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Characteristics and variability of storm tracks in the north Pacific, Bering Sea, and Alaska
The North Pacific and Bering Sea regions represent loci of cyclogenesis and storm track activity. In this paper climatological properties of extratropical storms in the North Pacific/Bering Sea are presented based upon aggregate statistics of individual storm tracks calculated by means of a feature-tracking algorithm run using NCEPâNCAR reanalysis data from 1948/49 to 2008, provided by the NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Climate Diagnostics Center. Storm identification is based on the 850-hPa relative vorticity field (ζ) instead of the often-used mean sea level pressure; ζ is a prognostic field, a good indicator of synoptic-scale dynamics, and is directly related to the wind speed. Emphasis extends beyond winter to provide detailed consideration of all seasons.
Results show that the interseasonal variability is not as large during the spring and autumn seasons. Most of the storm variablesâgenesis, intensity, track densityâexhibited a maxima pattern that was oriented along a zonal axis. From season to season this axis underwent a northâsouth shift and, in some cases, a rotation to the northeast. This was determined to be a result of zonal heating variations and midtropospheric moisture patterns. Barotropic processes have an influence in shaping the downstream end of storm tracks and, together with the blocking influence of the coastal orography of northwest North America, result in high lysis concentrations, effectively making the Gulf of Alaska the âgraveyardâ of Pacific storms. Summer storms tended to be longest in duration. Temporal trends tended to be weak over the study area. SST did not emerge as a major cyclogenesis control in the Gulf of Alaska
Evidence of amplitude modulation due to Resonant Mode Coupling in the delta Scuti star KIC5892969
A study of the star KIC5892969 observed by the Kepler satellite is presented.
Its three highest amplitude modes present a strong amplitude modulation. The
aim of this work is to investigate amplitude variations in this star and their
possible cause. Using the 4 years-long observations available, we obtained the
frequency content of the full light curve. Then, we studied the amplitude and
phase variations with time using shorter time stamps. The results obtained are
compared with the predicted ones for resonant mode coupling of an unstable mode
with lower frequency stable modes. Our conclusion is that resonant mode
coupling is consistent as an amplitude limitation mechanism in several modes of
KIC5892969 and we discuss to which extent it might play an important role for
other delta Scuti stars
Multi-site observations of Delta Scuti stars 7 Aql and 8 Aql (a new Delta Scuti variable): The twelfth STEPHI campaign in 2003
We present an analysis of the pulsation behaviour of the Delta Scuti stars 7
Aql (HD 174532) and 8 Aql (HD 174589) -- a new variable star -- observed in the
framework of STEPHI XII campaign during 2003 June--July. 183 hours of high
precision photometry were acquired by using four-channel photometers at three
sites on three continents during 21 days. The light curves and amplitude
spectra were obtained following a classical scheme of multi-channel photometry.
Observations in different filters were also obtained and analyzed. Six and
three frequencies have been unambiguously detected above a 99% confidence level
in the range 0.090 mHz--0.300 mHz and 0.100 mHz-- 0.145 mHz in 7 Aql and 8 Aql
respectively. A comparison of observed and theoretical frequencies shows that 7
Aql and 8 Aql may oscillate with p modes of low radial orders, typical among
Delta Scuti stars. In terms of radial oscillations the range of 8 Aql goes from
n=1 to n=3 while for 7 Aql the range spans from n=4 to n=7. Non-radial
oscillations have to be present in both stars as well. The expected range of
excited modes according to a non adiabatic analysis goes from n=1 to n=6 in
both stars.Comment: 8 pages, 7 fugures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in
Astronomical Journa
Measuring the extent of convective cores in low-mass stars using Kepler data: towards a calibration of core overshooting
Our poor understanding of the boundaries of convective cores generates large
uncertainties on the extent of these cores and thus on stellar ages. Our aim is
to use asteroseismology to consistently measure the extent of convective cores
in a sample of main-sequence stars whose masses lie around the mass-limit for
having a convective core. We first test and validate a seismic diagnostic that
was proposed to probe in a model-dependent way the extent of convective cores
using the so-called ratios, which are built with and
modes. We apply this procedure to 24 low-mass stars chosen among Kepler targets
to optimize the efficiency of this diagnostic. For this purpose, we compute
grids of stellar models with both the CESAM2k and MESA evolution codes, where
the extensions of convective cores are modeled either by an instantaneous
mixing or as a diffusion process. Among the selected targets, we are able to
unambiguously detect convective cores in eight stars and we obtain seismic
measurements of the extent of the mixed core in these targets with a good
agreement between the CESAM2k and MESA codes. By performing optimizations using
the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, we then obtain estimates of the amount of
extra-mixing beyond the core that is required in CESAM2k to reproduce seismic
observations for these eight stars and we show that this can be used to propose
a calibration of this quantity. This calibration depends on the prescription
chosen for the extra-mixing, but we find that it should be valid also for the
code MESA, provided the same prescription is used. This study constitutes a
first step towards the calibration of the extension of convective cores in
low-mass stars, which will help reduce the uncertainties on the ages of these
stars.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, accepted in A&
A systematic comparison of continuous and discrete mixture models
Modellers are increasingly relying on the use of continuous random coefficients models, such as Mixed
Logit, for the representation of variations in tastes across individuals. In this paper, we provide an indepth
comparison of the performance of the Mixed Logit model with that of its far less commonly used
discrete mixture counterpart, making use of a combination of real and simulated datasets. The results not
only show significant computational advantages for the discrete mixture approach, but also highlight
greater flexibility, and show that, across a host of scenarios, the discrete mixture models are able to offer
comparable or indeed superior model performance
Period-luminosity relations in evolved red giants explained by solar-like oscillations
Solar-like oscillations in red giants have been investigated with CoRoT and
Kepler, while pulsations in more evolved M giants have been studied with
ground-based microlensing surveys. After 3.1 years of observation with Kepler,
it is now possible to make a link between these different observations of
semi-regular variables. We aim to identify period-luminosity sequences in
evolved red giants identified as semi-regular variables. Then, we investigate
the consequences of the comparison of ground-based and space-borne
observations. We have first measured global oscillation parameters of evolved
red giants observed with Kepler with the envelope autocorrelation function
method. We then used an extended form of the universal red giant oscillation
pattern, extrapolated to very low frequency, to fully identify their
oscillations. From the link between red giant oscillations observed by Kepler
and period-luminosity sequences, we have identified these relations in evolved
red giants as radial and non-radial solar-like oscillations. We were able to
expand scaling relations at very low frequency. This helped us to identify the
different sequences of period-luminosity relations, and allowed us to propose a
calibration of the K magnitude with the observed frequency large separation.
Interpreting period-luminosity relations in red giants in terms of solar-like
oscillations allows us to investigate, with a firm physical basis, the time
series obtained from ground-based microlensing surveys. This can be done with
an analytical expression that describes the low-frequency oscillation spectra.
The different behavior of oscillations at low frequency, with frequency
separations scaling only approximately with the square root of the mean stellar
density, can be used to address precisely the physics of the semi-regular
variables.Comment: Accepted in A&
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