Engineering Geological Map of the Sakha （Yakutia） Republic

The Engineering Geological Map of the Sakha（Yakutia） Republic covers about 3 million kilometers which is one-fifth of the territory of Russia.The map displays ground and geocryological conditions and active faults.Seismic intensity,schemes of zoning by factors of engineering geological conditions,and the general scheme of engineering geological zoning of the Sakha（Yakutia） Republic or the SR（Y）,are shown on the inset maps.The map is required to provide information for planning,construction and exploitation of engineering structures in the SR（Y）.A distinguishing feature of the map is the indication of almost blanket distribution of the frozen ground class.Types of the frozen ground class are separated by lithology,while ground varieties are separated by temperature.Fresh and ultra-fresh suprapermafrost water is predominant within the territory.The compiled map indicates parts of the Arctic-Asian and Baikalo-Stanovoi planetary seismic belts that make engineering geological conditions more complicated.     

The tropopause slope as a characteristic of its deformation

The slope of the tropopause is calculated from the data of its height in the points of a regular grid. From the NCEP Reanalysis-2 for 1990–2007, the slope angles are calculated of the tropopause approximated by different constant values of Ertel potential vorticity within the latitude band of 30°–70° N. Effects of horizontal resolution of the data under use on the calculation results are studied on the basis of ten-day samples of objective analysis by UKMO, NCEP, and operative objective analysis of Hydrometeorological Center of Russia in different seasons of 2009.     

Ozone content over the Russian Federation in the third quarter of 2011

The review is compiled on the basis of the results of the operation of the total ozone (TO) monitoring in the CIS and Baltic countries functioning in the operational regime at the Central Aerological Observatory (CAO). The monitoring system uses the data from the national network with M-124 filter ozonometers under methodological supervision of the Main Geophysical Observatory. The quality of the functioning of the entire system is under operational control based on the observations obtained from the OMI satellite equipment (NASA, the United States). The basic TO observation data are generalized for each month of the third quarter of 2011 and for the quarter as a whole. Presented are also the results of regular observations of surface ozone content carried out at CAO in the woodland-park zone of Moscow since 1991 and characterizing the ozone state in the surface layer in Central Russian region.     

Common envelope evolution: where we stand and how we can move forward

This work aims to present our current best physical understanding of common-envelope evolution (CEE). We highlight areas of consensus and disagreement, and stress ideas which should point the way forward for progress in this important but long-standing and largely unconquered problem. Unusually for CEE-related work, we mostly try to avoid relying on results from population synthesis or observations, in order to avoid potentially being misled by previous misunderstandings. As far as possible we debate all the relevant issues starting from physics alone, all the way from the evolution of the binary system immediately before CEE begins to the processes which might occur just after the ejection of the envelope. In particular, we include extensive discussion about the energy sources and sinks operating in CEE, and hence examine the foundations of the standard energy formalism. Special attention is also given to comparing the results of hydrodynamic simulations from different groups and to discussing the potential effect of initial conditions on the differences in the outcomes. We compare current numerical techniques for the problem of CEE and also whether more appropriate tools could and should be produced (including new formulations of computational hydrodynamics, and attempts to include 3D processes within 1D codes). Finally we explore new ways to link CEE with observations. We compare previous simulations of CEE to the recent outburst from V1309 Sco, and discuss to what extent post-common-envelope binaries and nebulae can provide information, e.g. from binary eccentricities, which is not currently being fully exploited.     

Investigations of Lateral Sedimentation and Water Mass Properties in the Tropical Atlantic during Cruise 60 of the R/V Akademik Ioffe

Oceanology - Herein we provide information on the integrated geological, geophysical, sedimentological, and hydrophysical investigations and passing meteorological and biological observations, as...     

Coastal Sedimentation Associated with the Tohoku Tsunami of 11 March 2011 in South Kuril Islands, NW Pacific Ocean

Sediment deposited by the Tohoku tsunami of March 11, 2011 in the Southern Kurils (Kunashir, Shikotan, Zeleniy, Yuri, Tanfiliev islands) was radically different from sedimentation during local strong storms and from tsunamis with larger runup at the same location. Sediments from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami were surveyed in the field, immediately and 6 months after the event, and analyzed in the laboratory for sediment granulometry, benthos Foraminifa assemblages, and diatom algae. Run-up elevation and inundation distance were calculated from the wrackline (accumulations of driftwood, woody debris, grass, and seaweed) marking the distal edge of tsunami inundation. Run-up of the tsunami was 5 m at maximum, and 3–4 m on average. Maximum distance of inundation was recorded in river mouths (up to 630 m), but was generally in the range of 50–80 m. Although similar to the local strong storms in runup height, the tsunami generally did not erode the coast, nor leave a deposit. However, deposits uncharacteristic of tsunami, described as brown aleuropelitic (silty and clayey) mud rich in organic matter, were found in closed bays facing the South Kuril Strait. These closed bays were covered with sea ice at the time of tsunami. As the tsunami waves broke the ice, the ice floes enhanced the bottom erosion on shoals and destruction of low-lying coastal peatland even at modest ranges of runup. In the muddy tsunami deposits, silt comprised up to 64 % and clay up to 41.5 %. The Foraminifera assemblages displayed features characteristic of benthic microfauna in the near-shore zone. Deep-sea diatoms recovered from tsunami deposits in two closely situated bays, namely Krabovaya and Otradnaya bays, had different requirements for environmental temperature, suggesting these different diatoms were brought to the bays by the tsunami wave entraining various water masses when skirting the island from the north and from the south.     

