WorldWideScience

Sample records for atmospherics

  1. Jovian atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allison, M.; Travis, L.D.

    1986-10-01

    A conference on the atmosphere of Jupiter produced papers in the areas of thermal and ortho-para hydrogen structure, clouds and chemistry, atmospheric structure, global dynamics, synoptic features and processes, atmospheric dynamics, and future spaceflight opportunities. A session on the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune was included, and the atmosphere of Saturn was discussed in several papers

  2. Staging atmospheres

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bille, Mikkel; Bjerregaard, Peter; Sørensen, Tim Flohr

    2015-01-01

    The article introduces the special issue on staging atmospheres by surveying the philosophical, political and anthropological literature on atmosphere, and explores the relationship between atmosphere, material culture, subjectivity and affect. Atmosphere seems to occupy one of the classic...

  3. Atmospheric contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gruetter, Juerg

    1997-01-01

    It is about the levels of contamination in center America, the population's perception on the problem, effects of the atmospheric contamination, effects in the environment, causes of the atmospheric contamination, possibilities to reduce the atmospheric contamination and list of Roeco Swisscontac in atmospheric contamination

  4. Thermal Band Atmospheric Correction Using Atmospheric Profiles Derived from Global Positioning System Radio Occultation and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagnutti, Mary; Holekamp, Kara; Stewart, Randy; Vaughan, Ronald D.

    2006-01-01

    This Rapid Prototyping Capability study explores the potential to use atmospheric profiles derived from GPS (Global Positioning System) radio occultation measurements and by AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) onboard the Aqua satellite to improve surface temperature retrieval from remotely sensed thermal imagery. This study demonstrates an example of a cross-cutting decision support technology whereby NASA data or models are shown to improve a wide number of observation systems or models. The ability to use one data source to improve others will be critical to the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) where a large number of potentially useful systems will require auxiliary datasets as input for decision support. Atmospheric correction of thermal imagery decouples TOA radiance and separates surface emission from atmospheric emission and absorption. Surface temperature can then be estimated from the surface emission with knowledge of its emissivity. Traditionally, radiosonde sounders or atmospheric models based on radiosonde sounders, such as the NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) ARL (Air Resources Laboratory) READY (Real-time Environmental Application and Display sYstem), provide the atmospheric profiles required to perform atmospheric correction. Unfortunately, these types of data are too spatially sparse and too infrequently taken. The advent of high accuracy, global coverage, atmospheric data using GPS radio occultation and AIRS may provide a new avenue for filling data input gaps. In this study, AIRS and GPS radio occultation derived atmospheric profiles from the German Aerospace Center CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload), the Argentinean Commission on Space Activities SAC-C (Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-C), and the pair of NASA GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites are used as input data in atmospheric radiative transport modeling based on the MODTRAN (MODerate resolution atmospheric

  5. Urban atmospheres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gandy, Matthew

    2017-07-01

    What is an urban atmosphere? How can we differentiate an 'atmosphere' from other facets of urban consciousness and experience? This essay explores some of the wider cultural, political, and philosophical connotations of atmospheres as a focal point for critical reflections on space and subjectivity. The idea of an 'affective atmosphere' as a distinctive kind of mood or shared corporeal phenomenon is considered in relation to recent developments in phenomenology, extended conceptions of agency, and new understandings of materialism. The essay draws in particular on the changing characteristics of air and light to reflect on different forms of sensory experience and their wider cultural and political connotations. The argument highlights some of the tensions and anomalies that permeate contemporary understandings of urban atmospheres.

  6. Atmospheric electricity

    CERN Document Server

    Chalmers, J Alan

    1957-01-01

    Atmospheric Electricity brings together numerous studies on various aspects of atmospheric electricity. This book is composed of 13 chapters that cover the main problems in the field, including the maintenance of the negative charge on the earth and the origin of the charges in thunderstorms. After a brief overview of the historical developments of atmospheric electricity, this book goes on dealing with the general principles, results, methods, and the MKS system of the field. The succeeding chapters are devoted to some aspects of electricity in the atmosphere, such as the occurrence and d

  7. Atmospheric Electricity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aplin, Karen; Fischer, Georg

    2018-02-01

    Electricity occurs in atmospheres across the Solar System planets and beyond, spanning spectacular lightning displays in clouds of water or dust, to more subtle effects of charge and electric fields. On Earth, lightning is likely to have existed for a long time, based on evidence from fossilized lightning strikes in ancient rocks, but observations of planetary lightning are necessarily much more recent. The generation and observations of lightning and other atmospheric electrical processes, both from within-atmosphere measurements, and spacecraft remote sensing, can be readily studied using a comparative planetology approach, with Earth as a model. All atmospheres contain charged molecules, electrons, and/or molecular clusters created by ionization from cosmic rays and other processes, which may affect an atmosphere's energy balance both through aerosol and cloud formation, and direct absorption of radiation. Several planets are anticipated to host a "global electric circuit" by analogy with the circuit occurring on Earth, where thunderstorms drive current of ions or electrons through weakly conductive parts of the atmosphere. This current flow may further modulate an atmosphere's radiative properties through cloud and aerosol effects. Lightning could potentially have implications for life through its effects on atmospheric chemistry and particle transport. It has been observed on many of the Solar System planets (Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) and it may also be present on Venus and Mars. On Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, lightning is thought to be generated in deep water and ice clouds, but discharges can be generated in dust, as for terrestrial volcanic lightning, and on Mars. Other, less well-understood mechanisms causing discharges in non-water clouds also seem likely. The discovery of thousands of exoplanets has recently led to a range of further exotic possibilities for atmospheric electricity, though lightning detection beyond our Solar System

  8. Pluto's atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elliot, J.L.; Dunham, E.W.; Bosh, A.S.; Slivan, S.M.; Young, L.A.

    1989-01-01

    Airborne CCD photometer observations of Pluto's June 9, 1988 stellar occultation have yielded an occultation lightcurve, probing two regions on the sunrise limb 2000 km apart, which reveals an upper atmosphere overlying an extinction layer with an abrupt upper boundary. The extinction layer may surround the entire planet. Attention is given to a model atmosphere whose occultation lightcurve closely duplicates observations; fits of the model to the immersion and emersion lightcurves exhibit no significant derived atmosphere-structure differences. Assuming a pure methane atmosphere, surface pressures of the order of 3 microbars are consistent with the occultation data. 43 references

  9. Atmospheric Habitable Zones in Y Dwarf Atmospheres

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yates, Jack S.; Palmer, Paul I. [School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Biller, Beth; Cockell, Charles S., E-mail: j.s.yates@ed.ac.uk [Centre for Exoplanet Science, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)

    2017-02-20

    We use a simple organism lifecycle model to explore the viability of an atmospheric habitable zone (AHZ), with temperatures that could support Earth-centric life, which sits above an environment that does not support life. To illustrate our model, we use a cool Y dwarf atmosphere, such as WISE J085510.83–0714442.5, whose 4.5–5.2 μ m spectrum shows absorption features consistent with water vapor and clouds. We allow organisms to adapt to their atmospheric environment (described by temperature, convection, and gravity) by adopting different growth strategies that maximize their chance of survival and proliferation. We assume a constant upward vertical velocity through the AHZ. We found that the organism growth strategy is most sensitive to the magnitude of the atmospheric convection. Stronger convection supports the evolution of more massive organisms. For a purely radiative environment, we find that evolved organisms have a mass that is an order of magnitude smaller than terrestrial microbes, thereby defining a dynamical constraint on the dimensions of life that an AHZ can support. Based on a previously defined statistical approach, we infer that there are of the order of 10{sup 9} cool Y brown dwarfs in the Milky Way, and likely a few tens of these objects are within 10 pc from Earth. Our work also has implications for exploring life in the atmospheres of temperate gas giants. Consideration of the habitable volumes in planetary atmospheres significantly increases the volume of habitable space in the galaxy.

  10. Atmospheric chemistry and climate

    OpenAIRE

    Satheesh, SK

    2012-01-01

    Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science where major focus is the composition of the Earth's atmosphere. Knowledge of atmospheric composition is essential due to its interaction with (solar and terrestrial) radiation and interactions of atmospheric species (gaseous and particulate matter) with living organisms. Since atmospheric chemistry covers a vast range of topics, in this article the focus is on the chemistry of atmospheric aerosols with special emphasis on the Indian reg...

  11. Determination of the Atmospheric Neutrino Fluxes from Atmospheric Neutrino Data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gonzalez-Garcia, M. C.; Maltoni, M.; Rojo, J.

    2006-01-01

    The precise knowledge of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes is a key ingredient in the interpretation of the results from any atmospheric neutrino experiment. In the standard atmospheric neutrino data analysis, these fluxes are theoretical inputs obtained from sophisticated numerical calculations based

  12. Atmospheric stability and atmospheric circulation in Athens, Greece

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Synodinou, B.M.; Petrakis, M.; Kassomenos, P.; Lykoudis, S.

    1996-01-01

    In the evaluation and study of atmospheric pollution reference is always made to the stability criteria. These criteria, usually represented as functions of different meteorological data such as wind speed and direction, temperature, solar radiation, etc., play a very important role in the investigation of different parameters that affect the build up of pollution episodes mainly in urban areas. In this paper an attempt is made to evaluate the atmospheric stability criteria based on measurements obtained from two locations in and nearby Athens. The atmospheric stability is then examined along with the other meteorological parameters

  13. Sampling of Atmospheric Precipitation and Deposits for Analysis of Atmospheric Pollution

    OpenAIRE

    Skarżyńska, K.; Polkowska, Ż; Namieśnik, J.

    2006-01-01

    This paper reviews techniques and equipment for collecting precipitation samples from the atmosphere (fog and cloud water) and from atmospheric deposits (dew, hoarfrost, and rime) that are suitable for the evaluation of atmospheric pollution. It discusses the storage and preparation of samples for analysis and also presents bibliographic information on the concentration ranges of inorganic and organic compounds in the precipitation and atmospheric deposit samples.

  14. Atmosphere Impact Losses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlichting, Hilke E.; Mukhopadhyay, Sujoy

    2018-02-01

    Determining the origin of volatiles on terrestrial planets and quantifying atmospheric loss during planet formation is crucial for understanding the history and evolution of planetary atmospheres. Using geochemical observations of noble gases and major volatiles we determine what the present day inventory of volatiles tells us about the sources, the accretion process and the early differentiation of the Earth. We further quantify the key volatile loss mechanisms and the atmospheric loss history during Earth's formation. Volatiles were accreted throughout the Earth's formation, but Earth's early accretion history was volatile poor. Although nebular Ne and possible H in the deep mantle might be a fingerprint of this early accretion, most of the mantle does not remember this signature implying that volatile loss occurred during accretion. Present day geochemistry of volatiles shows no evidence of hydrodynamic escape as the isotopic compositions of most volatiles are chondritic. This suggests that atmospheric loss generated by impacts played a major role during Earth's formation. While many of the volatiles have chondritic isotopic ratios, their relative abundances are certainly not chondritic again suggesting volatile loss tied to impacts. Geochemical evidence of atmospheric loss comes from the {}3He/{}^{22}Ne, halogen ratios (e.g., F/Cl) and low H/N ratios. In addition, the geochemical ratios indicate that most of the water could have been delivered prior to the Moon forming impact and that the Moon forming impact did not drive off the ocean. Given the importance of impacts in determining the volatile budget of the Earth we examine the contributions to atmospheric loss from both small and large impacts. We find that atmospheric mass loss due to impacts can be characterized into three different regimes: 1) Giant Impacts, that create a strong shock transversing the whole planet and that can lead to atmospheric loss globally. 2) Large enough impactors (m_{cap} ≳ √{2

  15. Articulating Atmospheres

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kinch, Sofie

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents an architectural approach to designing computational interfaces by articulating the notion of atmosphere in the field of interaction design. It draws upon the concept of kinesthetic interaction and a philosophical notion on atmosphere emphasizing the importance of bodily...

  16. Atmospheric Photochemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massey, Harrie; Potter, A. E.

    1961-01-01

    The upper atmosphere offers a vast photochemical laboratory free from solid surfaces, so all reactions take place in the gaseous phase. At 30 km altitude the pressure has fallen to about one-hundredth of that at ground level, and we shall, rather arbitrarily, regard the upper atmosphere as beginning at that height. By a little less than 100 km the pressure has fallen to 10(exp -3) mm Hg and is decreasing by a power of ten for every 15 km increase in altitude. Essentially we are concerned then with the photochemistry of a nitrogen-oxygen mixture under low-pressure conditions in which photo-ionization, as well as photodissociation, plays an important part. Account must also be taken of the presence of rare constituents, such as water vapour and its decomposition products, including particularly hydroxyl, oxides of carbon, methane and, strangely enough, sodium, lithium and calcium. Many curious and unfamiliar reactions occur in the upper atmosphere. Some of them are luminescent, causing the atmosphere to emit a dim light called the airglow. Others, between gaseous ions and neutral molecules, are almost a complete mystery at this time. Similar interesting phenomena must occur in other planetary atmospheres, and they might be predicted if sufficient chemical information were available.

  17. Atmosphere physics and chemistry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delmas, R.; Megie, G.; Peuch, V.H.

    2005-10-01

    Since the 1970's, the awareness about the atmospheric pollution threat has led to a spectacular development of the researches on the complex interactions between the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the climate. This book makes a synthesis of the state-of-the-art in this very active domain of research. Content: introduction, atmosphere dynamics and transport, matter-radiation interaction and radiant transfer, physico-chemical processes, atmospheric aerosol and heterogenous chemistry, anthropic and natural emissions and deposition, stratospheric chemical system, tropospheric chemical system, polluted boundary layer, paleo-environments and ice archives, role of atmospheric chemistry in global changes, measurement principles and instruments, numerical modeling, experimental strategy, regulation and management of the atmospheric environment, index. (J.S.)

  18. Nucleation in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hegg, D A; Baker, M B

    2009-01-01

    Small particles play major roles in modulating radiative and hydrological fluxes in the atmosphere and thus they impact both climate (IPCC 2007) and weather. Most atmospheric particles outside clouds are created in situ through nucleation from gas phase precursors and most ice particles within clouds are formed by nucleation, usually from the liquid. Thus, the nucleation process is of great significance in the Earth's atmosphere. The theoretical examination of nucleation in the atmosphere has been based mostly on classical nucleation theory. While diagnostically very useful, the prognostic skill demonstrated by this approach has been marginal. Microscopic approaches such as molecular dynamics and density functional theory have also proven useful in elucidating various aspects of the process but are not yet sufficiently refined to offer a significant prognostic advantage to the classical approach, due primarily to the heteromolecular nature of atmospheric nucleation. An important aspect of the nucleation process in the atmosphere is that the degree of metastability of the parent phase for the nucleation is modulated by a number of atmospheric processes such as condensation onto pre-existing particles, updraft velocities that are the main driving force for supersaturation of water (a major factor in all atmospheric nucleation), and photochemical production rates of nucleation precursors. Hence, atmospheric nucleation is both temporally and spatially inhomogeneous

  19. Origin of atmosphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marx, Gy [Eotvos Lorand Tudomanyegyetem, Budapest (Hungary). Atomfizikai Tanszek

    1975-01-01

    The evolution of the atmosphere of the Earth is described. Starting from the hot Universe the main steps of the ''cooling-down'' process as the different states of the condensation of the matter are discussed. After this nuclear evolution the chemical evolution could start on the solid Earth's crust. In the reductive primordial atmosphere mainly due to ultraviolet rays the basic molecules for life as sugars and amino acids were formed. The photosynthesis of the plants has later produced the oxygen being present in the recent atmosphere. The question whether pollution could affect the auto-stabilization loop of the atmosphere is also discussed. Finally the possibility of life on the Mars is studied.

  20. Fair weather atmospheric electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harrison, R G

    2011-01-01

    Not long after Franklin's iconic studies, an atmospheric electric field was discovered in 'fair weather' regions, well away from thunderstorms. The origin of the fair weather field was sought by Lord Kelvin, through development of electrostatic instrumentation and early data logging techniques, but was ultimately explained through the global circuit model of C.T.R. Wilson. In Wilson's model, charge exchanged by disturbed weather electrifies the ionosphere, and returns via a small vertical current density in fair weather regions. New insights into the relevance of fair weather atmospheric electricity to terrestrial and planetary atmospheres are now emerging. For example, there is a possible role of the global circuit current density in atmospheric processes, such as cloud formation. Beyond natural atmospheric processes, a novel practical application is the use of early atmospheric electrostatic investigations to provide quantitative information on past urban air pollution.

  1. Anthropogenous modifications of the atmosphere. The atmospheric ozone threat

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aimedieu, P.

    1991-01-01

    Ozone role and atmospheric chemistry are first reviewed: chemical reactions and vertical distribution of ozone in the atmosphere. The origins of chlorofluorocarbon air pollution and the role of the various types of CFC on ozone depletion, greenhouse effect, cancer, etc. are then discussed. The political and environmental discussions concerning these phenomena are also reviewed

  2. Atmospheric electrodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Volland, H.

    1984-01-01

    The book Atmospheric Electrodynamics, by Hans Voland is reviewed. The book describes a wide variety of electrical phenomena occurring in the upper and lower atmosphere and develops the mathematical models which simulate these processes. The reviewer finds that the book is of interest to researchers with a background in electromagnetic theory but is of only limited use as a reference work

  3. Atmospheric pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lambrozo, J.; Guillossou, G.

    2008-01-01

    The atmosphere is the reservoir of numerous pollutants (nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon oxides, particulates, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) from natural origin or anthropogenic origin ( industry, transport, agriculture, district heating). With epidemiologic studies the atmospheric pollution is associated with an increase of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. At the european level, the technological progress, the legislation have allowed a reduction of pollutant emissions, however these efforts have to be continued because the sanitary impact of atmospheric pollution must not be underestimated, even if the risks appear less important that these ones in relation with tobacco, inside pollution or others factors of cardiovascular risks. Indeed, on these last factors an individual action is possible for the exposure to air pollution people have no control. (N.C.)

  4. Reference Atmosphere for Mercury

    Science.gov (United States)

    Killen, Rosemary M.

    2002-01-01

    We propose that Ar-40 measured in the lunar atmosphere and that in Mercury's atmosphere is due to current diffusion into connected pore space within the crust. Higher temperatures at Mercury, along with more rapid loss from the atmosphere will lead to a smaller column abundance of argon at Mercury than at the Moon, given the same crustal abundance of potassium. Because the noble gas abundance in the Hermean atmosphere represents current effusion, it is a direct measure of the crustal potassium abundance. Ar-40 in the atmospheres of the planets is a measure of potassium abundance in the interiors, since Ar-40 is a product of radiogenic decay of K-40 by electron capture with the subsequent emission of a 1.46 eV gamma-ray. Although the Ar-40 in the Earth's atmosphere is expected to have accumulated since the late bombardment, Ar-40 in the atmospheres of Mercury and the Moon is eroded quickly by photoionization and electron impact ionization. Thus, the argon content in the exospheres of the Moon and Mercury is representative of current effusion rather than accumulation over the lifetime of the planet.

  5. Swell impact on wind stress and atmospheric mixing in a regional coupled atmosphere-wave model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wu, Lichuan; Rutgersson, Anna; Sahlée, Erik

    2016-01-01

    Over the ocean, the atmospheric turbulence can be significantly affected by swell waves. Change in the atmospheric turbulence affects the wind stress and atmospheric mixing over swell waves. In this study, the influence of swell on atmospheric mixing and wind stress is introduced into an atmosphere-wave-coupled...... regional climate model, separately and combined. The swell influence on atmospheric mixing is introduced into the atmospheric mixing length formula by adding a swell-induced contribution to the mixing. The swell influence on the wind stress under wind-following swell, moderate-range wind, and near......-neutral and unstable stratification conditions is introduced by changing the roughness length. Five year simulation results indicate that adding the swell influence on atmospheric mixing has limited influence, only slightly increasing the near-surface wind speed; in contrast, adding the swell influence on wind stress...

  6. Atmospheric refraction : a history

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lehn, WH; van der Werf, S

    2005-01-01

    We trace the history of atmospheric refraction from the ancient Greeks up to the time of Kepler. The concept that the atmosphere could refract light entered Western science in the second century B.C. Ptolemy, 300 years later, produced the first clearly defined atmospheric model, containing air of

  7. Mars: Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moroz, V.; Murdin, P.

    2001-07-01

    The atmosphere of MARS is much thinner than the terrestrial one. However, even the simplest visual telescopic observations show a set of atmospheric events such as seasonal exchange of material between polar caps, temporal appearance of clouds and changes of visibility of dark regions on the disk of the planet. In 1947 the prominent CO2 bands in the near-infrared part of the Martian spectrum were...

  8. The nitrogen cycle: Atmosphere interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levine, J. S.

    1984-01-01

    Atmospheric interactions involving the nitrogen species are varied and complex. These interactions include photochemical reactions, initiated by the absorption of solar photons and chemical kinetic reactions, which involve both homogeneous (gas-to-gas reactions) and heterogeneous (gas-to-particle) reactions. Another important atmospheric interaction is the production of nitrogen oxides by atmospheric lightning. The nitrogen cycle strongly couples the biosphere and atmosphere. Many nitrogen species are produced by biogenic processes. Once in the atmosphere nitrogen oxides are photochemically and chemically transformed to nitrates, which are returned to the biosphere via precipitation, dry deposition and aerosols to close the biosphere-atmosphere nitrogen cycle. The sources, sinks and photochemistry/chemistry of the nitrogen species; atmospheric nitrogen species; souces and sinks of nitrous oxide; sources; sinks and photochemistry/chemistry of ammonia; seasonal variation of the vertical distribution of ammonia in the troposphere; surface and atmospheric sources of the nitrogen species, and seasonal variation of ground level ammonia are summarized.

  9. Our shared atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Our atmosphere is a precious and fascinating resource, providing air to breath, shielding us from harmful ultraviolet radiation (UV), and maintaining a comfortable climate. Since the industrial revolution, people have significantly altered the composition of the atmosphere throu...

  10. Dynamics of Massive Atmospheres

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chemke, Rei; Kaspi, Yohai, E-mail: rei.chemke@weizmann.ac.il [Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl st., 76100, Rehovot (Israel)

    2017-08-10

    The many recently discovered terrestrial exoplanets are expected to hold a wide range of atmospheric masses. Here the dynamic-thermodynamic effects of atmospheric mass on atmospheric circulation are studied using an idealized global circulation model by systematically varying the atmospheric surface pressure. On an Earth analog planet, an increase in atmospheric mass weakens the Hadley circulation and decreases its latitudinal extent. These changes are found to be related to the reduction of the convective fluxes and net radiative cooling (due to the higher atmospheric heat capacity), which, respectively, cool the upper troposphere at mid-low latitudes and warm the troposphere at high latitudes. These together decrease the meridional temperature gradient, tropopause height and static stability. The reduction of these parameters, which play a key role in affecting the flow properties of the tropical circulation, weakens and contracts the Hadley circulation. The reduction of the meridional temperature gradient also decreases the extraction of mean potential energy to the eddy fields and the mean kinetic energy, which weakens the extratropical circulation. The decrease of the eddy kinetic energy decreases the Rhines wavelength, which is found to follow the meridional jet scale. The contraction of the jet scale in the extratropics results in multiple jets and meridional circulation cells as the atmospheric mass increases.

  11. New atmospheric program

    Science.gov (United States)

    The National Science Foundation's Division of Atmospheric Sciences has established an Upper Atmospheric Facilities program within its Centers and Facilities section. The program will support the operation of and the scientific research that uses the longitudinal chain of incoherent scatter radars. The program also will ensure that the chain is maintained as a state-of-the-art research tool available to all interested and qualified scientists.For additional information, contact Richard A. Behnke, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, National Science Foundation, 1800 G Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20550 (telephone: 202-357-7390).

  12. Determination of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes from atmospheric neutrino data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonzalez-Garcia, C.; Maltoni, M.; Rojo, J.

    2006-06-01

    The precise knowledge of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes is a key ingredient in the interpretation of the results from any atmospheric neutrino experiment. In the standard data analysis, these fluxes are theoretical inputs obtained from sophisticated numerical calculations based on the convolution of the primary cosmic ray spectrum with the expected yield of neutrinos per incident cosmic ray. In this work we present an alternative approach to the determination of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes based on the direct extraction from the experimental data on neutrino event rates. The extraction is achieved by means of a combination of artificial neural networks as interpolants and Monte Carlo methods for faithful error estimation. (author)

  13. Determination of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes from atmospheric neutrino data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonzalez-Garcia, Concepcion; Maltoni, Michele; Rojo, Joan

    2006-01-01

    The precise knowledge of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes is a key ingredient in the interpretation of the results from any atmospheric neutrino experiment. In the standard data analysis, these fluxes are theoretical inputs obtained from sophisticated numerical calculations based on the convolution of the primary cosmic ray spectrum with the expected yield of neutrinos per incident cosmic ray. In this work we present an alternative approach to the determination of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes based on the direct extraction from the experimental data on neutrino event rates. The extraction is achieved by means of a combination of artificial neural networks as interpolants and Monte Carlo methods for faithful error estimation

  14. Atmospheric correction of satellite data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shmirko, Konstantin; Bobrikov, Alexey; Pavlov, Andrey

    2015-11-01

    Atmosphere responses for more than 90% of all radiation measured by satellite. Due to this, atmospheric correction plays an important role in separating water leaving radiance from the signal, evaluating concentration of various water pigments (chlorophyll-A, DOM, CDOM, etc). The elimination of atmospheric intrinsic radiance from remote sensing signal referred to as atmospheric correction.

  15. Composition, Chemistry, and Climate of the Atmosphere. 2: Mean properties of the atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Hanwant B. (Editor); Salstein, David A.

    1994-01-01

    The atmosphere can be defined as the relatively thin gaseous envelope surrounding the entire planet Earth. It possesses a number of properties related to its physical state and chemical composition, and it undergoes a variety of internal processes and external interactions that can either maintain or alter these properties. Whereas descriptions of the atmosphere's chemical properties form much of the remaining chapters of this book, the present chapter will highlight the atmosphere's gases, and these define its temperature structure. In contrast, the larger-scale motions comprise the winds, the global organization of which is often referred to as the general circulation. The framework of the dynamical and thermodynamical laws, including the three principles of conversation of mass, momentum, and energy, are fundamental in describing both the internal processes of the atmosphere and its external interactions. The atmosphere is not a closed system, because it exchanges all three of these internally conservative quantities across the atmosphere's boundary below and receives input from regions outside it. Thus surface fluxes of moisture, momentum, and heat occur to and from the underlying ocean and land. The atmosphere exchanges very little mass and momentum with space, though it absorbs directly a portion of the solar radiational energy received from above.

  16. Dispersion of effluents in the atmosphere; Dispersion des effluents dans l`atmosphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-12-31

    This conference day was organized by the `convection` section of the French association of thermal engineers with the support of the environment and energy mastery agency (ADEME). This book of proceedings contains 10 papers entitled: `physical modeling of atmospheric dispersion in wind tunnels. Some industrial examples`; `modeling of the noxious effects of a fire on the environment of an industrial site: importance of thermal engineering related hypotheses`; `atmospheric diffusion of a noxious cloud: fast evaluation method of safety areas around refrigerating installations that use ammonia`; `modeling of atmospheric flows in urban areas in order to study the dispersion of pollutants`; `use of a dispersion parameter to characterize the evolution of a diffusion process downstream of a linear source of passive contaminant placed inside a turbulent boundary layer`; `elements of reflexion around the development of an analytical methodology applied to the elaboration of measurement strategies of air quality in ambient and outdoor atmospheres around industrial sites`; `state-of-the-art about treatment techniques for VOC-rich gaseous effluents`; `characteristics of the time variation of the atmospheric pollution in the Paris region and visualization of its space distribution`; `mass-spectrometry for the measurement of atmospheric pollutants`; `volume variations in natural convection turbulence`. (J.S.)

  17. Dispersion of effluents in the atmosphere; Dispersion des effluents dans l`atmosphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-12-31

    This conference day was organized by the `convection` section of the French association of thermal engineers with the support of the environment and energy mastery agency (ADEME). This book of proceedings contains 10 papers entitled: `physical modeling of atmospheric dispersion in wind tunnels. Some industrial examples`; `modeling of the noxious effects of a fire on the environment of an industrial site: importance of thermal engineering related hypotheses`; `atmospheric diffusion of a noxious cloud: fast evaluation method of safety areas around refrigerating installations that use ammonia`; `modeling of atmospheric flows in urban areas in order to study the dispersion of pollutants`; `use of a dispersion parameter to characterize the evolution of a diffusion process downstream of a linear source of passive contaminant placed inside a turbulent boundary layer`; `elements of reflexion around the development of an analytical methodology applied to the elaboration of measurement strategies of air quality in ambient and outdoor atmospheres around industrial sites`; `state-of-the-art about treatment techniques for VOC-rich gaseous effluents`; `characteristics of the time variation of the atmospheric pollution in the Paris region and visualization of its space distribution`; `mass-spectrometry for the measurement of atmospheric pollutants`; `volume variations in natural convection turbulence`. (J.S.)

  18. Atmospheric sciences annual progress report, 1974

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tucker, W.D.

    1975-11-01

    Activities in atmospheric sciences in the Department of Applied Science at Brookhaven National Laboratory carried out during 1974 are described. Included are contributions from the Meteorology, Atmospheric Diagnostics, Atmospheric Chemistry Research, and Atmospheric Instrumentation Groups. Programs in Meteorology reported on include diffusion from an off-shore source, plume dynamics studies, modeling of coastal effects on wind and temperature fields and pollutant distributions, effects of indoor shelter on inhalation of airborne radionuclides, chemical-dynamical interactions, techniques for determining acid-rain impact upon the ecology of the eastern U.S., and climatology. Work under Atmospheric Chemistry Research was concentrated on atmospheric aerosol studies, including formation by free radical and neutral association reactions, identification of reactive systems leading to aerosol formation, growth of sodium aerosols under atmospheric conditions and clustering reactions. Atmospheric Diagnostics presents work on field sampling and analytical technology for atmospheric pollutants, airborne sampling systems, atmospheric sulfate particulates methodology, and on a pyroturbidometric method for particulate sulfate discrimination and determination. Methodology for the use of sulfur hexafluoride in field tracer studies is discussed under Atmospheric Instrumentation. A list of publications is included

  19. Verification of atmospheric diffusion models using data of long term atmospheric diffusion experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tamura, Junji; Kido, Hiroko; Hato, Shinji; Homma, Toshimitsu

    2009-03-01

    Straight-line or segmented plume models as atmospheric diffusion models are commonly used in probabilistic accident consequence assessment (PCA) codes due to cost and time savings. The PCA code, OSCAAR developed by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (Present; Japan Atomic Energy Agency) uses the variable puff trajectory model to calculate atmospheric transport and dispersion of released radionuclides. In order to investigate uncertainties involved with the structure of the atmospheric dispersion/deposition model in OSCAAR, we have introduced the more sophisticated computer codes that included regional meteorological models RAMS and atmospheric transport model HYPACT, which were developed by Colorado State University, and comparative analyses between OSCAAR and RAMS/HYPACT have been performed. In this study, model verification of OSCAAR and RAMS/HYPACT was conducted using data of long term atmospheric diffusion experiments, which were carried out in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki-ken. The predictions by models and the results of the atmospheric diffusion experiments indicated relatively good agreements. And it was shown that model performance of OSCAAR was the same degree as it of RAMS/HYPACT. (author)

  20. Atmospheric Renewable Energy Research, Volume 3: Solar-Power Microgrids and Atmospheric Influences

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    1.2 DOD Renewable Energy Applications 1 1.3 Atmospheric Renewable Energy Research Strategy 2 1.4 Microgrid Definitions 3 1.4.1 Mobile Microgrid 4...1.4.2 Hybrid Microgrid 4 1.4.3 Smart Microgrid 4 1.5 Long-Term Atmospheric Renewable Energy Research Vision 5 2. Atmospheric Dependencies 5 2.1...developed-for-Army “ smart ” mobile hybrid microgrid that will incorporate both traditional and renewable energy power resources. A significant

  1. GENERATION OF GROUND ATMOSPHERE α-, β- AND γ-FIELDS BY NATURAL ATMOSPHERIC RADIONUCLIDES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.S. Yakovleva

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The results of numerical investigation of influence of atmospheric turbulence, wind speed and direction as well as radon and thoron flux density from the soil on characteristics of atmospheric α-, β- and γ-radiation fields, which created by atmospheric radon, thoron and their short-lived decay products, are represented and analyzed in the work. It was showed that variation of radon and thoron flux densities from the earth surface changes yields and flux densities of α-, β- and γ-radiation in the ground atmosphere proportionally but does not change a form of their vertical profile.

  2. Atmosphere-Ionosphere Electrodynamic Coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorokin, V. M.; Chmyrev, V. M.

    Numerous phenomena that occur in the mesosphere, ionosphere, and the magnetosphere of the Earth are caused by the sources located in the lower atmosphere and on the ground. We describe the effects produced by lightning activity and by ground-based transmitters operated in high frequency (HF) and very low frequency (VLF) ranges. Among these phenomena are the ionosphere heating and the formation of plasma density inhomogeneities, the excitation of gamma ray bursts and atmospheric emissions in different spectral bands, the generation of ULF/ELF/VLF electromagnetic waves and plasma turbulence in the ionosphere, the stimulation of radiation belt electron precipitations and the acceleration of ions in the upper ionosphere. The most interesting results of experimental and theoretical studies of these phenomena are discussed below. The ionosphere is subject to the action of the conductive electric current flowing in the atmosphere-ionosphere circuit. We present a physical model of DC electric field and current formation in this circuit. The key element of this model is an external current, which is formed with the occurrence of convective upward transport of charged aerosols and their gravitational sedimentation in the atmosphere. An increase in the level of atmospheric radioactivity results in the appearance of additional ionization and change of electrical conductivity. Variation of conductivity and external current in the lower atmosphere leads to perturbation of the electric current flowing in the global atmosphere-ionosphere circuit and to the associated DC electric field perturbation both on the Earth's surface and in the ionosphere. Description of these processes and some results of the electric field and current calculations are presented below. The seismic-induced electric field perturbations produce noticeable effects in the ionosphere by generating the electromagnetic field and plasma disturbances. We describe the generation mechanisms of such experimentally

  3. ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS OF TERRESTRIAL EXOPLANETS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF ORBITAL AND ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETERS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaspi, Yohai [Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl st., 76100, Rehovot (Israel); Showman, Adam P., E-mail: yohai.kaspi@weizmann.ac.il [Department of Planetary Sciences and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, The University of Arizona, 1629 University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

    2015-05-01

    The recent discoveries of terrestrial exoplanets and super-Earths extending over a broad range of orbital and physical parameters suggest that these planets will span a wide range of climatic regimes. Characterization of the atmospheres of warm super-Earths has already begun and will be extended to smaller and more distant planets over the coming decade. The habitability of these worlds may be strongly affected by their three-dimensional atmospheric circulation regimes, since the global climate feedbacks that control the inner and outer edges of the habitable zone—including transitions to Snowball-like states and runaway-greenhouse feedbacks—depend on the equator-to-pole temperature differences, patterns of relative humidity, and other aspects of the dynamics. Here, using an idealized moist atmospheric general circulation model including a hydrological cycle, we study the dynamical principles governing the atmospheric dynamics on such planets. We show how the planetary rotation rate, stellar flux, atmospheric mass, surface gravity, optical thickness, and planetary radius affect the atmospheric circulation and temperature distribution on such planets. Our simulations demonstrate that equator-to-pole temperature differences, meridional heat transport rates, structure and strength of the winds, and the hydrological cycle vary strongly with these parameters, implying that the sensitivity of the planet to global climate feedbacks will depend significantly on the atmospheric circulation. We elucidate the possible climatic regimes and diagnose the mechanisms controlling the formation of atmospheric jet streams, Hadley and Ferrel cells, and latitudinal temperature differences. Finally, we discuss the implications for understanding how the atmospheric circulation influences the global climate.

  4. ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS OF TERRESTRIAL EXOPLANETS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF ORBITAL AND ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETERS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaspi, Yohai; Showman, Adam P.

    2015-01-01

    The recent discoveries of terrestrial exoplanets and super-Earths extending over a broad range of orbital and physical parameters suggest that these planets will span a wide range of climatic regimes. Characterization of the atmospheres of warm super-Earths has already begun and will be extended to smaller and more distant planets over the coming decade. The habitability of these worlds may be strongly affected by their three-dimensional atmospheric circulation regimes, since the global climate feedbacks that control the inner and outer edges of the habitable zone—including transitions to Snowball-like states and runaway-greenhouse feedbacks—depend on the equator-to-pole temperature differences, patterns of relative humidity, and other aspects of the dynamics. Here, using an idealized moist atmospheric general circulation model including a hydrological cycle, we study the dynamical principles governing the atmospheric dynamics on such planets. We show how the planetary rotation rate, stellar flux, atmospheric mass, surface gravity, optical thickness, and planetary radius affect the atmospheric circulation and temperature distribution on such planets. Our simulations demonstrate that equator-to-pole temperature differences, meridional heat transport rates, structure and strength of the winds, and the hydrological cycle vary strongly with these parameters, implying that the sensitivity of the planet to global climate feedbacks will depend significantly on the atmospheric circulation. We elucidate the possible climatic regimes and diagnose the mechanisms controlling the formation of atmospheric jet streams, Hadley and Ferrel cells, and latitudinal temperature differences. Finally, we discuss the implications for understanding how the atmospheric circulation influences the global climate

  5. Photochemistry of Planetary Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yung, Y. L.

    2005-12-01

    The Space Age started half a century ago. Today, with the completion of a fairly detailed study of the planets of the Solar System, we have begun studying exoplanets (or extrasolar planets). The overriding question in is to ask whether an exoplanet is habitable and harbors life, and if so, what the biosignatures ought to be. This forces us to confront the fundamental question of what controls the composition of an atmosphere. The composition of a planetary atmosphere reflects a balance between thermodynamic equilibrium chemistry (as in the interior of giant planets) and photochemistry (as in the atmosphere of Mars). The terrestrial atmosphere has additional influence from life (biochemistry). The bulk of photochemistry in planetary atmospheres is driven by UV radiation. Photosynthesis may be considered an extension of photochemistry by inventing a molecule (chlorophyll) that can harvest visible light. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of photochemistry is catalytic chemistry, the ability of trace amounts of gases to profoundly affect the composition of the atmosphere. Notable examples include HOx (H, OH and HO2) chemistry on Mars and chlorine chemistry on Earth and Venus. Another remarkable feature of photochemistry is organic synthesis in the outer solar system. The best example is the atmosphere of Titan. Photolysis of methane results in the synthesis of more complex hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon chemistry inevitably leads to the formation of high molecular weight products, giving rise to aerosols when the ambient atmosphere is cool enough for them to condense. These results are supported by the findings of the recent Cassini mission. Lastly, photochemistry leaves a distinctive isotopic signature that can be used to trace back the evolutionary history of the atmosphere. Examples include nitrogen isotopes on Mars and sulfur isotopes on Earth. Returning to the question of biosignatures on an exoplanet, our Solar System experience tells us to look for speciation

  6. ANALYTICAL MODELS OF EXOPLANETARY ATMOSPHERES. I. ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS VIA THE SHALLOW WATER SYSTEM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heng, Kevin [Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland); Workman, Jared, E-mail: kevin.heng@csh.unibe.ch, E-mail: jworkman@coloradomesa.edu [Colorado Mesa University, 1260 Kennedy Avenue, Grand Junction, CO 81501 (United States)

    2014-08-01

    Within the context of exoplanetary atmospheres, we present a comprehensive linear analysis of forced, damped, magnetized shallow water systems, exploring the effects of dimensionality, geometry (Cartesian, pseudo-spherical, and spherical), rotation, magnetic tension, and hydrodynamic and magnetic sources of friction. Across a broad range of conditions, we find that the key governing equation for atmospheres and quantum harmonic oscillators are identical, even when forcing (stellar irradiation), sources of friction (molecular viscosity, Rayleigh drag, and magnetic drag), and magnetic tension are included. The global atmospheric structure is largely controlled by a single key parameter that involves the Rossby and Prandtl numbers. This near-universality breaks down when either molecular viscosity or magnetic drag acts non-uniformly across latitude or a poloidal magnetic field is present, suggesting that these effects will introduce qualitative changes to the familiar chevron-shaped feature witnessed in simulations of atmospheric circulation. We also find that hydrodynamic and magnetic sources of friction have dissimilar phase signatures and affect the flow in fundamentally different ways, implying that using Rayleigh drag to mimic magnetic drag is inaccurate. We exhaustively lay down the theoretical formalism (dispersion relations, governing equations, and time-dependent wave solutions) for a broad suite of models. In all situations, we derive the steady state of an atmosphere, which is relevant to interpreting infrared phase and eclipse maps of exoplanetary atmospheres. We elucidate a pinching effect that confines the atmospheric structure to be near the equator. Our suite of analytical models may be used to develop decisively physical intuition and as a reference point for three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of atmospheric circulation.

  7. Hyperspectral material identification on radiance data using single-atmosphere or multiple-atmosphere modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mariano, Adrian V.; Grossmann, John M.

    2010-11-01

    Reflectance-domain methods convert hyperspectral data from radiance to reflectance using an atmospheric compensation model. Material detection and identification are performed by comparing the compensated data to target reflectance spectra. We introduce two radiance-domain approaches, Single atmosphere Adaptive Cosine Estimator (SACE) and Multiple atmosphere ACE (MACE) in which the target reflectance spectra are instead converted into sensor-reaching radiance using physics-based models. For SACE, known illumination and atmospheric conditions are incorporated in a single atmospheric model. For MACE the conditions are unknown so the algorithm uses many atmospheric models to cover the range of environmental variability, and it approximates the result using a subspace model. This approach is sometimes called the invariant method, and requires the choice of a subspace dimension for the model. We compare these two radiance-domain approaches to a Reflectance-domain ACE (RACE) approach on a HYDICE image featuring concealed materials. All three algorithms use the ACE detector, and all three techniques are able to detect most of the hidden materials in the imagery. For MACE we observe a strong dependence on the choice of the material subspace dimension. Increasing this value can lead to a decline in performance.

  8. ATMOSPHERIC RETRIEVAL FOR SUPER-EARTHS: UNIQUELY CONSTRAINING THE ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION WITH TRANSMISSION SPECTROSCOPY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benneke, Bjoern; Seager, Sara

    2012-01-01

    We present a retrieval method based on Bayesian analysis to infer the atmospheric compositions and surface or cloud-top pressures from transmission spectra of exoplanets with general compositions. In this study, we identify what can unambiguously be determined about the atmospheres of exoplanets from their transmission spectra by applying the retrieval method to synthetic observations of the super-Earth GJ 1214b. Our approach to inferring constraints on atmospheric parameters is to compute their joint and marginal posterior probability distributions using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique in a parallel tempering scheme. A new atmospheric parameterization is introduced that is applicable to general atmospheres in which the main constituent is not known a priori and clouds may be present. Our main finding is that a unique constraint of the mixing ratios of the absorbers and two spectrally inactive gases (such as N 2 and primordial H 2 + He) is possible if the observations are sufficient to quantify both (1) the broadband transit depths in at least one absorption feature for each absorber and (2) the slope and strength of the molecular Rayleigh scattering signature. A second finding is that the surface pressure or cloud-top pressure can be quantified if a surface or cloud deck is present at low optical depth. A third finding is that the mean molecular mass can be constrained by measuring either the Rayleigh scattering slope or the shapes of the absorption features, thus enabling one to distinguish between cloudy hydrogen-rich atmospheres and high mean molecular mass atmospheres. We conclude, however, that without the signature of molecular Rayleigh scattering—even with robustly detected infrared absorption features (>10σ)—there is no reliable way to tell from the transmission spectrum whether the absorber is a main constituent of the atmosphere or just a minor species with a mixing ratio of X abs < 0.1%. The retrieval method leads us to a conceptual picture

  9. The origin of atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marx, Gy.

    1975-01-01

    The evolution of the atmosphere of the Earth is described. Starting from the hot Universe the main steps of the ''cooling-down'' process as the different states of the condensation of the matter are discussed. After this nuclear evolution the chemical evolution could start on the solid Earth's crust. In the reductive primordial atmosphere mainly due to ultraviolet rays the basic molecules for life as sugars and amino acids were formed. The photosynthesis of the plants has later produced the oxygen being present in the recent atmosphere. The question whether the pollution could affect the auto-stabilization loop of the atmosphere is also discussed. Finally the possibility of life on the Mars is studied. (Sz.Z.)

  10. Atmospheric turbulence and diffusion research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hosker, R.P. Jr.

    1993-01-01

    The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (well known in the atmospheric dispersion community as the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Laboratory, ATDL) is one of several field facilities of NOAAs Air Resources Laboratory, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. The laboratory conducts research on matters of atmospheric diffusion and turbulent exchange, concerning air quality. ATDD focuses attention on the physics of the lower atmosphere, with special emphasis on the processes contributing to atmospheric transport, dispersion, deposition, and air-surface exchange, and on the development of predictive capabilities using the results of this research. Research is directed toward issues of national and global importance related to the missions of DOE, to DOE's Oak Ridge Field Office, and to NOAA. The program is divided into four major projects: plume transport and diffusion in the planetary boundary layer, complex topography, canopy micrometeorology, and air-surface exchange

  11. Atmospheric thermodynamics

    CERN Document Server

    Iribarne, J V

    1973-01-01

    The thermodynamics of the atmosphere is the subject of several chapters in most textbooks on dynamic meteorology, but there is no work in English to give the subject a specific and more extensive treatment. In writing the present textbook, we have tried to fill this rather remarkable gap in the literature related to atmospheric sciences. Our aim has been to provide students of meteorology with a book that can playa role similar to the textbooks on chemical thermodynamics for the chemists. This implies a previous knowledge of general thermodynamics, such as students acquire in general physics courses; therefore, although the basic principles are reviewed (in the first four chapters), they are only briefly discussed, and emphasis is laid on those topics that will be useful in later chapters, through their application to atmospheric problems. No attempt has been made to introduce the thermodynamics of irreversible processes; on the other hand, consideration of heterogeneous and open homogeneous systems permits a...

  12. Controlled Atmosphere Stunning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lambooij, E.; Gerritzen, M.A.

    2009-01-01

    Controlled atmosphere (CAS) stunning includes several variations of gaseous mixtures given to induce an anaesthetic state before slaughter poultry. One method of multi phase CAS is to unload the birds out of the crate on a conveyor belt and subject the birds to an atmosphere of 30% O2, 40% CO2 and

  13. Phytoremediation of Atmospheric Methane

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-15

    REPORT Phytoremediation of Atmospheric Methane 14. ABSTRACT 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: We have transformed a plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, with the...298 (Rev 8/98) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18 - 31-Mar-2012 Phytoremediation of Atmospheric Methane Report Title ABSTRACT We have transformed a...DD882) Scientific Progress See attachment Technology Transfer 1    Final Report for DARPA project W911NF1010027  Phytoremediation  of Atmospheric

  14. Planetary Surface-Atmosphere Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merrison, J. P.; Bak, E.; Finster, K.; Gunnlaugsson, H. P.; Holstein-Rathlou, C.; Knak Jensen, S.; Nørnberg, P.

    2013-09-01

    Planetary bodies having an accessible solid surface and significant atmosphere, such as Earth, Mars, Venus, Titan, share common phenomenology. Specifically wind induced transport of surface materials, subsequent erosion, the generation and transport of solid aerosols which leads both to chemical and electrostatic interaction with the atmosphere. How these processes affect the evolution of the atmosphere and surface will be discussed in the context of general planetology and the latest laboratory studies will be presented.

  15. Investigation of the influence of atmospheric stability and turbulence on land-atmosphere exchange

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osibanjo, O.; Holmes, H.

    2015-12-01

    Surface energy fluxes are exchanged between the surface of the earth and the atmosphere and impact weather, climate, and air quality. The radiation from the sun triggers the surface-atmosphere interaction during the day as heat is transmitted to the surface and the surface heats the air directly above generating wind (i.e., thermal turbulence) that transports heat, moisture, and momentum in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). This process is impacted by greenhouse gasses (i.e., water vapor, carbon dioxide and other trace gases) that absorb heat emitted by the earth's surface. The concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gasses are increasing leading to changes in ABL dynamics as a result of the changing surface energy balance. The ABL processes are important to characterize because they are difficult to parameterize in global and regional scale atmospheric models. Empirical data can be collected using eddy covariance micrometeorological methods to measure turbulent fluxes (e.g., sensible heat, moisture, and CO2) and quantify the exchange between the surface and the atmosphere. The objective of this work is to calculate surface fluxes using observational data collected during one week in September 2014 from a monitoring site in Echo, Oregon. The site is located in the Columbia Basin with rolling terrain, irrigated farmland, and over 100 wind turbines. The 10m tower was placed in a small valley depression to isolate nighttime cold air pools. This work will present observations of momentum, sensible heat, moisture, and carbon dioxide fluxes from data collected at a sampling frequency of 10Hz at four heights. Atmospheric stability is determined using Monin-Obukov length and flux Richardson number, and the impact of stability on surface-atmosphere exchange is investigated. This work will provide a better understanding of surface fluxes and mixing, particularly during stable ABL periods, and the results can be used to compare with numerical models.

  16. Atmospheric pollution. From processes to modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sportisse, B.

    2008-01-01

    Air quality, greenhouse effect, ozone hole, chemical or nuclear accidents.. All these phenomena are tightly linked to the chemical composition of atmosphere and to the atmospheric dispersion of pollutants. This book aims at supplying the main elements of understanding of 'atmospheric pollutions': stakes, physical processes involved, role of scientific expertise in decision making. Content: 1 - classifications and scales: chemical composition of the atmosphere, vertical structure, time scales (transport, residence); 2 - matter/light interaction: notions of radiative transfer, application to the Earth's atmosphere; 3 - some elements about the atmospheric boundary layer: notion of scales in meteorology, atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), thermal stratification and stability, description of ABL turbulence, elements of atmospheric dynamics, some elements about the urban climate; 4 - notions of atmospheric chemistry: characteristics, ozone stratospheric chemistry, ozone tropospheric chemistry, brief introduction to indoor air quality; 5 - aerosols, clouds and rains: aerosols and particulates, aerosols and clouds, acid rains and leaching; 6 - towards numerical simulation: equation of reactive dispersion, numerical methods for chemistry-transport models, numerical resolution of the general equation of aerosols dynamics (GDE), modern simulation chains, perspectives. (J.S.)

  17. Atmospheres of Brown Dwarfs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ruoyan; Seay, Christopher

    2018-01-01

    We construct a grid of brown dwarf model atmospheres spanning a wide range of atmospheric metallicity (0.3x ≤ met ≤ 100x), C/O ratios (0.25x ≤ C/O ≤ 2.5x), and cloud properties, encompassing atmospheres of effective temperatures 200 ≤ Teff ≤ 2400 K and gravities 2.5 ≤ log g ≤ 5.5. We produce the expected temperature-pressure profiles and emergent spectra from an atmosphere in radiative-convective equilibrium. We can then compare our predicted spectra to observations and retrieval results to aid in their predictions and influence future missions and telescopic observations. In our poster we briefly describe our modeling methodology and present our progress on model grid construction, spanning solar and subsolar C/O and metallicity.

  18. Heat transfer in the atmosphere

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oerlemans, J.

    1982-01-01

    The atmosphere is almost transparent to solar radiation and almost opaque to terrestrial radiation. This implies that in the mean the atmosphere cools while the earth's surface is heated. Convection in the lower atmosphere must therefore occur. The upward flux of energy associated with it

  19. Oscillations in stellar atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costa, A.; Ringuelet, A.E.; Fontenla, J.M.

    1989-01-01

    Atmospheric excitation and propagation of oscillations are analyzed for typical pulsating stars. The linear, plane-parallel approach for the pulsating atmosphere gives a local description of the phenomenon. From the local analysis of oscillations, the minimum frequencies are obtained for radially propagating waves. The comparison of the minimum frequencies obtained for a variety of stellar types is in good agreement with the observed periods of the oscillations. The role of the atmosphere in the globar stellar pulsations is thus emphasized. 7 refs

  20. Clouds and Hazes in Exoplanet Atmospheres

    OpenAIRE

    Marley, Mark S.; Ackerman, Andrew S.; Cuzzi, Jeffrey N.; Kitzmann, Daniel

    2013-01-01

    Clouds and hazes are commonplace in the atmospheres of solar system planets and are likely ubiquitous in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets as well. Clouds affect every aspect of a planetary atmosphere, from the transport of radiation, to atmospheric chemistry, to dynamics and they influence - if not control - aspects such as surface temperature and habitability. In this review we aim to provide an introduction to the role and properties of clouds in exoplanetary atmospheres. We consider t...

  1. Evolution of Earth-like Extrasolar Planetary Atmospheres: Assessing the Atmospheres and Biospheres of Early Earth Analog Planets with a Coupled Atmosphere Biogeochemical Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gebauer, S; Grenfell, J L; Stock, J W; Lehmann, R; Godolt, M; von Paris, P; Rauer, H

    2017-01-01

    Understanding the evolution of Earth and potentially habitable Earth-like worlds is essential to fathom our origin in the Universe. The search for Earth-like planets in the habitable zone and investigation of their atmospheres with climate and photochemical models is a central focus in exoplanetary science. Taking the evolution of Earth as a reference for Earth-like planets, a central scientific goal is to understand what the interactions were between atmosphere, geology, and biology on early Earth. The Great Oxidation Event in Earth's history was certainly caused by their interplay, but the origin and controlling processes of this occurrence are not well understood, the study of which will require interdisciplinary, coupled models. In this work, we present results from our newly developed Coupled Atmosphere Biogeochemistry model in which atmospheric O 2 concentrations are fixed to values inferred by geological evidence. Applying a unique tool (Pathway Analysis Program), ours is the first quantitative analysis of catalytic cycles that governed O 2 in early Earth's atmosphere near the Great Oxidation Event. Complicated oxidation pathways play a key role in destroying O 2 , whereas in the upper atmosphere, most O 2 is formed abiotically via CO 2 photolysis. The O 2 bistability found by Goldblatt et al. ( 2006 ) is not observed in our calculations likely due to our detailed CH 4 oxidation scheme. We calculate increased CH 4 with increasing O 2 during the Great Oxidation Event. For a given atmospheric surface flux, different atmospheric states are possible; however, the net primary productivity of the biosphere that produces O 2 is unique. Mixing, CH 4 fluxes, ocean solubility, and mantle/crust properties strongly affect net primary productivity and surface O 2 fluxes. Regarding exoplanets, different "states" of O 2 could exist for similar biomass output. Strong geological activity could lead to false negatives for life (since our analysis suggests that reducing gases

  2. Urban atmospheric contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldasano Jose, M.

    1997-01-01

    The problems of contamination are not only limited to this century, pale pathology evidences of the effects of the contamination of the air exist in interiors in the health of the old ones; the article mention the elements that configure the problem of the atmospheric contamination, atmospheric pollutants and emission sources, orography condition and effects induced by the urbanization process

  3. A glossary of atmospheric science

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-09-01

    This book concentrates on the glossary of atmospheric science, which contains summary, for enactment and deliberation on choosing special glossary on atmospheric science in Korea, examiner for the glossary on atmospheric science, reference, explanatory notes and a lot of glossary on atmospheric science. It also has an appendix on commercial abbreviation, prefix, unit, wavelength and the number o vibrations of electromagnetic waves, ICAO classified catalogue on cloud, list of varietal cloud and list of local wind. It has explanation of the glossary in English, Korea, China and Japan.

  4. Atmospheric Research 2014 Technical Highlights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Platnick, Steven

    2015-01-01

    Atmospheric research in the Earth Sciences Division (610) consists of research and technology development programs dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of the atmosphere and its interaction with the climate of Earth. The Division's goals are to improve understanding of the dynamics and physical properties of precipitation, clouds, and aerosols; atmospheric chemistry, including the role of natural and anthropogenic trace species on the ozone balance in the stratosphere and the troposphere; and radiative properties of Earth's atmosphere and the influence of solar variability on the Earth's climate. Major research activities are carried out in the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory, the Climate and Radiation Laboratory, the Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory, and the Wallops Field Support Office. The overall scope of the research covers an end-to-end process, starting with the identification of scientific problems, leading to observation requirements for remote-sensing platforms, technology and retrieval algorithm development; followed by flight projects and satellite missions; and eventually, resulting in data processing, analyses of measurements, and dissemination from flight projects and missions. Instrument scientists conceive, design, develop, and implement ultraviolet, infrared, optical, radar, laser, and lidar technology to remotely sense the atmosphere. Members of the various Laboratories conduct field measurements for satellite sensor calibration and data validation, and carry out numerous modeling activities. These modeling activities include climate model simulations, modeling the chemistry and transport of trace species on regional-to-global scales, cloud resolving models, and developing the next-generation Earth system models. Satellite missions, field campaigns, peer-reviewed publications, and successful proposals are essential at every stage of the research process to meeting our goals and maintaining leadership of the

  5. Atmospheric Research 2012 Technical Highlights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, William K -M.

    2013-01-01

    This annual report, as before, is intended for a broad audience. Our readers include colleagues within NASA, scientists outside the Agency, science graduate students, and members of the general public. Inside are descriptions of atmospheric research science highlights and summaries of our education and outreach accomplishments for calendar year 2012.The report covers research activities from the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory, the Climate and Radiation Laboratory, the Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory, and the Wallops Field Support Office under the Office of Deputy Director for Atmospheres, Earth Sciences Division in the Sciences and Exploration Directorate of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. The overall mission of the office is advancing knowledge and understanding of the Earths atmosphere. Satellite missions, field campaigns, peer-reviewed publications, and successful proposals are essential to our continuing research.

  6. CARBON NEUTRON STAR ATMOSPHERES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suleimanov, V. F.; Klochkov, D.; Werner, K.; Pavlov, G. G.

    2014-01-01

    The accuracy of measuring the basic parameters of neutron stars is limited in particular by uncertainties in the chemical composition of their atmospheres. For example, the atmospheres of thermally emitting neutron stars in supernova remnants might have exotic chemical compositions, and for one of them, the neutron star in Cas A, a pure carbon atmosphere has recently been suggested by Ho and Heinke. To test this composition for other similar sources, a publicly available detailed grid of the carbon model atmosphere spectra is needed. We have computed this grid using the standard local thermodynamic equilibrium approximation and assuming that the magnetic field does not exceed 10 8  G. The opacities and pressure ionization effects are calculated using the Opacity Project approach. We describe the properties of our models and investigate the impact of the adopted assumptions and approximations on the emergent spectra

  7. Atmospheric science and power production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Randerson, D. (ed.)

    1984-07-01

    This is the third in a series of scientific publications sponsored by the US Atomic Energy Commission and the two later organizations, the US Energy Research and Development Adminstration, and the US Department of Energy. The first book, Meteorology and Atomic Energy, was published in 1955; the second, in 1968. The present volume is designed to update and to expand upon many of the important concepts presented previously. However, the present edition draws heavily on recent contributions made by atmospheric science to the analysis of air quality and on results originating from research conducted and completed in the 1970s. Special emphasis is placed on how atmospheric science can contribute to solving problems relating to the fate of combustion products released into the atmosphere. The framework of this book is built around the concept of air-quality modeling. Fundamentals are addressed first to equip the reader with basic background information and to focus on available meteorological instrumentation and to emphasize the importance of data management procedures. Atmospheric physics and field experiments are described in detail to provide an overview of atmospheric boundary layer processes, of how air flows around obstacles, and of the mechanism of plume rise. Atmospheric chemistry and removal processes are also detailed to provide fundamental knowledge on how gases and particulate matter can be transformed while in the atmosphere and how they can be removed from the atmosphere. The book closes with a review of how air-quality models are being applied to solve a wide variety of problems. Separate analytics have been prepared for each chapter.

