Deep Sea Mining: What are the risks?

During the launch event in Kiel, the project partners plan investigations to ecosystems around the manganese nodules. Photo: J. Steffen, GEOMAR

GEOMAR coordinates European cooperation for the risk assessment
01.29.2015 / Kiel. 50 specialists in deep-sea ecology, marine mining and deep-sea observation of 25 European research institutions meeting this week at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. This will free the start of a three-year research project to investigate the risks of potential ore mining on the seabed. The project called "JPI Oceans Ecological aspects of deep-sea mining" is coordinated at GEOMAR.

The world population is growing. This also means that more and more people need a home, want to work with computers and other electronic devices and consume energy. For the construction of houses for the manufacture of electronic goods, but also for the production of wind turbines will require significant amounts of various metals. Currently, all metal ores are promoted on almost a third of the earth's surface - on the continents. 

In some regions of the ocean manganese nodules are recorded in the Atlantic as here, close together on the ocean floors. Photo: Nils Brenke, CeNak

However, in recent decades engaged again, the other two thirds, the oceans, the focus of governments and resource companies. "Many questions about a potential ore mining in the deep sea, however, are still open," says Dr. Matthias Haeckel from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. He is the scientific coordinator of the "Ecological aspects of deep-sea mining" project to investigate the potential environmental risks in the next three years. A consortium of research ministries in eleven European countries promotes it as part of the Joint Programme Healthy and Productive Seas (JPI Oceans) initiative with a total of 9.5 million euros. 

 In the Clarion-Clipperton Zone are the largest known manganese nodule deposits. Here, the ISA has been awarded 13 research licenses. Image Reproduced from the GEBCO world map 2014

This week, the project starts with a kick-off meeting at GEOMAR. A total of 25 partner institutions from these eleven countries involved in the project. The focus is primarily known as manganese nodules. It is spherical or cauliflower-shaped Erzknollen, which are usually at depths below 4000 meters on the large abyssal plains. They consist not only from the eponymous manganese, but also contain iron and coveted metals such as copper, cobalt or nickel. Already in the 1970s, there were initial plans to reduce manganese nodules from the deep sea, but never came out on trials. The largest reserves are currently known from the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the central Pacific. As a result of these activities in international waters on the basis of the International Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the International Seabed Authority (International Seabed Authority, ISA) was founded in 1994. 

It manages the entire seabed beyond the exclusive economic zone (200 nautical miles) of individual states. To date, the ISA has awarded 13 research licenses for exploration of manganese nodule fields in the Pacific, including in Germany and other European countries. 

                     Sample of the seabed in DISCOL area with top resting manganese nodules. 
                                                    Photo: M. Haeckel, GEOMAR

"But there is no mining licenses, which would only be a next step," said Dr. Haeckel. Since the ISA also aims to ensure effective protection of the marine environment from the potential consequences of ocean mining, relevant research for the licensees are required. "Of course industrial activities on the ocean floor will have an impact, because they disturb the soil and the water column about it," says Dr. Haeckel. Therefore, it is important to know the ecosystems on the sea floor and its local, regional and national connections and interactions accurately. Already this year, several expeditions of the new German research vessel SONNE in the Pacific are planned. 

The first trips in March and April perform the participating scientists to the German, Belgian and French license areas and in a defined by the ISA reserve in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Further trips from July to October have the so-called DISCOL area in Peru Basin to the destination. There, in 1989, a very limited area of the seabed was plowed for research purposes. "The goal of this experiment is to recognize the long-term consequences of large-area device used for deep-sea sediments," explains Professor Jens Greinert from GEOMAR, who will lead one of the exits to DISCOL area. Now, a quarter century after the disturbance experiment, the scientists will examine the then machined seabed areas exactly compare with adjacent undisturbed areas to determine, can recover disturbed communities in the deep sea as fast. "We should get to know each other better before we start, a large area to intervene in the deep sea it easy," says project coordinator Dr. Haeckel. 

Source: GEOMAR

Satellite Animation Shows February Return of the Pineapple Express

An animation of satellite imagery from NOAA's GOES-West satellite from Feb. 1 to Feb. 4, 2015 captured the movement of a stream of clouds associated with moisture called "The Pineapple Express." Image Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Dennis Chesters

The "Pineapple Express" has set up again and is bringing wet weather to the U.S. Pacific Northwest. An animation of satellite imagery from NOAA's GOES-West satellite from Feb. 1 to Feb. 4, 2015 captured the movement of a stream of clouds associated with moisture that is expected to bring rain and snow to the region over the next several days.

The ‘‘Pineapple Express’’ occurs when warm air and lots of moisture are transported from the Central Pacific, near Hawaii, to the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

A wide-field movie by NOAA's GOES-West satellite shows the Pineapple Express' stream of clouds and moisture moving into the Pacific Northwest. The video was created by NASA/NOAA's GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“Good news for Northern California and the Pacific Northwest," said Bill Patzert, climatologist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Beginning Wednesday, a series of storms pumped up by a moisture-laden ‘Pineapple Express’ system surging out of the warm tropical Pacific will deliver some small relief to rain and snow starved California. Though not a drought buster, we Californians are hoping this might be a preview of coming attractions for February and March. We are in the fourth quarter of our winter rain season and need a ‘hail mary’ to beat this drought down,” Patzert said.

On Feb.4 NOAA's National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center (NPC) in College Park, Maryland issued a short range forecast discussion about the Pineapple Express. NPC noted: A weather system that's tapping into abundant moisture in the Pacific will bring moderate to heavy rainfall to the Pacific Northwest beginning Wednesday. The rain will spread into northern California on Thursday and is expected to continue through the weekend. Some areas could see in excess of 10 inches of rain through early Saturday.

