Some remarks on the european monsoon

Summary 1. The so called sigularities want all reality and are of no value in monsoon investigations. — 2. In this section a short summary ofChromow's monsoon studies is given (Fig. 1). — 3. The monsoon in Western Europe manifests itself in impulses during some days alternating with the general west circulation. Monthly means of the wind direction give the resultant direction of these two independent wind systems and do by no means elucidate the true behaviour of the wind.Chromow's method, the appliance of monthly means of pressure gradients, is also insufficient. The only reliable method of researching the monsoon in moderate regions is the investigation of the separate wind octants. A month is too long to reveal the rather short impulses and therefore calculating decade means is recommended. The monsoon depends upon the direction and the velocity of the wind. Calculating the product of the frequency of the direction (in %) and the wind velocity is in practice a sufficient approximation. I have called this product the «relative wind vector». — 4. Whereas generally the months of January and July are accepted as the central monsoon months, in the Netherlands and Germany these months appear to be November–December and May–June (Table 1, 2; Fig. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7), respectively with S and NE winds. The summer monsoon seems to back from E to N and perhaps even to NW. This backing may be caused by the form of the european continent. — 5. A research into the maximal development of the monsoon impulses shows that they equal or even surpass the general western ciruclation concerning both their number (Table 1, right-hand side) and their intensity (Table 3).Willett's opinion that the normal geographical distribution of air mass source regions in the spring and the autumn are intermediate between those of the months of Janaury and July cannot be maintained for West Europe. — 6. A research by means ofConrad's monsoon index also shows that the full monsoon months in W-Europe are November–December and May–June (Table 4). The application of his method to the relative wind vector at Den Helder and Maastricht confirms this result (Table 5). — All results arrived at show the activity of the monsoon phenomenon in a good deal of West Europe.

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Zusammenfassung 1. Die Singularitäten entbehren jede Realität und sind wertlos für Monsununtersuchungen. — 2. In diesem Paragraph findet man eine Zusammenfassung vonChromow's Anschauungen (Fig. 1). — 3 Der europäische Monsun äussert sich in Stössen während einiger Tage, abwechselnd mit der allgemeinen Westzirkulation. Montasmittel der Windrichtung geben nur die resultierende Richtung dieser zwei unabhängigen Windsystemen und zeigen in keinem Fall die wahren Windverhältnisse. Die einzige Methode ist die Untersuchung der einzelnen Windoktanten. Eine Monat, ist zu lang um die ziemlich kurzen Stösse zu zeigen. Ein gutes Mass ist das Produkt der Richtungsverteilung in Prozenten mit der Geschwindigkeit, der «relative Windvektor» genannt. — 4. In den Niederlanden und Deutschland sind nicht die allgemein angenommenen Monate Januar und Juli die Zentralmonate des Monsuns, sondern November–Dezember und Mai–Juni (Tab. 1, 2.; Fig. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7), beziehungsweise mit S- und NE-Winden. Der NE-Monsun scheint zurückzudrehen von E nach N, vielleicht selbst, nach NW. Diese Eigenschaft kann verursacht werden von der Form des europäischen Kontinents. — 5. Die Wichtigkeit der Monsunstösse ist gleich, der Westzirkulation oder selbst stärker als diese, sowohl was ihre Zahl (Tab. 1, rechts) als ihre Intensität (Tab. 3) betrifft.Willett's Behauptung, dass die normale geographische Verteilung der Luftmassen im Frühling und im Herbst die mittleren Eigenschaften der Verteilung im Januar und im Juli besitzt kann für Westeuropa nicht aufrecht gehalten werden. — 6.Conrad's Monsunindex zeigt auch dass die vollen Monsunmonate in Westeuropa die oben genannten sind (Tab. 4). Die Anwendung seiner Methode auf dem relativen Windvektor bestätigt dieses Resultat (Tab. 5). Alle gefundenen Resultate zeigen die Aktivität des Monsunphänomens in Westeuropa.

