On the front-end design of mid-frequency aperture array for square kilometre array     

Y. Zhang  A. El-Makadema  E. de Lera Acedo  P. Benthem  S. Barth  A. K. Brown 《Experimental Astronomy》2018,46(2):357-380

Complementary to the conventional dish radio telescopes, aperture arrays provide a technically attractive approach to achieve a large field of view and flexibility in observational parameters e.g. Sky area vs. bandwidth. Designs of both aperture array elements and overall geometry for the SKA Mid Frequency Aperture Array are presented here, together with resulting trade-offs. The paper reports the latest developments of global efforts on the front-end design of Mid-Frequency Aperture Array, not attempting to make technology selections, as the priority of sciences and the time for implementing Mid-Frequency Aperture Array is yet to be fully confirmed. Different on-going front-end solutions are introduced, particularly crossed ring antenna array with a planar structure is explored in more detail as it is less known in the community. Key performances of the candidate front-end technologies are addressed by examining the prototypes. The objective of the collaborative study is to increase technology readiness for implementation of Mid-Frequency Aperture Array in the future.  相似文献   

Super-ensemble techniques: Application to surface drift prediction   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

L. Vandenbulcke  J.-M. Beckers  A. Barth  M. Aidonidis  F. Ardhuin  C. Fratianni  D. Pallela  M. Tudor  P. Martin  M. Rixen 《Progress in Oceanography》2009,82(3):149-167

The prediction of surface drift of floating objects is an important task, with applications such as marine transport, pollutant dispersion, and search-and-rescue activities. But forecasting even the drift of surface waters is very challenging, because it depends on complex interactions of currents driven by the wind, the wave field and the general prevailing circulation. Furthermore, although each of those can be forecasted by deterministic models, the latter all suffer from limitations, resulting in imperfect predictions. In the present study, we try and predict the drift of two buoys launched during the DART06 (Dynamics of the Adriatic sea in Real-Time 2006) and MREA07 (Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment 2007) sea trials, using the so-called hyper-ensemble technique: different models are combined in order to minimize departure from independent observations during a training period; the obtained combination is then used in forecasting mode. We review and try out different hyper-ensemble techniques, such as the simple ensemble mean, least-squares weighted linear combinations, and techniques based on data assimilation, which dynamically update the model’s weights in the combination when new observations become available. We show that the latter methods alleviate the need of fixing the training length a priori, as older information is automatically discarded.When the forecast period is relatively short (12 h), the discussed methods lead to much smaller forecasting errors compared with individual models (at least three times smaller), with the dynamic methods leading to the best results. When many models are available, errors can be further reduced by removing colinearities between them by performing a principal component analysis. At the same time, this reduces the amount of weights to be determined.In complex environments when meso- and smaller scale eddy activity is strong, such as the Ligurian Sea, the skill of individual models may vary over time periods smaller than the forecasting period (e.g. when the latter is 36 h). In these cases, a simpler method such as a fixed linear combination or a simple ensemble mean may lead to the smallest forecast errors. In environments where surface currents have strong mean-kinetic energies (e.g. the Western Adriatic Current), dynamic methods can be particularly successful in predicting the drift of surface waters. In any case, the dynamic hyper-ensemble methods allow to estimate a characteristic time during which the model weights are more or less stable, which allows predicting how long the obtained combination will be valid in forecasting mode, and hence to choose which hyper-ensemble method one should use.  相似文献   

An analysis of the error space of a high-resolution implementation of the GHER hydrodynamic model in the Mediterranean Sea   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

L. Vandenbulcke  M. Rixen  J.-M. Beckers  A. Alvera-Azcrate  A. Barth 《Ocean Modelling》2008,24(1-2):46-64

An ensemble of 250 model setups covering the Mediterranean Sea is built by perturbing various parameters: the bathymetry, the initial conditions, atmospheric forcing fields (air temperature, cloud coverage, wind), and internal model parameters (diffusion coefficients). The ensemble is then forwarded in time using the GHER hydrodynamic model, allowing to obtain information about the expected error associated with the forecast in a natural way. The evolution of this error is analyzed. In particular, we examine the time evolution and stationarity of its spatial average, and the spatial distribution of the error at different instants, by means of its first to fourth order moments, and of empirical orthogonal functions. We verify whether the a posteriori error distribution is Gaussian using the Anderson-Darling test. From these results, we are able to assess what parameters and forcing fields are most critical for the forecast. Qualitative conclusions are obtained throughout the text, in accordance with our expectations. Moreover, quantitative estimations of the expected error are also given.  相似文献   

