Numerical modeling of permafrost dynamics in Alaska using a high spatial resolution dataset

Climate projections for the 21st century indicate that there could be a pronounced warming and permafrost degradation in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Climate warming is likely to cause permafrost thawing with subsequent effects on surface albedo, hydrology, soil organic matter storage and greenhouse gas emissions. <br><br> To assess possible changes in the permafrost thermal state and active layer thickness, we implemented the GIPL2-MPI transient numerical model for the entire Alaska permafrost domain. The model input parameters are spatial datasets of mean monthly air temperature and precipitation, prescribed thermal properties of the multilayered soil column, and water content that are specific for each soil class and geographical location. As a climate forcing, we used the composite of five IPCC Global Circulation Models that has been downscaled to 2 by 2 km spatial resolution by Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP) group. <br><br> In this paper, we present the modeling results based on input of a five-model composite with A1B carbon emission scenario. The model has been calibrated according to the annual borehole temperature measurements for the State of Alaska. We also performed more detailed calibration for fifteen shallow borehole stations where high quality data are available on daily basis. To validate the model performance, we compared simulated active layer thicknesses with observed data from Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) stations. The calibrated model was used to address possible ground temperature changes for the 21st century. The model simulation results show widespread permafrost degradation in Alaska could begin between 2040–2099 within the vast area southward from the Brooks Range, except for the high altitude regions of the Alaska Range and Wrangell Mountains

Using in-situ temperature measurements to estimate saturated soil thermal properties by solving a sequence of optimization problems

International audienceWe describe an approach to find an initial approximation to the thermal properties of soil horizons. This technique approximates thermal conductivity, porosity, unfrozen water content curves in horizons where no direct temperature measurements are available. To determine physical properties of ground material, optimization-based inverse techniques are employed to fit the simulated temperatures to the measured ones. Two major ingredients of these techniques are an algorithm to compute the soil temperature dynamics and a procedure to find an initial approximation to the ground properties. In this article we show how to determine the initial approximation to the physical properties and present a new finite element discretization of the heat equation with phase change to calculate the temperature dynamics in soil. We successfully apply the proposed algorithm to recover the soil properties for the Happy Valley site in Alaska using one-year temperature dynamics. The determined initial approximation is utilized to simulate the temperature dynamics over several consecutive years; the difference between simulated and measured temperatures lies within uncertainties of measurements

Study of 6^{6}He+12^{12}C Elastic Scattering Using a Microscopic Optical Potential

The $^6$He+$^{12}$C elastic scattering data at beam energies of 3, 38.3 and 41.6 MeV/nucleon are studied utilizing the microscopic optical potentials obtained by a double-folding procedure and also by using those inherent in the high-energy approximation. The calculated optical potentials are based on the neutron and proton density distributions of colliding nuclei established in an appropriate model for $^6$He and obtained from the electron scattering form factors for $^{12}$C. The depths of the real and imaginary parts of the microscopic optical potentials are considered as fitting parameters. At low energy the volume optical potentials reproduce sufficiently well the experimental data. At higher energies, generally, additional surface terms having form of a derivative of the imaginary part of the microscopic optical potential are needed. The problem of ambiguity of adjusted optical potentials is resolved requiring the respective volume integrals to obey the determined dependence on the collision energy. Estimations of the Pauli blocking effects on the optical potentials and cross sections are also given and discussed. Conclusions on the role of the aforesaid effects and on the mechanism of the considered processes are made.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Climate Change Drives Widespread and Rapid Thermokarst Development in Very Cold Permafrost in the Canadian High Arctic

Climate warming in regions of ice‐rich permafrost can result in widespread thermokarst development, which reconfigures the landscape and damages infrastructure. We present multisite time series observations which couple ground temperature measurements with thermokarst development in a region of very cold permafrost. In the Canadian High Arctic between 2003 and 2016, a series of anomalously warm summers caused mean thawing indices to be 150–240% above the 1979–2000 normal resulting in up to 90 cm of subsidence over the 12‐year observation period. Our data illustrate that despite low mean annual ground temperatures, very cold permafrost (<−10 °C) with massive ground ice close to the surface is highly vulnerable to rapid permafrost degradation and thermokarst development. We suggest that this is due to little thermal buffering from soil organic layers and near‐surface vegetation, and the presence of near‐surface ground ice. Observed maximum thaw depths at our sites are already exceeding those projected to occur by 2090 under representative concentration pathway version 4.5

Phase-Controlled Force and Magnetization Oscillations in Superconducting Ballistic Nanowires

The emergence of superconductivity-induced phase-controlled forces in the (0.01-0.1) nN range, and of magnetization oscillations, in nanowire junctions, is discussed. A giant magnetic response to applied weak magnetic fields, is predicted in the ballistic Josephson junction formed by a superconducting tip and a surface, bridged by a normal metal nanowire where Andreev states form.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Prospects for the Bc Studies at LHCb

We discuss the motivations and perspectives for the studies of the mesons of the (bc) family at LHCb. The description of production and decays at LHC energies is given in details. The event yields, detection efficiencies, and background conditions for several Bc decay modes at LHCb are estimated.Comment: 20 pages, 5 eps-figure

Calculations of 8^{8}He+p Elastic Cross Sections Using Microscopic Optical Potential

An approach to calculate microscopic optical potential (OP) with the real part obtained by a folding procedure and with the imaginary part inherent in the high-energy approximation (HEA) is applied to study the $^8$He+p elastic scattering data at energies of tens of MeV/nucleon (MeV/N). The neutron and proton density distributions obtained in different models for $^{8}$He are utilized in the calculations of the differential cross sections. The role of the spin-orbit potential is studied. Comparison of the calculations with the available experimental data on the elastic scattering differential cross sections at beam energies of 15.7, 26.25, 32, 66 and 73 MeV/N is performed. The problem of the ambiguities of the depths of each component of the optical potential is considered by means of the imposed physical criterion related to the known behavior of the volume integrals as functions of the incident energy. It is shown also that the role of the surface absorption is rather important, in particular for the lowest incident energies (e.g., 15.7 and 26.25 MeV/nucleon).Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Experimental study of direct photon emission in K- --> pi- pi0 gamma decay using ISTRA+ detector

The branching ratio in the charged-pion kinetic energy region of 55 to 90 MeV for the direct photon emission in the K- --> pi- pi0 gamma decay has been measured using in-flight decays detected with the ISTRA+ setup operating in the 25 GeV/c negative secondary beam of the U-70 PS. The value Br(DE)=[0.37+-0.39(stat)+-0.10(syst)]*10^(-5) obtained from the analysis of 930 completely reconstructed events is consistent with the average value of two stopped-kaon experiments, but it differs by 2.5 standard deviations from the average value of three in-flight-kaon experiments. The result is also compared with recent theoretical predictions.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure