A comparison of channel-base currents and optical signals for rocket-triggered lightning strokes

A comparative analysis has been performed of the channel-base current and light waveforms for four rocket-triggered lightning strokes. It has been found that the current and light signals at the bottom of the channel exhibit a linear relationship (direct proportionality) in their rising portions. However, just after the peaks the linearity disappears, and the light signals usually decrease faster than the currents during the next several microseconds. Later, this trend is reversed and in some cases the light signals show another rising trend, even when the currents continue to decrease. The linear light/current relationship for the rising portions of the waveforms appears to be the same for different strokes. The findings support the idea of evaluating the variation of return stroke current along the lightning return stroke channel using light signals, provided that evaluation is limited to the rising portions of those signals and assuming that the light/current relationship observed at the bottom of the channel holds at other heights.     

Triggered-lightning properties inferred from measured currents and very close electric fields

Triggered-lightning properties, including dart-leader charge density, return-stroke propagation speed, dart-leader electric potential, dart-leader propagation speed, and dart-leader current, inferred from return-stroke current and very close electric field measurements, are presented. Although most of the estimates are based on relatively crude models, they are all generally in good agreement with independent measurements and/or theoretical considerations found in the literature. The results are likely to be applicable to subsequent strokes in natural lightning.     

宁芜盆地火山-次火山岩的锆石U-Pb年龄、Hf同位素组成及其地质意义

宁芜火山盆地是长江中下游重要的火山盆地之一,在盆地内自下而上依次发育龙王山组、大王山组、姑山组和娘娘山组火山岩和若干个同源次火山岩或小侵入岩体。本文对宁芜盆地火山-次火山岩进行了详细的锆石U-Pb年龄和Hf同位素地球化学研究。研究结果表明,大王山组粗安岩锆石U-Pb年龄为130.3±0.9Ma,姑山组两个粗安岩锆石U-Pb年龄分别为128.2±1.3Ma和128.5±1.8Ma,另外三个侵入岩年龄分别为127.1±1.2Ma、128.3±0.6Ma和128.2±1.0Ma,均为早白垩纪。综合前人成果,认为长江中下游地区火山盆地内火山活动的时限在135～124Ma之间,不存在侏罗纪岩浆活动。宁芜盆地火山岩和侵入岩的锆石176Hf/177Hf值在0.282502～0.282673范围内,εHf(t)变化为-6.9～-0.7,显示岩浆源自于岩石圈富集地幔部分熔融并在上升过程中受地壳物质的混染,为岩石圈伸展环境的产物。     

Measurement of the Growth of Perturbations on Blast Waves in a Mixed Gas

We have performed a series of experiments examining the properties of high Mach number blast waves. Experiments were conducted on the Z-Beamlet laser at Sandia National Laboratories. We created blast waves in the laboratory by using ∼1000 J laser pulses to illuminate millimeter scale solid targets immersed in gas. Our experiments studied the validity of theories forwarded by Ryu and Vishniac (1987, 1991) and Vishniac (1983) to explain the dynamics of perturbations on astrophysical blast waves. These experiments consisted of a systematic scan of the decay rates of perturbations of known primary mode number induced on the surface of blast waves by means of a regularly spaced wire array. The amplitude of the induced perturbations relative to the radius of the blast wave was tracked and fit to a power law in time. Measurements were taken for a number of different mode numbers in a mixed gas consisting of 7.5 Torr xenon and 2.5 Torr nitrogen and the results are compared to theoretical predictions. It is found that two of the three mode numbers imply one polytropic index while the third case, which is the most complicated for several reasons, implies a higher polytropic index.     

Defining communities of interest: political self-definition in Los Angeles County during the first California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission

GeoJournal - This study analyzes how the 2010 establishment of the California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission allowed communities to assert their presence and define their borders in order...     

