Sputtering and high altitude meteors

Conventional ablation theory assumes that a meteoroid undergoes intensive heating during atmospheric flight and surface atoms are liberated through thermal processes. Our research has indicated that physical sputtering could play a significant role in meteoroid mass loss. Using a 4th order Runge-Kutta numerical integration technique, we tabulated the mass loss due to the two ablation mechanisms and computed the fraction of total mass lost due to sputtering. We modeled cometary structure meteoroids with masses ranging from 10⁻¹³ to 10⁻³ kg and velocities ranging from 11.2 to 71 km s⁻¹. Our results indicate that a significant fraction of the mass loss for small, fast meteors is due to sputtering, particularly in the early portion of the light curve. In the past 6 years evidence has emerged for meteor luminosity at heights greater than can be explained by conventional ablation theory. We have applied our sputtering model and find excellent agreement with these observations, and therefore suggest that sputtered material accounts for the new type of radiation found at great heights.     

Global climatic change – the latest scientific understanding

IPCCs statement in its 1995 report (IPCC 1996) that a human influence was discernible in global climate has been widely quoted but often misunderstood. The character of the evidence underpinning this detection statement is explained so that its strengths and weaknesses can be better understood and the subtleties of its message better appreciated. To demonstrate the close linkage between the government-approved summary and the underlying chapters of the IPCC report the detailed evolution of the detection statement from first draft through to the form finally approved by the IPCC is described.     

Analysis of the surface temperature and wind forecast errors of the NCAR-AirDat operational CONUS 4-km WRF forecasting system

Investigating the characteristics of model-forecast errors using various statistical and object-oriented methods is necessary for providing useful guidance to end-users and model developers as well. To this end, the random and systematic errors (i.e., biases) of the 2-m temperature and 10-m wind predictions of the NCAR-AirDat weather research and forecasting (WRF)-based real-time four-dimensional data assimilation (RTFDDA) and forecasting system are analyzed. This system has been running operationally over a contiguous United States (CONUS) domain at a 4-km grid spacing with four forecast cycles daily from June 2009 to September 2010. In the result an exceptionally useful forecast dataset was generated and used for studying the error properties of the model forecasts, in terms of both a longer time period and a broader coverage of geographic regions than previously studied. Spatiotemporal characteristics of the errors are investigated based on the 24-h forecasts between June 2009 and April 2010, and the 72-h forecasts between May and September 2010. It was found that the biases of both wind and temperature forecasts vary greatly seasonally and diurnally, with dependency on the forecast length, station elevation, geographical location, and meteorological conditions. The temperature showed systematic cold biases during the daytime at all station elevations and warm biases during the nighttime above 1,000 m above sea level (ASL), while below 600 m ASL cold biases occurred during the nighttime. The forecasts of surface wind speed exhibited strong positive biases during the nighttime, while the negative biases were observed in the spring and summer afternoons. The surface wind speed was mostly over-predicted except for the stations located between 1,000 and 2,100 m ASL, for which negative biases were identified for most forecast cycles. The highest wind-speed errors were found over the high terrain and near sea-level stations. The wind-direction errors were relatively large at the high-terrain elevation in the Rocky and Appalachian mountain ranges and the western coastal areas and the error structure exhibited notable diurnal variability.     

The unusual X-ray light curve of GRB 080307: the onset of the afterglow?

Swift -detected GRB 080307 showed an unusual smooth rise in its X-ray light curve around 100 s after the burst, at the start of which the emission briefly softened. This 'hump' has a longer duration than is normal for a flare at early times and does not demonstrate a typical flare profile. Using a two-component power-law-to-exponential model, the rising emission can be modelled as the onset of the afterglow, something which is very rarely seen in Swift -X-ray light curves. We cannot, however, rule out that the hump is a particularly slow early-time flare, or that it is caused by upscattered reverse shock electrons.     

Coordinated Study on Solar Wind Turbulence During the Venus-Express, ACE and Ulysses Alignment of August 2007

At the end of August 2007, Venus, Earth and Ulysses were aligned within a few degrees. This unusual event gives the opportunity to attempt a coordinated study on the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence and coronal transients like CMEs between 0.7 and 1.4 AU. Interplanetary magnetic field data and moments of proton velocity distribution function such as density, speed and temperature are required for this programme and will be provided by ACE at Earth, Venus Express at Venus and Ulysses at 1.4 AU. This project has been recently proposed as a Coordinated Investigation Programme (CIP35) for the International Heliophysical Year.     

Treatment of Malting Wastewater in a Granular Sludge Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR)

Aerobic granular sludge was successfully cultivated in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating wastewater from the malting process with a high content of particulate organic matter. At an organic loading rate of 3.2 kg/(m³ d) COD_total and an influent particle concentration of 0.95 g/L MLSS an average removal of 50% in COD_total and 80% in COD_dissolved could be achieved. A comparison of granular and flocculent sludge grown under the same operating conditions showed no significant difference in removal efficiency although granules exhibited a higher metabolic activity in terms of specific oxygen uptake rate (r_{O2, X}). Two distinct mechanisms of particle removal were observed for granular sludge: during initial granule formation, particles were incorporated into the biofilm matrix. For mature granules, a high level of protozoa growth on the granule surface accounted for the ability to remove particulate COD. Combined evaluation of the development in MLSS content and sludge bed settling rate (i.e., mean derivative of the normalized sludge volume) was found to be an adequate method for monitoring the characteristic settling properties of a granulizing sludge bed. By means of this method, a distinct substrate gradient out of several operating conditions was concluded to have the biggest impact on the formation of aerobic granular sludge.     

Effects of onshore and offshore topography on sea breeze circulation: An observational study at eastern Attica,Greece

Field measurements of wind, air temperature and humidity were taken at the eastern part of the Attika district in June 1991, to examine the topographic influences exerted on the local sea breezes. These influences are due either to the elongated Evia island, faced by the northern half of Attica coastline some tens of kilometers offshore, or to the coast-parallel range of Hymettos mountain, rising steeply 12 km onshore. The instrumentation consisted mainly of three tethered meteorological balloons released at characteristic sires (i.e., the coast, a location between shoreline and mountain foot and the mountain top) and three autographic ground-based anemometers operating at selected locations. Data from the ground-based and upper air stations of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, as well as the diurnal weather maps were also obtained and analyzed. Observations were made under different synoptic wind and the latter was found to determine remarkably the significance of the topographic effects. A preliminary two-dimensional numerical approach was also made concerning the sea breeze capability to reach the Hymettos mountain top in the case of a weak opposing geostrophic flow.     

Basic Environmental–Hydrogeological Studies in the Territory of European Russia Affected by Chernobyl Accident

Water Resources - A procedure for assessing the protection of groundwater against pollution is considered. This is a basic procedure for tentative forecast estimates of changes in the...