Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrophotometry Of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) Near Perihelion

We present 1- to 5-μm broadband and CVF images of comet Hale-Bopp taken 1997 February 10.5 UT, 50 days before perihelion. All the images exhibit a nonspherical coma with a bright “ridge” in the direction of the dust tail approximately 10″ from the coma. Synthetic aperture spectrophotometry implies that the optically important grains are of a radius ≤0.4 μm; smallest radius for any comet seen to date. The variation of the integrated surface brightness with radial distance from the coma (ρ) in all the images closely follows the “steady state” ρ⁻¹ model for comet dust ablation (Gehrz and Ney, 1992). The near-infrared colors taken along the dust tail are not constant implying the dust grain properties vary with coma distance. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Observations Of Scattered Light From Cometary Dust And Their Interpretation

This review begins with a discussion of the techniques needed for observations of scattered light from cometary dust. After an introduction into the basic concepts of the scattering process, observations of the phase curves of brightness, colour and polarization are covered. Images of colour and polarization are presented and the observed relation of colour and polarization in jets and shells is discussed. The interpretation of the measurements is based on the power law size distributions of dust grains observed from space. The power index must lie between 2 and 4 to provide the mass budget and visibility of the dust coma in accordance with the basic facts of cometary physics. Application of mechanical (radiation pressure) theory to cometary images allows us to derive related power law distributions for comets not explored by spacecraft. Grain scattering models are presented and compared with observations. A prediction is made of the spatial distribution of Stokes parameters U and V in the presence of aligned particles. Up to now such patterns have not been observed. Future work should include the exploration of comets at small and possibly very small phase angles and a detailed comparison of polarization and colour images of comets with thermal images and with models based on mechanical theory. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Grain alignment in dense interstellar environments: spectropolarimetry of the 4.67-μm CO-ice feature in the field star Elias 16 (Taurus dark cloud)

We present spectropolarimetry of the solid CO feature at 4.67 μm along the line of sight to Elias 16, a field star background to the Taurus dark cloud. A clear increase in polarization is observed across the feature with the peak of polarization shifted in wavelength relative to the peak of absorption. This shows that dust grains in dense, cold environments (temperatures ∼20 K or less) can align and produce polarization by dichroic absorption. For a grain model, consisting of a core with a single mantle, the polarization feature is best modelled by a thick CO mantle, possibly including 10 per cent water-ice, with the volume ratio of mantle to bare grain of ∼5. Radiative torques could be responsible for the grain alignment provided the grain radius is at least 0.5 μm. This would require the grain cores to have a radius of at least 0.3 μm, much larger than grain sizes in the diffuse interstellar medium. Sizes of this order seem reasonable on the basis of independent evidence for grain growth by coagulation, as well as mantle formation, inside dense clouds.     

A reanalysis of the Apollo light scattering observations, and implications for lunar exospheric dust

Conspicuous excess brightness, exceeding that expected from coronal and zodiacal light (CZL), was observed above the lunar horizon in the Apollo 15 coronal photographic sequence acquired immediately after orbital sunset (surface sunrise). This excess brightness systematically faded as the Command Module moved farther into shadow, eventually becoming indistinguishable from the CZL background. These observations have previously been attributed to scattering by ultrafine dust grains (radius ∼0.1 microns) in the lunar exosphere, and used to obtain coarse estimates of dust concentration at several altitudes and an order-of-magnitude estimate of ∼10⁻⁹ g cm⁻² for the column mass of dust near the terminator, collectively referred to as model “0”.We have reanalyzed the Apollo 15 orbital sunset sequence by incorporating the known sightline geometries in a Mie-scattering simulation code, and then inverting the measured intensities to retrieve exospheric dust concentration as a function of altitude and distance from the terminator. Results are presented in terms of monodisperse (single grain size) dust distributions. For a grain radius of 0.10 microns, our retrieved dust concentration near the terminator (∼0.010 cm⁻³) is in agreement with model “0” at z=10 km, as is the dust column mass (∼3–6×10⁻¹⁰ g cm⁻²), but the present results indicate generally larger dust scale heights, and much lower concentrations near 1 km (<0.08 cm⁻³ vs. a few times 0.1 cm⁻³ for model “0"). The concentration of dust at high altitudes (z>50 km) is virtually unconstrained by the measurements. The dust exosphere extends into shadow a distance somewhere between 100 and 200 km from the terminator, depending on the uncertain contribution of CZL to the total brightness. These refined estimates of the distribution and concentration of exospheric dust above the lunar sunrise terminator should place new and more rigorous constraints on exospheric dust transport models, as well as provide valuable support for upcoming missions such as the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE).     