  8. Deuterium in atmospheric cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pontikis, M.C.

    Interest of the study concerning the deuterium content variation (HDO) in the atmospheric water. Standards and measurement methods. Molecule HDO cycle in the atmospheric water. Application to the study of hail-generating cumulus-nimbus and of the mantle of snow [fr

  9. Chemistry and evolution of Titan's atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strobel, D.F.

    1982-01-01

    The chemistry and evolution of Titan's atmosphere is reviewed in the light of the scientific findings from the Voyager mission. It is argued that the present N 2 atmosphere may be Titan's initial atmosphere rather than photochemically derived from an original NH 3 atmosphere. The escape rate of hydrogen from Titan is controlled by photochemical production from hydrocarbons. CH 4 is irreversibly converted to less hydrogen rich hydrocarbons, which over geologic time accumulate on the surface to a layer thickness of approximately 0.5 km. Magnetospheric electrons interacting with Titan's exosphere may dissociate enough N 2 into hot, escaping N atoms to remove approximately 0.2 of Titan's present atmosphere over geologic time. The energy dissipation of magnetospheric electrons exceeds solar e.u.v. energy deposition in Titan's atmosphere by an order of magnitude and is the principal driver of nitrogen photochemistry. The environmental conditions in Titan's upper atmosphere are favorable to building up complex molecules, particularly in the north polar cap region. (author)

  10. Atmospheric tritium. Measurement and application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frejaville, Gerard

    1967-02-01

    The possible origins of atmospheric tritium are reviewed and discussed. A description is given of enrichment (electrolysis and thermal diffusion) and counting (gas counters and liquid scintillation counters) processes which can be used for determining atmospheric tritium concentrations. A series of examples illustrates the use of atmospheric tritium for resolving a certain number of hydrological and glaciological problems. (author) [fr

  11. Exoplanet atmospheres physical processes

    CERN Document Server

    Seager, Sara

    2010-01-01

    Over the past twenty years, astronomers have identified hundreds of extrasolar planets--planets orbiting stars other than the sun. Recent research in this burgeoning field has made it possible to observe and measure the atmospheres of these exoplanets. This is the first textbook to describe the basic physical processes--including radiative transfer, molecular absorption, and chemical processes--common to all planetary atmospheres, as well as the transit, eclipse, and thermal phase variation observations that are unique to exoplanets. In each chapter, Sara Seager offers a conceptual introduction, examples that combine the relevant physics equations with real data, and exercises. Topics range from foundational knowledge, such as the origin of atmospheric composition and planetary spectra, to more advanced concepts, such as solutions to the radiative transfer equation, polarization, and molecular and condensate opacities. Since planets vary widely in their atmospheric properties, Seager emphasizes the major p...

  12. Atmospheric evolution on inhabited and lifeless worlds

    CERN Document Server

    Catling, David C

    2017-01-01

    As the search for Earth-like exoplanets gathers pace, in order to understand them, we need comprehensive theories for how planetary atmospheres form and evolve. Written by two well-known planetary scientists, this text explains the physical and chemical principles of atmospheric evolution and planetary atmospheres, in the context of how atmospheric composition and climate determine a planet's habitability. The authors survey our current understanding of the atmospheric evolution and climate on Earth, on other rocky planets within our Solar System, and on planets far beyond. Incorporating a rigorous mathematical treatment, they cover the concepts and equations governing a range of topics, including atmospheric chemistry, thermodynamics, radiative transfer, and atmospheric dynamics, and provide an integrated view of planetary atmospheres and their evolution. This interdisciplinary text is an invaluable one-stop resource for graduate-level students and researchers working across the fields of atmospheric science...

  13. Atmospheric Prebiotic Chemistry and Organic Hazes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trainer, Melissa G.

    2012-01-01

    Earth's atmospheric composition at the time of the origin of life is not known, but it has often been suggested that chemical transformation of reactive species in the atmosphere was a significant source of pre biotic organic molecules. Experimental and theoretical studies over the past half century have shown that atmospheric synthesis can yield molecules such as amino acids and nucleobases, but these processes are very sensitive to gas composition and energy source. Abiotic synthesis of organic molecules is more productive in reduced atmospheres, yet the primitive Earth may not have been as reducing as earlier workers assumed, and recent research has reflected this shift in thinking. This work provides a survey of the range of chemical products that can be produced given a set of atmospheric conditions, with a particular focus on recent reports. Intertwined with the discussion of atmospheric synthesis is the consideration of an organic haze layer, which has been suggested as a possible ultraviolet shield on the anoxic early Earth. Since such a haze layer - if formed - would serve as a reservoir for organic molecules, the chemical composition of the aerosol should be closely examined. The results highlighted here show that a variety of products can be formed in mildly reducing or even neutral atmospheres, demonstrating that contributions of atmospheric synthesis to the organic inventory on early Earth should not be discounted. This review intends to bridge current knowledge of the range of possible atmospheric conditions in the prebiotic environment and pathways for synthesis under such conditions by examining the possible products of organic chemistry in the early atmosphere.

  14. Atmospheric ionisation in Snowdonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aplin, K L [Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH UK (United Kingdom); Williams, J H, E-mail: k.aplin1@physics.ox.ac.uk [Envirodata-Eyri, Bryn Goleu, Penmaen Park, Llanfairfechan, Gwynedd LL33 0RL (United Kingdom)

    2011-06-23

    Atmospheric ionisation from natural radioactivity and cosmic rays has been measured at several sites in Snowdonia from 2005-present. The motivation for this project was a combination of public engagement with science, and research into the effects of ionisation on climate. A four-component atmospheric radiometer instrument is co-located with the ionisation detectors and the data is remotely logged and displayed on the Web. Atmospheric ionisation from natural radioactivity varies with local geology, and the cosmic ray ionisation component is modulated by solar activity and altitude. Variations due to all these effects have been identified and are described.

  15. Kajian Pustaka Mengenai Restaurant Atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adeline Agoes

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Restaurant is one of the businesses that support tourism development. Restaurants nowadays don’t only provide food, but also the service and atmosphere to their customers. The purpose of this study is to discover theaspects defining restaurant atmosphere and the implications of restaurant atmosphere to other particular aspects related to restaurant business. This article is written based on a study conducted through a literature review. Through the examination, it is found that the atmosphere of a restaurant is one important aspect and can be considered as a competitive advantage as well as one of the determinants of customer satisfaction.

  16. Intensifying the Atmospheric

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liebst, Lasse Suonperä

    2012-01-01

    The phenomenological concept of urban atmospheres is more often applied as an aesthetic description of the metropolitan space as such. This conceptualization is supported in this paper; however, I strive to give the concept a post-phenomenological axial turn. While phenomenology, due to its under...... sufficiently intense. All things considered, the paper should be read as a sociological contribution to theoretically reconstruct the concept of urban atmospheres in the light of spatial morphology....

  17. Atmospheric and aerosol chemistry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McNeill, V. Faye; Ariya, Parisa A.; McGill Univ. Montreal, QC

    2014-01-01

    This series presents critical reviews of the present position and future trends in modern chemical research. Short and concise reports on chemistry, each written by the world renowned experts. Still valid and useful after 5 or 10 years. More information as well as the electronic version of the whole content available at: springerlink.com. Christian George, Barbara D'Anna, Hartmut Herrmann, Christian Weller, Veronica Vaida, D. J. Donaldson, Thorsten Bartels-Rausch, Markus Ammann Emerging Areas in Atmospheric Photochemistry. Lisa Whalley, Daniel Stone, Dwayne Heard New Insights into the Tropospheric Oxidation of Isoprene: Combining Field Measurements, Laboratory Studies, Chemical Modelling and Quantum Theory. Neil M. Donahue, Allen L. Robinson, Erica R. Trump, Ilona Riipinen, Jesse H. Kroll Volatility and Aging of Atmospheric Organic Aerosol. P. A. Ariya, G. Kos, R. Mortazavi, E. D. Hudson, V. Kanthasamy, N. Eltouny, J. Sun, C. Wilde Bio-Organic Materials in the Atmosphere and Snow: Measurement and Characterization V. Faye McNeill, Neha Sareen, Allison N. Schwier Surface-Active Organics in Atmospheric Aerosols.

  18. Modeling the atmospheric chemistry of TICs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henley, Michael V.; Burns, Douglas S.; Chynwat, Veeradej; Moore, William; Plitz, Angela; Rottmann, Shawn; Hearn, John

    2009-05-01

    An atmospheric chemistry model that describes the behavior and disposition of environmentally hazardous compounds discharged into the atmosphere was coupled with the transport and diffusion model, SCIPUFF. The atmospheric chemistry model was developed by reducing a detailed atmospheric chemistry mechanism to a simple empirical effective degradation rate term (keff) that is a function of important meteorological parameters such as solar flux, temperature, and cloud cover. Empirically derived keff functions that describe the degradation of target toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) were derived by statistically analyzing data generated from the detailed chemistry mechanism run over a wide range of (typical) atmospheric conditions. To assess and identify areas to improve the developed atmospheric chemistry model, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were performed to (1) quantify the sensitivity of the model output (TIC concentrations) with respect to changes in the input parameters and (2) improve, where necessary, the quality of the input data based on sensitivity results. The model predictions were evaluated against experimental data. Chamber data were used to remove the complexities of dispersion in the atmosphere.

  19. Recovering of images degraded by atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Guang; Feng, Huajun; Xu, Zhihai; Li, Qi; Chen, Yueting

    2017-08-01

    Remote sensing images are seriously degraded by multiple scattering and bad weather. Through the analysis of the radiative transfer procedure in atmosphere, an image atmospheric degradation model considering the influence of atmospheric absorption multiple scattering and non-uniform distribution is proposed in this paper. Based on the proposed model, a novel recovering method is presented to eliminate atmospheric degradation. Mean-shift image segmentation and block-wise deconvolution are used to reduce time cost, retaining a good result. The recovering results indicate that the proposed method can significantly remove atmospheric degradation and effectively improve contrast compared with other removal methods. The results also illustrate that our method is suitable for various degraded remote sensing, including images with large field of view (FOV), images taken in side-glance situations, image degraded by atmospheric non-uniform distribution and images with various forms of clouds.

  20. ESA Atmospheric Toolbox

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niemeijer, Sander

    2017-04-01

    The ESA Atmospheric Toolbox (BEAT) is one of the ESA Sentinel Toolboxes. It consists of a set of software components to read, analyze, and visualize a wide range of atmospheric data products. In addition to the upcoming Sentinel-5P mission it supports a wide range of other atmospheric data products, including those of previous ESA missions, ESA Third Party missions, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), ground based data, etc. The toolbox consists of three main components that are called CODA, HARP and VISAN. CODA provides interfaces for direct reading of data from earth observation data files. These interfaces consist of command line applications, libraries, direct interfaces to scientific applications (IDL and MATLAB), and direct interfaces to programming languages (C, Fortran, Python, and Java). CODA provides a single interface to access data in a wide variety of data formats, including ASCII, binary, XML, netCDF, HDF4, HDF5, CDF, GRIB, RINEX, and SP3. HARP is a toolkit for reading, processing and inter-comparing satellite remote sensing data, model data, in-situ data, and ground based remote sensing data. The main goal of HARP is to assist in the inter-comparison of datasets. By appropriately chaining calls to HARP command line tools one can pre-process datasets such that two datasets that need to be compared end up having the same temporal/spatial grid, same data format/structure, and same physical unit. The toolkit comes with its own data format conventions, the HARP format, which is based on netcdf/HDF. Ingestion routines (based on CODA) allow conversion from a wide variety of atmospheric data products to this common format. In addition, the toolbox provides a wide range of operations to perform conversions on the data such as unit conversions, quantity conversions (e.g. number density to volume mixing ratios), regridding, vertical smoothing using averaging kernels, collocation of two datasets, etc. VISAN is a cross-platform visualization and

  1. Atmospheric Research 2016 Technical Highlights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Platnick, Steven

    2017-01-01

    Atmospheric research in the Earth Sciences Division (610) consists of research and technology development programs dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of the atmosphere and its interaction with the climate of Earth. The Divisions goals are to improve understanding of the dynamics and physical properties of precipitation, clouds, and aerosols; atmospheric chemistry, including the role of natural and anthropogenic trace species on the ozone balance in the stratosphere and the troposphere; and radiative properties of Earth's atmosphere and the influence of solar variability on the Earth's climate. Major research activities are carried out in the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory, the Climate and Radiation Laboratory, the Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory, and the Wallops Field Support Office. The overall scope of the research covers an end-to-end process, starting with the identification of scientific problems, leading to observation requirements for remote-sensing platforms, technology and retrieval algorithm development; followed by flight projects and satellite missions; and eventually, resulting in data processing, analyses of measurements, and dissemination from flight projects and missions. Instrument scientists conceive, design, develop, and implement ultraviolet, infrared, optical, radar, laser, and lidar technology to remotely sense the atmosphere. Members of the various laboratories conduct field measurements for satellite sensor calibration and data validation, and carry out numerous modeling activities. These modeling activities include climate model simulations, modeling the chemistry and transport of trace species on regional-to-global scales, cloud resolving models, and developing the next-generation Earth system models. Satellite missions, field campaigns, peer-reviewed publications, and successful proposals are essential at every stage of the research process to meeting our goals and maintaining leadership of the

  2. The annual averaged atmospheric dispersion factor and deposition factor according to methods of atmospheric stability classification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeong, Hae Sun; Jeong, Hyo Joon; Kim, Eun Han; Han, Moon Hee; Hwang, Won Tae [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-09-15

    This study analyzes the differences in the annual averaged atmospheric dispersion factor and ground deposition factor produced using two classification methods of atmospheric stability, which are based on a vertical temperature difference and the standard deviation of horizontal wind direction fluctuation. Daedeok and Wolsong nuclear sites were chosen for an assessment, and the meteorological data at 10 m were applied to the evaluation of atmospheric stability. The XOQDOQ software program was used to calculate atmospheric dispersion factors and ground deposition factors. The calculated distances were chosen at 400 m, 800 m, 1,200 m, 1,600 m, 2,400 m, and 3,200 m away from the radioactive material release points. All of the atmospheric dispersion factors generated using the atmospheric stability based on the vertical temperature difference were shown to be higher than those from the standard deviation of horizontal wind direction fluctuation. On the other hand, the ground deposition factors were shown to be same regardless of the classification method, as they were based on the graph obtained from empirical data presented in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Regulatory Guide 1.111, which is unrelated to the atmospheric stability for the ground level release. These results are based on the meteorological data collected over the course of one year at the specified sites; however, the classification method of atmospheric stability using the vertical temperature difference is expected to be more conservative.

  3. Atmospheric pollution in Lisbon urban atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, C.

    2009-04-01

    Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal with about 565,000 residents in 2008 and a population density of 6,600 inhabitants per square kilometre. Like several other major metropolis, the town is surrounded by satellite cities, forming together a region known as "Lisbon Metropolitan Area" with about 3 million inhabitants, a quarter of the overall Portuguese population. Besides their local residents, it is estimated that more than one million citizens come into the Lisbon area every day from the outskirts, leading to elevated traffic densities and intense traffic jams, with important consequences on air pollution levels and obvious negative impacts on human health. Airborne particulate matter limit values are frequently exceeded, making urgent the existence of consistent programs to monitor and help taking measures to control them. Within the Portuguese project PAHLIS (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Contamination in Lisbon Urban Atmosphere) financed by the Portuguese Science Foundation ("Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia"), an aerosol and vapour phase sampling program is being implemented in the city of Lisbon at two selected contrasting zones, namely a typically busy area with intense road traffic and frequent exceedences of the particulate matter standard for the maximum allowable concentration, and a residential quieter area, thus with a cleaner atmosphere characterised as an urban background site. An one month-long sampling campaign was performed during the summer of 2008, where particulate matter was collected in two fractions (coarse 2.5µmwork are expected to cover a lack of reliable information regarding sources of atmospheric pollutants in Portugal and present, for the first time, systematic data of PAHs levels in Lisbon. Acknowledgement: This work was performed under Project PAHLIS (PTDC/AMB/65699/2006) financed by "Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia". C. Oliveira thanks Project PAHLIS his scholarship.

  4. (Chemistry of the global atmosphere)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marland, G.

    1990-09-27

    The traveler attended the conference The Chemistry of the Global Atmosphere,'' and presented a paper on the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) to the atmosphere. The conference included meetings of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) programme, a core project of the International Geosphere/Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the traveler participated in meetings on the IGAC project Development of Global Emissions Inventories'' and agreed to coordinate the working group on CO{sub 2}. Papers presented at the conference focused on the latest developments in analytical methods, modeling and understanding of atmospheric CO{sub 2}, CO, CH{sub 4}, N{sub 2}O, SO{sub 2}, NO{sub x}, NMHCs, CFCs, and aerosols.

  5. Global atmospheric changes.

    OpenAIRE

    Piver, W T

    1991-01-01

    Increasing concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can be directly related to global warming. In terms of human health, because a major cause of increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 is the increased combustion of fossil fuels, global warming also may result in increases in air pollutants, acid deposition, and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. To understand better the impacts of global warming phenomena on human health, this review emphasizes the proces...

  6. Middle Atmosphere Program. Handbook for MAP. Volume 30: International School on Atmospheric Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukao, Shoichiro (Editor)

    1989-01-01

    Broad, tutorial coverage is given to the technical and scientific aspects of mesosphere stratosphere troposphere (MST) meteorological radar systems. Control issues, signal processing, atmospheric waves, the historical aspects of radar atmospheric dynamics, incoherent scatter radars, radar echoes, radar targets, and gravity waves are among the topics covered.

  7. Designing Affective Atmospheres on the Move

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wind, Simon; Lanng, Ditte Bendix

    travelling “unfolds affects as much as reasons” (Jensen, 2013, p.99). Practices, embodiment, technologies and materialities interconnect in non-quantifiable experiences of mobilities, which may fruitfully be unfolded by means of the concept of “atmosphere”. According to Böhme, atmosphere cannot be reduced...... to properties or qualities of neither human nor non-human bodies but they are “manifestations of the co-presence of subject and object” (Böhme, 1998, p.114). When travelling in and through spaces of mobilities in everyday life we are co-constituents in an on-flow of aesthetic atmospheres shaping emotional...... an analytical tool for capturing atmospheres as well as an interventionist tool for orchestrating atmospheres in everyday urban spaces of mobilities. References Anderson, B. (2009) ´Affective Atmospheres´, in: Emotion, Space and Society, pp. 77–81 Bissel, D. (2010) ´Passenger mobilities: affective atmospheres...

  8. Establishment of an atmospheric observatory for trace gases and atmospheric oxygen in Namibia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, E.; Lavrič, J.; Seely, M.; Heimann, M.

    2012-04-01

    Continuous, high-precision measurements of greenhouse and other biogeochemically significant atmospheric gases help to establish a global baseline and create important data for the study of atmospheric transport, biogeochemical fluxes, and human emissions. Also, they can validate models and ground- and space-based remote sensing and complement airborne atmospheric measurements. There are currently few such facilities on the African continent. To reduce this gap in the global observational system, we are establishing an atmospheric observatory at Gobabeb, Namibia. Continuous measurements of the atmospheric O2/N2 ratio and biogeochemical trace gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, CO) will be accompanied by a regular flask sampling program. Our observatory also represents an opportunity to forge partnerships with local and global scientific organizations. The site is well located to study the natural and anthropogenic gas fluxes on the southern subtropical African continent, and the air-sea gas fluxes of the nearby Benguela Current system off the Namibian coast. This current system drives one of the four major eastern-boundary upwelling ecosystems, creating zones of intensive primary production that influence the budgets of atmospheric gases via air-sea exchange. Another feature of interest is the large biomass burning region in central and southern Africa. An analysis of HYSPLIT air mass back trajectories from Gobabeb indicate that the dominant origin of air at the site is from one of these two areas. On-site installation of the standalone measurement system, which is installed in a 20' container, is scheduled for the first half of 2012. We present here the detailed setup of the system and first performance data.

  9. Proterozoic atmospheric oxygen

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Canfield, Donald Eugene

    2014-01-01

    This article is concerned with the evolution of atmospheric oxygen concentrations through the Proterozoic Eon. In particular, this article will seek to place the history of atmospheric oxygenation through the Proterozoic Eon in the context of the evolving physical environment including the history...... of continental growth and volcanic outgassing, as well as biogeochemical processing of elements within the oceans. The author will seek to explore constraints on the history of oxygenation and understand which processes have regulated oxygen through this eon....

  10. The Upper Atmosphere; Threshold of Space.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bird, John

    This booklet contains illustrations of the upper atmosphere, describes some recent discoveries, and suggests future research questions. It contains many color photographs. Sections include: (1) "Where Does Space Begin?"; (2) "Importance of the Upper Atmosphere" (including neutral atmosphere, ionized regions, and balloon and investigations); (3)…

  11. Calculation of atmospheric neutrino flux using the interaction model calibrated with atmospheric muon data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Honda, M.; Kajita, T.; Kasahara, K.; Midorikawa, S.; Sanuki, T.

    2007-01-01

    Using the 'modified DPMJET-III' model explained in the previous paper [T. Sanuki et al., preceding Article, Phys. Rev. D 75, 043005 (2007).], we calculate the atmospheric neutrino flux. The calculation scheme is almost the same as HKKM04 [M. Honda, T. Kajita, K. Kasahara, and S. Midorikawa, Phys. Rev. D 70, 043008 (2004).], but the usage of the 'virtual detector' is improved to reduce the error due to it. Then we study the uncertainty of the calculated atmospheric neutrino flux summarizing the uncertainties of individual components of the simulation. The uncertainty of K-production in the interaction model is estimated using other interaction models: FLUKA'97 and FRITIOF 7.02, and modifying them so that they also reproduce the atmospheric muon flux data correctly. The uncertainties of the flux ratio and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrino flux are also studied

  12. Hydrodynamic escape from planetary atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Feng

    Hydrodynamic escape is an important process in the formation and evolution of planetary atmospheres. Due to the existence of a singularity point near the transonic point, it is difficult to find transonic steady state solutions by solving the time-independent hydrodynamic equations. In addition to that, most previous works assume that all energy driving the escape flow is deposited in one narrow layer. This assumption not only results in less accurate solutions to the hydrodynamic escape problem, but also makes it difficult to include other chemical and physical processes in the hydrodynamic escape models. In this work, a numerical model describing the transonic hydrodynamic escape from planetary atmospheres is developed. A robust solution technique is used to solve the time dependent hydrodynamic equations. The method has been validated in an isothermal atmosphere where an analytical solution is available. The hydrodynamic model is applied to 3 cases: hydrogen escape from small orbit extrasolar planets, hydrogen escape from a hydrogen rich early Earth's atmosphere, and nitrogen/methane escape from Pluto's atmosphere. Results of simulations on extrasolar planets are in good agreement with the observations of the transiting extrasolar planet HD209458b. Hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen from other hypothetical close-in extrasolar planets are simulated and the influence of hydrogen escape on the long-term evolution of these extrasolar planets are discussed. Simulations on early Earth suggest that hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen from a hydrogen rich early Earth's atmosphere is about two orders magnitude slower than the diffusion limited escape rate. A hydrogen rich early Earth's atmosphere could have been maintained by the balance between the hydrogen escape and the supply of hydrogen into the atmosphere by volcanic outgassing. Origin of life may have occurred in the organic soup ocean created by the efficient formation of prebiotic molecules in the hydrogen rich early

  13. Atmospheric correction of APEX hyperspectral data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sterckx Sindy

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric correction plays a crucial role among the processing steps applied to remotely sensed hyperspectral data. Atmospheric correction comprises a group of procedures needed to remove atmospheric effects from observed spectra, i.e. the transformation from at-sensor radiances to at-surface radiances or reflectances. In this paper we present the different steps in the atmospheric correction process for APEX hyperspectral data as applied by the Central Data Processing Center (CDPC at the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO, Mol, Belgium. The MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission program (MODTRAN is used to determine the source of radiation and for applying the actual atmospheric correction. As part of the overall correction process, supporting algorithms are provided in order to derive MODTRAN configuration parameters and to account for specific effects, e.g. correction for adjacency effects, haze and shadow correction, and topographic BRDF correction. The methods and theory underlying these corrections and an example of an application are presented.

  14. Composition of Estonian atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Punning, J. M.; Karindi, A.

    1996-01-01

    Atmospheric study, particularly that of its chemical composition, has a long tradition in Estonia. Since middle of this century, in addition to meteorological observations, some chemical compounds in precipitations have been regularly measured in many meteorological stations. The main aim was to acquire information about the state and dynamics of the atmosphere. Therefore, main attention was paid to monitoring chemical compounds which have a direct impact on the human environment. As energy production developed intensively and SO 2 and NO x increased drastically in the atmosphere in acidic rock areas, like Scandinavia, the problem of acid rain became the most important environmental problem in Europe and North-America. As a consequence, monitoring the compounds of sulphur in precipitation was organized in Estonia. In the 1970 s, as related to large operating oil shale-based power plants, Estonia became a country , where emissions of sulphur compounds per capita were extremely high. In 1979, Estonia became a participant in the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme - the network created to study transboundary air pollution. The aims of the precipitation chemistry study and the related problems of the formation and transformation of the atmospheric composition have varied over the years. But monitoring of pollutant (in particular, sulphur compound) loads has been a central issue. Over recent years, an attempt was made to estimate the spatial regularities of atmospheric impurities and their impact on the pH of mean monthly precipitations. Furthermore, calculations were provided to find out the origin of atmospheric impurities washed out in Estonia. Until the 1990 s, CO 2 , and some other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were not studied in Estonia. The first inventory of GHG for Estonia was provided in 1995 using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodology

  15. Microwave Atmospheric-Pressure Sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flower, D. A.; Peckham, G. E.; Bradford, W. J.

    1986-01-01

    Report describes tests of microwave pressure sounder (MPS) for use in satellite measurements of atmospheric pressure. MPS is multifrequency radar operating between 25 and 80 GHz. Determines signal absorption over vertical path through atmosphere by measuring strength of echoes from ocean surface. MPS operates with cloud cover, and suitable for use on current meteorological satellites.

  16. Atmospheric and aerosol chemistry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McNeill, V. Faye [Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Ariya, Parisa A. (ed.) [McGill Univ. Montreal, QC (Canada). Dept. of Chemistry; McGill Univ. Montreal, QC (Canada). Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

    2014-09-01

    This series presents critical reviews of the present position and future trends in modern chemical research. Short and concise reports on chemistry, each written by the world renowned experts. Still valid and useful after 5 or 10 years. More information as well as the electronic version of the whole content available at: springerlink.com. Christian George, Barbara D'Anna, Hartmut Herrmann, Christian Weller, Veronica Vaida, D. J. Donaldson, Thorsten Bartels-Rausch, Markus Ammann Emerging Areas in Atmospheric Photochemistry. Lisa Whalley, Daniel Stone, Dwayne Heard New Insights into the Tropospheric Oxidation of Isoprene: Combining Field Measurements, Laboratory Studies, Chemical Modelling and Quantum Theory. Neil M. Donahue, Allen L. Robinson, Erica R. Trump, Ilona Riipinen, Jesse H. Kroll Volatility and Aging of Atmospheric Organic Aerosol. P. A. Ariya, G. Kos, R. Mortazavi, E. D. Hudson, V. Kanthasamy, N. Eltouny, J. Sun, C. Wilde Bio-Organic Materials in the Atmosphere and Snow: Measurement and Characterization V. Faye McNeill, Neha Sareen, Allison N. Schwier Surface-Active Organics in Atmospheric Aerosols.

  17. Astronomy and Atmospheric Optics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowley, Les; Gaina, Alex

    2011-12-01

    The authors discusse the insuccess of the observation of the Total Eclipse of the Moon from 10 december 2011 in Romania and relate them with meteoconditions. Only a very short part of the last penumbral phase was observed, while the inital part and the totality was not observed due to very dense clouds. The change in color and brightness during this phase was signaled. Meanwhile, there is an area of science where clouds are of great use and interest. This area is Atmospheric optics, while the science which study clouds is meteorology. Clouds in combination with Solar and Moon light could give rise to a variety of strange, rare and unobvious phenomena in the atmosphere (sky), sometimes confused with Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO). The importance of meteorology for astronomy and atmospheric optics is underlined and an invitation to astronomers to use unfavourable days for athmospheric observations was sent. The web address of the site by Les Cowley, designed for atmospheric optics phenomena is contained in the text of the entry.

  18. Climate and atmospheric research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kramer, G.; Schumacher, R.

    1992-01-01

    This issue of the scientific journal of the Humboldt university is dedicated to results of research work carried out to the greatest extent at the meteorological institute in the last two years on the area of climate and atmospheric research. The traditional research areas of the institute are climatology and the dynamics of the atmosphere, in particular the atmospherical boundary layer. Considering the high probability of a global climatic fluctuation due to the anthropogenic change of composition of the atmosphere and other climate-relevant factors imminent in the next century, climatological research today is an important part of global and regional environmental research. From the necessity of determination and evaluation of the effect of climatic fluctuations on nature and society the contours of a new interdisciplinary research area are already visible now. This is suitable as hardly any other area to be the supporting idea of environmental research at universities. The contributions contained in the issue already consider, in addition to results on climate diagnosis, also results on aspects of climate effect research. (orig./KW) [de

  19. Lord Kelvin's atmospheric electricity measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aplin, Karen; Harrison, R. Giles; Trainer, Matthew; Hough, James

    2013-04-01

    Lord Kelvin (William Thomson), one of the greatest Victorian scientists, made a substantial but little-recognised contribution to geophysics through his work on atmospheric electricity. He developed sensitive instrumentation for measuring the atmospheric electric field, including invention of a portable electrometer, which made mobile measurements possible for the first time. Kelvin's measurements of the atmospheric electric field in 1859, made during development of the portable electrometer, can be used to deduce the substantial levels of particulate pollution blown over the Scottish island of Arran from the industrial mainland. Kelvin was also testing the electrometer during the largest solar flare ever recorded, the "Carrington event" in the late summer of 1859. Subsequently, Lord Kelvin also developed a water dropper sensor, and employed photographic techniques for "incessant recording" of the atmospheric electric field, which led to the long series of measurements recorded at UK observatories for the remainder of the 19th and much of the 20th century. These data sets have been valuable in both studies of historical pollution and cosmic ray effects on atmospheric processes.

  20. Atmospheric ions and pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Renoux, A.

    1977-01-01

    The various types of atmospheric ions are defined, the main sources of natural atmospheric radioactivity inducing the formation of radioactive ions in the air are then recalled. The basic equations governing the formation of these ions are indicated and the most current experimental methods used for detecting them are described (Zeleny tubes, Erikson tubes). The special properties of these ions are examined, they are particularly emphasized for the smaller ones. The existence of a discret spectrum of mobilities is shown and the presence of big negative radioactive ions is investigated. Indicative information are given on the granulometric distribution of the atmospheric radioactivity in the air, from small positive Ra A ion fixation on aerosols [fr

  1. Ozone, Climate, and Global Atmospheric Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levine, Joel S.

    1992-01-01

    Presents an overview of global atmospheric problems relating to ozone depletion and global warming. Provides background information on the composition of the earth's atmosphere and origin of atmospheric ozone. Describes causes, effects, and evidence of ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect. A vignette provides a summary of a 1991 assessment of…

  2. Organic chemistry in the atmosphere. [laboratory modeling of Titan atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sagan, C.

    1974-01-01

    The existence of an at least moderately complex organic chemistry on Titan is stipulated based on clear evidence of methane, and at least presumptive evidence of hydrogen in its atmosphere. The ratio of methane to hydrogen is the highest of any atmosphere in the solar system. Irradiation of hydrogen/methane mixtures produces aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons. A very reasonable hypothesis assumes that the red cloud cover of Titan is made of organic chemicals. Two-carbon hydrocarbons experimentally produced from irradiated mixtures of methane, ammonia, water, and hydrogen bear out the possible organic chemistry of the Titanian environment.

  3. Stochastic background of atmospheric cascades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilk, G.; Wlodarczyk, Z.

    1993-01-01

    Fluctuations in the atmospheric cascades developing during the propagation of very high energy cosmic rays through the atmosphere are investigated using stochastic branching model of pure birth process with immigration. In particular, we show that the multiplicity distributions of secondaries emerging from gamma families are much narrower than those resulting from hadronic families. We argue that the strong intermittent like behaviour found recently in atmospheric families results from the fluctuations in the cascades themselves and are insensitive to the details of elementary interactions

  4. The bibliometrics of atmospheric environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brimblecombe, Peter; Grossi, Carlota M.

    Bibliometric analysis is an important tool in the management of a journal. SCOPUS output is used to assess the increase in the quantity of material in Atmospheric Environment and stylistic changes in the way authors choose words and punctuation in titles and assemble their reference lists. Citation analysis is used to consider the impact factor of the journal, but perhaps more importantly the way in which it reflects the importance authors give to papers published in Atmospheric Environment. The impact factor of Atmospheric Environment (2.549 for 2007) from the Journal Citation Reports suggests it performs well within the atmospheric sciences, but it conceals the long term value authors place on papers appearing in the journal. Reference lists show that a fifth come through citing papers more than a decade old.

  5. Soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer modeling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ikonen, J P; Sucksdorff, Y [Finnish Environment Agency, Helsinki (Finland)

    1997-12-31

    In this study the soil/vegetation/atmosphere-model based on the formulation of Deardorff was refined to hour basis and applied to a field in Vihti. The effect of model parameters on model results (energy fluxes, temperatures) was also studied as well as the effect of atmospheric conditions. The estimation of atmospheric conditions on the soil-vegetation system as well as an estimation of the effect of vegetation parameters on the atmospheric climate was estimated. Areal surface fluxes, temperatures and moistures were also modelled for some river basins in southern Finland. Land-use and soil parameterisation was developed to include properties and yearly variation of all vegetation and soil types. One classification was selected to describe the hydrothermal properties of the soils. Evapotranspiration was verified against the water balance method

  6. Soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer modeling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ikonen, J.P.; Sucksdorff, Y. [Finnish Environment Agency, Helsinki (Finland)

    1996-12-31

    In this study the soil/vegetation/atmosphere-model based on the formulation of Deardorff was refined to hour basis and applied to a field in Vihti. The effect of model parameters on model results (energy fluxes, temperatures) was also studied as well as the effect of atmospheric conditions. The estimation of atmospheric conditions on the soil-vegetation system as well as an estimation of the effect of vegetation parameters on the atmospheric climate was estimated. Areal surface fluxes, temperatures and moistures were also modelled for some river basins in southern Finland. Land-use and soil parameterisation was developed to include properties and yearly variation of all vegetation and soil types. One classification was selected to describe the hydrothermal properties of the soils. Evapotranspiration was verified against the water balance method

  7. Application of PIXE analysis to atmospheric environmental studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasahara, Mikio

    1997-01-01

    Physical and chemical properties of the atmospheric aerosols is a fundamental to understand the behavior of aerosols in the atmosphere. The analysis of atmospheric aerosols is the most preferable fields of the PIXE. In this paper, the characteristics of atmospheric aerosols are reviewed at first, and the sampling method of atmospheric aerosols for the PIXE samples and the characterization of atmospheric aerosols using the PIXE analysis are discussed. (author)

  8. A Synergistic Approach to Interpreting Planetary Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batalha, Natasha E.

    We will soon have the technological capability to measure the atmospheric composition of temperate Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby stars. Interpreting these atmospheric signals poses a new challenge to planetary science. In contrast to jovian-like atmospheres, whose bulk compositions consist of hydrogen and helium, terrestrial planet atmospheres are likely comprised of high mean molecular weight secondary atmospheres, which have gone through a high degree of evolution. For example, present-day Mars has a frozen surface with a thin tenuous atmosphere, but 4 billion years ago it may have been warmed by a thick greenhouse atmosphere. Several processes contribute to a planet's atmospheric evolution: stellar evolution, geological processes, atmospheric escape, biology, etc. Each of these individual processes affects the planetary system as a whole and therefore they all must be considered in the modeling of terrestrial planets. In order to demonstrate the intricacies in modeling terrestrial planets, I use early Mars as a case study. I leverage a combination of one-dimensional climate, photochemical and energy balance models in order to create one self-consistent model that closely matches currently available climate data. One-dimensional models can address several processes: the influence of greenhouse gases on heating, the effect of the planet's geological processes (i.e. volcanoes and the carbonatesilicate cycle) on the atmosphere, the effect of rainfall on atmospheric composition and the stellar irradiance. After demonstrating the number of assumptions required to build a model, I look towards what exactly we can learn from remote observations of temperate Earths and Super Earths. However, unlike in-situ observations from our own solar system, remote sensing techniques need to be developed and understood in order to accurately characterize exo-atmospheres. I describe the models used to create synthetic transit transmission observations, which includes models of

  9. INERT Atmosphere confinement operability test procedure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    RISENMAY, H.R.

    1999-01-01

    This Operability Test Procedure (OTP) provides instructions for testing operability of the Inert Atmosphere Confinement (IAC). The Inert Atmosphere Confinement was designed and built for opening cans of metal items that might have hydrided surfaces. Unreviewed Safety Question (USQ) PFP-97-005 addresses the discovery of suspected plutonium hydride forming on plutonium metal currently stored in the Plutonium Finishing Plant vaults. Plutonium hydride reacts quickly with air, liberating energy. The Inert Atmosphere Confinement was designed to prevent this sudden liberation of energy by opening the material in an inert argon atmosphere instead of the normal glovebox atmosphere. The IAC is located in glovebox HC-21A, room 230B of the 234-5Z Building at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) in the 200-West Area of the Hanford Site

  10. Archiving Derived Data with the PDS Atmospheres Node: The Educational Labeling System for Atmospheres (ELSA)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neakrase, L. D. V.; Hornung, D.; Chanover, N.; Huber, L.; Beebe, R.; Johnson, J.; Sweebe, K.; Stevenson, Z.

    2017-06-01

    The PDS Atmospheres Node is developing an online tool, the Educational Labeling System for Atmospheres (ELSA), to aid in planning and creation of PDS4 bundles and associated labels for archiving derived data.

  11. Atmospheres of the terrestrial planets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kivelson, M.G.; Schubert, G.

    1986-01-01

    Properties of the planets are identified - such as size, spin rate, and distance from the sun - that are important in understanding the characteristics of their atmospheres. Venus, earth and Mars have surface-temperature differences only partly explained by the decrease of solar radiation flux with distance from the sun. More significant effects arise from the variations in the degree to which the atmospheres act as absorbers of planetary thermal reradiation. Atmospheric circulation on a global scale also varies markedly among the three planets. 5 references

  12. Global atmospheric changes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piver, W T

    1991-12-01

    Increasing concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can be directly related to global warming. In terms of human health, because a major cause of increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 is the increased combustion of fossil fuels, global warming also may result in increases in air pollutants, acid deposition, and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. To understand better the impacts of global warming phenomena on human health, this review emphasizes the processes that are responsible for the greenhouse effect, air pollution, acid deposition, and increased exposure to UV radiation.

  13. Atmosphere beyond Poetics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wieczorek, Izabela

    2014-01-01

    Defined by German philosopher Gernot Böhme as a ‘fundamental concept of a new aesthetics’ (Böhme 2003), the notion of atmosphere has been widely discussed across many disciplinary fields over the last few decades. It has taken a central stage also in architectural debate, leading to both conceptual......, the notion of atmosphere is presented as parallactic for designing experience in architectural fields, since it transgresses formal and material boundaries of bodies, opening a new gap that exposes the orthodox space-body-environment relationships to questions. It leads to the dissolution...

  14. Marine atmospheric corrosion of carbon steels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morcillo, M.; Alcantara, J.; Diaz, I.; Chico, B.; Simancas, J.; Fuente, D. de la

    2015-07-01

    Basic research on marine atmospheric corrosion of carbon steels is a relatively young scientific field and there continue to be great gaps in this area of knowledge. The presence of akaganeite in the corrosion products that form on steel when it is exposed to marine atmospheres leads to a notable increase in the corrosion rate. This work addresses the following issues: (a) environmental conditions necessary for akaganeite formation; (b) characterisation of akaganeite in the corrosion products formed; (c) corrosion mechanisms of carbon steel in marine atmospheres; (d) exfoliation of rust layers formed in highly aggressive marine atmospheres; (e) long-term corrosion rate prediction; and (f) behaviour of weathering steels. Field research has been carried out at Cabo Vilano wind farm (Camarinas, Galicia) in a wide range of atmospheric salinities and laboratory work involving the use of conventional atmospheric corrosion techniques and near-surface and bulk sensitive analytical techniques: scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mossbauer spectroscopy and SEM/μRaman spectroscopy. (Author)

  15. Atmospheric Chemistry Over Southern Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gatebe, Charles K.; Levy, Robert C.; Thompson, Anne M.

    2011-01-01

    During the southern African dry season, regional haze from mixed industrial pollution, biomass burning aerosol and gases from domestic and grassland fires, and biogenic sources from plants and soils is worsened by a semi-permanent atmosphere gyre over the subcontinent. These factors were a driver of several major international field campaigns in the 1990s and early 2000s, and attracted many scientists to the region. Some researchers were interested in understanding fundamental processes governing chemistry of the atmosphere and interaction with climate change. Others found favorable conditions for evaluating satellite-derived measurements of atmospheric properties and a changing land surface. With that background in mind a workshop on atmospheric chemistry was held in South Africa. Sponsored by the International Commission for Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (ICACGP; http://www.icacgp.org/), the workshop received generous support from the South African power utility, Eskom, and the Climatology Research Group of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The purpose of the workshop was to review some earlier findings as well as more recent findings on southern African climate vulnerability, chemical changes due to urbanization, land-use modification, and how these factors interact. Originally proposed by John Burrows, president of ICACGP, the workshop was the first ICACGP regional workshop to study the interaction of air pollution with global chemical and climate change. Organized locally by the University of the Witwatersrand, the workshop attracted more than 60 delegates from South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, France, Germany, Canada, and the United States. More than 30 presentations were given, exploring both retrospective and prospective aspects of the science. In several talks, attention was focused on southern African chemistry, atmospheric pollution monitoring, and climate processes as they were studied in the field

  16. Thermal Conductivity of the Multicomponent Neutral Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlov, A. V.

    2017-12-01

    Approximate expressions for the thermal conductivity coefficient of the multicomponent neutral atmosphere consisting of N2, O2, O, He, and H are analyzed and evaluated for the atmospheric conditions by comparing them with that given by the rigorous hydrodynamic theory. The new approximations of the thermal conductivity coefficients of simple gases N2, O2, O, He, and H are derived and used. It is proved that the modified Mason and Saxena approximation of the atmospheric thermal conductivity coefficient is more accurate in reproducing the atmospheric values of the rigorous hydrodynamic thermal conductivity coefficient in comparison with those that are generally accepted in atmospheric studies. This approximation of the thermal conductivity coefficient is recommended to use in calculations of the neutral temperature of the atmosphere.

  17. Problems in global atmospheric chemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crutzen, Paul J.

    1993-02-01

    The chemistry of the atmosphere is substantially influenced by a wide range of chemical processes which are primarily driven by the action of ultraviolet radiation of wavelengths shorter than 320 nm (UV-B) on ozone and water vapor. This leads to the formation of hydroxyl (OH) radicals which, despite very low tropospheric concentrations, remove most gases that are emitted into the atmosphere by natural and anthropogenic processes. Therefore, although only about 10% of all atmospheric ozone is located in the troposphere, through the formation of OH, it determines the oxidation efficiency of the atmosphere and is, therefore, of the utmost importance for maintaining its chemical composition. Due to a variety of human activities, especially through increasing emissions of CH4, CO, and NOx, the concentrations of tropospheric ozone and hydroxyl are expected to be increasing in polluted and decreasing in clean tropospheric environments. Altogether, this may be leading to an overall decrease in the oxidation efficiency of the atmosphere, contributing to a gradual buildup of several longlived trace gases that are primarily removed by reaction with OH. In the stratosphere, especially due to catalytic reactions of chlorine-containing gases of industrial origin, ozone is being depleted, most drastically noted during the early spring months over Antarctica. Because ozone is the only atmospheric constituent that can significantly absorb solar radiation in the wavelength region 240 - 320 nm, this loss of ozone enhances the penetration of biologically harmful UV-B radiation to the earth's surface with ensuing negative consequences for the biosphere. Several of the aforementioned chemically active trace gases with growing trends in the atmosphere are also efficient greenhouse gases. Together they can exert a warming effect on the earth's climate about equal to that of carbon dioxide.

  18. Clouds in the Martian Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Määttänen, Anni; Montmessin, Franck

    2018-01-01

    Although resembling an extremely dry desert, planet Mars hosts clouds in its atmosphere. Every day somewhere on the planet a part of the tiny amount of water vapor held by the atmosphere can condense as ice crystals to form cirrus-type clouds. The existence of water ice clouds has been known for a long time, and they have been studied for decades, leading to the establishment of a well-known climatology and understanding of their formation and properties. Despite their thinness, they have a clear impact on the atmospheric temperatures, thus affecting the Martian climate. Another, more exotic type of clouds forms as well on Mars. The atmospheric temperatures can plunge to such frigid values that the major gaseous component of the atmosphere, CO2, condenses as ice crystals. These clouds form in the cold polar night where they also contribute to the formation of the CO2 ice polar cap, and also in the mesosphere at very high altitudes, near the edge of space, analogously to the noctilucent clouds on Earth. The mesospheric clouds are a fairly recent discovery and have put our understanding of the Martian atmosphere to a test. On Mars, cloud crystals form on ice nuclei, mostly provided by the omnipresent dust. Thus, the clouds link the three major climatic cycles: those of the two major volatiles, H2O and CO2; and that of dust, which is a major climatic agent itself.

  19. Uranus atmospheric dynamics and circulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allison, Michael; Beebe, Reta F.; Conrath, Barney J.; Hinson, David P.; Ingersoll, Andrew P.

    1991-01-01

    The observations, models, and theories relevant to the atmospheric dynamics and meteorology of Uranus are discussed. The available models for the large-scale heat transport and atmospheric dynamics as well as diagnostic interpretations of the Voyager data are reviewed. Some pertinent ideas and questions regarding the global circulation balance are considered, partly in comparison with other planetary atmospheres. The available data indicate atmospheric rotation at midlatitudes nearly 200 m/s faster than that of the planetary magnetic field. Analysis of the dynamical deformation of the shape and size of isobaric surfaces measured by the Voyager radio-occultation experiment suggests a subrotating equator at comparable altitudes. Infrared temperature retrievals above the cloud deck indicate a smaller equator-to-pole contrast than expected for purely radiative-convective equilibrium, but show local variations implying a latitudinally correlated decrease with altitude in the cloud-tracked wind.

  20. Atmospheres in a Test Tube

    Science.gov (United States)

    Claudi, R.; Erculiani, M. S.; Giro, E.; D'Alessandro, M.; Galletta, G.

    2013-09-01

    The "Atmosphere in a Test Tube" project is a laboratory experiment that will be able to reproduce condition of extreme environments by means of a simulator. These conditions span from those existing inside some parts of the human body to combinations of temperatures, pressures, irradiation and atmospheric gases present on other planets. In this latter case the experiments to be performed will be useful as preliminary tests for both simulation of atmosphere of exoplanets and Solar System planets and Astrobiology experiments that should be performed by planetary landers or by instruments to be launched in the next years. In particular at INAF Astronomical Observatory of Padova Laboratory we are approaching the characterization of extrasolar planet atmospheres taking advantage by innovative laboratory experiments with a particular focus on low mass Neptunes and Super earths and low mass M dwarfs primaries.

  1. Peranan Store Atmosphere Dalam Meningkatkan Keputusan Pembelian

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rennyta Yusiana

    2017-04-01

    ABSTRACT Bandung is a destination for domestic and foreign tourists with culinary goals. There are many restaurants and cafes offering a variety of culinary tastes, ranging from culinary archipelago to abroad. Nowadays consumers are attracted to the restaurant and cafe with a different atmosphere. One of them is the Hummingbird Eatery which implementing store homey atmosphere, with the cozy interior and dominated by furniture made of wood. Atmosphere is an important factor for consumers in choosing where to dine and relax. Cozy atmosphere with unique decor and creative appeal to a restaurant that makes consumers visit. This study aims to determine consumer response regarding the role of Store Atmosphere in increasing consumer purchasing decisions. This type of research is descriptive and quantitative, using 100 samples. Data collection techniques used were questionnaires, observations, interviews, and literature studies. This study uses SPSS V.22 and simple linear regression. The results of this study indicate that the general interior becomes a major consideration as a benefit for consumers in making purchasing decisions apart from other sub variables store atmosphere. Managers can prioritize managing general interior more effectively, because consumers prefer it in the store atmosphere. Keywords: Store Atmosphere, Purchase Decision

  2. Hydrodynamics of oceans and atmospheres

    CERN Document Server

    Eckart, Carl

    1960-01-01

    Hydrodynamics of Oceans and Atmospheres is a systematic account of the hydrodynamics of oceans and atmospheres. Topics covered range from the thermodynamic functions of an ideal gas and the thermodynamic coefficients for water to steady motions, the isothermal atmosphere, the thermocline, and the thermosphere. Perturbation equations, field equations, residual equations, and a general theory of rays are also presented. This book is comprised of 17 chapters and begins with an introduction to the basic equations and their solutions, with the aim of illustrating the laws of dynamics. The nonlinear

  3. Global Atmosphere Watch Workshop on Measurement-Model ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme coordinates high-quality observations of atmospheric composition from global to local scales with the aim to drive high-quality and high-impact science while co-producing a new generation of products and services. In line with this vision, GAW’s Scientific Advisory Group for Total Atmospheric Deposition (SAG-TAD) has a mandate to produce global maps of wet, dry and total atmospheric deposition for important atmospheric chemicals to enable research into biogeochemical cycles and assessments of ecosystem and human health effects. The most suitable scientific approach for this activity is the emerging technique of measurement-model fusion for total atmospheric deposition. This technique requires global-scale measurements of atmospheric trace gases, particles, precipitation composition and precipitation depth, as well as predictions of the same from global/regional chemical transport models. The fusion of measurement and model results requires data assimilation and mapping techniques. The objective of the GAW Workshop on Measurement-Model Fusion for Global Total Atmospheric Deposition (MMF-GTAD), an initiative of the SAG-TAD, was to review the state-of-the-science and explore the feasibility and methodology of producing, on a routine retrospective basis, global maps of atmospheric gas and aerosol concentrations as well as wet, dry and total deposition via measurement-model

  4. DREAMING OF ATMOSPHERES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waldmann, I. P.

    2016-01-01

    Here, we introduce the RobERt (Robotic Exoplanet Recognition) algorithm for the classification of exoplanetary emission spectra. Spectral retrieval of exoplanetary atmospheres frequently requires the preselection of molecular/atomic opacities to be defined by the user. In the era of open-source, automated, and self-sufficient retrieval algorithms, manual input should be avoided. User dependent input could, in worst-case scenarios, lead to incomplete models and biases in the retrieval. The RobERt algorithm is based on deep-belief neural (DBN) networks trained to accurately recognize molecular signatures for a wide range of planets, atmospheric thermal profiles, and compositions. Reconstructions of the learned features, also referred to as the “dreams” of the network, indicate good convergence and an accurate representation of molecular features in the DBN. Using these deep neural networks, we work toward retrieval algorithms that themselves understand the nature of the observed spectra, are able to learn from current and past data, and make sensible qualitative preselections of atmospheric opacities to be used for the quantitative stage of the retrieval process

  5. Dreaming of Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldmann, I. P.

    2016-04-01

    Here, we introduce the RobERt (Robotic Exoplanet Recognition) algorithm for the classification of exoplanetary emission spectra. Spectral retrieval of exoplanetary atmospheres frequently requires the preselection of molecular/atomic opacities to be defined by the user. In the era of open-source, automated, and self-sufficient retrieval algorithms, manual input should be avoided. User dependent input could, in worst-case scenarios, lead to incomplete models and biases in the retrieval. The RobERt algorithm is based on deep-belief neural (DBN) networks trained to accurately recognize molecular signatures for a wide range of planets, atmospheric thermal profiles, and compositions. Reconstructions of the learned features, also referred to as the “dreams” of the network, indicate good convergence and an accurate representation of molecular features in the DBN. Using these deep neural networks, we work toward retrieval algorithms that themselves understand the nature of the observed spectra, are able to learn from current and past data, and make sensible qualitative preselections of atmospheric opacities to be used for the quantitative stage of the retrieval process.

  6. DREAMING OF ATMOSPHERES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Waldmann, I. P., E-mail: ingo@star.ucl.ac.uk [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom)

    2016-04-01

    Here, we introduce the RobERt (Robotic Exoplanet Recognition) algorithm for the classification of exoplanetary emission spectra. Spectral retrieval of exoplanetary atmospheres frequently requires the preselection of molecular/atomic opacities to be defined by the user. In the era of open-source, automated, and self-sufficient retrieval algorithms, manual input should be avoided. User dependent input could, in worst-case scenarios, lead to incomplete models and biases in the retrieval. The RobERt algorithm is based on deep-belief neural (DBN) networks trained to accurately recognize molecular signatures for a wide range of planets, atmospheric thermal profiles, and compositions. Reconstructions of the learned features, also referred to as the “dreams” of the network, indicate good convergence and an accurate representation of molecular features in the DBN. Using these deep neural networks, we work toward retrieval algorithms that themselves understand the nature of the observed spectra, are able to learn from current and past data, and make sensible qualitative preselections of atmospheric opacities to be used for the quantitative stage of the retrieval process.

  7. Remote measurement of atmospheric pollutants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allario, F.; Hoell, J.; Seals, R. K.

    1979-01-01

    The concentration and vertical distribution of atmospheric ammonia and ozone are remotely sensed, using dual-C02-laser multichannel infrared Heterodyne Spectrometer (1HS). Innovation makes atmospheric pollution measurements possible with nearly-quantum-noise-limited sensitivity and ultrafine spectral resolution.

  8. Assessing the impact of atmospheric chemistry on the fate, transport, and transformation of adulticides in an urban atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guberman, S.; Yoon, S.; Guagenti, M. C.; Sheesley, R. J.; Usenko, S.

    2017-12-01

    Urban areas are literal hot spots of mosquito-borne disease transmission and air pollution during the summer months. Public health authorities release aerosolized adulticides to target adult mosquitoes directly in to the atmosphere to control mosquito populations and reduce the threat of diseases (e.g. Zika). Permethrin and malathion are the primary adulticides for controlling adult mosquito populations in Houston, TX and are typically sprayed at night. After being released into the atmosphere adulticides are subject to atmospheric oxidation initiated by atmospheric oxidants (e.g. O3 and NO3) which are driven by anthropogenic air pollutants (e.g. NOx; NO and NO2). Particulate matter (PM) samples were measured at both application and downwind locations. Sampling sites were determined using the combination of atmospheric plume transport models and adulticide application data provided by Harris County Public Health Mosquito Division. Atmospheric PM samples were taken using a Mobile Laboratory, equipped with total suspended PM and PM2.5 (PM with diameter Interestingly, during malathion-use periods, atmospheric malaoxon concentrations measured in the PM2.5 samples were similar to corresponding TSP samples. This suggests that the majority of the malathion (and malaoxon) was associated with fine PM. During permethrin-use periods, atmospheric permethrin concentrations measured in the PM2.5 samples were an order and half lower in magnitude. This suggests that permethrin may be undergoing less volatilization into the gas phase after application as compared to malathion (and or malaoxon). Unlike permethrin, malathion was not sprayed with a carrier or a synergistic compound. As a result, malathion may be more prone to volatilization. The atmospheric oxidation and migration to fine PM may result in decreased efficacy and increase atmospheric transport, both of which have environmental and human health consequences.

  9. Atmospheric release advisory capability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sullivan, T.J.

    1981-01-01

    The ARAC system (Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability) is described. The system is a collection of people, computers, computer models, topographic data and meteorological input data that together permits a calculation of, in a quasi-predictive sense, where effluent from an accident will migrate through the atmosphere, where it will be deposited on the ground, and what instantaneous and integrated dose an exposed individual would receive

  10. White dwarf stars with chemically stratified atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muchmore, D.

    1982-01-01

    Recent observations and theory suggest that some white dwarfs may have chemically stratified atmospheres - thin layers of hydrogen lying above helium-rich envelopes. Models of such atmospheres show that a discontinuous temperature inversion can occur at the boundary between the layers. Model spectra for layered atmospheres at 30,000 K and 50,000 K tend to have smaller decrements at 912 A, 504 A, and 228 A than uniform atmospheres would have. On the basis of their continuous extreme ultraviolet spectra, it is possible to distinguish observationally between uniform and layered atmospheres for hot white dwarfs.

  11. Regional atmospheric budgets of reduced nitrogen over the British isles assessed using a multi-layer atmospheric transport model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fournier, N.; Tang, Y.S.; Dragosits, U.; Kluizenaar, Y.de; Sutton, M.A.

    2005-01-01

    Atmospheric budgets of reduced nitrogen for the major political regions of the British Isles are investigated with a multi-layer atmospheric transport model. The model is validated against measurements of NH3 concentration and is developed to provide atmospheric budgets for defined subdomains of the

  12. Microbiology and atmospheric processes: research challenges concerning the impact of airborne micro-organisms on the atmosphere and climate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. E. Morris

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available For the past 200 years, the field of aerobiology has explored the abundance, diversity, survival and transport of micro-organisms in the atmosphere. Micro-organisms have been explored as passive and severely stressed riders of atmospheric transport systems. Recently, an interest in the active roles of these micro-organisms has emerged along with proposals that the atmosphere is a global biome for microbial metabolic activity and perhaps even multiplication. As part of a series of papers on the sources, distribution and roles in atmospheric processes of biological particles in the atmosphere, here we describe the pertinence of questions relating to the potential roles that air-borne micro-organisms might play in meteorological phenomena. For the upcoming era of research on the role of air-borne micro-organisms in meteorological phenomena, one important challenge is to go beyond descriptions of abundance of micro-organisms in the atmosphere toward an understanding of their dynamics in terms of both biological and physico-chemical properties and of the relevant transport processes at different scales. Another challenge is to develop this understanding under contexts pertinent to their potential role in processes related to atmospheric chemistry, the formation of clouds, precipitation and radiative forcing. This will require truly interdisciplinary approaches involving collaborators from the biological and physical sciences, from disciplines as disparate as agronomy, microbial genetics and atmosphere physics, for example.

  13. Microbiology and atmospheric processes: research challenges concerning the impact of airborne micro-organisms on the atmosphere and climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, C. E.; Sands, D. C.; Bardin, M.; Jaenicke, R.; Vogel, B.; Leyronas, C.; Ariya, P. A.; Psenner, R.

    2011-01-01

    For the past 200 years, the field of aerobiology has explored the abundance, diversity, survival and transport of micro-organisms in the atmosphere. Micro-organisms have been explored as passive and severely stressed riders of atmospheric transport systems. Recently, an interest in the active roles of these micro-organisms has emerged along with proposals that the atmosphere is a global biome for microbial metabolic activity and perhaps even multiplication. As part of a series of papers on the sources, distribution and roles in atmospheric processes of biological particles in the atmosphere, here we describe the pertinence of questions relating to the potential roles that air-borne micro-organisms might play in meteorological phenomena. For the upcoming era of research on the role of air-borne micro-organisms in meteorological phenomena, one important challenge is to go beyond descriptions of abundance of micro-organisms in the atmosphere toward an understanding of their dynamics in terms of both biological and physico-chemical properties and of the relevant transport processes at different scales. Another challenge is to develop this understanding under contexts pertinent to their potential role in processes related to atmospheric chemistry, the formation of clouds, precipitation and radiative forcing. This will require truly interdisciplinary approaches involving collaborators from the biological and physical sciences, from disciplines as disparate as agronomy, microbial genetics and atmosphere physics, for example.

