Investigation of a Possible Link between Solar Activity and Climate Change in Saudi Arabia: Rainfall Patterns

In this study, annual, quarterly, and monthly mean precipitation data in Saudi Arabia were correlated with sunspot number (SSN) and galactic cosmic ray (CR) flux over 35 years (1985-2019). The results show that the strength, magnitude, proportion and statistical significance of the relationship between precipitation and the two variables varied by season and month. We find that mean annual precipitation in Saudi Arabia, from May to November, and summer and autumn are correlated with cosmic rays and inversely correlated with SSN. Correlations of varying intensities and scales were found during the remaining months and during winter and spring. The relationships between the rainfall and SSN and CR for each solar cycle were investigated and showed that for all three cycles, the annual rainfall over Saudi Arabia has a positive correlation with CR. Different results were obtained when the seasonal rainfall data correlated with the SSNs and CRs during each cycle. The results obtained, in terms of their strength and magnitude, are affected by terrestrial and extra-terrestrial factors. These factors have been briefly presented and discussed. These findings represent a step towards understanding the possible role of solar activity in climate change for future meteorological phenomenon forecasting, even if the physical mechanism is still poorly quantified.

The Role of Atmospheric Pressure, Temperature, and Humidity on Cosmic Ray Muons at a Low Latitude Station

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between atmospheric conditions and cosmic ray (CR) muons using daily and monthly CR data collected by the KAAU muon detector in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between 2007 and 2012. Specifically, the study examined the effects of atmospheric pressure, air temperature, and relative humidity on CR muons at different time scales (annual, seasonal, and monthly). The results of the analysis revealed that atmospheric pressure and air temperature had a negative impact on CR muons, while relative humidity had a positive impact. Although air temperature and relative humidity had small mean values across all time scales, their coefficients varied significantly from month to month and season to season. In addition, the study conducted multivariable correlation analyses for each day, which showed that pressure coefficients had consistently negative mean values, while the temperature and humidity coefficients had varying effects, ranging from positive to negative values. The reasons for the variations in the coefficients are not yet fully understood, but the study proposed several possible terrestrial and extraterrestrial explanations. These findings provide important insights into the complex interactions between the Earth’s atmosphere and cosmic rays, which can contribute to a better understanding of the potential impacts of cosmic rays on the Earth’s climate and environment.

On the M-σ Relationship and SMBH Mass Estimates of Selected Nearby Galaxies

Super massive black holes are believed to influence galactic evolution and dynamics. A histogram of SMBH masses for different redshift regimes may reveal clues on how the SMBH evolve in time. A prominent method for SMBH mass estimation is based on the linear correlation between the bulge velocity dispersion and the SMBH mass. Known as M-σ relationship, this method is known to provide reasonable but not very accurate mass estimates due to considerable scatter in data. In order to increase the precision, we surveyed the literature and gathered SMBH and velocity dispersion data for low redshift (z 0.02) spiral galaxies. We report the M-σ relationship for low redshift spiral galaxies as, By using this refined M-σ relationship we measured 32 SMBH masses and determined upper and lower mass boundaries and the mass histogram for spiral galaxies in a narrow redshift regime (0.016 z < 0.017). The spectroscopic data are obtained from The SLOAN Digital Survey and The National Observatory of Turkey (TUG). The targets are selected within a low redshift range for discernible [OIII] lines. TUG observations are carried out on the RTT150 1.5 m telescope using TUG Faint Object Spectrographic Camera and the SLOAN data are obtained from the 7th data release of the survey. We measured the bandwidths of narrow [OIII] lines, which are shown to be indicative in estimating stellar bulge velocity dispersion and estimated the central black hole masses from the refined version of the empirical M-σ relationship. The estimated masses vary between 9.51 × 106 - 2.36 × 108 solar masses.

Long-Term Rainfall Trends in South West Asia—Saudi Arabia

In this study, rainfall data from 19 stations in Saudi Arabia (SA) for the period 1985-2019 was utilized to investigate interannual, monthly, and seasonal rainfall variations and trends. The magnitudes of these trends were characterized and tested using Mann-Kendall (MK) rank statistics at different significance levels. During this study period, the mean rainfall in SA showed a slight and significant decreasing trend by about 2 mm/35 years. Investigation of seasonal trends of rainfall revealed that Winter and Spring rainfall decreased significantly by 2.7 mm/35 years and 5.4 mm/35 years respectively. Three months showed very slight significant decreasing trends of rainfall. These were the months of February, March and April. Mann-Kendall analyses were carried out to investigate the annual trends of rainfall during three sub-periods, i.e., 1985-1996, 1997-2008, and 2009-2019. The results revealed that while rainfall increased by 5.3 mm/12 years and 7.8 mm/11 years for the first and the third periods respectively, it decreased by about 11 mm/12 years during the second period. While trends of rainfall in Saudi Arabia are affected by large scale circulations and local factors, the effect of extraterrestrial factors, such as solar activity and its consequent effects on the climate may, additionally, play a potential role in affecting the pattern of rainfall in Saudi Arabia.

