Long-term variations in the net inflow record for Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi is the third largest lake in Africa and plays an important role in water supply, hydropower generation, agriculture and fisheries in the region. Lake level observations started in the 1890s and anecdotal evidence of variations dates back to the early 1800s. A chronology of lake level and outflow variations is presented together with updated estimates for the net inflow to the lake. The inflow series and selected rainfall records were also analysed using an unobserved component approach and, although there was little evidence of long-term trends, there was some indication of increasing interannual variability in recent decades. A weak quasi-periodic behaviour was also noted with a period of approximately 4–8 years. The results provide useful insights into the severity of drought and flood events in the region since the 1890s and the potential for seasonal forecasting of lake levels and outflows

Long-term variations in the net inflow record for Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi is the third largest lake in Africa and plays an important role in water supply, hydropower generation, agriculture and fisheries in the region. Lake level observations started in the 1890s and anecdotal evidence of variations dates back to the early 1800s. A chronology of lake level and outflow variations is presented together with updated estimates for the net inflow to the lake. The inflow series and selected rainfall records were also analysed using an unobserved component approach and, although there was little evidence of long-term trends, there was some indication of increasing interannual variability in recent decades. A weak quasi-periodic behaviour was also noted with a period of approximately 4–8 years. The results provide useful insights into the severity of drought and flood events in the region since the 1890s and the potential for seasonal forecasting of lake levels and outflows

Strange particle production in 158 and 40 AA GeV/cc Pb-Pb and p-Be collisions

Results on strange particle production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 and 40 $A$ GeV/$c$ beam momentum from the NA57 experiment at CERN SPS are presented. Particle yields and ratios are compared with those measured at RHIC. Strangeness enhancements with respect to p-Be reactions at the same beam momenta have been also measured: results about their dependence on centrality and collision energy are reported and discussed.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the "Hot Quarks 2004" Conference, July 18-24 2004, New Mexico, USA, submitted to Journal of Physics G 7 pages, 5 figure

Results on hyperon production from the NA57 experiment

Recent results on hyperon production in Pb--Pb collisions from the NA57 experiment are reported. Strangeness enhancement and the transverse mass spectra properties at 158 GeV per nucleon are described.Comment: submitted to Acta Phys. Hung. A (Heavy Ion Physics

A partial wave analysis of the centrally produced K+K−K^{+}K^{-} and Ks0Ks0K^{0}_{s}K^{0}_{s} systems in pp interactions at 450 GeV/c and new information on the spin of the f1f_{1} (1710)

A partial wave analysis of the centrally produced K+K- and K0K0 channels has been performed in pp collisions using an incident beam momentum of 450 GeV/c. An unambiguous physical solution has been found in each channel. The striking feature is the observation of peaks in the S-wave corresponding to the f0(1500) and fJ(1710) with J = 0. The D-wave shows evidence for the f2(1270)/a2(1320), the f2(1525) and the f2(2150) but there is no evidence for a statistically significant contribution in the D-wave in the 1.7 GeV mass region

A kinematical selection of glueball candidates in central production

A study of central meson production as a function of the difference in transverse momentum ($dP_T$) of the exchanged particles shows that undisputed $q \overline q$ mesons are suppressed at small $dP_T$ whereas the glueball candidates are enhanced

A study of the f0(1370),f0(1500),f0(2000)f_{0}(1370), f_{0}(1500), f_{0}(2000) and f2(1950)f_{2}(1950) observed in centrally produced 4π\pi final states

The production and decay properties of the f0(1370), f0(1500), f0(2000) and f2(1950) have been studied in central pp interactions at 450 GeV/c. The dPT, phi and |t| distributions of these resonances are presented. For the J = 0 states, the f0(1370) and f0(2000) have similar dPT and phi dependences. These are different to the dPT and phi dependences of the f0(980), f0(1500) and f0(1710). For the J = 2 states the f2(1950) has different dependences to the f2(1270) and f2'(1520). This shows that the dPT and phi dependences are not just J phenome