The northern Patagonia Somuncura plateau basalts: a product of slab‐induced,shallow asthenospheric upwelling?

The Meseta de Somuncura forms the largest basaltic plateau (20 000 km²) of southern Argentina (extra-Andean domain). Most of these tholeiitic to alkaline rocks were extruded at ˜ 25 Ma (late Oligocene). The absence of rifting–thinning processes, plume activity, or slab-window phenomena leaves only one major possibility for the generation of Somuncura: asthenospheric ('OIB-like') corner flow leading to a transient thermal anomaly above the subducting plate. It is suggested herein that the intake of hot asthenosphere was forced into a favourable topography (concave-up) of the subducting plate, when a major plate reorganization event (Farallon to Nazca) was taking place in late Oligocene to early Miocene time. The fast and vigorous intake of asthenosphere would have been induced by slab roll-back, leading to decoupling of the subducting plate. The Somuncura volcanic episode can be regarded as a marker of the passage from the extremely oblique subduction of Farallon, to the birth of the Nazca plate and roughly perpendicular convergence between South America and Nazca.     

Analysis of solutions to the inverse problem on the retrieval of the microstructure of stratospheric aerosol from satellite measurements

A statistical ensemble of microphysical parameters of the background stratospheric aerosol at altitudes of 15 to 30 km is modeled on the basis of experimental data. The aerosol attenuation coefficients (AACs) in the wavelength range 0.38–16.3 μm are calculated for all realizations of the ensemble by algorithms of the Mie theory. Analysis of correlations between the AACs and the microphysical parameters indicate that the AAC correlates most strongly with the total volume V and area S of all particles. The errors of determining the microphysical parameters from AAC measurements are analyzed via the method of linear regression. It is shown that, if the AAC is measured with an error of 5%, the errors of determining both the particle size distribution (PSD) for particles with sizes of 0.4 to 4 μm and the parameter S are an order of magnitude smaller than the prior uncertainty, whereas the error of determining V is two orders of magnitude smaller than the prior uncertainty. Schemes of AAC measurements with the SAGE III, ISAMS, CLAES, HALOE instruments and an IR interferometer in the visible and IR regions are discussed. It is shown that combining the schemes makes it possible to extend the range of particle sizes for which the PSD is retrieved with a satisfactory accuracy and to increase the accuracy of determining S and V substantially and the accuracy of determining the total number of particles N _opt to a lesser extent. Examples of interpreting AAC measurements carried out simultaneously with the SAGE III and HALOE instruments within the same spatial region are presented. A systematic discrepancy between vertical profiles of S and V obtained from SAGE III and HALOE measurements is revealed.     

Russian investigations in the field of atmospheric radiation in 2011–2014

A short survey prepared by the Russian Commission on Atmospheric Radiation contains the most significant results of work in the field of atmospheric-radiation studies performed in 2011–2014. It is part of the Russian National Report on Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences prepared for the International Association on Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS)¹. During this period, the Russian Commission on Atmospheric Radiation, jointly with the concerned departments and organizations, organized two International Symposiums on Radiation and Dynamics (ISARD-2011 and ISARD-2013). At these conferences, the central problems in modern atmospheric physics were discussed: radiative transfer (RT) and atmospheric optics; greenhouse gases, clouds, and aerosols; remote methods of measurements; and new measurement data. This survey presents six directions covering the whole spectrum of investigations performed in the field of atmospheric radiation.     

Surface Geophysical Methods used to Verify the Karst Geological Structure in the Built-up Area: A Case Study of Specific Engineering-Geological Conditions

This article presents a research study of complex limestone karst engineering-geological conditions in the municipality Valaská near Banská Bystrica in Slovakia. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the impossibility of spatial identification of cave spaces using surface geophysical methods due to the specific engineering-geological conditions of a thick surface layer of anthropogenic fill containing highly heterogeneous anthropogenic material. Its maximum thickness is 3 m. Another specificific condition of the study area is its location in the built-up area, due to which the applicability of geophysical methods was limited. The article contains methodological recommendations to be used in analogous geological conditions with karst structures topped with anthropogenic fill, which complicates the identification of cave spaces. The recommended solution herein is the identification of the cave system using underground mapping of the karst and its projection onto the surface for which surface geophysical methods have been combined.     

On diapycnal mixing induced by internal tidal waves in the Arctic Ocean

In order to reproduce the diapycnal mixing induced by internal tidal waves (ITWs) in the Arctic Ocean, we use a modified version of the three-dimensional finite-element hydrothermodynamic model QUODDY-4. We found that the average (over the tidal cycle) and integral (by depth) baroclinic tidal energy dissipation rate in individual areas of the Siberian continental shelf and in the straits between the Canadian Arctic archipelago are much higher than in the open ocean and its values on ridges and troughs are qualitatively similar to one another. Moreover, in the area of open-ocean ridges, the baroclinic tidal energy dissipation rate increases as it approaches the bottom, but only in the bottom boundary layer; on the Mid-Atlantic and Hawaii ridges, such an increase is observed within a few hundreds of meters away from the bottom. The average (in area and depth of the open ocean) coefficient of diapycnal mixing defined by the baroclinic tidal energy dissipation rate is higher than the coefficient of molecular kinematic viscosity and only a few times lower than the canonical value of the coefficient of vertical turbulent viscosity, which is used in models of global oceanic circulation. Coupled with the reasoning on the localization of baroclinic tidal energy dissipation, this fact leads to the conclusion that disregarding the contribution that ITW-induced diapycnal mixing makes to the ocean-climate formation is hardly justified.     

Eclogite relics in the Variscan orogenic belt of Bulgaria (SE Europe)

Eclogitic rocks were sampled from two zones in the basement of the Sredna Gora terrane (central western Bulgaria): (1) partially retrogressed eclogites and amphibolites embedded in sillimanite-bearing garnet-micaschists with kyanite relics and migmatites and (2) banded amphibolites associated with muscovite-bearing metagranites within two-mica paragneisses. Rutile relics and oligoclase + green hornblende + epidote ± biotite pseudomorphs after garnet suggest an eclogite facies event. A tholeiitic, transitional affinity was determined for the protoliths, suggesting a continental rift environment, consistent with several eclogite-bearing complexes in the eastern segments of the Variscan belt that arose from the Cambro-Ordovician Gondwana break-up. Decreasing pressure after the eclogite overprint was demonstrated by (a) diopside-albite symplectite, and (b) plagioclase + red–brown to green amphibole kelyphite. The early static re-equilibration, dated to 398 ± 5.2 Ma by ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar technique, was followed by an amphibolite facies foliation, which was pervasive in amphibolites, gneisses and micaschists, and poorly developed in eclogites. The lithospheric PT paths corresponding to higher and lower metamorphic gradients reflect the juxtaposition of crustal and lithospheric mantle units, respectively. In the build-up of the basement of the Balkan orogen, the physical properties of the lithological complexes might have influenced the collisional pattern of involved microplates.     

在6厘米波长对类星体3C454.3的九站VLBI观测

3C454.3是近几年引起广泛注意的一个强活动射电类星体,它有毫角秒尺度的核——喷流结构,其核在1981年的一次流量密度大爆发之后,显示出“超光速增亮”现象,在6厘米波长,用包括欧洲、美国及南非的9个射电望远镜,于1983年10月对3C454.3进行了甚长基线干涉网观测。观测结果除了证实其核——喷流结构,显示了从毫角秒到角秒尺度上该类星体结构的系统弯曲外,还清楚地揭示了“超光速增亮”所预期的,在1981年8月到1983年1月期间,核的超光速膨胀现象。