Microphysical modeling of ethane ice clouds in titan’s atmosphere

A time-dependent microphysical model is used to study the evolution of ethane ice clouds in Titan’s atmosphere. The model simulates nucleation, condensational growth, evaporation, coagulation, and transport of particles. For a critical saturation of 1.15 (a lower limit, determined by laboratory experiments), we find that ethane clouds can be sustained between altitudes of 8 and 50 km. Growth due to coalescence is inefficient, limiting the peak in the size distribution (by number) to 10 μm. These clouds vary with a period of about 20 days. This periodicity disappears for higher critical saturation values where clouds remain subvisible. Rainout of ethane due to methane cloud formation raises the altitude of the ethane cloud bottom to near the tropopause and may eliminate ethane clouds entirely if methane cloud formation occurs up to 30 km. However, clouds formed above the troposphere from other gases in Titan’s atmosphere could be sustained even with rainout up to 30 km. Although the optical depth of ethane clouds above 20 km is typically low, short-lived clouds with optical depths of order 0.1-1 can be created sporadically by dynamically driven atmospheric cooling. Ethane cloud particles larger than 25 μm can fall to the surface before total evaporation. However, ethane clouds remain only a small sink for tholin particles. At the peak of their cycle, the optical depth of ethane clouds could be comparable to that of tholin in the near-infrared, resulting in a 5% increase in Titan’s albedo for wavelengths between 1 and 2 μm. A number of factors limit our ablility to predict the ethane cloud properties. These factors include the mixing time in the troposphere, the critical saturation ratio for ethane ice, the existence of a surface reservoir of ethane, the magnitude and timing of dynamically driven temperature perturbations, and the abundance and life cycle of methane clouds.     

The influence of macrophyte growth,typical of eutrophic conditions,on river flow velocities and turbulence production

The influence of emergent and submerged macrophytes on flow velocity and turbulence production is demonstrated in a 140 m reach of the River Blackwater in Farnborough, Hampshire, UK. Macrophyte growth occurs in patches and is dominated by Sparganium erectum and Sparganium emersum. In May 2001, patches of S. erectum were already established and occupied 18% of the channel area. The flow adjusted to these (predominantly lateral) patches by being channelled through a narrower cross‐section. The measured velocity profiles showed a logarithmic form, with deviations attributable to topographic control. The channel bed was the main source of turbulence. In September 2001, in‐stream macrophytes occupied 27% of the channel, and overhanging bank vegetation affected 32% of the area. Overall flow resistance, described by Manning's n, showed a threefold increase that could be attributed to the growth of S. emersum in the middle of the channel. Velocity profiles showed different characteristic forms depending on their position relative to plant stems and leaves. The overall velocity field had a three‐dimensional structure. Turbulence intensities were generally higher and turbulence profiles tended to mirror the velocity profiles. Evidence for the generation of coherent eddies was provided by ratios of the root mean square velocities. Spectral analysis identified deviations from the Kolmogorov ?5/3 power law and provided statistical evidence for a spectral short‐cut, indicative of additional turbulence production. This was most marked for the submerged vegetation and, in some instances, the overhanging bank vegetation. The long strap‐like leaves of S. emersum being aligned approximately parallel to the flow and the highly variable velocity field created by the patch arrangement of macrophytes suggest that the dominant mechanism for turbulence production is vortex shedding along shear zones. Wake production around individual stems of S. emersum close to the bed may also be important locally. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time travel and chemical evolution: a look at the outer solar system

Many space scientists think that the chemical conditions today on planets and moons of the outer solar system are similar to conditions on Earth soon after it formed. If so, we can learn much about the chemistry that led to life on this planet. We can also speculate about exotic habitats that might have given rise to other types of life. And if we are able to discern the chemical reactions now occurring in the outer solar system, we may be able to extrapolate these rules to other solar systems, and so define the habitable zones around other stars where the potential for life is high.     

Memorial landscapes: analytic questions and metaphors

Over the past two decades, geographers have probed the intersection of collective memory and urban space. Their sustained interest in the subject reflects an understanding of the social condition of commemoration and the important role that space plays in the process and politics of collective memory. Along with other critical social scientists, geographers envision these public symbols as part of larger cultural landscapes that reflect and legitimate the normative social order. A review of the extant literature indicates that geographers scrutinize memorial landscapes through three conceptual lenses that may be understood via the metaphors of ‘text,’ ‘arena,’ and ‘performance.’ These metaphors are in turn mobilized through a series of analytic questions that serve to identify the interests served and denied by landscape ‘texts,’ the ‘arenas’ in which they are produced, and the ways in which they are enacted via ‘performance.’ This article’s synopsis of the subfield’s predominant metaphors and its attendant questions contributes to the ongoing cultural geographic project of articulating and implementing methods for interpreting landscapes as open-ended symbolic systems.

