Infrastructure monitoring with spaceborne SAR sensors

CERN Document Server

ANGHEL, ANDREI; CACOVEANU, REMUS

2017-01-01

This book presents a novel non-intrusive infrastructure monitoring technique based on the detection and tracking of scattering centers in spaceborne SAR images. The methodology essentially consists of refocusing each available SAR image on an imposed 3D point cloud associated to the envisaged infrastructure element and identifying the reliable scatterers to be monitored by means of four dimensional (4D) tomography. The methodology described in this book provides a new perspective on infrastructure monitoring with spaceborne SAR images, is based on a standalone processing chain, and brings innovative technical aspects relative to conventional approaches. The book is intended primarily for professionals and researchers working in the area of critical infrastructure monitoring by radar remote sensing.

A Machine Learning-based Rainfall System for GPM Dual-frequency Radar

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, H.; Chandrasekar, V.; Chen, H.

2017-12-01

Precipitation measurement produced by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) plays an important role in researching the water circle and forecasting extreme weather event. Compare with its predecessor - Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR), GRM DPR measures precipitation in two different frequencies (i.e., Ku and Ka band), which can provide detailed information on the microphysical properties of precipitation particles, quantify particle size distribution and quantitatively measure light rain and falling snow. This paper presents a novel Machine Learning system for ground-based and space borne radar rainfall estimation. The system first trains ground radar data for rainfall estimation using rainfall measurements from gauges and subsequently uses the ground radar based rainfall estimates to train GPM DPR data in order to get space based rainfall product. Therein, data alignment between space DPR and ground radar is conducted using the methodology proposed by Bolen and Chandrasekar (2013), which can minimize the effects of potential geometric distortion of GPM DPR observations. For demonstration purposes, rainfall measurements from three rain gauge networks near Melbourne, Florida, are used for training and validation purposes. These three gauge networks, which are located in Kennedy Space Center (KSC), South Florida Water Management District (SFL), and St. Johns Water Management District (STJ), include 33, 46, and 99 rain gauge stations, respectively. Collocated ground radar observations from the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) in Melbourne (i.e., KMLB radar) are trained with the gauge measurements. The trained model is then used to derive KMLB radar based rainfall product, which is used to train GPM DPR data collected from coincident overpasses events. The machine learning based rainfall product is compared against the GPM standard products

SPACE-BORNE LASER ALTIMETER GEOLOCATION ERROR ANALYSIS

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Y. Wang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the development of space-borne laser altimetry technology over the past 40 years. Taking the ICESAT satellite as an example, a rigorous space-borne laser altimeter geolocation model is studied, and an error propagation equation is derived. The influence of the main error sources, such as the platform positioning error, attitude measurement error, pointing angle measurement error and range measurement error, on the geolocation accuracy of the laser spot are analysed by simulated experiments. The reasons for the different influences on geolocation accuracy in different directions are discussed, and to satisfy the accuracy of the laser control point, a design index for each error source is put forward.

Simulating return signals of a spaceborne high-spectral resolution lidar channel at 532 nm

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Xiao, Yu; Binglong, Chen; Min, Min; Xingying, Zhang; Lilin, Yao; Yiming, Zhao; Lidong, Wang; Fu, Wang; Xiaobo, Deng

2018-06-01

High spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) system employs a narrow spectral filter to separate the particulate (cloud/aerosol) and molecular scattering components in lidar return signals, which improves the quality of the retrieved cloud/aerosol optical properties. To better develop a future spaceborne HSRL system, a novel simulation technique was developed to simulate spaceborne HSRL return signals at 532 nm using the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) cloud/aerosol extinction coefficients product and numerical weather prediction data. For validating simulated data, a mathematical particulate extinction coefficient retrieval method for spaceborne HSRL return signals is described here. We compare particulate extinction coefficient profiles from the CALIPSO operational product with simulated spaceborne HSRL data. Further uncertainty analysis shows that relative uncertainties are acceptable for retrieving the optical properties of cloud and aerosol. The final results demonstrate that they agree well with each other. It indicates that the return signals of the spaceborne HSRL molecular channel at 532 nm will be suitable for developing operational algorithms supporting a future spaceborne HSRL system.

Spaceborne Potential for Examining Taiga-Tundra Ecotone Form and Vulnerability

Science.gov (United States)

Montesano, Paul M.; Sun, Guoqing; Dubayah, Ralph O.; Ranson, K. Jon

2016-01-01

In the taiga-tundra ecotone (TTE), site-dependent forest structure characteristics can influence the subtle and heterogeneous structural changes that occur across the broad circumpolar extent. Such changes may be related to ecotone form, described by the horizontal and vertical patterns of forest structure (e.g., tree cover, density and height) within TTE forest patches, driven by local site conditions, and linked to ecotone dynamics. The unique circumstance of subtle, variable and widespread vegetation change warrants the application of spaceborne data including high-resolution (less than 5m) spaceborne imagery (HRSI) across broad scales for examining TTE form and predicting dynamics. This study analyzes forest structure at the patch-scale in the TTE to provide a means to examine both vertical and horizontal components of ecotone form. We demonstrate the potential of spaceborne data for integrating forest height and density to assess TTE form at the scale of forest patches across the circumpolar biome by (1) mapping forest patches in study sites along the TTE in northern Siberia with a multi-resolution suite of spaceborne data, and (2) examining the uncertainty of forest patch height from this suite of data across sites of primarily diffuse TTE forms. Results demonstrate the opportunities for improving patch-scale spaceborne estimates of forest height, the vertical component of TTE form, with HRSI. The distribution of relative maximum height uncertainty based on prediction intervals is centered at approximately 40%, constraining the use of height for discerning differences in forest patches. We discuss this uncertainty in light of a conceptual model of general ecotone forms, and highlight how the uncertainty of spaceborne estimates of height can contribute to the uncertainty in identifying TTE forms. A focus on reducing the uncertainty of height estimates in forest patches may improve depiction of TTE form, which may help explain variable forest responses in the

A scattering-based over-land rainfall retrieval algorithm for South Korea using GCOM-W1/AMSR-2 data

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Kwon, Young-Joo; Shin, Hayan; Ban, Hyunju; Lee, Yang-Won; Park, Kyung-Ae; Cho, Jaeil; Park, No-Wook; Hong, Sungwook

2017-08-01

Heavy summer rainfall is a primary natural disaster affecting lives and properties in the Korean Peninsula. This study presents a satellite-based rainfall rate retrieval algorithm for the South Korea combining polarization-corrected temperature ( PCT) and scattering index ( SI) data from the 36.5 and 89.0 GHz channels of the Advanced microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR-2) onboard the Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM)-W1 satellite. The coefficients for the algorithm were obtained from spatial and temporal collocation data from the AMSR-2 and groundbased automatic weather station rain gauges from 1 July - 30 August during the years, 2012-2015. There were time delays of about 25 minutes between the AMSR-2 observations and the ground raingauge measurements. A new linearly-combined rainfall retrieval algorithm focused on heavy rain for the PCT and SI was validated using ground-based rainfall observations for the South Korea from 1 July - 30 August, 2016. The validation presented PCT and SI methods showed slightly improved results for rainfall > 5 mm h-1 compared to the current ASMR-2 level 2 data. The best bias and root mean square error (RMSE) for the PCT method at AMSR-2 36.5 GHz were 2.09 mm h-1 and 7.29 mm h-1, respectively, while the current official AMSR-2 rainfall rates show a larger bias and RMSE (4.80 mm h-1 and 9.35 mm h-1, respectively). This study provides a scatteringbased over-land rainfall retrieval algorithm for South Korea affected by stationary front rain and typhoons with the advantages of the previous PCT and SI methods to be applied to a variety of spaceborne passive microwave radiometers.

Spaceborne potential for examining taiga-tundra ecotone form and vulnerability

Science.gov (United States)

Montesano, Paul M.; Sun, Guoqing; Dubayah, Ralph O.; Ranson, K. Jon

2016-07-01

In the taiga-tundra ecotone (TTE), site-dependent forest structure characteristics can influence the subtle and heterogeneous structural changes that occur across the broad circumpolar extent. Such changes may be related to ecotone form, described by the horizontal and vertical patterns of forest structure (e.g., tree cover, density, and height) within TTE forest patches, driven by local site conditions, and linked to ecotone dynamics. The unique circumstance of subtle, variable, and widespread vegetation change warrants the application of spaceborne data including high-resolution (ecotone form. We demonstrate the potential of spaceborne data for integrating forest height and density to assess TTE form at the scale of forest patches across the circumpolar biome by (1) mapping forest patches in study sites along the TTE in northern Siberia with a multi-resolution suite of spaceborne data and (2) examining the uncertainty of forest patch height from this suite of data across sites of primarily diffuse TTE forms. Results demonstrate the opportunities for improving patch-scale spaceborne estimates of forest height, the vertical component of TTE form, with HRSI. The distribution of relative maximum height uncertainty based on prediction intervals is centered at ˜ 40 %, constraining the use of height for discerning differences in forest patches. We discuss this uncertainty in light of a conceptual model of general ecotone forms and highlight how the uncertainty of spaceborne estimates of height can contribute to the uncertainty in identifying TTE forms. A focus on reducing the uncertainty of height estimates in forest patches may improve depiction of TTE form, which may help explain variable forest responses in the TTE to climate change and the vulnerability of portions of the TTE to forest structure change.

Space-borne polarimetric SAR sensors or the golden age of radar polarimetry

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Pottier E.

2010-06-01

Full Text Available SAR Polarimetry represents an active area of research in Active Earth Remote Sensing. This interest is clearly supported by the fact that nowadays there exists, or there will exist in a very next future, a non negligible quantity of launched Polarimetric SAR Spaceborne sensors. The ENVISAT satellite, developed by ESA, was launched on March 2002, and was the first Spaceborne sensor offering an innovative dualpolarization Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR system operating at C-band. The second Polarimetric Spaceborne sensor is ALOS, a Japanese Earth-Observation satellite, developed by JAXA and was launched in January 2006. This mission includes an active L-band polarimetric radar sensor (PALSAR whose highresolution data may be used for environmental and hazard monitoring. The third Polarimetric Spaceborne sensor is TerraSAR-X, a new German radar satellite, developed by DLR, EADS-Astrium and Infoterra GmbH, was launched on June 2007. This sensor carries a dual-polarimetric and high frequency X-Band SAR sensor that can be operated in different modes and offers features that were not available from space before. At least, the Polarimetric Spaceborne sensor, developed by CSA and MDA, and named RADARSAT-2 was launched in December 2007 The Radarsat program was born out the need for effective monitoring of Canada’s icy waters, and some Radarsat-2 capabilities that benefit sea- and river ice applications are the multi-polarization options that will improve ice-edge detection, ice-type discrimination and structure information. The many advances in these different Polarimetric Spaceborne platforms were developed to respond to specific needs for radar data in environmental monitoring applications around the world, like : sea- and river-ice monitoring, marine surveillance, disaster management, oil spill detection, snow monitoring, hydrology, mapping, geology, agriculture, soil characterisation, forestry applications (biomass, allometry, height�

Sub-Doppler spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansch, T.W.

1983-01-01

This chapter examines Doppler-free saturation spectroscopy, tunable cw sources, and Doppler-free two-photon spectroscopy. Discusses saturation spectroscopy; continuous wave saturation spectroscopy in the ultraviolet; and two-photon spectroscopy of atomic hydrogen 1S-2S. Focuses on Doppler-free laser spectroscopy of gaseous samples. Explains that in saturation spectroscopy, a monochromatic laser beam ''labels'' a group of atoms within a narrow range of axial velocities through excitation or optical pumping, and a Doppler-free spectrum of these selected atoms is observed with a second, counterpropagating beam. Notes that in two-photon spectroscopy it is possible to record Doppler-free spectra without any need for velocity selection by excitation with two counterpropagating laser beams whose first order Doppler shifts cancel

Wageningen Urban Rainfall Experiment 2014 (WURex14): Experimental setup and preliminary results

Science.gov (United States)

van Leth, Thomas C.; Uijlenhoet, Remko; Overeem, Aart; Leijnse, Hidde; Hazenberg, Pieter; Berne, Alexis

2016-04-01

Microwave links from cellular communication networks have been shown to be able to provide valuable information concerning the space-time variability of rainfall. In particular over urban areas, where network densities are generally high, they have the potential to complement existing dedicated infrastructure to measure rainfall (gauges, radars). In addition, microwave links provide a great opportunity for ground-based rainfall measurement for those land surface areas of the world where gauges and radars are generally lacking. Such information is not only crucial for water management and agriculture, but also for instance for ground validation of space-borne rainfall estimates such as those provided by the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) mission. WURex14 is dedicated to address several errors and uncertainties associated with such quantitative precipitation estimates in detail. The core of the experiment is provided by three co-located microwave links installed between two major buildings on the Wageningen University campus, approximately 2 km apart: a 38 GHz commercial microwave link, provided by T-Mobile NL, and 26 GHz and 38 GHz (dual-polarization) research microwave links from RAL. Transmitting and receiving antennas have been attached to masts installed on the roofs of the two buildings, about 30 m above the ground. This setup has been complemented with a Scintec infrared Large-Aperture Scintillometer, installed over the same path, as well as 5 Parsivel optical disdrometers and an automated rain gauge positioned at several locations along the path. Temporal sampling of the received signals was performed at a rate of 20 Hz. The setup is being monitored by time-lapse cameras to assess the state of the antennas as well as the atmosphere. Finally, data is available from the KNMI weather radars and an automated weather station situated just outside Wageningen. The experiment has been active between August 2014 and December 2015. We give a global overview of

Doppler Tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Marsh, T. R.

I review the method of Doppler tomography which translates binary-star line profiles taken at a series of orbital phases into a distribution of emission over the binary. I begin with a discussion of the basic principles behind Doppler tomography, including a comparison of the relative merits of maximum entropy regularisation versus filtered back-projection for implementing the inversion. Following this I discuss the issue of noise in Doppler images and possible methods for coping with it. Then I move on to look at the results of Doppler Tomography applied to cataclysmic variable stars. Outstanding successes to date are the discovery of two-arm spiral shocks in cataclysmic variable accretion discs and the probing of the stream/magnetospheric interaction in magnetic cataclysmic variable stars. Doppler tomography has also told us much about the stream/disc interaction in non-magnetic systems and the irradiation of the secondary star in all systems. The latter indirectly reveals such effects as shadowing by the accretion disc or stream. I discuss all of these and finish with some musings on possible future directions for the method. At the end I include a tabulation of Doppler maps published in refereed journals.

Optical registration of spaceborne low light remote sensing camera

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Li, Chong-yang; Hao, Yan-hui; Xu, Peng-mei; Wang, Dong-jie; Ma, Li-na; Zhao, Ying-long

2018-02-01

For the high precision requirement of spaceborne low light remote sensing camera optical registration, optical registration of dual channel for CCD and EMCCD is achieved by the high magnification optical registration system. System integration optical registration and accuracy of optical registration scheme for spaceborne low light remote sensing camera with short focal depth and wide field of view is proposed in this paper. It also includes analysis of parallel misalignment of CCD and accuracy of optical registration. Actual registration results show that imaging clearly, MTF and accuracy of optical registration meet requirements, it provide important guarantee to get high quality image data in orbit.

Feasibility Study on Passive-radar Detection of Space Targets Using Spaceborne Illuminators of Opportunity

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Jiang Tie-zhen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Space target surveillance generally uses active radars. To take full advantage of passive radars, the idea of using spaceborne illuminators of opportunity for space target detection is presented in this paper. Analysis of the detectable time and direct wave suppression shows that passive radar using spaceborne illuminators of opportunity can effectively detect a Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO target. Meanwhile, Ku and L band bi-static radar cross section of passive radars that use spaceborne illuminators of opportunity are presented by simulation, providing the basis of choosing space target forward scatter. Finally the key parameters, mainly system gain, accumulation time and radiation source selection are studied. Results show that system size using satellite TV signals as illuminators of opportunity is relatively small. These encouraging results should stimulate the development of passive radar detection of space targets using spaceborne illuminators of opportunity.

Forward modeling of space-borne gravitational wave detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rubbo, Louis J.; Cornish, Neil J.; Poujade, Olivier

2004-01-01

Planning is underway for several space-borne gravitational wave observatories to be built in the next 10 to 20 years. Realistic and efficient forward modeling will play a key role in the design and operation of these observatories. Space-borne interferometric gravitational wave detectors operate very differently from their ground-based counterparts. Complex orbital motion, virtual interferometry, and finite size effects complicate the description of space-based systems, while nonlinear control systems complicate the description of ground-based systems. Here we explore the forward modeling of space-based gravitational wave detectors and introduce an adiabatic approximation to the detector response that significantly extends the range of the standard low frequency approximation. The adiabatic approximation will aid in the development of data analysis techniques, and improve the modeling of astrophysical parameter extraction

Source analysis of spaceborne microwave radiometer interference over land

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Guan, Li; Zhang, Sibo

2016-03-01

Satellite microwave thermal emissions mixed with signals from active sensors are referred to as radiofrequency interference (RFI). Based on Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) observations from June 1 to 16, 2011, RFI over Europe was identified and analyzed using the modified principal component analysis algorithm in this paper. The X band AMSR-E measurements in England and Italy are mostly affected by the stable, persistent, active microwave transmitters on the surface, while the RFI source of other European countries is the interference of the reflected geostationary TV satellite downlink signals to the measurements of spaceborne microwave radiometers. The locations and intensities of the RFI induced by the geostationary TV and communication satellites changed with time within the observed period. The observations of spaceborne microwave radiometers in ascending portions of orbits are usually interfered with over European land, while no RFI was detected in descending passes. The RFI locations and intensities from the reflection of downlink radiation are highly dependent upon the relative geometry between the geostationary satellite and the measuring passive sensor. Only these fields of view of a spaceborne instrument whose scan azimuths are close to the azimuth relative to the geostationary satellite are likely to be affected by RFI.

Comparisons between PW Doppler system and enhanced FM Doppler system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wilhjelm, Jens E.; Pedersen, P. C.

1995-01-01

This paper presents a new implementation of an echo-ranging FM Doppler system with improved performance, relative to the FM Doppler system reported previously. The use of long sweeps provides a significant reduction in peak to average power ratio compared to pulsed wave (PW) emission. A PW Doppler...... system exploits the direct relationship between arrival time of the received signal and range from the transducer. In the FM Doppler systems, a similar relationship exists in the spectral domain of the demodulated received signals, so that range is represented by frequency. Thus, a shift in location...... of moving scatterers between consecutive emissions corresponds to a frequency shift in the spectral signature. The improvement relative to the earlier version of the FM Doppler system is attained by utilizing cross-correlation of real spectra rather than of magnitude spectra for assessing flow velocity...

Effect of Doppler Radial Velocity Data Assimilation on the Simulation of a Typhoon Approaching Taiwan: A Case Study of Typhoon Aere (2004

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Hsin-Hung Lin

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Compared to conventional data, radar observations have an advantage of high spatial and temporal resolutions, and Doppler radars are capable of capturing detailed characteristics of flow fields, including typhoon circulation. In this study, the possible improvement of short-term typhoon predictions near Taiwan, particularly with regard to related rainfall forecasts over the mountainous island, using Doppler radial wind observations is explored. The case of Typhoon Aere (2004 was chosen for study, and a series of experiments were carried out using the Penn State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 5 (MM5 with its three-dimensional variational (3D-VAR data assimilation system.

CLUJ-NAPOCA PRECIPITATION FORECAST USING WSR-98D DOPPLER RADAR

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Narcis MAIER

2011-11-01

Full Text Available CLUJ-NAPOCA precipitation forecast using WSR-98D Doppler radar. Forecasting inundations requires accurate spatial and temporal estimation of rainfalls in an area. Depending on the Z-R relationship (reflectivity-precipitation rate, the thresholds, maximum reflectivity data processing, VIL, cloud height or speed, provided by the WSR-98D affects the estimated precipitation used in the prediction of inundations. How much precipitation receives a watershed during an extreme event and what response will result depends on the basin hydrographic characteristics. A study of summer weather events between the years 2004-2008 and a new method in establishing relations between the radar estimated and recorded precipitations led to the determination of new relations between them which will balance the connections between them.

Ultrasonography with color Doppler and power Doppler in the diagnosis of periapical lesions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goel, Sumit; Nagendrareddy, Suma Gundareddy; Raju, Manthena Srinivasa; Krishnojirao, Dayashankara Rao Jingade; Rastogi, Rajul; Mohan, Ravi Prakash Sasankoti; Gupta, Swati

2011-01-01

To evaluate the efficacy of ultrasonography (USG) with color Doppler and power Doppler applications over conventional radiography in the diagnosis of periapical lesions. Thirty patients having inflammatory periapical lesions of the maxillary or mandibular anterior teeth and requiring endodontic surgery were selected for inclusion in this study. All patients consented to participate in the study. We used conventional periapical radiographs as well as USG with color Doppler and power Doppler for the diagnosis of these lesions. Their diagnostic performances were compared against histopathologic examination. All data were compared and statistically analyzed. USG examination with color Doppler and power Doppler identified 29 (19 cysts and 10 granulomas) of 30 periapical lesions accurately, with a sensitivity of 100% for cysts and 90.91% for granulomas and a specificity of 90.91% for cysts and 100% for granulomas. In comparison, conventional intraoral radiography identified only 21 lesions (sensitivity of 78.9% for cysts and 45.4% for granulomas and specificity of 45.4% for cysts and 78.9% for granulomas). There was definite correlation between the echotexture of the lesions and the histopathological features except in one case. USG imaging with color Doppler and power Doppler is superior to conventional intraoral radiographic methods for diagnosing the nature of periapical lesions in the anterior jaws. This study reveals the potential of USG examination in the study of other jaw lesions

Dual-Doppler Feasibility Study

Science.gov (United States)

Huddleston, Lisa L.

2012-01-01

When two or more Doppler weather radar systems are monitoring the same region, the Doppler velocities can be combined to form a three-dimensional (3-D) wind vector field thus providing for a more intuitive analysis of the wind field. A real-time display of the 3-D winds can assist forecasters in predicting the onset of convection and severe weather. The data can also be used to initialize local numerical weather prediction models. Two operational Doppler Radar systems are in the vicinity of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS); these systems are operated by the 45th Space Wing (45 SW) and the National Weather Service Melbourne, Fla. (NWS MLB). Dual-Doppler applications were considered by the 45 SW in choosing the site for the new radar. Accordingly, the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS), NWS MLB and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration tasked the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) to investigate the feasibility of establishing dual-Doppler capability using the two existing systems. This study investigated technical, hardware, and software requirements necessary to enable the establishment of a dual-Doppler capability. Review of the available literature pertaining to the dual-Doppler technique and consultation with experts revealed that the physical locations and resulting beam crossing angles of the 45 SW and NWS MLB radars make them ideally suited for a dual-Doppler capability. The dual-Doppler equations were derived to facilitate complete understanding of dual-Doppler synthesis; to determine the technical information requirements; and to determine the components of wind velocity from the equation of continuity and radial velocity data collected by the two Doppler radars. Analysis confirmed the suitability of the existing systems to provide the desired capability. In addition, it is possible that both 45 SW radar data and Terminal Doppler Weather Radar data from Orlando International Airport could be used to alleviate any

Ultrasonography with color Doppler and power Doppler in the diagnosis of periapical lesions

Science.gov (United States)

Goel, Sumit; Nagendrareddy, Suma Gundareddy; Raju, Manthena Srinivasa; Krishnojirao, Dayashankara Rao Jingade; Rastogi, Rajul; Mohan, Ravi Prakash Sasankoti; Gupta, Swati

2011-01-01

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of ultrasonography (USG) with color Doppler and power Doppler applications over conventional radiography in the diagnosis of periapical lesions. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients having inflammatory periapical lesions of the maxillary or mandibular anterior teeth and requiring endodontic surgery were selected for inclusion in this study. All patients consented to participate in the study. We used conventional periapical radiographs as well as USG with color Doppler and power Doppler for the diagnosis of these lesions. Their diagnostic performances were compared against histopathologic examination. All data were compared and statistically analyzed. Results: USG examination with color Doppler and power Doppler identified 29 (19 cysts and 10 granulomas) of 30 periapical lesions accurately, with a sensitivity of 100% for cysts and 90.91% for granulomas and a specificity of 90.91% for cysts and 100% for granulomas. In comparison, conventional intraoral radiography identified only 21 lesions (sensitivity of 78.9% for cysts and 45.4% for granulomas and specificity of 45.4% for cysts and 78.9% for granulomas). There was definite correlation between the echotexture of the lesions and the histopathological features except in one case. Conclusions: USG imaging with color Doppler and power Doppler is superior to conventional intraoral radiographic methods for diagnosing the nature of periapical lesions in the anterior jaws. This study reveals the potential of USG examination in the study of other jaw lesions. PMID:22223940

Ultrasonography with color Doppler and power Doppler in the diagnosis of periapical lesions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sumit Goel

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of ultrasonography (USG with color Doppler and power Doppler applications over conventional radiography in the diagnosis of periapical lesions. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients having inflammatory periapical lesions of the maxillary or mandibular anterior teeth and requiring endodontic surgery were selected for inclusion in this study. All patients consented to participate in the study. We used conventional periapical radiographs as well as USG with color Doppler and power Doppler for the diagnosis of these lesions. Their diagnostic performances were compared against histopathologic examination. All data were compared and statistically analyzed. Results: USG examination with color Doppler and power Doppler identified 29 (19 cysts and 10 granulomas of 30 periapical lesions accurately, with a sensitivity of 100% for cysts and 90.91% for granulomas and a specificity of 90.91% for cysts and 100% for granulomas. In comparison, conventional intraoral radiography identified only 21 lesions (sensitivity of 78.9% for cysts and 45.4% for granulomas and specificity of 45.4% for cysts and 78.9% for granulomas. There was definite correlation between the echotexture of the lesions and the histopathological features except in one case. Conclusions: USG imaging with color Doppler and power Doppler is superior to conventional intraoral radiographic methods for diagnosing the nature of periapical lesions in the anterior jaws. This study reveals the potential of USG examination in the study of other jaw lesions.

Prospects for Geostationary Doppler Weather Radar

Science.gov (United States)

Tanelli, Simone; Fang, Houfei; Durden, Stephen L.; Im, Eastwood; Rhamat-Samii, Yahya

2009-01-01

A novel mission concept, namely NEXRAD in Space (NIS), was developed for detailed monitoring of hurricanes, cyclones, and severe storms from a geostationary orbit. This mission concept requires a space deployable 35-m diameter reflector that operates at 35-GHz with a surface figure accuracy requirement of 0.21 mm RMS. This reflector is well beyond the current state-of-the-art. To implement this mission concept, several potential technologies associated with large, lightweight, spaceborne reflectors have been investigated by this study. These spaceborne reflector technologies include mesh reflector technology, inflatable membrane reflector technology and Shape Memory Polymer reflector technology.

Enhanced Orographic Tropical Rainfall: An Study of the Colombia's rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Peñaranda, V. M.; Hoyos Ortiz, C. D.; Mesa, O. J.

2015-12-01

Convection in tropical regions may be enhanced by orographic barriers. The orographic enhancement is an intensification of rain rates caused by the forced lifting of air over a mountainous structure. Orographic heavy rainfall events, occasionally, comes along by flooding, debris flow and substantial amount of looses, either economics or human lives. Most of the heavy convective rainfall events, occurred in Colombia, have left a lot of victims and material damages by flash flooding. An urgent action is required by either scientific communities or society, helping to find preventive solutions against these kind of events. Various scientific literature reports address the feedback process between the convection and the local orographic structures. The orographic enhancement could arise by several physical mechanism: precipitation transport on leeward side, convection triggered by the forcing of air over topography, the seeder-feeder mechanism, among others. The identification of the physical mechanisms for orographic enhancement of rainfall has not been studied over Colombia. As far as we know, orographic convective tropical rainfall is just the main factor for the altitudinal belt of maximum precipitation, but the lack of detailed hydro-meteorological measurements have precluded a complete understanding of the tropical rainfall in Colombia and its complex terrain. The emergence of the multifractal theory for rainfall has opened a field of research which builds a framework for parsimonious modeling of physical process. Studies about the scaling behavior of orographic rainfall have found some modulating functions between the rainfall intensity probability distribution and the terrain elevation. The overall objective is to advance in the understanding of the orographic influence over the Colombian tropical rainfall based on observations and scaling-analysis techniques. We use rainfall maps, weather radars scans and ground-based rainfall data. The research strategy is

Development of Spaceborne Radar Simulator by NICT and JAXA using JMA Cloud-resolving Model

Science.gov (United States)

Kubota, T.; Eito, H.; Aonashi, K.; Hashimoto, A.; Iguchi, T.; Hanado, H.; Shimizu, S.; Yoshida, N.; Oki, R.

2009-12-01

We are developing synthetic spaceborne radar data toward a simulation of the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) aboard the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core-satellite. Our purposes are a production of test-bed data for higher level DPR algorithm developers, in addition to a diagnosis of a cloud resolving model (CRM). To make the synthetic data, we utilize the CRM by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA-NHM) (Ikawa and Saito 1991, Saito et al. 2006, 2007), and the spaceborne radar simulation algorithm by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) named as the Integrated Satellite Observation Simulator for Radar (ISOSIM-Radar). The ISOSIM-Radar simulates received power data in a field of view of the spaceborne radar with consideration to a scan angle of the radar (Oouchi et al. 2002, Kubota et al. 2009). The received power data are computed with gaseous and hydrometeor attenuations taken into account. The backscattering and extinction coefficients are calculated assuming the Mie approximation for all species. The dielectric constants for solid particles are computed by the Maxwell-Garnett model (Bohren and Battan 1982). Drop size distributions are treated in accordance with those of the JMA-NHM. We assume a spherical sea surface, a Gaussian antenna pattern, and 49 antenna beam directions for scan angles from -17 to 17 deg. in the PR. In this study, we report the diagnosis of the JMA-NHM with reference to the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) and CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) using the ISOSIM-Radar from the view of comparisons in cloud microphysics schemes of the JMA-NHM. We tested three kinds of explicit bulk microphysics schemes based on Lin et al. (1983), that is, three-ice 1-moment scheme, three-ice 2-moment scheme (Eito and Aonashi 2009), and newly developed four-ice full 2-moment scheme (Hashimoto 2008). The hydrometeor species considered here are rain, graupel

Comparison of power Doppler and color Doppler ultrasonography in the detection of intrasticular blood flow of normal infants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Sung Ran; Lee, Ho Kyoung; Lee, Won Gyun; Youk, Dong Joon; Rho, Taek Soo; Lee, Min Jin; Lee, Sang Chun

1999-01-01

To compare color Doppler ultrasonography (US) and power Doppler US in the detection of intratesticular blood flow in normal infants and to asses the symmetry of blood flow. Testicular blood flow was assessed prospectively in 100 testes of 50 infants with both power and color Doppler US. We compared the power Doppler with color Doppler to detect intratesticular blood. When the flow was detected, intratesticular blood flow was graded as follows: grade 1: single intratesticular Doppler signal ; grade 2: multiple intratesticular Doppler signals. The symmetry of intratesticular flow was assessed by using the same method. Intratesticular flow was detected in 72 (72%) and 68 (68%) testes on power and color Doppler US, respectively. In 76 testes (76%), intratesticular flow was detected in either one or both techniques. On power Doppler US, grade 1 was seen in 40 tests and grade 2 in 32 testes. On color Doppler US, grade 1 was noted in 52 testes and grade 2 in 16 testes. Testicular blood flow was symmetric on both power and color Doppler US in each patient. There was no difference between power Doppler and color Doppler ultrasonography in detecting intratesticular blood flow in normal infants.

Ultrasonic colour Doppler imaging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Evans, David H.; Jensen, Jørgen Arendt; Nielsen, Michael Bachmann

2011-01-01

Ultrasonic colour Doppler is an imaging technique that combines anatomical information derived using ultrasonic pulse-echo techniques with velocity information derived using ultrasonic Doppler techniques to generate colour-coded maps of tissue velocity superimposed on grey-scale images of tissue...... anatomy. The most common use of the technique is to image the movement of blood through the heart, arteries and veins, but it may also be used to image the motion of solid tissues such as the heart walls. Colour Doppler imaging is now provided on almost all commercial ultrasound machines, and has been...... vectors. This review briefly introduces the principles behind colour Doppler imaging and describes some clinical applications. It then describes the basic components of conventional colour Doppler systems and the methods used to derive velocity information from the ultrasound signal. Next, a number of new...

Analysis and simulation of mesoscale convective systems accompanying heavy rainfall: The goyang case

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Hyun-Young; Ha, Ji-Hyun; Lee, Dong-Kyou; Kuo, Ying-Hwa

2011-05-01

We investigated a torrential rainfall case with a daily rainfall amount of 379 mm and a maximum hourly rain rate of 77.5 mm that took place on 12 July 2006 at Goyang in the middlewestern part of the Korean Peninsula. The heavy rainfall was responsible for flash flooding and was highly localized. High-resolution Doppler radar data from 5 radar sites located over central Korea were analyzed. Numerical simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were also performed to complement the high-resolution observations and to further investigate the thermodynamic structure and development of the convective system. The grid nudging method using the Global Final (FNL) Analyses data was applied to the coarse model domain (30 km) in order to provide a more realistic and desirable initial and boundary conditions for the nested model domains (10 km, 3.3 km). The mesoscale convective system (MCS) which caused flash flooding was initiated by the strong low level jet (LLJ) at the frontal region of high equivalent potential temperature (θe) near the west coast over the Yellow Sea. The ascending of the warm and moist air was induced dynamically by the LLJ. The convective cells were triggered by small thermal perturbations and abruptly developed by the warm θe inflow. Within the MCS, several convective cells responsible for the rainfall peak at Goyang simultaneously developed with neighboring cells and interacted with each other. Moist absolutely unstable layers (MAULs) were seen at the lower troposphere with the very moist environment adding the instability for the development of the MCS.

Performance of high-resolution X-band radar for rainfall measurement in The Netherlands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Z. van de Beek

2010-02-01

Full Text Available This study presents an analysis of 195 rainfall events gathered with the X-band weather radar SOLIDAR and a tipping bucket rain gauge network near Delft, The Netherlands, between May 1993 and April 1994. The aim of this paper is to present a thorough analysis of a climatological dataset using a high spatial (120 m and temporal (16 s resolution X-band radar. This makes it a study of the potential for high-resolution rainfall measurements with non-polarimetric X-band radar over flat terrain. An appropriate radar reflectivity – rain rate relation is derived from measurements of raindrop size distributions and compared with radar – rain gauge data. The radar calibration is assessed using a long-term comparison of rain gauge measurements with corresponding radar reflectivities as well as by analyzing the evolution of the stability of ground clutter areas over time. Three different methods for ground clutter correction as well as the effectiveness of forward and backward attenuation correction algorithms have been studied. Five individual rainfall events are discussed in detail to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of high-resolution X-band radar and the effectiveness of the presented correction methods. X-band radar is found to be able to measure the space-time variation of rainfall at high resolution, far greater than what can be achieved by rain gauge networks or a typical operational C-band weather radar. On the other hand, SOLIDAR can suffer from receiver saturation, wet radome attenuation as well as signal loss along the path. During very strong convective situations the signal can even be lost completely. In combination with several rain gauges for quality control, high resolution X-band radar is considered to be suitable for rainfall monitoring over relatively small (urban catchments. These results offer great prospects for the new high resolution polarimetric doppler X-band radar IDRA.

Gallblader varices in children with portal cavernoma: duplex-Doppler and color Doppler ultrasound studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muro, D.; Sanguesa, C.; Lopez, A.

1998-01-01

To determine the prevalence of varices in the gallbladder wall, observed by duplex-Doppler and color Doppler ultrasound, in children with cavernoma of the portal vein. Nineteen patients with portal hypertension were studied prospectively by duplex-Doppler and color Doppler ultrasound: 12 of the patients had developed a cavernoma of the portal vein. The presence of peri vesicular varices was assessed in the group of patients with portal cavernoma. Duplex-Doppler and color Doppler ultrasound disclosed the presence of varices in gallbladder wall in nine of the 12 patients (75%). The varices appeared as anechoic and serpiginous areas, and Doppler ultrasound revealed slowed venous flow. However, the three patients in whom gallbldder varices were not detected presented collateral gastric ciculation and spontaneous splenorenal shunt. Gallbladder varices are common in children with portal vein cavernoma; they present hepatopetal flow. Their developments is not related to the size of the portal cavernoma, the presence of spontaneous portosystemic shunts, or endoscopic obliteration of gastric and esophageal varices. The detection of gallbladder varices in patients with portal hypertension who are to undergo biliary surgery is highly important for the surgeon, helping to avoid perioperative complications. (Author) 15 refs

Heterogeneity of Dutch rainfall

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Witter, J.V.

1984-01-01

Rainfall data for the Netherlands have been used in this study to investigate aspects of heterogeneity of rainfall, in particular local differences in rainfall levels, time trends in rainfall, and local differences in rainfall trend. The possible effect of urbanization and industrialization on the

Avaliação dos tumores hepáticos ao Doppler Doppler evaluation of liver tumors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Márcio Martins Machado

2004-10-01

Full Text Available Os avanços recentes na ultra-sonografia têm ampliado a possibilidade de detecção de tumores hepáticos. Isto tem auxiliado na perspectiva de melhora do prognóstico destes pacientes, à medida que novas técnicas terapêuticas têm surgido. Neste artigo os autores relatam achados ao Doppler que podem auxiliar na identificação e caracterização dos tumores hepáticos, avaliando dados do Doppler colorido, pulsado e do Doppler de amplitude ("power Doppler". Fazem, também, referência a novas modalidades de imagem, como o uso da harmônica.Recent advances in ultrasound have optimized the detection of liver tumors and helped to improve the prognosis of patients with this condition as newly developed and improved therapeutic modalities have been established. The authors review important Doppler findings which may help in the identification and characterization of some hepatic tumors through the evaluation of color Doppler, pulsed Doppler and power Doppler features. New imaging methods such as the use of harmonics imaging are also reviewed.

Rainfall Erosivity in Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Panagos, Panos; Ballabio, Cristiano; Borrelli, Pasquale

2015-01-01

Rainfall is one the main drivers of soil erosion. The erosive force of rainfall is expressed as rainfall erosivity. Rainfall erosivity considers the rainfall amount and intensity, and is most commonly expressed as the Rfactor in the USLE model and its revised version, RUSLE. At national...... and continental levels, the scarce availability of data obliges soil erosion modellers to estimate this factor based on rainfall data with only low temporal resolution (daily, monthly, annual averages). The purpose of this study is to assess rainfall erosivity in Europe in the form of the RUSLE R-factor, based...

Doppler evaluation of valvular stenosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kisslo, J.; Krafchek, J.; Adams, D.; Mark, D.B.

1986-01-01

One of the reasons why use of Doppler echocardiography is growing rapidly is because of its utility in detecting the presence of valvular stenosis and in estimating its severity. Detection of the presence of stenotic valvular heart disease using Doppler echocardiography was originally described over 10 years ago. It has been demonstrated that Doppler blood velocity data could be used to estimate the severity of a stenotic lesion. This chapter discusses the evaluation of valvular stenois using Doppler

The Cognitive Doppler.

Science.gov (United States)

Kozoil, Micah E.

1989-01-01

Discusses the learning needs of students in the concrete operational stage in mathematics. Identifies the phenomenon of reduced cognitive performance in an out-of-class environment as the "Cognitive Doppler." Suggests methods of reducing the pronounced effects of the Cognitive Doppler by capitalizing on the students' ability to memorize…

Doppler ultrasound exam of an arm or leg

Science.gov (United States)

Peripheral vascular disease - Doppler; PVD - Doppler; PAD - Doppler; Blockage of leg arteries - Doppler; Intermittent claudication - Doppler; Arterial insufficiency of the legs - Doppler; Leg pain and ...

Wageningen Urban Rainfall Experiment 2014 (WURex14): Experimental Setup and First Results

Science.gov (United States)

van Leth, Thomas; Uijlenhoet, Remko; Overeem, Aart; Leijnse, Hidde; Hazenberg, Pieter

2015-04-01

Microwave links from cellular communication networks have been shown to be able to provide valuable information concerning the space-time variability of rainfall. In particular over urban areas, where network densities are generally high, they have the potential to complement existing dedicated infrastructure to measure rainfall (gauges, radars). In addition, microwave links provide a great opportunity for ground-based rainfall measurement for those land surface areas of the world where gauges and radars are generally lacking, e.g. Africa, Latin America, and large parts of Asia. Such information is not only crucial for water management and agriculture, but also for instance for ground validation of space-borne rainfall estimates such as those provided by the recently launched core satellite of the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) mission. WURex14 is dedicated to address several errors and uncertainties associated with such quantitative precipitation estimates in detail. The core of the experiment is provided by two co-located microwave links installed between two major buildings on the Wageningen University campus, approximately 2 km apart: a 38 GHz commercial microwave link, kindly provided to us by T-Mobile NL, and a 38 GHz dual-polarization research microwave link from RAL. Transmitting and receiving antennas have been attached to masts installed on the roofs of the two buildings, about 30 m above the ground. This setup has been complemented with a Scintec infrared Large-Aperture Scintillometer, installed over the same path, as well as a Parsivel optical disdrometer, located close to the mast on the receiving end of the links. During the course of the experiment, a 26 GHz RAL research microwave link was added to the experimental setup. Temporal sampling of the received signals was performed at a rate of 20 Hz. In addition, two time-lapse cameras have been installed on either side of the path to monitor the wetness of the antennas as well as the state of

A preliminary investigation of radar rainfall estimation in the Ardennes region and a first hydrological application for the Ourthe catchment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Berne

2005-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a first assessment of the hydrometeorological potential of a C-band doppler weather radar recently installed by the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium near the village of Wideumont in the southern Ardennes region. An analysis of the vertical profile of reflectivity for two contrasting rainfall events confirms the expected differences between stratiform and convective precipitation. The mean areal rainfall over the Ourthe catchment upstream of Tabreux estimated from the Wideumont weather radar using the standard Marshall-Palmer reflectivity-rain rate relation shows biases between +128% and –42% for six selected precipitation events. For two rainfall events the radar-estimated mean areal rainfall is applied to the gauge-calibrated (lumped HBV-model for the Ourthe upstream of Tabreux, resulting in a significant underestimation with respect to the observed discharge for one event and a closer match for another. A bootstrap analysis using the radar data reveals that the uncertainty in the hourly discharge from the ~1600km2} catchment associated with the sampling uncertainty of the mean areal rainfall estimated from 10 rain gauges evenly spread over the catchment amounts to ±25% for the two events analyzed. This uncertainty is shown to be of the same order of magnitude as that associated with the model variables describing the initial state of the model.

Spatiotemporal Interpolation of Rainfall by Combining BME Theory and Satellite Rainfall Estimates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tingting Shi

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The accurate assessment of spatiotemporal rainfall variability is a crucial and challenging task in many hydrological applications, mainly due to the lack of a sufficient number of rain gauges. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the spatiotemporal variations of annual and monthly rainfall over Fujian province in China by combining the Bayesian maximum entropy (BME method and satellite rainfall estimates. Specifically, based on annual and monthly rainfall data at 20 meteorological stations from 2000 to 2012, (1 the BME method with Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM estimates considered as soft data, (2 ordinary kriging (OK and (3 cokriging (CK were employed to model the spatiotemporal variations of rainfall in Fujian province. Subsequently, the performance of these methods was evaluated using cross-validation statistics. The results demonstrated that BME with TRMM as soft data (BME-TRMM performed better than the other two methods, generating rainfall maps that represented the local rainfall disparities in a more realistic manner. Of the three interpolation (mapping methods, the mean absolute error (MAE and root mean square error (RMSE values of the BME-TRMM method were the smallest. In conclusion, the BME-TRMM method improved spatiotemporal rainfall modeling and mapping by integrating hard data and soft information. Lastly, the study identified new opportunities concerning the application of TRMM rainfall estimates.

Doppler flowmetry in preeclampsia.

Science.gov (United States)

Zahumensky, J

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to summarize the new published data on the Doppler flowmetry in preeclampsia. We summarize the new published data on the Doppler flowmetry in uteroplacental, fetoplacental and fetal circulation in preeclampsia. The present review summarized the results of clinical research on the Doppler flowmetry in the screening of risk of preclampsia, in the diagnosis of preclampsia and in the fetal risk in preclampsia (Ref. 19). Full Text (Free, PDF) www.bmj.sk.

Steerable Doppler transducer probes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fidel, H.F.; Greenwood, D.L.

1986-01-01

An ultrasonic diagnostic probe is described which is capable of performing ultrasonic imaging and Doppler measurement consisting of: a hollow case having an acoustic window which passes ultrasonic energy and including chamber means for containing fluid located within the hollow case and adjacent to a portion of the acoustic window; imaging transducer means, located in the hollow case and outside the fluid chamber means, and oriented to direct ultrasonic energy through the acoustic window toward an area which is to be imaged; Doppler transducer means, located in the hollow case within the fluid chamber means, and movably oriented to direct Doppler signals through the acoustic window toward the imaged area; means located within the fluid chamber means and externally controlled for controllably moving the Doppler transducer means to select one of a plurality of axes in the imaged area along which the Doppler signals are to be directed; and means, located external to the fluid chamber means and responsive to the means for moving, for providing an indication signal for identifying the selected axis

Doppler radar flowmeter

Science.gov (United States)

Petlevich, Walter J.; Sverdrup, Edward F.

1978-01-01

A Doppler radar flowmeter comprises a transceiver which produces an audio frequency output related to the Doppler shift in frequency between radio waves backscattered from particulate matter carried in a fluid and the radiated radio waves. A variable gain amplifier and low pass filter are provided for amplifying and filtering the transceiver output. A frequency counter having a variable triggering level is also provided to determine the magnitude of the Doppler shift. A calibration method is disclosed wherein the amplifier gain and frequency counter trigger level are adjusted to achieve plateaus in the output of the frequency counter and thereby allow calibration without the necessity of being able to visually observe the flow.

Spatial weighting of Doppler reactivity feedback

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carew, J.F.; Diamond, D.J.; Todosow, M.

1977-12-01

The spatial weighting of the local Doppler feedback implicit in the determination of the core Doppler feedback reactivity has been investigated. Using a detailed planar PDQ7-II PWR model with local fuel-temperature feedback, the core Doppler spatial weight factor, S, has been determined for various control patterns and power levels. Assuming power-squared weighting of the local Doppler feedback, a simple analytic expression for S has been derived and, based on comparison with the PDQ7-II results, provides a convenient and accurate representation of the Doppler spatial weight factor. The sensitivity of these results to variations in the fuel rod heat transfer coefficients, fuel loading and the magnitude of the Doppler coefficient has also been evaluated. The dependence of the local Doppler coefficient on moderator temperature, boron concentration and control rod density has been determined and found to be weak. Selected comparisons with vendor analyses have been made and indicate general agreement

Simulation of an extreme heavy rainfall event over Chennai, India using WRF: Sensitivity to grid resolution and boundary layer physics

KAUST Repository

Srinivas, C.V.

2018-05-04

In this study, the heavy precipitation event on 01 December 2015 over Chennai located on the southeast coast of India was simulated using the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. A series of simulations were conducted using explicit convection and varying the planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes. The model results were compared with available surface, satellite and Doppler Weather Radar observations. Simulations indicate strong, sustained moist convection associated with development of a mesoscale upper air cyclonic circulation, during the passage of a synoptic scale low-pressure trough caused heavy rainfall over Chennai and its surroundings. Results suggest that veering of wind with height associated with strong wind shear in the layer 800–400 hPa together with dry air advection facilitated development of instability and initiation of convection. The 1-km domain using explicit convection improved the prediction of rainfall intensity of about 450 mm and its distribution. The PBL physics strongly influenced the rainfall prediction by changing the location of upper air circulation, energy transport, moisture convergence and intensity of convection in the schemes YSU, MYJ and MYNN. All the simulations underestimated the first spell of the heavy rainfall. While YSU and MYJ schemes grossly underestimated the rainfall and dislocated the area of maximum rainfall, the higher order MYNN scheme simulated the rainfall pattern in better agreement with observations. The MYNN showed lesser mixing and simulated more humid boundary layer, higher convective available potential energy (CAPE) and stronger winds at mid-troposphere than did the other schemes. The MYNN also realistically simulated the location of upper air cyclonic flow and various dynamic and thermodynamic features. Consequently it simulated stronger moisture convergence and higher precipitation.

Simulation of an extreme heavy rainfall event over Chennai, India using WRF: Sensitivity to grid resolution and boundary layer physics

KAUST Repository

Srinivas, C.V.; Yesubabu, V.; Hari Prasad, D.; Hari Prasad, K.B.R.R.; Greeshma, M.M.; Baskaran, R.; Venkatraman, B.

2018-01-01

In this study, the heavy precipitation event on 01 December 2015 over Chennai located on the southeast coast of India was simulated using the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. A series of simulations were conducted using explicit convection and varying the planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes. The model results were compared with available surface, satellite and Doppler Weather Radar observations. Simulations indicate strong, sustained moist convection associated with development of a mesoscale upper air cyclonic circulation, during the passage of a synoptic scale low-pressure trough caused heavy rainfall over Chennai and its surroundings. Results suggest that veering of wind with height associated with strong wind shear in the layer 800–400 hPa together with dry air advection facilitated development of instability and initiation of convection. The 1-km domain using explicit convection improved the prediction of rainfall intensity of about 450 mm and its distribution. The PBL physics strongly influenced the rainfall prediction by changing the location of upper air circulation, energy transport, moisture convergence and intensity of convection in the schemes YSU, MYJ and MYNN. All the simulations underestimated the first spell of the heavy rainfall. While YSU and MYJ schemes grossly underestimated the rainfall and dislocated the area of maximum rainfall, the higher order MYNN scheme simulated the rainfall pattern in better agreement with observations. The MYNN showed lesser mixing and simulated more humid boundary layer, higher convective available potential energy (CAPE) and stronger winds at mid-troposphere than did the other schemes. The MYNN also realistically simulated the location of upper air cyclonic flow and various dynamic and thermodynamic features. Consequently it simulated stronger moisture convergence and higher precipitation.

Rainfall simulation in education

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, Piet; Baartman, Jantiene; Gooren, Harm; Keesstra, Saskia

2016-04-01

Rainfall simulation has become an important method for the assessment of soil erosion and soil hydrological processes. For students, rainfall simulation offers an year-round, attractive and active way of experiencing water erosion, while not being dependent on (outdoors) weather conditions. Moreover, using rainfall simulation devices, they can play around with different conditions, including rainfall duration, intensity, soil type, soil cover, soil and water conservation measures, etc. and evaluate their effect on erosion and sediment transport. Rainfall simulators differ in design and scale. At Wageningen University, both BSc and MSc student of the curriculum 'International Land and Water Management' work with different types of rainfall simulation devices in three courses: - A mini rainfall simulator (0.0625m2) is used in the BSc level course 'Introduction to Land Degradation and Remediation'. Groups of students take the mini rainfall simulator with them to a nearby field location and test it for different soil types, varying from clay to more sandy, slope angles and vegetation or litter cover. The groups decide among themselves which factors they want to test and they compare their results and discuss advantage and disadvantage of the mini-rainfall simulator. - A medium sized rainfall simulator (0.238 m2) is used in the MSc level course 'Sustainable Land and Water Management', which is a field practical in Eastern Spain. In this course, a group of students has to develop their own research project and design their field measurement campaign using the transportable rainfall simulator. - Wageningen University has its own large rainfall simulation laboratory, in which a 15 m2 rainfall simulation facility is available for research. In the BSc level course 'Land and Water Engineering' Student groups will build slopes in the rainfall simulator in specially prepared containers. Aim is to experience the behaviour of different soil types or slope angles when (heavy) rain

Rainfall: State of the Science

Science.gov (United States)

Testik, Firat Y.; Gebremichael, Mekonnen

Rainfall: State of the Science offers the most up-to-date knowledge on the fundamental and practical aspects of rainfall. Each chapter, self-contained and written by prominent scientists in their respective fields, provides three forms of information: fundamental principles, detailed overview of current knowledge and description of existing methods, and emerging techniques and future research directions. The book discusses • Rainfall microphysics: raindrop morphodynamics, interactions, size distribution, and evolution • Rainfall measurement and estimation: ground-based direct measurement (disdrometer and rain gauge), weather radar rainfall estimation, polarimetric radar rainfall estimation, and satellite rainfall estimation • Statistical analyses: intensity-duration-frequency curves, frequency analysis of extreme events, spatial analyses, simulation and disaggregation, ensemble approach for radar rainfall uncertainty, and uncertainty analysis of satellite rainfall products The book is tailored to be an indispensable reference for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students who study any aspect of rainfall or utilize rainfall information in various science and engineering disciplines.

Trends in rainfall and rainfall-related extremes in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Mayowa, Olaniya Olusegun; Pour, Sahar Hadi; Shahid, Shamsuddin; Mohsenipour, Morteza; Harun, Sobri Bin; Heryansyah, Arien; Ismail, Tarmizi

2015-12-01

The coastlines have been identified as the most vulnerable regions with respect to hydrological hazards as a result of climate change and variability. The east of peninsular Malaysia is not an exception for this, considering the evidence of heavy rainfall resulting in floods as an annual phenomenon and also water scarcity due to long dry spells in the region. This study examines recent trends in rainfall and rainfall- related extremes such as, maximum daily rainfall, number of rainy days, average rainfall intensity, heavy rainfall days, extreme rainfall days, and precipitation concentration index in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. Recent 40 years (1971-2010) rainfall records from 54 stations along the east coast of peninsular Malaysia have been analyzed using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and the Sen's slope method. The Monte Carlo simulation technique has been used to determine the field significance of the regional trends. The results showed that there was a substantial increase in the annual rainfall as well as the rainfall during the monsoon period. Also, there was an increase in the number of heavy rainfall days during the past four decades.

Ultrasonic colour Doppler imaging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Evans, David H; Jensen, Jørgen Arendt; Nielsen, Michael Bachmann

2011-01-01

Ultrasonic colour Doppler is an imaging technique that combines anatomical information derived using ultrasonic pulse-echo techniques with velocity information derived using ultrasonic Doppler techniques to generate colour-coded maps of tissue velocity superimposed on grey-scale images of tissue...... anatomy. The most common use of the technique is to image the movement of blood through the heart, arteries and veins, but it may also be used to image the motion of solid tissues such as the heart walls. Colour Doppler imaging is now provided on almost all commercial ultrasound machines, and has been...

Modeling Sub-500MHz Space-Borne Radar Signal Propagation in Complex Media

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Space-borne radar platforms are becoming increasingly prevalent in current and planned missions by NASA and partner organizations (e.g. the European Space Agency...

[Effects of rainfall intensity on rainfall infiltration and redistribution in soil on Loess slope land].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yi; Shao, Ming'an

2006-12-01

With simulation test, this paper studied the patterns of rainfall infiltration and redistribution in soil on typical Loess slope land, and analyzed the quantitative relations between the infiltration and redistribution and the movement of soil water and mass, with rainfall intensity as the main affecting factor. The results showed that rainfall intensity had significant effects on the rainfall infiltration and water redistribution in soil, and the microcosmic movement of soil water. The larger the rainfall intensity, the deeper the wetting front of rainfall infiltration and redistribution was, and the wetting front of soil water redistribution had a slower increase velocity than that of rainfall infiltration. The power function of the wetting front with time, and also with rainfall intensity, was fitted well. There was also a quantitative relation between the wetting front of rainfall redistribution and the duration of rainfall. The larger the rainfall intensity, the higher the initial and steady infiltration rates were, and the cumulative infiltration increased faster with time. Moreover, the larger the rainfall intensity, the smaller the wetting front difference was at the top and the end of the slope. With the larger rainfall intensity, both the difference of soil water content and its descending trend between soil layers became more obvious during the redistribution process on slope land.

Doppler ultrasound monitoring technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Docker, M F

1993-03-01

Developments in the signal processing of Doppler ultrasound used for the detection of fetal heart rate (FHR) have improved the operation of cardiotocographs. These developments are reviewed and the advantages and disadvantages of the various Doppler and signal processing methods are compared.

Differential doppler heterodyning technique

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lading, Lars

1971-01-01

Measuring velocity without disturbing the moving object is possible by use of the laser doppler heterodyning technique. Theoretical considerations on the doppler shift show that the antenna property of the photodetector can solve an apparent conflict between two different ways of calculating...

