Development of a complex of activity in the solar corona

Skylab observations of the Sun in soft X-rays gave us the first possibility to study the development of a complex of activity in the solar corona during its whole lifetime of seven solar rotations. The basic components of the activity complex were permanently interconnected (including across the equator) through sets of magnetic field lines, which suggests similar connections also below the photosphere. However, the visibility of individual loops in these connections was greatly variable and typically shorter than one day. Each brightening of a coronal loop in X-rays seems to be related to a variation in the photospheric magnetic field near its footpoint. Only loops (rarely visible) connecting active regions with remnants of old fields can be seen in about the same shape for many days. The interconnecting X-ray loops do not connect sunspots.We point out several examples of possible reconnections of magnetic field lines, giving rise to the onset of the visibility or, more likely, to sudden enhancements of the loop emission. In one case a new system of loops brightened in X-rays, while the field lines definitely could not have reconnected. Some striking brightenings show association with flares, but the flare occurrence and the loop brightening seem to be two independent consequences of a common triggering action: emergence of new magnetic flux. In old active regions, growing and/or brightened X-ray loops can be seen quite often without any associated flare; thus, the absence of any flaring in the chromosphere does not necessarily mean that the overlying coronal active region is quiet and inactive.We further discuss the birth of the interconnecting loops, their lifetime, altitude, variability in shape in relation to the photospheric magnetic field, the similarity of interconnecting and internal loops in the late stages of active regions, phases of development of an active region as manifested in the corona, the remarkably linear boundary of the X-ray emission after the major flare of 29 July 1973, and a striking sudden change in the large-scale pattern of unipolar fields to the north of the activity complex.The final decay of the complex of activity was accompanied by the penetration of a coronal hole into the region where the complex existed before.     

A Non-Planar Circular Model for the 4/7 Resonance

An adiabatic approximation for the non-planar, circular, restricted 3BP is presented for the external resonance 4/7. It can be used as a model for resonant Kuiper belt objects. The Hamiltonian is truncated at the fourth order in eccentricities and inclinations. After averaging, we have a system of two degrees of freedom with two frequencies. Numerical calculations show that the ratio of these frequencies is ~10². Having introduced suitable canonical variables, we used the adiabatic approach introduced by Wisdom in a different context. We left slow variables frozen and after solving the pendulum problem for fast variables, we used the averaged effect of fast variables on slow variables. In this way we obtained the guiding trajectories for slow variables as contour lines of adiabatic invariant. We discuss the existence of a chaotic region which is formed by trajectories crossing a critical curve which corresponds to the separatrix of fast pendulum motion, where the assumption of sharp division between fast and slow frequencies is not correct and the adiabatic theory fails. The model works well for e ~ 0.1 and can be used for finding the chaotic regions, but for e~ 0.17 it becomes unsatisfactory due to truncation and bad convergence of the Laplace expansion. Qualitatively it can, however, help us to understand how the protective mechanism works as the interplay of mean motion and Kozai–Lidov resonance.     

Low-energy particle events associated with sector boundaries

Onsets of some 40 to 45 low-energy proton events during the years 1957–1969 coincided in time with transits of well-defined sector boundaries across the Earth. These events can be interpreted as long-lived proton streams filling up some of the magnetic sectors, indicating an acceleration of protons which is not associated with typical proton-producing flares. The sharp onsets of these particle streams, as well as a deficiency of flare-associated particle events shortly before the boundary transit, indicate that in some cases magnetic sector boundaries can inhibit transverse propagation of low-energy particles in the solar corona or in interplanetary space.     

Inversion of seismograms to determine simultaneously the moment tensor components and source time function for a point source buried in a horizontally layered medium

Summary A method of determining simultaneously the moment tensor and source time function in the point source approximation is presented. For trial values of the moment tensor components and of the source time function, parametrized by the sum of overlapping triangles delayed in time, theoretical seismograms can be synthetized and compared with the recorded ones. The iterative procedure determines the adjustment of source parameters until a good correlation of both synthetic and observed records is reached. The Green functions in a horizontally stratified medium are constructed with the use of a modal summation method.The limits of applicability of the algorithm are illustrated by the inversion of four synthetic seismograms constructed for two horizontally stratified models of the structure in Friuli area, Italy. The records constructed for the same structural model as for which the Green functions were computed can be inverted even in the high-frequency range. In the opposite case, when the records and Green functions used corresponded to different structural models, a good correlation of the input records with the final synthetics was obtained for low - pass filtered data only.Additional tests performed with input seismograms contaminated with random noise yielded good resolution of the moment tensor and the duration of the source time function even for a high noise to signal ratio.     

A local climatic model of the temperature-cloudiness relationship

Summary Filtered secular series of temperature at Zagreb (Croatia) are negatively correlated with simultaneous series of solar radiation and positively correlated with cloudiness.The local balance of radiative fluxes, with cloudiness interference included, provides a basis for the evaluation of a local deterministic model, which can describe both the positive and negative impacts of cloud radiative forcing upon surface temperature. A theoretical temperature series, generated by the model simulation, proves a prevailing greenhouse effect of clouds upon recent climatic variations of temperature at Zagreb.With 5 Figures     

Anomalous behaviour of plasma parameters as observed by the intercosmos 24 satellite prior to the iranian earthquake of 20 June 1990

Summary Measurements of plasma parameters were made by the Intercosmos 24 satellite at altitudes between 2300 km and 2500 km in the interval of 16 to 12 hours prior to the initial shock of the destructive Iranian earthquake of 20 June 1990 (210009 UT, 37° N, 49·4° E, M=6·4), and before the strong aftershock of 21 June 1990 (090214 UT, M=5·8). The anomalous behaviour of the light ionospheric ions H⁺ and He⁺ and the cold electron temperature was observed over a wide region of the Northern Hemisphere before the earthquake. Sudden increases of energetic electron fluxes were observed over the Asian zone near the epicentre. These changes appear to be a part of the solid Earth — near space interaction occurring during the preparatory stage of the great seismic event.     

The utilization of the lunar eclipse effect for characterization of microparticles in high atmosphere

Summary The irradiation of the Moon in the shadow of the Earth during the eclipse, caused by refraction in the atmosphere, depends prevailingly on the optical properties of the middle and high atmosphere. The paper points out the feasibility of utilization of the optical thicknesses of the atmosphere measured in the Earth's shadow for the characterization of atmospheric microparticles. The results of observations of the lunar eclipse of August, 17th, 1989 are discussed in more detail, the vertical profile of particle concentration and parameter n in Junge's distribution have been determined. Based on processing this and another 25 lunar eclipses, a geographical map of the height of the upper limit of the high dust layer could finally be constructed.On leave from Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences     

Relation between the structure of particles of the dispersion layer and its spectral optical thickness in an optically thin environment

Summary The paper focuses on the applicability of simple optimizing methods to determining the aerosol structure based on the measured values of the spectral optical thickness of aerosol δ(λ). The necessary conditions leading to a stable solution are assessed. By applying the particle distribution function in the form of summations of modified gamma functions we obtain the simple form of δ(λ). It is not suitable for proving Gaussian functions. The application of approximate methods to determine the aerosol structure from spectral optical thickness of atmospheric aerosol is based on measurements of the direct spectral solar radiation flux density which formed a part of the radiation experiment conducted in Zingst (Germany) on the coast of the Baltic Sea in 1987. on leave from the Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences