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At least 199 records · Page 11

Search for PeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Southern Hemisphere with 5 Yr of Data from the IceCube Observatory

The measurement of diffuse PeV gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane would provide information about the energy spectrum and propagation of Galactic cosmic rays, and the detection of a pointlike source of PeV gamma-rays would be strong evidence for a Galactic source capable of accelerating cosmic rays up to at least a few PeV. This paper presents several unbinned maximum-likelihood searches for PeV gamma-rays in the Southern Hemisphere using 5 yr of data from the IceTop air shower surface detector and the in-ice array of the IceCube Observatory. The combination of both detectors takes advantage of the low muon content and deep shower maximum of gamma-ray air showers and provides excellent sensitivity to gamma-rays between ~0.6 and 100 PeV. Our measurements of pointlike and diffuse Galactic emission of PeV gamma-rays are consistent with the background, so we constrain the angle-integrated diffuse gamma-ray flux from the Galactic plane at 2 PeV to 2.61 × 10 -19 cm -2 s -1 TeV -1 at 90% confidence, assuming an E -3 spectrum, and we estimate 90% upper limits on pointlike emission at 2 PeV between 10 -21 and 10 -20 cm -2 s -1 TeV -1 for an E -2 spectrum, depending on decl. Furthermore, we exclude unbroken power-law emission up to 2 PeV for several TeV gamma-ray sources observed by the High Energy Spectroscopic System and calculate upper limits on the energy cutoffs of these sources at 90% confidence. We also find no PeV gamma-rays correlated with neutrinos from IceCube's high-energy starting event sample. Lastly, these are currently the strongest constraints on PeV gamma-ray emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Hot Degenerates in the MCT Survey. III. A Sample of White Dwarf Stars in the Southern Hemisphere

Here, we present optical spectra of 144 white dwarfs detected in the Montreal–Cambridge–Tololo colorimetric survey, including 120 DA, 12 DB, 4 DO, 1 DQ, and 7 DC stars. We also perform a model atmosphere analysis of all objects in our sample using the so-called spectroscopic technique, or the photometric technique in the case of DC white dwarfs. The main objective of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing effort of confirming spectroscopically all white dwarf candidates in the Gaia survey, in particular in the southern hemisphere. All our spectra are made available in the Montreal White Dwarf Database.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The planetary waves dynamics and interannual course of meteorological parameters of the high latitude stratosphere and mesosphere of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres during the 20th and 21st solar cycles and different phases of QBO

The part of energy of the planetary waves which enters the stratosphere depends on conditions of planetary wave generation and propagation through the tropopause, and the part of planetary wave energy which enters the mesosphere depends on conditions of planetary wave propagation through the stratopause. An attempt is made to estimate connections between extratropical middle atmosphere temperature long term variations and portions of energy of planetary waves which enter the mesosphere and stratosphere during winter seasons in Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Interannual variations of temperatures at the 30 km and 70 km levels are investigated for the central winter months of the period 1970 to 1986. This period includes the descending branch of the 20th solar cycle and the whole 21st cycle. Calculations are made on the basis of measurements at Heiss Island and Molodezhnaya.

Kidiyarova, V. G.↗

SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes): An Ozonesonde Network for Satellite Validation, Climatology and Modeling

In the past 5 years, new tropical ozone data products have been developed from TOMS and other satellites, During this period, global chemical-transport models have been used for ozone assessment studies. However, there has been a lack of independent ozone profiles in the tropics for evaluation of the data sets and models. In 1998, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility and NOAA's CMDL (Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Lab), began a 2-year project to collect a consistent data set by augmenting ozonesonde launches at southern hemisphere tropical sites The measurements are available to the scientific community at a single electronic location - the SHADOZ website at NASA/Goddard: http://code9l6.gsfc.nasa.gov/Data services/Shadoz/shadoz hmpg2.html. Stations in SHADOZ include four islands in the Pacific: Fiji, Tahiti, San Cristobal (Galapagos) and American Samoa. Two sites are at and in the Atlantic: Natal (Brazil) and Ascension Island. Three other sites span Africa (Nairobi and Irene, South Africa) and the Indian Ocean (Reunion Island and Watukosek in Java, Indonesia). All SHADOZ sites are using ECC-type sondes, with the conversion from JMD sondes at Java in 1999, but there are variations in sonde preparation technique and data processing. During the 1998-1999 period, more than 550 sondes were incorporated into the SHADOZ data base. Examples from these measurements illustrate the tropical wave-one pattern in total ozone which is easily detectable by satellite. They also show that the wave-one pattern appears to be in the troposphere, as assumed in creating the modified-residual tropospheric ozone data product from TOMS. SHADOZ will add data from intensive field campaigns from time to time. Recent contributions to the SHADOZ archive are from the INDOEX (Indian Ocean Experiment January-March 1999)sondes at the Maldives (5N, 73E) and 27 sondes on the US NOAA oceanographic vessel, the FIN Ronald H Brown between Virginia (US) and Mauritius via CapeTown, during a cruise in January and February 1999. In 2000, as part of the SAFARI-2000 experiment and a validation project called Southern African Validation for EOS (SAVE), enhancement of ozonesonde launches at Irene (South Africa) will extend the data set from this site beyond the 1998-1999 period.

