Oblique Effect Research Articles

Effects of vertical obliquity on sonar images and elastic mechanisms for cylinders near a flat interface

The backscattered signal from targets located near a flat interface is highly dependent on the relative positions and orientations of the acoustic source/receiver, the interface, and the target. The acoustic backscattering spectrum versus aspect angle, also called the “acoustic color'' or “acoustic template,'' of solid cylinders was previously studied for the case where the cylinder axis was vertically oblique relative to a nearby water-air interface [D. Plotnick et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 137, 470–480 (2015)]. The presence of the interface allows for multiple orientation-dependent paths by which sound is backscattered; this work examines the effects of vertical obliquity on these paths. Experimental data were on a solid cylinder at various obliquities near an air-water interface collected using a circular synthetic aperture sonar system. Emphasis will be placed on the effects of vertical obliquity on features in reconstructed sonar images. Several robust orientation dependent features are considered and the physical mechanisms identified through geometric arguments. Information about a target's 3-D orientation and size may be gleaned from these images, aiding the interpretation of features within the target's acoustic template. The coupling conditions for surface elastic waves are also considered. [Work supported by ONR.]

Angular variation of oblique Hanle effect in CoFe/SiO2/Si and CoFe/Ta/SiO2/Si tunnel contacts

Oblique Hanle effect (OHE) with magnetic field applied at an oblique angle θ (0 ≤ θ ≤ 180°) was systematically investigated using the 3-terminal (3T) geometry with CoFe/SiO2/Si tunnel contacts. Clear Hanle-like signals with asymmetric voltage dependence are obtained for all angles. It is found that the asymptotic value of the OHE uniquely depends on the angle θ and its angular variation can be fitted well with both functions of cos2θ and 11−αγ2 cos2θ as predicted from spin injection and impurity-assisted magnetoresistance models, respectively. In addition, no Hanle signal is observed in tunnel junctions with spin-unpolarized CoFe/Ta/SiO2/Si structure, which is also understandable by both models. The experimental data in this study demonstrate clearly that further study should be still done to uncover the underlying physics of the Hanle-like signal in 3T tunnel contacts.

Intra-interglacial climate variability: model simulations of Marine Isotope Stages 1, 5, 11, 13, and 15

Abstract. Using the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) including a dynamic global vegetation model, a set of 13 time slice experiments was carried out to study global climate variability between and within the Quaternary interglacials of Marine Isotope Stages (MISs) 1, 5, 11, 13, and 15. The selection of interglacial time slices was based on different aspects of inter- and intra-interglacial variability and associated astronomical forcing. The different effects of obliquity, precession, and greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing on global surface temperature and precipitation fields are illuminated. In most regions seasonal surface temperature anomalies can largely be explained by local insolation anomalies induced by the astronomical forcing. Climate feedbacks, however, may modify the surface temperature response in specific regions, most pronounced in the monsoon domains and the polar oceans. GHG forcing may also play an important role for seasonal temperature anomalies, especially at high latitudes and early Brunhes interglacials (MIS 13 and 15) when GHG concentrations were much lower than during the later interglacials. High- versus low-obliquity climates are generally characterized by strong warming over the Northern Hemisphere extratropics and slight cooling in the tropics during boreal summer. During boreal winter, a moderate cooling over large portions of the Northern Hemisphere continents and a strong warming at high southern latitudes is found. Beside the well-known role of precession, a significant role of obliquity in forcing the West African monsoon is identified. Other regional monsoon systems are less sensitive or not sensitive at all to obliquity variations during interglacials. Moreover, based on two specific time slices (394 and 615 ka), it is explicitly shown that the West African and Indian monsoon systems do not always vary in concert, challenging the concept of a global monsoon system on astronomical timescales. High obliquity can also explain relatively warm Northern Hemisphere high-latitude summer temperatures despite maximum precession around 495 ka (MIS 13). It is hypothesized that this obliquity-induced high-latitude warming may have prevented a glacial inception at that time.

