Look out, aurorae about!

Jim Wild recounts the rationale and success of AuroraWatch, a service that alerts you when you might be able to see aurorae.     

Variation of atmospheric electric field during aurorae

Summary The measured data of the atmospheric potential gradientE during aurorae are summarized. It is shown that aurorae in the northern hemisphere decreaseE, and aurorae in the southern hemisphere increaseE. Depending on aurorae intensities, variations ofE reach 30–35% from the mean.Deviations ofE from normal values, on the average, begin 3.5 hours before aurora occurrence and end 3 hours after that.

---

Zusammenfassung Messdaten des luftelektrischen Feldes (Potentialgefälles)E während des Auftretens von Polarlichtern werden zusammengefasst. Es wird gezeigt, dassE bei Nordlicht abgeschwächt, bei Südlicht verstärkt wird. Die Änderungen vonE erreichen 30–35% des Mittelwerts und hängen von der Stärke des Polarlichts ab. Im Mittel beginnen die Abweichungen desE von seinem normalen Wert 3.5 Stunden vor, und enden 3 Stunden nach dem Auftreten des Polarlichts.

     

Were Greek temples oriented towards aurorae?

Ioannis Liritzis and Helen Vassiliou assess the evidence that the Ancient Greeks saw the aurora borealis, and that it was a rare and special event, strongly enough associated with particular gods to build temples of unusual orientation.     

Some early descriptions of aurorae in China

Eight accounts from ancient Chinese literature have been found that describe phenomena in contexts and in metaphors that are distinctly auroral. These accounts relate to personages purported to have lived in the third millennium B.C. The historicity of the personages and the actual dates of their lives are still a matter of controversy. Thus the accounts should be considered at a minimum as valuable additions to the inventory of ancient allusions to the aurora. At the other extreme, if taken at face value, they document the occurrence of low-latitude aurorae in the third millennium B.C.     

The periodicity of aurorae in the years 1001–1900

Summary The sequence of aurorae, observed at latitudes up to 55° between the years 1001 and 1900 was processed by methods of spectral analysis. The same methods were applied to parts of various duration of this interval. The periods predominant in the time series under investigation were determined. In all the selected parts of the interval, these periods are always located within the same frequency band. Their position is related to the periods corresponding to mutual conjunctions of the large planets.

---

¶rt; n uu, a¶rt;au a uma ¶rt; 55° nu¶rt; 1001–1900, ama nu nu m¶rt; nma aaua. a n¶rt; ¶rt; am a ¶rt;u m umaa. u n¶rt; na¶rt;au nu¶rt; u¶rt;a ¶rt;a. mu nu¶rt; ¶rt; a am umaa ¶rt;a a¶rt;m ¶rt;ua ¶rt;uaan amm. nu mum nu¶rt;au, mmmuu au u u nam.

     

Planetary features of aurorae: Results of the IGY (a review)

In the period of the International Geophysical Year (IGY), almost the entire planet was covered for the first time by ground-based geophysical observations. Their analysis led to two fundamental results: the existence of the auroral oval and auroral (magnetospheric) substorm. At the final stage of the IGY, satellite explorations of the near-Earth space began. The auroral luminosity appeared to be related to the plasma structure of the magnetosphere. That opened new possibilities for parameters diagnostics of the Earth’s magnetosphere on the basis of ground-based aurora observations. The concepts of auroral oval and magnetospheric substorm became paradigms of the new science of solar-terrestrial physics.     

Aliens like us?

Simon Conway Morris explains that as and when (and indeed if) we meet the extraterrestrials, they will look eerily like us.     