  14. Atmospheric Infrasound during a Large Wildfire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vance, Alexis; Elbing, Brian

    2017-11-01

    Numerous natural and manmade sources generate infrasound, including tornado producing storms, human heart, hurricanes, and volcanoes. Infrasound is currently being studied as part of Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (CLOUD MAP), which is a multi-university collaboration focused on development and implementation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and integration with sensors for atmospheric measurements. To support this effort a fixed infrasonic microphone located in Stillwater, Oklahoma has been monitoring atmospheric emissions since September of 2016. While severe storm systems is the primary focus of this work, the system also captures a wide range of infrasonic sources from distances in excess of 300 miles due to an acoustic ceiling and weak atmospheric absorption. The current presentation will focus on atmospheric infrasound observations during a large wildfire on the Kansas-Oklahoma border that occurred between March 6-22, 2017. This work was supported by NSF Grant 1539070.

  15. Old-field Community, Climate and Atmospheric Manipulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aimee Classen

    2009-11-01

    We are in the process of finishing a number of laboratory, growth chamber and greenhouse projects, analyzing data, and writing papers. The projects reported addressed these subjects: How do climate and atmospheric changes alter aboveground plant biomass and community structure; Effects of multiple climate changes factors on plant community composition and diversity: what did we learn from a 5-year open-top chamber experiment using constructed old-field communities; Do atmospheric and climatic change factors interact to alter woody seedling emergence, establishment and productivity; Soil moisture surpasses elevated CO{sub 2} and temperature in importance as a control on soil carbon dynamics; How do climate and atmospheric changes alter belowground root and fungal biomass; How do climate and atmospheric changes alter soil microarthropod and microbial communities; How do climate and atmospheric changes alter belowground microbial function; Linking root litter diversity and microbial functioning at a micro scale under current and projected CO{sub 2} concentrations; Multifactor climate change effects on soil ecosystem functioning depend on concurrent changes in plant community composition; How do climate and atmospheric changes alter aboveground insect populations; How do climate and atmospheric changes alter festuca endophyte infection; How do climate and atmospheric changes soil carbon stabilization.

  16. The Atmosphere and Climate of Venus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullock, M. A.; Grinspoon, D. H.

    Venus lies just sunward of the inner edge of the Sun's habitable zone. Liquid water is not stable. Like Earth and Mars, Venus probably accreted at least an ocean's worth of water, although there are alternative scenarios. The loss of this water led to the massive, dry CO2 atmosphere, extensive H2SO4 clouds (at least some of the time), and an intense CO2 greenhouse effect. This chapter describes the current understanding of Venus' atmosphere, established from the data of dozens of spacecraft and atmospheric probe missions since 1962, and by telescopic observations since the nineteenth century. Theoretical work to model the temperature, chemistry, and circulation of Venus' atmosphere is largely based on analogous models developed in the Earth sciences. We discuss the data and modeling used to understand the temperature structure of the atmosphere, as well as its composition, cloud structure, and general circulation. We address what is known and theorized about the origin and early evolution of Venus' atmosphere. It is widely understood that Venus' dense CO2 atmosphere is the ultimate result of the loss of an ocean to space, but the timing of major transitions in Venus' climate is very poorly constrained by the available data. At present, the bright clouds allow only 20% of the sunlight to drive the energy balance and therefore determine conditions at Venus' surface. Like Earth and Mars, differential heating between the equator and poles drives the atmospheric circulation. Condensable species in the atmosphere create clouds and hazes that drive feedbacks that alter radiative forcing. Also in common with Earth and Mars, the loss of light, volatile elements to space produces long-term changes in composition and chemistry. As on Earth, geologic processes are most likely modifying the atmosphere and clouds by injecting gases from volcanos as well as directly through chemical reactions with the surface. The sensitivity of Venus' atmospheric energy balance is quantified in

  17. Atmospheric noble gases in Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts: Identification of atmospheric contamination processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roubinet, Claire; Moreira, Manuel A.

    2018-02-01

    Noble gases in oceanic basalts always show the presence in variable proportions of a component having elemental and isotopic compositions that are similar to those of the atmosphere and distinct from the mantle composition. Although this component could be mantle-derived (e.g. subduction of air or seawater-derived noble gases trapped in altered oceanic crust and sediments), it is most often suggested that this air component is added after sample collection and probably during storage at ambient air, although the mechanism remains unknown. In an attempt to reduce this atmospheric component observed in MORBs, four experimental protocols have been followed in this study. These protocols are based on the hypothesis that air can be removed from the samples, as it appears to be sheltered in distinct vesicles compared to those filled with mantle gases. All of the protocols involve a glove box filled with nitrogen, and in certain cases, the samples are stored under primary vacuum (lower than 10-2 mbar) to pump air out or, alternatively, under high pressure of N2 to expel atmospheric noble gases. In all protocols, three components are observed: atmospheric, fractionated atmospheric and magmatic. The fractionated air component seems to be derived from the non-vitreous part of the pillow-lava, which has cooled more slowly. This component is enriched in Ne relative to Ar, reflecting a diffusive process. This contaminant has already been observed in other studies and thus seems to be relatively common. Although it is less visible, unfractionated air has also been detected in some crushing steps, which tends to indicate that despite the experiments, air is still present in the vesicles. This result is surprising, since studies have demonstrated that atmospheric contamination could be limited if samples were stored under nitrogen quickly after their recovery from the seafloor. Thus, the failure of the protocols could be explained by the insufficient duration of these protocols or

  18. Atmospheric oxidation of selected alcohols and esters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Becker, K H; Cavalli, F

    2001-03-01

    The decision whether it is appropriate and beneficial for the environment to deploy specific oxygenated organic compounds as replacements for traditional solvent types requires a quantitative assessment of their potential atmospheric impacts including tropospheric ozone and other photooxidant formation. This involves developing chemical mechanisms for the gasphase atmospheric oxidation of the compounds which can be reliably used in models to predict their atmospheric reactivity under a variety of environmental conditions. Until this study, there was very little information available concerning the atmospheric fate of alcohols and esters. The objectives of this study were to measure the atmospheric reaction rates and to define atmospheric reaction mechanisms for the following selected oxygenated volatile organic compounds: the alcohols, 1-butanol and 1-pentanol, and the esters, methyl propionate and dimethyl succinate. The study has successfully addressed these objectives. (orig.)

  19. Atmospheric Physics Background – Methods – Trends

    CERN Document Server

    2012-01-01

    On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), this book presents more than 50 chapters highlighting results of the institute’s research. The book provides an up-to-date, in-depth survey across the entire field of atmospheric science, including atmospheric dynamics, radiation, cloud physics, chemistry, climate, numerical simulation, remote sensing, instruments and measurements, as well as atmospheric acoustics. The authors have provided a readily comprehensible and self-contained presentation of the complex field of atmospheric science. The topics are of direct relevance for aerospace science and technology. Future research challenges are identified.

  20. Atmosphere in a Test Tube

    Science.gov (United States)

    Claudi, R.; Pace, E.; Ciaravella, A.; Micela, G.; Piccioni, G.; Billi, D.; Cestelli Guidi, M.; Coccola, L.; Erculiani, M. S.; Fedel, M.; Galletta, G.; Giro, E.; La Rocca, N.; Morosinotto, T.; Poletto, L.; Schierano, D.; Stefani, S.

    The ancestor philosophers' dream of thousand of new world is finally realised: more than 1800 extrasolar planets have been discovered in the neighborhood of our Sun. Most of them are very different from those we used to know in our Solar System. Others orbit the Habitable Zone (HZ) of their parent stars. Space missions, as JWST and the very recently proposed ARIEL, or ground based instruments, like SPHERE@VLT, GPI@GEMINI and EPICS@ELT, have been proposed and built to measure the atmospheric transmission, reflection and emission spectra over a wide wavelength range of these new worlds. In order to interpret the spectra coming out by this new instrumentation, it is important to know in detail the optical characteristics of gases in the typical physical conditions of the planetary atmospheres and how those characteristics could be affected by radiation driven photochemical and bio-chemical reaction. Insights in this direction can be achieved from laboratory studies of simulated planetary atmosphere of different pressure and temperature conditions under the effects of radiation sources, used as proxies of different bands of the stellar emission. ''Atmosphere in a Test Tube'' is a collaboration among several Italian astronomical, biological and engineering institutes in order to share their experiencece in performing laboratory experiments on several items concerning extrasolar planet atmospheres.

  1. Atmospheric Sampling of Microorganisms with UAS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmale, D. G., III

    2017-12-01

    Many microorganisms relevant to crops, domestic animals, and humans are transported over long distances through the atmosphere. Some of these atmospheric microbes catalyze the freezing of water at higher temperatures and facilitate the onset of precipitation. A few have crossed continents. New technologies are needed to study the movement of microorganisms in the atmosphere. We have used unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to study the transport of microorganisms tens to hundreds of meters above the ground. These UAS are equipped with unique devices for collecting microbes in the atmosphere during flight. Autonomous systems enable teams of UAS to perform complex atmospheric sampling tasks, and coordinate flight missions with one another. Data collected with UAS can be used to validate and improve disease forecasting models along highways in the sky, connecting transport scales across farms, states, and continents. Though terrestrial environments are often considered a major contributor to atmospheric microbial aerosols, little is known about aquatic sources of microbial aerosols. Droplets containing microorganisms can aerosolize from the water surface, liberating them into the atmosphere. We are using teams of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and UAS to study the aerosolization of microbes from aquatic environments. Controlled flume studies using highspeed video have allowed us to observe unique aerosolization phenomena that can launch microbes out of the water and into the air. Unmanned systems may be used to excite the next generation of biologists and engineers, and raise important ethical considerations about the future of human-robot interactions.

  2. Global Atmosphere Watch Workshop on Measurement-Model Fusion for Global Total Atmospheric Deposition (MMF-GTAD)

    Science.gov (United States)

    The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme coordinates high-quality observations of atmospheric composition from global to local scales with the aim to drive high-quality and high-impact science while co-producing a new generation of pro...

  3. 222Rn concentration in the outdoor atmosphere and its relation to the atmospheric stability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holy, K.; Boehm, R.; Bosa, I.; Polaskova, A.; Hola, O.

    1998-01-01

    The radon in the outdoor atmosphere has been monitored continuously since 1991. On the basis of the measured data mainly the average daily and the average annual courses of the 222 Rn concentrations have been studied. The annual courses of 222 Rn concentration are similar for all years. They present the annual variations. The average course of the 222 Rn concentration calculated on the basis of all continual measurements in the years 1991-1997 reaches the maximum value in October and the minimum value in April. The average daily courses of the 222 Rn concentration for the individual months of the year. The average daily courses have a form of waves with a maximum in the morning hours and with a minimum in the afternoon. The maximal amplitudes of daily waves have been reached in the summer months, from June till August. The amplitudes of daily waves are very small at the end of an autumn and during the winter months. The analysis of the daily waves and annual courses of 222 Rn showed that the amplitudes of the daily waves are in proportion to the global solar radiation irradiating the Earth's surface. The day duration influence on the phase of the daily wave and the wind velocity influence mainly on the level of the radon concentration. For the study of the relation of the radon concentration in the outdoor atmosphere to the stability the data of the atmosphere were obtained and they were correlated with the radon concentration. The results indicate that the 222 Rn concentrations int he outdoor atmosphere could be used for determination of the vertical atmospheric stability and these ones could reflect the atmospheric stability more completely than the different classifications based on the knowledge pertinent to the meteorological parameters. (authors)

  4. [Regional atmospheric environment risk source identification and assessment].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiao-Chun; Chen, Wei-Ping; Ma, Chun; Zhan, Shui-Fen; Jiao, Wen-Tao

    2012-12-01

    Identification and assessment for atmospheric environment risk source plays an important role in regional atmospheric risk assessment and regional atmospheric pollution prevention and control. The likelihood exposure and consequence assessment method (LEC method) and the Delphi method were employed to build a fast and effective method for identification and assessment of regional atmospheric environment risk sources. This method was applied to the case study of a large coal transportation port in North China. The assessment results showed that the risk characteristics and the harm degree of regional atmospheric environment risk source were in line with the actual situation. Fast and effective identification and assessment of risk source has laid an important foundation for the regional atmospheric environmental risk assessment and regional atmospheric pollution prevention and control.

  5. Comets, impacts, and atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owen, Tobias; Bar-Nun, Akiva

    Studies of element abundances and values of D/H in the atmospheres of the giant planets and Titan have emphasized the important role of icy planetesimals in the formation of these bodies. In these atmospheres, C/H and D/H increase as the relative masses of the 'cores' of the planets increase. N/H appears to deviate from this trend in an interesting way. In the inner solar system, the traditional approach of using carbonaceous chondrites as the source of planetary volatiles is in serious trouble because of the depletion of xenon and the unusual pattern of xenon isotopes found in the atmospheres of Earth and Mars, and because of the solar-type abundance ratios of argon, krypton and xenon and the large amounts of neon and argon on Venus. Recent studies of elemental abundances in comets, especially P/Halley, coupled with laboratory studies of the trapping of gas in ice formed at low temperatures by A. Bar-Nun et al. provide a consistent interpretation of all of these results. This interpretation emphasizes the fundamental importance of icy planetesimals (comets) and the randomness of early impacts in the formation of planetary systems. Cometary delivery by itself will not explain the noble gas abundances on the inner planets. There is good evidence for at least one additional source, which presumably consists of the rocky material making up the bulk of the planets. The existence of this rocky reservoir is manifested in the nucleogenic isotopes and in the neon which is found in all these atmospheres and is also present in the Earth's mantle. This neon may well be a relic of the planets' earliest, accretional atmospheres.

  6. Key features of the IPSL ocean atmosphere model and its sensitivity to atmospheric resolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marti, Olivier; Braconnot, P.; Bellier, J.; Brockmann, P.; Caubel, A.; Noblet, N. de; Friedlingstein, P.; Idelkadi, A.; Kageyama, M. [Unite Mixte CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, IPSL/LSCE, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France); Dufresne, J.L.; Bony, S.; Codron, F.; Fairhead, L.; Grandpeix, J.Y.; Hourdin, F.; Musat, I. [Unite Mixte CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique-ENS-UPCM, IPSL/LMD, Paris Cedex 05 (France); Benshila, R.; Guilyardi, E.; Levy, C.; Madec, G.; Mignot, J.; Talandier, C. [unite mixte CNRS-IRD-UPMC, IPLS/LOCEAN, Paris Cedex 05 (France); Cadule, P.; Denvil, S.; Foujols, M.A. [Institut Pierre Simon Laplace des Sciences de l' Environnement (IPSL), Paris Cedex 05 (France); Fichefet, T.; Goosse, H. [Universite Catholique de Louvain, Institut d' Astronomie et de Geophysique Georges Lemaitre, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium); Krinner, G. [Unite mixte CNRS-UJF Grenoble, LGGE, BP96, Saint-Martin-d' Heres (France); Swingedouw, D. [CNRS/CERFACS, Toulouse (France)

    2010-01-15

    This paper presents the major characteristics of the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model. The model components and the coupling methodology are described, as well as the main characteristics of the climatology and interannual variability. The model results of the standard version used for IPCC climate projections, and for intercomparison projects like the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP 2) are compared to those with a higher resolution in the atmosphere. A focus on the North Atlantic and on the tropics is used to address the impact of the atmosphere resolution on processes and feedbacks. In the North Atlantic, the resolution change leads to an improved representation of the storm-tracks and the North Atlantic oscillation. The better representation of the wind structure increases the northward salt transports, the deep-water formation and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. In the tropics, the ocean-atmosphere dynamical coupling, or Bjerknes feedback, improves with the resolution. The amplitude of ENSO (El Nino-Southern oscillation) consequently increases, as the damping processes are left unchanged. (orig.)

  7. Peer-Mentoring Program and Academic Atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sri Endah Kusmartini

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Management of Sriwijaya State Polytechnic believes that peer-mentoring program has positive effects on students’ academic success. Moreover, it is also believed that good academic atmosphere should be developed. In line with these, researchers tried to investigate whether peer-mentoring program and academic atmosphere correlated significantly to students’ writing achievement partially and simultaneously. The research was conducted in English Department, Sriwijaya State Polytechnic with 60 samples taken randomly. Measures of Peer-mentoring Program and Academic Atmosphere were used sequentially to measure peer-mentoring program and academic atmosphere as perceived by the students. Meanwhile, writing score was used to find out writing achievement of the students. The hypotheses were tested by using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression. The results showed that peer-mentoring program and academic atmosphere as perceived by the students correlated significantly towards students’ writing achievement partially and simultaneously. Therefore it is recommended to continue the programs.

  8. The FLUKA atmospheric neutrino flux calculation

    CERN Document Server

    Battistoni, G.; Montaruli, T.; Sala, P.R.

    2003-01-01

    The 3-dimensional (3-D) calculation of the atmospheric neutrino flux by means of the FLUKA Monte Carlo model is here described in all details, starting from the latest data on primary cosmic ray spectra. The importance of a 3-D calculation and of its consequences have been already debated in a previous paper. Here instead the focus is on the absolute flux. We stress the relevant aspects of the hadronic interaction model of FLUKA in the atmospheric neutrino flux calculation. This model is constructed and maintained so to provide a high degree of accuracy in the description of particle production. The accuracy achieved in the comparison with data from accelerators and cross checked with data on particle production in atmosphere certifies the reliability of shower calculation in atmosphere. The results presented here can be already used for analysis by current experiments on atmospheric neutrinos. However they represent an intermediate step towards a final release, since this calculation does not yet include the...

  9. Verification of atmospheric diffusion models with data of atmospheric diffusion experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hato, Shinji; Homma, Toshimitsu

    2009-02-01

    The atmospheric diffusion experiments were implemented by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) around Mount Tsukuba in 1989 and 1990, and the tracer gas concentration were monitored. In this study, the Gauss Plume Model and RAMS/HYPACT that are meteorological forecast code and atmospheric diffusion code with detailed physical law are made a comparison between monitored concentration. In conclusion, the Gauss Plume Model is better than RAM/HYPACT even complex topography if the estimation is around tens of kilometer form release point and the change in weather is constant for short time. This reason is difference of wind between RAMS and observation. (author)

  10. Would be the Atmosphere Chaotic?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isimar de Azevedo Santos

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The atmosphere has often been considered “chaotic” when in fact the “chaos” is a manifestation of the models that simulate it, which do not include all the physical mechanisms that exist within it. A weather prediction cannot be perfectly verified after a few days of integration due to the inherent nonlinearity of the equations of the hydrodynamic models. The innovative ideas of Lorenz led to the use of the ensemble forecast, with clear improvements in the quality of the numerical weather prediction. The present study addresses the statement that “even with perfect models and perfect observations, the ‘chaotic’ nature of the atmosphere would impose a finite limit of about two weeks to the predictability of the weather” as the atmosphere is not necessarily “chaotic”, but the models used in the simulation of atmospheric processes are. We conclude, therefore, that potential exists for developments to increase the horizon of numerical weather prediction, starting with better models and observations.

  11. Atmosphere and Ambient Space

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Ulrik

    Atmosphere and Ambient Space This paper explores the relation between atmosphere and ambient space. Atmosphere and ambient space share many salient properties. They are both ontologically indeterminate, constantly varying and formally diffuse and they are both experienced as a subtle, non......-signifying property of a given space. But from a certain point of view, the two concepts also designate quite dissimilar experiences of space. To be ’ambient’ means to surround. Accordingly, ambient space is that space, which surrounds something or somebody. (Gibson 1987: 65) Since space is essentially...... of a surrounding character, all space can thus be described as having a fundamentally ambient character. So what precisely is an ambient space, then? As I will argue in my presentation, ambient space is a sensory effect of spatiality when a space is experienced as being particularly surrounding: a ‘space effect...

  12. Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling through Trace Gases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tegtmeier, S.; Atlas, E. L.; Krüger, K.; Lennartz, S. T.; Marandino, C. A.; Patra, P. K.; Quack, B.; Schlundt, C.

    2017-12-01

    Halogen- and sulfur-containing trace gases, as well as other volatile organic compounds (VOCs, such as isoprene) from biogeochemical marine sources are important constituents of the ocean and the atmosphere. These compounds exert wide-ranging influence on atmospheric chemical processes and climate interactions, as well as on human health in coastal regions. In their reactive form, they can affect the oxidizing capacity of the air and lead to the formation of new particles or the growth of existing ones. In this contribution, marine derived halogen-, sulfur-, and oxygen-containing compounds will be discussed. Their net flux into the atmosphere and their impact on atmospheric processes is analyzed based on observations and model simulations.

  13. Long-term atmospheric corrosion of mild steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuente, D. de la; Diaz, I.; Simancas, J.; Chico, B.; Morcillo, M.

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → Atmospheric corrosion rate stabilises after the first 4-6 years of exposure. → Great compaction of the rust layers in rural and urban atmospheres. → Corrosion (in rural and urban) deviates from common behaviour of bilogarithmic law. → Typical structures of lepidocrocite, goethite and akaganeite are identified. → Formation of hematite (industrial atmosphere) and ferrihydrite (marine atmosphere). - Abstract: A great deal of information is available on the atmospheric corrosion of mild steel in the short, mid and even long term, but studies of the structure and morphology of corrosion layers are less abundant and generally deal with those formed in just a few years. The present study assesses the structure and morphology of corrosion product layers formed on mild steel after 13 years of exposure in five Spanish atmospheres of different types: rural, urban, industrial and marine (mild and severe). The corrosion layers have been characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). Long-term corrosion is seen to be more severe in the industrial and marine atmospheres, and less so in the rural and urban atmospheres. In all cases the corrosion rate is seen to decrease with exposure time, stabilising after the first 4-6 years of exposure. The most relevant aspects to be noted are (a) the great compaction of the rust layers formed in the rural and urban atmospheres, (b) the formation of hematite and ferrihydrite phases (not commonly found) in the industrial and marine atmospheres, respectively and (c) identification of the typical morphological structures of lepidocrocite (sandy crystals and flowery plates), goethite (cotton balls structures) and akaganeite (cotton balls structures and cigar-shaped crystals).

  14. NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP) and Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP): Research Summaries 1997-1999

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurylo, M. J.; DeCola, P. L.; Kaye, J. A.

    2000-01-01

    Under the mandate contained in the FY 1976 NASA Authorization Act, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed and is implementing a comprehensive program of research, technology development, and monitoring of the Earth's upper atmosphere, with emphasis on the upper troposphere and stratosphere. This program aims at expanding our chemical and physical understanding to permit both the quantitative analysis of current perturbations as well as the assessment of possible future changes in this important region of our environment. It is carried out jointly by the Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP) and the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP), both managed within the Research Division in the Office of Earth Science at NASA. Significant contributions to this effort have also been provided by the Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project (AEAP) of NASA's Office of Aero-Space Technology. The long-term objectives of the present program are to perform research to: understand the physics, chemistry, and transport processes of the upper troposphere and the stratosphere and their control on the distribution of atmospheric chemical species such as ozone; assess possible perturbations to the composition of the atmosphere caused by human activities and natural phenomena (with a specific emphasis on trace gas geographical distributions, sources, and sinks and the role of trace gases in defining the chemical composition of the upper atmosphere); understand the processes affecting the distributions of radiatively active species in the atmosphere, and the importance of chemical-radiative-dynamical feedbacks on the meteorology and climatology of the stratosphere and troposphere; and understand ozone production, loss, and recovery in an atmosphere with increasing abundances of greenhouse gases. The current report is composed of two parts. Part 1 summarizes the objectives, status, and accomplishments of the research tasks supported

  15. A SEARCH FOR MAGNESIUM IN EUROPA'S ATMOSPHERE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hörst, S. M.; Brown, M. E.

    2013-01-01

    Europa's tenuous atmosphere results from sputtering of the surface. The trace element composition of its atmosphere is therefore related to the composition of Europa's surface. Magnesium salts are often invoked to explain Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer spectra of Europa's surface, thus magnesium may be present in Europa's atmosphere. We have searched for magnesium emission in the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph archival spectra of Europa's atmosphere. Magnesium was not detected and we calculate an upper limit on the magnesium column abundance. This upper limit indicates that either Europa's surface is depleted in magnesium relative to sodium and potassium, or magnesium is not sputtered as efficiently resulting in a relative depletion in its atmosphere.

  16. The atmosphere and ocean: A physical introduction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wells, N.

    1986-01-01

    The book's contents are: The Earth within the solar system. Composition and physical properties of the ocean and atmosphere. Radiation, temperature and stability. Water in the atmosphere. Global budgets of heat, water and salt. Observations of winds and currents. The influence of the Earth's rotation on fluid motion. Waves and tides. Energy transfer in the ocean-atmosphere system. Climate variability and predictability. The atmosphere and ocean are two different environmental systems, yet both are interdependent, interacting and exchanging energy, heat and matter. This book attempts to bring the study of the atmosphere and ocean together. It is a descriptive account of physical properties, exploring their common bases, similarities, interactions and fundamental differences

  17. Atmospheric methods for nuclear test monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simons, D.J.

    1995-01-01

    The U.S. DOE sponsored research investigating atmospheric infrasound as a means of detecting both atmospheric and underground nuclear tests. Various detection schemes were examined and were found to be effective for different situations. It has been discovered that an enhanced sensitivity is realizable for the very lowest frequency disturbances by detecting the infrasound at the top of the atmosphere using ratio sound techniques. These techniques are compared to more traditional measurement schemes

  18. Natural atmospheric radioactivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Renoux, A.

    1986-01-01

    After having summed up the different old or new units, used in radioactivity and radioprotection, the origins of atmospheric radioactivity are reported. Next the authors deal with the air content in radon, thoron and their radioactive descendants, insisting on the variations of the radon air content and on the radioactive balance between radon and its descendants. Then a few notions concerning the natural radioactive aerosol are developed: electric charge state, granulometric distribution. The possible effects of natural atmospheric radioactivity on man are studied with a distinction between inner irradiation and outer irradiation, an average assessment is shown. Finally the important problem of radon in inhabitations is approached [fr

  19. Radiation transfer and stellar atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swihart, T. L.

    This is a revised and expanded version of the author's Basic Physics of Stellar Atmospheres, published in 1971. The equation of transfer is considered, taking into account the intensity and derived quantities, the absorption coefficient, the emission coefficient, the source function, and special integrals for plane media. The gray atmosphere is discussed along with the nongray atmosphere, and aspects of line formation. Topics related to polarization are explored, giving attention to pure polarized radiation, general polarized radiation, transfer in a magnetic plasma, and Rayleigh scattering and the sunlit sky. Physical and astronomical constants, and a number of problems related to the subjects of the book are presented in an appendix.

  20. Development of scheme for predicting atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides during nuclear emergency by using atmospheric dynamic model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nagai, Haruyasu; Chino, Masamichi; Yamazawa, Hiromi (Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokyo (Japan))

    1999-07-01

    The meteorological forecast models are critically important for the accuracy of predicting the atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides discharged into atmosphere during nuclear emergencies. Thus, this paper describes a new scheme for predicting environmental impacts due to accidental release of radionuclides by using an atmospheric dynamic model PHYSIC. The advantages of introducing PHYSIC are, (1) three-dimensional local meteorological forecasts can be conducted, (2) synoptic meteorological changes can be considered by inputting grid data of synoptic forecasts from Japan Meteorological Agency to PHYSIC as initial and boundary conditions, (3) forecasts can be improved by nudging method using local meteorological observations, and (4) atmospheric dispersion model can consider the variation of the mixed layer. (author)

  1. Development of scheme for predicting atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides during nuclear emergency by using atmospheric dynamic model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagai, Haruyasu; Chino, Masamichi; Yamazawa, Hiromi

    1999-01-01

    The meteorological forecast models are critically important for the accuracy of predicting the atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides discharged into atmosphere during nuclear emergencies. Thus, this paper describes a new scheme for predicting environmental impacts due to accidental release of radionuclides by using an atmospheric dynamic model PHYSIC. The advantages of introducing PHYSIC are, (1) three-dimensional local meteorological forecasts can be conducted, (2) synoptic meteorological changes can be considered by inputting grid data of synoptic forecasts from Japan Meteorological Agency to PHYSIC as initial and boundary conditions, (3) forecasts can be improved by nudging method using local meteorological observations, and (4) atmospheric dispersion model can consider the variation of the mixed layer. (author)

  2. MODIS/Aqua Atmosphere Aeronet Subsetting Product

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MODIS/Aqua Atmosphere Aeronet Subsetting Product (MYDARNSS) consists of MODIS Atmosphere and Ancillary Products subsets that are generated over a number of...

  3. Geologic data on atmospheric history

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rutten, M.G.

    1966-01-01

    Attention is focussed on the possible existence of an anoxygenic, primeval atmosphere and on the history of atmospheric O2 and CO2. For this purpose, geologic data can be divided into those on fossil remains, on biogenic deposits formed by early life, on “chemicofossils”, and on deposits formed

  4. Innovative measurement within the atmosphere of Venus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekonomov, Alexey; Linkin, Vyacheslav; Manukin, Anatoly; Makarov, Vladislav; Lipatov, Alexander

    The results of Vega project experiments with two balloons flew in the cloud layer of the atmosphere of Venus are analyzed as to the superrotation nature and local dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of the atmosphere. These balloons in conjunction with measurements of temperature profiles defined by the Fourier spectrometer measurements from the spacecraft Venera 15 allow us to offer a mechanism accelerating the atmosphere to high zonal velocities and supporting these speeds, the atmosphere superrotation in general. Spectral measurements with balloons confirm the possibility of imaging the planet's surface from a height of not more than 55 km. Promising experiments with balloons in the atmosphere of Venus are considered. In particular, we discuss the possibility of measuring the geopotential height, as Venus no seas and oceans to vertical positioning of the temperature profiles. As an innovative research facilities within the atmosphere overpressure balloon with a lifetime longer than 14 Earth days and vertical profile microprobes are considered.

  5. Whole Atmosphere Simulation of Anthropogenic Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomon, Stanley C.; Liu, Han-Li; Marsh, Daniel R.; McInerney, Joseph M.; Qian, Liying; Vitt, Francis M.

    2018-02-01

    We simulated anthropogenic global change through the entire atmosphere, including the thermosphere and ionosphere, using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model-eXtended. The basic result was that even as the lower atmosphere gradually warms, the upper atmosphere rapidly cools. The simulations employed constant low solar activity conditions, to remove the effects of variable solar and geomagnetic activity. Global mean annual mean temperature increased at a rate of +0.2 K/decade at the surface and +0.4 K/decade in the upper troposphere but decreased by about -1 K/decade in the stratosphere-mesosphere and -2.8 K/decade in the thermosphere. Near the mesopause, temperature decreases were small compared to the interannual variation, so trends in that region are uncertain. Results were similar to previous modeling confined to specific atmospheric levels and compared favorably with available measurements. These simulations demonstrate the ability of a single comprehensive numerical model to characterize global change throughout the atmosphere.

  6. Atmospheric monitoring in H.E.S.S.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hahn J.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Instruments applying the IACT method, such as H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System, observe VHE (very high energy, E > 100 GeV photons indirectly, using the Earth's atmosphere as a calorimeter. In the H.E.S.S. data reconstruction, the properties of this component are estimated by Monte Carlo simulations of a yearly averaged atmosphere density profile. Deviations of the real atmospheric conditions from this assumed atmospheric model will result in a biased reconstruction of the primary gamma-ray energy and thus the resulting source spectrum. In order to keep the corresponding systematic effects to a minimum, H.E.S.S. operates a set of atmospheric monitoring devices that allows it to characterise the atmospheric conditions during data taking. This information in turn is then used in data selection. Here, a short overview with respect to their usage during source observation and a posteriori analysis data selection will be presented.

  7. Runaway greenhouse atmospheres: Applications to Earth and Venus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasting, J.F.

    1991-01-01

    Runaway greenhouse atmospheres are discussed from a theoretical standpoint and with respect to various practical situation in which they might occur. The following subject areas are covered: (1) runaway greenhouse atmospheres; (2) moist greenhouse atmospheres; (3) loss of water from Venus; (4) steam atmosphere during accretion; and (5) the continuously habitable zone

  8. Runaway greenhouse atmospheres: Applications to Earth and Venus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasting, James F.

    1991-01-01

    Runaway greenhouse atmospheres are discussed from a theoretical standpoint and with respect to various practical situation in which they might occur. The following subject areas are covered: (1) runaway greenhouse atmospheres; (2) moist greenhouse atmospheres; (3) loss of water from Venus; (4) steam atmosphere during accretion; and (5) the continuously habitable zone.

  9. Phenomenology of atmospheric neutrinos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fedynitch Anatoli

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The detection of astrophysical neutrinos, certainly a break-through result, introduced new experimental challenges and fundamental questions about acceleration mechanisms of cosmic rays. On one hand IceCube succeeded in finding an unambiguous proof for the existence of a diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux, on the other hand the precise determination of its spectral index and normalization requires a better knowledge about the atmospheric background at hundreds of TeV and PeV energies. Atmospheric neutrinos in this energy range originate mostly from decays of heavy-flavor mesons, which production in the phase space relevant for prompt leptons is uncertain. Current accelerator-based experiments are limited by detector acceptance and not so much by the collision energy. This paper recaps phenomenological aspects of atmospheric leptons and calculation methods, linking recent progress in flux predictions with particle physics at colliders, in particular the Large Hadron Collider.

  10. Atmospheric Composition Change: Climate-Chemistry Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isaksen, I.S.A.; Granier, C.; Myhre, G.; Bernsten, T. K.; Dalsoren, S. B.; Gauss, S.; Klimont, Z.; Benestad, R.; Bousquet, P.; Collins, W.; hide

    2011-01-01

    Chemically active climate compounds are either primary compounds such as methane (CH4), removed by oxidation in the atmosphere, or secondary compounds such as ozone (O3), sulfate and organic aerosols, formed and removed in the atmosphere. Man-induced climate-chemistry interaction is a two-way process: Emissions of pollutants change the atmospheric composition contributing to climate change through the aforementioned climate components, and climate change, through changes in temperature, dynamics, the hydrological cycle, atmospheric stability, and biosphere-atmosphere interactions, affects the atmospheric composition and oxidation processes in the troposphere. Here we present progress in our understanding of processes of importance for climate-chemistry interactions, and their contributions to changes in atmospheric composition and climate forcing. A key factor is the oxidation potential involving compounds such as O3 and the hydroxyl radical (OH). Reported studies represent both current and future changes. Reported results include new estimates of radiative forcing based on extensive model studies of chemically active climate compounds such as O3, and of particles inducing both direct and indirect effects. Through EU projects such as ACCENT, QUANTIFY, and the AEROCOM project, extensive studies on regional and sector-wise differences in the impact on atmospheric distribution are performed. Studies have shown that land-based emissions have a different effect on climate than ship and aircraft emissions, and different measures are needed to reduce the climate impact. Several areas where climate change can affect the tropospheric oxidation process and the chemical composition are identified. This can take place through enhanced stratospheric-tropospheric exchange of ozone, more frequent periods with stable conditions favouring pollution build up over industrial areas, enhanced temperature-induced biogenic emissions, methane releases from permafrost thawing, and enhanced

  11. The Structure and Composition of Io's Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smyth, W. H.; Marconi, M. L.

    2011-12-01

    Io's atmosphere is thought to be generated principally by sublimation on the dayside and by multiple volcanoes scattered throughout its surface and more concentrated near the equator. While SO2 seems to be the principle product of these sources, many other chemical species are placed into the atmosphere by these sources, including substantial amounts of SO and S2 as well as smaller but observationally significant amounts of Na bearing molecules. These species in turn interact strongly with the torus plasma generating additional species such as O2, S, O, and Na. The strong interaction of the torus plasma with the neutral atmosphere not only exerts a profound effect on the composition of Io's atmosphere but also strongly affects the dynamics and thermodynamics of Io's atmosphere, particularly at higher altitudes. In addition, as Io orbits Jupiter, the change in location of the sublimation region and the eclipse of Io as it passes through Jupiter's shadow result in substantial variation in the atmosphere. A complex time-dependent three-dimensional atmosphere with strong spatial compositional variation is created. Here we extend the two-dimensional multispecies Navier-Stokes model of Smyth and Wong (2004) to three-dimensions, include two volcanic sources similar to Pele and Loki, and include the effect of Io's movement around Jupiter on sublimation. The effects of the torus plasma are also included as in Smyth and Wong. We will present the overall composition and structure of the atmosphere, O to S ratios in the upper atmosphere, and discuss a potential issue with the O2 abundance. Smyth, W.H. and M.C. Wong, Icarus 171, 171-182, 2004.

  12. The atmospheric temperature structure of Titan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mckay, Christopher P.; Pollack, J. B.; Courtin, Regis; Lunine, Jonathan I.

    1992-01-01

    The contribution of various factors to the thermal structure of Titan's past and present atmosphere are discussed. A one dimensional model of Titan's thermal structure is summarized. The greenhouse effect of Titan's atmosphere, caused primarily by pressure induced opacity of N2, CH4, and H2, is discussed together with the antigreenhouse effect dominated by the haze which absorbs incident sunlight. The implications for the atmosphere of the presence of an ocean on Titan are also discussed.

  13. Modelling of pollution dispersion in atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borysiewicz, M.; Stankiewicz, R.

    1994-01-01

    The paper contains the review of the mathematical foundation of atmospheric dispersion models. The atmospheric phenomena relevant to atmospheric dispersion model are discussed. In particular the parametrization of processes with time and space scales smaller than numerical grid size, limited by available computer power, is presented. The special attention was devoted to similarity theory and parametrization of boundary layer. The numerical methods are analysed and the drawbacks of the method are presented. (author). 99 refs, 15 figs, 3 tabs

  14. Analysis on the atmospheric dispersion of radioactive materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagai, Haruyasu

    2012-01-01

    JAEA has been developing a new prediction system of comprehensive movement, SPEEDI-MP (SPEEDI Multi-model Package), which can treat continuously and strictly with the migration behavior of radioactive materials at atmosphere, sea, and land region. JAEA has been further promoting the detail analysis of atmospheric migration of radioactive materials dispersed by an accident. Then, using a part of this system, the atmospheric-diversion prediction system, WSPEEDI-II, the atmospheric diversion mass and the atmospheric diffusion analysis were carried out. This issue reports the summary. (M.H.)

  15. Atmospheric Sondes and Method for Tracking

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A system for wind profiling comprises sondes for being borne through the atmosphere by balloons and transmitting signals enabling identifying the sondes, and...

  16. Atmospheric dispersion models of radioactivity releases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oza, R.B.

    2016-01-01

    In view of the rapid industrialization in recent time, atmospheric dispersion models have become indispensible 'tools' to ensure that the effects of releases are well within the acceptable limits set by the regulatory authority. In the case of radioactive releases from the nuclear facility, though negligible in quantity and many a times not even measurable, it is required to demonstrate the compliance of these releases to the regulatory limits set by the regulatory authority by carrying out radiological impact assessment. During routine operations of nuclear facility, the releases are so low that environmental impact is usually assessed with the help of atmospheric dispersion models as it is difficult to distinguish negligible contribution of nuclear facility to relatively high natural background radiation. The accidental releases from nuclear facility, though with negligible probability of occurrence, cannot be ruled out. In such cases, the atmospheric dispersion models are of great help to emergency planners for deciding the intervention actions to minimize the consequences in public domain and also to workout strategies for the management of situation. In case of accidental conditions, the atmospheric dispersion models are also utilized for the estimation of probable quantities of radionuclides which might have got released to the atmosphere. Thus, atmospheric dispersion models are an essential tool for nuclear facility during routine operation as well as in the case of accidental conditions

  17. Effect of modified atmosphere packaging and addition of calcium hypochlorite on the atmosphere composition, colour and microbial quality of mushrooms

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Kuyper, L

    1993-01-01

    Full Text Available The effect of modified atmosphere packaging in combination with the addition of calcium hypochlorite on the atmosphere composition, colour and microbial quality of mushrooms was investigated. A modified atmosphere which slowed down discolouration...

  18. Atmosphere, Science (Experimental): 5343.08.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reese, Sandra Kay

    This unit of instruction deals with a study of the general atmosphere by layers with an emphasis on physical characteristics. The formation of layers in the atmosphere and the energy relationships that exist between them are also discussed. No requisites for prior course work, experience, or courses to be taken concurrently are required for…

  19. Alien skies planetary atmospheres from earth to exoplanets

    CERN Document Server

    Pont, Frédéric J

    2014-01-01

    Planetary atmospheres are complex and evolving entities, as mankind is rapidly coming to realise whilst attempting to understand, forecast and mitigate human-induced climate change. In the Solar System, our neighbours Venus and Mars provide striking examples of two endpoints of planetary evolution, runaway greenhouse and loss of atmosphere to space. The variety of extra-solar planets brings a wider angle to the issue: from scorching "hot jupiters'' to ocean worlds, exo-atmospheres explore many configurations unknown in the Solar System, such as iron clouds, silicate rains, extreme plate tectonics, and steam volcanoes. Exoplanetary atmospheres have recently become accessible to observations. This book puts our own climate in the wider context of the trials and tribulations of planetary atmospheres. Based on cutting-edge research, it uses a grand tour of the atmospheres of other planets to shine a new light on our own atmosphere, and its relation with life.

  20. Exoplanetary Atmospheres-Chemistry, Formation Conditions, and Habitability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madhusudhan, Nikku; Agúndez, Marcelino; Moses, Julianne I; Hu, Yongyun

    2016-12-01

    Characterizing the atmospheres of extrasolar planets is the new frontier in exoplanetary science. The last two decades of exoplanet discoveries have revealed that exoplanets are very common and extremely diverse in their orbital and bulk properties. We now enter a new era as we begin to investigate the chemical diversity of exoplanets, their atmospheric and interior processes, and their formation conditions. Recent developments in the field have led to unprecedented advancements in our understanding of atmospheric chemistry of exoplanets and the implications for their formation conditions. We review these developments in the present work. We review in detail the theory of atmospheric chemistry in all classes of exoplanets discovered to date, from highly irradiated gas giants, ice giants, and super-Earths, to directly imaged giant planets at large orbital separations. We then review the observational detections of chemical species in exoplanetary atmospheres of these various types using different methods, including transit spectroscopy, Doppler spectroscopy, and direct imaging. In addition to chemical detections, we discuss the advances in determining chemical abundances in these atmospheres and how such abundances are being used to constrain exoplanetary formation conditions and migration mechanisms. Finally, we review recent theoretical work on the atmospheres of habitable exoplanets, followed by a discussion of future outlook of the field.

  1. Determining Atmospheric Pressure Using a Water Barometer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lohrengel, C. Frederick, II; Larson, Paul R.

    2012-01-01

    The atmosphere is an envelope of compressible gases that surrounds Earth. Because of its compressibility and nonuniform heating by the Sun, it is in constant motion. The atmosphere exerts pressure on Earth's surface, but that pressure is in constant flux. This experiment allows students to directly measure atmospheric pressure by measuring the…

  2. MAVEN Observations of Atmospheric Loss at Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curry, Shannon; Luhmann, Janet; Jakosky, Bruce M.; Brain, David; LeBlanc, Francis; Modolo, Ronan; Halekas, Jasper S.; Schneider, Nicholas M.; Deighan, Justin; McFadden, James; Espley, Jared R.; Mitchell, David L.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Dong, Yaxue; Dong, Chuanfei; Ma, Yingjuan; Cohen, Ofer; Fränz, Markus; Holmström, Mats; Ramstad, Robin; Hara, Takuya; Lillis, Robert J.

    2016-06-01

    The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has been making observations of the Martian upper atmosphere and its escape to space since November 2014. The subject of atmospheric loss at terrestrial planets is a subject of intense interest not only because of the implications for past and present water reservoirs, but also for its impacts on the habitability of a planet. Atmospheric escape may have been especially effective at Mars, relative to Earth or Venus, due to its smaller size as well as the lack of a global dynamo magnetic field. Not only is the atmosphere less gravitationally bound, but also the lack of global magnetic field allows the impinging solar wind to interact directly with the Martian atmosphere. When the upper atmosphere is exposed to the solar wind, planetary neutrals can be ionized and 'picked up' by the solar wind and swept away.Both neutral and ion escape have played significant roles the long term climate change of Mars, and the MAVEN mission was designed to directly measure both escaping planetary neutrals and ions with high energy, mass, and time resolution. We will present 1.5 years of observations of atmospheric loss at Mars over a variety of solar and solar wind conditions, including extreme space weather events. We will report the average ion escape rate and the spatial distribution of escaping ions as measured by MAVEN and place them in context both with previous measurements of ion loss by other spacecraft (e.g. Phobos 2 and Mars Express) and with estimates of neutral escape rates by MAVEN. We will then report on the measured variability in ion escape rates with different drivers (e.g. solar EUV, solar wind pressure, etc.) and the implications for the total ion escape from Mars over time. Additionally, we will also discuss the implications for atmospheric escape at exoplanets, particularly weakly magnetized planetary bodies orbiting M-dwarfs, and the dominant escape mechanisms that may drive atmospheric erosion in other

  3. LIDAR for atmosphere research over Africa

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Sivakumar, V

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available d’aéronomie, CNRS, Paris, France 1Email: SVenkataraman@csir.co.za – www.csir.co.za K-6665 [www.kashangroup.com] Lidar for atmospheric studies: The CSIR’s laser research into monitoring various pollutants in the lower atmosphere via... to lidar applications for atmosphere studies including pollutant monitoring. The following salient features emanated from the survey: • Around 80% of the lidars are in the northern hemisphere • Of the 20% in the southern hemisphere region...

  4. 1997 Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paul H. Wine

    1998-11-23

    DOE's Atmospheric Chemistry Program is providing partial funding for the Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists (ACCESS) and FY 1997 Gordon Research Conference in Atmospheric Chemistry

  5. Void growth suppression by dislocation impurity atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weertman, J.; Green, W.V.

    1976-01-01

    A detailed calculation is given of the effect of an impurity atmosphere on void growth under irradiation damage conditions. Norris has proposed that such an atmosphere can suppress void growth. The hydrostatic stress field of a dislocation that is surrounded by an impurity atmosphere was found and used to calculate the change in the effective radius of a dislocation line as a sink for interstitials and vacancies. The calculation of the impurity concentration in a Cottrell cloud takes into account the change in hydrostatic pressure produced by the presence of the cloud itself. It is found that void growth is eliminated whenever dislocations are surrounded by a condensed atmosphere of either oversized substitutional impurity atoms or interstitial impurity atoms. A condensed atmosphere will form whenever the average impurity concentration is larger than a critical concentration

  6. Pathlength distributions of atmospheric neutrinos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gaisser, T.K.; Stanev, Todor

    1999-01-01

    We discuss the distribution of the production heights of atmospheric neutrinos as a function of zenith angle and neutrino energy. The distributions can be used as the input for evaluation of neutrino propagation under various hypotheses for neutrino flavor oscillations. Their use may alter substantially the estimates of the oscillation parameters for almost horizontal atmospheric neutrinos.

  7. Organic chemistry in Titan's atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scattergood, T.

    1982-01-01

    Laboratory photochemical simulations and other types of chemical simulations are discussed. The chemistry of methane, which is the major known constituent of Titan's atmosphere was examined with stress on what can be learned from photochemistry and particle irradiation. The composition of dust that comprises the haze layer was determined. Isotope fractionation in planetary atmospheres is also discussed.

  8. Forecasting global atmospheric CO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agusti-Panareda, A.; Massart, S.; Boussetta, S.; Balsamo, G.; Beljaars, A.; Engelen, R.; Jones, L.; Peuch, V.H.; Chevallier, F.; Ciais, P.; Paris, J.D.; Sherlock, V.

    2014-01-01

    A new global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) real-time forecast is now available as part of the preoperational Monitoring of Atmospheric Composition and Climate - Interim Implementation (MACC-II) service using the infrastructure of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Integrated Forecasting System (IFS). One of the strengths of the CO 2 forecasting system is that the land surface, including vegetation CO 2 fluxes, is modelled online within the IFS. Other CO 2 fluxes are prescribed from inventories and from off-line statistical and physical models. The CO 2 forecast also benefits from the transport modelling from a state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction (NWP) system initialized daily with a wealth of meteorological observations. This paper describes the capability of the forecast in modelling the variability of CO 2 on different temporal and spatial scales compared to observations. The modulation of the amplitude of the CO 2 diurnal cycle by near-surface winds and boundary layer height is generally well represented in the forecast. The CO 2 forecast also has high skill in simulating day-to-day synoptic variability. In the atmospheric boundary layer, this skill is significantly enhanced by modelling the day-to-day variability of the CO 2 fluxes from vegetation compared to using equivalent monthly mean fluxes with a diurnal cycle. However, biases in the modelled CO 2 fluxes also lead to accumulating errors in the CO 2 forecast. These biases vary with season with an underestimation of the amplitude of the seasonal cycle both for the CO 2 fluxes compared to total optimized fluxes and the atmospheric CO 2 compared to observations. The largest biases in the atmospheric CO 2 forecast are found in spring, corresponding to the onset of the growing season in the Northern Hemisphere. In the future, the forecast will be re-initialized regularly with atmospheric CO 2 analyses based on the assimilation of CO 2 products retrieved from satellite

  9. Recent Advances in Atmospheric Chemistry of Mercury

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Si

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Mercury is one of the most toxic metals and has global importance due to the biomagnification and bioaccumulation of organomercury via the aquatic food web. The physical and chemical transformations of various mercury species in the atmosphere strongly influence their composition, phase, transport characteristics and deposition rate back to the ground. Modeling efforts to assess global cycling of mercury require an accurate understanding of atmospheric mercury chemistry. Yet, there are several key uncertainties precluding accurate modeling of physical and chemical transformations. We focus this article on recent studies (since 2015 on improving our understanding of the atmospheric chemistry of mercury. We discuss recent advances in determining the dominant atmospheric oxidant of elemental mercury (Hg0 and understanding the oxidation reactions of Hg0 by halogen atoms and by nitrate radical (NO3—in the aqueous reduction of oxidized mercury compounds (HgII as well as in the heterogeneous reactions of Hg on atmospheric-relevant surfaces. The need for future research to improve understanding of the fate and transformation of mercury in the atmosphere is also discussed.

  10. Atmosphere pollutants-their health and environmental effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Issa, Ali Sasi; Ibsaim, Rajab A.

    2006-01-01

    The conducted studies, continuous monitoring and measuring of the atmosphere pollution surrounding the world cities for a decade in the last century demonstrated increased rates of some pollutants, often exceeded the levels which are considered to be safe for health. Most of the dangerous pollutants in the atmosphere are suspended particles, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, ozone troposphere and lead, these are the main responsible pollutant in contaminating the atmosphere leading to increase of death percentage in the major cities. For a duration of nearly a century, atmosphere pollution accidents in cities like London approved that inhaling contaminated air is dangerous and deadly sometimes. In 1880 2200 person from London inhabitants have died when coal smoke with heating and industrial gases have been accumulated to form a toxic smog of sulfur oxide gas and suspended particles in the atmosphere of the city. In this paper we discuss type of atmosphere pollutants and their health and environmental effects on human being, creatures and earth and ways of eliminating that.(Author)

  11. Alarming atmospheres

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Højlund, Marie; Kinch, Sofie

    2014-01-01

    Nurses working in the Neuro-Intensive Care Unit at Aarhus University Hospital lack the tools to prepare children for the alarming atmosphere they will enter when visiting a hospitalised relative. The complex soundscape dominated by alarms and sounds from equipment is mentioned as the main stressor...

  12. Atmospheric radiation monitor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oliveira, M.A. Leigui de; Peixoto, C.J. Todero; Leao, M.S.A.B.; Luzio, V.P. [Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), SP (Brazil); Barbosa, A.F.; Lima Junior, H.P.; Vilar, A.B.; Gama, R.G.; Ferraz, V.A. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2011-07-01

    Full text: The Atmospheric Radiation Monitor (MonRAt) is a compact telescope designed to detect fluorescence photons generated in the atmosphere by ultra-high energy cosmic rays showers with energies in the interval between 10{sup 17} eV and 10{sup 18} eV. It is composite by a 64 pixels MultiAnodic PhotoMultiplier Tube (MAPMT) placed at the focus of a parabolic mirror mounted in a Newtonian telescope setup and the data acquisition system. In front of the MAPMT photocathode, filters will be positioned to select light with wavelength in the near ultraviolet region (300 nm < {lambda} < 450 nm) where the nitrogen fluorescent emissions occurs. The data acquisition system consists of a set of pre-amplifiers and FPGA-based boards able to record trigger times and waveforms from each channel and send the data to a computer by USB ports. MonRAt will be used to detect fluorescence photons under different atmospheric conditions (pressure, temperature, humidity, local geomagnetic field, etc) and will contribute with a detailed study of the fluorescence radiation yield. The assembly of the telescope is under way and we present in this work the status of the experiment and its first measurements in the laboratory. (author)

  13. Atmospheric radiation monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oliveira, M.A. Leigui de; Peixoto, C.J. Todero; Leao, M.S.A.B.; Luzio, V.P.; Barbosa, A.F.; Lima Junior, H.P.; Vilar, A.B.; Gama, R.G.; Ferraz, V.A.

    2011-01-01

    Full text: The Atmospheric Radiation Monitor (MonRAt) is a compact telescope designed to detect fluorescence photons generated in the atmosphere by ultra-high energy cosmic rays showers with energies in the interval between 10 17 eV and 10 18 eV. It is composite by a 64 pixels MultiAnodic PhotoMultiplier Tube (MAPMT) placed at the focus of a parabolic mirror mounted in a Newtonian telescope setup and the data acquisition system. In front of the MAPMT photocathode, filters will be positioned to select light with wavelength in the near ultraviolet region (300 nm < λ < 450 nm) where the nitrogen fluorescent emissions occurs. The data acquisition system consists of a set of pre-amplifiers and FPGA-based boards able to record trigger times and waveforms from each channel and send the data to a computer by USB ports. MonRAt will be used to detect fluorescence photons under different atmospheric conditions (pressure, temperature, humidity, local geomagnetic field, etc) and will contribute with a detailed study of the fluorescence radiation yield. The assembly of the telescope is under way and we present in this work the status of the experiment and its first measurements in the laboratory. (author)

  14. Atmospheric pollution: history, science and regulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jacobson, M.Z. [Stanford University, Stanford, CA (USA). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    2002-07-01

    The book provides an introduction to the history and science of major air pollution issues. It begins with an introduction to the history of discovery of chemicals in the atmosphere, and moves on to a discussion of the evolution of the earth's atmosphere. It then discusses five major atmospheric pollution topics: urban outdoor air pollution, indoor air pollution, acid deposition, stratospheric ozone depletion, and global climate change. The book contains numerous student examples and problems and over 200 color illustrations and photographs.

  15. Atmospherical experiment in Angra I plant for characterizing the effluent transport threw in the atmospheric

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva Lobo, M.A. da; Kronemberger, B.M.E.

    1989-01-01

    Available as short communication only. The Environmental Safety Division of the Nuclear Safety and Fuel Department from FURNAS Electric Station S.A. joint with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), achieved a field experiment for characterizing the atmospheric transport and diffusion in the site complex of Angra I Nuclear Power Plant. The complex topography with the thick vegetation and the neighbour building bring problems for the modelling of the effluent transport and the dispersion. The actual meteorological measure system is automatic and compound with four towers. An intensive atmospheric measure with captive balloon is included, and the collected data shows that the site flux is strongly influenced by the topography and insolation. (C.G.C.). 2 figs

  16. Bacteria in atmospheric waters: Detection, characteristics and implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Wei; Niu, Hongya; Murata, Kotaro; Wu, Zhijun; Hu, Min; Kojima, Tomoko; Zhang, Daizhou

    2018-04-01

    In this review paper, we synthesize the current knowledges about bacteria in atmospheric waters, e.g., cloud, fog, rain, and snow, most of which were obtained very recently. First, we briefly describe the importance of bacteria in atmospheric waters, i.e., the essentiality of studying bacteria in atmospheric waters in understanding aerosol-cloud-precipitation-climate interactions in the Earth system. Next, approaches to collect atmospheric water samples for the detection of bacteria and methods to identify the bacteria are summarized and compared. Then the available data on the abundance, viability and community composition of bacteria in atmospheric waters are summarized. The average bacterial concentration in cloud water was usually on the order 104-105 cells mL-1, while that in precipitation on the order 103-104 cells mL-1. Most of the bacteria were viable or metabolically active. Their community composition was highly diverse and differed at various sites. Factors potentially influencing the bacteria, e.g., air pollution levels and sources, meteorological conditions, seasonal effect, and physicochemical properties of atmospheric waters, are described. After that, the implications of bacteria present in atmospheric waters, including their effect on nucleation in clouds, atmospheric chemistry, ecosystems and public health, are briefly discussed. Finally, based on the current knowledges on bacteria in atmospheric waters, which in fact remains largely unknown, we give perspectives that should be paid attention to in future studies.

  17. Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and its consequences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lockwood, J G

    1982-09-16

    The effects of increasing CO/sub 2/ concentrations in the atmosphere are estimated using general circulation models (GCMs), which have the ability to portray many of the nonlinear feedback processes which serve to regulate atmospheric (and hence climatic) changes. GCMs predict that a doubling of atmospheric CO/sub 2/ would result in a 2-3 k increase of globally averaged surface air temperature. The largest warming will occur in the winter in high latitudes. Detection studies are now being directed towards isolating those parts of observed climate fluctuations that are attributable to increasing atmospheric CO/sub 2/. (KRM)

  18. Atmospheric dynamics of Earth-like tidally locked aquaplanets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tapio Schneider

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available We present simulations of atmospheres of Earth-like aquaplanets that are tidally locked to their star, that is, planets whose orbital period is equal to the rotation period about their spin axis, so that one side always faces the star and the other side is always dark. Such simulations are of interest in the study of tidally locked terrestrial exoplanets and as illustrations of how planetary rotation and the insolation distribution shape climate. As extreme cases illustrating the effects of slow and rapid rotation, we consider planets with rotation periods equal to one current Earth year and one current Earth day. The dynamics responsible for the surface climate (e.g., winds, temperature, precipitation and the general circulation of the atmosphere are discussed in light of existing theories of atmospheric circulations. For example, as expected from the increasing importance of Coriolis accelerations relative to inertial accelerations as the rotation rate increases, the winds are approximately isotropic and divergent at leading order in the slowly rotating atmosphere but are predominantly zonal and rotational in the rapidly rotating atmosphere. Free-atmospheric horizontal temperature variations in the slowly rotating atmosphere are generally weaker than in the rapidly rotating atmosphere. Interestingly, the surface temperature on the night side of the planets does not fall below ~240 K in either the rapidly or slowly rotating atmosphere; that is, heat transport from the day side to the night side of the planets efficiently reduces temperature contrasts in either case. Rotational waves and eddies shape the distribution of winds, temperature, and precipitation in the rapidly rotating atmosphere; in the slowly rotating atmosphere, these distributions are controlled by simpler divergent circulations. Both the slowly and rapidly rotating atmospheres exhibit equatorial superrotation. Systematic variation of the planetary rotation rate shows that the

  19. MEAD Marine Effects of Atmospheric Deposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jickells, T.; Spokes, L.

    2003-04-01

    The coastal seas are one of the most valuable resources on the planet but they are threatened by human activity. We rely on the coastal area for mineral resources, waste disposal, fisheries and recreation. In Europe, high population densities and high levels of industrial activity mean that the pressures arising from these activities are particularly acute. One of the main problems concerning coastal seas is the rapid increase in the amounts of nitrogen-based pollutants entering the water. They come from many sources, the most important ones being traffic, industry and agriculture. These pollutants can be used by algae as nutrients. The increasing concentrations of these nutrients have led to excessive growth of algae, some of which are harmful. When algae die and decay, oxygen in the water is used up and the resulting lower levels of oxygen may lead to fish kills. Human activity has probably doubled the amount of chemically and biologically reactive nitrogen present globally. In Europe the increases have been greater than this, leading to real concern over the health of coastal waters. Rivers have, until recently, been thought to be the most important source of reactive nitrogen to the coastal seas but we now know that inputs from the atmosphere are large and can equal, or exceed, those from the rivers. Our initial hypothesis was that atmospheric inputs are important and potentially different in their effect on coastal ecosystems to riverine inputs and hence require different management strategies. However, we had almost no information on the direct effects of atmospheric deposition on marine ecosystems, though clearly such a large external nitrogen input should lead to enhanced phytoplankton growth The aim of this European Union funded MEAD project has been to determine how inputs of nitrogen from the atmosphere affect the chemistry and biology of coastal waters. To try to answer this, we have conducted field experiments in the Kattegat, an area where we know

  20. Understanding Microbial Contributions to Planetary Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    DesMarais, David J.

