Tidal dissipation from free drift sea ice in the Barents Sea assessed using GNSS beacon observations

Ocean Dynamics - One of the major challenges facing global hydrodynamic tidal models is the modelling of the interaction between sea ice and tides in high-latitude waters. Recent studies have shown...     

Diagenesis in Okavango fan and adjacent dune deposits with implications for the record of palaeo-environmental change in Makgadikgadi–Okavango–Zambezi basin, northern Botswana

This work considers the spatial distribution and ages of western MOZ basin siliclastic sediments prior to providing insights into the diagenesis of degraded dune and alluvial fan sands. Previously published and new TL/OSL ages imply that extensive over-washing of dune sands took place at least 100 ka ago while ages on Okavango floodplains imply that the fan was formed ca. 40 ka and has since undergone periods of higher and lower flood regimes. Sediment analyses indicate that both dune and fan sands contain a diagenetic matrix of clay-enhanced amorphous silica (CEAS) which bonds weakly formed aggregates. The time of formation of diagenetic matrix products is inconclusive but may have been accelerated during or shortly after events dated using OSL/TL techniques. Hence earlier dune over-washing may have led to greater porewater of an acidic to near neutral nature which in turn promoted smectite formation and silicic acid precipitation > 100 000 years ago. The relatively abundant CEAS matrix in floodplain sands implies more recent semi-continuous flood events again of an acidic-near neutral nature leading to the formation of smectite. In this case the floodplain sediments are dated as having been deposited around 40 and 11 ka, when porewater content may have accelerated clay formation and silica dissolution. The dual nature of the CEAS in the islands reflects a changing environment from smectite-dominated flooding events to sepiolite-dominated desiccation events. Flooding may also correspond to TL/OSL ages over the past 40 000 years which contributed to accelerated CEAS formation. The sepiolite is associated with a Ca-rich matrix implying desiccation which may relate to drying events over the 40 000 year period or to riparian tree root pumping and selective salt accumulation. This work shows that sedimentation in incipient rifts is complex and rarely explained totally in terms of primary depositional events. The implications of different stages of sand diagenesis may be significant in enhancing palaeo-environmental interpretations in semi-arid fluvial environments.     

The influence of a photospheric spectrum of turbulence on the profiles of weak Fraunhofer lines

We assume that the motion field in the solar photosphere is described by a spectrum of turbulence, defined by suitably chosen parameters. For various values of the spectral parameters we compute average (i.e. averaged over a sufficiently large part of the photosphere) profiles of weak Fraunhofer lines. The resulting profiles which represent the distribution function of line-of-sight velocity components as modified by the transfer of radiation through the atmosphere, are thereupon still broadened by a function representing the influence of the distribution function of the granulation cell sizes. The resulting functions should be compared with the distribution function of line-of-sight velocity components as derived from observations, in order to arrive at an observational derivation of the parameters of the photospheric spectrum of turbulence.     

High-energy flare explosions driven by 3-dimensional X-type current loop coalescence

We present a model for high-energy solar flare explosions driven by 3-dimensional X-type current loop coalescence. The 3-dimensional X-type current loop coalescence, where two crossed flux-tubes interact at one point, is a fundamentally new process as compared to the 1-D and 2-D cases studied earlier. This process is studied by a first-order approach of the relevant variables near the point of coalescence; it appears to yield reliable information in a sufficiently large area around this point. It is shown that, following a strong plasma collapse due to the pinch effect, a point-like plasma explosion can be driven while fast magnetosonic shock waves can also be excited. We found that the conditions in the area producing the remarkable flare bursts of 21 May, 1984 were indeed such that the many flare spikes could have been due to 3-D explosive X-type current loop coalescence. We also show, by studying the conditions of shock formation in a gamma ray flare, that the time delay of -rays from the impulsive phase could be the time needed for the shock formation in the flaring region.We draw some general conclusions on the question why certain flares do emit -rays in the MeV energy range, and why other, apparently important and energetic flares, do not. We accentuate the fact that a well-developed high-energy flare has three phases of particle acceleration.     

Multiple wavelength observations of a solar active region

The Solar Maximum Mission Satellite, the Sacramento Peak Vacuum Tower Telescope, the Very Large Array and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope have been used to observe active region AR 2490 on two consecutive days at soft X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and radio wavelengths (2, 6, and 20 cm), with comparable angular resolution (2 to 15) and field of view (4 × 4). The radio emissions at = 6 cm and 20 cm show a double structure in which one component is associated with bright H plage, C iv and soft X-ray emission, and the other component is associated only with sunspots. No radiation at = 2 cm is detected in this latter component. Coronal temperature and emission measure derived from X-ray lines indicate that the dominant radiation mechanism of the plage-associated component is due to thermal bremsstrahlung while the gyroresonance absorption coefficient must be invoked to account for the high brightness temperature (T _b 2×10⁶K) observed in the sunspot associated component. The high magnetic field strength needed (600 G at a level where T2×10⁶K) is explained assuming a thin transition zone, in order to reach a high electron temperature close to the sunspot, where the magnetic fields are stronger. A higher temperature gradient above sunspots is also consistent with the absence of detectable C iv emission.Cooperative study of the SMY-FBS Project.On leave from the University of Napoli.On leave from the University of Torino.On sabbatical leave 1980–81 at the Arcetri Observatory.On leave from Toyokawa Observatory, Japan.