| 1. |
- Evans, P. A., et al.
(författare)
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Swift Follow-up Observations of Candidate Gravitational-wave Transient Events
- 2012
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Ingår i: The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0067-0049 .- 1538-4365. ; 203:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their 2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network of GW detectors (within less than 10 minutes) and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift observatory (within 12 hr). Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background. Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a "blind injection challenge." With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime, multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of sensitivity for the present and future instruments.
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| 2. |
- Achberger, Christine, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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State of the Climate in 2011
- 2012
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Ingår i: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. - 0003-0007. ; 93:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large-scale climate patterns influenced temperature and weather patterns around the globe in 2011. In particular, a moderate-to-strong La Nina at the beginning of the year dissipated during boreal spring but reemerged during fall. The phenomenon contributed to historical droughts in East Africa, the southern United States, and northern Mexico, as well the wettest two-year period (2010-11) on record for Australia, particularly remarkable as this follows a decade-long dry period. Precipitation patterns in South America were also influenced by La Nina. Heavy rain in Rio de Janeiro in January triggered the country's worst floods and landslides in Brazil's history. The 2011 combined average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was the coolest since 2008, but was also among the 15 warmest years on record and above the 1981-2010 average. The global sea surface temperature cooled by 0.1 degrees C from 2010 to 2011, associated with cooling influences of La Nina. Global integrals of upper ocean heat content for 2011 were higher than for all prior years, demonstrating the Earth's dominant role of the oceans in the Earth's energy budget. In the upper atmosphere, tropical stratospheric temperatures were anomalously warm, while polar temperatures were anomalously cold. This led to large springtime stratospheric ozone reductions in polar latitudes in both hemispheres. Ozone concentrations in the Arctic stratosphere during March were the lowest for that period since satellite records began in 1979. An extensive, deep, and persistent ozone hole over the Antarctic in September indicates that the recovery to pre-1980 conditions is proceeding very slowly. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increased by 2.10 ppm in 2011, and exceeded 390 ppm for the first time since instrumental records began. Other greenhouse gases also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 30% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Most ozone depleting substances continued to fall. The global net ocean carbon dioxide uptake for the 2010 transition period from El Nino to La Nina, the most recent period for which analyzed data are available, was estimated to be 1.30 Pg C yr(-1), almost 12% below the 29-year long-term average. Relative to the long-term trend, global sea level dropped noticeably in mid-2010 and reached a local minimum in 2011. The drop has been linked to the La Nina conditions that prevailed throughout much of 2010-11. Global sea level increased sharply during the second half of 2011. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2011 was well-below average, with a total of 74 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010, the North Atlantic was the only basin that experienced above-normal activity. For the first year since the widespread introduction of the Dvorak intensity-estimation method in the 1980s, only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity level-all in the Northwest Pacific basin. The Arctic continued to warm at about twice the rate compared with lower latitudes. Below-normal summer snowfall, a decreasing trend in surface albedo, and above-average surface and upper air temperatures resulted in a continued pattern of extreme surface melting, and net snow and ice loss on the Greenland ice sheet. Warmer-than-normal temperatures over the Eurasian Arctic in spring resulted in a new record-low June snow cover extent and spring snow cover duration in this region. In the Canadian Arctic, the mass loss from glaciers and ice caps was the greatest since GRACE measurements began in 2002, continuing a negative trend that began in 1987. New record high temperatures occurred at 20 m below the land surface at all permafrost observatories on the North Slope of Alaska, where measurements began in the late 1970s. Arctic sea ice extent in September 2011 was the second-lowest on record, while the extent of old ice (four and five years) reached a new record minimum that was just 19% of normal. On the opposite pole, austral winter and spring temperatures were more than 3 degrees C above normal over much of the Antarctic continent. However, winter temperatures were below normal in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, which continued the downward trend there during the last 15 years. In summer, an all-time record high temperature of -12.3 degrees C was set at the South Pole station on 25 December, exceeding the previous record by more than a full degree. Antarctic sea ice extent anomalies increased steadily through much of the year, from briefly setting a record low in April, to well above average in December. The latter trend reflects the dispersive effects of low pressure on sea ice and the generally cool conditions around the Antarctic perimeter.