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The Pineapple Express is expected to affect areas from northwest California into coastal Oregon and Washington State. NPC noted that the "Express" is expected to produce mostly light to moderate rainfall totals for the coastal Pacific Northwest on Feb. 4, with much heavier totals expected the following two days.

GOES satellites provide the kind of continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. Geostationary describes an orbit in which a satellite is always in the same position with respect to the rotating Earth. This allows GOES to hover continuously over one position on Earth's surface, appearing stationary. As a result, GOES provide a constant vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" for severe weather conditions such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms and hurricanes.

Source: Nasa

Climate change accelerates maturing of grape in wine production

                             Johann Martínez-Lüscher , Nafarroako Unibertsitatea

The increase in temperatures and of CO2 levels – the consequences of climate change – accelerates the maturing of grapes in wine production, affecting colour and possibly aromas”. This was the conclusion of the PhD thesis defended by Johann Martínez-Lüscher, undertaken jointly by the University of Navarra and the University of Bordeaux.

The biologist explained that if the forecasts by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of a level of 700ppm of carbon dioxide and a temperature increase of 4ºC are proved correct, “the accumulation of sugars could be so rapid that the rest of these processes that depend on this will not be capable of keeping up. This will mean that, on comparing grapes with the same concentration of sugars or degree of alcohol, the crops under climate change conditions will have poorer colouration and this will be noticed in the wine”.

In fact, “it is increasingly more frequent to find wines with a higher alcoholic degree due to the over maturing of the grape”. Nonetheless, in the framework of climate change, the consequences can vary. “For example, the changes in levels of ultraviolet radiation or the decrease in rainfall may have antagonistic effects to those caused by an increase in temperature or CO2 levels. Thus, there are many unknowns about what the future holds”, he added.

Wine in a new scenario

In this way wine production will have to find solutions in order to confront environmental challenges. “The use of slower maturing ‘clones’ (sub-varieties) could be one of the possible strategies. It would also be very tempting to substitute the varieties planted in each location by others better adapted to warmer climates, but this would to a great extent mean giving up the typical characteristics of each variety of our wines – something unthinkable to date”.

Nevertheless, as this expert pointed out, climate change can provide new opportunities: for example, the production of a type of wine in cooler climes where it was not possible before. “This is the case of the incipient wine industry in the United Kingdom where I intend to continue working”, stated the researcher.

Mr. Martínez-Lüscher’s research has been financed by the University of Navarra, the Navarre-Aquitane Cross-Border Cooperation Programme, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the 7th European Union Framework Programme.

Source: Elhuyar Fundazioa

NASA Launches Groundbreaking Soil Moisture Mapper

NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory lifts off from Space Launch Complex 2 West at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, beginning a three-year mission to map Earth's vital moisture hidden in the soils beneath our feet. Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA successfully launched its first Earth satellite designed to collect global observations of the vital soil moisture hidden just beneath our feet.

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The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory, a mission with broad applications for science and society, lifted off at 6:22 a.m. PST (9:22 a.m. EST) Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages SMAP for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, with instrument hardware and science contributions made by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

About 57 minutes after liftoff, SMAP separated from the rocket's second stage into an initial 411- by 425-mile (661- by 685-kilometer) orbit. After a series of activation procedures, the spacecraft established communications with ground controllers and deployed its solar array. Initial telemetry shows the spacecraft is in excellent health.
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SMAP now begins a three-year mission that will figuratively scratch below Earth's surface to expand our understanding of a key component of the Earth system that links the water, energy and carbon cycles driving our living planet. SMAP's combined radar and radiometer instruments will peer into the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of soil, through clouds and moderate vegetation cover, day and night, to produce the highest-resolution, most accurate soil moisture maps ever obtained from space.

The mission will help improve climate and weather forecasts and allow scientists to monitor droughts and better predict flooding caused by severe rainfall or snowmelt -- information that can save lives and property. In addition, since plant growth depends on the amount of water in the soil, SMAP data will allow nations to better forecast crop yields and assist in global famine early-warning systems.

"The launch of SMAP completes an ambitious 11-month period for NASA that has seen the launch of five new Earth-observing space missions to help us better understand our changing planet," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "Scientists and policymakers will use SMAP data to track water movement around our planet and make more informed decisions in critical areas like agriculture and water resources."

SMAP also will detect whether the ground is frozen or thawed. Detecting variations in the timing of spring thaw and changes in the length of the growing season will help scientists more accurately account for how much carbon plants are removing from Earth's atmosphere each year.

"The next few years will be especially exciting for Earth science thanks to measurements from SMAP and our other new missions," said Michael Freilich, director of the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "Each mission measures key variables that affect Earth's environment. SMAP will provide new insights into the global water, energy and carbon cycles. Combining data from all our orbiting missions will give us a much better understanding of how the Earth system works."

SMAP will orbit Earth from pole to pole every 98.5 minutes, repeating the same ground track every eight days. Its 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) measurement swath allows SMAP to cover Earth's entire equatorial regions every three days and higher latitudes every two days. The mission will map global soil moisture with about 5.6-mile (9-kilometer) resolution.

"SMAP will improve the daily lives of people around the world," said Simon Yueh, SMAP project scientist at JPL. "Soil moisture data from SMAP has the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of short-term weather forecasts and reduce the uncertainty of long-term projections of how climate change will impact Earth's water cycle."

The SMAP team is engaged with many organizations and individuals that see immediate uses for the satellite's data. Through workshops and tutorials, the SMAP Applications Working Group is collaborating with 45 "early adopters" to test and integrate the mission's data products into many different applications. Early adopters include weather forecasters from several nations, as well as researchers and planners from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the United Nations World Food Programme.

During the next 90 days, SMAP and its ground system will be commissioned to ensure they are fully functional and are ready to begin routine science data collection. A key milestone will be the deployment of the spacecraft's instrument boom and 20-foot-diameter (6-meter) reflector antenna. The observatory will be maneuvered to its final 426-mile (685-kilometer), near-polar operational orbit, and the antenna will spin up to 14.6 revolutions per minute.

