KREEPy lunar meteorite Dhofar 287A: A new lunar mare basalt     

Mahesh Anand  Lawrence A. Taylor  Kula C. Misra  Svetlana I. Demidova  Mikhail A. Nazarov 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2003,38(4):485-499

Abstract— Dhofar 287 (Dho 287) is a new lunar meteorite, found in Oman on January 14, 2001. The main portion of this meteorite (Dho 287A) consists of a mare basalt, while a smaller portion of breccia (Dho 287B) is attached on the side. Dho 287A is only the fourth crystalline mare basalt meteorite found on Earth to date and is the subject of the present study. The basalt consists mainly of phenocrysts of olivine and pyroxene set in a finer‐grained matrix, which is composed of elongated pyroxene and plagioclase crystals radiating from a common nucleii. The majority of olivine and pyroxene grains are zoned, from core to rim, in terms of Fe and Mg. Accessory minerals include ilmenite, chromite, ulvöspinel, troilite, and FeNi metal. Chromite is invariably mantled by ulvöspinel. This rock is unusually rich in late‐stage mesostasis, composed largely of fayalite, Si‐K‐Ba‐rich glass, fluorapatite, and whitlockite. In texture and mineralogy, Dho 287A is a low‐Ti mare basalt, with similarities to Apollo 12 (A‐12) and Apollo 15 (A‐15) basalts. However, all plagioclase is now present as maskelynite, and its composition is atypical for known low‐Ti mare basalts. The Fe to Mn ratios of olivine and pyroxene, the presence of FeNi metal, and the bulk‐rock oxygen isotopic ratios, along with several other petrological features, are evidence for the lunar origin for this meteorite. Whole‐rock composition further confirms the similarity of Dho 287A with A‐12 and A‐15 samples but requires possible KREEP assimilation to account for its rare‐earth‐element (REE) contents. Cooling‐rate estimates, based on Fo zonation in olivine, yield values of 0.2–0.8°C/hr for the lava, typical for the center of a 10–20 m thick flow. The recalculated major‐element concentrations, after removing 10–15% modal olivine, are comparable to typical A‐15 mare basalts. Crystallization modeling of the recalculated Dho 287A bulk‐composition yields a reasonable fit between predicted and observed mineral abundances and compositions.  相似文献   

Geomatics: Technology and applications     

Sandhya Misra 《Journal of the Geological Society of India》2013,81(2):291-291

  相似文献   

Thirty-two-year ocean–atmosphere coupled downscaling of global reanalysis over the Intra-American Seas     

Haiqin Li  Vasubandhu Misra 《Climate Dynamics》2014,43(9-10):2471-2489

This study examines the oceanic and atmospheric variability over the Intra-American Seas (IAS) from a 32-year integration of a 15-km coupled regional climate model consisting of the Regional Spectral Model (RSM) for the atmosphere and the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) for the ocean. It is forced at the lateral boundaries by National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Department of Energy (NCEP-DOE R-2) atmospheric global reanalysis and Simplified Ocean Data Assimilation global oceanic reanalysis. This coupled downscaling integration is a free run without any heat flux correction and is referred as the Regional Ocean–Atmosphere coupled downscaling of global Reanalysis over the Intra-American Seas (ROARS). The paper examines the fidelity of ROARS with respect to independent observations that are both satellite based and in situ. In order to provide a perspective on the fidelity of the ROARS simulation, we also compare it with the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), a modern global ocean–atmosphere reanalysis product. Our analysis reveals that ROARS exhibits reasonable climatology and interannual variability over the IAS region, with climatological SST errors less than 1 °C except along the coastlines. The anomaly correlation of the monthly SST and precipitation anomalies in ROARS are well over 0.5 over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans. A highlight of the ROARS simulation is its resolution of the loop current and the episodic eddy events off of it. This is rather poorly simulated in the CFSR. This is also reflected in the simulated, albeit, higher variance of the sea surface height in ROARS and the lack of any variability in the sea surface height of the CFSR over the IAS. However the anomaly correlations of the monthly heat content anomalies of ROARS are comparatively lower, especially over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This is a result of ROARS exhibiting a bias of underestimation (overestimation) of high (low) clouds. ROARS like CFSR is also able to capture the Caribbean Low Level Jet and its seasonal variability reasonably well.  相似文献   

Global seasonal climate predictability in a two tiered forecast system. Part II: boreal winter and spring seasons     

