QUEST on DASI: a South Pole CMB polarization experiment

QUEST on DASI is a ground-based, high-sensitivity, high-resolution (ℓ_max2500) experiment designed to map CMB polarization at 100 and 150 GHz and to measure the power spectra from E-modes, B-modes from lensing of the CMB, and B-modes from primordial gravitational waves. The experiment comprises a 2.6 m Cassegrain optical system, equipped with an array of 62 polarization-sensitive bolometers (PSBs), located at the South Pole. The instrument is designed to minimize systematic effects; features include differencing of pairs of orthogonal PSBs within a single feed, a rotatable achromatic waveplate, and axisymmetric rotatable optics. In addition the South Pole location allows both repeatable and highly controlled observations. QUEST on DASI will commence operation in early 2005.     

First results from the Gauribidanur Radio heliograph

Observations of the Sun at two frequencies (51 and 77 MHz) using the East-West arm of the Gauribidanur Radio heliograph are presented.     

Dissolution and depletion of ferromagnesian minerals from Holocene tephra layers in an acid bog,New Zealand,and implications for tephra correlation

This study examines the depletion of ferromagnesian silicate minerals from a sequence of thin, distal, mainly rhyolitic tephra layers of Holocene age preserved in an acid peat bog (Kopouatai), North Island, New Zealand. The rate of such depletion has been fast, as indicated by the complete loss of biotite from one tephra layer (Kaharoa Tephra), in which it is normally dominant, in only ca. 770 yr. Chemical dissolution is advocated as the likely cause for the depletion, with amphiboles and other mineral grains commonly showing etch pits, microcaves, and other characteristic surface solution features. Theoretical thermodynamic and kinetic models show a marked increase in the rate of dissolution of all ferromagnesian minerals under conditions of low pH (< 4), but that where silica concentrations in solution are high the relative proportions of minerals remaining are unaffected. However, where concentrations of dissolved silica are low, as in most bog environments, the relative proportions of ferromagnesian minerals are affected as well as absolute amounts being decreased. Amphiboles are depleted relative to pyroxenes, consistent with kinetic studies. The results show that the identification and correlation of tephras on the basis of relative abundances of ferromagnesian minerals alone may be unreliable, and emphasise the need to use multiple criteria in such studies.     

Structures in the phase space of a four dimensional symplectic map

We numerically investigate the projections of non periodic orbits in a 4-dimensional (4-D) symplectic map composed of two coupled 2-dimensional (2-D) maps. We describe in detail the structures that are produced in different planes of projection and we find how the morphology of the 4-D orbits is influenced by the features of the 2-D maps as the coupling parameter increases. We give an empirical law that describes this influence.     

Secular resonances: New results

We integrated numerically, in the frame of the four body problem Sun-Jupiter-Saturn-asteroid the orbit of the asteroid 1974 MA, an Earth-crosser, which is located in a region where three resonances overlap: the two secular resonances ₅ and ₁₆ and the mean motion resonance 5/1. The numerical integration yields a qualitative orbital evolution of this particular region.     

Crustal motion and deformation in Greece from a decade of GPS measurements, 1993–2003

The Hellenic plate boundary region, located in the collision zone between the Nubian/Arabian and Eurasian lithospheric plates, is one of the seismo-tectonically most active areas of Europe. During the last 15 years, GPS measurements have been used to determine the crustal motion in the area of Greece with the aim to better understand the geodynamical processes of this region. An extended reoccupation network covering whole Greece has been measured periodically in numerous GPS campaigns since the late eighties, and a continuous GPS network has been operated in the region of the Ionian Sea since 1995. In this paper, we present a new detailed high-quality solution of continuous and campaign-type measurements acquired between 1993 and 2003. During the GPS processing, a special effort was made to obtain consistent results with highest possible accuracies and reliabilities. Data of 54 mainly European IGS and EUREF sites were included in the GPS processing in order to obtain results which are internally consistent with the European kinematic field and order to allow for a regional interpretation. After an overview of the results of the IGS/EUREF sites, the results from more than 80 stations in Greece are presented in terms of velocities, time series, trajectories and strain rates. Previous geodetic, geological and seismological findings are generally confirmed and substantially refined. New important results include the observation of deformation zones to the north and to the south of the North Aegean Trough and in the West Hellenic arc region, arc-parallel extension of about 19 mm/yr along the Hellenic arc, and compression between the Ionian islands and the Greek mainland. Due to continuous long-term observations of 4–8 years, it was possible to extract height changes from the GPS time series. In Greece, we observe a differential subsidence of the order of 2 mm/yr between the northern and central Ionian islands across the Kefalonia fault zone. The differential subsidence of the central Ionian islands with respect to the northwestern Greek mainland amounts to 4 mm/yr.     