Estimation of Rainfall Erosivity via 1-Minute to Hourly Rainfall Data from Taipei, Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ting-Yin; Yang, Ssu-Yao; Jan, Chyan-Deng

2017-04-01

Soil erosion is a natural process on hillslopes that threats people's life and properties, having a considerable environmental and economic implications for soil degradation, agricultural activity and water quality. The rainfall erosivity factor (R-factor) in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), composed of total kinetic energy (E) and the maximum 30-min rainfall intensity (I30), is widely used as an indicator to measure the potential risks of soil loss caused by rainfall at a regional scale. This R factor can represent the detachment and entrainment involved in climate conditions on hillslopes, but lack of 30-min rainfall intensity data usually lead to apply this factor more difficult in many regions. In recent years, fixed-interval, hourly rainfall data is readily available and widely used due to the development of automatic weather stations. Here we assess the estimations of R, E, and I30 based on 1-, 5-, 10-, 15-, 30-, 60-minute rainfall data, and hourly rainfall data obtained from Taipei weather station during 2004 to 2010. Results show that there is a strong correlation among R-factors estimated from different interval rainfall data. Moreover, the shorter time-interval rainfall data (e.g., 1-min) yields larger value of R-factor. The conversion factors of rainfall erosivity (ratio of values estimated from the resolution lower than 30-min rainfall data to those estimated from 60-min and hourly rainfall data, respectively) range from 1.85 to 1.40 (resp. from 1.89 to 1.02) for 60-min (resp. hourly) rainfall data as the time resolution increasing from 30-min to 1-min. This paper provides useful information on estimating R-factor when hourly rainfall data is only available.

Burst Format Design for Optimum Joint Estimation of Doppler-Shift and Doppler-Rate in Packet Satellite Communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luca Giugno

2007-05-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the problem of optimizing the burst format of packet transmission to perform enhanced-accuracy estimation of Doppler-shift and Doppler-rate of the carrier of the received signal, due to relative motion between the transmitter and the receiver. Two novel burst formats that minimize the Doppler-shift and the Doppler-rate Cramér-Rao bounds (CRBs for the joint estimation of carrier phase/Doppler-shift and of the Doppler-rate are derived, and a data-aided (DA estimation algorithm suitable for each optimal burst format is presented. Performance of the newly derived estimators is evaluated by analysis and by simulation, showing that such algorithms attain their relevant CRBs with very low complexity, so that they can be directly embedded into new-generation digital modems for satellite communications at low SNR.

Darfur: rainfall and conflict

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kevane, Michael; Gray, Leslie

2008-01-01

Data on rainfall patterns only weakly corroborate the claim that climate change explains the Darfur conflict that began in 2003 and has claimed more than 200 000 lives and displaced more than two million persons. Rainfall in Darfur did not decline significantly in the years prior to the eruption of major conflict in 2003; rainfall exhibited a flat trend in the thirty years preceding the conflict (1972-2002). The rainfall evidence suggests instead a break around 1971. Rainfall is basically stationary over the pre- and post-1971 sub-periods. The break is larger for the more northerly rainfall stations, and is less noticeable for En Nahud. Rainfall in Darfur did indeed decline, but the decline happened over 30 years before the conflict erupted. Preliminary analysis suggests little merit to the proposition that a structural break several decades earlier is a reasonable predictor of the outbreak of large-scale civil conflict in Africa

Darfur: rainfall and conflict

Science.gov (United States)

Kevane, Michael; Gray, Leslie

2008-07-01

Data on rainfall patterns only weakly corroborate the claim that climate change explains the Darfur conflict that began in 2003 and has claimed more than 200 000 lives and displaced more than two million persons. Rainfall in Darfur did not decline significantly in the years prior to the eruption of major conflict in 2003; rainfall exhibited a flat trend in the thirty years preceding the conflict (1972 2002). The rainfall evidence suggests instead a break around 1971. Rainfall is basically stationary over the pre- and post-1971 sub-periods. The break is larger for the more northerly rainfall stations, and is less noticeable for En Nahud. Rainfall in Darfur did indeed decline, but the decline happened over 30 years before the conflict erupted. Preliminary analysis suggests little merit to the proposition that a structural break several decades earlier is a reasonable predictor of the outbreak of large-scale civil conflict in Africa.

The all-year rainfall region of South Africa: Satellite rainfall-estimate perspective

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Engelbrecht, CJ

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Climate predictability and variability studies over South Africa typically focus on the summer rainfall region and to a lesser extent on the winter rainfall region. The all-year rainfall region of South Africa, a narrow strip located along the Cape...

Patient-exposure data for doppler ultrasound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, H.F.; Silvis, P.X.; Smith, S.W.

1986-01-01

In recent years ultrasound imaging and Doppler blood flow measurements have become important tools for use in diagnostic medicine. Commercial pulse-echo imaging equipment was first introduced into commerce in 1963. The first commercial continuous wave Doppler unit was introduced to the marketplace in 1966. As equipment improved and applications developed, the industry experienced rapid growth in the 1970s. One of the more recent growth areas in the application of diagnostic ultrasound has been the use of pulsed Doppler equipment for cardiac applications. Prior to 1976, some continuous wave Doppler ultrasound was used for cardiovascular diagnosis. However, only a single manufacturer marketed a pulsed Doppler clinical instrument for cardiac or peripheral vascular diagnosis. Currently, many continuous wave and pulsed Doppler instruments are commercially available for both peripheral vascular and cardiac diagnosis. This chapter (1) briefly reviews current safety guidelines, regulations, and recommendations for diagnostic ultrasound; (2) discusses the patient-exposure intensities associated with Doppler ultrasound medical equipment and compare these levels of exposure with intensities from other medical ultrasound devices; and (3) considers some of the current information as it relates to the safety of diagnostic ultrasound

Constraining relationships between rainfall and landsliding with satellite derived rainfall measurements and landslide inventories.

Science.gov (United States)

Marc, Odin; Malet, Jean-Philippe; Stumpf, Andre; Gosset, Marielle

2017-04-01

In mountainous and hilly regions, landslides are an important source of damage and fatalities. Landsliding correlates with extreme rainfall events and may increase with climate change. Still, how precipitation drives landsliding at regional scales is poorly understood quantitatively in part because constraining simultaneously landsliding and rainfall across large areas is challenging. By combining optical images acquired from satellite observation platforms and rainfall measurements from satellite constellations we are building a database of landslide events caused by with single storm events. We present results from storm-induced landslides from Brazil, Taiwan, Micronesia, Central America, Europe and the USA. We present scaling laws between rainfall metrics derived by satellites (total rainfall, mean intensity, antecedent rainfall, ...) and statistical descriptors of landslide events (total area and volume, size distribution, mean runout, ...). Total rainfall seems to be the most important parameter driving non-linearly the increase in total landslide number, and area and volume. The maximum size of bedrock landslides correlates with the total number of landslides, and thus with total rainfall, within the limits of available topographic relief. In contrast, the power-law scaling exponent of the size distribution, controlling the relative abundance of small and large landslides, appears rather independent of the rainfall metrics (intensity, duration and total rainfall). These scaling laws seem to explain both the intra-storm pattern of landsliding, at the scale of satellite rainfall measurements ( 25kmx25km), and the different impacts observed for various storms. Where possible, we evaluate the limits of standard rainfall products (TRMM, GPM, GSMaP) by comparing them to in-situ data. Then we discuss how slope distribution and other geomorphic factors (lithology, soil presence,...) modulate these scaling laws. Such scaling laws at the basin scale and based only on a

Doppler tomography in fusion plasmas and astrophysics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Salewski, Mirko; Geiger, B.; Heidbrink, W. W.

2015-01-01

Doppler tomography is a well-known method in astrophysics to image the accretion flow, often in the shape of thin discs, in compact binary stars. As accretion discs rotate, all emitted line radiation is Doppler-shifted. In fast-ion Dα (FIDA) spectroscopy measurements in magnetically confined plasma......, the Dα-photons are likewise Doppler-shifted ultimately due to gyration of the fast ions. In either case, spectra of Doppler-shifted line emission are sensitive to the velocity distribution of the emitters. Astrophysical Doppler tomography has lead to images of accretion discs of binaries revealing bright...... and limits, analogies and differences in astrophysical and fusion plasma Doppler tomography and what can be learned by comparison of these applications....

Comparison between 3D-Var and 4D-Var data assimilation methods for the simulation of a heavy rainfall case in central Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Mazzarella, Vincenzo; Maiello, Ida; Capozzi, Vincenzo; Budillon, Giorgio; Ferretti, Rossella

2017-08-01

This work aims to provide a comparison between three dimensional and four dimensional variational data assimilation methods (3D-Var and 4D-Var) for a heavy rainfall case in central Italy. To evaluate the impact of the assimilation of reflectivity and radial velocity acquired from Monte Midia Doppler radar into the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model, the quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) is used.The two methods are compared for a heavy rainfall event that occurred in central Italy on 14 September 2012 during the first Special Observation Period (SOP1) of the HyMeX (HYdrological cycle in Mediterranean EXperiment) campaign. This event, characterized by a deep low pressure system over the Tyrrhenian Sea, produced flash floods over the Marche and Abruzzo regions, where rainfall maxima reached more than 150 mm 24 h-1.To identify the best QPF, nine experiments are performed using 3D-Var and 4D-Var data assimilation techniques. All simulations are compared in terms of rainfall forecast and precipitation measured by the gauges through three statistical indicators: probability of detection (POD), critical success index (CSI) and false alarm ratio (FAR). The assimilation of conventional observations with 4D-Var method improves the QPF compared to 3D-Var. In addition, the use of radar measurements in 4D-Var simulations enhances the performances of statistical scores for higher rainfall thresholds.

Doppler-guided retrograde catheterization system

Science.gov (United States)

Frazin, Leon J.; Vonesh, Michael J.; Chandran, Krishnan B.; Khasho, Fouad; Lanza, George M.; Talano, James V.; McPherson, David D.

1991-05-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate a Doppler guided catheterization system as an adjunctive or alternative methodology to overcome the disadvantages of left heart catheterization and angiography. These disadvantages include the biological effects of radiation and the toxic and volume effects of iodine contrast. Doppler retrograde guidance uses a 20 MHz circular pulsed Doppler crystal incorporated into the tip of a triple lumen multipurpose catheter and is advanced retrogradely using the directional flow information provided by the Doppler waveform. The velocity detection limits are either 1 m/second or 4 m/second depending upon the instrumentation. In a physiologic flow model of the human aortic arch, multiple data points revealed a positive wave form when flow was traveling toward the catheter tip indicating proper alignment for retrograde advancement. There was a negative wave form when flow was traveling away from the catheter tip if the catheter was in a branch or bent upon itself indicating improper catheter tip position for retrograde advancement. In a series of six dogs, the catheter was able to be accurately advanced from the femoral artery to the left ventricular chamber under Doppler signal guidance without the use of x-ray. The potential applications of a Doppler guided retrograde catheterization system include decreasing time requirements and allowing safer catheter guidance in patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease and suspected aortic dissection. The Doppler system may allow left ventricular pressure monitoring in the intensive care unit without the need for x-ray and it may allow left sided contrast echocardiography. With pulse velocity detection limits of 4 m/second, this system may allow catheter direction and passage into the aortic root and left ventricle in patients with aortic stenosis. A modification of the Doppler catheter may include transponder technology which would allow precise catheter tip localization once the

On reconciling ground-based with spaceborne normalized radar cross section measurements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baumgartner, Francois; Munk, Jens; Jezek, K C

2002-01-01

This study examines differences in the normalized radar cross section, derived from ground-based versus spaceborne radar data. A simple homogeneous half-space model, indicates that agreement between the two improves as 1) the distance from the scatterer is increased; and/or 2) the extinction...

Deforestation and rainfall recycling in Brazil: Is decreased forest cover connectivity associated with decreased rainfall connectivity?

Science.gov (United States)

Adera, S.; Larsen, L.; Levy, M. C.; Thompson, S. E.

2017-12-01

In the Brazilian rainforest-savanna transition zone, deforestation has the potential to significantly affect rainfall by disrupting rainfall recycling, the process by which regional evapotranspiration contributes to regional rainfall. Understanding rainfall recycling in this region is important not only for sustaining Amazon and Cerrado ecosystems, but also for cattle ranching, agriculture, hydropower generation, and drinking water management. Simulations in previous studies suggest complex, scale-dependent interactions between forest cover connectivity and rainfall. For example, the size and distribution of deforested patches has been found to affect rainfall quantity and spatial distribution. Here we take an empirical approach, using the spatial connectivity of rainfall as an indicator of rainfall recycling, to ask: as forest cover connectivity decreased from 1981 - 2015, how did the spatial connectivity of rainfall change in the Brazilian rainforest-savanna transition zone? We use satellite forest cover and rainfall data covering this period of intensive forest cover loss in the region (forest cover from the Hansen Global Forest Change dataset; rainfall from the Climate Hazards Infrared Precipitation with Stations dataset). Rainfall spatial connectivity is quantified using transfer entropy, a metric from information theory, and summarized using network statistics. Networks of connectivity are quantified for paired deforested and non-deforested regions before deforestation (1981-1995) and during/after deforestation (2001-2015). Analyses reveal a decline in spatial connectivity networks of rainfall following deforestation.

Doppler Spectrum-Based NRCS Estimation Method for Low-Scattering Areas in Ocean SAR Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui Meng

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The image intensities of low-backscattering areas in synthetic aperture radar (SAR images are often seriously contaminated by the system noise floor and azimuthal ambiguity signal from adjacent high-backscattering areas. Hence, the image intensity of low-backscattering areas does not correctly reflect the backscattering intensity, which causes confusion in subsequent image processing or interpretation. In this paper, a method is proposed to estimate the normalized radar cross-section (NRCS of low-backscattering area by utilizing the differences between noise, azimuthal ambiguity, and signal in the Doppler frequency domain of single-look SAR images; the aim is to eliminate the effect of system noise and azimuthal ambiguity. Analysis shows that, for a spaceborne SAR with a noise equivalent sigma zero (NESZ of −25 dB and a single-look pixel of 8 m × 5 m, the NRCS-estimation precision of this method can reach −38 dB at a resolution of 96 m × 100 m. Three examples are given to validate the advantages of this method in estimating the low NRCS and the filtering of the azimuthal ambiguity.

Color doppler imaging of subclavian steal phenomenon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Nari Ya; Chung, Tae Sub; Kim, Jai Keun

1997-01-01

To evaluate the characteristic color doppler imaging of vertebral artery flow in the subclavian steal phenomenon. The study group consisted of eight patients with reversed vertebral artery flow proved by color Doppler imaging. We classified this flow into two groups:(1) complete reversal;(2) partial reversal, as shown by Doppler velocity waveform. Vertebral angiography was performed in six of eight patients;color Doppler imaging and angiographic findings were compared. On color Doppler imaging, all eight cases with reversed vertebral artery flow showed no signal at the proximal subclavian or brachiocephalic artery. We confirmed shunting of six cases by performing angiography from the contralateral vertebral and basilar artery to the ipsilateral vertebral artery. On the Doppler spectrum, six cases showed complete reversal and two partial reversal. On angiography, one partial reversal case showed complete occlusion of the subclavian artery with abundant collateral circulation of muscular branches of the vertebral artery. On color Doppler imaging, a reversed vertebral artery suggests the subclavian steal phenomenon. In particular, partial reversal waveform may reflect collateral circulation

Radar micro-doppler signatures processing and applications

CERN Document Server

Chen, Victor C; Miceli, William J

2014-01-01

Radar Micro-Doppler Signatures: Processing and applications concentrates on the processing and application of radar micro-Doppler signatures in real world situations, providing readers with a good working knowledge on a variety of applications of radar micro-Doppler signatures.

High-Sensitivity Semiconductor Photocathodes for Space-Born UV Photon-Counting and Imaging, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Many UV photon-counting and imaging applications, including space-borne astronomy, missile tracking and guidance, UV spectroscopy for chemical/biological...

Research on the space-borne coherent wind lidar technique and the prototype experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Long; Tao, Yuliang; An, Chao; Yang, Jukui; Du, Guojun; Zheng, Yongchao

2016-10-01

Space-borne coherent wind lidar technique is considered as one of the most promising and appropriate remote Sensing methods for successfully measuring the whole global vector wind profile between the lower atmosphere and the middle atmosphere. Compared with other traditional methods, the space-borne coherent wind lidar has some advantages, such as, the all-day operation; many lidar systems can be integrated into the same satellite because of the light-weight and the small size, eye-safe wavelength, and being insensitive to the background light. Therefore, this coherent lidar could be widely applied into the earth climate research, disaster monitoring, numerical weather forecast, environment protection. In this paper, the 2μm space-borne coherent wind lidar system for measuring the vector wind profile is proposed. And the technical parameters about the sub-system of the coherent wind lidar are simulated and the all sub-system schemes are proposed. For sake of validating the technical parameters of the space-borne coherent wind lidar system and the optical off-axis telescope, the weak laser signal detection technique, etc. The proto-type coherent wind lidar is produced and the experiments for checking the performance of this proto-type coherent wind lidar are finished with the hard-target and the soft target, and the horizontal wind and the vertical wind profile are measured and calibrated, respectively. For this proto-type coherent wind lidar, the wavelength is 1.54μm, the pulse energy 80μJ, the pulse width 300ns, the diameter of the off-axis telescope 120mm, the single wedge for cone scanning with the 40°angle, and the two dualbalanced InGaAs detector modules are used. The experiment results are well consisted with the simulation process, and these results show that the wind profile between the vertical altitude 4km can be measured, the accuracy of the wind velocity and the wind direction are better than 1m/s and +/-10°, respectively.

Color doppler sonography in thickened gallbladder wall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Sang Suk; Choi, Seok Jin; Seo, Chang Hae; Eun, Choong Ki

1996-01-01

The thickening of the gallbladder wall is a valuable finding for the diagnosis of cholecystitis, but may be seen in non-cholecystic disease as well as in acute or chronic cholecystitis. The purpose of this study is to determine the value of color Doppler sonography in differentiating the causes of thickened gallbladder wall. Ninety eight patients with thickened gallbladder wall(more than 3mm) which was not due to gallbladder cancer were prospectively evaluated with color Doppler sonography. Sixty-six cases, confirmed by pathologic reports and clinical records, were analyzed for correlation between thickened gallbladder wall and color flow signal according to the underlying causes. Of the 66 patients, 28 cases were cholecystitis and 38 cases had non-cholecystic causes such as liver cirrhosis, ascites, hepatitis, pancreatitis, renal failure, and hypoalbuminemia. Of the 28 patients with cholecystitis(12 acute, 16 chronic), 23(82%) had color Doppler flow signals in the thickened gallbladder wall. Of the 38 patients with non-cholecystic causes, eight(21%) had color Doppler flow signals. There was a statistically significant difference of color Doppler flow signals between the cholecystitis and non-cholecystic groups(p=0.0001). No significant difference of color Doppler flow signals was found between cases of acute and chronic cholecystitis. Of the 23 patients with color Doppler flow signals in 28 cases of cholecystitis, 18(78.3%) showed a linear pattern and five(21.7%) showed a spotty pattern. Of the eight patients with color Doppler flow signals in the 38 non-cholecystic cases, four(50%) showed a linear pattern and four(50%) showed a spotty pattern. In cholecystitis, a linear color Doppler flow signal pattern is a much more frequent finding than a spotty pattern. Color Doppler sonography is a useful and adequate method for determining whether a thickened gallbladder wall is the result of cholecystitis or has non-cholecystic causes

Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) for a future Doppler Wind Lidar satellite in Japan:

Science.gov (United States)

Baron, Philippe; Ishii, Shoken; Okamoto, Kozo

2017-04-01

A feasibility study of tropospheric wind measurements by a coherent Doppler lidar aboard a super-low-altitude satellite is being conducted in Japan. We consider a coherent lidar with a laser light source at 2.05 μm whose characteristics correspond to an existing ground-based instrument (power=3.75 W, PRF=30 Hz and pulse width=200 ns). An Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) has been implemented based on the Sensitivity Observing System experiment (SOSE) developed at the Japanese Meteorological-Research-Institute using the Japan Meteorological Agency global Numerical Weather Prediction model. The measurement simulator uses wind, aerosol and cloud 3-d global fields from the OSSE speudo-truth and the aerosol model MASINGAR. In this presentation, we will first discuss the measurement performances. Considering measurement horizontal resolutions of 100 km along the orbit track, we found that below 3 km, the median horizontal wind error is between 0.8-1 m/s for a vertical resolution of 0.5 km, and that near 50% of the data are valid measurements. Decreasing the vertical resolution to 1 km allows us to maintain similar performances up to 8 km almost over most latitudes. Above, the performances significantly fall down but a relatively good percentage of valid measurements (20-40%) are still found near the tropics where cirrus clouds frequently occur. The potential of the instrument to improve weather prediction models will be discussed using the OSSE results obtained for both polar and low inclination orbit satellites. The first results show positive improvements of short-term forecasts (Meteor. Soc. Japan, 2016 P. Baron et al., "Feasibility study for future space-borne coherent Doppler wind lidar, Part 2: Measurement simulation algorithms and retrieval error characterization", submitted to J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 2016.

Pulse Doppler radar

CERN Document Server

Alabaster, Clive

2012-01-01

This book is a practitioner's guide to all aspects of pulse Doppler radar. It concentrates on airborne military radar systems since they are the most used, most complex, and most interesting of the pulse Doppler radars; however, ground-based and non-military systems are also included. It covers the fundamental science, signal processing, hardware issues, systems design and case studies of typical systems. It will be a useful resource for engineers of all types (hardware, software and systems), academics, post-graduate students, scientists in radar and radar electronic warfare sectors and milit

Event-based stochastic point rainfall resampling for statistical replication and climate projection of historical rainfall series

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorndahl, Søren; Korup Andersen, Aske; Larsen, Anders Badsberg

2017-01-01

Continuous and long rainfall series are a necessity in rural and urban hydrology for analysis and design purposes. Local historical point rainfall series often cover several decades, which makes it possible to estimate rainfall means at different timescales, and to assess return periods of extreme...... includes climate changes projected to a specific future period. This paper presents a framework for resampling of historical point rainfall series in order to generate synthetic rainfall series, which has the same statistical properties as an original series. Using a number of key target predictions...... for the future climate, such as winter and summer precipitation, and representation of extreme events, the resampled historical series are projected to represent rainfall properties in a future climate. Climate-projected rainfall series are simulated by brute force randomization of model parameters, which leads...

Trends analysis of rainfall and rainfall extremes in Sarawak, Malaysia using modified Mann-Kendall test

Science.gov (United States)

Sa'adi, Zulfaqar; Shahid, Shamsuddin; Ismail, Tarmizi; Chung, Eun-Sung; Wang, Xiao-Jun

2017-11-01

This study assesses the spatial pattern of changes in rainfall extremes of Sarawak in recent years (1980-2014). The Mann-Kendall (MK) test along with modified Mann-Kendall (m-MK) test, which can discriminate multi-scale variability of unidirectional trend, was used to analyze the changes at 31 stations. Taking account of the scaling effect through eliminating the effect of autocorrelation, m-MK was employed to discriminate multi-scale variability of the unidirectional trends of the annual rainfall in Sarawak. It can confirm the significance of the MK test. The annual rainfall trend from MK test showed significant changes at 95% confidence level at five stations. The seasonal trends from MK test indicate an increasing rate of rainfall during the Northeast monsoon and a decreasing trend during the Southwest monsoon in some region of Sarawak. However, the m-MK test detected an increasing trend in annual rainfall only at one station and no significant trend in seasonal rainfall at any stations. The significant increasing trends of the 1-h maximum rainfall from the MK test are detected mainly at the stations located in the urban area giving concern to the occurrence of the flash flood. On the other hand, the m-MK test detected no significant trend in 1- and 3-h maximum rainfalls at any location. On the contrary, it detected significant trends in 6- and 72-h maximum rainfalls at a station located in the Lower Rajang basin area which is an extensive low-lying agricultural area and prone to stagnant flood. These results indicate that the trends in rainfall and rainfall extremes reported in Malaysia and surrounding region should be verified with m-MK test as most of the trends may result from scaling effect.

The medical Doppler in hand surgery: its scientific basis, applications, and the history of its namesake, Christian Johann Doppler.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghori, Ahmer K; Chung, Kevin C

2007-12-01

The word Doppler is used synonymously in hand surgery for evaluating patency of vascular structures; however, the science and history behind the Doppler effect are not as well-known. We will present the theories behind the Doppler effect and the history of the person who made this discovery.

Development of reaction-sintered SiC mirror for space-borne optics

Science.gov (United States)

Yui, Yukari Y.; Kimura, Toshiyoshi; Tange, Yoshio

2017-11-01

We are developing high-strength reaction-sintered silicon carbide (RS-SiC) mirror as one of the new promising candidates for large-diameter space-borne optics. In order to observe earth surface or atmosphere with high spatial resolution from geostationary orbit, larger diameter primary mirrors of 1-2 m are required. One of the difficult problems to be solved to realize such optical system is to obtain as flat mirror surface as possible that ensures imaging performance in infrared - visible - ultraviolet wavelength region. This means that homogeneous nano-order surface flatness/roughness is required for the mirror. The high-strength RS-SiC developed and manufactured by TOSHIBA is one of the most excellent and feasible candidates for such purpose. Small RS-SiC plane sample mirrors have been manufactured and basic physical parameters and optical performances of them have been measured. We show the current state of the art of the RS-SiC mirror and the feasibility of a large-diameter RS-SiC mirror for space-borne optics.

Noncoherent Doppler tracking: first flight results

Science.gov (United States)

DeBoy, Christopher C.; Robert Jensen, J.; Asher, Mark S.

2005-01-01

Noncoherent Doppler tracking has been devised as a means to achieve highly accurate, two-way Doppler measurements with a simple, transceiver-based communications system. This technique has been flown as an experiment on the Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) spacecraft, (launched 7 December 2001), as the operational technique for Doppler tracking on CONTOUR, and is baselined on several future deep space missions at JHU/APL. This paper reports on initial results from a series of successful tests of this technique between the TIMED spacecraft and NASA ground stations in the Deep Space Network. It also examines the advantages that noncoherent Doppler tracking and a transceiver-based system may offer to small satellite systems, including reduced cost, mass, and power.

Anomalous Doppler effects in bulk phononic crystal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai Feiyan; He Zhaojian; Zhang Anqi; Ding Yiqun; Liu Zhengyou

2010-01-01

Doppler effects in simple cubic phononic crystal are studied theoretically and numerically. In addition to observing Doppler shifts from a moving source's frequencies inside the gap, we find that Doppler shifts can be multi-order, anisotropic, and the dominant order of shift depends on the band index that the source's frequency is in.

Rainfall Downscaling Conditional on Upper-air Atmospheric Predictors: Improved Assessment of Rainfall Statistics in a Changing Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Langousis, Andreas; Mamalakis, Antonis; Deidda, Roberto; Marrocu, Marino

2015-04-01

To improve the level skill of Global Climate Models (GCMs) and Regional Climate Models (RCMs) in reproducing the statistics of rainfall at a basin level and at hydrologically relevant temporal scales (e.g. daily), two types of statistical approaches have been suggested. One is the statistical correction of climate model rainfall outputs using historical series of precipitation. The other is the use of stochastic models of rainfall to conditionally simulate precipitation series, based on large-scale atmospheric predictors produced by climate models (e.g. geopotential height, relative vorticity, divergence, mean sea level pressure). The latter approach, usually referred to as statistical rainfall downscaling, aims at reproducing the statistical character of rainfall, while accounting for the effects of large-scale atmospheric circulation (and, therefore, climate forcing) on rainfall statistics. While promising, statistical rainfall downscaling has not attracted much attention in recent years, since the suggested approaches involved complex (i.e. subjective or computationally intense) identification procedures of the local weather, in addition to demonstrating limited success in reproducing several statistical features of rainfall, such as seasonal variations, the distributions of dry and wet spell lengths, the distribution of the mean rainfall intensity inside wet periods, and the distribution of rainfall extremes. In an effort to remedy those shortcomings, Langousis and Kaleris (2014) developed a statistical framework for simulation of daily rainfall intensities conditional on upper air variables, which accurately reproduces the statistical character of rainfall at multiple time-scales. Here, we study the relative performance of: a) quantile-quantile (Q-Q) correction of climate model rainfall products, and b) the statistical downscaling scheme of Langousis and Kaleris (2014), in reproducing the statistical structure of rainfall, as well as rainfall extremes, at a

Deterministic Approach for Estimating Critical Rainfall Threshold of Rainfall-induced Landslide in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Ming-Chien; Tan, Chih-Hao; Chen, Mien-Min; Su, Tai-Wei

2013-04-01

Taiwan is an active mountain belt created by the oblique collision between the northern Luzon arc and the Asian continental margin. The inherent complexities of geological nature create numerous discontinuities through rock masses and relatively steep hillside on the island. In recent years, the increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme natural events due to global warming or climate change brought significant landslides. The causes of landslides in these slopes are attributed to a number of factors. As is well known, rainfall is one of the most significant triggering factors for landslide occurrence. In general, the rainfall infiltration results in changing the suction and the moisture of soil, raising the unit weight of soil, and reducing the shear strength of soil in the colluvium of landslide. The stability of landslide is closely related to the groundwater pressure in response to rainfall infiltration, the geological and topographical conditions, and the physical and mechanical parameters. To assess the potential susceptibility to landslide, an effective modeling of rainfall-induced landslide is essential. In this paper, a deterministic approach is adopted to estimate the critical rainfall threshold of the rainfall-induced landslide. The critical rainfall threshold is defined as the accumulated rainfall while the safety factor of the slope is equal to 1.0. First, the process of deterministic approach establishes the hydrogeological conceptual model of the slope based on a series of in-situ investigations, including geological drilling, surface geological investigation, geophysical investigation, and borehole explorations. The material strength and hydraulic properties of the model were given by the field and laboratory tests. Second, the hydraulic and mechanical parameters of the model are calibrated with the long-term monitoring data. Furthermore, a two-dimensional numerical program, GeoStudio, was employed to perform the modelling practice. Finally

Automatic Extraction of High-Resolution Rainfall Series from Rainfall Strip Charts

Science.gov (United States)

Saa-Requejo, Antonio; Valencia, Jose Luis; Garrido, Alberto; Tarquis, Ana M.

2015-04-01

Soil erosion is a complex phenomenon involving the detachment and transport of soil particles, storage and runoff of rainwater, and infiltration. The relative magnitude and importance of these processes depends on a host of factors, including climate, soil, topography, cropping and land management practices among others. Most models for soil erosion or hydrological processes need an accurate storm characterization. However, this data are not always available and in some cases indirect models are generated to fill this gap. In Spain, the rain intensity data known for time periods less than 24 hours back to 1924 and many studies are limited by it. In many cases this data is stored in rainfall strip charts in the meteorological stations but haven't been transfer in a numerical form. To overcome this deficiency in the raw data a process of information extraction from large amounts of rainfall strip charts is implemented by means of computer software. The method has been developed that largely automates the intensive-labour extraction work based on van Piggelen et al. (2011). The method consists of the following five basic steps: 1) scanning the charts to high-resolution digital images, 2) manually and visually registering relevant meta information from charts and pre-processing, 3) applying automatic curve extraction software in a batch process to determine the coordinates of cumulative rainfall lines on the images (main step), 4) post processing the curves that were not correctly determined in step 3, and 5) aggregating the cumulative rainfall in pixel coordinates to the desired time resolution. A colour detection procedure is introduced that automatically separates the background of the charts and rolls from the grid and subsequently the rainfall curve. The rainfall curve is detected by minimization of a cost function. Some utilities have been added to improve the previous work and automates some auxiliary processes: readjust the bands properly, merge bands when

Rainfall prediction with backpropagation method

Science.gov (United States)

Wahyuni, E. G.; Fauzan, L. M. F.; Abriyani, F.; Muchlis, N. F.; Ulfa, M.

2018-03-01

Rainfall is an important factor in many fields, such as aviation and agriculture. Although it has been assisted by technology but the accuracy can not reach 100% and there is still the possibility of error. Though current rainfall prediction information is needed in various fields, such as agriculture and aviation fields. In the field of agriculture, to obtain abundant and quality yields, farmers are very dependent on weather conditions, especially rainfall. Rainfall is one of the factors that affect the safety of aircraft. To overcome the problems above, then it’s required a system that can accurately predict rainfall. In predicting rainfall, artificial neural network modeling is applied in this research. The method used in modeling this artificial neural network is backpropagation method. Backpropagation methods can result in better performance in repetitive exercises. This means that the weight of the ANN interconnection can approach the weight it should be. Another advantage of this method is the ability in the learning process adaptively and multilayer owned on this method there is a process of weight changes so as to minimize error (fault tolerance). Therefore, this method can guarantee good system resilience and consistently work well. The network is designed using 4 input variables, namely air temperature, air humidity, wind speed, and sunshine duration and 3 output variables ie low rainfall, medium rainfall, and high rainfall. Based on the research that has been done, the network can be used properly, as evidenced by the results of the prediction of the system precipitation is the same as the results of manual calculations.

National Scale Rainfall Map Based on Linearly Interpolated Data from Automated Weather Stations and Rain Gauges

Science.gov (United States)

Alconis, Jenalyn; Eco, Rodrigo; Mahar Francisco Lagmay, Alfredo; Lester Saddi, Ivan; Mongaya, Candeze; Figueroa, Kathleen Gay

2014-05-01

In response to the slew of disasters that devastates the Philippines on a regular basis, the national government put in place a program to address this problem. The Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards, or Project NOAH, consolidates the diverse scientific research being done and pushes the knowledge gained to the forefront of disaster risk reduction and management. Current activities of the project include installing rain gauges and water level sensors, conducting LIDAR surveys of critical river basins, geo-hazard mapping, and running information education campaigns. Approximately 700 automated weather stations and rain gauges installed in strategic locations in the Philippines hold the groundwork for the rainfall visualization system in the Project NOAH web portal at http://noah.dost.gov.ph. The system uses near real-time data from these stations installed in critical river basins. The sensors record the amount of rainfall in a particular area as point data updated every 10 to 15 minutes. The sensor sends the data to a central server either via GSM network or satellite data transfer for redundancy. The web portal displays the sensors as a placemarks layer on a map. When a placemark is clicked, it displays a graph of the rainfall data for the past 24 hours. The rainfall data is harvested by batch determined by a one-hour time frame. The program uses linear interpolation as the methodology implemented to visually represent a near real-time rainfall map. The algorithm allows very fast processing which is essential in near real-time systems. As more sensors are installed, precision is improved. This visualized dataset enables users to quickly discern where heavy rainfall is concentrated. It has proven invaluable on numerous occasions, such as last August 2013 when intense to torrential rains brought about by the enhanced Southwest Monsoon caused massive flooding in Metro Manila. Coupled with observations from Doppler imagery and water level sensors along the

Radar rainfall image repair techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen M. Wesson

2004-01-01

Full Text Available There are various quality problems associated with radar rainfall data viewed in images that include ground clutter, beam blocking and anomalous propagation, to name a few. To obtain the best rainfall estimate possible, techniques for removing ground clutter (non-meteorological echoes that influence radar data quality on 2-D radar rainfall image data sets are presented here. These techniques concentrate on repairing the images in both a computationally fast and accurate manner, and are nearest neighbour techniques of two sub-types: Individual Target and Border Tracing. The contaminated data is estimated through Kriging, considered the optimal technique for the spatial interpolation of Gaussian data, where the 'screening effect' that occurs with the Kriging weighting distribution around target points is exploited to ensure computational efficiency. Matrix rank reduction techniques in combination with Singular Value Decomposition (SVD are also suggested for finding an efficient solution to the Kriging Equations which can cope with near singular systems. Rainfall estimation at ground level from radar rainfall volume scan data is of interest and importance in earth bound applications such as hydrology and agriculture. As an extension of the above, Ordinary Kriging is applied to three-dimensional radar rainfall data to estimate rainfall rate at ground level. Keywords: ground clutter, data infilling, Ordinary Kriging, nearest neighbours, Singular Value Decomposition, border tracing, computation time, ground level rainfall estimation

Estimating the Doppler centroid of SAR data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Søren Nørvang

1989-01-01

attractive properties. An evaluation based on an existing SEASAT processor is reported. The time-domain algorithms are shown to be extremely efficient with respect to requirements on calculations and memory, and hence they are well suited to real-time systems where the Doppler estimation is based on raw SAR......After reviewing frequency-domain techniques for estimating the Doppler centroid of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) data, the author describes a time-domain method and highlights its advantages. In particular, a nonlinear time-domain algorithm called the sign-Doppler estimator (SDE) is shown to have...... data. For offline processors where the Doppler estimation is performed on processed data, which removes the problem of partial coverage of bright targets, the ΔE estimator and the CDE (correlation Doppler estimator) algorithm give similar performance. However, for nonhomogeneous scenes it is found...

Detecting Climate Variability in Tropical Rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, W.

2004-05-01

A number of satellite and merged satellite/in-situ rainfall products have been developed extending as far back as 1979. While the availability of global rainfall data covering over two decades and encompassing two major El Niño events is a valuable resource for a variety of climate studies, significant differences exist between many of these products. Unfortunately, issues such as availability often determine the use of a product for a given application instead of an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the various products. Significant efforts have been made to address the impact of sparse sampling by satellite sensors of variable rainfall processes by merging various satellite and in-situ rainfall products. These combine high spatial and temporal frequency satellite infrared data with higher quality passive microwave observations and rain gauge observations. Combining such an approach with spatial and temporal averaging of the data can reduce the large random errors inherent in satellite rainfall estimates to very small levels. Unfortunately, systematic biases can and do result in artificial climate signals due to the underconstrained nature of the rainfall retrieval problem. Because all satellite retrieval algorithms make assumptions regarding the cloud structure and microphysical properties, systematic changes in these assumed parameters between regions and/or times results in regional and/or temporal biases in the rainfall estimates. These biases tend to be relatively small compared to random errors in the retrieval, however, when random errors are reduced through spatial and temporal averaging for climate applications, they become the dominant source of error. Whether or not such biases impact the results for climate studies is very much dependent on the application. For example, all of the existing satellite rainfall products capture the increased rainfall in the east Pacific associated with El Niño, however, the resulting tropical response to

Comparing Approaches to Deal With Non-Gaussianity of Rainfall Data in Kriging-Based Radar-Gauge Rainfall Merging

Science.gov (United States)

Cecinati, F.; Wani, O.; Rico-Ramirez, M. A.

2017-11-01

Merging radar and rain gauge rainfall data is a technique used to improve the quality of spatial rainfall estimates and in particular the use of Kriging with External Drift (KED) is a very effective radar-rain gauge rainfall merging technique. However, kriging interpolations assume Gaussianity of the process. Rainfall has a strongly skewed, positive, probability distribution, characterized by a discontinuity due to intermittency. In KED rainfall residuals are used, implicitly calculated as the difference between rain gauge data and a linear function of the radar estimates. Rainfall residuals are non-Gaussian as well. The aim of this work is to evaluate the impact of applying KED to non-Gaussian rainfall residuals, and to assess the best techniques to improve Gaussianity. We compare Box-Cox transformations with λ parameters equal to 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1, Box-Cox with time-variant optimization of λ, normal score transformation, and a singularity analysis technique. The results suggest that Box-Cox with λ = 0.1 and the singularity analysis is not suitable for KED. Normal score transformation and Box-Cox with optimized λ, or λ = 0.25 produce satisfactory results in terms of Gaussianity of the residuals, probability distribution of the merged rainfall products, and rainfall estimate quality, when validated through cross-validation. However, it is observed that Box-Cox transformations are strongly dependent on the temporal and spatial variability of rainfall and on the units used for the rainfall intensity. Overall, applying transformations results in a quantitative improvement of the rainfall estimates only if the correct transformations for the specific data set are used.

An ML-Based Radial Velocity Estimation Algorithm for Moving Targets in Spaceborne High-Resolution and Wide-Swath SAR Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tingting Jin

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Multichannel synthetic aperture radar (SAR is a significant breakthrough to the inherent limitation between high-resolution and wide-swath (HRWS compared with conventional SAR. Moving target indication (MTI is an important application of spaceborne HRWS SAR systems. In contrast to previous studies of SAR MTI, the HRWS SAR mainly faces the problem of under-sampled data of each channel, causing single-channel imaging and processing to be infeasible. In this study, the estimation of velocity is equivalent to the estimation of the cone angle according to their relationship. The maximum likelihood (ML based algorithm is proposed to estimate the radial velocity in the existence of Doppler ambiguities. After that, the signal reconstruction and compensation for the phase offset caused by radial velocity are processed for a moving target. Finally, the traditional imaging algorithm is applied to obtain a focused moving target image. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of the estimator under different signal-to-noise ratios (SNR. Furthermore, the performance is analyzed with respect to the motion ship that experiences interference due to different distributions of sea clutter. The results verify that the proposed algorithm is accurate and efficient with low computational complexity. This paper aims at providing a solution to the velocity estimation problem in the future HRWS SAR systems with multiple receive channels.

Rainfall erosivity map for Ghana

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oduro Afriyie, K.

1995-10-01

Monthly rainfall data, spanning over a period of more than thirty years, were used to compute rainfall erosivity indices for various stations in Ghana, using the Fournier index, c, defined as p 2 /P, where p is the rainfall amount in the wettest month and P is the annual rainfall amount. Values of the rainfall erosivity indices ranged from 24.5 mm at Sunyani in the mid-portion of Ghana to 180.9 mm at Axim in the south western coastal portion. The indices were used to construct a rainfall erosivity map for the country. The map revealed that Ghana may be broadly divided into five major erosion risk zones. The middle sector of Ghana is generally in the low erosion risk zone; the northern sector is in the moderate to severe erosion risk zone, while the coastal sector is in the severe to extreme severe erosion risk zone. (author). 11 refs, 1 fig., 1 tab

Power and color Doppler ultrasound settings for inflammatory flow

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Torp-Pedersen, Søren; Christensen, Robin; Szkudlarek, Marcin

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To determine how settings for power and color Doppler ultrasound sensitivity vary on different high- and intermediate-range ultrasound machines and to evaluate the impact of these changes on Doppler scoring of inflamed joints. METHODS: Six different types of ultrasound machines were used....... On each machine, the factory setting for superficial musculoskeletal scanning was used unchanged for both color and power Doppler modalities. The settings were then adjusted for increased Doppler sensitivity, and these settings were designated study settings. Eleven patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA......) with wrist involvement were scanned on the 6 machines, each with 4 settings, generating 264 Doppler images for scoring and color quantification. Doppler sensitivity was measured with a quantitative assessment of Doppler activity: color fraction. Higher color fraction indicated higher sensitivity. RESULTS...

TCSP ER-2 DOPPLER RADAR (EDOP) V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The TCSP ER-2 DOPPLER RADAR (EDOP) dataset was collected by the ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP), which is an X-band (9.6 GHz) Doppler radar mounted in the nose of the ER-2...

CAMEX-4 ER-2 DOPPLER RADAR V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The CAMEX-4 ER-2 Doppler Radar dataset was collected by the ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP), which is an X-band (9.6 GHz) Doppler radar mounted in the nose of ER-2. The...

Measurement of Precipitation in the Alps Using Dual-Polarization C-Band Ground-Based Radars, the GPM Spaceborne Ku-Band Radar, and Rain Gauges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Gabella

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The complex problem of quantitative precipitation estimation in the Alpine region is tackled from four different points of view: (1 the modern MeteoSwiss network of automatic telemetered rain gauges (GAUGE; (2 the recently upgraded MeteoSwiss dual-polarization Doppler, ground-based weather radar network (RADAR; (3 a real-time merging of GAUGE and RADAR, implemented at MeteoSwiss, in which a technique based on co-kriging with external drift (CombiPrecip is used; (4 spaceborne observations, acquired by the dual-wavelength precipitation radar on board the Global Precipitation Measuring (GPM core satellite. There are obviously large differences in these sampling modes, which we have tried to minimize by integrating synchronous observations taken during the first 2 years of the GPM mission. The data comprises 327 “wet” overpasses of Switzerland, taken after the launch of GPM in February 2014. By comparing the GPM radar estimates with the MeteoSwiss products, a similar performance was found in terms of bias. On average (whole country, all days and seasons, both solid and liquid phases, underestimation is as large as −3.0 (−3.4 dB with respect to RADAR (GAUGE. GPM is not suitable for assessing what product is the best in terms of average precipitation over the Alps. GPM can nevertheless be used to evaluate the dispersion of the error around the mean, which is a measure of the geographical distribution of the error inside the country. Using 221 rain-gauge sites, the result is clear both in terms of correlation and in terms of scatter (a robust, weighted measure of the dispersion of the multiplicative error around the mean. The best agreement was observed between GPM and CombiPrecip, and, next, between GPM and RADAR, whereas a larger disagreement was found between GPM and GAUGE. Hence, GPM confirms that, for precipitation mapping in the Alpine region, the best results are obtained by combining ground-based radar with rain-gauge measurements using

Direct Doppler auscultation of the carotid arteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nix, L.

1984-01-01

The results of the carotid Doppler examinations and contrast arteriograms are presented. The overall sensitivity of the carotid Doppler examinations in detecting severe stenosis or occlusion of the carotid artery was 92%. The Doppler studies correctly differentiated these two conditions in 84% of the diseased vessels. In carotid arteries with stenosis greater than or equal to 50%, the sensitivity of the Doppler examinations was 90%, and these studies suggested stenosis in all but two of the 36 abnormal examinations. In two patent carotids with greater than 90% stenosis, a signal could not be elicited, presumably because of the low blood flow through the severely stenotic segment

Spatial dependence of extreme rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Radi, Noor Fadhilah Ahmad; Zakaria, Roslinazairimah; Satari, Siti Zanariah; Azman, Muhammad Az-zuhri

2017-05-01

This study aims to model the spatial extreme daily rainfall process using the max-stable model. The max-stable model is used to capture the dependence structure of spatial properties of extreme rainfall. Three models from max-stable are considered namely Smith, Schlather and Brown-Resnick models. The methods are applied on 12 selected rainfall stations in Kelantan, Malaysia. Most of the extreme rainfall data occur during wet season from October to December of 1971 to 2012. This period is chosen to assure the available data is enough to satisfy the assumption of stationarity. The dependence parameters including the range and smoothness, are estimated using composite likelihood approach. Then, the bootstrap approach is applied to generate synthetic extreme rainfall data for all models using the estimated dependence parameters. The goodness of fit between the observed extreme rainfall and the synthetic data is assessed using the composite likelihood information criterion (CLIC). Results show that Schlather model is the best followed by Brown-Resnick and Smith models based on the smallest CLIC's value. Thus, the max-stable model is suitable to be used to model extreme rainfall in Kelantan. The study on spatial dependence in extreme rainfall modelling is important to reduce the uncertainties of the point estimates for the tail index. If the spatial dependency is estimated individually, the uncertainties will be large. Furthermore, in the case of joint return level is of interest, taking into accounts the spatial dependence properties will improve the estimation process.

Recommendations for terminology and display for doppler echocardiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1986-01-01

Doppler echocardiography has recently emerged as a major noninvasive technique with many applications in cardiology. To a large extent, this has been based upon a combination of clinical and engineering advances which now make possible the use of quantitative Doppler echocardiography in combination with two-dimensional imaging for measurement of volume flows, transvalve gradients, and other physiologic flow parameters which reflect cardiac function. It was the purpose of this Committee to provide a glossary of terms which could be used in standard fashion for papers and discussions related to Doppler echocardiography. As part of its task, the Committee also undertook an attempt to recommend a standard for display of Doppler information which would be useful, both for manufacturers and for clinicians. The document, therefore, includes: Section I, the Committee's recommendations for Doppler display. Section II, the glossary of Doppler terms, related to engineering and to clinical applications

Rainfall erosivity in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Panagos, Panos; Ballabio, Cristiano; Borrelli, Pasquale; Meusburger, Katrin; Klik, Andreas; Rousseva, Svetla; Tadić, Melita Perčec; Michaelides, Silas; Hrabalíková, Michaela; Olsen, Preben; Aalto, Juha; Lakatos, Mónika; Rymszewicz, Anna; Dumitrescu, Alexandru; Beguería, Santiago; Alewell, Christine

2015-04-01

Rainfall is one the main drivers of soil erosion. The erosive force of rainfall is expressed as rainfall erosivity. Rainfall erosivity considers the rainfall amount and intensity, and is most commonly expressed as the R-factor in the USLE model and its revised version, RUSLE. At national and continental levels, the scarce availability of data obliges soil erosion modellers to estimate this factor based on rainfall data with only low temporal resolution (daily, monthly, annual averages). The purpose of this study is to assess rainfall erosivity in Europe in the form of the RUSLE R-factor, based on the best available datasets. Data have been collected from 1541 precipitation stations in all European Union (EU) Member States and Switzerland, with temporal resolutions of 5 to 60 min. The R-factor values calculated from precipitation data of different temporal resolutions were normalised to R-factor values with temporal resolutions of 30 min using linear regression functions. Precipitation time series ranged from a minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 40 years. The average time series per precipitation station is around 17.1 years, the most datasets including the first decade of the 21st century. Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) has been used to interpolate the R-factor station values to a European rainfall erosivity map at 1 km resolution. The covariates used for the R-factor interpolation were climatic data (total precipitation, seasonal precipitation, precipitation of driest/wettest months, average temperature), elevation and latitude/longitude. The mean R-factor for the EU plus Switzerland is 722 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1), with the highest values (>1000 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1)) in the Mediterranean and alpine regions and the lowest (<500 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1)) in the Nordic countries. The erosivity density (erosivity normalised to annual precipitation amounts) was also the highest in Mediterranean regions which implies high risk for erosive events and floods

Design considerations on a sparse array antenna for Ka-band spaceborne SAR applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jacobs, S.; Bekers, D.; Monni, S.; Otten, M.; Van Rossum, W.; Gerini, G.; Germani, C.; Fortini, D.; Toso, G.

2015-01-01

This contribution addresses the problem of designing a sparse active array antenna for spaceborne SAR applications at Ka-band. The main driver for the design is limiting the recurring manufacturing costs associated to the number of active modules, while preserving main performance and insuring a

High-Frame-Rate Power Doppler Ultrasound Is More Sensitive than Conventional Power Doppler in Detecting Rheumatic Vascularisation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. van der Ven (Myrthe); J.J. Luime (Jolanda); van der Velden, L.L. (Levinia L.); J.G. Bosch (Hans); J.M.W. Hazes (Mieke); H.J. Vos (Rik)

2016-01-01

textabstractEarly recognition of joint inflammation will increase treatment efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Yet, conventional power Doppler (PD) ultrasound might not be sufficiently sensitive to detect minor inflammation. We investigated the sensitivity of high-frame rate Doppler, combined

Power doppler 'blanching' after the application of transducer pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joshua, F.; Edmonds, J.; Lassere, M.; De Carle, R.; Rayment, M.; Bryant, C.; Shnier, R.

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine if transducer pressure modifies power Doppler assessments of rheumatoid arthritis synovium at the metacarpophalangeal joints and metatarsophalangeal joints. Five rheumatoid arthritis patients of varying degrees of 'disease activity' and damage were assessed with power Doppler ultrasound scanning of the dominant hand second to fifth metacarpophalangeal joints. Two rheumatoid arthritis patients had their dominant foot first to fifth metatarsophalangeal joints assessed with power Doppler ultrasound. Ultrasonography was performed with a high frequency transducer (14 MHz) with a colour mode frequency of 10 Mhz, and a standard colour box and gain. In the joint that showed the highest power Doppler signal, an image was made. A further image was taken after transducer pressure was applied. In all patients, there was increased flow to at least one joint. After pressure was applied, power Doppler signal intensity markedly reduced in all images and in some there was no recordable power Doppler signal. Increased transducer pressure can result in a marked reduction or obliteration in power Doppler signal. This power Doppler 'blanching' shows the need for further studies to evaluate sources of error and standardization before power Doppler ultrasound becomes a routine measure of 'disease activity' in rheumatoid arthritis. Copyright (2005) Blackwell Science Pty Ltd

Development of the doppler electron velocimeter: theory.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reu, Phillip L.

2007-03-01

Measurement of dynamic events at the nano-scale is currently impossible. This paper presents the theoretical underpinnings of a method for making these measurements using electron microscopes. Building on the work of Moellenstedt and Lichte who demonstrated Doppler shifting of an electron beam with a moving electron mirror, further work is proposed to perfect and utilize this concept in dynamic measurements. Specifically, using the concept of ''fringe-counting'' with the current principles of transmission electron holography, an extension of these methods to dynamic measurements is proposed. A presentation of the theory of Doppler electron wave shifting is given, starting from the development of the de Broglie wave, up through the equations describing interference effects and Doppler shifting in electron waves. A mathematical demonstration that Doppler shifting is identical to the conceptually easier to understand idea of counting moving fringes is given by analogy to optical interferometry. Finally, potential developmental experiments and uses of a Doppler electron microscope are discussed.

Re-Normalization Method of Doppler Lidar Signal for Error Reduction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Nakgyu; Baik, Sunghoon; Park, Seungkyu; Kim, Donglyul [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Dukhyeon [Hanbat National Univ., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

In this paper, we presented a re-normalization method for the fluctuations of Doppler signals from the various noises mainly due to the frequency locking error for a Doppler lidar system. For the Doppler lidar system, we used an injection-seeded pulsed Nd:YAG laser as the transmitter and an iodine filter as the Doppler frequency discriminator. For the Doppler frequency shift measurement, the transmission ratio using the injection-seeded laser is locked to stabilize the frequency. If the frequency locking system is not perfect, the Doppler signal has some error due to the frequency locking error. The re-normalization process of the Doppler signals was performed to reduce this error using an additional laser beam to an Iodine cell. We confirmed that the renormalized Doppler signal shows the stable experimental data much more than that of the averaged Doppler signal using our calibration method, the reduced standard deviation was 4.838 Χ 10{sup -3}.

Maximisation of the Doppler effect in thermal reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bende, E.E.

1998-03-01

Increase of the fuel temperature in a nuclear reactor leads, or can lead, to (1) A Doppler broadening of the resonances of the nuclides in the fuel; (2) An expansion of the fuel; and (3) A shift of the Maxwellian part of the spectrum to higher energies. These processes together introduce a certain amount of reactivity, which can be expressed in the so-called fuel temperature reactivity coefficient. The reactivity effect of the third process is very small, because the Maxwell spectrum is to a major extent determined by the moderator temperature. Moreover, the reactivity effect due to an expansion of the fuel is small too, for most thermal systems. When the second and third processes can be neglected, the fuel temperature reactivity effect is fully determined by the Doppler effect. The fuel temperature reactivity coefficient is then called the Doppler coefficient of reactivity. The Doppler broadening of the resonances causes an increase of resonance absorption, due to a decrease of self-shielding. The competition between resonance fission at the one hand and resonance capture at the other hand determines the sign and magnitude of the reactivity induced by an increase of the fuel temperature. In well-designed nuclear reactors the Doppler effect due to resonance capture by fertile nuclides exceeds the Doppler effect due to resonance fission, which implies that an increase of the fuel temperature causes a negative reactivity effect and a correspondingly negative Doppler coefficient. Since the Doppler effect is a prompt effect, occurring simultaneously with the dissipation of kinetic energy of the fission products into temperature, it is very important in the study of rapid power transients. In this report, the Doppler coefficient of reactivity is defined in chapter 2. Chapter 3 discusses the geometry of the unit-cell for which the calculations are performed and describes the fuel types that have been investigated. In chapter 4 the 'Doppler efficiency' is introduced and

Is Doppler ultrasound useful for evaluating gestational trophoblastic disease?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lawrence H. Lin

Full Text Available Doppler ultrasound is a non-invasive method for evaluating vascularization and is widely used in clinical practice. Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia includes a group of highly vascularized malignancies derived from placental cells. This review summarizes data found in the literature regarding the applications of Doppler ultrasound in managing patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. The PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane and LILACS databases were searched for articles published in English until 2014 using the following keywords: “Gestational trophoblastic disease AND Ultrasonography, Doppler.” Twenty-eight articles met the inclusion criteria and were separated into the 4 following groups according to the aim of the study. (1 Doppler ultrasound does not seem to be capable of differentiating partial from complete moles, but it might be useful when evaluating pregnancies in which a complete mole coexists with a normal fetus. (2 There is controversy in the role of uterine artery Doppler velocimetry in the prediction of development of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. (3 Doppler ultrasound is a useful tool in the diagnosis of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia because abnormal myometrial vascularization and lower uterine artery Doppler indices seem to be correlated with invasive disease. (4 Lower uterine artery Doppler indices in the diagnosis of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia are associated with methotrexate resistance and might play a role in prognosis. CONCLUSION: Several studies support the importance of Doppler ultrasound in the management of patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, particularly the role of Doppler velocimetry in the prediction of trophoblastic neoplasia and the chemoresistance of trophoblastic tumors. Doppler findings should be used as ancillary tools, along with human chorionic gonadotropin assessment, in the diagnosis of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia.

