Is there any relation between the sun's motion and global seismic activity?

Summary The seismic energy released by global earthquake activity with time was correlated with F=||, where || is the absolute value of the change of the Sun's acceleration with time. For deep earthquakes and probability P=0.95, the coefficient of correlation was found to be around 0.4. For shallow earthquakes, the dependence was not proved.

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¶rt;a u uu (1900–1982.) ua ¶rt; F=||,¶rt; || am au uu u a. mu (h>60 ) u ¶rt; mmu =0.95 uum uu ¶rt;muam0.45. nm mu auum a n¶rt;m¶rt;a.

     

Confirmation of Cometary Features of Newly Discovered Bodies

The majority of new ground-based discoveries of comets comes from large surveys devoted, predominantly, to Near Earth Asteroids. The first step in distinguishing these newly discovered members of the population of cometary bodies consists inconfirmatory astrometric observations along with detection of their cometaryfeatures. Although both amateur and professional stations take part in suchconfirmatory observations, only some of them do a preliminary analysis of thecometary activity of a particular newly discovered body. A timely recognitionof cometary features of a particular body having an unusual orbit can help inplanning further observing campaigns.A main goals of the Klet Observatory NEO astrometric follow-upprogramme consists of an analysis of possible cometary activity of newlydiscovered unusual bodies. Here, we describe several examples (comets C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) and so on). We also mention an extension of our programme to fainterobjects after the completion ofa new 1-m telescope at the Klet Observatory.     

Quantifying river incision into low‐relief surfaces using local and catchment‐wide 10Be denudation rates

Relief generation in non‐glaciated regions is largely controlled by river incision into bedrock but datable fluvial terraces that allow quantifying incision rates are not always present. Here we suggest a new method to determine river incision rates in regions where low‐relief surfaces are dissected by streams. The approach consists of three steps and requires the ¹⁰Be concentrations of a stream sediment sample and a regolith sample from the low‐relief surface. In the first step, the spatial distribution of ¹⁰Be surface concentrations in the given catchment is modelled by assuming that denudation rates are controlled by the local hillslope angles. The slope–denudation rate relation for this catchment is then quantified by adjusting the relation between slope angle and denudation rate until the average ¹⁰Be concentration in the model is equal to the one measured in the stream sediment sample. In the second step, curved swath profiles are used to measure hillslope angles adjacent to the main river channel. Third, the mean slope angle derived from these swath profiles and the slope–denudation relation are used to quantify the river incision rate (assuming that the incision rate equals the denudation rate on adjacent hillslopes). We apply our approach to two study areas in southern Tibet and central Europe (Black Forest). In both regions, local ¹⁰Be denudation rates on flat parts of the incised low‐relief surface are lower than catchment‐wide denudation rates. As the latter integrate across the entire landscape, river incision rates must exceed these spatially averaged denudation rates. Our approach yields river incision rates between ~15 and ~30 m/Ma for the Tibetan study area and incision rates of ~70 to ~100 m/Ma in the Black Forest. Taking the lowering of the low‐relief surfaces into account suggests that relief in the two study areas increases at rates of 10–20 and 40–70 m/Ma, respectively. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

First- and higher-order dynamical controls on water exchanges between tidal basins and the open ocean. A case study for the East Frisian Wadden Sea

Observational data, high-resolution numerical modelling results and a simple analytical theory are combined in this paper to demonstrate the dependence of the volume transports through tidal inlets on topographical or morphological parameters of a Wadden Sea system. The area of interest covers the East Frisian Wadden Sea and consists of seven weakly connected tidal basins. The observations include time series of tidal gauge data and surface currents measured at a pile station in the backbarrier basin of the island Langeoog, as well as several ADCP transects in the Accumer Ee tidal inlet. The numerical simulations are based on the 3-D primitive equation General Estuarine Transport Model (GETM) with a horizontal resolution of 200 m and terrain following vertical coordinates. The model is forced at its open boundaries with sea-level data from an operational model for the German Bight (German Hydrographic Office). The simple theoretical concepts presented illustrate the effect of topography (hypsometry) in the tidal basins on the temporal variability of the exchange of water. This topographic control is effectuated through the bottom slope in the areas prone to drying and flooding. For our study area it takes about twice as long from slack water to maximum flood current than from slack water to maximum ebb current. The underlying physics of this signal modulation from a more or less harmonic forcing at the open-sea boundary and the quantification of the contributing physical processes are the major results of this paper. Estimates based simply on volume conservation are consistent with observations and results from numerical modelling, but they do not completely capture the actual non-linear tidal response. Our analysis shows that at least during part of the tidal cycle characteristic topographic parameters of the inlet/bay system have a major impact on the rate of exchange of waters between the Wadden Sea and the open ocean. This impact is especially strong during the transition between flood and ebb conditions. The possible morphodynamic responses are also addressed focusing on some common (universal) topographic features in seven tidal basins.Responsible Editor: Hans Burchard     

