The roughness of the dark side of Iapetus from the 2004 to 2005 flyby

The roughness of a planetary surface offers clues to its past geologic history. We apply a surface roughness model developed by Buratti and Veverka (Buratti, B.J., Veverka, J. [1985]. Icarus 64, 320-328) to Cassini ISS data from the January 1st, 2005 flyby of Iapetus. This model uses the observed scattering behavior to provide a depth to radius factor q quantifying the size of idealized craters on the surface. Our findings indicate that the surface on the dark side is significantly smoother than the surfaces of other icy low-albedo saturnian satellites. We have found that the average depth to radius on the leading (dark) side is 0.084, corresponding to a Hapke mean slope angle of 6°. As compared to the 13-33° Hapke mean slope angle of other icy satellites (Buratti, B.J., and 10 colleagues [2008]. Icarus 193, 309-322), our results present a clearly different picture for the leading surface of Iapetus, suggesting that the dark deposit contributes to the decrease in macroscopic surface roughness of the leading side. Attempts were made to obtain an average depth to radius value for the trailing (bright) side; however the scans of the bright side from this flyby exhibited large variations in albedo, resulting in results that were physically unrealistic.     

The formation and stability of carbonic acid on outer Solar System bodies

The radiation chemistry, thermal stability, and vapor pressure of solid-phase carbonic acid (H₂CO₃) have been studied with mid-infrared spectroscopy. A new procedure for measuring this molecule’s radiation stability has been used to obtain intrinsic IR band strengths and half-lives for radiolytic destruction. We report, for the first time, measurements of carbonic acid’s vapor pressure (0.290-2.33 × 10⁻¹¹ bar for 240-255 K) and its enthalpy of sublimation (71 ± 9 kJ mol⁻¹). We also report the first observation of a chemical reaction involving solid-phase carbonic acid. Possible applications of these findings are discussed, with an emphasis on the outer Solar System icy surfaces.     

Titan's surface at 2.2-cm wavelength imaged by the Cassini RADAR radiometer: Calibration and first results

The first comprehensive calibration and mapping of the thermal microwave emission from Titan's surface is reported based on radiometric data obtained at 2.2-cm wavelength by the passive radiometer included in the Cassini Radar instrument. The data reported were accumulated from 69 separate observational segments in Titan passes from Ta (October 2004) through T30 (May 2007) and include emission from 94% of Titan's surface. They are diverse in the key observing parameters of emission angle, polarization, and spatial resolution, and their reduction into calibrated global mosaic maps involved several steps. Analysis of the polarimetry obtained at low to moderate resolution (50+ km) enabled integration of the radiometry into a single mosaic of the equivalent brightness temperature at normal incidence with a relative precision of about 1 K. The Huygens probe measurement of Titan's surface temperature and radiometry obtained on Titan's dune fields allowed us to infer an absolute calibration estimated to be accurate to a level approaching 1 K. The results provide evidence for a surface that is complex and varied on large scales. The radiometry primarily constrains physical properties of the surface, where we see strong evidence for subsurface (volume) scattering as a dominant mechanism that determines the emissivity, with the possibility of a fluffy or graded-density surface layer in many regions. The results are consistent with, but not necessarily definitive of a surface composition resulting from the slow deposition and processing of organic compounds from the atmosphere.     

强对流天气雷达回波强度相关性对比分析

为了提高山区复杂地形条件下局地强对流天气监测预警能力,有效减小天气雷达之间对降水目标物回波的测量误差,选取贵阳、毕节、遵义三部多普勒天气雷达同步观测体扫资料,以贵阳多普勒天气雷达站为基准,对比分析了强对流天气的雷达回波强度的变化特征。初步分析结果表明:贵阳与遵义、毕节雷达之间观测的回波强度具有一致性的波动特征,且存在较大的相关性;贵阳雷达观测的回波强度总体低于毕节、遵义雷达观测数据结果;两部雷达之间回波强度差异主要是由云和降水对雷达波的衰减所产生。     

