Quiescent radio emission of RS CVn binary systems

It is shown that the quiescent radio emission observed in some RS Vc binary systems cannot be ascribed to the same thermal electrons population responsible for the X-ray emission. An alternative explanation to account for the observed correlation between X-ray and radio luminosity is suggested.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

Beyond headline mitigation numbers: we need more transparent and comparable NDCs to achieve the Paris Agreement on climate change

Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) were key to reaching the Paris Agreement and will be instrumental in implementing it. Research was quick to identify the ‘headline numbers’ of NDCs: if these climate action plans were fully implemented, global mean warming by 2100 would be reduced from approximately 3.6 to 2.7°C above pre-industrial levels (Höhne et al. Climate Pol 17:1–17, 2016; Rogelj et al. Nature 534:631–639, 2016). However, beyond these headline mitigation numbers, NDCs are more difficult to analyse and compare. UN climate negotiations have so far provided limited guidance on NDC formulation, which has resulted in varying scopes and contents of NDCs, often lacking details concerning ambitions. If NDCs are to become the long-term instrument for international cooperation, negotiation, and ratcheting up of ambitions to address climate change, then they need to become more transparent and comparable, both with respect to mitigation goals, and to issues such as adaptation, finance, and the way in which NDCs are aligned with national policies. Our analysis of INDCs and NDCs (Once a party ratifies the Paris Agreement, it is invited to turn its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) into an NDC. We refer to results from our INDC analysis rather than our NDC analysis in this commentary unless otherwise stated.) shows that they omit important mitigation sectors, do not adequately provide details on costs and financing of implementation, and are poorly designed to meet assessment and review needs.     

Age and emplacement of late-Variscan granites of the western Bohemian Massif with main focus on the Hauzenberg granitoids (European Variscides, Germany)

The Variscan Hauzenberg pluton consists of granite and granodiorite that intruded late- to postkinematically into HT-metamorphic rocks of the Moldanubian unit at the southwestern margin of the Bohemian Massif (Passauer Wald). U–Pb dating of zircon single-grains and monazite fractions, separated from medium- to coarse-grained biotite-muscovite granite (Hauzenberg granite II), yielded concordant ages of 320 ± 3 and 329 ± 7 Ma, interpreted as emplacement age. Zircons extracted from the younger Hauzenberg granodiorite yielded a ²⁰⁷Pb–²⁰⁶Pb mean age of 318.6 ± 4.1 Ma. The Hauzenberg granite I has not been dated. The pressure during solidification of the Hauzenberg granite II was estimated at 4.6 ± 0.6 kbar using phengite barometry on magmatic muscovite, corresponding to an emplacement depth of 16-18 km. The new data are compatible with pre-existing cooling ages of biotite and muscovite which indicate the Hauzenberg pluton to have cooled below T = 250–400 °C in Upper Carboniferous times. A compilation of age data from magmatic and metamorphic rocks of the western margin of the Bohemian Massif suggests a west- to northwestward shift of magmatism and HT/LP metamorphism with time. Both processes started at > 325 Ma within the South Bohemian Pluton and magmatism ceased at ca. 310 Ma in the Bavarian Oberpfalz. The slight different timing of HT metamorphism in northern Austria and the Bavarian Forest is interpreted as being the result of partial delamination of mantle lithosphere or removal of the thermal boundary layer.     

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Complex coastal change in response to autogenic basin infilling: An example from a sub‐tropical Holocene strandplain

Thick bay‐fill sequences that often culminate in strandplain development serve as important sedimentary archives of land–ocean interaction, although distinguishing between internal and external forcings is an ongoing challenge. This study employs sediment cores, ground‐penetrating radar surveys, radiocarbon dates, palaeogeographic reconstructions and hydrodynamic modelling to explore the role of autogenic processes – notably a reduction in wave energy in response to coastal embayment infilling – in coastal evolution and shoreline morphodynamics. Following a regional 2 to 4 m highstand at ca 5·8 ka, the 75 km² Tijucas Strandplain in southern Brazil built from fluvial sediments deposited into a semi‐enclosed bay. Holocene regressive deposits are underlain by fluvial sands and a Pleistocene transgressive–regressive sequence, and backed by a highstand barrier‐island. The strandplain is immediately underlain by 5 to 16 m of seaward‐thickening, fluvially derived, Holocene‐age, basin‐fill mud. Several trends are observed from the landward (oldest) to the seaward (youngest) sections of the strandplain: (i) the upper shoreface and foreshore become finer and thinner and shift from sand‐dominated to mud‐dominated; (ii) beachface slopes decrease from >11° to ca 7°; and (iii) progradation rates increase from 0·4 to 1·8 m yr^?1. Hydrodynamic modelling demonstrates a correlation between progressive shoaling of Tijucas Bay driven by sea‐level fall and sediment infilling and a decrease in onshore wave‐energy transport from 18 to 4 kW m^?1. The combination of allogenic (sediment supply, falling relative sea‐level and geology) and autogenic (decrease in wave energy due to bay shoaling) processes drove the development of a regressive system with characteristics that are rare, if not unique, in the Holocene and rock records. These findings demonstrate the complexities in architecture styles of highstand and regressive systems tracts. Furthermore, this article highlights the diverse internal and external processes and feedbacks responsible for the development of these intricate marginal marine sedimentary systems.     