Is Doppler ultrasound useful for evaluating gestational trophoblastic disease?

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Lawrence H; Bernardes, Lisandra S; Hase, Eliane A; Fushida, Koji; Francisco, Rossana P V

2015-12-01

Doppler ultrasound is a non-invasive method for evaluating vascularization and is widely used in clinical practice. Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia includes a group of highly vascularized malignancies derived from placental cells. This review summarizes data found in the literature regarding the applications of Doppler ultrasound in managing patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. The PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane and LILACS databases were searched for articles published in English until 2014 using the following keywords: "Gestational trophoblastic disease AND Ultrasonography, Doppler." Twenty-eight articles met the inclusion criteria and were separated into the 4 following groups according to the aim of the study. (1) Doppler ultrasound does not seem to be capable of differentiating partial from complete moles, but it might be useful when evaluating pregnancies in which a complete mole coexists with a normal fetus. (2) There is controversy in the role of uterine artery Doppler velocimetry in the prediction of development of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. (3) Doppler ultrasound is a useful tool in the diagnosis of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia because abnormal myometrial vascularization and lower uterine artery Doppler indices seem to be correlated with invasive disease. (4) Lower uterine artery Doppler indices in the diagnosis of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia are associated with methotrexate resistance and might play a role in prognosis. Several studies support the importance of Doppler ultrasound in the management of patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, particularly the role of Doppler velocimetry in the prediction of trophoblastic neoplasia and the chemoresistance of trophoblastic tumors. Doppler findings should be used as ancillary tools, along with human chorionic gonadotropin assessment, in the diagnosis of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia.

Highly-reliable laser diodes and modules for spaceborne applications

Science.gov (United States)

Deichsel, E.

2017-11-01

Laser applications become more and more interesting in contemporary missions such as earth observations or optical communication in space. One of these applications is light detection and ranging (LIDAR), which comprises huge scientific potential in future missions. The Nd:YAG solid-state laser of such a LIDAR system is optically pumped using 808nm emitting pump sources based on semiconductor laser-diodes in quasi-continuous wave (qcw) operation. Therefore reliable and efficient laser diodes with increased output powers are an important requirement for a spaceborne LIDAR-system. In the past, many tests were performed regarding the performance and life-time of such laser-diodes. There were also studies for spaceborne applications, but a test with long operation times at high powers and statistical relevance is pending. Other applications, such as science packages (e.g. Raman-spectroscopy) on planetary rovers require also reliable high-power light sources. Typically fiber-coupled laser diode modules are used for such applications. Besides high reliability and life-time, designs compatible to the harsh environmental conditions must be taken in account. Mechanical loads, such as shock or strong vibration are expected due to take-off or landing procedures. Many temperature cycles with high change rates and differences must be taken in account due to sun-shadow effects in planetary orbits. Cosmic radiation has strong impact on optical components and must also be taken in account. Last, a hermetic sealing must be considered, since vacuum can have disadvantageous effects on optoelectronics components.

Intercomparison of Vertical Structure of Storms Revealed by Ground-Based (NMQ and Spaceborne Radars (CloudSat-CPR and TRMM-PR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronica M. Fall

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Spaceborne radars provide great opportunities to investigate the vertical structure of clouds and precipitation. Two typical spaceborne radars for such a study are the W-band Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR and Ku-band Precipitation Radar (PR, which are onboard NASA’s CloudSat and TRMM satellites, respectively. Compared to S-band ground-based radars, they have distinct scattering characteristics for different hydrometeors in clouds and precipitation. The combination of spaceborne and ground-based radar observations can help in the identification of hydrometeors and improve the radar-based quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE. This study analyzes the vertical structure of the 18 January, 2009 storm using data from the CloudSat CPR, TRMM PR, and a NEXRAD-based National Mosaic and Multisensor QPE (NMQ system. Microphysics above, within, and below the melting layer are studied through an intercomparison of multifrequency measurements. Hydrometeors’ type and their radar scattering characteristics are analyzed. Additionally, the study of the vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR reveals the brightband properties in the cold-season precipitation and its effect on the radar-based QPE. In all, the joint analysis of spaceborne and ground-based radar data increases the understanding of the vertical structure of storm systems and provides a good insight into the microphysical modeling for weather forecasts.

Preliminary simulation study of doppler reflectometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishii, Yuta; Hojo, Hitoshi; Yoshikawa, Masashi; Ichimura, Makoto; Haraguchi, Yusuke; Imai, Tsuyoshi; Mase, Atsushi

2010-01-01

A preliminary simulation study of Doppler reflectometry is performed. The simulations solve Maxwell's equations by a finite difference time domain (FDTD) code method in two dimensions. A moving corrugated metal target is used as a plasma cutoff layer to study the basic features of Doppler reflectometry. We examined the effects of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the electromagnetic waves and the corrugation depth of the metal target. Furthermore, the effect of a nonuniform plasma is studied using this FDTD analysis. The Doppler shift and velocity are compared with those obtained from FDTD analysis of a uniform plasma. (author)

Doppler speedometer for micro-organisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penkov, F.; Tuleushev, A.; Lisitsyn, V.; Kim, S.; Tuleushev, Yu.

1996-01-01

Objective of Investigations: Development and creation of the Doppler speedometer for micro-organisms which allows to evaluate, in a real temporal scale, variations in the state of water suspension of micro-organisms under the effect of chemical, physical and other external actions. Statement of the Problem The main problem is absence of reliable, accessible for users and simple, in view of application, Doppler speedometers for micro-organisms. Nevertheless, correlation Doppler spectrometry in the regime of heterodyning the supporting and cell-scattered laser radiation is welt known. The main idea is that the correlation function of photo-current pulses bears an information on the averages over the assembly of cell velocities. For solving the biological problems, construction of auto-correlation function in the real-time regime with the delay time values comprising, function in the real-time regime with the delay time values comprising, nearly, 100 me (10 khz) or higher is needed. Computers of high class manage this problem using but the program software. Due to this, one can simplify applications of the proposed techniques provided he creates the Doppler speedometer for micro-organism on a base of the P entium . Expected Result Manufactured operable mock-up of the Doppler speedometer for micro-organisms in a form of the auxiliary computer block which allows to receive an information, in the real time scale, on the results of external effects of various nature on the cell assembly in transparent medium with a small volume of the studied cell suspension

De-Dopplerization of Acoustic Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-10

accurate measurement of aircraft location to resample the time signal to account for the compression and expansion of acoustic wavefronts. Correcting...AFRL-RH-WP-TR-2017-0043 DE-DOPPLERIZATION OF ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENTS Frank Mobley, PhD 711 HPW/RHCB Wright-Patterson AFB OH...TITLE AND SUBTITLE DE-DOPPLERIZATION OF ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENTS 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER In-House 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER

Calculation of the Doppler broadening function using Fourier analysis;Calculo da funcao de alargamento Doppler utilizando analise de Fourier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goncalves, Alessandro da Cruz

2010-07-01

An efficient and precise method for calculation of Doppler broadening function is very important to obtain average group microscopic cross sections, self shielding factors, resonance integrals and others reactor physics parameter. In this thesis two different methods for calculation of Doppler broadening function and interference term will be presented. The main method is based on a new integral form for Doppler broadening function {psi}(x,{zeta}) which gives a mathematical interpretation of the approximation proposed by Bethe and Placzek, as the convolution of the Lorentzian function with a Gaussian function. This interpretation besides leading to a new integral form for {psi}(x,{zeta}), enables to obtain a simple analytic solution for the Doppler broadening function. (author)

Advancing Atmosphere-Ocean Remote Sensing with Spaceborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Hostetler, C. A.; Behrenfeld, M. J.; Chepfer, H.; Hu, Y.; Hair, J. W.; Trepte, C. R.; Winker, D. M.; Ferrare, R. A.; Burton, S. P.; Scarino, A. J.; Powell, K. A.; Michaud, J.

2016-12-01

More than 1600 publications employing observations from the CALIOP lidar on CALIPSO testify to the value of spaceborne lidar for aerosol and cloud remote sensing. Recent publications have shown the value of CALIOP data for retrievals of key ocean carbon cycle stocks. In this presentation we focus on the advantages of a more advanced technique, High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL), for aerosol, cloud, and ocean remote sensing. An atmosphere-ocean optimized HSRL achieves greater accuracy over the standard backscatter lidar technique for retrievals of aerosol and cloud extinction and backscatter profiles, provides additional capability to retrieve aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters, and enables vertically-resolved characterization of scattering and absorption properties of suspended and dissolved materials in the ocean. Numerous publications highlight the synergy of coincident CALIOP and passive A-train observations for studies of aerosol-cloud radiative effects and cloud-climate feedback. Less appreciated is the complementarity that would exist between an optimized spaceborne lidar and passive ocean color. An optimized HSRL flown in formation with the Plankton, Aerosol, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission would provide phytoplankton vertical distribution, which is needed for accurately estimating net primary productivity but absent in the PACE ocean color data. The HSRL would also provide data needed to improve atmospheric correction schemes in ocean color retrievals. Because lidar provides measurements both night and day, through tenuous clouds and aerosol layers, and in holes between clouds, the sampling achieved is highly complementary to passive radiometry, providing data in important high latitude regions where ocean color data are sparse or nonexistent. In this presentation we will discuss 1) relevant aerosol, cloud, and ocean retrievals from airborne HSRL field missions; 2) the advantages of an optimized spaceborne HSRL for aerosol, cloud, and ocean

Broadband infrared beam splitter for spaceborne interferometric infrared sounder.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Tianyan; Liu, Dingquan; Qin, Yang

2014-10-01

A broadband infrared beam splitter (BS) on ZnSe substrate used for the spaceborne interferometric infrared sounder (SIIRS) is studied in the spectral range of 4.44-15 μm. Both broadband antireflection coating and broadband beam-splitter coating in this BS are designed and tested. To optimize the optical properties and the stability of the BS, suitable infrared materials were selected, and improved deposition techniques were applied. The designed structures matched experimental data well, and the properties of the BS met the application specification of SIIRS.

A Mediterranean nocturnal heavy rainfall and tornadic event. Part I: Overview, damage survey and radar analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bech, Joan; Pineda, Nicolau; Rigo, Tomeu; Aran, Montserrat; Amaro, Jéssica; Gayà, Miquel; Arús, Joan; Montanyà, Joan; der Velde, Oscar van

2011-06-01

This study presents an analysis of a severe weather case that took place during the early morning of the 2nd of November 2008, when intense convective activity associated with a rapidly evolving low pressure system affected the southern coast of Catalonia (NE Spain). The synoptic framework was dominated by an upper level trough and an associated cold front extending from Gibraltar along the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula to SE France, which moved north-eastward. South easterly winds in the north of the Balearic Islands and the coast of Catalonia favoured high values of 0-3 km storm relative helicity which combined with moderate MLCAPE values and high shear favoured the conditions for organized convection. A number of multicell storms and others exhibiting supercell features, as indicated by Doppler radar observations, clustered later in a mesoscale convective system, and moved north-eastwards across Catalonia. They produced ground-level strong damaging wind gusts, an F2 tornado, hail and heavy rainfall. Total lightning activity (intra-cloud and cloud to ground flashes) was also relevant, exhibiting several classical features such as a sudden increased rate before ground level severe damage, as discussed in a companion study. Remarkable surface observations of this event include 24 h precipitation accumulations exceeding 100 mm in four different observatories and 30 minute rainfall amounts up to 40 mm which caused local flash floods. As the convective system evolved northward later that day it also affected SE France causing large hail, ground level damaging wind gusts and heavy rainfall.

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Future of Rainfall Estimation from Space

Science.gov (United States)

Kakar, Ramesh; Adler, Robert; Smith, Eric; Starr, David OC. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Tropical rainfall is important in the hydrological cycle and to the lives and welfare of humans. Three-fourths of the energy that drives the atmospheric wind circulation comes from the latent heat released by tropical precipitation. Recognizing the importance of rain in the tropics, NASA for the U.S.A. and NASDA for Japan have partnered in the design, construction and flight of a satellite mission to measure tropical rainfall and calculate the associated latent heat release. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite was launched on November 27, 1997, and data from all the instruments first became available approximately 30 days after launch. Since then, much progress has been made in the calibration of the sensors, the improvement of the rainfall algorithms and applications of these results to areas such as Data Assimilation and model initialization. TRMM has reduced the uncertainty of climatological rainfall in tropics by over a factor of two, therefore establishing a standard for comparison with previous data sets and climatologies. It has documented the diurnal variation of precipitation over the oceans, showing a distinct early morning peak and this satellite mission has shown the utility of precipitation information for the improvement of numerical weather forecasts and climate modeling. This paper discusses some promising applications using TRMM data and introduces a measurement concept being discussed by NASA/NASDA and ESA for the future of rainfall estimation from space.

Rainfall Downscaling Conditional on Upper-air Variables: Assessing Rainfall Statistics in a Changing Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Langousis, Andreas; Deidda, Roberto; Marrocu, Marino; Kaleris, Vassilios

2014-05-01

Due to its intermittent and highly variable character, and the modeling parameterizations used, precipitation is one of the least well reproduced hydrologic variables by both Global Climate Models (GCMs) and Regional Climate Models (RCMs). This is especially the case at a regional level (where hydrologic risks are assessed) and at small temporal scales (e.g. daily) used to run hydrologic models. In an effort to remedy those shortcomings and assess the effect of climate change on rainfall statistics at hydrologically relevant scales, Langousis and Kaleris (2013) developed a statistical framework for simulation of daily rainfall intensities conditional on upper air variables. The developed downscaling scheme was tested using atmospheric data from the ERA-Interim archive (http://www.ecmwf.int/research/era/do/get/index), and daily rainfall measurements from western Greece, and was proved capable of reproducing several statistical properties of actual rainfall records, at both annual and seasonal levels. This was done solely by conditioning rainfall simulation on a vector of atmospheric predictors, properly selected to reflect the relative influence of upper-air variables on ground-level rainfall statistics. In this study, we apply the developed framework for conditional rainfall simulation using atmospheric data from different GCM/RCM combinations. This is done using atmospheric data from the ENSEMBLES project (http://ensembleseu.metoffice.com), and daily rainfall measurements for an intermediate-sized catchment in Italy; i.e. the Flumendosa catchment. Since GCM/RCM products are suited to reproduce the local climatology in a statistical sense (i.e. in terms of relative frequencies), rather than ensuring a one-to-one temporal correspondence between observed and simulated fields (i.e. as is the case for ERA-interim reanalysis data), we proceed in three steps: a) we use statistical tools to establish a linkage between ERA-Interim upper-air atmospheric forecasts and

Doppler radar physiological sensing

CERN Document Server

Lubecke, Victor M; Droitcour, Amy D; Park, Byung-Kwon; Singh, Aditya

2016-01-01

Presents a comprehensive description of the theory and practical implementation of Doppler radar-based physiological monitoring. This book includes an overview of current physiological monitoring techniques and explains the fundamental technology used in remote non-contact monitoring methods. Basic radio wave propagation and radar principles are introduced along with the fundamentals of physiological motion and measurement. Specific design and implementation considerations for physiological monitoring radar systems are then discussed in detail. The authors address current research and commercial development of Doppler radar based physiological monitoring for healthcare and other applications.

The phenomenon of Doppler

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoll, I.; Seidlerova, I.; Schwippel, J.; Poss, O.; Solc, M.

1992-01-01

The book is devoted to the life and work of Christian Doppler and particularly to his links to Prague and to the Slovak town of Banska Stiavnica. Many historical facts concerning Doppler's activities as well as the history of physics and astronomy are collected. Information is also presented about the Czech Technical University, the Society of Czechoslovak Mathematicians and Physicists, the Czechoslovak Astronomical Society, the Czechoslovak Spectroscopic Society and the Czechoslovak Society for the History of Science and Technology. The publication is amply supplemented with historical pictorial material (M.D.). 92 figs., 82 refs

FIR and sub-mm direct detection spectrometers for spaceborne astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Wijnbergen, Jan J.; de Graauw, Thijs

1990-12-01

Candidate spaceborne sub-mm instrumentation proposed for space projects with large passively cooled telescopes are reviewed. Grating instruments and Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) spectrometers are discussed. Particular attention is given to imaging Fabry-Perot spectrometers. The special needs of the Large Deployable Reflector (LDR) and for the Far InfraRed Space Telescope (FIRST) missions in this area are outlined. Possible Fabry-Perot spectrometer setups are diagrammed and outlined. The use of spherical and multiplex Fabry-Perot spectrometers is discussed.

ESA's spaceborne lidar mission ADM-Aeolus; project status and preparations for launch

Science.gov (United States)

Straume, Anne Grete; Elfving, Anders; Wernham, Denny; de Bruin, Frank; Kanitz, Thomas; Schuettemeyer, Dirk; Bismarck, Jonas von; Buscaglione, Fabio; Lecrenier, O.; McGoldrick, Phil

2018-04-01

ESA's Doppler Wind lidar mission, the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus, hereafter abbreviated to Aeolus), was chosen as an Earth Explorer Core mission within the Living Planet Programme in 1999. It shall demonstrate the potential of space-based Doppler Wind lidars for operational measurements of wind profiles and their use in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and climate research. Spin-off products are profiles of cloud and aerosol optical properties. Aeolus carries the novel Doppler Wind lidar instrument ALADIN. The mission prime is Airbus Defence & Space UK (ADS-UK), and the instrument prime is Airbus Defence & Space France (ADS-F).

Doppler ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology. 2. rev. and enl. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maulik, D.

2005-01-01

The second edition of Doppler Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology has been expanded and comprehensively updated to present the current standards of practice in Doppler ultrasound and the most recent developments in the technology. Doppler Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology encompasses the full spectrum of clinical applications of Doppler ultrasound for the practicing obstetrician-gynecologist, including the latest advances in 3D and color Doppler and the newest techniques in 4D fetal echocardiography. Written by preeminent experts in the field, the book covers the basic and physical principles of Doppler ultrasound; the use of Doppler for fetal examination, including fetal cerebral circulation; Doppler echocardiography of the fetal heart; and the use of Doppler for postdated pregnancy and in cases of multiple gestation. Chapters on the use of Doppler for gynecologic investigation include ultrasound in ectopic pregnancy, for infertility, for benign disorders and for gynecologic malignancies. (orig.)

Doppler ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology. 2. rev. and enl. ed.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maulik, D. [Winthrop Univ. Hospital, Mineola, NY (United States). Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Zalud, I. (eds.) [Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, Honolulu, HI (United States)

2005-07-01

The second edition of Doppler Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology has been expanded and comprehensively updated to present the current standards of practice in Doppler ultrasound and the most recent developments in the technology. Doppler Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology encompasses the full spectrum of clinical applications of Doppler ultrasound for the practicing obstetrician-gynecologist, including the latest advances in 3D and color Doppler and the newest techniques in 4D fetal echocardiography. Written by preeminent experts in the field, the book covers the basic and physical principles of Doppler ultrasound; the use of Doppler for fetal examination, including fetal cerebral circulation; Doppler echocardiography of the fetal heart; and the use of Doppler for postdated pregnancy and in cases of multiple gestation. Chapters on the use of Doppler for gynecologic investigation include ultrasound in ectopic pregnancy, for infertility, for benign disorders and for gynecologic malignancies. (orig.)

Multivariate Analysis of Erosivity Indices and Rainfall Physical Characteristics Associated with Rainfall Patterns in Rio de Janeiro

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roriz Luciano Machado

2017-12-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT The identification of areas with greater erosive potential is important for planning soil and water conservation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physical characteristics of rainfall events in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and their interactions with rainfall patterns through multivariate statistical analysis. Rainfall depth, kinetic energy, 30-min intensity (I30, duration of rainfall events, and the erosivity indices KE >10, KE >25, and EI30 in 36 locations (stations were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA and canonical discriminant analysis (CDA. Based on evaluation of the respective historical series of hyetographs, it was found that the advanced pattern occurs with highest frequency (51.8 %, followed by the delayed pattern (26.1 %, and by the intermediate pattern (22.1 %. All the evaluated rainfall characteristics have high response capacity in describing localities and rainfall patterns through PCA and CDA. In CDA, the Tukey test (p<0.05 applied to the scores of the first canonical discriminant function (CDF1 allowed differentiation of the stations with respect to the rainfall and erosivity characteristics for the advanced and delayed patterns. In the delayed pattern, the localities of Angra dos Reis, Campos, Eletrobrás, Manuel Duarte, Santa Isabel do Rio Preto, Tanguá, Teresópolis, Vila Mambucaba, and Xerém had the highest CDF1 scores, indicating that they have rainfalls with higher depth, I30, and duration because the standardized canonical coefficient (SCC and the correlation coefficient (“r” of these characteristics were positive. The rainfall events in the state of Rio de Janeiro differ from one locality to another in relation to the advanced and delayed rainfall patterns, mainly due to the physical characteristics of rainfall depth, I30, and duration, indicating a higher risk of soil loss and runoff in the localities where rainfall events with the delayed pattern prevail.

New Insights from Inside-Out Doppler Tomography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. J. Kotze

2015-02-01

Full Text Available We present preliminary results from our investigation into using an “inside-out” velocity space for creating a Doppler tomogram. The aim is to transpose the inverted appearance of the Cartesian velocity space used in normal Doppler tomography. In a comparison between normal and inside-out Doppler tomograms of cataclysmic variables, we show that the inside-out velocity space has the potential to produce new insights into the accretion dynamics in these systems.

Measurement of ventricular function using Doppler ultrasound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teague, S.M.

1986-01-01

Doppler has wide application in the evaluation of valvular heart disease. The need to know ventricular function is a much more common reason for an echocardiographic evaluation. Interestingly, Doppler examinations can assess ventricular function from many perspectives. Description of ventricular function entails measurement of the timing, rate and volume of ventricular filling and ejection. Doppler ultrasound examination reveals all of these aspects of ventricular function noninvasively, simply, and without great expense or radiation exposure, as described in this chapter

MP3 compression of Doppler ultrasound signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Poepping, Tamie L; Gill, Jeremy; Fenster, Aaron; Holdsworth, David W

2003-01-01

The effect of lossy, MP3 compression on spectral parameters derived from Doppler ultrasound (US) signals was investigated. Compression was tested on signals acquired from two sources: 1. phase quadrature and 2. stereo audio directional output. A total of 11, 10-s acquisitions of Doppler US signal were collected from each source at three sites in a flow phantom. Doppler signals were digitized at 44.1 kHz and compressed using four grades of MP3 compression (in kilobits per second, kbps; compression ratios in brackets): 1400 kbps (uncompressed), 128 kbps (11:1), 64 kbps (22:1) and 32 kbps (44:1). Doppler spectra were characterized by peak velocity, mean velocity, spectral width, integrated power and ratio of spectral power between negative and positive velocities. The results suggest that MP3 compression on digital Doppler US signals is feasible at 128 kbps, with a resulting 11:1 compression ratio, without compromising clinically relevant information. Higher compression ratios led to significant differences for both signal sources when compared with the uncompressed signals. Copyright 2003 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology

Monsoon Rainfall and Landslides in Nepal

Science.gov (United States)

Dahal, R. K.; Hasegawa, S.; Bhandary, N. P.; Yatabe, R.

2009-12-01

A large number of human settlements on the Nepal Himalayas are situated either on old landslide mass or on landslide-prone areas. As a result, a great number of people are affected by large- and small-scale landslides all over the Himalayas especially during monsoon periods. In Nepal, only in the half monsoon period (June 10 to August 15), 70, 50 and 68 people were killed from landslides in 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively. In this context, this paper highlights monsoon rainfall and their implications in the Nepal Himalaya. In Nepal, monsoon is major source of rainfall in summer and approximately 80% of the annual total rainfall occurs from June to September. The measured values of mean annual precipitation in Nepal range from a low of approximately 250 mm at area north of the Himalaya to many areas exceeding 6,000 mm. The mean annual rainfall varying between 1500 mm and 2500 mm predominate over most of the country. In Nepal, the daily distribution of precipitation during rainy season is also uneven. Sometime 10% of the total annual precipitation can occur in a single day. Similarly, 50% total annual rainfall also can occur within 10 days of monsoon. This type of uneven distribution plays an important role in triggering many landslides in Nepal. When spatial distribution of landslides was evaluated from record of more than 650 landslides, it is found that more landslides events were concentrated at central Nepal in the area of high mean annual rainfall. When monsoon rainfall and landslide relationship was taken into consideration, it was noticed that a considerable number of landslides were triggered in the Himalaya by continuous rainfall of 3 to 90 days. It has been noticed that continuous rainfall of few days (5 days or 7 days or 10 days) are usually responsible for landsliding in the Nepal Himalaya. Monsoon rains usually fall with interruptions of 2-3 days and are generally characterized by low intensity and long duration. Thus, there is a strong role of

Polar Applications of Spaceborne Scatterometers

Science.gov (United States)

Long, David G.

2017-01-01

Wind scatterometers were originally developed for observation of near-surface winds over the ocean. They retrieve wind indirectly by measuring the normalized radar cross section (σo) of the surface, and estimating the wind via a geophysical model function relating σo to the vector wind. The σo measurements have proven to be remarkably capable in studies of the polar regions where they can map snow cover; detect the freeze/thaw state of forest, tundra, and ice; map and classify sea ice; and track icebergs. Further, a long time series of scatterometer σo observations is available to support climate studies. In addition to fundamental scientific research, scatterometer data are operationally used for sea-ice mapping to support navigation. Scatterometers are, thus, invaluable tools for monitoring the polar regions. In this paper, a brief review of some of the polar applications of spaceborne wind scatterometer data is provided. The paper considers both C-band and Ku-band scatterometers, and the relative merits of fan-beam and pencil-beam scatterometers in polar remote sensing are discussed. PMID:28919936

Predicting watershed acidification under alternate rainfall conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huntington, T.G.

1996-01-01

The effect of alternate rainfall scenarios on acidification of a forested watershed subjected to chronic acidic deposition was assessed using the model of acidification of groundwater in catchments (MAGIC). The model was calibrated at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, near Atlanta, Georgia, USA using measured soil properties, wet and dry deposition, and modeled hydrologic routing. Model forecast simulations were evaluated to compare alternate temporal averaging of rainfall inputs and variations in rainfall amount and seasonal distribution. Soil water alkalinity was predicted to decrease to substantially lower concentrations under lower rainfall compared with current or higher rainfall conditions. Soil water alkalinity was also predicted to decrease to lower levels when the majority of rainfall occurred during the growing season compared with other rainfall distributions. Changes in rainfall distribution that result in decreases in net soil water flux will temporarily delay acidification. Ultimately, however, decreased soilwater flux will result in larger increases in soil-adsorbed sulfur and soil-water sulfate concentrations and decreases in alkalinity when compared to higher water flux conditions. Potential climate change resulting in significant changes in rainfall amounts, seasonal distributions of rainfall, or evapotranspiration will change net soil water flux and, consequently, will affect the dynamics of the acidification response to continued sulfate loading. 29 refs., 7 figs., 4 tabs

Analysis of Doppler effect with JAERI-Fast set

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takano, Hideki; Matsui, Yasushi.

1977-07-01

Temperature dependence of group cross sections in the JAERI-Fast set versions I, IR, II and IIR has been tested from the analysis of Doppler experiments performed with two different methods. One is Doppler reactivity measurement for the whole core of SEFOR assembly, and the other sample Doppler reactivity measurement for natural UO 2 in FCA assemblies V-1, V-2, VI-1 and VI-2, ZPR-6-7, ZPR-3-47, and ZPPR-2 and 3. Doppler effects were calculated with one- and two-dimensional diffusion 1-st order perturbation code DOPP2D. The results calculated with the JAERI-Fast set versions II and IIR are in good agreement with the experimental ones. In these calculation, resonance heterogeneity effect, stainless-stell buffer effect and plate heterogeneity effect are considered, and these effects contribute significantly to Doppler effect. (auth.)

Single-Mode, High Repetition Rate, Compact Ho:YLF Laser for Space-Borne Lidar Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Yingxin; Yu, Jirong; Wong, Teh-Hwa; Chen, Songsheng; Petros, Mulugeta; Singh, Upendra N.

2014-01-01

A single transverse/longitudinal mode, compact Q-switched Ho:YLF laser has been designed and demonstrated for space-borne lidar applications. The pulse energy is between 34-40 mJ for 100-200 Hz operation. The corresponding peak power is >1 MW.

Application of seasonal rainfall forecasts and satellite rainfall observations to crop yield forecasting for Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Greatrex, H. L.; Grimes, D. I. F.; Wheeler, T. R.

2009-04-01

Rain-fed agriculture is of utmost importance in sub-Saharan Africa; the FAO estimates that over 90% of food consumed in the region is grown in rain-fed farming systems. As the climate in sub-Saharan Africa has a high interannual variability, this dependence on rainfall can leave communities extremely vulnerable to food shortages, especially when coupled with a lack of crop management options. The ability to make a regional forecast of crop yield on a timescale of months would be of enormous benefit; it would enable both governmental and non-governmental organisations to be alerted in advance to crop failure and could facilitate national and regional economic planning. Such a system would also enable individual communities to make more informed crop management decisions, increasing their resilience to climate variability and change. It should be noted that the majority of crops in the region are rainfall limited, therefore the ability to create a seasonal crop forecast depends on the ability to forecast rainfall at a monthly or seasonal timescale and to temporally downscale this to a daily time-series of rainfall. The aim of this project is to develop a regional-scale seasonal forecast for sub-Saharan crops, utilising the General Large Area Model for annual crops (GLAM). GLAM would initially be driven using both dynamical and statistical seasonal rainfall forecasts to provide an initial estimate of crop yield. The system would then be continuously updated throughout the season by replacing the seasonal rainfall forecast with daily weather observations. TAMSAT satellite rainfall estimates are used rather than rain-gauge data due to the scarcity of ground based observations. An important feature of the system is the use of the geo-statistical method of sequential simulation to create an ensemble of daily weather inputs from both the statistical seasonal rainfall forecasts and the satellite rainfall estimates. This allows a range of possible yield outputs to be

Impacts of rainfall variability and expected rainfall changes on cost-effective adaptation of water systems to climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Pol, T D; van Ierland, E C; Gabbert, S; Weikard, H-P; Hendrix, E M T

2015-05-01

Stormwater drainage and other water systems are vulnerable to changes in rainfall and runoff and need to be adapted to climate change. This paper studies impacts of rainfall variability and changing return periods of rainfall extremes on cost-effective adaptation of water systems to climate change given a predefined system performance target, for example a flood risk standard. Rainfall variability causes system performance estimates to be volatile. These estimates may be used to recurrently evaluate system performance. This paper presents a model for this setting, and develops a solution method to identify cost-effective investments in stormwater drainage adaptations. Runoff and water levels are simulated with rainfall from stationary rainfall distributions, and time series of annual rainfall maxima are simulated for a climate scenario. Cost-effective investment strategies are determined by dynamic programming. The method is applied to study the choice of volume for a storage basin in a Dutch polder. We find that 'white noise', i.e. trend-free variability of rainfall, might cause earlier re-investment than expected under projected changes in rainfall. The risk of early re-investment may be reduced by increasing initial investment. This can be cost-effective if the investment involves fixed costs. Increasing initial investments, therefore, not only increases water system robustness to structural changes in rainfall, but could also offer insurance against additional costs that would occur if system performance is underestimated and re-investment becomes inevitable. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Particle transport simulation for spaceborne, NaI gamma-ray spectrometers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dyer, C.S.; Truscott, P.R.; Sims, A.J.; Comber, C.; Hammond, N.D.A.

1988-11-01

Radioactivity induced in detectors by protons and secondary neutrons limits the sensitivity of spaceborne gamma-ray spectrometers. Three dimensional Monte Carlo transport codes have been employed to simulate particle transport of cosmic rays and inner-belt protons in various representations of the Gamma Ray Observatory Spacecraft and the Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment. Results are used to accurately quantify the contributions to the radioactive background, assess shielding options and examine the effect of detector and space-craft orientation in anisotropic trapped proton fluxes. (author)

Doppler ion program description

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henline, P.

1980-12-01

The Doppler spectrometer is a conventional Czerny-Turner grating spectrometer with a 1024 channel multiple detector. Light is dispersed across the detector, and its output yields a spectrum covering approximately 200 A. The width of the spectral peak is directly proportional to the temperature of the emitting ions, and determination of the impurity ion temperature allows one to infer the plasma ion temperature. The Doppler ion software system developed at General Atomic uses a TRACOR Northern 1710-31 and an LSI-11/2. The exact configuration of Doublet III is different from TRACOR Northern systems at other facilities

Analysis on the Critical Rainfall Value For Predicting Large Scale Landslides Caused by Heavy Rainfall In Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Kuang-Jung; Chiang, Jie-Lun; Lee, Ming-Hsi; Chen, Yie-Ruey

2017-04-01

Analysis on the Critical Rainfall Value For Predicting Large Scale Landslides Caused by Heavy Rainfall In Taiwan. Kuang-Jung Tsai 1, Jie-Lun Chiang 2,Ming-Hsi Lee 2, Yie-Ruey Chen 1, 1Department of Land Management and Development, Chang Jung Christian Universityt, Tainan, Taiwan. 2Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan. ABSTRACT The accumulated rainfall amount was recorded more than 2,900mm that were brought by Morakot typhoon in August, 2009 within continuous 3 days. Very serious landslides, and sediment related disasters were induced by this heavy rainfall event. The satellite image analysis project conducted by Soil and Water Conservation Bureau after Morakot event indicated that more than 10,904 sites of landslide with total sliding area of 18,113ha were found by this project. At the same time, all severe sediment related disaster areas are also characterized based on their disaster type, scale, topography, major bedrock formations and geologic structures during the period of extremely heavy rainfall events occurred at the southern Taiwan. Characteristics and mechanism of large scale landslide are collected on the basis of the field investigation technology integrated with GPS/GIS/RS technique. In order to decrease the risk of large scale landslides on slope land, the strategy of slope land conservation, and critical rainfall database should be set up and executed as soon as possible. Meanwhile, study on the establishment of critical rainfall value used for predicting large scale landslides induced by heavy rainfall become an important issue which was seriously concerned by the government and all people live in Taiwan. The mechanism of large scale landslide, rainfall frequency analysis ,sediment budge estimation and river hydraulic analysis under the condition of extremely climate change during the past 10 years would be seriously concerned and recognized as a required issue by this

Entropy of stable seasonal rainfall distribution in Kelantan

Science.gov (United States)

Azman, Muhammad Az-zuhri; Zakaria, Roslinazairimah; Satari, Siti Zanariah; Radi, Noor Fadhilah Ahmad

2017-05-01

Investigating the rainfall variability is vital for any planning and management in many fields related to water resources. Climate change can gives an impact of water availability and may aggravate water scarcity in the future. Two statistics measurements which have been used by many researchers to measure the rainfall variability are variance and coefficient of variation. However, these two measurements are insufficient since rainfall distribution in Malaysia especially in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia is not symmetric instead it is positively skewed. In this study, the entropy concept is used as a tool to measure the seasonal rainfall variability in Kelantan and ten rainfall stations were selected. In previous studies, entropy of stable rainfall (ESR) and apportionment entropy (AE) were used to describe the rainfall amount variability during years for Australian rainfall data. In this study, the entropy of stable seasonal rainfall (ESSR) is suggested to model rainfall amount variability during northeast monsoon (NEM) and southwest monsoon (SWM) seasons in Kelantan. The ESSR is defined to measure the long-term average seasonal rainfall amount variability within a given year (1960-2012). On the other hand, the AE measures the rainfall amounts variability across the months. The results of ESSR and AE values show that stations in east coastline are more variable as compared to other stations inland for Kelantan rainfall. The contour maps of ESSR for Kelantan rainfall stations are also presented.

Stochastic modelling of daily rainfall sequences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buishand, T.A.

1977-01-01

Rainfall series of different climatic regions were analysed with the aim of generating daily rainfall sequences. A survey of the data is given in I, 1. When analysing daily rainfall sequences one must be aware of the following points:
a. Seasonality. Because of seasonal variation

Electromagnetic modelling of a space-borne far-infrared interferometer

Science.gov (United States)

Donohoe, Anthony; O'Sullivan, Créidhe; Murphy, J. Anthony; Bracken, Colm; Savini, Giorgio; Pascale, Enzo; Ade, Peter; Sudiwala, Rashmi; Hornsby, Amber

2016-02-01

In this paper I will describe work done as part of an EU-funded project `Far-infrared space interferometer critical assessment' (FISICA). The aim of the project is to investigate science objectives and technology development required for the next generation THz space interferometer. The THz/FIR is precisely the spectral region where most of the energy from stars, exo-planetary systems and galaxy clusters deep in space is emitted. The atmosphere is almost completely opaque in the wave-band of interest so any observation that requires high quality data must be performed with a space-born instrument. A space-borne far infrared interferometer will be able to answer a variety of crucial astrophysical questions such as how do planets and stars form, what is the energy engine of most galaxies and how common are the molecule building blocks of life. The FISICA team have proposed a novel instrument based on a double Fourier interferometer that is designed to resolve the light from an extended scene, spectrally and spatially. A laboratory prototype spectral-spatial interferometer has been constructed to demonstrate the feasibility of the double-Fourier technique at far infrared wavelengths (0.15 - 1 THz). This demonstrator is being used to investigate and validate important design features and data-processing methods for future instruments. Using electromagnetic modelling techniques several issues related to its operation at long baselines and wavelengths, such as diffraction, have been investigated. These are critical to the design of the concept instrument and the laboratory testbed.

Characterization of Future Caribbean Rainfall and Temperature Extremes across Rainfall Zones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalie Melissa McLean

2015-01-01

Full Text Available End-of-century changes in Caribbean climate extremes are derived from the Providing Regional Climate for Impact Studies (PRECIS regional climate model (RCM under the A2 and B2 emission scenarios across five rainfall zones. Trends in rainfall, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature extremes from the RCM are validated against meteorological stations over 1979–1989. The model displays greater skill at representing trends in consecutive wet days (CWD and extreme rainfall (R95P than consecutive dry days (CDD, wet days (R10, and maximum 5-day precipitation (RX5. Trends in warm nights, cool days, and warm days were generally well reproduced. Projections for 2071–2099 relative to 1961–1989 are obtained from the ECHAM5 driven RCM. Northern and eastern zones are projected to experience more intense rainfall under A2 and B2. There is less consensus across scenarios with respect to changes in the dry and wet spell lengths. However, there is indication that a drying trend may be manifest over zone 5 (Trinidad and northern Guyana. Changes in the extreme temperature indices generally suggest a warmer Caribbean towards the end of century across both scenarios with the strongest changes over zone 4 (eastern Caribbean.

Complex regression Doppler optical coherence tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Elahi, Sahar; Gu, Shi; Thrane, Lars; Rollins, Andrew M.; Jenkins, Michael W.

2018-04-01

We introduce a new method to measure Doppler shifts more accurately and extend the dynamic range of Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT). The two-point estimate of the conventional Doppler method is replaced with a regression that is applied to high-density B-scans in polar coordinates. We built a high-speed OCT system using a 1.68-MHz Fourier domain mode locked laser to acquire high-density B-scans (16,000 A-lines) at high enough frame rates (˜100 fps) to accurately capture the dynamics of the beating embryonic heart. Flow phantom experiments confirm that the complex regression lowers the minimum detectable velocity from 12.25 mm / s to 374 μm / s, whereas the maximum velocity of 400 mm / s is measured without phase wrapping. Complex regression Doppler OCT also demonstrates higher accuracy and precision compared with the conventional method, particularly when signal-to-noise ratio is low. The extended dynamic range allows monitoring of blood flow over several stages of development in embryos without adjusting the imaging parameters. In addition, applying complex averaging recovers hidden features in structural images.

Investigation of Rainfall-Runoff Processes and Soil Moisture Dynamics in Grassland Plots under Simulated Rainfall Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nana Zhao

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The characteristics of rainfall-runoff are important aspects of hydrological processes. In this study, rainfall-runoff processes and soil moisture dynamics at different soil depths and slope positions of grassland with two different row spacings (5 cm and 10 cm, respectively, referred to as R5 and R10 were analyzed, by means of a solution of rainfall simulation experiments. Bare land was also considered as a comparison. The results showed that the mechanism of runoff generation was mainly excess infiltration overland flow. The surface runoff amount of R5 plot was greater than that of R10, while the interflow amount of R10 was larger than that of R5 plot, although the differences of the subsurface runoff processes between plots R5 and R10 were little. The effects of rainfall intensity on the surface runoff were significant, but not obvious on the interflow and recession curve, which can be described as a simple exponential equation, with a fitting degree of up to 0.854–0.996. The response of soil moisture to rainfall and evapotranspiration was mainly in the 0–20 cm layer, and the response at the 40 cm layer to rainfall was slower and generally occurred after the rainfall stopped. The upper slope generally responded fastest to rainfall, and the foot of the slope was the slowest. The results presented here could provide insights into understanding the surface and subsurface runoff processes and soil moisture dynamics for grasslands in semi-arid regions.

Rainfall Stochastic models

Science.gov (United States)

Campo, M. A.; Lopez, J. J.; Rebole, J. P.

2012-04-01

This work was carried out in north of Spain. San Sebastian A meteorological station, where there are available precipitation records every ten minutes was selected. Precipitation data covers from October of 1927 to September of 1997. Pulse models describe the temporal process of rainfall as a succession of rainy cells, main storm, whose origins are distributed in time according to a Poisson process and a secondary process that generates a random number of cells of rain within each storm. Among different pulse models, the Bartlett-Lewis was used. On the other hand, alternative renewal processes and Markov chains describe the way in which the process will evolve in the future depending only on the current state. Therefore they are nor dependant on past events. Two basic processes are considered when describing the occurrence of rain: the alternation of wet and dry periods and temporal distribution of rainfall in each rain event, which determines the rainwater collected in each of the intervals that make up the rain. This allows the introduction of alternative renewal processes and Markov chains of three states, where interstorm time is given by either of the two dry states, short or long. Thus, the stochastic model of Markov chains tries to reproduce the basis of pulse models: the succession of storms, each one composed for a series of rain, separated by a short interval of time without theoretical complexity of these. In a first step, we analyzed all variables involved in the sequential process of the rain: rain event duration, event duration of non-rain, average rainfall intensity in rain events, and finally, temporal distribution of rainfall within the rain event. Additionally, for pulse Bartlett-Lewis model calibration, main descriptive statistics were calculated for each month, considering the process of seasonal rainfall in each month. In a second step, both models were calibrated. Finally, synthetic series were simulated with calibration parameters; series

Cross-correlation Doppler global velocimetry (CC-DGV)

Science.gov (United States)

Cadel, Daniel R.; Lowe, K. Todd

2015-08-01

A flow velocimetry method, cross-correlation Doppler global velocimetry (CC-DGV), is presented as a robust, simplified, and high dynamic range implementation of the Doppler global/planar Doppler velocimetry technique. A sweep of several gigahertz of the vapor absorption spectrum is used for each velocity sample, with signals acquired from both Doppler-shifted scattered light within the flow and a non-Doppler shifted reference beam. Cross-correlation of these signals yields the Doppler shift between them, averaged over the duration of the scan. With presently available equipment, velocities from 0 ms-1 to over 3000 ms-1 can notionally be measured simultaneously, making the technique ideal for high speed flows. The processing routine is shown to be robust against large changes in the vapor pressure of the iodine cell, benefiting performance of the system in facilities where ambient conditions cannot be easily regulated. Validation of the system was performed with measurements of a model wind turbine blade boundary layer made in a 1.83 m by 1.83 m subsonic wind tunnel for which laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) measurements were acquired alongside the CC-DGV results. CC-DGV uncertainties of ±1.30 ms-1, ±0.64 ms-1, and ±1.11 ms-1 were determined for the orthogonal stream-wise, transverse-horizontal, and transverse-vertical velocity components, and root-mean-square deviations of 2.77 ms-1 and 1.34 ms-1 from the LDV validation results were observed for Reynolds numbers of 1.5 million and 2 million, respectively. Volumetric mean velocity measurements are also presented for a supersonic jet, with velocity uncertainties of ±4.48 ms-1, ±16.93 ms-1, and ±0.50 ms-1 for the orthogonal components, and self-validation done by collapsing the data with a physical scaling.

Editorial special issue on "Laser Doppler vibrometry"

Science.gov (United States)

Vanlanduit, Steve; Dirckx, Joris

2017-12-01

The invention of the laser in 1960 has opened up many opportunities in the field of measurement science and technology. Just a few years after the invention of the laser, a novel fluid flow measurement technique based on the Doppler effect was introduced: at that moment the laser Doppler anemometer or shortly LDA [1] was born. The technique enabled fluid velocity measurement by using the light of a He-Ne beam which was scattered by very small polystyrene spheres entrained in the fluid. Later on, in the late nineteen seventees it was recognized that the detection of the Doppler frequency shift that occurs when light is scattered by a moving surface can also be used to measure the vibration velocity of an object. The instrument to perform these vibration measurements was called the laser Doppler vibrometer or LDV [2]. In the last decades several technological advances were made in the field of laser Doppler vibrometry. The result is that nowadays, velocity measurements of fluids (using LDA) and vibrating objects (using LDV) are performed in many challenging applications in different fields (microelectronics, civil structures, biomedical engineering, material science, etc.).

Analyses of the temporal and spatial structures of heavy rainfall from a catalog of high-resolution radar rainfall fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorndahl, Søren; Smith, James A.; Baeck, Mary Lynn

2014-01-01

that relate to size, structure and evolution of heavy rainfall. Extreme rainfall is also linked with severe weather (tornados, large hail and damaging wind). The diurnal cycle of rainfall for heavy rain days is characterized by an early peak in the largest rainfall rates, an afternoon-evening peak in rain...

Urban rainfall estimation employing commercial microwave links

Science.gov (United States)

Overeem, Aart; Leijnse, Hidde; Uijlenhoet, Remko; ten Veldhuis, Marie-claire

2015-04-01

Urban areas often lack rainfall information. To increase the number of rainfall observations in cities, microwave links from operational cellular telecommunication networks may be employed. Although this new potential source of rainfall information has been shown to be promising, its quality needs to be demonstrated more extensively. In the Rain Sense kickstart project of the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS), sensors and citizens are preparing Amsterdam for future weather. Part of this project is rainfall estimation using new measurement techniques. Innovative sensing techniques will be utilized such as rainfall estimation from microwave links, umbrellas for weather sensing, low-cost sensors at lamp posts and in drainage pipes for water level observation. These will be combined with information provided by citizens in an active way through smartphone apps and in a passive way through social media posts (Twitter, Flickr etc.). Sensor information will be integrated, visualized and made accessible to citizens to help raise citizen awareness of urban water management challenges and promote resilience by providing information on how citizens can contribute in addressing these. Moreover, citizens and businesses can benefit from reliable weather information in planning their social and commercial activities. In the end city-wide high-resolution rainfall maps will be derived, blending rainfall information from microwave links and weather radars. This information will be used for urban water management. This presentation focuses on rainfall estimation from commercial microwave links. Received signal levels from tens of microwave links within the Amsterdam region (roughly 1 million inhabitants) in the Netherlands are utilized to estimate rainfall with high spatial and temporal resolution. Rainfall maps will be presented and compared to a gauge-adjusted radar rainfall data set. Rainfall time series from gauge(s), radars and links will be compared.

Glare Spot Phase Doppler Anemometry

OpenAIRE

Hespel, Camille; Ren, Kuan Fang; Gréhan, Gérard; Onofri, Fabrice

2006-01-01

International audience; The Phase Doppler anemometry has been developed to measure simultaneously the velocity and the size of droplets. The measurement of the refractive index is also necessary since it depends on the temperature and the composition of the particle and its measurement permits both to increase the quality of the diameter measurement and to obtain information on the temperature and/or the composition of the droplets. In this paper, we introduce a Glare Spot Phase Doppler Anemo...

Radar Doppler Processing with Nonuniform Sampling.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Doerry, Armin W. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-07-01

Conventional signal processing to estimate radar Doppler frequency often assumes uniform pulse/sample spacing. This is for the convenience of t he processing. More recent performance enhancements in processor capability allow optimally processing nonuniform pulse/sample spacing, thereby overcoming some of the baggage that attends uniform sampling, such as Doppler ambiguity and SNR losses due to sidelobe control measures.

Doppler echocardiography in pediatric cardiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, H.D.; Marx, G.R.

1986-01-01

Congenital heart disease encompasses abnormalities in cardiac development which generally have in common either valve stenoses or connections between chambers or great vessels. Usually, abnormalities of intracardiac anatomy, and often, abnormalities of great vessel anatomy, can be unraveled by two-dimensional echocardiography. However, echocardiography offers little information regarding flow characteristics in the various congenital lesions. Addition of the Doppler principle, particularly when combined with the two-dimensional examination, can characterize the source of a flow disturbance, quantify gradients across a site of obstruction, and quantify flow volume across sites where flow is nonturbulent. These features make Doppler echocardiography unique for noninvasive accurate evaluation of children and adults with various forms of congenital heart disease. In this report, the authors discuss some of the present uses of Doppler echocardiography in congenital heart disease. Application of this technique requires greater understanding of certain physics principles than does routine echocardiography

Rainfall Erosivity Database on the European Scale (REDES): A product of a high temporal resolution rainfall data collection in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Panagos, Panos; Ballabio, Cristiano; Borrelli, Pasquale; Meusburger, Katrin; Alewell, Christine

2016-04-01

The erosive force of rainfall is expressed as rainfall erosivity. Rainfall erosivity considers the rainfall amount and intensity, and is most commonly expressed as the R-factor in the (R)USLE model. The R-factor is calculated from a series of single storm events by multiplying the total storm kinetic energy with the measured maximum 30-minutes rainfall intensity. This estimation requests high temporal resolution (e.g. 30 minutes) rainfall data for sufficiently long time periods (i.e. 20 years) which are not readily available at European scale. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre(JRC) in collaboration with national/regional meteorological services and Environmental Institutions made an extensive data collection of high resolution rainfall data in the 28 Member States of the European Union plus Switzerland in order to estimate rainfall erosivity in Europe. This resulted in the Rainfall Erosivity Database on the European Scale (REDES) which included 1,541 rainfall stations in 2014 and has been updated with 134 additional stations in 2015. The interpolation of those point R-factor values with a Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) model has resulted in the first Rainfall Erosivity map of Europe (Science of the Total Environment, 511, 801-815). The intra-annual variability of rainfall erosivity is crucial for modelling soil erosion on a monthly and seasonal basis. The monthly feature of rainfall erosivity has been added in 2015 as an advancement of REDES and the respective mean annual R-factor map. Almost 19,000 monthly R-factor values of REDES contributed to the seasonal and monthly assessments of rainfall erosivity in Europe. According to the first results, more than 50% of the total rainfall erosivity in Europe takes place in the period from June to September. The spatial patterns of rainfall erosivity have significant differences between Northern and Southern Europe as summer is the most erosive period in Central and Northern Europe and autumn in the

Doppler ultrasound scan during normal gestation: umbilical circulation; Ecografia Doppler en la gestacion normal: circulacion umbilical

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruiz, T.; Sabate, J.; Martinez-Benavides, M. M.; Sanchez-Ramos, J. [Hospital Virgen Macarena. Sevilla (Spain)

2002-07-01

To determine normal umbilical circulation patterns by means of Doppler ultrasound scan in a healthy gestating population without risk factors and with normal perinatal results, and to evaluate any occurring modifications relative to gestational age by obtaining records kept during pregnancy. One hundred and sixteen pregnant women carrying a single fetus have been studied. These women had no risk factors, with both clinical and analytical controls, as well as ultrasound scans, all being normal. There were performed a total of 193 Doppler ultrasound scans between weeks 15 and 41 of gestation, with blood-flow analysis in the arteries and vein of the umbilical cord. The obtained information was correlated with parameters that evaluate fetal well-being (fetal monitoring and/or oxytocin test) and perinatal result (delivery type, birth weight, Apgar score). Statistical analysis was performed with the programs SPSS 6.0.1 for Windows and EPIINFO 6.0.4. With pulsed Doppler, the umbilical artery in all cases demonstrated a biphasic morphology with systolic and diastolic components and without retrograde blood flow. As the gestation period increased, there was observed a progressive decrease in resistance along with an increase in blood-flow velocity during the diastolic phase. The Doppler ultrasound scan is a non-invasive method that permits the hemodynamic study of umbilical blood circulation. A knowledge of normal blood-flow signal morphology, as well as of the normal values for Doppler indices in relation to gestational age would permit us to utilize this method in high-risk pregnancies. (Author) 30 refs.

Rainfall simulators - innovations seeking rainfall uniformity and automatic flow rate measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Miroslav; Kavka, Petr; Strouhal, Luděk; Dostál, Tomáš; Krása, Josef

2016-04-01

Field rainfall simulators are used worldwide for many experimental purposes, such as runoff generation and soil erosion research. At CTU in Prague a laboratory simulator with swinging nozzles VeeJet has been operated since 2001. Since 2012 an additional terrain simulator is being used with 4 fixed FullJet 40WSQ nozzles with 2,4 m spacing and operating over two simultaneously sprinkled experimental plots sizing 8x2 and 1x1 m. In parallel to other research projects a specific problem was solved: improving rainfall spatial uniformity and overall intensity and surface runoff measurements. These fundamental variables significantly affect investigated processes as well as resulting water balance of the plot, therefore they need to be determined as accurately as possible. Although the original nozzles setting produced (commonly used) Christiansen uniformity index CU over 80 %, detailed measurements proved this index insufficient and showed many unrequired rainfall extremes within the plot. Moreover the number of rainfall intensity scenarios was limited and some of them required problematic multi-pressure operation of the water distribution system. Therefore the simulator was subjected to many substantial changes in 2015. Innovations ranged from pump intensification to control unit upgrade. As essential change was considered increase in number of nozzles to 9 in total and reducing their spacing to 1,2 m. However new uniformity measurements did not bring any significant improvement. Tested scenarios showed equal standard deviations of interpolated intensity rasters and equal or slightly lower CU index. Imperfections of sprinkling nozzles were found to be the limiting factor. Still many other benefits were brought with the new setup. Whole experimental plot 10x2 m is better covered with the rainfall while the water consumption is retained. Nozzles are triggered in triplets, which enables more rainfall intensity scenarios. Water distribution system is more stable due to

Longitudinal study of aortic isthmus Doppler in appropriately grown and small-for-gestational-age fetuses with normal and abnormal umbilical artery Doppler.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Kennelly, M M

2012-04-01

To establish reference ranges using longitudinal data for aortic isthmus (AoI) Doppler indices in appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) fetuses and to document the longitudinal trends in a cohort of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) fetuses with normal umbilical artery Doppler and in fetuses with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and abnormal umbilical artery Doppler.

Musculoskeletal colour/power Doppler in sports medicine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boesen, M I; Boesen, M; Langberg, Henning

2010-01-01

This review article discusses the aspects of sports medicine where musculoskeletal Doppler ultrasound has valuable contribution in diagnosis and/or treatment of some of the typical musculoskeletal sports injuries. Also, conditions where the Doppler ultrasound has no value are discussed. Some...

Temporal enhancement of two-dimensional color doppler echocardiography

Science.gov (United States)

Terentjev, Alexey B.; Settlemier, Scott H.; Perrin, Douglas P.; del Nido, Pedro J.; Shturts, Igor V.; Vasilyev, Nikolay V.

2016-03-01

Two-dimensional color Doppler echocardiography is widely used for assessing blood flow inside the heart and blood vessels. Currently, frame acquisition time for this method varies from tens to hundreds of milliseconds, depending on Doppler sector parameters. This leads to low frame rates of resulting video sequences equal to tens of Hz, which is insufficient for some diagnostic purposes, especially in pediatrics. In this paper, we present a new approach for reconstruction of 2D color Doppler cardiac images, which results in the frame rate being increased to hundreds of Hz. This approach relies on a modified method of frame reordering originally applied to real-time 3D echocardiography. There are no previous publications describing application of this method to 2D Color Doppler data. The approach has been tested on several in-vivo cardiac 2D color Doppler datasets with approximate duration of 30 sec and native frame rate of 15 Hz. The resulting image sequences had equivalent frame rates to 500Hz.

