Solar Feature Identification using Contrasts and Contiguity

We present a new technique for the rapid, automatic identification of solar features on full-disk photometric images. The technique permits the detection of features whose contrasts are only slightly above the noise level. Contrast and contiguity criteria are used to identify pixels belonging to an individual feature. The criteria used are simple and objective, and do not require one to guess at the contrast distribution of the features. Comparison of Caii K images with magnetograms shows excellent agreement between the identified features and observed magnetic features. In addition, we can now reliably identify faculae on continuum images. Since this technique can be rapidly applied to a large set of images, it allows us to compile a database of the physical and photometric properties of individual solar features.     

Performance documentation of the Longard Tube at Del Mar,California 1980–1983

The Longard Tube experimental revetment installed in Del Mar, California in December 1980 has been monitored and its performance documented until it subsided and became ineffective during the severe winter storms of December 1982 to March 1983. The data suggest that the tube had no measurable effect on the sand level at Del Mar beach. The beach profile monitoring program conducted by Scripps in Del Mar since 1974 served as important background information for the design and interpretation of the monitoring program measurements.The tube experienced relatively minor storm wave interaction during winter 1980–1981. This was followed by heavy beach accretion on the entire reach in spring 1981 and an unusually mild winter of 1981–1982. By July 1982 the tube was totally buried behind a berm extending 35 m seaward. The severe winter storm waves of 1982–1983 coupled with high sea level due to high spring astronomical tides, sustained onshore westerly winds and low atmospheric pressure, eroded the sand level on Del Mar beach to the lowest level in at least 10 years. The Longard Tube settled differentially by up to 2 m and was continually overtopped at high tide, rendering it ineffective by late January 1983. It was removed in March 1983. The principal conclusion of the study is that the Longard Tube configured as it was in the Del Mar test is not a substantial enough barrier to effectively prevent beach sand erosion during severe storm events on the Southern California coast.     

The geomorphological impact of Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial plateau icefields in the central Lake District,northwest England

Detailed geomorphological mapping has revealed evidence for the development of plateau icefields in the central fells of the English Lake District during the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial (ca. 12.9–11.5 ka). The largest plateau icefield system, which covered an area of approximately 55 km² (including outlet glaciers), was centred on High Raise. To the west, smaller plateau icefields developed on Grey Knotts/Brandreth and Dale Head, covering areas of 7 km² and 3 km² respectively. The geomorphological impact of these plateau icefields appears to have been minimal on the summits, where the survival of blockfields and other frost‐weathered debris (mostly peat‐covered) implies the existence of at least patches of protective, cold‐based ice. Ice‐moulded bedrock at some plateau edges, however, documents a transition to wet‐based, erosive conditions. Prominent moraine systems were produced by outlet glaciers, which descended into the surrounding valleys where their margins became sediment traps for supraglacial debris and inwash. In some valleys, ice‐marginal moraines record successive positions of outlet glaciers, which actively backwasted towards their plateau source. This interpretation differs from that of previous workers, who assumed an alpine style of glaciation, with reconstructed glaciers emanating from corries and valley heads. It is likely that plateau icefields were more common at this time in upland Britain than hitherto has been appreciated. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.