    2000-01-01

    Should our search of distant, extrasolar planetary atmospheres encounter evidence of life, that evidence will most likely be the gaseous products of microorganisms. Our biosphere was exclusively microbial for over 80 percent of its history and, even today, microbes strongly influence atmospheric composition. Life's greatest environmental impact arises from its capacity for harvesting energy and creating organic matter. Microorganisms catalyze the equilibration of C, S and transition metal species at temperatures where such reactions can be very slow in the absence of life. Sunlight has been harvested through photosynthesis to create enormous energy reservoirs that exist in the form of coexisting reservoirs of reduced, organic C and S stored in Earth's crust, and highly oxidized species (oxygen, sulfate and ferric iron) stored in the crust, oceans and atmosphere. Our civilization taps that storehouse of energy by burning fossil fuels. As astrobiologists, we identify the chemical consequences of distant biospheres as expressed in the atmospheres of their planets. Our approach must recognize that planets, biospheres and atmospheres evolve and change. For example, a tectonically more active early Earth hosted a thermophilic, non-photosynthetic biosphere and a mildly reducing, carbon dioxide-rich and oxygen-poor atmosphere. Microorganisms acquired energy by consuming hydrogen and sulfide and producing a broad array of reduced C and S gases, most notably, methane. Later, diverse types of bacterial photosynthesis developed that enhanced productivity but were incapable of splitting water to produce oxygen. Later, but still prior to 2.6 billion years ago, oxygenic photosynthesis developed. We can expect to encounter distant biospheres that represent various stages of evolution and that coexist with atmospheres ranging from mildly reducing to oxidizing compositions. Accordinaly, we must be prepared to interpret a broad range of atmospheric compositions, all containing

  1. CHARACTERIZING TRANSITING EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES WITH JWST

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Greene, Thomas P. [NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science and Astrobiology Division, M.S. 245-6, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Line, Michael R.; Montero, Cezar; Fortney, Jonathan J. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Lustig-Yaeger, Jacob [Department of Astronomy, Box 351580, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Luther, Kyle, E-mail: tom.greene@nasa.gov [Department of Physics, University of California, 366 LeConte Hall MC 7300, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

    2016-01-20

    We explore how well spectra from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will likely constrain bulk atmospheric properties of transiting exoplanets. We start by modeling the atmospheres of archetypal hot Jupiter, warm Neptune, warm sub-Neptune, and cool super-Earth planets with atmospheres that are clear, cloudy, or of high mean molecular weight (HMMW). Next we simulate the λ = 1–11 μm transmission and emission spectra of these systems for several JWST instrument modes for single-transit or single-eclipse events. We then perform retrievals to determine how well temperatures and molecular mixing ratios (CH{sub 4}, CO, CO{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O, NH{sub 3}) can be constrained. We find that λ = 1–2.5 μm transmission spectra will often constrain the major molecular constituents of clear solar-composition atmospheres well. Cloudy or HMMW atmospheres will often require full 1–11 μm spectra for good constraints, and emission data may be more useful in cases of sufficiently high F{sub p} and high F{sub p}/F{sub *}. Strong temperature inversions in the solar-composition hot-Jupiter atmosphere should be detectable with 1–2.5+ μm emission spectra, and 1–5+ μm emission spectra will constrain the temperature–pressure profiles of warm planets. Transmission spectra over 1–5+ μm will constrain [Fe/H] values to better than 0.5 dex for the clear atmospheres of the hot and warm planets studied. Carbon-to-oxygen ratios can be constrained to better than a factor of 2 in some systems. We expect that these results will provide useful predictions of the scientific value of single-event JWST spectra until its on-orbit performance is known.

  2. Characteristics of atmospheric gravity waves observed using the MU (Middle and Upper atmosphere) radar and GPS (Global Positioning System) radio occultation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsuda, Toshitaka

    2014-01-01

    The wind velocity and temperature profiles observed in the middle atmosphere (altitude: 10-100 km) show perturbations resulting from superposition of various atmospheric waves, including atmospheric gravity waves. Atmospheric gravity waves are known to play an important role in determining the general circulation in the middle atmosphere by dynamical stresses caused by gravity wave breaking. In this paper, we summarize the characteristics of atmospheric gravity waves observed using the middle and upper atmosphere (MU) radar in Japan, as well as novel satellite data obtained from global positioning system radio occultation (GPS RO) measurements. In particular, we focus on the behavior of gravity waves in the mesosphere (50-90 km), where considerable gravity wave attenuation occurs. We also report on the global distribution of gravity wave activity in the stratosphere (10-50 km), highlighting various excitation mechanisms such as orographic effects, convection in the tropics, meteorological disturbances, the subtropical jet and the polar night jet.

  3. Clean Air Slots Amid Atmospheric Pollution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hobbs, Peter V.

    2002-01-01

    This article investigates the mechanism for those layers in the atmosphere that are free of air borne pollution even though the air above and below them carry pollutants. Atmospheric subsidence is posed as a mechanism for this phenomenon.

  4. Formation and Evolution of the Atmosphere on Early Titan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marounina, N.; Tobie, G.; Carpy, S.; Monteux, J.; Charnay, B.; Grasset, O.

    2014-12-01

    The mass and composition of Titan's massive atmosphere, which is dominated by N2 and CH4 at present, have probably varied all along its history owing to a combination of exogenous and endogenous processes. In a recent study, we investigated its fate during the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) by modeling the competitive loss and supply of volatiles by cometary impacts and their consequences on the atmospheric balance. We examine the emergence of an atmosphere as well as the evolution of a primitive atmosphere of various sizes and compositions. By considering an impactor population characteristic of the LHB, we showed that an atmosphere with a mass equivalent to the present-day one cannot be formed during the LHB era. Our calculations indicated that the high-velocity impacts during the LHB led to a strong atmospheric erosion, so that the pre-LHB atmosphere should be 5 to 7 times more massive than at present (depending mostly on the albedo), in order to sustain an atmosphere equivalent to the present-day one. This implies that either a massive atmosphere was formed on Titan during its accretion or that the nitrogen-rich atmosphere was generated after the LHB.To investigate the primitive atmosphere of the satellite, we consider chemical exchanges of volatils between a global water ocean at Titan's surface, generated by impact heating during the accretion and an atmosphere. We are currently developing a liquid-vapor equilibrium model for various initial oceanic composition to investigate how a massive atmosphere may be generated during the satellite growth and how it may evolve toward a composition dominated by N2. More generally, our model address how atmosphere may be generated in water-rich objects, which may be common around other stars.

  5. Frost formation under different gaseous atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukada, Satoshi; Tsuru, Hisanori; Nishikawa, Masabumi

    1995-01-01

    Rates of water frost growth in a vessel with a cooled horizontal plate were experimentally determined under reduced pressure atmospheres of hydrogen, helium, methane and nitrogen. The mass deposited on the cooled surface under each of the atmospheres was almost in proportion to time. The Sherwood number under the condition of no mist formation, Sh 0 , in the atmospheres of methane and nitrogen was in good agreement with Catton's equation for natural convection between horizontal parallel plates. Sh 0 in a hydrogen atmosphere was unity, which corresponds to control by molecular diffusion in the stagnant gas. The tendency of the decrease in Sh due to mist formation could be evaluated well by multiplying Sh 0 by a factor ζ CSM . The ζ CSM value was calculated based on the critical supersaturation model as a function of the two interface temperatures and the total pressure. Frost growth rates under each atmosphere were in proportion to [(T S1 -T W1 )t/(1+1/A S1 )] 0.5 . The proportional constant for hydrogen was greater than that for any other tested gas. Agreement and disagreement of the frost effective thermal conductivity with previous models were discussed. (author)

  6. Combined eye-atmosphere visibility model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaufman, Y. J.

    1981-01-01

    Existing models of the optical characteristics of the eye are combined with a recent model of optical characteristics of the atmosphere given by its modulation transfer function. This combination results in the combined eye-atmosphere performance given by the product of their modulation transfer functions. An application for the calculation of visibility thresholds in the case of a two-halves field is given.

  7. Criteria for controlled atmosphere chambers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, J.N.

    1980-03-01

    The criteria for design, construction, and operation of controlled atmosphere chambers intended for service at ORNL are presented. Classification of chambers, materials for construction, design criteria, design, controlled atmosphere chamber systems, and operating procedures are presented. ORNL Safety Manual Procedure 2.1; ORNL Health Physics Procedure Manual Appendix A-7; and Design of Viewing Windows are included in 3 appendices

  8. Krypton-85 pollution and atmospheric electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harrison, R.G.; ApSimon, H.M.

    1994-01-01

    Krypton-86 is a chemically inert radioactive gas present in the atmosphere, concentrations of which have been greatly increased by nuclear reprocessing and weapons testing since 1945. The long half-life (10.7 yr), allows the gas to mix thoroughly in the atmosphere. Ionization caused by krypton-85 increases the electrical conductivity of atmospheric air. Further increases in krypton-85 emissions seem inevitable. The increase in air conductivity due to release of krypton-85 will vary with height, and be larger over the oceans than over the land. Increases in conductivity will produce uncertain effects on atmospheric phenomena, so changes are compared in magnitude with other factors perturbing the conductivity, such as combustion aerosol burdens, volcanic eruptions and nuclear weapons testing. Conductivity changes are expected to have the greatest significance for meteorological phenomena close to the source. (Author)

  9. Upper atmosphere research at INPE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clemesha, B.R.

    1984-01-01

    Upper atmosphere research at INPE is mainly concerned with the chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere, upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere, and the middle thermosphere. Experimental work includes lidar observations of the stratospheric aerosol, measurements of stratospheric ozone by Dobson spectrophotometers and by balloon and rocket-borne sondes, lidar measurements of atmospheric sodium, and photometric observations of O, O 2 , OH and Na emissions, including interferrometric measurements of the OI6300 emission for the purpose of determing thermospheric winds and temperature. The airglow observations also include measurements of a number of emissions produced by the precipitation of energetic neutral particles generated by charge exchange in the ring current. Some recent results of INPE's upper atmosphere program are presented. (Author) [pt

  10. Research on airborne comprehensive survey system of atmosphere quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Zhentao; Yu Yanbin

    1998-01-01

    The global atmosphere pollution is becoming more and more serious, affecting the human existence and development. Besides, the high spectrum resolution remote sensing technique, which has been applied to observe topographic features, identify military objectives and distinguish lithology and vegetation, has the relation to atmosphere quality and is influenced by atmosphere pollution (including radon pollution) and dust content in the atmosphere, it is imperative to monitor atmosphere quality. Based upon the selection of some main parameters evaluating atmospheric quality and necessary equipment, the author introduces the design of multiple airborne comprehensive survey system of atmosphere quality and how to deal with problems that crop up during the hardware designing and software programming

  11. Lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling as governing mechanism for preseismic short-term events in atmosphere and ionosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Molchanov

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a general concept of mechanisms of preseismic phenomena in the atmosphere and ionosphere. After short review of observational results we conclude: 1. Upward migration of fluid substrate matter (bubble can lead to ousting of the hot water/gas near the ground surface and cause an earthquake (EQ itself in the strength-weakened area; 2. Thus, time and place of the bubble appearance could be random values, but EQ, geochemistry anomaly and foreshocks (seismic, SA and ULF electromagnetic ones are casually connected; 3. Atmospheric perturbation of temperature and density could follow preseismic hot water/gas release resulting in generation of atmospheric gravity waves (AGW with periods in a range of 6–60min; 4. Seismo-induced AGW could lead to modification of the ionospheric turbulence and to the change of over-horizon radio-wave propagation in the atmosphere, perturbation of LF waves in the lower ionosphere and ULF emission depression at the ground.

  12. Characterization of extra-solar planets and their atmospheres (Spectroscopy of transits and atmospheric escape)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bourrier, Vincent

    2014-01-01

    Hot Jupiters are exo-planets so close to their star that their atmosphere can lose gas because of hydrodynamic escape. Transiting gaseous giants are an excellent way to understand this mechanism, but it is necessary to study other types of planets to determine its impact on the exo-planetary population. This thesis aims at using transit spectroscopy to observe the atmosphere of several exo-planets, to study their properties and to contribute to the characterization of hydrodynamic escape. UV lines observed with the Hubble telescope are analyzed with the numerical model of upper atmospheres we developed. Using the Ly-α line we identify energetic and dynamical interactions between the atmospheres of the hot Jupiters HD209458b and HD189733b and their stars. We study the dependence of the escape on the environment of a planet and on its physical properties, through the observation of a super-Earth and a warm Jupiter in the 55 Cnc system. Using observations of HD209458b, we show that magnesium lines are a window on the region of formation of hydrodynamic escape. We study the potential of transit spectroscopy in the near-UV to detect new cases of atmospheric escape. This mechanism is fostered by the proximity of a planet to its star, which makes it even more important to understand the formation and migration processes that can be traced in the alignment of a planetary system. Using measures from the spectrographs HARPS-N and SOPHIE we study the alignments of 55 Cnc e and the Kepler candidate KOI 12.01, whose planetary nature we also seek to validate. (author)

  13. Atmospheric pressure does not influence acute diverticular disease

    OpenAIRE

    Velayos Jiménez, Benito; Pons Renedo, Fernando; Feranández Salazar, Luis; Muñoz, María Fe; Olmo, Lourdes del; Almaraz Gómez, Ana; Beltrán de Heredia, Juan; Hernández González, José Manuel

    2013-01-01

    Producción Científica The article offers information on a study which examines the influence of atmospheric pressure on the development of acute diverticular disease. The value of atmospheric pressure and its daily trends in 2012 was collected to prove whether atmospheric pressure influence this disease by raising intra-diverticular pressure in days with higher atmospheric pressure. The study involved patients with acute diverticulitis who underwent computed tomography.

  14. Atmospheric anomalies in summer 1908: Water in the atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gladysheva, O. G.

    2011-10-01

    A gigantic noctilucent cloud field was formed and different solar halos were observed after the Tunguska catastrophe. To explain these anomalous phenomena, it is necessary to assume that a large quantity of water was carried into the atmosphere, which indicates that the Tunguska cosmic body was of a comet origin. According to rough estimates, the quantity of water that is released into the atmosphere as a result of a cosmic body's destruction is more than 1010 kg. The observation of a flying object in an area with a radius of ≥700 km makes it possible to state that the Tunguska cosmic body looked like a luminous coma with a diameter not smaller than ≥10 km and became visible at heights of >500 km. The assumption that the Tunguska cosmic body started disintegrating at a height of ˜1000 km explains the formation of an area where its mater diffused and formed a luminous area above Europe.

  15. Atmospheric weighting functions and surface partial derivatives for remote sensing of scattering planetary atmospheres in thermal spectral region: general adjoint approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ustinov, Eugene A.

    2005-01-01

    An approach to formulation of inversion algorithms for remote sensing in the thermal spectral region in the case of a scattering planetary atmosphere, based on the adjoint equation of radiative transfer (Ustinov (JQSRT 68 (2001) 195; JQSRT 73 (2002) 29); referred to as Papers 1 and 2, respectively, in the main text), is applied to the general case of retrievals of atmospheric and surface parameters for the scattering atmosphere with nadir viewing geometry. Analytic expressions for corresponding weighting functions for atmospheric parameters and partial derivatives for surface parameters are derived. The case of pure atmospheric absorption with a scattering underlying surface is considered and convergence to results obtained for the non-scattering atmospheres (Ustinov (JQSRT 74 (2002) 683), referred to as Paper 3 in the main text) is demonstrated

  16. Atmospheric Error Correction of the Laser Beam Ranging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Saydi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric models based on surface measurements of pressure, temperature, and relative humidity have been used to increase the laser ranging accuracy by ray tracing. Atmospheric refraction can cause significant errors in laser ranging systems. Through the present research, the atmospheric effects on the laser beam were investigated by using the principles of laser ranging. Atmospheric correction was calculated for 0.532, 1.3, and 10.6 micron wavelengths through the weather conditions of Tehran, Isfahan, and Bushehr in Iran since March 2012 to March 2013. Through the present research the atmospheric correction was computed for meteorological data in base of monthly mean. Of course, the meteorological data were received from meteorological stations in Tehran, Isfahan, and Bushehr. Atmospheric correction was calculated for 11, 100, and 200 kilometers laser beam propagations under 30°, 60°, and 90° rising angles for each propagation. The results of the study showed that in the same months and beam emission angles, the atmospheric correction was most accurate for 10.6 micron wavelength. The laser ranging error was decreased by increasing the laser emission angle. The atmospheric correction with two Marini-Murray and Mendes-Pavlis models for 0.532 nm was compared.

  17. Desorption atmospheric pressure photoionization high-resolution mass spectrometry: a complementary approach for the chemical analysis of atmospheric aerosols.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parshintsev, Jevgeni; Vaikkinen, Anu; Lipponen, Katriina; Vrkoslav, Vladimir; Cvačka, Josef; Kostiainen, Risto; Kotiaho, Tapio; Hartonen, Kari; Riekkola, Marja-Liisa; Kauppila, Tiina J

    2015-07-15

    On-line chemical characterization methods of atmospheric aerosols are essential to increase our understanding of physicochemical processes in the atmosphere, and to study biosphere-atmosphere interactions. Several techniques, including aerosol mass spectrometry, are nowadays available, but they all suffer from some disadvantages. In this research, desorption atmospheric pressure photoionization high-resolution (Orbitrap) mass spectrometry (DAPPI-HRMS) is introduced as a complementary technique for the fast analysis of aerosol chemical composition without the need for sample preparation. Atmospheric aerosols from city air were collected on a filter, desorbed in a DAPPI source with a hot stream of toluene and nitrogen, and ionized using a vacuum ultraviolet lamp at atmospheric pressure. To study the applicability of the technique for ambient aerosol analysis, several samples were collected onto filters and analyzed, with the focus being on selected organic acids. To compare the DAPPI-HRMS data with results obtained by an established method, each filter sample was divided into two equal parts, and the second half of the filter was extracted and analyzed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). The DAPPI results agreed with the measured aerosol particle number. In addition to the targeted acids, the LC/MS and DAPPI-HRMS methods were found to detect different compounds, thus providing complementary information about the aerosol samples. DAPPI-HRMS showed several important oxidation products of terpenes, and numerous compounds were tentatively identified. Thanks to the soft ionization, high mass resolution, fast analysis, simplicity and on-line applicability, the proposed methodology has high potential in the field of atmospheric research. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. The Outsized Influence of a Primordial Lunar Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saxena, Prabal; Elkins-Tanton, Linda T.; Petro, Noah; Mandell, Avi

    2016-10-01

    Immediately following formation of the moon, its surface was subject to radiative influences from the Lunar Magma Ocean, an early Earth that radiated like a mid type M Dwarf Star, and the early Sun. These contributions have been hypothesized to have produced a vapor pressure atmosphere on the Moon. We model the early atmosphere of the Moon using an atmospheric model originally developed for Io. We also use a magma ocean crystallization model that finds that heating from the early Earth delays crystallization of the Lunar Magma Ocean and contributes to a moderate pressure and collapsing metal-dominated atmosphere on the earthside of the Moon until lid formation. The atmosphere is characterized by maximum pressures ~1 bar and strong horizontal supersonic winds that decreased as the Moon's orbital separation increased. Crustal and other compositional asymmetries may have been influenced by this atmosphere. The atmosphere transported significant amounts of mass horizontally and may have been a source for present day depletions and heterogeneities of moderately volatile elements on the lunar surface.

  19. Radiative transfer in atmosphere-sea ice-ocean system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jin, Z.; Stamnes, K.; Weeks, W.F. [Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States); Tsay, S.C. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)

    1996-04-01

    Radiative energy is critical in controlling the heat and mass balance of sea ice, which significantly affects the polar climate. In the polar oceans, light transmission through the atmosphere and sea ice is essential to the growth of plankton and algae and, consequently, to the microbial community both in the ice and in the ocean. Therefore, the study of radiative transfer in the polar atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean system is of particular importance. Lacking a properly coupled radiative transfer model for the atmosphere-sea ice-ocean system, a consistent study of the radiative transfer in the polar atmosphere, snow, sea ice, and ocean system has not been undertaken before. The radiative transfer processes in the atmosphere and in the ice and ocean have been treated separately. Because the radiation processes in the atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean depend on each other, this separate treatment is inconsistent. To study the radiative interaction between the atmosphere, clouds, snow, sea ice, and ocean, a radiative transfer model with consistent treatment of radiation in the coupled system is needed and is under development.

  20. Atmospheric pressure variations and abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Killeen, S D

    2012-02-03

    BACKGROUND: Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAAA) presents with increased frequency in the winter and spring months. Seasonal changes in atmospheric pressure mirrors this pattern. AIM: To establish if there was a seasonal variation in the occurrence of RAAA and to determine if there was any association with atmospheric pressure changes. METHODS: A retrospective cohort-based study was performed. Daily atmospheric pressure readings for the region were obtained. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant monthly variation in RAAA presentation with 107 cases (52.5%) occurring from November to March. The monthly number of RAAA and the mean atmospheric pressure in the previous month were inversely related (r = -0.752, r (2) = 0.566, P = 0.03), and there was significantly greater daily atmospheric pressure variability on days when patients with RAAA were admitted. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest a relationship between atmospheric pressure and RAAA.

  1. First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-01

    The atmosphere around a super-Earth exoplanet has been analysed for the first time by an international team of astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope. The planet, which is known as GJ 1214b, was studied as it passed in front of its parent star and some of the starlight passed through the planet's atmosphere. We now know that the atmosphere is either mostly water in the form of steam or is dominated by thick clouds or hazes. The results will appear in the 2 December 2010 issue of the journal Nature. The planet GJ 1214b was confirmed in 2009 using the HARPS instrument on ESO's 3.6-metre telescope in Chile (eso0950) [1]. Initial findings suggested that this planet had an atmosphere, which has now been confirmed and studied in detail by an international team of astronomers, led by Jacob Bean (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), using the FORS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. "This is the first super-Earth to have its atmosphere analysed. We've reached a real milestone on the road toward characterising these worlds," said Bean. GJ 1214b has a radius of about 2.6 times that of the Earth and is about 6.5 times as massive, putting it squarely into the class of exoplanets known as super-Earths. Its host star lies about 40 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer). It is a faint star [2], but it is also small, which means that the size of the planet is large compared to the stellar disc, making it relatively easy to study [3]. The planet travels across the disc of its parent star once every 38 hours as it orbits at a distance of only two million kilometres: about seventy times closer than the Earth orbits the Sun. To study the atmosphere, the team observed the light coming from the star as the planet passed in front of it [4]. During these transits, some of the starlight passes through the planet's atmosphere and, depending on the chemical composition and weather on the planet, specific wavelengths of light are

  2. Affective Atmospheres in the House of Usher

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brink, Dennis Meyhoff

    2016-01-01

    Emotional intensities do not only pertain to the ‘inner life’ of individuals; they are also to be found, as the saying goes, ‘in the air,’ i.e. as shared atmospheres that envelope and affect us. Such affective atmospheres are omnipresent in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House...... of Usher” (1839). The house in the story is not only enshrouded in an atmosphere of its own; the entire plot is focused on the ways in which this atmosphere affects the characters. Informed by these recent theories on affect, the essay analyzes Poe’s short story and proposes a number of new concepts...

  3. Atmospheric Electricity and Tethered Aerostats, Volume 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    1976-05-11

    EASTERN TEST RANGE PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA 11 MAY 1976 028 099 AFETR -TR-76-07 ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY AND ~TETHERED AEROSTATS, VOLUME 11 Range...number) Atmospheric Electricity Lightning- Effects , Protection, Warning Balloons Systems Conducting & Nonconducting Tethers Potential Gradient Anomalies...if necessary and Identify by block number) Part A, "Atmospheric Electrical Effects of and on Tethered Balloon Systems," by Latham includes airborne

  4. WFIRST: Exoplanet Data Challenge. Atmospheric retrieval results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hildebrandt, Sergi; Turnbull, Margaret; Exoplanet Data Challenge Team

    2018-01-01

    We present the results of the Exoplanet Data Challenge for its first 2016/17 cycle and the current cycle 2. Some input spectra for extra-solar systems are processed through the WFIRST IFS instrument model, producing simulated data representative of the flight data. Atmospheric properties are then recovered using complex atmospheric models and multidimensional optimization. The results inform about WFIRST CGI ability to characterize exo-planetray atmospheres.

  5. Composition of atmospheric precipitation. I. Nitrogen compounds

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eriksson, E

    1952-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to present a survey of published data on chemical analysis of atmospheric precipitation to discuss different cycles proposed for inorganic compounds in atmospheric precipitation and, finally, to assess the importance of these compounds from different points of view. Investigations of rainwater with a view to determine atmospheric pollution in industrial areas are mentioned incidentally but no results are detailed.

  6. Chemical kinetics and modeling of planetary atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yung, Yuk L.

    1990-01-01

    A unified overview is presented for chemical kinetics and chemical modeling in planetary atmospheres. The recent major advances in the understanding of the chemistry of the terrestrial atmosphere make the study of planets more interesting and relevant. A deeper understanding suggests that the important chemical cycles have a universal character that connects the different planets and ultimately link together the origin and evolution of the solar system. The completeness (or incompleteness) of the data base for chemical kinetics in planetary atmospheres will always be judged by comparison with that for the terrestrial atmosphere. In the latter case, the chemistry of H, O, N, and Cl species is well understood. S chemistry is poorly understood. In the atmospheres of Jovian planets and Titan, the C-H chemistry of simple species (containing 2 or less C atoms) is fairly well understood. The chemistry of higher hydrocarbons and the C-N, P-N chemistry is much less understood. In the atmosphere of Venus, the dominant chemistry is that of chlorine and sulfur, and very little is known about C1-S coupled chemistry. A new frontier for chemical kinetics both in the Earth and planetary atmospheres is the study of heterogeneous reactions. The formation of the ozone hole on Earth, the ubiquitous photochemical haze on Venus and in the Jovian planets and Titan all testify to the importance of heterogeneous reactions. It remains a challenge to connect the gas phase chemistry to the production of aerosols.

  7. Taking the atmosphere's pulse: The application of GC-IRMS to stable isotopes in atmospheric trace gases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lowe, D.C.; Ferretti, D.J.; Francey, R.J.; Allison, C.E.

    2001-01-01

    Since the industrial revolution, the abundance of many atmospheric trace gases has changed significantly. This is of concern because many of these trace species play a fundamental role in determining physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere important for maintaining life on earth. The impacts of the changes have been studied by a combination of analytical and theoretical modelling techniques. Stable isotope measurements made by conventional dual inlet IRMS for example, have provided valuable constraints on the budgets and removal mechanisms of key atmospheric trace gases. Unfortunately, in most cases, the application of these methods has been limited, because large air samples and cumbersome off line processing techniques are required to pre-concentrate enough gas for analysis. GC-IRMS offers a very attractive alternative because it combines on line processing with air sample size requirements typically 1000 times less than used in conventional techniques. In this article we focus on the requirements imposed on GC-IRMS by some of the current applications in atmospheric trace gas research. In addition, we examine some of the analytical and calibration aspects of the method applied to this kind of work. We finish with a summary of some of the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the GC-IRMS technique and some suggestions for future research using the method applied to specific atmospheric trace gases. (author)

  8. Using commercial software products for atmospheric remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristl, Joseph A.; Tibaudo, Cheryl; Tang, Kuilian; Schroeder, John W.

    2002-02-01

    The Ontar Corporation (www.Ontar.com) has developed several products for atmospheric remote sensing to calculate radiative transport, atmospheric transmission, and sensor performance in both the normal atmosphere and the atmosphere disturbed by battlefield conditions of smoke, dust, explosives and turbulence. These products include: PcModWin: Uses the USAF standard MODTRAN model to compute the atmospheric transmission and radiance at medium spectral resolution (2 cm-1) from the ultraviolet/visible into the infrared and microwave regions of the spectrum. It can be used for any geometry and atmospheric conditions such as aerosols, clouds and rain. PcLnWin: Uses the USAF standard FASCOD model to compute atmospheric transmission and emission at high (line-by-line) spectral resolution using the HITRAN 2000 database. It can be used over the same spectrum from the UV/visible into the infrared and microwave regions of the spectrum. HitranPC: Computes the absolute high (line-by-line) spectral resolution transmission spectrum of the atmosphere for different temperatures and pressures. HitranPC is a user-friendly program developed by the University of South Florida (USF) and uses the international standard molecular spectroscopic database, HITRAN. LidarPC: A computer program to calculate the Laser Radar/L&n Equation for hard targets and atmospheric backscatter using manual input atmospheric parameters or HitranPC and BETASPEC - transmission and backscatter calculations of the atmosphere. Also developed by the University of South Florida (USF). PcEosael: is a library of programs that mathematically describe aspects of electromagnetic propagation in battlefield environments. 25 modules are connected but can be exercised individually. Covers eight general categories of atmospheric effects, including gases, aerosols and laser propagation. Based on codes developed by the Army Research Lab. NVTherm: NVTherm models parallel scan, serial scan, and staring thermal imagers that operate

  9. Atmospheric benzene and toluene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rasmussen, R.A.; Khalil, M.A.K.

    1983-01-01

    Atmospheric concentrations of benzene (C 6 H 6 ) and toluene (C 7 H 8 )have been observed at nine remote locations of the world ranging in latitude from inside the arctic circle to the south pole. The observations span all seasons at each location. In the northern hemisphere it is observed that C 6 H 6 and C 7 H 8 are most abundant during winter and least abundant during summer. Based on the limited data available, such cycles are not observed in the tropics. These findings are consistent with the expected latitudinal and seasonal variations of OH radicals which cause benzene and toluene to be removed from the atmosphere. The latitude distribution shows high concentrations at mid latitude and low levels in the southern hemisphere. This finding is consistent with the present understanding that the sources of benzene and toluene are primarily anthropogenic. The observed concentration distribution and varibility are consistent with the short expected atmospheric lifetime of the order of months for benzene and days for toluene

  10. Balancing atmospheric carbon dioxide

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goreau, T.J. (Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, Univ. of the West Indies (JM))

    1990-01-01

    Rising carbon dioxide and global temperatures are causing increasing worldwide concern, and pressure towards an international law of the atmosphere is rapidly escalating, yet widespread misconceptions about the greenhouse effect's inevitability, time scale, and causes have inhibited effective consensus and action. Observations from Antarctic ice cores, Amazonian rain forests, and Carribean coral reefs suggest that the biological effects of climate change may be more severe than climate models predict. Efforts to limit emissions from fossil-fuel combustion alone are incapable of stabilizing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide requires coupled measures to balance sources and sinks of the gas, and will only be viable with large-scale investments in increased sustainable productivity on degraded tropical soils, and in long-term research on renewable energy and biomass product development in the developing countries. A mechanism is outlined which directly links fossil-fuel combustion sources of carbon dioxide to removal via increasing biotic productivity and storage. A preliminary cost-benefit analysis suggests that such measures are very affordable, costing far less than inaction. (With 88 refs.).

  11. Balancing atmospheric carbon dioxide

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goreau, T J [Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, Univ. of the West Indies (JM)

    1990-01-01

    Rising carbon dioxide and global temperatures are causing increasing worldwide concern, and pressure towards an international law of the atmosphere is rapidly escalating, yet widespread misconceptions about the greenhouse effect's inevitability, time scale, and causes have inhibited effective consensus and action. Observations from Antarctic ice cores, Amazonian rain forests, and Carribean coral reefs suggest that the biological effects of climate change may be more severe than climate models predict. Efforts to limit emissions from fossil-fuel combustion alone are incapable of stabilizing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide requires coupled measures to balance sources and sinks of the gas, and will only be viable with large-scale investments in increased sustainable productivity on degraded tropical soils, and in long-term research on renewable energy and biomass product development in the developing countries. A mechanism is outlined which directly links fossil-fuel combustion sources of carbon dioxide to removal via increasing biotic productivity and storage. A preliminary cost-benefit analysis suggests that such measures are very affordable, costing far less than inaction. (With 88 refs.).

  12. 76 FR 65183 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climate Assessment... Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce (DOC). ACTION: Notice of open..., National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [FR Doc. 2011-27113 Filed 10-19-11; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE...

  13. Atmospheric Chemistry in a Changing World

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brune, William H.

    The world is changing,and the atmosphere's composition is changing with it. Human activity is responsible for much of this. Global population growth and migration to urban centers, extensive biomass burning, the spread of fertilizer-intensive agribusiness, globalization of business and industry, rising standards of living in the developing world, and increased energy use fuels atmospheric change. If current practices continue, atmospheric increases are likely for the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide; and for the chemically active gases nitric oxide, sulfur dioxide,and ammonia. Increases in global tropospheric ozone and aerosols are a distinct possibility.

  14. Deviations from LTE in a stellar atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kalkofen, W.; Klein, R.I.; Stein, R.F.

    1979-01-01

    Deviations from LTE are investigated in an atmosphere of hydrogen atoms with one bound level, satisfying the equations of radiative, hydrostatic, and statistical equilibrium. The departure coefficient and the kinetic temperature as functions of the frequency dependence of the radiative cross section are studied analytically and numerically. Near the outer boundary of the atmosphere, the departure coefficient b is smaller than unity when the radiative cross section αsub(ν) grows with frequency ν faster than ν 2 ; b exceeds unity otherwise. Far from the boundary the departure coefficient tends to exceed unity for any frequency dependence of αsub(ν). Overpopulation (b > 1) always implies that the kinetic temperature in the statistical equilibrium atmosphere is higher than the temperature in the corresponding LTE atmosphere. Upper and lower bounds on the kinetic temperature are given for an atmosphere with deviations from LTE only in the optically shallow layers when the emergent intensity can be described by a radiation temperature. (author)

  15. Deviations from LTE in a stellar atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalkofen, W.; Klein, R. I.; Stein, R. F.

    1979-01-01

    Deviations for LTE are investigated in an atmosphere of hydrogen atoms with one bound level, satisfying the equations of radiative, hydrostatic, and statistical equilibrium. The departure coefficient and the kinetic temperature as functions of the frequency dependence of the radiative cross section are studied analytically and numerically. Near the outer boundary of the atmosphere, the departure coefficient is smaller than unity when the radiative cross section grows with frequency faster than with the square of frequency; it exceeds unity otherwise. Far from the boundary the departure coefficient tends to exceed unity for any frequency dependence of the radiative cross section. Overpopulation always implies that the kinetic temperature in the statistical-equilibrium atmosphere is higher than the temperature in the corresponding LTE atmosphere. Upper and lower bounds on the kinetic temperature are given for an atmosphere with deviations from LTE only in the optically shallow layers when the emergent intensity can be described by a radiation temperature.

  16. The greenhouse effect of planetary atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kondratyev, K.Ya.; Moskalenko, N.I.

    1980-01-01

    The greenhouse effect of the atmosphere is the main factor of possible climate changes of anthropogenic origin. The growing pollution of the atmosphere leads to an increase of the concentration of various gaseous components. Of great importance is also the consideration of the aerosols. All the gaseous components, as well as aerosols, have the absorption bands in the IR spectral range. The traditional attention to the problem of the CO 2 contribution to the greenhouse effect has somewhat overshadowed the significance of the different components. The data characterizing the significance of the different components of the greenhouse effect are considered. The results of studying the absorption spectra of methane, nitrous oxides, sulphuric gas, ammonia, nitric-acid vapours and other components are discussed. The assessments of their contribution to the greenhouse effect are given. The important role of the small-size fraction of the atmospheric aerosols as a factor of the greenhouse effect is discussed. Both the analysis of the causes of the Earth's climate variability and the relevant investigation of the atmospheric greenhouse effect determine the expediency of analysing the conditions of the greenhouse effect formation on other planets. Laboratory studies of the IR absorption spectra of synthetic CO 2 atmospheres were carried out. Some results from these studies are discussed. (author)

  17. Establishing atmospheric neutrino oscillations with Super-Kamiokande

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kajita, T.; Kearns, E.; Shiozawa, M.

    2016-01-01

    In this article we review the discovery of atmospheric neutrino oscillation by the Super-Kamiokande experiment. This review outlines the sequence of observations and their associated publications that solved the atmospheric neutrino anomaly and established the existence of neutrino oscillations with nearly maximal mixing of muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. We also discuss subsequent and ongoing studies that use atmospheric neutrinos to continue to reveal the nature of the neutrino.

  18. Predicting Top-of-Atmosphere Thermal Radiance Using MERRA-2 Atmospheric Data with Deep Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tania Kleynhans

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Image data from space-borne thermal infrared (IR sensors are used for a variety of applications, however they are often limited by their temporal resolution (i.e., repeat coverage. To potentially increase the temporal availability of thermal image data, a study was performed to determine the extent to which thermal image data can be simulated from available atmospheric and surface data. The work conducted here explored the use of Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2 developed by The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA to predict top-of-atmosphere (TOA thermal IR radiance globally at time scales finer than available satellite data. For this case study, TOA radiance data was derived for band 31 (10.97 μ m of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS sensor. Two approaches have been followed, namely an atmospheric radiative transfer forward modeling approach and a supervised learning approach. The first approach uses forward modeling to predict TOA radiance from the available surface and atmospheric data. The second approach applied four different supervised learning algorithms to the atmospheric data. The algorithms included a linear least squares regression model, a non-linear support vector regression (SVR model, a multi-layer perceptron (MLP, and a convolutional neural network (CNN. This research found that the multi-layer perceptron model produced the lowest overall error rates with an root mean square error (RMSE of 1.36 W/m 2 ·sr· μ m when compared to actual Terra/MODIS band 31 image data. These studies found that for radiances above 6 W/m 2 ·sr· μ m, the forward modeling approach could predict TOA radiance to within 12 percent, and the best supervised learning approach can predict TOA to within 11 percent.

  19. Scaling of the atmosphere of self-avoiding walks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Owczarek, A L [Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 (Australia); Prellberg, T [School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom)], E-mail: a.owczarek@ms.unimelb.edu.au, E-mail: t.prellberg@qmul.ac.uk

    2008-09-19

    The number of free sites next to the end of a self-avoiding walk is known as the atmosphere of the walk. The average atmosphere can be related to the number of configurations. Here we study the distribution of atmospheres as a function of length and how the number of walks of fixed atmosphere scale. Certain bounds on these numbers can be proved. We use Monte Carlo estimates to verify our conjectures in two dimensions. Of particular interest are walks that have zero atmosphere, which are known as trapped. We demonstrate that these walks scale in the same way as the full set of self-avoiding walks, barring an overall constant factor.

  20. Atmospheric and Geophysical Sciences Program report, 1990--1991

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacCracken, M.C.; Albritton, J.R.; MacGregor, P.M.

    1992-06-01

    This report describes research programs from Lawrence Livermore Laboratory from 1990--1991 in atmospheric chemistry and geophysics. Programs such as mathematical modeling of atmospheric dispersions of pollutants and radionuclides,tropospheric chemistry, clouds, climate models, and the effects of atmospheric trace constiuents on ozone are described

  1. Research of chemical structure of atmospheric precipitation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Korenyak, D.

    2001-01-01

    The structure of atmospheric precipitation changes in its passing through the air medium. Thus, the atmospheric precipitation is one of the ecological factors, acting regularly. The research of chemical structure of atmospheric precipitation is closely connected with the problems of turnover of elements, with sanitary - ecological conditions of regions, with the matters of agricultural equipment and of salt balance of the soils. In paper the author for the first time represents the data on chemical structure of precipitation in the town. The data of chemical analysis of 18 samples are given. Obtained results permitted, to a certain extent, to determine the mechanisms of formation of atmospheric precipitation in the region investigated and its genesis. (authors)

  2. Atmospheric Science: It's More than Meteorology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, David R.; Krockover, Gerald H.

    1988-01-01

    Indicates that atmospheric science is not just forcasting the weather. Gives an overview of current topics in meteorology including ozone depletion, acid precipitation, winter cyclones, severe local storms, the greenhouse effect, wind shear and microbursts. Outlines the Atmospheric Sciences Education Program at Purdue University to produce…

  3. PHOTOCHEMISTRY IN TERRESTRIAL EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES. II. H{sub 2}S AND SO{sub 2} PHOTOCHEMISTRY IN ANOXIC ATMOSPHERES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hu Renyu; Seager, Sara; Bains, William, E-mail: hury@mit.edu [Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

    2013-05-20

    Sulfur gases are common components in the volcanic and biological emission on Earth, and are expected to be important input gases for atmospheres on terrestrial exoplanets. We study the atmospheric composition and the spectra of terrestrial exoplanets with sulfur compounds (i.e., H{sub 2}S and SO{sub 2}) emitted from their surfaces. We use a comprehensive one-dimensional photochemistry model and radiative transfer model to investigate the sulfur chemistry in atmospheres ranging from reducing to oxidizing. The most important finding is that both H{sub 2}S and SO{sub 2} are chemically short-lived in virtually all types of atmospheres on terrestrial exoplanets, based on models of H{sub 2}, N{sub 2}, and CO{sub 2} atmospheres. This implies that direct detection of surface sulfur emission is unlikely, as their surface emission rates need to be extremely high (>1000 times Earth's volcanic sulfur emission) for these gases to build up to a detectable level. We also find that sulfur compounds emitted from the surface lead to photochemical formation of elemental sulfur and sulfuric acid in the atmosphere, which would condense to form aerosols if saturated. For terrestrial exoplanets in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars or M stars, Earth-like sulfur emission rates result in optically thick haze composed of elemental sulfur in reducing H{sub 2}-dominated atmospheres for a wide range of particle diameters (0.1-1 {mu}m), which is assumed as a free parameter in our simulations. In oxidized atmospheres composed of N{sub 2} and CO{sub 2}, optically thick haze, composed of elemental sulfur aerosols (S{sub 8}) or sulfuric acid aerosols (H{sub 2}SO{sub 4}), will form if the surface sulfur emission is two orders of magnitude more than the volcanic sulfur emission of Earth. Although direct detection of H{sub 2}S and SO{sub 2} by their spectral features is unlikely, their emission might be inferred by observing aerosol-related features in reflected light with future generation

  4. Exponential growth and atmospheric carbon dioxide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laurmann, J.A.; Rotty, R.M.

    1983-01-01

    The adequacy of assumptions required to project atmospheric CO 2 concentrations in time frames of practical importance is reviewed. Relevant issues concern the form assumed for future fossil fuel release, carbon cycle approximations, and the implications of revisions in fossil fuel patterns required to maintain atmospheric CO 2 levels below a chosen threshold. In general, we find that with a judiciously selected exponential fossil fuel release rate, and with a constant airborn fraction, we can estimate atmospheric CO 2 growth over the next 50 years based on essentially surprise free scenarios. Resource depletion effects must be included for projections beyond about 50 years, and on this time frame the constant airborne fraction approximation has to be questioned as well (especially in later years when the fossil fuel use begins to taper off). For projections for over 100 years, both energy demand scenarios and currently available carbon cycle models have sufficient uncertainties that atmospheric CO 2 levels derived from them are not much better than guesses

  5. Sulphur isotope variations in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Newman, L.; Krouse, H.R.; Grinenko, V.A.

    1991-01-01

    The measurement of the isotope ratios of sulphur and oxygen can in principal be used to assess sulphur inputs into, transformation within, and removal from the atmosphere. Major inputs arise from both anthropogenic and biogenic activities. Transformations arise from oxidation, neutralization, and other chemical reactions. Advection causes dilution and the main removal processes are dry deposition (governed by gravitation and diffusion) and rain. The admixture of sources can be discerned from their isotopic signatures whereas transformations and removal can be followed from the isotopic fractionation that might occur. In this chapter, the atmospheric sulphur cycle and the associated chemistry are summarized. Also presented is information on natural isotopic variations and fundamental concepts relating to the use of isotopic data to delineate anthropogenic S in the atmosphere. Examples of successful applications of these concepts are given. Finally, consideration is given to the potential of using isotopically enriched sulphur to study transport and transformation of atmospheric S compounds. Refs, figs and tabs

  6. Mars Molniya Orbit Atmospheric Resource Mining

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller, Robert P.; Braun, Robert D.; Sibille, Laurent; Sforzo, Brandon; Gonyea, Keir; Ali, Hisham

    2016-01-01

    This NIAC (NASA Advanced Innovative Concepts) work will focus on Mars and will build on previous efforts at analyzing atmospheric mining at Earth and the outer solar system. Spacecraft systems concepts will be evaluated and traded, to assess feasibility. However the study will primarily examine the architecture and associated missions to explore the closure, constraints and critical parameters through sensitivity studies. The Mars atmosphere consists of 95.5 percent CO2 gas which can be converted to methane fuel (CH4) and Oxidizer (O2) for chemical rocket propulsion, if hydrogen is transported from electrolyzed water on the Mars surface or from Earth. By using a highly elliptical Mars Molniya style orbit, the CO2 atmosphere can be scooped, ram-compressed and stored while the spacecraft dips into the Mars atmosphere at periapsis. Successive orbits result in additional scooping of CO2 gas, which also serves to aerobrake the spacecraft, resulting in a decaying Molniya orbit.

  7. Atmospheric-pressure plasma technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kogelschatz, U

    2004-01-01

    Major industrial plasma processes operating close to atmospheric pressure are discussed. Applications of thermal plasmas include electric arc furnaces and plasma torches for generation of powders, for spraying refractory materials, for cutting and welding and for destruction of hazardous waste. Other applications include miniature circuit breakers and electrical discharge machining. Non-equilibrium cold plasmas at atmospheric pressure are obtained in corona discharges used in electrostatic precipitators and in dielectric-barrier discharges used for generation of ozone, for pollution control and for surface treatment. More recent applications include UV excimer lamps, mercury-free fluorescent lamps and flat plasma displays

  8. Atmospheric anthropic impacts tracked by the French atmospheric mobile observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuesta, J.; Chazette, P.; Flamant, P. H.

    2009-04-01

    A new ATmospheric Mobile ObServatory, so called "ATMOS", has been developed by the LiMAG "Lidar, Meteorology and Geophysics" team of the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) in France, in order to contribute to international field campaigns for studying atmospheric physico-chemistry, air quality and climate (i.e. aerosols, clouds, trace gazes, atmospheric dynamics and energy budget) and the ground-based validation of satellite observations. ATMOS has been deployed in the framework of i) LISAIR, for monitoring air quality in Paris in 2005, ii) AMMA "African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis", in Tamanrasset and in Niamey for observing the aerosols and the atmospheric boundary layer in the Sahara and in the Sahel in 2006, iii) COPS "Convectively and Orographycally driven Precipitation Study" in the Rhin Valley in 2007 and iv) the validation of the spatial mission CALIPSO, launched in April 2006. In the coming years, ATMOS will be deployed i) in the Paris Megacity, in the framework of MEGAPOLI (2009-2010), ii) in southern France (near Marseille) for the Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment CHARMEX (2011-2012) and iii) the validation of ADM-Aeolus in 2010-2011 and Earth-Care in 2012. ATMOS payload is modular, accounting for the different platforms, instruments and measuring techniques. The deployment of ATMOS is an essential contribution to field campaigns, complementing the fixed sites, and a potential alternative of airborne platforms, heavier and more expensive. ATMOS mobile payload comprises both the remote sensing platform MOBILIS ("Moyens mOBIles de téLédetection de l'IPSL") and the in-situ physico-chemical station SAMMO ("Station Aérosols et chiMie MObile"). MOBILIS is an autonomous and high-performance system constituted by a full set of active and passive remote sensing instrumentation (i.e. Lidars and radiometers), whose payload may be adapted for either i) long term fixed monitoring in a maritime container or a shelter, ii) ground-based transect

  9. The atmosphere and ionosphere of Io

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McElroy, M.B.; Yung, Y.L.

    1975-01-01

    A variety of models for Io's atmosphere, ionosphere, surface, and environment are developed and discussed in the context of recent observational data. The sodium emission detected by Brown appears to require a collisional excitation process in Io's atmosphere, and the extended sodium emission measured by Trafton et al. may require scattering of the planetary radiation by an extended sodium cloud. The sodium is presumably present initially in bound form on Io's surface and may be released by the sputtering mechanism suggested by Matson et al. The ionosphere detected by the radio occultation experiment on Pioneer 10 could be attributed to photoionization of atmospheric sodium if Io's atmosphere could sustain significant vertical motions, of order 1 s/sup -1/ directed up during the day, down at night. Vertical motions of this magnitude could be driven by condensation of atmospheric NH 3 . The total density of gas at Io's surface appears to lie in the range 10 10 -10 12 molecules cm/sup -3/. Corpuscular ionization could play an additional role for the ionosphere. In this case the sateSe should exhibit an exceedingly bright, approx.10 kR, airglow at Lα. The incomplete hydrogen torus observed by Judge and Carlson in the vicinity of Io requires a large supply of hydrogen from the satellite's atmosphere. The escape flux should be of order 10 11 cm/sup -2/ s/sup -1/ and could be maintained by photolysis of atmospheric NH 3 . The observed geometry of the hydrogen torus appears to require a surprisingly short lifetime, approx.10 5 s, for neutral hydrogen near Io's orbit, and may indicate the presence of a large flux, approx.10 9 cm/sup -2/ s/sup -1/, of low-energy protons in Jupiter's magnetosphere. Implications of the hydrogen torus for the energy and mass balance of Jupiter's magnetosphere are discussed briefly, and observational programs are identified which might illuminate present uncertainties in our understanding of Io

  10. The Influence of CO2 Admixtures on the Product Composition in a Nitrogen-Methane Atmospheric Glow Discharge Used as a Prebiotic Atmosphere Mimic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazankova, V; Torokova, L; Krcma, F; Mason, N J; Matejcik, S

    2016-11-01

    This work extends our previous experimental studies of the chemistry of Titan's atmosphere by atmospheric glow discharge. The Titan's atmosphere seems to be similarly to early Earth atmospheric composition. The exploration of Titan atmosphere was initiated by the exciting results of the Cassini-Huygens mission and obtained results increased the interest about prebiotic atmospheres. Present work is devoted to the role of CO 2 in the prebiotic atmosphere chemistry. Most of the laboratory studies of such atmosphere were focused on the chemistry of N 2  + CH 4 mixtures. The present work is devoted to the study of the oxygenated volatile species in prebiotic atmosphere, specifically CO 2 reactivity. CO 2 was introduced to the standard N 2  + CH 4 mixture at different mixing ratio up to 5 % CH 4 and 3 % CO 2 . The reaction products were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. This work shows that CO 2 modifies the composition of the gas phase with the detection of oxygenated compounds: CO and others oxides. There is a strong influence of CO 2 on increasing concentration other products as cyanide (HCN) and ammonia (NH 3 ).

  11. Examination of fluctuations in atmospheric pressure related to migraine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okuma, Hirohisa; Okuma, Yumiko; Kitagawa, Yasuhisa

    2015-01-01

    Japan has four seasons and many chances of low atmospheric pressure or approaches of typhoon, therefore it has been empirically known that the fluctuation of weather induces migraine in people. Generally, its mechanism has been interpreted as follows: physical loading, attributed by atmospheric pressure to human bodies, compresses or dilates human blood vessels, which leads to abnormality in blood flow and induces migraine. We report our examination of the stage in which migraine tends to be induced focusing on the variation of atmospheric pressure. Subjects were 34 patients with migraine, who were treated in our hospital. The patients included 31 females and three males, whose mean age was 32 ± 6.7. 22 patients had migraine with aura and 12 patients had migraine without aura. All of patients with migraine maintained a headache diary to record atmospheric pressures when they developed a migraine. The standard atmospheric pressure was defined as 1013 hPa, and with this value as the criterion, we investigated slight fluctuations in the atmospheric pressure when they developed a migraine. It was found that the atmospheric pressure when the patients developed a migraine was within 1003-1007 hPa in the approach of low atmospheric pressure and that the patients developed a migraine when the atmospheric pressure decreased by 6-10 hPa, slightly less than the standard atmospheric pressure. Small decreases of 6-10 hPa relative to the standard atmospheric pressure of 1013 hPa induced migraine attacks most frequently in patients with migraine.

  12. Energy and zenith angle dependence of atmospheric muons

    CERN Document Server

    Maeda, K

    1973-01-01

    The recently proposed new process for energetic-muon production in the atmosphere should be tested at Mt. Chacaltaya. Rigorous calculations of zenith-angle distribution of atmospheric muons have been made for the altitude of 5200 m above sea level with energy range from 100 GeV to 100 TeV and for zenith angles from 0 degrees to 92.3 degrees . Calculations are based on the extension of the Chapman function to the case of a non-isothermal atmosphere, taking into account (i) energy- dependent nuclear-interaction mean free path of cosmic-ray hadrons in air, (ii) different magnitudes of photonuclear cross-section in the energy-loss process of muons in the atmosphere, (iii) contributions of atmospheric muons arriving below the horizontal directions, and (iv) atmospheric structure and geomagnetic deflection. Results are compared with those corresponding to sea level. Range straggling, particularly its effect on horizontally incident muons, is investigated by Monte Carlo calculation, indicating that its effects and t...

  13. Archives of Atmospheric Lead Pollution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Dominik; Shotyk, William; Kempf, Oliver

    Environmental archives such as peat bogs, sediments, corals, trees, polar ice, plant material from herbarium collections, and human tissue material have greatly helped to assess both ancient and recent atmospheric lead deposition and its sources on a regional and global scale. In Europe detectable atmospheric lead pollution began as early as 6000years ago due to enhanced soil dust and agricultural activities, as studies of peat bogs reveal. Increased lead emissions during ancient Greek and Roman times have been recorded and identified in many long-term archives such as lake sediments in Sweden, ice cores in Greenland, and peat bogs in Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. For the period since the Industrial Revolution, other archives such as corals, trees, and herbarium collections provide similar chronologies of atmospheric lead pollution, with periods of enhanced lead deposition occurring at the turn of the century and since 1950. The main sources have been industry, including coal burning, ferrous and nonferrous smelting, and open waste incineration until c.1950 and leaded gasoline use since 1950. The greatest lead emissions to the atmosphere all over Europe occurred between 1950 and 1980 due to traffic exhaust. A marked drop in atmospheric lead fluxes found in most archives since the 1980s has been attributed to the phasing out of leaded gasoline. The isotope ratios of lead in the various archives show qualitatively similar temporal changes, for example, the immediate response to the introduction and phasing out of leaded gasoline. Isotope studies largely confirm source assessments based on lead emission inventories and allow the contributions of various anthropogenic sources to be calculated.

  14. Photosynthesis in Hydrogen-Dominated Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bains, William; Seager, Sara; Zsom, Andras

    2014-01-01

    The diversity of extrasolar planets discovered in the last decade shows that we should not be constrained to look for life in environments similar to early or present-day Earth. Super-Earth exoplanets are being discovered with increasing frequency, and some will be able to retain a stable, hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. We explore the possibilities for photosynthesis on a rocky planet with a thin H2-dominated atmosphere. If a rocky, H2-dominated planet harbors life, then that life is likely to convert atmospheric carbon into methane. Outgassing may also build an atmosphere in which methane is the principal carbon species. We describe the possible chemical routes for photosynthesis starting from methane and show that less energy and lower energy photons could drive CH4-based photosynthesis as compared with CO2-based photosynthesis. We find that a by-product biosignature gas is likely to be H2, which is not distinct from the hydrogen already present in the environment. Ammonia is a potential biosignature gas of hydrogenic photosynthesis that is unlikely to be generated abiologically. We suggest that the evolution of methane-based photosynthesis is at least as likely as the evolution of anoxygenic photosynthesis on Earth and may support the evolution of complex life. PMID:25411926

  15. Photosynthesis in Hydrogen-Dominated Atmospheres

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William Bains

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The diversity of extrasolar planets discovered in the last decade shows that we should not be constrained to look for life in environments similar to early or present-day Earth. Super-Earth exoplanets are being discovered with increasing frequency, and some will be able to retain a stable, hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. We explore the possibilities for photosynthesis on a rocky planet with a thin H2-dominated atmosphere. If a rocky, H2-dominated planet harbors life, then that life is likely to convert atmospheric carbon into methane. Outgassing may also build an atmosphere in which methane is the principal carbon species. We describe the possible chemical routes for photosynthesis starting from methane and show that less energy and lower energy photons could drive CH4-based photosynthesis as compared with CO2-based photosynthesis. We find that a by-product biosignature gas is likely to be H2, which is not distinct from the hydrogen already present in the environment. Ammonia is a potential biosignature gas of hydrogenic photosynthesis that is unlikely to be generated abiologically. We suggest that the evolution of methane-based photosynthesis is at least as likely as the evolution of anoxygenic photosynthesis on Earth and may support the evolution of complex life.

  16. LIGHT SCATTERING FROM EXOPLANET OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zugger, M. E.; Kane, T. J.; Kasting, J. F.; Williams, D. M.; Philbrick, C. R.

    2010-01-01

    Orbital variation in reflected starlight from exoplanets could eventually be used to detect surface oceans. Exoplanets with rough surfaces, or dominated by atmospheric Rayleigh scattering, should reach peak brightness in full phase, orbital longitude (OL) = 180 0 , whereas ocean planets with transparent atmospheres should reach peak brightness in crescent phase near OL = 30 0 . Application of Fresnel theory to a planet with no atmosphere covered by a calm ocean predicts a peak polarization fraction of 1 at OL = 74 0 ; however, our model shows that clouds, wind-driven waves, aerosols, absorption, and Rayleigh scattering in the atmosphere and within the water column dilute the polarization fraction and shift the peak to other OLs. Observing at longer wavelengths reduces the obfuscation of the water polarization signature by Rayleigh scattering but does not mitigate the other effects. Planets with thick Rayleigh scattering atmospheres reach peak polarization near OL = 90 0 , but clouds and Lambertian surface scattering dilute and shift this peak to smaller OL. A shifted Rayleigh peak might be mistaken for a water signature unless data from multiple wavelength bands are available. Our calculations suggest that polarization alone may not positively identify the presence of an ocean under an Earth-like atmosphere; however, polarization adds another dimension which can be used, in combination with unpolarized orbital light curves and contrast ratios, to detect extrasolar oceans, atmospheric water aerosols, and water clouds. Additionally, the presence and direction of the polarization vector could be used to determine planet association with the star, and constrain orbit inclination.

  17. Atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunt, G.E.

    1981-01-01

    In this paper the current knowledge of the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are reviewed making use of the extensive telescopic studies, International Ultraviolet Explorer Satellite observations and the measurements made during the recent Pioneer and Voyager flybys which have been supported by detailed theoretical studies. A detailed discussion is given of the composition of these atmospheres and the abundance ratios which provide insight into their original state and their evolution. The Voyager observations indicate a surprisingly close similarity between the weather systems of the Earth and the giant planets. Although both Jupiter and Saturn have internal heat sources, and are therefore star-like in their interiors, they appear to produce terrestrial-style weather systems. A detailed discussion is given of this work, which forms a major study of the Laboratory for Planetary Atmospheres at University College London. (author)

  18. Atmospheric rivers: a mini-review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis eGimeno

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric rivers (ARs are narrow regions responsible for the majority of the poleward water vapour transport across the midlatitudes. They are characterized by high water vapour content and strong low level winds, and form a part of the broader warm conveyor belt of extratropical cyclones. Although the meridional water vapour transport within ARs is critical for water resources, ARs can also cause disastrous floods especially when encountering mountainous terrain. They were labelled as atmospheric rivers in the 1990s, and have since become a well-studied feature of the midlatitude climate. We briefly review the conceptual model, the methods used to identify them, their main climatological characteristics, their impacts, the predictive ability of numerical weather prediction models, their relationship with large-scale ocean-atmosphere dynamics, possible changes under future climates, and some future challenges.