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| 3. |
- Blunden, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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State of the Climate in 2012
- 2013
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Ingår i: Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS). - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 94:8, s. S1-S258
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for northeastern Brazil. Central North America also experienced one of its most severe droughts on record. The Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and it was the Sahel's wettest rainy season in 50 years. Overall, the 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces ranked among the 10 warmest years on record. The global land surface temperature alone was also among the 10 warmest on record. In the upper atmosphere, the average stratospheric temperature was record or near-record cold, depending on the dataset. After a 30-year warming trend from 1970 to 1999 for global sea surface temperatures, the period 2000-12 had little further trend. This may be linked to the prevalence of La Ni a-like conditions during the 21st century. Heat content in the upper 700 m of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Net increases from 2011 to 2012 were observed at 700-m to 2000-m depth and even in the abyssal ocean below. Following sharp decreases in to the effects of La Ni a, sea levels rebounded to reach records highs in 2012. The increased hydrological cycle seen in recent years continued, with more evaporation in drier locations and more precipitation in rainy areas. In a pattern that has held since 2004, salty areas of the ocean surfaces and subsurfaces were anomalously salty on average, while fresher areas were anomalously fresh. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity. In this basin, Sandy brought devastation to Cuba and parts of the eastern North American seaboard. All other basins experienced either near-or below-normal tropical cyclone activity. Only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity-all in Bopha became the only storm in the historical record to produce winds greater than 130 kt south of 7 N. It was also the costliest storm to affect the Philippines and killed more than 1000 residents. Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June both reached new record lows. June snow cover extent is now declining at a faster rate (-17.6% per decade) than September sea ice extent (-13.0% per decade). Permafrost temperatures reached record high values in northernmost Alaska. A new melt extent record occurred on 11-12 July on the Greenland ice sheet; 97% of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt for this time of year. The climate in Antarctica was relatively stable overall. The largest maximum sea ice extent since records begain in 1978 was observed in September 2012. In the stratosphere, warm air led to the second smallest ozone hole in the past two decades. Even so, the springtime ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060. Following a slight decline associated with the global 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record 9.5 +/- 0.5 Pg C in 2011 and a new record of 9.7 +/- 0.5 Pg C is estimated for 2012. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, to 392.6 ppm. In spring 2012, 2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at 7 of the 13 Arctic observation sites. Globally, other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 32% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Concentrations of most ozone depleting substances continued to fall.
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| 4. |
- Appeltans, W., et al.
(författare)
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The Magnitude of Global Marine Species Diversity
- 2012
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 22:23, s. 2189-2202
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine species of the world and used this baseline to estimate how many more species, partitioned among all major eukaryotic groups, may be discovered. Results: There are similar to 226,000 eukaryotic marine species described. More species were described in the past decade (similar to 20,000) than in any previous one. The number of authors describing new species has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of new species described in the past six decades. We report that there are similar to 170,000 synonyms, that 58,000-72,000 species are collected but not yet described, and that 482,000-741,000 more species have yet to be sampled. Molecular methods may add tens of thousands of cryptic species. Thus, there may be 0.7-1.0 million marine species. Past rates of description of new species indicate there may be 0.5 +/- 0.2 million marine species. On average 37% (median 31%) of species in over 100 recent field studies around the world might be new to science. Conclusions: Currently, between one-third and two-thirds of marine species may be undescribed, and previous estimates of there being well over one million marine species appear highly unlikely. More species than ever before are being described annually by an increasing number of authors. If the current trend continues, most species will be discovered this century.
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| 5. |
- Caselli, P., et al.
(författare)
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Water vapor toward starless cores : The Herschel view
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L29-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: Previous studies by the satellites SWAS and Odin provided stringent upper limits on the gas phase water abundance of dark clouds (x(H2O) < 7 × 10-9). We investigate the chemistry of water vapor in starless cores beyond the previous upper limits using the highly improved angular resolution and sensitivity of Herschel and measure the abundance of water vapor during evolutionary stages just preceding star formation. Methods: High spectral resolution observations of the fundamental ortho water (o-H2O) transition (557 GHz) were carried out with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared onboard Herschel toward two starless cores: Barnard 68 (hereafter B68), a Bok globule, and LDN 1544 (L1544), a prestellar core embedded in the Taurus molecular cloud complex. Detailed radiative transfer and chemical codes were used to analyze the data. Results: The RMS in the brightness temperature measured for the B68 and L1544 spectra is 2.0 and 2.2 mK, respectively, in a velocity bin of 0.59 km s-1. The continuum level is 3.5 ± 0.2 mK in B68 and 11.4 ± 0.4 mK in L1544. No significant feature is detected in B68 and the 3σ upper limit is consistent with a column density of o-H2O N(o-H2O) < 2.5 × 1013 cm-2, or a fractional abundance x(o-H2O) < 1.3 × 10-9, more than an order of magnitude lower than the SWAS upper limit on this source. The L1544 spectrum shows an absorption feature at a 5σ level from which we obtain the first value of the o-H2O column density ever measured in dark clouds: N(o-H2O) = (8 ± 4) × 1012 cm-2. The corresponding fractional abundance is x(o-H2O) ≃ 5 × 10-9 at radii >7000 AU and ≃2 × 10-10 toward the center. The radiative transfer analysis shows that this is consistent with a x(o-H2O) profile peaking at ≃10-8, 0.1 pc away from the core center, where both freeze-out and photodissociation are negligible. Conclusions: Herschel has provided the first measurement of water vapor in dark regions. Column densities of o-H2O are low, but prestellar cores such as L1544 (with their high central densities, strong continuum, and large envelopes) appear to be very promising tools to finally shed light on the solid/vapor balance of water in molecular clouds and oxygen chemistry in the earliest stages of star formation. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.
