The Dynamics of Benthic Respiration at a Mid-Shelf Station Off Oregon

Mid-shelf sediments off the Oregon coast are characterized as fine sands that trap and remineralize phytodetritus leading to the consumption of significant quantities of dissolved oxygen. Sediment oxygen consumption (SOC) can be delayed from seasonal organic matter inputs because of a transient buildup of reduced constituents during periods of quiescent physical processes. Between 2009 and 2013, benthic oxygen exchange rates were measured using the noninvasive eddy covariance (EC) method five separate times at a single 80-m station. Ancillary measurements included in situ microprofiles of oxygen at the sediment–water interface, and concentration profiles of pore water nutrients and trace metals, and solid-phase organic C and sulfide minerals from cores. Sediment cores were also incubated to derive anaerobic respiration rates. The EC measurements were made during spring, summer, and fall conditions, and they produced average benthic oxygen flux estimates that varied between ?2 and ?15 mmol m^?2 d^?1. The EC oxygen fluxes were most highly correlated with bottom-sensed, significant wave heights (H _s). The relationship with H _s was used with an annual record of deepwater swell heights to predict an integrated oxygen consumption rate for the mid-shelf of 1.5 mol m^?2 for the upwelling season (May–September) and 6.8 mol m^?2 y^?1. The annual prediction requires that SOC rates are enhanced in the winter because of sand filtering and pore water advection under large waves, and it counters budgets that assume a dominance of organic matter export from the shelf. Refined budgets will require winter flux measurements and observations from cross-shelf transects over multiple years.     

Characteristics of large-scale atmospheric circulation related to extreme monthly rainfall anomalies in the Pampa Region, Argentina, under non-ENSO conditions

Summary There is a widely held view that the Pampa region (PR) dry and wet periods are predominantly a consecuence of the El Ni?o-Southern oscillation (ENSO) phenomenom. The current paper focuses on non-ENSO rainfall anomalies for the period 1948–2000, the more recent of which have had catastrophic consequences throughout the region. We analyze horizontal water vapor transport, pressure and circulation anomalies occurring in Southern South America (SSA) during this type of event. Positive and negative (wet and dry) extreme events during the rainy and dry seasons in the region were registered. Based on NCEP reanalysis data it was established that under rainfall deficit, anomalies of similar intensity occurred simultaneously in the PR and in central Chile, whereas under excess rainfall the anomalies were mostly confined to the PR. The existence of a cyclone-anticyclone pair in the anomalous circulation pattern over mid latitudes of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and straddling the southern portion of the continent maintains an intense and extense meridional circulation over the continental plains, which leads to the abnormal values in moisture transport and rainfall rate. The atmospheric water balance equation calculated for the PR indicates that anomalous water vapor is carried in from the continental equatorial region and from the subtropical Atlantic, its magnitude varying in accordance with the season and the sign of the anomaly. Furthermore, evidence of the important role of transient terms corroborates their contribution to the anomalous total moisture flux divergence under rainfall deficit during the dry season. The mean sea-level pressure anomaly fields of the extreme cases were further examined by principal component analysis to discern those circulation features directly linked to rainfall deviations.     

Close binary EHB stars from SPY

We present the results of a radial velocity (RV) survey of 46 subdwarf B (sdB) and 23 helium-rich subdwarf O (He-sdO) stars. We detected 18 (39%) new sdB binary systems, but only one (4%) He-sdO binary. Orbital parameters of nine sdB and sdO binaries, derived from follow-up spectroscopy, are presented. Our results are compared with evolutionary scenarios and previous observational investigations.     

Spectroscopic analysis of sdB stars from the ESO Supernova Ia Progenitor Survey

We report on the analysis of high-resolution optical spectra for 77 subdwarf B (sdB) stars from the ESO Supernova Ia Progenitor Survey. Effective temperature, surface gravity, and photospheric helium abundance are determined simultaneously by spectral line profile fitting of hydrogen and helium lines, and are found to be in agreement with previous studies of sdB stars. Twenty four objects show spectral signs of a cool companion, being either companion absorption lines or a flux contribution at Hα. Five stars with relatively high luminosity show peculiar Hα profiles, possibly indicating stellar winds. Our results are compared to recent theoretical simulations by Han et al. [MNRAS, 341, 669] for the distribution in effective temperature and surface gravity, and are found to agree very well with these calculations. Finally, we present a binary system consisting of two helium-rich hot subdwarfs.     

