On the accretion disc properties in eclipsing dwarf nova EM Cyg

In this paper we analyze the behavior of the unusual dwarf nova EM Cyg using the data obtained in April–October, 2007, at the Vyhorlat observatory (Slovak Republic) and in September, 2006, at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (Ukraine). During our observations, EM Cyg has shown outbursts in every 15–40 days. Because on the light curves of EM Cyg a partial eclipse of the accretion disc is observed, we applied the eclipse mapping technique to a reconstruction of the temperature distribution in the eclipsed parts of the disc. Calculations of the accretion rate for the system were made for the quiescent and the outburst states of activity for various distances.     

The regional structure of the turanian platform and its development

The major features of regional structure and development of the Turanian platform are the result of the interaction of basement block movements with surrounding mobile belts. Some specific features, typical of the geosynclinal stage, can also be observed in the intermediate and platform stages. These features include subdivision of region by linear and smooth brachyform structures and the more pronounced irregularity in development of the former compared with the latter.The position of the most mobile elements of the Turanian platform are observed to migrate. As the intensity of movements in South Tien Shan—Kysylkum Hercynian branch (in the basement) decreased and activity of the Alpine geosyncline and postplatform orogene increased, the most mobile zone moved from the central and southeastern parts of the platform towards the southern and eastern periphery.Changes in the rates of sedimentation and growth of the majority of regional structures of the Turanian platform have a tendency to occur in opposite senses. The time of general subsidence in the Cretaceous corresponds to a decrease of growth rate of many structures. General platform upheaval during the recent phase coincides with an increase of structural growth. In peripheral and central aulocogen parts of the platform, stabilized or activated during the Jurassic, similar variations of sedimentation and growth rates are observed.The minor mobility of the biggest uplifts in comparison with the downwarps (except for the recent phase) indicates the predominance of continuous, general extension of the Turanian platform with an increase in the role of compression in Oligocene—Quaternary time.An almost equal number of regional structures of the Turanian platform occur with respectively conformable and unconformable relationship between the tectonics of the basin floor and that of the Moho. Beneath the structures developed in the southwestern mobile part of the platform deep crustal tectonics is a result of a long period of deformation during platform and intermediate stages. In the stable northeastern part of the platform crustal deformation during the platform stage was insignificant. The crustal tectonics here is probably a relic of Paleozoic pre-platform development.     

Surface-sediment and epilithic diatom pH calibration sets for remote European mountain lakes (AL:PE Project) and their comparison with the Surface Waters Acidification Programme (SWAP) calibration set

A modern diatom-pH calibration data-set consisting of surface-sediment diatom assemblages from 118 lakes and 530 taxa is presented. The AL:PE data-set is from high-altitude or high-latitude lakes in the Alps, Norway, Svalbard, Kola Peninsula, UK, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, and Spain (pH range = 4.5-8.0; DOC range = 0.2-3.2 mg l^-1). In addition, 92 epilithon samples from 22 high-altitude or high-latitude lakes comprise an AL:PE epilithon diatom-pH data-set. Weighted averaging partial least squares regression is used to develop pH-inference models. The AL:PE data-set has a root-mean-square-error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.33 and a maximum bias of 0.36 pH units and r² of 0.82, as assessed by leave-one-out cross-validation. The epilithon data-set has, after data-screening and the deletion of one very obvious outlier, a RMSEP of 0.23 and a maximum bias of 0.18 pH units and r² of 0.88. The 167 sample SWAP diatom-pH data-set from lowland or upland lakes in the UK, Norway, and Sweden has a RMSEP of 0.29 and a maximum bias of 0.23 pH units and r² of 0.86.The pH optima, as estimated by weighted averaging and Gaussian regression, are compared for the three data-sets (AL:PE, SWAP, AL:PE epilithon). There is a good correspondence between the AL:PE and the AL:PE epilithon optima, but a consistent bias between the AL:PE and SWAP optima, with the SWAP optima being lower than the AL:PE estimates.The predictive performances of the AL:PE and SWAP calibration data-sets are compared using independent test samples and six core sequences, all from high-altitude lakes, one in south-east Siberia and five in eastern Scotland. The results show the importance of using the AL:PE data-set for inferring lake-water pH from diatom assemblages in high-altitude or high latitude lakes with low DOC concentrations.     

