Sulfur dioxide plume dispersion and subsequent absorption by coniferous forests: Field measurements and model calculations

A Forest SO₂ Absorption Model (ForSAM) was developed to simulate (1) SO₂ plume dispersion from an emission source, (2) subsequent SO₂ absorption by coniferous forests growing downwind from the source. There are three modules: (1) a buoyancy module, (2) a dispersion module, and (3) a foliar absorption module. These modules were used to calculate hourly abovecanopy SO₂ concentrations and in-canopy deposition velocities, as well as daily amounts of SO₂ absorbed by the forest canopy for downwind distances to 42 km. Model performance testing was done with meteorological data (including ambient SO₂ concentrations) collected at various locations downwind from a coal-burning power generator at Grand Lake in central New Brunswick, Canada. Annual SO₂ emissions from this facility amounted to about 30,000 tonnes. Calculated SO₂ concentrations were similar to those obtained in the field. Calculated SO₂ deposition velocities generally agreed with published values.Notation c air parcel cooling parameter (non-dimensional) - E foliar absorption quotient (non-dimensional) - f areal fraction of foliage free from water (non-dimensional) - f _w SO₂ content of air parcel - h height of the surface layer (m) - H height of the convective mixing layer (m) - H _stack stack height (m) - k time level - k _drag coefficient of drag on the air parcel (non-dimensional) - K _z eddy viscosity coefficient for SO₂ (m²·s^–1) - L Monin-Obukhov length scale (m) - L _A single-sided leaf area index (LAI) - n degree-of-sky cloudiness (non-dimensional) - N number of parcels released with every puff (non-dimensional) - PAR photosynthetically active radiation (W m^–2) - Q emission rate (kg s^–2) - r _b diffusive boundary-layer resistance (s m^–1) - r _c canopy resistance (s m^–1) - r _cuticle cuticular resistance (s m^–1) - r _m mesophyllic resistance (s m^–1) - r _s stomatal resistance (s m^–1) - r _exit smokestack exit radius (m) - R normally distributed random variable with mean of zero and variance of t (s) - u _* frictional velocity scale, (m s^–1) - v lateral wind vector (m s^–1) - v _d SO₂ dry deposition velocity (m s^–1) - VCD water vapour deficit (mb) - z _can mean tree height (m) - Z zenith position of the sun (deg) - environmental lapse rate (°C m^–1) - dry adiabatic lapse rate (0.00986°C m^–1) - von Kármán's constant (0.04) - _B vertical velocities initiated by buoyancy (m s^–1) - canopy extinction coefficient (non-dimensional) - ()a denotes ambient conditions - ()can denotes conditions at the top of the forest canopy - ()h denotes conditions at the top of the surface layer - ()H denotes conditions at the top of the mixed layer - ()s denotes conditions at the canopy surface - ()p denotes conditions of the air parcels     

Evaluating regional climate model estimates against site-specific observed data in the UK

This paper compares precipitation, maximum and minimum air temperature and solar radiation estimates from the Hadley Centre’s HadRM3 regional climate model (RCM), (50 × 50 km grid cells), with observed data from 15 meteorological station in the UK, for the period 1960–90. The aim was to investigate how well the HadRM3 is able to represent weather characteristics for a historical period (hindcast) for which validation data exist. The rationale was to determine if the HadRM3 data contain systematic errors and to investigate how suitable the data are for use in climate change impact studies at particular locations. Comparing modelled and observed data helps assess and quantify the uncertainty introduced to climate impact studies. The results show that the model performs very well for some locations and weather variable combinations, but poorly for others. Maximum temperature estimations are generally good, but minimum temperature is overestimated and extreme cold events are not represented well. For precipitation, the model produces too many small events leading to a serious under estimation of the number of dry days (zero precipitation), whilst also over- or underestimating the mean annual total. Estimates represent well the temporal distribution of precipitation events. The model systematically over-estimates solar radiation, but does produce good quality estimates at some locations. It is concluded that the HadRM3 data are unsuitable for detailed (i.e. daily time step simulation model based) site-specific impacts studies in their current form. However, the close similarity between modelled and observed data for the historical case raises the potential for using simple adjustment methods and applying these to future projection data.     