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| 6. |
- Marseille, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Water abundances in high-mass protostellar envelopes : Herschel observations with HIFI
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L32-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: We derive the dense core structure and the water abundance in four massive star-forming regions in the hope of understanding the earliest stages of massive star formation. Methods: We present Herschel/HIFI observations of the para-H2O 111-000 and 202-111 and the para-H_218O 111-000 transitions. The envelope contribution to the line profiles is separated from contributions by outflows and foreground clouds. The envelope contribution is modeled with Monte-Carlo radiative transfer codes for dust and molecular lines (MC3D and RATRAN), and the water abundance and the turbulent velocity width as free parameters. Results: While the outflows are mostly seen in emission in high-J lines, envelopes are seen in absorption in ground-state lines, which are almost saturated. The derived water abundances range from 5×10-10 to 4×10-8 in the outer envelopes. We detect cold clouds surrounding the protostar envelope, thanks to the very high quality of the Herschel/HIFI data and the unique ability of water to probe them. Several foreground clouds are also detected along the line of sight. Conclusions: The low H2O abundances in massive dense cores are in accordance with the expectation that high densities and low temperatures lead to freeze-out of water on dust grains. The spread in abundance values is not clearly linked to physical properties of the sources. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation of NASA.Appendix (pages 6 to 7) is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
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| 7. |
- Lefloch, B., et al.
(författare)
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The CHESS spectral survey of star forming regions : Peering into the protostellar shock L1157-B1. II. Shock dynamics
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 518, s. L113-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The outflow driven by the low-mass class 0 protostar L1157 is the prototype of the so-called chemically active outflows. The bright bowshock B1 in the southern outflow lobe is a privileged testbed of magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) shock models, for which dynamical and chemical processes are strongly interdependent. Aims: We present the first results of the unbiased spectral survey of the L1157-B1 bowshock, obtained in the framework of the key program “Chemical HErschel Surveys of star forming regions” (CHESS). The main aim is to trace the warm and chemically enriched gas and to infer the excitation conditions in the shock region. Methods: The CO 5-4 and o-H2O 110-101 lines have been detected at high-spectral resolution in the unbiased spectral survey of the HIFI-band 1b spectral window (555-636 GHz), presented by Codella et al. in this volume. Complementary ground-based observations in the submm window help establish the origin of the emission detected in the main-beam of HIFI and the physical conditions in the shock. Results: Both lines exhibit broad wings, which extend to velocities much higher than reported up to now. We find that the molecular emission arises from two regions with distinct physical conditions : an extended, warm (100 K), dense (3 × 105 cm-3) component at low-velocity, which dominates the water line flux in Band 1; a secondary component in a small region of B1 (a few arcsec) associated with high-velocity, hot (>400 K) gas of moderate density ((1.0-3.0) × 104 cm-3), which appears to dominate the flux of the water line at 179μm observed with PACS. The water abundance is enhanced by two orders of magnitude between the low- and the high-velocity component, from 8 × 10-7 up to 8 × 10-5. The properties of the high-velocity component agree well with the predictions of steady-state C-shock models. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.
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| 8. |
- Flores, H., et al.
