Great Storm Research Articles

Austral electrojet indices derived for the great storm of March 1989 1177

Available magnetic records from eight stations in the Antarctica, for the March 1989 geomagnetic storm, are used to construct the southern hemisphere auroral indices, analogous to the boreal ones. The results show a diurnal variation depending on the distribution of the stations. An acceptable correlation between the northern and southern hemisphere indices are found except for the index indicating the presence of the eastward auroral electrojet. However, differences in the amplitudes of both auroral electrojet indices were observed.

The Impending Appearance of Comet Tempel–Tuttle and the Leonid Meteors

Using the available observations in 1699, 1865–1866, and 1965, an orbit has been recomputed for periodic comet 55P/Tempel–Tuttle, the parent body of the Leonid meteors. The comet's motion was numerically integrated back in time for two millennia and ephemerides were computed for each perihelion return. Chinese observations of the comet in 1366 are well represented, and possible (but not definite) observations of the comet in October 1234 and January 1035 have been identified. The Leonid meteors have been observed sinceAD902. Prior to the eighth century, no Leonid meteors should have been visible because the comet's orbit passed too far outside that of the Earth. By using previously recorded accounts of the Leonid meteor showers and storms as a guide, predictions for the forthcoming Leonid displays in November of 1996–1999 are provided. The 1998 and 1999 events hold the most promise for an impressive Leonid meteor display, although there seems little likelihood that the great storms of 1833 and 1966 will be repeated at this apparition.

England's Great Storm

England's Great Storm

Observations of iron, silicon, and other heavy ions in the geostationary altitude region during late March 1991

Following the great sudden storm commencement of March 24, 1991, observations were made aboard CRRES of Fe, Mg, Si, and other heavy ions in the energy range of several tens to a few hundred keV/n. The charge states of these heavy ions were observed to change abruptly. For example, the dominant Fe charge state changed at one point from q = 9+ to q = 16+. We suggest that ions from the solar corona, retaining the charge state frozen in near the Sim, were convected inward to the location of CRRES from the plasma sheet within minutes. The ions were energized in the convection process, and the ionic charge state was unaltered by charge exchange. The very large magnetospheric electric fields associated with the highly disturbed geomagnetic conditions were required to enable the ions to reach CRRES. Guiding center simulations were carried out which support this hypothesis. At least two ion populations were observed corresponding to temperatures at two different coronal locations, and the observed changes in heavy‐ion charge state were caused by a sequence of solar wind parcels sweeping over the Earth's magnetosphere. The signature of a change from low to high temperature seems to fit well the suggestions of Tsurutani and Gonzales [1994], of a fast solar wind stream tamped by a slower one, as a generator of great storms.

The California Storm of January 1862

The greatest storm in the written history of California struck the region in the winter of 1861–1862. The unusual weather began on Christmas Eve, 1861, and persisted for some 45 days as a series of middle-latitude cyclones made landfall along the California coast. Episodes of very cold and very warm temperatures occurred both during the storm and in the spring of 1862 as meridional flow prevailed. Heavy precipitation swelled the Santa Ana River to more than triple the highest estimated discharge in this century. High water levels in coastal streams between Los Angeles and San Diego persisted into the spring. Lakes were created in the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert. Arroyos were cut. Sediments from the flood may be preserved in offshore basins.

Mid-latitude ionosphere during two great geomagnetic storms

The ionospheric disturbances observed at many European ionosonde stations in association with the severe geomagnetic storms occurring on 19-20 December 1980 and 11-12 April 1981 were investigated by using the available ionospheric and geomagnetic data. During these storms the ionospheric F region underwent major changes at all mid-latitudes. However, the variations from storm to storm were much larger at lower mid-latitudes. These results support the view that even in assessing the response of the mid-latitude ionosphere to severe geomagnetic storms it is necessary to distinguish carefully between global, regional and local behaviour.

