Problems and progress in flare fast particle diagnostics

Recent progress in the diagnosis of flare fast particles is critically discussed with the main emphasis on high resolution hard X-ray (HXR) data from RHESSI and coordinated data from other instruments. Spectacular new photon data findings are highlighted as are advances in theoretical aspects of their use as fast particle diagnostics, and some important comparisons made with interplanetary particle data. More specifically the following topics are addressed:

• (a)RHESSI data on HXR (electron) versus gamma-ray line (ion) source locations.
• (b)RHESSI hard X-ray source spatial structure in relation to theoretical models and loop density structure.
• (c)Energy budget of flare electrons and the Neupert effect.
• (d)Spectral deconvolution methods including blind target testing and results for RHESSI HXR spectra, including the reality and implications of dips inferred in electron spectra.
• (e)The relation between flare in situ and interplanetary particle data.

     

Identification and dynamics of agricultural environments in Northeast Thailand from landsat images (1972, 1976, 1982)

The objective of this research is to prepare a cartographic methodology to present agricultural environments and their dynamics from satellite data. Three Landsat images (October 1972, January 1976, January 1982) have been used and a field survey has been done in 1984. After interactive processing on TRIAS system of Institut Geographique National (IGN). Five colour maps have been produced:

• - a spatio-map with the new roads (1:250,000);
• - a map of the surface-states in 1982 (classified image) using a comparison with the two other dates for improvement (1:250,000);
• - a map of agro-ecological landscape units based on the combination between surface states showing interrelationships between agrarian systems and bio-physical environment (1:5000,000);
• - a map of the surface moisture seasonal variations to show the availability of water for the agriculture (1:400,000);
• - a map of changes in some agricultural environments components (1972–1982): water and flooded areas, agricultural areas, forests (1:500,000).

     

Period activity relation for the W UMa-type systems

A large sample of times of minima of W UMa-type systems was analysed to study possible changes of their orbital periods. The main results are as follows :

• 1.every system changes period (the mean interval of period stability is about 11 years).
• 2.more active contact systems change periods in both signs (shortening and lengthening) with the same frequencies and similar values (about 10⁻⁶ day).

The characteristic time-scales and high symmetry of period changes of W UMa's do not confirm the prediction of the thermal-relaxation theory. The most promising explanation of these changes seems to be magnetic cycling activity as a cause of period changes for all the W UMa-type systems.     

Space technologies for short-term earthquake warning

Recent theoretical and experimental studies explicitly demonstrated the ability of space technologies to identify and monitor the specific variations at near-earth space plasma, atmosphere and ground surface associated with approaching severe earthquakes (named as earthquake precursors) which appear several days (from 1 to 5) before the seismic shock over the seismically active areas. Several countries and private companies are in the stage of preparation (or already launched) the dedicated spacecrafts for monitoring of the earthquake precursors from space and for short-term earthquake prediction. The present paper intends to outline the optimal algorithm for creation of the space-borne system for the earthquake precursors monitoring and for short-term earthquake prediction. It takes into account the following:

• 1.Selection of the precursors in the terms of priority, considering their statistical and physical parameters.
• 2.Configuration of the spacecraft payload.
• 3.Configuration of the satellite constellation (orbit selection, satellite distribution, operation schedule).
• 4.Different options of the satellite systems (cheap microsatellite or comprehensive multisatellite constellation).

Taking into account that the most promising are the ionospheric precursors of earthquakes, the special attention is devoted to the radiophysical techniques of the ionosphere monitoring. The advantages and disadvantages of such technologies as vertical sounding, in-situ probes, ionosphere tomography, GPS TEC and GPS MET technologies are considered.     

Multi-spacecraft tracing of turbulent boundary layer

Multi-spacecraft tracing of the high latitude magnetopause (MP) and boundary layers and Interball-1 statistics indicate that:

1. (a) The turbulent boundary layer (TBL) is a persistent feature in the region of the cusp and ‘sash’, a noticeable part of the disturbances weakly depends on the interplanetary magnetic field By component; TBL is a major site for magnetosheath (MSH) plasma penetration inside the magnetosphere through percolation and local reconnection.

2. (b) The TBL disturbances are mainly inherent with the characteristic kinked double-slope spectra and, most probably, 3-wave cascading. The bi-spectral phase coupling indicates self-organization of the TBL as the entire region with features of the non-equilibrium multi-scale and multi-phase system in the near-critical state.

3. (c) We've found the different outer cusp topologies in summer/winter periods: the summer cusp throat is open for the decelerated MSH flows, the winter one is closed by the distant MP with a large-scale (several Re) diamagnetic ‘plasma ball’ inside the MP; the ‘ball’ is filled from MSH through patchy merging rather than large-scale reconnection.

4. (d) A mechanism for the energy release and mass inflow is the local TBL reconnection, which operates at the larger scales for the average anti-parallel fields and at the smaller scales for the nonlinear fluctuating fields; the latter is operative throughout the TBL. The remote from TBL anti-parallel reconnection seems to happen independently.

The PAMELA experiment: A space-borne observatory for heliospheric phenomena

PAMELA is a multi-purpose apparatus composed of a series of scintillator counters arranged at the extremities of a permanent magnet spectrometer to provide charge, time-of-flight and rigidity information. Lepton/hadron identification is performed by a silicon–tungsten calorimeter and a Neutron detector placed at the bottom of the device. An Anticounter system is used offline to reject false triggers coming from the satellite. The device was put into orbit on June 15th 2006 in a pressurized container on board the Russian Resurs-DK1 satellite. The satellite is flying along a high inclination (70°), low Earth orbit (350–600 km), allowing to perform measurements in different points and conditions of the geomagnetosphere. PAMELA main goal is a precise measurement of the antimatter ( 80 MeV–190 GeV, e⁺ 50 MeV–270 GeV) and matter (p 80–700 GeV, e⁻ 50 MeV–400 GeV) component of the galactic cosmic rays. In this paper we focus on the capabilites of observations of heliospheric cosmic rays: trapped and semi-trapped particles in the proton and electron belts, solar particle events, Jovian electrons will be studied in the three years of expected mission.