Smart optics means much more than adaptive optics on telescopes: these new technologies are changing the way space instruments are built and operated and are bringing new technologies into everyday life in the form of cheaper, lighter and more robust optical systems. Steve Welch, Peter Doel, Alan Greenaway and Gordon Love summarize the work of the Smart Optics Faraday Partnership in the UK. 相似文献
Peter Bond reports on reappraisal for NASA in the aftermath of the loss of the shuttle Columbia, refinement of an extrasolar planet's mass and rethinking of ideas about water on Mars. 相似文献
Rare earth patterns of surface and groundwaters near big cities often show anthropogenic Gd (Gdant) anomalies in addition to geogenic Ce and Y anomalies. The Gdant anomaly is caused by very stable organic complexes, one of which is gadopentetic acid, Gd‐DTPA. Derivatives of this and similar compounds are used as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the human blood system. The organic Gd complexes are stable enough to pass nearly unaffected through sewage treatment plants and are, thereafter, discharged into surface water systems. Water of the rapidly flowing Isarco/Eisack and Adige/Etsch rivers (Provinces of Trento and Bolzano/Bozen, NE Italy) and their tributaries show remarkable variations in anthropogenic Gd contents (Gdant). Low Gdant values are found on Monday and Tuesday, whereas high values are observed during the remaining weekdays. Reliable Gdant balances are calculated for the river system at the confluence of the Adige and its tributaries. At two places local decrease of Gdant indicates exfiltration of groundwater. It is demonstrated that Gdant can be used as a reliably conservative tracer to study the water budget in rapidly flowing alpine river systems. The studied different river waters show considerable negative Ce and positive Y anomalies. Negative Ce anomalies are caused by scavenging of Ce(III) by FeO(OH) precipitates and subsequent oxidation to CeO2. Y anomalies are attributed to less sorption of Y than REE onto particulate matter. Thus, Y moves faster than REE. Both, Ce and Y anomalies, are of geogenic origin. 相似文献
Big perturbations of the magnetic field (amplitudes larger than 250 nT) are simply detected by subtracting the values of a model from the measurements of CHAMP satellite. Taking a full year of CHAMP data and organizing them in four subsets of three months length (spring, summer, autumn, winter), it is found that: (a) the two domains where such big perturbations mainly exist are limited, in both hemispheres, by a parallel of high latitude of the corrected geomagnetic coordinates system; (b) a conspicuous seasonal (annual) variation affects the density of the perturbations and is opposite in the two hemispheres. We hold that these perturbations are linked to the midday magnetic activity within the auroral zone, long ago described by one of us (Mayaud, 1956). The source of the perturbations observed at the satellite altitude would be field-aligned currents resulting from the penetration of the solar wind into the magnetospheric cusps. To cite this article: J.-L. Le Mouël et al., C. R. Geoscience 335 (2003).相似文献
The Bandombaai Complex (southern Kaoko Belt, Namibia) consists of three main intrusive rock types including metaluminous hornblende- and sphene-bearing quartz diorites, allanite-bearing granodiorites and granites, and peraluminous garnet- and muscovite-bearing leucogranites. Intrusion of the quartz diorites is constrained by a U–Pb zircon age of 540±3 Ma.
