EVIDENCES FROM HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS OF LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION AFTER LITTLE ICE AGE OF A MEDITERRANEAN HIGH MOUNTAIN AREA,SIERRA NEVADA,SPAIN (EIGHTEENTH TO TWENTIETH CENTURIES)

The Sierra Nevada is the highest mountain system on the Iberian Peninsula (Mulhacén 3482 m; Veleta 3308 m) and is located in the extreme SE region of Spain (lat 37°N, long 3°W). Bibliographic resources, particularly from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, provide insights into the changing summit landscape as the effects of cold, ice, snow and wind shaped its morphology. The selected references emphasize the Sierra's evolving climate reflected in the glaciers and snow hollows, and in the sparse vegetation above certain altitudes. Scientists had established bioclimatic conditions for the entire range in the early nineteenth century, and their works reflect the progression of ideas, particularly in the area of natural sciences, that influenced the period chosen for this study. This information, in addition to current knowledge about the morphogenetic dynamics of the Sierra Nevada, provides the basis for a comparison of the dominant environments from the Little Ice Age to the present, using the most significant high mountain morphological features as a guide. The most relevant findings indicate that cold climate processes (soli‐gelifluction, frost creep and nivation) were more predominant during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries than they are today.     

Microwave and Soft X-ray Study of Solar Active Region Evolution

We have studied the properties and evolution of several active regions observed at multiple wavelengths over a period of about 10 days. We have used simultaneous microwave (1.5 and 17 GHz) and soft X-ray measurements made with the Very Large Array (VLA), the Nobeyama Radio Heliograph (NRH) and the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) on board the Yohkoh spacecraft, as well as photospheric magnetograms from KPNO. This is the first detailed comparison between observations at radio wavelengths differing by one order of magnitude. We have performed morphological and quantitative studies of active region properties by making inter-comparison between observations at different wavelengths and tracking the day-to-day variations. We have found good general agreement between the 1.5 and 17 GHz radio maps and the soft X-rays images. The 17 GHz emission is consistent with thermal bremsstrahlung (free-free) emission from electrons at coronal temperatures plus a small component coming from plasma at lower temperatures. We did not find any systematic limb darkening of the microwave emission from active regions. We discuss the difference between the observed microwave brightness temperature and the one expected from X-ray data and in terms of emission of a low temperature plasma at the transition region level. We found a coronal optical thickness of 10^-3 and 1 for radiation at 17 and 1.5 GHz, respectively. We have also estimated the typical coronal values of emission measure ( 5 × 10²⁸ cm^-5), electron temperature ( 4.5 × 10⁶6 K) and density ( 1.2 × 10⁹ cm₃). Assuming that the emission mechanism at 17 GHz is due to thermal free-free emission, we calculated the magnetic field in the source region using the observed degree of polarization. From the degree of polarization, we infer that the 17 GHz radiation is confined to the low-lying inner loop system of the active region. We also extrapolated the photospheric magnetic field distribution to the coronal level and found it to be in good agreement with the coronal magnetic field distribution obtained from microwave observations.     

The Hα Luminosity Functions of Nearby Clusters of Galaxies

We present a deep wide field Hα imaging survey of the central regions of the two nearby clusters of galaxies Coma and Abell 1367, taken with the WFC at the INT 2.5m telescope. We determine for the first time the Schechter parameters of the Hα luminosity function (LF) of cluster galaxies. The Hα LFs of Abell 1367 and Coma are compared with each other. Typical parameters of φ ≈ 10^0.00±0.07 Mpc^-3, L ^*≈ 10^41.25±0.05 erg sec^-1 and α ≈ -0.70±0.10 are found for both clusters. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Energy Spectra of Accelerated Solar Protons From Different Sources – I. Reconstruction and Properties of the Source Spectrum

It is widely accepted now that a significant fraction of the solar energetic particles (SEPs) observed at 1 AU after major solar flares are actually accelerated at a CME-driven shock. In addition, in the emerging new paradigm for SEP acceleration in different sources at or near the Sun, the existence of two types of flares – impulsive and gradual – is recognized. Within this concept, it is tempting also to separate SEPs into two groups – interacting and escaping – and to derive their 'source spectra' from observational data on various flare emissions (protons, gamma rays, neutrons, etc.). By different techniques, those spectra have been reconstructed for 80 solar proton events (SPE) in 1949–1991. In this paper, all available data on the source spectra of solar protons are summarized and revised. We discuss in detail existing uncertainties in the derived spectral indexes, consider other methodological problems involved in this study, and suggest several possible lines for the future investigations of solar flares and SCRs using the source spectrum data. It is noted that some peculiarities of the spectra, for instance, spectral steepening for high energies, may be characteristic of large events of the 23 February 1956 type.     

EURD Data Provide Strong Evidence Against the Sciama Model of Radiative Decay of Massive Neutrinos

Data obtained with a high resolution, high sensitivity spectrometer flown on the Spanish MINISAT 01 satellite wereused to test the Sciama model of radiatively decaying massive neutrinos. The observed emission is far less intense than that expected in the Sciama model.     

Time–Latitudinal Development of the White-Light Coronal Structures over a Solar Cycle

Large-scale coronal structures (helmet streamers) observed in the white-light corona during total solar eclipses and/or with ground-based coronagraphs are mostly located only above quiescent types of prominences. These helmet streamers are maintained due to the magnetic fields of the Sun. Time–latitudinal distribution of prominences during a solar cycle, however, shows both the poleward and equatorward migrations, similar to the 530.3 nm emission corona (the green corona) intensities. Distribution of observed coronal helmet streamers during total solar eclipses, enlarged with the helmet streamers as were obtained by the ground-based coronagraph observations, are compared with the heliographic distribution of prominences and the green corona intensities for the first time. It is shown that the distribution of above-mentioned helmet streamers, reflects – roughly – the time–latitudinal distribution of prominences and emission corona branches, and migrates together with them over a solar cycle.     

The Eclipsing Binary bx Andromedae and its Orbital Period Behaviour

The orbital period variations of the eclipsing binary BX And are examined analysing its (O–C) diagram 1) with the standard method, in which the minima times are fitted by the quadratic ephemeris combined with an assumed light-time effect, and 2) with the first continuous method. The results from the use of the two methods are, as was expected, different.     

The Cali meteorite fall: A new H/L ordinary chondrite

Abstract— The fall of the Cali meteorite took place on 6 July 2007 at 16 h 32 ± 1 min local time (21 h 32 ± 1 min UTC). A daylight fireball was witnessed by hundreds of people in the Cauca Valley in Colombia from which 10 meteorite samples with a total mass of 478 g were recovered near 3°24.3′N, 76°30.6′W. The fireball trajectory and radiant have been reconstructed with moderate accuracy. From the computed radiant and from considering various plausible velocities, we obtained a range of orbital solutions that suggest that the Cali progenitor meteoroid probably originated in the main asteroid belt. Based on petrography, mineral chemistry, magnetic susceptibility, thermoluminescence, and bulk chemistry, the Cali meteorite is classified as an H/L4 ordinary chondrite breccia.