Cosmic-ray anisotropy in the north–south direction

1968 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. S835-S838
Author(s):  
K. Murakami ◽  
S. Kudo

For the study of a cosmic-ray anisotropy in the north–south direction, the day-to-day variation of the difference (N–S) of cosmic-ray neutron intensities between the arctic and the antarctic was examined with respect to solar rotations. Harmonic analysis on the variation of the intensity difference shows the existence of a recurrent variation with half the period of a solar rotation. Such a recurrent variation is closely connected with the rapid phase changes of the cosmic-ray diurnal variation during a solar rotation. Regarding the sectored structure of solar wind reported by Wilcox and Ness, the intensity difference (N–S) increases when the earth is passing near a boundary from the (+) sector into the (−) sector, while it decreases near the other boundary. This N–S anisotropy of cosmic rays seems to be caused by the transitional change of cosmic-ray trajectories near the sector boundary and by the spatial distribution of cosmic-ray flux.

Geophysics ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 514-520
Author(s):  
L. W. Sobczak ◽  
G. J. Taylor

In 1969 the Gravity Division of the Observatories Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, in cooperation with the Research, Development, and Programming Division of the Telecommunications and Electronics Branch of the Department of Transport, undertook an evaluation of the worldwide Omega Navigation System in the Arctic for the Polar Continental Shelf Project. Omega is a long‐range, very low frequency radio navigation system. It consists of 4 (Norway, Trinidad, Hawaii, and New York) of the planned 8 transmitters and provides navigational coverage for the North Atlantic area, North America, and parts of South America (Scull, 1969 and Dick‐Peddie, 1968). These stations presently transmit two frequencies (10.2 kHz and 13.6 kHz) in a sequential pattern synchronized in phase by means of atomic clocks (Tracor, 1968 and Findlay, 1968). The Omega receiver measures the difference of phase of received signals from a pair of transmitters. This measurement defines one line of position (LOP) in a family of hyperbolic lines. Lines of positions defined by the zero phase difference are the lines of position that are numbered on an Omega chart, and the distance between two such lines is known as a lane. A position is determined by the intersection of two lines of position within known lanes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Jesswein ◽  
Heiko Bozem ◽  
Hans-Christoph Lachnitt ◽  
Peter Hoor ◽  
Thomas Wagenhäuser ◽  
...  

Abstract. Inorganic chlorine (Cly) is the sum of the degradation products of long-lived chlorinated source gases. These include the reservoir species (HCl and ClONO2) and active chlorine species (i.e. ClOx). The active chlorine species drive catalytic cycles that deplete ozone in the polar winter stratosphere. This work presents calculations of inorganic chlorine (Cly) derived from chlorinated source gas measurements on board the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) during the Southern hemisphere Transport, Dynamic and Chemistry (SouthTRAC) campaign in late winter and early spring 2019. Results are compared to Cly of the Northern Hemisphere derived from measurements of the POLSTRACC-GW-LCYCLE-SALSA (PGS) campaign in the Arctic winter of 2015/2016. A scaled correlation was used for PGS data, since not all source gases were measured. Cly from a scaled correlation was compared to directly determined Cly and agreed well. An air mass classification based on in situ N2O measurements allocates the measurements to the vortex, the vortex boundary region, and mid-latitudes. Although the Antarctic vortex was weakened in 2019 compared to previous years, Cly reached 1687 ± 20 ppt at 385 K, therefore up to around 50 % of total chlorine could be found in inorganic form inside the Antarctic vortex, whereas only 15 % of total chlorine could be found in inorganic form in the southern mid-latitudes. In contrast, only 40 % of total chlorine could be found in inorganic form in the Arctic vortex during PGS and roughly 20 % in the northern mid-latitudes. Differences inside the respective vortex reaches up to 565 ppt more Cly in the Antarctic vortex 2019 than in the Arctic vortex 2016 (at comparable distance to the local tropopause). As far as is known, this is the first comparison of inorganic chlorine within the respective polar vortex. Based on the results of these two campaigns, the difference of Cly inside the respective vortex is significant and larger than reported inter annual variations.


