Quasibiennial oscillations of the north-south asymmetry

The north-south (N-S) asymmetry of the solar activity (A), which reflects differences in the behavior of the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun, is studied using data on the brightness of the coronal green line, the total number and area of sunspots, and the net magnetic flux. The spatial and temporal distributions and correlations between the A values represented by these indices are considered. The characteristic time variations in A are similar for all the indices, on both long and short time scales. Quasibiennial oscillations (QBOs) can be traced in the asymmetries of all four indices. A detailed study of the QBOs is carried out based on spectral-variation and wavelet analyses. Long-term increases and decreases occur synchronously in the asymmetries of various indices and are much more pronounced in A than in the indices themselves. A negative correlation between the power of the QBOs and the asymmetry of A can be traced; it is most clearly manifest as a substantial diminishing of the QBOs during the mid-1960s, which coincided with an especially strong increase in A. Our analysis shows that the N-S asymmetry is probably a fundamental property that controls the coupling and degree of coincidence between the magnetic-field-generation mechanisms operating in the northern and southern hemispheres.     

Coronal Activity During the 22-Year Solar Magnetic Cycle

The existence of a 22-year heliomagnetic cycle was inferred long ago not only from direct measurements of the solar magnetic field but also from a cyclic variability of a number of the solar activity phenomena. In particular, it was stated (a rule derived after Gnevyshev and Ohl (1948) findings and referenced as the G–O rule in the following) that if sunspot number Rz cycles are organized in pairs of even–odd numbered cycles, then the height of the peak in the curve of the yearly-averaged sunspot numbers Rz-y is always lower for a given even cycle in comparison with the corresponding height of the following odd cycle. Exceptions to this rule are only cycles 4 and 8 which, at the same time, are the nearest even cycles to the limits of the so-called Dalton minimum of solar activity (i.e., the 1795–1823 time interval). In the present paper, we are looking for traces of the mentioned G–O rule in green corona brightness (measured in terms of the Fexiv 530.3 nm emission line intensity), using data covering almost five solar cycles (1943–1994). It was found that the G–O rule seems to work within the green-line corona brightness, namely, when coronal intensity measured in an extended solar middle-latitude zone is considered separately from the rest of the solar surface. On the other hand, the same G–O rule is valid at the photospheric level, as the heliographic latitudinal dependence of sunspot numbers (1947–1984) shows.     

Geopotential and gravity on external surfaces as derived from satellite observations

Résumé On déduit les expressions donnant le géopotentiel et la pesanteur sur un ellipso?de triaxial extérieur, de même que la pesanteur sur la surface de niveaux extérieure et les valeurs moyennes intégrales de ces grandeurs. On discute la convergence des séries et l'usage des formules déduites à la détermination des paramètres de la forme du corps terrestre.

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Address: Politickych vězŭů 12, Praha 1-Nové Město.     

Gravitational potential energy of the major planets

Gravitational potential energy of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune has been computed on the basis of density models and compared. It has been stated that the specific potential energy per unit mass does not differ significantly.     

Reanalysis of four NASA stratospheric particles

Four stratospheric contaminants catalogued in the Cosmic Dust Catalogs published by the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston were reanalysed. The results are compatible with those obtained in JSC, however additional features have occurred in our chemical analyses and their interpretation is also discussed.     

Prediction of deuterium abundance in comets

Using a chemical scheme based on ion-molecule reactions in cool interstellar clouds, the possibility of a deuterium enrichment of volatile material in comets is discussed. It is assumed that the hydrogen-containing molecules are deuterated before accretion and condensation on the coremantle dust particles from which the cometesimals are formed. The D/H ratio in comets may be enhanced in respect to the average value by a factor of 10². Therefore comets are not promising objects for testing the primordial deuterium abundance.     

Crystal-chemical and genetic controls of U-Pb systematics of columbite-tantalite

Summary Columbite-tantalite can accommodate considerable amounts of uranium and excludes lead almost completely. It is thus potentially suited for U-Pb dating. Discordias generally yield closely constrained upper intercept ages. Yet, in a few cases, the U-Pb system of columbite-tantalite gives poorly constrained ages due to excess scatter or inverse discordance. These anomalous features do not show any relation with gross mineral chemistry or pegmatite fractionation. Recrystallization or the presence of exsolutions and inclusions generally do not result in anomalous and scattered U-Pb systematics, unless the inclusions are uraninite or secondary Nb, Ta-bearing phases. Open-system behavior of uraninite, whose occurrence seems to be related to the local host-rock-influenced redox conditions during pegmatite crystallization, often results in inverse discordance. Secondary Nb, Ta-bearing phases that accept Pb and U derived from uraninite inclusions into their structure may inherit this inverse discordance.

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Kristallchemische und bildungshedingte Einflüsse auf die U-Pb Systematik von Columbit-Tantalit

Zusammenfassung Columbit-Tantalit kann bedeutende Mengen Uran aufnehmen and schließt Blei beinahe vollständig aus. Deshalb ist das Mineral potentiell zur U-Pb Datierung geeignet. Im allgemeinen ergeben Diskordias gut definierte obere Schnittalter. Doch in einigen Fällen ergibt das Kolumbit-Tantalit U-Pb System aufgrund von gestreuten order invers diskordanten Daten, welche keinen systematischen Zusammenhang mit der Mineralchemie oder dem Fraktionierungsgrad des Pegmatites zeigen, schlecht bestimmte Schnittalter. Rekristallisation oder Einschlüsse bedingen im allgemeinen keine anomale oder gestreute U-Pb Systematik, ausser in Fällen wo die Einschlüsse Uraninit oder sekundäre Na, Ta-Phasen sind. Uraninit, dessen Auftreten mit dem lokalen Nebengestein und den Redoxbedingungen während der Pegmatitkristallisation zusammenzuhängen scheint, kann als offenes System eine inverse Diskordanz verursachen, welche von sekundären Nb, Ta-Phasen, die Pb und U von Uraninit in ihre Kristallstruktur einbauen, geerbt wird.

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With 5 Figures