A method for preparing maps of mean daily global radiation

Summary Daily values of global radiation from 10 stations for the period 1950–1960 are used as a base to describe the distribution of the global radiation of solar energy in the Intermontane Basin and Plateau Region of the western United States (including areas of the States from Washington and Idaho in the North to the Mexican frontier in the south). The empirical relations between radiation and more commonly available climatic and geographic variables—percent of possible sunshine, mean daily cloud cover, presence or absence of snow on the ground, optical air mass, and station elevation and latitude—are established through regression and correlation analysis for these stations and used to estimate radiation at 16 additional locations where radiation data are not collected. This provides better geographic coverage than could be obtained from use of radiation data alone. The technique also permits the filling-in of missing data in the records of the 10 stations to provide each with a complete record for the study period. Selected monthly maps of mean daily global radiation are presented for the region.

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Zusammenfassung Tagessummen der Globalstrahlung von 10 Stationen aus der Periode 1950 bis 1960 werden verwendet, um die Verteilung der Globalstrahlung von Sonne und Himmel im Westen der Vereinigten Staaten (Intermontane Basin und Plateau Region, umfassend Gebiete der Staaten von Washington und Idaho im Norden bis zur mexikanischen Grenze, jedoch unter Ausschluß der tieferen Lagen von Kalifornien) darzustellen. Die empirischen Beziehungen zwischen Strahlung und anderen, allgemeiner verfügbaren klimatischen und geographischen Variabeln — wie relative Sonnenscheindauer, Tagesmittel der Himmelsbedeckung, Vorhandensein oder Fehlen einer Schneedecke, optische Luftmasse, Meereshöhe und Breite der Station —werden durch Regressions- und Korrelationsanalyse für diese Stationen aufgestellt und dazu benützt, um für weitere 16 Orte, für welche keine Strahlungsbeobachtungen vorliegen, die Strahlungswerte abzuschätzen. Dadurch wird die geographische Verteilung besser erfaßt als lediglich durch die vorhandenen Strahlungsdaten. Das gleiche Verfahren gestattet auch, fehlende Werte in den Aufzeichnungen der Ausgangsstationen zu ergänzen und dadurch die Reihen zu vervollständigen. Eine Auswahl von Monatskarten der mittleren Tagessumen der Globalstrahlung für das Gebiet wird vorgelegt.

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Résumé Pour représenter la répartition du rayonnement global du soleil et du ciel dans l'ouest des Etats-Unis, on s'est servi des sommes journalières du dit rayonnement recueillies à 10 stations pendant la période allant de 1950 à 1960. La région considérée comprend les bassins versants et les hauts plateaux s'étendant des Etats de Washington et de l'Idaho au nord jusqu'à la frontière du Méxique au sud, mais à l'exception des terres basses de la Californie. Afin d'estimer les valeurs de la radiation globale en 16 stations différentes, mais où elle n'est pas mesurée, on s'est servi de rapports empiriques entre la dite radiation et les éléments météorologiques ou géographiques généralement disponibles. Ceux-ci sont: la durée d'insolation relative, la nébulosité journalière moyenne, la présence ou l'absence d'une couche de neige, l'épaisseur optique de la masse d'air, l'altitude et la latitude du lieu. Les rapports empiriques utilisés sont calculés au moyen d'une analyse en régressions et en corrélations. On peut alors mieux se rendre compte de la répartition géographique réelle de la radiation globale qu'en se servant des seuls relevés effectués. Les mêmes procédés permettent en outre de combler les lacunes que présentent les mesures faites aux stations de base afin d'obtenir des séries complètes pour la période entière. On présente enfin un choix de cartes de la région, cartes contenant les moyennes mensuelles de la somme journalière de la radiation globale.

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With 12 Figures     

Comptel analysis of GRB 940217

COMPTEL on board CGRO has observed a very strong (S[> 0.3 MeV] = 2.03 × 10^–4 erg cm^–2), complex, and long lasting (162 s) gamma-ray burst on February 17, 1994 (GRB 940217). Temporal fluctuations occur on timescales as short as 100 ms. Hard-to-soft spectral evolution has been observed during the burst emission and also within individual peaks. The photon spectra obtained within the 6 peaks can be modelled by single power law spectra and by broken power laws with break energies at around 1 MeV. The best-fit power law slopes vary between 1.1 and 3.5 throughout the event. The burst is located at [ ₂₀₀₀, ₂₀₀₀] = [29.5°, 3.8°] with a 3 error radius of 0.9°. COMPTEL does not detect any significant post-burst emission (as reported by EGRET) at low energies (< 30 MeV), and our upper limits are marginally consistent with the EGRET detections. Using high energy spectral and temporal information, distance limits to GRB 940217 have been derived.     

