Push-pull tests for assessing in situ aerobic cometabolism

Three types of single-well push-pull tests were developed for use in assessing the feasibility of in situ aerobic cometabolism of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs). These included transport tests, biostimulation tests, and activity tests. Transport tests are conducted to evaluate the mobility of solutes used in subsequent tests. These included bromide or chloride (conservative tracers), propane (growth substrate), ethylene, propylene (CAH surrogates), dissolved oxygen (electron acceptor), and nitrate (a minor nutrient). Tests were conducted at an experimental wellfield of Oregon State University. At this site, extraction phase breakthrough curves for all solutes were similar, indicating apparent conservative transport of the dissolved gases and nitrate prior to biostimulation. Biostimulation tests were conducted to stimulate propane-utilizing activity of indigenous microorganisms and consisted of sequential injections of site ground water containing dissolved propane and oxygen. Biostimulation was detected by the increase in rates of propane and oxygen utilization after each injection. Activity tests were conducted to quantify rates of substrate utilization and to confirm that CAH-transforming activity had likely been stimulated. In particular, the transformation of injected CAH surrogates ethylene and propylene to the cometabolic byproducts ethylene oxide and propylene oxide provided evidence that activity of the monooxygenase enzyme system, responsible for aerobic cometabolic transformations of CAHs, had likely also been stimulated. Estimated zero-order transformation rates decreased in the order propane > ethylene > propylene. The series of push-pull tests developed and field tested in this study should prove useful for conducting rapid, low-cost feasibility assessments for in situ aerobic cometabolism of CAHs.     

The comparison of two severe Hwangsa (Asian dust) cases of spring and winter in Seoul, Korea

This study investigated meteorological, physical, and chemical characteristics of 2 severe Hwangsa (Asian dust, maximum average of PM₁₀ above 1000 μg m^?3) observed in Seoul, the capital city of Korea, during 30～31^st May, 2008 (DSS2008) and 25～26^th December, 2009 (DSS2009). DSS2008 and DSS2009 had a same source region and route. However, they have different meteorological conditions. DSS2009 had a shorter travel time from the source region to Korea and shorter duration time in Korea than DSS2008 due to a strong winter Siberian anticyclone. One of DSS2008 sample was affected by not only Asian dust but also a long-range transported haze due to consecutive influx after low pressure passed while DSS2009 sample collected only dust aerosol. For both cases, the mass concentration of coarse particles (PM_10-1) increased by 3～14 times compared to that during non Asian dust period, however, that of fine particles (PM₁) increased only in DSS2008. For DSS2008 water-soluble ion balance between anions and cations in fine mode was close to 1:1 while cations were higher than anions in coarse mode. NH₄ ⁺ and Ca²⁺ were found to be the main contributing factors for the neutralization. Cl^? loss was observed about 60% indicating an active interaction of Na⁺ with pollutants. Reconstruction of chemical compositions showed relatively high concentrations of secondary pollutants (NH₄NO₃ and (NH₄)₂SO₄), CaCO₃, and Ca(NO₃)₂ compared to that during non Asian dust period. DSS2009 exhibited the typical characteristics of Asian dust having a high concentration of Ca²⁺ with higher equivalent concentration of cations than anions in all size bins. Cl^? loss was hardly observed. The secondary pollutants were lower than that of non Asian dust cases. The result of reconstruction of ionic components indicated the CaCO₃ derived from soil particle, CaSO₄, and Ca (NO₃)₂ were dominant in DSS2009.     