SMAP science operations will then begin, and SMAP data will be calibrated and validated. The first release of SMAP soil moisture data products is expected within nine months. Fully validated science data are expected to be released within 15 months.

SMAP's Delta II rocket also carried a JPL CubeSat into orbit. The GRIFEX (Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events Read-Out Integrated Circuit In-Flight Performance Experiment) CubeSat was one of three NASA-sponsored CubeSat missions successfully deployed during the launch. About the size of a loaf of bread, GRIFEX will validate cutting-edge detector technology for use in future Earth-observing satellites.

JPL built the SMAP spacecraft and is responsible for project management, system engineering, radar instrumentation, mission operations and the ground data system. Goddard is responsible for the radiometer instrument and science data products. Both centers collaborate on science data processing and delivery to the Alaska Satellite Facility, in Fairbanks, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida was responsible for launch management. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Source: Nasa

NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Captures Best-Ever View of Dwarf Planet

This animation of the dwarf planet Ceres was made by combining images taken by the Dawn spacecraft on January 25, 2015.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned the sharpest images ever seen of the dwarf planet Ceres. The images were taken 147,000 miles (237,000 kilometers) from Ceres on Jan. 25, and represent a new milestone for a spacecraft that soon will become the first human-made probe to visit a dwarf planet.

"We know so little about our vast solar system, but thanks to economical missions like Dawn, those mysteries are being solved," said Jim Green, Planetary Science Division Director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

At 43 pixels wide, the new images are more than 30 percent higher in resolution than those taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2003 and 2004 at a distance of over 150 million miles (about 241 million kilometers). The resolution is higher because Dawn is traveling through the solar system to Ceres, while Hubble remains fixed in Earth orbit. The new Dawn images come on the heels of initial navigation images taken Jan. 13 that reveal a white spot on the dwarf planet and the suggestion of craters. Hubble images also had glimpsed a white spot on the dwarf planet, but its nature is still unknown.

"Ceres is a 'planet' that you've probably never heard of," said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "We're excited to learn all about it with Dawn and share our discoveries with the world."

As the spacecraft gets closer to Ceres, its camera will return even better images. On March 6, Dawn will enter into orbit around Ceres to capture detailed images and measure variations in light reflected from Ceres, which should reveal the planet's surface composition.

"We are already seeing areas and details on Ceres popping out that had not been seen before. For instance, there are several dark features in the southern hemisphere that might be craters within a region that is darker overall," said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator of the Dawn mission at JPL. "Data from this mission will revolutionize our understanding of this unique body. Ceres is showing us tantalizing features that are whetting our appetite for the detailed exploration to come."

Ceres, the largest body between Mars and Jupiter in the main asteroid belt, has a diameter of about 590 miles (950 kilometers). Some scientists believe the dwarf planet harbored a subsurface ocean in the past and liquid water may still be lurking under its icy mantle.

Originally described as a planet, Ceres was later categorized as an asteroid, and then reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. The mysterious world was discovered in 1801 by astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, who named the object for the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships.

"You may not realize that the word 'cereal' comes from the name Ceres. Perhaps you already connected with the dwarf planet at breakfast today," said JPL's Marc Rayman, mission director and chief engineer of the Dawn mission.

Powered by a uniquely capable ion propulsion system, Dawn also orbited and explored Vesta, the second most massive body in the asteroid belt. From 2011 to 2012, Dawn returned more than 30,000 images, 18 million light measurements and other scientific data about the impressive large asteroid. Vesta has a diameter of about 326 miles (525 kilometers).

"With the help of Dawn and other missions, we are continually adding to our understanding of how the solar system began and how the planets were formed," said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

The framing cameras were provided by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen, Germany, with significant contributions by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin, and in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering in Braunschweig.

The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer was provided by the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, was built by Selex ES, and is managed by Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics and Planetology in Rome. The gamma ray and neutron detector was built by Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and is operated by the Planetary Science Institute of Tucson, Arizona.

Source: Nasa

Stanford scientists use ocean waves to monitor offshore oil and gas fields

A new technique for passively probing the sea floor using weak seismic waves generated by the ocean was tested at the Ekofisk oil field in the North Sea. 

A technology developed by Stanford scientists for passively probing the seafloor using weak seismic waves generated by the ocean could revolutionize offshore oil and natural gas extraction by providing real-time monitoring of the subsurface while lessening the impact on marine life.

"We've shown that we can generate images of the subsurface nearly every day instead of taking snapshots just two or three times a year," said Biondo Biondi, professor of geophysics at Stanford's School of Earth Sciences.

Currently, many energy companies use a technique called time-lapse reflection seismology to monitor offshore oil and gas deposits to optimize production and look for hazards such as hidden gas pockets. Reflection seismology involves ships towing arrays of "air guns" that explode every 10 to 15 seconds to produce loud sound pulses. The pulses bounce off the seafloor and geological formations beneath, then journey back to the surface, where they are recorded by hydrophones. The data are then deciphered to reveal details about subsurface structures.

Each survey can cost tens of millions of dollars, and as a result they are only conducted two to three times a year. Environmental groups and marine biologists have expressed concerns about the use of air guns for contributing to noise pollution in the ocean that can disturb or even injure marine animals, including humpback whales and giant squid.

The new technique developed by Biondi and Sjoerd de Ridder, a student of Biondi's who is now a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Edinburgh, is different. It exploits naturally occurring seismic waves generated by Earth's oceans that are several orders of magnitude weaker than those produced by earthquakes.

Ambient seismicity

As ocean waves collide with one another, they create pressures on the sea floor, where they generate seismic waves that then propagate in every direction. Scientists have known about this "ambient seismic field" for nearly a century, but it was only recently that they understood ways to harness it.

