Chromium(III) — chromium(VI) interconversions in seawater

The stable form of dissolved chromium in oxygenated seawater is Cr(VI). But Cr(III)-species are also present at an analytically significant level. It is shown that Cr(III) is oxidized only slowly by dissolved oxygen, and that manganese oxide is a strong catalyst for such oxidation. However, the low oceanic concentration of suspended MnO₂ impedes the conclusion that the former process is quantitatively less important than the latter one. The distribution of dissolved chromium among Cr(VI)- and Cr(III)-species is probably kinetically controlled.     

VLBI observations of GNSS-satellites: from scheduling to analysis

The possibility of observing satellites with the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) technique has been discussed for several years in the geodetic community, with observations of either existing satellites of the global navigation satellite systems or of satellites dedicated to realise a space tie. Such observations were carried out using the Australian telescopes in Hobart and Ceduna which, for the first time, integrated all the necessary steps: planning the observations (automated scheduling), correlation of the data and the generation of a series of time delay observables suitable for a subsequent geodetic analysis. We report on the development of new and the adaptation of existing routines for observing and data processing, focusing on technology development. The aim was to use methods that are routinely used in geodetic VLBI. A series of test experiments of up to six hours duration was performed, allowing to improve the observations from session to session and revealing new problems still to be solved. The newly developed procedures and programs now enable more observations. Further development assumed, this bears the prospect of being directly applied to the observation of dedicated space-tie satellites.     

Coastal-marine nature management in Pacific Russia and Northern Vietnam: Notions,structural features,and types

Coastal-marine nature management is treated as a spatiotemporal structure consisting of two interrelated components: the coastal territorial component occurring in the coastal territory, and the coastal aquatic component occurring within the coastal aquatic area as well as the sea shores connecting them. The study revealed the components of the main and concomitant uses of natural resources which have evolved directly across the land and sea areas of mining of separate kinds of natural resources and having technogenic impacts on them. From a combination of natural resources as well as of spatial scales of the main and concomitant uses of natural resources on the coastal territory and in coastal waters, we identified the main types of coastal-marine nature management in the southern areas of Pacific Russia and in Northern Vietnam: different kinds of nature management including the utilization of the territory for industrial-residential and transportation purposes as well as for cultivation of rice and vegetable crops, extraction of building materials, other mineral resources, forest use, extraction of marine salt from the sea water, coastal fisheries, various forms of mariculture, marine recreation, etc. A fragment of the cartographic assessment of the current types of coastal-marine nature management is presented for the southern coastal areas of Pacific Russia.     

Palaeomagnetism of three dyke swarms in Nansen Land,north Greenland (83° N)

Three basic dyke swarms of post-Ellesmerian (post-Early Carboniferous) age in Nansen Land (83° N, 43° W) are still not dated numerically, but cross-cutting relationships show Group 1 to be older than Group 2, while Group 3 is the freshest and likely the youngest. Group 1 (the most northerly swarm) strikes N-S; Group 2 NW-SE, and Group 3 (the most southerly swarm) E-W. From more than 200 dykes 234 specimens from 28 sites were investigated palaeomagnetically. Group 1 dykes show unexpected shallow inclinations with a cleaned mean direction of (Dm, Im) = (151°, –5.8°), N = 7, k = 18.5, ₉₅ = 13.9°. They show hydrothermal alterations, some remagnetization by lightning, and the low inclination indicates a low palaeo latitude. The palaeopole is (Plat, Plon) = (8.9° S, 14.0° W) with (dp, dm) = (7°, 14°), and is close to the North American Early Carboniferous mean pole, suggesting a syn- or early late-tectonic dyke injection. The polarity is reverse. Groups 2 and 3 of presumed Cretaceous or Tertiary age show dominantly normal and reverse polarities, respectively. Their mean directions per polarity are well grouped, with (Dm, Im) = (–30.6°, 76.7°), n = 13, k = 191.4, ₉₅ = 3.9°, and (Dm, Im) = (133.4°, –76.7°), n = 10, k = 87.5, ₉₅ = 5.9°, respectively. They are antipodal within 95% significance, and combining both swarms gives (Dm, Im) = (–37.5°, 76.8°), n = 23, k = 124.3, ₉₅ = 2.7°, corresponding to a mean pole of (Plat, Plon) = (70.0° N, 185.1° E) with (dp, dm) = (4.7°, 5.0°), for which the spline of Late Cretaceous-Tertiary poles for all Greenland indicates a palaeomagnetic age of 57 ± 10 Ma. This pole (in present-day coordinates) is very close to the Late Cretaceous North American pole, in accordance with the fact that Greenland belongs to the North American craton, and that the two younger swarms are essentially postdating the opening of Baffin Bay.     

