Analysis of wind instability using the measurements at the chernobyl meteorological station in 2000–2010

Using the data from the Chernobyl meteorological station for 2000–2010 and the wavelet analysis, the seasonal variations are analyzed of the average daily wind speed, wind gusts, wind speed variability, and instability coefficient (the ratio of the maximum wind speed to the average wind speed for each measurement). It is revealed that all parameters have pronounced seasonal variations, and the positions of seasonal maximum and minimum values of all variables under study are shifted relative to each other. The mean values of the shift between the seasonal variations of maximum and the average wind speed amount to 60–70 days, and those of the shift between the average speed and the instability coefficient, to about 145 days. The mentioned peculiarities of the display of seasonal variations are explained by atmospheric turbulent conditions. Proposed is a model that interprets the variability of the parameters under consideration as the statistics of separate eddies in the atmosphere.     

Mechanisms of shrubland expansion: land use,climate or CO2?

Encroachment of trees and shrubs into grasslands and the thicketization of savannas has occurred worldwide over the past century. These changes in vegetation structure are potentially relevant to climatic change as they may be indicative of historical shifts in climate and as they may influence biophysical aspects of land surface-atmosphere interactions and alter carbon and nitrogen cycles. Traditional explanations offered to account for the historic displacement of grasses by woody plants in many arid and semi-arid ecosystems have centered around changes in climatic, livestock grazing and fire regimes. More recently, it has been suggested that the increase in atmospheric CO₂ since the industrial revolution has been the driving force. In this paper we evaluate the CO₂ enrichment hypotheses and argue that historic, positive correlations between woody plant expansion and atmospheric CO₂ are not cause and effect.Please direct all correspondence to the senior author.     

Geoeffectiveness of solar wind interplanetary magnetic structures

We address the geoeffectiveness of three interplanetary structures in the interplanetary space: magnetic clouds (MCs), interplanetary shocks (IPSs), and corotating interaction regions (CIRs). The geoeffectiveness is evaluated using the geomagnetic indices Kp, AE, and Dst. We find that MCs are more geoeffective than IPSs, or CIRs. The average values of magnetic indices are significantly enhanced during disturbed periods associated with MCs, IPSs and CIRs, compared to the whole interval. The highest effect is noted for MC disturbed periods.Results obtained for the three data sets are used to derive a theoretical (continuous) probability distribution function (PDF) by fitting the histograms representing the percentage of events against the intervals of magnetic index. PDFs allow estimation of the probability of a given level of geomagnetic activity to be reached after the detection, by in situ solar wind observations, of a given interplanetary structure approaching the Earth.     

Global plasmaspheric TEC and its relative contribution to GPS TEC

The plasmaspheric electron content is directly estimated from the global positioning system (GPS) data onboard JASON-1 Satellite for the first time. Similarly, the ground-based GPS total electron content (TEC) is estimated using about 1000 GPS receivers distributed around the globe. The relative contribution of the plasmaspheric electron content to the ground-based GPS TEC is then estimated globally using these two independent simultaneous measurements; namely ground-based GPS TEC and JASON-1 GPS TEC. Results presented here include data from 3 months of different solar cycle conditions (October 2003, May 2005, and December 2006). The global comparison between the two independent measurements was performed by dividing the data into three different regions; equatorial, mid- and high-latitude regions. This division is essential as the GPS raypaths traverse different distances through the plasmasphere at different latitudes. The raypath length through the plasmasphere decreases as latitude increases. The relative contribution of the plasmaspheric electron content exhibits a diurnal variation that depends on latitude with minimum contribution (10%) during daytime and maximum (up to 60%) at night. The contribution is also maximum at the equatorial region where the GPS raypath traverses a long distance through the plasmasphere compared to its length in mid- and high-latitude regions. Finally, the solar cycle variation of plasmaspheric contribution is also reported globally.     

The effects of beach nourishment on the sandy-beach amphipod Exoediceros fossor: impact and recovery in Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Beach nourishment is increasingly being implemented to address problems of erosion. However, the ecological consequences of nourishment are poorly understood, especially in Australia. In Botany Bay, sand was piped from an intertidal borrow area at Elephant's Trunk to nourish the nearby eroding beach at Towra Point. The effects on an intertidal exoedicerotid amphipod, Exoediceros fossor (Stimpson, 1856), were examined using a beyond-BACI (Before–After, Control–Impact) sampling design. Sampling was conducted before and after engineering operations at sites within the borrow and nourishment locations and multiple control locations. Hypotheses concerning impact and recovery were tested using asymmetrical ANOVAs and two-tailed F-tests. These examined the effects on abundance and spatial variability, respectively. The impact of the engineering operations on abundance was very large at both borrow and nourishment locations. However, recovery started within several weeks and, using space × time interactions as a criterion, appeared to be complete within a year. This conclusion is made cautiously because of low statistical power and because other criteria for recovery suggest that it was not complete at some sites. As beach erosion is likely to increase in severity with rising sea levels and greater storm surges associated with climate change, management authorities will need a better understanding of the ecological effects of beach nourishment.     

