Interferometric evidence for the observation of ground backscatter originating behind the CUTLASS coherent HF radars

Interferometric techniques allow the Super-DARN coherent HF radars to determine the elevation angles of returned backscatter, giving information on the altitude of the scatter volume, in the case of ionospheric backscatter, or the reflection altitude, in the case of ground backscatter. Assumptions have to be made in the determination of elevation angles, including the direction of arrival, or azimuth, of the returned signals, usually taken to be the forward look-direction (north) of the radars, specified by the phasing of the antenna arrays. It is shown that this assumption is not always valid in the case of ground backscatter, and that significant returns can be detected from the backward look-direction of the radars. The response of the interferometer to backscatter from behind the radar is modelled and compared with observations. It is found that ground backscatter from a field-of-view that is the mirror image of the forward-looking field-of-view is a common feature of the observations, and this interpretation successfully explains several anomalies in the received backscatter.     

Substorm correlated absorption on a 3200 km trans-auroral HF propagation path

A high-frequency transmitter located at Clyde River, NWT, Canada, and a receiver located near Boston, USA, provide a 3200 km trans-auroral, near-meridional propagation path over which the propagation characteristics have been measured. Out of the fourteen frequencies in the HF band sampled every hour for the duration of the experimental campaign (16 January-8 February 1989), the signal level measurements of 6.800 MHz transmissions were selected in order to determine the extent and occurrence of auroral absorption. The median level of auroral absorption along the path is found to increase with geomagnetic activity, quantified by the index K_p, with the increase being greater in the post-midnight sector than in the pre-midnight sector. This asymmetric behaviour is attributed to the precipitation of high energy electrons into the midnight and morning sector auroral D region. The measured diurnal variation in the median level of absorption is consistent with previous models describing the extent and magnitude of auroral absorption and electron precipitation. Individual substorms, identified from geosynchronous satellite data, are found to cause short-lived absorption events in the HF signal level of \sim30 dB at 6.800 MHz. The occurrence of substorm correlated auroral absorption events is confined to the midnight and morning sectors, consistent with the location of the electron precipitation. The magnitude of absorption is related to the magnetotail stress during the substorm growth phase and the magnetotail relaxation during the substorm expansion phase onset. The absorption magnitude and the occurrence of substorms during the period of the campaign increase at times of high K_p, leading to an increase in median auroral absorption during disturbed periods.     

The tidal force function and tidal torques

Summary The tidal force function of the two-body system is defined. It is formed by two parts, reflecting the direct, as well as, the indirect tidal effects. It enables deriving the tidal torques due to both the tidal effects independently of density distributions. The Stokes parameters of both bodies, the Love numbers and phase lag angles are sufficient for the solution.     

Protosolar nebula and composition of comets

Comets seem to be composed of matter, which is supposed to have the same molecular composition as protosolar nebula. Although there are no unbiased evidence that cometary nuclei retain the molecular composition inherited from the protosolar cloud, the observed properties of comets indicate that there is at least a resemblance between cometary composition and the material properties of dense interstellar clouds. Therefore the origin of comets could be searched in the cold stages of the protosolar nebula and molecular abundances of grain mantles in this nebula may be similar to those in the cometary dust. It is suggested that comets may contain pristine, virtually unaltered protosolar material and their study might be very relevant way to more information about processes in early stages of the solar nebula. Our knowledge about composition of the cometary nucleus is still relatively scarce, but we can partly deduce it from data obtained either by ground-based spectroscopy or by in situ mass spectrometry from space experiments. Most important were the discovery of fluffy CHON particles composed partly or even completely from compounds containing light elements. No consensus concerning the presence of interstellar pristine matter in comet has been reached from various approaches to determine the relationship between comets and interstellar grains. Most of these studies are based on infrared spectroscopy. Another method is the comparison on the chemical models of the protosolar nebula with the volatile compounds of the cometary nuclei. Both gas-phase and grain-surface chemistry are considered and initial gas-phase atomic abundances are assumed to be protosolar. The cometary matter is certainly not identical with the typical material of dense interstellar cool dense clouds, but it is closer to it than any other type of matter in solar system so far accessible to us. The data from comets combined with models of chemical evolution of matter in environment similar as prevailed the early stage of presolar nebula may at least impose constrains on the condition for comet formation. Here presented study is a preliminary contribution to such studies.     

Einige Klimabesonderheiten der östlichen Adriaküste und des zugehörigen Hinterlandes

Pure and Applied Geophysics - Some specific peculiarities of climate of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea as well as of the next-lying hinterland on the Balkan Peninsula have been discussed,...     

Type III bursts and coronal temperature

Numerical solution of the interaction of evolutionary electron beam with coronal plasma shows that the velocity of packet of the generated Langmuir's waves increases with the increase of coronal temperature. This effect can be manifested by a dependence of the drift of type III bursts on the coronal temperature.