12,453 research outputs found
Pacific Hake, Merluccius productus, Autecology: A Timely Review
Pacific hake, Merluccius productus, the most abundant groundfish in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem
(CCLME), is a species of both commercial significance, supporting a large international fishery, and ecological importance, connecting other species as both predator and prey. Coastal Pacific hake migrations are characterized by movements between northern summer feeding areas and southern winter spawning areas, with variations in annual abundance, distribution, and the extent of these movements
associated with varying climate-ocean conditions. In general, warm (cool) years with enhanced (reduced) stratification and poleward (equatorward) transport are
often related to good (poor) recruitment, increased (decreased) northward distribution, and reduced (enhanced) growth. However, the classic periodic pattern of annual migration and distribution may no longer be fully representative. Based on recent advances in the understanding of climate-ocean variability off the U.S. west
coast, we hypothesize that the annual movements of Pacific hake are more responsive to climate-ocean variability than previously thought, and further, that changes observed in Pacific hake distributions may reflect long-term changes in climate-ocean conditions in the CCLME. Therefore, an updated
model of these relations is key to effective monitoring and management of this stock, as well as to devising scenarios of future change in the CCLME as a result of climate
variations. The current state of knowledge of the relationship between the Pacific hake and its environment is reviewed, highlighting emerging ideas compared to those of the past, and priorities for future research are suggested
Synthetic Observations of Simulated Radio Galaxies I: Radio and X-ray Analysis
We present an extensive synthetic observational analysis of numerically-
simulated radio galaxies designed to explore the effectiveness of conventional
observational analyses at recovering physical source properties. These are the
first numerical simulations with sufficient physical detail to allow such a
study. The present paper focuses on extraction of magnetic field properties
from nonthermal intensity information. Synchrotron and inverse-Compton
intensities provided meaningful information about distributions and strengths
of magnetic fields, although considerable care was called for. Correlations
between radio and X-ray surface brightness correctly revealed useful dynamical
relationships between particles and fields. Magnetic field strength estimates
derived from the ratio of X-ray to radio intensity were mostly within about a
factor of two of the RMS field strength along a given line of sight. When
emissions along a given line of sight were dominated by regions close to the
minimum energy/equipartition condition, the field strengths derived from the
standard power-law-spectrum minimum energy calculation were also reasonably
close to actual field strengths, except when spectral aging was evident.
Otherwise, biases in the minimum- energy magnetic field estimation mirrored
actual differences from equipartition. The ratio of the inverse-Compton
magnetic field to the minimum-energy magnetic field provided a rough measure of
the actual total energy in particles and fields in most instances, within an
order of magnitude. This may provide a practical limit to the accuracy with
which one may be able to establish the internal energy density or pressure of
optically thin synchrotron sources.Comment: 43 pages, 14 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ, v601 n2
February 1, 200
Electrostatic protection of the Solar Power Satellite and rectenna
Several features of the interactions of the solar power satellite (SPS) with its space environment were examined theoretically. The voltages produced at various surfaces due to space plasmas and the plasma leakage currents through the kapton and sapphire solar cell blankets were calculated. At geosynchronous orbit, this parasitic power loss is only 0.7%, and is easily compensated by oversizing. At low-Earth orbit, the power loss is potentially much larger (3%), and anomalous arcing is expected for the EOTV high voltage negative surfaces. Preliminary results of a three dimensional self-consistent plasma and electric field computer program are presented, confirming the validity of the predictions made from the one dimensional models. Magnetic shielding of the satellite, to reduce the power drain and to protect the solar cells from energetic electron and plasma ion bombardment is considered. It is concluded that minor modifications can allow the SPS to operate safely and efficiently in its space environment. The SPS design employed in this study is the 1978 MSFC baseline design utilizing GaAs solar cells at CR-2 and an aluminum structure
The development and application of aerodynamic uncertainties: And flight test verification for the space shuttle orbiter
The approach used in establishing the predicted aerodynamic uncertainties and the process used in applying these uncertainties during the design of the Orbiter flight control system and the entry trajectories are presented. The flight test program that was designed to verify the stability and control derivatives with a minimum of test flights is presented and a comparison of preflight predictions with preliminary flight test results is made. It is concluded that the approach used for the Orbiter is applicable to future programs where testing is limited due to time constraints or funding
