Simultaneous multifrequency observations of an eruptive prominence at millimeter wavelengths

Radio images and spectra of an eruptive prominence were obtained from simultaneous multifrequency observations at 36 GHz, 89 GHz, and 110 GHz on May 28, 1991 with the 45-m radio telescope at Nobeyama Radio Observatory (NRO), the National Astronomical Observatory, Japan (NAOJ). The radio spectra indicated that the optical depth is rather thick at 36 GHz whereas it is thin at 89 and 110 GHz. The H data, taken at Norikura Solar Observatory, NAOJ, suggest that the eruption of an active region filament was triggered by an H flare. The shape and position of the radio prominence generally coincided with those of H images. The radio emission is explained with an isothermal cool thread model. A lower limit for the electron temperature of the cool threads is estimated to be 6100 K. The range of the surface filling factors of the cool threads is 0.3–1.0 after the H flare, and 0.2–0.5 in the descending phase of the eruptive prominence. The column emission measure and the electron number density are estimated to be of the order of 10²⁸ cm^–5 and 10¹⁰ cm^–3, respectively. The physical parameters of a quiescent prominence are also estimated from the observations. The filling factors of the eruptive prominence are smaller than those of the quiescent prominence, whereas the emission measures and the electron densities are similar. These facts imply that each cool thread of the prominence did not expand after the eruption, while the total volume of the prominence increased.     

Deep structure of the northeastern Japan arc and its implications for crustal deformation and shallow seismic activity

Seismic tomography studies in the northeastern Japan arc have revealed the existence of an inclined sheet-like seismic low-velocity and high-attenuation zone in the mantle wedge at depths shallower than about 150 km. This sheet-like low-velocity, high-attenuation zone is oriented sub-parallel to the subducted slab, and is considered to correspond to the upwelling flow portion of the subduction-induced convection. The low-velocity, high-attenuation zone reaches the Moho immediately beneath the volcanic front (or the Ou Backbone Range) running through the middle of the arc nearly parallel to the trench axis, which suggests that the volcanic front is formed by this hot upwelling flow. Aqueous fluids supplied by the subducted slab are probably transported upward through this upwelling flow to reach shallow levels beneath the Backbone Range where they are expelled from solidified magma and migrate further upward. The existence of aqueous fluids may weaken the surrounding crustal rocks, resulting in local contractive deformation and uplift along the Backbone Range under the compressional stress field of the volcanic arc. A strain-rate distribution map generated from GPS data reveals a notable concentration of east–west contraction along the Backbone Range, consistent with this interpretation. Shallow inland earthquakes are also concentrated in the upper crust of this locally large contraction deformation zone. Based on these observations, a simple model is proposed to explain the deformation pattern of the crust and the characteristic shallow seismic activity beneath the northeastern Japan arc.     

GDP and employment effects of policies to close the 2020 emissions gap

Four policies might close the gap between the global GHG emissions expected for 2020 on the basis of current (2013) policies and the reduced emissions that will be needed if the long-term global temperature increase can be kept below the 2 °C internationally agreed limit. The four policies are (1) specific energy efficiency measures, (2) closure of the least-efficient coal-fired power plants, (3) minimizing methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production, and (4) accelerating the (partial) phase-out of subsidies to fossil-fuel consumption. In this article we test the hypothesis of the International Energy Agency (IEA) that these policies will not result in a loss of gross domestic product (GDP) and we estimate their employment effects using the E3MG global macro-econometric model. Using a set of scenarios we assess each policy individually and then consider the outcomes if all four policies were implemented simultaneously. We find that the policies are insufficient to close the emissions gap, with an overall emission reduction that is 30% less than that found by the IEA. World GDP is 0.5% higher in 2020, with about 6 million net jobs created by 2020 and unemployment reduced.

Policy relevance

The gap between GHG emissions expected under the Copenhagen and Cancun Agreements and that needed for emissions trajectories to have a reasonable chance of reaching the 2 °C target requires additional policies if it is to be closed. This article uses a global simulation model E3MG to analyse a set of policies proposed by the IEA to close the gap and assesses their macroeconomic effects as well as their feasibility in closing the gap. It complements the IEA assessment by estimating the GDP and employment implications separately by the different policies year by year to 2020, by major industries, and by 21 world regions.     

Population genetic diversity and structure of a dominant tropical seagrass,Cymodocea rotundata,in the Western Pacific region

Cymodocea rotundata is an ecologically important tropical pioneer seagrass species distributed in the Indo‐Pacific region. The population genetic diversity and structure of this species were analysed at 46 sites spanning the Philippines, Ryukyu Islands (northern limit) and Hainan Island, by using microsatellite simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Analyses revealed the persistence of C. rotundata likely relies on local population dynamics and fitness influenced by environmental gradients, with sexual reproduction prevalent in the Philippines while the Ryukyu and Hainan populations were predominantly established by clonal spread. Analysis of molecular variance showed significant genetic differentiation (P < 0.001) among three geographic regions: the Philippines, Ryukyu and Hainan. Furthermore, the mean fixation index value was very high (F_ST = 0.36), indicating poor dispersal potential or limited gene flow. Allelic richness and heterozygosity of C. rotundata was comparable in the Philippines and Ryukyu Islands populations. More private alleles were found in the Philippines and excess heterozygotes in the Ryukyu Islands. STRUCTURE analysis revealed that the Ryukyu and Hainan populations were mosaics of admixed alleles of individuals from the Philippines. An assignment test suggested that recruitment occurs from the Northeast Philippines to Ryukyu Islands. These results suggest that the Philippine populations are tropical seagrass hotspots and perhaps the origin of the populations in the Ryukyu and Hainan Islands. This scenario is most likely driven by the Kuroshio Current and island integration events during plate tectonic activities. The Philippine Archipelago is considered of high importance for conservation objectives and management plan of seagrasses. Likewise, the Ryukyu Islands are also important in terms of conserving regional diversity because locally adapted genotypes have important evolutionary potential in the face of environmental change.     

