Alters- und Höhengliederung der Karren in den Nördlichen Kalkalpen

Clints are corrasional features with rock inclined to develop karstic forms which originated by the directed run-off of flowing water. The most typical and far spread features occur in the Northern Calcareous Alps where they are marked by their optimum distribution within the former glaciated areas. With few exceptions, the clints occurring in the Alps are recent. Their age can be established as Late- to Post-Glacial. On the whole the karstic features extend from the highest summits deep down into the valleys but a zone of most extensive distribution occurs between 1900–2000 m and 1200–1300 m. The upper limit is controlled by mechanical weathering, the lower limit by the variation of the conditions of run-off below the soil and vegetation cover. As to ecology the total clint zone can be divided into two areas:

1. The zone of free development of the karst (sharp edged features) and
2. The zone of subcutaneous karst development (rounded features).

With the formation of the clints the rock acts as modifying factor, but the real forming is controlled only by free run-off conditions.     

Spuren auffallend junger Gebirgsbewegungen in den Karawanken

Zusammenfassung In den Karawanken, die man als jüngstes Gebirge der Ostalpen bezeichnen darf, beobachtet man Hangbrekzien beträchtlichen Ausma\es, deren Absatz unter den heutigen Geländeverhältnissen kaum zu erklären ist. Sie werden einzeln beschrieben und versuchsweise in die Mindel-Ri\-Zwischeneiszeit gestellt.Die Annahme jüngster Verstellungen erleichtert die Erklärung der sonderbaren Lage der Hangbrekzien. Das Gebirge scheint seit jenem Interglazial wesentlich höher geworden zu sein; hierbei spielt der Vorschub gegen Norden eine Rolle.     

Die Eisverhältnisse des Winters 1952/53 an den deutschen Küsten zwischen Ems und Trave

Zusammenfassung Der Winter 1952/53 war an den deutschen Küsten ein mä\iger Eiswinter. Innerhalb der Winter von 1896/97 bis 1952/53 nimmt er nach seinem Eisausma\ gerade den Zentralwert ein. Während des Winters war die méridionale Luftzirkulation vorherrschend, aber auch der Anteil der zonalen Zirkulation war nicht gering. Unter den Gro\wetterlagen überwogen das abgeschlossene Hoch über Mitteleuropa und die Hochdruckbrücke über Mitteleuropa. Der Winter hatte vier Eisperioden, von denen die zweite nur andeutungsweise auftrat, während die letzte das meiste Eis brachte.

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Ice conditions on the German coasts between the rivers Ems and Trave during the winter 1952/53

Summary The winter 1952/53 on the German coasts was a moderate ice winter. Because of the extent of its ice formation it occupies the central value among the winters from 1896/97 up to 1952/53. During this winter, meridional atmospheric circulation predominated, though the part that fell to zonal circulation was not inconsiderable either. Among the large scale weather situations, the closed high pressure area and the ridge of high pressure over Central Europe were preponderant. There were four periods of ice formation of which the second period was but very insignificant, while the greatest ice production was observed during the last cold period.

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Rapport sur les conditions des glaces sur les cÔtes allemandes entre l'Ems et le Trave pendant l'hiver 1952/53

Résumé L'hiver 1952/53 sur les cÔtes allemandes montrait un caractère modéré. Parmi les hivers de la période de 1896/97 jusqu'à 1952/53 il occupe justement la valeur centrale à cause de la grandeur de sa production des glaces. Pendant cet hiver, la circulation atmosphérique méridionale prédominait, mais la part de la circulation zonale n'était pas petite non plus. Parmi les situations météorologiques générales, l'aire concentrée de haute pression et la dorsale de haute pression au dessus de l'Europe Central étaient prépondérantes. Il y avait quatre périodes des glaces pendant cet hiver; au cours da la seconde période la production des glaces était insignifiicante tandis que la dernière période était caractérisée par la plus forte formation des glaces.

     

Daily Weather Observations in Sixteenth-Century Europe

Thirty-two weather diaries written in astronomical calendars in central Europe in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are presented and discussed. Systematic weather observations were promoted by the rise of planetary astronomy and its application in astro-meteorology. The practice of keeping weather diaries spread from Cracow (Poland) to Ingolstadt (Germany) and from there to other universities. The data obtained from these sources provided the backbone for setting up series of precipitation indices for Poland, Germany and Switzerland. Monthly statistics of days with precipitation, snowfall and frost were computed by counting the relevant entries in the most important diaries. The results were compared with either those obtained from instrumental measurements in the same place or with those from modern instrumental measurements in a neighbouring place. The final results show that autumn was considerably colder in the early sixteenth century. April was considerably drier and July was wetter during the period 1508-1531 than during 1901-1960. In order to highlight the impact of weather patterns on grain prices in a year of crisis, the timing of wet and dry spells in southern Poland and southern Germany is compared for the year 1529. Winters became 1.7°C colder from 1564 to 1576 and the month of July tended to be wetter than in 1901-1960. Details noted in the diaries kept between 1585 and 1600 by the astronomers Brahe (near Copenhagen) and Fabricius (in the Ostfriesland region of northwestern Germany) closely agree. It rained more often in June and July and temperatures dropped. The winter months were more frequently dominated by winds from easterly directions, the frequency of snowfall was higher and a deficit occurred in precipitation. This points to a higher frequency of high pressure in the Fennoscandian area with cold air advection from the east or northeast.     

