Constraining the orbital orientation of η Carinae from H Paschen lines

During the past decade, several observational and theoretical works have provided evidence of the binary nature of η Carinae. Nevertheless, there is still no direct determination of the orbital parameters, and the different current models give contradictory results. The orbit is, in general, assumed to coincide with the Homunculus equator although the observations are not conclusive. Among all systems, η Car has the advantage that it is possible to observe both the direct emission of line transitions in the central source and its reflection by the Homunculus, which is dependent on the orbital inclination. In this work, we studied the orbital phase-dependent hydrogen Paschen spectra reflected by the south-east lobe of the Homunculus to constrain the orbital parameters of η Car and determine its inclination with respect to the Homunculus axis. Assuming that the emission excess originates in the wind–wind shock region, we were able to model the latitude dependence of the spectral line profiles. For the first time, we were able to estimate the orbital inclination of η Car with respect to the observer and to the Homunculus axis. The best fit occurs for an orbital inclination to the line of sight of   i ∼ 60°± 10°  , and   i *∼ 35°± 10°  with respect to the Homunculus axis, indicating that the angular momenta of the central object and the orbit are not aligned. We were also able to fix the phase angle of conjunction as  ∼−40°  , showing that periastron passage occurs shortly after conjunction.     

Variability of Extended Bipolar Regions

Using NSO/Kitt Peak synoptic charts from 1975 to 2003, we group the main solar magnetic fields into two categories: one for active regions (ARs) and the other for extended bipolar regions (EBRs). Comparing them, we find that there exist three typical characteristics in the variability of EBRs: First, there exists a correlation between ARs and EBRs. The phase of EBR flux has a delay nearly two CRs. Second, we find that the EBR flux has two prominent periods at 1.79 years and 3.21 years. The 1.79-year period seems to only belong to large-scale magnetic features. Lastly, the North – South asymmetry of EBR flux is not very significant on a time scale of one solar cycle. However, during solar maxima, its dominance is found to shift from one hemisphere to the other.     

Periodicities in Global Mean TEC from GNSS Observations

As an important measurement parameter, global total electron content (TEC) is appropriate for the study of the Sun–Earth connection. In this paper, the wavelet technique is employed to investigate the periodicities in global mean TEC during 1995–2008. Analysis results show several remarkable components (including 27-day, semiannual and annual cycles) existing in global mean TEC with obvious time-variable characteristics, besides 11-year cycle. After analyzing sunspot numbers and solar extreme ultra-violet (EUV) radiation variations during this time period, except for semiannual variations, close correlation between global mean TEC and solar variations is found, especially, a strong resemblance of the 27-day fluctuation exists in global mean TEC, sunspot and solar EUV radiation variations.     

Coordinated Study on Solar Wind Turbulence During the Venus-Express, ACE and Ulysses Alignment of August 2007

At the end of August 2007, Venus, Earth and Ulysses were aligned within a few degrees. This unusual event gives the opportunity to attempt a coordinated study on the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence and coronal transients like CMEs between 0.7 and 1.4 AU. Interplanetary magnetic field data and moments of proton velocity distribution function such as density, speed and temperature are required for this programme and will be provided by ACE at Earth, Venus Express at Venus and Ulysses at 1.4 AU. This project has been recently proposed as a Coordinated Investigation Programme (CIP35) for the International Heliophysical Year.     

X-ray CT and hydraulic evidence for a relationship between fracture conductivity and adjacent matrix porosity