"We knew the ambient seismic energy was there, but we didn't know what we could do with it," De Ridder said. "That understanding has only been developed in recent years. Our technique provides the first large-scale application to harness it for oil and gas production."

The technique that Biondi and De Ridder developed, called ambient seismic field noise-correlation tomography, or ASNT, uses sensors embedded in the seafloor. The sensors, which are typically installed by robotic submersibles, are connected to one another by cables and arranged into parallel rows that can span several kilometers of the seafloor. Another cable connects the sensor array to a platform in order to collect data in real time.

The sensors record ambient seismic waves traveling through Earth's crust. The waves are ubiquitous, continuously generated and traveling in every direction, but using careful signal-processing schemes they developed, Biondi and De Ridder can digitally isolate only those waves that are passing through one sensor and then another one downstream. When this is done repeatedly, and for multiple sensors in the network, what emerges is a "virtual" seismic wave pattern that is remarkably similar to the kind generated by air guns.

Less disruptive

Because the ASNT technique is entirely passive, meaning it does not require a controlled explosion or a loud air gun blast to create a seismic wave signature, it can be performed for a fraction of the cost of an active-reflection-seismology survey and should be far less disruptive to marine life, the scientists say.

Since 2007, Biondi and De Ridder have been testing and refining their technique in a real-world laboratory in Europe. The scientists worked with the energy companies BP and ConocoPhillips to study recordings from existing sensor arrays in the Valhall and Ekofisk oil fields in the North Sea that are capable of recording ambient seismic waves.

The proof-of-concept experiment has been successful, and the scientists have demonstrated that they can image the subsurface at Valhall down to a depth of nearly 1,000 feet. "We've now shown that our technique can very reliably and repeatedly retrieve an image of the near-surface," De Ridder said. "Our hope is that they can also reveal changes in the rocks that could signal an impending problem."

Source: Stanford

Printing in the hobby room: Paper-thin and touch-sensitive displays on various materials

Paper- thin and touch-sensitive displays on various materials.
Credit: Image courtesy of University Saarland

Until now, if you want to print a greeting card for a loved one, you can use colorful graphics, fancy typefaces or special paper to enhance it. But what if you could integrate paper-thin displays into the cards, which could be printed at home and which would be able to depict self-created symbols or even react to touch? Those only some of the options computer scientists in Saarbrücken can offer. They developed an approach that in the future will enable laypeople to print displays in any desired shape on various materials and therefore could change everyday life completely.

For example: A postcard depicts an antique car. If you press a button, the back axle and the steering wheel rim light up in the same color. Two segments on a flexible display, which have the same shape as those parts of the car, can create this effect. Computer scientists working with Jürgen Steimle printed the post card using an off-the-shelf inkjet printer. It is electro-luminescent: If it is connected to electric voltage, it emits light. This effect is also used to light car dashboards at night.

Steimle is leader of the research group "Embodied Interaction" at the Cluster of Excellence "Multimodal Computing and Interaction." Simon Olberding is one of his researchers. "Until now, this was not possible," explains Olberding. "Displays were mass-produced, they were inflexible, they always had a rectangular shape." Olberding and Steimle want to change that. The process they developed works as follows: The user designs a digital template with programs like Microsoft Word or Powerpoint for the display he wants to create.

By using the methods the computer scientists from Saarbrücken developed, called "Screen Printing" and "Conductive Inkjet Printing," the user can print those templates. Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses, but a single person can use them within either a few minutes or two to four hours. The printing results are relatively high-resolution displays with a thickness of only 0.1 millimeters. It costs around €20 to print on a DIN A4 page; the most expensive part is the special ink. Since the method can be used to print on materials like paper, synthetic material, leather, pottery, stone, metal and even wood, two-dimensional and even three-dimensional shapes can be realized. Their depiction can either consist of one segment (surface, shape, pattern, raster graphics), several segments or variously built-up matrixes. "We can even print touch-sensitive displays," says Olberding.

The possibilities for the user are various: displays can be integrated into almost every object in daily life -- users can print not only on paper objects, but also on furniture or decorative accessories, bags or wearable items. For example, the strap of a wristwatch could be upgraded so that it lights up if a text message is received. "If we combine our approach with 3D printing, we can print three-dimensional objects that display information and are touch-sensitive," explains Steimle.

Source: University Saarland

Law of physics governs airplane 'evolution': Constructal law explains progression of passenger jets, sets guidelines for future aircraft

This graph shows how -- as the years have passed -- bigger and bigger airplanes have joined the ranks of their behemoth brothers. Credit: Adrian Bejan

Researchers believe they now know why the supersonic trans-Atlantic Concorde aircraft went the way of the dodo -- it hit an evolutionary cul-de-sac.

In a new study, Adrian Bejan, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke University, shows that a law of physics he penned more than two decades ago helps explain the evolution of passenger airplanes from the small, propeller-driven DC-3s of yore to today's behemoth Boeing 787s. The analysis also provides insights into how aerospace companies can develop successful future designs.

The Concorde, alas, was too far from the curve of these good designs, Bejan says. The paper appears online July 22, in the Journal of Applied Physics.

"The evolution of Earth's species occurred on a timescale far too large for humans to witness," said Bejan. "But the evolution of our use of technology and airplanes to transport people and goods has taken place in little more than a single lifetime, making it visible to those who look. Evolution is a universal phenomenon encompassing technology, river basins and animal design alike, and it is rooted in physics as the constructal law."

The constructal law was developed by Bejan in 1996 and states that for a system to survive, it must evolve to increase its access to flow. For example, the human vascular system has evolved to provide blood access to flow through a network of a few large arteries and many small capillaries. River systems, tree branches and modern highway and road networks show the same forces at work, he says.

