The formation of the Oort cloud in open cluster environments

We study the influence of an open cluster environment on the formation and current structure of the Oort cloud. To do this, we have run 19 different simulations of the formation of the Oort cloud for 4.5 Gyrs. In each simulation, the Solar System spends its first 100 Myrs in a different open cluster environment before transitioning to its current field environment. We find that, compared to forming in the field environment, the inner Oort cloud is preferentially loaded with comets while the Sun resides in the open cluster and that most of this material remains locked in the interior of the cloud for the next 4.4 Gyrs. In addition, the outer Oort cloud trapping efficiencies we observe in our simulations are lower than previous formation models by about a factor of 2, possibly implying an even more massive early planetesimal disk. Furthermore, some of our simulations reproduce the orbits of observed extended scattered disk objects, which may serve as an observational constraint on the Sun's early environment. Depending on the particular open cluster environment, the properties of the inner Oort cloud and extended scattered disk can vary widely. On the other hand, the outer portions of the Oort cloud in each of our simulations are all similar.     

Core formation in giant gaseous protoplanets

Sedimentation rates of silicate grains in gas giant protoplanets formed by disk instability are calculated for protoplanetary masses between 1 MSaturn to 10 MJupiter. Giant protoplanets with masses of 5 MJupiter or larger are found to be too hot for grain sedimentation to form a silicate core. Smaller protoplanets are cold enough to allow grain settling and core formation. Grain sedimentation and core formation occur in the low mass protoplanets because of their slow contraction rate and low internal temperature. It is predicted that massive giant planets will not have cores, while smaller planets will have small rocky cores whose masses depend on the planetary mass, the amount of solids within the body, and the disk environment. The protoplanets are found to be too hot to allow the existence of icy grains, and therefore the cores are predicted not to contain any ices. It is suggested that the atmospheres of low mass giant planets are depleted in refractory elements compared with the atmospheres of more massive planets. These predictions provide a test of the disk instability model of gas giant planet formation. The core masses of Jupiter and Saturn were found to be ∼0.25 M_⊕ and ∼0.5 M_⊕, respectively. The core masses of Jupiter and Saturn can be substantially larger if planetesimal accretion is included. The final core mass will depend on planetesimal size, the time at which planetesimals are formed, and the size distribution of the material added to the protoplanet. Jupiter's core mass can vary from 2 to 12 M_⊕. Saturn's core mass is found to be ∼8 M_⊕.     

Timings of early crustal activity in southern highlands of Mars:Periods of crustal stretching and shortening

Extensional and compressional structures are globally abundant on Mars. Distribution of these structures and their ages constrain the crustal stress state and tectonic evolution of the planet. Here in this paper, we report on our investigation over the distribution of the tectonic structures and timings of the associated stress fields from the Noachis-Sabaea region. Thereafter, we hypothesize possible origins in relation to the internal/external processes through detailed morphostructural mapping. In doing so, we have extracted the absolute model ages of these linear tectonic structures using crater size-frequency distribution measurements, buffered crater counting in particular. The estimated ages indicate that the tectonic structures are younger than the mega impacts events(especially Hellas) and instead they reveal two dominant phases of interior dynamics prevailing on the southern highlands, firstly the extensional phase terminating around3.8 Ga forming grabens and then compressional phase around 3.5-3.6 Ga producing wrinkle ridges and lobate scarps. These derived absolute model ages of the grabens exhibit the age ca. 100 Ma younger than the previously documented end of the global extensional phase. The following compressional activity corresponds to the peak of global contraction period in Early Hesperian. Therefore, we conclude that the planet wide heat loss mechanism, involving crustal stretching coupled with gravitationally driven relaxation(i.e.,lithospheric mobility) resulted in the extensional structures around Late Noachian(around 3.8 Ga). Lately cooling related global contraction generated compressional stress ensuing shortening of the upper crust of the southern highlands at the Early Hesperian period(around 3.5-3.6 Ga).     