Doppler US evaluation of the hypertensive portal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Needleman, L.; Kurtz, A.B.; Bezzi, M.; Rifkin, M.D.; Pasto, M.E.; Pennell, R.G.; Baltarowich, O.H.; Goldberg, B.B.

1986-01-01

In patients with known portal hypertension, pulsed Doppler US was used for qualitative and directional evaluation of flow in the portal venous system and collateral vessels. Most patients had normal hepatopetal flow. Doppler US revealed the following abnormal blood flow patterns: hepatofugal portal flow, bidirectional portal flow, intrahepatic portal shunting, flow in portasystemic collaterals, and hepatic vein obstruction. Doppler US can provide important clinical information in the evaluation of portal hypertension

The image of urachus adenocarcinoma on Doppler ultrasonography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oyar, Orhan E-mail: o_oyar@hotmail.com; Yesildag, Ahmet; Gulsoy, Ufuk Kemal; Perk, Hakki

2002-10-01

Malignant urachal lesions are exceedingly rare and occur predominantly in adult life. In this case report, an adult patient with urachal carcinoma is presented with abdominal plain film, intravenous urography, gray-scale ultrasonography (US), Doppler US, and computed tomography (CT). Doppler US successfully showed the neovascularity with low resistive index value in the urachus tumor. We believe that Doppler US examination is helpful in the differential diagnosis of urachal carcinoma.

Doppler coefficient measurements in Zebra Core 5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baker, A.R.; Wheeler, R.C.

1965-11-01

Measurements using a central hot loop in Zebra Core 5 are described. Results are given for the Doppler coefficients found in a number of assemblies with PuO 2 and 16% PuO 2 /84% depleted UO 2 pins, loaded with different combinations of steel, sodium or void pins. The mixed oxide results are in general about 20% more negative than was calculated using the FD2 data set, but agreement is good if the plutonium contributions in the calculations are omitted. The small positive Doppler coefficient calculated for Pu239 was not observed, and two measurements indicated instead a small negative effect. The Doppler effect in the mixed oxide systems was found to vary approximately as 1/T. The results from the empty loop and non-fissile assemblies indicate either a small negative Doppler effect in steel or alternatively the presence of an unexplained expansion effect. (author)

Analysis of Radar Doppler Signature from Human Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. ANDRIĆ

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of time (autocorrelation and time-frequency (spectrogram analyses of radar signals returned from the moving human targets. When a radar signal falls on the human target which is moving toward or away from the radar, the signals reflected from different parts of his body produce a Doppler shift that is proportional to the velocity of those parts. Moving parts of the body causes the characteristic Doppler signature. The main contribution comes from the torso which causes the central Doppler frequency of target. The motion of arms and legs induces modulation on the returned radar signal and generates sidebands around the central Doppler frequency, referred to as micro-Doppler signatures. Through analyses on experimental data it was demonstrated that the human motion signature extraction is better using spectrogram. While the central Doppler frequency can be determined using the autocorrelation and the spectrogram, the extraction of the fundamental cadence frequency using the autocorrelation is unreliable when the target is in the clutter presence. It was shown that the fundamental cadence frequency increases with increasing dynamic movement of people and simultaneously the possibility of its extraction is proportional to the degree of synchronization movements of persons in the group.

Evaluating Peripheral Vascular Injuries: Is Color Doppler Enough for Diagnosis?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Lateef Wani

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Background:: Vascular injury poses a serious threat to limb and life. Thus, diagnosis should be made immediately with minimally invasive methods. Doppler is a good aid in diagnosis of vascular injury. Methods:: The present prospective study was conducted on 150 patients who presented with soft signs (the signs which are suggestive but not confirmatory of vascular injury. They were subjected to color Doppler examination before exploration. The patients with the features of vascular injury on color Doppler were subjected to exploration. On the other hand, those who had normal Doppler were subjected to CT- angiography. Then, the findings of the exploration were matched with those of color Doppler. The data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software. Results:: Out of the 150 Doppler examinations, 110 (73.33% were reported as positive, while 40 were reported as negative for vascular injury. These were subjected to CT-angiography and seven of them had the features of vascular injury on CT-angiography. All the patients with positive Doppler or CT angiography findings were subjected to exploration. Doppler had a sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 82.5% in diagnosis of vascular injury using Binary classification test. Conclusions:: Color Doppler is an easily available, reliable, and handy method of diagnosing a vascular injury. It has a very high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of vascular injuries.

Variability of rainfall over small areas

Science.gov (United States)

Runnels, R. C.

1983-01-01

A preliminary investigation was made to determine estimates of the number of raingauges needed in order to measure the variability of rainfall in time and space over small areas (approximately 40 sq miles). The literature on rainfall variability was examined and the types of empirical relationships used to relate rainfall variations to meteorological and catchment-area characteristics were considered. Relations between the coefficient of variation and areal-mean rainfall and area have been used by several investigators. These parameters seemed reasonable ones to use in any future study of rainfall variations. From a knowledge of an appropriate coefficient of variation (determined by the above-mentioned relations) the number rain gauges needed for the precise determination of areal-mean rainfall may be calculated by statistical estimation theory. The number gauges needed to measure the coefficient of variation over a 40 sq miles area, with varying degrees of error, was found to range from 264 (10% error, mean precipitation = 0.1 in) to about 2 (100% error, mean precipitation = 0.1 in).

Analysis of rainfall infiltration law in unsaturated soil slope.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Gui-rong; Qian, Ya-jun; Wang, Zhang-chun; Zhao, Bo

2014-01-01

In the study of unsaturated soil slope stability under rainfall infiltration, it is worth continuing to explore how much rainfall infiltrates into the slope in a rain process, and the amount of rainfall infiltrating into slope is the important factor influencing the stability. Therefore, rainfall infiltration capacity is an important issue of unsaturated seepage analysis for slope. On the basis of previous studies, rainfall infiltration law of unsaturated soil slope is analyzed. Considering the characteristics of slope and rainfall, the key factors affecting rainfall infiltration of slope, including hydraulic properties, water storage capacity (θs - θr), soil types, rainfall intensities, and antecedent and subsequent infiltration rates on unsaturated soil slope, are discussed by using theory analysis and numerical simulation technology. Based on critical factors changing, this paper presents three calculation models of rainfall infiltrability for unsaturated slope, including (1) infiltration model considering rainfall intensity; (2) effective rainfall model considering antecedent rainfall; (3) infiltration model considering comprehensive factors. Based on the technology of system response, the relationship of rainfall and infiltration is described, and the prototype of regression model of rainfall infiltration is given, in order to determine the amount of rain penetration during a rain process.

ESA’s spaceborne lidar mission ADM-Aeolus; project status and preparations for launch

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Straume Anne Grete

2018-01-01

Full Text Available ESA’s Doppler Wind lidar mission, the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus, hereafter abbreviated to Aeolus, was chosen as an Earth Explorer Core mission within the Living Planet Programme in 1999. It shall demonstrate the potential of space-based Doppler Wind lidars for operational measurements of wind profiles and their use in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP and climate research. Spin-off products are profiles of cloud and aerosol optical properties. Aeolus carries the novel Doppler Wind lidar instrument ALADIN. The mission prime is Airbus Defence & Space UK (ADS-UK, and the instrument prime is Airbus Defence & Space France (ADS-F.

Effect of monthly areal rainfall uncertainty on streamflow simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Ndiritu, J. G.; Mkhize, N.

2017-08-01

Areal rainfall is mostly obtained from point rainfall measurements that are sparsely located and several studies have shown that this results in large areal rainfall uncertainties at the daily time step. However, water resources assessment is often carried out a monthly time step and streamflow simulation is usually an essential component of this assessment. This study set out to quantify monthly areal rainfall uncertainties and assess their effect on streamflow simulation. This was achieved by; i) quantifying areal rainfall uncertainties and using these to generate stochastic monthly areal rainfalls, and ii) finding out how the quality of monthly streamflow simulation and streamflow variability change if stochastic areal rainfalls are used instead of historic areal rainfalls. Tests on monthly rainfall uncertainty were carried out using data from two South African catchments while streamflow simulation was confined to one of them. A non-parametric model that had been applied at a daily time step was used for stochastic areal rainfall generation and the Pitman catchment model calibrated using the SCE-UA optimizer was used for streamflow simulation. 100 randomly-initialised calibration-validation runs using 100 stochastic areal rainfalls were compared with 100 runs obtained using the single historic areal rainfall series. By using 4 rain gauges alternately to obtain areal rainfall, the resulting differences in areal rainfall averaged to 20% of the mean monthly areal rainfall and rainfall uncertainty was therefore highly significant. Pitman model simulations obtained coefficient of efficiencies averaging 0.66 and 0.64 in calibration and validation using historic rainfalls while the respective values using stochastic areal rainfalls were 0.59 and 0.57. Average bias was less than 5% in all cases. The streamflow ranges using historic rainfalls averaged to 29% of the mean naturalised flow in calibration and validation and the respective average ranges using stochastic

Probabilistic clustering of rainfall condition for landslide triggering

Science.gov (United States)

Rossi, Mauro; Luciani, Silvia; Cesare Mondini, Alessandro; Kirschbaum, Dalia; Valigi, Daniela; Guzzetti, Fausto

2013-04-01

Landslides are widespread natural and man made phenomena. They are triggered by earthquakes, rapid snow melting, human activities, but mostly by typhoons and intense or prolonged rainfall precipitations. In Italy mostly they are triggered by intense precipitation. The prediction of landslide triggered by rainfall precipitations over large areas is commonly based on the exploitation of empirical models. Empirical landslide rainfall thresholds are used to identify rainfall conditions for the possible landslide initiation. It's common practice to define rainfall thresholds by assuming a power law lower boundary in the rainfall intensity-duration or cumulative rainfall-duration space above which landslide can occur. The boundary is defined considering rainfall conditions associated to landslide phenomena using heuristic approaches, and doesn't consider rainfall events not causing landslides. Here we present a new fully automatic method to identify the probability of landslide occurrence associated to rainfall conditions characterized by measures of intensity or cumulative rainfall and rainfall duration. The method splits the rainfall events of the past in two groups: a group of events causing landslides and its complementary, then estimate their probabilistic distributions. Next, the probabilistic membership of the new event to one of the two clusters is estimated. The method doesn't assume a priori any threshold model, but simple exploits the real empirical distribution of rainfall events. The approach was applied in the Umbria region, Central Italy, where a catalogue of landslide timing, were obtained through the search of chronicles, blogs and other source of information in the period 2002-2012. The approach was tested using rain gauge measures and satellite rainfall estimates (NASA TRMM-v6), allowing in both cases the identification of the rainfall condition triggering landslides in the region. Compared to the other existing threshold definition methods, the prosed

Sub-Doppler laser cooling of potassium atoms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Landini, M. [LENS and Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy); Dipartimento di fisica, Universita di Trento, I-38123 Povo (Trento) (Italy); Roy, S.; Carcagni, L.; Trypogeorgos, D. [LENS and Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy); Fattori, M.; Inguscio, M.; Modugno, G. [LENS and Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy)

2011-10-15

We investigate the sub-Doppler laser cooling of bosonic potassium isotopes, whose small hyperfine splitting has so far prevented cooling below the Doppler temperature. We find instead that the combination of a dark optical molasses scheme that naturally arises in this kind of system and an adiabatic ramping of the laser parameters allows us to reach sub-Doppler temperatures for small laser detunings. We demonstrate temperatures as low as 25{+-}3 {mu}K and 47{+-}5 {mu}K in high-density samples of the two isotopes {sup 39}K and {sup 41}K, respectively. Our findings should find application to other atomic systems.

Sub-Doppler laser cooling of potassium atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Landini, M.; Roy, S.; Carcagni, L.; Trypogeorgos, D.; Fattori, M.; Inguscio, M.; Modugno, G.

2011-01-01

We investigate the sub-Doppler laser cooling of bosonic potassium isotopes, whose small hyperfine splitting has so far prevented cooling below the Doppler temperature. We find instead that the combination of a dark optical molasses scheme that naturally arises in this kind of system and an adiabatic ramping of the laser parameters allows us to reach sub-Doppler temperatures for small laser detunings. We demonstrate temperatures as low as 25±3 μK and 47±5 μK in high-density samples of the two isotopes 39 K and 41 K, respectively. Our findings should find application to other atomic systems.

Thermospheric winds in the auroral oval: observations of small scale structures and rapid fluctuations by a Doppler imaging system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batten, S.; Rees, D.

1990-01-01

At high geomagnetic latitudes, thermospheric wind flows are dramatically affected by the combined effects of magnetospheric ion convection and Joule and particle heating. Thermospheric winds have been observed by ground based and space-borne Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs). Short period, localized wind fluctuations have always been difficult to resolve with a conventional FPI, due to the limited time and spatial resolution. However, the highest quality wind data obtained by these instruments from the middle and upper thermosphere have implied that thermospheric winds may respond to the combination of strong local ion drag forcing and heating within the auroral oval and polar cap, with spatial scale sizes of 50-500 km, and with time scales as short as 10-30 min. Since the 1982/1983 winter, a prototype Doppler Imaging System (DIS) has been operated at Kiruna (67.84 0 N, 20.42 0 E). This instrument maps thermospheric wind flows over a region some 500 km in diameter centred on Kiruna and has observed many interesting features in the thermospheric wind fields. In particular, strong local wind gradients, rapid wind reversals and small scale structures are regularly observed, particularly during geomagnetically disturbed nights. (author)

Results of the Simulation and Assimilation of Doppler Wind Lidar Observations in Preparation for European Space Agency's Aeolus Mission

Science.gov (United States)

McCarty, Will

2011-01-01

With the launch of the European Space Agency's Aeolus Mission in 2013, direct spaceborne measurements of vertical wind profiles are imminent via Doppler wind lidar technology. Part of the preparedness for such missions is the development of the proper data assimilation methodology for handling such observations. Since no heritage measurements exist in space, the Joint Observing System Simulation Experiment (Joint OSSE) framework has been utilized to generate a realistic proxy dataset as a precursor to flight. These data are being used for the development of the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) data assimilation system utilized at a number of centers through the United States including the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NOAA/NWS/NCEP) as an activity through the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation. An update of this ongoing effort will be presented, including the methodology of proxy data generation, the limitations of the proxy data, the handling of line-of-sight wind measurements within the GSI, and the impact on both analyses and forecasts with the addition of the new data type.

Incipient fault detection and power system protection for spaceborne systems

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, B. Don; Hackler, Irene M.

1987-01-01

A program was initiated to study the feasibility of using advanced terrestrial power system protection techniques for spacecraft power systems. It was designed to enhance and automate spacecraft power distribution systems in the areas of safety, reliability and maintenance. The proposed power management/distribution system is described as well as security assessment and control, incipient and low current fault detection, and the proposed spaceborne protection system. It is noted that the intelligent remote power controller permits the implementation of digital relaying algorithms with both adaptive and programmable characteristics.

Influences of Appalachian orography on heavy rainfall and rainfall variability associated with the passage of hurricane Isabel by ensemble simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Oldaker, Guy; Liu, Liping; Lin, Yuh-Lang

2017-12-01

This study focuses on the heavy rainfall event associated with hurricane Isabel's (2003) passage over the Appalachian mountains of the eastern United States. Specifically, an ensemble consisting of two groups of simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF), with and without topography, is performed to investigate the orographic influences on heavy rainfall and rainfall variability. In general, the simulated ensemble mean with full terrain is able to reproduce the key observed 24-h rainfall amount and distribution, while the flat-terrain mean lacks in this respect. In fact, 30-h rainfall amounts are reduced by 75% with the removal of topography. Rainfall variability is also significantly increased with the presence of orography. Further analysis shows that the complex interaction between the hurricane and terrain along with contributions from varied microphysics, cumulus parametrization, and planetary boundary layer schemes have a pronounced effect on rainfall and rainfall variability. This study follows closely with a previous study, but for a different TC case of Isabel (2003). It is an important sensitivity test for a different TC in a very different environment. This study reveals that the rainfall variability behaves similarly, even with different settings of the environment.

Methodology for obtaining wind gusts using Doppler lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Suomi, Irene; Gryning, Sven-Erik; O'Connor, Ewan J.

2017-01-01

reduced the bias in the Doppler lidar gust factors from 0.07 to 0.03 and can be improved further to reduce the bias by using a realistic estimate of turbulence. Wind gust measurements are often prone to outliers in the time series, because they represent the maximum of a (moving-averaged) horizontal wind...... detection also outperformed the traditional Doppler lidar quality assurance method based on carrier-to-noise ratio, by removing additional unrealistic outliers present in the time series.......A new methodology is proposed for scaling Doppler lidar observations of wind gusts to make them comparable with those observed at a meteorological mast. Doppler lidars can then be used to measure wind gusts in regions and heights where traditional meteorological mast measurements are not available...

Analytical solutions to sampling effects in drop size distribution measurements during stationary rainfall: Estimation of bulk rainfall variables

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Uijlenhoet, R.; Porrà, J.M.; Sempere Torres, D.; Creutin, J.D.

2006-01-01

A stochastic model of the microstructure of rainfall is used to derive explicit expressions for the magnitude of the sampling fluctuations in rainfall properties estimated from raindrop size measurements in stationary rainfall. The model is a marked point process, in which the points represent the

Uganda rainfall variability and prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Jury, Mark R.

2018-05-01

This study analyzes large-scale controls on Uganda's rainfall. Unlike past work, here, a May-October season is used because of the year-round nature of agricultural production, vegetation sensitivity to rainfall, and disease transmission. The Uganda rainfall record exhibits steady oscillations of ˜3 and 6 years over 1950-2013. Correlation maps at two-season lead time resolve the subtropical ridge over global oceans as an important feature. Multi-variate environmental predictors include Dec-May south Indian Ocean sea surface temperature, east African upper zonal wind, and South Atlantic wind streamfunction, providing a 33% fit to May-Oct rainfall time series. Composite analysis indicates that cool-phase El Niño Southern Oscillation supports increased May-Oct Uganda rainfall via a zonal overturning lower westerly/upper easterly atmospheric circulation. Sea temperature anomalies are positive in the east Atlantic and negative in the west Indian Ocean in respect of wet seasons. The northern Hadley Cell plays a role in limiting the northward march of the equatorial trough from May to October. An analysis of early season floods found that moist inflow from the west Indian Ocean converges over Uganda, generating diurnal thunderstorm clusters that drift southwestward producing high runoff.

Assessing Climate Variability using Extreme Rainfall and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user1

extreme frequency); the average intensity of rainfall from extreme events ... frequency and extreme intensity indices, suggesting that extreme events are more frequent and intense during years with high rainfall. The proportion of total rainfall from ...

Corruption of radio metric Doppler due to solar plasma dynamics: S/X dual-frequency Doppler calibration for these effects

Science.gov (United States)

Winn, F. B.; Reinbold, S. R.; Yip, K. W.; Koch, R. E.; Lubeley, A.

1975-01-01

Doppler data from Mariner 6, 7, 9, and 10 and Pioneer 10 and 11 were discussed and the rms noise level for various sun-earth-probe angles were shown. The noise levels of both S- and X-band Doppler data for sun-earth-probe angles smaller than 20 deg were observed to be orders of magnitude greater than nominal. Such solar plasma-related Doppler degradation reduced the Mariner 10-Mercury 11 encounter navigation accuracy by nearly a factor of 10. Furthermore, this degradation was shown to be indirectly related to plasma dynamics and not a direct measure of the dynamics.

Impacts of Rainfall Variability and Expected Rainfall Changes on Cost-Effective Adaptation of Water Systems to Climate Change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pol, van der T.D.; Ierland, van E.C.; Gabbert, S.G.M.; Weikard, H.P.; Hendrix, E.M.T.

2015-01-01

Stormwater drainage and other water systems are vulnerable to changes in rainfall and runoff and need to be adapted to climate change. This paper studies impacts of rainfall variability and changing return periods of rainfall extremes on cost-effective adaptation of water systems to climate change

Extreme value analysis of rainfall data for Kalpakkam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharma, Pramod Kumar; John Arul, A.; Ramkrishnan, M.; Bhuvana, V.

2016-01-01

Flood hazard evaluation is an important safety study for a Nuclear Power Plant. In the present study flood hazard at PFBR site due to rainfall is evaluated. Hazard estimation is a statistical procedure by which rainfall intensity versus occurrence frequency is estimated from historical records of rainfall data and extrapolated with asymptotic extreme value distribution. Rainfall data needed for flood hazard assessment is daily annual maximum rainfall (24 hrs data). The observed data points have been fitted using Gumbel, power law, and exponential distribution and return period has been estimated. The predicted 100 yrs return period rainfall for Kalpakkam ranges from 240 mm to 365 mm in a day and 1000 yrs return period rainfall ranges from 320 mm to 790 min in a day. To study the stationarity of rainfall data a moving window estimate of the parameters (exponential distribution) have also been performed. (author)

Doppler Velocity Signatures of Idealized Elliptical Vortices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Chau Lee

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Doppler radar observations have revealed a class of atmospheric vortices (tropical cyclones, tornadoes, dust devils that possess elliptical radar reflectivity signatures. One famous example is Typhoon Herb (1996 that maintained its elliptical reflectivity structure over a 40-hour period. Theoretical work and dual-Doppler analyses of observed tropical cyclones have suggested two physical mechanisms that can explain the formation of two types of elliptical vortices observed in nature, namely, the combination of a circular vortex with either a wavenumber two vortex Rossby wave or a deformation field. The characteristics of these two types of elliptical vortices and their corresponding Doppler velocity signatures have not been previously examined.

Satellite-based estimation of rainfall erosivity for Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vrieling, A.; Sterk, G.; Jong, S.M. de

2010-01-01

Rainfall erosivity is a measure for the erosive force of rainfall. Rainfall kinetic energy determines the erosivity and is in turn greatly dependent on rainfall intensity. Attempts for its large-scale mapping are rare. Most are based on interpolation of erosivity values derived from rain gauge

Temporal and spatial variability of rainfall distribution and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rainfall and evapotranspiration are the two major climatic factors affecting agricultural production. This study examined the extent and nature of rainfall variability from measured data while estimation of evapotranspiration was made from recorded weather data. Analysis of rainfall variability is made by the rainfall anomaly ...

TCSP ER-2 DOPPLER RADAR (EDOP) V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The EDOP provides vertically profiled reflectivity and Doppler velocity at aircraft nadir along the flight track. The ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP) is an X-band (9.6...

Gold nanorods as a contrast agent for Doppler optical coherence tomography.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Wang

Full Text Available To investigate gold nanorods (GNRs as a contrast agent to enhance Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT imaging of the intrascleral aqueous humor outflow.A serial dilution of GNRs was scanned with a spectral-domain OCT device (Bioptigen, Durham, NC to visualize Doppler signal. Doppler measurements using GNRs were validated using a controlled flow system. To demonstrate an application of GNR enhanced Doppler, porcine eyes were perfused at constant pressure with mock aqueous alone or 1.0×10(12 GNR/mL mixed with mock aqueous. Twelve Doppler and volumetric SD-OCT scans were obtained from the limbus in a radial fashion incremented by 30°, forming a circular scan pattern. Volumetric flow was computed by integrating flow inside non-connected vessels throughout all 12 scans around the limbus.At the GNR concentration of 0.7×10(12 GNRs/mL, Doppler signal was present through the entire depth of the testing tube without substantial attenuation. A well-defined laminar flow profile was observed for Doppler images of GNRs flowing through the glass capillary tube. The Doppler OCT measured flow profile was not statistically different from the expected flow profile based upon an autoregressive moving average model, with an error of -0.025 to 0.037 mm/s (p = 0.6435. Cross-sectional slices demonstrated the ability to view anterior chamber outflow ex-vivo using GNR-enhanced Doppler OCT. Doppler volumetric flow measurements were comparable to flow recorded by the perfusion system.GNRs created a measureable Doppler signal within otherwise silent flow fields in OCT Doppler scans. Practical application of this technique was confirmed in a constant pressure ex-vivo aqueous humor outflow model in porcine eyes.

Topographic relationships for design rainfalls over Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, F.; Hutchinson, M. F.; The, C.; Beesley, C.; Green, J.

2016-02-01

Design rainfall statistics are the primary inputs used to assess flood risk across river catchments. These statistics normally take the form of Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves that are derived from extreme value probability distributions fitted to observed daily, and sub-daily, rainfall data. The design rainfall relationships are often required for catchments where there are limited rainfall records, particularly catchments in remote areas with high topographic relief and hence some form of interpolation is required to provide estimates in these areas. This paper assesses the topographic dependence of rainfall extremes by using elevation-dependent thin plate smoothing splines to interpolate the mean annual maximum rainfall, for periods from one to seven days, across Australia. The analyses confirm the important impact of topography in explaining the spatial patterns of these extreme rainfall statistics. Continent-wide residual and cross validation statistics are used to demonstrate the 100-fold impact of elevation in relation to horizontal coordinates in explaining the spatial patterns, consistent with previous rainfall scaling studies and observational evidence. The impact of the complexity of the fitted spline surfaces, as defined by the number of knots, and the impact of applying variance stabilising transformations to the data, were also assessed. It was found that a relatively large number of 3570 knots, suitably chosen from 8619 gauge locations, was required to minimise the summary error statistics. Square root and log data transformations were found to deliver marginally superior continent-wide cross validation statistics, in comparison to applying no data transformation, but detailed assessments of residuals in complex high rainfall regions with high topographic relief showed that no data transformation gave superior performance in these regions. These results are consistent with the understanding that in areas with modest topographic relief, as

Regionalization of monthly rainfall erosivity patternsin Switzerland

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Simon; Alewell, Christine; Panagos, Panos; Meusburger, Katrin

2016-10-01

One major controlling factor of water erosion is rainfall erosivity, which is quantified as the product of total storm energy and a maximum 30 min intensity (I30). Rainfall erosivity is often expressed as R-factor in soil erosion risk models like the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and its revised version (RUSLE). As rainfall erosivity is closely correlated with rainfall amount and intensity, the rainfall erosivity of Switzerland can be expected to have a regional characteristic and seasonal dynamic throughout the year. This intra-annual variability was mapped by a monthly modeling approach to assess simultaneously spatial and monthly patterns of rainfall erosivity. So far only national seasonal means and regional annual means exist for Switzerland. We used a network of 87 precipitation gauging stations with a 10 min temporal resolution to calculate long-term monthly mean R-factors. Stepwise generalized linear regression (GLM) and leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) were used to select spatial covariates which explain the spatial and temporal patterns of the R-factor for each month across Switzerland. The monthly R-factor is mapped by summarizing the predicted R-factor of the regression equation and the corresponding residues of the regression, which are interpolated by ordinary kriging (regression-kriging). As spatial covariates, a variety of precipitation indicator data has been included such as snow depths, a combination product of hourly precipitation measurements and radar observations (CombiPrecip), daily Alpine precipitation (EURO4M-APGD), and monthly precipitation sums (RhiresM). Topographic parameters (elevation, slope) were also significant explanatory variables for single months. The comparison of the 12 monthly rainfall erosivity maps showed a distinct seasonality with the highest rainfall erosivity in summer (June, July, and August) influenced by intense rainfall events. Winter months have the lowest rainfall erosivity. A proportion of 62 % of

Tropical intraseasonal rainfall variability in the CFSR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Jiande [I.M. System Group Inc. at NOAA/NCEP/EMC, Camp Springs, MD (United States); Wang, Wanqiu [NOAA/NCEP/CPC, Camp Springs, MD (United States); Fu, Xiouhua [University of Hawaii at Manoa, IPRC, SOEST, Honolulu, HI (United States); Seo, Kyong-Hwan [Pusan National University, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Busan (Korea, Republic of)

2012-06-15

While large-scale circulation fields from atmospheric reanalyses have been widely used to study the tropical intraseasonal variability, rainfall variations from the reanalyses are less focused. Because of the sparseness of in situ observations available in the tropics and strong coupling between convection and large-scale circulation, the accuracy of tropical rainfall from the reanalyses not only measures the quality of reanalysis rainfall but is also to some extent indicative of the accuracy of the circulations fields. This study analyzes tropical intraseasonal rainfall variability in the recently completed NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) and its comparison with the widely used NCEP/NCAR reanalysis (R1) and NCEP/DOE reanalysis (R2). The R1 produces too weak rainfall variability while the R2 generates too strong westward propagation. Compared with the R1 and R2, the CFSR produces greatly improved tropical intraseasonal rainfall variability with the dominance of eastward propagation and more realistic amplitude. An analysis of the relationship between rainfall and large-scale fields using composites based on Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) events shows that, in all three NCEP reanalyses, the moisture convergence leading the rainfall maximum is near the surface in the western Pacific but is above 925 hPa in the eastern Indian Ocean. However, the CFSR produces the strongest large-scale convergence and the rainfall from CFSR lags the column integrated precipitable water by 1 or 2 days while R1 and R2 rainfall tends to lead the respective precipitable water. Diabatic heating related to the MJO variability in the CFSR is analyzed and compared with that derived from large-scale fields. It is found that the amplitude of CFSR-produced total heating anomalies is smaller than that of the derived. Rainfall variability from the other two recently produced reanalyses, the ECMWF Re-Analysis Interim (ERAI), and the Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and

GRIP DOPPLER AEROSOL WIND LIDAR (DAWN) V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The GRIP Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN) Dataset was collected by the Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN), a pulsed lidar, which operated aboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft...

Diabetic Nephropathy : Evaluation with Doppler Ultrasonography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sim, Jung Suk; Kim, Seung Hyup; Kang, Heung Sik; Park, Jae Hyung; Han, Man Chung

1996-01-01

To compare Doppler ultrasonography with laboratory tests in evaluation of diabetic nephropathy. Fifty-five patients (mean age = 60, M : F = 26 : 29) with diabetes mellitus underwent renal Doppler ultrasonography. Resistive indices were compared with degree of proteinuria, serum creatinine level, and creatinine clearance rate. Eighteen patients who showed no proteinuria or microscopic proteinuria had a mean resistive index (RI) of 0.72 (SD, 0.05), 16 patients with macroscopic proteinuria without nephrotic syndrome had a mean RI of 0.82 (SD, 0.13), and 21 patients with nephrotic syndrome had a mean RI of 0.90 (SD, 0.12). Renal RI correlated highly with serum creatinine level (r = 0.62) and creatinine clearance rate (r = -0.43). Renal Doppler ultrasonography provides a useful indication of renal function in diabetic nephropathy but cannot offer an advantage over conventional laboratory test

Evolution of rainfall in the Sahel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diallo, M.A.

1995-09-01

In this note, a number of main meteorological stations has been chosen to analyse the rainfall during the last 30 years in the Sahel (1961 to 1990). Reliable climatological data have been used for this study. The concerned area is limited by the 200 mm isohyet in the north and 600 mm isohyet in the south in the Sahel countries (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad). The evolution of rainfall has pointed out some similar and significant aspects for all stations studied. Established criteria have been used to characterize the annual rainfall and to determine the years with good rainfall and years of drought in the Sahel. (author). 6 refs, 3 figs

Characteristics of aggregation of daily rainfall in a middle-latitudes region during a climate variability in annual rainfall amount

Science.gov (United States)

Lucero, Omar A.; Rozas, Daniel

Climate variability in annual rainfall occurs because the aggregation of daily rainfall changes. A topic open to debate is whether that change takes place because rainfall becomes more intense, or because it rains more often, or a combination of both. The answer to this question is of interest for water resources planning, hydrometeorological design, and agricultural management. Change in the number of rainy days can cause major disruptions in hydrological and ecological systems, with important economic and social effects. Furthermore, the characteristics of daily rainfall aggregation in ongoing climate variability provide a reference to evaluate the capability of GCM to simulate changes in the hydrologic cycle. In this research, we analyze changes in the aggregation of daily rainfall producing a climate positive trend in annual rainfall in central Argentina, in the southern middle-latitudes. This state-of-the-art agricultural region has a semiarid climate with dry and wet seasons. Weather effects in the region influence world-market prices of several crops. Results indicate that the strong positive trend in seasonal and annual rainfall amount is produced by an increase in number of rainy days. This increase takes place in the 3-month periods January-March (summer) and April-June (autumn). These are also the 3-month periods showing a positive trend in the mean of annual rainfall. The mean of the distribution of annual number of rainy day (ANRD) increased in 50% in a 36-year span (starting at 44 days/year). No statistically significant indications on time changes in the probability distribution of daily rainfall amount were found. Non-periodic fluctuations in the time series of annual rainfall were analyzed using an integral wavelet transform. Fluctuations with a time scale of about 10 and 20 years construct the trend in annual rainfall amount. These types of non-periodic fluctuations have been observed in other regions of the world. This suggests that results of

Determining rainfall thresholds that trigger landslides in Colombia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mayorga Marquez, Ruth

2003-01-01

Considering that rainfall is the natural event that more often triggers landslides, it is important to study the relationship between this phenomenon and the occurrence of earth mass movements, by determining rainfall thresholds that trigger landslides in different zones of Colombia. The research presents a methodology that allows proposing rainfall thresholds that trigger landslides in Colombia, by means of a relationship between the accumulated rain in the soil (antecedent rainfall) and the rain that falls the day of the landslide occurrence (event rainfall)

Benefits and limitations of using the weather radar for the definition of rainfall thresholds for debris flows. Case study from Catalonia (Spain).

Science.gov (United States)

Abancó, C.; Hürlimann, M.; Sempere, D.; Berenguer, M.

2012-04-01

Torrential processes such as debris flows or hyperconcentrated flows are fast movements formed by a mix of water and different amounts of unsorted solid material. They occur in steep torrents and suppose a high risk for the human settlements. Rainfall is the most common triggering factor for debris flows. The rainfall threshold defines the rainfall conditions that, when reached or exceeded, are likely to provoke one or more events. Many different types of empirical rainfall thresholds for landslide triggering have been defined. Direct measurements of rainfall data are normally not available from a point next to or in the surroundings of the initiation area of the landslide. For this reason, most of the thresholds published for debris flows have been established by data measured at the nearest rain gauges (often located several km far from the landslide). Only in very few cases, the rainfall data to analyse the triggering conditions of the debris flows have been obtained by weather (Doppler) radar. Radar devices present certain limitations in mountainous regions due to undesired reboots, but their main advantage is that radar data can be obtained for any point of the territory. The objective of this work was to test the use of the weather radar data for the definition of rainfall thresholds for debris-flow triggering. Thus, rainfall data obtained from 3 to 5 rain gauges and from radar were compared for a dataset of events occurred in Catalonia (Spain). The goal was to determine in which cases the description of the rainfall episode (in particular the maximum intensity) had been more accurate. The analysed dataset consists of: 1) three events occurred in the Rebaixader debris-flow monitoring station (Axial Pyrenees) including two hyperconcentrated flows and one debris flow; 2) one debris-flow event occurred in the Port Ainé ski resort (Axial Pyrenees); 3) one debris-flow event in Montserrat (Mediterranean Coastal range). The comparison of the hyetographs from the

The development rainfall forecasting using kalman filter

Science.gov (United States)

Zulfi, Mohammad; Hasan, Moh.; Dwidja Purnomo, Kosala

2018-04-01

Rainfall forecasting is very interesting for agricultural planing. Rainfall information is useful to make decisions about the plan planting certain commodities. In this studies, the rainfall forecasting by ARIMA and Kalman Filter method. Kalman Filter method is used to declare a time series model of which is shown in the form of linear state space to determine the future forecast. This method used a recursive solution to minimize error. The rainfall data in this research clustered by K-means clustering. Implementation of Kalman Filter method is for modelling and forecasting rainfall in each cluster. We used ARIMA (p,d,q) to construct a state space for KalmanFilter model. So, we have four group of the data and one model in each group. In conclusions, Kalman Filter method is better than ARIMA model for rainfall forecasting in each group. It can be showed from error of Kalman Filter method that smaller than error of ARIMA model.

Use of Doppler ultrasound for non-invasive urodynamic diagnosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hideo Ozawa

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives: A totally non-invasive transperineal urodynamic technique using Doppler ultrasonography has been developed. Methods: Since normal urine does not have blood cells, urine was thought not to produce the Doppler effects. However, basic studies confirmed that the decrease of pressure at high velocity (Bernouilli effect caused dissolved gas to form microbubbles, which are detected by Doppler ultrasonography. Subjects sat and the probe was advanced via remote control to achieve gentle contact with the perineal skin. The digital uroflow data signals and the color Doppler ultrasound video images were processed on a personal computer. The flow-velocity curves from two sites; the distal prostatic urethra just above the external sphincter (V1 and the sphincteric urethra (V2 were plotted against time. The parameters of both the pressure-flow studies and the Doppler ultrasound urodynamic studies were compared in men who had various degrees of obstruction. Results: Functional cross-sectional area at prostatic urethra (A1, calculated by Q max /V1, was lower in the group of bladder outlet obstruction (BOO vs. control group. Velocity ratio (VR, which was calculated by V1/V2, was the parameter having the best correlation with BOO index, though A1 had a similar correlation. This method is viable to diagnose the degree of BOO. Conclusions: The development of non-invasive Doppler ultrasound videourodynamics (Doppler UDS will dramatically expand the information on voiding function.

A design study for an advanced ocean color scanner system. [spaceborne equipment

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, H. H.; Fraser, R. S.; Thompson, L. L.; Bahethi, O.

1980-01-01

Along with a colorimetric data analysis scheme, the instrumental parameters which need to be optimized in future spaceborne ocean color scanner systems are outlined. With regard to assessing atmospheric effects from ocean colorimetry, attention is given to computing size parameters of the aerosols in the atmosphere, total optical depth measurement, and the aerosol optical thickness. It is suggested that sensors based on the use of linear array technology will meet hardware objectives.

Wide Angle Michelson Doppler Imaging Interferometer (WAMDII)

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, B.

1986-01-01

The wide angle Michelson Doppler imaging interferometer (WAMDII) is a specialized type of optical Michelson interferometer working at sufficiently long path difference to measure Doppler shifts and to infer Doppler line widths of naturally occurring upper atmospheric Gaussian line emissions. The instrument is intended to measure vertical profiles of atmospheric winds and temperatures within the altitude range of 85 km to 300 km. The WAMDII consists of a Michelson interferometer followed by a camera lens and an 85 x 106 charge coupled device photodiode array. Narrow band filters in a filter wheel are used to isolate individual line emissions and the lens forms an image of the emitting region on the charge coupled device array.

Temporal Doppler Effect and Future Orientation: Adaptive Function and Moderating Conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, Yiqun; Miao, Miao; Zheng, Lei; Liu, Haihua

2017-06-01

The objectives of this study were to examine whether the temporal Doppler effect exists in different time intervals and whether certain individual and environmental factors act as moderators of the effect. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we examined the existence of the temporal Doppler effect and the moderating effect of future orientation among 139 university students (Study 1), and then the moderating conditions of the temporal Doppler effect using two independent samples of 143 and 147 university students (Studies 2 and 3). Results indicated that the temporal Doppler effect existed in all of our studies, and that future orientation moderated the temporal Doppler effect. Further, time interval perception mediated the relationship between future orientation and the motivation to cope at long time intervals. Finally, positive affect was found to enhance the temporal Doppler effect, whereas control deprivation did not influence the effect. The temporal Doppler effect is moderated by the personality trait of future orientation and by the situational variable of experimentally manipulated positive affect. We have identified personality and environmental processes that could enhance the temporal Doppler effect, which could be valuable in cases where attention to a future task is necessary. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Raingauge-Based Rainfall Nowcasting with Artificial Neural Network

Science.gov (United States)

Liong, Shie-Yui; He, Shan

2010-05-01

Rainfall forecasting and nowcasting are of great importance, for instance, in real-time flood early warning systems. Long term rainfall forecasting demands global climate, land, and sea data, thus, large computing power and storage capacity are required. Rainfall nowcasting's computing requirement, on the other hand, is much less. Rainfall nowcasting may use data captured by radar and/or weather stations. This paper presents the application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) on rainfall nowcasting using data observed at weather and/or rainfall stations. The study focuses on the North-East monsoon period (December, January and February) in Singapore. Rainfall and weather data from ten stations, between 2000 and 2006, were selected and divided into three groups for training, over-fitting test and validation of the ANN. Several neural network architectures were tried in the study. Two architectures, Backpropagation ANN and Group Method of Data Handling ANN, yielded better rainfall nowcasting, up to two hours, than the other architectures. The obtained rainfall nowcasts were then used by a catchment model to forecast catchment runoff. The results of runoff forecast are encouraging and promising.With ANN's high computational speed, the proposed approach may be deliverable for creating the real-time flood early warning system.

Censored rainfall modelling for estimation of fine-scale extremes

Science.gov (United States)

Cross, David; Onof, Christian; Winter, Hugo; Bernardara, Pietro

2018-01-01

Reliable estimation of rainfall extremes is essential for drainage system design, flood mitigation, and risk quantification. However, traditional techniques lack physical realism and extrapolation can be highly uncertain. In this study, we improve the physical basis for short-duration extreme rainfall estimation by simulating the heavy portion of the rainfall record mechanistically using the Bartlett-Lewis rectangular pulse (BLRP) model. Mechanistic rainfall models have had a tendency to underestimate rainfall extremes at fine temporal scales. Despite this, the simple process representation of rectangular pulse models is appealing in the context of extreme rainfall estimation because it emulates the known phenomenology of rainfall generation. A censored approach to Bartlett-Lewis model calibration is proposed and performed for single-site rainfall from two gauges in the UK and Germany. Extreme rainfall estimation is performed for each gauge at the 5, 15, and 60 min resolutions, and considerations for censor selection discussed.

The Spatial Scaling of Global Rainfall Extremes

Science.gov (United States)

Devineni, N.; Xi, C.; Lall, U.; Rahill-Marier, B.

2013-12-01

Floods associated with severe storms are a significant source of risk for property, life and supply chains. These property losses tend to be determined as much by the duration of flooding as by the depth and velocity of inundation. High duration floods are typically induced by persistent rainfall (upto 30 day duration) as seen recently in Thailand, Pakistan, the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, France, and Germany. Events related to persistent and recurrent rainfall appear to correspond to the persistence of specific global climate patterns that may be identifiable from global, historical data fields, and also from climate models that project future conditions. A clear understanding of the space-time rainfall patterns for events or for a season will enable in assessing the spatial distribution of areas likely to have a high/low inundation potential for each type of rainfall forcing. In this paper, we investigate the statistical properties of the spatial manifestation of the rainfall exceedances. We also investigate the connection of persistent rainfall events at different latitudinal bands to large-scale climate phenomena such as ENSO. Finally, we present the scaling phenomena of contiguous flooded areas as a result of large scale organization of long duration rainfall events. This can be used for spatially distributed flood risk assessment conditional on a particular rainfall scenario. Statistical models for spatio-temporal loss simulation including model uncertainty to support regional and portfolio analysis can be developed.

Calculation of the Doppler broadening function using Fourier analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goncalves, Alessandro da Cruz

2010-01-01

An efficient and precise method for calculation of Doppler broadening function is very important to obtain average group microscopic cross sections, self shielding factors, resonance integrals and others reactor physics parameter. In this thesis two different methods for calculation of Doppler broadening function and interference term will be presented. The main method is based on a new integral form for Doppler broadening function ψ(x,ζ) which gives a mathematical interpretation of the approximation proposed by Bethe and Placzek, as the convolution of the Lorentzian function with a Gaussian function. This interpretation besides leading to a new integral form for ψ(x,ζ), enables to obtain a simple analytic solution for the Doppler broadening function. (author)

Derivation of critical rainfall thresholds for landslide in Sicily

Science.gov (United States)

Caracciolo, Domenico; Arnone, Elisa; Noto, Leonardo V.

2015-04-01

Rainfall is the primary trigger of shallow landslides that can cause fatalities, damage to properties and economic losses in many areas of the world. For this reason, determining the rainfall amount/intensity responsible for landslide occurrence is important, and may contribute to mitigate the related risk and save lives. Efforts have been made in different countries to investigate triggering conditions in order to define landslide-triggering rainfall thresholds. The rainfall thresholds are generally described by a functional relationship of power in terms of cumulated or intensity event rainfall-duration, whose parameters are estimated empirically from the analysis of historical rainfall events that triggered landslides. The aim of this paper is the derivation of critical rainfall thresholds for landslide occurrence in Sicily, southern Italy, by focusing particularly on the role of the antecedent wet conditions. The creation of the appropriate landslide-rainfall database likely represents one of main efforts in this type of analysis. For this work, historical landslide events occurred in Sicily from 1919 to 2001 were selected from the archive of the Sistema Informativo sulle Catastrofi Idrogeologiche, developed under the project Aree Vulnerabili Italiane. The corresponding triggering precipitations were screened from the raingauges network in Sicily, maintained by the Osservatorio delle Acque - Agenzia Regionale per i Rifiuti e le Acque. In particular, a detailed analysis was carried out to identify and reconstruct the hourly rainfall events that caused the selected landslides. A bootstrapping statistical technique has been used to determine the uncertainties associated with the threshold parameters. The rainfall thresholds at different exceedance probability levels, from 1% to 10%, were defined in terms of cumulated event rainfall, E, and rainfall duration, D. The role of rainfall prior to the damaging events was taken into account by including in the analysis

New clutter-rejection algorithm for Doppler ultrasound

Science.gov (United States)

Cloutier, Guy; Chen, Danmin; Durand, Louis-Gilles

2002-04-01

Several strategies, known as clutter or wall Doppler filtering, were proposed to remove the strong echoes produced by stationary or slow moving tissue structures from the Doppler blood flow signal. In this study, the matching pursuit (MP) method is proposed to remove clutter components. The MP method decomposes the Doppler signal into wavelet atoms that are selected in a decreasing energy order. Thus, the high-energy clutter components are extracted first. In the present study, the pulsatile Doppler signal s(n) was simulated by a sum of random-phase sinusoids. Two types of high-amplitude clutter signals were then superimposed on s(n): a time-varying low frequency component (type 1), covering systole and early diastole, and short transient clutter signals (type 2), distributed within the whole cardiac cycle. The Doppler signals were modeled with the MP method and the most dominant atoms were subtracted until the signal-to-clutter (S/C) ratio reached a maximum. For the type 1 clutter signal, the improvement in the S/C ratio was 19.0 +/- 0.6 dB, and 72.0 +/- 4.5 atoms were required to reach this performance. For the transient type 2 clutter signal, exactly 10 atoms were required and the maximum improvement in S/C ratio was 5.5 +/- 0.5 dB. These results suggest the possibility of using this signal processing approach to implement clutter rejection filters on ultrasound commercial instruments.

Inline Ultrasonic Rheometry by Pulsed Doppler

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pfund, David M.; Greenwood, Margaret S.; Bamberger, Judith A.; Pappas, Richard A.

2006-12-22

This will be a discussion of the non-invasive determination of the viscosity of a non-Newtonian fluid in laminar pipe flow over the range of shear rates present in the pipe. The procedure used requires knowledge of the flow profile in and the pressure drop along a long straight run of pipe. The profile is determined by using a pulsed ultrasonic Doppler velocimeter. This approach is ideal for making non-invasive, real-time measurements for monitoring and control. Rheograms of a shear thinning, thixotropic gel will be presented. The operating parameters and limitations of the Doppler-based instrument will be discussed. The most significant limitation is velocity gradient broadening of the Doppler spectra near the walls of the pipe. This limitation can be significant for strongly shear thinning fluids (depending also on the ratio of beam to pipe diameter and the transducer's insertion angle).

Molecules cooled below the Doppler limit

Science.gov (United States)

Truppe, S.; Williams, H. J.; Hambach, M.; Caldwell, L.; Fitch, N. J.; Hinds, E. A.; Sauer, B. E.; Tarbutt, M. R.

2017-12-01

Magneto-optical trapping and sub-Doppler cooling have been essential to most experiments with quantum degenerate gases, optical lattices, atomic fountains and many other applications. A broad set of new applications await ultracold molecules, and the extension of laser cooling to molecules has begun. A magneto-optical trap (MOT) has been demonstrated for a single molecular species, SrF, but the sub-Doppler temperatures required for many applications have not yet been reached. Here we demonstrate a MOT of a second species, CaF, and we show how to cool these molecules to 50 μK, well below the Doppler limit, using a three-dimensional optical molasses. These ultracold molecules could be loaded into optical tweezers to trap arbitrary arrays for quantum simulation, launched into a molecular fountain for testing fundamental physics, and used to study collisions and chemistry between atoms and molecules at ultracold temperatures.

Rainfall Distributions in Sri Lanka in Time and Space: An Analysis Based on Daily Rainfall Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. P. Burt

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Daily rainfall totals are analyzed for the main agro-climatic zones of Sri Lanka for the period 1976–2006. The emphasis is on daily rainfall rather than on longer-period totals, in particular the number of daily falls exceeding given threshold totals. For one station (Mapalana, where a complete daily series is available from 1950, a longer-term perspective on changes over half a century is provided. The focus here is particularly on rainfall in March and April, given the sensitivity of agricultural decisions to early southwest monsoon rainfall at the beginning of the Yala cultivation season but other seasons are also considered, in particular the northeast monsoon. Rainfall across Sri Lanka over three decades is investigated in relation to the main atmospheric drivers known to affect climate in the region: sea surface temperatures in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, of which the former are shown to be more important. The strong influence of El Niño and La Niña phases on various aspects of the daily rainfall distribution in Sri Lanka is confirmed: positive correlations with Pacific sea-surface temperatures during the north east monsoon and negative correlations at other times. It is emphasized in the discussion that Sri Lanka must be placed in its regional context and it is important to draw on regional-scale research across the Indian subcontinent and the Bay of Bengal.

Analysis of rainfall distribution in Kelantan river basin, Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Che Ros, Faizah; Tosaka, Hiroyuki

2018-03-01

Using rainfall gauge on its own as input carries great uncertainties regarding runoff estimation, especially when the area is large and the rainfall is measured and recorded at irregular spaced gauging stations. Hence spatial interpolation is the key to obtain continuous and orderly rainfall distribution at unknown points to be the input to the rainfall runoff processes for distributed and semi-distributed numerical modelling. It is crucial to study and predict the behaviour of rainfall and river runoff to reduce flood damages of the affected area along the Kelantan river. Thus, a good knowledge on rainfall distribution is essential in early flood prediction studies. Forty six rainfall stations and their daily time-series were used to interpolate gridded rainfall surfaces using inverse-distance weighting (IDW), inverse-distance and elevation weighting (IDEW) methods and average rainfall distribution. Sensitivity analysis for distance and elevation parameters were conducted to see the variation produced. The accuracy of these interpolated datasets was examined using cross-validation assessment.

Extreme Rainfall In A City

Science.gov (United States)

Nkemdirim, Lawrence

Cities contain many structures and activities that are vulnerable to severe weather. Heavy precipitation cause floods which can damage structures, compromise transportation and water supply systems, and slow down economic and social activities. Rain induced flood patterns in cities must be well understood to enable effective placement of flood control and other regulatory measures. The planning goal is not to eliminate all floods but to reduce their frequency and resulting damage. Possible approaches to such planning include probability based extreme event analysis. Precipitation is normally the most variable hydrologic element over a given area. This variability results from the distribution of clouds and in cloud processes in the atmosphere, the storm path, and the distribution of topographical features on the ground along path. Some studies suggest that point rainfall patterns are also affected by urban industrial effects hence some agreement that cities are wetter than the country surrounding them. However, there are still questions regarding the intra- urban distribution of precipitation. The sealed surfaces, urban structures, and the urban heat anomaly increase convection in cities which may enhance the generation of clouds. Increased dust and gaseous aerosols loads are effective condensation and sublimation nuclei which may also enhance the generation of precipitation. Based on these associations, the greatest amount of convection type rainfall should occur at city center. A study of summer rainfall in Calgary showed that frequencies of trace amounts of rainfall and events under 0.2mm are highest downtown than elsewhere. For amounts greater than than 0.2 mm, downtown sites were not favored. The most compelling evidence for urban-industrial precipitation enhancement came from the Metromex project around St. Loius, Missouri where maximum increases of between 5 to 30 per cent in summer rainfall downwind of the city was linked to urbanization and

Constraining continuous rainfall simulations for derived design flood estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Woldemeskel, F. M.; Sharma, A.; Mehrotra, R.; Westra, S.

2016-11-01

Stochastic rainfall generation is important for a range of hydrologic and water resources applications. Stochastic rainfall can be generated using a number of models; however, preserving relevant attributes of the observed rainfall-including rainfall occurrence, variability and the magnitude of extremes-continues to be difficult. This paper develops an approach to constrain stochastically generated rainfall with an aim of preserving the intensity-durationfrequency (IFD) relationships of the observed data. Two main steps are involved. First, the generated annual maximum rainfall is corrected recursively by matching the generated intensity-frequency relationships to the target (observed) relationships. Second, the remaining (non-annual maximum) rainfall is rescaled such that the mass balance of the generated rain before and after scaling is maintained. The recursive correction is performed at selected storm durations to minimise the dependence between annual maximum values of higher and lower durations for the same year. This ensures that the resulting sequences remain true to the observed rainfall as well as represent the design extremes that may have been developed separately and are needed for compliance reasons. The method is tested on simulated 6 min rainfall series across five Australian stations with different climatic characteristics. The results suggest that the annual maximum and the IFD relationships are well reproduced after constraining the simulated rainfall. While our presentation focusses on the representation of design rainfall attributes (IFDs), the proposed approach can also be easily extended to constrain other attributes of the generated rainfall, providing an effective platform for post-processing of stochastic rainfall generators.

Three-dimensional fusion of spaceborne and ground radar reflectivity data using a neural network-based approach

Science.gov (United States)

Kou, Leilei; Wang, Zhuihui; Xu, Fen

2018-03-01

The spaceborne precipitation radar onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM PR) can provide good measurement of the vertical structure of reflectivity, while ground radar (GR) has a relatively high horizontal resolution and greater sensitivity. Fusion of TRMM PR and GR reflectivity data may maximize the advantages from both instruments. In this paper, TRMM PR and GR reflectivity data are fused using a neural network (NN)-based approach. The main steps included are: quality control of TRMM PR and GR reflectivity data; spatiotemporal matchup; GR calibration bias correction; conversion of TRMM PR data from Ku to S band; fusion of TRMM PR and GR reflectivity data with an NN method; interpolation of reflectivity data that are below PR's sensitivity; blind areas compensation with a distance weighting-based merging approach; combination of three types of data: data with the NN method, data below PR's sensitivity and data within compensated blind areas. During the NN fusion step, the TRMM PR data are taken as targets of the training NNs, and gridded GR data after horizontal downsampling at different heights are used as the input. The trained NNs are then used to obtain 3D high-resolution reflectivity from the original GR gridded data. After 3D fusion of the TRMM PR and GR reflectivity data, a more complete and finer-scale 3D radar reflectivity dataset incorporating characteristics from both the TRMM PR and GR observations can be obtained. The fused reflectivity data are evaluated based on a convective precipitation event through comparison with the high resolution TRMM PR and GR data with an interpolation algorithm.

Simulation of daily rainfall through markov chain modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sadiq, N.

2015-01-01

Being an agricultural country, the inhabitants of dry land in cultivated areas mainly rely on the daily rainfall for watering their fields. A stochastic model based on first order Markov Chain was developed to simulate daily rainfall data for Multan, D. I. Khan, Nawabshah, Chilas and Barkhan for the period 1981-2010. Transitional probability matrices of first order Markov Chain was utilized to generate the daily rainfall occurrence while gamma distribution was used to generate the daily rainfall amount. In order to achieve the parametric values of mentioned cities, method of moments is used to estimate the shape and scale parameters which lead to synthetic sequence generation as per gamma distribution. In this study, unconditional and conditional probabilities of wet and dry days in sum with means and standard deviations are considered as the essential parameters for the simulated stochastic generation of daily rainfalls. It has been found that the computerized synthetic rainfall series concurred pretty well with the actual observed rainfall series. (author)

Weather radar rainfall data in urban hydrology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorndahl, Søren; Einfalt, Thomas; Willems, Patrick

2017-01-01

Application of weather radar data in urban hydrological applications has evolved significantly during the past decade as an alternative to traditional rainfall observations with rain gauges. Advances in radar hardware, data processing, numerical models, and emerging fields within urban hydrology...... necessitate an updated review of the state of the art in such radar rainfall data and applications. Three key areas with significant advances over the past decade have been identified: (1) temporal and spatial resolution of rainfall data required for different types of hydrological applications, (2) rainfall...... estimation, radar data adjustment and data quality, and (3) nowcasting of radar rainfall and real-time applications. Based on these three fields of research, the paper provides recommendations based on an updated overview of shortcomings, gains, and novel developments in relation to urban hydrological...

