We discuss MAXIPOL, a bolometric balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the E-mode polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) on angular scales of 10′ to 2°. MAXIPOL is the first CMB experiment to collect data with a polarimeter that utilizes a rotating half-wave plate and fixed wire-grid polarizer. We present the instrument design, elaborate on the polarimeter strategy and show the instrument performance during flight with some time domain data. Our primary dataset was collected during a 26 h turnaround flight that was launched from the National Scientific Ballooning Facility in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in May 2003. During this flight five regions of the sky were mapped. Data analysis is in progress. 相似文献
A detailed study was carried out on a piece of land that had been struck by lightning during the violent rainstorm that raged
over the Island of S?o Miguel (Azores Archipelago) in late October 2006. Temperature and gas measurements (CO2, CO, H2S and CH4) were performed in four study trenches, dug in an area of ∼3 m2, where an underground fire had been initiated by the impact with a lightning stroke, followed by the emission of a column
of gases and smoke. The soil under study was originally a well-pedogenized about 80 cm thick bed, made of volcanic clayey
to silty tephra fallouts and contained 5.5–9.7% of organic matter. The underground fire was monitored for one week and revealed a peak release of
404 ppm CO and 3.4% CO2 originating from a horizon located about 45 cm under the soil surface. Measurements of temperature, performed one week after
the impact, indicated a maximum value of 326°C inside the soil, while 516.5°C were measured on the surface of a lava block
interred about 20 cm under the surface. Subsequently, a stratigraphic and sedimentologic study proved the role of the grain-size
of the soil and of the organic matter content of the different horizons of the impact area, in determining the ratio between
anoxic/oxidised combustion conditions and in the progress of the process itself. It was also noticed that combustion was not
total all over in the soil bed and that the process had slightly migrated toward SW during the observation period. The combustion
process went on for about ten days, in spite of several other violent rainstorms, until it was artificially extinguished through
the excavations made to obtain study trenches. This particular circumstance evidenced the potential natural hazard represented
by this kind of atmospheric event, especially in a land where the volcanic nature of the soil may easily mislead inexperienced
observers and, consequently, delay proper action. 相似文献
The Mondego estuary, a shallow warm-temperate intertidal system located on the west coast of Portugal, has for some decades been under severe ecological stress, mainly caused by eutrophication. Water circulation in this system was, until 1998, mainly dependent on tides and on the freshwater input of a small tributary artificially controlled by a sluice. After 1998, the sluice opening was effectively minimised to reduce the nutrient loading, and the system hydrodynamics improved due to engineering work in the upstream areas. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the mitigation measures implemented in 1998. Changes to the hydrodynamics of the system were assessed using precipitation and salinity data in relation to the concentrations of dissolved inorganic nutrients, as well as the linkage between dissolved N:P ratios and the biological parameters (phytoplankton chlorophyll a concentrations, green macroalgal biomass and seagrass biomass). Two distinctive periods were compared, over a ten year period: from January 1993 to January 1997 and from January 1999 until January 2003. The effective reduction in the dissolved N:P atomic ratio from 37.7 to 13.2 after 1998 is a result of lowered ammonia, but not the oxidised forms of nitrogen (nitrate plus nitrite), or increased concentrations of dissolved inorganic phosphorus. Results suggest that the phytoplankton is not nutrient limited, yet maximum and mean biomass of green macroalgae was reduced by one order of magnitude after the mitigation measures. This suggests that besides lowering the water residence time of the system, macroalgal growth became nitrogen limited. In parallel to these changes the seagrass-covered area and biomass of Zostera noltii showed signs of recovery. 相似文献
The carrying capacity for bivalve shellfish culture in Saldanha Bay, South Africa, was analysed through the application of the well-tested EcoWin ecological model, in order to simulate key ecosystem variables. The model was set up using: (i) oceanographic and water-quality data collected from Saldanha Bay, and (ii) culture-practice information provided by local shellfish farmers. EcoWin successfully reproduced key ecological processes, simulating an annual mean phytoplankton biomass of 7.5 µg Chl a l–1 and an annual harvested shellfish biomass of about 3 000 tonnes (t) y–1, in good agreement with reported yield. The maximum annual carrying capacity of Small Bay was estimated as 20 000 t live weight (LW) of oysters Crassostrea gigas, or alternatively 5 100 t LW of mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis, and for Big Bay as 100 000 t LW of oysters. Two production scenarios were investigated for Small Bay: a production of 4 000 t LW y–1 of mussels, and the most profitable scenario for oysters of 19 700 t LW y–1. The main conclusions of this work are: (i) in 2015–2016, both Small Bay and Big Bay were below their maximum production capacity; (ii) the current production of shellfish potentially removes 85% of the human nitrogen inputs; (iii) a maximum-production scenario in both Big Bay and Small Bay would result in phytoplankton depletion in the farmed area; (iv) increasing the production intensity in Big Bay would probably impact the existing cultures in Small Bay; and (v) the production in Small Bay could be increased, resulting in higher income for farmers. 相似文献
The variation of the backscatter strength with the angle of incidence is an intrinsic property of the seafloor, which can
be used in methods for acoustic seafloor characterization. Although multibeam sonars acquire backscatter over a wide range
of incidence angles, the angular information is normally neglected during standard backscatter processing and mosaicking.