APPLICATION OF COMPUTER INTENSIVE METHODS TO EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF A SAMPLING DESIGN FOR USE IN COTTON INSECT PEST MANAGEMENT
A scouting protocol for cotton insect pests was developed which combines high resolution, multispectral remotely sensed imagery with a belt transect that crosses rows of cotton. Imagery was used to determine sample site selection while estimating plant bug abundance in a more than 200 ac. cotton field in 1997. Tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris) counts were acquired using a standard drop cloth for each of eight rows along a transect. The sample data indicated that plant bug population densities spatially vary as a function of different spectral (color) classes present on the imagery. We postulate that such classified images correlate to differences in crop phenology, and plant bug populations (especially from early to mid-season) aggregate themselves by these habitat differences. Therefore, the population dynamics of Lygus, and possibly other species, can be better understood by combining the transect-based sampling plan with remotely sensed imagery. To verify and validate this claim, a computer intensive approach was utilized to simulate the performance of different sampling plans. The comparison is accomplished with a combinatorial algorithm that exhaustively enumerates the original data into unique subsets. These subsets correspond to results that could be expected from the use of traditional or alternative sampling plans and compared to results from the candidate plan actually used. The results of the enumerative analysis show the benefit of multi-band, remotely sensed imagery combined with the use of large sized sample units to improve sampling efficiency (and without the need to have large sample sizes). It is of great benefit that the enumerative algorithm provided answers to questions of interest without having to complete additional fieldwork
Factors Influencing Largemouth Bass Recruitment: Implications for the Illinois Management and Stocking Program
Annual Progress Report issued August 2002; NOTE: Two different reports numbered 02/06
were issued from the CAE.Report issued on: August 2002INHS Technical Report prepared for Division of Fisheries Illinois Department of Natural
Resource
Influence of Spin Wave Excitations on the Ferromagnetic Phase Diagram in the Hubbard-Model
The subject of the present paper is the theoretical description of collective
electronic excitations, i.e. spin waves, in the Hubbard-model. Starting with
the widely used Random-Phase-Approximation, which combines Hartree-Fock theory
with the summation of the two-particle ladder, we extend the theory to a more
sophisticated single particle approximation, namely the
Spectral-Density-Ansatz. Doing so we have to introduce a `screened`
Coulomb-interaction rather than the bare Hubbard-interaction in order to obtain
physically reasonable spinwave dispersions. The discussion following the
technical procedure shows that comparison of standard RPA with our new
approximation reduces the occurrence of a ferromagnetic phase further with
respect to the phase-diagrams delivered by the single particle theories.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, RevTex4, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Novel methods for spatial prediction of soil functions within landscapes (SP0531)
Previous studies showed that soil patterns could be predicted in agriculturally managed landscapes by modelling and extrapolating from extensive existing but related integrated datasets. Based on these results we proposed to develop and apply predictive models of the relationships between environmental data and known soil patterns to predict capacity for key soil functions within diverse
landscapes for which there is little detailed underpinning soil information available.
Objectives were:
To develop a high-level framework in which the non-specialist user-community could explore questions.
To generate digital soil maps for three selected catchments at a target resolution of 1:50000 to provide the base information for soil function prediction.
To use a modelling approach to predict the performance of key soil functions in catchments undergoing change but where only sparse or low resolution soil survey data are available.
To use a modelling approach to assess the impact of different management scenarios and/or environmental conditions on the delivery of multiple soil functions within a catchment.
To create a detailed outline of the requirements for ground-truthing to test the predicted model outputs at a catchment scale.
To contribute to the development of a high-level framework for decision makers
Slowly driven sandpile formation with granular mixtures
We introduce a one-dimensional sandpile model with different particle types and an infinitesimal driving rate. The parameters for the model are the N^2 critical slopes for one type of particle on top of another. The model is trivial when N=1, but for N=2 we observe four broad classes of sandpile structure in different regions of the parameter space. We describe and explain the behaviour of each of these classes, giving quantitative analysis wherever possible. The behaviour of sandpiles with N>2 essentially consists of combinations of these four classes. We investigate the model's robustness and highlight the key areas that any experiment designed to reproduce these results should focus on
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