Sulfur dioxide in the tropical marine boundary layer: dry deposition and heterogeneous oxidation observed during the Pacific Atmospheric Sulfur Experiment

Research flights with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) C-130 airborne laboratory were conducted over the equatorial ocean during the Pacific Atmospheric Sulfur Experiment (PASE). The focused, repetitive flight plans provided a unique opportunity to explore the principal pathways of sulfur processing in remote marine environments in close detail. Fast airborne measurements of SO₂ using the Drexel University APIMS (Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Mass Spectrometer) instrument further provided unprecedented insight into the complete budget of this important sulfur gas. In general, turbulent mixing in the marine boundary layer (MBL) continuously depletes SO₂ due to the shallow convection of the tropical trade wind regime by venting the gas into the buffer layer (BuL) above. However, on nearly one-third of the flights a net import of SO₂ into the MBL from the BuL was observed. Concurrent measurements of the DMS budget allowed for a heterogeneous S(IV) oxidation rate to be inferred from the SO₂ budget residual. The average heterogeneous loss rate was found to be 0.05 h⁻¹, which taken in conjunction with the observed aerosol surface area distributions and O₃ levels indicates that the supermicron aerosols maintain a near neutral pH. The average dry deposition velocity of SO₂ was found to be 0.4 cm s⁻¹, about 30% lower than predicted by standard parameterizations. The yield of SO₂ from DMS oxidation was found to be near unity. The mission averages indicate that approximately 57% of the SO₂ in the MBL is lost to aerosols, 27% is subject to dry deposition, 7% is mixed into the BuL, and 10% is oxidized by OH.     

Sulfur dioxide in rain clouds: Gas-liquid scavenging efficiencies and wet deposition rates in the presence of formaldehyde

The interaction of formaldehyde with SO₂ dissolved in the aqueous phase of clouds leads to the formation of hydroxymethane sulfonate. The impact of this process upon the gas-liquid equilibrium distribution of SO₂ in rain clouds and the ensuing wet SO₂ precipitation rate is explored. Model vertical SO₂ distributions are derived from observational data for three atmospheric regions: continental polluted, continental remote, and marine. The wet deposition rate for SO₂ in the polluted atmosphere increases by about a factor of two in the presence of formaldehyde compared with its absence. The effect is much stronger in the remote atmosphere leading to a potentially significant enhancement of wet SO₂ deposition. In the marine atmosphere, wet deposition of SO₂ may contribute as much as 35% to the total removal rate for SO₂ by all processes including dry deposition and chemical conversion to sulfate.     

Acidic deposition to forests: The 1985 chemistry of high elevation fog (CHEF) project

Abstract

The literature supporting significant water deposition directly from cloud and fog to the earth's surface is reviewed and previous aircraft and surface measurements of the acidity of this water are summarized. An overview of recent work on forest decline is given and an American (Mountain Cloud Chemistry Project) and Canadian (Chemistry of High Elevation Fog) program to look at the chemical deposition by clouds to high elevation forests, is‐described.

Preliminary measurements in late 1985 on two mountains in Quebec indicate that fog (cloud on the mountain) water pH values (≈3.8) near the summits (850–970 m) are much lower than precipitation pH values (≈ 4.3) at the same location; the summits are estimated to be in cloud 44% of the year with lower percentages at lower elevations; an estimate of total annual fog water deposition (77 cm) near the summit is similar to the average annual precipitation in Quebec; the estimated fog water hydrogen ion deposition (135 meq m^?2) is about three times that from the precipitation; the precipitation pH values may be lower (4.1 ver sus 4.3) at lower elevations with precipitation amounts perhaps 50% higher at higher elevations.     

Sulfur distribution and transport studies in East Asia using eulerian model

A three-dimensional regional Eulerian model of sulfur deposition and transport is developed. Processes treated in the model include emission, transport, diffusion, gas-phase and aqueous-phase chemical process, dry deposition, rainout and washout or sulfur. A “looking up table” method is provided to deal with the gas-phase chemical process including sulfur transfer. Dry-depositon velocity considers the influence of underlying surface, wind, degree of stabil-ity by parameterization. Model calculated values reasonably agrees with observation. Distribution of sulfur deposi-tion and transport in East Asia are also analyzed in this paper. Some amount of sulfur emission of different countries transport across boundaries, but the main origin of sulfur deposition in each country in East Asia is from itself. Furthermore, some transport paths on different layers and outlet or inlet zones are found. According to sulfur bal?ance and budget we concluded that sulfur outlets are bigger than inlets across boundary and emissions are more than deposition in most places of East Asia.     