Estimation of dynamic friction and movement history of large landslides

We performed seismic waveform inversions and numerical landslide simulations of deep-seated landslides in Japan to understand the dynamic evolution of friction of the landslides. By comparing the forces obtained from a numerical simulation to those resolved from seismic waveform inversion, the coefficient of friction during sliding was well-constrained between 0.3 and 0.4 for landslides with volumes of 2–8 ×10⁶ m³. We obtained similar coefficients of friction for landslides with similar scale and geology, and they are consistent with the empirical relationship between the volume and dynamic coefficient of friction obtained from the past studies. This hybrid method of the numerical simulation and seismic waveform inversion shows the possibility of reproducing or predicting the movement of a large-scale landslide. Our numerical simulation allows us to estimate the velocity distribution for each time step. The maximum velocity at the center of mass is 12–36 m/s and is proportional to the square root of the elevation change at the center of mass of the landslide body, which suggests that they can be estimated from the initial DEMs. About 20% of the total potential energy is transferred to the kinetic energy in our volume range. The combination of the seismic waveform inversion and the numerical simulation helps to obtain the well-constrained dynamic coefficients of friction and velocity distribution during sliding, which will be used in numerical models to estimate the hazard of potential landslides.     

Data‐driven taxonomy matching of asteroid and meteorite

The matching of asteroids and meteorites is a significant step toward a better understanding of the origin, structure, and history of the solar system. We propose a data‐driven approach for investigating common taxonomic structure between asteroids and meteorites; C‐, S‐, and V‐type for the former, and carbonaceous chondrite, ordinary chondrite, and howardite‐eucrite‐diogenite (HED) meteorite for the latter. In the numerical experiments, by checking whether the taxonomy information of meteorites improves classification for asteroid data, we examine the existence of common structure over the two domains. For this purpose, we compare the resultant accuracies of two clustering methods which are with/without the guidance of meteorite data. We observe that the guidance of meteorite taxonomy improves the accuracy for classifying asteroids, either with the reflectance spectra or major chemical compositions of meteorites. This fact serves as a piece of evidence that there is a common taxonomic structure and links between meteorites and asteroids, supporting a long‐standing hypothesis.     

Modelling the Shimokita deep coalbed biosphere over deep geological time: Starvation,stimulation, material balance and population models

Basin models can simulate geological, geochemical and geophysical processes and potentially also the deep biosphere, starting from a burial curve, assuming a thermal history and utilizing other experimentally obtained data. Here, we apply basin modelling techniques to model cell abundances within the deep coalbed biosphere off Shimokita Peninsula, Japan, drilled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 337. Two approaches were used to simulate the deep coalbed biosphere: (a) In the first approach, the deep biosphere was modelled using a material balance approach that treats the deep biosphere as a carbon reservoir, in which fluxes are governed by temperature-controlled metabolic processes that retain carbon via cell-growth and cell-repair and pass it back via cell-damaging reactions. (b) In the second approach, the deep biosphere was modelled as a microbial community with a temperature-controlled growth ratio and carrying capacity (a limit on the size of the deep biosphere) modulated by diagenetic-processes. In all cases, the biosphere in the coalbeds and adjacent habitat are best modelled as a carbon-limited community undergoing starvation because labile sedimentary organic matter is no longer present and petroleum generation is yet to occur. This state of starvation was represented by the conversion of organic carbon to authigenic carbonate and the formation of kerogen. The potential for the biosphere to be stimulated by the generation of carbon-dioxide from the coal during its transition from brown to sub-bituminous coal was evaluated and a net thickness of 20 m of lignite was found sufficient to support an order of magnitude greater number of cells within a low-total organic carbon (TOC) horizon. By comparison, the stimulation of microbial populations in a coalbed or high-TOC horizon would be harder to detect because the increase in population size would be proportionally very small.     

Texture and structural interpretation of the alteration of pyroxene to other biopyriboles

In a metamorphosed gabbro from Hokkaido, Japan, augite containing exsolved orthohypersthene and minor pigeonite has been altered to a variety of biopyriboles. High resolution transmission electron microscopy of slightly altered augite shows only narrow (010) lamellae of clinoamphibole which always contain even numbers of double chains. In more highly altered regions, all three pyroxenes are changed to double-, triple- and more highly polymerized multiple-chain biopyriboles, with chlorite d ₀₀₁ 14.5 Å) found only in orthopyroxene. Several (010) lamellae containing only one double chain have been observed, and their textural relationship to the surrounding single-chain host may explain how the rotated domains of biopyribole initially attain their orientation in the host pyroxene.A structural model is proposed for the polymerization of single chains in the tetrahedral layers of pyroxene which involves small movements of oxygens and tetrahedral atoms (Si, Al) with a minimum of bond breaking and re-forming, concommitant with hydroxylization of certain oxygens and the diffusion of Mg, Fe and/or Ca along the rift in the octahedral layer.