Quartz diorites, granodiorites and granites display heterogeneous initial Nd- and O isotope compositions (Nd (540 Ma)=−6.3 to −19.8; δ18O=9.0–11.6‰) but rather low and uniform initial Sr isotope compositions (87Sr/86Srinitial=0.70794–0.70982). Two leucogranites and one aplite have higher initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.70828–0.71559), but similar initial Nd (−11.9 to −15.8) and oxygen isotope values (10.5–12.9‰). The geochemical and isotopic characteristics of the Bandombaai Complex are distinct from other granitoids of the Kaoko Belt and the Central Zone of the Damara orogen. Our study suggests that the quartz diorites of the Bandombaai Complex are generated by melting of heterogeneous mafic lower crust. Based on a comparison with results from amphibolite-dehydration melting experiments, a lower crustal garnet- and amphibole-bearing metabasalt, probably enriched in K2O, is a likely source rock for the quartz diorites. The granodiorites/granites show low Rb/Sr (<0.6) ratios and are probably generated by partial melting of meta-igneous (intermediate) lower crustal sources by amphibole-dehydration melting. Most of the leucogranites display higher Rb/Sr ratios (>1) and are most likely generated by biotite-dehydration melting of heterogeneous felsic lower crust. All segments of the lower crust underwent partial melting during the Pan-African orogeny at a time (540 Ma) when the middle crust of the central Damara orogen also underwent high T, medium P regional metamorphism and melting. Geochemical and isotope data from the Bandombaai Complex suggest that the Pan-African orogeny in this part of the orogen was not a major crust-forming episode. Instead, even the most primitive rock types of the region, the quartz diorites, represent recycled lower crustal material. 相似文献
Mafic granulite xenoliths from the lower crust of the Pannonian Basin are dominated by LREE-depleted bulk-rock compositions. Many of these have MORB-like 143Nd/144Nd but 87Sr/86Sr is elevated relative to most MORBs. Their '18O values cover a wide range from +3.8 to +9.5. A group of LREE-enriched mafic granulites have higher 87Sr/86Sr (0.704-0.708) and lower 143Nd/144Nd (0.5128-0.5124), with higher '18O values on average (+7.8 to +10.6) than the LREE-depleted granulites. The LREE-enriched granulites are, however, isotopically similar to newly discovered metasedimentary granulite xenoliths. A sublinear correlation in )Hf-)Nd isotope space has a shallower slope than the crust-mantle array, with the metasedimentary rocks forming the low )Hf end member; the radiogenic end is restricted to the LREE-depleted granulites and these overlap the field of MORB. Pb isotopes for the LREE-depleted samples are less radiogenic on average than those of the LREE-enriched and metasedimentary xenoliths, and metasedimentary granulites have consistently higher 208Pb/204Pb. The wide range in '18O over a restricted range in Nd and Sr isotope values, in combination with the predominance of LREE-depleted trace-element compositions, is consistent with an origin as a package of hydrothermally altered oceanic crust. The existence of '18O values lower than average MORB and/or mantle peridotite requires that at least some of these rocks were hydrothermally altered at high temperature, presumably in the oceanic lower crust. The low 143Nd/144Nd of the LREE-enriched mafic granulites cannot be explained by simple mixing between a LREE-depleted melt and an enriched component, represented by the recovered metasediments. Instead, we interpret these rocks as the metamorphic equivalent of the shallowest levels of the ocean crust where pillow basalts are intimately intercalated with oceanic sediments. A possible model is accretion of oceanic crustal slices during subduction and convergence, followed by high-grade metamorphism during the Alpine orogeny. 相似文献
The time series of monthly precipitation totals from 14 Hungarian observing stations (1901–1998) were analysed to reveal the long term changes in precipitation characteristics occurred in the 20th century. A particular attention was given to the changes in the recent decades and their links with the larger scale climatic and circulation changes over Europe and the Atlantic.The statistical significancesof systematic changes are controlled by linear trend analysis and the Mann–Kendall test. The long term fluctuations are illustrated applying a 15-point Gaussian filter on the time series. The Standardised Precipitation Index is used to evaluate the changes in the drought event frequency. The relationships with larger scale changes are mostly discussed relying on contemporary papers, and the Grosswetterlagen Catalogue is used as well.The annual precipitation total decreased by 15–20% in Hungary during the 20th century. The decline is substantial in both halves of the century, but the precipitation sums in the transition seasons declined in the first 50 years, and the winter precipitation decreased in the latest decades. The precipitation total of the period November–February declined significantly in the last 50 years. In the same time the mean winter value of the North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI) increased, the positions of the main pressure patterns over the Atlantic are shifted northeastward, and lot of other coherent changes detected in the winter climate of the European–Atlantic region. The mean summer precipitation total has hardly changed, but the frequency of summer drought events increased. There are some signs of a shift of the Hungarian summer climate towards a Mediterranean like climate. 相似文献