Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

Forecasting the mixed-layer depth in the Northeast Atlantic: an ensemble approach, with uncertainties based on data from operational ocean forecasting systems

Operational systems operated by Mercator Ocean provide daily ocean forecasts, and combining these forecasts we can produce ensemble forecast and uncertainty estimates. This study focuses on the mixed-layer depth in the Northeast Atlantic near the Porcupine Abyssal Plain for May 2013. This period is of interest for several reasons: (1) four Mercator Ocean operational systems provide daily forecasts at a horizontal resolution of 1/4, 1/12 and 1/36° with different physics; (2) glider deployment under the OSMOSIS project provides observation of the changes in mixed-layer depth; (3) the ocean stratifies in May, but mixing events induced by gale force wind are observed and forecast by the systems. Statistical scores and forecast error quantification for each system and for the combined products are presented. Skill scores indicate that forecasts are consistently better than persistence, and temporal correlations between forecast and observations are greater than 0.8 even for the 4-day forecast. The impact of atmospheric forecast error, and for the wind field in particular (miss or time delay of a wind burst forecast), is also quantified in terms of occurrence and intensity of mixing or stratification events

Recent updates to the Copernicus Marine Service global ocean monitoring and forecasting real-time 1∕12° high-resolution system

Since 19 October 2016, and in the framework of Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), Mercator Ocean has delivered real-time daily services (weekly analyses and daily 10-day forecasts) with a new global 1∕12° high-resolution (eddy-resolving) monitoring and forecasting system. The model component is the NEMO platform driven at the surface by the IFS ECMWF atmospheric analyses and forecasts. Observations are assimilated by means of a reduced-order Kalman filter with a three-dimensional multivariate modal decomposition of the background error. Along-track altimeter data, satellite sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, and in situ temperature and salinity vertical profiles are jointly assimilated to estimate the initial conditions for numerical ocean forecasting. A 3D-VAR scheme provides a correction for the slowly evolving large-scale biases in temperature and salinity. This paper describes the recent updates applied to the system and discusses the importance of fine tuning an ocean monitoring and forecasting system. It details more particularly the impact of the initialization, the correction of precipitation, the assimilation of climatological temperature and salinity in the deep ocean, the construction of the background error covariance and the adaptive tuning of observation error on increasing the realism of the analysis and forecasts. The scientific assessment of the ocean estimations are illustrated with diagnostics over some particular years, assorted with time series over the time period 2007–2016. The overall impact of the integration of all updates on the product quality is also discussed, highlighting a gain in performance and reliability of the current global monitoring and forecasting system compared to its previous version

Final Report Radiation-magnetohydrodynamic evolution and instability of conductors driven by megagauss magnetic fields

We are pleased to report important progress in experimentally characterizing and numerically modeling the transformation into plasma of walls subjected to pulsed megagauss magnetic fields. Understanding this is important to Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) because an important limitation to the metal liner approach to MTF comes from the strong eddy current heating on the surface of the metal liner. This has intriguing non-linear aspects when the magnetic field is in the megagauss regime as needed for MTF, and may limit the magnetic field in an MTF implosion. Many faculty, students, and staff have contributed to this work, and, implicitly or explicitly, to this report. Contributors include, in addition to the PIs

Evaluation of global monitoring and forecasting systems at Mercator Ocean

Since December 2010, the MyOcean global analysis and forecasting system has consisted of the Mercator Ocean NEMO global 1/4 degrees configuration with a 1/12 degrees nested model over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The open boundary data for the nested configuration come from the global 1/4 degrees configuration at 20 degrees S and 80 degrees N. The data are assimilated by means of a reduced-order Kalman filter with a 3-D multivariate modal decomposition of the forecast error. It includes an adaptive-error estimate and a localization algorithm. A 3-D-Var scheme provides a correction for the slowly evolving large-scale biases in temperature and salinity. Altimeter data, satellite sea surface temperature and in situ temperature and salinity vertical profiles are jointly assimilated to estimate the initial conditions for numerical ocean forecasting. In addition to the quality control performed by data producers, the system carries out a proper quality control on temperature and salinity vertical profiles in order to minimise the risk of erroneous observed profiles being assimilated in the model. This paper describes the recent systems used by Mercator Ocean and the validation procedure applied to current MyOcean systems as well as systems under development. The paper shows how refinements or adjustments to the system during the validation procedure affect its quality. Additionally, we show that quality checks (in situ, drifters) and data sources (satellite sea surface temperature) have as great an impact as the system design (model physics and assimilation parameters). The results of the scientific assessment are illustrated with diagnostics over the year 2010 mainly, assorted with time series over the 2007-2011 period. The validation procedure demonstrates the accuracy of MyOcean global products, whose quality is stable over time. All monitoring systems are close to altimetric observations with a forecast RMS difference of 7 cm. The update of the mean dynamic topography corrects local biases in the Indonesian Throughflow and in the western tropical Pacific. This improves also the subsurface currents at the Equator. The global systems give an accurate description of water masses almost everywhere. Between 0 and 500 m, departures from in situ observations rarely exceed 1 degrees C and 0.2 psu. The assimilation of an improved sea surface temperature product aims to better represent the sea ice concentration and the sea ice edge. The systems under development are still suffering from a drift which can only be detected by means of a 5-yr hindcast, preventing us from upgrading them in real time. This emphasizes the need to pursue research while building future systems for MyOcean2 forecasting

Advanced load current multiplier on Zebra generator

International audienceAn improved load current multiplier (LCM) was designed and tested on a high-voltage 100 ns, 0.8-1 MA generator Zebra. The new design allowed to achieve up to ~1.7 MA in plasma loads and up to 1.9 MA in static loads [1]. The previous LCM version provided 1.4 and 1.6 MA accordingly [2]. The load current increase results in the increase of X-ray yield and power from plasma radiation source loads [3]. The advanced LCM represents an integral part of Zebra, inside the generator vacuum section. The new low-inductance design of LCM-to-load connection ensured shielding of the multiplier convolute from load events. Experiments with plasma loads were thus possible without after-shot dismounting of LCM for load installation and diagnostics arrangement. Validation of LCM's on a high-voltage nanosecond generator suggests that the concept could be applicable to existing and future multi-MA fast pulse-power drivers. Anticipating these applications, we present first estimates supporting scaling-up of the LCM technique to multi-terawatt facilities

Operation of a load current multiplier on a nanosecond mega-ampere pulse forming line generator

International audienceWe investigate the operation of a load current multiplier (LCM) on a pulse-forming-line nanosecond pulse-power generator. Potential benefits of using the LCM technique on such generators are studied analytically for a simplified case. A concrete LCM design on the Zebra accelerator (1.9 Ohm, ∼1  MA, 100 ns) is described. This design is demonstrated experimentally with high-voltage power pulses having a rise time of dozens of nanoseconds. Higher currents and magnetic energies were observed in constant-inductance solid-state loads when a better generator-to-load energy coupling was achieved. The load current on Zebra was increased from the nominal 0.8–0.9 MA up to about 1.6 MA. This result was obtained without modifying the generator energetics or architecture and it is in good agreement with the presented numerical simulations. Validation of the LCM technique at a nanosecond time scale is of importance for the high-energy-density physics research