In the case of commercial aircraft, designs have evolved to allow more people and goods to flow across the face of Earth. Constructal law has also dictated the main design features needed for aircraft to succeed; the engine mass has remained proportional to the body size, the wing size has been tied to the fuselage length, and the fuel load has grown in step with the total weight.

"The same design features can be seen in any large land animal," said Bejan. "Larger animals have longer lifespans and travel farther distances, just as passenger airplanes have been designed to do. For example, the ratio of the engine to aircraft size is analogous to the ratio of a large animal's total body size to its heart, lungs and muscles."

To apply his theories to airplane design, Bejan teamed up with Jordan Charles, a researcher and development engineer, and Sylvie Lorente, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toulouse, to mine the historical databases of successful commercial aircraft. As they plotted thousands of statistics including year of introduction, size, cruising speed, engine weight, fuel weight, range, wingspan and fuselage length, many patterns began to emerge.

But two in particular stood out.

In one chart, a clear curve tracks the increasing size of commercial airplanes through nearly a century of aviation. As time moves on, new commercial airliners come in all sizes but the biggest are joined by even bigger models. In another chart, the line that best tracks the relationship of body mass to airplane speeds is nearly identical to mass and speed statistics from various mammals, lizards, birds, insects and more. Evolutionary constraints found in nature, in other words, can be seen at work in the airline industry.

There was, however, one outlier on the chart -- the Concorde.

"The Concorde was too far off from the ratios that evolution has produced in passenger jets," explained Bejan, who points out that the doomed aircraft had limited passenger capacity, a low mass-to-velocity ratio, an off-the-charts fuselage-to-wingspan ratio, massive engines and poor fuel economy. "It would have had to adhere to the constructal design rules to succeed."

Bejan said this analysis shows that the aviation industry has done well with its designs over the decades, and that the trends dominating the industry are indeed the most efficient. They also reveal the general design parameters that future passenger aircraft should follow to succeed economically.

"This study gives the rough sketch of what airplane designs will put you in the game," said Bejan. "For design companies, it is money in the bank."

Jose Camberos, research aerospace engineer and lead of design space exploration at the Multidisciplinary Science & Technology Center of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, said that the work will hopefully give the field better insight into where the design of airplanes is going.

"There is definitely an analogy to be understood and articulated to explain why engines and airplanes are sized the way they currently are and how that has evolved," said Camberos, who was not involved with this study. "By looking at the development of aircraft in a larger context in these terms, it may be possible to gain insights into how best to achieve what nature has been able to accomplish already."

Source: Duke University

Pilot plant for removal of extreme gas charges from deep waters

Pit Lake Guadiana in the former mining area Herrerias in Andalusia, Spain.
Credit: : Bertram Boehrer/UFZ

Being part of the mining area Herrerias in Andalusia, deep waters of Pit Lake Guadiana show extremely high concentration of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2). In the case of a spontaneous ebullition, human beings close-by would be jeopardized. To demonstrate the danger and the possible solution, scientists of the Spanish Institute of Geology and Mining, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU, Bilbao) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) constructed a pilot plant for degassing. A fountain pulls deep water through a pipe to the surface, where the gas can escape from the water. The buoyancy produced by the bubbles provides the energy required for driving the flow.

"The deep water in the residual lake Guadiana contains an extremely high volume of carbon dioxide (CO2). Oxidation of ores has created a very acidic milieu, which is also known from other mining areas. In the mining area Herrerias however, this acidity dissolves carbonate from the rocks and produces carbonic acid (dissolved CO2), which can be accumulated under the high pressures of deep waters in the lake. There is not much circulation beyond 25 meter depth to remove the gas load" says Dr. Bertram Boehrer of UFZ, who is physicist and has been investigating stratification in lakes at many places on Earth. Due to the high hydrostatic pressure, each liter of deep water contains about 2.5 liters of CO2 gas. As long as the stratification remains stable, the gas is retained in the deep water. A land slide or other processes producing large water movements could facilitate a sudden release of gas previously confined under high pressure. Inhaled air of 8 percent CO2 are considered deadly for humans.

Now the scientists installed a degasing pipe which is the heart of the new pilot plant: Deep water enters a pipe at 61m depth. On the way up, hydrostatic pressure drops and gas bubbles form. The reduced density of the water-gas-mixture allows that deep water is pushed out of the pipe at the upper end to form a fountain above the water table, where gas is released to the atmosphere. This is an elegant solution, as the system does not require any additional driver, and the controlled release of CO2 does not pose any problem. "With this pilot plant, we could demonstrate that this approach also works in Guadiana pit lake. This can now be proposed to authorities as a possible approach to deal with the gas load." Though the lake in the mining area is fenced and access is not permitted to the public, this prohibition is difficult to survey.

Earlier installations in Lake Nyos in Cameroon served as a good example for this approach. In this lake, degassing pipes had been installed, which released the gas load with three fountains. On August 21st 1986, a large volume of gas escaped from the lake suddenly. The gas entered valleys of the surrounding area. 1700 human beings and thousands of animals were killed. The trigger could have been a land slide though this was never really proven. To avoid a repetition of this disaster, the gas load is slowly removed from the lake. One more crater lake called Monoun in Cameroon suffocated 37 human beings close to its shores in a similar eruption. Also in Monoun degasing fountains have been installed.

In Guadiana pit lake we do not see the same danger as in Lake Nyos, due to smaller size and depth. In addition, a density gradient between surface waters and deep waters is keeping the system stable. However, gas concentrations are so high that precaution must be taken. More detailed investigations must be implemented and remediation must be considered, says Dr. Boehrer. For the formation of such extreme gas loads, lakes must be sufficiently deep with incomplete winter recirculation (meromixis) and a strong carbon dioxide source. At the moment, we do not have such a lake in Germany.

