Similarities and Dissimilarities between the Variations of CME and Other Solar Parameters at Different Heliographic Latitudes and Time Scales

From the LASCO CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) catalog, the occurrence frequencies of all CMEs (all strong and weak CMEs, irrespective of their widths) were calculated for 3-month intervals and their 12-month running means determined for cycle 23 (1996 – 2007) and were compared with those of other solar parameters. The annual values of all-CME frequency were very well correlated (+ 0.97) with sunspot numbers, but several other parameters also had similarly high correlations. Comparisons of 12-month running means indicated that the sunspot numbers were very well correlated with solar electromagnetic radiations (Lyman-α, 2800-MHz flux, coronal green line index, solar flare indices, and X-ray background); but for corpuscular radiations [proton fluxes, solar energetic particles (SEP), CMEs, interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs), and stream interaction regions (SIR)] and solar open magnetic fields, the correlations were lower. A notable feature was the appearance of two peaks during 2000 – 2002, and those double peaks in different parameters matched approximately except for proton fluxes and SEP and SIR frequencies. When hemispheric intensities were considered, north – south asymmetries appeared, more in some parameters than in others. When intensities in smaller latitude belts (10°) were compared, sunspot group numbers (SGN) were found to be confined mostly to latitudes within ± 30° of the solar equator, showing two peaks in all latitude belts, and during the course of the 11-year cycle, the double peaks shifted from middle to equatorial solar latitudes, just as seen in the Maunder butterfly diagrams. In contrast, CME frequency was comparable at all latitude belts (including high, near-polar latitudes), having more than two peaks in almost all latitude belts, and the peaks were almost simultaneous in all latitude belts. Thus, the matching of SGN peaks with those of CME peaks was poor. Incidentally, the CME frequency data for all events (all widths) after 2003 are not comparable to earlier data, owing to inclusion of very weak (narrow) CMEs in later years. The frequencies are comparable with earlier data only for widths exceeding about 70°.     

Gnevyshev Peaks and Gaps for Coronal Mass Ejections of Different Widths Originating in Different Solar Position Angles

The sunspot number series at the peak of sunspot activity often has two or three peaks (Gnevyshev peaks; Gnevyshev, Solar Phys. 1, 107, 1967; Solar Phys. 51, 175, 1977). The sunspot group number (SGN) data were examined for 1997 – 2003 (part of cycle 23) and compared with data for coronal mass ejection (CME) events. It was noticed that they exhibited mostly two Gnevyshev peaks in each of the four latitude belts 0° – 10°, 10° – 20°, 20 ° – 30°, and > 30°, in both N (northern) and S (southern) solar hemispheres. The SGN were confined to within latitudes ± 50° around the Equator, mostly around ± 35°, and seemed to occur later in lower latitudes, indicating possible latitudinal migration as in the Maunder butterfly diagrams. In CMEs, less energetic CMEs (of widths < 71°) showed prominent Gnevyshev peaks during sunspot maximum years in almost all latitude belts, including near the poles. The CME activity lasted longer than the SGN activity. However, the CME peaks did not match the SGN peaks and were almost simultaneous at different latitudes, indicating no latitudinal migration. In energetic CMEs including halo CMEs, the Gnevyshev peaks were obscure and ill-defined. The solar polar magnetic fields show polarity reversal during sunspot maximum years, first at the North Pole and, a few months later, at the South Pole. However, the CME peaks and gaps did not match with the magnetic field reversal times, preceding them by several months, rendering any cause – effect relationship doubtful.     

