Geomagnetic Pc3 Pulsations During the Total Solar Eclipse on Aug 11, 1999

The solar eclipse on August 11, 1999, observed in the region covered by many geomagnetic observatories, has offered a unique opportunity to look for an effect of the eclipse on geomagnetic pulsations. The pulsation activity digital data have been taken from Budkov Observatory in the Czech Republic (in the X component only), from observatories in Germany (Niemegk, Fürstenfeldbruck, Bad Bergzabern), in Hungary (Nagycenk), and for comparison in South Africa (Hermanus, conjugate-point station), and in Finland (Sodankylä, far from the eclipse zone). At all these stations the field in all three component has been recorded. The pulsation amplitudes in the X component exhibit a long-term minimum near the time of the eclipse. Spectral analysis of selected short intervals confirmed this decrease and also revealed a decrease of the average pulsation period during the eclipse. Such a change in the amplitude or in the period was not observed outside of the eclipse interval or in other days. Investigation in some narrower frequency bands showed that the maximal decrease occurred in the 15–20 s band. All these changes can be found in records from all the stations near the eclipse totality belt, also in records at the conjugate-point station, where no eclipse occurred. No signature has been found in records at the station situated far from the eclipse zone.     

Chemical Mechanism Development: Laboratory Studies and Model Applications

Within the German Tropospheric Research Programme (TFS) numerous kinetic and mechanistic studies on the tropospheric reaction/degradation of the following reactants were carried out: oxygenated VOC, aromatic VOC, biogenic VOC, short-lived intermediates, such as alkoxy and alkylperoxy radicals.At the conception of the projects these selected groups were classes of VOC or intermediates for which the atmospheric oxidation mechanisms were either poorly characterised or totally unknown. The motivation for these studies was the attainment of significant improvements in our understanding of the atmospheric chemical oxidation processes of these compounds, particularly with respect to their involvement in photooxidant formation in the troposphere. In the present paper the types of experimental investigations performed and the results obtained within the various projects are briefly summarised. The major achievements are highlighted and discussed in terms of their contribution to improving our understanding of the chemical processes controlling photosmog formation in the troposphere.     

Single GPS receiver time-relative positioning with loop misclosure corrections

Time-relative positioning makes use of observations taken at two different epochs and stations with a single global positioning system (GPS) receiver to determine the position of the unknown station with respect to the known station. The limitation of this method is the degradation over time of the positioning accuracy due to the temporal variation of GPS errors (ionospheric delay, satellite clock corrections, satellite ephemerides, and tropospheric delay). The impact of these errors is significantly reduced by adding to the one-way move from the known to the unknown station, a back move to the known station. A loop misclosure is computed from the coordinates obtained at the known station at the beginning and at the end of the loop, and is used to correct the coordinates of the unknown station. The field tests, presented in this paper, show that using the loop misclosure corrections, time-relative positioning accuracy can be improved by about 60% when using single frequency data, and by about 40% with dual frequency data. For a 4-min processing interval (an 8-min loop) and a 95% probability level, errors remain under 20 cm for the horizontal components and 36 cm for the vertical component with single frequency data; and under 11 cm for the horizontal components and 29 cm for the vertical component with dual frequency data.     

Quantification of carbon flow from stable isotope fractionation in rice field soils with different organic matter content

Rice fields are an important source for the greenhouse gas methane produced by acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. Fractionation of ¹³C/¹²C can in principle be used to quantify the relative contribution of these pathways, but our knowledge of isotopic fractionation during reduction of CO₂ and turnover of acetate in different methanogenic environments is still scarce. We therefore measured δ¹³C signatures in two types of anoxic Italian rice field soils, one with high and one with low degradable organic matter (OM) content. Both soils were incubated in the presence and absence of methyl fluoride, a specific inhibitor of acetoclastic methanogenesis. Optimization of methyl fluoride concentration resulted in complete inhibition of acetoclastic methanogenesis. CH₄ was then exclusively produced by hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, allowing determination of the isotopic signatures and fractionation factors specific for this methanogenic pathway. Acetate, which was then no longer consumed, accumulated and was used for determination of the isotopic signature of the fermentatively produced acetate (both total acetate and methyl carbon of acetate). Hence, all isotopic signatures, including fractionation factors were determined for the methanogenic soil. These data, were then used for computation of the relative contribution of the two methanogenic pathways. In the high OM soil, the contribution of acetoclastic methanogenesis to total CH₄ production increased simultaneously with decreasing acetate concentration. In the low OM soil, methanogenesis from H₂/CO₂ was clearly greater than theoretically expected. Furthermore, isotope fractionation of hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis indicated that the in situ energy status of methanogens strongly depended on the availability of organic carbon in the rice field soil system. Collectively, our data show that the study of isotopic fractionation in methanogenic environments allows a deeper insight into the ongoing processes, which may be quite different in the same ecosystem with different content of degradable OM.     

The Visible Solar Spectral Irradiance from 350 to 850 nm As Measured by the SOLSPEC Spectrometer During the ATLAS I Mission

The SOLSPEC instrument has been built to carry out solar spectral irradiance measurements from 200 to 3000 nm. It consists of three spectrometers designed to measure the solar spectral irradiance in ultraviolet, visible, and infrared domains. It flew with the ATLAS I mission in March 1992. This paper is dedicated to the visible part of the solar spectrum. Comparisons with recent data are shown and differences below 450 nm are discussed.     

Natural shock behavior of almandite in metamorphic rocks from the ries crater,Germany

An extensive study of a big number of gneiss specimens with various shock features from the suevite allowed unravelling of the shock behavior of almandite garnets.Almandites in shocked metamorphic rocks show with increasing dynamic pressures strong irregular fracturing. differently oriented sets of planar fractures or elements, brown turbidity and nucleation of minute crystals of an unknown phase in solid garnets. At higher peak pressures garnet was found to break down to (1) orthopyroxene + spinel + glass, and to (2) spinel + glass due to fast shock-melting.Extensive quantitative electron microprobe studies of almandite garnets and their breakdown products were carried out. The breakdown products within the original grain boundaries of the garnets consist of an alumina-rich orthopyroxene (with up to 10 wt. % Al₂O₃), hercynite to pleonaste spinels and a silica and calcium-rich glass matrix. The chemical zonation of magnesium and manganese of the former garnets is inherited in the composition of the newly formed orthopyroxenes.Petrographic evidence and chemical composition suggest a fast breakdown of the almandite garnets after passing of shock waves at rapidly falling pressures and very high post-shock temperatures within the ejected gneissic rock material.     

Spectral analysis of oscillations with a time-variable frequency

Summary The paper presents a method of evaluating oscillations with a time-variable frequency using a computer. The given function is first interpolated at points which are not distributed equidistantly in time, but the digitizing step varies with time according to a known optional regularity. The spectrum of the obtained function is computed for various of these interpolations and tests are run to determine when the interpolation best compensates the time variation of the frequency. The initial and terminal frequency in the given sample is then determined. The usability of this method with respect to various types of oscillations with a variable frequency and its accuracy in comparison to sonagrams are discussed.