Observations of the Hα hydrogen emission on Spitsbergen during the proton event of January 22, 2012

The behavior of the Hα hydrogen emission at Barentsburg observatory during precipitation of high-energy solar protons and sudden impulse (SI) on January 22, 2012, was studied. The emission intensity was determined with a spectrometer, which gives the meridian arc spectrum image. It has been shown that the Hα emission luminosity onset coincides with SI and is caused by precipitation of solar wind protons through the cusp.     

On the Possibility of Estimation of the Earth Crust’s Properties from the Observations of Electric Field of Electrokinetic Origin,Generated by Tidal Deformation within the Fault Zone

A 2-D boundary problem formulation in terms of pore pressure in Biot poroelasticity model is discussed, with application to a vertical contact model mechanically excited by a lunar-solar tidal deformation wave, representing a fault zone structure. A problem parametrization in terms of permeability and Biot’s modulus contrasts is proposed and its numerical solution is obtained for a series of models differing in the values of the above parameters. The behavior of pore pressure and its gradient is analyzed. From those, the electric field of the electrokinetic nature is calculated. The possibilities of estimation of the elastic properties and permeability of geological formations from the observations of the horizontal and vertical electric field measured inside the medium and at the earth’s surface near the block boundary are discussed.     

Observations of Alfvén Ionospheric Resonances on the Earth's Surface

The paper briefly reviews the preliminary results of observations of Alfvén ionospheric resonances performed in the northern Carpathian Mountains (south-eastern Poland) by the Cracow Schumann Resonances Group. The results confirm the simple models proposed recently by Lysak and Sentman.     

Worst-Case GPS Scintillations on the Ground Estimated from Radio Occultation Observations of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC During 2007–2014

The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3/C) satellite probes the S4 scintillation index profile of GPS signals by using the radio occultation (RO) technique. In this study, for practical use on the Earth’s surface, a method is developed to convert and integrate the probed RO S4 index, so obtaining the scintillation on the ground. To estimate the worst case, the maximum value on each profile probed by F3/C, which is termed S4max, is isolated. The isolated data are further used to construct the global three-dimensional distributions of S4max for various local times, seasons, solar activities, and locations. The converted S4max for the first time estimates the global distribution of ionospheric scintillations in the GPS L1 band C/A code signal on the ground. The results show that the worst-case scintillations appear within the low-latitude region of ±30°N, peaking around ±20°N magnetic latitude; they begin at 1900 MLT, reach their maximum at 2100 MLT, and vanish by about 0200–0300 MLT. The most pronounced low-latitude scintillation occurs over the South American and African sectors.     

Seismic Anisotropy Observations in the Mexicali Valley,Baja California,México

A study of seismic anisotropy was performed using data from earthquakes of the Mexicali Valley. The investigated region encompasses the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Field (CPGF), one of the most important fields in the world. The results showed that at most of our stations the average polarization directions of the fast S waves range from N14°W to N17°E. A N-S polarization direction was obtained for the whole area by averaging the polarization directions from all stations used. In terms of the EDA hypothesis, this average trend agrees with the postulated state of stress for southern California, and with fault plane solutions for events of the Mexicali Valley. Notorious deviations from the N-S global trend were found southeast of the CPGF, with polarization trends between N25°E and N67°E, and in the geothermal field, with polarization directions between N7°W and N14°W. The polarization results for these zones indicated stress conditions that are different from the more regional stress pattern. The delay times that were measured between the fast and slow shear waves reached values of up to 0.6 sec, with a mean value of 0.35 sec. Consistent with our polarization results, the larger delay times (0.2–0.6 sec) were found in the CPGF. Smaller or null values were observed at the periphery of the study area. No temporal trends in the delay times were apparent, as shown by data from the two stations that recorded the larger number of events. Overall, we conclude that the splitting effects of this study result from a shallow anisotropy volume. The splitting results are thus interpreted as caused by the preferred orientation of vertical fluid-filled microcracks aligned in a direction that is parallel to the regional stress field. The stronger splitting effects that were observed in the area of the CPGF were found consistent with the geothermal reservoir that is embedded in the sedimentary cover of the zone, at depths of 1 to 4–5 km from the surface. We thus believe that such marked splitting effects have a direct relation with the reservoir of the CPGF.We are grateful to Miguel Navarro, Tito Valdez, and Manuel Luna for their contribution in the operation of RANM and for processing and cataloguing the strong-motion data. Ignacio Méndez and Francisco Farfán helped us with data from the RESNOM system. The study benefited from funding provided by CICESE and from grants awarded by CONACYT to Luis Munguía (Grants F195T and PCCNCNA-031339).     

