Nature of the small main belt Asteroid 3169 Ostro     

P. Descamps  T. Michalowski  J. Berthier  J.-P. Teng-Chuen-Yu  B. Payet  Y. Léonie  H. Berrouachdi  F. Benard 《Icarus》2007,189(2):362-369

We present a set of rotational lightcurve measurements of the small main belt Asteroid 3169 Ostro. Our observations reveal an unambiguous, double-peaked rotational lightcurve with a peak-to-peak variation up to 1.2±0.05 mag and a synodic period of 6.509±0.001 h. From the large flux variation and the overall shape of the lightcurves, we suggest that 3169 Ostro could be a tightly bound binary or a contact binary, similar to the Trojan Asteroid 624 Hektor. A shape model of this system is proposed on the assumption that 3169 Ostro is a Roche binary described by a pair of homogeneous elongated bodies, with a size ratio of 0.87, in hydrostatic equilibrium and in circular synchronous motion around each other. The direction of the spin axis is determined modulo 180° by its J2000 ecliptic coordinates λ₀=50±10°, β₀=±54±5°. The binary interpretation and the pole solution adequately fit the earlier photometric observations made in 1986 and 1988. However, additional supporting lightcurves are highly desirable especially in the next mutual events occurrence of 2008 and 2009 in order to remove the pole ambiguity and to confirm unambiguously the binary nature of 3169 Ostro.  相似文献   

Physical investigation of the potentially hazardous Asteroid (144898) 2004 VD17     

F. De Luise  D. Perna  E. Dotto  I.N. Belskaya  G.B. Valsecchi  A. Rossi  P. Paolicchi 《Icarus》2007,191(2):628-635

In this paper we present the observational campaign carried out at ESO NTT and VLT in April and May 2006 to investigate the nature and the structure of the near-Earth object (144898) 2004 VD17. In spite of a great quantity of dynamical information, according to which it will have a close approach with the Earth in the next century, the physical properties of this asteroid are largely unknown. We performed visible and near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy, as well as polarimetric observations. Polarimetric and spectroscopic data allowed us to classify 2004 VD17 as an E-type asteroid. A good agreement was also found with the spectrum of the aubrite meteorite Mayo Belwa. On the basis of the polarimetric albedo (pv=0.45) and of photometric data, we estimated a diameter of about 320 m and a rotational period of about 2 h. The analysis of the results obtained by our complete survey have shown that (144898) 2004 VD17 is a peculiar NEO, since it is close to the breakup limits for fast rotator asteroids, as defined by Pravec and Harris [Pravec, P., Harris, A.W., 2000. Icarus 148, 12-20]. These results suggest that a more robust structure must be expected, as a fractured monolith or a rubble pile in a “strength regime” [Holsapple, K.A., 2002. Speed limits of rubble pile asteroids: Even fast rotators can be rubble piles. In: Workshop on Scientific Requirements for Mitigation of Hazardous Comets and Asteroids, Washington, September, 2002].  相似文献   

Wave-photochemistry coupling and its effect on water vapor, ozone and airglow variations in the atmosphere of Mars     

Xun Zhu  Jeng-Hwa Yee 《Icarus》2007,189(1):136-150

A one-dimensional photochemical-transport model for the martian lower atmosphere has been developed to study the diurnal cycles of wave-photochemistry coupling. The model self-consistently calculates water vapor mixing ratio profiles, which exhibit strong vertical and diurnal variations mainly due to the high sensitivity of the saturation vapor pressure to temperature variation. The dynamical coupling of water vapor caused by the temperature variation induced by tidal waves, vertical transport parameterized by eddy diffusion, and linear relaxation introduced in condensation-sublimation processes all have similar timescales of diurnal variation. This leads to a significant asymmetric distribution of water vapor concentration as a function of local time. As a result, the net effect of the temperature variation by tidal waves depletes the water vapor concentration in its diurnal mean. The coupling processes also deplete the diurnally averaged HO_x concentration, which in turn leads to significant enhancements of both ozone concentration and the associated airglow emissions in the martian atmosphere. The model also shows explicitly the importance of photochemical-transport coupling to the airglow emissions and its implications in species retrievals when the photochemical times of the excited states are comparable to the timescale of diurnal variation.  相似文献   

