The importance of energetic particle precipitation on the chemical composition of the middle atmosphere

An assessment is made of the relative contribution of certain classes of energetic particle precipitation to the chemical composition of the middle atmosphere with emphasis placed on the production of odd nitrogen and odd hydrogen species and their subsequent role in the catalytic removal of ozone. Galactic cosmic radiation is an important source of odd nitrogen in the lower stratosphere but since the peak energy deposition occurs below the region where catalytic removal of O₃ is most effective, it is questionable whether this mechanism is important in the overall terrestrial ozone budget. The precipitation of energetic solar protons can periodically produce dramatic enhancement in upper stratospheric NO. The long residence time of NO in this region of the atmosphere, where catalytic interaction with O₃ is also most effective, mandates that this mechanism be included in future modelling of the global distribution of O₃. Throughout the mesosphere the precipitation of energetic electrons from the outer radiation belt (60°70°) can sporadically act as a major local source of odd hydrogen and odd nitrogen leading to observable O₃ depletion. Future satellite studies should be directed at simultaneously measuring the precipitation flux and the concomitant atmosphere modification, and these results should be employed to develop more sophisticated models of this important coupling.     

Planetary,solar and astrophysical relativistic electrons: Common energization mechanisms?

Direct observations or deduced analysis indicate clearly that formation of intense fluxes of relativistic electrons is an important ingredient in the evolution of numerous active magnetized plasma systems. Examples of relativistic electron energization include the recovery phase of a planetary magnetic storm, post solar flare coronal activity and the afterglow of gamma ray bursts. It is suggested that there exists a universal mechanism, which may explain electron energization at the vastly different magnetized plasma environments. The favorite configuration consists of an inhomogeneous magnetic field anchored at a given magnetic structure and excitation of whistler waves due to external injection of low-energy non-isotropic electrons. The energization proceeds as a bootstrap process due to interaction with the propagating whistler waves along the inhomogeneous magnetic field.     

Composite suspended sediment particles in river systems: their incidence,dynamics and physical characteristics

Most of the existing data on the effective particle size characteristics of fluvial suspended sediment derive from instantaneous sampling methods that may not be representative of the overall suspended sediment loads. This presents difficulties when there is a need to incorporate effective particle size data into numerical models of floodplain sedimentation and sediment‐associated contaminant transfer. We have used a field‐based water elutriation apparatus (WEA) to assemble a large (36 flood) database on the time‐integrated nature of the effective and absolute particle size characteristics of suspended sediment in four subcatchments of the River Exe basin of southwest England. These catchments encompass a wide range of terrains and fluvial environments that are broadly representative of much of the UK and temperate, low relief northwest Europe. The WEA provides important data on the physical characteristics of composite particles that are not attainable using other methods. This dataset has allowed, for the first time, detailed interbasin comparisons of the time‐integrated particle size characteristics of suspended sediment and reliable estimates of the contribution of five effective size classes to the mean annual suspended sediment load of the study catchments. The suspended sediment load of each river is dominated by composite rather than primary particles, with, for example, almost 60% (by mass) of the sediment load of the River Exe at Thorverton transported as composite particles > 16 µm in size. All the effective size classes contain significant clay components. A key outcome of this study is the recognition that each catchment has a distinctive time‐integrated effective particle size signature. In addition, the time‐integrated effective particle size characteristics of the suspended loads in each of the catchments display much greater spatial variability than the equivalent absolute particle size distributions. This indicates that the processes producing composite particles vary significantly between these catchments, and this has important implications for our understanding of the dynamics of suspended sediment properties. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

