The stability of inner cometo-sheath with large Larmor radius effects

An investigation of the linear stability of the cometary inner sheath, the boundary layer surrounding the ionopause which separates the outflowing unmagnetized plasma from an inflowing magnetized plasma, has been carried out by taking into account the large Larmor radius effects. The structure of the boundary layer is determined by the balance between an outward ion-neutral collisional drag force and an inward magnetic stress. The eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions are obtained numerically by treating the cometary ionosphere as a layer of finite thickness, bounded by the contact surface, i.e., the diamagnetic cavity boundary. Certain limiting cases of the wave equations are also discussed. In general, the cometary ionosphere is structurally linearly unstable and the effects of recombination, photoionization, plasma pressure, though stabilizing are unable to quench the instability completely. The large Larmor radius also has a destabilizing effect on the system. The instability of the cometosheath is further proved by the _c/_i assuming a value greater than 30 that is sufficient for the convection of perturbations down into the cavity surface and this is in agreement with the observations of ripples in the ionopause.     

Book reviews

VANCOUVER'S CHINATOWN: racial discourse in Canada 1875–1980 by K. J. Anderson. 16 × 24 cm, 323 pages. McGill‐Queen's University Press, Montreal, 1991. (ISBN 07735 0844 9) $C34.95 (hard).

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS: developments and applications edited by L. Worrall. 15 × 23 cm, 251 pages. Belhaven, London, 1990. (ISBN 1 85293 140 X) £45.00 (hard).

SAVANNA ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT: Australian perspectives and intercontinental comparisons edited by P. A. Werner. 22 × 27 cm, xii and 221 pages. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, 1991. (ISBN 0 632 03199 9) $A89.00 (soft).

GLOBAL CHANGE AND CHALLENGE: geography for the 1990s edited by R. J. Bennett and R. Estall. 14 × 22 cm, xii and 264 pages. Routledge, London, 1991. (ISBN 0 415 00143 9) $A29.95 (soft).

PLAINS OF PROMISE RIVERS OF DESTINY: water management and the development of Queensland 1824–1990 by J. M. Powell. 17 × 24 cm, xvii and 395 pages. Boolarong Publications, Brisbane, 1991. (ISBN 0 7242 4470 0) $A40.00 (hard).

A SHARED HARVEST: The Australian Wheat Industry, 1939–1989 by G. Whitwell and D. Sydenham. 17 × 25 cm, xi and 324 pages. Macmillan, Melbourne, 1991. (ISBN 0 7329 0584 2) $A29.95 (hard).

TAMING THE GREAT SOUTH LAND: a history of the conquest of nature in Australia by W. J. Lines. 16 × 23cm, xx and 337 pages. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1991. (ISBN 1 86373 017 6) $A34.95 (hard).

PLAINS OF PROMISE RIVERS OF DESTINY: water management and the development of Queensland 1824–1990 by J. M. Powell. 17 × 24 cm, xvii and 395 pages. Boolarong Publications, Brisbane, 1991. (ISBN 0 7242 4470 0) $A40.00 (hard).

THE HUMANITIES AND THE AUSTRALIAN ENVIRONMENT: Papers from the Australian Academy of the Humanities Symposium edited by D. J. Mulvaney. 24 × 17 cm, xiii and 123 pages. Australian Academy of the Humanities, Canberra, 1991. (ISBN 0 909897 22 0) $A18.50 posted (soft).

GROWTH (Vol. 167, Sage Library of Social Research) by H. Teune. 141 pages. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA, 1988. (ISBN 0 8039 3183 2) US$46.00 (hard); (ISBN 0 8039 3190 5) US$22.95 (soft).

BEYOND GROWTH: elements of sustainable development by U.E. Simonis. 151 pages. Edition Sigma Bohn, Berlin, 1990. (ISBN 3 924859 56 6) DM24.80 (soft).

BEYOND BEEF: the rise and fall of the cattle culture by J. Rifkin. 16 × 24 cm, xi and 353 pages. Viking O'Neil, Melbourne, 1992. (ISBN 0 670 84844 1) $35.00 (hard).

A QUESTION OF PLACE: exploring the practice of human geography by R.J. Johnston. 15 × 23 cm, ix and 280 pages. Blackwell, Oxford, 1991. (ISBN 0 631 18207 1) $39.95 (soft).

GEOGRAPHY IN SOCIETY edited by R. Gerber. 21 × 29 cm, 92 pages. Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, Brisbane, [1992]. (ISBN 0 949286 02 8) $8.00 (soft).     