Effects of Resolution,Cumulus Parameterization Scheme,and Probability Forecasting on Precipitation Forecasts in a High-Resolution Limited-Area Ensemble Prediction System

This study investigates the effects of horizontal resolution, cumulus parameterization scheme (CPS), and probability forecasting on precipitation forecasts over the Korean Peninsula from 00 UTC 15 August to 12 UTC 14 September 2013, using the limited-area ensemble prediction system (LEPS) of the Korea Meteorological Administration. To investigate the effect of resolution, the control members of the LEPS with 1.5- and 3-km resolution were compared. Two 3-km experiments with and without the CPS were conducted for the control member, because a 3-km resolution lies within the gray zone. For probability forecasting, 12 ensemble members with 3-km resolution were run using the LEPS. The forecast performance was evaluated for both the whole study period and precipitation cases categorized by synoptic forcing. The performance of precipitation forecasts using the 1.5-km resolution was better than that using the 3-km resolution for both the total period and individual cases. The result of the 3-km resolution experiment with the CPS did not differ significantly from that without it. The 3-km ensemble mean and probability matching (PM) performed better than the 3-km control member, regardless of the use of the CPS. The PM complemented the defect of the ensemble mean, which better predicts precipitation regions but underestimates precipitation amount by averaging ensembles, compared to the control member. Further, both the 3-km ensemble mean and PM outperformed the 1.5-km control member, which implies that the lower performance of the 3-km control member compared to the 1.5-km control member was complemented by probability forecasting.     

Characteristics of biomass burning aerosol and its impact on regional air quality in the summer of 2003 at Gwangju, Korea

The main objective of this study is to investigate the chemical characteristics of biomass burning aerosol and its impact on regional air quality during an agricultural waste burning period in early summer in the rural areas of Korea. A 12-h integrated intensive sampling of biomass burning aerosol in the fine and coarse modes was conducted on 2–20 June 2003 in Gwangju, Korea. The collected samples were analyzed for concentrations of mass, ionic, elemental, and carbonaceous species. Average concentrations of fine and coarse mass were measured to be 67.9 and 18.7 μg m^− 3 during the biomass burning period, 41.9 and 18.8 μg m^− 3 during the haze period, and 35.6 and 13.3 μg m^− 3 during the normal period, respectively. An exceptionally high PM_2.5 concentration of 110.3 μg m^− 3 with a PM_2.5/PM₁₀ ratio of 0.79 was observed on 6 June 2003 during the biomass burning period. The potassium ratio method was used to identify biomass burning samples. The average ratio of potassium in the fine mode to the coarse mode (FK/CK) was 23.8 during the biomass burning period, 6.0 during the haze period, and 4.7 during the normal period, respectively. A FK/CK ratio above 9.2 was considered a criterion for biomass burning event in this study. Particulate matter from the open field burning of agricultural waste has an adverse impact on visibility, human health, and regional air quality.     

Effect of aerosol pollution on clouds and its dependence on precipitation intensity

In this study, simulations performed with a large-eddy resolving numerical model are used to examine the effect of aerosol on cumulus clouds, and how this effect varies with precipitation intensity. By systematically varying the surface moisture fluxes, the modeled precipitation rate is forced to change from weak to strong intensity. For each of these intensities, simulations of a high-aerosol case (a polluted case with a higher aerosol concentration) and a low-aerosol case (a clean case with a lower aerosol concentration) are performed. Whether or not precipitation and associated sub-cloud evaporation and convective available potential energy (CAPE) are large, liquid–water path (LWP) is larger in the high-aerosol case than in the low-aerosol case over the first two-thirds of the entire simulation period. In weak precipitation cases, reduction in aerosol content leads to changes in CAPE in the middle parts of cloud layers, which in turn induces larger LWP in the low-aerosol case over the last third of the simulation period. With strong precipitation, stronger stabilization of the sub-cloud layers in the low-aerosol case counters the CAPE changes in the middle parts of cloud layers, inducing smaller LWP in the low-aerosol case over the last third of the simulation period. The results highlight an interaction between aerosol effects on CAPE above cloud base and those in sub-cloud layers, and indicate the importance of a consideration of aerosol effects on CAPE above cloud base as well as those in sub-cloud layers. In the high-aerosol case, near the beginning of the simulation period, larger environmental CAPE does not necessarily lead to larger in-cloud CAPE and associated larger cloud intensity because aerosol-induced increase in cloud population enhances competition among clouds for the environmental CAPE. This demonstrates the importance of the consideration of cloud population for an improved parameterization of convective clouds in climate models.     