Local diurnal upwelling driven by sea breezes in northern Monterey Bay     

C.B. Woodson  D.I. Eerkes-Medrano  A. Flores-Morales  M.M. Foley  S.K. Henkel  M. Hessing-Lewis  D. Jacinto  L. Needles  M.T. Nishizaki  J. O’Leary  C.E. Ostrander  M. Pespeni  K.B. Schwager  J.A. Tyburczy  K.A. Weersing  A.R. Kirincich  J.A. Barth  M.A. McManus  L. Washburn 《Continental Shelf Research》2007

Sea breezes often have significant impacts on nearshore physical and biological processes. We document the effects of a diurnal sea breeze on the nearshore thermal structure and circulation of northern Monterey Bay, California, using an array of moorings during the summer upwelling season in 2006. Moorings were equipped with thermistors and Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) to measure temperature and currents along the inner shelf in the bay. Temperature and current data were characteristic of traditional regional scale upwelling conditions along the central California coast during the study period. However, large diurnal fluctuations in temperature (up to 5 °C) were observed at all moorings inshore of the 60-m isobath. Examination of tidal, current, temperature, and wind records revealed that the observed temperature fluctuations were the result of local diurnal upwelling, and not a result of nearshore mixing events. Westerly diurnal sea breezes led to offshore Ekman transport of surface waters. Resulting currents in the upper mixed layer were up to 0.10 m s⁻¹ directed offshore during the afternoon upwelling period. Surface water temperatures rapidly decreased in response to offshore advection of surface waters and upwelling of cold, subsurface water, despite occurring in the mid-afternoon during the period of highest solar heat flux. Surface waters then warmed again during the night and early morning as winds relaxed and the upwelling shadow moved back to shore due to an unbalanced onshore pressure gradient. Examination of season-long, moored time series showed that local diurnal upwelling is a common, persistent feature in this location. Local diurnal upwelling may supply nutrients to nearshore kelp beds, and transport larvae to nearshore habitats.  相似文献   

Single zircon ages of migmatitic gneisses and granulites in the Obudu Plateau: Timing of granulite-facies metamorphism in southeastern Nigeria     

Barth N. Ekwueme  Alfred Krner 《Journal of African Earth Sciences》2006,44(4-5):459

A single zircon geochronological study of gneisses from the Obudu Plateau of southeastern Nigeria, using the evaporation technique, indicates that zircons recorded several Precambrian high-grade metamorphic events (Eburnean and Pan-African). Igneous and multifaceted metamorphic zircons yielded ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages of 2062.4 ± 0.4 Ma, 1803.8 ± 0.4 Ma and 574 ± 10 Ma, respectively and confirm for the first time that granulite-facies metamorphism affected the basement of southeastern Nigeria, resulting in the formation of charnockites and granulitic gneisses. The Pan-African high-grade event was coeval with the formation of granulites in Cameroon, Togo and Ghana and resulted from collisional processes during continental amalgamation to form the Gondwana supercontinent. The sources of the sediments, which were deposited at ≈605 Ma and metamorphosed at 574 Ma, comprise older igneous and metamorphic protoliths (including inherited xenocrystic zircons up to 2.5 Ga in age). The Palaeoproterozoic zircons seem to have survived Pan-African melting.  相似文献   

Aspects of the crystallization of quartzo-feldspathic plutonic rocks     

Barth  T. F. W. 《Mineralogy and Petrology》1966,11(3-4):209-222

Mineralogy and Petrology -  相似文献   

Plio-Pleistocene evolution of the north Alpine drainage system: new constraints from detrital thermochronology of foreland deposits     

Wolfgang Reiter  Simon Elfert  Christoph Glotzbach  Cornelia Spiegel 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2015,104(3):891-907

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Whole-watershed mercury balance at Sagehen Creek, Sierra Nevada, CA     

Xavier Faïn  Daniel Obrist  Cornelia Barth  Douglas P. Boyle 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2011,75(9):2379-2392

