DMSP and DMS in coastal fast ice and under-ice water of Lützow-Holm Bay, eastern Antarctica

The combined concentration of total dimethylsulfoniopropionate and dimethylsulfide (DMSP+DMS) were measured in Antarctic fast ice on the coast of Lützow-Holm Bay, eastern Antarctica. High bulk-ice DMSP+DMS and chlorophyll a concentrations were found at the bottom of the sea ice, and these concentrations were higher than those in the under-ice water. The bulk-ice DMSP+DMS and chlorophyll a concentrations were highly correlated (r²=0.68, P<0.001), suggesting that the high bulk-ice DMSP+DMS concentrations were caused mainly by the presence of algae assemblages in the ice. The calculated brine DMSP+DMS concentrations were as high as 1100 nM in the bottom ice layer, and the vertical profile patterns of brine DMSP+DMS concentrations were almost the same as for the bulk ice, mainly because of the small amount of variability in the vertical brine volume fraction. DMSP+DMS and chlorophyll a concentrations in the under-ice water increased, whereas the salinity of the under-ice water decreased, during the sampling period. These results reflect the supply of freshwater containing high levels of DMSP+DMS to the water just under the ice as the ice melted. These results suggest that sea-ice melting could be important to sulfur cycling in coastal ice-covered regions of the polar oceans.     

Atmospheric inorganic nitrogen in marine aerosol and precipitation and its deposition to the North and South Pacific Oceans

Aerosol and rain samples were collected between 48°N and 55°S during the KH-08-2 and MR08-06 cruises conducted over the North and South Pacific Ocean in 2008 and 2009, to estimate dry and wet deposition fluxes of atmospheric inorganic nitrogen (N). Inorganic N in aerosols was composed of ~68% NH₄⁺ and ~32% NO₃^– (median values for all data), with ~81% and ~45% of each species being present on fine mode aerosol, respectively. Concentrations of NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ in rainwater ranged from 1.7–55 μmol L⁻¹ and 0.16–18 μmol L⁻¹, respectively, accounting for ~87% by NH₄⁺ and ~13% by NO₃⁻ of total inorganic N (median values for all data). A significant correlation (r = 0.74, p < 0.05, n = 10) between NH₄⁺ and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) was found in rainwater samples collected over the South Pacific, whereas no significant correlations were found between NH₄⁺ and MSA in rainwater collected over the subarctic (r = 0.42, p > 0.1, n = 6) and subtropical (r = 0.33, p > 0.5, n = 6) western North Pacific, suggesting that emissions of ammonia (NH₃) by marine biological activity from the ocean could become a significant source of NH₄⁺ over the South Pacific. While NO₃⁻ was the dominant inorganic N species in dry deposition, inorganic N supplied to surface waters by wet deposition was predominantly by NH₄⁺ (42–99% of the wet deposition fluxes for total inorganic N). We estimated mean total (dry + wet) deposition fluxes of atmospheric total inorganic N in the Pacific Ocean to be 32–64 μmol m⁻² d⁻¹, with 66–99% of this by wet deposition, indicating that wet deposition plays a more important role in the supply of atmospheric inorganic N than dry deposition.     

Seasonal and areal variation of continental aerosol in the surface air over the western North Pacific region

Weekly aerosol samples were collected for two years from 1981 at six stations in the western North Pacific region. The samples were analyzed for aluminum to determine the mineral dust concentration in the air. By combining our data with observations in the central and eastern North Pacific by a US research group, the following results and conclusions have been obtained. Spring peaks in atmospheric mineral dust were observed at all the stations accompanied byKosa episodes (hazes due to mineral dust of Chinese origin). The spring peaks, however, varied from year to year. The mean concentration of mineral dust depends not only on the distance from the Asian coast but also on the latitude of the sampling station. The half-decrease distance of the atmospheric mineral dust turned out to be 500–600 km for all latitudes in the western North Pacific. This indicates that the rate of deposition of mineral dust in the western North Pacific is much larger than that in the central and eastern North Pacific.     

Phytoplankton chlorophyll stocks in the Antarctic Ocean

Phytoplankton chlorophyll stocks in the Indian sector of the Antarctic Ocean were estimated on the basis of published data collected from nine cruises of the Icebreaker,Fuji in 1965–1976, during routine observations of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE). Surface chlorophylla concentration, measured at 631 stations in waters south of 35°S, ranged from 0.01 to 3.01 mg m^–3, At about half of the stations the values were less than 0.24 mg and at only 29 stations were high values more than 1.00 mg m^–3 recorded. The levels of surface chlorophylla stocks were estimated in three groups; (1) data obtained on the southward leg through the eastern Indian sector (middle-late December), (2) those on the northward leg through the western Indian sector (late February–early March) and (3) those on the northward leg through the eastern Atlantic sector (late February–early March). Furthermore, mean values and standard deviations were calculated for each of six different water masses from north to south,i. e., subtropical water between 35°S and the Subtropical Convergence (STC) zone, water within the STC zone, Subantarctic Upper Water, water within the Antarctic Convergence (AC) zone, Antarctic Surface Water between the AC zone and 63°S, and Antarctic Surface Water south of 63°S. Mean values of surface chlorophylla concentrations for each of the six water masses on the three legs ranged from 0.15 to 0.58 mg m^–3 and were comparable to those reported by other workers previously. Seasonal periodicity of phytoplankton chlorophyll stock is discussed. The surface chlorophyll stock in the oceanic water of the Antarctic Ocean does not seem to be so high as previously believed.     

