The Characteristics of Atmospheric Ice Nuclei Measured at Different Altitudes in the Huangshan Mountains in Southeast China简

The concentration of ice nuclei （IN） and the relationship with aerosol particles were measured and analyzed using three 5-L mixing cloud chambers and a static diffusion cloud chamber at three altitudes in the Huangshan Mountains in Southeast China from May to September 2011.The results showed that the mean total number concentration of IN on the highest peak of the Huangshan Mountains at an activation temperature （Ta） of-20℃C was 16.6 L-1.When the supersaturation with respect to water （Sw） and with respect to ice （Si） were set to 5％,the average number concentrations of IN measured at an activation temperature of-20℃C by the static diffusion cloud chamber were 0.89 and 0.105 L-1,respectively.A comparison of the concentrations of IN at three different altitudes showed that the concentration of IN at the foot of the mountains was higher than at the peak.A further calculation of the correlation between IN and the concentrations of aerosol particles of different size ranges showed that the IN concentration was well correlated with the concentration of aerosol particles in the size range of 1.2-20 μtm.It was also found that the IN concentration varied with meteorological conditions,such as wind speed,with higher IN concentrations often observed on days with strong wind.An analysis of the backward trajectories of air masses showed that low IN concentrations were often related to air masses travelling along southwest pathways,while higher IN concentrations were usually related to those transported along northeast pathways.     

Physics of Seismic Source Ⅲ. Statistical Mechanics of Earthquakes

The statistical mechanics of earthquakes adopts the concepts and methodology of statistical mechanics, especially the theory of critical phenomena, in studying the preparation, initiation, propagation and healing of earthquake rupture, which forms a new branch in the physics of seismic source in recent years. This article introduces to the fundamental concepts of the statistical mechanics of earthquakes. The introduction includes the seismic Hamiltonian, percolation model, earthquake rupture nucleation, and Burridge-Knopoff spring-block model. It is pointed out that some of the statistical mechanical models of earthquakes have a sound seismological basis. There is a smooth "transition" from the "classical" theory to the "modern" theory of seismic source.     

Resources of the ionized atmosphere as an aerosol source

The potential resources on the ion-stimulated syntheses effects of aerosol particles of lower troposphere in test sites in the arctic, mountain, arid and forest areas as the function of irradiation time and gas-precursor concentration were experimentally and theoretically evaluated. The dust-free outdoor air was irradiated with an ionization current of 10^− 6 A by α-rays from isotope ²³⁹Pu. The total output of radiolytic aerosols (RA) with a diameter of 3–1000 nm was found to be 0.05–0.1 molecules per 1 eV of absorbed radiation, while the physical upper limit is 0.25–0.4 molecules/eV. In an interval of exposition time from 6 to 800 s (adsorbed energy is 3 · 10¹²–10¹⁴ eV/cm³) the RA mass concentration at different sites was increased from 1–10 to 50–500 μg/m³. According to the liquid chromatography data the major RA material is the H₂O/HNO₃ solution with acid concentration  25%. The used physical model presents new aerosols as a product from small and intermediate ion association through formation of neutral clusters and describes adequately some of the peculiarities in field experiment data. Introducing SO₂, NH₃, and also hydrochloric, nitric and sulphuric acid vapours with concentration 0.1–1 mg/m³ in the irradiated air stimulated an increase of mass aerosol concentration by a factor of 8–30. The mean size also decreased by a factor of 3–5. These facts allowed us to expect that the chemical composition of radiolytic aerosols generated in outdoor air would noticeably differ after addition of the gas-precursors.     

