The Impact on the Positioning Accuracy of the Frequency Reference of a GPS Receiver

Despite the pervasive use of the global positioning system (GPS) as a positioning technology for its high efficiency and accuracy, several factors reduce its performance. This study examines to which extent the frequency offset and the frequency stability of the internal quartz oscillator or of an externally supplied rubidium oscillator have an influence. Observations were made at the Taiwan Ching Yun University (TCYU) tracking station, where a quartz oscillator and a rubidium oscillator were applied alternatively on a monthly basis throughout a 16-month period. Moreover, the accuracy of the local oscillator used in this study was calibrated by the National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory, Taiwan. The frequency offset and frequency stability calculated via the remote method at the TCYU station were compared with values (uncertainty is 3.0E?13) measured directly at the National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory, Taiwan. Analytical results show that the two methods vary by 1.4E?10 in terms of frequency offset and by 6.5E?12 in terms of frequency stability, demonstrating that the remote method can yield computational results almost as accurate as direct measurement. Positioning precision results also show that rubidium oscillator accuracy improved by 5, 11, and 15 % for short-, medium-, and long-baseline positioning, respectively, indicating that clock quality is more influential for long-baseline GPS relative positioning and that the frequency stability of a receiver clock is far more critical than the frequency offset. On the other hand, the positioning performance noted is essentially independent (max. 15 % change) of the reference frequency stability, which indeed differed by 4 orders of magnitude.     

Development of a global flood risk index based on natural and socio-economic factors

Abstract

A global flood risk index (FRI) is established, based on both natural and social factors. The advanced flood risk index (AFRI) is the expectation of damage in the case of a single flood occurrence, estimated by a linear regression-based approach as a function of hazard and vulnerability metrics. The resulting equations are used to predict potential flood damage given gridded global data for independent variables. It is new in the aspect that it targets floods by units of events, instead of a long-term trend. Moreover, the value of the AFRI is that it can express relative potential flood risk with the process of flood damage occurrence considered. The significance of this study is that not only the hazard parameters which contribute directly to flood occurrence, but vulnerability parameters which reflect the conditions of the region where flood occurred, including its residential and social characteristics, were shown quantitatively to affect flood damage.

Citation Okazawa, Y., Yeh, P., Kanae, S. & Oki, T. (2011) Development of a global flood risk index based on natural and socioeconomic factors. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(5), 789–804.     

Latitudinal profile of UV nightglow and electron precipitations

We studied experimental data on ultra-violet (UV) nightglow in the wavelength range 300-400 nm, and energetic electron fluxes measured by low-altitude polar satellite Universitetskii-Tatiana. From statistical analysis we have found three latitudinal regions of enhanced UV emission at low, middle and high latitudes. Modeling the electron precipitations to the atmosphere gave numerical estimation of the generated UV radiation. We found that the stable and quasi-stable fluxes of electrons precipitating at middle and low latitudes are too weak to explain the observed intensities of UV radiation. The high-latitude UV nightglow with intensity of several kiloRayleighs results from particle precipitation in the regions of aurora and outer radiation belt. The low-latitude UV enhancements of several hundreds Rayleighs can be related to the emission of mesospheric atomic oxygen whose concentration increases substantially at latitudes from 20° to 40°. A mechanism of the mid-latitude UV enhancements is still unknown and requires further investigations.     

Quantitative assessment of the climate components driving the pacific decadal oscillation in climate models

