Lineaments on the Surface of the Consolidated Material of the Comet 67P/Churyumov−Gerasimenko Nucleus

Morphologic analysis of the fragments (500 × 500 pixels) of images of comet 67P/Churyumov? Gerasimenko obtained with the OSIRIS camera for 18 regions, where the consolidated material is exposed on the surface, has been carried out. In terms of resolution, the images form a series from 0.04 to 1.29 m/pixel; consequently, the areas covered by these fragments vary from 400 to ~400000 m². In all of the regions, lineaments resembling tension fractures—several dozens of structures per region—are seen; and their number scarcely changes when passing from high-resolution images to lower-resolution ones. It is clear that relatively small lineaments cease to be reliably distinguished when the image resolution worsens, but the largest and well-defined ones remain observable, while the number of larger lineaments grows proportionally to the survey area increasing. Undoubtedly, this is an observational effect, which was demonstrated by examples with an artificially worsened resolution. However, on the other hand, this means that the tension fractures of the consolidated nucleus material represent a hierarchic population of smaller (meters long) to larger (decameters and longer) features. The lineaments seen in the analyzed fragments of images were counted, their lengths were measured, and the spacings (the mean distances between lineaments) and, from them, the depths of penetration of fractures into the nucleus material were estimated. It has been shown that the mean length of lineaments within each studied region depends on its area (which here correlates with the image resolution) and the depths of fracture penetration into the nucleus body depends on the mean length of lineaments. Both dependences are close to a power law. In the images of four regions covering the areas from 100000 to 400000 m² with a resolution of 0.66?1.29 m/pixel, the structures that look like layering or sheet jointing are seen in addition to fracture lineaments. The tension fractures are apparently formed due to seasonal and diurnal variations of the temperature, while the nature of the formation of the layer-like structures is not yet fully understood.     

Performance assessment of evapotranspiration estimated from different data sources over agricultural landscape in Northern India

Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration is generally constrained due to lack of required hydrometeorological datasets. This study addresses the performance analysis of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) estimated from NASA/POWER, National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global reanalysis data before and after dynamical downscaling through the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The state-of-the-art Hamon’s and Penman-Monteith’s methods were utilized for the ETo estimation in the Northern India. The performance indices such as bias, root mean square error (RMSE), and correlation (r) were calculated, which showed the values 0.242, 0.422, and 0.959 for NCEP data (without downscaling) and 0.230, 0.402, and 0.969 for the downscaled data respectively. The results indicated that after WRF downscaling, there was some marginal improvement found in the ETo as compared to the without downscaling datasets. However, a better performance was found in the case of NASA/POWER datasets with bias, RMSE, and correlation values of 0.154, 0.348, and 0.960 respectively. In overall, the results indicated that the NASA/POWER and WRF downscaled data can be used for ETo estimation, especially in the ungauged areas. However, NASA/POWER is recommended as the ETo calculations are less computationally expensive and easily available than performing WRF simulations.     

Multispectral polarimetry as a tool to investigate texture and chemistry of lunar regolith particles

We report results of telescope polarimetric imaging of the Moon with a CCD LineScan Camera at large phase angles, near 88°. This allows measurements of the polarization degree with an absolute accuracy better than 0.3% and detection of features with polarization contrast as small as 0.1%. The measurements are carried out in two spectral bands centered near 0.65 and 0.42 μm. We suggest characterizing the lunar regolith with the parameter a(Pmax)A, where Pmax,A, and a are the degree of maximum polarization, albedo, and the parameter describing the linear regression of the correlation Pmax-A. The parameter bears significant information on the particle characteristic size and packing density of the lunar regolith. We also suggest characterizing the lunar regolith with color-ratio images obtained with a polarization filter at large phase angles. We here consider the color-ratios C||(0.65/0.42 μm) and C_⊥(0.65/0.42 μm). Using light scattering model calculations we show that the color-ratio images obtained with a polarization filter at large phase angles suggest a new tool to study the lunar surface. In particular, it turns out that the color-ratios C||(0.65/0.42 μm) and C_⊥(0.65/0.42 μm) are sensitive to somewhat different thicknesses of the surfaces of regolith particles. We consider the applicability of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Telescope (ESO), and a spacecraft on a lunar polar orbit for polarimetric observations of the lunar surface.     