Experimental study of the effect of temperature on ion cluster formation using ion mobility spectrometry

Ion mobility spectrometry offers a robust and effective technique to study ion clusters in ambient conditions. Here, we have experimentally studied the influence of temperature on the positive ion cluster formation of 2-propanol vapor in air, along with parallel measurements for n-butyl acetate vapor in air. For both of these low proton affinity compounds in the ppm concentration range, temperatures below 0 °C tend to favor formation of dimers and trimers. The measurements indicate that approximate estimations for the fractions of these n-mers (n > 1) in the ion spectra, can be obtained by classical theory for ion induced nucleation. Presence of natural background vapors however slightly blurs the data, especially for the fraction of monomers, so that accurate prediction of the fractions of n-mers in the spectra would require more accurate information on the gas composition. The findings concerning thermal behavior of ions help to understand better ion phenomena also in field conditions.     

On the formation and growth of atmospheric nanoparticles

In this paper we summarize recent experimental, theoretical and observational results on the formation and growth of atmospheric nanoparticles. During the last years significant progress has occurred to explain atmospheric nucleation and initial steps of the growth. Due to climatic and health effects of fine and ultrafine particles the formation and growth of new aerosol particles is of growing interest. The question “How and under which conditions does the formation of new atmospheric aerosol particles take place?” has exercised the minds of scientists since the time of John Aitken, who in the late 1880s built the first apparatus to measure the number of dust and fog particles. However, only during the last 15–20 years has the measurement technology developed to such a level that size distributions of nanometer-size particles and concentrations of gases participating in particle formation can be measured in the atmosphere. Also from a theoretical point of view atmospheric nucleation mechanisms have not been resolved: several mechanisms such as ion-induced (or ion mediated) nucleation, ternary and kinetic (barrier-less) nucleation have been suggested. In the most recent theory, the activation of existing neutral and/or ion clusters has been suggested.     

The fast Ice Nucleus chamber FINCH

We present first results of our new developed Ice Nucleus (IN) counter FINCH from the sixth Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiment (CLACE 6) campaign at Jungfraujoch station, 3571 m asl. Measurements were made at the total and the ICE CVI inlet. Laboratory measurements of ice onset temperatures by FINCH are compared to those of the static diffusion chamber FRIDGE (FRankfurt Ice Deposition Freezing Experiment). Within the errors of both new instruments the results compare well to published data.     

Crack nucleation in saturated porous media

Crack nucleation has been the subject of important contributions in the last two last decades. However, it seems that few attention has been granted to the case of saturated porous media. This is the question addressed in the present paper which is devoted to nucleation in traction mode. From a physical point of view, nucleation is a sudden phenomenon, so that the material response is both adiabatic and undrained. In the spirit of the variational approach, the nucleated crack is viewed as the final state of a region of space in which the material undergoes a full damage process. In traction mode, the opening of a saturated crack in undrained condition induces a drop of fluid pressure. In case of low fluid compressibility, the presence of the fluid delays the brittle failure usually associated with nucleation, as long as the fluid pressure remains above the saturation vapor pressure. Nucleation is therefore possible only if a partial vaporization of the fluid takes place.     

典型构造微破裂集结的实验研究

通过大理岩破裂实验,考察了典型构造中微裂纹的演化、集结的过程和特征．根据损伤理论,分析了构造对微破裂演化的控制作用．根据微破裂集结临界条件的相似原理,认为这些特征可以类推到公里尺度,它们有助于解释地震中短期阶段的前震或广义前震分布,作为地震前兆的一次效应．其它物理效应为二次或三次效应．微破裂集结时局部密度突然加大,有助于解释部分前兆记录突跳现象．非集结部分出现部分微裂纹愈合,密度反向变化,有助于解释一些前兆记录在短临阶段记录中出现反向的现象．考察了不同构造的不同部位微破裂萌生和演化的范围差异,这些差异有助于解释不同地质构造孕震区域的孕震过程,从而可解释板缘和板内地震前兆记录的差异．这种差异可能被不同观点学者分别引用,以论证地震是否有前兆记录的问题．然而,在考察不同地区的前兆记录时,必须注意不同地区的地质背景．      

机载碘化银发生器燃烧室残留物成分分析

通过对碘化银发生器残留物样本化学分析,残留物附着规律及其成因研究,最后提出了减少残留物的对策。