Upper mantle convection beneath northwest China and its adjacent region driven by density anomaly

Introduction The northwest of China includes Tarim, Junggar and Qaidam basins, and Kunlun, Tianshan, Altun and Qilian mountains, as well as the north part of the Tibetan Plateau. For a long time, the study of lithosphere structures and dynamics in this area has been a popular topic in geoscience, and has yielded many results. For example, TANG (1994) and LI et al (1998) suppose that the tectonic structure of Tarim Basin is various with geological periods, which changes many times betwee…     

Tangling Turbulence and Semi-Organized Structures in Convective Boundary Layers

A new mean-field theory of turbulent convection is developed based on the idea that only the small-scale region of the spectrum is considered as turbulence, whereas its large-scale part, including both regular and semi-organized motions, is treated as the mean flow. In the shear-free regime, this theory predicts the convective wind instability, which causes the formation of large-scale semi-organized motions in the form of cells. In the presence of wind shear, the theory predicts another type of instability, which causes the formation of large-scale semi-organized structures in the form of rolls and the generation of convective-shear waves propagating perpendicular to the convective rolls. The spatial characteristics of these structures, such as the minimum size of the growing perturbations and the size of perturbations with the maximum growth rate, are determined. This theory might be useful for understanding the origin of large-scale cells and rolls observed in the convective boundary layer and laboratory turbulent convection     

库尔勒地区两次强对流天气过程的形势和雷达回波对比分析

通过对2006年5月3日和7月17日库尔勒地区两次强对流天气的形势和物理量对比分析,以及库尔勒新一代天气雷达(CINRAD-CC)产品中的组合反射率(CR)、风暴相对平均径向速度(V)等产品的分析,得出库尔勒地区夏季强对流天气过程发生时的有利天气形势、物理量场分布及多谱勒天气雷达产品特征。     

从大洋中脊反思大陆漂移说——兼论地球膨裂说

本文通过讨论地幔对流的可能性以及大洋中脊的运动方式,证明了大陆漂移说对大陆漂移的源动力的解释仍存在漏洞,并提出大陆漂移源动力与地球膨裂的关系。对大陆漂移说具有补充性。     

The Role of History-Dependent Rheology in Plate Boundary Lubrication for Generating One-Sided Subduction

We have developed a two-dimensional dynamical model of asymmetric subduction integrated into the mantle convection without imposed plate velocities. In this model we consider that weak oceanic crust behaves as a lubricator on the thrust fault at the plate boundary. We introduce a rheological layer that depends on the history of the past fracture to simulate the effect of the oceanic crust. The thickness of this layer is set to be as thin as the Earth's oceanic crust. To treat 1-kilometer scale structure at the plate boundary in the 1000-kilometer scale mantle convection calculation, we introduce a new numerical method to solve the hydrodynamic equations using a couple of uniform and nonuniform grids of control volumes. Using our developed models, we have systematically investigated effects of basic rheological parameters that determine the deformation strength of the lithosphere and the oceanic crust on the development of the subducted slab, with a focus on the plate motion controlling mechanism. In our model the plate subduction is produced when the friction coefficient (0.004–0.008) of the modeled oceanic crust and the maximum strength (400 MPa) of the lithosphere are in plausible range inferred from the observations on the plate driving forces and the plate deformation, and the rheology experiments. In this range of the plate strength, yielding induces the plate bending. In this case the speed of plate motion is controlled more by viscosity layering of the underlying mantle than by the plate strength. To examine the setting of the overriding plate, we also consider the two end-member cases in which the overriding plate is fixed or freely-movable. In the case of the freely-movable overriding plate, the trench motion considerably changes the dip angle of the deep slab. Especially in the case with a shallow-angle plate boundary, retrograde slab motion occurs to generate a shallow-angle deep slab.     

