In-situ photopolarimetric measurements of dust and gas in the coma of Halley''s comet

The Halley Optical Probe Experiment (HOPE) on board the Giotto spacecraft has provided the first in-situ measurements, both of the dust and of some gaseous species, from inside the coma of the comet. The instrument has already been described /1/, together with first results /2/. The purpose of this note is to show how optical measurements can lead to in-situ information, how those were obtained during the 13–14 march 1986 Halley fly-by, and what is the status of the data analysis.     

L10结构金属间化合物空位形成能

L1₀结构CoPt和FePt 薄膜因其高磁各向异性而成为新一代超高磁记录密度材料.采用Miedema理论计算了多种L1₀结构金属间化合物的空位形成能.研究结果表明:在这些金属间化合物中可能形成的空位类型,如FeNi和MnNi合金中易形成Ni空位;FePt和FePd合金中易形成Fe空位;CoPt合金中易形成Co空位;NiPt合金中易形成Ni空位;MnPt合金中易形成Pt空位;MnPd和MnHg合金中易形成Mn空位;MnRh合金中易形成Rh空位.这一研究结果为进一步研究开发高性能的磁性薄膜提供了理论依据.     

Day-to-day variability of equatorial anomaly in GPS-TEC during low solar activity period

The ionospheric total electron content (TEC) in the northern hemispheric equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) crest region is investigated by using dual-frequency signals of the Global Positioning System (GPS) acquired from Rajkot (Geog. Lat. 22.29°N, Geog. Long. 70.74°E; Geom. Lat. 14.21°N, Geom. Long. 144.90°E), India. The day-to-day variability of EIA characteristics is examined during low solar activity period (F10.7∼83 sfu). It is found that the daily maximum TEC at EIA crest exhibits a day-to-day and strong semi-annual variability. The seasonal anomaly and equinoctial asymmetry in TEC at EIA is found non-existent and weaker, respectively. We found a moderate and positive correlation of daily magnitude of crest, Ic with daily F10.7 and EUV fluxes with a correlation coefficient of 0.43 and 0.33, respectively indicating an existence of a short-term relation between TEC at EIA and the solar radiation even during low solar activity period. The correlation of daily Ic with Dst index is also moderate (r = −0.35), whereas no correlation is found with the daily Kp index (r = 0.14) respectively. We found that the magnitude of EIA crest is moderately correlated with solar flux in all seasons except winter where it is weakly related (0.27). The magnitude of EIA crest is also found highly related with EEJ strength in spring (r = 0.69) and summer (r = 0.65) than autumn (0.5) and winter (r = 0.47), though EEJ is stronger in autumn than spring.     

On the practical exploitation of perturbative effects in low Earth orbit for space debris mitigation

This paper presents the results of a numerical evaluation of the natural lifetime reduction in low Earth orbit, due to dynamical perturbations. The study considers two values for the area-to-mass ratio, a nominal ratio which resembles a typical value of spacecraft in orbit today, and an enhanced ratio which covers the surface augmentation. The results were obtained with two orbit propagators, one of a semi-analytical nature and the second one using non-averaged equations of motion. The simulations for both propagators were set up similarly to allow comparison. They both use the solar radiation pressure and the secular terms of the geopotential ($J_2,J_4$ and $J_6$). The atmospheric drag was turned on and off in both propagators to alternatively study the eccentricity build up and the residual lifetime. The non-averaging case also covers a validation with the full 6?×?6 geopotential. The results confirm the findings in previous publications, that is, the possibility for de-orbiting from altitudes above the residual atmosphere if a solar sail is deployed at the end-of-life, due to the combined effect of solar radiation pressure and the oblateness of the Earth. At near polar inclinations, shadowing effects can be exploited to the same end. The results obtained with the full, non-averaging propagator revealed additional de-orbiting corridors associated with solar radiation pressure which were not found by previous work on space debris mitigation. The results of both tools are compared for specific initial conditions. For nominal values of area-to-mass ratio, instead, it is confirmed that this resonance effect is negligible.The paper then puts the findings in the perspective of the current satellite catalogue. It identifies space missions which are currently close to a resonance corridor and shows the orbit evolution within the resonances with a significantly shorter residual orbital lifetime. The paper finishes with a discussion on the exploitation of these effects with regards to the long-term simulation of the space debris environment and a flux and collision probability comparison.     

