Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis on the Rain-Wind-Induced Vibration of Cable Considering the Equilibrium Position of Rivulet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xijun Liu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The nonlinear dynamic behavior of rain-wind-induced vibration of inclined cable is investigated with the consideration of the equilibrium position of the moving rivulet. The partial differential governing equations of three-degree-of-freedom on the model of rain-wind-induced cable vibration are established, which are proposed for describing the nonlinear interactions among the in-plane, out-of-plane vibration of the cable and the oscillation of the moving rivulet. The Galerkin method is applied to discretize the partial differential governing equations. The approximately analytic solution is obtained by using the method of averaging. The unique correspondence between the wind and the equilibrium position of the rivulet is ascertained. The presence of rivulet at certain positions on the surface of cable is then proved to be one of the trigger for wind-rain-induced cable vibration. The nonlinear dynamic phenomena of the inclined cable subjected to wind and rain turbulence are then studied by varying the parameters including mean wind velocity, Coulomb damping force, damping ratio, the span length, and the initial tension of the inclined cable on the model. The jump phenomenon is also observed which occurs when there are multiple solutions in the system.

Wind-driven rain as a boundary condition for HAM simulations: analysis of simplified modelling approaches

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Janssen, Hans; Blocken, Bert; Roels, Staf

2007-01-01

While the numerical simulation of moisture transfer inside building components is currently undergoing standardisation, the modelling of the atmospheric boundary conditions has received far less attention. This article analyses the modelling of the wind-driven-rain load on building facades...... though: the full variability with the perpendicular wind speed and horizontal rain intensity should be preserved, where feasible, for improved estimations of the moisture transfer in building components. In the concluding section, it is moreover shown that the dependence of the surface moisture transfer...

Investigating Wind-Driven Rain Intrusion in Walls with the CARWASh

Science.gov (United States)

C.R. Boardman; Samuel V. Glass

2013-01-01

Wind-driven rain provides the primary external moisture load for exterior walls.Water absorption by the cladding, runoff, and penetration through the cladding or at details determine how a wall system performs. In this paper we describe a new laboratory facility that can create controlled outdoor and indoor conditions and use it to investigate the water...

Observations of C-Band Brightness Temperature and Ocean Surface Wind Speed and Rain Rate in Hurricanes Earl And Karl (2010)

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Timothy; James, Mark; Roberts, Brent J.; Biswax, Sayak; Uhlhorn, Eric; Black, Peter; Linwood Jones, W.; Johnson, Jimmy; Farrar, Spencer; Sahawneh, Saleem

2012-01-01

Ocean surface emission is affected by: a) Sea surface temperature. b) Wind speed (foam fraction). c) Salinity After production of calibrated Tb fields, geophysical fields wind speed and rain rate (or column) are retrieved. HIRAD utilizes NASA Instrument Incubator Technology: a) Provides unique observations of sea surface wind, temp and rain b) Advances understanding & prediction of hurricane intensity c) Expands Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer capabilities d) Uses synthetic thinned array and RFI mitigation technology of Lightweight Rain Radiometer (NASA Instrument Incubator) Passive Microwave C-Band Radiometer with Freq: 4, 5, 6 & 6.6 GHz: a) Version 1: H-pol for ocean wind speed, b) Version 2: dual ]pol for ocean wind vectors. Performance Characteristics: a) Earth Incidence angle: 0deg - 60deg, b) Spatial Resolution: 2-5 km, c) Swath: approx.70 km for 20 km altitude. Observational Goals: WS 10 - >85 m/s RR 5 - > 100 mm/hr.

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...

ANALYSIS OF DEBRIS FLOW DISASTER DUE TO HEAVY RAIN BY X-BAND MP RADAR DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Nishio

2016-06-01

Full Text Available On August 20 of 2014, Hiroshima City (Japan was struck by local heavy rain from an autumnal rain front. The resultant debris flow disaster claimed 75 victims and destroyed many buildings. From 1:30 am to 4:30 am on August 20, the accumulated rainfall in Hiroshima City exceeded 200 mm. Serious damage occurred in the Asakita and Asaminami wards of Hiroshima City. As a disaster prevention measure, local heavy rain (localized torrential rains is usually observed by the Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA and by the C-band radar operated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT of Japan, with spatial resolutions of 2.5 km and 1 km, respectively. The new X-band MP radar system enables more detailed rainfall observations than the C-band radar. In fact, this radar can observe local rainfall throughout Japan in near-real time over a minimum mesh size of 250 m. A fine-scale accumulated rainfall monitoring system is crucial for disaster prevention, and potential disasters can be alerted by the hazard levels of the accumulated rainfall.

A Synoptic Climatology of Heavy Rain Events in the Lake Eyre and Lake Frome Catchments

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Michael John Pook

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The rare occasions when Lake Eyre in central, southern Australia fills with water excite great interest and produce major ecological responses. The filling of other smaller lakes such as Lake Frome, have less impact but can contribute important information about the current and past climates of these arid regions. Here, the dominant synoptic systems responsible for heavy rainfall over the catchments of Lake Eyre and Lake Frome since 1950 are identified and compared. Heavy rain events are defined as those where the mean catchment rainfall for 24 hours reaches a prescribed threshold. There were 25 such daily events at Lake Eyre and 28 in the Lake Frome catchment. The combination of a monsoon trough at mean sea level and a geopotential trough in the mid-troposphere was found to be the synoptic system responsible for the majority of the heavy rain events affecting Lake Eyre and one in five of the events at Lake Frome. Complex fronts where subtropical interactions occurred with Southern Ocean fronts also contributed over 20% of the heavy rainfall events in the Frome catchment. Surface troughs without upper air support were found to be associated with 10% or fewer of events in each catchment, indicating that mean sea level pressure analyses alone do not adequately capture the complexity of the heavy rainfall events. At least 80% of the heavy rain events across both catchments occurred when the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI was in its positive phase, and for Lake Frome, the SOI exceeded +10 on 60% of occasions, suggesting that the background atmospheric state in the Pacific Ocean was tilted towards La Niña. Hydrological modeling of the catchments suggests that the 12-month running mean of the soil moisture in a sub-surface layer provides a low frequency filter of the precipitation and matches measured lake levels relatively well.

Export of 134 Cs and 137 Cs in the Fukushima river systems at heavy rains by Typhoon Roke in September 2011

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Nagao

2013-10-01

Full Text Available At stations on the Natsui River and the Same River in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, effects of a heavy rain event on radiocesium export were studied after Typhoon Roke during 21–22 September 2011, six months after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Radioactivity of 134Cs and 137Cs in river waters was 0.009–0.098 Bq L−1 in normal flow conditions during July–September 2011, but it increased to 0.85 Bq L−1 in high flow conditions because of heavy rains occurring with the typhoon. The particulate fractions of 134Cs and 137Cs were 21–56% of total radiocesium in the normal flow condition, but were close to 100% after the typhoon. These results indicate that the pulse input of radiocesium associated with suspended particles from land to coastal ocean occurred because of the heavy rain event. Export flux of 134Cs and 137Cs attributable to the heavy rain accounts for 30–50% of the annual radiocesium flux from inland to coastal ocean region in 2011. Results show that rain events are one factor contributing to the transport and dispersion of radiocesium in river watersheds and coastal marine environments.

Leaching Behavior of Heavy Metals and Transformation of Their Speciation in Polluted Soil Receiving Simulated Acid Rain

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Shun-an; Zheng, Xiangqun; Chen, Chun

2012-01-01

Heavy metals that leach from contaminated soils under acid rain are of increasing concern. In this study, simulated acid rain (SAR) was pumped through columns of artificially contaminated purple soil. Column leaching tests and sequential extraction were conducted for the heavy metals Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn to determine the extent of their leaching as well as to examine the transformation of their speciation in the artificially contaminated soil columns. Results showed that the maximum leachate concentrations of Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn were less than those specified in the Chinese Quality Standards for Groundwater (Grade IV), thereby suggesting that the heavy metals that leached from the polluted purple soil receiving acid rain may not pose as risks to water quality. Most of the Pb and Cd leachate concentrations were below their detection limits. By contrast, higher Cu and Zn leachate concentrations were found because they were released by the soil in larger amounts as compared with those of Pb and Cd. The differences in the Cu and Zn leachate concentrations between the controls (SAR at pH 5.6) and the treatments (SAR at pH 3.0 and 4.5) were significant. Similar trends were observed in the total leached amounts of Cu and Zn. The proportions of Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn in the EXC and OX fractions were generally increased after the leaching experiment at three pH levels, whereas those of the RES, OM, and CAR fractions were slightly decreased. Acid rain favors the leaching of heavy metals from the contaminated purple soil and makes the heavy metal fractions become more labile. Moreover, a pH decrease from 5.6 to 3.0 significantly enhanced such effects. PMID:23185399

Variants of synoptic-scale patterns inducing heavy rains in the Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kašpar, Marek; Müller, Miloslav

2010-01-01

Roč. 35, 9-12 (2010), s. 477-483 ISSN 1474-7065 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KJB300420701; GA AV ČR KJB300420802 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : Widespread heavy rain * synoptic-scale pattern * moisture flux * classification Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 0.917, year: 2010

Efficient inhibition of heavy metal release from mine tailings against acid rain exposure by triethylenetetramine intercalated montmorillonite (TETA-Mt).

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Beini; Wu, Pingxiao; Huang, Zhujian; Li, Yuanyuan; Yang, Shanshan; Dang, Zhi; Ruan, Bo; Kang, Chunxi

2016-11-15

The potential application of triethylenetetramine intercalated montmorillonite (TETA-Mt) in mine tailings treatment and AMD (acid mine drainage) remediation was investigated with batch experiments. The structural and morphological characteristics of TETA-Mt were analyzed with XRD, FTIR, DTG-TG and SEM. The inhibition efficiencies of TETA-Mt against heavy metal release from mine tailings when exposed to acid rain leaching was examined and compared with that of triethylenetetramine (TETA) and Mt. Results showed that the overall inhibition by TETA-Mt surpassed that by TETA or Mt for various heavy metal ions over an acid rain pH range of 3-5.6 and a temperature range of 25-40°C. When mine tailings were exposed to acid rain of pH 4.8 (the average rain pH of the mining site where the mine tailings were from), TETA-Mt achieved an inhibition efficiency of over 90% for Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Cd(2+) and Mn(2+) release, and 70% for Pb(2+) at 25°C. It was shown that TETA-Mt has a strong buffering capacity. Moreover, TETA-Mt was able to adsorb heavy metal ions and the adsorption process was fast, suggesting that coordination was mainly responsible. These results showed the potential of TETA-Mt in AMD mitigation, especially in acid rain affected mining area. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Microwave Remote Sensing of Ocean Surface Wind Speed and Rain Rates over Tropical Storms

Science.gov (United States)

Swift, C. T.; Dehority, D. C.; Black, P. G.; Chien, J. Z.

1984-01-01

The value of using narrowly spaced frequencies within a microwave band to measure wind speeds and rain rates over tropical storms with radiometers is reviewed. The technique focuses on results obtained in the overflights of Hurricane Allen during 5 and 8 of August, 1980.

Laboratory testing of joints between windows and highly insulated cavity walls. Investigations of tightness against rain and wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kjaer, A

1983-10-01

In the Danish energy research programme, 1EFP 80, a number of laboratory tests have been carried out on models of highly insulated cavity brick walls in order to study rain- and wind tightness of the joints between windows and such walls. Tests have been carried out with joints tightened only with a rain barrier as well as with joints according to the two stage joint principle. In the exterior part of the joint has in both cases been used a mortar, and expanding gasket, an EPDM-profile and wooden battens. Further an experiment has been carried out on a plastic window, where mastic was used as well in the exterior as the interior part of the joint. The findings were that a two-stage joint gives the best performance as well regarding air tightness as rain tightness. Further the experiments have shown that a window frame should have a depth of at least 90 mm in order to design a joint between window and wall, which is satisfactory as well regarding thermal insulation as resistance to rain and wind.

Determination of wind erosion intensity on heavy clay soils

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Kozlovsky Dufková

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Wind erosion, common problem of light-textured soils, was determined on heavy clay soils in the foothills of Bílé Karpaty Mountains, Czech Republic. Soil erodibility by wind was determined from the Map of potential erodibility of soil by wind and from the calculation of potential and real soil loss by wind. All the determinations show underestimation of soil erodibility by wind on heavy clay soils, because methods that are used for this are based above all on the assessment of clay particles content and the presumption the more clay particles soil contains, the less vulnerable to wind erosion is. The potential erodibility of soil by wind is 0,09 t . ha−1 per year. The determined value does not exceed the tolerable soil loss limit 10 t . ha−1 per year for deep soils. The real average erodibility of soil by wind has the highest value 1,47 g . m−2 on November 30th, 2008. Other soil losses that do not exceed the tolerable soil loss limit 1,4 g . m−2, were determined on March 18th and 28th, 2008. Big difficulties come with the assessment of the erodibility of heavy clay soils in the areas, where soil erosion ve­ri­fia­bly exists, but it is not assessable by objective calculating methods. Evident necessity of new know­ledge concerning the determination of wind erosion intensity follows from the results.

Cloud structure evolution of heavy rain events from the East-West Pacific Ocean: a combined global observation analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Sekaranom, A. B.; Nurjani, E.; Pujiastuti, I.

2018-04-01

Heavy rain events are often associated with flood hazards as one of the most devastating events across the globe. It is therefore essential to identify the evolution of heavy rainfall cloud structures, primarily from global satellite observation, as a tool to provide better disaster early warning systems. To identify the mechanism of heavy rainfall systems and its relationship with cloud development, especially over The Pacific Ocean, we aim to study the westward evolution of the convective systems over this area. Several datasets from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), CloudSat GEOPROF product, and ECMWF-reanalysis (ERA) interim were utilized to characterize the evolution. Geolocation and orbital time-lag analysis of the three different datasets for more than 8 years (2006-2014) could provide information related to the evolution of cloud structures associated with heavy rain events. In the first step, a heavy rainfall database was generated from TRMM. The CloudSat coordinate and time position were then matched with TRMM coordinate and time position. All of the processes were programatically conducted in fortran programming language. The result shows a transition between East and West Pacific ocean for TMI data.

The Role of Southwesterly Flow in MCS Formation During a Heavy Rain Event in Taiwan on 12 - 13 June 2005

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fang-Ching Chien

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a numerical study of a heavy rain event that occurred in southern Taiwan in June 2005. From 11 - 13 June 2005, a weak Mei-yu front moved southeastward from China to Taiwan, while mesoscale convective systems (MCSs were developing and moving northward over the northern South China Sea (SCS. During the first day of the event the southwesterly flow intensified when a ridge associated with the Pacific high extended northwestward from the Philippines to the southern Taiwan Strait (TS. This pressure pattern produced a large northwestward pressure gradient force that created a southeasterly wind speed increase followed by intensification of the southwesterly flow through Coriolis acceleration. An low-level jet (LLJ formed consequently and transported moisture and unstable air toward the southwestern coast of Taiwan. MCSs were triggered in the southwesterly flow because the potentially unstable air was lifted in a low-level convergence and shearing vorticity environment. They intensified, became organized, and moved northeastward overland, resulting in heavy rainfall in southern Taiwan. On the second day, low pressure formed near the southern TS because of the combined effect of a travelling short-wave trough and a pressure reduction resulting from the latent heat release by the evolving MCSs. This pressure change produced down-gradient acceleration in the northeastward direction, resulting in southwesterly flow strengthening. The local wind acceleration was smaller than that of the first day because the dominant pressure system was local scale, while that of the first day was synoptic scale.

Study of atmospheric condition during the heavy rain event in Bojonegoro using weather research and forecasting (WRF) model: case study 9 February 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Saragih, I. J. A.; Meygatama, A. G.; Sugihartati, F. M.; Sidauruk, M.; Mulsandi, A.

2018-03-01

During 2016, there are frequent heavy rains in the Bojonegoro region, one of which is rain on 9 February 2016. The occurrence of heavy rainfall can cause the floods that inundate the settlements, rice fields, roads, and public facilities. This makes it important to analyze the atmospheric conditions during the heavy rainfall events in Bojonegoro. One of the analytical methods that can be used is using WRF-Advanced Research WRF (WRF-ARW) model. This study was conducted by comparing the rain analysis from WRF-ARW model with the Himawari-8 satellite imagery. The data used are Final Analysis (FNL) data for the WRF-ARW model and infrared (IR) channel for Himawari-8 satellite imagery. The data are processed into the time-series images and then analyzed descriptively. The meteorological parameters selected to be analyzed are relative humidity, vortices, divergences, air stability index, and precipitation. These parameters are expected to indicate the existence of a convective activity in Bojonegoro during the heavy rainfall event. The Himawari-8 satellite imagery shows that there is a cluster of convective clouds in Bojonegoro during the heavy rainfall event. The lowest value of the cloud top temperature indicates that the cluster of convective clouds is a cluster of Cumulonimbus cloud (CB).

Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) Observations of Brightness Temperatures and Ocean Surface Wind Speed and Rain Rate During NASA's GRIP and HS3 Campaigns

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Timothy L.; James, M. W.; Roberts, J. B.; Jones, W. L.; Biswas, S.; Ruf, C. S.; Uhlhorn, E. W.; Atlas, R.; Black, P.; Albers, C.

2012-01-01

HIRAD flew on high-altitude aircraft over Earl and Karl during NASA s GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) campaign in August - September of 2010, and plans to fly over Atlantic tropical cyclones in September of 2012 as part of the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission. HIRAD is a new C-band radiometer using a synthetic thinned array radiometer (STAR) technology to obtain spatial resolution of approximately 2 km, out to roughly 30 km each side of nadir. By obtaining measurements of emissions at 4, 5, 6, and 6.6 GHz, observations of ocean surface wind speed and rain rate can be retrieved. The physical retrieval technique has been used for many years by precursor instruments, including the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), which has been flying on the NOAA and USAF hurricane reconnaissance aircraft for several years to obtain observations within a single footprint at nadir angle. Results from the flights during the GRIP and HS3 campaigns will be shown, including images of brightness temperatures, wind speed, and rain rate. Comparisons will be made with observations from other instruments on the campaigns, for which HIRAD observations are either directly comparable or are complementary. Features such as storm eye and eye-wall, location of storm wind and rain maxima, and indications of dynamical features such as the merging of a weaker outer wind/rain maximum with the main vortex may be seen in the data. Potential impacts on operational ocean surface wind analyses and on numerical weather forecasts will also be discussed.

Hurricane Wind Speed Estimation Using WindSat 6 and 10 GHz Brightness Temperatures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Zhang

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The realistic and accurate estimation of hurricane intensity is highly desired in many scientific and operational applications. With the advance of passive microwave polarimetry, an alternative opportunity for retrieving wind speed in hurricanes has become available. A wind speed retrieval algorithm for wind speeds above 20 m/s in hurricanes has been developed by using the 6.8 and 10.7 GHz vertically and horizontally polarized brightness temperatures of WindSat. The WindSat measurements for 15 category 4 and category 5 hurricanes from 2003 to 2010 and the corresponding H*wind analysis data are used to develop and validate the retrieval model. In addition, the retrieved wind speeds are also compared to the Remote Sensing Systems (RSS global all-weather product and stepped-frequency microwave radiometer (SFMR measurements. The statistical results show that the mean bias and the overall root-mean-square (RMS difference of the retrieved wind speeds with respect to the H*wind analysis data are 0.04 and 2.75 m/s, respectively, which provides an encouraging result for retrieving hurricane wind speeds over the ocean surface. The retrieved wind speeds show good agreement with the SFMR measurements. Two case studies demonstrate that the mean bias and RMS difference are 0.79 m/s and 1.79 m/s for hurricane Rita-1 and 0.63 m/s and 2.38 m/s for hurricane Rita-2, respectively. In general, the wind speed retrieval accuracy of the new model in hurricanes ranges from 2.0 m/s in light rain to 3.9 m/s in heavy rain.

Estimation of the effects of rain-wind induced vibration in the design stage of inclined stay cables

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geurts, C.P.W.; Staalduinen, P.C. van

1999-01-01

Rain-wind induced vibration of stay cables is a great concern for the designers of cable stayed bridges. Despite numerous experimental investigations, an accurate quantitative prediction of this effect in the design stage is not feasible without extensive experiments. This paper presents a model to

Solar wind flows associated with hot heavy ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fenimore, E.E.

1980-05-01

Solar wind heavy ion spectra measured with the Vela instrumentation have been studied with the goal of determining the solar origins of various solar wind structures which contain anomalously high ionization states. Since the ionization states freeze-in close to the sun they are good indicators of the plasma conditions in the low and intermediate corona. Heavy ion spectra from three different periods throughout the solar cycle have been analyzed. These data are consistent with freezing-in temperatures ranging from approx. 1.5 x 10 6 K to higher than 9 x 10 6 . The spectra indicating hot coronal conditions occur in roughly 1/7 of all measurements and almost exclusively in postshock flows (PSFs), nonshock related helium abundance enhancements (HAEs), or noncompressive density enhancements (NCDEs). The PSFs and HAEs are both probably interplanetary manifestations of solar flares. The observation of several flare-related HAEs which were not preceded by an interplanetary shock suggests that the flare-heated plasma can evolve into the solar wind without producing a noticeable shock at 1 AU. The NCDEs with hot heavy ions differ from the PSF-HAEs in several ways implying that they evolve from events or places with lower temperatures and less energy than those associated with the flares, but with higher temperatures and densities than the quiet corona. Active regions, coronal mass ejections, and equatorial streamers are possible sources for the NCDEs with spectra indicating hot coronal conditions. These events owe their enhanced densities to coronal processes as opposed to interplanetary dynamical processes. Models of the solar wind expansion demonstrate how some NCDEs can have extreme, nonequilibrium ionization distributions

Climate change and heavy rain events in the central U.S

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kunkel, K.E.

1994-01-01

Floods are one of the most destructive weather-related natural hazards, annually responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars of damage in the United States. The 1993 Upper Mississippi River flood was particularly devastating, with losses estimate at $15--20 billion. Climate change caused by anthropogenic releases of trace gases into the atmosphere may potentially affect the frequency and/or intensity of the meteorological conditions that cause floods. Flood control structures often have lifetimes of 50 to 100 years or more. Since design decisions are being made today for flood control structures that will still be in operation in the late 21st century, it is important to study the possibility that changes in flooding may result due to possible climate change. In this paper, the authors describe an analysis of heavy precipitation events. In particular, they identify the principal meteorological conditions that are associated with these events. An approach to assessing the impacts of climate change on flood-producing heavy rain events is outlined. Kunkel et al. (1993) found that floods on small streams in the central US could be closely related to large rain accumulations over 5--10-day periods. Typically, these accumulations are the result of two or more sizable individual events. The first event may set the stage by creating wet topsoils. The following events then result in high runoff. The present study focuses on these multiday events as a primary meteorological cause of floods. Obviously other factors, such as antecedent soil moisture, play a role in determining the exact amount and temporal distribution of runoff for any particular event. This analysis thus represents a first-order look at possible changes in flooding due to climate change

Annual monsoon rains recorded by Jurassic dunes.

Science.gov (United States)

Loope, D B; Rowe, C M; Joeckel, R M

2001-07-05

Pangaea, the largest landmass in the Earth's history, was nearly bisected by the Equator during the late Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic eras. Modelling experiments and stratigraphic studies have suggested that the supercontinent generated a monsoonal atmospheric circulation that led to extreme seasonality, but direct evidence for annual rainfall periodicity has been lacking. In the Mesozoic era, about 190 million years ago, thick deposits of wind-blown sand accumulated in dunes of a vast, low-latitude desert at Pangaea's western margin. These deposits are now situated in the southwestern USA. Here we analyse slump masses in the annual depositional cycles within these deposits, which have been described for some outcrops of the Navajo Sandstone. Twenty-four slumps, which were generated by heavy rainfall, appear within one interval representing 36 years of dune migration. We interpret the positions of 20 of these masses to indicate slumping during summer monsoon rains, with the other four having been the result of winter storms. The slumped lee faces of these Jurassic dunes therefore represent a prehistoric record of yearly rain events.

Controlling mechanisms of surface partial pressure of CO2 in Jiaozhou Bay during summer and the influence of heavy rain

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yunxiao; Yang, Xufeng; Han, Ping; Xue, Liang; Zhang, Longjun

2017-09-01

Due to the combined effects of natural processes and human activities, carbon source/sink processes and mechanisms in the coastal ocean are becoming more and more important in current ocean carbon cycle research. Based on differences in the ratio of total alkalinity (TA) to dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) associated with terrestrial input, biological process (production and respiration), calcium carbonate (CaCO3) process (precipitation and dissolution) and CO2 evasion/invasion, we discuss the mechanisms controlling the surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) during summer and the influence of heavy rain, via three cruises performed in mid-June, early July and late July of 2014. In mid-June and in early July, without heavy rain or obvious river input, sea surface pCO2 ranged from 521 to 1080 μatm and from 547 to 998 μatm, respectively. The direct input of DIC from sewage and the intense respiration produced large DIC additions and the highest pCO2 values in the northeast of the bay near the downtown of Qingdao. However, in the west of the bay, significant CaCO3 precipitation led to DIC removal but no obvious increase in pCO2, which was just close to that in the central area. Due to the shallow depth and longer water residence time in this region, this pattern may be related to the sustained release of CO2 into the atmosphere. In late July, heavy rain promoted river input in the western and eastern portions of JZB. Strong primary production led to a significant decrease in pCO2 in the western area, with the lowest pCO2 value of 252 μatm. However, in the northeastern area, the intense respiration remained, and the highest pCO2 value was 1149 μatm. The average air-sea CO2 flux in mid-June and early July was 20.23 mmol m- 2 d- 1 and 23.56 mmol m- 2 d- 1, respectively. In contrast, in late July, sources became sinks for atmospheric CO2 in the western and central areas of the bay, halving the average air-sea CO2 flux to a value of 10.58 mmol m- 2

Analysis of heavy-rain-producing elevated thunderstorms in the MO-KS-OK region of the United States

Science.gov (United States)

McCoy, Laurel

al. 2003). 1.2 Objectives The two most common severe weather threats associated with elevated thunderstorms are heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding and hail (Grant 1995; Markowski and Richardson 2010). This study mainly focuses on elevated thunderstorms that produce heavy rainfall in the region encompassing the following National Weather Service county warning areas: Kansas City/Pleasant Hill, Springfield, Tulsa, Wichita, and Topeka. The goals of this study are to: 1) Solidify our understanding of synoptic and mesoscale environmental conditions that lead to the development of heavy-rain-producing elevated thunderstorms 2) Differentiate storms that produce heavy rainfall from those that produce little-tono rainfall.

Solar wind heavy ions from energetic coronal events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bame, S.J.

1978-01-01

Ions heavier than those of He can be resolved in the solar wind with electrostatic E/q analyzers when the local thermal temperatures are low. Ordinarily this condition prevails in the low speed solar wind found between high speed streams, i.e. the interstream, IS, solar wind. Various ions of O, Si and Fe are resolved in IS heavy ion spectra. Relative ion peak intensities indicate that the O ionization state is established in the IS coronal source regions at approx. 2.1 x 10 6 K while the state of Fe is frozen in at approx. 1.5 x 10 6 K farther out. Occasionally, anomalous spectra are observed in which the usually third most prominent ion peak, O 8+ , is depressed as are the Fe peaks ranging from Fe 12+ to Fe 7+ . A prominent peak in the usual Si 8+ position of IS spectra is self-consistently shown to be Fe 16+ . These features demonstrate that the ionization states were frozen in at higher than usual coronal temperatures. The source regions of these hot heavy ion spectra are identified as energetic coronal events including flares and nonflare coronal mass ejections. 24 references

[Analysis of acid rain characteristics of Lin'an Regional Background Station using long-term observation data].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zheng-Quan; Ma, Hao; Mao, Yu-Ding; Feng, Tao

2014-02-01

Using long-term observation data of acid rain at Lin'an Regional Background Station (Lin'an RBS), this paper studied the interannual and monthly variations of acid rain, the reasons for the variations, and the relationships between acid rain and meteorological factors. The results showed that interannual variation of acid rain at Lin'an RBS had a general increasing trend in which there were two obvious intensifying processes and two distinct weakening processes, during the period ranging from 1985 to 2012. In last two decades, the monthly variation of acid rain at Lin'an RBS indicated that rain acidity and frequency of severe acid rain were increasing but the frequency of weak acid rain was decreasing when moving towards bilateral side months of July. Acid rain occurrence was affected by rainfall intensity, wind speed and wind direction. High frequency of severe acid rain and low frequency of weak acid rain were on days with drizzle, but high frequency of weak acid rain and low frequency of severe acid rain occurred on rainstorm days. With wind speed upgrading, the frequency of acid rain and the proportion of severe acid rain were declining, the pH value of precipitation was reducing too. Another character is that daily dominant wind direction of weak acid rain majorly converged in S-W section ,however that of severe acid rain was more likely distributed in N-E section. The monthly variation of acid rain at Lin'an RBS was mainly attributed to precipitation variation, the increasing and decreasing of monthly incoming wind from SSE-WSW and NWN-ENE sections of wind direction. The interannual variation of acid rain could be due to the effects of energy consumption raising and significant green policies conducted in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai.

Impact, runoff and drying of wind-driven rain on a window glass surface: numerical modelling based on experimental validation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blocken, B.J.E.; Carmeliet, J.E.

2015-01-01

This paper presents a combination of two models to study both the impingement and the contact and surface phenomena of rainwater on a glass window surface: a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for the calculation of the distribution of the wind-driven rain (WDR) across the building facade and

ACE/SWICS OBSERVATIONS OF HEAVY ION DROPOUTS WITHIN THE SOLAR WIND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weberg, Micah J. [PhD Candidate in Space and Planetary Physics, 2435 Space Research Building, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA. (United States); Zurbuchen, Thomas H. [Professor, Space Science and Aerospace Engineering, Associate Dean for Entrepreneurship, 2429 Space Research Building, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA. (United States); Lepri, Susan T., E-mail: mjweberg@umich.edu, E-mail: thomasz@umich.edu, E-mail: slepri@umich.edu [Associate Research Scientist, 2417 Space Research Building, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA. (United States)

2012-11-20

We present the first in situ observations of heavy ion dropouts within the slow solar wind, observed for select elements ranging from helium to iron. For iron, these dropouts manifest themselves as depletions of the Fe/H ratio by factors up to {approx}25. The events often exhibit mass-dependent fractionation and are contained in slow, unsteady wind found within a few days from known stream interfaces. We propose that such dropouts are evidence of gravitational settling within large coronal loops, which later undergo interchange reconnection and become source regions of slow, unsteady wind. Previously, spectroscopic studies by Raymond et al. in 1997 (and later Feldman et al. in 1999) have yielded strong evidence for gravitational settling within these loops. However, their expected in situ signature plasma with heavy elements fractionated by mass was not observed prior to this study. Using data from the SWICS instrument on board the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), we investigate the composition of the solar wind within these dropouts and explore long term trends over most of a solar cycle.

ACE/SWICS OBSERVATIONS OF HEAVY ION DROPOUTS WITHIN THE SOLAR WIND

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weberg, Micah J.; Zurbuchen, Thomas H.; Lepri, Susan T.

2012-01-01

We present the first in situ observations of heavy ion dropouts within the slow solar wind, observed for select elements ranging from helium to iron. For iron, these dropouts manifest themselves as depletions of the Fe/H ratio by factors up to ∼25. The events often exhibit mass-dependent fractionation and are contained in slow, unsteady wind found within a few days from known stream interfaces. We propose that such dropouts are evidence of gravitational settling within large coronal loops, which later undergo interchange reconnection and become source regions of slow, unsteady wind. Previously, spectroscopic studies by Raymond et al. in 1997 (and later Feldman et al. in 1999) have yielded strong evidence for gravitational settling within these loops. However, their expected in situ signature plasma with heavy elements fractionated by mass was not observed prior to this study. Using data from the SWICS instrument on board the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), we investigate the composition of the solar wind within these dropouts and explore long term trends over most of a solar cycle.

Thinking in the Rain.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, Albert A.

1989-01-01

Four questions related to rain concerning aerodynamic drag force, pressure from the impact of raindrops, impact of wind on the pressure, and stopping force extended on the car by the water are proposed. (YP)

Characteristics of rain penetration through a gravity ventilator used for natural ventilation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Taehyeung; Lee, Dong Ho; Ahn, Kwangseog; Ha, Hyunchul; Park, Heechang; Piao, Cheng Xu; Li, Xiaoyu; Seo, Jeoungyoon

2008-01-01

Gravity ventilators rely simply on air buoyancy to extract air and are widely used to exhaust air contaminants and heat from workplaces using minimal energy. They are designed to maximize the exhaust flow rate, but the rain penetration sometimes causes malfunctioning. In this study, the characteristics of rain penetration through a ventilator were examined as a preliminary study to develop a ventilator with the maximum exhaust capacity while minimizing rain penetration. A model ventilator was built and exposed to artificial rain and wind. The paths, intensities and amounts of penetration through the ventilator were observed and measured in qualitative and quantitative fashions. In the first phase, the pathways and intensities of rain penetration were visually observed. In the second phase, the amounts of rain penetration were quantitatively measured under the different configurations of ventilator components that were installed based on the information obtained in the first-phase experiment. The effects of wind speed, grill direction, rain drainage width, outer wall height, neck height and leaning angle of the outer wall from the vertical position were analyzed. Wind speed significantly affected rain penetration. Under the low crosswind conditions, the rain penetration intensities were under the limit of detection. Under the high crosswind conditions, grill direction and neck height were the most significant factors in reducing rain penetration. The installation of rain drainage was also important in reducing rain penetration. The experimental results suggest that, with proper configurations of its components, a gravity ventilator can be used for natural ventilation without significant rain penetration problems.

Re-inventing prevention? - An evaluation of tools for strengthening private preparedness for floods and heavy rains

Science.gov (United States)

Rohland, Stefanie; Pfurtscheller, Clemens; Seebauer, Sebastian

2016-04-01

Keywords: private preparedness, property protection, flood, heavy rains, Transtheoretical Model, evaluation of methods and tools Experiences in Europe and Austria from coping with numerous floods and heavy rain events in recent decades point to room for improvement in reducing damages and adverse effects. One of the emerging issues is private preparedness, which has only received punctual attention in Austria until now. Current activities to promote property protection are, however, not underpinned by a long-term strategy, thus minimizing their cumulative effect. While printed brochures and online information are widely available, innovative information services, tailored to and actively addressing specific target groups, are thin on the ground. This project reviews (national as well as international) established approaches, with a focus on German-speaking areas, checking their long-term effectiveness with the help of expert workshops and an empirical analysis of survey data. The Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska, 1977) serves as the analytical framework: We assign specific tools to distinct stages of behavioural change. People's openness to absorb risk information or their willingness to engage in private preparedness depend on an incremental process of considering, appraising, introducing and finally maintaining preventive actions. Based on this stage-specific perspective and the workshop results, gaps of intervention are identified to define best-practice examples and recommendations that can be realized within the prevailing legislative and organizational framework at national, regional and local level in Austria.

Deep Joint Rain Detection and Removal from a Single Image

OpenAIRE

Yang, Wenhan; Tan, Robby T.; Feng, Jiashi; Liu, Jiaying; Guo, Zongming; Yan, Shuicheng

2016-01-01

In this paper, we address a rain removal problem from a single image, even in the presence of heavy rain and rain streak accumulation. Our core ideas lie in the new rain image models and a novel deep learning architecture. We first modify an existing model comprising a rain streak layer and a background layer, by adding a binary map that locates rain streak regions. Second, we create a new model consisting of a component representing rain streak accumulation (where individual streaks cannot b...

Raspberry Pi Based Intelligent Wireless Sensor Node for Localized Torrential Rain Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaozhuo Xu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks are proved to be effective in long-time localized torrential rain monitoring. However, the existing widely used architecture of wireless sensor networks for rain monitoring relies on network transportation and back-end calculation, which causes delay in response to heavy rain in localized areas. Our work improves the architecture by applying logistic regression and support vector machine classification to an intelligent wireless sensor node which is created by Raspberry Pi. The sensor nodes in front-end not only obtain data from sensors, but also can analyze the probabilities of upcoming heavy rain independently and give early warnings to local clients in time. When the sensor nodes send the probability to back-end server, the burdens of network transport are released. We demonstrate by simulation results that our sensor system architecture has potentiality to increase the local response to heavy rain. The monitoring capacity is also raised.

Feature analysis and primary causes of pre-flood season "cumulative effect" of torrential rain over South China

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Qu-cheng; Wang, Qi-guang; Qiao, Shao-bo; Feng, Guo-lin

2018-01-01

When persistent rainfall occurs frequently over South China, meso-scale and micro-scale synoptic systems persist and expand in space and time and eventually form meso-scale and long-scale weather processes. The accumulation of multiple torrential rain processes is defined as a "cumulative effect" of torrential rain (CETR) event. In this paper, daily reanalysis datasets collected by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Department of Energy (NCEP-DOE) during 1979-2014 are used to study the anomalous features and causes of heavy CETR events over South China. The results show that there is a significant difference in the spatial distribution of the heavy CETR events. Based on the center position of the CETR, the middle region displayed middle-region-heavy CETR events while the western region displayed west-region-heavy CETR events. El Niño events in the previous period (December, January, February, March (DJFM)) are major extra-forcing factors of middle-region-heavy CETR events, which is beneficial for the continuous, anomalous Philippine Sea anticyclone and strengthens the West Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH), extending it more westward than normal. The primary water vapor source for precipitation in middle-region-heavy CETR events is the Tropical Western Pacific Ocean. The major extra-forcing factor of a west-region-heavy CETR is the negative anomaly in the southern Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) during the previous period (DJFM). This factor is beneficial for strengthening the cross-equatorial flow and westerly winds from the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea (SCS) and early SCS summer monsoon onset. The primary water vapor source of precipitation in the west-region-heavy CETR is the southern TIO.

Estimates of Sputter Yields of Solar-Wind Heavy Ions of Lunar Regolith Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Barghouty, Abdulmasser F.; Adams, James H., Jr.

2008-01-01

At energies of approximately 1 keV/amu, solar-wind protons and heavy ions interact with the lunar surface materials via a number of microscopic interactions that include sputtering. Solar-wind induced sputtering is a main mechanism by which the composition of the topmost layers of the lunar surface can change, dynamically and preferentially. This work concentrates on sputtering induced by solar-wind heavy ions. Sputtering associated with slow (speeds the electrons speed in its first Bohr orbit) and highly charged ions are known to include both kinetic and potential sputtering. Potential sputtering enjoys some unique characteristics that makes it of special interest to lunar science and exploration. Unlike the yield from kinetic sputtering where simulation and approximation schemes exist, the yield from potential sputtering is not as easy to estimate. This work will present a preliminary numerical scheme designed to estimate potential sputtering yields from reactions relevant to this aspect of solar-wind lunar-surface coupling.

Survival probability of precipitations and rain attenuation in tropical and equatorial regions

Science.gov (United States)

Mohebbi Nia, Masoud; Din, Jafri; Panagopoulos, Athanasios D.; Lam, Hong Yin

2015-08-01

This contribution presents a stochastic model useful for the generation of a long-term tropospheric rain attenuation time series for Earth space or a terrestrial radio link in tropical and equatorial heavy rain regions based on the well-known Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model previously employed in research in the fields of finance and economics. This model assumes typical gamma distribution for rain attenuation in heavy rain climatic regions and utilises the temporal dynamic of precipitation collected in equatorial Johor, Malaysia. Different formations of survival probability are also discussed. Furthermore, the correlation between these probabilities and the Markov process is determined, and information on the variance and autocorrelation function of rain events with respect to the particular characteristics of precipitation in this area is presented. The proposed technique proved to preserve the peculiarities of precipitation for an equatorial region and reproduce fairly good statistics of the rain attenuation correlation function that could help to improve the prediction of dynamic characteristics of rain fade events.

Chemical characterization of rain water in a seasonally dry tropical region (Varanasi), India.

Science.gov (United States)

Pandey, Jitendra; Singh, Ashima

2012-05-01

Rain water samples, covering 44 rain events of 2008 and 52 rain events of 2009, were collected at urban and suburban locations of Varanasi and analyzed for pH, conductivity and for metal and nutrient ions. The pH of rainwater varied between 6.3 and 7.9, with over 70% of samples having alkaline range. Volume weighed mean concentration of ions indicated Ca2+ (11.62- 41.60 microeq l(-1)) to be the most dominant species followed by SO4(2-) (4.7-25.2 microeq I(-1)), Na+ (1.60-10.25 microeq l(-1)), Mg2+ (0.22-7.21 microeq I(-1)), (NO3(-) (0.73-4.02 microeq l(-1)), K+(0.50-3.70 microeq l(-1)) and PO4(3-) (0.02-0.97 microeq l(-1)) respectively. Among the heavy metals, Cr (12.60 to 44.60 microg l(-1)), Zn (4.25 to 34.55 microg l(-1)) and Mn (10.62 to 28.40 microg l(-1)) were found to be the dominant component of rain water. The varimax rotation of PCA results extracted four major factors namely urban-industrial emission, crustal aerosols, wind transport and biomass burning accounting for 80% of the total variance. The study has relevance in establishing cause-effect relationships for terrestrial as well as for aquatic ecosystems.

Effects of simulated rain acidified with sulfuric acid on host-parasite interactions

Science.gov (United States)

D. S. Shriner

1976-01-01

Wind-blown rain, rain splash, and films of free moisture play important roles in the epidemiology of many plant diseases. The effects of simulated rain acidified with sulfuric acid were studied on several host-parasite systems. Plants were exposed, in greenhouse or field, to simulated rain of pH 3.2 ? 0.1 or pH 6.0 ? 0.2. Simulated "rain" of pH 3.2 resulted...

CORONAL SOURCES, ELEMENTAL FRACTIONATION, AND RELEASE MECHANISMS OF HEAVY ION DROPOUTS IN THE SOLAR WIND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weberg, Micah J. [PhD Candidate in Space Science, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2134A Space Research Building, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA. (United States); Lepri, Susan T. [Associate Professor, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2429 Space Research Building, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA. (United States); Zurbuchen, Thomas H., E-mail: mjweberg@umich.edu, E-mail: slepri@umich.edu, E-mail: thomasz@umich.edu [Professor, Space Science and Aerospace Engineering, Associate Dean for Entrepreneurship Senior Counselor of Entrepreneurship Education, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2431 Space Research Building, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA. (United States)

2015-03-10

The elemental abundances of heavy ions (masses larger than He) in the solar wind provide information about physical processes occurring in the corona. Additionally, the charge state distributions of these heavy ions are sensitive to the temperature profiles of their respective source regions in the corona. Heavy ion dropouts are a relatively new class of solar wind events identified by both elemental and ionic charge state distributions. We have shown that their origins lie in large, closed coronal loops where processes such as gravitational settling dominate and can cause a mass-dependent fractionation pattern. In this study we consider and attempt to answer three fundamental questions concerning heavy ion dropouts: (1) 'where are the source loops located in the large-scale corona?'; (2) 'how does the interplay between coronal processes influence the end elemental abundances?'; and (3) 'what are the most probable release mechanisms'? We begin by analyzing the temporal and spatial variability of heavy ion dropouts and their correlation with heliospheric plasma and magnetic structures. Next we investigate the ordering of the elements inside dropouts with respect to mass, ionic charge state, and first ionization potential. Finally, we discuss these results in the context of the prevailing solar wind theories and the processes they posit that may be responsible for the release of coronal plasma into interplanetary space.

CORONAL SOURCES, ELEMENTAL FRACTIONATION, AND RELEASE MECHANISMS OF HEAVY ION DROPOUTS IN THE SOLAR WIND

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weberg, Micah J.; Lepri, Susan T.; Zurbuchen, Thomas H.

2015-01-01

The elemental abundances of heavy ions (masses larger than He) in the solar wind provide information about physical processes occurring in the corona. Additionally, the charge state distributions of these heavy ions are sensitive to the temperature profiles of their respective source regions in the corona. Heavy ion dropouts are a relatively new class of solar wind events identified by both elemental and ionic charge state distributions. We have shown that their origins lie in large, closed coronal loops where processes such as gravitational settling dominate and can cause a mass-dependent fractionation pattern. In this study we consider and attempt to answer three fundamental questions concerning heavy ion dropouts: (1) 'where are the source loops located in the large-scale corona?'; (2) 'how does the interplay between coronal processes influence the end elemental abundances?'; and (3) 'what are the most probable release mechanisms'? We begin by analyzing the temporal and spatial variability of heavy ion dropouts and their correlation with heliospheric plasma and magnetic structures. Next we investigate the ordering of the elements inside dropouts with respect to mass, ionic charge state, and first ionization potential. Finally, we discuss these results in the context of the prevailing solar wind theories and the processes they posit that may be responsible for the release of coronal plasma into interplanetary space

Alfvénic turbulence in solar wind originating near coronal hole boundaries: heavy-ion effects?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Bavassano

2006-03-01

Full Text Available The mid-latitude phases of the Ulysses mission offer an excellent opportunity to investigate the solar wind originating near the coronal hole boundaries. Here we report on Alfvénic turbulence features, revealing a relevant presence of in-situ generated fluctuations, observed during the wind rarefaction phase that charaterizes the transition from fast to slow wind. Heavy-ion composition and magnetic field measurements indicate a strict time correspondence of the locally generated fluctuations with 1 the crossing of the interface between fast and slow wind and 2 the presence of strongly underwound magnetic field lines (with respect to the Parker spiral. Recent studies suggest that such underwound magnetic configurations correspond to fast wind magnetic lines that, due to footpoint motions at the Sun, have their inner leg transferred to slow wind and are stretched out by the velocity gradient. If this is a valid scenario, the existence of a magnetic connection across the fast-slow wind interface is a condition that, given the different state of the two kinds of wind, may favour the development of processes acting as local sources of turbulence. We suggest that heavy-ion effects could be responsible of the observed turbulence features.

Heavy Rain y Beyond: Dos almas. Dramas interactivos en la narración transmedia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jafet Israel Lara

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Since the nineties, transmedia storytelling has begun to spread through the new virtual avenues of information society of the 21st century. As part of these narratives is the “interactive drama”, which involves an exchange of technologies of film and videogame industry and restarts on different media and platforms. The purpose of this study is to analyze two “interactive dramas”: Heavy Rain and Beyond. Two Souls by director and developer David Cage. This research will see that these two games are part of the transmedia narrative, that offer new hybrid narrative forms, changing the reader in an interactive user. Also, there will be study the speech of the “interactive drama ” and its evolution in both dramatic-interactive texts.

Assessment of rain water chemistry in the Lucknow metropolitan city

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Purnima; Rai, Vibhuti

2018-05-01

Lucknow metropolitan city is one of the most populated cities of India, which have been facing many problems such as chaotic urbanization, overpopulation, water scarcity, waterlogging, etc., among these water scarcity is one of the important problem. Rain water harvesting is a futuristic tool for mitigation of water scarcity problem through conservation and storage of rain water. This rain water can be used for all purposes by human beings, thus it is necessary to check the chemistry of rain water. The rain water samples were collected from the five zones of Lucknow city. For the comparative study, water samples have been collected from two different dates first from first rainfall and second after 3 days of interval in the second rainfall. The heavy metal concentrations were found in both first and second rainfall water samples in all zones of Lucknow city. The concentration of chromium, cadmium and lead were found to be sufficiently high in several samples. These heavy metals show the concentration above the permissible limit as set by WHO, which can cause various adverse health impacts.

Extreme Wind, Rain, Storm Surge, and Flooding: Why Hurricane Impacts are Difficult to Forecast?

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, S. S.

2017-12-01

The 2017 hurricane season is estimated as one of the costliest in the U.S. history. The damage and devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Irma in Florida, and Maria in Puerto Rico are distinctly different in nature. The complexity of hurricane impacts from extreme wind, rain, storm surge, and flooding presents a major challenge in hurricane forecasting. A detailed comparison of the storm impacts from Harvey, Irma, and Maria will be presented using observations and state-of-the-art new generation coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean hurricane forecast model. The author will also provide an overview on what we can expect in terms of advancement in science and technology that can help improve hurricane impact forecast in the near future.

Flood Damage Assessment in Pearl River Delta Rural Area Application in Huashan Town, Huadu District,Guanghzou during the 2017 5.7 Heavy Rain Storm

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, X.

2017-12-01

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China, the summer rain storm occurs frequently, the flood damage is very serious. Damage assessment is the basis of scientific decision-making in disaster mitigation. All approaches of flood damage analysis contain uncertainties due to the inaccuracies and generalisations used, the lack of data aggravates this problem, making methods very rough. This study presents a detailed flood damage assessment framework in Pearl River Delta rural area, using 2017 "5.7" heavy rain storm event to simulate the process and estimate the flood loss in resident building and property, agriculture production. The framework integrates four modules,1) utilize the remote sensing and statistical yearbook and so on to construct the disaster bearing bodies GIS database; 2) using hydraulics model to simulate the flood extent and depth spatial distribution;3)through field investigation to obtain the flood loss data for all kinds of hazard-affected body, using statistical analysis method to get the damage curves;4)Integrate flood scenarios, disaster bearing bodies GIS database and damage curves to calculate the flood loss estimation value. Using this methodology, in the 2017 "5.7" heavy rain storm event, Huashan Town flood damage loss is underestimate compared with the government report, because of not considering the damage of water conservancy facilities. But the disaster loss value on the spatial distribution is consistent with actual situation. In terms of aggregated values in the whole town, the model is capable of obtaining figures that are within the same order of magnitude. This study produce a flood damage assessment framework taking into account the regional characteristics of PRD rural area, provide a template for future practice. This study only considers the current impacts, the framework should be improved by taking into account socio-economic and climatic changes, as well as implementing adaptation measures to be applied to assess the potential

[Characteristics and the impact factors of acid rain in Fuzhou and Xiamen 1992-2012].

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Qiu-Ping; Wang, Hong; Chen, Bin-Bin; Sui, Ping; Lin, Wen

2014-10-01

Based on the observed acid rain data, synoptic situations and mass concentrations of atmospheric pollutants data from 1992 to 2012, the temporal variation characteristics and the impact factors of acid rain were analyzed in Fuzhou and Xiamen. The results showed that acid rain and non-acid rain accounted for 38.1% and 61.9% respectively in Fuzhou, 40.6% and 59.4% respectively in Xiamen. The annual average pH was 4.1-5.5 in Fuzhou. Acid rain pollution alleviated after 2007 in Fuzhou, and alleviated after 2006 in Xiamen. Acid rain was more serious in winter and spring than in summer and autumn. Precipitation intensity could affect the acidity of rain. Acid rain was observed more serious in southeast, southwest, west and northwest wind in Fuzhou, and more serious in northeast, southwest, west and northwest wind in Xiamen. Acid rain was most severe under the condition of transformed surface cold high, while most light under the conditions of typhoon (intertropical convergence zone) and outside of typhoon (intertropical convergence zone). There was a negative correlation between the mass concentrations of atmospheric pollutants, such as SO2, NO2, PM10, and the pH of rain in Fuzhou.

Environmental radiation levels in soil and sediment samples collected from floating water from a land runway resulting from heavy rains in the Jeddah region, KSA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohery, M.; Baz, Shadiah; Kelany, Adel M.; Abdallah, A.M.

2014-01-01

The natural radiation levels in soil and sediment samples collected from floating water from a land runway resulting from heavy rains in the Jeddah region as well as the activity in the population of its surrounding environments were studied. In the regions surrounding Jeddah, the movements of floating water may increase the concentration of radioactivity due to the movement of soil due to heavy rains. In addition, the technological development of industry, agriculture and other sources around the Jeddah region has increased environmental pollution, resulting in noticeable concentrations of radioactivity. The measured activity concentrations of 214 Pb, 214 Bi, 228 Ac, 208 Tl, 40 K, 226 Ra and 228 Ra in the studied area suggest that they are within the world average for soils and sediments, except those for water sample no. 4; the concentration in this sample was five times higher than the world average concentration (this water is not consumable). Herein, the radioactivity concentrations that were obtained from the analysis of soil and sediment samples that were collected from the investigated area are discussed. Additionally, the absorbed dose rate (D), radium equivalent activity (Ra eq ), external hazard index (H ex ), annual gonadal dose equivalent (AGDE) and annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) were evaluated. For the soil and sediment samples, the average radioactivity concentrations were determined for each site and are expressed in Becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg) of dry weight, while for the measurement of both the 226 Ra and 228 Ra isotopes in the water samples, the activity concentration is expressed in picoCuries per liter (pCi/l). The obtained results were compared with other measurements from different countries. The movement of floating water around the Jeddah region increases the concentration of radioactivity due to the movement of soils with heavy rains. - Highlights: • The natural radiation levels in soil and sediment samples from floating

Modeling Solar-Wind Heavy-Ions' Potential Sputtering of Lunar KREEP Surface

Science.gov (United States)

Barghouty, A. F.; Meyer, F. W.; Harris, R. P.; Adams, J. H., Jr.

2012-01-01

Recent laboratory data suggest that potential sputtering may be an important weathering mechanism that can affect the composition of both the lunar surface and its tenuous exosphere; its role and implications, however, remain unclear. Using a relatively simple kinetic model, we will demonstrate that solar-wind heavy ions induced sputtering of KREEP surfaces is critical in establishing the timescale of the overall solar-wind sputtering process of the lunar surface. We will also also show that potential sputtering leads to a more pronounced and significant differentiation between depleted and enriched surface elements. We briefly discuss the impacts of enhanced sputtering on the composition of the regolith and the exosphere, as well as of solar-wind sputtering as a source of hydrogen and water on the moon.

Weathering a Dynamic Seascape: Influences of Wind and Rain on a Seabird's Year-Round Activity Budgets.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre A Pistorius

Full Text Available How animals respond to varying environmental conditions is fundamental to ecology and is a question that has gained impetus due to mounting evidence indicating negative effects of global change on biodiversity. Behavioural plasticity is one mechanism that enables individuals and species to deal with environmental changes, yet for many taxa information on behavioural parameters and their capacity to change are lacking or restricted to certain periods within the annual cycle. This is particularly true for seabirds where year-round behavioural information is intrinsically challenging to acquire due to their reliance on the marine environment where they are difficult to study. Using data from over 13,000 foraging trips throughout the annual cycle, acquired using new-generation automated VHF technology, we described sex-specific, year-round activity budgets in Cape gannets. Using these data we investigated the role of weather (wind and rain on foraging activity and time allocated to nest attendance. Foraging activity was clearly influenced by wind speed, wind direction and rainfall during and outside the breeding season. Generally, strong wind conditions throughout the year resulted in relatively short foraging trips. Birds spent longer periods foraging when rainfall was moderate. Nest attendance, which was sex-specific outside of the breeding season, was also influenced by meteorological conditions. Large amounts of rainfall (> 2.5 mm per hour and strong winds (> 13 m s-1 resulted in gannets spending shorter amounts of time at their nests. We discuss these findings in terms of life history strategies and implications for the use of seabirds as bio-indicators.

