ADDITIONAL ULTRA-HIGH-RESOLUTION OBSERVATIONS OF CA-MEDIUM( IONS IN THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR)

We present ultra-high-resolution (0.35 km s(-1) FWHM) observations of the interstellar Ca K line towards seven nearby stars. The spectral re solution was sufficient to resolve the line profiles fully, thereby en abling us to detect hitherto unresolved velocity components, and to ob tain accurate measurements of the velocity dispersions (b values). Abs orption components with velocities similar to those expected for the L ocal Interstellar Cloud (LIC) and the closely associated 'G cloud' wer e identified towards six of the seven stars. However, in most cases th e b values deduced for these components were significantly larger than the b approximate to 2.2 km s(-1) (i.e. T-k approximate to 7000 K, v( t) approximate to 1 km s(-1)) expected for the LIC, and it is argued t hat this results from the presence of additional, spectrally unresolve d, components having similar velocities and physical conditions. For t wo stars (delta Vel and or Pav) we detect interstellar components with much smaller b values (1.1 +/- 0.3 and 0.8 +/- 0.1 km s(-1),respectiv ely) than are expected for low-density clouds within the Local Bubble. In the case of the narrow or Pav component, we also find an anomalous ly large Na I/Ca II column density ratio, which is indicative of a rel atively high density. Thus it is possible that, in addition to LIC-typ e clouds, the local interstellar medium contains a population of previ ously undetected cooler and denser interstellar clouds.