(författare)
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Impact of climate change on Antarctic krill
- 2012
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Ingår i: Marine Ecology-Progress Series. - : Inter-Research Science Center. - 0171-8630 .- 1616-1599. ; 458, s. 1-19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antarctic krill Euphausia superba (hereafter 'krill') occur in regions undergoing rapid environmental change, particularly loss of winter sea ice. During recent years, harvesting of krill has in creased, possibly enhancing stress on krill and Antarctic ecosystems. Here we review the overall impact of climate change on krill and Antarctic ecosystems, discuss implications for an ecosystem-based fisheries management approach and identify critical knowledge gaps. Sea ice decline, ocean warming and other environmental stressors act in concert to modify the abundance, distribution and life cycle of krill. Although some of these changes can have positive effects on krill, their cumulative impact is most likely negative. Recruitment, driven largely by the winter survival of larval krill, is probably the population parameter most susceptible to climate change. Predicting changes to krill populations is urgent, because they will seriously impact Antarctic ecosystems. Such predictions, however, are complicated by an intense inter-annual variability in recruitment success and krill abundance. To improve the responsiveness of the ecosystem-based management approach adopted by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), critical knowledge gaps need to be filled. In addition to a better understanding of the factors influencing recruitment, management will require a better understanding of the resilience and the genetic plasticity of krill life stages, and a quantitative understanding of under-ice and benthic habitat use. Current precautionary management measures of CCAMLR should be maintained until a better understanding of these processes has been achieved. [GRAPHICS] .
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| 9. |
- Anders, S., et al.
(författare)
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European roadmap on superconductive electronics - Status and perspectives
- 2010
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Ingår i: Physica C: Superconductivity and its Applications. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-4534. ; 470:23-24, s. 2079-2126
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For four decades semiconductor electronics has followed Moore's law: with each generation of integration the circuit features became smaller, more complex and faster. This development is now reaching a wall so that smaller is no longer any faster. The clock rate has saturated at about 3-5 GHz and the parallel processor approach will soon reach its limit. The prime reason for the limitation the semiconductor electronics experiences is not the switching speed of the individual transistor, but its power dissipation and thus heat. Digital superconductive electronics is a circuit- and device-technology that is inherently faster at much less power dissipation than semiconductor electronics. It makes use of superconductors and Josephson junctions as circuit elements, which can provide extremely fast digital devices in a frequency range - dependent on the material - of hundreds of GHz: for example a flip-flop has been demonstrated that operated at 750 GHz. This digital technique is scalable and follows similar design rules as semiconductor devices. Its very low power dissipation of only 0.1 mu W per gate at 100 GHz opens the possibility of three-dimensional integration. Circuits like microprocessors and analogue-to-digital converters for commercial and military applications have been demonstrated. In contrast to semiconductor circuits, the operation of superconducting circuits is based on naturally standardized digital pulses the area of which is exactly the flux quantum Phi(0). The flux quantum is also the natural quantization unit for digital-to-analogue and analogue-to-digital converters. The latter application is so precise, that it is being used as voltage standard and that the physical unit 'Volt' is defined by means of this standard. Apart from its outstanding features for digital electronics, superconductive electronics provides also the most sensitive sensor for magnetic fields: the Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID). Amongst many other applications SQUIDs are used as sensors for magnetic heart and brain signals in medical applications, as sensor for geological surveying and food-processing and for non-destructive testing. As amplifiers of electrical signals. SQUIDs can nearly reach the theoretical limit given by Quantum Mechanics. A further important field of application is the detection of very weak signals by 'transition-edge' bolo-meters, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, and superconductive tunnel junctions. Their application as radiation detectors in a wide frequency range, from microwaves to X-rays is now standard. The very low losses of superconductors have led to commercial microwave filter designs that are now widely used in the USA in base stations for cellular phones and in military communication applications. The number of demonstrated applications is continuously increasing and there is no area in professional electronics, in which superconductive electronics cannot be applied and surpasses the performance of classical devices. Superconductive electronics has to be cooled to very low temperatures. Whereas this was a bottleneck in the past, cooling techniques have made a huge step forward in recent years: very compact systems with high reliability and a wide range of cooling power are available commercially, from microcoolers of match-box size with milli-Watt cooling power to high-reliability coolers of many Watts of cooling power for satellite applications. Superconductive electronics will not replace semiconductor electronics and similar room-temperature techniques in standard applications, but for those applications which require very high speed, low-power consumption, extreme sensitivity or extremely high precision, superconductive electronics is superior to all other available techniques. To strengthen the European competitiveness in superconductor electronics research projects have to be set-up in the following field: - Ultra-sensitive sensing and imaging. - Quantum measurement instrumentation. - Advanced analogue-to-digital converters. - Superconductive electronics technology.
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| 10. |
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