The Campo Imperatore Near Earth Object Survey (CINEOS)

The Campo Imperatore Near Earth Object Survey (CINEOS) is an Italian survey dedicated to the search and follow-up of Near Earth Objects (NEOs). It is operated with the 90 cm f/3 Schmidt telescope at the Campo Imperatore of the Rome Astronomical Observatory (INAF-OAR) as a joint project with the Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale and Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) in Rome. Since the end of 2001 CINEOS has covered about 4,250 sq. deg to 20th magnitude in the course of about 160 nights. This effort led to the discovery of 7 Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs), 1 comet (167P/CINEOS; a member of the Centaur group) and a few other unusual objects including 2004 XH₅₀ with a unique comet-like orbit. CINEOS has also contributed almost 2,200 preliminary designations and over 30,000 detections to the Minor Planet Center. About 20% of the survey effort was carried out at low solar elongations (LSE), although no object with an orbit interior (Inner Earth Objects, IEO class) or nearly interior to the Earth (Aten class) was found. The work at LSE was, however, very important to test survey strategies implemented with larger telescopes. We also provide the results of a CINEOS simulation on a reliable NEO population model based on the results of two larger scale surveys, Spacewatch and LINEAR.     

Providing scientific visualization for spatial data analysis: Criteria and an assessment of SAGE

A consistent theme in recent work on developing exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) has been the importance attached to visualization techniques, particularly following the pioneering development of packages such as SPIDER and REGARD (Haslett et al. 1990).  The focus on visual techniques is often justified in two ways: (a) the power of modern graphical interfaces means that graphics is no longer a way of simply presenting results in the form of maps or graphs, but a tool for the extraction of information from data; (b) graphical, exploratory methods are felt to be more intuitive for non-specialists to use than methods of numerical spatial statistics enabling wider participation in the process of getting data insights. However, little work has been done to decide which visualization tools might be needed to support ESDA, or how they can be most effectively implemented.  This paper briefly reviews a theoretical framework that has been suggested for addressing these issues, which comprises two elements: firstly a data model, based on the distinction between rough and smooth properties of spatial data, that defines what an analyst is looking for in data (Haining et al. 1998) and secondly a theoretical model for assessing the quality of visualisation tools (Cleveland 1994). The emphasis of this paper is the use of the theoretical framework to structure an assessment of SAGE, a software system that has been written for the spatial statistical analysis (including both exploratory and confirmatory data analysis) of area based data linked to a GIS. The aim of the assessment is to identify the desirable features of the system (that might be employed in other systems) whilst also highlighting what the additional requirements are thereby contributing to the development of systems for ESDA that contain good quality scientific visualization tools for exploratory spatial data analysis. Received: 30 September 1998/Accepted: 17 September 1999     

Measurements of aerosol optical depth above 3570 m asl in the North Atlantic free troposphere: results from ACE‐2

As part of the 2nd A erosol C haracterisation E xperiment (ACE‐2), conducted during summer 1997 in the North Atlantic region between the Canary Islands and Portugal, we measured aerosol optical depths (AOD) at a mid‐tropospheric site, near the top of the volcanic mountain "El Teide"(28°16'N, 16°36' W, 3570 m asl). Our instrument was located at the highest altitude in a network of sunphotometers that extended down to sea level. Clear conditions dominated the ACE‐2 period, and, although suggested by back‐trajectories at 300 hPa, no evidence of anthropogenic pollution was found in our data. Three distinct dust episodes were observed. Vertical soundings and back trajectories suggested mineral dust from the Sahel region as a source. During these episodes, AOD increased an order of magnitude with respect to background conditions (from 0.017 up to 0.19 at λ=500 nm). A shift towards neutrality of the extinction spectral dependence (Ångstrom exponent α down to 0.13), indicated that the coarse mode (particle diameter >2 μm) dominated the aerosol size distribution. For 6 days during the episodes of mineral dust, a monomodal size distribution between 2 and 20 μm diameter was obtained from Mie based size distribution calculations. Estimates, at 500 nm, of the single scattering albedo ω₀(0.87–0.96), and the aerosol asymmetry parameter g (0.72–0.73) suggest that the dust layer causes a net cooling forcing at the top of the atmosphere.     

Entrainment and Deceleration of Relativistic Jets

Extragalactic radio sources are separated in two classes according to their specific luminosity: Fanaroff-Riley I and II. The origin of this dichotomy can be due either to intrinsec different properties of the AGN or to interaction of the jet with different enviroments. We assume that jets are always relativistic and supersonic close to their source, as recent observations suggest, and we explore the conditions in which the jets decelerate assuming FR I morphology. We have carried out high resolution 3D simulations for a set of parameters and in this paper we concentrate our discussion on two extreme cases.     

Switches in the minimum compressive stress direction induced by overpressure beneath a low‐permeability fault zone

The Zuccale fault is a gently east‐dipping normal fault exposed on Elba. Its displacement of 7–8 km occurred from the mid‐Miocene to the Early Pliocene and the fault has been exhumed from a depth of 3–6 km. A complex hydrofracture system exposed in the footwall block consists of three orthogonal vein sets: two vertical sets trending N–S and E–W and one sub‐horizontal. The veins show a crack‐and‐seal texture and mutually cross‐cut each other. Throughout the period when the Zuccale fault was active, the regional stress field was extensional with the minimum principal stress oriented E–W, consistent only with the N–S trending set of vertical hydrofractures. We attribute the three sets of orthogonal fractures beneath the low‐permeability phyllosilicate‐rich fault core to switches in the minimum compressive stress direction induced by cyclic build‐up and release of overpressure.