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"Carter, Robert M"
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The Eagle has landed : 50 years of lunar science fiction
\"In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the endlessly-mysterious moon is explored in this reprint short science fiction anthology from award-winning editor and anthologist Neil Clarke ... On July 20, 1969, mankind made what had only years earlier seemed like an impossible leap forward: when Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on the moon, and Neil Armstrong the first person to step foot on the lunar surface. While there have only been a handful of new missions since, the fascination with our planet's satellite continues, and generations of writers and artists have imagined the endless possibilities of lunar life. From adventures in the vast gulf of space between the earth and the moon, to journeys across the light face to the dark side, to the establishment of permanent residences on its surface, science fiction has for decades given readers bold and forward-thinking ideas about our nearest interstellar neighbor and what it might mean to humankind, both now and in our future. [This book] collects the best stories written in the fifty years since mankind first stepped foot on the lunar surface, serving as a shining reminder that the moon is and always has been our most visible and constant example of all the infinite possibility of the wider universe\"-- Provided by publisher.
BOOK
Dynamics of the intertropical convergence zone over the western Pacific during the Little Ice Age
Precipitation in low latitudes is primarily controlled by the position of the intertropical convergence zone, which migrates from south to north seasonally. The Little Ice Age (defined as
AD
1400–1850) was associated with low solar irradiance and high atmospheric aerosol concentrations as a result of several large volcanic eruptions. The mean position of the intertropical convergence zone over the western Pacific has been proposed to have shifted southwards during this interval, which would lead to relatively dry Little Ice Age conditions in the northern extent of the intertropical convergence zone and wet conditions around its southern limit. However, here we present a synthesis of palaeo-hydrology records from the Asian–Australian monsoon area that documents a rainfall distribution that distinctly violates the expected pattern. Our synthesis instead documents a synchronous retreat of the East Asian Summer Monsoon and the Australian Summer Monsoon into the tropics during the Little Ice Age, a pattern supported by the results of our climate model simulation of tropical precipitation over the past millennium. We suggest that this pattern over the western Pacific is best explained by a contraction in the latitudinal range over which the intertropical convergence zone seasonally migrates during the Little Ice Age. We therefore propose that rather than a strict north–south migration, the intertropical convergence zone in this region may instead expand and contract over decadal to centennial timescales in response to external forcing.
Precipitation patterns in the western Pacific changed at the onset of the Little Ice Age. A synthesis of precipitation reconstructions suggests that this change resulted from a contraction of the intertropical convergence zone.
Journal Article
How Much Human-Caused Global Warming Should We Expect with Business-As-Usual (BAU) Climate Policies? A Semi-Empirical Assessment
In order to assess the merits of national climate change mitigation policies, it is important to have a reasonable benchmark for how much human-caused global warming would occur over the coming century with “Business-As-Usual” (BAU) conditions. However, currently, policymakers are limited to making assessments by comparing the Global Climate Model (GCM) projections of future climate change under various different “scenarios”, none of which are explicitly defined as BAU. Moreover, all of these estimates are ab initio computer model projections, and policymakers do not currently have equivalent empirically derived estimates for comparison. Therefore, estimates of the total future human-caused global warming from the three main greenhouse gases of concern (CO2, CH4, and N2O) up to 2100 are here derived for BAU conditions. A semi-empirical approach is used that allows direct comparisons between GCM-based estimates and empirically derived estimates. If the climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases implies a Transient Climate Response (TCR) of ≥ 2.5 °C or an Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) of ≥ 5.0 °C then the 2015 Paris Agreement’s target of keeping human-caused global warming below 2.0 °C will have been broken by the middle of the century under BAU. However, for a TCR < 1.5 °C or ECS < 2.0 °C, the target would not be broken under BAU until the 22nd century or later. Therefore, the current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “likely” range estimates for TCR of 1.0 to 2.5 °C and ECS of 1.5 to 4.5 °C have not yet established if human-caused global warming is a 21st century problem.
Journal Article
New Zealand Maritime Glaciation: Millennial-Scale Southern Climate Change Since 3.9 Ma
Ocean Drilling Program Site 1119 is ideally located to intercept discharges of sediment from the mid-latitude glaciers of the New Zealand Southern Alps. The natural gamma ray signal from the site's sediment core contains a history of the South Island mountain ice cap since 3.9 million years ago (Ma). The younger record, to 0.37 Ma, resembles the climatic history of Antarctica as manifested by the Vostok ice core. Beyond, and back to the late Pliocene, the record may serve as a proxy for both mid-latitude and Antarctic polar plateau air temperature. The gamma ray signal, which is atmospheric, also resembles the ocean climate history represented by oxygen isotope time series.