The origin of the prompt optical emission in GRB 060111B

The detection of a bright optical emission measured with good temporal resolution during the prompt phase makes GRB 060111B a rare event that is especially useful for constraining theories of the prompt optical emission. Comparing this burst with other GRBs with evidence of optical peaks, we find that the optical peak epoch (t_p) is anti-correlated with the high energy burst energetic assuming an isotropic energy release (E_iso) in agreement with Liang et al. (2009), and that the steeper is the post-peak afterglow decay, the less is the agreement with the correlation. GRB 060111B is among the latters and it does not match the correlation. The Cannonball scenario is also discussed and we find that this model cannot be excluded for GRB 060111B.     

Characteristics of the seasonal variation of the global tropopause revealed by COSMIC/GPS data

Using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation observations from Formosa Satellite mission-3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC) from 2007 to 2012, the climatological characteristics of the global tropopause was studied, with the following features identified. The overall results generally agree with previous studies. The tropopause has an obvious zonal structure, with more zonal characteristics in the Southern Hemisphere than the Northern Hemisphere. The vertical shape of the tropopause is sharp in the tropics and broad in the sub-tropical latitudes, with the sharpest latitudinal gradient in the mid-latitudes of both hemispheres. The global tropopause exists in a large range between 8 km and 17 km (or between 100 hPa and 340 hPa). The highest tropopause is over the South Asian monsoon regions for the entire year. The spatial structure of the tropopause in the polar region is of concentric structure, with an altitude between 7.5 km and 10 km. It is more symmetric in the Antarctic than the Arctic. Differing from other places, the height of the tropopause in the Antarctic is higher in winter as opposed to summer. The tropopause has distinct seasonal variability, especially in polar regions.     

Morphological studies on ionospheric VHF scintillations over an Indian low latitude station during a solar cycle period (2001–2010)

The amplitude scintillations data recorded at 244 MHz from the geostationary satellite, FLEETSAT (73°E) at a low latitude station, Waltair (17.7°N, 83.3°E) during the ten year period of high to low solar activity from 2001 to 2010 is considered to study the occurrence characteristics of the VHF scintillations. A close association between the intense scintillations on VHF signals during pre-midnight hours, associated with range type of spread-F on ionograms and a relatively weak and slow fading scintillations during post-midnight hours associated with frequency type of spread-F is observed during the relatively high sunspot years from 2001 to 2004, whereas during the low sunspot years from 2005 to 2010 the scintillation activity as well as spread-F activity are found to be minimum. During both the high and low sunspot years, it is observed that the maximum scintillation activity occurs during equinoctial months followed by winter with the minimum occurrence during summer months. The annual mean percentage occurrence of scintillations is found to be clearly associated with the variations in the annual mean sunspot number. The nocturnal variations in the occurrence of scintillations show the onset of scintillation activity starts from 19:00 h LT with maximum of occurrence around 21:00 h LT. A clear semiannual variation in the occurrence of scintillations is observed during pre-midnight hours with two peaks in equinoctial months of March/April and September/October. The number of scintillation patches observed is found to be more during pre-midnight hours compared to those during post-midnight hours. The most probable scintillation patch duration lies around 30 min. Further, it is also found that the number of scintillation patches with durations of 60 min and more decreases with the increase in the patch duration. It is also observed in general that the scintillation activity is inhibited during geomagnetic disturbed days.     

Study of satellite retrieved CO2 and CH4 concentration over India

This paper reports a study of spatial and temporal variations of columnar averaged concentration of CO₂ and CH₄ over India using SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) and Greenhouse gas Observing SATellite (GOSAT) data. Comparison of these data with the global view National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) land data and also location specific flask data is made. The temporal variation in column averaged global CO₂ is similar to that over India and it is also similar to the NOAA surface flask data and global view. The variation in NOAA surface CH₄ is location dependent and its global view appears to vary seasonally in opposite phase with the column averaged CH₄ values from satellites, reflecting the limited comparability of surface and column averaged data. Over India the CO₂ maximum is in May and minimum in August/September while for CH₄ the maximum is in September and minimum in February/March. The seasonal variation of CH₄ over India is correlated with the eastern coastal rice cultivation.     

