Precipitation of auroral particles in the central polar cap during a sudden commencement magnetic storm

All-sky camera observations from two stations in the inner (northern) polar cap and an auroral zone station are combined with photometer records from the polar cap station Nord in a study of the brilliant auroral display following the ssc of the storm of 7 November 1970. This display is the large, poleward expanding bulge of a substorm triggered by the ssc. It is composed of brilliant discrete forms embedded in low-intensity diffuse electron and proton aurora. The poleward edge of the diffuse electron aurora is 5° north of the discrete auroras and 3° north of the proton aurora. The intensity of the discrete aurora varies as the strength of the auroral electrojet as shown by magnetograms from auroral zone stations. Succeeding the retreating display a subvisible low-energy electron precipitation, which may be identified as the polar squall (Winningham and Heikkila, 1974) is observed over the polar cap during the main phase of the storm.In the early morning sector already existing diffuse auroras broaden towards the equator from the time of the ssc and at least during the following half hour.Ssc-triggered displays have been found (Feldstein, 1959) to withdraw from the inner polar cap as the initial (positive H) phase of the storm ends. A comparison of the records from seven low-latitude stations shows that during this particular storm the positive phase appears to be composed by two overlapping disturbances, i.e. the proper initial phase, which is generally thought to be due to compression of the inner magnetosphere and a series of positive bays accompanying the negative bays in auroral latitudes. These positive bays are observable over a great range of longitudes with a maximum of amplitude near midnight. As judged from the dayside magnetograms the initial (compression) phase ends at an early stage of the substorm. The observed coincidence between the withdrawal of the display and the cessation of the positive H phase of the storm is a consequence of the fact that the second component—the positive bays—and the auroral display over the polar cap are both signatures of the substorm activity.     

The attachment of natural radioactivity to aerosols

Summary The distribution of natural, radioactivity on the different particle sizes in aerosols has been studied both experimentally and theoretically. Experiments with artificial aerosols are in good agreement with theory in size rangeR=0.04–5.0. The results are applied to natural aerosols, including the influence of electrostatic forces (ionic diffusion) on the deposition process.     

Phytoplankton community composition and size distribution in the Langat River estuary,Malaysia

Phytoplankton patchiness, as expressed by community composition and size distribution, during the rainy season in the Langat River estuary (Malaysia) is described. Four sites in the estuary were sampled on two different occasions. The sampling area covered a stretch of the river from upstream to downstream of aquaculture activities (shrimp farms). Water samples from a shrimp farm outlet were also analyzed for nutrient and phytoplankton content. Differences in community structure between stations were found by means of multivariate procedures. Genera composition and total biomass were related to environmental factors, revealing salinity, light, and nutrients as important explaining factors. Elevated phytoplankton biomass and total phosphorus concentration, as well as lower inorganic nitrogen: phosphorus ratios, were found downstream of the shrimp farming activities. The size distribution spectrum of the phytoplankton population downstream of the shrimp farms was significantly different from that at the other stations but not different than that found in the sampled effluent from the shrimp farms, where phytoplankton biomass was also high. Twenty-two of the 24 recorded genera from the shrimp farm outlet were also found downstream of the farming activities. A number of different environmental factors potentially alter conditions for phytoplankton in the lower reaches of the estuary as compared to the upper regions. A cause and effect relationship explaining the differences noted between the upper and lower reaches of the estuary cannot be established. This study suggests that nutrient enrichment from the shrimp farming activities is of a magnitude that may contribute to the phytoplankton community changes observed in the lower reaches of the estuary.     

Observations of horizontal transport effects on high latitude metastable O(1D), N(2D) auroral emissions

An analysis is presented of photometric measurements of the NI (λ = 520nm),OI(λ = 630nm)and other emissions made at Nord, where the invariant latitude is Λ = 80°4. The time variations of the intensities are interpreted in the following way by comparison with simultaneous ground based or satellite measurements.The N(²D) atoms formed in the dayside cleft are carried by the neutral wind in a plume across the polar cap, so that the ratio of λ(630 nm) to λ(520 nm) intensities decreases along the plume with increasing distance from the source region.In the polar cap, but outside the plume region, 630 nm emission is produced by electron impact of polar rain and by substorms that reach high latitudes. Ionization produced at the same time, especially by the substorms, will produce further 630 nm emission through dissociative recombination. In any case, the region outside the plume may be regarded as a source region, with a high value of the ratio $\text{I(630)}\text{I(520)}$. This explains in part the diurnal variations, since this ratio is depressed as Nord crosses the dayside plume.The electron energy along the oval increases progressively from the dayside to the nightside. The intensity ratio increases with increasing electron energy because N(²D) is quenched more rapidly than O(¹D). Thus the ratio rises progressively from noon to midnight.An effect of the interplanetary magnetic field is superimposed on this pattern : as its North-South component B_z increases, the oval contracts so that Nord becomes nearer from the cleft source and the intensity ratio increases on the dayside. The inverse effect is also observed. On the nightside, negative B_z is associated with substorms that produce poleward expansions of the poleward oval boundary, that brings more energetic precipitation to Nord. This causes the intensity ratio to increase with decreasing B_z in a way that is opposite to that for the dayside.     

The southern margin of the East European Craton: new results from seismic sounding and potential fields between the North Sea and Poland

The extension of eastern Avalonia from Britain through the NE German Basin into Poland is, in some sense, a virtual structure. It is covered almost everywhere by late Paleozoic and younger sediments. Evidence for this terrane is only gathered from geophysical data and age information derived from magmatic rocks. During the last two decades, much geophysical and geological information has been gathered since the European Geotraverse (EGT), which was followed by the BABEL, LT-7, MONA LISA, DEKORP-Basin'96, and POLONAISE'97 deep seismic experiments. Based on seismic lines, a remarkable feature has been observed between the North Sea and Poland: north of the Elbe Line (EL), the lower crust is characterised by high velocities (6.8–7.0 km/s), a feature which seems to be characteristic for at least a major part of eastern Avalonia (far eastern Avalonia). In addition, the seismic lines indicate that a wedge of the East European Craton (EEC) (or Baltica) continues to the south below the southern Permian Basin (SPB)—a structure which resembles a passive continental margin. The observed pattern may either indicate an extension of the Baltic crust much farther south than earlier expected or oceanic crust of the Tornquist Sea trapped during the Caledonian collision. In either case, the data require a reinterpretation of the docking mechanism of eastern Avalonia, and the Elbe–Odra Line (EOL), as well as the Elbe Fault system, together with the Intra-Sudedic Faults, appear to be related to major changes in the deeper crustal structures separating the East European crust from the Paleozoic agglomeration of Middle European terranes.