Quantitative estimation of helium-3 spatial distribution in the lunar regolith layer   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Wenzhe Fa 《Icarus》2007,190(1):15-23

³He (helium-3) in the lunar regolith implanted by the solar wind is one of the most valuable resources because of its potential as a fusion fuel. The abundance of ³He in the lunar regolith is related to solar wind flux, lunar surface maturity and TiO₂ content, etc. A model of solar wind flux, which takes account of variations due to shielding of the nearside when the Moon is in the Earth's magnetotail, is used to present a global distribution of relative solar wind flux over the lunar surface. Using Clementine UV/VIS multispectral data, the global distribution of lunar surface optical maturity (OMAT) and the TiO₂ content in the lunar regolith are calculated. Based on Apollo regolith samples, a linear relation between ³He abundance and normalized solar wind flux, optical maturity, and TiO₂ content is presented. To simulate the brightness temperature of the lunar surface, which is the mission of the Chinese Chang-E project's multichannel radiometers, a global distribution of regolith layer thickness is first empirically constructed from lunar digital elevation mapping (DEM). Then an inversion approach is presented to retrieve the global regolith layer thickness. It finally yields the total amount of ³He per unit area in the lunar regolith layer, which is related to the regolith layer thickness, solar wind flux, optical maturity and TiO₂ content, etc. The global inventory of ³He is estimated as 6.50×¹⁰⁸ kg, where 3.72×¹⁰⁸ kg is for the lunar nearside and 2.78×¹⁰⁸ kg is for the lunar farside.  相似文献   

Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus' dichotomy     

M. Grott  F. Sohl 《Icarus》2007,191(1):203-210

Recently, the Cassini spacecraft has detected ongoing geologic activity near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. In contrast, the satellite's north-polar region is heavily cratered and appears to have been geologically inactive for a long time. We propose that this hemispheric dichotomy is caused by interior dynamics with degree-one convection driving the south-polar activity. We investigate a number of core sizes and internal heating rates for which degree-one convection occurs. The numerical simulations imply that a core radius of less than 100±20 km and an energy input at a rate of 3.0 to 5.5 GW would be required for degree-one convection to prevail. This is within the range of the observed thermal power release near Enceladus' south pole. Provided that Enceladus is not fully differentiated, degree-one convection is found to be a viable mechanism to explain Enceladus' hemispheric dichotomy.  相似文献   

Study on the Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Sea Cucumber (Paracaudina chinens var.) Gelatin Hydrolysate     

ZENG Mingyong  XIAO Feng  ZHAO Yuanhui  LIU Zunying  LI Bafang  and DONG Shiyuan College of Food Science  Engineering  Ocean University of China  Qingdao  P. R. China 《中国海洋大学学报(英文版)》2007,6(3)

Gelatin from the sea cucumber(Paracaudina chinens var.) was hydrolyzed by bromelain and the hydrolysate was found to have a high free radical scavenging activity. The hydrolysate was fractionated through an ultrafiltration membrane with 5 kDa molecular weight cutoff(MWCO). The portion(less than 5 kDa) was further separated by Sephadex G-25. The active peak was col-lected and assayed for free radical scavenging activity. The scavenging rates for superoxide anion radicals(O2·-) and hydroxyl radi-cals(·OH) of the fraction with the highest activity were 29.02% and 75.41%,respectively. A rabbit liver mitochondrial free radical damage model was adopted to study the free radical scavenging activity of the fraction. The results showed that the sea cucumber gelatin hydrolysate can prevent the damage of rabbit liver and mitochondria.  相似文献   

Luminescence chronology of late Holocene extreme hydrological events in the upper Penner River basin,South India     

Puthusserry J. Thomas  Navin Juyal  Vishwas S. Kale  Ashok K. Singhvi 《第四纪科学杂志》2007,22(8):747-753

Field stratigraphy, sedimentology and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating have been used to reconstruct the southwest monsoon variability in the semi‐arid region of southern India during the late Holocene. Facies architecture and OSL dating of the water‐lain sediment suggest prevalence of a weak hydrological regime around 3 ka. Following this, a progressive strengthening of monsoon occurred till 2 ka. After 2 ka and until 1 ka fluvial activity was nearly dormant, indicating weakening of the monsoon. Presence of high‐magnitude flood deposits, overbank sedimentation and pedogenesis during 1–0.6 ka indicate intensification of the southwest monsoon in the basin. The onset of aridity was associated with episodic storm surge events that are manifested in the pond sedimentation and localised aeolian accretion. This phase is bracketed between 0.5 ka and 0.2 ka. A renewed phase of monsoonal activity was observed in the form of floodplain aggradation between 180 and 90 years ago. In the past 70 years no significant change in the monsoon performance has been observed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Glacier fluctuations in the southern Peruvian Andes during the late‐glacial period,constrained with cosmogenic 3He     

