Upper ocean manifestations of a reducing meridional overturning circulation

Most climate models predict a slowing down of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation during the 21st century. Using a 100year climate change integration of a high resolution coupled climate model, we show that a 5.3Sv reduction in the deep southward transport in the subtropical North Atlantic is balanced solely by a weakening of the northward surface western boundary current, and not by an increase in the southward transport integrated across the interior ocean away from the western boundary. This is consistent with Sverdrup balance holding to a good approximation outside of the western boundary region on decadal time scales, and may help to spatially constrain past and future change in the overturning circulation. The subtropical gyre weakens by 3.4Sv over the same period due to a weakened wind stress curl. These changes combine to give a net 8.7Sv reduction in upper western boundary transport. © 2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

A Long Goodbye: Ed and Mary's Journey with Lewy Body Dementia

This book, built around Ed’s journal, chronicles Ed’s experiences as a carer following his wife Mary’s diagnosis with Lewy body dementia. Students and experienced health professionals are rarely afforded such an insight into how their words and actions are interpreted by, and impact upon patients, families and friends. Ed’s Story provides information and education resources related to dementia care. Although specifically focusing on Lewy body dementia, the resources are transferable to caring for people with any type of dementia. The freely available resources are suitable for use by students in the health professions, educators, formal and informal carers

Modeling the Halpha line emission around classical T Tauri stars using magnetospheric accretion and disk wind models

Spectral observations of classical T Tauri stars show a wide range of line profiles, many of which reveal signs of matter inflow and outflow. Halpha is the most commonly observed line profile due to its intensity, and it is highly dependent on the characteristics of the surrounding environment of these stars. Our aim is to analyze how the Halpha line profile is affected by the various parameters of our model which contains both the magnetospheric and disk wind contributions to the Halpha flux. We used a dipolar axisymmetric stellar magnetic field to model the stellar magnetosphere and a modified Blandford & Payne model was used in our disk wind region. A three-level atom with continuum was used to calculate the required Hydrogen level populations. We use the Sobolev approximation and a ray-by-ray method to calculate the integrated line profile. Through an extensive study of the model parameter space, we have investigated the contribution of many of the model parameters on the calculated line profiles. Our results show that the Halpha line is strongly dependent on the densities and temperatures inside the magnetosphere and the disk wind region. The bulk of the flux comes, most of the time, from the magnetospheric component for standard classical T Tauri stars parameters, but the disk wind contribution becomes more important as the mass accretion rate, the temperatures and densities inside the disk wind increase. We have also found that most of the disk wind contribution to the Halpha line is emitted at the innermost region of the disk wind. Models that take into consideration both inflow and outflow of matter are a necessity to fully understand and describe classical T Tauri stars.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Revised version with English correction

On detectability of Zeeman broadening in optical spectra of F- and G-dwarfs

We investigate the detectability of Zeeman broadening in optical Stokes I spectra of slowly rotating sun-like stars. To this end, we apply the LTE spectral line inversion package SPINOR to very-high quality CES data and explore how fit quality depends on the average magnetic field, Bf . One-component (OC) and two-component (TC) models are adopted. In OC models, the entire surface is assumed to be magnetic. Under this assumption, we determine formal 3{\sigma} upper limits on the average magnetic field of 200 G for the Sun, and 150 G for 61 Vir (G6V). Evidence for an average magnetic field of ~ 500 G is found for 59 Vir (G0V), and of ~ 1000 G for HD 68456 (F6V). A distinction between magnetic and non-magnetic regions is made in TC models, while assuming a homogeneous distribution of both components. In our TC inversions of 59 Vir, we investigate three cases: both components have equal temperatures; warm magnetic regions; cool magnetic regions. Our TC model with equal temperatures does not yield significant improvement over OC inversions for 59 Vir. The resulting Bf values are consistent for both. Fit quality is significantly improved, however, by using two components of different temperatures. The inversions for 59 Vir that assume different temperatures for the two components yield results consistent with 0 - 450 G at the formal 3{\sigma} confidence level. We thus find a model dependence of our analysis and demonstrate that the influence of an additional temperature component can dominate over the Zeeman broadening signature, at least in optical data. Previous comparable analyses that neglected effects due to multiple temperature components may be prone to the same ambiguities.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Probing the embedded YSOs of the R CrA region through VLT-ISAAC spectroscopy

