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Room temperature measurements of the phonon dispersion relations in ferroelectric lithium niobate have been carried out by inelastic neutron scattering. Most of the measurements were made along the c* direction with two acoustic branches measured along an a* direction. The q to 0 slopes of the acoustic branches are found to be in good agreement with the ultrasonic sound velocity measurements. Results on the phonon frequencies are compared with the optical data. Measurements carried out at elevated temperatures up to 900K failed to detect any softening of the 'ferroelectric mode' (the lowest-frequency optic Gamma 1 mode), thereby suggesting that the ferroelectric phase transition in lithium niobate is not associated with a soft phonon-mode instability. The possibility that the phase transition is of the order-disorder type, rather than the displacive type, is discussed, and, in this respect, similarities with the isomorphous lithium tantalate are pointed out.

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This paper presents the results of a detailed experimental and theoretical investigation on the viscous propagation of non-Newtonian gravity currents. Laboratory gravity currents are generated in a horizontal rectangular tank by releasing a constant flux of high-concentration fluid mud suspensions that exhibit profound non-Newtonian (shear thinning) behavior. Experimental observations on the propagation of fluid mud gravity currents revealed that viscous propagation of these currents was typically preceded by two phases as expected: an initial momentum-driven horizontal buoyant wall jet and a buoyancy-driven inertial phase. The experimental transition times, t * * , and positions, x * * , at which fluid mud gravity currents transition into viscous propagation phase were determined. The experimental data that correspond to the viscous propagation of fluid mud gravity currents (i.e. experimental time, t t * * , and front position, x N x * * ) were used to evaluate the predictive capabilities of two well-known mathematical modeling approaches: the lubrication theory approximation and the box-model approaches. Regarding the lubrication theory approximation, a recently developed self-similarity solution for viscous propagation of power-law gravity currents that has not been experimentally evaluated was used. Regarding the box-model approach, a viscous box-model solution for two-dimensional (2D) non-Newtonian gravity currents was developed. The evaluation of these models using experimental data revealed that both models were in good agreement with the experimental observations, despite several simplifying assumptions embedded in each. Given its more advanced mathematical development, the lubrication theory approximation model provides a more complete description of a gravity current (i.e. shape and velocity variation along the gravity current) than the box model at the expense of a relatively simple computational effort.

The thermocline of Lake Ontario is in constant motion, and as it washes back and forth along the sloping lakebed there is a striking asymmetry in near‐bed stratification and benthic turbulence between its rise and fall. Detailed field observations of the stratification and water currents from the summers of 2012 and 2013 showed that the thermocline motions had large amplitudes (as high as 15 m) and a dominant period between 16 and 17.5 h, corresponding to a near‐inertial internal Poincaré wave. During the falling phase, the warmer down‐slope flow was strongly stratified with near‐bed water temperature gradients of 1°C m−1. In contrast during the rising phase of colder up‐slope flow, there was an unstable stratification in near‐bed water and large temperature overturns due to the differential advection of stratified waters, i.e., the shear‐driven convective mechanism. Using a Thorpe‐scale analysis of overturns, the inferred turbulent diffusivity during the up‐slope flow was Kz =5 × 10−4 m2 s−1. In striking contrast during the down‐slope flow, the strong stratification had lower turbulent diffusivities of Kz =10−6 m2 s−1. The near bottom region of Lake Ontario within the thermocline swash‐zone has intense biological activity and the highest concentrations of invasive dreissenid mussels. We discuss the potential biological implications of the striking variability in benthic mixing and near‐bed stratification for nutrient cycling in the Lake Ontario nearshore.

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