Results from the ESA SREM monitors and comparison with existing radiation belt models

The Standard Radiation Environment Monitor (SREM) is a simple particle detector developed for wide application on ESA satellites. It measures high-energy protons and electrons of the space environment with a 20° angular resolution and limited spectral information. Of the ten SREMs that have been manufactured, four have so far flown. The first model on STRV-1c functioned well until an early spacecraft failure. The other three are on-board, the ESA spacecraft INTEGRAL, ROSETTA and PROBA-1. Another model is flying on GIOVE-B, launched in April 2008 with three L-2 science missions to follow: both Herschel and Planck in 2008, and GAIA in 2011). The diverse orbits of these spacecraft and the common calibration of the monitors provides a unique dataset covering a wide range of B-L* space, providing a direct comparison of the radiation levels in the belts at different locations, and the effects of geomagnetic shielding. Data from the PROBA/SREM and INTEGRAL/IREM are compared with existing radiation belt models.     

Tidal associated temperature disturbances observed at the middle atmosphere (30–65 km) by a Rayleigh lidar at 23°S

A lidar has been operated in São José dos Campos, Brazil (23.2°S, 45.8°W) since 1972, mainly dedicated to the study of mesospheric sodium at the 589 nm resonant line. The molecular Rayleigh scattering can also be used provided we limit the height to ∼75 km where the sodium scattering begins. Nevertheless, the weak signal obtained only permits the determination of density and temperature profiles by accumulating a large number of shots giving only nocturnal average profiles. Temporal variations in density and temperature on the scale of hours can however, be obtained by performing a superposed epoch analysis for a given time interval and covering a period of several days. In this way we obtained hourly mean profiles grouped by months, seasons and overall, with data acquired from 1993 to 2004. The difference between the hourly temperatures and the nocturnal means shows for some months, with enough data coverage, downward propagating structures that apparently have tidal origin. The seasonal averages show a recurrent feature with high temperatures before and low temperatures after midnight above 50 km. Some similarity is found with the GSWM model, but the observed temperature amplitudes are twice of that for the model.     

Distribution and variability of accelerated electrons at Mars

We investigate accelerated electrons observed by Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), using data from the Electron Reflectometer (ER) instrument. We find three different types of accelerated electron events. Current sheet events occur over regions with weak or no crustal fields, have the highest electron energy fluxes, and are likely located on draped magnetotail fields. Extended events occur over regions with moderate crustal magnetic fields, and are most often observed on closed magnetic field lines. Localized events have the lowest energy fluxes, occur in strong magnetic cusp regions, and are the most likely kind of event to be found on open magnetic field lines. Some localized events have clear signatures of field-aligned currents; these events have much higher electron fluxes, and are preferentially observed on radially oriented open magnetic field lines. Electron acceleration events, especially localized events, are similar in many ways to events observed in the terrestrial auroral zone. However, physical processes related to those found in the terrestrial cusp and/or plasmasheet could also be responsible for accelerating electrons at Mars.     

Evolution of the orbital elements for objects with high area-to-mass ratios in geostationary transfer orbits

A new population of uncatalogued objects in geosynchronous Earth orbits (GEO), with a mean motion of about 1 rev/day and eccentricities up to 0.6, has been identified recently. The first observations of this new type of objects were acquired in the framework of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) search for space debris in GEO and the geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) using the ESA 1-m telescope on Tenerife. Earlier studies have postulated that the perturbations due to the solar radiation pressure can lead to such large eccentricities for GEO objects with a high area-to-mass ratio (A/M). The simulations showed that the eccentricities of GEO objects with large A/M exhibit periodic variations with periods of about one year and amplitudes depending on the value of A/M. The findings of these studies could be confirmed by observations from the ESA 1-m telescope on Tenerife.     