Deep seismic soundings along Hirapur-Mandla profile, central India

Summary. The crustal depth section along Hirapur-Mandla profile has been computed in two steps from Deep Seismic Sounding (DSS) data. The shallow section up to the crystalline basement is derived by inverting first arrival refraction travel times. The upper Vindhyan sediments (velocity 4.5 km s⁻¹) have a maximum thickness of about 1.5 km at Bakshaho. The lower Vindhyan sediments (velocity 5.4 km s⁻¹) were deposited north of Narmada-Son lineament between Katangi and Narsinghgarh in a graben developed in crystalline basement. The thickness of the lower Vindhyans increases from north to south towards Katangi and the depth to the basement reaches 5.5 km near Jabera. The depth to the Moho boundary varies from 39.5 km near Tikaria to 45 km at Narsinghgarh. The narrow block between Katangi and Jabalpur forms a horst feature which represents the Narmada-Son lineament forming the southern boundary of the Vindhyan basin. Two-dimensional ray tracing was performed generating travel time curves from various shot points which were matched with observed travel time data.     

Abundances of Suprathermal Heavy Ions in CIRs During the Minimum of Solar Cycle 23

Solar Physics - In this paper we examine the elemental composition of the 0.1?–?1 MeV?nucleon?1 interplanetary heavy ions from H to Fe in corotating interaction...     

The phase dependence of brightness and color of the lunar surface: a study based on integral photometric data

A procedure of an a posteriori correction of the available data on the integral photometry of the Moon is described. This procedure reduces the regular errors of the integral phase curves caused by variations of the libration parameters; the effect due to libration can reach 4%. A method allowing the integral measurements of the Moon to be compared correctly with the photometric measurements of the lunar areas or laboratory samples imitating the lunar soil has been developed. To approximate the phase curves of integral albedo in the phase-angle range from 6° to 120°, we proposed a simple empirical formula A _eq(α) = m _l e ^?ρα + m ₂ e ^?0.7α, where α is the phase angle, ρ is the factor of effective roughness, and m ₁ + m ₂ is the surface albedo at a zero phase angle. An empirical phase dependence of the slope of the lunar spectrum in the 360–1060 nm range has been obtained. The results may be used to test various theoretical models of the light scattering by the lunar surface and to calibrate the data of ground-based and space-borne spectrophotometric observations.     

Impact of Climate Change on Indian Agriculture: A Review

During the recent decade, with the growing recognition of the possibility of climate change and clear evidence of observed changes in climate during 20^th century, an increasing emphasis on food security and its regional impacts has come to forefront of the scientific community. In recent times, the crop simulation models have been used extensively to study the impact of climate change on agricultural production and food security. The output provided by the simulation models can be used to make appropriate crop management decisions and to provide farmers and others with alternative options for their farming system. It is expected that in the coming decades with the increased use of computers, the use of simulation models by farmers and professionals as well as policy and decision makers will increase. In India, substantial work has been done in last decade aimed at understanding the nature and magnitude of change in yield of different crops due to projected climate change. This paper presents an overview of the state of the knowledge of possible effect of the climate variability and change on food grain production in India. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Hydrogen from Jupiter's atmosphere in the Jovian magnetosphere

The passage of Ulysses through Jupiter's magnetosphere presents a new opportunity to investigate the contribution to the Jovian magnetosphere of ions of atmospheric origin. A determination of the magnetospheric H⁺/He²⁺ flux ratio allows an estimate of the relative abundance of ionospheric material in the Jovian magnetosphere. We find that the H⁺/He²⁺ flux ratio, measured in the energy/charge range between 0.65 and 60 keV/e, steadily increases from a solar wind level of 25 at the magnetopause to a value of 700 at the point of closest approach, and then steadily decreases whilst approaching the magnetopause on the outbound path. We conclude from this that: (1) there is a significant solar wind component throughout the outer and middle magnetosphere; and (2) a significant fraction of the protons in the middle magnetosphere are of nonsolar origin.