Remote Sensing Data Acquisition,Platforms and Sensor Requirements

Although data available from various earth observation systems have been routinely used in many resource applications, however there have been gaps, and data needs of applications at different levels of details have not been met. There is a growing demand for availability of data at higher repetivity, at higher spatial resolution, in more and narrower spectral bands etc. Some of the thrust areas of applications particularly in the Indian context are;

1. Management of natural resources to ensure sustainable increase in agricultural production,
2. Study the state of the environment, its monitoring and assessment of the impact of. various development actions on the environment,
3. Updating and generation of large scale topographical maps.
4. Exploration/exploitation of marine and mineral resources and
5. Operational meteorology and studying various land and oceanic processes to understand/predict global climate changes.

Each of these thrust area of application has many components, related to basic resource areas such as agriculture, forestry, water resources, minerals, marine resources etc. and the field of cartography. Observational requirements for major applications have been summarized as under. Monitoring vegetation health from space remains the most important observational parameter with applications, in agriculture, forestry, environment, hydrology etc. Vegetation extent, quantity and temporal changes are the three main requirements which are not fully realized with RS data available. Vegetation productivity, forest biomass, canopy moisture status, canopy biogeochemistry are some examples. Crop production forecasting is an important application area. Remotely sensed data has been used for identification of crops and their acreage estimation. Fragmented holdings, large spread in crop calendars and different management practices continue to pose a challenge lo remote sensing. Remotely sensed data at much higher spatial resolution than hitherto available as well as at greater repetivity are required to meet this need. Non-availability of cloud-free data in the kharif season is one of the serious problems in operational use of remote sensing for crop inventory. Synthetic aperture radar data al X & Ku bands is necessary to meet this demand. Nutrient stress/disease detection requires observations in narrow spectral bands. In case of forestry applications, multispectral data at high spatial resolution of the order of 5 to 10 metres is required to make working plans at forest compartment level. Observations from space for deriving tree height are required for volume estimation. Observations in the middle infrared region would greatly enhance capability of satellite remote sensing in forest fire detection. Temporal, spatial and spectral observational requirements in various applications on vegetation viewing are diverse, as they address processes at different spatial and time scales. Hence, it would be worthwhile to address this issue in three broad categories. a) Full coverage, moderate spatial resolution with high repetivity (drought, large scale deforestation, forest phenology....). b) Full coverage, moderate to high spatial resolution and high repetivity (crop forecasting, vegetation productivity). c) Selected viewing at high spatial resolution, moderate to high repetivity and with new dimensions to imaging (narrow spectral bands, different viewing angles). A host of agrometeorological parameters are needed to be measured from space for their effective use in development of yield models. Estimation of root-zone soil moisture is an important area requiring radar measurements from space. Surface meteorological observations from space at the desired spatial and temporal distributions has not developed because of heavy demands placed on the sensor as well as analytical operational models. Agrometeorology not only provides quantitative inputs to other applications such as crop forecasting, hydrological models but also could be used for farmer advisory services by local bodies. Mineral exploration requires information on geological structures, geomorphology and lithology. Surface manifestation over localized regions requires large scale mapping while the lithology can be deciphered from specific narrow bands in visible. NIR, MIR and TIR regions. Sensors identified for mapping/cartography in conjunction with imaging spectrometer would seem to cover requirements of this application. Narrow spectral bands in the short regions which provide diagnostics of relevant geological phenomenon are necessary for mineral exploration. Thermal inertia measurements help in better discrimination of different rock units. Measurements from synthetic aperture data which would provide information on geological structures and geomorphology are necessary for mineral exploration. The applications related to marine environment fall in three major areas: (i) Ocean colour and productivity, biological resources; (ii) Land-ocean interface, this includes coastal landforms, bathymetry, littoral transport processes, etc. and; (iii) Physical oceanography, sea surface temperature, winds, wave spectra, energy and mass exchange between atmosphere and ocean. Measurement of chlorophyll concentration accurately on daily basis, sea surface temperature with an accuracy of 0.5 °K. and information on current patterns arc required for developing better fishery forecast models. Improved spatial resolution data are desirable for studying sediment and other coastal processes. Cartography is another important application area. The major problems encountered in relation to topographic map updation are location and geometric accuracy and information content. Two most important requirements for such an application are high spatial resolution data of 1 to 2 metre and stereo capability to provide vertical resolution of 1 metre. This requirement places stringent demands on the sensor specifications, geometric processing, platform stability and automated digital cartography. The requirements for the future earth observation systems based on different application needs can be summarized as follows:

