The Morávka meteorite fall: 1. Description of the events and determination of the fireball trajectory and orbit from video records

Abstract— The Morávka (Czech Republic) meteorite fall occurred on May 6, 2000, 11:52 UT, during the daytime. Six H5–6 ordinary chondrites with a total mass of 1.4 kg were recovered. The corresponding fireball was witnessed by thousands of people and also videotaped by 3 casual witnesses. Sonic booms were recorded by 16 seismic stations in the Czech Republic and Poland and by one infrasonic station in Germany. A total of 2.5% of the fireball eyewitnesses reported electrophonic sounds. Satellites in Earth orbit detected part of the fireball light curve. In this first paper from a series of 4 papers devoted to the Morávka meteorite fall, we describe the circumstances of the fall and determine the fireball trajectory and orbit from calibrated video records. Morávka becomes one of only 6 meteorites with a known orbit. The slope of the trajectory was 20.4° to the horizontal, the initial velocity was 22.5 km/s, and the terminal height of the fireball was 21 km. The semimajor axis of the orbit was 1.85 AU, the perihelion distance was 0.982 AU, and the inclination was 32.2°. The fireball reached an absolute visual magnitude of ?20 at a height of 33 km.     

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF GLACIAL LANDFORMS

Photogrammetric methods using sequential aerial photography can provide the geomorphologist with comparative measurements of rapidly changing glacial landforms. Examples are given of eskers, kame and kettle areas, an ice-dammed lake and coastal features in south-east Iceland.     

Smart optics in ast

Smart optics means much more than adaptive optics on telescopes: these new technologies are changing the way space instruments are built and operated and are bringing new technologies into everyday life in the form of cheaper, lighter and more robust optical systems. Steve Welch, Peter Doel, Alan Greenaway and Gordon Love summarize the work of the Smart Optics Faraday Partnership in the UK.     

Distribution and relative density of cetaceans in the Hauraki Gulf,New Zealand

Understanding species distributions, and how they change in space and time, is vital when prioritising conservation or management initiatives. We assessed the distribution and density patterns of common dolphins (Delphinus sp.), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera edeni) in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. Dedicated boat-based surveys were conducted in the inner Hauraki Gulf (IHG) and off Great Barrier Island (GBI) during 2010–2012. Generalised linear models were used to investigate temporal changes in relative densities and kernel density estimation was implemented to examine spatial trends. Common dolphins were widely distributed during all seasons, with higher densities observed during winter and spring in the IHG but during autumn off GBI. There was inter-annual variation in Bryde’s whale distribution, with high densities recorded off GBI in 2011. Bottlenose dolphins were infrequently sighted in the IHG but regularly encountered off GBI, with the highest densities during spring and summer.     

ON THE ABSORPTION-DISPERSION CHARACTERISTICS OF CHANNEL WAVES PROPAGATING IN COAL SEAMS OF VARYING THICKNESS1

The WKB-method is used for the derivation of both the complex dispersion relation and displacement functions for Love channel-waves that propagate in a coal seam of varying thickness. The constant Q-model is used to describe the anelastic friction. With numerical solutions of the absorption-dispersion relation, the influence of thickness changes on the phase velocity and absorption coefficient of Love seam-waves is analysed at various frequencies. It is shown that the changes in the seam thickness can be optimally detected around the average Airy-phase frequency. An equivalence is pointed out between the wave guide structures: homogeneous with varying seam thickness and horizontally inhomogeneous with constant seam thickness.     

LOVE SEAM-WAVES IN A HORIZONTALLY INHOMOGENEOUS THREE-LAYERED MEDIUM*

Using the WKBJ-method the absorption-dispersion relation and the amplitude functions are derived for Love seam-waves that propagate in a horizontally inhomogeneous three-layered medium. To describe the anelastic friction the constant Q-model is applied. The inhomogeneity that appears in either the elastic moduli or quality factors is assumed to remain weak in the coal as well as in the adjacent layers, which are assumed to have different material properties (asymmetric channel). Using numerical solutions of the dispersion relation, it is shown that the weak horizontal inhomogeneities can be optimally detected using channel-wave constituents of a frequency near to the Airy frequency while inhomogeneities of the adjacent rock can only be detected at frequencies close to, but higher than, the cut-off frequency.     

Development of texture and microstructure in extruded ionic polycrystalline aggregates

The crystallographic preferred orientation (here referred to as texture) developed in extruded ionic polycrystalline aggregates with the NaCl-structure is studied as a function of extrusion temperature and ionicity of the material. In pure alkali halides and silver chloride a 100111 double fibre texture is found for all extrusion temperatures investigated. In extruded natural rock salt the 100 fibre is replaced by 115 at or below room temperature. The temperature dependence of the intensity of preferred orientation together with microstructural investigations suggest the 100 and 115 components to be primarily due to dynamic recrystallization. The 111 deformation texture agrees with model calculations based on simultaneous slip on both the {110}110 and {100}110 slip systems, generally observed as primary and secondary slip systems in NaCl-type ionic crystals, respectively. Possible applications to the study of the diapirism of salt domes are discussed.     

Survival of two species of amphipods in aqueous extracts of petroleum oils

Aqueous extracts of two petroleum oils, No. 2 fuel oil and Southern Louisiana crude, were tested on two amphipods, Gammarus muccronatus and Amphithoe valida, for survival. The oils were toxic at concentrations of 0.8 ppm (fuel oil) and 2.4 ppm (S. Louisiana crude). Mortalities increased with the concentration and length of exposure. Few or no young were produced at these and higher concentrations (breeding adults were decreasing rapidly in numbers). The amphipods are more sensitive to aqueous extracts of these oils than benthic polychaetes and shrimp, for which data are available.