广西强降水强对流天气专业预报服务系统

分析了当前专业预报服务的现状,根据需要建立了一套完善的强降水、强对流天气动态监测、分析和预报服务系统。该系统具有对气象信息采集、加工、分发、传输等自动化的功能,实现了对强降水、强对流天气、台风的实时监测和及时发布。     

Transfer processes in a simulated urban street canyon

The transfer processes within and above a simulated urban street canyon were investigated in a generic manner. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to aid understanding and to produce some simple operational parameterisations. In this study we addressed specifically the commonly met situation where buoyancy effects arising from elevated surface temperatures are not important, i.e. when mechanical forces outweigh buoyancy forces. In a geophysical context this requires that some suitably defined Richardson number is small. From an engineering perspective this is interpreted as the important case when heat transfer within and above urban street canyons is by forced convection. Surprisingly, this particular scenario (for which the heat transfer coefficient between buildings and the flow is largest), has been less well studied than the situation where buoyancy effects are important. The CFD technique was compared against wind-tunnel experiments to provide model evaluation. The height-to-width ratio of the canyon was varied through the range 0.5–5 and the flow was normal to the canyon axis. By setting the canyon’s facets to have the same or different temperatures or to have a partial temperature distribution, simulations were carried out to investigate: (a) the influence of geometry on the flow and mixing within the canyon and (b) the exchange processes within the canyon and across the canyon top interface. Results showed that the vortex-type circulation and turbulence developed within the canyon produced a temperature distribution that was, essentially, spatially uniform (apart from a relatively thin near-wall thermal boundary layer) This allowed the temperatures within the street canyon to be specified by just one value T _can , the canyon temperature. The variation of T _can with wind speed, surface temperatures and geometry was extensively studied. Finally, the exchange velocity u _E across the interface between the canyon and the flow above was calculated based on a heat flux balance within the canyon and between the canyon and the flow above. Results showed that u _E was approximately 1% of a characteristic wind velocity above the street canyon. The problem of radiative exchange is not addressed but it can, of course, be introduced analytically, or computationally, when necessary.     

The kinematic dynamo action of spiralling convective flows

We consider the kinematic production of magnetic fields in a sphere by velocity fields dominated by differential rotation and spiralling convective cells. The high magnetic Reynolds number limit of Braginsky (1964) is considered and formulae are derived allowing an α-effect parametrization of such flows to be easily calculated. This permits an axisymmetric system to be investigated in parallel with the direct 3-D numerical computations. Good agreement between the asymptotic and 3-D calculations is found. The 'spiralling' property typical of convective motion in rotating spheres is important in terms of dynamo action; the differential rotation coexisting with this feature is also vital. Indeed, it is the presence of both features which allows the analysis of Braginsky to be employed. With flows approximating the columnar form anticipated for rapidly rotating convection, dynamo action is relatively easily achieved for all azimuthal wavenumbers; modes of differing wavenumbers interact almost by a simple superposition. With flows of more complex latitudinal form, the mutual interactions between modes become more complicated. For columnar-type flows, dipole magnetic fields are favoured when the sense of outward spiralling is prograde and the zonal flow is eastwards, as is physically preferred.     

Substorm associated radar auroral surges: a statistical study and possible generation model

Substorm-associated radar auroral surges (SARAS) are a short lived (15–90 minutes) and spatially localised (5° of latitude) perturbation of the plasma convection pattern observed within the auroral E-region. The understanding of such phenomena has important ramifications for the investigation of the larger scale plasma convection and ultimately the coupling of the solar wind, magnetosphere and ionosphere system. A statistical investigation is undertaken of SARAS, observed by the Sweden And Britain Radar Experiment (SABRE), in order to provide a more extensive examination of the local time occurrence and propagation characteristics of the events. The statistical analysis has determined a local time occurrence of observations between 1420 MLT and 2200 MLT with a maximum occurrence centred around 1700 MLT. The propagation velocity of the SARAS feature through the SABRE field of view was found to be predominately L-shell aligned with a velocity centred around 1750 ms^–1 and within the range 500 m s^–1 and 3500 m s^–1. This comprehensive examination of the SARAS provides the opportunity to discuss, qualitatively, a possible generation mechanism for SARAS based on a proposed model for the production of a similar phenomenon referred to as sub-auroral ion drifts (SAIDs). The results of the comparison suggests that SARAS may result from a similar geophysical mechanism to that which produces SAID events, but probably occurs at a different time in the evolution of the event.