Biogeochemistry of Ethanol and Acetaldehyde in Freshwater Sediments     

J. Alan RoebuckJr.  G. Brooks Avery  J. David Felix  Robert J. Kieber  Ralph N. Mead  Stephen A. Skrabal 《Aquatic Geochemistry》2016,22(3):177-195

This study reports the first ethanol and acetaldehyde measurements in sediment porewaters collected at multiple freshwater locations. Ethanol concentrations ranged from 11 to 2535 nM and acetaldehyde concentrations ranged from 6 to 320 nM. A significant positive correlation (p < 0.001) was observed between ethanol concentrations and the percent organic carbon content of sediments (TOC). Porewater depth profiles at two sites within the same lake indicated potential diffusion of ethanol into sediments from the overlying water at a lower TOC site and upwards diffusion from sediment into the water column at a higher TOC site. Diffusion of water column ethanol into sediments was observed at individual sites from October to January, whereas the opposite was true from June to August indicating the seasonal variability of ethanol flux from sediments. Changes in ethanol concentrations during a long-term sediment incubation experiment showed an inverse relation with acetaldehyde concentrations. The lack of a quantitative conversion was likely due to other sources and sinks that control their abundance. Our study provided new information on the biogeochemistry of ethanol in freshwater sediments and shed light on the potential role of ethanol in the global carbon cycle.  相似文献   

Cretaceous aquifers in North Carolina: analysis of safe yield based on historical data     

Ralph?C.?Heath  Richard?K.?SpruillEmail author 《Hydrogeology Journal》2003,11(2):249-258

The Cretaceous aquifers underlying the central part of the North Carolina Coastal Plain are used extensively as the preferred source of water for municipalities, industries, and agriculture. Regional decline in head in the middle parts of the system (the Upper Cape Fear and Black Creek aquifers) began in the late 1950s to early 1960s. The trends in head during the 1960s, together with data on land subsidence, were analyzed to demonstrate the value of using early data, in conjunction with conceptual models, before collecting additional data. The sources of withdrawals from the Cretaceous aquifers identified in the conceptual model are: (1) movement of water (recharge) across confining beds, (2) reduction in natural discharge, (3) release of water from aquifer storage, (4) drainage of water from fine-grained lenses in aquifers and confining beds, and (5) release of water resulting from advance of the salt-water front. Estimates of the amounts derived from each of these sources resulted in a reduction of the estimated safe yield of the Cretaceous aquifers in the 2,486-mi² (6,439-km²) area of the central Coastal Plain from 75 mgd (million gallons per day) (284,000 m³/day) to less than 5 mgd (19,000 m³/day). Electronic Publication  相似文献   

A new computational fluid dynamics code I: Fyris Alpha     

Ralph S. Sutherland 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2010,327(2):173-206

A new hydrodynamics code aimed at astrophysical applications has been developed. The new code and algorithms are presented along with a comprehensive suite of test problems in one, two, and three dimensions. The new code is shown to be robust and accurate, equalling or improving upon a set of comparison codes. Fyris Alpha will be made freely available to the scientific community.  相似文献   

Impact craters on Titan     

Charles A. Wood  Ralph Lorenz  Rosaly Lopes  Ellen Stofan  The Cassini RADAR Team 《Icarus》2010,206(1):334-344

Five certain impact craters and 44 additional nearly certain and probable ones have been identified on the 22% of Titan’s surface imaged by Cassini’s high-resolution radar through December 2007. The certain craters have morphologies similar to impact craters on rocky planets, as well as two with radar bright, jagged rims. The less certain craters often appear to be eroded versions of the certain ones. Titan’s craters are modified by a variety of processes including fluvial erosion, mass wasting, burial by dunes and submergence in seas, but there is no compelling evidence of isostatic adjustments as on other icy moons, nor draping by thick atmospheric deposits. The paucity of craters implies that Titan’s surface is quite young, but the modeled age depends on which published crater production rate is assumed. Using the model of Artemieva and Lunine (2005) suggests that craters with diameters smaller than about 35 km are younger than 200 million years old, and larger craters are older. Craters are not distributed uniformly; Xanadu has a crater density 2-9 times greater than the rest of Titan, and the density on equatorial dune areas is much lower than average. There is a small excess of craters on the leading hemisphere, and craters are deficient in the north polar region compared to the rest of the world. The youthful age of Titan overall, and the various erosional states of its likely impact craters, demonstrate that dynamic processes have destroyed most of the early history of the moon, and that multiple processes continue to strongly modify its surface. The existence of 24 possible impact craters with diameters less than 20 km appears consistent with the Ivanov, Basilevsky and Neukum (1997) model of the effectiveness of Titan’s atmosphere in destroying most but not all small projectiles.  相似文献   