Thompson, Anne M.↗

Observational and modeling study of the maintenance of short-term subtropical wind maxima in the Southern Hemisphere during SOP-1, FGGE

The findings of the earlier observational work of Hurrel and Vincent (1990) are substantiated using a recent version of the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres fourth-order general circulation model. The observed heating and subtropical zonal flow structure over the South Pacific is reproduced by a control integration with full model physics, for the period of 6-20 January 1979. A subtropical westerly maximum observed over the central South Pacific is found to be highly correlated to enhancements of poleward-moving divergent outflow from tropical heat sources. The divergent meridional flow accounted for much of the total ageostrophic meridional wind in the Southern Hemisphere subtropics, and, consequently, resulted in strong Coriolis accelerations in the entrance regions westerly maxima.

Hurrell, James W.↗

Forecast skill impact of drifting buoys in the Southern Hemisphere

Two analyses are performed to evaluate the effect of drift buoys and the FGGE's special observing system (SOS) on forecasting. The FGGE analysis utilizes all level II-b conventional and special data, and the Nosat analysis employs only surface and conventional upper air data. Twelve five-day forecasts are produced from these data. An additional experiment utilizing the FGGE data base minus buoys data, and the Nosat data base including buoys data is being conducted. The forecasts are compared and synoptic evaluation of the effect of buoys data is described. The results reveal that the FGGE data base with the SOS significantly improves forecasting in the Southern Hemisphere and the loss of buoys data does not have a great effect on forecasting. The Nosat data has less impact on forecasting; however, the addition of buoys data provides an improvement in forecast skills.

Kalnay, E.↗

Regional Elevations in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars From the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter

The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) is an instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft that is currently providing the first high vertical and spatial resolution topographic measurements of surface elevations on Mars. The shot size in the mapping orbit is about 100 m and the shot-to-shot spacing is 330 m. The instrument has a vertical precision of 37.5 cm and a vertical accuracy that depends on the radial accuracy of the MGS orbit that is currently in the range 5-30 km. The initial focus on observations in the nominal mapping mission will be on the southern hemisphere, which was not sampled during the MGS aerobraking hiatus and Science Phasing orbits. During the first several weeks of global mapping there will be emphasis on producing a digital terrain model (DTM) of the Mars '98 landing site.

Smith, D. E.↗

Investigating Tropical Versus Extratropical Influences on the Southern Hemisphere Tropical Edge in the Unified Model

Abstract Since the late 1970s, observations have shown a widening of the tropical Hadley cell (HC) circulation. State‐of‐the‐art climate models reproduce the general trend along with a projected continuous expansion. Discrepancies in expansion rates of observation‐ and model‐based studies have been attributed to differences in applied methods, natural variability and model shortcomings. Furthermore, the driving influence of tropical or extratropical processes on these changes is not well understood. All of this highlights the dynamical mechanisms and the region of origin controlling the tropical width are still insufficiently understood. Here we examine the influence of systematic model biases of the atmosphere‐only Unified Model (UM) onto the simulation of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) tropical edge. We utilize nudged experiments with prescribed sea surface temperatures, where potential temperature and horizontal winds are relaxed back to ERA‐Interim reanalysis for a 20‐year period in selected regions. Correcting model biases in the tropics and extratropics separately allows us to dissect the dominant remote impacts of present model errors onto the SH tropical edge simulation. The experiments are applied to established tropical width metrics ranging from near‐surface to upper‐level metrics capturing the poleward flank of the HC. We find both regions work remotely to reduce errors in the UM fields and location of the tropical edge. Surprisingly, correcting the extratropical biases, south of 45°S, more consistently improves the tropical width across the metrics and seasons than nudging the tropics (10°N–10°S). These findings demonstrate the substantial role of extratropical influences in locating the SH tropical edge.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Discoveries about Tropical Ozone from Satellite and SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere ADditional Ozonesondes)

We have been producing near-real tropical tropospheric ozone ("TTO") data from TOMS since 1997 with Prof. Hudson and students at the University of Maryland. Maps for 1996-2000 for the operational Earth-Probe instrument reside at: . The tropics is a region strongly influenced by natural variability and anthropogenic activity and the satellite data have been used to track biomass burning pollution and to detect interannual variability and climate signals in ozone. The satellite view of chemical-dynamical interactions in tropospheric ozone is not adequate to capture vertical variability. Thus, in 1998, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) and a team of international sponsors established the SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes) project to address the gap in tropical ozone soundings. SHADOZ provides a public archive of ozonesonde data from twelve tropical and subtropical stations at http://croc.gsfc.nasa.gov/shadoz. Highlights from the first 4-5 years of SHADOZ data (presently > 2000 sondes) will be shown.

