Imaging the Sun at 21 cm: Budgetting the S-component

On fourteen days in July and August 1992 and June 1993, we used the 7-element synthesis radio telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory to make full-disc, arc-min resolution images of the Sun at 21 cm, with the objective of budgetting the contributions to the slowly-varying component of solar radio emission. This instrument has the advantage that the mapping field at this wavelength is about 2.5° wide. However, it has also the severe disadvantage that with only 12 hours to record each image, the brightness distribution is severely undersampled. This difficulty, along with solar rotation and declination motion during each observation, required development of special image correction procedures.The two observing sessions spanned about 25% of the activity range over a solar cycle. Over this range, comparable contributions to the slowly-varying component came from active region sources and a weak emission, widely-distributed over the solar disk. Both these contributions are correlated with the total photospheric magnetic flux and with the 10.7 cm flux.     

Changing elevation,accretion, and tidal marsh plant assemblages in a South San Francisco Bay tidal marsh

Analyses of organic content, pollen, and the carbon-isotopic composition of a 3.5-m sediment core collected from a subsided tidal marsh located in South San Francisco Bay, California, have provided a 500-yr record of sediment accretion and vegetation change before, during, and after a rapid 1 m increase in sea level. Core chronology was established using¹⁴C dating of fossil plant material, the first appearance of pollen types produced by plants not native to California, and changes in lead concentrations coincident with anthropogenic contamination. Prior to the mid 19th century, rates of sediment accretion were between 1 and 4 mm yr⁻¹; sediment accretion accelerated to an average of 22 mm yr⁻¹ following the initiation of subsidence. Changes in tidal marsh vegetation also accompanied this depositional change. Vegetation shifted from a high to low marsh assemblage, as indicated by a larger percentage of grass pollen, rhizomes ofSpartina foliosa, and a strong C₄ signal. Between 1980 and 2001, Triangle marsh again developed high marsh vegetation, as indicated by higher percentages of the Amaranthaceane pollen type, seed deposition, includingSalicornia spp., and more negative carbon isotopic ratios.     

How special are Etendeka mesas? Flora and elevation gradients in an arid landscape in north-west Namibia

Seven mesas (i.e. flat-topped, isolated mountains) and the Grootberg mountain in arid north-west Namibia were investigated with regard to floristic relationships in relation to environmental gradients. Relationships between mesas and their surrounding, species richness and number of mesa specialists were used as measures to explore the influence of elevation on these floristic parameters. Also soil properties were investigated along these elevation gradients. The overall questions were designed to investigate the importance, i.e. ‘special status’, of these mesas in terms of contributing to species diversity and to elucidating ecological processes in this arid landscape.With regard to special floristic status, the tops of mesas supported different plant communities than their surrounding plains, while slopes indicated various levels of intermingling with plain vegetation. Differences between mesas and plains became more pronounced with increasing elevation. There were, however, no clear vegetation belts related to elevation. Plant species richness and number of mesa specialists showed a trend of increasing numbers with elevation, but these trends were statistically poorly supported, largely due to high variability between samples.Do soil gradients and elevation, as two important environmental variables, affect this ‘special’ status? Pronounced soil gradients were evident for many soil properties. These in combination with altitudinal effects of increased moisture and lower temperatures were believed to directly influence plant species composition and richness. The soil gradients may also indicate nutrient flow from the mesas to the surrounding lowlands, a process of ecological importance, particularly should degradation due to over grazing become a problem in the lowland areas.     

The systematic position of Equus hydruntinus, an extinct species of Pleistocene equid

Palaeolithic people commonly hunted Equus hydruntinus, an extinct species of equid whose cursorial body proportions suggest an adaptation to semi-arid conditions. Despite the frequency with which it is encountered in fossil deposits, only partial cranial remains have been reported until now. As a result, the systematic affiliation of the species remains a subject of controversy. Two nearly complete E. hydruntinus crania are presented here for the first time. These skulls show that E. hydruntinus is a distinct species, more closely related to the hemiones (Asiatic asses) than to any other equid. This suggests that the social organisation of E. hydruntinus followed one of two known equid sociotypes: resource defense territoriality.     