Optical and neural anisotropy in peripheral vision.

Optical blur in the peripheral retina is known to be highly anisotropic due to nonrotationally symmetric wavefront aberrations such as astigmatism and coma. At the neural level, the visual system exhibits anisotropies in orientation sensitivity across the visual field. In the fovea, the visual system shows higher sensitivity for cardinal over diagonal orientations, which is referred to as the oblique effect. However, in the peripheral retina, the neural visual system becomes more sensitive to radially-oriented signals, a phenomenon known as the meridional effect. Here, we examined the relative contributions of optics and neural processing to the meridional effect in 10 participants at 0°, 10°, and 20° in the temporal retina. Optical anisotropy was quantified by measuring the eye's habitual wavefront aberrations. Alternatively, neural anisotropy was evaluated by measuring contrast sensitivity (at 2 and 4 cyc/deg) while correcting the eye's aberrations with an adaptive optics vision simulator, thus bypassing any optical factors. As eccentricity increased, optical and neural anisotropy increased in magnitude. The average ratio of horizontal to vertical optical MTF (at 2 and 4 cyc/deg) at 0°, 10°, and 20° was 0.96 ± 0.14, 1.41 ± 0.54 and 2.15 ± 1.38, respectively. Similarly, the average ratio of horizontal to vertical contrast sensitivity with full optical correction at 0°, 10°, and 20° was 0.99 ± 0.15, 1.28 ± 0.28 and 1.75 ± 0.80, respectively. These results indicate that the neural system's orientation sensitivity coincides with habitual blur orientation. These findings support the neural origin of the meridional effect and raise important questions regarding the role of peripheral anisotropic optical quality in developing the meridional effect and emmetropization.

Reduced Oblique Effect in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

People are very precise in the discrimination of a line orientation relative to the cardinal (vertical and horizontal) axes, while their orientation discrimination sensitivity along the oblique axes is less refined. This difference in discrimination sensitivity along cardinal and oblique axes is called the “oblique effect.” Given that the oblique effect is a basic feature of visual processing with an early developmental origin, its investigation in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may shed light on the nature of visual sensory abnormalities frequently reported in this population. We examined line orientation sensitivity along oblique and vertical axes in a sample of 26 boys with ASD (IQ > 68) and 38 typically developing (TD) boys aged 7–15 years, as well as in a subsample of carefully IQ-matched ASD and TD participants. Children were asked to detect the direction of tilt of a high-contrast black-and-white grating relative to vertical (90°) or oblique (45°) templates. The oblique effect was reduced in children with ASD as compared to TD participants, irrespective of their IQ. This reduction was due to poor orientation sensitivity along the vertical axis in ASD children, while their ability to discriminate line orientation along the oblique axis was unaffected. We speculate that this deficit in sensitivity to vertical orientation may reflect disrupted mechanisms of early experience-dependent learning that takes place during the critical period for orientation selectivity.

Effects of Bilateral Superior Oblique “Hang-Back” Recession in Treatment of A-pattern Strabismus with Superior Oblique Overaction

ABSTRACTPurpose: To investigate the efficacy and safety of bilateral hang-back recession of superior oblique (SO) muscles in the treatment of A-pattern strabismus with superior oblique overaction (SOOA).Methods: Thirty-one (31) patients (62 eyes) with A-pattern horizontal deviation and SOOA underwent hang-back recession of SO and retrospective analysis of the surgical amount of hang-back recession of SO, preoperative and postoperative A-pattern, ocular motility, and corrected objective torsion. Patients were evaluated before and 6 to 9 months after surgery.Results: The average A-pattern horizontal deviation was 27.58 ±11.47 prism diopters (PD) before surgery and 3.48 ± 3.70 PD after surgery (n=31, P<0.05). The mean corrected A-pattern was horizontal deviation 24.10 ± 10.32 PD. The average scale of SOOA on a scale of +1 to +4 was +3.05 ± 0.80 before surgery and +0.42 ± 0.50 after surgery in 62 eyes (P<0.05). The mean corrected objective torsion was 4.91°± 4.53°. The surgical amount of SO hang-back recession ranged from 4 to 10 mm (mean: 7.62 ± 1.18 mm), which was related to the preoperative A-pattern and corrected A-pattern. There were no surgical complications.Conclusions: SO hang-back recession is a safe and efficient option for A-pattern caused by SOOA.

