What the Sunspot Record Tells Us About Space Climate

The records concerning the number, sizes, and positions of sunspots provide a direct means of characterizing solar activity over nearly 400 years. Sunspot numbers are strongly correlated with modern measures of solar activity including: 10.7-cm radio flux, total irradiance, X-ray flares, sunspot area, the baseline level of geomagnetic activity, and the flux of galactic cosmic rays. The Group Sunspot Number provides information on 27 sunspot cycles, far more than any of the modern measures of solar activity, and enough to provide important details about long-term variations in solar activity or “Space Climate.” The sunspot record shows: 1) sunspot cycles have periods of 131± 14 months with a normal distribution; 2) sunspot cycles are asymmetric with a fast rise and slow decline; 3) the rise time from minimum to maximum decreases with cycle amplitude; 4) large amplitude cycles are preceded by short period cycles; 5) large amplitude cycles are preceded by high minima; 6) although the two hemispheres remain linked in phase, there are significant asymmetries in the activity in each hemisphere; 7) the rate at which the active latitudes drift toward the equator is anti-correlated with the cycle period; 8) the rate at which the active latitudes drift toward the equator is positively correlated with the amplitude of the cycle after the next; 9) there has been a significant secular increase in the amplitudes of the sunspot cycles since the end of the Maunder Minimum (1715); and 10) there is weak evidence for a quasi-periodic variation in the sunspot cycle amplitudes with a period of about 90 years. These characteristics indicate that the next solar cycle should have a maximum smoothed sunspot number of about 145 ± 30 in 2010 while the following cycle should have a maximum of about 70 ± 30 in 2023.     

Spatial measurements of stream baseflow,a relevant method for aquifer characterization and permeability evaluation. Application to a hard‐rock aquifer,the Oman ophiolite

The structure, functioning and hydrodynamic properties of aquifers can be determined from an analysis of the spatial variability of baseflow in the streams with which they are associated. Such analyses are based on simple low‐cost measurements. Through interpreting the hydrological profiles (Q = f(A)) it is possible to locate the aquifer(s) linked to the stream network and to determine the type of interrelated flow, i.e. whether the stream drains or feeds the aquifer. Using an analytical solution developed for situations with a positive linear relationship, i.e. where the baseflow increases linearly with increasing catchment size, it is also possible to estimate the permeability of the aquifer(s) concerned at catchment scale. Applied to the hard‐rock aquifers of the Oman ophiolite, this method shows that the ‘gabbro’ aquifer is more permeable than the ‘peridotite’ aquifer. As a consequence the streams drain the peridotites and ‘leak’ into the gabbro. The hydrological profiles within the peridotite are linear and positive, and indicate homogeneity in the hydrodynamic properties of these formations at the kilometre scale. The permeability of the peridotite is estimated at 5 · 10^?7 to 5 · 10^?8 m/s. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Source rates and ion recycling rates for Na and K in Mercury's atmosphere

The supply rates of Na and K to the atmosphere of Mercury by processes acting on the extreme surface—thermal vaporization, photon-stimulated desorption (PSD), and ion-sputtering—are limited by the rates at which atoms can be supplied to the extreme surface by diffusion from inside the regolith grains. Supply rates to the atmosphere are further regulated by ion retention and by gardening rates that supply new grains to the surface. We consider the limits on supply of sodium and potassium atoms to the atmosphere, and rates of photoion recycling to the surface. Thermal vaporization rates are severely limited by the ability of atoms to diffuse to the surface of the grain. Therefore, the diffusion-limited thermal vaporization rates on Mercury's surface are comparable to or less than the PSD rates. Ion sputtering is primarily due to highly ionized heavy ions, even though they represent a small fraction of the solar wind. We have shown that up to 60% of the Na photoions are deposited on the surface of Mercury. Ion recycling to the surface can have a long-term effect on the regolith abundance if an average recycling pattern persists such that more ions return to a particular area than are launched there. It is unknown whether the formation of latitude bands of >100% ion retention persist on average despite a rapidly changing magnetosphere. The total exospheric column of sodium observed at Mercury between 1997 to 2003 varied by a factor of 2-3 from perihelion to aphelion.     

Numerical Modeling of the Largest Terrestrial Meteorite Craters

Multi-ring impact basins have been found on the surfaces of almost all planetary bodies in the Solar system with solid crusts. The details of their formation mechanism are still unclear. We present results of our numerical modeling of the formation of the largest known terrestrial impact craters. The geological and geophysical data on these structures accumulated over many decades are used to place constraints on the parameters of available numerical models with a dual purpose: (i) to choose parameters in available mechanical models for the crustal response of planetary bodies to a large impact and (ii) to use numerical modeling to refine the possible range of original diameters and the morphology of partially eroded terrestrial craters. We present numerical modeling results for the Vredefort, Sudbury, Chicxulub, and Popigai impact craters and compare these results with available geological and geophysical information.     

Accretion and evolution in close binaries

The discovery of X-ray binary systems in the 1960's opened up stellar evolution theory by revealing further endpoints in addition to white dwarfs. This review summarises recent progress in studies of stellar-evolutionary processes that lead to X-ray binaries themselves, the mass transfer rates that power them, and the accretion processes which convert this into electromagnetic radiation. Particular attention is paid to the topics of mass transfer fluctuations and of the accretion by magnetic compact stars.     

The first and second order moments of the polarization profiles of hydrogen lines

The main properties of the first- and second-order moments of polarized hydrogen lines, forming in the presence of stationary electric and magnetic fields, are reviewed. The analytical results presented here apply directly to the case of optically-thin emission lines in the LTE regime. Some applications of such results to electric- and magnetic-field diagnostics in (solar) plasmas are then briefly considered.On leave from the Dipartimento di Astronomia e Scienza dello Spazio, Università di Firenze, Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze, Italy     

Spectroscopy of comet P/Schaumasse

Column density profiles for CN, C₃, C₂ and NH have been determined from a long-slit CCD spectrum of periodic comet P/Schaumasse (1992x). Comparisons of these profiles with Haser models indicate that the ratios of the CN, C₃ and C₂ production rates are typical for a short-period comet. Although the scale lengths for NH and its parent species are uncertain, the results indicate that the production rate for NH is much greater than for either C₂ or CN.