Physical parameters of near-Earth asteroid 1982 DV

Visual and infrared observations were made of Amor asteroid 1982 DV during its discovery apparition. Broadband visual and near-infrared photometry shows that it is an S-class asteroid. Narrowband spectrophotometry shows an absorption feature due to olivine or pyroxene or both centered at 0.93 μm. Applying a nonrotating thermal model to 10-μm photometry, the geometric albedo is calculated to be approximately 0.27. The geometric albedo for a slowly rotating, rocky surface was calculated for 1 night to be 0.15, consistent with S-class asteroid albedos. Thus, 1982 DV is either one of the most reflective S-class asteroids known, or a significant amount of bare rock is exposed on the asteroid's surface. For the nonrotating model, ellipsoidal dimensions for 1982 DV are 3.5 × 1.4 × 1.4 km.     

Parameter information from non-linear cosmological fields

We develop a general formalism for analysing parameter information from non-Gaussian cosmic fields. The method can be adapted to include the non-linear effects in galaxy redshift surveys, weak lensing surveys and cosmic velocity field surveys as part of parameter estimation. It can also be used as a test of non-Gaussianity of the cosmic microwave background. Generalizing maximum-likelihood analysis to second order, we calculate the non-linear Fisher information matrix and likelihood surfaces in parameter space. To this order we find that the information content is always increased by including non-linearity. Our methods are applied to a realistic model of a galaxy redshift survey, including non-linear evolution, galaxy bias, shot-noise and redshift-space distortions to second order. We find that including non-linearities allows all of the degeneracies between parameters to be lifted. Marginalized parameter uncertainties of a few per cent will then be obtainable using forthcoming galaxy redshift surveys.     

Post-solidification cooling and the age of Io's lava flows

The modeling of thermal emission from active lava flows must account for the cooling of the lava after solidification. Models of lava cooling applied to data collected by the Galileo spacecraft have, until now, not taken this into consideration. This is a flaw as lava flows on Io are thought to be relatively thin with a range in thickness from ∼1 to 13 m. Once a flow is completely solidified (a rapid process on a geological time scale), the surface cools faster than the surface of a partially molten flow. Cooling via the base of the lava flow is also important and accelerates the solidification of the flow compared to the rate for the ‘semi-infinite’ approximation (which is only valid for very deep lava bodies). We introduce a new model which incorporates the solidification and basal cooling features. This model gives a superior reproduction of the cooling of the 1997 Pillan lava flows on Io observed by the Galileo spacecraft. We also use the new model to determine what observations are necessary to constrain lava emplacement style at Loki Patera. Flows exhibit different cooling profiles from that expected from a lava lake. We model cooling with a finite-element code and make quantitative predictions for the behavior of lava flows and other lava bodies that can be tested against observations both on Io and Earth. For example, a 10-m-thick ultramafic flow, like those emplaced at Pillan Patera in 1997, solidifies in ∼450 days (at which point the surface temperature has cooled to ∼280 K) and takes another 390 days to cool to 249 K. Observations over a sufficient period of time reveal divergent cooling trends for different lava bodies [examples: lava flows and lava lakes have different cooling trends after the flow has solidified (flows cool faster)]. Thin flows solidify and cool faster than flows of greater thickness. The model can therefore be used as a diagnostic tool for constraining possible emplacement mechanisms and compositions of bodies of lava in remote-sensing data.     

Characterizing Observed Environmental Variability With HF Doppler Radar Surface Current Mappers and Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers: Environmental Variability in the Coastal Ocean

A network of high-frequency (HF) radars is deployed along the New Jersey coast providing synoptic current maps across the entire shelf. These data serve a variety of user groups from scientific research to Coast Guard search and rescue. In addition, model forecasts have been shown to improve with surface current assimilation. In all applications, there is a need for better definitions and assessment of the measurement uncertainty. During a summer coastal predictive skill experiment in 2001, an array of in situ current profilers was deployed near two HF radar sites, one long-range and one standard-range system. Comparison statistics were calculated between different vertical bins on the same current profiler, between different current profilers, and between the current profilers and the different HF radars. The velocity difference in the vertical and horizontal directions were then characterized using the observed root-mean-square (rms) differences. We further focused on two cases, one with relatively high vertical variability, and the second with relatively low vertical variability. Observed differences between the top bin of the current profiler and the HF radar were influenced by both system accuracy and the environment. Using the in situ current profilers, the environmental variability over scales based on the HF radar sampling was quantified. HF radar comparisons with the current profilers were on the same order as the observed environmental difference over the same scales, indicating that the environment has a significant influence on the observed differences. Velocity variability in the vertical and horizontal directions both contribute to these differences. When the potential effects of the vertical variability could be minimized, the remaining difference between the current profiler and the HF radar was similar to the measured horizontal velocity difference (~2.5 cm/s) and below the resolution of the raw radial data at the time of the deployment     