Source: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ

Acoustic levitation made simple

Levitation of expanded polystyrene particles by ultrasonic sound waves. Credit: M. Andrade/University of São Paulo

A team of researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil has developed a new levitation device that can hover a tiny object with more control than any instrument that has come before.

Featured on this week's cover of the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing, the device can levitate polystyrene particles by reflecting sound waves from a source above off a concave reflector below. Changing the orientation of the reflector allow the hovering particle to be moved around.

Other researchers have built similar devices in the past, but they always required a precise setup where the sound source and reflector were at fixed "resonant" distances. This made controlling the levitating objects difficult. The new device shows that it is possible to build a 
"non-resonant" levitation device -- one that does not require a fixed separation distance between the source and the reflector.

This breakthrough may be an important step toward building larger devices that could be used to handle hazardous materials, chemically-sensitive materials like pharmaceuticals -- or to provide technology for a new generation of high-tech, gee-whiz children's toys.

"Modern factories have hundreds of robots to move parts from one place to another," said Marco Aurélio Brizzotti Andrade, who led the research. "Why not try to do the same without touching the parts to be transported?"

The device Andrade and his colleagues devised was only able to levitate light particles (they tested it polystyrene blobs about 3 mm across). "The next step is to improve the device to levitate heavier materials," he said.

How the Acoustic Levitation Device Works

In recent years, there has been significant progress in the manipulation of small particles by acoustic levitation methods, Andrade said.

In a typical setup, an upper cylinder will emit high-frequency sound waves that, when they hit the bottom, concave part of the device, are reflected back. The reflected waves interact with newly emitted waves, producing what are known as standing waves, which have minimum acoustic pressure points (or nodes), and if the acoustical pressure at these nodes is strong enough, it can counteract the force of gravity and allow an object to float.

The first successful acoustical levitators could successfully trap small particles in a fixed position, but new advances in the past year or so have allowed researchers not only to trap but also to transport particles through short distances in space.

These were sorely won victories, however. In every levitation device made to date, the distance between the sound emitter and the reflector had to be carefully calibrated to achieve resonance before any levitation could occur. This meant that the separation distance had to be equal to a multiple of the half-wavelength of the sound waves. If this separation distance were changed even slightly, the standing wave pattern would be destroyed and the levitation would be lost.

The new levitation device does not require such a precise separation before operation. In fact, the distance between the sound emitter and the reflector can be continually changed in mid-flight without affecting the levitation performance at all, Andrade said.
"Just turn the levitator on and it is ready," Andrade said.

Source: American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Still hot inside the Moon: Tidal heating in the deepest part of the lunar mantle

This is an artist's conception of internal structure of the Moon based on this science result.
Credit: Image courtesy of National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

An international research team, led by Dr. Yuji Harada from Planetary Science institute, China University of Geosciences, has found that there is an extremely soft layer deep inside the Moon and that heat is effectively generated in the layer by the gravity of Earth.

The results were derived by comparing the deformation of the Moon as precisely measured by Kaguya (SELENE, Selenological and Engineering Explorer) and other probes with theoretically calculated estimates. These findings suggest that the interior of the Moon has not yet cooled and hardened, and also that it is still being warmed by the effect of Earth on the Moon. This research provides a chance to reconsider how both Earth and the Moon have been evolving since their births through mutual influence until now.

When it comes to clarifying how a celestial body like a planet or a natural satellite is born and grows, it is necessary to know as precisely as possible its internal structure and thermal state. How can we know the internal structure of a celestial body far away from us? We can get clues about its internal structure and state by thoroughly investigating how its shape changes due to external forces. The shape of a celestial body being changes by the gravitational force of another body is called tide. For example, the ocean tide on Earth is one tidal phenomenon caused by the gravitational force between the Moon and the Sun, and Earth. Sea water is so deformable that its desplacement can be easily observed. How much a celestial body can be deformed by tidal force, in this way, depends on its internal structure, and especially on the hardness of its interior. Conversely, it means that observing the degree of deformation enables us to learn about the interior, which is normally not directly visible to the naked eye.

The Moon is no exception; we can learn about the interior of our natural satellite from its deformation caused by the tidal force of Earth. The deformation has already been well known through several geodetic observations (*1). However, models of the internal structure of the Moon as derived from past research could not account for the deformation precisely observed by the above lunar exploration programs.

Therefore, the research team performed theoretical calculations to understand what type of internal structure of the Moon leads to the observed change of the lunar shape.
What the research team focused on is the structure deep inside the Moon. During the Apollo program, seismic observations (*2) were carried out on the Moon. One of the analysis results concerning the internal structure of the Moon based upon the seismic data indicates that the satellite is considered to consist mainly of two parts: the "core," the inner portion made up of metal, and the "mantle," the outer portion made up of rock. The research team has found that the observed tidal deformation of the Moon can be well explained if it is assumed that there is an extremely soft layer in the deepest part of the lunar mantle. The previous studies indicated that there is the possibility that a part of the rock at the deepest part inside the lunar mantle may be molten. This research result supports the above possibility since partially molten rock becomes softer. This research has proven for the first time that the deepest part of the lunar mantle is soft, based upon the agreement between observation results and the theoretical calculations.

Furthermore, the research team also clarified that heat is efficiently generated by the tides in the soft part, deepest in the mantle. In general, a part of the energy stored inside a celestial body by tidal deformation is changed to heat. The heat generation depends on the softness of the interior. Interestingly, the heat generated in the layer is expected to be nearly at the maximum when the softness of the layer is comparable to that which the team estimated from the above comparison of the calculations and the observations. This may not be a coincidence. Rather, the layer itself is considered to be maintained as the amount of the heat generated inside the soft layer is exquisitely well balanced with that of the heat escaping from the layer. Whereas previous research also suggests that some part of the energy inside the Moon due to the tidal deformation is changed to heat, the present research indicates that this type of energy conversion does not uniformly occur in the entire Moon, but only intensively in the soft layer. The research team believes that the soft layer is now warming the core of the Moon as the core seems to be wrapped by the layer, which is located in the deepest part of the mantle, and which efficiently generates heat. They also expect that a soft layer like this may efficiently have warmed the core in the past as well.