Spherical integral formulas for upward/downward continuation of gravitational gradients onto gravitational gradients

New integral formulas for upward/downward continuation of gravitational gradients onto gravitational gradients are derived in this article. They provide more options for continuation of gravitational gradient combinations and extend available mathematical apparatus formulated for this purpose up to now. The starting point represents the analytical solution of the spherical gradiometric boundary value problem in the spatial domain. Applying corresponding differential operators on the analytical solution of the spherical gradiometric boundary value problem, a total of 18 integral formulas are provided. Spatial and spectral forms of isotropic kernels are given and their behaviour for parameters of a GOCE-like satellite is investigated. Correctness of the new integral formulas and the isotropic kernels is tested in a closed-loop simulation. The derived integral formulas and the isotropic kernels form a theoretical basis for validation purposes and geophysical applications of satellite gradiometric data as provided currently by the GOCE mission. They also extend the well-known Meissl scheme.     

Area aggregation in map generalisation by mixed-integer programming

Topographic databases normally contain areas of different land cover classes, commonly defining a planar partition, that is, gaps and overlaps are not allowed. When reducing the scale of such a database, some areas become too small for representation and need to be aggregated. This unintentionally but unavoidably results in changes of classes. In this article we present an optimisation method for the aggregation problem. This method aims to minimise changes of classes and to create compact shapes, subject to hard constraints ensuring aggregates of sufficient size for the target scale. To quantify class changes we apply a semantic distance measure. We give a graph theoretical problem formulation and prove that the problem is NP-hard, meaning that we cannot hope to find an efficient algorithm. Instead, we present a solution by mixed-integer programming that can be used to optimally solve small instances with existing optimisation software. In order to process large datasets, we introduce specialised heuristics that allow certain variables to be eliminated in advance and a problem instance to be decomposed into independent sub-instances. We tested our method for a dataset of the official German topographic database ATKIS with input scale 1:50,000 and output scale 1:250,000. For small instances, we compare results of this approach with optimal solutions that were obtained without heuristics. We compare results for large instances with those of an existing iterative algorithm and an alternative optimisation approach by simulated annealing. These tests allow us to conclude that, with the defined heuristics, our optimisation method yields high-quality results for large datasets in modest time.     

Numerical study on wave dynamics and wave-induced bed erosion characteristics in Potter Cove, Antarctica

Wave generation, propagation, and transformation from deep ocean over complex bathymetric terrains to coastal waters around Potter Cove (King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) have been simulated for an austral summer month using the Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN) wave model. This study aims to examine and understand the wave patterns, energy fluxes, and dissipations in Potter Cove. Bed shear stress due to waves is also calculated to provide a general insight on the bed sediment erosion characteristics in Potter Cove.A nesting approach has been implemented from an oceanic scale to a high-resolution coastal scale around Potter Cove. The results of the simulations were compared with buoy observations obtained from the National Data Buoy Center, the WAVEWATCH III model results, and GlobWave altimeter data. The quality of the modelling results has been assessed using two statistical parameters, namely the Willmott’s index of agreement D and the bias index. Under various wave conditions, the significant wave heights at the inner cove were found to be about 40–50 % smaller than the ones near the mouth of Potter Cove. The wave power in Potter Cove is generally low. The spatial distributions of the wave-induced bed shear stress and active energy dissipation were found to be following the pattern of the bathymetry, and waves were identified as a potential major driving force for bed sediment erosion in Potter Cove, especially in shallow water regions. This study also gives some results on global ocean applications of SWAN.     

Numerical study on wave dynamics and wave-induced bed erosion characteristics in Potter Cove,Antarctica

Wave generation, propagation, and transformation from deep ocean over complex bathymetric terrains to coastal waters around Potter Cove (King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) have been simulated for an austral summer month using the Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN) wave model. This study aims to examine and understand the wave patterns, energy fluxes, and dissipations in Potter Cove. Bed shear stress due to waves is also calculated to provide a general insight on the bed sediment erosion characteristics in Potter Cove.A nesting approach has been implemented from an oceanic scale to a high-resolution coastal scale around Potter Cove. The results of the simulations were compared with buoy observations obtained from the National Data Buoy Center, the WAVEWATCH III model results, and GlobWave altimeter data. The quality of the modelling results has been assessed using two statistical parameters, namely the Willmott’s index of agreement D and the bias index. Under various wave conditions, the significant wave heights at the inner cove were found to be about 40–50 % smaller than the ones near the mouth of Potter Cove. The wave power in Potter Cove is generally low. The spatial distributions of the wave-induced bed shear stress and active energy dissipation were found to be following the pattern of the bathymetry, and waves were identified as a potential major driving force for bed sediment erosion in Potter Cove, especially in shallow water regions. This study also gives some results on global ocean applications of SWAN.