1956 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 968-984 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Rose ◽  
K. B. Fenton ◽  
J. Katzman ◽  
J. A. Simpson

Results are presented of cosmic ray measurements taken at sea level during 1954–55 from the Arctic to the Antarctic. The equipment consisted of a neutron monitor and a meson telescope. Latitude effects of 1.77 for the nucleonic component and 1.15 for the meson component were measured. The longitude effect at the equator was much less than expected on the basis of the geomagnetic eccentric dipole and the longitude effect at intermediate northern latitudes shows that the longitude of the effective eccentric dipole is considerably west of that of the geomagnetic eccentric dipole. In a previous paper by the same authors, the positions of the equatorial minima were combined with other published cosmic ray measurements to calculate a new cosmic ray geomagnetic equator. In this paper new coordinates are derived on the assumption that these equatorial coordinates apply to a new eccentric dipole, and, therefore, that the equatorial coordinates may be extended to high latitudes. When the complete results are plotted on these coordinates, it is found that an eccentric dipole representation of the earth's magnetic field is inconsistent with the combined observations at all latitudes.


The difference between the northern and southern hemispheres in the distribution of land and sea fundamentally affects the problems of the origin, dispersal and distribution of the biota. Whereas a circumpolar distribution seems to be quite natural in the north, it is much more difficult to explain when we get to the south. Although the naturalists of James Cook’s first and second voyages visited both New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego, the purport of the existence of closely related but geographically widely disjunct organisms did not dawn upon them; Terra Australis, a vision of the old cosmographers to counterbalance the solid North, but searched for in vain by Cook, had disappeared from the map. It fell to Joseph Hooker to discover a circumpolar Flora Antarctica at a time when the Antarctic Continent, thus named by Ross, had become a reality. What Hooker found on truly antarctic shores was not very promising, but the discovery of fossilized gymnosperm wood on Kerguelen made him speculate on former antarctic forests and on the possibility of greater land areas where only small, scattered islands are found now. In a letter to Darwin in November 1851 (Huxley 1918, p. 445) he wrote: ‘... recent discoveries rather tend to ally the N. Zeald. Flora with the Australian—though there is enough affinity with extratropical S. America to be


2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Justino ◽  
W. R. Peltier

Abstract Based on multicentury coupled climate simulations of both modern and glacial maximum conditions, this study focuses on the impact of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) on the earth’s surface climate. Intercomparison of the results obtained in numerical experiments for both climate epochs demonstrates that highly significant changes of surface climate are predicted to have occurred depending upon the phase of the AO and AAO. These climate anomalies differ substantially between the modern and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) states and exhibit a strong seasonal cycle under the latter conditions. Additional investigation has revealed that an intensification of the subtropical gyres in the North Atlantic and North Pacific that are induced during the positive phase of the AO plays a key role in the development of positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in midlatitudes. In the Southern Hemisphere, similarly significant and systematic climate shifts are shown to occur due to variations of the Antarctic Oscillation that are highlighted by a warming over the Antarctic Peninsula and midlatitudes during the positive phase of the AAO. Finally, the authors find that the temporal variability of the AO and of the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is significantly anticorrelated, with this coupling being independent of the season under present-day conditions. Under LGM conditions, however, due to the intensified vigor of the atmospheric circulation, the coupling is found to be stronger during boreal winter.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 6555-6599 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sonkaew ◽  
C. von Savigny ◽  
K.-U. Eichmann ◽  
M. Weber ◽  
A. Rozanov ◽  
...  

Abstract. Stratospheric ozone profiles are retrieved for the period 2002–2009 from SCIAMACHY measurements of limb-scattered solar radiation in the Hartley and Chappuis absorption bands of ozone. This data set is used to determine the chemical ozone loss in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar vortices using the vortex average method. The chemical ozone loss at isentropic levels between 450 K and 600 K is derived from the difference between observed ozone abundances and the ozone modelled considering diabatic cooling, but no chemical ozone loss. The results show chemical ozone losses of up to 20–40% between the beginning of January and the end of March inside the Arctic polar vortex. Strong inter-annual variability of the Arctic ozone loss is observed, with the cold winters 2004/2005 and 2006/2007 showing the largest chemical ozone losses. The ozone mass loss inside the polar vortex is also estimated. In the coldest Arctic winter 2004/2005 the total ozone mass loss is about 30 million tons inside the polar vortex between the 450 K and 600 K isentropic levels from the beginning of January until the end of March. The Antarctic vortex averaged ozone loss as well as the size of the polar vortex do not vary much from year to year. At the 475 K isentropic level ozone losses of 70–80% between mid-August and mid-November are observed every year inside the vortex, also in the anomalous year 2002. The total ozone mass loss inside the Antarctic polar vortex between the 450 K and 600 K isentropic levels is about 55–75 million tons for the period between mid-August and mid-November. Comparisons of the vertical variation of ozone loss derived from SCIAMACHY observations with several independent techniques for the Arctic winter 2004/2005 show very good agreement.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar B. Dimdore-Miles ◽  
Paul I. Palmer ◽  
Lori P. Bruhwiler

