Fourier analysis of the light curves of eclipsing variables,XXIII

The method of evaluating the photometric perturbationsB _2m of eclipsing variables in the frequency domain, developed by Kopal (1959, 1975e, 1978) for an interpretation of mutual eclipses in systems whose components are distorted by axial rotation and mutual tidal action. The aim of the present paper has been to establish explicit expressions for the photometric perturbationB _2m in such systems, regardless of the kind of eclipses and non-integral values ofm. Recently, Kopal (1978) introduced two different kinds of integrals with respect to associated α-functions andI-integrals which have been expressed in terms of certain general types of series that can be easily programmed for automatic computation within seconds of real time on highspeed computers. Following a brief introduction (Section 1) in which the need of this new approach will be expounded, in Section 3 we shall deduce the integral $$\int_0^{\theta \prime } {\tfrac{{\alpha _n^\prime }}{\delta }} d(sin^{2m} \theta )$$ in terms of a certain general type of series and also β-function, which should enable us to evaluate explicit expressions forf _* ^(h) ,f ₁ ^(h) ,f ₂ ^(h) as well asB _2m .     

Analysis of the light curves of SX Aurigae,by automated fourier techniques

The aim of the present paper has beento analyse the light changes of the close eclipsing system SX Aurigae in the frequency-domain. This analysis is based on Kopal's new theory recently developed for the study of light variations, between minima as well as within eclipses, of close eclipsing binaries whose components are distorted by axial rotation and mutual tidal action.A method for the separation of the photometric proximityand eclipse effects directly from the observed data is also presented. In this method no rectification is needed. The automated method has been tested on the light curves of SX Aurigae. Finally, a comparative discussion is given of Kopal and Kitamura methods of thelight curves analysis.     

Evaluation of the twenty-first century RCM simulations driven by multiple GCMs over the Eastern Mediterranean–Black Sea region

In this study, human-induced climate change over the Eastern Mediterranean–Black Sea region has been analyzed for the twenty-first century by performing regional climate model simulations forced with large-scale fields from three different global circulation models (GCMs). Climate projections have been produced with Special Report on Emissions Scenarios A2, A1FI and B1 scenarios, which provide greater diversity in climate information for future period. The gradual increases for temperature are widely apparent during the twenty-first century for each scenario simulation, but ECHAM5-driven simulation generally has a weaker signal for all seasons compared to CCSM3 simulations except for the Fertile Crescent. The contrast in future temperature change between the winter and summer seasons is very strong for CCSM3-A2-driven and HadCM3-A2-driven simulations over Carpathians and Balkans, 4–5 °C. In addition, winter runoff over mountainous region of Turkey, which feeds many river systems including the Euphrates and Tigris, increases in second half of the century since the snowmelt process accelerates where the elevation is higher than 1,500 m. Moreover, analysis of daily temperature outputs reveals that the gradual decrease in daily minimum temperature variability for January during the twenty-first century is apparent over Carpathians and Balkans. Analysis of daily precipitation extremes shows that positive trend is clear during the last two decades of the twenty-first century over Carpathians for both CCSM3-driven and ECHAM5-driven simulations. Multiple-GCM driven regional climate simulations contribute to the quantification of the range of climate change over a region by performing detailed comparisons between the simulations.     

Assessment of advective–dispersive contaminant transport in heterogeneous aquifers using a meshless method

Groundwater solute transport phenomena typically occur in water-bearing zones with heterogeneous solute dispersive characteristics and/or media hydraulic properties. A radial basis function collocation method (RBFCM)-based numerical method was developed in order to investigate the ability of RBFCM to accurately portray solute transport phenomena under heterogeneous conditions. Simulations were performed for 1-D and 2-D transport scenarios in which scale-dependent dispersivity fields were taken into consideration and compared with available analytical solutions. Different radial basis functions (RBFs) were employed for assessing the sensitivity of the present method on the selected RBFs. The simulation results were also compared with the results of MT3DMS which is a modular three-dimensional transport model with alternative solution schemes including the method of characteristics, the implicit central finite difference and the third order total variation diminishing finite volume. The proposed model was also used to simulate a real case condition where solute transport through a two-layer soil medium had been investigated experimentally. The results showed that RBFCM represented a powerful tool for predicting the solute transport occurrence under heterogeneous conditions with high accuracy.     

Estimation of Crown Closure and Tree Density Using Landsat TM Satellite Images in Mixed Forest Stands

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between crown closure and tree density in mixed forest stands using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) reflectance values (TM 1- TM 5 and TM 7) and six vegetation indices (SR, DVI, SAVI, NDVI, TVI and NLI). In this study, multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the relationships between the crown closure and tree density (number of tree stems per hectare) using reflectance values and vegetation indices (VIs). The results demonstrated that the model that used SR and DVI had the best performances in terms of crown closure (R²?=?0.674) and the model that used the DVI and SAVI had the best performances in terms of tree density (R²?=?0.702). The regression model that used TM 1, TM 3 together with TM 4 showed the performances of the crown closure (R²?=?0.610) and the regression model that used TM 1 showed the performances of the tree density (0.613). Results obtained from this research show that vegetation indices (VIs) were a better predictor of crown closure and tree density than other TM bands.