1. Moderate spatial resolution (l50-300m), high repetivity (2 Days), minimum set of spectral bands (VIS, NIR, MIR. TIR) full coverage.
2. Moderate to high spatial resolution (20-40m), high repetivity (4-6 Days), spectral bands (VIS, MR, MIR, TIR) full coverage.
3. High spatial resolution (5-10m) muitispectral data with provision for selecting specific narrow bands (VIS, N1R. MIR), viewing from different angles.
4. Synthetic aperture radar operating in at least two frequencies (C, X, Ku), two incidence angles/polarizations, moderate to high spatial resolution (20-40m), high repetivity (4-6 Days).
5. Very high spatial resolution (1-2m) data in panchromatic band to provide terrain details at cadastral level (1:10,000).
6. Stereo capability (1-2m height resolution) to help planning/execution of development plans.
7. Moderate resolution sensor operating in VIS, NIR, MIR on a geostationary platform for observations at different sun angles necessary for the development of canopy reflectance inversion models.
8. Diurnal (at least two i.e. pre-dawn and noon) temperature measurements of the earth surface.
9. Ocean colour monitor with daily coverage.
10. Multi-frequency microwave radiometer, scatterometer. altimeter, atmospheric sounder, etc.

     

Effect of oblateness on the non-linear stability of L 4 in the restricted three-body problem

Non-linear stability of the libration point L ₄ of the restricted three-body problem is studied when the more massive primary is an oblate spheroid with its equatorial plane coincident with the plane of motion, Moser's conditions are utilised in this study by employing the iterative scheme of Henrard for transforming the Hamiltonian to the Birkhoff's normal form with the help of double D'Alembert's series. It is found that L ₄ is stable for all mass ratios in the range of linear stability except for the three mass ratios: $$\begin{gathered} \mu _{c1} = 0.0242{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}{}^{{\text{\_\_}}}0.1790{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}A_1 , \hfill \\ \mu _{c2} = 0.0135{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}{}^{{\text{\_\_}}}0.0993{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}A_1 , \hfill \\ \mu _{c3} = 0.0109{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}{}^{{\text{\_\_}}}0.0294{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}A_1 . \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$      

Finite Larmor radius and Hall effects on thermosolutal instability of a plasma

The thermosolutal instability of a plasma with finite Larmor radius and Hall effects is studied. When the instability sets in as stationary convection, finite Larmor radius effects are always stabilizing forx(=k ² d ²/² greater than two and forx less than two, they have a stabilizing or destabilizing influence depending on the Larmor radius parameterN in the presence of Hall currents. On the other hand the Hall currents have both stabilizing and destabilizing effects on the thermosolutal instability forx less than two and forx greater than two depending on the Hall parameterM. The stable solute gradient is found to have a stabilizing effect on stationary convection. The case of overstability is also considered wherein the sufficient conditions for the non-existence of overstability are derived.     

Search for the proverbial mantle osmium sources to the oceans: Hydrothermal alteration of mid-ocean ridge basalt

We present Os and Sr isotopes and Mg, Os, and Sr concentrations for ridge-crest high-temperature and diffuse hydrothermal fluids, plume fluids and ridge-flank warm spring fluids from the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The data are used to evaluate the extent to which (1) the high- and low-temperature hydrothermal alteration of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) provides Os to the deep oceans, and (2) hydrothermal contributions of non-radiogenic Os and Sr to the oceans are coupled. The Os and Sr isotopic ratios of the high-temperature fluids (265-353 °C) are dominated by basalts (¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.2; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.704) but the concentrations of these elements are buffered approximately at their seawater values. The ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os of the hydrothermal plume fluids collected ∼1 m above the orifice of Hulk vent is close to the seawater value (=1.05). The low-temperature diffuse fluids (10-40 °C) associated with ridge-crest high-temperature hydrothermal systems on average have [Os] = 31 fmol kg⁻¹, ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.9 and [Sr] = 86 μmol kg⁻¹, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.709. They appear to result from mixing of a high-temperature fluid and a seawater component. The ridge-flank warm spring fluids (10-62 °C) on average yield [Os] = 22 fmol kg⁻¹, ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.8 and [Sr] = 115 μmol kg⁻¹, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.708. The data are consistent with isotopic exchange of Os and Sr between basalt and circulating seawater during low-temperature hydrothermal alteration. The average Sr concentration in these fluids appears to be similar to seawater and consistent with previous studies. In comparison, the average Os concentration is less than seawater by more than a factor of two. If these data are representative they indicate that low-temperature alteration of MORB does not provide adequate non-radiogenic Os and that another source of mantle Os to the oceans must be investigated. At present, the magnitude of non-radiogenic Sr contribution via low-temperature seawater alteration is not well constrained. If non-radiogenic Sr to the oceans is predominantly from the alteration of MORB, our data suggest that there must be a different source of non-radiogenic Os and that the Os and Sr isotope systems in the oceans are decoupled.     