Inversion of the Strain Accumulation State in Crustal Interior from Observations of Earth Tide Tilts

The strain accumulation state in crustal interior and its migration trend can be inverted from observational data of earth tide tilts.In China,large earthquakes frequently occur in the border area between Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces.Using the observational data for years from 7 stations in this area,γ(the amplitude factor of earth tide tilts)values that characterize the strain accumulation state in crustal interior have been inverted in this paper.It has been found out that,Ms>5 events in the area often occur when γreaches an anomaly value.Using the time-space collocational stereomodelling the migration trend of strain accumulation can be determined to make a prediction for the probable location of a forthcoming earthquake in the area.     

Construction of GPS MonitoringNetwork,Characteristics of RecentCrustal Movement,and Relationbetween Stress Field andEarthquake Activity in the NingxiaRegion

INT正ODU**!0厂Nln以la Is located In the nol’th segmentdthe North－southselsnuc Belt,Whlchls thejuncturedthe Qinghai－Xizang(Dbet)block,Alxa block and Odos block．In that region,the tectonic activity。svery strong;。y strong earthquakes occu。d In history,such as the 1739 ingluo M。8．0 earthqu拙eandl920 Halyuan M。8．5 eafthquake,etc．; Merately strongeaFthquakes are still veryactlve atpresent,onlyln the Wuzhong－un斟m area,there have been7 e血hquakes tvlth M。＞5．0 to occ…     

Borehole Tilt Observations of Xiangshan Station, Beijing, and Effects of Tilt Due to Fault Creeping

An ASKANIA borehole tiltmeter which consists of a vertical pendulum with two degrees of freedom was installed in Xiangshan station,Beijing,in May 1989 in order to monitor the earthquake-reiated crustal deformations.The preliminary results indicate that the resolution of the instrument is better than 0.05 msec for tidal amplitudes.The daily total tidal amplitude is about 20 msec.The spectral analysis of the first four months data provides a signal-to-noise ratio of > 100 for the main semi-diurnal waves.The non-tidal tilts for one year data are dominated by a long term drift with the rate of 0.9 msec/day for X-component and 1.1 msec/day for Y-component.In addition,the tilt observations are affected by meteorological factors,especially by rainfall.The results of modelings of the fault-creep related tilts and responses of tilts to earthquakes suggest that the tilt measurements are very sensitive to the change in tectonic strain and stress fields near the site where the tiltmeter is installed.The fault-creep     

Review of Understanding of Earth’s Hydrological Cycle: Observations,Theory and Modelling

Water is our most precious and arguably most undervalued natural resource. It is essential for life on our planet, for food production and economic development. Moreover, water plays a fundamental role in shaping weather and climate. However, with the growing global population, the planet’s water resources are constantly under threat from overuse and pollution. In addition, the effects of a changing climate are thought to be leading to an increased frequency of extreme weather causing floods, landslides and drought. The need to understand and monitor our environment and its resources, including advancing our knowledge of the hydrological cycle, has never been more important and apparent. The best approach to do so on a global scale is from space. This paper provides an overview of the major components of the hydrological cycle, the status of their observations from space and related data products and models for hydrological variable retrievals. It also lists the current and planned satellite missions contributing to advancing our understanding of the hydrological cycle on a global scale. Further details of the hydrological cycle are substantiated in several of the other papers in this Special Issue.     

Observations of Pc 3–4 and Pi 2 geomagnetic pulsations in the low-latitude ionosphere

Day-time Pc 3–4 (≃5–60 mHz) and night-time Pi 2 (≃5–20 mHz) ULF waves propagating down through the ionosphere can cause oscillations in the Doppler shift of HF radio transmissions that are correlated with the magnetic pulsations recorded on the ground. In order to examine properties of these correlated signals, we conducted a joint HF Doppler/magnetometer experiment for two six-month intervals at a location near L = 1.8. The magnetic pulsations were best correlated with ionospheric oscillations from near the F region peak. The Doppler oscillations were in phase at two different altitudes, and their amplitude increased in proportion to the radio sounding frequency. The same results were obtained for the O- and X-mode radio signals. A surprising finding was a constant phase difference between the pulsations in the ionosphere and on the ground for all frequencies below the local field line resonance frequency, independent of season or local time. These observations have been compared with theoretical predictions of the amplitude and phase of ionospheric Doppler oscillations driven by downgoing Alfvén mode waves. Our results agree with these predictions at or very near the field line resonance frequency but not at other frequencies. We conclude that the majority of the observations, which are for pulsations below the resonant frequency, are associated with downgoing fast mode waves, and models of the wave-ionosphere interaction need to be modified accordingly.     