Concerning the future outlook for this research, Dr. Yuji Harada, the principle investigator of the research team, said, "I believe that our research results have brought about new questions. For example, how can the bottom of the lunar mantle maintain its softer state for a long time? To answer this question, we would like to further investigate the internal structure and heat-generating mechanism inside the Moon in detail. In addition, another question has come up: how has the conversion from the tidal energy to the heat energy in the soft layer affected the motion of the Moon relative to the Earth, and also the cooling of the Moon? We would like to resolve those problems as well so that we can thoroughly understand how the Moon was born and has evolved."

Another investigator, Prof. Junichi Haruyama of Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, mentioned the significance of this research, saying, "A smaller celestial body like the Moon cools faster than a larger one like the Earth does. In fact, we had thought that volcanic activities on the Moon had already come to a halt. 

Therefore, the Moon had been believed to be cool and hard, even in its deeper parts. However, this research tells us that the Moon has not yet cooled and hardened, but is still warm. It even implies that we have to reconsider the question as follows: How have the Earth and the Moon influenced each other since their births? That means this research not only shows us the actual state of the deep interior of the Moon, but also gives us a clue for learning about the history of the system including both the Earth and the Moon."

The scientific paper on which this article is based appears in the Nature Geoscience.

Strong tidal heating in an ultralow-viscosity zone at the core-mantle boundary of the Moon.
Note:
*1: Geodetic observation. (This is also called "selenodetic" observation as it is for the Moon.)
Observational results on gravity and rotation of the Moon are used in this research. Precise measurements of the lunar gravity and rotation enable us to know how our natural satellite is deformed by tidal forces.

The gravity of the Moon can be measured by tracking the motion of a satellite orbiting the Moon. This is because the motion of the satellite is influenced by lunar gravity. The motion of the satellite orbiting the Moon can be determined by using radio waves between the Earth and the satellite, and between multiple satellites around the Moon. The gravity of the Moon changes when it deforms due to tidal forces. The change in gravity caused by the lunar deformation due to the tidal force is extremely small, but when the change in location of the orbiter can be determined precisely enough, it is possible to accurately detect the change in lunar gravity caused by the deformation due to the tidal force. During the last several years, the degree of the lunar deformation caused by the tidal forces has been determined by several orbiters, for example, Kaguya from Japan, Chang'e-1 from China, and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) from the USA.

The rotation of the Moon can be observed by monitoring the change in position of a kind of mirror placed in several locations on the lunar surface. The same side of the Moon is almost always facing the Earth, but strictly speaking, it changes by a slight amount according to the lunar orbit around the Earth. This means that the locations of the mirrors with respect to the Earth also changes over time. If this change in position is precisely measured, it can also be determined how the direction of the lunar axis changes. This slight change of direction also depends on the deformation caused by the tidal force. It can be seen, therefore, how the Moon deforms due to the tidal force once the change in the axis is measured precisely. Some of the above-mentioned mirrors have been left on the surface of the Moon in the framework of the lunar exploration programs led by the USA or the former USSR several decades ago, such as the Apollo program. The degree of change in the location of each mirror on the Moon can be determined by using laser beams emitted from the Earth. This experiment still continues to be carried out even today.

*2: Seismic observation. (Quakes on the Moon are also called "moonquakes." )

There are seismic activities not only on the Earth, but also on the Moon. As part of the Apollo program in the past, seismometers were placed on the lunar surface for seismological measurements. Waves induced by quakes measured with seismometers suggest what the internal structure of a celestial body is like. The behavior of the seismic waves is very important for understanding how the hardness inside the celestial body will change in accordance with the depth. In particular, the present research considered the following two previous analysis results in order to theoretically calculate the lunar deformation caused by the tidal force.

The first one is the existence of the area deep inside the Moon where the seismic waves become drastically weaker. It is generally known that the energy of the seismic waves tends to reduce more in softer solids, especially when they contain liquids. Therefore, the deepest part of the lunar mantle is softer than the shallower part. Also, a portion of the rocks is thought to be melted.

The second one is the existence of areas deep inside the Moon whose interfaces reflect the 
seismic waves. Three boundaries are considered to exist. Two of them are like the ones in the Earth: one separating the solid inner core and the liquid outer core, and the other one separating the outer core and the mantle. The last boundary is considered to correspond to the one in the mantle separating the solid area and the partially molten area mentioned above.

Source: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

NASA missions let scientists see moon's dancing tide from orbit

Illustration of Earth as seen from the moon. The gravitational tug-of-war between Earth and the moon raises a small bulge on the moon. The position of this bulge shifts slightly over time.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Scientists combined observations from two NASA missions to check out the moon's lopsided shape and how it changes under Earth's sway -- a response not seen from orbit before.

The team drew on studies by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been investigating the moon since 2009, and by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, mission. Because orbiting spacecraft gathered the data, the scientists were able to take the entire moon into account, not just the side that can be observed from Earth.

"The deformation of the moon due to Earth's pull is very challenging to measure, but learning more about it gives us clues about the interior of the moon," said Erwan Mazarico, a scientist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., who works at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The lopsided shape of the moon is one result of its gravitational tug-of-war with Earth. The mutual pulling of the two bodies is powerful enough to stretch them both, so they wind up shaped a little like two eggs with their ends pointing toward one another. On Earth, the tension has an especially strong effect on the oceans, because water moves so freely, and is the driving force behind tides.

Earth's distorting effect on the moon, called the lunar body tide, is more difficult to detect, because the moon is solid except for its small core. Even so, there is enough force to raise a bulge about 20 inches (51 centimeters) high on the near side of the moon and similar one on the far side.

