Grooves on small saturnian satellites and other objects: Characteristics and significance

High-resolution images from the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) show parallel sets of grooves on Epimetheus and Pandora. Grooves have previously been observed on other satellites and asteroids, including Phobos, Gaspra, Ida, Eros, and minor occurrences on Phoebe. Sets of parallel grooves are so far observed only on satellites known or likely to be subject to significant tidal stresses, such as forced librations. Grooves on asteroids and on satellites not subject to significant forced librations occur in more globally disorganized patterns that may reflect impacts, varying internal structures, or even thermal stresses. The patterns and individual morphologies of grooves on the tidally-affected satellites suggest fracturing in weak materials due to tidal stresses and forced librations.     

20世纪90年代以来北极海冰减少的热动力分析——基于PIOMAS模式结果

本文利用美国华盛顿大学的PIOMAS海冰模式输出结果,分析了20世纪90年代以来北极海冰减少的动力和热力过程的特征,并探讨了海冰减少与北极大气环流模态之间的关系。结果表明:（1）通过弗拉姆海峡输出的多年冰的厚度自1995年以来有显著减少;（2）海冰的热力过程在20世纪90年代以后特别是21世纪以来是海冰减少的主导因素;（3）大气模态中的北极涛动（AO）和北极偶极子（AD）均对北极海冰的动力输出有影响,各自与海冰输出量的相关关系显著,并且AO和AD的多元线性回归能很好的拟合出海冰输出量的减少。     

美国罗德河流域地下水中铝形成动力学

In the Rhode River estuarine/watershed area, increased acidity of precipitation from atmospheric acidic deposition has deleterious effects on the freshwater ecosystems. One of the characteristics of an acidic watershed is the mobilization of aluminum from soils to aquatic environment. Increased concentrations of aluminum in surface waters are toxic to living organisms. Detection of long-term changes of acidity and elevated Al concentrations in surface and soil waters is a central issue. In this present paper, the dynamics ofAl speciation in the shallow ground waters from Rhode River watershed 110 (la) were investigated. This research provides a unique, regional analysis of important controls on the transport of Al speciation through the rural watershed of the Chesapeake Bay.     

Impact evolution of asteroid shapes: 1. random mass redistribution

We explore whether the cumulative effect of small-scale meteoroid bombardment can drive asteroids into nonaxisymmetric shapes comparable to those of known objects (elongated prolate forms, twin-lobed binaries, etc). We simulate impact cratering as an excavation followed by the launch, orbit, and reimpact of ejecta. Orbits are determined by the gravity and rotation of the evolving asteroid, whose shape and spin change as cratering occurs repeatedly. For simplicity we consider an end-member evolution where impactors are all much smaller than the asteroid and where all ejecta remain bound. Given those assumptions, we find that cumulative small impacts on rotating asteroids lead to oblate shapes, irrespective of the chosen value for angle of repose or for initial angular momentum. The more rapidly a body is spinning, the more flattened the outcome, but oblateness prevails. Most actual asteroids, by contrast, appear spherical to prolate. We also evaluate the timescale for reshaping by small impacts and compare it to the timescale for catastrophic disruption. For all but the steepest size distributions of impactors, reshaping from small impacts takes more than an order of magnitude longer than catastrophic disruption. We conclude that small-scale cratering is probably not dominant in shaping asteroids, unless our assumptions are naive. We believe we have ruled out the end-member scenario; future modeling shall include angular momentum evolution from impacts, mass loss in the strength regime, and craters with diameters up to the disruption threshold. The ultimate goal is to find out how asteroids get their shapes and spins and whether tidal encounters in fact play a dominant role.     