Mechanism of Kelvin and Rossby waves during ENSO events

Summary ?The fields of sea-level height anomaly (SLHA) and surface zonal wind anomaly (SZWA) have been analyzed to investigate the typical evolution of spatial patterns during El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. Sea surface temperature (SST) changes during ENSO events are represented as an irregular interplay of two dominant modes, low-frequency mode and biennial mode. Cyclostationary principal component (PC) time series of the former variables are regressed onto the PC time series of the two dominant SSTA modes to find the spatial patterns of SLHA and SZWA consistent with the two SSTA modes. The two regressed patterns of SLHA explain a large portion of SLHA total variability. The reconstruction of SLHA using only the two components reasonably depicts major ENSO events. Although the low-frequency component of SST variability is much larger than the biennial component, the former does not induce strong Kelvin and Rossby waves. The biennial mode induces much stronger dynamical ocean response than the low-frequency mode. Further decomposition of the SLHA modes into Kelvin and Rossby components shows how these two types of equatorial waves evolve during typical ENSO events. The propagation and reflection of these waves are clearly portrayed in the regressed patterns leading to a better understanding of the wave mechanism in the tropical Pacific associated with ENSO. A close examination suggests that the delayed action oscillator hypothesis is generally consistent with the analysis results reported here. Rossby wave development in the central Pacific in the initiation stage of ENSO and the subsequent reflection of Kelvin waves at the western boundary seems to be an important mechanism for further development of ENSO. The development of Kelvin waves forced by the surface wind in the far-western Pacific cannot be ruled out as a possible mechanism for the growth of ENSO. While Kelvin waves in the far-western Pacific serve as an intiation mechanism of ENSO, they also cause the termination of existing ENSO condition in the central and eastern Pacific, thereby leading to a biennial oscillation over the tropical Pacific. The Kelvin waves from the western Pacific erode the thermocline structure in the central Pacific preventing further devlopment of ENSO and ultimately terminating it. It should be emphasized that this wave mechanism is clear and active only in the biennial mode. Received August 15, 2001; revised March 6, 2002     

Sensitivity analysis of the Ångstrom exponent for multimodal aerosol size distributions

This study characterizes the Ångstrom exponent for polydispersed aerosol size distributions. Under the assumption of a lognormal size distribution, the dependence of Ångstrom exponent on the size distribution and the refractive index with varying real and imaginary parts are determined. Further, the influence of coarse mode particles on the Ångstrom exponent is investigated quantitatively. The results show that the nuclei mode has less influence under the simulation conditions considered in this study. It is also shown that the refractive index is an important factor influencing the Ångstrom exponent. The effect of the coarse mode on the Ångstrom exponent computed with different aerosol number concentrations and as a function of a geometric standard deviation and a geometric mean diameter is tested. It is shown that the coarse mode is crucial for determining the Ångstrom exponent.     

Technical note on a track-pattern-based model for predicting seasonal tropical cyclone activity over the western North Pacific

Recently, the National Typhoon Center (NTC) at the Korea Meteorological Administration launched a track-pattern-based model that predicts the horizontal distribution of tropical cyclone (TC) track density from June to October. This model is the first approach to target seasonal TC track clusters covering the entire western North Pacific (WNP) basin, and may represent a milestone for seasonal TC forecasting, using a simple statistical method that can be applied at weather operation centers. In this note, we describe the procedure of the track-pattern-based model with brief technical background to provide practical information on the use and operation of the model. The model comprises three major steps. First, long-term data of WNP TC tracks reveal seven climatological track clusters. Second, the TC counts for each cluster are predicted using a hybrid statistical-dynamical method, using the seasonal prediction of large-scale environments. Third, the final forecast map of track density is constructed by merging the spatial probabilities of the seven clusters and applying necessary bias corrections. Although the model is developed to issue the seasonal forecast in mid-May, it can be applied to alternative dates and target seasons following the procedure described in this note. Work continues on establishing an automatic system for this model at the NTC.