From the Sun to the Earth: The 13 May 2005 Coronal Mass Ejection

We report the results of a multi-instrument, multi-technique, coordinated study of the solar eruptive event of 13 May 2005. We discuss the resultant Earth-directed (halo) coronal mass ejection (CME), and the effects on the terrestrial space environment and upper Earth atmosphere. The interplanetary CME (ICME) impacted the Earth’s magnetosphere and caused the most-intense geomagnetic storm of 2005 with a Disturbed Storm Time (Dst) index reaching ?263 nT at its peak. The terrestrial environment responded to the storm on a global scale. We have combined observations and measurements from coronal and interplanetary remote-sensing instruments, interplanetary and near-Earth in-situ measurements, remote-sensing observations and in-situ measurements of the terrestrial magnetosphere and ionosphere, along with coronal and heliospheric modelling. These analyses are used to trace the origin, development, propagation, terrestrial impact, and subsequent consequences of this event to obtain the most comprehensive view of a geo-effective solar eruption to date. This particular event is also part of a NASA-sponsored Living With a Star (LWS) study and an on-going US NSF-sponsored Solar, Heliospheric, and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE) community investigation.     

The tectono‐stratigraphic evolution of the Austral Basin and adjacent areas against the background of Andean tectonics,southern Argentina,South America

The Austral Basin (or Magallanes Basin) in southern Argentina is situated in a highly active tectonic zone. The openings of the South Atlantic and the Drake Passage to the east and south, active subduction in the west, and the related rise of the Andes have massively influenced the evolution of this area. To better understand the impacts of these tectonic events on basin formation to its present‐day structure we analysed 2D seismic reflection data covering about 95 000 km² on‐ and 115 000 km² offshore (Austral ‘Marina’ and Malvinas Basin). A total of 10 seismic horizons, representing nine syn‐ and post‐ rift sequences, were mapped and tied to well data to analyse the evolution of sedimentary supply and depocenter migration through time. 1D well backstripping across the study area confirms three main tectonic stages, containing (i) the break‐up phase forming basement graben systems and the evolution of the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous ancient backarc Austral/Rocas Verdes Basin (RVB), (ii) the inversion of the backarc marginal basin and the development of the foreland Austral Basin and (iii) the recent foreland Austral Basin. Synrift sedimentation did not exceed the creation of accommodation space, leading to a deepening of the basin. During the Early Cretaceous a first impulse of compression due to Andes uplift caused rise also of parts of the basin. Controlling factors for the subsequent tectonic development are subduction, balanced phases of sedimentation, accumulation and erosion as well as enhanced sediment supply from the rising Andes. Further phases of rock uplift might be triggered by cancelling deflection of the plate and slab window subduction, coupled with volcanic activity. Calculations of sediment accumulation rates reflect the different regional tectonic stages, and also show that the Malvinas Basin acted as a sediment catchment after the filling of the Austral Basin since the Late Miocene. However, although the Austral and Malvinas Basin are neighbouring basin systems that are sedimentary coupled in younger times, their earlier sedimentary and tectonic development was decoupled by the Rio Chico basement high. Thereby, the Austral Basin was affected by tectonic impacts of the Andes orogenesis, while the Malvinas Basin was rather affected by the opening of the South Atlantic.     

Estimation of parameters in a split functional model of geodetic observations (<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>split</Subscript> estimation)

The paper presents a method of estimating parameters in two competitive functional models. The models considered here are concerned with the same observation set and are based on the assumption that an observation may result from a realization of either of two different random variables. These variables differ from one another at least in the main characteristic (for example, outliers can be realizations of one variable). A quantity that describes the opportunity of identifying a single observation with one random variable is assumed to be known. That quantity, called the elementary split potential, is strictly referred to the amount of information that an observation can provide about two competitive assumptions concerning the observation distribution. Parameter assessments that maximize the global elementary split potential (concerning all observations), are called M _split estimators. A generalization of M _split estimation presented in the paper refers to the theoretical foundation of M-estimation. An erratum to this article can be found at     