Inorganic ions and trace metals bulk deposition at an Atlantic Coastal European region

The inorganic chemical composition (major ions and trace metals) of bulk deposition samples collected monthly with bulk collectors at seven Atlantic Coastal European cities (Galicia, Northwest of Spain) during wet season (September 2011 to March 2012) has been assessed and compared. Trace metals (Al, As, Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, V and Zn) were analysed in soluble fraction and non-soluble fraction (after acid extraction) of the bulk deposition by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Major inorganic ions (Cl^?, NO₃ ^?, SO₄ ^2?, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and NH₄ ⁺) were analysed in the soluble fraction of the bulk deposition by capillary zone electrophoresis. Univariate analysis (ANOVA and Multiple Range Test) according to the location of each sampling site was performed. Results also suggest a great influence of cleaner Atlantic air masses. After partition coefficients and enrichment factor estimation, similar sources could be assigned for the ionic and metal composition of bulk deposition at seven urban sites.     

Reconstructing biomes from palaeoecological data: a general method and its application to European pollen data at 0 and 6 ka

Biome models allow the results of experiments with atmospheric general circulation models to be translated into global maps of potential natural vegetation. The use of biome models as a diagnostic tool for palaeoclimate simulations can yield maps that are directly comparable with palaeoecological (pollen and plant macrofossil) records provided these records are biomized, i.e. assigned to biomes in a consistent way. This article describes a method for the objective biomization of pollen samples based on fuzzy logic. Pollen types (taxa) are assigned to one or more plant functional types (PFTs), then affinity scores are calculated for each biome in turn based on its list of characteristic PFTs. The pollen sample is assigned to the biome to which it has the highest affinity, subject to a tie-breaking rule. Modern pollen data from surface samples, reflecting present vegetation across Europe, are used to validate the method. Pollen data from dated sediment cores are then used to reconstruct European vegetation patterns for 6 ka. The reconstruction shows systematic differences from present that are consistent with previous interpretations. The method has proved robust with respect to human impacts on vegetation, and provides a rational way to interpret combinations of pollen types that do not have present-day analogs. The method demands minimal prior information and is therefore equally suitable for use in other regions with richer floras, and/or lower densities of available modern and fossil pollen samples, than Europe.     

European winter precipitation extremes and large-scale circulation: a coupled model and its scenarios

Summary The physical coupling between the occurrence of winter heavy precipitation in Europe and the surface large-scale circulation is studied by isolating their coupled modes with a singular value decomposition technique. The leading mode is a clear manifestation of the North Atlantic Oscillation forcing. The second mode reflects the influence of a centre-of-action in the pressure field westward of the British Isles. The Hadley Centre Coupled Model (3^rd generation) is skilful in reproducing these two modes and an eastward extension of the North Atlantic Oscillation towards the Mediterranean Basin is projected under two future climatic scenarios. This extension yields an increase in the North Atlantic Oscillation forcing over the occurrence of heavy precipitation in several regions of Southern Europe, which is corroborated by the changes in the coupling of the daily precipitation. A combination of the first six coupled modes of the daily precipitation revealed that its amounts in some parts of Western Europe and the Mediterranean are effectively governed by the large-scale circulation. The model is still reasonably skilful in reproducing this large-scale coupling. The projected modifications, both in the strength and in the patterns of the coupled modes, explain important fractions of the projected changes in variance, which ultimately have implications in the occurrence of heavy precipitation in several European areas. Therefore, the ability of a model in reproducing the large-scale forcing over the daily precipitation is important for the reliability of its projections of the occurrence of heavy precipitation in Europe.     