  19. Atmospheric Ozone And Its Biosphere - Atmosphere Exchange In A Mangrove Forest Ecosystem A Case Study From Sundarbans NE Coast Of India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manab Kumar Dutta

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Temporal variation of atmospheric O3 and its biosphere atmosphere exchange were monitored in the Sundarbans mangrove forest from January 2011 to December 2011 on bimonthly basis. O3 mixing ratios at 10 m and 20 m heights over the forest atmosphere ranged between 14.66 1.88 to 37.90 0.91 and 19.32 6.27 to 39.80 10.13 ppbv respectively having maximal premonsoon and minimal monsoon periods. Average daytime O3 mixing ratio was 1.69 times higher than nighttime indicates significant photo chemical production of O3 in forest atmosphere. Annual averaged O3 mixing ratio in 10 m height was 13.2 lower than 20 m height induces exchange of O3 across mangrove biosphere atmosphere interface depending upon micrometeorological conditions of the forest ecosystem. Annual average biosphere atmosphere O3 exchange flux in this mangrove forest environment was 0.441 g m-2 s-1. Extrapolating the value for entire forest surface area the mangrove ecosystem acts as a sink of 58.4GgO3 annually indicating significant contribution of Sundarbans mangroves towards regional atmospheric O3 budget as well as climate change.

  20. Blow-out limits of nonpremixed turbulent jet flames in a cross flow at atmospheric and sub-atmospheric pressures

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Qiang; Hu, Longhua; Yoon, Sung Hwan; Lu, Shouxiang; Delichatsios, Michael; Chung, Suk-Ho

    2015-01-01

    The blow-out limits of nonpremixed turbulent jet flames in cross flows were studied, especially concerning the effect of ambient pressure, by conducting experiments at atmospheric and sub-atmospheric pressures. The combined effects of air flow

  1. Spectroscopy of the earth's atmosphere and interstellar medium

    CERN Document Server

    Rao, KN

    1992-01-01

    Spectroscopy of the Earth's Atmosphere and Interstellar Medium focuses on the characteristics of the electromagnetic spectrum of the Earth's atmosphere in the far-infrared and microwave regions. It discusses the modes of observation in field measurements and reviews the two techniques used in the spectral region. Organized into six chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the effect of water-vapor absorption, followed by a discussion on the two frequently used method for deriving atmospheric parameters from high-resolution infrared atmospheric spectra, namely, the equivalent width

  2. Determination of equivalent mixing height and atmospheric stability assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simon, J.; Bulko, M.; Holy, K.

    2007-01-01

    Atmospheric stability is an indicator that reflects the intensity of boundary layer mixing processes. This feature of the atmosphere is especially important since it defines dispersive atmospheric conditions and provides information on how effectively the anthropogenic pollution will be transferred to the higher levels of the atmosphere. The assessment of atmospheric dispersiveness plays a crucial role in the protection of air quality and public health in big cities. The presented paper deals with determination of atmospheric stability via so called Equivalent Mixing Height (EMH) quantity using a radioactive noble gas 222 Rn. A method of deriving a link between 222 Rn activity concentration, eddy diffusion coefficient and EMH using fluid mechanics is also outlined in this work. (authors)

  3. Nuclear risk from atmospheric dispersion in Northern Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lauritzen, B.

    2007-04-01

    The aim of the 2005-06 NKS-B NordRisk project has been to present practical methods for probabilistic risk assessment from long-range atmospheric transport and deposition of radioactive material. In this project an atlas of long-range atmospheric dispersion and deposition patterns derived from archived numerical weather prediction (NWP) model data coupled to an atmospheric dispersion model has been produced, and a PC-based software tool has been developed, based on a simplified description of the long-term, long-range atmospheric dispersion and deposition. The atlas and the software tool may allow for a rapid, first assessment of the risks following a nuclear emergency, when detailed information on the long-range atmospheric dispersion and deposition is not available. (au)

  4. Marine Atmospheric Corrosion of Carbon Steel: A Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcántara, Jenifer; Fuente, Daniel de la; Chico, Belén; Simancas, Joaquín; Díaz, Iván; Morcillo, Manuel

    2017-04-13

    The atmospheric corrosion of carbon steel is an extensive topic that has been studied over the years by many researchers. However, until relatively recently, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the action of marine chlorides. Corrosion in coastal regions is a particularly relevant issue due the latter's great importance to human society. About half of the world's population lives in coastal regions and the industrialisation of developing countries tends to concentrate production plants close to the sea. Until the start of the 21st century, research on the basic mechanisms of rust formation in Cl - -rich atmospheres was limited to just a small number of studies. However, in recent years, scientific understanding of marine atmospheric corrosion has advanced greatly, and in the authors' opinion a sufficient body of knowledge has been built up in published scientific papers to warrant an up-to-date review of the current state-of-the-art and to assess what issues still need to be addressed. That is the purpose of the present review. After a preliminary section devoted to basic concepts on atmospheric corrosion, the marine atmosphere, and experimentation on marine atmospheric corrosion, the paper addresses key aspects such as the most significant corrosion products, the characteristics of the rust layers formed, and the mechanisms of steel corrosion in marine atmospheres. Special attention is then paid to important matters such as coastal-industrial atmospheres and long-term behaviour of carbon steel exposed to marine atmospheres. The work ends with a section dedicated to issues pending, noting a series of questions in relation with which greater research efforts would seem to be necessary.

  5. Marine Atmospheric Corrosion of Carbon Steel: A Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcántara, Jenifer; de la Fuente, Daniel; Chico, Belén; Simancas, Joaquín; Díaz, Iván; Morcillo, Manuel

    2017-01-01

    The atmospheric corrosion of carbon steel is an extensive topic that has been studied over the years by many researchers. However, until relatively recently, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the action of marine chlorides. Corrosion in coastal regions is a particularly relevant issue due the latter’s great importance to human society. About half of the world’s population lives in coastal regions and the industrialisation of developing countries tends to concentrate production plants close to the sea. Until the start of the 21st century, research on the basic mechanisms of rust formation in Cl−-rich atmospheres was limited to just a small number of studies. However, in recent years, scientific understanding of marine atmospheric corrosion has advanced greatly, and in the authors’ opinion a sufficient body of knowledge has been built up in published scientific papers to warrant an up-to-date review of the current state-of-the-art and to assess what issues still need to be addressed. That is the purpose of the present review. After a preliminary section devoted to basic concepts on atmospheric corrosion, the marine atmosphere, and experimentation on marine atmospheric corrosion, the paper addresses key aspects such as the most significant corrosion products, the characteristics of the rust layers formed, and the mechanisms of steel corrosion in marine atmospheres. Special attention is then paid to important matters such as coastal-industrial atmospheres and long-term behaviour of carbon steel exposed to marine atmospheres. The work ends with a section dedicated to issues pending, noting a series of questions in relation with which greater research efforts would seem to be necessary. PMID:28772766

  6. Large-Scale Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1984-05-01

    atmosphere (INT. -r, i 0) InEkman layer off the coast of Peru eastward) and meridional (y, positive north- the latter case. T, which was assumcd uniform...influence of teleconnectivity of the atmosphere is strongest for diabetic forcing located near the equatorial central Pacific, but much reduced i for ocinp...the monsoon diabetic heat sources during the latter half of the year (July- February, denoted by atching numerals). The extent of the diabetic beat

  7. Radionuclide dispersion in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moura Neto, C. de; Amorim, E.S. do; Panetta, J.

    1979-05-01

    The instantaneous liberation of radionuclides in the atmosphere is studied in three dimensions, according to the formalism of the diffusion theory. The analytical solution, expose to gravitational and an atmospherical effects, is combined with the discretization of space and time in the calculation of levels of exposure. A typical inventory (for a PWR) was considered in the calculation of immersion doses, and the results permitted a comparative analysis among the different existing models. (Author) [pt

  8. Music as atmosphere. Lines of becoming in congregational worship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Friedlind Riedel

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I offer critical attention to the notion of atmosphere in relation to music. By exploring the concept through the case study of the Closed Brethren worship services, I argue that atmosphere may provide analytical tools to explore the ineffable in ecclesial practices. Music, just as atmosphere, commonly occupies a realm of ineffability and undermines notions such as inside and outside, subject and object. For this reason I present music as a means of knowing the atmosphere. The first part of this paper points to the limits of an understanding of atmosphere as a constellation of things, as proposed by Gernot Böhme. In contrast to this, Hermann Schmitz conceptualises atmosphere as half-thing which suggests movement. Drawing on this, I propose to methodologically approach atmospheres as movements. Consequently, in the second part of this paper I closely analyse two motions as they cohere in Closed Brethren worship services: first, becoming (Deleuze and Guattari, a movement on the level of the individual worshiper; secondly, territorialisation (Deleuze and Guattari, a movement of the atmosphere towards its solidification. Here music as atmosphere is not a system of moral signification but a generative power affording intimate processes of divine encounter, whilst producing affective denominational difference.

  9. Non-Equilibrium Radiative Transfer in Structured Atmospheres

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Picard, R. H; Winick, J. R; Wintersteiner, P. P

    2002-01-01

    ... passage of both atmospheric gravity waves and transient frontal disturbances or bores. The infrared emissions from this part of the atmosphere are already typically not in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE...

  10. Climate risks by radioactive krypton-85 from nuclear fission. Atmospheric-electrical and air-chemical effects of ionizing radiation in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kollert, R.

    1994-01-01

    The study shows that krypton-85 from nuclear fission enhances air ionization and, thus, interferes with the atmospheric-electrical system and the water balance of the earth atmosphere. This is reason for concern: There are unforeseeable effects for weather and climate if the krypton-85 content of the earth atmosphere continues to rise. There may be a krypton-specific greenhouse effect and a collapse of the natural atmospheric-electrical field. In addition, human well-being may be expected to be impaired as a result of the diminished atmospheric-electrical field. There is also the risk of radiochemical actions and effects caused-by krypton-85-containing plumes in other air-borne pollutants like the latters' transformation to aggressive oxidants. This implies radiation smog and more acid rain in the countries exposed. This study summarizes findings gained in these issues by various sciences, analyses them and elaborates hypotheses on the actions and effects of krypton-85 on the air, the atmosphere and the climate. (orig./HP) [de

  11. Effect of atmospheric pollution on health

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Islam, M.S.

    1990-01-01

    In recent years the incidence of smog episodes and their intensity have gone down considerably and difference in atmospheric pollutant levels between urban and rural areas is very small. Even the sudden moderate elevation of atmospheric pollution during winter months affects the pulmonary function adversely and provokes increased respiratory symptomes. The prevalence of rhinitis and allergy is more frequent both in adults and in children in urban townships than in rural areas. It has also been observed that industrial city dwellers have inferior pulmonary function. Very recent results indicate possible interaction between atmospheric pollutant levels and regeneration process following airways infection in yound children. (orig.) [de

  12. Atmospheric Plasma Blade for Surgical Purposes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oksuz, Lutfi; Yurdabak Karaca, Gozde; Özkaptan, Emir; Uygun, Emre; Uygun Oksuz, Aysegul

    2017-10-01

    Atmospheric plasma cut is a process at the minimum level due to the ions, radicals and free electrons generated by the active electrode and target tissue. Atmospheric plasma cutting devices provide significant advantages as a non-contact electrocautery system that can operate in isotonic environment. During operations where plasma cutting is applied, bleeding is controlled and the side effects that would create the isotonic environment are eliminated. In this study in vivo and in vitro studies will be carried out by producing and optimizing the atmospheric plasma blade. Once the optimum parameters of the instrument are determined, in vivo studies will be performed and the pathology results will be evaluated.

  13. Charge Transfer Scheme for Atmospheric Ice Sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Umair Najeeb MUGHAL

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The atmospheric icing parameters are being measured nowadays with the aid of more customized yet limited commercial equipment. The parameters include atmospheric ice detection, icing load and icing rate. The robustness of such equipment is usually under scrutiny when it comes to cold/harsh environment operations. This phenomenon was experienced consistently by the atmospheric Icing Research Team at Narvik University College during data retrieval exercises from its atmospheric icing stations installed at Fargnesfjellet during 2012-13. In this paper it is aimed to address the potential feasibility to produce a robust hardware addressing the icing measurements signals, which includes instrumentation hardware giving icing indications, icing type and de- icing rate measurements in a single platform (not commercially available till date.

  14. Effects of meteorite impacts on the atmospheric evolution of Mars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pham, Lê Binh San; Karatekin, Ozgür; Dehant, Véronique

    2009-01-01

    Early in its history, Mars probably had a denser atmosphere with sufficient greenhouse gases to sustain the presence of stable liquid water at the surface. Impacts by asteroids and comets would have played a significant role in the evolution of the martian atmosphere, not only by causing atmospheric erosion but also by delivering material and volatiles to the planet. We investigate the atmospheric loss and the delivery of volatiles with an analytical model that takes into account the impact simulation results and the flux of impactors given in the literature. The atmospheric loss and the delivery of volatiles are calculated to obtain the atmospheric pressure evolution. Our results suggest that the impacts alone cannot satisfactorily explain the loss of significant atmospheric mass since the Late Noachian (approximately 3.7-4 Ga). A period with intense bombardment of meteorites could have increased the atmospheric loss; but to explain the loss of a speculative massive atmosphere in the Late Noachian, other factors of atmospheric erosion and replenishment also need to be taken into account.

  15. Carnegie Institution Atmospheric-Electricity and Meteorological Data

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institute of Science conducted observations of atmospheric electricity and magnetic storms. In addition to...

  16. Environmental consequences of atmospheric krypton-85

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boeck, W.L.

    1978-01-01

    This project examines the thesis that atmospheric background ionization is relevant to the understanding of weather. Projections of future world-wide use of nuclear energy imply that sufficient krypton-85 will be produced and may be released to significantly alter the natural ionization background. The scope of the project includes an assessment of krypton-85 on the electrical aspects of the atmosphere as well as the consequences of an altered electrical state of the atmosphere. The results of a first approximation model for the effects of krypton-85 on the atmosphere show that the electric field at the surface of the ocean would be reduced by about 25 percent and at a continental station by about 15 percent. At about two kilometers altitude, the electric field would be reduced by about 14 percent over the oceans and 16 percent over the land. The effects decrease quickly with increasing altitude. Analytical studies of the equations for fair weather atmospheric electricity yield solutions suitable for the interpretation of time dependent phenomena with periods longer than a few seconds. A brief analysis shows that a perfect assessment is not necessary to make an error-free decision regarding krypton-85 control measures. From the viewpoint of a decision-maker, those aspects that could swing the decision from one alternative to another are priority areas for analysis

  17. Atmospheric inverse modeling via sparse reconstruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hase, Nils; Miller, Scot M.; Maaß, Peter; Notholt, Justus; Palm, Mathias; Warneke, Thorsten

    2017-10-01

    Many applications in atmospheric science involve ill-posed inverse problems. A crucial component of many inverse problems is the proper formulation of a priori knowledge about the unknown parameters. In most cases, this knowledge is expressed as a Gaussian prior. This formulation often performs well at capturing smoothed, large-scale processes but is often ill equipped to capture localized structures like large point sources or localized hot spots. Over the last decade, scientists from a diverse array of applied mathematics and engineering fields have developed sparse reconstruction techniques to identify localized structures. In this study, we present a new regularization approach for ill-posed inverse problems in atmospheric science. It is based on Tikhonov regularization with sparsity constraint and allows bounds on the parameters. We enforce sparsity using a dictionary representation system. We analyze its performance in an atmospheric inverse modeling scenario by estimating anthropogenic US methane (CH4) emissions from simulated atmospheric measurements. Different measures indicate that our sparse reconstruction approach is better able to capture large point sources or localized hot spots than other methods commonly used in atmospheric inversions. It captures the overall signal equally well but adds details on the grid scale. This feature can be of value for any inverse problem with point or spatially discrete sources. We show an example for source estimation of synthetic methane emissions from the Barnett shale formation.

  18. The biosphere as a driver of global atmospheric change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levine, J.S.

    1991-01-01

    The effects of the biosphere on the evolution of atmospheric oxygen and ozone, and the consequences of that development for global atmospheric change, are discussed. Attention is given to the impact of oxygen and ozone on atmospheric photolysis rates, the effect of oxygen on the biogenic production of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide, and the effects of the evolution of atmospheric oxygen on fires and biomass burning. The influence of the latter on atmospheric processes, particularly the production of methane, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, is considered. 41 refs

  19. Ubiquity of bisphenol A in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fu Pingqing; Kawamura, Kimitaka

    2010-01-01

    Bisphenol A (BPA) is a suspected endocrine disruptor in the environment. However, little is known about its distribution and transport in the atmosphere. Here, the concentrations of BPA in the atmospheric aerosols from urban, rural, marine, and the polar regions were measured using solvent extraction/derivatization and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry technique. The concentrations of BPA (1-17,400 pg m -3 ) ranged over 4 orders of magnitude in the world with a declining trend from the continent (except for the Antarctica) to remote sites. A positive correlation was found between BPA and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene, a tracer for plastic burning, in urban regions, indicating that the open burning of plastics in domestic waste should be a significant emission source of atmospheric BPA. Our results suggest that the ubiquity of BPA in the atmosphere may raise a requirement for the evaluation of health effects of BPA in order to control its emission sources, for example, from plastic burning. - This study gives first insight into the sources and global distributions of bisphenol A (BPA) in the atmosphere.

  20. Observations and Modeling of Atmospheric Radiance Structure

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Wintersteiner, Peter

    2001-01-01

    The overall purpose of the work that we have undertaken is to provide new capabilities for observing and modeling structured radiance in the atmosphere, particularly the non-LTE regions of the atmosphere...

  1. An Atmospheric Pressure Ping-Pong "Ballometer"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazachkov, Alexander; Kryuchkov, Dmitriy; Willis, Courtney; Moore, John C.

    2006-01-01

    Classroom experiments on atmospheric pressure focus largely on demonstrating its existence, often in a most impressive way. A series of amusing physics demonstrations is widely known and practiced by educators teaching the topic. However, measuring the value of atmospheric pressure(P[subscript atm]) is generally done in a rather mundane way,…

  2. CASPER: Concordia Atmospheric SPectroscopy of Emitted Radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Petris, M.; Catalano, A.; de Gregori, S.; Lamagna, L.; Lattanzi, V.; Luzzi, G.; Maoli, R.; Melchiorri, A.; Melchiorri, F.; Savini, G.; Vetrani, G. G.; Battistelli, E. S.; Valenziano, L.; Mandolesi, N.; Villa, F.; Cuttaia, F.; Ade, P. A. R.; Mauskopf, P.; Orlando, A.; Encrenaz, P.; Pardo, J. R.; Cernicharo, J.

    CASPER (Concordia Atmospheric SPectroscopy of Emitted Radiation) is a spectrometer proposed for installation at Dome C, devoted to measurements of atmospheric emission in the spectral region between 180 μm and 3 mm (3 55 cm-1). This instrument will be able to perform continuous spectral sampling at different altitudes at angular scales of 1°. From the recorded data it is possible to extract atmospheric transmittance within 1% in the whole wide operating band, together with water vapour content and O{2} and O{3} concentrations. CASPER will allow us to characterize the site for future FIR/mm telescopes. Atmospheric data recorded by CASPER will allow for correction of astrophysical and cosmological observations without the need for telescope-specific procedures and further loss of observation time with more precision in the observations themselves. Calibration of ground-based telescopes on known sky sources is strongly affected by atmospheric absorption. CASPER has this as its primary goal. The spectrometer is based on a Martin-Puplett interferometer. Two data sampling solutions will be performed: phase modulation & fast scan strategy. Sky radiation is collected towards the interferometer by an optical setup that allows the field of view, to explore the full 0° div 90° range of elevation angles. With a low spurious polarization instrument, monitoring of polarized atmospheric contribution will be possible.

  3. Atmospheric Neutrinos in the MINOS Far Detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Howcroft, Caius Leo Frederick [Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom)

    2004-12-01

    The phenomenon of flavour oscillations of neutrinos created in the atmosphere was first reported by the Super-Kamiokande collaboration in 1998 and since then has been confirmed by Soudan 2 and MACRO. The MINOS Far Detector is the first magnetized neutrino detector able to study atmospheric neutrino oscillations. Although it was designed to detect neutrinos from the NuMI beam, it provides a unique opportunity to measure the oscillation parameters for neutrinos and anti-neutrinos independently. The MINOS Far Detector was completed in August 2003 and since then has collected 2.52 kton-years of atmospheric data. Atmospheric neutrino interactions contained within the volume of the detector are separated from the dominant background from cosmic ray muons. Thirty seven events are selected with an estimated background contamination of less than 10%. Using the detector's magnetic field, 17 neutrino events and 6 anti-neutrino events are identified, 14 events have ambiguous charge. The neutrino oscillation parameters for vμ and $\\bar{v}$μ are studied using a maximum likelihood analysis. The measurement does not place constraining limits on the neutrino oscillation parameters due to the limited statistics of the data set analysed. However, this thesis represents the first observation of charge separated atmospheric neutrino interactions. It also details the techniques developed to perform atmospheric neutrino analyses in the MINOS Far Detector.

  4. Atmospheric-pressure plasma jet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selwyn, Gary S.

    1999-01-01

    Atmospheric-pressure plasma jet. A .gamma.-mode, resonant-cavity plasma discharge that can be operated at atmospheric pressure and near room temperature using 13.56 MHz rf power is described. Unlike plasma torches, the discharge produces a gas-phase effluent no hotter than 250.degree. C. at an applied power of about 300 W, and shows distinct non-thermal characteristics. In the simplest design, two concentric cylindrical electrodes are employed to generate a plasma in the annular region therebetween. A "jet" of long-lived metastable and reactive species that are capable of rapidly cleaning or etching metals and other materials is generated which extends up to 8 in. beyond the open end of the electrodes. Films and coatings may also be removed by these species. Arcing is prevented in the apparatus by using gas mixtures containing He, which limits ionization, by using high flow velocities, and by properly shaping the rf-powered electrode. Because of the atmospheric pressure operation, no ions survive for a sufficiently long distance beyond the active plasma discharge to bombard a workpiece, unlike low-pressure plasma sources and conventional plasma processing methods.

  5. Atmospheric and Space Sciences: Ionospheres and Plasma Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yiǧit, Erdal

    2018-01-01

    The SpringerBriefs on Atmospheric and Space Sciences in two volumes presents a concise and interdisciplinary introduction to the basic theory, observation & modeling of atmospheric and ionospheric coupling processes on Earth. The goal is to contribute toward bridging the gap between meteorology, aeronomy, and planetary science. In addition recent progress in several related research topics, such atmospheric wave coupling and variability, is discussed. Volume 1 will focus on the atmosphere, while Volume 2 will present the ionospheres and the plasma environments. Volume 2 is aimed primarily at (research) students and young researchers that would like to gain quick insight into the basics of space sciences and current research. In combination with the first volume, it also is a useful tool for professors who would like to develop a course in atmospheric and space physics.

  6. The atmosphere of Pluto as observed by New Horizons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gladstone, G Randall; Stern, S Alan; Ennico, Kimberly; Olkin, Catherine B; Weaver, Harold A; Young, Leslie A; Summers, Michael E; Strobel, Darrell F; Hinson, David P; Kammer, Joshua A; Parker, Alex H; Steffl, Andrew J; Linscott, Ivan R; Parker, Joel Wm; Cheng, Andrew F; Slater, David C; Versteeg, Maarten H; Greathouse, Thomas K; Retherford, Kurt D; Throop, Henry; Cunningham, Nathaniel J; Woods, William W; Singer, Kelsi N; Tsang, Constantine C C; Schindhelm, Eric; Lisse, Carey M; Wong, Michael L; Yung, Yuk L; Zhu, Xun; Curdt, Werner; Lavvas, Panayotis; Young, Eliot F; Tyler, G Leonard

    2016-03-18

    Observations made during the New Horizons flyby provide a detailed snapshot of the current state of Pluto's atmosphere. Whereas the lower atmosphere (at altitudes of less than 200 kilometers) is consistent with ground-based stellar occultations, the upper atmosphere is much colder and more compact than indicated by pre-encounter models. Molecular nitrogen (N2) dominates the atmosphere (at altitudes of less than 1800 kilometers or so), whereas methane (CH4), acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4), and ethane (C2H6) are abundant minor species and likely feed the production of an extensive haze that encompasses Pluto. The cold upper atmosphere shuts off the anticipated enhanced-Jeans, hydrodynamic-like escape of Pluto's atmosphere to space. It is unclear whether the current state of Pluto's atmosphere is representative of its average state--over seasonal or geologic time scales. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  7. LIDAR and atmosphere remote sensing

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Venkataraman, S

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available using state of the art Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) instrumentation and other active and passive remote sensing tools. First “Lidar Field Campaign” • 2-day measurement campaign at University of Pretoria • First 23-hour continuous measurement... head2rightCirrus cloud morphology and dynamics. Atmospheric Research in Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (ARSAIO) Slide 24 © CSIR 2008 www.csir.co.za Middle atmosphere dynamics and thermal structure: comparative studies from...

  8. SNAP: Small Next-generation Atmospheric Probe Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sayanagi, K. M.; Dillman, R. A.; Atkinson, D. H.; Li, J.; Saikia, S.; Simon, A. A.; Spilker, T. R.; Wong, M. H.; Hope, D.

    2017-12-01

    We present a concept for a small, atmospheric probe that could be flexibly added to future missions that orbit or fly-by a giant planet as a secondary payload, which we call the Small Next-generation Atmospheric Probe (SNAP). SNAP's main scientific objectives are to determine the vertical distribution of clouds and cloud-forming chemical species, thermal stratification, and wind speed as a function of depth. As a case study, we present the advantages, cost and risk of adding SNAP to the future Uranus Orbiter and Probe flagship mission; in combination with the mission's main probe, SNAP would perform atmospheric in-situ measurements at a second location, and thus enable and enhance the scientific objectives recommended by the 2013 Planetary Science Decadal Survey and the 2014 NASA Science Plan to determine atmospheric spatial variabilities. We envision that the science objectives can be achieved with a 30-kg entry probe 0.5m in diameter (less than half the size of the Galileo probe) that reaches 5-bar pressure-altitude and returns data to Earth via the carrier spacecraft. As the baseline instruments, the probe will carry an Atmospheric Structure Instrument (ASI) that measures the temperature, pressure and acceleration, a carbon nanotube-based NanoChem atmospheric composition sensor, and an Ultra-Stable Oscillator (USO) to conduct a Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE). We also catalog promising technologies currently under development that will strengthen small atmospheric entry probe missions in the future. While SNAP is applicable to multiple planets, we examine the feasibility, benefits and impacts of adding SNAP to the Uranus Orbiter and Probe flagship mission. Our project is supported by NASA PSDS3 grant NNX17AK31G.

  9. Atmospheric Circulations of Rocky Planets as Heat Engines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koll, D. D. B.

    2017-12-01

    Rocky planets are extremely common in the galaxy and include Earth, Mars, Venus, and hundreds of exoplanets. To understand and compare the climates of these planets, we need theories that are general enough to accommodate drastically different atmospheric and planetary properties. Unfortunately, few such theories currently exist.For Earth, there is a well-known principle that its atmosphere resembles a heat engine - the atmosphere absorbs heat near the surface, at a hot temperature, and emits heat to space in the upper troposphere, at a cold temperature, which allows it to perform work and balance dissipative processes such as friction. However, previous studies also showed that Earth's hydrological cycle uses up a large fraction of the heat engine's work output, which makes it difficult to view other atmospheres as heat engines.In this work I extend the heat engine principle from Earth towards other rocky planets. I explore both dry and moist atmospheres in an idealized general circulation model (GCM), and quantify their work output using entropy budgets. First, I show that convection and turbulent heat diffusion are important entropy sources in dry atmospheres. I develop a scaling that accounts for its effects, which allows me to predict the strength of frictional dissipation in dry atmospheres. There are strong parallels between my scaling and so-called potential intensity theory, which is a seminal theory for understanding tropical cyclones on Earth. Second, I address how moisture affects atmospheric heat engines. Moisture modifies both the thermodynamic properties of air and releases latent heat when water vapor condenses. I explore the impact of both effects, and use numerical simulations to explore the difference between dry and moist atmospheric circulations across a wide range of climates.

  10. An archetype hydrogen atmosphere problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Athay, R. G.; Mihalas, D.; Shine, R. A.

    1975-01-01

    Populations for the first three bound states and the continuum of hydrogen are determined for an isothermal hydrostatic atmosphere at 20,000 K. The atmosphere is treated as optically thin in the Balmer and Paschen continua and illuminated by continuum radiation at these wavelengths with prescribed radiation temperatures. The atmosphere is optically thick in the 2-1, 3-1, 3-2 and c-1 transitions. Three stages of approximation are treated: (1) radiative detailed balance in the 2-1, 3-1 and 3-2 transitions, (2) radiative detailed balance in the 3-1 and 3-2 transitions, and (3) all transitions out of detailed balance. The solution of this problem is nontrivial and presents sufficient difficulty to have caused the failure of at least one rather standard technique. The problem is thus a good archetype against which new methods or new implementations of old methods may be tested.

  11. An archetype hydrogen atmosphere problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Athay, R.G.; Mihalas, D.; Shine, R.A.

    1975-01-01

    Populations for the first three bound states and the continuum of hydrogen are determined for an isothermal, hydrostatic atmosphere at 20000K. The atmosphere is treated as being optically thin in the Balmer and Paschen continua and illuminated by continuum radiation at these wavelengths with prescribed radiation temperatures. The atmosphere is optically thick in the 2-1,3-1,3-2 and c-1 transitions. Three stages of approximation are treated: (1) radiative detailed balance in the 2-1, 3-1 and 3-2 transitions, (2) radiative detailed balance in the 3-1 and 3-2 transitions, and (3) all transitions out of detailed balance. The solution of this problem is non-trivial, and presents sufficient difficulty to have caused failure of at least one rather standard technique. The problem is thus a good archetype against which new methods, or new implementations of old methods may be tested. (Auth.)

  12. Atmospheric transport of radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crawford, T.V.

    1977-01-01

    The chairman and contributors are members of the Working Group on Atmospheric Dispersion, Deposition, and Resuspension. This group examined the mathematical approaches for determining the direct and indirect pathways to man of releases of pollutants to the atmosphere. The dose-to-man limitations promulgated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Energy Research and Development Administration were presented. The present status of research was discussed, and recommendations for future work were made. Particular emphasis was placed on the need for additional experimental work to develop confidence limits leading to acceptable probability statements of critical pathways for determining the dose-to-man

  13. Atmospheric transport of radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crawford, T.V.

    1978-01-01

    The chairman and contributors are members of the Working Group on Atmospheric Dispersion, Deposition, and Resuspension. This group examined the mathematical approaches for determining the direct and indirect pathways to man of releases of pollutants to the atmosphere. The dose-to-man limitations promulgated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Energy Research and Development Administration were presented. The present status of research was discussed, and recommendations for future work were made. Particular emphasis was placed on the need for additional experimental work to develop confidence limits leading to acceptable probability statements of critical pathways for determining the dose-to-man

  14. The role of cosmic rays in the atmospheric processes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stozhkov, Y I [Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Leninsky Prospect, 53, Moscow (Russian Federation)

    2003-05-01

    The energy flux of galactic cosmic rays falling on the earth's atmosphere is small in comparison with solar electromagnetic irradiation (by 10{sup 8} times). But at altitudes of h {approx} 3 to 35 km in the atmosphere, cosmic rays are the only ionization source (from the ground level up to h {approx} 3 km, natural radioactivity is an additional source of ionization). Solar activity modulates cosmic ray flux. The cosmic rays produce atmospheric ions that define the electrical properties of the atmosphere. The electric charges play a very important role in the processes of cloud and thundercloud formation in the operation of the global electric circuit. The changes in electric properties of the atmosphere influence weather and climate. Thus, we have the following chain of the solar terrestrial relationship: solar activity - cosmic ray modulation - changes in the global electric properties of the atmosphere - changes in weather and climate. The following questions are discussed in this paper: light ion production in the atmosphere, role of electric charges in the formation of clouds and thunderclouds, experimental evidences of the relationships between cosmic ray flux and atmospheric current and lightning.

  15. The role of cosmic rays in the atmospheric processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stozhkov, Y I

    2003-01-01

    The energy flux of galactic cosmic rays falling on the earth's atmosphere is small in comparison with solar electromagnetic irradiation (by 10 8 times). But at altitudes of h ∼ 3 to 35 km in the atmosphere, cosmic rays are the only ionization source (from the ground level up to h ∼ 3 km, natural radioactivity is an additional source of ionization). Solar activity modulates cosmic ray flux. The cosmic rays produce atmospheric ions that define the electrical properties of the atmosphere. The electric charges play a very important role in the processes of cloud and thundercloud formation in the operation of the global electric circuit. The changes in electric properties of the atmosphere influence weather and climate. Thus, we have the following chain of the solar terrestrial relationship: solar activity - cosmic ray modulation - changes in the global electric properties of the atmosphere - changes in weather and climate. The following questions are discussed in this paper: light ion production in the atmosphere, role of electric charges in the formation of clouds and thunderclouds, experimental evidences of the relationships between cosmic ray flux and atmospheric current and lightning

  16. Comparing the Atmospheric Losses at Io and Europa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dols, V. J.; Bagenal, F.; Crary, F. J.; Cassidy, T.

    2017-12-01

    At Io and Europa, the interaction of the Jovian plasma with the moon atmosphere leads to a significant loss of atomic/molecular neutrals and ions to space. The processes that lead to atmospheric escape are diverse: atmospheric sputtering, molecular dissociation, molecular ion recombination, Jeans escape etc. Each process leads to neutrals escaping at different velocities (i.e. electron impact dissociation leads to very slow atomic neutrals, sputtering might eject faster molecular neutrals). Some neutrals will be ejected out of the Jovian system; others will form extended neutral clouds along the orbit of the moons. These atomic/molecular extended neutral clouds are probably the main source of plasma for the Jovian magnetosphere. They are difficult to observe directly thus their composition and density are still poorly constrained. A future modeling of the formation of these extended clouds requires an estimate of their atmospheric sources. We estimate the atmospheric losses at Io and Europa for each loss process with a multi-species chemistry model, using a prescribed atmospheric distribution consistent with the observations. We compare the neutral losses at Io and Europa.

  17. Pluto's atmosphere in 2015 from high-resolution spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roe, Henry G.; Cook, Jason C.; Mace, Gregory N.; Holler, Bryan J.; Young, Leslie A.; McLane, Jacob N.; Jaffe, Daniel T.

    2015-11-01

    Pluto's thin N2/CH4 atmosphere is in vapor-pressure equilibrium with ices on its surface. The atmosphere evolves seasonally with the varying insolation pattern on Pluto's heterogenous surface, perhaps even largely freezing out to the surface during the coldest portion of Pluto's year. We use high-resolution (R≈25,000-50,000) near-infrared spectroscopy to resolve atmospheric methane absorption lines from Pluto's continuum spectra, as well as separate Pluto's atmospheric lines from the telluric spectrum. In addition to measuring the abundance and temperature of Pluto's atmospheric CH4, with broad wavelength coverage we are able to search for the inevitable products of N2/CH4 photochemistry. In 2015 we are undertaking an intensive campaign using NIRSPEC at Keck Observatory and IGRINS (Immersion Grating INfrared Spectrometer) at McDonald Observatory to coincide with the New Horizons Pluto encounter. We will report initial results from this 2015 campaign and compare the state of Pluto's atmosphere at the time of the New Horizons encounter with earlier years.

  18. Lidar investigations of atmospheric aerosols over Sofia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dreischuh, T.; Deleva, A.; Peshev, Z.; Grigorov, I.; Kolarov, G.; Stoyanov, D.

    2016-01-01

    An overview is given of the laser remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols and related processes over the Sofia area performed in the Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, during the last three years. Results from lidar investigations of the optical characteristics of atmospheric aerosols obtained in the frame of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network, as well as from the lidar mapping of near-surface aerosol fields for remote monitoring of atmospheric pollutants are presented and discussed in this paper.

  19. The sources of atmospheric gravity waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagpal, O.P.

    1979-01-01

    The gravity wave theory has been very successful in the interpretation of various upper atmospheric phenomena. This article offers a review of the present state of knowledge about the various sources of atmospheric gravity waves, particularly those which give rise to different types of travelling ionospheric disturbance. Some specific case studies are discussed. (author)

  20. Theories for convection in stellar atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nordlund, Aa.

    1976-02-01

    A discussion of the fundamental differences between laboratory convection in a stellar atmosphere is presented. The shortcomings of laterally homogeneous model atmospheres are analysed, and the extent to which these shortcoming are avoided in the two-component representation is discussed. Finally a qualitative discussion on the scaling properties of stellar granulation is presented. (Auth.)

  1. Atmospheres of polygons and knotted polygons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janse Rensburg, E J Janse; Rechnitzer, A

    2008-01-01

    In this paper we define two statistics a + (ω) and a - (ω), the positive and negative atmospheres of a lattice polygon ω of fixed length n. These statistics have the property that (a + (ω))/(a - (ω)) = p n+2 /p n , where p n is the number of polygons of length n, counted modulo translations. We use the pivot algorithm to sample polygons and to compute the corresponding average atmospheres. Using these data, we directly estimate the growth constants of polygons in two and three dimensions. We find that μ=2.63805±0.00012 in two dimensions and μ=4.683980±0.000042±0.000067 in three dimensions, where the error bars are 67% confidence intervals, and the second error bar in the three-dimensional estimate of μ is an estimated systematic error. We also compute atmospheres of polygons of fixed knot type K sampled by the BFACF algorithm. We discuss the implications of our results and show that different knot types have atmospheres which behave dramatically differently at small values of n

  2. Strategy implementation for the CTA Atmospheric monitoring program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doro Michele

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA is the next generation facility of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. It reaches unprecedented sensitivity and energy resolution in very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. CTA detects Cherenkov light emitted within an atmospheric shower of particles initiated by cosmic-gamma rays or cosmic rays entering the Earth's atmosphere. From the combination of images the Cherenkov light produces in the telescopes, one is able to infer the primary particle energy and direction. A correct energy estimation can be thus performed only if the local atmosphere is well characterized. The atmosphere not only affects the shower development itself, but also the Cherenkov photon transmission from the emission point in the particle shower, at about 10–20 km above the ground, to the detector. Cherenkov light on the ground is peaked in the UV-blue region, and therefore molecular and aerosol extinction phenomena are important. The goal of CTA is to control systematics in energy reconstruction to better than 10%. For this reason, a careful and continuous monitoring and characterization of the atmosphere is required. In addition, CTA will be operated as an observatory, with data made public along with appropriate analysis tools. High-level data quality can only be ensured if the atmospheric properties are consistently and continuously taken into account. In this contribution, we concentrate on discussing the implementation strategy for the various atmospheric monitoring instruments currently under discussion in CTA. These includes Raman lidars and ceilometers, stellar photometers and others available both from commercial providers and public research centers.

  3. Global atmospheric carbon budget: results from an ensemble of atmospheric CO2 inversions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Peylin

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric CO2 inversions estimate surface carbon fluxes from an optimal fit to atmospheric CO2 measurements, usually including prior constraints on the flux estimates. Eleven sets of carbon flux estimates are compared, generated by different inversions systems that vary in their inversions methods, choice of atmospheric data, transport model and prior information. The inversions were run for at least 5 yr in the period between 1990 and 2010. Mean fluxes for 2001–2004, seasonal cycles, interannual variability and trends are compared for the tropics and northern and southern extra-tropics, and separately for land and ocean. Some continental/basin-scale subdivisions are also considered where the atmospheric network is denser. Four-year mean fluxes are reasonably consistent across inversions at global/latitudinal scale, with a large total (land plus ocean carbon uptake in the north (−3.4 Pg C yr−1 (±0.5 Pg C yr−1 standard deviation, with slightly more uptake over land than over ocean, a significant although more variable source over the tropics (1.6 ± 0.9 Pg C yr−1 and a compensatory sink of similar magnitude in the south (−1.4 ± 0.5 Pg C yr−1 corresponding mainly to an ocean sink. Largest differences across inversions occur in the balance between tropical land sources and southern land sinks. Interannual variability (IAV in carbon fluxes is larger for land than ocean regions (standard deviation around 1.06 versus 0.33 Pg C yr−1 for the 1996–2007 period, with much higher consistency among the inversions for the land. While the tropical land explains most of the IAV (standard deviation ~ 0.65 Pg C yr−1, the northern and southern land also contribute (standard deviation ~ 0.39 Pg C yr−1. Most inversions tend to indicate an increase of the northern land carbon uptake from late 1990s to 2008 (around 0.1 Pg C yr−1, predominantly in North Asia. The mean seasonal cycle appears to be well constrained by the atmospheric data over

  4. Atmospheric phenomena deduced from radiosonde and GPS ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    gation and atmospheric modeling studies. ... the earth. Atmosphere causes refraction of radio signals as it passes through it. This time ... from cloud, aerosol, precipitation and it provides ... in the troposphere have strong influence on tropical.

  5. Coupled atmosphere-wildland fire modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacques Henri Balbi

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Simulating the interaction between fire and atmosphere is critical to the estimation of the rate of spread of the fire. Wildfire’s convection (i.e., entire plume can modify the local meteorology throughout the atmospheric boundary layer and consequently affect the fire propagation speed and behaviour. In this study, we use for the first time the Méso-NH meso-scale numerical model coupled to the point functional ForeFire simplified physical front-tracking wildfire model to investigate the differences introduced by the atmospheric feedback in propagation speed and behaviour. Both numerical models have been developed as research tools for operational models and are currently used to forecast localized extreme events. These models have been selected because they can be run coupled and support decisions in wildfire management in France and Europe. The main originalities of this combination reside in the fact that Méso-NH is run in a Large Eddy Simulation (LES configuration and that the rate of spread model used in ForeFire provides a physical formulation to take into account the effect of wind and slope. Simulations of typical experimental configurations show that the numerical atmospheric model is able to reproduce plausible convective effects of the heat produced by the fire. Numerical results are comparable to estimated values for fire-induced winds and present behaviour similar to other existing numerical approaches.

  6. Airborne Atmospheric Aerosol Measurement System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahn, K.; Park, Y.; Eun, H.; Lee, H.

    2015-12-01

    It is important to understand the atmospheric aerosols compositions and size distributions since they greatly affect the environment and human health. Particles in the convection layer have been a great concern in global climate changes. To understand these characteristics satellite, aircraft, and radio sonde measurement methods have usually been used. An aircraft aerosol sampling using a filter and/or impactor was the method commonly used (Jay, 2003). However, the flight speed particle sampling had some technical limitations (Hermann, 2001). Moreover, the flight legal limit, altitude, prohibited airspace, flight time, and cost was another demerit. To overcome some of these restrictions, Tethered Balloon Package System (T.B.P.S.) and Recoverable Sonde System(R.S.S.) were developed with a very light optical particle counter (OPC), impactor, and condensation particle counter (CPC). Not only does it collect and measure atmospheric aerosols depending on altitudes, but it also monitors the atmospheric conditions, temperature, humidity, wind velocity, pressure, GPS data, during the measurement (Eun, 2013). In this research, atmospheric aerosol measurement using T.B.P.S. in Ansan area is performed and the measurement results will be presented. The system can also be mounted to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and create an aerial particle concentration map. Finally, we will present measurement data using Tethered Balloon Package System (T.B.P.S.) and R.S.S (Recoverable Sonde System).

  7. Modeling of atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baklouti, Nada

    2010-01-01

    This work is a prediction of atmospheric dispersion of radionuclide from a chronic rejection of the nuclear power generating plant that can be located in one of the Tunisian sites: Skhira or Bizerte. Also it contains a study of acute rejection 'Chernobyl accident' which was the reference for the validation of GENII the code of modeling of atmospheric dispersion.

  8. The tempo-spatially modulated polarization atmosphere Michelson interferometer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, ChunMin; Zhu, HuaChun; Zhao, Baochang

    2011-05-09

    A space-based tempo-spatially modulated polarization atmosphere Michelson interferometer (TSMPAMI) is described. It uses the relative movement between the TSMPAMI and the measured target to change optical path difference. The acquisition method of interferogram is presented. The atmospheric temperatures and horizontal winds can be derived from the optical observations. The measurement errors of the winds and temperatures are discussed through simulations. In the presence of small-scale structures of the atmospheric fields, the errors are found to be significantly influenced by the mismatch of the scenes observed by the adjacent CCD sub-areas aligned along the orbiter's track during successive measurements due to the orbital velocity and the exposure time. For most realistic conditions of the orbit and atmosphere, however, the instrument is proven suitable for measuring the atmospheric parameters. © 2011 Optical Society of America

  9. Atmospheric gamma-ray observation with the BETS detectorfor calibrating atmospheric neutrino flux calculations

    CERN Document Server

    Kasahara, K.; Torii, S.; Tamura, T.; Tateyama, N.; Yoshida, K.; Yamagami, T.; Saito, Y.; Nishimura, J.; Murakami, H.; Kobayashi, T.; Komori, Y.; Honda, M.; Ohuchi, T.; Midorikawa, S.; Yuda, T.

    2002-01-01

    We observed atmospheric gamma-rays around 10 GeV at balloon altitudes (15~25 km) and at a mountain (2770 m a.s.l). The observed results were compared with Monte Carlo calculations to find that an interaction model (Lund Fritiof1.6) used in an old neutrino flux calculation was not good enough for describing the observed values. In stead, we found that two other nuclear interaction models, Lund Fritiof7.02 and dpmjet3.03, gave much better agreement with the observations. Our data will serve for examining nuclear interaction models and for deriving a reliable absolute atmospheric neutrino flux in the GeV region.

  10. Atmospheric chloride: Its implication for foliar uptake and damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    McWilliams, E. L.; Sealy, R. L.

    Atmospheric chloride is inversely related to distance from the Texas coast; r2 = 0.86. Levels of atmospheric chloride are higher in the early summer than in the winter because of salt storms. Leaf chloride l'evels of Tillandsia usneoides L. (Spanish moss) reflect the atmospheric chloride levels; r2 = 0.78. The importance of considering the effect of atmospheric chloride on leaf damage to horticultural crops is discussed.

  11. Mechanism of Runaway Electron Generation at Gas Pressures from a Few Atmospheres to Several Tens of Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zubarev, N. M.; Ivanov, S. N.

    2018-04-01

    The mechanism of runaway electron generation at gas pressures from a few atmospheres to several tens of atmospheres is proposed. According to this mechanism, the electrons pass into the runaway mode in the enhanced field zone that arises between a cathode micropoint—a source of field-emission electrons—and the region of the positive ion space charge accumulated near the cathode in the tails of the developing electron avalanches. As a result, volume gas ionization by runaway electrons begins with a time delay required for the formation of the enhanced field zone. This process determines the delay time of breakdown. The influence of the gas pressure on the formation dynamics of the space charge region is analyzed. At gas pressures of a few atmospheres, the space charge arises due to the avalanche multiplication of the very first field-emission electron, whereas at pressures of several tens of atmospheres, the space charge forms as a result of superposition of many electron avalanches with a relatively small number of charge carriers in each.

  12. Origin of the atmospheres of the earth and the planets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Z M

    1978-06-01

    From a systematic analysis of the whole history of the protoplanetary cloud and the observational facts of the earth's atmosphere, new theory is proposed on the origin of the atmospheres of the earth and the planets. For the earth-like planets, there were profound primordial atmospheres originated from the protoplanetary cloud by the accretion of the embryoes of planets. These primordial atmospheres has existed in a time scale of 10/sup 3/ to 10/sup 7/ years and were composed of chemically reducing gases. The presence of such a reducing atmosphere may be of great significance to the theories of cosmogony and the origin of life. The contents are as follows: the escape of the nebulae and the planetary atmospheres, the blowing-off of the atmospheres and the disspiation of gases driven by the solar wind, the accretion of gases by the planetary embryoes, the primordial atmospheres.

  13. Atmosphere as colloid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kutsenogij, K.P.; Kutsenogij, P.K.

    2008-01-01

    In the paper review the results of experimental and theoretical investigations on space-time variability of physical, chemical and biological atmospheric characteristics and its influence on climate, ecology and environmental quality under the impact of natural processes and anthropogenic load is submitted

  14. Impact of atmospheric refraction: how deeply can we probe exo-earth's atmospheres during primary eclipse observations?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bétrémieux, Yan [Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Kaltenegger, Lisa, E-mail: betremieux@mpia.de [Also at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. (United States)

    2014-08-10

    Most models used to predict or fit exoplanet transmission spectra do not include all the effects of atmospheric refraction. Namely, the angular size of the star with respect to the planet can limit the lowest altitude, or highest density and pressure, probed during primary eclipses as no rays passing below this critical altitude can reach the observer. We discuss this geometrical effect of refraction for all exoplanets and tabulate the critical altitude, density, and pressure for an exoplanet identical to Earth with a 1 bar N{sub 2}/O{sub 2} atmosphere as a function of both the incident stellar flux (Venus, Earth, and Mars-like) at the top of the atmosphere and the spectral type (O5-M9) of the host star. We show that such a habitable exo-Earth can be probed to a surface pressure of 1 bar only around the coolest stars. We present 0.4-5.0 μm model transmission spectra of Earth's atmosphere viewed as a transiting exoplanet, and show how atmospheric refraction modifies the transmission spectrum depending on the spectral type of the host star. We demonstrate that refraction is another phenomenon that can potentially explain flat transmission spectra over some spectral regions.

  15. Terrestrial atmosphere, water and astrobiology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Coradini M.

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Primitive life, defined as a chemical system capable to transfer its molecular information via self-replication and also capable to evolve, originated about 4 billion years ago from the processing of organic molecules by liquid water. Terrestrial atmosphere played a key role in the process by allowing the permanent presence of liquid water and by participating in the production of carbon-based molecules. Water molecules exhibit specific properties mainly due to a dense network of hydrogen bonds. The carbon-based molecules were either home made in the atmosphere and/or in submarine hydrothermal systems or delivered by meteorites and micrometeorites. The search for possible places beyond the earth where the trilogy atmosphere/water/life could exist is the main objective of astrobiology. Within the Solar System, exploration missions are dedicated to Mars, Europa, Titan and the icy bodies. The discovery of several hundreds of extrasolar planets opens the quest to the whole Milky Way.

  16. Coupled Human-Atmosphere-System Thinking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmale, Julia; Chabay, Ilan

    2014-05-01

    With the discovery of fire, humankind started changing the composition of the atmosphere. Beginning with the industrial revolution, this has led to significant environmental problems, mainly air pollution and climate change. While climate change has been recognized as one key challenge of the Anthropocene, air pollution contributes to the top causes of global premature mortality. Air pollution also plays a key role in contamination of ecosystems and bio-magnification of toxins along food chains. Even though emissions leading to air pollution and climate change often originate from the same sources, they are generally perceived and regulated separately. Climate change impacts are global and hence are tackled at an international level. Conversely, air pollution has local to regional impacts and is thus a matter of national or regional legislation. This legislative and policy divide is generally useful, since full integration could lead, for example, to detrimental delays in action against air pollution through protracted international climate negotiations. However, the separation obscures the fact that almost any kind of human activity leads to the simultaneous emission of air pollutants, toxins and long-lived greenhouse gases. The atmosphere functions as a "dump" for human generated gaseous waste, which is then dispersed and transformed, partly chemically and partly micro-physically, perturbing natural processes in the atmosphere and leading to manifold impacts. In addition, air pollutants affect the Earth's radiative balance directly and indirectly, hence affecting climate change, while a changing climate in turn affects air pollution. Current policies often neglect these linkages and favor mitigation in one arena, which sometimes has detrimental effects on the other. One example is domestic wood burning, which though nearly carbon neutral, deteriorates air quality. Moreover, the design of appliances, machinery, or infrastructure generally does not attempt to

  17. Haze heats Pluto's atmosphere yet explains its cold temperature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xi; Strobel, Darrell F; Imanaka, Hiroshi

    2017-11-15

    Pluto's atmosphere is cold and hazy. Recent observations have shown it to be much colder than predicted theoretically, suggesting an unknown cooling mechanism. Atmospheric gas molecules, particularly water vapour, have been proposed as a coolant; however, because Pluto's thermal structure is expected to be in radiative-conductive equilibrium, the required water vapour would need to be supersaturated by many orders of magnitude under thermodynamic equilibrium conditions. Here we report that atmospheric hazes, rather than gases, can explain Pluto's temperature profile. We find that haze particles have substantially larger solar heating and thermal cooling rates than gas molecules, dominating the atmospheric radiative balance from the ground to an altitude of 700 kilometres, above which heat conduction maintains an isothermal atmosphere. We conclude that Pluto's atmosphere is unique among Solar System planetary atmospheres, as its radiative energy equilibrium is controlled primarily by haze particles instead of gas molecules. We predict that Pluto is therefore several orders of magnitude brighter at mid-infrared wavelengths than previously thought-a brightness that could be detected by future telescopes.

  18. Atmospheric Science Without Borders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panday, Arnico; Praveen, Ps; Adhikary, Bhupesh; Bhave, Prakash; Surapipith, Vanisa; Pradhan, Bidya; Karki, Anita; Ghimire, Shreta; Thapa, Alpha; Shrestha, Sujan

    2016-04-01

    The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) in northern South Asia are among the most polluted and most densely populated places in the world, and they are upwind of vulnerable ecosystems in the Himalaya mountains. They are also fragmented across 5 countries between which movement of people, data, instruments and scientific understanding have been very limited. ICIMOD's Atmosphere Initiative has for the past three years been working on filling data gaps in the region, while facilitating collaborations across borders. It has established several atmospheric observatories at low and mid elevations in Bhutan and Nepal that provide new data on the inflow of pollutants from the IGP towards the mountains, as well as quantify the effects of local emissions on air quality in mountain cities. EGU will be the first international conference where these data will be presented. ICIMOD is in the process of setting up data servers through which data from the region will be shared with scientists and the general public across borders. Meanwhile, to promote cross-border collaboration among scientists in the region, while addressing an atmospheric phenomenon that affects the lives of the several hundred million people, ICIMOD' Atmosphere Initiative has been coordinating an interdisciplinary multi-year study of persistent winter fog over the Indo-Gangetic Plains, with participation by researchers from Pakistan, India, China, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Using a combination of in-situ measurements and sample collection, remote sensing, modeling and community based research, the researchers are studying how changing moisture availability and air pollution have led to increases in fog frequency and duration, as well as the fog's impacts on local communities and energy demand that may affect air pollution emissions. Preliminary results of the Winter 2015-2016 field campaign will be shown.

  19. Earth’s Earliest Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zahnle, Kevin; Schaefer, Laura; Fegley, Bruce

    2010-01-01

    Earth is the one known example of an inhabited planet and to current knowledge the likeliest site of the one known origin of life. Here we discuss the origin of Earth’s atmosphere and ocean and some of the environmental conditions of the early Earth as they may relate to the origin of life. A key punctuating event in the narrative is the Moon-forming impact, partly because it made Earth for a short time absolutely uninhabitable, and partly because it sets the boundary conditions for Earth’s subsequent evolution. If life began on Earth, as opposed to having migrated here, it would have done so after the Moon-forming impact. What took place before the Moon formed determined the bulk properties of the Earth and probably determined the overall compositions and sizes of its atmospheres and oceans. What took place afterward animated these materials. One interesting consequence of the Moon-forming impact is that the mantle is devolatized, so that the volatiles subsequently fell out in a kind of condensation sequence. This ensures that the volatiles were concentrated toward the surface so that, for example, the oceans were likely salty from the start. We also point out that an atmosphere generated by impact degassing would tend to have a composition reflective of the impacting bodies (rather than the mantle), and these are almost without exception strongly reducing and volatile-rich. A consequence is that, although CO- or methane-rich atmospheres are not necessarily stable as steady states, they are quite likely to have existed as long-lived transients, many times. With CO comes abundant chemical energy in a metastable package, and with methane comes hydrogen cyanide and ammonia as important albeit less abundant gases. PMID:20573713

  20. STELLAR ATMOSPHERES, ATMOSPHERIC EXTENSION, AND FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS: WEIGHING STARS USING THE STELLAR MASS INDEX

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Neilson, Hilding R.; Lester, John B. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H4 (Canada); Baron, Fabien; Norris, Ryan; Kloppenborg, Brian, E-mail: neilson@astro.utoronto.ca [Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 5060, Atlanta, GA 30302-5060 (United States)

    2016-10-20

    One of the great challenges of understanding stars is measuring their masses. The best methods for measuring stellar masses include binary interaction, asteroseismology, and stellar evolution models, but these methods are not ideal for red giant and supergiant stars. In this work, we propose a novel method for inferring stellar masses of evolved red giant and supergiant stars using interferometric and spectrophotometric observations combined with spherical model stellar atmospheres to measure what we call the stellar mass index, defined as the ratio between the stellar radius and mass. The method is based on the correlation between different measurements of angular diameter, used as a proxy for atmospheric extension, and fundamental stellar parameters. For a given star, spectrophotometry measures the Rosseland angular diameter while interferometric observations generally probe a larger limb-darkened angular diameter. The ratio of these two angular diameters is proportional to the relative extension of the stellar atmosphere, which is strongly correlated to the star’s effective temperature, radius, and mass. We show that these correlations are strong and can lead to precise measurements of stellar masses.

  1. Atmospheric Monitoring at the Site of the MAGIC Telescopes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Will Martin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The MAGIC telescopes in La Palma, Canary Islands, measure the Cherenkov light emitted by gamma ray-induced extended air showers in the atmosphere. The good knowledge of the atmospheric parameters is important, both for the correct and safe operations of the telescopes, but also for subsequent data analysis. A weather station measures the state variables of the atmosphere, temperature, humidity and wind, an elastic Lidar system and an infrared pyrometer determine the optical transmission of the atmosphere. Using an AllSky camera, the cloud cover can be estimated. The measured values are completed by data from global atmospheric models based on numeric weather forecasts.

  2. Atmospheric Measurements Laboratory (AML)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Atmospheric Measurements Laboratory (AML) is one of the nation's leading research facilities for understanding aerosols, clouds, and their interactions. The AML...

  3. CLOUDS IN SUPER-EARTH ATMOSPHERES: CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIUM CALCULATIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mbarek, Rostom; Kempton, Eliza M.-R., E-mail: mbarekro@grinnell.edu, E-mail: kemptone@grinnell.edu [Department of Physics, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112 (United States)

    2016-08-20

    Recent studies have unequivocally proven the existence of clouds in super-Earth atmospheres. Here we provide a theoretical context for the formation of super-Earth clouds by determining which condensates are likely to form under the assumption of chemical equilibrium. We study super-Earth atmospheres of diverse bulk composition, which are assumed to form by outgassing from a solid core of chondritic material, following Schaefer and Fegley. The super-Earth atmospheres that we study arise from planetary cores made up of individual types of chondritic meteorites. They range from highly reducing to oxidizing and have carbon to oxygen (C:O) ratios that are both sub-solar and super-solar, thereby spanning a range of atmospheric composition that is appropriate for low-mass exoplanets. Given the atomic makeup of these atmospheres, we minimize the global Gibbs free energy of formation for over 550 gases and condensates to obtain the molecular composition of the atmospheres over a temperature range of 350–3000 K. Clouds should form along the temperature–pressure boundaries where the condensed species appear in our calculation. We find that the composition of condensate clouds depends strongly on both the H:O and C:O ratios. For the super-Earth archetype GJ 1214b, KCl and ZnS are the primary cloud-forming condensates at solar composition, in agreement with previous work. However, for oxidizing atmospheres, K{sub 2}SO{sub 4} and ZnO condensates are favored instead, and for carbon-rich atmospheres with super-solar C:O ratios, graphite clouds appear. For even hotter planets, clouds form from a wide variety of rock-forming and metallic species.

  4. Recent advances in non-LTE stellar atmosphere models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sander, Andreas A. C.

