Accelerating ground warming in the Canadian Prairie provinces: Is it a result of global warming?

The results of precision temperature logs made to depths of several hundred meters in some 80 wells in Western Canada, most of which are located in the Prairie Provinces, show evidence of warming at the ground surface in the 0.5 K to 3.5 K range (average=2.2±0.7 K, for 80 unevenly distributed sites). Modeling shows that this warming mostly pertains to this century and it has been most substantal in the last four decades if the ramp function of the linear increase of surface temperature is assumed. Using the step function model's increase of surface temperature (land clearing, forest fires, etc.) the calculated onset of warming would pertain mostly to the last two decades. Contour maps of ground temperatures currently and previously and a contour map of the ground warming magnitude dilineate a large regional character of the ground temperature change at the southern marigin of permafrost for the large area of the Prairie Provinces. In many cases however, the magnitude of ground warming is much larger than the magnitude of air warming. This is especially evident for the northern areas of Alberta in the boreal forest ecoprovince. The magnitude of ground warming is equal to the magnitude of surface air warming in southern Alberta in the grassland and aspen parkland ecoprovinces. The analysis of the temperature depth response to the surface warming from well data shows the integrated effect of surface air warming together with the increases in ground temperature due to natural terrain effects and other anthropogenical changes to the surface of the earth.     

Surface renewal analysis for sensible and latent heat flux density

High frequency temperature measurements were recorded at five heights and surface renewal (SR) analysis was used to estimate sensible heat flux density (H) over 0.1 m tall grass. Traces of the temperature data showed ramp-like structures, and the mean amplitude and duration of these ramps were used to calculate H using structure functions. Data were compared with H values measured with a sonic anemometer. Latent heat flux density (E) was calculated using an energy balance and the results were compared with E computed from the sonic anemometer data. SR analysis provided good estimates of H for data recorded at all heights but the canopy top and at the highest measurement level, which was above the fully adjusted boundary layer.     

Subarcsec 10μm imaging of bipolar flow sources

We have started a program of high-resolution (0.4/pixel) 10m imaging of bipolar outflow sources using the 10m camera CAMIRAS. We present recent results obtained at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope which reveal extended emission or IR companions in several luminous objects. The extended emission we detected probably arises from transiently heated very small grains, while the newly discovered companions could contribute significantly to the outflow activity and extended far-IR emission usually attributed to the main optical source.     

Sub-arcsec 10 μm imaging of β pictoris and other star disk candidates

We have used the ESO 10 m camera, TIMMI, to image with a very high angular resolution (PFoV: 0.3; FWHM:0.9) several main-sequence star disk candidates. Information on the -Pictoris dust disk has been obtained in a region largely inaccessible to previous observations: 0–80 AU, with a resolution of about 5 AU after deconvolution. Another promising target for 10 m imaging, 51 Ophiuchi, appears point-like.based on data collected at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), La Silla, Chile     

Channel overflows of the Pōhue Bay flow,Mauna Loa,Hawai'i: examples of the contrast between surface and interior lava

A number of overflows from a large lava channel and tube system on the southwest rift zone of Mauna Loa were studied. Initial overflows were very low viscosity gas-rich phoehoe evidenced by flow-unit aspect ratios and vesicle sizes and contents. Calculated volumetric flow-rates in the channel range between 80 and 890 m³/s, and those of the overflows between 35 and 110 m³/s. After traveling tens to hundreds of meters the tops of these sheet-like overflows were disrupted into a surface composed of clinker and phoehoe fragments. After these 'a' overflows came to rest, lava from the interiors was able to break out on to the surface as phoehoe. The surface structure of a lava flow records the interaction between the differential shear rate (usually correlated with the volumetric flow-rate) and viscosity-induced resistance to flow. However, the interior of a flow, being better insulated, may react differently or record a later set of emplacement conditions. Clefts of toothpaste lava occurring within fields of clinker on proximal-type 'a' flows also record different shear rates during different times of flow emplacement. The interplay between viscosity and shear rate determines the final morphological lava type, and although no specific portion of lava ever makes a transition from 'a' back to phoehoe, parts of a flow can appear to do so.     

