Geostrophic transport in the Brazil current region north of 20°S

Geostrophic volume transports in the upper 500 m are computed from historical hydrographic data for the area off the Brazilian coast west of 30°W and between 7° and 20°S. On the basis of water mass distributions, potential density surfaces of σθ = 27.05 kg m−3 (360–670 m) and σθ = 27.6 kg m−3 (∼1200 m) are used for referencing the meridional and zonal components of the geostrophic shears, respectively. Near 15°S a northwestward flow of 8 Sv crosses 30°W. This current reaches the shelf near 10°S in February and March, the only two months for which observations are available near that latitude along the coast; of the 8 Sv, about 4 Sv continue towards the northwest into the North Brazil Current while another branch also carrying 4 Sv turns southward as the beginning of the Brazil Current. Between 10° and 20°S the Brazil Current does not appear to strengthen appreciably, but because of the likely existence of flow on the shelf these transport values represent lower limits to the actual ones. At 30°W, another westward flow of approximately 8–10 Sv enters the area near 10°S and serves to strengthen the North Brazil Current. The total transfer of 12 Sv or more from the South Equatorial Current into the North Brazil Current and later to other currents and the northern hemisphere may be an important factor contributing to the well-known weakness of the Brazil Current in its more northerly latitudes

Upper-level circulation in the South Atlantic Ocean

In this paper we present a literature survey of the South Atlantic's climate and its oceanic upper-layer circulation and meridional heat transport. The opening section deals with climate and is focused upon those elements having greatest oceanic relevance, i.e., distributions of atmospheric sea level pressure, the wind fields they produce, and the net surface energy fluxes. The various geostrophic currents comprising the upper-level general circulation are then reviewed in a manner organized around the subtropical gyre, beginning off southern Africa with the Agulhas Current Retroflection and then progressing to the Benguela Current, the equatorial current system and circulation in the Angola Basin, the large-scale variability and interannual warmings at low latitudes, the Brazil Current, the South Atlantic Current, and finally to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current system in which the Falkland (Malvinas) Current is included. A summary of estimates of the meridional heat transport at various latitudes in the South Atlantic ends of the surve

A bacterial artificial chromosome library for the Australian saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) and its utilization in gene isolation and genome characterization

Background Crocodilians (Order Crocodylia) are an ancient vertebrate group of tremendous ecological, social, and evolutionary importance. They are the only extant reptilian members of Archosauria, a monophyletic group that also includes birds, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs. Consequently, crocodilian genomes represent a gateway through which the molecular evolution of avian lineages can be explored. To facilitate comparative genomics within Crocodylia and between crocodilians and other archosaurs, we have constructed a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library for the Australian saltwater crocodile, Crocodylus porosus. This is the first BAC library for a crocodile and only the second BAC resource for a crocodilian. Results The C. porosus BAC library consists of 101,760 individually archived clones stored in 384-well microtiter plates. Not I digestion of random clones indicates an average insert size of 102 kb. Based on a genome size estimate of 2778 Mb, the library affords 3.7 fold (3.7×) coverage of the C. porosus genome. To investigate the utility of the library in studying sequence distribution, probes derived from CR1a and CR1b, two crocodilian CR1-like retrotransposon subfamilies, were hybridized to C. porosusmacroarrays. The results indicate that there are a minimum of 20,000 CR1a/b elements in C. porosus and that their distribution throughout the genome is decidedly non-random. To demonstrate the utility of the library in gene isolation, we probed the C. porosus macroarrays with an overgo designed from a C-mos (oocyte maturation factor) partial cDNA. A BAC containing C-mos was identified and the C-mos locus was sequenced. Nucleotide and amino acid sequence alignment of the C. porosus C-mos coding sequence with avian and reptilian C-mos orthologs reveals greater sequence similarity between C. porosus and birds (specifically chicken and zebra finch) than between C. porosus and squamates (green anole). Conclusion We have demonstrated the utility of the Crocodylus porosus BAC library as a tool in genomics research. The BAC library should expedite complete genome sequencing of C. porosus and facilitate detailed analysis of genome evolution within Crocodylia and between crocodilians and diverse amniote lineages including birds, mammals, and other non-avian reptiles