Haiqin Li  Vasubandhu Misra 《Climate Dynamics》2014,42(5-6):1449-1468

We examine the Florida Climate Institute–Florida State University Seasonal Hindcast (FISH50) skill at a relatively high (50 km grid) resolution two tiered Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) for boreal winter and spring seasons at zero and one season lead respectively. The AGCM in FISH50 is forced with bias corrected forecast sea surface temperature averaged from two dynamical coupled ocean–atmosphere models. The comparison of the hindcast skills of precipitation and surface temperature from FISH50 with the coupled ocean–atmosphere models reveals that the probabilistic skill is nearly comparable in the two types of forecast systems (with some improvements in FISH50 outside of the global tropics). Furthermore the drop in skill in going from zero lead (boreal winter) to one season lead (boreal spring) is also similar in FISH50 and the coupled ocean–atmosphere models. Both the forecast systems also show that surface temperature hindcasts have more skill than the precipitation hindcasts and that land based precipitation hindcasts have slightly lower skill than the corresponding hindcasts over the ocean.  相似文献   

A nonlinear Lagrangian particle model for grains assemblies including grain relative rotations     

Emilio Turco  Francesco dell'Isola  Anil Misra 《国际地质力学数值与分析法杂志》2019,43(5):1051-1079

We formulate a discrete Lagrangian model for a set of interacting grains, which is purely elastic. The considered degrees of freedom for each grain include placement of barycenter and rotation. Further, we limit the study to the case of planar systems. A representative grain radius is introduced to express the deformation energy to be associated to relative displacements and rotations of interacting grains. We distinguish inter-grains elongation/compression energy from inter-grains shear and rotations energies, and we consider an exact finite kinematics in which grain rotations are independent of grain displacements. The equilibrium configurations of the grain assembly are calculated by minimization of deformation energy for selected imposed displacements and rotations at the boundaries. Behaviours of grain assemblies arranged in regular patterns, without and with defects, and similar mechanical properties are simulated. The values of shear, rotation, and compression elastic moduli are varied to investigate the shapes and thicknesses of the layers where deformation energy, relative displacement, and rotations are concentrated. It is found that these concentration bands are close to the boundaries and in correspondence of grain voids. The obtained results question the possibility of introducing a first gradient continuum models for granular media and justify the development of both numerical and theoretical methods for including frictional, plasticity, and damage phenomena in the proposed model.  相似文献   

Broadband spectral fitting of blazars using XSPEC     

Sunder Sahayanathan  Atreyee Sinha  Ranjeev Misra 《天文和天体物理学研究(英文版)》2018,(3)

The broadband spectral energy distribution(SED) of blazars is generally interpreted as radiation arising from synchrotron and inverse Compton mechanisms. Traditionally,the underlying source parameters responsible for these emission processes,like particle energy density,magnetic field,etc.,are obtained through simple visual reproduction of the observed fluxes. However,this procedure is incapable of providing confidence ranges for the estimated parameters. In this work,we propose an efficient algorithm to perform a statistical fit of the observed broadband spectrum of blazars using different emission models. Moreover,we use the observable quantities as the fit parameters,rather than the direct source parameters which govern the resultant SED. This significantly improves the convergence time and eliminates the uncertainty regarding initial guess parameters. This approach also has an added advantage of identifying the degenerate parameters,which can be removed by including more observable information and/or additional constraints. A computer code developed based on this algorithm is implemented as a user-defined routine in the standard X-ray spectral fitting package,XSPEC. Further,we demonstrate the efficacy of the algorithm by fitting the well sampled SED of blazar 3 C 279 during its gamma ray flare in 2014.  相似文献   

Energy dependence of near-relativistic electron spectrum at geostationary orbit during the SEP events of 2005     

A. Chandrasekhar Reddy  Jatin Rathod  Girija Rajaram  Radharani Alyana  D. S. Misra  C. G. Patil  M. Y. S. Prasad  A. G. Ananth 《Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy》2008,29(1-2):313-317

In view of the renewed interest in the study of energetic particles in the outer radiation belt of the earth, we feel it will be helpful in looking for the energy dependence of the electron energy spectrum at geostationary orbit. This may give us some insight into how we can safeguard geostationary satellites from functional anomalies of the deep dielectric charging type, which are caused by charge accumulation and subsequent discharge of relativistic electrons. In this study we examine whether there is any energy dependence in relativistic electron enhancements at geosynchronous altitudes during solar energetic proton events of 2005.  相似文献   

An Investigation into the Rock Properties Influencing the Strength in Some Granitoid Rocks of KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa     

