A new pattern for the north–south asymmetry of sunspots

We study the solar cycle evolution during the last 8 solar cycles using a vectorial sunspot area called the LA (longitudinal asymmetry) parameter. This is a useful measure of solar activity in which the stochastic, longitudinally evenly distributed sunspot activity is reduced and which therefore emphasizes the more systematic, longitudinally asymmetric sunspot activity. Interesting differences are found between the LA parameter and the more conventional sunspot activity indices like the (scalar) sunspot area and the sunspot number. E.g., cycle 19 is not the highest cycle according to LA. We have calculated the separate LA parameters for the northern and southern hemisphere and found a systematic dipolar-type oscillation in the dominating hemisphere during high solar activity times which is reproduced from cycle to cycle. We have analyzed this oscillation during cycles 16–22 by a superposed epoch method using the date of magnetic reversal in the southern hemisphere as the zero epoch time. According to our analysis, the oscillation starts by an excess of the northern LA value in the ascending phase of the solar cycle which lasts for about 2.3 years. Soon after the maximum northern dominance, the southern hemisphere starts dominating, reaching its minimum some 1.2–1.7 years later. The period of southern dominance lasts for about 1.6 years and ends, on an average, slightly before the end of magnetic reversal.     

The Expansion of the Distance Between Two Arbitrary Gravitating Points as Applied to Specific Models of Celestial Bodies

For the complete system of biharmonic functions a suitable representation in spheroidal coordinates is found. It is used for expanding the distance between two arbitrary gravitating points and its inverse quantity in appropriate series. Such expansions can be of interest and useful in a number of problems of celestial mechanics and stellar dynamics.     

Evidence for compressionally induced high subsidence rates in the Kurile Basin (Okhotsk Sea)

A combined volcanological, geochemical, paleo-oceanological, geochronological and geophysical study was undertaken on the Kurile Basin, in order to constrain the origin and evolution of this basin. Very high rates of subsidence were determined for the northeastern floor and margin of the Kurile Basin. Dredged volcanic samples from the Geophysicist Seamount, which were formed under subaerial or shallow water conditions but are presently located at depths in excess of 2300 m, were dated at 0.84±0.06 and 1.07±0.04 Ma with the laser ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar single crystal method, yielding a minimum average subsidence rate of 1.6 mm/year for the northeast basin floor in the Quaternary. Trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope data from the volcanic rocks show evidence for contamination within lower continental crust and/or the subcontinental lithospheric mantle, indicating that the basement presently at 6-km depth is likely to represent thinned continental crust. Average subsidence rates of 0.5–2.0 mm/year were estimated for the northeastern slope of the Kurile Basin during the Pliocene and Quaternary through the determination of the age and paleo-environment (depth) of formation of sediments from a canyon wall. Taken together, the data from the northeastern part of the Kurile Basin indicate that subsidence began in or prior to the Early Pliocene and that subsidence rates have increased in the Quaternary. Similar rates of subsidence have been obtained from published studies on the Sakhalin Shelf and Slope and from volcanoes in the rear of the Kurile Arc. The recent stress field of the Kurile Basin is inferred from the analysis of seismic activity, focal mechanism solutions and from the structure of the sedimentary cover and of the Alaid back-arc volcano. Integration of these results suggests that compression is responsible for the rapid subsidence of the Kurile Basin and that subsidence may be an important step in the transition from basin formation to its destruction. The compression of the Kurile Basin results from squeezing of the Okhotsk Plate between four major plates: the Pacific, North American, Eurasian and Amur. We predict that continued compression could lead to subduction of the Kurile Basin floor beneath Hokkaido and the Kurile Arc in the future and thus to basin closure.     

Some general relations of the development of complex molecular objects at early stages of biosphere formation as a consequence of the physical properties of condensed medium

We analyzed the character of molecular transformations under conditions of condensed media, in which intermolecular interactions always occur. It was shown that, instead of discrete transfer of external energy into the molecule, the energy characteristics of the condensed medium (appearance of zones) could result in gradual accumulation of internal energy in reaction centers owing to sequential thermal collisions with particles of the medium initiating the chemical reaction. This does not require high temperatures. The established physical properties related to the energy characteristics of condensed media could play an important role in molecular transformations and, consequently, formation of complex molecular objects at early stages of biosphere formation.     