Thompson, Anne M.↗

Tropospheric Ozone Increases over the Southern Africa Region: Bellwether for Rapid Growth in Southern Hemisphere Pollution?

Increases in free-tropospheric (FT) ozone based on ozonesonde records from the early 1990s through 2008 over two subtropical stations, Irene (near Pretoria, South Africa) and Réunion (21 deg. S, 55 deg. E; approx. 2800 km NE of Irene in the Indian Ocean), have been reported. Over Irene a large increase in the urban-influenced boundary layer (BL, 1.5-4 km) was also observed during the 18-year period, equivalent to 30%decade−1. Here we show that the Irene BL trend is at least partly due to a gradual change in the sonde launch times from early morning to the midday period. The FT ozone profiles over Irene in 1990-2007 are re-examined, filling in a 1995-1999 gap with ozone profiles taken during the Measurements of Ozone by Airbus In-service Aircraft (MOZAIC) project over nearby Johannesburg. A multivariate regression model that accounts for the annual ozone cycle, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and possible tropopause changes was applied to monthly averaged Irene data from 4 to 11 km and to 1992-2011 Réunion sonde data from 4 to 15 km. Statistically significant trends appear predominantly in the middle and upper troposphere (UT; 4-11 km over Irene, 4-15 km over Réunion) in winter (June-August), with increases 1 ppbv yr(exp. −1) over Irene and approx. 2 ppbv yr(exp. −1) over Réunion. These changes are equivalent to approx. 25 and 35-45%decade( exp. −1), respectively. Both stations also display smaller positive trends in summer, with a 45%decade(exp. −1) ozone increase near the tropopause over Réunion in December. To explain the ozone increases, we investigated a time series of dynamical markers, e.g., potential vorticity (PV) at 330-350 K. PV affects UT ozone over Irene in November-December but displays little relationship with ozone over Réunion. A more likely reason for wintertime FT ozone increases over Irene and Réunion appears to be long-range transport of growing pollution in the Southern Hemisphere. The ozone increases are consistent with trajectory origins of air parcels sampled by the sondes and with recent NOx emissions trends estimated for Africa, South America and Madagascar. For Réunion trajectories also point to sources from the eastern Indian Ocean and Asia.

Trends↗

Measurements of lower tropospheric ozone at mid-latitudes of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere

Ground-based measurements of ozone have been carried out at three stations in the German alps (47 deg N, 11 deg E, altitudes 740, 1776, and 2962 m a.s.l.) as well as at the coastal station Cape Point (34 deg S, 18 deg E). For the mountain sites (at 1776 and 2962 m), trend calculations based on monthly means have yielded O3 growth rates of 0.8 and 0.9 ppbv yr(exp -1), respectively, over the period 1978-91. Seasonally differentiated data sets have yielded higher rates for summer than for winter. The impact of near-ground photochemical O3 production on the observed O3 concentration is shown. No significant long-term O3 trend has been observed at 740 m (valley floor) as well as at the southern hemispheric station Cape Point. Evidence exists for a close relationship between the amplitude variations of the annual cycles of O3 and CO at Cape Point.

Scheel, Hans-Eckhart↗

Discoveries about Tropical Tropospheric Ozone from Satellite and SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes) and a Future Perspective on NASA's Ozone Sensors

We have been producing near-real tropical tropospheric ozone ('TTO') data from TOMS since 1997 with Prof. Hudson and students at the University of Maryland. Maps for 1996-2000 for the operational Earth-Probe instrument reside at: . We also have archived 'TTO' data from the Nimbus 7/TOMS satellite (1979-1992). The tropics is a region strongly influenced by natural variability and anthropogenic activity and the satellite data have been used to track biomass burning pollution and to detect interannual variability and climate signals in ozone. We look forward to future ozone sensors from NASA; four will be launched in 2004 as part of the EOS AURA Mission. The satellite view of chemical-dynamical interactions in tropospheric ozone is not adequate to capture vertical variability. Thus, in 1998, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) and a team of international sponsors established the SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes) project to address the gap in tropical ozone soundings. SHADOZ augments launches at selected sites and provides a public archive of ozonesonde data from twelve tropical and subtropical stations at http://croc.nsfc.nasa.gov/shadoz. The stations are: Ascension Island; Nairobi, Kenya; Irene, South Africa; R,union Island; Watukosek, Java; Fiji; Tahiti; American Samoa; San Cristobal, Galapagos; Natal, Brazil, Malindi, Kenya; Paramaribo, Surinam. From the first 3-4 years of data (presently greater than 1700 sondes), the following features emerge: (a) highly variable tropospheric ozone; (b) a zonal wave-one pattern in tropospheric column ozone; (c) tropospheric ozone variability over the Indian and Pacific Ocean displays strong convective signatures.