ESP6 (or, snowbound during the great storm of '96)

ESP6 (or, snowbound during the great storm of '96)

The formation of a dynamically unstable ridge at 500 hPa as a precursor of surface cyclogenesis in the central Mediterranean

AbstractAn attempt is made to find the dynamical and physical characteristics of the atmospheric circulation which contributed to the development of a great storm in the vicinity of Greece on 5 October 1989. The surface cyclogenesis could be considered as a consequence of an upper‐tropospheric minor wave which formed upstream on the eastern flank of a blocking‐type anticyclone which was centred over Britain and dominated the atmospheric circulation over western Europe. This minor wave formed three days before the initiation of the surface cyclogenesis and could be explained by the theory of ‘a dynamically unstable ridge’. As the wave moved south‐eastwards, an elongated trough formed in the upper troposphere. The southernmost part of this elongated trough was disrupted by dynamical processes, leading finally to the formation of a cut‐off low. When the area of positive relative vorticity advection due to the low became superimposed upon a shallow frontal surface lying across southern Greece in the afternoon of 4 October 1989, a deep depression developed at the surface between Crete and Athens during the next 12 hours. To further elucidate the role played by the forcing conditions at the upper levels in the surface cyclogenesis, the potential vorticity has been analysed.

Strong; wind effects on railway operations — 16th October 1987

Abstract A brief review is undertaken of the general effects of strong winds on British Rail (BR) operations. Focusing, in particular, on railway vehicle overturning the effect of the great storm of 1987 on BR operations in the South-east is examined from BR contemporary sources. These show in graphic detail the degree of destruction and the gradual paralysis of the network as it occurred early on 16th October. A discussion is undertaken of the reasons for the absence of a vehicle overturning incident despite it being likely that wind strengths were sufficient for this to happen. It is concluded that this was due to the time of day of the storm peak and the rail system becoming fail-safe by tree fall.

Windblown trees as a palaeoclimate indicator: the character and role of gusts

Abstract Regional studies of the fall-directions of windblown trees preserved in peats, lignites and coals offer the possibility of widening knowledge of palaeowind fields beyond arid regions to areas where precipitation exceeded evaporation. For the successful interpretation of tree fall-directions, however, an improved understanding is required of tree-wind interactions and of the sources of variance in regional patterns of fall. The distribution of tree fall-directions in a swathe created during the Great Storm of October 1987 in southeast England provides the first direct and detailed evidence for the structure and role in tree-damage of canopy-scale coherent vortices (with a gust part) in the atmospheric, rough-wall, turbulent boundary layer. The fall pattern appears to confirm the inference, based so far on purely meteorological evidence, that the vortices, in which the strongest part is described as a gust, combine features of Townsend's double-roller model of turbulence with Theodorsen's concept of the horseshoe vortex. The gust part, as registered by the spread of tree fall-directions in the swathe analysed, appears to contribute 20–25% of the total variance of tree fall-directions due to storms over a region in a geologically significant interval of time.