Differences in rain rate intensities between TRMM observations and community atmosphere model simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Yi; Bowman, Kenneth P.; Jackson, Charles

2007-01-01

Precipitation related latent heating is important in driving the atmospheric general circulation and in generating intraseasonal to decadal atmospheric variability. Our ability to project future climate change, especially trends in costly precipitation extremes, hinges upon whether coupled GCMs capture processes that affect precipitation characteristics. Our study compares the tropical-subtropical precipitation characteristics of simulations by the NCAR CAM3.1 atmospheric GCM and observations derived from the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Despite a fairly good simulation of the annual mean rain rate, CAM rains about 10-50% more often than the real world and fails to capture heavy rainfall associated with deep convective systems over subtropical South America and U.S. Southern Plains. When it rains, there is a likelihood of 0.96-1.0 that it rains lightly in the model, compared to values of 0.84-1.0 in TRMM data. On the other hand, the likelihood of the occurrence of moderate to heavy rainfall is an order of magnitude higher in observations (0.12-0.2) than that in the model (model compensates for the lack of heavy precipitation through raining more frequently within the light rain category, which leads to an annual rainfall amount close to what is observed. CAM captures the qualitative change of rain rate PDF from a "dry" oceanic to a "wet" oceanic region, but it fails to simulate the change of precipitation characteristics from an oceanic region to a land region where thunderstorm rainfall dominates.

Flying in the rain: hovering performance of Anna's hummingbirds under varied precipitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega-Jimenez, Victor Manuel; Dudley, Robert

2012-10-07

Flight in rain represents a greater challenge for smaller animals because the relative effects of water loading and drop impact are greater at reduced scales given the increased ratios of surface area to mass. Nevertheless, it is well known that small volant taxa such as hummingbirds can continue foraging even in extreme precipitation. Here, we evaluated the effect of four rain intensities (i.e. zero, light, moderate and heavy) on the hovering performance of Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) under laboratory conditions. Light-to-moderate rain had only a marginal effect on flight kinematics; wingbeat frequency of individuals in moderate rain was reduced by 7 per cent relative to control conditions. By contrast, birds hovering in heavy rain adopted more horizontal body and tail positions, and also increased wingbeat frequency substantially, while reducing stroke amplitude when compared with control conditions. The ratio between peak forces produced by single drops on a wing and on a solid surface suggests that feathers can absorb associated impact forces by up to approximately 50 per cent. Remarkably, hummingbirds hovered well even under heavy precipitation (i.e. 270 mm h(-1)) with no apparent loss of control, although mechanical power output assuming perfect and zero storage of elastic energy was estimated to be about 9 and 57 per cent higher, respectively, compared with normal hovering.

Early Detection of Baby-Rain-Cell Aloft in a Severe Storm and Risk Projection for Urban Flash Flood

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Eiichi Nakakita

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In July 2008, five people were killed by a tragic flash flood caused by a local torrential heavy rainfall in a short time in Toga River. From this tragic accident, we realized that a system which can detect hazardous rain-cells in the earlier stage is strongly needed and would provide an additional 5 to 10 min for evacuation. By analyzing this event, we verified that a first radar echo aloft, by volume scan observation, is a practical and important sign for early warning of flash flood, and we named a first echo as a “baby-rain-cell” of Guerrilla-heavy rainfall. Also, we found a vertical vorticity criterion for identifying hazardous rain-cells and developed a heavy rainfall prediction system that has the important feature of not missing any hazardous rain-cell. Being able to detect heavy rainfall by 23.6 min on average before it reaches the ground, this system is implemented in XRAIN in the Kinki area. Additionally, to resolve the relationship between baby-rain-cell growth and vorticity behavior, we carried out an analysis of vorticity inside baby-rain-cells and verified that a pair of positive and negative vertical vortex tubes as well as an updraft between them existed in a rain-cell in the early stage.

Development, Capabilities, and Impact on Wind Analyses of the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, T.; Amarin, R.; Atlas, R.; Bailey, M.; Black, P.; Buckley, C.; Chen, S.; El-Nimri, S.; Hood, R.; James, M.;

Persistent after-effects of heavy rain on concentrations of ice nuclei and rainfall suggest a biological cause

Science.gov (United States)

Bigg, E. K.; Soubeyrand, S.; Morris, C. E.

2015-03-01

Rainfall is one of the most important aspects of climate, but the extent to which atmospheric ice nuclei (IN) influence its formation, quantity, frequency, and location is not clear. Microorganisms and other biological particles are released following rainfall and have been shown to serve as efficient IN, in turn impacting cloud and precipitation formation. Here we investigated potential long-term effects of IN on rainfall frequency and quantity. Differences in IN concentrations and rainfall after and before days of large rainfall accumulation (i.e., key days) were calculated for measurements made over the past century in southeastern and southwestern Australia. Cumulative differences in IN concentrations and daily rainfall quantity and frequency as a function of days from a key day demonstrated statistically significant increasing logarithmic trends (R2 > 0.97). Based on observations that cumulative effects of rainfall persisted for about 20 days, we calculated cumulative differences for the entire sequence of key days at each site to create a historical record of how the differences changed with time. Comparison of pre-1960 and post-1960 sequences most commonly showed smaller rainfall totals in the post-1960 sequences, particularly in regions downwind from coal-fired power stations. This led us to explore the hypothesis that the increased leaf surface populations of IN-active bacteria due to rain led to a sustained but slowly diminishing increase in atmospheric concentrations of IN that could potentially initiate or augment rainfall. This hypothesis is supported by previous research showing that leaf surface populations of the ice-nucleating bacterium Pseudomonas syringae increased by orders of magnitude after heavy rain and that microorganisms become airborne during and after rain in a forest ecosystem. At the sites studied in this work, aerosols that could have initiated rain from sources unrelated to previous rainfall events (such as power stations) would

[Impact of heavy snow storm and freezing rain disasters on soil fauna in Chinese fir plantation in southern China].

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Shao-kui; Zhang, Wei-dong; Liu, Yan-xin; Fu, Sheng-lei; Li, Yuan-liang; Wang, Si-long

2009-01-01

In January 2008, southern China suffered an unusual heavy snowstorm and freezing rain over a large area for almost a month long. This catastrophic event was the worst one in past 50 years, which brought the area a serious impact on the infrastructure, ecology, and environment. To understand the long-term impact of this catastrophic event on the forest ecosystems in this area, a field investigation was conducted on the soil fauna in a pure Chinese fir plantation and a mixed Chinese fir plantation-alder plantation in Huitong County of Hunan Province on March 23, 2008, the date 40 days after the heavy snowstorm and freezing rain. With the abundance and community composition as the main parameters and the monitoring data from the two plantations on March 23, 2007 as the reference, the flexibility and resistance of soil fauna to the disturbances of the catastrophic event was preliminarily evaluated. The results showed that there was a significant deviation of soil fauna communities in the two plantations from the reference. An outbreak increase in microfauna nematode abundance was found from 12216.9 ind x m(-2) to 118343.9 ind x m(-2) in pure Chinese fir plantation and from 25435.9 ind x m(-2) to 84573.0 ind x m(-2) in mixed Chinese fir plantation-alder plantation, while a 27.0% and 85.6% decrease of macrofauna abundance was found in the two plantations, respectively, compared with the reference. Mesofauna abundance also had a significant decrease in litter layer but not in soil. The abundance recovery displayed a trend from quick rate for microfauna to slow rate for macrofauna, which indicated that the soil fauna functional groups, in terms of body size, could be used as a vulnerable indicator in evaluating disturbance event and post-disturbance recovery. By using community ordinations, no shift in soil fauna community composition was detected 40 days after the catastrophic event, suggesting that the community composition of soil invertebrate had a high resistance to

Quantification of rain gauge measurement undercatch and wind speed correction

Science.gov (United States)

Pollock, Michael; Quinn, Paul; Dutton, Mark; Wilkinson, Mark

2014-05-01

Hydrological processes are adversely affected by systematic rain gauge inaccuracy due to wind induced undercatching. The implications of this are discussed and addressed. Despite evidence of the undercatch problem being cited in the past and the difficulty in solving such a complex problem; it has become an inconvenient truth to hydrologists that major inaccuracies in rainfall measurement exist. A two year long experiment using new equipment and improved data logging and telemetery techniques enriches this formative work to redress the wilful neglect with which accurate rainfall measurement has been treated in recent decades. Results from this work suggest that the annual systematic undercatch can be in the order of 20 percent in the UK. During specific periods (measured at high temporal resolution), this can rise to as high as 50 percent for a single wind impacted event. As one organisation, responsible for the environment in the UK, moves towards using fewer instruments (15 percent fewer in the next year), it is scarcely possible to overstate the importance in solving this problem. It had been hoped that new equipment, such as acoustic distrometer and weighing gauge technologies, would be able to reduce the magnitude of the bias. However, through data gathered in the 2 year experiment and through secondary sources from the 1970s and 1980s, it is demonstrated that this is not the case and that the same problems with undercatching remain now as they did then. We further postulate that wider, denser networks of inexpensive telemetered equipment are now possible but they must still address the undercatch issue. There is little merit in pointing out an age old problem if no solution is put forward to fix it. The aforementioned experiment has furnished new ideas and further work has been commissioned to address this problem. This will be achieved via the medium of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Newcastle University and an innovative equipment manufacturer

SOLAR WIND HEAVY IONS OVER SOLAR CYCLE 23: ACE/SWICS MEASUREMENTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lepri, S. T.; Landi, E.; Zurbuchen, T. H.

2013-01-01

Solar wind plasma and compositional properties reflect the physical properties of the corona and its evolution over time. Studies comparing the previous solar minimum with the most recent, unusual solar minimum indicate that significant environmental changes are occurring globally on the Sun. For example, the magnetic field decreased 30% between the last two solar minima, and the ionic charge states of O have been reported to change toward lower values in the fast wind. In this work, we systematically and comprehensively analyze the compositional changes of the solar wind during cycle 23 from 2000 to 2010 while the Sun moved from solar maximum to solar minimum. We find a systematic change of C, O, Si, and Fe ionic charge states toward lower ionization distributions. We also discuss long-term changes in elemental abundances and show that there is a ∼50% decrease of heavy ion abundances (He, C, O, Si, and Fe) relative to H as the Sun went from solar maximum to solar minimum. During this time, the relative abundances in the slow wind remain organized by their first ionization potential. We discuss these results and their implications for models of the evolution of the solar atmosphere, and for the identification of the fast and slow wind themselves.

The Sensitivity of Heavy Precipitation to Horizontal Resolution, Domain Size, and Rain Rate Assimilation: Case Studies with a Convection-Permitting Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xingbao Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Australian Community Climate and Earth-System Simulator (ACCESS is used to test the sensitivity of heavy precipitation to various model configurations: horizontal resolution, domain size, rain rate assimilation, perturbed physics, and initial condition uncertainties, through a series of convection-permitting simulations of three heavy precipitation (greater than 200 mm day−1 cases in different synoptic backgrounds. The larger disparity of intensity histograms and rainfall fluctuation caused by different model configurations from their mean and/or control run indicates that heavier precipitation forecasts have larger uncertainty. A cross-verification exercise is used to quantify the impacts of different model parameters on heavy precipitation. The dispersion of skill scores with control run used as “truth” shows that the impacts of the model resolution and domain size on the quantitative precipitation forecast are not less than those of perturbed physics and initial field uncertainties in these not intentionally selected heavy precipitation cases. The result indicates that model resolution and domain size should be considered as part of probabilistic precipitation forecasts and ensemble prediction system design besides the model initial field uncertainty.

Evaluation of the Influence of Wind-Driven Rain on Moisture in Cellular Concrete Wall Boards

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Alsabry A.

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The non-stationary moisture level of a cellular concrete wall board in a heated utility building located in the northern part of the town of Brest (Belarus, depending on the climatic influence, was assessed in this work. The results were obtained both in a calculation experiment and a physical test. It was observed that the main reason for the high moisture levels in cellular concrete is wind-driven rain intensifying the process of free capillary moisture transfer. A comparative analysis of the results of the physical test and the calculation experiment showed that the THSS software elaborated by the authors was able to predict the actual moisture levels of the shielding structure under study accurately enough when precise data concerning the thermal and physical characteristics of the materials as well as the occurring climatic influences were submitted.

Evaluation of the Influence of Wind-Driven Rain on Moisture in Cellular Concrete Wall Boards

Science.gov (United States)

Alsabry, A.; Nikitsin, V. I.; Kofanov, V. A.; Backiel-Brzozowska, B.

2017-08-01

The non-stationary moisture level of a cellular concrete wall board in a heated utility building located in the northern part of the town of Brest (Belarus), depending on the climatic influence, was assessed in this work. The results were obtained both in a calculation experiment and a physical test. It was observed that the main reason for the high moisture levels in cellular concrete is wind-driven rain intensifying the process of free capillary moisture transfer. A comparative analysis of the results of the physical test and the calculation experiment showed that the THSS software elaborated by the authors was able to predict the actual moisture levels of the shielding structure under study accurately enough when precise data concerning the thermal and physical characteristics of the materials as well as the occurring climatic influences were submitted.

A universal meteorological method to identify potential risk of wind erosion on heavy-textured soils

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Středová Hana

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The climate of Central Europe, mainly winter seasons with no snow cover at lower altitudes and a spring drought as well, might cause erosion events on heavy-textured soils. The aim of this paper is to define a universal method to identify the potential risk of wind erosion on heavy-textured soils. The categorization of potential wind erosion risk due to meteorological conditions is based on: (i an evaluation of the number of freeze-thaw episodes forming bare soil surfaces during the cold period of year; and (ii, an evaluation of the number of days with wet soil surfaces during the cold period of year. In the period 2001–2012 (from November to March, episodes with temperature changes from positive to negative and vice versa (thaw-freeze and freeze-thaw cycles and the effects of wet soil surfaces in connection with aggregate disintegration, are identified. The data are spatially interpolated by GIS tools for areas in the Czech Republic with heavy-textured soils. Blending critical categories is used to locate potential risks. The level of risk is divided into six classes. Those areas identified as potentially most vulnerable are the same localities where the highest number of erosive episodes on heavy-textured soils was documented.

Geochemical and mineralogical study of a site severely polluted with heavy metals (Maatheide, Lommel, Belgium)

Science.gov (United States)

Horckmans, L.; Swennen, R.; Deckers, J.

2006-07-01

The former zinc smelter site ‘de Maatheide’ in Lommel (Belgium) was severely polluted with heavy metals and the pollution spread into the surroundings by rain water leaching and wind transportation. This study focuses on the processes of immobilization and natural attenuation that took place on the site. Three important factors were found. Firstly, the high pH values (pH 7-8) in the topsoil influence the mobility of heavy metals. Secondly, the spodic horizons below the polluted top layer seem to accumulate heavy metals, thereby slowing down their release into the environment. Finally, the glassy phases and iron oxi/hydroxides that are present can encapsulate heavy metals during their formation/recrystallization, thereby immobilizing them. An additional shielding effect results from the reaction rims of goethite around the contaminant phases, which partially inhibit the weathering process and release of contaminants. This shielding effect is an important factor to take into account when modelling contaminant release.

Impacts of a heavy storm of rain upon dissolved and particulate organic C, N and P in the main river of a vegetation-rich basin area in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Fusheng; Yuasa, Akira; Muraki, Yuzo; Matsui, Yoshihiko

2005-06-01

The impacts of a heavy storm of rain upon the dissolved and particulate organic matter (OM), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in the main river of the vegetation-rich Nagara River basin were investigated using water samples collected along the river line during a critical typhoon-induced heavy rain storm event. Besides, based on a high performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) system, the variance of dissolved OM (DOM) in its molecular weight (MW) characteristics was also assessed. From the MW standpoint, DOM components merged into the river along the river line resembled those present in its headwater. The MW range changed only slightly from 1010 to 5900 at the upstream (US), to 1130-5900 and 1200-5900 Da at the midstream (MS) and downstream (DS), respectively, while the corresponding weight-averaged MW (M(w)) decreased from 3669 to 3330 and 2962 Da. The heavy storm of rain enhanced the content of DOM; however, apart from a small larger-MW fraction (about 5900-6800 Da), the newly emerged DOM constituents exhibited an MW range similar to those existed before the storm. Due also to the storm of rain, total P and N (TP and TN) changed markedly in the ranges of 6.6-11.9, 8.3-40.6 and 48.4-231.3 microg/l for TP, and 145.4-296.0, 502.2-1168.7 and 1342.7-1927.3 microg/l for TN at the US, MS and DS, respectively. The larger values of TP and TN generally appeared for samples at elevated river water levels. The enhanced presence of P was found largely attributed to its particulate form; while, for N, the contribution from its dissolved form was significant. The newly emerged suspended particles via the storm-water contained lower content of OM, N and P, and a general decreasing trend of the particulate OM, N and P along the river line was also confirmed. The C/N ratio in the dissolved form varied in 0.7-6.7 and decreased downstream, while, that in the particulate form 2.3-17.3. Suspended particles that emerged in the river water during the storm exhibited larger C

Rain Fade Compensation for Ka-Band Communications Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, W. Carl; Nguyen, Lan; Dissanayake, Asoka; Markey, Brian; Le, Anh

1997-01-01

This report provides a review and evaluation of rain fade measurement and compensation techniques for Ka-band satellite systems. This report includes a description of and cost estimates for performing three rain fade measurement and compensation experiments. The first experiment deals with rain fade measurement techniques while the second one covers the rain fade compensation techniques. The third experiment addresses a feedback flow control technique for the ABR service (for ATM-based traffic). The following conclusions were observed in this report; a sufficient system signal margin should be allocated for all carriers in a network, that is a fixed clear-sky margin should be typically in the range of 4-5 dB and should be more like 15 dB in the up link for moderate and heavy rain zones; to obtain a higher system margin it is desirable to combine the uplink power control technique with the technique that implements the source information rate and FEC code rate changes resulting in a 4-5 dB increase in the dynamic part of the system margin. The experiments would assess the feasibility of the fade measurements and compensation techniques, and ABR feedback control technique.

Analysis of warm convective rain events in Catalonia

Science.gov (United States)

Ballart, D.; Figuerola, F.; Aran, M.; Rigo, T.

2009-09-01

Between the end of September and November, events with high amounts of rainfall are quite common in Catalonia. The high sea surface temperature of the Mediterranean Sea near to the Catalan Coast is one of the most important factors that help to the development of this type of storms. Some of these events have particular characteristics: elevated rain rate during short time periods, not very deep convection and low lightning activity. Consequently, the use of remote sensing tools for the surveillance is quite useless or limited. With reference to the high rain efficiency, this is caused by internal mechanisms of the clouds, and also by the air mass where the precipitation structure is developed. As aforementioned, the contribution of the sea to the air mass is very relevant, not only by the increase of the big condensation nuclei, but also by high temperature of the low layers of the atmosphere, where are allowed clouds with 5 or 6 km of particles in liquid phase. In fact, the freezing level into these clouds can be detected by -15ºC. Due to these characteristics, this type of rainy structures can produce high quantities of rainfall in a relatively brief period of time, and, in the case to be quasi-stationary, precipitation values at surface could be very important. From the point of view of remote sensing tools, the cloud nature implies that the different tools and methodologies commonly used for the analysis of heavy rain events are not useful. This is caused by the following features: lightning are rarely observed, the top temperatures of clouds are not cold enough to be enhanced in the satellite imagery, and, finally, reflectivity radar values are lower than other heavy rain cases. The third point to take into account is the vulnerability of the affected areas. An elevated percentage of the Catalan population lives in the coastal region. In the central coast of Catalonia, the urban areas are surrounded by a not very high mountain range with small basins and

Convective Mode and Mesoscale Heavy Rainfall Forecast Challenges during a High-Impact Weather Period along the Gulf Coast and Florida from 17-20 May 2016

Science.gov (United States)

Bosart, L. F.; Wallace, B. C.

2017-12-01

Two high-impact convective storm forecast challenges occurred between 17-20 May 2016 during NOAA's Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Forecast Experiment (SFE) at the Storm Prediction Center. The first forecast challenge was 286 mm of unexpected record-breaking rain that fell on Vero Beach (VRB), Florida, between 1500 UTC 17 May and 0600 UTC 18 May, more than doubling the previous May daily rainfall record. The record rains in VRB occurred subsequent to the formation of a massive MCS over the central Gulf of Mexico between 0900-1000 UTC 17 May. This MCS, linked to the earlier convection associated with an anomalously strong subtropical jet (STJ) over the Gulf of Mexico, moved east-northeastward toward Florida. The second forecast challenge was a large MCS that formed over the Mexican mountains near the Texas-Mexican border, moved eastward and grew upscale prior to 1200 UTC 19 May. This MCS further strengthened offshore after 1800 UTC 19 May beneath the STJ. SPC SFE participants expected this MCS to move east-northeastward and bring heavy rain due to training echoes along the Gulf coast as far eastward as the Florida panhandle. Instead, this MCS transitioned into a bowing MCS that resembled a low-end derecho and produced a 4-6 hPa cold pool with widespread surface wind gusts between 35-50 kt. Both MCS events occurred in a large-scale baroclinic environment along the northern Gulf coast. Both MCS events responded to antecedent convection within this favorable large-scale environment. Rainfall amounts with the first heavy rain-producing MCS were severely underestimated by models and forecasters alike. The second MCS produced the greatest forecaster angst because rainfall totals were forecast too high (MCS propagated too fast) and severe wind reports were much more widespread than anticipated (because of cold pool formation). This presentation will attempt to untangle what happened and why it happened.

Sputtering of Lunar Regolith Simulant by Protons and Multicharged Heavy Ions at Solar Wind Energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyer, Fred W.; Harris, Peter R.; Taylor, C.N.; Meyer, Harry M. III; Barghouty, N.; Adams, J. Jr.

2011-01-01

We report preliminary results on sputtering of a lunar regolith simulant at room temperature by singly and multiply charged solar wind ions using quadrupole and time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry approaches. Sputtering of the lunar regolith by solar-wind heavy ions may be an important particle source that contributes to the composition of the lunar exosphere, and is a possible mechanism for lunar surface ageing and compositional modification. The measurements were performed in order to assess the relative sputtering efficiency of protons, which are the dominant constituent of the solar wind, and less abundant heavier multicharged solar wind constituents, which have higher physical sputtering yields than same-velocity protons, and whose sputtering yields may be further enhanced due to potential sputtering. Two different target preparation approaches using JSC-1A AGGL lunar regolith simulant are described and compared using SEM and XPS surface analysis.

The Electric Wind of Venus: A Global and Persistent Polar Wind -Like Ambipolar Electric Field Sufficient for the Direct Escape of Heavy Ionospheric Ions

Science.gov (United States)

Collinson, Glyn A.; Frahm, Rudy A.; Glocer, Alex; Coates, Andrew J.; Grebowsky, Joseph M.; Barabash, Stas; Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D.; Federov, Andrei; Futaana, Yoshifumi; Gilbert, Lin K.;

On the Material Characterisation of Wind Turbine Blade Coatings: The Effect of Interphase Coating–Laminate Adhesion on Rain Erosion Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enrique Cortés

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Rain erosion damage, caused by repeated droplet impact on wind turbine blades, is a major cause for concern, even more so at offshore locations with larger blades and higher tip speeds. Due to the negative economic influence of blade erosion, all wind turbine Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs are actively seeking solutions. In most cases, since the surface coating plays a decisive role in the blade manufacture and overall performance, it has been identified as an area where a solution may be obtained. In this research, two main coating technologies have been considered: In-mould coatings (Gel coating applied during moulding on the entire blade surface and the post-mould coatings specifically developed for Leading Edge Protection (LEP. The coating adhesion and erosion is affected by the shock waves created by the collapsing water droplets on impact. The stress waves are reflected and transmitted to the laminate substrate, so microstructural discontinuities in coating layers and interfaces play a key role on its degradation and may accelerate erosion by delamination. Analytical and numerical models are commonly used to relate lifetime prediction and to identify suitable coating and composite substrate combinations based on their potential stress reduction on the interface. Nevertheless, in order to use them, it is necessary to measure the contact adhesion resistance of the multi-layered system interfaces. The rain erosion performance is assessed using an accelerated testing technique, whereby the test material is repeatedly impacted at high speed with water droplets in a Whirling Arm Rain Erosion Rig (WARER. The materials, specifically the coating–laminate interphase region and acoustic properties, are further characterised by several laboratory tests, including Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC, pull-off testing, peeling–adhesion testing and nanoindentation testing. This body of work includes a number of case studies. The first case

On the Material Characterisation of Wind Turbine Blade Coatings: The Effect of Interphase Coating–Laminate Adhesion on Rain Erosion Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Cortés, Enrique; Sánchez, Fernando; Madramany, Borja

2017-01-01

Rain erosion damage, caused by repeated droplet impact on wind turbine blades, is a major cause for concern, even more so at offshore locations with larger blades and higher tip speeds. Due to the negative economic influence of blade erosion, all wind turbine Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are actively seeking solutions. In most cases, since the surface coating plays a decisive role in the blade manufacture and overall performance, it has been identified as an area where a solution may be obtained. In this research, two main coating technologies have been considered: In-mould coatings (Gel coating) applied during moulding on the entire blade surface and the post-mould coatings specifically developed for Leading Edge Protection (LEP). The coating adhesion and erosion is affected by the shock waves created by the collapsing water droplets on impact. The stress waves are reflected and transmitted to the laminate substrate, so microstructural discontinuities in coating layers and interfaces play a key role on its degradation and may accelerate erosion by delamination. Analytical and numerical models are commonly used to relate lifetime prediction and to identify suitable coating and composite substrate combinations based on their potential stress reduction on the interface. Nevertheless, in order to use them, it is necessary to measure the contact adhesion resistance of the multi-layered system interfaces. The rain erosion performance is assessed using an accelerated testing technique, whereby the test material is repeatedly impacted at high speed with water droplets in a Whirling Arm Rain Erosion Rig (WARER). The materials, specifically the coating–laminate interphase region and acoustic properties, are further characterised by several laboratory tests, including Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), pull-off testing, peeling–adhesion testing and nanoindentation testing. This body of work includes a number of case studies. The first case study compares

On the Material Characterisation of Wind Turbine Blade Coatings: The Effect of Interphase Coating-Laminate Adhesion on Rain Erosion Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cortés, Enrique; Sánchez, Fernando; O'Carroll, Anthony; Madramany, Borja; Hardiman, Mark; Young, Trevor M

2017-09-28

Rain erosion damage, caused by repeated droplet impact on wind turbine blades, is a major cause for concern, even more so at offshore locations with larger blades and higher tip speeds. Due to the negative economic influence of blade erosion, all wind turbine Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are actively seeking solutions. In most cases, since the surface coating plays a decisive role in the blade manufacture and overall performance, it has been identified as an area where a solution may be obtained. In this research, two main coating technologies have been considered: In-mould coatings (Gel coating) applied during moulding on the entire blade surface and the post-mould coatings specifically developed for Leading Edge Protection (LEP). The coating adhesion and erosion is affected by the shock waves created by the collapsing water droplets on impact. The stress waves are reflected and transmitted to the laminate substrate, so microstructural discontinuities in coating layers and interfaces play a key role on its degradation and may accelerate erosion by delamination. Analytical and numerical models are commonly used to relate lifetime prediction and to identify suitable coating and composite substrate combinations based on their potential stress reduction on the interface. Nevertheless, in order to use them, it is necessary to measure the contact adhesion resistance of the multi-layered system interfaces. The rain erosion performance is assessed using an accelerated testing technique, whereby the test material is repeatedly impacted at high speed with water droplets in a Whirling Arm Rain Erosion Rig (WARER). The materials, specifically the coating-laminate interphase region and acoustic properties, are further characterised by several laboratory tests, including Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), pull-off testing, peeling-adhesion testing and nanoindentation testing. This body of work includes a number of case studies. The first case study compares two

Redesigning rain gauges network in Johor using geostatistics and simulated annealing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aziz, Mohd Khairul Bazli Mohd; Yusof, Fadhilah; Daud, Zalina Mohd; Yusop, Zulkifli; Kasno, Mohammad Afif

2015-01-01

Recently, many rainfall network design techniques have been developed, discussed and compared by many researchers. Present day hydrological studies require higher levels of accuracy from collected data. In numerous basins, the rain gauge stations are located without clear scientific understanding. In this study, an attempt is made to redesign rain gauge network for Johor, Malaysia in order to meet the required level of accuracy preset by rainfall data users. The existing network of 84 rain gauges in Johor is optimized and redesigned into a new locations by using rainfall, humidity, solar radiation, temperature and wind speed data collected during the monsoon season (November - February) of 1975 until 2008. This study used the combination of geostatistics method (variance-reduction method) and simulated annealing as the algorithm of optimization during the redesigned proses. The result shows that the new rain gauge location provides minimum value of estimated variance. This shows that the combination of geostatistics method (variance-reduction method) and simulated annealing is successful in the development of the new optimum rain gauge system

Redesigning rain gauges network in Johor using geostatistics and simulated annealing

Science.gov (United States)

Aziz, Mohd Khairul Bazli Mohd; Yusof, Fadhilah; Daud, Zalina Mohd; Yusop, Zulkifli; Kasno, Mohammad Afif

2015-02-01

Recently, many rainfall network design techniques have been developed, discussed and compared by many researchers. Present day hydrological studies require higher levels of accuracy from collected data. In numerous basins, the rain gauge stations are located without clear scientific understanding. In this study, an attempt is made to redesign rain gauge network for Johor, Malaysia in order to meet the required level of accuracy preset by rainfall data users. The existing network of 84 rain gauges in Johor is optimized and redesigned into a new locations by using rainfall, humidity, solar radiation, temperature and wind speed data collected during the monsoon season (November - February) of 1975 until 2008. This study used the combination of geostatistics method (variance-reduction method) and simulated annealing as the algorithm of optimization during the redesigned proses. The result shows that the new rain gauge location provides minimum value of estimated variance. This shows that the combination of geostatistics method (variance-reduction method) and simulated annealing is successful in the development of the new optimum rain gauge system.

Redesigning rain gauges network in Johor using geostatistics and simulated annealing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aziz, Mohd Khairul Bazli Mohd, E-mail: mkbazli@yahoo.com [Centre of Preparatory and General Studies, TATI University College, 24000 Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia and Department of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor (Malaysia); Yusof, Fadhilah, E-mail: fadhilahy@utm.my [Department of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor (Malaysia); Daud, Zalina Mohd, E-mail: zalina@ic.utm.my [UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM KL, 54100 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Yusop, Zulkifli, E-mail: zulyusop@utm.my [Institute of Environmental and Water Resource Management (IPASA), Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor (Malaysia); Kasno, Mohammad Afif, E-mail: mafifkasno@gmail.com [Malaysia - Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM KL, 54100 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

2015-02-03

Recently, many rainfall network design techniques have been developed, discussed and compared by many researchers. Present day hydrological studies require higher levels of accuracy from collected data. In numerous basins, the rain gauge stations are located without clear scientific understanding. In this study, an attempt is made to redesign rain gauge network for Johor, Malaysia in order to meet the required level of accuracy preset by rainfall data users. The existing network of 84 rain gauges in Johor is optimized and redesigned into a new locations by using rainfall, humidity, solar radiation, temperature and wind speed data collected during the monsoon season (November - February) of 1975 until 2008. This study used the combination of geostatistics method (variance-reduction method) and simulated annealing as the algorithm of optimization during the redesigned proses. The result shows that the new rain gauge location provides minimum value of estimated variance. This shows that the combination of geostatistics method (variance-reduction method) and simulated annealing is successful in the development of the new optimum rain gauge system.

THE SEPTEMBER 2013 RAIN AND FLOOD EVENTS IN THE FLAM’S VALLEY BASIN. CAUSES, CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR IMPACT UPON THE ENVIRONMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BORCAN MIHAELA

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Between 11.09 and 14.09 2013 the north-eastern part of Tulcea County, especially the areas located around Somova village was affected by heavy, torrential rainfall that totalized over 30 mm/sq m and triggered dangerous hydrological phenomena (important slope, stream and river flows. As a result of these heavy downpours, Flam’s Valley was affected by an exceptional flash-flood which measured a peak discharge that reached a 1% exceeding probability. Another destructive characteristic of the weather phenomena that occurred in September 2013 was that the heavy rain was accompanied by violent gusty winds that resembled tornado-like features, bringing serious threat to houses, households and roads. In this paper we have analyzed the weather features that produced the September 2013 flash flood from both a spatial and a temporal perspective. The hydrological analysis focuses on the peak discharge that was recorded during the flash flood as well as on the characteristics elements of the topographic profiles. The paper ends with a brief presentation of the consequences that the weather and hydrological phenomena had upon the environment and population as well.

Dew measurement and estimation of rain-fed jujube (Zizyphus jujube Mill) in a semi-arid loess hilly region of China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

WANG Xing; GAO Zhiyong; WANG Youke; Wang Zhi; JIN Shanshan

2017-01-01

Dew is an important water source for plants in arid and semi-arid regions.However,information on dew is scarce in such regions.In this study,we explored dew formation,amount,and duration of rain-fed jujube (Zi（w）phus jujube Mill) trees in a semi-arid loess hilly region of China (i.e.,Mizhi County).The data included dew intensity and duration,relative humidity,temperature,and wind speed measured from 26 July to 23 October,2012 and from 24 June to 17 October,2013 using a micro-climate system (including dielectric leaf wetness sensors,VP-3 Relative Humidity/Temperature Sensor,High Resolution Rain Gauge,and Davis Cup Anemometer).The results show that atmospheric conditions of relative humidity of ＞78％ and dew point temperature of 1℃C-3℃C are significantly favorable to dew formation.Compared with the rainfall,dew was characterized by high frequency,strong stability,and long duration.Furthermore,heavy dew accounted for a large proportion of the total amount.The empirical models (i.e.,relative humidity model (RH model) and dew point depression model (DPD model)) for daily dew duration estimation performed well at 15-rain intervals,with low errors ranging between 1.29 and 1.60 h,respectively.But it should be noted that the models should be calibrated firstly by determining the optimal thresholds of relatively humidity for RH model and dew point depression for DPD model.For rain-fed jujube trees in the semi-arid loess hilly regions of China,the optimal threshold of relative humidity was 78％,and the optimal upper and lower thresholds of dew point depression were 1℃C and 5℃C,respectively.The study further demonstrates that dew is an important water resource that cannot be ignored for rain-fed jujube trees and may affect water balance at regional scales.

Rain Characteristics and Large-Scale Environments of Precipitation Objects with Extreme Rain Volumes from TRMM Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yaping; Lau, William K M.; Liu, Chuntao

2013-01-01

This study adopts a "precipitation object" approach by using 14 years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Feature (PF) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data to study rainfall structure and environmental factors associated with extreme heavy rain events. Characteristics of instantaneous extreme volumetric PFs are examined and compared to those of intermediate and small systems. It is found that instantaneous PFs exhibit a much wider scale range compared to the daily gridded precipitation accumulation range. The top 1% of the rainiest PFs contribute over 55% of total rainfall and have 2 orders of rain volume magnitude greater than those of the median PFs. We find a threshold near the top 10% beyond which the PFs grow exponentially into larger, deeper, and colder rain systems. NCEP reanalyses show that midlevel relative humidity and total precipitable water increase steadily with increasingly larger PFs, along with a rapid increase of 500 hPa upward vertical velocity beyond the top 10%. This provides the necessary moisture convergence to amplify and sustain the extreme events. The rapid increase in vertical motion is associated with the release of convective available potential energy (CAPE) in mature systems, as is evident in the increase in CAPE of PFs up to 10% and the subsequent dropoff. The study illustrates distinct stages in the development of an extreme rainfall event including: (1) a systematic buildup in large-scale temperature and moisture, (2) a rapid change in rain structure, (3) explosive growth of the PF size, and (4) a release of CAPE before the demise of the event.

Improving real-time estimation of heavy-to-extreme precipitation using rain gauge data via conditional bias-penalized optimal estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Dong-Jun; Siddique, Ridwan; Zhang, Yu; Kim, Dongsoo

2014-11-01

A new technique for gauge-only precipitation analysis for improved estimation of heavy-to-extreme precipitation is described and evaluated. The technique is based on a novel extension of classical optimal linear estimation theory in which, in addition to error variance, Type-II conditional bias (CB) is explicitly minimized. When cast in the form of well-known kriging, the methodology yields a new kriging estimator, referred to as CB-penalized kriging (CBPK). CBPK, however, tends to yield negative estimates in areas of no or light precipitation. To address this, an extension of CBPK, referred to herein as extended conditional bias penalized kriging (ECBPK), has been developed which combines the CBPK estimate with a trivial estimate of zero precipitation. To evaluate ECBPK, we carried out real-world and synthetic experiments in which ECBPK and the gauge-only precipitation analysis procedure used in the NWS's Multisensor Precipitation Estimator (MPE) were compared for estimation of point precipitation and mean areal precipitation (MAP), respectively. The results indicate that ECBPK improves hourly gauge-only estimation of heavy-to-extreme precipitation significantly. The improvement is particularly large for estimation of MAP for a range of combinations of basin size and rain gauge network density. This paper describes the technique, summarizes the results and shares ideas for future research.

Detecting Sulfuric and Nitric Acid Rain Stresses on Quercus glauca through Hyperspectral Responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shanqian; Zhang, Xiuying; Ma, Yuandan; Li, Xinhui; Cheng, Min; Zhang, Xiaomin; Liu, Lei

2018-03-09

Acid rain, which has become one of the most severe global environmental issues, is detrimental to plant growth. However, effective methods for monitoring plant responses to acid rain stress are currently lacking. The hyperspectral technique provides a cost-effective and nondestructive way to diagnose acid rain stresses. Taking a widely distributed species ( Quercus glauca ) in Southern China as an example, this study aims to monitor the hyperspectral responses of Q. glauca to simulated sulfuric acid rain (SAR) and nitric acid rain (NAR). A total of 15 periods of leaf hyperspectral data under four pH levels of SAR and NAR were obtained during the experiment. The results showed that hyperspectral information could be used to distinguish plant responses under acid rain stress. An index (green peak area index, GPAI) was proposed to indicate acid rain stresses, based on the significantly variations in the region of 500-660 nm. Light acid rain (pH 4.5 SAR and NAR) promoted Q. glauca growth relative to the control groups (pH 5.6 SAR and NAR); moderate acid rain (pH 3.0 SAR) firstly promoted and then inhibited plant growth, while pH 3.0 NAR showed mild inhibitory effects during the experiment; and heavy acid rain (pH 2.0) significantly inhibited plant growth. Compared with NAR, SAR induced more serious damages to Q. glauca . These results could help monitor acid rain stress on plants on a regional scale using remote sensing techniques.

Can Weather Radars Help Monitoring and Forecasting Wind Power Fluctuations at Large Offshore Wind Farms?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trombe, Pierre-Julien; Pinson, Pierre; Madsen, Henrik

2011-01-01

The substantial impact of wind power fluctuations at large offshore wind farms calls for the development of dedicated monitoring and prediction approaches. Based on recent findings, a Local Area Weather Radar (LAWR) was installed at Horns Rev with the aim of improving predictability, controlability...... and potentially maintenance planning. Additional images are available from a Doppler radar covering the same area. The parallel analysis of rain events detection and of regime sequences in wind (and power) fluctuations demonstrates the interest of employing weather radars for a better operation and management...... of offshore wind farms....

Limited-area short-range ensemble predictions targeted for heavy rain in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Sattler

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Inherent uncertainties in short-range quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPF from the high-resolution, limited-area numerical weather prediction model DMI-HIRLAM (LAM are addressed using two different approaches to creating a small ensemble of LAM simulations, with focus on prediction of extreme rainfall events over European river basins. The first ensemble type is designed to represent uncertainty in the atmospheric state of the initial condition and at the lateral LAM boundaries. The global ensemble prediction system (EPS from ECMWF serves as host model to the LAM and provides the state perturbations, from which a small set of significant members is selected. The significance is estimated on the basis of accumulated precipitation over a target area of interest, which contains the river basin(s under consideration. The selected members provide the initial and boundary data for the ensemble integration in the LAM. A second ensemble approach tries to address a portion of the model-inherent uncertainty responsible for errors in the forecasted precipitation field by utilising different parameterisation schemes for condensation and convection in the LAM. Three periods around historical heavy rain events that caused or contributed to disastrous river flooding in Europe are used to study the performance of the LAM ensemble designs. The three cases exhibit different dynamic and synoptic characteristics and provide an indication of the ensemble qualities in different weather situations. Precipitation analyses from the Deutsche Wetterdienst (DWD are used as the verifying reference and a comparison of daily rainfall amounts is referred to the respective river basins of the historical cases.

Effect of turbulence intensity on PM emission of heavy duty diesel trucks - Wind tunnel studies

Science.gov (United States)

Littera, D.; Cozzolini, A.; Besch, M.; Carder, D.; Gautam, M.

2017-08-01

Stringent emission regulations have forced drastic technological improvements in diesel aftertreatment systems, particularly in reducing Particulate Matter (PM) emissions. The formation and evolution of PM from modern engines are more sensitive to overall changes in the dilution process, such as rapidity of mixing, background PM present in the air. These technological advancements were made in controlled laboratory environments compliant with measurement standards (i.e. Code of Federal Regulation CFR in the USA) and are not fully representative of real-world emissions from these engines or vehicles. In light of this, a specifically designed and built wind tunnel by West Virginia University (WVU) is used for the study of the exhaust plume of a heavy-duty diesel vehicle, providing a better insight in the dilution process and the representative nanoparticles emissions in a real-world scenario. The subsonic environmental wind tunnel is capable of accommodating a full-sized heavy-duty truck and generating wind speeds in excess of 50mph. A three-dimensional gantry system allows spanning the test section and sample regions in the plume with accuracy of less than 5 mm. The gantry system is equipped with engine exhaust gas analyzers and PM sizing instruments. The investigation involves three different heavy-duty Class-8 diesel vehicles representative of three emission regulation standards, namely a US-EPA 2007 compliant, a US-EPA 2010 compliant, and a baseline vehicle without any aftertreatment technologies as a pre US-EPA 2007, respectively. The testing procedure includes three different vehicle speeds: idling, 20mph, and 35mph. The vehicles were tested on WVU's medium-duty chassis dynamometer, with the load applied to the truck reflecting the road load equation at the corresponding vehicle test speeds. Wind tunnel wind speed and vehicle speed were maintained in close proximity to one another during the entire test. Results show that the cross-sectional plume area

Impacts of a large array of offshore wind farms on precipitation during hurricane Harvey

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Y.; Archer, C. L.

2017-12-01

higher vertical velocity occur upstream or within the offshore wind farms. These preliminary results suggest that large arrays of offshore wind turbines can effectively protect the coast from heavy rain during hurricanes and that smart layouts with fewer turbines over smaller areas can be almost as effective as those with more turbines over larger areas.

Understanding the formation and evolution of rain-formed fresh lenses at the ocean surface

Science.gov (United States)

Drushka, Kyla; Asher, William E.; Ward, Brian; Walesby, Kieran

2016-04-01

Rain falling on the ocean produces a layer of buoyant fresher surface water, or "fresh lens." Fresh lenses can have significant impacts on satellite-in situ salinity comparisons and on exchanges between the surface and the bulk mixed layer. However, because these are small, transient features, relatively few observations of fresh lenses have been made. Here the Generalized Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM) is used to explore the response of the upper few meters of the ocean to rain events. Comparisons with observations from several platforms demonstrate that GOTM can reproduce the main characteristics of rain-formed fresh lenses. Idealized sensitivity tests show that the near-surface vertical salinity gradient within fresh lenses has a linear dependence on rain rate and an inverse dependence on wind speed. Yearlong simulations forced with satellite rainfall and reanalysis atmospheric parameters demonstrate that the mean salinity difference between 0.01 and 5 m, equivalent to the measurement depths of satellite radiometers and Argo floats, is -0.04 psu when averaged over the 20°S-20°N tropical band. However, when averaged regionally, the mean vertical salinity difference exceeds -0.15 psu in the Indo-Pacific warm pool, in the Pacific and Atlantic intertropical convergence zone, and in the South Pacific convergence zone. In most of these regions, salinities measured by the Aquarius satellite instrument have a fresh bias relative to Argo measurements at 5 m depth. These results demonstrate that the fresh bias in Aquarius salinities in rainy, low-wind regions may be caused by the presence of rain-produced fresh lenses.

Simulation of the Impact of New Ocean Surface Wind Measurements on H*Wind Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Timothy; Atlas, Robert; Black, Peter; Chen, Shuyi; Hood, Robbie; Johnson, James; Jones, Linwood; Ruf, Chris; Uhlhorn, Eric

2008-01-01

The H*Wind analysis, a product of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, brings together wind measurements from a variety of observation platforms into an objective analysis of the distribution of surface wind speeds in a tropical cyclone. This product is designed to improve understanding of the extent and strength of the wind field, and to improve the assessment of hurricane intensity. See http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/data sub/wind.html. The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is a new passive microwave remote sensor for hurricane observations that is currently under development by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, NOAA Hurricane Research Division, the University of Central Florida and the University of Michigan. HIRAD is being designed to enhance the current real-time airborne ocean surface winds observation capabilities of NOAA and USAF Weather Squadron hurricane hunter aircraft using the operational airbome Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR). Unlike SFMR, which measures wind speed and rain rate along the ground track directly beneath the aircraft, HIRAD will provide images of the surface wind and rain field over a wide swath (approximately 3 x the aircraft altitude, or approximately 2 km from space). The instrument is described in a separate paper presented at this conference. The present paper describes a set of Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) in which measurements from the new instrument as well as those from existing instruments (air, surface, and space-based) are simulated from the output of a numerical model from the University of Miami, and those results are used to construct H*Wind analyses. Evaluations will be presented on the relative impact of HIRAD and other instruments on H*Wind analyses, including the use of HIRAD from 2 aircraft altitudes and from a space-based platform.

Rain erosion of wind turbine blade coatings using discrete water jets: Effects of water cushioning, substrate geometry, impact distance, and coating properties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Shizhong; Dam-Johansen, Kim; Bernad, Pablo L.

2015-01-01

Rapid and reliable rain erosion screening of blade coatings for wind turbines is a strong need in the coatings industry. One possibility in this direction is the use of discrete water jets, where so-called jet slugs are impacted on a coating surface. Previous investigations have mapped...... the influence of water jet slug velocity and impact frequency. In the present work, the effects on coating erosion of water cushioning, substrate curvature, and water nozzle-coating distance were explored. The investigations showed that in some cases water cushioning (the presence of a liquid film...... on the coating surface prior to impact) influences the erosion. Contrary to this, substrate curvature and the water nozzle-coating distance (

Rain intensity over specific rain thresholds in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Philandras, C. M.; Nastos, P. T.; Kapsomenakis, J.; Repapis, C. C.

2009-09-01

It is well documented that climatic change has caused significant impacts in the water cycle and great spatial and temporal variability of the rain events. The rain scarcity in many cases is associated with extreme convective weather resulted in flash floods, which threatens the human life and the existed infrastructure. In this study, the annual mean rain intensity (mm/h) along with the annual number of rain days for rain events over specific rain thresholds, such as 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 mm, in two Greek cities Athens and Thessaloniki, during the period 1930-2007, are examined. The meteorological data, which concern daily rain totals (mm) and duration (h), were acquired from the National Observatory of Athens and from the meteorological station of the University of Thessaloniki. Our findings show that, in Athens, an increase in the number of annual rain days and the mean rain intensity over the aforementioned rain thresholds appears at the end of 1980’s and continues until nowadays. On the contrary, concerning Thessaloniki, a decrease in the rain days is apparent from 1980, while the decrease in the mean rain intensity concerns only the rain thresholds of 10 and 20 mm. This analysis reveals that extreme rain events are more frequent in Athens, which is under a high urbanization rhythm, than in Thessaloniki at the north of Greece. Finally, the patterns of the atmospheric circulation, which are associated with specific extreme cases are analysed, using NCEP reanalysis data.

Impact of climate change on heavy precipitation events of the Mediterranean basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ricard, D.; Beaulant, A.L.; Deque, M.; Ducrocq, V.; Joly, A.; Joly, B.; Martin, E.; Nuissier, O.; Quintana Segui, P.; Ribes, A.; Sevault, F.; Somot, S.; Boe, J.

2009-01-01

A second topic covered by the CYPRIM project aims to characterize the evolution of heavy precipitation events in Mediterranean in the context of climate change. To this end, a continuous climate simulation from 1960 to 2099 has been run using a regional ocean-atmosphere coupled model under IPCC A2 emission scenario. Various techniques of down-scaling, down to the very fine 2 km scale, and methods to highlight synoptic environments favourable to heavy rain, have been used to estimate the impact of climate change on precipitation and hydrology over South-East France, both for the whole autumn season and the heavy rain events. (authors)

Complex Spatial Structure in a Population of Didymopanax pittieri, A Tree of Wind-Exposed Lower Montane Rain Forest

Science.gov (United States)

Lawton, Robert M.; Lawton, Robert O.

2010-01-01

Didymopanax pittieri is a common shade-intolerant tree colonizing treefall gaps in the elfin forests on windswept ridgecrests in the lower montane rain forests of the Cordillera de Tilarain, Costa Rica. All D. pittieri taller than > 0.5 m in a 5.2-ha elfin forested portion of a gridded study watershed in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve were located, mapped, and measured. This local population of D. pittieri is spatially inhomogeneous, in that density increases with increasing wind exposure; D. pittieri are more abundant near ridge crests than lower on windward slopes. The important and ubiquitous phenomenon of spatial inhomogeneity in population density is addressed and corrected for in spatial analyses by the application of the inhomogeneous version of Ripley's K. The spatial patterns of four size classes of D. pittieri ( 20 cm dbh) were investigated. Within the large-scale trend in density driven by wind exposure, D. pittieri saplings are clumped at the scale of treefall gaps and at the scale of patches of aggregated gaps. D. pittieri 5-10 cm dbh are randomly distributed, apparently due to competitive thinning of sapling clumps during the early stages of gap-phase regeneration. D. pittieri larger than 10 cm dbh are overdispersed at a scale larger than that of patches of gaps. Natural disturbance can influence the distribution of shade intolerant tree populations at several different spatial scales, and can have discordant effects at different life history stages.

analysis of rain rate and rain attenuation for earth-space

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rain rate and rain attenuation predictions are vital when designing microwave satellite and terrestrial communication links, such as in the Ku and Ka bands. This paper presents the cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of the predicted rain rate and rain attenuation for Uyo, Akwa Ibom State (AKS) (Latitude: 4.88°N, ...

Study of Acid Rain in Tikrit City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaled H. Latef

2013-04-01

Full Text Available A study of the degree of acidity  for the precipitation in four different sites in Tikrit city was done  for the period from 1-February to 1-April/2007 which is the period of rains in this year.      Chemical tests included (pH as the direct indicator of the degree of acidity ,and the concentration of sulphates (SO4-2 and nitrates ( NO3- as indirect indicator.      The (pH range was (5.56-6.4 which indicates the presence of acid rain in the area under study . (SO4-2 concentrations range was (88-223mg/l while  ( NO3- concentrations range was (80-170mg/l.      The wind velocity ,temperature, and humidity during the sample collection period ranged (2.25-4m/s, (1-260C, (22%-90% respectively

Haloacetates in fog and rain.

Science.gov (United States)

Römpp, A; Klemm, O; Fricke, W; Frank, H

2001-04-01

Atmospheric haloacetates can arise from photochemical degradation of halogenated hydrocarbons and from direct anthropogenic emissions. Furthermore, there is also evidence of natural sources although these are quantitatively uncertain. As haloacetates are highly soluble in water, hydrometeors are most significant for their deposition. Fogwater (96 samples) and rainwater samples (over 100 samples) were collected from July 1998 to March 1999 at an ecological research site in northeastern Bavaria, Germany. They were analyzed for monofluoroacetate (MFA), difluoroacetate (DFA), trifluoroacetate (TFA), monochloroacetate (MCA), dichloroacetate (DCA), trichloroacetate (TCA), monobromoacetate (MBA), and dibromoacetate (DBA). The major inorganic ions were also determined. High concentrations of up to 11 microg/L MCA, 5 microg/L DCA, 2 microg/L TCA, and 2 microg/L TFA were found in fogwater associated with westerly winds. Backward trajectories were calculated to determine the origin of the air masses. MBA and DBA have highest concentrations in fogwater advected with air originating from the Atlantic, suggesting the marine origin of these two compounds. All analyzed substances show higher average concentrations in fog than in rain. Estimates of the deposition of haloacetates suggest that the contribution of fog may be more important than rain for the total burden of a forest ecosystem.

Prior history of Mistral and Tramontane winds modulates heavy precipitation events in southern France

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ségolène Berthou

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Heavy precipitation events (HPEs are frequent in southern France in autumn. An HPE results from landward transport of low-level moisture from the Western Mediterranean: large potential instability is then released by local convergence and/or orography. In the upstream zone, the sea surface temperature (SST undergoes significant variations at the submonthly time scale primarily driven by episodic highly energetic events of relatively cold outflows from the neighbouring mountain ranges (the Mistral and Tramontane winds. Here, we study the HPE of 22–23 September 1994 which is preceded by a strong SST cooling due to the Mistral and Tramontane winds. This case confirms that the location of the precipitation is modulated by the SST in the upstream zone. In fact, changes in latent and sensible heat fluxes due to SST changes induce pressure and stratification changes which affect the low-level dynamics. Using three companion regional climate simulations running from 1989 to 2009, this article statistically shows that anomalies in the HPEs significantly correlate with the SST anomalies in the Western Mediterranean, and hence with the prior history of Mistral and Tramontane winds. In such cases, the role of the ocean as an integrator of the effect of past wind events over one or several weeks does indeed have an impact on HPEs in southern France.

[Dynamics of seed rain of Tripterygium hypoglaucum and soil seed bank].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhi-Wei; Wei, Yong-Sheng; Liu, Xiang; Su, Shu; Qu, Xian-You; Wang, Chang-Hua

2017-11-01

Tripterygium hypoglaucum is an endangered species in arid areas of Xiannvshan Chongqing, China. The dynamic characteristics of seed rain and soil seed bank of T. hypoglaucum were studied in this paper．Results showed that T. hypoglaucum years of mature seeds distribution number up to October; the seed rain occurred from the last ten-day of September to in the first ten-day of November and the peak of scattered seed rain concentrated in the October．The numbers of soil seed bank at 2-5 cm soil layer,mainly concentrated in the 1.5-3.5 m range. T. hypoglaucum seeds to the wind as a force for transmission, the transmission ability is strong, but in the process of natural reproduction, full mature seed rate is low, the soil seed bank seeds seed short-lived factors these were unfavorable for the natural reproduction of T. hypoglaucum population. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

High-entropy ejections from magnetized proto-neutron star winds: implications for heavy element nucleosynthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Todd A.; ud-Doula, Asif

2018-06-01

Although initially thought to be promising for production of the r-process nuclei, standard models of neutrino-heated winds from proto-neutron stars (PNSs) do not reach the requisite neutron-to-seed ratio for production of the lanthanides and actinides. However, the abundance distribution created by the r-, rp-, or νp-processes in PNS winds depends sensitively on the entropy and dynamical expansion time-scale of the flow, which may be strongly affected by high magnetic fields. Here, we present results from magnetohydrodynamic simulations of non-rotating neutrino-heated PNS winds with strong dipole magnetic fields from 1014 to 1016 G, and assess their role in altering the conditions for nucleosynthesis. The strong field forms a closed zone and helmet streamer configuration at the equator, with episodic dynamical mass ejections in toroidal plasmoids. We find dramatically enhanced entropy in these regions and conditions favourable for third-peak r-process nucleosynthesis if the wind is neutron-rich. If instead the wind is proton-rich, the conditions will affect the abundances from the νp-process. We quantify the distribution of ejected matter in entropy and dynamical expansion time-scale, and the critical magnetic field strength required to affect the entropy. For B ≳1015 G, we find that ≳10-6 M⊙ and up to ˜10-5 M⊙ of high-entropy material is ejected per highly magnetized neutron star birth in the wind phase, providing a mechanism for prompt heavy element enrichment of the universe. Former binary companions identified within (magnetar-hosting) supernova remnants, the remnants themselves, and runaway stars may exhibit overabundances. We provide a comparison with a semi-analytic model of plasmoid eruption and discuss implications and extensions.