Abstract. We consider the utility of the annual inter-polar difference (IPD) as a metric for changes in Arctic emission of methane (CH4). The IPD has been previously defined as the difference between weighted annual means of CH4 mole fraction data collected at polar stations (−53° > latitude > 53°). This subtraction approach (IPDΔ) implicitly assumes that extra-polar CH4 emissions arrive within the same calendar year at both poles. Using an analytic approach we show that a comprehensive description of the IPD includes terms corresponding to the atmospheric transport of air masses from lower latitudes to the polar regions. We show the importance of these transport flux terms in understanding the IPD using idealized numerical experiments with the TM5 global 3-D atmospheric chemistry transport model run from 1980 to 2010. A northern mid-latitude pulse in January 1990, which increases prior emission distributions, arrives at the Arctic with a higher mixing ratio and ≃ 12 months earlier than at the Antarctic. The perturbation at the poles subsequently decays with an e-folding lifetime of ≃ 4 years. A similarly timed pulse emitted from the tropics arrives with a higher value at the Antarctic ≃ 11 months earlier than at the Arctic. This perturbation decays with an e-folding lifetime of ≃ 7 years. These simulations demonstrate that the assumption of symmetric transport of extra-polar emissions to the poles is not realistic, resulting in considerable IPDΔ variations due to variations in emissions and atmospheric transport. We assess how well the annual IPD can detect a constant annual growth rate of Arctic emissions for three scenarios, 0.5 %, 1 %, and 2 %, superimposed on signals from lower latitudes, including random noise. We find that it can take up to 16 years to detect the smallest prescribed trend in Arctic emissions at the 95 % confidence level. Scenarios with higher, but likely unrealistic, growth in Arctic emissions are detected in less than a decade. We argue that a more reliable measurement-driven IPD metric would include data collected from all latitudes, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a global monitoring network to observe decadal changes in atmospheric greenhouse gases.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 161-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. J. Evans

A craterlike structure or "hole" in the Arctic polar ozone layer during March 1986 has been observed in the total ozone images from the total ozone mapping spectrometer instrument on the NIMBUS 7 satellite. Observations from ozonesondes in the vicinity of this crater show a depleted region in the altitude profile from 10 to 16 km. This altitude region of depleted ozone is similar to the depleted layer observed from 12 to 18 km within the Antarctic ozone hole. A comparison has been made between the ozone altitude profile outside the crater at Resolute, N.W.T., Canada (75°N), and the ozone altitude profile inside the crater at Lindenberg, German Democratic Republic, (55°N). The difference in these profiles demonstrates that the crater is due to a process that has altered the altitude distribution of ozone in the 10–16 km region. This depletion could be attributed to either a vertical circulation or a chemical-depletion process.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 549-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Drumond ◽  
Erica Taboada ◽  
Raquel Nieto ◽  
Luis Gimeno ◽  
Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano ◽  
...  

Abstract. A Lagrangian approach was used to identify the moisture sources for 14 ice-core sites located worldwide for the period of 1980–2012. The sites were classified into three domains: Arctic, Central (Andes, Alps, and Kilimanjaro), and Antarctic. The approach was used to compute budgets of evaporation minus precipitation by calculating changes in the specific humidity along 10-day backward trajectories. The results indicate that the oceanic regions around the subtropical high-pressure centres provide most of moisture, and their contribution varies throughout the year following the annual cycles of the centres. For the Arctic Domain, the sources lie in the subtropical North Atlantic and Pacific. The subtropical South Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans provide moisture for the Antarctic Domain. The sources for South America are the Atlantic and South Pacific, for Europe the sources are in the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, and for Asia the sources are the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.


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