Spring and summer phytoplankton communities in the Chukchi and Eastern Beaufort Seas

Phytoplankton pigments and size-fractionated biomass in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas showed spatial and temporal variation during the spring and summer of 2002. Cluster analysis of pigment ratios revealed different assemblages over the shelf, slope and basin regions. In spring, phytoplankton with particle sizes greater than 5 μm, identified as diatoms and/or haptophytes, dominated over the shelf. Smaller (<5 μm) phytoplankton containing chlorophyll b, most likely prasinophytes, were more abundant over the slope and basin. Due to extensive ice cover at this time, phytoplankton experienced low irradiance, but nutrients were near maximal for the year. By summer, small prasinophytes and larger haptophytes and diatoms co-dominated in near-surface assemblages in largely ice-free waters when nitrate was mostly depleted. Deeper in the water column at 1–15% of the surface irradiance larger sized diatoms were still abundant in the upper nutricline. Phytoplankton from the shelf appeared to be advected through Barrow Canyon to the adjacent basin, explaining similar composition between the two areas in spring and summer. Off-shelf advection was much less pronounced for other slope and basin areas, which are influenced by the low-nutrient Beaufort gyre circulation, leading to a dominance of smaller prasinophytes and chlorophytes. The correlation of large-sized fucoxanthin containing phytoplankton with the higher primary production measurements shows promise for trophic status to be estimated using accessory pigment ratios.     

Circulation and currents in the southwestern East/Japan Sea: Overview and review

A review is made of circulation and currents in the southwestern East/Japan Sea (the Ulleung Basin), and the Korea/Tsushima Strait which is a unique conduit for surface inflow into the Ulleung Basin. The review particularly concentrates on describing some preliminary results from recent extensive measurements made after 1996. Mean flow patterns are different in the upstream and downstream regions of the Korea/Tsushima Strait. A high velocity core occurs in the mid-section in the upstream region, and splits into two cores hugging the coasts of Korea and Japan, the downstream region, after passing around Tsushima Island located in the middle of the strait. Four-year mean transport into the East/Japan Sea through the Korea/Tsushima Strait based on submarine cable data calibrated by direct observations is 2.4 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹). A wide range of variability occurs for the subtidal transport variation from subinertial (2–10 days) to interannual scales. While the subinertial variability is shown to arise from the atmospheric pressure disturbances, the longer period variation has been poorly understood.Mean upper circulation of the Ulleung Basin is characterized by the northward flowing East Korean Warm Current along the east coast of Korea and its meander eastward after the separation from the coast, the Offshore Branch along the coast of Japan, and the anticyclonic Ulleung Warm Eddy that forms from a meander of the East Korean Warm Current. Continuous acoustic travel-time measurements between June 1999 and June 2001 suggest five quasi-stable upper circulation patterns that persist for about 3–5 months with transitions between successive patterns occurring in a few months or days. Disappearance of the East Korean Warm Current is triggered by merging the Dok Cold Eddy, originating from the pinching-off of the meander trough, with the coastal cold water carried Southward by the North Korean Cold Current. The Ulleung Warm Eddy persisted for about 20 months in the middle of the Ulleung Basin with changes in its position and spatial scale associated with strengthening and weakening of the transport through the Korea/Tsushima Strait. The variability of upper circulation is partly related to the transport variation through the Korea/Tsushima Strait. Movements of the coastal cold water and the instability of the polar front also appear to be important factors affecting the variability.Deep circulation in the Ulleung Basin is primarily cyclonic and commonly consists of one or more cyclonic cells, and an anticyclonic cell centered near Ulleung Island. The cyclonic circulation is conjectured to be driven by a net inflow through the Ulleung Interplain Gap, which serves as a conduit for the exchange of deep waters between the Japan Basin in the northern East Sea and the Ulleung Basin. Deep currents are characterized by a short correlation scale and the predominance of mesoscale variability with periods of 20–40 days. Seasonality of deep currents is indistinct, and the coupling of upper and deep circulation has not been clarified yet.