Results of test experiment comparing measurement data of three adjacent ADCP bottom stations

The results of a test experiment comparing quasi-synchronous data of three adjacent acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) deployed on the shelf bottom of the Black Sea in September 2014 are considered. The direct aim of the experiment was quantitative comparison of data from different ADCPs placed in maximally similar conditions to simultaneously measure the sea current parameters at one geographic point. The goals and the scheme of the experiment, methods for processing the measurement results, main results, and their interpretations and analysis, including practical results and conclusions, are described.     

Calorimetric determination of the standard enthalpy of formation of stannite,Cu<Subscript>2</Subscript>FeSnS<Subscript>4</Subscript>

The standard enthalpy of formation of stannite (Cu₂FeSnS₄) was calculated from the calorimetric measurements of the reactions of its formation from simple synthetic sulfides: Cu₂S + FeS₂ + SnS → Cu₂FeSnS₄ and ₂CuS + FeS + SnS → Cu₂FeSnS₄. Using published data for the binary sulfides, the standard enthalpy of formation of stannite from the elements was determined as ΔfH°_298.15(Cu₂FeSnS₄) =–(417.28 ± 2.28) kJ mol^–1.     

Deficit of Large Aftershocks as an Indicator of Afterslip at the Sources of Earthquakes in Subduction Zones

Doklady Earth Sciences - A relative decrease in the fraction of large aftershocks in the first days after earthquakes in subduction zones is demonstrated, and a connection of this phenomenon with...     

Distribution and expression of gas seeps in a gas hydrate province of the northeastern Sakhalin continental slope, Sea of Okhotsk

Multidisciplinary surveys were conducted to investigate gas seepage and gas hydrate accumulation on the northeastern Sakhalin continental slope (NESS), Sea of Okhotsk, during joint Korean–Russian–Japanese expeditions conducted from 2003 to 2007 (CHAOS and SSGH projects). One hundred sixty-one gas seeps were detected in a 2000 km² area of the NESS (between 53°45′N and 54°45′N). Active gas seeps in a gas hydrate province on the NESS were evident from features in the water column, on the seafloor, and in the subsurface: well-defined hydroacoustic anomalies (gas flares), side-scan sonar structures with high backscatter intensity (seepage structures), bathymetric structures (pockmarks and mounds), gas- and gas-hydrate-related seismic features (bottom-simulating reflectors, gas chimneys, high-amplitude reflectors, and acoustic blanking), high methane concentrations in seawater, and gas hydrates in sediment near the seafloor. These expressions were generally spatially related; a gas flare would be associated with a seepage structure (mound), below which a gas chimney was present. The spatial distribution of gas seeps on the NESS is controlled by four types of geological structures: faults, the shelf break, seafloor canyons, and submarine slides. Gas chimneys that produced enhanced reflection on high-resolution seismic profiles are interpreted as active pathways for upward gas migration to the seafloor. The chimneys and gas flares are good indicators of active seepage.     

Application of the wavelet transform to automatic seismic signal detection

The paper is devoted to such a priority direction of digital seismology as the detection of seismic signals in a noisy medium. Various formulations of the problem of seismic event detection are analyzed. The reasons for the ineffectiveness of the classical formulation of the detection problem are revealed, and an adequate general formulation of the problem in the frequency-time space is proposed. A criterion for the automatic determination of the length of a seismic signal is proposed. The time-scale STA/LTA (Short Time Average to Long Time Average) detector, utilizing the expansion of a seismogram in a packet of wavelets, is proposed. The method eliminates the shortcomings of the standard scheme and enables the detection of seismic events with a low signal-to-noise ratio. The problems of the choice of the mother wavelet and the decomposition level of seismograms are discussed from the standpoint of physical properties of seismic wave fields.