Observational Evidence for the Associated Formation of Blobs and Raining Inflows in the Solar Corona

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchez-Diaz, E.; Rouillard, A. P.; Lavraud, B.; Pinto, R. F.; Plotnikov, I.; Genot, V.; Davies, J. A.; Sheeley, N. R.; Kilpua, E.

2017-01-01

The origin of the slow solar wind is still a topic of much debate. The continual emergence of small transient structures from helmet streamers is thought to constitute one of the main sources of the slow wind. Determining the height at which these transients are released is an important factor in determining the conditions under which the slow solar wind forms. To this end, we have carried out a multipoint analysis of small transient structures released from a north–south tilted helmet streamer into the slow solar wind over a broad range of position angles during Carrington Rotation 2137. Combining the remote-sensing observations taken by the Solar-TErrestrial RElations Observatory ( STEREO ) mission with coronagraphic observations from the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory ( SOHO ) spacecraft, we show that the release of such small transient structures (often called blobs), which subsequently move away from the Sun, is associated with the concomitant formation of transient structures collapsing back toward the Sun; the latter have been referred to by previous authors as “raining inflows.” This is the first direct association between outflowing blobs and raining inflows, which locates the formation of blobs above the helmet streamers and gives strong support that the blobs are released by magnetic reconnection.

Observational Evidence for the Associated Formation of Blobs and Raining Inflows in the Solar Corona

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sanchez-Diaz, E.; Rouillard, A. P.; Lavraud, B.; Pinto, R. F.; Plotnikov, I.; Genot, V. [Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, 9 avenue Colonel Roche, BP 44346-31028, Toulouse Cedex 4A (France); Davies, J. A. [RAL Space, STFC-Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Science and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Didcot OX11 0QX (United Kingdom); Sheeley, N. R. [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7600, 4555 Overlook Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Kilpua, E., E-mail: eduardo.sanchez-diaz@irap.omp.eu, E-mail: alexis.rouillard@irap.omp.eu, E-mail: benoit.lavraud@irap.omp.eu, E-mail: rui.pinto@irap.omp.eu, E-mail: illya.plotnikov@irap.omp.eu, E-mail: vincent.genot@irap.omp.eu, E-mail: jackie.davies@stfc.ac.uk, E-mail: neil.sheeley@nrl.navy.mil, E-mail: emilia.kilpua@helsinki.fi [Space Physics Department, Department of Physics, P.O. Box 64 FI-00014, University of Helsinki, Helsinki (Finland)

2017-01-20

The origin of the slow solar wind is still a topic of much debate. The continual emergence of small transient structures from helmet streamers is thought to constitute one of the main sources of the slow wind. Determining the height at which these transients are released is an important factor in determining the conditions under which the slow solar wind forms. To this end, we have carried out a multipoint analysis of small transient structures released from a north–south tilted helmet streamer into the slow solar wind over a broad range of position angles during Carrington Rotation 2137. Combining the remote-sensing observations taken by the Solar-TErrestrial RElations Observatory ( STEREO ) mission with coronagraphic observations from the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory ( SOHO ) spacecraft, we show that the release of such small transient structures (often called blobs), which subsequently move away from the Sun, is associated with the concomitant formation of transient structures collapsing back toward the Sun; the latter have been referred to by previous authors as “raining inflows.” This is the first direct association between outflowing blobs and raining inflows, which locates the formation of blobs above the helmet streamers and gives strong support that the blobs are released by magnetic reconnection.

Rain drop size densities over land and over sea

Science.gov (United States)

Bumke, Karl

2010-05-01

A detailed knowledge of rain drop size densities is an essential presumption with respect to remote sensing of precipitation. Since maritime and continental aerosol is significantly different yielding to differences in cloud drop size densities, maritime and continental rain drop size densities may be different, too. In fact only a little is known about differences in rain drop size densities between land and sea due to a lack of suitable data over the sea. To fill in this gap measurements were performed during the recent 10 years at different locations in Germany and on board of research vessels over the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean. Measurements were done by using an optical disdrometer (ODM 470, Großklaus et al., 1998), which is designed especially to perform precipitation measurements on moving ships and under high wind speeds. Temporal resolution of measurements is generally 1 minute, total number of time series is about 220000. To investigate differences in drop size densities over land and over sea measurements have been divided into four classes on the basis of prevailing continental or maritime influence: land measurements, coastal measurements, measurements in areas of semi-enclosed seas, and open sea measurements. In general differences in drop size densities are small between different areas. A Kolmogoroff Smirnoff test does not give any significant difference between drop size densities over land, coastal areas, semi-enclosed, and open seas at an error rate of 5%. Thus, it can be concluded that there are no systematic differences between maritime and continental drop size densities. The best fit of drop size densities is an exponential decay curve, N(D ) = 6510m -3mm -1mm0.14h- 0.14×R-0.14×exp(- 4.4mm0.25h-0.25×R- 0.25×D mm -1), it is estimated by using the method of least squares. N(D) is the drop size density normalized by the resolution of the optical disdrometer, D the diameter of rain drops in mm, and R the

Wind-Tunnel Investigation of the Aerodynamic Performance of Surface-Modification Cables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hiroshi Katsuchi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The wind-induced vibration of stay cables of cable-stayed bridges, which includes rain-wind-induced vibration (RWIV and dry galloping (DG, has been studied for a considerable amount of time. In general, mechanical dampers or surface modification are applied to suppress the vibration. In particular, several types of surface-modification cable, including indentation, longitudinally parallel protuberance, helical fillet, and U-shaped grooving, have been developed. Recently, a new type of aerodynamically stable cable with spiral protuberances was developed. It was confirmed that the cable has a low drag force coefficient, like an indented cable, and that it prevented the formation of water rivulets on the cable surface. In this study, the stability for RWIV of this cable was investigated with various flow angles and protuberance dimensions in a wind-tunnel test. It was found that the spiral protuberance cable is aerodynamically stable against both RWIV and DG for all test wind angles. The effects of the protuberance dimensions were also clarified. Keywords: Rain-wind-induced vibration, Dry galloping, Stay cable, Wind-tunnel test

Numerical Simulation of Heavy Rainfall in August 2014 over Japan and Analysis of Its Sensitivity to Sea Surface Temperature

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Yuki Minamiguchi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This study evaluated the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF model version 3.7 for simulating a series of rainfall events in August 2014 over Japan and investigated the impact of uncertainty in sea surface temperature (SST on simulated rainfall in the record-high precipitation period. WRF simulations for the heavy rainfall were conducted for six different cases. The heavy rainfall events caused by typhoons and rain fronts were similarly accurately reproduced by three cases: the TQW_5km case with grid nudging for air temperature, humidity, and wind and with a horizontal resolution of 5 km; W_5km with wind nudging and 5-km resolution; and W_2.5km with wind nudging and 2.5-km resolution. Because the nudging for air temperature and humidity in TQW_5km suppresses the influence of SST change, and because W_2.5km requires larger computational load, W_5km was selected as the baseline case for a sensitivity analysis of SST. In the sensitivity analysis, SST around Japan was homogeneously changed by 1 K from the original SST data. The analysis showed that the SST increase led to a larger amount of precipitation in the study period in Japan, with the mean increase rate of precipitation being 13 ± 8% K−1. In addition, 99 percentile precipitation (100 mm d−1 in the baseline case increased by 13% K−1 of SST warming. These results also indicate that an uncertainty of approximately 13% in the simulated heavy rainfall corresponds to an uncertainty of 1 K in SST data around Japan in the study period.

Wind Turbines Adaptation to the Variability of the Wind Field

Science.gov (United States)

Ulianov, Yuriy; Martynenko, Gennadii; Misaylov, Vitaliy; Soliannikova, Iuliia

2010-05-01

WIND TURBINES ADAPTATION TO THE VARIABILITY OF THE WIND FIELD The subject of our scientific research is wind power turbines (WPT) with the horizontal axis which were now common in the world. Efficient wind turbines work is largely determined by non-stationarity of the wind field, expressed in its gustiness, the presence of vertical and horizontal shifts of wind speed and direction. At critical values of the wind parameters WPT has aerodynamic and mechanical overload, leading to breakdowns, premature wear and reduce the life of the wind turbine. To prevent accidents at the peak values of wind speed it is used the regulatory system of windwheels. WPT control systems provide a process orientation of the wind turbine rotor axis in the line of the mean wind. Wind turbines are also equipped with braking device used to protect against breakdowns when a significant increase in the wind. In general, all these methods of regulation are not always effective. Thus, in practice there may be situations when the wind speed is many times greater than the stated limit. For example, if there are microbursts in the atmospheric boundary layer, low-level wind shears caused by its gust front, storms, etc. It is required for a wind power turbine adaptation to intensive short-term wind impulses and considerable vertical wind shifts that the data about them shall be obtained ahead of time. To do this it is necessary to have the information on the real structure of the wind field in the area of the blade sweep for the minimum range against the wind that is determined by the mean speed and the system action time. The implementation of acoustic and laser traditional wind sounding systems is limited by ambient acoustic noise, by heavy rain, snowfall and by fog. There are free of these disadvantages the inclined radioacoustic sounding (IRASS) technique which works for a system of remote detection and control of wind gusts. IRASS technique is realized as low-potential Doppler pulse radar

Evaluation of HY-2A Scatterometer Wind Vectors Using Data from Buoys, ERA-Interim and ASCAT during 2012–2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianyong Xing

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The first Chinese operational Ku-band scatterometer on board Haiyang-2A (HY-2A, launched in August 2011, is designed for monitoring the global ocean surface wind. This study estimates the quality of the near-real-time (NRT retrieval wind speed and wind direction from the HY-2A scatterometer for 36 months from 2012 to 2014. We employed three types of sea-surface wind data from oceanic moored buoys operated by the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC and the Tropical Atmospheric Ocean project (TAO, the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF reanalysis data (ERA-Interim, and the advanced scatterometer (ASCAT to calculate the error statistics including mean bias, root mean square error (RMSE, and standard deviation. In addition, the rain effects on the retrieval winds were investigated using collocated Climate Prediction Center morphing method (CMORPH precipitation data. All data were collocated with the HY-2A scatterometer wind data for comparison. The quality performances of the HY-2A NRT wind vectors data (especially the wind speeds were satisfactory throughout the service period. The RMSEs of the HY-2A wind speeds relative to the NDBC, TAO, ERA-Interim, and ASCAT data were 1.94, 1.73, 2.25, and 1.62 m·s−1, respectively. The corresponding RMSEs of the wind direction were 46.63°, 43.11°, 39.93°, and 47.47°, respectively. The HY-2A scatterometer overestimated low wind speeds, especially under rainy conditions. Rain exerted a diminishing effect on the wind speed retrievals with increasing wind speed, but its effect on wind direction was robust at low and moderate wind speeds. Relative to the TAO buoy data, the RMSEs without rain effect were reduced to 1.2 m·s−1 and 39.68° for the wind speed direction, respectively, regardless of wind speed. By investigating the objective laws between rain and the retrieval winds from HY-2A, we could improve the quality of wind retrievals through future studies.

Determination of stable and radioactive isotopes in rain water in Sahel in 1975 and 1976

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baudet, J.; Abi, B.

1979-01-01

The problem of desertification in Africa incites to materialize the circuit of the water vapour between its main source, the Gulf of Guinea, and its precipitation site. Some rainwater samples have been collected in Ouagadougou in 1975 and 1976 during the rainy season. The dosage of the stable isotopes D and O 18 and radioactive isotope T shows that in 1975, a year with a general rain deficit, the rain was formed in a continental air mass. On the contrary, in 1976, a year with excess rain, the rain was formed in a maritime air mass. A study of the wind flows at 600, 900, 1500 and 2100 m shows that in 1975 the monsoon penetration is limited to the bottom of the Gulf of Guinea facing Cameroons, while in 1976 it entered the African Continent through the whole Gulf Coast, from Senegal to Cameroons. In 1976, the monsoon went up in latitude 3 0 to 5 0 more to the north than in 1975 [fr

Rain-rate data base development and rain-rate climate analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Crane, Robert K.

1993-01-01

The single-year rain-rate distribution data available within the archives of Consultative Committee for International Radio (CCIR) Study Group 5 were compiled into a data base for use in rain-rate climate modeling and for the preparation of predictions of attenuation statistics. The four year set of tip-time sequences provided by J. Goldhirsh for locations near Wallops Island were processed to compile monthly and annual distributions of rain rate and of event durations for intervals above and below preset thresholds. A four-year data set of tropical rain-rate tip-time sequences were acquired from the NASA TRMM program for 30 gauges near Darwin, Australia. They were also processed for inclusion in the CCIR data base and the expanded data base for monthly observations at the University of Oklahoma. The empirical rain-rate distributions (edfs) accepted for inclusion in the CCIR data base were used to estimate parameters for several rain-rate distribution models: the lognormal model, the Crane two-component model, and the three parameter model proposed by Moupfuma. The intent of this segment of the study is to obtain a limited set of parameters that can be mapped globally for use in rain attenuation predictions. If the form of the distribution can be established, then perhaps available climatological data can be used to estimate the parameters rather than requiring years of rain-rate observations to set the parameters. The two-component model provided the best fit to the Wallops Island data but the Moupfuma model provided the best fit to the Darwin data.

Presence of PAHs in water and sediments of the Colombian Cauca River during heavy rain episodes, and implications for risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarria-Villa, Rodrigo; Ocampo-Duque, William; Páez, Martha; Schuhmacher, Marta

2016-01-01

In Colombia little attention has been paid to river pollution with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). Low environmental control and legislation in such emerging region could significantly contribute to high PAHs releases. In this study, we report the presence of PAHs in water and sediments of the Cauca River (Colombia). Three sampling campaigns were carried out between May 2010 and June 2011, and the samples were collected at eight relevant sites. The sampling time included measuring before, during, and after a season of heavy rains, which were influenced by the global coupled ocean-atmospheric phenomenon, which affected tropical countries with huge flooding, commonly called "La Niña", and/or "El Niño" Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The highest mean ∑PAH concentrations were 4476.5 ng/l and 1582.7 ng/g in water and sediments, respectively. The PAHs most detected were Benzo[b]fluoranthene, Benzo[k]fluoranthene, and Pyrene in sediments; and Fluorene, Acenaphtylene, and Anthracene in water. After the season of rains statistically significant higher PAH concentrations were detected. The results of the study were compared to other rivers worldwide at both environmental compartments, and did not show concentrations of special concern. In some sites, concentrations detected of PAHs were higher than screening benchmarks for ecological protection. Estimation of human health risks was carried out, and the results suggested some likely carcinogenic effects due to PAHs especially in children exposed during current recreational swimming and adults working in low technology sand extraction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Organic pollutants and heavy metals in rainwater runoff and their fate in the unsaturated soil zone. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grotehusmann, D.; Rohlfing, R.; Weyer, G.; Dittrich, D.; Gowik, P.; Pernak, P.

1991-01-01

This bibliographic study is part of the BMFT intergrated project ''Possibilitiis and limits of [ drainage in consederation of the soil and groundwater protection''. Subjects: Environmental relevance and general distribution of organic pollutants; organic pollutants in rain water, soil, and groundwater; fate of organic pollutants in soil; environmental relevance of heavy metals in soil, rain water, and runof; fate of heavy metals in the unsaturated soil rare. (orig./BBR) [de

Satellite passive microwave rain rate measurement over croplands during spring, summer and fall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spencer, R.W.

1984-01-01

Rain rate algorithms for spring, summer and fall that have been developed from comparisons between the brightness temperatures measured by the Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) and rain rates derived from operational WSR-57 radars over land are described. Data were utilized from a total of 25 SMMR passes and 234 radars, resulting in ∼12 000 observations of ∼1600 km 2 areas. Multiple correlation coefficients of 0.63, 0.80 and 0.75 are achieved for the spring, summer and fall algorithms, respectively. Most of this information is in the form of multifrequency contrast in brightness temperature, which is interpreted as a measurement of the degree to which the land-emitted radiation is attenuated by the rain systems. The SMMR 37 GHz channel has more information on rain rate than any other channel. By combining the lower frequency channels with the 37 GHz observations, variations in land and precipitation thermometric temperatures can be removed, leaving rain attenuation as the major effect on brightness temperature. Polarization screening at 37 GHz is found to be sufficient to screen out cases of wet ground, which is only important when the ground is relatively vegetation free. Heavy rain cases are found to be a significant part of the algorithms' success, because of the strong microwave signatures (low brightness temperatures) that result from the presence of precipitation-sized ice in the upper portions of heavily precipitating storms. If IR data are combined with the summer microwave data, an improved (0.85) correlation with radar rain rates is achieved

Effect of substrate depth and rain-event history on the pollutant abatement of green roofs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seidl, Martin; Gromaire, Marie-Christine; Saad, Mohamed; De Gouvello, Bernard

2013-01-01

This study compares the effectiveness of two different thickness of green roof substrate with respect to nutrient and heavy metal retention and release. To understand and evaluate the long term behaviour of green roofs, substrate columns with the same structure and composition as the green roofs, were exposed in laboratory to artificial rain. The roofs act as a sink for C, N, P, zinc and copper for small rain events if the previous period was principally dry. Otherwise the roofs may behave as a source of pollutants, principally for carbon and phosphorus. Both field and column studies showed an important retention for Zn and Cu. The column showed, however, lower SS, DOC and metal concentrations in the percolate than could be observed in the field even if corrected for run-off. This is most probably due to the difference in exposition history and weathering processes. Highlights: • Extensive roof greening can lead to increased DOC and nutrients runoff. • Studied green roofs retained over 80% of atmospheric heavy metal loads (Zn, Cu, Pb). • Substrate layer thickness had no significant impact on metal retention. • Column experiments showed no decrease in the long term heavy metal retention. -- The green roofs tested, showed variable retention capacity for the common pollutants, but were especially efficient in heavy metals retention, which long-term evolution was evaluated in simultaneous column experiments

The extent of wind-induced undercatch in the UK winter storms of 2015

Science.gov (United States)

Pollock, Michael; Colli, Matteo; Stagnaro, Mattia; Quinn, Paul; Dutton, Mark; O'Donnell, Greg; Wilkinson, Mark; Black, Andrew; O'Connell, Enda; Lanza, Luca

2016-04-01

The most widely used device for measuring rainfall is the rain gauge, of which the tipping bucket (TBR) is the most prevalent type. Rain gauges are considered by many to be the most accurate method currently available. The data they produce are used in flood-forecasting and flood risk management, water resource management, hydrological modelling and evaluating impacts on climate change; to name but a few. Rain gauges may provide the most accurate measurement of rainfall at a point in space and time, but they are subject to errors - and some gauges are more prone than others. The most significant error is the 'wind-induced undercatch'. This is caused by the gauge itself contributing to an acceleration of the wind speed near the orifice, which disturbs and distorts the airflow. The trajectories of precipitation particles are affected, resulting in an undercatch. Results from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, presented herein, describe in detail the physical processes contributing to this. High resolution field measurements of rainfall and wind are collected at four field research stations in the UK. Each site is equipped with juxtaposed rain gauges with different funnel profiles, in addition to a WMO reference pit rain gauge measurement. These data describe the rainfall measurement uncertainty. The sites were selected to represent the prevalent rainfall regimes observed in the UK. Two research stations are on the west coast; which is prone to frontal weather systems and storms swept in from the Atlantic, often enhanced by orography. Two are located in the east. Rural lowland and upland areas are represented, both in the west and the east. Urban sites will also have significant undercatch problems but are outside the scope of this study. Data from the four research stations are analysed for the 2015 winter storms which caused devastating flooding in the west of the UK, particularly Cumbria and the Scottish Borders, where two of the sites are located. An

Heavy ion composition in the inner heliosphere: Predictions for Solar Orbiter

Science.gov (United States)

Lepri, S. T.; Livi, S. A.; Galvin, A. B.; Kistler, L. M.; Raines, J. M.; Allegrini, F.; Collier, M. R.; Zurbuchen, T.

2014-12-01

The Heavy Ion Sensor (HIS) on SO, with its high time resolution, will provide the first ever solar wind and surpathermal heavy ion composition and 3D velocity distribution function measurements inside the orbit of Mercury. These measurements will provide us the most in depth examination of the origin, structure and evolution of the solar wind. The near co-rotation phases of the orbiter will enable the most accurate mapping of in-situ structures back to their solar sources. Measurements of solar wind composition and heavy ion kinetic properties enable characterization of the sources, transport mechanisms and acceleration processes of the solar wind. This presentation will focus on the current state of in-situ studies of heavy ions in the solar wind and their implications for the sources of the solar wind, the nature of structure and variability in the solar wind, and the acceleration of particles. Additionally, we will also discuss opportunities for coordinated measurements across the payloads of Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe in order to answer key outstanding science questions of central interest to the Solar and Heliophysics communities.

Tropospheric weather influenced by solar wind through atmospheric vertical coupling downward control

Science.gov (United States)

Prikryl, Paul; Bruntz, Robert; Tsukijihara, Takumi; Iwao, Koki; Muldrew, Donald B.; Rušin, Vojto; Rybanský, Milan; Turňa, Maroš; Šťastný, Pavel

2018-06-01

Occurrence of severe weather in the context of solar wind coupling to the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere (MIA) system is investigated. It is observed that significant snowfall, wind and heavy rain, particularly if caused by low pressure systems in winter, tend to follow arrivals of high-speed solar wind. Previously published statistical evidence that explosive extratropical cyclones in the northern hemisphere tend to occur within a few days after arrivals of high-speed solar wind streams from coronal holes (Prikryl et al., 2009, 2016) is corroborated for the southern hemisphere. Cases of severe weather events are examined in the context of the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere (MIA) coupling. Physical mechanism to explain these observations is proposed. The leading edge of high-speed solar wind streams is a locus of large-amplitude magneto-hydrodynamic waves that modulate Joule heating and/or Lorentz forcing of the high-latitude lower thermosphere generating medium-scale atmospheric gravity waves that propagate upward and downward through the atmosphere. Simulations of gravity wave propagation in a model atmosphere using the Transfer Function Model (Mayr et al., 1990) reveal that propagating waves originating in the lower thermosphere can excite a spectrum of gravity waves in the lower atmosphere. In spite of significantly reduced amplitudes but subject to amplification upon reflection in the upper troposphere, these gravity waves can provide a lift of unstable air to release instabilities in the troposphere and initiate convection to form cloud/precipitation bands. It is primarily the energy provided by release of latent heat that leads to intensification of storms. These results indicate that vertical coupling in the atmosphere exerts downward control from solar wind to the lower atmospheric levels influencing tropospheric weather development.

Impacts of a Destructive and Well-Observed Cross-Country Winter Storm.

Science.gov (United States)

Martner, Brooks E.; Rauber, Robert M.; Ramamurthy, Mohan K.; Rasmussen, Roy M.; Prater, Erwin T.

1992-02-01

A winter storm that crossed the continental United States in mid-February 1990 produced hazardous weather across a vast area of the nation. A wide range of severe weather was reported, including heavy snowfall; freezing rain and drizzle; thunderstorms with destructive winds, lightning, large hail, and tornadoes; prolonged heavy rain with subsequent flooding; frost damage to citrus orchards; and sustained destructive winds not associated with thunderstorms. Low-end preliminary estimates of impacts included 9 deaths, 27 injuries, and $120 million of property damage. At least 35 states and southeastern Canada were adversely affected. The storm occurred during the field operations of four independent atmospheric research projects that obtained special, detailed observations of it from the Rocky Mountains to the eastern great Lakes.

Impact of wind-driven rain on historic brick wall buildings in a moderately cold and humid climate: Numerical analyses of mould growth risk, indoor climate and energy consumption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Masaru, Abuku; Janssen, Hans; Roels, Staf

2009-01-01

This paper gives an onset to whole building hygrothermal modelling in which the interaction between interior and exterior climates via building enclosures is simulated under a moderately cold and humid climate. The focus is particularly on the impact of wind-driven rain (WDR) oil the hygrothermal...... response, mould growth at interior wall surfaces, indoor climate and energy consumption. First the WDR load oil the facades of a 4 m x 4 m x 10 m tower is determined. Then the hygrothermal behaviour of the brick walls is analysed oil a horizontal slice through the tower. The simulations demonstrate...

Neutral rains at Athens, Greece: a natural safeguard against acidification of rains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kita, Itsuro; Sato, Takayuki; Kase, Yoshinori; Mitropoulos, Panagiotis

2004-01-01

Samples of all rains in a period from October, 1998 to January, 1999 at Athens, Greece, were collected. The pH values of almost all of these rains clustered in a high range of 7.0-7.5, with no relation between pH and their SO 4 2- , NO 3 - and Cl - contents. In addition, a few rains with low contents of chemical components similar to pure water also were observed, giving a pH (approx. 5.5) of rain caused by dissolution of only atmospheric CO 2 in it. These results indicate that the level of air pollution of Athens by human activity has become lower during the last decade, restoring the neutral condition of rain in this area. Furthermore, the Ca contents and Ca/Mg ratios in these rains, as well as their chemical and isotopic behavior, suggest that particles of calcium carbonate taken in as dust act as a neutralizer of rains. The dust must be derived not only from the urban area of Athens but also from its environs or areas distant from it. Such a mechanism causing universally neutral rains throughout the rainy season at Athens must have worked as a natural safeguard against rains acidified naturally and artificially from ancient times up to recent years, keeping the remains of ancient Greece in a good state of preservation during such a long period

Large-scale modeling of rain fields from a rain cell deterministic model

Science.gov (United States)

FéRal, Laurent; Sauvageot, Henri; Castanet, Laurent; Lemorton, JoëL.; Cornet, FréDéRic; Leconte, Katia

2006-04-01

A methodology to simulate two-dimensional rain rate fields at large scale (1000 × 1000 km2, the scale of a satellite telecommunication beam or a terrestrial fixed broadband wireless access network) is proposed. It relies on a rain rate field cellular decomposition. At small scale (˜20 × 20 km2), the rain field is split up into its macroscopic components, the rain cells, described by the Hybrid Cell (HYCELL) cellular model. At midscale (˜150 × 150 km2), the rain field results from the conglomeration of rain cells modeled by HYCELL. To account for the rain cell spatial distribution at midscale, the latter is modeled by a doubly aggregative isotropic random walk, the optimal parameterization of which is derived from radar observations at midscale. The extension of the simulation area from the midscale to the large scale (1000 × 1000 km2) requires the modeling of the weather frontal area. The latter is first modeled by a Gaussian field with anisotropic covariance function. The Gaussian field is then turned into a binary field, giving the large-scale locations over which it is raining. This transformation requires the definition of the rain occupation rate over large-scale areas. Its probability distribution is determined from observations by the French operational radar network ARAMIS. The coupling with the rain field modeling at midscale is immediate whenever the large-scale field is split up into midscale subareas. The rain field thus generated accounts for the local CDF at each point, defining a structure spatially correlated at small scale, midscale, and large scale. It is then suggested that this approach be used by system designers to evaluate diversity gain, terrestrial path attenuation, or slant path attenuation for different azimuth and elevation angle directions.

Acid Rain

Science.gov (United States)

Bricker, Owen P.; Rice, Karen C.

1995-01-01

Although acid rain is fading as a political issue in the United States and funds for research in this area have largely disappeared, the acidity of rain in the Eastern United States has not changed significantly over the last decade, and it continues to be a serious environmental problem. Acid deposition (commonly called acid rain) is a term applied to all forms of atmospheric deposition of acidic substances - rain, snow, fog, acidic dry particulates, aerosols, and acid-forming gases. Water in the atmosphere reacts with certain atmospheric gases to become acidic. For example, water reacts with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to produce a solution with a pH of about 5.6. Gases that produce acids in the presence of water in the atmosphere include carbon dioxide (which converts to carbonic acid), oxides of sulfur and nitrogen (which convert to sulfuric and nitric acids}, and hydrogen chloride (which converts to hydrochloric acid). These acid-producing gases are released to the atmosphere through natural processes, such as volcanic emissions, lightning, forest fires, and decay of organic matter. Accordingly, precipitation is slightly acidic, with a pH of 5.0 to 5.7 even in undeveloped areas. In industrialized areas, most of the acid-producing gases are released to the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. Major emitters of acid-producing gases include power plants, industrial operations, and motor vehicles. Acid-producing gases can be transported through the atmosphere for hundreds of miles before being converted to acids and deposited as acid rain. Because acids tend to build up in the atmosphere between storms, the most acidic rain falls at the beginning of a storm, and as the rain continues, the acids "wash out" of the atmosphere.

Understanding of bridge cable vibrations and the associate flow-field through the full-scale monitoring of vibrations and Wind

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Acampora, Antonio

This dissertation investigates the conditions that promote rain-wind-induced vibrations of inclined cable on cable-stayed bridges. Rain-wind-induced vibrations are known as the most common type of cable vibrations and capable of severe vibrations. The recent increase in the number of cable stayed...... bridges continuously becoming longer and lighter have resulted in a high number of observations of cable vibrations. A theoretical background for the tool used in this work is presented in terms of cables vibrations mechanisms, aerodynamic damping and system identification techniques. A detailed...... literature review of reported observations of rain-wind-induced cable vibrations of fullscale bridges is shown. The database of observed events on bridges collects information about the conditions that likely develop the phenomenon, together with the means used to suppress or reduce the occurrence of cable...

Rain-season trends in precipitation and their effect in different climate regions of China during 1961-2008

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Yanling; Achberger, Christine; Linderholm, Hans W

2011-01-01

Using high-quality precipitation data from 524 stations, the trends of a set of precipitation variables during the main rain season (May-September) from 1961 to 2008 for different climate regions in China were analysed. However, different characteristics were displayed in different regions of China. In most temperate monsoon regions (north-eastern China), total rain-season precipitation and precipitation days showed decreasing trends; positive tendencies in precipitation intensity were, however, noted for most stations in this region. It is suggested that the decrease in rain-season precipitation is mainly related to there being fewer rain days and a change towards drier conditions in north-eastern China, and as a result, the available water resources have been negatively affected in the temperate monsoon regions. In most subtropical and tropical monsoon climate regions (south-eastern China), the rain-season precipitation and precipitation days (11-50, with > 50 mm) showed slightly positive trends. However, precipitation days with ≤ 10 mm decreased in these regions. Changes towards wetter conditions in this area, together with more frequent heavy rainfall events causing floods, have a severe impact on peoples' lives and socio-economic development. In general, the rain-season precipitation, precipitation days and rain-season precipitation intensity had all increased in the temperate continental and plateau/mountain regions of western China. This increase in rain-season precipitation has been favourable to pasture growth.

Estimate of annual daily maximum rainfall and intense rain equation for the Formiga municipality, MG, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giovana Mara Rodrigues Borges

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Knowledge of the probabilistic behavior of rainfall is extremely important to the design of drainage systems, dam spillways, and other hydraulic projects. This study therefore examined statistical models to predict annual daily maximum rainfall as well as models of heavy rain for the city of Formiga - MG. To do this, annual maximum daily rainfall data were ranked in decreasing order that best describes the statistical distribution by exceedance probability. Daily rainfall disaggregation methodology was used for the intense rain model studies and adjusted with Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF and Exponential models. The study found that the Gumbel model better adhered to the data regarding observed frequency as indicated by the Chi-squared test, and that the exponential model best conforms to the observed data to predict intense rains.

Understanding Acid Rain

Science.gov (United States)

Damonte, Kathleen

2004-01-01

The term acid rain describes rain, snow, or fog that is more acidic than normal precipitation. To understand what acid rain is, it is first necessary to know what an acid is. Acids can be defined as substances that produce hydrogen ions (H+), when dissolved in water. Scientists indicate how acidic a substance is by a set of numbers called the pH…

Rain Gauges Handbook

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bartholomew, M. J. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

2016-01-01

To improve the quantitative description of precipitation processes in climate models, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility deployed rain gauges located near disdrometers (DISD and VDIS data streams). This handbook deals specifically with the rain gauges that make the observations for the RAIN data stream. Other precipitation observations are made by the surface meteorology instrument suite (i.e., MET data stream).

Rain concentration and sheltering effect of solar panels on cultivated plots

Science.gov (United States)

Elamri, Yassin; Cheviron, Bruno; Mange, Annabelle; Dejean, Cyril; Liron, François; Belaud, Gilles

2018-02-01

Agrivoltaism is the association of agricultural and photovoltaic energy production on the same land area, coping with the increasing pressure on land use and water resources while delivering clean and renewable energy. However, the solar panels located above the cultivated plots also have a seemingly yes unexplored effect on rain redistribution, sheltering large parts of the plot but redirecting concentrated fluxes on a few locations. The spatial heterogeneity in water amounts observed on the ground is high in the general case; its dynamical patterns are directly attributable to the mobile panels through their geometrical characteristics (dimensions, height, coverage percentage) and the strategies selected to rotate them around their support tube. A coefficient of variation is used to measure this spatial heterogeneity and to compare it with the coefficient of uniformity that classically describes the efficiency of irrigation systems. A rain redistribution model (AVrain) was derived from literature elements and theoretical grounds and then validated from experiments in both field and controlled conditions. AVrain simulates the effective rain amounts on the plot from a few forcing data (rainfall, wind velocity and direction) and thus allows real-time strategies that consist in operating the panels so as to limit the rain interception mainly responsible for the spatial heterogeneities. Such avoidance strategies resulted in a sharp decrease in the coefficient of variation, e.g. 0.22 vs. 2.13 for panels held flat during one of the monitored rain events, which is a fairly good uniformity score for irrigation specialists. Finally, the water amounts predicted by AVrain were used as inputs to Hydrus-2D for a brief exploratory study on the impact of the presence of solar panels on rain redistribution at shallow depths within soils: similar, more diffuse patterns were simulated and were coherent with field measurements.

Application of rain scanner SANTANU and transportable weather radar in analyze of Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) events over Bandung, West Java

Science.gov (United States)

Nugroho, G. A.; Sinatra, T.; Trismidianto; Fathrio, I.

2018-05-01

Simultaneous observation of transportable weather radar LAPAN-GMR25SP and rain-scanner SANTANU were conducted in Bandung and vicinity. The objective is to observe and analyse the weather condition in this area during rainy and transition season from March until April 2017. From the observation result reported some heavy rainfall with hail and strong winds occurred on March 17th and April 19th 2017. This events were lasted within 1 to 2 hours damaged some properties and trees in Bandung. Mesoscale convective system (MCS) are assumed to be the cause of this heavy rainfall. From two radar data analysis showed a more local convective activity in around 11.00 until 13.00 LT. This local convective activity are showed from the SANTANU observation supported by the VSECT and CMAX of the Transportable radar data that signify the convective activity within those area. MCS activity were observed one hour after that. This event are confirm by the classification of convective-stratiform echoes from radar data and also from the high convective index from Tbb Himawari 8 satellite data. The different MCS activity from this two case study is that April 19 have much more MCS activity than in March 17, 2017.

USGS Tracks Acid Rain

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, John D.; Nilles, Mark A.; Schroder, LeRoy J.

1995-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been actively studying acid rain for the past 15 years. When scientists learned that acid rain could harm fish, fear of damage to our natural environment from acid rain concerned the American public. Research by USGS scientists and other groups began to show that the processes resulting in acid rain are very complex. Scientists were puzzled by the fact that in some cases it was difficult to demonstrate that the pollution from automobiles and factories was causing streams or lakes to become more acidic. Further experiments showed how the natural ability of many soils to neutralize acids would reduce the effects of acid rain in some locations--at least as long as the neutralizing ability lasted (Young, 1991). The USGS has played a key role in establishing and maintaining the only nationwide network of acid rain monitoring stations. This program is called the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN). Each week, at approximately 220 NADP/NTN sites across the country, rain and snow samples are collected for analysis. NADP/NTN site in Montana. The USGS supports about 72 of these sites. The information gained from monitoring the chemistry of our nation's rain and snow is important for testing the results of pollution control laws on acid rain.

Investigating the Role of Wind in the Dispersion of Heavy Metals Around Mines in Arid Regions (a Case Study from Kushk Pb-Zn Mine, Bafgh, Iran).

Science.gov (United States)

Mokhtari, Ahmad Reza; Feiznia, Sadat; Jafari, Mohammad; Tavili, Ali; Ghaneei-Bafghi, Mohammad-Javad; Rahmany, Farah; Kerry, Ruth

2018-03-16

The Kushk Pb-Zn mine is located in Central Iran and it has been in operation for the last 75 years. To investigate the role of wind dispersion of heavy metal pollutants from the mine area, dust samples were collected during 1 year and topsoil samples were collected around the mine. Results showed that the topsoil is polluted with Pb and Zn to about 1500 m away from the mine. It was also found that there was not a significant difference between the metal concentrations in topsoil and dust samples. The Pb and Zn concentrations in the dust samples exceeded 200 mg kg -1 and their lateral dispersion via wind was estimated to be about 4 km away from the mine. It has been shown that a combination of mining activities and mechanical dispersion via water and wind have caused lateral movement of heavy metals in this area.

Hydrometeorological and statistical analyses of heavy rainfall in Midwestern USA

Science.gov (United States)

Thorndahl, S.; Smith, J. A.; Krajewski, W. F.

2012-04-01

During the last two decades the mid-western states of the United States of America has been largely afflicted by heavy flood producing rainfall. Several of these storms seem to have similar hydrometeorological properties in terms of pattern, track, evolution, life cycle, clustering, etc. which raise the question if it is possible to derive general characteristics of the space-time structures of these heavy storms. This is important in order to understand hydrometeorological features, e.g. how storms evolve and with what frequency we can expect extreme storms to occur. In the literature, most studies of extreme rainfall are based on point measurements (rain gauges). However, with high resolution and quality radar observation periods exceeding more than two decades, it is possible to do long-term spatio-temporal statistical analyses of extremes. This makes it possible to link return periods to distributed rainfall estimates and to study precipitation structures which cause floods. However, doing these statistical frequency analyses of rainfall based on radar observations introduces some different challenges, converting radar reflectivity observations to "true" rainfall, which are not problematic doing traditional analyses on rain gauge data. It is for example difficult to distinguish reflectivity from high intensity rain from reflectivity from other hydrometeors such as hail, especially using single polarization radars which are used in this study. Furthermore, reflectivity from bright band (melting layer) should be discarded and anomalous propagation should be corrected in order to produce valid statistics of extreme radar rainfall. Other challenges include combining observations from several radars to one mosaic, bias correction against rain gauges, range correction, ZR-relationships, etc. The present study analyzes radar rainfall observations from 1996 to 2011 based the American NEXRAD network of radars over an area covering parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and

Analysis of Precipitation (Rain and Snow) Levels and Straight-line Wind Speeds in Support of the 10-year Natural Phenomena Hazards Review for Los Alamos National Laboratory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelly, Elizabeth J. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Dewart, Jean Marie [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Deola, Regina [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-12-10

This report provides site-specific return level analyses for rain, snow, and straight-line wind extreme events. These analyses are in support of the 10-year review plan for the assessment of meteorological natural phenomena hazards at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). These analyses follow guidance from Department of Energy, DOE Standard, Natural Phenomena Hazards Analysis and Design Criteria for DOE Facilities (DOE-STD-1020-2012), Nuclear Regulatory Commission Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800, 2007) and ANSI/ ANS-2.3-2011, Estimating Tornado, Hurricane, and Extreme Straight-Line Wind Characteristics at Nuclear Facility Sites. LANL precipitation and snow level data have been collected since 1910, although not all years are complete. In this report the results from the more recent data (1990–2014) are compared to those of past analyses and a 2004 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration report. Given the many differences in the data sets used in these different analyses, the lack of statistically significant differences in return level estimates increases confidence in the data and in the modeling and analysis approach.

Application of Statistical Methods of Rain Rate Estimation to Data From The TRMM Precipitation Radar

Science.gov (United States)

Meneghini, R.; Jones, J. A.; Iguchi, T.; Okamoto, K.; Liao, L.; Busalacchi, Antonio J. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

the light and heavy rain rates. This is useful in estimating the fraction of rainfall contributed by the rain rates that go undetected by the radar. The results at high rain rates provide a cross-check on the usual attenuation correction methods that are applied at the highest resolution of the instrument.

Seasat microwave wind and rain observations in severe tropical and midlatitude marine storms

Science.gov (United States)

Black, P. G.; Hawkins, J. D.; Gentry, R. C.; Cardone, V. J.

1985-01-01

Initial results of studies concerning Seasat measurements in and around tropical and severe midlatitude cyclones over the open ocean are presented, together with an assessment of their accuracy and usefulness. Complementary measurements of surface wind speed and direction, rainfall rate, and the sea surface temperature obtained with the Seasat-A Satellite Scatterometer (SASS), the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), and the Seasat SAR are analyzed. The Seasat data for the Hurrricanes Fico, Ella, and Greta and the QE II storm are compared with data obtained from aircraft, buoys, and ships. It is shown that the SASS-derived wind speeds are accurate to within 10 percent, and the directions are accurate to within 20 percent. In general, the SASS estimates tend to measure light winds too high and intense winds too low. The errors of the SMMR-derived measurements of the winds in hurricanes tend to be higher than those of the SASS-derived measurements.

Chandra Takes on Heavy Jets and Massive Winds in 4U 1630-47

Science.gov (United States)

Neilsen, Joey

2014-11-01

Recently, Díaz Trigo et al. reported the discovery of relativistic baryons in a jet in XMM/ATCA observations of the 2012 outburst of the black hole 4U 1630-47. We present a search for a similarly massive jet earlier in the same outburst using high-resolution X-ray spectra from the Chandra HETGS. Despite a detection of radio emission with ATCA, we find no evidence of a heavy jet in the X-ray spectrum, with tight upper limits on the relativistic emission lines seen by Díaz Trigo eight months later. Instead, we find deep absorption lines from a massive, highly ionized disk wind, whose properties can be probed with detailed photoionization models. We explore several scenarios to explain the two modes of massive outflow in this remarkable black hole system.

Landsliding and flooding event triggered by heavy rains in the Rize region

Science.gov (United States)

Yalcin, Ali; Kavurmaci, M. Murat

2013-04-01

Rize province has been significantly damaged by frequent landslides and floods which are caused by severe rainfalls and result in many casualties. The area is prone to landslides because of the climate conditions, geologic, and land cover characteristics of the region. The most recent landslide occurred on August 26, 2010 in Gundogdu town. The landslides have caused large numbers of casualties and huge economic losses in the region. Thirteen people died, twenty houses collapsed, more than a hundred houses damaged, and one hundred fifty vehicles were damaged in the Gundogdu landslide. Flood event is often seen in the region of Rize, due to continuous rainfall. Floods cause huge loss of life and property in this region. Rainfall is the most frequent landslide-triggering factor in East Black Sea region, Turkey, especially Rize region. Rize is the rainiest city of Turkey. Total annual precipitation is over 2300 mm, and precipitation is equally distributed in each month. However, in August 26, 166.5 mm precipitation rained within 24 hours in the region and this rainstorm caused great damage. The intensity rainfall periods were become as an indicator of landslide activity. It is very important that the presence of suitable lithologic units for occurring landslides. There are appropriate materials to contributed constitution of landslides in the study area; completely weathered dacite. In addition, intensity land cover types as tea plantations have been blocked surface flows and rainfall is able to quickly penetrate into the soil through open tension cracks that appear in the landslide head and in stretching zones. According to the results of the analysis, the study area has been overlaid tea garden 70 % percentage approximately. Furthermore, the landslide risks have increased by devastation of land cover in this region. In this region, over-steepened slopes, slope saturation in areas of heavy rainfall, and removal of slope vegetation can also increase landslide potential

Rain attenuation studies from radiometric and rain DSD measurements at two tropical locations

Science.gov (United States)

Halder, Tuhina; Adhikari, Arpita; Maitra, Animesh

2018-05-01

Efficient use of satellite communication in tropical regions demands proper characterization of rain attenuation, particularly, in view of the available popular propagation models which are mostly based on temperate climatic data. Thus rain attenuations at frequencies 22.234, 23.834 and 31.4/30 GHz over two tropical locations Kolkata (22.57°N, 88.36°E, India) and Belem (1.45°S, 48.49° W, Brazil), have been estimated for the year 2010 and 2011, respectively. The estimation has been done utilizing ground-based disdrometer observations and radiometric measurements over Earth-space path. The results show that rain attenuation estimations from radiometric data are reliable only at low rain rates (measurements show good agreement with the ITU-R model, even at high rain rates (upto100 mm/h). Despite having significant variability in terms of drop size distribution (DSD), the attenuation values calculated from DSD data (disdrometer measurements) at Kolkata and Belem differ a little for the rain rates below 30 mm/h. However, the attenuation values, obtained from radiometric measurements at the two places, show significant deviations ranging from 0.54 dB to 3.2 dB up to a rain rate of 30 mm/h, on account of different rain heights, mean atmospheric temperatures and climatology of the two locations.

Engineering handbook on the atmospheric environmental guidelines for use in wind turbine generator development

Science.gov (United States)

Frost, W.; Long, B. H.; Turner, R. E.

1978-01-01

The guidelines are given in the form of design criteria relative to wind speed, wind shear, turbulence, wind direction, ice and snow loading, and other climatological parameters which include rain, hail, thermal effects, abrasive and corrosive effects, and humidity. This report is a presentation of design criteria in an engineering format which can be directly input to wind turbine generator design computations. Guidelines are also provided for developing specialized wind turbine generators or for designing wind turbine generators which are to be used in a special region of the United States.

Biomass and carbon dynamics of a tropical mountain rain forest in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, DeXiang; Li, YiDe; Liu, HePing; Xu, Han; Xiao, WenFa; Luo, TuShou; Zhou, Zhang; Lin, MingXian

2010-07-01

Biometric inventories for 25 years, from 1983 to 2005, indicated that the Jianfengling tropical mountain rain forest in Hainan, China, was either a source or a modest sink of carbon. Overall, this forest was a small carbon sink with an accumulation rate of (0.56+/-0.22) Mg C ha(-1)yr(-1), integrated from the long-term measurement data of two plots (P9201 and P8302). These findings were similar to those for African and American rain forests ((0.62+/-0.23) Mg C ha(-1)yr(-1)). The carbon density varied between (201.43+/-29.38) Mg C ha(-1) and (229.16+/-39.2) Mg C ha(-1), and averaged (214.17+/-32.42) Mg C ha(-1) for plot P9201. Plot P8302, however, varied between (223.95+/-45.92) Mg C ha(-1) and (254.85+/-48.86) Mg C ha(-1), and averaged (243.35+/-47.64) Mg C ha(-1). Quadratic relationships were found between the strength of carbon sequestration and heavy rainstorms and dry months. Precipitation and evapotranspiration are two major factors controlling carbon sequestration in the tropical mountain rain forest.

Speciation distribution and mass balance of copper and zinc in urban rain, sediments, and road runoff.

Science.gov (United States)

Zuo, Xiaojun; Fu, Dafang; Li, He

2012-11-01

Heavy metal pollution in road runoff had caused widespread concern since the last century. However, there are little references on metal speciation in multiple environmental media (e.g., rain, road sediments, and road runoff). Our research targeted the investigation of metal speciation in rain, road sediments, and runoff; the analysis of speciation variation and mass balance of metals among rain, road sediments, and runoff; the selection of main factors by principal component analysis (PCA); and the establishment of equation to evaluate the impact of rain and road sediments to metals in road runoff. Sequential extraction procedure contains five steps for the chemical fractionation of metals. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry (Shimadzu, AA-6800) was used to determine metal speciation concentration, as well as the total and dissolved fractions. The dissolved fractions for both Cu and Zn were dominant in rain. The speciation distribution of Zn was different from that of Cu in road sediments, while speciation distribution of Zn is similar to that of Cu in runoff. The bound to carbonates for both Cu and Zn in road sediments were prone to be dissolved by rain. The levels of Cu and Zn in runoff were not obviously influenced by rain, but significantly influenced by road sediments. The masses for both Cu and Zn among rain, road sediments, and road runoff approximately meet the mass balance equation for all rainfall patterns. Five principal factors were selected for metal regression equation based on PCA, including rainfall, average rainfall intensity, antecedent dry periods, total suspended particles, and temperature. The established regression equations could be used to predict the effect of road runoff on receiving environments.

Simulation of the Impact of New Aircraft- and Satellite-Based Ocean Surface Wind Measurements on H*Wind Analyses and Numerical Forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Timothy; Atlas, Robert; Black, Peter; Chen, Shuyi; Hood, Robbie; Johnson, James; Jones, Linwood; Ruf, Chris; Uhlhorn, Eric; Krishnamurti, T. N.;

The Acid Rain Reader.

Science.gov (United States)

Stubbs, Harriett S.; And Others

A topic which is often not sufficiently dealt with in elementary school textbooks is acid rain. This student text is designed to supplement classroom materials on the topic. Discussed are: (1) "Rain"; (2) "Water Cycle"; (3) "Fossil Fuels"; (4) "Air Pollution"; (5) "Superstacks"; (6) "Acid/Neutral/Bases"; (7) "pH Scale"; (8) "Acid Rain"; (9)…

Acid Rain Study Guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunger, Carolyn; And Others

Acid rain is a complex, worldwide environmental problem. This study guide is intended to aid teachers of grades 4-12 to help their students understand what acid rain is, why it is a problem, and what possible solutions exist. The document contains specific sections on: (1) the various terms used in conjunction with acid rain (such as acid…

Simulation of the Impact of New Aircraft- and Satellite-based Ocean Surface Wind Measurements on Estimates of Hurricane Intensity

Science.gov (United States)

Uhlhorn, Eric; Atlas, Robert; Black, Peter; Buckley, Courtney; Chen, Shuyi; El-Nimri, Salem; Hood, Robbie; Johnson, James; Jones, Linwood; Miller, Timothy;

Wind energy, status and opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Wijk, A.

1994-01-01

Wind energy is diffuse but was widely used before the industrial revolution. The first oil crisis triggered renewed interest in wind energy technology in remote areas. Winds develop when solar radiation reaches the earth's highly varied surface unevenly, creating temperature density and pressure differences. The earth's atmosphere has to circulate to transport heat from the tropics towards the poles. On a global scale, these atmospheric currents work as an immense energy transfer medium. Three main applications can be distinguished: wind pumps, off-grid applications and grid-connected applications. The total generating costs for wind turbine systems are determined by total investments costs, the life time, the operating and maintenance costs, the wind regime (the wind energy potential is proportional to v 3 where v is the wind speed), the efficiency and availability of the wind turbine. The main gains are achieved as a result of improved reliability. The optimum size of a wind turbine depends on the wind speed, the wind turbine costs, the construction costs, the environmental impact and the social costs. The value of wind energy depends on the application that is made of the energy generated and on the costs of alternatives, it can be calculated by the avoided costs of damage to flora, fauna and mankind due to acid rain deposition, enhancement of the greenhouse effect. The environmental aspects are bird hindrance, noise, telecommunication interference and safety. 2 tabs., 1 fig

Wind Effects on Retention Time in Highway Ponds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bentzen, Thomas Ruby; Larsen, Torben; Rasmussen, Michael R.

2007-01-01

is to evaluate the quality of long term simulations based on historical rain series of the pollutant discharges from roads and highways. The idea of this paper is to evaluate the effects of wind on the retention time and compare the retention time for the situation of a spatial uniform wind shear stress...... with the situation of a "real" spatial non-uniform shear stress distribution on the surface of the pond. The result of this paper shows that wind plays a dominant role for the retention time and flow pattern. Furthermore, the results shows that the differences in retention time between the use of uniform and non...

Wind Effects on Retention Time in Highway Ponds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bentzen, Thomas Ruby; Larsen, Torben; Rasmussen, Michael R.

2008-01-01

is to evaluate the quality of long term simulations based on historical rain series of the pollutant discharges from roads and highways. The idea of this paper is to evaluate the effects of wind on the retention time and compare the retention time for the situation of a spatial uniform wind shear stress...... with the situation of a "real" spatial non-uniform shear stress distribution on the surface of the pond. The result of this paper shows that wind plays a dominant role for the retention time and flow pattern. Furthermore, the results shows that the differences in retention time between the use of uniform and non...

The heavy rains and floods on 17 and 18 December 2016 in the Region of Murcia, with particular focus on the Mar Menor Watershed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Espín Sánchez

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The heavy rains on December 17-18, 2016 were one of the most significant events that have occurred in southeastern Spain over the last two decades. In the present study the incidence of these rains in the Region of Murcia, and especially in the Mar Menor watershed, is analyzed, with particular focus on the flooded areas. The synoptic situation and the atmospheric dynamics were studied through monitoring of different METEOSAT´s satellite bands, images from weather radars and data from atmospheric soundings. A map showing the accumulated rainfall during the event and another one concerning the pluviometric anomaly of December 2016 in comparison with the average for this month in the period from 1981 to 2010 were produced using precipitation data of 129 weather stations belonging to different organizations. The maximum precipitation reached in 1 and 12 hours for a total of 64 stations was also analyzed, in relation to the thresholds and alarm levels which are established by AEMET. Finally, two hydrometeorological methods, the SCS Dimensionless Unit Hydrograph -SCS DUH- and the Témez’s Unit Hydrograph Method -TUH-, were used in order to estimate the flood-peak discharges in ephemeral streams flowing to the Mar Menor, which led to flooding in the Alcazares area. In accordance with the more consistent results of SCS DUH, the flood-peak discharges caused in this area by the Albujón and Maraña ramblas were estimated to be around 820 and 258 m3/s respectively.

Heavy rains and extreme rainfall-runoff events in Central Europe from 1951 to 2002

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Müller, Miloslav; Kašpar, Marek; Matschullat, J.