An approach called Angular Range Analysis has been developed to preserve the backscatter angular information, and use it for
remote estimation of seafloor properties. Angular Range Analysis starts with the beam-by-beam time-series of acoustic backscatter
provided by the multibeam sonar and then corrects the backscatter for seafloor slope, beam pattern, time varying and angle
varying gains, and area of insonification. Subsequently a series of parameters are calculated from the stacking of consecutive
time series over a spatial scale that approximates half of the swath width. Based on these calculated parameters and the inversion
of an acoustic backscatter model, we estimate the acoustic impedance and the roughness of the insonified area on the seafloor.
In the process of this inversion, the behavior of the model parameters is constrained by established inter-property relationships.
The approach has been tested using a 300 kHz Simrad EM3000 multibeam sonar in Little Bay, NH. Impedance estimates are compared
to in situ measurements of sound speed. The comparison shows a very good correlation, indicating the potential of this approach for
robust seafloor characterization. 相似文献
Two numerical formulations of the breaking phenomenon were implemented in a numerical model for random wave propagation based on the elliptic formulation of the mild-slope equation. The randomness of the wave field was simulated based on a spectral component method, in which the 3-D spectrum is discretised in components of equal energy. One of the breaking process formulations is based on the concept of breaking each independent spectral component. The other is based on the distribution of the local amount of energy dissipated through the independent spectral components. The model based on the concept of breaking each independent spectral component produces the best estimates of the wave field, when the numerical results are compared with laboratory data. 相似文献
The paper presents a comparison between experimental data and numerical results of the hydrodynamic coefficients and also of the wave induced motions and loads on a fast monohull model. The model with 4.52 m length was constructed in Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP), and made up of 4 segments connected by a backbone in order to measure sectional loads. The objective of the investigation was to assess the capability of a nonlinear time domain strip method to represent the nonlinear and also the forward speed effects on a displacement high speed vessel advancing in large amplitude waves. With this objective in mind the experimental program included forced oscillation tests in heaving and pitching, for a range of periods, three different amplitudes and several speeds of advance. In head regular waves comprehensive ranges of wave periods, wave steepness and speeds, were tested in order to measure heave, pitch and loads in three cross sections.
The numerical method assumes that the radiation and diffraction hydrodynamic forces are linear and the nonlinear contributions arise from the hydrostatics and Froude–Krilov forces and the effects of green water on deck. The assumption of linearity of the radiation forces is validated by comparing calculated hydrodynamic coefficients with experimental data for three different amplitudes of the forced oscillations. Both global coefficients and sectional coefficients are compared. The motions and loads in waves are compared in terms of first and higher harmonic amplitudes and also in terms of sagging and hogging peaks. 相似文献
An assessment is made of the maximum wave induced bending moment expected to occur during the operational lifetime of a fast monohull, based on long term distribution calculations of the non-linear vertical bending moment at mid-ship. The ship is assumed to operate in the Northern North Sea, with an operational life of 25 years. A succession of short-term stationary ship responses represented by Rayleigh distributions of peaks results in the long-term distribution of the structural loads. Non-linear pseudo transfer functions are used in the procedure to calculate the variances of the short-term responses. The amplitudes of these transfer functions are calculated by a non-linear time domain seakeeping program. The results are compared with rules minimum required values and also with results from simpler calculation procedures such as adopting design sea states. 相似文献
Time-series analyses of the Peruvian-Chilean Eastern Pacific Fisheries output are presented. The paper discusses how human action and adverse environmental conditions have affected regional productivity levels and fish stock. It is shown that overfishing during critical environmental periods is the likely cause for fluctuations in regional output and the decline of Peru's fishing (anchovy) industry, in opposition to the theory that holds that stock depletion is caused solely by ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) events. Policy implications are drawn from empirical findings, tressing the need for strict resource management and future restrictions on fish captures when ENSO events are highly probable. 相似文献