The systematic position of Equus hydruntinus, an extinct species of Pleistocene equid☆

Palaeolithic people commonly hunted Equus hydruntinus, an extinct species of equid whose cursorial body proportions suggest an adaptation to semi-arid conditions. Despite the frequency with which it is encountered in fossil deposits, only partial cranial remains have been reported until now. As a result, the systematic affiliation of the species remains a subject of controversy. Two nearly complete E. hydruntinus crania are presented here for the first time. These skulls show that E. hydruntinus is a distinct species, more closely related to the hemiones (Asiatic asses) than to any other equid. This suggests that the social organisation of E. hydruntinus followed one of two known equid sociotypes: resource defense territoriality.     

Fluid inclusions in Scourian granulites from the Lewisian complex of NW Scotland: evidence for CO2-rich fluid in Late Archaean high-grade metamorphism

In this paper the first fluid-inclusion data are presented from Late Archaean Scourian granulites of the Lewisian complex of mainland northwest Scotland. Pure CO₂ or CO₂-dominated fluid inclusions are moderately abundant in pristine granulites. These inclusions show homogenization temperatures ranging from − 54 to + 10 °C with a very prominent histogram peak at − 16 to − 32 °C. Isochores corresponding to this main histogram peak agree with P-T estimates for granulite-facies recrystallization during the Badcallian (750–800 °C, 7–8 kbar) as well as with Inverian P-T conditions (550–600 °C, 5 kbar). The maximum densities encountered could correspond to fluids trapped during an early, higher P-T phase of the Badcallian metamorphism (900–1000 °C, 11–12 kbar). Homogenization temperatures substantially higher than the main histogram peak may represent Laxfordian reworking (≤ 500 °C, < 4 kbar). In the pristine granulites, aqueous fluid inclusions are of very subordinate importance and occur only along late secondary healed fractures. In rocks which have been retrograded to amphibolite facies from Inverian and/or Laxfordian shear zones, CO₂ inclusions are conspicuously absent; only secondary aqueous inclusions are present, presumably related to post-granulite hydration processes. These data illustrate the importance of CO₂-rich fluids for the petrogenesis of Late Archaean granulites, and demonstrate that early fluid inclusions may survive subsequent metamorphic processes as long as no new fluid is introduced into the system.     

The Orthogonal Transfer CCD

The Orthogonal Transfer CCD (OTCCD) is a device to carry out image motion compensation within a CCD. This paper presents three main points about the OTCCD: 1) Science grade OTCCD devices have been produced and work better than expected. 2) The big concern we had about the OTCCD was that pocket pumping would make it useless, but this appears to be a fairly minor problem. 3) Finally, the atmosphere is more benign than we might have feared, and significant gains in sharpening the point spread function (PSF) can be had simply with image motion compensation.     

MM Herculis: An eclipsing binary of the RS CVn type

Differential photoelectric photometry inV, B, andU has been obtained for the eclipsing binary MM Her, a member of the RS Canum Venaticorum class. The light outside eclipse was Fourier-analyzed to study the wave. The migration and amplitude of the wave and the mean light level of the system now have been monitored from 1976 through 1980. The phase of wave minimum has decreased from 0 _. ^P 80 to 0 _. ^P 25, the wave amplitude has varied between 0 _. ^m 06 and 0 _. ^m 12, and the mean light level has fluctuated between 0.94 and 0.99. Observations within eclipse revealed that the eclipses are partial, not total as previously thought, and a new time of mid-eclipse was found to be JD (hel.)=2444 500.6665±0 _. ^d 0008. The Russell model was used to solve the 1980 light curve. Elements of the rectified light curve werei=86 _. ^° 35±0 _. ^° 09,r _h =0.070±0.002,r _c =0.125±0.001,L _h (V)=0.585±0.008 andL _h (B)=0.683±0.010. The geometric elements were forced on the pre-1980 light curves and found to be compatible. With these elements and previously obtained double-lined radial velocity curves, new absolute dimensions have been calculated: 1.18M and 1.58R for the hotter star and 1.27M and 2.83R for the cooler star. By plotting color indices on the color-color curve, spectral types of G2V and K21V were found, each uncertain by a couple of subclasses.Guest Observer Kitt Peak National Observatory, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, under contract with the National Science Foundation.