Relative dispersion in the Liguro-Provençal basin: From sub-mesoscale to mesoscale

Relative dispersion in the Liguro-Provençal basin (a subregion of the Mediterranean Sea) is investigated using clusters of surface drifters deployed during two Marine Rapid Environment Assessment (MREA) experiments covering different months in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The clusters have initial radii of less than 1 km, or an order of magnitude below a typical deformation radius (approximately 10-20 km). The data set consists of 45 original pairs and more than 50 total pairs (including chance ones) in the spatial range between 1 and 200 km. Relative dispersion is estimated using the mean square separation of particle pairs and the Finite Scale Lyapunov Exponents (FSLEs). The two metrics show broadly consistent results, indicating in particular a clear exponential behaviour with an e-folding time scale between 0.5 and 1 days, or Lyapunov exponent ?? in the range of 0.7-1 days⁻¹. The exponential phase extends for 4-7 days in time and between 1 and 10-20 km in separation space. To our knowledge, this is only the third time that an exponential regime is observed in the world ocean from drifter data. This result suggests that relative dispersion in the Liguro-Provençal basin is nonlocal, namely controlled mainly by mesoscale dynamics, and that the effects of the sub-mesoscale motions are negligible in comparison. NCOM model results are used to complement the data and to quantify errors arising from the sparse sampling in the observations.     

Energy of the Jets of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and of Their Eddies in the Surface Layer of the Southern Ocean

Oceanology - The kinetic energy of six jets of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and of the cyclonic and anticyclonic mesoscale eddies generated by these jets is studied in application to the...     

Hidden Mass in the Asteroid Belt

The total mass of the asteroid belt is estimated from an analysis of the motions of the major planets by processing high precision measurements of ranging to the landers Viking-1, Viking-2, and Pathfinder (1976-1997). Modeling of the perturbing accelerations of the major planets accounts for individual contributions of 300 minor planets; the total contribution of all remaining small asteroids is modeled as an acceleration caused by a solid ring in the ecliptic plane. Mass M_ring of the ring and its radius R are considered as solve-for parameters. Masses of the 300 perturbing asteroids have been derived from their published radii based mainly on measured fluxes of radiation, making use of the corresponding densities. This set of asteroids is grouped into three classes in accordance with physical properties and then corrections to the mean density for each class are estimated in the process of treating the observations. In this way an improved system of masses of the perturbing asteroids has been derived.The estimate M_ring≈(5±1)×10⁻¹⁰M_⊙ is obtained (M_⊙ is the solar mass) whose value is about one mass of Ceres. For the mean radius of the ring we have R≈2.80 AU with 3% uncertainty. Then the total mass M_belt of the main asteroid belt (including the 300 asteroids mentioned above) may be derived: M_belt≈(18±2)×10⁻¹⁰M_⊙. The value M_belt includes masses of the asteroids which are already discovered, and the total mass of a large number of small asteroids—most of which cannot be observed from the Earth. The second component M_ring is the hidden mass in the asteroid belt as evaluated from its dynamical impact onto the motion of the major planets.Two parameters of a theoretical distribution of the number of asteroids over their masses are evaluated by fitting to the improved set of masses of the 300 asteroids (assuming that there is no observational selection effect in this set). This distribution is extrapolated to the whole interval of asteroid masses and as a result the independent estimate M_belt≈18×10⁻¹⁰M_⊙ is obtained which is in excellent agreement with the dynamical finding given above.These results make it possible to predict the total number of minor planets in any unit interval of absolute magnitude H. Such predictions are compared with the observed distribution; the comparison shows that at present only about 10% of the asteroids with absolute magnitude H<14 have been discovered (according to the derived distribution, about 130,000 such asteroids are expected to exist).     

Evidence for Chemical Heterogeneity in the Nucleus of C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp)

We present an analysis of OH, CN, and C₂ jets observed in thecoma of Comet Hale–Bopp on UT April 22, 23, and 25, 1997. Monte Carlomodels designed to simulate the gas jets were employed to analyze thenuclear active areas responsible for the observed coma gas jets. Ourresults indicate that four active areas are necessary to reproduce theCN and C₂ jets while five active areas are required to simulatethe OH jets. The additional OH active area must produce significantlevels of OH, but cannot emit measurable quantities of either carbonradical. This difference suggests that the nucleus of Comet Hale–Boppis chemically heterogeneous.     

Moving Dipolar Features in an Emerging Flux Region

Solar Physics - On 25 January, 2000, we observed active region NOAA&;nbsp;8844 with the Flare Genesis Experiment (FGE), a balloon-borne observatory with an 80-cm solar telescope. FGE was...     

Large-Scale Structures in Comet Hale–Bopp

The plasma tails of comets clearly show the demarcation of the solar wind into distinct equatorial and polar regions (Brandt and Snow (2000), Icarus 148, 52–64).The boundary is determined by the maximum extent in latitude of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). The observational record contains many well-observed equatorial comets, but observations of comets in the polar region are relatively rare. In addition to its size and brightness, comet Hale–Bopp had an orbital inclination of 89.4° and was well observed for months in the polar region. We document the comet's large-scale appearance throughout the apparition, including the polar region and its transition into the equatorial region. The bright dust tail hampered observations of the plasma tail, particularly near the head, but images taken with a CO⁺ filter show a very large disconnection event (DE) on May 7 and May 8, 1997. The time of disconnection is estimated at approximately May 4.0. This DE is associated with a crossing of the HCS. The model calculations of the HCS indicate that other crossings might have occurred in late April, but given the uncertainty in the calculation, the comet might have missed the HCS. Sparse observational coverage and the bright dust tail prevent further investigation of the potential earlier HCS crossings. The plasma tail shows anomalous orientations at the highest latitudes and possible explanations are discussed.     

Multiple magnetic clouds in interplanetary space

An interplanetary magnetic cloud (MC) is usually considered the byproduct of a coronal mass ejection (CME). Due to the frequent occurrence of CMEs, multiple magnetic clouds (multi-MCs), in which one MC catches up with another, should be a relatively common phenomenon. A simple flux rope model is used to get the primary magnetic field features of multi-MCs. Results indicate that the magnetic field configuration of multi-MCs mainly depends on the magnetic field characteristics of each member of multi-MCs. It may be entirely different in another situation. Moreover, we fit the data from the Wind spacecraft by using this model. Comparing the model with the observations, we verify the existence of multi-MCs, and propose some suggestions for further work.     

Evidence for a sunspot in A.D. 939 in an Arabian Source

It is the purpose of this paper to present evidence concerning the appearance of a sunspot in A.D. 939 observed by Arabs from the Iberian Peninsula. The sunspot record appears in the Arab source known as al-Muqtabis V.     

Radial velocity variations of the pulsating subdwarf B star PG 1605+072

We present an analysis of high-speed spectroscopy of the pulsating subdwarf B star PG 1605+072. Periodic radial motions are detected at frequencies similar to those reported for photometric variations in the star, with amplitudes of up to 6 km s⁻¹. Differences between relative strengths for given frequency peaks for our velocity data and previously measured photometry are probably a result of shifting of power between modes over time. Small differences in the detected frequencies may also indicate mode-shifting. We report the detection of line-shape variations using the moments of the cross-correlation function profiles. It may be possible to use the moments to identify the pulsation modes of the star.