西藏南部晚始新世打拉埃达克质花岗岩及其构造动力学意义

打拉二云母花岗岩岩体位于雅拉香波穹隆的东南,侵入到中生代以前的变质岩系(眼球状花岗质片麻岩和石榴黑云母片麻岩)和特提斯沉积岩(页岩和砂岩)中,主要由石英、斜长石、钾长石、黑云母和白云母组成,形成于～44.3Ma。打拉二云母花岗岩地球化学特征表明:打拉花岗岩具有高Al_2O_3(16.0%～17.0%)、Na_2O/K_2O(1.2)以及A/CNK比值(1.05),表明打拉花岗岩为富钠过铝质花岗岩;轻稀土(LREE)富集,重稀土(HREE)相对亏损,HREE中的Ho到Lu元素有变平的特征((Ho/Lu)_N=1.11～1.46);具有微弱或无Eu异常,Eu/Eu~*=0.87～0.95;较高的初始Sr同位素比值(~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr(i)=0.71754～0.71785)和较低的初始Nd比值(ε_(Nd)(i)=-9.15～-12.4)。打拉花岗岩具有高Sr含量(为355×10~(-6)～416×10~(-6))和Sr/Y的比值(59.1～71.5)、高La/Yb比值、低Y及HREE亏损的特征,与埃达克质花岗岩类似。上述特征表明打拉花岗岩是在较高压力条件下,以角闪岩为主的深部岩石部分熔融的结果。     

Radiating anisotropic two-fluid model universes involving rotation in general relativity

Radiating anisotropic two-fluid model universes coupled with a scalar field when a slow rotation is introduced in them are studied here, where the anisotropic pressure is generated by the presence of two non-interacting perfect fluids which are in relative motion with respect to each other. Special discussion is made of the physically interesting class of models in which one fluid is a comoving radiative perfect fluid which is taken to model the cosmic microwave background and the second a non-comoving perfect fluid which will model the observed material content of the Universe. Here we take up four analytic solutions. The effects of rotation on these models are studied and the reactions of the scalar and the radiation fields with respect to the rotational motion are discussed. Analysis on the rotational perturbations are also made, in the course of which the amount of anisotropy induced in the pressure distribution by a small deviation from the Friedmann metric is also investigated. It is shown that such anisotropies could grow faster than the expansion of the Universe. The rotating models we obtain here are found to be theoretically satisfactory and they may be taken as physically acceptable models.     

A review of ten years of triggered-lightning experiments at Camp Blanding, Florida

The principal results of triggered-lightning experiments conducted at the International Center for Lightning Research and Testing (ICLRT) at Camp Blanding, Florida, from 1993 through 2002 are reviewed. These results include (a) characterization of the close lightning electromagnetic environment, (b) first lightning return-stroke speed profiles within 400 m of ground, (c) new insights into the mechanism of the dart-stepped (and by inference stepped) leader, (d) identification of the M-component mode of charge transfer to ground, (e) first optical image of upward connecting leader in triggered-lightning strokes, (f) electric fields in the immediate vicinity of the lightning channel, (g) inferences on the interaction of lightning with ground and with grounding electrodes, (h) discovery of X-rays produced by triggered-lightning strokes, (i) new insights into the mechanism of cutoff and reestablishment of current in rocket-triggered lightning. Selected results are discussed.     

Gravitational collapse of a charged viscous-fluid universe

In the course of obtaining three collapsing models of the charged viscous-fluid distribution, the dynamics of gravitational collapse are investigated with respect to them, and their physical and geometrical properties are studied critically, In all the cases, with a proper choice of the mass, the interior solution can be matched to the exterior Schwarzschild vacuum solution, thereby the solution being continuous at the boundary of the star. In all these models the matter inside is found to be radiating thus giving us the opportunity of identifying the gravitational collapse of a realistic astrophysical object. At the boundary of these model stars the matter distribution comes out to be that of dust and thereby comoving with respect to the coordinate system used. All the models are seen to be physically acceptable; they come out to be realistic models of collapsing astrophysical objects which will be of much interest in studying the phenomenon of black holes in this Universe.     

安徽宁芜地区铁氧化物-磷灰石矿床中金云母Ar-Ar定年及其地球动力学意义

铁氧化物-磷灰石型铁矿床是长江中下游成矿带的重要组成部分,对其成岩成矿时限的精确厘定,是理解长江中下游地区中生代大规模成矿作用的动力学演化的关键。本文分别对宁芜盆地南部白象山、和睦山及中部的陶村三个大-中型铁矿床中与磁铁矿密切共生的金云母单矿物进行了Ar-Ar同位素测年,获得白象山矿床金云母Ar-Ar坪年龄为134.9±1.1Ma,对应的反等时线年龄为133±2Ma;和睦山矿床金云母Ar-Ar坪年龄为132.9±1.1Ma,对应的反等时线年龄为133.9±2.4Ma;陶村矿床金云母的反等时线年龄为128±14Ma。该区铁氧化物-磷灰石型矿床与该区火山-次火山岩具有密切的时间联系,成岩成矿时限主要集中于135～126Ma。综合研究表明,长江中下游第二期成岩成矿作用的时限为135～126Ma,对应于岩石圈的大规模快速减薄的地球动力学背景。