Magnetic survey of Lake Kinneret-central Jordan Valley,Israel

A magnetic survey of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) was conducted on a 1 km grid of north-south and east-west lines. The results indicate that the margins of the lake are associated with large amplitude anomalies, while the centre is quite smooth. The largest anomaly, more than 500 nT, was detected in the vicinity of the entrance of the Jordan River into the lake. Its source is interpreted to be Late Cenozoic basaltic flows. The lake's margins are associated with faults, hot springs and magnetic anomalies. A broad magnetic anomaly trending east-northeast extends from Ginosar Valley into the lake through most of the lake's width. The distribution of basalt flows of different ages and the various structures of the magnetized layers are all contributing to the magnetic anomaly pattern.     

Enhanced Acoustic Backscatter Due to High Abundance of Sand Dollars, Dendraster excentricus

Detailed acoustic surveys of benthic sediments were conducted in July 1995 and September 1998 in the vicinity of Humboldt Bay, California. During these surveys, a band of enhanced acoustic backscatter was observed offshore from the bay entrance, approximately parallel to the isobaths, in water depths ranging from 16-24 m. In order to assess the cause of the increase in backscatter levels, a more comprehensive study was conducted in August and September 1999 using 100 kHz side-scan sonar, bottom grab sampling and underwater video recording. New observations indicated that a dense population of sand dollars ( Dendraster excentricus ) coincided with the enhanced backscatter band. Compared to the two previous acoustic studies, the central section of the band expanded westward by 180 m and the southern section of the band shifted eastward by 160 m, possibly resulting from a change in the biological or physical factors which influence the location and breadth of sand dollars. The relationship between high sand dollar abundance and enhanced acoustic backscatter was further verified in the nearshore region off Samoa Beach California, where a dense, banded population of sand dollars was previously observed. Video footage confirmed the presence of a band of sand dollars, also nominally parallel to the isobaths, in water depths of 8-15 m. A band of enhanced backscatter coincided with the dense sand dollar population. The identification of dense aggregations of sand dollars through enhanced acoustic backscatter could lead to the use of acoustic techniques to study sand dollar distributions and abundance.     

Hard X-ray and radio emission at the onset of great solar flares

A study of the onset phase often great hard X-ray bursts is presented. It is shown from hard X-ray and radio observations in different wavelength ranges that the energization of the electrons proceeds on a global time-scale of some tens of seconds. In nine of the bursts two phases of emission can be distinguished during the onset phase: the pre-flash phase, during which emission up to an energy limit ranging from some tens of keV to 200 keV is observed, followed ten to some tens of seconds later by the flash phase, where the count rate in all detector channels rises simultaneously to within some seconds. For two of the events strong -ray line emission is observed and is shown to start close to the onset of the flash phase.Proceedings of the Second CESRA Workshop on Particle Acceleration and Trapping in Solar Flares, held at Aubigny-sur-Nère (France), 23–26 June, 1986.     

A tephrostratigraphic record for the last glacial–interglacial cycle from Lake Ohrid,Albania and Macedonia

Here we present a tephrostratigraphic record (core Co1202) recovered from the northeastern part of Lake Ohrid (Republics of Macedonia and Albania) reaching back to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Overall ten horizons (OT0702‐1 to OT0702‐10) containing volcanic tephra have been recognised throughout the 14.94 m long sediment succession. Four tephra layers were visible at macroscopic inspection (OT0702‐4, OT0702‐6, OT0702‐8 and OT0702‐9), while the remaining six are cryptotephras (OT0702‐1, OT0702‐2, OT0702‐3, OT0702‐5, OT0702‐7 and OT0702‐10) identified from peaks in K, Zr and Sr intensities, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and washing and sieving of the sediments. Glass shards of tephra layers and cryptotephras were analysed with respect to their major element composition, and correlated to explosive eruptions of Italian volcanoes. The stratigraphy and the major element composition of tephra layers and cryptotephras allowed the correlation of OT0702‐1 to AD 472 or AD 512 eruptions of Somma‐Vesuvius, OT0702‐2 to the FL eruption of Mount Etna, OT0702‐3 to the Mercato from Somma‐Vesuvius, OT0702‐4 to SMP1‐e/Y‐3 eruption from the Campi Flegrei caldera, OT0702‐5 to the Codola eruption (Somma‐Vesuvius or Campi Flegrei), OT0702‐6 to the Campanian Ignimbrite/Y‐5 from the Campi Flegrei caldera, OT0702‐7 to the Green Tuff/Y‐6 eruption from Pantelleria Island, OT0702‐8 to the X‐5 eruption probably originating from the Campi Flegrei caldera, OT0702‐9 to the X‐6 eruption of generic Campanian origin, and OT0702‐10 to the P‐11 eruption from Pantelleria Island. The fairly well‐known ages of these tephra layers and parent eruptions provide new data on the dispersal and deposition of these tephras and, furthermore, allow the establishment of a chronological framework for core Co1202 for a first interpretation of major sedimentological changes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.