Global scale annual and semi-annual variations of daytime NmF2 in the high solar activity years

The annual and semi-annual variations of the ionosphere are investigated in the present paper by using the daytime F2 layer peak electron concentration (NmF2) observed at a global ionosonde network with 104 stations. The main features are outlined as follows. (1) The annual variations are most pronounced at magnetic latitudes of 40–60° in both hemispheres, and usually manifest as winter anomalies; Below magnetic latitude of 40° as well as in the tropical region they are much weaker and winter anomalies that are not obvious. (2) The semi-annual variations, which are usually peak in March or April in most regions, are generally weak in the near-pole regions and strong in the far-pole regions of both hemispheres. (3) Compared with their annual components, the semi-annual variations in the tropical region are more significant.In order to explain the above results, we particularly analyze the global atomic/molecular ratio of [O/N2] at the F2 layer peak height by the MSIS90 model. The results show that the annual variation of [O/N2] is closely related with that of NmF2 prevailing in mid-latitudes and [O/N2] annual variation usually may lead to the winter anomalies of NmF2 occurring in the near-pole region. Moreover, NmF2 semi-annual variations appearing in the tropical region also have a close relationship with the variation of [O/N2]. On the other hand, the semi-annual variations of NmF2 in the far-pole region cannot be simply explained by that of [O/N2], but the variation of the solar zenith angle may also have a significant contribution.     

Mapping the crustal thickness in southwest Japan using Moho-reflected waves

In this work we have tried to detect and collect later phases associated with the Moho discontinuity and use them to study the lateral variations of the crustal thickness in southwest (SW) Japan. We first compute synthetic seismograms for local earthquakes taking into account the focal mechanism solutions estimated from first motion polarity data. Then we compare the synthetics with the observed waveforms to detect the major later phases in seismograms of shallow crustal earthquakes in SW Japan. Taking the advantage of the high quality and great quantity of Hi-net waveform data now available throughout the entire Japan Islands, we have detected 1659 Moho-reflected phases (PmP and SmS) from shallow events in SW Japan. We estimated the crustal thickness in the study area using travel time differences between these later phases and the first P and S arrivals. Our results show that the Moho is deep in Chubu district and becomes shallower along the coastlines of the Japan Sea and the Pacific Ocean. A thinner crust appears in Osaka Bay and Awajii Island where the 1995 Kobe earthquake (M7.2) occurred.     

New palaeointensity results from Cretaceous basalt of Inner Mongolia, China

We present new Thellier-Thellier palaeointensity results from three cooling units (32 samples) of Inner Mongolia lava flows (91.7 Ma) emplaced during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron (CNS). Based on rock-magnetic and microscopy observations the magneto-mineralogy of all samples is determined to be primary and unaltered high-Ti titanomagnetite. Accepted palaeointensity determinations, obtained in the 80-200 °C temperature interval, are of good technical quality with positive standard partial thermoremanent magnetisation (pTRM) checks and pTRM-tail checks. Obtained palaeointensity estimates range from 14.7 to 28.0 μT, with virtual axial dipole moments (VADM) of 2.4 to 4.6 (× 10²² Am²). The data agree well with recently published results from the same region and, combining the two datasets, we obtain independent estimates from six different cooling units yielding a time-averaged VADM of 3.2 ± 1.6 (× 10²² Am²). These data suggest a relatively low dipole moment towards the end of the Cretaceous Normal Superchron.     

The algorithm of decomposing superim-posed 2-D Poisson processes and its applica-tion to the extracting earthquake clustering pattern

IntroductionClusteringearthquakesareusuallyconsideredasomensofstrongearthquakesorasignaloftectonicmovement.Thus,theyarenotonlyoneoftheprimaryevidencestopredictearthquakesbutalsoasignificantindicatortorecognizetectonicmovement(MEI,etal,1993;EarthquakePre-dictionandPreventionDepartmentofChinaSeismologicalBureau,1998).Ongeneralconditions,webelievethatclusteringearthquakesexistrelativelytobackgroundearthquakes,howtoeffectivelyseparateonefromtheotherbecomesthekeypointofextractingtheclusteringea…     

Electron microscopy study of the sakhaite from endogenous borate deposit in Hunan, China

