Dead cetacean? beach, bloat, float, sink

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Moore, M. J., Mitchell, G. H., Rowles, T. K., & Early, G. Dead cetacean? beach, bloat, float, sink. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, (2020): 333, doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00333.Variably buoyant, dead Cetacea may float, or sink and later bloat to refloat if ambient temperature and pressure allow sufficient decomposition gas formation and expansion. Mortality can result from acute or chronic disease, fishery entanglement, vessel collision, noxious noises, or toxicant spills. Investigators often face the daunting task of elucidating a complex series of events, in reverse order, from when and where an animal is found, and to diagnose the cause of death. Various scenarios are possible: an animal could die at sea remaining there or floating ashore, or strand on a beach alive, where it dies and, if cast high enough, remain beached to be scavenged or decompose. An animal that rests low on a beach may refloat again, through increased buoyancy from decomposition gas and favorable tides, currents, and wind. Here we review the factors responsible for the different outcomes, and how to recognize the provenance of a cetacean mortality found beached, or floating at sea. In conclusion, only some carcasses strand, or remain floating. Negatively buoyant animals that die at depth, or on the surface, and sink, may never surface, even after decomposition gas accumulation, as in cold, deep waters gas may fail to adequately reduce the density of a carcass, precluding it from returning to the surface

A furnace and environmental cell for the in situ investigation of molten salt electrolysis using high-energy X-ray diffraction

This paper describes the design, construction and implementation of a relatively large controlled-atmosphere cell and furnace arrangement. The purpose of this equipment is to facilitate the in situ characterization of materials used in molten salt electrowinning cells, using high-energy X-ray scattering techniques such as synchrotron-based energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction. The applicability of this equipment is demonstrated by quantitative measurements of the phase composition of a model inert anode material, which were taken during an in situ study of an operational Fray-Farthing-Chen Cambridge electrowinning cell, featuring molten CaCl(2) as the electrolyte. The feasibility of adapting the cell design to investigate materials in other high-temperature environments is also discussed

A very luminous, highly extinguished, very fast nova - V1721 Aquilae

Fast novae are primarily located within the plane of the Galaxy, slow novae are found within its bulge. Because of high interstellar extinction along the line of sight many novae lying close to the plane are missed and only the brightest seen. One nova lying very close to the Galactic plane is V1721 Aquilae, discovered in outburst on 2008 September 22. Spectra obtained 2.69 days after outburst revealed very high expansion velocities (FWHM ~6450 km/s). In this paper we have used available pre- and post-outburst photometry and post-outburst spectroscopy to conclude that the object is a very fast, luminous, and highly extinguished A_V=11.6+/-0.2) nova system with an average ejection velocity of ~3400 km/s. Pre-outburst near-IR colours from 2MASS indicate that at quiescence the object is similar to many quiescent CNe and appears to have a main sequence/sub-giant secondary rather than a giant. Based on the speed of decline of the nova and its emission line profiles we hypothesise that the axis ratio of the nova ejecta is ~1.4 and that its inclination is such that the central binary accretion disc is face-on to the observer. The accretion disc's blue contribution to the system's near-IR quiescent colours may be significant. Simple models of the nova ejecta have been constructed using the morphological modelling code XS5, and the results support the above hypothesis. Spectral classification of this object has been difficult owing to low S/N levels and high extinction, which has eliminated all evidence of any He/N or FeII emission within the spectra. We suggest two possibilities for the nature of V1721 Aql: that it is a U Sco type RN with a sub-giant secondary or, less likely, that it is a highly energetic bright and fast classical nova with a main sequence secondary. Future monitoring of the object for possible RN episodes may be worthwhile, as would archival searches for previous outbursts.Comment: 9 pages 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Abstract has been slightly shortened from published versio

Defining graphenic crystallites in disordered carbon: moving beyond the platelet model