The position of the bulge actually shifts a few inches over time. Although the same side of the moon constantly faces Earth, because of the tilt and shape of the moon's orbit, the side facing Earth appears to wobble. From the moon's viewpoint, Earth doesn't sit motionless but moves around within a small patch of sky. The bulge responds to Earth's movements like a dance partner, following wherever the lead goes.

"If nothing changed on the moon -- if there were no lunar body tide or if its tide were completely static -- then every time scientists measured the surface height at a particular location, they would get the same value," said Mike Barker, a Sigma Space Corporation scientist based at Goddard and co-author of the new study, which is available online in Geophysical Research Letters.

A few studies of these subtle changes were conducted previously from Earth. But not until LRO and GRAIL did satellites provide enough resolution to see the lunar tide from orbit.

To search for the tide's signature, the scientists turned to data taken by LRO's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, or LOLA, which is mapping the height of features on the moon's surface. 

The team chose spots that the spacecraft has passed over more than once, each time approaching along a different flight path. More than 350,000 locations were selected, covering areas on the near and far sides of the moon.

The researchers precisely matched measurements taken at the same spot and calculated whether the height had risen or fallen from one satellite pass to the next; a change indicated a shift in the location of the bulge.

A crucial step in the process was to pinpoint exactly how far above the surface LRO was located for each measurement. To reconstruct the spacecraft's orbit with sufficient accuracy, the researchers needed the detailed map of the moon's gravity field provided by the GRAIL mission.

"This study provides a more direct measurement of the lunar body tide and much more comprehensive coverage than has been achieved before," said John Keller, LRO project scientist at Goddard.

The good news for lunar scientists is that the new results are consistent with earlier findings.

The estimated size of the tide confirmed the previous measurement of the bulge. The other value of great interest to researchers is the overall stiffness of the moon, known as the Love number h2, and this was also similar to prior results.

Having confirmation of the previous values -- with significantly smaller errors than before -- will make the lunar body tide a more useful piece of information for scientists.

"This research shows the power of bringing together the capabilities of two missions. The extraction of the tide from the LOLA data would have been impossible without the gravity model of the moon provided by the GRAIL mission," said David Smith, the principal investigator for LRO's LOLA instrument and the deputy principal investigator for the GRAIL mission. Smith is affiliated with Goddard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Source: nasa

Earth-like soils on Mars? Ancient fossilized soils potentially found deep inside impact crater suggest microbial life

Rover image from Gale Crater reveals soil features similar to paleosols on Earth. Credit: NASA

Soil deep in a crater dating to some 3.7 billion years ago contains evidence that Mars was once much warmer and wetter, saysUniversity of Oregon geologist Gregory Retallack, based on images and data captured by the rover Curiosity.

NASA rovers have shown Martian landscapes littered with loose rocks from impacts or layered by catastrophic floods, rather than the smooth contours of soils that soften landscapes on Earth. However, recent images from Curiosity from the impact Gale Crater, Retallack said, reveal Earth-like soil profiles with cracked surfaces lined with sulfate, ellipsoidal hollows and concentrations of sulfate comparable with soils in Antarctic Dry Valleys and Chile's Atacama Desert.

His analyses appear in a paper placed online this week by the journal Geology in advance of print in the September issue of the world's top-ranked journal in the field. Retallack, the paper's lone author, studied mineral and chemical data published by researchers closely tied with the Curiosity mission. Retallack, professor of geological sciences and co-director of paleontology research at the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is an internationally known expert on the recognition of paleosols -- ancient fossilized soils contained in rocks.

"The pictures were the first clue, but then all the data really nailed it," Retallack said. "The key to this discovery has been the superb chemical and mineral analytical capability of the Curiosity Rover, which is an order of magnitude improvement over earlier generations of rovers. The new data show clear chemical weathering trends, and clay accumulation at the expense of the mineral olivine, as expected in soils on Earth. Phosphorus depletion within the profiles is especially tantalizing, because it attributed to microbial activity on Earth."

The ancient soils, he said, do not prove that Mars once contained life, but they do add to growing evidence that an early wetter and warmer Mars was more habitable than the planet has been in the past 3 billion years.

Curiosity rover is now exploring topographically higher and geologically younger layers within the crater, where the soils appear less conducive to life. For a record of older life and soils on Mars, Retallack said, new missions will be needed to explore older and more clayey terrains.

Surface cracks in the deeply buried soils suggest typical soil clods. Vesicular hollows, or rounded holes, and sulfate concentrations, he said, are both features of desert soils on Earth.

"None of these features is seen in younger surface soils of Mars," Retallack said. "The exploration of Mars, like that of other planetary bodies, commonly turns up unexpected discoveries, but it is equally unexpected to discover such familiar ground."

The newly discovered soils provide more benign and habitable soil conditions than known before on Mars. Their dating to 3.7 billion years ago, he noted, puts them into a time of transition from "an early benign water cycle on Mars to the acidic and arid Mars of today." 

Life on Earth is believed to have emerged and began diversifying about 3.5 billion years ago, but some scientists have theorized that potential evidence that might take life on Earth farther back was destroyed by plate tectonics, which did not occur on Mars.

In an email, Malcolm Walter of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, who was not involved in the research, said the potential discovery of these fossilized soils in the Gale Crater dramatically increases the possibility that Mars has microbes. "There is a real possibility that there is or was life on Mars," he wrote.

Retallack noted that Steven Benner of the Westheimer Institute of Science and Technology in Florida has speculated that life is more likely to have originated on a soil planet like Mars than a water planet like Earth. In an email, Benner wrote that Retallack's paper "shows not only soils that might be direct products of an early Martian life, but also the wet-dry cycles that many models require for the emergence of life."

Source: University of Oregon