基于SAR干涉点目标分析技术的城市地表形变监测

通过深入研究干涉点目标的相位模型,提出基于空间搜索的邻近点目标干涉相位差解缠方法,用以计算点目标的地形残差和线性形变,以及分离点目标大气延迟相位和非线性形变相位的时空域滤波方法,解决干涉点目标分析中的关键问题.最后,以苏州地区地表沉降监测为应用试验,利用形成的SAR干涉点目标形变信息提取技术,获取苏州市区1992-2002年间的地表沉降信息.研究结果与已有文献记录保持比较好的一致性,证明SAR干涉点目标技术完全可以发展成为应用于城市地表形变监测的实用化技术.

Abstract：

Interferometric point target analysis (IPTA) is one of the latest developments in radar interferometric processing. It is achieved by analysis of the interferometric phases of some individual point targets, which are discrete and present temporarily stable backscattering characteristics, in long temporal series of interferometric SAR images. This paper analyzes the interferometric phase model of point targets, and then addresses two key issues within IPTA process. Firstly, a spatial searching method is proposed to unwrap the interferometric phase difference between two neighboring point targets. The height residual error and linear deformation rate of each point target can then be calculated, when a global reference point with known height correction and deformation history is chosen. Secondly, a spatial-temporal filtering scheme is proposed to further separate the atmosphere phase and nonlinear deformation phase from the residual interferometric phase. Finally, an experiment of the developed IPTA methodology is conducted over Suzhou urban area. Totally 38 ERS-1/2 SAR scenes are analyzed, and the deformation information over 3 546 point targets in the time span of 1992-2002 are generated. The IPTA-derivecl deformation shows very good agreement with the published result, which demonstrates that the IPTA technique can be developed into an operational tool to map the ground subsidence over urban area.     

Variation in tree mortality and regeneration affect forest carbon recovery following fuel treatments and wildfire in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California, USA

Background

Forest fuel treatments have been proposed as tools to stabilize carbon stocks in fire-prone forests in the Western U.S.A. Although fuel treatments such as thinning and burning are known to immediately reduce forest carbon stocks, there are suggestions that these losses may be paid back over the long-term if treatments sufficiently reduce future wildfire severity, or prevent deforestation. Although fire severity and post-fire tree regeneration have been indicated as important influences on long-term carbon dynamics, it remains unclear how natural variability in these processes might affect the ability of fuel treatments to protect forest carbon resources. We surveyed a wildfire where fuel treatments were put in place before fire and estimated the short-term impact of treatment and wildfire on aboveground carbon stocks at our study site. We then used a common vegetation growth simulator in conjunction with sensitivity analysis techniques to assess how predicted timescales of carbon recovery after fire are sensitive to variation in rates of fire-related tree mortality, and post-fire tree regeneration.

Results

We found that fuel reduction treatments were successful at ameliorating fire severity at our study site by removing an estimated 36% of aboveground biomass. Treated and untreated stands stored similar amounts of carbon three years after wildfire, but differences in fire severity were such that untreated stands maintained only 7% of aboveground carbon as live trees, versus 51% in treated stands. Over the long-term, our simulations suggest that treated stands in our study area will recover baseline carbon storage 10?C35?years more quickly than untreated stands. Our sensitivity analysis found that rates of fire-related tree mortality strongly influence estimates of post-fire carbon recovery. Rates of regeneration were less influential on recovery timing, except when fire severity was high.

Conclusions

Our ability to predict the response of forest carbon resources to anthropogenic and natural disturbances requires models that incorporate uncertainty in processes important to long-term forest carbon dynamics. To the extent that fuel treatments are able to ameliorate tree mortality rates or prevent deforestation resulting from wildfire, our results suggest that treatments may be a viable strategy to stabilize existing forest carbon stocks.     

