On the scavenging of gaseous nitrogen compounds by large and small rain drops I. A wind tunnel and theoretical study of the uptake and desorption of NH3 in the presence of CO2

An experimental study has been carried out in the Mainz vertical wind tunnel to determine the rate at which NH₃ in the presence of CO₂ is absorbed by freely suspended water drops. The experimental uptake rates were found to be in good agreement with the rates predicted by the Kronig-Brink convective diffusion model and, for gas concentrations in the ppbv range also by the model in which it is assumed that the absorbed gas is well mixed inside the drop (henceforth called well mixed model). The same conclusion was shown to apply also to the desorption of NH₃ from a drop previously exposed to NH₃. The latter result is in contrast to the desorption of SO₂ which must be described by a model which accounts for the diffusion of the species inside the drop. Comparison of our experimental results with theory show further that the uptake of NH₃ in presence of CO₂ is significantly overestimated if the slow reaction CO_2(aq)+H₂OHCO ₃ ^– +H⁺ is neglected in the theoretical computation.     

Exact solution of the source problem for a finite threedimensional source

Summary In this note the surface displacement for an elastic half-space due to a finite cylindrical source has been calculated in exact terms. The source consists of outward body forces acting on the surface of the right circular cylinder, one end of which is parallel to the free surface of the half-space.     

Homogeneous freezing of single sulfuric and nitric acid solution drops levitated in an acoustic trap

The freezing temperatures of single supercooled drops of binary and ternary sulfuric and nitric acid solutions were measured while varying the acid concentration. An acoustic levitator was used which allows to freely suspend single solution drops in air without electrical charges thereby avoiding any electrical influences which may affect the freezing process. The drops of typically 500 µm in radius were monitored by a video camera during cooling cycles down to − 85 °C to simulate the upper tropospheric and stratospheric temperature range. The present data confirm that liquid solution droplets can be supercooled far below the equilibrium melting point by approximately 35 °C. They follow the general trend of the expected freezing temperatures for homogeneous ice nucleation.     

Total column ozone retrieval using INSAT-3D sounder in the tropics: A simulation study

The present study examines the potential of infrared sounder observations from Indian geostationary satellite INSAT-3D for the estimation of total column integrated ozone over the tropical Indian region. A dataset with diverse profiles was used to create training and testing datasets using forward simulations from a radiative transfer model for infrared sounder channels. A study was carried out for the standard tropical atmospheric profile to examine the sensitivity of ozone band radiance corresponding to the atmospheric temperature, water vapour, and ozone mixing ratios at different atmospheric pressure levels. Further, statistical retrieval technique has been used for the total column ozone estimation using two different approaches: (i) ozone channel observation along with the a-priori estimate of temperature and water vapour profile and (ii) only sounder channels observations. The accuracy of the retrieval algorithms was examined for different errors in the atmospheric profiles for the method (i) and different sensor noise specification for the method (ii). This study has shown that accurate temperature information is very important for ozone estimation and lower instrument noise results in better ozone estimates.     

Laboratory studies about the interaction of ammonia with ice crystals at temperatures between 0 and −20°C

In laboratory experiments the interactions of ammonia with ice crystals were studied within the temperature range between 0 and −20°C. In a first series of experiments dendritic ice crystals were grown from water vapor in presence of ammonia gas in various concentrations between 4 and 400 ppbv. In a second series of experiments pure ice crystals were exposed to a humidified ammonia–air mixture inside a horizontal flow tube. The influence of temperature, ammonia gas concentration (0.6, 1.5, and 10 ppmv), exposure time, and the presence of impurities such as sulfate on the ammonia uptake by the ice surface was investigated by determining the ammonium content in the melt water of the ice crystals by ion chromatography. During the growth of ice crystals significant amounts of ammonia (around 200 μg/l) were taken up even at small gas concentrations. In contrast, even at high gas concentrations the uptake of ammonia by non-growing ice crystals was lower by approximately one order of magnitude. The presence of sulfate on the ice surface affected an enhanced uptake of ammonia by a factor of 5–10. A model is presented which describes the uptake of ammonia by ice considering the chemical processes occurring in the ice surface layer and simultaneous diffusion of ammonia into bulk ice. Even the increased uptake of ammonia by growing ice is rather small compared to the uptake by water droplets; thus, the major process for scavenging of ammonia from the atmosphere via the ice phase might not be the direct uptake by ice crystals but the riming involving super-cooled droplets containing ammonia.     

