On the manifestation of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in an inhomogeneous interstellar medium with radiative cooling

We numerically simulate the evolution of the plane two-dimensional deformations of a contact discontinuity that is impulsively accelerated by a shock wave. We take into account the effects of radiative cooling and perturbation scale lengths on the dynamics and shape of the forming density inhomogeneities. For moderately intense shocks in a stellar wind and for strong shocks from a supernova, we show that the radiative cooling processes do not affect significantly the growth rate of the initial perturbations and the total mass of the forming condensations. However, the density of the matter compressed by the transmitted shock wave increases dramatically. At the same time, the contribution from long-wavelength perturbations to the deformation of the contact surface decreases significantly. In the case of shock propagation from a supernova, the initial conditions have been found to be a factor that can affect the morphology of the shocked interstellar medium.     

大气Rossby波动力学的研究进展

Rossby波是旋转大气和海洋中的一类重要波动,在天气和气候演变中起有重要的作用。该文介绍了北半球中纬度地区的两类重要Rossby波——斜压不稳定波和准定常行星波,在最近20余年来取得的一些重要研究进展。文中涉及的主要研究领域有:斜压不稳定波包动力学、湿斜压过程对斜压不稳定波的作用、北半球风暴轴动力学、斜压波包与高影响天气的预报、准定常行星波的形成机理、准定常行星波的水平传播与能量频散、准定常行星波的垂直传播与能量频散、三维准定常行星波的传播与能量频散。     

Numerical Simulations of Sheltering in Valleys: The Formation of Nighttime Cold-Air Pools

Numerical simulations of flow over two-dimensional valleys are conducted in order to study the occurrence of pools of cold air that form at the bottom of valleys during stable nighttime conditions. The results show that during strong surface radiative cooling and light-wind events, the near-surface potential temperatures that occur at the bottom of valleys can be several kelvin below the environmental mean. This is true for quite shallow valleys with depths and widths of 50 m and 1 km, respectively, and is a result of in situ sheltering at the valley bottom. For windier conditions or less rapid cooling, the cold-pool temperature contrasts are reduced. For shallow valleys the magnitude of the difference between the potential temperature at the bottom of the valley and the mean value increases with increasing valley depth. However there is a critical valley depth, beyond which the valley flow becomes decoupled from that aloft and there are no further increases in the potential temperature difference. This critical valley depth depends on the wind speed and radiative cooling rate and the results indicate it is a function of a non-dimensional valley depth (or inverse Froude number), which is itself a property of the undisturbed profiles of wind and stability.     

Interaction between Planetary-Scale Diffluent Flow and Synoptic-Scale Waves During the Life Cycle of Blocking

In this paper, a new transient forced quasi-resonant triad interaction theory in a beta channel is proposed to investigate the interaction between planetary-scale diffluent flow composed of zonal wavenumbers 1--3 and synoptic-scale waves produced continuously by a synoptic-scale vorticity source fixed upstream of an incipient blocking region during the life cycle of blocking. It is shown that the superposition of initial three Rossby waves for zonal wavenumbers 1 (monopole), 2 (dipole), and 3 (monopole), which permit triad quasi-resonance, can represent an incipient blocking event. The synoptic-scale eddies may act to amplify the incipient blocking and to excite a blocking circulation with a strong meander, whose flow pattern depends on the initial amplitudes of the planetary waves and both the intensity and location of preexisting synoptic-scale waves. The onset (decay) of the planetary-scale split-flow blocking is mainly represented by a strong increase (decrease) in the amplitude of the zonal wavenumber 2 component, having a dipole meridional structure related to the preexisting synoptic-scale eddies. The typical persistence time of the model blocking was of about 20 days, consistent with observations of blocking patterns. In our model, isolated asymmetric dipole blocking is formed by synoptic-scale waves. The instantaneous fields of total streamfunctions exhibit a remarkable resemblance to the synoptic maps observed during the life cycle of blocking. During the onset stage, the synoptic-scale waves are enhanced and split into two branches around the blocking region due to the feedback of the amplified blocking, in agreement with the observed changes of synoptic-scale waves in real blocking events. In addition, a diagnostic case study of blocking is presented to confirm the forced quasi-resonant triad interaction theory proposed here.     