能源供应系统地震次生火灾危险性与火灾荷载评估

能源供应系统的地震安全是防震减灾的重要课题。研究了能源供应系统可能遭遇的地震次生火灾危险性评估和火灾荷载的评价分析方法,包括危险性评估、火灾荷载、温度计算、火灾减灾等。这些方法为能源供应系统防御地震次生火灾提供了有效途径,具有很好的应用前景。     

朝鲜半岛的核试验时期

过去20年中, 北朝鲜在核不扩散问题的外交政策方面一直与西方国家争论不休. 迫于前苏联的压力, 北朝鲜于1985年勉强加入了1968年签订的《核武器不扩散条约》. 但是, 在加入该条约之后, 北朝鲜就停止了必须履行的谈判, 而且也没有令其与国际原子能机构（IAEA）签署的全面安全协议（CSA）生效. 该协议本应于1986年生效, 但直到1992年4月10日它才有了合法约束力. 同年, 国际原子能机构基于其在伊拉克的经验, 在核安全方面实施了新方法. 在原有系统下, 国际原子能机构采用了一种“材料审计”的方法, 该方法只是检查其所申报核材料的存货清单是否正确. 然而, 自1992年开始, 国际原子能机构对接受其检查的国家所申报内容的完备性也开展了评估工作.     

The white dwarf that acts like a pulsar

Periodic high-energy X-ray pulses have been picked up from a white dwarf – behaviour typical of a pulsar and not at all what was expected from these supposedly dying stars.     

Large-scale climate teleconnections with South Korean streamflow variability

ABSTRACT

Leading patterns of observed seasonal extreme and mean streamflow on the Korean peninsula were estimated using an empirical orthogonal teleconnection (EOT) technique. In addition, statistical correlations on a seasonal basis were calculated using correlation and regression analyses between the leading streamflow patterns and various climate indices based on atmospheric–ocean circulation. The spatio-temporal patterns of the leading EOT modes for extreme and mean streamflow indicate an upstream mode for the Han River, with increasing trends in summer, and a downstream mode for the Nakdong River, with oscillations mainly on inter-decadal time scales in winter. The tropical ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) forcing for both extreme and mean streamflow is coherently associated with summer to winter streamflow patterns. The western North Pacific monsoon has a negative correlation with winter streamflow variability, and tropical cyclone indices also exhibit significant positive correlation with autumn streamflow. Leading patterns of autumn and winter streamflow time series show predictability up to two seasons in advance from the Pacific sea-surface temperatures.     

Sandstone response to salt weathering following simulated fire damage: a comparison of the effects of furnace heating and fire

Fire has long been recognized as an agent of rock weathering. Our understanding of the impact of fire on stone comes either from early anecdotal evidence, or from more recent laboratory simulation studies, using furnaces to simulate the effects of fire. This paper suggests that knowledge derived from simulated heating experiments is based on the pre‐conceptions of the experiment designer – when using a furnace to simulate fire, the operator decides on the maximum temperature and the duration of the experiment. These are key factors in determining the response of the stone to fire, and if these are removed from real‐world observations then knowledge based on these simulations must be questioned. To explore the differences between heating sandstone in a furnace and a real fire, sample blocks of Peakmoor Sandstone were subjected to different stress histories in combination (lime rendering and removal, furnace heating or fire, frost and salt weathering). Block response to furnace heating and fire is discussed, with emphasis placed on the non‐uniformity of the fire and of block response to fire in contrast to the uniform response to surface heating in a furnace. Subsequent response to salt weathering (by a 10% solution of sodium chloride and magnesium sulphate) was then monitored by weight loss. Blocks that had experienced fire showed a more unpredictable response to salt weathering than those that had undergone furnace heating – spalling of corners and rapid catastrophic weight loss were evidenced in blocks that had been subjected to fire, after periods of relative quiescence. An important physical side‐effect of the fire was soot accumulation, which created a waxy, relatively impermeable layer on some blocks. This layer repelled water and hindered salt ingress, but eventually detached when salt, able to enter the substrate through more permeable areas, concentrated and crystallized behind it, resulting in rapid weight loss and accelerated decay. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hypoxia and benthic community recovery in Korean coastal waters