Estimation of GPS instrumental biases from small scale network

With 4 GPS receivers located in the equatorial anomaly region in southeast China, this paper proposes a grid-based algorithm to determine the GPS satellites and receivers biases, and at the same time to derive the total electron content (TEC) with time resolution of 15 min and spatial resolution of 1° by 3.5° in latitude and longitude. By assuming that the TEC is identical at any point within a given grid block and the biases do not vary within a day, the algorithm arranges unknown biases and TECs with slant path TEC from the 4 receivers’ observations into a set of equations. Then the instrumental biases and the TECs are determined by using the least squares fitting technique. The performance of the method is examined by applying it to the GPS receiver chain observations selected from 16 geomagnetically quiet days in four seasons of 2006. It is found that the fitting agrees with the data very well, with goodness of fit ranging from 0.452 TECU to 1.914 TECU. Having a mean of 0.9 ns, the standard deviations for most of the GPS satellite biases are less than 1.0 ns for the 16 days. The GPS receiver biases are more stable than that of the GPS satellites. The standard deviation in the 4 receiver bias is from 0.370 ns to 0.855 ns, with a mean of 0.5 ns. Moreover, the instrumental biases are highly correlated with those derived from CODE and JPL with independent methods. The typical precision of the derived TEC is 5 TECU by a conservative estimation. These results indicate that the proposed algorithm is valid and qualified for small scale GPS network.     

Variability of foE in the equatorial ionosphere with solar activity

This research examined the variability of f_oE in the equatorial ionosphere with solar activity within the equatorial ionospheric anomaly region. Ionosonde data recorded at Ouagadougou (lat. 12.4°N, long. 1.5°W and magnetic dip 1.43°N) were engaged to study the transient variations of the critical frequency of the E-layer (f_oE) and its dependence on solar activity. The study revealed that f_oE increases with the increase in solar intensity of the sun. The variability of the f_oE decreases with increases in the solar activity. The maximum value of the f_oE is at local noon when the ionosphere is stable; the variability at this local time is minimal. The minimum value of the f_oE is at sunrise and sunset, at this period on local time the equatorial ionosphere recorded its maxima variability. Irrespective of the degree of solar activity, f_oE is observed to be maximum in June solstice, followed by the equinoxes and minimum in December solstice. Equinoctial asymmetry occurred in the variation of the relative standard deviation of f_oE with maximum in September/March equinox for low/high solar activity.     

Advanced fractal approach for unsupervised classification of SAR images

Unsupervised classification of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is the alternative approach when no or minimum apriori information about the image is available. Therefore, an attempt has been made to develop an unsupervised classification scheme for SAR images based on textural information in present paper. For extraction of textural features two properties are used viz. fractal dimension D and Moran’s I. Using these indices an algorithm is proposed for contextual classification of SAR images. The novelty of the algorithm is that it implements the textural information available in SAR image with the help of two texture measures viz. D and I. For estimation of D, the Two Dimensional Variation Method (2DVM) has been revised and implemented whose performance is compared with another method, i.e., Triangular Prism Surface Area Method (TPSAM). It is also necessary to check the classification accuracy for various window sizes and optimize the window size for best classification. This exercise has been carried out to know the effect of window size on classification accuracy. The algorithm is applied on four SAR images of Hardwar region, India and classification accuracy has been computed. A comparison of the proposed algorithm using both fractal dimension estimation methods with the K-Means algorithm is discussed. The maximum overall classification accuracy with K-Means comes to be 53.26% whereas overall classification accuracy with proposed algorithm is 66.16% for TPSAM and 61.26% for 2DVM.     

The Kumtag meteorite strewn field

The Kumtag meteorite strewn field was found in the Kumtag desert, 132 km south of Hami city in the Xinjiang province, China. It is an ellipse of 2.5 × 7.9 km, with a long axis extending along the northeast-southwest direction. The largest individual meteorite of the strewn field weighs about 10 kg; the smallest individual has a mass of only 27 g. In total, more than 100 individuals with a total mass of more than 180 kg were collected. The location and the distribution of the fragments suggest that the Kumtag meteoroid entered the atmosphere in the direction Northeast-Southwest. All meteorites collected in this strewn field are samples from the same unique meteorite shower. The Kumtag meteorite is an H5 ordinary chondrite with a shock stage S2, and a weathering grade W2. The cosmic ray exposure age of Kumtag is 6.7 ± 0.8 Ma, which is rather typical for H chondrites and which indicates that Kumtag was derived from the massive impact event on its parent body ~7 Ma ago. A significant amount of He has been lost during certain unknown processe(s) before the Kumtag meteorite was ejected from its parent body.     

