Thick and thin models of the evolution of carbon dioxide on Mars     

Curtis V. Manning  Christopher P. McKay 《Icarus》2006,180(1):38-59

We present results from a new simulation code that accounts for the evolution of the reservoirs of carbon dioxide on Mars, from its early years to the present. We establish a baseline model parameter set that produces results compatible with the present (i.e., Patm?6.5 mbar with permanent CO₂ ice cap) for a wide range of initial inventories. We find that the initial inventory of CO₂ broadly determines the evolutionary course of the reservoirs of CO₂. The reservoirs include the atmosphere, ice cap, adsorbed CO₂ in the regolith, and carbonate rocks. We track the evolution of the free inventory: the atmosphere, ice cap and regolith. Simulations begin at 4.53 Gyr before present with a rapid loss of free inventory to space in the early Noachian. Models that assume a relatively small initial inventory (?5 bar) have pronounced minima in the free inventory of CO₂ toward the end of the Noachian. Under baseline parameters, initial inventories below ∼4.5 bar result in a catastrophic loss of the free inventory to space. The current free inventory would be then determined by the balance between outgassing, sputtering losses and chemical weathering following the end of the late bombardment. We call these “thin” models. They generically predict small current free inventories in line with expectations of a small present CO₂ ice cap. For “thick” models, with initial inventories ?5 bar, a surplus of 300-700 mbar of free CO₂ remains during the late-Noachian. The histories of free inventory in time for thick models tend to converge within the last 3.5 Gyr toward a present with an ice cap plus atmospheric inventory of about 100 mbar. For thick models, the convergence is largely due to the effects of chemical weathering, which draws down higher free inventories more rapidly than the low. Thus, thick models have ?450 mbar carbonate reservoirs, while thin models have ?200 mbar. Though both thick and thin scenarios can reproduce the current atmospheric pressure, the thick models imply a relatively large current CO₂ ice cap and thin models, little or none. While the sublimation of a massive cap at a high obliquity would create a climate swing of greenhouse warming for thick models, under the thin model, mean temperatures and pressures would be essentially unaffected by increases in obliquity.  相似文献   

Characteristics of Spatial and Temporal Variations of Monthly Mean Surface Air Temperature over Qinghai-Tibet Plateau   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

ZHANG Qianggong KANG Shichang YAN Yuping 《中国地理科学(英文版)》2006,16(4):351-358

1 Introduction The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the highest plateau with the most complex topography in the world, covers an area of more than 200km2, with a mean elevation of more than 4000m a.s.l. (Ye and Gao, 1979). Surrounded by the Earth’s highest mountains, such as the Himalayas, Pamir, Kunlun Mountains, the plateau plays a significant role in climate change in China even in the world, thus attracted great attention of researchers. Up to now, many achievements have been gained by…  相似文献   

Oxygen, carbon and nitrogen evolution in galaxies     

Cristina Chiappini  Donatella Romano  Francesca Matteucci 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,339(1):63-81

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The planetary nebula K 1-2 and its binary central star VW Pyx     

K. M. Exter  D. L. Pollacco  S. A. Bell 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,341(4):1349-1359

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Constraints on a planetary origin for the gap in the protoplanetary disc of GM Aurigae   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

W. K. M. Rice  Kenneth Wood  P. J. Armitage  B. A. Whitney  J. E. Bjorkman 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,342(1):79-85

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Astrometric signatures of self-gravitating protoplanetary discs     

W. K. M. Rice  P. J. Armitage  M. R. Bate  I. A. Bonnell 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,338(1):227-232

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A new simple model for high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole candidates   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

L. Rezzolla  S'i. Yoshida  T. J. Maccarone  O. Zanotti 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,344(3):L37-L41

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On the orbits and masses of the satellites of the Pluto-Charon system     

Man Hoi Lee  S.J. Peale 《Icarus》2006,184(2):573-583

Two small satellites of Pluto, S/2005 P1 (hereafter P1) and S/2005 P2 (hereafter P2), have recently been discovered outside the orbit of Charon, and their orbits are nearly circular and nearly coplanar with that of Charon. Because the mass ratio of Charon-Pluto is ∼0.1, the orbits of P2 and P1 are significantly non-Keplerian even if P2 and P1 have negligible masses. We present an analytic theory, with P2 and P1 treated as test particles, which shows that the motion can be represented by the superposition of the circular motion of a guiding center, the forced oscillations due to the non-axisymmetric components of the potential rotating at the mean motion of Pluto-Charon, the epicyclic motion, and the vertical motion. The analytic theory shows that the azimuthal periods of P2 and P1 are shorter than the Keplerian orbital periods, and this deviation from Kepler's third law is already detected in the unperturbed Keplerian fit of Buie and coworkers. In this analytic theory, the periapse and ascending node of each of the small satellites precess at nearly equal rates in opposite directions. From direct numerical orbit integrations, we show the increasing influence of the proximity of P2 and P1 to the 3:2 mean-motion commensurability on their orbital motion as their masses increase within the ranges allowed by the albedo uncertainties. If the geometric albedos of P2 and P1 are high and of order of that of Charon, the masses of P2 and P1 are sufficiently low that their orbits are well described by the analytic theory. The variation in the orbital radius of P2 due to the forced oscillations is comparable in magnitude to that due to the best-fit Keplerian eccentricity, and there is at present no evidence that P2 has any significant epicyclic eccentricity. However, the orbit of P1 has a significant epicyclic eccentricity, and the prograde precession of its longitude of periapse with a period of 5300 days should be easily detectable. If the albedos of P2 and P1 are as low as that of comets, the large inferred masses induce significant short-term variations in the epicyclic eccentricities and/or periapse longitudes on the 400-500-day timescales due to the proximity to the 3:2 commensurability. In fact, for the maximum inferred masses, P2 and P1 may be in the 3:2 mean-motion resonance, with the resonance variable involving the periapse longitude of P1 librating. Observations that sample the orbits of P2 and P1 well on the 400-500-day timescales should provide strong constraints on the masses of P2 and P1 in the near future.  相似文献   

On signal–noise decomposition of time-series using the continuous wavelet transform: application to sunspot index     

J. Polygiannakis  P. Preka-Papadema  X. Moussas 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,343(3):725-734

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Merging of low-mass systems and the origin of the fundamental plane     

E.A. Evstigneeva  R.R. de Carvalho  A.L. Ribeiro  H.V. Capelato 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2003,284(2):487-490

We present the preliminary results of a study of how small stellar systems merge to form larger ones. As we display the families of galaxies in the μ_e - R_e plane (effective surface brightness versus effective radius) we realize that different morphological types occupy different loci, evidencing the different physical mechanisms operating in each family. As proposed by Capaccioli et al. (1992) this diagram is the logical equivalent of the HR diagram for stars. Here we take some initial steps in understanding of how we can establish the evolutionary tracks, solely due to dynamical processes, in the μ_e - R_e plane, ultimately making a dwarf elliptical to turn into a normal elliptical galaxy. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献