Variations of the solar acoustic high-degree mode frequencies over solar cycle 23

Using full-disk observations obtained with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, we present variations of the solar acoustic mode frequencies caused by the solar activity cycle. High-degree (100 < ? < 900) solar acoustic modes were analyzed using global helioseismology analysis techniques over most of solar cycle 23. We followed the methodology described in details in [Korzennik, S.G., Rabello-Soares, M.C., Schou, J. On the determination of Michelson Doppler Imager high-degree mode frequencies. ApJ 602, 481–515, 2004] to infer unbiased estimates of high-degree mode parameters ([see also Rabello-Soares, M.C., Korzennik, S.G., Schou, J. High-degree mode frequencies: changes with solar cycle. ESA SP-624, 2006]). We have removed most of the known instrumental and observational effects that affect specifically high-degree modes. We show that the high-degree changes are in good agreement with the medium-degree results, except for years when the instrument was highly defocused. We analyzed and discuss the effect of defocusing on high-degree estimation. Our results for high-degree modes confirm that the frequency shift scaled by the relative mode inertia is a function of frequency and it is independent of degree.     

Microlesions: theory and reality.

Efforts to assess radiation risk in space have been complicated by the considerable unknowns regarding the biological effects of the heavy ion component (HZE particles) of the cosmic rays. The attention has focused primarily on the assignation of a quality factor (Q) which would take into account the greater effectiveness of heavy ions vis-a-vis other forms of ionizing radiation. If however, as the so-called "Microlesion Theory" allows, the passage of HZE particles through living tissue produces unique biological damage, the traditional use of Q becomes meaningless. Therefore, it is critical to determine if microlesions, in fact, do exist. While the concept does not necessarily require detectable morphological damage, "tunnel-lesions" or holes in ocular tissues have been cited as evidence of microlesions. These data, however, are open to reinterpretation. On-going light, scanning and transmission electron microscopic studies of the corneas, lenses and retinas of rat eyes exposed to 450 MeV/amu 56Fe ions thus far have not revealed tunnel-lesion damage. The morphological effects of the heavy ions have been found to be qualitatively similar to the changes following other kinds of ionizing radiation.     

Dynamics of Coronal Loop Oscillations Recent Improvements and Computational Aspects

We will discuss the observed, heavily damped transversal oscillations of coronal loops. These oscillations are often modeled as transversal kink oscillations in a cylinder. Several features are added to the classical cylindrical model. In our models we include loop curvature, longitudinal density stratification, and highly inhomogeneous radial density profiles. In this paper, we will first give an overview of recently obtained results, both analytically and numerically. After that, we shed a light on the computational aspects of the modeling process. In particular, we will focus on the parallellization of the numerical codes.     

Progress in basic space science education and research: The UNBSSI

This report describes recent progress in the UN Basic Space Science Initiative (UNBSSI), which aims to facilitate space science education and research, and attendant resources in developing countries. In addition to holding workshops across the developing world, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) successfully implemented the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) as a catalyst for improving understanding of the Sun and of solar-terrestrial physics. Building on this it is now preparing for the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI). Achievements of the former are discussed, as are the goals and anticipated activities of the latter.     

Experiments in Adaptive Estimation of Unknown Binary Waveforms

A special-purpose adaptive machine is described which carries out estimation in real time of an unknown binary waveform which is perturbed with additive Gaussian noise. Unknown waveforms of over 103 samples in duration can be recovered. The unknown waveforms are of unknown epoch and can reappear at either random or periodic time intervals. The observed signal is received at moderate or low signal-to-noise ratios so that a single observation of the received data (even if one knew the precise signal arrival time) is not sufficient to provide a good estimate of the signal waveshape. Experimental results are described which show transient behavior waveform estimate. The transient behavior is expressed as the number of errors in the current estimate of the signal plotted vs. time. In a noisy environment, each ``learning' transient is a random time function. These learning transients are shown for several different signal-to-noise ratios and indicate the threshold noise levels for various types of initial states of the machine memory.