A Seeing Monitor for Solar and Other Extended Object Observations

In this article I describe a site survey facility, which measures the signals of the solar equivalent of a Differential Image Motion Monitor (S-DIMM) and of a six element linear array of solar scintillometers. Combining the S-DIMM r _o andscintillometer _I observations allows the determination of the fractions of the seeing in the free atmosphere and in the ground/lake layer. From the scintillometer array observations C _n ² (h) is determined for heights corresponding to the first 500 m along the line-of-sight. With minor changes this seeing monitor can also be used for other extended objects like the Moon and planets.     

晴空与有云大气辐射分布的数值模拟及其对全天空图像云识别的应用

全天空图像自动云识别的研究相对来说是一项较新的研究领域。当前国际上较为通用的全天空图像云识别方法主要依靠图像蓝红灰度值对比的阈值方法进行判断。然而非洁净大气中气溶胶的增多给云识别增加了难度,同时太阳高度角不同天空色度分布情况也不同。文中利用Libradtran辐射传输模式,计算了不同能见度不同太阳高度角情况下3个典型波长(450,550,650nm;蓝/绿/红)无云及有云大气的天空辐亮度分布情况,并进行了比较分析。结果表明,相同太阳高度角情况下,无云及有云大气中蓝红比值随能见度的下降呈单调下降趋势。在特定的云光学厚度和能见度情况下,天空色度彼此呈现出类似的分布状况。全天空图像阈值判断云识别自适应算法的建立需要与太阳高度角、地面能见度联系起来。当前尚无法建立一个判断阈值随太阳高度角以及能见度变化的函数关系式。较为可行的办法是建立典型能见度、典型太阳高度角情况下的辐射信息库,在具体云识别时,首先确定太阳高度角,而后根据天空辐射比情况确定天空能见度,并利用辐射信息标准库做云或非云判别。该工作为全天空云识别算法提供判别依据,同时建立云识别随能见度和太阳高度角变化的判别信息库。     

Determination of Meteoroid Orbits and Spatial Fluxes by Using High-Resolution All-Sky CCD Cameras

By using high-resolution, low-scan-rate, all-sky CCD cameras, the SPanish Meteor Network (SPMN) is currently monitoring meteor and fireball activity on a year round basis. Here are presented just a sampling of the accurate trajectory, radiant and orbital data obtained for meteors imaged simultaneously from two SPMN stations during the continuous 2006–2007 coverage of meteor and fireball monitoring. Typical astrometric uncertainty is 1–2 arc min, while velocity determination errors are of the order of 0.1–0.5 km/s, which is dependent on the distance of each event to the station and its particular viewing geometry. The cameras have demonstrated excellent performance for detecting meteor outbursts. The recent development of automatic detection software is also providing real-time information on the global meteor activity. Finally, some examples of the all-sky CCD cameras applications for detecting unexpected meteor activity are given.     

地震观测仪器自动监控软件设计与实现

结合地震地球物理观测台网台站监测工作实际,研制一款地震观测仪器自动监控软件。该软件适用于不同网络环境下IP类仪器设备的网络实时或定时自动监控,地球物理观测类仪器时钟、状态和观测数据的定时自动监控,能自动识别当日观测数据中的无效数据、变幅异常、干扰、地震和限幅等信息,无需借助其他硬件和软件即可将告警信息以短信方式发送给值班人员和管理人员,可实现对仪器原始观测数据的自动备份和手动恢复,及对仪器的一键重启和校正时钟等控制类操作,无需跨平台操作即可查看当日观测数据曲线及分析数据的完整性和有效性,从而实现对仪器的统一高效管理。     

基于全天空F-P干涉仪反演热层垂直中性风

由于测量与计算的难度,对热层垂直中性风的观测还很不够,这影响了人们对热层及热层-电离层耦合的认识.本文基于全天空法布里-珀罗干涉仪(FPI)对热层风场的观测,提出了一种反演垂直中性风的方法.利用该方法,对北极黄河站全天空FPI观测数据进行了垂直中性风的反演计算,结果表明,高热层与低热层的垂直风平均幅值分别在40 m·s^-1和15 m·s^-1,且垂直风日变化表现出明显的时间演变特性,且与地磁ap指数的变化有一定的相关性,在地磁活动强烈时,低热层垂直风会出现高达100 m·s^-1的扰动,高热层甚至会达到300 m·s^-1的扰动,这些特征与其他学者的观测结果相一致.本文方法不需要假设垂直风均值为零,也不用限制FPI的观测方位,可用于垂直风的反演.     

