A high C/O ratio and weak thermal inversion in the atmosphere of exoplanet WASP-12b

The carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) in a planet provides critical information about its primordial origins and subsequent evolution. A primordial C/O greater than 0.8 causes a carbide-dominated interior, as opposed to the silicate-dominated composition found on Earth; the atmosphere can also differ from those in the Solar System. The solar C/O is 0.54 (ref. 3). Here we report an analysis of dayside multi-wavelength photometry of the transiting hot-Jupiter WASP-12b (ref. 6) that reveals C/O?≥?1 in its atmosphere. The atmosphere is abundant in CO. It is depleted in water vapour and enhanced in methane, each by more than two orders of magnitude compared to a solar-abundance chemical-equilibrium model at the expected temperatures. We also find that the extremely irradiated atmosphere (T?>?2,500?K) of WASP-12b lacks a prominent thermal inversion (or stratosphere) and has very efficient day-night energy circulation. The absence of a strong thermal inversion is in stark contrast to theoretical predictions for the most highly irradiated hot-Jupiter atmospheres.     

An ancient recipe for flood-basalt genesis

Large outpourings of basaltic lava have punctuated geological time, but the mechanisms responsible for the generation of such extraordinary volumes of melt are not well known. Recent geochemical evidence suggests that an early-formed reservoir may have survived in the Earth's mantle for about 4.5 billion years (ref. 2), and melts of this reservoir contributed to the flood basalt emplaced on Baffin Island about 60 million years ago. However, the volume of this ancient mantle domain and whether it has contributed to other flood basalts is not known. Here we show that basalts from the largest volcanic event in geologic history--the Ontong Java plateau--also exhibit the isotopic and trace element signatures proposed for the early-Earth reservoir. Together with the Ontong Java plateau, we suggest that six of the largest volcanic events that erupted in the past 250 million years derive from the oldest terrestrial mantle reservoir. The association of these large volcanic events with an ancient primitive mantle source suggests that its unique geochemical characteristics--it is both hotter (it has greater abundances of the radioactive heat-producing elements) and more fertile than depleted mantle reservoirs-may strongly affect the generation of flood basalts.     

Eocene global warming events driven by ventilation of oceanic dissolved organic carbon

'Hyperthermals' are intervals of rapid, pronounced global warming known from six episodes within the Palaeocene and Eocene epochs (～65-34 million years (Myr) ago). The most extreme hyperthermal was the ～170 thousand year (kyr) interval of 5-7 °C global warming during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 56?Myr ago). The PETM is widely attributed to massive release of greenhouse gases from buried sedimentary carbon reservoirs, and other, comparatively modest, hyperthermals have also been linked to the release of sedimentary carbon. Here we show, using new 2.4-Myr-long Eocene deep ocean records, that the comparatively modest hyperthermals are much more numerous than previously documented, paced by the eccentricity of Earth's orbit and have shorter durations (～40?kyr) and more rapid recovery phases than the PETM. These findings point to the operation of fundamentally different forcing and feedback mechanisms than for the PETM, involving redistribution of carbon among Earth's readily exchangeable surface reservoirs rather than carbon exhumation from, and subsequent burial back into, the sedimentary reservoir. Specifically, we interpret our records to indicate repeated, large-scale releases of dissolved organic carbon (at least 1,600 gigatonnes) from the ocean by ventilation (strengthened oxidation) of the ocean interior. The rapid recovery of the carbon cycle following each Eocene hyperthermal strongly suggests that carbon was re-sequestered by the ocean, rather than the much slower process of silicate rock weathering proposed for the PETM. Our findings suggest that these pronounced climate warming events were driven not by repeated releases of carbon from buried sedimentary sources, but, rather, by patterns of surficial carbon redistribution familiar from younger intervals of Earth history.     

Exploration of opportunity costs and consideration exploration of opportunity costs and consideration for future generations: Two lasting contributions to systems thinking

In his numerous writings C. West Churchman has shown how the systems approach can be used to secure improvements in the human condition. Specifically one must think holistically. Two concepts—exploration of opportunity costs and consideration for future generations—underline whole systems thinking. The author argues based on his own experience that these tools of the human intellect are among the most lasting contributions Churchman has made to systems thinking.     

Recent convergence results for the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithms

One of the main techniques embodied in many pattern recognition systems is cluster analysis — the identification of substructure in unlabeled data sets. The fuzzy c-means algorithms (FCM) have often been used to solve certain types of clustering problems. During the last two years several new local results concerning both numerical and stochastic convergence of FCM have been found. Numerical results describe how the algorithms behave when evaluated as optimization algorithms for finding minima of the corresponding family of fuzzy c-means functionals. Stochastic properties refer to the accuracy of minima of FCM functionals as approximations to parameters of statistical populations which are sometimes assumed to be associated with the data. The purpose of this paper is to collect the main global and local, numerical and stochastic, convergence results for FCM in a brief and unified way.