Performance of CMORPH,TMPA, and PERSIANN rainfall datasets over plain,mountainous, and glacial regions of Pakistan

The present study aims at the assessment of six satellite rainfall estimates (SREs) in Pakistan. For each assessed products, both real-time (RT) and post adjusted (Adj) versions are considered to highlight their potential benefits in the rainfall estimation at annual, monthly, and daily temporal scales. Three geomorphological climatic zones, i.e., plain, mountainous, and glacial are taken under considerations for the determination of relative potentials of these SREs over Pakistan at global and regional scales. All SREs, in general, have well captured the annual north-south rainfall decreasing patterns and rainfall amounts over the typical arid regions of the country. Regarding the zonal approach, the performance of all SREs has remained good over mountainous region comparative to arid regions. This poor performance in accurate rainfall estimation of all the six SREs over arid regions has made their use questionable in these regions. Over glacier region, all SREs have highly overestimated the rainfall. One possible cause of this overestimation may be due to the low surface temperature and radiation absorption over snow and ice cover, resulting in their misidentification with rainy clouds as daily false alarm ratio has increased from mountainous to glacial regions. Among RT products, CMORPH-RT is the most biased product. The Bias was almost removed on CMORPH-Adj thanks to the gauge adjustment. On a general way, all Adj versions outperformed their respective RT versions at all considered temporal scales and have confirmed the positive effects of gauge adjustment. CMORPH-Adj and TMPA-Adj have shown the best agreement with in situ data in terms of Bias, RMSE, and CC over the entire study area.     

Climate changes detected through the world's longest sea level series

The sea level series of Stockholm in the Baltic Sea, commencing already in 1774, is analysed in various ways together with contemporary climate data, in order to investigate long-term sea level changes and their relations to climate changes.First, a study of the eustatic rise of sea level, based on annual mean sea levels, is peformed, and compared with other sea level and climate studies. It is concluded that the general climatic rise of sea level has increased significantly (99.9%) from about 0.0 mm/year during the end of the Little Ice Age, to about 1.0 mm/year during the past century, characterized by melting of glaciers. Such sea level changes due to northern hemisphere climate variations since 800 A.D. have (hitherto) probably always kept within −1.5 and +1.5 mm/year, with an average fairly close to zero.Second, an investigation of the sea level variability, also based on annual mean sea levels, is performed together with temperature and wind variabilities. It is found that the interannual sea level variability of the Baltic Sea has decreased significantly (98%) from the end of the 1700s to the beginning of the 1900s; after that it has increased significantly (95%) again. Precisely the same is found to apply to winter climate or, more specifically, to the interannual winter temperature variability and the interannual winter wind variability. The common origin of all these long-term changes turn out to be two consecutive winter wind processes over the North and Baltic Seas, especially the Baltic entrance. From the end of the 1700s to the beginning of the 1900s, there has been a rapidly decreasing number of dominating winter winds from northeast, and after that there has been an increasing number of dominating winter winds from southwest. This may indicate corresponding long-term changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation.Third, using monthly mean sea levels together with corresponding wind data, seasonal variations are investigated. The seasonal sea level variation in the Baltic Sea has increased significantly (99%) since the early 1800s, together with a shift of the maximum from late summer to early winter. It is found that the main origin is a secular change of the winter wind conditions over the Baltic entrance, with increasing southwesterly winds in early winter. This might also be related to a long-term change in the North Atlantic Oscillation.     

Magnetic reconnection as the cause of a photospheric canceling feature and mass flows in a filament

Magnetic reconnection in the temperature minimum region of the solar photosphere can account for the canceling magnetic features on the Sun. Litvinenko (1999a) showed that a reconnection model explains the quiet-Sun features with the magnetic flux cancelation rate of order 10¹⁷ Mx hr⁻¹. In this paper the model is applied to cancelation in solar active regions, which is characterized by a much larger rate of cancelation ∖ ge10¹⁹ Mx hr⁻¹. In particular, the evolution of a photospheric canceling feature observed in an active region on July 2, 1994 is studied. The theoretical predictions are demonstrated to be in reasonable agreement with the measured speed of approaching magnetic fragments, the magnetic field in the fragments, and the flux cancelation rate, deduced from the combined Big Bear Hα time-lapse images and videomagnetograms calibrated against the daily NSO/Kitt Peak magnetogram. Of particular interest is the prediction that photospheric reconnection should lead to a significant upward mass flux and the formation of a solar filament. Hα observations indeed showed a filament that had one of its ends spatially superposed with the canceling feature. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1005284116353     

The Asian Economic “Flu”: A Geography of Crisis

This paper examines the recent economic turmoil in East Asia which has been linked to the convulsive nature of global capital movements. East Asia, once the site of rapid capital accumulation, lost its economic momentum beginning in July 1997 with a series of currency devaluations, culminating in a net outflow of private capital within a year. International capital's ability to disembed the region, however, has been highly uneven over space. That China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan are far more territorially resilient while others like Indonesia, Thailand, and South Korea initiated major political changes suggests that the geography of crisis is far more complex than is currently presented.     

Application of Mineral Exploration Models and GIS to Generate Mineral Potential Maps as Input for Optimum Land-Use Planning in the Philippines

The inherent problems of classifying or inventorying potential mineral resources (as opposed to known mineral resources) pose specific challenges. In this paper, the application of a conceptual mineral exploration model and GIS to generate mineral potential maps as input to land-use policy decision-making is illustrated. We implement the criteria provided by a conceptual exploration model for nickeliferous-laterites by using a GIS to classify the nickeliferous-laterite potential of an area in the northeastern part of the Philippines. The spatial data inputs to the GIS are geological map data, topographic map data, and stream sediment point data. Processing of these data yields derivative maps, which are used as indicators of nickeliferous-laterite potential. The indicator maps then are integrated to furnish a nickeliferous-laterite potential map. This map is compared with present land-use classification and policy in the area. The results indicate high potential for nickeliferous-laterite occurrence in the area, but the zones of potential are in places where mineral resources development is prohibited. The prohibition was imposed before the nickeliferous-laterite potential was assessed by this study. Mineral potential classification therefore is a critical input to land-use policy-making so that prospective land is not alienated from future mineral resource development.     

A study of the new X-ray transient RXTE J2123−058 during its post-outburst state

We carried out I , R , V and B photometric observations of the neutron star X-ray binary RXTE J2123−058 shortly after the end of the X-ray outburst in mid-1998. We adopt the low-mass binary model to interpret our observations. After folding our data on the 0.24 821‐d orbital period, and correcting for the steady brightness decline following the outburst, we observed sinusoidal oscillations with hints of ellipsoidal modulations which became progressively more evident. Our data also show that the decline in brightness was faster in the V band than in the R and I bands. This suggests both the cooling of an irradiation-heated secondary star and the fading of an accretion disc over the nights of our observations.