Potential and inductive electric fields in the magnetosphere during auroras

During quiescent auroras the large-scale electric field is essentially irrotational. The volume formed by the plasma sheet and its extension into the auroral oval is connected to an external source by electric currents, which enter and leave the volume at different electric potentials and which supply sufficient energy to support the auroral activity. The location of the actual acceleration of particles depends on the internal distribution of electric fields and currents. One important feature is the energization of the carriers of the cross-tail current and another is the acceleration of electrons precipitated through relatively low-altitude magnetic-field-aligned potential drops.Substorm auroras depend on rapid and (especially initially) localized release of energy that can only be supplied by tapping stored magnetic energy. The energy is transmitted to the charged particle via electric inductive fields.The primary electric field due to changing electric currents is redistributed in a complicated way—but never extinguished—by polarization of charges. As a consequence, any tendency of the plasma to suppress magnetic-field-aligned components of the electric fields leads to a corresponding enhancement of the transverse component.     

Auroral recombination of N and O: A possible source for emission in the γ and δ bands of NO

Radiative recombination of N and O provides a significant source for auroral emission in the γ and δ bands of NO with selective population of vibrational levels in the A²Σ⁺ and C²Π states. This mechanism may account for emissions detected near 2150 Å. Models are derived for the auroral ionosphere and include estimates for the concentrations of N and NO. The concentration of NO is estimated to have a value of about 10⁸ cm^?1 near 140 km in an IBC III aurora. The corresponding density for N is about 5 × 10⁷cm^?3 and the concentration ratio $\text{NO}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{O}{}_2{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ has a value of about 5.5.     

Photochemistry of nitrogen in the Martian atmosphere

Models are developed for the photochemistry of a CO₂H₂ON₂ atmosphere on Mars and estimates are given for the concentrations of N, NO, NO₂, NO₃, N₂O₅, HNO₂, HNO₃, and N₂O as a function of altitude. Nitric oxide is the most abundant form of odd nitrogen, present with a mixing ratio relative to CO₂ of order 10^?8. Deposition rates for nitrite and nitrate minerals could be as large as 3× 10⁵ N equivalent atoms cm^?2 sec^?1 under present conditions and may have been higher in the past.     

Clinometric records with two long water levels in Lohja,Finland, during the total solar eclipse in 1990

Two water tube clinometers are installed in a deep mine in Lohja, Finland. One, lying in an E-W direction, is 177 m long and the other, lying in a N-S direction, is 62 m long. These instruments are used for tidal records and research. Because the station was on the zone of totality of the 1990 solar eclipse, the instruments offered a suitable tool for investigating whether there was any shielding effect on the direction of the vertical. During the eclipse, the resolution of the instruments was increased to 0.00001 and 0.00004, respectively. p ]Recordings and data evaluation are discussed, and the results obtained show that no gravitational shielding was found at the level of the above accuracy.     

Guide and examples for users of the ‘SPACEKAP’ style file

Guide and examples for users of the SPACEKAP style fileBasic instructions     

Magmatism in the eastern Aleutian Arc: temporal characteristic of igneous activity on Akutan Island

