The 1996 U.S. Purse Seine Fishery for Tropical Tunas in the Central-Western Pacific Ocean

The U.S. tropical tuna purse seine fleet has fished the central-western Pacific Ocean under the South Pacific Tuna Treaty since 1988. The 1996 fishery was the poorest since the start ofthe Treaty. Fishing effort declined due to the financial collapse of a large fishing enterprise. Catches reached record lows for yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, and skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, and continued a declining trend that started in 1995. Catch rates also decreased to the lowest levels since 1991. Whether this declining trend in catch rates is due to reduced availability of fish caused by cyclic ocean environmental changes affecting vulnerability or to reduced abundance from excessive fishing pressure is not yet known and needs to be assessed

Geology and Ground-Water Resources of Wichita and Greeley Counties, Kansas

This report describes the geography, geology, and ground-water resources of Wichita and Greeley counties in western Kansas. The area consists of a flat to gently rolling plain, which slopes eastward [at] about 15 feet per mile. A short reach of Ladder Creek (Beaver) is the only perennially flowing stream in the two counties. Ephemeral streams, which flow only during and after heavy rains, are White Woman and Sand Creeks and the western reach of Ladder Creek. The climate is semiarid, the normal annual precipitation being about 17 inches in Wichita County and 16 inches in Greeley County. Agriculture is the principal occupation in the area, and wheat is the most important crop. A considerable area is irrigated; sugar beets and sorghums are the principal irrigated crops. The outcropping rocks range in age from late Cretaceous to Recent; the Smoky Hill chalk member of the Niobrara formation, which is exposed along White Woman Creek in western Greeley County, is the oldest. The Niobrara is almost everywhere overlain by the Ogallala formation of Pliocene age. Generally the Ogallala is overlain by windblown silt of the Pleistocene Sanborn formation, but in places it is exposed along streams. The most recent deposits are dune sand and the alluvium along the streams. The Dakota formation, which is an important aquifer in parts of Kansas, is 300 to 450 feet beneath the Niobrara formation. The ground water that is available to wells in Wichita and Greeley counties is derived entirely from precipitation in the area or in areas immediately west and north. Ground water moves in a generally easterly direction with a gradient that varies inversely with the permeability of the water-bearing beds. The ground-water reservoir is recharged principally by precipitation within the area or within adjacent areas, Ground-water discharge takes place principally by pumping from wells, subsurface outflow, and evaporation and transpiration. Most of the domestic, stock, public, and irrigation supplies are obtained from wells. It is estimated that probably more than 2 billion gallons of water is pumped annually from wells in the area. Since 1947, ground-water recharge has been about equal to ground-water discharge. The use of ground water for irrigation has increased greatly since 1946 and indications are that many more wells may be drilled and pumped without dangerously lowering the water table. Approximately 11,000 to 12,000 acres were irrigated in 1951. A map showing the thickness of water-bearing materials indicates that although much of the area has enough water-bearing material to support irrigation wells, parts of Wichita and Greeley counties have little or none. The Ogallala is the principal water-bearing formation in the area. Small amounts of water may also be obtained locally from alluvial deposits and from cracks in the Niobrara formation. Two deep test wells to the Dakota formation have been drilled but, because of the poor quality of the water, have never been used. The ground water in Wichita and Greeley counties, though hard, is suitable for most purposes. Water from the Ogallala is generally high in fluoride and in some cases may be injurious to the teeth of children. Water from the Dakota, though soft, is unfit for irrigation because of a high content of sodium. The field data upon which most of this report is based are given in tables; they include records of 417 wells, chemical analyses of 31 samples of water, and logs of 57 test holes and wells

The true temperature scale of carbon

Spectral emissive power of Acheson graphite at 0.660μ. — The spectral emissive power of Acheson graphite for the wave-length 0.660μ has been determined for the temperature range from 1250°K to 2700°K. The observations were made on a small tubular graphite resistance furnace with a hole in the wall and are best summarized by the relation: ε=0.984-5.8×10^-5T. Measurements of the temperature distribution along the furnace afford determinations of the ratio of resistivity to thermal conductivity at three temperatures

The Spectral Energy Distribution of Dust Emission in the Edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4631 as seen with Spitzer and the James Clerk Maxwell telescope

