9,085 research outputs found

    Englacial Pore Water Localizes Shear in Temperate Ice Stream Margins

    Get PDF
    The margins of fast‐moving ice streams are characterized by steep velocity gradients. Some of these gradients cannot be explained by a temperature‐dependent viscosity alone. Laboratory data suggest that water in the ice‐grain matrix decreases the ice viscosity; we propose that this causes the strong localization of shear in temperate ice stream margins. However, the magnitude of weakening and its consequences for ice stream dynamics are poorly understood. Here we investigate how the coupling between temperate ice properties, ice mechanics, and drainage of melt water from the ice stream margin alters the dynamics of ice streams. We consider the steady‐state ice flow, temperature, water content, and subglacial water drainage in an ice stream cross section. Temperate ice dynamics are modeled as a two‐phase flow, with gravity‐driven water transport in the pores of a viscously compacting and deforming ice matrix. We find that the dependence of ice viscosity on meltwater content focuses the temperate ice region and steepens the velocity gradients in the ice stream margin. It provides a possible explanation for the steep velocity gradients observed in some ice stream shear margins. This localizes heat dissipation there, which in turn increases the amount of meltwater delivered to the ice stream bed. This process is controlled by the permeability of the temperate ice and the sensitivity of ice viscosity to meltwater content, both of which are poorly constrained properties

    Magmatic intrusions control Io's crustal thickness

    Full text link
    Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system, loses heat through eruptions of hot lava. Heat is supplied by tidal heating and is thought to be transferred through the mantle by magmatic segregation, a mode of transport that sets it apart from convecting terrestrial planets. We present a model that couples magmatic transport of tidal heat to the volcanic system in the crust, in order to determine the controls on crustal thickness, magmatic intrusions, and eruption rates. We demonstrate that magmatic intrusions are a key component of Io's crustal heat balance; around 80% of the magma delivered to the base of the crust must be emplaced and frozen as plutons to match rough estimates of crustal thickness. As magma ascends from a partially molten mantle into the crust, a decompacting boundary layer forms, which can explain inferred observations of a high-melt-fraction region.Comment: Accepted to JGR:Planets. 24 pages inc appendices and references. 7 figure

    Discovery of Broad Molecular lines and of Shocked Molecular Hydrogen from the Supernova Remnant G357.7+0.3: HHSMT, APEX, Spitzer and SOFIA Observations

    Full text link
    We report a discovery of shocked gas from the supernova remnant (SNR) G357.7+0.3. Our millimeter and submillimeter observations reveal broad molecular lines of CO(2-1), CO(3-2), CO(4-3), 13CO (2-1) and 13CO (3-2), HCO^+ and HCN using HHSMT, Arizona 12-Meter Telescope, APEX and MOPRA Telescope. The widths of the broad lines are 15-30 kms, and the detection of such broad lines is unambiguous, dynamic evidence showing that the SNR G357.7+0.3 is interacting with molecular clouds. The broad lines appear in extended regions (>4.5'x5'). We also present detection of shocked H2 emission in mid-infrared but lacking ionic lines using the Spitzer IRS observations to map a few arcmin area. The H2 excitation diagram shows a best-fit with a two-temperature LTE model with the temperatures of ~200 and 660 K. We observed [C II] at 158um and high-J CO(11-10) with the GREAT on SOFIA. The GREAT spectrum of [C II], a 3 sigma detection, shows a broad line profile with a width of 15.7 km/s that is similar to those of broad CO molecular lines. The line width of [C~II] implies that ionic lines can come from a low-velocity C-shock. Comparison of H2 emission with shock models shows that a combination of two C-shock models is favored over a combination of C- and J-shocks or a single shock. We estimate the CO density, column density, and temperature using a RADEX model. The best-fit model with n(H2) = 1.7x10^{4} cm^{-3}, N(CO) = 5.6x10^{16} cm^{-2}, and T = 75 K can reproduce the observed millimeter CO brightnesses.Comment: 19 pages, 22 figure

    LANDSAT application of remote sensing to shoreline-form analysis

    Get PDF
    The author has identified the following significant results. LANDSAT imagery of the southern end of Assateague Island, Virginia, was enlarged to 1:80,000 and compared with high altitude (1:130,000) and low altitude (1:24,000) aerial photography in an attempt to quantify change in land area over a nine month period. Change in area and configuration was found with LANDSAT and low altitude photography. Change in configuration, but no change in area was found with high altitude photography. Due to tidal differences at time of image obtention and lack of baseline data, the accuracy of the LANDSAT measurements could not be determined. They were consistent with the measurements from the low altitude photography

    Dispersal Dynamics in a Wind-Driven Benthic System

    Full text link
    Bedload and water column traps were used with simultaneous wind and water velocity measurements to study postlarval macrofaunal dispersal dynamics in Manukau Harbour, New Zealand. A 12-fold range in mean wind condition resulted in large differences in water flow (12-fold), sediment flux (285-fold), and trap collection of total number of individuals (95-fold), number of the dominant infaunal organism (84-fold for the bivalve Macomona liliana), and number of species (4-fold). There were very strong, positive relationships among wind condition, water velocity, sediment flux, and postlarval dispersal, especially in the bedload. Local density in the ambient sediment was not a good predictor of dispersal. Results indicate that postlarval dispersal may influence benthic abundance pat- terns over a range of spatial scales

    Integrability and explicit solutions in some Bianchi cosmological dynamical systems

    Get PDF
    The Einstein field equations for several cosmological models reduce to polynomial systems of ordinary differential equations. In this paper we shall concentrate our attention to the spatially homogeneous diagonal G_2 cosmologies. By using Darboux's theory in order to study ordinary differential equations in the complex projective plane CP^2 we solve the Bianchi V models totally. Moreover, we carry out a study of Bianchi VI models and first integrals are given in particular cases
    corecore