A SPATIALLY RESOLVED STUDY OF THE SYNCHROTRON EMISSION AND TITANIUM IN TYCHO’S SUPERNOVA REMNANT USINGNuSTAR

We report results from deep observations (~750 ks) of Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR) with NuSTAR. Using these data, we produce narrow-band images over several energy bands to identify the regions producing the hardest X-rays and to search for radioactive decay line emission from 44Ti. We find that the hardest (>10 keV) X-rays are concentrated in the southwest of Tycho, where recent Chandra observations have revealed high emissivity "stripes" associated with particles accelerated to the knee of the cosmic-ray spectrum. We do not find evidence of 44Ti, and we set limits on its presence and distribution within the SNR. These limits correspond to a upper-limit 44Ti mass of M44 < 2.4x10^-4 M_sun for a distance of 2.3 kpc. We perform spatially resolved spectroscopic analysis of sixty-six regions across Tycho. We map the best-fit rolloff frequency of the hard X-ray spectra, and we compare these results to measurements of the shock expansion and ambient density. We find that the highest energy electrons are accelerated at the lowest densities and in the fastest shocks, with a steep dependence of the roll-off frequency with shock velocity. Such a dependence is predicted by models where the maximum energy of accelerated electrons is limited by the age of the SNR rather than by synchrotron losses, but this scenario requires far lower magnetic field strengths than those derived from observations in Tycho. One way to reconcile these discrepant findings is through shock obliquity effects, and future observational work is necessary to explore the role of obliquity in the particle acceleration process.

Multi-ion Double Layers in a Magnetized Plasma

A theoretical investigation is carried out to study the existence, formation and basic properties of ion acoustic (IA) double layers (DLs) in a magnetized bi-ion plasma consisting of warm/cold ions and Boltzmann distributed electrons. Based on the reductive perturbation technique, an extended Korteweg de-Vries (KdV) equation is derived. The propagation of two possible modes (fast and slow), and their evolution are investigated. The effects of obliqueness, magnitude of the magnetic field, ion concentration, polarity of ions, and ion temperature on the IA DL profile are analyzed, and then the ranges of parameters for which the IA DLs exist are investigated in details.

Why grids in accounting?

Abstract Grids are ubiquitous in the modern world. This paper explores how the concrete spaces of urban grids, some of the earliest forms of grids, parallel the spaces of today's accounting grids. The origins of these urban grids afford profound insights into the preference for grids as employed in contemporary accounting. The reasons for grids are here explored in the framework of the structural properties introduced by Giddens: signification, legitimation, and domination. Grids are shown to signify issues with positive connotations that can also be related to accounting, such as efficiency, quantification, and rationality, as well as transcendental ideals about “correctness”, “justice”, “truth” and “equality”. These significations legitimate grids and their contents and produce domination of the issues gridded. Domination is also achieved by grids signifying and legitimating control and order. Moreover, the prevalence of grids can be explained by their simplicity and their ability to be easily extended; these characteristics assist in the signification of the contents gridded, thereby again legitimating grids themselves as well as their contents and producing domination of the accounting space. Underlying all these factors is the so-called oblique effect according to which humans have an inherent physical preference to see issues around them in gridiron forms.