The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is defined as the first empirical orthogonal function (EOF) mode of the North Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies. In this study, we reconstructed the PDO using the first-order autoregressive model from various climate indices representing the El Niño-Southern oscillation (ENSO), Aleutian Low (AL), sea surface height (SSH), and thermocline depth over the Kuroshio–Oyashio extension (KOE) region. The climate indices were obtained from observation and twentieth-century simulations of the eight coupled general circulation models (CGCMs) participating in the Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase III (CMIP3). In this manner, we quantitatively assessed the major climate components generating the PDO using observation and models. Based on observations, the PDO pattern in the central to eastern North Pacific was accurately reconstructed by the AL and ENSO indices, and that in the western North Pacific was best reconstructed by the SSH and thermocline indices. In the CMIP3 CGCMs, the relative contribution of each component to the generation of the PDO varied greatly from model to model, and observations, although the PDO patterns from most of the models were similar to the pattern observed. In the models, the PDO pattern in the eastern and western North Pacific were well reconstructed using the AL and SSH indices, respectively. However, the PDO pattern reconstructed by the ENSO index was quite different from the observed pattern, which was possibly due to the model's common deficiency in simulating the amplitude and location of the ENSO. Furthermore, the differences in the contribution of the KOE thermocline index between the observed pattern and most of the models indicated that the PDO pattern associated with ocean wave dynamics is not properly simulated by most models. Therefore, the virtually well simulated PDO pattern by models is a result of physically inconsistent processes.     

东亚和太平洋上空平均垂直环流----(一)夏季

本文利用中央气象局出版的《北半球高空气候图集》中的风场资料,计算了50°E—130°W,0°—50°N范围内,七月平均850mb—100mb各标准层上的垂直运动,分析了不同区域的经向和纬向垂直环流的特点。指出:夏季130°E以西的低纬度为巨大的西南季风环流区,此外在高原的南北两侧还各存在一较小的经向环流圈,影响着高原附近的天气和气候;160°E以东的中低纬度的海洋上空为经典的Hadley环流所控制,其强度和影响的范围自西向东递增;由于青藏高原地形及夏季的热源作用,使其与西半球,南半球和中东太平洋的天气系统产生遥相关;平均直接从青藏高原上升的气流对西太平洋副高的贡献不大,而平均从西边直接下沉到西太平洋副高的气流是从高原以东的大陆上升的。最后根据计算和分析结果给出了青藏高原及其邻近地区三维空间的垂直环流示意图。     

Reaction-based modeling of quinone-mediated bacterial iron(III) reduction

This paper presents and validates a new paradigm for modeling complex biogeochemical systems using a diagonalized reaction-based approach. The bioreduction kinetics of hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) by the dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium (DMRB) Shewanella putrefaciens strain CN32 in the presence of the soluble electron shuttling compound anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS) is used for presentation/validation purposes. Experiments were conducted under nongrowth conditions with H₂ as the electron donor. In the presence of AQDS, both direct biological reduction and indirect chemical reduction of hematite by bioreduced anthrahydroquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AH₂DS) can produce Fe(II). Separate experiments were performed to describe the bioreduction of hematite, bioreduction of AQDS, chemical reduction of hematite by AH₂DS, Fe(II) sorption to hematite, and Fe(II) biosorption to DMRB. The independently determined rate parameters and equilibrium constants were then used to simulate the parallel kinetic reactions of Fe(II) production in the hematite-with-AQDS experiments. Previously determined rate formulations/parameters for the bioreduction of hematite and Fe(II) sorption to hematite were systematically tested by conducting experiments with different initial conditions. As a result, the rate formulation/parameter for hematite bioreduction was not modified, but the rate parameters for Fe(II) sorption to hematite were modified slightly. The hematite bioreduction rate formulation was first-order with respect to hematite ”free“ surface sites and zero-order with respect to DMRB based on experiments conducted with variable concentrations of hematite and DMRB. The AQDS bioreduction rate formulation was first-order with respect to AQDS and first-order with respect to DMRB based on experiments conducted with variable concentrations of AQDS and DMRB. The chemical reduction of hematite by AH₂DS was fast and considered to be an equilibrium reaction. The simulations of hematite-with-AQDS experiments were very sensitive to the equilibrium constant for the hematite-AH₂DS reaction. The model simulated the hematite-with-AQDS experiments well if it was assumed that the ferric oxide “surface” phase was more disordered than pure hematite. This is the first reported study where a diagonalized reaction-based model was used to simulate parallel kinetic reactions based on rate formulations/parameters independently obtained from segregated experiments.