Gordon R.M. Bromley  Brenda L. Hall  Joerg M. Schaefer  Gisela Winckler  Claire E. Todd  Kurt M. Rademaker 《第四纪科学杂志》2011,26(1):37-43

The occurrence of pronounced climate reversals during the last glacial termination has long been recognised in palaeoclimate records from both hemispheres and from high to low latitudes. Accurate constraint of both the timing and magnitude of events, such as the Younger Dryas and Antarctic Cold Reversal, is vital in order to test different hypotheses for the causes and propagation of abrupt climate change. However, in contrast to higher‐latitude regions, well‐dated records from the Tropics are rare and the structure of late‐glacial tropical climate remains uncertain. As a step toward addressing this problem, we present an in situ cosmogenic ³He surface exposure chronology from Nevado Coropuna, southern Peru, documenting a significant fluctuation of the ice margin during the late‐glacial period. Ten tightly clustered ages from a pair of moraines located halfway between the modern glacier and the Last Glacial Maximum terminus range from 11.9 to 13.9 ka and give an arithmetic mean age of 12.8 ± 0.7 ka (1σ). These data constitute direct evidence for a readvance, or prolonged stillstand, of glaciers in the arid Andes of southwestern Peru. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Application of linear and nonlinear techniques in river flow forecasting in the Kilombero River basin,Tanzania / Application de techniques linéaires et non-linéaires à la prévision des débits dans le bassin de la Rivière Kilombero,en Tanzanie     

《水文科学杂志》2013,58(5)

Abstract

Modelling of the rainfall–runoff transformation process and routing of river flows in the Kilombero River basin and its five sub-catchments within the Rufiji River basin in Tanzania was undertaken using three system (black-box) models—a simple linear model, a linear perturbation model and a linear varying gain factor model—in their linear transfer function forms. A lumped conceptual model—the soil moisture accounting and routing model—was also applied to the sub-catchments and the basin. The HEC-HMS model, which is a distributed model, was applied only to the entire Kilombero River basin. River discharge, rainfall and potential evaporation data were used as inputs to the appropriate models and it was observed that sometimes the system models performed better than complex hydrological models, especially in large catchments, illustrating the usefulness of using simple black-box models in datascarce situations.  相似文献   

Tropical cyclone activity and western North Atlantic stratification over the last millennium: a comparative review with viable connections     

Jonathan D. Woodruff  Ryan L. Sriver  David C. Lund 《第四纪科学杂志》2012,27(4):337-343

Tropical cyclones (TC) are recognized to modify the thermal structure of the upper ocean through the process of vertical mixing. Assessing the role this mixing plays in the overall stratification of the upper ocean is difficult, due to the relatively short and incomplete instrumental record. Proxy records for both TC landfalls and oceanographic stratification are preserved within the geological record and provide insight for how past changes in TC‐induced mixing have potentially affected water column structure prior to the instrumental record. Here we provide the first comparison between previously published paleo‐reconstructions of vertical ocean density and tropical cyclone activity from the western North Atlantic. A prominent lull in TC activity has been observed prior to approximately 1700 CE that extends back several centuries. This interval of low TC activity is shown to be concurrent with the timing of increased ocean stratification near Great Bahama Bank, potentially due in part to reduced TC‐induced mixing. To test whether this relationship is feasible, we present numerical results from a coarse‐resolution ocean general circulation model experiment isolating the effect of TC surface wind forcing on the upper ocean. An anomaly of roughly 0.12 kg m^?3 in vertical stratification occurs above and below the mixed layer for model runs with and without TC mixing. This anomaly is roughly 25% of the entire paleo‐density signal observed just prior to 1700 CE. These results suggest that TC mixing alone cannot completely explain the density anomaly observed prior to 1700 CE, but support TC variability as an important contributor to enhancing oceanic stratification during this interval. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献