Geomorphological study of sundarban deltaic estuary

Study of landforms in Sundarbans deltaic estuary is necessary in regular basis due to its importance and impact on ecology, climate and economy. Remote sensing has proved as an important tool to study this. Multi-temporal satellite data helps to delineate the various geomorphic classes in different time domain and also provide inputs to study the coastal erosion and accretion. Finer spatial and better temporal resolution will be an added adventure for this kind of study.     

A Comparison of Sea Surface Fluxes over Southern Indian Ocean Cruise Expedition Observation and NCEP Reanalysis

Surface layer atmospheric and ocean observations have been collected along the cruise track from a special scientific expedition to Antarctica. Bulk estimates of surface momentum flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux have been computed applying bulk algorithms from the data collected along cruise track during the time period January 27 to March 31, 2006, and compared the results with National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis. Underestimation of surface momentum flux in roaring forties (40°S–50°S) area of Indian Ocean is seen from NCEP reanalysis. Systemic differences in sensible and latent heat fluxes between observed and NCEP reanalysis have been found. Along the cruise track, the average sensible (latent) heat flux was 9.45 Wm^?2 (67.46 Wm^?2) and 3.75 Wm^?2 (64.45 Wm^?2) from the direct measurement and NCEP reanalysis, respectively. The NCEP reanalysis is being widely used in numerical modeling studies, and the discrepancies shown in the NCEP reanalysis in present study will be of immense use to the modeling community of the Indian Ocean in general and Southern Indian Ocean in particular.     

Capillary hysteresis and gravity segregation in two phase flow through porous media

We study the gravity driven flow of two fluid phases in a one dimensional homogeneous porous column when history dependence of the pressure difference between the phases (capillary pressure) is taken into account. In the hyperbolic limit, solutions of such systems satisfy the Buckley-Leverett equation with a non-monotone flux function. However, solutions for the hysteretic case do not converge to the classical solutions in the hyperbolic limit in a wide range of situations. In particular, with Riemann data as initial condition, stationary shocks become possible in addition to classical components such as shocks, rarefaction waves and constant states. We derive an admissibility criterion for the stationary shocks and outline all admissible shocks. Depending on the capillary pressure functions, flux function and the Riemann data, two cases are identified a priori for which the solution consists of a stationary shock. In the first case, the shock remains at the point where the initial condition is discontinuous. In the second case, the solution is frozen in time in at least one semi-infinite half. The predictions are verified using numerical results.

     

A quantitative study of deformation mechanisms and finite strain in quartzites

The Weverton quartzites in the Maryland Blue Ridge are deformed by one major period of greenschist-grade deformation. The components of finite strain due to different independent mechanisms have been measured for these rocks. The total strain is split up into two major components: $$\varepsilon ^t = \varepsilon ^p + \varepsilon ^d .$$ The finite natural strain caused by dislocation creep (? ^d ) is measured by a new technique using folded and stretched rutile needles which are good strain markers within the quartz crystals. Pressure solution strain (? ^p ) is measured from the ratio of the area of new crystals and fibers to the whole rock area in principal sections. Grain boundary sliding is a dependent process which accompanies both mechanisms. Pressure solution obeys a linear Newtonian flow law, \(\left| {\dot \gamma _0^p } \right| = A_p \left| {\tau _0 } \right|\) , while dislocation creep obeys a power law of the form \(\left| {\dot \gamma _0^d } \right| = A_d \left| {\tau _0 } \right|^n \) where \(\dot \gamma _0^p ,\dot \gamma _0^d \) are octahedral shear strain rates, τ₀ is the octahedral shear stress and A _p , A _p and n are constants. A direct correlation between finite strain measurements and the operating flow laws can be made. Application of these methods and principles to a few field examples indicates that the rocks obey a flow law partly governed by each mechanism. Any set of physical conditions defines a unique flow law and there is a transition in creep behavior from dominantly Newtonian to a power law with increasing strain rate.