Dust extinction and X-ray emission from the starburst galaxy NGC 1482

We present the results based on multiwavelength imaging observations of the prominent dust lane starburst galaxy NGC 1482 aimed to investigate the extinction properties of dust existing in the extreme environment. (B-V) colour-index map derived for the starburst galaxy NGC 1482 confirms two prominent dust lanes running along its optical major axis and are found to extend up to ∼11 kpc. In addition to the main lanes, several filamentary structures of dust originating from the central starburst are also evident. Though, the dust is surrounded by exotic environment, the average extinction curve derived for this target galaxy is compatible with the Galactic curve, with R_V = 3.05, and imply that the dust grains responsible for the optical extinction in the target galaxy are not really different than the canonical grains in the Milky Way. Our estimate of total dust content of NGC 1482 assuming screening effect of dust is ∼2.7 × 10⁵ M_⊙, and provide lower limit due to the fact that our method is not sensitive to the intermix component of dust. Comparison of the observed dust in the galaxy with that supplied by the SNe to the ISM, imply that this supply is not sufficient to account for the observed dust and hence point towards the origin of dust in this galaxy through a merger like event.Our multiband imaging analysis reveals a qualitative physical correspondence between the morphologies of the dust and Hα emission lines as well as diffuse X-ray emission in this galaxy. Spatially resolved spectral analysis of the hot gas along outflows exhibit a gradient in the temperature. Similar gradient was also noticed in the measured values of metallicity, indicating that the gas in the halo is not yet enriched. High resolution, 2-8 keV Chandra image reveals a pair of point sources in the nuclear region with their luminosities equal to 2.27 × 10³⁹ erg s⁻¹ and 9.34 × 10³⁹ erg s⁻¹, and are in excess of the Eddington-limit of 1.5 M_⊙ accreting source. Spectral analysis of these sources exhibit an absorbed-power law with the hydrogen column density higher than that derived from the optical measurements.     

风暴对滨海湿地潮沟水沙输运的影响——以长江口崇明东滩为例

为了探知风暴事件对滨海湿地潮沟水沙输运的影响,分别于平静天气和风暴天气(“摩羯”和“温比亚”台风)条件下,在崇明东滩一典型潮沟进行了现场水沙数据观测。结果表明：台风期间近岸平均风速较平静天气增大3~4倍,有效波高增大7~15倍,盐沼前缘光滩和潮沟遭受强烈侵蚀,潮滩表层沉积物粗化1~2.1倍,水体悬沙浓度增大3~11倍,潮沟潮周期单宽泥沙输运通量增大4~33倍, 单宽泥沙净输沙量增大8~17倍。风暴天气下,潮沟水沙输运呈现“大进大出”的特点,在盐沼潮滩内受盐沼植被消波、缓流和捕沙作用下,潮周期内单宽泥沙净通量指向盐沼潮滩,促进了盐沼滩内部泥沙的淤积。     

我国海洋动力灾害研究进展与展望

海洋动力灾害(包括灾害性海浪、风暴潮、海冰、海啸等)是对我国沿海地区造成破坏和损失最大的自然灾害之一。开展海洋动力灾害研究具有重要意义和迫切的国家需求。本文回顾我国建国以来在海洋动力灾害研究方向的主要进展,重点针对近年来我国在海洋动力灾害数值模拟预报以及灾害风险评估等方面的进展进行综述,并在此基础上提出未来的发展展望,希望给海洋防灾减灾科研工作者提供参考。     

沙粒不能“远走高飞”———有关“尘暴”的一条根本原理

沙与尘虽然都是岩石物理风化的产物, 但在风力作用下, 习性截然不同。拜格诺用严格的物理实验证明, 尘粒能随风远走高飞, 而沙粒却只能在地面附近跳跃前进。从北方侵袭华北平原的所谓沙尘暴, 实质上都是尘暴。对历次重大天气事件沉积物的分析, 也完全证明了这一点。因此, 尘暴物质的源头不是来自有沙, 而是有尘的地方; 从而可以使人们采取正确的治理方法。      

基于离散Gabor变换的磁暴识别

以地磁秒数据为研究对象,通过离散Gabor变换将时域的地磁数据转换至二维时频面,提取Gabor变换谱图的均值和方差作为特征值,使用支持向量机实现地磁正常数据与磁暴干扰数据的自动分类识别。对5个地磁台的200组地磁秒数据进行计算分析,结果表明该方法对测试样本数据的识别率可达94%。