Cut-off period for slow magnetoacoustic waves in coronal plasma structures

Context. There is abundant observational evidence of longitudinal compressive waves in plasma structures of the solar corona, which are confidently interpreted in terms of slow magnetoacoustic waves. The uses of coronal slow waves in plasma diagnostics, as well as analysis of their possible contribution to coronal heating and the solar wind acceleration, require detailed theoretical modelling. Aims. We investigate the effects of obliqueness, magnetic field, and non-uniformity of the medium on the evolution of long-wavelength slow magnetoacoustic waves guided by field-aligned plasma non-uniformities, also called tube waves. Special attention is paid to the cut-off effect due to the gravity stratification of the coronal plasma. Methods. We study the behaviour of linear tube waves in a vertical untwisted straight field-aligned isothermal plasma cylinder. We apply the thin flux tube approximation, taking into account effects of stratification caused by gravity. The dispersion due to the finite radius of the flux tube is neglected. We analyse the behaviour of the cut-off period for an exponentially divergent magnetic flux tube filled in with a stratified plasma. The results obtained are compared with the known cases of the constant Alfven speed and the pure acoustic wave. Results. We derive the wave equation for tube waves and reduce it to the form of the Klein–Gordon equation with varying coefficients, which explicitly contains the cut-off frequency. The cut-off period is found to vary with height, decreasing significantly in the low-beta plasma and in the plasma with the beta of the order of unity. The depressions in the cut-off period profiles can affect the propagation of longitudinal waves along coronal plasma structures towards the higher corona and can form coronal resonators.

The effect of load obliquity on the strength of locking and nonlocking constructs in synthetic osteoporotic bone

The biomechanical performance of internal fracture fixation depends on several factors. One measure of performance is the strength of the construct. The objective of this biomechanical study was to identify the effect of load obliquity on the strength of locking and nonlocking plate and screw constructs. For this study, plates and screws were fixed to synthetic osteoporotic bone that had a 1 mm thick synthetic cortical shell. An 8-hole, 3.5 mm thick hybrid plate was fixed with either two 3.5 mm major diameter locking screws or two 4.0 mm major diameter cancellous screws. Forces were applied at 0, 45, and 90 degrees to the plate normal. Eight specimens were loaded to failure for each group. When loads were applied normal to the plate, the nonlocking construct failed initially at higher loads (123.2 ± 13.2 N) than the locking construct (108.7 ± 7.6 N, P = 0.020). For oblique loads, the locking construct failed at higher mean loads but the difference of means was not statistically significant (167.7 ± 14.9 N compared to 154.2 ± 9.4 N, P = 0.052). For loads parallel to the plate, the locking construct was much stronger than the nonlocking construct (1591 ± 227 N compared to 913 ± 237 N, P < 0.001). Stiffness and Energy outcomes are also compared.

Independent sources of anisotropy in visual orientation representation: a visual and a cognitive oblique effect.

The representation of visual orientation is more accurate for cardinal orientations compared to oblique, and this anisotropy has been hypothesized to reflect a low-level visual process (visual, "class 1" oblique effect). The reproduction of directional and orientation information also leads to a mean error away from cardinal orientations or directions. This anisotropy has been hypothesized to reflect a high-level cognitive process of space categorization (cognitive, "class 2," oblique effect). This space categorization process would be more prominent when the visual representation of orientation degrades such as in the case of working memory with increasing cognitive load, leading to increasing magnitude of the "class 2" oblique effect, while the "class 1" oblique effect would remain unchanged. Two experiments were performed in which an array of orientation stimuli (1-4 items) was presented and then subjects had to realign a probe stimulus within the previously presented array. In the first experiment, the delay between stimulus presentation and probe varied, while in the second experiment, the stimulus presentation time varied. The variable error was larger for oblique compared to cardinal orientations in both experiments reproducing the visual "class 1" oblique effect. The mean error also reproduced the tendency away from cardinal and toward the oblique orientations in both experiments (cognitive "class 2" oblique effect). The accuracy or the reproduced orientation degraded (increasing variable error) and the cognitive "class 2" oblique effect increased with increasing memory load (number of items) in both experiments and presentation time in the second experiment. In contrast, the visual "class 1" oblique effect was not significantly modulated by any one of these experimental factors. These results confirmed the theoretical predictions for the two anisotropies in visual orientation reproduction and provided support for models proposing the categorization of orientation in visual working memory.