Doppler ultrasound imaging techniques for assessment of synovial inflammation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filippucci E

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Emilio Filippucci,1 Fausto Salaffi,1 Marina Carotti,2 Walter Grassi1 1Rheumatology Department, Polytechnic University of the Marche, Ancona, Italy; 2Department of Radiology, Polytechnic University of the Marche, Ancona, Italy Abstract: Ultrasound is an evolving technique, and the rapid progress made in ultrasound technology over the past ten years has dramatically increased its range of applications in rheumatology. One of the most exciting advances is the use of Doppler ultrasound imaging in the assessment of blood flow abnormalities at the synovial tissue level in patients with chronic inflammatory arthritis. This review describes the Doppler techniques available and their main applications in patients with inflammatory arthritis, discusses the evidence supporting their use, and outlines the latest advances in hardware and software. Spectral, color, and power Doppler allow sensitive assessment of vascular abnormalities at the synovial tissue level. Use of contrast agents enhances visualization of the small synovial vessels using color or power Doppler ultrasound and allows for accurate characterization of the rheumatoid pannus. Doppler techniques represent a unique method for assessment of synovial inflammation, showing blood flow characteristics in real time. They are safe, noninvasive, cost-effective, and have high sensitivity in revealing and monitoring synovitis. However, several questions still need to be answered. In the near future, the Doppler techniques described here, together with upcoming hardware and software facilities, will be investigated further and a consensus will be reached on their feasibility and appropriate use in daily rheumatologic practice. Keywords: power and color Doppler techniques, ultrasound, contrast media, synovitis, rheumatoid arthritis

Doppler Shift Compensation Schemes in VANETs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Nyongesa

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Over the last decade vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V communication has received a lot of attention as it is a crucial issue in intravehicle communication as well as in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS. In ITS the focus is placed on integration of communication between mobile and fixed infrastructure to execute road safety as well as nonsafety information dissemination. The safety application such as emergence alerts lays emphasis on low-latency packet delivery rate (PDR, whereas multimedia and infotainment call for high data rates at low bit error rate (BER. The nonsafety information includes multimedia streaming for traffic information and infotainment applications such as playing audio content, utilizing navigation for driving, and accessing Internet. A lot of vehicular ad hoc network (VANET research has focused on specific areas including channel multiplexing, antenna diversity, and Doppler shift compensation schemes in an attempt to optimize BER performance. Despite this effort few surveys have been conducted to highlight the state-of-the-art collection on Doppler shift compensation schemes. Driven by this cause we survey some of the recent research activities in Doppler shift compensation schemes and highlight challenges and solutions as a stock-taking exercise. Moreover, we present open issues to be further investigated in order to address the challenges of Doppler shift in VANETs.

Contrast-enhanced power Doppler US in the characterization of renal masses; Power Doppler con mezzo di contrasto nella caratterizzazione delle masse renali

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ascenti, G.; Zimbaro, G.; Mazziotti, S.; Visalli, C.; Racchiusa, S.; Vinci, S.; Scribano, E. [Messina Univ., Messina (Italy). Ist. di Scienze Radiologiche

2000-09-01

Purpose of this work is to report the results of a prospective study investigating the potentials of contrast-enhanced power Doppler in the diagnosis of expansive renal lesions. From 1997 to October 30, 1999, it was studied the case of 59 expansive renal lesions (28 malignant, 31 benign) in 48 patients (mean age 55 years, range 10-79) with power Doppler US before and after the administration of an echo-enhancing agent (Levovist, Schering AG, Berlin Germany). Were found 5 patterns of vascular architecture of the lesions, both before and after contrast agent administration, following the classification by Jinzaki e Coll. Power Doppler US showed vascular structures in 34 patients. The administration of Levovist revealed vessels in 12/25 lesions which had none at baseline studies and in 6 cases vascularity was particularly evident. Color signals were enhanced in all the 34 vascularized lesions, which allowed better definition of vascular patterns. The characterization of vascular patterns with baseline power Doppler US helped improve diagnostic accuracy compared to gray-scale US (58% versus 32%) for hyperechoic lesions, complex cysts and pseudomasses. Independent of contrast agent administration, the integration of gray-scale and power Doppler modes increased diagnostic accuracy even further (76% correct diagnoses). In our series, the US contrast agent did not increase the diagnostic accuracy of power Doppler in the differential diagnosis of hyperechoic renal lesions; conversely, Levovist can be advantageous for the characterization of suspected pseudomasses and complex cysts. [Italian] Scopo di questo articolo e' quello di riportare i risultati di uno studio prospettico finalizzato ad individuare le potenzialita' del power Doppler con mdc ecografico nella caratterizzazione delle lesioni espansive del rene. Dal 1997 al 30 ottobre 1999 sono state studiate 59 lesioni renali (28 maligne, 31 benigne) in 48 pazienti (eta' media 55 anni, intervallo 10

Comparison between Doppler Ultrasound and Biopsy Findings in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Methods: We retrospectively studied a random sample of 188 kidney transplanted patients who had Doppler-ultrasound examination followed within two weeks by transplant biopsy. We evaluated the specificity and sensitivity of Doppler ultrasound in diagnosing rejection at different RI thresholds, using the reported biopsy ...

Fitting monthly Peninsula Malaysian rainfall using Tweedie distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Yunus, R. M.; Hasan, M. M.; Zubairi, Y. Z.

2017-09-01

In this study, the Tweedie distribution was used to fit the monthly rainfall data from 24 monitoring stations of Peninsula Malaysia for the period from January, 2008 to April, 2015. The aim of the study is to determine whether the distributions within the Tweedie family fit well the monthly Malaysian rainfall data. Within the Tweedie family, the gamma distribution is generally used for fitting the rainfall totals, however the Poisson-gamma distribution is more useful to describe two important features of rainfall pattern, which are the occurrences (dry months) and the amount (wet months). First, the appropriate distribution of the monthly rainfall was identified within the Tweedie family for each station. Then, the Tweedie Generalised Linear Model (GLM) with no explanatory variable was used to model the monthly rainfall data. Graphical representation was used to assess model appropriateness. The QQ plots of quantile residuals show that the Tweedie models fit the monthly rainfall data better for majority of the stations in the west coast and mid land than those in the east coast of Peninsula. This significant finding suggests that the best fitted distribution depends on the geographical location of the monitoring station. In this paper, a simple model is developed for generating synthetic rainfall data for use in various areas, including agriculture and irrigation. We have showed that the data that were simulated using the Tweedie distribution have fairly similar frequency histogram to that of the actual data. Both the mean number of rainfall events and mean amount of rain for a month were estimated simultaneously for the case that the Poisson gamma distribution fits the data reasonably well. Thus, this work complements previous studies that fit the rainfall amount and the occurrence of rainfall events separately, each to a different distribution.

Rainfall model investigation and scenario analyses of the effect of government reforestation policy on seasonal rainfalls: A case study from Northern Thailand

Science.gov (United States)

Duangdai, Eakkapong; Likasiri, Chulin

2017-03-01

In this work, 4 models for predicting rainfall amounts are investigated and compared using Northern Thailand's seasonal rainfall data for 1973-2008. Two models, global temperature, forest area and seasonal rainfall (TFR) and modified TFR based on a system of differential equations, give the relationships between global temperature, Northern Thailand's forest cover and seasonal rainfalls in the region. The other two models studied are time series and Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) models. All models are validated using the k-fold cross validation method with the resulting errors being 0.971233, 0.740891, 2.376415 and 2.430891 for time series, ARMA, TFR and modified TFR models, respectively. Under Business as Usual (BaU) scenario, seasonal rainfalls in Northern Thailand are projected through the year 2020 using all 4 models. TFR and modified TFR models are also used to further analyze how global temperature rise and government reforestation policy affect seasonal rainfalls in the region. Rainfall projections obtained via the two models are also compared with those from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) under IS92a scenario. Results obtained through a mathematical model for global temperature, forest area and seasonal rainfall show that the higher the forest cover, the less fluctuation there is between rainy-season and summer rainfalls. Moreover, growth in forest cover also correlates with an increase in summer rainfalls. An investigation into the relationship between main crop productions and rainfalls in dry and rainy seasons indicates that if the rainy-season rainfall is high, that year's main-crop rice production will decrease but the second-crop rice, maize, sugarcane and soybean productions will increase in the following year.

Acute intrascrotal pathology in childhood: color Doppler study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cinta Sanguesa, C.; Muro, D.; Cortina, H.; Moreno, A.

1997-01-01

To asses the utility of color Doppler ultrasound in the study of acute intrascrotal pathology in childhood. Seventy-five boys with evidence of an acute intrascrotal abnormality were studied by means of color Doppler ultrasound. A 7.5 MHz linear transducer was used. The most common findings was inflammatory disease (60%) which was indicated by the presence of hyperemia in color Doppler. Of the nine boys with testicular torsion (12%) two presented extravaginal torsion, with a complete absence of intratesticular vascularization. Intravaginal torsion was observed in seven patients, six of whom presented reduced vascularization in the abnormal testicle with respect to the healthy testicle. There was one false negative in which testicular vascularization was normal but 360 degree centigree torsion was found at surgery. In addition, there were seven cases of hydatid torsion (9.33%), four of idiopathic scrotal swelling (5.3%). two cases of intermittent torsion (2.6%) and one case of Shcolein-Henoch purpura (1.3%). The ultrasound findings were completely nornal in seven boys. Color Doppler is a rapid, noninvasive method for assessing testicular blood flow. The elevated sensitivity and specificity (85.7 and 100%, respectively, in our series) for testicular torsion make Doppler ultrasound a highly reliable method for the study of this disorder. (Author) 18 refs

Arm locking with Doppler estimation errors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu Yinan; Wand, Vinzenz; Mitryk, Shawn; Mueller, Guido, E-mail: yinan@phys.ufl.ed [Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States)

2010-05-01

At the University of Florida we developed the University of Florida LISA Interferometer Simulator (UFLIS) in order to study LISA interferometry with hardware in the loop at a system level. One of the proposed laser frequency stabilization techniques in LISA is arm locking. Arm locking uses an adequately filtered linear combination of the LISA arm signals as a frequency reference. We will report about experiments in which we demonstrated arm locking using UFLIS. During these experiments we also discovered a problem associated with the Doppler shift of the return beam. The initial arm locking publications assumed that this Doppler shift can perfectly be subtracted inside the phasemeter or adds an insignificant offset to the sensor signal. However, the remaining Doppler knowledge error will cause a constant change in the laser frequency if unaccounted for. Several ways to circumvent this problem have been identified. We performed detailed simulations and started preliminary experiments to verify the performance of the proposed new controller designs.

a Study of Co-Planing Technology of Spaceborne, Airborne and Ground Remote Sensing Detecting Resource, Driven by Disaster Emergency Task

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, F.; Chen, H.; Tu, K.; Wen, Q.; He, J.; Gu, X.; Wang, Z.

2018-04-01

Facing the monitoring needs of emergency responses to major disasters, combining the disaster information acquired at the first time after the disaster and the dynamic simulation result of the disaster chain evolution process, the overall plan for coordinated planning of spaceborne, airborne and ground observation resources have been designed. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of major disaster observation tasks, the key technologies of spaceborne, airborne and ground collaborative observation project are studied. For different disaster response levels, the corresponding workflow tasks are designed. On the basis of satisfying different types of disaster monitoring demands, the existing multi-satellite collaborative observation planning algorithms are compared, analyzed, and optimized.

Low-Frequency Gravitational Wave Searches Using Spacecraft Doppler Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Armstrong J. W.

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses spacecraft Doppler tracking, the current-generation detector technology used in the low-frequency (~millihertz gravitational wave band. In the Doppler method the earth and a distant spacecraft act as free test masses with a ground-based precision Doppler tracking system continuously monitoring the earth-spacecraft relative dimensionless velocity $2 Delta v/c = Delta u/ u_0$, where $Delta u$ is the Doppler shift and $ u_0$ is the radio link carrier frequency. A gravitational wave having strain amplitude $h$ incident on the earth-spacecraft system causes perturbations of order $h$ in the time series of $Delta u/ u_0$. Unlike other detectors, the ~1-10 AU earth-spacecraft separation makes the detector large compared with millihertz-band gravitational wavelengths, and thus times-of-flight of signals and radio waves through the apparatus are important. A burst signal, for example, is time-resolved into a characteristic signature: three discrete events in the Doppler time series. I discuss here the principles of operation of this detector (emphasizing transfer functions of gravitational wave signals and the principal noises to the Doppler time series, some data analysis techniques, experiments to date, and illustrations of sensitivity and current detector performance. I conclude with a discussion of how gravitational wave sensitivity can be improved in the low-frequency band.

Contribution of tropical cyclones to global rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Khouakhi, Abdou; Villarini, Gabriele; Vecchi, Gabriel; Smith, James

2016-04-01

Rainfall associated with tropical cyclones (TCs) can have both devastating and beneficial impacts in different parts of the world. In this work, daily precipitation and historical six-hour best track TC datasets are used to quantify the contribution of TCs to global rainfall. We select 18607 rain gauge stations with at least 25 complete (at least 330 measurements per year) years between 1970 and 2014. We consider rainfall associated with TCs if the center of circulation of the storm passed within a given distance from the rain gauge and within a given time window. Spatial and temporal sensitivity analyses are performed with varying time windows (same day, ±1 day) and buffer radii (400 km and 500 km) around each rain gauge. Results highlight regional differences in TC-induced rainfall. The highest TC-induced precipitation totals (400 to 600+ mm/year) are prevalent along eastern Asia, western and northeastern Australia, and in the western Pacific islands. Stations along the southeast of the U.S. coast and surrounding the Gulf of Mexico receive up to 200 mm/year of TC rainfall. The highest annual fractional contributions of TCs to total rainfall (from 35 to 50%) are recorded in stations located in northwestern Australia, southeastern China, the northern Philippines and the southern Mexico peninsula. Seasonally, the highest proportions (40 to 50%) are recorded along eastern Australia and Mauritius in winter, and in eastern Asia and Mexico in summer and autumn. Analyses of the relative contribution of TCs to extreme rainfall using annual maximum (AM) and peaks-over-threshold (POT) approaches indicate notable differences among regions. The highest TC-AM rainfall proportions (45 to 60%) are found in stations located in Japan, eastern China, the Philippines, eastern and western Australia. Substantial contributions (25 to 40% of extreme rainfall) are also recorded in stations located along the U.S. East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mexico peninsula. We find similar

Laser Doppler measurements in two-phase flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durst, F.; Zare, M.

1976-01-01

Basic theory for laser-Doppler velocity measurements of large reflecting or refracting surfaces is provided. It is shown that the Doppler-signals contain information of the velocity and size of the large bodies, and relationships for transforming velocity and radius of curvature of moving spheres are presented. Preliminary experiments verified the analytical findings and demonstrated the applicability of the method to some two-phase flows

Low cost realization of space-borne synthectic aperture radar - MicroSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, D.; Hall, C.

Spaceborne Earth Observation data has been used for decades in the areas of meteorology and optical imaging. The systems and satellites have, in the main, been owned and operated by a few government institutions and agencies. More recently industrial organizations in North America have joined the list. Few of these, however, include Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)., although the additional utility in terms of all weather, 24 hour measurement capability over the Earth's surface is well recognized. Three major factors explain this:1) Relationships between the SAR measurements of radar backscatter and images to the specific information needs have not been seen as sufficiently well understood or robust2) Availability of suitable sources, at the relevant performance and data quality have been inadequate to provide service assurance that is necessary to sustain commercial businesses3) Costs associated with building, launching and operating spaceborne SAR have not been low enough as to achieve an acceptable return of investment. A significant amount of research and development has been undertaken throughout the World to establish reliable and robust algorithms for information extraction from SAR data. Much of this work has been carried out utilizing airborne systems over localized and carefully controlled regions. In addition, an increasing number of pilot services have been offered by geo-information providers. This has allowed customer confidence to grow. With the status of spaceborne SAR being effectively in the development phase, commercial funding has been scarce, and there has been need to rely on government and institutional budgets. Today the increasing maturity of the technology of SAR and its applications is beginning to attract the commercial sector. This is the funding necessary to realize sufficient assets to be able to provide a robust supply of SAR data to the geo-information providers and subsequently a reliable service to customers. Reducing the costs

Report on International Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy Technical Committee Calibration and Validation Workshop, National Environment Research Council Field Spectroscopy Facility, University of Edinburgh

Science.gov (United States)

Ong, C,; Mueller, A.; Thome, K.; Bachmann, M.; Czapla-Myers, J.; Holzwarth, S.; Khalsa, S. J.; Maclellan, C.; Malthus, T.; Nightingale, J.;

Monthly Rainfall Erosivity Assessment for Switzerland

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Simon; Meusburger, Katrin; Alewell, Christine

2016-04-01

Water erosion is crucially controlled by rainfall erosivity, which is quantified out of the kinetic energy of raindrop impact and associated surface runoff. Rainfall erosivity is often expressed as the R-factor in soil erosion risk models like the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and its revised version (RUSLE). Just like precipitation, the rainfall erosivity of Switzerland has a characteristic seasonal dynamic throughout the year. This inter-annual variability is to be assessed by a monthly and seasonal modelling approach. We used a network of 86 precipitation gauging stations with a 10-minute temporal resolution to calculate long-term average monthly R-factors. Stepwise regression and Monte Carlo Cross Validation (MCCV) was used to select spatial covariates to explain the spatial pattern of R-factor for each month across Switzerland. The regionalized monthly R-factor is mapped by its individual regression equation and the ordinary kriging interpolation of its residuals (Regression-Kriging). As covariates, a variety of precipitation indicator data has been included like snow height, a combination of hourly gauging measurements and radar observations (CombiPrecip), mean monthly alpine precipitation (EURO4M-APGD) and monthly precipitation sums (Rhires). Topographic parameters were also significant explanatory variables for single months. The comparison of all 12 monthly rainfall erosivity maps showed seasonality with highest rainfall erosivity in summer (June, July, and August) and lowest rainfall erosivity in winter months. Besides the inter-annual temporal regime, a seasonal spatial variability was detectable. Spatial maps of monthly rainfall erosivity are presented for the first time for Switzerland. The assessment of the spatial and temporal dynamic behaviour of the R-factor is valuable for the identification of more susceptible seasons and regions as well as for the application of selective erosion control measures. A combination with monthly vegetation

Commercial application of rainfall simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Loch, Rob J.

2010-05-01

Landloch Pty Ltd is a commercial consulting firm, providing advice on a range of land management issues to the mining and construction industries in Australia. As part of the company's day-to-day operations, rainfall simulation is used to assess material erodibility and to investigate a range of site attributes. (Landloch does carry out research projects, though such are not its core business.) When treated as an everyday working tool, several aspects of rainfall simulation practice are distinctively modified. Firstly, the equipment used is regularly maintained, and regularly upgraded with a primary focus on ease, safety, and efficiency of use and on reliability of function. As well, trained and experienced technical support is considered essential. Landloch's chief technician has over 10 years experience in running rainfall simulators at locations across Australia and in Africa and the Pacific. Secondly, the specific experimental conditions established for each set of rainfall simulator runs are carefully considered to ensure that they accurately represent the field conditions to which the data will be subsequently applied. Considerations here include: • wetting and drying cycles to ensure material consolidation and/or cementation if appropriate; • careful attention to water quality if dealing with clay soils or with amendments such as gypsum; • strong focus on ensuring that the erosion processes considered are those of greatest importance to the field situation of concern; and • detailed description of both material and plot properties, to increase the potential for data to be applicable to a wider range of projects and investigations. Other important company procedures include: • For each project, the scientist or engineer responsible for analysing and reporting rainfall simulator data is present during the running of all field plots, as it is essential that they be aware of any specific conditions that may have developed when the plots were subjected

Analysis of Rainfall Infiltration Law in Unsaturated Soil Slope

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Gui-rong; Qian, Ya-jun; Wang, Zhang-chun; Zhao, Bo

2014-01-01

In the study of unsaturated soil slope stability under rainfall infiltration, it is worth continuing to explore how much rainfall infiltrates into the slope in a rain process, and the amount of rainfall infiltrating into slope is the important factor influencing the stability. Therefore, rainfall infiltration capacity is an important issue of unsaturated seepage analysis for slope. On the basis of previous studies, rainfall infiltration law of unsaturated soil slope is analyzed. Considering t...

Transversal Doppler-Fizeau effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Subacius, E.

1981-01-01

The relativistic calculation of the Doppler-Fizeau effect foresees a second grade redshift due to the proper time dilation of a moving object. The relevance of this relativistic effect on astrophysical observation is discussed, herein. (Auhor) [pt

The impact of Amazonian deforestation on Amazon basin rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Spracklen, D. V.; Garcia-Carreras, L.

2015-11-01

We completed a meta-analysis of regional and global climate model simulations (n = 96) of the impact of Amazonian deforestation on Amazon basin rainfall. Across all simulations, mean (±1σ) change in annual mean Amazon basin rainfall was -12 ± 11%. Variability in simulated rainfall was not explained by differences in model resolution or surface parameters. Across all simulations we find a negative linear relationship between rainfall and deforestation extent, although individual studies often simulate a nonlinear response. Using the linear relationship, we estimate that deforestation in 2010 has reduced annual mean rainfall across the Amazon basin by 1.8 ± 0.3%, less than the interannual variability in observed rainfall. This may explain why a reduction in Amazon rainfall has not consistently been observed. We estimate that business-as-usual deforestation (based on deforestation rates prior to 2004) would lead to an 8.1 ± 1.4% reduction in annual mean Amazon basin rainfall by 2050, greater than natural variability.

Operational Bright-Band Snow Level Detection Using Doppler Radar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A method to detect the bright-band snow level from radar reflectivity and Doppler vertical velocity data collection with an atmospheric profiling Doppler radar. The...

Distribution of Doppler Redshifts of Associated Absorbers of SDSS ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The authors searched all ... quasar, where the contribution of the Doppler motion is relatively small. ..... might contribute to the Doppler redshift distribution. 5. ... out accounting for the contamination of intervening absorption systems, which can.

Settings and artefacts relevant for Doppler ultrasound in large vessel vasculitis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Terslev, L; Diamantopoulos, A P; Døhn, U Møller

2017-01-01

Ultrasound is used increasingly for diagnosing large vessel vasculitis (LVV). The application of Doppler in LVV is very different from in arthritic conditions. This paper aims to explain the most important Doppler parameters, including spectral Doppler, and how the settings differ from those used...

[Diagnostic value of power Doppler ultrasonography for Sirenomelia Seguence in prenatal].

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Xia-yu; Yang, Tai-zhu; Luo, Hong; Tian, Yu; Yang, Fan

2011-11-01

To study and discuss the diagnostic value and ultrasonographic characteristics of power doppler ultrasound in the prenatal diagnosis of Sirenomelia Seguence. The abdominal aorta in two fetuses with sirenomelia seguence fetuses and in ten with nomal was reviewed and compared with two-dimensional power doppler ultrasound and three-dimensional power doppler ultrasound in prenatal. The abdominal aorta were showed to divid into renal arteries in the kidney level while two common iliac arteries in the pelvis in nomal fetuses with two-dimensional power doppler ultrasound and three-dimensional power doppler ultrasound; compared with the nomal, the abdominal aorta and whose branches in sirenomelia seguence were demonstrated as follows: 1) a large and deformed vascular coming from the high abdominal aorta, which was found to act as a umbilical artery by careful examination; 2) no bifurcation of renal arteries identified; 3) no bifurcation of two common iliac arteries identified; 4) the abdominal aorta changing into a narrow vascular after one deformed vascular separating from. Sirenomelia seguence fetuses has a characteristic change in two-dimensional power doppler ultrasound and three-dimensional power doppler ultrasound, which is helpful to improve the prenatal diagnosis of sirenomelia seguence.

Doppler sonography of diabetic feet: Quantitative analysis of blood flow volume

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seo, Young Lan; Kim, Ho Chul; Choi, Chul Soon; Yoon, Dae Young; Han, Dae Hee; Moon, Jeung Hee; Bae, Sang Hoon

2002-01-01

To analyze Doppler sonographic findings of diabetic feet by estimating the quantitative blood flow volume and by analyzing waveform on Doppler. Doppler sonography was performed in thirty four patients (10 diabetic patients with foot ulceration, 14 diabetic patients without ulceration and 10 normal patients as the normal control group) to measure the flow volume of the arteries of the lower extremities (posterior and anterior tibial arteries, and distal femoral artery. Analysis of doppler waveforms was also done to evaluate the nature of the changed blood flow volume of diabetic patients, and the waveforms were classified into triphasic, biphasic-1, biphasic-2 and monophasic patterns. Flow volume of arteries in diabetic patients with foot ulceration was increased witha statistical significance when compared to that of diabetes patients without foot ulceration of that of normal control group (P<0.05). Analysis of Doppler waveform revealed that the frequency of biphasic-2 pattern was significantly higher in diabetic patients than in normal control group(p<0.05). Doppler sonography in diabetic feet showed increased flow volume and biphasic Doppler waveform, and these findings suggest neuropathy rather than ischemic changes in diabetic feet.

Doppler sonography of diabetic feet: Quantitative analysis of blood flow volume

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seo, Young Lan; Kim, Ho Chul; Choi, Chul Soon; Yoon, Dae Young; Han, Dae Hee; Moon, Jeung Hee; Bae, Sang Hoon [Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2002-09-15

To analyze Doppler sonographic findings of diabetic feet by estimating the quantitative blood flow volume and by analyzing waveform on Doppler. Doppler sonography was performed in thirty four patients (10 diabetic patients with foot ulceration, 14 diabetic patients without ulceration and 10 normal patients as the normal control group) to measure the flow volume of the arteries of the lower extremities (posterior and anterior tibial arteries, and distal femoral artery. Analysis of doppler waveforms was also done to evaluate the nature of the changed blood flow volume of diabetic patients, and the waveforms were classified into triphasic, biphasic-1, biphasic-2 and monophasic patterns. Flow volume of arteries in diabetic patients with foot ulceration was increased witha statistical significance when compared to that of diabetes patients without foot ulceration of that of normal control group (P<0.05). Analysis of Doppler waveform revealed that the frequency of biphasic-2 pattern was significantly higher in diabetic patients than in normal control group(p<0.05). Doppler sonography in diabetic feet showed increased flow volume and biphasic Doppler waveform, and these findings suggest neuropathy rather than ischemic changes in diabetic feet.

Rainfall variation and child health: effect of rainfall on diarrhea among under 5 children in Rwanda, 2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukabutera, Assumpta; Thomson, Dana; Murray, Megan; Basinga, Paulin; Nyirazinyoye, Laetitia; Atwood, Sidney; Savage, Kevin P; Ngirimana, Aimable; Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany L

2016-08-05

Diarrhea among children under 5 years of age has long been a major public health concern. Previous studies have suggested an association between rainfall and diarrhea. Here, we examined the association between Rwandan rainfall patterns and childhood diarrhea and the impact of household sanitation variables on this relationship. We derived a series of rain-related variables in Rwanda based on daily rainfall measurements and hydrological models built from daily precipitation measurements collected between 2009 and 2011. Using these data and the 2010 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey database, we measured the association between total monthly rainfall, monthly rainfall intensity, runoff water and anomalous rainfall and the occurrence of diarrhea in children under 5 years of age. Among the 8601 children under 5 years of age included in the survey, 13.2 % reported having diarrhea within the 2 weeks prior to the survey. We found that higher levels of runoff were protective against diarrhea compared to low levels among children who lived in households with unimproved toilet facilities (OR = 0.54, 95 % CI: [0.34, 0.87] for moderate runoff and OR = 0.50, 95 % CI: [0.29, 0.86] for high runoff) but had no impact among children in household with improved toilets. Our finding that children in households with unimproved toilets were less likely to report diarrhea during periods of high runoff highlights the vulnerabilities of those living without adequate sanitation to the negative health impacts of environmental events.

Ceilometer-based Rainfall Rate estimates in the framework of VORTEX-SE campaign: A discussion

Science.gov (United States)

Barragan, Ruben; Rocadenbosch, Francesc; Waldinger, Joseph; Frasier, Stephen; Turner, Dave; Dawson, Daniel; Tanamachi, Robin

2017-04-01

During Spring 2016 the first season of the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment-Southeast (VORTEX-SE) was conducted in the Huntsville, AL environs. Foci of VORTEX-SE include the characterization of the tornadic environments specific to the Southeast US as well as societal response to forecasts and warnings. Among several experiments, a research team from Purdue University and from the University of Massachusetts Amherst deployed a mobile S-band Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) radar and a co-located Vaisala CL31 ceilometer for a period of eight weeks near Belle Mina, AL. Portable disdrometers (DSDs) were also deployed in the same area by Purdue University, occasionally co-located with the radar and lidar. The NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory also deployed the Collaborative Lower Atmosphere Mobile Profiling System (CLAMPS) consisting of a Doppler lidar, a microwave radiometer, and an infrared spectrometer. The purpose of these profiling instruments was to characterize the atmospheric boundary layer evolution over the course of the experiment. In this paper we focus on the lidar-based retrieval of rainfall rate (RR) and its limitations using observations from intensive observation periods during the experiment: 31 March and 29 April 2016. Departing from Lewandowski et al., 2009, the RR was estimated by the Vaisala CL31 ceilometer applying the slope method (Kunz and Leeuw, 1993) to invert the extinction caused by the rain. Extinction retrievals are fitted against RR estimates from the disdrometer in order to derive a correlation model that allows us to estimate the RR from the ceilometer in similar situations without a disdrometer permanently deployed. The problem of extinction retrieval is also studied from the perspective of Klett-Fernald-Sasano's (KFS) lidar inversion algorithm (Klett, 1981; 1985), which requires the assumption of an aerosol extinction-to-backscatter ratio (the so-called lidar ratio) and calibration in a

Heavy daily-rainfall characteristics over the Gauteng Province

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2009-02-09

Feb 9, 2009 ... the lowest number of heavy and very heavy rainfall days. The highest 24-h ... With regard to seasonal rainfall, the 1995/96 summer rainfall season had ..... The Gauteng Province is approximately 16 500 km2 in size. When the ...

Hydrological Effects of Historic Rainfall on the Waccamaw River

Science.gov (United States)

Jolly, J.; Bao, S.

2017-12-01

This study focuses on the overall water budget of the Waccamaw River during and after a historic rainfall event related to Hurricane Joaquin, producing a 1000-year rainfall event. While rainfall is the only input, it enters the basin through various means. Some rainwater enters the soil as soil moisture while rainfall also goes underground and enters the river channels from underground, which is defined as bucket in. Over time, the rainfall was removed from the river site through various natural processes. Those processes, including evaporation, soil storage as soil moisture, discharge runoff through the river channel, among others, were modeled and validated against the USGS gauge stations. The validated model results were then used to estimate the hydrological response of the Waccamaw River to the rainfall event and determine the overall water budget. The experiment was completed using a WRF-Hydro modeling system for the purposes of weather forecasting and meteorological analysis. Upon completion of the data analysis, the WRF-Hydro model result showed that large amounts of rainfall were variously dispersed through the aforementioned areas. It was determined that after entering the soil rainfall predominantly left the river basin by discharge, while evaporation accounted for the second most common destination of rainfall. Base flow also accounted for a destination of rainfall, though not as much as those previously mentioned.

Heavy rainfall equations for Santa Catarina, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Álvaro José Back

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Knowledge of intensity-duration-frequency (IDF relationships of rainfall events is extremely important to determine the dimensions of surface drainage structures and soil erosion control. The purpose of this study was to obtain IDF equations of 13 rain gauge stations in the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil: Chapecó, Urussanga, Campos Novos, Florianópolis, Lages, Caçador, Itajaí, Itá, Ponte Serrada, Porto União, Videira, Laguna and São Joaquim. The daily rainfall data charts of each station were digitized and then the annual maximum rainfall series were determined for durations ranging from 5 to 1440 min. Based on these, with the Gumbel-Chow distribution, the maximum rainfall was estimated for durations ranging from 5 min to 24 h, considering return periods of 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, and 100 years,. Data agreement with the Gumbel-Chow model was verified by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, at 5 % significance level. For each rain gauge station, two IDF equations of rainfall events were adjusted, one for durations from 5 to 120 min and the other from 120 to 1440 min. The results show a high variability in maximum intensity of rainfall events among the studied stations. Highest values of coefficients of variation in the annual maximum series of rainfall were observed for durations of over 600 min at the stations of the coastal region of Santa Catarina.

Temporal rainfall estimation using input data reduction and model inversion

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, A. J.; Vrugt, J. A.; Walker, J. P.; Pauwels, V. R. N.

2016-12-01

Floods are devastating natural hazards. To provide accurate, precise and timely flood forecasts there is a need to understand the uncertainties associated with temporal rainfall and model parameters. The estimation of temporal rainfall and model parameter distributions from streamflow observations in complex dynamic catchments adds skill to current areal rainfall estimation methods, allows for the uncertainty of rainfall input to be considered when estimating model parameters and provides the ability to estimate rainfall from poorly gauged catchments. Current methods to estimate temporal rainfall distributions from streamflow are unable to adequately explain and invert complex non-linear hydrologic systems. This study uses the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) to reduce rainfall dimensionality for the catchment of Warwick, Queensland, Australia. The reduction of rainfall to DWT coefficients allows the input rainfall time series to be simultaneously estimated along with model parameters. The estimation process is conducted using multi-chain Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation with the DREAMZS algorithm. The use of a likelihood function that considers both rainfall and streamflow error allows for model parameter and temporal rainfall distributions to be estimated. Estimation of the wavelet approximation coefficients of lower order decomposition structures was able to estimate the most realistic temporal rainfall distributions. These rainfall estimates were all able to simulate streamflow that was superior to the results of a traditional calibration approach. It is shown that the choice of wavelet has a considerable impact on the robustness of the inversion. The results demonstrate that streamflow data contains sufficient information to estimate temporal rainfall and model parameter distributions. The extent and variance of rainfall time series that are able to simulate streamflow that is superior to that simulated by a traditional calibration approach is a

Rainfall interception of three trees in Oakland, California

Science.gov (United States)

Qingfu Xiao; E. Gregory McPherson

2011-01-01

A rainfall interception study was conducted in Oakland, California to determine the partitioning of rainfall and the chemical composition of precipitation, throughfall, and stemflow. Rainfall interception measurements were conducted on a gingko (Ginkgo biloba) (13.5 m tall deciduous tree), sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) (8...

Transesophageal color Doppler evaluation of obstructive lesions using the new "Quasar" technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, P; Nanda, N C; Gatewood, R P; Cape, E G; Yoganathan, A P

1995-01-01

Due to the unavoidable problem of aliasing, color flow signals from high blood flow velocities cannot be measured directly by conventional color Doppler. A new technology termed Quantitative Un-Aliased Speed Algorithm Recognition (Quasar) has been developed to overcome this limitation. Employing this technology, we used transesophageal color Doppler echocardiography to investigate whether the velocities detected by the Quasar would correlate with those obtained by continuous-wave Doppler both in vitro and in vivo. In the in vitro study, a 5.0 MHz transesophageal transducer of a Kontron Sigma 44 color Doppler flow system was used. Fourteen different peak velocities calculated and recorded by color Doppler-guided continuous-wave Doppler were randomly selected. In the clinical study, intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography was performed using the same transducer 18 adults (13 aortic valve stenosis, 2 aortic and 2 mitral stenosis, 2 hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and 1 mitral valve stenosis). Following each continuous-wave Doppler measurement, the Quasar was activated, and a small Quasar marker was placed in the brightest area of the color flow jet to obtain the maximum mean velocity readout. The maximum mean velocities measured by Quasar closely correlated with maximum peak velocities obtained by color flow guided continuous-wave Doppler in both in vitro (0.53 to 1.65 m/s, r = 0.99) and in vivo studies (1.50 to 6.01 m/s, r = 0.97). We conclude that the new Quasar technology can accurately measure high blood flow velocities during transesophageal color Doppler echocardiography. This technique has the potential of obviating the need for continuous-wave Doppler.

Design of a modular digital computer system, DRL 4. [for meeting future requirements of spaceborne computers

Science.gov (United States)

1972-01-01

The design is reported of an advanced modular computer system designated the Automatically Reconfigurable Modular Multiprocessor System, which anticipates requirements for higher computing capacity and reliability for future spaceborne computers. Subjects discussed include: an overview of the architecture, mission analysis, synchronous and nonsynchronous scheduling control, reliability, and data transmission.

DOPPLER SIGNATURES OF THE ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION ON HOT JUPITERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Showman, Adam P.; Lewis, Nikole K.; Fortney, Jonathan J.; Shabram, Megan

2013-01-01

The meteorology of hot Jupiters has been characterized primarily with thermal measurements, but recent observations suggest the possibility of directly detecting the winds by observing the Doppler shift of spectral lines seen during transit. Motivated by these observations, we show how Doppler measurements can place powerful constraints on the meteorology. We show that the atmospheric circulation—and Doppler signature—of hot Jupiters splits into two regimes. Under weak stellar insolation, the day-night thermal forcing generates fast zonal jet streams from the interaction of atmospheric waves with the mean flow. In this regime, air along the terminator (as seen during transit) flows toward Earth in some regions and away from Earth in others, leading to a Doppler signature exhibiting superposed blueshifted and redshifted components. Under intense stellar insolation, however, the strong thermal forcing damps these planetary-scale waves, inhibiting their ability to generate jets. Strong frictional drag likewise damps these waves and inhibits jet formation. As a result, this second regime exhibits a circulation dominated by high-altitude, day-to-night airflow, leading to a predominantly blueshifted Doppler signature during transit. We present state-of-the-art circulation models including non-gray radiative transfer to quantify this regime shift and the resulting Doppler signatures; these models suggest that cool planets like GJ 436b lie in the first regime, HD 189733b is transitional, while planets hotter than HD 209458b lie in the second regime. Moreover, we show how the amplitude of the Doppler shifts constrains the strength of frictional drag in the upper atmospheres of hot Jupiters. If due to winds, the ∼2 km s –1 blueshift inferred on HD 209458b may require drag time constants as short as 10 4 -10 6 s, possibly the result of Lorentz-force braking on this planet's hot dayside.

Doppler-musical instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, T.J.; Watanabe, N.

2001-01-01

We propose a possible ultra-high energy resolution backscattering spectrometer optimized to spallation neutron source. A combination of multi monochromator crystal and Doppler drive provides considerable neutron flux, together with the reasonable energy range -30 < E < 30 μeV, even when the ultra-high energy resolution of ΔE∼0.03 μeV is attained. (author)

Doppler-musical instrument

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sato, T.J. [National Research Institute for Metals, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Watanabe, N. [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Shibata, K. [Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku Univ., Sendai, Miyagi (Japan)

2001-03-01

We propose a possible ultra-high energy resolution backscattering spectrometer optimized to spallation neutron source. A combination of multi monochromator crystal and Doppler drive provides considerable neutron flux, together with the reasonable energy range -30 < E < 30 {mu}eV, even when the ultra-high energy resolution of {delta}E{approx}0.03 {mu}eV is attained. (author)

The analysis of the possibility of using 10-minute rainfall series to determine the maximum rainfall amount with 5 minutes duration

Science.gov (United States)

Kaźmierczak, Bartosz; Wartalska, Katarzyna; Wdowikowski, Marcin; Kotowski, Andrzej

2017-11-01

Modern scientific research in the area of heavy rainfall analysis regarding to the sewerage design indicates the need to develop and use probabilistic rain models. One of the issues that remains to be resolved is the length of the shortest amount of rain to be analyzed. It is commonly believed that the best time is 5 minutes, while the least rain duration measured by the national services is often 10 or even 15 minutes. Main aim of this paper is to present the difference between probabilistic rainfall models results given from rainfall time series including and excluding 5 minutes rainfall duration. Analysis were made for long-time period from 1961-2010 on polish meteorological station Legnica. To develop best fitted to measurement rainfall data probabilistic model 4 probabilistic distributions were used. Results clearly indicates that models including 5 minutes rainfall duration remains more appropriate to use.

Dall-Null tester for spaceborne applications

Science.gov (United States)

Wingler, R. L.

1984-12-01

This is a study to design a self correcting primary mirror system for a space telescope. The design is centered around a Dall-Null tester (a Foucault knife-edge tester with compensating lens). An indepth study of the theory of the Foucault test from Foucault's original publications to current work is presented. Also short comings of the diffraction approach are shown. The findings of a simple experiment showed the way to the correct explanation as to the workings of the test. Based on this new explanation, a computer program to find the error in the surface of the mirror from the irradiance pattern provided by the Dall-Null tester was developed. The computer program with a sample run is included in the appendixes A and B. The basic design of an adaptive optic system for a spaceborne application is also presented in the paper. This design has the desired quality of being able to correct the mirror while the telescope is in use. The equations being independent of wavelength allows for the design to be applied to systems working outside of the visible spectrum as well as the systems working in the visible.

Trans-skull ultrasonic Doppler system aided by fuzzy logic

Science.gov (United States)

Hata, Yutaka; Nakamura, Masato; Yagi, Naomi; Ishikawa, Tomomoto

2012-06-01

This paper describes a trans-skull ultrasonic Doppler system for measuring the blood flow direction in brain under skull. In this system, we use an ultrasonic array probe with the center frequency of 1.0 MHz. The system determines the fuzzy degree of blood flow by Doppler Effect, thereby it locates blood vessel. This Doppler Effect is examined by the center of gravity shift of the frequency magnitudes. In in-vitro experiment, a cow bone was employed as the skull, and three silicon tubes were done as blood vessels, and bubble in water as blood. We received the ultrasonic waves through a protein, the skull and silicon tubes in order. In the system, fuzzy degrees are determined with respect to the Doppler shift, amplitude of the waves and attenuation of the tissues. The fuzzy degrees of bone and blood direction are calculated by them. The experimental results showed that the system successfully visualized the skull and flow direction, compared with the location and flow direction of the phantom. Thus, it detected the flow direction by Doppler Effect under skull, and automatically extracted the region of skull and blood vessel.

Spectroscopic Doppler analysis for visible-light optical coherence tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Xiao; Liu, Wenzhong; Duan, Lian; Zhang, Hao F.

2017-12-01

Retinal oxygen metabolic rate can be effectively measured by visible-light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT), which simultaneously quantifies oxygen saturation and blood flow rate in retinal vessels through spectroscopic analysis and Doppler measurement, respectively. Doppler OCT relates phase variation between sequential A-lines to the axial flow velocity of the scattering medium. The detectable phase shift is between -π and π due to its periodicity, which limits the maximum measurable unambiguous velocity without phase unwrapping. Using shorter wavelengths, vis-OCT is more vulnerable to phase ambiguity since flow induced phase variation is linearly related to the center wavenumber of the probing light. We eliminated the need for phase unwrapping using spectroscopic Doppler analysis. We split the whole vis-OCT spectrum into a series of narrow subbands and reconstructed vis-OCT images to extract corresponding Doppler phase shifts in all the subbands. Then, we quantified flow velocity by analyzing subband-dependent phase shift using linear regression. In the phantom experiment, we showed that spectroscopic Doppler analysis extended the measurable absolute phase shift range without conducting phase unwrapping. We also tested this method to quantify retinal blood flow in rodents in vivo.

A study of doppler waveform using pulsatile flow model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Hye Won; Chung, Myung Jin; Park, Jae Hyung; Chung, Jin Wook; Lee, Dong Hyuk; Min, Byoung Goo

1997-01-01

Through the construction of a pulsatile flow model using an artificial heart pump and stenosis to demonstrate triphasic Doppler waveform, which simulates in vivo conditions, and to evaluate the relationship between Doppler waveform and vascular compliance. The flow model was constructed using a flowmeter, rubber tube, glass tube with stenosis, and artificial heart pump. Doppler study was carried out at the prestenotic, poststenotic, and distal segments;compliance was changed by changing the length of the rubber tube. With increasing proximal compliance, Doppler waveforms show decreasing peak velocity of the first phase and slightly delayed acceleration time, but the waveform itself did not change significantly. Distal compliance influenced the second phase, and was important for the formation of pulsus tardus and parvus, which without poststenotic vascular compliance, did not develop. The peak velocity of the first phase was inversely proportional to proximal compliance, and those of the second and third phases were directly proportional to distal compliance. After constructing this pulsatile flow model, we were able to explain the relationship between vascular compliance and Doppler waveform, and also better understand the formation of pulsus tardus and parvus

Response of a Doppler canceling system to plane gravitational waves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caporali, A.

1982-01-01

This paper discusses the interaction of long periodic gravitational waves with a three-link microwave system known as the Doppler canceling system. This system, which was developed for gravitational red-shift experiment, uses one-way and two-way Doppler information to construct the beat signal of two reference oscillators moving with respect to each other. The geometric-optics approximation is used to derive the frequency shift produced on a light signal propagating in a gravitational-wave space-time. The signature left on the Doppler-canceled beat by bursts and continuous gravitational waves is analyzed. A comparison is made between the response to gravitational waves of the Doppler canceling system and that of a (NASA) Doppler tracking system which employs two-way, round-trip radio waves. A threefold repetition of the gravitational wave form is found to be a common feature of the response functions of both systems. These two functions otherwise exhibit interesting differences

Micro-Doppler Ambiguity Resolution Based on Short-Time Compressed Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing-bo Zhuang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available When using a long range radar (LRR to track a target with micromotion, the micro-Doppler embodied in the radar echoes may suffer from ambiguity problem. In this paper, we propose a novel method based on compressed sensing (CS to solve micro-Doppler ambiguity. According to the RIP requirement, a sparse probing pulse train with its transmitting time random is designed. After matched filtering, the slow-time echo signals of the micromotion target can be viewed as randomly sparse sampling of Doppler spectrum. Select several successive pulses to form a short-time window and the CS sensing matrix can be built according to the time stamps of these pulses. Then performing Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP, the unambiguous micro-Doppler spectrum can be obtained. The proposed algorithm is verified using the echo signals generated according to the theoretical model and the signals with micro-Doppler signature produced using the commercial electromagnetic simulation software FEKO.

Korea-China Joint R and D on Doppler Lidar Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cha, Hyung Ki; Kim, D. H.; Kwon, S. O.; Yang, K. H.; Song, I. K.

2009-03-01

Doppler lidar technology is to monitor atmospheric wind velocity by measuring the light scattering signals between a laser and aerosol particles or molecules existing in the atmosphere. When the particles (or molecules) in the atmosphere are moving by wind force, the frequency of backscattering light is shifted by doppler effect, so that the wind velocity profile can be obtained by measurement of the shifted frequencies. When the laser radiation is scanned in four different direction, three dimensional wind profiles are obtained. The Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics under the China Academy of Sciences has developed and operated the doppler lidar system for long time. In this project we want to developed a new technologies adopted to the chinese doppler system and to test the updated In the process of collaboration between China and Korea research teams, we want to learn the state-of-art technology involved in the doppler lidar system

Satellite and gauge rainfall merging using geographically weighted regression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Q. Hu

2015-05-01

Full Text Available A residual-based rainfall merging scheme using geographically weighted regression (GWR has been proposed. This method is capable of simultaneously blending various satellite rainfall data with gauge measurements and could describe the non-stationary influences of geographical and terrain factors on rainfall spatial distribution. Using this new method, an experimental study on merging daily rainfall from the Climate Prediction Center Morphing dataset (CMOROH and gauge measurements was conducted for the Ganjiang River basin, in Southeast China. We investigated the capability of the merging scheme for daily rainfall estimation under different gauge density. Results showed that under the condition of sparse gauge density the merging rainfall scheme is remarkably superior to the interpolation using just gauge data.

Role of mixed precipitating cloud systems on the typhoon rainfall

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. J. Pan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available L-band wind profiler data are utilized to diagnose the vertical structure of the typhoon precipitating cloud systems in Taiwan. For several typhoons, a pronounced bright band (BB around 5 km is commonly observed from the observation. Since strong convection within typhoon circulation may disturb and/or disrupt the melting layer, the BB shall not appear persistently. Hence, an understanding of the vertical structure of the BB region is important because it holds extensive hydrometeors information on the type of precipitation and its variability. Wind profiler observational results suggest that the mixture of convective and stratiform (embedded type clouds are mostly associated with typhoons. In the case of one typhoon, BB is appeared around 5.5 km with embedded precipitation and also BB height of 1 km higher than ordinary showery precipitation. This is evident from the long-term observations of wind profiler and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. The Doppler velocity profiles show hydrometers (ice/snow at 6 km but liquid below 5 km for typhoons and 4 km for showery precipitation. In the BB region the melting particles accelerations of 5.8 ms−1 km−1 and 3.2 ms−1 km−1 are observed for typhoon and showery precipitation, respectively.

Achieving Accuracy Requirements for Forest Biomass Mapping: A Data Fusion Method for Estimating Forest Biomass and LiDAR Sampling Error with Spaceborne Data

Science.gov (United States)

Montesano, P. M.; Cook, B. D.; Sun, G.; Simard, M.; Zhang, Z.; Nelson, R. F.; Ranson, K. J.; Lutchke, S.; Blair, J. B.

2012-01-01

The synergistic use of active and passive remote sensing (i.e., data fusion) demonstrates the ability of spaceborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and multispectral imagery for achieving the accuracy requirements of a global forest biomass mapping mission. This data fusion approach also provides a means to extend 3D information from discrete spaceborne LiDAR measurements of forest structure across scales much larger than that of the LiDAR footprint. For estimating biomass, these measurements mix a number of errors including those associated with LiDAR footprint sampling over regional - global extents. A general framework for mapping above ground live forest biomass (AGB) with a data fusion approach is presented and verified using data from NASA field campaigns near Howland, ME, USA, to assess AGB and LiDAR sampling errors across a regionally representative landscape. We combined SAR and Landsat-derived optical (passive optical) image data to identify forest patches, and used image and simulated spaceborne LiDAR data to compute AGB and estimate LiDAR sampling error for forest patches and 100m, 250m, 500m, and 1km grid cells. Forest patches were delineated with Landsat-derived data and airborne SAR imagery, and simulated spaceborne LiDAR (SSL) data were derived from orbit and cloud cover simulations and airborne data from NASA's Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (L VIS). At both the patch and grid scales, we evaluated differences in AGB estimation and sampling error from the combined use of LiDAR with both SAR and passive optical and with either SAR or passive optical alone. This data fusion approach demonstrates that incorporating forest patches into the AGB mapping framework can provide sub-grid forest information for coarser grid-level AGB reporting, and that combining simulated spaceborne LiDAR with SAR and passive optical data are most useful for estimating AGB when measurements from LiDAR are limited because they minimized

The effectiveness of Doppler controlled hemorrhoidal artery ligation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this work, we discuss the preliminary results of the effectiveness of the hemorrhoidal artery ligation under control Doppler as a new technique for the treatment of hemorrhoids. We report the results of patients with hemorrhoids we have followed over a period of one year who were treated with HAL Doppler. The intra-and ...

Doppler ultrasonography of the lower extremity arteries: anatomy and scanning guidelines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hwang, Ji Young [Dept. of Radiology, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-04-15

Doppler ultrasonography of the lower extremity arteries is a valuable technique, although it is less frequently indicated for peripheral arterial disease than for deep vein thrombosis or varicose veins. Ultrasonography can diagnose stenosis through the direct visualization of plaques and through the analysis of the Doppler waveforms in stenotic and poststenotic arteries. To perform Doppler ultrasonography of the lower extremity arteries, the operator should be familiar with the arterial anatomy of the lower extremities, basic scanning techniques, and the parameters used in color and pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasonography.

Doppler ultrasonography of the lower extremity arteries: anatomy and scanning guidelines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji Young Hwang

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Doppler ultrasonography of the lower extremity arteries is a valuable technique, although it is less frequently indicated for peripheral arterial disease than for deep vein thrombosis or varicose veins. Ultrasonography can diagnose stenosis through the direct visualization of plaques and through the analysis of the Doppler waveforms in stenotic and poststenotic arteries. To perform Doppler ultrasonography of the lower extremity arteries, the operator should be familiar with the arterial anatomy of the lower extremities, basic scanning techniques, and the parameters used in color and pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasonography.

Lorentz invariance and the rotor Doppler shift experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodrigues Junior, W.A.; Tiomno, J.

1984-01-01

It is shown that 'Rotor Doppler shift Experiments' provide a way to distinguish Einstein's Special Relativity (SR) from Lorentz's Aether Theory (LAT). Misconceptions in previous papers involving the Doppler shift experiments are examined. The theoretical and experimental data available on rotor Doppler shift experiments are analysed. Two models of SR violating theories are used to predict the output of a recently proposed experiment by Torr and Kolen. The first one corresponds to (strict) LAT and the other to an extended form of LAT Contrary to the first, the second theory leads to results in agreement with the preliminary experimental data of Torr et al indicating a breakdown both of SR and strict LAT. (Author) [pt

Lorentz invariance and the rotor Doppler shift experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodrigues Junior, W.A.; Tiomno, J.

1984-01-01

It is shown that 'Rotor Doppler shift Experiments' provide a way to distinguish Einstein's Special Relativity (SR) from Lorentz's Aether Theory (LAT). Misconceptions in previous papers involving the Doppler shift experiments are examined. The theoretical and experimental data available on rotor Doppler shift experiments are analysed. Two models of SR violating theories are used to predict the output of a recently proposed experiment by Torr and Kolen. The first one corresponds to (strict) LAT and the other to an extended form of LAT. Contrary to the first, the second theory leads to results in agreement with the preliminary experimental data of Torr et al indicating a breakdown both of SR and strict LAT. (Author) [pt

ISAR imaging using the instantaneous range instantaneous Doppler method

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wazna, TM

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging, the Range Instantaneous Doppler (RID) method is used to compensate for the nonuniform rotational motion of the target that degrades the Doppler resolution of the ISAR image. The Instantaneous Range...

Automated reconstruction of rainfall events responsible for shallow landslides

Science.gov (United States)

Vessia, G.; Parise, M.; Brunetti, M. T.; Peruccacci, S.; Rossi, M.; Vennari, C.; Guzzetti, F.

2014-04-01

Over the last 40 years, many contributions have been devoted to identifying the empirical rainfall thresholds (e.g. intensity vs. duration ID, cumulated rainfall vs. duration ED, cumulated rainfall vs. intensity EI) for the initiation of shallow landslides, based on local as well as worldwide inventories. Although different methods to trace the threshold curves have been proposed and discussed in literature, a systematic study to develop an automated procedure to select the rainfall event responsible for the landslide occurrence has rarely been addressed. Nonetheless, objective criteria for estimating the rainfall responsible for the landslide occurrence (effective rainfall) play a prominent role on the threshold values. In this paper, two criteria for the identification of the effective rainfall events are presented: (1) the first is based on the analysis of the time series of rainfall mean intensity values over one month preceding the landslide occurrence, and (2) the second on the analysis of the trend in the time function of the cumulated mean intensity series calculated from the rainfall records measured through rain gauges. The two criteria have been implemented in an automated procedure written in R language. A sample of 100 shallow landslides collected in Italy by the CNR-IRPI research group from 2002 to 2012 has been used to calibrate the proposed procedure. The cumulated rainfall E and duration D of rainfall events that triggered the documented landslides are calculated through the new procedure and are fitted with power law in the (D,E) diagram. The results are discussed by comparing the (D,E) pairs calculated by the automated procedure and the ones by the expert method.

Rainfall variation and child health: effect of rainfall on diarrhea among under 5 children in Rwanda, 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Assumpta Mukabutera

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Diarrhea among children under 5 years of age has long been a major public health concern. Previous studies have suggested an association between rainfall and diarrhea. Here, we examined the association between Rwandan rainfall patterns and childhood diarrhea and the impact of household sanitation variables on this relationship. Methods We derived a series of rain-related variables in Rwanda based on daily rainfall measurements and hydrological models built from daily precipitation measurements collected between 2009 and 2011. Using these data and the 2010 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey database, we measured the association between total monthly rainfall, monthly rainfall intensity, runoff water and anomalous rainfall and the occurrence of diarrhea in children under 5 years of age. Results Among the 8601 children under 5 years of age included in the survey, 13.2 % reported having diarrhea within the 2 weeks prior to the survey. We found that higher levels of runoff were protective against diarrhea compared to low levels among children who lived in households with unimproved toilet facilities (OR = 0.54, 95 % CI: [0.34, 0.87] for moderate runoff and OR = 0.50, 95 % CI: [0.29, 0.86] for high runoff but had no impact among children in household with improved toilets. Conclusion Our finding that children in households with unimproved toilets were less likely to report diarrhea during periods of high runoff highlights the vulnerabilities of those living without adequate sanitation to the negative health impacts of environmental events.