Sakhaite was first discovered by Ostrovskaya, Pertsev and Nikitina at Siberia in the former Soviet Union. By using the X-ray diffraction technique, they proved that the crystal system of sakhaite was cubic (a = 1.464 nm), its possible space groups were Fm3m, F432, F43m, Fm3, F23, and its crystal chemical for-mula was Ca48Mg16(CO3)16(BO3)28Cl4(OH)8 4H2O[1]. Chichagov, Simonov and Belov studied the crystal structure of synthetic sakhaite and determined that its space group was F4132, …     

Study of charge structure and radiation characteristic of intracloud discharge in thunderstorms of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The comprehensive observations on lightning discharges were conducted in Naqu area of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in summer of 2002. The electric structures of thunderstorms and the characteristics of lightning discharges at initial stage were analyzed by using the observation data. The results show that most of intracloud (IC) lightning flashes were polarities inverted in thunderstorms with tripole electric charge structure and occurred between negative charge region located in the middle of the thunderstorm and positive charge region located at the bottom of the thunderstorm. The radiation characteristics of discharge processes in cloud with longer lasting time involved in Cloud-to-Ground (CG) lightning flashes were similar to that of IC discharges. A lot of radiation pulses were produced in these discharge processes. Because the IC discharges took place at the bottom of thundercloud and were near the ground, they may produce more serious damage to equipment on the ground therefore should not be neglected in lightning protection.     

Seepage driving effect on deformations of San Fernando dams

In the process of flow deformation of an earth dam, the seepage force inside the dam plays a role as a driving force. The seepage force acts just like the gravitational force in terms of pushing soils away from their original locations after liquefaction is triggered. This paper draws attention to this seepage driving effect by presenting a set of fully coupled finite element analyses on the well-known San Fernando dams, with the objective of evaluating the impact of this seepage effect. The results indicate that while this effect is always there, its practical significance depends on a number of factors. In the case of the upper San Fernando dam, which experienced a significant, but restricted, downstream movement during the 1971 earthquake, the seepage driving effect was indeed significant. On the contrary, for the lower dam, which failed and slid into the upstream reservoir during the same earthquake, this seepage effect was relatively less pronounced. The detailed results of the analyses reveal the likely mechanisms of failure and deformation of the two dams and the likely cause behind the difference between their responses during the earthquake.     

GPS定位中卫星坐标计算的切比雪夫多项式拟合法

在GPS定位中需要不断地计算卫星的坐标，实时的卫星坐标是根据接收到的广播星历来计算的，而每次计算卫星坐标都需要占用大量内存，影响计算速度。利用切比雪夫多项式拟合广播星历的卫星坐标，以实现卫星轨道的标准化。通过实例分析了用切比雪夫多项式进行卫星坐标拟合的精度及多项式阶数和时间间隔的合理选择等问题，得出了一些有益的结论。     

国家级气象资料存储检索系统的建立

对国家级气象资料存储检索系统的需求进行了分析，进而对系统进行了功能设计，并在技术调研和分析的基础上确定了功能实现的技术路线:在数据管理方面采用数据库和文件系统相结合的方式；在存储管理方面采用分级存储管理模式，并解决了数据库的分级存储管理技术；在检索应用方面提供了程序调用式检索方式，并通过采用中间件技术实现了基于B/S结构的程序调用式检索；通过选用HPSS技术解决了由异种机型构成的高性能计算机群存储池问题；通过分别建立实时数据库和综合数据库解决了气象资料的规范化存储和实时业务使用需求之间的矛盾；在应用软件开发方面严格按照有关规范进行。     

三层模式背风波的理论研究

文中建立了一个背风波的三层理论模式 ;当三层Scorer参数在中层最大、高层次之、下层最小的情况下 ,利用该模式求得了背风波的理论波长及扰动的解析解 ,并对一个典型的个例计算了其背风波波长 ,并在此基础上分析了背风波波长对上、中、下三层Scorer参数变化的敏感性 ,结果表明波长对中层Scorer参数的变化比较敏感 ,对下层Scorer参数的大小和符号都不敏感 ,但在计算背风波波长时不能忽略下层的Scorer参数。