Sensitivity of Ceres-Maize Yields to Statistical Structure of Daily Weather Series

To study impacts of climate variations on cropproduction, the growth models are used to simulateyields in present vs. changed climate conditions.Met&Roll is a four-variate (precipitation amount,solar radiation, minimum and maximum temperatures) stochasticweather generator used to supply synthetic dailyweather series for the crop growth model CERES-Maize.Three groups of experiments were conducted in thisstudy: (1) Validation of Met&Roll reveals some discrepanciesin the statistical structure of synthetic weatherseries, e.g., (i) the frequency of occurrence of longdry spells, extreme values of daily precipitationamount and variability of monthly means areunderestimated by the generator; (ii) correlations andlag-1 correlations among weather characteristicsexhibit a significant annual cycle not assumed by themodel. On the whole, the best fit of the observed andsynthetic weather series is experienced in summermonths. (2) The Wilcoxon test was employed to comparedistributions of maize yields simulated with use ofobserved vs. synthetic weather series. As nostatistically significant differences were detected,it is assumed that the generator imperfections inreproducing the statistical structure of weatherseries negligibly affect the model yields. (3) Thesensitivity of model yields to selectedcharacteristics of the daily weather series wasexamined. Emphasis was placed on the characteristicsnot addressed by typical GCM-based climate changescenarios: daily amplitude of temperature, persistenceof the weather series, shape of the distribution ofdaily precipitation amount, and frequency ofoccurrence of wet days. The results indicate that someof these characteristics may significantly affect cropyields and should therefore be considered in thedevelopment of climate change scenarios.     

Influence of Evaporating Droplets in the Turbulent Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Semi-idealized model simulations are made of the nocturnal cold-air pool development in the approximately 1-km wide and 100–200-m deep Grünloch basin, Austria. The simulations show qualitatively good agreement with vertical temperature and wind profiles and surface measurements collected during a meteorological field expedition. A two-layer stable atmosphere forms in the basin, with a very strong inversion in the lowest part, below the approximate height of the lowest gap in the surrounding orography. The upper part of the stable layer is less strongly stratified and extends to the approximate height of the second-lowest gap. The basin atmosphere cools most strongly during the first few hours of the night, after which temperatures decrease only slowly. An outflow of air forms through the lowest gap in the surrounding orography. The outflow connects with a weak inflow of air through a gap on the opposite sidewall, forming a vertically and horizontally confined jet over the basin. Basin cooling shows strong sensitivity to surface-layer characteristics, highlighting the large impact of variations in vegetation and soil cover on cold-air pool development, as well as the importance of surface-layer parametrization in numerical simulations of cold-air-pool development.     

Weitere OB-Assoziationen in den äußersten Randzonen von M 31

In comparing a U- and a B-plate of the Tautenburg 2 m Schmidt telescope 7 scattered groupings of blue objects have been discovered in the outer regions of the large Andromeda nebula. A closer investigation showed these objects to be apparently so far not known OB associations, well fitting to a spiral structure. With distances from the centre of the Andromeda nebula between R = 22.8 kpc and R = 27.9 kpc the objects still surpass the most distant association OB 188 of VAN den BERGH (R = 25.0 kpc).     

On the structure of the low surface brightness dwarf galaxies in the M81 group

A detailed photometry of spheroidal dwarf galaxies in the M81 group has been carried out. The integral characteristics and the structural parameters of the spheroidal dwarfs has been determined. Their luminosity profiles are well fitted to a King law. The investigated spheroidal dwarfs together with the prototypes of the Local Group form a common sequence according to their main parameters. The observational data presented show that dSphs are not linked evolutionary with normal E and dE galaxies, but probably form a separate branch together with irregular low surface brightness dwarfs.     

Structural investigations in the central part of the coma cluster on the base of equidensity diagrams. II

On the base of Tautenburg UBV-Schmidt plates equidensitometric diameters of galaxies of ROOD and BAUM 's list are given and the ellipticities in the three colours are determined. It was found that there is no difference in the ellipticities depending on the colours, on the average. The percentage of spherical objects (ε = 0.00) was found to 21.5 per cent. The surface brightness for 213 objects in the system V is given. The mean surface brightness is 22.75 mag/□′ with a dispersion of 2.5 mag/□′. It shows only a very slight dependence on the integrated magnitude.     

Ob-Stars on the utmost Borders of M 31

In a field of 4 square degrees, including the southwestern part of M 31 18 blue starlike objects are found by a photometric statistics in U,B,V of all starlike objects in this field. With great probability 13 of them are OB stars of M 31. Their utmost distances from the nucleus of M 31 are 35…50 kpc. Three further objects are probably quasistellar objects. Two others are striking by their extraordinary position in the two-colour diagram and cannot be classified in a distinct category of objects.     

Photometry of Galaxies in the Field of the Galaxy Cluster aBELL 1781

A method for determing the brightness and diameter of galaxies in a large field on Schmidt plates by automatic scanning with a microphotometer is described and applied to the ABELL cluster A 1781. The accuracy of this method is tested. The overall errors (r.m.s.) of brightness and diameter are 0.16 mag and 0″.44. The cluster A 1781 has been prooved to be a very poor cluster of about 10 members up to m_B ≈ 19^m.5.     

A new stellar standard sequence in the coma cluster of galaxies. (preliminary report)

Photographic magnitudes in the UBV system of 39 stars in the Coma cluster of galaxies are given.     

Struktur und Entwicklung kompakter Radioquellen

A model is suggested which accounts for (i) the observed shape and angular variation of compact radio sources (especially the apparent superrelativistic velocities and the absence of contracting sources), (ii) the flux variation associated with the angular variation, and (iii) all the known cases of apparent occurence of surface brightness exceeding the theoretical upper limit provided by the inverse COMPTON effect, preserving the usual premises: cosmological origin of the redshift and incoherent synchrotron radiation of electrons. The model consists of a plasma ring expanding with moderate relativistic velocity. It provides two possibilities for estimating the distance of the sources by radio data: from the time dependence of the angular expansion and from the angular diameter and the shape of flux variation. In the context of cosmology this distances are „angular distances”︁ and therefore, if the redshift is also known, the HUBBLE constant or the acceleration parameter q₀ may be obtained. The second method is applied to BL Lac yielding approximately 6 Mpc. So the underlying galaxy would be a dwarf system of M ≈︂–13. The active nucleus of M ≈︂ – 16 is rather below the normal quasars. This seems very satisfactory in view of the short time scale of variations in BL Lac compared to the quasars.