Solar eclipse

About: Solar eclipse is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2737 publications have been published within this topic receiving 22625 citations.

Stratospheric cooling and perturbation of the meridional flow during the solar eclipse of 7 March 1970.

Abstract: Eight ARCAS meteorological rockets were fired from Wallops Island (38N, 75W) before, during and after the total solar eclipse of 7 March 1970. Detailed temperature and wind data were acquired to an altitude of about 65 km. Pressures and densities were derived by hydrostatic integration of the corrected temperature profiles. A time-height cross section of the temperature data (smoothed to suppress small-scale detail) shows significant cooling mainly in the layer 40–60 km. Maximum amplitude of the temperature perturbation is about 9K, near 50 km. Maximum pressure variation, amounting to a decrease of at least 7%, occurred about one scale height higher, near 58 km. The ARCAS wind observations are independent of the thermodynamic measurements; a time-height analysis of the winds shows a large amplification of the meridional flow, which is found to be consistent with the observed pressure changes. Derivatives in the perturbation equation of motion are evaluated with the aid of a space-time transformat...

Bird Behavior During a Total Solar Eclipse

Abstract: I report avian behavioral responses to a total solar eclipse on the north coast of Venezuela during the afternoon of 26 February 1998. Magnificent Frigate-birds (Fregata magnificens), Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), and Royal Terns (Sterna maxima), which had been foraging over the water before the eclipse, left the bay 39 (terns) or 13 (frigate-birds and pelicans) min before the eclipse became total. The frigate-birds flew inland and the pelicans went to roosts on cliffs bordering the bay. Residents of the local village, who knew the birds' behavior well, remarked that the frigate-birds and pelicans were behaving as they normally did at sunset. Laughing Gulls (Larus atricilla) ceased foraging and flew rapidly back and forth over the water in a tight flock during the 3 min 40 s of totality. Twelve minutes after the solar disc emerged, the frigate-birds and pelicans began to return to the bay, and they and the gulls resumed foraging. The terns still had not reappeared more than 1 hr after totality. Solar eclipses, although of brief duration, apparently reduce light levels sufficiently to temporarily interrupt normal avian diurnal behavior.