The political-geographical aspects of problematic statehood (exemplified by Somalia)

We examine the phenomenon of “collapsed” states by using, as an example, Somalia that is being faced with a vast array of problems: collapse of state institutes, civil war, separatism, terrorism, radical Islamism, and piracy. It is found that clannishness and tribalism of Somali society are complicating the process of political settlement and national reconciliation. It is pointed out that some of the tribes and groups, including under the action of external forces, are actually forming the country’s political space. It is shown that the pseudo-state entities in Somalia are unstable, and their boundaries of “flowing” so that they are incapable of exercising a full control over the territory. It is emphasized that the problem of Islamic extremism can be treated as deriving from failure of the state institutes; the peak of activity and territorial expansion of Islamist groups in the country is now in the past, and the area of their activity is bounded by the area inhabited by the Somali ethnos. It is found that the piracy problem is determined by the geographical location of Somalia, and its solution is impossible without the reestablishment of the state institutes and the economic system of the country. Two potential cores of reestablishment of Somali statehood have been revealed: Federal Government in Mogadishu as well as the Autonomous Republic of Puntland. It is forecasted that the international community will be gradually recognizing the Republic of Somaliland. It is concluded that the federalization of the country as declared by authorities is formal in character but yields first results implying that the negotiation process between the groups of clans has been led into a political channel.     

Energetic neutral atom imaging of Mercury's magnetosphere 1. Distribution of neutral particles in an axially symmetrical exosphere

We have developed a simple analytical model to obtain density distributions of neutral particles in an axially symmetrical exosphere. Correction due to the finite lifetime of exosphere neutral particles has been introduced. The model developed will be utilised in the simulations of energetic neutral atom production via charge-exchange reaction in Mercury's magnetosphere. As examples, we have calculated density profiles of helium and oxygen in Mercury's exosphere. We have also calculated the day side distribution of sodium atoms to demonstrate the effect of the finite lifetime.     

Analysis of the geomagnetic field of the White Sea: The Gorlo Strait

The objective of our research is the interpretation of the results of the geomagnetic survey of the geologic structure in the Gorlo Strait of the White Sea. We used the maps of the anomalous magnetic field (AMF) available and processed them with original interpretation software. As a result of this processing, we compiled a structural-tectonic chart of this region. We distinguished the boundaries of the major first-order tectonic structures such as the underwater extension of the Leshukon graben and a number of minor structures related to the Proterozoic and Paleozoic stages of the magmatic activity in the region. Modeling was performed for the most important objects, which allowed us to refine the geological structure of these objects and their genesis.     

Dynamic Processes of the Arctic Stratosphere in the 2020–2021 Winter

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The Arctic stratosphere winter season of 2020–2021 was characterized by a weakened stratospheric polar vortex as a result of a major sudden...     

Ice Permafrost ‘‘Oases’’ Close to Martian Equator: Planet Neutron Mapping Based on Data of FREND Instrument Onboard TGO Orbiter of Russian-European ExoMars Mission

Astronomy Letters - We present the first results of Mars neutron sounding by FREND instrument onboard ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter data analysis. Neutron flux mapping is performed with high...     

Thermal state and gas production rate of rotating cometary nuclei

We formulate a completely three-dimensional nonstationary model of the thermal state and gas production rate of rotating spherical cometary nuclei moving in circular and elliptical orbits around the Sun. We perform a thermophysical analysis of the problem and formulate a system of similarity criteria. The possible thermal regimes of cometary nuclei are analyzed in the space of suggested similarity criteria. Only one criterion dependent on the nucleus spin period is shown to play a dominant role for rotating nuclei at a given heliocentric distance. This simplifies greatly a parametric study of the gas production rate of real cometary nuclei under conditions of uncertainty in their parameters. Based on the developed model, we numerically investigate the thermal state and gas production rate of rotating nuclei. The results of our calculations are in complete agreement with those of the similarity analysis for the problem. We perform a comparative analysis of the currently used simplified thermal models for cometary nuclei and determine the range of their applicability.     

On the convergence of elliptic motion

The convergence of Lagrange series is studied on a part of the elliptical orbit for values of eccentricity exceeding the Laplace limit. The regions in the vicinity of the two apses of the orbit are identified in which the Lagrange series converge absolutely and uniformly for the values of the eccentricity greater than the Laplace limit. The obtained results are of practical interest for astronomy when studying motions of stellar bodies in orbits with high eccentricity. In particular, these series may be used to calculate the orbits of comets or asteroids with high eccentricity as they pass through the neighborhood of perihelion or to calculate the orbits of artificial satellites with high eccentricity “hanging” in the vicinity of apogee. In stellar dynamics, these series may be used in cases of close binary stars, many of which move in orbits with an eccentricity greater than the Laplace limit.     

Global Lagrangian Atmospheric Dispersion Model

The Global Lagrangian Atmospheric Dispersion Model (GLADIM) is described. GLADIM is based on the global trajectory model, which had been developed earlier and uses fields of weather parameters from different atmospheric reanalysis centers for calculations of trajectories of air mass that include trace gases. GLADIM includes the parameterization of turbulent diffusion and allows the forward calculation of concentrations of atmospheric tracers at nodes of a global regular grid when a source is specified. Thus, GLADIM can be used for the forward simulation of pollutant propagation (volcanic ash, radionuclides, and so on). Working in the reverse direction, GLADIM allows the detection of remote sources that mainly contribute to the tracer concentration at an observation point. This property of Lagrangian models is widely used for data analysis and the reverse modeling of emission sources of a pollutant specified. In this work we describe the model and some results of its validation through a comparison with results of a similar model and observation data.     

Estimation of the tropospheric air ratio near the thermal tropopause using the aircraft measurements

Results of the analysis of the stratospheric aircraft M-55 Geofizika measurements are presented. Estimates of the tropospheric air ratio near the thermal tropopause were conducted using the correlations between the water vapor and ozone values. The data of the measurements were used in the several aircraft campaigns held in the wintertime in the extratropical latitudes. The increased water vapor concentration was indicated during the flight on February 11, 2003 at the 12-km height which exceeds the averaged concentrations of water vapor in the extratropics by 1.5–2 times. The contribution of the tropospheric air near the thermal tropopause is quantitatively estimated. Results obtained here allow estimating the layer thickness in which the air masses of the different origin occur.     

Energetic neutral atom imaging of Mercury's magnetosphere 3. Simulated images and instrument requirements

The paper presents simulations of the energetic neutral atom (ENA) production in the Mercury magnetosphere and the obtained ENA images for the equatorial and polar vantage points. The ENA fluxes are found to be 10²–10³ (cm² srskeV)⁻¹ and up to 10⁴–10⁵ (cm² srskeV)⁻¹ in the energy range 10–50 keV. Due to the small size of the magnetosphere, the particles injected in the tail can fill up the entire dayside magnetosphere making possible ENA imaging of the magnetospheric shape. The high variability of the Hermean magnetosphere gives rise to pulsating ENA emissions (ENA “flashes”) which can be used to study the global dynamics. The ENA instrument requirements, 10°×10° angular resolution and 20 s accumulation time, can be easily met by modern ENA instrumentation. Therefore, ENA imaging of the Mercury magnetosphere is feasible.