2009-01-01

Roč. 9, č. 2 (2009), s. 441-450 ISSN 1561-8633 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KJB300420701; GA AV ČR KJB300420802 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : weather extreme * extreme precipitation * rain flood Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 1.357, year: 2009 http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/9/451/2009/

Monitoring of heavy metal load - by mosses or rain water chemistry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruoho-Airola, T. [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland); Maekelae, K. [National Board of Waters and the Environment, Helsinki (Finland)

1995-12-31

The deposition of heavy metals is usually determined from precipitation chemistry but the moss technique has been increasingly used, particularly in the Nordic countries. Some international monitoring programmes, e.g. UN/ECE Integrated Monitoring, give them as alternative methods. However, their comparability has not been sufficiently determined. This study compares the two monitoring methods for Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn, which have different sources. The metal industry is an important source of Pb and Cd emissions. Long- range transport as well as traffic and local emissions are also important sources for Pb. The use of fertilizers and fossil fuels also result in Cd emissions. Cu and Zn are emitted from metal industries and local sources. Unlike Pb and Cd, Cu and Zn are essential elements for living organisms. Cu and Zn are needed in many enzymes and Zn in proteins. Mosses are thought to take all their nutrients from the air. The deposition of heavy metals is also effectively retained by mosses and may be used to indicate levels of heavy metal deposition. In northern countries the mosses are isolated from air (and therefore also from deposition) by snow in winter. In this study both the bulk deposition of the whole year (later `total deposition`) and the bulk deposition of the snow-free period (later `bare ground deposition`) are compared to the metal concentrations in mosses. (author)

Monitoring of heavy metal load - by mosses or rain water chemistry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruoho-Airola, T [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland); Maekelae, K [National Board of Waters and the Environment, Helsinki (Finland)

1996-12-31

The deposition of heavy metals is usually determined from precipitation chemistry but the moss technique has been increasingly used, particularly in the Nordic countries. Some international monitoring programmes, e.g. UN/ECE Integrated Monitoring, give them as alternative methods. However, their comparability has not been sufficiently determined. This study compares the two monitoring methods for Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn, which have different sources. The metal industry is an important source of Pb and Cd emissions. Long- range transport as well as traffic and local emissions are also important sources for Pb. The use of fertilizers and fossil fuels also result in Cd emissions. Cu and Zn are emitted from metal industries and local sources. Unlike Pb and Cd, Cu and Zn are essential elements for living organisms. Cu and Zn are needed in many enzymes and Zn in proteins. Mosses are thought to take all their nutrients from the air. The deposition of heavy metals is also effectively retained by mosses and may be used to indicate levels of heavy metal deposition. In northern countries the mosses are isolated from air (and therefore also from deposition) by snow in winter. In this study both the bulk deposition of the whole year (later `total deposition`) and the bulk deposition of the snow-free period (later `bare ground deposition`) are compared to the metal concentrations in mosses. (author)

Capabilities and Impact on Wind Analyses of the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Timothy L.; Amarin, Ruba; Atlas, Robert; Bailey, M. C.; Black, Peter; Buckley, Courtney; James, Mark; Johnson, James; Jones, Linwood; Ruf, Christopher;

Kinetic Properties of Solar Wind Silicon and Iron Ions

Science.gov (United States)

Janitzek, N. P.; Berger, L.; Drews, C.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.

2017-12-01

Heavy ions with atomic numbers Z>2 account for less than one percent of the solar wind ions. However, serving as test particles with differing mass and charge, they provide a unique experimental approach to major questions of solar and fundamental plasma physics such as coronal heating, the origin and acceleration of the solar wind and wave-particle interaction in magnetized plasma. Yet the low relative abundances of the heavy ions pose substantial challenges to the instrumentation measuring these species with reliable statistics and sufficient time resolution. As a consequence the numbers of independent measurements and studies are small. The Charge Time-Of-Flight (CTOF) mass spectrometer as part of the Charge, ELement and Isotope Analysis System (CELIAS) onboard the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a linear time-of-flight mass spectrometer which was operated at Lagrangian point L1 in 1996 for a few months only, before it suffered an instrument failure. Despite its short operation time, the CTOF sensor measured solar wind heavy ions with excellent charge state separation, an unprecedented cadence of 5 minutes and very high counting statistics, exceeding similar state-of-the-art instruments by a factor of ten. In contrast to earlier CTOF studies which were based on reduced onboard post-processed data, in our current studies we use raw Pulse Height Analysis (PHA) data providing a significantly increased mass, mass-per-charge and velocity resolution. Focussing on silicon and iron ion measurements, we present an overview of our findings on (1) short time behavior of heavy ion 1D radial velocity distribution functions, (2) differential streaming between heavy ions and solar wind bulk protons, (3) kinetic temperatures of heavy ions. Finally, we compare the CTOF results with measurements of the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) instrument onboard the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).

Improvement of Tidal Analysis Results by a Priori Rain Fall Modelling at the Vienna and Membach stations

Science.gov (United States)

Meurers, B.; van Camp, M.; Petermans, T.

2005-12-01

We investigate how far tidal analysis results can be improved when a rain fall admittance model is applied on the superconducting gravity (SG) data. For that purpose both Vienna and Membach data have been analysed with and without a priori rain fall correction. In Membach the residual drop for most events (80%) can be explained by the rain water load, while in Vienna only 50% of all events fit the model in detail. In the other cases the Newtonian effect of vertical air mass redistribution (vertical density variation without air pressure change), predominantly connected with high vertical convection activity, e.g. thunderstorms, plays an essential role: short-term atmospheric signals show up steep gravity residual decreases of a few nms-2 within 10 - 60 min, well correlated with outdoor air temperature in most cases. However, even in those cases the water load model is able to explain the dominating part of the residual drop especially during heavy rain fall. In Vienna more than 110 events have been detected over 10 years. 84% of them are associated with heavy rain starting at or up to 10 min later than the residual drop while the rest (16%) shows no or only little rainfall. The magnitude of the gravity drop depends on the total amount of rainfall accumulated during the meteorological event. Step like signals deteriorate the frequency spectrum estimates. This even holds for tidal analysis. As the drops are of physical origin, they should not be eliminated blindly but corrected using water load modeling constrained by high temporal resolution (1 min) rain data. 3D modeling of the water mass load due to a rain event is based on the following assumptions: (1) Rain water intrudes into the uppermost soil layer (close to the topography surface) and remains there at least until rain has stopped. This is justified for a period of some hours after the rainfall as evapotranspiration is not yet effective. (2) No run-off except of sealed areas or building roofs, where water can

Exploring the Relationship between Prior Knowledge on Rain Gardens and Supports for Adopting Rain Gardens Using a Structural Equation Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suyeon Kim

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to determine the effect of prior knowledge and visual evaluation on supports for rain garden installations. To achieve this objective, a survey was conducted to obtain prior knowledge of rain gardens, rain garden implementation support ratings, and visual evaluation of rain gardens in 100 visitors of three rain garden sites. Results of the analysis revealed that users’ visual evaluation of rain gardens played a role as a moderator in the relationship between prior knowledge and support for rain garden installations. In other words, education and publicity of rain gardens alone cannot increase support for rain gardens. However, if rain gardens are visually evaluated positively, the effects of education and publicity of rain gardens can be expected. Therefore, to successfully apply a rain garden policy in the future, basic consideration should be given to aesthetics in order to meet visitors’ visual expectations prior to education and publicity of rain gardens.

Simulation of the Impact of New Aircraft-and Satellite-based Ocean Surface Wind Measurements on Wind Analyses and Numerical Forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, TImothy; Atlas, Robert; Black, Peter; Chen, Shuyi; Jones, Linwood; Ruf, Chris; Uhlhorn, Eric; Gamache, John; Amarin, Ruba; El-Nimri, Salem;

Rain Forest Murals

Science.gov (United States)

Kleiner, Cheryl

2010-01-01

The rain forest murals in the author's school began as a request from her principal to have students decorate the cafeteria with their own paintings. She decided to brainstorm ideas with her eighth-grade students. Taking into consideration the architectural space and the environmental concerns they wanted to convey, students chose the rain forest…

Solar Wind Earth Exchange Project (SWEEP)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-10-28

highly charged ions of the solar wind. The main challenge in predicting the resultant photon flux in the X-ray energy bands is due to the...Newton, an X-ray astronomical observatory. We use OMNI solar wind conditions, heavy ion composition data from ACE, the Hodges neutral hydrogen model...of SWEEP was to compare theoretical models of X-ray emission in the terrestrial magnetosphere caused by the Solar Wind Charge Exchange

Mortality of Hiroshima A-bomb survivors exposed at the black rain region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Satoh, Kenichi; Otani, Keiko; Tonda, Tetsuji

2012-01-01

An epidemiological study was performed on the black rain as a death risk factor of survivors in Hiroshima Uda's (U) light to heavy black rain regions using the positional parameters at their exposure. Subjects were 27,610 A-bomb survivors at Jan. 1, 1970 with known positional coordinate and direct dose at explosion, followed until Dec. 31, 2009, whose endpoint was defined to be their all deaths due to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular diseases, pneumonia, cancers, etc. Confounding factors were sex (11,457 males/16,153 females), age at exposure (av. 25 y) and dose (av. 0.045 Gy), with which analysis was done by Cox proportional hazard model. The confounding interaction of the age/U region was found significant: e.g., at the exposed age 25 y, the hazard ratio was calculated to be 1.084, indicating about 8% higher hazard ratio of U region than the area outside of U. When the effect of the sex, exposed age and direct dose were adjusted to be minimized, the risk was found distributed mainly in concentric circle from hypocenter, yet still the effect of indirect exposure was observed though. When the distance instead of the indirect dose was used as an explanatory variable, it resulted in being significant with no significance of the direct exposure dose. Risk map employing the positional information at explosion revealed that the risk distribution was locally different even in U region itself. Thus this study suggested that the black rain was a mortality risk factor in the U raining region of Hiroshima. (T.T.)

Prediction Method for Rain Rate and Rain Propagation Attenuation for K-Band Satellite Communications Links in Tropical Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baso Maruddani

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the prediction method using hidden Markov model (HMM for rain rate and rain propagation attenuation for K-band satellite communication link at tropical area. As is well known, the K-band frequency is susceptible of being affected by atmospheric condition, especially in rainy condition. The wavelength of K-band frequency which approaches to the size of rain droplet causes the signal strength is easily attenuated and absorbed by the rain droplet. In order to keep the quality of system performance for K-band satellite communication link, therefore a special attention has to be paid for rain rate and rain propagation attenuation. Thus, a prediction method for rain rate and rain propagation attenuation based on HMM is developed to process the measurement data. The measured and predicted data are then compared with the ITU-R recommendation. From the result, it is shown that the measured and predicted data show similarity with the model of ITU-R P.837-5 recommendation for rain rate and the model of ITU-R P.618-10 recommendation for rain propagation attenuation. Meanwhile, statistical data for measured and predicted data such as fade duration and interfade duration have insignificant discrepancy with the model of ITU-R P.1623-1 recommendation.

Evaluation of the RAIN project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stuanes, A.; Dickson, W.; Jenkins, A.; Rasmussen, L.; Stordal, F.

1991-11-01

This report presents a scientific assessment of the RAIN project. It describes the main hypotheses tested and the applied methods. The major results of the research are highlighted and discussed, and they are placed in the perspective of national and international acid rain research. An important part of the RAIN project has been to provide information to the public about the acid rain problem, and in this way it has performed an important background role in influencing political decisions and legislation. The RAIN project is regarded as a cost effective research effort, and the novel approach and capital investment will enable further manipulation studies at these sites in the future. It is recommended that the project is continued in the immediate future, with some modification to answer specific questions resulting from the collected data. 24 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab

analysis of rain analysis of rain rate and rain attenuation for earth

African Journals Online (AJOL)

eobe

rate measurements were carried out using the Moupfouma and Chebil models ate measurements were ... The rain in Nigeria is characterized by high intensity rainfall, high frequency of ..... Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-. Terrestrial Physics ...

Influences of the volcanic activity and anthropogenic in the chemical composition of the rain of the surroundings of the Poas Volcano, Costa Rica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez Cruz, M.

2000-01-01

In this work the results of a study are described on the physico chemicals characteristic of the rain water of the surroundings of the Poas Volcano . The main objective was to establish a general profile of the gradients of some physico chemicals parameters of the rain in function of the localization and the distance of the stations rain collectors, with regard to the column of gases, aerosols and vapors that emanate through the fumaroles of the active crater of the Poas Volcano, for this reason a net of collectors of rain water settled down in four places located along the Southwest flank of the Volcano until a distance of 19 km, following the predominant address of the wind. In Heredia to place a fifth collector of rain water which I play the part of station control. The rain was gathered from to March and November of 1996, for daily precipitation events every 24 hours. To sample of rain are determined the following parameters: HP, electric conductivity, ions fluoride, chloride, nitrate and sulfate for chromatography of ions of high resolution (HPIC) ammonia by means of analysis for injection of flow (FIA), and some such metals as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese and aluminum for spectrophotometer of atomic absorption (EAA) [es

Meteoric ions in the corona and solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemaire, J.

1990-01-01

The total mass of refractory material of interplanetary origin penetrating and evaporated in the meltosphere surrounding the sun has been inferred from observations of meteoroids and fireballs falling in earth's atmosphere. The amount of iron atoms deposited this way in the solar corona is of the order of 3000 t/s or larger. The measured flux of outflowing solar wind iron ions is equal to 2200 t/s. The close agreement of both fluxes is evidence that a significant fraction of iron ions observed in the solar wind and in the corona must be of meteoric origin. A similar accord is also obtained for silicon ions. The mean velocity of meteoroid ions formed in the solar corona is equal to the free-fall velocity: i.e., independent of their atomic mass as the thermal speed of heavy ion measured in low-density solar wind streams at 1 AU. Furthermore, the heavy ions of meteoric origin escape out of the corona with a larger bulk velocity than the protons which are mainly of solar origin. These differences of heavy ion and proton bulk velocities are also observed in the solar wind. 52 refs

Impact of climate change on heavy precipitation events of the Mediterranean basin; Impact du changement climatique sur les evenements de pluie intense du bassin mediterraneen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ricard, D.; Beaulant, A.L.; Deque, M.; Ducrocq, V.; Joly, A.; Joly, B.; Martin, E.; Nuissier, O.; Quintana Segui, P.; Ribes, A.; Sevault, F.; Somot, S. [Meteo-France et CNRS, Groupe d' Etude de l' Atmosphere Meteorologique (GAME), 31 - Toulouse (France); Boe, J. [California Univ., Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

2009-11-15

A second topic covered by the CYPRIM project aims to characterize the evolution of heavy precipitation events in Mediterranean in the context of climate change. To this end, a continuous climate simulation from 1960 to 2099 has been run using a regional ocean-atmosphere coupled model under IPCC A2 emission scenario. Various techniques of down-scaling, down to the very fine 2 km scale, and methods to highlight synoptic environments favourable to heavy rain, have been used to estimate the impact of climate change on precipitation and hydrology over South-East France, both for the whole autumn season and the heavy rain events. (authors)

Satellite observations of rainfall effect on sea surface salinity in the waters adjacent to Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Chung-Ru; Hsu, Po-Chun; Lin, Chen-Chih; Huang, Shih-Jen

2017-10-01

Changes of oceanic salinity are highly related to the variations of evaporation and precipitation. To understand the influence of rainfall on the sea surface salinity (SSS) in the waters adjacent to Taiwan, satellite remote sensing data from the year of 2012 to 2014 are employed in this study. The daily rain rate data obtained from Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission's Microwave Imager (TRMM/TMI), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR), and WindSat Polarimetric Radiometer. The SSS data was derived from the measurements of radiometer instruments onboard the Aquarius satellite. The results show the average values of SSS in east of Taiwan, east of Luzon and South China Sea are 33.83 psu, 34.05 psu, and 32.84 psu, respectively, in the condition of daily rain rate higher than 1 mm/hr. In contrast to the rainfall condition, the average values of SSS are 34.07 psu, 34.26 psu, and 33.09 psu in the three areas, respectively at no rain condition (rain rate less than 1 mm/hr). During the cases of heavy rainfall caused by spiral rain bands of typhoon, the SSS is diluted with an average value of -0.78 psu when the average rain rate is higher than 4 mm/hr. However, the SSS was increased after temporarily decreased during the typhoon cases. A possible reason to explain this phenomenon is that the heavy rainfall caused by the spiral rain bands of typhoon may dilute the sea surface water, but the strong winds can uplift the higher salinity of subsurface water to the sea surface.

Study of the Effect of Simulated Rain on the Offset Parabolic Antenna at Ku-Band with Different Elevation Angles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Mostafa

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Effect of rain on the receiver antenna is a major factor to degrade the system performance in a frequency above 10 GHz. This paper deals with the wet antenna attenuation at Ku-band with three different frequencies at different rain rates. During the Ku-band propagation experiment, it was discovered that rain water on the antenna caused a significant attenuation. It is necessary to estimate the losses caused by water on the antenna in order to separate these losses from the atmospheric propagation losses. The experiment was done at USM Engineering Campus to study the attenuation for these physical parameters. A Ku-band RF signal was generated by a signal generator and transmitted via horn antenna. The signal was received using a smooth offset antenna of 60 cm by 54 cm (Astro dish and measured using spectrum analyzer. In order to simulate a rain, pipes with bores of a same distance were implemented. Three cases were considered: in the first case one pipe was used to simulate low rain rate, the second case two pipes were used to simulate medium rain rate, and the third case three pipes were used to simulate heavy rain rate. In addition, the tap was used to control the flow of water in order to get more values of rain rate. The total attenuation of RF signals due to water layer on the feed and on the reflector feed was found to be 3.1 dB at worst case. On the other hand, the attenuation of RF signal due to the feed only was 2.83 dB, so the major attenuation occur was due to feed.

Spread of acid rain over India

Science.gov (United States)

Khemani, L. T.; Momin, G. A.; Rao, P. S. Prakasa; Safai, P. D.; Singh, G.; Kapoor, R. K.

Rain water and aerosol samples were collected at a few locations representative of urban and non-urban regions in India. Also, rain water samples were collected in and around a coal-fired power plant. All the rain water and aerosol samples were analyzed for major chemical components along with pH. The rain water at all the places of measurement, except near the industrial sources, has been found to be alkaline and was characterized by the presence of excess cations, particularly by Ca 2+. The acid rain near the industrial sources was associated with excess anions, especially SO 42-. The atmospheric aerosols at all the places of measurement were found rich with basic components, suggesting that the alkaline soil dust and fly ash are responsible at present for preventing the spread of acid rain in India.

When It Rains, It Pours

Science.gov (United States)

Mills, Linda

2012-01-01

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!" "The itsy, bitsy spider crawled up the waterspout, down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout again." What do children's nursery rhymes have to do with the school library? The author begins by telling a…

Correlazione tra potere fonoisolante e rumorosità da pioggia pesante in coperture con finitura metallica - Correlation between airborne sound insulation and heavy rain noise on coverings with metallic finishing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Baruffa

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Due camere riverberanti sovrapposte, con la possibilità di disporre i campioni di coperture inclinati, come nelle condizioni reali di posa, consentono di effettuare, in successione, prove di potere fonoisolante e di livello di intensità sonora di rumore di pioggia pesante. È quindi possibile individuare gli effetti sulle due grandezze acustiche delle differenti tipologie di coibentazione interna oppure del materiale antirombo impiegato. A causa della difficoltà di reperire in letteratura tecnica i dati del livello globale di intensità sonora di rumore di pioggia ponderato A, LIA, si è determinata una correlazione tra LIA e l’indice di valutazione del potere fonoisolante RW e la massa per unità di area dei campioni m. ------ Two overlying reverberation rooms, with the possibility to place the roof's sample tilted, as in the real installation conditions, allow to carry out in succession, the tests of sound insulation and of sound intensity level of heavy rain noise. So is possible to identify the effects on the two acoustics quantities of the different internal insulation or of the dumping materials used. Due to the difficulty of finding in technical literature the values of the weighted A overall sound intensity level of rain noise LIA, a correlation between LIA and the single number rating of sound insulation RW and the mass per unit area of samples m was determined.

Track prediction of very severe cyclone 'Nargis' using high resolution ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

tides (surges) as they cross the coast of India,. Bangladesh and other coasts. Strong winds, heavy and torrential rains and the cumulative effect of storm surges and astronomical tides are the three major elements of tropical cyclone ... Ocean move predominantly along westerly/ northwesterly direction. However, some ...

Fatigue Analysis of Large-scale Wind turbine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhu Yongli

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper does research on top flange fatigue damage of large-scale wind turbine generator. It establishes finite element model of top flange connection system with finite element analysis software MSC. Marc/Mentat, analyzes its fatigue strain, implements load simulation of flange fatigue working condition with Bladed software, acquires flange fatigue load spectrum with rain-flow counting method, finally, it realizes fatigue analysis of top flange with fatigue analysis software MSC. Fatigue and Palmgren-Miner linear cumulative damage theory. The analysis result indicates that its result provides new thinking for flange fatigue analysis of large-scale wind turbine generator, and possesses some practical engineering value.

Optical Rain Gauge Instrument Handbook

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bartholomew, Mary Jane [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

2016-04-01

To improve the quantitative description of precipitation processes in climate models, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility deploys several types of rain gauges (MET, RAIN, and optical rain gauge [ORG] datastreams) as well as disdrometers (DISD and VDIS datastreams) at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) Site. This handbook deals specifically with the independent analog ORG (i.e., the ORG datastream).

Acid rain information book. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-05-01

Acid rain is one of the most widely publicized environmental issues of the day. The potential consequences of widespread acid rain demand that the phenomenon be carefully evaluated. Review of the literature shows a rapidly growing body of knowledge, but also reveals major gaps in understanding that need to be narrowed. This document discusses aspects of the acid rain phenomenon, points out areas of uncertainty and summarizes current and projected research. The report is organized by a logical progression from sources of pollutants affecting acid rain formation to the atmospheric transport and transformation of those pollutants and finally to the deposition of acid rain, the effects of that deposition, and possible mitigative measures and regulatory options. This information is followed by a discussion of uncertainties in the understanding of the acid rain phenomenon and a description of current and proposed research by responsible government agencies and other concerned organizations

4-D-VAR assimilation of disdrometer data and radar spectral reflectivities for raindrop size distribution and vertical wind retrievals

Science.gov (United States)

Mercier, François; Chazottes, Aymeric; Barthès, Laurent; Mallet, Cécile

2016-07-01

This paper presents a novel framework for retrieving the vertical raindrop size distribution (DSD) and vertical wind profiles during light rain events. This is also intended as a tool to better characterize rainfall microphysical processes. It consists in coupling K band Doppler spectra and ground disdrometer measurements (raindrop fluxes) in a 2-D numerical model propagating the DSD from the clouds to the ground level. The coupling is done via a 4-D-VAR data assimilation algorithm. As a first step, in this paper, the dynamical model and the geometry of the problem are quite simple. They do not allow the complexity implied by all rain microphysical processes to be encompassed (evaporation, coalescence breakup and horizontal air motion are not taken into account). In the end, the model is limited to the fall of droplets under gravity, modulated by the effects of vertical winds. The framework is thus illustrated with light, stratiform rain events. We firstly use simulated data sets (data assimilation twin experiment) to show that the algorithm is able to retrieve the DSD profiles and vertical winds. It also demonstrates the ability of the algorithm to deal with the atmospheric turbulence (broadening of the Doppler spectra) and the instrumental noise. The method is then applied to a real case study which was conducted in the southwest of France during the autumn 2013. The data set collected during a long, quiet event (6 h duration, rain rate between 2 and 7 mm h-1) comes from an optical disdrometer and a 24 GHz vertically pointing Doppler radar. We show that the algorithm is able to reproduce the observations and retrieve realistic DSD and vertical wind profiles, when compared to what could be expected for such a rain event. A goal for this study is to apply it to extended data sets for a validation with independent data, which could not be done with our limited 2013 data. Other data sets would also help to parameterize more processes needed in the model (evaporation

Dynamics and sources of pharmaceutically active compounds in a coastal Mediterranean river during heavy rains.

Science.gov (United States)

Reoyo-Prats, Brice; Aubert, Dominique; Sellier, Amélie; Roig, Benoit; Palacios, Carmen

2018-03-01

Concentrations of pharmaceutically active compounds (PACs) in freshwater systems depend on numerous factors such as land use and hydrometeorological conditions. In the Mediterranean, heavy rain events are of particular importance as they highly influence the concentration of micropollutants found in freshwater and are a source of recurrent first foul flushes due to combined sewer overflows (CSOs). In this study, we seek to assess the dynamics of pharmaceuticals during storm events in coastal Mediterranean rivers at a fine scale and to determine their contribution to multicontamination phenomena owing to CSOs. Our results showed that, while dissolved PACs followed the same trend as other contaminants, i.e., they increased significantly during CSOs, PACs in the total fraction did not peak yet maintained their already high concentrations for slightly longer due to their release via CSOs. Pharmaceutical concentrations for both the dissolved and the total fraction were dramatically diluted during the peak river flow. A fine-scale follow-up of PACs dynamics in the total fraction, including the differentiation of sewer overflows from both the right and left river banks, as well as the analyses of a large amount of PACs molecules, allowed us to clearly identify their major sources. While domestic inputs were dominated by nicotine and caffeine, the use of gadolinium (an MRI contrast agent) as a marker, attributed the main source of medical drugs such as tramadol, ibuprofen, and diclofenac to the major public hospital of the region. Thus, identifying major sources of PACs and implementing adapted water treatments directly at those sources would be the most cost-efficient alternative to cope with pharmaceutical drugs in coastal Mediterranean aquatic environments. Moreover, PACs behavior differed depending on the molecules considered and the source of these molecules, but we could not establish a direct link between their behavior and their chemical or physical properties. Our

Rain, Snow, and Spring Runoff Revisited.

Science.gov (United States)

Bohren, Craig F.

1995-01-01

Explores the theory behind the correlation between warm rain, rapid snowmelt, and the subsequent runoff using the concepts of enthalpy, thermal transfer, and energy transfer. Concludes that rapid runoff is not a consequence of rain per se but of the high humidities associated with the rain. (JRH)

Rain water runoff from porous building facades : implementation and application of a first-order runoff model coupled to a HAM model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brande, T. van den; Blocken, B.J.E.; Roels, S.

2013-01-01

Wind-driven rain (WDR) is one of the most important moisture sources for a building facade. Therefore, a reliable prediction of WDR loads is a prerequisite to assess the durability of building facade components. However, current state of the art Heat-Air-Moisture (HAM) models that are used to assess

Water-hydraulic power transmission for offshore wind farms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Diepeveen, N.F.B.; Jarquin Laguna, A.; Kempenaar, A.S.

2012-01-01

The current state of the art of offshore wind turbine power transmission technology is expensive, heavy and maintenance intensive. The Delft Offshore Turbine project considers a radically new concept for power transmission in an offshore wind farm: using seawater as power transmission medium. For

Contamination content introduced with rain water to the rivers after they have been cleaned in separators of petroleum compounds

Science.gov (United States)

Łapiński, Dawid; Wiater, Józefa

2018-02-01

The article presents the results of rainwater quality studies. The rainwater flowing from the surface of urbanized areas of the city of Białystok discharged into the river after they have been cleansed with separators petroleum compounds. Also discussed are issues related to with rain water and the problem to need develop them. Contaminated flushes from sealed surfaces such as street squares, sidewalks, parking lots, etc., during periods of rain or thawing, pose a serious threat to the natural environment. The work presents analyzes of such pollutants as general slurry, heavy metals, chlorides, BOD5, COD, etc., which once penetrate rainwater into Biała River. Five measurement and control points located in a typical urban drainage basin were selected for the study. The tests were taken in the spring of 2017 in two measuring series. The first series was taken during the long-term precipitation, while the second was after the almost one-month rain-free period, at the time of the first precipitation.

Weighing Rain Gauge Recording Charts

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Weighing rain gauge charts record the amount of precipitation that falls at a given location. The vast majority of the Weighing Rain Gauge Recording Charts...

Foliar contamination of Phaseolus vulgaris with aerosols of {sup 137}Cs, {sup 85}Sr, {sup 133}Ba and {sup 123m}Te: influence of plant development stage upon contamination and rain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Madoz-Escande, C. E-mail: chantal.madoz-escande@irsn.fr; Henner, P.; Bonhomme, T

2004-07-01

As part of a requirement to improve the assessment of the impact of radioactive fallout on consumed agricultural products, bean plants at four development stages (seedlings, preflowering, late flowering and mature plants) were contaminated by dry deposition of {sup 137}Cs, {sup 85}Sr, {sup 133}Ba and {sup 123m}Te aerosols. The influence of two rain scenarios and of the development stage upon contamination on interception, retention, and translocation to pods was studied. Interception of the four radionuclides was almost identical and varied from 30 to 60% with increasing development stage. The most important rain parameter was the time which elapsed between contamination and the first rain. Whatever the development stage, rain washed off more cesium from the leaves when it occurred 2 days after the deposit (37% at the seedling stage, for example) rather than later on (6 days, 27%), due to rapid migration of Cs in the plant. The first rain washed off nearly 40% of Ba whatever the scenario. For later stages, Sr and Ba were more washed off by heavy weekly rains than by weak twice-a-week rains, perhaps because of the Sr/Ba-contaminated material loss associated with wash off (desquamation of cuticles). Te showed little wash off (less than 5%). Wash off decreased with an older development stage for a weak rain intensity, due to the superimposition of leaves. Heavy rains removed this shelter effect. At harvest, rain effect was no longer detectable as foliar activity was similar for both rain scenarios. Translocation factors (TF) for strontium and barium increased from 6x10{sup -3} to 1x10{sup -1} with the plant development stage upon contamination, whereas those for cesium remained almost unchanged between 2x10{sup -1} and 4 x 10{sup -1}. Flowering is the most critical stage towards residual contamination in pods at harvest, with the exception of direct deposit on pods at the mature stage (TF values are one order of magnitude higher). TF value for Te was 6.5x10{sup -2

A Statistical Cyclone Intensity Prediction (SCIP) model for the Bay of ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

tive character and impact on human activities. Three elements associated with a cyclone which cause destruction, are heavy and prolonged rain, storm surge and very strong winds. In tropical countries like India, where thick population exists along the large segments of the coasts, it is one of the most disastrous events.

Simulated Acid Rain-induced Alterations in Flowering, Leaf ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ADOWIE PERE

significantly in test plant with decreasing pH of acid rain solution. Acid rain application ... indicates the sunflower plant turns to be an acid rain sensitive system and demands for breeding with acid rain ..... Changes in growth, pigmentation and ...

Heavy Precipitation impacts and emergency planning - developing applicable strategies for a metropolitan area

Science.gov (United States)

Kutschker, Thomas; Glade, Thomas

2016-04-01

Heavy rainfall in central Europe is one of the assumed effects of climate change, which occurs with large seasonal and regional differences in its magnitude. The extent of loss depends on natural parameters (e.g. topography and vegetation) as well as on socio-economic factors like urbanized and industrialized areas and population density. Dangerous cascade effects appear, if critical infrastructure like the electrical power supply is affected. In some cases mudflows and flash floods cause inundated or undercut roads and cause a high demand for fast and effective assistance of the authorities. The civil protection in Germany is based on a federal system with a bottom-up command-structure and responsibility to the local community. Commonly this responsibility is taken by the fire brigades and civil protection units of the community or district. After heavy rainfall in an urban area, numerous incidents and emergency calls appearing at a time are overstressing the human and technical resources of the fire brigades within the local authority frequently. In this study, a method of comprehensive evaluation of meteorological data and the operation data from local fire brigades shall be developed for the Rhine-Main-Area in order to identify particular affected spots of heavy rain and bundle resources of the fire brigades. It is to be found out if the study area contains regions with a particularly high exposure to heavy rain and high application numbers of the fire department and whether there is a relationship of rainfall and frequency of use. To evaluate particular local effects on the fire brigades capability, a brief analysis of the meteorological data provided by the German Meteorological Service (DWD) as well as the evaluation of the incident data of the affected fire brigades, is used to frame a realistic approach. In particular fire brigade operation data can be used accordingly to describe the intensity of the aftermath when heavy precipitation strikes a certain

Simulation of heavy, long-term rainfall over low mountain ranges; Simulation von Starkniederschlaegen mit langer Andauer ueber Mittelgebirgen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kunz, M.

2003-03-01

A diagnostic model for the estimation of orographic precipitation during large-scale upslide motions is presented. It is based on linear theory for 3-D mountain overflow. From the simulated vertical velocities rain intensities at the ground are calculated using a model for precipitation formation. Due to the small number of free parameters and because of the simple initialisation method, e.g. with single radiosonde data, the model is used for regionalisation of precipitation from rain gauge observations as well as for deriving its statistics under dynamical constraints. For Southwest Germany and Eastern France, with the low mountain ranges of the Vosges, Black Forest and Swabian Alb, model simulations are performed for individual events with heavy rainfall. Thereby it is evaluated, how realistic rainfall patterns can be obtained with a combination of model simulations and measurement data. Mean rainfall distributions are derived from simulations of all extreme events with 24-h totals over 60 mm at selected rain gauge stations between 1971 and 2000. Furthermore the calculation of rain sums for different return periods is performed using extreme value statistics. So it is possible to quantify the hazard potential of heavy rainfall, which may cause flooding or landslides, in high spatial resolution (2.5 x 2.5 km). (orig.)

Techno-economic analysis of a wind-solar hybrid renewable energy system with rainwater collection feature for urban high-rise application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chong, W.T.; Naghavi, M.S.; Poh, S.C.; Mahlia, T.M.I.; Pan, K.C.

2011-01-01

Graphical abstract: This wind-solar hybrid renewable energy system is a new concept of the utilization, integration and optimization of existing renewable energy and rain water harvesting technologies. It is compact and can be built on the top of high rise buildings to provide on-site green power to that building or feed into the grid line. This system utilizes the advantages of Malaysian climate, i.e. high solar radiation and rainfall for green energy generation and free water supply. It also overcomes the inferior aspect on the low wind speed by guiding and increasing the speed of the high altitude free-stream wind from all directions radially through power-augmentation-guide-vane (PAGV) before entering the wind turbine at center portion. The PAGV is an innovative design used to guide and create venturi effect to increase the wind speed before the wind-stream enters wind turbine. The system must also be designed to provide optimum surface area for solar panel (solar thermal or photovoltaic or solar PV/T)) installation and battery compartment for power storage. In addition; rain water collection feature must be built-into the system design. The system is recommended to be sited on the top of high rise buildings or structures with its appearance or outer design can be blended into the building architecture without negative visual impact. With this system, the size of wind turbine can be reduced for a given power output and the noise is also reduced since it is contained in the PAGV. The design is also safer and suitable to be used in populated area. Mesh can be mounted at the entrance of the PAGV to prevent the bird-strike. This system can eliminate or minimize the current problems concerning public acceptance of wind energy, i.e. poor starting behavior in low wind speed, noise, visual impact, electromagnetic interference, safety and environmental factors. Highlights: → This wind, solar and rain harvester integrates existing renewable energy and rain water

Characteristics of Turbulent Transfer during Episodes of Heavy Haze Pollution in Beijing in Winter 2016/17

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Yan; Zheng, Shuwen; Wei, Wei; Wu, Bingui; Zhang, Hongsheng; Cai, Xuhui; Song, Yu

2018-02-01

We analyzed the structure and evolution of turbulent transfer and the wind profile in the atmospheric boundary layer in relation to aerosol concentrations during an episode of heavy haze pollution from 6 December 2016 to 9 January 2017. The turbulence data were recorded at Peking University's atmospheric science and environment observation station. The results showed a negative correlation between the wind speed and the PM2.5 concentration. The turbulence kinetic energy was large and showed obvious diurnal variations during unpolluted (clean) weather, but was small during episodes of heavy haze pollution. Under both clean and heavy haze conditions, the relation between the non-dimensional wind components and the stability parameter z/ L followed a 1/3 power law, but the normalized standard deviations of the wind speed were smaller during heavy pollution events than during clean periods under near-neutral conditions. Under unstable conditions, the normalized standard deviation of the potential temperature σ θ /| θ *| was related to z/ L, roughly following a -1/3 power law, and the ratio during pollution days was greater than that during clean days. The three-dimensional turbulence energy spectra satisfied a -2/3 power exponent rate in the high-frequency band. In the low-frequency band, the wind velocity spectrum curve was related to the stability parameters under clear conditions, but was not related to atmospheric stratification under polluted conditions. In the dissipation stage of the heavy pollution episode, the horizontal wind speed first started to increase at high altitudes and then gradually decreased at lower altitudes. The strong upward motion during this stage was an important dynamic factor in the dissipation of the heavy haze.

Rain Gardens: Stormwater Infiltrating Systems

Science.gov (United States)

The hydrological dynamics and changes in stormwater nutrient concentrations within rain gardens were studied by introducing captured stormwater runoff to rain gardens at EPA’s Urban Water Research Facility in Edison, New Jersey. The runoff used in these experiments was collected...

Whither Acid Rain?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Brimblecombe

2000-01-01

Full Text Available Acid rain, the environmental cause célèbre of the 1980s seems to have vanished from popular conscience. By contrast, scientific research, despite funding difficulties, has continued to produce hundreds of research papers each year. Studies of acid rain taught much about precipitation chemistry, the behaviour of snow packs, long-range transport of pollutants and new issues in the biology of fish and forested ecosystems. There is now evidence of a shift away from research in precipitation and sulfur chemistry, but an impressive theoretical base remains as a legacy.

The formation of molecules in protostellar winds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glassgold, A.E.; Mamon, G.A.; Huggins, P.J.

1991-01-01

The production and destruction processes for molecules in very fast protostellar winds are analyzed and modeled with a one-dimensional chemical kinetics code. Radial density and temperature distributions suggested by protostellar theory are explored as are a range of mass-loss rates. The efficiency of in situ formation of heavy molecules is found to be high if the wind temperature falls sufficiently rapidly, as indicated by theory. The degree of molecular conversion is a strong function of the mass-loss rate and of density gradients associated with the acceleration and collimation of the wind. Even in cases where essentially all of the heavy atoms are processed into molecules, a significant fraction of atomic hydrogen remains so that hghly molecular, protostellar winds are able to emit the 21-cm line. Although CO has a substantial abundance in most models relevant to very young protostars, high abundances of other molecules such as SiO and H2O signify more complete association characteristic of winds containing regions of very high density. Although the models apply only to regions close to the protostar, they are in qualitative accord with recent observations at much larger distances of both atomic and molecular emission from extremely high-velocity flow. 57 refs

Contamination content introduced with rain water to the rivers after they have been cleaned in separators of petroleum compounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Łapiński Dawid

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents the results of rainwater quality studies. The rainwater flowing from the surface of urbanized areas of the city of Białystok discharged into the river after they have been cleansed with separators petroleum compounds. Also discussed are issues related to with rain water and the problem to need develop them. Contaminated flushes from sealed surfaces such as street squares, sidewalks, parking lots, etc., during periods of rain or thawing, pose a serious threat to the natural environment. The work presents analyzes of such pollutants as general slurry, heavy metals, chlorides, BOD5, COD, etc., which once penetrate rainwater into Biała River. Five measurement and control points located in a typical urban drainage basin were selected for the study. The tests were taken in the spring of 2017 in two measuring series. The first series was taken during the long-term precipitation, while the second was after the almost one-month rain-free period, at the time of the first precipitation.

Ecological setting of the Wind River old-growth forest.

Science.gov (United States)

David C. Shaw; Jerry F. Franklin; Ken Bible; Jeffrey Klopatek; Elizabeth Freeman; Sarah Greene; Geoffrey G. Parker

2004-01-01

The Wind River old-growth forest, in the southern Cascade Range of Washington State, is a cool (average annual temperature, 8.7°C), moist (average annual precipitation, 2223 mm), 500-year-old Douglas-fir-western hemlock forest of moderate to low productivity at 371-m elevation on a less than 10% slope. There is a seasonal snowpack (November-March), and rain-on-snow and...

Acid Rain: An Educational Opportunity?

Science.gov (United States)

Marion, James I.

1984-01-01

Deals with how educators can handle the subject of acid rain; illustrates suggestions with experiences of grade nine students visiting Frost Valley Environmental Education Center (Oliverea, New York) to learn scientific concepts through observation of outdoor phenomena, including a stream; and discusses acid rain, pH levels, and pollution control…

MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODELING OF CORONAL RAIN DYNAMICS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fang, X.; Xia, C.; Keppens, R. [Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department of Mathematics, KU Leuven, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)

2013-07-10

We present the first multidimensional, magnetohydrodynamic simulations that capture the initial formation and long-term sustainment of the enigmatic coronal rain phenomenon. We demonstrate how thermal instability can induce a spectacular display of in situ forming blob-like condensations which then start their intimate ballet on top of initially linear force-free arcades. Our magnetic arcades host a chromospheric, transition region, and coronal plasma. Following coronal rain dynamics for over 80 minutes of physical time, we collect enough statistics to quantify blob widths, lengths, velocity distributions, and other characteristics which directly match modern observational knowledge. Our virtual coronal rain displays the deformation of blobs into V-shaped features, interactions of blobs due to mostly pressure-mediated levitations, and gives the first views of blobs that evaporate in situ or are siphoned over the apex of the background arcade. Our simulations pave the way for systematic surveys of coronal rain showers in true multidimensional settings to connect parameterized heating prescriptions with rain statistics, ultimately allowing us to quantify the coronal heating input.

MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODELING OF CORONAL RAIN DYNAMICS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang, X.; Xia, C.; Keppens, R.

2013-01-01

We present the first multidimensional, magnetohydrodynamic simulations that capture the initial formation and long-term sustainment of the enigmatic coronal rain phenomenon. We demonstrate how thermal instability can induce a spectacular display of in situ forming blob-like condensations which then start their intimate ballet on top of initially linear force-free arcades. Our magnetic arcades host a chromospheric, transition region, and coronal plasma. Following coronal rain dynamics for over 80 minutes of physical time, we collect enough statistics to quantify blob widths, lengths, velocity distributions, and other characteristics which directly match modern observational knowledge. Our virtual coronal rain displays the deformation of blobs into V-shaped features, interactions of blobs due to mostly pressure-mediated levitations, and gives the first views of blobs that evaporate in situ or are siphoned over the apex of the background arcade. Our simulations pave the way for systematic surveys of coronal rain showers in true multidimensional settings to connect parameterized heating prescriptions with rain statistics, ultimately allowing us to quantify the coronal heating input.

Is tropospheric weather influenced by solar wind through atmospheric vertical coupling downward control?

Science.gov (United States)

Prikryl, Paul; Tsukijihara, Takumi; Iwao, Koki; Muldrew, Donald B.; Bruntz, Robert; Rušin, Vojto; Rybanský, Milan; Turňa, Maroš; Šťastný, Pavel; Pastirčák, Vladimír

2017-04-01

More than four decades have passed since a link between solar wind magnetic sector boundary structure and mid-latitude upper tropospheric vorticity was discovered (Wilcox et al., Science, 180, 185-186, 1973). The link has been later confirmed and various physical mechanisms proposed but apart from controversy, little attention has been drawn to these results. To further emphasize their importance we investigate the occurrence of mid-latitude severe weather in the context of solar wind coupling to the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere (MIA) system. It is observed that significant snowstorms, windstorms and heavy rain, particularly if caused by low pressure systems in winter, tend to follow arrivals of high-speed solar wind. Previously published statistical evidence that explosive extratropical cyclones in the northern hemisphere tend to occur after arrivals of high-speed solar wind streams from coronal holes (Prikryl et al., Ann. Geophys., 27, 1-30, 2009; Prikryl et al., J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys., 149, 219-231, 2016) is corroborated for the southern hemisphere. A physical mechanism to explain these observations is proposed. The leading edge of high-speed solar wind streams is a locus of large-amplitude magneto-hydrodynamic waves that modulate Joule heating and/or Lorentz forcing of the high-latitude lower thermosphere generating medium-scale atmospheric gravity waves that propagate upward and downward through the atmosphere. Simulations of gravity wave propagation in a model atmosphere using the Transfer Function Model (Mayr et al., Space Sci. Rev., 54, 297-375, 1990) show that propagating waves originating in the thermosphere can excite a spectrum of gravity waves in the lower atmosphere. In spite of significantly reduced amplitudes but subject to amplification upon reflection in the upper troposphere, these gravity waves can provide a lift of unstable air to release instabilities in the troposphere thus initiating convection to form cloud/precipitation bands

Heavy metal pollution in soils of abandoned mining areas (SE, Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Sánchez, M. J.; Pérez-Sirvent, C.; Molina, J.; Tudela, M. L.; Navarro, M. C.; García-Lorenzo, M. L.

2009-04-01

Elevated levels of heavy metals can be found in and around disused metalliferous mines due to discharge and dispersion of mine wastes into nearby agricultural soils, food crops and stream systems. Heavy metals contained in the residues from mining and metallurgical operations are often dispersed by wind and/or water after their disposal. These areas have severe erosion problems caused by wind and water runoff in which soil and mine spoil texture, landscape topography and regional and microclimate play an important role. The present study was carried out in the Cabezo Rajao (La Uni

Observations of Heavy Ions in the Magnetosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Kistler, L. M.

2017-12-01

There are two sources for the hot ions in the magnetosphere: the solar wind and the ionosphere. The solar wind is predominantly protons, with about 4% He++ and less than 1% other high charge state heavy ions. The ionospheric outflow is also predominantly H+, but can contain a significant fraction of heavy ions including O+, N+, He+, O++, and molecular ions (NO+, N2+, O2+). The ionospheric outflow composition varies significantly both with geomagnetic activity and with solar EUV. The variability in the contribution of the two sources, the variability in the ionospheric source itself, and the transport paths of the different species are all important in determining the ion composition at a given location in the magnetosphere. In addition to the source variations, loss processes within the magnetosphere can be mass dependent, changing the composition. In particular, charge exchange is strongly species dependent, and can lead to heavy ion dominance at some energies in the inner magnetosphere. In this talk we will review the current state of our understanding of the composition of the magnetosphere and the processes that determine it.

Evaluation of fog and rain water collected at Delta Barrage, Egypt as a new resource for irrigated agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Salem, Talaat A.; Omar, Mohie El Din M.; El Gammal, H. A. A.

2017-11-01

Alternative clean water resources are needed in Egypt to face the current water shortage and water quality deterioration. Therefore, this research investigates the suitability of harvesting fog and rain water for irrigation using a pilot fog collector for water quantity, water quality, and economic aspects. A pilot fog collector was installed at one location at Delta Barrage, Egypt. Freeze liquid nitrogen was fixed at the back of the fiberglass sheet to increase the condensation rate. The experiment was conducted during the period from November 2015 to February 2016. In general, all physicochemical variables are observed with higher values in the majority of fog than rain water. The fog is assumed to contain higher concentrations of anthropogenic emissions. TDS in both waters collected are less than 700 mg/l at sodium content less than 60%, classifying these waters as good for various plants under most conditions. In addition, SAR calculated values are less than 3.0 in each of fog and rain water, which proves the water suitability for all irrigated agriculture. Al and Fe concentrations were found common in all samples with values less than the permissible limits of the guidelines. These metals originate from soil material, ash and metal surfaces. The sensitive heavy metals (Cd and Pb) were within the permissible limits of the guideline in fog water, indicating this water is suitable for irrigation. On the contrary, rain water that has heavy metals is not permitted in irrigation water as per the Egyptian law. As per WQI, the rain water is classified as good quality while fog is classified as medium quality. Regarding the water quantity, a significant increase in the harvested fog quantity was observed after cooling the collector surface with freeze liquid nitrogen. The current fog collector produced the lowest water quantity among different fog collectors worldwide. However, these comparative results confirmed that quantity is different from one location to another

Manufacturing issues which affect coating erosion performance in wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Cortés, E.; Sánchez, F.; Domenech, L.; Olivares, A.; Young, T. M.; O'Carroll, A.; Chinesta, F.

2017-10-01

Erosion damage, caused by repeated rain droplet impact on the leading edges of wind turbine blades, is a major cause for cost concern. Resin Infusion (RI) is used in wind energy blades where low weight and high mechanical performance materials are demanded. The surface coating plays a crucial role in the manufacturing and performance response. The Leading Edge coating is usually moulded, painted or sprayed onto the blade surface so adequate adhesion in the layers' characterization through the thickness is required for mechanical performance and durability reasons. In the current work, an investigation has been directed into the resulting rain erosion durability of the coating was undertaken through a combination of mass loss testing measurements with manufacturing processing parameter variations. The adhesion and erosion is affected by the shock wave caused by the collapsing water droplet on impact. The stress waves are transmitted to the substrate, so microestructural discontinuities in coating layers and interfaces play a key role on its degradation. Standard industrial systems are based on a multilayer system, with a high number of interfaces that tend to accelerate erosion by delamination. Analytical and numerical models are commonly used to relate lifetime prediction and to identify suitable coating and composite substrate combinations and their potential stress reduction on the interface. In this research, the input parameters for the appropriate definition of the Cohesive Zone Modelling (CZM) of the coating-substrate interface are outlined by means of Pull off testing and Peeling testing results. It allowed one to optimize manufacturing and coating process for blades into a knowledge-based guidance for leading edge coating material development. It was achieved by investigating the erosion degradation process using both numerical and laboratory techniques (Pull off, Peeling and Rain Erosion Testing in a whirling arm rain erosion test facility).

RAIN

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Monti, Matteo; Rasmussen, Steen

2017-01-01

We summarize the results and perspectives from a companion article, where we presented and evaluated an alternative architecture for data storage in distributed networks. We name the bio-inspired architecture RAIN, and it offers file storage service that, in contrast with current centralized clou...... will integrate multiple current and future infrastructures ranging from online services and cryptocurrency to parts of government administration....

Use of the RAINS model in acid rain negotiations in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hordijk, L.

1991-01-01

The use of models in international negotiations on environmental problems for which no compulsory action can be imposed is a recent trend. In the past, international agreements have been reached without any model being used. For example, the first step in reducing acid rain in Europe and North America was made in 1985 without using an integrated model. Neither was a model used to establish the Vienna Convention on Protection of the Ozone Layer (1986). Analyzing the reasons for using mathematical models in environmental negotiations is not the subject of this paper. Suffice it to say there are several recent examples of models being used in preparing international policy actions, for instance the Law of the Sea and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The acceptance of models as tools in negotiations depends on many factors. The differences in the attitudes toward use of models in the case of assessment of acid rain in Europe and North America have been analyzed. In this paper, the author reviews the current use of the RAINS model and points out some lessons for the development of models that could be used in international environmental negotiations

Improving precipitation measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Strangeways, Ian

2004-09-01

Although rainfall has been measured for centuries scientifically and in isolated brief episodes over millennia for agriculture, it is still not measured adequately even today for climatology, water resources, and other precise applications. This paper outlines the history of raingauges, their errors, and describes the field testing over 3 years of a first guess design for an aerodynamic rain collector proposed by Folland in 1988. Although shown to have aerodynamic advantage over a standard 5 gauge, the new rain collector was found to suffer from outsplash in heavy rain. To study this problem, and to derive general basic design rules for aerodynamic gauges, its performance was investigated in turbulent, real-world conditions rather than in the controlled and simplified environment of a wind tunnel or mathematical model as in the past. To do this, video records were made using thread tracers to indicate the path of the wind, giving new insight into the complex flow of natural wind around and within raingauges. A new design resulted, and 2 years of field testing have shown that the new gauge has good aerodynamic and evaporative characteristics and minimal outsplash, offering the potential for improved precipitation measurement.

Scale Dependence of Spatiotemporal Intermittence of Rain

Science.gov (United States)

Kundu, Prasun K.; Siddani, Ravi K.

2011-01-01

It is a common experience that rainfall is intermittent in space and time. This is reflected by the fact that the statistics of area- and/or time-averaged rain rate is described by a mixed distribution with a nonzero probability of having a sharp value zero. In this paper we have explored the dependence of the probability of zero rain on the averaging space and time scales in large multiyear data sets based on radar and rain gauge observations. A stretched exponential fannula fits the observed scale dependence of the zero-rain probability. The proposed formula makes it apparent that the space-time support of the rain field is not quite a set of measure zero as is sometimes supposed. We also give an ex.planation of the observed behavior in tenus of a simple probabilistic model based on the premise that rainfall process has an intrinsic memory.

Acid rain stimulation of Lake Michigan phytoplankton growth

Science.gov (United States)

Manny, Bruce A.; Fahnenstiel, G.L.; Gardner, W.S.

1987-01-01

Three laboratory experiments demonstrated that additions of rainwater to epilimnetic lake water collected in southeastern Lake Michigan stimulated chlorophyll a production more than did additions of reagent-grade water during incubations of 12 to 20 d. Chlorophyll a production did not begin until 3–5 d after the rain and lake water were mixed. The stimulation caused by additions of rain acidified to pH 3.0 was greater than that caused by additions of untreated rain (pH 4.0–4.5). Our results support the following hypotheses: (1) Acid rain stimulates the growth of phytoplankton in lake water; (2) phosphorus in rain appears to be the factor causing this stimulation. We conclude that acid rain may accelerate the growth of epilimnetic phytoplankton in Lake Michigan (and other similar lakes) during stratification when other sources of bioavailable phosphorus to the epilimnion are limited

Atmospheric pollutants in fog and rain events at the northwestern mountains of the Iberian Peninsula

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fernández-González, Ricardo; Yebra-Pimentel, Iria; Martínez-Carballo, Elena [Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Analytical and Food Chemistry Department, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Vigo, Ourense Campus, E32004 Ourense (Spain); Simal-Gándara, Jesús, E-mail: jsimal@uvigo.es [Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Analytical and Food Chemistry Department, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Vigo, Ourense Campus, E32004 Ourense (Spain); Pontevedra-Pombal, Xabier, E-mail: xabier.pombal@usc.es [Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry Department, Faculty of Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago Campus, E15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

2014-11-01

Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and exist in gas and particle phases, as well as dissolved or suspended in precipitation (fog or rain). While the hydrosphere is the main reservoir for PAHs, the atmosphere serves as the primary route for global transport of PCBs. In this study, fog and rain samples were collected during fourteen events from September 2011 to April 2012 in the Xistral Mountains, a remote range in the NW Iberian Peninsula. PAH compounds [especially of low molecular weight (LMW)] were universally found, but mainly in the fog-water samples. The total PAH concentration in fog-water ranged from non-detected to 216 ng · L{sup −1} (mean of 45 ng · L{sup −1}), and was much higher in fall than in winter. Total PAH levels in the rain and fog events varied from non-detected to 1272 and 33 ng · L{sup −1} for, respectively, LMW and high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs. Diagnostic ratio analysis (LMW PAHs/HMW PAHs) suggested that petroleum combustion was the dominant contributor to PAHs in the area. Total PCB levels in the rain and fog events varied from non-detected to 305 and 91 ng · L{sup −1} for, respectively, PCBs with 2–3 Cl atoms and 5–10 Cl atoms. PCBs, especially those with 5–10 Cl atoms, were found linked to rain events. The occurrence of the most volatile PCBs, PCBs with 2–3 Cl atoms, is related to wind transport from far away sources, whereas the occurrence of PCBs with 5–10 Cl atoms seems to be related with the increase of its deposition during rainfall at the end of summer and fall. The movement of this fraction of PCBs is facilitated by its binding to air-suspended particles, whose concentrations usually show an increase as the result of a prolonged period of drought in summer. - Highlights: • There is no work about both PAHs and PCBs in fog-rain events. • None of the existing works is about the case of the northwestern mountains

Atmospheric pollutants in fog and rain events at the northwestern mountains of the Iberian Peninsula

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernández-González, Ricardo; Yebra-Pimentel, Iria; Martínez-Carballo, Elena; Simal-Gándara, Jesús; Pontevedra-Pombal, Xabier

2014-01-01

Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and exist in gas and particle phases, as well as dissolved or suspended in precipitation (fog or rain). While the hydrosphere is the main reservoir for PAHs, the atmosphere serves as the primary route for global transport of PCBs. In this study, fog and rain samples were collected during fourteen events from September 2011 to April 2012 in the Xistral Mountains, a remote range in the NW Iberian Peninsula. PAH compounds [especially of low molecular weight (LMW)] were universally found, but mainly in the fog-water samples. The total PAH concentration in fog-water ranged from non-detected to 216 ng · L −1 (mean of 45 ng · L −1 ), and was much higher in fall than in winter. Total PAH levels in the rain and fog events varied from non-detected to 1272 and 33 ng · L −1 for, respectively, LMW and high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs. Diagnostic ratio analysis (LMW PAHs/HMW PAHs) suggested that petroleum combustion was the dominant contributor to PAHs in the area. Total PCB levels in the rain and fog events varied from non-detected to 305 and 91 ng · L −1 for, respectively, PCBs with 2–3 Cl atoms and 5–10 Cl atoms. PCBs, especially those with 5–10 Cl atoms, were found linked to rain events. The occurrence of the most volatile PCBs, PCBs with 2–3 Cl atoms, is related to wind transport from far away sources, whereas the occurrence of PCBs with 5–10 Cl atoms seems to be related with the increase of its deposition during rainfall at the end of summer and fall. The movement of this fraction of PCBs is facilitated by its binding to air-suspended particles, whose concentrations usually show an increase as the result of a prolonged period of drought in summer. - Highlights: • There is no work about both PAHs and PCBs in fog-rain events. • None of the existing works is about the case of the northwestern mountains of the Iberian

Impact of (α, n) reactions on the nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven winds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bliss, Julia [Institut fuer Kernphysik, TU Darmstadt (Germany); Arcones, Almudena [Institut fuer Kernphysik, TU Darmstadt (Germany); GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung GmbH (Germany); Montes, Fernando; Pereira, Jorge [National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University (United States); Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (United States)

2015-07-01

Neutrino-driven winds that follow core-collapse supernova explosions are an exciting astrophysical site for the synthesis of heavy elements. Although recent hydrodynamical simulations show that the conditions in the wind are not extreme enough for a r-process up to uranium, neutrino-driven winds may be the astrophysical site where lighter heavy elements between Sr and Ag are produced. However, it is still not clear if the conditions in the wind are slightly neutron-rich, proton-rich or turn proton-rich for some time. In neutron-rich winds, (α,n) reactions are key to move matter beyond the Fe-group towards heavier elements. Due to the deficit of experimental information, the relevant reaction rates have mostly been calculated with codes based on Hauser-Feshbach models. Although these codes have been cross-checked with experimental data in regions close to stability, their accuracy is questionable as one moves towards more exotic regions. We present the impact of (α,n) reactions on the nucleosynthesis of elements between Sr and Ag in neutrino-driven winds.