In-flight performance analysis of the CHAMP BlackJack GPS Receiver

JPL's BlackJack receiver currently represents the most widely used geodetic grade GPS receiver for space applications. Using data from the CHAMP science mission, the in-flight performance of the BlackJack receiver has been assessed and the impact of various software updates performed during the 2.5 years since launch is described. Key aspects of the study comprise the channel allocation, anomalous data points, and the noise level of the code and carrier data. In addition, it has been demonstrated that the code measurements collected onboard the CHAMP satellite are notably affected by multipath errors in the aft-looking hemisphere, which can be attributed to cross-talk between the occultation antenna string and the primary precise orbit determination antenna. For carrier smoothed 10 s normal points, the code noise itself varies between a minimum of 5 cm at high elevations and 0.5 m (C/A) to 1.0 m (P₁, P₂) at 10° elevation. Carrier-phase data exhibit representative errors of 0.2 to 2.5 mm. The results of the CHAMP GPS data analysis contribute to a better understanding and possible improvement of the BlackJack receiver and support the design of optimal data editing and weighting strategies in precise orbit determination applications.     

GIOVE-A initial signal analysis

In late December 2005 the GIOVE-A test satellite was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to secure the frequencies for the Galileo system and to provide a platform for testing the new navigation signals. We performed an initial assessment of these signals using the 30 m deep space antenna of the DLR ground station in Weilheim (Germany). The antenna gain raised the signals above the noise level, thus allowing a detailed analysis even without knowledge of the ranging codes. The present paper covers the analysis of the L1/E1 signals, which includes a discussion of the spectrum, the time domain signal and a decoding of the spreading codes for the Open Service.     

A simple mass estimate for central black holes in cuspy galaxies

We argue that the temperature of the stellar phase is likely a monotically decreasing function of radius in the central regions of elliptical galaxies with cusps. We show that it requires the presence of a central mass concentration. An estimate of its minimum mass based on few parameters is given. This lower bound is consistent with current mass values of the central objects in galaxies derived from detailed models. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Calculation of the Inverse of the Covariance

In reservoir characterization, the covariance is often used to describe the spatial correlation and variation in rock properties or the uncertainty in rock properties. The inverse of the covariance, on the other hand, is seldom discussed in geostatistics. In this paper, I show that the inverse is required for simulation and estimation of Gaussian random fields, and that it can be identified with the differential operator in regularized inverse theory. Unfortunately, because the covariance matrix for parameters in reservoir models can be extremely large, calculation of the inverse can be a problem. In this paper, I discuss four methods of calculating the inverse of the covariance, two of which are analytical, and two of which are purely numerical. By taking advantage of the assumed stationarity of the covariance, none of the methods require inversion of the full covariance matrix.     

New equipment and processing for magnetotelluric remote reference observations

Robust estimates of magnetotelluric and geomagnetic response functions are determined using the coherency and expected uniformity of the magnetic source field as quality criteria. The method is applied on data sets of three simultaneously recording sites. For the data acquisition we used a new generation of geophysical equipment (S.P.A.M. MkIII), which comprises novel concepts of parallel computing and networked, digital data transmission. The data-processing results show that the amount of noise on the horizontal components of the magnetic field varies considerably in time, between sites and over the frequency range. The removal of such contaminated data beforehand is essential for most data-processing schemes, as the magnetic channels are usually assumed to be free of noise. The standard remote reference method is aimed at reducing bias in response function estimates. However, this does not necessarily improve their precision as our results clearly show. With our method, on the other hand, we can filter out source field irregularities, thereby providing suitable working conditions for the robust algorithm, and eventually obtain considerably improved results. Contrary to previous concepts, we suggest rejecting as much data as feasible in order to concentrate on the remaining parts of high-quality observations.     

On the volcanology of the Gibeon Kimberlite Field, Namibia

Kimberlite volcanism in the Upper Cretaceous Gibeon Kimberlite Field, southern Namibia, consisting of at least 42 diatremes and a number of associated dykes, is closely related to carbonatitic and ultrabasic volcanic and intrusive activity which occurred at the margin of the Field. The volcanology of the diatremes and dykes as well as their structural setting is reported here. Because of the paleohydrogeological setting, and since juvenile kimberlite occurring in dykes, intrusive plugs, and spherical lapilli is devoid of vesicles, a phreatomagmatic eruption mechanism is proposed for the genesis of the kimberlite diatremes. Karoo dolerite, basalt and sediment xenoliths in the diatremes provide evidence for the former extent of Karoo strata at the time of eruption.