Spectral characterisation of gamma-ray bursts with COMPTEL and BATSE

Although the earliest observed gamma-ray burst spectra were well described by thermal bremsstrahlung models, subsequent observations above 1 MeV showed the existence of high energy power law tails in 60% of events. In order to accurately characterise burst spectra, both the low energy turnover and the high energy tail must be accounted for. We have addressed this issue by jointly deconvolving spectra obtained by BATSE and COMPTEL onboard theCompton Observatory. We present preliminary results obtained by application of this method to the gamma-ray burst of February 17, 1994.     

Landscape Models and Explanation in Landscape Ecology—A Space for Generative Landscape Science?

Further development of process‐based spatial models is needed to facilitate explanation in landscape ecology. We discuss the dual modeling goals of prediction and explanation and identify challenges faced in explaining landscape patterns. These challenges are especially acute in attempts to explain patterns that result from complex adaptive systems. We compare examples of two process models used to describe landscape changes in Yellowstone National Park as a consequence of predator‐prey interactions. Generative landscape science is offered as a complementary approach to explanation, combining models of candidate processes that are believed to give rise to observed patterns with empirical observations.     

Emotionally intelligent research

Key to this paper is not so much the emotions of the researcher that emanate from fieldwork, but those of the researched (and their emotional intelligence). Using a vignette of research on the impact of the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak on rural economies in the north of England, the paper explores emotions as clues and ways of seeing. It is broadly influenced by a social constructionist approach that views emotion as created and understood in the context of relationships with others and made meaningful through discourses, language and signifiers. It does not, though, deny the physical sensations that accompany emotion and the ways in which emotions are embodied as individuals interact with others (human and non-human).     

Linear relationships in geomagnetic variation studies

The linear properties of Maxwell's equations enable the primary and secondary fields of geomagnetic variations to be related together by an induction tensor. Variations of total field which are confined on or near a plane, as described first by Parkinson, can occur formally only under certain conditions on either the induction tensor (that it have a simple degeneracy), or on the primary variation field components (that they consistently obey the same linear relationship over all time). The second condition is implausible for typical transient variations observed on earth, and examination of the first condition demonstrates that for variations with no consistent correlation of the horizontal components, the existence of a well-determined Parkinson vector means that observed vertical variations are secondary fields, induced by observed horizontal variations. This conclusion has important implications for the theoretical explanation of the geomagnetic “coast effect”.That primary fields be spatially uniform is a tacit condition of much theoretical work on geomagnetic variations, though the condition can in fact be relaxed to require spatial uniformity of the primary fields just within some “induction region”. If however the primary fields are not uniform over the induction region a poor Parkinson-vector determination may result. This may be most noticeable at sites which have their induction regions greatly extended by a process such as current channelling.     

Genetic stock structure of white steenbras Lithognathus lithognathus (Cuvier, 1829), an overexploited fishery species in South African waters

White steenbras Lithognathus lithognathus (Teleostei: Sparidae) is an overexploited marine fish species endemic to South Africa. Overexploitation in recreational, subsistence and commercial fisheries has resulted in stock collapse and the need for improved management of the species. Adults are thought to undertake large-scale annual spawning migrations, yet studies of their movement indicate low levels of connectivity among coastal regions. To address this, mitochondrial DNA sequencing and genotyping of microsatellite loci in the nuclear genome were conducted to determine the genetic stock structure and level of gene flow in this species. Genetic diversity was high throughout the species’ core distribution, with no evidence of isolation by way of distance or localised spawning. Low, non-significant pairwise fixation indices (F_ST, R_ST and Jost’s D_est) indicated low genetic differentiation and high levels of gene flow. The observed results, and agreement between mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA, confirm that white steenbras exists as a single genetic stock with high levels of gene flow throughout its distribution.     

Waves in Twisted Magnetic Flux Tubes

The modes of oscillation of a twisted magnetic flux tube in an incompressible medium are investigated analytically. An exact dispersion relation for the case of uniform twist is obtained. In contrast to the case of an untwisted incompressible tube, body, surface, and hybrid (surface-body) modes arise.     

Gamma-ray bursts with peculiar temporal asymmetry

Based on Link & Epstein's study of temporal asymmetry of 631 gamma-ray bursts from the BATSE 3B catalogue, we identify the population of bursts with rising times that are longer than their decays, thus showing atypical profiles. We analyse their sky distribution, morphology, time–space clustering and other average properties and compare them with those associated with the bulk of the bursts. We show how most of the peculiar bursts analysed are consistent with recent fireball models, but a fraction of bursts (∼4 per cent of the total sample) appear to be inconsistent.