Journal Article
Macrofossil associations from mid-Pleistocene cyclothems, Castlecliff section, New Zealand; implications for sequence stratigraphy
Macrofossil associations have proved to be vital aids for resolving the sequence architecture of Castlecliff cyclothems (5th and 6th order, mid-Pleistocene depositional sequences) because of a close correlation between particular faunal associations and systems tract character. Associations from transgressive systems tracts are typically derived from mixed and transported assemblages, which, in turn, commonly occur within cross-bedded units (Type A shell-beds) at the base of Castlecliff sequences. These associations commonly represent reworked sandy shoreface and estuarine paleocommunities that are not otherwise preserved in the Castlecliff section. Associations from mid-cycle condensed shellbeds (Type B shellbeds) comprise well-preserved, near-situ, dispersed to closely-packed macrofossil assemblages in mud-rich facies. These faunas represent inner to middle shelf, shell-ground to shelly soft-ground paleocommunities. Associations from high-stand systems tracts also comprise well-preserved near situ faunas. These assemblages, however, are variably dispersed within shelf siltstones and silty fine sandstones, and represent muddy soft-ground paleocommunities. Abrupt shifts in taxonomic composition and taphonomic attributes occur across systems-tract bounding disconformities. The nature of these changes, measured against an \"idealised continuum\" of macrofossil associations, is used to gauge the magnitude of these disconformities. This approach is especially useful in determining the nature, of mid-cycle disconformities in Castlecliff sequences, which are difficult to evaluate from lithofacies characteristics alone.
Journal Article
GREAT NEWS FOR THE GREAT BARRIER REEF: TULLY RIVER WATER QUALITY
A prerequisite for meaningful environmental legislation is that it be based upon an adequate scientific understanding of the natural system to which it is applied. In 2003, the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland State governments introduced a Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, which aimed to \"improve\" water quality in river catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and in nearby coastal waters. The Plan was introduced in the absence of any substantive evidence for regional degradation of GBR water quality. This paper reviews the available data regarding nutrient contents in the Tully River, north Queensland, which is cited as the best (available) evidence for human-related changes in nutrient export from (GBR) catchments [1]. It is shown that the claim of human-related nutrient enrichment in the Tully River, and regionally, is without substance. No detectable trends in GBR water quality have occurred since systematic measurements were first started in the 1980s. Environmental policies that are based on mischievous claims of chimerical damage to the Great Barrier Reef damage the reputation of science as a tool for disinterested analysis, and provoke widespread cynicism in the community regarding the integrity of contemporary environmental politics.
Journal Article
Sedimentary Processes and the Pandora Wreck, Great Barrier Reef, Australia
The hydrodynamic and sedimentary processes at the seabed are particularly relevant to wreck formation processes. In conjunction with archaeological work in 1997, seismic and sediment surveys were undertaken around the wreck site of the H.M.S. Pandora (1791), on the eastern edge of the Great Barrier Reef northern Australia. Further, wave and current meters were deployed at the wreck site for a one-month period in order to characterize the local hydrodynamic regime.
At the Pandora wreck site, tides occur twice daily, and have a stronger ebb tide than flood. The wreck is buried in sediments dominated by the remains of calcareous algae and foraminifera, and laboratory experiments on these sediments indicate that appreciable transport of sediment occurs at the site under the influence of large spring tides. Sedimentation is controlled by tidal and other unidirectional currents, except during major storm events when waves become important. Wreck disintegration can be considered using a model which relates the rate of wreck disintegration to sediment accumulation or removal. It is likely that the Pandora has undergone several episodes of burial and exposure, although further evidence is required to establish long-term cycles.
Journal Article
On-line sizing and velocity measurement of particles in pneumatic pipelines through digital imaging
This paper presents a new solution to the on-line continuous measurement of particle size and particle velocity within a dilute gas/solid pneumatic pipeline, using low-cost optoelectronic components and imaging hardware. A low-cost, single CCD colour digital camera is used with high power light emitting diodes (LEDs) of different wavelengths, which are driven with very narrow pulses during each camera frame. These resulting frames consist of multiple images of the same particle at different instances in time, by correlating these images it is possible to calculate the size and velocity for each individual particle to high accuracy as the blur due to the finite exposure time can be calculated and removed. As multiple images are taken of the same particle it is possible to extrapolate other information, including acceleration, rotation and direction of movement. The results from this research are very promising and the technique may provide a satisfactory solution to the long standing industrial measurement problem. This system is specifically developed for the measurement of particle sizes in the range of 10μm to 1,000μm, but the technique can be applied equally well to particles outside these limits.
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