Ballooning perturbations in the inner magnetosphere of the Earth: Spectrum,stability and eigenmode analysis

We investigate the generation of ballooning perturbations in the inner magnetosphere of the Earth in the dipole model of the geomagnetic field taking into account ionospheric boundary conditions. The ionosphere is considered as a thin layer with finite conductivity. The eigenmode spectrum is discrete and consists of Alfvén, slow magnetosonic, flute and incompressible modes. Their interaction depends on ionospheric conductivity. The decay rate is small in noon and night sectors and large in dawn and dusk sectors. The lowest stability threshold α/γ ≈ 4.25 is determined by flute modes.     

Model calculation of hydrogen balmer emissions under various modes of proton precipitation

A theoretical model is developed to study the H_α and H_β volume emission rates in proton auroras. The H_α and H_β photon yields are deduced by using the recent experimental cross-sections. These photon yields are then coupled with the primary proton fluxes to get the altitude profiles of the emissions. The prediction of the altitude profiles are found in good agreement with the auroral measurements. The effects of various modes of proton precipitation on the emission intensities (IH_α and IH_β) are discussed and a comparison is made with the earlier theoretical models. It is also found that the intensity ratio IH_α/IH_β varies between 5 and 6.     

Comparison of observed TEC values with IRI-2007 TEC and IRI-2007 TEC with optional foF2 measurements predictions at an equatorial region,Chumphon, Thailand

In this research, as part of working towards improving the IRI over equatorial region, the total electron content (TEC) derived from GPS measurements and IRI-2007 TEC predictions at Chumphon station (10.72°N, 99.37°E), Thailand, during 2004–2006 is analyzed. The seasonal variation of the IRI-2007 TEC predictions is compared with the TEC from the IRI-2007 TEC model with the option of the actual F2 plasma frequency (foF2) measurements as well as the TEC from the GPS and International GNSS service (IGS). The Chumphon station is located at the equatorial region and the low latitude of 3.22°N. For a declining phase of the solar cycle (2004–2006), the study shows that the IRI-2007 TEC underestimates the IRI-2007 TEC with the foF2 observation at the nighttime by about 5 TECU. The maximum differences are about 15 TECU during daytime and 5 TECU during nighttime. The overestimation is more evident at daytime than at nighttime. When compared in terms of the root-mean square error (RMSE), we find that the highest RMSE between GPS TEC and IRI 2007 TEC is 14.840 TECU at 1230 LT in 2004 and the lowest average between them is 1.318 TECU at 0630 LT in 2006. The noon bite-out phenomena are clearly seen in the IRI-2007 TEC with and without optional foF2 measurements, but not on the GPS TEC and IGS TEC. The IRI TEC with optional foF2 measurements gives the lowest RMSE values between IRI TEC predicted and TEC measurement. However, the TEC measurements (GPS TEC and IGS TEC) are more correct to use at Chumphon station.     

The verification of GNSS tropospheric tomography model in a mountainous area

The GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) has not been developed as a meteorological data source provider, but with a careful and sophisticated processing strategy it might be used as one. The term GNSS tomography refers to the usage of the ray traced GNSS signal as scanning rays in the tomographic model input. The model is divided into a number of voxels. The system is inverted and value of refractivity is obtained. Typically, as in the most of the inverse processing, there is a problem of the undetermined system and as a consequence the cofactor matrix is close to singular. To avoid singularity additional conditions or constrains should be added to the system. Here, additional parameters are derived with the help of the air flow analysis in the Sudety mountains (south-west region of Poland), and special Slant Wet Delay (SWD) trimming procedure. The flow’s synthetic parameters like the Bruint-Väisälä frequency and the Froude number are determined. This way the type of the flow is recognized and the analysis of the impact of orographic barrier has been quantified. The SWDs from the GNSS observations were tested against, SWD from raytracing through the COAMPS model field. The modified GNSS tomography model was tested for the real GNSS observations delivered from the GNSS network Karkonosze located in the Sudety mountains and compared with the COAMPS model. The solution shows a considerable improvement in comparison with plain tomographic model results.     

The radial distribution of gamma rays and cosmic rays in the outer Galaxy

The radial distribution of the high-energy (70 MeV-5 GeV) gamma-ray emissivity in the outer Milky Way is derived. The kinematics of HI are used to construct column-density maps in three galacto-centric distance ranges in the outer Galaxy. These maps are used in combination with COS-B gamma-ray data to determine gamma-ray emissivities in these distance ranges. A steep negative gradient of the emissivity for the 70 MeV-150 MeV energy range is found in the outer Galaxy. The emissivity for the 300 MeV-5 GeV range is found to be approximately constant (within 20%) and equal to the local value out to large (20 kpc) galacto-centric distances. These results imply a hardening of the gamma-ray spectrum with increrasing distance and for R > 16 kpc the spectrum is shown to be consistent with a π°-decay spectrum with the intensity expected from the local measurement of the cosmic-ray nuclei spectrum. The energy-dependent decrease is interpreted as a steep gradient in the cosmic-ray electron density and a near constancy of the nuclear component. The galactic origin of electrons with energies up to several hundreds of MeV is confirmed, while for cosmic-ray nuclei with energies of a few GeV either confinement in a large galactic halo or an extragalactic origin is suggested by the data.     