Latitude Dependence of the Variations of Sunspot Group Numbers (SGN) and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) in Cycle 23

The 12-month running means of the conventional sunspot number Rz, the sunspot group numbers (SGN) and the frequency of occurrence of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) were examined for cycle 23 (1996 – 2006). For the whole disc, the SGN and Rz plots were almost identical. Hence, SGN could be used as a proxy for Rz, for which latitude data are not available. SGN values were used for 5° latitude belts 0° – 5°, 5° – 10°, 10° – 15°, 15° – 20°, 20° – 25°, 25° – 30° and > 30°, separately in each hemisphere north and south. Roughly, from latitudes 25° – 30° N to 20° – 25° N, the peaks seem to have occurred later for lower latitudes, from latitudes 20° – 25° N to 15° – 20° N, the peaks are stagnant or occur slightly earlier, and then from latitudes 15° – 20° N to 0° – 5° N, the peaks seem to have occurred again later for lower latitudes. Thus, some latitudinal migration is suggested, clearly in the northern hemisphere, not very clearly in the southern hemisphere, first to the equator in 1998, stagnant or slightly poleward in 1999, and then to the equator again from 2000 onwards, the latter reminiscent of the Maunder butterfly diagrams. Similar plots for CME occurrence frequency also showed multiple peaks (two or three) in almost all latitude belts, but the peaks were almost simultaneous at all latitudes, indicating no latitudinal migration. For similar latitude belts, SGN and CME plots were dissimilar in almost all latitude belts except 10° – 20° S. The CME plots had in general more peaks than the SGN plots, and the peaks of SGN often did not match with those of CME. In the CME data, it was noticed that whereas the values declined from 2002 to 2003, there was no further decline during 2003 – 2006 as one would have expected to occur during the declining phase of sunspots, where 2007 is almost a year of sunspot minimum. An inquiry at GSFC-NASA revealed that the person who creates the preliminary list was changed in 2004 and the new person picks out more weak CMEs. Thus a subjectivity (overestimates after 2002) seems to be involved and hence, values obtained before and during 2002 are not directly comparable to values recorded after 2002, except for CMEs with widths exceeding 60°.     

Analyzing Accessibility Using Parcel Data: Is There Still an Access–Space Trade-Off in Long Beach,California?

This article analyzes the impact of changing housing and neighborhood characteristics on the accessibility of neighborhood businesses using Long Beach, California, as a case study. Although advocates of smart growth and New Urbanism encourage land use mixing, aggregate-level analysis can be too coarse to pick up on fine-grained aspects of urban streetscapes. This study uses assessor parcel records and a point-based business establishment data set to analyze city-wide patterns of accessibility from individual dwelling units to thirty-one types of neighborhood businesses, including grocery stores, service shops, drug stores, doctor's offices, and banks. Regression results compare parcel-level and neighborhood-level drivers of accessibility between 2006 and 2015 to gauge the aggregated effect of recent economic, demographic, and built environment changes on this aspect of urban spatial structure. Larger homes in older, multiunit buildings and higher income neighborhoods show substantial increases in accessibility to most establishment types, suggesting a trend toward both greater accessibility and larger dwelling units—despite the traditional trade-off between access and space. Although gradual increases in home and business density increased overall accessibility over this period, weaker neighborhood-level results indicate that this trend is less pronounced in high-poverty and non-white areas.     

Tissue slice technology for assessing alterations in fish hepatic phase I and phase II XME activity

Alterations to hepatic xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes (XMEs) is an important biomarker of contaminant exposure in aquatic toxicology. Measurement of XMEs in fish liver slices in vitro is an emerging tool for examining enzyme activity and response within the intact 3-D architecture of the liver tissue. We examined integrated phase I/phase II, and phase II metabolism of XMEs from liver slices in control and B[a]P-treated rainbow trout and channel catfish. Fluorescent assay substrates to measure rates of metabolism included 7-methoxycoumarin (7-MC), 7-ethoxycoumarin (7-EC) and 7-hydroxycoumarin (7-HC). Time-dependent increases in metabolism, and a lower rate of 7-MC metabolism compared with 7-EC metabolism, were observed at all time points for both fish species. In rainbow trout, B[a]P pretreatment caused a 10-fold increase in phase I metabolism of both 7-MC and 7-EC, and a 1.6-fold increase in phase II metabolism of 7-HC. Phase I activity in channel catfish was not notably altered by B[a]P pretreatment. However, B[a]P pretreatment in channel catfish caused a 48% decrease in phase II metabolism of 7-HC. These results indicate differences in baseline and B[a]P-altered XME profiles between rainbow trout and channel catfish.     