The influence of Holocene tree-line advance and retreat on an arctic lake ecosystem: a multi-proxy study from Kharinei Lake,North Eastern European Russia

A consequence of predicted climate warming will be tree-line advance over large areas of the Russian tundra. Palaeolimnological techniques can be used to provide analogues of how such changes in tree-line advance and subsequent retreat affected lake ecosystems in the past. A Holocene sediment core taken from Kharinei Lake (Russia) was dated radiometrically and used for multi-proxy analyses with the aim of determining how climate and tree-line dynamics affected the productivity, community structure, carbon cycling and light regime in the lake. Pollen and macrofossil analyses were used to determine the dates of the arrival and retreat of birch and spruce forest. C:N ratios and percent loss-on-ignition were used to infer past changes in sediment organic matter. Visible-near-infrared spectroscopy and diatom analysis were used to infer past changes in lake-water carbon. Algal pigments and aquatic macrophytes were used to determine changes in lake productivity and light. Chironomids together with remains of the aquatic flora and fauna were used to provide information on past July temperature and continentality. Lake sedimentation was initiated shortly before 11,000 cal. years BP, when both chironomid- and pollen-inferred temperature reconstructions suggest higher summer temperatures than present, between 1 and 2°C warmer, and lake productivity was relatively high. A few trees were already present at this time. The spruce forest expanded at 8,000 cal. year BP remaining in the vicinity of the lake until 3,500 cal. year BP. This period coincided with a high concentration of organic material in the water column, and relatively high benthic productivity, as indicated by a high benthic: planktonic diatom ratio. After tree-line retreat, the optical transparency of the lake increased, and it became more open and exposed, and was thus subject to greater water-column mixing resulting in a higher abundance of diatom phytoplankton, especially heavily silicified Aulocoseira species. The colder climate resulted in a shorter ice-free period, the lake was less productive and there was a loss of aquatic macrophytes. Increased wind-induced mixing following forest retreat had a greater influence on the lake ecosystem than the effects of decreasing organic matter concentration and increased light penetration.     

A multiproxy record of Holocene environmental changes in the central Kola Peninsula,northwest Russia

A sediment core from Chuna Lake (Kola Peninsula, northwest Russia) was studied for pollen, diatoms and sediment chemistry in order to infer post‐glacial environmental changes and to investigate responses of the lake ecosystem to these changes. The past pH and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) of the lake were inferred using diatom‐based transfer functions. Between 9000 and 4200 cal. yr BP, slow natural acidification and major changes in the diatom flora occurred in Chuna Lake. These correlated with changes in regional pollen, the arrival of trees in the catchment, changes in erosion, sediment organic content and DOC. During the past 4200 yr diatom‐based proxies showed no clear response to changes in vegetation and erosion, as autochthonous ecological processes became more important than external climate influences during the late Holocene. The pollen stratigraphy reflects the major climate patterns of the central Kola Peninsula during the Holocene, i.e. a climate optimum between 9000 and 5400/5000 cal. yr BP when climate was warm and dry, and gradual climate cooling and an increase in moisture during the past 5400/5000 yr. This agrees with the occurrence of the north–south humidity gradient in Fennoscandia during the Holocene. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeolimnological evidence for recent climatic change in lakes from the northern Urals, arctic Russia

