Synoptic observations of coronal transients and their interplanetary consequences

A small coronagraph has been placed in orbit to monitor the sun's outer corona from 2.5 to 10.0 solar radii, and five years of nearly continuous synoptic observations have now been completed. Rapid and sensitive image processing techniques have been developed to screen the data for transient phenomena, particularly coronal mass ejections (CMEs). About 50,000 coronal images have been examined, out of a five-year total of 68,000, and a standardized listing of more than 1,200 coronal transients for the period 1979–1982 has been prepared. These data have been analysed in the light of other available information, particularly on conditions in the interplanetary plasma. The dynamical characteristics of the active corona, as they are beginning to emerge from the data, are presented. We find that coronal mass ejections exercise significant influence on the interplanetary solar wind. They are the source of disturbances that are frequent and energetic, that tend to be somewhat focussed, that often reach shock intensity, and that propagate to large heliocentric distances, sometimes causing major geomagnetic storms.     

How far is far enough? Requirements derivation for planetary mobility systems

The origination of duration and distance requirements on planetary mobility systems (generally, rovers) are reviewed in detail. It is found that a ‘clean’ flow down from scientific objectives to requirement to capability is rarely presented. Rather, the historical record shows that the capability of emerging designs has been adopted post-hoc as a requirement, simple comparative superiority to predecessor missions has been invoked in competitive situations, or the requirement has been driven by capability of other elements of a mission architecture, such as delivery precision or astronaut life support. These deviations from the idealized systems engineering process have nonetheless resulted in missions that have generally been considered highly successful.     

An experience gained from the use of reflection spectra for determination of the humus content in soils

It has been shown that colour coordinates are the most representative characteristic from which the content of humus in soils can be quantitatively estimated. The results have been presented of determination of the humus content in soils from spectral measurements made in laboratory and field conditions.     

Modelling bottom and topside electron density and TEC with profile data from topside ionograms

The paper describes the technique that has been implemented to model the electron density distribution above and below the F2 peak making use of only the profiles obtained from the INTERCOSMOS-19 topside ionograms. Each single profile from the satellite height to the ionosphere peak has been fitted by a semi-Epstein layer function of the type used in the DGR model with shape factor variable with altitude. The topside above the satellite height has been extrapolated to match given values of plasmaspheric electron densities to obtain the full topside profile. The bottomside electron density has been calculated by using the maximum electron density and its altitude estimated from the topside ionogram as input for a modified version of the DGR derived profiler that uses model values for the foF1 and foE layers of the ionosphere. Total electron content has also been calculated. Longitudinal cross sections of vertical profiles from latitudes 50° N to 50° S latitude are shown for low and high geomagnetic activity. These cross sections indicate the equatorial anomaly effect and the changes of the shape of low latitude topside ionosphere during geomagnetic active periods. These results and the potentiality of the technique are discussed.     

利用COSMIC数据研究顶部电离层O+扩散流的统计特征

从等离子体运动方程出发, 利用COSMIC星座的掩星数据, 借助相关经验模式, 计算了太阳活动低年顶部电离层O+场向扩散速度和扩散通量, 并分析了其全球分布和日变化特征. 结果表明, 白天等离子体扩散速度的方向随高度增加由向下(极向)逐步变为向上(赤道向), 方向转变的高度一般在hmF2+80 km以下. 在白天较高高度, 南北磁纬10o ~20 o存在着向上方向的最大扩散速度和扩散通量; 而在夜间, 南北磁纬30o~40 o存在向下方向的最大扩散速度和扩散通量. 在分点, 南北半球的扩散通量和扩散速度大致对称; 而在至点, 扩散通量存在着明显的南北半球不对称现象. 另外, 不同纬度的扩散速度有着不同的日变化特征.      

Pulsars and their nebulae as EGRET sources

At the end of the EGRET mission, only 6–8 Galactic sources had been identified as young pulsars. Since then, several energetic pulsars have been detected in EGRET error boxes along the Galactic plane, as well as several pulsar wind nebulae from which pulsations have not yet been discovered. Some of these nebulae are associated with moderately variable EGRET sources, suggesting that the γ-ray emission might be coming from the nebula rather than from the pulsar magnetosphere. There is also a population of unidentified EGRET sources at mid-Galactic latitudes which have been proposed to be either nearby middle-aged pulsars or millisecond pulsars. I review the current status of observational studies of pulsars associated with EGRET sources and what they suggest the upcoming AGILE and GLAST γ-ray missions might observe.     

