A meteoroid stream survey using the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar: I. Methodology and radiant catalogue

Using a meteor orbit radar, a total of more than 2.5 million meteoroids with masses ∼10⁻⁷ kg have had orbits measured in the interval 2002-2006. From these data, a total of 45 meteoroid streams have been identified using a wavelet transform approach to isolate enhancements in radiant density in geocentric coordinates. Of the recorded streams, 12 are previously unreported or unrecognized. The survey finds >90% of all meteoroids at this size range are part of the sporadic meteoroid background. A large fraction of the radar detected streams have q<0.15 AU suggestive of a strong contribution from sungrazing comets to the meteoroid stream population currently intersecting the Earth. We find a remarkably long period of activity for the Taurid shower (almost half the year as a clearly definable radiant) and several streams notable for a high proportion of small meteoroids only, among these a strong new shower in January at the time of the Quadrantids (January Leonids). A new shower (Epsilon Perseids) has also been identified with orbital elements almost identical to Comet 96P/Machholz.     

High resolution radiant distribution and orbits of sporadic radar meteoroids

Five years of meteor orbit data from CMOR (the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar) are used to study the high-resolution orbital structure of the sporadic meteoroid complex. The large number of high quality orbits (2.35 million) allows the orbital characteristics of meteoroids to be studied not only in the five sporadic sources accessible from the latitude of London, Ontario, Canada, but at a resolution of 2 degrees. The radiant distribution of sporadic meteors is investigated, applying corrections for observing biases, and weighting to a constant limiting mass, and to a constant limiting energy. The orbital distribution of the sporadic sources is compared to other studies. The variation of average geocentric speed, semimajor axis, eccentricity, inclination and perihelion distance with meteoroid radiant is investigated. The source of a ring depleted in meteor radiants at 55 degrees from the apex is attributed to shorter collisional lifetimes inside the ring, due to a higher probability of catastrophic collisions with particles in the zodiacal cloud for the predominantly retrograde meteoroids inside the ring.     

Radar imagery of the southern Caloris region, Mercury

Radar imagery from July 2005 Arecibo observations has provided new information on surface relief over the southern portion of Caloris Basin and the smooth plains to the south of the basin. A lobe of smooth plains has been identified in the Mariner-unimaged region southwest of Mozart Crater that coincides precisely with topographically down-bowed terrain seen in earlier Arecibo radar altimetry. A 105-km-diameter crater has been found at 193.6° W, 25.6° N that appears to be the largest crater in the Caloris basin floor.     

Meteor Orbit Determinations with Multistatic Receivers Using the MU Radar

The MU radar of RISH (Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University), which is a MST radar (46.5 MHz, 1 MW peak power), has been successfully applied to meteor studies by using its very high versatility. The system has recently renewed with 25 channel digital receivers which significantly improved the sensitivity and precision of interferometer used in meteor observation. The transmission is now synchronized to GPS signals, and two external receiving sites with a ranging capability has additionally been operated in order to determine the trajectories and speeds of meteoroids.     

Plasma and Electromagnetic Simulations of Meteor Head Echo Radar Reflections

Recently, meteor head echo detections from high powered large aperture radars (HPLA) have brought new measurements to bear on the study of sporadic interplanetary meteors. These same observations have demonstrated an ability to observe smaller meteoroids without some of the geometrical restrictions of specular radar techniques. Yet incorporating data from various radar reflection types and from different radars into a single consistent model has proven challenging. We believe this arises due to poorly understood radio scattering characteristics of the meteor plasma, especially in light of recent work showing that plasma turbulence and instability greatly influences meteor trail properties at every stage of evolution. In order to overcome some of the unknown relationships between meteoroid characteristics (such as mass and velocity) and the resulting head echo radar cross-sections (RCS), we present our results on meteor plasma simulations of head echo plasmas using particle in cell (PIC) ions, which show that electric fields strongly influence early stage meteor plasma evolution, by accelerating ions away from the meteoroid body at speeds as large as several kilometers per second. We also present the results of finite difference time domain electromagnetic simulations (FDTD), which can calculate the radar cross-section of the simulated meteor plasma electron distributions. These simulations have shown that the radar cross-section depends in a complex manner on a number of parameters. In this paper we demonstrate that for a given head echo plasma the RCS as a function of radar frequency peaks at sqrt (2*peak plasma frequency) and then decays linearly on a dB scale with increasing radar frequency. We also demonstrate that for a fixed radar frequency, the RCS increases linearly on a dB scale with increasing head echo plasma frequency. These simulations and resulting characterization of the head echo radar cross-section will both help relate HPLA radar observations to meteoroid properties and aid in determining a particular radar facility’s ability to observe various meteoroid populations.     