The Court at War, and the War at the Court

The Court at War, and the War at the Court Melvin I. Urofsky OliverWendell Holmes, Jr., once commented about the alleged calmness oflife on the Supreme Court: “We are very quiet there, but it is the quiet of a storm centre.”1 Had Holmes been on the Court during World War II, he might well have reconsidered his well-known aphorism. There was indeed a great storm blowing not only out­ side the Court but around the world in the form of the most destructive war ever fought in hu­ man history. Such turmoil could hardly leave the Supreme Court unscathed, and the Court af­ fected and was in turn affected by that great storm. Moreover, the Court could hardly be consid­ ered a calm refuge as personal feuds and jealou­ sies poisoned the well ofcollegiality. Ifthe storm that blew within these walls lacked violence and bloodshed, it nonetheless made the Court a sort of battleground. Thus the title of this article, “The Court at War, and the War at the Court.” I The day after Pearl Harbor Felix Frankfurter told his law clerk, Philip Elman, “Everything has changed and I am going to war.”2 It was a sentiment the otherJustices shared; some wanted to resign from the Court in order to provide greater service to their country. Robert H. Jack­ son later recalled that while there were “occa­ sional cases of importance involving the war power,” such cases were “peaks of interest in a rather dreary sea of briefs and arguments, many of which seemed to have little relationship to the realities of what was going on about us.”3 In the end, however, only James F. Byrnes, Jr., stepped down to assume a key role in the Roosevelt ad­ ministration. Byrnes felt isolated from the great events happening around him. The Court’s slow and deliberative pace frustrated him, and he de­ clared that “I don’t think I can stand the abstrac­ tions ofjurisprudence at a time like this.” When Roosevelt intimated that he needed Byrnes off the Bench, the South Carolinian jumped at the chance. William O. Douglas, Frank Murphy, and Robert H. Jackson also yearned to go back to the executive branch, but Roosevelt, although sorely tempted at times to take them, had gone through too much effortto get them on the Court.4 Furthermore, if any wartime measures actually came before the judiciary, the President wanted to have men in sympathy with his programs hear­ ing those cases. This did not, of course, mean that the Court and the Justices played no role in wartime af­ fairs. Sometimes the Court received a specific war-related request from the administration, such as one to change the rules of admiralty to allow 2 THE COURT AT WAR admiralty courts to impound documents that might be of aid to the enemy and to conduct hear­ ings in secret.5 The Court also had to decide critical issues that affected both the conduct of the war as well as domestic matters. The old Latin phrase—inter arma silent leges—during war law is silent, does not really apply to this war. While the Court has been criticized for its decisions in the Japanese-American relocation cases, in many areas the Court continued devel­ opments in the protection of civil rights and civil liberties begun earlier, and in the accompanying articles that record is examined. The Court is, of course, both an institution as well as a collection of individuals, and the men who sat on this Bench at that time wanted to do all they could to assist their nation in a time of travail. Even before Pearl Harbor, Dou­ glas, Murphy, Jackson, and Frankfurter helped out in many ways, from drafting speeches and legislation to suggesting names for key roles. When the President had to replace the isolation­ ist Harry Woodring as Secretary ofWar in 1940, it had been Frankfurter who arranged matters to bring Henry L. Stimson back to the War De­ partment. Frankfurter also helped draft the Lend-Lease Act, made key recommendations on industrial policy, and would later advise the ad­ ministration on its plans to try the captured Nazi saboteurs.6 Frank...

Geomagnetic storm and substorm aurora observed from Spitsbergen

ABSTRACTThe present study confirms that the auroras of the nightside oval population consist of two main types, namely storm and substorm aurora. Storm-type aurora, which is relatively infrequent, results from bombardment of the upper ionosphere by fast particle streams generated in the solar wind by cataclysmic solar events related to coronal mass ejections. The associated turbulent plasma that is injected into the magnetosphere produces great magnetic storms of world-wide dimensions that may last for days. In contrast, substorm aurora is a frequent (almost daily) occurrence that lasts for an hour or two around geomagnetic midnight. It is generated by the impulsive release of stored magnetospheric energy from the substorm onset region in the Earth's magnetotail and is associated with localised negative magnetic bays in the H (horizontal)-component of the Earth's magnetic field in the vicinity of the auroral oval.

A study of ionospheric electron density deviations during two great storms

A large foF2 data base has been collected for the two great storms occurring in March and October 1989. Plots of foF2 deviations versus time and latitude show the large depressions cannot be caused by a composition change alone; the storm induced dynamo electric field must also play an important role, especially for low latitudes. The observed ionospheric response is hemispherically asymmetric, with the autumnal hemisphere suffering a longer lasting, more latitudinally extended, and deeper depression.

