The properties of organisms are not tunable parameters selected because they create maximum entropy production on the biosphere scale: A by-product framework in response to Kleidon     

Tyler Volk 《Climatic change》2007,85(3-4):251-258

Axel Kleidon (Clim Change 66:271–319, 2004) proposed that the organisms that constitute Earth’s biota have free parameters that can be selected to create states of maximum entropy production (MEP) on various scales, from the biota to the planetary radiation balance of the Earth system. I show that Kleidon’s concept, here called the biotic-MEP hypothesis, is fundamentally mistaken. A thought experiment with a life form that would be selected against even though it would generate a higher degree of entropy demonstrates my case: A hypothetical tree that puts forth a non-productive but high-entropy producing black carpet of tissue clearly separates out entropy production from other biological processes and shows that entropy production is not a functional adaptation and therefore it cannot be selected for. A real world example comes from dimethyl sulfide-emitting plankton, which, by increasing cloud albedo, do not raise but rather lower the entropy flux of the Earth system. I provide a number of other examples of biotic processes that individually either decrease or increase the environmental entropy production. It is argued that biological effects on environmental entropy production can be expected to include both positive and negative examples, because these effects are merely by-products of the actual processes that are selected for by evolution. Given my framework of entropy production as a by-product of the true processes that are being selected for, the concept of MEP on environmental scales has no great relevance for discussions of biological evolution or the time history of the effects of life on the global system.  相似文献   

Viking bistatic radar experiment: Summary of first-order results emphasizing north polar data     

Richard A. Simpson  G. Leonard Tyler 《Icarus》1981,46(3):361-389

Bistatic radar observations of Mars' north polar region during 1977–1978 showed surface rms slope σ_β ranging from 1 to 6°; these values apply to horizontal scales of 1–100 m. Values of roughness tend to decrease with increasing latitude (especially over 65–80°N), but there are many exceptions. The smoothest surfaces (σ_β≤1°) appear to be inclusions within generally rougher (σ_β～3°) terrain, rather than broad expanses of very smooth material. The permanent north polar cap is relatively uniform with 2.5?σ_β?3.0°. Considerable structure has been found in echo spectra, indicating a heterogeneous and perhaps anisotropic scattering surface. Echo spectra obtained from the same region, but several months apart (1°<L_S<62°), show no significant differences in inferred roughness. Estimates of reflectivity and dielectric constant are systematically low in the polar region. This may indicate that surface material north of 65°N is less dense than that near the equator, but more study of these data is needed. Estimates of surface roughness and dielectric constant in the equatorial region are consistent with results from Earth-based measurements to the accuracy of our analysis.  相似文献   

Surface slope probabilities from the spectra of weak radar echoes: Application to Mars     

Belinda Lipa  G. Leonard Tyler 《Icarus》1976,28(2):301-306

Slope probability densities were derived from the power spectra of radar echoes from Mars using integral inversion. The inverse problem is ill-posed; that is, small changes in the data can lead to large changes in the solution. We describe a method of stabilizing the inversion, which was necessary for echoes with signal-to-noise power spectral densities on the order of unity, and for those with broad spectral distributions. The resulting slope probabilities usually consisted of a component due to quasi-specular reflection which decreased rapidly with tilt, plus a broad, slowly decreasing, “diffuse” component due to scattering from (1) surface scales small compared with a radar wavelength, or (2) larger features with high slopes. In the absence of more complete polarization measurements, we are unable to In the absence of more complete polarization measurements, we are unable to distinguish between these possibilities. Root mean square tilts have been determined separately for the two cases. For case (1), values of rms tilt associated with surface features responsible for the quasi-specular echo are normally less than 3°; for case (2), values greater than 8° are common. Knowledge of the depolarization of radar returns would help distinguish between these possibilities.  相似文献   