An Interpretation of ISO Guidelines for the Certification of Geological Reference Materials

Recommendations for the certification of reference materials, as published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), are reviewed and proposals made as to how they can be adapted for the certification of new geological reference materials. Whilst acknowledging the important contribution made by the large number of existing matrix-matched geological reference materials, it is recommended that future characterisation programmes should follow the ISO guidelines for certification, not the least so that laboratories can readily use the resultant samples to establish the traceability of geoanalytical results.     

Development and application of a spatially‐distributed Arctic hydrological and thermal process model (ARHYTHM)

A process‐based, spatially distributed hydrological model was developed to quantitatively simulate the energy and mass transfer processes and their interactions within arctic regions (arctic hydrological and thermal model, ARHYTHM). The model first determines the flow direction in each element, the channel drainage network and the drainage area based upon the digital elevation data. Then it simulates various physical processes: including snow ablation, subsurface flow, overland flow and channel flow routing, soil thawing and evapotranspiration. The kinematic wave method is used for conducting overland flow and channel flow routing. The subsurface flow is simulated using the Darcian approach. The energy balance scheme was the primary approach used in energy‐related process simulations (snowmelt and evapotranspiration), although there are options to model snowmelt by the degree‐day method and evapotranspiration by the Priestley–Taylor equation. This hydrological model simulates the dynamic interactions of each of these processes and can predict spatially distributed snowmelt, soil moisture and evapotranspiration over a watershed at each time step as well as discharge in any specified channel(s). The model was applied to Imnavait watershed (about 2·2 km²) and the Upper Kuparuk River basin (about 146 km²) in northern Alaska. Simulated results of spatially distributed soil moisture content, discharge at gauging stations, snowpack ablations curves and other results yield reasonable agreement, both spatially and temporally, with available data sets such as SAR imagery‐generated soil moisture data and field measurements of snowpack ablation, and discharge data at selected points. The initial timing of simulated discharge does not compare well with the measured data during snowmelt periods mainly because the effect of snow damming on runoff was not considered in the model. Results from the application of this model demonstrate that spatially distributed models have the potential for improving our understanding of hydrology for certain settings. Finally, a critical component that led to the performance of this modelling is the coupling of the mass and energy processes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Classifying zones of suitability for manual drilling using textural and hydraulic parameters of shallow aquifers: a case study in northwestern Senegal

A method is proposed that uses analysis of borehole stratigraphic logs for the characterization of shallow aquifers and for the assessment of areas suitable for manual drilling. The model is based on available borehole-log parameters: depth to hard rock, depth to water, thickness of laterite and hydraulic transmissivity of the shallow aquifer. The model is applied to a study area in northwestern Senegal. A dataset of boreholes logs has been processed using a software package (TANGAFRIC) developed during the research. After a manual procedure to assign a standard category describing the lithological characteristics, the next step is the automated extraction of different textural parameters and the estimation of hydraulic conductivity using reference values available in the literature. The hydraulic conductivity values estimated from stratigraphic data have been partially validated, by comparing them with measured values from a series of pumping tests carried out in large-diameter wells. The results show that this method is able to produce a reliable interpretation of the shallow hydrogeological context using information generally available in the region. The research contributes to improving the identification of areas where conditions are suitable for manual drilling. This is achieved by applying the described method, based on a structured and semi-quantitative approach, to classify the zones of suitability for given manual drilling techniques using data available in most African countries. Ultimately, this work will support proposed international programs aimed at promoting low-cost water supply in Africa and enhancing access to safe drinking water for the population.