Initial results from COMPTEL onboard GRO

COMPTEL is the first imaging telescope to explore the MeV gamma-ray range (0.7 to 30 MeV). At present, it is performing a complete sky survey. In later phases of the mission selected celestial objects will be studied in more detail. The data from the first year of the mission have demonstrated that COMPTEL performs very well. First sky maps of the inner part of the Galaxy clearly identify the plane as a bright MeV-source (probably due to discrete sources as well as diffuse radiation). The Crab and Vela pulsar lightcurves have been measured with unprecedented accuracy. The quasars 3C273 and 3C279 have been seen for the first time at MeV energies. Both quasars show a break in their energy spectra in the COMPTEL energy range. The 1.8 MeV line from radioactive ²⁶A1 has been detected from the central region of the Galaxy and a first sky map of the inner part of the Galaxy has been obtained in the light of this line. Upper limits to gamma-ray line emission at 847 keV and 1.238 MeV from SN 1991T have been derived. Upper limits to the interstellar gamma-ray emissivity have been determined at MeV-energies. Several cosmic gamma-ray bursts within the field-of-view have been located with an accuracy of about 1°. On 1991 June 9, 11 and 15, COMPTEL observed gamma-ray emission (continuum and line) from three solar flares. Also neutrons were detected from the June 9 and June 15 flares.     

Preliminary study on migration pattern of the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) based on satellite tracking

The spatial and temporal patterns of the endangered Tibetan antelope or chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii) have been studied using satellite-based ARGOS platform transmitter terminal (PTT) tracking data. The data was obtained from the satellite tracking of two female Tibetan antelopes that were collared with satellite transmitters and have been tracked from August 2007 to April 2009.     

Production of QPOs in accreting neutron star systems

Kilohertz QPOs have been detected from more than 20 neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. Several different ideas have been proposed for their generation, involving resonances, magnetic interactions, and sharp transitions in the accretion flow. We show that although details are uncertain at this time, it is clear that the stellar magnetic field has a dynamic influence on the accretion flow. We also discuss the inferences about dense matter and strong gravity that can be drawn from all models, and the qualitative advances expected with a future X-ray timing mission.     

基于红外热像仪对珠状凝结换热过程实验

通过非接触式测温装置红外热像仪,观测冷凝液滴的形成、生长以及液滴之间汇聚、滚落过程.实验发现在珠状冷凝过程中,其表面温度变化显著.随着冷凝过程的进行,小液滴逐渐汇聚成大液滴,其液滴单位面积换热量明显下降,液滴表面温度逐渐降低.微纳米级小液滴在珠状冷凝换热中具有至关重要的作用.液滴在洁净表面上的珠状凝结和液滴在汇合后自清理表面上的珠状凝结表现出不同的温度分布,即珠状凝结汇聚后的自清理表面一直被前驱膜所覆盖.      

The structure of the solar corona as observed by the Solar Extreme ultraviolet Rocket Telescope and Spectrograph

Data from the Solar Extreme-ultraviolet Rocket Telescope and Spectrograph (SERTS) have been used to address a number of important scientific problems. The primary strength of the SERTS data is the fact that this spectral range is rich with emission lines. Over 270 lines are seen in the SERTS active Sun spectrum, from 57 different ions. For example, multiple (≥4) lines are observed for all ionization states of iron from Fe IX to Fe XVII. Temperatures and densities have been derived for a number of active and quiet Sun regions, the coronal magnetic field strength has been estimated for both a plage region and an active region.     

The quantification of wound healing as a method to assess late radiation damage in primate skin exposed to high-energy protons.

In an experiment examining the effects of space radiations on primates, different groups of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were exposed to single whole-body doses of 32- or 55-MeV protons. Survivors of those exposures, together with age-matched controls, have been monitored continuously since 1964 and 1965. Late effects of nominal proton doses ranging from 2-6 Gray have been measured in vitro using skin fibroblasts from the animals. A logical extension of that study is reported here, and it involves observations of wound healing after 3-mm diameter dermal punches were removed from the ears (pinnae) of control and irradiated monkeys. Tendencies in the reduction of competence to repair cutaneous wounds have been revealed by the initial examinations of animals that received doses greater than 2 Gy more than 2 decades earlier. These trends indicate that this method of assessing radiation damage to skin exposed to high-energy radiations warrants further study.     

