A technique for conducting seismic refraction experiments on the ocean bed using bottom shots

A technique has been devised for firing arrays of bottom shots on the ocean bed in depths upto 4000 m or more. Ten kilogram explosive charges are dropped from the surface while the shooting ship is navigated acoustically. They are detonated at preset times by an electronic timer which initiates an electrical detonator, detonating cord and cast PETN/TNT explosive. Ranges to ocean bottom seismographs, and the shot instants, can be calculated from the arrival-time differences of the direct and surface-reflected water waves. The accuracy, which is dependent on water-depth and range, was better than 22 m in range and 14 msec in shot instant for our experiments.     

In situ and satellite observations of the eastward migration of the Western Alboran Sea Gyre

During October 2003 an intensive oceanographic survey (BIOMEGA) was carried out in the Alboran Sea, coinciding with a migration event of the Western Alboran Sea Gyre (WAG). The observations gathered during that cruise constitute the first field evidence of a migrated stage of the WAG. In this work we present the main differences between the 3D hydrodynamic fields observed during BIOMEGA and those corresponding to a WAG located at its usual position. The migration of the gyre was followed by satellite (altimetry and sea surface temperature) imagery. The causes of the gyre migration are explored in terms of the quasi-geostrophic tendency equation, in particular of the dynamics governing scales larger than the Rossby radius of deformation. It is shown that the steady state gyre must be almost equivalent barotropic and that the key process to break down the stationarity would be a density advection at gyre scale. The mechanisms to explain the migration of the WAG proposed by previous authors are discussed in light of the explanation proposed in this work.     

Interpretation of a special fine structure in type-IV solar radio bursts

A special fine structure (slowly drifting chains of narrowband fiber bursts), firstly observed during the solar type-IV radio burst on April 24, 1985, is interpreted as the radio signature of whistler waves periodically excited by a switch-on/switch-off process of a loss-cone instability in a localized wave packet of the fast magnetoacoustic mode.     

Photometry of the bright stars inside and outside associations in the spiral arm S5 of the andromeda galaxy

Photometry of more than 1000 bright stars of 20 associations and some fields in its vicinity is made, usingUBV plates taken with a 2-m Ritchey-Chrétien telescope of the National Observatory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with limited magnitudes of about 20.6 inU andV, 21.6 inB. The colour-magnitudes of about 20.6 inU andV, 21.6 inB. The colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams of 12 associations and 8 fields are constructed and the brightest blue and red stars colour excesses, ages, and integrated luminosities of the associations are determined. The composite diagrams for all association and nonassociation measured stars are constructed too. Inside associations bright stars as well as non-stellar objects occur more often than outside. The brightest stars in S5 are withM _v7 and do not differ considerably from the brightest ones in the spiral arm S4 of M31. Approximately the same are the absolute magnitudes of the brightest stars in our Galaxy and M33. A small difference between the brightest stars of the latter galaxy with those of M31 is possible because the stars in M33 are younger. This is in agreement with the concept that Sc galaxies (for example M33) are younger than Sb ones (for example M31). The same could be the reason for the smaller ratio of blue to red supergiants in M33 than in M31. The age estimations of the associations in S5 together with those in S4 in M31 show that they are older than the associations in M33 which is in agreement with the above mentioned concept.     

The center-to-limb variations of four Ca i lines in the photospheric spectrum at λ6500

We study the center-limb (CL) variation of the average profiles of four Ca i lines near 6500 and compare these observations with synthetic data obtained from several line formation models having different thermal structures, line parameters, LTE and non-LTE conditions, and micro and macroturbulence values, to assess the formation characteristics of our Ca i lines in the solar photosphere.Comparison of numerical results with observations indicates that non-LTE is indispensable to fit the CL variation of the central residual intensity for the line 6493, and anisotropic microturbulence is indispensable to improve the CL behavior of the equivalent widths for all lines. The Ca i line analysis favors a cool photospheric model, but this cannot be disentangled clearly from the effects of non-LTE and small-scale velocity fields on the grounds of the present line formation models.     

The latitude of filament bands at the sunspot minimum and the activity level in the two following 11-year solar cycles

The zonal structure of the distribution of filaments is considered. The mean latitudes of two filament bands are calculated in each solar hemisphere at the minima of the sunspot cycle in the period 1924–1986: middle latitude _{2, m} and low latitude _{1, m} . It is shown that the mean latitude of the filament band _{2, m} at the minimum -m of the cycle correlates, with = 0.94, with the maximum - M sunspot area S(M) and maximum Wolf number W(M) in the succeeding solar cycle M. It is shown that the mean latitude of the low-latitude filament band _{1, m} is linearly dependent on the mean latitude filament band _{2, m + 1} at the succeeding minimum. We found a correlation of the latitude of the low-latitude filament band _{1, m} with the maximum sunspot area in the M + 1 cycle. This enables us to predict the power of two succeeding 11-year solar cycles on the basis of the latitude of filament bands at the minimum of activity, 1985–1986: W(22) - 205 ± 10, W(23) - 210 ± 10. The importance of the relationships found for theory and applied aspects is emphasized. An attempt is made to interpret the relationships physically.     

Hall effects on heat and mass transfer flow with variable suction and heat generation

A study of the combined buoyancy effects of thermal and mass diffusion on MHD convection flow in the presence of Hall currents with variable suction and heat generation has been carried out. Analytical expressions for the velocity and the temperature of the fluid are given. The effects of Hall currents, parameterm, and heat source parameter on the velocity are discussed.     

Propagation and absorption of cyclotron maser radiation in solar microwave spike bursts

It has been argued that the loss-cone-driven electron cyclotron maser instability can account for the properties of millisecond microwave spike bursts observed during some solar flares. However, as it propagates outward from the corona, maser radiation undergoes gyroresonance absorption when its frequency is a harmonic of the local electron-cyclotron frequency. Existing analytical models using slab geometries predict that this absorption should be sufficiently strong to prevent the radiation from being seen at the observed levels, except under highly restrictive conditions or for unrealistic plasma parameters. A more comprehensive analysis is presented here to determine if and when maser radiation can escape to produce microwave spike bursts. This analysis employs numerical raytracing and incorporates propagation and absorption of fundamental maser emission in a realistic model of a coronal flux loop. It is found that ranges of physical conditions do exist under which maser radiation can escape to an observer and that these conditions are much more limiting for fundamental emission in the extraordinary ()-mode than in the ordinary (o)-mode. Detailed investigation implies that escaping radiation in the -mode is highly directional and chiefly observable toward the center of the solar disk, while escapingo-mode radiation is found to emerge from the corona over a much wider range of directions, with some cases corresponding to radiation observable near the solar limb.