Tracking a Coastal Wave Buoy, Lost from the Southern Coast of Jeju Island, Using Lagrangian Particle Modeling

A coastal wave buoy was lost near Jeju Island, Korea, in late July 2014 and found at Cape Mendocino, USA, in April 2020. The buoy’s journey was simulated with a Lagrangian particle tracking model using surface ocean currents and wind data at 10 m above sea level. Experiments were conducted with windage values of 0, 2, and 4%. Particles were released along the southern coast of Jeju Island from 31 July to 8 August 2014. When the windage was 0 or 2%, most particles reached the northwest Pacific via the East/Japan Sea or East China Sea, respectively. With 4% windage, very few particles entered the North Pacific. Under 0% windage, particles accumulated in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) and never reached the USA. Under 2%, particles were able to escape the GPGP and started to reach the USA coast 2 years and 7 months after the release. The trajectory of the buoy was deduced from the trajectories of particles with a similar travel time. The buoy likely moved to East China and then to the subtropical convergence zone, where it must have circulated for approximately 2 years before being pushed toward Cape Mendocino by the intensified winter westerlies.

Малоразмерный черенковский телескоп с полупроводниковыми фотодетекторами: полночастичное моделирование порога регистрации космических гамма-источников

Full-particle modeling of gamma-ray and proton induced extensive air showers (EASs) in the Earth's atmosphere as well as Monte Carlo modeling of photon transport in a small size Cherenkov telescope and signal registration with its camera based on the OnSemi MicroFJ SiPM detectors have been performed. Calculations have been carried out for primaries within the 0.3 - 30 TeV range and a telescope with a 10 m(2) mirror similar to the unit employed at the TAIGA observatory. It has been shown that even with strict selection criteria aimed at high quality EAS images, the threshold detection energy of the SiPM-based camera would not exceed 0.8 TeV - about twice as low as the current threshold of the TAIGA-IACT camera based on vacuum photomultipliers.