VHF radio response of the near Earth space during solar activity growth in October, 2003

The analysis of observations of very high frequency radio noise intensity at the middle latitude on a frequency f = 500 MHz from 14th till 26th of October, 2003 is presented. These data are compared with the solar radio bursts in the range of frequencies 1–14 MHz registered by RAD2 receiver of the WAVES device installed on board the WIND spacecraft.     

Symmetry and asymmetry of ionospheric weather at magnetic conjugate points for two midlatitude observatories

Variations of the ionospheric weather W-index for two midlatitude observatories, namely, Grahamstown and Hermanus, and their conjugate counterpart locations in Africa are studied for a period from October 2010 to December 2011. The observatories are located in the longitude sector, which has consistent magnetic equator and geographic equator so that geomagnetic latitudes of the line of force are very close to the corresponding geographic latitudes providing opportunity to ignore the impact of the difference of the gravitational field and the geomagnetic field at the conjugate points on the ionosphere structure and dynamics. The ionosondes of Grahamstown and Hermanus provide data of the critical frequency (foF2), and Global Ionospheric Maps (GIM) provide the total electron content (TECgps) along the magnetic field line up to the conjugate point in the opposite hemisphere. The global model of the ionosphere, International Reference Ionosphere, extended to the plasmasphere altitude of 20,200 km (IRI-Plas) is used to deliver the F2 layer peak parameters from TECgps at the magnetic conjugate area. The evidence is obtained that the electron gas heated by day and cooled by night at the summer hemisphere as compared with the opposite features in the conjugate winter hemisphere testifies on a reversal of plasma fluxes along the magnetic field line by the solar terminator. The ionospheric weather W-index is derived from NmF2 (related with foF2) and TECgps data. It is found that symmetry of W-index behavior in the magnetic conjugate hemispheres is dominant for the equinoxes when plasma movement along the magnetic line of force is imposed on symmetrical background electron density and electron content. Asymmetry of the ionospheric storm effects is observed for solstices when the plasma diffuse down more slowly into the colder winter hemisphere than into the warmer summer hemisphere inducing either plasma increase (positive phase) or decrease (negative phase of W-index) in the ionospheric and plasmaspheric plasma density.     

Performance evaluation of IRI-2007 at equatorial latitudes and its Matlab version for GNSS applications

International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model is the widely used empirical model for ionospheric predictions, especially TEC which is an important parameter for radio navigation and communication. The Fortran based IRI-2007 does not support real-time interactive visualization and debugging. Therefore, the source code is converted into Matlab and is validated for the purposes of this study. This facilitates easy representation of results and for near real-time implementation of IRI in the applications including spacecraft launching, now casting, pseudolite based navigation systems etc. In addition, the vertical delay results over the equatorial region derived from IRI and GPS data of three IGS stations namely Libreville (Garbon, Africa), Brasilia (Brazil, South America) and Hyderabad (India, Asia) are compared. As the IRI model does not account for plasmasphere TEC, the vertical delays are underestimated compared to vertical delays of GPS signals. Therefore, the model should be modified accordingly for precise TEC estimation.     

Height of shock formation in the solar corona inferred from observations of type II radio bursts and coronal mass ejections

Employing coronagraphic and EUV observations close to the solar surface made by the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission, we determined the heliocentric distance of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) at the starting time of associated metric type II bursts. We used the wave diameter and leading edge methods and measured the CME heights for a set of 32 metric type II bursts from solar cycle 24. We minimized the projection effects by making the measurements from a view that is roughly orthogonal to the direction of the ejection. We also chose image frames close to the onset times of the type II bursts, so no extrapolation was necessary. We found that the CMEs were located in the heliocentric distance range from 1.20 to 1.93 solar radii (Rs), with mean and median values of 1.43 and 1.38 Rs, respectively. We conclusively find that the shock formation can occur at heights substantially below 1.5 Rs. In a few cases, the CME height at type II onset was close to 2 Rs. In these cases, the starting frequency of the type II bursts was very low, in the range 25–40 MHz, which confirms that the shock can also form at larger heights. The starting frequencies of metric type II bursts have a weak correlation with the measured CME/shock heights and are consistent with the rapid decline of density with height in the inner corona.     

