Phase mixing of propagating Alfvén waves in a stratified atmosphere: solar spicules

Alfvénic waves are thought to play an important role in coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. Recent observations by Hinode/SOT showed that the spicules mostly exhibit upward propagating high frequency waves. Here we investigate the dissipation of such waves due to phase mixing in stratified environment of solar spicules. Since they are highly dynamic structures with speeds at about significant fractions of the Alfvén phase speed, we take into account the effects of steady flows. Our numerical simulations show that in the presence of stratification due to gravity, damping takes place in space than in time. The exponential damping low, \operatornameexp(-\operatornameAt³)\operatorname{exp}(-\operatorname{At}^{3}), is valid under spicule conditions, however the calculated damping time is much longer than the reported spicule lifetimes from observations.     

The He <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">ii</Emphasis> Lines in the Lyman Series Profiles of Solar Prominences

The hydrogen and helium lines are the most prominent lines in the solar prominences spectra. Observations with the SUMER spectrometer onboard SOHO showed that there are weak lines in the blue wings of the Lyman series which affect their profiles. They were all identified as He ii lines in the Lyman series wings, except for the Lα line whose profile was affected by the use of an attenuator. The He ii lines are the even Balmer lines of the He ii system, a set of lines that we complete with the odd ones. We characterize them by comparison with the blue wings of the Lyman series in order to improve the H Lyman series observations and modeling, on one hand and to provide He ii lines observations for further combined H – He i – He ii modeling, on the other hand.     

Daily precipitation forecast of ECMWF verified over Iran

In this paper, the performance of the Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) model (t?+?27 h to t?+?51 h) in predicting precipitation is discussed. This model is the first, which has been verified over Iran. The spatial resolution of the model is 0.351° and the 24-h forecasts are compared with daily observations. The study concentrates on year 2001 and the precipitation measurements were collected from the data of 2,048 rain gauges in Iran. The accuracy of four different interpolation methods (nearest neighborhood, inverse distance, kriging, and upscaling) was investigated. Using cross-validation, the inverse distance method (IDM) with minimum mean error was applied. Verification results are given in terms of difference fields (mean error?=?0.46 mm/day), rank–order correlation coefficients (0.70), as well as accuracy scores (false alarm ratio?=?0.50 and probability of detection?=?0.60) and skill scores (true skill statistics [TSS]?=?0.45) in year 2001. The position of the rain band was only partly captured by the ECMWF model; however, the position of maximum precipitations agrees with the observations well. The results show that the high values of TSS are associated with the large amounts of precipitation (over 25 mm). Slight to moderate precipitation events have been underforecasted by the model (bias?<?1) and it leads to a small value of TSS for these thresholds (5–25 mm/day). The ECMWF model has better performance in high and mountainous regions than over flat terrain and in deserts. Comparing TSS over the Alborz and the Zagros Mountains, it is obvious that the ability of the model to predict the convective precipitation events needs some improvement. The amount of daily precipitation has been also slightly overestimated over Iran. From the beginning of January up to 21 March 2001, the ECMWF time series indicates an obvious phase shift of 1 day, although in other months, no phase shift is noticed.     

Westerly jet stream and past millennium climate change in Arid Central Asia simulated by COSMO-CLM model

This study tackles one of the most debated questions around the evolution of Central Asian climate: the “Puzzle” of moisture changes in Arid Central Asia (ACA) throughout the past millennium. A state-of-the-art Regional Climate Model (RCM) is subsequently employed to investigate four different 31-year time slices of extreme dry and wet spells, chosen according to changes in the driving data, in order to analyse the spatio-temporal evolution of the moisture variability in two different climatological epochs: Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA). There is a clear regime behavior and bimodality in the westerly Jet phase space throughout the past millennium in ACA. The results indicate that the regime changes during LIA show a moist ACA and a dry East China. During the MCA, the Kazakhstan region shows a stronger response to the westerly jet equatorward shift than during the LIA. The out-of-phase pattern of moisture changes between India and ACA exists during both the LIA and the MCA. However, the pattern is more pronounced during the LIA.     

Tsunami hazard in the shorelines of Khark island (Persian Gulf), Iran

Iran is located in one of the seismically active regions of the world. Due to the high probability of earthquakes throughout the country and the potential for tsunami inundation along the coasts and offshore, comprehensive studies on the interaction of these natural phenomena are necessary. In this study, the most conservative scenarios are determined for possible earthquakes within the Khark zone (Persian Gulf) based on experimental relations between the fault length, magnitude and displacement, which are parameters for determining tsunamigenic sources. Subsequently, the maximum height of tsunami waves are calculated based on the specifications of the seismic source and its distance from the shore as well as the coastal slope. A zoning map of tsunami hazard is finally presented.     

Central Composite Design Optimization of Biological Dye Removal in the Presence of Macroalgae Chara sp.

Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to investigate the effects of different operational parameters on the biological decolorization of a dye solution containing malachite green (MG) in the presence of macroalgae Chara sp. The investigated variables were the initial pH, initial dye concentration, algae amount, and reaction time. Central composite design (CCD) was used for the optimization of biological decolorization process. Predicted values were found to be in good agreement with experimental values (R² = 0.982 and Adj‐R² = 0.966), which indicated suitability of the employed model and the success of RSM. The results of optimization predicted by the model showed that maximum decolorization efficiency was achieved at the optimum condition of the initial pH 6.8, initial dye concentration 9.7 mg/L, algae amount 3.9 g, and reaction time 75 min. UV–VIS spectra and FT‐IR analysis showed degradation of MG.     

Modeling soil desiccation cracking by analytical and numerical approaches

An energy approach is proposed as a complement to the stress approach commonly considered for investigating soil desiccation cracking. The elastic strain energies before and after crack initiation are estimated by both numerical and analytical solutions. The energy released by cracking is then compared with the fracture energy to discuss crack initiation conditions. This leads to combined energy and stress conditions for crack initiation following Leguillon's theory. An approximate analytical solution is derived from a variational formulation of the porous elastic body equations. A cohesive zone model and finite element code are used to simulate crack propagation in an unsaturated porous body. This analysis shows that the energy criterion is reached before the stress criterion, and this can explain unstable crack propagation at the beginning. The approximate analytical solution allows predicting correctly the crack depth and opening in its initiation stage.     

Study of role of basin shape in the site–city interaction effects on the ground motion characteristics

Natural Hazards - In this paper, the role of basin shape in the site–city interaction (SCI) effects on the ground motion characteristics is documented. The effects of city type and city...