M. Fakir  M. Ferentinou  S. Misra 《Geotechnical and Geological Engineering》2017,35(3):1119-1140

The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rocks is a critical parameter required for most geotechnical projects. However, it is not always possible for direct determination of the parameter. Since determination of such a parameter in the lab is not always cost and time effective, the aim of this study is to assess and estimate the general correlation trend between the UCS and indirect tests or indexes used to estimate the value of UCS for some granitoid rocks in KwaZulu-Natal. These tests include the point load index test, Schmidt hammer rebound, P-wave velocity (V_p) and Brazilian tensile strength (σ_t). Furthermore, it aims to assess the reliability of empirical equations developed towards estimating the value of UCS and propose useful empirical equations to estimate the value of UCS for granitoid rocks. According to the current study, the variations in mineralogy, as well as the textural characteristics of granitoid rocks play an important role in influencing the strength of the rock. Simple regression analyses exhibit good results, with all regression coefficients R² being greater than 0.80, the highest R² of 0.92 being obtained from UCS versus σ_t. Comparison of equations produced in the current study as well as empirical equations derived by several researchers serves as a validation. Also illustrate that the reliability of such empirical equations are dependent on the rock type as well as the type of index tests employed, where variation in rock type and index tests produces different values of UCS. These equations provide a practical tool for estimating the value of UCS, and also gives further insight into the controlling factors of the strength of the granitoid rocks, where the strength of a rock is a multidimensional parameter.  相似文献   

Hindcast skill and predictability for precipitation and two-meter air temperature anomalies in global circulation models over the Southeast United States     

Lydia Stefanova  Vasubandhu Misra  James J. O’Brien  Eric P. Chassignet  Saji Hameed 《Climate Dynamics》2012,38(1-2):161-173

This paper presents an assessment of the seasonal prediction skill of current global circulation models, with a focus on the two-meter air temperature and precipitation over the Southeast United States. The model seasonal hindcasts are analyzed using measures of potential predictability, anomaly correlation, Brier skill score, and Gerrity skill score. The systematic differences in prediction skill of coupled ocean–atmosphere models versus models using prescribed (either observed or predicted) sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are documented. It is found that the predictability and the hindcast skill of the models vary seasonally and spatially. The largest potential predictability (signal-to-noise ratio) of precipitation anywhere in the United States is found in the Southeast in the spring and winter seasons. The maxima in the potential predictability of two-meter air temperature, however, reside outside the Southeast in all seasons. The largest deterministic hindcast skill over the Southeast is found in wintertime precipitation. At the same time, the boreal winter two-meter air temperature hindcasts have the smallest skill. The large wintertime precipitation skill, the lack of corresponding two-meter air temperature hindcast skill, and a lack of precipitation skill in any other season are features common to all three types of models (atmospheric models forced with observed SSTs, atmospheric models forced with predicted SSTs, and coupled ocean–atmosphere models). Atmospheric models with observed SST forcing demonstrate a moderate skill in hindcasting spring-and summertime two-meter air temperature anomalies, whereas coupled models and atmospheric models forced with predicted SSTs lack similar skill. Probabilistic and categorical hindcasts mirror the deterministic findings, i.e., there is very high skill for winter precipitation and none for summer precipitation. When skillful, the models are conservative, such that low-probability hindcasts tend to be overestimates, whereas high-probability hindcasts tend to be underestimates.  相似文献   

A comparative study of the Indian summer monsoon hydroclimate and its variations in three reanalyses     

Vasubandhu Misra  P. Pantina  S. C. Chan  S. DiNapoli 《Climate Dynamics》2012,39(5):1149-1168

This study examines the Indian summer monsoon hydroclimate in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)-Department of Energy (DOE) Reanalysis (R2), the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), and the Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). The three reanalyses show significant differences in the climatology of evaporation, low-level winds, and precipitable water fields over India. For example, the continental evaporation is significantly less in CFSR compared to R2 and MERRA. Likewise the mean boreal summer 925?hPa westerly winds in the northern Indian Ocean are stronger in R2. Similarly the continental precipitable water in R2 is much less while it is higher and comparable in MERRA and CFSR. Despite these climatological differences between the reanalyses, the climatological evaporative sources for rain events over central India show some qualitative similarities. Major differences however appear when interannual variations of the Indian summer monsoon are analyzed. The anomalous oceanic sources of moisture from the adjacent Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea play a significant role in determining the wet or dry year of the Indian monsoon in CFSR. However in R2 the local evaporative sources from the continental region play a more significant role. We also find that the interannual variability of the evaporative sources in the break spells of the intraseasonal variations of the Indian monsoon is stronger than in the wet spells. We therefore claim that instead of rainfall, evaporative sources may be a more appropriate metric to observe the relationship between the seasonal monsoon strength and intraseasonal activity. These findings are consistent across the reanalyses and provide a basis to improve the predictability of intraseasonal variability of the Indian monsoon. This study also has a bearing on improving weather prediction for tropical cyclones in that we suggest targeting enhanced observations in the Bay of Bengal (where it is drawing the most moisture from) for improved analysis during active spells of the intraseasonal variability of the Indian monsoon. The analysis suggests that the land–atmosphere interactions contribute significant uncertainty to the Indian monsoon in the reanalyses, which is consistent with the fact that most of the global reanalyses do not assimilate any land-surface data because the data are not available. Therefore, the land–atmosphere interaction in the reanalyses is highly dependent on the land-surface model and it’s coupling with the atmospheric model.  相似文献