An ocean-bottom hydrophone recorder for seismic refraction experiments

A new and inexpensive pop-up ocean-bottom hydrophone recorder has been developed for use in seismic refraction experiments. It is capable of operating in water depths of up to 4000 m and in very rugged topography, and uses an acoustic command system built by the U.K. Institute of Oceanographic Sciences for recovery. The instrument is mounted in an inexpensive cylindrical pressure case based on commercially available extruded aluminium alloy tubing, and uses glass spheres and syntactic foam for buoyancy. Hydrophone and clock signals are frequency modulated and recorded on tape cassettes, with a recording duration of three hours allowing up to 18 programmed shot windows. The prototype has made seven free descents on the Mid-Atlantic ridge and in the Gulf of Oman, and successfully recorded shots under operational conditions for the first time in September 1979. The total component cost of the prototype was £2740 (1979 prices).(Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge Contribution No. ES135).     

Otec cold water pipe design for problems caused by vortex-excited oscillations

Vortex-excited oscillations of marine structures result in reduced fatigue life, large hydrodynamic forces and induced stresses, and sometimes lead to structural damage and to destructive failures. The cold water pipe of an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant is nominally a bluff, flexible cylinder with a large aspect ratio (L/D = length/diameter), and is likely to be susceptible to resonant vortex-excited oscillations. The objective of this paper is to survey recent results pertaining to the vortex-excited oscillations of structures in general and to consider the application of these findings to the design of the OTEC cold water pipe. Practical design calculations are given as examples throughout the various sections of the report.This paper is limited in scope to the problems of vortex shedding from bluff, flexible structures in steady currents and the resulting vortex-excited oscillations. The effects of flow non-uniformities, surface roughness of the cylinder, and inclination to the incident flow are considered in addition to the case of a smooth cylinder in a uniform stream. Emphasis is placed upon design procedures, hydrodynamic coefficients applicable in practice, and the specification of structural response parameters relevant to the OTEC cold water pipe. There are important problems associated with the shedding of vortices from cylinders in waves and from the combined action of waves and currents, but these complex fluid/structure interactions are not considered in this paper.     

基于WiMAX的地质灾害应急无线通信系统探索

基于OFDM核心技术的WiMAX(全球微波接入互操作性)具有4G技术的特点。与3G和WiFi无线通讯技术相比具有明显的高速率、大容量数据传输优势。本文就基于WiMAX的地质灾害应急通讯系统的几种技术方案加以详细论述,说明WiMAX在地质灾害应急指挥中具有广阔前景。     

Near-infrared spectroscopy of dark asteroids

Near-infrared (J, H and K bands) spectra of nine dark asteroids (chosen among a sample of supposed primitive objects between C and D classes) have been obtained at the Mauna Kea Observatory (Hawaii) with the 2.2-m telescope using KSPEC as spectrograph. The aim of this work was to search for evidence of the presence of organic materials in these objects as found in other planetary bodies as 5145 Pholus, and in some cometary nuclei. A careful analysis of the data has revealed flat or slightly redder spectra than the solar one for all observed asteroids. No evidence of distinct absorption features was found.     

Abundances of isotopes in planetary atmospheres

Carbon and oxygen isotopes show no large anomalies on Venus (10–15%) or Mars (<5%); the high value of¹⁵N/¹⁴N found on Mars is explained by non-thermal escape of nitrogen. The isotopes of non-radiogenic noble gases in the atmosphere of Mars exhibit abundance patterns similar to those in the primordial component of meteoritic gases and in the Earth's atmosphere. This implies that gas fractionation took place in the inner solar nebula prior to planet formation. The relatively high value of¹²⁹Xe on Mars emphasizes its deficiency on Earth, implying a difference in accretion histories of volatiles for the two planets. In the outer solar system, we find normal isotope ratios for nitrogen and carbon on Jupiter, and for carbon on Saturn, but precision is low (±15% at best). Controversy exists about the correct value of D/H, with current estimates ranging from 2.3±1.1 to 5.1±0.7×10^–5. Planetary missions planned for the next few years should add considerably to the quantity and quality of these data.Paper presented at the Conference on Protostars and Planets, held at the Planetary Science Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, between January 3 and 7, 1978.     

Production of organic molecules in the outer solar system by proton irradiation: Laboratory simulations

In the past few years considerable attention has been given to the determination of likely compounds that could account for the various colors observed in the outer solar system: and to possible formation mechanisms for these compounds. Many experiments have been done using electrical discharges (Chadha, M. S., et al., 1971, Icarus15, 39) and ultraviolet light (Khare, B. N., and Sagan, C., 1973, Icarus20, 311) on mixtures of CH₄, NH₃, and H₂S, which are most likely the dominant minor constituents of the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, and possibly the other satellites early in their histories. Colored polymers, usually brownish-red, have been produced in these experiments. With the passage of Pioneer 10 around Jupiter, there is another source of energy worthy of consideration, energetic protons (and electrons). Preliminary experiments to investigate the formation of colored polymers and other interesting molecules by the irradiation of gas mixtures by protons are discussed. Two to four Mev protons were used, with corresponding beam fluxes (as measured at 6R_J from the planet) equivalent to approximately 80 Earth years at Jupiter per hour of exposure. As in the other types of experiments, colored polymers have been produced. An important feature of this work is the presence or absence of absorption at 5 μm in the different materials produced; Titan is quite dark at this wavelength and Io is fairly bright. Such features may provide criteria for accepting or rejecting various materials produced in these experiments as reasonable coloring agents for the outer solar system.