Evaluation of drift current parameters using an analytical model

The paper is concerned with the evaluation of the drift current parameters derived through the use of an analytical model. In this model, effective when stratification is stable and indifferent, the vertical turbulence coefficient profile is prescribed by the power function, and hydrodynamic quantities are prescribed using the external parameters of the problem (wind stress, the Coriolis parameter, and the dimensionless stratification parameter). Model data are compared with the observations of the upper mixed layer in the vicinity of the oceanic Station C, conducted during one year. It is shown that, under the spring-summer-time warming conditions, the model at issue is capable of adequately simulating the upper ocean layer dynamics. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

The Latnenskoe refractory clay deposit (Central Russia)

This paper reports the results of our recent studies and generalizes previously known data on the geology, mineralogy, geochemistry, and genesis of the Russia’s largest Latnenskoe refractory clay deposit. It is shown that conditions of its localization were defined by regional and local factors. The regional factors controlled the distribution of the clay raw material in the region, while the local factors were responsible for the genesis and composition of refractory clays of the Latnenskoe deposit. Our studies showed that the formation of refractory clays is not only related to terrigenous but also to authigenic processes of sedimentation. The terrigenous component of clays was formed by the erosion of kaolin weathering crusts of the Voronezh anteclise crystalline basement and Paleozoic sedimentary hydromica–kaolinite rocks. Authigenic processes were significantly contributed by organic matter, which determined the environmental pH and Eh parameters. It is established that the mineral matter of clays of the deposit is represented by three morphological modifications (crystalline, amorphous, and biomorphic), which were formed subsequently and (or) simultaneously and could be transformed into each other. Application of a complex of modern precision methods allowed us to reveal a previously unknown biomorphic modification of kaolinite, the major rock-forming mineral, as well as mixed-layer kaolinite-smectite in the clays. It is shown that the distribution of major and trace elements and the sulfur isotope composition in different technological types of clay depend mainly on the facies conditions of their formation. Technological properties of clay raw material are considered.     

Experience of geographical typology of secularization processes in the modern world

In the modern world, seven geographical types of development of secularization processes have been identified; the level of secularization is determined not only by the maturity of social space but also by the structure of geospace. The Latin type includes some countries of Southern and Western Europe, most of the population of which confess Catholicism. The countries of the Anglo-Scandinavian type are characterized by Protestant pluralism. The polarized type combines countries and territories in which Protestants and Catholics form stable, influential and competing blocs. The countries in which the secularization processes were unable to seriously shake the influence of religion in society, because it is the institute of church that was resisting the political and cultural infringement by neighboring states over centuries, refer to the type of religious infringement. The resettlement type is characteristic for the countries whose population was being formed as a result of migration of various confessional (primarily Protestant) groups. The post-socialist type includes the countries in which an active policy of not infrequently forced “political” secularization was pursued. The Confucianistic type combines the states, most of the population of which was pursuing various religious-cultural traditions, with Confucianism predominating in general, and with a widespread occurrence of polyconfessionalism. This geographical typology of secularization embraces the countries, the communities of which have gone through the stages of secular development. The spatial boundedness of the secularization processes in the world is determined by the fact that secularization itself is the product primarily of the entire Christian European civilization.     

Cosmic ray flux variations, modulated by the solar and earth’s magnetic fields, and climate changes. 1. Time interval from the present to 10–12 ka ago (the Holocene Epoch)

Direct and indirect data on variations in cosmic rays, solar activity, geomagnetic dipole moment, and climate from the present to 10–12ka ago (the Holocene Epoch), registered in different natural archives (tree rings, ice layers, etc.), have been analyzed. The concentration of cosmogenic isotopes, generated in the Earth’s atmosphere under the action of cosmic ray fluxes and coming into the Earth archives, makes it possible to obtain valuable information about variations in a number of natural processes. The cosmogenic isotopes ¹⁴C in tree rings and ¹⁰Be in ice layers, as well as cosmic rays, are modulated by solar activity and geomagnetic field variations, and time variations in these concentrations gives information about past solar and geomagnetic activities. Since the characteristics of natural reservoirs with cosmogenic ¹⁴C and ¹⁰Be vary with climate changes, the concentrations of these isotopes also inform about climate changes in the past. A performed analysis indicates that cosmic ray flux variations are apparently the most effective natural factor of climate changes on a large time scale.     

