Territorial differentiation of the natural-resource potential of a group of countries in North-East Asia

The role of the natural-resource factor in the integration processes for a group of countries in North-east Asia is considered. An analysis is made of the similarity and the differences of the natural-resource potential in these countries, based on the coefficient of mutual complementability. A typology of the resources according to the degree of mutual complementability is developed.     

Distribution of Sessile Invertebrates in a Rocky Sublittoral Community off Rimsky‐Korsakov Islands (Sea of Japan)

Abstract. The dependence of the vertical distribution of sessile macrobenthos upon environmental physical factors was studied in a community inhabiting rocky substrata at 2 to 15 m depth near the Rimsky‐Korsakov Islands (Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan). Three separate groups of species were distinguished within this community. The main dominant species are the anthozoan Metridium senile and the mussel Crenomytilus grayanus. Water movement, bottom inclination and topographic position of the studied sites in respect to prevailing water flows influence the spatial structure of sessile invertebrates. No vertical zonation in the scale of the studied sublittoral area below the 2 m depth level was observed. The studied factors are believed to condition the observed mosaic of patches characterized by specific composition, with a single species being dominant.     

Impact of repetitive thermal anomalies on survival and development of mass reef‐building corals in the Maldives

The distribution of dominant coral genera and their response to the recent sea temperature anomalies in the last three decades are analyzed across reefs of the Maldivian Archipelago, which spans 860 × 120 km in the central Indian Ocean. The Maldives suffered one of the worst coral mortality rates in the Indian Ocean in the 1998 warming event and experienced two sub‐lethal thermal anomalies in 2003 and 2010. The results showed that the Acropora proved an important driver of post‐1998 recovery and has become a major dominant genus in most Maldivian reefs at present. The average coral cover and proportion of acroporids have decreased from south to north and represent correspondently 70.6/59% for the southern atoll, 62/53% for the central atoll and 33/10.3% for the northernmost atoll. Stylophora, Seriatopora and the hydrocoral Millepora were not found and are considered candidates for local extirpation from the Maldives. Higher thermal variability and frequency of thermal stress might lead to the decrease in the abundance of susceptible taxa in the northernmost atoll. No phase‐shift to algae‐dominated reefs was observed in any of the three locations. Factors contributing to coral recovery and acclimatization are discussed.     

Variations of δ<Superscript>18</Superscript>O in Rivers of Crimea in Winter

The results of studies of variations of δ¹⁸O values in river water in Crimea Peninsula in January–February 2015–2017 are given. The variation range of δ¹⁸О in river water over the three years of studies never exceeded 3‰. A tendency toward an increase in δ¹⁸О in the water of the Salgir, Kacha, Al’ma, Bel’bek, Biyuk-Karasu from their sources to mouths was identified and explained by a decrease in evaporation in the mouth areas of the rivers relative to their sources and upper reaches, and the inflow of isotopically light precipitation (rain and snow) into the rivers in their upper reaches. The values of δ¹⁸О in waters of the rivers with regulated stream were found to increase under the effect of the Simferopol Reservoir on the Salgir River and the Izobil’nenskoe Reservoir on the Ulu-Zen’ River. The values of δ¹⁸О in the upper reaches of the large rivers of Kacha and Bel’bek (the northwestern slope of the Crimean Mountains) vary from ?8.7 to ?9.7‰, except for the rivers of Al’ma (?7.7‰) and Kokozka (?10.2‰) because of the different shares of groundwater in the recharge of these rivers.     

Neutrino Water Detector on the Earth's Surface (NEVOD)

A Cherenkov water detector with volume 9× 9 × 26 cubic meters is described.The spatial lattice of the detector is formed by quasispherical measuring modules which allow to detect Cherenkov light from any direction with practically equal efficiency. Each of the modules consists of six PMTs directed along rectangular coordinate axes. The possibility of neutrino-induced muon detection under conditions of high background on the Earth's surface is discussed. Experimental data obtained during Spring 1996 are analysed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Sample of cataclysmic variables detected in the 400d X-ray survey

A sample of cataclysmic variables (CVs) detected among the X-ray sources of the 400 square degree (400d) survey performed based on ROSAT pointings is presented. A technique for selecting CVs among the X-ray sources using additional optical and infrared data, based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey andWISE data, is described. We present the optical observations of the selected objects carried out mainly with the Russian–Turkish 1.5-m telescope (RTT-150) and the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (BTA). Some observations have also been performed with the 1.6-m AZT-33IK telescope of the Institute of Solar–Terrestrial Physics, the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Eight CVs, four of which were detected in our work, have been selected by now. Based on this sample, we have obtained preliminary constraints on the X-ray luminosity function of CVs in the solar neighborhood in the range of low luminosities, L _X ~ 10²⁹–10³⁰ erg s^?1 (0.5–2 keV). The logarithmic slope of the CV luminosity function in this luminosity range is shown to become gentler than that at L _X > 10³¹ erg s^?1. It follows from our estimates of the CV luminosity function that several thousand CVs will be detected in the SRG all-sky survey at high Galactic latitudes, which will allow much more accurate measurements of their X-ray luminosity function to be obtained.     

New cataclysmic variable 1RXS J073346.0+261933 in Gemini

In the course of our search for the optical identifications of ROSAT X-ray sources, we have found a highly variable object with a very unusual behavior on long time scales, rare color indices, and a high X-ray-to-optical flux ratio. We present the archival light curve from the Catalina Sky Survey, optical spectroscopy from RTT150, and time-resolved photometry from the Astrotel-Caucasus telescope. The object appears to be a magnetic cataclysmic variable (a polar) with an orbital period P = 3.20 h.     

On the change of the inner boundary of an optically thick accretion disk around white dwarfs using the dwarf nova SS Cyg as an example

We present the results of our studies of the aperiodic optical flux variability for SS Cyg, an accreting binary systemwith a white dwarf. The main set of observational data presented here was obtained with the ANDOR/iXon DU-888 photometer mounted on the RTT-150 telescope, which allowed a record (for CCD photometers) time resolution up to 8 ms to be achieved. The power spectra of the source’s flux variability have revealed that the aperiodic variability contains information about the inner boundary of the optically thick flow in the binary system. We show that the inner boundary of the optically thick accretion disk comes close to the white dwarf surface at the maximum of the source’s bolometric light curve, i.e., at the peak of the instantaneous accretion rate onto the white dwarf, while the optically thick accretion disk is truncated at distances 8.5 × 10⁹ cm ∼10R _WD in the low state. We suggest that the location of the inner boundary of the accretion disk in the binary can be traced by studying the parameters of the power spectra for accreting white dwarfs. In particular, this allows the mass of the accreting object to be estimated.     

On the numerical modeling of tsunami wave generation and propagation

Abstract

In this article three main stages of tsunami wave evolution are investigated. At first, the development of disturbances from a given patched elevation of the bottom surface in an incompressible nonviscous fluid of the uniform depth is considered. Then, a tsunami wave diffraction by underwater bottom elevation or cavity is investigated. In this case the shallow water equations are already used, and it is supposed that a cylindrical wave is spread from patched water elevation over the epicentrum. Last, the tsunami propagation and transformation in a shallow water region and its run‐up on a beach are investigated on the basis of the improved shallow water theory, taking into consideration the nonlinear and dispersive terms of higher order. The proposed theory is tested in a problem of collisions of two solutions. Solutions of the first and the second problems are obtained by the method of integral Laplace's transformation with following numerical inversion of transformations. A finite difference method for a solution of the last problem is used.