Pre-harvest wheat yield prediction using agromet-spectral-trend-yield models for hoshiarpur and rupnagar districts of punjab

Wheat yield prediction using different agrometeorological indices, spectral index (NDVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and trend predicted yield (TPY) were developed in Hoshiarpur and Rupnagar districts of Punjab. On the basis of examination of Correlation Coefficients (R), Standard Error of Estimate (SEOE) and Relative Deviation (RD) values resulted from different agromet models, the best agromet subset were selected as Minimum Temperature (T_min), Maximum Temperature (T_max) and accumulated Heliothermal Units (HTU) in case of Hoshiarpur district and Minimum Temperature (T--_min), accumulated Temperature Difference (TD) and accumulated Pan Evaporation (E) for Rupnagar district at reproductive stage (2^nd week of March) of wheat. It was found that Agromet-Spectral-Trend-Yield model could explain 96 % (SEOE = 87 kg/ha) and 91 % (SEOE = 146 kg/ha) of wheat yield variations for Hoshiarpur and Rupnagar districts, respectively.     

Tsunami Intensity Mapping Along the Coast of Tamilnadu (India) During the Deadliest Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 26, 2004

This paper presents tsunami intensity mapping and damage patterns along the surveyed coast of Tamilnadu (India) of the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004. The tsunami caused severe damage and claimed many victims in the coastal areas of eleven countries bordering the Indian Ocean. A twelve-stage tsunami intensity scale proposed by Papadopoulos and Imamura (2001) was followed to assign the intensity at the visited localities. Along the coast of the Indian mainland, tsunami damage sustained exclusively. Most severe damage was observed in Nagapattinam Beach, Nabiyarnagar, Vellaipalyam, and the Nagapattinam Port of Nagapattinum District on the east coast and Keelamanakudy village of Kanyakumari District on the western coast of Tamilnadu. The maximum assigned tsunami intensity was X+ at these localities. Minimum intensity V⁺ was received along the coast of Thanjavur, Puddukkotai and Ramnathpuram Districts in Palk Strait. The general observation reported by many people was that the first arrival was a tsunami crest. The largest tsunami waves were first arrivals on the eastern coast and the second arrivals on the western coast. Along the coast, people were unaware of the tsunami, and no anomalous behavior of ocean animals was reported. Good correlation was observed between the severity of damage and the presence of shadow zone of Sri Lanka, reflected waves from Sri Lanka and the Maldives Islands, variation in the width of the continental shelf, elevation of the coast and the presence of breakwaters. The presence of medu (naturally elevated landmass very close to the sea shore and elongated parallel to the coast) reduced the impact of the tsunami on the built environment.     

New findings on the course of river sarasvati

Numerous studies have been carried out during last 20-25 years by different agencies to trace the courses of palaeo river Sarasvati. Varying number of courses of river Sarasvati have been suggested by the different workers in the north-western region. Taking advantage of the developments in satellite/ sensor and digital image processing technologies an attempt has been made to rediscover the course of river Sarasvati and solve the controversy regarding its exact course, in the sand covered Thar desert region. Data available from a variety of ground investigations carried out by different agencies working in this area have been analyzed in support of confirmation of palaeo channels, along the courses mapped under the present study. The results indicate that the river Sarasvati had its course through river Ghaggar and did not drain along the Aravalli hills. Also it did not shift its course drastically and continuously from east to west, as suggested by earlier workers. The image anomalies indicate that river Sarasvati flowed parallel to the river Indus as an independent river system (closer to the north-western Indian border) and did not flow through present course of river Nara. The findings raise the doubt that ‘Rise along Delhi-Hardwar ridge’ as suggested by earlier workers was the main cause for west-ward shift of Sarasvati river and ultimate drainage desiccation in the northwestern region. The analysis indicates towards rise in Himalayas/ Siwaliks and consequent displacements in the Siwaliks and its foot hills region (in the form of Yamuna and Satlej tear faults) as the main cause for drainage desiccation and disappearance of river Sarasvati.