Low dissolved oxygen (hypoxia and/or anoxia) has become a major cause of change to the benthic component of ecosystems around the world. We present the response of a benthic community to hypoxia in organically enriched environments in Korean coastal waters. Disturbances due to low dissolved oxygen (DO), and organic enrichment altered community dynamics, result in defaunation during summer hypoxia with delayed recolonization occurring in winter. As DO decreased, the number of taxa, their abundance and biomass of macrofauna dropped significantly at inner bay stations in Chinhae Bay and Youngsan River estuarine bay affected by hypoxia. With the return of normoxic conditions in Chinhae Bay, recolonization was initiated by opportunistic species, with a 1-4months lag. The polychaetes, Sigambra tentaculata, Mesochaetopterus sp., and Lumbrineris longifolia, were most persistent under hypoxia. The first recolonizers were the polychaetes Paraprionospio pinnata, S. tantaculata, Glycinde gurjanovae and Nectoneanthes multignatha and the bivalve Theora fragilis. The second group of colonizers included the polychaetes Capitella capitata, Mesochaetopterus sp. and L. longifolia, and the bivalve Raetellops pulchella. Hypoxic and near anoxic conditions resulted in mass mortality in Chinhae Bay and Youngsan River estuarine bay, but communities did partially recover after return to normoxic conditions despite delayed recolonization.     

朝鲜半岛南部三维地壳速度结构成像

对多震相走时层析成像方法进行改进和优化, 使用朝鲜半岛陆地和近海的地震记录, 对朝鲜半岛南部(34.5°N～39°N,125°E～130°E)进行地震波走时反演, 获得了本研究区的三维速度结构成像结果.分析了沉积层、基底、上地壳、康腊面、下地壳和莫霍面的特征.研究了不同地质区的深部结构的主要差别、主要断裂特征、 海陆交界的地壳特征等.可以发现京畿山地与沃川褶皱带、太白山褶皱带、临津江褶皱带深部结构的差异尤为明显.     

Hazard analysis system of urban post-earthquake fire based on GIS

IntroductionPost-earthquake fire is described as the fire caused by earthquake directly or indirectly. Among the post-earthquake disasters or seismically secondary disasters, post-earthquake fire is usually the most dangerous. Experiences from historic earthquakes indicate that seismically secondary disasters may cause more severe damages and threaten our society seriously than the earthquake itself. To relieve the post-earthquake fire and minimize the economic loss, it is necessary to set up …     

The hydrological effects of fire in South African mountain catchments

Streamflow and its storm-flow elements in four catchments were analyzed by the paired catchment method for a response to fire. Prior to burning two of the catchments were vegetated with over-mature fynbos (the indigenous scrub vegetation of the southwestern Cape, South Africa), one was afforested with Pinus radiata and the fourth with Eucalyptus fastigata. One of the fynbos catchments was burned in a prescribed fire in the late dry season. The other catchments burned in wildfires.

Neither of the fynbos catchments showed a change in storm-flow. Annual total flow increases of around 16% were in agreement with model predictions, being related to the reductions in transpiration and interception. The manner of streamflow generation appeared to have remained unaltered despite the presence of some water repellency in the soils and consequent overland flow on some steep midslope sites.

The two timber plantation catchments experienced large and significant increases in storm-flows and soil losses, while total flow increased by 12% in the pine catchment and decreased marginally in the eucalypt catchment. The pattern of the storm-flow increases was similar in both cases. After fire, storm hydrographs were higher and steeper though their duration was little changed. The respective first year increases in the pine and eucalypt catchments were 290% and 1110% for peak discharge, 201% and 92% for quick-flow volume, and 242% and 319% for storm response ratio. These fire effects are considered to be due to changes in storm-flow generation consistent with an increased delivery of overland flow (surface runoff) to the stream channel. This was caused, in part, by reduced infiltration resulting from water repellency in the soils of the burned catchments. Overall the hydrological effects of fire are related to numerous interactive factors, including the degree of soil heating, the vegetation type and soil properties.