同步改正法平均海面传递应用于海南岛礁测绘的探讨

同步改正法因其特点和优势被广泛应用于平均海面传递,文中从平均海面的理论定义和实际计算两方面出发,对同步改正平均海面传递法原理进行了论述。利用海南岛周边的长期验潮站数据,按单站传递和多站组网传递分别分析了同步改正平均海面传递的规律。结果表明,单站传递同步观测10 d能满足岛礁测绘对垂直基准面精度的要求,采用多站组网传递能较明显地减少同步时长较短时的极限误差。当采用多站组网平均海面传递同步观测5 d,其极限误差可达10 cm以内,建议在同步观测时间有限时采用该方法。结合海南岛验潮站和岛礁分布情况,同步改正平均海面传递法应用于海南岛礁测绘是可行的。     

海洋水色卫星遥感器特性参数探讨

为了评价海洋水色卫星遥感器特性参数的优劣，确定仪器的计量特性及其使用价值，准确的理解和科学的定义仪器的特性参数是非常重要的。作者曾有幸参加了海洋水色卫星的立项论证工作，本文就作者的一些工作体会，对海洋水色卫星遥感器的特性参数作初步探讨。     

Origin of chaos in the Prometheus-Pandora system

We demonstrate that the chaotic orbits of Prometheus and Pandora are due to interactions associated with the 121:118 mean motion resonance. Differential precession splits this resonance into a quartet of components equally spaced in frequency. Libration widths of the individual components exceed the splitting, resulting in resonance overlap which causes the chaos. Mean motions of Prometheus and Pandora wander chaotically in zones of width 1.8 and 3.1 deg yr⁻¹, respectively. A model with 1.5 degrees of freedom captures the essential features of the chaotic dynamics. We use it to show that the Lyapunov exponent of 0.3 yr⁻¹ arises because the critical argument of the dominant member of the resonant quartet makes approximately two separatrix crossings every 6.2 year precessional cycle.     

Composition of jovian dust stream particles

The Cassini spacecraft encountered Jupiter in late 2000. Within more than 1 AU of the gas giant the Cosmic Dust Analyser onboard the spacecraft recorded the first ever mass spectra of jovian stream particles. To determine the chemical composition of particles, a comprehensive statistical analysis of the dataset was performed. Our results imply that the vast majority (>95%) of the observed stream particles originate from the volcanic active jovian satellite Io from where they are sprinkled out far into the Solar System. Sodium chloride (NaCl) was identified as the major particle constituent, accompanied by sulphurous as well as potassium bearing components. This is in contrast to observations of gas in the ionian atmosphere, its co-rotating plasma torus, and the neutral cloud, where sulphur species are dominant while alkali and chlorine species are only minor components. Io has the largest active volcanoes of the Solar System with plumes reaching heights of more than 400 km above the moons surface. Our in situ measurements indicate that alkaline salt condensation of volcanic gases inside those plumes could be the dominant formation process for particles reaching the ionian exosphere.     

Spin rate distribution of small asteroids

The spin rate distribution of main belt/Mars crossing (MB/MC) asteroids with diameters 3-15 km is uniform in the range from f=1 to 9.5 d⁻¹, and there is an excess of slow rotators with f<1 d⁻¹. The observed distribution appears to be controlled by the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect. The magnitude of the excess of slow rotators is related to the residence time of slowed down asteroids in the excess and the rate of spin rate change outside the excess. We estimated a median YORP spin rate change of ≈0.022 d⁻¹/Myr for asteroids in our sample (i.e., a median time in which the spin rate changes by 1 d⁻¹ is ≈45 Myr), thus the residence time of slowed down asteroids in the excess is ≈110 Myr. The spin rate distribution of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) with sizes in the range 0.2-3 km (∼5 times smaller in median diameter than the MB/MC asteroids sample) shows a similar excess of slow rotators, but there is also a concentration of NEAs at fast spin rates with f=9-10 d⁻¹. The concentration at fast spin rates is correlated with a narrower distribution of spin rates of primaries of binary systems among NEAs; the difference may be due to the apparently more evolved population of binaries among MB/MC asteroids.     

陕西凤县庞家河金矿床基本地质特征及成矿作用分析

阐述了庞家河金矿床的地层、构造控矿特征，研究了矿床的化学成分、微量元素及矿体、矿石的基本特点，分析了矿石及矿石矿物黄铁矿的O、S、Pb稳定同位素组成；认为庞家河金矿的成矿介质水为同生建造水，成矿物质来源于围岩上沉盆统下东沟组，矿床类型为热水溶滤成因的微细浸染型。