Are collisions with electrons important for modeling the polarization of the lines of the C2 solar molecule?

Observations of the second solar spectrum(SSS) revealed the existence of prominent linear polarization signals due to lines of the C2 molecule.Interpretation of the SSS is the only tool to obtain the weak and turbulent magnetic field which is widespread in the Quiet Sun.However,this interpretation is conditioned by the determination of accurate collisional data.In this context,we present a formulation of the problem of the calculation of the polarization transfer rates by collisions of polarized C2 states with electrons.The obtained formulae are applied to determine,for the first time,the polarization transfer rates between the C2 states of the Swan band electronic system(a 3Πu d 3Πq) and electrons for temperatures going up from 1000 to 10000 K.However,due to the closeness of the electronic states of the C2 molecule,the two electronic d 3Πg and a 3Πu cannot be disconnected from the other electronic levels and,thus,a model based on only two states is not sufficient to describe the formation of the lines in the Swan band.Consequently,we also calculated the collisional polarization transfer rates in the case where the first eight electronic states of C2 are taken into account.All rates are given as functions of the temperature by power laws.Our results should be useful for future solar applications.

Depolarizing isotropic collisions of the CN solar molecule with electrons

Existence of linear polarization,formed by anisotropic scattering in the photosphere,has been demonstrated observationally as well as theoretically and is called second solar spectrum(SSS).The SSS is distinguished by its structure,which is rich in terms of information.In order to analyze the SSS,it is necessary to evaluate the(de)polarizing effect of isotropic collisions between CN solar molecules and electrons or neutral hydrogen atoms.This work is dedicated to calculations of the polarization transfer rates associated with CN-electron isotropic collisions.We show that usual rates serve as a proxy for polarization transfer rates.Then,we take advantage of available usual excitation collisional rates obtained via sophisticated quantum methods in order to derive the polarization transfer rates for the X^2Σ+-B^2Σ+(violet) and X^2Σ+-A^2Π(red) systems of CN.Our approach is based on the infinite order sudden(IOS)approximation and can be applied for other solar molecules.We discuss the effectiveness of collisions with electrons on the SSS of the CN lines.Our results contribute to reducing the degree of complication in modeling the formation of the SSS of CN.

A New Statistical Distance Scale for Planetary Nebulae,Based on Gaia EDR3

The present work aims to build a new statistical distance scale for planetary nebulae(PNe)based on a rigorous calibration sample.The distances of the calibration sample are derived from the trigonometric parallax method using the recent measurements of Gaia Early Data Release 3(Gaia EDR3).The new distance scale is created by applying the well-known linear relationship between the radio surface brightness temperature and the nebular radius.The calibration sample is made up of 96 PNe of accurately computed distances with uncertainties less than20%.Earlier ground-and space-based trigonometric parallaxes of PNe display inconsistency with those of Gaia,particularly the Hipparcos results.In addition,these measurements have appreciably lower precision than those of Gaia.When compared to the trigonometric technique,the expansion and kinematic methods exhibited more consistency than the spectroscopic,extinction,gravity,and photoionization methods.Furthermore,contrary to earlier results in the literature,the extinction and gravity methods,on average,underestimate and slightly overestimate the PN distances respectively.As a byproduct of extracting the Gaia parallaxes,we detect the radial velocity and variability for 14 and 3 PN central stars(CSs),respectively.To our knowledge,the variability of Hen 2-447 CS has been determined for the first time.

Effect of anisotropic collisions on solar scattering polarization

Scattering of anisotropic radiation by atoms,ions or molecules is sufficient to generate linear polarization observable in stars and planets’atmospheres,circumstellar environments,and in particular in the Sun’s atmosphere.This kind of polarization is called scattering polarization(SP)or second solar spectrum(SSS)if it is formed near the limb of the solar photosphere.Generation of linear SP can typically be reached more easily than circular SP.Interestingly,the latter is often absent in observations and theories.Intrigued by this,we propose to demonstrate how circular SP can be created by anisotropic collisions if a magnetic field is present.We also demonstrate how anisotropic collisions can result in the creation of circular SP if the radiation field is anisotropic.We show that under certain conditions,linear SP creation is accompanied by the emergence of circular SP which can be useful for diagnostics of solar and astrophysical plasmas.We treat an example and calculate the density matrix elements of tensorial order k=1 which are directly associated with the presence of circular SP.This work should encourage theoretical and observational research to be increasingly oriented towards circular SP profiles in addition to linear SP in order to improve our analysis tools of astrophysical and solar observations.