Editorial: Remembering Natalya Nikolaevna Vygodskaya

As the Guest Editor I want to dedicate this Special Issue in memory of my university professor Natalya Nikolaevna Vygodskaya (Figure 1) [...

Response of CO₂ and H₂O fluxes in a mountainous tropical rainforest in equatorial Indonesia to El Niño events

The possible impact of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events on the main components of CO₂ and H₂O fluxes between the tropical rainforest and the atmosphere is investigated. The fluxes were continuously measured in an old-growth mountainous tropical rainforest in Central Sulawesi in Indonesia using the eddy covariance method for the period from January 2004 to June 2008. During this period, two episodes of El Niño and one episode of La Niña were observed. All these ENSO episodes had moderate intensity and were of the central Pacific type. The temporal variability analysis of the main meteorological parameters and components of CO₂ and H₂O exchange showed a high sensitivity of evapotranspiration (ET) and gross primary production (GPP) of the tropical rainforest to meteorological variations caused by both El Niño and La Niña episodes. Incoming solar radiation is the main governing factor that is responsible for ET and GPP variability. Ecosystem respiration (RE) dynamics depend mainly on the air temperature changes and are almost insensitive to ENSO. Changes in precipitation due to moderate ENSO events did not have any notable effect on ET and GPP, mainly because of sufficient soil moisture conditions even in periods of an anomalous reduction in precipitation in the region

Spectral Components of SS 433

We present results from new optical and UV spectroscopy of the unusual binary system SS 433, and we discuss the relationship of the particular spectral components we observe to the properties of the binary. (1) The continuum spectrum which we associate with flux from the super-Eddington accretion disk and the dense part of its wind. (2) H-alpha moving components which are formed far from the binary orbital plane in the relativistic jets. (3) H-alpha and He I "stationary" emission lines which we suggest are formed in the disk wind in a volume larger than the dimensions of the binary. (4) A weak "stationary" emission feature we identify as a C II 7231,7236 blend that attains maximum radial velocity at the orbital quadrature of disk recession. (5) Absorption and emission features from outflowing clumps in the disk wind (seen most clearly in an episode of blue-shifted Na I emission). (6) We found no clear evidence of the absorption line spectrum of the optical star, although we point out the presence of He I absorption features (blended with the stationary emission) with the expected radial velocity trend at the orbital and precessional phases when the star might best be seen. (7) A rich interstellar absorption spectrum of diffuse interstellar bands. The results suggest that the binary is embedded in an expanding thick disk (detected in recent radio observations) which is fed by the wind from the super-Eddington accretion disk.Comment: Submitted to Ap