Lavas from Akutan Island, located in the eastern Aleutian arc at the transition between continental and oceanic crust, show a gradual change in their petrologic and chemical characteristics over the last 4 million years. The oldest lavas exposed on the island, the Hot Springs Bay Volcanics (HSBV), range from magnesian basalt to dacite (45%–62% SiO₂). The most mafic basalts contain salitic clinopyroxene, Cr- and Al-rich spinel, and pargasitic amphibole suggesting that they were derived from relatively hydrous magmas at greater pressures than lavas from the younger Akutan Volcanics (AKV) and the modern volcano (MOD). AKV lavas also range between basalt and dacite (46%–63% SiO₂), but contain no hydrous phenocrysts and seem to have fractionated within a shallow level magma chamber. Lavas from the modern volcano are andesitic (52%–57% SiO₂) and have a mineral assemblage similar to that of AKV lavas of similar composition. With the exception of clinopyroxene and spinel in the most mafic lavas, the compositions of plagioclase (An_92?45), olivine (Fo_88?51), orthopyroxene (En_69?56), and titanomagnetite (15%–21% TiO₂) phenocrysts found in these lavas are within the range observed in lavas from other Aleutian volcanoes. Variations in the major element chemistry of the older lavas can be reproduced by fractional crystallization of the observed mineral assemblages, however closed system crystal fractionation models are inadequate to explain the trace element variations. During the last 4 million years, La/Yb ratios have decreased (6.5–3.3 for HSBV lavas and 2.9–1.9 for MOD lavas) whereas Ba/La ratios appear to have increased slightly (37–43 for HSBV and AKV, and 41–45 of MOD). The lower La/Yb ratios of MOD lavas correspond with lower total abundances of the REE and slightly higher Sr and Pb isotopic ratios. The increased⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios and Pb isotopic ratios in the MOD lavas, the less enriched LREE, and the higher Ba/La ratios may result from partial melting of an arc source which has experienced previous melting events but has continued to be contaminated by a component from the subducting slab. It may also indicate a change in the degree of partial melting of the underlying mantle, which corresponds to a different percentage of a slab derived component being incorporated into the overlying mantle.     

Large-scale ionization fronts and the nature and distribution of light scattering particles in the orion nebula

Image-tube filter photographs calibrated against photoelectric filter photometry have been used to give maps of M42 in absolute flux units over the central 15 arc min of the nebula in Hα, [Nii] (λ 6584 Å), Hβ and continuum at λ 4700 Å. Maps of the ratios Hα/[Nii] and (for the first time) of continuum/Hβ have been produced with unprecedented spatial resolution. These show that the gas to dust ratio is high near the exciting stars and falls strongly in the vicinity of large scale ionization fronts marked by minima in the Hα/[Nii] ratio. These results are interpreted in terms of detailed shell models containing either ice or graphite or silicate scattering particles. In all models there must be a central hole in the distribution of scattering particles. The effect of neutral globules and intrusions is investigated. It is found that all types of grain are trapped inside neutral intrusions near the centre of the nebula by the pressure of the Lα light surrounding the globule, but in the early evolution of the nebula particles can escape into the ionized medium when fronts are R-type. Ice grains escaping at this time will be destroyed for distances to the exciting stars less than 1 pc. These results can explain both the central hole in dust and the underabundance of oxygen in the ionized gas observed earlier. Arguments depending on colour index of the scattered light indicate that mixtures of scattered light from ice in the globules and from ice in the ionized medium can explain the observations, but that the graphite and silicate particles fail. A schematic model of the Orion Nebula is presented to attempt to explain the large scale phenomena observed here. It demonstrates that simple shell models for this nebula are dubious.     

Observations of Jupiter at 26.3 MHz using a large array

A 640 element phase-steerable dipole array has been used to make highly sensitive observations of the planet Jupiter during the 1973 apparition. The satellite Io is found to have very little influence at the low flux levels, whereas the definition of sources A and B appears to be relatively flux independent. A two-dimensional analysis of the data in the Jupiter-Io plane has revealed considerable source B activity at low intensities which is not influenced by Io.     

Spatial and temporal variability of Holocene temperature in the North Atlantic region

The early Holocene climate of the North Atlantic region was influenced by two boundary conditions that were fundamentally different from the present: the presence of the decaying Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and higher than present summer solar insolation. In order to assess spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene climate evolution across this region, we collated quantitative paleotemperature records at sub-millennial resolution and synthesized their temporal variability using principal components analysis (PCA). The analysis reveals considerable spatial variability, most notably in the time-transgressive expression of the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM). Most of the region, but especially areas peripheral to the Labrador Sea and hence closest to the locus of LIS disintegration, experienced maximum Holocene temperatures that lagged peak summer insolation by 1000-3000 years. Many sites from the northeastern North Atlantic sector, including the Nordic Seas and Scandinavia, either warmed in phase with maximum summer insolation (11,000-9000 years ago) or were less strongly lagged than the Baffin Bay-Labrador Sea region. These spatially complex patterns of Holocene climate development, which are defined by the PCA, resulted from the interplay between final decay of the LIS and solar insolation forcing.