Análisis de perforantes de la epigástrica inferior profunda con Angio TC 3D, Eco Doppler color y Doppler simple de ultrasonidos en colgajo DIEP: resultados preliminares Analysis of deep inferior epigastric perforating vessels with 3D CT angiography, color Doppler ultrasonography and Doppler in diep flaps: preliminary results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Castro García

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Nuestro objetivo es la validación de la Angio TC tridimensional como herramienta de planificación de los colgajos DIEP, comparándolo con el Doppler de ultrasonidos (US y eco Doppler color. Entre enero de 2006 y marzo de 2007 se realiza en 11 pacientes (13 DIEP un estudio comparativo prospectivo entre el Doppler de US, eco Doppler color y Angio TC con reconstrucción tridimensional, utilizando como dato de referencia los hallazgos intraoperatorios. En dicho proceso se localiza la mejor perforante que pueda servir como pedículo al colgajo DIEP en función de su localización, calibre, trayecto y relaciones anatómicas con respecto al músculo. La Angio TC con reconstrucción tridimensional, demuestra una especificidad del 100% (IC 95% 75.3-100 lo que le convierte en una prueba con un alto valor predictivo positivo y una excelente herramienta en la planificación de los colgajos de perforantes. El eco Doppler color determinó, que tan sólo en un 46,1% (IC 95% 19,2-74,9 de los pacientes, la perforante seleccionada por la prueba de forma preoperatoria, coincidía con la perforante elegida en quirófano. Con el Doppler de US, en un 30,8 % (IC 95% 9,1-61,4 de los colgajos estudiados, coincidía la mejor perforante escogida de forma preoperatoria, con los hallazgos obtenidos tras la disección del colgajo. En el presente estudio, la Angio TC tridimensional se ha mostrado como una técnica con una gran especificidad que proporciona valiosa información, sólo comparable con la disección anatómica y por delante de pruebas como el Doppler de ultrasonidos y el eco Doppler color.The aim of this report, is to validate the Angio-CT technique with three-dimentional reconstruction as a preoperative planning tool, after comparison with Doppler ultrasound and color- Duplex. Between january 2006 and march 2007, we studied 11 consecutive patients (13 DIEP in whom a prospective comparative followed up was performed comparing, the findings observed using

Scanning laser Doppler vibrometry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brøns, Marie; Thomsen, Jon Juel

With a Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer (SLDV) a vibrating surface is automatically scanned over predefined grid points, and data processed for displaying vibration properties like mode shapes, natural frequencies, damping ratios, and operational deflection shapes. Our SLDV – a PSV-500H from...

Gross rainfall amount and maximum rainfall intensity in 60-minute influence on interception loss of shrubs: a 10-year observation in the Tengger Desert.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhi-Shan; Zhao, Yang; Li, Xin-Rong; Huang, Lei; Tan, Hui-Juan

2016-05-17

In water-limited regions, rainfall interception is influenced by rainfall properties and crown characteristics. Rainfall properties, aside from gross rainfall amount and duration (GR and RD), maximum rainfall intensity and rainless gap (RG), within rain events may heavily affect throughfall and interception by plants. From 2004 to 2014 (except for 2007), individual shrubs of Caragana korshinskii and Artemisia ordosica were selected to measure throughfall during 210 rain events. Various rainfall properties were auto-measured and crown characteristics, i.e., height, branch and leaf area index, crown area and volume of two shrubs were also measured. The relative interceptions of C. korshinskii and A. ordosica were 29.1% and 17.1%, respectively. Rainfall properties have more contributions than crown characteristics to throughfall and interception of shrubs. Throughfall and interception of shrubs can be explained by GR, RI60 (maximum rainfall intensities during 60 min), RD and RG in deceasing importance. However, relative throughfall and interception of two shrubs have different responses to rainfall properties and crown characteristics, those of C. korshinskii were closely related to rainfall properties, while those of A. ordosica were more dependent on crown characteristics. We highlight long-term monitoring is very necessary to determine the relationships between throughfall and interception with crown characteristics.

Three-dimensional power Doppler sonography in screening for carotid artery disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Keberle, M; Jenett, M; Beissert, M; Jahns, R; Haerten, R; Hahn, D

2000-01-01

Color Doppler sonography has gained considerable recognition as a noninvasive method to detect carotid artery disease and to assess the degree of carotid artery stenosis. However, results are highly operator-dependent and cannot be presented as survey images. The purpose of this study was to evaluate real-time 3-dimensional (3D) power Doppler sonography as a method for screening for atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries. We prospectively screened 75 patients for carotid artery disease using both conventional color Doppler sonography and 3D power Doppler sonography, and the results from the 2 modalities were compared. A total of 150 common carotid arteries, 150 internal carotid arteries, and 150 external carotid arteries were examined utilizing a 7.5-MHz linear-array transducer combined with tissue harmonic imaging. Color Doppler sonography detected 297 normal or atherosclerotic arteries without stenosis, 57 arteries with mild (1-49%) stenosis, 41 with moderate (50-69%) stenosis, 32 with severe (70-99%) stenosis, and 9 with occlusions. The degree of stenosis determined by color Doppler sonography correlated with that determined by 3D power Doppler sonography (r = 0.982-0.998). Moreover, there was a good correlation between the measurements for both the length of the lesion and its distance from the bulb as determined by the 3D volume surveys and by color Doppler sonography (r = 0.986). The interobserver variability rate was 3.7% +/- 0.5%. Generally, the acquisition and reconstruction of the 3D data took less than 5 minutes. 3D power Doppler sonography is easy to perform and is an accurate method in screening for atherosclerotic lesions of the carotid arteries. Moreover, it provides excellent 3D volume surveys that may be helpful in the planning of surgical treatment. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

New Processing of Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) Data

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, F. J.; Gracheva, V.; Arko, S. A.; Labelle-Hamer, A. L.

2017-12-01

The Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) was a radar system, which successfully operated on two separate shuttle missions in April and October 1994. During these two missions, a total of 143 hours of radar data were recorded. SIR-C was the first multifrequency and polarimetric spaceborne radar system, operating in dual frequency (L- and C- band) and with quad-polarization. SIR-C had a variety of different operating modes, which are innovative even from today's point of view. Depending on the mode, it was possible to acquire data with different polarizations and carrier frequency combinations. Additionally, different swaths and bandwidths could be used during the data collection and it was possible to receive data with two antennas in the along-track direction.The United States Geological Survey (USGS) distributes the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images as single-look complex (SLC) and multi-look complex (MLC) products. Unfortunately, since June 2005 the SIR-C processor has been inoperable and not repairable. All acquired SLC and MLC images were processed with a course resolution of 100 m with the goal of generating a quick look. These images are however not well suited for scientific analysis. Only a small percentage of the acquired data has been processed as full resolution SAR images and the unprocessed high resolution data cannot be processed any more at the moment.At the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) a new processor was developed to process binary SIR-C data to full resolution SAR images. ASF is planning to process the entire recoverable SIR-C archive to full resolution SLCs, MLCs and high resolution geocoded image products. ASF will make these products available to the science community through their existing data archiving and distribution system.The final paper will describe the new processor and analyze the challenges of reprocessing the SIR-C data.

A Poisson Cluster Stochastic Rainfall Generator That Accounts for the Interannual Variability of Rainfall Statistics: Validation at Various Geographic Locations across the United States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongkyun Kim

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A novel approach for a Poisson cluster stochastic rainfall generator was validated in its ability to reproduce important rainfall and watershed response characteristics at 104 locations in the United States. The suggested novel approach, The Hybrid Model (THM, as compared to the traditional Poisson cluster rainfall modeling approaches, has an additional capability to account for the interannual variability of rainfall statistics. THM and a traditional approach of Poisson cluster rainfall model (modified Bartlett-Lewis rectangular pulse model were compared in their ability to reproduce the characteristics of extreme rainfall and watershed response variables such as runoff and peak flow. The results of the comparison indicate that THM generally outperforms the traditional approach in reproducing the distributions of peak rainfall, peak flow, and runoff volume. In addition, THM significantly outperformed the traditional approach in reproducing extreme rainfall by 2.3% to 66% and extreme flow values by 32% to 71%.

Doppler electron velocimetry : notes on creating a practical tool.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reu, Phillip L.; Milster, Tom (University of Arizona)

2008-11-01

The Doppler electron velocimeter (DEV) has been shown to be theoretically possible. This report attempts to answer the next logical question: Is it a practical instrument? The answer hinges upon whether enough electrons are available to create a time-varying Doppler current to be measured by a detector with enough sensitivity and bandwidth. The answer to both of these questions is a qualified yes. A target Doppler frequency of 1 MHz was set as a minimum rate of interest. At this target a theoretical beam current signal-to-noise ratio of 25-to-1 is shown for existing electron holography equipment. A detector is also demonstrated with a bandwidth of 1-MHz at a current of 10 pA. Additionally, a Linnik-type interferometer that would increase the available beam current is shown that would offer a more flexible arrangement for Doppler electron measurements over the traditional biprism.

Spaceborne Lidar in the Study of Marine Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Hostetler, Chris A; Behrenfeld, Michael J; Hu, Yongxiang; Hair, Johnathan W; Schulien, Jennifer A

2018-01-03

Satellite passive ocean color instruments have provided an unbroken ∼20-year record of global ocean plankton properties, but this measurement approach has inherent limitations in terms of spatial-temporal sampling and ability to resolve vertical structure within the water column. These limitations can be addressed by coupling ocean color data with measurements from a spaceborne lidar. Airborne lidars have been used for decades to study ocean subsurface properties, but recent breakthroughs have now demonstrated that plankton properties can be measured with a satellite lidar. The satellite lidar era in oceanography has arrived. Here, we present a review of the lidar technique, its applications in marine systems, a perspective on what can be accomplished in the near future with an ocean- and atmosphere-optimized satellite lidar, and a vision for a multiplatform virtual constellation of observational assets that would enable a three-dimensional reconstruction of global ocean ecosystems.

Spaceborne Lidar in the Study of Marine Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Hostetler, Chris A.; Behrenfeld, Michael J.; Hu, Yongxiang; Hair, Johnathan W.; Schulien, Jennifer A.

2018-01-01

Satellite passive ocean color instruments have provided an unbroken ˜20-year record of global ocean plankton properties, but this measurement approach has inherent limitations in terms of spatial-temporal sampling and ability to resolve vertical structure within the water column. These limitations can be addressed by coupling ocean color data with measurements from a spaceborne lidar. Airborne lidars have been used for decades to study ocean subsurface properties, but recent breakthroughs have now demonstrated that plankton properties can be measured with a satellite lidar. The satellite lidar era in oceanography has arrived. Here, we present a review of the lidar technique, its applications in marine systems, a perspective on what can be accomplished in the near future with an ocean- and atmosphere-optimized satellite lidar, and a vision for a multiplatform virtual constellation of observational assets that would enable a three-dimensional reconstruction of global ocean ecosystems.

Runoff Analysis Considering Orographical Features Using Dual Polarization Radar Rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Noh, Hui-seong; Shin, Hyun-seok; Kang, Na-rae; Lee, Choong-Ke; Kim, Hung-soo

2013-04-01

Recently, the necessity for rainfall estimation and forecasting using the radar is being highlighted, due to the frequent occurrence of torrential rainfall resulting from abnormal changes of weather. Radar rainfall data represents temporal and spatial distributions properly and replace the existing rain gauge networks. It is also frequently applied in many hydrologic field researches. However, the radar rainfall data has an accuracy limitation since it estimates rainfall, by monitoring clouds and precipitation particles formed around the surface of the earth(1.5-3km above the surface) or the atmosphere. In a condition like Korea where nearly 70% of the land is covered by mountainous areas, there are lots of restrictions to use rainfall radar, because of the occurrence of beam blocking areas by topography. This study is aiming at analyzing runoff and examining the applicability of (R(Z), R(ZDR) and R(KDP)) provided by the Han River Flood Control Office(HRFCO) based on the basin elevation of Nakdong river watershed. For this purpose, the amount of radar rainfall of each rainfall event was estimated according to three sub-basins of Nakdong river watershed with the average basin elevation above 400m which are Namgang dam, Andong dam and Hapcheon dam and also another three sub-basins with the average basin elevation below 150m which are Waegwan, Changryeong and Goryeong. After runoff analysis using a distribution model, Vflo model, the results were reviewed and compared with the observed runoff. This study estimated the rainfall by using the radar-rainfall transform formulas, (R(Z), R(Z,ZDR) and R(Z,ZDR,KDP) for four stormwater events and compared the results with the point rainfall of the rain gauge. As the result, it was overestimated or underestimated, depending on rainfall events. Also, calculation indicates that the values from R(Z,ZDR) and R(Z,ZDR,KDP) relatively showed the most similar results. Moreover the runoff analysis using the estimated radar rainfall is

Accuracy of rainfall measurement for scales of hydrological interest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. J. Wood

2000-01-01

Full Text Available The dense network of 49 raingauges over the 135 km2 Brue catchment in Somerset, England is used to examine the accuracy of rainfall estimates obtained from raingauges and from weather radar. Methods for data quality control and classification of precipitation types are first described. A super-dense network comprising eight gauges within a 2 km grid square is employed to obtain a 'true value' of rainfall against which the 2 km radar grid and a single 'typical gauge' estimate can be compared. Accuracy is assessed as a function of rainfall intensity, for different periods of time-integration (15 minutes, 1 hour and 1 day and for two 8-gauge networks in areas of low and high relief. In a similar way, the catchment gauge network is used to provide the 'true catchment rainfall' and the accuracy of a radar estimate (an area-weighted average of radar pixel values and a single 'typical gauge' estimate of catchment rainfall evaluated as a function of rainfall intensity. A single gauge gives a standard error of estimate for rainfall in a 2 km square and over the catchment of 33% and 65% respectively, at rain rates of 4 mm in 15 minutes. Radar data at 2 km resolution give corresponding errors of 50% and 55%. This illustrates the benefit of using radar when estimating catchment scale rainfall. A companion paper (Wood et al., 2000 considers the accuracy of rainfall estimates obtained using raingauge and radar in combination. Keywords: rainfall, accuracy, raingauge, radar

Potential of deterministic and geostatistical rainfall interpolation under high rainfall variability and dry spells: case of Kenya's Central Highlands

Science.gov (United States)

Kisaka, M. Oscar; Mucheru-Muna, M.; Ngetich, F. K.; Mugwe, J.; Mugendi, D.; Mairura, F.; Shisanya, C.; Makokha, G. L.

2016-04-01

Drier parts of Kenya's Central Highlands endure persistent crop failure and declining agricultural productivity. These have, in part, attributed to high temperatures, prolonged dry spells and erratic rainfall. Understanding spatial-temporal variability of climatic indices such as rainfall at seasonal level is critical for optimal rain-fed agricultural productivity and natural resource management in the study area. However, the predominant setbacks in analysing hydro-meteorological events are occasioned by either lack, inadequate, or inconsistent meteorological data. Like in most other places, the sole sources of climatic data in the study region are scarce and only limited to single stations, yet with persistent missing/unrecorded data making their utilization a challenge. This study examined seasonal anomalies and variability in rainfall, drought occurrence and the efficacy of interpolation techniques in the drier regions of eastern Kenyan. Rainfall data from five stations (Machang'a, Kiritiri, Kiambere and Kindaruma and Embu) were sourced from both the Kenya Meteorology Department and on-site primary recording. Owing to some experimental work ongoing, automated recording for primary dailies in Machang'a have been ongoing since the year 2000 to date; thus, Machang'a was treated as reference (for period of record) station for selection of other stations in the region. The other stations had data sets of over 15 years with missing data of less than 10 % as required by the world meteorological organization whose quality check is subject to the Centre for Climate Systems Modeling (C2SM) through MeteoSwiss and EMPA bodies. The dailies were also subjected to homogeneity testing to evaluate whether they came from the same population. Rainfall anomaly index, coefficients of variance and probability were utilized in the analyses of rainfall variability. Spline, kriging and inverse distance weighting interpolation techniques were assessed using daily rainfall data and

Bayesian estimation of extreme flood quantiles using a rainfall-runoff model and a stochastic daily rainfall generator

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Veber; Fernandes, Wilson

2017-11-01

Extreme flood estimation has been a key research topic in hydrological sciences. Reliable estimates of such events are necessary as structures for flood conveyance are continuously evolving in size and complexity and, as a result, their failure-associated hazards become more and more pronounced. Due to this fact, several estimation techniques intended to improve flood frequency analysis and reducing uncertainty in extreme quantile estimation have been addressed in the literature in the last decades. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian framework for the indirect estimation of extreme flood quantiles from rainfall-runoff models. In the proposed approach, an ensemble of long daily rainfall series is simulated with a stochastic generator, which models extreme rainfall amounts with an upper-bounded distribution function, namely, the 4-parameter lognormal model. The rationale behind the generation model is that physical limits for rainfall amounts, and consequently for floods, exist and, by imposing an appropriate upper bound for the probabilistic model, more plausible estimates can be obtained for those rainfall quantiles with very low exceedance probabilities. Daily rainfall time series are converted into streamflows by routing each realization of the synthetic ensemble through a conceptual hydrologic model, the Rio Grande rainfall-runoff model. Calibration of parameters is performed through a nonlinear regression model, by means of the specification of a statistical model for the residuals that is able to accommodate autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity and nonnormality. By combining the outlined steps in a Bayesian structure of analysis, one is able to properly summarize the resulting uncertainty and estimating more accurate credible intervals for a set of flood quantiles of interest. The method for extreme flood indirect estimation was applied to the American river catchment, at the Folsom dam, in the state of California, USA. Results show that most floods

Rainfall erosivity factor estimation in Republic of Moldova

Science.gov (United States)

Castraveš, Tudor; Kuhn, Nikolaus

2017-04-01

Rainfall erosivity represents a measure of the erosive force of rainfall. Typically, it is expressed as variable such as the R factor in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) (Wischmeier and Smith, 1965, 1978) or its derivates. The rainfall erosivity index for a rainfall event (EI30) is calculated from the total kinetic energy and maximum 30 minutes intensity of individual events. However, these data are often unavailable for wide regions and countries. Usually, there are three issues regarding precipitation data: low temporal resolution, low spatial density and limited access to the data. This is especially true for some of postsoviet countries from Eastern Europe, such as Republic of Moldova, where soil erosion is a real and persistent problem (Summer, 2003) and where soils represents the main natural resource of the country. Consequently, researching and managing soil erosion is particularly important. The purpose of this study is to develop a model based on commonly available rainfall data, such as event, daily or monthly amounts, to calculate rainfall erosivity for the territory of Republic of Moldova. Rainfall data collected during 1994-2015 period at 15 meteorological stations in the Republic of Moldova, with 10 minutes temporal resolution, were used to develop and calibrate a model to generate an erosivity map of Moldova. References 1. Summer, W., (2003). Soil erosion in the Republic of Moldova — the importance of institutional arrangements. Erosion Prediction in Ungauged Basins: Integrating Methods and Techniques (Proceedings of symposium HS01 held during IUGG2003 at Sapporo. July 2003). IAHS Publ. no. 279. 2. Wischmeier, W.H., and Smith, D.D. (1965). Predicting rainfall-erosion losses from cropland east of the Rocky Mountains. Agr. Handbook No. 282, U.S. Dept. Agr., Washington, DC 3. Wischmeier, W.H., and Smith, D.D. (1978). Predicting rainfall erosion losses. Agr. handbook No. 537, U.S. Dept. of Agr., Science and Education Administration.

Rainfall reliability, drought and flood vulnerability in Botswana ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rainfall data from 14 stations (cities, towns and major villages) spanning 26 years (1970 to 1995) were used to calculate reliability and vulnerability of rainfall in Botswana. Time series data for 72 years were generated from the long-term rainfall gauging stations and the number of wet and dry years determined. Apart from ...

Projected changes of rainfall event characteristics for the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svoboda Vojtěch

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Projected changes of warm season (May–September rainfall events in an ensemble of 30 regional climate model (RCM simulations are assessed for the Czech Republic. Individual rainfall events are identified using the concept of minimum inter-event time and only heavy events are considered. The changes of rainfall event characteristics are evaluated between the control (1981–2000 and two scenario (2020–2049 and 2070–2099 periods. Despite a consistent decrease in the number of heavy rainfall events, there is a large uncertainty in projected changes in seasonal precipitation total due to heavy events. Most considered characteristics (rainfall event depth, mean rainfall rate, maximum 60-min rainfall intensity and indicators of rainfall event erosivity are projected to increase and larger increases appear for more extreme values. Only rainfall event duration slightly decreases in the more distant scenario period according to the RCM simulations. As a consequence, the number of less extreme heavy rainfall events as well as the number of long events decreases in majority of the RCM simulations. Changes in most event characteristics (and especially in characteristics related to the rainfall intensity depend on changes in radiative forcing and temperature for the future periods. Only changes in the number of events and seasonal total due to heavy events depend significantly on altitude.

Temporal and spatial variations of rainfall erosivity in Southern Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ming-Hsi; Lin, Huan-Hsuan; Chu, Chun-Kuang

2014-05-01

Soil erosion models are essential in developing effective soil and water resource conservation strategies. Soil erosion is generally evaluated using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) with an appropriate regional scale description. Among factors in the USLE model, the rainfall erosivity index (R) provides one of the clearest indications of the effects of climate change. Accurate estimation of rainfall erosivity requires continuous rainfall data; however, such data rarely demonstrate good spatial and temporal coverage. The data set consisted of 9240 storm events for the period 1993 to 2011, monitored by 27 rainfall stations of the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) in southern Taiwan, was used to analyze the temporal-spatial variations of rainfall erosivity. The spatial distribution map was plotted based on rainfall erosivity by the Kriging interpolation method. Results indicated that rainfall erosivity is mainly concentrated in rainy season from June to November typically contributed 90% of the yearly R factor. The temporal variations of monthly rainfall erosivity during June to November and annual rainfall erosivity have increasing trend from 1993 to 2011. There is an increasing trend from southwest to northeast in spatial distribution of rainfall erosivity in southern Taiwan. The results further indicated that there is a higher relationship between elevation and rainfall erosivity. The method developed in this study may also be useful for sediment disasters on Climate Change.

Performance of bias corrected MPEG rainfall estimate for rainfall-runoff simulation in the upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Science.gov (United States)

Worqlul, Abeyou W.; Ayana, Essayas K.; Maathuis, Ben H. P.; MacAlister, Charlotte; Philpot, William D.; Osorio Leyton, Javier M.; Steenhuis, Tammo S.

2018-01-01

In many developing countries and remote areas of important ecosystems, good quality precipitation data are neither available nor readily accessible. Satellite observations and processing algorithms are being extensively used to produce satellite rainfall products (SREs). Nevertheless, these products are prone to systematic errors and need extensive validation before to be usable for streamflow simulations. In this study, we investigated and corrected the bias of Multi-Sensor Precipitation Estimate-Geostationary (MPEG) data. The corrected MPEG dataset was used as input to a semi-distributed hydrological model Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV) for simulation of discharge of the Gilgel Abay and Gumara watersheds in the Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia. The result indicated that the MPEG satellite rainfall captured 81% and 78% of the gauged rainfall variability with a consistent bias of underestimating the gauged rainfall by 60%. A linear bias correction applied significantly reduced the bias while maintaining the coefficient of correlation. The simulated flow using bias corrected MPEG SRE resulted in a simulated flow comparable to the gauge rainfall for both watersheds. The study indicated the potential of MPEG SRE in water budget studies after applying a linear bias correction.

Temporal characteristics of rainfall events under three climate types in Slovenia

Science.gov (United States)

Dolšak, Domen; Bezak, Nejc; Šraj, Mojca

2016-10-01

Temporal rainfall distribution can often have significant influence on other hydrological processes such as runoff generation or rainfall interception. High-frequency rainfall data from 30 stations in Slovenia were analysed in order to improve the knowledge about the temporal rainfall distribution within a rainfall event. Using the pre-processed rainfall data Huff curves were determined and the binary shape code (BSC) methodology was applied. Although Slovenia covers only about 20,000 km2, results indicate large temporal and spatial variability in the precipitation pattern of the analysed stations, which is in agreement with the different Slovenian climate types: sub-Mediterranean, temperate continental, and mountain climate. Statistically significant correlation was identified between the most frequent BSC types, mean annual precipitation, and rainfall erosivity for individual rainfall stations. Moreover, different temporal rainfall distributions were observed for rainfall events with shorter duration (less than 12 h) than those with longer duration (more than 24 h). Using the analysis of the Huff curves it was shown that the variability in the Huff curves decreases with increasing rainfall duration. Thus, it seems that for shorter duration convective storms a more diverse temporal rainfall distribution can be expected than for the longer duration frontal precipitation where temporal rainfall distribution shows less variability.

Micro-Doppler classification of riders and riderless horses

Science.gov (United States)

Tahmoush, David

2014-05-01

Micro-range Micro-Doppler can be used to isolate particular parts of the radar signature, and in this case we demonstrate the differences in the signature between a walking horse versus a walking horse with a rider. Using micro-range micro-Doppler, we can distinguish the radar returns from the rider as separate from the radar returns of the horse.

Spaceborne Radar for Mapping Forest and Land Use Changes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joshi, Neha Pankaj

Degradation (REDD+). The implementation and effectiveness of such mechanisms relies partially on continuous observations of forests using satellite technology and partially on ground-based measurements of forest aboveground volume/biomass (AGV/AGB), carbon density and changes therein. Together, these means...... of forest monitoring enable the development of policies and measures to alter current trends in global forest and biodiversity loss. This thesis investigates the use of long wavelength (~23 cm, L-band) spaceborne radar, which has all-weather and canopy-penetration capabilities, acquired by the Advanced Land...... Observing Satellite (ALOS) for forest monitoring. Using a combination of local expert knowledge, plot inventories, and data from lidar and optical sensors, it aims to understand (1) whether forest disturbance dynamics may be detected with radar, and (2) what physical and macroecological properties influence...

Color Doppler flow mapping of stenotic and regurgitant natural heart valves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nanda, N.C.

1986-01-01

Color Doppler echocardiography has found widest application in reliable detection and assessment of severity of both atrio-ventricular and semi-lunar valve incompetence. The authors believe both the sensitivity and specificity of color Doppler for the detection of mitral and aortic regurgitation is very high in patients with adequate acoustic windows. In 82 patients with proven mitral regurgitation studied, the best correlations with angiography were noted when the maximum or average regurgitant jet are obtained by color Doppler from three standard 2-D echo planes (parasternal long and short axis and apical four chamber view) and expressed as a percentage of the left atrial area were considered. The criteria the authors used for assessment of tricuspid and pulmonary valve incompetence are similar to those used for mitral and aortic valve incompetence, but the lack of a good ''gold'' standard has hampered validation. The color Doppler technique also supplements conventional Doppler in the assessment of severity of stenotic lesions by facilitating parallel alignment of the continuous wave Doppler cursor line with the stenotic jet for accurate recording of maximal velocities and pressure gradients. The authors have found this method especially useful in the assessment of aortic stenosis. In conclusion, color Doppler flow mapping combined with conventional echocardiography provides, for the first time, a comprehensive noninvasive assessement of the severity of regurgitant and stenotic lesions

The concentration principle applied to spaceborne solar arrays. AGORA mission: Studies synthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Laget, R.

1986-01-01

Studies that led to selection of the distributed 25 kW SARA LOUVRE concept for the solar cell generator to be flown on the AGORA asteroid mission, and the major characteristics of such a spaceborne solar array are summarized. In the SARA LOUVRE concept, a parabolic cross section reflector concentrates incident light over the rear face of the identical, preceding reflector dish. The whole set of reflectors is pivotally commanded, thus compensating the effects of depointing. Geometric concentration factor is 10. End of life power level at 2.5 AU is 4.5 kW.

Comparison of the Diagnostic Performance of Power Doppler Ultrasound and a New Microvascular Doppler Ultrasound Technique (AngioPLUS) for Differentiating Benign and Malignant Breast Masses.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Hae Kyoung; Park, Ah Young; Ko, Kyung Hee; Koh, Jieun

2018-03-12

This study was performed to compare the diagnostic performance of power Doppler ultrasound (US) and a new microvascular Doppler US technique (AngioPLUS; SuperSonic Imagine, Aix-en-Provence, France) for differentiating benign and malignant breast masses. Power Doppler US and AngioPLUS findings were available in 124 breast masses with confirmed pathologic results (benign, 80 [64.5%]; malignant, 44 [35.5%]). The diagnostic performance of each tool was calculated to distinguish benign from malignant masses using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and compared. The area under the curve showed that AngioPLUS was superior to power Doppler US in differentiating benign from malignant breast masses, but the difference was not statistically significant. © 2018 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

Evaluation of short-period rainfall estimates from Kalpana-1 satellite

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The INSAT Multispectral Rainfall Algorithm (IMSRA) technique for rainfall estimation, has recently been developed to meet the shortcomings of the Global Precipitation Index (GPI) technique of rainfall estimation from the data of geostationary satellites; especially for accurate short period rainfall estimates. This study ...

Acute Effects of Lateral Thigh Foam Rolling on Arterial Tissue Perfusion Determined by Spectral Doppler and Power Doppler Ultrasound.

Science.gov (United States)

Hotfiel, Thilo; Swoboda, Bernd; Krinner, Sebastian; Grim, Casper; Engelhardt, Martin; Uder, Michael; Heiss, Rafael U

2017-04-01

Hotfiel, T, Swoboda, B, Krinner, S, Grim, C, Engelhardt, M, Uder, M, and Heiss, R. Acute effects of lateral thigh foam rolling on arterial tissue perfusion determined by spectral Doppler and power Doppler ultrasound. J Strength Cond Res 31(4): 893-900, 2017-Foam rolling has been developed as a popular intervention in training and rehabilitation. However, evidence on its effects on the cellular and physiological level is lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of foam rolling on arterial blood flow of the lateral thigh. Twenty-one healthy participants (age, 25 ± 2 years; height, 177 ± 9 cm; body weight, 74 ± 9 kg) were recruited from the medical and sports faculty. Arterial tissue perfusion was determined by spectral Doppler and power Doppler ultrasound, represented as peak flow (Vmax), time average velocity maximum (TAMx), time average velocity mean (TAMn), and resistive index (RI), and with semiquantitative grading that was assessed by 4 blindfolded investigators. Measurement values were assessed under resting conditions and twice after foam rolling exercises of the lateral thigh (0 and 30 minutes after intervention). The trochanteric region, mid portion, and distal tibial insertion of the lateral thigh were representative for data analysis. Arterial blood flow of the lateral thigh increased significantly after foam rolling exercises compared with baseline (p ≤ 0.05). We detected a relative increase in Vmax of 73.6% (0 minutes) and 52.7% (30 minutes) (p power Doppler scores at all portions revealed increased average grading of 1.96 after intervention and 2.04 after 30 minutes compared with 0.75 at baseline. Our results may contribute to the understanding of local physiological reactions to self-myofascial release.

21 CFR 892.1550 - Ultrasonic pulsed doppler imaging system.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... system. (a) Identification. An ultrasonic pulsed doppler imaging system is a device that combines the... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Ultrasonic pulsed doppler imaging system. 892.1550... include signal analysis and display equipment, patient and equipment supports, component parts, and...

Regional rainfall thresholds for landslide occurrence using a centenary database

Science.gov (United States)

Vaz, Teresa; Luís Zêzere, José; Pereira, Susana; Cruz Oliveira, Sérgio; Garcia, Ricardo A. C.; Quaresma, Ivânia

2018-04-01

This work proposes a comprehensive method to assess rainfall thresholds for landslide initiation using a centenary landslide database associated with a single centenary daily rainfall data set. The method is applied to the Lisbon region and includes the rainfall return period analysis that was used to identify the critical rainfall combination (cumulated rainfall duration) related to each landslide event. The spatial representativeness of the reference rain gauge is evaluated and the rainfall thresholds are assessed and calibrated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) metrics. Results show that landslide events located up to 10 km from the rain gauge can be used to calculate the rainfall thresholds in the study area; however, these thresholds may be used with acceptable confidence up to 50 km from the rain gauge. The rainfall thresholds obtained using linear and potential regression perform well in ROC metrics. However, the intermediate thresholds based on the probability of landslide events established in the zone between the lower-limit threshold and the upper-limit threshold are much more informative as they indicate the probability of landslide event occurrence given rainfall exceeding the threshold. This information can be easily included in landslide early warning systems, especially when combined with the probability of rainfall above each threshold.

Extreme Rainfall Mechanisms Exhibited by Typhoon Morakot (2009

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ching-Yuang Huang

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Moderate Typhoon Morakot (2009 became the most catastrophic typhoon in Taiwan on record. The MM5 numerical experiments with and without bogus data assimilation (BDA were used to investigate the extreme rainfall mechanisms in Taiwan associated with the westbound typhoon. The BDA, based on 4DVAR, helps MM5 to maintain a more consolidated typhoon vortex and better predict the observed track after landfall, thus producing realistic extreme rainfall (about 2400 mm at the southern and Central Mountain Range (CMR of Taiwan. Severe rainfall in Taiwan is dominated by the CMR that hence modulates rainfall predictability.

Sensitivity of point scale surface runoff predictions to rainfall resolution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. J. Hearman

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the effects of using non-linear, high resolution rainfall, compared to time averaged rainfall on the triggering of hydrologic thresholds and therefore model predictions of infiltration excess and saturation excess runoff at the point scale. The bounded random cascade model, parameterized to three locations in Western Australia, was used to scale rainfall intensities at various time resolutions ranging from 1.875 min to 2 h. A one dimensional, conceptual rainfall partitioning model was used that instantaneously partitioned water into infiltration excess, infiltration, storage, deep drainage, saturation excess and surface runoff, where the fluxes into and out of the soil store were controlled by thresholds. The results of the numerical modelling were scaled by relating soil infiltration properties to soil draining properties, and in turn, relating these to average storm intensities. For all soil types, we related maximum infiltration capacities to average storm intensities (k* and were able to show where model predictions of infiltration excess were most sensitive to rainfall resolution (ln k*=0.4 and where using time averaged rainfall data can lead to an under prediction of infiltration excess and an over prediction of the amount of water entering the soil (ln k*>2 for all three rainfall locations tested. For soils susceptible to both infiltration excess and saturation excess, total runoff sensitivity was scaled by relating drainage coefficients to average storm intensities (g* and parameter ranges where predicted runoff was dominated by infiltration excess or saturation excess depending on the resolution of rainfall data were determined (ln g*<2. Infiltration excess predicted from high resolution rainfall was short and intense, whereas saturation excess produced from low resolution rainfall was more constant and less intense. This has important implications for the accuracy of current hydrological models that use time

Rainfall and Development of Zika Virus

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2017-11-01

Nov 1, 2017 ... between rainfall and incidence of arbovirus disease such as dengue is well demonstrated (2). For Zika virus an infection, a similar observation can be expected. A recent report from Thailand can also show the expected pattern of the prevalence of Zika virus infection in the areas with high rainfall (3).

Noise Studies of Externally Dispersed Interferometry for Doppler Velocimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erskine, D J; Edelstein, J; Lloyd, J; Muirhead, P

2006-01-01

Externally Dispersed Interferometry (EDI) is the series combination of a fixed-delay field-widened Michelson interferometer with a dispersive spectrograph. This combination boosts the spectrograph performance for both Doppler velocimetry and high resolution spectroscopy. The interferometer creates a periodic comb that multiplies against the input spectrum to create moire fringes, which are recorded in combination with the regular spectrum. Both regular and high-frequency spectral components can be recovered from the data--the moire component carries additional information that increases the signal to noise for velocimetry and spectroscopy. Here we present simulations and theoretical studies of the photon limited Doppler velocity noise in an EDI. We used a model spectrum of a 1600K temperature star. For several rotational blurring velocities 0, 7.5, 15 and 25 km/s we calculated the dimensionless Doppler quality index (Q) versus wavenumber v. This is the normalized RMS of the derivative of the spectrum and is proportional to the photon-limited Doppler signal to noise ratio

A comprehensive continent-wide regionalisation investigation for daily design rainfall

OpenAIRE

F. Johnson; J. Green

2018-01-01

Study region: Australia. Study focus: Design rainfalls, in the form of Intensity Duration Frequency curves, are the standard input for most flood studies. Methods to combine rainfall data across space are required to provide optimal estimates of design rainfalls and constrain their uncertainty. This paper robustly investigates the use of a variety of regionalization methods to provide Australia wide design rainfall estimates using 8619 high quality rainfall stations. The influence of an indiv...

Applications of Doppler in the first trimester

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, K.J.W.; Ramirez, B.; Grannum, P.

1986-01-01

Fifty patients have been studied by duplex Doppler US imaging in the first trimester. In normal gestations, luteal flow, characterized by a low pulsatility index (PI), can be seen in at least one ovary. Failure to detect luteal flow indicates a nonviable pregnancy. Six ectopic pregnancies demonstrated luteal flow and extrauterine heartbeat, detected by Doppler US. High PI values in the uterine artery are seen in the first trimester. Low PI values in the uterine arteries were found in patients with trophoblastic disease

Christian Andreas Doppler--the man and his legacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Coman, I M

2005-01-01

Reminding the life and legacy of the Austrian Scientist who discovered the famous 'Doppler Effect'. C.A. Doppler was born the 29th of November 1803 in Salzburg. After studies in Linz and Vienna, he graduated in mathematics, became assistant at the University and later worked as a professor in Prague. Back to Vienna, he was appointed as professor at the Polytechnic School and --in 1850--as first director of the new Institute of Physics. C.A. Doppler did publish on magnetism, electricity, optics, and astronomy. He remains in the history of science due to the discovery presented (May 25, 1842) at the Royal Bohemian Society of Science entitled "On the colored light of the double stars and certain other stars of the heavens"; the paper described (applied to light) the shift of frequency which bears nowadays his name. The theory was later experimentally proven and--extended for any electromagnetic and acoustic waves--got myriads if applications in astronomy, physics, aviation, meteorology, and health science. Satomura in Japan (1955) published it's first ultrasound vascular application--with successive achievements in the next decades. Doppler ultrasonagraphy became the main noninvasive instrument for functional assesment of heart and vessels.

Fetal Cardiac Doppler Signal Processing Techniques: Challenges and Future Research Directions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeed Abdulrahman Alnuaimi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The fetal Doppler Ultrasound (DUS is commonly used for monitoring fetal heart rate and can also be used for identifying the event timings of fetal cardiac valve motions. In early-stage fetuses, the detected Doppler signal suffers from noise and signal loss due to the fetal movements and changing fetal location during the measurement procedure. The fetal cardiac intervals, which can be estimated by measuring the fetal cardiac event timings, are the most important markers of fetal development and well-being. To advance DUS-based fetal monitoring methods, several powerful and well-advanced signal processing and machine learning methods have recently been developed. This review provides an overview of the existing techniques used in fetal cardiac activity monitoring and a comprehensive survey on fetal cardiac Doppler signal processing frameworks. The review is structured with a focus on their shortcomings and advantages, which helps in understanding fetal Doppler cardiogram signal processing methods and the related Doppler signal analysis procedures by providing valuable clinical information. Finally, a set of recommendations are suggested for future research directions and the use of fetal cardiac Doppler signal analysis, processing, and modeling to address the underlying challenges.

Doppler sonographic evaluation of ophthalmic arterial flow pattern in hypertensive patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryu, Dae Sik; Kim, Young Goo

1994-01-01

To compare the Doppler velocity waveform pattern of ophthalmic artery of hypertensive patients with that of normotensive subjects. Doppler velocity waveform was obtained from ophthalmic artery in 45 hypertensive patients and 60 normotensive subjects. Both hypertensives and normotensive subjects were classified according to age into those younger than and those older than 45 years. Doppler indices(pulsatility index(PI), resistance index(RI), the first systolic peak/the second systolic peak(S1/S2), the first systolic peak/diastolic peak(S1/D)) measured in hypertensive patients were compared with normotensive subjects. Among the various doppler indices, only S1/S2 showed significant difference(P < 0.05) between the hypertensive patients and normotensive subjects younger than 45 years. Doppler velocity waveform of hypertensive patients older than 45 years showed no significant difference from that of normotensive subjects with corresponding age. Doppler velocity waveform of ophthalmic artery in hypertensive patients younger than 45 years shows pattern with S2 higher than that of normotensive subjects. High S2 component(reflective-wave) may represent increased vascular impedance due to vasococonstriction of retinal arterioles in hypertensive patients

Magnetic angioresonance of the carotid artery: correlation with color Doppler ultrasound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cotilla, J.; Miralles, M.; Cairols, M.C.; Dolz, J.L.; Vilanova, J.C.; Capdevila, A.

1998-01-01

To determine the value of magnetic angioresonance (MAR) in grading carotid stenosis, comparing it with color Doppler and intraarterial digital subtraction angiography (IADSA). A comparative study using color Doppler and MAR was carried out in 84 patients with coratid lesions. Fifty-two of the patients underwent angiographic study as well. The comparison of MAR versus arteriography in discriminating stenosis of more than 70%, expressed in terms of sensitivity specificity, overall precision and the kappa concordance index, gave values of 87.2, 90.8, 89.4 and 0.78%, respectively. When MAR was compared with color Doppler, the results were 86.8, 85.9, 86.3 and 0.72%, respectively. The results of the comparison between color Doppler and arteriography were 82.2, 86.2, 84.6 and 0.68%, respectively. The better correlation of MAR, as compares with angiography and color Doppler, with the grade of carotid stenosis indicates the high degree of reliability. The better correlation of MAR, as compares with angiography and color Doppler, with the grade of carotid stenosis indicates the high degree of reliability of this imaging technique. (Author) 29 refs

Use of TRIGA-pulsed irradiations for high-temperature Doppler measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Foell, W K; Cashwell, R J; Bhattacharyya, S K [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL (United States); Russell, G J [Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, University of California, Los Alamos, NM (United States)

1974-07-01

Conventional activation and reactivity measurements of the nuclear Doppler Effect have been limited to temperatures of about 2000{sup o}K because of problems with furnace equipment. There is a need for Doppler data at higher temperatures for design of reactors and analysis of reactor accidents. To fill this need, a novel technique using pulsed-mode operation of a TRIGA reactor has been developed at the University of Wisconsin. This new method, the Pulsed Activation Doppler (PAD) technique, has been used successfully for high temperature Doppler measurements of UO{sub 2} fuel pellets. In the PAD technique, UO{sub 2} test pellets were doped with varying amounts of U-235, with fissile enrichments varying from 0.22% to 12% by weight. The pellets were encapsulated in individual irradiation cells and electrically preheated to predetermined temperatures. Pyrofoam-graphite heaters were used to give preheat temperatures of up to 1720 deg. K. The cells were then positioned in the University of Wisconsin TRIGA reactor core and pulse-irradiated. During the rapid irradiation, adiabatic fission energy deposition occurred in the pellets and very high temperatures (over 3115 deg, K) were attained. Corresponding resonance neutron captures occurred at the elevated temperatures. The Doppler Ratio was deduced from the gamma activities of the Np-239 in the heated and unheated reference pellets. UO{sub 2} pellets of two nominal diameters, 210 mils (a surface-to-mass ratio, s/m = 1.1 cm{sup 2} /gm) and 360 mils (s/m = 0.63 cm{sup 2}/gm), were used for the experiments. For the 210 mil diameter pellets there was very good agreement between experimental results and Doppler ratios predicted both from extrapolations of the Hellstrand low-temperature resonance integral correlations and from GAROL calculations. Significantly, the agreement was good even for those pellets which experienced extensive melting. For the 360 mil diameter pellets the theoretical predictions were 10-15% lower than

Interannual rainfall variability over the Cape south coast of South Africa linked to cut-off low associated rainfall

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Engelbrecht, CJ

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The influence of cut-off low (COL) associated rainfall on interannual rainfall variability over the Cape south coast region of South Africa for the period 1979-2011 is investigated. COLs are objectively identified and tracked on daily average 500 h...

prediction of rainfall in the southern highlands of tanzania

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

distribution at different places in the world. A study to ... climate indices influence rainfall. It has been observed .... Table 4: Summary of Predictors entered MLR and PCR models for MAM and OND rainfalls. .... from the cumulus clouds; rainfall is.

Spatial Interpolation of Historical Seasonal Rainfall Indices over Peninsular Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Hassan, Zulkarnain; Haidir, Ahmad; Saad, Farah Naemah Mohd; Ayob, Afizah; Rahim, Mustaqqim Abdul; Ghazaly, Zuhayr Md.

2018-03-01

The inconsistency in inter-seasonal rainfall due to climate change will cause a different pattern in the rainfall characteristics and distribution. Peninsular Malaysia is not an exception for this inconsistency, in which it is resulting extreme events such as flood and water scarcity. This study evaluates the seasonal patterns in rainfall indices such as total amount of rainfall, the frequency of wet days, rainfall intensity, extreme frequency, and extreme intensity in Peninsular Malaysia. 40 years (1975-2015) data records have been interpolated using Inverse Distance Weighted method. The results show that the formation of rainfall characteristics are significance during the Northeast monsoon (NEM), as compared to Southwest monsoon (SWM). Also, there is a high rainfall intensity and frequency related to extreme over eastern coasts of Peninsula during the NEM season.

Spatial Interpolation of Historical Seasonal Rainfall Indices over Peninsular Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hassan Zulkarnain

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The inconsistency in inter-seasonal rainfall due to climate change will cause a different pattern in the rainfall characteristics and distribution. Peninsular Malaysia is not an exception for this inconsistency, in which it is resulting extreme events such as flood and water scarcity. This study evaluates the seasonal patterns in rainfall indices such as total amount of rainfall, the frequency of wet days, rainfall intensity, extreme frequency, and extreme intensity in Peninsular Malaysia. 40 years (1975-2015 data records have been interpolated using Inverse Distance Weighted method. The results show that the formation of rainfall characteristics are significance during the Northeast monsoon (NEM, as compared to Southwest monsoon (SWM. Also, there is a high rainfall intensity and frequency related to extreme over eastern coasts of Peninsula during the NEM season.

Doppler ultrasound scan during normal gestation: umbilical circulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruiz, T.; Sabate, J.; Martinez-Benavides, M. M.; Sanchez-Ramos, J.

2002-01-01

To determine normal umbilical circulation patterns by means of Doppler ultrasound scan in a healthy gestating population without risk factors and with normal perinatal results, and to evaluate any occurring modifications relative to gestational age by obtaining records kept during pregnancy. One hundred and sixteen pregnant women carrying a single fetus have been studied. These women had no risk factors, with both clinical and analytical controls, as well as ultrasound scans, all being normal. There were performed a total of 193 Doppler ultrasound scans between weeks 15 and 41 of gestation, with blood-flow analysis in the arteries and vein of the umbilical cord. The obtained information was correlated with parameters that evaluate fetal well-being (fetal monitoring and/or oxytocin test) and perinatal result (delivery type, birth weight, Apgar score). Statistical analysis was performed with the programs SPSS 6.0.1 for Windows and EPIINFO 6.0.4. With pulsed Doppler, the umbilical artery in all cases demonstrated a biphasic morphology with systolic and diastolic components and without retrograde blood flow. As the gestation period increased, there was observed a progressive decrease in resistance along with an increase in blood-flow velocity during the diastolic phase. The Doppler ultrasound scan is a non-invasive method that permits the hemodynamic study of umbilical blood circulation. A knowledge of normal blood-flow signal morphology, as well as of the normal values for Doppler indices in relation to gestational age would permit us to utilize this method in high-risk pregnancies. (Author) 30 refs

Dispersed single-phase-step Michelson interferometer for Doppler imaging using sunlight.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Xiaoke; Ge, Jian

2012-09-15

A Michelson interferometer is dispersed with a fiber array-fed spectrograph, providing 59 Doppler sensing channels using sunlight in the 510-570 nm wavelength region. The interferometer operates at a single-phase-step mode, which is particularly advantageous in multiplexing and data processing compared to the phase-stepping mode of other interferometer spectrometer instruments. Spectral templates are prepared using a standard solar spectrum and simulated interferometer modulations, such that the correlation function with a measured 1D spectrum determines the Doppler shift. Doppler imaging of a rotating cylinder is demonstrated. The average Doppler sensitivity is ~12 m/s, with some channels reaching ~5 m/s.

Comparison of Adaline and Multiple Linear Regression Methods for Rainfall Forecasting

Science.gov (United States)

Sutawinaya, IP; Astawa, INGA; Hariyanti, NKD

2018-01-01

Heavy rainfall can cause disaster, therefore need a forecast to predict rainfall intensity. Main factor that cause flooding is there is a high rainfall intensity and it makes the river become overcapacity. This will cause flooding around the area. Rainfall factor is a dynamic factor, so rainfall is very interesting to be studied. In order to support the rainfall forecasting, there are methods that can be used from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to statistic. In this research, we used Adaline for AI method and Regression for statistic method. The more accurate forecast result shows the method that used is good for forecasting the rainfall. Through those methods, we expected which is the best method for rainfall forecasting here.

An elementary approach to the gravitational Doppler shift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wörner, C H; Rojas, Roberto

2017-01-01

In college physics courses, treatment of the Doppler effect is usually done far from the first introduction to kinematics. This paper aims to apply a graphical treatment to describe the gravitational redshift, by considering the Doppler effect in two accelerated reference frames and exercising the equivalence principle. This approach seems appropriate to discuss with beginner students and could serve to enrich the didactic processes. (paper)

Duration-frequency relationships of heavy rainfall in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Álvaro José Back

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to adjust equations that establish relationships between rainfall events with different duration and data from weather stations in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. In this study, the relationships between different duration heavy rainfalls from 13 weather stations of Santa Catarina were analyzed. From series of maximum annual rainfalls, and using the Gumbel-Chow distribution, the maximum rainfall for durations between 5 min and 24 h were estimated considering return periods from 2 to 100 years. The data fit to the Gumbel-Chow model was verified by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test at 5 % significance. The coefficients of Bell's equation were adjusted to estimate the relationship between rainfall duration t (min and the return period T (y in relation to the maximum rainfall with a duration of 1 hour and a 10 year return period. Likewise, the coefficients of Bell's equation were adjusted based on the maximum rainfall with a duration of 1 day and a 10 year return period. The results showed that these relationships are viable to estimate short-duration rainfall events at locations where there are no rainfall records.

Rainfall-threshold conditions for landslides in a humid-tropical system

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Matthew C.; Simon, Andrew

1993-01-01

Landslides are triggered by factors such as heavy rainfall, seismic activity, and construction on hillslopes. The leading cause of landslides in Puerto Rico is intense and/or prolonged rainfall. A rainfall threshold for rainfall-triggered landsliding is delimited by 256 storms that occurred between 1959 and 1991 in the central mountains of Puerto Rico, where mean annual rainfall is close to or in excess of 2,000 mm. Forty one of the 256 storms produced intense and/or prolonged rainfall that resulted in tens to hundreds of landslides. A threshold fitted to the lower boundary of the field defined by landslide-triggering storms is expressed as

The rainfall plot: its motivation, characteristics and pitfalls.

Science.gov (United States)

Domanska, Diana; Vodák, Daniel; Lund-Andersen, Christin; Salvatore, Stefania; Hovig, Eivind; Sandve, Geir Kjetil

2017-05-18

A visualization referred to as rainfall plot has recently gained popularity in genome data analysis. The plot is mostly used for illustrating the distribution of somatic cancer mutations along a reference genome, typically aiming to identify mutation hotspots. In general terms, the rainfall plot can be seen as a scatter plot showing the location of events on the x-axis versus the distance between consecutive events on the y-axis. Despite its frequent use, the motivation for applying this particular visualization and the appropriateness of its usage have never been critically addressed in detail. We show that the rainfall plot allows visual detection even for events occurring at high frequency over very short distances. In addition, event clustering at multiple scales may be detected as distinct horizontal bands in rainfall plots. At the same time, due to the limited size of standard figures, rainfall plots might suffer from inability to distinguish overlapping events, especially when multiple datasets are plotted in the same figure. We demonstrate the consequences of plot congestion, which results in obscured visual data interpretations. This work provides the first comprehensive survey of the characteristics and proper usage of rainfall plots. We find that the rainfall plot is able to convey a large amount of information without any need for parameterization or tuning. However, we also demonstrate how plot congestion and the use of a logarithmic y-axis may result in obscured visual data interpretations. To aid the productive utilization of rainfall plots, we demonstrate their characteristics and potential pitfalls using both simulated and real data, and provide a set of practical guidelines for their proper interpretation and usage.

Statistical Analysis of 30 Years Rainfall Data: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Arvind, G.; Ashok Kumar, P.; Girish Karthi, S.; Suribabu, C. R.

2017-07-01

Rainfall is a prime input for various engineering design such as hydraulic structures, bridges and culverts, canals, storm water sewer and road drainage system. The detailed statistical analysis of each region is essential to estimate the relevant input value for design and analysis of engineering structures and also for crop planning. A rain gauge station located closely in Trichy district is selected for statistical analysis where agriculture is the prime occupation. The daily rainfall data for a period of 30 years is used to understand normal rainfall, deficit rainfall, Excess rainfall and Seasonal rainfall of the selected circle headquarters. Further various plotting position formulae available is used to evaluate return period of monthly, seasonally and annual rainfall. This analysis will provide useful information for water resources planner, farmers and urban engineers to assess the availability of water and create the storage accordingly. The mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation of monthly and annual rainfall was calculated to check the rainfall variability. From the calculated results, the rainfall pattern is found to be erratic. The best fit probability distribution was identified based on the minimum deviation between actual and estimated values. The scientific results and the analysis paved the way to determine the proper onset and withdrawal of monsoon results which were used for land preparation and sowing.

Non-parametric characterization of long-term rainfall time series

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Harinarayan; Pandey, Brij Kishor

2018-03-01

The statistical study of rainfall time series is one of the approaches for efficient hydrological system design. Identifying, and characterizing long-term rainfall time series could aid in improving hydrological systems forecasting. In the present study, eventual statistics was applied for the long-term (1851-2006) rainfall time series under seven meteorological regions of India. Linear trend analysis was carried out using Mann-Kendall test for the observed rainfall series. The observed trend using the above-mentioned approach has been ascertained using the innovative trend analysis method. Innovative trend analysis has been found to be a strong tool to detect the general trend of rainfall time series. Sequential Mann-Kendall test has also been carried out to examine nonlinear trends of the series. The partial sum of cumulative deviation test is also found to be suitable to detect the nonlinear trend. Innovative trend analysis, sequential Mann-Kendall test and partial cumulative deviation test have potential to detect the general as well as nonlinear trend for the rainfall time series. Annual rainfall analysis suggests that the maximum changes in mean rainfall is 11.53% for West Peninsular India, whereas the maximum fall in mean rainfall is 7.8% for the North Mountainous Indian region. The innovative trend analysis method is also capable of finding the number of change point available in the time series. Additionally, we have performed von Neumann ratio test and cumulative deviation test to estimate the departure from homogeneity. Singular spectrum analysis has been applied in this study to evaluate the order of departure from homogeneity in the rainfall time series. Monsoon season (JS) of North Mountainous India and West Peninsular India zones has higher departure from homogeneity and singular spectrum analysis shows the results to be in coherence with the same.

Integrated Active Fire Retrievals and Biomass Burning Emissions Using Complementary Near-Coincident Ground, Airborne and Spaceborne Sensor Data

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Wilfrid; Ellicott, Evan; Ichoku, Charles; Ellison, Luke; Dickinson, Matthew B.; Ottmar, Roger D.; Clements, Craig; Hall, Dianne; Ambrosia, Vincent; Kremens, Robert

2013-01-01

Ground, airborne and spaceborne data were collected for a 450 ha prescribed fire implemented on 18 October 2011 at the Henry W. Coe State Park in California. The integration of various data elements allowed near coincident active fire retrievals to be estimated. The Autonomous Modular Sensor-Wildfire (AMS) airborne multispectral imaging system was used as a bridge between ground and spaceborne data sets providing high quality reference information to support satellite fire retrieval error analyses and fire emissions estimates. We found excellent agreement between peak fire radiant heat flux data (less than 1% error) derived from near-coincident ground radiometers and AMS. Both MODIS and GOES imager active fire products were negatively influenced by the presence of thick smoke, which was misclassified as cloud by their algorithms, leading to the omission of fire pixels beneath the smoke, and resulting in the underestimation of their retrieved fire radiative power (FRP) values for the burn plot, compared to the reference airborne data. Agreement between airborne and spaceborne FRP data improved significantly after correction for omission errors and atmospheric attenuation, resulting in as low as 5 difference between AquaMODIS and AMS. Use of in situ fuel and fire energy estimates in combination with a collection of AMS, MODIS, and GOES FRP retrievals provided a fuel consumption factor of 0.261 kg per MJ, total energy release of 14.5 x 10(exp 6) MJ, and total fuel consumption of 3.8 x 10(exp 6) kg. Fire emissions were calculated using two separate techniques, resulting in as low as 15 difference for various species

Ultrasound and Doppler examination capabilities in adult portal hypertension type definition

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N. V. Tumanskaya

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Early portal hypertension type diagnostics is an ultimate factor concerning kind and tactics of treatment. Aim. To objectify ultrasound examination capabilities, portal hemodynamics were studied in 97 patients using impulse and color doppler. Methods and results. It was ascertained that impulse and color doppler examination allows to visualize portal vein and its branches’ structural abnormalities, define subhepatic and intrahepatic types of portal hypertension, find thrombosis and characterize its stages. In cirrhosis patients with portal hypertension, homogenous doppler signal was received from the portal vessels lumen, while signs of intraluminar pathology were seen in the case of thrombosis of portal vein. Conclusion. This means that ultrasound examination of portal vein and its branches with impulse and color doppler is informative, non invasive method, which helps to define stages of portal hypertension. Doppler ultrasonography doesn’t have negative effect of ionizing radiation and can be used for the repeated research in the dynamics of disease.

