Are Heating Events in the Quiet Solar Corona Small Flares? Multiwavelength Observations of Individual Events

Temporary enhancements of the coronal emission measure in a quiet region have been shown to constitute a significant energy input. Here some relatively large events are studied for simultaneous brightenings in transition region lines and in radio emission. Associated emissions are discussed and tested for characteristics known from full-sized impulsive flares in active regions. Heating events and flares are found to have many properties in common, including (i) associated polarized radio emission, which usually precedes the emission measure peak (Neupert effect) and sometimes has a non-thermal spectrum, and (ii) associated and often preceding peaks in Ov and Hei emission. On the other hand, heating events also differ from impulsive flares: (i) In half of the cases, their radio emission at centimeter waves shows a spectrum consistent with thermal radiation, (ii) the ratio of the gyro-synchrotron emission to the estimated thermal soft X-ray emission is smaller than in flares, and (iii) the associated emission in the Ov transition region line shows red shifts and blue shifts, indicating upflows in the rise phase and downflows in the decay phase, respectively. Nevertheless, the differences seem to be mainly quantitative, and the analyzed heating events with thermal energies around 10²⁶ erg may in principle be considered as microflares or large nanoflares, thus small versions of regular flares.     

Location of Decimetric Pulsations in Solar Flares

This work investigates the spatial relation between coronal X-ray sources and coherent radio emissions, both generally thought to be signatures of particle acceleration. Two limb events were selected during which the radio emission was well correlated in time with hard X-rays. The radio emissions were of the type of decimetric pulsations as determined from the spectrogram observed by Phoenix-2 of ETH Zurich. The radio positions were measured from observations with the Nançay Radioheliograph between 236 and 432 MHz and compared to the position of the coronal X-ray source imaged with RHESSI. The radio pulsations originated at least 30?–?240 Mm above the coronal hard X-ray source. The altitude of the radio emission increases generally with lower frequency. The average positions at different frequencies are on a line pointing approximately to the coronal hard X-ray source. Thus, the pulsations cannot be caused by electrons trapped in the flare loops, but are consistent with emission from a current sheet above the coronal source.     

The Growth of Ranchettes in La Plata County,Colorado, 1988–2008

Ranchettes are low-density, rural parcels typically from thirty-five to seventy acres that have proliferated across the Rocky Mountain West. They consume large amounts of land and increase fragmentation, leading to potentially negative impacts on the ecology and cultural identity of local places. Although many anecdotal accounts decry the rise in ranchettes, few studies measure their prevalence or spatial patterns. We use archival and contemporary land ownership data to measure ranchette development in La Plata County, Colorado, an amenity-rich county popular for recreation, retirement, and ranchettes. Results show continual yet slowing growth across the decades with patterns of growth spreading in a contagious effect around initial nodes of development.     

Lateglacial and early Holocene summer temperatures in the southern Swiss Alps reconstructed using fossil chironomids

We present a Lateglacial and early Holocene chironomid‐based July air temperature reconstruction from Foppe (1470 m a.s.l.) in the Swiss Southern Alps. Our analysis suggests that chironomid assemblages have responded to major and minor climatic fluctuations during the past 17 000 years, such as the Oldest Dryas, the Younger Dryas and the Bølling/Allerød events in the Lateglacial and the Preboreal Oscillation at the beginning of the Holocene. Quantitative July air temperature estimates were produced by applying a combined Norwegian and Swiss temperature inference model consisting of 274 lakes to the fossil chironomid assemblages. The Foppe record infers average July air temperatures of ca. 9.9 °C during the Oldest Dryas, 12.2 °C during most of the Bølling/Allerød and 11.1 °C for the Younger Dryas. Mean July air temperatures during the Preboreal were 14 °C. Major temperature changes were observed at the Oldest Dryas/Bølling (+2.7 °C), the Allerød/Younger Dryas (?2 °C) and the Younger Dryas/Holocene transitions (+3.9 °C). The temperature reconstruction also shows centennial‐scale coolings of ca. 0.8–1.4 °C, which may be synchronous with the Aegelsee (Greenland Interstadial 1d) and the Preboreal Oscillations. A comparison of our results with other palaeoclimate records suggests noticeable temperature gradients across the Alps during the Lateglacial and early Holocene. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A 16 000‐year record of vegetational change in south‐western Alaska as inferred from plant macrofossils and pollen