利用COSMIC掩星资料研究青藏高原地区大气边界层高度

以往关于青藏高原边界层的研究都是基于个别站点的常规观测,对青藏高原边界层的整体性认识受限。GPS掩星资料具有测量精度高和垂直分辨率高的特性,其廓线中含有大量有价值的边界层信息。利用2007—2013年COSMIC掩星资料,通过计算大气折射率最小梯度来确定边界层高度,并用无线电探空资料对结果进行了检验。在此基础上,对青藏高原地区边界层高度的特征及其形成机制展开了研究,比较了COSMIC掩星确定的边界层高度和ERA-Int的差别,讨论了最小梯度法用于边界层研究的不确定性。结果表明:青藏高原上COSMIC掩星和无线电探空数据检测的边界层高度相关系数为0.786,平均值偏差为0.049 km,均方根误差为0.363 km,COSMIC掩星数据检测的边界层高度和无线电探空的结果非常接近。青藏高原上边界层高度呈现西高东低的分布特征,高原中西部边界层高度主要为1.8—2.3 km,而高原东部边界层为1.4—1.8 km,最大值在高原西南部。青藏高原地区边界层有明显的季节差异,冬季高原上大部分地区边界层高度超过2.0 km;春季大部分地区高度降低,但在受印度季风影响的高原南部有明显的抬升,最大值可超过3.0 km;夏季高原上边界层高度开始升高,大部分地区超过1.8 km;秋季又开始回落。青藏高原以北塔克拉玛干沙漠和高原以南印度季风活动区是两个高值区,北部的沙漠地区边界层高度在夏季最高,南部印度季风活动区在季风爆发前（4月）达到全年最大值。青藏高原中西部地区有水平风辐合以及广泛的上升运动,为边界层的发展提供了动力条件,而东部的下沉运动对边界层的发展有抑制作用。青藏高原边界层各个季节的空间分布与地表感热通量分布一致。COSMIC掩星资料确定的边界层高度和ERA-Int相比,空间分布基本一致但ERA-Int边界层高度明显偏低。当有系统性强逆温存在的时候,或者云中液态水或冰水含量较大时,用最小梯度法检测的边界层高度不确定性增加。      

西南区域持续性干旱事件的行星尺度和天气尺度扰动信号

以2009-2010年发生在中国西南地区的持续性干旱事件为例,通过干旱和大气变量的物理分解得到了一些干旱事件发生的新认识.气象干旱多为年循环的气候干季与干旱扰动的叠加所致.一次干旱扰动大约为30-50天,而一次持续性干旱事件是由几次干旱扰动组成的.大气高度场和风场中存在三种时间尺度的扰动.一种是年际行星尺度的大气扰动,与ENSO冷暖事件有关,起源于赤道并传播到中高纬度地区需要2-4年.另一种是季节内行星尺度的大气扰动,与来自赤道地区的30-50天振荡有关.此外,大气中还存在天气尺度的扰动.利用行星尺度大气扰动向赤道外传播与天气尺度扰动的叠加,区域持续性干旱事件能够找到前期预报信号.     

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2016.04.002

Population synthesis studies into planet formation have suggested that distributions consistent with observations can only be reproduced if the actual Type Ⅰ migration timescale is at least an order of magnitude longer than that deduced from linear theories.Although past studies considered the effect of the Type I migration of protoplanetary embryos,in most cases they used a conventional formula based on static torques in isothermal disks,and employed a reduction factor to account for uncertainty in the mechanism details.However,in addition to static torques,a migrating planet experiences dynamic torques that are proportional to the migration rate.These dynamic torques can impact on planet migration and predicted planetary populations.In this study,we derived a new torque formula for Type Ⅰ migration by taking into account dynamic corrections.This formula was used to perform population synthesis simulations with and without the effect of dynamic torques.In many cases,inward migration was slowed significantly by the dynamic effects.For the static torque case,gas giant formation was effectively suppressed by Type I migration;however,when dynamic effects were considered,a substantial fraction of cores survived and grew into gas giants.     