    2017-11-01

    In the last decades, stellar atmosphere models have become a key tool in understanding massive stars. Applied for spectroscopic analysis, these models provide quantitative information on stellar wind properties as well as fundamental stellar parameters. The intricate non-LTE conditions in stellar winds dictate the development of adequate sophisticated model atmosphere codes. The increase in both, the computational power and our understanding of physical processes in stellar atmospheres, led to an increasing complexity in the models. As a result, codes emerged that can tackle a wide range of stellar and wind parameters. After a brief address of the fundamentals of stellar atmosphere modeling, the current stage of clumped and line-blanketed model atmospheres will be discussed. Finally, the path for the next generation of stellar atmosphere models will be outlined. Apart from discussing multi-dimensional approaches, I will emphasize on the coupling of hydrodynamics with a sophisticated treatment of the radiative transfer. This next generation of models will be able to predict wind parameters from first principles, which could open new doors for our understanding of the various facets of massive star physics, evolution, and death.

  5. Atmospheric pressure microwave plasma system with ring waveguide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Liang; Zhang Guixin; Zhu Zhijie; Luo Chengmu

    2007-01-01

    Some scientists used waveguide as the cavity to produce a plasma jet, while large volume microwave plasma was relatively hard to get in atmospheric pressure. However, a few research institutes have already developed devices to generate large volume of atmospheric pressure microwave plasma, such as CYRANNUS and SLAN series, which can be widely applied. In this paper, present a microwave plasma system with ring waveguide to excite large volume of atmospheric pressure microwave plasma, plot curves on theoretical disruption electric field of some working gases, emulate the cavity through software, measure the power density to validate and show the appearance of microwave plasma. At present, large volume of argon and helium plasma have already been generated steadily by atmospheric pressure microwave plasma system. This research can build a theoretical basis of microwave plasma excitation under atmospheric pressure and will be useful in study of the device. (authors)

  6. Plume spread and atmospheric stability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weber, R O [Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)

    1999-08-01

    The horizontal spread of a plume in atmospheric dispersion can be described by the standard deviation of horizontal direction. The widely used Pasquill-Gifford classes of atmospheric stability have assigned typical values of the standard deviation of horizontal wind direction and of the lapse rate. A measured lapse rate can thus be used to estimate the standard deviation of wind direction. It is examined by means of a large dataset of fast wind measurements how good these estimates are. (author) 1 fig., 2 refs.

  7. The Radiation Environment of Exoplanet Atmospheres

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeffrey L. Linsky

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Exoplanets are born and evolve in the radiation and particle environment created by their host star. The host star’s optical and infrared radiation heats the exoplanet’s lower atmosphere and surface, while the ultraviolet, extreme ultraviolet and X-radiation control the photochemistry and mass loss from the exoplanet’s upper atmosphere. Stellar radiation, especially at the shorter wavelengths, changes dramatically as a host star evolves leading to changes in the planet’s atmosphere and habitability. This paper reviews the present state of our knowledge concerning the time-dependent radiation emitted by stars with convective zones, that is stars with spectral types F, G, K, and M, which comprise nearly all of the host stars of detected exoplanets.

  8. Atmospheric phenomena deduced from radiosonde and GPS ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The tropopause height and tropopause temperature are sensitive to temperature changes in troposphere and stratosphere. These are the measures of global climatic variability. Atmospheric profiles of temperature, refractivity and water vapour are always needed for communication, navigation and atmospheric modeling ...

  9. Energy balance at the soil atmosphere interface

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sedighi, M; Hepburn, B.D.P.; Thomas, HR; Vardon, P.J.

    2016-01-01

    Soil atmospheric interactions play an important role within the thermal energy balance and seasonal temperature variations of the ground. This paper presents a formulation for the surface boundary conditions related to interactions between soil and atmosphere. The boundary condition formulated

  10. Seasonal atmospheric extinction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mikhail, J.S.

    1979-01-01

    Mean monochromatic extinction coefficients at various wavelengths at the Kottamia Observatory site have shown the existence of a seasonal variation of atmospheric extinction. The extinction of aerosol compontnts with wavelengths at winter represent exceedingly good conditions. Spring gives the highest extinction due to aerosol. (orig.)

  11. Land-Atmosphere Interactions in Cold Environments (LATICE): The role of Atmosphere - Biosphere - Cryosphere - Hydrosphere interactions in a changing climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkhart, J. F.; Tallaksen, L. M.; Stordal, F.; Berntsen, T.; Westermann, S.; Kristjansson, J. E.; Etzelmuller, B.; Hagen, J. O.; Schuler, T.; Hamran, S. E.; Lande, T. S.; Bryn, A.

    2015-12-01

    Climate change is impacting the high latitudes more rapidly and significantly than any other region of the Earth because of feedback processes between the atmosphere and the underlying surface. A warmer climate has already led to thawing of permafrost, reducing snow cover and a longer growing season; changes, which in turn influence the atmospheric circulation and the hydrological cycle. Still, many studies rely on one-way coupling between the atmosphere and the land surface, thereby neglecting important interactions and feedbacks. The observation, understanding and prediction of such processes from local to regional and global scales, represent a major scientific challenge that requires multidisciplinary scientific effort. The successful integration of earth observations (remote and in-situ data) and model development requires a harmonized research effort between earth system scientists, modelers and the developers of technologies and sensors. LATICE, which is recognized as a priority research area by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo, aims to advance the knowledge base concerning land atmosphere interactions and their role in controlling climate variability and climate change at high northern latitudes. The consortium consists of an interdisciplinary team of experts from the atmospheric and terrestrial (hydrosphere, cryosphere and biosphere) research groups, together with key expertise on earth observations and novel sensor technologies. LATICE addresses critical knowledge gaps in the current climate assessment capacity through: Improving parameterizations of processes in earth system models controlling the interactions and feedbacks between the land (snow, ice, permafrost, soil and vegetation) and the atmosphere at high latitudes, including the boreal, alpine and artic zone. Assessing the influence of climate and land cover changes on water and energy fluxes. Integrating remote earth observations with in-situ data and

  12. Nonlinear dynamics and predictability in the atmospheric sciences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghil, M.; Kimoto, M.; Neelin, J. D.

    1991-01-01

    Systematic applications of nonlinear dynamics to studies of the atmosphere and climate are reviewed for the period 1987-1990. Problems discussed include paleoclimatic applications, low-frequency atmospheric variability, and interannual variability of the ocean-atmosphere system. Emphasis is placed on applications of the successive bifurcation approach and the ergodic theory of dynamical systems to understanding and prediction of intraseasonal, interannual, and Quaternary climate changes.

  13. Contrasting characteristics of sub-microsecond pulsed atmospheric air and atmospheric pressure helium-oxygen glow discharges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walsh, J L; Liu, D X; Iza, F; Kong, M G; Rong, M Z

    2010-01-01

    Glow discharges in air are often considered to be the ultimate low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasmas for numerous chamber-free applications. This is due to the ubiquitous presence of air and the perceived abundance of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in air plasmas. In this paper, sub-microsecond pulsed atmospheric air plasmas are shown to produce a low concentration of excited oxygen atoms but an abundance of excited nitrogen species, UV photons and ozone molecules. This contrasts sharply with the efficient production of excited oxygen atoms in comparable helium-oxygen discharges. Relevant reaction chemistry analysed with a global model suggests that collisional excitation of O 2 by helium metastables is significantly more efficient than electron dissociative excitation of O 2 , electron excitation of O and ion-ion recombination. These results suggest different practical uses of the two oxygen-containing atmospheric discharges, with air plasmas being well suited for nitrogen and UV based chemistry and He-O 2 plasmas for excited atomic oxygen based chemistry. (fast track communication)

  14. Improved Mars Upper Atmosphere Climatology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bougher, S. W.

    2004-01-01

    The detailed characterization of the Mars upper atmosphere is important for future Mars aerobraking activities. Solar cycle, seasonal, and dust trends (climate) as well as planetary wave activity (weather) are crucial to quantify in order to improve our ability to reasonably depict the state of the Mars upper atmosphere over time. To date, our best information is found in the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Accelerometer (ACC) database collected during Phase 1 (Ls = 184 - 300; F10.7 = 70 - 90) and Phase 2 (Ls = 30 - 90; F10.7 = 90 - 150) of aerobraking. This database (100 - 170 km) consists of thermospheric densities, temperatures, and scale heights, providing our best constraints for exercising the coupled Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM) and the Mars Thermospheric General Circulation Model (MTGCM). The Planetary Data System (PDS) contains level 0 and 2 MGS Accelerometer data, corresponding to atmospheric densities along the orbit track. Level 3 products (densities, temperatures, and scale heights at constant altitudes) are also available in the PDS. These datasets provide the primary model constraints for the new MGCM-MTGCM simulations summarized in this report. Our strategy for improving the characterization of the Mars upper atmospheres using these models has been three-fold : (a) to conduct data-model comparisons using the latest MGS data covering limited climatic and weather conditions at Mars, (b) to upgrade the 15-micron cooling and near-IR heating rates in the MGCM and MTGCM codes for ad- dressing climatic variations (solar cycle and seasonal) important in linking the lower and upper atmospheres (including migrating tides), and (c) to exercise the detailed coupled MGCM and MTGCM codes to capture and diagnose the planetary wave (migrating plus non-migrating tidal) features throughout the Mars year. Products from this new suite of MGCM-MTGCM coupled simulations are being used to improve our predictions of the structure of the Mars upper atmosphere for the

  15. Mobile Instruments Measure Atmospheric Pollutants

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-01-01

    As a part of NASA's active research of the Earth s atmosphere, which has included missions such as the Atmospheric Laboratory of Applications and Science (ATLAS, launched in 1992) and the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS, launched on the Earth Probe satellite in 1996), the Agency also performs ground-based air pollution research. The ability to measure trace amounts of airborne pollutants precisely and quickly is important for determining natural patterns and human effects on global warming and air pollution, but until recent advances in field-grade spectroscopic instrumentation, this rapid, accurate data collection was limited and extremely difficult. In order to understand causes of climate change and airborne pollution, NASA has supported the development of compact, low power, rapid response instruments operating in the mid-infrared "molecular fingerprint" portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. These instruments, which measure atmospheric trace gases and airborne particles, can be deployed in mobile laboratories - customized ground vehicles, typically - to map distributions of pollutants in real time. The instruments must be rugged enough to operate rapidly and accurately, despite frequent jostling that can misalign, damage, or disconnect sensitive components. By measuring quickly while moving through an environment, a mobile laboratory can correlate data and geographic points, revealing patterns in the environment s pollutants. Rapid pollutant measurements also enable direct determination of pollutant sources and sinks (mechanisms that remove greenhouse gases and pollutants), providing information critical to understanding and managing atmospheric greenhouse gas and air pollutant concentrations.

  16. Atmospheric krypton-85 during 1962 and 1963

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ehhalt, D.; Muennich, K. O.; Roether, W.; Schoelch, J.; Stich, W.

    1963-11-15

    The krypton-85 found in the atmosphere presumably originates from two different sources, namely fission bomb tests and processing of burned-out fuel elements from nuclear reactors. This paper discusses the impact of the sources of krypton in the atmosphere in greater detail.

  17. Atmospheric carbon dioxide removal: long-term consequences and commitment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao Long; Caldeira, Ken

    2010-01-01

    Carbon capture from ambient air has been proposed as a mitigation strategy to counteract anthropogenic climate change. We use an Earth system model to investigate the response of the coupled climate-carbon system to an instantaneous removal of all anthropogenic CO 2 from the atmosphere. In our extreme and idealized simulations, anthropogenic CO 2 emissions are halted and all anthropogenic CO 2 is removed from the atmosphere at year 2050 under the IPCC A2 CO 2 emission scenario when the model-simulated atmospheric CO 2 reaches 511 ppm and surface temperature reaches 1.8 deg. C above the pre-industrial level. In our simulations a one-time removal of all anthropogenic CO 2 in the atmosphere reduces surface air temperature by 0.8 deg. C within a few years, but 1 deg. C surface warming above pre-industrial levels lasts for several centuries. In other words, a one-time removal of 100% excess CO 2 from the atmosphere offsets less than 50% of the warming experienced at the time of removal. To maintain atmospheric CO 2 and temperature at low levels, not only does anthropogenic CO 2 in the atmosphere need to be removed, but anthropogenic CO 2 stored in the ocean and land needs to be removed as well when it outgasses to the atmosphere. In our simulation to maintain atmospheric CO 2 concentrations at pre-industrial levels for centuries, an additional amount of CO 2 equal to the original CO 2 captured would need to be removed over the subsequent 80 years.

  18. Atmospheric Tides in Gale Crater, Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzewich, Scott D,; Newman, C. E; de la Torre Juarez, M.; Wilson, R. J.; Lemmon, M.; Smith, M. D.; Kahanpaa, H.; Harri, A.-M.

    2015-01-01

    Atmospheric tides are the primary source of daily air pressure variation at the surface of Mars. These tides are forced by solar heating of the atmosphere and modulated by the presence of atmospheric dust, topography, and surface albedo and thermal inertia. This results in a complex mix of sun-synchronous and nonsun- synchronous tides propagating both eastward and westward around the planet in periods that are integer fractions of a solar day. The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station on board the Mars Science Laboratory has observed air pressure at a regular cadence for over 1 Mars year and here we analyze and diagnose atmospheric tides in this pressure record. The diurnal tide amplitude varies from 26 to 63 Pa with an average phase of 0424 local true solar time, while the semidiurnal tide amplitude varies from 5 to 20 Pa with an average phase of 0929. We find that both the diurnal and semidiurnal tides in Gale Crater are highly correlated to atmospheric opacity variations at a value of 0.9 and to each other at a value of 0.77, with some key exceptions occurring during regional and local dust storms. We supplement our analysis with MarsWRF general circulation modeling to examine how a local dust storm impacts the diurnal tide in its vicinity. We find that both the diurnal tide amplitude enhancement and regional coverage of notable amplitude enhancement linearly scales with the size of the local dust storm. Our results provide the first long-term record of surface pressure tides near the martian equator.

  19. Atmospheric Gaseous Plasma with Large Dimensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korenev, Sergey

    2012-10-01

    The forming of atmospheric plasma with large dimensions using electrical discharge typically uses the Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD). The study of atmospheric DBD was shown some problems related to homogeneous volume plasma. The volume of this plasma determines by cross section and gas gap between electrode and dielectric. The using of electron beam for volume ionization of air molecules by CW relativistic electron beams was shown the high efficiency of this process [1, 2]. The main advantage of this approach consists in the ionization of gas molecules by electrons in longitudinal direction determines by their kinetic energy. A novel method for forming of atmospheric homogeneous plasma with large volume dimensions using ionization of gas molecules by pulsed non-relativistic electron beams is presented in the paper. The results of computer modeling for delivered doses of electron beams in gases and ionization are discussed. The structure of experimental bench with plasma diagnostics is considered. The preliminary results of forming atmospheric plasma with ionization gas molecules by pulsed nanosecond non-relativistic electron beam are given. The analysis of potential applications for atmospheric volume plasma is presented. Reference: [1] S. Korenev. ``The ionization of air by scanning relativistic high power CW electron beam,'' 2002 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science. May 2002, Alberta, Canada. [2] S. Korenev, I. Korenev. ``The propagation of high power CW scanning electron beam in air.'' BEAMS 2002: 14th International Conference on High-Power Particle Beams, Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA), June 2002, AIP Conference Proceedings Vol. 650(1), pp. 373-376. December 17.

  20. Worldwide trend of atmospheric mercury since 1995

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. Slemr

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Concern about the adverse effects of mercury on human health and ecosystems has led to tightening emission controls since the mid 1980s. But the resulting mercury emissions reductions in many parts of the world are believed to be offset or even surpassed by the increasing emissions in rapidly industrializing countries. Consequently, concentrations of atmospheric mercury are expected to remain roughly constant. Here we show that the worldwide atmospheric mercury concentrations have decreased by about 20 to 38 % since 1996 as indicated by long-term monitoring at stations in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres combined with intermittent measurements of latitudinal distribution over the Atlantic Ocean. The total reduction of the atmospheric mercury burden of this magnitude within 14 years is unusually large among most atmospheric trace gases and is at odds with the current mercury emission inventories with nearly constant anthropogenic emissions over this period. This suggests a major shift in the biogeochemical cycle of mercury including oceans and soil reservoirs. Decreasing reemissions from the legacy of historical mercury emissions are the most likely explanation for this decline since the hypothesis of an accelerated oxidation rate of elemental mercury in the atmosphere is not supported by the observed trends of other trace gases. Acidification of oceans, climate change, excess nutrient input and pollution may also contribute by their impact on the biogeochemistry of ocean and soils. Consequently, models of the atmospheric mercury cycle have to include soil and ocean mercury pools and their dynamics to be able to make projections of future trends.

  1. Future of Atmospheric Neutrino Measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choubey, Sandhya

    2013-01-01

    Discovery of large θ 13 has opened up the possibility of determining the neutrino mass hierarchy and θ 23 octant through earth matter effects. The atmospheric neutrinos pick up large earth matter effects both in the ν e and ν μ channels, which if observed could lead to the determination of the mass hierarchy and θ 23 octant using this class of experiments in the near future. In this talk I review the status and prospects of future atmospheric neutrino measurements in determining the mass hierarchy and octant of θ 23

  2. Review: the atmospheric boundary layer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garratt, J. R.

    1994-10-01

    An overview is given of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over both continental and ocean surfaces, mainly from observational and modelling perspectives. Much is known about ABL structure over homogeneous land surfaces, but relatively little so far as the following are concerned, (i) the cloud-topped ABL (over the sea predominantly); (ii) the strongly nonhomogeneous and nonstationary ABL; (iii) the ABL over complex terrain. These three categories present exciting challenges so far as improved understanding of ABL behaviour and improved representation of the ABL in numerical models of the atmosphere are concerned.

  3. Outer atmospheric research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, J.L.

    1988-01-01

    The region above the earth from about 90 km to 150 km is a major part of the upper or outer atmosphere. It is relatively unexplored, being too high for balloons or aircraft and too low for persistent orbiting spacecraft. However, the concept of a tethered subsatellite, deployed downward from an orbiting, more massive craft such as the Space Shuttle, opens the possibility of a research capability that could provide global mapping of this region. The need for research in this thick spherical shell above the earth falls into two major categories: (1) scientific data for understanding and modeling the global atmosphere and thereby determining its role in the earth system, and (2) engineering data for the design of future aerospace vehicles that will operate there. This paper presents an overview and synthesis of the currently perceived research needs and the state-of-the-art of the proposed tethered research capability. 16 references

  4. Acetone in the atmosphere: Distribution, sources, and sinks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, H. B.; O'Hara, D.; Herlth, D.; Sachse, W.; Blake, D. R.; Bradshaw, J. D.; Kanakidou, M.; Crutzen, P. J.

    1994-01-01

    Acetone (CH3COCH3) was found to be the dominant nonmethane organic species present in the atmosphere sampled primarily over eastern Canada (0-6 km, 35 deg-65 deg N) during ABLE3B (July to August 1990). A concentration range of 357 to 2310 ppt (= 10(exp -12) v/v) with a mean value of 1140 +/- 413 ppt was measured. Under extremely clean conditions, generally involving Arctic flows, lowest (background) mixing ratios of 550 +/- 100 ppt were present in much of the troposphere studied. Correlations between atmospheric mixing ratios of acetone and select species such as C2H2, CO, C3H8, C2Cl4 and isoprene provided important clues to its possible sources and to the causes of its atmospheric variability. Biomass burning as a source of acetone has been identified for the first time. By using atmospheric data and three-dimensional photochemical models, a global acetone source of 40-60 Tg (= 10(exp 12) g)/yr is estimated to be present. Secondary formation from the atmospheric oxidation of precursor hydrocarbons (principally propane, isobutane, and isobutene) provides the single largest source (51%). The remainder is attributable to biomass burning (26%), direct biogenic emissions (21%), and primary anthropogenic emissions (3%). Atmospheric removal of acetone is estimated to be due to photolysis (64%), reaction with OH radicals (24%), and deposition (12%). Model calculations also suggest that acetone photolysis contributed significantly to PAN formation (100-200 ppt) in the middle and upper troposphere of the sampled region and may be important globally. While the source-sink equation appears to be roughly balanced, much more atmospheric and source data, especially from the southern hemisphere, are needed to reliably quantify the atmospheric budget of acetone.

  5. Tracer chemistry in the laboratory and the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rowland, F.S.

    1994-01-01

    The steady bombardment of the Earth's atmosphere by cosmic radiation induces numerous radioactive species in the atmosphere of which the best known are 14 C and T. Others of interest include 7 Be, 10 Be, and several isotopes of chlorine. The eventual formation of 14 CO 2 and its subsequent significance for archaeological dating were brilliantly established by Willard Libby in the 1940s. However, the initial reactions of nascent 14 C in a mixture of N 2 and O 2 produce 14 CO, as shown first in the lab. and then in the atmosphere. Because cosmic ray production rates are essentially constant in a given location, the observed concentration of 14 CO provides an excellent tool for studying the removal process, oxidation by HO to form 14 CO 2 . Because 14 CO 2 becomes incorporated into all living biological species, other molecules become labeled with 14 C as well, including 14 CH 4 . Measurement of the 14 C radioactivity of such molecules in the atmosphere allows apportionment of sources between biological and fossil fuel origins. Tritium atoms are also formed by cosmic radiation, and can subsequently be incorporated into the chemical forms HT and HTO. Although most T atoms from cosmic radiation are found as HTO, the much higher specific radioactivity of HT provides interesting insights into atmospheric processes. Lab. studies furnish important clues for understanding the atmospheric routes. The differences in radioactive half-lives cause the terrestrial locations of cosmic ray induced 7 Be and 10 Be to be primarily the atmosphere and the oceans, respectively. In a comparable manner, the chemistry of atmospheric radiochlorine divides between the very long-lived 36 Cl and three isotopes with half-lives less than an hour, 34m Cl, 38 Cl and 39 Cl

  6. Effects of atmospheric pollutants on lipids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howton, D.R.

    1976-01-01

    Studies on effects of atmospheric pollutants on lipids emphasized effects of nitrogen dioxide on olefinic centers of alveolar fluid surfactant lipids. The finding that NO 2 attacks α-tocopherol much more avidly than olefinic fatty esters indicates that the autoxidation enhancing effects of this atmospheric pollutant may be greatly magnified by destruction of native antioxidants that normally suppress the extensiveness of such lipid oxidation

  7. On the Atmospheric Correction of Antarctic Airborne Hyperspectral Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Black

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The first airborne hyperspectral campaign in the Antarctic Peninsula region was carried out by the British Antarctic Survey and partners in February 2011. This paper presents an insight into the applicability of currently available radiative transfer modelling and atmospheric correction techniques for processing airborne hyperspectral data in this unique coastal Antarctic environment. Results from the Atmospheric and Topographic Correction version 4 (ATCOR-4 package reveal absolute reflectance values somewhat in line with laboratory measured spectra, with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE values of 5% in the visible near infrared (0.4–1 µm and 8% in the shortwave infrared (1–2.5 µm. Residual noise remains present due to the absorption by atmospheric gases and aerosols, but certain parts of the spectrum match laboratory measured features very well. This study demonstrates that commercially available packages for carrying out atmospheric correction are capable of correcting airborne hyperspectral data in the challenging environment present in Antarctica. However, it is anticipated that future results from atmospheric correction could be improved by measuring in situ atmospheric data to generate atmospheric profiles and aerosol models, or with the use of multiple ground targets for calibration and validation.

  8. GCM simulations of cold dry Snowball Earth atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voigt, A.; Held, I.; Marotzke, J.

    2009-12-01

    We use the full-physics atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM5 to investigate cold and virtually dry Snowball Earth atmospheres. These result from specifying sea ice as the surface boundary condition everywhere, corresponding to a frozen aquaplanet, while keeping total solar irradiance at its present-day value of 1365 Wm-2 and setting atmospheric carbon dioxide to 300 ppmv. Here, we present four simulations corresponding to the four possible combinations of enabled or disabled diurnal and seasonal cycles. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we focus on the zonal-mean circulation of Snowball Earth atmospheres, which, due to missing moisture, might constitute an ideal though yet unexplored testbed for theories of atmospheric dynamics. Second, we investigate tropical surface temperatures with an emphasis on the impact of the diurnal and seasonal cycles. This will indicate whether the presence of the diurnal or seasonal cycle would facilitate or anticipate the escape from Snowball Earth conditions when total solar irradiance or atmospheric CO2 levels were increased. The dynamics of the tropical circulation in Snowball Earth atmospheres differs substantially from that in the modern atmosphere. The analysis of the mean zonal momentum budget reveals that the mean flow meridional advection of absolute vorticity is primarily balanced by vertical diffusion of zonal momentum. The contribution of eddies is found to be even smaller than the contribution of mean flow vertical advection of zonal momentum, the latter being usually neglected in theories for the Hadley circulation, at least in its upper tropospheric branch. Suppressing vertical diffusion of horizontal momentum above 850 hPa leads to a stronger Hadley circulation. This behaviour cannot be understood from axisymmetric models of the atmosphere, nor idealized atmospheric general circulation models, which both predict a weakening of the Hadley circulation when the vertical viscosity is decreased globally. We

  9. Multiple scattering theory of radiative transfer in inhomogeneous atmospheres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanal, M.

    1973-01-01

    In this paper we treat the multiple scattering theory of radiative transfer in plane-parallel inhomogeneous atmospheres. The treatment presented here may be adopted to model atmospheres characterized by an optical depth dependent coherent scattering phase function. For the purpose of illustration we consider the semi-infinite medium in which the absorption property of the atmosphere is characterized by an exponential function. The methodology employed here is the extension of the case treated previously by the author for homogeneous atmospheres.

  10. Spatial Thinking in Atmospheric Science Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNeal, P. M.; Petcovic, H. L.; Ellis, T. D.

    2016-12-01

    Atmospheric science is a STEM discipline that involves the visualization of three-dimensional processes from two-dimensional maps, interpretation of computer-generated graphics and hand plotting of isopleths. Thus, atmospheric science draws heavily upon spatial thinking. Research has shown that spatial thinking ability can be a predictor of early success in STEM disciplines and substantial evidence demonstrates that spatial thinking ability is improved through various interventions. Therefore, identification of the spatial thinking skills and cognitive processes used in atmospheric science is the first step toward development of instructional strategies that target these skills and scaffold the learning of students in atmospheric science courses. A pilot study of expert and novice meteorologists identified mental animation and disembedding as key spatial skills used in the interpretation of multiple weather charts and images. Using this as a starting point, we investigated how these spatial skills, together with expertise, domain specific knowledge, and working memory capacity affect the ability to produce an accurate forecast. Participants completed a meteorology concept inventory, experience questionnaire and psychometric tests of spatial thinking ability and working memory capacity prior to completing a forecasting task. A quantitative analysis of the collected data investigated the effect of the predictor variables on the outcome task. A think-aloud protocol with individual participants provided a qualitative look at processes such as task decomposition, rule-based reasoning and the formation of mental models in an attempt to understand how individuals process this complex data and describe outcomes of particular meteorological scenarios. With our preliminary results we aim to inform atmospheric science education from a cognitive science perspective. The results point to a need to collaborate with the atmospheric science community broadly, such that multiple

  11. Mobile Atmospheric Sensing using Vision Approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Yuchun; Cui, Weihong; Rui, Yi

    2014-01-01

    Air quality monitoring, especially the atmospheric phenomenon of thick haze, has been an acute problem in most countries and a hot topic in the atmospheric sensing. Recently thick haze occurs more frequently in most cities of China due to the rapid growth of traffic, farming, wildfires, and industrial development. It forms a low-hanging shroud that impairs visibility and becomes a respiratory health threat. Traditionally the dust, smoke, and other particles in relatively dry sky are reported at fixed meteorological stations. The coverage of these sampling stations is limited and cannot accommodate with the emergent incidence of thick haze from industrial pollution. In addition, the visual effect of thick haze is not yet investigated in the current practice. Thick haze appears colorful veil (e.g., yellowish, brownish-grey, etc) in video log images and results in a loss of contrast in the subject due to the light scattering through haze particles. This paper proposes an intuitive and mobile atmospheric sensing using vision approach. Based on the video log images collected by a mobile sensing vehicle, a Haze Veil Index (HVI) is proposed to identify the type and severity level of thick haze from the color and texture perspective. HVI characterizes the overall veil effect of haze spatially. HVI first identifies the haze color from the color deviation histogram of the white-balanced hazy image. The white-balancing is conducted with the most haze-opaque pixels in the dark channel and seed growing strategy. Then pixel-wise haze severity level of atmospheric veil is inferred by approximating the upper veil limit with the dark color of each pixel in a hazy image. The proposed method is tested on a diverse set of actual hazy video log images under varying atmospheric conditions and backgrounds in Wuhan City, China. Experimental results show the proposed HVI is effective for visually atmospheric sensing. The proposed method is promising for haze monitoring and prediction in

  12. An analytical model for soil-atmosphere feedback

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schaefli, B.; Van der Ent, R.J.; Woods, R.; Savenije, H.H.G.

    2012-01-01

    Soil-atmosphere feedback is a key for understanding the hydrological cycle and the direction of potential system changes. This paper presents an analytical framework to study the interplay between soil and atmospheric moisture, using as input only the boundary conditions at the upstream end of

  13. Atmospheric nitrogen compounds: Occurrence, composition and deposition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, T.; Pilegaard, K.; Egeløv, A.H.

    1996-01-01

    Traffic in cities and on highways is an important contributor to NOy atmospheric pollution in open areas. In this situation both the concentration and composition of NOy compounds show a wide variation and are dependent on meteorological and atmospheric chemical conditions. The proportion of NOz ...

  14. Concentration of elements in atmospheric aerosol in Bratislava

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meresova, J.; Florek, M.; Holy, K.; Sykora, I.; Frontasyeva, M.V.; Pavlov, S.S.

    2006-01-01

    The concentrations of 41 chemical elements (heavy metals, rare earths, and actinides) were determined in atmospheric aerosol using nuclear and related analytical techniques. The sampling location in Bratislava (Slovak Republic). The main goal of this study is the quantification of the atmospheric pollution and its trend. The elemental content in filters was measured using instrumental neutron activation analysis at IBR-2 reactor in JINR Dubna and by atomic absorption spectrometry in Bratislava. The obtained results confirm the decreasing trend of pollution by most of the heavy metals in Bratislava atmosphere, and they are compared with the contents of pollutants in atmosphere of other cities. We determined also the composition of clear filter materials. (Authors)

  15. Estimation of atmospheric fluoride by limed filter papers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.R.

    1988-09-01

    The limed filter paper method of static sampling of atmospheric fluoride is reviewed in this report. Use of the technique, in conjunction with precise measurement of the absorbed fluoride and calibration with dynamic air sampling techniques, to estimate atmospheric fluoride levels, is considered to give only qualitative data (± 50%). The limed filter paper method is site specific due to variations in meteorological conditions. Its main value is to indicate seasonal and annual trends in fluoride exposure of vegetation. Subject to these considerations, the lower and upper limits of atmospheric fluoride exposure and the applicability to atmospheric fluoride estimation under routine or emergency fluoride release conditions are discussed, with special emphasis on the limiting factors

  16. Satellite spectrophotometer for research of the atmospheric ozone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Getzov, P.; Mardirossian, G.; Stoyanov, S.

    2014-01-01

    The measurement of atmospheric ozone and its influence upon climate and life on Earth is undoubtedly one of the most pressing issues of present time. A mathematical model of an optical tract of a spectrophotometer has been designed. The paper presents the functional scheme of a satellite optoelectronic spectrophotometer for measuring the total content of atmospheric ozone and other gas components of the atmosphere, which has increased precision, smaller weight and energy consumption, increased space and time resolution, quickness of reaction and increased volume of useful information. The object of the paper is the design of an appliance which ensures research of ozone content in atmosphere from the board of a satellite

  17. 3D radiative transfer in stellar atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlsson, M

    2008-01-01

    Three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer in stellar atmospheres is reviewed with special emphasis on the atmospheres of cool stars and applications. A short review of methods in 3D radiative transfer shows that mature methods exist, both for taking into account radiation as an energy transport mechanism in 3D (magneto-) hydrodynamical simulations of stellar atmospheres and for the diagnostic problem of calculating the emergent spectrum in more detail from such models, both assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and in non-LTE. Such methods have been implemented in several codes, and examples of applications are given.

  18. Land-Ocean-Atmospheric Coupling Associated with Earthquakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasad, A. K.; Singh, R. P.; Kumar, S.; Cervone, G.; Kafatos, M.; Zlotnicki, J.

    2007-12-01

    Earthquakes are well known to occur along the plate boundaries and also on the stable shield. The recent studies have shown existence of strong coupling between land-ocean-atmospheric parameters associated with the earthquakes. We have carried out detailed analysis of multi sensor data (optical and microwave remote) to show existence of strong coupling between land-ocean-atmospheric parameters associated with the earthquakes with focal depth up to 30 km and magnitude greater than 5.5. Complimentary nature of various land, ocean and atmospheric parameters will be demonstrated in getting an early warning information about an impending earthquake.

  19. Finding Atmospheric Composition (AC) Metadata

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strub, Richard F..; Falke, Stefan; Fiakowski, Ed; Kempler, Steve; Lynnes, Chris; Goussev, Oleg

    2015-01-01

    The Atmospheric Composition Portal (ACP) is an aggregator and curator of information related to remotely sensed atmospheric composition data and analysis. It uses existing tools and technologies and, where needed, enhances those capabilities to provide interoperable access, tools, and contextual guidance for scientists and value-adding organizations using remotely sensed atmospheric composition data. The initial focus is on Essential Climate Variables identified by the Global Climate Observing System CH4, CO, CO2, NO2, O3, SO2 and aerosols. This poster addresses our efforts in building the ACP Data Table, an interface to help discover and understand remotely sensed data that are related to atmospheric composition science and applications. We harvested GCMD, CWIC, GEOSS metadata catalogs using machine to machine technologies - OpenSearch, Web Services. We also manually investigated the plethora of CEOS data providers portals and other catalogs where that data might be aggregated. This poster is our experience of the excellence, variety, and challenges we encountered.Conclusions:1.The significant benefits that the major catalogs provide are their machine to machine tools like OpenSearch and Web Services rather than any GUI usability improvements due to the large amount of data in their catalog.2.There is a trend at the large catalogs towards simulating small data provider portals through advanced services. 3.Populating metadata catalogs using ISO19115 is too complex for users to do in a consistent way, difficult to parse visually or with XML libraries, and too complex for Java XML binders like CASTOR.4.The ability to search for Ids first and then for data (GCMD and ECHO) is better for machine to machine operations rather than the timeouts experienced when returning the entire metadata entry at once. 5.Metadata harvest and export activities between the major catalogs has led to a significant amount of duplication. (This is currently being addressed) 6.Most (if not all

  20. Acoustic tomography in the atmospheric surface layer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Ziemann

    Full Text Available Acoustic tomography is presented as a technique for remote monitoring of meteorological quantities. This method and a special algorithm of analysis can directly produce area-averaged values of meteorological parameters. As a result consistent data will be obtained for validation of numerical atmospheric micro-scale models. Such a measuring system can complement conventional point measurements over different surfaces. The procedure of acoustic tomography uses the horizontal propagation of sound waves in the atmospheric surface layer. Therefore, to provide a general overview of sound propagation under various atmospheric conditions a two-dimensional ray-tracing model according to a modified version of Snell's law is used. The state of the crossed atmosphere can be estimated from measurements of acoustic travel time between sources and receivers at different points. Derivation of area-averaged values of the sound speed and furthermore of air temperature results from the inversion of travel time values for all acoustic paths. Thereby, the applied straight ray two-dimensional tomographic model using SIRT (simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique is characterised as a method with small computational requirements, satisfactory convergence and stability properties as well as simple handling, especially, during online evaluation.

    Key words. Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (turbulence; instruments and techniques.

  1. Atmospheric River Characteristics under Decadal Climate Variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Done, J.; Ge, M.

    2017-12-01

    How does decadal climate variability change the nature and predictability of atmospheric river events? Decadal swings in atmospheric river frequency, or shifts in the proportion of precipitation falling as rain, could challenge current water resource and flood risk management practice. Physical multi-scale processes operating between Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and atmospheric rivers over the Western U.S. are explored using the global Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS). A 45km global mesh is refined over the Western U.S. to 12km to capture the major terrain effects on precipitation. The performance of the MPAS is first evaluated for a case study atmospheric river event over California. Atmospheric river characteristics are then compared in a pair of idealized simulations, each driven by Pacific SST patterns characteristic of opposite phases of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Given recent evidence that we have entered a positive phase of the IPO, implications for current reservoir management practice over the next decade will be discussed. This work contributes to the NSF-funded project UDECIDE (Understanding Decision-Climate Interactions on Decadal Scales). UDECIDE brings together practitioners, engineers, statisticians, and climate scientists to understand the role of decadal climate information for water management and decisions.

  2. Dinamics of hydrogen in terrestrial atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roamntan, A.; Mercea, V.; Ristoiu, D.; Ursu, D.

    1981-01-01

    Thishs monographic study presents the dynamics of hydrogen in t e Earth's atmosphere. Atomic hydrogen is produced in the homosphere through a complex system of chemical reaction in wich molecules of 2 , H 2 O, C 4 s ''parent '' molecules are involved. The maximum production of H appears at 8O km resulting a concentration of the order of 10 8 cm -3 . There is a correlation between the total mixing ratio of hydrogen in the homosphere and the global escape flux from the Earth's atmosphere. Two new physical mechanisms which may have a substantial contribution to the total escape flux are presented: ''polar wind'' and charge exchange of H with ''hot'' protons. The possibilities of accretion of hydrogen, as atomic hydrogen or as water from the Earth's atmosphere, are analysed in brief. (authors)

  3. Atmospheric neutrino fluxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perkins, D.H.

    1984-01-01

    The atmospheric neutrino fluxes, which are responsible for the main background in proton decay experiments, have been calculated by two independent methods. There are discrepancies between the two sets of results regarding latitude effects and up-down asymmetries, especially for neutrino energies Esub(ν) < 1 GeV. (author)

  4. GRIP LIDAR ATMOSPHERIC SENSING EXPERIMENT (LASE) V1

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The GRIP Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) dataset was collected by NASA's Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) system, which is an airborne...

  5. Modeling the effects of atmospheric emissions on groundwater composition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, T.J.

    1994-01-01

    A composite model of atmospheric, unsaturated and groundwater transport is developed to evaluate the processes determining the distribution of atmospherically derived contaminants in groundwater systems and to test the sensitivity of simulated contaminant concentrations to input parameters and model linkages. One application is to screen specific atmospheric emissions for their potential in determining groundwater age. Temporal changes in atmospheric emissions could provide a recognizable pattern in the groundwater system. The model also provides a way for quantifying the significance of uncertainties in the tracer source term and transport parameters on the contaminant distribution in the groundwater system, an essential step in using the distribution of contaminants from local, point source atmospheric emissions to examine conceptual models of groundwater flow and transport

  6. 326 Ion-spraying type atmospheric radon detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Xinmin; Liu Qingchen; Liu Yujuan; Li Shumin; Yang Yaxin

    2005-01-01

    The advantages and disadvantages of atmospheric absolute radon detector were briefly analyzed in this paper. The working principle, structure and main technical capability of the 326 ion-spraying type atmospheric radon detector were introduced. Finally, its disadvantages and the improved aspects in the future were discussed. (authors)

  7. Trends in Atmospheric Properties of Neptune-Size Exoplanets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crossfield, Ian; Kreidberg, Laura

    2018-01-01

    Short-period planets with sizes 2-6 Earth radii and extremely common, yet until recently few have been subjected to detailed atmospheric scrutiny. I will discuss recent efforts to discover new planets in this class suitable for atmospheric characterization, and the results of recent and ongoing atmospheric studies of these planets. I will also discuss the prospects for characterization of the large numbers of new planets expected to be found by TESS.

  8. A model of the primordial lunar atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saxena, Prabal; Elkins-Tanton, Lindy; Petro, Noah; Mandell, Avi

    2017-09-01

    We create the first quantitative model for the early lunar atmosphere, coupled with a magma ocean crystallization model. Immediately after formation, the moon's surface was subject to a radiative environment that included contributions from the early Sun, a post-impact Earth that radiated like a mid-type M dwarf star, and a cooling global magma ocean. This radiative environment resulted in a largely Earth-side atmosphere on the Moon, ranging from ∼104 to ∼102 pascals, composed of heavy volatiles (Na and SiO). This atmosphere persisted through lid formation and was additionally characterized by supersonic winds that transported significant quantities of moderate volatiles and likely generated magma ocean waves. The existence of this atmosphere may have influenced the distribution of some moderate volatiles and created temperature asymmetries which influenced ocean flow and cooling. Such asymmetries may characterize young, tidally locked rocky bodies with global magma oceans and subject to intense irradiation.

  9. Ubiquity of bisphenol A in the atmosphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Pingqing; Kawamura, Kimitaka

    2010-10-01

    Bisphenol A (BPA) is a suspected endocrine disruptor in the environment. However, little is known about its distribution and transport in the atmosphere. Here, the concentrations of BPA in the atmospheric aerosols from urban, rural, marine, and the polar regions were measured using solvent extraction/derivatization and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry technique. The concentrations of BPA (1-17,400 pg m(-3)) ranged over 4 orders of magnitude in the world with a declining trend from the continent (except for the Antarctica) to remote sites. A positive correlation was found between BPA and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene, a tracer for plastic burning, in urban regions, indicating that the open burning of plastics in domestic waste should be a significant emission source of atmospheric BPA. Our results suggest that the ubiquity of BPA in the atmosphere may raise a requirement for the evaluation of health effects of BPA in order to control its emission sources, for example, from plastic burning. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Blow-out limits of nonpremixed turbulent jet flames in a cross flow at atmospheric and sub-atmospheric pressures

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Qiang

    2015-07-22

    The blow-out limits of nonpremixed turbulent jet flames in cross flows were studied, especially concerning the effect of ambient pressure, by conducting experiments at atmospheric and sub-atmospheric pressures. The combined effects of air flow and pressure were investigated by a series of experiments conducted in an especially built wind tunnel in Lhasa, a city on the Tibetan plateau where the altitude is 3650 m and the atmospheric pressure condition is naturally low (64 kPa). These results were compared with results obtained from a wind tunnel at standard atmospheric pressure (100 kPa) in Hefei city (altitude 50 m). The size of the fuel nozzles used in the experiments ranged from 3 to 8 mm in diameter and propane was used as the fuel. It was found that the blow-out limit of the air speed of the cross flow first increased (“cross flow dominant” regime) and then decreased (“fuel jet dominant” regime) as the fuel jet velocity increased in both pressures; however, the blow-out limit of the air speed of the cross flow was much lower at sub-atmospheric pressure than that at standard atmospheric pressure whereas the domain of the blow-out limit curve (in a plot of the air speed of the cross flow versus the fuel jet velocity) shrank as the pressure decreased. A theoretical model was developed to characterize the blow-out limit of nonpremixed jet flames in a cross flow based on a Damköhler number, defined as the ratio between the mixing time and the characteristic reaction time. A satisfactory correlation was obtained at relative strong cross flow conditions (“cross flow dominant” regime) that included the effects of the air speed of the cross flow, fuel jet velocity, nozzle diameter and pressure.

  11. Sedimentation Efficiency of Condensation Clouds in Substellar Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Peter; Marley, Mark S.; Ackerman, Andrew S.

    2018-03-01

    Condensation clouds in substellar atmospheres have been widely inferred from spectra and photometric variability. Up until now, their horizontally averaged vertical distribution and mean particle size have been largely characterized using models, one of which is the eddy diffusion–sedimentation model from Ackerman and Marley that relies on a sedimentation efficiency parameter, f sed, to determine the vertical extent of clouds in the atmosphere. However, the physical processes controlling the vertical structure of clouds in substellar atmospheres are not well understood. In this work, we derive trends in f sed across a large range of eddy diffusivities (K zz ), gravities, material properties, and cloud formation pathways by fitting cloud distributions calculated by a more detailed cloud microphysics model. We find that f sed is dependent on K zz , but not gravity, when K zz is held constant. f sed is most sensitive to the nucleation rate of cloud particles, as determined by material properties like surface energy and molecular weight. High surface energy materials form fewer, larger cloud particles, leading to large f sed (>1), and vice versa for materials with low surface energy. For cloud formation via heterogeneous nucleation, f sed is sensitive to the condensation nuclei flux and radius, connecting cloud formation in substellar atmospheres to the objects’ formation environments and other atmospheric aerosols. These insights could lead to improved cloud models that help us better understand substellar atmospheres. For example, we demonstrate that f sed could increase with increasing cloud base depth in an atmosphere, shedding light on the nature of the brown dwarf L/T transition.

  12. Potential Trace Metal–Organic Complexation in the Atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiroshi Okochi

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available It is possible that metal–organic complexation enhances the uptake of gaseous organic compounds and the solubility of metals in aerosols and atmospheric water. We investigated potential atmospheric organic ligands and the enhanced uptake of hydroxy-, oxo-, and dicarboxylic acids as well as dicarbonyls into atmospheric aqueous aerosol. We examined complexation with transition metals (iron, manganese, nickel, copper, zinc and lead on the basis of available references and our experimental data. Humic-like substances are most likely ligands in the atmosphere, although this is a poorly characterized material. A number of polycarboxylic acids and hydroxy forms (e.g., citric and tartronic acids effectively complex metals such as copper in atmospheric aerosols. The simple equilibrium model calculations show that the effect of the complexation on the gas–aqueous phase partition of gaseous atmospheric ligands is quite small for the ligands with the high physical Henry’s law constants, e.g., dicarboxylic acids represented by oxalic acid, even if they have high affinity with metal ions. The lower Henry’s law constants of the α-dicarbonyls, such as glyoxal and methylglyoxal, mean that the complexation could lead to profound increases in their partition into the aqueous phase. Despite quantum mechanical arguments for copper–glyoxal complexes, experiments showed no evidence of complexation between either hydrated or unhydrated α-dicarbonyls and the cupric ion. By contrast the β-dicarbonyl, malondialdehyde, has properties that would allow it to partition into atmospheric water via the complexation with metal ions under some conditions.

  13. NOAA/NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS) Atmospheric Model

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) numerical weather...

  14. Atmospheric plasma processes for environmental applications

    OpenAIRE

    Shapoval, Volodymyr

    2012-01-01

    Plasma chemistry is a rapidly growing field which covers applications ranging from technological processing of materials, including biological tissues, to environmental remediation and energy production. The so called atmospheric plasma, produced by electric corona or dielectric barrier discharges in a gas at atmospheric pressure, is particularly attractive for the low costs and ease of operation and maintenance involved. The high concentrations of energetic and chemically active species (e.g...

  15. Aspects of airborne particles and radiation in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hidy, G.M.

    1975-01-01

    There are two major ways that thermal radiation may interact with airborne particles in the Earth's atmosphere. The first is a classical problem in which the radiation balance is influenced by scattering and absorption from haze or aerosol layers in the atmosphere. Absorption is generally believed to have a minor effect on attenuation of radiation compared with scattering. In the visible and infrared, scattering by submicron sized particles can have a substantial influence on the balance of radiation in the atmosphere. Considerable interest in this question has developed recently with the assessment of the global impact of air pollution in the lower atmosphere and of exhaust emissions from aircraft flying in the stratosphere. In the first part of this review, the physics of atmospheric aerosol scattering is summarized, and the current status of observational knowledge is examined to identify areas of greatest uncertainty. The second way the radiation is involved in aerosols lies in the production in the atmosphere. Until recently, evidence for airborne particle production by atmospheric photochemistry was quite ambiguous. However, with the advent of results from several new field experiments the role of photochemistry in the generation of aerosol precursors from traces of such gases as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and olefinic hydrocarbons is much better understood. The remaining part of this paper is devoted to the discussion of several new observations that indicate the complicated nature of photochemical aerosol formation in the polluted and non-polluted atmosphere

  16. Evidence for ancient atmospheric xenon in Archean rocks and implications for the early evolution of the atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pujol, M.; Marty, B.; Burnard, P.; Hofmann, A.

    2012-12-01

    The initial atmospheric xenon isotopic composition has been much debated over the last 4 decades. A Non radiogenic Earth Atmospheric xenon (NEA-Xe) composition has been proposed to be the best estimate of the initial signature ([1]). NEA-Xe consists of modern atmospheric Xe without fission (131-136Xe) or radioactive decay (129Xe) products. However, the isotope composition of such non-radiogenic xenon is very different to that of potential cosmochemical precursors such as solar or meteoritic Xe, as it is mass-fractionated by up to 3-4 % per amu relative to the potential precursors, and it is also elementally depleted relative to other noble gases. Because the Xe isotopic composition of the Archean appears to be intermediate between that of these cosmochemical end-members and that of the modern atmosphere, we argued that isotopic fractionation of atmospheric xenon did not occur early in Earth's history by hydrodynamic escape, as postulated by all other models ([1], [2], [3]), but instead was a continuous, long term process that lasted during at least the Hadean and Archean eons. Taken at face value, the decrease of the Xe isotopic fractionation from 1.6-2.1 % amu-1 3.5 Ga ago ([4]) to 1 % amu-1 3.0 Ga ago (Ar-Ar age in fluid inclusions trapped in quartz from the same Dresser Formation, [5]) could reflect a secular variation of the atmospheric Xe signature. Nevertheless, up until now, all data showing an isotopic mass fractionation have been measured in rocks and fluids from the same formation (Dresser Formation, Western Australia, aged 3.5 Ga), and have yet to be confirmed in rocks from different locations. In order to better constrain xenon isotopic fractionation of the atmosphere through time, we decided to analyze barites from different ages, geological environments and metamorphism grade. We started this study with barite from the Fig Tree Formation (South Africa, aged 3.26 Ga). This barite was sampled in old mines so have negligible modern exposure time. It is

  17. Dynamics of radioactive lead isotopes in the global environmental atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koike, Yuya; Kosako, Toshiso

    2006-01-01

    Fundamental information of radioactive lead isotopes, which used as the atmospheric tracer in the global environmental atmosphere, is reviewed. Emanation and exhalation of Rn and Tn, parent nuclide, is stated. Some reports on measurement and application of short-lived lead isotopes are reported. Transfer of radioactive lead isotopes in the atmosphere, vertical profiles of radon, thoron, and short-lived lead isotopes for different turbulent mixing conditions, deposition to aerosol, basic processes of Rn decay product behavior in air defining 'unattached' and 'aerosol-attached' activities, seasonal variation of atmospheric 210 Pb concentration at Beijing and Chengdu, seasonal variation of atmospheric 212 Pb concentration at several observation sites in Japan Islands, and variation in the atmospheric concentration of 212 Pb along with SO 2 are shown. (S.Y.)

  18. NASA/MSFC FY90 Global Scale Atmospheric Processes Research Program Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leslie, Fred W. (Editor)

    1990-01-01

    Research supported by the Global Atmospheric Research Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center on atmospheric remote sensing, meteorology, numerical weather forecasting, satellite data analysis, cloud precipitation, atmospheric circulation, atmospheric models and related topics is discussed.

  19. Modeling of spectral atmosphere transmission for infrared radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wiecek, B.; Olbrycht, R.

    2009-01-01

    IR radiation transmission of the atmosphere is an important factor during the thermovision remote sensing and measurement. Transmission coefficient of the atmosphere depends on its content and it is attenuated mainly due to the vapor concentration. Every calibrated thermal camera should be equipped with the digital system which implements the transmission model of the atmosphere. The model presented in this work is based on Beer and Bouguer laws. The proposed simplified model of transmission atmosphere is suitable for implementation in the thermal cameras. A simple digital controller of the camera can calculate the transmission coefficient and correct the temperature measurement. The model takes in account both scattering and absorption due the quantum effects when the photons are interacting with the molecules. (author)

  20. Dications and thermal ions in planetary atmospheric escape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lilensten, J.; Simon Wedlund, C.; Barthélémy, M.; Thissen, R.; Ehrenreich, D.; Gronoff, G.; Witasse, O.

    2013-01-01

    In the recent years, the presence of dications in the atmospheres of Mars, Venus, Earth and Titan has been modeled and assessed. These studies also suggested that these ions could participate to the escape of the planetary atmospheres because a large fraction of them is unstable and highly energetic. When they dissociate, their internal energy is transformed into kinetic energy which may be larger than the escape energy. The goal of this study is to assess the impact of the doubly-charged ions in the escape of CO2-dominated planetary atmospheres and to compare it to the escape of thermal photo-ions. We solve a Boltzmann transport equation at daytime taking into account the dissociative states of CO2++ for a simplified single constituent atmosphere of a case-study planet. We compute the escape of fast ions using a Beer-Lambert approach. We study three test-cases. On a Mars-analog planet in today's conditions, we retrieve the measured electron escape flux. When comparing the two mechanisms (i.e. excluding solar wind effects, sputtering, etc.), the escape due to the fast ions issuing from the dissociation of dications may account for up to 6% of the total and the escape of thermal ions for the remaining. We show that these two mechanisms cannot explain the escape of the atmosphere since the magnetic field vanished and even contribute only marginally to this loss. We show that with these two mechanisms, the atmosphere of a Mars analog planet would empty in another giga years and a half. At Venus orbit, the contribution of the dications in the escape rate is negligible. When simulating the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b, the two processes cannot explain the measured escape flux of C+. This study shows that the dications may constitute a source of the escape of planetary atmospheres which had not been taken into account until now. This source, although marginal, is not negligible. The influence of the photoionization is of course large, but cannot explain alone the loss of Mars

  1. Nighttime atmospheric chemistry of iodine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso; Plane, John M. C.; Cuevas, Carlos A.; Mahajan, Anoop S.; Lamarque, Jean-François; Kinnison, Douglas E.

    2016-12-01

    Little attention has so far been paid to the nighttime atmospheric chemistry of iodine species. Current atmospheric models predict a buildup of HOI and I2 during the night that leads to a spike of IO at sunrise, which is not observed by measurements. In this work, electronic structure calculations are used to survey possible reactions that HOI and I2 could undergo at night in the lower troposphere, and hence reduce their nighttime accumulation. The new reaction NO3+ HOI → IO + HNO3 is proposed, with a rate coefficient calculated from statistical rate theory over the temperature range 260-300 K and at a pressure of 1000 hPa to be k(T) = 2.7 × 10-12 (300 K/T)2.66 cm3 molecule-1 s-1. This reaction is included in two atmospheric models, along with the known reaction between I2 and NO3, to explore a new nocturnal iodine radical activation mechanism. The results show that this iodine scheme leads to a considerable reduction of nighttime HOI and I2, which results in the enhancement of more than 25 % of nighttime ocean emissions of HOI + I2 and the removal of the anomalous spike of IO at sunrise. We suggest that active nighttime iodine can also have a considerable, so far unrecognized, impact on the reduction of the NO3 radical levels in the marine boundary layer (MBL) and hence upon the nocturnal oxidizing capacity of the marine atmosphere. The effect of this is exemplified by the indirect effect on dimethyl sulfide (DMS) oxidation.

  2. Atmospheric density determination using high-accuracy satellite GPS data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tingling, R.; Miao, J.; Liu, S.

    2017-12-01

    Atmospheric drag is the main error source in the orbit determination and prediction of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, however, empirical models which are used to account for atmosphere often exhibit density errors around 15 30%. Atmospheric density determination thus become an important topic for atmospheric researchers. Based on the relation between atmospheric drag force and the decay of orbit semi-major axis, we derived atmospheric density along the trajectory of CHAMP with its Rapid Science Orbit (RSO) data. Three primary parameters are calculated, including the ratio of cross sectional area to mass, drag coefficient, and the decay of semi-major axis caused by atmospheric drag. We also analyzed the source of error and made a comparison between GPS-derived and reference density. Result on 2 Dec 2008 shows that the mean error of GPS-derived density can decrease from 29.21% to 9.20% when time span adopted on the process of computation increase from 10min to 50min. Result for the whole December indicates that when the time span meet the condition that the amplitude of the decay of semi-major axis is much greater than its standard deviation, then density precision of 10% can be achieved.

  3. Portsmouth Atmospheric Science School (PASS) Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coleman, Clarence D.; Hathaway, Roger (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    The Portsmouth Atmospheric Science School Project (PASS) Project was granted a one-year no cost extension for 2001-2002. In year three of the project, objectives and strategies were modified based on the previous year-end evaluation. The recommendations were incorporated and the program was replicated within most of the remaining elementary schools in Portsmouth, Virginia and continued in the four middle schools. The Portsmouth Atmospheric Science School Project is a partnership, which includes Norfolk State University, Cooperating Hampton Roads Organizations for Minorities in Engineering (CHROME), NASA Langley Research Center, and the City of Portsmouth, Virginia Public Schools. The project seeks to strengthen the knowledge of Portsmouth Public Schools students in the field of atmospheric sciences and enhance teacher awareness of hands on activities in the atmospheric sciences. The project specifically seeks to: 1) increase the interest and participation of elementary and middle school students in science and mathematics; 2) strengthen existing science programs; and 3) facilitate greater achievement in core subjects, which are necessary for math, science, and technical careers. Emphasis was placed on providing training activities, materials and resources for elementary students (grades 3 - 5) and middle school students (grades 6 - 8), and teachers through a CHROME club structure. The first year of the project focused on introducing elementary students to concepts and activities in atmospheric science. Year two of the project built on the first year's activities and utilizes advanced topics and activities appropriate for middle school students. During the third year of the project, in addition to the approaches used in years one and two, emphasis was placed on activities that enhanced the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL).

  4. White dwarf stars with carbon atmospheres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dufour, P; Liebert, J; Fontaine, G; Behara, N

    2007-11-22

    White dwarfs represent the endpoint of stellar evolution for stars with initial masses between approximately 0.07 and 8-10, where is the mass of the Sun (more massive stars end their life as either black holes or neutron stars). The theory of stellar evolution predicts that the majority of white dwarfs have a core made of carbon and oxygen, which itself is surrounded by a helium layer and, for approximately 80 per cent of known white dwarfs, by an additional hydrogen layer. All white dwarfs therefore have been traditionally found to belong to one of two categories: those with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere (the DA spectral type) and those with a helium-rich atmosphere (the non-DAs). Here we report the discovery of several white dwarfs with atmospheres primarily composed of carbon, with little or no trace of hydrogen or helium. Our analysis shows that the atmospheric parameters found for these stars do not fit satisfactorily in any of the currently known theories of post-asymptotic giant branch evolution, although these objects might be the cooler counterpart of the unique and extensively studied PG 1159 star H1504+65 (refs 4-7). These stars, together with H1504+65, might accordingly form a new evolutionary sequence that follows the asymptotic giant branch.

  5. ATLID, ESA Atmospheric LIDAR Developement Status

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    do Carmo João Pereira

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The ATmospheric LIDAR ATLID[1] is part of the payload of the Earth Cloud and Aerosol Explorer[2] (EarthCARE satellite mission, the sixth Earth Explorer Mission of the European Space Agency (ESA Living Planet Programme. EarthCARE is a joint collaborative satellite mission conducted between ESA and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (JAXA that delivers the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR instrument. The payload consists of four instruments on the same platform with the common goal to provide a picture of the 3D-dimensional spatial and the temporal structure of the radiative flux field at the top of atmosphere, within the atmosphere and at the Earth’s surface. This paper is presenting an updated status of the development of the ATLID instrument and its subsystem design. The instrument has recently completed its detailed design, and most of its subsystems are already under manufacturing of their Flight Model (FM parts and running specific qualification activities. Clouds and aerosols are currently one of the biggest uncertainties in our understanding of the atmospheric conditions that drive the climate system. A better modelling of the relationship between clouds, aerosols and radiation is therefore amongst the highest priorities in climate research and weather prediction.

  6. Solid State Laser Technology Development for Atmospheric Sensing Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnes, James C.