Photometric investigations of distant comets C/2002 VQ94 (LINEAR) and 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann-1

We present an analysis of the results of photometric investigations of two distant comets, C/2002 VQ94 (LINEAR) and 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann-1, obtained with the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The comets under study demonstrate sufficient activity out of the zone of water ice sublimation (at heliocentric distances longer than 5 AU). In the spectra of the investigated comets, we found the CO⁺ and N₂⁺ emission. The presence of this emission may say that the comets were formed in the outer parts of the Solar System, in a protoplanetary cloud at a temperature ≤25 K. We found that the photometric maximum of the ionosphere (in the CO⁺ filter) of the comet C/2002 VQ94 (LINEAR) is shifted relative to the photometric center of the dust coma by 1.4″ (7.44 × 10³ km) in the direction deflected by 63° from the direction to the Sun. Using special filters to process the images, we picked out active structures (jets) in the dust coma of the 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann-1 comet.     

Ozone content over the Russian Federation in the first quarter of 2009

The review is compiled based on the results of the operation of the total ozone (TO) monitoring system in the CIS and Baltic countries, functioning in the operational regime at the Central Aerological Observatory (CAO). The TO monitoring system uses the data from the national network of filter ozonometers type M-124 under control of the Main Geophysical Observatory (MGO). The proper operation of the entire system is under an operational control from observation with the OMI satellite (US NASA) equipment. Basic TO observations data for each month of the first quarter of 2009 and for a quarter as a whole are generalized. Results of regular observations of the surface ozone content in the Moscow region are also presented.     

Dust tail of the active distant Comet C/2003 WT42 (LINEAR) studied with photometric and spectroscopic observations

We present the study of dust environment of dynamically new Comet C/2003 WT42 (LINEAR) based on spectroscopic and photometric observations. The comet was observed before and after the perihelion passage at heliocentric distances from 5.2 to 9.5 AU. Although the comet moved beyond the zone where water ice sublimation could be significant, its bright coma and extended dust tail evidenced the high level of physical activity. Afρ values exceeded 3000 cm likely reaching its maximum before the perihelion passage. At the same time, the spectrum of the comet did not reveal molecular emission features above the reflected continuum. Reddening of the continuum derived from the cometary spectrum is nonlinear along the dispersion with the steeper slop in the blue region. The pair of the blue and red continuum images was analyzed to estimate a color of the comet. The mean normalized reflectivity gradient derived from the innermost part of the cometary coma equals to 8% per 1000 Å that is typical for Oort cloud objects. However, the color map shows that the reddening of the cometary dust varies over the coma increasing to 15% per 1000 Å along the tail axis. The photometric images were fitted with a Monte Carlo model to construct the theoretical brightness distribution of the cometary coma and tail and to investigate the development of the cometary activity along the orbit. As the dust particles of distant comets are expected to be icy, we propose here the model, which describes the tail formation taking into account sublimation of grains along their orbits. The chemical composition and structure of these particles are assumed to correspond with Greenberg’s interstellar dust model of comet dust. All images were fitted with the close values of the model parameters. According to the results of the modeling, the physical activity of the comet is mainly determined by two active areas with outflows into the wide cones. The obliquity of the rotation axis of the nucleus equals to 20° relative to the comet’s orbital plane. The grains occupying the coma and tail are rather large amounting to 1 mm in size, with the exponential size distribution of a^−4.5. The outflow velocities of the dust particles vary from a few centimeters to tens of meters per second depending on their sizes. Our observations and the model findings evidence that the activity of the nucleus decreased sharply to a low-level phase at the end of April–beginning of May 2007. About 190 days later, in the first half of November 2007 the nucleus stopped any activity, however, the remnant tail did not disappear for more than 1.5 years at least.     

Ozone content over the Russian federation in 2011

The review is compiled on the basis of the results of the operation of the total ozone (TO) monitoring in the CIS and Baltic countries functioning in the operational regime at the Central Aerological Observatory (CAO). The monitoring system uses the data from the national network with M-124 filter ozonometers under methodological supervision of the Main Geophysical Observatory. The quality of the functioning of the entire system is under operational control based on the observations obtained from the OMI satellite equipment (NASA, the United States). The basic TO observation data are generalized for each month of the fourth quarter of 2011, for the quarter, and for the year as a whole. The features of the development of the spring Arctic and Antarctic ozone anomalies in 2011 are described. The results of regular observations of surface ozone content in the Moscow region are also generalized.