We develop a picture of graphenic crystallites within disordered carbons that goes beyond the traditional model of graphitic platelets at random orientation. Using large atomistic models containing one million atoms, we redefine the meaning of the quantity La extracted from X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. Two complementary approaches are used to measure the size of graphenic crystallites, which are defined as regions of regularly arranged hexagons. Firstly, we calculate the X-ray diffraction pattern directly from the atomistic coordinates of the structure and analyse them following a typical experimental process. Second, the graphenic crystallites are identified from a direct geometrical approach. By mapping the structure directly, we replace the idealised picture of the crystallite with a more realistic representation of the material and provide a well-defined interpretation for $L_a$ measurements of disordered carbon. A key insight is that the size distribution is skewed heavily towards small fragments, with more than 75% of crystallites smaller than half of $L_a$

Dark gas in the solar neighnorhood from extinction data

When modeling infrared or gamma-ray data as a linear combination of observed gas tracers, excess emission has been detected compared to expectations from known neutral and atomic gas as traced by HI and CO measurements, respectively. This excess might correspond to an additional gas component. This so-called "dark gas" (DG) has been observed in our Galaxy, as well as the Magellanic Clouds. For the first time, we investigate the correlation between visible extinction (Av) data and gas tracers on large scales in the solar neighborhood. Our work focuses on both the solar neighborhood (|b|>10\degr), and the inner and outer Galaxy, as well as on four individual regions: Taurus, Orion, Cepheus-Polaris and Aquila-Ophiuchus. Thanks to the recent production of an all-sky Av map, we first perform the correlation between Av and both HI and CO emission over the most diffuse regions, to derive the optimal (Av/NH)^(ref) ratio. We then iterate the analysis over the entire regions to estimate the CO-to-H2 conversion factor as well as the DG mass fraction. The average extinction to gas column-density ratio in the solar neighborhood is found to be (Av/NH)^(ref)=6.53 10^(-22) mag. cm^2, with significant differences between the inner and outer Galaxy. We derive an average XCO value of 1.67 10^(20) H2 cm^(-2)/(K km s^(-1)). In the solar neighborhood, the gas mass in the dark component is found to be 19% relative to that in the atomic component and 164$$ relative to the one traced by CO. These results are compatible with the recent analysis using Planck data within the uncertainties of our measurements. We estimate the ratio of dark gas to total molecular gas to be 0.62 in the solar neighborhood. The HI-to-H2 and H2-to-CO transitions appear for Av $\simeq$0.2 mag and Av$\simeq1.5$ mag, respectively, in agreement with theoretical models of dark-H2 gas.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in A&A (in press

Pulsed thermal treatment of carbon up to 3000 °C using an atomic absorption spectrometer

An atomic absorption spectrometer unit fitted with a graphite furnace module is used to perform high temperature treatment on three carbonized polymers: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN). Using short pulses up to 45 s, we heat small samples to a maximum of 3000 °C. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry are used to track the growth of crystallites in the materials as a function of the heating temperature. We observe the well-known behaviour of large crystalline graphite growth in PVC-derived samples and the formation of curved graphitic layers in PVDC- and PAN-derived samples. This graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer approach is an attractive alternative to conventional laboratory-scale graphite furnaces in research of high temperature treatment of carbon and other refractory materials

Quantification of passivation layer growth in inert anodes for molten salt electrochemistry by in situ energy-dispersive diffraction

An in situ energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction experiment was undertaken on operational titanium electrowinning cells to observe the formation of rutile (TiO2) passivation layers on Magnéli-phase (TinO2n-1; n = 4-6) anodes and thus determine the relationship between passivation layer formation and electrolysis time. Quantitative phase analysis of the energy-dispersive data was undertaken using a crystal-structure-based Rietveld refinement. Layer formation was successfully observed and it was found that the rate of increase in layer thickness decreased with time, rather than remaining constant as observed in previous studies. The limiting step in rutile formation is thought to be the rate of solid-state diffusion of oxygen within the anode structure