    1998-01-01

    NASA atmospheric scientists are currently planning active remote sensing missions that will enable global monitoring of atmospheric ozone, water vapor, aerosols and clouds as well as global wind velocity. The measurements of these elements and parameters are important because of the effects they have on climate change, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, atmospheric transport and, in general, the health of the planet. NASA will make use of Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) and backscatter lidar techniques for active remote sensing of molecular constituents and atmospheric phenomena from advanced high-altitude aircraft and space platforms. This paper provides an overview of NASA Langley Research Center's (LaRC's) development of advanced solid state lasers, harmonic generators, and wave mixing techniques aimed at providing the broad range of wavelengths necessary to meet measurement goals of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.

  7. Atmospheric Chemistry of Micrometeoritic Organic Compounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kress, M. E.; Belle, C. L.; Pevyhouse, A. R.; Iraci, L. T.

    2011-01-01

    Micrometeorites approx.100 m in diameter deliver most of the Earth s annual accumulation of extraterrestrial material. These small particles are so strongly heated upon atmospheric entry that most of their volatile content is vaporized. Here we present preliminary results from two sets of experiments to investigate the fate of the organic fraction of micrometeorites. In the first set of experiments, 300 m particles of a CM carbonaceous chondrite were subject to flash pyrolysis, simulating atmospheric entry. In addition to CO and CO2, many organic compounds were released, including functionalized benzenes, hydrocarbons, and small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In the second set of experiments, we subjected two of these compounds to conditions that simulate the heterogeneous chemistry of Earth s upper atmosphere. We find evidence that meteor-derived compounds can follow reaction pathways leading to the formation of more complex organic compounds.

  8. Continuous condensation device for vapors in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tricot, M.

    1983-01-01

    The continuous condensation device for vapors from the atmosphere is such those in which this atmosphere circulates in contact with a cold source involving the condensation of these vapors. It includes a thermoelectric module using the Peltier effect; the hot side is bonded to a heat sink and the cold side is in contact with an insulated condensation chamber in which flows the atmosphere charged with vapors to be condensated. The condensation chamber has a metallic structure through which a low voltage direct current is passed; this structure has small blades with holes, through which the condensate flows under gravity in the lower part of the chamber which have a hole to evacuate this liquid. The thermoelectric module comprises an assembly of thermocouples made of an array of alloy plates. The temperature inside the condensation chamber is maintained at just above 0 0 C. This device is used for the sampling of atmosphere water especially in the determination of tritium content of the atmosphere around nuclear installations [fr

  9. Characterizing Convection in Stellar Atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanner, Joel; Basu, Sarbani; Demarque, Pierre; Robinson, Frank

    2011-01-01

    We perform 3D radiative hydrodynamic simulations to study the properties of convection in the superadiabatic layer of stars. The simulations show differences in both the stratification and turbulent quantities for different types of stars. We extract turbulent pressure and eddy sizes, as well as the T-τ relation for different stars and find that they are sensitive to the energy flux and gravity. We also show that contrary to what is usually assumed in the field of stellar atmospheres, the structure and gas dynamics of simulations of turbulent atmospheres cannot be parameterized with T eff and log(g) alone.

  10. Baseline atmospheric program Australia 1993

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Francey, R.J.; Dick, A.L.; Derek, N.

    1996-01-01

    This publication reports activities, program summaries and data from the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station in Tasmania, during the calendar year 1993. These activities represent Australia's main contribution to the Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network (BAPMoN), part of the World Meteorological Organization's Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW). The report includes 5 research reports covering trace gas sampling, ozone and radon interdependence, analysis of atmospheric dimethylsulfide and carbon-disulfide, sampling of trace gas composition of the troposphere, and sulfur aerosol/CCN relationship in marine air. Summaries of program reports for the calendar year 1993 are also included. Tabs., figs., refs

  11. Evaluation of the Atmospheric Chemical Entropy Production of Mars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfonso Delgado-Bonal

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Thermodynamic disequilibrium is a necessary situation in a system in which complex emergent structures are created and maintained. It is known that most of the chemical disequilibrium, a particular type of thermodynamic disequilibrium, in Earth’s atmosphere is a consequence of life. We have developed a thermochemical model for the Martian atmosphere to analyze the disequilibrium by chemical reactions calculating the entropy production. It follows from the comparison with the Earth atmosphere that the magnitude of the entropy produced by the recombination reaction forming O3 (O + O2 + CO2 ⥦ O3 + CO2 in the atmosphere of the Earth is larger than the entropy produced by the dominant set of chemical reactions considered for Mars, as a consequence of the low density and the poor variety of species of the Martian atmosphere. If disequilibrium is needed to create and maintain self-organizing structures in a system, we conclude that the current Martian atmosphere is unable to support large physico-chemical structures, such as those created on Earth.

  12. Upconversion detector for methane atmospheric sensor

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meng, Lichun; Fix, Andreas; Høgstedt, Lasse

    2017-01-01

    We demonstrate an efficient upconversion detector (UCD) for a methane (CH4) atmospheric sensor. The UCD shows comparable performance with a conventional detector when measuring the backscattered signal from the hard target located 2.3 km away.......We demonstrate an efficient upconversion detector (UCD) for a methane (CH4) atmospheric sensor. The UCD shows comparable performance with a conventional detector when measuring the backscattered signal from the hard target located 2.3 km away....

  13. Gas fired boilers and atmospheric pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chiaranello, J.M.

    1991-01-01

    A general analysis concerning atmospheric pollution is presented: chemical composition and vertical distribution of atmosphere and pollutants, chemical reactions, ozone destruction and production cycles, COx, NOx and SOx pollutions. The gas fired boiler number and repartition in France are presented and the associated pollution is analyzed (CO2, CO, NOx) and quantified. Various pollution control technics concerning gas fired boiler pollutants are described and a pollution criterion for clean gas fired generators is proposed

  14. Improving InSAR geodesy using Global Atmospheric Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolivet, Romain; Agram, Piyush Shanker; Lin, Nina Y.; Simons, Mark; Doin, Marie-Pierre; Peltzer, Gilles; Li, Zhenghong

    2014-03-01

    Spatial and temporal variations of pressure, temperature, and water vapor content in the atmosphere introduce significant confounding delays in interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) observations of ground deformation and bias estimates of regional strain rates. Producing robust estimates of tropospheric delays remains one of the key challenges in increasing the accuracy of ground deformation measurements using InSAR. Recent studies revealed the efficiency of global atmospheric reanalysis to mitigate the impact of tropospheric delays, motivating further exploration of their potential. Here we explore the effectiveness of these models in several geographic and tectonic settings on both single interferograms and time series analysis products. Both hydrostatic and wet contributions to the phase delay are important to account for. We validate these path delay corrections by comparing with estimates of vertically integrated atmospheric water vapor content derived from the passive multispectral imager Medium-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, onboard the Envisat satellite. Generally, the performance of the prediction depends on the vigor of atmospheric turbulence. We discuss (1) how separating atmospheric and orbital contributions allows one to better measure long-wavelength deformation and (2) how atmospheric delays affect measurements of surface deformation following earthquakes, and (3) how such a method allows us to reduce biases in multiyear strain rate estimates by reducing the influence of unevenly sampled seasonal oscillations of the tropospheric delay.

  15. INFERENCE OF INHOMOGENEOUS CLOUDS IN AN EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Demory, Brice-Olivier; De Wit, Julien; Lewis, Nikole; Zsom, Andras; Seager, Sara [Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Fortney, Jonathan [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Knutson, Heather; Desert, Jean-Michel [Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Heng, Kevin [Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012, Bern (Switzerland); Madhusudhan, Nikku [Department of Physics and Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States); Gillon, Michael [Institut d' Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août, 17, Bat. B5C, B-4000 Liège 1 (Belgium); Barclay, Thomas [NASA Ames Research Center, M/S 244-30, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Parmentier, Vivien [Laboratoire J.-L. Lagrange, UMR 7293, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d' Azur B.P. 4229, F-06304 Nice Cedex 4 (France); Cowan, Nicolas B., E-mail: demory@mit.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, F165, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States)

    2013-10-20

    We present new visible and infrared observations of the hot Jupiter Kepler-7b to determine its atmospheric properties. Our analysis allows us to (1) refine Kepler-7b's relatively large geometric albedo of Ag = 0.35 ± 0.02, (2) place upper limits on Kepler-7b thermal emission that remains undetected in both Spitzer bandpasses and (3) report a westward shift in the Kepler optical phase curve. We argue that Kepler-7b's visible flux cannot be due to thermal emission or Rayleigh scattering from H{sub 2} molecules. We therefore conclude that high altitude, optically reflective clouds located west from the substellar point are present in its atmosphere. We find that a silicate-based cloud composition is a possible candidate. Kepler-7b exhibits several properties that may make it particularly amenable to cloud formation in its upper atmosphere. These include a hot deep atmosphere that avoids a cloud cold trap, very low surface gravity to suppress cloud sedimentation, and a planetary equilibrium temperature in a range that allows for silicate clouds to potentially form in the visible atmosphere probed by Kepler. Our analysis does not only present evidence of optically thick clouds on Kepler-7b but also yields the first map of clouds in an exoplanet atmosphere.

  16. Atmospheric neutrino challenges

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stanev, Todor [Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)

    2005-08-15

    We briefly review the improvements in the predictions of atmospheric neutrino fluxes since the NOW2000 workshop. In spite of the great progress of the calculational technique the predictions are still not exact because of the uncertainties in the two major sets of input - cosmic ray flux and hadronic interactions on light nuclei.

  17. Stable isotope measurements of atmospheric CO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, J.W.C.; Ferretti, D.F.; Vaughn, B.H.; Francey, R.J.; Allison, C.E.

    2002-01-01

    The measurement of stable carbon isotope ratios of atmospheric carbon dioxide, δ 13 CO 2 are useful for partitioning surface-atmospheric fluxes into terrestrial and oceanic components. δC 18 OO also has potential for segregating photosynthetic and respiratory fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. Here we describe in detail the techniques for making these measurements. The primary challenge for all of the techniques used to measure isotopes of atmospheric CO 2 is to achieve acceptable accuracy and precision and to maintain them over the decades needed to observe carbon cycle variability. The keys to success such an approach are diligent intercalibrations of laboratories from around the world, as well as the use of multiple techniques such as dual inlet and GC-IRMS and the intercomparison of such measurements. We focus here on two laboratories, the Stable Isotope Lab at the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado is described and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - Atmospheric Research (CSIRO). Different approaches exist at other laboratories (e.g. programs operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and The Center for Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies, Toboku University (TU)) however these are not discussed here. Finally, we also discuss the recently developed Gas Chromatography - Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC-IRMS) technique which holds significant promise for measuring ultra-small samples of gas with good precision. (author)

  18. Atmospherical simulations of the OMEGA/MEX observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melchiorri, R.; Drossart, P.; Combes, M.; Encrenaz, T.; Fouchet, T.; Forget, F.; Bibring, J. P.; Ignatiev, N.; Moroz, V.; OMEGA Team

    The modelization of the atmospheric contribution in the martian spectrum is an important step for the OMEGA data analysis.A full line by line radiative transfer calculation is made for the gas absorption; the dust opacity component, in a first approximation, is calculated as an optically thin additive component.Due to the large number of parameters needed in the calculations, the building of a huge data base to be interpolated is not envisageable, for each observed OMEGA spectrum with calculation for all the involved parameters (atmospheric pressure, water abundance, CO abundance, dust opacity and geometric angles of observation). The simulation of the observations allows us to fix all the orbital parameters and leave the unknown parameters as the only variables.Starting from the predictions of the current meteorological models of Mars we build a smaller data base corresponding on each observation. We present here a first order simulation, which consists in retrieving atmospheric contribution from the solar reflected component as a multiplicative (for gas absorption) and an additive component (for suspended dust contribution); although a fully consistent approach will require to include surface and atmosphere contributions together in synthetic calculations, this approach is sufficient for retrieving mineralogic information cleaned from atmospheric absorption at first order.First comparison to OMEGA spectra will be presented, with first order retrieval of CO2 pressure, CO and H2O abundance, and dust opacity.

  19. Physical modeling of emergency emission in the atmosphere (experimental investigation of Lagrangian turbulence characteristics in the surface and boundary layer of the atmosphere)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garger, E.K.

    2013-01-01

    Results of diffusion experiments simulating emergency emission in the surface and boundary layers of the atmosphere are presented. Interpretation of measurements in the surface layer of the atmosphere had been conducted on the basis of the Lagrangian similarity hypothesis., Results of measurements in the boundary layer of the atmosphere are interpreted with use of the homogeneous turbulence theory. Regimes of turbulent diffusion from land and low sources of admixtures predicted by the Lagrangian similarity hypothesis for various conditions of thermal stratification in the surface layer of the atmosphere are experimentally confirmed. Universal empirical constants for these regimes are received that allows to use their in practice. Calculation diffusion parameters and concentrations of an admixture from various sources in the surface layer of the atmosphere by model is presented. Results of calculation on this model are compared to independent measurements of mass concentration of a admixture in horizontal and vertical planes. Results of simultaneous measurements Eulerian and Lagrangian turbulence characteristics for various diffusion times in the boundary layer of the atmosphere have allowed to estimate turbulence time scales in Lagrangian variables for conditions close to neutral thermal stratification. The monograph is intended for scientists and students engaged in the field of meteorology, physics of the atmosphere and pollution air control, services of radiation and ecological safety

  20. Students 'Weigh' Atmospheric Pollution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caporaloni, Marina

    1998-01-01

    Describes a procedure developed by students that measures the mass concentration of particles in a polluted urban atmosphere. Uses a portable fan and filters of various materials. Compares students' data with official data. (DDR)

  1. Evaluation of the Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Electrical Variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anisimov, Sergey V.; Galichenko, Sergey V.; Aphinogenov, Konstantin V.; Prokhorchuk, Aleksandr A.

    2017-12-01

    Due to the chaotic motion of charged particles carried by turbulent eddies, electrical quantities in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) have short-term variability superimposed on long-term variability caused by sources from regional to global scales. In this study the influence of radon exhalation rate, aerosol distribution and turbulent transport efficiency on the variability of fair-weather atmospheric electricity is investigated via Lagrangian stochastic modelling. For the mid-latitude lower atmosphere undisturbed by precipitation, electrified clouds, or thunderstorms, the model is capable of reproducing the diurnal variation in atmospheric electrical parameters detected by ground-based measurements. Based on the analysis of field observations and numerical simulation it is found that the development of the convective boundary layer, accompanied by an increase in turbulent kinetic energy, forms the vertical distribution of radon and its decaying short-lived daughters to be approximately coincident with the barometric law for several eddy turnover times. In the daytime ABL the vertical distribution of atmospheric electrical conductivity tends to be uniform except within the surface layer, due to convective mixing of radon and its radioactive decay products. At the same time, a decrease in the conductivity near the ground is usually observed. This effect leads to an enhanced ground-level atmospheric electric field compared to that normally observed in the nocturnal stably-stratified boundary layer. The simulation showed that the variability of atmospheric electric field in the ABL associated with internal origins is significant in comparison to the variability related to changes in global parameters. It is suggested that vertical profiles of electrical quantities can serve as informative parameters on ABL turbulent dynamics and can even more broadly characterize the state of the environment.

  2. Illusion and reality in the atmospheres of exoplanets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deming, L. Drake; Seager, Sara

    2017-01-01

    The atmospheres of exoplanets reveal all their properties beyond mass, radius, and orbit. Based on bulk densities, we know that exoplanets larger than 1.5 Earth radii must have gaseous envelopes and, hence, atmospheres. We discuss contemporary techniques for characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres. The measurements are difficult, because—even in current favorable cases—the signals can be as small as 0.001% of the host star's flux. Consequently, some early results have been illusory and not confirmed by subsequent investigations. Prominent illusions to date include polarized scattered light, temperature inversions, and the existence of carbon planets. The field moves from the first tentative and often incorrect conclusions, converging to the reality of exoplanetary atmospheres. That reality is revealed using transits for close-in exoplanets and direct imaging for young or massive exoplanets in distant orbits. Several atomic and molecular constituents have now been robustly detected in exoplanets as small as Neptune. In our current observations, the effects of clouds and haze appear ubiquitous. Topics at the current frontier include the measurement of heavy element abundances in giant planets, detection of carbon-based molecules, measurement of atmospheric temperature profiles, definition of heat circulation efficiencies for tidally locked planets, and the push to detect and characterize the atmospheres of super-Earths. Future observatories for this quest include the James Webb Space Telescope and the new generation of extremely large telescopes on the ground. On a more distant horizon, NASA's study concepts for the Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) and the Large UV/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) missions could extend the study of exoplanetary atmospheres to true twins of Earth.

  3. Lichens and atmospheric pollution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tallis, J H

    1964-09-01

    The extreme sensitivity of lichens, particularly the larger ones, to industrialization has been recognized for many years. Most people attribute the absence of lichens from urban areas to the atmospheric pollution prevailing, and a few attribute it to climatic dryness, resulting from efficient drainage systems in towns. The two main components of air pollution are solid matter, or soot, and gaseous sulfur dioxide. The main effects of pollution appear to be: a direct reduction of light intensity by smoke haze, a deposit of soot on the plant surface, an acidification of the soil, and direct damage to plants. A body of evidence indicates that SO/sub 2/ may be the main harmful component for lichens. The distribution of lichens thus might be used to determine the limits within which atmospheric pollution is operating. 5 references.

  4. Study of Atmospheric Forcing and Responses (SAFAR campaign: overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Jayaraman

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Study of Atmospheric Forcing and Responses (SAFAR is a five year (2009–2014 research programme specifically to address the responses of the earth's atmosphere to both natural and anthropogenic forcings using a host of collocated instruments operational at the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Gadanki (13.5° N, 79.2° E, India from a unified viewpoint of studying the vertical coupling between the forcings and responses from surface layer to the ionosphere. As a prelude to the main program a pilot campaign was conducted at Gadanki during May–November 2008 using collocated observations from the MST radar, Rayleigh lidar, GPS balloonsonde, and instruments measuring aerosol, radiation and precipitation, and supporting satellite data. We show the importance of the large radiative heating caused by absorption of solar radiation by soot particles in the lower atmosphere, the observed high vertical winds in the convective updrafts extending up to tropopause, and the difficulty in simulating the same with existing models, the upward traveling waves in the middle atmosphere coupling the lower atmosphere with the upper atmosphere, their manifestation in the mesospheric temperature structure and inversion layers, the mesopause height extending up to 100 km, and the electro-dynamical coupling between mesosphere and the ionosphere which causes irregularities in the ionospheric F-region. The purpose of this communication is not only to share the knowledge that we gained from the SAFAR pilot campaign, but also to inform the international atmospheric science community about the SAFAR program as well as to extend our invitation to join in our journey.

  5. SRNL EMERGENCY RESPONSE CAPABILITY FOR ATMOSPHERIC CONTAMINANT RELEASES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koffman, L; Chuck Hunter, C; Robert Buckley, R; Robert Addis, R

    2006-01-01

    Emergency response to an atmospheric release of chemical or radiological contamination is enhanced when plume predictions, field measurements, and real-time weather information are integrated into a geospatial framework. The Weather Information and Display (WIND) System at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) utilizes such an integrated framework. The rapid availability of predictions from a suite of atmospheric transport models within this geospatial framework has proven to be of great value to decision makers during an emergency involving an atmospheric contaminant release

  6. Stellar atmosphere modeling of extremely hot, compact stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rauch, Thomas; Ringat, Ellen; Werner, Klaus

    Present X-ray missions like Chandra and XMM-Newton provide excellent spectra of extremely hot white dwarfs, e.g. burst spectra of novae. Their analysis requires adequate NLTE model atmospheres. The Tuebingen Non-LTE Model-Atmosphere Package (TMAP) can calculate such model at-mospheres and spectral energy distributions at a high level of sophistication. We present a new grid of models that is calculated in the parameter range of novae and supersoft X-ray sources and show examples of their application.

  7. The equilibrium response to doubling atmospheric CO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitchell, J.F.B.

    1990-01-01

    The equilibrium response of climate to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide as simulated by general circulation models is assessed. Changes that are physically plausible are summarized, along with an indication of the confidence attributable to those changes. The main areas of uncertainty are highlighted. They include: equilibrium experiments with mixed-layer oceans focusing on temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture; equilibrium studies with dynamical ocean-atmosphere models; results deduced from equilibrium CO 2 experiments; and priorities for future research to improve atmosphere models

  8. The propagation of light pollution in the atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cinzano, P.; Falchi, F.

    2012-12-01

    Recent methods to map artificial night-sky brightness and stellar visibility across large territories or their distribution over the entire sky at any site are based on computation of the propagation of light pollution with Garstang models, a simplified solution of the radiative transfer problem in the atmosphere that allows fast computation by reducing it to a ray-tracing approach. They are accurate for a clear atmosphere, when a two-scattering approximation is acceptable, which is the most common situation. We present here up-to-date extended Garstang models (EGM), which provide a more general numerical solution for the radiative transfer problem applied to the propagation of light pollution in the atmosphere. We also present the LPTRAN software package, an application of EGM to high-resolution Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) satellite measurements of artificial light emission and to GTOPO30 (Global 30 Arcsecond) digital elevation data, which provides an up-to-date method to predict the artificial brightness distribution of the night sky at any site in the world at any visible wavelength for a broad range of atmospheric situations and the artificial radiation density in the atmosphere across the territory. EGM account for (i) multiple scattering, (ii) wavelengths from 250 nm to infrared, (iii) the Earth's curvature and its screening effects, (iv) site and source elevation, (v) many kinds of atmosphere with the possibility of custom set-up (e.g. including thermal inversion layers), (vi) a mix of different boundary-layer aerosols and tropospheric aerosols, with the possibility of custom set-up, (vii) up to five aerosol layers in the upper atmosphere, including fresh and aged volcanic dust and meteoric dust, (viii) variations of the scattering phase function with elevation, (ix) continuum and line gas absorption from many species, ozone included, (x) up to five cloud layers, (xi) wavelength-dependent bidirectional

  9. Global atmospheric particle formation from CERN CLOUD measurements

    CERN Document Server

    Dunne, E M; Kurten, A; Almeida, J; Duplissy, J; Williamson, C; Ortega, I K; Pringle, K J; Adamov, A; Baltensperger, U; Barmet, P; Benduhn, F; Bianchi, F; Breitenlechner, M; Clarke, A; Curtius, J; Dommen, J; Donahue, N M; Ehrhart, S; Flagan, R C; Franchin, A; Guida, R; Hakala, J; Hansel, A; Heinritzi, M; Jokinen, T; Kangasluoma, J; Kirkby, J; Kulmala, M; Kupc, A; Lawler, M J; Lehtipalo, K; Makhmutov, V; Mann, G; Mathot, S; Merikanto, J; Miettinen, P; Nenes, A; Onnela, A; Rap, A; Reddington, C L S; Riccobono, F; Richards, N A D; Rissanen, M P; Rondo, L; Sarnela, N; Schobesberger, S; Sengupta, K; Simon, M; Sipila, M; Smith, J N; Stozkhov, Y; Tome, A; Trostl, J; Wagner, P E; Wimmer, D; Winkler, P M; Worsnop, D R; Carslaw, K S

    2016-01-01

    Fundamental questions remain about the origin of newly formed atmospheric aerosol particles because data from laboratory measurements have been insufficient to build global models. In contrast, gas-phase chemistry models have been based on laboratory kinetics measurements for decades. Here we build a global model of aerosol formation using extensive laboratory-measured nucleation rates involving sulfuric acid, ammonia, ions and organic compounds. The simulations and a comparison with atmospheric observations show that nearly all nucleation throughout the present-day atmosphere involves ammonia or biogenic organic compounds in addition to sulfuric acid. A significant fraction of nucleation involves ions, but the relatively weak dependence on ion concentrations indicates that for the processes studied variations in cosmic ray intensity do not significantly affect climate via nucleation in the present-day atmosphere.

  10. Nanocapillary Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet: A Tool for Ultrafine Maskless Surface Modification at Atmospheric Pressure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motrescu, Iuliana; Nagatsu, Masaaki

    2016-05-18

    With respect to microsized surface functionalization techniques we proposed the use of a maskless, versatile, simple tool, represented by a nano- or microcapillary atmospheric pressure plasma jet for producing microsized controlled etching, chemical vapor deposition, and chemical modification patterns on polymeric surfaces. In this work we show the possibility of size-controlled surface amination, and we discuss it as a function of different processing parameters. Moreover, we prove the successful connection of labeled sugar chains on the functionalized microscale patterns, indicating the possibility to use ultrafine capillary atmospheric pressure plasma jets as versatile tools for biosensing, tissue engineering, and related biomedical applications.

  11. Densification behaviour of UO2 in six different atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kutty, T.R.G.; Hegde, P.V.; Khan, K.B.; Basak, U.; Pillai, S.N.; Sengupta, A.K.; Jain, G.C.; Majumdar, S.; Kamath, H.S.; Purushotham, D.S.C.

    2002-01-01

    The shrinkage behaviour of UO 2 has been studied using a dilatometer in various atmospheres of Ar, Ar-8%H 2 , vacuum, CO 2 , commercial N 2 and N 2 +1000 ppm of O 2 . The onset of shrinkage occurs at around 300-400 deg. C lower in oxidizing atmospheres such as CO 2 , commercial N 2 and N 2 +1000 ppm O 2 compared to that in reducing or inert atmospheres. Shrinkage behaviour of UO 2 is almost identical in Ar, Ar-8%H 2 and vacuum. The shrinkage in N 2 +1000 ppm O 2 begins at a lower temperature than that in the commercial N 2 . The mechanism of sintering in the reducing, inert and vacuum atmospheres is explained by diffusion of uranium vacancies and that in the oxidizing atmospheres by cluster formation

  12. Effect of increased ionization on the atmospheric electric field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boeck, W.L.

    1980-01-01

    This study is a review of atmospheric electrical theory with the purpose of predicting the atmospheric electrical effects of increased ionization caused by radioactive inert gases. A time-independent perturbation model for the global atmospheric electric circuit precdicts that the electric field at the sea surface would be reduced to about 76% of its unperturbed value by a surface 85 Kr concentration of 3 nCi/m 3 . The electric field at a typical land station is predicted to be about 84% of its unperturbed value. Some scientists have suggested that the atmospheric electric field is part of a closed electrical feedback loop. The present model does not include such a closed feedback loop and may underestimate the total effects. This model is also useful for interpreting atmospheric electrical responses to natural fluctuations in the cosmic-ray component of background radiation

  13. Atoms and atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Megie, G.

    1994-01-01

    The ozone sources, roles and distribution are reviewed, and the atmosphere dynamic effects on ozone circulation are discussed; chlorine and CFC are the two main perturbative agents of the ozone layer and their effects are described and analyzed; impacts of the limitation of the CFC and chlorine utilization are discussed. 5 figs., 9 tabs

  14. Diffusive retention of atmospheric gases in chert

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettitt, E.; Cherniak, D. J.; Watson, E. B.; Schaller, M. F.

    2016-12-01

    Throughout Earth's history, the volatile contents (N2, CO2, Ar) of both deep and shallow terrestrial reservoirs has been dynamic. Volatiles are important chemical constituents because they play a significant role in regulating Earth's climate, mediating the evolution of complex life, and controlling the properties of minerals and rocks. Estimating levels of atmospheric volatiles in the deep geological past requires interrogation of materials that have acquired and retained a chemical memory from that time. Cherts have the potential to trap atmospheric components during formation and later release those gases for analysis in the laboratory. However, cherts have been underexploited in this regard, partly because their ability to retain a record of volatile components has not been adequately evaluated. Before cherts can be reliably used as indicators of past levels of major atmospheric gases, it is crucial that we understand the diffusive retentiveness of these cryptocrystalline silica phases. As the first step toward quantifying the diffusivity and solubility of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in chert, we have performed 1-atmosphere diffusive-uptake experiments at temperatures up to 450°C. Depth profiles of in-diffusing gases are measured by nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) to help us understand the molecular-scale transport of volatiles and thus the validity of using chert-bound volatiles to record information about Earth history. Data collected to date suggest that at least some cherts are ideal storage containers and can retain volatiles for a geologically long time. In addition to these diffusion experiments, preliminary online-crush fast-scan measurements using a quadrupole mass spectrometer indicate that atmospheric volatiles are released upon crushing various chert samples. By coupling such volatile-release measurements made by mass spectrometry with diffusion experiments, we are uniquely able to address the storage and fidelity of volatiles bound in crustal

  15. Selections from 2017: Discoveries in Titan's Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, Susanna

    2017-12-01

    Editors note:In these last two weeks of 2017, well be looking at a few selections that we havent yet discussed on AAS Nova from among the most-downloaded paperspublished in AAS journals this year. The usual posting schedule will resume in January.Carbon Chain Anions and the Growth of Complex Organic Molecules in Titans IonospherePublished July2017Main takeaway:Graphic depicting some of the chemical reactions taking place in Titans atmosphere, leading to the generation of organic haze particles. [ESA]In a recently published study led by Ravi Desai (University College London), scientists used data from the Cassini mission to identify negatively charged molecules known as carbon chain anions in the atmosphere of Saturns largest moon, Titan.Why its interesting:Carbon chain anions are the building blocks ofmore complex molecules, and Titans thick nitrogen and methane atmosphere mightmimic the atmosphere of earlyEarth. This first unambiguous detection of carbon chain anions in a planet-like atmosphere might therefore teach us about the conditions and chemical reactions that eventually led to the development of life on Earth. And ifwe can use Titan to learn about how complex molecules grow from these anion chains, we may be able to identify auniversal pathway towards the ingredients for life.What weve learned so far:Cassini measured fewer and fewer lower-mass anions the deeper in Titans ionosphere that it looked and at the same time,an increase in the number of precursors to larger aerosol molecules further down. This tradeoff strongly suggests that the anions are indeed involved in building up the more complex molecules, seeding their eventual growth into the complex organic haze of Titans lower atmosphere.CitationR. T. Desai et al 2017 ApJL 844 L18. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa7851

  16. Atmospheric Phase Delay in Sentinel SAR Interferometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krishnakumar, V.; Monserrat, O.; Crosetto, M.; Crippa, B.

    2018-04-01

    The repeat-pass Synthetic Aperture Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) Interferometry (InSAR) has been a widely used geodetic technique for observing the Earth's surface, especially for mapping the Earth's topography and deformations. However, InSAR measurements are prone to atmospheric errors. RADAR waves traverse the Earth's atmosphere twice and experience a delay due to atmospheric refraction. The two major layers of the atmosphere (troposphere and ionosphere) are mainly responsible for this delay in the propagating RADAR wave. Previous studies have shown that water vapour and clouds present in the troposphere and the Total Electron Content (TEC) of the ionosphere are responsible for the additional path delay in the RADAR wave. The tropospheric refractivity is mainly dependent on pressure, temperature and partial pressure of water vapour. The tropospheric refractivity leads to an increase in the observed range. These induced propagation delays affect the quality of phase measurement and introduce errors in the topography and deformation fields. The effect of this delay was studied on a differential interferogram (DInSAR). To calculate the amount of tropospheric delay occurred, the meteorological data collected from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET) and MODIS were used. The interferograms generated from Sentinel-1 carrying C-band Synthetic Aperture RADAR Single Look Complex (SLC) images acquired on the study area are used. The study area consists of different types of scatterers exhibiting different coherence. The existing Saastamoinen model was used to perform a quantitative evaluation of the phase changes caused by pressure, temperature and humidity of the troposphere during the study. Unless the phase values due to atmospheric disturbances are not corrected, it is difficult to obtain accurate measurements. Thus, the atmospheric error correction is essential for all practical applications of DInSAR to avoid inaccurate height and deformation

  17. ATMOSPHERIC PHASE DELAY IN SENTINEL SAR INTERFEROMETRY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Krishnakumar

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The repeat-pass Synthetic Aperture Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR Interferometry (InSAR has been a widely used geodetic technique for observing the Earth’s surface, especially for mapping the Earth’s topography and deformations. However, InSAR measurements are prone to atmospheric errors. RADAR waves traverse the Earth’s atmosphere twice and experience a delay due to atmospheric refraction. The two major layers of the atmosphere (troposphere and ionosphere are mainly responsible for this delay in the propagating RADAR wave. Previous studies have shown that water vapour and clouds present in the troposphere and the Total Electron Content (TEC of the ionosphere are responsible for the additional path delay in the RADAR wave. The tropospheric refractivity is mainly dependent on pressure, temperature and partial pressure of water vapour. The tropospheric refractivity leads to an increase in the observed range. These induced propagation delays affect the quality of phase measurement and introduce errors in the topography and deformation fields. The effect of this delay was studied on a differential interferogram (DInSAR. To calculate the amount of tropospheric delay occurred, the meteorological data collected from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET and MODIS were used. The interferograms generated from Sentinel-1 carrying C-band Synthetic Aperture RADAR Single Look Complex (SLC images acquired on the study area are used. The study area consists of different types of scatterers exhibiting different coherence. The existing Saastamoinen model was used to perform a quantitative evaluation of the phase changes caused by pressure, temperature and humidity of the troposphere during the study. Unless the phase values due to atmospheric disturbances are not corrected, it is difficult to obtain accurate measurements. Thus, the atmospheric error correction is essential for all practical applications of DInSAR to avoid inaccurate

  18. BARTTest: Community-Standard Atmospheric Radiative-Transfer and Retrieval Tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrington, Joseph; Himes, Michael D.; Cubillos, Patricio E.; Blecic, Jasmina; Challener, Ryan C.

    2018-01-01

    Atmospheric radiative transfer (RT) codes are used both to predict planetary and brown-dwarf spectra and in retrieval algorithms to infer atmospheric chemistry, clouds, and thermal structure from observations. Observational plans, theoretical models, and scientific results depend on the correctness of these calculations. Yet, the calculations are complex and the codes implementing them are often written without modern software-verification techniques. The community needs a suite of test calculations with analytically, numerically, or at least community-verified results. We therefore present the Bayesian Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Test Suite, or BARTTest. BARTTest has four categories of tests: analytically verified RT tests of simple atmospheres (single line in single layer, line blends, saturation, isothermal, multiple line-list combination, etc.), community-verified RT tests of complex atmospheres, synthetic retrieval tests on simulated data with known answers, and community-verified real-data retrieval tests.BARTTest is open-source software intended for community use and further development. It is available at https://github.com/ExOSPORTS/BARTTest. We propose this test suite as a standard for verifying atmospheric RT and retrieval codes, analogous to the Held-Suarez test for general circulation models. This work was supported by NASA Planetary Atmospheres grant NX12AI69G, NASA Astrophysics Data Analysis Program grant NNX13AF38G, and NASA Exoplanets Research Program grant NNX17AB62G.

  19. Performance engineering in the community atmosphere model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Worley, P; Mirin, A; Drake, J; Sawyer, W

    2006-01-01

    The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) is the atmospheric component of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) and is the primary consumer of computer resources in typical CCSM simulations. Performance engineering has been an important aspect of CAM development throughout its existence. This paper briefly summarizes these efforts and their impacts over the past five years

  20. Space Science in Action: Earth's Atmosphere [Videotape].

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999

    In this videotape recording, students learn about the layers of the atmosphere and why each is important to the survival of life on the planet. Students discover why the atmosphere is responsible for weather and see how special aircraft actually fly into hurricanes. Students build their own working barometer in a hands-on activity. Contents…

  1. Concentrations and fate of decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D(5)) in the atmosphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLachlan, Michael S; Kierkegaard, Amelie; Hansen, Kaj M; van Egmond, Roger; Christensen, Jesper H; Skjøth, Carsten A

    2010-07-15

    Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D(5)) is a volatile compound used in personal care products that is released to the atmosphere in large quantities. Although D(5) is currently under consideration for regulation, there have been no field investigations of its atmospheric fate. We employed a recently developed, quality assured method to measure D(5) concentration in ambient air at a rural site in Sweden. The samples were collected with daily resolution between January and June 2009. The D(5) concentration ranged from 0.3 to 9 ng m(-3), which is 1-3 orders of magnitude lower than previous reports. The measured data were compared with D(5) concentrations predicted using an atmospheric circulation model that included both OH radical and D(5) chemistry. The model was parametrized using emissions estimates and physical chemical properties determined in laboratory experiments. There was good agreement between the measured and modeled D(5) concentrations. The results show that D(5) is clearly subject to long-range atmospheric transport, but that it is also effectively removed from the atmosphere via phototransformation. Atmospheric deposition has little influence on the atmospheric fate. The good agreement between the model predictions and the field observations indicates that there is a good understanding of the major factors governing D(5) concentrations in the atmosphere.

  2. Influence of atmospheric pressure on infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert, Nicolas; Frank, Michael; Avenin, Laure; Hemery, Francois; Becquemin, Jean Pierre

    2014-04-01

    Meteorologic conditions have a significant impact on the occurrence of cardiovascular events. Previous studies have shown that abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture (AAAR) may be associated with atmospheric pressure, with conflicting results. Therefore, we aimed to further investigate the nature of the correlation between atmospheric pressure variations and AAAR. Hospital admissions related to AAAR between 2005-2009 were assessed in 19 districts of metropolitan France and correlated with geographically and date-matched mean atmospheric pressures. In parallel and from 2005-2009, all fatal AAARs as reported by death certificates were assessed nationwide and correlated to local atmospheric pressures at the time of aortic rupture. Four hundred ninety-four hospital admissions related to AAAR and 6,358 deaths nationwide by AAAR were identified between 2005-2009. Both in-hospital ruptures and aneurysm-related mortality had seasonal variations, with peak/trough incidences in January and June, respectively. Atmospheric pressure peaks occurred during winter. Univariate analysis revealed a significant association (P atmospheric pressure values and AAAR. After multivariate analysis, mean maximum 1-month prerupture atmospheric pressure had a persistent correlation with both in-hospital relative risk (1.05 [95% confidence interval: 1.03-1.06]; P atmospheric pressure. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Atmosphere Refraction Effects in Object Locating for Optical Satellite Remote Sensing Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YAN Ming

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The collinear rigorous geometric model contains the atmosphere refraction geometric error in off-nadir observation. In order to estimate and correct the atmosphere refraction geometric error, the ISO international standard atmospheric model and Owens atmosphere refractive index algorithm are applied to calculate the index of atmosphere refraction in different latitude and altitude. The paper uses the weighted mean algorithm to reduce the eight layers ISO standard atmospheric model into a simple troposphere and stratosphere two layers spherical atmosphere. And the LOS vector track geometric algorithm is used to estimate the atmosphere refraction geometric error in different observation off-nadir angle. The results show that the atmosphere refraction will introduce about 2.5 m or 9 m geometric displacement in 30 or 45 degree off-nadir angle individual. Therefore, during geo-location processing of agile platform and extra wide high spatial resolution imagery, there is need to take into account the influence of atmosphere refraction and correct the atmosphere refraction geometric error to enhance the geo-location precision without GCPs.

  4. Temperature variability over the tropical middle atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Mohanakumar

    1994-04-01

    Full Text Available A study on the variability of temperature in the tropical middle atmosphere over Thumba (8 32' N, 76 52' E, located at the southern part of India, has been carried out based on rocket observations for a period of 20 years, extending from 1970 to 1990. The rocketsonde-derived mean temperatures over Thumba are corrected prior to 1978 and then compared with the middle atmospheric reference model developed from satellite observations and Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME satellite data. Temperature variability at every 1 km interval in the 25-75 km region was analysed. The tropical stratosphere is found to be highly stable, whereas considerable variability is noted in the middle mesosphere. The effect of seasonal cycle is least in the lower stratosphere. Annual and semi-annual oscillations in temperature are the primary oscillations in the tropical middle atmosphere. Annual temperature oscillations are dominant in the mesosphere and semi-annual oscillations are strong in the stratosphere. The stratopause region is noted to be the part of the middle atmosphere least sensitive to the changes in solar activity and long-term variability.

  5. Inert atmosphere system for plutonium processing gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bogard, C.F.; Calkins, K.W.; Rogers, R.F.

    1975-01-01

    Recent efforts to reduce fire hazards in plutonium processing operations are described. In such operations, the major environmental controls are developed through various kinds of glovebox systems. In evaluating the air-atmosphere glovebox systems, formerly in use at Rocky Flats and many other plants, a decision was made to convert to a recirculating ''inert'' atmosphere. The inert atmosphere consists of nitrogen, supplied from an on-site generating plant, diluting oxygen content to one to 5 percent by volume. Problems encountered during the change over included: determination of all factors influencing air leakage into the system, and reducing leakage to the practical minimum; meeting all fire and safety standards on the filter plenum and exhaust systems; provision for converting portions of the system to an air atmosphere to conduct maintenance work; inclusion of oxygen analyzers throughout the system to check gas quality and monitor for leaks; and the use of automatic controls to protect against a variety of potential malfunctions. The current objectives to reduce fire hazards have been met and additional safeguards were added. The systems are operating satisfactorily. (U.S.)

  6. Magic gamma rays, extra-atmospheric source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bolufer, P.

    2010-01-01

    Without the atmospheric layer, the cosmos radiation would kill every living, our planet would be like the moon. The cosmic gamma ray to collide with gases in land cover, as it is disintegrated. They are harmless, they form a cone of light that points to the cosmic source comes from. On April 25, 2009 was born on the island of Palma Magic II and Magic I the best observer of atmospheric gamma rays of low intensity. (Author)

  7. Infrared radiation models for atmospheric methane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cess, R. D.; Kratz, D. P.; Caldwell, J.; Kim, S. J.

    1986-01-01

    Mutually consistent line-by-line, narrow-band and broad-band infrared radiation models are presented for methane, a potentially important anthropogenic trace gas within the atmosphere. Comparisons of the modeled band absorptances with existing laboratory data produce the best agreement when, within the band models, spurious band intensities are used which are consistent with the respective laboratory data sets, but which are not consistent with current knowledge concerning the intensity of the infrared fundamental band of methane. This emphasizes the need for improved laboratory band absorptance measurements. Since, when applied to atmospheric radiation calculations, the line-by-line model does not require the use of scaling approximations, the mutual consistency of the band models provides a means of appraising the accuracy of scaling procedures. It is shown that Curtis-Godson narrow-band and Chan-Tien broad-band scaling provide accurate means of accounting for atmospheric temperature and pressure variations.

  8. An introduction to atmospheric gravity waves

    CERN Document Server

    Nappo, Carmen J

    2012-01-01

    Gravity waves exist in all types of geophysical fluids, such as lakes, oceans, and atmospheres. They play an important role in redistributing energy at disturbances, such as mountains or seamounts and they are routinely studied in meteorology and oceanography, particularly simulation models, atmospheric weather models, turbulence, air pollution, and climate research. An Introduction to Atmospheric Gravity Waves provides readers with a working background of the fundamental physics and mathematics of gravity waves, and introduces a wide variety of applications and numerous recent advances. Nappo provides a concise volume on gravity waves with a lucid discussion of current observational techniques and instrumentation.An accompanying website contains real data, computer codes for data analysis, and linear gravity wave models to further enhance the reader's understanding of the book's material. Companion web site features animations and streaming video Foreword by George Chimonas, a renowned expert on the interac...

  9. Classroom Demonstrations Of Atmosphere-ocean Dynamics: Baroclinic Instability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aurnou, Jonathan; Nadiga, B. T.

    2008-09-01

    Here we will present simple hands-on experimental demonstrations that show how baroclinic instabilities develop in rotating fluid dynamical systems. Such instabilities are found in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere as well as in the atmospheres and oceans of planetary bodies throughout the solar system and beyond. Our inexpensive experimental apparatus consists of a vinyl-record player, a wide shallow pan, and a weighted, dyed block of ice. Most directly, these demonstrations can be used to explain winter-time atmospheric weather patterns observed in Earth's mid-latitudes.

  10. Influence of atmospheric factors on the rheumatic diseases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Latman, N S

    1987-01-01

    This paper reviews the influence of atmospheric factors on rheumatic diseases - rheumatoid arthritis, unspecified arthritis, gout, and systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE). The authors state that there appears to be ample evidence to conclude that various atmospheric factors do exert a significant impact on some people with various rheumatic diseases. The data are, however, crude relative to the authors general understanding. They recommend as a logical progression of research the determination of the effects of the meteorological/atmospheric factors of concern on the specific intrinsic mediators of inflammation.

  11. Ensemble atmospheric dispersion calculations for decision support systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borysiewicz, M.; Potempski, S.; Galkowski, A.; Zelazny, R.

    2003-01-01

    This document describes two approaches to long-range atmospheric dispersion of pollutants based on the ensemble concept. In the first part of the report some experiences related to the exercises undertaken under the ENSEMBLE project of the European Union are presented. The second part is devoted to the implementation of mesoscale numerical prediction models RAMS and atmospheric dispersion model HYPACT on Beowulf cluster and theirs usage for ensemble forecasting and long range atmospheric ensemble dispersion calculations based on available meteorological data from NCEO, NOAA (USA). (author)

  12. Aerodynamic modeling of the lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamed, K.S.

    1992-01-01

    In this thesis , we present a study dealing with the basic meteorology concepts commonly used in air pollution. The pollutant motion in the atmosphere together with its basic mathematical concepts have been reviewed. This review includes; atmospheric forces acting on a particle, atmospheric turbulence, atmospheric stability and the most widely used atmospheric diffusion models. The resistance for pollutant transfer for different atmospheric stability classes has been derived in terms of both wind velocity profile parameters and diffusion coefficients. Therefrom, the residence time of a pollutant in the atmosphere is obtained. The dust particle trajectory and deposition in case of neutral atmosphere is formulated mathematically adopting particle Gaussian distribution. An analytical treatment for the diffusion equation with extension of the boundary conditions to include the ground surface absorption of pollutants and presence of elevated inversion layer, has been presented . The concept of decay distance is introduced and applied in a sample calculation for the dispersion of pollutants over growing wheat field

  13. Cosmogenic radionuclide carriers in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lujaniene, G.; Lujanas, V.

    1998-01-01

    The investigation of radionuclides ( 7 Be 32,33 P and 35 S) and stable sulfur and phosphorus forms was based on the Tessier sequential extraction method. The properties of radionuclide carriers can be transformed in the atmosphere in a very short time (days, hours), in contrast to soil and the hydrosphere. Oxidation processes proceeding in the atmosphere induce changes in the aerosol carrier properties. The aerosol can be characterized by low pH and high Eh values corresponding to high 7Be solubility. The unexpectedly high negative Eh values obtained in dry summer period indicate that the 7 Be 32,33 P aerosol is bound to insoluble carriers. 137 Cs solubility does not depend on changes in pH. This can be explained by the fact that in contrast to 7 Be, 137 Cs is associated with the exchangeable fraction. Cs ions can be replaced not only by H + but also by NH 4 + and other ions. 7 Be aerosols collected at the seaside of the Baltic sea (Preila) were found to be more soluble than those in Vilnius, their solubility was up to 50-90 % and clear dependence between 7 Be solubility, pH and Eh was not observed. It can be attributed to differences in the atmospheric aerosol composition (e.g. soluble chlorides) in Vilnius and Preila. A great variety of 7 Be carriers properties as well as their dependence on the season and the existence of admixtures in the atmosphere require great caution in applying this isotope in tracer investigations. Soluble carriers are removed faster from the atmosphere by precipitation. The significance of this fact is confirmed by the ratio of 7 Be/ 32 P in the air and precipitation. Both soluble and insoluble aerosols can be formed depending on the environmental conditions

  14. Actions of magnetospheres on planetary atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hultqvist, Bengt.

    1989-12-01

    Planet Earth is rather special in terms of transfer of magnetospheric energy to the atmosphere (apart from Jupiter, which is extreme in almost all respects). The auroral particle energy input rate to the atmosphere per unit area, and therefore the resulting auroral emission intensity, is second only to that of Jupiter. The contribution of the Joule heating to the heating of the upper atmosphere, measured in terms of the energetic particle precipitation power, is probably larger on Earth than on all the other planets, possibly with the exception of Uranus (and perhaps Neptune, which we know nothing of when this is written). For all those planets which have a corotating plasmasphere extending to the magnetopause, the Joule heating power is small compared with the precipitating particle power. The extremely successful Pioneer and Voyager missions have provided us with most impressive sets of data from the outer planets and Phobos has recently added unique new data from Mars. Still, the conclusion that the observational basis for our understanding of the physics of the magnetosphere-atmosphere interactions at all the planets other than Earth is very limited, is a self-evident one. Even at Earth many aspects of this interaction are frontline areas of research. The grand tour of the Voyagers has demonstrated very clearly how different the magnetospheres and atmospheres of the various planets are and the very high degree of complexity of the plasma systems around the planets. Most questions of physics are still unanswered; those related to source and sink processes of the plasma and energetic particles being one set of examples. The Galileo and Cassini-Huygens missions will certainly contribute in very important ways to the answering of many open questions. (147 refs.)

  15. Hazardous gas treatment by atmospheric discharges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mizeraczyk, J.

    2005-01-01

    The emissions of NO x ; SO x , CO 2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including fluorocarbons to the atmosphere influence heavily our environment, NO x and SO x emitted to the atmosphere are the major cause of acid rains, while CO 2 and VOCs emissions cause the greenhouse effect which leads to abnormal global heating of the atmosphere and creating in a temperature inversion layer that traps gaseous pollutants. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in controlling these emissions. A new technique, which uses the plasma processes induced by energetic electrons, emerges as one of the most effective methods of reducing concentrations of the emitted gaseous pollutants. Various plasma techniques have been tested for gaseous pollution control. The electron bean irradiation was found to be physically and economically efficient for NO x and SO x reduction in the exhaust gases from electrical and heat power plants. The capability of the non-thermal plasmas, produced in atmospheric pressure electrical discharges, for decomposition of the gaseous pollutants has been widely tested. These atmospheric pressure electrical discharges are dielectric barrier discharges, pulsed and de corona discharges (in the reactors with the point-to-plate, wire-cylinder and wire-plate geometries, in the reactors with flow stabilized corona torch and corona radical shower), gliding discharges, inductively coupled high-frequency discharges, ac surface discharges, ac discharges in the packed bed reactors, and microwave torch discharges. In this paper, after reviewing the methods and devices used for producing the non-thermal plasmas for gaseous pollutant control, some results of the laboratory experiments on the plasmas abatement of NO x ; SO x and various VOCs will be presented, followed by a discussion on the energy efficiency and by-products. Also some results obtained in the pilot-plants will be given. finally other possible applications of the presented plasma devices for controlling

  16. Atmospheric residence times of continental aerosols

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balkanski, Y.J.

    1991-01-01

    The global atmospheric distributions of Rn-222 are simulated with a three-dimensional model of atmospheric transport based on the meteorology of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model. The short-lived radioactive gas Rn-222 (half-life = 3.8d) is emitted almost exclusively from land, at a relatively uniform rate; hence it is an excellent tracer of continental influences. Lead-210 is produced by decay of Rn-222 and immediately condenses to preexisting aerosol surfaces. It provides an excellent measure of aerosol residence times in the atmosphere because its source is accurately defined by the Rn-222 distribution. Results from the three-dimensional model are compared to measurements of Rn-222 and Pb-210 atmospheric concentrations to evaluate model's long-range transport over oceanic regions and to study the deposition mechanisms of atmospheric aerosols. Model results for Rn-222 are used to examine the long-range transport of continental air over two selected oceanic regions, the subantarctic Indian Ocean and the North Pacific. It is shown that the fast transport of air from southern Africa causes substantial continental pollution at southern mid-latitudes, a region usually regarded as pristine. Air over the North Pacific is heavily impacted by continental influences year round, but the altitude at which the transport occurs varies seasonally. Observations of aerosols at island sites, which are commonly used as diagnostics of continental influences, may be misleading because they do not account for influences at high altitude and because aerosols are efficiently scavenged by deposition during transport. The study of Pb-210 focuses on defining the residence times of submicron aerosols in the troposphere. Scavenging in wet convective updrafts is found to provide the dominant sink on a global scale

  17. Atmospheric monitoring in MAGIC and data corrections

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fruck Christian

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A method for analyzing returns of a custom-made “micro”-LIDAR system, operated alongside the two MAGIC telescopes is presented. This method allows for calculating the transmission through the atmospheric boundary layer as well as thin cloud layers. This is achieved by applying exponential fits to regions of the back-scattering signal that are dominated by Rayleigh scattering. Making this real-time transmission information available for the MAGIC data stream allows to apply atmospheric corrections later on in the analysis. Such corrections allow for extending the effective observation time of MAGIC by including data taken under adverse atmospheric conditions. In the future they will help reducing the systematic uncertainties of energy and flux.

  18. Climate of the upper atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Jacobi

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available

    In the frame of the European COST 296 project (Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio Systems, MIERS

    investigations of the climate of the upper atmosphere have been carried out during the last four years to obtain

    new information on the upper atmosphere. Mainly its ionospheric part has been analysed as the ionosphere

    most essential for the propagation of radio waves. Due to collaboration between different European partners

    many new results have been derived in the fields of long-term trends of different ionospheric and related atmospheric

    parameters, the investigations of different types of atmospheric waves and their impact on the ionosphere,

    the variability of the ionosphere, and the investigation of some space weather effects on the ionosphere.


  19. Light extinction in the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laulainen, N.

    1992-06-01

    Atmospheric aerosol particles originating from natural sources, such as volcanos and sulfur-bearing gas emissions from the oceans, and from human sources, such as sulfur emissions from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning, strongly affect visual air quality and are suspected to significantly affect radiative climate forcing of the planet. During the daytime, aerosols obscure scenic vistas, while at night they diminish our ability to observe stellar objects. Scattering of light is the main means by which aerosols attenuate and redistribute light in the atmosphere and by which aerosols can alter and reduce visibility and potentially modify the energy balance of the planet. Trends and seasonal variability of atmospheric aerosol loading, such as column-integrated light extinction or optical depth, and how they may affect potential climate change have been difficult to quantify because there have been few observations made of important aerosol optical parameters, such as optical depth, over the globe and over time and often these are of uneven quality. To address questions related to possible climate change, there is a pressing need to acquire more high-quality aerosol optical depth data. Extensive deployment of improved solar radiometers over the next few years will provide higher-quality extinction data over a wider variety of locations worldwide. An often overlooked source of turbidity data, however, is available from astronomical observations, particularly stellar photoelectric photometry observations. With the exception of the Project ASTRA articles published almost 20 years ago, few of these data ever appear in the published literature. This paper will review the current status of atmospheric extinction observations, as highlighted by the ASTRA work and augmented by more recent solar radiometry measurements

  20. Experimental and Numerical Studies of Atmosphere Water Interactions

    KAUST Repository

    Bou-Zeid, Elie

    2011-07-04

    Understanding and quantifying the interaction of the atmosphere with underlying water surfaces is of great importance for a wide range of scientific fields such as water resources management, climate studies of ocean-atmosphere exchange, and regional weat

  1. The Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS)

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Hodur, Richard M; Hong, Xiaodong; Doyle, James D; Pullen, Julie; Cummings, James; Martin, Paul; Rennick, Mary Alice

    2002-01-01

    ... of the Couple Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS). The goal of this modeling project is to gain predictive skill in simulating the ocean and atmosphere at high resolution on time-scales of hours to several days...

  2. Integrated Assessment of Ecosystem Effects of Atmospheric Deposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ecosystems obtain a portion of their nutrients from the atmosphere. Following the Industrial Revolution, however, human activities have accelerated biogeochemical cycles, greatly enhancing the transport of substances among the atmosphere, water, soil, and living things. The atmos...

  3. Atmospheric processes over complex terrain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banta, Robert M.; Berri, G.; Blumen, William; Carruthers, David J.; Dalu, G. A.; Durran, Dale R.; Egger, Joseph; Garratt, J. R.; Hanna, Steven R.; Hunt, J. C. R.

    1990-06-01

    A workshop on atmospheric processes over complex terrain, sponsored by the American Meteorological Society, was convened in Park City, Utah from 24 vto 28 October 1988. The overall objective of the workshop was one of interaction and synthesis--interaction among atmospheric scientists carrying out research on a variety of orographic flow problems, and a synthesis of their results and points of view into an assessment of the current status of topical research problems. The final day of the workshop was devoted to an open discussion on the research directions that could be anticipated in the next decade because of new and planned instrumentation and observational networks, the recent emphasis on development of mesoscale numerical models, and continual theoretical investigations of thermally forced flows, orographic waves, and stratified turbulence. This monograph represents an outgrowth of the Park City Workshop. The authors have contributed chapters based on their lecture material. Workshop discussions indicated interest in both the remote sensing and predictability of orographic flows. These chapters were solicited following the workshop in order to provide a more balanced view of current progress and future directions in research on atmospheric processes over complex terrain.

  4. Annual and long-term prediction of the atmospheric corrosion of metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morcillo, M.

    1998-01-01

    The atmospheric corrosion of metals is known to be a discontinuous electrochemical process which takes place only when the metallic surface is wet or moistened by different meteorological phenomena (rain, humidity condensation, fog, etc.) The magnitude of atmospheric corrosion would be relatively low if it were not for the presence of certain pollutants in the atmosphere, mainly sulphur dioxide (anthropogenic pollutant) and marine chlorides (natural pollutant). The literature contains different models for predicting the atmospheric metals over short periods (generally one year) and long periods (15, 20 or more years) of atmospheric exposure. In addition to the different meteorological factors (volume of precipitation, days of rain, relative humidity (RH), T, etc.), atmospheric SO 2 deposition rate and atmospheric salinity (Cl - ) appear as independent variables in all of these models. (Author)

  5. Atmosphere-soil-vegetation model including CO2 exchange processes: SOLVEG2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagai, Haruyasu

    2004-11-01

    A new atmosphere-soil-vegetation model named SOLVEG2 (SOLVEG version 2) was developed to study the heat, water, and CO 2 exchanges between the atmosphere and land-surface. The model consists of one-dimensional multilayer sub-models for the atmosphere, soil, and vegetation. It also includes sophisticated processes for solar and long-wave radiation transmission in vegetation canopy and CO 2 exchanges among the atmosphere, soil, and vegetation. Although the model usually simulates only vertical variation of variables in the surface-layer atmosphere, soil, and vegetation canopy by using meteorological data as top boundary conditions, it can be used by coupling with a three-dimensional atmosphere model. In this paper, details of SOLVEG2, which includes the function of coupling with atmosphere model MM5, are described. (author)

  6. Natural and Anthropogenic Influences on Atmospheric Aerosol Variability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Asmi, A.