Reply to comments on “the great Newfoundland storm of 12 September 1775” by A. E. Stevens and M. Staveley

Reply to comments on “the great Newfoundland storm of 12 September 1775” by A. E. Stevens and M. Staveley

Comment on “the great Newfoundland storm of 12 September 1775” by A. E. Stevens and M. Staveley

Comment on “the great Newfoundland storm of 12 September 1775” by A. E. Stevens and M. Staveley

About the origin of high energy electrons in the inner radiation belt

A large flux of > 100 MeV electrons were registered in the inner radiation belt on low-altitude satellites. The origin of that flux is discussed. It appears that slow radial diffusion ( D o = 10 −13 1/s) gives a low probability for penetration of these electrons to small L from the boundary of magnetosphere because of synchrotron radiation energy losses. It is found that they can enter to the inner belt region without such losses after great magnetic storms when high speed radial diffusion sometimes takes place. Two great storms on 8–9 Feb.] 986 and 24 March 1991 are examples when one can directly observe a penetration of energetic electron fluxes into magnetosphere. The assumption about their Jovian origin is discussed.

Parents' Perceptions of Their Adolescence: Implications for Parent-Youth Conflict and Family Satisfaction

This study examined the relation between parents' perceptions of "storm and stress" in their own adolescence and their current relationships with their children. A sample of 121 adolescents and their parents (106 mothers) were surveyed. Analysis indicated that over 48% of these parents viewed their adolescence as being stormy and stressful. Parents who experienced greater storm and stress as youth had more conflict in their relationships with their children and were less satisfied with their families. Implications for intergenerational theory and family intervention are presented.

Ionospheric response to the sustained high geomagnetic activity during the March '89 Great Storm

A simulation was conducted to model the high‐latitude ionospheric response to the sustained level of high geomagnetic activity for the great magnetic storm period of March 13‐14, 1989. The geomagnetic and solar activity indices and the DMSP F8 and F9 satellite data for particle precipitation and high‐latitude convection were used as inputs to a time‐dependent ionospheric model (TDIM). The results of the TDIM were compared to both DMSP plasma density data and ground‐based total electron content (TEC) measurements for the great storm period as well as with earlier storm observations. The comparisons showed that the overall structure of the high‐latitude ionosphere was dominated by an increased convection speed within the polar cap that led to increased ion temperatures. In turn, this enhanced the NO+ density, raised the atomic‐to‐molecular ion transition height to over 300 km, decreased NmF2, increased hmF2, and in places either increased ne at 800 km or slightly decreased it. The morphology of the ionosphere under these extreme conditions was considerably different than that modeled for less disturbed intervals. These differences included the character of the dayside tongue of ionization that no longer extended deep into the polar cap. Instead, as a result of the ion heating and consequent reduction in NmF2, a large polar hole occupied much of the polar region. This polar hole extended beyond the auroral oval and merged with the night sector midlatitude trough. The limitations associated with the applicability of the TDIM to the geomagnetic conditions present on March 13 and 14 are discussed. The primary limitations of the TDIM derive from the limited temporal resolution of the model input parameters and the lack of a suitably dynamic thermospheric specification for the great storm conditions. These limitations lead to midlatitude ionospheric storm phases that do not follow those observed.

Recent space shuttle observations of the South Atlantic anomaly and the radiation belt models

Active instruments consisting of a tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) and a proton and heavy ion detector (PHIDE) have been carried on a number of Space Shuttle flights. These instruments have allowed us to map out parts of the South Atlantic Particle Anomaly (SAA) and to compare some of its features with predictions of the AP-8 energetic proton flux models. We have observed that consistent with the generally observed westward drift of the surface features of the terrestrial magnetic field the SAA has moved west by about 6.9 degrees longitude between the epoch year 1970 of the AP-8 solar maximum model and the Space Shuttle observations made twenty years later. However, calculations indicate that except for relatively brief periods following very large magnetic storms the SAA seems to occupy the same position in L-space as in 1970. After the great storm of 24 March 1991 reconfiguration of the inner radiation belt and/or proton injection into the inner belt, a second energetic proton belt was observed to form at L ⋍ 2 . As confirmed by a subsequent flight observations, this belt was shown to persist at least for six months. Our measurements also indicate an upward shift in the L location of the primary belt from L = 1.4 to L = 1.5. In addition we confirm through direct real time observations the existence and the approximate magnitude of the East-West effect. If the need exists for improved and updated radiation belt models in the Space Station era, these observations point out the specific features that should be considered and incorporated when this task is undertaken.

