The Upper Pleistocene to Holocene sediments on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa (Italy)

The island of Lampedusa lies on the northern edge of the African continental shelf, but during some Quaternary marine lowstands it was joined to the African continent. The study and dating of the aeolian, alluvial, detrital sediments, calcareous crusts and speleothems have established that the climatic–environmental variations recorded on the island can be related chronologically to those known for northern Libya, Tunisia and the Italian peninsula. During the Last Glacial Maximum, phases of Saharan dust accumulation on Lampedusa occurred, and were coeval with dust accumulation in crater lakes and on high mountains in central‐southern Italy, and with phases of glacial advance in the Apennines and in the Alps. During the late Holocene, accumulation of Saharan dust on Lampedusa occurred but there was little accumulation of dust on the northern side of the Mediterranean Sea. With the new data from Lampedusa, it is possible to envisage two different scenarios of atmospheric circulation relating to the Last Glacial Maximum and to the late Holocene. During the Last Glacial Maximum, southerly atmospheric circulation brought rainfall to the southern slopes of the Alps and to the Apennines. During the late Holocene, a prevalent westerly atmospheric circulation became established in the northern Mediterranean. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Water transport from the North-east Irish Sea to western Scottish coastal waters: Further observations from time-trend matching of Sellafield radiocaesium

Radiocaesium isotopes, discharged into the North-east Irish Sea from the Sellafield (formerly Windscale) nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Cumbria, have been employed as flow monitors to update and extend the record of coastal water movement from the Irish Sea to the Clyde Sea area and, further north, to Loch Etive. The temporal trends in radiocaesium levels have been used to determine the extent of water mixing en route and to define mean advection rates. Flow conditions from the Irish Sea have changed considerably since the mid-1970s, the residence time of northern Irish Sea waters being ～12 months during 1978–1980 inclusive. Average transport times of four and six months are estimated for the Sellafield to Clyde and Sellafield to Etive transects respectively. Sellafield ¹³⁷Cs levels in seawater were diluted by factors of 27 and 50 respectively during current movement to the Clyde and Etive areas. The decrease in salinity-corrected ¹³⁷Cs concentrations between the Clyde and Etive suggests that dilution by Atlantic water occurs, the latter mainly entering the Firth of Lorne from the west. The majority (～94%) of the radiocaesium supply to Loch Etive enters the Firth of Lorne via the portion of the coastal current circulating west of Islay, only ～6% arriving via the Sound of Jura.     

Remarks on the magnetic support of quiescent prominences

The development of magnetic field structures which can lead to prominence configurations of the Kuperus-Raadu type is discussed. Starting from streamer type configurations and preserving the total current in the system we find that simple two-dimensional static configurations lead to prominences which in general lie systematically much lower than the heights found from observations. We therefore conclude that either more complex field configurations are needed to explain the recent observations by Leroy et al. (1983) or the initial configurations must be very special.     

EUV observations of subflares and surges

EUV observations of two subflares and associated surges have been analyzed. At maximum brightness the emission measures and radiative outputs of the subflares were approximately 20% of the corresponding values for the active region. Multiple EUV surges were observed during and following each subflare, with surge material being ejected in a variety of directions, including toward a coronal bright point located outside of the active region. The total energy of the surges appears to be comparable to that radiated by the subflares, a few times 10²⁸ erg. As reported in previous studies of surges, we find that there was no significant emission from these features in spectral lines formed at temperatures T>10⁶K. The ejection of surges in several different directions and nearly simultaneous flaring of various areas of the active region suggest that the primary site of the subflares was magnetically connected to a variety of different areas in the active region and the surrounding quiet region.     

