Geometry and kinematics of recent deformation in the Mondy–Tunka area (south-westernmost Baikal rift zone, Mongolia–Siberia)

We used satellite imagery and field data to investigate the south‐westernmost Baikal rift zone. We focus our study in the Mondy and Ikhe Ukhgun valleys, site of an Mw = 6.9 seismic event in 1950. Surface deformations are observed along the E–W‐trending Mondy strike‐slip fault and along the Ikhe Ukhgun thrust. The Mondy fault system is 80 km long and is composed of four segments 10–15 km long. These segments are characterized by subvertical planes with left‐lateral movements. The Ikhe Ukhgun thrust is 20 km long, dips 40° to the south and shows reverse movement with a left‐lateral component. These observations are consistent with the present‐day regional NNE–SSW compression and with the focal mechanism of the 1950 Mondy earthquake that was recently re‐evaluated. These features, like those observed in the Tunka basin, demonstrate a recent change of regional strain regime from transtension to transpression that we place before the Late Pleistocene.     

The flux of secondary anti-deuterons and antihelium produced in the interstellar medium

Several measurements have been performed to find antiprotons in the primary cosmic radiation. Because it is difficult to get completely separated secondary produced antiprotons primary ones, calculations based on accelerator results have been performed for the flux of secondary produced antideuterons and antihelium.     

Radiocarbon on Titan

Abstract— We explore the likely production and fate of ¹⁴C in the thick nitrogen atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan and investigate the constraints that measurements of ¹⁴C might place on Titan's photochemical, atmospheric transport and surface‐atmosphere interaction processes. Titan's atmosphere is thick enough that cosmic‐ray flux limits the production of ¹⁴C: absence of a strong magnetic field and the increased distance from the Sun suggest production rates of ?9 atom/cm²/s, ?4x higher than Earth. The fate and detectability of ¹⁴C depends on the chemical species into which it is incorporated: as methane it would be hopelessly diluted even in only the atmosphere. However, in the more likely case that the ¹⁴C attaches to the haze that rains out onto the surface (as tholin, HCN or acetylene and their polymers), haze in the atmosphere or recently deposited on the surface would be quite radioactive. Such radioactivity may lead to a significant enhancement in the electrical conductivity of the atmosphere which will be measured by the Huygens probe. Measurements with simple detectors on future missions could place useful constraints on the mass deposition rates of photochemical material on the surface and identify locations where surface deposits of such material are “freshest”.     

The New Multichannel Radiospectrograph ARTEMIS-IV/HECATE, of the University of Athens

We present the new solar radiospectrograph of the University of Athensoperating at the Thermopylae Station since 1996. Observations cover thefrequency range from 110 to 688 MHz. The radiospectrograph has a 7-meterparabolic antenna and two receivers operating in parallel. One is a sweepfrequency receiver and the other a multichannel acousto-optical receiver.The data acquisition system consists of a front-end VME based subsystem anda Sun Sparc-5 workstation connected through Ethernet. The two subsystems areoperated using the VxWorks real-time package. The daily operation is fullyautomated: pointing of the antenna to the sun, starting and stopping theobservations at pre-set times, data acquisition, data compression by`silence suppression', and archiving on DAT tapes. The instrument can beused either by itself to study the onset and evolution of solar radio bursts or in conjunction with other instruments including theNançay Decametric Array and the WIND/WAVES RAD1 and RAD2 low frequencyreceivers to study associated interplanetary phenomena.     

The Expansion of the Hamiltonian of the Planetary Problem into the Poisson Series in All Keplerian Elements (Theory)

The study of the evolution of planetary systems, primarily of the Solar System, is one of the basic problems of celestial mechanics. The stability of motion of giant planets on cosmogonic time scales was established by numerical and analytical methods, but the question about the evolution of orbits of terrestrial planets and arbitrary solar-type planetary systems remained open. This work initiates a series of papers allowing one to advance in solving the problem of the evolution of the solar-type planetary systems on cosmogonic time scales by using powerful analytical tools. In the first paper of this series, we choose the optimum reference system and obtain the Poisson series expansion of the Hamiltonian of the problem in all Keplerian elements. We propose to use the integral representation of the corresponding coefficients or the Poisson processor means instead of conventionally addressing any possible special functions. This approach extremely simplifies the algorithm. The next paper of this series deals with the calculation of the expansion coefficients.     

Cokriging nonstationary data

Universal cokriging is used to obtain predictions when dealing with multivariate random functions. An important type of nonstationarity is defined in terms of multivariate random functions with increments which are stationary of orderk. The covariance between increments of different variables is modeled by means of the pseudo-cross-covariance function. Criteria are formulated to which the parameters of pseudo-cross-covariance functions must comply so as to ensure positive-definiteness. Cokriging equations and the induced cokriging equations are given. The study is illustrated by an example from soil science.     

The Effect of Atmospheric Drag on Satellite Orbits During the Bastille Day Event

Geomagnetic storms driven by solar eruptions are known to have significant effects on the total density of the upper atmosphere in the altitude range 250–1000 km. This in turn causes a measurable effect on the orbits of resident space objects in this altitude range. We analyzed a sample of these orbits, both from sensor data and from orbital element sets, during the period surrounding the 14 July 2000 solar activity. We present information concerning the effects of this event on the orbits of resident space objects and how well accepted atmospheric models were able to represent it. As part of this analysis, we describe a technique for extracting atmospheric density information from orbital element sets. On daily time scales, the effect of geomagnetic activity appears to be more important than that of prompt radiation. However, the limitations in time and amplitude quantization of the accepted solar indices are evident. A limited comparison is also made with previous solar storm events.     

Long-term seismicity of Istanbul and of the Marmara Sea region

We examine the long-term seismicity of the Marmara Sea region in Turkey over a period of twenty centuries to attempt to answer two questions: (1) how well recorded in history is the earthquake activity of this region? and (2) does seismicity over this long period of time differ from that over the present century? We study this densely-populated and fast-developing region because it is one of the most tectonically active regions on the continents that appears today to be relatively quiescent.     

Polarimetric observations of pulsating variable stars

Results are presented for polarimetric observations of 17 red giants and supergiants, of which nine are long-period Mira variables, five are semiregular variables (SR), and three are slowly fluctuating variables (Lb). Light polarization is detected for eight stars, seven of them for the first time.Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 385–391, July–September, 1996.