Modeling adaptation as a flow and stock decision with mitigation     

Tyler Felgenhauer  Mort Webster 《Climatic change》2014,122(4):665-679

An effective policy response to climate change will include, among other things, investments in lowering greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation), as well as short-term temporary (flow) and long-lived capital-intensive (stock) adaptation to climate change. A critical near-term question is how investments in reducing climate damages should be allocated across these elements of a climate policy portfolio, especially in the face of uncertainty in both future climate damages and also the effectiveness of yet-untested adaptation efforts. We build on recent efforts in DICE-based integrated assessment modeling approaches that include two types of adaptation—short-lived flow spending and long-lived depreciable adaptation stock investments—along with mitigation, and we identify and explore the uncertainties that impact the relative proportions of policies within a response portfolio. We demonstrate that the relative ratio of flow adaptation, stock adaptation, and mitigation depend critically on interactions among: 1) the relative effectiveness in the baseline of stock versus flow adaptation, 2) the degree of substitutability between stock and flow adaptation types, and 3) whether there exist physical limits on the amount of damages that can be reduced by flow-type adaptation investments. The results indicate where more empirical research on adaptation could focus to best inform near-term policy decisions, and provide a first step towards considering near-term policies that are flexible in the face of uncertainty.  相似文献   

Taxonomic status and paleoecology of Rusingoryx atopocranion (Mammalia, Artiodactyla), an extinct Pleistocene bovid from Rusinga Island, Kenya     

J. Tyler Faith  Jonah N. Choiniere  Christian A. Tryon  Daniel J. Peppe  David L. Fox 《Quaternary Research》2011,75(3):697-707

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SOUSA: the Swift Optical/Ultraviolet Supernova Archive     

Peter J. Brown  Alice A. Breeveld  Stephen Holland  Paul Kuin  Tyler Pritchard 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2014,353(1):89-96

This paper studies the motion of an infinitesimal mass in the framework of Robe’s circular restricted three-body problem in two cases; the first case is when the hydrostatic equilibrium figure of the first primary is an oblate spheroid, the shape of the second primary is considered as an oblate spheroid with oblateness coefficients up to the second zonal harmonic, while the first primary is a Roche ellipsoid in the second case and the full buoyancy of the fluid is taken into account. In case one; it is observed that there are two axial libration points on the line joining the centres of the primaries, points on the circle within the first primary are also libration points under certain conditions. It is further found that the first axial point is stable, while the second one is conditionally stable, and the circular points are unstable. It is found in case two that there is exist only one libration point (0,0,0) this point is stable.  相似文献   

Saturn's rings: Particle size distributions for thin layer models     

Howard A. Zebker  Essam A. Marouf  G. Leonard Tyler 《Icarus》1985,64(3):531-548

The small physical thickness of Saturn's rings requires that radio occultation observations be interpreted using scattering models with limited amounts of multiple scatter. A new model in which the possible order of near-forward scatter is strictly limited allows for the small physical thickness, and can be used to relate Voyager 1 observations of 3.6-and 13-cm wavelength microwave scatter from Saturn's rings to the ring particle size distribution function n(a), for particles with radius 0.001 ≤ a ≤ 20 m. This limited-scatter model yields solutions for particle size distribution functions for eight regions in Saturn's rings, which exhibit approximately inverse-cubic power-law behavior, with large-size cutoffs in particle radius ranging from about 5 m in ring C to about 10 m in parts of ring A. The power-law index is about 3.1 in ring C, about 2.8 in the Cassini division, and increases systematically with radial location in ring A from 2.7 at 2.10R_s to slightly more than 3.0 at 2.24R_s. Corresponding mass densities are 32–43 kg/m² in ring C, 188 kg/m² in the Cassini division, and 244–344 kg/m² in ring A, under the assumption that the material density of the particles is 0.9 g/cm³. These values are a factor of 1 to 2 lower than first-order mass loading estimates derived from resonance phenomena. In view of the uncertainties in the measurements and in the linear density wave model, and the strong arguments for icy particles with specific gravity not greater than about 1, we interpret this discrepancy as being indicative of possible differences in the regions studied, or systematic errors in the interpretation of the scattering results, the density wave phenomena, or some combination of the above.  相似文献   

Seeing Deeper into Gaia Theory     

Tyler Volk 《Climatic change》2003,57(1-2):5-7

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W-shaped occultation signatures: Inference of entwined particle orbits in charged planetary ringlets     

Von R. Eshleman  John V. Breakwell  G. Leonard Tyler  Essam A. Marouf 《Icarus》1983,54(2):212-226