Weakening of the solar EUV line emission near the Sun's limb

The weakening of the EUV line emission near the Sun's limb is studied to acquire information about the absorbers causing the weakening. The equivalent optical thickness of the absorbers for the Lyman continuum is determined as a function of the distance from the center of the solar disk by use of Skylab spectroheliograms in Oiv λ554 and Ovi λ1032. It is found that (1) the weakening cannot be explained by shielding of EUV emitting sources in terms of completely opaque spicules and (2) the distribution of the equivalent optical thickness on the solar disk is extremely flat with a maximum at a position of ～ 5″ above the white-light limb. The results imply that the absorbers are a number of mass blobs consisting of cool chromospheric material which overlies the EUV emitting sources. It is suggested that both the EUV emitting sources and the absorbers are the remnants of Hα-emitting spicules which are diffused into the corona.     

A note on stilpnomelane mineralogy

Stilpnomelane analyses are classified into two separate groups of ferro- and ferristilpnomelanes on the H₂O(+)-Fe₂O₃/(Fe₂O₃+FeO) diagram. The relation is not comparable with that of oxyhornblende.     

Damper placement optimization in a shear building model with discrete design variables: a mixed‐integer second‐order cone programming approach

Supplemental damping is known as an efficient and practical means to improve seismic response of building structures. Presented in this paper is a mixed‐integer programming approach to find the optimal placement of supplemental dampers in a given shear building model. The damping coefficients of dampers are treated as discrete design variables. It is shown that a minimization problem of the sum of the transfer function amplitudes of the interstory drifts can be formulated as a mixed‐integer second‐order cone programming problem. The global optimal solution of the optimization problem is then found by using a solver based on a branch‐and‐cut algorithm. Two numerical examples in literature are solved with discrete design variables. In one of these examples, the proposed method finds a better solution than an existing method in literature developed for the continuous optimal damper placement problem. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Book review

Although visible bands of high-resolution multispectral imagery are used for bathymetry, the relative utility of different bands is poorly understood. Therefore, we evaluated the relative utility of the six visible bands of WorldView-2. We statistically selected the visible bands that gave the best accuracy under different situations, tallying how often each band was included in the best combination. The average frequency was greater than 50% for every band and differed between bands by only 17%. We conclude that all visible bands are useful for remote sensing of water depth, although the utility depends on the image and number of training pixels available.     

Petroloy of the Taga Volcano Group,Izu Peninsula,Central Japan

The Taga Volcano Group of the Izu Peninsula is divided into four volcanoes: Older Taga, Atami, Shimo-Taga and Himenosawa. Each volcano consists of basalt-andesite lavas and volcaniclastic sediments, mainly of low alkali tholeiite composition.The activity of the Shimo-Taga Volcano is divided into three stages (early, middle and later). Rocks of the first two stages consist of lavas and volcaniclastic sediments of olivine basalt, phyric and aphyric basaltic andesite. The later stage rocks consist of volcaniclastic sediments which were erupted as mudflow deposits.Basalts and andesites of the first two stages are considered to have been derived from a zoned magma chamber. They were produced by fractional crystallization, which involved the gravitational separation of plagioclase, olivine and/or pyroxene crystals. Eruption of aphyric and phyric basaltic andesite from the upper part of the chamber occurred first, followed by olivine basalt from lower parts of the chamber.

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Zusammenfassung Die Taga-Vulkan Gruppe besteht aus dem älteren Taga, dem Atami, dem Shimo-Taga und dem Himenosawa Vulkan. Jeder dieser Vulkane wird aus basaltisch-andesitischen Laven und vulkano-klastischen Sedimenten, hauptsächlich subalkalisch tholeiitischer Zusammensetzung, aufgebaut.Die Eruptionstätigkeit des Shimo-Taga Vulkans läßt sich in drei Phasen, eine Früh-, Mittel- und Spätphase untergliedern. Laven und vulkanoklastische Sedimente der ersten beiden Phasen bestehen aus Olivinbasalten, sowie aus basaltischen Andesiten mit porphyrischem und nichtporphyrischem Gefüge. Während des letzten Stadiums wurden vulkanoklastische Sedimente in Form von vulkanoklastischen Schlammströmen eruptiert.Die Basalte und Andesite der ersten beiden Stadien werden als Produkte einer zonierten Magmenkammer gedeutet. Sie entstanden durch fraktionierte Kristallisation und durch die gravitative Abtrennung von Plagioklas, Olivin und/oder Pyroxenkristallen. Der Eruption der porphyrischen und nichtporphyrischen basaltischen Andesite aus dem obersten Teil der Magmakammer folgte die Eruption von Olivinbasalten aus dem tieferen Teil der Magmakammer.

     

A Study Of The Atmospheric Boundary Layer Using Radon And Air Pollutants As Tracers

Concentrations of radon ²²²Rn andair pollutants, meteorological parametersnear the surface and vertical profiles of meteorological elements were measured atUchio (Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, Japan) 12 km north from the coast ofthe Inland Sea of Japan. In the nighttime, the ²²²Rn concentration increased in the case of weak winds, but did not increase as much in the case of moderate or strong winds, as had been expected. In the daytime, the ²²²Rn concentrationheld at a slightly higher than average level for the period from sunrise to about 1100 JST. It is considered that this phenomenon is due to a period of morning calm, that is, a transition period from land breeze to sea breeze.NO, which is sensitive to traffic volume,brought information concerning advection.Oxidant concentrations,which reflect the availability of sunlight,acted in the reverse manner to ²²²Rnconcentrations. Thus, a set of ²²²Rn and air pollutants could provide useful information regarding the local conditions of the atmospheric boundary layer.