Superimposed noninterfering probes to extend the capabilities of phase Doppler anemometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Onofri, Fabrice; Lenoble, Anne; Radev, Stefan

2002-06-20

We propose using multiple superimposed noninterfering probes (SNIPs) of the same wavelength but different beam angles to extend the capabilities of phase Doppler anemometry. When a particle is moving in a SNIP the Doppler signals that are produced exhibit multiple Doppler frequencies and phase shifts. The resolution of the measurements of particle size (i.e., by fringe spacing and Doppler frequency) increases with beam angle. Then, with the solution proposed, even with only two detectors several measurements of size can be obtained for the same particle with increasing resolution if we consider higher frequencies in the signal. Several optical solutions to produce SNIPs as well as a signal-processing algorithm to treat the multiple-frequency Doppler signals are proposed. Experimental validations of the sizing of spherical and cylindrical particles demonstrate the applicability of this technique for particle measurement. We believe that this new technique can be of great interest when high resolution of size, velocity, and even refractive index is required.

Regional rainfall thresholds for landslide occurrence using a centenary database

Science.gov (United States)

Vaz, Teresa; Luís Zêzere, José; Pereira, Susana; Cruz Oliveira, Sérgio; Quaresma, Ivânia

2017-04-01

Rainfall is one of the most important triggering factors for landslides occurrence worldwide. The relation between rainfall and landslide occurrence is complex and some approaches have been focus on the rainfall thresholds identification, i.e., rainfall critical values that when exceeded can initiate landslide activity. In line with these approaches, this work proposes and validates rainfall thresholds for the Lisbon region (Portugal), using a centenary landslide database associated with a centenary daily rainfall database. The main objectives of the work are the following: i) to compute antecedent rainfall thresholds using linear and potential regression; ii) to define lower limit and upper limit rainfall thresholds; iii) to estimate the probability of critical rainfall conditions associated with landslide events; and iv) to assess the thresholds performance using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) metrics. In this study we consider the DISASTER database, which lists landslides that caused fatalities, injuries, missing people, evacuated and homeless people occurred in Portugal from 1865 to 2010. The DISASTER database was carried out exploring several Portuguese daily and weekly newspapers. Using the same newspaper sources, the DISASTER database was recently updated to include also the landslides that did not caused any human damage, which were also considered for this study. The daily rainfall data were collected at the Lisboa-Geofísico meteorological station. This station was selected considering the quality and completeness of the rainfall data, with records that started in 1864. The methodology adopted included the computation, for each landslide event, of the cumulative antecedent rainfall for different durations (1 to 90 consecutive days). In a second step, for each combination of rainfall quantity-duration, the return period was estimated using the Gumbel probability distribution. The pair (quantity-duration) with the highest return period was

A Metastatistical Approach to Satellite Estimates of Extreme Rainfall Events

Science.gov (United States)

Zorzetto, E.; Marani, M.

2017-12-01

The estimation of the average recurrence interval of intense rainfall events is a central issue for both hydrologic modeling and engineering design. These estimates require the inference of the properties of the right tail of the statistical distribution of precipitation, a task often performed using the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution, estimated either from a samples of annual maxima (AM) or with a peaks over threshold (POT) approach. However, these approaches require long and homogeneous rainfall records, which often are not available, especially in the case of remote-sensed rainfall datasets. We use here, and tailor it to remotely-sensed rainfall estimates, an alternative approach, based on the metastatistical extreme value distribution (MEVD), which produces estimates of rainfall extreme values based on the probability distribution function (pdf) of all measured `ordinary' rainfall event. This methodology also accounts for the interannual variations observed in the pdf of daily rainfall by integrating over the sample space of its random parameters. We illustrate the application of this framework to the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis rainfall dataset, where MEVD optimally exploits the relatively short datasets of satellite-sensed rainfall, while taking full advantage of its high spatial resolution and quasi-global coverage. Accuracy of TRMM precipitation estimates and scale issues are here investigated for a case study located in the Little Washita watershed, Oklahoma, using a dense network of rain gauges for independent ground validation. The methodology contributes to our understanding of the risk of extreme rainfall events, as it allows i) an optimal use of the TRMM datasets in estimating the tail of the probability distribution of daily rainfall, and ii) a global mapping of daily rainfall extremes and distributional tail properties, bridging the existing gaps in rain gauges networks.

Determination of Areas Susceptible to Landsliding Using Spatial Patterns of Rainfall from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Data, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Renato Fontes Guimarães

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Spatial patterns of shallow landslide initiation reflect both spatial patterns of heavy rainfall and areas susceptible to mass movements. We determine the areas most susceptible to shallow landslide occurrence through the calculation of critical soil cohesion and spatial patterns of rainfall derived from TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission data for Paraty County, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our methodology involved: (a creating the digital elevation model (DEM and deriving attributes such as slope and contributing area; (b incorporating spatial patterns of rainfall derived from TRMM into the shallow slope stability model SHALSTAB; and (c quantitative assessment of the correspondence of mapped landslide scars to areas predicted to be most prone to shallow landsliding. We found that around 70% of the landslide scars occurred in less than 10% of the study area identified as potentially unstable. The greatest concentration of landslides occurred in areas where the root strength of vegetation is an important contribution to slope stability in regions of orographically-enhanced rainfall on the coastal topographic flank. This approach helps quantify landslide hazards in areas with similar geomorphological characteristics, but different spatial patterns of rainfall.

A space-time rainfall generator for highly convective Mediterranean rainstorms

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S. Salsón

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Distributed hydrological models require fine resolution rainfall inputs, enhancing the practical interest of space-time rainfall models, capable of generating through numerical simulation realistic space-time rainfall intensity fields. Among different mathematical approaches, those based on point processes and built upon a convenient analytical description of the raincell as the fundamental unit, have shown to be particularly suitable and well adapted when extreme rainfall events of convective nature are considered. Starting from previous formulations, some analytical refinements have been considered, allowing practical generation of space-time rainfall intensity fields for that type of rainstorm events. Special attention is placed on the analytical description of the spatial and temporal evolution of the rainfall intensities produced by the raincells. After deriving the necessary analytical results, the seven parameters of the model have been estimated by the method of moments, for each of the 30 selected rainfall events in the Jucar River Basin (ValenciaSpain – period 1991 to 2000, using 5-min aggregated rainfall data series from an automatic raingauge network.

Correlation between Spectral Index and Doppler Factor for a ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. Relativistic beaming effect is important for blazars. In a very recent work, γ-ray Doppler factors were calculated for a sample of Fermi blazars (Fan et al. 2013). In this work, we investigated the correlation between the Doppler factor and the effective spectral index, αOX, and found an anticorrelation between them.

Technical Note: A new phantom design for routine testing of Doppler ultrasound.

Science.gov (United States)

Grice, J V; Pickens, D R; Price, R R

2016-07-01

The objective of this project is to demonstrate the principle and operation for a simple, inexpensive, and highly portable Doppler ultrasound quality assurance (QA) phantom intended for routine QA testing. A prototype phantom has been designed, fabricated, and evaluated. The phantom described here is powered by gravity alone, requires no external equipment for operation, and produces a stable fluid velocity useful for quality assurance. Many commercially available Doppler ultrasound testing systems can suffer from issues such as a lengthy setup, prohibitive cost, nonportable size, or difficulty in use. This new phantom design aims to address some of these problems and create a phantom appropriate for assessing Doppler ultrasound stability. The phantom was fabricated using a 3D printer. The basic design of the phantom is to provide gravity-powered flow of a Doppler fluid between two reservoirs. The printed components were connected with latex tubing and then seated in a tissue mimicking gel. Spectral Doppler waveforms were sampled to evaluate variations in the data, and the phantom was evaluated using high frame rate video to find an alternate measure of mean fluid velocity flowing in the phantom. The current system design maintains stable flow from one reservoir to the other for approximately 7 s. Color Doppler imaging of the phantom was found to be qualitatively consistent with laminar flow. Using pulsed spectral Doppler, the average fluid velocity from a sample volume approximately centered in the synthetic vessel was measured to be 56 cm/s with a standard deviation of 3.2 cm/s across 118 measurements. An independent measure of the average fluid velocity was measured to be 51.9 cm/s with a standard deviation of 0.7 cm/s over 4 measurements. The developed phantom provides stable fluid flow useful for frequent clinical Doppler ultrasound testing and attempts to address several obstacles facing Doppler phantom testing. Such an ultrasound phantom can make routine

Development of transition edge superconducting bolometers for the SAFARI Far-Infrared spectrometer on the SPICA space-borne telescope

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mauskopf, P.; Morozov, D.; Glowacka, D.; Goldie, D.; Withington, S.; Bruijn, M.; De Korte, P.; Hoevers, H.; Ridder, M.; Van der Kuur, J.; Gao, J.R.

2008-01-01

We describe the optimization of transition edge superconducting (TES) detectors for use in a far-infrared (FIR) Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) mounted on a cryogenically cooled space-borne telescope (e.g. SPICA). The required noise equivalent power (NEP) of the detectors is approximately 10?19

Apply data mining to analyze the rainfall of landslide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Chou-Yuan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Taiwan is listed as extremely dangerous country which suffers from many disasters. The disasters from the landslide result in the loss of agricultural productions, life and property and so on. Many researchers concern about the disasters of landslide, but there are few discussions for the threshold of rainfall for landslide. In this paper, data mining is applied to establish rules and the threshold of rainfall for landslide in Huafan University, Taiwan. These used variables include rainfall, insolation, insolation rate, averaged humidity, averaged temperature, wind speed, and the tilt of inclinometer. The inclinometer is an important instrument for measuring tilt, elevation or depression of an object with respect to gravity. There are 26 inclinometers in Talun mountain area of Huafan University. In this research, the used data were collected from January 2008 to July 2014. In the proposed approach, the regression analysis is used to predict rainfall first. Then, decision tree is used to obtain decision rules and set the threshold of rainfall for landslide. The output of this approach can provide more information for understanding the change of rainfall. The threshold of rainfall could also provide useful information to maintain the security for Huafan University.

Predicting rainfall erosivity by momentum and kinetic energy in Mediterranean environment

Science.gov (United States)

Carollo, Francesco G.; Ferro, Vito; Serio, Maria A.

2018-05-01

Rainfall erosivity is an index that describes the power of rainfall to cause soil erosion and it is used around the world for assessing and predicting soil loss on agricultural lands. Erosivity can be represented in terms of both rainfall momentum and kinetic energy, both calculated per unit time and area. Contrasting results on the representativeness of these two variables are available: some authors stated that momentum and kinetic energy are practically interchangeable in soil loss estimation while other found that kinetic energy is the most suitable expression of rainfall erosivity. The direct and continuous measurements of momentum and kinetic energy by a disdrometer allow also to establish a relationship with rainfall intensity at the study site. At first in this paper a comparison between the momentum-rainfall intensity relationships measured at Palermo and El Teularet by an optical disdrometer is presented. For a fixed rainfall intensity the measurements showed that the rainfall momentum values measured at the two experimental sites are not coincident. However both datasets presented a threshold value of rainfall intensity over which the rainfall momentum assumes a quasi-constant value. Then the reliability of a theoretically deduced relationship, linking momentum, rainfall intensity and median volume diameter, is positively verified using measured raindrop size distributions. An analysis to assess which variable, momentum or kinetic energy per unit area and time, is the best predictor of erosivity in Italy and Spain was also carried out. This investigation highlighted that the rainfall kinetic energy per unit area and time can be substituted by rainfall momentum as index for estimating the rainfall erosivity, and this result does not depend on the site where precipitation occurs. Finally, rainfall intensity measurements and soil loss data collected from the bare plots equipped at Sparacia experimental area were used to verify the reliability of some

Application of coincidence Doppler-broadening spectroscopy to different carbon phases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Y.; Djourelov, N.; Suzuki, T.; Kondo, K.; Ito, Y.; Shantarovich, V.; Onoe, J.

2004-01-01

Coincidence Doppler-broadening spectroscopy was applied to C60 and C70 fullerenes and other carbon phases, such as nanotubes and graphites. Remarkable differences were observed in the Doppler-broadening of the positron annihilation γ-rays in these materials, which reflect the different densities distribution of the momentum for electrons annihilated with positrons. This would be caused by the different composition of the π and σ electrons in annihilation with positrons. This result shows the sensitivity of the coincidence Doppler-broadening method to determine the density distribution of electrons sampled by positrons. (orig.)

Distributional changes in rainfall and river flow in Sarawak, Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Sa'adi, Zulfaqar; Shahid, Shamsuddin; Ismail, Tarmizi; Chung, Eun-Sung; Wang, Xiao-Jun

2017-11-01

Climate change may not change the rainfall mean, but the variability and extremes. Therefore, it is required to explore the possible distributional changes of rainfall characteristics over time. The objective of present study is to assess the distributional changes in annual and northeast monsoon rainfall (November-January) and river flow in Sarawak where small changes in rainfall or river flow variability/distribution may have severe implications on ecology and agriculture. A quantile regression-based approach was used to assess the changes of scale and location of empirical probability density function over the period 1980-2014 at 31 observational stations. The results indicate that diverse variation patterns exist at all stations for annual rainfall but mainly increasing quantile trend at the lowers, and higher quantiles for the month of January and December. The significant increase in annual rainfall is found mostly in the north and central-coastal region and monsoon month rainfalls in the interior and north of Sarawak. Trends in river flow data show that changes in rainfall distribution have affected higher quantiles of river flow in monsoon months at some of the basins and therefore more flooding. The study reveals that quantile trend can provide more information of rainfall change which may be useful for climate change mitigation and adaptation planning.

Assessment of ureterovesical jet dynamics in obstructed ureter by urinary stone with color Doppler and duplex Doppler examinations.

Science.gov (United States)

Jandaghi, Ali Babaei; Falahatkar, Siavash; Alizadeh, Ahmad; Kanafi, Alireza Rajabzadeh; Pourghorban, Ramin; Shekarchi, Babak; Zirak, Amin Keshavarz; Esmaeili, Samaneh

2013-04-01

This study was designed to evaluate ureterovesical jet dynamics in obstructed ureter and to compare it with those of contralateral unobstructed side. Forty-six patients with diagnosis of ureteral stone, based on imaging findings in computed tomography were enrolled in this study. The gray-scale ultrasound exam from both kidneys and urinary bladder was performed. Then, ureterovesical jet characteristics including ureteral jet frequency, duration and peak velocity were assessed by color Doppler and duplex Doppler studies in both obstructed and unobstructed ureters by a radiologist, 15-30 min after oral hydration with 750-1,000 mL of water. When compared with contralateral normal side, the ureterovesical jet in obstructed ureter showed less frequency (0.59 vs. 3.04 jets/min; P < 0.05), shorter duration (1.24 vs. 5.26 s; P < 0.05) and lower peak velocity (5.41 vs. 32.09 cm/s; P < 0.05). The cut-off points of 1.5 jets/min, 2.5 s and 19.5 cm/s for difference of ureteral jet frequency, duration and peak velocity between obstructed and contralateral normal ureters yielded sensitivities of 97.8, 95.6 and 100 % and specificities of 87, 87.9 and 97.8 %, respectively for diagnosis of ureteral obstruction. Given the safety of Doppler study and significant differences in flow dynamics of obstructed versus unobstructed ureters, our findings demonstrated the utility of Doppler ultrasound examination as a useful adjunct to gray-scale ultrasound by improving the accuracy of ultrasound exam in diagnosis of ureteral obstruction.

Rainfall simulation experiments in the southwestern USA using the Walnut Gulch Rainfall Simulator

Science.gov (United States)

Polyakov, Viktor; Stone, Jeffry; Holifield Collins, Chandra; Nearing, Mark A.; Paige, Ginger; Buono, Jared; Gomez-Pond, Rae-Landa

2018-01-01

This dataset contains hydrological, erosion, vegetation, ground cover, and other supplementary information from 272 rainfall simulation experiments conducted on 23 semiarid rangeland locations in Arizona and Nevada between 2002 and 2013. On 30 % of the plots, simulations were conducted up to five times during the decade of study. The rainfall was generated using the Walnut Gulch Rainfall Simulator on 2 m by 6 m plots. Simulation sites included brush and grassland areas with various degrees of disturbance by grazing, wildfire, or brush removal. This dataset advances our understanding of basic hydrological and biological processes that drive soil erosion on arid rangelands. It can be used to estimate runoff, infiltration, and erosion rates at a variety of ecological sites in the Southwestern USA. The inclusion of wildfire and brush treatment locations combined with long-term observations makes it important for studying vegetation recovery, ecological transitions, and the effect of management. It is also a valuable resource for erosion model parameterization and validation. The dataset is available from the National Agricultural Library at https://data.nal.usda.gov/search/type/dataset (DOI: https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1358583).

Sensitivity of Rainfall Extremes Under Warming Climate in Urban India

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, H.; Mishra, V.

2017-12-01

Extreme rainfall events in urban India halted transportation, damaged infrastructure, and affected human lives. Rainfall extremes are projected to increase under the future climate. We evaluated the relationship (scaling) between rainfall extremes at different temporal resolutions (daily, 3-hourly, and 30 minutes), daily dewpoint temperature (DPT) and daily air temperature at 850 hPa (T850) for 23 urban areas in India. Daily rainfall extremes obtained from Global Surface Summary of Day Data (GSOD) showed positive regression slopes for most of the cities with median of 14%/K for the period of 1979-2013 for DPT and T850, which is higher than Clausius-Clapeyron (C-C) rate ( 7%). Moreover, sub-daily rainfall extremes are more sensitive to both DPT and T850. For instance, 3-hourly rainfall extremes obtained from Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM 3B42 V7) showed regression slopes more than 16%/K aginst DPT and T850 for the period of 1998-2015. Half-hourly rainfall extremes from the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (IMERGE) of Global precipitation mission (GPM) also showed higher sensitivity against changes in DPT and T850. The super scaling of rainfall extremes against changes in DPT and T850 can be attributed to convective nature of precipitation in India. Our results show that urban India may witness non-stationary rainfall extremes, which, in turn will affect stromwater designs and frequency and magniture of urban flooding.

Coincident Observation of Lightning using Spaceborne Spectrophotometer and Ground-Level Electromagnetic Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Adachi, Toru; Cohen, Morris; Li, Jingbo; Cummer, Steve; Blakeslee, Richard; Marshall, THomas; Stolzenberg, Maribeth; Karunarathne, Sumedhe; Hsu, Rue-Ron; Su, Han-Tzong;

Mathematical and physical modeling of rainfall in centrifuge

OpenAIRE

CAICEDO, Bernardo; THOREL, Luc; TRISTANCHO, Julian

2015-01-01

Rainfall simulation in centrifuge models is important for modelling soil-atmosphere interactions. However, the presence of Coriolis force, drag forces, evaporation and wind within the centrifuge may affect the distribution of rainfall over the model. As a result, development of appropriate centrifuge rain simulators requires a demanding process of experimental trial and error. This paper highlights the key factors involved in controlling rainfall in centrifuge simulations, develops a mathemat...

Impact of Rainfall on Multilane Roundabout Flowrate Contraction

Science.gov (United States)

PARKSHIR, Amir; BEN-EDIGBE, Johnnie

2017-08-01

In this study, roundabouts at two sites in the Malaysia were investigated under rainy and dry weather conditions. Two automatic traffic counters per roundabout arm as well as two rain gauge stations were used to collect data at each surveyed site. Nearly one million vehicles were investigated at four sites. Vehicle volume, speeds and headways for entry and circulating flows were collected continuously at each roundabout about arm for six weeks between November 2013 and January 2014. Empirical regression technique and gap-acceptance models were modified and used to analyze roundabout capacity. Good fits to the data were obtained; the results also fit models developed in other countries. It was assumed that entry capacity depends on the geometric characteristics of the roundabout, particularly the diameter of the outside circle of the intersection. It was also postulated that geometric characteristics determine the speed of vehicles around the central island and, therefore, have an impact on the gap-acceptance process and consequently the capacity. Only off-peak traffic data per light, moderate or heavy rainfall were analysed. Peak traffic data were not used because of the presence of peak traffic flow. Passenger car equivalent values being an instrument of conversion from traffic volume to flow were modified. Results show that, average entry capacity loss is about 22.6% under light rainfall, about 18.1% under moderate rainfall and about 5.6% under heavy rainfall. Significant entry capacity loss would result from rainfall irrespective of their intensity. It can be postulated that entry capacity loss under heavy rainfall is lowest because the advantage enjoyed by circulating flow would be greatly reduced with increased rainfall intensity. The paper concluded that rainfall has significant impact of flowrate contraction at roundabouts.

Comparative analysis of pulsed doppler ultrasonography of portal vein vs indirect photography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Jae Chun; Kwon, Huck Po; Hwang, Mi Soo; Kim, Sun Youn; Park, Bok Hwan; Lee, Hyun Ju; Kim, Hong Jin

1990-01-01

There are some limitation of interpretation in indirect photography via superior mesenteric artery. In order to supplement and predict indirect photography, we compared indirect photographic findings with pulsed doppler flowmetry in 38 hepatobiliary patients, and the results were as follow: 1. In case of normal main portal vein(MPV) filling, Pulsed Doppler always showed antegrade, continuous parabolic wave form and cases of abnormal MPV filling, showed unusual wave form and flow direction. 2. In normal filling case of proximal right portal vein, Pulsed Doppler almost showed normal continuous parabolic wave form but in normal filling cases of proximal left portal vein, occasionally showed undulating wave form. 3. In each side proximal portal vein abnormal filling case, we could observe abnormal doppler wave form and could obtain additional information using doppler wave form. 4. Mean portal flow velocity was significantly increased in higher photography grade(p=0.01) and congestion index was significantly decreased in higher photography grade(p=0.01). 5. We concluded that doppler ultrasonography could supplement incomplete indirect photography

Tests of the gravitational redshift effect in space-born and ground-based experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Vavilova, I. B.

2018-02-01

This paper provides a brief overview of experiments as concerns with the tests of the gravitational redshift (GRS) effect in ground-based and space-born experiments. In particular, we consider the GRS effects in the gravitational field of the Earth, the major planets of the Solar system, compact stars (white dwarfs and neutron stars) where this effect is confirmed with a higher accuracy. We discuss availabilities to confirm the GRS effect for galaxies and galaxy clusters in visible and X-ray ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Color Doppler Ultrasonographic Findings of Vascular Leiomyoma: Pathologic Correlation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ko, Ji Young; Koh, Sung Hye; Min, Soo Kee; Choi, A Lam; Jang, Kyung Mi; Lee, Yul; Lee, Kwan Seop; Lee, Hyun; Sohn, Jeong Hee [Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Sam Soo [Kangwon National University College of Medicine, Chuncheon (Korea, Republic of)

2009-12-15

To evaluate the distribution of color flow signals on color Doppler ultrasonography of vascular leiomyomas and to correlate them with pathologic findings. We retrospectively analyzed color Doppler ultrasonographic images and pathologic slides of six vascular leiomyomas. We classified the patterns of distribution of color flow signals into localized compact cluster types and non-cluster types, and the pathologic findings into three subtypes: solid, venous and cavernous. All cases showed well-defined homogenous hypoechoic subcutaneous masses on gray-scale ultrasonography. Three cases showed localized compact cluster types on color Doppler ultrasonography, one in each subtype (solid, venous and cavernous). For the three non-cluster types, again there was on in each subtype. In addition, on pathologic analysis the zone of the localized compact cluster of color flow signals coincided with a cluster of larger, vascular caliber masses. Localized compact clusters of color flow signals on color Doppler ultrasonography were seen in 50% of our cases and correlated with a cluster of larger vascular caliber in the mass. But the pattern of distribution of color flows didn't show a correlation with pathologic type

Color Doppler Ultrasonographic Findings of Vascular Leiomyoma: Pathologic Correlation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ko, Ji Young; Koh, Sung Hye; Min, Soo Kee; Choi, A Lam; Jang, Kyung Mi; Lee, Yul; Lee, Kwan Seop; Lee, Hyun; Sohn, Jeong Hee; Kim, Sam Soo

2009-01-01

To evaluate the distribution of color flow signals on color Doppler ultrasonography of vascular leiomyomas and to correlate them with pathologic findings. We retrospectively analyzed color Doppler ultrasonographic images and pathologic slides of six vascular leiomyomas. We classified the patterns of distribution of color flow signals into localized compact cluster types and non-cluster types, and the pathologic findings into three subtypes: solid, venous and cavernous. All cases showed well-defined homogenous hypoechoic subcutaneous masses on gray-scale ultrasonography. Three cases showed localized compact cluster types on color Doppler ultrasonography, one in each subtype (solid, venous and cavernous). For the three non-cluster types, again there was on in each subtype. In addition, on pathologic analysis the zone of the localized compact cluster of color flow signals coincided with a cluster of larger, vascular caliber masses. Localized compact clusters of color flow signals on color Doppler ultrasonography were seen in 50% of our cases and correlated with a cluster of larger vascular caliber in the mass. But the pattern of distribution of color flows didn't show a correlation with pathologic type

Characterizing rainfall parameters which influence erosivity in southeastern Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Obi, M.E.; Salako, F.K.

1993-12-01

An investigation was carried out to characterize some selected parameters which influence rainfall erosivity in southeastern Nigeria. Rainfall amount, distribution, duration, intensity, storm types, energy loads and frequency of rain events in the region were studied using data from stations located in three major agroecological zones. Raindrop size and detaching capacity were evaluated in one of the stations for two months. The mean annual rainfall erosivity values for southeastern Nigeria point to the fact that rainfall tend to be highly erosive. 25 refs, 6 figs, 8 tabs

Moving Target Detection With Compact Laser Doppler Radar

Science.gov (United States)

Sepp, G.; Breining, A.; Eisfeld, W.; Knopp, R.; Lill, E.; Wagner, D.

1989-12-01

This paper describes an experimental integrated optronic system for detection and tracking of moving objects. The system is based on a CO2 waveguide laser Doppler ra-dar with homodyne receiver and galvanometer mirror beam scanner. A "hot spot" seeker consisting of a thermal imager with image processor transmits the coordinates of IR-emitting, i.e. potentially powered, objects to the laser radar scanner. The scanner addresses these "hot" locations operating in a large field-of-view (FOV) random ac-cess mode. Hot spots exhibiting a Doppler shifted laser signal are indicated in the thermal image by velocity-to-colour encoded markers. After switching to a small FOV scanning mode, the laser Doppler radar is used to track fast moving objects. Labora-tory and field experiments with moving objects including rotating discs, automobiles and missiles are described.

Three-dimensional laser cooling at the Doppler limit

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, R.; Hoendervanger, A. L.; Bouton, Q.; Fang, Y.; Klafka, T.; Audo, K.; Aspect, A.; Westbrook, C. I.; Clément, D.

2014-12-01

Many predictions of Doppler-cooling theory of two-level atoms have never been verified in a three-dimensional geometry, including the celebrated minimum achievable temperature ℏ Γ /2 kB , where Γ is the transition linewidth. Here we show that, despite their degenerate level structure, we can use helium-4 atoms to achieve a situation in which these predictions can be verified. We make measurements of atomic temperatures, magneto-optical trap sizes, and the sensitivity of optical molasses to a power imbalance in the laser beams, finding excellent agreement with Doppler theory. We show that the special properties of helium, particularly its small mass and narrow transition linewidth, prevent effective sub-Doppler cooling with red-detuned optical molasses. This discussion can be generalized to identify when a given species is likely to be subject to the same limitation.

Rainfall simulation for environmental application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shriner, D.S.; Abner, C.H.; Mann, L.K.

1977-08-01

Rain simulation systems have been designed for field and greenhouse studies which have the capability of reproducing the physical and chemical characteristics of natural rainfall. The systems permit the simulation of variations in rainfall and droplet size similar to that of natural precipitation. The systems are completely automatic and programmable, allowing unattended operation for periods of up to one week, and have been used to expose not only vegetation but also soils and engineering materials, making them versatile tools for studies involving simulated precipitation.

Bivariate Rainfall and Runoff Analysis Using Shannon Entropy Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Rahimi, A.; Zhang, L.

2012-12-01

Rainfall-Runoff analysis is the key component for many hydrological and hydraulic designs in which the dependence of rainfall and runoff needs to be studied. It is known that the convenient bivariate distribution are often unable to model the rainfall-runoff variables due to that they either have constraints on the range of the dependence or fixed form for the marginal distributions. Thus, this paper presents an approach to derive the entropy-based joint rainfall-runoff distribution using Shannon entropy theory. The distribution derived can model the full range of dependence and allow different specified marginals. The modeling and estimation can be proceeded as: (i) univariate analysis of marginal distributions which includes two steps, (a) using the nonparametric statistics approach to detect modes and underlying probability density, and (b) fitting the appropriate parametric probability density functions; (ii) define the constraints based on the univariate analysis and the dependence structure; (iii) derive and validate the entropy-based joint distribution. As to validate the method, the rainfall-runoff data are collected from the small agricultural experimental watersheds located in semi-arid region near Riesel (Waco), Texas, maintained by the USDA. The results of unviariate analysis show that the rainfall variables follow the gamma distribution, whereas the runoff variables have mixed structure and follow the mixed-gamma distribution. With this information, the entropy-based joint distribution is derived using the first moments, the first moments of logarithm transformed rainfall and runoff, and the covariance between rainfall and runoff. The results of entropy-based joint distribution indicate: (1) the joint distribution derived successfully preserves the dependence between rainfall and runoff, and (2) the K-S goodness of fit statistical tests confirm the marginal distributions re-derived reveal the underlying univariate probability densities which further

Characterizing rainfall in the Tenerife island

Science.gov (United States)

Díez-Sierra, Javier; del Jesus, Manuel; Losada Rodriguez, Inigo

2017-04-01

In many locations, rainfall data are collected through networks of meteorological stations. The data collection process is nowadays automated in many places, leading to the development of big databases of rainfall data covering extensive areas of territory. However, managers, decision makers and engineering consultants tend not to extract most of the information contained in these databases due to the lack of specific software tools for their exploitation. Here we present the modeling and development effort put in place in the Tenerife island in order to develop MENSEI-L, a software tool capable of automatically analyzing a complete rainfall database to simplify the extraction of information from observations. MENSEI-L makes use of weather type information derived from atmospheric conditions to separate the complete time series into homogeneous groups where statistical distributions are fitted. Normal and extreme regimes are obtained in this manner. MENSEI-L is also able to complete missing data in the time series and to generate synthetic stations by using Kriging techniques. These techniques also serve to generate the spatial regimes of precipitation, both normal and extreme ones. MENSEI-L makes use of weather type information to also provide a stochastic three-day probability forecast for rainfall.

Applying volumetric weather radar data for rainfall runoff modeling: The importance of error correction.

Science.gov (United States)

Hazenberg, P.; Leijnse, H.; Uijlenhoet, R.; Delobbe, L.; Weerts, A.; Reggiani, P.

2009-04-01

In the current study half a year of volumetric radar data for the period October 1, 2002 until March 31, 2003 is being analyzed which was sampled at 5 minutes intervals by C-band Doppler radar situated at an elevation of 600 m in the southern Ardennes region, Belgium. During this winter half year most of the rainfall has a stratiform character. Though radar and raingauge will never sample the same amount of rainfall due to differences in sampling strategies, for these stratiform situations differences between both measuring devices become even larger due to the occurrence of a bright band (the point where ice particles start to melt intensifying the radar reflectivity measurement). For these circumstances the radar overestimates the amount of precipitation and because in the Ardennes bright bands occur within 1000 meter from the surface, it's detrimental effects on the performance of the radar can already be observed at relatively close range (e.g. within 50 km). Although the radar is situated at one of the highest points in the region, very close to the radar clutter is a serious problem. As a result both nearby and farther away, using uncorrected radar results in serious errors when estimating the amount of precipitation. This study shows the effect of carefully correcting for these radar errors using volumetric radar data, taking into account the vertical reflectivity profile of the atmosphere, the effects of attenuation and trying to limit the amount of clutter. After applying these correction algorithms, the overall differences between radar and raingauge are much smaller which emphasizes the importance of carefully correcting radar rainfall measurements. The next step is to assess the effect of using uncorrected and corrected radar measurements on rainfall-runoff modeling. The 1597 km2 Ourthe catchment lies within 60 km of the radar. Using a lumped hydrological model serious improvement in simulating observed discharges is found when using corrected radar

Color doppler ultrasound diagonosis in cesarean scar pregnancy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Shanshan; Xia Fei; Shen Zongji; Xu Jianyin; Gu Xinxian

2010-01-01

Objective: To study the sonographic characteristics of cesarean scar pregnancy(CSP), and the value of color Doppler in the diagnosis of CSP. Methods: Twelve cases of CSP were all confirmed by transabdominal and transvaginal ultrasound. Results: The ultrasonogram of CSP could be divided into gestational sac type and mixed mass type. Conclusion: Color Doppler can give guidance to the early diagnosis, treatment and following-up of CSP because of the sonographic specifity of CSP. (authors)

Rainfall intensity characteristics at coastal and high altitude stations ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

a given amount of rain occurs is important because heavier rainfall leads to greater runoff, greater soil erosion and less infiltration into the water table. A knowledge of rainfall intensity therefore becomes. Keywords. Rainfall intensity; Kerala; cumulative distribution. J. Earth Syst. Sci. 116, No. 5, October 2007, pp. 451–463.

Performance of Sorghum Varieties under Variable Rainfall in Central Tanzania.

Science.gov (United States)

Msongaleli, Barnabas M; Tumbo, S D; Kihupi, N I; Rwehumbiza, Filbert B

2017-01-01

Rainfall variability has a significant impact on crop production with manifestations in frequent crop failure in semiarid areas. This study used the parameterized APSIM crop model to investigate how rainfall variability may affect yields of improved sorghum varieties based on long-term historical rainfall and projected climate. Analyses of historical rainfall indicate a mix of nonsignificant and significant trends on the onset, cessation, and length of the growing season. The study confirmed that rainfall variability indeed affects yields of improved sorghum varieties. Further analyses of simulated sorghum yields based on seasonal rainfall distribution indicate the concurrence of lower grain yields with the 10-day dry spells during the cropping season. Simulation results for future sorghum response, however, show that impacts of rainfall variability on sorghum will be overridden by temperature increase. We conclude that, in the event where harms imposed by moisture stress in the study area are not abated, even improved sorghum varieties are likely to perform poorly.

A Remote Sensing-Based Tool for Assessing Rainfall-Driven Hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Daniel B.; Mantilla, Ricardo; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.

2018-01-01

RainyDay is a Python-based platform that couples rainfall remote sensing data with Stochastic Storm Transposition (SST) for modeling rainfall-driven hazards such as floods and landslides. SST effectively lengthens the extreme rainfall record through temporal resampling and spatial transposition of observed storms from the surrounding region to create many extreme rainfall scenarios. Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves are often used for hazard modeling but require long records to describe the distribution of rainfall depth and duration and do not provide information regarding rainfall space-time structure, limiting their usefulness to small scales. In contrast, RainyDay can be used for many hazard applications with 1-2 decades of data, and output rainfall scenarios incorporate detailed space-time structure from remote sensing. Thanks to global satellite coverage, RainyDay can be used in inaccessible areas and developing countries lacking ground measurements, though results are impacted by remote sensing errors. RainyDay can be useful for hazard modeling under nonstationary conditions. PMID:29657544

How is rainfall interception in urban area affected by meteorological parameters?

Science.gov (United States)

Zabret, Katarina; Rakovec, Jože; Mikoš, Matjaž; Šraj, Mojca

2017-04-01

Rainfall interception is part of the hydrological cycle. Precipitation, which hits vegetation, is retained on the leaves and branches, from which it eventually evaporates into the atmosphere (interception) or reaches the ground by dripping from the canopy, falling through the gaps (throughfall) and running down the stems (stemflow). The amount of rainfall reaching the ground depends on various meteorological and vegetation parameters. Rainfall, throughfall and stemflow have been measured in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia since the beginning of 2014. Manual and automatic measurements are performed regularly under Betula pendula and Pinus nigra trees in urban area. In 2014, there were detected 178 rainfall events with total amount of 1672.1 mm. In average B. pendula intercepted 44% of rainfall and P. nigra intercepted 72% of rainfall. In 2015 we have detected 117 events with 1047.4 mm of rainfall, of which 37% was intercepted by B. pendula and 60% by P. nigra. The effect of various meteorological parameters on the rainfall interception was analysed in the study. The parameters included in the analysis were rainfall rate, rainfall duration, drop size distribution (average drop velocity and diameter), average wind speed, and average temperature. The results demonstrate decreasing rainfall interception with longer rainfall duration and higher rainfall intensity although the impact of the latter one is not statistically significant. In the case of very fast or very slow rainfall drops, the interception is higher than for the mean rain drop velocity values. In the case of P. nigra the impact of the rain drop diameter on interception is similar to the one of rain drop velocity while for B. pendula increasing of drop diameter also increases the interception. As expected, interception is higher for warmer events. This trend is more evident for P. nigra than for B. pendula. Furthermore, the amount of intercepted rainfall also increases with wind although it could be

Climate Change Impact on Rainfall: How will Threaten Wheat Yield?

Science.gov (United States)

Tafoughalti, K.; El Faleh, E. M.; Moujahid, Y.; Ouargaga, F.

2018-05-01

Climate change has a significant impact on the environmental condition of the agricultural region. Meknes has an agrarian economy and wheat production is of paramount importance. As most arable area are under rainfed system, Meknes is one of the sensitive regions to rainfall variability and consequently to climate change. Therefore, the use of changes in rainfall is vital for detecting the influence of climate system on agricultural productivity. This article identifies rainfall temporal variability and its impact on wheat yields. We used monthly rainfall records for three decades and wheat yields records of fifteen years. Rainfall variability is assessed utilizing the precipitation concentration index and the variation coefficient. The association between wheat yields and cumulative rainfall amounts of different scales was calculated based on a regression model. The analysis shown moderate seasonal and irregular annual rainfall distribution. Yields fluctuated from 210 to 4500 Kg/ha with 52% of coefficient of variation. The correlation results shows that wheat yields are strongly correlated with rainfall of the period January to March. This investigation concluded that climate change is altering wheat yield and it is crucial to adept the necessary adaptation to challenge the risk.

Role of mixed precipitating cloud systems on the typhoon rainfall

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. J. Pan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available L-band wind profiler data are utilized to diagnose the vertical structure of the typhoon precipitating cloud systems in Taiwan. For several typhoons, a pronounced bright band (BB around 5 km is commonly observed from the observation. Since strong convection within typhoon circulation may disturb and/or disrupt the melting layer, the BB shall not appear persistently. Hence, an understanding of the vertical structure of the BB region is important because it holds extensive hydrometeors information on the type of precipitation and its variability. Wind profiler observational results suggest that the mixture of convective and stratiform (embedded type clouds are mostly associated with typhoons. In the case of one typhoon, BB is appeared around 5.5 km with embedded precipitation and also BB height of 1 km higher than ordinary showery precipitation. This is evident from the long-term observations of wind profiler and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. The Doppler velocity profiles show hydrometers (ice/snow at 6 km but liquid below 5 km for typhoons and 4 km for showery precipitation. In the BB region the melting particles accelerations of 5.8 ms⁻¹ km⁻¹ and 3.2 ms⁻¹ km⁻¹ are observed for typhoon and showery precipitation, respectively.

Soil erosion under multiple time-varying rainfall events

Science.gov (United States)

Heng, B. C. Peter; Barry, D. Andrew; Jomaa, Seifeddine; Sander, Graham C.

2010-05-01

Soil erosion is a function of many factors and process interactions. An erosion event produces changes in surface soil properties such as texture and hydraulic conductivity. These changes in turn alter the erosion response to subsequent events. Laboratory-scale soil erosion studies have typically focused on single independent rainfall events with constant rainfall intensities. This study investigates the effect of multiple time-varying rainfall events on soil erosion using the EPFL erosion flume. The rainfall simulator comprises ten Veejet nozzles mounted on oscillating bars 3 m above a 6 m × 2 m flume. Spray from the nozzles is applied onto the soil surface in sweeps; rainfall intensity is thus controlled by varying the sweeping frequency. Freshly-prepared soil with a uniform slope was subjected to five rainfall events at daily intervals. In each 3-h event, rainfall intensity was ramped up linearly to a maximum of 60 mm/h and then stepped down to zero. Runoff samples were collected and analysed for particle size distribution (PSD) as well as total sediment concentration. We investigate whether there is a hysteretic relationship between sediment concentration and discharge within each event and how this relationship changes from event to event. Trends in the PSD of the eroded sediment are discussed and correlated with changes in sediment concentration. Close-up imagery of the soil surface following each event highlight changes in surface soil structure with time. This study enhances our understanding of erosion processes in the field, with corresponding implications for soil erosion modelling.

Laser doppler perfusion imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Waardell, K.

1992-01-01

Recording of tissue perfusion is important in assessing the influence of peripheral vascular diseases on the microcirculation. This thesis reports on a laser doppler perfusion imager based on dynamic light scattering in tissue. When a low power He-Ne laser beam sequentally scans the tissue, moving blood cells generate doppler components in the back-scattered light. A fraction of this light is detected by a photodetector and converted into an electrical signal. In the processor, a signal proportional to the tissue perfusion at each measurement site is calculated and stored. When the scanning procedure is completed, a color-coded perfusion image is presented on a monitor. To convert important aspects of the perfusion image into more quantitative parameters, data analysis functions are implemented in the software. A theory describing the dependence of the distance between individual measurement points and detector on the system amplification factor is proposed and correction algorithms are presented. The performance of the laser doppler perfusion imager was evaluated using a flow simulator. A linear relationship between processor output signal and flow through the simulator was demonstrated for blood cell concentrations below 0.2%. The median sampling depth of the laser beam was simulated by a Monte Carlo technique and estimated to 235 μm. The perfusion imager has been used in the clinic to study perfusion changes in port wine stains treated with argon laser and to investigate the intensity and extension of the cutaneous axon reflex response after electrical nerve stimulation. The fact that perfusion can be visualized without touching the tissue implies elimination of sterilization problems, thus simplifying clinical investigations of perfusion in association with diagnosis and treatment of peripheral vascular diseases. 22 refs

[The value of Doppler sonography in the detection of fetal hypoxia].

Science.gov (United States)

Aranyosi, János; Zatik, János; Juhász, A Gábor; Fülesdi, Béla; Major, Tamás

2002-10-27

Doppler ultrasound has become a part of routine antenatal fetal surveillance during the past two decades. It provides insight into the utero-placental and fetal arterial, venous circulation non-invasively. Doppler examination has a key role in the detection of hypoxic risk since abnormal blood flow patterns can be demonstrated before the clinical manifestation of fetal disorder. Doppler velocimetry facilitates judgment in the diagnosis, monitoring fetal well-being during pregnancy and labor, scheduling antenatal tests and timing delivery. Authors review the effects of chronic and acute hypoxia on fetal hemodynamics. On the basis of the present knowledge and experience a brief summary is given about the role of Doppler velocimetry in the early detection of hypoxic fetal jeopardy during pregnancy and labor.

Doppler Centroid Estimation for Airborne SAR Supported by POS and DEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHENG Chunquan

2015-05-01

Full Text Available It is difficult to estimate the Doppler frequency and modulating rate for airborne SAR by using traditional vector method due to instable flight and complex terrain. In this paper, it is qualitatively analyzed that the impacts of POS, DEM and their errors on airborne SAR Doppler parameters. Then an innovative vector method is presented based on the range-coplanarity equation to estimate the Doppler centroid taking the POS and DEM as auxiliary data. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated and analyzed via the simulation experiments. The theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the method can be used to estimate the Doppler centroid with high accuracy even in the cases of high relief, instable flight, and large squint SAR.

Doppler velocity measurements from large and small arteries of mice

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy, Anilkumar K.; Madala, Sridhar; Entman, Mark L.; Michael, Lloyd H.; Taffet, George E.

2011-01-01

With the growth of genetic engineering, mice have become increasingly common as models of human diseases, and this has stimulated the development of techniques to assess the murine cardiovascular system. Our group has developed nonimaging and dedicated Doppler techniques for measuring blood velocity in the large and small peripheral arteries of anesthetized mice. We translated technology originally designed for human vessels for use in smaller mouse vessels at higher heart rates by using higher ultrasonic frequencies, smaller transducers, and higher-speed signal processing. With these methods one can measure cardiac filling and ejection velocities, velocity pulse arrival times for determining pulse wave velocity, peripheral blood velocity and vessel wall motion waveforms, jet velocities for the calculation of the pressure drop across stenoses, and left main coronary velocity for the estimation of coronary flow reserve. These noninvasive methods are convenient and easy to apply, but care must be taken in interpreting measurements due to Doppler sample volume size and angle of incidence. Doppler methods have been used to characterize and evaluate numerous cardiovascular phenotypes in mice and have been particularly useful in evaluating the cardiac and vascular remodeling that occur following transverse aortic constriction. Although duplex ultrasonic echo-Doppler instruments are being applied to mice, dedicated Doppler systems are more suitable for some applications. The magnitudes and waveforms of blood velocities from both cardiac and peripheral sites are similar in mice and humans, such that much of what is learned using Doppler technology in mice may be translated back to humans. PMID:21572013

Pulsed-wave transmitral Doppler do not diagnose moderate acute rejection after heart transplantation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mannaerts, H. F.; Simoons, M. L.; Balk, A. H.; Tijssen, J.; van der Borden, S. G.; Zondervan, P. E.; Mochtar, B.; Weimar, W.; Roelandt, J. R.

1993-01-01

The value of pulsed-wave transmitral Doppler for the diagnosis of moderate acute rejection was examined in a total of 347 Doppler recordings obtained in 32 consecutive cardiac allograft recipients. Serial Doppler examinations (median, 11 per patient; range, 1 to 23) were performed simultaneously

PULSED-WAVE TRANSMITRAL DOPPLER DO NOT DIAGNOSE MODERATE ACUTE REJECTION AFTER HEART-TRANSPLANTATION

NARCIS (Netherlands)

MANNAERTS, HF; SIMOONS, ML; BALK, AH; TIJSSEN, J; VANDERBORDEN, SG; ZONDERVAN, PE; MOCHTAR, B; WEIMAR, W; ROELANDT, [No Value

1993-01-01

The value of pulsed-wave transmitral Doppler for the diagnosis of moderate acute rejection was examined in a total of 347 Doppler recordings obtained in 32 consecutive cardiac allograft recipients. Serial Doppler examinations (median, 11 per patient; range, 1 to 23) were performed simultaneously

Mapping monthly rainfall erosivity in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Ballabio, Cristiano; Borrelli, Pasquale; Spinoni, Jonathan; Meusburger, Katrin; Michaelides, Silas; Beguería, Santiago; Klik, Andreas; Petan, Sašo; Janeček, Miloslav; Olsen, Preben; Aalto, Juha; Lakatos, Mónika; Rymszewicz, Anna; Dumitrescu, Alexandru; Tadić, Melita Perčec; Diodato, Nazzareno; Kostalova, Julia; Rousseva, Svetla; Banasik, Kazimierz; Alewell, Christine; Panagos, Panos

2017-02-01

Rainfall erosivity as a dynamic factor of soil loss by water erosion is modelled intra-annually for the first time at European scale. The development of Rainfall Erosivity Database at European Scale (REDES) and its 2015 update with the extension to monthly component allowed to develop monthly and seasonal R-factor maps and assess rainfall erosivity both spatially and temporally. During winter months, significant rainfall erosivity is present only in part of the Mediterranean countries. A sudden increase of erosivity occurs in major part of European Union (except Mediterranean basin, western part of Britain and Ireland) in May and the highest values are registered during summer months. Starting from September, R-factor has a decreasing trend. The mean rainfall erosivity in summer is almost 4 times higher (315MJmmha -1 h -1 ) compared to winter (87MJmmha -1 h -1 ). The Cubist model has been selected among various statistical models to perform the spatial interpolation due to its excellent performance, ability to model non-linearity and interpretability. The monthly prediction is an order more difficult than the annual one as it is limited by the number of covariates and, for consistency, the sum of all months has to be close to annual erosivity. The performance of the Cubist models proved to be generally high, resulting in R 2 values between 0.40 and 0.64 in cross-validation. The obtained months show an increasing trend of erosivity occurring from winter to summer starting from western to Eastern Europe. The maps also show a clear delineation of areas with different erosivity seasonal patterns, whose spatial outline was evidenced by cluster analysis. The monthly erosivity maps can be used to develop composite indicators that map both intra-annual variability and concentration of erosive events. Consequently, spatio-temporal mapping of rainfall erosivity permits to identify the months and the areas with highest risk of soil loss where conservation measures should be

Persistence Characteristics of Australian Rainfall Anomalies

Science.gov (United States)

Simmonds, Ian; Hope, Pandora

1997-05-01

Using 79 years (1913-1991) of Australian monthly precipitation data we examined the nature of the persistence of rainfall anomalies. Analyses were performed for four climate regions covering the country, as well as for the entire Australian continent. We show that rainfall over these regions has high temporal variability and that annual rainfall amounts over all five sectors vary in phase and are, with the exception of the north-west region, significantly correlated with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). These relationships were particularly strong during the spring season.It is demonstrated that Australian rainfall exhibits statistically significant persistence on monthly, seasonal, and (to a limited extent) annual time-scales, up to lags of 3 months and one season and 1 year. The persistence showed strong seasonal dependence, with each of the five regions showing memory out to 4 or 5 months from winter and spring. Many aspects of climate in the Australasian region are known to have undergone considerable changes about 1950. We show this to be true for persistence also; its characteristics identified for the entire record were present during the 1951--1980 period, but virtually disappeared in the previous 30-year period.Much of the seasonal distribution of rainfall persistence on monthly time-scales, particularly in the east, is due to the influence of the SOI. However, most of the persistence identified in winter and spring in the north-west is independent of the ENSO phenomenon.Rainfall anomalies following extreme dry and wet months, seasons and years (lowest and highest two deciles) persisted more than would be expected by chance. For monthly extreme events this was more marked in the winter semester for the wet events, except in the south-east region. In general, less persistence was found for the extreme seasons. Although the persistence of dry years was less than would have been expected by chance, the wet years appear to display persistence.

Relationship between rainfall and microbiological contamination of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Outbreaks of contamination events in many developing countries occur during periods of peak rainfall. This study presents evidence of direct pulse response of shallow groundwater contamination events to rainfall in Northern Mozambique. The objective of the paper is to establish both a statistical relationship between ...

Developing empirical relationship between interrill erosion, rainfall ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In order to develop an empirical relationship for interrill erosion based on rainfall intensity, slope steepness and soil types, an interrill erosion experiment was conducted using laboratory rainfall simulator on three soil types (Vertisols, Cambisols and Leptosols) for the highlands of North Shewa Zone of Oromia Region.

Statistical Modelling of Extreme Rainfall in Taiwan

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L-F. Chu (Lan-Fen); M.J. McAleer (Michael); C-C. Chang (Ching-Chung)

2012-01-01

textabstractIn this paper, the annual maximum daily rainfall data from 1961 to 2010 are modelled for 18 stations in Taiwan. We fit the rainfall data with stationary and non-stationary generalized extreme value distributions (GEV), and estimate their future behaviour based on the best fitting model.

Statistical Modelling of Extreme Rainfall in Taiwan

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L. Chu (LanFen); M.J. McAleer (Michael); C-H. Chang (Chu-Hsiang)

2013-01-01

textabstractIn this paper, the annual maximum daily rainfall data from 1961 to 2010 are modelled for 18 stations in Taiwan. We fit the rainfall data with stationary and non-stationary generalized extreme value distributions (GEV), and estimate their future behaviour based on the best fitting model.

Rainfall thresholds for the possible occurrence of landslides in Italy

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M. T. Brunetti

2010-03-01

Full Text Available In Italy, rainfall is the primary trigger of landslides that frequently cause fatalities and large economic damage. Using a variety of information sources, we have compiled a catalogue listing 753 rainfall events that have resulted in landslides in Italy. For each event in the catalogue, the exact or approximate location of the landslide and the time or period of initiation of the slope failure is known, together with information on the rainfall duration D, and the rainfall mean intensity I, that have resulted in the slope failure. The catalogue represents the single largest collection of information on rainfall-induced landslides in Italy, and was exploited to determine the minimum rainfall conditions necessary for landslide occurrence in Italy, and in the Abruzzo Region, central Italy. For the purpose, new national rainfall thresholds for Italy and new regional rainfall thresholds for the Abruzzo Region were established, using two independent statistical methods, including a Bayesian inference method and a new Frequentist approach. The two methods proved complementary, with the Bayesian method more suited to analyze small data sets, and the Frequentist method performing better when applied to large data sets. The new regional thresholds for the Abruzzo Region are lower than the new national thresholds for Italy, and lower than the regional thresholds proposed in the literature for the Piedmont and Lombardy Regions in northern Italy, and for the Campania Region in southern Italy. This is important, because it shows that landslides in Italy can be triggered by less severe rainfall conditions than previously recognized. The Frequentist method experimented in this work allows for the definition of multiple minimum rainfall thresholds, each based on a different exceedance probability level. This makes the thresholds suited for the design of probabilistic schemes for the prediction of rainfall-induced landslides. A scheme based on four

Compressive sensing for high resolution profiles with enhanced Doppler performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anitori, L.; Hoogeboom, P.; Chevalier, F. Le; Otten, M.P.G.

2012-01-01

In this paper we demonstrate how Compressive Sensing (CS) can be used in pulse-Doppler radars to improve the Doppler performance while preserving range resolution. We investigate here two types of stepped frequency waveforms, the coherent frequency bursts and successive frequency ramps, which can be

Ostrich recruitment dynamics in relation to rainfall in the Mara ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ostrich recruitment dynamics in relation to rainfall in the Mara–Serengeti ... To understand how rainfall influences ostriches, we related changes in ostrich recruitment in the Mara–Serengeti ecosystem to rainfall. ... AJOL African Journals Online.

English/Russian terminology on radiometric calibration of space-borne optoelectronic sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Privalsky, V.; Zakharenkov, V.; Humpherys, T.; Sapritsky, V.; Datla, R.

The efficient use of data acquired through exo-atmospheric observations of the Earth within the framework of existing and newly planned programs requires a unique understanding of respective terms and definitions. Yet, the last large-scale document on the subject - The International Electrotechnical Vocabulary - had been published 18 years ago. This lack of a proper document, which would reflect the changes that had occurred in the area since that time, is especially detrimental to the developing international efforts aimed at global observations of the Earth from space such as the Global Earth Observations Program proposed by the U.S.A. at the 2003 WMO Congress. To cover this gap at least partially, a bi-lingual explanatory dictionary of terms and definitions in the area of radiometric calibration of space-borne IR sensors is developed. The objectives are to produce a uniform terminology for the global space-borne observations of the Earth, establish a unique understanding of terms and definitions by the radiometric communities, including a correspondence between the Russian and American terms and definitions, and to develop a formal English/Russian reference dictionary for use by scientists and engineers involved in radiometric observations of the Earth from space. The dictionary includes close to 400 items covering basic concepts of geometric, wave and corpuscular optics, remote sensing technologies, and ground-based calibration as well as more detailed treatment of terms and definitions in the areas of radiometric quantities, symbols and units, optical phenomena and optical properties of objects and media, and radiometric systems and their properties. The dictionary contains six chapters: Basic Concepts, Quantities, Symbols, and Units, Optical phenomena, Optical characteristics of surfaces and media, Components of Radiometric Systems, Characteristics of radiometric system components, plus English/Russian and Russian/Inglish indices.