Magnetospheric source of UHF radio bursts at mid-latitudes during the magnetic storm on October 22, 1999

We discuss the results of our simultaneous observations of interplanetary and geomagnetic field fluctuations as well as solar wind parameters and meter radio emission in near-Earth space at mid-latitudes (near Kharkov) based on ground measurements before and during a unique magnetic storm on October 22, 1999. The electron flux dynamics in interplanetary space, geostationary orbit, and the magnetosphere is analyzed to find the interconnection with UHF radio background bursts at a frequency of 151 MHz. We conclude that the acceleration processes in the inner magnetospheric layers affect the generation processes of high-frequency radio bursts and that this phenomenon should be studied further using the SINP (MSU) instruments onboard the CORONAS-F satellite.     

Formation of Hydrogen Emission Lines in the Magnetospheres of Young Stars

Astronomy Letters - The formation of hydrogen emission lines in the magnetospheres of young stars is considered. The magnetosphere is assumed to be formed by a dipolar magnetic field whose axis is...     

Cartographic modeling of pipeline routes in the arctic zone of Siberia

This paper presents the scientific-methodological approaches to cartographic GIS-based modeling of pipelines with geoecological restrictions which essentially imply a spatial multiparametric analysis of the natural potential of the study territory in order to explore its possibilities of consistently performing the socioeconomic functions as pre-assigned without disturbing the life-support (environment and resource reproduction) functions. The suggested technique is illustrated by the example of selecting the route for the laying of the pipeline system on the model territory in the arctic zone of Siberia. Critical principles are applied to the technique of cartographic modeling of the pipeline route, i.e. the principles of systemacy, ecological security, priority of estimated indicators, unity of assessment and economic expediency. The following investigation methods were used in implementing the technique: ranking of the properties of natural landscapes according to their influence on the suitability of the territory, qualimetric assessments for the suitability classes of lands of natural systems, and graph theory for determining the optimal pipeline route on the basis of Dijkstra’s algorithm. The table of unnormalized and normalized weight factors is compiled, which are taken in consideration for assessing the suitability of natural landscape components and their characteristic properties. Archival and published reference data are used to calculate the reference values of the indicators used in an integral assessment of the suitability of the territory for the laying of the pipeline route.     

Cyclical Changes in the Pleistocene Climate from an Analysis of Biogenic Silica in a Bottom Sediment Core Sample of Lake Baikal

An inhomogeneous time series of measurements of the percentage content of biogenic silica in the samples of joint cores BDP-96-1 and BDP-96-2 from the bottom of Lake Baikal drilled at a depth of 321 m under water has been analyzed. The composite depth of cores is 77 m, which covers the Pleistocene Epoch to 1.8 Ma. The time series was reduced to a regular form with a time step of 1 kyr, which allowed 16 distinct quasi-periodic components with periods from 19 to 251 kyr to be revealed in this series at a significance level of their amplitudes exceeding 4σ. For this, the combined spectral periodogram (a modification of the spectral analysis method) was used. Some of the revealed quasi-harmonics are related to the characteristic cyclical oscillations of the Earth’s orbital parameters. Special focus was payed to the temporal change in the parameters of the revealed quasi-harmonic components over the Pleistocene Epoch, which was studied by constructing the spectral density of the analyzed data in the running window of 201 and 701 kyr.     

Manifestation of Solar-Activity Cycles in the Rhythms of the Lacustrine Banded Clay of the Late Pleistocene and the Modern Era

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The paper considers the ratio between the spectral and time structures of solar activity, which consists of five main cycles (Schwabe, Hale, Brueckner, Gleissberg, and...     

Comparison Analysis of Recognition Algorithms of Forest-Cover Objects on Hyperspectral Air-Borne and Space-Borne Images

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The basic model for the recognition of natural and anthropogenic objects using their spectral and textural features is described in the problem of...