PAMELA observational capabilities of Jovian electrons

PAMELA is a satellite-borne experiment that has been launched on June 15th, 2006. It is designed to make long duration measurements of cosmic radiation over an extended energy range. Specifically, PAMELA is able to measure the cosmic ray antiproton and positron spectra over the largest energy range ever achieved and will search for antinuclei with unprecedented sensitivity. Furthermore, it will measure the light nuclear component of cosmic rays and investigate phenomena connected with solar and earth physics. The apparatus consists of: a time of flight system, a magnetic spectrometer, an electromagnetic imaging calorimeter, a shower tail catcher scintillator, a neutron detector and an anticoincidence system. In this work a study of the PAMELA capabilities to detect electrons is presented. The Jovian magnetosphere is a powerful accelerator of electrons up to several tens of MeV as observed at first by Pioneer 10 spacecraft (1973). The propagation of Jovian electrons to Earth is affected by modulation due to Corotating Interaction Regions (CIR). Their flux at Earth is, moreover, modulated because every 13 months Earth and Jupiter are aligned along the average direction of the Parker spiral of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field.PAMELA will be able to measure the high energy tail of the Jovian electrons in the energy range from 50 up to 130 MeV. Moreover, it will be possible to extract the Jovian component reaccelerated at the solar wind termination shock (above 130 MeV up to 2 GeV) from the galactic flux.     

Presynaptic transporter-mediated release of glutamate evoked by the protonophore FCCP increases under altered gravity conditions

High-affinity Na⁺-dependent glutamate transporters of the plasma membrane mediate the glutamate uptake into neurons, and thus maintain low levels of extracellular glutamate in the synaptic cleft. The study focused on the release of glutamate by reversal of Na⁺-dependent glutamate transporters from rat brain nerve terminals (synaptosomes) under conditions of centrifuge-induced hypergravity. Flow cytometric analysis revealed similarity in the size and cytoplasmic granularity between synaptosomal preparations obtained from control and G-loaded animals (10 G, 1 h). The release of cytosolic l-[¹⁴C]glutamate from synaptosomes was evaluated using the protonophore FCCP, which dissipated synaptic vesicle proton gradient, thus synaptic vesicles were not able to keep glutamate inside and the latter enriched cytosol. FCCP per se induced the greater release of l-[¹⁴C]glutamate in hypergravity as compared to control (4.8 ± 1.0% and 8.0 ± 1.0% of total label). Exocytotic release of l-[¹⁴C]glutamate evoked by depolarization was reduced down to zero after FCCP application under both conditions studied. Depolarization stimulated release of cytosolic l-[¹⁴C]glutamate from synaptosomes preliminary treated with FCCP was considerably increased from 27.0 ± 2.2% of total label in control to 35.0 ± 2.3% in hypergravity. Non-transportable inhibitor of glutamate transporter dl-threo-β-benzyloxyaspartate was found to significantly inhibit high-KCl and FCCP-stimulated release of l-[¹⁴C]glutamate, confirming the release by reversal of glutamate transporters. The enhancement of transporter-mediated release of glutamate in hypergravity was found to result at least partially from the inhibition of the activity of Na/K-ATPase in the plasma membrane of synaptosomes. We suggested that hypergravity-induced alteration in transporter-mediated release of glutamate indicated hypoxic injury of neurons.     

Relation between galactic and solar cosmic radiation at aviation altitude

Cosmic radiation bombards us at high altitude with ionizing particles; the radiation has a galactic component, which is normally dominant, and a component of solar origin. Cosmic ray particles are the primary source of ionization in the atmosphere above 1 km; below 1 km radon is a dominant source of ionization in many areas.     

Simulation of Permanent Magnet Generator/Rectifier Combination

Permanent magnet generators are often used as the pilot exciters of three-stage generating units to provide an efficient and reliable source of electrical power. No external power supply is then necessary, and the problems associated with brushwear and with arcing at the rubbing contacts are eliminated. A technique is presented here by which the performance of a permanent magnet generator, when combined with a rectifier-fed d.c. load at its output terminals, may be accurately and efficiently computed. The machine model takes into account the magnetization characteristic of the permanent magnet rotor and involves only parameters which can be determined from terminal measurements on the machine at standstill. Both computed and measured characteristics for an experimental machine are presented, and a comparison of these characteristics shows that the model can predict accurately all the major characteristics of the machine, as well as its detailed internal performance, when supplying a typical resistiveinductive load.     

Formation and evolution of low-mass Algols

We discuss the origin, evolution and fate of low-mass Algols (LMA) that have components with initial masses less than 2.5 M₀. The semi-major axes of orbits of pre-LMA do not exceed 20–25 R₀. The rate of formation of Algol-type stars is 0.01/year. Magnetic stellar winds may be the factor that determines the evolution of LMA. Most LMA end their lives as double helium degenerate dwarfs with M₁/M₂ 0.88 (like L870-2). Some of them even merge through angular momentum loss caused by gravitational waves.