Study on Zero-Doppler Centroid Control for GEO SAR Ground Observation

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Yicheng Jiang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In geosynchronous Earth orbit SAR (GEO SAR, Doppler centroid compensation is a key step for imaging process, which could be performed by the attitude steering of a satellite platform. However, this zero-Doppler centroid control method does not work well when the look angle of radar is out of an expected range. This paper primarily analyzes the Doppler properties of GEO SAR in the Earth rectangular coordinate. Then, according to the actual conditions of the GEO SAR ground observation, the effective range is presented by the minimum and maximum possible look angles which are directly related to the orbital parameters. Based on the vector analysis, a new approach for zero-Doppler centroid control in GEO SAR, performing the attitude steering by a combination of pitch and roll rotation, is put forward. This approach, considering the Earth’s rotation and elliptical orbit effects, can accurately reduce the residual Doppler centroid. All the simulation results verify the correctness of the range of look angle and the proposed steering method.

Precise Doppler shift compensation in the hipposiderid bat, Hipposideros armiger.

Science.gov (United States)

Schoeppler, Diana; Schnitzler, Hans-Ulrich; Denzinger, Annette

2018-03-15

Bats of the Rhinolophidae and Hipposideridae families, and Pteronotus parnellii, compensate for Doppler shifts generated by their own flight movement. They adjust their call frequency such that the frequency of echoes coming from ahead fall in a specialized frequency range of the hearing system, the auditory fovea, to evaluate amplitude and frequency modulations in echoes from fluttering prey. Some studies in hipposiderids have suggested a less sophisticated or incomplete Doppler shift compensation. To investigate the precision of Doppler shift compensation in Hipposideros armiger, we recorded the echolocation and flight behaviour of bats flying to a grid, reconstructed the flight path, measured the flight speed, calculated the echo frequency, and compared it with the resting frequency prior to each flight. Within each flight, the average echo frequency was kept constant with a standard deviation of 110 Hz, independent of the flight speed. The resting and reference frequency were coupled with an offset of 80 Hz; however, they varied slightly from flight to flight. The precision of Doppler shift compensation and the offset were similar to that seen in Rhinolophidae and P. parnellii. The described frequency variations may explain why it has been assumed that Doppler shift compensation in hipposiderids is incomplete.

Renal Power Doppler Ultrasonographic Evaluation of Children With Acute Pyelonephritis

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Ali Pahlusi

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Urinary tract infections are common in children. The available gold standard method for diagnosis, Tc-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid scan is expensive and exposes patients to considerable amount of radiation. This study was performed to compare and assess the efficacy of Power Doppler Ultrasound versus Tc-99m DMSA scan for diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis. A quasi experimental study was conducted on 34 children with mean age of 2.82.7 years who were hospitalized with their first episode of febrile urinary tract infection. All children were evaluated in the first 3 days of admission by Doppler Ultrasound and Tc-99m DMSA scan. Patients with congenital structural anomalies were excluded. Each kidney was divided into three zones. The comparison between efficacy of Doppler Ultrasound and DMSA scan was carried out based on number of patients and on classified renal units. Based on the number of patients enrolled; the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy of Doppler Ultrasound were 89%, 53%, 70%, 80% and 74%, respectively but based on the renal units, it was 66%, 81%, 46%, 91% and 79% , respectively. Although Doppler Ultrasound has the potential for identifying acute pyelonephritis in children, but it is still soon to replace DMSA scan.

How El-Nino affects Ethiopian summer rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

Gleixner, Stephanie; Keenlyside, Noel; Viste, Ellen

2016-04-01

Ethiopian economy and society are strongly dependent on agriculture and therefore rainfall. Reliable forecasts for the rainy seasons are important to allow for agricultural planning and drought preparations. The operational seasonal forecasts for Ethiopia are based on analogue methods relying mainly on sea surface temperature (SST) indices. A better understanding of the physical links between Ethiopian rainfall and SST may help to improve forecasts. The highest rainfall rates are observed in the Kiremt season (defined as JJAS), which is the rainy season in Central and Northwestern Ethiopia. Kiremt rainfall shows clear negative correlation with Central Pacific SST, linking dry Ethiopian summers with ENSO-like warm SST anomalies. We use the atmosphere general circulation model Echam5.3 to investigate the physical link between Pacific SST anomalies and Kiremt rainfall. We compare a historical simulation with a T106 horizontal resolution (~ 1.125°), forced with reconstructed SST data, to gauge-based rainfall observations for the time period of 1961 to 2009. Composite analysis for model and observations show warm SST anomalies in the Central Pacific and a corresponding large-scale circulation anomaly with subsidence over Ethiopia in dry Kiremt seasons. Horizontal wind fields show a slow-down of the whole Indian monsoon system with a weaker Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) and a weaker East African Low-Level Jet (EALLJ) in these summers. We conducted a sensitivity experiment with El Nino like SST anomalies in the Central Pacific with the same Echam version. Its results show that warm Pacific SST anomalies cause dry summer conditions over Ethiopia. While the large-scale subsidence over East Africa is present in the experiment, there is no significant weakening of the Indian monsoon system. We rather find an anomalous circulation cell over Northern Africa with westerlies at 100-200 hPa and easterlies below 500 hPa. The anomalous easterly flow in the lower and middle

Evaluate Hydrologic Response on Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Rainfall Using High Resolution Radar Rainfall Data and WRF-Hydro Model

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, S.; Fang, N. Z.

2017-12-01

A previously developed Dynamic Moving Storm (DMS) generator is a multivariate rainfall model simulating the complex nature of precipitation field: spatial variability, temporal variability, and storm movement. Previous effort by the authors has investigated the sensitivity of DMS parameters on corresponding hydrologic responses by using synthetic storms. In this study, the DMS generator has been upgraded to generate more realistic precipitation field. The dependence of hydrologic responses on rainfall features was investigated by dissecting the precipitation field into rain cells and modifying their spatio-temporal specification individually. To retrieve DMS parameters from radar rainfall data, rain cell segmentation and tracking algorithms were respectively developed and applied on high resolution radar rainfall data (1) to spatially determine the rain cells within individual radar image and (2) to temporally analyze their dynamic behavior. Statistics of DMS parameters were established by processing a long record of rainfall data (10 years) to keep the modification on real storms within the limit of regional climatology. Empirical distributions of the DMS parameters were calculated to reveal any preferential pattern and seasonality. Subsequently, the WRF-Hydro model forced by the remodeled and modified precipitation was used for hydrologic simulation. The study area was the Upper Trinity River Basin (UTRB) watershed, Texas; and two kinds of high resolution radar data i.e. the Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) level III Digital Hybrid Reflectivity (DHR) product and Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) precipitation rate product, were utilized to establish parameter statistics and to recreate/remodel historical events respectively. The results demonstrated that rainfall duration is a significant linkage between DMS parameters and their hydrologic impacts—any combination of spatiotemporal characteristics that keep rain cells longer over the catchment will produce higher

Radar rainfall estimation for the identification of debris-flow precipitation thresholds

Science.gov (United States)

Marra, Francesco; Nikolopoulos, Efthymios I.; Creutin, Jean-Dominique; Borga, Marco

2014-05-01

Identification of rainfall thresholds for the prediction of debris-flow occurrence is a common approach for warning procedures. Traditionally the debris-flow triggering rainfall is derived from the closest available raingauge. However, the spatial and temporal variability of intense rainfall on mountainous areas, where debris flows take place, may lead to large uncertainty in point-based estimates. Nikolopoulos et al. (2014) have shown that this uncertainty translates into a systematic underestimation of the rainfall thresholds, leading to a step degradation of the performances of the rainfall threshold for identification of debris flows occurrence under operational conditions. A potential solution to this limitation lies on use of rainfall estimates from weather radar. Thanks to their high spatial and temporal resolutions, these estimates offer the advantage of providing rainfall information over the actual debris flow location. The aim of this study is to analyze the value of radar precipitation estimations for the identification of debris flow precipitation thresholds. Seven rainfall events that triggered debris flows in the Adige river basin (Eastern Italian Alps) are analyzed using data from a dense raingauge network and a C-Band weather radar. Radar data are elaborated by using a set of correction algorithms specifically developed for weather radar rainfall application in mountainous areas. Rainfall thresholds for the triggering of debris flows are identified in the form of average intensity-duration power law curves using a frequentist approach by using both radar rainfall estimates and raingauge data. Sampling uncertainty associated to the derivation of the thresholds is assessed by using a bootstrap technique (Peruccacci et al. 2012). Results show that radar-based rainfall thresholds are largely exceeding those obtained by using raingauge data. Moreover, the differences between the two thresholds may be related to the spatial characteristics (i.e., spatial

An Observation-based Assessment of Instrument Requirements for a Future Precipitation Process Observing System

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, E.; L'Ecuyer, T. S.; Wood, N.; Smalley, M.; Kulie, M.; Hahn, W.

2017-12-01

Global models exhibit substantial biases in the frequency, intensity, duration, and spatial scales of precipitation systems. Much of this uncertainty stems from an inadequate representation of the processes by which water is cycled between the surface and atmosphere and, in particular, those that govern the formation and maintenance of cloud systems and their propensity to form the precipitation. Progress toward improving precipitation process models requires observing systems capable of quantifying the coupling between the ice content, vertical mass fluxes, and precipitation yield of precipitating cloud systems. Spaceborne multi-frequency, Doppler radar offers a unique opportunity to address this need but the effectiveness of such a mission is heavily dependent on its ability to actually observe the processes of interest in the widest possible range of systems. Planning for a next generation precipitation process observing system should, therefore, start with a fundamental evaluation of the trade-offs between sensitivity, resolution, sampling, cost, and the overall potential scientific yield of the mission. Here we provide an initial assessment of the scientific and economic trade-space by evaluating hypothetical spaceborne multi-frequency radars using a combination of current real-world and model-derived synthetic observations. Specifically, we alter the field of view, vertical resolution, and sensitivity of a hypothetical Ka- and W-band radar system and propagate those changes through precipitation detection and intensity retrievals. The results suggest that sampling biases introduced by reducing sensitivity disproportionately affect the light rainfall and frozen precipitation regimes that are critical for warm cloud feedbacks and ice sheet mass balance, respectively. Coarser spatial resolution observations introduce regime-dependent biases in both precipitation occurrence and intensity that depend on cloud regime, with even the sign of the bias varying within a

Endosonographic and color doppler flow imaging alterations observed within irradiated rectal cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alexander, Archie A.; Palazzo, Juan P.; Ahmad, Neelofur R.; Liu, J.-B.; Forsberg, Flemming; Marks, John

1996-01-01

Purpose: To correlate the endosonographic and color Doppler flow imaging alterations observed in irradiated rectal cancers with the pathologic features of radiation response, and to evaluate the potential impact of altered blood flow on the integrity of the surgical anastamosis. Methods and Materials: Endosonography with color and pulsed wave Doppler was performed on 20 rectal cancer masses before and after high dose preoperative radiation (XRT). Pre- and post-XRT observations included comparing alterations in tumor size, sonographic echotexture, color Doppler flow, and pulsatility indices. Comparisons were made with pathologic findings in the irradiated specimens and with the incidence of anastomotic failure. Results: Compared to pre-XRT observations, irradiated rectal cancers decreased in size and became either mixed in echogenicity with less apparent color Doppler flow (16 of 20) or unchanged in color Doppler flow and echotexture (4 of 20). Those with less flow (16 of 20) were imaged later (mean = 90.2 ± 12.1 days) than those without change in color Doppler flow (mean = 21.7 ± 2.7 days). Pathologically, the group of four without change in color Doppler signal had features of acute inflammation which were not observed in 16 of 20 imaged later. Based on pulsatility index measurements, both high and low resistance vessels were detected and confirmed by immunohistochemical staining, and features of postradiation obliterative vasculitis were observed. Only one primary anastomosis in 14 patients with decreased flow failed. Conclusions: The sonographic and color Doppler flow imaging alterations observed within irradiated rectal cancer correlated with changes of postradiation obliterative vasculitis. The apparent diminished local blood flow within high and low resistance vessels post-XRT did not result in an increased incidence of anastomotic failures

Simulation of Tropical Rainfall Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Bader, J.; Latif, M.

2002-12-01

The impact of sea surface temperature (SST) - especially the role of the tropical Atlantic meridional SST gradient and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation - on precipitation is investigated with the atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM4/T42. Ensemble experiments - driven with observed SST - show that Atlantic SST has a significant influence on precipitation over West Africa and northeast Brazil. SST sensitivity experiments were performed in which the climatological SST was enhanced or decreased by one Kelvin in certain ocean areas. Changing SST in the eastern tropical Atlantic caused only significant changes along the Guinea Coast, with a positive anomaly (SSTA) increasing rainfall and a negative SSTA reducing it. The response was nearly linear. Changing SST in other ocean areas caused significant changes over West Africa, especially in the Sahel area. The response is found to be non linear, with only negative SSTA leading to significant reduction in Sahel rainfall. Also, the impact of the SSTAs from the different ocean regions was not additive with respect to the rainfall. The influence of SST on precipitation over northeast Brazil (Nordeste) was also investigated. Three experiments were performed in which the climatological SST was enhanced/decreased or decreased/enhanced by one Kelvin in the North/South Atlantic and increased by two Kelvin in the Nino3 ocean area. All experiments caused significant changes over Nordeste, with an enhanced/reduced SST gradient in the Atlantic increasing/reducing rainfall. The response was nearly linear. The main effect of the Atlantic SST gradient was a shift of the ITCZ, caused by trade wind changes. The ''El Nino'' event generates a significant reduction in Nordeste rainfall. A significant positive SLP anomaly occurs in northeast Brazil which may be associated with the descending branch of the Walker circulation. Also a significant positive SLP over the Atlantic from 30S to 10N north occurs. This results in a reduced SLP

Tissue Doppler echocardiography – A case of right tool, wrong use

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Thomas George

2004-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The developments in echocardiography or ultrasound cardiography (UCG have improved our clinical capabilities. However, advanced hardware and software capabilities have resulted in UCG facilities of dubious clinical benefits. Is tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE is one such example? Presentation of the hypothesis TDE has been touted as advancement in the field of echocardiography. The striking play of colors, impressive waveforms and the seemingly accurate velocity values could be deceptive. TDE is a clear case of inappropriate use of technology. Testing the hypothesis To understand this, a comparison between flow Doppler and tissue Doppler is made. To make clinically meaningful velocity measurements with Doppler, we need prior knowledge of the line of motion. This is possible in blood flow but impossible in the complex myocardial motion. The qualitative comparison makes it evident that Doppler is best suited for flow studies. Implications of the hypothesis As of now TDE is going backwards using an indirect method when direct methods are better. The work on TDE at present is only debatable 'research and publication' material and do not translate into tangible clinical benefits. There are several advances like curved M-mode, strain rate imaging and tissue tracking in TDE. However these have been disappointing. This is due to the basic flaw in the application of the principles of Doppler. Doppler is best suited for flow studies and applying it to tissue motion is illogical. All data obtained by TDE is scientifically incorrect. This makes all the published papers on the subject flawed. Making diagnostic decisions based on this faulty application of technology would be unacceptable to the scientific cardiologist.

Phylloedes tumor of breast: findings at mammography, sonography and color Doppler imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Kun Choon; Ahn, Sei Hyun; Kim, Young Hwan; Choi, Hye Yong; Baek, Seung Yon; Yoon, Jeong Hyun

1994-01-01

The phylloides tumor of the breast is rare. the purposes of this study were to find the characteristic findings at mammography, sonography, and color Doppler imaging and to evaluate the usefulness of color Doppler study as an additional modality in the diagnosis of phylloides tumor and differentiation between benign and malignant varieties. Eight cases, who were pathologically proven as pylloides tumors, were retrospectively studied. The findings at histologic examination suggested benign in five, malignantin two, and borderline in one. We analyzed the mammograms of all eight patients and sonogram and color Doppler images of four patients. Phylloides tumors were seen as dense masses with lobulated margins in mammograms. On sonography, they showed relatively well-defined masses with in homogenous internal echo pattern and central echogenic areas. They were characterized by the presence of arterial and venous flows in the center and periphery of the lesion on color Doppler imaging and spectral analysis. We conclude that mammographic, sonographic and even color Doppler findings are not predictive of benign or malignant nature of the phylloides tumor. However, mammography and sonography with color Doppler interrogation are helpful in the diagnosis of phylloides tumor

RAINFALL AGGRESSIVENESS EVALUATION IN REGHIN HILLS USING FOURNIER INDEX

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J. SZILAGYI

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Aggressiveness erosive force of rainfall is the express of kinetic energy and potential energy of rain water runoff on slopes. In the absence of a database for the analysis of parameters that define the torrencial rainfall, the rainfall erosivity factor was calculated by Fournier Index, Modified Fournier Index based on the monthly and annual precipitation.

Dynamic Hydrological Modeling in Drylands with TRMM Based Rainfall

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Elena Tarnavsky

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces and evaluates DryMOD, a dynamic water balance model of the key hydrological process in drylands that is based on free, public-domain datasets. The rainfall model of DryMOD makes optimal use of spatially disaggregated Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM datasets to simulate hourly rainfall intensities at a spatial resolution of 1-km. Regional-scale applications of the model in seasonal catchments in Tunisia and Senegal characterize runoff and soil moisture distribution and dynamics in response to varying rainfall data inputs and soil properties. The results highlight the need for hourly-based rainfall simulation and for correcting TRMM 3B42 rainfall intensities for the fractional cover of rainfall (FCR. Without FCR correction and disaggregation to 1 km, TRMM 3B42 based rainfall intensities are too low to generate surface runoff and to induce substantial changes to soil moisture storage. The outcomes from the sensitivity analysis show that topsoil porosity is the most important soil property for simulation of runoff and soil moisture. Thus, we demonstrate the benefit of hydrological investigations at a scale, for which reliable information on soil profile characteristics exists and which is sufficiently fine to account for the heterogeneities of these. Where such information is available, application of DryMOD can assist in the spatial and temporal planning of water harvesting according to runoff-generating areas and the runoff ratio, as well as in the optimization of agricultural activities based on realistic representation of soil moisture conditions.

TORSION TESTIS : ROLE OF COLOR DOPPLER : A STUDY OF 50 CASES

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Anand

2015-09-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: T orsion testis is one of the catast r ophic conditions in children and young a d u lts. Traditionally the diagnosis was made clinical presentation and suspicion. Critical decision making is essential to save the testis . OBJECTIVE: To study the usefu lness and efficacy of Doppler ultrasound in correctly diagnosing acute scrotal conditions in children and young adults to save the testis and to avoid negative explorations. METHODS: Over a period of two years 50 patients with acute scrotum were admitted i n general surgery department who underwent Doppler ultrasound scrotum and its efficacy in correctly diagnosing the pathology was analysed. RESULTS: 50 patients with age group <25 years were included in study. Scrotal pain was the most frequent presenting s ymptom of acute scrotum (98% followed by Swelling of the hemiscrolum on the involved side present in 86% of the patients. Doppler ultrasound showed torsion of testis in 18 patients. On Scrotal exploration, torsion of spermatic cord was confirmed in 16 pat ients, one patient had torsion of appendix of testis and the other had Epididymo - orchitis. Thus the sensitivity and specificity of Doppler ultrasonography for testicular torsion was 86.9% and 92.6% respectively. 2 patients with equivocal Doppler findings, but strong clinical suspicion of testicular torsion were explored, and testis was found to be torsed in both two patients. Doppler ultrasonography showed Epididymo - orchitis in 22 patients, torsion of testicular appendage in 2 patients, Idiopathic scrotal edema in one, and in 5 pts no significant pathology found. All twenty patients of epididymo - orchitis, two patients of torsion of testicular appendage, and one patient of idiopathic scrotal edema were managed conservatively. At three weeks follow up, all th e patients were free of symptoms. The sensitivity and specificity of Doppler ultrasonography for epididymo - orchitis was 95% and 100% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: color

High-frequency Doppler ultrasound transducer for the peripheral circulatory system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bae, Youngmin; Yang, Jeongwon; Kang, Uk; Kim, Guanghoon [Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, Ansan (Korea, Republic of)

2011-12-15

A Doppler ultrasound transducer was designed and implemented to measure the blood flow velocity in tiny vessels near the skin of hands or feet. The geometric parameters of the transducer for defining the observation volume were derived and implemented with an acoustic window made of polystyrene. The observation volume designed in this study was located 6.5 mm from the transducer, which was comparable to the value predicted geometrically. The two-way insertion loss of the transducer was -11.3 dB on ultrasound frequency of 20 MHz, and the 3-dB bandwidth was approximately 2 MHz. In addition, the Doppler shift in the frequency measured by using a Doppler device composed of the transducer and a Doppler signal processing unit was proportional to the flow velocity generated by a homemade flowing system. Finally, we concluded that the transducer could be applied to measure the blood flow velocity in hands or feet.

High-frequency Doppler ultrasound transducer for the peripheral circulatory system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bae, Youngmin; Yang, Jeongwon; Kang, Uk; Kim, Guanghoon

2011-01-01

A Doppler ultrasound transducer was designed and implemented to measure the blood flow velocity in tiny vessels near the skin of hands or feet. The geometric parameters of the transducer for defining the observation volume were derived and implemented with an acoustic window made of polystyrene. The observation volume designed in this study was located 6.5 mm from the transducer, which was comparable to the value predicted geometrically. The two-way insertion loss of the transducer was -11.3 dB on ultrasound frequency of 20 MHz, and the 3-dB bandwidth was approximately 2 MHz. In addition, the Doppler shift in the frequency measured by using a Doppler device composed of the transducer and a Doppler signal processing unit was proportional to the flow velocity generated by a homemade flowing system. Finally, we concluded that the transducer could be applied to measure the blood flow velocity in hands or feet.

Potential of Space-Borne Hyperspectral Data for Biomass Quantification in an Arid Environment: Advantages and Limitations

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Harald Zandler

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In spite of considerable efforts to monitor global vegetation, biomass quantification in drylands is still a major challenge due to low spectral resolution and considerable background effects. Hence, this study examines the potential of the space-borne hyperspectral Hyperion sensor compared to the multispectral Landsat OLI sensor in predicting dwarf shrub biomass in an arid region characterized by challenging conditions for satellite-based analysis: The Eastern Pamirs of Tajikistan. We calculated vegetation indices for all available wavelengths of both sensors, correlated these indices with field-mapped biomass while considering the multiple comparison problem, and assessed the predictive performance of single-variable linear models constructed with data from each of the sensors. Results showed an increased performance of the hyperspectral sensor and the particular suitability of indices capturing the short-wave infrared spectral region in dwarf shrub biomass prediction. Performance was considerably poorer in the area with less vegetation cover. Furthermore, spatial transferability of vegetation indices was not feasible in this region, underlining the importance of repeated model building. This study indicates that upcoming space-borne hyperspectral sensors increase the performance of biomass prediction in the world’s arid environments.

Optical timing receiver for the NASA Spaceborne Ranging System. Part II: high precision event-timing digitizer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leskovar, Branko; Turko, Bojan

1978-08-01

Position-resolution capabilities of the NASA Spaceborne Laser Ranging System are essentially determined by the timeresolution capabilities of its optical timing receiver. The optical timing receiver consists of a fast photoelectric device; (e.g., photomultiplier or an avalanche photodiode detector), a timing discriminator, a high-precision event-timing digitizer, and a signal-processing system. The time-resolution capabilities of the receiver are determined by the photoelectron time spread of the photoelectric device, the time walk and resolution characteristics of the timing discriminator, and the resolution of the event-timing digitizer. It is thus necessary to evaluate available fast photoelectronic devices with respect to the time-resolution capabilities, and to develop a very low time walk timing discriminator and a high-resolution event-timing digitizer to be used in the high-resolution spaceborne laser ranging system receiver. This part of the report describes the development of a high precision event-timing digitizer. The event-timing digitizer is basically a combination of a very accurate high resolution real time digital clock and an interval timer. The timing digitizer is a high resolution multiple stop clock, counting the time up to 131 days in 19.5 ps increments.

Proposed protocols for peripheral and renal Doppler

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fonseca Portuguez, Adriana

2009-01-01

A literature review was performed in order to prepare a summary of the important concepts of Doppler and applications in peripheral vascular evaluation and renal. The normal characteristics are summarized and explained in each vascular system and diagnostic criteria of the disorders frequently encountered in practice. Requested more studies have been identified and proposed protocols and report sheets have been developed to standardize the methodology of realization of several Doppler studies. The variability between operators has been treated to reduce as much as possible and follow-up studies have provided in patients who need. (author) [es

Doppler broadening of cross sections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buckler, P.A.C.; Pull, I.C.

1962-12-01

Expressions for temperature dependent cross-sections in terms of resonance parameters are obtained, involving generalisations of the conventional Doppler functions, ψ and φ. Descriptions of Fortran sub-routines, which calculate broadened cross-sections in accordance with the derived formulae, are included. (author)

River catchment rainfall series analysis using additive Holt-Winters method

Science.gov (United States)

Puah, Yan Jun; Huang, Yuk Feng; Chua, Kuan Chin; Lee, Teang Shui

2016-03-01

Climate change is receiving more attention from researchers as the frequency of occurrence of severe natural disasters is getting higher. Tropical countries like Malaysia have no distinct four seasons; rainfall has become the popular parameter to assess climate change. Conventional ways that determine rainfall trends can only provide a general result in single direction for the whole study period. In this study, rainfall series were modelled using additive Holt-Winters method to examine the rainfall pattern in Langat River Basin, Malaysia. Nine homogeneous series of more than 25 years data and less than 10% missing data were selected. Goodness of fit of the forecasted models was measured. It was found that seasonal rainfall model forecasts are generally better than the monthly rainfall model forecasts. Three stations in the western region exhibited increasing trend. Rainfall in southern region showed fluctuation. Increasing trends were discovered at stations in the south-eastern region except the seasonal analysis at station 45253. Decreasing trend was found at station 2818110 in the east, while increasing trend was shown at station 44320 that represents the north-eastern region. The accuracies of both rainfall model forecasts were tested using the recorded data of years 2010-2012. Most of the forecasts are acceptable.

Efficient and compact hyperspectral imager for space-borne applications

Science.gov (United States)

Pisani, Marco; Zucco, Massimo

2017-11-01

In the last decades Hyperspectral Imager (HI) have become irreplaceable space-borne instruments for an increasing number of applications. A number of HIs are now operative onboard (e.g. CHRIS on PROBA), others are going to be launched (e.g. PRISMA, EnMAP, HyspIRI), many others are at the breadboard level. The researchers goal is to realize HI with high spatial and spectral resolution, having low weight and contained dimensions. The most common HI technique is based on the use of a dispersive mean (a grating or a prism) or on the use of band pass filters (tunable or linear variable). These approaches have the advantages of allowing compact devices. Another approach is based on the use of interferometer based spectrometers (Michelson or Sagnac type). The advantage of the latter is a very high efficiency in light collection because of the well-known Felgett and Jaquinot principles.

Engineering of an Extreme Rainfall Detection System using Grid Computing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier Terzo

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a new approach for intensive rainfall data analysis. ITHACA's Extreme Rainfall Detection System (ERDS is conceived to provide near real-time alerts related to potential exceptional rainfalls worldwide, which can be used by WFP or other humanitarian assistance organizations to evaluate the event and understand the potentially floodable areas where their assistance is needed. This system is based on precipitation analysis and it uses rainfall data from satellite at worldwide extent. This project uses the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis dataset, a NASA-delivered near real-time product for current rainfall condition monitoring over the world. Considering the great deal of data to process, this paper presents an architectural solution based on Grid Computing techniques. Our focus is on the advantages of using a distributed architecture in terms of performances for this specific purpose.

Fluvial signatures of modern and paleo orographic rainfall gradients

Science.gov (United States)

Schildgen, Taylor; Strecker, Manfred

2016-04-01

The morphology of river profiles is intimately linked to both climate and tectonic forcing. While much interest recently has focused on how river profiles can be inverted to derive uplift histories, here we show how in regions of strong orographic rainfall gradients, rivers may primarily record spatial patterns of precipitation. As a case study, we examine the eastern margin of the Andean plateau in NW Argentina, where the outward (eastward) growth of a broken foreland has led to a eastward shift in the main orographic rainfall gradient over the last several million years. Rivers influenced by the modern rainfall gradient are characterized by normalized river steepness values in tributary valleys that closely track spatial variations in rainfall, with higher steepness values in drier areas and lower steepness values in wetter areas. The same river steepness pattern has been predicted in landscape evolution models that apply a spatial gradient in rainfall to a region of uniform erosivity and uplift rate (e.g., Han et al., 2015). Also, chi plots from river networks on individual ranges affected by the modern orographic rainfall reveal patterns consistent with assymmetric precipitation across the range: the largest channels on the windward slopes are characterized by capture, while the longest channels on the leeward slopes are dominated by beheadings. Because basins on the windward side both lengthen and widen, tributary channels in the lengthening basins are characterized by capture, while tributary channels from neighboring basins on the windward side are dominated by beheadings. These patterns from the rivers influenced by the modern orographic rainfall gradient provide a guide for identifying river morphometric signatures of paleo orographic rainfall gradients. Mountain ranges to the west of the modern orographic rainfall have been interpreted to mark the location of orographic rainfall in the past, but these ranges are now in spatially near-uniform semi-arid to

A simplified study of trans-mitral Doppler patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas George

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Trans-mitral Doppler produces complex patterns with a great deal of variability. There are several confusing numerical measures and indices to study these patterns. However trans-mitral Doppler produces readymade data visualization by pattern generation which could be interpreted by pattern analysis. By following a systematic approach we could create an order and use this tool to study cardiac function. Presentation of the hypothesis In this new approach we eliminate the variables and apply pattern recognition as the main criterion of study. Proper terminologies are also devised to avoid confusion. In this way we can get some meaningful information. Testing the hypothesis Trans-mitral Doppler should be seen as patterns rather than the amplitude. The hypothesis can be proven by logical deduction, extrapolation and elimination of variables. Trans-mitral flow is also analyzed vis-à-vis the Starling's Law applied to the left atrium. Implications of the hypothesis Trans-mitral Doppler patterns are not just useful for evaluating diastolic function. They are also useful to evaluate systolic function. By following this schema we could get useful diagnostic information and therapeutic options using simple pattern recognition with minimal measurements. This simplified but practical approach will be useful in day to day clinical practice and help in understanding cardiac function better. This will also standardize research and improve communication.

Radar Micro-Doppler Feature Extraction Using the Singular Value Decomposition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wit, J.J.M. de; Harmanny, R.I.A.; Molchanov, P.

2014-01-01

Abstract—The micro-Doppler spectrogram depends on parts of a target moving and rotating in addition to the main body motion (e.g., spinning rotor blades) and is thus characteristic for the type of target. In this study, the micro-Doppler spectrogram is exploited to distinguish between birds and

The Interdependence between Rainfall and Temperature: Copula Analyses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cong, Ronggang; Brady, Mark

2012-01-01

possible approach to this problem, five families of copula models are employed to model the interdependence between rainfall and temperature. Scania is a leading agricultural province in Sweden and is affected by a maritime climate. Historical climatic data for Scania is used to demonstrate the modeling...... process. Heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation of sample data are also considered to eliminate the possibility of observation error. The results indicate that for Scania there are negative correlations between rainfall and temperature for the months from April to July and September. The student copula...... is found to be most suitable to model the bivariate distribution of rainfall and temperature based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Using the student copula, we simulate temperature and rainfall simultaneously. The resulting models can be integrated...

Rainfall: Features and Variations over Saudi Arabia, A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hosny Hasanean

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The Saudi Arabia (SA climate varies greatly, depending on the geography and the season. According to K ppen and Geiger, the climates of SA is “desert climate”. The analysis of the seasonal rainfall detects that spring and winter seasons have the highestrainfall incidence, respectively. Through the summer,small quantities of precipitation are observed, while autumn received more precipitation more than summer season considering the total annual rainfall. In all seasons, the SW area receives rainfall, with a maximum in spring, whereas in the summer season, the NE and NW areas receive very little quantities of precipitation. The Rub Al-Khali (the SE region is almost totally dry. The maximum amount of annual rainfall does not always happen at the highest elevation. Therefore, the elevation is not the only factor in rainfall distribution.A great inter-annual change in the rainfall over the SA for the period (1978–2009 is observed. In addition, in the same period, a linear decreasing trend is found in the observed rainfall, whilst in the recent past (1994–2009 a statistically significant negative trend is observed. In the Southern part of the Arabian Peninsula (AP and along the coast of the Red Sea, it is interesting to note that rainfall increased, whilst it decreased over most areas of SA during the 2000–2009 decade, compared to 1980–1989.Statistical and numerical models are used to predict rainfall over Saudi Arabia (SA. The statistical models based on stochastic models of ARIMA and numerical models based on Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies of Hadley Centre (PRECIS. Climate and its qualitative character and quantified range of possible future changes are investigated. The annual total rainfall decreases in most regions of the SA and only increases in the south. The summertime precipitation will be the highest between other seasons over the southern, the southwestern provinces and Asir mountains, while the wintertime

The use of geostationary satellite based rainfall estimation and rainfall-runoff modelling for regional flash flood assessment

OpenAIRE

Suseno, Dwi Prabowo Yuga

2013-01-01

The availability of rainfall triggered hazard information such as flash flood is crucial in the flood disaster management and mitigation. However, providing that information is mainly hampered by the shortage of data because of the sparse, uneven or absence the hydrological or meteorological observation. Remote sensing techniques that make frequent observations with continuous spatial coverage provide useful information for detecting the hydrometeorological phenomena such as rainfall and floo...

Acoustic doppler methods for remote measurements of ocean flows - a review

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Joseph, A.

The evolution of acoustic doppler methods for remote measurements of ocean flows has been briefly reviewed in historical perspective. Both Eulerian and profiling methods have been discussed. Although the first acoustic Doppler current meter has been...

Developments in target micro-Doppler signatures analysis: radar imaging, ultrasound and through-the-wall radar

OpenAIRE

Clemente, C.; Balleri, A.; Woodbridge, K.; Soraghan, J. J.

2013-01-01

Target motions, other than the main bulk translation of the target, induce Doppler modulations around the main Doppler shift that form what is commonly called a target micro-Doppler signature. Radar micro-Doppler signatures are generally both target and action speci c and hence can be used to classify and recognise targets as well as to identify possible threats. In recent years, research into the use of micro-Doppler signatures for target classi cation to address many defence and security ch...

Numerical stud of glare spot phase Doppler anemometry

OpenAIRE

Hespel , Camille; Ren , Kuan Fang; Gréhan , Gérard; Onofri , Fabrice

2008-01-01

International audience; The phase Doppler anemometry has (PDA) been developed to measure simultaneously the velocity and the size of droplets. When the concentration of particles is high, tightly focused beams must be used, as in the dual burst PDA. The latter permits an access to the refractive index of the particle, but the effect of wave front curvature of the incident beams becomes evident. In this paper, we introduce a glare spot phase Doppler anemometry which uses two large beams. The i...

Inter-Annual Variability Of Rainfall In Some States Of Southern Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Egor

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract The study inter-annual variability of rainfall in some states in Southern Nigeria focuses on analyzing the trends and fluctuations in annual rainfall over six states in Southern Nigeria covering a period of 1972 2012. In order to ascertain the variabilitys and to model the annual rainfall for future prediction to enhance policy implementation the quantitative and descriptive analysis techniques was employed. The rainfall series were analyzed for fluctuations using Standardized Anomaly Index SAI whereas the trends were examined using Statistical Package for Social Science Software SPSS 17.0. At 95 percent confidence level observations in the stations may be signals that the wetter period dominates the drier periods in this study. Each of the series contains two distinct periods when the rainfall anomalies negative and positive of a particular type were most significant. The period where the annual rainfall is above one standard deviation from the mean annual rainfall is considered Wet and the period below one standard deviation from the mean annual rainfall is considered Dry for each station. The results of the linear trend lines revealed an increase in rainfall supply over the period of study especially of recent. The annual rate of increase in rainfall over the period of investigation 1972 - 2012 were 15.21mmyear for Calabar 2.18mmyear for Port Harcourt 22.23mmyear for Owerri 3.25mmyear for Benin City 5.08mmyear for Enugu and 16.29mmyear for Uyo respectively. The variability in amount of annual rainfall revealed that in 2012 Calabar received the highest amount of rainfall of about 4062.70mm and the least value of 2099.4mm in 1973. In Porthacourt the highest amount of rainfall occurred in 1993 with a value of 3911.70mm and the least value in 1983 with a value of 1816.4mm. Owerri recorded the highest amount of rainfall of about 3064.0mm in 2011 and the least value occurred in 1986 with a value of 1228.4mm. In 1976 Benin received the

Spatial variability and rainfall characteristics of Kerala

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

Geographical regions of covariability in precipitation over the Kerala state are exposed using factor analysis. The results suggest that Kerala can be divided into three unique rainfall regions, each region having a similar covariance structure of annual rainfall. Stations north of 10◦N (north. Kerala) fall into one group and they ...

Transcranial Doppler ultrasound and cerebral angiography - alternative or complementary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bockenheimer, S.; Lorey, N.

1985-01-01

Transcranial Doppler ultrasound is a noninvasive method of recording the flow velocity of larger intracranial vessels. The impact on diagnosis of cerebravascular occlusive disease is not yet evaluated. We present 15 patients, age range 39-73 years, who suffered from completed stroke. The findings of transcranial Doppler ultrasound and of cerebral angiography are presented. The value of both methods in treatment strategy is discussed. (orig.) [de

Predictable progressive Doppler deterioration in IUGR: does it really exist?

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Unterscheider, Julia

2013-12-01

An objective of the Prospective Observational Trial to Optimize Pediatric Health in IUGR (PORTO) study was to evaluate multivessel Doppler changes in a large cohort of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) fetuses to establish whether a predictable progressive sequence of Doppler deterioration exists and to correlate these Doppler findings with respective perinatal outcomes.

Where do forests influence rainfall?

Science.gov (United States)

Wang-Erlandsson, Lan; van der Ent, Ruud; Fetzer, Ingo; Keys, Patrick; Savenije, Hubert; Gordon, Line

2017-04-01

Forests play a major role in hydrology. Not only by immediate control of soil moisture and streamflow, but also by regulating climate through evaporation (i.e., transpiration, interception, and soil evaporation). The process of evaporation travelling through the atmosphere and returning as precipitation on land is known as moisture recycling. Whether evaporation is recycled depends on wind direction and geography. Moisture recycling and forest change studies have primarily focused on either one region (e.g. the Amazon), or one biome type (e.g. tropical humid forests). We will advance this via a systematic global inter-comparison of forest change impacts on precipitation depending on both biome type and geographic location. The rainfall effects are studied for three contemporary forest changes: afforestation, deforestation, and replacement of mature forest by forest plantations. Furthermore, as there are indications in the literature that moisture recycling in some places intensifies during dry years, we will also compare the rainfall impacts of forest change between wet and dry years. We model forest change effects on evaporation using the global hydrological model STEAM and trace precipitation changes using the atmospheric moisture tracking scheme WAM-2layers. This research elucidates the role of geographical location of forest change driven modifications on rainfall as a function of the type of forest change and climatic conditions. These knowledge gains are important at a time of both rapid forest and climate change. Our conclusions nuance our understanding of how forests regulate climate and pinpoint hotspot regions for forest-rainfall coupling.

The use ofDoppler velocitnetry ofthe utnbilical artery before 24 ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

growth retardation with umbilical artery Doppler ultrasonography. BM] 1989; 298: 631-635. 12. Schulman H, Winter D, Farmakides G, er al. Pregnancy surveil- lance with Doppler velocimerry of the uterine and umbilical arter- ies. Am] Obstet Gyneco11989; 160: 192-196. 13. Hanrerry KP, Primrose MH, Neilson JP, Whittle MJ.

[Doppler echocardiography of tricuspid insufficiency. Methods of quantification].

Science.gov (United States)

Loubeyre, C; Tribouilloy, C; Adam, M C; Mirode, A; Trojette, F; Lesbre, J P

1994-01-01

Evaluation of tricuspid incompetence has benefitted considerably from the development of Doppler ultrasound. In addition to direct analysis of the valves, which provides information about the mechanism involved, this method is able to provide an accurate evaluation, mainly through use of the Doppler mode. In addition to new criteria being evaluated (mainly the convergence zone of the regurgitant jet), some indices are recognised as good quantitative parameters: extension of the regurgitant jet into the right atrium, anterograde tricuspid flow, laminar nature of the regurgitant flow, analysis of the flow in the supra-hepatic veins, this is only semi-quantitative, since the calculation of the regurgitation fraction from the pulsed Doppler does not seem to be reliable; This accurate semi-quantitative evaluation is made possible by careful and consistent use of all the criteria available. The authors set out to discuss the value of the various evaluation criteria mentioned in the literature and try to define a practical approach.

Effect of variations in rainfall intensity on slope stability in Singapore

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christofer Kristo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Numerous scientific evidence has given credence to the true existence and deleterious impacts of climate change. One aspect of climate change is the variations in rainfall patterns, which affect the flux boundary condition across ground surface. A possible disastrous consequence of this change is the occurrence of rainfall-induced slope failures. This paper aims to investigate the variations in rainfall patterns in Singapore and its effect on slope stability. Singapore's historical rainfall data from Seletar and Paya Lebar weather stations for the period of 1985–2009 were obtained and analysed by duration using linear regression. A general increasing trend was observed in both weather stations, with a possible shift to longer duration rainfall events, despite being statistically insignificant according to the Mann-Kendall test. Using the derived trends, projected rainfall intensities in 2050 and 2100 were used in the seepage and slope stability analyses performed on a typical residual soil slope in Singapore. A significant reduction in factor of safety was observed in the next 50 years, with only a marginal decrease in factor of safety in the subsequent 50 years. This indicates a possible detrimental effect of variations in rainfall patterns on slope stability in Singapore, especially in the next 50 years. The statistical analyses on rainfall data from Seletar and Paya Lebar weather stations for the period of 1985–2009 indicated that rainfall intensity tend to increase over the years, with a possible shift to longer duration rainfall events in the future. The stability analyses showed a significant decrease in factor of safety from 2003 to 2050 due to increase in rainfall intensity, suggesting that a climate change might have existed beyond 2009 with possibly detrimental effects to slope stability. Keywords: Climate change, Rainfall, Seepage, Slope stability

A protocol for conducting rainfall simulation to study soil runoff.

Science.gov (United States)

Kibet, Leonard C; Saporito, Louis S; Allen, Arthur L; May, Eric B; Kleinman, Peter J A; Hashem, Fawzy M; Bryant, Ray B

2014-04-03

Rainfall is a driving force for the transport of environmental contaminants from agricultural soils to surficial water bodies via surface runoff. The objective of this study was to characterize the effects of antecedent soil moisture content on the fate and transport of surface applied commercial urea, a common form of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, following a rainfall event that occurs within 24 hr after fertilizer application. Although urea is assumed to be readily hydrolyzed to ammonium and therefore not often available for transport, recent studies suggest that urea can be transported from agricultural soils to coastal waters where it is implicated in harmful algal blooms. A rainfall simulator was used to apply a consistent rate of uniform rainfall across packed soil boxes that had been prewetted to different soil moisture contents. By controlling rainfall and soil physical characteristics, the effects of antecedent soil moisture on urea loss were isolated. Wetter soils exhibited shorter time from rainfall initiation to runoff initiation, greater total volume of runoff, higher urea concentrations in runoff, and greater mass loadings of urea in runoff. These results also demonstrate the importance of controlling for antecedent soil moisture content in studies designed to isolate other variables, such as soil physical or chemical characteristics, slope, soil cover, management, or rainfall characteristics. Because rainfall simulators are designed to deliver raindrops of similar size and velocity as natural rainfall, studies conducted under a standardized protocol can yield valuable data that, in turn, can be used to develop models for predicting the fate and transport of pollutants in runoff.

Contrast-enhanced power Doppler US in the characterization of renal masses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ascenti, G.; Zimbaro, G.; Mazziotti, S.; Visalli, C.; Racchiusa, S.; Vinci, S.; Scribano, E.

2000-01-01

Purpose of this work is to report the results of a prospective study investigating the potentials of contrast-enhanced power Doppler in the diagnosis of expansive renal lesions. From 1997 to October 30, 1999, it was studied the case of 59 expansive renal lesions (28 malignant, 31 benign) in 48 patients (mean age 55 years, range 10-79) with power Doppler US before and after the administration of an echo-enhancing agent (Levovist, Schering AG, Berlin Germany). Were found 5 patterns of vascular architecture of the lesions, both before and after contrast agent administration, following the classification by Jinzaki e Coll. Power Doppler US showed vascular structures in 34 patients. The administration of Levovist revealed vessels in 12/25 lesions which had none at baseline studies and in 6 cases vascularity was particularly evident. Color signals were enhanced in all the 34 vascularized lesions, which allowed better definition of vascular patterns. The characterization of vascular patterns with baseline power Doppler US helped improve diagnostic accuracy compared to gray-scale US (58% versus 32%) for hyperechoic lesions, complex cysts and pseudomasses. Independent of contrast agent administration, the integration of gray-scale and power Doppler modes increased diagnostic accuracy even further (76% correct diagnoses). In our series, the US contrast agent did not increase the diagnostic accuracy of power Doppler in the differential diagnosis of hyperechoic renal lesions; conversely, Levovist can be advantageous for the characterization of suspected pseudomasses and complex cysts [it

Modern proposal of methodology for retrieval of characteristic synthetic rainfall hyetographs

Science.gov (United States)

Licznar, Paweł; Burszta-Adamiak, Ewa; Łomotowski, Janusz; Stańczyk, Justyna

2017-11-01

Modern engineering workshop of designing and modelling complex drainage systems is based on hydrodynamic modelling and has a probabilistic character. Its practical application requires a change regarding rainfall models accepted at the input. Previously used artificial rainfall models of simplified form, e.g. block precipitation or Euler's type II model rainfall are no longer sufficient. It is noticeable that urgent clarification is needed as regards the methodology of standardized rainfall hyetographs that would take into consideration the specifics of local storm rainfall temporal dynamics. The aim of the paper is to present a proposal for innovative methodology for determining standardized rainfall hyetographs, based on statistical processing of the collection of actual local precipitation characteristics. Proposed methodology is based on the classification of standardized rainfall hyetographs with the use of cluster analysis. Its application is presented on the example of selected rain gauges localized in Poland. Synthetic rainfall hyetographs achieved as a final result may be used for hydrodynamic modelling of sewerage systems, including probabilistic detection of necessary capacity of retention reservoirs.

Micro-Doppler Ambiguity Resolution for Wideband Terahertz Radar Using Intra-Pulse Interference.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Qi; Qin, Yuliang; Deng, Bin; Wang, Hongqiang; You, Peng

2017-04-29

Micro-Doppler, induced by micro-motion of targets, is an important characteristic of target recognition once extracted via parameter estimation methods. However, micro-Doppler is usually too significant to result in ambiguity in the terahertz band because of its relatively high carrier frequency. Thus, a micro-Doppler ambiguity resolution method for wideband terahertz radar using intra-pulse interference is proposed in this paper. The micro-Doppler can be reduced several dozen times its true value to avoid ambiguity through intra-pulse interference processing. The effectiveness of this method is proved by experiments based on a 0.22 THz wideband radar system, and its high estimation precision and excellent noise immunity are verified by Monte Carlo simulation.

A Comprehensive Radial Velocity Error Budget for Next Generation Doppler Spectrometers

Science.gov (United States)

Halverson, Samuel; Ryan, Terrien; Mahadevan, Suvrath; Roy, Arpita; Bender, Chad; Stefansson, Guomundur Kari; Monson, Andrew; Levi, Eric; Hearty, Fred; Blake, Cullen;

Investigation into increasing short-duration rainfall intensities in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2015-04-03

Apr 3, 2015 ... This study explores this expectation by using historical short-duration ... weather station 5-min rainfall data were combined to extend the effective ... evidence was found of trends or indications of changes in rainfall intensities.

Analysis of the sensitivity to rainfall spatio-temporal variability of an operational urban rainfall-runoff model in a multifractal framework

Science.gov (United States)

Gires, A.; Tchiguirinskaia, I.; Schertzer, D. J.; Lovejoy, S.

2011-12-01

In large urban areas, storm water management is a challenge with enlarging impervious areas. Many cities have implemented real time control (RTC) of their urban drainage system to either reduce overflow or limit urban contamination. A basic component of RTC is hydraulic/hydrologic model. In this paper we use the multifractal framework to suggest an innovative way to test the sensitivity of such a model to the spatio-temporal variability of its rainfall input. Indeed the rainfall variability is often neglected in urban context, being considered as a non-relevant issue at the scales involve. Our results show that on the contrary the rainfall variability should be taken into account. Universal multifractals (UM) rely on the concept of multiplicative cascade and are a standard tool to analyze and simulate with a reduced number of parameters geophysical processes that are extremely variable over a wide range of scales. This study is conducted on a 3 400 ha urban area located in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the North of Paris (France). We use the operational semi-distributed model that was calibrated by the local authority (Direction Eau et Assainnissement du 93) that is in charge of urban drainage. The rainfall data comes from the C-Band radar of Trappes operated by Météo-France. The rainfall event of February 9th, 2009 was used. A stochastic ensemble approach was implemented to quantify the uncertainty on discharge associated to the rainfall variability occurring at scales smaller than 1 km x 1 km x 5 min that is usually available with C-band radar networks. An analysis of the quantiles of the simulated peak flow showed that the uncertainty exceeds 20 % for upstream links. To evaluate a potential gain from a direct use of the rainfall data available at the resolution of X-band radar, we performed similar analysis of the rainfall fields of the degraded resolution of 9 km x 9 km x 20 min. The results show a clear decrease in uncertainty when the original resolution of C

Carotid Doppler ultrasound findings in patients with left ventricular assist devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Cervini, Patrick; Park, Soon J; Shah, Dipesh K; Penev, Irina E; Lewis, Bradley D

2010-12-01

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) have been used to treat advanced heart failure refractory to medical management, as bridge therapy to myocardial recovery, as bridge therapy to cardiac transplantation, or as destination therapy for patients with unfavorable transplant candidacy. Neurologic complications are some of the most common and devastating complications in these patients. Preoperative carotid ultrasound is, therefore, a standard evaluation in patients at risk for cerebrovascular disease. Postoperative carotid artery Doppler sonography is performed in those patients with neurologic symptoms. It is likely, therefore, that sonographers, radiologists, and other physicians working in a center where LVADs are implanted will likely encounter a carotid artery Doppler study in this patient group. To our knowledge, the carotid Doppler findings in these patients have never been published. We review the Doppler ultrasound findings in 6 patients after LVAD insertion.

Modelling rainfall amounts using mixed-gamma model for Kuantan district

Science.gov (United States)

Zakaria, Roslinazairimah; Moslim, Nor Hafizah

2017-05-01

An efficient design of flood mitigation and construction of crop growth models depend upon good understanding of the rainfall process and characteristics. Gamma distribution is usually used to model nonzero rainfall amounts. In this study, the mixed-gamma model is applied to accommodate both zero and nonzero rainfall amounts. The mixed-gamma model presented is for the independent case. The formulae of mean and variance are derived for the sum of two and three independent mixed-gamma variables, respectively. Firstly, the gamma distribution is used to model the nonzero rainfall amounts and the parameters of the distribution (shape and scale) are estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation method. Then, the mixed-gamma model is defined for both zero and nonzero rainfall amounts simultaneously. The formulae of mean and variance for the sum of two and three independent mixed-gamma variables derived are tested using the monthly rainfall amounts from rainfall stations within Kuantan district in Pahang Malaysia. Based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness of fit test, the results demonstrate that the descriptive statistics of the observed sum of rainfall amounts is not significantly different at 5% significance level from the generated sum of independent mixed-gamma variables. The methodology and formulae demonstrated can be applied to find the sum of more than three independent mixed-gamma variables.

The Effect of Rainfall Patterns on the Mechanisms of Shallow Slope Failure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Suradi

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This paper examines how rainfall patterns affect the mechanisms of shallow slope failure. Numerical modelling, utilising the commercial software SVFlux and SVSlope, was carried out for a coupled analysis of rainfall-induced slope seepage and instability, with reference to a shallow landslide took place in Jabiru, Northern Territory (NT Australia in 2007. Rainfall events were varied in terms of pattern in this analysis. The results revealed that slopes are sensitive to rainfall pattern when the rainfall intensity has a high degree of fluctuation at around the same value as that of saturated hydraulic conductivity. Average rainfall intensity at the beginning of a rainfall period plays a primary role in determining the rate of decrease in initial factor of safety (Fi towards minimum factor of safety (Fmin. The effect of rainfall events on the slope instability is attributed to the amount of rainwater infiltration into slope associated with rainfall pattern.

Application of spaceborne SAR data to uranium metallogenetic environment, condition and prognosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Xianfang; Huang Shutao; Dong Wenming; Pan Wei; Fang Maolong; Xuan Yanxiu

2001-01-01

JERS-1 SAR data processing and data fusion with TM, airborne radioactive and magnetic survey data have been elaborated and image effects have been described in the paper. By means of the analysis of the processed images, the stratigraphy, structures (including faults and folds) and ore-controlling factors in the study area have successfully been interpreted; the underground water mobile characteristics have been discussed; and the metallogenetic environment and condition have been summarized. Based on above research results, the prospecting criteria have been provided and favorable sections have been suggested. The practice has indicated that the application of spaceborne SAR data to uranium reconnaissance and exploration has potential prospects

Impact of climate change on extreme rainfall events and flood risk

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The analysis of the frequency of rainy days, rain days and heavy rainfall days as well as one-day extreme rainfall and return period has been carried out in this study to observe the impact of climate change on extreme rainfall events and flood risk in India. The frequency of heavy rainfall events are decreasing in major parts ...

Narrowing of electromagnetically induced transparency resonance in a Doppler-broadened medium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Javan, Ali; Kocharovskaya, Olga; Lee Hwang; Scully, Marlan O.

2002-01-01

We derive an analytic expression for the linewidth of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonance in a Doppler-broadened system. It is shown here that for relatively low intensity of the driving field the EIT linewidth is proportional to the square root of intensity and is independent of the Doppler width, similar to the laser-induced line narrowing effect described by Feld and Javan. In the limit of high intensity we recover the usual power-broadening case where the EIT linewidth is proportional to the intensity and inversely proportional to the Doppler width

Spatial Scaling of Global Rainfall and Flood Extremes

Science.gov (United States)

Devineni, Naresh; Lall, Upmanu; Xi, Chen; Ward, Philip

2014-05-01

Floods associated with severe storms are a significant source of risk for property, life and supply chains. These property losses tend to be determined as much by the duration and spatial extent of flooding as by the depth and velocity of inundation. High duration floods are typically induced by persistent rainfall (up to 30 day duration) as seen recently in Thailand, Pakistan, the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, France, and Germany. Events related to persistent and recurrent rainfall appear to correspond to the persistence of specific global climate patterns that may be identifiable from global, historical data fields, and also from climate models that project future conditions. In this paper, we investigate the statistical properties of the spatial manifestation of the rainfall exceedances and floods. We present the first ever results on a global analysis of the scaling characteristics of extreme rainfall and flood event duration, volumes and contiguous flooded areas as a result of large scale organization of long duration rainfall events. Results are organized by latitude and with reference to the phases of ENSO, and reveal surprising invariance across latitude. Speculation as to the potential relation to the dynamical factors is presented

What aspects of future rainfall changes matter for crop yields in West Africa?

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Kaiyu; Sultan, Benjamin; Biasutti, Michela; Baron, Christian; Lobell, David B.

2015-10-01

How rainfall arrives, in terms of its frequency, intensity, the timing and duration of rainy season, may have a large influence on rainfed agriculture. However, a thorough assessment of these effects is largely missing. This study combines a new synthetic rainfall model and two independently validated crop models (APSIM and SARRA-H) to assess sorghum yield response to possible shifts in seasonal rainfall characteristics in West Africa. We find that shifts in total rainfall amount primarily drive the rainfall-related crop yield change, with less relevance to intraseasonal rainfall features. However, dry regions (total annual rainfall below 500 mm/yr) have a high sensitivity to rainfall frequency and intensity, and more intense rainfall events have greater benefits for crop yield than more frequent rainfall. Delayed monsoon onset may negatively impact yields. Our study implies that future changes in seasonal rainfall characteristics should be considered in designing specific crop adaptations in West Africa.

Theoretical study of electromagnetically induced transparency in a five-level atom and application to Doppler-broadened and Doppler-free Rb atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhattacharyya, Dipankar; Ray, Biswajit; Ghosh, Pradip N

2007-01-01