滇西南普洱强震群地区地壳形变的数值模拟

滇西南普洱一带地质构造复杂,中-强地震成群活动特征明显,地壳的形变特征与形变机制引起了地学界的广泛关注和深入研究。在参考、借鉴以往研究成果的基础上,本文构建了普洱一带包含活动断裂的二维板有限元模型,以GPS测量得到的块体年运动量作为模型区域的边界约束,模拟计算获得了普洱地区的构造形变空间分布,以NEE、NNW 2个方向、从数值模拟角度对普洱地区的水平形变特征和区域地壳垂直形变场进行了分析和探讨。结果表明:在青藏高原东南缘扩展、高原物质重力滑塌型南东向移动的动力学背景下,研究区内NEE向断裂的活动带动牵引NNW向断裂共轭运动,隆升性质的垂直形变场与60年的大区域水准测量结果相吻合,沿NNW向形变场的分布无规律,应是区域应力累积和震后调整双重作用的结果。沿NEE向形变场呈现了较明显的西部大于东部的分布图像,特别是西北部高值区对应了2014年景谷6.6级强震,最后对研究区的区域动力学问题进行了初步探讨。     

Approximate soil–structure interaction analysis by a perturbation approach: The case of soft soils

An approximate solution of the classical eigenvalue problem governing the vibrations of a relatively stiff structure on a soft elastic soil is derived through the application of a perturbation analysis. The full solution is obtained as the sum of the solution for an unconstrained elastic structure and small perturbing terms related to the ratio of the stiffness of the soil to that of the superstructure. The procedure leads to approximate analytical expressions for the system frequencies, modal damping ratios and participation factors for all system modes that generalize those presented earlier for the case of stiff soils. The resulting approximate expressions for the system modal properties are validated by comparison with the corresponding quantities obtained by numerical solution of the eigenvalue problem for a nine-story building. The accuracy of the proposed approach and of the classical normal mode approach is assessed through comparison with the exact frequency response of the test structure.     

Stochastic dynamic stiffness of a surface footing for offshore wind turbines: Implementing a subset simulation method to estimate rare events

The purpose of this study, which concerns the stochastic dynamic stiffness of foundations for large offshore wind turbines, is to quantify uncertainties related to the first natural frequency of a turbine supported by a surface footing and to estimate the low event probabilities. Herein, a simple model of a wind turbine structure with equivalent coupled springs at the base is calibrated with the mean soil property values. A semianalytical solution, based on the Green׳s function for a layered half-space is utilized for estimation of foundation responses. Soil elastic modulus and layer depth are considered as random variables with lognormal distributions. The uncertainties are quantified, and the estimation of rare events of the first natural frequency is discussed through an advanced reliability approach based on subset simulation. This analysis represents a first step in the estimation of the safety with respect to the failure of a turbine in the fatigue limit state.     

造山动力学定量研究--理论与方法

造山动力学定量研究近10年来取得了重要进展,形成了较完整的理论技术体系,并获得了大量有说服力的实例分析结果,成为当前大陆变形研究的热点之一。造山动力学定量研究采用数值方法求解控制方程,获得造山带演化动态过程的图像,了解不同因素对该过程的影响作用,从力学解析的角度确定造山动力学模型的合理性。研究造山演化过程需要耦合固体力学、流体力学和热力学方程进行描述。造山演化过程中发生的强烈大位移、大应变（几何非线性）使得数值求解过程更复杂。对于强烈大应变可能需要采用重分网格技术。断裂的发生、运动与变形涉及岩石破裂准则与内部边界处理。同时,还必须综合分析地表剥蚀与沉积、重力均衡等作用。     