Radarclinometry of the sand seas of Africa’s Namibia and Saturn’s moon Titan     

Catherine D. Neish  Ralph D. Lorenz  Lauren C. Wye 《Icarus》2010,208(1):385-394

Radarclinometry is a powerful technique for estimating heights of landforms in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of planetary surfaces. In particular, it has been used to estimate heights of dunes in the sand seas of Saturn’s moon Titan (Lorenz, R.D., and 39 colleagues [2006]. Science 312, 724-727). In this work, we verify the technique by comparing dune heights derived from radarclinometry to known topography of dune fields in the Namib sand sea of western Africa. We compared results from three different image grid spacings, and found that 350 m/pixel (the same spacing at which the Cassini RADAR data was processed) is sufficient to determine dune height for dunes of similar morphometry to those of the Namib sand sea. At this grid spacing, height estimates derived from radarclinometry are largely representative of, though may underestimate by as much as 30%, or overestimate by as much as 40%, true dune height. Applying the technique to three regions on Titan, we estimate dune heights of 45-180 m, and dune spacings of 2.3-3.3 km. Obtaining accurate heights of Titan’s dunes will help to constrain the total organic inventory on Titan.  相似文献   

On the statistical distribution of dust devil diameters     

Ralph Lorenz 《Icarus》2011,215(1):381-390

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Mercury after the MESSENGER flybys: An introduction to the special issue of Planetary and Space Science     

Sean C. Solomon  Ralph L. McNutt Jr.  Louise M. Prockter 《Planetary and Space Science》2011,59(15):1827-1828

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Power law of dust devil diameters on Mars and Earth     

Ralph D. Lorenz 《Icarus》2009,203(2):683-684

Estimates from visual surveys of the frequency of dust devils, even at terrestrial localities known for their abundance, vary by some four orders of magnitude, making a quantitative hazard assessment difficult. Here I show (1) that new high-quality observations from Mars fit a power law size distribution, (2) that such a power law population can unify the discrepant terrestrial surveys, and (3) that the populations on the two planets appear similar.  相似文献   

Stable carbon isotope ratios in tree rings of co-occurring species from semi-arid tropics in Africa: Patterns and climatic signals     

Aster Gebrekirstos  Martin Worbes  Demel Teketay  Masresha Fetene  Ralph Mitlhner 《Global and Planetary Change》2009,66(3-4):253-260

Although several proxies have been proposed to trace the course of environmental and climatological fluctuations, precise paleoclimate records from the tropics, notably from Africa are still sorely lacking today. Stable carbon isotopes (δ¹³C) in tree rings are an attractive record of climate. In this study, the patterns and climatic signals of δ¹³C ratios were determined on tree rings of deciduous (Acacia senegal, Acacia tortilis, Acacia seyal) and an evergreen (Balanites aegyptiaca) species, from a semi-arid Acacia Woodland in Ethiopia. δ¹³C inter-annual patterns are synchronous among the co-occurring species. A declining trend with time was observed in δ¹³C, notably for B. aegyptiaca, which could be due to anthropogenic increases in atmospheric CO₂ concentration and decrease in atmospheric δ¹³C. Tree ring δ¹³C values of all the species revealed significant negative correlation with precipitation amount but not with temperature and relative humidity. The δ¹³C series of the deciduous species shows a higher correlation (r = − 0.70 to − 0.78) with precipitation than the evergreen species (r = − 0.55). A master δ¹³C series, composed of the average of the three Acacia species, displayed stronger significant correlation (r = − 0.82) than any of the individual species δ¹³C series. The weak relationship between temperature and δ¹³C in this study indicates that photosynthetic rate is not a significant factor. Moisture stress, however, may have a direct impact on the stomatal conductance and explain the strong negative relationship between δ¹³C and precipitation. The results demonstrate the potential of δ¹³C in tree rings to reflect physiological responses to environmental changes as a vehicle for paleoclimatic reconstruction, which is important to understand tree response to past and future climate change.  相似文献   

Interstellar heliospheric probe/heliospheric boundary explorer mission—a mission to the outermost boundaries of the solar system     

Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber  Ralph McNutt  Nathan A. Schwadron  Priscilla C. Frisch  Mike Gruntman  Peter Wurz  Eino Valtonen 《Experimental Astronomy》2009,24(1-3):9-46

The Sun, driving a supersonic solar wind, cuts out of the local interstellar medium a giant plasma bubble, the heliosphere. ESA, jointly with NASA, has had an important role in the development of our current understanding of the Suns immediate neighborhood. Ulysses is the only spacecraft exploring the third, out-of-ecliptic dimension, while SOHO has allowed us to better understand the influence of the Sun and to image the glow of interstellar matter in the heliosphere. Voyager 1 has recently encountered the innermost boundary of this plasma bubble, the termination shock, and is returning exciting yet puzzling data of this remote region. The next logical step is to leave the heliosphere and to thereby map out in unprecedented detail the structure of the outer heliosphere and its boundaries, the termination shock, the heliosheath, the heliopause, and, after leaving the heliosphere, to discover the true nature of the hydrogen wall, the bow shock, and the local interstellar medium beyond. This will greatly advance our understanding of the heliosphere that is the best-known example for astrospheres as found around other stars. Thus, IHP/HEX will allow us to discover, explore, and understand fundamental astrophysical processes in the largest accessible plasma laboratory, the heliosphere.  相似文献