Coronal rain in magnetic bipolar weak fields

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, C.; Keppens, R.; Fang, X.

2017-07-01

Aims: We intend to investigate the underlying physics for the coronal rain phenomenon in a representative bipolar magnetic field, including the formation and the dynamics of coronal rain blobs. Methods: With the MPI-AMRVAC code, we performed three dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation with strong heating localized on footpoints of magnetic loops after a relaxation to quiet solar atmosphere. Results: Progressive cooling and in-situ condensation starts at the loop top due to radiative thermal instability. The first large-scale condensation on the loop top suffers Rayleigh-Taylor instability and becomes fragmented into smaller blobs. The blobs fall vertically dragging magnetic loops until they reach low-β regions and start to fall along the loops from loop top to loop footpoints. A statistic study of the coronal rain blobs finds that small blobs with masses of less than 1010 g dominate the population. When blobs fall to lower regions along the magnetic loops, they are stretched and develop a non-uniform velocity pattern with an anti-parallel shearing pattern seen to develop along the central axis of the blobs. Synthetic images of simulated coronal rain with Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly well resemble real observations presenting dark falling clumps in hot channels and bright rain blobs in a cool channel. We also find density inhomogeneities during a coronal rain "shower", which reflects the observed multi-stranded nature of coronal rain. Movies associated to Figs. 3 and 7 are available at http://www.aanda.org

quantification of rain quantification of rain induced artifacts on digital

African Journals Online (AJOL)

eobe

DSTV) ... satellite television, rain attenuation, digital artifacts, pixelation, rainfall rate. 1. ... screen and blocking are commonly observed in .... The precipitation data was collected using a self- ..... Networks: Comparison at Equatorial and Subtropical.

Pyrite oxidation under simulated acid rain weathering conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Kai; Li, Heping; Wang, Luying; Wen, Xiaoying; Liu, Qingyou

2017-09-01

We investigated the electrochemical corrosion behavior of pyrite in simulated acid rain with different acidities and at different temperatures. The cyclic voltammetry, polarization curve, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results showed that pyrite has the same electrochemical interaction mechanism under different simulated acid rain conditions, regardless of acidity or environmental temperature. Either stronger acid rain acidity or higher environmental temperature can accelerate pyrite corrosion. Compared with acid rain having a pH of 5.6 at 25 °C, the prompt efficiency of pyrite weathering reached 104.29% as the acid rain pH decreased to 3.6, and it reached 125.31% as environmental temperature increased to 45 °C. Increasing acidity dramatically decreases the charge transfer resistance, and increasing temperature dramatically decreases the passivation film resistance, when other conditions are held constant. Acid rain always causes lower acidity mine drainage, and stronger acidity or high environmental temperatures cause serious acid drainage. The natural parameters of latitude, elevation, and season have considerable influence on pyrite weathering, because temperature is an important influencing factor. These experimental results are of direct significance for the assessment and management of sulfide mineral acid drainage in regions receiving acid rain.

The Effect of Rain on Air-Water Gas Exchange

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, David T.; Bliven, Larry F.; Wanninkhof, Rik; Schlosser, Peter

1997-01-01

The relationship between gas transfer velocity and rain rate was investigated at NASA's Rain-Sea Interaction Facility (RSIF) using several SF, evasion experiments. During each experiment, a water tank below the rain simulator was supersaturated with SF6, a synthetic gas, and the gas transfer velocities were calculated from the measured decrease in SF6 concentration with time. The results from experiments with IS different rain rates (7 to 10 mm/h) and 1 of 2 drop sizes (2.8 or 4.2 mm diameter) confirm a significant and systematic enhancement of air-water gas exchange by rainfall. The gas transfer velocities derived from our experiment were related to the kinetic energy flux calculated from the rain rate and drop size. The relationship obtained for mono-dropsize rain at the RSIF was extrapolated to natural rain using the kinetic energy flux of natural rain calculated from the Marshall-Palmer raindrop size distribution. Results of laboratory experiments at RSIF were compared to field observations made during a tropical rainstorm in Miami, Florida and show good agreement between laboratory and field data.

Chemical characteristics of rain-water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasahara, Mikio; Ogiwara, Hiroshi; Park, Jeong-Ho; Takahashi, Kanji

1994-01-01

Rain drops were collected every 0.1mm precipitation. Rain water was passed through a Nuclepore filter with 0.2μm pore-size. Chemical species in the filtrate and the residue are defined as a soluble and an insoluble component, respectively. Dry PIXE samples from filtrate were prepared bydropping and evaporating successively ten 20μ l drops with a micropipet onto a non-hole thin film. The drops were dried in a spot-like of 4mmφ such that all of the samples were bombarded by 6mmφ ion beam. Elemental concentrations were determined with 2.0 MeV H + beam from a Tandem accelerator. X-rays with 0.5-14.8keV energy were detected by a Si(Li) detector after passing through a 39.3μm thick Maylar absorber. The concentrations of all analyzed 15 elements in both insoluble and soluble components decreased rapidly from the beginning of rain to the amount of 0.3mm rain fall as well asban electrical conductivity. Most of Si and Fe were insoluble, on the other hand, most of S and Cl were soluble. (author)

Heavy rainfall: An underestimated environmental risk for buildings?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Golz Sebastian

2016-01-01

Second, heavy rain may result in urban pluvial flooding due to sewer overflow that cause severe damage to buildings. A comprehensive study of the impacts and the consequences in Dresden (Germany, presented in the paper, revealed that the potential risks of flooding from sewers due to hydraulic overload can be estimated on building scale using the model approach IVART (Integrated Spatial Vulnerability and Risk Assessment Tool. Modelling results provide the basis to quantify the effectiveness and efficiency of flood resilience technologies.

Winding machine and tools for the ISR Superconducting Quadrupole Prototype

CERN Multimedia

1975-01-01

The picture shows the rotating and rocking winding machine with its "light" clamping system to keep the conductor turns in place during winding.At the back left one sees the conductor spool with its electromagnetic brake and the "heavy" clamping system used during curing. See also 7510217X, 7702690X.

Rain-induced spring wheat harvest losses

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, A.; Black, A. L. (Principal Investigator)

1983-01-01

When rain or a combination of rain and high humidity delay wheat harvest, losses can occur in grain yield and/or grain quality. Yield losses can result from shattering, from reduction in test weight, and in the case of windrowed grain, from rooting of sprouting grain at the soil: windrow contact. Losses in grain quality can result from reduction in test weight and from sprouting. Sprouting causes a degradation of grain proteins and starches, hence flour quality is reduced, and the grain price deteriorates to the value of feed grain. Although losses in grain yield and quality are rain-induced, these losses do not necessarily occur because a standing or windrowed crop is wetted by rain. Spike water concentration in hard red spring wheat must be increased to about 45-49% before sprouting is initiated in grain that has overcome dormancy. The time required to overcome this dormancy after the cultivar has dried to 12 to 14% water concentration differs with hard red spring cultivars. The effect of rain on threshing-ready standing and windrowed hard red spring wheat grain yeild and quality was evaluated. A goal was to develop the capability to forecast the extent of expected loss of grain yield and quality from specific climatic events that delay threshing.

Who Moved Those Rain Clouds to Town? Making Windbirds to Learn about the Power of Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Samarakoon, Deepanee; Smith, Latisha L.

2016-01-01

In this practical article, a kindergarten teacher shares a lesson designed to teach students about the power of wind. To address the Next Generation Science Standards engineering standards, students discussed the negative and positive aspects of wind and made daily weather observations (K-ESS2-1). Students constructed bird-shaped windsocks, called…

Atmospheric pollutants in fog and rain events at the northwestern mountains of the Iberian Peninsula.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández-González, Ricardo; Yebra-Pimentel, Iria; Martínez-Carballo, Elena; Simal-Gándara, Jesús; Pontevedra-Pombal, Xabier

2014-11-01

Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and exist in gas and particle phases, as well as dissolved or suspended in precipitation (fog or rain). While the hydrosphere is the main reservoir for PAHs, the atmosphere serves as the primary route for global transport of PCBs. In this study, fog and rain samples were collected during fourteen events from September 2011 to April 2012 in the Xistral Mountains, a remote range in the NW Iberian Peninsula. PAH compounds [especially of low molecular weight (LMW)] were universally found, but mainly in the fog-water samples. The total PAH concentration in fog-water ranged from non-detected to 216 ng·L(-1) (mean of 45 ng·L(-1)), and was much higher in fall than in winter. Total PAH levels in the rain and fog events varied from non-detected to 1272 and 33 ng·L(-1) for, respectively, LMW and high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs. Diagnostic ratio analysis (LMW PAHs/HMW PAHs) suggested that petroleum combustion was the dominant contributor to PAHs in the area. Total PCB levels in the rain and fog events varied from non-detected to 305 and 91 ng·L(-1) for, respectively, PCBs with 2-3 Cl atoms and 5-10 Cl atoms. PCBs, especially those with 5-10 Cl atoms, were found linked to rain events. The occurrence of the most volatile PCBs, PCBs with 2-3 Cl atoms, is related to wind transport from far away sources, whereas the occurrence of PCBs with 5-10 Cl atoms seems to be related with the increase of its deposition during rainfall at the end of summer and fall. The movement of this fraction of PCBs is facilitated by its binding to air-suspended particles, whose concentrations usually show an increase as the result of a prolonged period of drought in summer. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficient utilization of rain water in hill agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, S.R.; Singh, S.S.; Khan, A.R.

2002-05-01

Hill areas generally receive rainfall of around or more than 1150 mm. More than 2500 mm rainfall is received in about 30.2 million ha hilly area of the country. Besides many other factors high rainfall and heavy runoff are mainly responsible for low productivity. Because of sloppy characters and shallow soil depth, major fraction of rainwater is lost as runoff. Invariably evaporation exceeds the moisture stored and thereby depletes soils of their moisture reserve when crops are to be sown. Too much water at one time and too little in another during the same year causes wide instability in the production and productivity (Gupta et al., 2000). In high rainfall/hilly areas small and scattered land holdings exclusively rain dependent subsistence type of agriculture, low irrigated area of eastern Himalaya (northeastern region of India) further aggravate the problem. Harvesting of runoff at micro level for storage and recycling, control of erosion and moisture conservation are necessary and possible measures for better crop production. (author)

On the performance of the new NWP nowcasting system at the Danish Meteorological Institute during a heavy rain period

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Bjarke Tobias; Smith Korsholm, Ulrik; Petersen, Claus

2015-01-01

At the Danish Meteorological Institute, the NWP nowcasting system has been enhanced to include assimilation of 2D precipitation rates derived from weather radar observations. The assimilation is performed using a nudging-based technique. Here the rain rates are used to estimate the changes in the...

Rain garden guidelines for southwest Ohio

Science.gov (United States)

Rain gardens are a unique and practical landscape feature that can enhance the beauty of home gardens. When properly installed, they are one method of limiting the negative effects of rainfall runoff in urban areas. Indeed, rain gardens turn a "negative" into a "positive" by capt...

From TRMM to GPM: How well can heavy rainfall be detected from space?

Science.gov (United States)

Prakash, Satya; Mitra, Ashis K.; Pai, D. S.; AghaKouchak, Amir

2016-02-01

In this study, we investigate the capabilities of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) and the recently released Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) in detecting and estimating heavy rainfall across India. First, the study analyzes TMPA data products over a 17-year period (1998-2014). While TMPA and reference gauge-based observations show similar mean monthly variations of conditional heavy rainfall events, the multi-satellite product systematically overestimates its inter-annual variations. Categorical as well as volumetric skill scores reveal that TMPA over-detects heavy rainfall events (above 75th percentile of reference data), but it shows reasonable performance in capturing the volume of heavy rain across the country. An initial assessment of the GPM-based multi-satellite IMERG precipitation estimates for the southwest monsoon season shows notable improvements over TMPA in capturing heavy rainfall over India. The recently released IMERG shows promising results to help improve modeling of hydrological extremes (e.g., floods and landslides) using satellite observations.

A test for Improvement of high resolution Quantitative Precipitation Estimation for localized heavy precipitation events

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jung-Hoon; Roh, Joon-Woo; Park, Jeong-Gyun

2017-04-01

Accurate estimation of precipitation is one of the most difficult and significant tasks in the area of weather diagnostic and forecasting. In the Korean Peninsula, heavy precipitations are caused by various physical mechanisms, which are affected by shortwave trough, quasi-stationary moisture convergence zone among varying air masses, and a direct/indirect effect of tropical cyclone. In addition to, various geographical and topographical elements make production of temporal and spatial distribution of precipitation is very complicated. Especially, localized heavy rainfall events in South Korea generally arise from mesoscale convective systems embedded in these synoptic scale disturbances. In weather radar data with high temporal and spatial resolution, accurate estimation of rain rate from radar reflectivity data is too difficult. Z-R relationship (Marshal and Palmer 1948) have adapted representatively. In addition to, several methods such as support vector machine (SVM), neural network, Fuzzy logic, Kriging were utilized in order to improve the accuracy of rain rate. These methods show the different quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) and the performances of accuracy are different for heavy precipitation cases. In this study, in order to improve the accuracy of QPE for localized heavy precipitation, ensemble method for Z-R relationship and various techniques was tested. This QPE ensemble method was developed by a concept based on utilizing each advantage of precipitation calibration methods. The ensemble members were produced for a combination of different Z-R coefficient and calibration method.

Rain Sensor with Stacked Light Waveguide Having Tilted Air Gap

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyoo Nam Choi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Vehicle sensor to detect rain drop on and above waveguide utilizing light deflection and scattering was realized, keeping wide sensing coverage and sensitivity to detect mist accumulation. Proposed sensor structure under stacked light wave guide consisted of light blocking fixture surrounding photodetector and adjacent light source. Tilted air gap between stacked light waveguide and light blocking fixture played major role to increase sensitivity and to enhance linearity. This sensor structure eliminated complex collimating optics, while keeping wide sensing coverage using simple geometry. Detection algorithm based on time-to-intensity transformation process was used to convert raining intensity into countable raining process. Experimental result inside simulated rain chamber showed distinct different response between light rain and normal rain. Application as automobile rain sensor is expected.

Acid rain information book. Draft final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1980-12-01

Acid rain is one of the most widely publicized environmental issues of the day. The potential consequences of increasingly widespread acid rain demand that this phenomenon be carefully evaluated. Reveiw of the literature shows a rapidly growing body of knowledge, but also reveals major gaps in understanding that need to be narrowed. This document discusses major aspects of the acid rain phenomenon, points out areas of uncertainty, and summarizes current and projected research by responsible government agencies and other concerned organizations.

Electromagnetic Drop Scale Scattering Modelling for Dynamic Statistical Rain Fields

OpenAIRE

Hipp, Susanne

2015-01-01

This work simulates the scattering of electromagnetic waves by a rain field. The calculations are performed for the individual drops and accumulate to a time signal dependent on the dynamic properties of the rain field. The simulations are based on the analytical Mie scattering model for spherical rain drops and the simulation software considers the rain characteristics drop size (including their distribution in rain), motion, and frequency and temperature dependent permittivity. The performe...

Fruit sphere microenvironments and berry phenolic content of Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L. cultivated under rain-shelter systems with coloured plastic film

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiang-Fei MENG

Full Text Available Abstract Rain-shelter cultivation has been proven an important cultivation method for grape-plantings in continental monsoon climate zones, of which white plastic films are the most common shelter material. However, while this method and material reduces the occurrence of the disease, it can also decrease the grape berry quality. Five colours (including red, yellow, blue, purple, and white of plastic films were covered above Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L. grapevine rows before veraison. Rain-shelter cultivation reduced air temperature, wind speed, and total solar radiation and enhanced relative humidity in the fruit sphere of grapevines. For each particular colour plastic film, the irradiance of its corresponding spectrum band in the canopy of vines was higher than with other colour plastic films. Meanwhile, the blue plastic film treatment significantly promoted the accumulation of total phenolics, anthocyanins, flavonoids, tannins, and phenolic acids more than the other colours of plastic films. Blue plastic films are more beneficial for berry quality promotion of wine grapes, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, under rain-shelter cultivation in continental monsoon climate zones.

The impact of a windshield in a tipping bucket rain gauge on the reduction of losses in precipitation measurements during snowfall events

Science.gov (United States)

Buisan, Samuel T.; Collado, Jose Luis; Alastrue, Javier

2016-04-01

The amount of snow available controls the ecology and hydrological response of mountainous areas and cold regions and affects economic activities including winter tourism, hydropower generation, floods and water supply. An accurate measurement of snowfall accumulation amount is critical and source of error for a better evaluation and verification of numerical weather forecast, hydrological and climate models. It is well known that the undercatch of solid precipitation resulting from wind-induced updrafts at the gauge orifice is the main factor affecting the quality and accuracy of the amount of snowfall precipitation. This effect can be reduced by the use of different windshields. Overall, Tipping Bucket Rain Gauges (TPBRG) provide a large percentage of the precipitation amount measurements, in all climate regimes, estimated at about 80% of the total of observations by automatic instruments. In the frame of the WMO-SPICE project, we compared at the Formigal-Sarrios station (Spanish Pyrenees, 1800 m a.s.l.) the measured precipitation in two heated TPBRGs, one of them protected with a single alter windshield in order to reduce the wind bias. Results were contrasted with measured precipitation using the SPICE reference gauge (Pluvio2 OTT) in a Double Fence Intercomparison Reference (DFIR). Results reported that shielded reduces undercatch up to 40% when wind speed exceeds 6 m/s. The differences when compared with the reference gauge reached values higher than 70%. The inaccuracy of these measurements showed a significant impact in nowcasting operations and climatology in Spain, especially during some heavy snowfall episodes. Also, hydrological models showed a better agreement with the observed rivers flow when including the precipitation not accounted during these snowfall events. The conclusions of this experiment will be used to take decisions on the suitability of the installation of windshields in stations characterized by a large quantity of snowfalls during the

Metal-enhanced galactic winds. I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vader, J.P.

1986-01-01

Supernova-driven gas loss during the early evolution of elliptical galaxies is considered as a possible explanation for the correlations among the observed chemical and structural properties of these systems. Mass loss from systems with a chemically homogeneous interstellar medium does not work. It is pointed out that supernova-driven winds are in fact metal-enhanced with respect to the star-forming gas because the metal production of any supernova that drives the wind is directly flushed out of the galaxy. The fraction of the total metal production lost in the wind is thus at least as large as the fraction epsilon(z) of supernovae that power the wind, independent of the total mass loss. As a corollary, the yield of heavy elements that are recycled in the galaxy is reduced by a factor 1 - epsilon(z). Metal-enhanced galactic winds, which can carry away a large fraction of the metal production in spite of a moderate total mass loss, offer a promising explanation for the low metallicities of dwarf elliptical galaxies. 62 references

The Solar Wind: Our Current Understanding and How We Got Here ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The peculiar properties of heavy ions originate close to the Sun in the wind's acceleration ..... where non-MHD kinetic processes are critical. Similarly ... Consider first sunward-moving protons, which we take to have V < 0. Recall that ... We have shown how our thinking about the solar wind has progressed from Parker's.

Acid Rain. LC Science Tracer Bullet.

Science.gov (United States)

Hollmann, Pauline, Comp.

The term "acid rain," also called "acid precipitation," generally refers to any precipitation having a pH value of less than 5.6. This guide to the literature on acid rain in the collections of the Library of Congress is not necessarily intended to be a comprehensive bibliography. It is designed to provide the reader with a set…

The microburst - Hazard to aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Mccarthy, J.; Serafin, R.

1984-01-01

In encounters with microbursts, low altitude aircraft first encounter a strong headwind which increases their wing lift and altitude; this phenomenon is followed in short succession by a decreasing headwind component, a downdraft, and finally a strong tailwind that catastrophically reduces wing lift and precipitates a crash dive. It is noted that the potentially lethal low altitude wind shear of a microburst may lie in apparently harmless, rain-free air beneath a cloud base. Occasionally, such tell-tale signs as localized blowing of ground dust may be sighted in time. Microbursts may, however, occur in the heavy rain of a thunderstorm, where they will be totally obscured from view. Wind shear may be detected by an array of six anemometers and vanes situated in the vicinity of an airport, and by Doppler radar equipment at the airport or aboard aircraft.

Assessing high wind energy penetration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tande, J.O.

1995-01-01

In order to convincingly promote installing wind power capacity as a substantial part of the energy supply system, a set of careful analyses must be undertaken. This paper applies a case study concentrated on assessing the cost/benefit of high wind energy penetration. The case study considers expanding the grid connected wind power capacity in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde. The currently installed 1 MW of wind power is estimated to supply close to 10% of the electric energy consumption in 1996. Increasing the wind energy penetration to a higher level is considered viable as the project settings are close to ideal, including a very capable national utility company, Electra, a conventional power supply system based on imported heavy fuel and gas oil, and favourable wind conditions with an estimated annual average of 9.3 m/s at the hub height of the wind turbines. With the applied case study assumptions, simulations with WINSYS over the lifetime of the assessed wind power investment show that investments up to 4.2 MW are economically viable. The economic optimum is found at 2.4 MW reaching an internal rate of return of almost 8% p.a. This 2.4 MW of wind power would, together with the existing wind power, supply over 30% of the electric consumption in 1996. Applying the recommended practices for estimating the cost of wind energy, the life-cycle cost of this 2.4 MW investment is estimated at a 7% discount rate and a 20 year lifetime to 0.26 DKK/kW h. (Author)

40 CFR 76.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 76.3 Section 76.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions...

Source of atmospheric heavy metals in winter in Foshan, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Ji-Hua; Duan, Jing-Chun; Ma, Yong-Liang; Yang, Fu-Mo; Cheng, Yuan; He, Ke-Bin; Yu, Yong-Chang; Wang, Jie-Wen

2014-09-15

Foshan is a ceramics manufacturing center in the world and the most polluted city in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in southern China measured by the levels of atmospheric heavy metals. PM2.5 samples were collected in Foshan in winter 2008. Among the 22 elements and ions analyzed, 7 heavy metals (Zn, V, Mn, Cu, As, Cd and Pb) were studied in depth for their levels, spatiotemporal variations and sources. The ambient concentrations of the heavy metals were much higher than the reported average concentrations in China. The levels of Pb (675.7 ± 378.5 ng/m(3)), As (76.6 ± 49.1 ng/m(3)) and Cd (42.6 ± 45.2 ng/m(3)) exceeded the reference values of NAAQS (GB3095-2012) and the health guidelines of the World Health Organization. Generally, the levels of atmospheric heavy metals showed spatial distribution as: downtown site (CC, Chancheng District)>urban sites (NH and SD, Nanhai and Shunde Districts)>rural site (SS, Shanshui District). Two sources of heavy metals, the ceramic and aluminum industries, were identified during the sampling period. The large number of ceramic manufactures was responsible for the high levels of atmospheric Zn, Pb and As in Chancheng District. Transport from an aluminum industry park under light north-west winds contributed high levels of Cd to the SS site (Shanshui District). The average concentration of Cd under north-west wind was 220 ng/m(3), 20.5 times higher than those under other wind directions. The high daily maximum enrichment factors (EFs) of Cd, Pb, Zn, As and Cu at all four sites indicated extremely high contamination by local emissions. Back trajectory analysis showed that the heavy metals were also closely associated with the pathway of air mass. A positive matrix factorization (PMF) method was applied to determine the source apportionment of these heavy metals. Five factors (industry including the ceramic industry and coal combustion, vehicle emissions, dust, transportation and sea salt) were identified and industry was the most

Validation of OpenFoam for heavy gas dispersion applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Mack, A; Spruijt, M P N

2013-11-15

In the present paper heavy gas dispersion calculations were performed with OpenFoam. For a wind tunnel test case, numerical data was validated with experiments. For a full scale numerical experiment, a code to code comparison was performed with numerical results obtained from Fluent. The validation was performed in a gravity driven environment (slope), where the heavy gas induced the turbulence. For the code to code comparison, a hypothetical heavy gas release into a strongly turbulent atmospheric boundary layer including terrain effects was selected. The investigations were performed for SF6 and CO2 as heavy gases applying the standard k-ɛ turbulence model. A strong interaction of the heavy gas with the turbulence is present which results in a strong damping of the turbulence and therefore reduced heavy gas mixing. Especially this interaction, based on the buoyancy effects, was studied in order to ensure that the turbulence-buoyancy coupling is the main driver for the reduced mixing and not the global behaviour of the turbulence modelling. For both test cases, comparisons were performed between OpenFoam and Fluent solutions which were mainly in good agreement with each other. Beside steady state solutions, the time accuracy was investigated. In the low turbulence environment (wind tunnel test) which for both codes (laminar solutions) was in good agreement, also with the experimental data. The turbulent solutions of OpenFoam were in much better agreement with the experimental results than the Fluent solutions. Within the strong turbulence environment, both codes showed an excellent comparability. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Impacts of Atmospheric Moisture Transportation on Warm Sector Torrential Rains over South China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuixin Zhong

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Warm Sector Torrential Rains (WSTRs occurring during the outbreak of the monsoon in May of 2015 in South China were studied using surface automatic weather observational data, sounding, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis interim Data (ERA-interim, satellite and radar data, and a four-level nested grid simulation with the finest grid spacing of 1 km using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF. The results show that the extreme precipitation event, which had maximum rainfall amounts of 406.3 mm in 10 h and 542.2 mm in 24 h on 20 May 2015, and was characterized by its rapid development and its highly concentrated and long duration of heavy rainfall, occurred over the trumpet-shaped topography of Haifeng. The simulation results indicated that the South China Sea (SCS atmospheric moisture transportation (AMT was crucial in triggering the precipitation of the WSTR over South China. The simulation of the WSTR was conducted by using the total energy-mass flux scheme (TEMF, which provided a reasonable simulation of the circulation and the vertical profile in the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL as well as the estimation of the precipitation. The AMT, which extends from the Beibu Gulf and the South China Sea to the coastal areas and provides Shanwei with a considerable amount of moisture in the boundary layer, and the effects within the PBL, which include orographic effects, an extra low-level jet, and a high-energy tongue characterized by a high-potential pseudo-equivalent temperature tongue with a warm and moist southwesterly wind, were the important large-scale factors causing the WSTR.

Acid rain. Les pluies acides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Curren, T

1979-11-28

This report was produced for the use of Members of Parliament and House of Commons committees. The document describes the formation of acid rain, emissions of acidifying pollutants in North America, the growth of the problem and its environmental effects on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, human health and man-made structures. Areas of Canada which are most susceptible are identified. Actions taken by Parliament are given, including the formation of a sub-committee on acid rain and the passing of Bill C-51 in 1980 to amend the Clean Air Act, bringing it closer to a similar law in the U.S. A chronology of government responses to acid rain at the international, national and provincial level, is given. The most recent government actions included the passing of the US Clean Air Act by the Senate, the amending of the act into law, and commencement of negotiations to develop a Canada-US Air Quality Accord. 10 refs.

Climatological studies on precipitation features and large-scale atmospheric fields on the heavy rainfall days in the eastern part of Japan from the Baiu to midsummer season

Science.gov (United States)

Matsumoto, Kengo; Kato, Kuranoshin; Otani, Kazuo

2017-04-01

more than 10mm/h was large in the southern half of the heavy rainfall area, moderate rain with less than 10 mm/h contributed greatly to the total rainfall in the northern half. In Patter B, that heavy rainfall area was located just in the area with strong low-level warm advection around the Baiu front to the east of the typhoon. The warm advection near the heavy rainfall area was also found in Pattern A, the heavy rainfall occurred just on the southwest of the large advection. It is noted that, although the very warm humid air can intrude northward by the strong S-ly wind to the east of the typhoon in both Pattern A and B, the low-level baroclinicity around the eastern Japan was stronger in Pattern B. In midsummer, the similar situations to while the "Pattern B"-like situation was not seen. This might be greatly reflected by the seasonal change in the southern boundary of the Okhotsk air mass from the Baiu to midsummer and we will also examine that in the future.

Heavy Bearings Exploitation Energy and Reduction Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Szekely, V. G.; Cioară, R.

2016-11-01

The global trend of resource conservation so as “not to compromise the ability of future generation's development” is the fundamental basis of the concept of sustainable development. Concordant with this, the energy efficiency of products is increasingly discussed and frequently taken into account in the design stage. In more cases a product is more appreciated and more attractive as the energy consumption and its associated materials are lower. In the production stage, said consumption advantages primarily the manufacturer, particularly through low consumption thereof. In the operational phase, low energy and materials consumption represents an user advantage and it's a major argument in the decision to purchase and use a particular product. Heavy bearings are frequent products used in wind turbines that are producing non-conventional “clean” energy, as windmills. An enhanced energy efficiency bearing contributes to the enhancement of the overall efficiency of the wind turbines. Based on a suitable mathematical model, this paper identifies and recommends courses of action to reduce the operating energy of heavy bearing through the “cage” - which is the subject of a much larger research - with the highest priority. The identified actions may constitute from a set of requirements for the design stage of the heavy bearing predominantly oriented towards innovation-invention.

Performance of a piezoelectric energy harvester in actual rain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, Voon-Kean; Ho, Jee-Hou; Chai, Ai-Bao

2017-01-01

When raindrops impact on the surface of a piezoelectric beam, strain energy produced by the impinging raindrop will be converted to harvestable electrical energy by the piezoelectric layers in a cantilever beam. The novelty of this study is to investigate the performance of the harvester in actual rain and provide practical insights on implementation. The influences of rain parameters such as rain rate, rainfall depth, raindrop count, and drop size distribution (DSD) are discussed in this study. The raindrops accumulated on the surface of the piezoelectric beam will form a water layer. It is described using added mass coefficient in this study. In an actual rain experiment, a piezoelectric beam with surface area of 0.0018 m 2 is able to produce 2076 μJ of energy over a duration of 301 min. The energy generation of a raindrop impact piezoelectric energy harvester is highly dependent on the rain rate. Due to the inconsistency of the energy generation, the piezoelectric energy harvester would require an integration of suitable energy storage device for continuous operation. Nevertheless, this work shows the feasibility of harvesting raindrop energy using a piezoelectric beam. - Highlights: • The performance of a piezoelectric rain energy harvester is tested in actual rain. • The energy generation is highly dependent on the rain rate. • Practical insights on the implementation of the harvester are discussed. • A total energy of 2076 μJ is generated over a duration of 301 min.

What do computer worlds tell us about changes to rain and falling ice-water in the state where this meeting is usually held?

Science.gov (United States)

Langenbrunner, B.

2017-12-01

To learn how the world will change because of human-caused warming, we use computer-made worlds that couple land, water, and air to study their responses to the causes of warming over many years. For changes to rain and falling ice-water, these computer worlds are great at answering questions about very large places, like big areas of land or water, but they are not as good when thinking about more focused areas, like cities or states. This is especially true in the state where this meeting happens most years; will it be wetter or drier by the year 2100, and by how much? I will talk about the work being done to learn why these computer worlds do not always agree, as well as the work that finds changes on which they do agree. One big reason they don't agree is because these computer worlds arrive at different guesses on how winds will shift high up in the air in cooler months. These winds will push rain and falling ice-water to different places up and down the state over time, making it hard to know what we can expect, though our best guess is that it will be ever-so-slightly wetter. Computer worlds do agree, however, on two important things across most of the state: that the very largest bursts of rain will happen more often as the world warms, and that more often, very wet years will follow very dry years immediately before them. Taken together, these changes are important to the those in the state who plan for up-coming water needs. Knowing how normal rain and ice-water will change is part of the story, but perhaps more important is understanding how the very biggest showers are shifting, which will help the state plan for and handle these more sudden (and serious) bursts of water.

Spatial variability and trends of the rain intensity over Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Kambezidis, H. D.; Larissi, I. K.; Nastos, P. T.; Paliatsos, A. G.

2010-07-01

In this study, the spatial and temporal variability of the mean annual rain intensity in Greece are examined during a 41-year period (1962-2002). The meteorological datasets concern monthly rain amounts (mm) and the respective monthly durations (h) recorded at thirty two meteorological stations of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, which are uniformly distributed on Greek territory, in order to calculate the mean monthly rain intensity. All the rain time series used in the analysis were tested by the application of the short-cut Bartlett test of homogeneity. The spatial distribution of the mean annual rain intensity is studied using the Kriging interpolation method, while the temporal variability, concerning the mean annual rain intensity trends along with their significance (Mann-Kendall test), is analysed. The findings of the analysis show that statistically significant negative trends (95% confidence level) appear mainly in the west sub-regions of Greece, while statistically significant positive trends (95% confidence level) appear in the wider area of Athens and the complex of Cyclades Islands. Further analysis concerning the seasonal rain intensity is needed, because there are different seasonal patterns, taking into account that, convective rain in Greece occurs mainly within the summer season.

Rain forest provides pollinating beetles for atemoya crops.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanche, Rosalind; Cunningham, Saul A

2005-08-01

Small beetles, usually species of Nitidulidae, are the natural pollinators of atemoya (Annona squamosa L. x A. cherimola Mill. hybrids; custard apple) flowers but commercial atemoya growers often need to carry out labor-intensive hand pollination to produce enough high-quality fruit. Because Australian rain forest has plant species in the same family as atemoya (Annonaceae) and because many rain forest plants are beetle pollinated, we set out to discover whether tropical rain forest in far north Queensland harbors beetles that could provide this ecosystem service for atemoya crops. Orchards were chosen along a gradient of increasing distance from tropical rain forest (0.1-24 km). We sampled 100 flowers from each of nine atemoya orchards and determined the identity and abundance of insects within each flower. To assess the amount of pollination due to insects, we bagged six flowers per tree and left another six flowers per tree accessible to insects on 10 trees at an orchard near rain forest. Results indicated that atemoya orchards pollinators that are likely to originate in tropical rain forest. These native beetles occurred reliably enough in crops near rain forest to have a positive effect on the quantity of fruit produced but their contribution was not great enough to satisfy commercial production needs. Management changes, aimed at increasing native beetle abundance in crops, are required before these beetles could eliminate the need for growers to hand pollinate atemoya flowers. Appreciation of the value of this resource is necessary if we are to develop landscapes that both conserve native biodiversity and support agricultural production.

Global composites of surface wind speeds in tropical cyclones based on a 12 year scatterometer database

Science.gov (United States)

Klotz, Bradley W.; Jiang, Haiyan

2016-10-01

A 12 year global database of rain-corrected satellite scatterometer surface winds for tropical cyclones (TCs) is used to produce composites of TC surface wind speed distributions relative to vertical wind shear and storm motion directions in each TC-prone basin and various TC intensity stages. These composites corroborate ideas presented in earlier studies, where maxima are located right of motion in the Earth-relative framework. The entire TC surface wind asymmetry is down motion left for all basins and for lower strength TCs after removing the motion vector. Relative to the shear direction, the motion-removed composites indicate that the surface wind asymmetry is located down shear left for the outer region of all TCs, but for the inner-core region it varies from left of shear to down shear right for different basin and TC intensity groups. Quantification of the surface wind asymmetric structure in further stratifications is a necessary next step for this scatterometer data set.

Stormwater Effects on Heavy Metal Sequestration in a Bioretention System in Culver City, California

Science.gov (United States)

Yousavich, D. J.; Ellis, A. S.; Dorsey, J.; Johnston, K.

2017-12-01

Rain Gardens, also referred to as bioretention or biofilters, are often used to capture or filter urban runoff before it drains into surface or groundwater systems. The Culver City Rain Garden (CCRG) is one such system that is designed to capture and filter runoff from approximately 11 acres of mixed-use commercial and industrial land before it enters Ballona Creek. The EPA has designated Ballona Creek as an impaired waterway and established Total Maximum Daily Loads for heavy metals. Previous research has utilized sequential extractions to establish trends in heavy metal sequestration for Cu, Pb, and Zn in bioretention media. The aim of this project is to evaluate if there is a difference in heavy metal sequestration between dry and wetted bioretention media. To characterize the stormwater at the site, influent and surface water were collected and analyzed for sulfate and heavy metals 3 times during the 2016-2017 storm season. Two soil cores from the CCRG were acquired in the summer of 2017 to analyze soil metal sequestration trends. They will be subjected to different wetting conditions, sectioned into discrete depths, and digested with an established sequential extraction technique. Surface water in the CCRG shows average Dissolved Oxygen during wet conditions of 2.92 mg/L and average pH of 6.1 indicating reducing conditions near the surface and the possible protonation of adsorption sites during wet weather conditions. Influent metal data indicate average dissolved iron levels near 1 ppm and influent Cu, Pb, and Zn levels near 0.05, 0.01, and 0.5 ppm respectively. This coupled with average surface water sulfate levels near 3 ppm indicates the potential for iron oxide and sulfide mineral formation depending on redox conditions. The sequential extraction results will elucidate whether heavy metals are adsorbed or are being sequestered in mineral formation. These results will allow for the inclusion of heavy metal sequestration trends in the design of further

SeaWinds - Oceans, Land, Polar Regions

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

The SeaWinds scatterometer on the QuikScat satellite makes global radar measurements -- day and night, in clear sky and through clouds. The radar data over the oceans provide scientists and weather forecasters with information on surface wind speed and direction. Scientists also use the radar measurements directly to learn about changes in vegetation and ice extent over land and polar regions.This false-color image is based entirely on SeaWinds measurements obtained over oceans, land, and polar regions. Over the ocean, colors indicate wind speed with orange as the fastest wind speeds and blue as the slowest. White streamlines indicate the wind direction. The ocean winds in this image were measured by SeaWinds on September 20, 1999. The large storm in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida is Hurricane Gert. Tropical storm Harvey is evident as a high wind region in the Gulf of Mexico, while farther west in the Pacific is tropical storm Hilary. An extensive storm is also present in the South Atlantic Ocean near Antarctica.The land image was made from four days of SeaWinds data with the aid of a resolution enhancement algorithm developed by Dr. David Long at Brigham Young University. The lightest green areas correspond to the highest radar backscatter. Note the bright Amazon and Congo rainforests compared to the dark Sahara desert. The Amazon River is visible as a dark line running horizontally though the bright South American rain forest. Cities appear as bright spots on the images, especially in the U.S. and Europe.The image of Greenland and the north polar ice cap was generated from data acquired by SeaWinds on a single day. In the polar region portion of the image, white corresponds to the largest radar return, while purple is the lowest. The variations in color in Greenland and the polar ice cap reveal information about the ice and snow conditions present.NASA's Earth Science Enterprise is a long-term research and technology program designed to examine Earth

Human Ecology: Acid Rain and Public Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bybee, Rodger W.

1983-01-01

A connection between science and society can be seen in the human and ecological dimensions of one contemporary problem: acid rain. Introduces a human ecological theme and relationships between acid rain and public policy, considering scientific understanding and public awareness, scientific research and public policy, and national politics and…

Based on the rainfall system platform raindrops research and analysis of pressure loss

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Gang; Sun, Jian

2018-01-01

With the rapid development of China’s military career, land, sea and air force all services and equipment of modern equipment need to be in the rain test, and verify its might suffer during transportation, storage or use a different environment temperature lower water or use underwater, the water is derived from the heavy rain, the wind and rain, sprinkler system, splash water, water wheel, a violent shock waves or use underwater, etcTest the product performance and quality, under the condition of rainfall system platform in the process of development, how to control the raindrops pressure loss becomes the key to whether the system can simulate the real rainfall [1], this paper is according to the rainfall intensity, nozzle flow resistance, meet water flow of rain pressure loss calculation and analysis, and system arrangement of the optimal solution of rainfall is obtained [2].

Acid rain may cause senile dementia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pearce, F

1985-04-25

Aluminium, released from the soil by acid rain, may be a cause of several forms of senile dementia including Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Many upland reservoirs, fed by acid rain, supply homes with water laced with significant amounts of aluminium. Studies in the Pacific have shown that communities living on soils that are extremely rich in bauxite, the rock containing aluminium, have a very high incidence of Alzheimer's disease.

On the Origins of the Intercorrelations Between Solar Wind Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Borovsky, Joseph E.

2018-01-01

It is well known that the time variations of the diverse solar wind variables at 1 AU (e.g., solar wind speed, density, proton temperature, electron temperature, magnetic field strength, specific entropy, heavy-ion charge-state densities, and electron strahl intensity) are highly intercorrelated with each other. In correlation studies of the driving of the Earth's magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere system by the solar wind, these solar wind intercorrelations make determining cause and effect very difficult. In this report analyses of solar wind spacecraft measurements and compressible-fluid computer simulations are used to study the origins of the solar wind intercorrelations. Two causes are found: (1) synchronized changes in the values of the solar wind variables as the plasma types of the solar wind are switched by solar rotation and (2) dynamic interactions (compressions and rarefactions) in the solar wind between the Sun and the Earth. These findings provide an incremental increase in the understanding of how the Sun-Earth system operates.

On the performance of telemedicine system using 17-GHz orthogonally polarized microwave links under the influence of heavy rainfall.

Science.gov (United States)

Fong, Bernard; Fong, A C M; Hong, G Y

2005-09-01

This paper describes the design of a telemedicine system based on next-generation wireless local area networks (WLANs) operating at 17 GHz. Seventeen gigahertz is proposed for next-generation WLAN services offering numerous advantages over traditional IEEE 802.11 networks that operate in the range of 2.4-5 GHz. Orthogonal polarization is often used to increase spectrum efficiency by utilizing signal paths of horizontal and vertical polarization. Radio waves exceeding 10 GHz are particularly vulnerable to signal degradation under the influence of rain which causes an effective reduction in isolation between polarized signal paths. This paper investigates the influence of heavy rain in a tropical region on wide-band microwave signals at 17 GHz using two links provided by a fixed broad-band wireless access system for two-way data exchange between paramedics attending an accident scene and the hospital via microwave equipment installed in the ambulance. We also study the effects of cross polarization and phase rotation due to persistent heavy rainfall in tropical regions.

I like riding my bike. If it doesn't rain of course'. Accounts of embodied practices of rain in the face of climate change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindegaard, Laura Bang

. Secondly, the paper focuses more thoroughly on conceptualisations of cycling in rain by showing how rain is used in making socially legitimate meanings of everyday transportation practices. It shows the subtle ways in which matters of rain are used as justifications for not biking. It also shows...

SMAP Salinity Artifacts Associated With Presence of Rain

Science.gov (United States)

Jacob, M. M.; Santos-Garcia, A.; Jones, L.

2016-02-01

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite carries an L-band radiometer, which measures sea surface salinity (SSS) over a swath of 1000 km @ 40 km resolution. SMAP can extend the Aquarius (AQ) salinity data record with improved temporal/spatial sampling. Previous studies [see references] have demonstrated significant differences between satellite and in-situ salinity measurements during rain. In the presence of precipitation, salinity stratification exists near the sea surface, which nullifies the presumption of a well-mixed salinity. In general, these salinity gradients last only a few hours and the upper layer becomes slightly fresher in salinity. This paper describes the Rain Impact Model (RIM) that simulates the effects of rain accumulation on the SSS [Santos-Garcia et al., 2014] applied to SMAP. This model incorporates rainfall information for the previous 24 hours to the measurement sample (in this case SMAP) and uses as initialization the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) data. Given the better resolution of SMAP, the goal of this paper is to continue the analysis previously done with AQ to better understand the effects of the instantaneous and accumulated rain on the salinity measurements. Boutin, J., N. Martin, G. Reverdin, X. Yin, and F. Gaillard (2013), Sea surface freshening inferred from SMOS and ARGO salinity: Impact of rain, Ocean Sci., 9(1), 183-192, doi:10.5194/os-9-183-2013. Santos-Garcia, A., M. Jacob, L. Jones, W. Asher, Y. Hejazin, H. Ebrahimi, and M. Rabolli (2014), Investigation of rain effects on Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity measurements, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 119, 7605-7624, doi:10.1002/2014JC010137. Tang, W., S.H Yueh, A. Hayashi, A.G. Fore, W.L. Jones, A. Santos-Garcia, and M.M. Jacob, (2015), Rain-Induced Near Surface Salinity Stratification and Rain Roughness Correction for Aquarius SSS Retrieval, in Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE Journal of, 8(99), 1-11, doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2015.2463768.

Nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven winds: Influence of the nuclear physics input

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arcones, Almudena; Martinez-Pinedo, Gabriel

2010-01-01

We have performed hydrodynamical simulations of the long-time evolution of proto-neutron stars to study the nucleosynthesis using the resulting wind trajectories. Although the conditions found in the present wind models are not favourable for the production of heavy elements, a small enhancement of the entropy results in the production of r-process elements with A ∼ 195. This allows us to explore the sensitivity of their production to the hydrodynamical evolution (wind termination shock) and nuclear physics input used.

Potential of Future Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) Ocean Surface Wind Observations for Determining Tropical Storm Vortex Intensity and Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Atlas, Robert; Bailey, M. C.; Black, Peter; James, Mark; Johnson, James; Jones, Linwood; Miller, Timothy; Ruf, Christopher; Uhlhorn, Eric

2008-01-01

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is an innovative technology development, which offers the potential of new and unique remotely sensed observations of both extreme oceanic wind events and strong precipitation from either UAS or satellite platforms. It is based on the airborne Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), which is a proven aircraft remote sensing technique for observing tropical cyclone ocean surface wind speeds and rain rates, including those of major hurricane intensity. The proposed HIRAD instrument advances beyond the current nadir viewing SFMR to an equivalent wide-swath SFMR imager using passive microwave synthetic thinned aperture radiometer technology. This sensor will operate over 4-7 GHz (C-band frequencies) where the required tropical cyclone remote sensing physics has been validated by both SFMR and WindSat radiometers. HIRAD incorporates a unique, technologically advanced array antenna and several other technologies successfully demonstrated by the NASA's Instrument Incubator Program. A brassboard version of the instrument is complete and has been successfully tested in an anechoic chamber, and development of the aircraft instrument is well underway. HIRAD will be a compact, lightweight, low-power instrument with no moving parts that will produce wide-swath imagery of ocean vector winds and rain during hurricane conditions when existing microwave sensors (radiometers or scatterometers) are hindered. Preliminary studies show that HIRAD will have a significant positive impact on analyses as either a new aircraft or satellite sensor.

Mechanisms affecting the transition from shallow to deep convection over land: Inferences from observations collected at the ARM Southern Great Plains site

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y.; Klein, S. A.

2009-12-01

11 years of summertime observations at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility Southern Great Plains (SGP) site are used to investigate mechanisms controlling the transition from shallow to deep convection over land. A more humid environment above the boundary layer favors the occurrence of late-afternoon heavy precipitation events. The higher moisture content is brought by wind from south. Greater boundary layer inhomogeneity in moist static energy (MSE) is correlated to larger rain rates at the initial stage of precipitation. MSE inhomogeneity is attributed to both moisture and temperature fields, and is correlated with westerly winds. In an examination of afternoon rain statistics, higher relative humidity above the boundary layer is correlated to an earlier onset and longer duration of precipitation, while greater boundary layer inhomogeneity and atmospheric instability are positively correlated to the total rain amount and the maximum rain rate. On balance, these observations favor theories for the transition that involve a moist free troposphere and boundary layer heterogeneity in preference to those that involve convective available potential energy or convective inhibition. Thus the evidence presented here supports the current emphasis in the modeling community on the entraining nature of convection and the role of boundary layer cold pools in triggering new convection.

Heavy-ion driver design and scaling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bieri, R.; Monsler, M.; Meier, W.; Stewart, L.

1992-01-01

Parametric models for scaling heavy-ion driver designs are described. Scaling of target performance and driver cost is done for driver parameters including driver energy, number of beams, type of superconductor used in focusing magnets, maximum magnetic field allowed at the superconducting windings, linear quadrupole array packing fraction mass, and ion charge state. The cumulative accelerator voltage and beam currents are determined from the Maschke limits on beam current for each choice of driver energy and post-acceleration pulse duration. The heavy-ion driver is optimized over the large available driver parameter space. Parametric studies and the choice of a base driver model are described in a companion paper

[Relationship between atmospheric particles and rain water chemistry character].

Science.gov (United States)

Huo, Ming-Qun; Sun, Qian; Xie, Peng; Bai, Yu-Hua; Liu, Zhao-Rong; Li, Ji-Long; Lu, Si-Hua

2009-11-01

Rain and atmospheric particle samples were collected in the rural area of Taian and Shenzhen in 2007, respectively. Rain sampling was carried out during the precipitation process and several samples were got from the beginning of one precipitation to the end. The chemical character changes during precipitation and the changes of concentration of particles before and after rain were studied in this research to understand the contribution of particles on the rain chemical character and the rain-out effect for particles. The volume-weighted mean pH of rainwater in Taian was 5.97 and the total concentration of ions was 1 187.96 microeq x L(-1). The mass concentration of PM10 in Taian was 131.76 microg/m3 and that of PM2.5 was 103.84 microg/m3. The volume-weighted mean pH of rainwater in Shenzhen was 4.72 and the total concentration of ions was 175.89 microeq x L(-1). The mass concentration of PM10 in Shenzhen was 56.66 microg/m3 and that of PM2.5 was 41.52 microg/m3. During precipitation process pH and ion concentration of rain decrease and it is shown the neutralizing effect happens. The difference between rainwater of Taian and Shenzhen is due to cloud water acidity, atmospheric particles character and atmospheric acid-basic gases concentration. The clean-up effect of Na+ and Ca2+ by rain is high and which of NH4+ and NO3- is low. The clean-up effect for mass concentration, ions concentration and element concentration of particles by rain are significant.

Effects of microphysics parameterization on simulations of summer heavy precipitation in the Yangtze-Huaihe Region, China

Science.gov (United States)

Kan, Yu; Chen, Bo; Shen, Tao; Liu, Chaoshun; Qiao, Fengxue

2017-09-01

It has been a longstanding problem for current weather/climate models to accurately predict summer heavy precipitation over the Yangtze-Huaihe Region (YHR) which is the key flood-prone area in China with intensive population and developed economy. Large uncertainty has been identified with model deficiencies in representing precipitation processes such as microphysics and cumulus parameterizations. This study focuses on examining the effects of microphysics parameterization on the simulation of different type of heavy precipitation over the YHR taking into account two different cumulus schemes. All regional persistent heavy precipitation events over the YHR during 2008-2012 are classified into three types according to their weather patterns: the type I associated with stationary front, the type II directly associated with typhoon or with its spiral rain band, and the type III associated with strong convection along the edge of the Subtropical High. Sixteen groups of experiments are conducted for three selected cases with different types and a local short-time rainstorm in Shanghai, using the WRF model with eight microphysics and two cumulus schemes. Results show that microphysics parameterization has large but different impacts on the location and intensity of regional heavy precipitation centers. The Ferrier (microphysics) -BMJ (cumulus) scheme and Thompson (microphysics) - KF (cumulus) scheme most realistically simulates the rain-bands with the center location and intensity for type I and II respectively. For type III, the Lin microphysics scheme shows advantages in regional persistent cases over YHR, while the WSM5 microphysics scheme is better in local short-term case, both with the BMJ cumulus scheme.

Improved Gradation for Rain Garden of Low Impact Development

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sandra; Chang, Fu-Ming

2016-04-01

With rapid urban and economic development, living standard improves in urban areas but urban ecological environments deteriorate rapidly. Urban waterlogging and flooding have become a serious problem for urban water security. As urbanization continues, sustainability is the key to balance between urban development and healthy environment. Rain garden is recommended to be one of the best ways to reduce urban pollutants. It not only diminishes runoff flooding but also purify water in the urban area. The studies on rain gardens are mainly about how to incorporate rain garden to purify water quality, but lack of researches on runoff control. This project focuses on rain garden under Low Impact Development using indoor laboratory to test and quantify the water holding capacities of two different Taiwan indigenous rain garden plants, Taiwan Cyclosorus and Sour Grass. The results show that the water holding capacity of Sour Grass (10%-37%) is better than that of Taiwan Cyclosorus (6.8%-17.3%). The results could be a helpful reference for Low Impact Development in urban flood prevention and urban planning. Keywords: Low Impact Development; rain garden; indoor laboratory experiments; water holding capacity; porosity

Dust Rains Deliver Diverse Assemblages of Microorganisms to the Eastern Mediterranean

Science.gov (United States)

Itani, Ghida Nouhad; Smith, Colin Andrew

2016-03-01

Dust rains may be particularly effective at delivering microorganisms, yet their biodiversities have been seldom examined. During 2011 and 2012 in Beirut, Lebanon, 16 of 21 collected rainfalls appeared dusty. Trajectory modelling of air mass origins was consistent with North African sources and at least one Southwest Asian source. As much as ~4 g particulate matter, ~20 μg DNA, and 50 million colony forming units were found deposited per square meter during rainfalls each lasting less than one day. Sequencing of 93 bacteria and 25 fungi cultured from rain samples revealed diverse bacterial phyla, both Gram positive and negative, and Ascomycota fungi. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis of amplified 16S rDNA of 13 rains revealed distinct and diverse assemblages of bacteria. Dust rain 16S libraries yielded 131 sequences matching, in decreasing order of abundance, Betaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, Epsilonproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Deltaproteobacteria. Clean rain 16S libraries yielded 33 sequences matching only Betaproteobacteria family Oxalobacteraceae. Microbial composition varied between dust rains, and more diverse and different microbes were found in dust rains than clean rains. These results show that dust rains deliver diverse communities of microorganisms that may be complex products of revived desert soil species and fertilized cloud species.

