ALBERT

Description: High-resolution radio images of PKS1830 - 211 are obtained to study the possibility that the double structure is a gravitationally lensed object. The VLBI observations, taken from interferometric radiotelescope networks, reveal an elliptical ring that connects two bright spots of similar composition. Because the lens and the lensed object are closely aligned, and because of the structure of the two spots, the source is concluded to be a radio Einstein ring. The source is found to be close to the galactic plane, and the lens and the lensed object are extragalactic. The source is also found to be unusually bright, suggesting that it is aligned with a bright background source or amplified by some mechanism related to a source that is not so bright.

Description: The Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory has observed SN 1987A for two 2 week periods during the first 9 months of the mission. Evidence for gamma-ray line and continuum emission from Co-57 is observed with an intensity of about 10 exp -4 gamma/sq cm/s. This photon flux between 50 and 136 keV is demonstrated by Monte Carlo calculations to be independent of the radial distribution of Co-57 for models of low optical depth, viz., models having photoelectric absorption losses of 122 keV photons no greater than several percent. For such models the observed Co-57 flux indicates that the ratio Ni-57/Ni-56 produced in the explosion was about 1.5 times the solar system ratio of Fe-57/Fe-56. When compared with nearly contemporaneous bolometric estimates of the luminosity for SN 1987A, our observations imply that Co-57 radioactivity does not account for most of the current luminosity of the supernova remnant in low optical depth models. We suggest alternatives, including a large optical depth model that is able to provide the SN 1987A luminosity and is consistent with the OSSE flux. It requires a 57/56 production ratio about twice solar.

Description: Gamma radiation above 100 MeV in energy has been detected from the radio pulsar PSR1706-44. The gamma emission forms a single broad peak within the pulsar period of 102 ms, in contrast to the two narrow peaks seen in the other three known high-energy gamma-ray pulsars. The emission mechanism in all cases is probably the same, the differences arising from the geometry of the magnetic and rotation axes and the line of sight. Gamma-ray emission accounts for as much as 1 percent of the total neutron star spindown energy in these pulsars, much more than emerges at optical or radio frequencies. Thus, study of this emission is important in understanding pulsar emission and evolution.

Description: Snow feedbacks produced by 14 atmospheric general circulation models have been analyzed through idealized numerical experiments. Included in the analysis is an investigation of the surface energy budgets of the models. Negative or weak positive snow feedbacks occurred in some of the models, while others produced strong positive snow feedbacks. These feedbacks are due not only to melting snow, but also to increases in boundary temperature, changes in air temperature, changes in water vapor, and changes in cloudiness. As a result, the net response of each model is quite complex. We analyze in detail the responses of one model with a strong positive snow feedback and another with a weak negative snow feedback. Some of the models include a temperature dependence of the snow albedo, and this has significantly affected the results.

Description: Responses of the surface energy budgets and hydrologic cycles of 19 atmospheric general circulation models to an imposed, globally uniform sea surface temperature perturbation of 4 K were analyzed. The responses of the simulated surface energy budgets are extremely diverse and are closely linked to the responses of the simulated hydrologic cycles. The response of the net surface energy flux is not controlled by cloud effects; instead, it is determined primarily by the response of the latent heat flux. The prescribed warming of the oceans leads to major increases in the atmospheric water vapor content and the rates of evaporation and precipitation. The increased water vapor amount drastically increases the downwelling IR radiation at the earth's surface, but the amount of the change varies dramatically from one model to another.

Description: Acetone (CH3COCH3) was found to be the dominant nonmethane organic species present in the atmosphere sampled primarily over eastern Canada (0-6 km, 35 deg-65 deg N) during ABLE3B (July to August 1990). A concentration range of 357 to 2310 ppt (= 10(exp -12) v/v) with a mean value of 1140 +/- 413 ppt was measured. Under extremely clean conditions, generally involving Arctic flows, lowest (background) mixing ratios of 550 +/- 100 ppt were present in much of the troposphere studied. Correlations between atmospheric mixing ratios of acetone and select species such as C2H2, CO, C3H8, C2Cl4 and isoprene provided important clues to its possible sources and to the causes of its atmospheric variability. Biomass burning as a source of acetone has been identified for the first time. By using atmospheric data and three-dimensional photochemical models, a global acetone source of 40-60 Tg (= 10(exp 12) g)/yr is estimated to be present. Secondary formation from the atmospheric oxidation of precursor hydrocarbons (principally propane, isobutane, and isobutene) provides the single largest source (51%). The remainder is attributable to biomass burning (26%), direct biogenic emissions (21%), and primary anthropogenic emissions (3%). Atmospheric removal of acetone is estimated to be due to photolysis (64%), reaction with OH radicals (24%), and deposition (12%). Model calculations also suggest that acetone photolysis contributed significantly to PAN formation (100-200 ppt) in the middle and upper troposphere of the sampled region and may be important globally. While the source-sink equation appears to be roughly balanced, much more atmospheric and source data, especially from the southern hemisphere, are needed to reliably quantify the atmospheric budget of acetone.

Description: Aircraft measurements of key reactive nitrogen species (NO, NO2, HNO3, PAN, PPN, NO3(-), NO(y)), C1 to C6 hydrocarbons, acetone, O3, chemical tracers (C2Cl4, CO), and important meteorological parameters were performed over eastern Canada during July to August 1990 at altitudes between 0 and 6 km as part of an Arctic Boundary Layer Expedition (ABLE3B). In the free troposphere, PAN was found to be the single most abundant reactive nitrogen species constituting a major fraction of NO(y) and was significantly more abundant than NO(x) and HNO3. PAN and O3 were well correlated both in their fine and gross structures. Compared to data previously collected in the Arctic/subarctic atmosphere over Alaska (ABLE3A), the lower troposphere (0-4 km) over eastern Canada was found to contain larger reactive nitrogen and anthropogenic tracer concentrations. At higher altitudes (4-6 km) the atmospheric composition was in many ways similar to what was seen over Alaska and supports the view that a large-scale reservoir of PAN (and NO(y)) is present in the upper troposphere over the entire Arctic/subarctic region. The reactive nitrogen budget based on missions conducted from the North Bay site (missions 2-10) showed a small shortfall, whereas the budget for data collected from the Goose Bay operation (missions 11-19) showed essential balance. It is calculated that 15-20 ppt of the observed NO(x) may find its source from the available PAN reservoir. Meteorological considerations as well as relationships between reactive nitrogen and tracer species suggest that the atmosphere over eastern Canada during summer is greatly influenced by forest fires and transported industrial pollution.

Description: In order to test gas-phase reaction schemes for the production of small oxides of carbon in cold, dense interstellar clouds, we have searched for the radical CCO and for propadienone (H2C3O) in Taurus Molecular Cloud 1, a nearby cloud which exhibits a rich organic chemistry. The radical CCO has been detected with a fractional abundance some two orders of magnitude less than that of CCS, about one order of magnitude less than that of H2CCO, and slightly less than that of C3O. An upper limit has been obtained on the abundance of propadienone which is slightly less than that of its isomer propynal (HC2CHO).

Description: The Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory observed high-energy gamma rays (50 - 2000 MeV) from quasar 0836 + 710 (z = 2.16) during observations in 1992 January, near the time of an optical fare (von Linde et al., 1993). The gamma-ray spectrum can be fitted with a power law with photon number index 2.4 +/- 0.2. EGRET identifies quasars 0454 - 234, 0804 + 499, 0906 + 430, 1510 - 089, and 2356 + 196 at a statistical significance of between 4 and 5 standard deviations.