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Résumé 1. Les singularités manquent toute réalité et n'ont pas de valeur pour l'étude des moussons dans les régions modérées. — 2. Un résumé court des études deChromow est donné (Fig. 1). — 3. Le mousson européen se manifeste par des impulsions pendant quelques jours alternant avec la circulation atmosphérique générale. Les moyennes mensuelles de la direction du vent ne donnent que la direction résultante mais ne démontrent rien concernant les particularités réelles du vent. La méthode deChromow, l'application des gradients mensuels de la pression, est aussi insuffisante. En outre la durée d'une mois est trop longue pour révéler ces impulsions courtes. Il faut préférer les décades. Pour conclure il faut tenir compte de la vitesse du vent aussi. J'ai calculé le produit de la fréquence (en pourcentage) et la vitesse, le «vecteur relatif du vent» 4. Tandis que généralement les mois de Janvier et de Juin sont acceptées comme les mois centrales du mousson, dans les Pays Bas et en Allemagne ces mois sont Novembre–Décembre et Mai–Juin (Tabl. 1, 2; Fig. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7) avec resp. le mousson de S et le mousson de NE. Le mousson de NE semble changer de l'E à N et peutêtre même à NW. Ce recul du vent peut être causé par la configuration du continent européen. — 5. Une recherche des impulsions du mousson démontre qu'elles égalent, même surpassent la circulation générale aussi bien concernant leur nombre (Tabl. 1, à droite) que leur intensité (Tabl. 3). L'opinion deWillett que les masses d'air du printemps et de l'automne sont intermédiaires entre celles de Janvier et de Juin n'est pas acceptable pour l'Europe occidentale. — 6. Une recherche au moyen de l'index deConrad montre aussi que les mois essentielles du mousson européen sont les mois mentionnées (Tabl. 4). L'application de la méthode deConrad sur le vecteur du vent relatif confirme ce résultat (Tabl. 5). — Tous les résultats gagnés montrent l'activité du mousson dans une grande partie de l'Europe occidentale.

     

Magnitude assessment of northwestern european earthquakes

A homogeneous and internally consistent body of regional magnitudes is needed not only for the statistical study of seismicity but also for the modelling of seismic sources and for the hazard assessment of engineering sites. Also the assessment of the design ground motions for engineering projects requires homogeneous magnitude estimates. The nature of the available data for U.K. and Northwestern European earthquakes, and of the events themselves, is such that we are concerned with the assessment of magnitudes at the lower end of the scale, and thus great importance focuses on the uniform calculation of magnitudes within a relatively narrow range of M values. The purpose of this study is to present the uniform re-assessment of magnitudes for British and Northwestern European earthquakes for the period 1900 to 1984. It is shown that, for the larger events, surface-wave magnitudes can be estimated uniformly and that neither a period constraint at 20 seconds nor distance effects for the regional conditions considered appear to play an important role. For smaller events, crustal phases at short distances have been used to derive calibration curves for a magnitude which, at larger distances and longer periods would fit the magnitude scale of surface waves.     

Mechanism of wetting and river runoff in the east european plain

The general picture of wetting the East European Plain in 1966–1985 is established by studying the trajectories of more than 5000 cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere. The role of the Arctic High as a regulator of the paths of the Atlantic cyclones is established. It is shown that the majority of rivers of the East European Plain feature higher rate of streamflow in the years with the El Nino effect.Translated from Vodnye Resursy, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2005, pp. 108–114.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Babkin, Klige.     

Intensity-attenuation and magnitude-intensity relationships for northwest european earthquakes

This study shows that, for Northwest Europe, an intraplate region of subdued seismicity, a comparatively simple attenuation model is adequate to predict quite accurately the fall-off of intensity with distance. The analysis shows that focal depths determined from macroseismic data are confined in the upper 25 km, and that shallow shocks attenuate far more rapidly than deeper events. There is no evidence for a regional variation of the absorption coefficient, which, together with the coefficient of geometric spreading, is a function of depth. Also, the intensity factor b, which is usually taken to be equal to 3, is a variable and a function of the energy absorption at the epicentre. It is shown that magnitudes can be predicted accurately by use of one or preferably by more isoseismal radii calibrated against re-assessed instrumental magnitudes.     

Anomalous induction zones in the Czech Republic in relation to large scale european anomalies

Summary Induction response has been investigated at 57 field stations covering the Bohemian Massif (BM) and the Bruno-Vistulicum (BV), and at 93 temporary observing sites across the West Carpathians (WCP). Induction response data at 958 localities covering mainly the Central European area were also collected and analysed. Components of transfer functions (TF), moduli and arguments of corresponding induction vectors are analyzed for individual profiles. Pseudo-sections of induction parameters at profiles are used to visualize the period dependence of induction response and computer generated contour maps of TF components define zones of anomalous induction and their relation to large scale anomalies. Depths of anomalous field source are estimated by separating variations into internal and external parts. Correlations among induction response characteristics and the results of other geophysical investigations are discussed.     

Historical seismicity of South China from European sources：example of the Hong Kong Newspaper Press

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Study of neotectonic activity of morphostructures in the central part of the east european craton by remote sensing methods

The combined approach is used for studying recent tectonic activity in the central part of the East European Craton (EEC).This approach incorporates the methods of automated lineament analysis and satellite geodesy with the conventional geological mapping analysis. The space tectonic map (space image based) is reconstructed, and morphostructures that are active at the recent and present tectonic stage are delineated by processing the Landsat image mosaic. The direction and rate of horizontal displacement of crustal blocks, which is caused by deep geodynamical processes, are determined using the GPS data. The study is preliminary since only few GPS stations within the EEC have sufficiently long time series of observations.     

