Abstract: Introduction: Ultracarbonaceous Antarctic Micrometeorites (UCAMMs) are dominated by N-rich polyaromatic organic matter exhibiting large D enrichments [1-5]. The high abundance of organic matter exhibiting large D enrichment suggests a cometary origin for UCAMMs [1-3]. Three kinds of organic matter are identified in UCAMMs, with different nitrogen abundances and highly variable concentrations of small (typically 30-500 nanometer) mineral aggregates embedded in the organic matter [5-8]. We focus here on a mineral assemblage embedded in one UCAMM that exhibits evidence of ion irradiation, to get insight on the formation and evolution of this cometary particle. Sample and methods: A fragment of UCAMM DC06-06-43 (hereafter DC06-43) was carbon coated, observed by SEM/EDX, and a 100 nm thick FIB section of this fragment was made at IEMN Lille. The size of the initial UCAMM before fragmentation was ~ 25 x 30 µm. After STXM-XANES analysis, the mineralogy of the sample was investigated by TEM at UMET Lille using a FEI Tecnai G2 20 at 200 kV and FEI TITAN Themis at 300 kV [9]. Results : TEM examination reveals a large assemblage of crystalline minerals at the center of the DC06-43 UCAMM fragment, surrounded by organic matter (Figure 1) [9]. The assemblage consists of µm-to subµm sized Mg-rich pyroxenes, a large “triskell”-shaped Fe-sulfide, a few Mg-rich olivines, and minor Si-Al-Carich amorphous pockets and Fe-Ni metal. About 28 crystalline pyroxenes are identified whereas only 5 olivine crystals are observed in the section. GEMS are present embedded in the organic matter, close to the crystalline assemblage. We identified irradiation features (rims and tracks) in pyroxene grains. No rims or tracks were found in olivine. We observed irradiated rims around six pyroxenes at the top of the section (Figure 1, light blue labels). One pyroxene shows a continuous irradiated rim (Figure 2 top). Rim thicknesses range from 20 to 100 nm, with an average of 60 ± 20 nm (1σ) (Figure 2 bottom). Fe-rich deposits are occasionally found on top of irradiated rims. EDX mappings and profiles show that the rims are strongly depleted in Mg (Figure 3). The average track density in pyroxene grains measured over an area of 4.5 x 10-8 cm 2 is 1.3 x 10 10 cm-2 with one value at 3.8 x 10 9 cm-2 , the other values ranging from 9.5 x 10 9 to 3.2 x 10 10 cm-2 (Figure 4). Irradiation track lengths

Abstract: Introduction: UltraCarbonaceous Antarctic Mi-croMeteorites (UCAMMs) are interplanetary dust particles that exhibit large concentrations of organic matter with high N concentrations and extreme D/H ratios [1-4]. The mineralogy, the elemental and isotopic composition of UCAMMs indicate that they most likely originate from the cometary reservoir [1, 2, 5]. Most UCAMMs exhibit large variations on D/H, 15 N/ 14 N and 13 C/ 12 C ratios at the micron or sub-micron scale. These isotopic fractionations are carried by the organic matter and their origin is still an open question. We showed that the precursors of UCAMMs can be formed by irradiation with high energy ions of N-rich ice mixtures with hydrocarbons, a process likely to take place at the surface of icy bodies orbiting beyond a nitrogen snow line and irradiated by galactic cosmic rays [2, 6]. Recent experimental simulations showed that the irradiation itself does not induce large D fractionation, but that the refractory organic residue resulting from irradiation of isotopically heterogeneous ice mixtures can exhibit large D/H spatial variation at the micron scale [7]. We performed a new series of experiments on D, 15 N and 13 C labelled ices to study the transmission of the isotopic labelled ice layers to the irradiation-induced residue. Material and method: Irradiation experiments of ices were conducted with the low-energy beam (Irrsud, 0.5-1 MeV/n) at GANIL (Caen, France). We used the IGLIAS experimental setup [8] which allows to deposit and irradiate complex ice films mixtures on substrate windows held at temperatures ranging from 8K to 300K (Figure 1). The evolution of the ices during the irradiation was monitored in situ with a Brucker Vertex 70v Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. The gas mixtures deposited are controlled with a Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS). We followed the same protocol as described in [7]. We first irradiated a mixture of ices made of two equally thick layers of 14 N2-CH4 (90:10) of about 5 µm each surrounding a thin layer of isotopically labeled (in D, 13 C and 15 N) ice with a thickness of about 0.2 µm. The ice films were formed by gas injections on ZnSe windows at 8K. The thickness of the central isotopically labeled ice layer was estimated from the volume of gases injected (i.e. 2% of the total thickness). The overall thickness of the ice sandwiches (11 µm) were

Abstract: Ocean tides have been observed to be changing worldwide for nonastronomical reasons, which can combine with rising mean sea level (MSL) to increase the long-term impact to coastal regions. Tides can also exhibit variability at shorter timescales, which may be correlated with short-term variability in MSL. This short-term coupling may yield higher peak water levels and increased impacts of exceedance events that may be equally significant as long-term sea level rise. Previous studies employed the tidal anomaly correlation (TAC) method to quantify the sensitivity of tides to MSL fluctuations at long-period (>20 years) tide gauges in basin-scale surveys of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, finding that TACs exist at most locations. The Indian Ocean also experiences significant sea level rise and tidal variability yet has been less studied due to a sparse network of tide gauges. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, more tide gauges have been established in a wider geographical range, bringing the possibility of better estimates of tidal and MSL variability. Here, we improve the TAC approach, using the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method to analyze tidal amplitudes and sea level at multiple frequency bands, allowing a more effective use of shorter record tide gauges and better understanding of multiple timescales of tidal variability. We apply this approach to 73 tide gauges in the Indian Ocean to better quantify tidal variability in these under-studied regions, finding that the majority of locations exhibit significant correlations of tides and MSL.

Abstract: During the flight, an aircraft is submitted to a radiation environment composed of cosmic-ray-induced particles (CRIP) of which neutrons are responsible for approximately 40% of the crew effective dose and are the main cause of single event effects (SEE) in avionics systems at flight altitudes. A model of Learjet aircraft was developed on Monte Carlo simulation using the MCNPX code in order to detail the CRIP field inside the aircraft. The radiation source modeling was previously developed by a computational platform that simulates the energy and angular distributions of the CRIP along the atmosphere. In this article, we determined the variation of the neutron radiation field in several positions inside the aircraft at 11- and 18-km altitudes and for both equatorial and polar regions. The results suggest that the maximum variation of neutron fluence rate between different positions inside the aircraft shows a tendency of higher differences for a lower energy threshold (thermal and E > 1 MeV) in comparison with those differences for a higher energy threshold (E > 10 MeV). Moreover, the angular distribution results show relevant differences between positions inside aircraft, mainly for thermal neutrons close to the fuel. The general tendency is to enhance these discrepancies for devices with new technologies, due to their lower energy threshold for SEE occurrences.