Experiments in long-range climate control

Extrapolation of the palaeoclimate chronology of the past million years or so seems to leave little doubt that another glacial stage can be expected in the near geologic future. On a shorter time scale it appears that the increasing greenhouse effect from the use of fossil fuel will raise atmospheric temperature by 2 to 3 °K within a hundred years. The possibility of man's reversing or at least weakening these portentous climate changes is investigated here with the use of a thermodynamic climate model. Preliminary results indicate that the climate effects referred to may be reversible if caught early and certainly suggest that further and more sophisticated attention be given the subject.     

Problems of ratifying international environmental agreements: Overcoming initial obstacles in the post-agreement negotiation process

The post-agreement period typically is characterized by negotiations between various stakeholders to reach mutually beneficial and acceptable means to achieve national implementation of, and compliance with, treaty provisions. National ratification of international environmental agreements is often the first subprocess of these ‘postagreement negotiations’. This article places ratification negotiations within the larger conceptual context of postagreement negotiations, with the goal of understanding and explaining problems of treaty Implementation. An empirical analysis reveals that delay in national ratification of environmental agreements is a chronic problem, but is worse for complex, multi-issue treaties. Strong public concern over local environmental issues, low quality of life, low national wealth, and low public research and development expenditures for environmental protection contribute to ratification delay. Ultimately, the authors are interested in identifying ways of improving the international negotiation process that initiated these later problems in implementation. Recommendations are offered in this regard.     

Die thermische Emission der Atmosphäre im Spektralbereich zwischen 3.1 und 4.2 μm

Zusammenfassung Es werden Spektren der Himmelsstrahlung im Wellenlängenbereich zwischen 3.1 und 4.2 m mitgeteilt, die mit einem Gitterspektrograph zur Tages- und zur Nachtzeit in der Nähe von München aufgenommen worden sind. Die spektrale Spaltbreite betrug bis zu 0.005 m. Berechnungen der nächtlichen Wärmestrahlung von Wasserdampf und CO₂ bei 3.8 m ergeben zu kleine Strahldichten. Die Diskrepanz zu den Meßergebnissen wird durch thermische Emission der Aerolteilchen erklärt und führt zu einem Aerosol-Absorptionskoeffizient von 3 bis 10% der Aerosol-Extinktion. Eine Berechnung der N₂O-Bande bei 3.9 m zeigt eine Diskrepanz zu den Meßergebnissen, deren Erklärung offen bleibt.

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Summary The spectral interval between 3.1 and 4.2 microns of the sky radiation has been measured with a grating spectrometer during night- and daytime from a ground station near Munich. The minimum spectral slitwidths used were .005 microns. Calculated nighttime thermal emission of water vapor and carbon dioxide near 3.8 microns gives too small radiances. The discrepancy with regard to the results of the measurements is explained by thermal emission of the aerosol particles. An aerosol absorption coefficient of 3 to 10% of the total extinction by the aerosol has been deduced. Calculation of the nitrous oxide band emission near 3.9 microns leads to a discrepancy with regard to measurements, which can not yet be explained.

     

Numerical prognosis for salinity profiles of future lakes in the opencast mine Merseburg-Ost

Salt-laden groundwater inflows have formed monimolimnia in developing lakes of the abandoned opencast lignite mine Merseburg-Ost, Central Germany. Water-levels are still rising. To predict the future status of the lakes, two numerical models were developed. One was designed to predict groundwater flows, the second included limnophysical processes. The models were run in parallel and data exchange between them was performed every 1 to 10 years of model time. A trial of a 100-years prognosis was done. The results of surface salinity, mixing depth, and salinity profile are given. A sensitivity analysis yielded indications for the accuracy of the prediction.     