ISO Observations of Wolf-Rayet Dust Shells

Observations of circumstellar dust clouds of Wolf-Rayet stars made with the Short Wavelength Spectrometer on ISO reveal a subtle variety of spectral energy distributions not evident from ground-based observations. The modelling of these using the radiative transfer code "Dusty" by Ivezić, Nenkova & Elitzur is reported. The results are used to examine the contributions by different possible grain types to the emission and of circumstellar and interstellar components to the reddening. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Eit and LASCO Observations of the Initiation of a Coronal Mass Ejection

We present the first observations of the initiation of a coronal mass ejection (CME) seen on the disk of the Sun. Observations with the EIT experiment on SOHO show that the CME began in a small volume and was initially associated with slow motions of prominence material and a small brightening at one end of the prominence. Shortly afterward, the prominence was accelerated to about 100 km s^-1 and was preceded by a bright loop-like structure, which surrounded an emission void, that traveled out into the corona at a velocity of 200–400 km s^-1. These three components, the prominence, the dark void, and the bright loops are typical of CMEs when seen at distance in the corona and here are shown to be present at the earliest stages of the CME. The event was later observed to traverse the LASCO coronagraphs fields of view from 1.1 to 30 R⊙. Of particular interest is the fact that this large-scale event, spanning as much as 70 deg in latitude, originated in a volume with dimensions of roughly 35" (2.5 x 10⁴ km). Further, a disturbance that propagated across the disk and a chain of activity near the limb may also be associated with this event as well as a considerable degree of activity near the west limb.     

EVOLUTION OF A DELTA GROUP IN THE PHOTOSPHERE AND CORONA

We present a study of the evolution of NOAA AR 7205 in the photosphere and corona, including an analysis of sunspot motions, and show the evolutionary aspects of flare activity using full-disc white-light observations from Debrecen, vector magnetograms from Mees Observatory, Hawaii, and Yohkoh soft X-ray observations. NOAA AR 7205 was born on the disc on 18 June, 1992. During the first 3 days it consisted of intermittent minor spots. A vigorous evolution started on 21 June when, through the emergence and merging (v 100–150 m s^-1) of several bipoles, a major bipolar sunspot group was formed. Transverse magnetic fields and currents indicated the presence of shear (clockwise twist) already on 21 June (with 0.015 Mm^-1). On 23 June, new flux emerged in the trailing part of the region with the new negative polarity spot situated very close to the big positive polarity trailing spot of the main bipole. The secondary bipole seemed to emerge with high non-potentality (currents). From that time the AR became the site of recurrent flare activity. We find that all 14 flares observed with the Yohkoh satellite occurred between the highly sheared new bipole and the double-headed principal bipole. Currents observed in the active region became stronger and more extended with time. We propose that the currents have been (i) induced by sunspot motions and (ii) increased by non-potential flux emergence leading to the occurrence of energetic flares (X1.8 and X3.9). This observation underlines the importance of flare analysis in the context of active region evolution.     

The selection of internal migration models for European regions

"A full multiregional projection model requires migration data that are simultaneously classified by age and gender and region of origin and region of destination. Except for a very small number of regions, these data requirements are so high that aggregation of the data (which is equivalent to simplification of the model) is called for. This paper investigates the extent to which the full internal migration matrix can be simplified without seriously affecting the performance of the resulting multiregional model. Using IPF (iterative proportional fitting) methods, a log-linear analysis of alternative model specifications is made, using data for Italy, the Netherlands and the UK....A reasonable balance between goodness-of-fit and parsimony is found for the model in which time interacts with the main effects only (i.e. with age/sex, with origin and with destination)."     

Hα surges and associated Soft X-ray loops

A recurrent H surge was observed on 7 October, 1991 on the western solar limb with the Meudon MSDP spectrograph. The GOES satellite recorded X-ray subflares coincident with all three events. During two of the surges high-resolutionYohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) images have been taken. Low X-ray loops overlying the active region where the surges occurred were continuously restructuring. A flare loop appeared at the onset of each surge event and somewhat separated from the footpoint of the surge. The loops are interpreted as causally related to the surges. It is suggested that surges are due to magnetic reconnection between a twisted cool loop and open field lines. Cold plasma bubbles or jets squeezed among untwisting magnetic field lines could correspond to the surge material. No detection was made of either X-ray emission along the path of the surges or X-ray jets, possibly because of the finite detection threshold of theYohkoh SXT.