Decadal variations in a Venus general circulation model

The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), a 3-dimensional Earth-based climate model, has been modified to simulate the dynamics of the Venus atmosphere. The most current finite volume version of CAM is used with Earth-related processes removed, parameters appropriate for Venus introduced, and some basic physics approximations adopted. A simplified Newtonian cooling approximation has been used for the radiation scheme. We use a high resolution (1° by 1° in latitude and longitude) to take account of small-scale dynamical processes that might be important on Venus. A Rayleigh friction approach is used at the lower boundary to represent surface drag, and a similar approach is implemented in the uppermost few model levels providing a ‘sponge layer’ to prevent wave reflection from the upper boundary. The simulations generate superrotation with wind velocities comparable to those measured in the Venus atmosphere by probes and around 50-60% of those measured by cloud tracking. At cloud heights and above the atmosphere is always superrotating with mid-latitude zonal jets that wax and wane on an approximate 10 year cycle. However, below the clouds, the zonal winds vary periodically on a decadal timescale between superrotation and subrotation. Both subrotating and superrotating mid-latitude jets are found in the approximate 40-60 km altitude range. The growth and decay of the sub-cloud level jets also occur on the decadal timescale. Though subrotating zonal winds are found below the clouds, the total angular momentum of the atmosphere is always in the sense of superrotation. The global relative angular momentum of the atmosphere oscillates with an amplitude of about 5% on the approximate 10 year timescale. Symmetric instability in the near surface equatorial atmosphere might be the source of the decadal oscillation in the atmospheric state. Analyses of angular momentum transport show that all the jets are built up by poleward transport by a meridional circulation while angular momentum is redistributed to lower latitudes primarily by transient eddies. Possible changes in the structure of Venus’ cloud level mid-latitude jets measured by Mariner 10, Pioneer Venus, and Venus Express suggest that a cyclic variation similar to that found in the model might occur in the real Venus atmosphere, although no subrotating winds below the cloud level have been observed to date. Venus’ atmosphere must be observed over multi-year timescales and below the clouds if we are to understand its dynamics.     

Changes in Jupiter’s zonal velocity between 1979 and 2008

We show that the peak velocity of Jupiter’s visible-cloud-level zonal winds near 24°N (planetographic) increased from 2000 to 2008. This increase was the only change in the zonal velocity from 2000 to 2008 for latitudes between ±70° that was statistically significant and not obviously associated with visible weather. We present the first automated retrieval of fast (∼130 m s⁻¹) zonal velocities at 8°N planetographic latitude, and show that some previous retrievals incorrectly found slower zonal winds because the eastward drift of the dark projections (associated with 5-μm hot spots) “fooled” the retrieval algorithms.We determined the zonal velocity in 2000 from Cassini images from NASA’s Planetary Data System using a global method similar to previous longitude-shifting correlation methods used by others, and a new local method based on the longitudinal average of the two-dimensional velocity field. We obtained global velocities from images acquired in May 2008 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Longer-term variability of the zonal winds is based on comparisons with published velocities based on 1979 Voyager 2 and 1995-1998 HST images. Fluctuations in the zonal wind speeds on the order of 10 m s⁻¹ on timescales ranging from weeks to months were found in the 1979 Voyager 2 and the 1995-1998 HST velocities. In data separated by 10 h, we find that the east-west velocity uncertainty due to longitudinal fluctuations are nearly 10 m s⁻¹, so velocity fluctuations of 10 m s⁻¹ may occur on timescales that are even smaller than 10 h. Fluctuations across such a wide range of timescales limit the accuracy of zonal wind measurements. The concept of an average zonal velocity may be ill-posed, and defining a “temporal mean” zonal velocity as the average of several zonal velocity fields spanning months or years may not be physically meaningful.At 8°N, we use our global method to find peak zonal velocities of ∼110 m s⁻¹ in 2000 and ∼130 m s⁻¹ in 2008. Zonal velocities from 2000 Cassini data produced by our local and global methods agree everywhere, except in the vicinity of 8°N. There, the local algorithm shows that the east-west velocity has large variations in longitude; vast regions exceed ∼140 m s⁻¹. Our global algorithm, and all of the velocity-extraction algorithms used in previously-published studies, found the east-west drift velocities of the visible dark projections, rather than the true zonal velocity at the visible-cloud level. Therefore, the apparent increase in zonal winds between 2000 and 2008 at 8°N is not a true change in zonal velocity.At 7.3°N, the Galileo probe found zonal velocities of 170 m s⁻¹ at the 3-bar level. If the true zonal velocity at the visible-cloud level at this latitude is ∼140 m s⁻¹ rather than ∼105 m s⁻¹, then the vertical zonal wind shear is much less than the currently accepted value.