Strong mediaeval earthquake in the Chuy Basin,Kyrgyzstan

The data presented in this paper show that in historical time the Chuy Basin in Kyrgyzstan was repeatedly subjected to strong earthquakes, which affected the inhabitants and the economic and political situation at that time. The deformed buildings in the Novopokrovka site of ancient settlements situated in the central part of the basin unequivocally indicate seismic damage and subsequent abandonment of the settlement. The earthquake happened at the end of the Karakhanid epoch (the end of the 12th century A.D.). The intensity of seismic oscillations (I = VIII–IX) at the site was reinforced by unfavorable engineering geology conditions. The source of the earthquake was probably related to displacements along the piedmont Ysyk-Ata Fault located to the south of the site.     

Some results from phytoplankton counting intercalibrations

Phytoplankton samples from 7 different lakes were processed in 2 intercalibration series using Utermöhl's sedimentation method. Total biomass volumes obtained by most of the investigators give reliable results in respect to the mean. Numbers of individuals and mean volumes of selected species obtained by the different participants were compared and show larger variations than the overall results. Therefore a certain delimitation of particular sources of errors was tried in the 2nd intercalibration series by giving recommendations for the different steps of the whole procedure.     

Climatic trend and the retreat and disintegration of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula: an overview

Observation of the retreat and disintegration of ice shelves around the Antarctic Peninsula during the last three decades and associated changes in air temperature, measured at various meteorological stations on the Antarctic Peninsula, are reviewed. The climatically induced retreat of the northern Larsen Ice Shelf on the east coast and of the Wordie, George VI, and Wilkins ice shelves on the west coast amounted to about 10 000 km² since the mid-1960s. A summary is presented on the recession history of the Larsen Ice Shelf and on the collapse of those sections north of Robertson Island in early 1995. The area changes were derived from images of various satellites, dating back to a late 1963 image from the recently declassified US Argon space missions. This photograph reveals a previously unknown, minor advance of the northern Larsen Ice Shelf before 1975. During the period of retreat a consistent and pronounced warming trend was observed at the stations on both east and west coasts of the Antarctic Peninsula, but a major cause of the fast retreat and final collapse of the northernmost sections of the Larsen Ice Shelf were several unusually warm summers. Temperature records from the nearby station Marambio show that a positive mean summer temperature was reached for the first time in 1992-93. Recent observations indicate that the process of ice shelf disintegration is proceeding further south on both sides of the Antarctic Peninsula.     

Hyper-velocity impact risk assessment and mitigation strategies in the context of future X-ray astronomy missions

Future X-ray astronomy missions will be based on instruments with apertures much larger than those used up to now. Therefore, the risk posed by hyper-velocity dust grains in the space environment to the onboard instrumentation will increase, especially when a larger aperture is combined with a longer focal length. Starting from the lessons learned from the XMM and Swift satellites, we review the question of hyper-velocity impacts and discuss the expected impact-rate, risk of damage and possible mitigation strategies in the context of LOFT, eROSITA and ATHENA.     

The analysis of backscattering properties from SAR data of mountain regions

Possibilities and problems for the extraction of backscattering coefficients from airborne and spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data are discussed. Corrections for system errors and for imaging geometry are described. Examples are given for airborne SAR data acquired in theX- andC-bands over a test site in the Austrian Alps and for Seasat SAR data of glacierized areas in Iceland. From these data, backscattering coefficients have been derived on a relative scale for wet snow, glacier ice, and several ice-free surfaces. Data of in situ measurements on surface roughness and on dielectric parameters are presented for interpretation purposes and as the basis for backscatter modeling. The SAR-derived results are compared with theoretical backscattering calculations which were based on the Kirchhoff model for surface scattering and on the Born approximation for snow volume scattering.