天体物理环境中的硅酸盐尘粒

硅酸盐尘粒是宇宙尘埃的主要成分之一,它广泛存在于许多天体物理环境中,其特性随环境而变化。由于近年来观测数据的不断增加和红外光谱质量的逐步提高,宇宙空间中的硅酸盐尘粒正受到越来越多的关注．该文详细地介绍了在各种天体环境(星际空间、演化晚期恒星的星周尘埃包层、绕年轻恒星和主序星的星周尘埃盘、彗星的彗发和行星际空间)中的硅酸盐尘粒的观测特征,并分别对其物理和化学性质进行了综合比较．观测已经证实在星际尘埃演化的前身(演化晚期恒星的星周尘埃包层)和其遗迹(彗星)均有可观数量的结晶硅酸盐存在。但是至今还没有在其中间态(弥散星际介质)找到结晶硅酸盐存在的证据。这一尚未解决的难题突出了结晶态硅酸盐在天体物理研究中的重要意义。     

The Origin and Acceleration of ~3He and Heavy Ions in the 2000 July 14 Event

1INTRODUCTIONEnrichment of3He and heavy ions(i.e.,Ne,Mg,Si and Fe),characteristic of impulsive?ares,have beenstudied for more than three decades.It is found that they are generally associated with nonthermal energeticelectron-rich events(Reames et al.1988;Reames1999and references therein;Ho et al.2001;Wang et al.2006)and are related to the peculiar ratio of charge to mass(Mazur et al.1996;Reames1999).Althoughthe abundance of3He ions is not correlated with the abundance of heavy ions,s…     

Particle distributions and X-ray spectra in single or multiple solar current sheets

The acceleration of charged particles in a site of magnetic reconnection is analysed by detailed numerical simulations. Single or multiple encounters of the particles with Harris-type reconnecting current sheets (RCSs) are modelled as an overall stochastic process taking place within an active region. RCS physical parameters are selected in a parameter space relevant to solar flares. Initially, the charged particles form a thermal (Maxwellian) distribution corresponding to coronal temperature  ≃2 × 10⁶ K  . Our main goal is to investigate how the acceleration process changes the shape of the particles' kinetic energy distribution. The evolution of the kinetic energy distribution, calculated numerically after one encounter of the particles with a single RCS, is found to be in good agreement with our previously published analytical formulae. In the case of consecutive encounters, we find that the kinetic distribution tends to converge to a practically invariant form after a relatively small number of encounters. We construct a discrete stochastic process that reproduces the numerical distributions and we provide a theoretical interpretation of the asymptotic convergence of the energy distribution. We finally compute the theoretical X-ray spectra that would be emitted by the simulated particles in a thick target model of radiation.     

沉积物捕获器在海岸与陆架沉积动力研究中的应用:以罗源湾和台湾海峡为例

运用时间序列的沉积物捕获器对海岸与陆架海域沉降颗粒物进行采集,估算沉降通量,并运用多学科综合研究手段分析沉降颗粒物的来源、组成、时空变化及控制因素,可以为海岸与陆架沉积动力过程的研究提供新的研究手段。福建罗源湾的实验表明,夏季罗源湾潮下带小潮至中潮期间的沉降通量为133.20~256.18g/(m2·t);由中潮向大潮变化期间单个潮周期的沉降通量明显增大,台风过后的大潮期间的沉降通量为373.99~590.51g/(m2·t);台风显著影响期间的沉降通量为746.34g/(m2·t);粒度分析及水动力观测结果显示,观测期间罗源湾潮下带沉降颗粒物主要来源于海底沉积物的再悬浮。台湾海峡西北部内陆架海域的实验研究表明,该海域近底部悬浮颗粒物沉降通量最大值为13.34g/(m2·d),由小潮向中潮沉降通量逐渐增大,这主要是由于近底部温盐跃层层位上移,近底部垂向混合作用增强,致使底部再悬浮沉积物向上扩散,并最终被沉积物捕获器捕获。沉积物捕获器可以接收到再悬浮沉积物,结合底部边界层过程的观测研究,可以深入认识海底沉积物的侵蚀、沉降及埋藏过程,在研究海岸与陆架区沉积动力学、泥质区沉积记录的形成过程与保存潜力中扮演着十分重要的角色。