Mean Kinematic Characteristics of Synoptic Easterly Disturbances over the Atlantic

This study investigates the mean kinematic characteristics of the tropical Atlantic easterly disturbances in January-March(JFM),April-June(AMJ),July-September(JAS)and October-December(OND)from 1968-1998.For each season,the preferential tracks of these disturbances in the 3-10-day band periods were computed and spatialized,as well as their associated wavelength,velocity and main period,which lies between 3-5 days and between 6-9 days depending on the track and the season. Two main tracks are highlighted over the Atlantic Ocean.During OND and JFM these two tracks are well separated and located in each hemisphere around 15°S and 12.5°N.From AMJ to JAS these tracks migrate northward;in JAS,they merge into one over the northern tropical Atlantic along 17.5°N.The associated wavelength fields exhibit a meridional gradient,with large wavelengths(greater than 4000 km) around the equator,between 5°N and 5°S,and smaller wavelengths outside of this latitude band(between 2500-3500 km).The phase speed is also found to exhibit poleward decreasing values from 12-6 m s-1. Over the north Atlantic track,6-9-day disturbances were found to occur from January to May and approximately from October to December.From June to September,the 3-5-day waves dominate the synoptic activity.Over the south Atlantic track,between May and August the synoptic variability is mainly explained by the 3-5-day disturbances but from January to April and from September to December both 3-5-day waves and 6-9-day waves can occur.     

Analytical solutions for dynamic pressures of coupling fluid–porous medium–solid due to SV wave incidence

This paper presents the results of theoretical investigation on the dynamic coupling of an ideal fluid‐porous medium‐elastic half‐space system subjected to SV waves to study the effect of sediment on the seismic response of dams for reservoirs that are deposited with a significant amount of sediment after a long period of operation. The effects of the porous medium and the incident wave angle on dynamic pressures in the overlying ideal fluid are analyzed, and the reflection and transmission coefficients of the wave at the material interfaces are derived using an analytical solution in terms of displacement potentials. The numerical test of modeling shows that the dynamic pressures significantly depend on the properties of porous medium. The fully saturated porous medium reduces the response peaks slightly, while the partially saturated porous medium causes a considerable increase in the resonance peaks. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Peculiarities of entropy and magnetosonic waves in optically thin cosmic plasma

The stability problem for small magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) perturbations in an optically thin, perfectly conducting uniform plasma with a cosmic abundance of elements is solved in the linear approximation. The electron heat conduction along the magnetic field and the proton heat conduction across the field are taken into account. We have shown for the first time that the entropy waves can grow exponentially, while the magnetosonic waves are damped in a wide range of physical conditions closest to the conditions in stellar coronae with the proper allowance for radiative losses. Slow magnetosonic waves are damped particularly rapidly. For the solar corona, the calculated damping decrement of slow magnetosonic waves agrees well with the averaged one in 11 quasi-periodic events observed from the TRACE satellite in extreme ultraviolet radiation. Other possible astrophysical applications of the results obtained are briefly discussed.     

湖北随州ML4.7地震序列基础资料分析

依据随州三里岗ML4.7地震序列的地震监测和宏观调查所获得的基础资料,对此次地震序列的时空强特征及地震成因机理进行了分析。为使地震资料准确可靠,对混淆在序列中的爆破波形与地震波形进行了鉴别和剔除。结合这些基础资料和震源机制解结果。分析认为随州地震序列在成因上与该地区存在的北东和北西向两组断裂构造有关,但主发震构造是北西向断裂。     

A unified picture for the γ-ray and prompt optical emissions of GRB 990123

The prompt optical emission of GRB 990123 was uncorrelated to the γ-ray light curve and exhibited temporal properties similar to those of the steeply decaying, early X-ray emission observed by Swift at the end of many bursts. These facts suggest that the optical counterpart of GRB 990123 was the large-angle emission released during (the second pulse of) the burst. If the optical and γ-ray emissions of GRB 990123 have, indeed, the same origin then their properties require that (i) the optical counterpart was synchrotron emission and γ-rays arose from inverse-Compton scatterings (the 'synchrotron self-Compton model'), (ii) the peak energy of the optical-synchrotron component was at ∼20 eV and (iii) the burst emission was produced by a relativistic outflow moving at Lorentz factor  ≳450  and at a radius  ≳10¹⁵  cm, which is comparable to the outflow deceleration radius. Because the spectrum of GRB 990123 was optically thin above 2 keV, the magnetic field behind the shock must have decayed on a length-scale of  ≲1  per cent  of the thickness of the shocked gas, which corresponds to  10⁶–10⁷  plasma skin depths. Consistency of the optical counterpart decay rate and its spectral slope (or that of the burst, if they represent different spectral components) with the expectations for the large-angle burst emission represents the most direct test of the unifying picture proposed here for GRB 990123.