We briefly describe an advanced 3D gas dynamical model developed for the simulation of theenvironment of active cometary nuclei.
The model canhandle realistic nucleus shapes and alternative physical models for the gas and dust production mechanism.The
inner gas coma structure is computed by solving self-consistently(a) near to the surface the Boltzman Equation(b) outside
of it, Euler or Navier-Stokes equations.The dust distribution is computed from multifluid ``zero-temperature' Euler equations,extrapolated
with the help of a Keplerian fountain model.The evolution of the coma during the nucleus orbital and spin motion,is computed
as a succession of quasi-steady solutions. Earlier versions of the model using simple,``paedagogic' nuclei have demonstrated
that the surface orographyand the surface inhomogeneity contribute similarly to structuring the near-nucleusgas and dust coma,casting
a shadow on the automatic attribution of such structures to ``active areas'.The model was recently applied to comet P/Halley,
for whichthe nucleus shape is available. In the companion paper of this volume,we show that most near-nucleus dust structuresobserved
during the 1986 Halley flybys are reproduced, assuming that the nucleus is strictly homogeneous. Here, we investigate the
effect of shape perturbations and homogeneityperturbations. We show that the near nucleus gas coma structure is robust vis-a-vissuch
effects. In particular, a random distribution of active and inactive areaswould not affect considerably this structure, suggesting that such areas,even if present, could not be easily identified on images
of the coma. 相似文献
We designed a new seismic source model for Italy to be used as an input for country-wide probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) in the frame of the compilation of a new national reference map.
We started off by reviewing existing models available for Italy and for other European countries, then discussed the main open issues in the current practice of seismogenic zoning.
The new model, termed ZS9, is largely based on data collected in the past 10 years, including historical earthquakes and instrumental seismicity, active faults and their seismogenic potential, and seismotectonic evidence from recent earthquakes. This information allowed us to propose new interpretations for poorly understood areas where the new data are in conflict with assumptions made in designing the previous and widely used model ZS4.
ZS9 is made out of 36 zones where earthquakes with Mw > = 5 are expected. It also assumes that earthquakes with Mw up to 5 may occur anywhere outside the seismogenic zones, although the associated probability is rather low. Special care was taken to ensure that each zone sampled a large enough number of earthquakes so that we could compute reliable earthquake production rates.
Although it was drawn following criteria that are standard practice in PSHA, ZS9 is also innovative in that every zone is characterised also by its mean seismogenic depth (the depth of the crustal volume that will presumably release future earthquakes) and predominant focal mechanism (their most likely rupture mechanism). These properties were determined using instrumental data, and only in a limited number of cases we resorted to geologic constraints and expert judgment to cope with lack of data or conflicting indications. These attributes allow ZS9 to be used with more accurate regionalized depth-dependent attenuation relations, and are ultimately expected to increase significantly the reliability of seismic hazard estimates. 相似文献