Few data are available on mercury (Hg) dynamics at high-elevation mountain sites. In this project, a whole-watershed approach was used to quantify major fluxes and pools of Hg in Sagehen basin, a closed basin in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. Over a period spanning 9 months (January-September 2009), we estimated wet deposition inputs to the watershed at 3.8 μg m⁻². Dry deposition added additional Hg in the range of 0.30-2.45 μg m⁻² during this time period, and was the dominant deposition process during summer time. Seasonal snowpack accounted for only half of the Hg deposited by wet deposition. We suggest that photo-induced reduction of Hg(II) in snow and subsequent volatilization was responsible for this loss. Thus, snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada mountains likely reduce the effective atmospheric mercury flux via wet deposition due to significant emission fluxes prior to snowmelt. As such, wet Hg deposition could be of lesser importance as a Hg source in snow-dominated systems. Finally, stream runoff collected at the outlet of the watershed could account for only 4% of total Hg wet deposition suggesting that a large fraction of mercury deposition was sequestered in the ecosystem, specifically in the soils.  相似文献   

An Evaluation of the Inter‐Method Discrepancies in Ferromanganese Nodule Proficiency Test GeoPT 23A     

Cornelia Kriete 《Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research》2011,35(3):319-340

Round 23 of the GeoPT international proficiency testing scheme included the ferromanganese nodule powder FeMn‐1 which was distributed as an additional sample (23A). The aim of this initiative was to assess overall analytical performance for such a challenging oxide matrix with a view to the possible certification of such a material in accordance with ISO Guide requirements. To investigate inter‐method discrepancies, precision data and the method means for the most frequently used analytical methods (XRF, ICP‐MS and ICP‐AES) and sample preparation techniques were calculated and then compared using statistical tests of equivalence. For most major elements, XRF and ICP‐AES data dominated and these were found to give equivalent results. In contrast, for most trace elements significant discrepancies were detected between data obtained by different analytical methods. Possible causes are discussed with a view to attributing their origin to calibration strategy, sensitivity or interferences. It is assumed that the unusual oxide matrix generated unexpected interferences and thus method bias. Discrepancies observed between data from different analytical methods provide valuable information for the participating analysts, helping them to avoid systematic errors and thus minimising bias. They also suggest actions necessary to improve results for any future certification of such a material.  相似文献   

Methane, ethane, and mixed clouds in Titan's atmosphere: Properties derived from microphysical modeling     

Erika L. Barth  Owen B. Toon 《Icarus》2006,182(1):230-250

Theoretical arguments point to and recent observations confirm the existence of clouds in Titan's atmosphere, yet we possess very little data on their particle size, composition and formation mechanism. A time-dependent microphysical model is used to study the evolution of ice clouds in Titan's atmosphere. The model simulates nucleation, condensational growth, evaporation, coagulation, and transport of particles in a column of atmosphere. A variety of cloud compositions are studied, including pure ethane clouds, pure methane clouds, and mixed methane-ethane clouds (all with tholin cores). The abundance of methane cloud particles may be limited by the number of ethane coated tholin nuclei rather than the number of tholins with hydrocarbon coatings. However, even the condensation of methane onto these relatively sparse ethane/tholin cloud particles is sufficient to keep the methane close to saturation. Typical methane supersaturations are of order 0.06 on the average. For simulations which take into account recent lab measurements indicating it is relatively easy for methane to nucleate onto tholin particles without an ethane-layer present, the three types of clouds (methane, ethane, and mixed) exist simultaneously. Pure methane clouds are the most abundant cloud type and serve to lower the supersaturation to about 0.04. Cloud production does not require a continuous surface source of methane. However, clouds produced by mean motions are not the visible methane clouds seen in recent Cassini and ground-based observations. Ethane clouds in the troposphere almost instantaneously nucleate methane to form mixed clouds. However, a thin ethane ‘haze’ remains just above the tropopause for some scenarios and the mixed clouds at the tropopause remain ?50% ethane by mass. Also, evaporation of methane from the mixed cloud particles near the surface leaves a thicker layer of ethane cloud particles at ∼10 km. Nevertheless, the precipitation rate of methane to Titan's surface is between 0.001 and 0.5 cm/terrestrial-year, depending on various initial conditions such as critical saturation, size and abundance of cloud condensation nuclei, surface sources and eddy diffusion.  相似文献