Double transformation at the eastern border of the EU: the case of the Euroregion pro Europa Viadrina

One of the major means to foster European integration is the establishment of border spanning regions (‘Euroregions’). This is particularly important on the Eastern borders of the EU, e.g. in Eastern Germany. There, however, a double transformation to post-socialist society is taking place, both inside and outside the EU. Tensions arise between objectives on local and higher political levels, intensified by totally different economic structures and access to EU funds on both sides of the border. This is particularly true for the case of the emerging Euroregion Viadrina. Problems in preserving old industrialised localities in East Germany (e.g. steel) and attempts to resurrect the urban fair place Frankfurt/Oder, clash with transition in agriculture and consumer industries and with new concepts in tourism development and environmental protection in the Polish border zone. In region building, political, economic and ideological goals compete with each other. Local initiatives and higher political governance may both support and hamper each other. The same holds true for the interdependence of cultural integration and economic development. The paper concludes that regional economic development can only be expected if, via the building of the Euroregion, the interplay of these factors leads to compromise and harmonization between the different parties involved. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Remarks on a vibronic origin for the diffuse band spectrum

We have demonstrated that the diffuse band spectrum could not originate as a series of vibronic transitions from atomic impurities in interstellar MgO grains as has recently been proposed since laboratory spectra of such materials show no evidence for such complex structure. Furthermore, recent observational evidence indicates that the extinction feature at 160 nm in the standard interstellar extinction curve upon which the identification of interstellar MgO was founded is actually the result of a calibration error in the original observational data.     

Feeding Monsters – A Study of Active Galaxies

We present new interferometric observations of the molecular gas distribution and kinematics in the nuclei of different active galaxies at high angular resolution and high sensitivity carried out with the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer (PdBI). The observations cover galaxies in a redshift range of 0.03–1.4. We have so far observed five different active galaxies: NGC3718, NGC1068, HE1029–1831, 3C48 and Q0957+561. The first two objects belong to the NUGA (NUclei of GAlaxies) project – an international collaboration mainly between Spain, France and Germany – containing about 30 Seyfert and LINER galaxies. Both are at the same distance of 14Mpc and show a warped gas and dust disk. The new mosaic map of NGC3718 corrected for short-spacing effects with IRAM 30 m observations well demonstrates the existence of the warped gas disk with several secondary maxima in the projected gas distribution caused by orbit crowding effects. Based on these new data we have improved recent simulations of the warped disk in NGC3718. HE1029–1831 and 3C48 are nearby QSOs. HE1029–1831 is taken out of the Cologne nearby QSO sample. The maps of the integrated CO(1–0) and CO(2–1) emission clearly show that the molecular gas is mostly related to the central bulge with a non-negligible fraction distributed along the bar known from optical observations. Our new CO data of 3C48 unveil new information about the kinematics of its molecular gas complementing and improving further studies based on previous infrared observations and detailed multi-particle simulations. Finally, new measurements of the CO(1–0) line in Q0957+561 – a highly-red-shifted, gravitationally lensed quasar – will be presented as a link to earlier evolutionary stages of active galaxies and their hosts.     

PAET,an entry probe experiment in the Earth's atmosphere

On June 20, 1971, an instrumented probe designated PAET entered the atmosphere near Bermuda at a velocity of 6.6 km/sec carrying experiments designed for use at planets other than the Earth. Instruments to measure in situ the structure and composition of the atmosphere included accelerometers, pressure and temperature sensors, a mass spectrometer, and a radiometer (to sense characteristic emission from the probe shock layer at high speeds).The experiments were largely successful. The thermal structure of the atmosphere, including two major reversals in gradient, was shown to be well defined to an altitude of 80 km by comparison with more conventional meteorological soundings. The atmospheric mean molecular weight was defined within a percent by the structure experiment. The radiometers defined the bulk composition accurately and the trace quantity of CO₂ to one significant figure. The mass spectrometer functioned properly, but failed to give the correct composition because of problems in its sampling system. Oxygen was depleted, apparently by chemical reactions before reaching the spectrometer, and the inlet leak conductance was reduced from its preflight value by an order of magnitude. There is reason to believe that contamination by large molecules from the heat shield was responsible. This experiment should stimulate intensive laboratory work on sampling systems, so that similar problems do not arise in measurements of atmospheric composition at the planets.Results of auxiliary experiments to measure atmospheric water vapor, vehicle dynamics and heating, and communications blackout are also given.