Lower ionosphere response to external forcing: A brief review

There are two ways of external forcing of the lower ionosphere, the region below an altitude of about 100 km: (1) From above, which is directly or indirectly of solar origin. (2) From below, which is directly or indirectly of atmospheric origin. The external forcing of solar origin consists of two general factors – solar ionizing radiation variability and space weather. The solar ionization variability consist mainly from the 11-year solar cycle, the 27-day solar rotation and solar flares, strong flares being very important phenomenon in the daytime lower ionosphere due to the enormous increase of the solar X-ray flux resulting in temporal terminating of MF and partly LF and HF radio wave propagation due to heavy absorption of radio waves. Monitoring of the sudden ionospheric disturbances (SIDs – effects of solar flares in the lower ionosphere) served in the past as an important tool of monitoring the solar activity and its impacts on the ionosphere. Space weather effects on the lower ionosphere consist of many different but often inter-related phenomena, which govern the lower ionosphere variability at high latitudes, particularly at night. The most important space weather phenomenon for the lower ionosphere is strong geomagnetic storms, which affect substantially both the high- and mid-latitude lower ionosphere. As for forcing from below, it is caused mainly by waves in the neutral atmosphere, i.e. planetary, tidal, gravity and infrasonic waves. The most important and most studied waves are planetary and gravity waves. Another channel of the troposphere coupling to the lower ionosphere is through lightning-related processes leading to sprites, blue jets etc. and their ionospheric counterparts. These phenomena occur on very short time scales. The external forcing of the lower ionosphere has observationally been studied using predominantly ground-based methods exploiting in various ways the radio wave propagation, and by sporadic rocket soundings. All the above phenomena are briefly mentioned and some of them are treated in more detail.     

国外大型太阳模拟器研制技术概述

国外航天大国均建有大型太阳模拟器,并在空间探测技术研究中发挥着重要作用。文章介绍了国外典型大型太阳模拟器,给出了其达到的技术指标,较系统地总结了国外大型太阳模拟器研制技术和经验,如准直镜、灯室和光学装校等关键技术的设计思路和解决途径,为我国研制大型太阳模拟器提供了技术借鉴和参考。     

倾斜轨道航天器太阳翼对日跟踪方法探讨

目前我国大多数低轨道航天器均采用太阳同步轨道,但随着科学应用领域需求的不断增长,许多任务提出采用倾斜轨道对实现某种特定的任务目标具有更多的优势。但太阳翼光照条件恶劣在一定程度上制约了对倾斜轨道的应用。文章以此为背景对倾斜轨道航天器在轨光照特性进行深入分析,并在此基础上分别提出惯性定向和对地定向两种航天器太阳翼对日跟踪的若干种方法,并模拟在轨受照环境对其进行了仿真。结果表明,文章提出的若干种跟踪方案能够很好地改善太阳翼的光照条件,至少与地方时上午10点钟太阳同步轨道相当,甚至可以实现垂直跟踪。提出的思路与方法可为长寿命倾斜轨道航天器的总体设计提供参考。     

Doppler observations of infrasonic waves of meteorological origin at ionospheric heights

Ionospheric effects of meteorological origin observed by the continuous HF Doppler sounder over the Czech Republic are reported in this paper. We focused on detection of waves of periods 1–10 min. We discuss the influence of dynamics and intensity of active weather systems on the occurrence of short period waves and dependence of the observed ionospheric effects on the height of reflection of the sounding radio wave. We observed 3–5 min waves during a severe weather event in summer and 2.5–4 min waves during a severe weather event in winter. We excluded possible geomagnetic origin of these oscillations by the analysis of fluctuations of the local geomagnetic field. In eight cases of 10, wave activity in the analysed period range was not significantly increased comparing to quiet days. The intensity of weather systems as well as the location of potential sources of waves towards the points of HF Doppler shift observation influence significantly the occurrence of infrasonic waves in the ionosphere. The results in Central Europe differ considerably from those previously obtained in North America. As a possible reason, we discuss different intensity and dynamics of weather systems in both regions.     