Oscillations of galactic cosmic rays and solar indices before the arrival of relativistic solar protons

Using modern wavelet analysis techniques, we have made an attempt to search for oscillations of intensity of galactic cosmic rays (GCR), sunspot numbers (SS) and magnitudes of coronal index (CI) implying that the time evolution of those oscillations may serve as a precursor of Ground Level Enhancements (GLEs) of solar cosmic rays (SCR). From total number of 70 GLEs registered in 1942–2006, the four large events — 23 February 1956, 14 July 2000, 28 October 2003, and 20 January 2005 — have been chosen for our study. By the results of our analysis, it was shown that a frequency of oscillations of GCR decreases as time approaches to the event day. We have also studied a behaviour of common periodicities of GCR and SCR within the time interval of individual GLE. The oscillations of GLE occurrence rate (OR) at different stages of the solar activity (SA) cycle is of special interest. We have found some common periodicities of SS and CI in the range of short (2.8, 5.2, 27 and 60 days), medium (0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.3, 1.8 and 3.2 years) and long (4.6 and 11.0 years) periods. Short and medium periodicities, in general, are rather concentrated around the maxima of solar cycles and display the complex phase relations. When comparing these results with the behaviour of OR oscillations we found that the period of 11 years is dominating (controlling); it is continuous over the entire time interval of 1942–2006, and during all this time it displays high synchronization and clear linear ratios between the phases of oscillations of η, SS and CI. It implies that SCR generation is not isolated stochastic phenomena characteristic exclusively for chromospheric and/or coronal structures. In fact, this process may have global features and involve large regions in the Sun’s atmosphere.     

Origin of magnetic minerals and natural remanent magnetization of basaltic rocks from Lower Silesia,Poland

Summary Two groups of basaltic rocks with normal and reversed NRM were examined. It was found that in both groups the primary NRM, synchronous with the period of rock formation, is preserved. Relations of the primary NRM to the origin and the degree of oxidation of magnetic minerals were considered in detail.     

Concerning the multiscale structure of solar convection

The discrete scale spectrum of the convective flows observed on the Sun has not yet received a convincing explanation. Here, an attempt is made to find conditions for the coexistence of convective flows on various scales in a horizontal fluid layer heated from below, where the thermal diffusivity varies with temperature in such a way that the static temperature difference across a thin sublayer near the upper surface of the layer is many times larger than the temperature variation across the remainder of the layer. The equations of two-dimensional thermal convection are solved numerically in an extended Boussinesq approximation, which admits thermal-diffusivity variations. The no-slip conditions are assumed at the lower boundary of the layer; either no-slip or free-slip conditions, at the upper boundary. In the former case, stable large-scale rolls develop, which experience small deformations under the action of small structures concentrated near the horizontal boundaries. In the latter case, the flow structure is highly variable, different flow scales dominate at different heights, the number of large rolls is not constant, and a sort of intermittency occurs: the enhancement of the small-scale flow component is frequently accompanied by the weakening of the large-scale one, and vice versa. The scale-splitting effects revealed here should manifest themselves in one way or another in the structure of solar convection.     

利用NOAA NDVI数据集监测冬小麦生育期的研究

探索了利用NDVI研究作物生育期的方法，对黄淮海冬麦区的返青期、抽穗期、成熟期进行了估测，并利用地面实际观测资料进行了验证。结果表明，NDVI数据对大范围农作物生育期监测是可行的。冬小麦遥感反青期由南到北依次推迟，符合春季绿波由南到北推移规律。对冬小麦遥感生育期年际变化分析表明，黄淮海平原返青期变化相对较大，而抽穗期和成熟期变化较小。根据历年月平均温度与返青期分析，冬小麦返青日期与2月份平均温度密切相关。对于局部地区，利用5d合成1km分辨率数据，且按农业生态分区分别制定生育期判别标准，估测效果将更好。