Remote sensing and geologic studies of the orientale basin region

Both visual and near-infrared spectral observations are combined with multispectral imaging to study the Orientale interior and exterior, the Cruger region, Grimaldi Region, the Schiller-Schickard Region, and the Humorum Region of the Moon. It was concluded that anorthosites occur in the Inner Rook Mountains of Orientale, the inner ring of Grimaldi, and the main ring of Humorum. Imaging spectroscopy shows that the entire eastern Inner Rook Mountains are composed of anorthosites. Orientale ejecta are strikingly like the surface materials in the region where Apollo 16 landed. This similarity indicates similar mineralogy, i.e., noritic anorthosite. Thus, Orientile ejecta is more mafic than the Inner Rook Mountains. This situation is also true for the Nectaris, Humorum, and Gramaldi basins. Isolated areas of the Orientale region show the presence of gabbroic rocks, but, in general, Orientale ejecta are noritic anorthosites, which contain much more low-Ca pyroxene than high-Ca pyroxene. Ancient (pre-Orientale) mare volcanism apparently occurred in several areas of the western limb

Remote sensing and geologic studies of the terrain northwest of Humorum basin

A portion of the highlands terrain northwest of the Humorum basin, a large multiringed impact structure on the southwestern portion of the lunar nearside, exhibits anomalous characteristics in several remote sensing data sets. A variety of remote sensing studies of the terrain northwest of Humorum basin were performed in order to determine the composition and origin of the anomalous unit as well as the composition of the highland material exposed by the Humorum impact event. It was found that at least a portion of the mare-bounding ring of Humorum is composed of pure anorthosite. Other details of the study are reported

Field-free orientation of CO molecules by femtosecond two-color laser fields

We report the first experimental observation of non-adiabatic field-free orientation of a heteronuclear diatomic molecule (CO) induced by an intense two-color (800 and 400 nm) femtosecond laser field. We monitor orientation by measuring fragment ion angular distributions after Coulomb explosion with an 800 nm pulse. The orientation of the molecules is controlled by the relative phase of the two-color field. The results are compared to quantum mechanical rigid rotor calculations. The demonstrated method can be applied to study molecular frame dynamics under field-free conditions in conjunction with a variety of spectroscopy methods, such as high-harmonic generation, electron diffraction and molecular frame photoemission

The Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) Earth Occultation Catalog of Low-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources

The Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE), aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), provided a record of the low-energy gamma-ray sky (20-1000 keV) between 1991 April and 2000 May (9.1y). Using the Earth Occultation Technique to extract flux information, a catalog of sources using data from the BATSE large area detectors has been prepared. The first part of the catalog consists of results from the monitoring of 58 sources, mostly Galactic. For these sources, we have included tables of flux and spectral data, and outburst times for transients. Light curves (or flux histories) have been placed on the world wide web. We then performed a deep-sampling of 179 objects (including the aforementioned 58 objects) combining data from the entire 9.1y BATSE dataset. Source types considered were primarily accreting binaries, but a small number of representative active galaxies, X-ray-emitting stars, and supernova remnants were also included. The deep sample results include definite detections of 83 objects and possible detections of 36 additional objects. The definite detections spanned three classes of sources: accreting black hole and neutron star binaries, active galaxies and supernova remnants. Flux data for the deep sample are presented in four energy bands: 20-40, 40-70, 70-160, and 160-430 keV. The limiting average flux level (9.1 y) for the sample varies from 3.5 to 20 mCrab (5 sigma) between 20 and 430 keV, depending on systematic error, which in turn is primarily dependent on the sky location. To strengthen the credibility of detection of weaker sources (5-25 mCrab), we generated Earth occultation images, searched for periodic behavior using FFT and epoch folding methods, and critically evaluated the energy-dependent emission in the four flux bands.Comment: 64 pages, 17 figures, abstract abridged, Accepted by ApJ