Thompson, Anne↗

On the discovery of stars, quasars, and galaxies in the Southern Hemisphere with S-PLUS DR2

ABSTRACT This paper provides a catalogue of stars, quasars, and galaxies for the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey Data Release 2 (S-PLUS DR2) in the Stripe 82 region. We show that a 12-band filter system (5 Sloan-like and 7 narrow bands) allows better performance for object classification than the usual analysis based solely on broad bands (regardless of infrared information). Moreover, we show that our classification is robust against missing values. Using spectroscopically confirmed sources retrieved from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR16 and DR14Q, we train a random forest classifier with the 12 S-PLUS magnitudes + 4 morphological features. A second random forest classifier is trained with the addition of the W1 (3.4 $\mu\mathrm{m} $) and W2 (4.6 $\mu\mathrm{m} $) magnitudes from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Forty-four per cent of our catalogue have WISE counterparts and are provided with classification from both models. We achieve 95.76 per cent (52.47 per cent) of quasar purity, 95.88 per cent (92.24 per cent) of quasar completeness, 99.44 per cent (98.17 per cent) of star purity, 98.22 per cent (78.56 per cent) of star completeness, 98.04 per cent (81.39 per cent) of galaxy purity, and 98.8 per cent (85.37 per cent) of galaxy completeness for the first (second) classifier, for which the metrics were calculated on objects with (without) WISE counterpart. A total of 2926 787 objects that are not in our spectroscopic sample were labelled, obtaining 335 956 quasars, 1347 340 stars, and 1243 391 galaxies. From those, 7.4 per cent, 76.0 per cent, and 58.4 per cent were classified with probabilities above 80 per cent. The catalogue with classification and probabilities for Stripe 82 S-PLUS DR2 is available for download.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Southern hemisphere low level wind circulation statistics from the Seasat scatterometer

Analyses of remotely sensed low-level wind vector data over the Southern Ocean are performed. Five-day averages and monthly means are created and the month-to-month variability during the winter (July-September) of 1978 is investigated. The remotely sensed winds are compared to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABM) and the National Meteorological Center (NMC) surface analyses. In southern latitudes the remotely sensed winds are stronger than what the weather services' analyses suggest, indicating under-estimation by ABM and NMC in these regions. The evolution of the low-level jet and the major stormtracks during the season are studied and different flow regimes are identified. The large-scale variability of the meridional flow is studied with the aid of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The dominance of quasi-stationary wave numbers 3,4, and 5 in the winter flows is evident in both the EOF analysis and the mean flow. The signature of an exceptionally strong blocking situation is evident in July and the special conditions leading to it are discussed. A very large intraseasonal variability with different flow regimes at different months is documented.

Levy, Gad↗

Trends in the Southern Hemisphere

The station data of monthly mean sea level pressure, surface air temperature as well as monthly mean upper air rawinsonde observations were used to study the trends in the southern winter (June, July and August) and summer (December, January and February). This study covers the period 1951 to 1981. Most of the surface data have continuous 31 year records, however, for some high latitude stations, both surface and upper air records started in 1957 or even later. The normalized anomaly for a given variable Z is defined as the departure from the 1951 to 1981 grand mean divided by the standard deviation during the same period. To eliminate the large fluctuations in the data, the 1-3-1 smoothing was applied to the time series of normalized anomalies. The trends of monthly mean temperatures and height from the surface to 200 mb level is documented.

Mo, K. C.↗

Thermospheric neutral wind signatures dependent on the east-west component of the interplanetary magnetic field for Northern and Southern Hemispheres as measured from Dynamics Explorer-2

DE-2 neutral-wind measurements obtained between November and January 1981-1982 and 1982-1983 were analyzed to investigate the effect of the sign of the IMF By component on neutral thermosphere dynamics at F-region altitudes. Maps of the mean neutral circulation for the northern (winter) and southern (summer) polar regions were derived for By positive and negative using polar geomagnetic coordinates. The mean neutral winds demonstrate clear By-dependent neutral wind signatures in both hemispheres.

Thayer, J. P.↗