Shaping of Planetary Nebulae by Dust Driven AGB Winds

We have investigated the interacting winds model (IWM) in which the shapes of elliptical Planetary Nebulae (PNe) can be explained by the asymmetric mass loss produced by a rotating AGB star. The mass loss mechanism is based on a dust driven wind calculated for stationary situations. Already for small rotation rates of the AGB star we get a significantly angle-dependent mass loss which is concentrated towards the equatorial plane. This pole to equator density variation in the space surrounding the star influences the shape of the later developed PN. We compare these theoretical shapes with observed PNe and for some objects with well known quantities our model can fit the observations quite well. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Petrology of the Hopen mangerite-charnockite intrusion, Lofoten, north Norway

The Hopen massif, intrusive age 1900 m.y., exposed area 15 km², in the Lofoten-Vesterålen granulite facies province has the mineral assemblages: (1) mesoperthite+plagioclase (An_7–20)+quartz+clinopyroxene (Di_20–25)+orthopyroxene En_15–25+opaques±minor amphibole±minor biotite; (2) mesoperthite+plagioclase (An <2)+quartz+clinopyroxene (Di <10)+olivine Fe lt;5)+opaques. By using mineral and whole rock analyses, the crystallization conditions were estimated to be 1000°C, 12 kb load pressure and an oxygen fugacity approximately corresponding to the WM buffer. Rocks with the assemblage of type (2) contain secondary orthoferrosilite (Fe_0.90–0.95Mn_0.04–0.07Mg_0.01Ca_0.01)₂Si₂O₆, generated by reactions involving fayalite, magnetite and quartz at 800°C, 10kb load pressure and at oxygen fugacities approaching QFM buffer conditions. Subsequent to a crustal thickening, the mangeritic rocks in Lofoten-Vesterålen were emplaced in a tensional environment comparable with modern continental rifts. A ‘gabbro pillow’ magma chamber at the crustal base is proposed as parental magma for the mangeritic rocks, of which the Hopen massif represents a late differentiation.     

Evidence for explosive volcanic density currents on certain Martian volcanoes

A number of Martian volcanoes, especially Ceraunius Tholus, Uranius Tholus, Uranius Patera, and Hecates Tholus, show morphological features strikingly different from those of shield volcanoes but analogous to those of terrestrial cones and composite volcanoes such as Barcena Volcano, Mexico. The most distinguishing overall features are steep slope angles, and Krakatoa-type caldera morphologies. Erosional features comprise numerous radial channels which extend from below the rim toward the base of the dome, and in some cases, patterns of anastamosing gullies which contribute to the main radial channels. Constructional features include blanketed flanks interpreted as dune or fan-like deposits of ash, and perhaps lava deltas. A possible explanation for the morphological features associated with these volcanoes is that they were formed by explosive volcanic density currents. Such eruptions would be expected on Mars where a rising magma came in contact with a thick layer of permafrost generating a base surge or after a Vulcanian explosion of a separate gas phase producing a nuée ardente. Crater age data from the surface of Martian domes and shields indicate that such explosive activity occurred more frequently early in Martian geologic history. This is more consistent with the view that the volcanic density flows were base surges rather than nuées ardentes, the melting of permafrost supplying the water required in base surge generation. If atmospheric conditions were more clement at the time, allowing the recycling of water back to the ground water, then the length of duration of phreatic activity would have been longer, not being limited by depletion time of the local permafrost reservoir.     

The spectroscopic orbit of 6 Draconis

6 Dra has long been known to show small variations in radial velocity, and there is photometric and spectroscopic evidence that its spectrum is composite. We show, largely on the basis of a generous number of photoelectric radial velocities mainly obtained at Cambridge and Fick observatories, that the orbit is of mild eccentricity and has a period of 562 days and a semi-amplitude of 7 km s−1.IUE observations show that the spectrum between 1600 and 1800 ∢ is consistent with its arising from a late-A main-sequence companion Based in part on observations made with the Cambridge radial-velocity spectrometer, in part on those made with the Erwin W. Fick Observatory spectrometer, and in part on those made by the International Ultraviolet Explorer and collected at the Villafranca Satellite Tracking Station of the European Space Agency.