The recent sediments from two deep arctic lakes, Mitrofanovskoe and Vanuk-ty, situated in the permafrost belt within the Bolshezemelskaya Tundra in the northern Ural region, were studied for diatoms, chironomids, spheroidal carbonaceous particles and stable lead isotopes. The magnitudes and rates-of-change in diatom and chironomid assemblages were numerically estimated. Instrumental climate records were used to assess statistically the amount of variance in diatom and chironomid data explained by temperature. August and September air temperatures have a statistically significant effect on diatom composition at both lakes. At Mitrofanovskoe Lake, major compositional changes in diatom and chironomid assemblages occurred at the turn of the 20th century and might be related to the regional increase in temperature. Chironomid-inferred air temperature also increased by approximately 1 °C since the early 1900s. At both lakes diatom compositional changes, coincident with the increase in June and September temperatures, also occurred in the late 1960s. These compositional changes are correlated with the increase in diatom production, sediment organic content and diatom species richness, and are likely to be a diatom response to the lengthening of the growing season. These changes are also correlated with the circum-Arctic temperature increase from the 1960s. A chironomid response to the late 1960s temperature increase was less pronounced at both lakes. Pollution levels are relatively low and pollution history is unrelated to ecological changes. Both lead isotopes and spheroidal carbonaceous particles show a clear atmospheric pollution signal, peaking in the 1980s.     

Mid-Holocene palaeoclimatic and palaeohydrological conditions in northeastern European Russia: a multi-proxy study of Lake Vankavad

Mid-Holocene changes in vegetation, palaeohydrology and climate were investigated from the sediments of Lake Vankavad in the northern taiga of the Usa Basin, NE European Russia, through the analysis of pollen, plant macrofossils, Cladocera and diatoms. Lake Vankavad was probably formed at ca. 5000 BP (ca. 5600 cal. BP) and initially it was shallow with a littoral cladoceran fauna. Macrofossil and pollen results suggest that dense Betula-Picea forests grew in the vicinity and the shore was close to the sampling point. At ca. 4600 BP (ca. 5400 cal. BP) the water level rose coincident with the decrease in the density and area of forests, probably caused by cooling climate and accelerated spread of mires. There was also a further rise in the water level at ca. 3500 BP (ca. 3800 cal. BP). The initiation of the lake, followed by two periods of rising water-level, as well as the increase in mire formation, was a consequence of a rise in groundwater level. This probably reflects lower evapotranspiration in a cooling mid-Holocene climate and/or higher precipitation in the lowland area. Also the decreased forest density and area may have contributed to the lower evapotranspiration. It is also possible that permafrost aggradation or changes in peat ecosystems might have affected the hydrological conditions in the area.     

Disturbances in the Lower Ionosphere after the Eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai Volcano on January 15, 2022, Recorded by the Subionospheric VLF Radio Signals

Doklady Earth Sciences - The anomalous variations of a very low frequency (VLF) signal recorded after the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano on January 15, 2022, have been...     

On the correlation between ionospheric perturbations as detected by subionospheric VLF/LF signals and earthquakes as characterized by seismic intensity

The long-term data during seven years from January 2001 to December 2007, as observed by the Pacific VLF/LF network consisting of several Japanese stations and one station in Kamchatka, are extensively utilized to perform a statistical correlation study between the lower ionospheric perturbations as detected by subionospheric propagation and earthquakes (EQs). In this paper, we adopt a physical parameter, the maximum seismicity intensity observed (I) to define the strength of an EQ unlike the previously and conventionally used EQ magnitude and depth, which is a combined effect of EQ magnitude and depth, together with the Earth’s surface information and geological condition around the EQ epicenter. After considering EQs only take place on the land because of the use of seismicity and by using the superimposed epoch analysis, it is found for the larger EQs with I from 5 to 7 (we feel serious trembling and we expect serious damage) that the most important VLF/LF parameter, trend (nighttime average amplitude), shows a definite decrease about 10 days before the EQ by exceeding 2σ (σ: standard deviation) criterion; the dispersion shows a maximum about 10 days before the EQ but not exceeding 2σ line and finally the nighttime fluctuation shows an enhancement about 10 days before the EQ (with exceeding the 2σ level). A definite statistical correlation is confirmed between the ionospheric perturbations and I when I is strong enough in a range from 5 to 7. Whereas, there is no significant correlation between the two when I is in a range from 3 to 4. Finally, together with the corresponding results for EQs in the sea, but close to the land, these results are discussed in the light of lithosphere–ionosphere coupling mechanism.