We explore variations in dust emission within the edge-on Sd spiral galaxy NGC 4631 using 3.6-160 μm Spitzer Space Telescope data and 450-850 μm JCMT data with the goals of understanding the relation between PAHs and dust emission, studying the variations in the colors of the dust emission, and searching for possible excess submillimeter emission compared to what is expected from dust models extrapolated from far-infrared wavelengths. The 8 μm PAH emission correlates best with 24 μm hot dust emission on 1.7 kpc scales, but the relation breaks down on 650 pc scales, possibly because of differences in the mean free paths between photons that excite the PAHs and photons that heat the dust and possibly because the PAHs are destroyed by the hard radiation fields within some star formation regions. The ratio of 8 μm PAH emission to 160 μm cool dust emission appears to vary as a function of radius. The 70 μm/160 μm and 160 μm/450 μm flux density ratios are remarkably constant even though the surface brightnesses vary by factors of 25, which suggests that the emission is from dust heated by a nearly uniform radiation field. Globally, we find an excess of 850-1230 μm emission relative to what would be predicted by dust models. The 850 μm excess is highest in regions with low 160 μm surface brightnesses, although the magnitude depends on the model fit to the data. We rule out variable emissivity functions or ~4 K dust as the possible origins of this 850 μm emission, but we do discuss the other possible mechanisms that could produce the emission

Ultraviolet through far-infrared spatially resolved analysis of the recent star formation in M81 (NGC 3031)

The recent star formation (SF) in the early-type spiral galaxy M81 is characterized using imaging observations from the far-ultraviolet to the far-infrared. We compare these data with models of the stellar, gas, and dust emission for subgalactic regions. Our results suggest the existence of a diffuse dust emission not directly linked to the recent star formation. We find a radial decrease of the dust temperature and dust mass density, and in the attenuation of the stellar light. The IR emission in M81 can be modeled with three components: (1) cold dust with a temperature = 18 ± 2 K, concentrated near the H II regions but also presenting a diffuse distribution; (2) warm dust with = 53 ± 7 K, directly linked with the H II regions; and (3) aromatic molecules, with diffuse morphology peaking around the H II regions. We derive several relationships to obtain total IR luminosities from IR monochromatic fluxes, and we compare five different star formation rate (SFR) estimators for H II regions in M81 and M51: the UV, H alpha, and three estimators based on Spitzer data. We find that the H alpha luminosity absorbed by dust correlates tightly with the 24 mu m emission. The correlation with the total IR luminosity is not as good. Important variations from galaxy to galaxy are found when estimating the total SFR with the 24 mu m or the total IR emission alone. The most reliable estimations of the total SFRs are obtained by combining the H alpha emission (or the UV) and an IR luminosity (especially the 24 mu m emission), which probe the unobscured and obscured SF, respectively. For the entire M81 galaxy, about 50% of the total SF is obscured by dust. The percentage of obscured SF ranges from 60% in the inner regions of the galaxy to 30% in the outer zones

CWRML: representing crop wild relative conservation and use data in XML

Background Crop wild relatives are wild species that are closely related to crops. They are valuable as potential gene donors for crop improvement and may help to ensure food security for the future. However, they are becoming increasingly threatened in the wild and are inadequately conserved, both in situ and ex situ. Information about the conservation status and utilisation potential of crop wild relatives is diverse and dispersed, and no single agreed standard exists for representing such information; yet, this information is vital to ensure these species are effectively conserved and utilised. The European Community-funded project, European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum, determined the minimum information requirements for the conservation and utilisation of crop wild relatives and created the Crop Wild Relative Information System, incorporating an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema to aid data sharing and exchange. Results Crop Wild Relative Markup Language (CWRML) was developed to represent the data necessary for crop wild relative conservation and ensure that they can be effectively utilised for crop improvement. The schema partitions data into taxon-, site-, and population-specific elements, to allow for integration with other more general conservation biology schemata which may emerge as accepted standards in the future. These elements are composed of sub-elements, which are structured in order to facilitate the use of the schema in a variety of crop wild relative conservation and use contexts. Pre-existing standards for data representation in conservation biology were reviewed and incorporated into the schema as restrictions on element data contents, where appropriate. Conclusion CWRML provides a flexible data communication format for representing in situ and ex situ conservation status of individual taxa as well as their utilisation potential. The development of the schema highlights a number of instances where additional standards-development may be valuable, particularly with regard to the representation of population-specific data and utilisation potential. As crop wild relatives are intrinsically no different to other wild plant species there is potential for the inclusion of CWRML data elements in the emerging standards for representation of biodiversity data