Empirical model of the TEC response to the geomagnetic activity over the North American region

The paper presents an empirical model of the total electron content (TEC) response to the geomagnetic activity described by the K_p-index. The model is built on the basis of TEC measurements covering the region of North America (50°W–150°W, 10°N–60°N) for the period of time between October 2004 and December 2009. By using a 2D (latitude-time) cross-correlation analysis it is found that the ionospheric response to the geomagnetic activity over the considered geographic region and at low solar activity revealed both positive and negative phases of response. The both phases of the ionospheric response have different duration and time delay with respect to the geomagnetic storm. It was found that these two parameters of the ionospheric response depend on the season and geographical latitude. The presence of two phases, positive and negative, of the ionospheric response imposed the implementation of two different time delay constants in order to properly describe the two different delayed reactions. The seasonal dependence of the TEC response to geomagnetic storms is characterized by predominantly positive response in winter with a short (usually ∼5–6 h) time delay as well as mainly negative response in summer with a long (larger than 15 h) time delay. While the TEC response in March and October is more close to the winter one the response in April and September is similar to the summer one.     

Study the behavior of the ionospheric frequencies at Karachi during three consecutive solar minima of cycle 21, 22 & 23 and their comparison with IRI-2016

The behavior of critical frequencies of ionospheric E and F2 layers (foE & foF2) along with minimum ionospheric frequency (fmin) is studied for solar minima of cycle 21 (1986), 22 (1996) and 23 (2008) over Karachi (24.95$°$N, 67.13$°$E), Pakistan. The station is located at the crest of equatorial ionization anomaly region. Beside seasonal differences, pronounced change in the values of frequencies is noted from one solar minimum to another solar minimum. A strong and direct correlation of foF2 with Smoothed Sunspot Number (SSN) and F10.7?cm solar flux is observed. In the minimum of cycle 23, reduction in foF2 is noted due to reduction of solar EUV as compared to other minima. Also disappearance of semi-annual variations in foF2 is noted in cycle 23 minimum. Unexpectedly higher values of foE and fmin are observed in minimum of cycle 23 as compared to other minima. It is difficult to explain this unusual behavior of fmin and foE along with disappearance of semi-annual variation in foF2. It is possible that during very low solar activity, thermospheric conditions are changed which in turn altered the ionosphere. Further investigation of atmosphere-ionosphere coupling is required to understand this complex behavior. On comparison of observed values with IRI-2016, higher deviations are observed in foE before noon hours while in case of foF2, large deviations are noted during daytime. The absence of foF2 semi-annual variation in cycle 23 is not reproduced by IRI-2016. It is suggested that IRI-2016 need some modification for extremely low solar activity condition.     

Stability of relative equilibria of the full spacecraft dynamics around an asteroid with orbit–attitude coupling

The full dynamics of spacecraft around an asteroid, in which the spacecraft is considered as a rigid body and the gravitational orbit–attitude coupling is taken into account, is of great value and interest in the precise theories of the motion. The spectral stability of the classical relative equilibria of the full spacecraft dynamics around an asteroid is studied with the method of geometric mechanics. The stability conditions are given explicitly based on the characteristic equation of the linear system matrix. It is found that the linearized system decouples into two entirely independent subsystems, which correspond to the motions within and outside the equatorial plane of the asteroid respectively. The system parameters are divided into three groups that describe the traditional stationary orbit stability, the significance of the orbit–attitude coupling and the mass distribution of the spacecraft respectively. The spectral stability of the relative equilibria is investigated numerically with respect to the three groups of system parameters. The relations between the full spacecraft dynamics and the traditional spacecraft dynamics, as well as the effect of the orbit–attitude coupling, are assessed. We find that when the orbit–attitude coupling is strong, the mass distribution of the spacecraft dominates the stability of the relative equilibria; whereas when the orbit–attitude coupling is weak, both the mass distribution and the traditional stationary orbit stability have significant effects on the stability. We also give a criterion to determine whether the orbit–attitude coupling needs to be considered.