Annual cycles of horizontal distributions of temperature and salinity,and of concentrations of nutrients,suspended particulate matter and chlorophyll on the northwest european shelf

During the years 1993 to 1996 the MAST project “Northwest European Shelf Programme (NOWESP)p ]During the years 1993 to 1996 the MAST project “Northwest European Shelf Programme (NOWESP)” has compiled most available observations for nine key state variables, namely temperature, salinity, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, silicate, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and chlorophyll, for the Northwest European Shelf. One important aim of NOWESP was to derive mean spatial distributions for each month by merging the available data to construct climatological monthly mean distributions to picture the climatological annual cycle, disregarding possible trends, e.g. in the coastal areas. In these areas the horizontal distributions have a bias towards the last fifteen years of observation because of the trends and of the increasing number of observations, and the monthly mean data are representative of the decade 1984 to 1993. Maps of horizontal distributions of temperature and salinity and of the concentrations of the nutrients phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and silicate, of SPM and of chlorophyll are presented here for the months February, May, August and November. The properties of a few averaging (interpolation) methods are discussed and the method chosen, i.e. exponentially distance weighted averaging, is compared to the other methods. More details and maps for every month are given in the corresponding technical report by Radach and Gekeler [1997].     

On the synchronism in the events within the core and on the surface of the earth: the changes in the organic world and in the polarity of the geomagnetic field in the phanerozoic

The data on geomagnetic reversals are compared with the changes in the organic world and with the lower-mantle plumes. The times of the formation of plumes and the times of their appearance on the Earth’s surface relate to the intervals characterized by the different frequencies of geomagnetic reversals, i.e., there is no interrelation between the formation of plumes and the frequency of the changes in the geomagnetic field polarity. At the same time, a certain synchronism is observed between the frequency of the geomagnetic reversals and the boundaries of the biostratigraphic ages, i.e., the changes in the organic world in the long-period range. A hypothesis is proposed, which explains the change in the sign of the geomagnetic field by the combined effect of the irregular rotation of the internal core relative to the mantle and the changes in the slope angle of the axis of the Earth’s rotation, which, in turn, results in synchronous events on the Earth’s surface: the rates of changes in the organic world.     

On the maintenance of the axisymmetric part of the flow in the atmosphere

Summary The maintenance of the axisymmetric component of the flow in the atmosphere is investigated by means of a steady-state, quasi-geostrophic formulation of the meteorological equations. It is shown that the meridional variations in the time-averaged axisymmetric variables can be expressed as the sum of three contributions, one being due to the eddy heat transport, another to the eddy momentum transport, and a third to the convective-radiative equilibrium temperature which enters the problem through the specification of a Newtonian form of diabatic heating. The contributions by the large scale eddies are evaluated through the use of observed values for the eddy heat and momentum transports.The contributions from each of the three forcing mechanisms to the temperature and zonal wind fields are invstigated individually and found to be of about equal importance. The sum of the three contributions are also presented for the temperature, the zonal wind, the stream function associated with the mean meridional circulation and the corresponding vertical motion. Although the results fail to reproduce the main observed features of the lower stratosphere, they are found to be in good agreement with observations in the middle latitude troposphere. At any pressure level, for example, the computed mean zonal wind has a jet-like profile and the axis of the jet is found to slope to the south with height, as observed in the atmosphere.Based in part on a thesis submitted by the first author as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree at the University of Michigan. — Publication No. 194 from the Department of Meteorology and Oceanography, The University of Michigan.     

On the gravimetric undulations of the geoid and the deflections of the vertical

Summary The author mentions the aims of the World-wide gravity project he established in the Ohio State University in Columbus, in 1950. He outlines the practical procedure of the gravimetric computations of the undulationsN and the vertical deflection components and and emphasizes that only by the global international cooperation and additional gravity observations at sea carried out during the last decade it has been possible to gather to Columbus the needed gravity material. Since there exist still large gravimetrically unsurveyed areas it is of vital significance to study what gravity anomalies are best to be used for these regions. The given figures concerning the accuracy of theN, and , estimated theoretically and obtained in practice, indicate that in the gravimetrically well surveyed parts of the world like in Europe and the United States we can get gravimetrically on basis of existing gravity material theN-values with accuracy of about 5–10 meters, and and with the accuracy of about 1. The geoid undulationsN are already computed in Columbus for more than 6000 points of the northern hemisphere. The sample maps show the interesting geoid of Europe and vicinity between the latitudes 60° and 30° and longitude 5° W and 30° E, drafted on basis of more than 1000N-values computed at the corners of 1°×1° squares. It is interesting to realize that the geoid undulations in all this area are positive, the extreme values being between 40 and 50 meters. The geophysical significance of the geoid maps of this kind is pointed out.