Twentieth century Walker Circulation change: data analysis and model experiments

Recent studies indicate a weakening of the Walker Circulation during the twentieth century. Here, we present evidence from an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) forced by the history of observed sea surface temperature (SST) that the Walker Circulation may have intensified rather than weakened. Observed Equatorial Indo-Pacific Sector SST since 1870 exhibited a zonally asymmetric evolution: While the eastern part of the Equatorial Pacific showed only a weak warming, or even cooling in one SST dataset, the western part and the Equatorial Indian Ocean exhibited a rather strong warming. This has resulted in an increase of the SST gradient between the Maritime Continent and the eastern part of the Equatorial Pacific, one driving force of the Walker Circulation. The ensemble experiments with the AGCM, with and without time-varying external forcing, suggest that the enhancement of the SST gradient drove an anomalous atmospheric circulation, with an enhancement of both Walker and Hadley Circulation. Anomalously strong precipitation is simulated over the Indian Ocean and anomalously weak precipitation over the western Pacific, with corresponding changes in the surface wind pattern. Some sensitivity to the forcing SST, however, is noticed. The analysis of twentieth century integrations with global climate models driven with observed radiative forcing obtained from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) database support the link between the SST gradient and Walker Circulation strength. Furthermore, control integrations with the CMIP models indicate the existence of strong internal variability on centennial timescales. The results suggest that a radiatively forced signal in the Walker Circulation during the twentieth century may have been too weak to be detectable.     

近40 a呼伦贝尔市暴雨时空变化特征分析

利用2015-2017年GPM-IMERG逐日降水产品与内蒙古119个气象站点降水数据进行对比,分析GPM-IMERG的适用性,为其在内蒙古地区的应用研究提供科学依据。分析表明：（1）GPM-IMERG捕捉降水日的准确度为74.3%,忽略非降水日的准确度为85.5%,对晴雨判别的总体误差随纬度增加而增加。（2）GPM-IMERG在内蒙古地区平均误差为正和为负的站点数量大体相当,平均绝对误差为4.1 mm,空间上呈现出自东南向西北递减分布。（3）GPM-IMERG在少量降水时存在对降水量的高估,而在较大量级降水时存在对降水量的低估。当降水量大于等于25 mm时,GPM-IMERG比气象站点降水平均偏少30%以上。（4）各盟市GPM-IMERG与站点降水的相关系数均能通过0.01的显著性水平检验,其中赤峰市的相关系数最高、乌海市最低。不同季节中,夏季的相关系数最高而春季的相关系数最低。对于不同植被类型来说,高植被覆盖区的GPM-IMERG与站点降水的斜率更加接近1,且相关系数也更高。

     

Variational data assimilation in the tropics using precipitation data part I: Column model

Summary This paper describes initial effort in the development of a four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-Var) in the tropics using precipitation data derived from remote sensing. The method of 4D-Var using precipitation data is formulated, and modifications to the parameterization schemes of moist processes to remove zeroth-order discontinuities are described. Variational data assimilation experiments are carried out using a column model to investigate the problems caused by discontinuities in parameterization schemes and assess the impact of assimilating precipitation data in the tropics.It is found that variational data assimilation with discontinuous parameterization schemes exhibits large fluctuations during the minimization process, slow convergence rates, and large analysis errors. The fluctuations become much more serious when precipitation data is assimilated. Precipitation data is very useful to estimate divergence in the tropics, provided that the temporal resolution of the data is sufficiently high. However, its impact on the analysis of temperature and moisture is not clear in the column model assimilation experiments, possibly due to the absence of horizontal advection.     

Validation of chemistry transport model of the lower atmosphere in the central European region of Russia using ground-based and satellite measurement data

A modern three-dimensional chemistry transport model is adopted for computation of air pollution with photo-oxidants in the Moscow megalopolis and in the several neighboring regions. Along the vertical, the model covers the entire troposphere and has a two-scale horizontal structure, when the resolution of the “inserted” domain is about 13 km. The model computation results are compared with the satellite tropospheric nitrogen dioxide measurements and ground-based measurements of the surface ozone concentration. The analysis results of one of the episodes of enhanced ozone content is considered as an example of a possible use of the model considered as a diagnostic tool for studying issues connected with the air pollution in the region under consideration.     