Co-seismic Slip Distribution of the 2001 Kokoxili Earthquake Inverted by the GPS Data

INTRODUCTIONThe Kokoxili earthquake,which ruptured the East Kunlun fault in northern Tibet on November14,2001,is the largest earthquake that has occurred on the Chinese continent in the past50yearsever since the Moto,TibetM8.0earthquake of August15,1950.The macro hypocenter of thisearthquake is located in the north of Bukadaban Peak at36.2°N,90.9°E,MS=8.1(ChineseSeismological Network),or the west of Bukadaban Peak at36.01°N,90.49°E,MW=7.9(USGSNEIC),or near the Kusai Lake …     

Seismic Observations and Seismic Hazard Studies in the Philippines

It has taken more than a hundred years for seismic observations in the Philippines to evolve to a modern observation system.The responsibility of seismic observations was likewise transfeered from one agency to another during this same period of time.At present,the mandate of conducting seismic observatins in the Philippines rests with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology(PHIVOLCS),In 2000,through a grant aid from the Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA),the Philippine Seismic netowrk was upgraded to a digital system.As a result,a new set of seismic monitoring equipments was installed in all of the 34 PHIVOLCS seismic stations all over the country,Digital waveforms are now available for high level seismic data processing.and data acquisition and processing are now automated.Included in the upgrade is the provision of strong motion accelerographs in all stations whose data can now be used for studying ground motion and intensity attenuation relations,The new setup is now producing high-resolution data that can now be used for conducting basic seismological researches,Earthquake locations have now improved allowing for the modeling and delineation of earthquake source regions necessary for earthquake hazard studies.Current seismic hazard studies in the Philippines involve the estimation of ground motion using both probabilitstic and deterministic approaches,seismic microzonation studies of key cities using microtremor observations,paleoseismology and active faults mapping ,and identification of liquefaction-prone,landslide-prone nd tsunami-affected areas.The earthquake database is now being reviewed and completed with the addition of historical events and from data from regional databases,While studies of seismic hazards were primarily concentrated on a regional level ,PHIVOLCS is now focusing on doing these seismic hazard studies on a micriolevel.For Metro Manila,first generation hazard maps showing ground rupture,ground shaking and liquefaction hazards have recently been completed.Other large cities that are also at risk from large earthquakes are the next targets.The elements at risk such as population,lifelines,and vertical and horizontal structures for each of these urban centers are also being incorporated in the hazard maps for immediate use of planners,civil defense officials,policy-makers and engineers.The maps can also now be used to describe possible scenarios during times of strong events and how appropriate socio-economic and engineering responses could be designed.In addition,a rapid earthquake damage assessment system has been started which will attempt to produce immediate or rapid assessments identification of elements at risk durin times of strong earthquakes     

The role of aerial algae in the formation of the landscape of the Yunnan Stone Forest,Yunnan Province, China

~~The role of aerial algae in the formation of the landscape of the Yunnan Stone Forest,Yunnan Province, China~~     

Plate boundary deformation and continuing deflation of the Askja volcano,North Iceland,determined with GPS, 1987–1993

GPS geodetic measurements were conducted around the Askja central volcano located at the divergent plate boundary in north Iceland in 1987, 1990, 1992 and 1993. The accuracy of the 1987 and 1990 measurements is in the range of 10 mm for horizontal components; the accuracy of the 1992 and 1993 measurements is about 4 mm in the horizontal plane. Regional deformation in the Askja region is dominated by extension. Points located outside a 30–45 km wide plate boundary deformation zone indicate a displacement of 2.4±0.5 cm/a in the direction N 99°E±12° of the Eurasian plate relative to the North American plate in the period 1987–1990. Within the plate boundary deformation zone extensional strain accumulates at a rate of 0.8 strain/a. Displacement of control points next to Askja (>7 km from the caldera center) in the periods 1990–1993 and 1992–1993 show deflation and contraction towards the caldera. These results are in accordance with the results obtained by other geodetic methods in the area, which indicate that the deflation at Askja occurs in response to a pressure decrease at about 2.8 km depth, located close to the center of the main Askja caldera. A Mogi point source was fixed at this location and the GPS data used to solve for the source strength. A central subsidence of 11±2.5 cm in the period 1990–1993 is indicated, and 5.5±1.5 cm in the period 1992–1993. The maximum tensional strain rate, according to the point source model, occurs at a horizontal distance of 2.5–6 km from the source, at the same location as the main caldera boundary. Discrepancies between the observed displacements and predicted displacements from the Mogi model near the Askja caldera can be attributed to the regional eastwest extension that occurs at Askja.     

