Evidence of climatic warming in the southern Urals region derived from borehole temperatures and meteorological data

Thirty borehole temperature–depth profiles in the central and southern Urals, Russia were scrutinized for evidence of ground surface temperature histories. We explored two inversion schemes: a simple ramp inversion in which solutions are parameterized in terms of an onset time and magnitude of change and a more sophisticated functional space inverse algorithm in which the functional form of the solution is left unspecified. To enhance and potentially identify latitudinal differences in the ground surface temperature signal, we subdivided the data into three groups based on geographic proximity and simultaneously inverted the borehole temperature–depth logs. The simultaneous inversions highlighted 13 temperature–depth logs that could not both fit a common ground surface temperature history and a priori models within reasonable bounds. Our results confirm that this is an effective way to reduce site-specific noise from an ensemble of boreholes. Each inversion scheme gives comparable results indicating locally variable warming on the order of 1°C starting between 1800 and 1900 AD. Similarly surface air temperature records from 12 nearby meteorological stations exhibit locally variable warming also on the order of 1°C of warming during the 20th century. To explore the degree to which borehole temperatures and surface air temperature (SAT) time series are responding to the same signal, we average the SAT data into the same three groups and used these averages as a forcing function at the Earth's surface to generate synthetic transient temperature profiles. Root mean square (RMS) misfits between these synthetic temperature profiles and averaged temperature–depth profiles are low, suggesting that first-order curvature in borehole temperatures and variations in SAT records are correlated.     

Some Aspects of Meteoric Head Echo Velocity Determination

Velocity determination of 131 head echoes recorded during Perseid meteor shower observations by the Canadian 2 MW radar, has been performed under the assumption of either their constant velocity or of its linear change with time. Even though the constant velocities concentrated at 60 km s-1 generally accepted for the Perseids, a substantial number of echoes had velocities either lower than 60 km s-1 or greater than this value. The inclusion of variable velocity into considerations led to surprising result that a great portion of the head echoes accelerated (3 possibly decelerating echoes in comparison with 33 accelerating cases on the level of relative standard deviations of output parameters not exceeding 10%). It seems that the allocation of the ionization responsible for the head echo is not entirely identical with the instantaneous meteoroid position. As a consequence, the velocity derived from the measured head echo coordinates can differ from the velocity of parent body. We are not able to explain this finding at present. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Seven Asteroids Studied from Modra Observatory in the Course of Binary Asteroid Photometric Campaign

We report lightcurves for five asteroids from the inner main belt—(1703) Barry, (2590) Mourão, (4022) Nonna, (5171) Augustesen, (23031) 1999 XX₇—and for two near-Earth asteroids—(100004) 1983 VA, (144922) 2005 CK₃₈—obtained at Modra Observatory as a part of binary asteroid photometric campaign. Estimated synodic rotational periods and amplitudes of their composite lightcurves were as follows: 107.1 ± 0.5 h, 0.5 mag for (1703) Barry; 15.59 ± 0.01 h, 0.49 mag for (2590) Mourão; 2.5877 ± 0.0005 h, 0.08 mag for (4022) Nonna; 474 ± 10 h, 0.8 mag for (5171) Augustesen; 3.075 ± 0.001 h, 0.43 mag for (23031) 1999 XX₇; 3.1643 ± 0.0009 h, 0.11 mag for (100004) 1983 VA; 4.7894 ± 0.0005 h, 0.27 mag for (144922) 2005 CK₃₈. The slow rotator (5171) Augustesen and possibly also (1703) Barry appear to be tumblers, though their precession periods can not be estimated from the available data.     

A chromospheric response to pulse beam heating

Starting from the new flare models of Karlický (1990) and Karlický and Hénoux (1991), we present here the first time-dependent numerical simulations of hydrogen plasma excitation and ionization on time scales of less than one second. These time scales are consistent with the spiky behaviour of the kinetic temperature produced by non-thermal collisional processes. Such temperature spikes represent a chromospheric response to a series of short-duration electron beam pulses which are supposed to heat the flare atmosphere. Self-consistent numerical solution of a simplified, time-dependent, non-LTE problem for a three-level hydrogen atom model with continuum allows us to predict theoretically a qualitative behaviour of the H line intensity variations on very short time intervals. Our H temporal profiles, evaluated at the line center and for = 1 Å, can be qualitatively compared with some recent flare observations obtained with high temporal resolution.     

Scattering by nonspherical particles and optical properties of Martian dust

Ultraviolet spectral reflectance data obtained from the Mariner 9 during the 1971 Mars dust storm were analyzed at two wavelengths to deduce the complex index of refraction of Martian dust. Martian dust particles were considered to be irregularly shaped and randomly oriented nonspherical particles. The analysis shows that the Mariner 9 data are consistent with the scattering by irregular particles with an index of refraction m = 1.59 ? 0.0015i at λ = 0.305 μm and m = 1.55 ? 0.004i at λ = 0.268 μm. Both the real and the imaginary parts of refractive index found are considerably smaller than previously reported results using a spherical shape model for Martian dust particles.     

Approximate spectral analysis by least-squares fit

An approximate method of spectral analysis called successive spectral analysis based upon the mean-quadratic approximation of an empirical function by generalised trigonometric polynomial with both unknown frequencies and coefficients is developed. A few quotations describing some properties of the method as well as one of the possible methods for numerical solution are given.     

Robotic telescopes for high energy astrophysics in Ondřejov

We report on two small aperture robotic telescopes called BART and D50 operated in Ondřejov. Both telescopes are capable of automatic observation of gamma ray burst (GRB) optical afterglows. Coordinates of GRBs are taken from alerts distributed via Internet. Telescopes observe other interesting high energy sources when there is not any alert. The smaller telescope BART has aperture D = 254 mm. The bigger telescope D50 has a primary mirror of diameter D = 500 mm. Both telescopes are controlled by free software package RTS2 and are accessible through Internet. We describe the two telescopes and related software and show some results such as our first observed optical counterpart of GRB.     

Tensor structure and the least squares

It is shown that for linear parametric adjustment models all the least-squares equations can be obtained from a commutative diagram, where the observation and parameter spaces are regarded as covariant. Their contravariant counterparts are defined through the metric property of the covariance matrix of the observations.     

Electromagnetic induction in a spherical earth with a circular bulge in the upper mantle

Summary Results of computing the anomalies of the variable magnetic field, generated by a harmonically variable field of the H_1,0-type in the model of a spherical Earth with an expressive bulge in the well-conducting part of the mantle, are presented. It was found that not only the radial, but also the tangential component of the magnetic field is disturbed above the bulge. The largest amplitudes of these changes can be observed over the area of the largest slope of the conductivity boundary if the exciting magnetic field is perpendicular to the surface of the interface.