卫星数据和地面观测结合的珠三角地区颗粒物质量浓度统计估算方法

利用卫星观测的气溶胶光学厚度资料和模式模拟数据,与地面颗粒物观测资料结合,探讨近地面颗粒物质量浓度的估算方法。具体包括：利用区域气侯模式RAMS（Regional Atmospheric Modeling System）模拟的边界层高度对气溶胶光学厚度进行垂直订正,获得近地面颗粒物消光系数;利用模式模拟的相对湿度和颗粒物吸湿增长经验模型对消光系数进行湿度订正,获得近地面颗粒物干消光系数;并基于干消光系数与颗粒物质量浓度地面站点资料建立的统计关系估算获得每个像元的颗粒物质量浓度。利用地面站点观测的颗粒物浓度资料验证表明,基于卫星资料可以获得近地面颗粒物质量浓度,而且细颗粒物质量浓度具有更好的估算精度。     

The thermal structure and the location of the snow line in the protosolar nebula: Axisymmetric models with full 3-D radiative transfer

The precise location of the water ice condensation front (‘snow line’) in the protosolar nebula has been a debate for a long time. Its importance stems from the expected substantial jump in the abundance of solids beyond the snow line, which is conducive to planet formation, and from the higher ‘stickiness’ in collisions of ice-coated dust grains, which may help the process of coagulation of dust and the formation of planetesimals. In an optically thin nebula, the location of the snow line is easily calculated to be around 3 AU, subject to brightness variations of the young Sun. However, in its first 5-10 myr, the solar nebula was optically thick, implying a smaller snowline radius due to shielding from direct sunlight, but also a larger radius because of viscous heating. Several models have attempted to treat these opposing effects. However, until recently treatments beyond an approximate 1 + 1D radiative transfer were unfeasible. We revisit the problem with a fully self-consistent 3D treatment in an axisymmetric disk model, including a density-dependent treatment of the dust and ice sublimation. We find that the location of the snow line is very sensitive to the opacities of the dust grains and the mass accretion rate of the disk. We show that previous approximate treatments are quite efficient at determining the location of the snow line if the energy budget is locally dominated by viscous accretion. Using this result we derive an analytic estimate of the location of the snow line that compares very well with results from this and previous studies. Using solar abundances of the elements we compute the abundance of dust and ice and find that the expected jump in solid surface density at the snow line is smaller than previously assumed. We further show that in the inner few AU the refractory species are also partly evaporated, leading to a significantly smaller solid state surface density in the regions where the rocky planets were formed.     

Could giant impacts cripple core dynamos of small terrestrial planets?

Large impacts not only create giant basins on terrestrial planets but also heat their interior by shock waves. We investigate the impacts that have created the largest basins existing on the planets: Utopia on Mars, Caloris on Mercury, Aitken on Moon, all formed at ∼4 Ga. We determine the impact-induced temperature increases in the interior of a planet using the “foundering” shock heating model of Watters et al. (Watters, W.A., Zuber, M.T., Hager, B.H. [2009]. J. Geophys. Res. 114, E02001. doi:10.1029/2007JE002964). The post-impact thermal evolution of the planet is investigated using 2D axi-symmetric convection in a spherical shell of temperature-dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity, and pressure-dependent thermal expansion. The impact heating creates a superheated giant plume in the upper mantle which ascends rapidly and develops a strong convection in the mantle of the sub-impact hemisphere. The upwelling of the plume rapidly sweeps up the impact-heated base of the mantle away from the core-mantle boundary and replaces it with the colder surrounding material, thus reducing the effects of the impact-heated base of the mantle on the heat flux out of core. However, direct shock heating of the core stratifies the core, suppresses the pre-existing thermal convection, and cripples a pre-existing thermally-driven core dynamo. It takes about 17, 4, and 5 Myr for the stratified cores of Mars, Mercury, and Moon to exhaust impact heat and resume global convection, possibly regenerating core dynamos.