Solitary waves in a compressible fluid

Evolution equations for long nonlinear internal waves in a compressible fluid are derived, with the aim of comparing these equations with their counterparts in an incompressible fluid. Both the Korteweg-de Vries equation, and the deep fluid equation are discussed, for both dry and moist atmospheres. It is shown that the effects of compressibility, or non-Boussinesq terms, are generally small, but measurable, and are manifested mainly in the nonlinear term of the evolution equation. For the case of a moist atmosphere the effect of a gain in energy by latent heat release is compared with the energy lost by radiation damping.     

Torn between extremes: the ups and downs of phytoplankton

We present a model to investigate the success and resulting patterns of phytoplankton migration, based on motility which depends exclusively on the internal energy and nutrient state of the cells. The model consists of migrating and non-migrating sub compartments for phytoplankton, and migration is a function of the prescribed threshold values for internal quotas. The different modes of phytoplankton behavior are evaluated in the framework of a coupled physical–biological model that includes wind-driven up- and downwelling. The results show that (1) migration is almost always advantageous with respect to biomass, (2) a wide variety of migration patterns (e.g., subsurface maxima, surface-avoidance behavior) can be reproduced by a relatively simple treatment of motility, (3) multiple deep chlorophyll maxima can be explained as the result of certain threshold values in combination with negligible vertical movement of the water, and (4) descending tongues of high phytoplankton concentration may be caused by migratory behavior and not necessarily by subduction due to frontal convergence. Thus, our model offers explanations for a large variety of observed phytoplankton distributions and migration patterns.The comments of two anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.     

Deep-sea fan pinch-out geometries and their relationship to fan architecture,Tanqua Karoo basin (South Africa)

Exceptional exposures of Permian basin floor fans (fans 3, 4) and a slope fan (fan 5) in the Tanqua Karoo foreland basin of South Africa have enabled an investigation of the relation between the pinch-out geometries and fan architecture. The pinch-out geometry of fan 3 is characterized by the down dip transition from thin to medium bedded sheet deposits to pinch-out fingers, which are overlain by younger prograding sheet deposits. This geometry reflects the progradational stacking pattern of the fan. In contrast, the fan 4 pinch-out fingers consist of stacked channel fills in the same conduit. This pinch-out configuration relates to the dominant aggradational style observed on the mid and distal parts of fan 4. Fan 5 represents a slope fan comprising an axial channel conduit, which branches down slope into three distributary channels. The distal fan is characterized by larger channel fills, which may represent bypass channels to other basin floor fans. The very thick-bedded nature of the youngest channel fill unit suggests early bypass followed by retrogradation as indicated by the presence of thinner bedded heterolithic channel fill deposits along the axial conduit. Although some of the massive pinch-out channels exhibit basal scour, their depositional morphology suggests that they mainly originated due to the infill of subtle topographic depressions by low concentration turbidity currents. Instead of describing these features as channel fills, the use of the term pinch-out fingers is preferred.     

Atmospheric Disturbances that Generate Intermittent Turbulence in Nocturnal Boundary Layers

Using the unprecedented observational facilities deployed duringthe 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99),we found three distinct turbulent events on the night of 18October 1999. These events resulted from a density current,solitary wave, and internal gravity wave, respectively. Our studyfocuses on the turbulence intermittency generated by the solitarywave and internal gravity wave, and intermittent turbulenceepisodes associated with pressure change and wind direction shiftsadjacent to the ground. Both the solitary and internal gravitywaves propagated horizontally and downward. During the passage ofboth the solitary and internal gravity waves, local thermal andshear instabilities were generated as cold air was pushed abovewarm air and wind gusts reached to the ground. These thermal andshear instabilities triggered turbulent mixing events. Inaddition, strong vertical acceleration associated with thesolitary wave led to large non-hydrostatic pressure perturbationsthat were positively correlated with temperature. The directionaldifference between the propagation of the internal gravity waveand the ambient flow led to lateral rolls. These episodic studiesdemonstrate that non-local disturbances are responsible for localthermal and shear instabilities, leading to intermittentturbulence in nocturnal boundary layers. The origin of thesenon-local disturbances needs to be understood to improve mesoscalenumerical model performance.     