    2012-07-01

    Aerosol particles are everywhere in the atmosphere. They are a key factor in many important processes in the atmosphere, including cloud formation, scattering of incoming solar radiation and air chemistry. The aerosol particles have relatively short lifetimes in lower atmosphere, typically from days to weeks, and thus they have a high spatial and temporal variability. This thesis concentrates on the extent and reasons of sub-micron aerosol particle variability in the lower atmosphere, using both global atmospheric models and analysis of observational data. Aerosol number size distributions in the lower atmosphere are affected strongly by the new particle formation. Perhaps more importantly, a strong influence new particle formation is also evident in the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations, suggesting a major role of the sulphuric acid driven new particle formation in the climate system. In this thesis, the sub-micron aerosol number size distributions in the European regional background air were characterized for the first time from consistent, homogenized and comparable datasets. Some recent studies have suggested that differences in aerosol emissions between weekdays could also affect the weather via aerosol-cloud interactions. In this thesis, the weekday-to-weekday variation of CCN sized aerosol number concentrations in Europe were found to be much smaller than expected from earlier studies, based on particle mass measurements. This result suggests that a lack of week-day variability in meteorology is not necessarily a sign of weak aerosol-cloud interactions. An analysis of statistically significant trends in past decades of measured aerosol number concentrations from Europe, North America, Pacific islands and Antarctica generally show decreases in concentrations. The analysis of these changes show that a potential explanation for the decreasing trends is the general reduction of anthropogenic emissions, especially SO{sub 2}, although a combination of

  7. Selections from 2017: Atmosphere Around an Earth-Like Planet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, Susanna

    2017-12-01

    Editors note:In these last two weeks of 2017, well be looking at a few selections that we havent yet discussed on AAS Nova from among the most-downloaded paperspublished in AAS journals this year. The usual posting schedule will resume in January.Detection of the Atmosphere of the 1.6 M Exoplanet GJ 1132 bPublished March2017Main takeaway:An atmosphere was detected around the roughly Earth-size exoplanet GJ 1132 b using a telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. A team of scientists led byJohn Southworth (Keele University) found features indicating the presence of an atmosphere in theobservationsof this 1.6-Earth-mass planet as it transits an M-dwarf host star. This is the lowest-mass planet with a detected atmosphere thus far.Why its interesting:M dwarfs are among the most common stars in our galaxy, and weve found manyEarth-sizeexoplanets in or near the habitable zones around M-dwarf hosts. But M dwarfs are also more magnetically active than stars like our Sun, suggesting that the planets in M-dwarfhabitable zones may not be able to support life due to stellar activity eroding their atmospheres. The detection of an atmosphere around GJ 1132 b suggests that some planets orbiting M dwarfsare able to retain their atmospheres which meansthat these planetsmay be an interesting place to search for life after all.How the atmosphere was detected:The measured planetary radius for GJ 1132 b as a function of the wavelength used to observe it. [Southworth et al. 2017]When measuring the radius of GJ 1132 b based on its transits, the authors noticed that the planet appeared to be largerwhen observed in some wavelengths than in others. This can beexplained if the planet has asurface radius of 1.4 Earth radii, overlaid by an atmosphere that extends out another few tenths of an Earth radius. The atmosphere, which may consist of water vapor or methane, is transparent to some wavelengths and absorbs others which is why the apparent size of the planet changes

  8. The atmospheric heat engine response to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauluis, O. M.

    2014-12-01

    Moist convection is characterized by complex interactions between dynamics and thermodynamics. As air parcels within the atmosphere, they experience multiple thermodynamic transformations, such as compression and expansion, diabatic heating and cooling, condensation and mixing. These transformations correspond to those of a heat engine that produces kinetic energy while transporting energy from a warm source to a colder sink. This atmospheric heat engine is however directly affected by moist processes. First, falling precipitation acts as a break on the circulation by dissipating a significant amount of kinetic energy. Second, evaporation of unsaturated water and diffusion of water vapor are irrevesible processes that also reduce the amount of work that can be produced. An important challenge is to quantify the impacts that these two effects have on the generation of kinetic energy. Here, I will introduce a new technique - the Mean Air Flow As Lagragian Dynamics Approximation (MAFALDA) - that can be used to systematically analyze the thermodynamic behavior of complex atmospheric flows. This approach relies on sorting the upward mass transport in terms of the equivalent potential temperature of the air parcels to obtain an isentropic streamfunction. This streamfunction is then used to determine the thermodynamic evolution of air parcels as they move through the atmosphere. This approach is applied to analyze how convective systems would behave in a warmer climate. It is shown that an increase in atmospheric temperature lead to a significant increase of the amount of kinetic energy that is produced per unit of mass of air transported. At the same time, the total generation of kinetic energy is only slightly affected. Taken together, these findings imply that, in a warming atmosphere, the number of intense convective events will be reduced, while their intensity should increase. I will also discuss the new possibility of systematically studying the thermodynamic

  9. Aerosol Properties of the Atmospheres of Extrasolar Giant Planets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lavvas, P. [Groupe de Spectrométrie Moléculaire et Atmosphérique, UMR CNRS 7331, Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Reims (France); Koskinen, T., E-mail: panayotis.lavvas@univ-reims.fr [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

    2017-09-20

    We use a model of aerosol microphysics to investigate the impact of high-altitude photochemical aerosols on the transmission spectra and atmospheric properties of close-in exoplanets, such as HD 209458 b and HD 189733 b. The results depend strongly on the temperature profiles in the middle and upper atmospheres, which are poorly understood. Nevertheless, our model of HD 189733 b, based on the most recently inferred temperature profiles, produces an aerosol distribution that matches the observed transmission spectrum. We argue that the hotter temperature of HD 209458 b inhibits the production of high-altitude aerosols and leads to the appearance of a clearer atmosphere than on HD 189733 b. The aerosol distribution also depends on the particle composition, photochemical production, and atmospheric mixing. Due to degeneracies among these inputs, current data cannot constrain the aerosol properties in detail. Instead, our work highlights the role of different factors in controlling the aerosol distribution that will prove useful in understanding different observations, including those from future missions. For the atmospheric mixing efficiency suggested by general circulation models, we find that the aerosol particles are small (∼nm) and probably spherical. We further conclude that a composition based on complex hydrocarbons (soots) is the most likely candidate to survive the high temperatures in hot-Jupiter atmospheres. Such particles would have a significant impact on the energy balance of HD 189733 b’s atmosphere and should be incorporated in future studies of atmospheric structure. We also evaluate the contribution of external sources to photochemical aerosol formation and find that their spectral signature is not consistent with observations.

  10. AN ANALYTIC RADIATIVE-CONVECTIVE MODEL FOR PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, Tyler D.; Catling, David C.

    2012-01-01

    We present an analytic one-dimensional radiative-convective model of the thermal structure of planetary atmospheres. Our model assumes that thermal radiative transfer is gray and can be represented by the two-stream approximation. Model atmospheres are assumed to be in hydrostatic equilibrium, with a power-law scaling between the atmospheric pressure and the gray thermal optical depth. The convective portions of our models are taken to follow adiabats that account for condensation of volatiles through a scaling parameter to the dry adiabat. By combining these assumptions, we produce simple, analytic expressions that allow calculations of the atmospheric-pressure-temperature profile, as well as expressions for the profiles of thermal radiative flux and convective flux. We explore the general behaviors of our model. These investigations encompass (1) worlds where atmospheric attenuation of sunlight is weak, which we show tend to have relatively high radiative-convective boundaries; (2) worlds with some attenuation of sunlight throughout the atmosphere, which we show can produce either shallow or deep radiative-convective boundaries, depending on the strength of sunlight attenuation; and (3) strongly irradiated giant planets (including hot Jupiters), where we explore the conditions under which these worlds acquire detached convective regions in their mid-tropospheres. Finally, we validate our model and demonstrate its utility through comparisons to the average observed thermal structure of Venus, Jupiter, and Titan, and by comparing computed flux profiles to more complex models.

  11. Atmospheric River Importance to Extratropical Climate and Hydrology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nash, D.; Waliser, D. E.; Guan, B.; Ye, H.; Ralph, F. M.

    2017-12-01

    Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) are narrow, long, water vapor rich corridors of the atmosphere that are responsible for over 90% of the poleward moisture transport across mid-latitudes and into high latitudes. This suggests a crucial role for ARs in helping establish the extra-tropical atmospheric water budget and hydroclimate variability. However, the contribution of ARs to the extra-tropical atmospheric water budget has yet to be quantified, including impacts on water vapor transport and storage, and precipitation. This study characterizes the roles of AR related atmospheric transport on combined and individual atmospheric water budget variables over extratropical regions of both hemispheres based on MERRA2 reanalysis products during 1997-2014. Results show that poleward water vapor transport related to ARs is strongly related to changes in water vapor storage and especially precipitation in higher latitudes in both hemispheres, with the relationship dependent on averaging period. For example, for the annual cycle climatology, both AR transport and local evaporation support the variation in precipitation. However, on monthly time scales, the water budget at higher latitudes tends to be dominated by the balance between AR transport and precipitation. On pentad and daily time scales, AR transport is related to both precipitation and water vapor storage changes. These results indicate the important role of the episodic, extreme moisture transports associated with ARs in helping establish the high latitude water and energy cycles, and associated hydroclimate.

  12. 77 FR 33443 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. SUMMARY: The panel to review assessment...

  13. MODELING ATMOSPHERIC EMISSION FOR CMB GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Errard, J.; Borrill, J. [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Ade, P. A. R. [School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3XQ (United Kingdom); Akiba, Y.; Chinone, Y. [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801 (Japan); Arnold, K.; Atlas, M.; Barron, D.; Elleflot, T. [Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093-0424 (United States); Baccigalupi, C.; Fabbian, G. [International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste I-34014 (Italy); Boettger, D. [Department of Astronomy, Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile (Chile); Chapman, S. [Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2 (Canada); Cukierman, A. [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Delabrouille, J. [AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Univ Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Obs de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité (France); Dobbs, M.; Gilbert, A. [Physics Department, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4 (Canada); Ducout, A.; Feeney, S. [Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Feng, C. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine (United States); and others

    2015-08-10

    Atmosphere is one of the most important noise sources for ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. By increasing optical loading on the detectors, it amplifies their effective noise, while its fluctuations introduce spatial and temporal correlations between detected signals. We present a physically motivated 3D-model of the atmosphere total intensity emission in the millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths. We derive a new analytical estimate for the correlation between detectors time-ordered data as a function of the instrument and survey design, as well as several atmospheric parameters such as wind, relative humidity, temperature and turbulence characteristics. Using an original numerical computation, we examine the effect of each physical parameter on the correlations in the time series of a given experiment. We then use a parametric-likelihood approach to validate the modeling and estimate atmosphere parameters from the polarbear-i project first season data set. We derive a new 1.0% upper limit on the linear polarization fraction of atmospheric emission. We also compare our results to previous studies and weather station measurements. The proposed model can be used for realistic simulations of future ground-based CMB observations.

  14. Who's afraid of atmospheres (and of their authority?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tonino Griffero

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available An atmosphere possesses and exercises authority over the perceiver and his felt-body. This authority (a ‘numinous’ one exists in the proper sense only when it prevails over our resistance and we cannot access a further critical level. This is because an atmosphere that I feel externally, as poured out into the surrounding space, is mine not because I possess it, but because it concerns me.Its normativity, moreover, is not so much discreet but rather loosely diffused into a situation and yet it is able to inhibit any critical distance in those who come across it, especially if unexpectedly. This atmospherological approach implies of course a reflection about the ethical consequences of our ‘necessary’ felt-bodily feelings. Even if the manipulative appearance is implicit in every practice that generates an atmosphere, it’s true thatonly by acquiring a better atmospheric ‘competence’ (both as thinkers and as perceivers we can really learn how not to be grossly manipulated. An atmosphere is maybe less manipulative when it allowsaquick alternation between an uncritical-pathicimmersion and a critical-rational emersion, namely, between an emotional mood and a more analytical one.

  15. The Atmospheric Monitoring Strategy for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel, M. K.; CTA Consortium

    2015-04-01

    The Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique (IACT) is unusual in astronomy as the atmosphere actually forms an intrinsic part of the detector system, with telescopes indirectly detecting very high energy particles by the generation and transport of Cherenkov photons deep within the atmosphere. This means that accurate measurement, characterisation and monitoring of the atmosphere is at the very heart of successfully operating an IACT system. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation IACT observatory with an ambitious aim to improve the sensitivity of an order of magnitude over current facilities, along with corresponding improvements in angular and energy resolution and extended energy coverage, through an array of Large (23 m), Medium (12 m) and Small (4 m) sized telescopes spread over an area of order ~km2. Whole sky coverage will be achieved by operating at two sites: one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere. This proceedings will cover the characterisation of the candidate sites and the atmospheric calibration strategy. CTA will utilise a suite of instrumentation and analysis techniques for atmospheric modelling and monitoring regarding pointing forecasts, intelligent pointing selection for the observatory operations and for offline data correction.

  16. Emergency response mobile robot for operations in combustible atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Henry W. (Inventor); Ohm, Timothy R. (Inventor)

    1995-01-01

    A mobile, self-powered, self-contained, and remote-controlled robot is presented. The robot is capable of safely operating in a combustible atmosphere and providing information about the atmosphere to the operator. The robot includes non-sparking and non-arcing electro-mechanical and electronic components designed to prevent the robot from igniting the combustible atmosphere. The robot also includes positively pressurized enclosures that house the electromechanical and electronic components of the robot and prevent intrusion of the combustible atmosphere into the enclosures. The enclosures are interconnected such that a pressurized gas injected into any one of the enclosures is routed to all the other enclosures through the interconnections. It is preferred that one or more sealed internal channels through structures intervening between the enclosures be employed. Pressure transducers for detecting if the pressure within the enclosures falls below a predetermined level are included. The robot also has a sensing device for determining the types of combustible substances in the surrounding atmosphere, as well as the concentrations of each type of substance relative to a pre-determined lower explosive limit (LEL). In addition, the sensing device can determine the percent level of oxygen present in the surrounding atmosphere.

  17. Quantifying atmospheric transport, chemistry, and mixing using a new trajectory-box model and a global atmospheric-chemistry GCM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Riede

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available We present a novel method for the quantification of transport, chemistry, and mixing along atmospheric trajectories based on a consistent model hierarchy. The hierarchy consists of the new atmospheric-chemistry trajectory-box model CAABA/MJT and the three-dimensional (3-D global ECHAM/MESSy atmospheric-chemistry (EMAC general circulation model. CAABA/MJT employs the atmospheric box model CAABA in a configuration using the atmospheric-chemistry submodel MECCA (M, the photochemistry submodel JVAL (J, and the new trajectory submodel TRAJECT (T, to simulate chemistry along atmospheric trajectories, which are provided offline. With the same chemistry submodels coupled to the 3-D EMAC model and consistent initial conditions and physical parameters, a unique consistency between the two models is achieved. Since only mixing processes within the 3-D model are excluded from the model consistency, comparisons of results from the two models allow to separate and quantify contributions of transport, chemistry, and mixing along the trajectory pathways. Consistency of transport between the trajectory-box model CAABA/MJT and the 3-D EMAC model is achieved via calculation of kinematic trajectories based on 3-D wind fields from EMAC using the trajectory model LAGRANTO. The combination of the trajectory-box model CAABA/MJT and the trajectory model LAGRANTO can be considered as a Lagrangian chemistry-transport model (CTM moving isolated air parcels. The procedure for obtaining the necessary statistical basis for the quantification method is described as well as the comprehensive diagnostics with respect to chemistry.

    The quantification method presented here allows to investigate the characteristics of transport, chemistry, and mixing in a grid-based 3-D model. The analysis of chemical processes within the trajectory-box model CAABA/MJT is easily extendable to include, for example, the impact of different transport pathways or of mixing processes onto

  18. The Atmospheric Boundary Layer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garratt, J. R.

    1994-05-01

    A comprehensive and lucid account of the physics and dynamics of the lowest one to two kilometers of the Earth's atmosphere in direct contact with the Earth's surface, known as the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Dr. Garratt emphasizes the application of the ABL problems to numerical modeling of the climate, which makes this book unique among recent texts on the subject. He begins with a brief introduction to the ABL before leading to the development of mean and turbulence equations and the many scaling laws and theories that are the cornerstone of any serious ABL treatment. Modeling of the ABL is crucially dependent for its realism on the surface boundary conditions, so chapters four and five deal with aerodynamic and energy considerations, with attention given to both dry and wet land surfaces and the sea. The author next treats the structure of the clear-sky, thermally stratified ABL, including the convective and stable cases over homogeneous land, the marine ABL, and the internal boundary layer at the coastline. Chapter seven then extends this discussion to the cloudy ABL. This is particularly relevant to current research because the extensive stratocumulus regions over the subtropical oceans and stratus regions over the Arctic have been identified as key players in the climate system. In the final chapters, Dr. Garratt summarizes the book's material by discussing appropriate ABL and surface parameterization schemes in general circulation models of the atmosphere that are being used for climate stimulation.

  19. Fraunhofer Institute for Atmospheric Environmental Research. Annual report 1990

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    This progress report submitted by Fraunhofer Institut fuer Atmosphaerische Umweltforschung, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, reviews the institute's scientific and technical atmospheric environmental research activities of 1990. Emphasis was on research into the atmospheric circulation of CH 4 and N 2 O, the determination of the distribution and of the time characteristics of trace substances of environmental relevance, and on studies of the effects of pollutants on the vegetation. Major efforts went into the development of instruments and the modeling of the atmosphere in support of the experimental work. The FhG activities advance the research into the chemical behavior of the atmosphere, the possible effects of man-made changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere on the greenhouse effect, the regional pollutant loads, and the effects of ground-level UV-B radiation. The activities are part of international and national joint research projects, e.g. EUROTRAC, IGAC, and ICAT. (orig./KW) [de

  20. The early evolution of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets

    CERN Document Server

    Raulin, François; Muller, Christian; Nixon, Conor; Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings : Volume 35

    2013-01-01

    “The Early Evolution of the Atmospheres of Terrestrial Planets” presents the main processes participating in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. A group of experts in the different fields provide an update of our current knowledge on this topic. Several papers in this book discuss the key role of nitrogen in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. The earliest setting and evolution of planetary atmospheres of terrestrial planets is directly associated with accretion, chemical differentiation, outgassing, stochastic impacts, and extremely high energy fluxes from their host stars. This book provides an overview of the present knowledge of the initial atmospheric composition of the terrestrial planets. Additionally it includes some papers about the current exoplanet discoveries and provides additional clues to our understanding of Earth’s transition from a hot accretionary phase into a habitable world. All papers included were reviewed by experts in their respective fields. We are ...

  1. 129Xe on the outgassing of the atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomsen, L.

    1980-01-01

    Because of the short half-life of its parent ( 129 I, 17 m.y.) and its own chemical inertness, 129 Xe offers unique insight into the problem of the outgassing history of the earth's atmosphere. Because the current atmosphere is different in Xe isotopic patterns than is the interior, the present atmosphere must have been largely outgassed before these patterns finished changing, that is, very early in earth history. Furthermore, there can have been no significant delay in the onset of outgassing; that is, the earth must have been initially hot. Because ancient sedimentary rocks indicate that the atmospheric Xe patterns have not changed substantially for over 3 b.y., models presuming a separate, lower mantle reservoir do not alter these conclusions. Similar conclusions have been reached before but have always carried a heavier burden of debatable assumptions

  2. Electrifying atmospheres charging, ionisation and lightning in the solar system and beyond

    CERN Document Server

    Aplin, Karen L

    2013-01-01

    Electrical processes take place in all planetary atmospheres. There is evidence for lightning on Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, it is possible on Mars and Titan, and cosmic rays ionise every atmosphere, leading to charged droplets and particles. Controversy surrounds the role of atmospheric electricity in physical climate processes on Earth; here, a comparative approach is employed to review the role of electrification in the atmospheres of other planets and their moons. This book reviews the theory, and, where available, measurements, of planetary atmospheric electricity, taken to include ion production and ion-aerosol interactions. The conditions necessary for a global atmospheric electric circuit similar to Earth’s, and the likelihood of meeting these conditions in other planetary atmospheres, are briefly discussed. Atmospheric electrification is more important at planets receiving little solar radiation, increasing the relative significance of electrical forces. Nucleation onto atmospheric ...

  3. Atmospheric Metal Pollutants-Archives, Methods, and History

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norton, Stephen A.

    2007-01-01

    Pollution of the atmosphere with cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) is a consequence of human activities. Natural archives are necessary to reconstruct the long-term history of metal deposition because accurate measurement of atmospheric deposition is a recent accomplishment. Reconstructions require: (1) accurate determination of concentrations of elements and isotopes, (2) accurate chronology of archives, and (3) archives that faithfully record atmosphere deposition. The most useful long-term archives are accumulations of ice and snow, peat, and lake sediment. Quantification of Cd deposition is uncommon because of its low concentration and substantial chemical mobility. Nonetheless, trends in peat and lake sediment are similar to those of Hg and Pb since ca. 1800 a.d. Both Hg and Pb are relatively chemically immobile and thus the peat and lake archives are believed to record historic trends of atmospheric deposition. Isotopic and concentration studies of Pb indicate a history of northern hemisphere atmospheric pollution extending back prior to 0 a.d. Although measurements of Hg concentration are now routine, isotopic measurements are in their infancy. Some Hg pollution sources have unique isotopic ratios, thereby contributing unique signals to the total Hg. Maximum accumulation rates of Hg and Pb occur up to 10 years later than for Cd (1970s versus 1960s in eastern North America, perhaps slightly later in Europe). By 2004, deposition of Cd, Hg, and Pb had declined from peak values in eastern North America more than 75, 75, and 90%, respectively

  4. Absolute density measurements in the middle atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Rapp

    2001-05-01

    Full Text Available In the last ten years a total of 25 sounding rockets employing ionization gauges have been launched at high latitudes ( ~ 70° N to measure total atmospheric density and its small scale fluctuations in an altitude range between 70 and 110 km. While the determination of small scale fluctuations is unambiguous, the total density analysis has been complicated in the past by aerodynamical disturbances leading to densities inside the sensor which are enhanced compared to atmospheric values. Here, we present the results of both Monte Carlo simulations and wind tunnel measurements to quantify this aerodynamical effect. The comparison of the resulting ‘ram-factor’ profiles with empirically determined density ratios of ionization gauge measurements and falling sphere measurements provides excellent agreement. This demonstrates both the need, but also the possibility, to correct aerodynamical influences on measurements from sounding rockets. We have determined a total of 20 density profiles of the mesosphere-lower-thermosphere (MLT region. Grouping these profiles according to season, a listing of mean density profiles is included in the paper. A comparison with density profiles taken from the reference atmospheres CIRA86 and MSIS90 results in differences of up to 40%. This reflects that current reference atmospheres are a significant potential error source for the determination of mixing ratios of, for example, trace gas constituents in the MLT region.Key words. Middle atmosphere (composition and chemistry; pressure, density, and temperature; instruments and techniques

  5. Absolute density measurements in the middle atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Rapp

    Full Text Available In the last ten years a total of 25 sounding rockets employing ionization gauges have been launched at high latitudes ( ~ 70° N to measure total atmospheric density and its small scale fluctuations in an altitude range between 70 and 110 km. While the determination of small scale fluctuations is unambiguous, the total density analysis has been complicated in the past by aerodynamical disturbances leading to densities inside the sensor which are enhanced compared to atmospheric values. Here, we present the results of both Monte Carlo simulations and wind tunnel measurements to quantify this aerodynamical effect. The comparison of the resulting ‘ram-factor’ profiles with empirically determined density ratios of ionization gauge measurements and falling sphere measurements provides excellent agreement. This demonstrates both the need, but also the possibility, to correct aerodynamical influences on measurements from sounding rockets. We have determined a total of 20 density profiles of the mesosphere-lower-thermosphere (MLT region. Grouping these profiles according to season, a listing of mean density profiles is included in the paper. A comparison with density profiles taken from the reference atmospheres CIRA86 and MSIS90 results in differences of up to 40%. This reflects that current reference atmospheres are a significant potential error source for the determination of mixing ratios of, for example, trace gas constituents in the MLT region.

    Key words. Middle atmosphere (composition and chemistry; pressure, density, and temperature; instruments and techniques

  6. Pathways, Impacts, and Policies on Severe Aerosol Injections into the Atmosphere: 2011 Severe Atmospheric Aerosols Events Conference

    KAUST Repository

    Weil, Martin

    2012-09-01

    The 2011 severe atmospheric events conference, held on August 11-12, 2011, Hamburg, Germany, discussed climatic and environmental changes as a result of various kinds of huge injections of aerosols into the atmosphere and the possible consequences for the world population. Various sessions of the conference dealt with different aspects of large aerosol injections and severe atmospheric aerosol events along the geologic time scale. A presentation about radiative heating of aerosols as a self-lifting mechanism in the Australian forest fires discussed the question of how the impact of tropical volcanic eruptions depends on the eruption season. H.-F. Graf showed that cloud-resolving plume models are more suitable to predict the volcanic plume height and dispersion than one-dimensional models. G. Stenchikov pointed out that the absorbing smoke plumes in the upper troposphere can be partially mixed into the lower stratosphere because of the solar heating and lofting effect.

  7. Pathways, Impacts, and Policies on Severe Aerosol Injections into the Atmosphere: 2011 Severe Atmospheric Aerosols Events Conference

    KAUST Repository

    Weil, Martin; Grassl, Hartmut; Hoshyaripour, Gholamali; Kloster, Silvia; Kominek, Jasmin; Misios, Stergios; Scheffran, Juergen; Starr, Steven; Stenchikov, Georgiy L.; Sudarchikova, Natalia; Timmreck, Claudia; Zhang, Dan; Kalinowski, Martin

    2012-01-01

    The 2011 severe atmospheric events conference, held on August 11-12, 2011, Hamburg, Germany, discussed climatic and environmental changes as a result of various kinds of huge injections of aerosols into the atmosphere and the possible consequences for the world population. Various sessions of the conference dealt with different aspects of large aerosol injections and severe atmospheric aerosol events along the geologic time scale. A presentation about radiative heating of aerosols as a self-lifting mechanism in the Australian forest fires discussed the question of how the impact of tropical volcanic eruptions depends on the eruption season. H.-F. Graf showed that cloud-resolving plume models are more suitable to predict the volcanic plume height and dispersion than one-dimensional models. G. Stenchikov pointed out that the absorbing smoke plumes in the upper troposphere can be partially mixed into the lower stratosphere because of the solar heating and lofting effect.

  8. Developing Tighter Constraints on Exoplanet Biosignatures by Modeling Atmospheric Haze

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felton, Ryan; Neveu, Marc; Domagal-Goldman, Shawn David; Desch, Steven; Arney, Giada

    2018-01-01

    As we increase our capacity to resolve the atmospheric composition of exoplanets, we must continue to refine our ability to distinguish true biosignatures from false positives in order to ultimately distinguish a life-bearing from a lifeless planet. Of the possible true and false biosignatures, methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are of interest, because on Earth geological and biological processes can produce them on large scales. To identify a biotic, Earth-like exoplanet, we must understand how these biosignatures shape their atmospheres. High atmospheric abundances of CH4 produce photochemical organic haze, which dramatically alters the photochemistry, climate, and spectrum of a planet. Arney et al. (2017) have suggested that haze-bearing atmospheres rich in CO2 may be a type of biosignature because the CH4 flux required to produce the haze is similar to the amount of biogenic CH4 on modern Earth. Atmospheric CH4 and CO2 both affect haze-formation photochemistry, and the potential for hazes to form in Earth-like atmospheres at abiotic concentrations of these gases has not been well studied. We will explore a wide range of parameter space of abiotic concentration levels of these gases to determine what spectral signatures are possible from abiotic environments and look for measurable differences between abiotic and biotic atmospheres. We use a 1D photochemical model with an upgraded haze production mechanism to compare Archean and modern Earth atmospheres to abiotic versions while varying atmospheric CH4 and CO2 levels and atmospheric pressure. We will vary CO2 from a trace gas to an amount such that it dominates atmospheric chemistry. For CH4, there is uncertainty regarding the amount of abiotic CH4 that comes from serpentinizing systems. To address this uncertainty, we will model three cases: 1) assume all CH4 comes from photochemistry; 2) use estimates of modern-day serpentinizing fluxes, assuming they are purely abiotic; and 3) assume serpentinizing

  9. DISC ATMOSPHERES AND WINDS IN X-RAY BINARIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Díaz Trigo

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available We review the current status of studies of disc atmospheres and winds in low mass X-ray binaries. We discuss the possible wind launching mechanisms and compare the predictions of the models with the existent observations. We conclude that a combination of thermal and radiative pressure (the latter being relevant at high luminosities can explain the current observations of atmospheres and winds in both neutron star and black hole binaries. Moreover, these winds and atmospheres could contribute significantly to the broad iron emission line observed in these systems.

  10. Model for Atmospheric Propagation of Spatially Combined Laser Beams

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS MODEL FOR ATMOSPHERIC PROPAGATION OF SPATIALLY COMBINED LASER BEAMS by Kum Leong Lee September...MODEL FOR ATMOSPHERIC PROPAGATION OF SPATIALLY COMBINED LASER BEAMS 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 6. AUTHOR(S) Kum Leong Lee 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND...BLANK ii Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. MODEL FOR ATMOSPHERIC PROPAGATION OF SPATIALLY COMBINED LASER BEAMS Kum Leong Lee

  11. Multiangle lidar observations of the Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lalitkumar Prakash, Pawar; Choukiker, Yogesh Kumar; Raghunath, K.

    2018-04-01

    Atmospheric Lidars are used extensively to get aerosol parameters like backscatter coefficient, backscatter ratio etc. National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Gadanki (13°N, 79°E), India has a powerful lidar which has alt-azimuth capability. Inversion method is applied to data from observations of lidar system at different azimuth and elevation angles. Data Analysis is described and Observations in 2D and 3D format are discussed. Presence of Cloud and the variation of backscatter parameters are seen in an interesting manner.

  12. Passive sampling for the isotopic fingerprinting of atmospheric mercury

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergquist, B. A.; MacLagan, D.; Spoznar, N.; Kaplan, R.; Chandan, P.; Stupple, G.; Zimmerman, L.; Wania, F.; Mitchell, C. P. J.; Steffen, A.; Monaci, F.; Derry, L. A.

    2017-12-01

    Recent studies show that there are variations in the mercury (Hg) isotopic signature of atmospheric Hg, which demonstrates the potential for source tracing and improved understanding of atmospheric cycling of Hg. However, current methods for both measuring atmospheric Hg and collecting enough atmospheric Hg for isotopic analyses require expensive instruments that need power and expertise. Additionally, methods for collecting enough atmospheric Hg for isotopic analysis require pumping air through traps for long periods (weeks and longer). Combining a new passive atmospheric sampler for mercury (Hg) with novel Hg isotopic analyses will allow for the application of stable Hg isotopes to atmospheric studies of Hg. Our group has been testing a new passive sampler for gaseous Hg that relies on the diffusion of Hg through a diffusive barrier and adsorption onto a sulphur-impregnated activated carbon sorbent. The benefit of this passive sampler is that it is low cost, requires no power, and collects gaseous Hg for up to one year with linear, well-defined uptake, which allows for reproducible and accurate measurements of atmospheric gaseous Hg concentrations ( 8% uncertainty). As little as one month of sampling is often adequate to collect sufficient Hg for isotopic analysis at typical background concentrations. Experiments comparing the isotopic Hg signature in activated carbon samples using different approaches (i.e. by passive diffusion, by passive diffusion through diffusive barriers of different thickness, by active pumping) and at different temperatures confirm that the sampling process itself does not impose mass-independent fractionation (MIF). However, sampling does result in a consistent and thus correctable mass-dependent fractionation (MDF) effect. Therefore, the sampler preserves Hg MIF with very high accuracy and precision, which is necessary for atmospheric source tracing, and reasonable MDF can be estimated with some increase in error. In addition to

  13. Results from atmospheric neutrinos

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Africa and South India first detected the natural neutrinos and observed .... lucky coincidences, such as the angular diameter of the moon and sun being ... (where there is some peaking due to longer flight paths for pions in the atmosphere).

  14. Highly resolved measurements of atmospheric turbulence with the new 2d-Atmospheric Laser Cantilever Anemometer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeromin, A; Schaffarczyk, A P; Puczylowski, J; Peinke, J; Hölling, M

    2014-01-01

    For the investigation of atmospheric turbulent flows on small scales a new anemometer was developed, the so-called 2d-Atmospheric Laser Cantilever Anemometer (2d-ALCA). It performs highly resolved measurements with a spatial resolution in millimeter range and temporal resolution in kHz range, thus detecting very small turbulent structures. The anemometer is a redesign of the successfully operating 2d-LCA for laboratory application. The new device was designed to withstand hostile operating environments (rain and saline, humid air). In February 2012, the 2d-ALCA was used for the first time in a test field. The device was mounted in about 53 m above ground level on a lattice tower near the German North Sea coast. Wind speed was measured by the 2d-ALCA at 10 kHz sampling rate and by cup anemometers at 1 Hz. The instantaneous wind speed ranged from 8 m/s to 19 m/s at an average turbulence level of about 7 %. Wind field characteristics were analyzed based on cup anemometer as well as 2d-ALCA. The combination of both devices allowed the study of atmospheric turbulence over several magnitudes in turbulent scales

  15. ARTEAM - Advanced ray tracing with earth atmospheric models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kunz, G.J.; Moerman, M.M.; Eijk, A.M.J. van

    2002-01-01

    The Advanced Ray Tracing with Earth Atmospheric Models (ARTEAM) aims at a description of the electro-optical propagation environment in the marine atmospheric surface layer. For given meteorological conditions, the model evaluates height- and range-resolved transmission losses, refraction and

  16. Condensation: Passenger Not Driver in Atmospheric Thermodynamics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jack Denur

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The second law of thermodynamics states that processes yielding work or at least capable of yielding work are thermodynamically spontaneous, and that those costing work are thermodynamically nonspontaneous. Whether a process yields or costs heat is irrelevant. Condensation of water vapor yields work and hence is thermodynamically spontaneous only in a supersaturated atmosphere; in an unsaturated atmosphere it costs work and hence is thermodynamically nonspontaneous. Far more of Earth’s atmosphere is unsaturated than supersaturated; based on this alone evaporation is far more often work-yielding and hence thermodynamically spontaneous than condensation in Earth’s atmosphere—despite condensation always yielding heat and evaporation always costing heat. Furthermore, establishment of the unstable or at best metastable condition of supersaturation, and its maintenance in the face of condensation that would wipe it out, is always work-costing and hence thermodynamically nonspontaneous in Earth’s atmosphere or anywhere else. The work required to enable supersaturation is most usually provided at the expense of temperature differences that enable cooling to below the dew point. In the case of most interest to us, convective weather systems and storms, it is provided at the expense of vertical temperature gradients exceeding the moist adiabatic. Thus, ultimately, condensation is a work-costing and hence thermodynamically nonspontaneous process even in supersaturated regions of Earth’s or any other atmosphere. While heat engines in general can in principle extract all of the work represented by any temperature difference until it is totally neutralized to isothermality, convective weather systems and storms in particular cannot. They can extract only the work represented by partial neutralization of super-moist-adiabatic lapse rates to moist-adiabaticity. Super-moist-adiabatic lapse rates are required to enable convection of saturated air

  17. Analysis of the atmospheric upward radiation in low latitude area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Haiying; Wu, Zhensen; Lin, Leke; Lu, Changsheng

    2016-10-01

    Remote sensing using THz wave has irreplaceable advantage comparing to the microwave and the infrared waves, and study on the THz remote sensing become more and more popular in recent years. The major applications of the remote sensing in THz wavelengths are the retrieval of the atmospheric parameters and the microphysical information of the ice cloud. The remote sensing of the atmosphere is based on the radiation of THz wave along the earth-space path of which the most significant part is the upward radiation of the atmosphere. The upward radiation of the atmosphere in sunny day in the low latitude area is computed and analyzed in this paper. The absorption of THz wave by the atmosphere is calculated using the formulations illustrated in the Recommendation ITU-R P.676 to save machine hour, the frequency range is then restricted below 1THz. The frequencies used for the retrieval of atmospheric parameters such as temperature and water content are usually a few hundred GHz, at the lower end of THz wavelengths, so this frequency range is sufficient. The radiation contribution of every atmospheric layer for typical frequencies such as absorption window frequencies and peak frequencies are analyzed. Results show that at frequencies which absorption is severe, information about lower atmosphere cannot reach the receiver onboard a satellite or other high platforms due to the strong absorption along the path.

  18. The Effect of Starspots on Detectability of Exoplanet Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmann, Ryan; Berta-Thompson, Zachory

    2018-01-01

    Transmission spectroscopy is an effective tool for detecting and characterizing the atmospheres of transiting extrasolar planets. However, the presence of cool spots on a planet’s host star can be a source of uncertainty that is difficult to account for. Cool starspots introduce wavelength-dependent features and noise into the transmission spectrum of an orbiting exoplanet. For sufficiently cool stars, especially M dwarfs, this could cause false detections of water and other species in the planet’s atmosphere. To understand the extent of this problem, we use a combination of PHOENIX model spectra and the starspot simulation code MACULA to simulate the effects of starspots on observed transmission spectra for a wide variety of stars and spot configurations. By comparing the simulated DoTV (Depth of Transit Variation) due to starspots with models of the expected DoTV from exoplanet atmospheres with a given composition, we can estimate the level of effect the starspots have on the detectability of various atmospheres. For example, our results indicate for TRAPPIST-1’s planets that while the large amplitude absorption features from a H/He-rich atmosphere should be easily detectable, a pure water atmosphere would be much harder to distinguish from starspot noise. Consequently, proper characterization of exoplanet atmospheres, especially around cool, active host stars, requires a proper understanding of the star’s spot properties and suitable methods for reducing or removing spot-induced brightness fluctuations as a source of noise.

  19. Eddy transport of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, J. R.; Haberle, Robert M.

    1993-01-01

    Viking orbiter measurements of the Martian atmosphere suggest that the residual north polar water-ice cap is the primary source of atmospheric water vapor, which appears at successively lower northern latitudes as the summer season progresses. Zonally symmetric studies of water vapor transport indicate that the zonal mean meridional circulation is incapable of transporting from north polar regions to low latitudes the quantity of water vapor observed. This result has been interpreted as implying the presence of nonpolar sources of water. Another possibility is the ability of atmospheric wave motions, which are not accounted for in a zonally symmetric framework, to efficiently accomplish the transport from a north polar source to the entirety of the Northern Hemisphere. The ability or inability of the full range of atmospheric motions to accomplish this transport has important implications regarding the questions of water sources and sinks on Mars: if the full spectrum of atmospheric motions proves to be incapable of accomplishing the transport, it strengthens arguments in favor of additional water sources. Preliminary results from a three dimensional atmospheric dynamical/water vapor transport numerical model are presented. The model accounts for the physics of a subliming water-ice cap, but does not yet incorporate recondensation of this sublimed water. Transport of vapor away from this water-ice cap in this three dimensional framework is compared with previously obtained zonally symmetric (two dimensional) results to quantify effects of water vapor transport by atmospheric eddies.

  20. The atmosphere and climate of Mars

    CERN Document Server

    Clancy, R Todd; Forget, François; Smith, Michael D; Zurek, Richard W

    2017-01-01

    Humanity has long been fascinated by the planet Mars. Was its climate ever conducive to life? What is the atmosphere like today and why did it change so dramatically over time? Eleven spacecraft have successfully flown to Mars since the Viking mission of the 1970s and early 1980s. These orbiters, landers and rovers have generated vast amounts of data that now span a Martian decade (roughly eighteen years). This new volume brings together the many new ideas about the atmosphere and climate system that have emerged, including the complex interplay of the volatile and dust cycles, the atmosphere-surface interactions that connect them over time, and the diversity of the planet's environment and its complex history. Including tutorials and explanations of complicated ideas, students, researchers and non-specialists alike are able to use this resource to gain a thorough and up-to-date understanding of this most Earth-like of planetary neighbours.

  1. Cloud Computing with iPlant Atmosphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKay, Sheldon J; Skidmore, Edwin J; LaRose, Christopher J; Mercer, Andre W; Noutsos, Christos

    2013-10-15

    Cloud Computing refers to distributed computing platforms that use virtualization software to provide easy access to physical computing infrastructure and data storage, typically administered through a Web interface. Cloud-based computing provides access to powerful servers, with specific software and virtual hardware configurations, while eliminating the initial capital cost of expensive computers and reducing the ongoing operating costs of system administration, maintenance contracts, power consumption, and cooling. This eliminates a significant barrier to entry into bioinformatics and high-performance computing for many researchers. This is especially true of free or modestly priced cloud computing services. The iPlant Collaborative offers a free cloud computing service, Atmosphere, which allows users to easily create and use instances on virtual servers preconfigured for their analytical needs. Atmosphere is a self-service, on-demand platform for scientific computing. This unit demonstrates how to set up, access and use cloud computing in Atmosphere. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  2. Lightning, atmospheric electricity and climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Price, C.

    1993-10-01

    Temperature records indicate that a global warming of 0.5-0.7 degrees C has occurred over the past century (Hansen and Lebedeff, 1987). Whether this trend is a result of increased trace gas concentrations in the atmosphere, or simply a result of natural variability; is still not known. These temperature trends are derived from thousands of observations worldwide. However, these observations are concentrated largely over continental areas, and then mainly in the northern hemisphere's populated regions. This northern hemisphere continental bias results in large uncertainties in estimates of global temperature trends. Due to the increasing evidence that the present buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may result in an additional global warming of 1-5 degrees C by the year 2050 (IPCC, 1990), it is increasingly important to find afternative methods to monitor fluctuations in global surface temperatures. As shown by two recent studies (Williams, 1992; Price, 1993), the global atmospheric electric circuit may provide a promising afternative for monitoring future climate change

  3. Occultations for probing atmosphere and climate

    CERN Document Server

    Foelsche, Ulrich; Steiner, Andrea

    2004-01-01

    Use of occultation methodology for observing the Earth's atmosphere and climate has become so broad as to comprise solar, lunar, stellar, navigation and satellite­ crosslink occultation methods. The atmospheric parameters obtained extend from the fundamental variables temperature, density, pressure, water vapor, and ozone via a multitude of trace gas species to particulate species such as aerosols and cloud liquid water. Ionospheric electron density is sensed as well. The methods all share the key properties of self-calibration, high accuracy and vertical resolution, global coverage, and (if using radio signals) all-weather capability. Occultation data are thus of high value in a wide range of fields including climate monitoring and research, atmospheric physics and chemistry, operational meteorology, and other fields such as space weather and planetary science. This wide area of variants and uses of the occultation method has led to a diversi­ fication of the occultation-related scientific community into a...

  4. Laser beam propagation in atmospheric turbulence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murty, S. S. R.

    1979-01-01

    The optical effects of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of low power laser beams are reviewed in this paper. The optical effects are produced by the temperature fluctuations which result in fluctuations of the refractive index of air. The commonly-used models of index-of-refraction fluctuations are presented. Laser beams experience fluctuations of beam size, beam position, and intensity distribution within the beam due to refractive turbulence. Some of the observed effects are qualitatively explained by treating the turbulent atmosphere as a collection of moving gaseous lenses of various sizes. Analytical results and experimental verifications of the variance, covariance and probability distribution of intensity fluctuations in weak turbulence are presented. For stronger turbulence, a saturation of the optical scintillations is observed. The saturation of scintillations involves a progressive break-up of the beam into multiple patches; the beam loses some of its lateral coherence. Heterodyne systems operating in a turbulent atmosphere experience a loss of heterodyne signal due to the destruction of coherence.

  5. Characterization and evolution of distant planetary atmospheres using stellar occultations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, L. A.

    2008-09-01

    Ground-based or near-Earth (e.g., HST) stellar occultations of every atmosphere in our solar system has been observed: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, Uranus, Neptune, Triton, and Pluto [1]. These observations probe the atmospheres at roughly 0.1 to 100 microbar. I will talk about three aspects of stellar occultations: one-dimensional vertical profiles of the atmosphere, two- or three-dimensional atmospheric states, and the time evolution of atmosphere. In all three, I will draw on recent observations, with an emphasis on Pluto. Occultations are particularly important for the study of Pluto's atmosphere, which is impossible to study with imaging, and extremely difficult to study with spectroscopy. It was discovered by stellar occultation in 1988 [2]. No subsequent Pluto occultations were observed until two events in 2002 [3]. Pluto is now crossing the galactic plane, and there have been several additional occultations observed since 2006. These include a high signal-to-noise observation from the Anglo Australian Observatory in 2006 [4] (Fig 1), densely spaced visible and infrared observations of Pluto's upper atmosphere from telescopes in the US and Mexico in March, 2007 [5] (Fig. 2), and a dualwavelength central flash observation from Mt. John in July, 2007 [6] (Fig 3). The flux from a star occulted by an atmosphere diminishes primarily due to the increase in refraction with depth in the atmosphere, defocusing the starlight, although absorption and tangential focusing can also contribute. Because the atmospheric density, to first order, follows an exponential, it is feasible to derive a characteristic pressure and temperature from isothermal fits to even low-quality occultation light curves. Higher quality light curves allow fits with more flexible models, or light curve inversions that derive temperatures limited by the resolution of the data. These allow the derivation of one-dimensional profiles of temperature and pressure vs. altitude, which are critical

  6. Atmospheric emissions from power plant cooling towers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Micheletti, W.

    2006-01-01

    Power plant recirculated cooling systems (cooling towers) are not typically thought of as potential sources of air pollution. However, atmospheric emissions can be important considerations that may influence cooling tower design and operation. This paper discusses relevant U.S. environmental regulations for potential atmospheric pollutants from power plant cooling towers, and various methods for estimating and controlling these emissions. (orig.)

  7. Greenhouse effect due to atmospheric nitrous oxide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yung, Y. L.; Wang, W. C.; Lacis, A. A.

    1976-01-01

    The greenhouse effect due to nitrous oxide in the present atmosphere is about 0.8 K. Increase in atmospheric N2O due to perturbation of the nitrogen cycle by man may lead to an increase in surface temperature as large as 0.5 K by 2025, or 1.0 K by 2100. Other climatic effects of N2O are briefly discussed.

  8. Geophysical and atmospheric evolution of habitable planets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lammer, Helmut; Selsis, Frank; Chassefière, Eric; Breuer, Doris; Griessmeier, Jean-Mathias; Kulikov, Yuri N; Erkaev, Nikolai V; Khodachenko, Maxim L; Biernat, Helfried K; Leblanc, Francois; Kallio, Esa; Lundin, Richard; Westall, Frances; Bauer, Siegfried J; Beichman, Charles; Danchi, William; Eiroa, Carlos; Fridlund, Malcolm; Gröller, Hannes; Hanslmeier, Arnold; Hausleitner, Walter; Henning, Thomas; Herbst, Tom; Kaltenegger, Lisa; Léger, Alain; Leitzinger, Martin; Lichtenegger, Herbert I M; Liseau, René; Lunine, Jonathan; Motschmann, Uwe; Odert, Petra; Paresce, Francesco; Parnell, John; Penny, Alan; Quirrenbach, Andreas; Rauer, Heike; Röttgering, Huub; Schneider, Jean; Spohn, Tilman; Stadelmann, Anja; Stangl, Günter; Stam, Daphne; Tinetti, Giovanna; White, Glenn J

    2010-01-01

    The evolution of Earth-like habitable planets is a complex process that depends on the geodynamical and geophysical environments. In particular, it is necessary that plate tectonics remain active over billions of years. These geophysically active environments are strongly coupled to a planet's host star parameters, such as mass, luminosity and activity, orbit location of the habitable zone, and the planet's initial water inventory. Depending on the host star's radiation and particle flux evolution, the composition in the thermosphere, and the availability of an active magnetic dynamo, the atmospheres of Earth-like planets within their habitable zones are differently affected due to thermal and nonthermal escape processes. For some planets, strong atmospheric escape could even effect the stability of the atmosphere.

  9. CAMEX-3 ATMOSPHERIC EMITTED RADIANCE INTERFEROMETER (AERI) V1

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) was used to make atmospheric temperature and moisture retrievals. AERI provides absolutely calibrated...

  10. Biomass burning studies and the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prinn, R.G.

    1991-01-01

    The perturbations to local and regional atmospheric chemistry caused by biomass burning also have global significance. The International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project was created by scientists from over twenty countries in response to the growing interest concern about atmospheric chemical changes and their potential impact on mankind. The goal of the IGAC is to develop a fundamental understanding of the natural and anthropogenic processes that determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the interactions between atmospheric composition and biospheric and climatic processes. A specific objective is to accurately predict changes over the next century in the composition and chemistry of the global atmosphere. Current activities, leaders and scientists involved are presented in this chapter

  11. PHOTOCHEMISTRY IN TERRESTRIAL EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES. I. PHOTOCHEMISTRY MODEL AND BENCHMARK CASES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hu Renyu; Seager, Sara; Bains, William, E-mail: hury@mit.edu [Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

    2012-12-20

    We present a comprehensive photochemistry model for exploration of the chemical composition of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres. The photochemistry model is designed from the ground up to have the capacity to treat all types of terrestrial planet atmospheres, ranging from oxidizing through reducing, which makes the code suitable for applications for the wide range of anticipated terrestrial exoplanet compositions. The one-dimensional chemical transport model treats up to 800 chemical reactions, photochemical processes, dry and wet deposition, surface emission, and thermal escape of O, H, C, N, and S bearing species, as well as formation and deposition of elemental sulfur and sulfuric acid aerosols. We validate the model by computing the atmospheric composition of current Earth and Mars and find agreement with observations of major trace gases in Earth's and Mars' atmospheres. We simulate several plausible atmospheric scenarios of terrestrial exoplanets and choose three benchmark cases for atmospheres from reducing to oxidizing. The most interesting finding is that atomic hydrogen is always a more abundant reactive radical than the hydroxyl radical in anoxic atmospheres. Whether atomic hydrogen is the most important removal path for a molecule of interest also depends on the relevant reaction rates. We also find that volcanic carbon compounds (i.e., CH{sub 4} and CO{sub 2}) are chemically long-lived and tend to be well mixed in both reducing and oxidizing atmospheres, and their dry deposition velocities to the surface control the atmospheric oxidation states. Furthermore, we revisit whether photochemically produced oxygen can cause false positives for detecting oxygenic photosynthesis, and find that in 1 bar CO{sub 2}-rich atmospheres oxygen and ozone may build up to levels that have conventionally been accepted as signatures of life, if there is no surface emission of reducing gases. The atmospheric scenarios presented in this paper can serve as the

  12. A New Look at Atmospheric Water on Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yung, Y. L.; Kass, D. M.

    1998-09-01

    Water is a key component of the Martian climate, both at present and over the history of the planet. The current atmosphere averages ~ 10 pr-mu m of water. Its D/H ratio is enriched by a factor of five relative to terrestrial water, presumably due to water loss by escape. Based on H loss rates, H_2O loss is 10(-3) pr-mu m y(-1) . At this rate, the atmospheric reservoir would be depleted in 10(4) years, but there are several other reservoirs of water (the permanent northern polar cap, high latitude ground ice, and adsorbed water in the regolith) that should keep the atmospheric reservoir constant since its size climatologically controlled. Recently, Krasnopolsky et al. (1998) measured the D/H ratio in HD in the upper atmosphere. Their measurement implies that the fractionation factor, F (efficiency of D escape relative to H), is ~ 0.02. Mars has lost ~ 80 m of water via fractionating processes. This implies that Mars has an exchangeable reservoir equivalent to a ~ 13 m global layer, which represents a polar cap 2000 km in diameter (the Martian northern permanent cap is about 1200 km). Thus, while the northern permanent cap may be a significant water reservoir, it is probably not the only one. One of the major issues is the time-scale and mechanism for exchangeable reservoirs to buffer the atmosphere. During periods of high obliquity, high latitude water may be forced to migrate and equilibrate with the atmosphere in the process. But the low F value, combined with the rapid loss, implies that there has to be at least partial exchange on shorter time-scales to avoid extremely high D/H values. Over the last 4 x 10(5) years, since the last period of high obliquity, 40 pr-mu m of water have been lost. In order to keep this from causing more than a factor of 2 change in the atmospheric water D/H, at least 40 pr-mu m needs to have been involved in the hydrological cycle. This requires cycling through the atmosphere the equivalent of a 2 cm thick layer of ice covering the

  13. Atmospheric diffusion study and its application to nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chino, Masamichi

    1990-01-01

    The report reviews studies on atmospheric diffusion of radioactive substances released from a smokestack. Smoke containing radioactive substances, or radioactive plume, diffuses into air while being affected by atmospheric turbulent flows in various ways depending on the scale of the plume. The diffusion of a radioactive plume released from a smokestack is discussed first, focusing on the diffusion process in the vicinity of the smokestack, in the atmospheric boundary layer and in the troposphere. Many theoretical studies have been conducted by using the Gaussian plume model, though it is too simple to take into account the topographic effects and unstationary atmospheric conditions. Various numerical calculation models (designed for numerical calculation by a computer) have recently been developed, particularly for the implementation of environmental impact evaluation. Diagnostic and forecast type models are available for atmospheric air flow calculation. Other models available for diffusion analysis include the puff model, segment model, PIC (particle in cell)model, and random walk model. (N.K.)

  14. The global atmospheric environment for the next generation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dentener, F.; Stevenson, D.; Ellingsen, K.; Noije, van T.; Schultz, M.; Amann, M.; Atherton, C.; Bell, N.; Bergmann, D.; Bey, I.; Bouwman, L.; Butler, T.; Cofala, J.; Collins, B.; Drevet, J.; Doherty, R.; Eickhout, B.; Eskes, H.; Fiore, A.; Gauss, M.; Hauglustaine, D.; Horowitz, L.; Isaksen, I.S.A.; Josse, B.; Lawrence, M.; Krol, M.C.; Lamarque, J.F.; Montanaro, V.; Müller, J.F.; Peuch, V.H.; Pitari, G.; Pyle, J.; Rast, S.; Rodriguez, J.; Sanderson, M.; Savage, N.H.; Shindell, D.; Strahan, S.; Szopa, S.; Sudo, K.; Dingenen, van R.; Wild, O.; Zeng, G.

    2006-01-01

    Air quality, ecosystem exposure to nitrogen deposition, and climate change are intimately coupled problems: we assess changes in the global atmospheric environment between 2000 and 2030 using 26 state-of-the-art global atmospheric chemistry models and three different emissions scenarios. The first

  15. Critical review of hydraulic modeling on atmospheric heat dissipation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Onishi, Y.; Brown, S.M.

    1977-01-01

    Objectives of this study were: to define the useful roles of hydraulic modeling in understanding the predicting atmospheric effects of heat dissipation systems; to assess the state-of-the-art of hydraulic modeling of atmospheric phenomena; to inventory potentially useful existing hydraulic modeling facilities both in the United States and abroad; and to scope hydraulic model studies to assist the assessment of atmospheric effects of nuclear energy centers

  16. CLIMATE CHANGE. Long-term climate forcing by atmospheric oxygen concentrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poulsen, Christopher J; Tabor, Clay; White, Joseph D

    2015-06-12

    The percentage of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere varied between 10% and 35% throughout the Phanerozoic. These changes have been linked to the evolution, radiation, and size of animals but have not been considered to affect climate. We conducted simulations showing that modulation of the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2), as a result of its contribution to atmospheric mass and density, influences the optical depth of the atmosphere. Under low pO2 and a reduced-density atmosphere, shortwave scattering by air molecules and clouds is less frequent, leading to a substantial increase in surface shortwave forcing. Through feedbacks involving latent heat fluxes to the atmosphere and marine stratus clouds, surface shortwave forcing drives increases in atmospheric water vapor and global precipitation, enhances greenhouse forcing, and raises global surface temperature. Our results implicate pO2 as an important factor in climate forcing throughout geologic time. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  17. Global atmospheric particle formation from CERN CLOUD measurements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunne, Eimear M; Gordon, Hamish; Kürten, Andreas; Almeida, João; Duplissy, Jonathan; Williamson, Christina; Ortega, Ismael K; Pringle, Kirsty J; Adamov, Alexey; Baltensperger, Urs; Barmet, Peter; Benduhn, Francois; Bianchi, Federico; Breitenlechner, Martin; Clarke, Antony; Curtius, Joachim; Dommen, Josef; Donahue, Neil M; Ehrhart, Sebastian; Flagan, Richard C; Franchin, Alessandro; Guida, Roberto; Hakala, Jani; Hansel, Armin; Heinritzi, Martin; Jokinen, Tuija; Kangasluoma, Juha; Kirkby, Jasper; Kulmala, Markku; Kupc, Agnieszka; Lawler, Michael J; Lehtipalo, Katrianne; Makhmutov, Vladimir; Mann, Graham; Mathot, Serge; Merikanto, Joonas; Miettinen, Pasi; Nenes, Athanasios; Onnela, Antti; Rap, Alexandru; Reddington, Carly L S; Riccobono, Francesco; Richards, Nigel A D; Rissanen, Matti P; Rondo, Linda; Sarnela, Nina; Schobesberger, Siegfried; Sengupta, Kamalika; Simon, Mario; Sipilä, Mikko; Smith, James N; Stozkhov, Yuri; Tomé, Antonio; Tröstl, Jasmin; Wagner, Paul E; Wimmer, Daniela; Winkler, Paul M; Worsnop, Douglas R; Carslaw, Kenneth S

    2016-12-02

    Fundamental questions remain about the origin of newly formed atmospheric aerosol particles because data from laboratory measurements have been insufficient to build global models. In contrast, gas-phase chemistry models have been based on laboratory kinetics measurements for decades. We built a global model of aerosol formation by using extensive laboratory measurements of rates of nucleation involving sulfuric acid, ammonia, ions, and organic compounds conducted in the CERN CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets) chamber. The simulations and a comparison with atmospheric observations show that nearly all nucleation throughout the present-day atmosphere involves ammonia or biogenic organic compounds, in addition to sulfuric acid. A considerable fraction of nucleation involves ions, but the relatively weak dependence on ion concentrations indicates that for the processes studied, variations in cosmic ray intensity do not appreciably affect climate through nucleation in the present-day atmosphere. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  18. Technical discussions on Emissions and Atmospheric Modeling (TEAM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frost, G. J.; Henderson, B.; Lefer, B. L.

    2017-12-01

    A new informal activity, Technical discussions on Emissions and Atmospheric Modeling (TEAM), aims to improve the scientific understanding of emissions and atmospheric processes by leveraging resources through coordination, communication and collaboration between scientists in the Nation's environmental agencies. TEAM seeks to close information gaps that may be limiting emission inventory development and atmospheric modeling and to help identify related research areas that could benefit from additional coordinated efforts. TEAM is designed around webinars and in-person meetings on particular topics that are intended to facilitate active and sustained informal communications between technical staff at different agencies. The first series of TEAM webinars focuses on emissions of nitrogen oxides, a criteria pollutant impacting human and ecosystem health and a key precursor of ozone and particulate matter. Technical staff at Federal agencies with specific interests in emissions and atmospheric modeling are welcome to participate in TEAM.

  19. Multiangle lidar observations of the Atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lalitkumar Prakash Pawar

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric Lidars are used extensively to get aerosol parameters like backscatter coefficient, backscatter ratio etc. National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Gadanki (13°N, 79°E, India has a powerful lidar which has alt-azimuth capability. Inversion method is applied to data from observations of lidar system at different azimuth and elevation angles. Data Analysis is described and Observations in 2D and 3D format are discussed. Presence of Cloud and the variation of backscatter parameters are seen in an interesting manner.

  20. Pluto's surface composition and atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, L. A.; Gladstone, R.; Summers, M. E.; Strobel, D. F.; Kammer, J.; Hinson, D. P.; Grundy, W. M.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Protopapa, S.; Schmitt, B.; Stern, A.; Weaver, H. A., Jr.; Olkin, C.; Ennico Smith, K.

    2017-12-01

    New Horizons studied Pluto's N2-dominated neutral atmosphere through radio (at 4.2 cm with the REX radio experiment), solar and stellar occultations and airglow (at 52-187 nm with the Alice ultraviolet spectrograph), and imaging (with the LORRI and MVIC visible-wavelength cameras). It studied the plasma environment and solar wind interaction with in situ instruments (PEPPSI and SWAP). Contemporaneous observations of Pluto's atmosphere from Earth included a ground-based stellar occultation and ALMA observations of gaseous CO and HCN. Joint analysis of these datasets reveal a variable boundary layer; a stable lower atmosphere; radiative heating and cooling; haze production and hydrocarbon chemistry; diffusive equilibrium; and slower-than-expected escape. New Horizons studied Pluto's surface composition with the LEISA near-infrared spectral imager from 1.25 to 2.5 micron. Additional compositional information at higher spatial resolution came from the MVIC 4-channel color imager, which included a channel centered at 0.89 micron specifically designed to detect solid CH4. These instruments allow mapping of the volatiles N2, CO, and CH4, the surface expression of the H2O bedrock, and the dark, reddish material presumed to be tholins. These observations reveal a large equatorial basin (informally named Sptunik Planitia), filled with N2 ice with minor amounts of CO and CH4, surrounded by hills of CH4 and H2O ice. Broadly speaking, composition outside of Sptunik Planitia follows latitudinal banding, with dark, mainly volatile free terrains near the equator, with N2, CO, and CH4 at mid-northern latitudes, and mainly CH4 at high northern latitudes. Deviations from these broad trends are seen, and point to complex surface-atmosphere interactions at diurnal, seasonal, perennial, and million-year timescales.