Use of the L2C signal for inversions of GPS radio occultation data in the neutral atmosphere

Results from processing FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC radio occultations (RO) with the new GPS L2C signal acquired both in phase locked loop (PLL) and open loop (OL) modes are presented. Analysis of L2P, L2C, and L1CA signals acquired in PLL mode shows that in the presence of strong ionospheric scintillation not only L2P tracking, but also L1CA tracking often fails, while L2C tracking is most stable. The use of L2C improves current RO processing in the neutral atmosphere mainly by increasing the number of processed occultations (due to significant reduction in the number of L2 tracking failures) and marginally by a reduction in noise in statistics. The latter is due to the combination of reduced L2C noise (compared to L2P) and increased L1CA noise in those occultations where L2P would have failed. This result suggests application of OL tracking for L1CA and L2C signals throughout an entire occultation to optimally acquire RO data. Two methods of concurrent processing of L1CA and L2C RO signals are considered. Based on testing of individual occultations, these methods allow: (1) reduction in uncertainty of bending angles retrieved by wave optics in the lower troposphere and (2) reduction in small-scale residual errors of the ionospheric correction in the stratosphere.     

EXPERIENCE IN COMPILING LARGE-SCALE MAPS OF EROSION-PRONE AREAS

Specific criteria used in the compilation of large-scale maps of erosion-prone areas are defined and evaluated for tracts of land representing a number of different agricultural cover types. Formulas are derived which facilitate the mapping of such areas based on such readily observable morphometric characteristics as slope length and steepness. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA 22308 from: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, geografiya, 1988, No. 5, pp. 25-31.     

A Keystone Transform Without Interpolation for SAR Ground Moving-Target Imaging

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image formation for a ground moving target necessitates the compensation of the unknown target trajectory. The keystone transform has been employed to remove the linear component of the range migration for the moving target, where interpolation is required. In this letter, a realization of the keystone transform avoiding interpolation is presented. The kernel of this transform, i.e., the range-frequency-dependent azimuth time rescaling, is implemented using only complex multiplications and fast Fourier transforms based on the scaling principle, which has been successfully applied in the equalization of the space-variant range cell migration in SAR processing. In addition, the moving target is coarsely focused according to the SAR geometry and the platform velocity while exploiting the scaling principle. This preliminary focusing is helpful in the isolation of the moving target from ground clutter, so as to facilitate a more refined processing with respect to each mover. SAR raw data combined with simulated echoes of moving targets are utilized to validate the presented approach     

Reduced-Dimensional Processing for Ground Moving Target Detection in Distributed Space-Based Radar

With multisatellite radar systems, several additional features are achieved: multistatic observation, interferometry, ground moving target indication (GMTI). In this letter, a new reduced-dimensional method based on joint pixels sum-difference (Sigma-Delta) data for clutter rejection and GMTI is proposed. The reduced-dimensional joint pixels Sigma-Delta data are obtained by the orthogonal projection of the joint pixels data of different synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images generated by a multisatellite radar system. In the sense of statistic expectation, the joint pixels Sigma-Delta data contain the common and different information among SAR images. Then, the objective of clutter cancellation and GMTI can be achieved by adaptive processing. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method even with clutter fluctuation and image coregistration errors     

Small-world characteristics on transportation networks: a perspective from network autocorrelation

Studies on small-world networks have received intensive interdisciplinary attention during the past several years. It is well-known among researchers that a small-world network is often characterized by high connectivity and clustering, but so far there exist few effective approaches to evaluate small-world properties, especially for spatial networks. This paper proposes a method to examine the small-world properties of spatial networks from the perspective of network autocorrelation. Two network autocorrelation statistics, Moran’s I and Getis–Ord’s G, are used to monitor the structural properties of networks in a process of “rewiring” networks from a regular to a random network. We discovered that Moran’s I and Getis–Ord’s G tend to converge and have relatively low values when properties of small-world networks emerge. Three transportation networks at the national, metropolitan, and intra-city levels are analyzed using this approach. It is found that spatial networks at these three scales possess small-world properties when the correlation lag distances reach certain thresholds, implying that the manifestation of small-world phenomena result from the interplay between the network structure and the dynamics taking place on the network.