Observed W-shaped occultation signatures of certain narrow ringlets in the ring systems of Saturn and Uranus imply a concentration of material near their inner and outer radial edges. A model is proposed where edge bunching is a natural consequence of particles in entwined elliptical orbits, with the same particles alternately defining both edges. While such orbits cross over in radius, collisions would not occur if they have small inclinations, the same fixed argument of periapse ω, and other parameters whereby the particles would “fly in formation” along compressed helical paths relative to the core of the ringlet, which is taken to be a circle in the equatorial plane. For this model to match the observed ring thickness and ringlet widths, orbit inclinations i must be much smaller than their eccentricities e, which themselves would be very small compared to unity. Thus, the meridional cross section of the resultant torus would be a very thin ellipse of thickness proportional to i∣cos ω∣, tilted slightly from the equatorial plane by (i/e)∣sin ω∣ radians. However, gravitational perturbations due to the oblateness of the planet would cause a secular change in ω so that this cross section would collapse periodically to a tilted line, and collisions would then occur. If this collapse could be prevented, the torus could remain in a continuous state of nearly zero viscosity. Stabilization against collapse appears possible due to several remarkable characteristics that are added to the model when the particles are electrically charged. First, because of inherent features of the torus structure, a weak electric force could counter the key effect of the vastly larger oblateness force. Second, because the electric perturbation also affects i, there is a large region in ω,i space where stability against cross-sectional collapse is automatic. For this region, the thickness of the elliptical cross section would expand and contract in concert with the way that the major axis of the ellipse rocks back and forth relative to the equatorial plane. The period of these “rocking and breathing” changes would be from 1 to 3 weeks for a torus in the C ring of Saturn, for example. The electric effects could change considerably without driving the parameters of the torus from the stable domain where cross-sectional collapse does not occur. While specialized and in several important ways still incomplete, the proposed model could account for the W-shaped patterns and explain how very dense ringlets might endure without energy loss due to collisions. It also appears to be capable of explaining the observed sorting of particles by size within a ringlet. Several characteristics of the model suggest definitive tests of its applicability, including its prediction that a nonsymmetrical W-shaped occultation signature could be reversed a half orbit away, and that grazing solar illumination of tilted ringlets might cast shadows that change with time in a prescribed way.  相似文献   

Temporal Changes in Seawater Carbonate Chemistry and Carbon Export from a Southern California Estuary     

May-Linn Paulsen  Andreas J. Andersson  Lihini Aluwihare  Tyler Cyronak  Sydney D’Angelo  Charlie Davidson  Hany Elwany  Sarah N. Giddings  Heather N. Page  Magali Porrachia  Stephen Schroeter 《Estuaries and Coasts》2018,41(4):1050-1068

Estuaries are important subcomponents of the coastal ocean, but knowledge about the temporal and spatial variability of their carbonate chemistry, as well as their contribution to coastal and global carbon fluxes, are limited. In the present study, we measured the temporal and spatial variability of biogeochemical parameters in a saltmarsh estuary in Southern California, the San Dieguito Lagoon (SDL). We also estimated the flux of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total organic carbon (TOC) to the adjacent coastal ocean over diel and seasonal timescales. The combined net flux of DIC and TOC (F_DIC?+?TOC) to the ocean during outgoing tides ranged from ??1.8±0.5?×?10³ to 9.5±0.7?×?10³?mol C h^?1 during baseline conditions. Based on these fluxes, a rough estimate of the net annual export of DIC and TOC totaled 10±4?×?10⁶?mol C year^?1. Following a major rain event (36 mm rain in 3 days), F_DIC?+?TOC increased and reached values as high as 29.0 ±?0.7?×?10³?mol C h^?1. Assuming a hypothetical scenario of three similar storm events in a year, our annual net flux estimate more than doubled to 25 ±?4?×?10⁶?mol C year^?1. These findings highlight the importance of assessing coastal carbon fluxes on different timescales and incorporating event scale variations in these assessments. Furthermore, for most of the observations elevated levels of total alkalinity (TA) and pH were observed at the estuary mouth relative to the coastal ocean. This suggests that SDL partly buffers against acidification of adjacent coastal surface waters, although the spatial extent of this buffering is likely small.  相似文献