Oleander Odyssey: The Kempners of Galveston, Texas, 1954-198Os (review)

Book Reviews 159 Oleander Odyssey: The Kempners of Galveston, Texas, 1954-1980s, by Harold M. Hyman. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1990. 486 pp. $39.95. Oleander Odyssey is an epic tale of success and failure in America. It tells the story of one family, Harris Kempner and his descendants, and the impact its members had on one city, Galveston, Texas. As such, it traces the rise of a far-reaching family conglomerate-with interests in cotton, sugar, oil, real estate, banking, and insurance-and reads like an Horatio Alger tale. Yet while success is the leitmotif of the Kempner opera, failure lurks behind the surface progress, 'or, perhaps, failure is inherent in the very nature of progress and success for a Jewish family in the United States. The Kempners' economic success was accompanied by acculturation . Old World traditions and beliefs were sacrificed to the customs of the New. Many of the descendants of the first American Kempner-proud, strong Harris Kempner-married outside of his faith into Catholic, Baptist, and Episcopalian families. None of his grandsons had a bar mitzvah. like other children of successful Jewish immigrants, they bought into a more secular vision of America, one that led them away from their roots. The Kempner saga began with Harris, who arrived in New York City from the Polish section of Russia in 1854 With, according to one legend, $1.75 in his pockets. Maybe he had more capital, perhaps as much as $100, but no matter: he came poor and died rich. When he died in 1894 of Bright'S disease, he ICft an estate of a million and a half dollars. He made his fortune, not in New York City or the more socially fluid north, but in the south. One of the many contributions of Hyman's study is that he demonstrates that the South-Old and New-was not a closed society. The Kempner family blended into Galveston society, supportingJewish and WASP institutions. Their story is one of social as well as economic influence. When Harris died, Isaac Herbert "Ike" Kempner guided the family empire. Harris' oldest son, Ike had worked in his family's cotton business from the time he was a teenager, and he was acquainted with worlds outsideJewish Galveston. He attended Saint Mary's, a Catholic preparatory school; Bellevue High School, the Virginia pipeline to the better eastern colleges; and Washington and Lee University, where he befriended future Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, future presidential candidate John W. Davis, and future United States Senator Miles Poindexter. As the head of the Kempner businesses, he moved the organization into the twentieth century. He took more risks than his father and made greater profits. Not content with cotton factoring, he became a cotton merchant. He developed 160 SHOFAR Spring 1994 Vol. 12, No.3 closer ties with American bankers. And he expanded into other businesses. Along the way, he became a social leader in Galveston, helped that city recover from the Great Storm of 1900, and supported a wide range of humanitarian and charitable endeavors. In writing this family history, Hyman had the full cooperation of the Kempner family. He had access to the family's archives and interviewed a number of its members. The Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund even proVided economic support for his research. Hyman, however, controlled the final product; the family made no editorial demands. This said, Hyman generally views the family's activities in a favorable light. The family's participation in the convict lease system is placed in the context of the times, as is the family's treatment of the minorities who worked for its company. And in truth, the family's racial politics were probably more advanced than those of the rest of the South. "I came to America to be an American," Harris Kempner wrote close to the end of his life. Ultimately, that is the story that Hyman tells. As Franklin Roosevelt once suggested, the immigrant saga is part of every American story. Hyman tells his story well, and he ranges comfortably through economic history, social history, religious history, business history, immigrant history, legal history, and biography. Oleander Odyssey is intellectually satisfying and...