一种基于UML活动图模型的系统测试方法

UML活动图是基于UML开发的软件设计模型的重要组成部分,它描述了软件系统的动态行为,是软件系统测试过程中的一个重要的信息来源.提出了一个基于UML活动图的场景测试方法,给出了生成基本流和备选流的原则,对传统场景法进行了改进,避免了测试场景集数量爆炸.最后重点结合一个实例对该方法进行了论述.     

一种基于FFT的Galileo搜救信号频域检测方法

Galileo搜救系统是全球卫星搜救组织(COSPAS-SARSAT)的一部分,搭载于Galileo导航星座,能对遇险用户发出的求救信号进行定位并实施救援。经卫星转发的搜救信号信噪比很低,能否在低信噪比条件下完成卫星信号的检测对搜救系统的正常工作至关重要。为了解决这一问题,文章提出了一种基于快速傅里叶变换(FFT)运算的频域检测方法,通过理论分析和仿真验证可以看出,这种方法能有效地实现低信噪比条件下的卫星下行信号检测。     

Solar signals in the minimum extreme temperature records in the southern region of the Gulf of Mexico

Minimum extreme temperature series from several meteorological stations of the Gulf of Mexico are spectrally analyzed using the Maximum Entropy Method.We obtained significant periodicities similar to those found in meteorological and solar activity phenomena. This indicates that probably the solar activity signals are present in the minimum extreme temperature records of this Mexican region.     

Human response to high-background radiation environments on Earth and in space

The main long-term objective of the space exploration program is the colonization of the planets of the Solar System. The high cosmic radiation equivalent dose rate represents an inescapable problem for the safe establishment of permanent human settlements on these planets. The unshielded equivalent dose rate on Mars ranges between 100 and 200 mSv/year, depending on the Solar cycle and altitude, and can reach values as high as 360 mSv/year on the Moon. The average annual effective dose on Earth is about 3 mSv, nearly 85% of which comes from natural background radiation, reduced to less than 1 mSv if man-made sources and the internal exposure to Rn daughters are excluded. However, some areas on Earth display anomalously high levels of background radiation, as is the case with thorium-rich monazite bearing sand deposits where values 200–400 times higher than the world average can be found. About 2% of the world’s population live above 3 km and receive a disproportionate 10% of the annual effective collective dose due to cosmic radiation, with a net contribution to effective dose by the neutron component which is 3–4 fold that at sea level. Thus far, epidemiological studies have failed to show any adverse health effects in the populations living in these terrestrial high-background radiation areas (HBRA), which provide an unique opportunity to study the health implications of an environment that, as closely as possibly achievable on Earth, resembles the chronic exposure of future space colonists to higher-than-normal levels of ionizing radiation. Chromosomal aberrations in the peripheral blood lymphocytes from the HBRA residents have been measured in several studies because chromosomal damage represents an early biomarker of cancer risk. Similar cytogenetic studies have been recently performed in a cohort of astronauts involved in single or repeated space flights over many years. The cytogenetic findings in populations exposed to high dose-rate background radiation on Earth or in space will be discussed.     

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.     

全玻璃真空管型太阳热水器内流场的CFD模拟

全玻璃真空管型太阳热水器是技术相对成熟、应用最广的太阳能利用方式.通过对全玻璃真空管型太阳热水器内流场的计算流体力学模拟,研究了器内的对流换热过程,分析了真空管截面的流体流动速度分布,考察了真空管不同位置处的流体循环速度及箱体内水温对循环速度的影响.结果表明,随着流体温度的升高,器内出现随机的湍动涡流;涡流的存在将造成管内冷热流体的混和,对换热过程不利;在真空管内安置引流挡板将抑制流体的湍动,确保有序的热对流流动,提高对流换热效率.研究结果有助于剖析热水器内对流换热的机理,对技术革新提供参考.