First seismic record for intra-arc strike-slip tectonics along the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone at the obliquely convergent plate margin of the southern Andes

A temporal seismic network recorded local seismicity along a 130 km long segment of the transpressional dextral strike-slip Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone (LOFZ) in southern Chile. Seventy five shallow crustal events with magnitudes up to M_w 3.8 and depths shallower than 25 km were observed in an 11-month period mainly occurring in different clusters. Those clusters are spatially related to the LOFZ, to the volcanoes Chaitén, Michinmahuida and Corcovado, and to active faulting on secondary faults. Further activity along the LOFZ is indicated by individual events located in direct vicinity of the surface expression of the LOFZ. Focal mechanisms were calculated using deviatoric moment tensor inversion of body wave amplitude spectra which mostly yield strike-slip mechanisms indicating a NE–SW direction of the P-axis for the LOFZ at this latitude. The seismic activity reveals the present-day activity of the fault zone. The recent M_w 6.2 event near Puerto Aysén, Southern Chile at 45.4°S on April 21, 2007 shows that the LOFZ is also capable of producing large magnitude earthquakes and therefore imposing significant seismic hazard to this region.     

Die Windverhältnisse im Davoser Hochtal

Zusammenfassung Die Davoser Windverh?ltnisse werden in ihrem tages- und jahreszeitlichen Ablauf sowie in ihrer Abh?ngigkeit von verschiedenen typischen Wetterlagen untersucht. Neben den ungest?rten Sch?nwetterlagen mit ihrem ausgepr?gten Talwind, der wie der Malojawind talabw?rts weht, werden die F?hnstr?mung aus Südwest und die Nordoststr?mung bei Staulagen und Bise kurz besprochen. Gegenüber dem benachbarten Dischmatal zeigt sich ein sp?terer Beginn des Talwindes bei Sch?nwetterlagen, w?hrend im Vergleich zu anderen T?lern, z. B. zum Wallis, ein früheres und schw?cheres nachmitt?gliches Windmaximum auftritt.

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Summary The wind at Davos is analysed in his diurnal and annual variation and in the depence on the different weather types. The fair and undisturbed weather shows a typical valley breeze during the day, but not in the normal direction towards the higher part of the valley, but downstream, similar to the Malojawind in the Engadine. The opposite wind direction, from southwest, characterises the foehn-situation. Northeasterly winds develop in the case of higher pressure north of the Alps (e. g. in situations of barrage). The valley-breeze begins later than in the adjacent Dischma Valley, but it is weaker and reaches the highest intensity earlier than in other valleys, as e. g. in the Valais.

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Résumé Les vents de Davos sont analysés selon leurs variations diurnes et annuelles et selon des types de temps caractéristiques. La situation de beau temps montre un vent de vallée assez accentué, soufflant du haut en bas, donc dans une direction anormale, mais analogue au vent de la Maloja en Engadine. En cas de ?foehn? le vent souffle du sud-ouest tandis qu'un vent du nord-est se manifeste par situations de surpression au nord des Alpes. Le vent de vallée se met à souffler plus tard à Davos que dans la vallée de Dischma toute proche. Il y atteint par contre sa vitesse maximale plus t?t que les vents correspondants d'autres vallées p. ex. du Valais. Le maximum y est cependant moins élevé.

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Mit 6 Textabbildungen

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Herrn Dr.W. M?rikofer zu seinem 70. Geburtstag gewidmet.