Turning ability analysis of a fully appended twin screw vessel by CFD. Part I: Single rudder configuration

The turning circle manoeuvre of a naval supply vessel (characterized by a block coefficient CB~0.60) is simulated by the integration of the unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes equations coupled with the equations of rigid body motion with six degrees of freedom. The model is equipped with all the appendages, and it is characterised by an unusual single rudder/twin screws configuration. This arrangement causes poor directional stability qualities, which makes the prediction of the trajectory a challenging problem. As already shown in previous works, the treatment of the in-plane loads exerted by the propellers is of paramount importance; to this aim each propeller is simulated by an actuator disk model, properly modified to account for oblique flow effects. The main goal of the present paper is to assess the capability of the CFD tool to accurately predict the trajectory of the ship and to analyse the complex flow field around a vessel performing a turning manoeuvre. Distribution of forces and moments on the main hull, stern appendages and rudder are analysed in order to gain a deeper insight into the dynamic behaviour of the vessel. Validation is provided by the comparison with experimental data from free running tests.

The oblique effect is both allocentric and egocentric.

Despite continuous movements of the head, humans maintain a stable representation of the visual world, which seems to remain always upright. The mechanisms behind this stability are largely unknown. To gain some insight on how head tilt affects visual perception, we investigate whether a well-known orientation-dependent visual phenomenon, the oblique effect-superior performance for stimuli at cardinal orientations (0° and 90°) compared with oblique orientations (45°)-is anchored in egocentric or allocentric coordinates. To this aim, we measured orientation discrimination thresholds at various orientations for different head positions both in body upright and in supine positions. We report that, in the body upright position, the oblique effect remains anchored in allocentric coordinates irrespective of head position. When lying supine, gravitational effects in the plane orthogonal to gravity are discounted. Under these conditions, the oblique effect was less marked than when upright, and anchored in egocentric coordinates. The results are well explained by a simple "compulsory fusion" model in which the head-based and the gravity-based signals are combined with different weightings (30% and 70%, respectively), even when this leads to reduced sensitivity in orientation discrimination.

Orientation anisotropies in human primary visual cortex depend on contrast

Orientation processing in visual cortex appears matched to the environment, such that larger neural populations are tuned to cardinal (horizontal/vertical) than oblique orientations. This may be manifested perceptually as a cardinal bias: poorer sensitivity to oblique compared to cardinal orientations (the “oblique effect”). However, a growing body of psychophysical data reveals the opposite pattern of anisotropy: a bias towards the oblique over the cardinal orientations (the “horizontal effect”), something matched by recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that have found an increased response to the oblique over the cardinal orientations in early visual cortex. This may reveal the operation of an efficient coding strategy optimised to the diet of orientations encountered during natural viewing. From consideration of coding efficiency, it might be expected that the anisotropies would change as the quality/strength of the oriented stimulus changes. In two experiments, fMRI response modulations were measured in retinotopically-defined human early visual cortex as a function of the contrast and orientation of sinusoidal gratings. Both experiments revealed a marked change in the V1 response from a cardinal (vertical) bias at low contrast to an oblique bias at high contrast. In Experiment 2, this was also apparent in areas V2 and V3. On average, there was no systematic “radial bias” (a preference for orientations aligned with the visual field meridian) in V1, although it was present in some individual subjects. The change in orientation anisotropies with contrast is consistent with an adaptive stimulus coding strategy in cortex that shifts according to the strength of the sensory inputs.

