Classifying Major Explosions and Paroxysms at Stromboli Volcano (Italy) from Space

Stromboli volcano has a persistent activity that is almost exclusively explosive. Predominated by low intensity events, this activity is occasionally interspersed with more powerful episodes, known as major explosions and paroxysms, which represent the main hazards for the inhabitants of the island. Here, we propose a machine learning approach to distinguish between paroxysms and major explosions by using satellite-derived measurements. We investigated the high energy explosive events occurring in the period January 2018–April 2021. Three distinguishing features are taken into account, namely (i) the temporal variations of surface temperature over the summit area, (ii) the magnitude of the explosive volcanic deposits emplaced during each explosion, and (iii) the height of the volcanic ash plume produced by the explosive events. We use optical satellite imagery to compute the land surface temperature (LST) and the ash plume height (PH). The magnitude of the explosive volcanic deposits (EVD) is estimated by using multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) intensity images. Once the input feature vectors were identified, we designed a k-means unsupervised classifier to group the explosive events at Stromboli volcano based on their similarities in two clusters: (1) paroxysms and (2) major explosions. The major explosions are identified by low/medium thermal content, i.e., LSTI around 1.4 °C, low plume height, i.e., PH around 420 m, and low production of explosive deposits, i.e., EVD around 2.5. The paroxysms are extreme events mainly characterized by medium/high thermal content, i.e., LSTI around 2.3 °C, medium/high plume height, i.e., PH around 3330 m, and high production of explosive deposits, i.e., EVD around 10.17. The centroids with coordinates (PH, EVD, LSTI) are: Cp (3330, 10.7, 2.3) for the paroxysms, and Cme (420, 2.5, 1.4) for the major explosions.

MINOT: Modeling the intracluster medium (non-)thermal content and observable prediction tools

In the past decade, the observations of diffuse radio synchrotron emission toward galaxy clusters revealed cosmic-ray (CR) electrons and magnetic fields on megaparsec scales. However, their origin remains poorly understood to date, and several models have been discussed in the literature. CR protons are also expected to accumulate during the formation of clusters and probably contribute to the production of these high-energy electrons. In order to understand the physics of CRs in clusters, combining of observations at various wavelengths is particularly relevant. The exploitation of such data requires using a self-consistent approach including both the thermal and the nonthermal components, so that it is capable of predicting observables associated with the multiwavelength probes at play, in particular in the radio, millimeter, X-ray, and γ-ray bands. We develop and describe such a self-consistent modeling framework, called MINOT (modeling the intracluster medium (non-)thermal content and observable prediction tools) and make this tool available to the community. MINOT models the intracluster diffuse components of a cluster (thermal and nonthermal) as spherically symmetric. It therefore focuses on CRs associated with radio halos. The spectral properties of the cluster CRs are also modeled using various possible approaches. All the thermodynamic properties of a cluster can be computed self-consistently, and the particle physics interactions at play are processed using a framework based on the Naima software. The multiwavelength observables (spectra, profiles, flux, and images) are computed based on the relevant physical process, according to the cluster location (sky and redshift), and based on the sampling defined by the user. With a standard personal computer, the computing time for most cases is far shorter than one second and it can reach about one second for the most complex models. This makes MINOT suitable for instance for Monte Carlo analyses. We describe the implementation of MINOT and how to use it. We also discuss the different assumptions and approximations that are involved and provide various examples regarding the production of output products at different wavelengths. As an illustration, we model the clusters Abell 1795, Abell 2142, and Abell 2255 and compare the MINOT predictions to literature data. While MINOT was originally build to simulate and model data in the γ-ray band, it can be used to model the cluster thermal and nonthermal physical processes for a wide variety of datasets in the radio, millimeter, X-ray, and γ-ray bands, as well as the neutrino emission.

Der Wärmehaushalt periglazialer Hochgebirgsböden – Zusammenhänge zwischen Bodentiefe und Frostwechseln (Nördlicher Tian Shan, Kasachstan)

Ground temperature measurements have been carried out at eleven different sites of the Prokhodnaja valley in the high mountains of the Zailijskij Alatau (Northern Tian Shan, Kazakhstan) between the summers of 2003 and 2004. For this purpose the periglacial zone and adjacent altitudinal zones have been examined between 2,500 and 4,000 m asl with an equidistance of 250 m. The influences of the altitude, the exposure as well as the depth below the earth’s surface on the thermal content and condition of periglacial soils have been considered. The measurements provide useful information about the relations between quantity and quality of freeze-thaw action and the parameters mentioned above.

Non Crystallized Regions of White Dwarfs. Thermodynamics. Opacity. Turbulent Convection

The evolution of White Dwarf stars along their cooling sequences is governed not only by their thermal content, but also by the rate at which heat flows through the external, partially degenerate and non-isothermal layers. In particular, cooling is found to be largely influenced both by the optical atmosphere, and by the convective envelope. The first one, in fact, determines the internal density stratification, down to the point at which electron degeneracy takes over, while the second one affects the temperature stratification in the same layers. The reliability of the present generation of models of White Dwarf envelopes is discussed, on the grounds of the main physical inputs (thermodynamics, opacity, convection theory), for both H-rich and He-rich surface chemical compositions. The conclusion is that, below Log L/L⊙ ≤ −3, we can build little more than test models

The Thermal Content of Quantum States

It is shown that the exact structure of Schrödinger Quantum Mechanics is a consequence of the assumption that there exist two subquantum fluids in local thermal equilibrium.

ON THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE RATE OF ABLATION OF SEA ICE

A study has been made of the heat budget just before and during the season of ablation, of first year sea ice near the head of Tanquary Fiord. Ablation started as the air temperature approached 0 °C, producing a decrease in albedo from approximately 0.6 to 0.2 in less than a week. Typical values of incident shortwave radiation were 800 cal cm−2 day−1 on clear days and 400 cal cm−2 day−1 during heavy overcast. The net influx of all-wave radiation was about 350 cal cm−2 day−1 during the ablation period, and resulted in a rate of ablation of ice of approximately 4 cm day−1.It is shown that the flux of radiative heat is the dominant factor determining the ablation rate and the change in thermal content of the ice sheet. Upward conduction from the sea is small, except when surface melt runoff occurs and collects in a stable layer immediately under the ice sheet. Even partial refreezing in this layer may release large quantities of latent heat to increase the rate of bottom conduction appreciably.