Surface-rain interactions: differences in copper runoff for copper sheet of different inclination, orientation, and atmospheric exposure conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedberg, Yolanda S; Goidanich, Sara; Herting, Gunilla; Wallinder, Inger Odnevall

2015-01-01

Predictions of the diffuse dispersion of metals from outdoor constructions such as roofs and facades are necessary for environmental risk assessment and management. An existing predictive model has been compared with measured data of copper runoff from copper sheets exposed at four different inclinations facing four orientations at two different urban sites (Stockholm, Sweden, and Milan, Italy) during a 4-year period. Its applicability has also been investigated for copper sheet exposed at two marine sites(Cadiz, Spain, for 5 years, and Brest, France, for 9 years). Generally the model can be used for all given conditions. However, vertical surfaces should be considered as surfaces inclined 60-80 due to wind driven effects. The most important parameters that influence copper runoff, and not already included in the model, are the wind and rain characteristics that influence the actual rainfall volume impinging the surface of interest.

Foliar nutrient status of Pinus ponderosa exposed to ozone and acid rain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, P.D.; Houpis, J.L.J.

1991-01-01

A direct effect of foliar exposure to acid rain may be increased leaching of nutrient elements. Ozone exposure, through degradation of the cuticle and cellular membranes, may also result in increased nutrient leaching. To test these hypotheses, the foliar concentrations of 13 nutrient elements were monitored for mature branches of three clones of Pinus ponderosa exposed to ozone and/or acid rain. The three clones represented three distinct levels of phenotypic vigor. Branches were exposed to charcoal filtered, ambient, or 2 x ambient concentrations of ozone and received no acid rain (NAP), pH 5.1 rain (5.1), or pH 3.0 (3.0) rain. Following 10 months of continuous ozone exposure and 3 months of weekly rain applications, the concentrations of P and Mg differed significantly among rain treatments with a ranking of: 5.1 < NAP < 3.0. The S concentration increased with rain application regardless of pH. For the clones of moderate and low vigor, the concentration of N decreased with increasing rain acidity. There was no evidence of significant ozone or ozone x acid rain response. Among the three families, high phenotypic vigor was associated with significantly greater concentrations of N, P, K, Mg, B and An. These results indicate generally negligible leaching as a result of exposure to acid rain and/or ozone for one growing season. Increases in foliar concentrations of S, Mg and P are possibly the result of evaporative surface deposition from the rain solution

High Ice Water Content at Low Radar Reflectivity near Deep Convection. Part I ; Consistency of In Situ and Remote-Sensing Observations with Stratiform Rain Column Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Fridlind, A. M.; Ackerman, A. S.; Grandin, A.; Dezitter, F.; Weber, M.; Strapp, J. W.; Korolev, A. V.; Williams, C. R.

2015-01-01

Occurrences of jet engine power loss and damage have been associated with flight through fully glaciated deep convection at -10 to -50 degrees Centigrade. Power loss events commonly occur during flight through radar reflectivity (Zeta (sub e)) less than 20-30 decibels relative to Zeta (dBZ - radar returns) and no more than moderate turbulence, often overlying moderate to heavy rain near the surface. During 2010-2012, Airbus carried out flight tests seeking to characterize the highest ice water content (IWC) in such low-radar-reflectivity regions of large, cold-topped storm systems in the vicinity of Cayenne, Darwin, and Santiago. Within the highest IWC regions encountered, at typical sampling elevations (circa 11 kilometers), the measured ice size distributions exhibit a notably narrow concentration of mass over area-equivalent diameters of 100-500 micrometers. Given substantial and poorly quantified measurement uncertainties, here we evaluate the consistency of the Airbus in situ measurements with ground-based profiling radar observations obtained under quasi-steady, heavy stratiform rain conditions in one of the Airbus-sampled locations. We find that profiler-observed radar reflectivities and mean Doppler velocities at Airbus sampling temperatures are generally consistent with those calculated from in situ size-distribution measurements. We also find that column simulations using the in situ size distributions as an upper boundary condition are generally consistent with observed profiles of radar reflectivity (Ze), mean Doppler velocity (MDV), and retrieved rain rate. The results of these consistency checks motivate an examination of the microphysical pathways that could be responsible for the observed size-distribution features in Ackerman et al. (2015).

The Abrupt Onset of the Modern South Asian Monsoon Winds (iodp Exp. 359)

Science.gov (United States)

Betzler, C.; Eberli, G. P.; Kroon, D.; Wright, J. D.; Swart, P. K.; Nath, B. N.; Reijmer, J.; Alvarez Zarikian, C. A.

2016-12-01

The South Asian Monson (SAM) is one of the most extreme features in Earth's climate system, yet its initiation and variations are not well established. The SAM is a seasonal reversal of winds accompanied by changes in precipitation with heavy rain during the summer monsoon. It is one of the most intense annually recurring climatic elements and of immense importance in supplying moisture to the Indian subcontinent thus affecting human population and vegetation, as well as marine biota in the surrounding seas. The seasonal precipitation change is one of the SAM elements most noticed on land, whereas the reversal of the wind regime is the dominating driver of circulation in the central and northern Indian Ocean realm. New data acquired during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 359 from the Inner Sea of the Maldives provide a previously unread archive that reveals an abrupt onset of the SAM-linked ocean circulation pattern and its relationship to the long term Neogene climate cooling. In particular it registers ocean current fluctuations and changes of intermediate water mass properties for the last 25 myrs that are directly related to the monsoon. Dating the deposits of SAM wind-driven currents yields an age of 12.9 Ma indicating an abrupt SAM onset, over a short period of 300 kyrs. This coincided with the Indian Ocean Oxygen Minimum Zone expansion as revealed by geochemical tracers and the onset of upwelling reflected by the sediment's content of sedimentary organic matter. A weaker `proto-monsoon' existed between 12.9 and 25 Ma, as mirrored by the sedimentary signature of dust influx. Abrupt SAM initiation favors a strong influence of climate in addition to the tectonic control, and we propose that the post Miocene Climate Optimum cooling, together with increased continentalization and establishment of the bipolar ocean circulation, i.e. the beginning of the modern world, shifted the monsoon over a threshold towards the modern system.

assessment of concentrations of trace and toxic heavy metals in soil

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Windows User

pump. The concentrations of heavy metals in soil and edible vegetables samples were analyzed using Energy ... Keywords: Soil, Vegetables, Manyoni Uranium Deposit, Toxic Elements, EDXRF. ... fine radioactive particles prone to wind and.

Effect of Air Pollutants on Rain Water Characteristics in Hammam Al-Aleel District/ Al-Erej Village South of Mosul City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayad F. Qasim

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This study focused on Hammam Al-Aleel district/ Al-Erej village which is located south of Mosul city. This area has been suffering from spreading the air-pollutants resulted from the chimneys of Hammam Al-Aleel cement factories. Different areas were chosen for collecting samples of the rain water from December 2008 to March 2009. The study showed that rain-water is generally basic. The tests show an increase in ( EC, Mg+2, Ca+2, Cl-1, SO4-2 and NO-1,  due to the air pollutants emitted from local industries. The concentration of heavy elements represented by  Pb and Cd were high and this increase is due to the source of these elements from burning of the crude oil which is used in running the rotating kiln to produce the clinker in cement factory, In addition to the fuel used for  running vehicle and the friction between tires and  road.

Flow Dynamics and Nutrient Reduction in Rain Gardens

Science.gov (United States)

The hydrological dynamics and changes in stormwater nutrient concentrations within rain gardens were studied by introducing captured stormwater runoff to rain gardens at EPA’s Urban Water Research Facility in Edison, New Jersey. The runoff used in these experiments was collected...

Influence of Speed and Rainfall on Large-Scale Wheat Lodging from 2007 to 2014 in China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liyuan Niu

Full Text Available Strong wind and heavy rain remain the two most important causes of large acreage wheat (Triticum aestivum L. lodging in China. For research the influence of wind speed and rainfall-separately as well as together-on the extent and degree of lodging, five levels of the severity of lodging were defined based on a combination of the lodging area and the degree of tilting. Detailed meteorological information was studied on 52 instances of large-scale lodging that occurred from 2007 to 2014. The results showed that strong wind's lodging accounted for 8% of the instances studied, continuous rainfall's lodging accounted for 19% and strong winds-heavy rainfall's accounted for 73%. The minimum instantaneous wind speed that could cause large-scale lodging was closely related to rainfall. Without rainfall, the wind speed that resulted in lodging ranging in severity from slight to severe (Level 2 to Level 5 was 14.9 m/s, 19.3 m/s, 21.5 m/s, and 26.5 m/s, respectively; when accompanied by rainfall, the wind speed that resulted in lodging of the same severity decreased linearly with the increase of rainfall. These results will be particularly useful in preventing and alleviating wheat lodging as well screening wheat varieties with good lodging resistance.

Estimate of Hurricane Wind Speed from AMSR-E Low-Frequency Channel Brightness Temperature Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Zhang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Two new parameters (W6H and W6V were defined that represent brightness temperature increments for different low-frequency channels due to ocean wind. We developed a new wind speed retrieval model inside hurricanes based on W6H and W6V using brightness temperature data from AMSR-E. The AMSR-E observations of 12 category 3–5 hurricanes from 2003 to 2011 and corresponding data from the H*wind analysis system were used to develop and validate the AMSR-E wind speed retrieval model. The results show that the mean bias and the overall root-mean-square (RMS difference of the AMSR-E retrieved wind speeds with respect to H*wind (HRD Real-time Hurricane Wind Analysis System analysis data were −0.01 m/s and 2.66 m/s, respectively. One case study showed that W6H and W6V were less sensitive to rain than the observed AMSR-E C-band and X-band brightness temperature data. The AMSR-E retrieval model was further validated by comparing the retrieved wind speeds against stepped-frequency microwave radiometer (SFMR measurements. The comparison showed an RMS difference of 3.41 m/s and a mean bias of 0.49 m/s.

Moessbauer study of corrosion induced by acid rain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arshed, M.; Hussain, N.; Siddiqui, M.; Anwar-ul-Islam, M.; Rehman, S.; Butt, N.M.

1997-01-01

Strictly speaking acid rain refers to wet precipitation of pollutants S0/sub 2/SO/sub 3/ and NO/sub x/HNO/sub 3/ which have dissolved in cloud and rain droplets to from sulphuric and nitric acids. Acid rain has seriously damaged pine and spruce forests in Canada, USA and Europe. In these areas it has caused damage to buildings, reduced fish population due to acidification of lakes and rivers, and affected health of human beings as a result of poor water quality. The corrosion products formed in a simulated acid rain environment have been identified with transmission Moessbauer spectroscopy using a /sup 57/Co source. They were found to be gamma-FeOOH, alpha-FeOOH, gamma-Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and a phase with unfamiliar parameters which seems to be amorphous in nature and can be considered as an intermediate phase. (author)

ARIS: Acid Rain Information System. Final project report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McWilliams, P.; Musante, L.

1982-04-20

ARIS is to provide the technical, government, and business communities with abstracted information from the world's significant technical and business literature. The subject areas covered by this acid rain data base includes (1) the mechanism of the formation of acid rain; (2) its transport phenomena; (3) its effects on materials; (4) its effects on plants; (5) the health effects of acid rain; and (6) monitoring and analysis of acid rain. Data in ARIS comes from several government and commercial data base producers, and these include EDB DOE Energy Database, Environmental Science Index, Air Pollution Abstracts, National Technical Service (NTIS), and articles of regional interests from various newspapers. The types of publication source documents are: technical journals, conference proceedings, selected monographs, government reports, special studies, and newspapers. The file data is proposed to be updated quarterly and will cover selected references from 1970 with major focus on material after 1976.

Characterization of rain heights due to 0° isotherm in tropical and subtropical climates: implication on rain-induced attenuation prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Ojo, J. S.; Owolawi, P. A.

2018-01-01

In this paper, the dynamics of the structure of the rain profile as related to the zero-degree isotherm height and the implications for attenuation prediction along the Earth-space propagation links at locations in Nigeria, a tropical region, and South Africa, a subtropical region, are presented. Five-year (January 2010-December 2014) precipitation data on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite have been analyzed over some selected locations in the two regions. The influences of the zero-degree isotherm height on some observed weather parameters are also discussed. The result on the influence of air temperature on rain height h r shows a significant increase in the tropical environment as compared with those in the subtropics. However, when h r results are compared with those obtained using rain height as recommended by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there is a significant difference at the 0.01% unavailability of the signal in a year particularly at higher frequencies. Further comparison with the slant path attenuation at 0.01% unavailability of the signal in a year shows a slight deviation (between 1.04 and 2.13 dB) in rain height than those acquired using the measured rain height in the tropical locations. Nevertheless, the result is slightly less than those obtained using the measured rain height in the subtropical locations with the differences in dB between - 0.49 and - 1.18. The overall results will be useful for estimating the link budgeting for digital radio satellite broadcasting. It will also be applicable for radar propagation systems at higher-frequency bands in Nigeria and South Africa.

Acid Rain and Snow in Kashiwazaki City.

OpenAIRE

小野寺, 正幸; 富永, 禎秀; 竹園, 恵; 大金, 一二; Onodera, Masayuki; Tominaga, Yoshihide; Takesono, Satoshi; Oogane, Katsuji

2002-01-01

This paper described the actual condition of acid rain and snow and their influence of a winter monsoon in Kashiwazaki city. For 7 months from September in 2001 to March in 2002, the pH value was measured in rain or snow. The minimum of pH value observed was 3.9 for the 7 months. The day which observed pH

Propagating Characteristics of Pulsed Laser in Rain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Guo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To understand the performance of laser ranging system under the rain weather condition, we need to know the propagating characteristics of laser pulse in rain. In this paper, the absorption and attenuation coefficients were calculated based on the scattering theories in discrete stochastic media, and the propagating characteristics of laser pulse in rain were simulated and analyzed using Monte-Carlo method. Some simulation results were verified by experiments, and the simulation results are well matched with the experimental data, with the maximal deviation not less than 7.5%. The results indicated that the propagating laser beam would be attenuated and distorted due to the scattering and absorption of raindrops, and the energy attenuation and pulse shape distortion strongly depended on the laser pulse widths.

Raine syndrome: expanding the radiological spectrum

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koob, Meriam; Dietemann, Jean-Louis [CHU de Strasbourg Hopital de Hautepierre, Service de Radiologie 2, Strasbourg (France); Doray, Berenice; Fradin, Melanie [CHU de Strasbourg, Hopital de Hautepierre, Laboratoire de Genetique Medicale, Strasbourg (France); Astruc, Dominique [CHU de Strasbourg Hopital de Hautepierre, Service de Neonatologie, Strasbourg (France)

2011-03-15

We describe ante- and postnatal imaging of a 1-year-old otherwise healthy girl with Raine syndrome. She presented with neonatal respiratory distress related to a pyriform aperture stenosis, which was diagnosed on CT. Signs of chondrodysplasia punctata, sagittal vertebral clefting and intervertebral disc and renal calcifications were also found on imaging. This new case confirms that Raine syndrome is not always lethal. The overlapping imaging signs with chondrodysplasia punctata and the disseminated calcifications give new insights into its pathophysiology. (orig.)

Raine syndrome: expanding the radiological spectrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koob, Meriam; Dietemann, Jean-Louis; Doray, Berenice; Fradin, Melanie; Astruc, Dominique

2011-01-01

We describe ante- and postnatal imaging of a 1-year-old otherwise healthy girl with Raine syndrome. She presented with neonatal respiratory distress related to a pyriform aperture stenosis, which was diagnosed on CT. Signs of chondrodysplasia punctata, sagittal vertebral clefting and intervertebral disc and renal calcifications were also found on imaging. This new case confirms that Raine syndrome is not always lethal. The overlapping imaging signs with chondrodysplasia punctata and the disseminated calcifications give new insights into its pathophysiology. (orig.)

A Rain Taxonomy for Degraded Visual Environment Mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Gatlin, P. N.; Petersen, W. A.

2018-01-01

This Technical Memorandum (TM) provides a description of a rainfall taxonomy that defines the detailed characteristics of naturally occurring rainfall. The taxonomy is based on raindrop size measurements collected around the globe and encompasses several different climate types. Included in this TM is a description of these rainfall observations, an explanation of methods used to process those data, and resultant metrics comprising the rain taxonomy database. Each of the categories in the rain taxonomy are characterized by a unique set of raindrop sizes that can be used in simulations of electromagnetic wave propagation through a rain medium.

Wind energy in India- yesterday, today and tomorrow; and BHEL's role

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krithivasan, K.S.

1996-01-01

As the conventional fossil fuel reserves are fast depleting and also causing pollution, alternate sources of energy have been explored as viable options. Wind energy being clean, available in plenty and environmental-friendly, has become the leader in non-conventional energy sources. Commercialization of wind power generation on a large scale is being undertaken in our energy starving country. An attempt to review the past, assess the present and plan the future wind energy programmes and prospects of our country is made along with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited's (BHELs) role in it. 3 tabs

Acid rain attack on outdoor sculpture in perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Livingston, Richard A.

2016-12-01

A major concern motivating research in acid rain materials effects has been the potential for damage to cultural heritage, particularly outdoor marble and bronze sculpture. However, a combination of field and laboratory studies has failed to show a correlation between rain pH and loss of materials. In order to understand this counterintuitive lack of acid rain effect, an aqueous geochemical modeling approach was used to analyze rain runoff chemistry for the relative importance of acid rain neutralization, dry deposition, and in the case of marble, natural carbonate dissolution. This approach involved the development of pH - SO42- phase diagrams for marble (calcium carbonate) and bronze (copper) under ambient environmental conditions. This then enabled reaction path modeling of the acid neutralization process using the pH range typically found in wet deposition (3.5-6). The results were for marble that the theoretical maximum amount of Ca2+ ion that could be lost due acid rain neutralization would be 0.158 mmol/l compared to 10.5 mmol/l by dry deposition, and for bronze, the Cu2+ ion losses would be 0.21 mmol/l and 47.3 mmol/l respectively. Consequently dry deposition effects on these materials have the potential to dominate over wet deposition effects. To test these predictions the geochemical models were applied to examples of data sets from mass balance (runoff vs rainfall) studies on a marble statue in New York City and some bronze memorial plaques at Gettysburg PA. Although these data sets were collected in the early 1980s they remain valid for demonstrating the mass balance method. For the marble statue, the mean Ca2+ losses by dry deposition was about 69% of the total compared 0.3% for acid rain neutralization, which was less than the natural carbonate dissolution losses of 0.8%. For the bronze, the mean Cu2+ losses were 70.6% by SO42- dry deposition and 23% by NO3- dry deposition compared to 6.4% by acid rain neutralization. Thus for both cases the wet

Millimeter wave propagation modeling of inhomogeneous rain media for satellite communications systems

Science.gov (United States)

Persinger, R. R.; Stutzman, W. L.

1978-01-01

A theoretical propagation model that represents the scattering properties of an inhomogeneous rain often found on a satellite communications link is presented. The model includes the scattering effects of an arbitrary distribution of particle type (rain or ice), particle shape, particle size, and particle orientation within a given rain cell. An associated rain propagation prediction program predicts attenuation, isolation and phase shift as a function of ground rain rate. A frequency independent synthetic storm algorithm is presented that models nonuniform rain rates present on a satellite link. Antenna effects are included along with a discussion of rain reciprocity. The model is verified using the latest available multiple frequency data from the CTS and COMSTAR satellites. The data covers a wide range of frequencies, elevation angles, and ground site locations.

Characteristic, origin, prediction of acid rain at Chongqing in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Xiaolei; Ogura, Norio

1992-01-01

The characteristics of the acid rain at Chongqing city, Sichuan Province, China is presented. The chemical analysis of the rainwater in major cities in China, seasonal variation of pH of the rain in last decade, concentration of the SO 2 in atmosphere and in rain at Chongqing city are reviewed. The possible factors affecting the acidity is analyzed. The closed geography is revealed to be one of the cause. Industries exhausting soot and Chongqing coal thermal plant combusting coal of high sulfur and high ash concentration are the main sources of pollutants. SO 2 from coal as domestic fuel may not be ignored. It is estimated that the concentrations of SO 2 in atmosphere, SO 4 2- in rain, H + in rain, and wet precipitation shall be 0.61 mg/m 3 , 402.2μeq/l, 122.2μeq/l and 3.67mg/m 2 ·yr, respectively. Warning is made that unless rapid countermeasure shall be devised, Chongqing may become one of the worst acid rain districts. (Y.A.)

Polarimetric Emission of Rain Events: Simulation and Experimental Results at X-Band

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nuria Duffo

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Accurate models are used today for infrared and microwave satellite radiance simulations of the first two Stokes elements in the physical retrieval, data assimilation etc. of surface and atmospheric parameters. Although in the past a number of theoretical and experimental works have studied the polarimetric emission of some natural surfaces, specially the sea surface roughened by the wind (Windsat mission, very limited studies have been conducted on the polarimetric emission of rain cells or other natural surfaces. In this work, the polarimetric emission (four Stokes elements of a rain cell is computed using the polarimetric radiative transfer equation assuming that raindrops are described by Pruppacher-Pitter shapes and that their size distribution follows the Laws-Parsons law. The Boundary Element Method (BEM is used to compute the exact bistatic scattering coefficients for each raindrop shape and different canting angles. Numerical results are compared to the Rayleigh or Mie scattering coefficients, and to Oguchi’s ones, showing that above 1-2 mm raindrop size the exact formulation is required to model properly the scattering. Simulation results using BEM are then compared to the experimental data gathered with a X-band polarimetric radiometer. It is found that the depolarization of the radiation caused by the scattering of non-spherical raindrops induces a non-zero third Stokes parameter, and the differential phase of the scattering coefficients induces a non-zero fourth Stokes parameter.

Analysis of convection-permitting simulations for capturing heavy rainfall events over Myanmar Region

Science.gov (United States)

Acierto, R. A. E.; Kawasaki, A.

2017-12-01

Perennial flooding due to heavy rainfall events causes strong impacts on the society and economy. With increasing pressures of rapid development and potential for climate change impacts, Myanmar experiences a rapid increase in disaster risk. Heavy rainfall hazard assessment is key on quantifying such disaster risk in both current and future conditions. Downscaling using Regional Climate Models (RCM) such as Weather Research and Forecast model have been used extensively for assessing such heavy rainfall events. However, usage of convective parameterizations can introduce large errors in simulating rainfall. Convective-permitting simulations have been used to deal with this problem by increasing the resolution of RCMs to 4km. This study focuses on the heavy rainfall events during the six-year (2010-2015) wet period season from May to September in Myanmar. The investigation primarily utilizes rain gauge observation for comparing downscaled heavy rainfall events in 4km resolution using ERA-Interim as boundary conditions using 12km-4km one-way nesting method. The study aims to provide basis for production of high-resolution climate projections over Myanmar in order to contribute for flood hazard and risk assessment.

Microbial populations in an agronomically managed mollisol treated with simulated acid rain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, K.W.; Cole, M.A.; Banwart, W.L.

1991-01-01

A fertile well-buffered mollisol (Flanagan silt loam, fine montmorillonitic mesic Aquic Arguidoll) under cultivation with corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was subjected to simulated rain of pH 5.6, 4.2, and 3.0, while moisture-activated rain exclusion shelters provided protection from ambient rain. Soil was sampled to a depth of 3 cm on four dates throughout the 1985 growing season. The following microorganisms were enumerated by plate counts or most probable number: general heterotrophic bacteria, general soil fungi, free-living N-fixing bacteria, fluorescent pseudomonads, autotrophic ammonium-oxidizing, nitrite-oxidizing, and thio-sulfate-oxidizing bacteria. The ANOVA was used to determine the combined and individual effects of rain treatments, crop field, and sampling date. Crop field and sampling date affected microbial numbers more than rain treatments. Overall, rain treatment effects were limited to nitrite-oxidizing bacteria; lower numbers occurred in the corn field in subplots treated with rain of pH 4.2 and 3.0, and in the soybean field treated with rain of pH 3.0. The trend was strongest in June and July. In the corn field in subplots treated with rain of pH 3.0, numbers of thiosulfate-oxidizing bacteria were higher an numbers of general heterotrophic bacteria were lower; however, these trends were comparatively weak. Rain treatments caused essentially no decrease in soil pH, suggesting that acid rain constituents affect certain microbial populations without causing overt changes in pH. Because they appear to be unusually sensitive, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria could be used as experimental indicators of changes in soil microbial communities subjected to acid rain

Commercialisation of wind farms in Europe by the year 2000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Musgrove, P.; Lindley, D.

1990-01-01

By the end of 1989 approximately 325 MW of wind turbine capacity had been installed in Europe, corresponding to the grid connection of over 3000 wind turbines. Although this is only about one quarter of the capacity installed in California it is now becoming clear that Europe will see major market growth through the early I990s. The progress that has been made towards the commercialisation of wind energy in the European Community up to 1990 is reviewed, and it is shown that wind energy has the potential to make a substantial contribution towards European electricity needs, and in so doing can: reduce European dependence on imported fuels, help meet European goals for reduced carbon dioxide emissions, and reduce acid rain emissions. Electricity from wind farms on good European sites is already cheaper than nuclear power, and is close to competitive with electricity from coal. In fact if compensation is given for the environmental damage avoided (through the absence of polluting emissions) then wind energy is already competitive with coal in large areas of Europe. Europe could and should target to achieve 10 % of its electricity needs from the wind by the second quarter of the next century. This will require the installation of 100 000 MW of wind turbines. Over the next, crucial, decade it is realistic to set a target of 5000 MW installed by the year 2000, with an installation rate by then of over 1000 MW/year. However political action is required if these goals are to be met, to ensure that wind generated electricity gets paid an equitable price that includes allowance for the avoided external costs

High Time-Resolved Kinetic Temperatures of Solar Wind Minor Ions Measured with SOHO/CELIAS/CTOF

Science.gov (United States)

Janitzek, N. P.; Berger, L.; Drews, C.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.

2017-12-01

Solar wind heavy ions with an atomic number Z > 2 are referred to as minor ions since they represent a fraction of less than one percent of all solar wind ions. They can be therefore regarded as test particles, only reacting to but not driving the dynamics of the solar wind plasma, which makes them a unique diagnostic tool for plasma wave phenomena both in the solar atmosphere and the extended heliosphere. In the past, several studies have investigated the kinetic temperatures of minor ions, but due to low counting statistics these studies are based on ion velocity distribution functions (VDFs) recorded over time periods of several hours. The Charge Time-Of-Flight (CTOF) mass spectrometer as part of the Charge, ELement and Isotope Analysis System (CELIAS) onboard the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) provides solar wind heavy ion 1D radial VDFs with excellent charge state separation, an unprecedented cadence of 5 minutes and very high counting statistics, exceeding similar state-of-the-art instruments by a factor of ten. In our study, based on CTOF measurements at Langrangian point L1 between DOY 150 and DOY 220 in 1996, we investigate systematically the influence of the VDF time resolution on the derived kinetic temperatures for solar wind silicon and iron ions. The selected ion set spans a wide range of mass-per-charge from 3 amu/e heavy ions with ion-cyclotron waves.

The regional costs and benefits of acid rain control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berkman, M.P.

1991-01-01

Congress recently enacted acid rain control legislation as part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments following a decade-long debate among disparate regional interests. Although Congress succeeded in drafting a law acceptable to all regions, the regional costs and benefits of the legislation remain uncertain. The research presented here attempts to estimate the regional costs and benefits and the economic impacts of acid rain controls. These estimates are made using a modeling system composed of econometric, linear programming and input-output models. The econometric and linear programming components describe markets for electricity and coal. The outputs of these components including capital investment, electricity demand, and coal production are taken as exogenous inputs by a multiregional input-output model. The input-output model produces estimates of changes in final demand, gross output, and employment. The utility linear programming model also predicts sulfur dioxide emissions (an acid-rain precursor). According to model simulations, the costs of acid rain control exceed the benefits for many regions including several regions customarily thought to be the major beneficiaries of acid rain control such as New England

Quality control of rain data used for urban runoff systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, H. K.; Rosenørn, S.; Madsen, Henrik

1998-01-01

for collection and quality control of rain data from a network of tipping bucket rain gauges in Denmark carried out by the Danish Meteorological Institute. During rain, the RIMCO gauge counts the number of tips teach of 0.2 mm of precipitation) every minute, The quality control of the rain data includes...... an automatic and a manual bit marking, where the automatic control basically is pointing out minutes with extreme intensities. In the manual control, the maximum intensities as well as the daily totals of precipitation are inspected, using weather charts, intensity plots and precipitation sums of nearby...

Use of geostationary meteorological satellite images in convective rain estimation for flash-flood forecasting

Science.gov (United States)

Wardah, T.; Abu Bakar, S. H.; Bardossy, A.; Maznorizan, M.

2008-07-01

SummaryFrequent flash-floods causing immense devastation in the Klang River Basin of Malaysia necessitate an improvement in the real-time forecasting systems being used. The use of meteorological satellite images in estimating rainfall has become an attractive option for improving the performance of flood forecasting-and-warning systems. In this study, a rainfall estimation algorithm using the infrared (IR) information from the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-5 (GMS-5) is developed for potential input in a flood forecasting system. Data from the records of GMS-5 IR images have been retrieved for selected convective cells to be trained with the radar rain rate in a back-propagation neural network. The selected data as inputs to the neural network, are five parameters having a significant correlation with the radar rain rate: namely, the cloud-top brightness-temperature of the pixel of interest, the mean and the standard deviation of the temperatures of the surrounding five by five pixels, the rate of temperature change, and the sobel operator that indicates the temperature gradient. In addition, three numerical weather prediction (NWP) products, namely the precipitable water content, relative humidity, and vertical wind, are also included as inputs. The algorithm is applied for the areal rainfall estimation in the upper Klang River Basin and compared with another technique that uses power-law regression between the cloud-top brightness-temperature and radar rain rate. Results from both techniques are validated against previously recorded Thiessen areal-averaged rainfall values with coefficient correlation values of 0.77 and 0.91 for the power-law regression and the artificial neural network (ANN) technique, respectively. An extra lead time of around 2 h is gained when the satellite-based ANN rainfall estimation is coupled with a rainfall-runoff model to forecast a flash-flood event in the upper Klang River Basin.

Estimating generation costs for wind power production in France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benazet, J.F.; Probert, E.J.

1997-01-01

Wind power is being exploited in several European countries as one of a possible number of sources of renewable energy. However, in France there is a heavy reliance on nuclear and hydro-electric power and the potential of wind power as part of the energy mix has been virtually ignored. One of the reasons advanced for the under utilisation of this technology is that it is financially unattractive. In this paper the contribution which wind power could potentially make to overall power production levels in France is examined. A cost estimate model is developed which derives electricity generation costs and determines realistic levels of production for the future. The model automatically determines the associated number of wind turbines required and the geographical areas in which they should be located. (author)

Agro-climatic Methodology of rain distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lasso Espinosa, Luis D.

2003-01-01

Rain distribution is almost, the most important impute on agricultural activities in any place in Colombia. The method to define when rain is well or bad distributed follows the next criteria: one effective rainy day or day with sufficient amount of water for crop development is one, in which, the amount of precipitation is between 0.5 ETP and 3 ETP. On the other hand, one dray day has rain less than 0.5 ETP and one humid day one with more than 3 ETP. Which that in main, it's possible to considered a very well distributed month for agricultural practices, one who has more effective rainy days than dray or humid days or intermittent effective, humid and dray days. In this exercise was used the daily precipitation data for 1969 -1997 period of Tangua meteorological station, located at 01 degrade 05 minutes 50 seconds N latitude and 77 degrade 23 minutes 53 seconds W longitude, and 2400 meters over the sea level. The results show October and November as the only months of the year, with one humid month, each one, during the whole period, that means 3 % of the cases and July, august and September as the driest epoch. On the other hand, months with suitable rain for agricultural activities are, January with 21 % of the cases, February 45%, march 38 %, April 55 %, may 28 %, June 7 %, October 28 %, November 48 % and December with 34 % of the cases

ISOTOPIC MASS FRACTIONATION OF SOLAR WIND: EVIDENCE FROM FAST AND SLOW SOLAR WIND COLLECTED BY THE GENESIS MISSION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heber, Veronika S.; Baur, Heinrich; Wieler, Rainer; Bochsler, Peter; McKeegan, Kevin D.; Neugebauer, Marcia; Reisenfeld, Daniel B.; Wiens, Roger C.

2012-01-01

NASA's Genesis space mission returned samples of solar wind collected over ∼2.3 years. We present elemental and isotopic compositions of He, Ne, and Ar analyzed in diamond-like carbon targets from the slow and fast solar wind collectors to investigate isotopic fractionation processes during solar wind formation. The solar wind provides information on the isotopic composition for most volatile elements for the solar atmosphere, the bulk Sun and hence, on the solar nebula from which it formed 4.6 Ga ago. Our data reveal a heavy isotope depletion in the slow solar wind compared to the fast wind composition by 63.1 ± 2.1 per mille for He, 4.2 ± 0.5 per mille amu –1 for Ne and 2.6 ± 0.5 per mille amu –1 for Ar. The three Ne isotopes suggest that isotopic fractionation processes between fast and slow solar wind are mass dependent. The He/H ratios of the collected slow and fast solar wind samples are 0.0344 and 0.0406, respectively. The inefficient Coulomb drag model reproduces the measured isotopic fractionation between fast and slow wind. Therefore, we apply this model to infer the photospheric isotopic composition of He, Ne, and Ar from our solar wind data. We also compare the isotopic composition of oxygen and nitrogen measured in the solar wind with values of early solar system condensates, probably representing solar nebula composition. We interpret the differences between these samples as being due to isotopic fractionation during solar wind formation. For both elements, the magnitude and sign of the observed differences are in good agreement with the values predicted by the inefficient Coulomb drag model.

ISOTOPIC MASS FRACTIONATION OF SOLAR WIND: EVIDENCE FROM FAST AND SLOW SOLAR WIND COLLECTED BY THE GENESIS MISSION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heber, Veronika S.; Baur, Heinrich; Wieler, Rainer [Institute for Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zurich, Clausiusstrasse 25, CH-8092 Zurich (Switzerland); Bochsler, Peter [Physikalisches Institut, Universitaet Bern, Sidlerstasse 5, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland); McKeegan, Kevin D. [Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 (United States); Neugebauer, Marcia [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092 (United States); Reisenfeld, Daniel B. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812 (United States); Wiens, Roger C., E-mail: heber@ess.ucla.edu [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)

2012-11-10

NASA's Genesis space mission returned samples of solar wind collected over {approx}2.3 years. We present elemental and isotopic compositions of He, Ne, and Ar analyzed in diamond-like carbon targets from the slow and fast solar wind collectors to investigate isotopic fractionation processes during solar wind formation. The solar wind provides information on the isotopic composition for most volatile elements for the solar atmosphere, the bulk Sun and hence, on the solar nebula from which it formed 4.6 Ga ago. Our data reveal a heavy isotope depletion in the slow solar wind compared to the fast wind composition by 63.1 {+-} 2.1 per mille for He, 4.2 {+-} 0.5 per mille amu{sup -1} for Ne and 2.6 {+-} 0.5 per mille amu{sup -1} for Ar. The three Ne isotopes suggest that isotopic fractionation processes between fast and slow solar wind are mass dependent. The He/H ratios of the collected slow and fast solar wind samples are 0.0344 and 0.0406, respectively. The inefficient Coulomb drag model reproduces the measured isotopic fractionation between fast and slow wind. Therefore, we apply this model to infer the photospheric isotopic composition of He, Ne, and Ar from our solar wind data. We also compare the isotopic composition of oxygen and nitrogen measured in the solar wind with values of early solar system condensates, probably representing solar nebula composition. We interpret the differences between these samples as being due to isotopic fractionation during solar wind formation. For both elements, the magnitude and sign of the observed differences are in good agreement with the values predicted by the inefficient Coulomb drag model.

Acid Rain, pH & Acidity: A Common Misinterpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, David B.; Thompson, Ronald E.

1989-01-01

Illustrates the basis for misleading statements about the relationship between pH and acid content in acid rain. Explains why pH cannot be used as a measure of acidity for rain or any other solution. Suggests that teachers present acidity and pH as two separate and distinct concepts. (RT)

Relativistically speaking: Let's walk or run through the rain?

OpenAIRE

Assis, Armando V. D. B.

2010-01-01

We analyse under a simple approach the problem one must decide the best strategy to minimize the contact with rain when moving between two points through the rain. The available strategies: walk (low speed boost $

On validation of the rain climatic zone designations for Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

Obiyemi, O. O.; Ibiyemi, T. S.; Ojo, J. S.

2017-07-01

In this paper, validation of rain climatic zone classifications for Nigeria is presented based on global radio-climatic models by the International Telecommunication Union-Radiocommunication (ITU-R) and Crane. Rain rate estimates deduced from several ground-based measurements and those earlier estimated from the precipitation index on the Tropical Rain Measurement Mission (TRMM) were employed for the validation exercise. Although earlier classifications indicated that Nigeria falls into zones P, Q, N, and K for the ITU-R designations, and zones E and H for Crane's climatic zone designations, the results however confirmed that the rain climatic zones across Nigeria can only be classified into four, namely P, Q, M, and N for the ITU-R designations, while the designations by Crane exhibited only three zones, namely E, G, and H. The ITU-R classification was found to be more suitable for planning microwave and millimeter wave links across Nigeria. The research outcomes are vital in boosting the confidence level of system designers in using the ITU-R designations as presented in the map developed for the rain zone designations for estimating the attenuation induced by rain along satellite and terrestrial microwave links over Nigeria.

Neutrino-heated winds from millisecond protomagnetars as sources of the weak r-process

Science.gov (United States)

Vlasov, Andrey D.; Metzger, Brian D.; Lippuner, Jonas; Roberts, Luke F.; Thompson, Todd A.

2017-06-01

We explore heavy element nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven winds from rapidly rotating, strongly magnetized protoneutron stars ('millisecond protomagnetars') for which the magnetic dipole is aligned with the rotation axis, and the field is assumed to be a static force-free configuration. We process the protomagnetar wind trajectories calculated by Vlasov, Metzger & Thompson through the r-process nuclear reaction network SkyNet using contemporary models for the evolution of the wind electron fraction during the protoneutron star cooling phase. Although we do not find a successful second or third-peak r-process for any rotation period P, we show that protomagnetars with P ˜ 1-5 ms produce heavy element abundance distributions that extend to higher nuclear mass number than from otherwise equivalent spherical winds (with the mass fractions of some elements enhanced by factors of ≳100-1000). The heaviest elements are synthesized by outflows emerging along flux tubes that graze the closed zone and pass near the equatorial plane outside the light cylinder. Due to dependence of the nucleosynthesis pattern on the magnetic field strength and rotation rate of the protoneutron star, natural variations in these quantities between core collapse events could contribute to the observed diversity of the abundances of weak r-process nuclei in metal-poor stars. Further diversity, including possibly even a successful third-peak r-process, could be achieved for misaligned rotators with non-zero magnetic inclination with respect to the rotation axis. If protomagnetars are central engines for GRBs, their relativistic jets should contain a high-mass fraction of heavy nuclei of characteristic mass number \\bar{A}≈ 100, providing a possible source for ultrahigh energy cosmic rays comprised of heavy nuclei with an energy spectrum that extends beyond the nominal Grezin-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cut-off for protons or iron nuclei.

Endangerment of cultural heritage sites by strong rain

Science.gov (United States)

Krauß, Thomas; Fischer, Peter

2017-09-01

Due to climate change extreme weather conditions become more and more frequent in the last years. Especially in Germany nearly every year a large flood event happens. Most of these events are caused by strong rain. There are at most two causes for these floodings: The first is locally strong rain in the area of damage, the second happens at damage sites located near confluxes and strong rain in the upper stream areas of the joining rivers. The amount of damage is often strongly correlated with unreasonable designation of new construction in such endangered regions. Our presented study is based on an earlier project together with a German insurance company. In this project we analyzed correlations of geographical settings with the insurance data of flood damages over ten years. The result of this study was a strong relation of the terrain with the amount and the probability of damages. Further investigations allow us to derive a system for estimating potential endangerment due to strong rain just from suitable digital terrain models (DTMs). In the presented study we apply this method to different types of cultural heritage (CH) sites in Germany and other parts of the world to detect which type of CH sites were build with potential endangerment of strong rain events in mind and which ones are prone to such events.

Drifting on Alien Winds Exploring the Skies and Weather of Other Worlds

CERN Document Server

Carroll, Michael

2011-01-01

Drifting on Alien Winds explores the bizarre weather of alien worlds, from the blistering hurricane-force winds of Venus to the gentle methane rain showers of Saturn's giant moon Titan. Blinding bolts of lightning sizzle through Jupiter's skies, ammonia blizzards swirl through Saturnian clouds, and Earth-sized cyclones pinwheel across Uranus and Neptune. Late-breaking scientific discoveries from spacecraft, observatories, and laboratories reveal the mysteries of weather across the Solar System. Our knowledge of weather on other worlds has not come easily. Drifting on Alien Winds introduces the inventors, engineers, and scientists who struggled to launch the first probes that would help us to understand the atmospheres of other worlds. The untold stories of early engineering feats and failures, from small Soviet Venus balloons to advanced studies of blimps and airplanes for Mars and Titan, are showcased here, along with what we’ve learned and are still trying to learn about alien skies. Some of today’s mos...

Estimating the exceedance probability of rain rate by logistic regression

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Long S.; Kedem, Benjamin

1990-01-01

Recent studies have shown that the fraction of an area with rain intensity above a fixed threshold is highly correlated with the area-averaged rain rate. To estimate the fractional rainy area, a logistic regression model, which estimates the conditional probability that rain rate over an area exceeds a fixed threshold given the values of related covariates, is developed. The problem of dependency in the data in the estimation procedure is bypassed by the method of partial likelihood. Analyses of simulated scanning multichannel microwave radiometer and observed electrically scanning microwave radiometer data during the Global Atlantic Tropical Experiment period show that the use of logistic regression in pixel classification is superior to multiple regression in predicting whether rain rate at each pixel exceeds a given threshold, even in the presence of noisy data. The potential of the logistic regression technique in satellite rain rate estimation is discussed.

Use of Pb and Sr isotopes as tracers of anthropogenic and natural inputs in rain waters and rivers of the Paris basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy, St.

1996-06-01

The isotopic composition of Pb and Sr, measured in the soluble phase of rain waters and rivers are used to determine and quantify the anthropogenic inputs and the weathering rates in the Seine basin. Atmospheric lead from rain waters is exclusively anthropogenic and is derived from gasoline and industrial emissions. These rain waters transfer lead, and certain other heavy metals, into the Seine, where the anthropogenic signal perturbs the natural geochemical cycle of these metals. This transfer to the river occurs principally in the city of Paris, in contrast, in the catchment area upstream of Paris, these elements are mainly trapped in soils, rather than transferred to the river. The anthropogenic inputs comprise three-quarters of the total transport of these metals by the Seine. In the river, lead transport is due to adsorption process occurring within the suspended load. Thus, soluble lead concentrations are linked to the river flow and the intensity of mechanical erosion. After correction for atmospheric and anthropogenic inputs, it is possible to estimate the silicate weathering rate for the Seine basin. This estimate is close to that obtained for large plain rivers, such as the Congo or Amazon, indicating that chemical erosion is linked to tectonic processes rather than climatic conditions. (author)

Effects and mechanism of acid rain on plant chloroplast ATP synthase.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Jingwen; Hu, Huiqing; Li, Yueli; Wang, Lihong; Zhou, Qing; Huang, Xiaohua

2016-09-01

Acid rain can directly or indirectly affect plant physiological functions, especially photosynthesis. The enzyme ATP synthase is the key in photosynthetic energy conversion, and thus, it affects plant photosynthesis. To clarify the mechanism by which acid rain affects photosynthesis, we studied the effects of acid rain on plant growth, photosynthesis, chloroplast ATP synthase activity and gene expression, chloroplast ultrastructure, intracellular H(+) level, and water content of rice seedlings. Acid rain at pH 4.5 remained the chloroplast structure unchanged but increased the expression of six chloroplast ATP synthase subunits, promoted chloroplast ATP synthase activity, and increased photosynthesis and plant growth. Acid rain at pH 4.0 or less decreased leaf water content, destroyed chloroplast structure, inhibited the expression of six chloroplast ATP synthase subunits, decreased chloroplast ATP synthase activity, and reduced photosynthesis and plant growth. In conclusion, acid rain affected the chloroplast ultrastructure, chloroplast ATPase transcription and activity, and P n by changing the acidity in the cells, and thus influencing the plant growth and development. Finally, the effects of simulated acid rain on the test indices were found to be dose-dependent.

Study on Change of Pipes Formed in the Upper Part of a Collapse in a Crystalline Schist Area and Response of Pipe Flow to Rain

OpenAIRE

平松, 晋也; 前川, 美紀子; 小山内, 信智; Shinya, HIRAMATSU; Mikiko, MAEKAWA; Nobutomo, OSANAI; 高知大学農学部; 高知大学農学部; 国土交通名四国山地砂防工事事務所; Faculty of Agriculture, Kochi University; Faculty of Agriculture, Kochi University; Shikoku Mountainous Region Sabo Work Office, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

2002-01-01

Pipes formed by a small animal-activity, root decay and underground erosion exist frequently in the upper part of rain-induced collapse sites. These pipes affect significantly on water discharge and occurrences of hillside landslides in a watershed. Many hillside landslides occurred at Nishiiyayama village in Tokushima Prefecture, on June 29 th, 1999, due to heavy rainfall. In the upper part of C torrent of Tobinosu-valley, hillside landslides occurred, and several pipes appeared. Investigati...

Rain Forests: Do They Hold Up the Sky?

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Donna Gail; Dybdahl, Claudia S.

1992-01-01

This paper uses the topic of rain forests to demonstrate how a meaningful and relevant Science, Technology, and Society program can be designed for intermediate-level students. Students create and immerse themselves in a tropical rain forest, explore the forest ecosystem and peoples, and consider solutions to the problem of deforestation. (JDD)

Measurement of rain intensity by means of active-passive remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Linkova, Anna; Khlopov, Grygoriy

2014-05-01

Measurement of rain intensity is of great interest for municipal services and agriculture, particularly because of increasing number of floods and landslides. At that monitoring of amount of liquid precipitation allows to schedule work of hydrological services to inform the relevant public authorities about violent weather in time. That is why development of remote sensing methods for monitoring of rains is quite important task. The inverse problem solution of rain remote sensing is based on the measurements of scattering or radiation characteristics of rain drops. However liquid precipitation has a difficult structure which depends on many parameters. So using only scattering or radiation characteristics obtained by active and passive sensing at a single frequency does not allow to solve the inverse problem. Therefore double frequency sensing is widely used now for precipitation monitoring. Measurement of reflected power at two frequencies allows to find two parameters of drop size distribution of rain drops. However three-parameter distributions (for example gamma distribution) are the most prevalent now as a rain model, so in this case solution of the inverse problem requires the measurement of at least three uncorrelated variables. That is why a priori statistical meteorological data obtained by contact methods are used additionally to the double frequency sensing to solve the inverse problem. In particular, authors proposed and studied the combined method of double frequency sensing of rains based on dependence of the parameters of gamma distribution on rain intensity. The numerical simulation and experimental study shown that the proposed method allows to retrieve the profile of microstructure and integral parameters of rain with accuracy less than 15%. However, the effectiveness of the proposed method essentially depends on the reliability of the used statistical data which are tend to have a strong seasonal and regional variability led to significant

Effects of wind and simulated acid mist on leaf cuticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoad, S.P.; Jeffree, C.E.; Grace, J.

1994-01-01

The combined effect of wind and simulated acid mist on leaf cuticles was investigated in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and birch (Betula pubescens Ehr.). Macroscopic and microscopic features of wind damage are described. Visibly damaged leaf area and the numbers of microscopic cuticular lesions were measured. The cuticular conductance to water vapour (g c ) of the astomatous adaxial surfaces of the leaves was measured by a gravimetric method. Field experimenntal sites were selected to provide either: 1. Direct wind action on widely-spaced plants caused by high speed and impaction of wind-blown particles, but with minimal mutual leaf abrasion 2. Indirect wind action via a high degree of mutual abrasion between closely-spaced plants. Direct wind action increased water loss via the leaf adaxial cuticle two- to three-fold in each species, by increasing the numbers of microscopic cuticular lesions. Indirect wind action caused more visible damage to leaves than direct wind action, increased g c by about threefold compared with complete shelter, and induced the most cuticular lesions. Acid mists at pH 3 or pH 5 were applied to the plants in situ at weekly intervals over a 100-day period. In sheltered plants, no effect of acid mist was detected on visibly damaged leaf area, the numbers of microscopic cuticular lesions, or on g c . However, acid mists in combination with wind exposure caused significant effects on cuticular integrity that were dependent on the type of wind action. Direct wind action combined with pH 3 acid mist resulted in the largest numbers of microscopic cuticular lesions, and the highest g c . By contrast, indirect wind action combined with pH 3 acid mist caused most visible damage to leaf tissue, but fewer microscopic lesions, and lower g c , than in plants treated with water mist. In severely-abraded leaves exposed to indirect wind action and low-pH acid rain, g c may be reduced by wound-isolation of blocks of non-functional leaf tissue. (orig.)

Lightning-based propagation of convective rain fields

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Dietrich

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a new multi-sensor approach for continuously monitoring convective rain cells. It exploits lightning data from surface networks to propagate rain fields estimated from multi-frequency brightness temperature measurements taken by the AMSU/MHS microwave radiometers onboard NOAA/EUMETSAT low Earth orbiting operational satellites. Specifically, the method allows inferring the development (movement, morphology and intensity of convective rain cells from the spatial and temporal distribution of lightning strokes following any observation by a satellite-borne microwave radiometer. Obviously, this is particularly attractive for real-time operational purposes, due to the sporadic nature of the low Earth orbiting satellite measurements and the continuous availability of ground-based lightning measurements – as is the case in most of the Mediterranean region. A preliminary assessment of the lightning-based rainfall propagation algorithm has been successfully made by using two pairs of consecutive AMSU observations, in conjunction with lightning measurements from the ZEUS network, for two convective events. Specifically, we show that the evolving rain fields, which are estimated by applying the algorithm to the satellite-based rainfall estimates for the first AMSU overpass, show an overall agreement with the satellite-based rainfall estimates for the second AMSU overpass.

Rain Erosion/Measurement Impact Laboratory

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The FARM Rain Erosion/Impact Measurement Lab develops solutions for deficiencies in the ability of materials, coatings and designs to withstand a severe operational...

Amount and composition of rain failing at Rothamsted

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Russell, E J; Richards, E H

1919-01-01

The monthly fluctuations in the ammoniacal concentration varies with rainfall, i.e., highest in spring; lowest in winter. The nitric nitrogen concentration fluctuated year by year and month by month in the same way as the ammoniacal nitrogen and the rainfall until 1910, since when there has been no simple relationship. The close relationship between the amounts of ammoniacal and nitric nitrogen suggests either a common origin or the production of nitric compounds from ammonia. Chlorine fluctuations closely follow the rainfall also. Since 1888, when the experiments began, to 1916, when they terminated, there has been a rise in the amounts of nitric nitrogen and of chlorine in the rain. In the case of chlorine a parallel series of determinations made at Cirencester over the same period shows a similar rise. There is no rise of ammonia but on the contrary a tendency to drop; the sum of ammoniacal and nitric nitrogen shows little change over the period. This seems to suggest that a former source of ammonia is now turning out nitric acid. It is possible that modern gas burners and grates tend to the formation of nitric oxides rather than of ammonia. Rain contains on an average 10 parts of dissolved oxygen per million, the amount being higher in winter than in summer: 66.4 lb per acre per annum was brought down during the two years over which the determinations extended. The marked difference in composition between summer and winter rainfall suggests that these may differ in their origin. The winter rain resembles Atlantic rain in its high chlorine and low ammonia and nitrate content; the summer rain is characterized by low chlorine but high ammonia and nitrate content, suggesting that it arises by evaporation of water from the soil and condensation at higher altitudes than in the case of winter rain.

Ice detection and deicing system improves the economics of a wind turbine in the arctic weather conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maekinen, J [Labko Ice Detection Oy (Finland)

1996-12-31

The Finnish Lapland is an excellent test area for the wind turbines due to strong winds and heavy icing. Also the need of ice protection is evident, for wind turbines cannot be used in the area at all without such devices which keep the blades free of ice, rime frost or heavy snow. Labco Ice Detection Oy has been working in good cooperation with VTT and Kemijoki Oy to solve this problem technically and economically by developing an ice detector and deicing system. This system detects ice when its thickness is 0,5 mm and melts it so that the blades will stay clean during the ice accretion. The enclosed estimation process indicates that the investment in this system is economically profitable. (author)

Ice detection and deicing system improves the economics of a wind turbine in the arctic weather conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maekinen, J. [Labko Ice Detection Oy (Finland)

1995-12-31

The Finnish Lapland is an excellent test area for the wind turbines due to strong winds and heavy icing. Also the need of ice protection is evident, for wind turbines cannot be used in the area at all without such devices which keep the blades free of ice, rime frost or heavy snow. Labco Ice Detection Oy has been working in good cooperation with VTT and Kemijoki Oy to solve this problem technically and economically by developing an ice detector and deicing system. This system detects ice when its thickness is 0,5 mm and melts it so that the blades will stay clean during the ice accretion. The enclosed estimation process indicates that the investment in this system is economically profitable. (author)

Mesoscale and Local Scale Evaluations of Quantitative Precipitation Estimates by Weather Radar Products during a Heavy Rainfall Event

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Basile Pauthier

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A 24-hour heavy rainfall event occurred in northeastern France from November 3 to 4, 2014. The accuracy of the quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE by PANTHERE and ANTILOPE radar-based gridded products during this particular event, is examined at both mesoscale and local scale, in comparison with two reference rain-gauge networks. Mesoscale accuracy was assessed for the total rainfall accumulated during the 24-hour event, using the Météo France operational rain-gauge network. Local scale accuracy was assessed for both total event rainfall and hourly rainfall accumulations, using the recently developed HydraVitis high-resolution rain gauge network Evaluation shows that (1 PANTHERE radar-based QPE underestimates rainfall fields at mesoscale and local scale; (2 both PANTHERE and ANTILOPE successfully reproduced the spatial variability of rainfall at local scale; (3 PANTHERE underestimates can be significantly improved at local scale by merging these data with rain gauge data interpolation (i.e., ANTILOPE. This study provides a preliminary evaluation of radar-based QPE at local scale, suggesting that merged products are invaluable for applications at very high resolution. The results obtained underline the importance of using high-density rain-gauge networks to obtain information at high spatial and temporal resolution, for better understanding of local rainfall variation, to calibrate remotely sensed rainfall products.

[Effects of simulated acid rain on water physiological characteristics of Myrica rubra seedlings].

Science.gov (United States)

Yaho, Zhao-bin; Jiang, Hong; Yu, Shu-quan; Lu, Mei-juan

2011-08-01

Taking the seedlings of typical subtropical economic tree species Myrica rubra in Zhejiang Province as test materials, a pot experiment was conducted to study their water physiological characteristics under effects of simulated acid rain (pH 2.5 and pH 4.0), with water (pH 5.6) as the control. Season, year, and acid rain all had significant effects on the photosynthetic rate (Pn). Among the treatments, the Pn had a greater difference in summer than in spring and autumn, and was higher in treatment acid rain (pH 4.0). Season, year, acid rain, and the interactions of season and year and of the three factors had significant effects on the stomata conductance (Gs), and also, the Gs had a greater difference among the treatments in summer than in spring and autumn. Acid rain had inhibitory effect on Gs. Season, year, acid rain, and the interactions of season and year and of season and acid rain affected the transpiration rate (Tr) significantly. Same as Pn and Gs, the Tr had a greater difference among the treatments in summer than in spring and autumn. Acid rain (pH 2.5) had the strongest inhibitory effect on Tr. Acid rain and the interactions of season and year and of season and acid rain had significant effects on the water use efficiency (WUE), and acid rain (pH 2.5) had definitely positive effect on the WUE.