Flow Adjustments Across Sea-Surface Temperature Changes

The adjustment of airflow across sea-surface temperature changes is examinedusing aircraft eddy-correlation data. Major features of the observed flow adjustmentare not included in the theory of internal boundary layers. However, the data samplesize and coverage are not sufficient to accurately quantify the additional influences.With flow from warm water over cooler water, substantial turbulence intermittentlydevelops above the newly formed surface inversion layer. The corresponding,spatially-averaged, downward momentum flux is stronger than that close to the surface.With stably stratified flow over modest increases of sea-surface temperature, areduction of stratification can trigger episodic shear generation of turbulence. Inthese cases, the primary role of increasing surface temperature in the downwinddirection is to induce shear generation of turbulence. With larger increases ofsurface temperature, upward heat flux generates turbulence, warms the air and generates a significant horizontal gradient of hydrostatic pressure. This contributionto the pressure field appears to strongly modify the flow. Major inadequacies inexisting data and future needs are noted.     

DISCONTINUOUS FLOW OF TURBID DENSITY CURRENTS II.INTERNAL HYDRAULIC JUMP

1 INTERNAL HYDRAULIC JUMPS AND LOCAL WATER ENTRAINMENT Traveling and stationary internal hydraulic jumps in two-layer flow can occur in the following situations (Fig. 1). When a stratified fluid flows over an obstacle created by a sudden blockage, the layer of increased depth within the heavier fluid will propagate upstream as a traveling hydraulic jump. When the heavier fluid overtops the obstacle it will flow along the downstream face of the obstacle as a supercritical flow…     

北票台吉地震与辽西地震相关分析

辽西地区被国家地震局列为“重点监测区”,该区区域构造复杂,近年来小震活动频繁,北票台吉地区处在辽西的中心部位,通过几年的观测研究,该区的小震活动与辽西地震活动有着很好的相关性。本文对北票台吉地震进行了各种分析研究,认为北票台吉地震与辽西地震有着很好的相关性,存在“窗口效应     

Numerical study of the effects of urban heat island on the characteristic features of the sea breeze circulation

A two-dimensional numerical model is employed to study the effect of the coastal urban heat island on the sea breeze front and the thermal internal boundary layer height. The temperature at the land surface is determined by solving an energy budget equation. The effect of the urban heat island is studied by varying the width of the region and its intensity. During the early afternoon, the presence of the urban heat island enhances the strength of convergence of the sea breeze front and also reduces its inland penetration. The presence of the urban heat island causes increased thermal internal boundary layer height. Larger urban width causes larger vertical velocity and higher thermal internal boundary layer. Stronger convergence and higher thermal internal boundary layer are also obtained in case of larger heat island intensity.     

Some Possible Solutions of Nonlinear Internal Inertial Gravity Wave Equations in the Atmosphere

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Ion Dynamics and Distribution At the Quasiperpendicular Collisionless Shock Front

Collisionless shocks are well-known to be very efficient energizers of ions. At the first step of energization relatively low energy suprathermal ion distributions are formed in the vicinity of the quasiperpendicular collisionless shock front during ion reflection and direct transmission. These distributions are formed promptly and at the scale of the shock width mainly due to the ion interaction with the quasistationary electromagnetic structure of the front itself. Their features are intimately related to the fine structure of the shock front in the sense that they depend not only on the bulk shock parameters, such as Mach number, but also on the details of the distribution of the fields, in particular, shock width. Therefore, studies of these distributions may provide valuable information about the shock structure itself. We review the observational data collected during in situ measurements (mainly at the Earth bow shock) and compare it to the numerical simulations and theoretical developments. The developed theory of the ion dynamics in the stationary shock front relates the ion reflection and heating to the insufficient deceleration of the ions in the ramp by the cross-shock potential, as compared to the expected downstream drift velocity, required by the Rankine-Hugoniot relations. As a result, the direct flow energy it transferred into the gyration energy, leading to the gyration of the ion distribution as a whole and enhanced spread in the velocity space, that is, effective collisionless heating. Anisotropy and nongyrotropy are typical features of ion distributions at both low and high-Mach number shocks, which is confirmed by observations. Time-dependent fields, which are not considered in the stationary shock model, are thought to provide subsequent smoothing and isotropization of the ion distributions. These processes occur at scales substantially larger than the shock width.