Multi-phase flow in fractured rocks plays an important role in any hydrocarbon recovery process, be it for environmental remediation or natural oil and gas extraction. Fractures may form the primary production conduits, and the mass transport at the fracture interfaces with the matrix determines the effectiveness of extraction processes. This paper presents specific evidence for a relationship between fracture apertures and the porosity of the adjoining perpendicular layers in Berea sandstone samples. Measurements of fracture apertures were done with high-resolution Micro-Computed Tomography (MCT) with a voxel resolution of about 0.05 mm in three dimensions. Multi-phase fluid flow experiments were done using a medical CT scanner with a voxel resolution of about 1.00 × 0.25 × 0.25 mm. MCT evidence shows a correlation between aperture and the porosity of the intersected layers. The comparison was made by generating two-dimensional maps of matrix porosity and CT values adjacent to the fracture and of the corresponding fracture apertures. High-porosity layers are lined up with large fracture apertures. Multi-phase fluid experiments provided hydraulic evidence that the high-porosity layers have high permeability. Oil injection into a water-saturated sample was tracked by a sequence of transverse scans near the downstream tip of a fracture. The hydraulic evidence from the two-phase flow experiments also confirms high permeability in fracture strips adjacent to high-porosity and high-permeability layers. The reasons for the relationship between fracture aperture and the properties of the adjacent layers are not fully understood. Some explanation for the physical and hydraulic observations rests in the method of fracturing, fracture propagation, and the lithological characteristics of the rock.     

Analytical solution to 1D coupled water infiltration and deformation in unsaturated soils

An analytical solution to 1D coupled water infiltration and deformation is derived using a Fourier integral transform. Exponential functional forms are used to represent the hydraulic conductivity–pore‐water pressure relationship and the soil‐water characteristic curve. Fredlund's incremental‐linear constitutive model for unsaturated soils is adopted. The analytical solution considers arbitrary initial pore‐water pressure distributions and flux and pressure boundary conditions. The corresponding analytical solutions to coupled steady‐state problems are also obtained. The analytical solutions demonstrate that the coupling of seepage and deformation plays an important role in water infiltration in unsaturated soils. In the early stages of infiltration, the difference between uncoupled and coupled conditions becomes marked over time, and in late stages, the difference caused by the coupling effects diminishes toward the steady state. The difference between the uncoupled and coupled conditions increases with decreasing desaturation coefficient (α). Pore‐water pressure or deformation changes caused by the coupling effects are mainly controlled by the degree of soil volume change due to a change in soil suction (H). The smaller the absolute value of H, the greater the effect of coupling on the infiltration and deformation. The ratio of rainfall intensity to saturated permeability (q/k_s) also has a strong influence on the coupled seepage and deformation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experiments on the reflection coefficients of a detached breakwater in a directional wave field

Results of estimating the directional wave fields in front of a detached breakwater are presented here in this paper. Two of non-phase-locked methods, i.e., the Maximum Likelihood Method (MLM) and the Extended Maximum Entropy Principle Method (EMEP), were adopted for the purpose. In general, the latter outperforms the former. It is shown that the reflection coefficients decrease with increasing distances away from the detached breakwater, and within four wavelengths from the detached breakwater, the rate of the decrease is faster for wave fields having larger directional spreads. When the measuring distance is more than four wavelengths away from the detached breakwaters, the reflection coefficients tend to reach to a constant value. It is shown that, with the use of the non-phase-locked EMEP method, the effective region can be extended, as compared with the results of Huntley and Davidson [J. Waterw. Port Coast. Ocean Eng. 124 (1998) 312].     

A straightforward approach for using single time domain simulations to assess characteristic extreme responses

Short-term wave design approach of marine structures, using nonlinear time domain simulations, is a design procedure that is recognized by various modern standard codes. One of the most challenging points of this approach is the evaluation of the characteristic extreme values for response parameters used in the design check equations. The most straightforward and recommended way to evaluate a response characteristic value is by fitting an extreme value probability distribution to the N-sample of extreme values extracted from N independent time domain simulations with duration equal to the short-term period indicated by the code, which is usually taken as 3 h. However, this procedure would not be practical for some types of marine structures, such as risers and mooring lines, under numerous design load cases and demanding huge finite element models. A more feasible approach would be to assess the response extreme value distribution using only a single short-term time domain simulation with duration shorter than 3 h. But reduced time simulations always introduce some additional statistical uncertainty into the extreme values estimates. This paper discusses a workable way of properly taking into account the statistical uncertainty associated with the simulation length in the assessment of a characteristic short-term extreme response value based on a single time series.