Climate patterns of short-wave solar radiation over oceans based on a new parameterization

The work describes the creation of a new global climatology of short-wave radiation incoming to the ocean surface; the climatology is based on a new parameterization of short-wave fluxes. Advantages of the new parameterization are allowance for nonlinearity of the dependence of the atmospheric transmission factor on the height of the Sun under a clear sky and allowance for different morphological types of clouds under the overcast. It is shown that taking into account these factors leads to substantial differences in short-wave radiation fluxes in comparison to existing parameterizations.     

The Campanian Ignimbrite and Codola tephra layers: Two temporal/stratigraphic markers for the Early Upper Palaeolithic in southern Italy and eastern Europe

Tephra layers from archaeological sites in southern Italy and eastern Europe stratigraphically associated with cultural levels containing Early Upper Palaeolithic industry were analysed. The results confirm the occurrence of the Campanian Ignimbrite tephra (CI; ca. 40 cal ka BP) at Castelcivita Cave (southern Italy), Temnata Cave (Bulgaria) and in the Kostenki–Borshchevo area of the Russian Plain. This tephra, originated from the largest eruption of the Phlegrean Field caldera, represents the widest volcanic deposit and one of the most important temporal/stratigraphic markers of western Eurasia. At Paglicci Cave and lesser sites in the Apulia region we recognise a chemically and texturally different tephra, which lithologically, chronologically and chemically matches the physical and chemical characteristics of the Plinian eruption of Codola; a poorly known Late Pleistocene explosive event from the Neapolitan volcanoes, likely Somma–Vesuvius. For this latter, we propose a preliminary age estimate of ca. 33 cal ka BP and a correlation to the widespread C-10 marine tephra of the central Mediterranean. The stratigraphic position of both CI and Codola tephra layers at Castelcivita and Paglicci help date the first and the last documented appearance of Early Upper Palaeolithic industries of southern Italy to ca. 41–40 and 33 cal ka BP, respectively, or between two interstadial oscillations of the Monticchio pollen record – to which the CI and Codola tephras are physically correlated – corresponding to the Greenland interstadials 10–9 and 5. In eastern Europe, the stratigraphic and chronometric data seem to indicate an earlier appearance of the Early Upper Palaeolithic industries, which would predate of two millennia at least the overlying CI tephra. The tephrostratigraphic correlation indicates that in both regions the innovations connected with the so-called Early Upper Palaeolithic – encompassing subsistence strategy and stone tool technology – appeared and evolved during one of the most unstable climatic phases of the Last Glacial period. On this basis, the marked environmental unpredictability characterising this time-span is seen as a potential ecological factor involved in the cultural changes observed.     

Short-Wave Radiation above the Ocean Based on Integral Parametrization and Satellite Data on the Amount of Cloud Cover

Doklady Earth Sciences - Satellite data on the total amount of cloud cover in integral parametrization of short-wave incoming fluxes to the Earth’s surface under mass calculations are...     

The influence of pretreatment chemistry on the radiocarbon dating of Campanian Ignimbrite-aged charcoal from Kostenki 14 (Russia)

The presence of an independently dated marker in an archaeological site offers rare opportunities for assessing the reliability of radiocarbon dates, especially when these are close to the age limit of the technique. Two different pretreatment protocols (routine ABA and more rigorous ABOx-SC) were employed in the chemical preparation of the same charcoal sample from a layer closely associated to the Campanian Ignimbrite tephra at the Russian Palaeolithic site of Kostenki 14 (Markina Gora). The ABA-treated fraction gave an age of ∼33 ¹⁴C ka BP, comparable to a previous determination from the same layer, whereas the ABOx-SC produced an older age of ∼35 ¹⁴C ka BP. This is the first radiocarbon determination of an archaeological sample to provide an age consistent with the “calendar” age for the CI tephra marker.     

Some improved methods for modeling the Earth’s polar motion

Some improved methods for modeling the motions of the Earth’s pole determined by gravitational-tidal, fluctuating-dissipative perturbations occurring on various time scales are presented. The main attention is paid to dynamical linear-regression models and dynamical filtering models, which take into account dynamical measurement errors. Computer simulations of the oscillatory motion of the Earth’s pole for 1995–2010 are also presented.     

Spectral-correlational and kinetic models for the motion of the Earth

We consider linear and nonlinear spectral-correlational and kinetic models for fluctuations in the motion of the Earth based on the Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov and Pugachev equations. Particular attention is paid to Gaussian linear and nonlinear (statistically linearized) models. The results of analytical statistical modeling are presented.     

Adaptive algorithm for cloud cover estimation from all-sky images over the sea

A new algorithm for cloud cover estimation has been formulated and developed based on the synthetic control index, called the grayness rate index, and an additional algorithm step of adaptive filtering of the Mie scattering contribution. A setup for automated cloud cover estimation has been designed, assembled, and tested under field conditions. The results shows a significant advantage of the new algorithm over currently commonly used procedures.     

Development of methods for constructing models for intra-year irregularity in the Earth’s rotation

The development of methods for the construction of stochastic, dynamical models for intra-year irregularity of the Earth’s rotation is considered. A correlational model based on harmonically additive and parametrically random, colored and broadband, gravitational-tidal perturbations from the Sun and Moon is developed. One-dimensional and multi-dimensional characteristic functions are found for the case of Gaussian and non-Gaussian colored and broadband fluctuations in the irregularity of the Earth’s rotation. Examples of computer modeling of the irregularity in the Earth’s rotation based on a priori and a posteriori IERS data are presented.     

An improvement of parametrization of short-wave radiation at the sea surface on the basis of direct measurements in the Atlantic

Based on the data of recent high-accuracy measurements of the incoming fluxes of short-wave radiation in 2004–2006 in the Atlantic, errors of existing short-wave radiation parametrizations are estimated. It is shown that the largest errors occur under large cloud amount. A parametrization scheme is proposed that takes into account not only total cloudiness, but also morphological types of clouds. The scheme improves parametrization under large cloud amount.     

Geoarchaeology of the Kostenki–Borshchevo sites,Don River Valley,Russia

The Kostenki–Borshchevo localities include 26 Upper Paleolithic sites on the first and second terraces along the west bank of the Don River, near Voronezh on the central East European Plain. Geoarchaeological research from 2001 through 2004 focused on sites Kostenki 1, 12, and 14, with additional work at Kostenki 11 and 16, and Borshchevo 5. The strata are grouped into three units (bottom up): Unit 1, > 50 ka, consists of coarse alluvium (representing upper terrace 2 deposits) and colluvium, overlain by fine‐grained sediments. Unit 2 includes archaeological horizons sealed within two sets of thin lenses of silt, carbonate, chalk fragments, and organic‐rich soils (termed the Lower Humic Bed and Upper Humic Bed) dating 50–30 ka. Separating the humic beds is a volcanic ash lens identified as the Campanian Ignimbrite Y5 tephra, dated elsewhere by Ar/Ar to ca. 40 ka. The humic beds appear to result from the complex interplay of soil formation, spring deposition, slope action, and other processes. Several horizons buried in the lower part of Unit 2 contain Upper Paleolithic assemblages. The springs and seeps, which are still present in the area today, emanated from the bedrock valley wall. Their presence may account for the unusually high concentration of Upper Paleolithic sites in this part of the central East European Plain. Unit 3, < 30 ka, contains redeposited loess with a buried soil (Gmelin Soil) overlain by a primary full‐glacial loess with an associated Chernozem (Mollisol), forming the surface of the second terrace. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.