Diagenesis of vascular plant organic matter components during burial in lake sediments

Diagenetic changes are difficult to distinguish from variations in sources of organic matter to sediments. Organic geochemical comparisons of samples of wood, bark, and needles from a white spruce (Picea glauca) living today and one buried for 10,000 years in lake sediments have been used to identify the effects of diagenesis on vascular plant matter. Important biogeochemical changes are evident in the aged spruce components, even though the cellular structures of the samples are well preserved. Concentrations of total fatty acids dramatically diminish; unsaturated and shorter chainlength components are preferentially lost from the molecular distributions. Concentrations of total alcohols are similar in the modern and 10,000-year-old wood and bark but markedly lowered in the aged needles. Hydrocarbon concentrations and distributions show little diagenetic change in the 10,000-year-old plant materials. Cellulose components in the wood decrease relative to lignin components, although both types of materials remain in high concentration in comparison to other organic components. Aromatization of abietic acid proceeds more rapidly in buried spruce wood than in bark; retene is the dominant polyaromatic hydrocarbon in the aged wood. In contrast to the variety of changes evident in molecular compositions, neither ¹³C values nor C/N ratios differ significantly in the bulk organic matter of modern and aged spruce components.     

Geochronology and geochemistry of eclogites from the Mariánské Lázně Complex,Czech Republic: Implications for Variscan orogenesis

The Mariánské Lázn complex (MLC) is located in the Bohemian Massif along the north-western margin of the Teplá-Barrandian microplate and consists of metagabbro, amphibolite and eclogite, with subordinate amounts of serpentinite, felsic gneiss and calcsilicate rocks. The MLC is interpreted as a metaophiolite complex that marks the suture zone between the Saxothuringian rocks to the north-west and the Teplá-Barrandian microplate to the south-east. Sm-Nd geochronology of garnet-omphacite pairs from two eclogite samples yields ages of 377±7, and 367±4 Ma. Samples of eclogite and amphibolite do not define a whole rock Sm-Nd isochron, even though there is a large range in Sm/Nd ratio, implying that the suite of samples may not be cogenetic. Eclogites do not have correlated _Nd values and initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios. Five of the eight eclogite samples have high _Nd values (+10.2 to +7.1) consistent with derivation from a MORB-like source, but variable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.7033 to 0.7059) which probably reflect hydrothermal seawater alteration. Three other eclogite samples have lower _Nd values (+ 5.4 to –0.8) and widely variable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.7033 to 0.7096). Such low _Nd values are inconsistent with derivation from a MORB, source and may reflect a subduction or oceanic island basalt component in their source. The MLC is an important petrotectonic element in the Bohemian Massif, providing evidence for Cambro-Ordovician formation of oceanic crust and interaction with seawater, Late Devonian (Frasnian-Famennian) high- and medium-pressure metamorphism related to closure of a Saxothuringian ocean basin, Early Carboniferous (Viséan) thrusting of the Teplá terrane over Saxothuringian rocks and Late Viséan extension.     

Comparison between a radiative wind model for be stars and high angular resolution data from the GI2T interferometer

I present theoretical line profiles and intensity maps from an axi-symmetric radiative wind model from a rapidly rotating Be star. The introduction of a viscosity parameter in the latitude-dependent hydrodynamic code enables us to consider the effects of the viscous force in the azimuthal component of momentum equations (Araújo et al. 1994). Both velocity field and density law derived from the hydrodynamic equations have been used for solving the statistical equilibrium equations. By adopting the Sobolev approximation, we could easily obtain a good estimate of both electronic density and hydrogen level populations throughout the envelope. The numerical calculation was performed for parameters characterisic of the Be star Cassiopeiae.