Search results for "Planetary Science"
showing 10 items of 4367 documents
Interannual to interdecadal variability of winter and summer southern African rainfall, and their teleconnections
2016
This study examines for the first time the changing characteristics of summer and winter southern African rainfall and their teleconnections with large-scale climate through the dominant time scales of variability. As determined by wavelet analysis, the austral summer and winter rainfall indices exhibit three significant time scales of variability over the twentieth century: interdecadal (15–28 years), quasi-decadal (8–13 years), and interannual (2–8 years). Teleconnections with global sea surface temperature and atmospheric circulation anomalies are established here but are different for each time scale. Tropical/subtropical teleconnections emerge as the main driver of austral summer rainf…
Multi-point galactic cosmic ray measurements between 1 and 4.5 AU over a full solar cycle
2019
The radiation data collected by the Standard Radiation Environment Monitor (SREM) aboard ESA missions INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory), Rosetta, Herschel, Planck and Proba-1, and by the high-energy neutron detector (HEND) instrument aboard Mars Odyssey, are analysed with an emphasis on characterising galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) in the inner heliosphere. A cross calibration between all sensors was performed for this study, which can also be used in subsequent works. We investigate the stability of the SREM detectors over long-term periods. The radiation data are compared qualitatively and quantitatively with the corresponding solar activity. Based on INTEGRAL and Ro…
Retrieval of atmospheric CH4profiles from Fourier transform infrared data using dimension reduction and MCMC
2016
We introduce an inversion method that uses dimension reduction for the retrieval of atmospheric methane (CH4) profiles. Uncertainty analysis is performed using the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) statistical estimation. These techniques are used to retrieve CH4 profiles from the ground-based spectral measurements by the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) instrument at Sodankyla (67.4 degrees N, 26.6 degrees E), Northern Finland. The Sodankyla FTS is part of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), a global network that observes solar spectra in near-infrared wavelengths. The high spectral resolution of the data provides approximately 3 degrees of freedom about the vertical struc…
Thermomechanical modeling of slab eduction
2012
[1] Plate eduction is a geodynamic process characterized by normal-sense coherent motion of previously subducted continental plate. This mechanism may occur after slab detachment has separated the negatively buoyant oceanic plate from the positively buoyant orogenic root. Eduction may therefore be partly responsible for exhumation of high pressure rocks and late orogenic extension. We used two-dimensional thermomechanical modeling to investigate the main features of the plate eduction model. The results show that eduction can lead to the quasi adiabatic decompression of the subducted crust (≈2 GPa) in a timespan of 5 My, large localized extensional strain in the former subduction channel, f…
Intense magmatic degassing through the lake of Copahue volcano, 2013–2014
2015
Here we report on the first assessment of volatile fluxes from the hyperacid crater lake hosted within the summit crater of Copahue, a very active volcano on the Argentina-Chile border. Our observations were performed using a variety of in situ and remote sensing techniques during field campaigns in March 2013, when the crater hosted an active fumarole field, and in March 2014, when an acidic volcanic lake covered the fumarole field. In the latter campaign, we found that 566 to 1373 t d -1 of SO 2 were being emitted from the lake in a plume that appeared largely invisible. This, combined with our derived bulk plume composition, was converted into flux of other volcanic species (H 2 O ~ 1098…
Relationship between weather regimes and atmospheric rivers in East Antarctica.
2021
25 pages; International audience; Here, we define weather regimes in the East Antarctica—Southern Ocean sector based on daily anomalies of 700 hPa geopotential height derived from ERA5 reanalysis during 1979–2018. Most regimes and their preferred transitions depict synoptic-scale disturbances propagating eastwards off the Antarctic coastline. While regime sequences are generally short, their interannual variability is strongly driven by the polarity of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Regime occurrences are then intersected with atmospheric rivers (ARs) detected over the same region and period. ARs are equiprobable throughout the year, but clearly concentrate during regimes associated with …
Blue Optical Observations of Narrow Bipolar Events by ASIM Suggest Corona Streamer Activity in Thunderstorms
2020
While narrow bipolar events (NBEs) could be related with lightning initiation, their intrinsic physics remains in question. Here we report on optical measurements by the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on the International Space Station (ISS) of blue flashes associated with NBEs. They are observed in a narrow blue band centered at 337 nm, with no simultaneous activity at 777.4 nm, considered a strong lightning emission line. From radio waves measured from the ground, we find that 7 of 10 single-pulse blue events can be identified as positive NBEs. The source altitudes estimated from optical and radio signals agree and indicate that the sources of the blue flashes are located be…
Recent changes in air temperature, heat waves occurrences, and atmospheric circulation in Northern Africa
2013
This study documents the time evolution of air temperature and heat waves occurrences over Northern Africa for the period 1979-2011. A significant warming (1°-3°C), appearing by the mid-1960s over Sahara and Sahel, is associated with higher/lesser frequency of warm/cold temperatures, as with longer duration and higher occurrences of heat waves. Heat waves episodes of at least 4 day duration have been examined after removing the long-term evolution. These episodes are associated with specific anomalies: (i) in spring, positive low-level temperature anomalies over the Sahel and Sahara; low and midlevel cyclonic rotation over Morocco associated with a Rossby wave pattern, lessening the Harmatt…
A new technique for observationally derived boundary conditions for space weather
2018
This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 647214). D.H.M. would like to thank STFC and the Leverhulme Trust for their financial support. ARY was supported by STFC consortium grant ST/N000781/1 to the universities of Dundee and Durham. Context. In recent years, space weather research has focused on developing modelling techniques to predict the arrival time and properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) at the Earth. The aim of this paper is to propose a new modelling technique suitable for the next generation of Space Weather predictive tools that is both efficie…
High-speed intensified video recordings of sprites and elves over the western Mediterranean Sea during winter thunderstorms
2010
We report the first intensified high‐speed video images of elves, sprites, and halos observed in Europe. All the events corresponded to winter season thunderstorms over the Mediterranean Sea. The observations comprise many elves generated by both cloud‐to‐ground lightning current polarities. In 8 of the 14 sprite observations we observed an elve previous to the sprite. In three cases we observed also an elve quickly followed by a halo and a sprite. In several observations we observed lightning light before the mesospheric transient luminous event. We present a case where the lightning from cloud tops was visible during the entire event. Thanks to the high‐speed videos and their resolution a…