关于创建川滇水库地震监测预报研究实验场的建议

川滇两省水能资源开发量位居全国前茅,尤其是川滇交界区域的雅砻江、大渡河、金沙江流域的水能资源富甲全国,在西部大开发中的战略地位极其重要,国家即将在此建成一个位于全球破坏性地震多发区域的巨型水库密集区。具有全球难寻的监测、预报、研究水库地震的资源优势。建议用完全开放的创新思维,在此区域创建水库地震监测预报研究实验场,具有重要的防震减灾现实意义和历史意义。     

基于聚类的极光形态分类的探索性研究

极光形态为研究日地物理过程提供了显著、直观和具有可识别性的特征。合理分类对研究各类极光现象与磁层动力学过程之间的关系尤为重要。极光形态分类机制的选择问题是极光有监督分类研究被主要诟病的问题之一。有监督分类实验中人工标记的工作量非常浩大,而且不能保证标记的准确性。更重要的是,高分类正确率只能说明自动分类符合人的认识,有监督分类结果无法验证分类机制的正确性。现有的分类机制是否为极光数据空间的真实划分,是否存在更为合理的分类机制都是我们应该探讨的问题。针对该问题,基于已有的全天空极光图像表征方法,引入聚类算法探究极光特征空间的结构,利用了9种聚类有效性函数选择适合极光数据的聚类个数。实验结果表明,对于从2003—2004年北极黄河站观测的全天空极光数据中随机选取的6 000幅极光图像,两类和四类的划分方式最为合适。两类的划分可以看作是分离度较好的极光类型,并且根据两类分布曲线呈现午前-午后双峰的分布特点,这一类极光可能是弧状极光。对于四类的情况,虽然通过肉眼观察无法用一幅典型的极光图像代表每一类,但是这些由聚类得出的极光类型具有各自的时间分布特点,这一结果从无监督的角度证明了极光类型在形态上是可分的。     

A New Bolide Station at the High Tatra Mountains

The European Fireball Network (EN) is operating since 1963 and one of its stable stations, from the very beginning, is the station at the Skalnate Pleso Observatory in the High Tatras. The station is sited at a height of 1788 m. More than 2900 expositions has been made at the Skalnate Pleso station since 1964 and among them one significant and spectacular event was recorded––bolide Turji-Remety in 2001 followed by a fall of about 450 kg meteorite (Spurny and Porubcan [in: Warmbein (ed.) Asteroids Comets Meteors, 2002]). A systematic search for the meteorite was unsuccessful. The new station having an ideal horizon will be operating since July 2007 on the top of Lomnicky Stit (2636 m above the sea level). This station will be equipped with an Autonomous Fireball Observatory of the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, which are already utilized in the Czech part of the EN for several years.     

The Southern Ontario All-sky Meteor Camera Network

We have developed an automated network of all-sky CCD video systems to detect medium–large meteoroids ablating over Southern Ontario, Canada. The system currently consists of five stations with the largest baseline being 180 km. Each site runs a video rate recorder with sufficient resolution to determine meteoroid trajectories with a typical precision of about 300 m but no worse than 1 km. The sensitivity of the camera is close to a stellar visual magnitude of +1 which allows for astrometric calibrations using field stars. Photometric procedures have also been developed and tested. The system has a limiting magnitude for meteors of about −2 with the current detection algorithm.     

Cosmic-Ray Modulation: An Empirical Relation with Solar and Heliospheric Parameters

Long-term variations of galactic cosmic rays were compared with the behavior of various solar activity indices and heliospheric parameters during the current solar cycle. This study continues previous works where the cosmic-ray intensity for the solar cycles 20, 21, and 22 was well simulated from the linear combination of the sunspot number, the number of grouped solar flares, and the geomagnetic index A _p. The application of this model to the current solar cycle characterized by many peculiarities and extreme solar events led us to study more empirical relations between solar-heliospheric variables, such as the interplanetary magnetic field, coronal mass ejections, and the tilt of the heliospheric current sheet, and cosmic-ray modulation. By analyzing monthly cosmic-ray data from the Neutron Monitor Stations of Oulu (cutoff rigidity 0.81 GV) and Moscow (2.42 GV) the contribution of these parameters in the ascending, maximum, and descending phases of the cycle was investigated and it is shown that a combination of these parameters reproduces the majority of the modulation potential variations during this cycle. The approach applied makes it possible to better describe the behavior of cosmic rays in the epochs of the solar maxima, which could not be done before. An extended study of the time profiles, the correlations, and the time lags of the cosmic-ray intensity against these parameters using the method of minimizing RMS over all the considered period 1996 – 2006 determines characteristic properties of this cycle as being an odd cycle. Moreover, the obtained hysteresis curves and a correlative analysis during the positive polarity (qA>0, where q is the particle charge) and during the negative polarity (qA<0) intervals of the cycle result in significantly different behavior between solar and heliospheric parameters. The time lag and the correlation coefficient of the cosmic-ray intensity are higher for the solar indices in comparison to the heliospheric ones. A similar behavior also appears in the case of the intervals with positive and negative polarity of the solar magnetic field.