1996A&A...305L...5C

The 3₁₃->2₂₀ line of para water at 183.3 GHz (λ=1.67mm) has been observed from the ground toward HH 7-11 at three different dates (in 1989, 1994 and 1995). The emission consists of several discrete spikes at velocities which are blueshifted with respect to the ambient cloud. The strongest spike appeared at a LSR velocity of -93km/s, much lower that the reported velocities of the previously known 22GHz masers, and presents a significant spatial extent of >10" along the blueshifted lobe of the fast component of the CO outflow. The profilesare observed to be strongly time variable. We conclude that the water line emission at 183GHz is of maser nature, and that it arises from a region which has been heated and shock-compressed by the action of the violent outflow emanating from SVS13. We also report the detection of strong water emission in L1448-mm. The spectrum consists of several velocity features and probably of a broad emission plateau. Finally, we report the results from a search for H2O 3₁₃->2₂₀ emission toward several dark clouds harboring HH objects and bipolar molecular outflows.