Pollen and macrofossil analyses of a sediment core from Beaver Pond (60° 37′ 14″ N, 154° 19′ W, 579 m a.s.l.) reveal a record of regional and local postglacial vegetation change in south‐western Alaska. The chronology is based on five AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) ¹⁴C ages obtained from terrestrial plant macrofossils. Pollen and macrofossil records suggest that open herb and shrub tundra with e.g. Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Artemisia, Vaccinium and Salix prevailed on the landscape before ca. 14 000 cal a BP. The shift from herb‐ to shrub‐dominated tundra (Salix, subsequent Betula expansion) possibly reflects climatic warming at the beginning of the Bølling period at ca. 14 700–14 500 and around 13 500 cal a BP. Vegetation (Betula shrub tundra) remained relatively stable until the early Holocene. Macrofossil influx estimates provide evidence for greater biomass in Betula shrub tundra during the early postglacial period than today. Charcoal accumulation rates suggest tundra fire activity was probably greater from ca. 12 500 to 10 500 cal a BP, similar to results from elsewhere in Alaska. The pollen and macrofossil records of Beaver Pond suggest the prevalence of low shrub tundra (shrub Betula, Betula nana, Vaccinium, Ledum palustre, Ericaceae) and tall shrub tundra (Alnus viridis ssp. crispa, Salix) between 10 000 and 4000 cal a BP. This Holocene vegetation type is comparable with that of the modern treeless wet and moist tundra in south‐western Alaska. The expansion of Picea glauca occurred ～4000 cal a BP, much later than that of A. viridis (ssp. crispa), whereas in central and eastern Alaska Picea glauca expanded prior to or coincident with Alnus (viridis). At sites located only 200–400 km north‐east of Beaver Pond (Farewell and Wien lakes), Picea glauca and Betula forests expanded 8000–6000 cal a BP. Unfavourable climatic conditions and soil properties may have inhibited the expansion and establishment of Picea across south‐west Alaska during the mid and late Holocene. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-consistent treatment of tidal variations in the geocenter for precise orbit determination

We show that the current levels of accuracy being achieved for the precise orbit determination (POD) of low-Earth orbiters demonstrate the need for the self-consistent treatment of tidal variations in the geocenter. Our study uses as an example the POD of the OSTM/Jason-2 satellite altimeter mission based upon Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking data. Current GPS-based POD solutions are demonstrating root-mean-square (RMS) radial orbit accuracy and precision of \({<}1\)  cm and 1 mm, respectively. Meanwhile, we show that the RMS of three-dimensional tidal geocenter variations is \({<}6\)  mm, but can be as large as 15 mm, with the largest component along the Earth’s spin axis. Our results demonstrate that GPS-based POD of Earth orbiters is best performed using GPS satellite orbit positions that are defined in a reference frame whose origin is at the center of mass of the entire Earth system, including the ocean tides. Errors in the GPS-based POD solutions for OSTM/Jason-2 of \({<}4\)  mm (3D RMS) and \({<}2\)  mm (radial RMS) are introduced when tidal geocenter variations are not treated consistently. Nevertheless, inconsistent treatment is measurable in the OSTM/Jason-2 POD solutions and manifests through degraded post-fit tracking data residuals, orbit precision, and relative orbit accuracy. For the latter metric, sea surface height crossover variance is higher by \(6~\hbox {mm}^{2}\) when tidal geocenter variations are treated inconsistently.     

Energy budget and imaging spectroscopy of a compact flare

We present the analysis of a compact flare that occurred on 26 February 2002 at 10:26 UT, seen by both RHESSI and TRACE. The size of the nearly circular hard X-ray source is determined to be 5.6 (±0.8)′′, using different methods. The power-law distribution of non-thermal photons is observed to extend down to 10 keV without flattening, and to soften with increasing distance from the flare kernel. The former indicates that the energy of the precipitating flare electron population is larger than previously estimated: it amounts to 2.6 (±0.8)×10³⁰ erg above 10 keV, assuming thick-target emission. The thermal energy content of the soft X-ray source (isothermal temperature of 20.8 (±0.9) MK) and its radiated power were derived from the thermal emission at low energies. TRACE has observed a low-temperature ejection in the form of a constricted bubble, which is interpreted as a reconnection jet. Its initial energy of motion is estimated. Using data from both satellites, an energy budget for this flare is derived. The kinetic energy of the jet bulk motion and the thermal and radiated energies of the flare kernel were more than an order of magnitude smaller than the derived electron beam energy. A movie is available on the CD-ROM accompanying this volume. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1022478300679