甘肃永登强对流云的雷达气候学特征分析

利用甘肃永登19年(1971—1985年,1999—2003年)的雷达回波资料,分析了强对流云回波形成及分布特征与甘肃永登地区特殊地形的关系;强对流天气大尺度天气背景和相应的强对流雷达回波的移动、高度、强度和回波谱等特征。结果表明,该区的特殊地形造成气流阻挡并使其折转汇合、垂直运动剧烈加速,使得对流云迅速发展,这是该区对流云形成和分布的决定因素;高空天气形势和对流云结构制约了对流云雷达回波的移动和基本特征。雹云回波谱表明,雹暴对流活动一般均处于旺盛状态,强回波高度和其所处的云内温度是形成雹云的重要条件。     

一次冰雹云演变过程的卫星遥感监测与分析

针对2003年9月21日的一次区域性冰雹云强对流天气过程,结合天气实况、环流场特征和雷达资料,利用NOAA卫星数据,从天气分析、能量转换以及云在可见光、中红外波段的反射特性,分析了冰雹云的演变及特征。结果表明,伴随着大气能量的转换,当日青海湖以北的对流冷云单体在东移过程中,结合了西南部暖舌带来的暖湿气流,午后受地面增温出现了爆发性发展。(1)17：00云团发展最旺盛,云顶温度最低值达到-44℃,并确定冰雹发生的云顶温度临界值为-39．2℃,云顶亮温为221K;(2)冰雹云温度水平梯度介于20～35℃／50km之间,表现为有雹无灾的冰雹强度特征;(3)卫星数据表明,此时雹云与其它云团不同,具有粒子有效半径较大,气溶胶光学厚度也大的特点。     

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Daubechies小波有限元求解GPR波动方程

基于可分离小波理论,由一维Daubechies尺度函数的张量积构造二维Daubechies小波基,并将它作为GPR波动方程求解的插值函数,导出了二维Daubechies小波有限元GPR方程离散格式;通过引入转换矩阵,实现小波系数空间与雷达场值之间转换.引入自由度凝聚技术,有效解决了小波有限元求解中小波单元内部自由度过多的问题,节约了计算量并方便与传统有限元法耦合.然后,详细阐述了Daubechies小波有限元联系系数计算方法,有效解决了小波有限元求解偏微分方程的难点与核心问题.最后,以两个典型GPR模型为例,对比了Daubechies小波有限元与传统有限元的雷达正演剖面图与单道波形图,结果表明:在相同的剖分方式及节点数目条件下,Daubechies小波有限元的紧支性与正交性一定程度上提高了求解效率,它与有限元法求解结果能较好地吻合,验证了Daubechies小波有限元算法的正确性.     

Using satellite altimetry data to augment flow estimation techniques on the Mekong River

Satellite altimetry is routinely used to provide levels for oceans or large inland water bodies from space. By utilizing retracking schemes specially designed for inland waters, meaningful river stages can also be recovered when standard techniques fail. Utilizing retracked waveforms from ERS‐2 and ENVISAT along the Mekong, comparisons against observed stage measurements show that the altimetric measurements have a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0·44–0·65 m for ENVISAT and 0·46–0·76 m for ERS‐2. For many applications, however, stage is insufficient because discharge is the primary requirement. Investigations were therefore undertaken to estimate discharges at a downstream site (Nakhon Phanom (NP)) assuming that in situ data are available at a site 400 km upstream (Vientiane). Two hypothetical, but realistic scenarios were considered. Firstly, that NP was the site of a de‐commissioned gauge and secondly, that the site has never been gauged. Using both scenarios, predictions were made for the daily discharge using methods with and without altimetric stage data. In the first scenario using a linear regression approach the altimetry data improved the Nash‐Sutcliffe r² value from 0·884 to 0·935. The second scenario used known river cross‐sections while lateral inflows were inferred from a hydrological model: this scenario gave an increase in the r² value from 0·823 to 0·893. The use of altimetric stage data is shown to improve estimated discharges and further applications are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.