥感的遥感蒸散算法逐渐成熟并广泛应用于农业、气象以及水文等多个领域。简要回顾基于热红外遥感地表温度与空气温度温差的经验方法、地表能量平衡的单层和双层模型、基于热红外遥感数据源的彭曼公式以及遥感参数化的Priestley-Taylor模型等多种遥感蒸散模型的基本原理、核心算法以及存在问题等研究。针对这些方法的优缺点,指出了基于热红外遥感的农田蒸散估算方法在农业遥感中尚需解决的关键问题,并提出可能的解决途径。     

沙尘气溶胶的光学特性及辐射强迫效应

在采用OPAC折射指数资料库和对数分布的基础上,利用MIE散射理论和一个简单的概念模型研究了沙尘气溶胶的辐射特性及全球直接辐射强迫值,分析了单相系沙尘气溶胶的消光、散射、吸收效率因子与粒径的关系,讨论了多相系沙尘气溶胶的光学参数随波长的变化特征。结果表明,消光效率因子和散射效率因子随粒径增大而衰减振荡,随波长增大振荡特性逐渐消失。消光系数对众数半径的变化很敏感,单次散射反照率和非对称因子对众数半径的变化不敏感。沙尘气溶胶的直接辐射强迫受气溶胶的单次散射反照率影响很大,随着众数半径的增大,沙尘气溶胶的负的直接辐射强迫值在减小,正辐射强迫值在增大。     

卫星热红外遥感资料在地震预报中的应用研究

利用NOAA—AVHRR数据通过Becker ＆ Li地温计算模型反演，得到有关地震发生前后每日的地表温度分布图像，然后进行逐日的地表温度分布图像以及震源区地表温度平均值日变时序曲线分析。结果表明震前出现了较明显的热红外地震前兆异常。最后指出，从NOAA—AVHRR数据中利用分裂窗技术反演陆地表面温度结果容易受到云层的干扰，但是更高空间分辨率和光谱分辨率的EOS／MODIS数据的产生以及由于EOS／AMSU能够透过云层探测到地表亮温，必将使卫星遥感热红外信息在地震监测预报中的应用范围及深度上得以拓展。     

From Middle Jurassic heating to Neogene cooling: The thermochronological evolution of the southern Alps

The Dolomite region is located in the Southern Alps, which were affected by Mesozoic extensional tectonics and by consequent thermal perturbations. In this work, vitrinite reflectance and apatite fission-track analysis are used to estimate the thermal evolution. These methodologies have been applied to the Permo-Mesozoic succession, which crops out along the TRANSALP seismic profile. The regional distribution of the organic matter maturity seems to be mainly controlled by different burials reached during the Norian-Liassic extensional phase, in connection with high heat flow values. The best solutions obtained from thermal modelling of both vitrinite and fission-track data suggest that peak of high heat flow occurred during Bajocian–Bathonian ages, when western Tethys was characterized by intrusions of gabbros and plagiogranites and extrusion of tholeiite basalts. This time coincides with the onset of the drifting phase and related thermal subsidence. The following thermal relaxation occurred during continuous sedimentation and the maximum burial does not coincide with peak temperatures. Cooling history has been carefully analysed through apatite fission-track data on samples collected close to the Valsugana overthrust, which document an important exhumation event at about 10 Ma. The related erosion has been analysed through the combined use of arenite petrography and fission-track analysis on detrital samples of the Veneto foredeep succession, which represents the storage of detritus during Tertiary. These data confirm that after Serravalian the Southalpine domain and related covers were affected by subaerial erosion.     

Evidence for progressive Holocene aridification in southern Africa recorded in Namibian hyrax middens: Implications for African Monsoon dynamics and the ‘‘African Humid Period’’

Presented here are stable nitrogen isotope data from a rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) middens from northwestern Namibia that record a series of rapid aridification events beginning at ca. 3800 cal yr BP, and which mark a progressive decrease in regional humidity across the Holocene. Strong correlations exist between this record and other terrestrial and marine archives from southern Africa, indicating that the observed pattern of climate change is regionally coherent. Combined, these data indicate hemispheric synchrony in tropical African climate change during the Holocene, with similar trends characterising the termination of the ‘African Humid Period’ (AHP) in both the northern and southern tropics. These findings run counter to the widely accepted model of direct low-latitude insolation forcing, which requires an anti-phase relationship to exist between the hemispheres. The combined dataset highlights: 1) the importance of forcing mechanisms influencing the high northern latitudes in effecting low-latitude climate change in Africa, and 2) the potential importance of solar forcing and variations in the Earth's geomagnetic shield in determining both long-term and rapid centennial-scale climate changes, identifying a possible mechanism for the variations marking the AHP termination in both the southern and northern tropics.