GPS Observation and Study on Recent Crustal Movement in the Northeastern Area of Pamir,Xinjiang

Calculation of repeated observation data at the densified GPS monitoring network in northeastern area of Pamir together with data from IGS stations in the peribphyery of the area yielded the movement rate of more than 40GPS station sites in the area,and,hence,the recent crustal deformation rate pattern and time series of fiductial GPS stations in the area were obtained.The result indicates that the principal movement direction of the GPS station sites is NNW,basically diagonal to the strike of Tianshan fold belt,i.e.a normal compression occurs in the Tianshan region.The movement pattern near Jiashi and its southwestern zone is some different from that of station sites in their surrounding areas,indicating a certain relation of tectonic deformation in Jiashi area to seismic activity during last years.The movement rate of station sites in the periphery of Taim basin less varies and its direction is basically consistent It indicates less or basically no deformation within Tarim basin.     

Observations of mount etna seismicity during the 2002–2003 eruption based on deep-sea gravimeter data

This paper concerns observations made by a broadband deep-sea gravimeter installed on the plat-form of the SN-1 multiparameter seafloor observatory. The observatory was deployed at a distance of 25 km from the east coast of Sicily in southern Italy at a depth of 2105 m and was operated in a self-contained mode from October 2002 to February 2003 (134 days). The proximity to Mount Etna and the period of eruptive activity starting in late October 2002 lent added interest to this experiment. The seismic activity of Mount Etna, as recorded by the gravimeter, is characterized by the presence of two signal types, viz., a long-period volcanic tremor of variable amplitude and volcano-tectonic earthquakes. The bulk of energy in the long-period tremor occurs in the spectral interval between 2 and 5 s. The long-period seismic signals due to volcanic and global earthquakes were used to estimate resonant characteristics for Etna’s heterogeneous structures.     

Spatial Scales of Super Thin Current Sheets with MMS Observations in the Earth’s Magnetotail

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - We studied the magnetic configuration and determined the spatial scales of the super thin current sheets observed by MMS in the Earth’s magnetotail during the...     

Observations on the effects of barite on the gill tissues of the suspension feeder Cerastoderma edule (Linné) and the deposit feeder Macoma balthica (Linné)

Barite, an important component of offshore drilling muds, is shown to adversely affect the ctenidia of the suspension feeding bivalve, Cerastoderma edule and the deposit feeder, Macoma balthica. SEM observations showed that exposure to barite caused cilia to shorten and coagulate, and, in some extreme cases, cause the disintegration of the gill structure itself. Using a simple ciliary condition index (CCI) the impact of the barite was quantified and damage rates expressed. The bivalves were treated with daily doses of 1, 2, and 3-mm depth equivalents of barite. In all treatments significant damage to the gills was recorded although, in the case of the 1-mm dose rate, this did not occur for 4 days. In the other two treatments, damage was apparent within a day of exposure with 100% mortality occurring within 12 days. Macoma balthica appeared slightly more tolerant of exposure to barite than C. edule.     

Establishment of the GPS Crustal Deformation Monitoring Network in North China

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a new method to monitor the crustal deformation for earthquake prediction.Now a four-dimensional crustal deformation monitoring network applying GPS techniques has been established in North China,which is an important seismic monitoring area.Results with high precision have been achieved in the first measurement since a series of advanced methods and measures were adopted,and thus a good foundation has been laid for future researches on earthquake prediction and geodynamics.     

Evaluation of micro-behavior of strain field in Chinese mainland with the GPS time series

Introduction In the last 20 years, with observation technique development in space monitoring to Earth, a large progress has been made in monitoring crustal movement. This makes it possible for us to study crustal movement and the present geodynamic. Continuous GPS observation conducted in Chinese mainland and its neighboring region provides us for studying the present strain field of crustal micro-behavior tectonic. Crustal micro-behavior tectonic means that we can study the dif-ference bet…