Diurnal variation of the dayside, ionospheric, mid-latitude trough in the southern hemisphere at 800 km: Model and measurement comparison

Our high latitude ionospheric model predicts the existence of a pronounced “dayside” trough in plasma concentration equatorward of the auroral oval in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres for solar maximum, winter, and low geomagnetic activity conditions. The trough in the Southern Hemisphere is much deeper than that in the Northern Hemisphere, with the minimum trough density at 800 km being 2 × 10³ cm⁻³ in the Southern Hemisphere and 10⁴ cm⁻³ in the Northern Hemisphere. The dayside trough has a strong longitudinal (diurnal) dependence and appears between 11:00 and 19:00 U.T. in the Southern Hemisphere and between 02:00 and 08:00 U.T. in the Northern Hemisphere. This dayside trough is a result of the auroral oval moving to larger solar zenith angles at those universal times when the magnetic pole is on the antisunward side of the geographic pole. As the auroral ionization source moves to higher geographic latitudes, it leaves a region of declining photoionization on the dayside. For low convection speeds, the ionosphere decays and a dayside trough forms. The trough is deeper in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere because of the greater offset between the geomagnetic and geographic poles. Satellite data taken in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres confirm the gross features of the dayside trough, including its strong longitudinal dependence, its depth, and the asymmetry between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere troughs.     

A 20 cm2 CCD mosaic camera for a dark matter search part I : Mechanics,optics and cryogeny

A 20cm ² CCD mosaic camera has been especially built to search for dark galactic halo objects by the gravitational microlensing effect. The sensitive area is made of 16 edge-buttable CCDs developped by Thomson-CTS, with 23×23 µm ² pixels. The 35 kg camera housing and mechanical equipment is presented. The associated electronics and data acquisition system are described in a separate paper. The camera resides at the focal plane of a 40 cm, f/10, Ferson reflector. The instrument has been in operation since December 1991 at the La Silla Observatory (ESO).     

Withered Geography

This commentary is a response to an article by Jay R. Harman in the November 2003 issue of The Professional Geographer. I argue that Harman's claim that scholarly disciplines offer social “returns” in a competitive “market” obscures the fundamentally political nature of how social resources are allocated and how social needs are defined. Harman would have us subordinate scholarly research to agendas set elsewhere, by politicians and other powerful interests, but I argue that such a vision would turn geographers into mere technicians. A healthier role for the discipline is for geographers to seek ways of asserting intellectual leadership and of shaping social agendas along more humane and socially just lines.     

Early development of strike-slip faulting: palaeoseismic study along the Petersen Mountain fault,northern Walker Lane,Nevada

Characterising youthful strike-slip fault systems within transtensional regimes is often complicated by the presence of tectonic geomorphic features produced by normal faulting associated with oblique extension. The Petersen Mountain fault in the northern Walker Lane tectonic province exhibits evidence of both normal and strike-slip faulting. We present the results of geologic and geomorphic mapping, and palaeoseismic trenching that characterise the fault's style and sense of deformation. The fault consists of two major traces. The western trace displaces colluvial, landslide, and middle to late Pleistocene alluvial fans and is associated with aligned range front saddles, linear drainages, and oversteepened range front slopes. The eastern trace is associated with a low linear bedrock ridge, a narrow graben, right deflected stream channels, and scarps in late Pleistocene alluvial fan deposits. A trench on the eastern trace of the fault exposed a clear juxtaposition of disintegrated granodiorite bedrock against sand and boulder alluvial fan deposits across a steeply east-dipping fault. The stratigraphic evidence supports the occurrence of at least one late Pleistocene earthquake with a component of lateral displacement. As such, the Petersen Mountain fault accommodates part of the ~7 mm/yr of dextral shear distributed across the northern Walker Lane.     

Survey of Nitrate Contamination in Shallow Domestic Drinking Water Wells of the Inner Coastal Plain of Georgia

Beginning in 1990, 2,588 wells were sampled within the Inner Coastal Plain of Georgia in an effort to assess the quality of ground water in this major farm belt. The project was one aspect of an EPA-sponsored program to assess ground-water quality statewide. Several variables were measured, including pH, specific conductivity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, nitrate, nitrite, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate. In some wells sulfate, chloride, potassium, iron, and manganese contents were also determined. Particular emphasis was placed, however, on pH, specific conductivity, temperature, and nitrite/nitrate content. Generally, pH was between 6 and 8, and temperatures were within a range of 18° and 24°Celsius. Measurements of specific conductivity varied, but averaged 250–275 microsiemens/cm. Nitrite contamination was negligible, and nitrate contamination of the ground water within the shallow aquifers did not appear to be significant. In fact, 56% of the wells sampled showed no detectable signs of nitrate or nitrite contamination. There were, however, a few isolated wells where nitrate as nitrogen measurements exceeded the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Standard of 10 ppm. The general lack of contamination may be the result of the nature of the agricultural practices used in this region and/or the effect of natural denitrification.     

Ein Nomogramm zur Bestimmung des Transmissionskoeffizienten sowie einige Bemerkungen zur Methode seiner Berechnung in der Limnologie

Riassunto è presentato un nomogramma per l'elaborazione dei valori fotometrici per ricerche sulla penetrazione della luce nell'acqua dei laghi. è inoltre discusso il procedimento matematico per il calcolo della media dei coefficienti d'estinzione; si è trovato che esistono, per questo calcolo, due possibilità, delle quali soltanto una rappresenta la media nel senso matematico. Si propone di utilizare questa media per la risoluzione del problema in esame.

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Aus dem “Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia, ‘Marco de Marchi’, Pallanza (Italia)”.     

A photo-electric nucleus counter with size discrimination

Summary A variation of theNolan-Pollak photo-electric nucleus counter for size discrimination is described. Instead of applying an over-pressure, the sample in fog-tube of the new instrument starts at atmospheric pressure and expands into two evacuated containers. The expansion into the first container is as rapid as possible and this determines the maximum supersaturation. The expansion into the second is slow enough to permit the growth of water drops to limit the supersaturation below the initial value, and yet fast enough so that the expansion is essentially adiabatic. The calibration is essentially the same as long as the sum of the two volumes is constant, and only those particles smaller than the size determined by the initial supersaturation contribute to the reading.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird eine Modifikation des photoelektrischen Kernzählers vonNolan undPollak zur Unterscheidung der Kerngrösse beschrieben. Anstatt einen Ueberdruck in der Nebelkammer zu erzeugen, wird die Luftprobe von ihrem ursprünglichen Luftdruck in zwei evakuierte Behälter expandiert. Die Expansion in den ersten Behälter wird so schnell als möglich durchgeführt; diese bestimmt das Maximum der Uebersättigung. Die Expansion in den zweiten Behälter wird so langsam vorgenommen, dass das Wachsen der Wassertröpfchen ermöglicht und die Uebersättigung unter dem Anfangswert begrenzt wird, doch rasch genug, dass die Expansion im wesentlichen adiabatisch erfolgt. Die Kalibrierung ist im wesentlichen die gleiche, so lange die Summe der zwei Volumina konstant ist, und nur jene Teilchen tragen zur Messung bei, deren Grösse kleiner ist als jene, welche durch die anfängliche Uebersättigung bestimmt ist.