Precipitation Regime Shift Enhanced the Rain Pulse Effect on Soil Respiration in a Semi-Arid Steppe

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Liming; Chen, Shiping; Xia, Jianyang; Luo, Yiqi

2014-01-01

The effect of resource pulses, such as rainfall events, on soil respiration plays an important role in controlling grassland carbon balance, but how shifts in long-term precipitation regime regulate rain pulse effect on soil respiration is still unclear. We first quantified the influence of rainfall event on soil respiration based on a two-year (2006 and 2009) continuously measured soil respiration data set in a temperate steppe in northern China. In 2006 and 2009, soil carbon release induced by rainfall events contributed about 44.5% (83.3 g C m−2) and 39.6% (61.7 g C m−2) to the growing-season total soil respiration, respectively. The pulse effect of rainfall event on soil respiration can be accurately predicted by a water status index (WSI), which is the product of rainfall event size and the ratio between antecedent soil temperature to moisture at the depth of 10 cm (r 2 = 0.92, Psoil temperature/moisture ratio which is usually associated with longer dry spells. We then analyzed a long-term (1953–2009) precipitation record in the experimental area. We found both the extreme heavy rainfall events (>40 mm per event) and the long dry-spells (>5 days) during the growing seasons increased from 1953–2009. It suggests the shift in precipitation regime has increased the contribution of rain pulse effect to growing-season total soil respiration in this region. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating precipitation regime shift and its impacts on the rain pulse effect into the future predictions of grassland carbon cycle under climate change. PMID:25093573

Rain rate measurements over global oceans from IRS-P4 MSMR

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In this paper rain estimation capability of MSMR is explored. MSMR brightness temperature data of six channels corresponding to three frequencies of 10, 18 and 21 GHz are colocated with the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) derived rain rates to find a new empirical algorithm for rain rate by multiple regression. Multiple ...

Underwater Acoustic Measurements to Estimate Wind and Rainfall in the Mediterranean Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara Pensieri

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Oceanic ambient noise measurements can be analyzed to obtain qualitative and quantitative information about wind and rainfall phenomena over the ocean filling the existing gap of reliable meteorological observations at sea. The Ligurian Sea Acoustic Experiment was designed to collect long-term synergistic observations from a passive acoustic recorder and surface sensors (i.e., buoy mounted rain gauge and anemometer and weather radar to support error analysis of rainfall rate and wind speed quantification techniques developed in past studies. The study period included combination of high and low wind and rainfall episodes and two storm events that caused two floods in the vicinity of La Spezia and in the city of Genoa in 2011. The availability of high resolution in situ meteorological data allows improving data processing technique to detect and especially to provide effective estimates of wind and rainfall at sea. Results show a very good correspondence between estimates provided by passive acoustic recorder algorithm and in situ observations for both rainfall and wind phenomena and demonstrate the potential of using measurements provided by passive acoustic instruments in open sea for early warning of approaching coastal storms, which for the Mediterranean coastal areas constitutes one of the main causes of recurrent floods.

Extended neutral atmosphere effect on solar wind interaction with nonmagnetic bodies of the solar system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breus, T.K.; Krymskij, A.M.; Mitnitskij, V.Ya.

1987-01-01

Numeric modelling of the Venus flow-around by the solar wind with regard to stream loading by heavy ions, produced under photoionization of the Venus neutral oxygen corona, is conducted. It is shown, that this effect can account for a whole number of peculiarities related to the solar wind interaction with the planet which have not been clearly explained yet, namely, shock wave position, solar wind stream and magnetic field characteristics behind the front

Neutron activation analysis of trace elements in rain water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luten, J.B.

1977-01-01

In this thesis the principles and practical aspects of activation analysis which are of direct importance in the analysis of rain water, are presented together with recent literature data on other techniques. Problems due to the storage of rain water samples are discussed. A multi-element method for the determination of trace elements in rain water by instrumental neutron activation analysis is described. Gamma ray spectrometry using Ge(Li) detectors offers the possibility to determine Na, Al, Cl, V, Mn, Co, Cu, Br and I in rain water samples of 2.5 ml after a 4-min irradiation in a thermal neutron flux of 5 x 10 13 n cm -2 s -1 . In residues of rain water samples of 100 ml, irradiated during 2 days in a thermal neutron flux of >5 x 10 13 n cm -2 s -1 Cr, Fe, Co, Zn and Sb can be determined after a cooling period of approximately 21 days. The detection limits are lower than those reported in previous investigations except for Cu. The precision is about 10% or better, except for Co, Cu and I. A routine method for the determination of bromine and iodine in rain water by n.a.a. is presented. The elements are isolated by isotope exchange between the irradiated sample and a solution of Br 2 or I 2 in CCl 4 . The method is not sensitive to the chemical species in which the halogen is present. Irradiation of solutions of iodine compounds in a high thermal neutron flux gives rise to the formation of iodate. Results of a further investigation of this phenomenon are given, as well as the determination of iodate in rain water by n.a.a. Iodate is separated by anion exchange. The combination of n.a.a. and solvent extraction is used for the determination of five trace elements (V, Co, Cu, Zn and In) in 10-ml rain water samples. For V, Co and Cu this method is more sensitive and reproducible than instrumental n.a.a. The results of the analysis of eleven sequential 30-ml samples from the beginning of the shower are presented as an illustration of possible applications of the

Constructed Rain Garden Systems for Stormwater Quality Control under Tropical Climates

Science.gov (United States)

Mohd Sidek, Lariyah; Elyza Muha, Norshafa; Noor, Nur Asmaliza Md; Basri, Hidayah

2013-06-01

Malaysia has taken an integrated approach to manage storm water that is increasingly becoming a problem in big cities. Rain gardens are recommended as green technology for a new storm water management in Malaysia. The approach is applied in urban planning and design that integrates the total water cycle management into the development process areas. Rain gardens have been effective in reducing peak discharge and consistently reduce the number of storm water pollutants. This paper will examine some of guidelines, laboratory studies and field monitoring that shows great potential and benefit of rain garden. The preliminary results for rain garden performance were reported in this paper. The findings from this research will open avenues for researchers to advance the knowledge in rain garden systems to achieve the sustainable development in Malaysia.

Constructed Rain Garden Systems for Stormwater Quality Control under Tropical Climates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sidek, Lariyah Mohd; Noor, Nur Asmaliza Md; Basri, Hidayah; Muha, Norshafa Elyza

2013-01-01

Malaysia has taken an integrated approach to manage storm water that is increasingly becoming a problem in big cities. Rain gardens are recommended as green technology for a new storm water management in Malaysia. The approach is applied in urban planning and design that integrates the total water cycle management into the development process areas. Rain gardens have been effective in reducing peak discharge and consistently reduce the number of storm water pollutants. This paper will examine some of guidelines, laboratory studies and field monitoring that shows great potential and benefit of rain garden. The preliminary results for rain garden performance were reported in this paper. The findings from this research will open avenues for researchers to advance the knowledge in rain garden systems to achieve the sustainable development in Malaysia.

The Effects of Rain Garden Size on Hydrologic Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Rain gardens are vegetated depressions designed to accept stormwater runoff. Manuals and guidance documents recommend sizing rain garden cells from 3% to 43% of the associated drainage area, based on factors including soil type, slope, amount of impervious cover in the drainage ...

Rain-induced subsurface airflow and Lisse effect

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Haipeng; Jiao, Jiu J.; Weeks, Edwin P.

2008-07-01

Water-level increase after rainfall is usually indicative of rainfall recharge to groundwater. This, however, may not be true if the Lisse effect occurs. This effect represents the water-level increase in a well driven by airflow induced by an advancing wetting front during highly intensive rains. The rainwater, which may behave like a low-permeability lid, seals the ground surface so that the air pressure beneath the wetting front is increased because of air compression due to downward movement of the wetting front. A rapid and substantial rise of the water level in the well screened below water table, which bears no relationship to groundwater recharge, can be induced when various factors such as soil properties and the rain-runoff condition combine favorably. A transient, three-dimensional and variably saturated flow model was employed to study the air and groundwater flows in the soil under rain conditions. The objectives of this paper are two-fold: to evaluate the reliability of the theory of the Lisse effect presented by Weeks to predict its magnitude in modeled situations that mimic the physical complexity of real aquifers, and to conduct parametric studies on the sensitivity of the water-level rise in the well to soil properties and the rain event. The simulation results reveal that the magnitude of the Lisse effect increases with the ponding depth. Soil permeability plays a key role in generating the Lisse effect. The water-level rise in the well is delayed relative to the air-pressure rise in the unsaturated zone when the soil permeability is low, and the maximum water-level rise is less than the maximum air pressure induced by rain infiltration. The simulation also explores the sensitivity of the Lisse effect to the van Genuchten parameters and the water table depth.

FY1999 technological development of wind power generation systems for islands. Development of wind power generation systems in islands; 1999 nendo ritoyo furyoku hatsuden system nado gijutsu kaihatsu. Rito ni okeru furyoku hatsuden system no kaihatsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-03-01

With an objective of developing wind power generation systems that suit small to medium size islands in Japan, conceptual design was made on a 100-kW class wind mill to satisfy such requirements as no need of large heavy machines, and gust resisting performance. Investigations were performed on sites suitable for demonstration tests thereof. This paper reports the achievements in fiscal 1999. In investigating the site location feasibilities, which took small to medium size islands in Okinawa Prefecture as the discussion objects, environmental investigation, wind condition forecast and investigation, and system linkage investigation were carried out, whereas one point each in three islands were extracted as the promising sites. The system discussion and design called for wind velocity resistance of 80 m/s, system linkage percentage of 40% at maximum, power generation cost of 20 yen per kWh, design life of 20 years, constructability of requiring no large heavy machines, and operation mode of diesel hybrid use. Along with these specifications, conceptual design was performed on the system constituting elements, such as wind mill blades, generators, electric power control devices, and towers. In the blade aerodynamic test, wind tunnel tests were executed by using three types of blade wings. Sample blades were fabricated for the preparation of blade material tests. (NEDO)

[Relationship between simulated acid rain stress and leaf reflectance].

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Xiao-dong; Jiang, Hong; Yu, Shu-quan; Zhou, Guo-mo; Jiang, Zi-shan

2010-01-01

Acid rain is a worldwide environmental problem. Serious acid rain pollution in subtropical China has constituted a potential threat to the health of the local forest. In the present paper, the changing properties of the chlorophyll concentration and spectral reflectance at the visible wavelengths for the six subtropical broad-leaved tree species leaves under simulated acid rain (SAR) treatment with different pH levels were studied. With the increasing strength of the SAR, the chlorophyll concentrations of the experimental species under pH 2.5 and pH 4.0 treatment were higher than that under pH 5.6; the spectral reflectance at the visible wavelengths for pH 2.5 and pH 4.0 were lower than that for pH 5.6 in general; while there weren't significant differences between pH 2.5 and pH 4.0. After the treatment with different levels of SAR, the differences in spectral reflectance at the visible wavelengths mainly focused around the green peak and red edge on the reflectance curve. The subtropical broad-leaved tree species studied were relatively not sensitive to acid rain stresses; some stronger acid rain may accelerate the growth of the tree species used here to some extent.

Acid rain and its environmental effects: Recent scientific advances

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Douglas A.; Aherne, Julian; Gay, David A.; Lehmann, Christopher M. B.

2016-12-01

The term 'acid rain' refers to atmospheric deposition of acidic constituents that impact the earth as rain, snow, particulates, gases, and vapor. Acid rain was first recognized by Ducros (1845) and subsequently described by the English chemist Robert Angus Smith (Smith, 1852) whose pioneering studies linked the sources to industrial emissions and included early observations of deleterious environmental effects (Smith, 1872). Smith's work was largely forgotten until the mid-20th century when observations began to link air pollution to the deposition of atmospheric sulfate (SO42-) and other chemical constituents, first near the metal smelter at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and later at locations in Europe, North America, and Australia (Gorham, 1961). Our modern understanding of acid rain as an environmental problem caused largely by regional emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) stems from observations in the 1960s and early 1970s in Sweden by Svante Odén (Odén, 1976), and in North America by Gene Likens and colleagues (Likens and Bormann, 1974). These scientists and many who followed showed the link to emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources, and documented the environmental effects of acid rain such as the acidification of surface waters and toxic effects on vegetation, fish, and other biota.

Monitoring of rain water storage in forests with satellite radar

OpenAIRE

de Jong, JJM; Klaassen, W; Kuiper, PJC

2002-01-01

The sensitivity of radar backscatter to the amount of intercepted rain in temperate deciduous forests is analyzed to determine the feasibility of retrieval of this parameter from satellite radar data. A backscatter model is validated with X-band radar measurements of a single tree exposed to rain. A good agreement between simulation and measurements is observed and this demonstrates the ability of radar to measure the amount of intercepted rain. The backscatter model is next applied to simula...

Damage-controlled logging in managed tropical rain forest in Suriname

OpenAIRE

Hendrison, J.

1990-01-01

Concern about worldwide deforestation and exploitation of the tropical rain forests has led to friction between national governments, wood industries and timber trade on the one hand, and scientists and environmental organizations on the other. One way to safeguard the tropical rain forests is to avoid human interference and to use forests only as nature reserves and as buffer zones of environmental protection. Some vulnerable tropical rain forests and those with unique flora and fau...

A new method for automated dynamic calibration of tipping-bucket rain gauges

Science.gov (United States)

Humphrey, M.D.; Istok, J.D.; Lee, J.Y.; Hevesi, J.A.; Flint, A.L.

1997-01-01

Existing methods for dynamic calibration of tipping-bucket rain gauges (TBRs) can be time consuming and labor intensive. A new automated dynamic calibration system has been developed to calibrate TBRs with minimal effort. The system consists of a programmable pump, datalogger, digital balance, and computer. Calibration is performed in two steps: 1) pump calibration and 2) rain gauge calibration. Pump calibration ensures precise control of water flow rates delivered to the rain gauge funnel; rain gauge calibration ensures precise conversion of bucket tip times to actual rainfall rates. Calibration of the pump and one rain gauge for 10 selected pump rates typically requires about 8 h. Data files generated during rain gauge calibration are used to compute rainfall intensities and amounts from a record of bucket tip times collected in the field. The system was tested using 5 types of commercial TBRs (15.2-, 20.3-, and 30.5-cm diameters; 0.1-, 0.2-, and 1.0-mm resolutions) and using 14 TBRs of a single type (20.3-cm diameter; 0.1-mm resolution). Ten pump rates ranging from 3 to 154 mL min-1 were used to calibrate the TBRs and represented rainfall rates between 6 and 254 mm h-1 depending on the rain gauge diameter. All pump calibration results were very linear with R2 values greater than 0.99. All rain gauges exhibited large nonlinear underestimation errors (between 5% and 29%) that decreased with increasing rain gauge resolution and increased with increasing rainfall rate, especially for rates greater than 50 mm h-1. Calibration curves of bucket tip time against the reciprocal of the true pump rate for all rain gauges also were linear with R2 values of 0.99. Calibration data for the 14 rain gauges of the same type were very similar, as indicated by slope values that were within 14% of each other and ranged from about 367 to 417 s mm h-1. The developed system can calibrate TBRs efficiently, accurately, and virtually unattended and could be modified for use with other

Discussions on the Design of the Pool Landscape in the Rain Garden Construction

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Shuzhen; Zhu, Yirong; Wei, Chaojun; Tao, Biaohong

2018-03-01

With rapid urbanization, the environmental problems are becoming increasingly prominent and diversified ecological landscape designs consequently appear with the rain garden landscape design as a typical. Based on the introduction to rain garden ecological functions and in combination with domestic and international rain garden landscape design cases, this paper discussed the rain garden pool landscape design.

Development of a high velocity rain erosion test method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chung, Dong Teak; Jin, Doo Han [Korea University of Technology and Education, Cheonan (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Hyung [Agency for Defense Development, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2009-07-01

The nose of a missile, flying through raining region with a supersonic speed, is subjected to the rain erosion because the nose is made of a brittle ceramic material. A simple yet very effective rain erosion test method is developed. The sabot assembly similar to the hypodermic syringe carries specific amount of water is launched by a low pressure air gun. After the stopper stop the sabot assembly by impact, the steel plunger continues moving toward to squeeze the silicon rubber in front. The pressurized silicon rubber then is squeezed through the orifice in front of the sabot at high velocity, thus, accelerates the water droplet to higher velocity. The droplet velocity up to 800m/s is successfully attained using a low pressure air gun. The ceramic specimen assembly is placed in front of the high speed water droplet and the rain erosion damage on the surface of the specimen is observed.

Low-Latitude Ethane Rain on Titan

Science.gov (United States)

Dalba, Paul A.; Buratti, Bonnie J.; Brown, R. H.; Barnes, J. W.; Baines, K. H.; Sotin, C.; Clark, R. N.; Lawrence, K. J.; Nicholson, P. D.

2012-01-01

Cassini ISS observed multiple widespread changes in surface brightness in Titan's equatorial regions over the past three years. These brightness variations are attributed to rainfall from cloud systems that appear to form seasonally. Determining the composition of this rainfall is an important step in understanding the "methanological" cycle on Titan. I use data from Cassini VIMS to complete a spectroscopic investigation of multiple rain-wetted areas. I compute "before-and-after" spectral ratios of any areas that show either deposition or evaporation of rain. By comparing these spectral ratios to a model of liquid ethane, I find that the rain is most likely composed of liquid ethane. The spectrum of liquid ethane contains multiple absorption features that fall within the 2-micron and 5-micron spectral windows in Titan's atmosphere. I show that these features are visible in the spectra taken of Titan's surface and that they are characteristically different than those in the spectrum of liquid methane. Furthermore, just as ISS saw the surface brightness reverting to its original state after a period of time, I show that VIMS observations of later flybys show the surface composition in different stages of returning to its initial form.

Performance of a rain retrieval algorithm using TRMM data in the Eastern Mediterranean

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Katsanos

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to make a regional characterization of the performance of the rain retrieval algorithm BRAIN. This algorithm estimates the rain rate from brightness temperatures measured by the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI onboard the TRMM satellite. In this stage of the study, a comparison between the rain estimated from Precipitation Radar (PR onboard TRMM (2A25 version 5 and the rain retrieved by the BRAIN algorithm is presented, for about 30 satellite overpasses over the Central and Eastern Mediterranean during the period October 2003–March 2004, in order to assess the behavior of the algorithm in the Eastern Mediterranean region. BRAIN was built and tested using PR rain estimates distributed randomly over the whole TRMM sampling region. Characterization of the differences between PR and BRAIN over a specific region is thus interesting because it might show some local trend for one or the other of the instrument. The checking of BRAIN results against the PR rain-estimate appears to be consistent with former results i.e. a somewhat marked discrepancy for the highest rain rates. This difference arises from a known problem that affect rain retrieval based on passive microwave radiometers measurements, but some of the higher radar rain rates could also be questioned. As an independent test, a good correlation between the rain retrieved by BRAIN and lighting data (obtained by the UK Met. Office long range detection system is also emphasized in the paper.

Data driven analysis of rain events: feature extraction, clustering, microphysical /macro physical relationship

Science.gov (United States)

Djallel Dilmi, Mohamed; Mallet, Cécile; Barthes, Laurent; Chazottes, Aymeric

2017-04-01

The study of rain time series records is mainly carried out using rainfall rate or rain accumulation parameters estimated on a fixed integration time (typically 1 min, 1 hour or 1 day). In this study we used the concept of rain event. In fact, the discrete and intermittent natures of rain processes make the definition of some features inadequate when defined on a fixed duration. Long integration times (hour, day) lead to mix rainy and clear air periods in the same sample. Small integration time (seconds, minutes) will lead to noisy data with a great sensibility to detector characteristics. The analysis on the whole rain event instead of individual short duration samples of a fixed duration allows to clarify relationships between features, in particular between macro physical and microphysical ones. This approach allows suppressing the intra-event variability partly due to measurement uncertainties and allows focusing on physical processes. An algorithm based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Self Organising Maps (SOM) is developed to obtain a parsimonious characterisation of rain events using a minimal set of variables. The use of self-organizing map (SOM) is justified by the fact that it allows to map a high dimensional data space in a two-dimensional space while preserving as much as possible the initial space topology in an unsupervised way. The obtained SOM allows providing the dependencies between variables and consequently removing redundant variables leading to a minimal subset of only five features (the event duration, the rain rate peak, the rain event depth, the event rain rate standard deviation and the absolute rain rate variation of order 0.5). To confirm relevance of the five selected features the corresponding SOM is analyzed. This analysis shows clearly the existence of relationships between features. It also shows the independence of the inter-event time (IETp) feature or the weak dependence of the Dry percentage in event (Dd%e) feature. This confirms

Time dependence of the pH of rain

Science.gov (United States)

John A. Kadlecek; Volkar A. Mohnen

1976-01-01

Standard procedures for determining the pH of rain samples usually involve substantial delays from the time of rainfall to the time of analysis. This assumes that no change in pH occurs during the storage period. We have found that this is not always true. We have determined that individual rain water samples possess a time dependent pH which can be correlated with the...

Review of wind energy use in Algeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Himri, Y.; Boudghene Stambouli, A.; Draoui, B.; Himri, S.

2009-01-01

Most scientists now agree that human-induced global climate change poses a serious threat to both society and the Earth's ecosystems. Renewable energy holds the key to future prosperity and a healthy global environment and is considered as a promising way to solve the problem of environmental pollution such as major environmental accidents, water pollution, maritime pollution, land use and sitting impact, radiation and radioactivity, solid waste disposal, hazardous air pollutants, ambient air quality (CO, CO 2 , SO x , NO x effluent gas emissions), acid rain, stratospheric ozone depletion, and global warming (GHG). Solar, wind and hydrogen power can be considered as potential renewable energy sources in Algeria. The share of renewable energy sources in Algeria primary energy supply is relatively low compared with European countries, though the trends of development are positive. One of the main strategic priorities of New Energy Algeria (NEAL) which is Algeria's renewable energy agency (government, Sonelgaz and Sonatrach), is striving to achieve a share of renewable energy sources in primary energy supply of 10-12% by 2010. IEA projects that the fastest growing sources of energy will be supplied by renewables. Much of this capacity will be installed in developing nations where solar and wind electric power is already competitive. Clearly, the nation that can capture a leadership position has potential for substantial economic returns. The article presents a review of the present wind energy situation and assessed potential of wind energy sources in Algeria in particular the southwest region of Algeria (Adrar, Timimoun and Tindouf). (author)

Actual state of plant decline phenomena due to acid rain and others

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yokobori, Makoto

1992-01-01

Recently, Japanese mass communication earnestly reports on the effect that acid rain exerts to natural environment. Also the researches have been carried out on the present state of rainwater acidification, the mechanism of the effect of acid rain to plants, the experiment using artificial acid rain, and the foreign theories on the cause of the decline of forests. But the example of the damage of trees and plants in fields, of which the true cause is understood to be acid rain, is not found. The author has engaged in the research on forest protection for long years, and according to his experience, in the present Japanese research on acid rain, there are a number of important pitfalls. Acid rain theory is only one of many hypotheses. It must be verified by the proper research, and this point is important. Ibaraki Prefectural Forest Experiment station has carried out the consultation on the diagnosis and restoration of tree conditions, and the decline of trees and its cause are reported according to the examples of investigation. In the consultation in the last nine years, the decline of trees caused by acid rain was not confirmed. (K.I.)

Wind power: a guide for farms and rural businesses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-03-01

This Guide is mainly concerned with single wind turbines rather than large windfarms, concentrating on the opportunities for existing businesses and new partnerships to gain value from their own local wind resource. There is a wide range of types of business that can use windpower and there are many types of application. Heavy power users are good candidates, and these include intensive livestock farms, feed mills, distilleries, vegetable cold stores, food and fish processing factories, quarries, tourist and leisure complexes, and so on. There are also many cases where using wind power is the least expensive of a number of costly options, for example where the grid is inaccessible; wind power can be used to supply heat and to pump water. The aim of this Guide is to illustrate and explain these uses, and to place them firmly in the context of business opportunity for rural areas. (author)

Evaluation of feasibility of prestressed concrete for use in wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Leiblein, S.; Londahl, D. S.; Furlong, D. B.; Dreier, M. E.

1979-01-01

A preliminary evaluation of the feasibility of the use of prestressed concrete as a material for low cost blades for wind turbines was conducted. A baseline blade design was achieved for an experimental wind turbine that met aerodynamic and structural requirements. Significant cost reductions were indicated for volume production. Casting of a model blade section showed no fabrication problems. Coupled dynamic analysis revealed that adverse rotor tower interactions can be significant with heavy rotor blades.

Chemical and isotopic methods for characterization of pollutant sources in rain water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verma, M.P.

1996-01-01

The acid rain formation is related with industrial pollution. An isotopic and chemical study of the spatial and temporary distribution of the acidity in the rain gives information about the acidity source. The predominant species in the acid rain are nitrates and sulfates. For the rain monitoring is required the determination of the anion species such as HCO 3 , Cl, SO 4 , NO 3 and p H. So it was analyzed the cations Na + , K + , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ to determine the quality analysis. All of them species can be determined with enough accuracy, except HCO 3 by modern equipment such as, liquid chromatograph, atomic absorption, etc. The HCO 3 concentration is determined by traditional methods like acid-base titration. This work presents the fundamental concepts of the titration method for samples with low alkalinity (carbonic species), for rain water. There is presented a general overview over the isotopic methods for the characterization of the origin of pollutant sources in the rain. (Author)

Direct effect of acid rain on leaf chlorophyll content of terrestrial plants in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Enzai; Dong, Dan; Zeng, Xuetong; Sun, Zhengzhong; Jiang, Xiaofei; de Vries, Wim

2017-12-15

Anthropogenic emissions of acid precursors in China have resulted in widespread acid rain since the 1980s. Although efforts have been made to assess the indirect, soil mediated ecological effects of acid rain, a systematic assessment of the direct foliage injury by acid rain across terrestrial plants is lacking. Leaf chlorophyll content is an important indicator of direct foliage damage and strongly related to plant productivity. We synthesized data from published literature on experiments of simulated acid rain, by directly exposing plants to acid solutions with varying pH levels, to assess the direct effect of acid rain on leaf chlorophyll content across 67 terrestrial plants in China. Our results indicate that acid rain substantially reduces leaf chlorophyll content by 6.71% per pH unit across the recorded plant species. The direct reduction of leaf chlorophyll content due to acid rain exposure showed no significant difference across calcicole, ubiquist or calcifuge species, implying that soil acidity preference does not influence the sensitivity to leaf injury by acid rain. On average, the direct effects of acid rain on leaf chlorophyll on trees, shrubs and herbs were comparable. The effects, however varied across functional groups and economic use types. Specifically, leaf chlorophyll content of deciduous species was more sensitive to acid rain in comparison to evergreen species. Moreover, vegetables and fruit trees were more sensitive to acid rain than other economically used plants. Our findings imply a potential production reduction and economic loss due to the direct foliage damage by acid rain. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Performance of Using Cascade Forward Back Propagation Neural Networks for Estimating Rain Parameters with Rain Drop Size Distribution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siddi Tengeleng

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of our study is to estimate the parameters M (water content, R (rain rate and Z (radar reflectivity with raindrop size distribution by using the neural network method. Our investigations have been conducted in five African localities: Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire, Boyele (Congo-Brazzaville, Debuncha (Cameroon, Dakar (Senegal and Niamey (Niger. For the first time, we have predicted the values of the various parameters in each locality after using neural models (LANN which have been developed with locally obtained disdrometer data. We have shown that each LANN can be used under other latitudes to get satisfactory results. Secondly, we have also constructed a model, using as train-data, a combination of data issued from all five localities. With this last model called PANN, we could obtain satisfactory estimates forall localities. Lastly, we have distinguished between stratiform and convective rain while building the neural networks. In fact, using simulation data from stratiform rain situations, we have obtained smaller root mean square errors (RMSE between neural values and disdrometer values than using data issued from convective situations.

Rain water quality of a cistern used for pigs and beef cattle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antônio Lourenço Guidoni

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Santa Catarina State has encouraged the use of cisterns as a technology to offer water in quantity and quality to livestock. The region is characterized by severe droughts in the summer months. The aims of the study were: to monitor physical, chemical and microbiological rain water quality parameters of a cistern; to evaluate if water had quality for pigs and beef cattle water consumption. Concentrations of nitrate, nitrite and ammonia were in accordance with the standards for animal consumption. E. coli was present in some samples. The rainfall and speed of wind influenced the concentrations of nitrogen. Investigations of the relations between these environmental parameters and water quality must be conducted to avoid agricultural and livestock emission sources to have a negative impact on water quality. The water stored in the cistern showed satisfactory quality for use of pigs and beef cattle drinking. This gives support to the utilization of this technology to improve the water use efficiency for livestock.

Rain pH estimation based on the particulate matter pollutants and wet deposition study.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Shweta; Elumalai, Suresh Pandian; Pal, Asim Kumar

2016-09-01

In forecasting of rain pH, the changes caused by particulate matter (PM) are generally neglected. In regions of high PM concentration like Dhanbad, the role of PM in deciding the rain pH becomes important. Present work takes into account theoretical prediction of rain pH by two methods. First method considers only acid causing gases (ACG) like CO2, SO2 and NOx in pH estimation, whereas, second method additionally accounts for effect of PM (ACG-PM). In order to predict the rain pH, site specific deposited dust that represents local PM was studied experimentally for its impact on pH of neutral water. After incorporation of PM correction factor, it was found that, rain pH values estimated were more representative of the observed ones. Fractional bias (FB) for the ACG-PM method reduced to values of the order of 10(-2) from those with order of 10(-1) for the ACG method. The study confirms neutralization of rain acidity by PM. On account of this, rain pH was found in the slightly acidic to near neutral range, despite of the high sulfate flux found in rain water. Although, the safer range of rain pH blurs the severity of acid rain from the picture, yet huge flux of acidic and other ions get transferred to water bodies, soil and ultimately to the ground water system. Simple use of rain pH for rain water quality fails to address the issues of its increased ionic composition due to the interfering pollutants and thus undermines severity of pollutants transferred from air to rain water and then to water bodies and soil. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Variation of rain intensity and drop size distribution with General Weather Patterns (GWL)

Science.gov (United States)

Ghada, Wael; Buras, Allan; Lüpke, Marvin; Menzel, Annette

2017-04-01

Short-duration rainfall extremes may cause flash floods in certain catchments (e.g. cities or fast responding watersheds) and pose a great risk to affected communities. In order to predict their occurrence under future climate change scenarios, their link to atmospheric circulation patterns needs to be well understood. We used a comprehensive data set of meteorological data (temperature, rain gauge precipitation) and precipitation spectra measured by a disdrometer (OTT PARSIVEL) between October 2008 and June 2010 at Freising, southern Germany. For the 21 months of the study period, we integrated the disdrometer spectra over intervals of 10 minutes to correspond to the temporal resolution of the weather station data and discarded measurements with air temperatures below 0°C. Daily General Weather Patterns ("Großwetterlagen", GWL) were downloaded from the website of the German Meteorological Service. Out of the 29 GWL, 14 were included in the analysis for which we had at least 12 rain events during our study period. For the definition of a rain event, we tested different lengths of minimum inter-event times and chose 30 min as a good compromise between number and length of resulting events; rain events started when more than 0.001 mm/h (sensitivity of the disdrometer) were recorded. The length of the rain events ranged between 10 min and 28 h (median 130 min) with the maximum rain intensity recorded being 134 mm/h on 24-07-2009. Seasonal differences were identified for rain event average intensities and maximum intensities per event. The influence of GWL on rain properties such as rain intensity and drop size distribution per time step and per event was investigated based on the above mentioned rain event definition. Pairwise Wilcoxon-tests revealed that higher rain intensity and larger drops were associated with the GWL "Low over the British Isles" (TB), whereas low rain intensities and less drops per interval were associated with the GWL "High over Central Europe

Evaluation of Heavy and Trace Metals in Fingernails of Young ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

WAHAB

These elements have been produced by alteration and distribution via wind blow. The result indicates that soil or road dust plays an important role in the concentration buildup of the road side dust near automobile workshops. Table 2: Concentration of heavy metals in the soil samples in the automobile workshop. Metals.

URBAN RAIN GAUGE SITING SELECTION BASED ON GIS-MULTICRITERIA ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Fu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available With the increasingly rapid growth of urbanization and climate change, urban rainfall monitoring as well as urban waterlogging has widely been paid attention. In the light of conventional siting selection methods do not take into consideration of geographic surroundings and spatial-temporal scale for the urban rain gauge site selection, this paper primarily aims at finding the appropriate siting selection rules and methods for rain gauge in urban area. Additionally, for optimization gauge location, a spatial decision support system (DSS aided by geographical information system (GIS has been developed. In terms of a series of criteria, the rain gauge optimal site-search problem can be addressed by a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA. A series of spatial analytical techniques are required for MCDA to identify the prospective sites. With the platform of GIS, using spatial kernel density analysis can reflect the population density; GIS buffer analysis is used to optimize the location with the rain gauge signal transmission character. Experiment results show that the rules and the proposed method are proper for the rain gauge site selection in urban areas, which is significant for the siting selection of urban hydrological facilities and infrastructure, such as water gauge.

Study of 1-min rain rate integration statistic in South Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Shrestha, Sujan; Choi, Dong-You

2017-03-01

The design of millimeter wave communication links and the study of propagation impairments at higher frequencies due to a hydrometeor, particularly rain, require the knowledge of 1-min. rainfall rate data. Signal attenuation in space communication results are due to absorption and scattering of radio wave energy. Radio wave attenuation due to rain depends on the relevance of a 1-min. integration time for the rain rate. However, in practice, securing these data over a wide range of areas is difficult. Long term precipitation data are readily available. However, there is a need for a 1-min. rainfall rate in the rain attenuation prediction models for a better estimation of the attenuation. In this paper, we classify and survey the prominent 1-min. rain rate models. Regression analysis was performed for the study of cumulative rainfall data measured experimentally for a decade in nine different regions in South Korea, with 93 different locations, using the experimental 1-min. rainfall accumulation. To visualize the 1-min. rainfall rate applicable for the whole region for 0.01% of the time, we have considered the variation in the rain rate for 40 stations across South Korea. The Kriging interpolation method was used for spatial interpolation of the rain rate values for 0.01% of the time into a regular grid to obtain a highly consistent and predictable rainfall variation. The rain rate exceeded the 1-min. interval that was measured through the rain gauge compared to the rainfall data estimated using the International Telecommunication Union Radio Communication Sector model (ITU-R P.837-6) along with the empirical methods as Segal, Burgueno et al., Chebil and Rahman, logarithmic, exponential and global coefficients, second and third order polynomial fits, and Model 1 for Icheon regions under the regional and average coefficient set. The ITU-R P. 837-6 exhibits a lower relative error percentage of 3.32% and 12.59% in the 5- and 10-min. to 1-min. conversion, whereas the

The Rain-Powered Cart

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-05

University of America Press, Washington, DC 20064, USA E-mail: mungan@usna.edu and lipscombe@cua.edu Received 10 May 2016, revised 22 June 2016 Accepted for...renewable energy (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal) A familiar problem treats how wet a person walking in rain becomes as they

Hybrid Model of Inhomogeneous Solar Wind Plasma Heating by Alfven Wave Spectrum: Parametric Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Ofman, L.

2010-01-01

Observations of the solar wind plasma at 0.3 AU and beyond show that a turbulent spectrum of magnetic fluctuations is present. Remote sensing observations of the corona indicate that heavy ions are hotter than protons and their temperature is anisotropic (T(sub perpindicular / T(sub parallel) >> 1). We study the heating and the acceleration of multi-ion plasma in the solar wind by a turbulent spectrum of Alfvenic fluctuations using a 2-D hybrid numerical model. In the hybrid model the protons and heavy ions are treated kinetically as particles, while the electrons are included as neutralizing background fluid. This is the first two-dimensional hybrid parametric study of the solar wind plasma that includes an input turbulent wave spectrum guided by observation with inhomogeneous background density. We also investigate the effects of He++ ion beams in the inhomogeneous background plasma density on the heating of the solar wind plasma. The 2-D hybrid model treats parallel and oblique waves, together with cross-field inhomogeneity, self-consistently. We investigate the parametric dependence of the perpendicular heating, and the temperature anisotropy in the H+-He++ solar wind plasma. It was found that the scaling of the magnetic fluctuations power spectrum steepens in the higher-density regions, and the heating is channeled to these regions from the surrounding lower-density plasma due to wave refraction. The model parameters are applicable to the expected solar wind conditions at about 10 solar radii.

EFFECT OF SOIL TILLAGE AND PLANT RESIDUE ON SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF AN OXISOL UNDER SIMULATED RAIN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elói Panachuki

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Surface roughness of the soil is formed by mechanical tillage and is also influenced by the kind and amount of plant residue, among other factors. Its persistence over time mainly depends on the fundamental characteristics of rain and soil type. However, few studies have been developed to evaluate these factors in Latossolos (Oxisols. In this study, we evaluated the effect of soil tillage and of amounts of plant residue on surface roughness of an Oxisol under simulated rain. Treatments consisted of the combination of the tillage systems of no-tillage (NT, conventional tillage (CT, and minimum tillage (MT with rates of plant residue of 0, 1, and 2 Mg ha-1 of oats (Avena strigosa Schreb and 0, 3, and 6 Mg ha-1 of maize (Zea mays L.. Seven simulated rains were applied on each experimental plot, with intensity of 60±2 mm h-1 and duration of 1 h at weekly intervals. The values of the random roughness index ranged from 2.94 to 17.71 mm in oats, and from 5.91 to 20.37 mm in maize, showing that CT and MT are effective in increasing soil surface roughness. It was seen that soil tillage operations carried out with the chisel plow and the leveling disk harrow are more effective in increasing soil roughness than those carried out with the heavy disk harrow and leveling disk harrow. The roughness index of the soil surface decreases exponentially with the increase in the rainfall volume applied under conditions of no tillage without soil cover, conventional tillage, and minimum tillage. The oat and maize crop residue present on the soil surface is effective in maintaining the roughness of the soil surface under no-tillage.

Effects of the Solar Wind Pressure on Mercury's Exosphere: Hybrid Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Travnicek, P. M.; Schriver, D.; Orlando, T. M.; Hellinger, P.

2017-12-01

We study effects of the changed solar wind pressure on the precipitation of hydrogen on the Mercury's surface and on the formation of Mercury's magnetosphere. We carry out a set of global hybrid simulations of the Mercury's magnetosphere with the interplanetary magnetic field oriented in the equatorial plane. We change the solar wind pressure by changing the velocity of injected solar wind plasma (vsw = 2 vA,sw; vsw = 4 vA,sw; vsw = 6 vA,sw). For each of the cases we examine proton and electron precipitation on Mercury's surface and calculate yields of heavy ions released from Mercury's surface via various processes (namely: Photo-Stimulated Desorption, Solar Wind Sputtering, and Electron Stimulated Desorption). We study circulation of the released ions within the Mercury's magnetosphere for the three cases.

Breakdown and tracking properties of rubber materials for wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garolera, Anna Candela; Holboell, Joachim; Henriksen, Mogens

2012-01-01

The use of rubber materials in wind turbine blades, for example in controllable trailing edge flaps, requires research on their behavior under heavy exposure to electric fields and electrical discharges. Since the complex construction of blades usually involves several and often inhomogeneous mat...

Rain Simulation for the Test of Automotive Surround Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Hasirlioglu, Sinan; Riener, Andreas; Doric, Igor

2017-04-01

The WHO Global Health Observatory data indicates that over 1.25 million people die in traffic accidents annually. To save lives, car manufacturers spend lot of efforts on the development of novel safety systems aiming to avoid or mitigate accidents and provide maximum protection for vehicle occupants as well as vulnerable road users. All the safety features mainly rely on data from surround sensors such as radar, lidar and camera and intelligent vehicles today use these environmental data for instant decision making and vehicle control. As already small errors in sensor data measurements could lead to catastrophes like major injuries or road traffic fatalities, it is of utmost importance to ensure high reliability and accuracy of sensors and safety systems. This work focuses on the influence of environmental factors such as rain conditions, as it is known that rain drops scatter the electromagnetic waves. The result is incorrect measurements with a direct negative impact on environment detection. To identify potential problems of sensors under varying environmental conditions, systems are today tested in real-world settings with two main problems: First, tests are time-consuming and second, environmental conditions are not reproducible. Our approach to test the influence of weather on automotive sensors is to use an indoor rain simulator. Our artificial rain maker, installed at CARISSMA (Center of Automotive Research on Integrated Safety Systems and Measurement Area), is parametrized with rain characteristics measured in the field using a standard disdrometer. System behavior on artificial rain is compared and validated with natural rainfall. With this simulator it is finally possible to test environmental influence at various levels and under reproducible conditions. This saves lot of efforts required for the test process itself and furthermore has a positive impact on the reliability of sensor systems due to the fact that test driven development is enabled.

More rain compensation results

Science.gov (United States)

Sworder, D. D.; Vojak, R.

1992-01-01

To reduce the impact of rain-induced attenuation in the 20/30 GHz band, the attenuation at a specified signal frequency must be estimated and extrapolated forward in time on the basis of a noisy beacon measurement. Several studies have used model based procedures for solving this problem in statistical inference. Perhaps the most widely used model-based paradigm leads to the Kalman filter and its lineal variants. In this formulation, the dynamic features of the attenuation are represented by a state process (x(sub t)). The observation process (y(sub t)) is derived from beacon measurements. Some ideas relating to the signal processing problems related to uplink power control are presented. It is shown that some easily implemented algorithms hold promise for use in estimating rain induced fades. The algorithms were applied to actual data generated at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI) test facility. Because only one such event was studied, it is not clear that the algorithms will have the same effectiveness when a wide range of events are studied.

Music after the rain

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

The group Home Cooking (left to right: Jean-Marie Planche, Tony Arnold, Serge Waeffler, Django Manglunki) entertains the crowd with a humoristic blues/rock performance. The earth moved in Prévessin on 29 July. This was not an earthquake but an 'international' music event, the seventeenth CERN Hardronic Festival, which saw musicians from many different countries, including Russia, Britain, Spain, France, Belgium and the USA, take to the stage. The audience rocked to music from eight different groups until the early hours. About a thousand people flocked to CERN to hear what the best of its musical talents had to offer. The evening was very nearly a wash-out, though. After a week of scorching hot temperatures, the heavens suddenly opened and the rain didn't stop until a few minutes before the first act came on stage. Thanks to this narrow escape, the organisers can boast a 17-year run of rain-free Hardronic festivals. All the different musical styles were given a warm reception, from traditional Russian folk...

Urban dew and rain in Paris, France: Occurrence and physico-chemical characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Beysens, D.; Mongruel, A.; Acker, K.

2017-06-01

This paper summarizes one year (April 2011 to March 2012) measurements on planar condensing surfaces of dew and rain events and related physico-chemical characteristics in the urban environment of Paris (city center). Yearly collected water was 3.48 mm for dew (63 events) and 593 mm for rain (146 events). The latter value compares well with rain data (547 mm and 107 events) collected within 12 km at Paris-Orly airport. An estimation of dew yield based on meteo data gives 2.35 mm and 74 events, to be compared with 17.11 mm and 196 events at Paris-Orly. These differences highlight the large reduction in dew events and dew yields in an urban area as compared to a close rural-like area. This reduction is not due to a sky view reduction but to heat island that increases air temperature and decreases relative humidity. Analysis of dew (34) and rain (77) samples were done concerning pH, electrical conductivity (EC), major anions and cations as well as selected trace metals and other minor ions. Mean pH values are found similar for both, dew (6.5) and rain (6.1), rain being slightly more acidic than dew. The mean dew total ionic content (TIC 1.8 meq/l) and EC value (124 μS/cm) are about four times that of rain (0.45 meq/l; 35 μS/cm), meaning that total dissolved solids in dew is nearly four times that in rain. Sulfate and nitrate are the most acidifying components, calcium the most neutralizing constituent with ratio of mean total acidity/total alkalinity comparable for dew and rain ( 0.9). Sulfate and nitrate have mainly anthropogenic sources, whereas chloride and magnesium are mostly connected with marine air masses. Dew is a considerable factor of wet deposition of pollutants; dew and rain ion concentrations, however, meet the WHO requirements for drinking water.

Characterization of tropical precipitation using drop size distribution and rain rate-radar reflectivity relation

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Saurabh; Maitra, Animesh

2018-04-01

Characterization of precipitation is important for proper interpretation of rain information from remotely sensed data. Rain attenuation and radar reflectivity (Z) depend directly on the drop size distribution (DSD). The relation between radar reflectivity/rain attenuation and rain rate (R) varies widely depending upon the origin, topography, and drop evolution mechanism and needs further understanding of the precipitation characteristics. The present work utilizes 2 years of concurrent measurements of DSD using a ground-based disdrometer at five diverse climatic conditions in Indian subcontinent and explores the possibility of rain classification based on microphysical characteristics of precipitation. It is observed that both gamma and lognormal distributions are performing almost similar for Indian region with a marginally better performance by one model than other depending upon the locations. It has also been found that shape-slope relationship of gamma distribution can be a good indicator of rain type. The Z-R relation, Z = ARb, is found to vary widely for different precipitation systems, with convective rain that has higher values of A than the stratiform rain for two locations, whereas the reverse is observed for the rest of the three locations. Further, the results indicate that the majority of rainfall (>50%) in Indian region is due to the convective rain although the occurrence time of convective rain is low (<10%).

Rain Lõhmus toob mängu kupeldaja / Priit Pullerits

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Pullerits, Priit, 1965-

2005-01-01

Investeerimispanga Lõhmus, Haavel & Viisemann (LHV) nõukogu esimees on seotud teleäriga ja püüab käivitada uut telekanalit. Vt. samas: Rain Lõhmus vastab küsimustele, mis puudutavad LHVga seotud skandaali mõju panga tegevusele ja käimasolevatele äriasjadele. Lisa: Rain Lõhmus. Vt. samas: Mida Lõhmus teleärist teab?

Sedimentary rhythms in coastal dunes as a record of intra-annual changes in wind climate (Łeba, Poland)

Science.gov (United States)

Ludwig, J.; Lindhorst, S.; Betzler, C.; Bierstedt, S. E.; Borówka, R. K.

2017-08-01

It is shown that coastal dunes bear a so far unread archive of annual wind intensity. Active dunes at the Polish coast near Łeba consist of two genetic units: primary dunes with up to 18 m high eastward-dipping foresets, temporarily superimposed by smaller secondary dunes. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data reveal that the foresets of the primary dunes are bundled into alternating packages imaged as either low- or high-amplitude reflections. High-amplitude packages are composed of quartz sand with intercalated heavy-minerals layers. Low-amplitude packages lack these heavy-mineral concentrations. Dune net-progradation is towards the east, reflecting the prevalence of westerly winds. Winds blowing parallel to the dune crest winnow the lee slope, leaving layers enriched in heavy minerals. Sediment transport to the slip face of the dunes is enhanced during the winter months, whereas winnowing predominantly takes place during the spring to autumn months, when the wind field is bi-directional. As a consequence of this seasonal shift, the sedimentary record of one year comprises one low- and one high-amplitude GPR reflection interval. This sedimentary pattern is a persistent feature of the Łeba dunes and recognized to resemble a sedimentary "bar code". To overcome hiatuses in the bar code of individual dunes and dune-to-dune variations in bar-code quality, dendrochronological methods were adopted to compile a composite bar code from several dunes. The resulting data series shows annual variations in west-wind intensity at the southern Baltic coast for the time period 1987 to 2012. Proxy-based wind data are validated against instrumental based weather observations.

Hourly Wind Speed Interval Prediction in Arid Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Chaouch, M.; Ouarda, T.

2013-12-01

The long and extended warm and dry summers, the low rate of rain and humidity are the main factors that explain the increase of electricity consumption in hot arid regions. In such regions, the ventilating and air-conditioning installations, that are typically the most energy-intensive among energy consumption activities, are essential for securing healthy, safe and suitable indoor thermal conditions for building occupants and stored materials. The use of renewable energy resources such as solar and wind represents one of the most relevant solutions to overcome the increase of the electricity demand challenge. In the recent years, wind energy is gaining more importance among the researchers worldwide. Wind energy is intermittent in nature and hence the power system scheduling and dynamic control of wind turbine requires an estimate of wind energy. Accurate forecast of wind speed is a challenging task for the wind energy research field. In fact, due to the large variability of wind speed caused by the unpredictable and dynamic nature of the earth's atmosphere, there are many fluctuations in wind power production. This inherent variability of wind speed is the main cause of the uncertainty observed in wind power generation. Furthermore, producing wind power forecasts might be obtained indirectly by modeling the wind speed series and then transforming the forecasts through a power curve. Wind speed forecasting techniques have received substantial attention recently and several models have been developed. Basically two main approaches have been proposed in the literature: (1) physical models such as Numerical Weather Forecast and (2) statistical models such as Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models, Neural Networks. While the initial focus in the literature has been on point forecasts, the need to quantify forecast uncertainty and communicate the risk of extreme ramp events has led to an interest in producing probabilistic forecasts. In short term

Development of an Integrated Water and Wind Erosion Model

Science.gov (United States)

Flanagan, D. C.; Ascough, J. C.; Wagner, L. E.; Geter, W. F.

2006-12-01

representation and spatial routing and proper accounting of sediment detachment/deposition from cumulative wind or water events. Future planned model additions will include the ability to also account for tillage erosion effects and ephemeral gully erosion. Modules from this project may also be utilized in larger watershed models that would be applied at progressively larger scales. One of the advantages of the model integration is that it will allow future erosion process descriptions, such as combined effects of wind and water forces on soil detachment (i.e., wind-driven rain detachment).

Buckling Analysis of Bucket Foundations for Wind Turbines in Deep Water

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Søren; Andersen, Lars; Ibsen, Lars Bo

2011-01-01

Using large suction caissons for offshore wind turbines is an upcoming technology also referred to as bucket foundations. The bucket foundation does not require heavy installation equipment, but since it is constructed as a thin steel shell structure, instability, in form of buckling, becomes...

Skill of Predicting Heavy Rainfall Over India: Improvement in Recent Years Using UKMO Global Model

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Kuldeep; Ashrit, Raghavendra; Bhatla, R.; Mitra, A. K.; Iyengar, G. R.; Rajagopal, E. N.

2017-11-01

The quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) performance for heavy rains is still a challenge, even for the most advanced state-of-art high-resolution Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) modeling systems. This study aims to evaluate the performance of UK Met Office Unified Model (UKMO) over India for prediction of high rainfall amounts (>2 and >5 cm/day) during the monsoon period (JJAS) from 2007 to 2015 in short range forecast up to Day 3. Among the various modeling upgrades and improvements in the parameterizations during this period, the model horizontal resolution has seen an improvement from 40 km in 2007 to 17 km in 2015. Skill of short range rainfall forecast has improved in UKMO model in recent years mainly due to increased horizontal and vertical resolution along with improved physics schemes. Categorical verification carried out using the four verification metrics, namely, probability of detection (POD), false alarm ratio (FAR), frequency bias (Bias) and Critical Success Index, indicates that QPF has improved by >29 and >24% in case of POD and FAR. Additionally, verification scores like EDS (Extreme Dependency Score), EDI (Extremal Dependence Index) and SEDI (Symmetric EDI) are used with special emphasis on verification of extreme and rare rainfall events. These scores also show an improvement by 60% (EDS) and >34% (EDI and SEDI) during the period of study, suggesting an improved skill of predicting heavy rains.

Radio Frequency Interference: The Study of Rain Effect on Radio Signal Attenuation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roslan Umar; Roslan Umar; Shahirah Syafa Sulan; Atiq Wahidah Azlan; Zainol Abidin Ibrahim

2015-01-01

The intensity of radio waves received by radio telescopes is always not subject to human control. In the millimetre band, the propagation of the electromagnetic waves is severely affected by rain rate, dust particle size and drop size in the terms of attenuation, noise and depolarization. At the frequency above 10 GHz, the absorption and scattering by rain cause a reduction in the transmitted signal amplitude which will lead to the reducing of the availability, reliability and performance on the communications link. In this study, the rain effect on radio signal has been investigated. Spectrum analyzer and weather stations were used to obtain the RFI level and rain rate data respectively. The radio frequency interference (RFI) pattern due to rain factor was determined. This will benefit radio astronomer in managing sites for radio observation for radio astronomy purposes. (author)

Damage-controlled logging in managed tropical rain forest in Suriname

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hendrison, J.

1990-01-01

Concern about worldwide deforestation and exploitation of the tropical rain forests has led to friction between national governments, wood industries and timber trade on the one hand, and scientists and environmental organizations on the other. One way to safeguard the tropical rain forests

Acidity and salinity of rain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gorham, E

1955-01-01

Analyses of pH, Na, K, Ca, Mg, HCO/sub 3/, Cl, SO/sub 4/, NO/sub 3/, and PO/sub 4/ are recorded for forty-two rain samples collected in the English Lake District between 14 May and 23 October, 1954. NaCl was often an important constituent, and the main source of Na, Mg, and Cl appeared to be sea-spray. SO/sub 4/ was clearly correlated with soot, and free H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ frequently accounted for an appreciable proportion of total ions. Ca, K, and SO/sub 4/ were correlated to some extent. HCO/sub 3/ was absent from more than half the samples. NO/sub 3/ and PO/sub 4/ were usually low in concentration. Sea-spray influence appeared greatest in autumn, while industrial pollution reached its highest concentration in spring. The ecological significance of the ions in rain is pointed out.

Warm Rain Processes Over the Tropical Oceans and Implications on Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, William K. M.; Wu, H. T.

2004-01-01

In this talk, we will first show results from TRMM regarding the characteristics of warm rains over the tropical oceans, and the dependence of rate of warm rain production on sea surface temperature. Results lead to the hypothesis that warm rain production efficiency, i.e., autoconversion, may be increased in a warm climate. We use the GEOS-II GCM to test this hypothesis. Our modeling results show that in a climate with increased rate of autoconversion, the total rain amount is increased, with warm rain contributing to a larger portion of the increase. The abundant rainout of warm precipitation at middle to low levels causes a reduction of high cloud cover due to the depletion of water available for ice-phase rain production. As a result, more isolated, but more intense penetrative convection develops. Results also show that increased autoconversion reduces the convective adjustment time scale tends, implying a faster recycling of atmospheric water. Most interestingly, the increased low level heating associated with warm rain leads to more energetic Madden and Julian oscillations in the tropics, with well-defined eastward propagation. While reducing the autoconversion leads to an abundant mix of westward and eastward tropical disturbance on daily to weekly time scales. The causes of the sensitivity of the dynamical regimes to the microphysics parameterization in the GCM will be discussed.

Forecasting The Onset Of The East African Rains

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeod, D.; Palmer, T.