Tropical forests: Present status and future outlook

Tropical forests still cover almost 8 million km² of the humid tropics. But they are being destroyed at ever-more rapid rates. In 1989 the area deforested amounted to 142 200 km², or nearly 90% more than in 1979. So whereas the 1989 total amounted to 1.8% of the remaining biome, the proportion could well continue to rise for the foreseeable future, until there is little forest left in just another few decades.Deforestation patterns are far from even throughout the biome. In much if not most of Southeast and Southern Asia, East and West Africa, and Central America, there is likely to be little forest left by the year 2000 or shortly thereafter. But in the Zaire basin, western Brazilian Amazonia and the Guyana highlands, sizeable expanses of forest could persist a good while longer.The main agent of deforestation is the shifted cultivator or displaced peasant, who, responding to land hunger and general lack of rural development in traditional farming areas of countries concerned, feels there is no alternative but to adopt a slash-and-burn lifestyle in forestlands. This person is now accounting for at least 60% of deforestation, a proportion that is expanding rapidly. Yet he receives far less policy attention than the commercial logger, the cattle rancher and other agents of deforestation.This is a summary review of a report Deforestation Rates in Tropical Forests and Their Climatic Implications, prepared by the author and Richard A. Houghton for Friends of the Earth U.K. (available from 26–28 Underwood St., London N1 7JQ). A similar review, albeit with less updating than is included here, has been published by Myers, 1990a. The original report, being five times longer than the present paper, contains much detail of deforestation assessments on a country-by-country basis, backed by 400 references. It also presents information on research methodologies and reliability of data among other background materials, plus an analysis of carbon emissions from deforestation, as well as some policy appraisal and conservation recommendations.     

资料均一化对气温变化趋势及其城市化偏差估计的影响：以北京地区为例

当前的地面气候观测资料普遍存在非气候性因素导致的非均一性,对气候变化监测和研究结论可靠性造成重要影响。结合观测台站的历史沿革数据,使用ACMANT和Pairwise Comparisons方法以及RHtest V4软件,对北京地区20个台站均一化前的月平均气温序列进行了非均一性检验和订正,最后评估了均一化对北京地区气温序列变化趋势及其城市化偏差估算的影响。结果表明：除元数据中记录的断点外,无元数据记录的断点也会对序列的趋势变化造成明显影响,其中乡村站最显著;经过订正,1958—2018年整个北京地区、乡村站以及城市站增温趋势分别为0.27℃/(10 a)、0.10℃/(10 a)和0.32℃/(10 a),较订正前分别上升了0.03℃/(10 a)、0.06℃/(10 a)和0.02℃/(10 a)。利用均一化资料估算,1958—2018年北京观象台的城市化影响为0.24℃/(10 a),城市化贡献率为70.2%,评估结果较前人结论有所降低。可见,在现有的北京地区气温资料序列中,仍可能存在较明显的非均一性和未被记录的断点,对区域平均气温趋势估算具有显著影响。     

Inversion method for multi-point source pollution identification: Sensitivity analysis and application to European Tracer Experiment data

Fast and accurate identification of unknown pollution sources plays a crucial role in the emergency response and source control of air pollution. In this work, the applicability of a previously proposed two-step inversion method is investigated with sensitivity experiments and real data from the first release of the European Tracer Experiment (ETEX-1). The two-step inversion method is based on the principle of least squares and carries out additional model correction through the residual iterative process. To evaluate its performance, its retrieval results are compared with those of two other existing algorithms. It is shown that for those cases with richer measurements, all three methods are less sensitive to errors, while for cases where measurements are sparse, their retrieval accuracy will rapidly decrease as errors increase. From the results of sensitivity experiments, the new method provides higher estimation accuracy and a more stable performance than the other two methods. The new method presents the smallest maximum location error of 18.20 km when the amplitude of the measurement error increases to 100%, and 22.67 km when errors in the wind fields increase to 200%. Moreover, when applied to ETEX-1 data, the new method also exhibits good performance, with a location error of 4.71 km, which is the best estimation with respect to source location.摘要快速并且准确地识别未知污染源, 在大气污染应急响应和源头控制过程中起着至关重要的作用. 本文利用敏感性试验及欧洲示踪物测场试验(ETEX-1)数据研究了新提出的两步反演算法的实用性, 并将其反演结果与现有的两种算法进行了对比分析. 敏感试验表明, 在观测数据较为丰富的情况下, 三种算法对观测误差和风场误差的敏感性均较低; 而当观测数据较为稀疏时, 所有算法的估计精度都将随着误差的增加而下降, 但与其他两种算法相比, 两步反演算法具有更高的估计精度以及更稳定的估计性能. 此外, 欧洲示踪物测场试验的源项估计结果也表明, 在三个算法中, 两步反演算法具有最小的位置估计误差.