地外天体起飞羽流导流气动力效应仿真

探测器自地外天体采样返回过程中,发动机羽流作用于起飞平台后返流至起飞器表面,产生气动力效应及干扰力矩。针对圆锥形羽流导流结构,利用计算流体力学/直接模拟蒙特卡罗（CFD/DSMC）耦合方法,对起飞器距离起飞平台200~700 mm,偏转角度0°~5°范围内的羽流导流气动力效应进行了仿真计算。计算结果表明,随着上升距离增加和偏转角度增大,起飞器受到的力矩出现了反向增加现象,严重影响起飞稳定。研究发现,上述现象产生的主要原因为偏转角度增加时,起飞器距离起飞平台较远一侧的羽流与起飞平台作用点由圆锥导流结构逐渐偏移至平面位置,导致羽流作用于起飞平台后的流动方向由贴近起飞平台向侧面流动急剧转变为反弹至起飞器底面方向流动,从而使远离起飞平台的一侧所受力矩高于靠近起飞平台一侧,产生反向力矩。      

Seasonal-to-interannual variability of chlorophyll-a bloom timing associated with physical forcing in the Gulf of Cádiz

Seasonal-to-interannual variability of the winter-spring bloom in the Gulf of Cádiz, eastern North Atlantic, has been investigated using chlorophyll-a remote sensing (CHL). These data have been obtained from the GlobColour project; the temporal coverage extends from September 1997 to December 2010. In this study we develop a generic quantitative approach for describing the temporal variability in the shape of the winter-spring bloom within a region. Variability in both the timing and magnitude of the bloom in the basin has been evaluated as a function of physical properties in the water column such as Mixed Layer Depth (MLD, GODAS model), sea surface temperature (SST, from AVHRR radiometers), photosynthetically-active radiation (PAR, from ocean color data) and euphotic depth (Z_eu, from ocean color data). The analysis indicated that the timing, size and duration of the phytoplankton bloom in this area are largely controlled by both meteorological and oceanographic conditions at different scales; this means that it is likely to vary widely from one year to another.     

Diurnal variations of convective cloudiness in tropical Africa observed with Meteosat ISCCP B2 data

Monthly composite images have been constructed from 8 times of the day from the ISCCP B2 Meteosat data set. Average and standard deviation images in IR and WV channels have been constructed at first. These images allow to describe the mean diurnal cycle of convection over Africa, and show that this cycle is strongly influenced by the orography. Comparisons between two very different rainy seasons in West Africa, 1983 and 1985, show some differences in the diurnal cycles.     

Observation level combination of SLR and VLBI with c5++: A case study for TIGO

A multi-technique space geodetic analysis software named c5++ has been developed and allows one to combine data on the observation level. With SLR and VLBI modules being ready and tested, this software has been used to compute coordinate time series of the geodetic fundamental station TIGO, located near Concepción, Chile. It can be shown that the combination of space geodetic data on the observation level leads to a significant improvement of station position repeatability, which is an important measure for the stability of a station in the terrestrial reference frame. Moreover, it could be demonstrated that the geophysical signal of the post-seismic tectonic plate movement is usually more complete than detected by any of the two single-technique solutions. In addition, it has been confirmed that so-called nuisance parameters, which are relying on data from a single technique, are not biased when combing observations from different space geodetic techniques.     

The mechanics of air-breathing in anuran larvae: implications to the development of amphibians in microgravity.

Because of their rapid development, amphibians have been important model organisms in studies of how microgravity affects vertebrate growth and differentiation. Both urodele (salamanders) and anuran (frogs and toads) embryos have been raised in orbital flight, the latter several times. The most commonly reported and striking effects of microgravity on tadpoles are not in the vestibular system, as one might suppose, but in their lungs and tails. Pathological changes in these organs disrupt behavior and retard larval growth. What causes malformed (typically lordotic) tadpoles in microgravity is not known, nor have axial pathologies been reported in every flight experiment. Lung pathology, however, has been consistently observed and is understood to result from the failure of the animals to inflate their lungs in a timely and adequate fashion. We suggest that malformities in the axial skeleton of tadpoles raised in microgravity are secondary to problems in respiratory function. We have used high speed videography to investigate how tadpoles breathe air in the 1G environment. The video images reveal alternative species-specific mechanisms, that allow tadpoles to separate air from water in less that 150 ms. We observed nothing in the biomechanics of air-breathing in 1G that would preclude these same mechanisms from working in microgravity. Thus our kinematic results suggest that the failure of tadpoles to inflate their lungs properly in microgravity is due to the tadpoles' inability to locate the air-water interface and not a problem with the inhalation mechanism per se.     