2017-12-01

The timing of the rainy seasons is critical for East Africa, where many livelihoods depend on rain-fed agriculture. The exact onset date of the rains varies from year to year and a delayed start has significant implications for food security. Early warning of anomalous onset can help mitigate risks by informing farmer decisions on crop choice and timing of planting. Onset forecasts may also pre-warn governments and NGOs of upcoming need for financial support and humanitarian intervention. Here we assess the potential to forecast the onset of both the short and long rains over East Africa at subseasonal to seasonal timescales. Based on operational reforecasts from ECMWF, we will demonstrate skilful prediction of onset anomalies. An investigation to determine potential sources of this forecast skill will also be presented. This work has been carried out as part of the project ForPAc: "Towards forecast-based preparedness action".

A Rain Garden for Our School: Becoming Environmental Stewards

Science.gov (United States)

McFadyen, Joy

2012-01-01

In this article, the author talks about a rain garden project at Hampton Elementary School in Bay City, Michigan. The goal of the project was to slow and filter silt-laden runoff (from parking lots, sidewalks, and playground) on its path to Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron. In addition, doing so, the rain gardens would demonstrate to the township, city,…

Acid rain information book. Second edition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-05-01

Potential consequences of widespread acid precipitation are reviewed through an extensive literature search. Major aspects of the acid rain phenomena are discussed, areas of uncertainty identified, and current research summarized

A scattering model for rain depolarization

Science.gov (United States)

Wiley, P. H.; Stutzman, W. L.; Bostian, C. W.

1973-01-01

A method is presented for calculating the amount of depolarization caused by precipitation for a propagation path. In the model the effects of each scatterer and their interactions are accounted for by using a series of simplifying steps. It is necessary only to know the forward scattering properties of a single scatterer. For the case of rain the results of this model for attenuation, differential phase shift, and cross polarization agree very well with the results of the only other model available, that of differential attenuation and differential phase shift. Calculations presented here show that horizontal polarization is more sensitive to depolarization than is vertical polarization for small rain drop canting angle changes. This effect increases with increasing path length.

Coherent response of the Indo-African boreal summer monsoon to Pacific SST captured in Ethiopian rain δ18O

Science.gov (United States)

Madhavan, M.; Palliyil, L. R.; Ramesh, R.

2017-12-01

Pacific Sea Surface Temperature (SST) plays an important role in the inter-annual to inter-decadal variability of boreal monsoons. We identified a common mode of inter annual variability in the Indian and African boreal summer monsoon (June to September) rainfalls, which is linked to Pacific SSTs, using Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis. Temporal coefficients (Principle component: PC1) of the leading mode of variability (EOF-1) is well correlated with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall and Sahel rainfall. About forty year long monthly observations of δ18O (and δD) at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia show a strong association with PC1 (r=0.69 for δ18O and r=0.75 for δD). Analysis of SST, sea level pressure and lower tropospheric winds suggest that 18O depletion in Ethiopian rainfall (and wet phases of PC1) is associated with cooler eastern tropical Pacific and warmer western Pacific and strengthening of Pacific subtropical high in both the hemispheres. Associated changes in the trade winds cause enhanced westerly moisture transport into the Indian subcontinent and northern Africa and cause enhanced rainfall. The intrusion of Atlantic westerly component of moisture transport at Addis Ababa during wet phases of PC1 is clearly recorded in δ18O of rain. We also observe the same common mode of variability (EOF1) of Indo-African boreal summer monsoon rain on decadal time scales. A 100 year long δ18O record of actively growing speleothem from the Mechara cave, Ethiopia, matches very well with the PC1 on the decadal time scale. This highlights the potential of speleothem δ18O and leaf wax δD from Ethiopia to investigate the natural variability and teleconnections of Indo-African boreal monsoon.

The Study of Rain Specific Attenuation for the Prediction of Satellite Propagation in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Mandeep, J. S.; Ng, Y. Y.; Abdullah, H.; Abdullah, M.

2010-06-01

Specific attenuation is the fundamental quantity in the calculation of rain attenuation for terrestrial path and slant paths representing as rain attenuation per unit distance (dB/km). Specific attenuation is an important element in developing the predicted rain attenuation model. This paper deals with the empirical determination of the power law coefficients which allow calculating the specific attenuation in dB/km from the knowledge of the rain rate in mm/h. The main purpose of the paper is to obtain the coefficients of k and α of power law relationship between specific attenuation. Three years (from 1st January 2006 until 31st December 2008) rain gauge and beacon data taken from USM, Nibong Tebal have been used to do the empirical procedure analysis of rain specific attenuation. The data presented are semi-empirical in nature. A year-to-year variation of the coefficients has been indicated and the empirical measured data was compared with ITU-R provided regression coefficient. The result indicated that the USM empirical measured data was significantly vary from ITU-R predicted value. Hence, ITU-R recommendation for regression coefficients of rain specific attenuation is not suitable for predicting rain attenuation at Malaysia.

The distribution of heavy metals and 137Cs in the central part of the Polish maritime zone (Baltic Sea) - the area selected for wind farm acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Zaborska, Agata; Kosakowska, Alicja; Bełdowski, Jacek; Bełdowska, Magdalena; Szubska, Marta; Walkusz-Miotk, Jolanta; Żak, Adam; Ciechanowicz, Agnieszka; Wdowiak, Maciej

2017-11-01

Disturbances of the marine sediments that may be induced by offshore wind energy (OWE) construction and functioning may cause reintroduction of contaminants accumulated in the sea bottom over last century. It is thus very important to check in which offshore region of the Polish coast the littlest consequences of the OWE construction may be expected. The area of 9000 km2 in the central part of the Polish economic zone was selected for sediments sampling. In total, sediments from 46 stations were collected by gravity twin corer or geo-vibro corer. Heavy metal (Hg, Pb, Cd, As, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Fe, Mn) concentrations were measured by AAS and ICP-MS while 137 Cs activity concentrations were measured by gamma spectrometer. Sediment accumulation rates were quantified by 210Pb geochronology at 7 stations to follow the history of contaminants accumulation. Study areas located between isobaths of 20 m and 40 m were characterized by the lowest concentration of heavy metals, often below natural environmental background (e.g. Pb = 6.7 - 11.4 μg·g-1, As = 0.3 - 8.4 μg·g-1). The largest contamination by heavy metals (e.g. Pb reached 86.1 μg·g-1 while As = 21.0 μg·g-1) was visible at the outer part of Bornholm Basin and in Słupsk Furrow, the deepest studied regions. Highest accumulation of heavy metals in this area is connected to large fraction of pelite sediments and large proportion of organic matter at those stations. It may be concluded that shallow sandy sediments of the Southern Baltic are unpolluted and appropriate for OWE construction. Deeper sea regions e.g Słupsk Furrow and Bornholm Basin may be regarded as moderately polluted and therefore not recommended for OWE acquisition.

Observation of wind field over heterogeneous terrain by the French-German airborne Doppler lidar WIND

Science.gov (United States)

Dabas, A.; Werner, C.; Delville, P.; Reitebuch, O.; Drobinski, P.; Cousin, F.

2003-04-01

In summer 2001, the French-German airborne Doppler lidar WIND participated to field campaign ESCOMPTE. ESCOMPTE was carried out in the region of Marseille along the Mediterranean coast of France. It was dedicated to the observation of heavy pollution events in this industrialized, densely populated region of nearly 4 million inhabitants. The aim was to gather a data base as comprehensive as possible on several pollution events and use them to check the ability of several regional forecast models to predict such events. The specific mission devoted to WIND was the characterization at mesoscale of the wind field and the topography of the planetary boundary layer. Both are complex around Marseille due the heterogeneity of the surface with a transition sea/land to the south, the fore-Alps to the North, the Rhône valley to the North-West etc... Seven, 3-hr flights were carried out and gave excellent results. In 2002, first comparisons were made with mesoscale models. They will be shown during the presentation. They are good examples of the usefulness of airborne Doppler lidar for validating and improving atmospheric model simulations.

Ülemiste Citysse kasvab innovatsioonikeskus / Rain Laane ; interv. Einar Ellermaa

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Laane, Rain

2008-01-01

Microsoft Eesti tegevjuht Rain Laane e-riigi arengust ja selle toetamisest riiklikul tasandil, e-riigi innovatsioonikeskuse loomisest, e-riigi lahenduse Brüsselisse müümist takistavatest teguritest. Lisa: Rain Laane teesid loodava innovatsioonikeskuse ülesannetest. Vt. samas: Siim-Valmar Kiisler. Riik peab hakkama e-eksporti toetama!

NESDIS Blended Rain Rate (RR) Products

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The blended Rain Rate (RR) product is derived from multiple sensors/satellites. The blended products were merged from polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite...

Stochastic modeling of total suspended solids (TSS) in urban areas during rain events.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossi, Luca; Krejci, Vladimir; Rauch, Wolfgang; Kreikenbaum, Simon; Fankhauser, Rolf; Gujer, Willi

2005-10-01

The load of total suspended solids (TSS) is one of the most important parameters for evaluating wet-weather pollution in urban sanitation systems. In fact, pollutants such as heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phosphorous and organic compounds are adsorbed onto these particles so that a high TSS load indicates the potential impact on the receiving waters. In this paper, a stochastic model is proposed to estimate the TSS load and its dynamics during rain events. Information on the various simulated processes was extracted from different studies of TSS in urban areas. The model thus predicts the probability of TSS loads arising from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in combined sewer systems as well as from stormwater in separate sewer systems in addition to the amount of TSS retained in treatment devices in both sewer systems. The results of this TSS model illustrate the potential of the stochastic modeling approach for assessing environmental problems.

Use of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to identify interactive meteorological conditions affecting relative throughfall

Science.gov (United States)

Van Stan, John T.; Gay, Trent E.; Lewis, Elliott S.

2016-02-01

Forest canopies alter rainfall reaching the surface by redistributing it as throughfall. Throughfall supplies water and nutrients to a variety of ecohydrological components (soil microbial communities, stream water discharge/chemistry, and stormflow pathways) and is controlled by canopy structural interactions with meteorological conditions across temporal scales. This work introduces and applies multiple correspondence analyses (MCAs) to a range of meteorological thresholds (median intensity, median absolute deviation (MAD) of intensity, median wind-driven droplet inclination angle, and MAD of wind speed) for an example throughfall problem: identification of interacting storm conditions corresponding to temporal concentration in relative throughfall beyond the median observation (⩾73% of rain). MCA results from the example show that equalling or exceeding rain intensity thresholds (median and MAD) corresponded with temporal concentration of relative throughfall across all storms. Under these intensity conditions, two wind mechanisms produced significant correspondences: (1) high, steady wind-driven droplet inclination angles increased surface wetting; and (2) sporadic winds shook entrained droplets from surfaces. A discussion is provided showing that these example MCA findings agree well with previous work relying on more historically common methods (e.g., multiple regression and analytical models). Meteorological threshold correspondences to temporal concentration of relative throughfall at our site may be a function of heavy Tillandsia usneoides coverage. Applications of MCA within other forests may provide useful insights to how temporal throughfall dynamics are affected for drainage pathways dependent on different structures (leaves, twigs, branches, etc.).

Differential Gene Expression of Longan Under Simulated Acid Rain Stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Shan; Pan, Tengfei; Ma, Cuilan; Qiu, Dongliang

2017-05-01

Differential gene expression profile was studied in Dimocarpus longan Lour. in response to treatments of simulated acid rain with pH 2.5, 3.5, and a control (pH 5.6) using differential display reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR). Results showed that mRNA differential display conditions were optimized to find an expressed sequence tag (EST) related with acid rain stress. The potential encoding products had 80% similarity with a transcription initiation factor IIF of Gossypium raimondii and 81% similarity with a protein product of Theobroma cacao. This fragment is the transcription factor activated by second messenger substances in longan leaves after signal perception of acid rain.

A hurricane modification process, applying a new technology tested for warm cloud seeding to produce artificial rains

Science.gov (United States)

Imai, T.; Martin, I.; Iha, K.

A Hurricane Modification Process with application of a new clean technology attested for seeding warm clouds with collector pure water droplets of controlled size to produce artificial rains in warm clouds is proposed to modify the hurricanes in order to avoid their formation or to modify the trajectory or to weaken hurricanes in action The Process is based on the time-dependent effects of cloud droplets microphysical processes for the formation and growth of the natural water droplets inside the clouds releasing large volumes of Aeolian energy to form the strong rotative upside air movements A new Paradigm proposed explain the strong and rotative winds created with the water droplets formation and grow process releasing the rotative Aeolian Energy in Tornados and Hurricanes This theory receive the Gold Medal Award of the Water Science in the 7th International Water Symposium 2005 in France Artificial seeding in the Process studies condensing a specified percentage of the water vapor to liquid water droplets where we observe the release of larges intensity of the Aeolian energy creates the hurricanes producing appreciable perturbations With they rotating strong wind created by the water droplets releasing Aeolian energy The Amplitudes of these winds are comparable to natural disasters Once this natural thermal process is completely understood artificial process to modify the hurricanes become scientifically possible to avoid them to happen or to deviate their trajectory or to weaken the already formed hurricanes In this work

The characteristics changes of pH and EC of atmospheric precipitation and analysis on the source of acid rain in the source area of the Yangtze River from 2010 to 2015

Science.gov (United States)

Zong-Jie, Li; Song, Ling-Ling; Jing-zhu, Ma; Li, Yong-ge

2017-05-01

Through the analysis of pH value, EC, precipitation and wind speed of 402 precipitation samples in the source region of the Yangtze River from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2015, especially for the analysis of the 14 acid rain events. The results showed that: the acid rain in the source region of the Yangtze River was mainly affected by the southwest monsoon and the westerly circulation. The occurrence of acid rain mainly controlled by industrial pollution and other pollutants coming from India and other surrounding areas. And the other cause was that because of the Qinghai Tibet highway and the Qinghai Tibet railway, there were a lot of cars coming and going. And there were people in the summer to plateau tourism increased year by year, and more for self-driving travelling. This added additional pollutants (automobile exhaust) for the source of the Yangtze River. During the period of sampling, the variation range of pH value was from 4.0 to 8.57, with the mean was 6.37. And the range of EC was from 5.2 to 124.4 μs/cm, the average was 27.59 μs/cm. The order of conductivity in the four seasons was Spring > Winter > Summer > Autumn. And the order of pH in four seasons was Summer > Spring = Winter > Autumn. The results are also helpful for further understanding the acid rain in the Tibetan Plateau and providing scientific basis for the effective prevention and control of acid rain.

Strategic bidding for wind power producers in electricity markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharma, Kailash Chand; Bhakar, Rohit; Tiwari, H.P.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Game theoretic bidding strategy approach developed to optimize wind power producers bids. • Rival behavior modeled through Stochastic Cournot model. • Location based dual imbalance price mechanism proposed to obtain imbalance charges. • Proposed approach evaluated using two realistic case studies. • Proposed approach increases profit of strategic wind power producers significantly. - Abstract: In evolving electricity markets, wind power producers (WPPs) would increase their profit through strategic bidding. However, generated power by WPPs is highly random, which may result into heavy imbalance charges. In markets dominated by wind generators, they would optimize their offered bids, considering rival behavior. In oligopolistic day-ahead electricity markets, this strategic behavior can be represented as a Stochastic Cournot model. Wind uncertainty is represented by scenarios generated using Auto Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) model. With a consideration of wind power uncertainty and imbalance charges, strategic WPPs can maximize their expected payoff or profit through the proposed Nash equilibrium based bidding strategy. Nash equilibrium is obtained using payoff matrix approach. Proposed approach is evaluated on two realistic case studies considering different technical constraints. Obtained results shows that proposed bidding strategy mechanism offers quantum increase in profit for WPPs, when their behavior is modeled in a game theoretic framework. Flexibility of approach offers opportunities for its extension to associated challenges

Wind dispersal of alien plant species into remnant natural vegetation from adjacent agricultural fields

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chika Egawa

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Knowledge regarding the seed dispersal of alien species is crucial to manage invasion risk in fragmented natural habitats. Focusing on wind dispersal, this study assessed the spatial and quantitative extents to which a remnant natural fen receives the seeds of alien species dispersed from adjacent hay meadows in Hokkaido, northern Japan. I established a total of 80 funnel seed traps in the fen at distances of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100 m from the meadows. The proportion of alien species in the seed rain at each distance was quantified, and the 99th-percentile dispersal distance from the meadows was estimated for each alien species by constructing dispersal kernels. Despite the presence of a marginal ditch and an elevational difference between the fen and the meadows, five alien species, including four grasses that do not have modified seed structures for wind dispersal, dispersed their seeds into the fen. These alien species accounted for up to 65.9% of the seed rain in terms of quantity. The 99th-percentile dispersal distances of the alien species ranged from 3.8 m to 309.3 m, and these distances were longer than the values predicted on the basis of their functional traits, such as terminal velocity. The results of this study demonstrated that numerous seeds of farmland-derived alien species were transported into the remnant vegetation via wind dispersal, and that simple predictions of dispersal distance based on functional traits could underestimate the potential area that alien species can reach. Continuous management both in farmland (to reduce seed escape and in remnant vegetation (to prevent the establishment of alien species is necessary to protect native vegetation from biological invasion in agricultural landscapes.

EnKF OSSE Experiments Assessing the Impact of HIRAD Wind Speed and HIWRAP Radial Velocity Data on Analysis of Hurricane Karl (2010)

Science.gov (United States)

Albers, Cerese; Sippel, Jason A.; Braun, Scott A.; Miller, Timothy

2012-01-01

Previous studies (e.g., Zhang et al. 2009, Weng et al. 2011) have shown that radial velocity data from airborne and ground-based radars can be assimilated into ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) systems to produce accurate analyses of tropical cyclone vortices, which can reduce forecast intensity error. Recently, wind speed data from SFMR technology has also been assimilated into the same types of systems and has been shown to improve the forecast intensity of mature tropical cyclones. Two instruments that measure these properties were present during the NASA Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) field experiment in 2010 which sampled Hurricane Karl, and will next be co-located on the same aircraft for the subsequent NASA HS3 experiment. The High Altitude Wind and Rain Profiling Radar (HIWRAP) is a conically scanning Doppler radar mounted upon NASAs Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, and the usefulness of its radial velocity data for assimilation has not been previously examined. Since the radar scans from above with a fairly large fixed elevation angle, it observes a large component of the vertical wind, which could degrade EnKF analyses compared to analyses with data taken from lesser elevation angles. The NASA Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is a passive microwave radiometer similar to SFMR, and measures emissivity and retrieves hurricane surface wind speeds and rain rates over a much wider swath. Thus, this study examines the impact of assimilating simulated HIWRAP radial velocity data into an EnKF system, simulated HIRAD wind speed, and HIWRAP+HIRAD with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and compares the results to no data assimilation and also to the Truth from which the data was simulated for both instruments.

Relation between tritium concentration and chemical composition in rain at Fukuoka

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayashi, Y.; Momoshima, N.; Maeda, Y.; Kakiuchi, H.

1999-01-01

Tritium concentrations in rain collected at Fukuoka, Japan from 1982 have been measured. From May 1996 tritium concentrations and chemical species have been analyzed for each rain to examine their relationship. Recent rain was concluded not to be affected by tritium from atmospheric nuclear tests. Tritium concentrations showed a seasonal pattern, high during winter and spring and low during summer and fall and had positive correlations with non-sea-salt SO 4 2- , indicating a long distance of acidic materials as well as tritium from continental China. (author)

Winding workshop for the ISR low beta Superconducting Quadrupole Prototype

CERN Multimedia

1975-01-01

From right to left one sees the wire spool with its electro-magnetic brake to ensure a constant tension of the superconducting wire, a pulley with a wire length recording and the winding machine. In front on the table a finished coil. In the back the heavy clamping tool. See also 7510213X, 7510213X.

Influences of the activity of the Poas Volcano in the chemistry of the rain water in the region of Tacares, Grecia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ugarte Fernandez, J. J.

1996-01-01

Quantifie the concentration of majority ions in samples of rain water gathered in the University Enclosure of Tacares of the University of Costa Rica, during the months of August, September and October of 1993, and May to October of 1994. The samples were analyzed in the Laboratory of Quality of Water of the Center of Investigation in Environmental Contamination (CICA), using technical of ionic chromatography of unique column, atomic absorption with oven of graphite potentiometer and colorimetry. The concentrations of each species was expressed like monthly average pondered by precipitation volume. It was found that the concentrations of the anions sulfate and chloride, and the cationes sodium and calcium increased in a significant way starting from May of 1994, month when was incremented the activity of the Poas Volcano. For each day of gathering samples was determined a predominant wind direction, the average of the whole period allowed to establish that the magnesium and the sulfate presented vectors of more magnitude that in other directions, guided toward the volcano. The development of the project determined the influence of the activity of the Poas volcano in the concentration of sulfate in the gathered rain waters [es

Fungus-Growing Termites Originated in African Rain Forest

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aanen, Duur Kornelis; Eggleton, Paul

2005-01-01

are consumed (cf. [ [1] and [2] ]). Fungus-growing termites are found throughout the Old World tropics, in rain forests and savannas, but are ecologically dominant in savannas [ 3 ]. Here, we reconstruct the ancestral habitat and geographical origin of fungus-growing termites. We used a statistical model...... of habitat switching [ 4 ] repeated over all phylogenetic trees sampled in a Bayesian analysis of molecular data [ 5 ]. Our reconstructions provide strong evidence that termite agriculture originated in African rain forest and that the main radiation leading to the extant genera occurred there. Because...

Implications of Warm Rain in Shallow Cumulus and Congestus Clouds for Large-Scale Circulations

Science.gov (United States)

Nuijens, Louise; Emanuel, Kerry; Masunaga, Hirohiko; L'Ecuyer, Tristan

2017-11-01

Space-borne observations reveal that 20-40% of marine convective clouds below the freezing level produce rain. In this paper we speculate what the prevalence of warm rain might imply for convection and large-scale circulations over tropical oceans. We present results using a two-column radiative-convective model of hydrostatic, nonlinear flow on a non-rotating sphere, with parameterized convection and radiation, and review ongoing efforts in high-resolution modeling and observations of warm rain. The model experiments investigate the response of convection and circulation to sea surface temperature (SST) gradients between the columns and to changes in a parameter that controls the conversion of cloud condensate to rain. Convection over the cold ocean collapses to a shallow mode with tops near 850 hPa, but a congestus mode with tops near 600 hPa can develop at small SST differences when warm rain formation is more efficient. Here, interactive radiation and the response of the circulation are crucial: along with congestus a deeper moist layer develops, which leads to less low-level radiative cooling, a smaller buoyancy gradient between the columns, and therefore a weaker circulation and less subsidence over the cold ocean. The congestus mode is accompanied with more surface precipitation in the subsiding column and less surface precipitation in the deep convecting column. For the shallow mode over colder oceans, circulations also weaken with more efficient warm rain formation, but only marginally. Here, more warm rain reduces convective tops and the boundary layer depth—similar to Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) studies—which reduces the integrated buoyancy gradient. Elucidating the impact of warm rain can benefit from large-domain high-resolution simulations and observations. Parameterizations of warm rain may be constrained through collocated cloud and rain profiling from ground, and concurrent changes in convection and rain in subsiding and convecting branches of

Combined effects of lanthanum (III) chloride and acid rain on photosynthetic parameters in rice.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lihong; Wang, Wen; Zhou, Qing; Huang, Xiaohua

2014-10-01

Rare earth elements (REEs) pollution and acid rain are environmental issues, and their deleterious effects on plants attract worldwide attention. These two issues exist simultaneously in many regions, especially in some rice-growing areas. However, little is known about the combined effects of REEs and acid rain on plants. Here, the combined effects of lanthanum chloride (LaCl3), one type of REE salt, and acid rain on photosynthesis in rice were investigated. We showed that the combined treatment of 81.6 μM LaCl3 and acid rain at pH 4.5 increased net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatic conductance (Gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), Hill reaction activity (HRA), apparent quantum yield (AQY) and carboxylation efficiency (CE) in rice. The combined treatment of 81.6 μM LaCl3 and acid rain at pH 3.5 began to behave toxic effects on photosynthesis (decreasing Pn, Gs, HRA, AQY and CE, and increasing Ci), and the maximally toxic effects were observed in the combined treatment of 2449.0 μM LaCl3 and acid rain at pH 2.5. Moreover, the combined effects of LaCl3 and acid rain on photosynthesis in rice depended on the growth stage of rice, with the maximal effects occurring at the booting stage. Furthermore, the combined treatment of high-concentration LaCl3 and low-pH acid rain had more serious effects on photosynthesis in rice than LaCl3 or acid rain treatment alone. Finally, the combined effect of LaCl3 and acid rain on Pn in rice resulted from the changes in stomatic (Gs, Ci) and non-stomatic (HRA, AQY and CE) factors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acid Rain in Niger Delta Region: Implication on Water Resources ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This research focused on the effect of acid rain on the water quality of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Three hundred water samples were collected: 100 water samples from rain, 100 from open wells and 100 from rivers. The water samples were analysed using the paired t-test and multiple correlation analysis to ascertain ...

Towards corrosion testing of unglazed solar absorber surfaces in simulated acid rain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salo, T.; Pehkonen, A.; Konttinen, P.; Lund, P.

2005-01-01

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization tests were utilized for determining corrosion probabilities of unglazed C/Al 2 O 3 /Al solar absorber surfaces in simulated acid rain. Previously, the main degradation mechanism found was exponentially temperature-related hydration of aluminium oxide. In acid rain tests the main corrosion determinant was the pH value of the rain. Results indicate that these methods measure corrosion characteristics of Al substrate instead of the C/Al 2 O 3 /Al surface, probably mainly due to the rough and non-uniform microstructure of the latter. Further analyses of the test methods are required in order to estimate their applicability on Al-based uniform sputtered absorber surfaces. (author) (C/Al 2 O 3 /Al solar absorber; Acid rain; Corrosion; Electrochemical tests)

Erosion by rain in the western Congo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ploey, J. de

1967-01-01

Vast expanses of the western part of central and southern Africa are covered with uniform, sandy formations of the Kalahari type. The topography of these areas and their present morphological characteristics are mainly the result of erosion by rain. Information on the hydrology of the surface waters in these areas is fairly limited and is insufficient to permit any conclusions regarding the way in which erosion by rain takes place. To obtain a better understanding of these phenomena, the author devised a series of experiments based on the use of 46 Sc-labelled radioactive sand. These experiments began at the beginning of the 1964/65 rainy season and are continuing. The experimental plot corresponds to convex and rectilinear portions of a hillside with a slope varying between 0 and 12 degrees. The vegetation consists of grassy savannah of substeppe appearance and secondary forests. Series of labelled samples were placed successively on the surface of the experimental plot and the erosive effect of rain was determined by measuring the residual concentrations after rainfall. Some samples were placed below a shield so as to eliminate the effects of splash and reveal the part played by runoff. Radiographic films were used to study the dispersion of labelled particles in the surrounding area. This radiographic method made it possible to determine the scale of erosion by splash for different rainfall conditions. The erosion diagrams obtained from these experiments show the correlations that exist between the intensity and duration of the rainfall and the erosion of the soil. Examination of the erosion diagrams and the shielded samples and analysis of the radiographs showed that erosion by rain on Kalahari ground covered with substeppe savannah is caused mainly by splash erosion and by dispersed, intermittent runoff. Sheet wash plays no part if the slope is less than 12 degrees. (author) [fr

Wireless AE Event and Environmental Monitoring for Wind Turbine Blades at Low Sampling Rates

Science.gov (United States)

Bouzid, Omar M.; Tian, Gui Y.; Cumanan, K.; Neasham, J.

Integration of acoustic wireless technology in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications introduces new challenges due to requirements of high sampling rates, additional communication bandwidth, memory space, and power resources. In order to circumvent these challenges, this chapter proposes a novel solution through building a wireless SHM technique in conjunction with acoustic emission (AE) with field deployment on the structure of a wind turbine. This solution requires a low sampling rate which is lower than the Nyquist rate. In addition, features extracted from aliased AE signals instead of reconstructing the original signals on-board the wireless nodes are exploited to monitor AE events, such as wind, rain, strong hail, and bird strike in different environmental conditions in conjunction with artificial AE sources. Time feature extraction algorithm, in addition to the principal component analysis (PCA) method, is used to extract and classify the relevant information, which in turn is used to classify or recognise a testing condition that is represented by the response signals. This proposed novel technique yields a significant data reduction during the monitoring process of wind turbine blades.

Delineation of Rain Areas with TRMM Microwave Observations Based on PNN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shiguang Xu

2014-12-01

Full Text Available False alarm and misdetected precipitation are prominent drawbacks of high-resolution satellite precipitation datasets, and they usually lead to serious uncertainty in hydrological and meteorological applications. In order to provide accurate rain area delineation for retrieving high-resolution precipitation datasets using satellite microwave observations, a probabilistic neural network (PNN-based rain area delineation method was developed with rain gauge observations over the Yangtze River Basin and three parameters, including polarization corrected temperature at 85 GHz, difference of brightness temperature at vertically polarized 37 and 19 GHz channels (termed as TB37V and TB19V, respectively and the sum of TB37V and TB19V derived from the observations of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI. The PNN method was validated with independent samples, and the performance of this method was compared with dynamic cluster K-means method, TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI Level 2 Hydrometeor Profile Product and the threshold method used in the Scatter Index (SI, a widely used microwave-based precipitation retrieval algorithm. Independent validation indicated that the PNN method can provide more reasonable rain areas than the other three methods. Furthermore, the precipitation volumes estimated by the SI algorithm were significantly improved by substituting the PNN method for the threshold method in the traditional SI algorithm. This study suggests that PNN is a promising way to obtain reasonable rain areas with satellite observations, and the development of an accurate rain area delineation method deserves more attention for improving the accuracy of satellite precipitation datasets.

A simple model for the estimation of rain-induced attenuation along earth-space paths at millimeter wavelengths

Science.gov (United States)

Stutzman, W. L.; Dishman, W. K.

1982-01-01

A simple attenuation model (SAM) is presented for estimating rain-induced attenuation along an earth-space path. The rain model uses an effective spatial rain distribution which is uniform for low rain rates and which has an exponentially shaped horizontal rain profile for high rain rates. When compared to other models, the SAM performed well in the important region of low percentages of time, and had the lowest percent standard deviation of all percent time values tested.

Composite wind turbine towers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Polyzois, D. [Manitoba Univ., Winnipeg, MB (Canada). Dept. of Civil Engineering

2008-07-01

This paper discussed experiments conducted to optimized the advanced composite materials such as fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP) used to fabricate wind turbine towers. FRP materials are used in tubular steel, lattice, guyed, and reinforced concrete towers. The towers and turbine blades are transported in segments and assembled on-site, sometimes in offshore or remote locations.The FRP composites are used to build towers with a high strength-to-weight ratio as well as to provide resistance to chemical attacks and corrosion. Use of the materials has resulted in towers that do not require heavy installation equipment. Experimental programs were conducted to verify the structural behaviour of the tower structure's individual-scaled cells as well as to evaluate the performance of multi-cell assemblies. Joint assembly designs were optimized, and a filament winding machine was used to conduct the experimental study and to test individual cells. Failure mode analyses were conducted to determine local buckling and shear rupture. Tension, compression, and shear properties of the FRP materials were tested experimentally, and data from the test were then used to develop finite element models of the composite towers as well as to obtain load deflection curves and tip oscillation data. A case study of a 750 kW wind turbine in Churchill, Manitoba was used to test the design. tabs., figs.

Direct effect of acid rain on leaf chlorophyll content of terrestrial plants in China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Du, Enzai; Dong, Dan; Zeng, Xuetong; Sun, Zhengzhong; Jiang, Xiaofei; Vries, de Wim

2017-01-01

Anthropogenic emissions of acid precursors in China have resulted in widespread acid rain since the 1980s. Although efforts have been made to assess the indirect, soil mediated ecological effects of acid rain, a systematic assessment of the direct foliage injury by acid rain across terrestrial

Comparison of Instantaneous Frequency Scaling from Rain Attenuation and Optical Disdrometer Measurements at K/Q bands

Science.gov (United States)

Nessel, James; Zemba, Michael; Luini, Lorenzo; Riva, Carlo

2015-01-01

Rain attenuation is strongly dependent on the rain rate, but also on the rain drop size distribution (DSD). Typically, models utilize an average drop size distribution, such as those developed by Laws and Parsons, or Marshall and Palmer. However, individual rain events may possess drop size distributions which could be significantly different from the average and will impact, for example, fade mitigation techniques which utilize channel performance estimates from a signal at a different frequency. Therefore, a good understanding of the characteristics and variability of the raindrop size distribution is extremely important in predicting rain attenuation and instantaneous frequency scaling parameters on an event-toevent basis. Since June 2014, NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) have measured the attenuation due to rain in Milan, Italy, on the 20/40 GHz beacon signal broadcast from the Alphasat TDP#5 Aldo Paraboni Q/V-band Payload. Concomitant with these measurements are the measurements of drop size distribution and rain rate utilizing a Thies Clima laser precipitation monitor (disdrometer). In this paper, we discuss the comparison of the predicted rain attenuation at 20 and 40 GHz derived from the drop size distribution data with the measured rain attenuation. The results are compared on statistical and real-time bases. We will investigate the performance of the rain attenuation model, instantaneous frequency scaling, and the distribution of the scaling factor. Further, seasonal rain characteristics will be analysed.

Phenomena associated with rain deposition of radon daughters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujitaka, Kazunobu [National Inst. of Radiological Sciences, Chiba (Japan)

1997-02-01

Since Rn daughter nuclides generated from Rn gas in the air are generally absorbed on aerosol, its radioactivities are apt to deposit onto the ground with raindrop. Here, the effects of raining on the radiation level were investigated. The amount of precipitation was determined using a highly sensitive rain gauge (the nominal sensitivity of 0.0043 mm) and air radioactive level was measured using a scintillation monitor of 2``{phi}x2``NaI(Tl) which was set at 1.5 m height above the ground. The rising of {gamma}-radiation level associated with rainfall was expressed as percentage of the base line activity. The radiation level increased depending on the intervals between the successive rainfalls and the increase of radioactivity from base line was greater when the rainfall interval was less than 12 hours. Therefore, the amount of radiation deposit was suggested to be small when the rainfall interval is short. Ordinarily, the increase of air radiation level caused by rain deposition was thought to be within a range of 20-50%. (M.N.)

Acid-rain induced changes in streamwater quality during storms on Catoctin Mountain, Maryland

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Karen C.; Bricker, O.P.

1992-01-01

Catoctin Mountain receives some of the most acidic (lowest pH) rain in the United States. In 1990, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), began a study of the effects of acid rain on the quality of streamwater on the part of Catoctin Mountain within Cunningham Falls State Park, Maryland (fig. 1). Samples of precipitation collected on the mountain by the USGS since 1982 have been analyzed for acidity and concentration of chemical constituents. During 1982-91, the volume-weighted average pH of precipitation was 4.2. (Volume weighting corrects for the effect of acids being washed out of the atmosphere at the beginning of rainfall). The pH value is measured on a logarithmic scale, which means that for each whole number change, the acidity changes by a factor of 10. Thus rain with a pH of 4.2 is more than 10 times as acidic as uncontaminated rain, which has a pH of about 5.6. The acidity of rain during several rainstorms on Catoctin Mountain was more than 100 times more acidic than uncontaminated rain.

Visualization of soil-moisture change in response to precipitation within two rain gardens in Ohio

Science.gov (United States)

Dumouchelle, Denise H.; Darner, Robert A.

2014-01-01

Stormwater runoff in urban areas is increasingly being managed by means of a variety of treaments that reduce or delay runoff and promote more natural infiltration. One such treatment is a rain garden, which is built to detain runoff and allow for water infiltration and uptake by plants.Water flow into or out of a rain garden can be readily monitored with a variety of tools; however, observing the movement of water within the rain garden is less straightforward. Soil-moisture probes in combination with an automated interpolation procedure were used to document the infiltration of water into two rain gardens in Ohio. Animations show changes in soil moisture in the rain gardens during two precipitation events. At both sites, the animations demonstrate underutilization of the rain gardens.

Activity of earthworm in Latosol under simulated acid rain stress

Science.gov (United States)

Jia-En Zhang; Jiayu Yu; Ying Ouyang

2015-01-01

Acid rain is still an issue of environmental concerns. This study investigated the impacts of simulated acid rain (SAR) upon earthworm activity from the Latosol (acidic red soil). Laboratory experiment was performed by leaching the soil columns grown with earthworms (Eisenia fetida) at the SAR pH levels ranged from 2.0 to 6.5 over a 34-day period....

Simulated acid rain effects on soil chemistry and microbiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gigliotti, C.; Falappi, D.; Farini, A.; Sorlini, C.; Milan Univ.; Molise Univ.

1992-01-01

A research study was carried out regarding the effects of artificial rains at different pH's (3.1, 4.0, 5.6) on soil samples from Appiano Gentile pinewood. Chemical parameters, biological activities and microbiological groups, particularly sensitive to possible variations in the presence of pH changes, were monitored after 2, 4 and 6 months of treatment of the soil on eluate obtained from treatment with artificial acid rains. The paper reports the results research

Isotopic equilibrium between precipitation and water vapor: evidence from continental rains in central Kenya

Science.gov (United States)

Soderberg, K.; Gerlein, C.; Kemeny, P. C.; Caylor, K. K.

2013-12-01

An accurate understanding of the relationships between the isotopic composition of liquid water and that of water vapor in the environment can help describe hydrologic processes across many scales. One such relationship is the isotopic equilibrium between falling raindrops and the surrounding vapor. The degree of equilibration is used to model the isotopic composition of precipitation in isotope-enable general circulation models and land-atmosphere exchange models. Although this equilibrium has been a topic of isotope hydrology research for more than four decades, few studies have included vapor measurements to validate modeling efforts. Recent advances in laser technology have allowed for in situ vapor measurements at high temporal resolution (e.g., >1 Hz). Here we present concomitant rain and vapor measurements for a series of 17 rain events during the 'Continental' rainy season (June through August) at Mpala Research Center in central Kenya. Rain samples (n=218) were collected at intervals of 2 to 35 minutes (median of 3 minutes) depending on the rain rate (0.4 to 10.5 mm/hr). The volume-weighted mean rain values for δ18O, δ2H and D-excess (δ2H - 8* δ18O) were 0.1 ‰, 10.7 ‰, and 10.1 ‰. These values are more enriched than the annual weighted means reported for the area (-2.2 ‰, -7.6 ‰, and 11.0 ‰, respectively). Vapor was measured continuously at ~2Hz (DLT-100, Los Gatos Research), with an inverted funnel intake 4m above the ground surface. The mean vapor isotopic composition during the rain events was -10.0 +/- 1.2 ‰ (1 σ) for δ18O and -73.9 +/- 7.0 ‰ for δ2H. The difference between the rain sample isotopic composition and that of liquid in isotopic equilibrium with the corresponding vapor at the ambient temperature was 0.8 +/- 2.2 ‰ for δ18O and 6.2 +/- 7.0 ‰ for δ2H. This disequilibrium was found to correlate with the natural log of rain rate (R2 of 0.26 for δ18O and 0.46 for δ2H), with lower rain rates having larger

Leaching Characteristics of Calcium and Strontium from Phosphogypsum Under Acid Rain.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Mei; Luo, Houqiao; Chen, Yong; Yang, Jinyan

2018-02-01

Phosphogypsum (PG) stored close to phosphorus chemical plants has caused worldwide environmental problems. Column leaching experiments were conducted to evaluate Ca and Sr leaching from PG under simulated acid rain at pH levels typical for rain in the study region (Shifang, China). High concentrations of Ca and Sr in leachates in the first five leaching events could pollute the soil and groundwater around the PG. Leachates pH was lower than and had no correlation with simulated rain pH. No correlations between simulated rain pH and cumulative Ca and Sr content in leachates were noted. Around 2.0%-2.2% of Ca and 0.5%-0.6% of Sr were leached out from PG by the simulated summer rainfall in Shifang. Electrical conductivity values, Ca and Sr concentrations at bottom sections of PG columns were higher than those of top sections, while pH values showed a reverse trend. More precautions should be taken to protect the environment around PG stacks.

Development of Pneumatic Aerodynamic Devices to Improve the Performance, Economics, and Safety of Heavy Vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robert J. Englar

2000-01-01

Under contract to the DOE Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is developing and evaluating pneumatic (blown) aerodynamic devices to improve the performance, economics, stability and safety of operation of Heavy Vehicles. The objective of this program is to apply the pneumatic aerodynamic aircraft technology previously developed and flight-tested by GTRI personnel to the design of an efficient blown tractor-trailer configuration. Recent experimental results obtained by GTRI using blowing have shown drag reductions of 35% on a streamlined automobile wind-tunnel model. Also measured were lift or down-load increases of 100-150% and the ability to control aerodynamic moments about all 3 axes without any moving control surfaces. Similar drag reductions yielded by blowing on bluff afterbody trailers in current US trucking fleet operations are anticipated to reduce yearly fuel consumption by more than 1.2 billion gallons, while even further reduction is possible using pneumatic lift to reduce tire rolling resistance. Conversely, increased drag and down force generated instantaneously by blowing can greatly increase braking characteristics and control in wet/icy weather due to effective ''weight'' increases on the tires. Safety is also enhanced by controlling side loads and moments caused on these Heavy Vehicles by winds, gusts and other vehicles passing. This may also help to eliminate the jack-knifing problem if caused by extreme wind side loads on the trailer. Lastly, reduction of the turbulent wake behind the trailer can reduce splash and spray patterns and rough air being experienced by following vehicles. To be presented by GTRI in this paper will be results developed during the early portion of this effort, including a preliminary systems study, CFD prediction of the blown flowfields, and design of the baseline conventional tractor-trailer model and the pneumatic wind-tunnel model

Development of Pneumatic Aerodynamic Devices to Improve the Performance, Economics, and Safety of Heavy Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robert J. Englar

2000-06-19

Under contract to the DOE Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is developing and evaluating pneumatic (blown) aerodynamic devices to improve the performance, economics, stability and safety of operation of Heavy Vehicles. The objective of this program is to apply the pneumatic aerodynamic aircraft technology previously developed and flight-tested by GTRI personnel to the design of an efficient blown tractor-trailer configuration. Recent experimental results obtained by GTRI using blowing have shown drag reductions of 35% on a streamlined automobile wind-tunnel model. Also measured were lift or down-load increases of 100-150% and the ability to control aerodynamic moments about all 3 axes without any moving control surfaces. Similar drag reductions yielded by blowing on bluff afterbody trailers in current US trucking fleet operations are anticipated to reduce yearly fuel consumption by more than 1.2 billion gallons, while even further reduction is possible using pneumatic lift to reduce tire rolling resistance. Conversely, increased drag and down force generated instantaneously by blowing can greatly increase braking characteristics and control in wet/icy weather due to effective ''weight'' increases on the tires. Safety is also enhanced by controlling side loads and moments caused on these Heavy Vehicles by winds, gusts and other vehicles passing. This may also help to eliminate the jack-knifing problem if caused by extreme wind side loads on the trailer. Lastly, reduction of the turbulent wake behind the trailer can reduce splash and spray patterns and rough air being experienced by following vehicles. To be presented by GTRI in this paper will be results developed during the early portion of this effort, including a preliminary systems study, CFD prediction of the blown flowfields, and design of the baseline conventional tractor-trailer model and the pneumatic wind-tunnel model.

Wind erosion potential after land application of biosolids

Science.gov (United States)

PI, H.; Sharratt, B. S.; Schillinger, W. F.; Bary, A.; Cogger, C.

2017-12-01

The world population is currently 7.6 billion and, along with continued population growth, comes the challenge of disposing of wastewater and sewage sludge (biosolids). Applying biosolids to agricultural land to replace synthetic fertilizers represents a relatively safe method to recycle or sustainably use biosolids. While land application of biosolids is recognized as a sustainable management practice for enhancing soil health, no studies have determined the effects of biosolids on soil wind erosion. Wind erosion potential of a silt loam was assessed using a portable wind tunnel after applying synthetic and biosolid fertilizer to conventional and conservation tillage practices during the summer fallow phase of a winter wheat-summer fallow rotation in 2015 and 2016 in east-central Washington. Little difference in soil loss was observed between biosolid and synthetic fertilizer treatments, but this result appeared to be dependent on susceptibility of the soil to erosion. Regression analysis between soil loss from fertilizer or tillage treatments indicated that soil loss was lower from biosolid versus synthetic fertilizer and conservation versus conventional tillage at high erosion rates. This suggests that biosolids may reduce wind erosion under highly erodible conditions. Meanwhile, heavy metal concentrations in the windblown sediment were similar for the biosolid and synthetic fertilizer treatments whereas metal loss in windblown sediment was 10% lower from biosolid than synthetic fertilizer. Our results indicate that land application of biosolids did not accelerate the loss of metals or nutrients from soils during high winds. KeywordsLand application of biosolids; wind erosion; wind tunnel; sustainable agriculture

Rain events decrease boreal peatland net CO2 uptake through reduced light availability.

Science.gov (United States)

Nijp, Jelmer J; Limpens, Juul; Metselaar, Klaas; Peichl, Matthias; Nilsson, Mats B; van der Zee, Sjoerd E A T M; Berendse, Frank

2015-06-01

Boreal peatlands store large amounts of carbon, reflecting their important role in the global carbon cycle. The short-term exchange and the long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) in these ecosystems are closely associated with the permanently wet surface conditions and are susceptible to drought. Especially, the single most important peat forming plant genus, Sphagnum, depends heavily on surface wetness for its primary production. Changes in rainfall patterns are expected to affect surface wetness, but how this transient rewetting affects net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) remains unknown. This study explores how the timing and characteristics of rain events during photosynthetic active periods, that is daytime, affect peatland NEE and whether rain event associated changes in environmental conditions modify this response (e.g. water table, radiation, vapour pressure deficit, temperature). We analysed an 11-year time series of half-hourly eddy covariance and meteorological measurements from Degerö Stormyr, a boreal peatland in northern Sweden. Our results show that daytime rain events systematically decreased the sink strength of peatlands for atmospheric CO2 . The decrease was best explained by rain associated reduction in light, rather than by rain characteristics or drought length. An average daytime growing season rain event reduced net ecosystem CO2 uptake by 0.23-0.54 gC m(-2) . On an annual basis, this reduction of net CO2 uptake corresponds to 24% of the annual net CO2 uptake (NEE) of the study site, equivalent to a 4.4% reduction of gross primary production (GPP) during the growing season. We conclude that reduced light availability associated with rain events is more important in explaining the NEE response to rain events than rain characteristics and changes in water availability. This suggests that peatland CO2 uptake is highly sensitive to changes in cloud cover formation and to altered rainfall regimes, a process hitherto largely

Integrated gasification combined cycle for acid rain control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simbeck, D.R.; Dickenson, R.L.

1986-10-01

The role of integrated coal gasification combined-cycle power plants in the abatement of emission of SO/sub 2/ and NO/sub 2/ which lead to acid rain is discussed. The economics of this IGCC approach are assessed for a nominal 500 MW plant size. Phased construction of IGCC plants is recommended as a means of reducing SO/sub 2/ and NO/sub x/ emissions noting that high-sulfur coals could continue to be used. It is also noted that phased construction IGCC is the only acid rain control technology that greatly reduces NO/sub x/. 17 references.

Charge States of Krypton and Xenon in the Solar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Bochsler, Peter; Fludra, Andrzej; Giunta, Alessandra

2017-09-01

We calculate charge state distributions of Kr and Xe in a model for two different types of solar wind using the effective ionization and recombination rates provided from the OPEN_ADAS data base. The charge states of heavy elements in the solar wind are essential for estimating the efficiency of Coulomb drag in the inner corona. We find that xenon ions experience particularly low Coulomb drag from protons in the inner corona, comparable to the notoriously weak drag of protons on helium ions. It has been found long ago that helium in the solar wind can be strongly depleted near interplanetary current sheets, whereas coronal mass ejecta are sometimes strongly enriched in helium. We argue that if the extraordinary variability of the helium abundance in the solar wind is due to inefficient Coulomb drag, the xenon abundance must vary strongly. In fact, a secular decrease of the solar wind xenon abundance relative to the other heavier noble gases (Ne, Ar, Kr) has been postulated based on a comparison of noble gases in recently irradiated and ancient samples of ilmenite in the lunar regolith. We conclude that decreasing solar activity and decreasing frequency of coronal mass ejections over the solar lifetime might be responsible for a secularly decreasing abundance of xenon in the solar wind.

Research on Power System Scheduling Improving Wind Power Accommodation Considering Thermal Energy Storage and Flexible Load

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Chenlu; Cui, Xue; Wang, Heng; Zhou, Bin; Liu, Yang

2018-01-01

In the case of rapid development of wind power and heavy wind curtailment, the study of wind power accommodation of combined heat and power system has become the focus of attention. A two-stage scheduling model contains of wind power, thermal energy storage, CHP unit and flexible load were constructed. This model with the objective function of minimizing wind curtailment and the operation cost of units while taking into account of the total coal consumption of units, constraint of thermal energy storage and electricity-heat characteristic of CHP. This paper uses MICA to solve the problem of too many constraints and make the solution more feasible. A numerical example showed that the two stage decision scheduling model can consume more wind power, and it could provide a reference for combined heat and power system short-term operation

Acid rain and its environmental effects: Recent scientific advances

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Douglas A.; Aherne, Julian; Gay, David A.; Lehmann, Christopher M.B.

2016-01-01

The term ‘acid rain’ refers to atmospheric deposition of acidic constituents that impact the earth as rain, snow, particulates, gases, and vapor. Acid rain was first recognized by Ducros (1845) and subsequently described by the English chemist Robert Angus Smith (Smith, 1852) whose pioneering studies linked the sources to industrial emissions and included early observations of deleterious environmental effects (Smith, 1872). Smith's work was largely forgotten until the mid-20th century when observations began to link air pollution to the deposition of atmospheric sulfate (SO42−) and other chemical constituents, first near the metal smelter at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and later at locations in Europe, North America, and Australia (Gorham, 1961). Our modern understanding of acid rain as an environmental problem caused largely by regional emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) stems from observations in the 1960s and early 1970s in Sweden by Svante Odén (Odén, 1976), and in North America by Gene Likens and colleagues (Likens and Bormann, 1974). These scientists and many who followed showed the link to emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources, and documented the environmental effects of acid rain such as the acidification of surface waters and toxic effects on vegetation, fish, and other biota.

Heavy Metal Pollution Evolution in Sediments from Urdaibai Bay (Spain)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soto, J.; Soto, J.A.; Corral, D.; Gelen, A.; Diaz, O.; Navas, A.

2003-01-01

Full Text: The Urdaibai bay is a biosphere reservoir located in the north of Spain. The mayor components of bay sediments come from marls and clays eroded which are deposited together with metallic pollutants present in water, air and rain. For this reason it is possible to study the temporal evolution of the bay pollution by measuring the heavy metal concentrations in the sediments and considering the correspondence with its age. To this aim, sediments cores were taken in two different points of the Urdaibai bay. The cores were cut into 1 cm thick horizontal sections. Sediment dating was performed using a low background gamma spectrometry with GeHP to determine Cs-137, Ra-226 and Pb-210 activities and applying the CIC and CRS models. The heavy metal concentrations in sediments were determined by ICP-MS. The obtained results in one of the studied positions show an increment of the Pb, Zn, Ni, Cu and Cr concentrations in the first 10 cm of the sediment core. This fact can be related to an increase of the bay pollution in the last 100 years. In the second studied core the heavy metal concentrations are constant in depth or lower in the superficial layers. This could be due to an increment the deposition rate of eroded material

Promoting nitrate removal in rain gardens

Science.gov (United States)

Rain gardens are vegetated surface depressions, often located at low points in landscapes, designed to receive stormwater runoff from roads, roofs, and parking lots. The gardens’ sandy soils allow stormwater to drain quickly to the native soils below and eventually to groundwate...

Analysis of wind driven self-excited induction generator supplying isolated DC loads

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaled S. Sakkoury

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the analysis, modelling and simulation of wind-driven self-excited induction generator (SEIG. The three-phase SEIG is driven by a variable-speed prime mover to represent a wind turbine. Also, the paper investigates the dynamic performance of the SEIG during start-up, increasing or decreasing the load or rotor speed. The value of the excitation capacitance required for the SEIG is calculated to give suitable saturation level to assure self-excitation and to avoid heavy saturation levels. Matching of the maximum power available from the wind turbine is performed through varying the load value. The effect of AC–DC power conversion on the generator is investigated. The system simulation is carried out using MATLAB/SIMULINK toolbox program.

Distribution of rain height over subtropical region: Durban, South Africa for satellite communication systems

Science.gov (United States)

Olurotimi, E. O.; Sokoya, O.; Ojo, J. S.; Owolawi, P. A.

2018-03-01

Rain height is one of the significant parameters for prediction of rain attenuation for Earth-space telecommunication links, especially those operating at frequencies above 10 GHz. This study examines Three-parameter Dagum distribution of the rain height over Durban, South Africa. 5-year data were used to study the monthly, seasonal, and annual variations using the parameters estimated by the maximum likelihood of the distribution. The performance estimation of the distribution was determined using the statistical goodness of fit. Three-parameter Dagum distribution shows an appropriate distribution for the modeling of rain height over Durban with the Root Mean Square Error of 0.26. Also, the shape and scale parameters for the distribution show a wide variation. The probability exceedance of time for 0.01% indicates the high probability of rain attenuation at higher frequencies.

Effects of sulfuric, nitric, and mixed acid rain on Chinese fir sapling growth in Southern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xin; Fu, Zhiyuan; Zhang, Bo; Zhai, Lu; Meng, Miaojing; Lin, Jie; Zhuang, Jiayao; Wang, G Geoff; Zhang, Jinchi

2018-05-23

The influence of acid rain on plant growth includes direct effects on foliage as well as indirect soil-mediated effects that cause a reduction in root growth. In addition, the concentration of NO 3 - in acid rain increases along with the rapid growth of nitrogen deposition. In this study, we investigated the impact of simulated acid rain with different SO 4 2- /NO 3 - (S/N) ratios, which were 1:0, 5:1, 1:1, 1:5 and 0:1, on Chinese fir sapling growth from March 2015 to April 2016. Results showed that Chinese fir sapling height growth rate (HGR) and basal diameter growth rate (DGR) decreased as acid rain pH decreased, and also decreased as the percentage of NO 3 - increased in acid rain. Acid rain pH significantly decreased the Chlorophyll a (Chla) and Chlorophyll b (Chlb) content, and Chla and Chlb contents with acid rain S/N 1:5 were significantly lower than those with S/N 1:0 at pH 2.5. The chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, maximal efficiency of Photosystem II photochemistry (Fv/Fm) and non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ), with most acid rain treatments were significantly lower than those with CK treatments. Root activities first increased and then decreased as acid rain pH decreased, when acid rain S/N ratios were 1:1, 1:5 and 0:1. Redundancy discriminant analysis (RDA) showed that the Chinese fir DGR and HGR had positive correlations with Chla, Chlb, Fv/Fm ratio, root activity, catalase and superoxide dismutase activities in roots under the stress of acid rain with different pH and S/N ratios. The structural equation modelling (SEM) results showed that acid rain NO 3 - concentration and pH had stronger direct effects on Chinese fir sapling HGR and DGR, and the direct effects of acid rain NO 3 - concentration and pH on HGR were lower than those on DGR. Our results suggest that the ratio of SO 4 2- to NO 3 - in acid rain is an important factor which could affect the sustainable development of monoculture Chinese fir plantations in southern China