Near IR spectra obtained with ISAAC at VLT, have been used to pose constraints on the evolutionary state and accretion properties of a sample of five embedded YSOs located in the R CrA core. This sample includes three Class I sources (HH100 IR, IRS2 and IRS5), and two sources with NIR excesses (IRS6 and IRS3). Absorption lines have been detected in the medium resolution spectra of all the observed targets, together with emission lines likely originating in the disk-star-wind connected regions. We derived spectral types, veiling and stellar luminosity of the five observed sources, which in turn have been used to infer their mass and age adopting pre-main sequence evolutionary tracks. We find that in HH100 IR and IRS2 most of the bolometric luminosity is due to accretion, while the other three investigated sources, including the Class I object IRS5a, present a low accretion activity (L_{acc}/L_{bol} < 0.2). We observe a general correlation between the accretion luminosity, the IR veiling and the emission line activity of the sources. A correlation between the accretion activity and the spectral energy distribution slope is recognizable but with the notable exception of IRS5a. Our analysis therefore shows how the definition of the evolutionary stage of deeply embedded YSOs by means of IR colors needs to be more carefully refined.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, accepted on A&

Hydrological cycle in the Danube basin in present-day and XXII century simulations by IPCCAR4 global climate models

We present an intercomparison and verification analysis of 20 GCMs (Global Circulation Models) included in the 4th IPCC assessment report regarding their representation of the hydrological cycle on the Danube river basin for 1961–2000 and for the 2161–2200 SRESA1B scenario runs. The basin-scale properties of the hydrological cycle are computed by spatially integrating the precipitation, evaporation, and runoff fields using the Voronoi-Thiessen tessellation formalism. The span of the model- simulated mean annual water balances is of the same order of magnitude of the observed Danube discharge of the Delta; the true value is within the range simulated by the models. Some land components seem to have deficiencies since there are cases of violation of water conservation when annual means are considered. The overall performance and the degree of agreement of the GCMs are comparable to those of the RCMs (Regional Climate Models) analyzed in a previous work, in spite of the much higher resolution and common nesting of the RCMs. The reanalyses are shown to feature several inconsistencies and cannot be used as a verification benchmark for the hydrological cycle in the Danubian region. In the scenario runs, for basically all models the water balance decreases, whereas its interannual variability increases. Changes in the strength of the hydrological cycle are not consistent among models: it is confirmed that capturing the impact of climate change on the hydrological cycle is not an easy task over land areas. Moreover, in several cases we find that qualitatively different behaviors emerge among the models: the ensemble mean does not represent any sort of average model, and often it falls between the models’ clusters

Coronary stents—the role of experience and evidence in making clinical decisions

The authors reflect on the charge placed on future medical practitioners given evolving standards of care

Somali Current rings in the eastern Gulf of Aden

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 111 (2006): C09039, doi:10.1029/2005JC003338.New satellite-based observations reveal that westward translating anticyclonic rings are generated as a portion of the Somali Current accelerates northward through the Socotra Passage near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. Rings thus formed exhibit azimuthal geostrophic velocities exceeding 50 cm/s, are comparable in overall diameter to the width of the Gulf of Aden (250 km), and translate westward into the gulf at 5–8 cm/s. Ring generation is most notable in satellite ocean color imagery in November immediately following the transition between southwest (boreal summer) and northeast (winter) monsoon regimes. The observed rings contain anomalous fluid within their core which reflects their origin in the equator-crossing Somali Current system. Estimates of Socotra Passage flow variability derived from satellite altimetry provide evidence for a similar ring generation process in May following the winter-to-summer monsoon transition. Cyclonic recirculation eddies are observed to spin up on the eastern flank of newly formed rings with the resulting vortex pair translating westward together. Recent shipboard and Lagrangian observations indicate that vortices of both sign have substantial vertical extent and may dominate the lateral circulation at all depths in the eastern Gulf of Aden.This investigation is a component of the Red Sea Outflow Experiment (REDSOX) sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation through grants OCE 98-18464 and OCE 04-24647 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and OCE 98-19506 and OCE 03-51116 to the University of Miami