Mid-latitude electron content modelling: The role of interhemispheric coupling

A modelling study of the electron content of the mid-latitude ionosphere and protonosphere has been carried out for solstice conditions using the mathematical model of Bailey (1983). In the model calculations coupled time-dependent O⁺, H⁺ continuity and momentum equations and O⁺, H⁺ and electron heat balance equations are solved for a magnetic shell extending over both hemispheres. The inclusion of interhemispheric flow of plasma and of heat balance has enabled us to investigate the role of interhemispheric coupling on the electron content and related shape parameters. The computed results are compared with results from slant path observations of the ATS-6 radio beacon made at Lancaster (U.K.) and Boulder, Colorado (U.S.A.).It has been found that the conjugate photoelectron heating has a major effect on the shape of the daily variation of slant slab thickness (τ) and also on the magnitude of the protonospheric content (N_p). Some of the main features of τ are closely related to the sunrise and sunset times in the conjugate ionosphere. Also it is found that night-time increases in total electron content (N_T) and F2 region peak electron density (N_max) in winter are natural consequences of ionization loss at low altitudes causing an enhanced downward flow of plasma from the protonosphere which is coupled to the summer hemisphere. One other important consequence of the coupled protonosphere is that the effects on N_T of the neutral air wind are not much different in winter from those in summer.     

The future of solar physics

The future of solar physics is founded on the existing fundamental unsolved problems in stellar physics. Thus, for instance, the physics of stellar interiors has been called into serious question by the very low-measured neutrino flux. The ⁷¹Ga neutrino detection experiment is the next step in unravelling this mystery. If that experiment should find the expected neutrino flux from the basic p-p reaction in the Sun, then astrophysics is in a difficult situation, because the most likely explanation for the low neutrino flux found in the ³⁷Cl experiment would be an error in our calculation of the opacity or an error in our understanding of the elemental abundances in stellar interiors, with serious implications for present ideas on stellar structure and the age of the galaxy.The new methods of helioseismology, for probing the interior of the Sun, have already found the primordial rapid rotation of the central core. The forthcoming world-wide helioseismology observing network will permit fuller exploitation of the method, promising to provide the first direct sounding of the interior of a star, hitherto known to us only through theoretical inference and the discrepant neutrino emission.The activity of all stars involves much the same phenomena as make up the activity of the Sun. The effects are too complex, and too foreign to the familiar dynamics in the terrestrial laboratory, to be deciphered by theoretical effort alone. It has become clear through the observational and theoretical work of the past decade or two that much of the essential dynamics of the activity of the atmosphere takes place on scales of the order of 10² km. Thus, an essential step in developing the physics of stellar activity will be the Solar Optical Telescope (presently planned by NASA to be launched early in the next decade) to permit a microscopic examination of the surface of the Sun to study the source of the action. The activity and X-ray emission of other stars depend on much the same effects, so that the study is essential to determining the significance of the X-ray emission from other stars.This work was supported in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grant NGL-14-001-001.     

Comment on the group velocity of surface waves on the plasma sheet boundary

In the recent estimation by Maltsev and Lyatsky (1984) of the group velocity of surface waves on the inner boundary of the plasma sheet, the effect of the curvature of the field lines of the ambient magnetic field of the Earth on the spectrum has been assessed. The authors have not accounted for the fact, however, that the group velocity of the compressional surface magnetohydrodynamic waves itself is nonzero transverse to the magnetic field—a characteristic which has been omitted in the spectrum of Chen and Hasegawa (1974), being used by Maltsev and Lyatsky.This characteristic of compressional surface MHD waves is inherent for the spectrum $\text{ω = (}\text{k}{}_6\text{k}\text{)V}{}_{\mathrm{A}}\text{(k}{}^2{}_6\text{+ 2k}{}^2{}_{\mathrm{\perp }}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$, obtained by Nenovski (1978) in the cold plasma limit V_A ? V_S(V_A is Alfvén velocity, and V_S, sound velocity). A comment has been made on the restrictions, proceeding from the approximation, used by Maltsev and Lyatsky. The estimation of the velocities for movements of auroral riometer absorption bays have been reviewed.