Injuries to plants from controlled environment contaminants.

The use of controlled environments is subject to problems from contaminants emitted from materials of the system and from plants. Many contaminants are difficult to identify because injurious dosages are very low, there is a lack of information on what compounds injure plants, because species and cultivars differ greatly in their sensitivity to injury and injury symptoms often are not distinctive. Plastics have been shown to emit many different volatile compounds. The compound, di-butyl phthalate, contained in certain flexible plastics, has been shown to be very toxic to plants. Other injuries have been produced by caulking compounds and bonded screening. Paints have been shown to release xylene that is toxic to plants. Steam for humidification can cause problems because of hydroxylamines and other compounds added to steam used for heating to control fungal growth in return lines. Mercury, from broken thermometers is a particular problem in growth chambers because small quantities can collect in cracks and slowly volatilize to slow growth of plants. Plants themselves release large quantities of volatile hydrocarbons, with ethylene being the commonly recognized chemical that can be damaging when allowed to accumulate. People release large quantities of carbon dioxide which can cause variations in the rate of growth of plants. Contaminant problems can be controlled through filtering of the air or ventilation with make-up air, however the potential for problems is always present and careful testing should be undertaken with the particular species and cultivars being grown insure that there are no toxic agents altering growth in each particular controlled environment being utilized.     

Face-dependent impact probabilities, velocities and angles upon LDEF by space debris and natural meteoroids

For specified geocentric orbits the impact probabilities, velocities and angles upon the different faces of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) are calculated, and it is found that quite different distributions of micro-cratering are to be expected. In particular the flux to the East (leading) face should exceed that to the West (trailing) face by a very large ratio. The North and South faces receive exposures slightly in excess of the East face for lower-velocity impacts from low-inclination orbits, but much lower exposures than the East face for high-velocity impacts from high-inclination orbits. The Space face (pointing directly away from the Earth) and the Earth face (pointing directly towards the Earth) will have been subject to very few impacts from geocentric orbits. Therefore, whilst three sides (the East, North and South) will have been hit many times by artificial space debris, the other three (the West, Space and Earth) will have been impacted almost solely by natural meteoroids from heliocentric orbits, and may be used to determine the flux of such particles in the vicinity of the Earth. The ratios of impacts upon the East, West and Space faces will be useful indicators of the velocity/orbit distribution of meteoroids.     

Estimation of stress and its use in evaluation of landslide prone regions using remote sensing data

Recently, use of remote sensing data for determining the orientation of stress has been demonstrated. The present study deals with the estimation of stress pattern in the part of the Himalayan region which shows the ongoing neo-tectonic activities. The study area falls into a tectonically active zone of the Central-Himalaya, with a complex geotectonic set-up confined by a number of faults. Efforts have been made to evaluate the technique as a fast algorithm for quick and time limited analysis of linear feature from which the orientation of the lineaments are estimated by using remote sensing data. Further, the estimation of stress and the lineament analysis have been used in mapping of landslide prone areas. Terrain information such as land cover, geology, lineament, faults, mega faults, geomorphology and drainage has been derived from the satellite imageries, and the existing thematic information has been updated to enable the quantification of landslide causative parameters. Spatial and temporal multi-layered information have been used for landslides hazard susceptibility analysis. The qualitative hazard analysis has been carried out using the map overlying techniques in GIS environment along the central part of Himalayan region. It has been observed that the high potential zones have been found to have very high lineament density, moderate to low drainage density and high slope areas of the terrain. On the basis of the geological and morphological analysis, it is further suggested that the combined impacts of the crushed nature of bed rock (due to the neo-tectonic activities), heavy rainfall and lack of vegetation cover cause persistent recurrence of landslides along this region. The role of earthquake on induction of landslides will be presented.