SU‐E‐T‐71: A Radiochromic Film Based Quantitative Assessment of Thermoplastic Mask Bolus Effect in Head and Neck IMRT/VMAT

Purpose:To quantify the factors leading to thermoplastic mask bolus‐associated‐increased skin dose in head and neck IMRT/VMAT using EBT2 film.Methods:EBT2 film placed beneath a dual layer 3‐point ORFIT head, neck and shoulder mask was used to test the effect of mask thickness, beam modulation, air gap, and beam obliquity on bolus effect. Mask thickness was varied based on the distribution of 1.6mm Orfilight layer on top of 2 mm Efficast layer. Beam modulation was varied by irradiating the film with an open field (no beam modulation) and a step and shoot field (beam modulation). Air gap between mask and film was varied from 0 to 5mm. Beam obliquity was varied by irradiating the film at gantry angles of 0°, 35°, and 70°.Finally, film strips placed on a Rando phantom under an Orfit mask, in regions of expected high dose, were irradiated using 5 IMRT and 5 VMAT plans with various modulation levels (modulation factor 2 to 5) and the results were compared with those obtained placing OSLDs at the same locations.Results:An 18–34% increase in mask bolus effect was observed for three factors where the effect of beam obliquity ≥ beam modulation &gt; mask thickness. No increase in mask bolus effect was observed for change in air gap. A 6–13% increase in dose due to mask bolus effect was observed on film strips.Conclusion:This work underlines the role of beam obliquity and beam modulation combined with thermoplastic mask thickness in increasing mask bolus‐associated skin dose in head and neck IMRT/VMAT. One possible method of dose reduction, based on knowledge gained from this work, is inclusion of skin as an avoidance structure in treatment planning. Another approach is to design a mask with the least amount of thermoplastic material necessary for immobilization.

Global sensitivity analysis of the climate–vegetation system to astronomical forcing: an emulator-based approach

Abstract. A global sensitivity analysis is performed to describe the effects of astronomical forcing on the climate–vegetation system simulated by the model of intermediate complexity LOVECLIM in interglacial conditions. The methodology relies on the estimation of sensitivity measures, using a Gaussian process emulator as a fast surrogate of the climate model, calibrated on a set of well-chosen experiments. The outputs considered are the annual mean temperature and precipitation and the growing degree days (GDD). The experiments were run on two distinct land surface schemes to estimate the importance of vegetation feedbacks on climate variance. This analysis provides a spatial description of the variance due to the factors and their combinations, in the form of "fingerprints" obtained from the covariance indices. The results are broadly consistent with the current under-standing of Earth's climate response to the astronomical forcing. In particular, precession and obliquity are found to contribute in LOVECLIM equally to GDD in the Northern Hemisphere, and the effect of obliquity on the response of Southern Hemisphere temperature dominates precession effects. Precession dominates precipitation changes in subtropical areas. Compared to standard approaches based on a small number of simulations, the methodology presented here allows us to identify more systematically regions susceptible to experiencing rapid climate change in response to the smooth astronomical forcing change. In particular, we find that using interactive vegetation significantly enhances the expected rates of climate change, specifically in the Sahel (up to 50% precipitation change in 1000 years) and in the Canadian Arctic region (up to 3° in 1000 years). None of the tested astronomical configurations were found to induce multiple steady states, but, at low obliquity, we observed the development of an oscillatory pattern that has already been reported in LOVECLIM. Although the mathematics of the analysis are fairly straightforward, the emulation approach still requires considerable care in its implementation. We discuss the effect of the choice of length scales and the type of emulator, and estimate uncertainties associated with specific computational aspects, to conclude that the principal component emulator is a good option for this kind of application.

Redundancy reduction explains the expansion of visual direction space around the cardinal axes

Motion direction discrimination in humans is worse for oblique directions than for the cardinal directions (the oblique effect). For some unknown reason, the human visual system makes systematic errors in the estimation of particular motion directions; a direction displacement near a cardinal axis appears larger than it really is whereas the same displacement near an oblique axis appears to be smaller. Although the perceptual effects are robust and are clearly measurable in smooth pursuit eye movements, all attempts to identify the neural underpinnings for the oblique effect have failed. Here we show that a model of image velocity estimation based on the known properties of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) and the middle temporal (MT) visual area of the primate brain produces the oblique effect. We also provide an explanation for the unusual asymmetric patterns of inhibition that have been found surrounding MT neurons. These patterns are consistent with a mechanism within the visual system that prevents redundant velocity signals from being passed onto the next motion-integration stage, (dorsal Medial superior temporal, MSTd). We show that model redundancy-reduction mechanisms within the MT-MSTd pathway produce the oblique effect.

General circulation models of the dynamics of Pluto’s volatile transport on the eve of the New Horizons encounter

Pluto’s atmospheric dynamics occupy an interesting regime in which the radiative time constant is quite long, the combined effects of high obliquity and a highly eccentric orbit can produce strong seasonal variations in atmospheric pressure, and the strong coupling between the atmosphere and volatile transport on the surface results in atmospheric flows that are quite sensitive to surface and subsurface properties that at present are poorly constrained by direct observations. In anticipation of the New Horizons encounter with the Pluto system in July 2015, we present a Pluto-specific three-dimensional general circulation model (GCM), PlutoWRF, incorporating the most accurate current radiative transfer models of Pluto’s atmosphere, a physically robust treatment of nitrogen volatile transport, and the flexibility to accommodate richly detailed information about the surface and subsurface conditions as new data become available. We solve for a physically self-consistent, equilibrated combination of surface, subsurface, and atmospheric conditions to specify the boundary conditions and initial state values for each GCM run. This is accomplished using two reduced versions of PlutoWRF: a two-dimensional surface volatile exchange model to specify the properties of surface nitrogen ice and the initial atmospheric surface pressure, and a one-dimensional radiative–conductive–convective model that uses the two-dimensional model predictions to determine the corresponding global-mean atmospheric thermal profile. We illustrate the capabilities of PlutoWRF in predicting Pluto’s general circulation, thermal state, and volatile transport of nitrogen by calculating the dynamical response of Pluto’s atmosphere, based on four different idealized models of Pluto’s surface ice distribution from Young (Young, L.A. [2013]. Astrophys. J. 766, L22) and Hansen et al. (Hansen, C.J., Paige, D.A., Young, L.A. [2015]. Icarus 246, 183). Our GCM runs typically span 30years, from 1985 to 2015, covering the period from the discovery of Pluto’s atmosphere to present. For most periods simulated, zonal winds are strongly forced by a gradient wind balance, relaxing in later (recent) years to an angular momentum conservation balance of the seasonal polar cap sublimation flow. Near-surface winds generally follow a sublimation flow from the sunlit polar cap to the polar night cap, with a Coriolis turning of the wind as the air travels from pole to pole. We demonstrate the strong contribution of nitrogen sublimation and deposition to Pluto’s atmospheric circulation. As New Horizons data become available, PlutoWRF can be used to construct models of Pluto’s atmospheric dynamics and surface wind regimes more constrained by physical observations.

Effect of obliqueness and external magnetic field on the characteristics of dust acoustic solitary waves in dusty plasma with two-temperature nonthermal ions

In this paper, a theoretical investigation has been made of obliquely propagating dust acoustic solitary wave (DASW) structures in a cold magnetized dusty plasma consisting of a negatively charged dust fluid, electrons, and two different types of nonthermal ions. The Zakharov–Kuznetsov (ZK) and modified Zakharov–Kuznetsov (MZK) equations, describing the small but finite amplitude DASWs, are derived using a reductive perturbation method. The combined effects of the external magnetic field, obliqueness (i.e. the propagation angle), and the presence of second component of nonthermal ions, which are found to significantly modify the basic features (viz. amplitude, width, polarity) of DASWs, are explicitly examined. The results show that the external magnetic field, the propagation angle, and the second component of nonthermal ions have strong effects on the properties of dust acoustic solitary structures. The solitary waves may become associated with either positive potential or negative potential in this model. As the angle between the direction of external magnetic field and the propagation direction of solitary wave increases, the amplitude of the solitary wave (for both positive potential and negative potential) increases. With changing this angle, the width of solitary wave shows a maximum. The magnitude of the external magnetic field has no direct effect on the solitary wave amplitude. However, with decreasing the strength of magnetic field, the width of DASW increases.